Thomat Chiang Mai Film Blog

Update 4

2011-07-30T01:35:00.001+07:00

Last schedule for this year’s festival!

Chiang Mai movies – EU Film Festival Listings, Update 4

by Thomas Ohlson

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Below (Chart 5) are some comments on the films showing today (Saturday, July 30) and tomorrow (Sunday, July 31). I did it! I got the comments out! Whew!

Be advised that there are overflowing crowds at some screenings, for which the size of Cinema 7 is not at all sufficient. Plan on getting there early if you hope for a seat; many are sitting on the floor.

On Sunday there was a miscalculation when figuring the schedule, leaving them short by about half an hour for the film Cell 211. As a result, the last two films on Sunday have revised start times (4:40 pm for Cell 211 and 7:05 or thereabouts for An Ordinary Execution). Check at the EU Festival Desk outside Vista Cinema 7.

However, give it some leeway anyway, just to be sure. Remember that Vista staff have a tendency to start the last movie of the day ten or fifteen minutes early, so they can go home sooner. One of their traditions.

EU 2011 - Chart 5

2011-07-30T01:31:00.001+07:00

EU Film Festival 2011 – Chart 5: Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31 – Prepared by Thomas Ohlson

At Vista Theater 7, 4th Floor, Kadsuankaew, Chiang Mai

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

1 PM

The Magic Tree (2009)

Original Title: Magiczne drzewo

Country : POLAND

Category : Adventure

Director : Andrzej Maleszka

Principal Cast : Agnieszka Grochowska, Andrzej Chyra, Hanna Śleszyńska

Length : 1 hr 30 min

Once upon a time, there was a magic tree – a huge, old oak-tree. Not aware of its power, people cut it down and made hundreds of objects out of its wood. The wood kept its magic power and the objects made strange things happen after arriving in shops around the world.

Polish Film Festival in America: When the magic tree in Andrzej Maleszka's Magic Tree is struck by lightning, the locals chop it into pieces to be made into furniture and sold all over the world. Now, the magic in the tree has been spread throughout every piece, causing strange events to unfold all over the world. One day, three children find a chair made from the tree that will make any dream come true. Stuck with their mean aunt while the kids' parents are away on work, the children decide to use the chair to find their parents. With a little bit of magic to help them deal with their aunt, the children set off on a wild adventure that also includes escaping those who want the chair's power for themselves. Filled with imagination and fun adventure, this film is sure to amaze kids and parents alike.

The film is loosely developed from the 2007 International Emmy Award-winning live-action TV series of the same name that aired on Telewizja Polska from 2004 to 2006.

Exciting trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eufu_SmFbvA

2:40 PM

The Hell of ’63 (2010)

Original Title: De hel van '63

Country : NETHERLANDS

Category : Sports/ Action

Writer/Director : Steven de Jong

Principal Cast : Chris Zeegers, Willeke van Amelrooy, Pierre Bokma

Length : 1 hr 48 mins

The Netherlands has many lakes and canals. In winter, when conditions are right, an infamous 200 km ice-skating race is held. This film is based on true facts of the racing day in 1963, when thousands of skaters suffered frostbite and shocking injuries. Only a small number would cross the finish line.

For a trailer (Dutch) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-96TKTYyk-w

IMDb viewer: I was pleasantly surprised to see what a good movie Steven de Jong made of the events that took place on this day in 1963 when 10,000 people started an ice-skating tour that only 69 would bring to an end. The story brings four people together that have different reasons for taking part in the tour. The stories are nicely brought together. We also get a good feel of how harsh this tour was. The cinematography is on a high level and the music is great. I would recommend this to anyone who like to see a realistic fight for survival on the ice.

IMDb viewer: I enjoyed every minute of this icy ride about the world’s longest ice-skating tour. Director Steven de Jong has provided new hope for Dutch cinema by doing an excellent job. The 'elfstedentocht' (tour of eleven cities) van '63 was a unique and timeless event that deserved a great film like this and I am happy to have experienced this. This whole movie is just excellent and two points deserve special attention: The actors in this movie are very natural. And that just makes them and the movie as a whole much more convincing. The second great thing is the camera-work. To give some grandeur to this movie the camera often swings into great heights, crawls under the ice, and/or fades from a film-image to a map and vice-versa. The accompanying music creates effects not seen before in Dutch cinema. It really lifts this movie to another level and creates refreshing perspectives. Steven de Jong even portrayed the harsh element of wind in the form of luring icy animals. Something completely unexpected.

4:40 PM

Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010)

Country : UK

Category : Art / Documentary

Director : Jaimie D’Cruz

Principal Cast : Banksy, Thierry Guetta (aka Mr. Brainwash)

Length : 1 hr 26 mins

An eccentric shop-keeper turned amateur film-maker attempts to capture many of the world’s most infamous vandals on camera, only to have a British stencil artist named Banksy turn the camcorder back on its owner with wildly unexpected results. The inside story of Street Art – a brutal and revealing account of what happens when fame, money, and vandalism collide.

Nominated for Best Documentary, 2010 Academy Awards. Reviews: Universal acclaim. [per Rotten Tomatoes]

Rated R in the US for some language.

By far the most unusual film this year in my opinion. It may be a gigantic hoax, with the purported artists in the movie purely made up, or a fine send-up of art-world pretentions. You have to decide for yourself. IMDb describes it as a documentary comedy. The producers label it, “The world's first Street Art disaster movie.” Bansky says, "It's basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed." And just who is Bansky? Read on.

Los Angeles based Frenchman Thierry Guetta, an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary-maker, gets the idea that he would like to film street artists in the process of creating their work. He tells them that he is making a documentary, when in reality he has no intention of editing the footage into one cohesive movie. Unaware of this latter fact, many street artists from around the world agree to participate. Thierry even gets into the act by assisting them in creating the art. One of the artists that participates is the camera-shy Brit Banksy, who refuses to be shown on screen unless he is blacked out. He is a graffiti artist with apparently a global reputation whose work can be seen on walls from post-hurricane New Orleans to the separation barrier on the Palestinian West Bank. Bansky fiercely guards his anonymity to avoid prosecution. He convinces Thierry to use the footage to make a movie. As Thierry does, Banksy comes to the realization that Thierry is a lousy filmmaker, but he is an interesting character in an odd yet appealing way. So Banksy decides to use the footage himself and add additional material to make his own movie about Thierry's journey in this project. Since Thierry spent so much time involved in the process of street art, Banksy also convinces Thierry to become a street artist himself. Thierry reinvents himself as street artist MBW, an acronym for "Mr. Brainwash".

Includes footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader, and many of the world's most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls, and in interview.

Rotten Tomatoes: An amusing, engrossing look at underground art, Exit Through the Gift Shop entertains as it deflates the myths and hype surrounding its subjects.

Check out an extended “explanation” (in English) at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0b90YppquE&feature=related

6:15 PM

Forbidden Fruit (2009)

Original Title: Kielletty hedelmä / Förbjuden frukt

Country : FINLAND

Category : Drama

Director : Dome Karukoski

Writer: Aleksi Bardy

Principal Cast : Marjut Maristo, Amanda Pilke, Malla Mamivaara

Length : 1 hr 40 mins

Two 18-year-old girls from a very restrictive Christian community go to Helsinki for the first time. Maria wants to see what the outside world is like before getting married, and try out things that are forbidden at home. Raakel only wants to make sure Maria returns. The summer changes the life of one of the girls - for good.

Trailer (English): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_gb0rEHmCM

Rotten Tomatoes: Though seldom discussed outside of Scandinavia, Finland houses one of the most conservative religious communities in Western Europe. The Laestadians, a group of about 110,000 people, recall the Mennonites with their insistence on taking scripture literally and forbidding their members from partaking in all pleasures deemed hedonistic and "worldly" -- such as dancing, premarital sex, alcohol, television, movies, and birth control. Director Dome Karukoski's melodramatic, brooding, coming-of-age feature Forbidden Fruit examines how two Laestadian teens cope with the impositions foisted upon them by the surrounding community. At the center of it all is Maria (Amanda Pilke), a brass-tongued young woman who rejects the Laestadian community's asceticism straightaway and moves to metropolitan Helsinki. Alongside her headfirst plunge into a no-holds-barred lifestyle, she rationalizes her choices by leaning on the idea that she can always return to the Laestadians and have her sins washed clean at a later point. Meanwhile, the community elders grow deeply concerned over Maria's decision to leave the fold, and send the young woman's best friend, über-conservative Raakel (Marjut Maristo) out into the world to bring the prodigal back. Unsurprisingly, Raakel adores the worldly pleasures she experiences and soon caves into them, demonstrating no desire whatsoever to return to the cocoon of self-denial in which she was kept. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Filmsweep, Persona: It's a coming of age story, but not typical at all. There's a huge, much appreciated amount of restraint here that you don't find in many coming of age movies. ...

Finland's Laestadian (Lutheran) sect is a rural faith-based community of Biblical literalism, and it's in a commune of this understanding that our story begins. In dealing with the strict religious ideals, director Karukoski holds off judgment well. He spends a good amount of time capturing the wholesomeness here, the God-based, family-based values that are center in the communal focus.

Maria, now eighteen, decides she wants to have a summer of fun in the city. The Laestadians teach that the city and the body are basically bad; they are cunning and powerful and lead to temptation and separation from God -- maybe even separation from faith itself. The "Arch Fiend" is everywhere -- but especially in your body and in places found outside the collective.

According to Laestadian conduct Maria is old enough to decide for herself, and she eventually decides to see, and be a part of, the world outside. The community asks her best friend, Raakel, to go and be with her, to help her through this moment of fascination. Raakel moves to the city and finds her friend -- they'll only stay one summer before moving back home, and Raakel has a "magic word" she can say at any time in which Maria will agree to return home immediately.

They work in a factory and find a small apartment to call home. They discover movies. They discover alcohol. And dancing and clubs. They discover the allure of sexual temptation and kissing and things forbidden. They wrestle with their upbringing concerning all things taboo. They meet boys. They meet Maria's sister, who left the community years ago, and hasn't been welcomed back.

They are longing for love, the kind they've not encountered. The kind where the touch of a boy might bring comfort and warmth.

Every moment, whether day or night, inside or out, city or country, is beautifully shot. There's a softer, more melancholy, utterly Finnish feel. Think: a better looking Kaurismäki. That repressed Finnish vibe that Kaurismäki, a true Finnish auteur, portrays so well, is prevalent in Forbidden Fruit in image as well as mood. I've spent a good bit of time in Finland -- this feels, to me, Finnish to the core.

There's a reversal of sorts and a twist along the way, but not the M. Night kind of twist that's supposed to jump out at us. Everything seems to follow logically and it gradually adds up to a final bus ride to the city that's as hopeful as it is full of fear.

The only reason I got to see this wonderful Finnish film is that Sweden's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo sold out -- even the press couldn't find a remaining seat. I'm glad, because I know that that film will receive higher distribution and will certainly (eventually) get talked about at length. But, like Härö's Letters to Father Jacob, another much talked about Finnish movie from last year -- and like Finland in general, which is often in the shadow of other Scandinavian countries -- no one knows how wide a release Forbidden Fruit will get. Which is a real shame. It's so beautifully acted and so thoughtfully directed, it's captured so well and comes across as stunning in its own quiet way. I really can't get over it right now. I'm just hoping there are more great movies to see at the EU Film Fest. I'm sure there are -- but I think I may have seen my favorite one first.

It's a perfect film. I really think it is. I'll be surprised if I find another that's as moving as it is well made..

IMDb Viewer: Dome Karukoski can be called one of the most prominent Finnish film directors right now, having achieved success among both the public and popular critics with all of his films so far. Following the hip hop-flavored romance Beauty and the Bastard (2005) and the serious drama The Home of Dark Butterflies (2008), Karukoski's third feature film Forbidden Fruit examines common themes of finding one's place in the world when leaving one's home for the first time.

8:05 PM

Dust (2009)

Country : LUXEMBOURG

Category : Romance/ Drama

Writer/Director : Max Jacoby

Principal Cast : Catherine Steadman, Olly Alexander, Andrew Hawley

Length : 1 hr 26 min

The film is in English. Has been quite disliked by the Chiang Mai festival crowd. Reports are that 25 people walked out of the first showing.

“In a depopulated world after a non-specified war the teenage twins Elodie and Elias live in a secluded mansion left by their parents. They lead a quiet and simple life, growing their own food, swimming in a nearby lake, reading books and playing chess. With the unexpected arrival of Gabriel, their harmonic relationship is about to come to an end.”

Pro: Dust is what good cinema is all about. The great thing about movies as a storytelling device is the way it reveals a story through images and sounds. Film is not really about dialog; it’s about presentation. Director Max Jacoby utilizes the full spectrum of what is available in the form to his advantage. Little is said in this movie because the camera and soundtrack take up that narrative role more than any dialog could. Jacoby, through cinematographer Fredrik Bächar, is an expert in blocking and framing. Every shot seems intended to give you a clue about what these three characters are thinking and feeling. It could be choice in focus, a slow dolly into one character’s face, someone intentionally cropped out of the frame, or someone moving in or out of the frame. The sound design also plays a strong role, with liberal use of offscreen sounds. We hear a door open and we wonder; we hear the crackling of glass under footsteps and realize something happened here; we hear the arrival of a car and we feel what that means.

In essence, Dust is a post-apocalyptic love triangle. But the setting is not simply a device. The environment and situation almost acts as a fourth character...

Con: Add a snail’s pace to very very little action about a small and boring love triangle set in some upper class version of post apocalyptic paradise and you have Dust. This is one of those movies where you really wonder what the heck the creative team are up to -- save the usual art-house killer cinematography and crunchy use of sound Dust tells a story in 82 minutes that should have been told in 22. Just long enough to be a half hour TV show. Which is too bad, but you have to understand very few of the ingredients in Dust make for a great story. But it is weird in its relentless foot-dragging to go nowhere.

Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bzmK2nhYjw&feature=player_embedded

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Please note time changes! Still, take them with a grain of salt and plan on some leeway. Remember that Vista projectionists have a history going back at least ten years of starting the last film of the day early so they can leave early.

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

1 PM

Kooky (2010)

Original Title : Kuky se vrací

Country : CZECH REPUBLIC

Category : Family/ Live Action with Puppets, Animation

Director : Jana Svěráka

Principal Cast : Zdeněk Svěrák , Jiří Macháček, Petr Čtvrtníček

Length : 1 hr 35 min

Six-year-old Ondra is forced to throw away his old teddy bear Kooky. But Kooky comes to life and makes his escape into a mysterious forest where he meets Hergot, the forest's guardian. Hergot, however, has enemies who plan to take over the forest by proving that he is not up to his job.

A film for the entire family. Young Ondra has asthma and so his mom throws away his favorite toy: a musty old stuffed bear named Kooky. That night Ondra dreams that Kooky is determined to find his way back home from the dump. In the boy's fantasy, the bear gets lost in a forest occupied by strange animals and remarkable beings that he never heard of while living on the toy shelf in Ondra's room. And of course even in this small imaginary world, true good exists as does real evil, which Kooky must face up to in order to become a real hero.

The film combines techniques of puppet animation, stop motion, and live action.

IMDb viewer: the visual aspect of the movie is simply brilliant! No one can deny this. And ... the music is brilliant as well!

IMDb viewer: After the viewing came out with my spirits soaring and a huge grin of satisfaction firmly planted on my face. The plot of this puppet movie is rather simple. ... And that childish perspective is what gives the magical feeling to this story - a child is telling the story and all the reasoning behind everything that happens to Kooky is limited to child's imagination, which is rather simple yet fascinating.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZMumg3Wl2M&feature=player_detailpage

2:45 PM

Bánk bán (2002)

Country : HUNGARY

Category : Historical/ Music/ Opera/ Drama

Director : Csaba Káel

Principal Cast : Kolos Kováts, Eva Marton, Andrea Rost

Length : 1 hr 56 mins

In 13th century Hungary, King Endre II is fighting abroad while his German-born Queen plays host to the leading members of the Court, mostly foreigners, at prodigal feasts. The King's deputy, Bánk Bán tours the poverty-ridden country, while the Queen's younger brother tries to seduce Bánk's beautiful wife. A group of Hungarian nobles, anxious for the fate of their homeland and the honour of Bánk's wife, plot a conspiracy against the Queen.

