Bottle Shock (USA 2008)
Director: Randall Miller
 Bill Pullman and Chris Pine
A true story becomes a humorous film as Miller takes us back to the days before Napa Valley was a worldwide household name for good wine. It’s 1976 and Stephen Spurrier’s (Alan Rickman) failure as a wine salesman is about to become intertwined with Jim Barrett’s (Bill Pullman) failure as a wine grower on the other side of the Atlantic.
Despite the deficiencies and simplified national stereotypes, the story is a good one that lends itself to a movie. Rickman could carry a worse film than this to a decent final product. A good selection with which to end SIFF 2008, and the Napa Valley wine community will have good reason to expect increased sales as a result.
PA Guide 7/10
Alan Rickman: Steven Spurrier
Bill Pullman: Jim Barrett
Chris Pine: Bo Barrett
Rachael Taylor: Sam
Freddy Rodríguez: Gustavo
Eliza Dushku: Joe
Miguel Sandoval: Mr. Garcia
Bradley Whitford: Professor Saunders
Joe Regalbuto: Bill
Hal B. Klein: Shenky
Kirk Baily: Loan Officer/Bankarbeiter
Philippe Bergeron: Pierre Tari
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Frozen River (USA 2008)
Director: Courtney Hunt
Review by Mike Caccioppoli
 Melissa Leo and Misty Upham
“Frozen River” takes place in upstate New York, a few miles from the Canadian border in the middle of a Mohawk reservation. Melissa Leo is Ray Eddy, mother of two boys, whose husband has abandoned them. Her oldest son, 15 year old T.J (Charlie McDermott) wants to get a job but Ray won’t let him; she wants him to get a good education. She eventually meets a local native woman named Lila (Misty Upham), and gets involved with her smuggling business (transporting illegal aliens across the border).
“Frozen River” is independent filmmaking at its best, both vital and timely. Writer/Director Courtney Hunt shows how otherwise law-abiding people can be driven to do some shady things when there are no other options; it shines a light on a dark corner of our nation, one that is an unfortunate result of a useless immigration policy and a failing economy.
PA Guide 8/10
Melissa Leo: Ray Eddy
Misty Upham: Lila
Michael O'Keefe: Trooper Finnerty
Mark Boone Junior: Jacques Bruno
Charlie McDermott: T.J.
James Reilly: Ricky
Dylan Carusona: Jimmy
Jay Klaitz: Guy Versailles
Michael Sky: Billy Three Rivers
John Canoe: Bernie Littlewolf
Nancy Wu: Chen Li - Chinese Girl
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Opium - Diary of a Madwoman (Hungary 2007)
Director: János Szász
Original Title: Ópium: Egy elmebeteg nö naplója
It’s not often that you begin a review with the phrase "drama smoldering with sexual tension set in a Hungarian woman’s mental asylum". But given that the film begins with a sexual encounter between Dr. Brenner (Ulrich Thomsen) and an anonymous stranger, it soon becomes evident that sex will never be far from the surface of this movie. Dr Brenner is a 1913 Hungarian psychiatrist whose methods are before their time (which may be mostly because the era’s methods seem to entail either torturing patients or stripping them naked).
An opium addict, he keeps a journal of his entire life but has reached writer’s block and his pen has run dry. Encouraged by the easy access to morphine that the job will provide, Brenner volunteers to work at Dr Moravcsik’s asylum, where a combination of nuns and doctors combine to make the inmates’ lives generally miserable. There he meets the troubled Gizella Klein (Kirsti Stubø). She is an obsessive writer who has been in the asylum for over a decade, and her writings contrive to bring them closer. Luckily for Dr Brenner, she’s also very attractive.
The plot is moved forward by each of them narrating their thoughts, but in trying to explore the innermost thoughts of both characters, the film falls short twice . As a didactic tale of the battle between forward thinking and backward medicine, it is also incomplete, although this issue spurs a rare outbreak of emotion from Brenner. Overall the acting is good, and there is probably something in “Opium” for those who like films about issues affecting mental illness or who enjoy Hungarian cinema in general.
PA Guide 6/10
Ulrich Thomsen: Dr. Brenner
Kirsti Stubø: Gizella
Zsolt László: Dr. Moravcsik
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Apollo 54 (Italy 2007)
Director: Giulivi Giordano
This overly long spoof of 1950’s space operas has some genuinely funny moments. Mysterious television signals are turning the world population into zombies and interstellar explorer Bobby Joe is determined to stop them. Silvano Bertolin puts in a sound comedic performance as the pompous ship captain who embarks on a mission to find out where they are coming from. Accompanied by sidekick Jim Bob, who has shades of Chico Marx about him, they build a spaceship for their mission to save the world. Sci-fi films of the 1950s look cheaply made to us these days and the set is deliberately made to replicate that.
Giordano manages to land a decent blow on most of the clichés of that era, but after an initial period of laughter at the creative genius of it all, you’ll soon realize it’s been a while since you last laughed. Had Giulivi kept this to somewhere between a short film and an hour, we might well be hailing this. Sadly the last half hour seems to be more or less spurious and the character of Anselmo (Luca Silvani) is probably the most irritating and unamusing role you will see in an Italian movie.
For an hour Apollo 54 reminds you of Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. After that, it will remind you that you forgot to feed the cat.
PA Guide 6/10
Silvano Bertolin: Bobby Joe
Duccio Giulivi: Jim Bob
Luca Silvani: Anselmo
Giordano Giulivi: Apelle
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Ask Not (USA 2008)
Director: Johnny Symons
Review by Amie Simon
This well-intentioned but unfocused documentary centers on the ineffectiveness and unfairness of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy approved by former President Bill Clinton in 1993.
The film profiles both veterans (including Rear Admiral Alan M. Steinman, co-founder of the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights), and young homosexuals who want to serve our country, but can’t because of “the law”. The director also peppers in footage of Clinton signing the policy, subsequent appeals to Congress, and a series of harsh statistics that splash somewhat randomly across the screen.
Starting with the Call to Duty Tour, which is helmed by Adm. Steinman, we follow a group of young men who stop at universities across the country in order to open up fresh debate about a policy that denies our military useful, productive soldiers when we need it most. Recruitment numbers aren’t being met during the Iraq War, they point out, yet we’re discriminating against people who are healthy, able-bodied, and mentally sound simply because they are not heterosexual. Moving on to the Right to Serve Campaign, we learn about openly gay people who try to sign up for military service, hoping to enact change. When denied, they stage a protest by staying inside or in front of recruitment offices until they are arrested.
At one point, an interesting comparison arises between the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and the integration of African Americans into military service. The argument is made that homosexuality is no different than being of a different race or gender. Unfortunately, the old “you have a choice” argument rears its ugly head, and the comparison is not recognized as valid by military leaders who hold to the idea that some soldiers' discomfort with homosexuality will prevent the troops from operating as a “close-knit unit”.
You can tell that the director wanted to pull the audience in with an emotional response, but never quite gets there. The closest moment was the story of a young anonymous Army Recruit “Perry”. Because he’s currently enlisted, “Perry” can’t reveal his true identity. Footage and updates after he’d served in Iraq for 7 months start to show both the impact of the war and of hiding his true personality, but unfortunately the film ends before the story is fully explored.
Overall, the documentary was very informative, just not very compelling. It's worth a viewing if you’re interested in more information on the history of the policy, or you want to learn about the various efforts being made to try to get the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban lifted.
PA Guide 6/10
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Everything Is Fine (Quebec 2007)
Director: Yves-Christian Fournier
Original Title: Tout est Parfait
Director Fournier brings a very personal experience to his first feature film. Four of the main character’s friends have committed suicide, and it is clear very early in the film that Fournier’s passion and deep-rooted sentiment about this subject is very real. He is said to feel very strongly that too many movies romanticize suicide and may cause others to consider it. It is fair to say his film cannot be accused of that.
