After last weekend, this midweek section was full of disappointing films. Here's what I saw in order of favorites to the "not so hot."
GRADE:
A-
BLACK GIRL--From Senegal and France comes this 1966 revival from director Ousmane Sembene about a young black woman who is recruited by a wealthy white woman to move to southern France to clean and take care of the children. She finds her new life is not very exciting as she is treated with cruelty and indifference by the mistress, who won't let her out of the apartment, and soon becomes frustrated and depressed, in spite of dressing up in her finery to cook and clean. The black and white observational film clearly symbolizes the effects of colonialism and class discrimination of poor people, and creates a tense, compulsive drama.
B
A FEW CUBIC METERS OF LOVE--Iranian/Afghanistan film about a young male Iranian teen in a shantytown who falls in love with an Afghan girl who is living with her strict father illegally in Iran, refugees who fled war in their country. The film builds intensity as the young couple want to marry but the father refuses, as tensions mount in the shanty town run by a compassionate Iranian who tries to keep the peace between these two nationalities. The joy that these two young people feel for each other is contrasted to the hatred between the adults, and the finale is ironically tragic for all concerned. Lovely, haunting, sad.
KEY HOUSE MIRROR--Denmark drama set in retirement center has elderly woman caring for her immobile stroke victim husband. Her faithfulness to his health leaves her quite lonely, and she soon finds herself falling for a charming debonair neighbor, much to the horror of others living in the facilities, and her own family. I'd give this film a higher score were it not for the incessant hand held camera work that distracts from the moving, dramatic moments.
B-
HENRI HENRI--Gentle French Canadian film in the vein of AMELIE that incorporates some magical realism into it's tale of a young orphan who becomes an expert in fixing light fixtures, all the while searching for true love and and his long lost father. The film doesn't hold onto the charming first act build up, and the third act is regrettably predictable, but it is easy to smile through the occasionally wince inducing plot twists due to the film's good nature and good intentions, and pleasing art and set direction, and photography and score.
7 CHINESE BROTHERS--USA independent slacker film featuring Jason Schwartzman and Olympia Dukakis as grandson and grandmother. The mood is very laid back, and the comedy (and direction) is very lazy. The film doesn't end so much as just stop, but in the right mind set this movie could be a pleasurable experience. I was, however, in the minority opinion.
MORBAYASSA--Exotic looking film from Guinea, starts as a thriller of a woman forced into prostitution, trying desperately to escape her pimp's control. When she does get free, the film morphs into a soapy drama about trying to reunite with her daughter, long ago given up for adoption. There are some interesting twists, some laughable twists, and overall it is rather predictable, but the main actress bravely marches on, despite some frequent and unnecessary nudity. Technically, the story is smoothly filmed for better than expected viewing.
MARDAN--Kurdistan film--a slow burn thriller about police officer with tragic past who tries to find the husband of a woman seeking his help--a man he may have killed with his penchant for speeding around the hilly, dark, rainy nights. There are some existential ruminations as he attempts to rationalize his behavior, which becomes moody and dangerous, and he does show signs of goodness in some questionable choices he makes.
C+
GRAZIELLA--French drama about some criminals doing work release during the day, then going back to prison in the evening, awaiting their approaching time for release. The small town scorns them, and they take to playing Russian roulette to earn extra money for the future. It took a while to figure out the relationships and back stories, and they end up being underwhelming and bewildering.
THE WOLF PACK--US documentary about seven kids who live with their parents in a sheltered and restricted world, and in spite of their fascination with movies on video, and their penchant for acting them out in their gloomy but large New York City apartment, they live in poverty with a controlling father and submissive mother who home schools them. They are now getting old enough to want to leave the apartment for excursions and work, and in rebellion against their father. The topic of this film has fascinating possibilities, but the film maker seems unable (or unwilling) to ask the probing questions or shape the film with any type of back story that might make some sense of it all. Worse, she films with an annoying hand held camera, including poorly filmed home movies that seem pointless and distracting, and refuses to follow up on some outrageous moments or statements from her subjects. A major disappointment.
GLASSLAND--Irish film that features strong performance by Jack Reynor as the hardworking son of his alcoholic mother Toni Collette, and his struggles to get her to clean up her life. They are the main reason for watching this grim, slow film that features hand held camera work(not my favorite device).
BLUE BLOOD--From Brazil comes a magic realism film about a circus troupe that lands on a small island in the south Atlantic ocean, bringing up painful feelings from the "shot from the rocket" man who grew up there. The film looks great, with beautiful scenery and attractive characters who swim, dance, copulate, drink, and talk talk talk about life and their problems. It is exotic and earthy stuff at times, but there's not much plot, the symbolism is murky, and the pointless film seems to go on and on and on.
SWORN VIRGIN--Italian film about small region that allows for some women to go to the mountains to live as men. One of them returns to the city to live with her sister, deciding to go back to living as a woman, apparently not quite knowing how!?! Odd, curious story is sabotaged by some aggressive hand held camera work.
C
SERGIO HERMAN, F**KING PERFECT--Netherlands foodie documentary about famous chef closing one restaurant and opening another, but we've seen it all before. He's charismatic but over worked (or a workaholic) which is destroying his family life and causing health problems. Much hand held camera work in a claustrophobically small kitchen makes for nausea inducing viewing, and the extreme closeups make you want to throw your head back from the screen. Might work better on TV, but you might just want to turn the station for something more exciting.
D
THE FIRE--Argentina film, basically a two person character study of the tensions that arise when an unmarried couple are unable to take the thousands of dollars of cash to the bank to complete their new home purchase, which has been postponed for a day. She feels he is unloving and violent, he feels unloved and threatened by the fact that her family is rich enough to have come up with most of the cash for the sale. This couple spends the whole hand held film arguing, bickering, screaming, threatening to leave, etc and it finally drove me from the theatre after an hour of this pointless, plotless bantering. One of the worst of the festival.
EXCUSE MY FRENCH--From Egypt comes this silly, immature comedy about a smart Christian
boy who wants to go to a public Muslim school after this father dies. The humor was aggressively unfunny and dull. One of the worst of the festival.
OF THOSE I'VE SEEN FOR THE FINAL WEEKEND, I'D RECOMMEND
KEY HOUSE MIRROR, A FEW CUBIC METERS OF LOVE, THE GRUMP, LISA THE FOX FAIRY, 7 CHINESE BROTHERS and THOSE PEOPLE.
FILMS TO AVOID--BODA BODA THIEVES, THE FIRE, COOKING UP A TRIBUTE and EXCUSE MY FRENCH
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment