Back to the movies

7/8/08

The 2008 edition of the Seattle International Film Festival ended in mid-June, and although TVOR had a wonderful time and saw many, many films (with very few losers among them), she felt it was time for a hiatus from the movies. But it's time to hit the theaters again. Summer movies don't tend to be her thing, but fortunately there are interesting things out there for people who don't necessarily want to see the latest summer action film.

WALL-E
This is hardly an independent film, as it comes from Disney. However, WALL-E is from Pixar, which was acquired by Disney a couple of years ago. Pixar seems to have been left alone to make art (and Pixar movies are art) the way the people there want to. WALL-E is a great example of what they do, which is to make G-rated animated movies that even the most cynical adult can enjoy. The animation is beautiful, the characters are interesting, and the stories are wonderfully told.

WALL-E tells the story of a world abandoned by all humans and tended only by a little robot who is basically a trash compacter on wheels. WALL-E methodically compacts and stacks the enormous mounds of garbage left behind, and this little guy has job security--the piles of junk are endless. During the opening sequences we see WALL-E at work and get to know him as he goes about his day. It becomes apparent as we watch that there is a consciousness at work that is more than robotic. (He collects artifacts that interest him, and has a fondness for a VHS copy of Hello Dolly!, which he plays constantly.) His world is changed (for the better) when a probe is sent to evaluate earth's habitability, and the rest of the film follows him on his adventures with the visitor (named Eve) and his encounters with humans and other robots.

None of what TVOR has written gives you an idea of how lovely this film is. Let her just say that it in addition to beautiful animation and a well-told story, this movie has more humanity in it, and more food for thought, than 95% of what passes for adult entertainment today. Go see it, and see it on as big a screen as possible.

Up the Yangtze
This documentary, made by Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang, looks at the effects of China's huge Three Gorges Dam project on some of the people in the area. Two million people will be displaced by the dam by the time it's completed, and entire cities are being demolished. Much of the film takes place on a cruise up the Yangtze River for tourists (mostly Americans and Europeans) to see what is about to be flooded--farms, cities, and history--before these things disappear forever. The film focuses on the stories of two of the young people employed on the boat. We also spend time with the peasant farm family one of these employees left--the family she had to leave in order to earn money to support them as the waters rose.

Up the Yangtze also tells the larger story of change in China--the pursuit of modernity and the sacrifices made by individuals (not that they have any choice) for the good of the many.

This is definitely a movie to check out, for the individual stories and the larger story as well. Plus, you'll never get to see this scenery in person. It's already too late.

Video notes:

Andrew Stanton, the writer-director of WALL-E, also made the Pixar film Finding Nemo in 2003. It's another good one.

And for another view of how huge industrial projects are changing the landscape in China, take a look at Jennifer Baichwal's 2006 documentary Manufactured Landscapes. The film follows Canadian photographer Edward Burtynsky around as he takes gorgeous, troubling photographs of the ecological havoc that is being wrought as China leaps into the modern world. It's light on words, but the pictures are eloquent.

SIFF draws to a close

6/13/08

There are three days to go at SIFF, and TVOR is happy and bleary-eyed after spending many hours staring at movie screens. Here are a few films she has seen and liked, all of which are showing in the next three days. Readers in the Seattle area can still check some of these out, and maybe even have a chance to talk to the directors.

American Son--a young marine returns home for a four day leave.
Cherry Blossoms - Hanami--love, loss, family, and Butoh dancing.
Trouble the Water--an amazing Katrina documentary, one of the best films in the festival.
Frozen River--an American independent film with two very strong central performances.
Leroy--a very entertaining German coming-of-age film about an African-German boy whose girlfriend comes from a family of neo-Nazis. Amazingly, it's sweet and funny, too.
Days and Clouds--upper middle-class Italian man loses his job, driving his wife just about nuts.
Head-On--an excellent earlier film by The Edge of Heaven director Fatih Akin.

For readers not in Seattle--go check out The Edge of Heaven. TVOR has already gone on at great lengths about the this film, so she won't do so again. Or take a look at Bigger, Stronger, Faster, the entertaining documentary about steroids, or Mongol, the Russian-made Genghis Khan biopic (he's apparently a great guy), or When Did You Last See Your Father?, a father-son drama with Colin Firth and Jim Broadbent. They're all well worth a trip to a theater. If you can't find these newer releases, you may still be able to find The Visitor, Young At Heart, or Smart People, films TVOR has already recommended.

Video Notes:

And now, for the video-dependent among you: get your hands on The Golden Door, Lady Chatterley (both blogged about on 7/31/07), The Bubble (2/29/08), or Moliere (8/1/07), film festival picks from the past now available on video.

SIFF, steroids, and blood

6/5/08

TVOR has spent a lot of time at the movies lately, but not much time blogging about them. She does have her priorities. It's past the midway point of the 25-day Seattle International Film Festival, and she's been pretty pleased overall with what she's seen. Here are a few movies that stand out from the rest:

Song Sung Blue--a Neil Diamond impersonator meets, falls in love with, and does an act with a Patsy Cline impersonator. This is a documentary, and proof that truth is stranger than fiction.

Bad Habits--a nicely done Mexican film about a family with an assortment of "food issues".

Captain Ahab--a Moby Dick prequel--and it's a French film. Strange but interesting.

TBS (Nothing to Lose)--a Dutch prison escape film, very nicely done, and rather nerve-wracking.

Captain Abu Raed--this Jordanian film (the first made in the country in 50 years) is a nice little slice of life, taking place in contemporary Amman.

Days and Clouds--a very good Italian film about a middle-aged couple living the good life until an unanticipated job loss brings things to a grinding halt. By the director of Bread and Tulips.

Cherry Blossoms - Hanami--German director Doris Doerrie's new film about love, loss, family, and Butoh dancing.

And for those who have been living in the real world and not at a film festival, the documentary film Bigger, Stronger, Faster has hit the big screen in a few cities, with more to follow. You may not think you're interested in a film about steroid use in the U.S., but TVOR thinks you could very well be wrong about that. It's informative and entertaining, and worth the price of admission.

Video notes:

If you're determined to stay home and watch DVDs, There Will Be Blood is now out on video. It's beautiful to look at, wonderfully acted and directed, and yes, there is blood. Take a look at TVOR's entry on 1/20/08 for more information.

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.