The 10th edition of the Dubai international film festival was a landmark regional festival featuring some of the best curated titles from around the globe. While this year’s lineup may seem like a low key affair in comparison, that only means that we have many more films we can discover. Peppered amongst the selection of renown titles that have played at other festivals throughout the globe are smaller, lesser known films that have never been screened. In order to make sense of both, we present not 1, but 2 lists of what we feel are the top picks of the fest – one featuring popular titles and the other with more art house offerings.
Top 5 popular films to see at DIFF 2014
Birdman
Alejandro González Iñárritu is no stranger to DIFF, yet it’s somewhat astonishing given this Mexican director’s reputation, that Birdman is just his fifth feature film. With what seems like his most accessible venture yet, Iñárritu brings us a rejuvenated Michael Keaton playing an actor famous for playing the titular superhero (Birdman). Now past his prime, Keaton’s character grapples with reality, his career and his ego in the buildup to his broadway debut. This black comedy has already won numerous awards at Venice and is destined to feature heavily come Hollywood award season. To round off why we think this is a must watch, Keaton’s highly praised performance is supported by an equally praised turn by Edward Norton, which is never ever a bad thing.
Foxcatcher
Steve Carell and Channing Tatum, along with Mark Ruffalo, together in a movie? Surely this must be a comedy, you think. But you couldn’t be more wrong – for this is a biographical drama directed by Bennett Miller, the man behind the 2011 Brad Pitt starrer Moneyball. Foxcatcher is also set around the sports world, this time Olympic wrestling, with Ruffalo and Tatum playing gold-medal winning brothers, while Carell plays the latter’s coach. Based on a true story, the movie is a chilling crime drama exploring the paranoid-schizophrenic character played by Carell. The film debuted at Cannes, picking up the best director award for Miller.
Imitation Game
A historic biopic, Imitation Game stars fan-favourite Benedict Cumberbatch as Alan Turing, the British scientist more well-known as a code-breaker during World War Two. Though based on true events around one man’s life over a period of the 20th Century, Norwegian director Morten Tyldem has made the film in the form of a thriller instead of a drama, pushing it away from the oft-beaten path taken by biopics. Spanning Turing’s life from college years through his esteemed position during the war to his post-war decline, the movie took home the top prize at Toronto (People’s Choice Award for Best Film) along with a bunch of Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor and even Best Actress (Keira Knightley) awards at various festivals & ceremonies around the globe.
A Most Violent Year
J C Chandor’s first film was the criminally under-seen Margin Call. His next was the best survival film of 2013 (yes, even better than Gravity), All Is Lost. Both those films have won many awards. His third film, A Most Violent Year, stars two of the most exciting 30-something actors in Hollywood today: Oscar Isaac and Jessica Chastain. The crime-thriller depicts the life of Isaac’s character and his family as rampant violence, decay, and corruption in New York during the year 1981 (which was one of the most violent years in the city’s history) threatens to destroy their lives. A highly anticipated film, put this high on your list of films to watch as DIFF will be the first film festival outside the US to screen the movie following its premiere at the AFI Fest a few weeks ago, before it releases across the US and the rest of the world early next year.
Wild
From the director of last year’s multi-Oscar winning Dallas Buyers Club, Wild is the true story of Cheryl Strayed, played by Reese Witherspoon, as she undertakes a 1100-mile solo hike as a way of self-discovery after recent personal setbacks. Based on the memoirs of the real-life Strayed, the movie has garnered high praise, especially for Oscar winner Witherspoon, many touting it as her return to the Awards fold. Can it do for her what director Jean-Marc Vallée’s previous film did for Matthew McConaughey? You’ll have to see to find out and if early world is any indication, Witherspoon returns to form in what is expected to result in a sort of artistic reconnaissance for her as well.
Top 5 art house films to see at DIFF 2014
Mommy
Xavier Dolan is just 25 years of age but already has 4 feature films under his belt all having won awards at Cannes and other festivals. His fifth feature Mommy is about a spirited, widowed single mom who finds herself hampered with the full-time custody of her erratic 15-year-old ADHD son. The film won the Jury Prize at Cannes this year and has since catapulted Dolan into the big leagues with comparisons being made to both Ingmar Bergman for his deeply intimate drama elements and Pedro Almadovar for the brashness of the execution.
Court
Very rarely do Indian movies perform well in international festival circuits. When Chaitanya Tamhane’s Court won the Luigi De Laurentiis Award and the Venice Horizons Award at the Venice Film Festival we had to sit up and take notice mainly because this was another young director under the age of 30 making his debut and winning awards. Tamhane presents India struggling with developing into a 21st century country yet still being stuck with a justice system of yesteryears and the film offers a commentary on class, education and access to power at the same time. Court will probably be too intellectual or highbrow when compared to the daily Bollywood fodder but it’s heartening to see films like The Lunchbox, Ship of Theseus, etc. being noticed and talked about and DIFF doing their part in making them accessible to audiences here.
Force Majeure (aka Turist)
Yet another Cannes winner on our list, this time the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard category. The reviews have been stellar and the director Ruben Östlund is being commended for using black comedy to highlight human behavior in times of distress while looking at gender roles in our society, dysfunctional marriages and a lot more. Force Majeure won’t be your run of the mill comedy or date movie, in fact it will provide a punch in the gut with a smile on its face. You have been warned.
What We Do In The Shadows
You won’t see this film on other lists mainly because this is a story about three vampires who have lived hundreds of years trying to cope with mundane day to day activities while struggling to come to terms with the modern society. Sounds a bit boring right? Not when you add a mockumentary style of filmmaking with goofy vampires who fight each other over who should be doing the dishes. Perhaps it may not be as sophisticated as the artful Only Lovers Left Alive but expect a laugh riot especially since it won the People Choice Award at TIFF’s Midnight Madness segment.
Red Army
Dubai International Film Festival has seen its share of remarkable documentaries being screened in the past, from the insightful Czech Dream to utterly powerful Undefeated, so our inclusion of Red Army in this list shouldn’t come as any surprise. Soviet Union had the most successful ice hockey team in the history of the sport until the breakup of USSR, when the Red Army captain transformed from a national hero to a political enemy. Expect Red Army to showcase the birth and death of communism, the Cold War and eventually the Soviet Union.
