MIFF’s best – Milan and Los Angeles award the Australian “Matching Jack”

A one day event this year for MIFF’s Best, the festival that, in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute, brings to Los Angeles the best of international cinema. Since its inaugural in the year 2000, MIFF (Milan International Film Festival) has been dedicated to illuminating the excellence in Independent cinema, thus earning its nickname as the “Sundance of Italy”. MIFF’s Best in fact takes place during AFM (American Film Market) and give further illumination to winner films, also promoting the city of Milan as an essential location in the sphere of International Independent Film industry.

The winner of this edition is the Australian “Matching Jack”, released by Twentieth Century Fox in Australia and New Zealand in 2010 and presented at IIC in Los Angeles last November 2nd. The title refers to the desperate and -as you’ll see- surreal search for a donor compatible with the child, affected by Leukemia. The issue of illness isn’t new to cinema, but it’s still hard to handle without falling into stereotypes. This time however it’s a little different. First of all, this is a real story. And then, it focuses on the family more than the sick person.

Director Nadia Tass gives a lot of attention to the emotional and psychological side of the protagonists, trying to explore the way characters change when facing the illness of a child. Interpreted by Jacinda Barrett, Richard Roxburgh and Tom Russell, “Matching Jack” is the story of a mother and a father with a comfortable and conventional life who are forced to face themselves and their relationship.

“Sometimes it takes a trauma to break the cycle of predictability” says Tass. “With “Matching Jack” I am speaking about issues in the world that are current and relevant to individuals and families around the globe [...] Illness in this story acts as a catalyst for what happens to each of them after the diagnosis. Each one of these characters undergoes enormous change, a change that besides hurt also takes to love.” In “Matching Jack” in fact, children’s illness brings Marisa and Connor to a common place, the hospital. “These two people who come from such different worlds first learn to support each other and depend on each other, before they dare to acknowledge the depth of their feelings of romantic love.”

Not a brilliant movie but sincere and devoid of unnecessary drama, with a touch of magic and humor. The audience must have appreciated it: by the long and loud final applause seems like they simply loved it.

Alessandra Mastroianni
Contributor