SIFF 2012--one week to go

6/4/212

TVOR has been watching movies in Seattle International Film Festival venues pretty much full time for 18 days, and has been in her element.  The films have been generally quite good--there have been a number of delights, and very few disasters.  Now she's on the home stretch, with one week to go.  Many films have come and gone, but here are some brief thoughts and recommendations on films you still have a chance to see:

RECOMMENDED:

Coteau Rouge--a lovely French Canadian film, a little slice of life taking place in a Montreal neighborhood.

Hello I Must Be Going--a thirty-something woman ends up living with her parents after her life and marriage fall apart.  A little funny, a little dark, a little sweet.

4 Days in May--at the tail end of WWII, residents of a community on the Baltic coast of Germany wait for the Russians to arrive.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists--very good documentary about computer hackers, focusing on Anonymous and related groups.  Entertaining and informative.

Charles Bradley: Soul of America--good music documentary about an R&B singer "discovered" at age 62.

Earthbound--sweet little flick about a guy who may or may not be space alien and his quest for a human mate.

Guilty, Innocence, The Invader, and Red Road are more good films that have screenings in the upcoming week--TVOR wrote brief blurbs about them in her last post.

MAYBE THESE ARE FOR YOU, MAYBE NOT:

Hail--very well made film about a career criminal getting out of jail and starting again in life.  The quality of the filmmaking makes this movie very hard to watch, as the viewer gets in the head of this man, and that is a very unhealthy place to be.  A warning: there were many walk-outs in the screening TVOR attended.  

6 Points About Emma--nicely done Spanish film about a deaf woman whose one strong desire is to be a mother.  Good, not great.

Simon and the Oaks--a crowd-pleaser about life in wartime Sweden.  Many loved it, TVOR had a little less love for it.

My Dad is Baryshnikov--another crowd-pleaser taking place in mid-80's Moscow about a ballet-obsessed fatherless kid who chooses a father (based on no factual information) and proceeds to tell people about it.  Again, TVOR felt a little less love than many.

Mirage--interesting South Korean film about a young writer who returns to his home town to accept an award, and ends up reconnecting with some old friends who informed his work and his life.  One of several films from South Korea in which adolescent bullying is featured, there are some scenes that are difficult to watch.

TVOR wrote about Starbuck and Hunky Dory in her last post--check out those blurbs if you're interested.

NOT TVOR'S CUP OF TEA:

Prime Time Soap--a strange Brazilian film that tries to combine a sort of bright and breezy tale of the life and adventures of a call girl in late 1970's Rio de Janeiro with a more realistic story about dictatorship and corruption.  This strange brew did not work for TVOR, and hard-to-read subtitles did nothing to improve the situation.

170 Hz--two deaf teenagers fall in love in this Dutch film.  The filmmaking is very interesting--the problem TVOR had with the film is that she didn't want to spend time with the people in it.  The boy was appalling--the girl was slightly less so, although still pretty obnoxious.

Go to the movies!

TVOR's pre-SIFF 2012 edition

5/16/12

TVOR has been silent for a while, but now she's fired up and has things to say.  This year's Seattle International Film Festival starts tomorrow, and people in the area will have the opportunity to see hundreds of films from around the world for the next 25 days.  TVOR got a head start on the fest and can help guide overwhelmed folks in navigating through the huge number of offerings.  During her electronic silence she attended a couple of film festivals (Palm Springs and SXSW), and saw quite a few films that will show up at this year's SIFF.  She has also seen some press screenings during the past few weeks that she can comment on as well. 

Here's her take on what she's seen so far--and remember, descriptions of films don't really tell you that much.  It's all about how the story is told.

THIS GROUP IS RECOMMENDED:

Las Acacias--a sweet Argentinian road movie, a winner at Cannes.  See it!

Breathing--a kid living in a detention center gets a job in a mortuary in this Austrian film that is nothing like Departures.  Another top pick.

Dreams of a Life--a fascinating documentary about a young woman who dies in her apartment in London--and is not discovered for three years.  One of TVOR's favorite films from SXSW.

The Central Park Effect--an hour-long gem, a documentary about the birds of Central Park and the humans who watch them.