Set in an economically derelict part of rural Quebec, the young people of the town are in a permanent struggle to find something to do. One youth, who is commissioned to paint graffiti on a wall, is seen as lucky. For the others, drugs, petty crime and sex fill up the day. Nonetheless, this is not seen or used as a justification for the suicides of four friends which starts the drama. Josh (Maxime Dumontier) finds one of the bodies, that of his friend Thomas Dagenais (Maxime Bessette). His first act is to alert the boy’s father (Normand D’Amour), a former golf professional, who now merely watches it on television with an obligatory can of beer in hand.
Josh then sulks his way through the film, and the initial tendency to pity a boy who has lost four of his friends dissipates as he rebuffs offers of help and refuses to recognize anyone else’s suffering and pain. If Fournier’s desire was to strip surviving friends of even their martyrdom, he has done an excellent job.
What Fournier hides for over an hour then reveals starkly is the appalling grief of the boy’s parents. Although they don’t get many lines, their grief and helplessness is well acted and juxtaposes perfectly with Josh’s seeming indifference. Only the attentions of Mia (Chloé Bourgeois), the girlfriend of the now-deceased Sasha, bring Josh out of his introspective mood.
While the only characters you get to know are not really likeable, it may be part of Fournier’s plan to strip the scenario of any feel good factor. In that he succeeds. And to be fair, he does put a twist in the tail, which makes sense of much of the preceding action.
PA Guide 6/10
Sébastien Bergeron-Carranza: Simon
Maxime Bessette: Thomas
Chloé Bourgeois: Mia
Pierre-Luc Brillant: Francis
Normand D'Amour: Henri Dagenais
Martin Dubreuil: Réal
Maxime Dumontier: Josh
Claude Legault: Dominic, (Josh’s Father)
Anie Pascale: Sacha’s Mother
Jean-Noel Raymond-Jetté: Alex
Niels Schneider: Sasha
Marie Turgeon: Stéphanie (Josh’s Mother)
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The Last Mistress (France 2007)
Director: Catherine Breillat
Original Title: Une vieille maîtresse
 Asia Argento
Based on the novel by Jules-Amédée Barbey d'Aurevilly, "The Last Mistress" is set in early 19th century France where self-confessed libertine Ryno de Marigny (Fu'ad Ait Aattou) is soon to be wed to beautiful and innocent Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida). But in the high society world they inhabit, these affairs are never without complication. Not in the movies anyway! Ryno has a past but rumour suggests it may be more than just a past.
Local gossips Le Vicomte de Prony (Michael Lonsdale) and Comtesse d’Artelles (Yolande Moreau) persuade Hermangarde’s guardian and grandmother La Marquise de Flers (Claude Sarraute) to investigate her future grandson. He duly appears before her to explain himself.
She seeks assurance that the rumours of his philandering are not true. He then begins to tell the story of his 10 year affair with the film’s star attraction Vellini (Asia Argento). Vellini, the illegitimate daughter of an Italian countess and a Spanish matador, was married to an elderly Englishman, Sir Reginald (Nicholas Hawtrey). Ryno and Vellini were introduced by a mutual friend, and their affair is deep, sexual and graphic. It’s everything you would expect from a French film, especially a Catherine Breillat film. And as you would also expect Asia Argento steals the show. This narration and re-creation of their affair makes up not only the largest part of the film but by far the best.
Breillat’s 12th film, the first since her massive cerebral haemorrhage at the age of 55, “The Last Mistress” has all the ingredients to inspire, but the bookends of the film don’t quite live up to the middle bit. Nevertheless, it was screened as part of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and is worth seeing for the parts of it that are done well.
PA Guide 7/10
Asia Argento: Vellini
Fu'ad Ait Aattou: Ryno de Marigny
Roxane Mesquida: Hermangarde
Claude Sarraute: La marquise de Flers
Yolande Moreau: La comtesse d'Artelles
Michael Lonsdale: Le vicomte de Prony
Anne Parillaud: Mme de Solcy
Jean-Philippe Tesse: Le vicomte de Mareuil
Sarah Pratt: La comtesse de Mendoze
Amira Casar: Mademoiselle Divine des Airelles
Lio: La chanteuse
Isabelle Renauld: L'arrogante
Léa Seydoux: Oliva
Nicholas Hawtrey: Sir Reginald
Caroline Ducey: La dame de Pique
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Go in Peace Jamil (Denmark 2008)
Director: Omar Shargawi
Original Title: Gå med fred Jamil - Ma salama Jamil
 Dar Salim
Omar Shargawi’s occasionally violent tale takes place in the unlikely setting of Copenhagen. There seems to be a low-level civil war between the city’s Shia and Sunni Muslim communities, but it has nothing to do with theology or interpretations of the Koran. To add to the confusion, some of the protagonists appear to be friends. Invitations seem to be made and accepted with alarming frequency between the warring factions.
Jamil (Dar Salim), a Sunni, is caught up in this war. Urged by his fellow Sunnis to avenge the death of his mother, yet conscious that the cycle is neverending, he wants to ensure that his infant son Adam (Elias Samir Al-Sobehi) does not get sucked in. However, the killing of his best friend Omar (played by the director himself) forces his hand and increases the pressure on him.
Ostensibly a modern day tale of honour and revenge, viewers should ready themselves for some pretty lurid violence. The film does not concern itself with the interaction between Danish society and their Islamic culture, and few Danes are actually seen in the film. We never see the Danish police involved despite the open and public displays of crime. That and the aforementioned complex network of friendships between the main players ensured that the story line lacked a little credibility at some points. We never really get to grips with who is friends with whom across the religious divide and why they are so intent on murdering each other.
Nevertheless, this is Shargawi’s debut on the big screen, and "Go in Peace Jamil" is a promising beginning. There may be a bright future for this 33-year-old son of a Palestinian father and a Danish mother. Some of the scenes are well shot and some of the arguments between differing views are acted very convincingly. Hopefully we will see this director again on screens in Seattle.
PA Guide 6/10
Dar Salim: Jamil
Elias Samir Al-Sobehi: Adam
Khalid Alssubeihi: Mahmoud
Salah El Koussa: Salah
Hassan El Sayed: Egyptian
Fouad Ghazali: Husam
Amira Helene Larsen: Yasmina
Omar Shargawi: Omar
Samir Al- Sobehi: Sam
Munir Shargawi: Abu Jamil
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Mermaid (Russia 2007)
Director: Anna Melikyan
Original Title: Rusalka
Review by Amie Simon
 Mariya Shalayeva
From the whimsical opening credits through the gorgeously colored dream sequences, this visually stunning modern fairy tale draws you in.
Six year old Alisa Titova has an active imagination, spending hours in her sleepy seaside shack dreaming of being a ballerina and rushing out to meet arriving ships in hopes that the father she’s never met will be among the sailors. Her charm and enthusiasm are undeniable, but the most unusual thing about Alisa is that she has the ability to control weather and grant wishes – at a high cost.
After her family’s house burns down, Alisa decides to remain silent forever, and we pick up her story again when she is 17 years old. Opportunity for a new life strikes in the form of a hurricane, and the family moves to the big city of Moscow. Love with a stranger named Sasha sparks her ability to communicate, but everything is not as it seems. Alisa’s purpose in life is much grander than she realizes.
Director Anna Melikman deftly applies an uplifting spin to the multiple tragedies that occur, and both actresses (Anastasia Dontsova as the 6-year-old and Mariya Shalayeva as the 17 year old) bring Alisa to adorable, brightly shining life. Comparisons to "Amelie" are inevitable, but this brilliant Russian film stands out on its own.
PA Guide 8/10
Mariya Shalayeva: Alisa
Yevgeni Tsyganov: Sasha
Mariya Sokova: Mama
Anastasiya Dontsova: Young Alisa
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Máncora (Spain 2008)
Director: Ricardo de Montreuil
Review by Mike Caccioppoli
Twenty-two year old Santiago (Jason Day) has just lost his once famous pop singer father to suicide. Struggling to figure out his own life he decides to head out of the big city of Lima and to his childhood retreat of Mancora, a picturesque beach town just north of Peru. However before he can leave he receives a visit from his step-sister Ximena (Elsa Pataky) and her husband Inigo (Enrique Murciano). Having decided that he’s going on his trip anyway, the couple agrees to go along with him. On this journey Santiago will have to decide what he wants to do with his life while also dealing with some deep seeded issues involving Ximena and their past. Inigo meanwhile has his own issues regarding monogamy that will be tested as well.
