San Francisco International Film Festival 2008

[Chris Knipp]

CK REVIEWS OF SFIFF FILMS:

Below is an index of all the SFIFF films I have seen with links to my reviews.

SFIFF titles I had seen and reviewed prior to the festival:

ALEXANDRA (ALEXEI SOKUROV) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18621#post18621)
ALL IS FORGIVEN (MIA HANSEN-LOVE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2146)
BRICK LANE (SARAH GAVRON) (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=933)
FADOS (CARLOS SAURA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18518#post18518)
GIRL CUT IN TWO (CLAUDE CHABROL) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18535#post18535)
GO GO TALES (ABEL FERRARA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18551#post18551)
IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (JOSE LUIS GUERIN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18613#post18613)
LAST MISTRESS (CATHERINE BREILLAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18632#post18632)
MAN FROM LONDON, THE (BELA TARR) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18576#post18576)
ROMANCE OF ASTREA AND CELADON, THE (ERIC ROHMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18529#post18529)
STILL LIFE (JIA ZHANG-KE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2264)
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (EROLL MORRIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=24&threadid=2264)

Films first seen at the SFIFF. My reviews of these are in the thread below:

THE AQUARIUM (YOUSSRY NASRALLAH) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19994#post19994)
BALLAST (LANCE HAMMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20065#post20065)
BARCELONA (A MAP) (VENTURA PONS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20002#post20002)
EZRA (NEWTON I. ADUAKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20049#post20049)
FRANCE, LA (SERGE BOZON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20050#post20050)
FROZEN (SHIVAJHEE CHANDRABHUSAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20033#post20033)
LADY JANE (ROBERT GUEDIGUIAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19990#post19990)
LATENT ARGENTINA (FERNANDO E. SOLANAS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20011#post20011)
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (BARRY JENKINS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20075#post20075)
NOT BY CHANCE (PHILIPPE BARCINSKI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20079#post20079)
ORZ BOYZ! (GILLIES YA-CHEE YANG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20077#post20077)
RECYCLE (MAHMOUD AL MASSAD) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20040#post20040)
SHADOWS IN THE PALACE (KIM MEE-JEONG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20008#post20008)
SECRET OF THE GRAIN, THE (ABDELLATIF KECHICHE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20109#post20109)
SLEEP DEALER (ALEX RIVERA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20099#post20099)
SOLITARY FRAGMENTS (JAIME ROSALES) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20000#post20000)
STRANDED: I CAME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS (GONZALO ARIJON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20016#post20016)
STRAY GIRLFRIEND, A (ANA KATZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20025#post20025)
TIME TO DIE (DOROTA KEDZIERZOWSKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20035#post20035)
TRAVELING WITH PETS (VERA STORZHEVA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20023#post20023)
TWO LADIES (PHILIPPE FAUCON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20022#post20022)
UNDER THE BOMBS (PHILIPPE ARACTINGI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20046#post20046)
VALSE SENTIMENTALE (CONSTANTINA VOULGARIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20061#post20061)
VASERMIL (MUSHON SALMONA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20096#post20096)
WATER LILIES (CELINE SCIAMMA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20073#post20073)
WONDERFUL TOWN (ADITYA ASSARAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20055#post20055)

Each link above will take you directly to my review of the title.

_________________________________

My colleague Oscar Jubis went over the whole list of selections (http://fest08.sffs.org/films) (now online and announced April 1) and gave me his own list below of ones he has not seen, I have not seen, and he thinks worthy. I immediately eliminated MY WINNIPEG, because I can't stand Guy Madden. Oscar's list and my initial comments below after a quick look at the blurbs and video clips.

Oscar's suggestions:
I.
UNDER THE BOMBS--Lebanon, documentary . Definitely a must for me.
TRAVELING WITH PETS, Russian. Maybe.
MY WINNIPEG. No. Madden's twee, fey vision turns me off. Strictly for Madden devotees, they say.
WONDERFUL TOWN--Post-tsunami Thailand. Maybe.
A STRAY GIRLFRIEND--Argentina, Un Certain Regard. Probably
NOT BY CHANCE--Brazil, coincidental disasters. Probably not?
WATER LILIES--French girls' coming of age of figure swimmers. Yes, but this is now showing in NYC!
THE WARLORDS--Chinese historical, with Takeshi Kaneshiro. I can't resist.
TIME TO DIE--Old Polish lady. Maybe. Titles reminds me of Rutger Hauser in Blade Runner.
II.
SOLITARY FRAGMENTS--Spain, lives of women, good but arty. Maybe.
I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND--Czech, WWII drama about waiter's experiences. Doubtful.
LA FRANCE--French WWII story, Pascal Greggory, Silvie Testud, with song numbers. Maybe, though I have doubts about the musical bits. Nathan Lee liked it--in the ND/NF series recently at Lincoln Center.
FROZEN--Himalayan drama. Mabye not.
LADY JANE--French nourish mystery. I have a weakness for noir and French films.
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES--Errol Morris, re: Abu Ghraib. A must for me.
MUTUM--precocious Brazilian boy, docu-fiction. Maybe.
FLOWER IN THE POCKET--two little Malasian boys and father. Will avoid. The excerpt looks too self-indulgent.
BALLAST--a suicide in the Mississippi delta. Sundance winner, also in Berlin. A must. Sounds strong. American!
THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING--Norwegian dark comedy about disabled people. Looks fun. Probably will see this one.

