Home Movies lives at In Review Online!

Home Movies, on hiatus for much of 2010, lives again with a new installment for January 2011 on In Review Online. With the help of In Review Online music editor Jordan Cronk, I have picked myself up off the floor to relaunch the monthly feature once again. For January, Jordan tackles the two Sam Fuller films, Shock Corridor and The Naked Kiss, from Criterion and the new Blu-ray of Sergio Leone's classic Once Upon a Time in America. Meanwhile, I profile the release of Oscar loser/critical winner Social Network, but then dive head first into full tilt genre releases from the month: Buried, The Last Exorcism, Robinson Crusoe on Mars, Sante Sangre and a Blu-ray import of Deep Red from the UK. The Deep Red release from Arrow Video comes a few months ahead of the Blue Underground US release in April. Although it is kind of unclear what will be included on the Blue Underground Blu-ray, Arrow's 2-disc set would seem to be the definitive in options and supplements.

Home Movies is the first feature on a redesigned In Review Online. The new year has mostly been dedicated to fine tuning the site, but we will be back on our game soon with new music and movie reviews that you can agree and disagree with. Home Movies for February will be up sometime mid-March.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul's UNCLE BOONMEE and SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY at Walker Art Center

It is not much of a stretch to call Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Syndromes and a Century (2006) and Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010) companion pieces. But the same could be said for Syndromes and Tropical Malady (2004), Malady and Blissfully Yours (2002), or Yours and Mysterious Object at Noon (2000)—each one a stair step to unchallenged mythical eminence of Weerasethakul’s oeuvre; each one achieving new heights; each one challenging my own blissful hyperbolic state. (The Adventures of Iron Pussy (2003), which Weerasethakul’s co-directed, is also somewhere in the mix, but entertainingly less grounded to his other work.)

The Walker Art Center hosts the Twin Cities' premiere screenings of Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives this weekend and Syndromes and a Century next Thursday (which shamefully never got a theatrical screening here.) The Walker, way ahead of the curve on Weerasethakul’s work, screened his Mysterious Object at Noon in 2001 as a part of its Asian Currents program and later brought Weerasethakul to the Twin Cities for a Regis Dialog and retrospective in 2004. It is in keeping that the Walker would score an advanced screening of Weerasethakul’s Palme D’Or winner before it lands in New York City on March 2.

Uncle Boonmee earned top prize at Cannes less that a year ago and it wasn’t too long after that Stand picked up the U.S. rights to the film. Fans have certainly been waiting with baited breath, but even those unfamiliar with Weerasethakul's films would be hard pressed not to have noticed the rumblings of Uncle Boonmee’s mysterious ghosts. As one might guess by the title alone, Uncle Boonmee is not your average film—in the best possible way. Boonmee and his past lives are very much the subject of the film, but so are the grand enigmas of life, death and spirituality. With themes this big you might expect a certain amount of grandiose staging, but this is where Uncle Boonmee surpasses average and anything that you might expect.

Weerasethakul approaches the fate of Boonmee with gentle curiosity. Inspired by a book by the same name that Weerasethakul picked up from a monk, Uncle Boonmee is a relatively straightforward account of a man who is nearing death. It takes place, however, in a setting that evokes the supernatural. That setting not only incorporates the landscape and jungles of the Khon Kaen region of northern Thailand, but also Weerasethakul’s cinematic landscape where there is something very plainspoken about abstractions. Jen has traveled to the country to visit her brother-in-law, Boonmee, where he lives and tends to his tamarind grove and bee houses. She is accompanied by Tong, played by Weerasethakul favorite Sakda Kaewbuadee. Although Boonmee seems to be in good health, we learn of his kidney disease through an early scene depicting his dialysis.

Much of what happens in Uncle Boonmee is meant to float between the known and the unknown in the same way it floats between the past and the present, and a direct narrative and illusive diversions. There is an undeniable physicality to Boonmee’s peritoneal dialysis but it is gently rolled out right alongside mystical apparitions of reincarnation. Uncle Boonmee is a rare comment on death and spirituality that is completely original in film. With an ending that is best discovered, Uncle Boonmee lays a visual and symbolic path to the end—one of the most striking is the morning sun pouring into a cave revealing only part of Jen and Boonmee. Weersethakul’s poetic license is like an open door to interpretation that I have no intention on shutting. Peppered with magic and marvel, Uncle Boonmee goes out like a showboat ready to be painted with personal or political effects.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives plays twice: Friday at 7:30pm and Saturday again at 7:30pm. Although I have seen the film twice now (at the Vancouver International Film Festival) I wouldn't miss a chance to see it again on the big screen. At this time, it is unclear whether or not Uncle Boonmee will make another appearance in the Twin Cities. Despite the overwhelming critical praise it has received over the past ten months, it is far from a ‘marketable’ film that theaters are likely to jump on. I’m hoping to be proven wrong, but Weerasethakul’s previous film, Syndrome and a Century, is a case in point. Well received at festivals around the globe, Syndromes never received a theatrical screening in Minneapolis. Syndromes and a Century came out on DVD in the US a few years ago, but I have been living with the hope that someday it would get a belated theatrical screening. As soon as you see the beautiful digression that the film takes into a lush green field for the credits, you will see what I mean.

