The 2008 MIami Festival's Comment Page

[oscar jubis]

I've written an introduction to the 2008 Miami International Film Festival (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2220) and posted it in the Festival Coverage section. All the film reviews will be posted there. As you might know, the Festival Coverage section doesn't allow replies. For that purpose I have opened this thread for any comments and questions. There will also be links here to every film reviewed. And there will be many. Perhaps not quite 56 like last year, but as many as my health, stamina, work schedule and family responsibilities permit. The festival has already started holding press screenings. I will begin posting reviews shortly, way ahead of the festival's opening, and will continue doing so after the festival has closed.

[oscar jubis]

How about an anti-war doc to gets things started? The National Board of Review concluded it was the best doc premiering in 2007. Body of War (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19451#post19451)

[oscar jubis]

A fiction film that feels like a documentary made by a poet: In the City of Sylvia (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19456#post19456)

[oscar jubis]

A Cuban indie: Personal Belongings (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19467#post19467)

[oscar jubis]

Cesar Charlone, the DP for City of God and The Constant Gardener, gets on the director's chair (with friend Enrique Fernandez) and comes up with a little gem: The Pope's Toilet (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19471#post19471)

[oscar jubis]

A German film set in Poland: And Along Came Tourists (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19473#post19473)

[oscar jubis]

The most neglected national cinema in the West is that of the Philippines. Here's a good example of what we've missing: Slingshot (Tirador) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19483#post19483)

[Chris Knipp]

In the City of Sylvia was part of the New York Film Festival 2007 and I posted a review (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18613#post18613) of it in the Festival Coverrage section then.

I anticipated some of your comments--about the "fill in the blanks" aspect and the central role of the city of Strasbourg:
In the City of Sylvia is beautifully shot, and makes superb use of the chance (and sometimes perhaps imposed) symbolism of street graffiti and ordinary people going about their daily takes. Strasbourg itself is the real subject of this film: in summer, it's open, airy, peaceful, lovely.Another subject is the hunt for love. Is "he" shy and hopelessly romantic? Or is his search for "Sylvie" just an excuse, a sham--or a scam? We have to decide by ourselves. The film is open-ended. You project yourself into it. For me it brought back some very familiar emotions of that time in my own life. So far I'm not familiar with any of the other titles you're talking about.

[oscar jubis]

*Thanks for your interest, Chris. Obviously we both like Guerin's film and have a fairly similar take on it. I didn't go as far as saying that Strasbourg is "the real subject" but that it has a "protagonic role". No big difference. For me, the central theme would be: "the power of a chance meeting or a fleeting moment on a person's life".

*Prepare to learn about dozens of films you're not familiar with by reading my MIFF reviews. Like I wrote in the intro, the new director is placing even more emphasis on US premieres (breaking new films into the continent) and getting away from much that has distribution. Maybe the only films left that you'll be familiar with are FADOS and SILENT LIGHT. Maybe one more besides those two and Guerin's. I'm beginning to find stylistic similarities between a number of Catalan films. Although the one I'll be watching soon, BARCELONA (A MAP) by veteran Catalan filmmaker Ventura Pons, doesn't fit into the trend.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, "the real subject" is a slight overstatement. "One of the protagonists" is better. But I could have said "at times almost seems the real subject" and that would have been alright too.

I'm glad you like the new director. You may be glad not all the films are US festival "premieres" when you see Silent Light. It is outstanding.

[oscar jubis]

I'll be watching SILENT LIGHT with a festival audience on March 6th because it isn't being screened for press. Can't Wait!

[oscar jubis]

Low-key Mexican drama is "not for everyone": Blue Eyelids (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19512#post19512)

[Chris Knipp]

Okay, I'll bite.
"not for everyone":But "discerning audiences will likely appreciate Blue Eyelids as a thoughtful, fairly unpredictable, breath-of-fresh-air," so what difference does its being "not for everyone" make? For that matter is anything "for everyone"? I realize this is just a quick grab-line, and not part of your thoughtful and appreciative review. Your description shows this film appeals to you or, as you say, to a "discerning audience." But I was left uncertain about where the film goes after its flashbacks about the relationship.

What did you think of Casa de Alice? I found it very disappointing despite the alleged "realism" and the famous actress. Not that it's Mexican. But I thought of it in the context of this film you're describing because somebody said it was like a telenovela would be if it were realistic. Variety's Lisa Neelsson:
If telenovelas were convincingly real, they would no doubt look like the tumultuous world of domestic strife and libido deftly limned in "Alice's House." It sounds like on the contrary Blue Eyelids is more an anti-telenovela. Are you aware in your first paragraph you give the titles as "Desperate Eyelids"?

P.s. Silent Light is "low keyed" also; very low keyed indeed. And yet it is fully of drama and powerful. What's the difference? What primarily makes Blue Eyelids worthwhile--is it the naturalistic details with which the characters are presented? Why would people want comedy here? What about the characters would lend itself to ridicule, as you imply?

[oscar jubis]

*Thanks for pointing out the error, Chris. Please continue alerting me when you find any such mistake so I can fix it.

*I haven't seen the Brazilian film Alice's House but I would definitely watch it if I get a chance. It's in distribution so I probably will.

*Of course not even Citizen Kane is for everyone. That's why I put not-for-everyone between quotation marks. I didn't use the term in the review. It's meant to convey that the film will be enjoyed by a smaller percentage of the audience than films of similar quality.

*Blue Eyelids is worthwhile because of realistic characterizations of very average, decent, fairly bland, working-class people (which seldom get center stage in cinema) and how the film depicts with insight and nuance their efforts to form a relationship because it's good for them rather than because they feel passion towards each other. Marina and Victor are treated with respect by the filmmakers, not like sad sacks or nerds or peripheral characters used for comic relief as the "butt of the joke".

[oscar jubis]

Good intentions are never enough: The Tree of Ghibet (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=19514#post19514)

[Chris Knipp]

Of course not even Citizen Kane is for everyone. That's why I put not-for-everyone between quotation marks. That begs the question. Would you write a piece on Citizen Kane and write "Citizen Kane--not for everyone"? Since when did you start caring about how popular your preferred films were?
Marina and Victor are treated with respect by the filmmakers, not like sad sacks or nerds or peripheral characters used for comic relief as the "butt of the joke". But are they like sad sacks or nerds or peripheral characters or butts of a joke? Don't they become something else when put at the center of a film,just like the maids in the 19th-century French novels of the Goncourt brothers? Or like the Fool in Lear etc.?

[oscar jubis]

That's a very sharp comment, Chris. You almost have to respect and give a character dimensionality when you give them a protagonic role. Characters like Marina and Victor are seldom put at the center of movies, especially dramas.

I always wish my preferred films get sufficient exposure so audiences hear about them and have reasonable access to them. The "not for everyone" comment perhaps reflects a certain awareness on my part that several local friends, relatives and acquaintances are asking me which of the over 100 MIFF features they should watch during the 10 days of the fest. One aim of the reviews is that the Miami-based readers should be able to figure out whether each film would be to their liking (or not) based on the review.

[oscar jubis]

Summertime in Poland from three distinct, youthful points of view: Tricks (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19533#post19533)

[oscar jubis]

This documentary is the definitive film about "the most extraordinary survival story ever":
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19537#post19537)

[Chris Knipp]

I just want to say I think Alive! was pretty good. The only trouble was that it had Americans playing Uruguayans, which was a wrong note. But a good documentary is certainly welcome on this event.

"...as been contracted for broadcast." is a typo. You dropped an H.

[oscar jubis]

I don't see how the actors' country of birth is an issue. Perhaps you mean that Alive would be more authentic if spoken in Spanish...But that would mean a smaller audience. My problem with the actors is that they looked healthy and robust. The actual survivors weighed under 100 pounds when rescued and exhibited signs of physical deterioration that were obvious to everyone. They looked worse than Christian Bale in The Machinist but Spano, Hawke and others looked like they were stepping out of Delmonico's. Still, not a bad movie and, like I said, the crash scene (and the avalanche scene, now that I think about it) were aces.