Director Ricardo de Montreuil delivers a well photographed, solidly acted road movie of sorts that deals with some difficult topics that range from incest (depending on your definition) to the inability to accept responsibility for one’s situation in life. Jason Day is a revelation as Santiago, his angst is palpable and we are drawn into his situation. However we can’t help but feel as though we’ve seen this all before and while Mancora is easy to watch it never really adds up to the sum of its parts. What is Montreuil trying to say? Sometimes the screenplay is too vague and for no good reason. The best example of this is the needlessly ambiguous ending that is neither illuminating nor profound even though the film certainly thinks it is.
PA Guide 6/10
Jason Day: Santiago Pautrat
Elsa Pataky: Ximena Saavedra
Enrique Murciano: Iñigo
Phellipe Haagensen: Batú
Liz Gallardo: La mexicana
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Late Bloomers (Switzerland 2006)
Director: Bettina Oberli
Original Title: Die Herbstzeitlosen
 Stephanie Glaser, Heidi Maria Glössner, Annemarie Düringer and Monica Gubser
This film is what SIFF is all about. Bettina Oberli’s endearing and charming film will bring a smile to those who watch it. It’s a cheeky tale charmingly told, assisted by that lilting Swiss-German dialect. Trub, a small village in the Emmmental Valley in Switzerland’s Berne canton, is the backdrop to the story and the picturesque shots of its meadows and pastureland can only help add to the film’s adorability.
The elderly Martha Jost (Stephanie Glaser) has been mourning her husband for nine months. She is failing to run his small grocery store on her own and her son Walter (Hanspeter Müller), who happens to be the village’s minister, is urging her to do something else. Meanwhile local politician and bigwig Fritz Bieri (Manfred Liechti) is trying to use an upcoming church choir concert in Trub to bolster his own career.
When he realizes that the village’s flag is in a state of disrepair, he asks Martha (who was once was a seamstress) to fix it. Martha, Lisi Bigler (Heidi Maria Glössner) and two friends set off to Berne to buy material. There they discover Martha’s seamstress past, half a century ago, has a hidden side. She used to make lingerie. Urged on by the rebellious Lisi, Martha decides to give up her grocery store and open a lingerie boutique in the small conservative village. Fritz and Walter are unsurprisingly outraged and Manfred Liechti especially carries off the role as pompous busybody to excellence.
Running across this simple tale of conservatism and propriety against lingerie are issues of ageism and sexism. Trub’s population seems to be fairly elderly and the struggle to find a role in society in a culture that values youth is not ignored. But in “Die Herbstzeitlosen”, the elderly are for once not the butt of the joke. Nor are the young. It’s that middle generation who usually seem to escape the satirist’s pen. Additionally, Switzerland’s rural cantons are not known for their progressivism; so Martha and Lisi are also fighting entrenched ideas of what is and is not proper for women to do. But this is in no way a feminist film. The women want to make lingerie after all! And you'll find yourself rooting for them.
Said to be one of the best films ever to come out of Switzerland, it will never achieve Hollywood greatness nor are any of its stars likely sex symbols. Nevertheless, “Die Herbstzeitlosen“ is one of the reasons why we are grateful Seattle has such a large and international film festival. Gentle, funny, and the wonderful cinematography and superb acting will only reflect credit on the Alpine nation’s film industry. “Die Herbstzeitlosen“ is Switzerland's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008).
PA Guide 8/10
Stephanie Glaser: Martha Jost
Hanspeter Müller: Walter Jost (as Hanspeter Müller-Drossaart)
Heidi Maria Glössner: Lisi Bigler
Lilian Naef: Vreni Jost
Annemarie Düringer: Frieda Eggenschwyler
Monika Niggeler: Shirley Bigler
Monica Gubser: Hanni Bieri
Manfred Liechti: Fritz Bieri
Peter Wyssbrod: Ernst Bieri
Ruth Schwegler: Silvia Bieri
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Kiss the Bride (USA 2007)
Director: C. Jay Cox
There is plenty to say about "Kiss the Bride". It is not unremittingly bad, although don’t be surprised if some film critics struggle to find the good things. It starts like a poor episode of Will and Grace and from that beginning any film would struggle not to improve. To say that it’s a formulaic gay-interest movie redolent with lazy clichés and poorly drawn characters would be unkind. Sadly, it would not be untrue.
PA Guide 5/10
Tori Spelling: Alex
Philipp Karner: Matt
James O'Shea: Ryan
Joanna Cassidy: Evelyn
Garrett M. Brown: Gerald
Tess Harper: Barbara
Robert Foxworth: Wayne
E.E. Bell: Dan
Amber Benson: Elly
Steve Sandvoss: Chris
Michael Medico: Sean
Jane Cho: Stephanie
Ralph Cole Jr.: Barry
Brooke Dillman: Virginia
Dean McDermott: Plumber
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The Secret of the Grain (France 2007)
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Original Title: La Graine et le mulet
Review by Mike Caccioppoli
“The Secret of the Grain” is a detailed, intimate portrait of an extended family living in the southern French seaport town of Sete. Habib Boufares is Slimane, a Tunisian immigrant who has worked on the docks for 35 years. He finds out that his hours are being cut in half so he decides to try a new career. He renovates an old boat and turns it into a fish couscous restaurant, and it helps that his ex-wife makes the best couscous in town. However he must go through much red tape as well as some drama from his girlfriend who has resentment towards his ex-wife and children.
Director Abdellatif Kechiche has such a personal, unique perspective that we are immediately drawn into this family and their everyday lives. It’s as though we become part of the family, and as with great films like “The Godfather” we actually care about each character and by the end feel as if we’ve known them forever. And in our own way, we have.
PA Guide 8/10
Habib Boufares: Slimane
Hafsia Herzi: Rym
Alice Houri: Julia
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Newcastle (Australia 2008)
Director: Dan Castle
Review by Amie Simon
Every second of surfing footage in this film is so mind-blowingly gorgeous, you won’t want to take your eyes off the screen. Which is good, because almost nothing else is going to grab your attention.
The Hoff family has three brothers: Jesse (Lachlan Buchanan) , a 17 year old wanna-be surfer, living in the shadow of former surf champion and half-brother Victor (Reshad Strik), whose life is in ruins due to a knee injury and a drinking problem; and Fergus (Xavier Samuel), who dies his hair purple, wears nail polish and Clash t-shirts, and is in the midst of discovering that he might be homosexual.
Opening with tryouts for a surf competition that would catapult the winner into the International circuit, the film meanders through the various struggles of the three boys and their friends, broken up by those gorgeous surfing shots mentioned earlier (and speaking of gorgeous, it’s worth noting that every young person in this movie is extremely good looking, and often nearly naked as well).
A turning point is reached when the teenagers decide to lie to their parents and take a camping trip on the beach to do what typical teenagers do: smoke pot, drink, have sex – and surf, of course. When Victor winds up at the same beach and finds Jesse practicing in order to be the next champion, egos rise and a fierce competition results in (highly predictable) tragedy.
Director Dan Castle has crafted a coming-of-age story that, while formulaic, could have been a decent effort, except for one rather large error: two of the three main characters (Jesse and Victor) are completely unlikable. Because of this, by the time the story makes a plea for the audience to sympathize with Jesse, it’s just too late. And unfortunately the only brother you connect with, Fergus, hasn’t been focused on enough to elicit a strong emotional reaction.
This is definitely worth a look if you’re into watching beautiful boys surf, but if you’re looking for a solid film about teenage discovery or family connections, it’s not recommended.
