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.  

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.  

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.  

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.