Jackie Chan's boy Jaycee will have a long career in commercial cinema: The Drummer (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19545#post19545)

[Chris Knipp]

I thought it was a pretty good movie, not a great movie.
I don't see how the actors' country of birth is an issue. Perhaps you mean that Alive would be more authentic if spoken in Spanish.. Of course that was what I meant. It never makes sense for people in a story to be speaking the wrong language for who they are. Sometimes tha author can make you forget. I just saw Betrayed, the play by George Packer at The Culture Project about Iraqis who worked for the US in the Green Zone and then were left out to dry. Mostly they spoke English, but since they were people who loved English and knew it well, you forgot that it didn't make much sense, and once when the two main characters got really mad at each other they broke into Arabic, so that helped. Obviously one of the challenges to making Alive was that you could hardly get a whole bunch of actors to lose 1/3 or 1/2 their body weight for their roles. Delmonico's? YOu mean the ancient New York restaurant?

[oscar jubis]

Precisely.
I went to the press conference that opens the fest today and received my badge. This year you show your badge at least 15 minutes before any screening or event and you go right in. At least that's the plan. Last year they had more press screenings than this year but each correspondent received no more than 10 tickets to films.

[Chris Knipp]

Sounds better this year. The SFIFF hasn't been that good. They've been making you go an hour early to a press office and wait to get a ticket and then go to the auditorium. And they cut the press screenings to almost none. Lots of screener DVDs, the only compensation. But I liked going to a lot of press screenings where it's quiet, in the mornings. The NYFF is the only good experience I've had. But of course they only show 28 films.

[oscar jubis]

I like press screenings because I'm always guaranteed a good seat and a post-screening discussion. Watching a film with an audience provides useful feedback though.
Gael Garcia Bernal directs his first movie: DEFICIT (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19560#post19560)

[oscar jubis]

Roy Andersson's new film is even better than his Cannes-winning previous one: YOU, THE LIVING (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19562#post19562)

[Chris Knipp]

I saw this in Rome last fall and reviewed it. I can't find my review on this site but it's on mine here. (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=928&)

[oscar jubis]

It must have been weird to watch it dubbed into Italian! I'm glad you watched it. I have hope that You, the Living will eventually get distributed here. Songs from a Second Floor was released by New Yorker Films over two years after it premiered at Cannes. I think the new film is more audience friendly because it's not consistently grim like Songs, which has moments of abject cruelty and violence not found in You, the Living. Did you notice, by the way, that certain characters are recurrent, in that they appear on 2 to 4 "vignettes". I failed to mention that. Not an easy film to review because so much hinders on timing, image composition, interplay between background and foreground, visual gags, etc. Anyway, I loved it. I wonder if the songs were also dubbed. The lyrics of two songs sung by women are crucial in the scenes in which they appear (I described both in my review).

American-made doc about something encouraging happening in Africa: IRON LADIES OF LIBERIA (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19570#post19570)

[Chris Knipp]

I thought a lot of characters were recurrent and I was surprised you spoke o the movie as if it were just detached vignettes.

It didn't seem weird at all to be dubbed in Italian. I was in Rome. And I'm used to Italian and that way I could understand it but it still seemed like a foreign movie, since Italian is not my native language. I can't remember about the songs but no subtitles "so much hinders on timing". You don't mean "hinders" you mean "hinges on." I liked it too, I felt it had a unique style, and I liked the singer, who was really cute, which you don't seem to have noticed. There was a lot about relationships. Don't forget his ads, and Ingmar Bergman's high compliment. This kind of movie is a real hard sell anywhere, anywhere but Sweden anyway. It was shown only briefly in a very special cinema in Rome as I mentioned, the Metropolitan on the Via del Corso, which shows un-dubbed foreign films (usually; this was an exception, and one that worked well I thought).

[Chris Knipp]

Iron Women of Liberia. Shown as part of BBC4's "Why Democracy?" season of films last year. This series:
* 2.1 Please Vote for Me (China)
* 2.2 Looking for the Revolution (Bolivia)
* 2.3 Taxi to the Dark Side (USA)
* 2.4 In Search of Gandhi (India)
* 2.5 Dinner with the President (Pakistan)
* 2.6 For God, Tsar and Fatherland (Russia)
* 2.7 Iron Ladies of Liberia (Liberia)
* 2.8 Egypt: We are Watching You (Egypt)
* 2.9 Bloody Cartoons (Denmark)
* 2.10 Campaign! The Kawasaki Candidate (Japan)
. Also shown February 5, 2008 at the Oakland Museum as part of Black History Month.

[oscar jubis]

"Hinges on" is exactly what I meant.
*Lyrics of the songs by a woman taking a bubble bath and anither sitting on a park bench are essential to the meaning of those scenes.
*Mentioned that the vignettes are "linked" and that the couple walking their dog return in a bar scene but that's insufficient to convey that several characters are recurrent.
*Skipping a second viewing of Andersson's film today because I don't want to miss something else playing at the same time and because I think picture will eventually be released here.
*If you're interested (or anyone else of course) the dvd of Songs from a Second Floor, which I watched in a theater, has a full length commentary by Andersson (I plan to listen to it after the fest). It's supposed to be quite revealing and entertaining.
*Great that Brit TV has shown Iron Ladies, now if only PBS would pick it up. Almost everything else you hear about Africa is so negative.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes I Know about the songs I just don't remember if they were dubbed or subtitled or what now. Maybe subtitled, I'm not sure. I do remember getting the meaning of the song in the park, definitely.

In some ways English film offerings are more interesting than here, and in London the NFT etc. are great. But as I said the Ethiopia movie was shown right here in Oakland last month too.

[oscar jubis]

Of course you mean the American movie about Liberia playing in Oakland.
I didn't understand your comment about English film offerings.

SCRAMBLED BEER from Chile (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19578#post19578)

[Chris Knipp]

I was referring to the BBC democracy film series in which the Liberia film was included. That was one place where it was shown. The other was in Oakland, right near me.

[oscar jubis]

THE OTHER (ARGENTINA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19589#post19589)

[Chris Knipp]

Rotter's filmmaking is unblinkingly austere, never calling attention to itself.This is my main trouble with this review. Nothing calls more attention to itself than unblinking austerity. The film is either annoying or profound or both. But you might have been more convincing, to me anyway, if you'd anticipated and answered some objections to what sounds off-putting and was found to be distinctly so by other commentators online. As a p.o.v. study it might be interesting; but another comment says psychology is lacking throughout. Camus' Meusault was mentioned, also Laurent Cantet's Time Out. You flipflop yourself, starting out by calling this an "unassuming miniature" and then concluding it's "an engrossing and fascinating character study with a superb performance." I find those two descriptions inexplicably ill-matched. "Engrossing and fascinating" implies something more compelling than an "unassuming miniature" is likely to be.
Hedging your bets a bit?

[oscar jubis]

I don't see why an unassuming miniature can't be engrossing and fascinating. The film is very austere in presentation, without any arty flourishes. It's modest, and singularly concentrated on a single character. One watches attentively to every move, every gesture, considers every word. In fact, I think that austerity of presentation and singular focus is potentially more likely to make a film engrossing. There are no bravura shots, unusual angles, incidental music score or color-coordinated sets telling the audience they're watching a piece of cinematic art or making it impossible to forget there's a crew behind the actor.

The review is my honest opinion of the film not a retort to somebody else's opinion or an analysis of the critical response. One can find something negative being said about any movie by bloggers, critics, etc. But I do acknowledge that: "Some will no doubt find the film a bit too cryptic and tight-lipped". I based that comment on the mixed audience reaction at the festival screening I attended not on anything I read.

