Recently showcased at SIFF, the Cold War spy drama FAREWELL creates a moody, personal atmosphere of paranoia and suspense as it tells the true story of how two very different men helped bring about the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1980's. A KGB spy passes crucial documents to a French engineer working in Moscow, and there's intrigue in that. But the real suspense builds as the film details the effects of spying on each respective family, and the tensions between spouses and child show the toll that the activity can have between loved ones. This is an intelligent simmering thriller. GRADE------ B+
Also from SIFF, the French/Russian fantasy/musical/comedy film THE CONCERT is a pleasure to watch. The preposterous plot has a janitor (and former conductor) for the Bolshoi orchestra intercepting an invite to preform in Paris, so he organizes a troop of black listed musicians (all of whom lost their jobs due to politics in Communist Russia) to travel to Paris pretending to be the real Bolshoi....well it's pretty silly stuff, but the film looks and sounds great, with many fine musical passages, especially the finale, which is a crowd pleaser, full of emotional grandeur. GRADE-------- B
Revisited PLACES IN THE HEART for the first time since it opened in 1984. This was written and directed by Robert Benton (BONNIE AND CLYDE) and won Oscars that year for the translucent performance by Sally Fields ("You like me, you really like me.") and the precious autobiographical script. There are some other great performances including a blind, perceptive John Malkovitch, the secret lovers played by Ed Harris and Amy Madigan, who married in real life after filming, and the proud and resourceful Danny Glover. I remembered very well the sad shocking opening scene, and the masterly final redemptive scene in the church which so movingly brings the film full circle. and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about those moments. This is a very special film. GRADE--------- A-
One of seven or so films that Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor made together, THE V.I.P.'s (1963) is a disaster film without a disaster. A big and varied cast (including Louis Jordan, Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor, Orson Welles, and Margaret Rutherford) find themselves stranded at London's airport with all flights canceled due to fog. Each has a desperate reason to leave ASAP, and each has some personal trauma/adversity to overcome. I wish the film was juicier--instead it is glossy and turgidly watchable. Rutherford won a supporting Oscar for the film, and she is a delightful character, but her scenes are filmed and scored with such humor and whimsy that she appears to be in an entirely different film altogether. GRADE------C+
Showing posts with label Concert. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Concert. Show all posts
Friday, August 6, 2010
Sunday, May 16, 2010
SIFF Report 2
Overall, this second week of screenings was not as good as the first, but there were some fine exceptions. Again, starting at the top (for quality)......
GRADE---A
THE HEDGEHOG--(France)--Eleven year old precocious Paloma is so disillusioned with her rich bourgeois family that she is determined to end her life on her 12th birthday, but when she starts to interact with her new mysterious Japanese neighbor and the older concierge who runs the building (the subtitles call her the "janitor") her pessimism begins to melt. Nicely based on a beloved novel by Muriel Barbery.
GRADE---B+
BUS PALLADIUM--(France)--Energetic (if typical) story of four young men trying to make it big with their rock band in Europe. The dozen characters around them are well drawn and interesting and the story is very entertaining (in that sex, drugs and rock and roll way.)
GRADE---B
PRINCE OF TEARS--(Hong Kong)--Sumptuously filmed in wide screen and Technicolor (?) complete with emotional music, sharp set designs and costumes, this melodrama about two young girls whose parents are arrested as communist spies is a fascinating history lesson about the struggle within Taiwan in the 1950's that pitted family against family during their attempt to break from Communism. My only complaint--perhaps a bit too melodramatic.....
THE CONCERT--(Russia/France)--An unbelievable plot (the janitor at the Bolshoi Orchestra who was previously a conductor, connives an invitation to play in Paris with his old comrades who were drummed out of the orchestra for being Jewish, by pretending to be the new conductor of the Bolshoi....and that's just the early set up....) is saved by warm and amusing characterizations and lush and stunning visuals, cinematography, and especially, music.
RESTREPO--(USA)--An intense documentary where the camera explores the tensions of daily living in a dangerous combat zone in Afghanistan, sort of like an unfictionalized version of THE HURT LOCKER.
GRADE---C-
THE FREEBIE--(USA)--A thirty something couple decide together to each sleep with another person for one night only in order to spice up their own sex life. A clever idea for a 15 minute short film is stretched out to 78 minutes, and is too single minded and annoyingly filmed in extreme close ups to maintain much interest.
SKELETONS--(United Kingdom)--Another clever idea about two traveling "ghost-busters" who try to expose the secrets in other people's closets, but the idea is never expanded or explained very well, and the film gets bogged down in a case of a missing husband that is not very interesting or original. Also the low key style and ZERO dollar special effects do little to keep you engaged. Perhaps we need a rating of ZZZZZ.
FATHER OF MY CHILDREN--(France)--Here's another film that deserves the ZZZZZ rating--which is based on the life of a workaholic film producer and the struggles to carry on after his death. I kept waiting for him to die--and early on there's an extended scene of him driving on the freeway, while talking on two cell phones at once, and smoking constantly (!!!!!), and I kept thinking that he would die in a car accident. I didn't care much about the film making or the characters.
