THE 23rd MIAMI INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

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The 2006 Miami International Film Festival will take place from March 3rd to March 12th at 6 theatre venues. The city is buzzing with unprecedented excitement, as it has been reported that a record number of tickets were sold several weeks in advance. A few films to be screened at the 1400-seat Gusman Theatre have already sold out.

The Festival will show well over 100 films from throughout the world, with a continued concentration on documentaries and films from Iberoamerica. The Festival is launching for the first time a film exchange program celebrating one Latin American country each year with a special program of films, discussions and events. This year, films from emerging Chilean filmmakers will be shown, and the festival will bring to Santiago a group of film industry advisors to share experience and knowledge with Chilean film students and filmmakers.

One of the most interesting aspects of the Festival is the Big Picture program, which highlights films that tackle world issues and the human struggle for life and dignity. The program pairs each film with a thought-provoking discussion involving academics, filmmakers and the audience. This year's "Big Picture" focuses on: The Banlieue in French Cinema, Children Affected by War and Terrorism, and The Death Penalty.

In 2006, the Festival bestows its Career Achievement Tribute to the world-renowed director Wim Wenders. Wenders' latest film, Don't Come Knocking, will be screened following the tribute. Local favorite Buena Vista Social Club will also receive a special screening.
Let the films begin!

[Johann]

Indeed.
Looking forward to your posts oscar.
Bring the passion to the tribe..

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Ouaga is short for Ouagadougou, the capital of the African nation of Burkina Faso. This "saga" is a feel-good comedy involving a group of friends ranging from the early teens to the early 20s, residents of the poor section of the city. The youngsters are a jovial, resourceful lot with specific dreams which appear rather unrealistic given their circumstances. Pele wants to be a professional soccer player, "Sheriff" wants to own a theatre where he can screen the westerns he loves, others want to become music industry moguls or own restaurants. They will all see their dreams realized through a combination of magic, cunning, and highly improbable luck.

Ouga Saga is a decidedly commercial move by writer/director Dani Kouyate, whose previous films include Keita:The Heritage of the Griot, a cautionaly tale of cultural marginalization, and the lyrical political allegory Sia, the Dream of the Python. These highly sophisticated works from the Sorbonne-educated Kouyate are light years away from the populist, formulaic new film. Ouga Saga is a riot of brilliant color and jubilant music, and the camaraderie and enthusiasm of its young protagonists is certainly contagious, but it's nothing more than a manipulative wish-fulfillment fantasy.

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The new documentary by Juan Carlos Rulfo (Del Olvido al No Me Acuerdo (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13463#post13463)) had its world premiere at Sundance on Rulfo's 42nd birthday (1/24/06) and received that festival's Grand Jury Prize. Rulfo's camera goes deep into the subterranean pits and high on the beams where workers are building the second deck of Mexico City's Periferico highway. The project is an effort to deal with the city's choking 3-million vehicle traffic.

In the Pit is not concerned with the engineering aspects of the huge enterprise. It focuses on the worldviews, hopes and struggles of the workers through interviews both at the site and in their places of residence. The film concentrates on one crew and a couple of guards directing traffic at street level. The pranks, chatter and singing the workers use to pass the time are amply displayed. The film veers into the mystical when a worker discusses those who've died in the risky venture and the Mexican legend that the devil demands a soul in order for a bridge to be safe. In the Pit features excellent camera work and striking sound editing. It concludes with a breathtaking 6-minute long sequence that scans the length of the elevated highway from a helicopter. As it is the case with foreign-language docs, even those prized at prominent festivals, it's highly unlikely that Rulfo's film will secure distribution. Look for it at Latino/Hispanic Festivals in major US cities.

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Martin, a teenaged resident of a remote area, ventures towards the big city. He dimly hopes to meet his biological father, and prosper enough to one day bring his mother and younger brother. The first half of News from Afar depicts the material and socio-cultural poverty of "el 17", a cluster of dwellings at different stages of construction located near the 17th kilometer of a road in a desolate part of Veracruz province. There's a brick factory nearby where Martin and his stepfather work, while his lonely mother and his brother Beto stay at home. Writer/director Ricardo Benet's film flashes back and forward with ease, with elegant lateral pans and long takes that document the quotidian with great patience. At the midway point, News from Afar becomes a road movie and a coming-of-age tale. It's very interesting how while Martin is the protagonist, it's the adult Beto who intermittently provides counterpoint via voice-over narration. The performances by a mostly unknown cast are unformly accomplished. The film contains a number of dramatic, even tragic moments, that strike with maximum impact because they're surrounded by banal and unremarkable everyday activity. News from Afar is a distinctively sober and somber film of extreme realism. It treats its desperate subjects with uncommon dignity.

News from Afar has been making the festival circuit since Spring of 2005 and has received major awards at the Guadalajara, Biarritz, and Vancouver film festivals. The film is nominated for 12 Ariels, the Mexican Academy Awards. An impressive feat for a decidedly serious film which makes no commercial concessions.

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World premiere of Sara Sackner's documentary about the importance of arts as part of a child's education and the drastic cuts in the funding of such subjects throughout the USA. Class Act provides both anecdotal and scientific evidence of how an arts education helps people tap into their creativity, and the holistic benefits of doing so.

Class Act's protagonist, so to speak, is Jay Jensen, who taught drama at Miami Bech High for almost forty years. His now prominent students, including Hollywood actors, Broadway producers, professionals, a rabbi, and this doc's director reminisce about the devonair, inspiring, openly gay Mr. Jensen and how he had a huge impact on their lives. Class Act also depicts the efforts of private citizen groups to restore and supplement funding to programs that teach art, music, dance, and drama to kids from all around the country. At 95 minutes, Sackner's debut could use a bit of trimming. Jensen's one lovable dude but the pack-rat's move to the Gables after half a century living in the same Beach apt. belongs on the cutting floor. Overall, Class Act entertains as it advances its worthy agenda with aplomb.

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Lille is under the grip of a serial killer of young women. Claire (Isabelle Carre), a 30 year-old who works as an insurance adjuster, lives there with husband Fabrice and cute daughter Pauline. Laurent (Benoit Poelvoorde), a fortyish veterinarian, pays her a visit to inquire whether his policy covers water damage. Gradually and rather innocently, Claire and Laurent draw closer over a series of meetings. It becomes apparent that Laurent is particularly close to his mother, and that he seeks the company of women but refrains from romantic entanglements. As Claire begins to to consider Laurent as a potential culprit, the police arrest a suspect. Is he the killer?

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of In His Hands is not the answer to that question. Writer/director Anne Fontaine (How I Killed My Father) is specifically interested in characters whose behavior is perplexing, often against their own self-interest. Her previous film, Nathalie, featured a titular character who hires a go-go dancer to seduce her husband. Here, Fontaine challenges the common belief that there's something lacking in the marital relationship of a woman who needs to bond emotionally with another man. The scenes involving Claire and her attractive husband evidence a harmonious, satisfying union. It's a riddle In His Hands doesn't quite try to solve, as the film falls short of providing insight into the motivations of human behavior. It does create two complex, highly interesting characters that carry the gripping, involving film. Both Carre and Poelvoorde received Cesar noms, but it's the latter who steals the spotlight. Benoit Poelvoorde is playing against type here, as he is known in France as a comedic actor and writer (Cannes winner for his script for Man Bites Dog). It's great fun to watch him slip creepy bits into Laurent's affable, considerate persona.

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Francois (Olivier Gourmet) and Simon are best friends and co-workers at a company based in Nantes. Simon is fired and becomes despondent. He slips into the office at night and shoots himself. The normally level-headed Francois snaps and becomes unhinged. The film's sardonic original title translates to "Except the respect that I owe you". Burn Out aims to dramatize the corporate world's lack of dignity and respect towards employees. Some sequences are inspired by the personal experiences of first-time director Fabienne Godet, a social psychologist who worked previously in the human resources department of a large company. The best scenes are the ones that portray the psychological pressure exerted on employees to conform to corporate culture. Then again, Godet introduces thriller elements clumsily, and a subplot involving a journalist feels like padding. Perhaps the biggest flaw is the characterization of the agrieved Simon, who comes off as a pedantic jerk who perhaps deserved to be fired. Moreover, opening the film with a long flashback in which Francois drives aimlessly and picks up a hitchhiker proves disorienting and serves no apparent purpose. Godet's good intentions are obvious, but her debut pales in comparison to Human Resourses and Time Out, Laurent Cantet's films of corporate malfeasance and occupational angst.

[Johann]

I love how you zero in on the essence of a film.

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Another film about inhumane corporate practices, a much more successful one than the French one reviewed above.

Madrid in the near future. The last seven candidates for an executive position at a large firm are summoned for an all-day exercise that will determine who gets the job. In the streets below, there are violent demonstrations against a World Bank/I.M.F convention. Insulated in one of the top floors of the firm's sleek building, the five men and two women sit around a table with computer monitors providing instructions. A receptionist explains they are to be subjected to the Gronholm method of executive selection, which consisits of a series of tasks that gradually eliminate candidates until one is chosen. For instance, they are told there's a company mole among them and they need to eliminate the one they think fits the criteria. Another task involves picking the one who'd be least useful after a nuclear holocaust, based on his/ her resume. The proceedings are spiced by the fact that candidates Carlos and Nieves (played by Eduardo Noriega and Najwa Nimri of Open Your Eyes) are former lovers; also a candidate's secret and undesirable past as a union rep is suddenly revealed. The method itself and the way candidates behave towards each other is meant to mirror and expose real-life corporate environment.

The first Spanish film by Argentine director Marcelo Pineyro (Kamchatka (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=2227#post2227)) was nominated for five 2006 Goyas (Spanish Academy Awards) and won for Carmelo Gomez's performance and best adapted screenplay. It's based on Jordi Galceran's wildly popular play, which has had a 4-year run at a Madrid theatre. It's a chamber drama that might remind viewers of 12 Angry Men. The Method is engrossing from beginning to end. It keeps you guessing until the last minute. The script and the performances from a familiar cast are first-rate. American viewers may think of it as a satire of certain reality TV shows, but the source play predates these. At the present time, the film has not been picked up for distribution. I would think the universality of its themes and the compact and affecting drama would make it successful stateside.

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Thank you for your kind words, Johann. I'm glad you enjoy my festival posts. I'm just getting started, with 30 or so films pending review. A baccanalia of film offerings from around the globe. I'm a bit delirious already.

[Johann]

I hear you: at the VIFF last sept. it seemed like movie overload.

3-4 films a day, keeping track of notes, trying to focus on the review, as Nietzsche said: a man's gotta be built for it or it will kill him.

But if you worship film, there's nothing better, is there?