Humor, heart and beauty are at the center of every one of Weerasethakul’s films, but it reaches a swoony tipping point with Syndromes. The elliptical story revolves around two young doctors who exist in two realms of what seems to be a time-space continuum. The first half is set in a rural hospital where Dr. Toey is interviewing a new collegue, Dr. Nohng. The film breaks off to follow Dr. Toey as she visits patients, deals with a lovesick friend, and tells a story shown in flashback of her first love. The second half opens with the same interview between Dr. Toey and Dr. Nohng but it is set in the austere modern environs of a Bangkok hospital. After the interview the camera follows Dr. Nohng as he makes his rounds, visits with his girlfriend and shares some time with his co-workers taking nips out of a bottle of alcohol stashed in a prosthetic leg. Both stories are a sweet and unaffected exploration of the pains and journeys of love and companionship, both personal and professional.

Weerasethakul, the son of two doctors, has mentioned that the film was inspired by his own experiences, and is largely based on his parents’ lives before they married. Syndromes and a Century is a layered love story—perhaps with the true romance falling just slightly outside of the frame—but it effortlessly straddles motifs of ethics, science, Buddhism and compassion with an open heart and an open mind. In both Uncle Boonmee and Syndromes, Weerasethakul takes simple situations and cloaks them in a shroud of mystery. Is there something in the air? Maybe. At least that is the allusion that Syndromes makes near the end of the film as vapors are pulled into a ventilation system. Needless to say, we get pulled in with it.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives
Friday, February 18, 7:30
Saturday, February 19, 7:30

Syndromes and a Century
Thursday, February 24, 7:30 Free!

A poster too cool not to post.

Jimmy Corrigan might be the smarted kid on earth, but Chris Ware's Uncle Boonmee is the coolest poster on the earth.



The Twin Cities will get a sneak preview of Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives next weekend at the Walker Art Center. Friday, February 18 at 7:30pm and Saturday, February 19 at 7:30pm.

Lee Chang-dong's SECRET SUNSHINE

Lee Chang-dong's Secret Sunshine opened Friday at St Anthony Main and is absolutely one of those films that should not be missed. Secret Sunshine lit up Cannes nearly four years ago earning Jeon Do-yeon Best Actress and earning the film mounds of critical praise. Six months later, as the film languished without US distribution, I opted to import the South Korean DVD as my only option to see the film and was stunned by the film's audacious delicacy. Although late in the game, IFC picked up the film (along with Lee's equally impressive new film Poetry) for 2010 release. At 142 minutes, Secret Sunshine is a seriously in depth inquiry on human emotions. Below is a review I wrote for In Review Online to be posted there soon.


Prior to the release of Secret Sunshine in South Korea, director Lee Chang-dong insisted that his highly anticipated new film was just “normal.” In an interview with Kim Young-jin, Lee said, “Things couldn’t have been more normal.” Anyone who knows Lee’s work had good reason to be suspicious of this statement. ‘Normal’ is not a word you would use to describe this meticulous director and it is certainly not a word you would use to describe the circumstances surrounding the arrival of Secret Sunshine. Shortly after he completed his third feature, Oasis, to great critical acclaim, Lee was appointed the Minister of Culture by newly elected president Roh Moo-hyun. His filmmaking career went on hold indefinitely when it seemed to be at a peak. After spending one year embroiled in politics, including the bitter fight to maintain film quotas in South Korea, Lee stepped down and disappeared. A few years later this revered novelist and filmmaker emerged with a new script and a new film to make. And everyone knew that it would be anything but normal.

