Wolf Hall

Recently finished Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel.  What a read!  Rich in historical detail, colorful language, and intrigue, you are transported to the time of Henry VIII and his efforts to shed Catherine and wed Anne.  The focus is on Thomas Cromwell, Cardinal Wolsey's aide and then Henry's most valued minister.  Mantel portrays him in a more favorable light than that with  which history has illuminated him.  It is also a remarkable illustration of Western Civilization and in particular our Anglo ancestry as an incredibly ignorant, savage and cruel heritage.  There is a BBC miniseries in the works, scheduled to run in the UK in 2015; will we get it the following year; I hope so!

Mentally Ill-fated

Patrick's Day is a remarkably good film about the difficulties of loving and caring for the mentally ill.  Moe Dunford is extraordinary as the gentle, good-natured schizophrenic, Patrick. Kerry Fox is his loving misguided mother who will and does everything to keep him from the real world.  But Patrick is now an adult and a chance encounter with a damaged airline flight attendant leads him into a world of love and devotion he knows so little about.  It's a cruel and painful process as he tries to understand his sexual awakening.  I would suggest that this may even garner Oscar buzz next year. 

Desert Wolf

Theeb [Wolf] is a young Bedouin who wants to be grown up like his older brother  follows him and a British soldier and his Arab guide into the dangerous Arabian desert in order to deliver a mysterious box to a detachment at some distant oasis.  As calamity after calamity forces Theed to grow up faster than he ever expected his courage and determination pay off..  The locations are stunning, reminiscent of Lawrence of Arabia, and the performances are all solid particularly Jacir Eid as "Wolf."

Sergio Leone does the Alps

No, it's not Sergio Leone but it a spaghetti western of sorts or a Spätzle western.  Austria has chosen to submit, for Oscar consideration, The Dark Valley, a mysterious, almost Gothic tale of a stranger, a town with secrets, an evil villain and his blood-thirsty sons.  If you love a good oater and don't mind subtitles, this one's for you.

Mumbles

Keep On Keepin' On is a loving tribute to the Jazz great, Clark Terry.  CT, as he is called by his friends, is perhaps the greatest living [or dead] jazz trumpeter.  He is also an enthusiastic teacher and the film focuses in depth on his relationship with a young blind piano player who understands completely the greatness of the man who so freely and lovingly molds him into a man.  The music and archival footage are enough to make this film but the human story is so much more. 

What an unpleasant surprise

Chagall/Malevich is the story of Chagall's Vitebsk period and his "friendship" with Supremacist painter Kazimir Malevich.  I won't tell you any more of the story because I walked out.  I don't know if it was something I ate but as the story developed I became more and more nauseated.   There is no excuse for allowing such horrible film-making into such an established festival.  It was worse than a high school project.  The actors were like cardboard cutouts.  Chagall ran around with a silly clueless grin on his face.  His students were all ignorant and shallow.  His wife was portrayed as a "fixer," 

a love-will-conquer-all earth goddess that had no idea what was going on around her.  Indeed, none of the characters showed any sign of cognizance.  The cinematography is of the more-color-the-better school and the editing... well, this is why I think I started to feel ill. I suspect there was an effort to create complex characters but the director [now 80] fell well short of the mark settling for fickle, naive and childish.  I think it odd that I got so upset by it; I didn't calm down for another hour and skipped my last two scheduled films.

Strawberry Fields Forever

Living Is Easy With Eyes Closed is a gentle gem about a kind-hearted but lonely teacher who uses Beatles lyrics to teach English to his young students.  Set in 1966 he sets out to find John Lennon who is in Southern Spain shooting a movie.  He needs to clarify some lyrics.  He picks up two hapless teenagers, a pregnant girl running away from an abusive home for unwed mothers and a mop-headed boy escaping the tyranny of his cop father.  When they reach the seaside their lives unfold to each other and for a short time they integrate themselves with the friendlier locals.  Life lessons abound as each reaches for their undefined goals.  It's a sweet and funny film and stars one of Almodovar's regulars, Javier Camara.

