Fiftieth Anniversary SFIFF 2007

[Chris Knipp]

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007

LINKS TO ALL CHRIS KNIPP REVIEWS OF SFIFF 2007 FILMS:

7 YEARS (JEAN-PASCAL HATTU) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17723#post17723)
12 LABORS, THE (RICARDO ELIAS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17727#post17727)
AD LIB NIGHT (LEE YOON-KI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17776#post17776)
amour-LEGENDE (MI-SEN WU) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17690#post17690)
AGUA (VERONICA CHEN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17747#post17747)
ALONG THE RIDGE (KIM ROSSI STEWERT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17740#post17740)
ARIA (TAKUSHI TSUBOKAWA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17849#post17849)
BAMAKO (ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=15959#post15959)
BORN AND BRED (PABLO TRAPERO) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17826#post17826)
CAYMAN, THE (NANNI MORETTI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17697#post17697)
COLOSSAL YOUTH (PEDRO COSTA)) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17694#post17694)
CONGORAMA (PHILIPPE FALARDEAU) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17738#post17738)
DANS PARIS/INSIDE PARIS (CHRISTOPHE HONORE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16878#post16878)
DARATT (MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17718#post17718)
FALLING (BARBARA ALBERT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16025#post16025)
FLANDERS (BRUNO DUMONT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16917#post16917)
GARDENS IN AUTUMN (OTAR IOSSELIONI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=15960#post15960)
GRANDHOTEL (DAVID ONDRICEK) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17581#post17581)
HANA (HIROKAZU KOREEDA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17716#post17716)
HEAVEN'S DOORS (SWEL AND IMAD NOURY) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17684#post17684)
HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (XIAOLU GUO, 2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17751#post17751)
ISLAND, THE (PAVEL LOUNGUINE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17772#post17772)
LADY CHATTERLEY (PASCALE FERRAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17843#post17843)
LOVE FOR SALE: SUELY IN THE SKY (KARIM AINOUZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17755#post17755)
MURCH (EDIE AND DAVID ICHIOKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17588#post17588)
OLD GARDEN, THE (IM SANG-SOO) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17585#post17585)
OTAR IOSELIANI (JULIE BERTUCELLI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17798#post17798)
PAPRIKA (SATOCHI KON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=15991#post15991)
PARTING SHOT (JEANNE WALTZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17788#post17788 )
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES (ALAIN RENAIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16020#post16020)
RAGE (ZULI ALADAG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17736#post17736)
ROCKET SCIENCE (JEFFREY BLITZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17590#post17590)
REPRISE (JOACHIM TRIER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17815#post17815)
ROAD TO SAN DIEGO, THE (CARLOS SORIN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17839#post17839)
ROME RATHER THAN YOU (TARIQ TEGUIA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17749#post17749)
SILLY AGE, THE (PAVEL GIROUD) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17817#post17817)
SOUNDS OF SAND (MARION HANSEL) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17437#post17437)
SUGAR CURTAIN, THE (CAMILA GUZMAN URZUA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17790#post17790)
THESE GIRLS (TAHANI RACHED) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16047#post16047)
TIMES AND WINDS (REHA ERDEM) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17796#post17796)
VANAJA (RAJNESH DOMALPALLI ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17725#post17725)
VIE EN ROSE,LA/LA MOME (OLIVIER DAHAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16914#post16914)
VIOLIN, THE (FRANCISCO VARGAS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17794#post17794)
YACOUBIAN BUILDING, THE (MARWAN HAMED) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17753#post17753)


FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

200 films from 54 countries.

This will be a blog of the festival, which runs from April 26 to May 10, and also can be a place for anyone at all to discuss the films or the festival and comment on my reviews in the Festival Coverage Thread.

The SFIFF films schedule (http://fest07.sffs.org/films/) is posted now, and there was a press breakfast in the St. Francis Hotel this morning with free food and a nice view and Graham Leggat et al. announced all the programs. I'm glad they are showing The Yacoubian Building, an interesting-sounding new Egyptian movie that I just missed in NY. The finale showing is the same one as the Rendez-Vous', the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose AKA La Mome. Other offerings I've already seen include Dumont's Flanders and Resnais' new one, Coeurs AKA Private Fears in Public Places. Honore's Dans Paris is also to be shown, Bamako, Gardens in Autumn, Paprika.

Lady Chatterley I have not seen and I am eager to because there has been a lot of buzz about it in Europe; it was well received at the Berlinale and has shown in France to excellent reviews, needless to say since it wont the C�sar for Best Film.

Opening Night and the midterm and final showings offer no comps and the prices are pretty outrageous for the opening, $85 minimum, so I guess I won't see the new Emanuele Crialese (of Respiro) offering, Golden Door AKA Nuovo Mondo. Leggatt called it "Nuevo Mundo," but that was okay: he got every other foreign word and name right and got applause for the way he could reel off two dozen local film artists' names at a time -- he is a sharp cookie, acing the credits aspect anyway, good also at hyping the films and the festival, and he gives every indication of being an excellent director. I don't know how well serious film buffs like the selections/presentations; this festival may excel as much or more for its events as for its actual films, though I plan only on seeing films. There are a couple of young guys responsible for some of the more edgy/ avant-garde / political / offbeat selections, and their enthusiasm is inspiring. (The Centerpiece is Tom De Cillo's Delirous starring Steve Buscemi with Michael Pott.)

The main venue the Kabuki has been taken over by Sundance and is being done over and will be nicer. It will still be the main venue though the remodeling isn't quite finished. I was told there will be very few press screenings and they will be at the downtown Embarcadero Cinemas, which means they're at least easier to get to on the BART train (it is the first San Francisco stop) , an improvement, but I'm disappointed there are going to be few of them, because that was one way I got to see a cross section of the offerings as I mentioned earlier and included Noticias Lejanas and Play as well as several other notable offerings. The system of comps is more of a hassle: you have to show up an hour before the showing, go to the press office, and request comps, and they see if there are any left.... This is another reason why I prefer press screenings. They aren't as lively, but they're easier. There will be more screeners of some sort, but you all know full well that's nothing like seeing a film in a nice auditorium. I'm sure glad I didn't have to watch Noticias Lejanas and Play on my home monitor or one of theirs.

[oscar jubis]

Sorry about the reduced press screening schedule.

Films playing at the SFIFF I've reviewed:
Colossal Youth
The Violin
Sounds of Sand
The Old Garden
The 12 Labors
Fish Dreams
Jindabyne

Films playing at the SFIFF I'd want to watch:
Brand Upon the Brain
Opera Jawa
Daratt
The Yacoubian Building
The Island
Born and Bred
Gardens in Autumn
Il Caimano
Lady Chatterley
Aria
Otar Iosseliani: The Whistling Blackbird

[Chris Knipp]

I'll look up what you said about Sounds of Sand. It's the sole press screening tomorrow. The stills of it are very striking.

That's easy--if those are all you want to see. I've seen Gardens in Autumn (NYFF 2006) I'll look up the others you mention, of course not Lady Chatterley or Il caimano or The Yacoubian Building, because I already want to see them.

Thanks.

They gave us a CD with over 600 stills on it. I haven't figures out how to use them yet though. And they aren't labeled, which seems like simply a big mistake to me....

[Chris Knipp]

Though already reviewed by Oscar (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17127#post17127) in Miami, I decided to go to this one also because the stills intrigued me and it is one of the few press screenings, which are being greatly reduced due to a poor turnout. I'm waiting to get a link that will give me thumbnails for the reviews so they will come later.


SOUNDS OF SAND (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17437#post17437)

[Johann]

So San Fran's been doing it for 50 years?
I didn't know that- looking forward to your posts


I find press screenings ideal.
They are better than the festival proper in some ways- they tend to have "serious" people at them, hence no yapping or talking during the films. One time it was just me and some other guy in the theatre! Kinda cool actually- it makes you feel like they're screening it just for you.


Now for the important question:

So what did they serve at breakfast?
Croissants? with real butter?

Sliced grapefruit?

Or was it burnt toast and cocoa puffs?

