pmw
10-03-2002, 11:21 PM
The New York Film Festival finished up on the 13th. The festival was a really nice collection of some great international films which we may see in theaters in 2002/2003. Here are our reviews:
About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, USA, New Line Cinema)
About Schmidt is the latest Jack Nicholson flick from director Alexander Payne (Election), based on the novel by Louis Begley. Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a man in his mid-60's retiring from atop the only company he's ever known, Woodmen of the World Insurance, to life in Omaha. Jolted by the doldrums of his impending golden-years, Warren is gripped by the need to affect positive change on something in his life. The sudden death of his wife and the prospect of his only daughter's marriage to a flaky, pyramid-scamming salesman push Warren to the brink. He sets out on a journey to digest his wife's passing, save his daughter from certain misery, and in doing, scrape out an ounce of self-respect from a lifetime of meaningless pursuits. As with Election, Payne stacks heavy odds against his male protagonist and sets him down in a thickly stocked pot of American ennui; Nicholson's dry delivery is perfectly suited to a character in search of a way out. If there is any weakness, it's that Nicholson's performance is too good and perhaps too Nicholson, engulfing the rest of the film.
The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France, New Yorker Films)
The Son is the story of Olivier, a wood worker who teaches his craft to delinquent teens, and his encounter with a boy deeply connected to his past. The premise is a good one (you'll see), and the approach is suspenseful but not artificially so. A good deal of the film is shot from just behind Olivier which creates a relevant sense of impending catharsis. The film relies on the workshop, the streets and the characters to fill the soundscape of a music-less story, which works quite well. I really liked this one. The characters and story are carefully constructed, and not a sign of string-pulling at any point. Perhaps my favorite film of the festival.
Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, Columbia Pictures)
So this is the movie where Adam Sandler doesn't play an Adam Sandler-ish character, right? Wrong. He does, it's just not against the consciously absurd backdrop that he would cast for himself. Instead, Paul Thomas Anderson makes something far more loathsome- a cinematic wreck that postures as pioneering artistic exploration. I think he would have us watch this and marvel at all the things we weren't expecting: Sandler's non-Sandler, a bunch of violent outbursts, and some unexplained props. But actually Sandler plays Sandler. And Anderson plays Anderson, trying to define himself instead of a film. No need to see this one, unless you're in the mood for something frustrating and painful. It's presence at the festival can only be explained as "product placement". Uggh.
To Be And To Have (Nicolas Philibert, France, New Yorker Films)
Nicolas Philibert's documentary about a unique school in the mountains of northern France is really worthwhile. George Lopez is a Superman of elementary education- a teacher who strikes a careful balance between friend and instructor, confidant and disciplinarian. His students range in age from 5 to 11 and come primarily from rural farming families. The film captures Lopez imparting priceless bits of wisdom on loyalty, accountability and personal development to a group of pretty funny kids over the second semester of a school year. The subject is great, and the setting is beautiful. Pretty gratifying all the way around. And it's real!
Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
Turning Gate starts out in a promising direction. Two male friends have feelings for the same woman. In deference to their friendship, one of the men takes himself out of the picture only to find new love. It's the kind of premise I root for- a straightforward story on the complexities of love, friendship and opportunity. And the first half of the film had me. It moves in and out of relatively interesting scenes in a northern town in South Korea, the conversations work, and the characters are believable, if not familiar. But when the story turns to new love (the second half of the film), things just don't amount to much. The back-and-forths between the protagonist and his married love interest are repetitious, the characters are indecisive, and as a result, the film spirals off into an indecipherable cycle of longing and courting. I didn't catch the connection between the parable of the turning gate and the fate of the characters...anyone?
The Uncertainty Principle (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France)
After the first 10 minutes: "Have I drifted off and missed something important?" After an hour and a half: "I'm intrigued. Manoel de Oliveira isn't catering to my expectations (primitive) for explicit storytelling and character development, and I'm following the story in a roundabout sort of way. This is about love and class and fate and evil-doing." It's literal, theatrical storytelling. Once you recognize that in the staging and delivery, things start to work out, and in unusually interesting ways. I'll have to see this again to take advantage of these late revelations. Go in willing to be engaged, not simply entertained...wait, no distributor. See it if you can!
Friday Night (Claire Denis, France)
Claire Denis' film "Friday Night" is a simplistic exercise with unclear aspirations - a young woman meets a mysterious older man in a Paris traffic jam, she follows him, and they make love in a hotel. The point (in its entirety) is something about love and happiness in a harried, impersonal world. Which isn't a bad thought, but it doesn't need to be packaged in a film. An advice column in a glossy magazine would suffice. Two hours of dizzying closeups and an unforgetably uncompelling story.
