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 |