But there is a bit of truth to Lee’s proclamation. Secret Sunshine lacks a certain amount of overt style in favor of unpredictable emotions and a chaos driven narrative. But this is not the chaos of, say, extracting a memory from a dream within a dream within a dream, but a smaller, more personal and inconsequential chaos. Lee’s schisms in time and flights of fantasy found in Peppermint Candy and Oasis are not on the agenda for Secret Sunshine. Lee instead uses his ‘normal’ approach to observe a painful pattern of tragedies and failed self-discoveries in the life of Shin-ae (Jeon Do-yeon), a woman struggling for stability in a very unstable set of circumstances.

Shin-ae is an irreverent single mother with the aura of a woman taking control of her life. Recently widowed, she is moving to her late husband’s hometown of Milyang, which, using Chinese characters, translates to ‘secret sunshine.’ Starting over, however, is far more involved than reconciling the death of her husband. As facts percolate to the surface, we realize that she is not only escaping the accidental death of a philandering and most likely abusive husband, but also a family that blames her for her own misfortune. Finding solace in a strange place is part of the plan, but so is reinventing herself into something other than a victim, not only for herself but also for her solemn young son. Her face of confidence and urban sophistication is a thinly veiled farce, but one that Lee allows us to slowly discover.

Her first encounter is with Jong Chan (Song Kang-ho), an earnest local mechanic who helps Shin-ae when her car breaks down. Just as Shin-ae is looking to start anew, Jong Chan also sees an opportunity for himself by forging a friendship with this newcomer. When Shin-ae boasts that she might be looking for land to invest in, Jong Chan finds a real estate agent to help out. When Shin-ae tells Jong Chan that she will be teaching piano in town, he aggressively solicits students. Their push-pull relationship defines their surface characteristics as well as their more concealed idiosyncrasies. At one point, Jong Chan marches into Shin-ae’s teaching room to hang a bogus award on the wall. It is an odd moment: for Jong Chan, it is an innocent gesture that he thinks will help Shin-ae’s business, but written on Shin-ae’s face and in her reaction is a pathetic admission that ‘awards’ have never been a part of her history. The subtle yet so specific interaction is there for the taking, but it is far from pushed in your face. Its delicacy exists because of a careful lack of emphasis that permeates even the most dramatic moments.

When tragedy strikes nearly a third of the way into the film, the event, although gratuitous, neither looks nor feels that way. Instead, Lee’s “tragedy” is used as device no different from Hitchcock’s MacGuffin—to propel Secret Sunshine down its eventual wandering road. But more importantly, it allows Lee to fully explore the tumultuous emotions of the enigmatic Shin-ae and her intrepid tag along, Jong Chan. In many ways, the major earthquake in Shin-ae’s life causes Lee to steady his camera even more and keep a lock on his unobtrusive observational tone. As his lead character rides an emotional rollercoaster—distilling grief with shock, revelation, grace, depression, anger and eventual resignation—the film never pushes the story or the audience with manipulation. In one of the most harrowing scenes, Shin-ae, overcome with sorrow, aimlessly walks into a religious revival and proceeds to emote with unabashed tears and wailing. Jong Chan, who has followed her in, is our companion in trying to process what is going on. Ultimately, it seems that Shin-ae is most comfortable among complete strangers, but the questions of a character’s actions (both Shin-ae’s and Jong Chan’s) are the elegant mysteries of Secret Sunshine.

One of the most refreshing things about Secret Sunshine is how hands-off Lee Chang-dong is with Jeon Do-yeon as Shin-ae. Tags of artifice, be it music or close-ups, are cast aside to allow Jeon to give a performance that won Best Actress at Cannes in 2007. Shin-ae’s breakdown does not solicit false sympathies and it certainly isn’t a setup for a narrative trap (or the nominal cue that breakdown will eventually equal recovery.) Jeon embodies the innocence and grace of someone born again, but also the erratic emotions that go along with trauma and grief. The same could be said about Song Kang-ho as Jong Chan, but his character keeps the (mostly) even-keel of a misguided playboy. Nonetheless, Song performance is a tempered counterpoint to Jeon.

Secret Sunshine is receiving a belated U.S. release—nearly four years after it drew attention at Cannes—just ahead of Lee’s new film Poetry, another film that Lee would no doubt call normal. Extraordinary is what I would call both of these films: testaments to exquisite filmmaking and audacious acting. Secret Sunshine takes the makings of a melodrama and pulls the spotlight off the drama and onto the characters with such elegant ease, you hardly notice. Jeon Do-yeon and Song Kang-ho turn the film into a rich discovery in which no one succumbs to the heavy-handed design. The result exposes our human frailties and innate paradoxes. The final shot of the film has the last word. With a note of irrelevance, the camera slowly moves away from Shin-ae and Jong Chan to follow a lock of her cut hair. It lands on the peripheral, a spot of otherwise unnoticed secret sunshine, ending with a beautifully understated and unresolved dot-dot-dot.