[Chris Knipp]

Breakfast was all that, I had some moist thick fruitcake stuff and croissants, all with real butter, and yes, grapefruit, other fruits, they did not stint on breakfast in any way shape or form, it was a tasty, generous spread, in a room on the 23rd floor of the Westin St. Francis that has views of the whole city and Telegraph Hill in the foreground, and there was a big crowd on hand for Graham Leggatt's displays of memory and has ability to hype convincingly the festival's comprehensive, amazing programs, awards, etc. The Fiftieth Anniversary? They're celebrating by doing what they always do: lots of local - related events, celebrations of Bay Area filmmakers and film celebs and technicians and the usual round of new films and some you've heard of already from other festivals.. See the program online for the awards to Lucas, Rosario Dawson and Sam Rockwell, Spike Lee, et al.

Why people don't show up for the press screenings I have no idea, that is a real shame. I love being able to see all the Rendez-Vous with the insider crowd at the press screenings, and the entire New York Film Festival last year had all the big directors on hand for Q&A's just for the press. That's just not the way it works out here.. So there will be very few press screenings and I will be seeing what I see mostly through showing up an hour ahead and requesting press comps at the Kabuki Theater. At the PFA it is a bit easier for me, since I live in the East Bay. But the complete program is at the Kabuki in SF.

[Chris Knipp]

Here's a list of the SFIFF movies I am tentatively interested in (in alphabetical order):

7 YEARS (French, prison love triangle)

12 LABORS, THE (Brazilian youth story)

AGUA (Argentina/France, about long distance swimmers)

ALONG THE RIDGE/ANCHE LIBERO VA BENE (Kim Rossi Stewart, Italian, about a boy and a dad)

amour-LEGENDE (Japanese, arty love story)

BROKEN ENGLISH (Zoe Cassavetes, with French star Melvil Poupaud)

CAYMAN, THE /IL CAIMANO (Nanni Moretti, Italian political satire on Berlusconi)

GHOST TRAIN (wild Japanese horror movie)

HANA (Kore-eda of Nobody Knows, about a samurai who turns peaceful)

HEAVENS DOORS (Morocco, about hoodlums and an American woman in Casablanca)

LADY CHATTERLEY (French D.H. Lawrence novel adaptation, just won Best Picture César)

LAST DAYS OF YASIR ARAFAT, THE (documentary, Australia/Palestine)

MURCH (documentary about Hollywood sound legend)

ORANGE REVOLUTION, THE (documentary about election scandal in Ukraine)

OTAR IOSSALIANI (France, documentary about elderly filmmaker from Russia originally)

RAGE (Turkish/German, political culture-clash thriller set in Germany)

SUGAR CURTAIN, THE (France/Cuba, doc. about Cuban revolution)

VANAJA (India, about teenage girl who wants to become a dancer)

YACOUBIAN BUILDING, THE (Egypt biggest budget film ever, from a bestseller)

[Chris Knipp]

BAMAKO(ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO)

FALLING/FALLEN (BARBARA ALBERT)

FLANDERS/FLANDRES (BRUNO DUMONT)

GARDENS IN AUTUMN/JARDINS EN AUTONNE (OTAR IOSSALIANI)

PAPRIKA (SATOSHI KON)

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES/COEURS (ALAIN RESNAIS)

SOUNDS OF SAND/SI LE VENT ENLEVE LES SABLES (MARION HANSEL)

THESE GIRLS/EL BANATE DOL (TAHANI RACHED)

VIE EN ROSE, LA /LA MOME (OLIVIER DAHAN)

[oscar jubis]

Two films bound to disappoint, based on the available reviews and ratings, would be Ghost Train and Hana, both Japanese. In the case of Hana, no one claims it's a bad film but just about every available review indicates it's not at the high level of Kore-eda's previous films. We'll see. Perhaps your opinion will differ.

[Chris Knipp]

Perhaps my opinion won't differ. I'll take your info into consideration, and GHOST TRAIN looks like it may not make the cut. As I said these are only ones I'm tentatively interested in.

By the way I forgot to mention my intention of seeing the latest Carlos Sorin film. I have found his little portraints of Patagonia and environs quite unique and special. The new one is:

ROAD TO SAN DIEGO/EL CAMINO DE SAN DIEGO (CARLOS SORIN)

And among SFIFF films I've already seen I should have also given the 2006 NYFF item, THESE GIRLS/EL BANATE DOL (TAHANI RACHED), an interesting documentary about young women living on the street in Cairo (especially interesting to me, since once upon a time I lived in Cairo).

What about American films--anything good coming here? So far I don't know. You'd think that was the biggest category, but when you remove the revivals and co-credits the number dwindles; still, I should try to find something. There were some few US entries worth considering last year in the festival. For example Half Nelson and Factotum, Art School Confidential and Prairie Home Companion were shown, and also in English I liked the British-made Brothers of the Head. In fact, with my usual perversity, I would say the latter was my favorite of those. The others were all worth seeing, though. What in English is this year?

I plan to go to the press screening Wednesday, AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (PATRICK TAM) if only because there are so few press screenings to see this year at this festival.

[oscar jubis]

I enjoy Carlos Sorin's movies also. Shame that Bombon El Perro, which we've both seen, won't be coming out on dvd. At least not as of now. I think other members would enjoy it.
I missed These Girls at the MIFF.

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar, I meant to refer you to Michael Hawley's SFIFF wish list (http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com/2007/04/2007-sfiff50memories-and-anticipatory.html) on The Evening Class but that seems to have gotten plowed under. Hawley's remarks make me think I ought to consider Colossal Youth�Im Sang-Soo's The Old Garden, Ghosts of Cit� Soleil�the Chadian Daratt, Opera Jawa, possibly Karim Ainuz's Love For Sale: Suely in the Sky, given that Manam Sata' was a unique effort. I'm uncertain about the Belgian Congorama, also mentioned by Hawley. This would leave me covering a lot of your wish list given above.

[oscar jubis]

Great. I'm looking forward to reading all of your reviews from the festival. Naturally, I'm particularly curious about your opinion of certain films.
Another film I missed at the MIFF is Ghosts of Cite Soleil. Variety's Todd McCarthy: "It's amazing this film even exists and that the director is alive". It has a US distributor though.
I thought to myself Daratt is one you'd like to watch, but perhaps not the musical Opera Jawa (by the same guy who directed the doc Serambi which I reviewed).
I like Im Sang-soo's films. I just purchased an import dvd of his A Young Lawyer's Wife which was not distributed in our country. I felt that the romantic story and the political aspects in The Old Garden weren't always integrated smoothly. It's still a good movie.
I enjoyed reading Michael Hawley's recollections of previous SFIFF screenings. He's right when he says that Colossal Youth was "the great audience divider at Cannes". I dealt with this issue in my review. Miami audiences are generally more polite, but there were walkouts here also, as well as people who were enthralled by the cumulative power of Costa's long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations, etc. I generally avoid reading much about a film before watching it, but there are times when one benefits greatly. I think the more you know about Colossal Youth going in, the more you appreciate it.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'll try to look up the films around the days of the screenings, and have the schedule spread out. I like Hong Sangsoo, so if Im is similar.....but I wasn't crazy about The President's Big Bang, it didn't win my heart or anything. I like good political documentaries. . If you warn against Opera Jawa then maybe I should pass on that. As you know I can be okay with " long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations," but it depends on whose and when.

I'm actually sorry people can't see Los Muertos on the big screen. I used to scoff at that distinction, now I sit up close in the theater a lot of the time. I did for Grindhouse.

There is another movie called Los Muertos that just came out or just got mentioned in the US press. I think. I can't find it on IMDb.

I also tend to pursue anything related to the Arab world due to my time spent in the Middle East and my study of Arabic--though Hansley says the SFIFF is strong on Latin American or Spanish language films, I think I would do well to leave them to you.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I like Hong Sangsoo, so if Im is similar.....but I wasn't crazy about The President's Big Bang, it didn't win my heart or anything.
Actually Hong and Im are quite different. Hong's films are extremely nuanced and understated, deal mostly with relationships between young people who are usually artists or academics, use relatively long takes. You've seen A Tale of Cinema, one of several of his to screen at the NYFF. A favorite theme of Hong is past memories and events and the impossibility of undoing and returning to a past stage in our lives. Hong's Woman is the Future of Man, which was released last summer, just came out on dvd with an introduction by Marty Scorsese, who's a fan of Hong and South Korean cinema in general.
Im's films aim more towards the mainstream. Each of his films seems to adopt a different genre. What unites his last few films is their strong political background. The President's Last Bang is a satirical treatment of the assassination of the president in 1979. The Old Garden is basically a romance during the years of revolt against the dictatorship that followed that assassination. The Guangju Massacre is a major event in the film.