SOUL KITCHEN--(Germany)--Quirky, stupid characters doing stupid, foolish things, and the plot progression made no LOGICAL sense, either. I guess this is supposed to be a surreal comedy but I was not amused, just annoyed. A big disappointment from director Fatih Akin who made the excellent EDGE OF HEAVEN a few years ago.
GRADE---D
AMER--(Belgium)--This is a supposed to be a "horror" film that will play at midnight, but it's more of a "horrible" film that will only put people to sleep or have them leaving the theatre by the half way mark. There are three parts, and the first part is the best, where a resourceful child is determined to find out what is in the room with a dead relative, and at the same time she must fend off--what?--a demented nanny or some witch or evil being that is trying to get into her bedroom ...!!!??? There are some amusing, creepy moments, but no dialogue or story line, just sound effects, and the motion of half the audience making for the door. The second part has the child about 7 years older and is filled with sexual tension and posturing, but again no dialogue. The third part is a few years later and has the woman returning to the original house (?) for whatever reason, taking a bath without water except that which oozes from between her legs (?!) and there's some one or some thing cutting the throat (?!?) or something of a taxi driver (?) who is trying to find her or save her or something. I just kept thinking that I could have done some laundry and gone grocery shopping instead of watching this pointless Euro mess.
GRADE---A
THE HEDGEHOG--(France)--Eleven year old precocious Paloma is so disillusioned with her rich bourgeois family that she is determined to end her life on her 12th birthday, but when she starts to interact with her new mysterious Japanese neighbor and the older concierge who runs the building (the subtitles call her the "janitor") her pessimism begins to melt. Nicely based on a beloved novel by Muriel Barbery.
GRADE---B+
BUS PALLADIUM--(France)--Energetic (if typical) story of four young men trying to make it big with their rock band in Europe. The dozen characters around them are well drawn and interesting and the story is very entertaining (in that sex, drugs and rock and roll way.)
GRADE---B
PRINCE OF TEARS--(Hong Kong)--Sumptuously filmed in wide screen and Technicolor (?) complete with emotional music, sharp set designs and costumes, this melodrama about two young girls whose parents are arrested as communist spies is a fascinating history lesson about the struggle within Taiwan in the 1950's that pitted family against family during their attempt to break from Communism. My only complaint--perhaps a bit too melodramatic.....
THE CONCERT--(Russia/France)--An unbelievable plot (the janitor at the Bolshoi Orchestra who was previously a conductor, connives an invitation to play in Paris with his old comrades who were drummed out of the orchestra for being Jewish, by pretending to be the new conductor of the Bolshoi....and that's just the early set up....) is saved by warm and amusing characterizations and lush and stunning visuals, cinematography, and especially, music.
RESTREPO--(USA)--An intense documentary where the camera explores the tensions of daily living in a dangerous combat zone in Afghanistan, sort of like an unfictionalized version of THE HURT LOCKER.
GRADE---C-
THE FREEBIE--(USA)--A thirty something couple decide together to each sleep with another person for one night only in order to spice up their own sex life. A clever idea for a 15 minute short film is stretched out to 78 minutes, and is too single minded and annoyingly filmed in extreme close ups to maintain much interest.
SKELETONS--(United Kingdom)--Another clever idea about two traveling "ghost-busters" who try to expose the secrets in other people's closets, but the idea is never expanded or explained very well, and the film gets bogged down in a case of a missing husband that is not very interesting or original. Also the low key style and ZERO dollar special effects do little to keep you engaged. Perhaps we need a rating of ZZZZZ.
FATHER OF MY CHILDREN--(France)--Here's another film that deserves the ZZZZZ rating--which is based on the life of a workaholic film producer and the struggles to carry on after his death. I kept waiting for him to die--and early on there's an extended scene of him driving on the freeway, while talking on two cell phones at once, and smoking constantly (!!!!!), and I kept thinking that he would die in a car accident. I didn't care much about the film making or the characters.
SOUL KITCHEN--(Germany)--Quirky, stupid characters doing stupid, foolish things, and the plot progression made no LOGICAL sense, either. I guess this is supposed to be a surreal comedy but I was not amused, just annoyed. A big disappointment from director Fatih Akin who made the excellent EDGE OF HEAVEN a few years ago.
GRADE---D
AMER--(Belgium)--This is a supposed to be a "horror" film that will play at midnight, but it's more of a "horrible" film that will only put people to sleep or have them leaving the theatre by the half way mark. There are three parts, and the first part is the best, where a resourceful child is determined to find out what is in the room with a dead relative, and at the same time she must fend off--what?--a demented nanny or some witch or evil being that is trying to get into her bedroom ...!!!??? There are some amusing, creepy moments, but no dialogue or story line, just sound effects, and the motion of half the audience making for the door. The second part has the child about 7 years older and is filled with sexual tension and posturing, but again no dialogue. The third part is a few years later and has the woman returning to the original house (?) for whatever reason, taking a bath without water except that which oozes from between her legs (?!) and there's some one or some thing cutting the throat (?!?) or something of a taxi driver (?) who is trying to find her or save her or something. I just kept thinking that I could have done some laundry and gone grocery shopping instead of watching this pointless Euro mess.
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