Hey folks, Harry here and from the sound of the films below, sounds like he is experiencing a wonderful film festival. And given the recent films that Capone has been reviewing as of late... the timing of quality cinema... no matter from whence it came must be a welcome change of pace for this violent movie mob boss. I look forward to his future reports on this fest with greater interest.
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here with the first of two reports from the European Union Film Festival taking place at the Gene Siskel Film Center. I believe this is the third year the Film Center has hosted this event, and basically its an excuse to get the jump on some pretty amazing, higher-profile European films, many of which will eventually open in the states. In the coming weeks, the festival will feature the latest film starring Juliette Binoche, the fourth of the official Dogme 95 films, and the latest from Julian Temple. But on to the ones I saw over the weekend, all of which I think are scheduled to open in the U.S. sometime this year.
LIGHT KEEPS ME COMPANY (LJUSET HALLER MIG SALLSKAP), from Sweden.
If the name Sven Nyqvist doesn’t mean anything to you, you should probably scroll down to the next review. In my pitiful little world, he was the first cinematographer I ever “noticed.” He may not be the but he went on to do so much more. Look at the list: SAWDUST AND TINSEL; Tbest, but he’s my all-time favorite. He single-handedly defined the look and atmosphere of Ingmar Bergman, which is enough of an accomplishment, HE VIRGIN SPRING; THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY; PERSONA; CRIES AND WHISPERS; SCENES FROM A MARRIAGE; THE MAGIC FLUTE; THE TENANT; PRETTY BABY; AUTUMN SONATA; THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (remake); CANNERY ROW; FANNY AND ALEXANDER; STAR 80; AGNES OF GOD; THE SACRIFICE; THE UNBEARABLE LIKENESS OF BEING; CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS; CHAPLIN; SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE; WHAT’S EATING GILBERT GRAPE?; SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT; Liv Ullman’s first two directing efforts; and his own film, THE OX.
This wonderful documentary about Nyquist’s life was assembled and directed lovingly by his son Carl-Gustaf, but it’s far from a puff piece. Along with the parade of celebrity faces that sing his praises, we get the painful life story of a normally private man. We learn how his missionary parents essentially abandoned him for most of his childhood while that converted souls in Africa for four years at a time. When Sven had his own children, his busy filmmaking schedule led him to do the same thing to his two children. The one that didn’t make this movie committed suicide as a teenager, and it’s clear that Sven blames himself. He was working on PRETTY BABY when it happened, and Roman Polanski and Susan Sarandon both tell the same very moving story about Nykvist’s reaction to the death. DARKNESS also reveals for the first time I’m aware of that Sven and Mia Farrow had a love affair that was key to his recovery after his son’s death.
But what would a film about a cinematographer be without film clips, and this movie has plenty, mostly from the works with Bergman. The normally reclusive Bergman has nothing but high praise for the man, but confesses that the two didn’t socialize much outside of working together on films. Their practically wordless relationship on the set is the stuff of legend. There’s great documentary footage taken during the filming of FANNY AND ALEXANDER of the two of them working out a scene. Bergman was clearly the bad cop to Nykvist’s good cop.
But for those of you addicted to famous faces, there are plenty of those as well. In additional to Bergman, Ullman, Polanski, and Sarandon, we hear from Woody Allen, Bibi Andersson, Harriet Andersson, Richard Attenborough, Pernilla August, Melanie Griffith (who basically says, “For an old guy, he’s pretty amazing.” Idiot!), Erland Josephson, Gena Rowlands, Stellan Skarsgard, and a wealth of other cinematographers and old friends. LIGHT KEEPS ME COMPANY is for film lovers, and it killed me a couple years ago when I heard that Nyqvist was struck with a disease that essentially makes it very difficult to speak. Eventually the affliction will rob him of his speech entirely. While many cinematographers pat themselves on the back for avoiding close-ups, Sven celebrated the landscape of the human face. Bergman puts it best, “He could capture a person’s soul on film.”