Darren Aronofsky's BLACK SWAN

My review of the very well received Black Swan is up over at In Review Online. Black Swan continues to do really well at the box office and is collecting top ten accolades around the globe. This trend will no doubt continue when the Oscar nominations are announced where we are sure to see Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky's names in the lineup. I think part of the brilliance of Black Swan is it's sincerity to simply exist as a thriller. Every great scene, every great performance, every great edit, and every great narrative twist all has the same common goal: to provide an entertaining ride. The accolades and the awards are just the outcome of that commitment.

Best of 2010: Movies

The general consensus 'out there' is that 2010 was a bad year for movies. And that 'out there' generally comes from people who have seen a lot of movies. And among those who have seen a lot of movies, most have been to a number of festivals. And indeed, many of this year's festival titles are pretty stunning compared to this year's offerings, and, because they are on the US slow train of distribution, they will technically be 2011 films. But festival and arthouse titles aside, when I look at the landscape of film in 2010, there was certainly no slack. When I think of the thrill-filled last 40 minutes of Inception, or the honesty and bravery of The Kids Are All Right or mysterious-laden antiquity of Shutter Island or the hyperkenetic vernacular of The Social Network, they all give me goosebumps, despite the fact that most of those didn't even make my list. Even my cynicism about the end-of-the-year powerhouses was quashed under the ultra-engaging likes of I Love You Phillip Morris, Black Swan, True Grit and The Fighter.

And so I give you my list of 30. My list of 30 films I saw this year that I loved. My list of 30 that has admitted gaps. (I never saw Scott Pilgrim, Toy Story 3, Inside Job and gobs more that maybe I'll get to in this lifetime or another.) My list of 30 that hopefully everyone will find a film they recognize and one they don't recognize.

Year end lists are a treasure trove of discovery for me so hopefully there is some of that for others as well. I am all-inclusive in this list with one stellar film from 2009 that screened late in Minneapolis (Police Adjective), a handful of films from 2010, a handful of films that will come around in 2011, and unfortunately a few films that may not come around at all. I've tried to make notes on US release dates and/or the speculative possibility distribution. Enjoy.


1. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (2010)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Thailand
Trailer

(Read my review of Uncle Boonmee in my VIFF dispatch over at In Review Online.) Frequent readers will be aware that I am a big fan of Apichatpong Weerasethakul, and when his new film won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival I was overjoyed, sight unseen. Although I was already toying with the idea of going to Vancouver, the announcement of Uncle Boonmee pretty much sealed the deal. Although Uncle Boonmee takes a more direct path in its narrative explorations compared to Weerasethakul's previous few films, it is equally as rich, mysterious and wonderful. A film about a man reconciling his own mortality, it becomes an incredible discovery of a textured existence and the beautiful mysteries of life. Uncle Boonmee requires a certain leap of faith from the viewer, but the rewards that are paid out are far beyond anything you are ever going to get out of any other movie. For real.
Uncle Boonmee was picked up by Strand and will be in limited release early this Spring. For those in the Twin Cities, the good people at the Walker have secured two screenings on February 18 and 19. (They will also be hosting a free screening of Weerasethakul's equally seductive Syndromes and a Century on February 24.)


2. Winter Vacation (2010)
Li Hongxi
China

(Read my short take on Winter Vacation in my VIFF dispatch at In Review Online.) Humor doesn't get much more wry than that in Li Hongxi's Winter Vacation. Aptly compared to Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise, Li takes the absurdity of life and gently turns it up to eleven. Although the sardonic humor feels completely new in a Mainland Chinese film, Li is following in the footsteps of the social comedies of Huang Jianxin and Feng Xiaogang only a little drier, a little more self-reflexive and a lot more hilarious. Simple settings and simple actions have the most satisfying results: a woman who buys a head of nappa cabbage, a battle of wills between a man and his grandson, the incredible inactivity of a group of teenagers. Li also has a keen sense for music with a brilliant but sparse score that includes Top Floor Circus and the experimental musician Zuoxiao Zuzhou. My only hope for Winter Vacation distribution is Europe. No one has picked this up for distribution anywhere, but it won top prize at Locarno Film Festival and there seems to be at least some minor buzz about this film there. I don't see this ever being distributed in its home country and unfortunately I don't see it happening here in the US either. Somebody prove me wrong.


