Sydney Pollack--and more SIFF

5/29/08

Sydney Pollack died earlier this week. He directed a lot of movies that became part of our shared popular culture over the past few decades, films like They Shoot Horses, Don't They, The Way We Were, Three Days of the Condor, Tootsie, and Out of Africa. He's made many more, but these are a few good ones to start with.

And meanwhile, in Seattle, it's seven days down, eighteen days to go at SIFF. TVOR has had a good time in the theater recently, with many more hits than misses. Here are some thoughts:

Still Life tells the stories of some of the people whose lives are affected by the Three Gorges project. It's a very well-done narrative film that is a nice accompaniment to the documentary Up the Yangtze.

For pure pleasure, you can't beat Sita Sings the Blues, an animated musical version of the Indian epic, the Ramayana--using the music of 1920's blues vocalist Annette Hanshaw. Oh, and there's a contemporary story too. Plus some unscripted discussion. It's hard to describe this movie, but take it from TVOR--you should see it. It'll get released, so watch for it.

TVOR also liked A Man's Job, a Norwegian film about an unemployed family man who posts an ad to provide handyman work and ends up providing other "services" to women.

Breakfast With Scot was a lightweight but pleasant comedy--a closeted gay couple take in very fey pre-teen. No surprises here, except that the film got the cooperation of the National Hockey League. (Half of the gay couple is an ex-professional hockey player.) Only in Canada.

Mongol was a very enjoyable big Russian-made epic about Ghengis Khan. Apparently he wasn't such a bad guy.

TVOR liked the Norwegian film The Art of Negative Thinking. She probably would have liked it even more if the reels had been screened in the proper order. It's about a support group for the disabled that is hijacked by an angry accident victim who is not in the mood to think about the bright side of things.

Good Food is a documentary about organic food, sustainable farming, eating locally--all that sort of thing. Not bad, but sort of like a PBS documentary.

California Dreamin' (Endless) is one of the best things TVOR has seen at SIFF this year. It's a Romanian film made by Cristian Nemescu, who died in an automobile accident at age 27, before the film was finished. In it, an American-led NATO group transporting some equipment by train is held up in a tiny town in Romania during the war in Kosovo. We'll never know how Nemescu would have finished the film, or what other work he would have produced. Too bad.

Katyn is a very well-done Polish film about the murder of Polish army officers by the Russian army in 1940, which was denied (and blamed on the Nazis) for decades.

You can skip Summer Heat, a Dutch erotic thriller which is neither very erotic nor very thrilling. The people are very pretty, but unfortunately, not very bright.

SIFF Update #1--plus some video suggestions

5/26/08

Four days down, 21 to go.

TVOR liked most of what she saw the first few days of SIFF 2008.

She enjoyed the Russian film Mermaid (but don't go in thinking it's all that Amelie-like, no matter what you hear).

She also liked The Pope's Toilet (maybe the best title in the fest), the story of a poor Uruguayan village's attempt to profit from the visit of the pope.

Ballast, an American indie, is another winner, about the aftermath of a suicide.

Boy A is an excellent film from the U.K. about a juvenile offender after his release from prison.

In Elegy, Ben Kingsley is very good as a man resisting falling in love. Dennis Hopper plays his friend, and it's nice to see him playing a character that's not a psycho.

And Up the Yangtze is a fascinating, sort of sad, sort of horrifying, sort of amazing documentary about the effects of the Three Gorges dam on the people who live in the area. The director described it as Love Boat meets Apocalypse Now. Now that's a snappy tag line.

She was less impressed with The Last Mistress by the French director Catherine Breillat, the queen of graphic sex and dysfunctional love. The Last Mistress is a period piece, with great costumes, less sex, and all of the dysfunction we have come to expect.

Transsiberian was a waste of talent and interesting locations, with unbelievably stupid characters. Don't be lured by the cast.

Video Notes:

For those not in film festival mode right now, here are some films from recent months now available on video. TVOR thought these were all worth checking out, and she blogged about them on the dates shown.

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2/15/08)
Caramel (2/2/08)
Starting Out in the Evening (1/5/08)
King Corn (2/20/08)
There Will Be Blood (1/20/08)
Before the Devil Knows You're Dead (1/5/08)
Charlie Wilson's War (12/20/07)
Juno (1/8/08)

Also check out My Life Without Me, an earlier film by Isabel Coixet, the director of Elegy. Sarah Polley plays a young mother with terminal cancer, a subject that may make you want to run screaming from the room. Don't--the film is very nicely done.

