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Mongolian Bling is an Australian documentary on the Hip-Hop scene in Mongolia directed by newcomer Benj Binks. I was lucky enough to be at the World Premiere in Perth during the Revelation Film Festival 2012.
Mongolia has always
been on my list of must-visit countries, still waiting for the right time for me to go there. I like Hip-Hop rhythms and, well, to me, Hip-Hop is to Music what graffiti is to painting. When I heard about the
documentary, I thought, Are you kidding? It did not cross my mind that
Mongolia -the land of Genghis Khan, the infinite horizons, cold winters, archery, horse racing, gers and fur hats- had a love
affair with something as Western as Hip-Hop.
Mongolian Bling is one of those documentaries that succeeds because it goes where nobody has gone before, has lots of passion and hard work behind it, and talks about its subject with rigour, humour, vigour and grace, still being entertaining and unpretentious. Most importantly, Mongolian Blink let Mongolians tell their story with their own voice.
Mongolian Bling does not do what you expect from a documentary of this sort to do - a straight forward narration from an outsider point of view of a given subject. Like serious boring history of Mongolia, Mongolian ways of life, or the Mongolian Hip-Hop.
Still, Benj Binks and his international crew provide us with a colourful tapestry of modern Mongolia images and we learn about the challenges of daily life in Ulaanbaatar, the aspirations and
frustrations of the youth, the religious differences that the country has, generation gaps, gender attitudes, marginality, and musical
creativity. Binks is able to explain in a simple way why Hip-Hop is so ingrained in modern Mongolia, and how ancestral musical traditions and attitudes served to anchor the genre in the country. We also see the multicolour facets of the Hip-Hop scene, which is far from being monochrome. All of this is told though the voice of three main
hip-hop singers: Guiza, Gee and Gennie (who could not be more different
among them at all levels), although hip-hop aficionados and wannabes, and even children are featured in the doco.
The editing by Davide Michielin and Bieks is great, as creates a tempo and mood that keeps you engaged and entertained. The cinematography by Nacho Pende is great, because goes beyond the obvious and is able to capture the beauty of the ugly districts, the lyricism of chaos, and the shining lights of the darkest places. The live sound by Steven Bond is also great, and the viewer feels is right there listening to these people rap just for you.
The film has been bought by ABC Australia to be shown on TV, but in a 56-minute format not in its original 86 minutes, which, however, will be complete in the DVD. I you have the opportunity, go and see it on the big screen. It is completely worth it.
Web of the Movie
A wonderful Australian independent plasticine movie that tells the story of a life-long mail relationship between Max Jerry Horowitz, an old autistic atheist Jew from New York, and Mary Daisy Dinkle, a weird 8y.o. girl from Melbourne. Mary and Max is, above all, a story about social maladjustment and the ups and downs of life, but a happy story about real friendship and personal identity.
Mary and Max are unglamorous suburban people, with mental and social problems who are
wonderful because are imperfect and human. They are not presented as weirdos or as marginal people, but in an accepting humorous way. The intrinsic point of departure of the film is that life itself is dysfunctional; therefore, the dysfunctions of the characters are just normal, part of who they are and a result of what life brings to their lives. It is this approach, and the emotion that the characters convey, what makes the viewer connect to Mary & Max instantaneously, so the viewer feels their failures, successes and worries as if they
were those of real people. This is, however, both a drama and a comedy, and there are many humorous winks to the viewer; the animal characters (both pets and urban animals) are
hilarious.
The aesthetics and
atmosphere of the film are wonderful, with at terrific use of Black and White with red plashes and ochre details, which perfectly encapsulate the mood and personality of the different characters and the different stages of their life and relationships. They are, in a way, the outer projection of Mary and Max's personality, or even a reflection of how they see reality, not the way reality is seen by others. After all reality is about or perception of it. The music is terrific, too.
Most actors are great
in the dubbing of the characters, especially Toni Collette as Mary, and
Philip Seymour Hoffman as Max, and Renée Geyer as Vera.
This is not a movie for
children. It touches subjects that are complex and could be
disturbing or difficult to explain to a child: alcoholism, social
failure, mental disorder, bullying, death, homosexuality, suicide, etc.
This is, however, what will attract adults, and what makes the movie so special.
Three things would have improved the film enormously. Firstly, a little bit of more of lightness (less clumsiness) in the movement of the puppets, and also more definition in the facial expressions of the characters would have improved the look and feeling of the film immensely. Secondly, most of the characters' speech is limited, so we see them moving but not talking that much. Finally, and directly related, the third-person narration is overwhelming - too much of it and in the wrong tone. I consider a mistake the selection of Barry Humphries as off narrator, as his dubbing is emotionally misleading; he narrates the story as if this was a fable before bed told to a kid, but this is not a children movie by any means. It would have been great converting part of the narration into dialogues of the characters, which would have given more fluidity and a better pace to the story and the movie in general.
This is a great animation film, with a terrific story, which moved me immensely. The story, is what will captivate you.
Mary and Max was a hit at "Sundance", and has won an accolade of awards since then.
Tomorrow when the War Began is the screen adaptation of the eponymous John Marsden's young-adult book series. It tell the story of a group of Australian teenagers that after a camping weekend return home to find that the country has been invaded by a foreign Asian country.
Although the story is intriguing, the whole film is a failure from direction, to art direction, to actors direction, to actors' performances. Catlin Staisey, who plays heroin Ellie, hasn't forgotten she is acting in a movie not in her usual soap opera, and her performance oscillates from plain pathetic to barely acceptable; one wonders why she was given the role, Australian having such fine bunch of actors around. Lincoln Lewis is not of far away from his soap-opera self while playing Kevin, while Denis Akdeniz is a caricature of a character in his portrayal of Hommer, but I think that is what the script demanded from him. Rachel Hurd-Wood is lovely and believable as Corrie as well as Ashleigh Cummings as Robyn. Acceptable are Phoebe Tonkin as Fiona, Chris Pang as Lee, and Chris Lang as Andy Ryan.
It is not only the acting, is the lack of tension in the movie, the lack of sci-fi mood, and lack of an adequate music. The stunt and action scenes are very well filmed, but this is all what you can praise in the movie. It is difficult to understand why a mediocre TV film has been brought to the big screen, and why the money has been wasted in such a poor way. More embarrassing is the fact that two more sequels are still to come. One has to hope that they will be better, which is really simple. You just need a good director, a good creative team, and a good direction of your actors to bring to life and make credible a sci-fi flick.
Completely forgettable. Teens and fans of the soap-opera actors will certainly like it.
