Winner of best picture at this year's SIFF among the Fool Serious Pass Holders is a soulful, emotional film that was shot in the Pacific Northwest, called CAPTAIN FANTASTIC, and featuring a passionate, subtle performance by Viggo Mortensen, who won the SIFF best actor award this year. He plays a counter culture father who has moved his family into the forests of Washington state, and lives completely off the grid, living self sufficiently, trading for goods from crafts his family makes, and killing their own meat, and growing their own vegetables and fruits. When his depressed wife commits suicide while under hospital care, he and his five children venture into society to attend the funeral of their mother, much to the anger of their grandfather, who blames Mortensen for her death. There's a lot of humor, tension, and engaging encounters with society, and the film entertainingly captures the dilemma that the family faces. My only complaint: the director seems to want to use extreme closeups way too often, and also many scenes have an obnoxious hand held jerkiness to them. But this film is an excellent mix of humor, emotion, philosophical sophistication, political discourse, and family relationships. There hasn't been a film this astute (and subversive) since ALICE'S RESTAURANT (Arthur Penn) back in 1969 and Milos Forman's film version of HAIR in 1979. This is one of my FAVORITE films of the year. GRADE---------A-
Based on a world wide best seller (I swear I see at least one woman a day reading this book in public) the new thriller GIRL ON A TRAIN is a slickly engaging murder mystery thriller with solid production values and effective acting. There are some similarities to the last block buster best seller made into a film GONE GIRL two years ago, but TRAIN is more palatable, and certainly less cynical and brutal. There were some coincidences that I felt were a bit much---like how the three main woman characters all share the same psychiatrist.....and he seems to be rather intimately cozy with them all. Also the main male is or has been on intimate terms with all the women at some point or another. (Sorry if I spoil anything....). And it is a bit much that the main character just happens to witness such significant moments from the window of her passing train---I'm lucky to see a jogger or a cyclist when I'm on a train. Still, GIRL ON A TRAIN is entertaining Hollywood pablum that keeps you intrigued to the end, even if you figure it out at the two thirds point. GRADE----------B+
A U.K, Qatar, Jordan co production, UNDER THE SHADOW is set during the Iran-Iraq war, and ramps up the tension by having a mother and daughter under great stress as their city is under siege from flying rocket bombs and their many neighbors are fleeing the apartment building for safer rural areas away from the fighting. With the doctor husband away at the war zone, the wife, who was training to be a doctor herself when a change in regime forced her into a more traditional role, becomes immersed in a local witch craft tale that has evil spirits threatening her child---or is it merely symbolic of the war violence? If you saw the Australian film from a couple years ago called THE BABADOOK, you know that the manifestation of evil can provide many shivering chills and UNDER THE SHADOW connects on many levels of satisfaction for the viewer. GRADE-------B
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From October 2nd through October 7th I attended the Vancouver International Film Festival. When these films open around the country (like UNDER THE SHADOW above) then I will write about them, but in the meantime, here is a brief listing and rating for some of the better films to watch for:
I, DANIEL BLAKE---a masterpiece of humanist drama by British director Ken Loach--his best. GRADE----A
AQUARIUS--Brazilian film featuring the great Sonia Braga in vivid character study of woman fighting local corruption in housing market. GRADE----A-
JULIETA--the new Spanish film by Pedro Almodovar--another slick melodrama of love and passion, mostly told in a long, emotional flashback. GRADE---B+
PERSONAL SHOPPER--French film by director Oliver Assayas (his best so far) with fascinating performance by Kristen Stewart--a compelling mixture of glamour, psychic suspense, murder mystery and grief. GRADE----B+
MANCHESTER BY THE SEA--Director Kenneth Lonergan's observant, moving drama told with many flashbacks, of the tragic events that keep a man from moving on with his life. GRADE--B+
A QUIET PASSION--Terence Davies film about the life of American poet Emily Dickinson (portrayed gamely by Cynthia Nixon) is belabored and excruciatingly painful to behold. GRADE--D
Other decent films include: MALIGUTIT (SEARCHER)--the new film set in the Arctic by the director of THE FAST RUNNER, THE ORNITHOLOGIST--a kinky Portuguese film by the director of O PHANTASMA, LIFE AFTER LIFE--an allegorical drama from China, and OLD STONE--a Chinese/Canadian production with film noir ambitions.
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The following films were viewed on DVD-------
THE MALTESE FALCON--1941--A convoluted mystery by writer Dashiell Hammett and director John Huston doesn't mar the enjoyment of this Humphrey Bogart classic which features memorable turns by a fey Peter Lorre, a sly Mary Astor, and a droll Sydney Greenstreet. Not nearly as difficult to follow as THE BIG SLEEP. GRADE---- A-
KEY LARGO --1948--Based on a stage play, this atmospheric drama directed by John Huston features a number of hotel workers and guests held captive during a long, intense night by a notorious gangster trying to make a comeback in the United States, all this during a hurricane! Edward G. Robinson is very effective as the cruel Rocco, and Claire Trevor deservedly won a best supporting Oscar as his alcoholic girlfriend. Bogart and Bacall are effective as a stranger who stumbles into the situation and he falls for hotel worker Bacall, who is unusually (and effectively) low key. GRADE----------A-
O. HENRY'S FULL HOUSE--1952--Five very effective O. Henry stories are filmed by different actors ( including Fred Allen, Anne Baxter, Farley Granger, Charles Laughton, Marilyn Monroe, Dale Robertson, Richard Widmark and others) and directors (including Henry Hathaway, Howard Hawks, Henry King and Jean Negulesco. The stories are all funny, touching, dramatic and surprising. The most famous story is last: THE GIFT OF THE MAGI. GRADE--------B+
DESIGNING WOMEN--1957--Colorful comedy has sports writer Gregory Peck meeting and mating and marrying within a few weeks glamorous clothing designer Lauren Bacall. The silly plot has him trying to deny that he ever knew, much less dated a beautiful actress, hired to work with Bacall. The humor did grow on me, and there are a number of wonderfully silly slapstick moments. GRADE----B-
BUONA SERA, MRS CAMPBELL--1968--I just finished reading both Shelley Winters biographies published in the 1980's, and they are both funny and entertaining--among the best I've ever read. I read them 30 years ago, and they still hold up today as evocative and interesting visions of a Hollywood actress and the lifestyles of the glamorous from the mid century. Plus, Winters is a funny, sarcastic, blunt writer, so I've been curious to see some more of her many films. This film is not great, but it has a sparkling comedic cast including along with Winters, Gina Lollobrigida, Phil Silvers, Peter Lawford, Telly Savalas, Lee Grant, and others, and it has a charming, sexy style. GRADE-----------B-
PETE'S DRAGON--1977--This musical/part animated Disney film featured a gung ho supporting performance by Shelley Winters--she plays a hill-billy type of matriarch who sings and dances and is villainously trying to kidnap Pete back to her side. Singer Helen Reddy is the lead who gets to sing the main hit song Candle on the Water which I actually remembered, and the lively cast includes Red Buttons, Jim Dale, Jim Backus and Mickey Rooney. It's not a great plot, and tiresome at times. GRADE---- C
THE 5TH WAVE--2016--Based on a young adult novel, this dull, cliched science fiction film about the world being taken over by aliens was so boring that I turned it off after one hour. GRADE---D
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