Day 8 was spent in nature, with family and friends. No movies, but I did watch 24. Interesting change of pace.
Muezzin is an Austrian documentary about imams in Turkey. More specifically, it's about the calls to prayer (ezan) they chant five times a day, and a call to prayer competition apparently held each year. The film follows a few of the imams who enter the competition, through regionals, all the way to national finals. What Muezzin does, very subtly and respectfully, is show how ambitious and vain these men really are. There may not be anything wrong with ambition and vanity per se (I would beg to differ, but in some strange cultures, ambition is even encouraged); but these imams are supposed to be 'men of God' in a religion that allegedy puts modesty above all.
Blood Simple. Pure Coens, even in their feature debut. Zhang Yimou's version now looks even more dull.
Kinatay is the first Philippine film to have competed at Cannes, where Brillante Mendoza won Best Director. I don't know if there was a problem with projection or not, but after the first 30 minutes or so (within which nothing happens), the film became so dark I could no longer follow it, and I left. Sorry to say, I was not the only one.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
IFF Day 7: Fish Tank, Perrier's Bounty
It's 'Beautiful Irish Men Day' at IFF.
Fish Tank has Michael Fassbender. It also has a stellar cast and a solid narration. The story of the 15 year-old white trash (or whatever they call them in Britain) girl who can dance could have gotten mushy and/or preachy, but director Andrea Arnold successfully avoids that. Nonetheless, I would like there to be a rule about not using fishtanks and birdcages as a metaphor, for possibly the next 30 years or so. One funny (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) detail: this film was running up against An Education at the BAFTAs. The Brits seem to like their little girls...
Perrier's Bounty has Cillian Murphy, who is too pretty for his own good. He's done zombies, he's done Batman, even a Loach film, but the image that I have stuck in my mind is Murphy sashaying in Breakfast on Pluto. So I had a hard time taking him seriously as the small time crook who owes 'Perrier' (a wonderfully evil Brendan Gleeson) money and has very little time to come up with it. The film appears to try to look like a Guy Ritchie gangster flick, but doesn't have the filmic attitude, save for a cocky voice-over. I love seeing Jim Broadbent in anything, so that's a plus (he plays Murphy's father). Especially stay away if random violence in movies disturbs you.
Fish Tank has Michael Fassbender. It also has a stellar cast and a solid narration. The story of the 15 year-old white trash (or whatever they call them in Britain) girl who can dance could have gotten mushy and/or preachy, but director Andrea Arnold successfully avoids that. Nonetheless, I would like there to be a rule about not using fishtanks and birdcages as a metaphor, for possibly the next 30 years or so. One funny (or disturbing, depending on how you look at it) detail: this film was running up against An Education at the BAFTAs. The Brits seem to like their little girls...
Perrier's Bounty has Cillian Murphy, who is too pretty for his own good. He's done zombies, he's done Batman, even a Loach film, but the image that I have stuck in my mind is Murphy sashaying in Breakfast on Pluto. So I had a hard time taking him seriously as the small time crook who owes 'Perrier' (a wonderfully evil Brendan Gleeson) money and has very little time to come up with it. The film appears to try to look like a Guy Ritchie gangster flick, but doesn't have the filmic attitude, save for a cocky voice-over. I love seeing Jim Broadbent in anything, so that's a plus (he plays Murphy's father). Especially stay away if random violence in movies disturbs you.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
IFF 6: The Shock Doctrine, Dancing Dreams
Docu-Day at IFF.
The Shock Doctrine was adapted by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross from Naomi Klein's book. It features the author in many speeches, too many for my taste. She essentially argues that extreme capitalism feeds on 'shock': wars, disasters, etc. She starts from the Chilean coup, goes over the fall of the USSR, Gulf Wars, mentions Katrina and the Asian tsunami, and pretty much blames everything that is wrong with the world on Milton Friedman. While it was interesting to watch some of the archival footage, I found there to be too many leaps in her argumentation. Also, I don't get the use of Fargo soundtrack. (They also use some random Michael Nyman, just like Man on Wire did last year.)