[oscar jubis]

This Dutch documentary left me asking for more: IZALINE CALISTER: LADY SINGS THE TAMBU (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19594#post19594)

[Chris Knipp]

The Other (Argentina)

I don't see why an unassuming miniature can't be engrossing and fascinating. No, there's no reason why it can't. It's just that your review is so deadpan it does not prepare us for the fact that you liked the film. This is a matter of writing, not cinematic standards.
In fact, I think that austerity of presentation and singular focus is potentially more likely to make a film engrossing.I don't think one can really make that generalization. It depends on the movie. A flashy style can be engrossing too, even though it tries to be doesn't mean it must fail.
The review is my honest opinion of the film not a retort to somebody else's opinion or an analysis of the critical response. One can find something negative being said about any movie by bloggers, critics, etc. But I do acknowledge that: "Some will no doubt find the film a bit too cryptic and tight-lipped". I based that comment on the mixed audience reaction at the festival screening I attended not on anything I read. Here again you're saying two slightly opposed things--that you disregarded any outside reaction; that you took account of the "mixed" audience reaction when you saw the film. How important it is to note critical reactions or audience responses in writing a review depends very much on the particular film. If it's obviously likely to sound unappealing to readers, it's worthwhile to take note of that and deal with it as an issue--for readers of your review. Here again I have to remind you sometimes that you are writing for others, and this is not just your personal sort of film-viewing log written only for your own record but something to engage your readers and engage with them and anticipate their questions and responses.

[Chris Knipp]

IZALINE CALISTER: LADY SINGS THE TAMBU (NETHERLANDS)

This documentary sounds like something of a misfire, in need of additions and re-editing.

The Miami Festival blurb describes it as: "A portrait of Izaline Calister, a renowned performer of Curacao's tambu music. .." But since you note
We watch her discussing her fascination with tambu with a veteran of the genre and Calister's musician father but her attempts to learn it indicate the highly improvisational tambu is not suited to her talents. --it seems that the Miami Film Festival publicity staff were deceived by the title. Too often especialy with the big festivals publicity is compiled without actually seeing the films written about. I think she's performed in Indonesia because of its Dutch links; Curacao is in the Dutch Antilles. On her website it says her father was active as a tambu singer. It also says voice problems currently have forced Izaline to cancel concerts, for now. She looks and sounds like a vibrant individual, well worthy of a good documentary that puts her in a fuller context.

Her site links to a favorable review by Tom Orr on Roots World (http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/kalister06.shtml) of one of her recent CDs. Orr gives an idea of Calister's range and appeal as a performer: "She's got a voice for all moods, from a soaring, melodic belt rather like Angelique Kidjo's to an imploring breathiness that gives a poetic shine to the Dutch, Iberian and African roots of the Papiamento language she sings in." Sounds great.

I note with interest she was in New York last year and gave a series of performances at Joe's Pub, where Stew's Passing Strange got its start, then moved (Passing Strange did, that is) into a main auditorium of the adjoining Public Theater last summer (2007) and now is enjoying a successful run at the Belasco Theater on Broadway where it opened February 28, with excellent reviews. I keep plugging Passing Strange because I think it's really good, rivaling Spring Awakening as a musical that revolutionizes the genre on Broadway.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks for the link to the review of Calister's disc. She is indeed worthy of an expanded, feature documentary. Rosalina's doc is good. It just feels incomplete. I discussed the film with the Dutch woman who brought the film to the attention of the programmers and she couldn't refute my contention that the title is deceitful. She invited me to a reception for Ms. Calister and Ms. Rosalina, who are in town, but I'd have to miss a screening or two tomorrow night. It seems like a good guess that the publicity person who wrote the program description of this doc hadn't seen it when he/she wrote it.

I think my review of The Other is likely to sound appealing only to viewers who'd find the film appealing. The review is a good representation of the kind of film it is, an unadorned, austere single character study in which the behavior of the protagonist is offered without a hint of judgement, interpretation or explanation. It's the type of film festival juries like more than festival audiences hence the type of awards it has gotten and likely will continue to get.

[oscar jubis]

This Chinese road movie is a mixed bag but it's anchored by a consistently winning performance: GETTING HOME (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19609#post19609)

[oscar jubis]

Delhi-set fable about what truly constitutes wealth:
AMAL (Canada) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19631#post19631)

[Chris Knipp]

I never saw Zhang Yang's Shower (2000). Somehow he doesn't sound like that good a director to me. As for Amal, I would go to see a movie with Seth and Shah in it, but I can't tell if I'd like the story. The ideas sound hacknied to me. When you say "plot developments" aren't incredulous you mean they aren't incredible. Incredulous can only be used for the attitude of a person not the info itself, which he might be incredulous toward. Incredulity is a state of mind.

[oscar jubis]

Thanks buddy, correction made.
Zhang Yang's Shower and Quitting are better films than Getting Home, which is guilty of overreaching for laughs and pathos. A rental of Shower is advisable.
I have to report that both Getting Home and Amal seemed to please audiences more than they pleased me. It wouldn't surprise me if both get distribution, especially the Canadian film. Both certainly have reasons to recommend them, mostly performances by veteran actors, milieu, and good production values.

[Chris Knipp]

It seems to me many of the films you've described thus far, particularly the non-Hispanic/Spanish ones, illustrate my feeling that random or even educated samplings of big festivals can bring up a lot of only moderately interesting stuff, and underlines why I love the New York Film Festival--as well as Film Comment Selects and, though I am not there to sample it, the upcoming New Directors, New Films series (http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/program.html), all at Lincoln Center, for which there was a full-page program ad in Friday's NY Times.

The Rendez-Vous with French Cinema (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2211) is just finishing up its run, by the way; tomorrow is the last day.

I was just looking over the 44 or so films I reviewed from last year's SFIFF (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1999) and it seemed to me most of my favorites from the roster I had already seen elsewhere. I may have chosen badly.

When do you see Silent Light?

[oscar jubis]

I have seen 50 of the features shown at the MIFF and even though I will watch 2-4 today, the last day of the fest, I can already say this is the best festival I ever attended. It's clear to me that cinema is as good worldwide as it's ever been and that Mr. de Bokay, the new director, and festival programmers (like Monika Wagenberg, founder of Cinema Tropical, who has become a friend) have done an excellent job all around. The experience was made particularly special by the ability to have casual one-to-one conversations with, among others, Ariel Rotter (director of The Other), Cristobal Valderrama (director of Scrambled Beer), Ari Libsker (Israeli director) and, especially, the wonderful Carmen Castillo, director of Rue Santa Fe.

Notice that I've already reviewed outstanding non-Latin/Spanish films from Sweden, Philippines, Poland and France (well, the Spain/France co-production In the City of Sylvia. Also there are excellent films from the Czech Rep., Taiwan, Romania, and one more each from Poland and France, and 2 solid Israeli docs that I have not reviewed (I have reviewed 19 with a 20th coming up shortly). But what's happening in Latin America is unprecendented. Mexico and Argentina had their "golden age" to rival Hollywood's but it pales in comparison with the number of quality films coming out of those countries right now, and there are as many really good Brazilian films now as there were during the Cinema Novo epoch in the 1960s. There have been excellent films from Peru, Paraguay and Chile in the past couple of editions, and excellent films from Uruguay and Haiti in this one so we can make the case for a Latin American wave. I think we have to acknowledge it has been made possible not only by governmental support in Brazil, Argentina and Mexico but also by funds from European Union countries and European festivals (Rotterdam in particular).

I watched Silent Light on Thursday. Monika introduced it as "the most celebrated Latin American film of the past year".

[Chris Knipp]

I was going mostly by your second page, where your descriptions don't make what you saw seem so "outstanding" as all that. I do see that the Miami festival excels for its Latin American offerings and that that scene is very active now.

You might be interested to know that the Pacific Film Archive (Berkeley, CA) is finishing up a Pedro Costa retrospective (http://www.bampfa.berkeley.edu/filmseries/pedro_costa2008), as I learned belatedly yesterday from a San Fransicco Bay Guardian piece (http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=5841&catid=110) by a writer called Max Peranson. I might have gained a better grasp of why people rave over his work.

I hope you will tell us in summary which of the Miami festival films that you liked most have US theatrical potential or actual distribution.

I can agree with you on Roy Andersson and with some reservations, Jose Luis Guerin. And, I assume, Reygadas.

[oscar jubis]

I've read a lot of Mark Peranson's writings in a variety of publications. He's really good. Thanks for the link to this piece by him. He's co-founder of Cinema-Scope magazine I believe.

The five reviews on page 2 are too small a sample to make any kind of generalization about a festival with well over 100 features. But now that the fest is over I conclude this is the best edition. I will discuss distribution at the conclusion. A large percentage of the films shown this year are very new. Some haven't even opened in their country of production. Many which don't have a distributor now will eventually have one. I will summarize when the reviewing is done and point out any that gain distribution in the future. Now that the fest is over I will increase the pace of posting the reviews. Because fewer films were screened for press prior to the fest, I watched up to four films per day which of course didn't leave much time for writing.

[Johann]

Beautiful thread Oscar.
I love festival coverage..

[Chris Knipp]

Johann: I think you can say we love doing festival coverage even more than you love reading it.

Oscar: I didn't know of Mark Peranson. I think he's new to the Bay Guardian--but not to Cinema Scope.Thanks to your reference I'm now reading Pereanson's piece about the new film La France in Cinema Scope's current issue online.

I understand the pace of four a day wouldn't allow review-writing. I've done it, but it knocks me out and I can't do it for long without meltdown. The SFIFF last year also cut way down on its prior press screenings and that put more pressure on me too. I thought it an unfortunate development, but more screener DVDs helped compensate, though the experience is inferior of course and the time was still more compressed. I've said this.

I look forward to reading what else you have to say in reviews and comments on this year's Miami festival to explain why you say it's the best yet.

[oscar jubis]

Johann, Chris: Thanks for the kind words and interest.

The 3 films you reviewed for SFIFF '07 thread that I haven't seen but would like to are: Daratt, released only in Manhattan, no dvd release planned; Born and Bred by the consistently good but (not yet) great Pablo Trapero, which I can rent on import dvd here in Miami, and The Sugar Curtain.

This Israeli doc is mostly in Spanish: A WORKING MOM (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19648#post19648)

[Chris Knipp]

Daratt was outstanding, Born and Bred much less so, but we've discussed it already, I think. If you love the director I guess you'll want to see it. I remember it. One doesn't just remember good films. Quite the contrary.

You have not seen Zabriskie Point. Netflix seems not to have it but there is a NTSC tape of it available on eBay (http://cgi.ebay.com/ZABRISKIE-POINT-1970-RARE-NTSC-EDITION_W0QQitemZ290158398671QQcmdZViewItem) and a DVD on vendio (http://shop.vendio.com/Supersounds/item/956519826/?s=1205058703) ("rare!").

[oscar jubis]

I've seen all three previous Trapero films, with El Bonaerense being my favorite, but still not a great movie. I don't love his work but all 3 films are at least worth watching and each is distinctively different than the preceding ones. This is what Variety had to say about Born and Bred: "With his fourth feature, "Born and Bred," Argentine maestro Pablo Trapero continues his upward trajectory as an artist fascinated by interior states of mind and exterior realities. Flirting with predictable tragedy but displaying an immense sense of empathy toward its central character -- with immense landscapes to match -- pic is finally an emotionally stunning journey of a father's return to his senses after a horrible accident".

I decided not to purchase the Zabrieski Point dvd, (the original was released by Russian company RUSCICO, others use the same non-anamorphic non-progressive print), because of mixed reviews of the dvd transfer and my belief that a better dvd transfer will be made available in the future. Same goes for Visconti's amazing last film, L'Innocente, which I watched at age 16 and remember quite clearly and fondly.

I kept running into folks at the fest who really loved Amal and didn't mind one bit that the film is not realistic but a sort of parable. I get the feeling readers of my thread who have not seen it will have a chance to form their own opinion because this film is a crowd pleaser and there's bound to be a US distributor who realizes that.

[Chris Knipp]

You weren't interested in the eBay videotape of Zabriskie Point? I remember the whole movie as being a snooze, a misfire due partly to Antonioni's being out of his element and using pretty nonentities as his young stars. (I probably have said this on this site before.) Dumont's Twentynine Palms seemed sort of similar. (I've said that too.) But since re-seeing The Passenger gave me a very different and much more positive impression from the first time, I'd wonder about Zabriskie.

The UK DVD Times review (http://www.dvdtimes.co.uk/content.php?contentid=13069) of the UK DVD of L'Innocente seems quite thorough and bears out your memory that it has some magic. It's funny he says it lacks the decadence of Visconti's other late work yet it is based on a work by the most decadent of Italian writers, A'Annunzio. Visconti has a strange trajectory. Starting out as a neorealist and ending up with campy stuff like The Damned and Death in Venice. I have not seen Ludwig, Gruppo di famiglia in un interno, or L'Innocente. Ludwig would be a perfect sequel to The Damned I guess.
I kept running into folks at the fest who really loved Amal and didn't mind one bit that the film is not realistic but a sort of parable. Of course. But that hardly makes me want to see it. I said I'd see it for the stars though.

Evidently Trapero is an auteur, but it puzzles me that you keep saying none of his films impressed you that much, yet you must see the next one. Because he is an auteur. I love that "maestro Pable Trapero...." I remember that. I looked up the Variety review. It is cool that the film takes place mostly in Patagonia. But it's arty and self-conscious. I might propose as an antidote the films of Carlos Sorin.

[oscar jubis]

The Mexican film "discovered" by visiting film critics at Toronto '07:
COCHOCHI (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19655#post19655)

This, from the review you researched, sounds right to me: "Showing none of the decadent, camp indulgence of some of his later films, Luchino Visconti’s 1976 film, L’Innocente returned to the lush and stately grandeur of the Italian aristocracy of the nineteenth century seen in The Leopard. Certainly, there is still indulgence and extravagance in the director’s magnificent final film, but they are all pertinent to the subject and none of them are directorial."

Simple when it comes to Trapero, Chris. Three "good not great" films none of which resembles the others. Not a "maestro" in my book because of the exalted implications of that word. A director who makes consistently good movies deserves my appreciation hence my interest in his fourth feature.

[Chris Knipp]

Visconti--Yes, I noted the writer's comments on the decadence vs. self-indulgence, a somewhat delicate distinction but nonetheless if real an important one.
Certainly, there is still indulgence and extravagance in the director's magnificent final film, but they are all pertinent to the subject and none of them are directorial.As is often the case, it probably helps that the film is anchored by working from a text by a well known author on this occasion, namely the decadent, pre-fascist Gabriele D'Annunzio, whose overripe imagination would call for a lush approach.

Cocochi--Re the names of the directors: it remains true that your accents (using Explorer?) don't read on Mozilla, but do on Explorer. Accents on my website read on either browser. Something to do with Filmleaf's software? I have begun omitting accents in my entries here. I think you often do too. The two browsers are quite different in respect to text, it would seem; but the software of a site is also decisive.
writer/directors Israel C?rdenas and Laura Amelia Guzm?n. Your apostrophes also got lost here on Mozilla:
Luchino Visconti's 1976 film, L'Innocente Cochochi again --The film was in the Venice Festival. It's co-produced by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. The young actors (not Luna and Garcia Bernal--they're just pals; the kids in this new film) are real-life siblings. They don't just separate but lose each other. Cardenas and Guzman are husband and wife.

Luna quoted by (San Francisco-based) Michael Guillen on Twitch (http://twitchfilm.net/site/view/tiff-report-cochochi/) from Toronto:
This is a very important project for us. We are working with young and very talented people and are very happy to be part of it because it has so much integrity and soul. This is the kind of film we would like to see more often in Mexico.� Guillen notes the title Cochochi "fragrantly translates into “land of the pines."

[oscar jubis]

My experiment using accents is over. Thanks for pointing out how they don't always "read". That's reason enough not to use them again.
************
Rosenbaum on L'Innocente:
"Though it wasn't terribly well received when it first appeared, Luchino Visconti's last film (1979) strikes me as arguably the greatest of his late works apart from The Leopard--a withering autocritique of masculine vanity and self-delusion, adapted from a novel by Gabriele D'Annunzio, focusing on a well-to-do intellectual (Giancarlo Giannini) at the turn of the century struggling to justify his sexual double standards and his libertarian philosophy regarding his wife (Laura Antonelli) and his mistress (Jennifer O'Neill). Opulently mounted, dramatically understated, and keenly felt, this is a haunting testament, as well as one of Visconti's most erotic pictures."
************
The name of the valley where the Raramuri live in Chihuahua is called "Okochochi" in their language (I think the Spanish name for the town is San Ignacio) . I couldn't find anything to corraborate the meaning assigned by Guillen, but I assume he's right. Why the title of the film became "Cochochi" is unclear to me. It sounds like the name as it could be typically mispronounced by outsiders who speak only Spanish.
I hope to get a chance to watch the film again. Maybe Global Lens or Film Movement will pick it up.

