Seoul European Film Festival

Sad that I missed out this year on the VIFF, I went on a movie spree this weekend at the 6th Seoul European Film Festival taking place at Megabox at COEX.

The festival program offered up many interesting titles, but unfortunately no English subtitles, so I was only able to choose from UK movies, and the English language films of Wim Wenders that were presented as a retrospective series.



I found Wender's take on post-9/11 America, "Land of Plenty", both provocative and timely. I think his take as an outsider looking at the current psyche of the US offers a perspective that has not emerged so far from within. It seems however that the critics have a different opinion, as this film has been widely panned. Tonight I'm seeing his latest effort, "Don't Come Knocking", which is fresh from Cannes.

The best film of the festival was also my choice for the fifth best film of 2004, Mike Leigh's Vera Drake. (Feel free to email me if you want to see my full 2004 movie top 10 list). I was surprised just how powerful and emotional this story was even the second-time around. Imelda Staunton's performance is one of the most devastating I have ever seen on the screen. She definitely deserved her Academy Award nomination for Best Actress and in my opinion should have won.