PA Guide 5/10
Lachlan Buchanan: Jesse
Xavier Samuel: Fergus
Reshad Strik: Victor
Anthony Hayes: Danny
Shane Jacobson: Reggie
Barry Otto: Gramps
Joy Smithers: Flora
Gigi Edgley: Sandra
Ben Milliken: Nathan
Israel Cannan: Scotty
Debra Ades: Debra
Rebecca Breeds: Leah
Jaymes Triglone: Billy
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Written by Shelton herself and the performing cast, "My Effortless Brilliance" is an examination of a troubled friendship between Eric Lambert Jones (Sean Nelson) and his friend Dylan (Basil Harris). Eric is a writer and in the words of Dylan ‘a terrible friend’. Nelson’s portrayal of Eric as a socially oafish, self-absorbed loner is so convincing that you may wonder how he ever had any friends in the first place.
When writer’s block finally forces him to call Dylan, Eric is caught unaware that his friend has given any thought to the nature of the friendship and even more caught unawares by Dylan’s conclusion. Jones eventually after a two year gap wants to make things right and on a trip to Walla Walla stops by uninvited by Dylan’s woodland house in Eastern Washington.
The bulk of the film takes place in and around the house as Eric hamfistedly tries to re-bond with an old friend he has clearly, at least in his own mind, left behind intellectually. Our failed author is trying so hard to connect that it is sometimes agonising to watch in the same way as a road accident, which must be Shelton’s intention. Initially surprising assistance comes from Jim, Dylan’s hunter buddy, as Eric painfully allows the two country dwellers to ridicule him. Their communal bonding reaches its peak during Eric’s hilarious diatribe about his brief introduction to Liv Tyler’s ass and it seems he is finally able to communicate and socialize. But as the drink flows, everyone’s ability to control and vet what they are saying lets them down, and a last gasp attempt to find a bonding activity results in chaos.
The film rejects the temptation to go on longer than it needs to and ends with nothing really resolved. It’s a study rather than a story, but the dialogue is well written, and the film is enjoyable. Nelson just about manages to keep the level of pomposity of the lead character within believable margins despite the obvious temptation to play him like a cross between Oliver Hardy and Noel Coward.
A worthwhile project and another tribute to the increasing strength of film making talent in Washington State.
Prost Amerika Interviews Lynn Shelton
PA Guide 7/10
Basil Harris: Dylan
Jeanette Maus: Jayme
Sean Nelson: Eric Lambert Jones
Calvin Reeder: Jim
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Magnus (Estonia/UK 2007)
Director: Kadri Kousaar
Review by Mike Caccioppoli
"Magnus" has something to say about love, parenthood, sex and suicide but not necessarily in that order. The problem is that its pretensions get in the way of us caring about its characters and really understanding what it’s trying to accomplish. The title character is a lonely, confused teenager (played by Estonian pop star Kristjan Kasearu) who has attempted suicide at least twice. His father (Mart Laisk) is a popular pornographer (think an Estonian Ron Jeremy) who never paid much attention to Magnus when he was a boy. The same goes for his mother who’s in the modeling business. After his latest suicide attempt, his dad recommends that Magnus come live with him for a while so they can finally bond. Magnus however seems set on finally killing himself but he wants to find the right time and place.
Much of the film centers around us watching Magnus as he wanders aimlessly through life, doing drugs with his dad, going to a brothel, asking his sister to have sex with him, etc. He seems totally bored and disinterested most of the time and while this may be part of his condition, it becomes contagious and we begin to feel the same way. One of the problems lies with the performance of Kasearu, who while extremely handsome is also mostly expressionless and never allows us into Magnus’ head or heart. The other issue is with writer/director Kadri Kousaar’s pretentious style which involves unnecessarily avant-garde camera angles and opaque lighting that quickly put us into an intellectual and emotional stupor. "Magnus" is a film that’s so caught up in its own ‘ideas’ that it ends up leaving us cold.
PA Guide 5/10
Mart Laisk: Father
Kristjan Kasearu: Magnus
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Fantastic Parasuicides (South Korea 2007)
Directors: Seong-ho Kim, Soo-yeong Park and Chang-ho Jo
Original Title: Fantastic Ja-sal So-dong
Review by Amie Simon
Three new South Korean directors helm this strange but entertaining film that explores a series of uncompleted suicides.
In the first segment, “Hanging Tough”, a student jumps off a roof with seemingly no consequences and then struggles through a series of strange events with two teachers and an odd admirer – all of whom are obsessed with death.
The second story, “Fly Away Chicken”, is the most unusual of the three. It shows us a solider haunted by battle who arrives on a beach and has a meaningful conversation with a trapped chicken. After checking into the nearby Hotel Parasdiso, he witnesses a possible injustice and enacts his revenge.
The last story, “Happy Birthday”, was the most enjoyable. A man wakes up and tears off a calendar page to see a birthday greeting. Excited for the day, he waits for friends to surprise him, but everyone seems to have forgotten. While attempting to jump to his death, he saves another man from an oncoming train and has the adventure of his life.
The stories don’t always make total sense, but the end result is a lot of smiles for a subject you wouldn’t expect to be laughing about.
PA Guide 7/10
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Elite Squad (Brazil 2007)
Director: José Padilha
Original Title: Tropa de Elite
On the face of it, another South American film about the war against drug dealers might not appeal, but this is far better than anything else in that genre. The dialogue is sharp, and narrative and dialogue are skillfully mixed to keep a constant high tempo to the drama.
It is 1997 and Rio’s notorious favelas (slums) are beset with drugs and under the control of the gangs who distribute them. Rather than conduct a full scale war with them, the local police force has reached an accommodation and is itself awash with corruption. The State Police Special Operations Battalion (BOPE) are the elite squad of law enforcement, and it is against this backdrop of police complicity that they must fight the drug war.
Padilha succeeds in keeping a rapid pace to the action and just about keeps the graphic violence manageable, given the subject matter. A strong supporting cast of bent cops and villains keep this superb drama gripping right to the very end.
This film won the Golden Bear award at the 2008 Berlin film festival.
PA Guide: 8/10
Wagner Moura: Capitão Nascimento
Caio Junqueira: Neto
André Ramiro: André Matias
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Review by Mike Caccioppoli
 Emmanuel Jal
If you don’t know the story of Emmanuel Jal, you aren’t alone. In this riveting documentary we learn that he is a rap star who was once a child soldier in Sudan. Through amazing circumstances he was smuggled out of the war zone and went on to become not only famous but also a de-facto spokesperson for the genocide that took place in his home land. We the story hear firsthand from Jal, and as we listen to how he was able to not only escape alive but to go on and write and perform music that tells his story to millions, we are both moved and inspired.
“Emmanuel Jal: War Child” also shows a side of the “conflict” in Sudan and Darfur that we haven’t seen on the news. There are interviews with Jal as a young boy of only eight or nine (he doesn’t know exactly when he was born) and even at that early age we can see how he would become such an important figure. Towards the end of the film we watch Jal as he returns home to visit his grandmother and his father, whom he hasn’t seen in nearly twenty years. Torn apart by war, they are now very proud of him but his homecoming is bittersweet to say the least. He wants to help make life better for the kids there so he decides to help build a school. This is what Jal’s life has become, passing on what he’s been through and using his resources to give back.
Director Christian Karim Chrobog has made an eye-opening and inspiring film. It’s good to know that there are still people like Jal in the world and he’s the perfect subject of a documentary: you simply can’t make stories like this up.
PA Guide 8/10
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 Tadanobu Asano
The colour and pageantry of 12th century Mongolia provide a beautiful canvas to this dramatization of the early life of Temudgin, the great Genghis Khan. The year hopping is better done than most and from Temudgin’s birth in 1162 we follow what is admittedly a pretty tragic youth for the future warlord. Surrounded by enemies in what to us seems an inhospitable terrain, young Temudgin endures slavery and humiliation but somehow just as he approaches death, something incredibly lucky happens. People save his life, befriend him and lend him horses for seemingly no apparent reason and you may sit for quite a while expecting to learn why.
That apart, there is some fantastic storytelling here and some of the friendships Temudgin makes show him to be more than just the violent sadist European history has portrayed him.