[Chris Knipp]

I feel uncomfortable with having Giancarlo Giannini and Jennifer O'Neill, but it's a waste of time to opine about films one hasn't seen. I'd like to see what makes it "erotic."

Indeed as you suggest I see online many references in Spanish to la comunidad de Okochochi or el valle de Okochochi. I don't know where Michael Guillen got that meaning, I'm just passing it on because it seemed interesting. He is a Spanish speaker. All reference online to "Cocochi" on Google are to the film, spot checking the 55,000 or so references (!), except one I see from a French Collection de documents dans les langues indigenes, a sort of index of terms, where Cocochi is given as "name of one of the chiefs of the tribe of Tamub (Google book search) (http://books.google.com/books?id=UEQbOti-AQsC&pg=RA2-PA353&lpg=RA2-PA353&dq=) . So maybe it's actually an older form, rather than a Spanish mispronunciation.

[Chris Knipp]

Apropos of Trapero, I do have his El Bonaerense on my Netflix Queue, saved for when the DVD gets here.

[oscar jubis]

Let's hope it gets here. El Bonaerense's distributor doesn't seem to have a home video department. Maybe someone will acquire dvd rights for the film.

A true artistic collaboration between Brazilians and Italians:
ESTOMAGO: A GASTRONOMIC STORY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19668#post19668)

[Chris Knipp]

It's listed on Netflix as coming but not yet, that's all I know. Some of the "save" items have been on the list a long time already besides that one.

[oscar jubis]

I don't know how they decide which films unreleased on dvd can be "saved". I've had Los Angeles Plays Itself and Love and Diane "saved" for about 3 years.

KATRINA'S CHILDREN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19673#post19673)

[Chris Knipp]

I have Los Angeles Plays Itself too. Probably they were slated for DVD issue but it was delayed.

[oscar jubis]

This geriatric road movie has a humanist core and sustained romantic overtones:

KONYEC (Hungary) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19680#post19680)

[Chris Knipp]

The Hungarian Film Week is the only film festival I know that separates its Jury Prize into Best Auteur Film and Best Mainstream Film. I guess you're right, but do you think this is a very good idea? I suppose you do. But tell me, how do you define an "Auteur Film", how do you define an "auteur," how do you distinguish an "auteur" from a "mainstream" director, and can an "auteur" make a "mainstream" film and can a "mainstream" director make an "auteur" film, and thereby presumably become an "auteur"? And could an "auteur film" be made with material like this film (sorry, movie)?

[oscar jubis]

Good questions. Perhaps without the jury award at Hungarian Film Week konyec wouldn't have made it into Cannes, where more programmers from other festivals saw it than those who go to Budapest in mid-winter. So that's why I would say it's a good thing. The audience in Miami liked it very much. Konyec has certain genre elements. police chasing the elderly couple (roadblocks, etc.) for instance, that one does not find in "art films" or "auteur films" but this labeling and categorizing is a very vague, inexact enterprise and I don't know how it's done at the HFW. Can the director or producer decide in which category a film is placed? One can take the early material about the plight of the elderly who subsist on entitlement programs or pensions and the indignities they suffer and how this affects the relationship between Emil and Heidi and tone down or remove the assertive genre elements that dominate the second half of the film. Then you'd have something closer to an "auteur" film. I guess.

[Chris Knipp]

There's also the complication that from the viewpoint of the American audience in general, the people who go to the cinemplex every week or two and see what everybody else is seeing, no Hungarian movie is the least bit "mainstream." It's an arty movie, and one with subtitles, which they would prefer to avoid.

As your comment indicates, you could probably switch a few details around and change categories, or just enter a film in a different category and hype it as whatever you like.

You might make this one less "mainstream" by toning down or removing the "genre" elements ("genre," however, being another completely vague term and one some reject), but would it then become "auteur"?

When it comes down to it, "mainstream" Hollywood directors like John Ford, Howard Hawks, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, et al. were the ones whom the Cahiers du Cinema boys originally referred to as "auteurs." Only they included Renoir. . . It only means a director with a distinctive style. Surely some very mainstream directors have that.

[oscar jubis]

It's true that in certain circles (including certain media), anything spoken in a language other than English hence subtitled is treated like an "art movie" shown in an "alternative" or "art cinema" when actually most of what's distributed beyond the top 4 or 5 US markets is very accessible, "mainstream" stuff. Which of course has little to do with whether it's good although it often has to do with whether it's original, experimental or groundbreaking.

This intense adaptation of an acclaimed Catalan play would please Bergman fans:
BARCELONA (UN MAPA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19690#post19690)

[Chris Knipp]

It's true that in certain circles (including certain media), anything spoken in a language other than English hence subtitled is treated like an "art movie" shown in an "alternative" or "art cinema" when actually most of what's distributed beyond the top 4 or 5 US markets is very accessible, "mainstream" stuff. This is true, of course, but being in a foreign language makes films esoteric to most audiences; hence the dubbing that is common in Italy, France, etc. Is there any country where the entire general movie-going public regularly seeks out subtitled films in a language remote from their own? People do not want to read subtitles. Obviously that doesn't apply to us, but I know quite ordinary (but educated) people who prefer to avoid subtitled films. I pretty much grew up with them--particularly French, Italian, Japanese, and German ones. Then, in the post-war era, when England produced great films and the Italian neorealists were active, Fellini and Antonioni were emerging and the French New Wave filmmakers were serving their apprenticeships, it seems like the subtitled films we saw were much more serious and the sweet, easy, unchallenging foreign films were yet to come. Now they are all too prevalent. But The Lives of Others seems to have done very well and that's not exactly Amelie or Il Postino.

[Chris Knipp]

BARCELONA (UN MAPA) Sounds good. I hope I don't have to like Saraband to like it. It was in the Rome film festival last fall.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Is there any country where the entire general movie-going public regularly seeks out subtitled films in a language remote from their own?
In El Salvador, and I presume all of Latin America, films were rarely dubbed into Spanish. Most of the films distributed were/are English language films with Spanish subtitles. For me, it became secondhand. There were exceptions: to this day I prefer the dubbed version of Peter Pan to the original English-language version, especially the songs. When I moved to the US in 1978 and watched Spanish-language films, I had great difficulty ignoring the English subs and would often read them even though I understodd every word spoken. As a little kid I'd watch subtitled The Three Stooges and Popeye the Sailor on TV.

Maybe the SFIFF will show Barcelona (Un Mapa). I have no idea what you'd opine based on your Saraband review, which I've re-read.

[Chris Knipp]

Wikipedia has an article, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dubbing_(filmmaking)#Europe) on this, I find. So complicated I wish they had a chart to break it down. I think you're right about Latin America--but the opposite is true of Spain, a heavy dubber, and in Latin America, TV shows are dubbed now. Subtitling is cheaper, and the dubbing industry is still in its infancy in some places, oldest in Italy, growing in many other places--while multiple-option DVDs and subtitle-option special TV channels are also growing. Countries that stick to subtitles widely for adult feature films (children's movies being often dubbed because small kids can't read well enough yet) are Latin America, as mentioned, plus the English speaking and Scandinavian countries and Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Poland and Romania. The others dub, when they can, and TV series are very often dubbed. In Asia the dubbing industry is growing. In Israel and the Arab countries subtitles is preferred, because citizens are multilingual, and want to know when the dialogue shifts from one language to another. As you might know from Hong Kong movies, there are sometimes subtitles in two languages. Two kinds of Chinese; or in Cairo in French and English, for an Arabic film, or Arabic and French, for an English language film, etc. I saw Alexander Nevsky in Athens with Greek subtitles with the Russian soundtrack. I didn't understand much. Sometimes dubbing really works. It worked for me for Roy Andersson's You the Living film in Italian. I didn't think it detracted. Of course we know better.....dubbing "destroys" a movie. But does it? Supposing you can't read--in any language?