I have not ruled any of these out yet and will keep the list handy. Only a few seem musts to me at this point; I have to see what else is showing. I would hope for more US films of interest than this--also more from the Mideast and Africa, China, South Korea, etc.--a wider spread of regions.

I will see Kechiche's SECRET OF THE GRAIN/LA GRAINE ET LE MULET, possibly the most important new French film we haven't seen yet. Oscar presumably saw it so didn't mention it, but that's one I want to catch even though it will overlap in Filmleaf coverage. The opening night gala features Breillat's MY LAST MISTRESS/UNE DERNIERE MAITRESSE but that one I saw last year (six months ago!) and it is covered in the NYFF 2007 thread. A third French film in the festival is Chabrol's A GIRL CUT IN TWO/LA FILLE COUPEE EN DEUX but that I covered also as part of NYFF 2007. Michael Hawley guesting on Michael Guillen's San Francisco film blog THE EVENING CLASS (http://theeveningclass.blogspot.com) goes over the French entries and says he's surprised LADY JANE got included because the Cannes reception for it was not warm. Eric Rohmer's THE ROMANCE OF ASTREE AND CELADON--again NYFF 2007 covered here--is a dry, somewhat feeble effort. Hansen-Love's ALL IS FORGIVEN, about a French heroin addict, his German wife, and their daughter, is looking better to me now and it was recently chosen as the best film of the year by Cahiers du Cinema (it was a Cannes Directors Fortnight selection too). I've seen it twice, once in Paris last fall, once in February 2008 at the Rendez-Vous at Lincoln Center. Hawley concludes
As far as the films that didn't make it into the festival (Jalil Lespert's 24 Measures, François Ozon's Angel, Gäel Morel's Après lui, Jacques Nolot's Before I Forget, Claude LeLouch's Roman de Gare, Michelange Quay's Eat, For This is My Body, Erick Zonca's Julia, Cedric Klapisch's Paris, Claude Miller's Un secret, Christophe Honoré's Love Songs), I'll just have to hope I cross paths with them somewhere else down the line. I have 'crossed paths' with Before I Forget (Paris thread), Klapisch's Paris, Miller's A Secret, and Honore's Love Songs (all at the Rendez-Vous Feb. 2008-see Festival thread).

Eliminated--already covered:

The SFIFF 2008 selections I have already seen and written about are these:

ALEXANDRA (SOKUROV)
ALL IS FORGIVEN (HANSEN-LOVE)
BRICK LANE (SARAH GAVRON)
THE ROMANCE OF ASTRA AND CELADON (ROHMER)
GO GO TALES (FERRARA)
FADOS (SAURA)
IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (GUERIN)
A GIRL CUT IN TWO (CHABROL)
STILL LIFE (JIA ZHANG-KE)
THE MAN FROM LONDON (BELA TARR)

I don't know which ones Oscar has seen; he didn't say. Which other SFIFF 2008 selections have you seen recently, Oscar?

[Chris Knipp]

I have gone over Michael Hawleys (implied) SFIFF wish list carefully too. He like Oscar recommends Jaime Rosales' SOLITARY FRAGMENTS and Vera Storozheva's prizewinning TRAVELING WITH PETS and the Thai WONDERFUL TOWN. And he expresses some interest in Dario Argento's THE MOTHER OF TEARS or at least in his omnipresent, campy daughter Asia's presence in it.

He mentions Hitoshi Matsumoto's "future cult classic" (SFIFF blurb) BIG MAN JAPAN, Ermanno Olmi's ONE HUNDRED NAILS. A Variety review says it's a disappointing follow-up to Singing Behind Screens, which already seemed to me quite heavy going. This loaded religious allegory about a professor is. . . dubbed, using non-actors, returning to Olmi's roots and those of Italian film itself. As a student of Italian film I may have to see it, especially given that US release seems doubtful.

