I believe we
have an innate obligation to love, most of us, anyway. Do we ever actually examine that love? Not that loved one but the emotion itself. If I feel that I love someone in particular
how do I manage that love. I subscribe
to the idea that it should be unconditional.
What does that mean and how does it apply to the object of this love? Will there always be love there or is it
capable of fading? Can I imagine it
fading. If I can then my guess is it is
not truly unconditional. I am always
intrigued by the relationships friends have with their exes. Where there is animosity and hate I suspect
there was never real love. Lust, desire,
need, control, power, resignation, convention, security maybe seemed like love
but were probably not love. I think
that’s why exes find it so easy to dislike each other; there was never anything
really deep to warrant otherwise. Many will argue this point but I think it is
pretty clear. I think this also applies to parents, children and siblings. Convention wants us [expects us] to love each
other but there has to be more than convention.
Maintaining unconditional love involves a lot of other emotions and
dynamics. Communication, forgiveness,
understanding, support and generosity all enhance the experience of unconditional
love. I think one of the greatest
dangers is demanding, even merely expecting love back. Then is this the antithesis of
unconditional, to expect love back? I also believe that we are capable of
directing this toward more that one individual.
Some, the truly enlightened [?], the elevated [?] can possibly direct it
toward all of humanity. They are likely
to end up incarcerated or institutionalized.
I guess I’ll try to keep it to one or two… or three.
Search This Blog
Sunday, December 29, 2013
Saturday, January 12, 2013
10 Down and 1 to Go
“The Jews of Egypt” is, at best, a university level
documentary project and it isn’t an A.
The dialogue, voice over and talking heads is mostly in French and
Arabic. The subtitles are in Arabic and
English. They read like they were
translated from a dictionary with less than enough knowledge of the
language. They are also shown
simultaneously, the French and Arabic, and at such a speed as to make it next
to impossible to keep up. Some of the
stories are compelling but they jump all over the place trying to attach
themselves to core nature of the film project.
The young director seem preoccupied with the onset of Zionist influences
in the Jewish community in Cairo, painting the community as secular and its
inhabitants as Egyptians [read that as quasi-Muslim] before they were Jews.
“Any Day Now“ is the last of the “Talking Pictures” program
with Alan Cumming as the star guest.
It’s a lovely film, timely, touching and intelligent. Set in the 70s it follows the uphill battle
of two gay men trying to adopt a 14-year-old Downs Syndrome boy who has been
abandoned by his junky mother. The
performances are so good, the writing so witty and heart felt that this film
has become a darling of the Film Fest circuit.
And who know that Cumming has such a great singing voice?
“Angel’s Share” is another feel good film set in Scotland
and concerning a rather odd heist scenario.
Four young people trying to make something of themselves decide to rob
an angel’s share of a very rare Scotch.
It is funny and real and bloody difficult to understand. It would be a damn near perfect movie if it
had subtitles.
“Mental” stars the ever brilliant Toni Colette as a wild
woman hired to nanny for 5 very troublesome girls while their mother is “on
holiday” at a mental institution. Their
father, Anthony LaPaglia is a philandering politician concerned only with his
campaign. A menagerie of case studies
from the DSM inhabits the neighborhood, literally. There is lots of laugh-out-load silliness,
over-the-top characters and garish color.
An addition to the pantheon of Australian humor this is a film for the
whole family.
A Funny Day 9
“The Final Member” comes from Iceland [and Canada, Italy and
the USA]. Siggi Hjartarson has 280
penises from 93 different species in his Phallological Museum in Iceland. He really needs only one so he can die
happy. The quest for a human penis falls
to the likes of an Icelandic adventurer [Siggi first choice] and an American
who has the edge because he is willing to donate the member before he dies;
that’s right, he will have it surgically removed and mounted for the
presentation. Problems arise when it is
noted that the Icelandic choice is 95 years old and experiencing “shrinkage”
which may disqualify him. They have a
5-inch minimum requirement for the museum.
On the other hand the American is demanding too much and has gone and
had the Stars and Stripes tattooed on the head of his entry. This is a funny and very entertaining 75
minutes but, I fear you will have to wait for it to be released on Netflix.