Historical and musical note: Bánk bán is an opera in 3 Acts by composer Ferenc Erkel. The work uses a Hungarian language libretto by Banjámin Galambos which is based on a stage play of the same name by József Katona. (Bán is ban in English, similar to a viceroy, a duke, or palatine.) The main storyline is based on the assassination of Queen Gertrúd, wife of Andrew II in 1213. The opera was first performed at the Pesti Nemzeti Magyar Szinház, Budapest, on 9 March 1861.

IMDb viewer: The film figuratively comes off the screen with splendor and lyricism. As it is a rendition of the famous Hungarian medieval opera and photographed lovingly by Hungarian-American Vilmos Zsigmond, performed by Hungary's best operatic voices, a presentation of sumptuously beautiful landscape and classical architecture, "Bank ban" holds a tremendous treasure for the viewer. Images haunt one's unconsciousness long after the experience.

IMDb viewer: Fine example of how to film an opera!

Given the cinematographer of this movie, it's probably not surprising that the visuals are superb. The directing is also first-rate, not stagy at all, but still managing to leave plenty of room for the singing. Csaba Káel managed to combine some of the best parts of film and opera. We get both the intimate moments that film is capable of showing, and the grand majesty of the chorus singing amidst a splendor of costumes and sets. Special kudos to Andrea Rost for making full use of this opportunity to act out the small things; her Melinda is completely human, a rare feat for a character in an opera.

Overall, the costumes were good at evoking a feeling of time and place, without giving more than a cursory nod to period-correctness. This is probably good, because the music itself is firmly planted in 19th century romanticism; true 12th century costuming would have felt wrong.

Overall, the film is quite satisfying. The setting looks real (probably because, apart from one small interior, it was all filmed on location), the plot is nicely developed and explained, the roles are all well-cast, well-sung, and well-acted (there wasn't a ham in the bunch, which is a minor miracle), the special effects flow perfectly, and the music is gorgeous..

Filming note: Almost ninety per cent of Bánk Bán was shot on location in Hungary, using many ancient historical monuments. Most

scenes were shot in actual thirteenth century cathedrals and chapels.

The entire 2-hour film of the opera with English subtitles can be viewed at http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=BAA5AD00ECF75B5D

4:40 PM

Note time change!

Cell 211 (2009)

Original Title: Celda 211

Country : SPAIN

Category : Thriller/ Action/ Drama

Writer/Director : Daniel Monzón

Principal Cast : Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines

Length : 1 hr 53 min

Newly hired prison officer Juan Oliver finds himself in the midst of a prison riot after an unforeseen turn of events. With the inmates around him unaware of his position, he must pretend to be a prisoner to survive.

Generally favorable reviews, Rotten Tomatoes. A multi-award-winning film.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3333659929/

Empire Magazine, Kim Newman: An outstanding thriller, with enough political and character strokes to lift it out of the straight genre category - but rough and tough enough to stand alongside any given Hollywood hardman buddy vehicle.

ViewLondon, Matthew Turner: Impressively directed and superbly written, this is a powerful Spanish prison drama with terrific performances from Alberto Ammann and Luis Tosar.

What Culture, Shaun Munro: On the surface this is a relatively familiar prison thriller, yet when executed with panache of such disarming brutality and tension, it finds room to distinguish itself in an overcrowded genre..

Daily Express, Henry Fitzherbert: Director Daniel Monzon's picture - very well acted by the leads - manages to combine extremely clever, unpredictable plotting with plausible but unexpected character development, elevating standard genre fare to something much more substantial.

Boston Globe, Wesley Morris: What this movie lacks in plausibility (which is almost everything), it makes up for with authentic adrenaline -- and Spanish Goya Awards (it won eight this year).

Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan: The cast is uniformly strong, Monzon's direction riveting. For his portrayal of Malamadre, a villain both honorable and evil, Tosar won a well-deserved award at this year's Goya awards (the Spanish Oscars), along with Ammann and Etura. Monzon took home the award for best director; the film itself won four additional prizes, including best picture.

It's easy to see why, though there's nothing easy about this tough and beautiful tale.

Contains frequent, bloody violence and rioting, near-constant obscenity, partial nudity, sexual references, brief sensuality and drug use. In Spanish and Basque with English subtitles.

7:05 PM

Note time change!

An Ordinary Execution (2010)

Original Title: Une exécution ordinaire

Country : FRANCE

Category : Drama/ History

Writer/Director : Marc Dugain

Principal Cast : André Dussollier, Marina Hands, Edouard Baer

Length : 1 hr 45 mins

1952: a young urologist practicing in a Moscow hospital desperately tries to get pregnant from her husband, a disillusioned physician who only survives thanks to the love for his wife. To her horror, she must treat Stalin. Now amiable, then perverse, the dictator delivers his art of terror in ways that the couple has never been seen before.

Generally favorable reviews (Rotten Tomatoes): “Novelist Marc Dugain both wrote and directed this screen adaptation of his novel about the last days of one of the 20th Century's most infamous leaders. In 1952, Jospeh Stalin (Andre Dussollier) is in failing health after a long tenure as the unquestioned ruler of the Soviet Union. Stalin is also in the market for a new personal physician, as his longtime doctor has fallen to one of the leader's frequent purges of people he regards as untrustworthy. Anna (Marina Hands) is a doctor who has a fine rapport with her patients, and some believe she has a gift for healing that goes beyond the abilities of modern medicine. Anna is recruited by Stalin's underlings to become the ruler's new doctor. Anna and Stalin get along well at first, but as he opens up to her, she discovers that beneath his charm is emotional instability and a vindictive streak that borders on madness. Anna also gets a personal taste of the dictator's methods when she mentions her troubles having a child with her husband Vasily (Edouard Baer); not long after Stalin recommends a divorce, Vasily is visited by the secret police and ends up in a forced labor camp. While Anna has sworn to do no harm, she begins to ponder just what is at stake as she tries to keep Stalin alive and well. Une Execution Ordinaire (aka An Ordinary Execution) was an official selection at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.” ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

For a trailer (French) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot3QN9lR8Z8

BBC Radio Times: In this austere if somewhat academic drama, first-time director Marc Dugain draws on his own bestselling novel to speculate on the conspiracy-shrouded demise of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Evoking memories of the last Tsarina's relationship with Rasputin, the action centres on the (fictional) secret treatment sessions that an ailing Stalin (André Dussollier) receives from Anna (Marina Hands), a doctor famed for her unconventional healing techniques. The young woman is sworn to secrecy, but that doesn't stop the paranoid tyrant from having her husband (Edouard Baer) tortured to ensure her loyalty. With the help of cinematographer Yves Angelo's brooding Kremlin atmosphere, Dugain concentrates on the tensions between Stalin and Anna, as he rambles disconcertingly and seeks to justify his reign of terror, while she attempts to retain her sang-froid in the presence of such impenitent inhumanity. The result is a film that's impeccably played and chillingly compelling.

Eye for Film: Historical dramas have a habit of falling rather awkwardly into a neither fish nor fowl department that leaves you wondering which parts are fact and which are embellishment. Debut director Marc Dugain - adapting and directing from his own novel - avoids this problem by taking a real person, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin and setting him in an almost purely fictional narrative. This allows Dugain the freedom to explore what makes a dictator tick, rather than to get hung up on trying to slavishly recreate the last few months before Stalin's death. The fact that this is a French film about Russia also frees the narrative up, stripping out any need to reference modern politics that might spring from a film made locally, so that it becomes focused almost entirely on the characters and their motivations. ...

Often, debut features are marked out by interesting direction but problematic scripting and here, the problem is something of the reverse. The direction is little more than workmanlike and the budget limitations show, although Yves Angelo adds a sickly bleakness to his colour palette that feels as beaten down as the film's characters. In narrative terms, however, Dugain completely captures the sense of Stalin as being utterly mad in his "sanity", as one character says early on: "Stalin has his own logic."

The dictator's cold and almost throw-away disregard for human life is enough to inspire a sharp intake of breath, such as when, while being aided by Anna, he proceeds to pepper the conversation with details of her husband's torture. It is the casual nature of his cruelty that makes this film such a compelling watch. The presence of the word "ordinary" in the film's title nods to Stalin's indifferent attitude to those he kills, while his own quote, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic", at the end of the film is a stark reminder of his offhand attitude to slaughter.

Amazon.com.uk reviewer: This is a French film based on the final days of Stalin. So although they are all supposed to be Russian they speak French and not with a Russian accent. It centers around a young female doctor (Marina Hands), who has remarkable healing powers in her hands. I am not sure if she is a faith healer or does Raki or something, we are just asked to accept this fact.

Her colleagues are either jealous or fancy her, and as you could be denounced at the drop of a hat, she lives in constant fear of what may happen. She is married and deeply in love, but they are unable to have a child, so they keep practicing with the vigor of newlyweds, causing more envy from the neighbors. One day the secret police turn up at the hospital and take her away. She soon finds out the Comrade Stalin (Andre Dussollier) has got to hear about her healing skills, and wants a bit of treatment. He has a stipulation that she is not allowed to tell a soul about their arrangement. This includes her family – especially her husband. After reflection Stalin decides that having her word might not be enough.

This is an interesting film, but far from an exciting one. There are moments of cruel clarity and heightened tension, most notably from Dussollier’s performance of the monster Stalin. Those moments though are not enough to sustain the momentum. However, it manages to capture the mood and sterility of the time really well. If you are interested in post WW 2 history then this will be of interest, if you are looking for some sort of fast paced, drama with some action, then you should give it a pass.

Update 3

2011-07-28T05:02:00.001+07:00

A preview of this week’s Chiang Mai Mail movie column

Chiang Mai movies – EU Film Festival Listings, Update 3

by Thomas Ohlson

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Below (as Chart 4) are some comments on the films showing today (Thursday, July 28) and tomorrow (Friday, July 29). Hopefully, a final update will be coming Saturday. There are overflowing crowds at some screenings, for which the size of Cinema 7 is not at all sufficient. I suggest you plan on getting there early if you hope for a seat; many are sitting on the floor.

On Friday (tomorrow) and again on Sunday there was a miscalculation when figuring the schedule, leaving them short by about half an hour for the film Cell 211. Thus the first two films on Friday and Sunday may start earlier than the given times, and the last two films may start later. Check at the EU Festival Desk outside Vista Cinema 7.

Here’s a preview of next Saturday’s movie column in the Chiang Mai Mail (online at http://www.chiangmai-mail.com/current/columns06.shtml). If The Conspirator and Mary and Max return to Vista on Monday, after the festival, I suggest you check them out.

Let's go to the movies

by Mark Gernpy

Now playing in Chiang Mai through Aug 3

The Conspirator: (not playing at the moment, but may return to Vista Monday after the EU Film Festival departs) US, Drama – In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, new lawyer Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal, where the rules state that only a majority vote is required for a guilty verdict and a two-thirds vote is needed to sentence a defendant to death. It is a court where a defendant is prohibited from testifying in their own defense. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son. Generally favorable reviews. At Vista only.

It’s important to acknowledge the political statement that the very existence of this film makes. Directed by Robert Redford, The Conspirator is first of all true to the historical record; it’s written by James Solomon who spent fourteen years researching the story. Beyond that, Redford, long a champion of civil liberties in the United States, implicitly reminds us that the Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution expressly guarantees that "no person shall be deprived of life without due process of law" and provides no exception for war.

It is not only an important message for those unfamiliar with United States history, but is strikingly relevant to the present day in which hundreds of detainees at Guantanamo still languish in prison without trial, where a US citizen, suspected of terrorist activities, is targeted without having been charged with, let alone convicted of, any crime, and where the ideal of due process and the presumption of innocence is slowly being replaced by violence and the repudiation of legality.

Captain America: The First Avenger: US, Action/ Adventure/ Sci-Fi/ Thriller – After being deemed unfit for military service, Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) volunteers for a top secret research project that turns him into Captain America, a superhero dedicated to defending America's ideals. Three cheers for the Red, White, and Blue!! They say it’s a solid, old-fashioned blockbuster, with some fine performances. Also starring Tommy Lee Jones and Samuel L. Jackson. See if you can figure out how the moviemakers got Steve Rogers so skinny to begin with. Diet maybe? A body double, with Rogers’ head superimposed? Answer next week.

Playing in both 2D and 3D versions in English at Airport Plaza, and an additional 2D version that’s Thai-dubbed. In 2D at Vista, in both English and Thai-dubbed versions. Generally favorable reviews.

Horrible Bosses: US, Comedy/ Crime – It’s been called a bouncy, well-built, delightfully nasty tale of resentment, desperation, and amoral revenge. Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Jason Bateman, and Kevin Spacey are nasty, uneven, and funny. Rated R in the US for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, and some drug material. Mixed or average reviews. At Airport Plaza only.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2: US, Action/ Adventure/ Sci-Fi – Go see it. You know you will eventually anyway. This, the final Harry Potter, is an exciting and massively eventful finale that will grip and greatly please anyone who has been at all a fan of the series up to now. It’s powerfully acted and visually dazzling. The entire series of Potter books and motion pictures has been leading us to this final showdown between Harry and Voldemort. The fight here between good and evil is more than satisfying. It's thrilling – carrying an ultimate message that will resonate with every viewer, young or old: there is darkness in all of us, but we can overcome it.

It’s much better than the book, in my opinion, which has sections that are so preposterous that no amount of suspension of disbelief can overcome. In 2D only now, and at Vista there’s both an English and a Thai-dubbed version. Reviews: one of the rare films to be labeled by Metacritic as “Universal acclaim.”

The Moon (Pumpuang Duangjan): Thai, Drama/ Musical – The biography of Pumpuang Duangjan, considered the Queen of Thai country music. The rags-to-riches story charts her successes in the 1980’s up to her early death in 1992 at the age of 31. One of the most anticipated Thai films of the year, and with a newcomer in the starring role. Prettified as biography, with reportedly anything that shows anyone in a bad light changed or deleted. In Thai only at Vista, English subtitles at Major Cineplex.

Mary and Max: (Not playing at the moment, may return Monday) Australia, Animation/ Comedy/ Drama – This is a lovingly crafted, startlingly inventive piece of animation whose technical craft is equaled by its emotional resonance. Adam Elliot, director of the Academy-award-winning Harvey Krumpet, returns to the world of clay animation with this simple tale of the innocent correspondence between a portly eight year old girl from the suburbs of Melbourne and a morbidly obese, middle-aged Jewish New Yorker suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. On the surface it would seem that Mary (Toni Collette) and Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) would have little in common, but over the course of twenty years, the unlikely pen pals exchange letters discussing everything from taxidermy, trust, pets, religion, obesity, autism, agoraphobia, alcoholism, and just about any other topic that comes to mind as they sit down and put pen to paper. Barry Humphries and Eric Bana provide additional voices. In English and Yiddish, with Thai subtitles. Generally favorable reviews. Vista only.

Gancore Gud: Thai, Comedy/ Horror – Usual Thai horror-comedy mix of boobs and severed limbs, this time with gangsta rap. It’s written and directed by hip-hop guru Joey Boy and stars him and his hip-hop group Gancore Club. The group is stuck on a remote island, where their paradise turns to horror as they encounter bloody islanders who love to kill people, and zombies that rise up from the sea. In Thai only at Vista, English subtitles at Airport Plaza. Rated 18+.