As you know I can be okay with " long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations," but it depends on whose and when.
Yes. I have no idea how you'd react to Pedro Costa's film. Read about it before you watch it. What some find slow and confusing, others regard as truthful, poetic and mysterious.

I'm actually sorry people can't see Los Muertos on the big screen. There is another movie called Los Muertos that just came out or just got mentioned in the US press. I think.
It's "our" Los Muertos that finally got released. I opened this thread to announce it: Los Muertos Gets Distribution in the USA (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2003)

Hansley says the SFIFF is strong on Latin American or Spanish language films
Four from Brasil and three from Argentina is strong.
One from Mexico and none from Spain is weak.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm afraid you got Hong and Im confused. I only have seen I'm's President's Big Bang, so I was leaving open the possibliity that I might like his work as much as Hong otherwise. I know who Hong is, and certainly remember what I saw of his at the New York Film Festival and wrote reviews of two years in a row; I also saw Woman Is the Future of Man in a theater. But you're attributing his films to Im, whose only film that I've seen is The President's Big Bang.

As for Peter--sorry, Pedro--Costa's Colossal Youth, there's no way of knowing, but Kevin Lee seems to like (http://mattzollerseitz.blogspot.com/2007/02/colossal-youth-slumland-empire.html) it, not that my taste and Lee's are identical, but that suggests a degree of interest. (You could read ten essays like Lee's and still not know if you are going to like it. ) It seems to have been discussed (http://filmref.com/journal/archives/2007/02/colossal_youth_2006.html) on Strictly Film School, but Acquerello's poetic prose leaves it even more ambiguous than Lee's as to whether or not one would like the film; one can only see why people walk out. There is no way of knowing from reviews whether I would like it or not, really. But I can see you are right to warn me. Now you can say you did.

Some would walk out of Los Muertos. I actually only went to it because Travis said it was great.

Do you think taking Spanish language as a category is wrong, hence your equivocal comment on whether the SF festival's selection thereof is strong or weak? I assume the Miami selection is stronger, clearly? But my point is, you are more qualified to cover that area. And your polite ambiguity aside, I gather Miami covers it better than San Francisco. I have yet to figure out where San Franicicso is strong; perhaps, not untypically, in a certain showmanship, and in the sidebar events and their way of drawing on local talent. But of course I guess everybody does that, and Cannes and Berlin and Venice etc. can draw on all of Europe.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I'm afraid you got Hong and Im confused.
Ah silly me. I've corrected the post. Thanks.

As for Peter--sorry, Pedro--Costa's Colossal Youth, there's no way of knowing
Right, there's no way of knowing with certainty. I like how Mark Peranson approaches the film Cannes '06 (http://www.cinema-scope.com/cs27/spot_cannes_peranson_conspiracy.htm). Go to the last third of his long essay.

Some would walk out of Los Muertos.
Absolutely.

But my point is, you are more qualified to cover that area. And your polite ambiguity aside, I gather Miami covers it better than San Francisco. I have yet to figure out where San Franicicso is strong
San Francisco seems to me to have excellent balance as far as showing films from all over the globe. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is which of the films playing are world premieres or American premieres. I read somewhere that one of the variables to judge a film festival is the number and quality of its world and national premieres. For me, that is not a major factor per se. The MIFF is very strong when it comes to films in Spanish and Portuguese, solid in European films in general, and somewhat weak in Asian films.
Sometimes knowing the language really makes a difference, but only sometimes. I'll give you an example. One of my favorite films of all time is Carlos Saura's Cria. Well, there's a pop song in it that the young girls who are the protagonists sing repeatedly. The lyrics of the song are very important in conveying meaning but the lyrics were not subtitled when the film was shown commercially in the USA.

[Chris Knipp]

I read somewhere that one of the variables to judge a film festival is the number and quality of its world and national premieres. Well, of course. The greater number of premieres go to the more famous and well positioned (in space and time of year) festivals.
Sometimes knowing the language really makes a difference, but only sometimes. I'll give you an example. One of my favorite films of all time is Carlos Saura's Cria. Well, there's a pop song in it that the young girls who are the protagonists sing repeatedly. The lyrics of the song are very important in conveying meaning but the lyrics were not subtitled when the film was shown commercially in the USA. Your point seems a bit fuzzy here. Knowing the language, and of course also the culture, is always important, but sometimes more important than at other times.

Of course for Tony Jaa, you don't need subtitles. But try an Ingmar Bergman movie without them. But consider also how much subtitles leave out; and "language" also means culture.

[oscar jubis]

Rosenbaum had never mentioned Costa, as none of his films had played in Chicago. Colossal Youth will screen there this week as part of the Chicago Latino fest.

Colossal Youth
"Most or all of Pedro Costa's films reside in a netherworld between documentary and fiction, and the two I've seen are awesome. Where Lies Your Hidden Smile? (2001), an account of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet editing one of their films, feels very intimate, though they were also being observed by students (whose presence is elided by Costa). And the exquisitely composed, naturally lit chiaroscuro of Colossal Youth (2006), shot in the surviving ruins of one Lisbon slum and around a high-rise in another, combines realism and expressionism, Louis Lumiere and Jacques Tourneur. It was cowritten by the nonprofessional, marginal, mainly nonwhite cast; rehearsed and shot in multiple takes; then edited down from 320 hours to 155 minutes over a period of 15 months. It's unlike anything else I've seen -- mysterious, exalted, demanding, leisurely paced, and very beautiful -- and you're bound to either love it or hate it. In Portuguese with subtitles." (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

[Chris Knipp]

It's good to have this recognition, but I think your own review of Colossal Youth told me more than this, along with some of the same basic information. Interesting to note that Costa likes his films to be seen at public screenings so people will see others walk out, feeling that is part of his process.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm finding it hard to access the SFIFF's press information, and so I missed the fact that at the last minute they added a press screening of Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door on Friday, and this is an $85-ticket grand opener that I may not otherwise be able to see. I am going to try to make it to what remains of the press screenings, , minus the Edith Piaf biopic which I've already covered and was the finale at the Rendez-Vous. Tomorrow they are showing a Czech film that was shown at the Berlinale, David Ondricek's Grandhotel and I will do my best to make it to that, at least. Just about every other press screening is at a different venue. This is probably because the Kabuki, the main venue, is still being done over by the Sundance people. But it will still be the main venue of the festival and they say it's going to be very nice. Well, Graham Leggatt says.

[Chris Knipp]

As promised, a review of the press screening of this new Czech film shown recently at the Berlinale:


DAVID ONDRICEK'S "GRANDHOTEL" (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17581#post17581)

[Chris Knipp]

A good one.


IM SANG-SOO: THE OLD GARDEN (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17585#post17585)



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[Chris Knipp]

Great little documentary on the film and sound editor.


EDIE AND DAVID ICHIOKA: MURCH (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17588#post17588)




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[Chris Knipp]

Smart and occasionally surprising Sundance teen flick, but you may want to wait for the DVD.



JEFFREY BLITZ: ROCKET SCIENCE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17590#post17590)



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[Chris Knipp]

I'm going back over Oscar's lists and mine for the SFIFF now as the festival begins this week. The opening night is Thursday. Regular showings of up to 21 a day begin in the main venue Friday.

Oscar's lists:
Films playing at the SFIFF I've reviewed:
-Colossal Youth
The Violin
-Sounds of Sand
-The Old Garden
-The 12 Labors
Fish Dreams
Jindabyne

Films playing at the SFIFF I'd want to watch:
Brand Upon the Brain
Opera Jawa
-Daratt
-The Yacoubian Building
The Island
Born and Bred
-Gardens in Autumn
-Il Caimano
-Lady Chatterley
-Aria
-Otar Iosseliani: The Whistling Blackbird

The tick marks show ones I've already seen or hope to see. Some of the omissions are merely due to venue or scheduling problems. Of course I have some others on my wish list, which you can find above.

The press screenings are still a source of frustration. As few as there are, theyu've made it harder to see even those by scattering them among various venues and scheduling them with four hours in between them.

[oscar jubis]

*Ondricek's Loners had a commercial run in NY in 2002, based on awards at 2nd-tier Euro fests, but it didn't get good reviews here. Not on dvd. A better choice for the SFIFF would have been Jan Hrebejk's Beauty in Trouble.