SIFF 2008

5/23/08

First of all, apologies to those not in Seattle, as this entry is Seattle-centric.

The 2008 Seattle International Film Festival began last night with a screening of Stuart Townsend's Battle in Seattle. That film will never play to such a large and appreciative audience again. Much of the audience had witnessed or maybe even participated in the events surrounding the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle. TVOR had an excellent vantage point of the goings-on in 1999 since her office was next door to the Convention Center, the epicenter of the event. (An aside--it's very disconcerting to see a police officer, in full riot gear, standing in line at the local espresso emporium, ordering a grande vanilla latte with whip. It makes you lose some of your respect for authority.)

Opening night is over, though, and now it's time for 24 more days of SIFF and hundreds of films. TVOR has seen some of these already, at press screenings and other film festivals. Here are some brief thoughts on what she's seen so far, in no particular order.

The Edge of Heaven
TVOR has gone on enough about this one by SIFF 2008 Emerging Master Fatih Akin. It's good.

Head-On
An earlier Akin film. Also very good. And on video if you can't see it on the big screen.

Seach'd: The Crimson Snowdrop
Nicely photographed, in old Scottish language, but not TVOR's cup of tea.

Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains
A documentary about the Uruguayan rugby team whose plane crashed in the early 70's and who resorted to cannibalism while awaiting rescue. TVOR didn't think she'd like this, but was pleasantly surprised. Very well done, with fascinating interviews with the survivors and amazing pictures.

My Effortless Brilliance
A good locally made film by Lynn Shelton. Guys, who are former friends, in the woods.

Emmanuel Jal: War Child
A documentary about a Sudanese child soldier who becomes a hip-hop artist. An interesting subject, but not a great film.

Continental, a Film Without Guns
A film about alienation. Maybe TVOR was feeling too alienated, but she found it forgettable.

The Red Awn
The first film directed by the screenwriter of Shower, which TVOR really liked. Unfortunately, this did not live up to her hopes for it. Beautiful to look at, but the characters weren't quite sketched out enough, she thought.

Bigger Stronger Faster
A documentary about steroid use, this was another film TVOR didn't expect much from, but she really liked it. There's a personal element, plus lots of interviews. A definite recommendation.

Let the Right One In
A Swedish vampire flick. What's not to like? Not too gory and actually kind of sweet. Definitely worth seeing.

Garden Party
No. Just don't do it.

Savage Grace
TVOR was reminded of the first line of Anna Karenina, the one about how happy families are all alike, and unhappy families are unhappy in all sorts of different ways. This family takes many ways of being unhappy and tries to do all of them simultaneously. Pretty well done, with good acting (Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, etc.), but these are not people TVOR wanted to spend time with.

The Girl by the Lake
Italian police procedural. A good one.

The 3 Little Pigs
French Canadian men behaving badly. TVOR was not as amused as she was supposed to be.

Before the Rains
An Indian film with a western feel. No singing, no dancing, no sign of Bollywood anywhere. This takes place during colonial times, but is more from the viewpoint of the Indians than the British. Worth seeing. And beautiful to look at.

The Home Song Stories
TVOR thought this film, telling the story of a troubled immigrant mother in Australia, was very good, with an outstanding performance by Joan Chen.

Jar City
When was the last time you saw an Icelandic crime drama? This one is good.

Mister Foe (also called Hallam Foe)
Jamie Bell is very good in this British sort-of-comedy about a teenager who adopts what might be called an unconventional lifestyle.

One Hundred Nails
This didn't work for TVOR. Maybe she's too shallow.

Games of Love & Chance
A 2003 film from Emerging Master Abdel Kechiche is a contemporary take on the Marivaux play. Very well done. Also on video.

Sexy Beast
Sir Ben Kingsley not looking very Sir-like. He plays a wonderful baddie in this very entertaining crime caper from 2000. Another one that's on video.


And that's just to start. More later.

Finally coming to a theater near you

5/21/08

There are some big movies out now but TVOR has been otherwise engaged. Recently, any time she has spent watching films has been at press screenings for the upcoming Seattle International Film Festival. Instead of superheroes she has been spending time with the usual parade of real people from around the world who populate film festival screens. But more about SIFF in a later entry.