I was waiting for this one...and I was not disappointed!

Relatos Salvajes, from Argentina, was co-produced by Pedro and Agustin Almodovar and it is quite obvious why they choose to participate.  Six stories of rage, revenge and comeuppance bombard you with the darkest of humor, graphic violence and absolutely perverse slapstick. You also get a good helping of social criticism, questions about morality and the nature of opportunity. My kind of movie

Two Architects

The Nature of Modernism - E. Stewart Williams, Architect is one of two documentaries about Southern California Architects.  Williams defined Palm Springs and almost single-handedly created our current craze for "Mid-Century Modern."  From Frank Sinatra's first Palm Springs home to the home of the Palm Springs Art Museum [the venue for this film] we follow his career often narrated by the man himself.  He emerges as quite a wonderful guy, much loved by his friends and colleagues. Through this film,his legacy cannot be denied.

Lutah Maria Riggs was a very successful architect in Santa Barbara and like Williams, her designs define the Santa Barbara style.  Despite being a woman in a man's world she excelled and was much sought after for her unique interpretations of classic Spanish Colonial architecture.  The film makes a lot of the "in spite of being a woman" meme but I saw little indication that she ever really suffered for it.  She was eccentric, strong willed and so talented that she was as far as I can tell as successful if not as recognized as her contemporaries.

a Dance

Martin is a young and naive drifter living on the streets by doing odd jobs.  He has returned to his hometown looking for [unsuccessfully] his last living relative. Eugenio, who turns out to be a childhood friend, hires him to clean up the house and grounds of his family home.  Thus begins a cautious, laconic dance of seduction as the two young men begin to relate to each other.  The Wagnerian soundtrack is lush and appropriate as this lovely pas de deux waltzes to it's gentle, intelligent denouement.  This is a refreshing and easy to watch movie about nothing more than finding love.

Choosing sides

Mateo is almost a documentary about community activism and courage.  With a mostly non-professional cast, Maria Gamboa  has fashioned a moral tale of the prodigal son and his redemption. Mateo is a good-natured if opportunistic teenager who does little jobs for his petty gangster uncle.  When he realizes the impact his deeds have on the community he tries to make amends.  He draws strength and inspiration when he is told to join an extra-curricular theater group or flunk out of school.  There he meets Ana and her misfit friends who embrace him.

Under The Skin

The English title "What's Between Us" was an unwise choice and I think trivializes the intent of the film.  Although it deals with a disintegrating marriage the very nature of the husband is the point, not how, when or why it has come between them.  After 18 years of marriage and 3 kids Frank announces that he has fallen in love with someone else.  He has not fallen out of love with his wife nor does he want to lose his family.  But that is what happens when his wife tries to thwart his effort to be honest and to betray his very nature.

Difficult

I won't recommend The Treatment because the subject matter is so difficult to handle.  I generally avoid films and novels where children are the victims.  This is a typical European noir thriller in so many ways but the hunt for the pedophile serial killer takes on a convoluted examination of victimization and the shame inherent in the way it is handled by law enforcement, medicine, community and the victim's own psyche.  There are great performances, taut editing and ominous cinematography.  Geert Van Rampelberg is superb as the troubled investigator.  He reminds me of a young Javier Bardem.

I Liked All 4 Today

I thought techo-thrillers were a thing of the past but this German reinterpretation also draws on "The Usual Suspects" "Fight Club" and "Primal Fear" for that extra jolt.  Hell, Tom Schilling even looks like Edward Norton.  Try as you might to read the telegraphed punches, it's likely you will really enjoy the techno-knockout.

The longest title of the fest turns out to be the funniest as well.  Thankfully there were subtitles because you would be hard pressed to hear half the dialogue for the raucous laughter, my own included.  On the day of his 100th birthday, as the staff and other residents of the elder-care facility are preparing him a party, Allan decides to climb out the window and lead us on a hilarious joy ride of rich dark humor and pratfall inanity.  Don't miss this sidesplitting laugh-fest. 