The SFIFF selections are so far still largely a mystery. They've chosen Catherine Breillat's Last Mistress for their opening gala, which seems a bit odd; it's kind of old hat by now? I was implying that in my review of it (http://www.cinescene.com/knipp/saraband.htm) I was not crazy about Saraband, not as entranced as others, including you, ere. I said "there isn't the anguished power of Bergman's best work," and "it leaves an immediate good impression and then is quickly forgotten." I think that gives a clear picture of how I'd feel about Barcelona: A Map if I reacted to it as to Saraband so I would hope not.

[oscar jubis]

Introduced as "the most celebrated Latin American film in the past year" at the festival. I would add that it was as good a year for Latin American Cinema as any other:

SILENT LIGHT (Mexico) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19714#post19714)

[Chris Knipp]

Some nitpicking, which may annoy you. But remember that we both love this film.
The reception received at Cannes and elsewhere by the third feature by Mexican director Carlos Reygadas leaves no doubt that he has entered the unofficial pantheon of modern practitioners of the art of cinema. Right. But Cannes etc. approval means the pantheon isn't so "unofficial" after all. I like to think that I would have put this last, not first.
It has since become de facto to include Andrei Tarkovsky, among others, as a maker of transcendental films. Wrong word. You meant to say "come de facto to include," not "become."
It's a simple story. . .Is it? I should say its ramifications are fairly complex.


Bresson referred to his non-actors as "models". Reygadas fancies himself a pupeteer: "Sometimes I get down and tie strings to their legs to tell them when to say their line or to move". Sounds like the (presumably quite un-transcendental) Alfred Hitchcock. As you know, Hitchcock's ideal actor was someone who could hit the marks, deliver the lines, and do the job. "I never said all actors are cattle; what I said was all actors should be treated like cattle." Etc. The difference is that Hitchcock was blunt about it, and didn't use non-actors (though he did use some). This is an interesting question I guess, whether a somewhat manipulative directing style is part of working with non-actors, or just a way of directing, period. And whether it has any effect or is just a sign that the director is a control freak.


[Reygadas] is not interested in the Mennonites per se. He likes the landscape there and the fact that they are a "uniform, monolithic" community that can serve as a blank canvas that won't detract attention from the essential story. That is almost more offensive than Hitchcock, and I think misleading or innacuate on Reygadas' part. He would not have been able to achieve the same mood in just any "uniform, monolithic" community, whatever that means (it's very vague). The Mennonites and their world create a very special mood which indeed is "the essential story," and which means they don't have to "act" because the environment speaks for them. Reygadas' controlling the people in his film and holding them back, keeping them from acting, maybe, helps that feeling to come out more clearly. But to regard them as a "blank canvas" is mistaken on his part. Since this is so different from his previous work, it's hard not to wonder if he'll do as well next time.
We learn significantly less about the Mennonites during Silent Light's 142 minutes than we do about Chihuahua's Raramuri Indians Maybe so, and that's relevant, since the areas are nearby, but I still don't think that makes them a "blank canvas" at all. The sense of a discipline, of a family structure, of an attitude toward work--it's all there, whether writing into the "simple story" or not.

...personally found myself thinking of Ordet much earlier. . . I think everybody who thinks of Ordet thinks of it much earlier.http://www.reverseshot.com/article/silent_light. --Michael Joshua Rowin in that comment refers to a general influence of Ordet on this film; I think others have too--though they grant the connection is most overt at the end.
He stands, by all appearances, against the very much in-vogue tendency of covering a scene by moving those new, lighter cameras all over the place often without a sense of purpose. Isn't that a somewhat pointless contrast? Obviously Reygadas isn't of that generally more commercial school and so many cinephile-admired filmmakers today are of the slow-moving or static camera school after all. Bit of a straw man here.
Now back to the story. . . That sounds kind of funny coming in a tiny final section. You unintentionally call attention to the fact that you devote a disproportionate amount of space to how pantheon-ready Reygadas is, how grand the tradition he works in is, how important he is to the world of cinephilia, how his style here links him with the transcendent style of Dreyer, Tarkovsky, Bresson, et al.--and not as much space as you might have given over to the very rich and special experience of watching this particular film. I loved Silent Light and found it impressive, absorbing, a great pleasure to watch. You convey that you think it's great more than you convey that it is great. Your heavy air of solemnity tends to prevent you from conveying the fact that Silent Lightmight actually be something that gives enjoyment to the viewer. That problem starts with your focusing on the approval of Reygadas by cinephiles before you get to the experience and feel of the film. That's my main criticism.

[Chris Knipp]

My earlier review of Silent Light in the NYFF Festival Coverage section. (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18549#post18549) I admit I said "There are no distractions from this story, no subplots, no complications. " But: "Reygadas is excellent at working with non-actors. They may share the film's prevailing reserve, but they seem ineluctably real. The children help with this. Whether they're praying or eating or swimming, they're just themselves." No strings. . .

[oscar jubis]

This film wasn't well-received by French critics when it opened commercially last November (11 out of 19 publications rate it 2 stars or less) but it received two French Academy nominations:
DARLING (FRANCE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19719#post19719)

[Chris Knipp]

Darling directed by Christine Carriere.

Indeed as you say relying on Allocine, this got poor reception by French critics but nominations for Best Actress and Best Adaptation. This came out after I left Paris last fall, and was omitted by the Rendez-Vous, probably wisely, so I can't comment, but I wonder why you chose to see it. No Variety coverage. I'm going to take a guess and say Carriere is not a director of the first rank, despite graduating from the French film school La Femis.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I'm going to take a guess and say Carriere is not a director of the first rank
I have to go by my experience of watching Darling and agree with that. I was wrong to call it her second film. It's her third. All three of them have gotten either Cesar noms or festival prizes but, in my opinion, Darling is less accomplished than minor films by first rank directors.

I wonder why you chose to see it
Last night of the fest and I'm still hungry for more. None of the few films left on my wish list is playing so I walk into Darling. I think it's unlikely to get US distribution. Instead, I wish I could have seen Tell No One (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=16927#post16927), directed by the guy who plays the abusive husband in Darling but that film is too old for the festival.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, Tell No One is a humdinger, in its way. And Guillaume Canet is in it, with big, good cast.

So you just walked in.....I get it. It's great that you can do that. I don't think that's the way it goes at the SFIFF....

[oscar jubis]

It was an extremely pleasant experience to attend this festival. The access to the filmmakers was the best thing about it. But the treatment we got from the volunteers and gals from the press department was special.

Carlos Saura's latest performance film:
FADOS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19734#post19734)

[oscar jubis]

The years under military dictatorship from the point of view of a younger generation:

LAMB OF GOD (Argentina) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19737#post19737)

[Chris Knipp]

FADOS--was in the NYFF 2007. My review from that time. (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18518#post18518) I said " it's another jewel in the crown of Saura's musical and dance series and deserves to be seen, and seen again." I love all Saura's musical films, but my favorite is not Tango but Flamenco, because I find that music the most powerful.

I'm not sure if I'm going to the SFIFF or not. If I do, I hope this year it's closer to being as pleasant as Miami's is for you. Making it simple to get into public screenings hasn't quite been the case here as I've mentioned.

