Final SIFF Report thru June 12, BEST OF SIFF 2011

My screenings for the final weekend included:

PRINCESS-----------GRADE B
Finnish film based on a true story about a woman with mental problems, finally rejected by her mother, and ending up in a mental hospital. It's familiar stuff (think ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOOS NEST, etc) but the microcosm of society is still fascinating to watch. The woman believes (and acts) like she is some sort of royalty and gets the other patients and doctors to fall in line, to humorous and moving results. The actors are all effective, and really gives the viewer pause as to what really is the line between reality and insanity.

IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE-----------GRADE B
A Romanian eighteen year old boy is about to be released from reform school when he learns that his deadbeat mom is planning to take his younger brother to Italy with her for work--and he hates his mom for years of neglect. He flips out, and pursues the only path he feels is left to him to prevent this from happening--violence. The film takes place entirely in the reform school, but is not claustrophobic at all, and the cast, many of them non-professional ring very true. Nicely done.

ALMANYA-------------GRADE A
Comic German film about a large family of Turkish descent who are thrown into a tizzy when the patriarch announces that the whole family will accompany him during the next vacation break, back to Turkey to visit a new "vacation" home that he has recently purchased. The film lovingly (and perhaps a bit sentimentally) flashes back to the time when the grandfather was immigrating to Germany with his new young family, then flashes forward to show the the adventures they are having adjusting to a Turkey that most of them know nothing about. The film is presented endearingly to show that in spite of their differences, this is a family that will stick together to overcome any adversity, while learning new respect for their heritage. A pleasure to watch.

SEVDAH FOR KARIM-------GRADE B+
This tough minded film set in Sarajevo after the war, has Karim working in the fields clearing away the many explosive mines that have been left behind by the USA and others, making very little (if any) money, and trying to fight off despair and depression. His best friend is a brutish ruffian, and Karim falls in love with his friends girl, which only leads to further angst and guilt. "SEVDAH in Bosnian means an unfulfilled yearning, longing, or love sickness" (per SIFF program) and this becomes a metaphor for what is happening emotionally to many of the (youthful) population since the war ended. A thoughtful, grim, intellectually sad film.

NORWEGIAN WOOD---------GRADE C
Young Japanese man pursues two mentally unstable women, in spite of repeated warnings and blatant symptoms that come evident to him over a few years. Early on, during sex with one woman who used to date his best friend who committed suicide, he blurts out, upon discovering that she is still a virgin, "why didn't you have sex with my friend?"---a logical question spoken at an inappropriate moment. From that point on, however, his logic seems to have been overtaken by---what? His penis? or his EGO? or his YOUTH? I kept wanting to make inappropriate vocal comments to the main character's actions--mostly to the tune of "Run run run as fast as you can away from this damaged woman...." but the film, which is beautifully photographed and directed, feels relentlessly hostile and cynical towards the romanticism that should have or could have been the real effective point of this drama. A frustrating and unsatisfying experience.

ILLEGAL-------------GRADE B
I want to give this film an "A"--it could be one of the best of SIFF. It has a gripping story and a bravura lead performance by a woman who is an illegal in France from Russia, via Poland, and she gets arrested and sent to a detention/holding center, and struggles to mother, via phone, her 13 years old boy who is living with a kind neighbor. The plot, characters, actors, subplots are all GREAT. THE BIG PROBLEM---this film is photographed with the most AGGRESSIVELY hand-held camera I've seen all month, to the point that it distracts from the natural tension created from each scene, and I literally could not watch most scenes for very long without feeling nauseous and/or dizzy. What a shame!!!!!!!!!

LATE AUTUMN--------GRADE B
Well filmed in Seattle and surrounding areas, to excellent stylistic and emotional effect, this slight would be romance deals with a woman released temporarily from prison (!) for killing her abusive husband, to attend her mother's funeral, and meeting up with a gigolo, with whom she ends up spending some time, and the two seem attracted to each other (!) Yes, the plot is a bit awkward and forced at times, and the final bit of "action" seems very unnecessary, but the actors are good and the film is easy to watch.

THE POLL DIARIES--------GRADE A
SIFF goes out with a BANG for me with a viewing of this German/Russian/Estonian film based on the early life of a famous German poet Oda Schaefer (whose work seems to be unavailable now). Fifteen year old Oda returns to her family estate called Poll just before the outbreak of WWI with the body of her recently deceased mother and a co joined twin fetus stored in alcohol for her remarried "doctor" father, who loves to cut up and study the bodies of anarchists found nearby. She soon finds and hides and nurses to health a wounded "anarchist" and learns many life lessons in the meantime. The film set designs and locations are quite striking, with much of the action taking place in a sawmill turned laboratory (filled with jars of bizarre, assorted specimens, much like a little shop of horrors) and nearby is the estate, a strange looking three story mansion at the very end of a pier that is literlly built on a pile of rocks in the ocean, and the top two stories have extensions and balconies that make the entire building looking like a fragile but stocky letter "T". The film direction is elegant in an old fashioned, epic manner, the actors are spot on and I was gripped from beginning to end by the odd, suspenseful mood that was created. There's nothing like "pickled babies" to remember SIFF 2011 by.


*********************************************************************************
BEST FILMS of SIFF 2011

I saw 130 films this year at SIFF, which includes 3 that I saw at other places within the past year. There were more D's and F's than ever before (9 films), and the largest number of grade C than ever before (about 26). Still, there were 95 films that I graded B- or better!!!!!!! Here's a list of films to watch for that were my favorites..........


Top Fiction Films

THE POLL DIARIES
ALMANYA
THE WHISTLE BLOWER
A FEW DAYS RESPITE
CLINK OF ICE
WASTED ON THE YOUNG
AMADOR
3 (THREE)
CRYING OUT
AFTERNOONS WITH MARGARITTE
WEEKEND
PAPER BIRDS
PERFECT SENSE
DETECTIVE DEE & MYSTERY OF PHANTOM FLAME
WE ARE THE NIGHT
STOOL PIGEON
SPUD
SEVDAH FOR KARIM

The above are B+ or better. Here's a few more great films rated B: ABSENT, BURKE & HARE, COPACABANA, FOUR MORE YEARS, THE FUTURE, GUN HILL ROAD, HAPPY HAPPY, KING OF DEVIL'S ISLAND, LIFE OF FISH, MAGIC TRIP: KEN KESEY'S.., ON TOUR, POR EL CAMINO, PRINCESS, ROMEOS, ROUTE IRISH, SAIGON ELECTRIC, SALVATION BLVD, SMALL TOWN MURDER SONGS, SOUND OF NOISE, TOAST, TOUCH, THE TRIP, VIVA RIVA!,WIN WIN ...

----------

Top Documentaries

HOT COFFEE
HOW TO DIE IN OREGON
LAST MOUNTAIN
MARATHON BOY
12 ANGRY LEBANESE
BUCK
PROJECT NIM
PAGE ONE: NEW YORK TIMES
SOMETHING VENTURED
TABLOID
TO BE HEARD
CAMERAMAN: LIFE AND WORK OF JACK CARDIFF

The top four Documentaries would be near the top of my top 10, when I mix the fiction and documentaries together--they were really really strong this year.
I will try to write more about each film as it opens in theatres this coming year.

For the record, these films, I thought, were really awful......although they each have their supporters.........ALL YOUR DEAD ONES, LYS, FLYING FISH, RED EYES, THE RESCUERS, and fighting it out for bottom--both were literally unwatchable for a variety of reasons--- ROTHSTEIN'S FIRST ASSIGNMENT and VAMPIRE. I'd give the edge to ROTHSTEIN--it literally drove me from the theatre at 30 minutes.