TOP END WEDDING--Australia--It's a slow start for the romantic comedy/drama, but it quickly wins us over with very likeable characters and some consistent laughs. The ending is very moving and funny at the same time. I ended up seeing this twice. GRADE------A
BLINDED BY THE LIGHT---It might help if you are already a Bruce Springsteen fan, but this film feels exhuberat thanks to great music, singing, and a beautiful youthful performance in the lead. It opens wide in August, and deserves to be a mammoth hit. GRADE---------A
#FEMALE PLEASURE--Switzerland--Five different women from five different religious backgrounds find that male repression of female sexuality is universal. Most effective is a scene of a Somali woman who experienced female genital mutilation as a child, and in one scene demonstrates on a large clay shaped vulva how the genitals are cut using a large shears. That scene alone could change the minds of millions around the world. GRADE------------A-
WHAT SHE SAID: THE ART OF PAULINE KAEL--Lovers of film, and fans of Pauline Kael's acerbic criticism for many years in THE NEW YORKER magazine should be in cinematic heaven with this engrossing documentary. The nearly full screening seemed to reignite an interest in reading her reviews. GRADE--------------A-
THE APOLLO--USA--A smart, exhaustive documentary on the history of Harlem's epic theatre which has featured nearly every major African American entertainer since 1934, including the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, the Temptations, etc. The film was produced by HBO, so we can expect it to show up later this summer on cable. GRADE------A-
BOTERO--Canada--A splendid documentary about Fernando Botero, a painter and sculpturist whose work is admired and recognized world wide, even if the name doesn't ring a bell with you right now. His out put is tremendous, and new work is still being produced. GRADE--------A-
TEL AVIV ON FIRE--France/Israel/Belgium--When I scanned the descriptions, I assumed this film was a documentary. I was so wonderfully wrong. A dim witted man accidentally becomes a writer on a popular soap opera that features a romance between an Israeli and Palestinian couple. He then becomes entangled with an official at a traffic check point who begins to tell him what to write about. It's satire and humor at it's delightful best. GRADE---------B+
WINTER FLIES--Czech Republic--A 15 year old boy steals a car, picks up his 12 year old friend and later a young girl, then have a joyride abound the country is this likable road trip film...the kids are funny, sad, goofy and kind of smart. One scene has them both falling asleep at the wheel in the middle of the night--sort of a magical realism moment. GRADE------B+
ENORMOUS: THE GORGE STORY--USA--Here's a swift, historical documentary on the music/vineyard that is the Gorge, complete with samplings of talking heads and snippets of the many musical greats that have played there including Dave Mathews, Jason Mraz, Bob Dylan, Steve Miller, and many many more. GRADE-----------B
ORANGE DAYS--Iran--She struggles to run an orange orchard in Iran, but all the men, including her husband, her ex-boss, and coworkers are liars, cheats and/or pigs. She's having a tough year. GRADE------------B
MINUSCULE-MANDIBLES FROM FAR AWAY--The backgrounds are real, but the many bugs (mostly ladybugs) are animated in this sometimes tedious story of a stowaway, and the father who tries to track him down. Still, different and mostly interesting to watch in this wordless visual story. GRADE-------------B-
ANOTHER DAY OF LIFE--Hungary/Germany--Another fascinating animated film with realistic visuals set in the Angolan civil war. I didn't know much about the politics of the battles--basically the plot has a reporter making his way to the front, and then back again, but the animation is quite effective at times. GRADE-----------B-
THE INNOCENT----Germany--Weird, spooky, ethereal story of conservative woman who becomes influenced by the devil (who may be her supposedly dead ex-lover?) and experiences a change in her life to include her sexuality. Some scenes don't make a lot of sense, but the film feels like a bad dream at times and is quite hypnotic at other times. GRADE----------B-
CELEBRATION--France--This strange, somber documentary of Yves Saint Laurent's final days should have been called DIRGE---there's no happiness, no fashion on display, he walks around seemingly in a coma, and the odd soundtrack consists of buzzes (like a fire drill) or inappropriate opera. It felt like someone had access to some discarded film clips from other movies and edited them together. Not exactly boring, but not much to celebrate either. GRADE---------C+
FAMILY PICTURE SHOW--This shorts program was geared for kids but I (and I think many of them) was bored with the first 6 selections, so I opted out of the final half. GRADE------C
BEFORE THE VOWS--Ghana--A soon to be married young couple decide that a last fling with their exes would to best for their future relationship--of course this leads to trouble. The look of this film is bright and colorful, and the couple are beautiful actors, but the soap opera dialogue and cliched story become too much to believe. GRADE-------C
WE TAKE THE LOW ROAD--USA--This low budget film has some good ideas--billionaire medical CEO's make millions off the suffering of lower income people, who die early when they can't afford medical expenses, but things go terribly wrong, naturally, when three young adults try to rob a CEO and the trail of blood becomes quite long. It wants to be a modern western (think WIND RIVER or HELL AND HIGH WATER) but the actors aren't quite up to task. GRADE----------C
CRYSTAL SWAN--Belarus--The leading lady is feisty and watchable, but someone forgot to write an engaging script and the story is dull. GRADE---------C-
GLITORIS MAXIMUS----This shorts program, supposedly about female sexuality, was disappointingly dull except for the final short, which has a teen strapping on a strap on (in a public park!) to tease her boyfriend and shock the other friends around. The couple finally goes to a more private area and her boyfriend actually starts to play around with her new toy. GRADE-----------------C- but the final short called F*** You gets a GRADE------B
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