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Already on limited release by Miramax, this Soweto-style gangsta flick was adapted by writer/director Gavin Hood from a novel by Athol Fugard (Boesman and Lena, Master Harold and the Boys). Tsotsi opens inside a crowded subway train where a gang of youths brutally murder a man to rob him. The leader is nicknamed Tsotsi, which means "thug" in the local patois. He's a particularly vicious thug. He steals from a wheelchair-bound beggar, and almost beats his pal Boston to death. Tsotsi runs away from the scene of the beating and somehow finds himself in a ritzy sector of the city and decides to hijack a beemer on his own. It comes off as pure movie contrivance. He shoots at the lady driver and drives away, without realizing there's a baby in the backseat. The remainder concerns the now paralyzed mother's efforts to get her infant back, and the unlikely transformation of Tsotsi into a compassionate human being.

Ludicrous, by all appearances. Yet somehow, I bought into it. Learning to care for the baby, and watching a widowed, single mother do so, first at gun point and later voluntarily, forces Tsotsi to reconnect with his tragic childhood. Compact flashbacks show his brutal father forcibly separating him from his dying, AIDS-afflicted mom. Tsotsi's identification with the abducted little boy is what ultimately motivates him to behave uncharacteristically. A great deal of credit for the viewer swallowing this turn of events is the amazing debut performance by Presley Chweneyage in the titular role. Moreover, it doesn't hurt the picture to feature gorgeous widescreen vistas of real locations and a pulsing Kwaito (South African hip hop) soundtrack.

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Daniel Alarcon's wife was killed and his modest home was burned by Batista's troops in 1957 because he aided Cuban rebels camped near his small farm in the Sierra Maestra mountains. He joined the revolution, fighting alongside Fidel Castro and becoming an expert in guerrilla warfare. He was called "guajiro" because of his peasant background until Che Guevara nicknamed "benigno", the kind one. Benigno was a revolutionary hero, an intimate of Fidel, and held the highest offices within the Cuban government. He was extremely popular, almost as much as Che. In 1967, both were sent to Bolivia to start a revolution there. Upon arrival they found none of the troops, arms, supplies, and popular support promised by Fidel. Che was killed and Benigno barely survived. Benigno strongly believes the increasingly megalomaniac, self-serving Castro set them up because he saw them as a potential threat. Benigno returned to Cuba where he kept silent about his feelings and beliefs regarding Castro's betrayal of his revolutionary ideals. He lived in fear, feeling like a tool of a corrupt system. This is the story told by Benigno from his exile in Paris, where he barely manages to survive doing odd jobs. These interviews are interspersed with historical footage and scenes from a Cuban TV soap that dramatizes his exploits as a rebel hero.

It's an absorbing story told well. The only thing wrong with Mariou van den Berge's doc is that, at just under one hour, it's too short. It leaves too much unexplored. What were the circumstances of his departure from the island? What happened to Benigno's second wife after he left Cuba in the mid-90s? Why Paris, where he appears isolated and unable to communicate in French, and not Madrid, for instance? Benigno is a decent, highly dignified, well-spoken man and I wanted the doc to dig deeper and more in detail into his compelling life story.

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It's quite appropriate to have the world premiere of a doc about Bob Marley in Miami, the Marleys' home away from Jamaica since 1978 and the city where he died almost a quarter century ago. It's directed by Saul Swimmer, the veteran rock documentarian (Concert for Bangladesh). Bob Marley and Friends qualifies as a disappointment. It goes over the salient points of Marley's ascendance to global superstardom via old footage and interviews with friends and relatives, while avoiding anything remotely controversial. It features some songs played live by Bob and the Wailers that are the film's highlight and an equal number of songs performed by various artists of variable interest, including some unrelated to Marley and his legacy (a reggae cover of Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, for example). Bob Marley and Friends pays no attention to the evolution of reggae as a musical idiom. What's worst is the crosscutting between a 1973 performance of "War" and incongruous shots of Nixon resigning and jets crashing into the Twin Towers uh... twice. You'd be better off watching the concert docs Bob Marley Live in Concert or Bob Marley: The Legend Live.

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This autobiographical documentary could possibly become this year's Capturing the Friedmans. Both docs focus on a Jewish family from New York and make ample use of family photos and 8 mm home movies. 51 Birch Street does not contain anything as incendiary as the allegations of serial child abuse involving the elder Friedman. It deals with issues that are more universal, resulting in a film that invites personal reflection on the part of the viewer.

John and Mina Block had been married for 53 years when she died rather suddenly of pneumonia. Her two daughters and son Doug, who shot, wrote, produced and directed 51 Birch Street, were devastated. They were very close to Mina, and had a distant relationship with their father, to the point of polite but intentional avoidance. Doug decides it's about time he gets to know Dad and explore the reasons behind their tenuous relationship. Two events spice up the proceedings: 3 months after Mina's funeral, Dad marries Kitty, his former secretary, and sells the family home. Then, while cleaning out the house, Doug discovers Mina's personal diaries, which reveal a person he didn't know: a resentful an unfulfilled woman who had affairs and an intense obsession with her therapist. A woman who had strong suspicions about her husband's frequent trips to Florida, often acompanied by his secretary. "Why do I suddenly care that Kitty was a guest at my Bar Mitzvah in 1966?", the director asks.

Do we really want to know our parents? Is it ethical to dig into their personal histories? 51 Birch Street confronts these issues and many others such as how gender roles, marriage expectations, and the concept of personal happiness have evolved since the 1950s. 51 Birch Street is a highly appealing, even riventing entry into the autobiographical documentary genre. It will screen on HBO before a theatrical run, but no dates have been announced.

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Ali's grocery store is the only business left in the decrepit shopping center overshadowed by the project towers of La Source. The neighborhood in Epinay sur-Seine is home to about 3000 people of 25 nationalities sharing a desolate concrete landscape. The charismatic Ali provides a welcoming haven. Within his store, La Source resembles a real village full of chatter and gossip. Children flock for sweets after school while the elderly arrive early, fearing to walk the streets after dark. The store's mentally disabled deliveryman Jamaa climbs up the stairs when broken elevators keep the old ones homebound. The Senegalese Papi gives Ali soothing massages. The multi-culti bonhomie extends to a gospel quartet who serenade shoppers. It's 2002 and the local council continues to fail to deliver improvements to the crumbling structure. Two years later, the store is finally moved a block away, to a secure structure where Ali can continue to deliver warmth and good cheer for years to come.

Chantal Briet's charming debut feature provides a corrective to the bulk of filmography involving Parisian ethnic minorities. What goes on at Ali's general store is as real as the crime and vice highlighted by other films set in such areas. Alimentation Generale was presented as part of the Miami Int. Festival's "The Banlieue in French Cinema" series.

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Writer/directors Vidi Bilu and Dalia Hager's film is bookended by politically charged scenes. Close to Home opens at a checkpoint in Jerusalem where Dana, a girl doing her military service, refuses to make an Arab woman undress and ushers her out without checking her bag. An altercation with her superiors ensues. At the film's conclusion, a Palestinian who refuses to produce I.D. gets beaten by two civilians before soldiers attempt to break it up. Due to insubordination, Dana is sent to jail and out of the narrative.

The rest of Close to Home is something much more conventional. A girl buddy movie. Smadar likes to goof off, shop and flirt. She couldn't care less about her duties policing the Arab community in a designated sector of the city. Mirit is the conscientious daughter of a military couple. These 18 year-olds with clashing personalities are assigned to joint duty. They do eventually become friends.

Close to Home is enjoyable and well-made. But I remain curious about Dana's motives and beliefs. I think she's the picture's most interesting character. To whisk her out of the film feels like a cop-out to me, an avoidance of controversy. As for Smadar and Mirit, their tale of an odd couple's hard-earned friendship could take place anywhere.

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Negar (Hanieh Tavasoli), a 24 year old clerk, arrives home from work. Her mother tells her to sleep over her aunt's house because her (married) lover is coming over. Negar doesn't like to visit her aunt. She calls her boyfriend but can't locate him, so she decides to stay out in the streets of Tehran. Throughout the night, the intrepid and attractive woman accepts rides from three men: a shady businessman, a doctor just out of night duty at a hospital, and a graphic artist. All three have stories to tell, invariably about the pursuit of love, and relationship difficulties. These, and the men's points of view, are varied and well-differentiated. The graphic artist has a rather shocking confession in store for Negar.

One Night was written and directed by Niki Karimi, an actress well known for her roles in films like Sara, Two Women, and The Hidden Half. She shot her film on DV, with only existing lighting and music, without obtaining permits to shoot, and using non-actors except for Miss Tavasoli. Albeit less ambitious, One Night looks as professional as Abbas Kiarostami's 10, which has a similar narrative structure. This road movie manages to open a window onto aspects of domestic life often censored out of cultural objects in Islamic societies. I concluded after the screening that, when it comes to love and marriage, westerners have more in common with our Islamic counterparts than I had anticipated.

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Painter Hugues de Montalembert was living in NYC in 1978 when two men broke into his apartment near Washington Square. Accompanied by aerial views of the city, Montalembert narrates how one of his attackers threw paint remover in his eyes. Black Sun descends to street level as the painter tells us how he became increasingly blind. Buildings and faces begin to blur and come out of focus and colors bleed as Black Sun approximates its subject's perceptions. Montalembert describes the process by which his brain created vivid images to compensate for the loss of actual ones. "I was making films in my head", he says. Meanwhile, sounds gain texture and specificity. Montalembert insists on keeping his condition a secret "to avoid having to console relatives and friends". After hospitalization, he enters a rehab center and describes in detail the slow process of regaining independence and becoming mobile. Thin-soled shoes come in handy as you learn to use your feet like hands. His first walk alone, down Madison Ave. at 3 a.m., is recreated using computer graphics. By 1981, Montalembert is ready to travel. Alone. To Indonesia. Black Sun takes us there, and to India and the Himalayas. People are willing to assist you but you have to accept you need help, he states. Back in France, Montalembert becomes a bestselling author ("Eclipse", "La Lumiere Assassinee") and freelance reporter. "My life was changed, but not drastically", he states. He currently lives in Paris.

Black Sun was shot, edited, produced, scored, and directed by composer-turned-filmmaker Gary Tarn. More than a documentary, it's a film essay in which very strong imagery supports Montalembert's storytelling and insights into a myriad of topics. The subjectivity of our perception of reality and the nature of memory perhaps the main focus. At just 70 minutes, Tarn's compelling film is quite the experience. Festival programmers and curators at museums that show films should book it immediately.

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People thought Ignacio Varchausky was as naive as Don Quixote when he proposed calling the great maestros of "serious" tango out of retirement to create an orchestra school. Someone told the young double bass player he'd succeed only "if he was a sorcerer" (Si Sos Brujo, also the title of a classic composition). Argentina was in the midst of a grave economic crisis and most of the masters were long-retired octogenerians.

