Checking out the chick (pea) flick and the madness of Antti Reini

If there's something I miss terribly from Kuopio (the town I lived in for many years), besides my closest friends there, it's Kuvakukko and the university film club Hyvät kuvat. And if there's something I remember from my time in Dar es Salaam, it's watching films on my old, very moody laptop on Sokoine Street, going to Mlimani cinema and buying not-so-tax-revenue films from the corners of the city centre. In Tampere, I've managed to once attend Anime Night, but that sucks, because it's at night and I'm basically paying to sleep in the cinema with Japanese anime characters yelling at the top of their lugs every second minute. I love anime, but not sleeping through anime films. Did win an anime DVD in the raffle though, which was good. :D

Not surprisingly, it was quite natural for me to get excited about the Melbourne International Film Festival or MIFF as it's known here. I had big plans; I should attend shows every night! Then the reality hit me, shows are not cheap and I remembered film festivals are hard work. Hard on you buttocks, hard if you are sleepy and hard if you don't enjoy frantically trying to catch a show, because you bought the ticket in advance - just in case (normally you buy tickets to shows that are shown to half empty theatres).

The first week of MIFF passed me by without me having time to take notice. We had even made plans to go together with a few friends, but everyone seemed too busy to make determined plans. Then came my wild party night with the girls last Friday. That ended short when I didn't realize that I'd need ID to get in (yes, they check everyone, I haven't suddenly started looking like under 25). It was raining, girls were wearing party clothes, and I told them to continue without me. I just had a beer and laughed at myself. But this lead to a early, hangover-free morning and me realising that MIFF is on. And boy, wasn't this revelation worth it. 

Saturday was the last day of showing Chasing Ice. It's a documentary about the photographer James Balog and his crew and their effort to photograph the melting of glaciers. National Geographic Society never disappoints when it comes to stunning photos and big issues, which was yet again proven by this piece. The lady sitting behind me during the show would agree. She was sighting, commenting with quiet whispers ("no!", "aaah!")  and I'm pretty sure she shed a few tears at the end (I could just feel it). To be honest, I did have a few jaw-dropping moments myself. The science is there. Now the pictures are too. James Balog's bit in the effort "to do something" is taking photos of global warming in action. I hope that my bit will be in trying to figure out how to feed us all without destroying the planet in the process. I'm sure I've said this to so many of you before, but I love the saying I heard somewhere (in Finnish, though) that human as a species are the only one's pissing in their offspring's cereals. Sounds poetic, but so is the phenomenon itself. 

This contradicts what I've just said. :D

  The second films of the day was set in as serious settings, but the topic was hilarious. Make Hummus not War asks a question whether the peace in Israel and Palestine could be reached over a bowl of hummus. Although, there is passionate debate going on, where the best hummus comes from and where does hummus originate - Arabs, Jews, who came up with hummus? For those who don't know what hummus (or hoummous, humus or any other way to write it) is, I'll give an easy recipe: soaked and boiled chickpeas, sesame seed paste (tahini), lemon juice and garlic makes a delicious paste that at it's best will blow out your mind. Inspired by the film, I intend to find a nice Lebanese restaurant and check out their Melburnian hummus quality. A tip: if watching this at home, check out on of the recipes on the webpage and make yourself a BIG bowl of hummus before setting yourself too comfortably in front of the couch. I was drooling and dreaming of hummus throughout the film. Since it was a world premier and the director, Trevor Graham, was there too and the audience got to ask him questions. According to him, the best hummus comes from Lebanon. But hey, you can only argue about taste preferences, so who knows. :P

 My third film was a patriotic act to see a Finnish/Swedish film from 1991, Il Capitano. Kappale kauneita Suomea. Not. If the actor Antti Reini has been accused of not doing a very good job as the popular detective Vares, then watch this film and be awed by his earlier performance. Man, the madness is tangible and the bandit story (Reini and Maria Heiskanen) drills into your brains. Now that we've recently had Batman massacres and all other outrageous shooting incidents, this film reminds again how irrational world and people can be. It leaves you wondering what could be done to avoid people going to the darkside. Noticed that the ratings for this film aren't too great, but I was captivated by the acting and tension, so I think I got my money's worth definitely.

I finished my part of the film festival by seeing The Suicide Shop, a cartoon for adults. To my surprise when I got there today (Saturday) it was in 3D. Had not read the small print. And fun it was. Hard to feel completely sad, mad or pissed off after that flick. :) So for the moments when you are feeling like you need something artistic, fun, mood-lifting, but not too sweet and innocent, then this is the pick for you.

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I will be posting the next blog post in Finnish and in English. Why? Because I'm inviting lovely friends I've met whilst in Melbourne over tomorrow (Sunday) to enjoy Restaurant Day (http://www.restaurantday.org/) with me and I'll be writing a story about that here in my blog in English (so they can also understand). But since I'm partially having the same menu as the Mindo blog crew in Helsinki, I'll be posting on our event (that I'm offering to friends) in Mindo ( http://www.mindo.fi/blogi/ravintolapaiva-mindofood). Making a promise publicly so I get the pieces done. ;) I hope this will also ignite a passionate writing fire in me so that I'll finally start writing to Mindo regularly and quite often. Another public promise, where will these lead me...?

Sorry, no photos from me till Monday. Uploading them is impossible with home Internet. :/ Quality is too good. ;)