3. White Material (2010)
Claire Denis
France
Trailer

I am firmly convinced that Claire Denis is one of the most talented and important directors in the world. A bold proclamation, but after last year's incredibly beautiful 35 Shots of Rum combined with this year's powerfully realized White Material (not to mention her amazing back catalog), it is hard to argue otherwise. It was someone else that connected White Material with the Chinua Achebe's novel Things Fall Apart, but I can't stop thinking about it. It has taken fifty years for Achebe's story to find a companion piece from a colonial counterpart, and indeed, history and what colonialism has done to the African continent, with its false boundaries and corruption for commerce (see also Darwin's Nightmare), is at or beyond a tipping point. Denis version is the Western consciousness (not guilt) finally catching up with our collective actions. In an unnamed African country, things are indeed falling apart in the form of civil war. Maria is a French woman who runs a second generation coffee plantation started by her father-in-law. Instead of facing the chaos around her, Maria buries her head in her work until the chaos comes to her in the form of violent revelation. There are no heroes and no villains in White Material, just a catastrophic mess where no one and everyone is to blame. Isabele Huppert plays Maria with fragile ferocity, and with one final action comes a symbolic action of the impossibility of righting wrongs.
White Material got a theatrical release in the US here at the tail of 2010 and should be out on DVD early or mid-2011. Maybe it is even available on-demand if you are able to do such things.


4. Le Quattro Volte (2010)
Michelangelo Frammartino
Italy
Trailer (with Italian narration)

Images, in my book, are far more powerful than words, and it is one reason why I love movies. And, wow, if Le Quattro Volte didn't just knock me off my feet with its simple yet profound pictorial storytelling. Words are spoken in Le Quattro Volte (which literally translates the the clumsy title of The Four Times) but they are passive objects. The active objects in this story are an old man, a young goat, and a tall tree. Through earthbound spiritual transference, Frammartino shows us a cycle of life that is poetic, violent, industrious, and completely natural. It's hard not to think of Uncle Boonmee in connection with Le Quattro Volte mostly because they mine the more ethereal unknowns of the world. But I can't help of thinking of the smoking UFO in A Letter to Uncle Boonmee and the smoking mound that opens and closes Le Quattro Volte. The mound is something of a mystery—not a mystery as to what it is, but a mystery of human ingenuity and a mystery of the natural elements that we live with in the world. Le Quattro Volte is a completely unique film, and needless to say, I was completely taken with it.
Le Quattro Volte opens in NYC at the end of March and hits the Lagoon locally on May 13. I also wouldn't be surprised to see this as a selection at MSPIFF in April. I'll see it when ever and where ever I can!


5. Mundane History (2010)
Anocha Suwichakornpong
Thailand
Trailer (Wow. I love this movie.)

I'm only at number five, and I'm on my third spiritual film. Maybe this says more about me than trends in film, but I'm inclined to think it is a little of both. Mundane History is grounded in a story about a teenage boy who was recently paralyzed in a car accident who is assigned a new caretaker. The two young men are both struggling with there own unspoken demons, but find a way to live and heal through their forced companionship. The film slowly becomes deeply invested in spiritualism and very specifically the cycle of suffering and rebirth. The two young men, through a push and pull of cooperation, discover a modest path of awareness together. The grand aspirations of this film, whether they have to do with the Nobel Eightfold Path or the Golden Rule, are handled with care and tenderness and not the heavy hand one might expect. Anocha Suwichakornpong's first feature film is something pretty special. The finale is unbelievably riveting, frightening and beautiful.
Mundane History played at MoMA In December, and will probably be doing the festival/independent theater circuit. It won a Tiger Award in Rotterdam and will likely find a DVD release somewhere. I'm dying to see it again.


6. I Wish I Knew (2010)
Jia Zhangke
China
Trailer

(Read my review of I Wish I Knew in my VIFF dispatch over at In Review Online.) Commissioned by the Shanghai Expo, I Wish I Knew compiles interviews from Shanghai's past and present as an emotional exploration of the city's history. As beautiful and elegant as one familiar with Jia Zhangke's work might expect, his newest travels a straight and narrow path of documentary structure with clarity and beauty. Interviewing exiles and loyalists, Communists and Nationalist, famous and ordinary, Jia builds an archive through storytelling of Shanghai's modern past. Although I Wish I Knew focuses on the most tumultuous era for Shanghai's in 30s and 40s, the film builds to a crescendo of modernization and nostalgia.
I Wish I Knew has not been picked up for US distribution yet, but it probably will be. The important thing to realize is that there are two edits of this documentary: Jia's original running 138 minutes and an edited version that got played at the Expo running 125 minutes. Some of the interviews that portrayed the Communists in a poor light were cut. For some reason, the cut version is making its way into US festivals. If at all possible, see the 138 minute version.