No laughter here, but biting satire and questions of what value means.  A single father with a dying teenage daughter, a darkly submissive and bored housewife, her shrink husband and a elderly retired teacher with a very dark past collide in  a series of brutal and puzzling episodes of what we will do for money and why.  Not for the faint of heart but brilliant movie making.

And Effie Gray.  This gorgeous costume drama of ill-fated romance and dashed dreams revolves around the young wife of Victorian art critic, John Ruskin.  After 6 unconsummated years of marriage and with the advice Lady Eastlake, the always wonderful Emma Thompson, she creates a scandal filing for and receiving an annulment.  Her new love interest is the Pre-Raphaelite painter, John Everett Millais.  The film perfectly captures the light, color and formality of this wonderful movement and Dakota Fanning is the woman in the paintings.

I saw this one before but can't figure out where...

Ida is the tale of a novitiate about to take her vows who is sent out into the cruel world of postwar Poland to test her faith[?].  Visiting her worldly Aunt Wanda she discovers her heritage.  The hypnotic B&W treatment of a severely damaged nation in the throws of a not so successful communism and a damp, dank winter illustrate the anxiety Ida feels on her journey to find out what happened to her parents.  I saw this film sometime in 2013 and wonder how it qualifies to compete for this year's Foreign Language Oscar.  It has a good chance of grabbing it.

Feel Good!

OK, everyone, a feel-good movie... I tend to stay away from anything advertised as a feel-good movie but this one is about autism, MS and math!  Emotionally crippled Nathan is convinced to enter the most respected math competition in the world.  Diagnosed early on  to be functioning along the autism spectrum, the death of his father in an automobile accident sends him over the edge.  Another damaged maths wiz "Humphreys" agrees to tutor  Nathan.  Humphreys is suffering from Multiple Sclerosis and has turned to drugs and alcohol to cope.  In parallel lines they find solutions and love.  The math nerds are all wonderful with witty, clever, and often cruel exchanges revealing a  hidden world of the truly "gifted" and the truly "troubled."

Tone poems... only if you have nothing else to do and want to watch something pretty

Futuro Beach is a Brazil/Germany co-production and takes place in Brazil [on the beach] and in Germany [urban winter].  Donato is a lifeguard who is unable to save the life of a young German Motocross rider who gets pulled under at a very dangerous beach. Donato then falls for the other Motocross rider, Konrad who he does save.  Konrad needs to return to Germany and Donato follows him abruptly leaving his life behind.  Soon Donato tires of the winter but can't make himself leave.  All this setup is really superfluous to this gorgeously shot tome poem of love, loss, responsibility and family.  It is quite erotic so be forewarned.

Winds of August is also a lovely tone poem also filmed in Brazil.  There is little in the way of story other than the bizarre activities of the locals.  But there is lots of lovely skin, a crazy soundtrack and beautiful Brazil.

Lake Los Angeles also lacks the narrative arc but does have a bit more story but I found that uninteresting.  It is shot at Lake Los Angeles in NW LA County and desolate winter desert strewn with the ruins of so many dreams is the back drop for two lost souls destined to find each other.

A Not So Austere Greece

 15 year-old exuberantly gay Dany and is older brother Ody set out for Thessaloniki so that Ody can audition for the "Greek Idol" TV show.  They also plan to find their dead-beat dad who may or may not be living there. Dany is unbridled and dangerously volatile in the face of homophobia, injustice and the politically stalled state of the nation and Ody has to and has had to rescue him from trouble all their young lives.  Dany's life is filled with fantasy, old Italian torch songs and a memory of  his infancy snuggling against a virile hairy chest.  The warm yet strained bond between the two brothers makes for a delightful if rocky road movie.

