Citrus Cinema and Bluegrass

Tangerines is a hopeful story of reason, respect and compassion overcoming nationalistic nonsense, bigotry, and misplaced ethnic pride.  Ivo and Markus are the only two Estonians left in the war-torn region of Georgia c. 1992.  They are growing Tangerines and stay out of the way of the fighters.  A skirmish happens on the road between their homes and there are two badly wounded survivors.  Achmed, the mercenary Chechen has met Ivo before and knows he is an honorable man; the young Georgian, Nika is too young to have formed his hatreds.  As they recover they respect Ivo's declaration that his home is a neutral zone and no killing will take place there.  Ivo's goodness, his simple needs and simple ways inspire changes in the two soldiers that are not fully realized until a bizarre encounter threatens all of them.  This is a lovely exploration of goodness that can be found in almost everyone if you know where to look.

Love and Lemons is a Swedish/Norwegian co-production in the vein of Big Night, Eat,Drink, Man, Woman, Todays Special and so many others.  The subject of trying to make restaurant work has been used by film makers so often that it has become a cliché.  This film works because of the performances and the sweet backstory.  The lead, Rakel Wärmländer, is quite good but she is still written to commit numerous acts of reckless idiocy again, directed by a woman! but see it anyway.

My last film of the Fest was The Broken Circle Breakdown from Belgium.  It's a real tearjerker but the wonderful character development carries it out of the maudlin.  Handled in sometimes awkward flashbacks we meet Elise and Didier.  Elise works in a tattoo parlor [sporting much of her profession all over her lovely body] and Didier is a farmer who plays in a bluegrass band.  They fall in love, move in together, have a child and then life punches them in the gut.  The music is authentic, the cast is accomplished [a cameo by Borgman star Jon Bijvoet] and the writing top drawer.

Stalingrad

Russia's first 3-D outing may be the most attended film in their cinematic history.  It boasts the highest price tag so far and the cinematography and CG effects have raised the bar substantially.
Two very different love stories unfold amid one of the bloodiest, longest and most expensive battles of WWII.  Epic in scope but anchored by emotionally nuanced examinations of human frailty, I found this film exceptionally entertaining.  Its 2 hours and 11 minutes flew by as the ashes of war floated down around me.

Slow Food Story

This is a wonderfully informative and entertaining portrait of a true revolutionary who channelled his political verve into the most influential gastronomic enterprise in the world.  "Carlin" Petrini is the godfather of good, clean and fair food.  From his founding of Arcigola in 1986 to the establishment of the The University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenza, a suburb of Bra in Northern Italy we follow Petrini's life and work through testimonials from food gods the world over including our own Alice Waters.  Petrini was born in Bra 64 years ago, and as a young radical contributed culinary articles to various Communist publications.  His passion for food and wine was instrumental in the founding of an Italian wine bank, seed banks, fish fairs, cheese fairs and the world's largest food and wine fair, The Salon del Gusto in Turin.  He continues to promote bio-diversity the world over spending much the and energy promoting his ideas in third world countries.  Let us hope that the raven Film Complex has the foresight to book this film when it becomes available in the US

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The Mute

From Peru, we were subjected to a terminally boring and heavy-handed diatribe against the corruption in every corner of the government.  Billed a film rich in dark humor it should have at least made me laugh once or twice.  I wish I had a "Mute" button.

Leading Ladies

Am I imagining it or people still writing leads roles for women that require them to be stupid for at least half the film?  It was pervasive throughout the heyday of slasher films and thrillers where the perceived audience was young unenlightened men.  The directors and screenwriters were usually men as well.  But this Fest has me wondering if the trend might not be over.  There was an effort to feature women directors as well as films with female leads.  I question several of the choices, two of them were crowd pleasers at the screenings I attended.  Paris or Perish is a comedy written and  directed by the lead actress and you would  think she would have known better.  The story is a fluff piece about the redemption of a shallow, self-absorbed fashionista who gets deported to her backwoods home in Morocco.  The first third of the film you follow Maya as she belittles and degrades the most vulnerable people she meets.  She is hateful beyond belief; so are all of her many BFFs.  She is also incredibly ignorant of what goes on around her oblivious of how cruel she really is.   In less than a month in exile she is MIRACULOUSLY transformed into a warm, caring and enormously talented designer.  Please!
Last Call is co-writen by a woman but directed my a man.  It does not do much better.  Again, the female lead, a theatrical director mounting a production of Camus' Caligula.  Her process is again abusive, self absorbed and ultimately destructive.  She has no idea that anyone around her [many of them are cut from the same mold] might have a life.  She is all that matters.  The ending fails to confirm if there is even a transformation or any redemption for her as the plot shifts to how the others cope.  I was annoyed by the characterization throughout the film[s].  Perhaps I have missed the point.  maybe these distasteful leads were created to illustrate that women can be assholes too!  What a stupid concept.