7. Alamar (2010)
Pedro González-Rubio
Mexico

(Read my brief thoughts on Alamar in my MSPIFF coverage at In Review Online.) A beautiful film signed, sealed, and delivered by the Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival. I was so glad to have seen this first on the big screen with absolutely no pretense. The simple story of Alamar is adorned with the grace and perfection of a folklore or a myth. A young boy born to an Italian mother and Mexican father goes on a final farewell visit with his father and grandfather to the island of Quintana Roo, 30 miles off the coast, in the Caribbean Sea: a pictorial paradise where the way of life has not changed for hundreds of years. The father gives his son a memento of ancestry and history before sending him off to Italy with his mother. A mixture of documentary and fiction, Alamar is as close as most of us will ever get to the rough realism of the simple life.
Alamar played at MSPIFF locally and opened in limited release around the US. If you are a subscriber to Film Movement, you would have received this DVD 6 months ago; the DVD hits the streets January 11, 2011.


8. Police Adjective (2009)
Corneliu Porumboiu
Romania
Trailer

Police Adjective was definitely one of those films people were crowing about for 2009, but didn't his theaters in the Twin Cities until well into 2010. Those who saw Corneliu Porumboiu's new feature is not unlike his last, 12:08 East of Bucharest, full of incredibly dry wit and clever sense of detail. And yes, a slow and convoluted story, but not without effect! A young police officer painstakenly monitors the coming-and-goings of a group of kids in order to make a petty drug bust. Many films have attempted to underline the mundanity of police work, but Police Adjective earns some bragging rights in this corner. This detective is careful and slow and, as we eventually realize, doubtful that his investigation is heading down the right path. Nothing, however, prepared me for the quick-minded finale pulled from the pages of a dictionary. Absurd, hilarious and cunningly brilliant.
Police Adjective got a theatrical release late 2009 and early 2010. I just realized, however, that it has not been released on DVD or Blu-ray yet in the US. Criterion?


9. Aurora (2010)
Cristi Puiu
Romania
Trailer

It seems only fitting that I would follow up Police Adjective with Cristi Puiu's newest film, an equally challenging and rewarding film from Romania. First, I have to admit that I am in terrible need of a second viewing of Aurora: although I was completely captivated by it, I was fighting some serious fatigue in the final days of VIFF when I saw it. Puiu's follow up to The Death of Mr Lazarescu is drawn with the same kind of composure and slow dark observation. The thing that really sets Aurora apart is the fact that Puiu himself plays the lead and is in nearly every shot in this 3 hour movie. Aurora is one of those films that is a discovery from beginning to end. Completely unpredictable, this film strings you along with clues and nuances about this mysterious and serious man who is obviously on some sort of mission. Slow, methodical and strangely orchestrated, Aurora is completely unique.
Aurora made the festival rounds this year and has been picked up by Cinema Guild for theatrical release in the US in 2011.


10. Cold Weather (2010)
Aaron Katz
USA
Trailer

The Sound Unseen International Duluth Film Festival was a blessing in 2010. I wormed my way onto the jury, saw some of the best films of the year and met some of the most brilliant young filmmakers in the US. Included in the batch of films they showed was Cold Weather and included in the directors in attending was Aaron Katz. I may have been lukewarm to the mumblecore movement, but Aaron's films Dance Party USA and Quiet City were certainly standouts. His new film, Cold Weather, breaks him free of being pigeon-holed into anything but one of the best independent filmmakers is the US. It is a well-designed mystery build around the familiar relationship of a brother and a sister. These characters are familiar even if their actions are surprising or unusual or perfectly ordinary. Cold Weather is a genre film that seems to work by completely different rules. Top notch performances by Trieste Kelly Dunn and Cris Lankenau and a killer soundtrack by Keegan DeWitt.
Cold Weather ran the festival circuit in 2010 and is set for a theatrical release in early 2011. Here's hoping that 2011 is Cold Weather's year!


11. Putty Hill (2010) Matthew Porterfield / USA
Trailer and website
Yet another gift of Sound Unseen International Duluth, Putty Hill was picked up by Cinema Guild and will be released in 2011.

12. Certified Copy (2010) Abbas Kiarostami / France
Trailer
I can't believe that such a great film is all the way down here at number twelve. Read my assessment of Certified Copy in my VIFF dispatch at In Review Online. Certified Copy is set for US theatrical release in early 2011.