EU 2011 - Chart 4

2011-07-28T04:55:00.001+07:00

BIFF Reviews Working Document

EU Film Festival 2011 – Chart 4: Thursday and Friday, July 28-29 – Prepared by Thomas Ohlson

At Vista Theater 7, 4th Floor, Kadsuankaew, Chiang Mai

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Time	Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis	Comments / Reviews
2 PM	The Paper Will Be Blue (2006) Original Title: Hîrtia va fi albastrã Country : ROMANIA Category : Action/ Drama Writer/ Director : Radu Muntean Principal Cast : Paul Ipate, Adi Carauleanu, Dragos Bucur Length : 1 hr 35 min During the confused night of 22-23 December 1989 young militiaman Costi, eager to join the rebel forces, escapes from his unit. Captain Neagu assembles a patrol to hunt down the deserter, while nervous citizens watch history unfolding on their television sets. A gripping, taut rendition of the birth pangs of contemporary Romania. Nominated for the 2006 Golden Leopard award at Locarno International Film Festival. Trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAiD3rwF3tA Neil Young’s Film Lounge: Promising stuff, and executed with a certain technical skill, a real-time, you-are-there doggedness and a Bloody Sunday-style verisimilitude that may impress certain viewers. In the end, however, the atmosphere of laborious, grittily downbeat intensity – relieved by only the barest flecks of ironic humor – proves monotonously uninvolving, capturing all too well this long, long, dark, dark night of one nation's troubled soul.	Rotten Tomatoes synopsis: The December 1989 fall of Communist Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu sets the stage for co-writer/director Radu Muntean's wry action drama following one perplexed militia's attempt to find out just who has assumed control of Bucharest once the despised tyrant has fallen. Romanian despot Ceausescu has been overthrown by a combination of military coup and civil insurrection, and now Lt. Neagu (Adi Carauleanu) has been assigned the task of maintaining the peace in a small Bucharest suburb. When Lt. Neagu and his heavily armored militia squad hear news that pro-Ceausescu forces are attempting to wrestle control of a national television station away from anti-Ceausescu counterparts, ambitious militiaman Costi (Paul Ipgate) suggests that the troupe leave to help fend off the "terrorists" who would see the feared dictator reinstated. After Costi slips away from the militia to help defend the television station, he is recruited to help defend a house full of protestors from terrorists. Inexplicably, Costi himself is accused of terrorism by the very people he was attempting to help and is forced to convince the protestors of his democratic beliefs. Realizing that Costi has deserted the militia and frightened that he will be held responsible for losing his soldier, Lt. Neagu and his squad discover that their mission is far from over after arriving as Costi's suburban home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi IMDb viewer Dominic Ambrose: This is a film about one of the most iconic and fateful events of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the liberation of Romania in December, 1989. It was the most brutal confrontation of that historical period, and the one that is perhaps least understood. The film opens with a scene of senseless violence, a case of confusion and wild gunfire in the dawn hours of December 23, 1989. This serves as the context and creates the mood of panic, confusion and deadly danger of this film. The film takes us inside an armored militia vehicle as it patrols the streets of Bucharest on the darkest night of revolution. The soldiers are confused, unsure of even the most basic truths about their job: Who are they protecting? What are they defending and who are they fighting? Who are they serving? What country is this? The soldiers have no idea, and they prefer not to think about it. This is the story of revolution. What seems to us such heroic activity guided by higher ideals of liberty and justice, is often unimaginable confusion and wasteful carnage. The performances are very good, the characterizations low keyed and hemmed in, just as these soldiers are hemmed in by the circumstances they find themselves in. The dialog is terse and chattering, in nervous counterpoint to the deadly serious events. But the events are at times mercilessly confusing, and this tends to decrease the impact of some of the key scenes. Just because the characters are confused doesn't mean that the film viewers should be as well! This is especially true at the television station when it is quite difficult to tell which side the soldiers there are defending. In general, the film is quite successful in that it brings the viewer into that time and place, and makes the madness come alive. I think there is room for further development of some of the characters, as there is so much irony in their predicament that is only obliquely alluded to. As for the ending, I was a bit disappointed that the filmmaker chose not to show the final scene that we are left to imagine. It seems like a choice of modesty that does not give full impact to the pathological nature of war.
3:45 PM	Erratum (2010) Country : POLAND Category : Drama Writer/Director : Marek Lechki Principal Cast : Tomasz Kot, Ryszard Kotys, Tomasz Radawiec Length : 1 hr 35 mins Years ago, Michal left his hometown behind to study in the city. He leads a comfortable life with a happy family, a nice apartment and a good job. When work brings him back to his hometown, a car accident thwarts his plans to avoid running into anyone. Forced to stay in town during the investigation, Michal must confront the choices he has made. Awards: 2011 International Film Festival Tofifest, Torun - Golden Angel 2011 International Film Festival of Uruguay - FIPRESCI Award 2011 Lecce European Film Festival, Italy - Special Jury Priz 2010 Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Best Screenplay Award 2010 Chicago International Film Festival - Gold Plaque in New Directors Competition 2010 Gdynia Polish Film Festival – Awards for Best Directorial Debut and Critics Award About the Writer/Director Marek Lechki: Born in 1975 in Brzeg Dolny, Poland. Director, screenwriter, and producer. Graduated from University of Silesia in Katowice (Radio and Television Dept., 2002). He won several awards for his student films and short documentary forms at various amateur film festivals. For a trailer (in English) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvne4NJgBwk	12th Annual Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles: Michal must travel to his hometown, Szczecin, to pick up his boss' car. The trip reminds him of all the reasons why many years ago, after his mother's death, Michal left Szczecin and escaped from his father. A car accident, in which he kills a homeless man, forces Michal to extend his stay in Szczecin. Out of guilt he starts searching for the homeless man's family. This simple task quickly transforms into an emotional journey into his past. The harder he tries to move on and leave, the deeper he sinks into a world of unfulfilled dreams and ambitions, and unresolved conflicts. Twitch: There's a wave of young talent breaking in Poland right now, an infusion of fresh blood bringing new energy to one of the most established film cultures in Europe. And one of those young guns is director Marek Lechki. A multiple award winner for his student, television and earlier feature work, Lechki will soon be premiering his latest drama Erratum. OffPlusCamera: Marek Lechki’s “Erratum“ can be described as a little film about very large issues. In an impressively skilled manner the director tells the story of a man who got very lost within his own life but failed to notice it. The main character of the film is Michal (brilliant Tomasz Kot)– a well-respected husband and father, who is forced to face his fears and issues from the past. As a result of a tragic coincidence Michał has to stay in his home town for much longer than he had initially planned. All the problems and conflicts that have been haunting him for years are now coming back and they are more real than ever. This time however, there is nowhere to run. Initially, this sense of limbo makes Michal aggressive towards himself and everyone around him. Gradually, this feeling of helplessness has a positive side-effect and means that Michal can at last reflect on his life and make an effort to accept the world he no longer belongs to as a part of his past. Simple stories are usually the most difficult to tell. One of many great things about Lechki’s film is the fact that the director manages to avoid any kind of straight forwardness and obvious solutions. The story unfolds unhurriedly; there are no dramatic twists or unconvincing formal tricks and still, you will be at the edge of your seat throughout the screening. The director steers clear of judging his characters and he does not reprimand anyone. His characters are full-blooded human beings who make mistakes and who then attempt to correct them in panic.“Erratum“ is a must-see for all of those who doubted that there were original voices in recent Polish cinema. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to see a vision so clear, coherent, and mature. Coffee, coffee, and more coffee: For the flimsiest of reasons, Michal, an accountant, is asked by his boss to pick up a specially ordered car and drive it back. The car is in the town where Michal grew up. Whatever feelings Michal may have about the town do not include nostalgia. Michal is urged by his wife to see his father. The idea of tenuous family bonds are already indicated by Michal's relationship with his own family. There is already a sense that Michal's going to his old home town is not a good idea. Michal's plan to simply take the train to town, pick up the car, and drive overnight to deliver the car, are tossed aside by a road accident. What follow are a series of events where Michal is forced to reconnect with his father, his former best friend, and a friend of the family. Parallel to this is Michal's taking on for himself to discover the identity of the derelict he has hit by accident, connecting with a man whom no one can clearly identify, discovering that man's family, and his past. There are no revelations, or tearful reconciliations to be found here. Erratum might be said to be more about simply making peace with one's past, including all mistakes. There isn't much at this time to be found on Marek Lechki. That will probably change soon. Erratum has been racking up awards not only in his native Poland, but also more recently in film festivals in Chicago and Pusan. This is Lechki's first feature. In a film where several of the characters are, or were, musicians, I did find out that Lechki has also had a history of playing what has been described in Polish Wikipedia as alternative music. Perhaps approaching Erratum as a somewhat abstract musical work may be best for this film. In this way, the viewer is like Michal, surrendering expectations and allowing things to reveal themselves at their own pace.
5:30 PM	The Last Pulcinella (2009) Original Title: L'ultimo Pulcinella Country : ITALY Category : Drama Director : Maurizio Scaparro Principal Cast : Massimo Ranieri, Domenico Balsamo, Adriana Asti Length : 1 hr 29 min Michelangelo, an unemployed actor, is forced to leave Naples for Paris with his son after witnessing a Mafia killing. He meets Marie, also an actress, who owns and looks after a theatre. Together they try to stage a play about the traditional Neapolitan character of Pulcinella. If they succeed, a dream of the many Italian immigrants will come true.	Italian Film Festival New Zealand: ‘The Last Pulcinella’ is liberally inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s unedited screenplay and directed by acclaimed theatre maestro Maurizio Scaparro. A story of the difficult relationship between a young Neapolitan in search of new creative inspirations and a life far away from his hometown, and a father who hardly manages to survive as a street artist. Massimo Ranieri (one of Italy’s greatest pop singers) stars as the struggling middle-aged actor Michelangelo, separated from his wife, who performs ‘stories of Pulcinella’ as a street artist in Naples’ piazzas. His son Francesco (Domenico Balsamo) flees to Paris after witnessing a Camorra crime. Michelangelo follows him after a tip-off by his estranged wife even though he does not speak a word of French. With the help of an old friend Dorient (Jean Sorel), and an ageless actress (Adriana Asti) who lives in an abandoned theatre, the father and son put on a show that will reinvigorate their often strained relationship. ‘The Last Pulcinella’ is a powerful film about a changing world and the power of theatre to bridge the gap between people, set against the backdrop of French racial tensions. Dominic Ambrose Blogblot: The Last Pulcinella stars Massimo Ranieri, the renowned Italian singer and actor. His early fame in the 1960s was with pop songs in the style of San Remo, where he twice won the top prize. In the 1970s he started in a new direction with his album entitled ‘O Surdato Nammurato” a live recording of one of his theatrical performances of Neapolitan sketches. This album, with its cover photo of him dressed in the white pajama costume of Pulcinella, has become a classic and it established the future trajectory of his career. Today he is best known as an interpreter the classic Neapolitan repertoire, and he has come out with several more collections of Neapolitan standards, the latest one in 2009. Many of these songs are over one hundred years old and they have been interpreted over and over again by innumerable singers from the most talented to the ridiculous. His renditions are superb, as he uses his clear and sharp voice to bring out the bel canto qualities of these songs, while at the same time making them enjoyable for the modern ear. In this film Ranieri plays a custom made role, as Michelangelo, a Neapolitan actor who performs Pulcinella. His voice and abilities are as breathtaking as ever, but alas, the years have erased Michelangelo’s youthful good looks. This does not stop him, though, and he continues to evolve and when he arrives in working class Paris in search of his missing son, he wants to bring the theatrical traditions to a new generation of performers. Ranieri’s Pulcinella performances in the film are wonderful. His ability to become the Commedia dell’Arte character has been perfected over a long career and this shows. Unfortunately, it is not enough to make the film palatable. One glaring problem is the lack of veracity. There are plot twists and little conflict-resolutions throughout that conveniently fall from the sky without rhyme or reason. All of the points of tension: Michelangelo’s son’s escape from Naples, the suspicions of the elderly actress toward the immigrant neighbors, and especially the belligerence of the police force and the glimpses of police brutality, are dangled for a moment in front of our eyes, then blithely forgotten. The discovery of an empty theater just waiting for the protagonist to arrive, and the impressive artistic talent of all the neighborhood characters who just happen to saunter in, are elements that would work fine in a Broadway musical, where the audience doesn’t really care about all the niceties of logic – just get to the music, but they are absolutely insulting to the intelligence of someone watching a film that is supposed to be “realism.” This story calls on Deus ex Machina contrivances so often that it hardly seems worth it for Deus ever to climb back into his Machina.
7:10 PM	Run If You Can (2009) Original Title: Renn, wenn Du kannst Country : GERMANY Category : Romantic Drama Director : Dietrich Brüggemann Principal Cast : Robert Gwisdek, Anna Brüggemann, Jacob Matschenz Length : 1 hr 52 min Ben is in a wheelchair and Christian is doing his national social service as Ben's caretaker. They meet the cellist Annika, who is under a lot of strain finishing her music degree. Ben and Christian fall in love with the same woman. The film's story of an unusual love triangle and the absurd, humorous dialogue goes straight to the heart.. Trailer (German only): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEWtt0VN9qk And http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkGPmCXcaSU	Variety: First theatrical feature from young Teuton helmer Dietrich Brueggemann (sharing writing honors on a pleasingly full-circle script with his thesp sister Anna) offers witty dialogue and appealing performances in a romantic triangle with a twist, while the underlying theme of overcoming one's physical and mental limitations lends the small but affecting pic an additional marketing hook. After a limited German rollout this summer, expect "Run" to glide into further fests, with extended Euro ancillary life. In the industrial northern Rhine city of Duisburg, tart-tongued, wheelchair-bound paraplegic Ben (Robert Gwisdek) is finishing his master's thesis and making life difficult for his assistants. But Ben meets his match when he's assigned easygoing Christian (Jacob Matschenz), an aspiring medical student unwilling to be drawn into his power games. The growing friendship between the two young men is strained when they both take a shine to Annika (Anna Brueggemann), a pretty cellist with a bad case of performance anxiety. Annika likes the playful Christian, but she's also drawn to the prickly Ben, whose verbal brilliance and appreciation for music makes her overlook his handicap. Aiming for an offbeat tone, director Brueggemann successfully injects the realist material with black humor and some almost-screwball physical comedy that occasionally falls flat. He also incorporates numerous authentic details of life lived with a severe disability. Although both Anna Brueggemann and Matschenz provide sympathetic screen presences, thesping honors belong to thin, lanky Gwisdek (son of popular actors Michael Gwisdek and Corinna Harfouch). Physically convincing as a paraplegic, he conveys Ben's hopes, fears and frustrations with a performance of great delicacy and dexterity.

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

2 PM

The Paper Will Be Blue (2006)

Original Title: Hîrtia va fi albastrã

Country : ROMANIA

Category : Action/ Drama

Writer/ Director : Radu Muntean

Principal Cast : Paul Ipate, Adi Carauleanu, Dragos Bucur

Length : 1 hr 35 min

During the confused night of 22-23 December 1989 young militiaman Costi, eager to join the rebel forces, escapes from his unit. Captain Neagu assembles a patrol to hunt down the deserter, while nervous citizens watch history unfolding on their television sets. A gripping, taut rendition of the birth pangs of contemporary Romania.

Nominated for the 2006 Golden Leopard award at Locarno International Film Festival.

Trailer at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RAiD3rwF3tA

Neil Young’s Film Lounge: Promising stuff, and executed with a certain technical skill, a real-time, you-are-there doggedness and a Bloody Sunday-style verisimilitude that may impress certain viewers. In the end, however, the atmosphere of laborious, grittily downbeat intensity – relieved by only the barest flecks of ironic humor – proves monotonously uninvolving, capturing all too well this long, long, dark, dark night of one nation's troubled soul.

