Hey folks, Harry here... Well, I bet anything that Moriarty is going to hop on seeing A RED BEAR as soon as he can wrangle a screening for him and... well, I'd say his better half, but that'd be insulting to her, more like his better 1/12th. You see, she comes from Argentina, though... that doesn't mean she doesn't love all types of movies. Just mention LILO & STITCH and watch her vibrate with giggles and happiness through solid objects. Anyway, A RED BEAR (UN OSO ROJO) sounds like a right awesome film. Here's Mark with his foreign exposure to Sundance...
A RED BEAR and some other cool Sundance films that nobody saw
Hi Harry -
I spent a few days at Sundance and, not having purchased tickets beforehand and unwilling to wait 3 hours to get in line to movies that are coming out in a couple of months anyway, I checked out some of the less "buzzworthy" films. Most of the ones I saw aren't really worth recounting, but there was one really awesome one that your readers should know about. It's called "A Red Bear (Un Oso Rojo)." It's a crime drama from Argentina that features one of the coolest tough guy actors I have seen in ages, a guy named Julio Chavez, who is like an Argentinian Jean Reno.
The setup is pretty familiar: guy goes to jail for killing a cop (in a brief but intense opening scene), is released about 7 years later (does this happen in Argentina?) and tries to establish a relationship with his young daughter. He agrees to come in on "one last score" in order to get some money to take care of her, as his ex-wife's new husband is gambling all the family money away. But the movie avoids all the cliches - Chavez's character isn't interested in getting back together with his wife, the new husband is a loser but clearly loves his wife and stepdaughter, and even the heist that Chavez takes part in is carried off in an unusual way, with some kick-ass shootouts at the end. Worth seeing! I doubt it will play anywhere in the U.S. outside of some film festivals, but if it does show up at a fest, I suggest people check it out. Chavez makes a very appealing tough guy and I'm now interested in seeing his other films.
MUSIC FOR WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS
Also worth mentioning is a Norwegian film called "Music for Weddings and Funerals." It's the most "Bergmanesque" movie to come out of Scandinavia outside the Bergman-written "Faithless," which also stars the same woman (Lena Endre, the hottest fortysomething actress I know of). She plays a writer who lives in the austere (if beautiful) house that her chilly ex-husband built. The ex comes for a fateful visit and winds up a suicide in the basement apartment rented by a Serbian musician. So Endre's character has to deal with her ex's current wife and mistress. There's lots of talk, but it's the most intelligent of all the films I saw at Sundance, with a great visual style, some dark humor and real insight into love and death. The scene where all three women have to scrub their lover's blood stains off the floor is one of the most memorable moments of the festival.
Other international films include "I Love You," a completely unwatchable Chinese drama about a young couple who argue constanly; "Woman of Water," a gorgeous if meandering film from Japan about a woman who makes it rain whenever something big happens to her life; "Life Show," a fairly ordinary Chinese love story with a really beautiful lead actress named Tao Hong; and finally "AKA," a decent British variation on "The Talented Mr. Ripley" about a teenage working class boy who leaves an abusive household and takes up with a bunch of rich gay men in the decadent disco 70's. He pretends to be the son of an obnoxious aristrocrat. What's cool about this film is that the whole story plays out across three separate screens, like "Woodstock." It doesn't get confusing or annoying at all. However, the story has some of the usual cliches I've seen in British film, like the horrific dad and the laughably pompous upper class characters.
That's all. Just thought I'd send in a note about these films because nobody else seems to be talking about them, online or anywhere else.
-Mark Tapio Kines