13. Another Year (2010) Mike Leigh / UK
Trailer
Mike Leigh's best film since Secrets and Lies with four incredible performances: Ruth Sheen, Leslie Manville, Jim Broadbent and Imelda Staunton. Another Year is opening in limited release right now and hits Minneapolis on January 21 at the Uptown.

14. I Am Love (2009) Luca Guadagnino / Italy
Trailer
Melodrama, beauty and awakened passion. Utterly gorgeous film that seduces on every level. I Am Love is out on DVD and Blu-ray.

15. Fortune Teller (2010) Xu Tong / China
This independent documentary delivers some of the most candid interviews I have ever seen. Fortune Teller is a snapshot of life on the fringes in Mainland China. Unbelievable and riveting. I wish I could tell you that this would be available sometime soon.

16. October Country (2010) Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher / USA
Trailer and website
Sound Unseen International Duluth delivered again with this personal and universal documentary about life on the fringes. October Country is available on DVD.

17. The Arbor (2010) Clio Barnard / UK
Trailer
An account of the life, trials and travails of late British playwright Andrea Dunbar told through the voices of her family and the voices of her plays. The Arbor is a pretty unique documentary in form and structure, but its formalism in no way dampens its emotional impact. Quite the contrary, the stories here are powerful and moving. I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Strand has picked up the rights to The Arbor, and will be released in 2011.

18. End of Animal (2010) Jo Sung-Hee / South Korea
Two of the most original sci-fi films I have ever seen have both emerged from South Korea. The first was Butterfly (2001) and the second is this low-key surreal nightmare. I don't know if End of Animal will ever surface on DVD, but I will be there when it does.

19. Shutter Island (2010) Martin Scorsese / US
Trailer
Scorsese back in fine form. The best film he's made is some time. Available on DVD and Blu-ray (which looks crazy good.)

20. Poetry (2010) Lee Chang-dong / South Korea
Trailer (sorry no subtitles)
Poetry is still doing theatrical engagements. It played as MFA's Asian Film Festival and is scheduled for the Lagoon on March 18.

21. Wild Grass (2010) Alain Resnais / France
Trailer
A total wing nut of a movie from the 78-year-old auteur about aging, vanity and pride. Available on DVD.

22. Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl (2009) Manoel de Oliveira / Portugal
Trailer
A gorgeous film that works wonders in 78 minutes. Available on DVD.

23. Hahaha (2010) Hong Sang-soo / South Korea
Trailer (sorry no subtitles)
(Read my thoughts on this film over at In Review Online.) No one has picked this up for US distribution, but DVD and Blu-ray is available from South Korea.

24. Trash Humpers (2010) Harmony Korine / USA
Trailer and website
A dystopian dream where creatures display their very human impulses to create a sort of mundane mayhem. Available on DVD, VHS and 35mm!

25. The Social Network (2010) David Fincher / US
Trailer and website
You don't need me to tell you about this film. Everything they say about this film is true, but I just rank it a little lower.

26. Dogtooth (2009) Giorgos Lanthimos / Greece
Trailer
Ever think you would like to raise your kids in a vacuum? This film will change your mind. Disturbing and thought provoking. Dogtooth comes out on DVD January 25.

27. Mother (2009) Bong Joon-ho / South Korea
Trailer
Bong Joon-ho's new film has one of the best performances of the year from veteran South Korean actress Kim Hye-ja. Available on DVD and Blu-ray.

28. Karamay (2010) Xu Xin / China
In 1994 a tragic fire killed 323 people, most of them kids. Thirteen years later this incredible six hour documentary give the parents a voice they have never had. With many of the facts covered up by politicians, Xu Xin risks everything in telling their story. Riveting and devastating. I hold out hope that someone like Mubi or dGenerate Films will make this available online.

29. Ne Change Rein (2009) Pedro Costa / France
Trailer
Pedro Costa's new film is a meandering documentary that focuses on singer Jeanne Balibar. Shrouded in black and white chiaroscuro, Ne Change Rein is completely mesmerizing. Ne Change Rein will very likely make an appearance in the Twin Cities in 2011.

30. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (2009) Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea / France
(Read my review here at In Review Online.) This played at MSPIFF and eventually will make its way to DVD in 2011.

In Review Online: Year in Review 2010

The full roundup of films and music is up over at In Review Online. It's an impressive mix with some thought provoking write-ups. I contributed to the 2010 highlights in Home Movies and also put in my two cent vote for the staff lists of film and music.

