MIFF 2011

MIFF for 2011 is over for me - I haven't seen as many films as I would have liked, but I've been pretty happy with the ones I've seen.  MIFF is back on track this year with a new artistic director and a far, far better program than the past few years.

So, my festival:

The Unjust
A Korean crime drama.  Seoul and everyone in it is corrupt.
Violent and confusing, but I really enjoyed it.  Classic Korean-style gritty cop/crime drama.
8.5/10

Tabloid
A classic Errol Morris documentary about a bizarre sex scandal decades ago, where a beautiful young woman took a Mormon captive, chained him up and forcibly had sex with him.
8/10

She Monkeys
A Swedish(?) film about a teenage girl growing up without a mother and exploring her sexuality and frienships, and her little sister.  An interesting counterpoint to the numerous films I've seen over festivals past in which teenage girls take tentative first steps towards lesbianism.
7/10
Martha, Marcy, May Marlene
A fantastic film about a girl who escapes/leaves a cult, and tries to reintegrate into 'normal' life with her sister and her sister's new husband.  The tension really builds and it definitely stuck with me afterwards.
9/10

You Are Here
Total crap.
1/10

The Yellow Sea
A long and very violent film about a man from a rural border region where China and North Korea meet.  Most of the action takes place in South Korea.  Many really good moments, but it veers wildly between violence, sadness and farce.  Much too long.
6-7/10

Client 9
Excellent documentary about Eliot Spitzer.  By the filmmaker who made 'The Smartest Guys in the Room'.
8/10

Take Shelter
A fantastic film about a man who begins to have horrible dreams.  Is he going crazy, or is he a visionary?  Deals really, really well with mental illness and a man trying to keep his family together, while unsure if he is in fact the problem.
9/10

Another Earth
A film about a young woman who causes a tragic car accident, and the man who loses his family but survives.  A slow drama.  Well acted by the two principals, with some weird camera work.  Told against the background of another planet, identical to Earth, having emerged.  Very little is done with this background story, but it is still an intriguing concept.
7.5/10