Rotten Tomatoes synopsis: The December 1989 fall of Communist Dictator Nicolae Ceausescu sets the stage for co-writer/director Radu Muntean's wry action drama following one perplexed militia's attempt to find out just who has assumed control of Bucharest once the despised tyrant has fallen. Romanian despot Ceausescu has been overthrown by a combination of military coup and civil insurrection, and now Lt. Neagu (Adi Carauleanu) has been assigned the task of maintaining the peace in a small Bucharest suburb. When Lt. Neagu and his heavily armored militia squad hear news that pro-Ceausescu forces are attempting to wrestle control of a national television station away from anti-Ceausescu counterparts, ambitious militiaman Costi (Paul Ipgate) suggests that the troupe leave to help fend off the "terrorists" who would see the feared dictator reinstated. After Costi slips away from the militia to help defend the television station, he is recruited to help defend a house full of protestors from terrorists. Inexplicably, Costi himself is accused of terrorism by the very people he was attempting to help and is forced to convince the protestors of his democratic beliefs. Realizing that Costi has deserted the militia and frightened that he will be held responsible for losing his soldier, Lt. Neagu and his squad discover that their mission is far from over after arriving as Costi's suburban home. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

IMDb viewer Dominic Ambrose: This is a film about one of the most iconic and fateful events of the fall of communism in Eastern Europe, the liberation of Romania in December, 1989. It was the most brutal confrontation of that historical period, and the one that is perhaps least understood. The film opens with a scene of senseless violence, a case of confusion and wild gunfire in the dawn hours of December 23, 1989. This serves as the context and creates the mood of panic, confusion and deadly danger of this film.

The film takes us inside an armored militia vehicle as it patrols the streets of Bucharest on the darkest night of revolution. The soldiers are confused, unsure of even the most basic truths about their job: Who are they protecting? What are they defending and who are they fighting? Who are they serving? What country is this? The soldiers have no idea, and they prefer not to think about it.

This is the story of revolution. What seems to us such heroic activity guided by higher ideals of liberty and justice, is often unimaginable confusion and wasteful carnage. The performances are very good, the characterizations low keyed and hemmed in, just as these soldiers are hemmed in by the circumstances they find themselves in. The dialog is terse and chattering, in nervous counterpoint to the deadly serious events. But the events are at times mercilessly confusing, and this tends to decrease the impact of some of the key scenes. Just because the characters are confused doesn't mean that the film viewers should be as well! This is especially true at the television station when it is quite difficult to tell which side the soldiers there are defending.

In general, the film is quite successful in that it brings the viewer into that time and place, and makes the madness come alive. I think there is room for further development of some of the characters, as there is so much irony in their predicament that is only obliquely alluded to. As for the ending, I was a bit disappointed that the filmmaker chose not to show the final scene that we are left to imagine. It seems like a choice of modesty that does not give full impact to the pathological nature of war.

3:45 PM

Erratum (2010)

Country : POLAND

Category : Drama

Writer/Director : Marek Lechki

Principal Cast : Tomasz Kot, Ryszard Kotys, Tomasz Radawiec

Length : 1 hr 35 mins

Years ago, Michal left his hometown behind to study in the city. He leads a comfortable life with a happy family, a nice apartment and a good job. When work brings him back to his hometown, a car accident thwarts his plans to avoid running into anyone. Forced to stay in town during the investigation, Michal must confront the choices he has made.

Awards:

2011 International Film Festival Tofifest, Torun - Golden Angel

2011 International Film Festival of Uruguay - FIPRESCI Award

2011 Lecce European Film Festival, Italy - Special Jury Priz

2010 Thessaloniki International Film Festival – Best Screenplay Award

2010 Chicago International Film Festival - Gold Plaque in New Directors Competition

2010 Gdynia Polish Film Festival – Awards for Best Directorial Debut and Critics Award

About the Writer/Director Marek Lechki: Born in 1975 in Brzeg Dolny, Poland. Director, screenwriter, and producer. Graduated from University of Silesia in Katowice (Radio and Television Dept., 2002). He won several awards for his student films and short documentary forms at various amateur film festivals.

For a trailer (in English) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uvne4NJgBwk

12th Annual Polish Film Festival of Los Angeles: Michal must travel to his hometown, Szczecin, to pick up his boss' car. The trip reminds him of all the reasons why many years ago, after his mother's death, Michal left Szczecin and escaped from his father. A car accident, in which he kills a homeless man, forces Michal to extend his stay in Szczecin. Out of guilt he starts searching for the homeless man's family. This simple task quickly transforms into an emotional journey into his past. The harder he tries to move on and leave, the deeper he sinks into a world of unfulfilled dreams and ambitions, and unresolved conflicts.

Twitch: There's a wave of young talent breaking in Poland right now, an infusion of fresh blood bringing new energy to one of the most established film cultures in Europe. And one of those young guns is director Marek Lechki. A multiple award winner for his student, television and earlier feature work, Lechki will soon be premiering his latest drama Erratum.

OffPlusCamera: Marek Lechki’s “Erratum“ can be described as a little film about very large issues. In an impressively skilled manner the director tells the story of a man who got very lost within his own life but failed to notice it.

The main character of the film is Michal (brilliant Tomasz Kot)– a well-respected husband and father, who is forced to face his fears and issues from the past. As a result of a tragic coincidence Michał has to stay in his home town for much longer than he had initially planned. All the problems and conflicts that have been haunting him for years are now coming back and they are more real than ever. This time however, there is nowhere to run. Initially, this sense of limbo makes Michal aggressive towards himself and everyone around him. Gradually, this feeling of helplessness has a positive side-effect and means that Michal can at last reflect on his life and make an effort to accept the world he no longer belongs to as a part of his past.

Simple stories are usually the most difficult to tell. One of many great things about Lechki’s film is the fact that the director manages to avoid any kind of straight forwardness and obvious solutions. The story unfolds unhurriedly; there are no dramatic twists or unconvincing formal tricks and still, you will be at the edge of your seat throughout the screening. The director steers clear of judging his characters and he does not reprimand anyone. His characters are full-blooded human beings who make mistakes and who then attempt to correct them in panic.“Erratum“ is a must-see for all of those who doubted that there were original voices in recent Polish cinema. It isn’t often that we have the opportunity to see a vision so clear, coherent, and mature.

Coffee, coffee, and more coffee: For the flimsiest of reasons, Michal, an accountant, is asked by his boss to pick up a specially ordered car and drive it back. The car is in the town where Michal grew up. Whatever feelings Michal may have about the town do not include nostalgia. Michal is urged by his wife to see his father. The idea of tenuous family bonds are already indicated by Michal's relationship with his own family. There is already a sense that Michal's going to his old home town is not a good idea. Michal's plan to simply take the train to town, pick up the car, and drive overnight to deliver the car, are tossed aside by a road accident.

What follow are a series of events where Michal is forced to reconnect with his father, his former best friend, and a friend of the family. Parallel to this is Michal's taking on for himself to discover the identity of the derelict he has hit by accident, connecting with a man whom no one can clearly identify, discovering that man's family, and his past. There are no revelations, or tearful reconciliations to be found here. Erratum might be said to be more about simply making peace with one's past, including all mistakes.

There isn't much at this time to be found on Marek Lechki. That will probably change soon. Erratum has been racking up awards not only in his native Poland, but also more recently in film festivals in Chicago and Pusan. This is Lechki's first feature. In a film where several of the characters are, or were, musicians, I did find out that Lechki has also had a history of playing what has been described in Polish Wikipedia as alternative music. Perhaps approaching Erratum as a somewhat abstract musical work may be best for this film. In this way, the viewer is like Michal, surrendering expectations and allowing things to reveal themselves at their own pace.

5:30 PM

The Last Pulcinella (2009)

Original Title: L'ultimo Pulcinella

Country : ITALY

Category : Drama

Director : Maurizio Scaparro

Principal Cast : Massimo Ranieri, Domenico Balsamo, Adriana Asti

Length : 1 hr 29 min

Michelangelo, an unemployed actor, is forced to leave Naples for Paris with his son after witnessing a Mafia killing. He meets Marie, also an actress, who owns and looks after a theatre. Together they try to stage a play about the traditional Neapolitan character of Pulcinella. If they succeed, a dream of the many Italian immigrants will come true.

Italian Film Festival New Zealand: ‘The Last Pulcinella’ is liberally inspired by Roberto Rossellini’s unedited screenplay and directed by acclaimed theatre maestro Maurizio Scaparro. A story of the difficult relationship between a young Neapolitan in search of new creative inspirations and a life far away from his hometown, and a father who hardly manages to survive as a street artist.

Massimo Ranieri (one of Italy’s greatest pop singers) stars as the struggling middle-aged actor Michelangelo, separated from his wife, who performs ‘stories of Pulcinella’ as a street artist in Naples’ piazzas. His son Francesco (Domenico Balsamo) flees to Paris after witnessing a Camorra crime. Michelangelo follows him after a tip-off by his estranged wife even though he does not speak a word of French. With the help of an old friend Dorient (Jean Sorel), and an ageless actress (Adriana Asti) who lives in an abandoned theatre, the father and son put on a show that will reinvigorate their often strained relationship.

‘The Last Pulcinella’ is a powerful film about a changing world and the power of theatre to bridge the gap between people, set against the backdrop of French racial tensions.

Dominic Ambrose Blogblot: The Last Pulcinella stars Massimo Ranieri, the renowned Italian singer and actor. His early fame in the 1960s was with pop songs in the style of San Remo, where he twice won the top prize. In the 1970s he started in a new direction with his album entitled ‘O Surdato Nammurato” a live recording of one of his theatrical performances of Neapolitan sketches. This album, with its cover photo of him dressed in the white pajama costume of Pulcinella, has become a classic and it established the future trajectory of his career. Today he is best known as an interpreter the classic Neapolitan repertoire, and he has come out with several more collections of Neapolitan standards, the latest one in 2009. Many of these songs are over one hundred years old and they have been interpreted over and over again by innumerable singers from the most talented to the ridiculous. His renditions are superb, as he uses his clear and sharp voice to bring out the bel canto qualities of these songs, while at the same time making them enjoyable for the modern ear. In this film Ranieri plays a custom made role, as Michelangelo, a Neapolitan actor who performs Pulcinella. His voice and abilities are as breathtaking as ever, but alas, the years have erased Michelangelo’s youthful good looks. This does not stop him, though, and he continues to evolve and when he arrives in working class Paris in search of his missing son, he wants to bring the theatrical traditions to a new generation of performers. Ranieri’s Pulcinella performances in the film are wonderful. His ability to become the Commedia dell’Arte character has been perfected over a long career and this shows. Unfortunately, it is not enough to make the film palatable.

One glaring problem is the lack of veracity. There are plot twists and little conflict-resolutions throughout that conveniently fall from the sky without rhyme or reason. All of the points of tension: Michelangelo’s son’s escape from Naples, the suspicions of the elderly actress toward the immigrant neighbors, and especially the belligerence of the police force and the glimpses of police brutality, are dangled for a moment in front of our eyes, then blithely forgotten. The discovery of an empty theater just waiting for the protagonist to arrive, and the impressive artistic talent of all the neighborhood characters who just happen to saunter in, are elements that would work fine in a Broadway musical, where the audience doesn’t really care about all the niceties of logic – just get to the music, but they are absolutely insulting to the intelligence of someone watching a film that is supposed to be “realism.” This story calls on Deus ex Machina contrivances so often that it hardly seems worth it for Deus ever to climb back into his Machina.

7:10 PM

Run If You Can (2009)

Original Title: Renn, wenn Du kannst

Country : GERMANY

Category : Romantic Drama

Director : Dietrich Brüggemann

Principal Cast : Robert Gwisdek, Anna Brüggemann, Jacob Matschenz

Length : 1 hr 52 min

Ben is in a wheelchair and Christian is doing his national social service as Ben's caretaker. They meet the cellist Annika, who is under a lot of strain finishing her music degree. Ben and Christian fall in love with the same woman. The film's story of an unusual love triangle and the absurd, humorous dialogue goes straight to the heart..

Trailer (German only): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEWtt0VN9qk

And http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkGPmCXcaSU

Variety: First theatrical feature from young Teuton helmer Dietrich Brueggemann (sharing writing honors on a pleasingly full-circle script with his thesp sister Anna) offers witty dialogue and appealing performances in a romantic triangle with a twist, while the underlying theme of overcoming one's physical and mental limitations lends the small but affecting pic an additional marketing hook. After a limited German rollout this summer, expect "Run" to glide into further fests, with extended Euro ancillary life.

In the industrial northern Rhine city of Duisburg, tart-tongued, wheelchair-bound paraplegic Ben (Robert Gwisdek) is finishing his master's thesis and making life difficult for his assistants. But Ben meets his match when he's assigned easygoing Christian (Jacob Matschenz), an aspiring medical student unwilling to be drawn into his power games.

The growing friendship between the two young men is strained when they both take a shine to Annika (Anna Brueggemann), a pretty cellist with a bad case of performance anxiety. Annika likes the playful Christian, but she's also drawn to the prickly Ben, whose verbal brilliance and appreciation for music makes her overlook his handicap.

Aiming for an offbeat tone, director Brueggemann successfully injects the realist material with black humor and some almost-screwball physical comedy that occasionally falls flat. He also incorporates numerous authentic details of life lived with a severe disability.

Although both Anna Brueggemann and Matschenz provide sympathetic screen presences, thesping honors belong to thin, lanky Gwisdek (son of popular actors Michael Gwisdek and Corinna Harfouch). Physically convincing as a paraplegic, he conveys Ben's hopes, fears and frustrations with a performance of great delicacy and dexterity.

Friday, July 29, 2011

Note: Times uncertain! Check at EU desk. First two films may start earlier than listed; last two films may start later. They’re short by about 30 minutes.