Only films that got a 2010 theatrical (not festival) release in the US were eligible (which is why it will differ from my forthcoming list that randomly includes everything I saw in 2010, festival or otherwise.) For the record, here's how my vote went:

Movies
1. White Material / Claire Denis
2. Secret Sunshine / Lee Chang-dong
3. Mundane History / Anocha Suwichakornpong
4. Alamar / Pedro González-Rubio
5. Another Year / Mike Leigh
6. I Am Love / Luca Guadagnino
7. October Country / Michael Palmieri, Donal Mosher
8. Shutter Island / Martin Scorsese
9. Poetry / Lee Chang-dong
10. Wild Grass / Alain Resnais
11. Eccentricities of a Blond Haired Girl / Manoel de Oliveira
12. Trash Humpers / Harmony Korine
13. The Social Network / David Fincher
14. Dogtooth / Giorgos Lanthimos
15. Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench / Damien Chazelle
16. Mother / Bong Joon-ho
17. Winter’s Bone / Debra Granik
18. Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Inferno / Serge Bromberg, Ruxandra Medrea
19. Ne Change Rein / Pedro Costa
20. Everyone Else / Maren Ade

Performances:
1. Ruth Sheen/ Another Year
2. Kim Hye-ja/ Mother
3. Isabelle Huppert/ White Material
4. Jennifer Lawrence/ Winter’s Bone
5. Jeon Do-yeon/ Secret Sunshine

Music
1. Watain “Lawless Darkness”
2. Agalloch “Marrow of the Spirit”
3. Sailors With Wax Wings “Sailors With Wax Wings”
4. The Body “All the Waters of Earth Turn to Blood”
5. Janelle Monae “The ArchAndroid”
6. White Moth “White Moth”
7. Four Tet “There is Love in You”
8. Harmonious Thelonious “Talking”
9. Xasthur “Portal of Sarrow”
10. Witehred “Dualities”
11. Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti “Before Today”
12. Jenks Miller and Nicholas Szczepanik “American Gothic”
13. Caribou “Swim”
14. Marnie Stern “Marnie Stern”
15. Horseback “The Invisible Mountain”

Special Edition Cinema Shanty: Best of 2010

Once again, Erik, Jim, Peter and I have convinced KFAI to give over one hour of airtime to talk movies. This morning from 9-10am we will be talking the best and not so best of 2010. I have personally created a top ten list of films directed by the hardest to pronounce names in filmmaking. Tune in to hear me screw it up!

KFAI
90.3 and 106.5 FM in the Twin Cities

Happy Holidays from Copper!

And from me too.

Year in Review 2010 - Home Movies

I have fallen down on the job of offering home movie recommendations. But that doesn't mean I have stopped buying or watching. At the prodding of fellow In Review Online music critic (and DVD hoarder) Jordan Cronk, I put my home movies sash back on and, like kids in our own candy store, he and I have come up with 15 of the best DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2010 the world over. Last minute Christmas shopping ideas for the cinephile on your list found here!

Year in Review 2010 - Home Movies

Here were some others on our list that didn't make the cut, but are certainly worth checking out:

Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
The World [Blu-Ray] (Eureka – Masters of Cinema; Region Free)
The Vengeance Trilogy [Blu-Ray] (Tartan; Region A)
Memories of Murder [Blu-Ray] (CJ Entertainment; Region A & B)
Zed and Two Noughts [Blu-Ray] (BFI; Region Free)
The General [Blu-Ray] (Kino; Region Free)
The Thin Red Line [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
The Magician [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
The Burmese Harp (Eureka – Masters of Cinema; Region B)
Late Spring / The Only Son [Blu-Ray] (BFI; Region B)
Early Summer / What Did the Lady Forget? [Blu-Ray / DVD] (BFI; Region B)
Tokyo Story / Brothers and Sisters of the Toda Family [Blu-Ray / DVD] (BFI;
Region B)
Night of the Hunter [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
Apocalypse Now: Full Disclosure Edition [Blu-Ray] (Lionsgate; Region Free)
Paths of Glory [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
Crumb [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
M [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
Vivre sa vie [Blu-Ray] (Criterion; Region A)
Contempt [Blu-Ray] (Lionsgate – Studio Canal Collection; Region A+B)
Fallen Angels [Blu-Ray] (Kino; Region Free)
Happy Together [Blu-Ray] (Kino; Region Free)
The Housemaid (1960) [DVD] (Korean Federation of Film Archives; Region Free)