Father Geek here. Well The Venice Film Fest is wrapping up.... Buuuuut never fear Toronto is just getting started so you'll be getting your regular heavy dose of indie and international film. Annnnd oh yeah in Talkback I'd like you to be civil and intelligent in commenting on the emotionally charged subject matter of "11-09-01 September 11". AICN is after all about film, the art of film, the freedom of expression that film allows... not about political and religious dogma and diatribe. Step over the line, go too far in ANY direction and you could find your post removed and yourself banned. Let's talk about it, but be cool. Now here's Vertigo...
Hi Guys- your UK based, scared of heights, Vertigo here,
Just returned from the Venice Film Festival after seeing a massive amount of films, so I'm going to give you just some of the highlights. And before I start, I'll get one thing out of the way - unlike Rav (who sadly I didn't bump into, though I did look for someone in the press/industry room furtively emailing you...) I hated - totally hated - Ken Park. I won't review it, since Rav already has, but for me there's a fine line between a director using brave actors and a director totally exploiting his cast. Larry Clark, for me, didn't just cross the line, he broke an Olympic record triple-jumping over it. I in no way would call for the film to be banned, as I expect a fair few will in America, but I still hated it. So there.
Oh, and this post may contain controversy that could cause a whole mess of shouting on the talkback. But I'll save that till last.
OK then, highlights which you may like.... hmmm... let's kick off with:
Takeshi Kitano's Dolls.
If you expect a Takeshi Yakuza thriller a la Violent Cop, be warned. While this has a yakuza guy in it, this is not a violent film. It's a beautiful film which visually will make you gasp.
3 tales of love and loss inspired by the traditional doll theatre of Japan, it primarily follows 'the Bound Beggars' - two homeless waifs bound together by a length of red cord. They are Matsumoto and Sawako, once a devoted couple who were split up by interfering parents. She took an overdose, survived with brain damage, and wracked with guilt he has become her protector. Unable to let her out of his sight, he has bound them together and they wander aimlessly, absorbed in their undying and unspoken love and his unassailable guilt. As they wander, they encounter other stories - a yakuza boss who meets the girl he abandoned 30 years before, and a reclusive Japanese pop starlet disfigured in an accident, and her number one fan.
This is a film about heartache, and it's rich in melancholy. Measured but gripping, Kitano's visuals (the way he uses seasons is incredible and awe inspiring)are a joy for anyone who loves movies. Go see. Now. You can read this later. Go on.
You back? Good. Next up,
Stephen Frears' Dirty Pretty Things
I like Stephen Frears. In person he's like an avuncular uncle, who just happens to make movies. His latest is London based and revolves around Okwe, an illegal immigrant from Nigeria. He was a doctor there, but in London he's a minicab driver and night porter at a hotel. He has a crush on Senay (Audrey Tautou. Speaking English. With a Turkish accent. Well.)who is also an illegal immigrant, who works as a cleaner in the hotel.
When Okwe unblocks a toilet in one of the rooms and discovers a human heart, he stumbles across a hack and slash organ donor scam run in the hotel - the head concierge takes peoples organs in return for a passport. Because of his medical origins, he gets roped into the scam - and Senay is willing to part with a kidney to get a passport...
Sounds urban and gritty, but amongst the social comment on how we treat immigrants is a film with a big heart (not the one in the toilet you understand)with plenty of moments that lighten the mood. Well worth seeking out.
Blood Work
Another average Clint movie you Americans have had out for ages. The twist is so obvious, they could have sent a postcard to signpost it just a little more.
Naqoyqatsi
My word. The screening was midnight the day before I left to go home. I'd seen 6 other movies that day. I was frazzled. This didn't help. It was good, but my God, was I ever fucked up by the end.
The 3rd part of Godfrey Reggio's '...quatsi' trilogy follows Koyanisqatsi (Life Out Of Balance), Powaqatsi (Life In Transformation) and means 'Life In Conflict'. With another Philip Glass soundtrack, featuring Yo Yo Ma on the cello, this is 89 minutes of dizzying visuals which deal with the fact that the world is, frankly, going to blow itself up if we aren't careful. A mix of archive footage and brain melting CGI, this is edited to within an inch of its life so every image tells it's own story. If you liked its predecessors, you'll love this. And it's cheaper than acid.
