MSPIFF 2010: Day 9

Bluebeard (2009) Catherine Breillat - Recommended
I am eternally grateful that Catherine Breillat's films are becoming less and less painful. And by painful, I certainly don't mean 'bad' (Breillat's films don't exactly insight such simplistic judgements), but painful because of their unflinching, brutal honesty. The provocation that Breillat was content to hand out has given way to something a little more playful but no less thought provoking with The Last Mistress and her most recent film Bluebeard. The thing that is most striking about Bluebeard is its simplicity. The story of Bluebeard is told from duel perspectives: the first is a literal depiction of the 17th century fairytale in period regalia, and the second is a contemporary reaction to the macabre story as two young sisters read it from a book. The set up is nothing short of brilliant, balancing the then and the now. The then: the sexual allure and curiosity of a rebellious girl who volunteers to marry a 'monster.' The now: the cautionary and moral lessons in the form of fiction to a puritanical society. The period portion is enchanting and is every much the folk tale it should be. Bluebeard is a gruff but gentle man whose physical grotesqueness and murdering tendencies are covert. His young bride is dwarfed by his size, but not by his personality. In many ways, she is more bold than the notorious Bluebeard, foreshadowing a fate that he has yet to realize. The lasting image of the young bride stoking the hair on Bluebeard's decapitated head is haunting. But so is the odd and abrupt ending for the two young girls innocently reading the story. There was a woman on hand at the beginning of the screening who was reading passages from a forthcoming book from U of M professor Jack Zipes entitled The Enchanted Screen: A History of Fairy Tales on Film. Breillat's Bluebeard is included in the book.

Videocracy (2009) Erik Gandini - Highly Recommended
From the standpoint of the material it dissects, Videocracy was the best documentary I saw during the fest. An absorbing look at Italy's celebrity culture, Videocracy starts at the top with Silvio Berlusconi's media empire and works its way down the spiraling staircase of a fame mongering society. Berlusconi laid the groundwork for his future when he bought a television station in the 70s that was made famous by a quiz show in which an ordinary housewife would take off a piece of clothing with each correct answer from the audience. Sowing the seeds for trash television, Italy now has a population of young women obsessed with become a veline, or a host who dances and generally acts like a slutty Vanna White to the numerous Pat Sejack's of news and entertainment on Italian television. Somehow director Erik Gandini was able to immerse himself inside the thinly veiled Berlusconi machine. From the fame-controlling paparazzi to the mousy mega-producer who idolizes Benito Mussolini, Gandini draws out a fascinating and insidious cycle of the beautiful and rich steering both the demand and the consumption of celebrity drivel. Our moral center is a man who is a mechanic but who desperately wants in on his 15 seconds of Italian fame. American culture as it is, you would think that this type of mania is nothing new, but what is revealed in Videocracy is a creature of another kind, hopelessly intertwined with politics. I've spent the last year associating everything I see or hear about Italy with Matteo Garrone's film and Roberto Saviano's book Gamorrah. Now I will be combining that with what I have seen in Videocracy, including the bizarre campaign song for Berlusconi where the refrain is "Thank God Silvio exists."

Night Catches Us (2010) Tanya Hamilton - Recommended
Receiving ample buzz at Sundance, Night Catches Us is a highly anticipated entry in American independent film, and rightly so. Tanya Hamilton's feature debut is a powerful yet low-key drama that smolders with subtlety in the hands of the two leads, Anthony Mackie and Kerry Washington. The fact that Night Catches Us is skirting the margins of festival screenings with no wide release date in sight is a crime. Set in Philadelphia 1976, Marcus (Mackie) returns home for his father's funeral after an extended exile. Tensions are high between Marcus and his brother, who believes he abandoned his family, and between Marcus and his former Black Panther brothers who believe Marcus betrayed them. The only kind face Marcus finds is his friend Patty (Washington), now an up-and-coming lawyer trying to make a difference in the courts and the community. In the mix is a secret about why Marcus left town and why most of his former friends feel betrayed. Although Jimmy Carter's voice in present in the background and the struggle for racial equality simmers on the periphery, Hamilton's film focuses on the characters and the inner anguish of trying to move on. Night Catches Us is handsome in its period depiction of 1970s Philly. Everything seems cast with a golden light of a tarnished bygone era meticulously recreated. And it certainly doesn't hurt that the Roots turns in most of the music for the soundtrack (with Tariq Trotter playing the role of Marcus's brother.) Night Catches Us is not flawless however. The girl who plays Patty's young daughter is handed some lines she can't really pull off, and some of the various narrative off-shoots feel halfhearted. That being said, Night Catches Us is far better than average and feels like it should be enjoying a larger stage than it currently has.