Springtime In A Small Town (Tian Zhuangzhuang, China)
Springtime in a Small Town is a well-struck union of careful narrative construction and beautiful presentation. Tian Zhuangzhuang's first film in ten years is a thickly metaphoric Chinese tale of two reunited boyhood friends, the woman between them, and the emotional currents which pull at each of them. With the lush camera work of Mark Li Ping-Bing tightly fused to the narrative motifs of beauty and renewal, it is a work of singular voice and one of my favorites of the festival. A must see.
Love And Dianne (Jennifer Dworkin, USA/France, currently undistributed)
Love and Dianne is a remarkable documentary about a Brooklyn family and their struggle to navigate and persist through the problem-laden circumstances of their lives. Diane is a former drug addict and mother of six children, and her daughter Love is a single mother who suffers from the depression of a tumultuous, broken upbringing. The film follows the entire family, but focusses on these two as they struggle to be positive influences both in their own lives and in those of their children. Equal to the tribulations they encounter is the vacillating yet decidedly present love between them, and it is this element which rises to the top of the film's emotional offerings. Let's hope for solid distribution as there is much to be taken from this one.
Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang Ke, China/Japan, New Yorker Films)
Moral and cultural endurance in the face of Westernization and social decay. Love stammering up through the unrelenting weight of hopeless day-to-day existence. Heavy themes indeed, made more so by the fact that this is a real look at young-adult life in modern day China; high-speed modernization doesn't work out for everyone, but it's going to confront you whether you're ready or not. This is one of those films that you can't tell the government about, and considering, its production is even more spectacular. Excellent.
The Man Without A Past (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, Sony Pictures Classics)
Finnish protagonist, M, gets beaten, dies, returns, and starts over with a clean slate thanks to amnesia. A dream come true? Perhaps. And with Kaurismaki's sense of humor this movie works well as a dreamy, off-kilter love story. At one point, M is living in a shipping container with a bed, a stove, a faithful dog and a jukebox. True happiness? Just add girl. The rest of the film is as cleanly defined and equally witty.
The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan, Scotland/Ireland, Miramax Films)
Peter Mullans' film is based loosely on the horrifyingly true story of the Sisters of the Magdalene Order and their laundry operation which subsisted on the virtual enslavement of Irish girls through the end of the 20th Century. The loose connection is problematic for me, as the film takes liberties that the viewing audience cannot discern as historical accuracies or fictional additions. Only upon attending the press conference did I learn that most of the events in the film were not real. In light of its fictional nature, the film's shock-stocked approach felt unfortunately manipulative. With jaw-dropping cruelty at every turn, the film does not hold up without the historical infrastructure I thought it had.
About Schmidt (Alexander Payne, USA, New Line Cinema)
About Schmidt is the latest Jack Nicholson flick from director Alexander Payne (Election), based on the novel by Louis Begley. Nicholson plays Warren Schmidt, a man in his mid-60's retiring from atop the only company he's ever known, Woodmen of the World Insurance, to life in Omaha. Jolted by the doldrums of his impending golden-years, Warren is gripped by the need to affect positive change on something in his life. The sudden death of his wife and the prospect of his only daughter's marriage to a flaky, pyramid-scamming salesman push Warren to the brink. He sets out on a journey to digest his wife's passing, save his daughter from certain misery, and in doing, scrape out an ounce of self-respect from a lifetime of meaningless pursuits. As with Election, Payne stacks heavy odds against his male protagonist and sets him down in a thickly stocked pot of American ennui; Nicholson's dry delivery is perfectly suited to a character in search of a way out. If there is any weakness, it's that Nicholson's performance is too good and perhaps too Nicholson, engulfing the rest of the film.
The Son (Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Belgium/France, New Yorker Films)
The Son is the story of Olivier, a wood worker who teaches his craft to delinquent teens, and his encounter with a boy deeply connected to his past. The premise is a good one (you'll see), and the approach is suspenseful but not artificially so. A good deal of the film is shot from just behind Olivier which creates a relevant sense of impending catharsis. The film relies on the workshop, the streets and the characters to fill the soundscape of a music-less story, which works quite well. I really liked this one. The characters and story are carefully constructed, and not a sign of string-pulling at any point. Perhaps my favorite film of the festival.
Punch Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, Columbia Pictures)
So this is the movie where Adam Sandler doesn't play an Adam Sandler-ish character, right? Wrong. He does, it's just not against the consciously absurd backdrop that he would cast for himself. Instead, Paul Thomas Anderson makes something far more loathsome- a cinematic wreck that postures as pioneering artistic exploration. I think he would have us watch this and marvel at all the things we weren't expecting: Sandler's non-Sandler, a bunch of violent outbursts, and some unexplained props. But actually Sandler plays Sandler. And Anderson plays Anderson, trying to define himself instead of a film. No need to see this one, unless you're in the mood for something frustrating and painful. It's presence at the festival can only be explained as "product placement". Uggh.