Now - the controversial bit I warned you about. And even the title may have you frothing at the mouth:
11' 09" 01 September 11
I'll nail my colours to the mast here - I'm a (whisper it) liberal. Go ahead, cut straight to the talkback, shout away and point your constitutionally sanctioned handguns in my face. Or read on and at least listen (as I hope most of you will. For the main part I find the talkbackers to be a nice bunch of folks. It's just a few of you let the side down...)
To have any kind of film about this date so soon after the event could smack of tastelessness - but this couldn't be further from how this film is. It's a collection of 11 short films, from directors across the globe, all with the theme of 9/11, used either directly or indirectly. It starts with this caption:
"A collective film of universal importance. 11 directors from different countries and cultures. 11 views of the tragic events that took place in New York on September 11 2001 11 points of view imbued with their individual conscience. Total freedom of expression."
What follows are films from the following world cinema directors, with as brief a synopsis as I can. I'll single a couple out at the end:
Samira Makhmalbaf (Iran)
A teacher tries to explain to her young class how important and world shattering September 11 was.
Claude LeLouche (France)
A man and his deaf partner break up just before the attack.
Youssef Chahine (Egypt)
The director tries to come to terms with both the attack and violence in his own culture as he talks to the ghost of a dead marine.
Danis Tanovic (Bosnia)
A womens group who demonstrate in their town every week discuss whether they should after the tragic events in New York
Idrissa Ouedraogo (Burkina Faso)
A group of children are convinced they have seen Osama Bin Laden in their village and decide to try and claim the $25,000,000 reward. But no-one believes them... (sounds tasteless, but its light touch is humane and warm).
Ken Loach (United Kingdom)
A Chilean refugee writes an open letter to the families of the dead, and asks that as he offers his sympathies and is thinking of the victims one year on, that people also bear in mind another date - Tuesday Sept 11, 1973 - when democratically elected communist Salvadore Allende was ousted from power in Chile in a coup d'etat engineered by the USA, which led to the death of over 30,000 Chileans at the hands of General Pinochet's death squads.
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu (Mexico)
A shocking fusion of radio and TV reports as the towers were under attack, with horrific and disturbing visuals from the day. Sounds voyeristic, but it is hard hitting and bold.
Amos Gitai (Israel)
A reporter covering a suicide bomb in Jerusalem can't understand what the news is from America that has knocked her report off air.
Mira Nair (India)
Based on true story tale of an Islamic mother in New York who's son disappears on the day of the attack and is painted in the media, simply because of his colour and religion, to be one of the terrorists. The truth, however, is entirely different.
Sean Penn (USA)
See below.
Shohei Imamura (Japan)
Set in immediate post war Japan, it follows the life of a family whose son has been traumatised by Hiroshima.
So... should this have been made? Yes, it should. Is it too soon? No it isn't. Does it disrespect the victims and their families? No, not in any way shape or form.
The stand outs are From Loach, Nair and Penn. Loach always has a political agenda, and while his film acknowledges how despicable and shocking the attack on the WTC was, it also highlights the fact that America has forced it's views on other countries to devestating effect - to whit, in Chile which it would not allow to have it's own democratically elected government, because it was a communist one. The parallel is a poignant and relevant one.
Mira Nair's simple true story takes a cliche - don't judge a book by it's cover - and humbles us all in our immediate reaction to the attack.
And finally Sean Penn. Bad boy turned indie ingenue Sean Penn. His film is just simply brilliant. Without giving much away (you truely have to see it fresh), it stars Ernest Borgnine as a NY widower in his apartment, with only the memories of his wife and a potted plant that won't flower. The final image is breathtaking - simultaneously acknowledging the enormity, sadness, shock and grief of the attack whilst offering genuine hope for the future. This from the man whose previous films have been weighed down with hopelessness (remember him describing The Pledge as a film about 'how no good deed goes unpunished'?). It's a genuine choke-back-tears moment.
Hope you post this
Vertigo.