Hawley mentions Sergei Bodrov's Ghengis Khan epic biopic MONGOL, which features, obviously, breathtaking visuals. It will have general US release though. He mentions that I SERVED THE KING OF ENGLAND was a Best Foreign Oscarn nominee.

And he mentions the Danish JUST LIKE HOME and the Greek VALSE SENTIMENTALE as "of possible interest." The latter was a New Directors/New Films FSLC series selection recently.

I'm marking down as a must Yousry Nasrallah's THE AQUARIUM from Egypt, because of my interest in that place and knowledge of that dialect. Also mentioned by Guillen and interesting to me are the Nigerian Newton I. Aduaka's EZRA and the French-Algerian TWO LADIES, which looks nicely shot and edited and with good acting rhythm.

Graham Leggett, the SFIFF general director, said his programmers thought this was an off year for Latin America, Guillen mentions--continuing to say the Mexicans would be very surprised with that idea. He is intersted in Alex Rivera's SLEEP DEALER and Rodrigo Pla's LA ZONA, and then he mentions COCHOCHI, which I will skip because Oscar thoroughly discussed it already.

[oscar jubis]

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I don't know which ones Oscar has seen; he didn't say. Which other SFIFF 2008 selections have you seen recently, Oscar?

I've seen: YOU THE LIVING, FADOS, LA GRAINE ET LE MULET, MATAHARIS, STILL LIFE, IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA, STRANDED: I COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED IN THE MOUNTAINS, COCHOCHI, LA ZONA, BARCELONA (UN MAPA), and of course Mike Leigh's TOPSY-TURVY.

[Chris Knipp]

Thanks--of course I was aware of most of them but had forgotten La Zona, which MIchael Guillen on his blog THE EVENING CLASS just mentioned as of interest. I am not sure what you said about it. Maybe you have not gotten to it.

[oscar jubis]

Right. I still have 2 good Mexican films to review: La Zona and Used Parts.

[Chris Knipp]

Good. Maybe next time you could list in advance all the movies you've seen that you're going to review. That would create more interest and it's good to know ahead in general.

[Chris Knipp]

First new film seen at the SF festival 2008:

New French noir. Robert Guediguian: LADY JANE (2008) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19990#post19990)

[Chris Knipp]

Another panorama of Cairo life, Yousry Nasrallah's THE AQUARIUM (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19994#post19994) .

[Chris Knipp]

Naturalistic Spanish study of separate lives, awarded Goyas for Best Film, Best Director and Best New Actor.

Jaime Rosales: SOLITARY FRAGMENTS (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20000#post20000) .

[oscar jubis]

I will probably have to buy the Spanish dvd to get to watch it. Like the debut by Mr. Rosales, THE HOURS OF THE DAY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=4648#post4648), it's unlikely to get distribution.

[Chris Knipp]

An old couple reveal personal secrets and talk to departing tenants.

Ventura Pons: BARCELONA: A MAP (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20002#post20002) .

Also covered by Oscar at Miami.

[Chris Knipp]

A Korean period murder mystery with a woman's viewpoint.

KIM MEE-JEUNG: SHADOWS IN THE PALACE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20008#post20008)

[Chris Knipp]

Completion of "Pino" Solanas' sweeping documentary trilogy on Argentina's challenges and its future.

FERNANDO E. SOLANAS: LATENT ARGENTINA (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20011#post20011) .

[oscar jubis]

Shadows in the Palace can be had on Region 1 compatible dvd (Asian) for about $10 on ebay _in case anyone's interested after reading CK's review. It's by a debutante director working with fresh talent so my knowledge of Korean cinema doesn't help me here.

Solanas is a great director who made a docu move after excelling at fiction. I'm a fan of The Dignity of the Nobodies and will seek out the follow-up.

[Chris Knipp]

The 1972 Andes crash survival story, finely told by the men, with seamless use of reenactments and a revisit to the locations. Oscar saw this at Miami and has described it, but I couldn't resist watching it too.


GONZALO ARIJON: STRANDED: I COME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS (2008) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20016#post20016)

[Chris Knipp]

A woman's point of view from Russia.

Vera Storozheva: TRAVELING WITH PETS (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20023#post20023) .

[Chris Knipp]

A young woman gets dumped in Argentina enroute to a vacation.

ANA KATZ: A STRAY GIRLFRIEND (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20025#post20025) .

[Chris Knipp]

An Indian first film shot high in Himalayas.

