Raindance: Get a move on

The 27th Raindance Film Festival wraps up another big year tonight, having taken over the Vue Piccadilly and other venues for the past 10 days to celebrate truly independent films from all over the world. Of course, this kind of programming makes it tricky to sell tickets, and it has often seemed that audiences were made up mostly of accredited industry and press. But it's great to have the filmmakers on hand to introduce their films and offer Q&A sessions after each screening.

The Planters
dir-scr Hannah Leder, Alexandra Kotcheff; with Alexandra Kotcheff, Hannah Leder 19/US ***
Quirky and colourful, this offbeat comedy-drama centres on an unlikely friendship between two women, played by filmmakers Alexandra Kotcheff and Hannah Leder (above). The movie is sometimes a little too nutty for its own good, but this also makes it refreshingly unpredictable. Scenes are short and sharp, with witty observations about day-to-day life in a place that's rather a long way from anyone's dream... FULL REVIEW >

Ai Weiwei: Yours Truly
dir Cheryl Haines; with Ai Weiwei, Cheryl Haines 19/US ****
Beautifully assembled by first-time filmmaker Cheryl Haines, this documentary traces Chinese artist Ai Weiwei's exhibition exploring people who have been imprisoned for their beliefs and speech. His art is of course stunning, inventively unpeeling the themes to make them resonate on a powerfully human level. And Haines documents this project in such a clever way that the film carries its own emotional gut punch.

Schemers
dir Dave Mclean; with Conor Berry, Tara Lee 19/UK ***
"Proudly made in Dundee", this Scottish comedy kicks off in high-energy mode and stays there. With its early 1980s setting, a pulsing sense of pop music and a very thick brogue, the film explodes with attitude as filmmaker Dave Mclean recounts events from his own life. The characters are likeably hapless, scraping by on sheer bravado. But it's not easy to find a way into the story... FULL REVIEW >

Masters of Love
dir-scr Matt Roberts; with Ciaran Dowd, Sarah Ovens 19/UK ***
This nicely made British comedy-drama centres on a group of people in their 30s going through the usual transitions in life while the world throws all kinds of messiness at them. The film playfully skewers current social situations, most notably the impact of technology on relationships. There's nothing particularly revelatory in here, but it's sharply written, directed and played. So it occasionally strikes a nerve... FULL REVIEW >

Hilda
dir-scr Rishi Pelham; with; Megan Purvis, Yasmin Al-Khudhairi 19/UK ***
Sharply well directed and shot, this British drama has a terrific sense of London from the perspective of its teen protagonist. Lush and colourful, the film vividly captures youth culture and the attitudes that accompany it. It also has a lovely musicality to it, beautifully rendered by writer-director Rishi Pelham, who is also a composer. So the emotions are raw and honest. But everything is heightened and often rather hard to watch, as events are seen through the eyes of a child under duress.

Emma Peeters

dir-scr Nicole Palo; with Monia Chokri, Fabrice Adde 18/Bel ***.
There's jazzy sensibility to this cheeky Belgian film, which follows an actress who feels like she has missed her chance. Comedies about suicide are difficult to balance, so thankfully writer-director Nicole Palo keeps the tone light, making it clear without saying so that this isn't likely to end in tears. But the issues it touches on are real, and the gimmicky stylistic touches are good fun... FULL REVIEW >

The Racer [Coureur]
dir-scr Kenneth Mercken;with Niels Willaerts, Koen De Graeve 18/Bel ***.
With a thoughtful tone, this Belgian drama has a notably introspective perspective, based on the firsthand experiences of writer-director Kenneth Mercken. This makes it much more unblinking than other movie biopics examining the distinct issues that surround this sport. This is a sometimes difficult film to watch. And at its core, it's a bracingly complex coming-of-age story centred around a prickly, difficult young man.

The Long Haul The Story of the Buckaroos

dir Amy Enser; scr Kaleb Kerrwith John Betchtel, 

Keon Price, Josh Palmer, Erik Cargill, Jonathan Houser, Kaleb Kerr, Chris Pink

release US Jun.19 siff, UK Sep.19 rff • 19/US 1h24 ***

There's a lively energy to this documentary about a cabaret show at Seattle's legendary Can Can club. And director Amy Enser finds added interest as she digs into the idea of masculinity through the eyes of a group of male burlesque dancers who deliberately look like ordinary guys, as opposed to Magic Mike musclemen. The film is enjoyably intimate, centring on conversations with these men, although it feels oddly incomplete, never quite following through on some big ideas, letting plot strands fall away or become blurred, and pointedly avoiding some important questions.

Enser sets out the film in an experimental way, aiming for something interactive. Many sequences were staged specifically for the movie, hosted by writer Kerr playing a cowboy called T-Bone Tucker. These are intercut with more standard fly-on-the-wall documentary footage. While the two elements don't quite gel, they are both finely well shot and edited, recounting witty anecdotes and letting the audience into the personal lives of a handful of the performers. All of them are lively and positive, from the show's creator/papa bear John aka Bronco, to lifelong dancer Keon aka The Deputy and class clown Josh aka Slam. These guys are traditionally hunky, as opposed to the tall-skinny Erik aka Slim and the smiley-pudgy Jonathan aka Hoss. The audience of women and both gay and straight men goes equally mad for all of them.

This is the most engaging thing about this film, as it challenges standard notions of masculinity and what makes a man sexy. These guys have terrific camaraderie, which John compares to his days playing team sports. So when John announces that after 10 years he's leaving, it's understandable that the crew is shaken. The film's editing kind of botches this part of the story (he packs the moving truck but doesn't leave?). And Enser seems to deliberately want to avoid any questions of sexuality, which surely are salient, especially in the current cultural climate. But the film has a joyous bounce to it, lots of sexy footage and a wonderfully subversive sensibility that makes us hope that this kind of everyman burlesque becomes a thing.

---

Links:
Official RAINDANCE site
Shadows' RAINDANCE homepage (full reviews will be linked here)