It's always nice when good films, after making the festival rounds for a while, actually get distribution so that more people can see them. This doesn't happen nearly as often as you might wish. A few of TVOR's favorites from the past year can now be seen in theaters.

The Edge of Heaven
Written and directed by Fatih Akin

TVOR saw The Edge of Heaven at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall. At that time, it didn't have distribution in the U.S. but justice has finally prevailed and it is opening today in New York, eventually to work its way into at least some of the rest of the country. This is an excellent film, one of the best things out there right now. It's hard to describe it exactly--it's about several characters, Turkish, German, and Turkish-German, whose lives intersect in ways that explore life in contemporary Europe, the lives of immigrants, human nature, etc. TVOR told you it was hard to describe. But it is definitely worth seeing.

Reprise
Directed and co-written by Joachim Trier

This Norwegian film was playing film festivals a year ago, and is now playing in New York and Los Angeles. As usual, the rest of the country has to wait a bit. Fortunately, it's worth it. Reprise is the story of two young men, friends and aspiring writers, who mail off their manuscripts on the same day. From there, they have very different experiences of success and failure, ups and downs--professionally, personally, and romantically. The filmmaking style is wonderful. This is Trier's first feature and TVOR can't wait to see what he comes up with next.

Son of Rambow
Written and directed by Garth Jennings

This entertaining film is the story of two young boys in 80's Britain who are completely taken with Sylvester Stallone and Rambo: First Blood. Their real lives are not too wonderful, and they devote themselves to creating their own version of the Rambo film, complete with various stunts. The movie is about childhood, friendship, and love of movies, and probably some other things too. It was playing festivals a year ago and is now playing all over the U.S.

Video notes:

Fatih Akin's earlier films are available on video, and TVOR highly recommends both Head-On and In July. See the blog entry of 9/19/07 for more information.

A few years ago, Garth Jennings directed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, which is very silly but a lot of fun.

Movies about and for humans

4/19/08

After a winter of dark and bloody movies with larger-than-life characters, we're now seeing some smaller-scale films with characters that might resemble people we know in the real world. TVOR isn't knocking those other films--she liked several of them a lot--but sometimes it's nice to see something a bit easier to connect with. Here are a few.

The Visitor
Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy

Thomas McCarthy's second film tells the story of Walter, a widowed professor, who has pretty much checked out of life. He is somewhat reluctantly brought back into it when he goes to stay in his little-used apartment in New York City. There he finds a young couple, victims of a real estate scam, who have moved in, thinking they have legitimately rented it. One thing leads to another--he allows them to stay temporarily, they turn out to be illegal immigrants, etc., etc. But things don't necessarily play out the way you'd think they would. The writing, acting, and directing are all very good. Richard Jenkins plays Walter, and he is just about perfect. He's one of those actors who's been in tons of films but you probably don't know his name or even recognize his face. After The Visitor you should.

Young @ Heart
Directed by Stephen Walker

You're just going to have to believe TVOR when she says you have to see this film. Young @ Heart is a documentary about a choral group made up of senior citizens (average age = 80+) from Northampton, Massachusetts who sing rock and blues songs. And they sing them in ways you've never heard them sung before. These guys are good! You find yourself really thinking about the lyrics. Songs by The Clash, Coldplay, The Ramones, Radiohead, James Brown, The Talking Heads, Bob Dylan--does TVOR need to go on? She didn't think so. If this doesn't sound like your cup of tea, you're wrong. It is. Go with an old person, go with a young person, just go. And take a look at lives that are well-lived.

Smart People
Directed by Noam Murro from a screenplay by Mark Poirier

Here's another widowed professor story. What's with these academics and the dead wives? Smart People is a little more Hollywood than The Visitor, but it's still a nice character piece. The widowed professor, played by Dennis Quaid, has a couple of teen-aged kids and a ne'er-do-well brother (adopted brother as the Quaid character likes to point out) to interact with, but he's still a sad sack. Enter Sarah Jessica Parker as an ex-student. See this film for the dialog and the acting, particularly by Quaid, Ellen Page (of Juno) as the daughter, and the wonderful Thomas Haden Church as the brother.