The Age of Uprising

The Age of Uprising: The legend of Michael Kohlhaas is a period piece set in the 16th Century as the feudal system is declining and civil law and religious reform are sweeping Europe.  Wronged by a local baron, successful horse-breeder and trader, Kohlhaas, seeks revenge with an outlaw band that sometimes goes to far.  Mads Mikkelsen [one of the busiest actors working today] portrays Kohlhaas as principled and honorable. Based on a German Romanticist novel by poet, philosopher, dramatist and novelist Bernd Heinrich Wilhelm von Kleist (18 October 1777 – 21 November 1811), this epic period piece will please most.

Hayao Miyazaki

Spirited Away introduced me to Miyazaki.  I now own all his films.  He should be named a national Treasure of Japan; they do that there.  People are given status because of their talent, so as to perpetuate the genre.  They have ceramicists, sword makers, textile designers, weavers, all given government aid to continue their craft, AND to pass it on.  Miyazaki does that through his Ghibli Studio museum which introduces the art of animation to children and young adults.  Word was that Howl's Moving Castle would be his last film.  Thankfully that is not so.  The Wind Rises is a biographical flight of fancy about  Jiro Horikoshi the designer/engineer responsible for the "Zero" fighter plane.  Set between the two wars it is also a portrait of Japan in the crisis of it's global identity as a third world country.  Miyazaki's fascination with flight [a major theme in his films] is manifest in technical jargon, stylized schematics, and historical references but it is the actual flying sequences, some in dreams, some depicting test flights, that mark this as Miyazaki at his best.

La Grande Belezza

The Great beauty is just that.  Tony Servillo is fascinating as bon vivant Jep Gambardella.  Weighing his relationships with his Fellini-esque coterie of friends and hangers on, his lavish party-all-the-time lifestyle and the implications of his 65th birthday he must now process that the unrequited love of his life has died and her diary has revealed that she had always been in love with him.  The superb screenplay, almost constant dialogue, is a masterpiece.  Rome, in daylight but mostly at night, is Servillo's co-star.  The art direction is gorgeous, the editting subtle, and the soundtrack diverse and completely appropriate.  But Tony Servillo!  And i want his wardrobe.

It's All So Quiet

Set on a bleak Dutch farm we find middle-aged bachelor Helmer caring for his dying father and tending to small herds of sheep and cattle by himself.  His sexual repression is revealed carefully in his association with the few people who visit his farm.  Most revealing is his treatment of Johan, the milk collector, another lonely single who may be a little more in touch with his feelings.  A young hand comes to work for Helmer and cracks his shell with bittersweet consequences.  The film's ending leaves  everything poignantly unresolved but strangely satisfying.  The late Jeroen Willems, brilliant as Helmer, in one his last films gave an authentic and heartbreaking performance.

It's All So Quiet

La Tendresse

"Small" movies fascinate me.  I doubt that a director sets out to make a "small" movie.  I think they happen organically, a product of a sensitive collaboration of cast and crew.  Tenderness, the theme and title of this film is a lovely, well paced story of divorced parents teaming up to care for their son injured in a skiing accident.  Lisa and Franz have always respected each other and civilly discuss their past on the long drive to the ski resort.  Funny, warm  and rich in emotion La Tendresse confirms my faith that true love transcends conflict.  There is a lovely cameo by Sergei Lopez [one of my faves] as a hitchhiking fisherman on his way to Norway.

Horses & Men

Something many of you don't know about me is that until about 3 years ago I had not even so much as touched a horse.  To this day I have not been on one.   I am not afraid of them; I have just never been exposed to them.  I appreciate their beauty and I have many friends who are deeply involved in horse culture.  This review is for them in particular.  Of Horses and Men is Iceland's submission to the Best Foreign Language Oscar.  It is a "collection" of stories set in a bucolic community where horses rock!
Funny and charming horses and men and, as he director suggested, "in Iceland, women are men also!"

The Wall

I wish it was Pink Floyd!  Another dystopian outing, this time set in the beautiful Austrian Alps, tells the ridiculous tale of a self absorbed woman being trapped alone by an invisible wall.  Bunuel did it well in "Exterminating Angel",  TV's "The Prisoner" addressed many of the same issues, and Jean Hegland wrote an engaging post apocalyptic novel [Into the Forest] of feminist strength but The Wall  rehashes it all in the guise of a woman having to learn the "Old Ways" to survive.  The voice over narrative [her simplistic "journal"] tries so hard to sound profound that it renders her a cartoon.  I think Austria has submitted this as their Oscar contender for Best Foreign Language Film.  They must not have had much to choose from.

Traffic Department

Traffic Department is set in modern day Poland and examines the the chaotic, violent, hilarious and
disturbing nature of a modern post-Soviet traffic department.  I started out thinking I would not like this movie as the first 15 minutes is shot on mobile phones.  Annoying at first, this clever vehicle takes on an edge as it reveals a culture of corruption, rampant sex and sexual harassment, and conspiracy.  The "good"cop in the bunch is framed for a murder and he was too drunk to remember what actually happened.  Armed with a dozen or so mobile phones used as evidence in various traffic stops,and arrests he pieces together the lost hours to reveal a conspiracy that implicates the rich and powerful.  Dark humor permeates the story throughout never letting you get to upset with what is actually happening.  I am curious as to what the Polish government and law enforcement think of this film.  It paints a pretty bleak picture.

