Final week of SIFF, and good stuff keeps coming. Unfortunately, so does some mediocre stuff.
Here's what I've seen this week so far......
UNFINISHED SONG from Great Britain is having a big opening this summer--I've seen previews for several months. Fortunately, the film walks a fine balance of drama, comedy and music, and there is a lot of drama that the preview skirts for the music aspect. But you can't go wrong with Terrance Stamp and Vanessa Redgrave as an elderly couple facing death. Redgrave sings a stunningly moving version of TRUE COLORS, and Stamp gets great mileage for the (musical) finale. The sentimentality is kept mostly in check. GRADE-----B+
Another police actioner from Hong Kong, this one is slightly better than the previously reviewed DRUG WAR, but COLD WAR falters in the end by throwing in a couple extra characters quite suddenly, and throws the audience for a loop with a very confusing ending. GRADE-----C+
AFTERNOON DELIGHT is an indie US film about a young mother who becomes fascinated with a stripper/sex worker that she moves into her lovely Silver Lake home in LA to become a nanny for her child, much to the concern of her female circle of friends and her husband. The film takes some predictable turns, and some surprising turns, and in the end works honestly to earn the drama and laughs that this situation creates. I wish the hand held camera work wasn't there, especially in a highly intense sequence contrasting a wine and women night with a boys night out, but it's pretty impressive stuff with especially good actors. GRADE------B
Following a half dozen young boys in a shanty town outside of Casablanca starting in the early 1990's, the first half hour is dizzy and confusing (using too much hand held nonsense) and it takes a while to sort out who is who. Just when you have it figured out, the time jumps ahead 9 years when the boys are now young men, and it takes awhile to figure out who is who again. HORSES OF GOD follows their indoctrination into terrorism for the Jihad movement. The camera work and direction becomes much more stable, to make sure we understand what is going on (?), and the film becomes unsettling and disturbing. GRADE-----B+
THE FORGOTTEN KINGDOM follows a young "Joberg" man back to Lesotho from the big city to bury his estranged father, where he must learn to love and respect the traditions of the rural life that he left behind many years ago. The film is smooth, beautifully filmed with great scenery, and creates a subtle irony to his journey. GRADE------B
THE PLAGUE from Spain is a series of scenes filmed in a documentary style without any plot that show the struggles of poor workers as they struggle with a difficult society, weather and loneliness. Interesting at times, but by the end it seems pointless, and may put you to sleep if you are not attuned to the characters. GRADE-----C+
The Australian thriller WISH YOU WERE HERE shows two couples having a wild party in a southeast Asia resort. When their vacation is over, one of them goes missing, and the film is intriguing and engrossing as the pieces are slowing put back together. It's a frustrating film at times as some very poor choices are made be each character, but it's fascinatingly acted and directed. GRADE------B+
The Spanish film ALI features a spoiled teen trying not to repeat the mistakes of her single mother, and I found her to be an unsympathetic and slightly annoying character. There's not much depth here, but some may enjoy the shallow situations. GRADE------C+
It's slick, but the documentary EVERGREEN: ROAD TO LEGALIZATION IN WASHINGTON tells the familiar story (to Washingtonians, at least) of the last election where possession of small amounts of marijuana were legalized--one of two states in the US to do this (the other is Colorado.) GRADE-----C+
DOG FLESH from Chile tells a dull, dreary story of a man who in the first 45 minutes brushes his teeth (twice), takes long showers, tries to get his car fixed, puts up a flag, complains about his health, and all this is accomplished with shaky hand held camera in extreme close up--often following the character from behind. I couldn't take any more, so I walked out, just before he kills his dog with scalding water, I was informed later. GRADE------D-
From Denmark comes THE HUNT, the story of a well liked small town man with many friends who finds his life in a downward cycle when a young child mistakenly admits to having inappropriate sexual touching with this man, and he finds that the town turns on him for being a seeming pedophile, especially when some other children take up the charge. It's well done and intense, but the theme and story feel overly familiar. GRADE-------B+
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