The films of Joe Dante were the major retrospective this year and originally when this was announced I thought that he was an odd choice. While I was familiar and liked his horror films of the past, I just didn’t think his body of work was great enough to get a special retrospective at MIFF. After viewing the majority of his films in a short period of time, I no longer believe this, in fact I now believe the opposite to be true (this I guess is the point of these retrospectives in the first place, to re-evaluate a person’s work who is under-valued).
I was surprised at just how good a technical director he is. Some of his work was just outstanding (“The Twilight Zone Movie” segment and “The ‘Burbs” [read my review here]). Joe was also a guest at the festival and was the best we have had in recent memory. He was just fantastic. He introduced four of the screenings that I attended and with each he gave a brief outline of how the project came together, what he liked (or didn’t like) about it, things that happened while making it and just anything that popped into his head really. He also turned out to be everything he projects himself to be which is that he is very friendly and gentlemanly and he looked genuinely happy being there talking to us. Just hearing his voice was a big thrill as it is very distinctive. Without doubt he knew how to introduce his films (something most directors struggle with), and for “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” he also hung around and did a Q&A afterwards.
Joe Dante also gave me a big thrill by signing my blu-ray copy of “The Howling” which was NOT part of the retrospective which I thought was odd. Overall, I was so impressed by Joe Dante, both the man and his work and next year’s main guest now has a lot to live up to.
5 Stars - Viewed at the 2010 Melbourne International Film Festival
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