The Do-Deca Pentathlon--an entertaining story of sibling rivalry from the Duplass brothers, shot in their pre-Hollywood days, but just now hitting the festivals.

Elena--a story of the 1%--Russian style--and of some of the 99% who would like to share the wealth.  (Clue: there aren't a lot of good guys in this one.)  From the director of 2003's excellent The Return.

The Invader--a gripping, sometimes disturbing Belgian movie about immigration, race, class, sex, and probably a few other things.  

Guilty--this French movie, based on a true story, tells of legal proceedings gone seriously awry when a man is accused of pedophilia.

Innocence--another movie about an accusation of molestation, only this one is Czech.  Lots of shades of grey in this one.

Killer Joe--an over-the-top, bloody, entertaining black comedy/thriller from William Friedkin.  The script is by Tracy Letts, who won a Pulitzer prize for his play August, Osage County.  Good performances, even from Matthew McConaughy.

Lucky--a South African drama about a young boy who loses his mother to AIDS and an elderly Indian woman who ends up helping him.

Polisse--well-done French film profiling a group of cops who deal with child protection cases.  Let's just say the stress levels are high.  

Ai Wei-Wei: Never Sorry--very good documentary about the Chinese artist and dissident.  Note to Chinese government: It's a bad idea to piss off a guy who's a very heavy Twitter user.

High Ground--affecting documentary about a group of Iran and Afghanistan vets dealing with physical injuries and emotional trauma who climb a Himalayan mountain.  Very good storytelling.

How to Survive a Plague--excellent documentary about the early days of Act Up and its efforts to prod the Reagan administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the drug companies into action to get treatments for AIDS out to people with the disease.  Great use of archival footage.

Red Road--a very good early film of SIFF 2012 Emerging Master Andrea Arnold.  The story unfolds slowly and the tension is high.

THIS GROUP IS OK--NOT GREAT, NOT BAD: 

The Imposter--TVOR really wanted to like this documentary more, as it's the amazing story of a kid who goes missing, and his reunion with his family several years later.  Except it's not really him, and the guy who returns to the family doesn't even look like him, yet nobody seems very perturbed by that.  So...great setup, but somehow the filmmaking didn't really work for TVOR.  Still, it's not a bad way to spend a couple of hours.  

ELIMINATE: Archie Cookson--pretty entertaining at times, but not consistent in tone.  The central performance by Paul Rhys is very good. 

Hunky Dory--a pleasant film set in mid-70's in Wales.  Minnie Driver is a teacher who decides the school play will be a musical version of The Tempest.  Fairly predictable things happen, and you listen to period music while they do.

Starbuck--a French Canadian movie about a 40-something underachiever who finds out he's been spectacularly successful as a sperm donor--and now his hundreds of offspring want to find him.  There are no surprises here, but it's broadly entertaining.

The Intouchables--more broad comedy from the French, in which a Senegalese immigrant helps a quadriplegic rich guy find joy in life.  It sold about a bazillion tickets in France.

Tey--a Senegalese film that is interesting to look at (especially since most of us have never been there) as we follow a man around on the last day of his life.  The problem is that we don't really know why this is happening.  There are undoubtedly cultural references TVOR is clueless about, as well as symbolism, metaphor, and lots of other things that totally went over her head.

Wetlands--terrible things happen to an already dysfunctional family running a farm in Quebec.  And then they make things worse.

Cracks in the Shell--SIFF's blurb compares this to The Black Swan.  The good news is it's better than that.  It's well done, in fact, but the maniacal director character and the screwed-up student actress character can try one's patience.

FEEL FREE TO SKIP:

Fat Kid Rules the World--this is just not a good movie.  There are some pretty good people in it, but they're not at their best, the script is not so good, and the whole thing just looks cheap.  Some of the edits are positively  jarring.

The Woman in the Fifth--a terrible waste of talent.  The cast (Ethan Hawke, Kristin Scott Thomas, etc.) and the director (Pawel Pawlikowski) have done far better work elsewhere.  This attempt at a thriller not only had no thrills, it didn't have much else either.

Trishna--Tess of the d'Urbervilles updated to modern-day India.  So you know it's probably not a light comedy.  It looks pretty, as it should, as it was directed by Michael Winterbottom and stars Freida Pinto.  But the story really doesn't update that well, and TVOR never really believed that the character had so little control over things.