Romantic comedies are not my cup of tea... but

Love at First Fight, cloyingly renamed from the more appropriate Les Combattants, is about a couple of opposites, Madeleine, an apocalypse obsessed survivalist and Arnaud, a good-natured slacker.  Smitten by her fierce solitude Arnaud follows Madeleine into a survival boot camp/training session.  His innate pragmatism almost immediately eclipses her know-it-all defiance of military protocol.  In an unexpected turn they need to draw on each other in a  very real quest for survival.  Love results.  Simple and uncomplicated this funny and often biting social commentary whittled away at my initial misgivings and won me over

Don't Bother...

Billed as a laugh-out-loud comedy Li'l Quinquin is disturbingly unkind, incredibly obtuse venture into absurd film making.  And it's 3 hours and 20 excruciating minutes long.  Worst of the Fest... so far.

A Timely Tale of Greed, Despair and Responsibility.

Human Capital [Il capitale umano] is a magnificent movie.  Encompassing pretty much of the 10 commandments and the 7 deadly sins, this edgy, thoughtful, spellbinding film skewers contemporary society with believable characters, pithy dialogue and a convoluted plot of exquisite design.  A tragic incident is told and retold by three characters each "episode" further illuminating the circumstances and sinking us deeper in to the motives and manipulations of greed, envy, trust and compassion.  So far it gets my Best of the Fest.

Homoerotic Noir

Cut Snake is Australian noir.  The psychopath, the hero with a past and his good woman are confined to a claustrophobic 3 day binge of extreme violence, dark secrets revealed, and a beautifully realized tragic denouement.  Sullivan Stapleton is Pommie, a dangerously aggressive [source of title] sexy bear recently released from prison.  Alex Russell is the beautiful boy/man "Sparra," trying to escape his past and build a new life with his new fiancee.  The two have deeper ties than their vaguely linked past and  Pommie's unbridled violence pulls Sparra back into a heartbreaking dance of death.  Not for the faint of heart.

Winter Magic

Wow!  This is a remarkable film on so many levels.  It is exquisitely filmed in Cappadocia at the onset of winter.  The faint light of the houses cut into the rock towers illuminates, just barely, this extraordinary landscape.   The interiors, 90% of the film are lit like Caravaggio paintings, revealing the subtle detailing only after your eyes adjust to the warm golden light,  It is a long [3+ hours] conversation between Aydin, a retired actor, now inn-keeper and his extended family, neighbors and tenants.  Aydin is an intellectual and most recognize this if they don't necessarily appreciate it.  Their long exchanges, often bitingly witty and sometimes painful reveal a man a little full of himself and those around him reluctant to take issue with his pronouncements.  Haluk Biliner, oh how I love this man, plays Aydin.  He is absolutely remarkable.  He is the film.  The beautiful Melisa Sözen plays his young wife, bored and self-centered.  Their dialogues are like slices of classical theater, rich, provocative and at times heartbreaking.  Since it has already won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, it is very likely we will see it in our backwater community.  Don't miss it and don't drink too much liquid before it.

Lost Art and Lost Youth or just plain lost

Packed In A Trunk is a worthwhile documentary about the discovery of a trove of paintings and prints by a very talented artist long forgotten.  The woman's work is fine but the gushing and grandiloquent descriptions get a bit tiresome relatively quickly.  The researchers are eager to paint Wilkinson as a figure of much greater import than i can accept.  Her legacy may be important and perhaps in the history of art colonies in Provincetown MA very important but the rewards seem much more an aspect of family pride.  The inclusion of a lengthy and giggly session with a psychic is very off-putting.  Still her art is a significant enough discovery to warrant close and further study and this film is sure to forward that end. 

The Grandad [also called The Grandfather] is an Icelandic comedy about fading youth, life decisions, regrets and rewards.  At the risk of sounding like a snob, I think it lacks sophistication or maybe the broad humor is beyond my grasp.  It's a pass.