Time	Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis	Comments / Reviews
2 PM May start early!	Above the Street, Below the Water (2009) Original Title: Over gaden under vandet Country : DENMARK Category : Drama Co-writer/ Director : Charlotte Sieling Principal Cast : Sidse Babett Knudsen, Mohammed Al-Bakier, Anders W. Berthelsen Length : 1 hr 40 min Ask and Anne are married, with everything they could ever want: good careers, lovely children, and an apartment in the most beautiful part of Copenhagen. One morning Anne learns that Ask wants to take a break from their marriage. Like rings in the water, Ask's decision starts affecting everyone around them.	An examination of why humans are unfaithful. Warsaw Film Festival: One 24-hour period. One city. One divorce. In a couples' therapy session, husband Ask astonishes his wife Anne with the idea that he needs a break from their marriage. In the next 24 hours six people try to survive their own choices, controlled by their passions (or lack thereof). While these adults struggle obsessively with their emotional lives, their children watch their parents in astonishment. Are we supposed to become like them? An elegant debut which uses the Aristotelian idea of unity of action, time and place to present a grotesque story of everyday life. A film about the adult generation of today, which has everything and can do anything - except figure out how to live together. Charlotte Sieling: Born 1960, in Denmark. Graduated as an actress from the Danish National School of Theatre in 1985, and in 1995 from the National Film School of Denmark, where she graduated in screenplay writing. Stage and film actor for ten years before taking up directing. She made her first short in 1998. 'Above The Street, Below The Water' is her feature film debut.
3:50 PM May start early!	When We Leave (2010) Original Title: Die Fremde Country : GERMANY Category : Drama Writer/Director : Feo Aladag Principal Cast : Sibel Kekilli, Nizam Schiller, Derya Elabora Length : 1 hr 59 min Umay is a young woman of Turkish descent, fighting for an independent and self-determined life in Germany against the resistance of her family. Her struggle initiates a dynamic that results in a life-threatening situation. Generally favorable reviews, Rotten Tomatoes. A multi-award-winning film. Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3483802649/	In awarding the film Best Narrative Feature Award, and Best Actress Award for Sibel Kekilli, the Tribeca Film Festival Narrative Jury said of the film: " When We Leave examines one woman's struggle for personal freedom. It is a riveting and heartbreaking story of a woman trapped in an abusive relationship, who must not only free herself from that marriage, but also the cultural prejudices and judgments that would keep her there. Feo Aladag built the nuances of her film over a six year period. She rehearsed her actors for seven months. She immersed herself in every detail of a culture that is revealed to us in remarkable detail. The result is a film that balances complex social issues with honest human yearnings. Through the brutality, When We Leave is also a story of tenderness, the struggle for compassion, the inexorable pull of family and the need to love and be loved." German-born Umay (Sibel Kekilli) flees her oppressive marriage in Istanbul, taking her young son Cem with her. She hopes to find a better life with her family in Berlin, but her unexpected arrival creates intense conflict. Her family is trapped in their conventions, torn between their love for her and the traditional values of their community. Ultimately they decide to return Cem to his father in Turkey. To keep her son, Umay is forced to move again. She finds the inner strength to build a new life for herself and Cem, but her need for her family's love drives her to a series of ill-fated attempts at reconciliation. What Umay doesn't realize is just how deep the wounds have gone and how dangerous her struggle for self-determination has become... -- (C) Olive Films NOW Toronto, Norman Wilner: Anyone can make a movie about a woman suffering under the restrictions of a fundamentalist mentality; the trick is making one that doesn’t fall back on stereotypes and simplistic finger-wagging. In her directorial debut, When We Leave, the German actor Feo Aladag neatly avoids those traps and comes up with a tense drama about people, rather than character sketches. The movie’s universe of cloistered women and controlling men living within today’s Germany feels distressingly credible. The terrific Sibel Kekilli stars as Umay, a German-born Muslim who abandons her abusive husband in Turkey and takes their son back home to her family – only to find they think she’s dishonored them by fleeing her marriage and aren’t interested in hearing her side of things. Depicting Umay’s oppressive surroundings in long, largely silent sequences, Aladag creates a suffocating atmosphere that gives the story’s grim trajectory – signaled in the very first scene – a terrible inevitability. When We Leave uses dread powerfully, letting us watch impotently alongside Umay as her relatives fall into a feedback loop of indignant self-justification. Manipulative? Absolutely. But awfully effective.
5:20 PM May start late!	Cell 211 (2009) Original Title: Celda 211 Country : SPAIN Category : Thriller/ Action/ Drama Writer/Director : Daniel Monzón Principal Cast : Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines Length : 1 hr 53 min Newly hired prison officer Juan Oliver finds himself in the midst of a prison riot after an unforeseen turn of events. With the inmates around him unaware of his position, he must pretend to be a prisoner to survive. Generally favorable reviews, Rotten Tomatoes. A multi-award-winning film. Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3333659929/	Empire Magazine, Kim Newman: An outstanding thriller, with enough political and character strokes to lift it out of the straight genre category - but rough and tough enough to stand alongside any given Hollywood hardman buddy vehicle. ViewLondon, Matthew Turner: Impressively directed and superbly written, this is a powerful Spanish prison drama with terrific performances from Alberto Ammann and Luis Tosar. What Culture, Shaun Munro: On the surface this is a relatively familiar prison thriller, yet when executed with panache of such disarming brutality and tension, it finds room to distinguish itself in an overcrowded genre.. Daily Express, Henry Fitzherbert: Director Daniel Monzon's picture - very well acted by the leads - manages to combine extremely clever, unpredictable plotting with plausible but unexpected character development, elevating standard genre fare to something much more substantial. Boston Globe, Wesley Morris: What this movie lacks in plausibility (which is almost everything), it makes up for with authentic adrenaline -- and Spanish Goya Awards (it won eight this year). Washington Post, Michael O'Sullivan: The cast is uniformly strong, Monzon's direction riveting. For his portrayal of Malamadre, a villain both honorable and evil, Tosar won a well-deserved award at this year's Goya awards (the Spanish Oscars), along with Ammann and Etura. Monzon took home the award for best director; the film itself won four additional prizes, including best picture. It's easy to see why, though there's nothing easy about this tough and beautiful tale. Contains frequent, bloody violence and rioting, near-constant obscenity, partial nudity, sexual references, brief sensuality and drug use. In Spanish and Basque with English subtitles.
7:25 PM May start late!	Weekend With My Mother (2009) Original Title : Weekend cu mama Country : ROMANIA Category : Drama Writer/Director : Stere Gulea Principal Cast : Medeea Marinescu, Adela Popescu and Tudor Istodor Length : 1 hr 27 min Fifteen years ago, Luiza decided to make a fresh start in Spain, leaving her 3-year-old daughter Cristina in the care of her relatives. On returning to Romania, she learns some shocking truths: Cristina is a drug addict whose 2-year-old girl lives in an orphanage. Overwhelmed by guilt, Luiza attempts to save her daughter and redeem the mistakes of her youth.	IMDb viewer: It's exquisite. ... I can truly say that the journey, although a bit extreme and romantic aesthetics in it, was a very Romanian one. And it is nice to find yourself lost in the artistic beauty of a tragedy ... but also in a day to day cultural mirror. Bad habits, ignorance, mistakes, the death of family values, lack of respect, streets, filth, carelessness, loneliness at an old age, indecency ... the shallow hope of an absolution that is not consistent with reality ... All here. IMDb viewer: This one topped my expectations! The story develops around an 18-20 year old girl named Cristina (Adela Popescu). She's a drug addict. The story gets going when she meets her mother who just returned from Spain. It's a powerful drama about family relationships and past while dealing with the present. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yICr6YNAtk Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QQMtX3-SvE&NR=1

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

2 PM

May start early!

Above the Street, Below the Water (2009)

Original Title: Over gaden under vandet

Country : DENMARK

Category : Drama

Co-writer/ Director : Charlotte Sieling

Principal Cast : Sidse Babett Knudsen, Mohammed Al-Bakier, Anders W. Berthelsen

Length : 1 hr 40 min

Ask and Anne are married, with everything they could ever want: good careers, lovely children, and an apartment in the most beautiful part of Copenhagen. One morning Anne learns that Ask wants to take a break from their marriage. Like rings in the water, Ask's decision starts affecting everyone around them.

An examination of why humans are unfaithful.

Warsaw Film Festival: One 24-hour period. One city. One divorce. In a couples' therapy session, husband Ask astonishes his wife Anne with the idea that he needs a break from their marriage. In the next 24 hours six people try to survive their own choices, controlled by their passions (or lack thereof). While these adults struggle obsessively with their emotional lives, their children watch their parents in astonishment. Are we supposed to become like them? An elegant debut which uses the Aristotelian idea of unity of action, time and place to present a grotesque story of everyday life. A film about the adult generation of today, which has everything and can do anything - except figure out how to live together.

Charlotte Sieling:

Born 1960, in Denmark. Graduated as an actress from the Danish National School of Theatre in 1985, and in 1995 from the National Film School of Denmark, where she graduated in screenplay writing. Stage and film actor for ten years before taking up directing. She made her first short in 1998. 'Above The Street, Below The Water' is her feature film debut.

3:50 PM

May start early!

When We Leave (2010)

Original Title: Die Fremde

Country : GERMANY

Category : Drama

Writer/Director : Feo Aladag
Principal Cast : Sibel Kekilli, Nizam Schiller, Derya Elabora

Length : 1 hr 59 min

Umay is a young woman of Turkish descent, fighting for an independent and self-determined life in Germany against the resistance of her family. Her struggle initiates a dynamic that results in a life-threatening situation.

Generally favorable reviews, Rotten Tomatoes. A multi-award-winning film.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3483802649/

In awarding the film Best Narrative Feature Award, and Best Actress Award for Sibel Kekilli, the Tribeca Film Festival Narrative Jury said of the film: " When We Leave examines one woman's struggle for personal freedom. It is a riveting and heartbreaking story of a woman trapped in an abusive relationship, who must not only free herself from that marriage, but also the cultural prejudices and judgments that would keep her there. Feo Aladag built the nuances of her film over a six year period. She rehearsed her actors for seven months. She immersed herself in every detail of a culture that is revealed to us in remarkable detail. The result is a film that balances complex social issues with honest human yearnings. Through the brutality, When We Leave is also a story of tenderness, the struggle for compassion, the inexorable pull of family and the need to love and be loved." German-born Umay (Sibel Kekilli) flees her oppressive marriage in Istanbul, taking her young son Cem with her. She hopes to find a better life with her family in Berlin, but her unexpected arrival creates intense conflict. Her family is trapped in their conventions, torn between their love for her and the traditional values of their community. Ultimately they decide to return Cem to his father in Turkey. To keep her son, Umay is forced to move again. She finds the inner strength to build a new life for herself and Cem, but her need for her family's love drives her to a series of ill-fated attempts at reconciliation. What Umay doesn't realize is just how deep the wounds have gone and how dangerous her struggle for self-determination has become... -- (C) Olive Films

NOW Toronto, Norman Wilner: Anyone can make a movie about a woman suffering under the restrictions of a fundamentalist mentality; the trick is making one that doesn’t fall back on stereotypes and simplistic finger-wagging.

In her directorial debut, When We Leave, the German actor Feo Aladag neatly avoids those traps and comes up with a tense drama about people, rather than character sketches. The movie’s universe of cloistered women and controlling men living within today’s Germany feels distressingly credible.

The terrific Sibel Kekilli stars as Umay, a German-born Muslim who abandons her abusive husband in Turkey and takes their son back home to her family – only to find they think she’s dishonored them by fleeing her marriage and aren’t interested in hearing her side of things.

Depicting Umay’s oppressive surroundings in long, largely silent sequences, Aladag creates a suffocating atmosphere that gives the story’s grim trajectory – signaled in the very first scene – a terrible inevitability.

When We Leave uses dread powerfully, letting us watch impotently alongside Umay as her relatives fall into a feedback loop of indignant self-justification.

Manipulative? Absolutely. But awfully effective.

5:20 PM

May start late!

Cell 211 (2009)

Original Title: Celda 211

Country : SPAIN

Category : Thriller/ Action/ Drama

Writer/Director : Daniel Monzón

Principal Cast : Luis Tosar, Alberto Ammann, Antonio Resines

Length : 1 hr 53 min

Generally favorable reviews, Rotten Tomatoes. A multi-award-winning film.

Trailer: http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3333659929/

ViewLondon, Matthew Turner: Impressively directed and superbly written, this is a powerful Spanish prison drama with terrific performances from Alberto Ammann and Luis Tosar.

Boston Globe, Wesley Morris: What this movie lacks in plausibility (which is almost everything), it makes up for with authentic adrenaline -- and Spanish Goya Awards (it won eight this year).

It's easy to see why, though there's nothing easy about this tough and beautiful tale.

Contains frequent, bloody violence and rioting, near-constant obscenity, partial nudity, sexual references, brief sensuality and drug use. In Spanish and Basque with English subtitles.

7:25

May start late!

Weekend With My Mother (2009)

Original Title : Weekend cu mama

Country : ROMANIA

Category : Drama

Writer/Director : Stere Gulea

Principal Cast : Medeea Marinescu, Adela Popescu and Tudor Istodor

Length : 1 hr 27 min

Fifteen years ago, Luiza decided to make a fresh start in Spain, leaving her 3-year-old daughter Cristina in the care of her relatives. On returning to Romania, she learns some shocking truths: Cristina is a drug addict whose 2-year-old girl lives in an orphanage. Overwhelmed by guilt, Luiza attempts to save her daughter and redeem the mistakes of her youth.

IMDb viewer: It's exquisite. ... I can truly say that the journey, although a bit extreme and romantic aesthetics in it, was a very Romanian one. And it is nice to find yourself lost in the artistic beauty of a tragedy ... but also in a day to day cultural mirror. Bad habits, ignorance, mistakes, the death of family values, lack of respect, streets, filth, carelessness, loneliness at an old age, indecency ... the shallow hope of an absolution that is not consistent with reality ... All here.

IMDb viewer: This one topped my expectations! The story develops around an 18-20 year old girl named Cristina (Adela Popescu). She's a drug addict. The story gets going when she meets her mother who just returned from Spain. It's a powerful drama about family relationships and past while dealing with the present.

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yICr6YNAtk

Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QQMtX3-SvE&NR=1

EU 2011 - Chart 4 Page 2 of -n- By Thomas Ohlson - Printed Thursday, July 28, 2011

Update 2

2011-07-26T03:50:00.001+07:00

A peek at the Chiang Mai Mail movie column

Chiang Mai movies – EU Film Festival Listings, Update 2

by Thomas Ohlson

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Below (as Chart 3) are some comments on the films showing today (Tuesday, July 26) and tomorrow (Wednesday, July 27). Hopefully, another update Thursday. At Sunday’s screening of Camino the audience had powerful reactions, of opposing kinds. Some were weeping openly at the story of the young girl, others could literally not control their anger at some of the worst instances of the Church’s inhumanity and spoke back to the screen in objection. You rarely see a film that so moves an audience. It’s showing again Tuesday evening at 6:35.

And here’s a somewhat revised version of the current movie column in the Chiang Mai Mail. I suggest you check out The Conspirator and Mary and Max – both playing only at Vista.

Let's go to the movies

by Mark Gernpy

Now playing in Chiang Mai through July 27

The Conspirator: US, Drama – In the wake of Abraham Lincoln's assassination, seven men and one woman are arrested and charged with conspiring to kill the President, the Vice-President, and the Secretary of State. The lone woman charged, Mary Surratt, 42, owns a boarding house where John Wilkes Booth and others met and planned the simultaneous attacks. Against the ominous back-drop of post-Civil War Washington, new lawyer Frederick Aiken, a 28-year-old Union war-hero, reluctantly agrees to defend Surratt before a military tribunal, where the rules state that only a majority vote is required for a guilty verdict and a two-thirds vote is needed to sentence a defendant to death. It is a court where a defendant is prohibited from testifying in their own defense. As the trial unfolds, Aiken realizes his client may be innocent and that she is being used as bait and hostage in order to capture the only conspirator to have escaped a massive manhunt, her own son. Generally favorable reviews. At Vista only.

It’s much better than the book, in my opinion, which has sections that are so preposterous that no amount of suspension of disbelief can overcome. Playing in both 2D and 3D versions in English at Airport Plaza, and an additional 2D version that’s Thai-dubbed. In 2D at Vista, in both English and Thai-dubbed versions. I saw it in 2D; from what I’ve read so far, the 3D (which is post-production conversion) is good, but doesn’t add all that much. Reviews: one of the rare films to be labeled by Metacritic as “Universal acclaim.”

Hanna: US, Action/ Crime/ Mystery – A really weird one, sort of a cross between a Euro Art Film and an ass-kicking female action flick like those of Thailand’s own Jeeja (Chocolate). Hanna (played by Saoirse Ronan, who you saw in Atonement) is a teenage girl with the strength, the stamina, and the smarts of a solider; these come from being raised by her father (Eric Bana), an ex-CIA man, in the wilds of Finland. Her upbringing and training have been one and the same, all geared to making her the perfect assassin. The turning point in her adolescence is a sharp one; sent into the world by her father on a mission, Hanna journeys stealthily across Europe while eluding agents dispatched after her by a ruthless intelligence operative with secrets of her own (Cate Blanchett). An odd film with odd actions done for obscure reasons, but entertaining and intriguing. Generally favorable reviews. Airport Plaza (Major Cineplex) only; shown in digital format (but it’s not 3D).

Mary and Max: Australia, Animation/ Comedy/ Drama – This is a lovingly crafted, startlingly inventive piece of animation whose technical craft is equaled by its emotional resonance. Adam Elliot, director of the Academy-award-winning Harvey Krumpet, returns to the world of clay animation with this simple tale of the innocent correspondence between a portly eight year old girl from the suburbs of Melbourne and a morbidly obese, middle-aged Jewish New Yorker suffering from Asperger's Syndrome. On the surface it would seem that Mary (Toni Collette) and Max (Philip Seymour Hoffman) would have little in common, but over the course of twenty years, the unlikely pen pals exchange letters discussing everything from taxidermy, trust, pets, religion, obesity, autism, agoraphobia, alcoholism, and just about any other topic that comes to mind as they sit down and put pen to paper. Barry Humphries and Eric Bana provide additional voices. In English and Yiddish, with Thai subtitles. Generally favorable reviews. Vista only.