Tadanobu Asano, although a native of Japan, performs the role of older Temudgin in fluent Mongolian. Odnyam Odsuren is equally impressive as the nine-year-old Temudgin whose father Esugei (Ba Sen), the khan at the time, drinks milk from enemies because it is Mongolian tradition so to do. When he dies from it, the young Temudgin has to learn to survive a violent world. On the journey he acquires a wife, Borte (Bayartsetseg Erdenebat/Khulan Chuluun), and a blood brother, Jamukha (Amarbold Tuvshinbayar/Honglei Sun).
Honglei Sun’s Jamukha is cunning and devious and for a while threatens to steal the scenes they share. The character comes across as having a powerful persuasive personality which is perhaps what we may have expected Asano’s Temudgin to bring to the screen.
The film dwells extensively on some periods Temidgin's his early life and then hurriedly skips towards his leadership of the Mongolian people with little explanation. If the stories of a sequel are true, then the best part of the Genghis Kahn story may still remain to be told. If it done as lavishly as Bodrov tells the events here, then it will be eagerly awaited. It’s fair to say that Mongol leaves you wanting more for both positive and negative reasons.
Prost Amerika's interview with Sergei Bodrov
PA Guide 7/10
Tadanobu Asano: Temudgin
Odnyam Odsuren: Young Temudgin
Khulan Chuluun: Börte
Bayertsetseg Erdenebat: Young Borte
Honglei Sun: Jamukha
Amarbold Tuvshinbayar: Young Jamukha
Aliya: Oelun
Tegen Ao: Charkhu
Ying Bai: Merchant with golden ring
Bao Di: Todoen
Deng Ba Te Er: Daritai
You Er: Sorgan-Shira
Sai Xing Ga: Chiledu
Ba Yin Qi Qi Ge: Temulun
Ba De Rong Gui: Young Taichar
Sun Ben Hon: Monk
Zhang Jiong: Tangut Garrison Chief
Amadu Mamadakov: Targutai
He Qi: Dai-Sechen
Li Jia Qi: Mungun
Bu Ren: Taichar
Su Ya La Su Rong: Girkhai
Ba Sen: Esugei
Ba Te: Khasar
Ba Ti: Dzhuchi
Ba Tu: Altan
Ji Ri Mu Tu: Boorchu
Tunga: Sochikhel
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Before the Rains (India/USA 2007)
Director: Santosh Sivan
 Linus Roache and Nandita Das
By 1937, revolutionary discontent against English rule is beginning to sweep India but the southern state of Kerala has been relatively quiet up till now. Engineer Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is trying to establish a spice plantation in a difficult climate with tropical vegetation. His short term goal is to build a road that can withstand even the heavy monsoon rains to facilitate this. He is ably assisted by, and reliant on, his right hand man T.K.(Rahul Bose). As if the rising tide of political discontent weren’t complicating Moores’ task sufficiently, he has two other problems. Bank manager Humphries, superbly and disdainfully played by John Standing, is getting nervous about his investment. And Moores is also having an illicit affair with his married housemaid Sajani (Nandita Das)./p>
The affair's cultural inappropriateness reveals itself in a variety of ways, not the least being her marriage, but things are soon to get even worse for Moores. His wife and child are about to arrive from England. Realizing that the affair is doomed to failure and that he loves his wife, he attempts to cover his tracks. But every attempt at a coverup fails and his problems just continue to escalate as events conspire to bring his affair with Sanjani to the attention of the villagers. It’s at this point that the film lets itself down and just fails to achieve greatness. Although Moores is a nasty piece of work and callously dismissive of human life, he just doesn’t grab you as the screen villain. He’s not easy to hate and you neither find yourself feeling passionately that you want him to get caught, or hoping that he gets away with it.
In truth, it is at this point that, as far as you had any emotional investment in the outcome, it switches to T.K., to whom both Moores and Sajani turn for help. He gets caught in the middle of the drama and the best part of the film revolves around his conflicting loyalties. Sajani is a childhood friend, Moores is his boss, and of course the villagers, although in his mind quite backwards, are his people. He has a modern view of the world and career ambitions which are closely invested in the continuance of English rule, and thus the success of the road. His inner torment provides the dramatic peaks of this film and Rahul Bose carries it well. T.K. must finally resolve his inner conflict as the two competing forces, tribal law and the colonial police force, close in.
Munnar, a remote region of Kerala’s lush countryside, provides a lavish backdrop as the drama unfolds. The film is rich with the awe-inspiring beauty of the southern states and the scenery is continuously breath taking with waterfalls, forests, lakes and sacred coves. It touches the difficult subject of the cultural divide of the British rule and the rural, historic and traditional powers that ruled this country for such a long time. Sivan’s English language debut manages to get most things right but lets itself down by perhaps leading the audience to emotionally invest in the wrong character at the beginning. Nonetheless, it was an official selection for a variety of film festivals including Toronto, Tribeca and Pusan.
PA Guide 7/10
Leopold Benedict: Peter
Rahul Bose: T. K. Neelan
Nandita Das: Sajani
Jennifer Ehle: Laura Moores
Indrajit: Manas
Lal Paul: Rajat
Linus Roache: Henry Moores
John Standing: Charles Humphries
Thilakan: Father
Ejji K. Umamahesh: Inspector Sampath
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Up the Yangtze (Canada, 2007)
Director: Yung Chang
Modern and ancient China collide in Yung Chang’s impressive documentary about the controversial Three Gorges Dam. More than two million people are being forcibly relocated as the Chinese government attempts to harness the power of the Yangtze. The flood waters up will eventually rise to 175 meters, engulfing many villages. In one of these, Chang finds the family of the shy Yu Shui. Her family are peasants and facing relocation. They are unable to afford an education for her, and she is sent to find employment on one of the cruise ships obscenely exploiting the tragedy by offering westerners trips to see the soon-to-be-extinct villages. There she encounters the cocky and arrogant Chen Bo Yu, one of China’s ‘Little Emperors’; that is to say a single son. There are many such children as a result of China’s one child policy which fined parents who gave birth to a second child.
Chen Bo Yu is spoiled but loves playing to the gallery of westerners on the cruise shops. Tall, good looking and proficient in English, he is perfect for the cruise work and as he comes from a prosperous family, he is everything Yu Shui is not.
This appealing documentary traces their first few months working for the pleasure of western tourists in the new China against a backdrop of forced relocations, corrupt and violent officials, and a country where protesting either can land you in jail. Look out for some funny moments as the cruise ship trainees are taught what not to talk to westerners about.
Nominated at Sundance, Montrealer Chang’s film is a patient and thoughtful examination of how the modernization of China is both enriching and impoverishing its inhabitants.
PA Guide 7/10
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The Red Awn (China 2007)
Director: Cai Shangjun
“The Red Awn” is about a man who returns to his hometown after a five year absence only to find that his wife is dead and his son has officially declared him dead. It has some quietly effective moments that mostly center around the relationship that the father must try to repair while the son rebels on an almost daily basis. The two have plenty of time to try and bond since their family business is harvesting wheat and the son must be taught the tricks of the trade. We watch as they drive their combine from one farm to another trying to get as much business as they can before the season is over. The son wants to go to college and the father must repay a debt which we learn about later in the film.
“The Red Awn” has to be given credit for being subtle with a sub-genre that has been covered in many films before it (“I Never Sang for My Father”, “Life is Beautiful”, etc) and not always nearly as restrained as here. However its methodical pacing is also a detriment because we never really feel the strife that has made these two men grow so distant from each other and many of the issues that have taken place in the past, not only with father and son but with the father’s deceased wife, remain unclear by the film’s end. This is one of those films that we can admire but are never drawn into and the result is that we pretty much forget it once it’s over.
PA Guide 6/10
Yao Anlian: Soonghai
Lu Yulai: Yongtao
Shi Junhui: Yongshan
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The Inaccessible Pinnacle of the primary title is the very first feature film made in the Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig), which is a shame as its lyrical almost mystic tone possesses a magical quality present in few modern languages. The term “The Inaccessible Pinnacle” refers to a ridged pinnacle that sits on top of Sgurr Dearg, one of the Munro peaks of the famous Cuillin mountain range on the Isle of Skye. It is a treacherous climb and is the only peak never actually attempted by Sir Hugh Munro who gave his surname to the collection of 300 Scottish peaks over 3,000 feet.
