Filmfestivalen 2015

Collectivism by Joanna Coates, UK 2014

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2723176/?ref_=fn_ft_tt_4

In a secluded house in the countryside four 20-somethings have decided to shred the norm and societal pressure and live a life of no-nonsense art, friendship and pansexual relations. Their lifestyle gets a bit of a dink upon the arrival of a fifth person, one of the two girl’s ex.

Marketed as a sort of spiritual successor of Moodysson’s ‘Together’, ‘Hide and seek’ promises more than it delivers. It’s very feel-good and some of the scenes are highly entertaining, funny, dramatic or just plain cosy. Sometimes it drags you in and makes you wish you could be there, to see what it’s really like. However, there is a certain lack of conflict that would have spiced things up and made for a more entertaining story. Sunshine and lollipops can only take a film’s enjoyment value so far.

Bechdel test: Pass

3 speed dates if 6

Fakedrama by Dong-myung Kim, South Korea, 2014

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4203216/?ref_=fn_ft_tt_1

Ayoung lives a rather miserable life, with an alcoholic sister, an estranged mother and a dead-end job. Yet she puts up a facade of being successful, checking out luxury apartments, lying about her rich boyfriend and generally being deceitful, mostly towards herself. The ever-downwards spiral is bound to catch up with her, though.

I get that the main character feels the need to lie; being successful is important, especially in this day and age, and especially in urban environments. She never ever benefits, however, and thus she never really comes crashing down. Instead it’s a bit of a slow descent, so slow that it’s almost a status quo, and as such, the story never really grips.

Bechdel test: Pass

2 fridges of 6

Celluloidrelay, by misc, Sweden 2014-15

A collection of shortfilms, eligible for the short film award ‘Startsladden’ (roughly translated The jump cable) in a feature length package. As usual, some films are better than others.

Audition by Lovisa Sirén: 3 couches of 6
Värn (Reduit) by John Skoog: 0 slabs of 6
Jag vill nå dig (I want to reach you) by Victor Lindgren: 3 dances of 6
Mommy by Milad Alami: 4 toddlers of 6
Pojkarna (Boys) by Isabella Carbonell: 2 juvenile delinquents of 6
Punkt 9: val av andre vice talman (Second Deputy Speaker) by Maximilien Van Aertryck: 3 blanks of 6
Stoerre Vaerie (Norra Storfjället/Northern Great Mountain) by Amanda Kernell: 2 reindeer of 6
Cupcake by Jane Magnusson: 1 conjugal bed of 6

Bechdel test: 2 pass, 6 fail

On average: 2,25 sockets of 6