Video notes:

The Station Agent

Thomas McCarthy's first film as a writer/director was The Station Agent, so he's two for two. Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson, and Bobby Cannavale are an assortment of lonely people who may or may not connect.

The Savages

Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman play siblings dealing with the failing health of their father in this fine film from 2007, now out on video. See TVOR's entry dated 12/3/07.

Caramel (finally!)

4/5/08

TVOR wrote about Caramel AGES ago--before Super Tuesday, before the Superbowl, before...well, it was a long time ago. The film had opened in New York and Los Angeles and was supposedly going to make it to the hinterlands before long. HA! Boy, was that wrong. But the time is finally here--apparently the hinterlands have been adequately prepared for this sweet slice of life in Beirut--so see it! For more information, check out TVOR's 2/2/08 entry.

The Counterfeiters

4/2/08

The Counterfeiters
Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky

This Austrian film, based on a true story, won the 2008 Oscar for best foreign language film. During World War II, the Germans put into place Operation Bernhard, a plan to destabilize the economies of England and the United States by flooding the markets with enormous amounts funds in counterfeit pounds and dollars. To do this, they needed expert forgers. Enter Salomon Sorowitsch, who is sent to a concentration camp as a "habitual criminal" as a result of his forgery career, as well as for being a Jew. He is installed at the head of a team of prisoners with relevant skills to come up with the most perfect counterfeit British and U.S. currency possible. For the prisoners, making progress toward this goal means living in relative comfort with food and medical treatment in the same concentration camp where others are living and dying in subhuman conditions. To refuse to participate is to join the majority of the inmates. Yet to work on the project could affect the outcome of the war. The members of the team have varying opinions on their collaboration, and Sorowitsch, who as a criminal, has a different view on these things than some of his co-workers, attempts to walk a fine (and ultimately nonexistent) line between day-to-day survival and total collaboration. Complicating the situation even further is the fact that he's an artist who takes pride in his work. Karl Markovicz is outstanding as Sorowitsch, and the supporting cast is excellent as well. This is definitely one to to see. If you spend some time afterward wondering how you would behave in a similar situation...well, you wouldn't be the only one.


Video notes:

And while we're on the subject of collaboration with the Nazis as portrayed in academy-award winning foreign films, The Shop on Main Street, the 1966 winner, is another fine example. In this one, we spend time with a small and insignificant loser of a man who is given a shop to run as a result of the "Aryanization" of his small town in Slovakia. The results are not pretty.

And if all this is a little too serious for you, how about some lighter options? Here are some 2007 films now available on video. TVOR has blogged about the first three already:

Lars and the Real Girl
(see TVOR on 10/11/07)

Moliere
(see TVOR on 8/1/07)

Wristcutters: A Love Story
(see TVOR on 11/10/07)

The Hoax
TVOR missed this underrated and under-the-radar film on the big screen (as did most of the world), but it's a good evening's entertainment. It's based on the true story of how in the early 1970's, author Clifford Irving bamboozled a major publishing company, as well as Life Magazine, into giving him enormous advances to produce an authorized autobiography of Howard Hughes. And that would be authorized, of course, by Hughes himself--in person. Everything about Clifford's story was pure fiction. The movie also moves into the politics of the late Nixon era, when other types of bamboozling and lying were going on. Richard Gere (yes, Richard Gere!) heads the cast as Irving, with Alfred Molina, Marcia Gay Harden, Hope Davis, and Julie Delpy in supporting roles. All are very good. Lasse Hallstrom directed. (FYI--Alfred Molina = worst co-conspirator ever.)

The Good Shepherd
TVOR was housebound and desperate and caught this one only because it was available on demand through the cable company. You don't need to see it, though. It's not terrible--it just may not be worth almost three hours of your life. It's a fictionalized version of the beginning of the CIA, with Matt Damon as the central character. You may be surprised to know that the CIA is not only driven by patriotism and trust--amazingly, it's even more driven by father and son issues! And nobody and nothing comes off very well. The cast (including Michael Gambon, Angelina Jolie, Alec Baldwin, William Hurt, Robert De Niro, and Billy Crudup) and the direction (De Niro again) are all fine, but the whole thing is just kind of gloomy. And not gloomy because of the complexities of the characters and the ethics of what they do. It's gloomy because these people--especially Mr. Damon--look just plain depressed. (FYI--Angelina Jolie = worst spy wife ever.)