Làn fhìrinn na sgeòil is an old Scottish saying meaning 'the truth is in the story', and it is in the stories of grandfather Seanair (Aonghas Pàdraig Caimbeul ) that most of this film unfolds. Young Aonghas visits him in hospital seeking answers to unresolved questions about the death of his parents and the truth behind his grandfather's collection of ancient stories.
Not only is the art of storytelling still alive in this culture, but having the treasure trove of Scottish music to draw on gives Miller an added advantage creating that ambience. The wealth of Scottish musicians is well known, but there are just 60,000 Gaelic speakers left in modern Scotland and they have unearthed some formidable acting talent from that small pool.
The film's main story takes place in modern Scotland, but the stories Seanair tells cover the whole swathe of Gaelic history, from medieval Scotland through the 16th Century dashing of the Spanish Armada on the rocks of Scotland, to the 19th Century Highland clearances and the islands of the 1920s.
Each story is acted out against the stunning scenery that is the Isle of Skye. If you have a hunger for Celtic mythology or culture, then this film is right up your alley.
To clear up a point of confusion: The film has been mystifyingly renamed the Crimson Snowdrop for international purposes. The story of the Crimson Snowdrop was originally told in the 2005 Scottish Gaelic short film, Foighidinn and is just one of the short stories told by Seanair in the film.
PA Guide 7/10
Aonghas Padruig Caimbeul: Seanair
Padruig Moireasdan: Aonhgas - aged 7
Crisdean Domhnallach: Donnchadh - aged 9
Winnie Brook Young: Mairi - age 11
Dolina MacLennan: Grandmother
Coll Domhnallach: Aonghas - age 20
Daibhidh Walker: Eardsaidh
Aonghas MacDhomhnaill: Am Mac Bu Shine
Annie NicLeoid: Ciara Gunnach
Martainn Mac an t-Saoir: Athair Ciara
Toby Robertson: An Diuc
Scott Handy: Patrick Loch
Vidal Sancho: The Spaniard
Iain MacRae: Domhnallach
Calum MacFhionghain: An Draoidh
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Huddersfield (Serbia 2007)
Director: Ivan Zivkovic
Original Title: Hadersfild
Based on the play "Hadersfild" by Ugljesa Sajtinac, which is still running in Belgrade, this movie is short on laughs but very long on superb acting. Goran Susljik takes the lead role as Rasa, a thoroughly unlikeable and unhappy thirty-something who gets by with a radio show and teaching at home. Self-opinionated and with some troubling racial views, he claims to live on "suffering and freelancing." He is surrounded by characters that just reinforce his view that the world is a hopeless place. His father Otac (Josif Tatić) is an overweight bullying drunkard and his girlfriend Milla (Suzanna Lukic) is one of his students. Her youth is hinted at though it is never explicitly stated that she is underage.
The film and play take their title from the English town of Huddersfield. Rasa’s childhood friend Igor (Damjan Kecojević) has been living there for eleven years. It is his homecoming that serves as the catalyst for the action as much of the storytelling centers around informing him what he’s missed.
However, it is the incredibly powerful performance of Rasa’s neighbour Ivan (Nebojsa Glogova) that steals the show. Ivan is a former mental patient still seemingly struggling with delusions despite the variety of drugs and treatments he’s been put through. Living with his mother, he is a frequent visitor to Rasa's apartment, desperately seeking Rasa’s approval for both his poetry and his half-baked theology. Rasa with his eternal disdain for the rest of the planet treats Ivan with a mixture of thinly veiled contempt and patronization.
Rasa’s homespun philosophy and frequent quoting of Hamlet mark him out as educated in this Serbian small town where overtones of their futile wars to force neighbouring lands to stay in Yugoslavia litter the script. Partly due to a failed relationship, Rasa has given up on life; one of his few remaining pleasures is destroying the optimism of anyone who hasn’t.
The film reaches its zenith when the three angry young men, Rasa, Igor and another friend Dule go on a drinking spree. The outward machismo and aggression soon dissipates into drunken questioning of each others’ values. Into that combustible mix walks Ivan for the film’s showstopping scene.
PA Guide 7/10
Vojin Cetkovic: Dule
Nebojsa Glogovac: Ivan
Damjan Kecojevic: Igor
Suzana Lukic: Milica
Miki Manojlovic: Pesnik (as Predrag Miki Manojlovic)
Sanja Popovic: Klaviristkinja
Jelisaveta Sablic: Majka (as Jelisaveta Seka Sablic)
Goran Susljik: Rasa
Josif Tatic: Otac
Milan Tomic: Radnik na otpadu
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About Water (Austria 2007)
Director: Udo Maurer
Original Title: Über Wasser
This fascinating examination into how the absence or glut of water affects three communities took five years to complete and shows the problems of too much water in Bangladesh, the sorrow of no more water at the Aral lake in Kazakhstan, and the fight for just a little water to survive one more day in a slum in Nairobi.
In the first part, Maurer talks to Sanowar Hussein, a framer from Chandina Island in the Jamuna Delta region whose house and livelihood have been wrecked by the fury of the monsoon season. The brittle nature of the existence of the islanders in the world’s most densely populated country is sympathetically observed.
In the second part, Maurer visits the Aral Sea area of Kazakhstan where the lake has dried up and demolished the fishing community. In some ways sadder due to its permanence, no effort has really been made to fill the void either in the lake basin or in the lives of the people.
Lastly, Maurer visits the Kiberi slum, Africa’s largest where Barack Obama toured in August 2006. The reliance on water is just as great but corruption and bureaucracy add to the challenges facing the locals.
If you will pardon the pun, "About Water" is less dry than Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth” but just as telling. Maurer brings an incisive touch to his investigation and perfectly balances the debate between western concerns about the global environment and the day to day struggle for survival of those in the affected regions.
PA Guide 7/10
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Continental – A Film Without Guns (Quebec 2007)
Director: Stéphane LaFleur
Original Title: Continental, un film sans fusil
A man wakes up alone on a bus in the middle of nowhere. In this black comedy, his sudden and unexplained disappearance affects the lives of four people: Lucette (Marie-Ginette Guay) his wife, Louis (Réal Bossé) a traveling salesman, Chantal (Fanny Mallette) a bored hotel receptionist and Marcel (Gilbert Sicotte) a failed gambler. Their stories are told separately but eventually intertwine.
This film begins promisingly and has some funny lines in the opening 20 minutes but never quite hits those heights again. Quebec cinema set a high standard at SIFF last year and Continental doesn’t quite leap over it scriptwise although the acting is of a very high quality.
The name refers to a line dance popular in North America where each dancer evolves alone. In the dance, you do your own thing aware that others are nearby.
This film was an Official Selection at Venice and Toronto's festival in 2007.
PA Guide 5/10
Marie-Ginette Guay: Lucette
Gilbert Sicotte: Marcel
Fanny Mallette: Chantal
Réal Bossé: Louis
Marie Brassard: Neighbor - Diane
Gary Boudreault: Policemanr
Denis Houle: Neighbor - Denis
Marika Lhoumeau: Young Mother (Mireille)
Dominique Quesnel: Chambermaid (Manon)
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Edge of Heaven (Germany/Turkey 2007)
Director: Fatih Akin
Original Title: Auf der anderen Seite
If you see one thing at SIFF this year, make it Fatih Akin’s follow-up to Head-On. Rarely does a room full of film critics emerge sagely nodding their heads in approval, and even more rarely does a film of this length leave you wanting more. Akin brings his own personal experience of living in both cultures to produce a story of lives criss-crossing both each other and cultures to great effect.
Set in both Germany and Turkey, with both languages and some English in use, the film divides itself into three parts, each interconnected with the others but possessing its own dynamic. The first part is entitled “Yeter’s Death”, and Akin cleverly signifies that the death is not so much the conclusion of this part of the tale, but a catalyst. We expect the death, and therefore our attention is freed up to notice other things going on.