*FF Coppola hasn't directed in 10 years. His Youth Without Youth has been completed. Walter Murch edits of course. I hope the Ichiokas doc ends up as an extra on a dvd or gets broadcasted on cable because I'd like to watch it.

*If it's convenient for you to catch The Violin check it out. I think you might enjoy it.

[Chris Knipp]

A better choice for the SFIFF would have been Jan Hrebejk's Beauty in Trouble. You may well be right on that; I would hope so. I did not choose to see the Ondricek film; I simply went because it was a press screening offered. Last year just turning up for the then conveniently located and scheduled press screenings was a good way of getting a cross section of the festival and that's how I happened to see Play, Noticias Lejanas, Half Nelson, Brothers of the Head, Factotum, and the award-winning documentary, Iraq in Fragments. A different story this year: far fewer shown, harder to get to, and I only managed to see five.
*If it's convenient for you to catch The Violin check it out. I think you might enjoy it. I don't know what I will be able to get to yet, but I've circled that one with the others.
I hope the Ichiokas doc ends up as an extra on a dvd or gets broadcasted on cable because I'd like to watch it. The Murch documentary/interview is certainly one any film buff or fan of Coppola and Zoetrope would want to see and I hope it is presented in some easily available form.

[Chris Knipp]

Astonishingly ambitious youthful effort from Morocco.


SWEL AND IMAD NOURY: HEAVEN'S DOORS (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17684#post17684)



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[Chris Knipp]

Elegant mystification from Taiwan.



MI-SEN WU: AMOUR-LEGENDE (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17690#post17690)



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[Chris Knipp]

Sketches for a cinema of exhaustion



PEDRO COSTA: COLOSSAL YOUTH (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17694#post17694)



Oscar:
I don't want you to delete your post about Colossal Youth replying to my review. Why would that be in order? I simply contend that I am not attacking your point of view, and therefore a refutation wasn't really necessary. A reply was certainly quite justified. I will quote your post, so that it will stand.

Oscar Jubis writes:
Of all the films I've seen this year, including 67 films at Florida festivals, Colossal Youth is the one I can't seem to get out of my mind.
It's reassuring to me, as a fan of the film, that it managed to place third on the 2006 Indiewire list of Best Undistributed Films, as voted by mostly American, "alternative press" critics. I think it speaks volumes that Colossal Youth did that without a single screening at American festivals in 2006 (the sole North American screenings took place in Toronto, reportedly at odd hours and with a third reel that was subtitled in French).

Your contention that "Costa offers less to viewers (and conversely perhaps gives them more to do) than almost any filmmaker presenting lives and people" clashes with my experience of the film. Two scenes come to mind in particular: Vanda in her new apartment telling Ventura the story of the birth of her daughter. The tale, delivered in monologue, is so rich it's almost epical, alternatively sad, funny, tragic, absurd, angry, and sublime. Another scene involves Ventura's visit to a man at a Rehabilitation Clinic. The injured laborer tells Ventura about his hopes for a better life, his inability to find more suitable employment, and his disillusionment over a rift with his mother. It's quite eloquent, moving and, more importantly for the purposes of this discussion, extremely nuanced and detailed. At moments like these, it's hard to refer to Colossal Youth as minimalist and hard to see a connection between the film and Beckett's "impoverished vocabulary".

Further enriching the film is certain, perhaps oblique, allusion to Portugal's colonist past and to the current conditions of Costa's characters as a natural extension of the history between Portugal and Cape Verde. This is a crucial aspect of the film that has only been broached, albeit briefly and as far as I know, by Pascal Acquarello:
"For the characters in Colossal Youth, the historical landscape of the Cape Verde islands as barren land, exploited colony, commercial way station, slave port, and leprosaria institution is not a forgotten anecdote, but a suffocating reality that continues to weigh on the collective consciousness of its inhabitants, even in their migration and displacement."

I am sorry that you moved to delete your post before I even finished editing my reply to it. (I might have toned down what I said too--that's one function of my self-editing. But now I'll have to let what I said originally stand, since you even quoted my most annoying remark.)

True to Graham Leggett's contention that the festival champions independent work, the SFIFF is showing Colossal Youth three times, twice on weekends, and not at odd hours.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I think you may have misread my "contention," and I don't think a refutation was necessary. This is my review; do you have to have the last word?. You have already spoken.

I thought you were interested in discussing the films. I am deleting my post immediately. I'll delete this one after you've read it.

[Chris Knipp]

Oscar Jubis wrote:

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I think you may have misread my "contention," and I don't think a refutation was necessary. This is my review; do you have to have the last word?. You have already spoken.

I thought you were interested in discussing the films. I am deleting my post immediately. I'll delete this one after you've read it.

I'm sorry if what I said above was provocative. You can have the last word and often do. I merely meant to assert what I did in the previous sentence: I don't believe my statements about Costa in the film being a minimalist should be taken as a condemnation. They are meant to show that the film is challenging for many perhaps most viewers to watch, as are the novels of Samuel Beckett. I regard Beckett as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. To compare anyone with him is hardly a slight on my part. But I repeat, Beckett's novels are challenging and difficult. It is the essence of minimal art that it is maximal in implication. Less is more. You may well feel that my response to Costa is less enthusiastic than mine, but not that I am attacking him. You don't need to refute what I said, but you certainly can reply and should!

I am indeed interested in discussing the films. I'm sorry my viewpoint offends you. A third voice is essential at this point. . . I have cited Justin Chang, Aquerello, and Kevin Lee, to provide a range of opinions, and I've aligned myself with Lee, while implying, intentionally, that I think Justin Chang's descriptions accurately reflect how a majority of viewers might respond. Lee's criticism seems to me to have merit, and so does his praise. I thought that be referring to those other writers, I was providing balance, and placing myself in a middle position, between the extremes of Aquarello and Chang, and close to Lee.

[Chris Knipp]

Berlusconi skewered. Nanni Moretti's new film from Italy offers an embarrassment of riches. Perhaps too much of good thing?




NANNI MORETTI: THE CAYMAN (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17697#post17697)



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[Chris Knipp]

Are we ready for a cowardly samurai?



HIROKAZU KOREEDA: HANA (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17716#post17716)


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[Chris Knipp]

A cold dish in a hot climate (Another look at revenge).



MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN: DARATT (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17718#post17718)



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[Chris Knipp]

SFIFF SKY Prize contender: Strange ways of loving. . .




JEAN-PASCAL HATTU: 7 YEARS (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17723#post17723)


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[Chris Knipp]

A festival favorite with lovely cinematography, from India. . .



RAJNESH DOMALPALLI: VANAJA (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17725#post17725)



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[Chris Knipp]

A portrait of urban Brazilian youth



RICARDO ELIAS: THE 12 LABORS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17727#post17727)



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[Chris Knipp]

A provocative film about Turkish-German conflicts



ZULI ALADAG: RAGE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17736#post17736)



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[Chris Knipp]

A droll French-Canadian comedy connections, inventions, and origins starring Dardennes regular Olivier Gourmet. . .


PHILIPPE FALARDEAU: CONGORAMA (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17738#post17738)



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[Chris Knipp]

Swimming, life: levels of the game. An elegant new film from Argentina.



VERONICA CHEN: AGUA (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17747#post17747)


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[Chris Knipp]

A rough manifesto from an unacceptable civil state: Algeria.


TARIQ TEGUIA: ROME RATHER THAN YOU (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17749#post17749)

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[Chris Knipp]

Engaging meta-fiction tale about screenwriting and murder in changing China. . .


HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (XIAOLU GUO, 2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17751#post17751)


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[Chris Knipp]

An Egyptian blockbuster about Cairo society in the 1990's.


THE YACOUBIAN BUILDING (MARWAN HAMED 2005) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17753#post17753)


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[Chris Knipp]

A misfire from the Brazilian director best known for Madame Satã.



LOVE FOR SALE: SUELY IN THE SKY (KARIM AINOUZ 2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17755#post17755)


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[oscar jubis]

You must be exhausted with film viewing and reviewing, Chris. Great job though. Festival reviews have a long life because we might have to wait years for some of these films to become available outside the festival circuit. I mean...Los Muertos finally got a theatrical release a month or so ago.