The Revenant (2009) D. Kerry Prior - Not Recommended
The Revenant was the best film I saw out of the late night series MSPIFF programed, which isn't saying much. Although I didn't see Red White & Blue, the other three in the series (The Forbidden Door, The Wild Hunt, and this one) barely tripped the entertainment meter and were all too self-conscious in their attempts to be edgy. In the case of The Revenant, a so-called zombie buddy movie, it is trying too hard to be ironic. Bart comes back from the dead, not as a zombie, not as a vampire, but as a revenant. His friend Joey attempts to help him navigate his undead lifestyle in the most harmless way possible. Vomiting and blood sucking hijinks ensue with a little partying in between. The Revenant is good for some laughs, but most of the jokes get pretty stale by the end of the movie and you really just want all the characters to be dead and stay dead. Give any horror film enough time and it becomes satirical all by itself. Shaun of the Dead was a unique film at the time, but is ultimately a one trick pony. Parodies, like The Revenant, now feel self-reflexive simply for the sake of being self-reflexive.

Bruce McDonald's PONTYPOOL (2008)

(Before I can pull my 2009 act together, here is a review of a unique horror film that got a 2009 US release and played at the Oak Street back in September. Definitely worth checking out when it hits DVD. Originally published on In Review Online.)

Within a genre where the grooves are plowed very deep, Bruce McDonald finds a way to cleverly deviate from the tried and true rules of horror film with Pontypool. Although the road less taken results in something close to a brilliant disaster, this brainy thriller offers an interesting ride. Broadcasting from the basement of a church, Grant Mazzy is a grizzled down-on-his-luck shock jock relegated to school closings and weather reports. When strange reports start to trickle in to the station however, he and his levelheaded producer Sydney find themselves at the center of a breaking news story. With only the aid of ambiguous second-hand information, they walk the fine line between reporting the facts and sensationalizing a story. The mystery, shared between the characters and the audience, evolves in the confusion of real time and the claustrophobia of a small room, effortlessly holding our rapt attention. Stephen McHattie, as Mazzy, gives one of the best performances of the year as he convincingly handles the talk radio persona like a seasoned pro, pulling us in with every word. Unfortunately, the riveting first half gives way to zombie theatrics and esoteric silliness, and both plot and performances fall apart. The undead predictably find their way on-screen as does the abstruse explanation for Pontypool’s chaos. Saving the world may not be so easy—the deadly virus, as it turns out, is using the English language as a vehicle for transmission. The heavy-handed allegory is too much too late, and Pontypool is unable to carry the compelling metaphor to its obvious full potential. Unconventional and whip-smart, Pontypool fails to live up to its opening bravado and trades restraint for head-scratching watered-down semiotics.

MSPIFF: Day 2

St Anthony Main was very tranquil when I showed up at 11:30am. Film fans were absent as the river walk was taken over by runners, walkers and bikers enjoying Spring. I was early, but still, where are my fellow Film Goats!? That was the feeling for most of the day, until it picked up in the evening. I certainly can't back this up, but there seems to a lot less traffic at the Film Fest. Maybe tomorrow's rain will send more people to the movies...