Hemel--this could have been an interesting portrait of a seriously screwed up father-daughter team but they left out the parts where they help us understand why the heck they are so messed up.  Can you say inappropriate behavior?

38 Witnesses--inspired by the murder of Kitty Genovese in New York in the mid-60's, this film takes us to modern-day Le Havre, where once again a bunch of witnesses fail to help a woman being murdered right outside their windows.  TVOR just didn't buy the way it plays out in the movie.

So, once again, if you live in or around Seattle, it's time to go to the movies.  And if you can't go  out to the movies, take a look at Red Road or The Return on video.  Or, if you're in the mood to laugh, watch Humpday, directed by Lynn Shelton, whose new film Your Sister's Sister opens the festival on May 17th.

Late November--time to release the good movies!

11/22/11

TVOR hasn't had much to say about movies recently. She simply didn't see many over the summer and in the early fall. Now is the season for quality movies, though, and there are things to talk about.

There are two movies to be released soon that are so good and so beautiful to watch that they demand to be seen on the big screen. If you wait until they come out on video, you will miss much of the beauty and the magic. Both movies are by filmmakers who love movies and movie history, and the films pay tribute to their predecessors in tremendously entertaining ways. On top of everything else, these films are appropriate for a wide range of audience members, and suitable for holiday viewing with the family.

The Artist

Written and directed by Michel Hazanavicius

This film is pretty unusual for 2011 America. It's in black and white, it's silent, and it has French people in it. The film takes place in Hollywood just as silent films were making way for talkies, and is a loving homage to that era and old movies in general. The types are familiar--the big star of the silent era (Jean Dujardin), the young girl who wants to make it big in the movies (Berenice Bejo), and the winners and losers of Hollywood. The look of the film is familiar as well--it's in the 4:3 aspect ratio used for old films, and it's beautifully shot. There's a lush score, appropriate for a silent film, and there are title cards for the dialog (so it's not like you can tell who's French). In spite of its French pedigree, The Artist was shot in Hollywood, and has a very good (and familiar) supporting cast including John Goodman as a studio chief and James Cromwell as the star's faithful chauffeur. There's a great dog in it, too. So go to a theater, take the family, and embrace a new (old) way to enjoy movies.

Hugo

Directed by Martin Scorsese

Screenplay by John Logan based on the book "The Invention of Hugo Cabret" by Brian Selznick

Here's another movie you should really leave home to see in a big theater, and wear funny 3D glasses while you're doing it. Good movies take us into new worlds, and if we're lucky, we get lost in those worlds for a couple of hours. Hugo takes us into a particularly magical world, and the experience is enhanced by the fact that it's in 3D. Most 3D movies these days seems to be designed for no good reason other than to get a few more dollars out of the ticket-buying audience, and bad 3D can make films look dark and muddy, ruining the fun of going to the movies. This time, however, the 3D is beautifully done and really enhances the movie-going experience. The glasses (new, fancy-schmancy ones) are comfortable, and that third dimension lets the viewer experience the world of the film more fully. And it's a wonderful world. Hugo is a twelve year-old orphan who lives alone in the clock (really) in a train station in Paris in the 1930's. TVOR won't go into the story too much, but just know that he will meet people and things will happen and old films (and filmmakers) play an important part. The script is good, the acting (by Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield, and Chloe Grace Moretz, among others) is excellent, and the film is a winner. And it's PG, but not the kind of PG that makes adults want to run out of the theater.

So there you have it. Two wonderful new movies by filmmakers who love old movies. If you know a lot about old movies, you'll see references to them. If you don't, you may sense you're seeing something similar to an older film, but you'll just enjoy it. Because that's what going to the movies is supposed to be about.

Video notes:

If you can't make it to a theater to see one of these new movies, you do have some options--

Michel Hazanavicius made a couple of very silly, very funny spy spoofs, and OSS-117: Cairo, Nest of Spies is the first and funnier. Jean Dujardin is a spy of the Maxwell Smart school--supremely confident, utterly clueless--and Berenice Bejo is one of the ladies who falls for him while he's making the world a safer place. Or trying to.