“Margarita” has been a Festival favorite and the buzz is
understandable if a bit over the top. Don’t
get me wrong; it’s a good film on an important subject, well made and well
acted. It’s just a little too sweet and
formulaic. Nicola Correia Damude plays
an illegal nanny who is about to be fired by her over-extended employers. The trouble is they learn that they simply
cannot live without her. Immigration
reform, gay marriage, love and commitment are all addressed with intelligence
and compassion. This one may and should
go mainstream in spite of its sexuality; brace yourself, Margarita, the illegal
alien is also a lesbian. See it, please.
“Papadopoulos & Sons” is another crowd pleaser from the
UK [and Greece]. It is yet another
reversal-of-fortune comedy with all the conventions but it is entertaining and
funny. There is nothing here that is original
but still, feel-good movies are created to make us feel good. This will do the trick.
“The Color of the Chameleon” from Bulgaria was a bit
difficult for me. It is a very stylish
noir thriller with abundant references to old Hollywood. I found it a little too absurdist and the
humor forced or beyond my scope. There
were a few in the audience who howled with delight so often that I can only
imagine they were Bulgarian and savvy to the “in” jokes. Still it is visually remarkable with fine
set design and art direction. If you are
a fan of Kafka and/or David Lynch this is a film for you.
Friday, January 11, 2013
Dia Ocho, आठ दिन, Dag Otte, Day 8
“Kapringen” [A Hijacking] is already being celebrated with
major festival prizes worldwide. This
Danish film follows the arduous negotiating between the CEO of a cargo firm and
the Somali pirates who have captured the ship and crew. The sterile environment of the corporate
headquarters shot in bright antiseptic light contrasts with horrible conditions
the crew endures at the hands of gun crazy Muslim bandits. The room the crew is locked in is dark,
stuffy from lack of air and reeks of human excrement.
Days turn to weeks and eventually months as the bargaining
moves at a frustrating pace.
This is dark stuff with moral and ethical questions that
constantly leap from today’s headlines.
Just how much is human life worth; when is suffering too much?
One of my favorite books has finally been brought to the
screen. Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s
Children follows the lives of two boys born at midnight on the eve of India’s
independence. One is born into wealth,
the other poverty but the babies are switched at birth and we are immersed in a
Fielding-esque satire of political upheaval, class warfare, and
oppression. The films handing of Rushdie’s
“magical realism” is lyrical and understated.
The caste is lovely to look at and the locations are gorgeously exotic and
claustrophobically decrepit. I read the
book so long ago that I don’t know if this is a valid recommendation but the
story came back to me in all its wondrous beauty.
The director was at the screening of Sweden’s “Call Girl”
and he introduced the film with the tongue-in-cheek observation that he was
surprised to see the theatre full at mid-day to watch a 2.5 hour movie about
the dark underbelly of Sweden. I sat
next to a Swedish woman connected to the industry and asked her why so many
Scandinavian films choose to examine the dark, the corrupt, the violent and
perverse. She thought for a moment and agreed
that was in fact the trend and it may be that they want to show that the region
is not all spic-and-span, not all blonde and beautiful, not the stereotyped
light and bright palette the region has been painted in since the 1950’s. “Call Girl” follows the trend set by the
Wallender stories, Steig Larssen, Sjöwall & Wahlöö, Jo Nesbo and others.
If we are to take anything away from this film, the government of
Sweden, it’s liberalism and quasi-socialist image exists as a means to hide the
reality that everyone is corrupt or corruptible. If you try to expose it you will be
dispatched before you open your mouth.
Trust no one and watch your back.
All this aside, the movie does portray a very believable scenario about
the recruitment of women and very young girls into the dead end life of the
call girl.
Cuba has
held my fascination for the past 20-odd years, since before my 1999 New Years’
celebration visit. This was the only
Cuban film at the Fest so I had to fit it in.
Lucy Mulloy wrote and directed her debut feature “Una Noche” about three
young people attempting to flee the limiting prospects of life in Havana. Her three leads are remarkably solid for
first time actors and we will see more of them I am certain. The Island is shot with affection, daily life
is portrayed in stark simplicity and there is very little political posturing. The enemy is not so much the government as
local law enforcement. The scenes shot
on and in the water are impressive for a low budget freshman effort.
