Entries for March 2005
CIFF 29, Reel 6
Storytelling
Another of the series of films by Todd Solondz. I liked it, but it's hard to articulate exactly why. It's actually two separate stories, titled "fiction" and "nonfiction", respectively featuring students in a fiction writing class (except that some of the stories aren't fictitious), and a wannabe documentary filmmaker working on his first project (except that his focus seems to be more on his own inner demons than the reality of his subject). Solondz seems to have a knack for putting together deeply flawed characters, but making us care about them anyway--basically, his films (this applies to Happiness as well) have what I found missing in Lonesome Jim.
Deadlines
Hmmm.... This one completely failed to grab me, despite having all of the elements that I usually look for (sex, violence, lying, cheating, backstabbing, corruption, stuff gettin' blowed up). The wannabe journalist who is willing to cut pretty much any corner to get the scoop, and then has to deal with the consequences (pretty severe, considering that the setting is the Lebanese civil war, and "consequences" involve some pretty serious weaponry).
Maybe if I wasn't already too jaded about the news media (Control Room, anyone?) I would have been more into Deadlines. It definitely didn't suck, but I walked out thinking "well, that was nice, now what?"; no attachment or interest whatsoever.
CIFF 29, Chapter 5
Comments on the middle of the Festival (2 days, 9 films, much more to come from last weekend & this weekend):
Call Me Malcolm
Great documentary about a transsexual (F to M) on the path to ordination in the United Church of Christ. The director & writer made some interesting choices (like only telling the story in a forward direction--no "before" photos or other items from Malcolm's past), and it worked well. Highly recommended for anyone who knows a TG individual, and more than recommended for anyone who actually has TG issues.
Relevant quote: this may not have even been in the movie--it may have come up in the panel discussion afterward--but one of the UCC ministers involved described the common conservative Christian interpretation of the Bible (the whole homosexuals-are-evil thing) as "a reading of fear." I think that hits the nail right on the head--and may be related to the whole Bush II administration fear tactics in the last 3 1/2 years since 9/11. That thought is worth a couple more pages of exposition, but it'll have to wait for later (or for a more prolific blogger like Mano Singham)
Champions
"The Rocking Horse Winner" meets Czech filmmaking. No cute kid factor at all, a typically dreary setting, and pleasant absence of Hollywood endings.
Revolution of Pigs
I liked this one; it's not terribly deep, but then the subject matter (the old Soviet Union, teenagers, a war to protest, hormones, stupid adults trying to be in charge) is pretty common stuff. It's not all "Porkys"-style commedy, but there's plenty of humor mixed in with the angst (or vice versa). I rated it a 2 on the CIFF scale.
Bolero
Great Czech murder-mystery-type thing. The murder isn't actually a mystery for a large part of the movie, but good-guys (cops) vs. bad guys (playboy 20-somethings and their rich/connected parents) game is the focal point, not the actual whodunnit. Good stuff, very much recommended. Will not put the audience to sleep like "After the Day Before" (or other Tarkovsky-esque "fil-ums").
Zafir
In a nuthshell, Zafir is The Black Stallion in Danish. Which is not a bad thing at all for those of us who remember being 10 years old when TBS came out, and don't mind slipping back into that mindset for an hour and a half. A solidly good movie, and a great choice for the kids.
Innocent Voices
A powerful argument against war in general, and the particularly insidious modern variety that involves the "recruitment" of 12-year old children. In fact, it underscored my own theory that "based on a true story"-type pictures can be a more convincing statement than actual documentaries; I don't think a single member of the audience walked out without a sense of revulsion for the senseless and brutality of the war shown (El Slavador, but the message applies to conflicts going on today as well).
Highly recommended, but be careful if you are sensitive to violence--I know people who would not be able to sit through this movie without getting up and leaving the theatre. No Hollywood blood-and-guts-spurting effects, but quite horrific anyway.
Trivia note from the Q & A afterward (with Oscar Torres, screenwriter): The lead actor (Carlos Padilla, playing "Chava", a just-turning-twelve boy who is basically Torres as a child) was one of the last parts cast; they had not been able to find a suitable actor until someone (the director?) spotted a boy helping his father in a street mime performance.
This one has a good chance at the Roxanne T. Mueller Award (the CIFF audience choice award); I hope it gets it.
Boxers and Ballerinas
Another documentary, this time a compare & contrast-type essay looking a the subjects in Cuba, and across the water in Miami. The obvious comparisons are made between fully state-supported programs, and programs limited to sales & sponsorship (phrased as "begging" in the CIFF program guide, but I never heard that term in the movie), but the most interesting questions raised are first, why do people in the most elite part of Cuban society still want to leave; and secondly, since each of their defections makes it harder for other Cubans to travel, is their personal gain worth the cost to their (potentially ex-) colleagues?
Good film. Doesn't have the "hot-button" cachet of "Seeds" or "The Color of Love", but provides an interesting look at a nearly half-century old issue that will be coming to a boil again in a few years when Fidel finally kicks the bucket.
The Boys and Girl from County Clare
Do not miss an opportunity to see this one. Especially if you have any in traditional Irish music. Colm Meaney as "Jimmy" is in one of the comically surly roles that fit him so well, but his brother "John" gives him a run for his money (both in competition, and the attempts to avoid it).