Beginners--Ewan McGregor and Christopher Plummer star in Mike Mills' film, one of the best of last summer, now available on video. There are a couple of stories going on in the film--one about a seventy-something father who comes out of the closet after his wife of many decades dies, and the other about his son's tentative start of a love affair. There's a wonderful dog in it too.

Super 8--another summer release now out on video, this J.J. Abrams film is sort of an ode to early Spielberg. There are kids who have time on their hands, some supernatural stuff, and character and story are more important than stuff blowing up. Although some stuff does blow up nicely. Be sure to watch through the credits and you can see the Super-8 movie the kids are working on throughout the film.

Buck--a documentary about a real horse whisperer. Although he really murmurs more than whispers. You don't have to be interested in horses to like this film, but if you do, TVOR suspects that you'll like it even more. The film shows us a lot about people as well as horses.

Page One: Inside the New York Times is another good recent documentary. If you care about the current state of journalism, it's good food for thought. David Carr, the paper's media columnist, is our very entertaining guide for much of the film.

Now go to the movies!

A movie worth putting on 3-D glasses for plus the Best of SIFF

6/16/11

There are some things to be excited about in the world of movies this week, and that doesn't even include the new releases. TVOR can't comment on these, as she's been sequestered in film festival theaters and has been far away from the land of Hollywood and multi-plexes. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

The first thing to be excited about is that there is an excellent reason to leave your home, go into a movie theater, don 3-D glasses, and stare at a big screen. And that reason is Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Werner Herzog's documentary about the Chauvet caves in France. These caves were discovered in 1994, after being sealed up and forgotten for 20,000 or so years, and contain the oldest known cave paintings, dating back 32,000 years. Access is extremely limited, as the site can be damaged by things as simple as people's breath, so luckily for all of us, Werner Herzog and a small crew were allowed to go in and film. They went with 3-D cameras, and took lots of footage of the beautiful paintings, which look quite modern and fresh. And because it's Werner Herzog, we listen to his very soothing voice say some pretty interesting, perhaps not-so-soothing things. He's no ordinary documentarian, that's for sure. This is also one instance where the 3-D photography enhances the viewing experience, allowing us to see how the paintings fit with the contours of the cave, and not surprisingly, given the director, it's beautiful. See it in a movie theater if you can.

If you're not familiar with Werner Herzog's documentaries, you're missing out. He directed Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World, among others--they're available on video.

A second thing to be excited about (if you're in Seattle) is that this coming weekend, June 17-19, is Best of SIFF 2011, when some of the top jury and audience favorites of this year's festival will be given an extra screening, so people can catch up with what they might have missed earlier. Here's TVOR's take on what she's seen:

Gandu--TVOR hasn't seen it, and can't comment. It won a jury prize but audience reactions were mixed.

Simple Simon--a very enjoyable Swedish film about a teenager with Asperger's who tries to find his brother a new girlfriend.

Best of SIFF shorts--TVOR has seen one of the shorts in this program, Cataplexy, and gives it a thumbs up. Given the high quality of the short films this year, this program is a good bet.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey--the man behind (and inside) Elmo of Sesame Street fame. This is a lovely film about a lovely man, and you don't need to have ever watched Sesame Street to like it.

To Be Heard--a documentary about a writing program in the Bronx and three teenaged participants. We spend quite a bit of time with these kids, at home and at school, and get to know them quite well. Very good.

Tilt--TVOR hasn't seen it, but would like to.

On the Ice--teenagers face some huge moral issues in a story set among native people in Barrow, Alaska. In spite of some inexperienced actors, the film works quite well, and is a look into a world most of us will never see.

Paper Birds--a vaudeville company in post-civil war Spain is the setting of this Golden Space Needle audience award winner. It's definitely a crowd-pleaser. TVOR found it somewhat manipulative and the music was definitely a bit much. She did get sucked in, though.

Circus Dreams--TVOR didn't see it, but the kids in the Films 4 Families jury gave it their top prize. It's a documentary about Circus Smirkus.

How to Die in Oregon--a big thumbs up for this documentary about patients, caregivers, and families, and Oregon's Death with Dignity law. It's not always easy to watch, but you come away with a lot of respect for everyone involved. It also follows a volunteer working to get a similar initiative passed in Washington.