My Sweet Pepperland

Fresh out of the military, a young, head strong sheriff takes a job in a remote town in a wild territory.  There he encounters a beautiful school marm trying to teach the children of the suspicious oppressed townspeople.  The villain owns most of the land there and has run things as long as anyone can remember.  He does not welcome change.  Sound familiar?  But this oater is set in Kurdistan!   I hope this gem gets distribution because it is just wonderful!  The cultural differences which we would expect in a movie set in a primitive and remote Islamic community are there but play as minor issues.

Patch Town

Shades of Juenet & Caro with a dash of Terry Gilliam and seasoned with essence of Rocky Horror Picture Show, Patch Town enters the pantheon of unlikely musicals based on unlikely premises.  Grown-up toys [literally, toys that have grown up] must battle a dystopian corporation run by a very unhappy and dastardly scientist in order to regain their past as loved members of family and society. A good cast of unknowns [I did recognize one bit part] do well expanding an award-winning short to a feature film.  This is another of the many Canadian films featured at this years Fest.

Gerontophilia

A Montreal teenager, Lake, with a "penchant for pensioners" takes a job in an assisted-care facility and falls in love with Mr. Peabody, an 82 year old patient who is drugged daily to keep him in a semi-catatonic state.  Lake slowly weans him from the drugs and eventually spirits him away on a road trip to see the Pacific Ocean, Mr. Peabody's dream.  Unconventional [to say the least] director, Bruce  LaBruce, directs this sweet film with a warm, gentle hand.  There are moments that may disturb the less open-minded but this film explores much more about aging than the sexual issues that the title implies.

Cupcakes

Another offering from Israel's Eytan Fox [Walk on Water, Yossi and Jagger], Cupcakes takes it cue from the likes of Mama Mia and Strictly Ballroom.  Six residents of an apartment complex playfully record a song they made up to cheer up the recently abandoned baker of the bunch.  It is secretly submitted to a Euro-song competition and takes the country by storm.  The up-beat pop soundtrack, six personal melodramas, crazy music industry manipulators and socio-political mores liven the mix. The cast includes many of Israel's biggest stars including gorgeous, Efrat Dor and Israel's answer to Sean Connery, the ever sexy Lior Ashkenazi This crowd pleaser with definitely make it to "Best of the Fest" and I hope it makes it to local theatres.

Rabbit Woman

Am I watching the right film?  Am I in the right theatre?  It's in Chinese, shot in a Chinese market and without subtitles.  What's going on?  Probably headed for cult status with little or no exposure, Rabbit Woman is a great little conspiracy-driven thriller. Good, fast-paced editing intercut with Japanese style anime tells the tale of a conscientious civil servant caught in a web of 21st century genetic crimes.  Chinese Tongs, flesh eating rabbits and a backwoods gang armed to the teeth make for a riotous ride.

A Place in Heaven

This fictional biography of  a top Israeli general with political ambitions parallels the recent history of Israel.  Character development is used a vehicle to examine issues of principle, faith, skepticism, family, pride, religion and ignorance.  Needless to say much of the plot leaves me cold as i all never fathom the appeal of deep religious conviction or unquestioning nationalistic fervor but the film is well worth a visit for the excellent acting, creative editing [especially the frequent flashbacks] and stark cinematography.

I am puzzled...

Two of today's films leave me greatly puzzled by an aspect of modern cinema.  Medeas and I Am Yours are both accomplished films with fine performances and moments of brilliance but the endings leave me cold.  Medeas is for Terrance Malik lovers.  It is excruciatingly slow but beautiful to watch.  The narrative is minimal, the storyline seems to be about quiet resignation and repression.  The denouement is cruel, unlikely and almost sensationalist.  The ending isn't.  You could hear the audiences disappointment when the credits started rolling.   Catalina Sandino Moreno and  Brían F. O'Byrne are both superb as are their 4 children [the infant is also quite a performer].  I think this one will go the way of Days of Heaven and be designated a masterpiece by a few but seen by very few.
I Am Yours is Norway's submission to the Oscars and again the performances are wonderful.  Amrita Acharia plays a Pakistani single mother living at loggerheads with her annoyingly traditional family, in Oslo.  Ola Rapace [Noomi's ex-husband] place her commitment challenged "boyfriend." Erotically charged, well edited and smartly shot it is relatively entertaining, but again, the credits roll and the audience groans.  Is it merely convenient to end a film like this or am I missing something.

The Grand Seduction

If you enjoyed Local Hero, Waking Ned Devine and The Englishman Who Went up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain you will probably love this little picture.  Brendan Gleeson plays a scheming fisherman in a dying little harbor in Newfoundland.  They need a town doctor in residence in order to secure the location of a new factory and hundreds of much needed jobs.  He enlists the entire 120 residents of Tickle Cove to seduce a young doctor into making it his home.  With few resources but great community they succeed…. sort of.