LAMB OF GOD-- Variety's Jay Weisberg says "despite her own family's connections to the terror of the '70s, [first-time director Lucia Cedron] seems afraid to tackle the big emotions head-on, and doesn't build her scenes to a needed climax. ." He also writes later "At the start, the family treats the kidnapping as a fairly unremarkable, if mildly stressful, event and, curiously, Cedron fails to provide any sense of the chaotic nature of Argentina's financial crisis." What is your reaction to that? Do you disagree? Why? Your response seems respectful, but somewhat muted. However you say this is "a very assured fictional debut" etc. Obviously compelling subject matter in any case.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
LAMB OF GOD-- Variety's Jay Weisberg says "despite her own family's connections to the terror of the '70s, [first-time director Lucia Cedron] seems afraid to tackle the big emotions head-on, and doesn't build her scenes to a needed climax. "

The Hollywood Reporter states that the film received "excellent reviews" at Rotterdam in contrast with other films which "didn't get as warm a reception from press and public alike". The Miami Herald gave the film a good review also. Which evidences that Jay Weissberg's review is perhaps a minority opinion. It is certainly not baseless. This excerpt from my own review wasn't intended as a reaction to Weissberg but it can serve as one:

"Cedron could have chosen to play up certain aspects of the story and make a thriller (like last year's Chronicle of an Escape) or create emotionally cathartic melodrama (the Oscar winner The Official Story, for instance). She chose to make something more thought-provoking and ambiguous and probably less marketable. Lamb of God reflects a certain distance from the events that tore up Argentina during the 70s and consequently invites sober reflection."

It seems to me that Mr. Weissberg would like Lamb of God if it had exploited those aspects of the story that could become the basis of a thriller or a drama that ellicits a visceral response. I say "been there, done that" by filmmakers from Ms. Cedron's parents' generation. 30 years have passed. It's time for more reflective and sober, and perhaps also more intelligent films about the dictatorship and its consequences. I think Lamb of God is precisely that. It's made from the point of view of a little girl who was taken to Paris when she was 4 years old and probably grew up with a lot of questions her mom was not eager to answer. She became an intellectual and a filmmaker and began devoting her career to exploring those aspects of the past that were a mystery to her.

Notice that Variety reviews always take into consideration a film'a viability in the American mainstream and I do acknowledge that LoG is less "marketable" than more thrilling and cathartic Argentinean films dealing with the capture, killing, torture, disappearance, and forced exile of those who battled the fascist regime. Here Teresa's imprisonment and mistreatment by the authorities during the 70s is portrayed in a single, brief scene rather than exploited in order to ellicit the same old, tired reactions from audiences as movies from Argentina have been doing at least since 1985's The Official Story.

[Chris Knipp]

That's a good answer. It still leaves some imponderables or questions, but since I haven't seen the film I won't press on. I know about Variety's need to consider US market viability, but I sensed a weakness above and beyond mere lack of box office potential. Evidently you don't, and you're the one who saw the film.

[oscar jubis]

I'd like to clarify that Weissberg's opinion has validity. His basic objection is that "Pic lacks a sense of incisiveness, and the story is suffused with a curiously dispassionate air. Cedron is a talented filmmaker -- her short "En Ausencia" won a Silver Bear in Berlin -- but the script has a pervading calmness lacking the power to sweep the viewer into a vortex". My opinion is not that these observations are wrong, but that he fails to realize how that "dispassionate air" and "pervading calmness" results in a film more sophisticated, fresher, intelligent, and thought-provoking (if less thrilling and emotionally arresting) than the long filmic corpus dealing with political repression in Argentina made from the point of view of those who experienced that repression as young adults. Lamb of God is the first film, as far as I know, made from the point of view of the generation that followed.

[oscar jubis]

Cristian Nemescu made one feature film before his untimely death at age 27:
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN' (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19749#post19749)

[Chris Knipp]

Sounds great. Another sad early death.

[oscar jubis]

The phrase "diamond in the rough" applies here. I bet you'll get a chance to watch it at the SFIFF. We willl know by the end of the week if I'm right.

[oscar jubis]

Solid but unspectacular drama from Iciar Bollain, one of Spain's best filmmakers:

MATAHARIS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19762#post19762)

[oscar jubis]

This butler was a great man:

SANTIAGO (Brazil) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19767#post19767)

[oscar jubis]

World premiere of comedy inspired by La Cage aux Folles:

LOKAS (Chile) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19772#post19772)

[Chris Knipp]

In 2005, Salles decides he can incorporate the 1992 footage into a new documentary. He didn't simply edit and complete the film he intended to make back then. He has made Don't you mean "Salles decided..."?

I don't see why Santaiago was a "great" man. Maybe he was an interesting and complex one, but great? Why?

I'd be fine with "remarkable."

I see this Salles made a movie about Nelson Freire. A fine pianist. Not really a great one, but a fine one.

LOKAS. I really have no use for the originals, so I don't think Id be interested in a knockoff.

[oscar jubis]

I have great admiration for highly civilized, worldly, cultured people, especially those who are self-taught. Santiago was also, for instance, a pretty decent classical pianist although his skills were not demonstrated on film. He didn't discover the cure for a disease or brokered peace between warring nations or invent a helpful device so he wasn't "great" in the traditional sense.

I remember La Cage playing at the 68th Street Playhouse when I visited NYC for the first time. It had a year-long run there. Here, it ran for about 6 months at the old Grove Playhouse. I miss those wonderful little spaces that played foreign and independent movies. You had no use for La Cage...Which is your favorite "gay-themed" comedy?

[Chris Knipp]

The concept of "gay-themed comedy" is a bit suspect, to me. Is it for straight people? What about "black-themed comedy"? A comedy with black people made for whites? Anything like that trades in stereotypes, and people are not immune to stereotyping themselves, just as blacks played Steppin Fetchit roles in the past and continue to do in more subtle ways even today. I would suggest, though, the comedies of Almodovar, which come out of a gay sensibility, but involve gayness only incidentally or partially. I'm also a big fan of the original English shorter run TV series about gay life in Manchester, Queer As Folk, starring Aidan Gillen, Craig Kelly, and Charlie Hunnam. Not the Canadian-shot US knockoff which ran for five years and turned into a heavy-handed soap; there's an instructive world of difference between these two versions.

My problem on your description of the subject of Santiago is not with your sense of admiration for the man. I've thought about it carefully, and I just don't think it makes sense in English to call anyone great who is not celebrated, famous, accomplished in a way that sooner or later gains widesspread recognition. Some might differ with me on this. I would use instead words such as "extraordinary" or "exceptional" or (as I said before) "remarkable."

Or, you could qualify great and say "he was a great man, though never recognized," or "he was a great man, in his own special, private way."

[oscar jubis]

The second film written and directed by Kang-sheng Lee, Tsai's alter-ego/muse/apprentice:

HELP ME, EROS (Taiwan) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19785#post19785)

[oscar jubis]

The first documentary to receive a nomination for Best Picture by the Mexican Academy is good, but could have been better:

THE OLD THIEVES (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19788#post19788)

[oscar jubis]

Best of the Fest:

XXY (Argentina) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19826#post19826)

[Chris Knipp]

xxy

Also showing at New Directors/New Films at FSLC this week in NYC. There may be some interesting reviews coming since it will be widely shown.

"Hermaphrodyte." Is this Klinefelter Syndrome? If so, the references say the individuals are identified as males. Then, how come "Alex" is identified as a she? My question.

In fact, the Wikipedia article on the film xxy says
The title has been criticized as misleading by Unitask, an Italian organization for people with Klinefelter's Syndrome and their relatives, since males with Klinefelter's Syndrome do not have female physical traits as the film's protagonist does. They do, apparently, have some developmental problems.

[oscar jubis]

This is all very interesting Chris. The Italian organization Unitask has issued a statement in support of the film while being critical of the title. The title of the film in Italian is perhaps more worthy of criticism than the simple XXY (although it's clear xxy pertains to Klinefelter's syndrome and it's inappropriate because that would not be the Alex's diagnosis). The Italian title is: XXY: Uomini, Donne o tutti e due?.

The term I heard growing up for persons like Alex was "hermaphrodite" which is "now considered problematic as hermaphrodism refers to people who are both completely man and woman, something not possible" (Wikipedia). In interviews, Puenzo uses the more general term "intersexuality" and once refers to the term "genital ambiguity" as being most appropriate according to medical experts.

I'm very happy about XXY being released by Film Movement because Americans from small markets where foreign films don't play in theaters will be able to watch it on dvd. I'm sure my local library system is one of many around the country who suscribe to Film Movement. And Netflix carries all their titles.