SHIVAJHEE CHANDRABHUSHAN: FROZEN (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20033#post20033)

[Chris Knipp]

From Poland, a luminous evocation of resistance in old age.

DOROTA KEDZIERZOWSKA: TIME TO DIE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20035#post20035)

[Chris Knipp]

A former member of the Mujahideen in Afghanistan lives a life of quiet desperation in his home town of Zarqa, Jordan.

MAHMOUD AL MASSAD: RECYCLE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20040#post20040)

[Chris Knipp]

A story about a mother searching for her lost son shot in the actual aftermath of the Israel bombing of Lebanon in 2006.

PHILIPPE ARACTINGI: UNDER THE BOMBS (2008) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20046#post20046)

[Chris Knipp]

Wandering soldiers sing songs during WWI and Sylvie Testud poses as a boy. Winner of the Jean Vigo Award in France last year.

SERGE BOZON: LA FRANCE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20050#post20050)

[oscar jubis]

I'd love to watch La France.
The only film by Kedziersowska I've seen is The Crows (94). Apparently the films that followed are equally good. In America they have been "festival films", which underlines the importance of festivals and the need to attend them if one wants to get a sense of the cinema being made abroad.

[Chris Knipp]

ANUTA SZAFLARSKA was already in several of Kedziersowska's films, they said, but it took 18 years to create this perfect vehicle. Excellent.

La France was about what I was expecting. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite jell, but lovers of the odd will and do go for it.

Wonderful Town seemed to me a more successful recommendation, though opinions vary on both, as usual.

[Chris Knipp]

In Thailand where the tsunami struck a young architect falls in love with a hotel employee.

ADITYA ASSARAT: WONDERFUL TOWN (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20055#post20055)

[Chris Knipp]

The drama of a boy solider in Africa.

NEWTON I. ADUAKA: EZRA (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20049#post20049)

[Chris Knipp]

Powerful African-American family drama from the Mississippi Delta.

LANCE HAMMER: BALLAST (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20065#post20065)

[oscar jubis]

Great job, Chris. I assume you are watching these films during the fest with a regular audience. Or not? How does it work for correspondents?

Kino International will distribute Wonderful Town in the US.

[Chris Knipp]

Yes, press attend mainly the public screenings. No press screenings at the festival venue at all since 2006. Ten of this year's festival films had commercial press screenings in San Francisco before the festival began. Of the "over 170" selections there is a rough list of 27 new ones with US distribution. Yes, Wonderful Town is one of them. If you want to know the others are

Alexandra
American Teen
Ballast
Big Man Japan
Brick Lane
Dust
Ezra
Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans
A Girl Cut in Two
Glass: A Portrait of Phillip in Twelve Parts
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
I Served the King of England
The Last Mistress
Mongol
The Mother of Tears
My Winnipeg
Redbelt
The Romance of Astrea and Celadon
Standard Operating Procedure
Still Life
Timecrimes
Up the Yangtze
The Wackness
Water Lilies
Wonderful Town
You, the Living
La Zona

Of course these are not guaranteed to be wide distributions or long local runs or necessarily any runs at all here in most cases.

They forgot to list Cachao: Uno Mas, which also had a press screening.

[oscar jubis]

Were the tickets to the screenings easier to get this time? I just might be able to join you next year. I have a place to stay in the Bay Area (Daly City. Is that reasonably close to the venues?)

[Chris Knipp]

French first film about girls coming of age and water ballet.

Water Lilies (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20073#post20073)

[Chris Knipp]

"Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game."--Karina Longworth, Spout. (http://blog.spout.com/2008/03/05/sxsw-review-medicine-for-melancholy/#comment-95889)

Set in San Francisco.

BARRY JENKINS: MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (2007) (http://www.filmleaf.net/showthread.php?2265-San-Francisco-International-Film-Festival-2008/page2&s=&postid=20075#post20075)[/URL]

[Chris Knipp]

Scams, fantasies and sorrows of two schoolboys in Taiwan.

GILLIES YA-CHE YANG: ORZ BOYZ (2008) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20077#post20077)

[Chris Knipp]

Urban intersections in Sao Paolo.

PHILIPPE BARCINSKI: NOT BY CHANCE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20079#post20079)

[Chris Knipp]

Athens punk couple in the summertime.

CONSTANTINA VOULGARIS: VALSE SENTIMENTALE (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20061#post20061)

[Chris Knipp]

HERE'S AN INDEX OF ALL REVIEWS SO FAR.