Filmic Achievement
A good comedy, with some bits of outrageous hilarity mixed in. "This is Spinal Tap" is in no danger of losing its status as supreme mockumentary of all time, but this isn't a bad attempt at the genre. Audience warning: if you leave during the credits, you miss the best line of the whole movie. Definitely recommended for prospective filmmakers.
Illusive Tracks
More comedy; this time a Swedish entry that makes "Throw Mama From The Train" look a bit dull in comparison. Then again, THMFTT didn't have nearly as high a body count. Recommended.
More "Entertainment" from Tower City passers-by
Well, thanks to a bit of St. Paddy's day fun, I've just gotten my closest-ever view of something like a bar brawl (except without the alcohol present--though heaven only knows how much had been consumed earlier today); I'm sitting in the food court typing up blog entries near the Japanese fast food joint, when a couple of "kids" (can't tell if they're high schoolers or college age...I must be getting old) start yelling at each other, then escalating to shoving, hitting--WHOA, that was close--a body just went over the wall behind me, took out the table & chair. Mall security actually got to do their jobs, as a small horde of them descended to pat down the offenders, and deliver what looked like a Very Stern Talking-To.
Good thing I'm using the old beater laptop; I'd hate to see what would happen if a football player landed on the new one.
CIFF 29, Part 4
Lonesome Jim
The Festival opener, directed by Steve Buscemi. This is what I like to call a "loser protagonist" film (related to but not the same as classical tragedy). The problem with these movies is that the writer & director have to walk a fine line to get and keep the audience interested in the protagonist(s)--hard do to when their flaws are every bit as damning as the other losers surrounding or opposing them. In this case, I didn't buy into the protagonist's position--not, I think, due to any flaw in Casey Affleck's acting of the role, I just didn't like the way the character of Jim was written. The love interest (and related Cute Kid Factor(tm) helped though.
Lonesom Jim passes the "Sully test" with flying colors (i.e., it didn't suck), but it completely fails to be a great (or even very good) movie. I rated it 3 of 5 (1=best).
CIFF 29, Entry #3
This will be a short re-hash of what was supposed to be Entry #1.
Administrivia first: I'm doing this not so much to share with the world (that's just a questionably beneficial side-effect), but so that I won't forget too much. Really. Many times in the past few years, when asked what good movies I've seen, I can rattle off that day's features (and shorts), one or two from previous days...and then a lot of "uh....umm....errr....well I think there was this good Mexican flick last Friday...". With the Festival program guide and some serious memory-dredging, I can generally reconstruct everything, but it's way easy for stuff to slip out of memory when you're seeing 4 or 5 movies a day, every day, for 9 days in a row. Frightening, especially given the investment in tickets--but the experience of seeing so many good, not-even-showing-at-the-Cedar-Lee movies is worth it.
Also, at least in theory, I'll be able to make some intelligent recommendations to the students doing the CWRU Film Society schedules for the next couple of semesters.
Anyway, on to the films, in a total non-chronological order:
Me, You, and Everyone We Know
Fantastic! I think the first move I gave the highest rating to (1 out of 5/excellent). The word 'poop' comes up in a way that even Dave Barry can't get away with--and in the context of a 7-year old going to far in an on-line chat it's even better. Of course this is a Film Festival (capitals used on purpose), so there are some features with Very Bad Things happening to both children and adults (The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things is an excellent movie in that category--more about it later), but this isn't one of those movies. Don't miss seeing it if you have a chance.
Whoa. Just had a weird t-shirt moment. I'm sitting at a table by the Hard Rock café, next to a window looking out at Huron Rd., and wearing a t-shirt that says "f___ society". A woman just walked by, did a double-take, and said "Excuse me, may I make a comment about your t-shirt?"
"Yeah"
"How do think society got here if there weren't a lot of people doing that [pointing at the 'f-blank-blank-blank']?"
She obviously has no idea that "blank blank blank" stands for "ilm"...entirely as the shirt's designer intended. I love it when stuff like this works. I also wonder if the woman who spoke to me has any idea that the whole conversation and my impression of it is being posted to the internet more or less immediately--and what she would think if she did know.
29th Cleveland Int'l Film Festival, Entry #2
No, you're not imagining things--there is no Entry #1.
I had my first CIFF blog entry all typed in and hit the "save" button...and found out another reason why Tower City's free "WiFiCity" 'net access is a wee bit sub-optimal. It seems that they have a ridiculously short time-out on a "registered" wireless card--after 15 mins. idle (which is about 5 minutes less than it takes me to ponder my thoughts & translate to words--even for short posts like these), your connection has to be re-registered (basically, open a web page, fail, get re-directed to their accpet/reject AUP page, THEN get connectivity again).
So CIFF entry #1 died a horrible death due to can't-get-there-itis, and possibly a design issue in Safari that causes it to lose the cotents of a filled-in form if you do something like 'submit' (errror) 'back' (error) 'back' (error) (fix error) 'forward' (back to the form page--but its blank now).
*sigh*
So now I'm typing these entries in TextEdit, then cut-n-paste to the blog pages when I'm ready.
BTW, for those who are wondering why I said "another reason" above regarding the bogosity of WiFi City: I haven't (yet) raised the issue this year, but last year Mall Security was quite adamant that I was not allowed to use the laptop/wireless setup while sitting at a table in the food court. Only the seats "upstairs"--meaning the 3rd/Huron Rd. level--are allowed to be used by us net-surfer types.
Slight problem: there are exactly 5 of them (frequently all occupied with lunchers or loungers). While there may be dozens, if not a hundred, open tables below.
Idjits.