Day 4

Road North from Finland opened my day.  A crusty old codger introduces himself to his son who was 3 years old when he abandoned him and his mother.   A respected concert pianist the stiff young man is going through some family dissolution issues himself.  Still he agrees to accompany his dad on a road trip with promises of reward and surprises.  Dad is the ultimate opportunist taking what he needs but he is also a skillful if unlikely charmer.  The son learns more about his origins than anyone should have to but also grows to appreciate his fathers devil-may-care lifestyle.

Laurence Anyways is a gut wrenching and enlightening exploration of the trials of a young headstrong professor and his transition from male to female.  Accompanying him on this dangerous and confusing journey is his eccentric girl friend.  They are deeply in love and honest with each other to the point of explosive ultimatums and separations.   It is a timely and moving treatise on tolerance, judgment and understanding.   

The Czech submission for Oscar’s best foreign language film is In the Shadows, a crime drama set in Communist era Czechoslovakia.  Robberies and murders are being blamed on a small Jewish community and a local police inspector suspects otherwise.  His investigation is hampered by party pressure and the presence of a German [the magnificent Sebastian Koch] from Moscow with motivations of his own.  The art direction, costumes and attention to detail draw us into a time and place so recent and yet almost forgotten.  This is one fine film from a young director just recognized by the festival as one of the 10 new directors to watch.