SFIFF titles I had seen and reviewed on Filmleaf prior to the festival:

ALEXANDRA (ALEXEI SOKUROV) (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?p=914)
ALL IS FORGIVEN (MIA HANSEN-LOVE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2146)
BRICK LANE (SARAH GAVRON) (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=933)
FADOS (CARLOS SAURA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18518#post18518)
GIRL CUT IN TWO (CLAUDE CHABROL) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18535#post18535)
GO GO TALES (ABEL FERRARA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18551#post18551)
IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (JOSE LUIS GUERIN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18613#post18613)
LAST MISTRESS (CATHERINE BREILLAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18632#post18632)
MAN FROM LONDON, THE (BELA TARR) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18576#post18576)
ROMANCE OF ASTREA AND CELADON, THE (ERIC ROHMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18529#post18529)
STILL LIFE (JIA ZHANG-KE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2264)
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (EROLL MORRIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=24&threadid=2264)

Filmleaf reviews of SFIFF films I first saw at the festival:

THE AQUARIUM (YOUSRY NASRALLAH) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19994#post19994)
BALLAST (LANCE HAMMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20065#post20065)
BARCELONA (A MAP) (VENTURA PONS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20002#post20002)
EZRA (NEWTON I. ADUAKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20049#post20049)
FRANCE, LA (SERGE BOZON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20050#post20050)
FROZEN (SHIVAJHEE CHANDRABHUSAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20033#post20033)
LADY JANE (ROBERT GUEDIGUIAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19990#post19990)
LATENT ARGENTINA (FERNANDO E. SOLANAS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20011#post20011)
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (BARRY JENKINS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20075#post20075)
NOT BY CHANCE (PHILIPPE BARCINSKI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20079#post20079)
ORZ BOYZ! (GILLIES YA-CHEE YANG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20077#post20077)
BARCELONA (A MAP) (VENTURA PONS) ([URL=http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20002#post20002)
SHADOWS IN THE PALACE (KIM MEE-JEONG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20008#post20008)
RECYCLE (MAHMOUD AL MASSAD) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20040#post20040)
SOLITARY FRAGMENTS (JAIME ROSALES) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20000#post20000)
STRANDED: I CAME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS (GONZALO ARIJON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20016#post20016)
STRAY GIRLFRIEND, A (ANA KATZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20025#post20025)
TIME TO DIE (DOROTA KEDZIERZOWSKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20035#post20035)
TRAVELING WITH PETS (VERA STORZHEVA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20023#post20023)
TWO LADIES (PHILIPPE FAUCON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20022#post20022)
UNDER THE BOMBS (PHILIPPE ARACTINGI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20046#post20046)
VALSE SENTIMENTALE (CONSTANTINA VOULGARIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20061#post20061)
WATER LILIES (CELINE SCIAMMA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20073#post20073)
WONDERFUL TOWN (ADITYA ASSARAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20055#post20055)

(There will be a few more.)

[oscar jubis]

Not by Chance (Não Por acaso) is set in São Paolo, Brazil. Its crossed-paths (Amores Perros, 21 Grams, Babel, Crash) plot structure is getting pretty tired by now, but this is a sophisticated and polished and engaging enough work to have been bought in the US by Twentieth Century Fox. It's already on DVD.

The film has been released on dvd by Fox's "branches" in Argentina and Brazil. They function separately from the parent company. US rights to the film have not been acquired by any distributor as of now.

[Chris Knipp]

AWARDS HAVE BEEN ANNOUNCED, AND HERE IS A SIMPLE PASTE-IN OF THE PUBLICITY RELEASE:

Main Awards:

New Directors Award: Vasermil, Mushon Salmona (Israel, 2007)

New Directors Special Jury Mention: Wonderful Town, Aditya Assarat (Thailand, 2007)

FIPRESCI Prize: Ballast, Lance Hammer (USA, 2007)

FIPRESCI Special Jury Mention: Glasses, Naoko Ogigami (Japan, 2007)

Chris Holter Humor in Film Award: Time to Die, Dorota Kedzierzawska (Poland, 2007)


Golden Gate Awards:

Documentary Feature: Up the Yangtze, Yung Chang (Canada, 2007)

Bay Area Documentary Feature: Faubourg Treme': The Untold Story of Black New Orleans, Dawn Logsdon (USA, 2008)

Documentary Feature Special Jury Prize: Forbidden Lie$, Anna Broinowski (Australia, 2007)

Documentary Short: The Ladies, Christina A. Voros (USA, 2007)

Bay Area Short, First Prize: The Cabinet, Todd Herman (USA, 2007)

Bay Area Short, Second Prize: On the Assassination of the President, Adam Keker (USA, 2007)

