Father Geek here with a Euro-AICN Special Report on FIFF that our editor in Paris sent in this morning. Lots of good film covered here so I'll step aside and let Edgard and Singing Sijmen take over...

Hey folks, Edgard here with a long report from the Flanders International Film Festival in Gent (Belgium) sent by Singing Sijmen.

This Festival is certainly one of the best organised in Belgium (my favorite one is still the Fantastic Film Festival of Brussels); especially with the programme... Check out the list of films reviewed here below : THE HOUSE OF MIRTH; CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON; TOGETHER and THE ROAD HOME. Just to throw my 2 cents, I am glad to see that Ang Lee's film is not only a Festival's favorite (as it has been playing in all the major fest it seems) but also a public's favorite (didn't read a negative review yet)... This is worth mentioning as it doesn't always happen like that. How many movies have been well received in Festivals but didn't get the public's attention ? Of course, even if both Singing Sijmen and I loved that film, our reviews are totally different. You will see here below that Singing Sijmen enjoyed it as a fun movie, while I personally saw something more dramatic... I bet we will hear much more about Ang Lee's film once it hits the States... but if you saw it, please use the Talk-Back to give us your opinion (or send us your reviews).

Here's Singing Sijmen...

I’m currently ‘working’ at the Flanders International Film Festival - you know, that festival where Hans Zimmer gave that concert last week. The only thing I have to do here, is checking tickets, for which I get the real geek treatment: no paycheck, but I can go to any press screening I want for FREEEE!

Life can be beautiful...

I’m not a critic and I normally don’t express myself in the English language, but I’ll try to report my feelings towards some of the best stuff I’ve seen at this fest.

THE HOUSE OF MIRTH

This film is set in America of 1906-1907 and tells the decline of a young and naive upper-class girl played by Gillian Anderson. On my way to the theatre I wasn’t sure what to expect. Although I’m a big admirer of Terence Davies, I'm not so fond of the genre, nor of Miss agent Scully. When I left that theatre 140 minutes later, I still wasn't fond of the genre, but was and always be Gillian Anderson’s biggest fan. This definitely is not a film for all tastes. With its arty approach and poetic scrolls and flourishes, I felt inclined to loose interest after the first 10 minutes. But I didn't! I couldn't! This story is so passionately told, with so much admiration for its characters, its time and place, that I couldn't help myself getting fascinated by this film before I realised it. I felt, smelled and tasted the passion, the heart and soul that the filmmakers have put into this project, and I was infected by it. Terence Davies really is a visual genius; the way he can fit music and image into one stunning experience is beyond me. The problem is this film has more dialogue than visuals. Bigger problem is the fake poetry of its dialogue.

Eric Stolz: You act undignified.

Gillian Anderson: Where does dignity end and sincerity begin?

This aspect is stressed by the style of acting which is - as in most costume drama’s - dry and stiff. Apparently the actors don’t want to act, but try to be merely the medium by which the dialogue can be heard. Some actors appear to be good at it, others don’t. Eric Stolz has the most difficulty with this approach, while Gillian Anderson succeeds to be the film’s biggest surprise. I admit that for the first couple of minutes Anderson looked like agent Scully with a hairdo of the third kind, but slowly she became the unfortunate miss Lily Bart. I felt the humiliation, the sadness, the despair her character goes through and her performance reveals the intelligence and the vulnerability of a great actress. My personal opinion is that the passion of storyteller Terence Davies and actress Anderson would have made a wonderful film if it would contain more humour, a better Eric Stolz and less far-fetched dialogue. I give it **1/2 (out of four), but if you liked The Age of Innocence or The Portrait of a Lady, go and see this film, since it’s superior to those two! (Midway through the festival I met a girl who claimed this was the best film she had seen so far)

I SAW MORGAN FREEMAN

A friend wanted to join me at the press screening of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, but when I arrived at our meeting point, a cosy improvised bar, I found it transformed into a radio studio. Apparently the national radio was broadcasting ‘live vanop het Internationaal filmfestival’, with a live audience. And guess who walked in for an interview? The Dude Who Drove Daisy! Despite mr. Morgan Freeman’s charisma and wit, the interview was rather boring. He mentioned the David Fincher project he’s producing. And off course he talked about the Nelson Mandela film. Nothing new I’m afraid. He said that they planned to start filming last February, but it got delayed because of the screenplay. "Mandela’s book consists of 700+ pages, and it’s hard to make a 2-hour film out of it". He added that he will work hard to talk and move like Mandela. In order to do that he‘ll spent a lot of time with him ("several months"). When will the shooting start? "I have no idea". When the interviewer asked mr. Freeman the ‘how do you do it’ question, Freeman shrugged and claimed: "it’s just a gift of God". The audience laughed, but the annoyed look he gave us, revealed he was serious.

Anyway, back to the movies...

CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON

Since previous reports describe how astonishing those fight sequences are, I’m not going to echo them. Just note that I agree with every report I read about this film. And to everybody who questions Ang Lee’s ability to direct the best fight scenes you ever saw, I have the following advice: believe the hype and go with the flow!!!! This film is GRRRRREAT! But what I really want to do here is getting rid of a misunderstanding about this film. I’ve read some reports/reviews that labelled this film as a pretty serious drama, and targeted the art-house audience. Those reviews are wrong! There’s absolutely no drama in this movie! It’s purely entertainment with the three F’s: fun, fun and fun! Sure, they’re not fighting all the time, and sure, there’s a storyline, but to call this film serious is ridiculous. Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’s storyline resembles The Phantom Menace’s: Chow Yun Fat takes over the Liam Neeson part, while Zhang Zi Yi plays Jake Lloyd’s character and Jar Jar Binks has disappeared! Where is that drama? Maybe those reports are referring to the Bogart-and-Bergman-in-Paris-ish flashback, but that sequence alone offers more fun than most films care to provide. Maybe they are referring to the ending, but so many things have happened before you get there, that you can’t take that seriously anymore. No! The only art-house-like element is its foreign language.

Why do I stress this? Just because I want it to be absolutely clear that THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO SEE THIS FILM!!!! In particular since Hollywood fails again and again to produce a mainstream film as stunning and astonishing as this one!

A truly entertaining film, ***1/2.

TOGETHER

This is the best film of the festival!

Lukas Moodysson had an art-house hit last year with Fucking Amal (aka Show Me Love). I didn’t particular like that film despite some good moments. This time he has made a film full of great moments. I laughed, I - almost - cried, I had a very good time, and I truly truly recommend this film!

Sweden, 1975. After her husband hit her, a lower-class woman and her two kids move in with her brother’s communal group called "together", where a bunch of intellectuals (Marxists, communists, feminists, etc.) build this minisociety that suits their ideals. In a course of 107 minutes, we, the audience, spent a year in their house. We get to know the inhabitants, the beauty and the stupidity of this ‘experiment’, the joy and frustration that results from it. Through a series of little scenes, most of them hilariously funny, we follow director Lukas Moodysson in his quest to understand his characters - their motives, their desires, their sadness, etc. He defends them without idealizing, makes fun of them without condemning. In doing so, a less talented director/screenwriter would have taken a sentimental or cynical path, but Lukas Moodysson is smart and creative enough to avoid both traps. How? As a screenwriter he uses a lot of humour, as a director he uses a lot of love. All the characters - all far from the modelling type - look tremendously beautiful once you see them through Moodysson’s eyes. In this ensemble piece every actor is absolutely brilliant, and they make acting look like the most easiest job on the planet. What a talent, what a film!

In the film’s final 100 seconds, all the characters you’ve met decide to play soccer, and - wow - they have such a good time. It’s the only moment where Moodysson is guilty of manipulation and sentimentality, but after enjoying the wonderful 6400 seconds prior to that, it’s very easy to forgive him.

Go and see this masterpiece! ****

THE ROAD HOME

Zhang Yimou is still very much alive and kicking! This time he has made a film for everyone who has ever fallen in love. After her husband's dead, an old weaver insists that the body is carried by foot to its grave. Because that would be a particular long and expensive walk, everybody tries to talk that idea out of her head. Even her son gives it a try. All fail. This appears to be the prologue to a powerful love story of how she met her husband. Zhang Yimou is a master if it comes to abstract beauty and tragedy out of the little thing like a gaze, a smile, a plate, a hairpin, etc. And although we never get to meet the object of her affection (he speaks only 5 sentences) we too can’t help falling in love! Not particularly with him or her, but with that perfect image she has of him. I predict that after seeing this film, you will fall in love with the first person you meet! And you will listen to nothing but love songs for a whole week! I’m serious, this film is pretty intense! In its Titanic-esque epilogue, Yimou uses all the tricks he knows to make us cry: violins, slow motion, flashbacks, etc. You can almost hear Yimou shout: ‘Cry, audience, cry!’. And we do, right on cue. And although I prefer the kind of movies that leave the decision to laugh or cry entirely up to you, I have to admit that it worked. ***

One last note: guess who plays the lead? The answer is: Zhang Zi Yi. Exactly 24 hours after I saw her fight every Eastern warrior, she successfully portrays this shy, dreamy little girl who - once again - ultimately gets what she wants. Gong Li is dead, long live Zhang Zi Yi!

FEST BUZZ

The big advantage of working on a festival, is that you can hear the buzz; the good, the bad and the ugly. So I can report that besides THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, TOGETHER and THE ROAD HOME, there are two other films that end up on most ‘best of the fest’ lists, although I haven’t seen them.

The first one is 101 REYKJAVIK, an Icelandic sex comedy about a guy who finds out that his one night sex partner is his mother’s lesbian lover.

The second is WHAT’S COOKING, a multicultural Thanksgiving comedy with Mercedes Ruelh. As a matter of fact, we heard the audience burst into laughter many times, and when they left the theatre, they all had a big smile on their face.

Another title that is discussed a lot is AMORES PERROS (Love’s a bitch), which is described to me as a Mexican Pulp Fiction.

The others films I saw are not worth mentioning (Dutch thriller LEAK), or have been released in the USA (GIRLFIGHT), or both (THE CELL).Maybe some of you are curious on how Guy Ritchie’s SNATCH turned out. Don’t be, just rent Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and you will know - it’s exactly the same, the same jokes, the same twists, the same camera movements, the same whatever. Sure, it’s entertaining, but nothing - NOTHING - new. Brad Pitt is rather funny in a very small part as a gypsy who mumbles an unidentifiable language.

That’s it! Visit me at My Site

From Belgium With Love,

Singing Sijmen

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