Aloha, Moon Yun signing in from Hawaii…
I went to the Cinema No Ka Oi (original “home grown” films and videos) section of the 2003 Hawaii Film Festival last night to check out the work from a new crop of Hawaii filmmakers.
While the films I saw were admirable in their efforts to explore island subject matters, they lacked sophistication. For “home grown” productions, I’d say the ones I saw were, if you used the plant metaphor, more seedlings than full grown Koa tree. The Koa, a big tree with a trunk as thick as a bus, is a treasure chest in the Hawaiian forest.
One that stood out for its beautiful photography, cool subject matter and great storytelling was BRADAJO: DA BEGINNING. Directed, produced, and edited by Natalie Cross, this 8-minute short is about “Bradajo,” a master storyteller who relates his stories in Hawai’i Pidgin.
QUEEN EMMALANI was a delight to watch. Now who is Queen Emmalani you ask? Well, now that Hollywood has got the Rock’s KAMEHAMEHA in the making and, from what I hear, Robin William starring as Father Damien, the compassionate priest who lived among the exiled Hawaiian lepers (Hansen’s disease), what next…Julia Roberts as Queen Emmalani? Why not.
By her title, you can guess that she was a queen of the Hawaiian monarchy of long ago. The 47-minute documentary is about Queen Emma Kaleleonalani’s journey in 1871 to her island home of Kauai, Hawaii’s oldest island. QUEEN EMMALANI was directed, produced and co-written by Mark Jeffers. His cinematographer, Dr. Robert Zelkowsky, appeared with Jeffers in introducing their film.
The only thing about QUEEN EMMALANI that lost me during the screening was that I had to ask myself, “Is this about Queen Emma, hula dancers, Kauai?” The filmmakers were passing out videos at the screening. To find out how you can obtain a copy, log on to their web site at www.storybook.org.
If I hear anything about possibilities of a wider screening for the other films, I’ll let you know.
MALAMA KA AINA is what I would call film activism. The 31-minute short is about how the Robinson Family is trying to preserve and protect the land, in particular Ni’ihau, the only island to be inhabited by all Hawaiians still speaking their native language. MALAMA is directed by Philip Wilson, produced by Phyllis Paul, and cinematography by Philip Wilson, Tony Lehoven and Michael May.
I was keen on seeing AN UNCOMMON KINDNESS: THE FATHER DAMIEN STORY. (This 58-minute documentary directed by Stephanie Castillo was under the “Reel Life” section of the festival.)
I had worked at a local hospital founded by the Sisters of the Franciscan Order of Syracuse. Mother Marianne Cope of that Franciscan Order answered Father Damien’s call for help. The Belgian priest, who’s close to obtaining sainthood, was all alone in his mission to help the Hawaiian lepers (Hansen’s disease) that had been dumped on Molokai’s Kalaupapa peninsula.
Robin Williams narrates this documentary and Castillo announced there’ll be a screening in Los Angeles. She also said that Williams is in the works on making a film about Father Damien. While FATHER DAMIEN went for accuracy, I felt that for such dramatic story the doc was sedate.
Did you know that the Portuguese “brought” the ukulele to Hawaii? And every year at the Punahou school carnival, what I look forward to the most is their “malasadas” (sugar coated donuts). Well, I haven’t gone to the popular event in years but any community event I’d go to I’d definitely get a malasada if they sold it.
Those were some of the contributions the Portuguese contributed to Hawaii which were highlighted in PUKIKI – THE PORTUGUESE AMERICANS OF HAWAI’I. The 45-minute doc is directed, produced, co-written by Luis Proenca. He was also the cinematographer. Chris Wilson is co-writer.
In the “Ask the Critic” section (by Owen Gleiberman) of “Entertainment Weekly,” a reader asks, “What are the key elements that make for compelling documentary?”
Gleiberman answers, “The sexy, and obvious, answer would be ‘drama’; the responsible answer would be ‘truth.’ The beauty of movies like CRUMB or THE MYSTERY OF PICASSO…is that they immerse us so deeply in the reality of their worlds that the drama becomes a moment-by-moment discovery of truth.”
It’s not fair to compare and contrast “beginning” filmmakers’ works with those of the masters but I got handed a screener of TIBET: CRY OF THE SNOW LIONS last night which I thought might be helpful for those wanting to further develop their craft. I had missed it at the 2003 Maui Film Festival. TIBET is coming back, this time to Honolulu where the extraordinary doc about the plight of the oppressed Tibetans will be shown at the Art House at Restaurant Row from Nov. 14 – 20.
