Hey folks, Harry here... our dear Professor here has news on the latest film from Svankmajer and the Brothers Quay. Color me jealous. Not only that, but Buscemi's latest and another look at that wonderful British horror flick, THE DESCENT. Nicely done report and I look forward to hearing from our Professor in BERLIN here soon!
Not being able to get into the high profile films here at Rotterdam has forced me to dig deeper for good options.
Only by scrutinizing the program daily, did I realize that the Brothers Quay had a feature film here. Of course,
now that I’m leaving, I finally understand how good the line-up was. In any case, here’s what I saw:
LUNACY
I somehow found myself at the premiere of this film. Terry Gilliam introduced Svankmajer with such enthusiasm
that I felt like a heel for knowing so little of Svankmajer’s work. The man himself didn’t say much to the
audience but showed a filmed introduction instead. In this introduction, he summarized the film succinctly. I’m
paraphrasing here, but he basically said that there were two ways to run an insane asylum. You could be a
tyrant ruling by fear and corporal punishment or you could allow total freedom and succumb to excess. The
third option, he said, was our current political climate which is a unique blend of the worst parts of both. Lunacy
is a solid world-as-a-madhouse movie in the vein of Shock Corridor. Insanity is fertile ground for a surrealist
like Svankmajer. The animation sequences which punctuate many of the scenes are hilarious and gross. Great
combination. Great film – one I would inevitably have to buy on eBay if I were back in the states. Yay for
Europe!
THE PIANO TUNER OF EARTHQUAKES
Unforunately the Brothers Quay have made a movie that often looks and sounds like a particularly strange
softcore porn film. There is very little nudity but something about the dialogue and the way they filter the light
reminds me of that sub-genre of porn that also wants to be a mindfuck. It really is unfortunate because the
imagery is so strong and the story so unique, that I really feel like I could have liked this more. It again
reminded me of The Brothers’ countryman, Guy Maddin. A good way to think of this film is as a Guy Maddin film
without a sense of humor. There is also very little animation, which I found a bit disappointing.
LONESOME JIM
Yep, Steve Buscemi likes making movies about petty, small-town losers. It’s true. This movie feels like the
cousin of Trees Lounge. Only not as good. The script is more structured and consequently feels a bit more
contrived. There are some really great scenes here and the movie can be very funny despite its misanthropic
bent. Casey Affleck is the titular lonesome loser, a frustrated writer who returns to his hometown after failing to
make it in New York. Affleck manages to make the character likeable despite an endless succession of scenes
revealing how shallow and selfish he is. This is a movie to watch when it shows up on IFC in about a year.
THE DESCENT
I didn’t see this at the festival but it’s all over the place here in The Netherlands. Since it has yet to be released
in the States, I just thought I would reiterate what many people have said on this site: The Descent is a great
horror film. For those of you in the small but dedicated Dog Soldiers cult, you know what this director is capable
of. During the recent upsurge in horror movies, I have rarely found a movie capable of producing both jump
scares and delicious gore. This movie has both areas on lockdown. It’s nice to see a promising sophomore
effort from a new horror director after Eli Roth and Rob Zombie let me down. Check this one out. Maybe the Sci-
Fi channel will pick it up like they did with Dog Soldiers.
So that’s it for Rotterdam but I will be at the Berlin Film Festival in a few days so I will do my best to summarize
and dismiss some more films for you then.
Yours truly,
Professor Gladney