The Lost Bladesman: Hong Kong, Action/ Biography/ Drama/ History – This historical martial arts film set in AD 200 is adapted from the story of Guan Yu crossing five passes and slaying six generals, as told in Luo Guanzhong's historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Most reviewers claim it’s confusing, some admit to not understanding a thing. but being very impressed with the fine balance between sweeping epic and intimate personal drama. With superstar Donnie Yen. Generally favorable reviews. Vista only, and in a Thai-dubbed version.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon: US, Action/ Adventure/ Sci-Fi – This third Transformers is indeed a big 2D and 3D spectacular, and may be in 3D again at Airport Plaza when Major Cineplex finishes the conversion of a second cinema to 3D. The 3D is the best I’ve seen since Avatar. In English at Airport Plaza, both English and Thai-dubbed versions at Vista. The opening 12 or so minutes I think is magnificent movie-making: exciting and provocative, beautifully shot, great story, involving. Then we get the titles and the beginning of the story of the two stars, the incredibly irritating Shia LaBeouf and his girlfriend played by Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who is dreadful. The movie falls to pieces in my eyes whenever their story is front and center, only to be further undermined by the silly and incredibly noisy battles of the tinker toys.

Too bad, because there’s an involving and interesting movie hidden beneath this one’s detritus. Set against the space race between the USSR and the USA, the film re-imagines the reasons for the race, and neatly combines historical footage with the fictional “true reasons” which, wouldn’t you know, involves the Transformers and their hidden role in all this. Mixed or average reviews.

The Beaver: US, Drama – Only at Airport Plaza, and again only shown once a day (in the morning). This is an oddity and one of the darkest mainstream films to have come along in some time. Jodie Foster directs and co-stars in this film with Mel Gibson, and it’s an almost too-close-to-home story about an emotional wreck of a man in the throes of an acute depression, and his journey to re-start his life. Much like Gibson seems to be doing in his life and with this film. In the story, the protagonist is so mentally unbalanced that he can only communicate with the world through a hand puppet representing a toy beaver. Reviewers are saying the acting is top notch. Mixed or average reviews.

EU 2011 - Chart 3 B

2011-07-26T03:41:00.001+07:00

BIFF Reviews Working Document

EU Film Festival 2011 – Chart 3: Tuesday and Wednesday, July 26-27 – Prepared by Thomas Ohlson

At Vista Theater 7, 4th Floor, Kadsuankaew, Chiang Mai

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Time	Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis	Comments / Reviews
3 PM	Weekend With My Mother (2009) Original Title : Weekend cu mama Country : ROMANIA Category : Drama Writer/Director : Stere Gulea Principal Cast : Medeea Marinescu, Adela Popescu and Tudor Istodor Length : 1 hr 27 min Fifteen years ago, Luiza decided to make a fresh start in Spain, leaving her 3-year-old daughter Cristina in the care of her relatives. On returning to Romania, she learns some shocking truths: Cristina is a drug addict whose 2-year-old girl lives in an orphanage. Overwhelmed by guilt, Luiza attempts to save her daughter and redeem the mistakes of her youth.	IMDb viewer: It's exquisite. ... I can truly say that the journey, although a bit extreme and romantic aesthetics in it, was a very Romanian one. And it is nice to find yourself lost in the artistic beauty of a tragedy ... but also in a day to day cultural mirror. Bad habits, ignorance, mistakes, the death of family values, lack of respect, streets, filth, carelessness, loneliness at an old age, indecency ... the shallow hope of an absolution that is not consistent with reality ... All here. IMDb viewer: This one topped my expectations! The story develops around an 18-20 year old girl named Cristina (Adela Popescu). She's a drug addict. The story gets going when she meets her mother who just returned from Spain. It's a powerful drama about family relationships and past while dealing with the present. Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yICr6YNAtk Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QQMtX3-SvE&NR=1
4:40 PM	An Ordinary Execution (2010) Original Title: Une exécution ordinaire Country : FRANCE Category : Drama/ History Writer/Director : Marc Dugain Principal Cast : André Dussollier, Marina Hands, Edouard Baer Length : 1 hr 45 mins 1952: a young urologist practicing in a Moscow hospital desperately tries to get pregnant from her husband, a disillusioned physician who only survives thanks to the love for his wife. To her horror, she must treat Stalin. Now amiable, then perverse, the dictator delivers his art of terror in ways that the couple has never been seen before. Generally favorable reviews (Rotten Tomatoes): “Novelist Marc Dugain both wrote and directed this screen adaptation of his novel about the last days of one of the 20th Century's most infamous leaders. In 1952, Jospeh Stalin (Andre Dussollier) is in failing health after a long tenure as the unquestioned ruler of the Soviet Union. Stalin is also in the market for a new personal physician, as his longtime doctor has fallen to one of the leader's frequent purges of people he regards as untrustworthy. Anna (Marina Hands) is a doctor who has a fine rapport with her patients, and some believe she has a gift for healing that goes beyond the abilities of modern medicine. Anna is recruited by Stalin's underlings to become the ruler's new doctor. Anna and Stalin get along well at first, but as he opens up to her, she discovers that beneath his charm is emotional instability and a vindictive streak that borders on madness. Anna also gets a personal taste of the dictator's methods when she mentions her troubles having a child with her husband Vasily (Edouard Baer); not long after Stalin recommends a divorce, Vasily is visited by the secret police and ends up in a forced labor camp. While Anna has sworn to do no harm, she begins to ponder just what is at stake as she tries to keep Stalin alive and well. Une Execution Ordinaire (aka An Ordinary Execution) was an official selection at the 2010 Seattle International Film Festival.” ~ Mark Deming, Rovi For a trailer (French) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot3QN9lR8Z8	BBC Radio Times: In this austere if somewhat academic drama, first-time director Marc Dugain draws on his own bestselling novel to speculate on the conspiracy-shrouded demise of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin. Evoking memories of the last Tsarina's relationship with Rasputin, the action centres on the (fictional) secret treatment sessions that an ailing Stalin (André Dussollier) receives from Anna (Marina Hands), a doctor famed for her unconventional healing techniques. The young woman is sworn to secrecy, but that doesn't stop the paranoid tyrant from having her husband (Edouard Baer) tortured to ensure her loyalty. With the help of cinematographer Yves Angelo's brooding Kremlin atmosphere, Dugain concentrates on the tensions between Stalin and Anna, as he rambles disconcertingly and seeks to justify his reign of terror, while she attempts to retain her sang-froid in the presence of such impenitent inhumanity. The result is a film that's impeccably played and chillingly compelling. Eye for Film: Historical dramas have a habit of falling rather awkwardly into a neither fish nor fowl department that leaves you wondering which parts are fact and which are embellishment. Debut director Marc Dugain - adapting and directing from his own novel - avoids this problem by taking a real person, Russian dictator Joseph Stalin and setting him in an almost purely fictional narrative. This allows Dugain the freedom to explore what makes a dictator tick, rather than to get hung up on trying to slavishly recreate the last few months before Stalin's death. The fact that this is a French film about Russia also frees the narrative up, stripping out any need to reference modern politics that might spring from a film made locally, so that it becomes focused almost entirely on the characters and their motivations. ... Often, debut features are marked out by interesting direction but problematic scripting and here, the problem is something of the reverse. The direction is little more than workmanlike and the budget limitations show, although Yves Angelo adds a sickly bleakness to his colour palette that feels as beaten down as the film's characters. In narrative terms, however, Dugain completely captures the sense of Stalin as being utterly mad in his "sanity", as one character says early on: "Stalin has his own logic." The dictator's cold and almost throw-away disregard for human life is enough to inspire a sharp intake of breath, such as when, while being aided by Anna, he proceeds to pepper the conversation with details of her husband's torture. It is the casual nature of his cruelty that makes this film such a compelling watch. The presence of the word "ordinary" in the film's title nods to Stalin's indifferent attitude to those he kills, while his own quote, "The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic", at the end of the film is a stark reminder of his offhand attitude to slaughter. Amazon.com.uk reviewer: This is a French film based on the final days of Stalin. So although they are all supposed to be Russian they speak French and not with a Russian accent. It centers around a young female doctor (Marina Hands), who has remarkable healing powers in her hands. I am not sure if she is a faith healer or does Raki or something, we are just asked to accept this fact. Her colleagues are either jealous or fancy her, and as you could be denounced at the drop of a hat, she lives in constant fear of what may happen. She is married and deeply in love, but they are unable to have a child, so they keep practicing with the vigor of newlyweds, causing more envy from the neighbors. One day the secret police turn up at the hospital and take her away. She soon finds out the Comrade Stalin (Andre Dussollier) has got to hear about her healing skills, and wants a bit of treatment. He has a stipulation that she is not allowed to tell a soul about their arrangement. This includes her family – especially her husband. After reflection Stalin decides that having her word might not be enough. This is an interesting film, but far from an exciting one. There are moments of cruel clarity and heightened tension, most notably from Dussollier’s performance of the monster Stalin. Those moments though are not enough to sustain the momentum. However, it manages to capture the mood and sterility of the time really well. If you are interested in post WW 2 history then this will be of interest, if you are looking for some sort of fast paced, drama with some action, then you should give it a pass.
6:35 PM	Camino (2008) Country : SPAIN Category : Drama Writer/Director : Javier Fesser Principal Cast : Nerea Camacho, Carme Elias, Mariano Venancio Length : 2 hrs 18 mins A brilliant eleven-year-old girl must simultaneously face two completely new events in her life – falling in love and dying. Camino is a bright light that manages to shine through every one of the dark doors that try to stifle her desire to live, love and seek ultimate happiness. Inspired by real events. Here are some clips. Warning: do not watch unless you’re prepared to be disturbed. http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2527715.htm Urban Cinefile synopsis: Camino (Nerea Camacho) is a bouncy 11 year old girl whose happy, God-focused life in Madrid is spent between her religious school and a home dominated by her pious but authoritarian mother, Gloria (Carme Elias). Her family are members of Opus Dei, the controversial Catholic organization founded by Spain's recently-canonized Jose Maria Escriva. Camino falls in platonic love with Cuco (Lucas Manzano) at a school theatre group. But young love is thwarted when the back pains that have been troubling her turn out to have a serious origin - and she is forced to undergo a barrage of tests, operations and radiation therapy sessions that eventually leave her bedridden, immobilized and blind. Camino's older sister Nuria (Velles), meanwhile, is living as a novitiate in an Opus Dei house. Only Camino's father, Jose (Mariano Venancio), gives her pure affection untainted by religious dogma. Urban Cinefile, Review by Andrew L. Urban: The oddly perverse lives that are twisted out of shape by the extremes of Christian belief systems are sometimes the stuff of which saints are made, and young Camino's is such a life. Unintentionally satirical and brutally so for its matter of fact portrayal of the least humane aspects of the Opus Dei, Camino is dedicated to and inspired by the life and death young Alexia Gonzales (currently being considered for sainthood). It has enthralled Spanish audiences and critics. I'm not sure it has the same impact elsewhere, where its flaws may be magnified by the psychological and cultural distances. It has quite a few flaws, but also much to recommend it. Nerea Camacho is a pretty young actress who gives a mostly first class performance (except when she is allowed to register special interest by widening her eyes in a hammy attempt at facial acting). Her most moving and powerful scenes are also the most traumatic; there are many of them. Carme Elias is formidable as Gloria (what else), the pious mother whose excessive idea of faith in Jesus has so blinded her that she is risible in her willingness to let her daughter suffer because that's what Jesus wants. She doesn't ever ask herself why Jesus would want to do such an evil thing to a girl who is so devoted to him. Camino, finally does ask, though. All Gloria can do is endlessly thank God for her daughter's illness, because it gives them all a chance to really, really prove they love Him by offering up all their agonies to Him. It's only Camino's father, Jose, subtly played by Mariano Venancio, who can see through the hollow piety to the human tragedy - though he is too weak to do much about the situation. And God has even more plans for this family to show its absolute faith in him. As if these themes needed it, a heavy handed, weeping strings-infested score exaggerates the spiritual tone so that we are in cathedral mode pretty much all the way - which is a long time at 143 minutes, in what is essentially a one-note drama. You'll have to excuse the excessively long and schmaltzy ending, too, followed by a contrived coda. Don't mind me, though, I'm a fallen angel. Urban Cinefile, Review by Louise Keller: Winner of 6 Goya Awards, this beautifully crafted but disturbing film tells its story about faith, love and death with claustrophobic potency. It’s a heartbreaking story whose elements often make us feel as though a knife has been thrust in our chest and twisted. Based on a true story, director Javier Fesser has written a complex and multi-layered screenplay about an eleven year old girl from an overtly religious family who displays saintly selflessness and faith in God as she suffers from a fatal illness. The film is like no other, but there are some parallels with The Magdalene Sisters in that it displays the iron fist that fanatic Catholicism promotes and also with Pan’s Labyrinth, in which fantasy is used as an escape from shocking reality. At the heart of the story is a beautiful flower by the name of Camino whose love and enthusiasm for life is infectious. There is no questioning the cinematic power of this film, although it must be said it is tough viewing with relentless distressing scenes and themes. When the story begins, we meet Camino (Nerea Camacho) on her deathbed, surrounded by family and friends. The story then picks up five months earlier when we meet Camino as a beautiful, fun-loving school girl with a healthy attitude to life. Home life, as members of the Opus Dei, devoting themselves to God within their daily lives, is strict and filled with prayer. Her well-intentioned but misguided mother Gloria (Carme Elias) who loves her for all the wrong reasons, is the family’s driving force, “sowing the seeds” of the Christian home and instilling fanaticism (‘Never waste a chance to tell Him you love Him’). Guilt and faith are intertwined. When Camino chooses a children’s book called Mr Meebles, her mother insists on buying one about Saint Bernadette. It is reassuring that Camino’s father José (Mariano Venancio) loves her for all the right reasons and their relationship seems ‘normal’. Gloria has hopes for Camino that she follows in her sister Nuria’s (Manuela Vellés) footsteps in the church. Nuria, who once had the promise of a different life – with a handsome actor –now blinkered to her new life at the convent with God. Camino’s hopes to join the school theatre group with Cuco (Lucas Manzano), the boy on whom she has a crush, die in an instant when she becomes ill. The two youngsters have an intangible connection, which is portrayed in a stunning fantasy sequence towards the film’s end. All the performances are extraordinary, especially Camacho as the angelic Camino, whose beauty and grace only seem to make the story even harder to bear. I can only assume that the graphic nature of the operation scenes has symbolic inference. There’s an affecting juxtaposition between the theatre where Cinderella is being played and the scene at the hospital which embodies the theatre of death. Many will find this film impossible to sit through; others will relate to its authenticity in its depiction of faith.	At the Movies: Camino swept away with six major categories at last year’s Goya Awards, the Spanish Oscars. It’s the work of writer/director Javier Fesser who states at the beginning that it’s based on real events. 14-year-old Camino is the younger daughter of Gloria and Jose. The family adheres to the strict teachings of Opus Dei, the extremely conservative organization within the Catholic Church. Their older daughter is already ensconced in an Opus Dei house where she is virtually a servant to the men who live there. Camino is a lovely child, just on the verge of puberty and curious about the world outside her proscribed life. When she suddenly falls ill and the implications are serious, her faith and that of her family is tested. Camino has developed an innocent crush on a local boy and escapes from the confines of her hospital bed through her dreams and imagination. This is a film that could provoke audiences from a number of directions. People critical of Opus Dei will find much to justify their view in the film. But people who have great faith will also find much to nourish them. Javier Fesser has been very clever. I’m not convinced by some of his techniques, particularly in the early part of the film, his almost besotted filming of his young star and the dream sequences work only sometimes. Screen Fanatic: Where do you start with Javier Fesser’s Camino (2008), a film “inspired by true events”? By turns sensationalist, trivial, and deeply moving, it's open to a variety of equally valid interpretations. Is it a caustic indictment of organized religion? Or a tragic fable infused with magical realism? Or maybe just a disturbing depiction of parental manipulation gone mad? Wobbling in and out of its narrative borders like a drunken sailor, the film details the last months of Camino Fernandez (Nerea Camacho), a young Spanish fifth-grader from Madrid whose sudden bouts of neck pain lead to the diagnosis of a tumor that soon mutates into a rare cancer. Her family is a devoutly religious one. Looming largest here is mother Gloria (Carme Elias), a seemingly sweet, loving woman superficially, but who may be harboring ulterior motives that are not exactly conducive to restoring her daughter’s health. Camino’s father Jose (Mariano Venancio) is a caring, almost perfect, paternal figure, and a source of great comfort for her, but a man with a fatal flaw: he’s weak-willed, having seemingly forever bowed down to his wife’s wishes. This translates into little more than scant hollow words of advice and encouragement for Camino as her condition deteriorates, tangling her own faith in confusion as she tries to assimilate God’s motives with the ailment afflicting her failing body. Camino has an older sister, Nuria (Manuela Velles), who she rarely sees. The circumstances of Nuria’s strange life are only partially explained but it seems she left home at 18 to live in a home with numerous young people of her age. They are now effectually sequestered as “numeraries” in a regimented Pamplona household ruled by a branch of the Opus Dei sect of the Catholic Church. Camino is a deeply unsettling film at times. A revelatory flashback is central to how audience allegiances will ultimately be swayed in one direction: Camino re-lives, through a dream, an episode from her childhood is which she awoke to find her mother cradling her dead baby brother, Gloria responding with a beatific smile that the child wanted to return home to Jesus. It’s a strikingly creepy moment, creating a lasting impression of a fervent religious devotion that borders on insanity. What is most riling is the odious insistence of Camino’s mother that her illness is occurring because God loves her. When confronted with the debilitating strain her family has been placed under she returns serve with her steadfast proclamation of wishing to “thank Him every day for her daughter’s illness”, hoping eventually for an unlikely canonization, the ultimate reinforcement of her reverence and unwavering piousness. Almost as infuriating is Jose's failure to react and prevent Gloria's poisonous cloak of Godly justification from engulfing them all. Moments of magical realism are often potently contrasted with the harmful levels of subtle constriction established by Gloria in her rule over the family. Camino’s dreams are often frightening, sometimes shedding distressing light on her present and past lives, but they can be freeing too, such as when a playful mouse - the one her mother forlornly attempts to snare in their pantry - and Mr. Meebles, a wise old sage from a secondhand book, enter the fray of her wild imagination. Where Fesser’s visually polished film fails is in its handling of the wildly overlapping tones. Never settling into a consistent rhythm, Camino veers from trepidation to whimsy, and from austerity to absurdity at a second’s notice. The overall effect detracts from any cohesive, rational sense Fesser is aiming for in his re-imagining of this girl’s tragic final months of life. This is especially true during the protracted final stage as Camino's final throes are intrinsically linked - almost supernaturally - to a school drama club's performance of Cinderella which she dreamed of being a part of. The ecclesiastical music is over-reaching to the point where you suspect the line between valid support and mockery is being breached. The experience of watching Camino for all of its 140 minutes is likely to induce exultant joy and a smattering of teary moments. But what lingers most is the anger at the controversial means of propagating God’s divine will that Camino’s mother uses to enact some form of spiritual sanctification for her daughter in preference to saving her from maximum harm. This is ultimately a compelling, and on some levels, daring film. It's an emotionally-charged one too, loaded with both wondrous and disturbing imagery. Forced into a final judgment, I’d have to classify it as a failure however, but there’s no disputing that it’s an intriguing, fascinating one, sure to provoke vigorous debate. SBS, Australia: You would be hard pressed to find humor in a film whose central theme deals with child mortality but Javier Fesser’s Camino is a rare thing indeed. Though respectful and subdued when the story requires, Fesser’s ironic touch manages to extract humor from a dire situation and in the process, skewer organized religion and its propagation of false hope. ... Fesser is unrelenting in exposing the contradiction and hypocrisy inherent in organized religion but he also wisely avoids shooting fish in a barrel. There’s an overwhelming reverence to this outrageously melodramatic piece that suggests Fesser is hedging his bets. He’s not criticizing those whose faith provides comfort in times of crisis; only those who would seek to profit from that crisis and turn a young girl’s death into a PR vehicle for the Church. IMDb viewer: Reading the above reviews, I find it somewhat surprising that almost no-one saw what I saw in this excellent movie. What I saw was an expose' of the heartlessness of the Catholic Church (and I hasten to add that they are not alone). I saw ambition among the clergy and the girl's mother, overriding their humaneness for this unfortunate girl. I saw the philosophy of self denial taken to absurd extreme. Who is more deserving of flowers in her hospital room than a dying innocent eleven year old? Is mind control, sequestration, withholding of personal information, constant supervision and the encouragement to wear stones in ones shoes a way to prepare anyone for office anywhere in this day and age, let alone for the catholic church? I saw the Catholic Church manipulating the tragic events in order to "glorify" the church, and the individual clergy involved supporting this in order to enhance their own standing within the hierarchy. Instead the movie tells us that Camino's dying thoughts were with Jesus, but not with the Jesus of Nazareth, which was the assertion of the clergy and no doubt the overriding factor in her subsequent beautification, ("the church needs more saints" says one clergyman), but with her prepubescent love of a boy of the same name. I also saw the medical establishment questioned. A GP "No X-ray but an injection will settle it", A specialist when an X-ray is finally taken-"no problem here, she will be OK soon" - The surgeon on the second X-ray "This is serious must repair the vertebrae without delay", finally a scan "The tumor must be removed ASAP" - where a careful diagnosis would have possibly isolated the problem from the beginning and made the last months of Camino's life at least a little more pain free. In all I found this a very bitter movie, it did not glorify the church but rather leveled serious criticism at it as it did the medical establishment. Not a movie for the masses, not a movie that could come out of America but in my opinion one of the VERY BEST movies ever. Warning, If light entertainment is your wish avoid this movie like the plague, but if you want your thought processes stimulated, do not miss it.