Narrative Short: Thick Skinned, Jean-Bernard Marlin, Benoit Rambourg (France, 2007)

Animated Short: Madame Tutli-Putli, Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski (Canada)

New Visions Cabinet, Todd Herman (USA, 2007)

Work for Kids and Families: When I Grow Up, Michelle R. Meeker (USA, 2007)

Youth Work: Writing History with Lightning: The Triumph and Tragedy of America's First Blockbuster, Charlotte Burger (USA, 2007)


Previously announced Golden Gate Award winners (Television)

TV Documentary Long Form: Calavera Highway, Renee Tajima-Pe�a (USA/Mexico, 2007)

TV Documentary Short Form: The Mystery of the Second Painting, Muriel Edelstein (France, 2007)

TV Narrative Long Form: Operation Turquoise, Alain Tasma (France, 2007)

I won't get to see the Japanese Glasses, but I'm watching Vasermil tomorrow along with The Secret of the Grain. I definitely approve the other awards at the top of the list. Wonderful Town and Ballast are both terrific, extremely promising first films, and Time to Die deserves an award (and the relatively new Holter is one that has status at this festival).

I saw some good documentaries, but not the ones listed.

[Chris Knipp]

Winner of the SFIFF 2008 New Directors Award. Naturalistic story of three young soccer players in the Israeli town of Beersheba.

MUSHON SALMONA: VASERMIL (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20096#post20096)

[Chris Knipp]

Here are some other awards not previously mentioned:

Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature:

(a tie)

Medicine for Melancholy, Barry Jenkins (2007)
La Zona, Rodrigo Pla (2007)


Audience Award, Best Documentary:

Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains, Gonzalo Arijon (2007)

[Chris Knipp]

Sci-fi film about exploitation of campesinos.

ALEX RIVERA: SLEEP DEALER (2008) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20099#post20099)

[oscar jubis]

Both La Zona and Stranded won Audience Awards at Miami too. It would be entirely logical for both films to have commercial runs in the US. But neither seems to have a distributor after a number of successful screenings in American festivals. Maybe it's just a matter of time. Maybe there isn't anything logical about patterns of distribution of foreign-language films.

[Chris Knipp]

Maybe La Zona will get picked up here, but the trouble with Stranded is as you know, foreign language documentaries are a hard sell.

I didn't go see La Zona because you had covered it, though if there had been another day I might have. Hope to see it somehow some day.

[Chris Knipp]

I wanted to see new American first features and there were very few so I am sorry I missed Touching Home, glad somebody guided me to Medicine for Melancholy, glad I didn't miss Ballast, which I hope people get to see. No saying now what kind of distribution Ballast will get from IFC. A small market. Release date August 29.

Note that Medicine for Melancholy, the San Francisco based African-American narrative feature, shared the prize with La Zona, and I'm glad it got that.

[Johann]

Chris & Oscar: I e-mailed you today

[Chris Knipp]

Got it; confirmed.

[Chris Knipp]

Kechiche's triumph at the Cesars about the North African diaspora in France.

ABDELLATIF KECHICHE: THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20109#post20109)

[Chris Knipp]

CK REVIEWS OF 2008 SFIFF FILMS:

Below is an link index of all the SFIFF films I have seen and reviewed on FILMLEAF. Clink on any title to go to the review.

SFIFF 2008 titles I had seen and reviewed prior to the festival:

ALEXANDRA (ALEXEI SOKUROV) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18621#post18621)
ALL IS FORGIVEN (MIA HANSEN-LOVE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2146)
BRICK LANE (SARAH GAVRON) (http://www.chrisknipp.com/writing/viewtopic.php?t=933)
FADOS (CARLOS SAURA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18518#post18518)
GIRL CUT IN TWO (CLAUDE CHABROL) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18535#post18535)
GO GO TALES (ABEL FERRARA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18551#post18551)
IN THE CITY OF SYLVIA (JOSE LUIS GUERIN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18613#post18613)
LAST MISTRESS (CATHERINE BREILLAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18632#post18632)
MAN FROM LONDON, THE (BELA TARR) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18576#post18576)
ROMANCE OF ASTREA AND CELADON, THE (ERIC ROHMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=18529#post18529)
STILL LIFE (JIA ZHANG-KE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=2264)
STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURE (EROLL MORRIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=24&threadid=2264)

Films first seen at the SFIFF. My reviews of these are in the Festival Coverage thread:

THE AQUARIUM (YOUSSRY NASRALLAH) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19994#post19994)
ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING, THE (BARD BREIEN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20144#post20144)
BALLAST (LANCE HAMMER) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20065#post20065)
BARCELONA (A MAP) (VENTURA PONS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20002#post20002)
EZRA (NEWTON I. ADUAKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20049#post20049)
FRANCE, LA (SERGE BOZON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20050#post20050)
FROZEN (SHIVAJHEE CHANDRABHUSAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20033#post20033)
LADY JANE (ROBERT GUEDIGUIAN) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=19990#post19990)
LATENT ARGENTINA (FERNANDO E. SOLANAS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20011#post20011)
MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (BARRY JENKINS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20075#post20075)
MONGOL (SERGEI BODROV) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20280#post20280)
NOT BY CHANCE (PHILIPPE BARCINSKI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20079#post20079)
ORZ BOYZ! (GILLIES YA-CHEE YANG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20077#post20077)
RECYCLE (MAHMOUD AL MASSAD) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20040#post20040)
SHADOWS IN THE PALACE (KIM MEE-JEONG) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20008#post20008)
SECRET OF THE GRAIN, THE (ABDELLATIF KECHICHE) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20109#post20109)
SLEEP DEALER (ALEX RIVERA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20099#post20099)
SOLITARY FRAGMENTS (JAIME ROSALES) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20000#post20000)
STRANDED: I CAME FROM A PLANE THAT CRASHED ON THE MOUNTAINS (GONZALO ARIJON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20016#post20016)
STRAY GIRLFRIEND, A (ANA KATZ) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20025#post20025)
TIME TO DIE (DOROTA KEDZIERZOWSKA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20035#post20035)
TRAVELING WITH PETS (VERA STORZHEVA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20023#post20023)
TWO LADIES (PHILIPPE FAUCON) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20022#post20022)
UNDER THE BOMBS (PHILIPPE ARACTINGI) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20046#post20046)
VALSE SENTIMENTALE (CONSTANTINA VOULGARIS) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20061#post20061)
VASERMIL (MUSHON SALMONA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20096#post20096)
WATER LILIES (CELINE SCIAMMA) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20073#post20073)
WONDERFUL TOWN (ADITYA ASSARAT) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20055#post20055)

Each link above will take you directly to my review of the title.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm done with SFIFF 2008 reviews now, or very nearly. I have reviewed every SFIFF film I've seen and linked to previous reviews of ones I had seen before the festival even began--counting both, I have covered 38 of the 170-some selections. I haven't gotten to reviewing the Norwegian THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING, the only one left that I saw but haven't written about.

The last SFIFF film I saw Thursday evening, the last day, was Abdellatif Kechiche's THE SECRET OF THE GRAIN. This was a highlight for me and suitably climactic. For me it was the most exciting and moving of all the films I saw at the festival.

I would hope that people post comments on this thread about any of the films I reviewed so we can get a dialogue going.

I would say this was a good year for the SFIFF. I had a good experience with it, and Graham Leggett is doing a good job, as are the several program directors who are behind the choices. There was a lot of good stuff, even if the festival doesn't seem to have excelled in any one area, neither Spanish nor Asian nor European nor indie American. It may have been strongest in documentaries. Much of it was seen before at other festivals, and in some cases a pretty long time ago.. And this is partly because the SFIFF comes at the end of the line in time (and perhaps in space) if you consider the big festivals as all part of a year-lonog cycle beginning with Cannes--which begins shortly. (I wish somebody on this site could give some coverage of Tribeca, a big competitor for San Francisco since it comes at about the same time. My impression is that Tribeca didn't have as many outstanding titles as SFIFF this year, but had more new small independent items.) Time to take a look at Cannes now, of course, but I won't be there. I just get to hear about it when I'm at the NYFF and there are press and industry people who attend it.

[Chris Knipp]

Norwegian revolt of handicapped people.

BARD BREIEN: THE ART OF NEGATIVE THINKING (2006) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20144#post20144)

[Chris Knipp]

We attempted to see this at the festival but there was a foulup in the tickets then. I caught it in a Berkeley theatrical screening. I am not the only one who has pointed out the many odd gaps in the storytelling. This seems to have gotten a surprisingly free ride from critics in the US: Metacritic 75. Compare the Guardian reviews, which are dismissive.

Life of Genghis Khan up to age 35. Projected as part one of a trilogy.

SERGEI BODROV: MONGOL (2007) (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20280#post20280)

[oscar jubis]

I woke up this morning intending to work diligently on my 20-page-minimum essay on Luc Moullet, an original member of the conseil des dix at Cahiers and the most neglected filmmaker of the French New Wave. It has been impossible to concentrate on said task on account of a transcendental experience at the movies last night.

