SIFF Screenings Wed 25 MAY----Fri 27 MAY-----WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED, THE INNOCENTS, MA MA, PAUL A QUEBEC, SPARROWS, HUNT FOR WILDERPEOPLE, and THERAPY FOR A VAMPIRE

Here's what I saw in the last 3 days 25-27 May.

WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED---Australia--Splendid documentary on three time Oscar winner for best costume design Orry-Kelly, who started in Sydney, moved to New York City where he lived with Cary Grant, and then they moved to Los Angeles.  He started at Warners in B melodrama, quickly became Bette Davis preferred clothing designer (DARK VICTORY, JEZEBEL, NOW VOYAGER etc.) and then CASABLANCA.  He spent a while in rehab due to his drinking, then came back to costume OKLAHOMA!, SOME LIKE IT HOT and GYPSY and hundreds of others.  The film is packed with film clips featuring some spectacular dresses---especially notable is the barely there dress Marilyn Monroe wore to seduce Tony Curtis in SOME LIKE IT HOT.  There are a dozen talking heads and some reenactments with his mother and others.  An excellent example of how documentaries can inform and entertain.          GRADE-----------------A

THE INNOCENTS--Poland/France--Set shortly after the end of WW2, a young Red Cross doctor is recruited in secret to help in a small Benedictine convent, where 9 months earlier, the Germans and then the Russians used the convent as a war staging facility, raping and impregnating nearly a dozen women.  The serious film demonstrates the struggle between scandal and sanctity, religion vs agnosticism, and godlessness and innocence.  It plays at times like a super sized segment of TV's CALL THE MIDWIFE, and is compelling viewing.        GRADE------------A-

MA MA--Spain/France--Magna (a luminous Penelope Cruz) is having a bad week.  Her husband is leaving her, she's been laid off her teaching job, and now she has breast cancer.  She meets a man through her son's soccer playing, who himself is going through the grieving process--his wife and daughter have been in a serious car crash, and they begin to support each other.  A friendly, multi-talented doctor gives additional support.  The film is a lush, unabashed melodrama by top Spanish director Julio Medem (SEX AND LUCIA 2001, ROOM IN ROME 2010) and may require handkerchiefs to view.  I found it very moving and satisfying.        GRADE--B+

SPARROWS--Iceland/Denmark--Teen is moved to northern Iceland when his mother and new husband leave for Africa, to live with his dead beat father and his grandmother.  Drinking and drug,  use and poverty are rampant, and he finds himself alienated by kids his own age.  He has trouble identifying with his father and his partying friends.  Well made and acted, the film has some shocking scenes, and a powerful final scene.           GRADE---------B+

PAUL A QUEBEC--French Quebec--Large close knit family is differently affected by the impending death of the patriarch.  Film deals with intimate details as the father is finally moved to elder care facility and slowly dies.   Grim, depressing subject matter is handled with some humor and love--it's well made and some animation makes it seem cheerful at times, but it will be a hard sell in the long run.            GRADE---------B

STRANGER--Kazakhstan--Sweeping story of man's life from childhood where he looses his parents, taking to the mountains to live off the land among the animals.  Society changes over 50 years but he lives alone shunning convention.  There are some moving, some odd, some exciting scenes, but even when the film makes a few left turns towards the end, it is always engrossing in an ethnocentric manner.        GRADE-----------B

HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE--New Zealand--"Bad egg" foster kid ends up on a farm with the sweet Aunt Bella and cranky Uncle Hec (Sam Neill) and finally thinks he has it made, until a tragedy sends him and his Uncle into the forest with the police on their trail.  Film is sprite comedy, full of puns and slapstick--Kid and Uncle are particularly amusing, and film is a wonderful lark, the perfect "guilty pleasure."             GRADE----------B

THERAPY FOR A VAMPIRE--Delightful comedy spoof has count vampire seeing a shrink to complain that he's sick of his wife of 300 years. Another wonderful guilty pleasure, with great set design, special effects and clever lines.            GRADE----------B

THE LAND--U.S.A.--Set in poor section of Cleveland, film has teen skateboarder best friends coming across a stash of pills during their petty crime spree, and they decide to sell these pills themselves, unaware that a vicious drug "queen" won't tolerate being double crossed.  Well filmed with steady camera work, mostly at night, with many interesting characters and intense situations.          GRADE-----------B- 

WHILE THE WOMEN ARE SLEEPING--Japan--Vacationing writer and his wife meet an older man who seems to have a strange relationship with a twenty year old woman--writer learns that older man likes to video this woman as she sleeps, in order to document the "last day of her life".  The moody tension and voyeurism theme keep your attention, but the oblique, unspecific ending is disappointing.              GRADE-------B-

IF THERE'S A HELL BELOW--U.S.A.---Suspenseful low budget thriller (basically a two person character study times two)  develops a sickening mean streak by the end, but clever use of eastern Washington wheat fields and a shocking ending make for some effectively creepy viewing.          GRADE--------B-

OTHER GIRLS--Finland--Four girlfriends each get their own story of love and growing up just before high school graduation, although the plotting gets predictable. Final girl, a lesbian, is weakest story, and seems to have been added on as filler.       GRADE------C+

WELCOME TO NORWAY!--Norway--Terrific idea--using unsuccessful hotel in small village as housing for different groups  of migrant refugees--is wasted with broad performances, silly and unbelievable plotting, and trying to use the tribulations of these people (like murder, rape, starvation, etc.) as punch lines.  Easy to watch but I found myself wincing frequently.          GRADE-------C+

FIRST GIRL I LOVED--U.S.A.--Tiresome teen comedy drama about young love between two girls suffers from poor acting, shaking camera work, and insipid dialogue.  (There's a 10 minute texting scene that had such stupid, banal dialogue typed onto the screen that I wanted to scream.)        GRADE--------------D