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

3 PM

Weekend With My Mother (2009)

Original Title : Weekend cu mama

Country : ROMANIA

Category : Drama

Writer/Director : Stere Gulea

Principal Cast : Medeea Marinescu, Adela Popescu and Tudor Istodor

Length : 1 hr 27 min

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yICr6YNAtk

Film: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0QQMtX3-SvE&NR=1

4:40 PM

An Ordinary Execution (2010)

Original Title: Une exécution ordinaire

Country : FRANCE

Category : Drama/ History

Writer/Director : Marc Dugain

Principal Cast : André Dussollier, Marina Hands, Edouard Baer

Length : 1 hr 45 mins

For a trailer (French) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ot3QN9lR8Z8

6:35 PM

Camino (2008)

Country : SPAIN

Category : Drama

Writer/Director : Javier Fesser

Principal Cast : Nerea Camacho, Carme Elias, Mariano Venancio

Length : 2 hrs 18 mins

A brilliant eleven-year-old girl must simultaneously face two completely new events in her life – falling in love and dying. Camino is a bright light that manages to shine through every one of the dark doors that try to stifle her desire to live, love and seek ultimate happiness. Inspired by real events.

Here are some clips. Warning: do not watch unless you’re prepared to be disturbed.

http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2527715.htm

Urban Cinefile synopsis: Camino (Nerea Camacho) is a bouncy 11 year old girl whose happy, God-focused life in Madrid is spent between her religious school and a home dominated by her pious but authoritarian mother, Gloria (Carme Elias). Her family are members of Opus Dei, the controversial Catholic organization founded by Spain's recently-canonized Jose Maria Escriva. Camino falls in platonic love with Cuco (Lucas Manzano) at a school theatre group. But young love is thwarted when the back pains that have been troubling her turn out to have a serious origin - and she is forced to undergo a barrage of tests, operations and radiation therapy sessions that eventually leave her bedridden, immobilized and blind. Camino's older sister Nuria (Velles), meanwhile, is living as a novitiate in an Opus Dei house. Only Camino's father, Jose (Mariano Venancio), gives her pure affection untainted by religious dogma.

Urban Cinefile, Review by Andrew L. Urban:

The oddly perverse lives that are twisted out of shape by the extremes of Christian belief systems are sometimes the stuff of which saints are made, and young Camino's is such a life. Unintentionally satirical and brutally so for its matter of fact portrayal of the least humane aspects of the Opus Dei, Camino is dedicated to and inspired by the life and death young Alexia Gonzales (currently being considered for sainthood). It has enthralled Spanish audiences and critics. I'm not sure it has the same impact elsewhere, where its flaws may be magnified by the psychological and cultural distances. It has quite a few flaws, but also much to recommend it.

Nerea Camacho is a pretty young actress who gives a mostly first class performance (except when she is allowed to register special interest by widening her eyes in a hammy attempt at facial acting). Her most moving and powerful scenes are also the most traumatic; there are many of them.

Carme Elias is formidable as Gloria (what else), the pious mother whose excessive idea of faith in Jesus has so blinded her that she is risible in her willingness to let her daughter suffer because that's what Jesus wants. She doesn't ever ask herself why Jesus would want to do such an evil thing to a girl who is so devoted to him. Camino, finally does ask, though. All Gloria can do is endlessly thank God for her daughter's illness, because it gives them all a chance to really, really prove they love Him by offering up all their agonies to Him.

It's only Camino's father, Jose, subtly played by Mariano Venancio, who can see through the hollow piety to the human tragedy - though he is too weak to do much about the situation. And God has even more plans for this family to show its absolute faith in him.

As if these themes needed it, a heavy handed, weeping strings-infested score exaggerates the spiritual tone so that we are in cathedral mode pretty much all the way - which is a long time at 143 minutes, in what is essentially a one-note drama. You'll have to excuse the excessively long and schmaltzy ending, too, followed by a contrived coda. Don't mind me, though, I'm a fallen angel.

Urban Cinefile, Review by Louise Keller:

Winner of 6 Goya Awards, this beautifully crafted but disturbing film tells its story about faith, love and death with claustrophobic potency. It’s a heartbreaking story whose elements often make us feel as though a knife has been thrust in our chest and twisted. Based on a true story, director Javier Fesser has written a complex and multi-layered screenplay about an eleven year old girl from an overtly religious family who displays saintly selflessness and faith in God as she suffers from a fatal illness. The film is like no other, but there are some parallels with The Magdalene Sisters in that it displays the iron fist that fanatic Catholicism promotes and also with Pan’s Labyrinth, in which fantasy is used as an escape from shocking reality. At the heart of the story is a beautiful flower by the name of Camino whose love and enthusiasm for life is infectious. There is no questioning the cinematic power of this film, although it must be said it is tough viewing with relentless distressing scenes and themes.

When the story begins, we meet Camino (Nerea Camacho) on her deathbed, surrounded by family and friends. The story then picks up five months earlier when we meet Camino as a beautiful, fun-loving school girl with a healthy attitude to life. Home life, as members of the Opus Dei, devoting themselves to God within their daily lives, is strict and filled with prayer. Her well-intentioned but misguided mother Gloria (Carme Elias) who loves her for all the wrong reasons, is the family’s driving force, “sowing the seeds” of the Christian home and instilling fanaticism (‘Never waste a chance to tell Him you love Him’). Guilt and faith are intertwined. When Camino chooses a children’s book called Mr Meebles, her mother insists on buying one about Saint Bernadette. It is reassuring that Camino’s father José (Mariano Venancio) loves her for all the right reasons and their relationship seems ‘normal’. Gloria has hopes for Camino that she follows in her sister Nuria’s (Manuela Vellés) footsteps in the church. Nuria, who once had the promise of a different life – with a handsome actor –now blinkered to her new life at the convent with God.

Camino’s hopes to join the school theatre group with Cuco (Lucas Manzano), the boy on whom she has a crush, die in an instant when she becomes ill. The two youngsters have an intangible connection, which is portrayed in a stunning fantasy sequence towards the film’s end. All the performances are extraordinary, especially Camacho as the angelic Camino, whose beauty and grace only seem to make the story even harder to bear. I can only assume that the graphic nature of the operation scenes has symbolic inference. There’s an affecting juxtaposition between the theatre where Cinderella is being played and the scene at the hospital which embodies the theatre of death. Many will find this film impossible to sit through; others will relate to its authenticity in its depiction of faith.

At the Movies: Camino swept away with six major categories at last year’s Goya Awards, the Spanish Oscars. It’s the work of writer/director Javier Fesser who states at the beginning that it’s based on real events.

14-year-old Camino is the younger daughter of Gloria and Jose. The family adheres to the strict teachings of Opus Dei, the extremely conservative organization within the Catholic Church. Their older daughter is already ensconced in an Opus Dei house where she is virtually a servant to the men who live there.

Camino is a lovely child, just on the verge of puberty and curious about the world outside her proscribed life. When she suddenly falls ill and the implications are serious, her faith and that of her family is tested. Camino has developed an innocent crush on a local boy and escapes from the confines of her hospital bed through her dreams and imagination.

This is a film that could provoke audiences from a number of directions. People critical of Opus Dei will find much to justify their view in the film. But people who have great faith will also find much to nourish them. Javier Fesser has been very clever. I’m not convinced by some of his techniques, particularly in the early part of the film, his almost besotted filming of his young star and the dream sequences work only sometimes.

Screen Fanatic: Where do you start with Javier Fesser’s Camino (2008), a film “inspired by true events”? By turns sensationalist, trivial, and deeply moving, it's open to a variety of equally valid interpretations. Is it a caustic indictment of organized religion? Or a tragic fable infused with magical realism? Or maybe just a disturbing depiction of parental manipulation gone mad?

Wobbling in and out of its narrative borders like a drunken sailor, the film details the last months of Camino Fernandez (Nerea Camacho), a young Spanish fifth-grader from Madrid whose sudden bouts of neck pain lead to the diagnosis of a tumor that soon mutates into a rare cancer. Her family is a devoutly religious one. Looming largest here is mother Gloria (Carme Elias), a seemingly sweet, loving woman superficially, but who may be harboring ulterior motives that are not exactly conducive to restoring her daughter’s health.

Camino’s father Jose (Mariano Venancio) is a caring, almost perfect, paternal figure, and a source of great comfort for her, but a man with a fatal flaw: he’s weak-willed, having seemingly forever bowed down to his wife’s wishes. This translates into little more than scant hollow words of advice and encouragement for Camino as her condition deteriorates, tangling her own faith in confusion as she tries to assimilate God’s motives with the ailment afflicting her failing body. Camino has an older sister, Nuria (Manuela Velles), who she rarely sees. The circumstances of Nuria’s strange life are only partially explained but it seems she left home at 18 to live in a home with numerous young people of her age. They are now effectually sequestered as “numeraries” in a regimented Pamplona household ruled by a branch of the Opus Dei sect of the Catholic Church.

Camino is a deeply unsettling film at times. A revelatory flashback is central to how audience allegiances will ultimately be swayed in one direction: Camino re-lives, through a dream, an episode from her childhood is which she awoke to find her mother cradling her dead baby brother, Gloria responding with a beatific smile that the child wanted to return home to Jesus. It’s a strikingly creepy moment, creating a lasting impression of a fervent religious devotion that borders on insanity.

What is most riling is the odious insistence of Camino’s mother that her illness is occurring because God loves her. When confronted with the debilitating strain her family has been placed under she returns serve with her steadfast proclamation of wishing to “thank Him every day for her daughter’s illness”, hoping eventually for an unlikely canonization, the ultimate reinforcement of her reverence and unwavering piousness. Almost as infuriating is Jose's failure to react and prevent Gloria's poisonous cloak of Godly justification from engulfing them all.

Moments of magical realism are often potently contrasted with the harmful levels of subtle constriction established by Gloria in her rule over the family. Camino’s dreams are often frightening, sometimes shedding distressing light on her present and past lives, but they can be freeing too, such as when a playful mouse - the one her mother forlornly attempts to snare in their pantry - and Mr. Meebles, a wise old sage from a secondhand book, enter the fray of her wild imagination.

Where Fesser’s visually polished film fails is in its handling of the wildly overlapping tones. Never settling into a consistent rhythm, Camino veers from trepidation to whimsy, and from austerity to absurdity at a second’s notice. The overall effect detracts from any cohesive, rational sense Fesser is aiming for in his re-imagining of this girl’s tragic final months of life.

This is especially true during the protracted final stage as Camino's final throes are intrinsically linked - almost supernaturally - to a school drama club's performance of Cinderella which she dreamed of being a part of. The ecclesiastical music is over-reaching to the point where you suspect the line between valid support and mockery is being breached.

The experience of watching Camino for all of its 140 minutes is likely to induce exultant joy and a smattering of teary moments. But what lingers most is the anger at the controversial means of propagating God’s divine will that Camino’s mother uses to enact some form of spiritual sanctification for her daughter in preference to saving her from maximum harm.

This is ultimately a compelling, and on some levels, daring film. It's an emotionally-charged one too, loaded with both wondrous and disturbing imagery. Forced into a final judgment, I’d have to classify it as a failure however, but there’s no disputing that it’s an intriguing, fascinating one, sure to provoke vigorous debate.

SBS, Australia: You would be hard pressed to find humor in a film whose central theme deals with child mortality but Javier Fesser’s Camino is a rare thing indeed. Though respectful and subdued when the story requires, Fesser’s ironic touch manages to extract humor from a dire situation and in the process, skewer organized religion and its propagation of false hope. ...

Fesser is unrelenting in exposing the contradiction and hypocrisy inherent in organized religion but he also wisely avoids shooting fish in a barrel. There’s an overwhelming reverence to this outrageously melodramatic piece that suggests Fesser is hedging his bets. He’s not criticizing those whose faith provides comfort in times of crisis; only those who would seek to profit from that crisis and turn a young girl’s death into a PR vehicle for the Church.

IMDb viewer: Reading the above reviews, I find it somewhat surprising that almost no-one saw what I saw in this excellent movie.

What I saw was an expose' of the heartlessness of the Catholic Church (and I hasten to add that they are not alone).

I saw ambition among the clergy and the girl's mother, overriding their humaneness for this unfortunate girl.

I saw the philosophy of self denial taken to absurd extreme. Who is more deserving of flowers in her hospital room than a dying innocent eleven year old? Is mind control, sequestration, withholding of personal information, constant supervision and the encouragement to wear stones in ones shoes a way to prepare anyone for office anywhere in this day and age, let alone for the catholic church? I saw the Catholic Church manipulating the tragic events in order to "glorify" the church, and the individual clergy involved supporting this in order to enhance their own standing within the hierarchy.

Instead the movie tells us that Camino's dying thoughts were with Jesus, but not with the Jesus of Nazareth, which was the assertion of the clergy and no doubt the overriding factor in her subsequent beautification, ("the church needs more saints" says one clergyman), but with her prepubescent love of a boy of the same name.

I also saw the medical establishment questioned. A GP "No X-ray but an injection will settle it", A specialist when an X-ray is finally taken-"no problem here, she will be OK soon" - The surgeon on the second X-ray "This is serious must repair the vertebrae without delay", finally a scan "The tumor must be removed ASAP" - where a careful diagnosis would have possibly isolated the problem from the beginning and made the last months of Camino's life at least a little more pain free.

In all I found this a very bitter movie, it did not glorify the church but rather leveled serious criticism at it as it did the medical establishment.

Not a movie for the masses, not a movie that could come out of America but in my opinion one of the VERY BEST movies ever.

Warning, If light entertainment is your wish avoid this movie like the plague, but if you want your thought processes stimulated, do not miss it.

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Time	Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis	Comments / Reviews
3 PM	Dust (2009) Country : LUXEMBOURG Category : Romance/ Drama Writer/Director : Max Jacoby Principal Cast : Catherine Steadman, Olly Alexander, Andrew Hawley Length : 1 hr 26 min The film is in English. In a depopulated world after a non-specified war the teenage twins Elodie and Elias live in a secluded mansion left by their parents. They lead a quiet and simple life, growing their own food, swimming in a nearby lake, reading books and playing chess. With the unexpected arrival of Gabriel, their harmonic relationship is about to come to an end. Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bzmK2nhYjw&feature=player_embedded	Pro: Dust is what good cinema is all about. The great thing about movies as a storytelling device is the way it reveals a story through images and sounds. Film is not really about dialog; it’s about presentation. Director Max Jacoby utilizes the full spectrum of what is available in the form to his advantage. Little is said in this movie because the camera and soundtrack take up that narrative role more than any dialog could. Jacoby, through cinematographer Fredrik Bächar, is an expert in blocking and framing. Every shot seems intended to give you a clue about what these three characters are thinking and feeling. It could be choice in focus, a slow dolly into one character’s face, someone intentionally cropped out of the frame, or someone moving in or out of the frame. The sound design also plays a strong role, with liberal use of offscreen sounds. We hear a door open and we wonder; we hear the crackling of glass under footsteps and realize something happened here; we hear the arrival of a car and we feel what that means. In essence, Dust is a post-apocalyptic love triangle. But the setting is not simply a device. The environment and situation almost acts as a fourth character... Con: Add a snail’s pace to very very little action about a small and boring love triangle set in some upper class version of post apocalyptic paradise and you have Dust. This is one of those movies where you really wonder what the heck the creative team are up to -- save the usual arthouse killer cinematography and crunchy use of sound Dust tells a story in 82 minutes that should have been told in 22. Just long enough to be a half hour TV show. Which is too bad, but you have to understand very few of the ingredients in Dust make for a great story. But it is weird in its relentless foot-dragging to go nowhere.
4:40 PM	The 1000 Euros Generation (2009) Original Title: Generazione 1000 euro Country : ITALY Category : Comedy Director : Massimo Venier Principal Cast : Valentina Lodovini, Carolina Crescentini, Alessandro Tiberi Length : 1 hr 41 mins 30 year-old university graduate Matteo works in marketing at a company that is being "reorganised". The arrivals of a new colleague, Angelica, and a new housemate, Beatrice, lead to an endless series of trials and tribulations. Faced with major new developments, Matteo changes his life in a short period of time.	Film Ink: Apparently there is a worldwide phenomenon of mid twenties to mid thirty-somethings, starting their lives on a career path, earning just enough money to pay rent, buy the odd meal out, take occasional overseas trips - and hating every minute of it. 1000 Euro Generation, based on the book of the same name, refers to this group, making just 1000 Euro a month and desperately missing their student days when they could sleep in and didn't have to wear a suit. In this particular study of one group of Italian youngsters, Matteo (Tiberi) lives with his best friend (Mandelli). Together they struggle to pay the rent on their falling apart apartment, working jobs that neither is passionate about. When Matteo starts to find success in his boring day job in a marketing firm, he is lured in by the trappings of international flights and expensive hotels, leaving behind his friend, his dream of being a mathematician and budding romance with new flatmate, Beatrice (Lodovini). There's nothing groundbreaking about this film but there's nothing to complain about either. It's funny, captivating, the performances are engaging, it's light-hearted and is real enough to seem like a true insight into this age group and their sincere life dilemmas. The biggest praise can be laid at the feet of rising star Valentina Lodovini, who's absolutely radiant on screen, and adept at comedy and drama. For a trailer (Italian) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW9DzGy_qVU
6:35 PM	The Escape (2009) Original Title: Flugten Country : DENMARK Category : Drama/ Thriller Writer/Director : Kathrine Windfeld Principal Cast : Iben Hjejle, Lars Mikkelsen, Faegh Zamani Length : 1 hr 54 mins Journalist Rikke Lyngvig is taken hostage in Afghanistan. With help from one of the terrorists, Nazir, she manages to escape. On her return, her career takes flight. Meanwhile Nazir flees from Afghanistan, heading for Denmark. When he seeks out Rikke, she is torn: can she help the man who threatened to kill her? Film is in Danish, English, and Dari, with English subtitles. Teaser/ trailer, English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iDoEr7xwbg	Montreal World Film Festival, Sylvain Richard: Multi layered, emotionally powerful, dramatic thriller involving a Danish journalist taken hostage in Afghanistan, who subsequently escapes with help from one of the terrorists. She becomes a media celebrity; he flees and heads for Denmark -- and thus, the perfect recipe for moral dilemma. Gripping script and powerhouse performances. Seattle Film Festival: The Escape is a high-tension thriller about a female journalist who is kidnapped in Afghanistan by a group of Taliban militants who threaten to chop off one of her fingers for each day Danish troops remain in the country. Her youthful jailor Nazir helps her escape, but she has to promise not to say he helped her, or he risks being executed. Returning to Denmark, she is hailed as a hero. Then, Nazir suddenly calls her from a Danish asylum centre and asks for her help, putting her in a quandary that will cost her either her personal or her professional integrity. Stark Insider: A movie about the kidnapping of a Danish journalist in Afghanistan may not exactly sound like the most enjoyable thrill ride. But you might be surprised by the depth and power of The Escape (Flugten) by director Kathrine Windfeld from Denmark. The Taliban, terrorism, the impact of Western ideology, hegemony, refugee rights and even ethics and journalism all play a role. Although the movie starts with a conventional—and heart-pounding—kidnapping on the war torn streets of Afghanistan, what follows is anything but predictable. A Danish journalist, Rikke Lyngvig (Iben Hjejle), suddenly finds herself captive in a shack in the middle of nowhere, with the Taliban using her on video to make the government of Denmark withdraw troops. Her escape is dramatic, and as a result she shares a secret bond with her former captor, Nazir (Faegh Zamani); although they live worlds apart, soon they must deal with their decisions in ways they never anticipated. The Escape is, for the most part, based on an intelligent script that smoothly integrates several plot lines. It never feels forced. The first half is the better. Later in the movie, we could use one less chase, and more in-depth expose of character, especially involving Nazir who relies on a doey-eyed look too often. Camera work is done by hand, and the cinematography is as striking as the booming sound effects. There are several interesting things about this film. First it’s directed by a woman, starring a strong woman protagonist; in a terrorist thriller of all things. Second, it’s intriguing to see Afghanistan from a non-US perspective. How Denmark handles refugees, extradition, and terrorism are contemplated using scenes involving talk shows, and news reports. Highly recommended. It’s intense, but you may be surprised where this movie goes; it’s unexpected, and unique.

Time

Title / Original Title / Country / Category / Director / Length / Festival Synopsis

Comments / Reviews

3 PM

Dust (2009)

Country : LUXEMBOURG

Category : Romance/ Drama

Writer/Director : Max Jacoby

Principal Cast : Catherine Steadman, Olly Alexander, Andrew Hawley

Length : 1 hr 26 min

The film is in English.

In a depopulated world after a non-specified war the teenage twins Elodie and Elias live in a secluded mansion left by their parents. They lead a quiet and simple life, growing their own food, swimming in a nearby lake, reading books and playing chess. With the unexpected arrival of Gabriel, their harmonic relationship is about to come to an end.

Teaser: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bzmK2nhYjw&feature=player_embedded

In essence, Dust is a post-apocalyptic love triangle. But the setting is not simply a device. The environment and situation almost acts as a fourth character...

Con: Add a snail’s pace to very very little action about a small and boring love triangle set in some upper class version of post apocalyptic paradise and you have Dust. This is one of those movies where you really wonder what the heck the creative team are up to -- save the usual arthouse killer cinematography and crunchy use of sound Dust tells a story in 82 minutes that should have been told in 22. Just long enough to be a half hour TV show. Which is too bad, but you have to understand very few of the ingredients in Dust make for a great story. But it is weird in its relentless foot-dragging to go nowhere.

4:40 PM

The 1000 Euros Generation (2009)

Original Title: Generazione 1000 euro

Country : ITALY

Category : Comedy

Director : Massimo Venier

Principal Cast : Valentina Lodovini, Carolina Crescentini, Alessandro Tiberi

Length : 1 hr 41 mins

30 year-old university graduate Matteo works in marketing at a company that is being "reorganised". The arrivals of a new colleague, Angelica, and a new housemate, Beatrice, lead to an endless series of trials and tribulations. Faced with major new developments, Matteo changes his life in a short period of time.

Film Ink: Apparently there is a worldwide phenomenon of mid twenties to mid thirty-somethings, starting their lives on a career path, earning just enough money to pay rent, buy the odd meal out, take occasional overseas trips - and hating every minute of it. 1000 Euro Generation, based on the book of the same name, refers to this group, making just 1000 Euro a month and desperately missing their student days when they could sleep in and didn't have to wear a suit.

In this particular study of one group of Italian youngsters, Matteo (Tiberi) lives with his best friend (Mandelli). Together they struggle to pay the rent on their falling apart apartment, working jobs that neither is passionate about. When Matteo starts to find success in his boring day job in a marketing firm, he is lured in by the trappings of international flights and expensive hotels, leaving behind his friend, his dream of being a mathematician and budding romance with new flatmate, Beatrice (Lodovini).

There's nothing groundbreaking about this film but there's nothing to complain about either. It's funny, captivating, the performances are engaging, it's light-hearted and is real enough to seem like a true insight into this age group and their sincere life dilemmas. The biggest praise can be laid at the feet of rising star Valentina Lodovini, who's absolutely radiant on screen, and adept at comedy and drama.

For a trailer (Italian) check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW9DzGy_qVU

6:35 PM

The Escape (2009)

Original Title: Flugten

Country : DENMARK

Category : Drama/ Thriller

Writer/Director : Kathrine Windfeld

Principal Cast : Iben Hjejle, Lars Mikkelsen, Faegh Zamani

Length : 1 hr 54 mins

Journalist Rikke Lyngvig is taken hostage in Afghanistan. With help from one of the terrorists, Nazir, she manages to escape. On her return, her career takes flight. Meanwhile Nazir flees from Afghanistan, heading for Denmark. When he seeks out Rikke, she is torn: can she help the man who threatened to kill her?

Film is in Danish, English, and Dari, with English subtitles.

Teaser/ trailer, English subtitles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iDoEr7xwbg

Montreal World Film Festival, Sylvain Richard: Multi layered, emotionally powerful, dramatic thriller involving a Danish journalist taken hostage in Afghanistan, who subsequently escapes with help from one of the terrorists. She becomes a media celebrity; he flees and heads for Denmark -- and thus, the perfect recipe for moral dilemma. Gripping script and powerhouse performances.

Seattle Film Festival: The Escape is a high-tension thriller about a female journalist who is kidnapped in Afghanistan by a group of Taliban militants who threaten to chop off one of her fingers for each day Danish troops remain in the country. Her youthful jailor Nazir helps her escape, but she has to promise not to say he helped her, or he risks being executed. Returning to Denmark, she is hailed as a hero. Then, Nazir suddenly calls her from a Danish asylum centre and asks for her help, putting her in a quandary that will cost her either her personal or her professional integrity.

Stark Insider: A movie about the kidnapping of a Danish journalist in Afghanistan may not exactly sound like the most enjoyable thrill ride. But you might be surprised by the depth and power of The Escape (Flugten) by director Kathrine Windfeld from Denmark. The Taliban, terrorism, the impact of Western ideology, hegemony, refugee rights and even ethics and journalism all play a role.

Although the movie starts with a conventional—and heart-pounding—kidnapping on the war torn streets of Afghanistan, what follows is anything but predictable. A Danish journalist, Rikke Lyngvig (Iben Hjejle), suddenly finds herself captive in a shack in the middle of nowhere, with the Taliban using her on video to make the government of Denmark withdraw troops. Her escape is dramatic, and as a result she shares a secret bond with her former captor, Nazir (Faegh Zamani); although they live worlds apart, soon they must deal with their decisions in ways they never anticipated.

The Escape is, for the most part, based on an intelligent script that smoothly integrates several plot lines. It never feels forced. The first half is the better. Later in the movie, we could use one less chase, and more in-depth expose of character, especially involving Nazir who relies on a doey-eyed look too often. Camera work is done by hand, and the cinematography is as striking as the booming sound effects.

There are several interesting things about this film. First it’s directed by a woman, starring a strong woman protagonist; in a terrorist thriller of all things. Second, it’s intriguing to see Afghanistan from a non-US perspective. How Denmark handles refugees, extradition, and terrorism are contemplated using scenes involving talk shows, and news reports.

Highly recommended. It’s intense, but you may be surprised where this movie goes; it’s unexpected, and unique.

EU 2011 - Chart 3 B Page 2 of -n- By Thomas Ohlson - Printed Monday, July 25, 2011