My five film plan for Saturday started with the first screening offered at noon. Here's how my day shook down:

The Necessities of Life (2008) directed by Benoit Pilon

Necessities of Life got four stars from Daniel over at Getafilm, and I took that recommendation to heart and made the film a priority. The drama takes place in 1957. Tivii (played by Natar Ungalaaq from The Fast Runner) is an Inuit stricken with tuberculosis. He is suddenly taken from his Baffin Island home to Quebec where he can be treated for his illness. They take his clothes, they cut his hair and they speak French to him even though they know he can't understand. Tivii is both culturally and socially isolated. Necessity underlines not only an absurd cultural insensitivity, but also a general lack of human kindness that I would cynically say doesn't just exist in 1957. When Tivii stops eating, a nurse takes him under her wing. Although her concern is initially sparked by duty, she eventually forms a bond of understanding with Tivii. The Necessities of Life (seals, caribou, and geese, if you are wondering) is a somber and often painful film that cherishes our differences while emphasizing our similarities as human beings. Ungalaaq's performance is played with a fierce dignity that never wavers. And although the narrative follows a predictable trajectory, Necessities is incredibly moving. It was a sobering way to start my day, but I'm glad I caught this film while I could. The Necessities of Life screens again Monday, April 25 at 4:00pm. Recommended.

Teddy Bear (2007) directed by Jan Hrebejk

As I approach mid-life (or maybe I'm already there) I get more and more annoyed by the whole mid-life crisis myth. Isn't life just one big crisis, mid-life or otherwise? Who cares if it is half over? Teddy Bear is full of the mid-life crisis types. If their career isn't failing then their marriage is. (Hmmm, maybe that's it - I don't have either one of those things...) Six friends/three couples find themselves at a crossroads. The men are jerks and the women, well, they just carry on. As much as I wanted to not like this film, I didn't hate it. The characters are well drawn and the film doesn't bow to easy answers and pat endings. No other screenings at MSPIFF. Take it or leave it.

The Window (2008) directed by Carlos Sorin

Carlos Sorin's Historias Minimas (released in the US as Intimate Stories) was a film that stuck with me for some time, and I could kick myself for missing it on the big screen. I wasn't about to let the opportunity pass once again with Sorin's new film, and I am glad I didn't. The Window is full of big screen moments of silent beauty. The aesthetic reminded me of Carlos Reygadas' Silent Light, with its silences, horizons, stillness and elegance. The simple story is about Don Antonio in the waining hours of his life. Bedridden from illness, he waits for the arrival of his son, a famous pianist living in Europe. His preparations are less for his son than they are for himself. Although I'm getting sick of hearing myself calling films poetic, The Window is nonetheless very poetic. The Window screens again Sunday, April 19 at 1:15pm. Highly Recommended.

Rumba (2008) directed by Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy

Given the overall somber theme of the day, the ridiculous Rumba was kind of the film I needed to do a little cleansing. I'll take the evidence that the two leads are also credited as directors as proof that this spoofy film is a little self-indulgent. The absurdist tragi-comedy relies on the physical comedic abilities of Gordon and Romy. The introduction was a hoot and the crazy blue screen driving was pretty hilarious, but after about 45 minutes, I was a little tired of the skit that wanted to be a movie. Rumba screens again Monday, April 20 at 9:00pm. Take it or leave it.

Lion's Den (2008) directed by Pablo Trapero

Put a woman in jail and she is either a victim or a martyr. The brilliance of Lion's Den is that Julia is neither. Julia was one of three people involved in a violent incident that leaves one person dead. With one person's word against another, Julia, for whatever reason, ends up taking the guilt for the dead man (who happens to be the father of her unborn child.) Julia is sent to jail and must learn how to survive by completely different rules. Trapero cunningly leaves the audience in the dark about the actual goings-on at the time of the murder. The fact that pieces do not fit together, leaves Julia's guilt hanging in the air, even to the sympathetic viewer. Martina Gusman give a gut-wrenching portrayal of a woman refusing to give up. Treading unknown waters, Julia has to navigate not only her new life as a prisoner but also as a mother. Except for a strange segue involving a music montage, this film was perfect. Lion's Den screens again Sunday, April 19 at 9:30pm. Highly recommended.