It starts with an unusual proposal as Turkish widower Ali Aksu (Tuncel Turkiz) makes an indecent proposal to Turkish prostitute Yeter (Nursel Kose). He wants her to move in with him and to become her sole client. His son, Nejat (Baki Davrak), a university professor, is understandably skeptical and disapproving but her charm and kindness to her estranged daughter in Turkey wins him over.
At the same time, Yeter’s daughter Ayten (Nurgul Yesxilcay) is getting into her own drama due to her political activity in Turkey. Cleverly avoiding making us either sympathetic or unsympathetic to her cause, the film’s middle piece centers on the humanity of her plight as she tries to evade Turkish justice. However, like Ali she isn’t terribly likeable and after two of the three stories, you’re sitting fascinated as if watching a thriller unfold rather than anxious for the fate of a lead character. Ayten is adopted by German student Lotte Staub (Patrycia Ziolkowska) and as the second segment is entitled "Lotte’s Death", the viewer knows better than to pin his or her hopes to Lotte. However the brilliant Hanna Schygulla as Lotte’s mother, Susanne, is hovering in the background. You don’t know it but Akin already has you in the palm of his hand and there’s nothing you can do but sit back and enjoy it.
It’s only with the third act, "Edge of Heaven", that Akin sucker punches you. Susanne, having kept a deliberate distance, accompanied by a social disdain for what was going on in her house, slowly and gracefully emerges. Schygulla is no novice and is a well-known actress, particularly for her collaborations with Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
But there really isn’t a weak link in the cast, nor in the plot and “The Edge of Heaven” may well be the best thing you see at SIFF 2008. It won awards for Best Screenplay at both Cannes and the Europeans in 2007 and Germany's Official Submission to the Best Foreign Language Film Category of the 80th Annual Academy Awards.
PA Guide 9/10
Nurgül Yesilçay: Ayten Öztürk aka Gül
Baki Davrak: Nejat Aksu
Tuncel Kurtiz: Ali Aksu
Hanna Schygulla: Susanne Staub
Patrycia Ziolkowska: Charlotte 'Lotte' Staub
Nursel Köse: Yeter aka Jessy
Yusuf Kaba: Flute player
Yelda Reynaud: Emine
Lars Rudolph: Markus Obermüller
Andreas Thiel: Consular Official
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Katyn (Poland 2007)
Director: Andrzej Wajda
Original Title: Post mortem. Opowiesc katynska
Review by Mati Bishop
In the Katyn forest of Poland in 1940 Soviet troops executed over 20,000 Polish citizens and disposed of the bodies in mass graves that were discovered by the Germans in 1943 during their occupation of the region. Upon the defeat of the Germans and subsequent Soviet re-occupation of Poland, the Soviet Union put the blame for the massacre solely on the shoulders of the Germans and persisted their propaganda campaign until finally admitting involvement in the incident in 1990, a year after the end of the Soviet control of Poland.
Director Andrzej Wajda begins his 2007 film about the massacre with a simple look at the plight of the Polish people, caught between the German and Russian war machines in 1939. A mother and daughter visit a captured Polish officer, briefly begging their husband/father to find a way to elude the Soviet guards and return home with them and struggling to understand how he can place his duty to his country over his commitment to them.
After the trains filled with 8,000 Polish officers leave to take them to the camps where they would await their gruesome fate at Katyn along with another 12 to 15 thousand Polish citizens, the film wanders through a series of loosely interconnected personal tragedies suffered during and after the war by the officers’ families.
Every possible hero in the film disappears, creating a hopeless vacuum. The defeat of the Polish people is captured and replicated in the heart of the audience by one tragedy after another. Hopelessness, confusion and despair reign and characters willing to air the truth that the viewer can see so clearly in retrospect are quickly dashed away, never to be seen again. When all is lost, the story returns to the Polish officers and concludes with a brutal reenactment of their calculated and efficient extermination.
The film is more an effort to help along the healing process of the Polish people, rather than an expose of the atrocities committed in the Katyn Forest intended for the world to see. The actions of the Soviets are horrifying, but without taking a deeper look at why the massacre at Katyn happened, the film lacks a lesson to be learned by international viewers and locks itself away as an important and intensely personal portrayal of Polish history. The Katyn massacre is a subject matter that even now deserves to be brought to greater attention in the world, but this film may have missed a big opportunity to do so effectively.
PA Guide 6/10
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Boy A (England 2007)
Director: John Crowley
Adapted from a novel by Jonathan Trigell, this absorbing drama takes place mostlty in Manchester, England. Andrew Garfield stars as a juvenile criminal, Jack Burridge, who is given a new identity prior to his release back into society. Jack was found guilty of the senseless murder of a child when he himself was too young to be tried as an adult. Since that verdict, he has been in juvenile detention but as the film begins, he is set to be released into a world he has never known.
As if that were not daunting enough, for his own safety he has to adopt a complete new identity. The only person who shares his secret is grizzled but idealistic social worker Terry (Peter Mullan). At first things look promising for Jack as he begins to form interpersonal relationships both platonic and romantic. However, this presents additional difficulties as others grow closer to him. The challenges of keeping his dark secret grow along with the level of dishonesty such a challenge entails.
PA Guide 8/10
Andrew Garfield: Jack Burridge
Katie Lyons: Michelle
Peter Mullan: Terry
Siobhan Finneran: Kelly
Alfie Owen: Eric Wilson
Victoria Brazier: Teacher
Skye Bennett: Angela Milton
Madeleine Rakic-Platt: Schoolgirl
Josef Altin: Bully
Dudley Brewis: 2nd Bully
Leigh Symonds: Eric's Dad
Maria Gough: Eric's Mum
Taylor Doherty: Philip Craig
Jeremy Swift: Dave
Shaun Evans: Chris
Carlene Hansom: Waitress
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Call Me Troy (USA 2008)
Director: Scott Bloom
In what could not be better timing for SIFF, the California Supreme Court just ruled that homosexual couples have the legal right to get married in that state. One of the plaintiffs and driving forces behind the case is Troy Perry, a 40 year veteran of gay rights campaigning and an ordained Christian minister. Whether you support his causes or not, it is impossible not to admire Troy Perry both for the incredible strength of his convictions and the courage to go out and fight for them in an often unsympathetic public arena.
A truly remarkable man, he founded the Metropolitan Community Church, designed to bring gay people to Christianity when the faith was doing its best to turn them away. With a heady mixture of civil rights rhetoric and references to god, it’s hard not to be reminded of Martin Luther King, albeit the circumstances are very different. In fact, his style of preaching seems to owe more to the black churches than the more sedate mainstream alternatives. As well as preaching, Perry’s resume of action is impressive. He performed the first public same-sex wedding in the U.S., and in 1970 he filed the first-ever same-sex marriage lawsuit.
Perry talks extensively on camera about his early sexual experiences and his feelings of relief at the revelation that he wasn’t the only gay person on the planet. It’s hard not to smile and feel his emotional reaction coming through the screen. Obviously homophobia is a recurring theme yet Perry never seems to get bitter and even non-believers may think him a better advert for religion than many of the alternatives.
Parts of this film are incredibly moving. Bloom covers the arson attack on their church in a way that should genuinely disgust the viewer, but the documentary unleashes its most incredible power when the chronological line reaches the early days of the AIDS crisis.
Perry’s church now has 300 congregations in 22 countries. Not everyone will warm to religion as the best way to promote equality, but you cannot fail to warm to Perry himself, a man totally worthy of being the subject of a documentary. This film, although gay themed, has a crossover appeal to all those who value individual tenacity, human equality or seeing America as it really is, and as it really can be.
PA Guide 8/10
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The Pope's Toilet (Uruguay 2007)
Director: César Charlone/Enrique Fernánde
Original Title: El Baño del Papa
On the face of it, the premise has all the ingredients of good comedy. The small village of Melo sits on the Uruguayan side of the Brazil border and is naturally the scene of a good deal of cross-border smuggling. A petty low level war exists between the villagers led by Beto (César Troncos) and the authorities represented by border policeman Meleyo (Nelson Lence).