On an entirely different note, I went into Dancing Dreams with absolutely no expectations. This is a documentary about a group of teenagers who perform Pina Bausch's Kontakthof, and the sole reason I went was that I loved everything I had seen by her (see my reference in the Mother review here). To cut a long story short, I was blown away. It would be wonderful enough to see another Bausch piece (and see it being prepared), but the film also introduces some of the young dancers, who are just regular high school students, but apparently some with such fascinating back-stories that they would deserve individual films. It was also extremely frustrating and saddening, knowing that Bausch is gone forever. Favorite doc in quite some time.
(Here's a performance of Kontakthof from 1983)
The Shock Doctrine was adapted by Michael Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross from Naomi Klein's book. It features the author in many speeches, too many for my taste. She essentially argues that extreme capitalism feeds on 'shock': wars, disasters, etc. She starts from the Chilean coup, goes over the fall of the USSR, Gulf Wars, mentions Katrina and the Asian tsunami, and pretty much blames everything that is wrong with the world on Milton Friedman. While it was interesting to watch some of the archival footage, I found there to be too many leaps in her argumentation. Also, I don't get the use of Fargo soundtrack. (They also use some random Michael Nyman, just like Man on Wire did last year.)
On an entirely different note, I went into Dancing Dreams with absolutely no expectations. This is a documentary about a group of teenagers who perform Pina Bausch's Kontakthof, and the sole reason I went was that I loved everything I had seen by her (see my reference in the Mother review here). To cut a long story short, I was blown away. It would be wonderful enough to see another Bausch piece (and see it being prepared), but the film also introduces some of the young dancers, who are just regular high school students, but apparently some with such fascinating back-stories that they would deserve individual films. It was also extremely frustrating and saddening, knowing that Bausch is gone forever. Favorite doc in quite some time.
(Here's a performance of Kontakthof from 1983)
IFF 5: The Girl with the Red Scarf
The Girl with the Red Scarf (Selvi Boylum Al Yazmalım) is one of the greatest classics of Turkish cinema, and I had been embarrassed long enough for not having seen it. No more! A restored version was shown on Wednesday night, with most of the cast and crew present. The director, Atıf Yılmaz, has passed away in 2006. He was one of the most prolific and significant filmmakers of Turkish cinema.
The film starts out like a romantic comedy, but soon turns into a melodrama. The load rests on the shoulders of the main couple: Türkan Şoray and Kadir İnanır, both of whom look fantastic here. I found the constant voice-overs a little distracting, but who am I to object? Two details that stood out: The little boy (who was apparently played by a girl) falls off- practically throws himself off - the swing at some point. It's very convincing, and I'm sure there'd be a gigantic lawsuit if anyone threw a 3-year old off a swing like that in Europe or the U.S. today (not sure about Turkey). Also, Ahmet Mekin (the 'other guy' - pic below) looks so much like Atatürk, he'd be rich if he were a few decades younger (there's a flood of films about, and advertising featuring the man these days).
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
IFF 4: A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop, Skirt Day, Air Doll, Journey into Fear
A Woman, A Gun and a Noodle Shop is Zhang Yimou's remake of Blood Simple, set in ancient China. As a comedy. The problem is, it's a slapstick comedy. Another problem is, although the daytime scenes are gorgeous (as one would expect from Yimou), most of the film is set at night.
Skirt Day, starring Isabelle Adjani as a high school teacher who takes her class hostage, created quite a skirmish among the viewers. Some members of the audience laughed and giggled in a scene that was not particularly funny, and a lady loudly proclaimed that this was very unappropriate as she was crying at the moment. About ten minutes later, after the film took a rather tragic turn, a male voice asked: "Why aren't you laughing now?" To which, others gave various replies, making the viewing process more fun than the film itself. Adjani won a Cesar for her performance here, rightly. But most of the film is set in one room, and it can get tedious and heavy-handed. And although it's shorter than 90 minutes, it feels longer - the ending especially drags on a little too much.