Varchausky managed to track them down, including mythic violinist, composer and conductor Emilio Balcarce. His involvement helps coax many great figures of tango's golden age to contribute. They lead a young group of musicians to the very heart of tango, introducing them to the unique details of interpretation which give this music its unmistakable flavor. This oral transmission of style, at risk of being lost forever, is saved. The new orchestra gives sellout performances and enters the recording studio.

Caroline Neal's doc does for tango what Wenders' Buena Vista Social Club did for traditional Cuban music. Si Sos Brujo ends with a memorable trip to Paris where the masters and the young upstarts share the stage of a prestigious theatre. Unlike Don Quixote's, Varchausky's dream was not impossible after all.

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The premise is fictional: a man sitting at a park reading a book about the war in Somalia meets a woman from that country. Fatima tells him about her pain and suffering. Later on, the man realizes he must write a book detailing Fatima's life story. He sets out to look for her.

Then this film, written, produced and directed by Khalo Matanabe, becomes a documentary. With the excuse of looking for his muse, the man wanders Johannesburg's crowded streets interviewing refugees, exiles and immigrants from elsewhere in Africa and from countries as far as Croatia, Trinidad, and Palestine. As we get a peek at South African urban life, our guide records men and women's experiences with war, deprivation, and cultural dislocation. A visit to a holding center for foreigners with expired or non-existing visas provides added perspective. A picture of South Africa emerges as a haven of sorts, a place of renewed hope for people who can't find that in their countries of origin.

Eventually Fatima is found. Ironically, whereas others were more than willing to share and confess to the would-be writer, Fatima doesn't want her life made public.

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Zac Beaulieu is born just after midnight on Christmas 1960 into a Catholic family in Montreal Nord. His complicated birth on Jesus' birthday marks him as special from the beginning. His devout mother (Danielle Proulx), who toasts bread with an iron, even believes he has healing powers. Out of four (and later, five) boys, Zac (played by Emile Vallee and Marc-Andre Grondin) is the favorite of his dad, who collects Patsy Cline records and loves to sing along Charles Aznavour's songs. Problem is the otherwise lovable dad is homophobic, and beginning when he is seven, dad notices things about Zac that cause him to worry. The most clearly adversarial relationship is between Zac and older brother Ray, a trouble-prone youth who loves to tease and provoke his brothers. C.R.A.Z.Y. is a comedic family saga and coming-of-age tale concentrating on Zac's 7th, 15th and 20th years. It was directed by Jean-Marc Vallee, and co-written by Vallee, who's responsible for material having to do with Catholic upbringing within a large family, and Francois Boulay, who provided the bulk of the scenes dealing with sexual identity and parental intolerance.

Music is as central to Zac's life as it is to his father's. Several key moments in C.R.A.Z.Y. are designed around classic rock songs. There's a made-up Zac's bedroom rendition of Bowie's "Space Oddity". Forced to go to church, a stoned Zac fantasizes to the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil"; he levitates arms stretched to his side as the congregation below provides a chorus of ooh-oohs. It's sequences like these and recurrent visual motifs (smoke rings, for instance) that give the film an original spin. Ironically, issues over clearance rights for these songs have kept C.R.A.Z.Y. out of American theatres. Vallee's feel-good flick was huge at the Quebec box office and an Audience Award winner at Toronto 2005. The Miami Herald review headline was "You'd be nuts to miss it" and the fest's audience gave the ecstatic Vallee a standing ovation. At 127 minutes, I found the film a tad overlong and bit indulgent, but C.R.A.Z.Y. is a hugely entertaining and satisfying movie. Curious Americans can access the film by purchasing the dvd, already out in Canada, from internet vendors.

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Movies that open and close film festivals often precede parties. Audiences include politicos and sponsor company reps who would normally not attend a film festival. Ideal opening and closing night films are lighthearted, preferably funny crowd pleasers. Something demanding or downbeat wouldn't put people in a celebratory mood. Dramatic comedies or "dramedies" like Eliseo Subiela's Heartlift, a world premiere, and Nicole Holofcener's Friends with Money, Sundance's opener, fit the bill.

HEARTLIFT (Argentina/Spain, 2006)

Antonio (Pep Munne) is a plastic surgeon in his late 40s. He lives in Seville with his wife Cristina (Maria Barranco) and their teenage son. Otherwise content, Antonio's reaction to the news that his older daughter is pregnant signals an impending mid-life crisis. During a conference in Buenos Aires, he has an affair with his assigned assistant, a 28 year old beauty named Delia (Moro Anghileri). A wise cab driver with a college degree (a recurrent character) warns him of the implied risks. The thrill and rush of new love is too much to resist though, and Antonio enjoys long nights of sex and tango with Delia. Back in Seville, it doesn't take long for Cristina to figure things out. Antonio invents an excuse to return to Argentina. Cristina goes to a marriage counselor who is more interested in her than in helping fix her marital problems. Alone again in Buenos Aires, Delia decides to visit Antonio. At a restaurant in Seville, both couples will meet with hilarious, then poignant results.

Nonetheless engaging and enjoyable, some of the laughs in Heartlift feel forced: when the shrink, sitting behind Cristina in classical psychoanalitic mode, learns of Antonio's affair, he gleefully pumps his fist in the air. He also keeps a love den in his office. Besides, Subiela's film is too favorable towards his male protagonist because Cristina's affair is devoid of passion. It's reactionary, meant only to convey to Antonio he could lose her for good. Heartlift recovers though, ending with a perfectly wistful and inconclusive note.

FRIENDS WITH MONEY (USA, 2006)

Nicole Holofcener is an expert at depicting women's problems-in-living and neurotic behavior. It's been a decade since her debut, Walking and Talking, and some of the characters in her new film recall the ones from the debut after ten years of life experience. They also have acquired wealth but that doesn't mean they are happier.

Christina (Holofcener regular Catherine Keener) writes screenplays with her boorish husband. They bicker constantly while workers toil to make a ghastly, seemingly unnecessary addition to their suburban home. The perpetually enraged Jane (Frances McDormand) and her suave, metrosexual husband Aaron are fashion designers. Franny (Joan Cusack) and Matt are wallowing in old money. She's worried that Matt's excessive indulging of their kids' whims will spoil them. Christina, Jane and Franny have been Olivia's friends since school. Olivia (Jane Anniston) is a failed teacher working as a maid who's involved with a complete loser.

Friends with Money's best moments are female ensemble scenes. Holofcener has a gift for writing dialogue that sounds natural and casual while addressing important, often weighty issues. She finds nuggets of humor without making the women's flaws endearing. Her male characters are rather sketchy though, as if she's not quite interested in them. Too much is made for instance regarding the possibility that Aaron is a closeted homosexual. It's turned into an extended joke that sounds like worked-over TV sitcom material. What really disappoints concerns Anniston's Jane, a self-defeating mess whose acquiescence to her exploitative and abusive boyfriend is never properly explained. The performances from Keener, Cusack and McDormand maintain the high quality we've come to expect from such seasoned actors.

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On Christmas Eve 1914, in a World War I battlefield in northern France, Scottish, German and French soldiers manage to negotiate a truce. They share wine and food, play soccer, exchange tales and songs, and participate in a religious service. Among the principals: an Anglican priest who's volunteered to accompany his teenage church aides, a famous German tenor separated from his Danish lover and singing partner, and a lieutenant whose wife is about to give birth. There's a convincing battle scene early on to give weight to the truce and to remind us of the fate that awaits these men. Joyeaux Noel generates some suspense out of two events with the potential to stop the merriment and produce a bloodbath.

Christian Carion's film aims to warm the heart and celebrate the shared humanity of men from different nations. It's based on numerous confirmed instances of fraternizing with the enemy that took place that Christmas. That fact has been tricked out for maximum entertainment bang. The sheer number of soldiers (from three regiments) involved seems fantastic; and the Danish woman's rendezvous with the tenor is pure movie-magic. In addition, casting a too-young Daniel Bruhl, perhaps Europe's #1 Box office attraction, as the top German smacks of commercial calculation. Yet, I couldn't help but surrender to Joyeux Noel's transnational cultural exchange and working-class solidarity.

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O Veneno Da Madrugada is set in an isolated town in wartorn South America. A place abandoned by time and progress and currently inaccessible because of a deluge. Half the rat-infested town is flooded and there's sewage on the streets. Yet, what preoccupies its residents most, are long-standing feuds and an outbreak of anonymous poison-pen letters.

Our point of entry into the plot, which transpires over 24 hours, is the memoirs of a corpulent, bearded priest. He introduces the conflict between Leonardo, the shabby and manic mayor, and the old widow Assis. The vengeful Leonardo sneaks into the house of the widow's son to have sex with the alluring Rebecca. It's only the beginning of an elaborate conspiracy to topple the once-omnipotent Assis. A conspiracy involving a collection of oddballs, sinners and dreamers, large and small, forced by fate and circumstance to play a role.

O Veneno Da Madrugada is the 25th feature by Ruy Guerra, the Mozambique-born director who was a pioneer of the Cinema Novo movement in Brasil_Guerra also performs at times, most memorably as Don Pedro in Herzog's hallucinatory Aguirre.
This is Guerra's fourth film based on a novel by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, arguably South America's best 20th century novelist. The linear storytelling of the first half gives way to the circular notion of time familiar to Marquez's readers. The plot doubles onto itself thrice, with new narrative possibilities intercalated each time. Guerra has crafted a literary film that captures the intensity of the source novel ("La Mala Hora") and embraces its formal daring. O Veneno Da Madrugada also offers a lush sensorial experience to the viewer: the rich, dark tones and chiaroscuro lighting used by cinematographer Walter Carvahlo (Central Station, Mme. Sata), the sinister score built almost entirely of ambient sounds, and the imaginative art direction conspire to recreate a godforsaken place lost in time.

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El Calentito is set in Madrid in 1981, when former Franco supporters within the military staged a coup d'etat. Sara, a shy 19 year-old from a conservative family loses her virginity and becomes the lead singer of Las Sioux. The all-girl trio are not talented musicians; they just want to get onstage dressed like nuns, bare their breasts and scream "Fuck You". Las Sioux are part of "la movida", the youth movement based on the need to exercise freedom of expression following decades of repression under Generalisimo Franco. The titular nightclub is one place in Madrid where "anything goes". The old couple who bitch about the noise, the cop who exacts blowjobs from the transvestite owner, and the military men plotting a return to Spain's fascist past are bound to lose. Their time is up.

Chus Gutierrez's rollicking comedy is a celebration of new-found freedom; a labor of love by a director whose coming-of-age experiences mirror those of Sara and her friends. El Calentito is not terribly original_it resembles, for instance, Pedro Almodovar's little-seen debut Pepi, Luci, Bon.... But it's neatly grounded in an uncanny recreation of a historic time and place, and it's energy and good karma are infectuous.