I know from reading your reviews carefully that Rage and The Yacoubian Building are not films I would enjoy. I'd love to watch How is Your Fish today? It has that kind of meta-narrative used by Watkins in Edvard Munch and Hou in The Puppetmaster and others. It has the same distributor as Sweet Land and Old Joy so if it doesn't come to a theater near me I can get it on dvd.

I'd give Karim Ainouz's film a chance, partly because of Sata and the two films he penned which I've reviewed (Lower City and Cinema, Aspirin and Vultures), but most importantly because of DP Walter Carvahlo, who lensed perhaps the most beautiful film I've seen this decade: Lavoura Arcaica (finally available on dvd under the title "To the Left of the Father").

Congorama got called contrived and overplotted in Variety but I'll watch anything with Olivier Gourmet.

Agua sounds delicious. I can probably get the dvd from friends who travel to Buenos Aires regularly.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for these responses. I don't know why you wouldn't be interested in The Yacoubian Building, but having lived in Cairo, I admittedly have an connection you and others on this site would lack. You don't seem to gravitate to Middle Eastern cinema. I'm interested in what comes out of that area or relates to it. As for Rage (Turkey of course not "the Middle East"), if you're interested in urban social problems it is a must-see, though it's not fun to watch. I think it's extremely interesting to analyze the mind-set of the Turkish-born German resident writer/director. I could only touch on that.

The cinematography in Suely/Love for Sale is beautiful at many points, but it's a bit wasted, partly because the print didn't always look that good. I became aware of its beauty partly through looking at the stills afterwards. There is a huge range of image qualities nowadays, compared to the past when film was the only medium. I have not seen anything but Madam Sata and this new one, both in theaters. Production quality isn't high, but he's got a good cinematographer. You may disagree on everything but the latter point.

I hope you like How Is Your Fish Today? I may add a final note about disappointments on rewatching it on the big screen. They were projecting a dvd. I became aware that the latter part needed cutting, but the writing and editing were good most of the way.

As I said in my review, Congorama seems to me more like a novel than a film. I don't mean it's uncinematic, just that the plotting suggests a book. It's not "overplotted," but its plotting is cerebral. It seems like 90% of the time a film is expected to be on a simpler level than most novels. I can think of lots of overeventful or overplotted films (some deliriously or hilariously--intentionally--so), but this wasn't that. It can be accused of being ingenious.

Agua is nice.

Personally one of the highlights was Daratt. Along the Ridge also grabbed me; Il Caimano to some extent; there have been very few real disappointments, below par items. But nothing as magical as News from Afar, as far out as Brothers of the Head, as nicely done as Play (those from last year), or as unforgettable as Los Muertos (from two years ago). I'm not counting some that I'd already seen that are great: Dans Paris, Flanders, Bamako.

Only a couple more days. I am behind in review-writing but have to try to watch as many as I can before the final day.

I don't think we were invited to the opening gala for which tickets cost $85, but we are invited to the finale, but since I've seen La Vie en Rose I'll skip it. I'm in this for the film-watching, not for the schmoozing or celebrity-watching.

I think we love some films for what they could have been, when it was something we've always wanted. How Is Your Fish Today? is that for me. It doesn't quite come up to the fantasy, but the ideas are there.

I'm not exhausted but I'll be glad when it's over.

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I don't know why you wouldn't be interested in The Yacoubian Building. You don't seem to gravitate to Middle Eastern cinema.
The reasons have to do with "Smashed-together telenovela", "heavy-handed emotional manipulation", prejudiced", "wrong kind of lense used", "some exterior sound is awful"... I have no opinion of the film of course but it sounds like something I can afford to pass on given there are more good films to watch than one has available time.

You know I gravitate to good cinema from everywhere. I have no less or more interest in a movie because it's American or French or Iranian. From Egypt, the best films I've seen are by Youssef Chahine, whom we've discussed before.


The cinematography in Suely/Love for Sale is beautiful at many points, but it's a bit wasted, partly because the print didn't always look that good. I became aware of its beauty partly through looking at the stills afterwards.
This is most likely a projection problem. I had a similar problem at the MIFF with the press screening of Glue: Historia de un Adolescente en Medio de la Nada. I raised the issue with the person in charge of quality control and they were very grateful because they were able to avoid similar problems at the public screening of the film.

I hope you like How Is Your Fish Today? I may add a final note about disappointments on rewatching it on the big screen. They were projecting a dvd.

This happened to me at the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival. It's lamentable and only acceptable when it's made clear beforehand that they'll be projecting a dvd.

Personally one of the highlights was Daratt. Along the Ridge also grabbed me
I've had my eye on Daratt for a while. I guess we should start referring to it as Dry Season since that's the title used for its release in NYC last month. The distributor is tiny but I think there'll be a dvd. Along the Ridge sounds interesting.

Only a couple more days. I am behind in review-writing but have to try to watch as many as I can before the final day.
Sounds very familiar.

I'm in this for the film-watching, not for the schmoozing or celebrity-watching.
That's the spirit!

[Chris Knipp]

Portrait of a cantankerous hermit acts as a parable for modern Russia



PAVEL LOUNGUINE: THE ISLAND (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17772#post17772)


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[Chris Knipp]

Oscar:

Not to belabor the point, but The Yacoubian Building is highly significant as an attempted comprehensive portrait of the country, despite its faults, but you can choose as you like. I notice you mention Iran, but not Morocco, Algeria, Egypt. . .but better things are coming out of Latin America, I'm very ready to grant.

If those two films were shown on projected dvd's, isn't that the fault or shortcoming of the limited budgets of the makers? Had they brought film, it would have been used. This wasn't the only disappointment in re-watching How Is Your Fish Today? I also saw weaknesses in the overall design and the editing that I had overlooked the first time. I'm not sure the jurors here care, because lat year they gave the SKYY Prize to Taking Father Home (Ying Liang), a Chinese movie shown in a crude-looking dvd version.

Had forgotten that Daratt had opened in NYC. I did see that somewhere. But my head is spinning now, and I really am getting tired, and I'm feeling quite frustrated too because I was working on six or seven reviews at the same time, and the Word files of three of them became corrupted and the reviews effectively lost. That was quite a blow when I have so many to do. I don't know if I can face trying to recreate them in toto.

A postscript on The Yacoubian Building:

Today's (final?) publicity release from the festival includes this information in the awards listings. (http://www.moviecitynews.com/notepad/2007/070510_pr.html) :
The Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature went to Francisco Vargas Quevedo's The Violin, with Sounds of Sand, Vanaja, The Yacoubian Building and Zolykha’s Secret rounding out the top five audience favorites in the category.

[Chris Knipp]

Death in a family, seen from the eyes of a mysterious outsider.


LEE YOON-KI: AD LIB NIGHT (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17776#post17776)


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[Chris Knipp]

STILL TO COME, REVIEWS OF:

LADY CHATTERLEY
PARTING SHOT (WINNER OF THE FIPRESCI PRIZE)
REPRISE
THE SILLY AGE (WINNER OF THE CHRIS HOLTER HUMOR IN FILM AWARD)
TIMES AND WINDS
THE VIOLIN (WINNER OF THE SKYY PRIZE)
THE WHISTLING BLACKBIRD

PROBABLY WILL SEE ON THE LAST DAY:

THE ORANGE REVOLUTION OR
THE SUGAR CURTAIN
(CAN'T SEE BOTH)

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Oscar I notice you mention Iran, but not Morocco, Algeria, Egypt.
You missed my point, which is that I don't care one bit where a film comes from or the predominant language spoken. I don't "gravitate" towards anything but good films. When I write: " I have no less or more interest in a movie because it's American or French or Iranian", the three national origins are random.

two films were shown on projected dvd's, isn't that the fault or shortcoming of the limited budgets of the makers? Had they brought film, it would have been used.
Festivals typically require production companies to provide the best possible presentation for the film in exchange for the privilege of having a certain film selected out of all entries submitted and exhibited.

I'm not sure the jurors here care, because lat year they gave the SKYY Prize to Taking Father Home (Ying Liang), a Chinese movie shown in a crude-looking dvd version.
Unacceptable. It's the festival administrators who don't seem to care.

I really am getting tired, and I'm feeling quite frustrated too because I was working on six or seven reviews at the same time, and the Word files of three of them became corrupted and the reviews effectively lost. That was quite a blow when I have so many to do. I don't know if I can face trying to recreate them in toto.
That sucks man. Sorry.

