Mostly British Film Fest: The Death and Life of Otto Bloom

The Mostly British Film Festival heads into its tenth year with twenty-five new and classic feature films and documentaries from the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, India and, for the first time, Canada. This mix of classics, dramas, thrillers, biopics and stories based on historical events offers something for every film lover.

The Death and Life of Otto Bloom, the most intriguing and original festival entry, is a pseudo-documentary (also known as a mockumentary) that follows the fate of the title character who lives in a reverse timeframe. He has no recollection of past events but is able to remember future endeavors. The film’s narrator is a neuropsychologist who speaks into the camera about her relationship with the strange Otto Bloom, who appears out of nowhere in Melbourne with no memory of where he came from. The narrator is sufficiently intrigued to eventually become his lover. In a nice touch of casting she’s played as a young woman by Matilda Brown and as an older woman by Brown’s actual mother, Rachel Ward. (Dad is Bryan Brown, which means the whole family is featured in the Australian Spotlight.) The film, a first from Australian director Cris Jones, follows Otto through a passionate affair with a rock star. He then becomes a latter-day prophet, able to challenge notions of life, death and time.