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A Cuban hustler named Simon (Jorge Perrugoria) makes a living smuggling rum and immigrants into the U.S. Simon also brings rural teens to a francophile Madame who polishes them to be auctioned to rich, old suitors. Deck hand Andres gets injured while saving Simon's life at sea. He is brought to Madame's house to recover and falls in love with Marie, a bewitching 16 year-old. Upon witnessing their flirtations, a jealous Simon realizes he loves Marie too.

Una Rosa de Francia was directed by Manuel Gutierrez Aragon. The veteran filmmaker was responsible for the highly praised Black Litter and Talk, Mute One! in the 70s. His Demons in the Garden(1982) and Half of Heaven(1986) were deservedly distributed throughout Europe and North America. Since then, the quality of Mr. Gutierrez Aragon's films has steadily declined. Una Rosa de Francia, which appropriates the title of a song by the great balladeer Beny More, is perhaps the auteur's lowest point. The script, co-written by the director and Senel Paz, apparently sets the plot during Prohibition but incongruously contains contemporary dialogue and references to Eisenhower, as well as unlikely scenes of US Coast Guard boats crossing into Cuban waters to machine-gun Simon's barge. Things I left in Habana, the co-writers' previous collaboration with the handsome Perrugoria, is a much better film. An affecting movie about nostalgic, struggling exiles set in present-day Madrid. Gutierrez Aragon seems out of his element in pre-revolution Cuba. Moreover, I found Perrugoria's histrionic acting style, so appropriate for the flamboyant lead of Strawberry and Chocolate, supremely annoying here. Nice shots of still-picturesque Habana and the atractive young couple are the film's sole assets; not nearly enough to make it worth your time.

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Howard, a fading western movie-star, absconds on horseback from the set of his latest movie. He seems ready for a lifestyle change since he leaves his booze and drugs in his trailer. The road takes Howard to a small town in southern Nevada where he reunites with his estranged mother (Eva Marie Saint). Howard manages to evade a bounty hunter (Tim Roth) hired by the bond company to return him to the set and ends up in Butte, Montana. Not by accident, we learn. Thirty years ago, while shooting "Just Like Jesse James", Howard had an affair with a waitress (Jessica Lange) and fathered a son he didn't know existed. Wandering nearby, a rather mysterious girl (Sarah Polley) carrying an urn who may also be his offspring. Howard realizes, perhaps too late, that the life he's led yields diminishing returns.

Don't Come Knocking is the seventh Wim Wenders film that can unequivocally be called a road movie. It's his second collaboration with playwright Sam Shepard, who's also cast in the main role_Shepard was slated to headline Paris,Texas, but he was smitten with Jessica Lange and opted to shoot Crimes of the Heart with her instead.

Like Paris,Texas, Alice in the Cities, and other films by Wenders, Don't Come Knocking depicts a character's journey in search of an identity rooted in the past. The title implies the impossibility of undoing and anticipates the rejection Howard is likely to experience when confronting those he's neglected. The film's central theme is the plight of the absentee father_Wenders has stated that it's easier for dads to get "lost" in America , if only because of its sheer size and facility of travel.

Wenders came into film via painting. His primary concern is aesthetic: images married to themes but never subordinated to narrative. Visuals that carry meaning and create a mood but don't always advance the plot. Don't Come Knocking is consistently astonishing to contemplate. The widescreen vistas served by Wenders and DP Franz Lustig (European Film Award winner) are truly magnificent. On scene in particular is worth describing and worth the price of admission: Howard's son becomes enraged and practically throws the entire contents of his second floor apartment onto the street below. Howard sits on the couch surrounded by his son's bric-a-brack. It becomes the setting for several encounters. The camera regards Howard with a series of 360 degree pans and dissolves. Then Wenders cuts to Polley at a mountain peak throwing her mother's ashes into the wind. The whole sequence creates rich associations around the theme of duty between parents and offspring. Early scenes, in a desert movie set, pay homage to westerns by lovingly recreating the colors and compositions used by Ford and Hawks in their classics.

It's a shame Shepard's script is not up to par. Two decades after the superb Paris, Texas, it's clear to me Shepard's skills as a scriptwriter have since atrophied. For example, Howard's reunion with mother is markedly under-dramatized, impossibly devoid of sentiment; whereas his meeting with his son is wildly emotive, taking the film to the farthest corners of melodrama. It would be an understament to call the film's tone uneven. Moreover, Don't Come Knocking contains a number of incongruities. Howard apparently became a huge star 2 or 3 decades ago by starring on westerns, but the genre has been in decline since the early 60s. A trio of teen girls not only recognize him but appear supremely excited to meet him. I could go on. I'm afraid that these inconsistencies and incongruities will result in many being dismissive of Don't Come Knocking. The film's considerable strengths as a piece of cinema that develops certain themes quite well should not be overlooked because of flaws inherent to its storytelling.

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Sitting on his bed bare-chested, Jonathan, a 14 year-old Casanova introduces his friends. He's the sole Guatemalan among "salvis"_kids from El Salvador living in East Los Angeles. The b&w film stock, hand-held camera, and seemingly improvised speech presage a documentary. This impression is confirmed as Wassup Rockers goes on to depict the daily routine of Latino kids who eschew violence and drugs in favor of skateboarding. They defy hip-hop dominance by embracing punk rock, hardcore variety. Jonathan and gang are ostracized by peers, particularly African-Americans who threaten them and ridicule their tight-fitting duds.

Wassup Rockers was written and directed by Larry Clark so a semblance of plot is expected. It becomes manifest when the boys decide to drive to a skate site in Beverly Hills. Still on familiar streets, a cop impounds their borrowed jalope because no one has a driver's license. As soon as they disembark in 90210, Wassup Rockers becomes Clark's first comedy. The style is broad farce, with the requisite caricatured villains. The boys are assaulted by debutantes with a taste for brown, jealous preppy boyfriends, racist cops, a trigger-happy vigilante, a predacious homosexual, and a plastered, middle aged floozie. Most manage to escape "el infierno", thanks to the ingenuity and class solidarity of a network of mansion maids. The succession of mishaps is interrupted once, for a rather tender and insightful bedside conversation between the chubby Kico and a girl predictably named Nikki. The film ends on a similarly subdued note as the returning boys doze off inside a train to Mogwai's "Take Me Somewhere Nice".

Larry Clark's affection for his young subjects has never been so palpable. It pervades every frame. The film could have stayed in the barrio and delved deeper into milieu and character psychology. Instead, by venturing outside, Wassup Rockers registers a strong (and funny) protest against the objectification and devaluation of Latinos. Its release, as Congress debates whether to make instant criminals out of 12 million undocumented, foreign-born residents, could not be more timely. Viva La Raza!

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Four generations of Price men have run a shoe factory in staid Northampton. Charlie intends to make a break with family tradition and settles in London. His father dies. Charlie visits Northampton and finds the small factory on the brink of bankrupcy. Concerned about the plight of the loyal workers and against the wishes of his fiancee, Charlie changes his mind. He struggles to keep the factory afloat until he comes across a drag show and meets leading queen Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor). The odd pair pool their talents and resources to manufacture and market colorful knee-high boots that won't break under a man's weight.

The boots are kinky but the film is not. It's wholesome enough for grandparents and preteens, mostly by keeping mum about Lola's sex life. Kinky Boots is the latest of a particular strain of British comedy that promotes tolerance without posing a challenge to middle-class taste standards. If you really liked The Full Monty or Calendar Girls, you should check it out. You're not likely to object that it's obvious from the get-go that Charlie is engaged to the wrong person and that the plucky factory accountant would be quite suitable. It is fun to watch paunchy he-men warm up to Lola and the scene at a Milan fashion show is a blast. On the other hand, the blundering Charlie, as played by Joel Edgerton, fails to make much of an impression.

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Remarkable documentary directed by Joop Van Wijk about the effect of war and terrorism on children. The film takes us to a particular site in four different continents. We meet Lower Manhattan kids with parents who perished on 9/11, Afghan children left fatherless by the American bombing in the mountains where Bin Laden was thought to be hiding, and children from Sierra Leone and Colombia who are victims of civil wars in their countries. In each of these sites there's an adult telling an animated story about a baby elephant trying to comprehend the death of his father and muster the courage to cope with it. Interviews with children from each region follow a certain structural order. It's based on how a human being generally progresses through overlapping stages of healing following a tragedy. Each child describes his/her own experience, followed by the interior recurrence of that event via dreams and memories, leading to grief, acceptance, and eventual recovery. The film is bookended by Colombian teens reading a self-penned poem and a father/daughter duo's anti-war ditty. Echoes of War is both an engaging and inspirational documentary for a general audience and a therapeutic tool to help trauma victims of all ages.

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Do U Cry 4 Me, Argentina? was produced, written and directed by Bae Youn Suk. It's set in a sector of Buenos Aires called Little Corea. Almost 21,000 South Koreans emigrated to Argentina between 1986 and 1991, when their homeland was under a military dictatorship. This community has continued to grow but not without pains, as implied by the urgent title. The film pays particular attention to the struggles of the "1.5 generation", young people uneasily perched between two disparate cultures.

Do U Cry 4 Me, Argentina? strives to present a rich and comprehensive portrait of Little Corea by juggling several subplots involving a multiplicity of characters, young and old, haves and have-nots, at different stages of assimilation and acculturation. There's a garmet factory worker and a delivery boy who strike up a tentative relationship while hiding from an immigration officer (the Korean owner employs undocumented South Americans and wants to make it look like the factory is idle). There's a young man angered by the strong-arm tactics of his mother's landlord, so he kidnaps the landlord's son. There's a high school dropout tired of low wages who plans his first home-invasion robbery. There's a talented and highly assimilated violinist dealing with self-esteem issues. The picture is a rather odd but interesting mixture of drama, gangster flick, and musical_six music videos involving major characters are intercalated with varying degrees of effectiveness.

Bae Youn Suk succeeds at providing a balanced portrait of the community from a sociological point of view, and to make the experience entertaining. It comes at a price. By trying to cover all bases within 93 minutes of running time, several subplots are not fully cooked, and the characterizations often lack depth and nuance.

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It's been ten years since Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne gained worlwide recognition with the release of La Promesse, which was followed by Golden Palm-winner Rosetta and The Son. Like those films, L'Enfant is set in the Dardennes' native Seraing, a steel town in East Belgium, and deals with moral issues involving young urban characters. The brothers' background as documentarians seems to have served them well when they turned to social-realist fiction in 1987. Like The Son, L'Enfant is a tale of redemption. It concerns the moral education of Bruno, a man of about 20 years of age, played by Jeremie Renier, ten years after starring in La Promesse.