Life in a Day--OK, basically this is the best YouTube video ever. 80,000 people submitted 4500 hours of video, all taken on July 24, 2010, to YouTube. 300 snippets from people in 192 countries were turned into a 90-minute movie. And it works. It's sort of chronological, but other than that, it shows all sorts of people doing all sorts of things. TVOR really liked it.

Old Goats--the story of three old guys who are friends. The script is largely improvised, the actors are inexperienced, and in spite of these things, the film basically works.

King of Devil's Island--this movie follows a group of young men and boys, and their warden and guards, in what was basically a reform school in early 20th century Norway. Hint: this was not a nice place. A very good, very entertaining film.

And finally, you can get excited even if you can't make it out to see any movies, but are an HBO subscriber. Some very good documentaries that that were just playing at SIFF are now available for viewing right in your own home.

Bobby Fischer Against the World--an excellent documentary about the fascinating and sad life of Bobby Fischer. There's a lot of footage available of the chess genius, famous at an early age, and this footage is put together into an excellent film. Check it out.

How to Die in Oregon--you can catch the film on the small screen as well as on the big one.

(FYI, TVOR is not getting paid for this plug.)

Now, go to the movies.

Oops--a couple more SIFF movies playing the last weekend

6/11/11

Holy Rollers: The True Story of Card Counting Christians--this documentary is as the title says, a story of a card counting Christian blackjack team. We spend several years with them, and watch them in action as the team grows in size and success, attracting investors along the way--until things start going south. Will they pull things together again? TVOR won't say. We also get interviews from members of the team recounting their methods, the reasons why they do it (apparently they've made peace with God), and their management techniques. Fascinating, and recommended.

The Destiny of Lesser Animals--a drama from Ghana. The plot revolves around a policeman searching for his recently purchased fake passport, but the real story is about his travels through his country and the people he meets. The police procedural aspects are a bit difficult to follow at times, but the ride is worth it. Thumbs up.

Now you can go to the movies.

SIFF's last weekend--and some movies for the rest of the world

6/11/11

It's the last weekend of SIFF now, and Seattle movie nerds are frantically trying to catch as many films as possible before the real world descends once again. Here are some comments on a few movies that will show this weekend:

Sound of Noise--a very hard-to-describe, very entertaining Swedish film about a group of people (musical terrorists? guerrilla percussionists?) on a mission to make music in illegal ways and the policeman who is trying to stop them. Delightful--and a toe-tapper.

To Be Heard--a documentary about a high school writing program in the Bronx, focusing on three of the participants. Very well done, sort of like a less uplifting version relative of Louder than a Bomb.

Tabloid--another fascinating documentary by Errol Morris (The Fog of War), this one providing the details of a 1978 tabloid story about a kidnapped Mormon missionary. Stranger than fiction, sad and funny and amazing all at the same time.

Lys--a eco-sci-fi tale which demonstrates once again that you shouldn't mess with Mother Nature. Simultaneously predictable and incomprehensible. Very skippable, it felt longer than its 52 minutes.

All Your Dead Ones--very good Colombian movie about a farmer who finds a pile of bodies in his field. Dealing with this is no small task. Absurdist, a little surreal, and definitely worth seeing.

The Life of Fish--a thirtyish Chilean man at a party with friends from his youth, friends he hasn't seen for a while. It's not bad, but TVOR got tired of everybody and their problems and just wished he'd leave the party.

Por El Camino--a lovely road trip movie through Uruguay. A young Argentinian man gives a young Belgian woman a ride and the narrative unfolds. Very enjoyable, and it made TVOR want to go to Uruguay.

Spud--taking place in 1990 at a south African boarding school, this film chronicles the adventures of Spud, a kid with a weird family and a body that isn't maturing fast enough to suit him. TVOR wanted to like this more than she did, especially since John Cleese plays the English teacher.

Third Star--a very nicely done film about a group of longtime friends, one of whom is dying, who go on a camping trip. Not surprisingly, things do not go smoothly. Surprisingly, the movie avoids bathos and has some genuine humor along with the drama. The acting is good, too--thumbs up.