Air Doll is about a blow-up doll who develops a heart. She does not become a 'real' human as we know it, as she's 'empty inside'. When she says this to other people, they say that they are just like her, but she doesn't quite get metaphors. Metaphors are exactly what drag this film down, as it's full of them, but it's still a nice little film about fragile lonely people. Not my favorite Kore-eda though (that would definitely be Nobody Knows).
Pera Balık, right by Aya Triada, may be the best (and certainly the most reasonably priced) fish restaurant in all of Beyoğlu.
Journey into Fear, made in 1942 by (some of) the people who brought you Citizen Kane, is shown in the Istanbul section of the festival. This section contains "films which are set in İstanbul, of İstanbul and about İstanbul." Unfortunately, while most of this film is set in Istanbul, the cast and crew have not set their foot outside of their studio in Hollywood. Apparently, they also could not find a Turkish-speaking advisor to help them with pronunciations and accents. The story itself is rather simple: Joseph Cotten plays a U.S. Navy engineer who is pursued by the Nazis. Orson Welles is a Turkish cop. What I enjoyed the most was seeing all the familiar Citizen Kane faces in very different roles. And the fact that the film was only 68 minutes long.
Skirt Day, starring Isabelle Adjani as a high school teacher who takes her class hostage, created quite a skirmish among the viewers. Some members of the audience laughed and giggled in a scene that was not particularly funny, and a lady loudly proclaimed that this was very unappropriate as she was crying at the moment. About ten minutes later, after the film took a rather tragic turn, a male voice asked: "Why aren't you laughing now?" To which, others gave various replies, making the viewing process more fun than the film itself. Adjani won a Cesar for her performance here, rightly. But most of the film is set in one room, and it can get tedious and heavy-handed. And although it's shorter than 90 minutes, it feels longer - the ending especially drags on a little too much.
Air Doll is about a blow-up doll who develops a heart. She does not become a 'real' human as we know it, as she's 'empty inside'. When she says this to other people, they say that they are just like her, but she doesn't quite get metaphors. Metaphors are exactly what drag this film down, as it's full of them, but it's still a nice little film about fragile lonely people. Not my favorite Kore-eda though (that would definitely be Nobody Knows).
Pera Balık, right by Aya Triada, may be the best (and certainly the most reasonably priced) fish restaurant in all of Beyoğlu.
Journey into Fear, made in 1942 by (some of) the people who brought you Citizen Kane, is shown in the Istanbul section of the festival. This section contains "films which are set in İstanbul, of İstanbul and about İstanbul." Unfortunately, while most of this film is set in Istanbul, the cast and crew have not set their foot outside of their studio in Hollywood. Apparently, they also could not find a Turkish-speaking advisor to help them with pronunciations and accents. The story itself is rather simple: Joseph Cotten plays a U.S. Navy engineer who is pursued by the Nazis. Orson Welles is a Turkish cop. What I enjoyed the most was seeing all the familiar Citizen Kane faces in very different roles. And the fact that the film was only 68 minutes long.
IFF 3: Colony, Birds of Foreign Land, Whip It
Colony is about the disappearance of bees a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the film tells its story mostly through a handful of (rather uninspiring) beekeepers. And since no one really knows why this has happened, it cannot go beyond a few talking head discussing the possible reasons. All this talk, and sound problems to boot (soundtrack was louder than the dialogues), does not make for an exciting viewing.
Birds of Foreign Land (Gurbet Kuşları) is yet another classic I hadn't seen yet. It was shown in memory of its director, Halit Refiğ, who passed away last year. The story is of a family from Maraş (in Southeast Turkey), who come to Istanbul to get rich. Didactic and heavy-handed at times, the film is nonetheless rather daring for its era (1964), especially in terms of showing sexuality. A nude breast! Women sleeeping around! Nonetheless, all those women are whores (some literally are) and have no honor. What I found really interesting were the locations. This year the festival has a special section for films featuring Istanbul (İSTANBUL: INSIDE - OUTSIDE), and this would have fit right in there. It's pretty amazing how empty, but also how shabby and dirty the city looks.
