Harry here and I really am enjoying these Chicago reviews. Unfortunately I get the idea that many of the films will never reach my theater even though they are apparently quite good. Tis sad really. So many movies, so many screens, so few movies showing on too many screens. I really wish more films from overseas would get distribution, or even local video distribution. Sigh. Well here's the report... enjoy!
This is my second report from the 34 th Chicago International Film festival with reviews of 8 movies from 6 different countries in 5 different languages. The reports are a little longer for each movie and include a brief description (no spoilers). The quality of films this year at the filmfestival is exceptional and most of the reviews are very positive. Hopefully, many of these films will find distribution. I will send a final report on 6 other movies (some of them award winners) after the festival is over.
As before I have arranged the movies in decreasing order of quality.
The Class Trip
(French, Dir: Claude Miller ) A -
"Is it true that when you think very hard about something, it really happens?" That is the question posed by young Nicolas and he is thinking about gruesome ways in which his father might die. It starts out innocently enough, a kid being taken to a retreat by his overprotective father. Soon, we are privy to the daydreams of Nicolas, colorful and detailed daydreams which most children tend to have. Yet there is a disturbing quality to them and the horror slowly accumulates as we finally learn the truth. The most disturbing dream sequence in the film happens to be a wet dream! This is a movie that grows richer in retrospect as you begin to understand more and more of the dreams in light of the final revelation. This movie shared the Jury Prize at Cannes with Celebration and is every bit as powerful, though perhaps limited by focusing on a single individual. We do not learn much about anyone else as the film obsessively focuses on the life and dreams of a single child. Claude Miller is a disciple of Francois Truffaut and managed to strike a chord in Europe which is reeling under sex scandals of its own. Class Trip has been picked up by Warner Bros. and will probably get a general release. Don't miss it.
Inquietude (Anxiety)
(Portuguese, Dir: Manoel de Oliveira) A -
Mr. Oliveira has been making movies for nearly 70 years now starting from the silent era. His earlier film Voyage to the beginning of the world was Marcello Mastroianni's last film and was a veritable treat. It was thus with eager anticipation I went to see Inquietude. I was not disappointed. his movie requires enormous patience on the part of the viewer as Mr.Oliveira patiently develops the theme of death and immortality. The film consists of three discrete episodes linked rather strangely and proceeding backwards into time. for example, the first episode is a stagy portrayal set sometime around the 1950s and proceeds to a stylized theatrical setting in the 1930s through an anachronistic twist which I do not want to give away. The third episode is a fable about a river-woman set in medieval times. The acting proceeds from extreme staginess to pure naturalism from one episode to another while still asking the same questions. Shorn of all modern entrapments, we still are debating the same philosophical questions. Visually, the movie becomes more and more interesting losing its (deliberately) cheap stage entrapments and culminating in a beautiful climax. The middle episode is slightly weak and proceeds a little too slowly. But the payoff for me was worth it. If this 91 year old director has just hit his stride, then I really hope he lives for another 91 years so we can have many more such gems.
Man is a Woman
(French/Yiddish, Dir: Jean- Jacques Zilbermann) A -
Simon is a gay Jewish musician who is out to his mother and uncle. But, they want a heir to continue the family name. They offer him 10 million francs to get married and produce a son. While initially loath to do so, family pressure and getting kicked out of his house spur him to woo an nice Jewish Orthodox girl who has a golden soprano voice. The middle section of the movie is a superbly constructed farce before the movie becomes unexpectedly serious. Yet the film always remains true to its characters until the very end. The best comedy is that which is born of truth (and pain). While extremely funny, at no time does the director remain untrue to his lovingly created characters. The portrayal of the Orthodox Jews is hysterical and even a bit cartoonish, but also done with so much love that anyone would be hard-pressed to find it offensive. There is a point in the movie when it has already moved into farce territory (the response of the bride on learning that Simon has only slept with boys and never with girls is priceless) and could have ended as a riot. But the story decides to go deeper and finds an ending which is both optimistic and yet true to itself. In a way, it reminded me of the ending in My Best Friend's Wedding where "it strikes the right note and holds it" (quote from Roger Ebert's review). Antione de Caunes, a popular EuroTV star according to the program finds the perfect way to play the role of Simon and has a superb sense of comic timing. The rest of the cast is pitch perfect. This is a movie I would love to own on videotape so I can laugh over and over again.
Gone with the Train
(Slovenian, Dir: Igor Sterk) B+
Every Year at the film festival, I have a "FIND", a movie that completely captures me and shows me the possibilities of moviemaking. They may not be hugely successful, but manage to convince me that the spirit of independence in film is truly alive. Last year, it was The Whitman Boys, every frame of which looked like a Rembrandt painting and the movement within the frame was not confined horizontally (L to R) but also included vertical and diagonal movements. This year it is this gem from Slovenia. If you are familiar with Jacques Tati's inimitable creation Mr. Hulot (Mr.Hulot's holiday, Mon Oncle) and his special brand of comedy, this is a movie you will absolutely adore. Mr. Tati's style was to hilariously observe the very small moments in life and build a portrait of deep humanism. There are frequent non-sequitors and the story is a just a clothesline for the characters/ scenes to exist. Gone with the train starts with a young man packing up his life and getting on a train where he will meet a lot of funny characters and the love of his life. This is an excuse for the director to create an unforgettable parade of sight gags, comedy born of characters and situations. The set-ups take time and the payoffs are never immediate. In a way, it reminded me of Gods must be crazy though the canvas here is smaller. Through small increments of character exposition, we get to know these people so fully that I almost wept at a simple scene where a guy buys a balloon! And then there is the added romance of a train journey. I cannot believe that this is a maiden venture. I cannot wait for his next movie. Unfortunately, this small sweet movie may never come to your town. If you ever get a chance to see it, RUN!