It has also come to TVOR's attention that not everyone is in a city where a film festival is happening. Fortunately for them, there are some good movies out in the rest of the world right now. Here are a few TVOR recommends:

Beginners

Written and directed by Mike Mills

This gets TVOR's vote as the movie to see right now. Beginners tells two stories. One is about Ewan McGregor as a guy whose 70-something father (Christopher Plummer) comes out as a gay man. The second follows a blossoming relationship between the McGregor character and an actress, played by Melanie Laurent. There is also a dog whose thoughts are indicated with subtitles, a gimmick which really shouldn't work but somehow does. This is a lovely, sweet film. Watching McGregor and Plummer together is bliss.

Submarine

Directed and co-written by Richard Ayoade

Submarine is a coming of age film about a 15 year old British boy who has two main concerns--trying to get himself laid, and saving his parents' marriage. He's a very busy guy. We really get a sense of the main character's world view and a very entertaining one it is.

Win Win

Written and directed by Thomas McCarthy

If by chance this film is hanging around in a theater near you, and you haven't seen it yet, go. It's another film by the writer-director of The Station Agent and The Visitor. Paul Giamatti plays a wrestling coach, with Amy Ryan as his wife, and Bobby Cannavale as his friend. You really don't need to know anything else.

Jane Eyre

Directed by Cary Fukunaga

This could also still be lurking in theaters, and it's another good one, even if you've seen every version of Jane Eyre out there. (And there are many.) Mia Wasikowska plays Jane, Michael Fassbender plays Rochester, and both are true to the characters as written in the book (although better-looking, of course). Fukunaga is two for two as a director. His first film, Sin Nombre, was a beautifully done film about people trying to get from Mexico and points south into the US, and was entirely in Spanish. That's what TVOR calls range.

Now, go to the movies!

Fifteen days down, ten to go for SIFF 2011

6/3/11

There are ten days left in SIFF 2011, and many interesting movies to check out. Here are some of them:

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey--the man behind (or maybe TVOR should say inside) Elmo of Sesame Street fame. You don't have to have ever seen Elmo in action to love this movie. And get a little misty. The director, as well as Kevin Clash, Elmo's human part, will be in attendance at SIFF!

The Importance of Being Earnest--an HD recording of a live performance of the Oscar Wilde play, currently running on Broadway. Brian Bedford is superb as Lady Bracknell (yes, that's right), and the rest of the cast rises to his level. If you can't go to New York and see it, plant yourself at SIFF Cinema. These things tend not to ever show up on video.

Jucy--a womance about a couple of twenty-something BFFs in Australia. Tons of fun.

Kinshasa Symphony--a documentary about exactly that. These are not professional musicians, these are people who come together and make music, in spite of incredible difficulties. (They live in Kinshasa, after all, no bed of roses.) We meet several of the musicians, and learn about their lives. Very well done.

A Thousand Times Stronger--a Swedish film about young teen kids at school--the various cliques, who runs the school (the boys, FYI), etc.--and how that gets disrupted when a new student arrives. Entertaining for adults, good for kids as well. (Not tiny ones, as there are subtitles and some swearing.)

Sushi: The Global Catch--this movie makes you want sushi, then discusses some of the sustainability issues that you knew were coming. Well presented, thought-provoking.

The Empire of Mid-South--excellent documentary about Vietnam since the colonial era using amazing archival footage, and first-person narratives from various sources including the Vietnamese and the various people who have come through the country and attempted to run things. From the director who made Winged Migration.

The Names of Love--a French comedy that's actually funny, with some heart as well. TVOR liked it.

Norman--pretty good teen drama, shot in Spokane, WA of all places. The ending is a bit too tidy, but the acting and script are good. All in all a thumbs up.

Hot Coffee--you know how that lady got a huge award after spilling MacDonald's coffee on herself, that incident that became a poster child for the tort reform issue? This film tells the other side of the story. This is definitely a film with a point of view, and is good food for thought.

Flying Fish--TVOR liked this film, though it's not for everybody. It's a beautifully shot film from Sri Lanka (and when have you ever seen anything from Sri Lanka?), telling several stories happening in a small community. The downside is that it's hard to figure out the various stories, as there are few closeups, and sometimes it's hard to tell who things are happening to. The upside is that it does all come together in the end. And it definitely is beautiful.

Grandma, A Thousand Times--a documentary about the filmmaker's Lebanese grandmother, this film is a delight.

Now, go to the movies!