We meet Sonia first, a young mother out of Dostoevski, coming out of a clinic where she gave birth to a baby boy.There's a cut to her riding in the back of a motorcycle. Turns out the Arab-looking guy was just giving her a ride to her apartment. When she gets there, she finds it occupied by strangers. Back in the streets, Sonia finds Bruno. He sublet her apartment to buy himself a leather hat and a windbreaker. The transgression pales in comparison with what's to come. Bruno snatches purses and sells stolen goods; he's unabashedly reluctant to work and fails to show minimal consideration for others, including Sonia. A smidgen of humanity becomes evident when Bruno pulls a pre-teen accomplice out of freezing water following a remarkable chase scene, a first for the Belgian auteurs. Then, Bruno rides off with baby in carriage and sells his offspring in the black market, which turns Bruno into a truly despicable character.

The Dardennes are not asking the viewer to identify with Bruno, but a degree of empathy is required to accept his tearful contrition. It feels like a challenge to the viewer's sense of compassion. I'm not certain I can extend it to a man-child who sells his own baby, at least not as depicted in L'Enfant. If the film's title applies to Bruno, are the writer/directors implying that Bruno's trespasses are simply childish and immature? I hope not, but can't rule it out. This is what I find problematic about an otherwise brilliant film.

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Second of a projected series of documentaries by Barbara Hammer about political choices made by artists during times of war.

Born to a wealthy, intellectual French Jewish family, Lucie Schob changes her name to one of indeterminate gender, Claude Cahun. Her lover and half-sister, artist and illustrator Suzanne Malherbe, adopts the masculine name Marcel Moore. Claude begins a lifelong pursuit of portraiture and exploration of female identity using masks and disguise through photos taken by Moore. In the 1930s, they join a Surrealist anti-fascist group and befriend Andre Breton. Cahun publishes what she called her anti-autobiography ("Cancelled Confessions"). They flee France in the late 30s to live in exile on the Isle of Jersey. The nazis invade the island as a stepping stone to England. The lesbian sisters enact creative acts of resistance, such as giving notes and drawings to German soldiers to inspire mutiny.Their home is searched and looted, and art work and writings are destroyed. Cahun and Moore are arrested and imprisoned. A double suicide attempt fails. Thay are condemned to death but the Jersey Isle bailiff refuses to carry out the sentence. On May 8, 1945, Allied forces liberate the island.

The above description is linear and chronological but Hammer's doc is time-shifting, a filmic collage basically. It utilizes interviews, the sisters' existing artwork, readings of their written material, archival footage of the German soldiers in Isle of Jersey, even reenactments of scenes from an unpublished script using Broadway actresses. Lover Other achieves the perfect balance between accessibility and the need to remain congruent with the subjects' surrealist aesthetics.

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Cristina, a live-in nursemaid from the sticks, performs household chores and reads National Geographic to an ailing Hungarian. She takes out the trash and finds a briefcase. A flashback tells the story of how architect Tristan lost his briefcase. Cristina learns to smoke Tristan's cigs, listens to his tunes on his I-Pod, and explores his identity via objects found therein. She calls Tristan's cell but no one answers. Cristina tracks him down and decides to follow him rather than return the briefcase immediately. She ambulates down the streets of Santiago. The inquisitive, curious young woman also becomes interested in Irene, Tristan's high-maintenance wife, and strikes a tentative relationship with a good-looking street sweeper named Ricardo. Unlike Cristina, who's enamored of the urbane pleasures of the metropolis, Ricardo dreams of moving to the countryside. Meanwhile, Tristan finds himself with plenty of free-time when his project's construction workers go on strike. He visits his blind mother, a stylishly exotic dame having a torrid affair with a magician from Argentina. Cristina, Irene and Tristan eventually meet in rather unpredictable fashion.

The debut of writer/director Alicia Scherson, who studied film in Cuba and Chicago, won an award for Best Narrative Filmmaker at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC. Play is rooted in nuanced, rich characterization. Even secondary characters achieve a high degree of differentiation and specificity with a few strokes. Scherson evidences here a unique talent of observation of minute details of urban living and an ability to translate those into fresh images. Moreover, the filmmaker manages to slip in bits of absurd humor and magico-realism that never feel forced or arbitrary. We are no doubt in the presence of an emergent filmmaker with an original vision. And that's reason to rejoice.

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Summertime in a marginal district of Seville. Tano, a 16 year-old serving a sentence at a juvenile reformatory, is given a 48-hour leave to attend his brother's wedding. Santacana, his brother, picks him up and warns him to stay out of trouble. Tano receives a visit from his girlfriend Patri, who lives a bus ride away. They have sex then Patri has to return home promptly. As soon as the sullen Tano reunites with friends, most notably the malicious Richi, he reverts to the fighting and criminal activity that resulted in confinement earlier. Title refers to an Andalucian wish-fulfillment superstition that has little to do with the film's content but attracts attention to it.

Co-writer/director Alberto Rodriguez appears mostly interested in depicting with realism the activities and style of troubled street kids, rather than developing the dramatic possibilities of the material. Seven Virgins is tepid emotionally because it consistently assumes the p.o.v. of the protagonist and he doesn't really care about anything. Dialogue is tough-kid vernacular full of false bravado, homophobia and misogyny. It's also quite specific to the region, which can only be appreciated by native speakers. It's the outstanding performances by Juan Jose Ballesta as Tano and Jesus Carroza as Richi that make Seven Virgins worth watching. Mr. Ballesta is the youngest person to ever receive a Spanish Academy Award (in 2001, for Pellet). This year, Mr. Carroza was singled out by the Academy as the Best Newcomer for his debut performance in this film.

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A long line of girls give urine samples at a public clinic in Rio de Janeiro. This documentary by Sandra Werneck (Possible Loves, Little Book of Love) follows four of the girls whose pregnancy tests were positive. Evelin is a 13 year old girl pregnant by a 22 year old guy who has given up drug dealing at her insistence. 14 year-old Evilene is pregnant by Alex, whose other girlfriend, Joice, is also pregnant. Evilene has given Alex an ultimatum to choose once and for all between the two pregnant teens. Luana, 15, states she's been active since age 11 and ponders whether to have an abortion. Luana's 30-something mother is also pregnant.

Werneck depicts the daily routine of the girls and how pregnancy alters their lives, from the time they learn of their pregnancies until months into their offspring's infancy. A health worker refers to the situation as "an epidemic" but the film doesn't provide any statistics or analysis. In fact, if the director has interviewed her subjects, these questions are edited out. Everything you get is coming out of the teen mothers' mouths. There's no narration, no editorializing, and no judgements are passed. Some will find this approach lacking necessary context while others will applaud the director's aim to offer unadulterated and unfiltered material. I came out with one firm impression, that to a large extent and regardless of consequences, pregnancy of unmarried teen girls is normal within this environment.

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Salvador, a young man from the capital, becomes stranded in a mountain village in the Peruvian Andes during Holy Week. The culture there is a unique mixture of indigenous, tribal traditions and Christianity, and outsiders are not welcome. The residents believe that between Holy Friday and Easter, God is dead, thus people are not held accountable for their sins. Salvador meets the hard-drinking town mayor Don Cayo, and his teen daughters Madeinusa (pronounced Maden-nooza) and Chale. Their mother abandoned them and moved to Lima months ago, leaving behind only a pair of earrings that Madeinusa treasures like a fetish. It's friday night and Cayo makes sexual advances towards Madeinusa, who rebuffs him. She is clearly father's favorite and Chale burns with jealousy. The next day, the town prepares for elaborate Easter festivities, which include a procession where one girl is chosen for the privilege of representing the Virgin Mary. This day, it's Madeinusa who takes the initiative and seduces Salvador. Chale witnesses their coitus and tells Cayo, who locks up the outsider and burns Madeinusa's trinkets, including her prized earrings. The rural drama comes to a heady and surprising resolution on Easter.

It's hard to believe this is the first film written and directed by Claudia Llosa. It's so technically accomplished, so assured. It looks like the work of a veteran filmmaker, but most of the cast and crew are neophytes. It's very much a fable-like fictional tale, but the masterful use of mountain locations, the use of indigenous language, the attention to the minutiae of local folklore make it feel at times like an ethnographic documentary. Madeinusa dramatizes with unique power an isolated village's fight against outside influence. It conveys both the comforting and the subjugating aspects of tradition fairly and impartially. But most of all, Madeinusa is engaging and compelling drama. We can safely add the name of Claudia Llosa to the list of outstanding, emerging female filmmakers from South America, a list that includes Alicia Scherson from Chile and, from Argentina, Ines de Oliveira Cesar and Lucrecia Martel.

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This informative doc about Mexican-American gangs operating in California was produced and directed by Oriana Zill de Granados, who made several documentaries for PBS and ABC News. The film pays particular attention to the town of Salinas, once known as the town of John Steinbeck and artichoke festivals, now dominated by an underworld of drug and gun trafficking. Competition between the Nuestra Familia gang and rival gangs has resulted in death and injury to an alarming number of young Latinos there. Ironically, the gangs were born out of the labor movement in the fields of California during the 1960s. Nuestra Familia's main subject is a reformed former member who raised his son to be a gang member and can't do anything about the younger man's deepening involvement in the gang culture. Nuestra Familia also depicts efforts by local, state, and national authorities to deal with the problem. Perhaps most striking is how several leaders serving long sentences manage to continue directing gang activity from jail.

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Henrik (The Kingdom's Troel Lyby) is a swimming instructor who is happily married to Nina (Mifune's Sofie Grabol), an attractive secretary. One day, policemen come to his workplace and arrest him. They explain that his 14 year-old daughter Stine told her teacher that she was sexually abused by her father at age 11 and 12.

Accused is the first fiction feature by former editor (Trier's The Kingdom) and documentarian (Under New York) Jacob Thuesen. It's a psychological drama told entirely from the point of view of Henrik. Obviously, mystery is a component of the film: did he? If not, why would Stine lie so grieveously? We look for clues to resolve these questions as we observe Henrik post-arrest, interacting with Nina, with his best friend, a co-worker, his lawyer, etc. Yet Accused's primary focus is on the devastating effect of the accusation on every aspect of Henrik's life, regardless of guilt. We learn that Nina and him deem their daughter as distant and introverted but we don't get to see Stine until 70 minutes into the film, on a monitor, when she gives her deposition. The narrative is paced with a great deal of care so that it's impossible to form a firm opinion until the film's conclusion. As soon as we begin to lean towards guilt we learn, for instance, of Stine's history of being untruthful. Accused manages to sustain a high degree of tension; there isn't a wasted moment here, every scene seems to reveal something of significance to our understanding and judging of the characters. Scriptwriter Kim Fupz Aakeson and actors Liby and Grabol deserve credit, along with Mr. Thuesen, for a most engaging and insightful film dealing with a controversial subject.

