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.