I’m not sure about the distribution future of this film. Scream for it, everybody. You will not regret doing so.
ABOUT ADAM, from Ireland
With so much attention being paid to Kate Hudson right now and no new films from her opening any time soon, Miramax appears to have decided to give us what we all want: more Kate! A well-received film from the 1999 Sundance Festival, ABOUT ADAM is the tale of a girl and the man she loves. Kate is the girl, Lucy, and Stuart Townsend (who some may have had the misfortune to see in the godawful SHOOTING FISH a couple years back) is the man, Adam, who drives a sweet vintage Jaguar.
I enjoyed ABOUT ADAM much more than I thought I would. It reminded me of some of those old late-60’s British sex comedies, where everybody is bouncing from bed to bed but nobody gets mad or jealous about it. Adam and Lucy are madly in love, and even her family loves Adam...maybe a little too much. First one sister (Frances O’Connor) starts sleeping with him, then another (Charlotte Bradley), then the teenage brother almost does. (I thought for sure the mother was going to jump in at any moment.) I realize my description makes it sound like a Benny Hill episode, but the real treat of ABOUT ADAM is the story construction. We’re actually treated to many points of view of several key episodes. This isn’t different versions of the same incidents (a la RASHOMAN); it’s more like seeing the same event through different eyes. For example, Lucy proposes to Adam in a club in front of her entire family. First, we are shown this moment from Lucy’s P.O.V. Then the film jumps back to Adam’s introduction to the family as seen from the middle sister (O’Conner). By the time we get back to the proposal scene, we’re seeing all the relationships much differently. And so on...It sounds more complicated than it is, and it’s great.
Hudson is her usual bubbly self, slipping in and out of her Irish accent. O’Connor as the virginal sister saving herself for the perfect whirlwind romance is even better (as is her accent). But the film ultimately succeeds or fails on whether you fall for Townsend. He’s great as a master seducer. He’s not a leach, and his love for Lucy is genuine. His problem is that he loves to help people feel better, and it just so happens that all of these people feel better thanks to sex with Adam. So it’s really their fault, right? Who can’t relate? I believe ABOUT ADAM opens sometime in March.
PETITS FRERES , from France
I’ve only seen two other films by French maverick director Jacques Doillon: THE LITTLE CRIMINAL, and PONETTE. He has a remarkable gift of dealing with and perceptively, uncondescendingly portraying young people. PETITS FRERES (“little guys”) is the story of Talia, a 13-year-old Jewish girl who runs away from her stepfather and begins hanging out with a group of Arab and black kids from the Parisian projects (actually the suburb of Pantin). When the boys steal her pet pitbull in order to sell it for dog fighting, she confronts them with a ferocity that earns her the nickname “Tyson” and attracts the ambivalent interest of one of the boys in the gang. The scenes of the kids just hanging out thinking of things to steal and vandalize reminded me of KIDS, but PETITS FRERES isn’t nearly as vicious as that film. Most of the kids in this film are still just kids, on the verge of being severely hardened by life in the projects.
Doillon is still at the top of his game. Anyone who saw PONETTE knows that nothing about his films feels scripted. Reactions to and conversations about painful subjects seem real and usually very difficult to watch. PETITS FRERES is no different. All Talia wants is her dog back and to have a home with her sister and mother that doesn’t involved her cruel and possibly abusive stepfather. It was also interesting to see how the kids in the French projects seem to have latched onto many American symbols of street living, such as rap music, brand name clothes, and hand guns. Watching a Doillon is usually an uncomfortable thing, if only because it shows us things most other films are trying to make us forget. The film opens slowly across the U.S. beginning in May.
NEXT WEEK: THE KING IS ALIVE (Dogme 4) with Jennifer Jason Leigh, Janet McTeer, and Bruce Davison; PANDAEMONIUM, directed by Julian Temple with John Hannah and Samantha Morton; and BLOW DRY with Alan Rickman, Natasha Richardson, Rachel Griffiths, and Rachael Leigh Cook.