The culprit is Solitary Fragments (La Soledad) by Jaime Rosales. It's really a shame that the film won't find space at American screens. Rosales deserves the exposure and American movie buffs deserve a chance to experience his masterful command of formal aspects of the medium in the service of compelling narrative. Some of the ways of blocking, staging and framing used in Solitary Fragments can be found in the films of Ozu, Antonioni, Akerman and, more recently, Edward Yang, but the synthesis of elements is thoroughly original.

The canvas used by Rosales is wide and left undisturbed in the outdoor scenes. When he moves indoors he breaks the frame into segments in a number of interesting ways. Sometimes he splits the screen in two in order to: a) show two rooms in the same home in arrangements that invert their actual physical placement, or b) eschew shot/reverse shot conventions involving two characters in conversation by having one screen show a character in profile and the other screen show a frontal view of the second character, who seems to be addressing the audience directly.

When the screen is not artificially split, Rosales creates fragments of screen by means of naturally existing elements like doors, walls, poles, and pieces of furniture. He creates compartments or "pockets" that function as frames-within-a-frame. The sense of life lived beyond the confines of the film frame is conveyed assertively by Rosales's use of off-screen space. In his narrative universe, characters no longer subjected to our gaze, characters who have exited the visual realm still register their presence by aural means: by the sounds created by their activities in the adjoining room or by their voices. The viewer's imagination is constantly allowed tocome into play in ways that are very gratifying.

This is not experimentation for it's own sake. In Solitary Fragments, every challenge to mainstream convention has a purpose related to characterization and narrative. The aim of Mr. Rosales is not to obfuscate but to clarify and to deepen the portrayals of the lives of two extended families in contemporary Spain.

*Solitary Fragments can be downloaded onto disc here (http://www.torrentz.com/c6f58d681045cbc64cb85c4411ceccee36f1659c). The film has also been released on PAL dvd (http://www.amazon.com/Solitary-Fragments-Soledad-NON-USA-FORMAT/dp/B0013JGK9W/ref=sr_1_1/189-6124403-6757723?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1226329050&sr=1-1)
Solitary Fragments is best viewed having no knowledge of its plot (Avoid the mediocre Variety review which gives away a major plot point). Chris Knipp's review (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20000#post20000) from the San Francisco Film Festival is very good.

[Chris Knipp]

Solitary Fragments is very successful. Rosales' more recent film is a disappointment. It is experimentation for its own sake, and abandons the subtleties and complexities of Fragments that you mention.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm happy to note that Bary Jenkins' MEDICINE FOR MELANCHOLY (http://www.filmwurld.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=20075#post20075) was released thatrically in New York today. It is showing at the IFC Cener on Sixth Avenue. This means mainstream reviews (Voice, The Onion, Salon, Chicago Reader and Hollywood Reporter listed so far on Metacritic) and at least comments like "promising" and "subtle." The Voice says "tender, smart, soulful." This is a distinctive piece of work by and about young, urban, sophisticated African Americans in San Francisco. Jones of Chicago Reader notes that the male lead is "Wyatt Cenac, the latest addition to "The Daily Show" With Jon Stewart." The film debuted at the SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas and got very favorable audience buzz at the SFIFF.

[oscar jubis]

Nice slice-of-life with San Francisco as much a character as Micah and Jo. Docu detour midway, a housing rights meeting, underlines that fact. James Laxton won a well-deserved Special Jury prize for its cinematography at Sarasota last year. Inconclusive ending makes it possible for the viewer to imagine several possible futures for the couple, including no future at all. Indie rock soundtrack an asset. Music borrowed from Claire Denis' Vendredi Soir (an apparent influence) fits quite neatly also. Some might feel that the characterizations are somewhat underdeveloped, but the performances never falter.

[Chris Knipp]

I'm glad the movie got released. I am glad you saw it, even though I don't quite agree with your description. It's better than that, even though it's a little film. SF is not in my view a third character nor it is really true that the 'characterizations are somewhat underdeveloped' and the housing meeting is an irrelevant misstep ("docu detour" yes). But Medicine for Melancholy sets its own very distinctive mood. Your mention of Claire Denis fits with O'Hehir's Salon review from January, "Young, black, sexy and sad in San Francisco," which says Barry Jenkins, the director, has cited Godard, Denis, and Jarmusch as inspirations in interviews. SF is very realistically shown visually and logistically, though that doesn't exactly make it a character.. The important matter is that it has pushed out black people, who barely remain in the City outside physically degraded areas like Hunter's Point.