Living Out of Time

In 1971 director, Nicholas Roeg, and his young discovery, David Gulpilil dazzled the world with "Walkabout."  44 years later Gulpilil won the Best Actor nod at Cannes.  Charlie's Country was co-written by Gulpilil and covers poor aging Charlie as he attempts to connect to the "old ways" in the face of the rampant institutional racism in modern Australia.  Charlie seems to have a glib answer for everything and they all make perfect sense... in a perfect world.  My favorite exchange is during his instructions about his release from jail on parole.  He is told he cannot drink and moreover cannot associate with known drinkers or the police will put him away.  His response is that the police are known drinkers and they should be warned not to associate with him.  It's a lovely film with a lovely actor who h-is working to create that perfect world.

 Gemma Bovery is an almost perfect film [almost because someone will inevitably point outs its flaws to me, flaws that as yet I cannot find!] that I pray will get wide distribution.  It is not an important film, it is not a learning experience, it isn't trying to change the world.  It is a perfect entertainment, aptly described by one reviewer as an amuse-bouche that Francophiles will savor.  Raymond is the town baker in a small Normandy village and he is very French.  A young English couple buy the dilapidated house across the road and their first encounter rife with all the literary coincidences convinces the baker that he may be witnessing a modern version of his favorite book, Flaubert's Madame Bovary.  This ia a 19th Century farce played out of time with great humor and warmth.  I can hurl some superlatives here but best you come up with them on your own.

From Low Lives to High Fashion

We go back to Uruguay for the comic tale of an aging nebbish and his hunt for a Nazi war criminal.  Yes it is a comedy and a good one.  Submitted for our Best Foreign Language Oscar it could prove to be quite a crowd pleaser.   Jacob Kaplan views himself as a loser,  Wilson Contreras views himself as a loser.  There doesn't seem to be anyone the contradict their opinions.  They set out together to make something of their lives only to discover all is not as it seems.

Do not confuse this film with the bio-pic "Yves St. Laurent;"  This is an impressionistic exploration of the culture and cult of haute couture in the swinging 70s.  It is was all sex, drugs and rock'n'roll.  There are quite explicit scenes from this now legendary demimonde and the excellent cast illustrate the high stakes, low lives and pitfalls of over-excess brilliantly.  It is a bit overlong [2.5 hours] and it plays loosely with time but it is colorful, fast-paced and sensational.
  

a good Match

Sir Patrick Stewart takes on Frank Langella's role from the widely praised Stephan Belber play.  It's a perfect  role for Stewart's ability to portray authority, pedantry and condescension.  Tobias is an aging ballet star teaching in NYC.  He agrees to an interview by a woman researching the dance scene in the 70s.  Belber pulls out all the stops in his directing the cinematic rendering of his play.  The cast is sound [3 characters] and the setting is precious.  As ulterior motives emerge we are treated to three very different views on life, love, family, responsibility, gender roles and homophobia.  I just wish the denouement was not telegraphed so early.  The entire cast and the director attended the film and provided a Q&A following.

The Alps and the Mediterranean

Sweden's submission for Best Foreign Language Oscar is Force Majeure [in Sweden "Turist"]
The secure structure of a young, well off family is shattered after a near disaster paints the husband as a coward.  It is only the wife who has witnessed his non-heroic behavior but she makes a point of falling apart over it in the presence of others.  In turn her husband has a slow and cruel nervous breakdown.   All this sounds very heavy but much is played for laughs [of sorts] and aside from the gorgeous setting in the French Alps and often white-out beauty of the camera work, it is a slow, slightly long examination of the culture of maleness and all it has come to mean in modern society.

Fidelio, Alice's Journey is, if I may be so bold, a women's picture designed for men.  Its' not so much a lesson as a an opinion piece about gender roles.  Alice is a respected and  and up-and-coming nautical/mechanical engineer.  She has been given a last minute opportunity for a "promotion" but signing on to a tramp steamer as their 3rd in command.  She does not realize that  she will be working "under" an ex-lover, the captain.  She is leaving her Norwegian boyfriend, perhaps the true love of her life.  He has agreed to wait as it is such a great opportunity for her career.  But as lust always rears it's beautiful head, Alice  is quickly in bed with her  old flame who incidentally is divorcing because he now realizes that Alice is his true love.  But Alice seems to need more brandishes her appetite to the captains despair.  And it turns out she also put's her one-true-love in jeopardy.  This is a funny, very sexy movie about commitment and fidelity so often abused by men but this time securely under the hand of a woman.  Two women, actually, as the director is Lucie Borleteau who's credits include acting [15 films], writing [5 films] and directing, cinematography producing etc.