To Be And To Have (Nicolas Philibert, France, New Yorker Films)
Nicolas Philibert's documentary about a unique school in the mountains of northern France is really worthwhile. George Lopez is a Superman of elementary education- a teacher who strikes a careful balance between friend and instructor, confidant and disciplinarian. His students range in age from 5 to 11 and come primarily from rural farming families. The film captures Lopez imparting priceless bits of wisdom on loyalty, accountability and personal development to a group of pretty funny kids over the second semester of a school year. The subject is great, and the setting is beautiful. Pretty gratifying all the way around. And it's real!
Turning Gate (Hong Sang-soo, South Korea)
Turning Gate starts out in a promising direction. Two male friends have feelings for the same woman. In deference to their friendship, one of the men takes himself out of the picture only to find new love. It's the kind of premise I root for- a straightforward story on the complexities of love, friendship and opportunity. And the first half of the film had me. It moves in and out of relatively interesting scenes in a northern town in South Korea, the conversations work, and the characters are believable, if not familiar. But when the story turns to new love (the second half of the film), things just don't amount to much. The back-and-forths between the protagonist and his married love interest are repetitious, the characters are indecisive, and as a result, the film spirals off into an indecipherable cycle of longing and courting. I didn't catch the connection between the parable of the turning gate and the fate of the characters...anyone?
The Uncertainty Principle (Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal/France)
After the first 10 minutes: "Have I drifted off and missed something important?" After an hour and a half: "I'm intrigued. Manoel de Oliveira isn't catering to my expectations (primitive) for explicit storytelling and character development, and I'm following the story in a roundabout sort of way. This is about love and class and fate and evil-doing." It's literal, theatrical storytelling. Once you recognize that in the staging and delivery, things start to work out, and in unusually interesting ways. I'll have to see this again to take advantage of these late revelations. Go in willing to be engaged, not simply entertained...wait, no distributor. See it if you can!
Friday Night (Claire Denis, France)
Claire Denis' film "Friday Night" is a simplistic exercise with unclear aspirations - a young woman meets a mysterious older man in a Paris traffic jam, she follows him, and they make love in a hotel. The point (in its entirety) is something about love and happiness in a harried, impersonal world. Which isn't a bad thought, but it doesn't need to be packaged in a film. An advice column in a glossy magazine would suffice. Two hours of dizzying closeups and an unforgetably uncompelling story.
Springtime In A Small Town (Tian Zhuangzhuang, China)
Springtime in a Small Town is a well-struck union of careful narrative construction and beautiful presentation. Tian Zhuangzhuang's first film in ten years is a thickly metaphoric Chinese tale of two reunited boyhood friends, the woman between them, and the emotional currents which pull at each of them. With the lush camera work of Mark Li Ping-Bing tightly fused to the narrative motifs of beauty and renewal, it is a work of singular voice and one of my favorites of the festival. A must see.
Love And Dianne (Jennifer Dworkin, USA/France, currently undistributed)
Love and Dianne is a remarkable documentary about a Brooklyn family and their struggle to navigate and persist through the problem-laden circumstances of their lives. Diane is a former drug addict and mother of six children, and her daughter Love is a single mother who suffers from the depression of a tumultuous, broken upbringing. The film follows the entire family, but focusses on these two as they struggle to be positive influences both in their own lives and in those of their children. Equal to the tribulations they encounter is the vacillating yet decidedly present love between them, and it is this element which rises to the top of the film's emotional offerings. Let's hope for solid distribution as there is much to be taken from this one.
Unknown Pleasures (Jia Zhang Ke, China/Japan, New Yorker Films)
Moral and cultural endurance in the face of Westernization and social decay. Love stammering up through the unrelenting weight of hopeless day-to-day existence. Heavy themes indeed, made more so by the fact that this is a real look at young-adult life in modern day China; high-speed modernization doesn't work out for everyone, but it's going to confront you whether you're ready or not. This is one of those films that you can't tell the government about, and considering, its production is even more spectacular. Excellent.
The Man Without A Past (Aki Kaurismaki, Finland, Sony Pictures Classics)
Finnish protagonist, M, gets beaten, dies, returns, and starts over with a clean slate thanks to amnesia. A dream come true? Perhaps. And with Kaurismaki's sense of humor this movie works well as a dreamy, off-kilter love story. At one point, M is living in a shipping container with a bed, a stove, a faithful dog and a jukebox. True happiness? Just add girl. The rest of the film is as cleanly defined and equally witty.
The Magdalene Sisters (Peter Mullan, Scotland/Ireland, Miramax Films)
Peter Mullans' film is based loosely on the horrifyingly true story of the Sisters of the Magdalene Order and their laundry operation which subsisted on the virtual enslavement of Irish girls through the end of the 20th Century. The loose connection is problematic for me, as the film takes liberties that the viewing audience cannot discern as historical accuracies or fictional additions. Only upon attending the press conference did I learn that most of the events in the film were not real. In light of its fictional nature, the film's shock-stocked approach felt unfortunately manipulative. With jaw-dropping cruelty at every turn, the film does not hold up without the historical infrastructure I thought it had.