Serial Lover
(French, Dir: James Huth) B (Midnite grade : A)
The results whenever the French try to rip off Hollywood movies are usually appalling. Serial Lover is fortunately an exception to that rule. While it does not always succeed in maintaining the tension, there are enough flashes of brilliance to make this an extremely enjoyable midnight movie. Claire is in her mid-30s and wants to get married. Trouble is, she cannot decide which of her three suitors would make an ideal husband. So, she invites all of them plus an old friend for a birthday dinner. Of course, trouble erupts but not in the way you might expect. As bodies pile up, cops chase robbers and get urinated on, blood gets mixed with ice and "Only You" by the Platters gets a hysterical new version. This is a purely stylistic exercise with the characters behaving according to the dictates of the plot, lighting that changes within a single scene to change the mood. The first time director shows enough pizzazz to carry the movie through (Incidentally, this movie was the runner-up in the FIRPRESCI award given to first or second time filmmakers at the Chicago fest). If the movie has faults, it is partly because of the lack of experience of the director. He still doesn't know how to set up plausible accidents or get the action sequences right. In a well-directed action sequence you should always know how each character stands with respect to every other character even in the midst of absolute mayhem- witness the shootout scenes in John Woo's movies. A little more care in editing and camerawork will take care of this. I had an opportunity to talk to the director a couple of times during the filmfest and he mentioned that Sean Penn has picked up the remake rights. The French version has not found a US distributor yet.
Flowers of Shanghai
(Mandarin, Dir: Hou Hsia Hsien) B
Based on a 1894 novel set in the elegant "flower houses" of Shanghai, this is a decorous drama. Extremely long takes, little movement of the camera except for pans and darkly lit red and gold sets make for an oppressive atmosphere. All scenes take place in the night except for one final semi-optimistic scene set during the day. The director spends about an hour introducing the various characters and their lives before sort of telling a story. Time has its own weird rhythms here- you are never sure how many days have passed between scenes. All the "flower houses" look the same and we do not have any clues as to the outside world. You know someone must be rich because he is highly prized as a customer but almost nothing else about him. While I appreciated a lot in this movie (and was never bored), I did not really care much for it either. Part of it is the distancing effect the camera produces. The performances are all pretty good, especially Tony Leung (Chungking express, Happy Together) as a rich customer whose favors are greatly prized.
My Son the Fanatic
(English, Dir: Udayan Prasad) B
In his last film Brothers in Trouble, Mr.Prasad tackled immigration issues, now he concentrates on assimilation. People from different cultures after moving to a Western country have trouble finding a balance between how much of their home culture they should retain and how much of Western values to adopt. This is an important debate for many South Asians for whom Western values are too decadent while the Eastern values are too strict. Hanif Khureshi (My Beautiful Launderette) has written a brilliant script of a Westernized Pakistani cab driver whose son decides to reject everything Western and become a Muslim fundamentalist. Om Puri, whom you might remember as the wolf expert in Wolf (he was not the villain in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, that was his brother Amrish Puri) gives a superb performance as the cab driver who is not sure of where he stands in the cultural landscape. His son on the other hand, with a purity of purpose that can only be possible in naïve youth decides to be a "pure Muslim" who has to try and rescue everyone else. The script comes down rather heavily in favor of Western values such as independence of thought and seeking personal happiness as opposed to slaving for the family. There are some extremely powerful scenes and the acting is superb all around except for one actor. Surprisingly, the worst performance comes from Stellan Skarsgard (Breaking the waves, Good will Hunting) who is totally clueless as the decadent businessman and comes off as a ham. I liked a lot in this movie with only a few reservations. I thought that the son's motivations could have been better explored, but since the story is of the father, that is a minor point.
The Brandon Teena Story
(Documentary in English, Dir: Susan Muska & Greta Olafsdottir) C+
I saw this documentary three days after Mathew Shephard's death with his gruesome murder still fresh in my mind. Brandon Teena was a biological woman who considered herself a man and moved to Falls City, Nebraska in the fall of 1993. He dated a couple of women and was going steady with one girl when he was arrested for forged checks and was revealed to be a woman. A few days later, two of the people he knew brutally raped him and beat him. When he went to the sheriff, he was cruelly mocked and the perpetrators of the crime not arrested. He was killed less than a week later, presumably so that he could not testify in the rape trial. The story is shocking, intense and very dramatic. I was in a receptive mood with feelings of anger, hurt and fear after Shephard's death (being a gay college student, I could identify with him). Yet this documentary left me totally cold. It is dry retelling of the circumstances surrounding the rape and subsequent murder. There was absolutely no attempt made to delve into the feelings of the people regarding transgender people. The girls he dated all seemed to think he was very nice 'cause he knew how to treat women. But what motivated the rapists/killers and the execrable behavior of the sheriff is never analyzed. For a comparison, just watch The Times of Harvey Milk, an Oscar winning documentary about the slaying of the famous San Francisco councilor and gay activist. A pity these filmmakers decided to be so lazy.
That's it for now.
Sunil.