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Day 7
From the Czech Republic comes “4Some,” a sexual farce so completely non-judgmental, hilarious and graphic I can’t imagine anything close ever being made in this country. Two middle-aged couples go on a Caribbean working vacation and decide that their respective marriages could use a little spicing up. The solution is spouse swapping.
The sidesplitting humor not withstanding, the film shies
away from nothing. Unglamorous bodies,
awkward couplings, parent-child/generation gaps, permissiveness and testing the
bonds of friendship are all handled with great care and sensibility. I fear it will never be screened in anywhere
but in the most cosmopolitan population.
Keep your fingers crossed that Netflix gets it because you don’t want to
miss it.
“Bwakaw” is a small yellow dog owned by the town curmudgeon,
Rene. She strayed into his life and he
half-heartedly cares for her. He is
tolerated by a rag-tag bunch of misfits who are tired of his constant
end-of-life machinations. It took him
over 60 years to come to terms with his homosexuality and he still spurns all
attempts to fix him up. Tragically
several incidents validate his preoccupation with death but when Bwakaw is
diagnosed with terminal cancer it seems his life flies out of control. His love for his little dog surprises
everyone and it looks like Rene may finally blossom. Octogenarian, Eddie Garcia is a superstar in
the Philippines and this may be his greatest role to date.
“Two Lives” is a dark thriller from Norway and Germany. A seemingly idyllic Norwegian family is torn
apart as an investigation is mounted to establish culpability for crimes committed
against children of German soldiers and Norwegian women. Those wishing to leave sleeping dogs lie are
willing to do anything it takes save their skins. I don’t know that many of us even know of
this dark episode in Norwegian history and this is a top-notch vehicle for
bringing it to life. Liv Ullman has a
substantial role.
My last for the day is a comedy from Japan. Kenji Uchida reworks the identity-swap
genre A hapless loser grabs the chance
to switch identities with an accident victim who has amnesia. He quickly realizes he has slipped into the
underworld and maneuvers himself deeper and deeper into the cutthroat world of
gangsters, hit men, and molls.
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Day 6, a Stinker and a Half
Hannah Arendt is everything a biopic should be. The cast is superb; Barbara Sukowa soars as Hannah; Axel Milberg is warm and cozy hubby Heinrich and Janet McTeer is a wisecracking Mary McCarthy. The film focuses on The New Yorker hiring Hannah to cover the 1961 Eichmann trial in Jerusalem. Her 5-part article [later a book] is not exactly what they expected. The firestorm rages today. The book has only recently been translated into Hebrew. At issue is free speech, as well as how a misinterpretation of text can lead to suppression of that freedom. Are some more easily offended? Who has a right to be offended? Does being offended allow you to offend? This film is a wonderful historical document with big questions and lots of lessons to learn.
Sitting through half the film watching three somewhat amoral
young people act out their disdain for contemporary society was almost too much
for me. But explanations for their
behavior was telegraphed sufficiently that I stuck it out. For the most part it turned out to be pretty
conventional stuff about repressed childhood memories and secrets save for one
very shocking and moving moment.
Unfortunately this is not enough to recommend it.
Rust and Bone follows hunk Matthias Schoenaerts [star of
last years Bullhead] as he heads for Antibes with his young son. There he gets caught up in bareknuckle
fighting. Working part time as a bouncer
he meets Marion Cotillard who trains Orcas. She has a tragic accident drawing
them closer together. But this isn’t
enough to shake sense into his thuggish mentality. A heartbreaking incident finally brings him
around.
My last film today held a lot of possibilities. The two leads, Charlotte Rampling and Gabriel
Byrne are solid enough to carry most films….. NOT! “I, Anna” is a real stinker. Trying to create a London Noir thriller with
an amateurish script is bad enough but actually dragging bad performances out
of two fine actors is too much. I was so
annoyed by it that I left half way through.
“Mikey never walks out of a movie!”
It was that bad.
I think Ms. Rampling has slipped into playing herself as a
fem fatale. I have seen it before.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)