  

I fear I have become a soccer whore

See You in Montevideo is now up there in the pantheon of my favorite sports movies.  Set in 1930 it follows the Yugoslavian National Soccer Team as it travels to Uruguay to play in the World Cup. Great camera work gracefully captures the matches. Subplots of ill-conceived romance, skulduggery international tensions, and the always sinister dealings of FIFA fill the plot on this 2.5 hour epic of the triumph of the underdog.  Armand Assante portrays a thoroughly sleazy American promoter trying to buy up all the best players and almost destroys the team.  Lovely to watch and fun!

If you want to use a hammer better shy away from the sledge...

"Selma is the story of a movement."  So begins the description in the Film Festival guide book.  It is so much more accurate than referring to the film as a bio-pic of MLKJr.  Although it is suggested that director, Ava Duvernay, has taken some rather controversial liberties, particularly with LBJs legacy the film is a powerful depiction of the events and dynamics that created possibly the greatest episode in civil disobedience in history.  The casting is strong, the performances are brilliant, the cinematography is stunning and overall it is a movie well worth planning to see.  Don't miss it.

Cowboys, Yakuzas and Pretty Boys

The Fest started this morning with  a surprisingly entertaining comedy from Croatia.  Kauboji has been submitted as a contender for the Best Foreign  Language Oscar.  It follows a group of misfits [I'd go so far as to call them losers] who awkwardly and for disparate reasons come together to perform a stage show in a backwater town.  The director settles on a western musical as he struggles to reign in all the craziness embodied by each character.  Slowly their individual stories creep into the rehearsals and tempers flair, suspicions are aroused and trust is finally established.  It is sweet, bizarre, hilarious, and even sad.  It probably won't make it to our local theaters so watch for it on Netflix.

Tokyo Fiancee is a real gem.  From Belgium it draws on the imagery and quirky humanity of Jean-Pierre Jeunet.   The main character is even called Amelie.  It is a charming tale of a 20 year old French woman who tries to become Japanese.  She teaches French to a wealthy young man who may or may not be involved with the Yakuza.  He shows her contemporary Japan as she tries to understand traditional Japan.  It is beautiful to look at, a real love song to Tokyo and Japan in general.
We might see it at one of our art house theaters.

The Way He Looks is a fairly conventional coming-of-age story involving a young female student and two male students, one blind and struggling with his sexual identity.  There is a youthful honesty about it and the characters are carefully delineated.  It is a simple story with no great drama.  It is Brazil's submission for Foreign Language Oscar.

Addendum

Just got the morning paper and the headlines say "130,000 expected to view 190 films from 65 countries."  That totals out to 408 screenings at the 5 venues in Palm Springs.  50 of the 83 films submitted for Best Foreign Language Oscar are being screened at The Fest this week.

Almost a Year!

It's been almost a year since my last post and I am back in the desert to watch movies. I hope the theaters have heating!  We are experiencing record cold down here.  The thermometer reads 37f and the forecast says it will climb to a toasty 59f today.
I will start the day with Cowboys, a comedy from Croatia.  It is their submission for our Oscars. The second film will be Tokyo Fiancee from Belgium; it is the US premiere. Number 3 is another Oscar submission from Brazil, The Way He Looks. Lastly, I have the MLKJr. biopic, Selma, which is the opening Gala Screening.  It is followed by a Gala Party at the Palm Springs Art Museum.  I plan to do capsule reviews of all the films before the next day's batch.  Back tonight [or tomorrow morning] depending on how the Gala soiree goes.