They also showed The Intercessors, a short film Refig made in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he was a visiting lecturer there. I don't know what his purpose was, but it feels more like the work of a film student than of an experienced filmmaker.
Whip It, my last film for the day, is not your 'typical' festival film. It's Drew Barrymore's directorial debut about roller derby girls in Austin, Texas. It's also a coming-of-age story told as a typical sports film (although maybe not a very typical sport). There are no surprises, except for maybe how enjoyable and sweet the film actually is. With no high expectations, it was a good diversion from the festival fare.
Birds of Foreign Land (Gurbet Kuşları) is yet another classic I hadn't seen yet. It was shown in memory of its director, Halit Refiğ, who passed away last year. The story is of a family from Maraş (in Southeast Turkey), who come to Istanbul to get rich. Didactic and heavy-handed at times, the film is nonetheless rather daring for its era (1964), especially in terms of showing sexuality. A nude breast! Women sleeeping around! Nonetheless, all those women are whores (some literally are) and have no honor. What I found really interesting were the locations. This year the festival has a special section for films featuring Istanbul (İSTANBUL: INSIDE - OUTSIDE), and this would have fit right in there. It's pretty amazing how empty, but also how shabby and dirty the city looks.
They also showed The Intercessors, a short film Refig made in 1976 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison when he was a visiting lecturer there. I don't know what his purpose was, but it feels more like the work of a film student than of an experienced filmmaker.
Whip It, my last film for the day, is not your 'typical' festival film. It's Drew Barrymore's directorial debut about roller derby girls in Austin, Texas. It's also a coming-of-age story told as a typical sports film (although maybe not a very typical sport). There are no surprises, except for maybe how enjoyable and sweet the film actually is. With no high expectations, it was a good diversion from the festival fare.
Monday, April 5, 2010
IFF 2: In the Loop, I Am Not Your Friend, Mother
Although I love comedies, it's extremely rare that I find one that makes me lought out loud. In the Loop is one of those. It's a political comedy with brilliant lines delivered sharply. Like a Yes, Minister, shot The Office style. What else would you want?
Nem Vagyok a Baratod is György Palfi's third film after Hukkle and Taxidermia. Don't take the first two as references. Story of lives crossing. Shaky camera. A very bored me. The only part I really liked was the short preceding it, Nem Leszek a Baratod (I Will Not Be Your Friend), set amongst kindergarten folk. The two films are supposed to be connected, show how we don't really outgrow the pettiness of choosing friends in kindergarten, I suppose. But really, the short film does it just fine by itself. At least I got to hear Hungarian.
Fenerbahçe Acıbadem women's volleyball team lost the final match in the European Champions League, but just barely. The game was infinitely more exciting than anything I watched so far.
Mother. It's official, Bong Joon-Ho is my favorite South Korean director. One of the most perfectly formed films I have seen in a while, and beautiful too. Starts and ends like a scene out of a Pina Bausch performance. My festival favorite so far (obviously).
Nem Vagyok a Baratod is György Palfi's third film after Hukkle and Taxidermia. Don't take the first two as references. Story of lives crossing. Shaky camera. A very bored me. The only part I really liked was the short preceding it, Nem Leszek a Baratod (I Will Not Be Your Friend), set amongst kindergarten folk. The two films are supposed to be connected, show how we don't really outgrow the pettiness of choosing friends in kindergarten, I suppose. But really, the short film does it just fine by itself. At least I got to hear Hungarian.
Fenerbahçe Acıbadem women's volleyball team lost the final match in the European Champions League, but just barely. The game was infinitely more exciting than anything I watched so far.
Mother. It's official, Bong Joon-Ho is my favorite South Korean director. One of the most perfectly formed films I have seen in a while, and beautiful too. Starts and ends like a scene out of a Pina Bausch performance. My festival favorite so far (obviously).
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