[oscar jubis]

I reviewed Le Yoon-ki's debut This Charming Girl (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=13603#post13603).
That film kept the focus squarely on the main character but also could use some trimming around the middle. It's great how easy Korean films with Eng. subs on dvd can be bought on the net. If Ad Lib Night is not available on Korean dvd at the moment, it will soon.

[Chris Knipp]

Thank you for your comments. I'd probably like to watch This Charming Girl.

I cannot comment knowledgeably on the technicalities of festival film screening and the image quality. I gather that the projection of a video or non-film entity can be quite sophisticated now. I just saw The Sugar Curtain, the documentary by Camila Guzman Urzua, and it looked pretty good, it was projected on a really big screen in a really large auditorious, and the equipment they used was not film projection but it looked quite elaborate, in the back of the auditorium. So I'm not so sure that the use of a projected dvd is now always to be considered "lamentable."
It's the festival administrators who don't seem to care. In the case of Taking Father Home, then, if you want to put it that way, niether the admistrators nor the jurors "seem to care." They probably do care. But they make allowances for lack of image sharpness that they would not have made probably during the era when there was only film used. And then, there is David Lynch's Inland Empire, used with a "cheap" video camera ($2,000-$3,000) and grainy looking, yet it works. But in the cases of beginners with no budget, like Ying Liang, it just looks like a biginner working with a cheap camera. He's never used film, unlike Lynch.

Some of Camila Guzman Urzua's camerawork didn't appeal to me much, but I'll deal with that later. One usually makes some allowances for low budget documentaries one doesn't make for narrative features, I guess.

[Chris Knipp]

The festival is over today, and I'm personally glad that by some luck or dumb luck I happen to have this time seen the winners of the humor award (The Silly Age/La Edad de la Peseta), the Fipresci Prize (Parting Shot/Pas douce), and the SKYY Prize (The Violin, suggested by Oscar), plus the Cesar Best Film winner, Lady Chatterley's Lover. These are definitely of high quality, each in its own very different way. And I'm going to piece together those lost reviews of mine somehow, and move forward to write six or seven more. The festival was more of a hassle this year than last, I said "never again" more than once, but also the results for me were probably better this year overall, despite the lack of the magical experiences I had in earlier SFIFFs with those Latin American movies I keep mentioning, Los Muertos, Play, and Noticias Lejanas.

Also bear in mind that in my view some of the best of this festival were in the NYFF or the Rendez-Vous, also as I've repeated before, Bamako, Flanders, Dans Paris, and I might mention tonight's closing celebration film, the glittering, dazzling, remarkably acted La Vie en Rose/La Mome, with Marie Cotillard.

Links to more SFIFF 50/2007 reviews will follow in the next few days.

[Chris Knipp]

Delicate collision: tough turns tender (Fipresci Prize winner, with Isild Le Besco).


JEANNE WALTZ: A PARTING SHOT (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17788#post17788 )


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[Chris Knipp]

Documentary memoir: a childhood of lost hopes and ideals in Cuba


CAMILA GUZMAN URZUA: THE SUGAR CURTAIN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17790#post17790)


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[oscar jubis]

*I think it's important to note that Camila Guzman Urzua's father is Patricio Guzman, one of the greatest political documentary filmmakers in the world. I'm curious about the extent of his involvement with El Telon de Azucar (perhaps as a consultant). Here's a review of the last film he has released: Salvador Allende (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=8853#post8853 ) (2004)


*Just to confirm, for anyone interested in Ad Lib Night after reading Chris Knipp's review, that the film is indeed available on NTSC dvd with English subs. As usual, the price is right: $8-$12 shipping included.

[Chris Knipp]

I remember the Allende film being shown in New York but I missed it. I did see mention of Urzua's father in the Variety review; however, there is nothing to indicate that he cooperated in or influenced the film. He is not interviewed. She does not mention him in her statements or refer to his work in the film. And he is not otherwise mentioned in the press kit. I think we should note that she is his daughter and leave it at that--unless you find information to the contrary (i.e. that he had some direct involvement in her documentary). Perhaps by the way, should I call her "Guzman Urzua," though, as Deborah Young of Variety does, rather than simply "Urzua"? Someone was chastised for calling Gael Garcia Bernal "Bernal" and not "Garcia Bernal," I remember.

If you know of other SFIFF films I've reviewed that are available so reasonably on DVD's, please tell us.

[Chris Knipp]

The authenticity of age: strong politics and a strong aesthetic from Mexico. The SKYY Prize winner at the SFIFF.


FRANCISCO VARGAS: THE VIOLIN (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17794#post17794)


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[Chris Knipp]

A lovely little package: Turkish village life.


REHA ERDEM: TIMES AND WINDS (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17796#post17796)


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[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Perhaps by the way, should I call her "Guzman Urzua," though, as Deborah Young of Variety does, rather than simply "Urzua"? Someone was chastised for calling Gael Garcia Bernal "Bernal" and not "Garcia Bernal," I remember.
Yes, you should call her "Guzman Urzua" just like one should use "Gonzalez Inarritu". In Latin America, it's traditional to use first the last name of your father followed by tha last name of your mother (I am Oscar Jubis Siman in El Salvador). This practice is probably most common in Mexico and least common in Argentina, by the way. It would be slightly more acceptable to call her "Guzman" than "Urzua", or in the case of G.G.B., "Garcia" rather than "Bernal". But both choose to use the double last name so that would be the right way to refer to either.

If you know of other SFIFF films I've reviewed that are available so reasonably on DVD's, please tell us.
The Old Garden is the other film you've reviewed that's cheaply and easily available on NTSC dvd. If you find one made in Korea is probably somewhat better quality than one made in China.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks. I'll put in Guzman. And all this time I have been saying "Innaritu," and it was wrong. . . But what I can't understand is that this site now doesn't seem to support any kind of coding for accented letters. I thought it did before. This spoils my painstaking efforts to be accurate with names and foreign titles, and this isn't true of my site or IMDB entries.

How do they do names in Argentina--do they just more often use the father's name alone?

I'm glad The Old Garden is available, though more will be lost on a small screen of its complex large-scale images than for the very TV-screen-ready Ad Lib Night.

If that's the only other one currently, I dare say many will be coming on dvd later. Well, some..

[Chris Knipp]

Youthful New Wave-ish wit from Norway (this year's Best Foreign Oscar entry): a whole generation headed by two ambitious young writers.



JOACHIM TRIER: REPRISE (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17815#post17815)


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[Chris Knipp]

Cuba on the brink of the revolution: a droll coming of age tale.


PAUL GIROUD: THE SILLY AGE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17817#post17817)


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[oscar jubis]

Regarding El Violin:

*The film's controversial politics resulted in it being ignored by Mexican distributors even after the prize at Cannes and seven Ariel nominations. Guillermo del Toro managed to use his clout to get The Violin distributed in Mexico. It finally opened on 4/27/07.

*The first name of the actor who plays Don Plutarco, the winner of Best Actor of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes '06, is Angel, not Anjel.

*The first name of the character who is the son of Don Plutarco is Genaro, not Genero.

*The scope is certainly not "epic" but, what do you mean by "footnote" when you write: "the focus on him makes the story a footnote rather than an epic"?

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks for the corrections of my misspellings--I've fixed them.

I may be undercutting the heroic aspect of the characters and events in The Violin, in your view. I don't mean to do that. There's just a difference between heroic and epic, and Vargas is deliberately working on a specific, limited scale in his depiction of the campesino rebellion. I might better phrase it "more a footnote than an epic," not to say it's either. (A footnote can be very important.) I would compare The Violin to Pontecorvo's epic (using the word somewhat loosely) The Battle of Algiers, which includes specific heroes of the revolt and covers the whole sequence of events from both sides in great detail. Vargas doesn't do this. Again, that doesn't mean The Violin is nothing but a "footnote." It's just not an epic, even though its main characters are brave and heroic.