Accused was released in early 2005 in Scandinavian countries. By year's end, Mr. Thuesen had won the European Discovery award at the Euro Film Awards. It's one of the best films of this festival and perhaps, among those, the one most likely to be appreciated by a general audience (clearly not an "art film" for specialized audiences). The film's lack of a U.S. distributor is truly lamentable. I probably will purchase the Region 2 dvd, which includes English subs, to watch it again.

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Jorgito and Malu are 10 year olds who live on the same street in Havana with mothers who are ideological opposites. Jorguito's mother supports the revolution whereas Malu's can't wait to get her visa to move to Miami. When she does, the inseparable duo take off to Maisi, the island's eastern most point, to convince Malu's dad not to sign documents allowing the girl to leave the country.

Puppy love story? Road movie/travelogue? After-school special on political tolerance? Ode to childhood? Viva Cuba is all of the above, and not good at all. This film by director Juan Carlos Cremata Malberti (Nada Mas) is blatantly simplistic and manipulative. The kids-are-wiser message is crudely conveyed via caricatured adults in slapstick situations and cute, spunky kids taking a circuitous route around Cuba to showcase picturesque Varadero beach and the UNESCO-protected colonial city of Trinidad. The whole cast gesticulate wildly and emote emphatically throughout the film's gratefully short running time.

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Renee (Roxana Berco) returns home one saturday after giving an early morning piano lesson. She lives in the provinces with her husband Juan (Guillermo Arengo) and their five year-old son Santi (Agustin Alcoba). Over breakfast, they discuss a possible move to Buenos Aires but rule it out after Juan provides a reasoned argument against it. He suggests a family trip to the beach. Renee proposes for Juan alone to take Santi to the beach while she takes her ailing mother Virginia (Susana Campos) to the country. The film bifurcates as the narrative alternates between the two excursions. Renee picks up Virginia at an assisted-living facilitaty; they drive to a rustic cabin, sit by the fireplace and later take a walk in the forest. Juan and the inquisitive Santi travel further, to an almost empty beach, walk down a pier, build a castle out of sand, and meet two fishermen who entertain the boy with sea tales and teach him how to gut a fish.

The title of Ines de Oliveira Cesar's film translates to "As the Hours Go By". It refers to how time slips away seemingly unnoticed as we live our lives. The film central theme is the randomness of fate_"If one knew what's the time for each being..." sighs Renee to her mother. There's an irrepresible but diffuse perception that the hours we share with this family will bring about permanent change in their lives.

The experience of viewing Como Pasan Las Horas is particularly difficult to put into words because so much of what we think and feel while watching it is conveyed through the juxtaposition of image and sound. The dialogue is consistently colloquial and seemingly improvised, particularly the amusing-often-funny exchanges between father and son. It's never calculated to sound important, although it leaves no doubt as to the deep filial bonds between characters. During both excursions, the audiovisuals impart symbolic meaning and resonance to environmental elements: cloud formations, waves and the roar of the tides, leaves rustling under feet, the changing light of day, the sound of the wind. It's as if wood, sea and sky conspired to match the characters' moods, as if these elements had privileged knowledge. In addition, cinematographer Gerardo Silvatici ocassionally uses customized lenses to create anamorphic distortions that suggest a heightened reality (Alexandr Sokurov used this technique to similar effect in Mother and Son).

Ultimately, Como Pasan Las Horas would not be a masterpiece if the performances by the quartet of actors didn't serve up rich, multi-dimensional characters. Ms. Campos is a veteran actress who died of a brain tumor shortly after conclusion of the shoot. She was Roxana Berco's mother, and it would not be surprising to learn that they channeled real-life experience into their roles. There's a rapport between Mr. Arengo and little Agustin Alcoba that evidences long rehearsals and a filmmaker who knows how to shape a performance. The unforgettable one by Alcoba is the best performance by a young child since Ponette's Victoire Thivisol. Como Pasan Las Horas is a deeply humanistic work of art.

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Film written, edited and directed by Sebastian Campos, a young man making his feature debut. The basic premise is familiar: a wealthy family on vacation is transformed and exposed by a sexually desirable visitor. Think Teorema by Pier Paolo Pasolini, whom the director mentions as an influence along with John Casavettes. The latter's influence is mostly methodological_a very fast shooting schedule and a script that serves only as a blueprint, with lots of room for improvisation. Campos reportedly deployed two hand-held cameras almost non-stop for three days then assembled the film himself in the editing room.

Marcos is a succesful architect around 50, a connoiseur married to Soledad, a housewife accustomed to the good life and the one member of the family whose Catholicism seems sincere. Their college-age son Marcos Jr. arrives at the vacation home to spend Easter weekend. They await Sofia, Marcos' new girlfriend. Suddenly, Soledad has to return to the city to look after an older relative who's become ill. There's also a rather shy girl-next-door who likes Marcos and a couple of gay law students staying nearby. The alluring and provocative Sofia arrives with a stash of drugs to spice up the festivities. The next day, after going out by himself, Marcos catches Sofia and his father making out, and plans his revenge.

The Sacred Family exposes the dark side and the hypocrisy of the bourgeoisie, Chilean variant, with conviction. The film is not consistently inspired, but it hits more than it misses. Initially the lensing is overly hyper and claustrophobic but it progressively settles down. A promising debut.

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Well-executed, simple film about best-pals-since-childhood falling hard for young lap dancer/prostitute. Deco (Lazaro Ramos of Madame Sata) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura) co-own a small cargo boat. They give Karinna (Alice Braga of Central Station) a ride in exchange for sex. Naldinho teases Deco about becoming smitten with a whore. He gets seriously injured in a brawl at a cockfight. Deco brings him to his place for recovery, where Naldinho gradually falls in love with Karinna. Can friendship outlive jealousy and rivalry?

Walter Salles produced Lower City for director Sergio Machado, his assistant director on Central Station and Behind the Sun. Lower City was co-scripted by Machado and Karim Ainouz, who collaborated on the scripts of Behind the Sun and Madame Sata. Machado intended to cast two black actors in the main roles, but Wagner Moura lobbied hard on behalf of his best friend Lazaro Ramos for the role of Deco. The chemistry between the two actors is undeniable, and Sonia Braga's niece is perfectly cast as the libidinous and warm Karinna.

Lower City looks wonderful, quite stylish yet authentically shot in assorted dives in the coastal towns of Bahia province. Music score incorporates the lilting melodies and steady rhythms of local son Carlinhos Brown. Lower City won the Prix de la Jeunesse at Cannes and will be released in May by Palm Pictures. The film could potentially attract younger audiences to subtitled films, that is, if properly marketed.

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Anthology film set in Madrid from director Manuel Martin Cuenca (The Weakness of the Bolshevik). Single-mom Ana works in an immigrant aid center but can't manage to will her 14 year-old son out of his room. She solicits help from her ex-lover Carlos, a Cuban ex-pilot eking out a living selling contraband cigars who wants to move to Miami. Carlos is having an affair with Sonia, a pop singer rendered a paraplegic after an accident and unhappily married to Carlos' best friend Fabre. Mikel has been just released from prison and obsesses about reconnecting with his former cellmate, who in turn wants to erase from his memory any past link with Mikel.

There are more characters, immigrants and natives, going through hard times. The sureness of tone and coherent storytelling on display are exhilarating; Cuenca is juggling a lot of balls this time and he never falters. Credit needs to be shared with a superb cast headed by Javier Camara (Talk to Her) and Nathalie Poza. Hard Times does not have the upliftinging or inspiring finale some audiences seem to crave (you know who you are). Moreover, almost inevitably, anthology films are a mixed bag as some episodes or subplots succeed more than others. On the other hand, the large sample of denizens facilitates a more representative depiction of life in the Spanish capital city.

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The titular man returns from an unspecified French-speaking country to an unspecified country in South America with his wife Alice and 10 year old son Tomas. His assistant warns him that he's being watched and that he is in danger. Another man praises him for his courage. Vargas is observed in wide shot dealing with unsavory men wearing power suits. Suddenly he decides to move to a remote seaside village. One night, Vargas goes to a beachfront bar for a drink and disappears. Alice searches for him but can't find him anywhere.

What an odd film is this debut by writer/director Juan Pittaluga, assistant director on Mondovino. Even though the titular character is a native of South America and the film is set there, the language spoken is French, even by the housekeeper. The reason for this is not artistic, says the director, but required by the French financiers. Well, thanks to them Pittalunga was able to cast the great Aurelien Recoing (Time Out) and Elina Lowensohn. Orlando Vargas is abstract to a fault. It's a "puzzler". There are no specifics regarding time period, location, what type of danger Vargas faces, and who are those persecuting him. Antonioni is a clear and openly-stated influence, most specifically the Antonioni of La Notte and L'Avventura[/i]. Pittaluga develops an oppressive athmosphere of existential dread and frames his landscapes with great precision and rigor. The script is pared down to a minimum, to the point that several audience members seemed visibly frustrated by the lack of specifics in plot and characterization.

During Q&A, Mr. Recoing provided autobiographical details about the director which helped to understand the approach taken. Pittaluga's father was a leftist Uruguayan diplomat in Belgium. There was a right-wing coup in the South American country. He was recalled to Uruguay and ostracized. He started drinking heavily and died shortly thereafter at age 52. The director was about 12 when this happened and experienced the tragedy viscerally, without quite understanding the forces at play. Pittaluga has fashioned a very personal and visually arresting film, but has failed to connect with a potential audience. Almost a year after its premiere at Cannes, Orlando Vargas has yet to open in Uruguay.

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A couple of 20-somethings are having sex in a motel. To their amusement, they realize afterwards neither remembers the other's name. They are Bruno and Danila and they met hours earlier at a party. Throughout the night, the attractive couple get to know each other. They carry a conversation, interrupted by more sex, in which they discuss past relationships, viewpoints, as well as embarrasing, even painful secrets. It becomes evident there's more than physical attraction between them. Bruno and Danila really like each other, but it turns out both have plans that would make a permanent relationship cumbersome, if not impossible. Do they have a future together?

In Bed is the sophomore effort from 26 year-old director Matias Bize (Saturday). It was selected as Best Film at the Valladolid Film Festival by a jury headed by Andre Techine, over films by veterans like Trier and Ozon. In Bed's basic set-up is not new. Mexican director Jaime Hermosillo's Homework ('91) and Forbidden Homework ('92) are direct antecedents. Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise ('95) consists of an all-night conversation between two strangers and his Tape (2001) took place entirely inside a motel room. Bize's new film is a significant improvement over Hermosillo's films because the script by Julio Rojas allows us deeper access into the personalities of the characters. It's a tribute to Bize et.al. that In Bed measures up to the Linklater films even though the Chilean actors lack the experience of movie stars like Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke, and Uma Thurman. Sole false note, in my opinion, is the film's use of extraneous music. One sex scene in particular, erotic but lensed with restrain, skirts too close to soft-core porn due mostly to the music score. Overall, In Bed is a most engaging, minimalist two-character study.