In a grim economic environment, a glimmer of light is shining. The Pope is coming. Estimates abound and perpetuate about the number of visitors this will encourage to visit Melo, especially visitors from more prosperous Brazil. The villagers see an economic opportunity, and many begin to buy and cook food in bulk to set up stalls for the expected avalanche of hungry tourists.
But Beto, with his famous thinking cap on, comes up with another idea – a modern pay toilet so that the visitors can relief themselves. The combination of the pope, greed, cunning villagers and a lavatory has the potential to lead to hilarity, but there is an inherent sadness to this film as events conspire to frustrate Beto’s scheme.
Beto is the living embodiment of a picaresque hero, roguish and selfish, but boy do you root for the guy! The supporting cast is also strong, especially his long suffering wife Carmen (Virginia Méndez). Not a great film but nonetheless the enjoyable staple stuff of a good film festival.
PA Guide 6/10
César Troncoso : Beto
Virginia Méndez : Carmen
Mario Silva: Valvulina
Virginia Ruiz: Silvia
Nelson Lence: Meleyo
Henry De Leon: Nacente
Jose Arce: Tica
Rosario Dos Santos: Teresa
Hugo Blandamuro: Tartamudo
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The Fall (USA/India/England 2006)
Director: Tarsem Singh
In this often delightful film, Singh attempts to revive the art of storytelling through film. Inspired by the 1981 Bulgarian movie "Yo ho ho", "The Fall" is about a manipulative and self-pitying stuntman Roy Walker (Lee Pace) who is convalescing in hospital after a suicide attempt brought on by his girlfriend ditching him for the leading man in a silent movie. Set in California in the 20s, the outer story revolves around his friendship with young Alexandria (Catinca Untaru), an eight-year-old Romanian girl.
In between, he tells Alexandria amazing tales of heroism and skullduggery as five superhero type characters take on the evil Captain Odious.
The film was shot on 26 locations over 18 countries.
PA Guide 7/10
Lee Pace: Roy Walker
Catinca Untaru: Alexandria
Justine Waddell: Nurse Evelyn / Sister Evelyn
Kim Uylenbroek: Doctor / Alexander the Great
Aiden Lithgow: Alexander's Messenger
Sean Gilder: Walt Purdy
Ronald France: Otto
Andrew Roussouw: Mr. Sabatini
Michael Huff: Dr. Whitaker
Grant Swanby: Father Augustine
Emil Hostina: Alexandria's Father / Bandit
Robin Smith: Luigi / One Legged Actor
Jeetu Verma: Indian / Orange Picker
Leo Bil: Charles Darwin / Orderly
Marcus Wesley: Otta Benga / Ice Delivery Man
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It can’t be easy to make a dull documentary about Hunter S. Thompson, and Gibney achieves nothing of the sort. Not only does he profile the controversial journalist and author, but he also finds the time to investigate Thompson’s position and influence on the events on which he reported.
Prost Amerika has always been fond of Gibney's work; in fact we will be putting on a local showing of his great film
"The Trials of Henry Kissinger" in June.
Johnny Depp, who famously portrayed Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, reads and narrates the film. It’s far from a homage but the subject often courted unpopularity, so it is hard to imagine he wouldn't have appreciated it.
Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize Film Festival Sundance 2008, this film is a fitting tribute to Thompson. Neither a hatchet job, nor a cover-up, Gibney has produced the finished product in a way we can only guess Thomspon would be proud of.
PA Guide 8/10
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Review by Mike Caccioppoli
This is a brilliant documentary made by bodybuilder Christopher Bell, who once took steroids and doesn't understand why he still feels so guilty about it when his brothers take steroids and don’t feel any shame at all. Bell not only interviews his parents about their feelings about their boys using steroids (is it their fault?), but also talks to politicians, doctors, scientists, other bodybuilders and their families, and even his boyhood hero, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
What begins as a documentary about his brothers and their body obsession becomes a study about our culture's desire to win at all costs and about the hypocrisy that goes along with that mindset. Bell, unlike our current media, asks the tough questions that go along with the subject. By the end of the film, Bell has implicated all of us and our way of life, while also exonerating his parents from their guilt.
Prost Amerika's interview with Chris Bell
PA Guide 9/10
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 Miss Indigo Blue Seattle’s incredibly vibrant arts scene has yet another string to its bow. It is becoming a center for Burlesque. That wonderful form of entertainment, which can loosely be described as striptease meets satire, is alive and well and has survived militant feminism. Or has it?
Deirdre Timmons followed ten recruits to a Seattle Burlesque training school on their journey, asking each what motivated them to want to take their clothes off. The answers are varied and interesting although some did seem to feel the need to justify it rather than explain and others tried to over-feminise the decision. But this can only prompt further debate about how these ladies see the position of women in society; do they now feel the need to pander to a feminist perspective of how women should behave, rather than that of the male-dominated media? Does everything a lady does have to now be ‘empowering’? If one of Timmons’ aims was to stir further debate about the place of women in possibly America’s most liberal city, then she has succeeded.
That aside, the segments on the training informed us about what it takes to be a burlesque performer, and their teacher, Miss Indigo Blue, illuminated the film with her depth of knowledge on the subject. Any viewer who has seen burlesque will be fascinated by the inside look and this film is sure to spark further interest.
Note that there is a large amount of female nudity in this film. Timmons neatly intersperses these shots with the dancers informing the camera of their rationale for doing it. Will the male viewer resent being told the whole show is not really for him or does he just not care as long as he gets to look at the women? "A Wink and a Smile" might prompt men to ask a few questions of themselves too.
A final note has to be addressed to those who do not think that burlesque is art. In one scene in the film, Lily Verlaine does an act called Picasso. It is artistic, beautiful and sexy. Burlesque is in Seattle and is here to stay.
PA Guide 6/10
Performers: Miss Indigo Blue, Lily Verlaine, Waxie Moon, Shanghai Pearl, Swedish Housewife, Tamara the Trapeze Lady, Babette la Fave, Vienna Le Rouge, Miss Inga Ingenue, Ernie von Schmalz, Kitten la Rue
Students: Diane Bruch, Casey Ellison, Janie Hanson, Megan Keller, Amy Klar, Vicky R, Moczi, Christi Jo Petrucelli, Sara Robinson, Rachel Shimp, Tami Veralund
Interview with Deirdre Timmons
Next showing: Saturday May 31 4:00 pm at the Egyptian Theatre, 805 East Pine St.
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P.V.C.-1 (Colombia 2007)
Director: Spiros Stathoulopoulos
"P.V.C.-1" is a real-time movie (shot in one continuous take) based on real events in 2000 when Colombian terrorists put a pipe bomb around the neck of a woman in an extortion attempt. Within the limitations of this technique, there are some strong performances and the characterization is solid -- while we never find out the terrorists' cause, they are scary in a believable way. Rather than accede to their demands, the family goes to the police.
The film lasts 85 minutes and chronicles 85 minutes in time. Notwithstanding the incredible feat of fitness this entails (the director also serves as a cameraman during the filming and had to train for three months to get into shape for 85 minutes of continual exercise), it has the effect of both subtracting from the drama on one hand, and making it more realistic on the other. There are a few moments when the characters do something that may seem unrealistic or unhelpful, but in an odd way that adds to the realism. You may ask yourself how you would react.
The story is gruesome enough and it is hard to see too much commercial potential for this, but hardcore film enthusiasts will want to add it to their collection. The single-shot technique is rare and the storyline is gripping. Despite all that "P.V.C.-1" loses by eschewing the tricks of the cinematic trade, eventually you do care about the outcome and you are emotionally involved. "P.V.C.-1" is certainly not the highest budget film you’ll see, but it is different enough to stand out during a large film festival. If you’re a real film buff, you may just want to risk your $10 to be able to say you’ve seen this one.
PA Guide 6/10
Ivonne Cadena: Angelita
Liz Pulido: Rosita
Daniel Paez: Simon
Merida Urquia: Mother
Christian Lamus: Mariano
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