For listing of screening at other cities, go to www.cryofthesnowlion.com. The site also has a trailer. TIBET is a deeply moving documentary with some graphic visuals of torture, pain and suffering. I learned a lot about the Tibetan’s Buddhist philosophy. For them, absolute freedom comes from positivism. They retaliate against their tormentors with forgiveness.
I’ll be checking out the crowd tonight at the Sunset on the Beach world premiere of Hawaii-made film THE RIDE. I saw the 90-minute made-for-TV feature made by same director who did the award-winning KAMEHAMEHA short—Nathan Kurosawa—during a prior press screening. THE RIDE is about an arrogant contemporary surfer that goes back into time to Hawaii of 1911 and befriends the great surfing and waterman legend Duke Kahanamoku. It’s cute, sweet and a crowd pleaser. More reports of THE RIDE in a later report.
THE COMPANY DANCES AROUND STORY AND PLOT
THE COMPANYis collection of images and moments lacking the rigorous presence of a highly structured and coherent storyline and that's a good thing. It's a good thing because Altman moves his characters like pieces on a Go board-there's a logic behind his choices even those these tactical movements may not be entirely clear to an audience.
At least one large audience saw THE COMPANY in Hawaii. The drama was screened as the opening night film for the 23rd annual Hawaii International Film Festival on Thursday, October 30 at Downtown Honolulu's Hawaii Theater, a local landmark. I am not sure what the local audience made of Altman's film but I have a feeling what other moviegoers across the country might think once they see this film in general release.
Some filmgoers might hate THE COMPANY because there are no swelling emotional moments, no overt crescendos of the heart. Others may not hate the film but simply find it not to their taste.
Don't count me as a member of those groups. While not superior to Altman last film the superb GOSFORD PARK, THE COMPANY is an accomplished piece of cinema which doesn't insult the viewer by accentuating melodramatic "moments" and having its characters spout "insightful" dialogue.
THE COMPANY delves into the world of a ballet company specifically the Joffrey Ballet in Chicago. However, Altman moves through this world as a detached observer, perfecting what I call his e! bb and flow technique in which his camera glides from one aspect of company life to another.
There are at least a couple of main characters, though. Neve Campbell stars as a young dancer named Ry. James Franco fills out the role of Ry's boyfriend Josh and Malcolm McDowell takes on the part of Alberto, the Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet. Dancers from the Joffrey also populate the film, taking part in several dances sequences sprinkled throughout the film. THE COMPANY is a visual experience. This is a film that must be watched attentively to appreciated, to be understood. This is a film that simply requires one's attention. Altman realizes that life as we know it is often made up of patches of time sewn together to form a sort of quilt of existence.
There are wonderful scenes in THE COMPANY. ! Take one sequence where Ry and a male partner perform in a ballet on a stage facing an outdoor audience. A storm is brewing-white light as if from lighting briefly blankets the audience like the dispersal of bright illumination from the flash of a camera-but the dancers go through their paces seemingly unaffected as rain begins to fall and leaves descend to the apron of the stage.
Altman varies the camera angles here by stationing cameras in the wings of the stage and in the audience and having his editor cut between these shots. The total effect is a sequence that elegantly and perfectly demonstrates the professional dedication to the art of ballet dancing on a performance level in a way that a mere speech or sliver of dialogue could. Not that I am aiming to disparage Barbara Turner's script which appears to be perfectly fine. However, Altman always takes a script and alters it by adding his own signature rhythms and digressions in narrative flow. Therefore, people move in and out of focus, problems arise though some are dealt with and others are left hanging. I can't say I'm surprised. Interviewed in the documentary A DECADE UNDER THE INFLUENCE, Altman stated he was uninterested in telling stories but in exploring the lives of characters.
The director is true to his word in THE COMPANY. There's no real plot here, no overwhelming story that pushes its characters smack dab into a conclusion that resolves every issue previously raised. We see the creamy underbelly of the ballet and the figures that inhabit that world. Nothing more, nothing less.
I remember reading an interview with the political activist and MIT Linguistics professor NorAm Chomsky once in which Chomsky talked about a fellow academic and friend would say in response to the queries of his students. Some of the pupils would inquire at the beginning of the semester about what would be covered in class and the professor would reply "It is not what we are going to cover but what we are going to discover." Likewise THE COMPANY is a film that must be discovered, enjoyed by an audience attuned to the pleasures and riches that can be experienced if an individual surrenders willingly and keeps in step with the flow of the film.