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It's the fall of 1975, when color TV sets were showing up in Spanish homes and Franco's death was imminent. In the provincial village of Las Islas lives 14 year-old Fede (Junio Valverde) with his parents, an older sister who wonders whether to enter into a traditional marriage or pursue a professional career, and a socialist grandpa who's been saving a bottle of good champagne to celebrate the death of the dictator. The village boys either ignore or harass Fede. His friend and confident is Sara, a shy and introverted girl with a Down Syndrome sister named Ramona. A dark secret the sisters are keeping, involving their rough, alcoholic father, provides Fede with a chance at maturation and gaining the respect of his peers.

Life in Color combines elements of neo-realism and gothic fable. Its rites-of-passage narrative involves not only young Fede but Spain, a country just about to come out of the shadows of facism and conservative Catholicism. The political subtext is handled with a light but sure touch. The film doesn't break new ground. It reminded me, for instance, of Guillermo del Toro's The Devil's Backbone and Montxo Armendariz's Secrets of the Heart_both well-received by critics and filmgoers in America and elsewhere. Life in Color is the feature debut of director Santiago Tabernero. He's had twenty years of experience in the industry in several capacities, including writing the script of Carlos Saura's Taxi and directing documentaries for television. His major collaborator is veteran cinematographer Jose Luis Alcaine, who has lensed for the best active Spanish directors: Erice, Saura, Almodovar, Armendariz, and Bigas Luna.

Tabernero and Alcaine have come up with a highly entertaining movie that will please general audiences_if given a chance at wide distribution (Life in Color premiered at the Valladolid Film Festival where it won, not surprisingly, the Audience Award). The storytelling is agile and nimble_there's not an ounce of fat, with every frame either advancing the plot or providing crucial character detail. On the other hand, the narrative complications are a bit too neatly and swiftly resolved for my taste. The cast is uniformly competent, with sympathetic Junio Valverde very strong in the lead role. Alcaine's expressive use of color evidences careful consideration and planning. Life in Color is one for the masses.

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This debut feature by writer/director Vimukthi Jayasundara shared the prestigious Camera D'Or win You, Me, and Everyone We Know at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival. It's set on an isolated section of the island nation of Sri Lanka, where a civil war has been raging for 23 years.

Anura does guard duty in a wind-swept coastal area, alternating shifts with the older Piyasiri, who seems perpetually inebriated. As the film opens, an unidentified corpse has been found nearby and military planes are seen flying overhead. A platoon of soldiers pick up Anura and play a prank on him. While the demoralized Anura returns home on foot, his younger wife Lata entertains a lover at home. They live in a hut with Soma, Anura's sister, a solemn woman with a constantly grave expression on her face. She does all the house chores and takes a bus daily, presumably to work at a nearby town. There's a chatty young girl of unidentified parentage named Batti, who often visits the family. Soma shares her dream of becoming a teacher with Batti, but her tone and gestures imply aspirations are chimeras in this land of misery.

The Forsaken Land is the first film from Sri Lanka to gain international recognition. It bears witness to the birth of a major filmmaker. Jayasundara has a way with lanscapes that recalls Tarkovsky, creating highly atmospheric long shots pregnant with the material and spiritual poverty of the characters who inhabit the barren land. His direction of non-actors is similar to that of Bresson, particularly the films set in rural areas like Balthazar and Mouchette. Jayasundara is primarily interested in conveying the effect of the environment on marginalized people. His characters are thus sketchy, and not individuated from a psychological point of view. The Forsaken Land conveys their desperate plight with uncommon force.

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Documentarians Erik Gandini and Tarik Saleh were inspired to investigate the US government's treatment of detainees when they learned that among them was a Swede named Mehdi Bivins. Bivins was being held at the camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Its army nickname is Gitmo.

The film's tagline is: The New Rules of War. Indeed, Gandini and Saleh have compiled and organized data regarding the tactics and conduct of the Bush administration regarding those suspected of ties with terrorist organizations: the sly designation of detainees as "enemy combatants", the violations of Geneva Convention rules, the hiring of private contractors who are in reality foreign mercenaries who need not abide by any rules of engagement, the October 2002 sacking of Brigadier General Rick Baccus who took steps to ensure captives at Gitmo were not subjected to abuse during interrogations, the scapegoating of Army Reserve General Janice Karpinsky for the abuses at Abu Gharaib prison in Irak, the failure to reprimand and discipline higher-ups who approved of such abuses, etc.

These are not new revelations. Gitmo does not uncover any new evidence. Mehdi Bivins is released from Gitmo, returns to Sweden, and refuses to cooperate with the filmmakers or answer any questions from news organizations. Mr. Gandini and Mr. Saleh travel to Guantanamo, Cuba. They are predictably denied access. Gitmo is basically a recap of what's been widely disseminated in the US and abroad about the human rights abuses perpetrated by the Bush administration.

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Aerobics instructor and gambling addict Mimi (Sylvie Moreau) sneaks out on her steroid-selling boyfriend with Margo (Mylene St-Saveur), her disgruntled and precocious teenage daughter. The free-spirited, thirty-something woman, having exhausted her relatives' willingness to bail her out, pays a visit to her childhood friend Janine (Macha Grenon), and ends up staying. Janine gives the impression of a happily married suburban mother, but she is lonely because her husband is often out-of-town on business, and she secretely suspects him of philandering. Margo introduces Janine's shy and sheltered daughter Gaby to boys and alcohol, which spurs the first crisis between the two mothers. Mimi dreams, like many before her, of a fresh start in California but keeps acting against her own self-interest. Meanwhile, Janine's self-denial is about to be exposed and young Margot will have to face the consequences of her loose upbringing.

Familia is the feature debut of writer/director Louise Archambault, a winner of the Claude Jutra award from the Canadian Academy for best first film of 2005. The film was nominated for 8 Genies by the Academy, including well-deserved nods to the three women in the principal roles. The awards went to the other film about families from Quebec included in this festival's line-up, C.R.A.Z.Y., a more ambitious, more spectacular movie. The low-budget, modest Familia finds plenty of humor within basically dramatic situations and the laughs don't feel forced. Its conclusion packs quite a punch. Film Movement will release simultaneously in theatres and on dvd next month in the USA.

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The main character is referred exclusively by his pseudonym: the Master. He's a very skilled knife-thrower and magician for a Russian circus. He is also a damaged man, given to excessive drinking. One night, he frees all the animals and locks himself inside a cage before passing out. He is fired by the time he wakes up. The Master fashions his mobile home into an itinerant mini-circus and takes his act on the road. Somewhere past the Russian-Polish border, he rescues Angela from a couple of thugs. The prostitute becomes his assistant. During another stop, he's assaulted outside a bar after winning at cards. An accordion player named Mlody comes to his aid and joins the troupe, as they perform in small towns in the Polish countryside. Just when some conflict over Angela's favors is about to develop between the men, she starts a torrid affair with a French woman backpaking through Eastern Europe on her own. The gang becomes stranded at a village, where the Master becomes enchanted by Anna, a gracious young woman who volunteers for his knife-throwing act. The Master is a cynic, a man wounded by war experiences seen in flashbacks, mostly one involving Afghan child victims. Anna's beauty and virtue create an internal conflict for a loner who has sworn off lasting attachments. The Master and Mlody, who lives with the guilt of having deserted his wife after their son was born disabled, tentatively help each other dream and hope again.

The Master, co-written and directed by Piotr Trzaskalski (Edi), is more lyrical fable than realistic drama, despite the rustic, off-the-beaten-path setting. For instance, the romance between Anna and the protagonist echoes the one in "The Beauty and the Beast". It has a timeless, universal quality rather than contemporary specificity. The Master is anchored solidly by a performance by Konstantin Lavronenko, even more magnetic a presence here than in the Russian film The Return (2004). The film is diminished by the script's failure to give dimensionality to some of the characters surrounding the protagonist, particularly Angela, who registers very faintly. But The Master provides constant visual pleasure, thanks to Wojciech Zogala's award-winning production design and the often astonishing cinemascope cinematography by Piotr Sliskowski. The Master was picked by the FIPRESCI contingent at this festival as the best film in competition (a rundown of the festival awards is forthcoming).

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Sixteen years after novelist Guillermo Cabrera Infante delivered a completed script, Andy Garcia is ready to unveil his dream project: an ode to his beloved Havana and tribute to his father's generation. They "had the cojones to leave family and country behind to go to a place where they could fulfill their dreams without repression and prejudice", Garcia has said.

Garcia plays Fico Fellove, a gallant night club owner very loyal to his close-knit middle-upper class family. The Lost City opens during the late 50s, when right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista was in charge. Fico's father is a pacifist university professor, but his brothers Luis and Ricardo believe the only way to defeat Batista and bring social justice to the masses is armed overthrow. Fico is entirely neutral and apolitical. He begs his brothers not to get involved, but Ricardo goes west to join Fidel at the Sierra Maestra mountains, and Luis stages an ill-fated assault on the presidential palace and is shot dead. The revolution triumphs and Batista leaves the country as 1958 comes to an end. Fico adopts a wait and see attitude as he starts to develop a romantic interest in the widow Aurore, who was Luis' wife. Methodically and gradually Castro curtails liberty and commits human rights abuses in order to consolidate power. Fico is heartbroken over Aurore's continued support for the revolution, and feels forced to flee to the United States.

Ostensibly, Cabrera Infante's script for The Lost City is loosely based on his own challenging and brilliant novel "Tres Tristes Tigres" (Three Sad Tigers). It's rather odd then to attribute most of the film's flaws to the script. It would appear to me that a film set in Cuba during this historical period would have to provide a strong rationale for violent revolt. The Lost City never shows how the common man is suffering under Batista because the point of view is exclusively bourgeois. Portraying Batista as an outright villain and having rebel firebrands Luis and Ricardo spew revolutionary rethoric is simply not enough. Another major problem consists of the depiction of the romance between Fico and Aurore, which is tepid and lifeless. One gets the impression Fico's interest in Aurore is a matter of duty rather than passion.

The Lost City is, on the other hand, a handsome film with excellent production values. Its numerous musical interludes are electrifying. The casting is uniformy inspired and the performances are beyond reproach. A cameo by Dustin Hoffman as a mafioso is amusing, and Bill Murray provides excellent comedic relief as an American funnyman looking for stand-up bookings at Fico's nightclub.

The film belongs to Garcia and his Fico. Ultimately, one's overall assessment of the film is dependent on whether or not one can sympathize with a gallant and enterprising family man who seems unconcerned about those outside his immediate circle.