[Chris Knipp]

xxy

"Intersexual" is one of those invented words, maybe necessary however. Maybe the use of myth in the film is partly because "hermaphrodite" is more mythological than real for humans (though real for some creatures of course such as plants or sea organisms), though there are people with breasts and a penis, I'm sure. And yet some prefer the term "hermaphrodite" because it is traditional and people can understand it, whereas for the average person "intersexual" means nothing and might also be misleading. So says Widipedia. As for the Italian title of the film, so few people in Italy go to see any movies that aren't American blockbusters dubbed in Italian, the way they title xxy hardly seems likely to cause a ripple in public there.

The SFIFF

The opening conference of the SFIFF took place this morning so the program is out, Oscar, and I hope you will look at it and tell me any titles you recommend that you think exciting and that neither you nor I has covered already.

Here's the full SFIFF schedule and list of films: http://fest08.sffs.org/films/ I have only seen 10 of the films judging from a spot check. I will go to see La graine et le mulet/The Secret of the Grain whether you've seen it or not, but otherwise for the benefit of the site I will prefer to see titles neither of us has covered before.

FYI the ones I've seen are:

Alexandra
All Is Forgiven
Brick Lane
The Romance of Astra and Celadon
Go Go Tales
Fados
In the City of Sylvia
A Girl Cut in Two
Still Life
The Man from London

That's it.

[oscar jubis]

I've researched roughly 70% of the titles to be shown. These are the ones neither you nor I have seen that I think you should CONSIDER based on festival history, available reviews, director's filmography, etc.: Roughly in order of merit

SOLITARY FRAGMENTS
I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND
LA FRANCE
FROZEN
LADY JANE
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES
MUTUM
FLOWER IN THE POCKET
BALLAST
THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING

[Chris Knipp]

Okay, thanks. No hurry if you think of more. There are 10 press screenings this time, but as luck would have it they include Brick Lane, The Last Mistress, and Still Life, which I've already seen. Others are

BALLAST
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE
CACHAO: UNO MAS
I SERVED THE KIND OF ENGLAND
THE WACKNESS
REDBELT
AND UP THE YANGTZE

I think they're only showing films in press screenings that have distributors who want to promote them this way.

[oscar jubis]

I'll research the remaining titles by the morning. Cachao was supposed to be at the SFIFF screening but he died about a week ago. He lived a few blocks from me. I met him at the Publix grocery store many times. Sweet guy. Very friendly. RIP.

[Chris Knipp]

They mentioned at the press conference that he had died. How interesting that you knew him, a bit. As I said there is plenty of time since the actual festival doesn't start for a while.

[oscar jubis]

82 year-old Polish master Andrzej Wajda's film about the massacre that took his father's life:

KATYN (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19836#post19836)

[oscar jubis]

A beautiful performance film from China:

MY DREAM (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19844#post19844)


I've researched all the SFIFF titles. 9 others to consider based on same criteria as previous 10 listed. Of course I didn't factor your taste. Roughly in order of merit based on published reviews, fest history, etc.
UNDER THE BOMBS, TRAVELING WITH PETS, MY WINNIPEG, WONDERFUL TOWN, A STRAY GIRLFRIEND, NOT BY CHANCE, WATER LILIES, THE WARLORDS, TIME TO DIE

[Chris Knipp]

I've printed out the two lists and will give them special attention.

[oscar jubis]

Wnderful, Chris. I look forward to your reviews.

A ready-made cult film:

THE AERIAL (Argentina) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19858#post19858)

[oscar jubis]

This adult fairy tale is full of romance and amazing sights:

BLIND (NETHERLANDS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19864#post19864)

[oscar jubis]

A PAPER TIGER (Colombia) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19867#post19867)

[Chris Knipp]

Part of your text reads like this:
I myself have finally resolved to believe that I am merely an instrument, the plaything of circumstance.�



�Pedro Manrique Figueroa
Maybe some editing is required?

[oscar jubis]

I don't get it. What is it that needs to be edited?

[Chris Knipp]

Well, the question mark after a period, the big blank space, and the question mark at the beginning of a line.

[oscar jubis]

Looks fine in my computer, my daughter's PC and my wife's computer at her office. But thanks anyway.

[Chris Knipp]

The question marks denote symbols that do not read, I guess a quotation mark and then a dash --. Sometimes a different font or coding does not read. Did you copy and paste this from another source? Then that is the reason. If you go back and redo the quotation mark and the dash it will read on all browsers. It happens in this software often.

[oscar jubis]

Cesar Darling:

THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN (FRANCE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19877#post19877)

Chris,I don't know how to change it because I don't see anything wrong even though there obviously is something wrong. Next time I'll write the quote myself rather than paste it.

[oscar jubis]

USED PARTS (MEXICO) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19883#post19883)

[oscar jubis]

This Czech gem by Kolya's father-and-son team is not coming to a theater near you:

EMPTIES (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19887#post19887)

[oscar jubis]

World premiere of documentary about the rise of the Religious Right in America:

SILHOUETTE CITY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19891#post19891)

[oscar jubis]

A Minority Opinion of acclaimed Spanish Film:

UNDER THE STARS (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19894#post19894)

[oscar jubis]

This feature debut herals the arrival of a major filmmaker: Michelange Quay.

EAT, FOR THIS IS MY BODY (Haiti-France) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19904#post19904)

[Chris Knipp]

This is not in the SFIFF.

[oscar jubis]

I do hope you get a chance to watch it in the future. My MIFF reviews are coming to a close by the end of the week followed by a list of award winners. I might as well reveal that Eat, For This Is My Body won the Grand Jury Prize in the Iberoamerican section (tied with Cochochi). It was selected also for New Directors/New Films '08. But it's hard to picture such a film at commercial theaters in the US. It will open in Paris on October 15th though, and places like NYC's MOMA will likely show it again.

[oscar jubis]

This Mexican crime film would do well if it finds a commercial distributor:

LA ZONA (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19912#post19912)

[oscar jubis]

Brazilian film "plays" with the tenuous barrier between fiction and documentary:

JOGO DE CENA aka PLAYING (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19914#post19914)

[Chris Knipp]

This one sounds borderline offensive and in fact probably the actual life stories are far more important than the supposed "game" anyway. I don't like documnetary "reenactments" either, in, for example, Errol Morris, whose new film makes questionable use of fake footage.

[Chris Knipp]

La Zona. Not very good publicity for Mexican tourism but from the sound of it good lurid fun and not without moral complexities.

[oscar jubis]

If you got those impressions from my reviews then I did a better job with La Zona. I should have written something to the effect that the stretches when actresses substitute the women don't detract from the telling of the real-life stories. I'm curious to read the reviews from NY critics when Jogo de Cena plays at Tribeca.

The Variety review, the only one in English I found, concludes: "By the end, any interest in the film's conceptual game gives way to the emotional scope of the life stories, revealing sometimes surprising and inscrutable corners of human behavior."

[Chris Knipp]

Yes I read the Variety review. But "don't detract from" is not the same as "contribute to." The question is, is it relevant or only a trick? Objections to Errol Morris's use of fake "reenactments" in his Abu Ghraib "documentary" are multiplying daily as more people see this likely to be overrrated film. I don't see how visual or conceptual tricks contribute to understandings of human emotional experience, still less how falsifications add to actual photographic evidence of criminal behavior.

But needless to say, I will have to see the movie to know how it works there.

[oscar jubis]

Like I said in my review the conceit provides insight into the nature of interpretive performance. And I coud add: without detracting from the compelling real-life stories being told.

Scriptwriter disappointed by director of Russian film with deceptive title:

HORROR WHICH IS ALWAYS WITH YOU (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19936#post19936)

[oscar jubis]

This documentary deals with a fascinating cultural phenomenon:

Stalags (Israel) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19940#post19940)

[oscar jubis]

Breakthrough performance by Silvia Perez in sober character study:

ENCARNACION (Argentina) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19945#post19945)

[oscar jubis]

Chilean revolutionary heroine Carmen Castillo's magnum opus:

CALLE SANTA FE (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19949#post19949)

[oscar jubis]

Grand Jury, Audience and Press Awards (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19951#post19951)

[oscar jubis]

Last Post from the MIFF

8 Films I Missed That Look Interesting To Me (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19971#post19971)