A couple of other points about the historical references and your use of the word "propaganda". You said as you recall:
Vargas purposefully avoids anything that specifies time and place, both in the dialogue and in the visuals. The tale brings to mind a number of conflicts in Latin America although, if I had to guess, I'd say this is Chiapas,Mexico during the Zapatista "insurrection" of 1994. As to the period and rebellion Vargas is referencing, in an interview in the press kit Vargas replied as follows:
The history which the film sends us back to is still present in the memory of the country: the peasant revolt of Guerrero in the 1970's, this repressed voice which erupted in defense of the rights of the peasant Indian communities, surprising both the reigning power and public opinion. This revolt recalls also that of the Chiapas populations, directed by the deputy commander Marco, leader of the revolutionary group EZLN (Egercito Zapatista de Liberacion National).Variety's review focuses on the period Vargas points to first, referring to Don Angel Tavira, as fiddling "his way into the front lines of Mexico's peasant revolts during the 1970s." Vargas also says in the press kit interview "Those who have seen the film in Mexico are reminded immediately of recent events like the miners conflict and the military oppression in Atenco." And he refers to the repression of alternatives to President Fox's version of democracy during the presidential compaign, which was still going on at the time of the interview. So all that would help us understand better why the film was regarded as controversial in Mexico. The fight goes on.

As to the film being propaganda, you wrote in your review,
The Violin's politics are quite simple: the film is supportive of the rebels to such extent that it could reasonably be called "propaganda". It clearly aims at every stretch to present Plutarco and Genaro as heroic and their adversaries as villanous.Propaganda tries to convince us of a distorted position's validity. I don't see that happening in either film. I'm more inclined to call something propaganda when it promotes assertions that are patently false. Of course indeed Vargas' sympathies are with the campesino rebels. But I don't think that either in The Violin or The Battle of Algiers sympathy for the rebels and the drawing of clearcut lines makes the film propaganda -- though no doubt there are those who would differ -- namely those who would like any campesino rebellions quashed in Mexico or those who wish Algeria were still a French colony. Being political, specific, controversial, and taking sides don't make a film propaganda. At the end of The Battle of Algiers the French won. But in the long run, they lost. So Pontecorvo's stand is with history, and I'd say Vargas' is too, which also helps keep either from being propaganda. It doesn't keep them from being controversial, though.

[Chris Knipp]

Running from emotion in Patagonia.


PABLO TRAPERO: BORN AND BRED (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17826#post17826)


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[oscar jubis]

I wasn't ready to disagree with the line I quoted from your review without further elaboration from you. I find your explanation quite satisfactory.

I find you're discussion of the time and place in which the film is set also good. The Violin is relatively vague about its place and time, perhaps so that the viewer relate the events to a series of clashes between Mexican governments and revolutionaries dating back to the 70s. Like I wrote "the tale brings to mind a number of conflicts..."

My statement that The Violin "could reasonably be called propaganda" is related to the clear assignment of good traits to the peasants and bad traits to the soldiers. It's an extremely one-sided tale of good vs. evil, like a traditional western (I think you made the comparison to films from that genre in your review). I like the film (to a point) and I'm glad it's playing at 20 Mexican theatres right now. But its politics are simplistic and reductive. That's all I'm willing to say as I don't wish to discuss Mexican politics in this forum.

[Chris Knipp]

I forgot Cannes' Actor award for Angel Tavira. That's kind of an honorary award. I'm not sure that's fair to all the professional actors who work so hard.

Not propaganda, but biased. Yes, cowboy movies analogy works, with their good-guy/bad-guy lineup. You aren't playing entirely fair when you refuse to discuss "Mexican politics" but say of The Violin" its politics are simplistic and reductive," which is indirectly a statement about Mexican politics--that they are more complex than this film. I take it that not all peasant rebellions are admirable or helpful. and the question is, which one is this, and is it an admirable or helpful one? And the answer is, Vargas doesn't say, so we can't say. That's maybe what you mean by "reductive."

Battle of Algiers shows the French conferring and making up strategies; The Violin doesn't sow the gov't from the inside. What I love about Pontecorvo's film is that it is very specific about events. But I think what leaves me dissatisfied in The Violin isn't that it isn't that way, but that it is pro-campesino rebellion without explaining why they should be having a rebellion, and what their action is aimed at achieving, etc. Which in The Battle of Algiers is quite clear (even though they aren't achieving it).

You don't sound that enthusiastic about The Violin now --"I like The Violin (to a point." I'd consider it one of the standouts of what I saw, though didn't fall in love with it.

Am finding it hard to find ones I loved, but can only eliminate a third of what I saw so far from the running as possible "highlights" because so many of them were worth watching, but not super-exciting. My notepad now lists

Along the Ridge
Daratt
The Violin
Agua
Lady Chatterley
Reprise
Murch
Ad Lib Night

I crossed out Rage, because it's . . .virtually "propaganda." No, don't like that word at all. But it's very exaggerated to offend or galvanize viewers. Agitprop, maybe.

[oscar jubis]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I'll only say that Vargas' choice of not being specific does not at all protect him from being taken as making statements about the present; there's no way of avoiding that.
I agree.

When you say "I like the film (to a point)" you don't sound very enthusiastic. I think it's a standout of "my" SFIFF even though I didn't exactly fall in love with it.
It's a good film in my opinion otherwise I wouldn't have had the confidence to recommend it to you. But I didn't fall in love with it either. I think I've expressed why.

In fact it looks like it's going to be hard to pick highlights from what I saw from this festival.
I made a list of favorites from the MIFF and I decided I didn't want to post it. I pondered making a list of "commercially viable" films and "festival films" and decided against it. The reviews say exactly how I feel about each film. Once I post year-end lists for 2007, distributed and undistributed, my preferences will be spelled out more clearly. I certainly reserve the right to change my mind with subsequent viewings of a few of the films from the fest, although I rarely change my opinion.

[Chris Knipp]

I made a list of favorites from the MIFF and I decided I didn't want to post it. I pondered making a list of "commercially viable" films and "festival films" and decided against it. The reviews say exactly how I feel about each film. Once I post year-end lists for 2007, distributed and undistributed, my preferences will be spelled out more clearly. I certainly reserve the right to change my mind with subsequent viewings of a few of the films from the fest, although I rarely change my opinion.You can keep yourself pure in this way, and I don't generally like rating movies that much, but I like to be forced to make a decision, and for Cinescene I promised to write a roundup piece as I did of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema this year. That was easier to do, because there were ones I really liked.

I was thinking that I would very much like to be able to watch some of the films again. I can't, not only because they aren't available, but because I just can't go on working on this forever. But they all came too close together, so it's harder to observe them closely. I did revise my opinion about How is Your Fish Today? after the second viewing, but I didn't alter my review to make it more negative or critical, why be mean to a very low budget first film that basically had some nice ideas behind it?

"Commercially viable" vs. "festival films" is a fun game to play I guess.

After seeing Lady Chatterley with an old friend (actually business partner) she said she loved it, and I said, "that is an art film," and she said, "Oh, is it?" I thought it was great, but I also thought it was very long, and a rather strange. She just loved it and for her it went by fast so it wasn't "an art film." For me it was, but it was good.

[Chris Knipp]

Commercially viable?

I would say of these, that I listed above:

Along the Ridge
Daratt
The Violin
Agua
Lady Chatterley
Reprise
Murch
Ad Lib Night

Any one of them could be "commercially viable" in the sense of having some art house legs especially if well reviewed, with the reservation that Murch is maybe too short for a theatrical run. And there are others, but they're not on my list because in my evaluation they had flaws. For instance, Il caimano lacked unity. The Road to San Diego--Sorin--surely has an art house run ahead, ansl Vanaja -- 12 Labors?-- and of course some are already having them or about to, La Vie en Rose, Bamako, Coeurs, Dans Paris, Flanders.

[Chris Knipp]

Innocent pilgrimage to a soccer god.


CARLOS SORIN: THE ROAD TO SAN DIEGO (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17839#post17839)


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[Chris Knipp]

Conventional, and yet revolutionary .


PASCALE FERRAN: LADY CHATTERLEY (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17843#post17843)


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[Chris Knipp]

Island histrionics make for a slow, whimsical ramble



TAKUSHI TSUBOKAWA: ARIA[ (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17849#post17849)


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[Chris Knipp]

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 50 (2007)

Though nothing I saw except maybe Lady Chatterley was really magical this year at the 50th SFIFF, the general quality was high, and I can think of six that are worth singling out, and quite a few more worth mentioning. . .