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Nike and Katrin are apartment neighbors who take pleasure in each other's company. They spend summer nights drinking and chatting in Nike's second floor balcony. Nike (Nadja Uhl) is a geriatric nurse who gets involved too fast with Ronald, a boorish trucker who delivers carpets. Katrin (Inka Friedrich) does temp work while looking for a proper job as a graphic designer. She's unhappily divorced from the father of her 13 year-old son Max. Katrin resents Nike for neglecting their friendship by spending too much time with Ronald. She goes to a club, allows a guy to walk her back home and almost gets raped if not for young Max, who's at the budding stage when it comes to romance. Main theme is how difficult it is for women in their 30s and 40s to form meaningful, long-term relationships, but the character of Max and Nike's visits to elderly patients help director Andreas Dresen provide a microcosm of contemporary life in Berlin.

Summer in Berlin was nominated for 6 German Film Awards and has been recognized at the Chicago and San Sebastian film festivals. It is said that Dresen and writer Wolfgang Kohlhaase are very precise when it comes to use of regional slangs and depiction of local customs, which is lost in translation for English-speaking audiences. It's hard to find fault with this well-made picture, yet it failed to make much of an impression on me. I had to refer to my post-screening notes because this Summer in Berlin had evaporated from my memory.

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Hayat, a 20-year biracial girl, is the best soccer player in her Hamburg team. Her winning streak ends when she's stricken with cancer and loses a breast. Her father, having lost Hayat's mother to cancer years ago, cancels her sports club membership abd becomes over-protective. Secretely, Hayat puts together a team with a ragtag group of girls. Hayat and the new team's wisecracking coach develop an attraction but she rejects him out of fear and insecurity.

Offside is a modest, youth-oriented drama directed by Turkey-born German director Buket Alakus. The film handles Hayat's illness and recovery with knowing sensitivity.

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The Sud Express is the train that travels from Paris to Lisbon. One of its major stops is the city in Salamanca, in North-central Spain. Salamanca natives Chema de la Pena and Gabriel Velasquez intended to shoot a documentary about how the journey affects residents of France, Spain and Portugal. During pre-production, they decided the theme was better suited for fiction.

Sud Express consists of six interlocking stories which reflect the variety of human experience of those living near the train route and those who use the train for travel. At the Austerlitz station in Paris, racist cab-driver Sam invites his buddies to have a wild night out while his submissive wife Lucia travels to her native Portugal to visit her sister. Sam ends up spending the night alone driving around town with a prostitute. In the Portuguese town of Santana, two co-habitating brothers, Tino and Joao, carry on a years-old feud outside a bar. The barmaid encourages Tino to reunite with the woman he loved as a youth, with whom he still exchanges letters. It turns out to be Lucia. An Angolan immigrant ekes out a living selling fake brand watches in Lisbon. He reads about a futuristic theme park in France and sneaks into the Sud Express to visit it. Near Salamanca, high school grads Isa and wheelchair-bound Rober collect signatures to change the train's route for rather vague reasons. In the countryside nearby, a landowner tries to convince his hunting buddy to put his old and ailing dog to death. A young factory worker in Portugal pays a surprise visit to his girlfriend, who's attending school in France and dating someone else.

Sud Express depicts a Europe becoming more racially diverse, and a continent in which national borders are losing significance. The film is impeccably edited by Antonio and Maria Lara and shot documentary-style with mostly hand-held cameras. The stories themselves are a mixed bag as far as generating interest and engaging the audience. Those involving romantic entanglements, particularly the reunion of middle-aged sweethearts Tino and Lucia, are clearly the most compelling ones.

[Chris Knipp]

Too much to comment on here and anyway we have been in touch lately. In Bed and several others are included in the SFIFF but only a few of my viewings have overlapped yours. I think Gitmo has just opened in NYC, and a number of things I saw at the NYIFF or Rendezvous as well as at the SFIFF are shortly opening or have just opened in the US if only so far in NYC. . Please let us know which of these have a US distributor and release dates, if any.

[oscar jubis]

Avec plaisir.
These are currently in theatres: The Lost City, Friends with Money, Kinky Boots, Joyeux Noel, Tsotsi, L'Enfant and Don't Come Knocking.

Only five more have distribution, but many films that don't have a distributor are still "young" (some had their world premiere or North American premiere at the fest).

Familia (Can)-----------May 2006---Film Movement
Lower City (Bra)--------May 26, 2006---Palm Pictures
51 Birch Street (US)----HBO/Cinemax
Wassup Rockers (US)---June 2006---First Look Pictures
Hard Times (Spa)------Domain Entertainment (perhaps straight-to-dvd)

[Chris Knipp]

Great, thanks!

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JURY PRIZES

Documentary: In the Pit (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14721#post14721)
Dramatic-Ibero-American Cinema: Life in Color (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14961#post14961)
Dramatic-World Cinema: Accused (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14911#post14911) and Burn Out (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14747#post14747)

PRESS AWARD (Fipresci)

The Master (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14969#post14969)

AUDIENCE AWARDS

Documentary: The Refugee All-Stars (USA/Sierra Leone)
Dramatic-Ibero-American Cinema: Angels of the Sun (Brasil)
Dramatic-World Cinema: Accused (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14911#post14911)

[Chris Knipp]

It looks like Accused was an all-around favorite. Do you agree with the Ibero-American selection?

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*Yes, Accused (Anklaget) is excellent. Thuesen won "Best Newcomer" at the Euro Film Awards. I watched this one with the press, not the audience, and the post-screening comments were uniformly enthusiastic.

*Life in Color is a good film. It reminded me of Monxto Armendariz's Secrets of the Heart_both are Spanish period films that combine gothic fable with coming-of-age tale. In a lesser festival (like the one just north of here, in Ft. Lauderdale), I would list it among the best films of the festival. Its selection by the jury over better (more distinctive and challenging) films may be indicative of their desire to push a film that has mainstream potential and needs a prize to catch the eye of would-be distributors.

*My peeve with the awards concerns Sauf le Respect Que Je Vous Dois aka Burn Out or Burnt Out. It premiered at San Sebastian last fall. Variety reviewed it there: "Disappointing attempt to combine Laurent Cantet-style workplace critique with clumsily handled thriller elements. Decent cast barely gets a chance to create believable characters",etc. It's been doing the festival circuit since then without getting any recognition. It came out in France in February 2006 and received two stars from Positif and Premiere France and one star from Cahiers Du Cinema and Les Inrockuptibles. It's the sole festival film to get less than two stars from The Miami Herald. Yet somehow the three-member jury (which included a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres recipient) that picked the World Cinema award found it as deserving as Accused.

[Chris Knipp]

So, two out of three. That doesn't make it seem like the organization is as reliable as it could be.

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The 23rd edition had an excellent selection of films from around the world. Attendance records were broken for the second consecutive year. The festival continues to shine particularly in terms of the number of quality documentaries and films from Ibero-America. The lists below do not include every good film screened. They reflect my own preferences among the 54 films I watched. An asterisk designates given film as being "in competition" for awards.

Top 10 Fiction Films

1---Como Pasan Las Horas* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14915#post14915) (Argentina)
2---Accused* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14911#post14911) (Denmark)
----News From Afar* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14737#post14737) (Mexico)
----Play (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14878#post14878) (Chile)
5---Madeinusa* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14903#post14903) (Peru)
6---L'Enfant (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14873#post14873) (Belgium/France)
----O Veneno De Madrugada (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14837#post14837) (Brasil)
8---The Forsaken Land* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14963#post14963) (Sri Lanka)
----The Master* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14969#post14969) (Poland)
10--C.R.A.Z.Y. (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14811#post14811) (Canada)
----Familia* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14965#post14965) (Canada)

Top 5 Documentaries

1---Black Sun* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14795#post14795) (U.K.)
2---51 Birch Street* (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14780#post14780) (U.S.)
----In The Pit* (httP://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14721#post14721) (Mexico)
4---Echoes of War (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14858#post14858) (Netherlands)
----Lover Other (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=14877#post14877) (U.S.)

[Chris Knipp]

I (we) won't be able to make as representative a list, I shouldn't think, since your frequency of viewing goes far beyond the call of duty (or my telerance) and though admirable, also verges on the excessive! Nonetheless everyone is in awe. I have one possible advantage: having gone to the NYFF and Rendez-Vous, I have a small list of great stuff included in NYC viewings that I didn't need to see again when they appeared at the SF festival. Your list will provide some things to look for, and I'm happy that I've already seen three of its items, --Play, News from Afar, and L'Enfant. Is there some occult signifance to your odd system of leaving out certain numbers? Do you think in general the quality was high and the selections well made? Were there few out and out clinkers? Did you think you made good selections and saw the best stuff by doing so?

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
your frequency of viewing goes far beyond the call of duty and though admirable, also verges on the excessive!
Yet I'm grieving over a dozen or so films I missed that have no distribution. High on that list: the Brasilian doc Vinicius about poet V. de Moraes; a trio from Chile: Parentesis, Pretending and The King of San Gregorio, Turtles on their Backs from Italy, Brasilian audience award winner Angels of the Sun, and All Souls: a collection of shorts by Dutch directors that reportedly deal with the murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh at the hands of Muslim extremists.

Is there some occult signifance to your odd system of leaving out certain numbers?
Yes. For instance, Accused, News From Afar and Play are all tied at #2 and listed in alphabetical order. Both Canadian movies are tied at #10.

Do you think in general the quality was high and the selections well made?
Fest director Nicole Guillemet has final say and thus gets the credit for the excellent lineup.

Were there few out and out clinkers? Did you think you made good selections and saw the best stuff by doing so?
None as bad as last year's Alicia's Names but Virgin Rose came close, even if Variety went easy on it: "dexterous, charming but somewhat weightless". The film from Cuba and the one from Burkina Faso were populist, simplistic, devoid of any subtlety or artistry but some found them "cute". I found the French film Burnt Out deeply flawed despite its good intentions and the presence of Olivier Gourmet.

[Johann]

Huge thanks for this comprehensive and well presented Film Fest thread oscar. Eyes and ears on the ground...

Oscar Jubis, cinephile excelsior

[oscar jubis]

Too kind. Thanks J :-)

[Chris Knipp]

I second that. I cannot match your stamina.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks Chris.
I'm happy and somewhat surprised to report that THE FORSAKEN LAND, one of my favorite films from the festival had a two-week run at the Museum of the Moving Image. The film received good reviews from Mr. Hoberman at the Voice and Ms. Dargis in the NY times. Access their reviews here (http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/forsakenland). The film is being distributed by New Yorker Films. It's highly likely the film will now be screened at specialized screens in major markets. Lamentably, this does not mean a dvd release is guaranteed (notice for instance that New Yorker has yet to release Sembene's Moolade and other films to which they own rights). There's a link to my review of the film in the top 10 list on this page.

[Chris Knipp]

I missed it, partly because I am unfamiliar with that venue.