HIGHLIGHTS OF SFIFF 2007 (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17856#post17856)


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[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Though nothing I saw except maybe Lady Chatterley was really magical this year at the 50th SFIFF, the general quality was high

What impressed me most about Lady Chatterley is how cinematic it is. The emphasis is on the characters' actions rather than what they say. Ms. Ferran and her collaborators apparently gave a lot of thought to conveying the narrative, and the development of the central relationship in visual terms. There's a focus on the the interaction between character and environment, both indoor and outdoor spaces. Ferran seems to know exactly when to cut to a nature shot, for instance, and how long to hold it. Every close-up of hands or faces appears to have an implied purpose. The actors merit the close scrutiny. I haven't read any interviews of Ms. Ferran or the actors but the approach seems to be to excise any line of dialogue which can be "covered" by a gesture or a body movement or the placing of the actors within the frame. I love how the progression of the affair between the Lady and her gamekeeper feels so organic and how the film addresses so convincingly the implications of their class differences.

What's puzzling is that Ferran directed two features in the mid 90s which won prestigious awards (including the Camera d'Or at Cannes) then did not direct for 11 years.

Kudos to Kino International for releasing the uncut, 168-minute theatrical version.

[Chris Knipp]

Well, words and gestures are both important, but the scenes of the gamekeeper and Lady C. are very organic and the physicality is the essential element of the story. It's also of considerable importance that a different version of the novel was used rather than the usual one. The use of French without altering any of the English names and settings creates an odd but not unpleasing effect. I don't know the exact answer to your question about the apparent lacuna in Ferran's directing career, but in 1997 she was involved in political activity (she was an leftist activist and feminist from her high school days), and also wrote the scendario for Matthieu Almaric's Mange ta soupe, and she also was director of photography for Valérie Nadjar-Vignaux's Mille livres. She was involved with the national theater in Strasbourg, I think . In 2000 she made a documentary in Florida, Quatre jours Ã* Ocoee, about the making of a recording by jazz artists Sam Rivers (sax) and Rony Hymas (piano). She was also in charge of the dubbing into french of Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut. Then in 2003 to her great regret after months of preparation she was forced to abandon shooting a big budget film called Paratonnerre based on a fantastic tale with Pierre Chevalier. Still, it does seem a bit strange that she went a decade or so without a big project, when she was capable of something as good as this.

Source: French Wikipedia: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascale_Ferran.

[oscar jubis]

Joachim Trier's Reprise was among the SFIFF '07 films Chris listed as "commercially viable". Accordingly, it has been released commercially in 2008. The dvd will be released in the fall and will likely include Trier's 18-minute English-language Procter. Chris Knipp's review (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=17815#post17815)

Reprise (Norway)

Only one of Reprise's protagonists is psychotic (Phillip) but both are writers pondering the implications of isolation: Philip's doctor apparently claims his obsessive love for Karin "triggered" the psychosis and recommends separation; Erik doesn't know whether to believe a friend's exhortation to break up with his girlfriend as he believes that settling down kills artistic creativity (this is mirrored by the self-imposed alienation of the duo's much-admired middle-aged writer). While Erik's ambivalence about romance results in neglect, Phillip attempts to recapture the glory days of a Parisian vacation with his girlfriend Kari.

Reprise is brimming with style and effervescent interplay of cinematic and narrative devices: omniscient and detached voice-over, freeze-frames, cut-to-blacks, memory-fueled flashbacks, scenes set in a hypothetical future tense, and much more. Trier mentions Alain Resnais' explorations of memory and identity as being particularly influential but Reprise includes less obvious, specifically Norwegian references, including one about the Oscar-nominated film Elling (about two mentally ill guys who become best friends at an institution and take a stab at independent living).

Use of songs by Joy Division and New Order is anachronistic but congruent with the characters' emotional states. Complex party scene scored to buoyant Le Tigre tune "Deceptacon", with lots of movement and action unfolding in different rooms, is perhaps Reprise's technical tour de force. Overall, an auspicious feature debut for Joachim "distant cousin of Lars" Trier. Is it too greedy of me to wish he had managed to integrate some of Phillip and Erik's fictionalized worlds?

[Chris Knipp]

I rarely get the pop or rock musical details so that's interesting as a comment that Joy Division etc. are not the right period. I think this is a smart and lively film, almost too clever in its opening segment, very watchable in the rest. I hope we get to see more from Joachim Trier in US theaters in future.

I didn't know Reprise was still showing and wonder if you just saw it. I re-published my review of it May 22nd. When did it open in FLA?

Since you mention Elling I wonder if you've seen Petter Naess' US-made Aspie romance Mozart and the whale?

[oscar jubis]

Some films on limited release come first to Miami, others like Reprise get to Fort Lauderdale first. Economically, it doesn't make sense anymore for me to drive 30+ miles to watch a film. I just wait until it comes to Miami. Reprise finally turned up in South Beach last week.

I haven't seen Mozart and the Whale. Very few have, despite famous actors in the lead roles.

Additional comment regarding the music: Kommune, the fictional band that appears in the film singing a song called "Finger-fucked by the Prime Minister", sounds like a punk band circa 1977-1984 but the hairstyles and clothes worn by the band and the audience are contemporary. Trier says it's just an "homage to political punk".

[Chris Knipp]

Mozart and the Whale is something I just watched on DVD. I found from responses by "Aspies," as I learned they call themselves (people with Asperger's Syndrome), that while some were disparaging of it, a majority seemed to be grateful for it and approving of how it depicts them, with some reservations. Asperger's Syndrome people may be over-dramatized in the film, and since Hartnett and Mitchell are beautiful people, glamorized, but the movies does show that they can function and most importantly love and marry. It apparently never really got a distributor. I guess Dustin Hoffman's character in Rainman is autistic but not Asperger's, I don't know, but despite the greater effectiveness of that (by the same screenwriter) as a movie dramatically, I never liked Hoffman in it. His performance seems just a shtick, and if I was an Aspie, I sure wouldn't want that to be people's picture of me. He comes off as a freak. I wouldn't be at all qualified to judge either film for its accuracy but Rain Man just seemed to me simplistic and gimmicky, and Mozart and the Whale not a great movie but much more sympathetic and possible to relate to.

I guess the decade is specified in Reprise but I don't remember and since I don't mention it in my review I may not have been very aware of it. Familiarity with the musical styles would make you much more conscious of that aspect but that leaves up in the air the question of whether Trier considered the period a key factor.

[oscar jubis]

I watched Rocket Science recently by Jeffrey Blitz, the director of Spellbound, the documentary about the National Spelling Bee. I must say that I really enjoyed Rocket Science and I was not surprised to find out that it has a high metacritic score. I don't remember putting this movie on my Netflix queue, probably a long time ago, but I'm glad to have seen it. The casting of the teenagers in the film is spot-on, and the performances don't disappoint. Blitz is no Baumbach but who is?(I hope I posted in the correct thread)

[Chris Knipp]

Jeffrey Blitz: ROCKET SCIENCE
http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/4153/mlw2.jpg

Yes, this is the right thread; there's no separate one because it was part of the 2007 SFIFF. And here is my review of ROCKET SCIENCE (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1999-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2007-%2850th-anniversary%29&p=17590#post17590), and I enjoyed it too. I remember going over to San Francisco on BART to see a press screening of it and pouring over the fairly thick press kit on the train coming back to the East Bay. For some reason I didn't mention it among the fest highlights (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?1999-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2007-%2850th-anniversary%29&p=17856#post17856), giving instead LADY CHATTERLEY, AGUA, DARATT, REPRISE, MURCH, and ROAD TO SAN DIEGO. I don't remember AGUA and MURCH very well now... I also mentioned good films I'd already seen at Lincoln Center "and elsewhere" (Paris), BAMAKO, DANS PARIS, LA VIE EN ROSE, AD LIB NIGHT, and Kim Rossi Stewart's directing debut ALONG THE RIDGE (ANCHE LIBERO VA BENE). So there was strong competition, and there are a lot of coming of age movies. Have you seen THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER? I liked that too -- I like coming of age movies (some cinephiles seem to hate them or to be fed up with them) -- and Logan Lerman is amazing in it. And boing back a year or two, did you see the period Brit coming of age movie SUBMARINE? So witty.

[oscar jubis]

I liked "Perks" and will definitely put Submarine on my to-watch list.

[Chris Knipp]

Great. I think you will like SUBMARINE. One of my faves of that year.