2010 Summer and Fall Film
Festival Journal
All films are
rated on a scale of **** (A+), *** 3/4 (A), *** 1/2 (A-), *** 1/4 (B+),
*** (B), ** 3/4 (B-), ** 1/2 (C+), ** 1/4 ( C), ** (C-) , * 3/4 (D+), *
1/2 (D), * 1/4 (D-), * (F)
Films in BLACK
type are from the Los
Angeles
Film
Festival
Films in BLUE type are from OUTFEST
A FAMILY (En
familia) (d. Pernille Fischer Christensen)
A hat trick of (apparently) unrelated Christensens combine to make an
extraordinary Danish family drama. Primary is Jesper Christensen,
who plays a 50ish, quality obsessed baker descended from a German
dynasty of bakers, father of four, and possibly dying of cancer.
Lene Maria Christensen plays his eldest daughter: independent art
broker, pregnant at the start of the film. Others in the cast are
equally splendid in this sensitively directed film which describes how
a series of major life turning points fracture otherwise strong family
bonds. It is harrowing, emotionally devastating, ultimately life
affirming. *** 1/2
ORLY
(d. Angela Schanelec)
There is an entire genre of airport films: sprawling large cast dramas
centered on people waiting for flights etc. One thinks of the
French film Jet
Lag, or Spielberg's Terminal, or
maybe Up In The
Air. Well this film desires to be of that ilk, though a
lower budget affair. But, unfortunately it doesn't measure up,
being rather scattered and pointless. The film interweaves at
least four separate stories of people wandering around the waiting room
at Orly airport (near Paris)...but none of them are compelling and no
effort is made to connect the stories. The film wastes the talent
of several good actors, among them Émile Berling, whom I'd like
to see more of. ** 1/4
LEBANON
(d.
Samuel
Maoz)
This excellent, if claustrophobic, film focuses on a tank crew on the
first day of Israel's incursion into Lebanon in 1982. It's one of
the most realistic war films ever: the audience is literally
assaulted by the confusion, the noises, even the stenches of inhabiting
a battle tank. It's also an ironic example of the "fog of war":
how multiple snafus happen despite good men trying their best.
The director chose to shoot most of the film in extremely tight
close-ups of the actors, fitting with the small, enclosed space of the
tank and increasing the sense of immediacy. And
the actors are up to the task. Once again Oshri Cohen shines (he
was the lieutenant in Beaufort)...here
as the comic relief screw-up Herzel. Lebanon won the
prestigious Golden Lion at last year's Venice Film Festival; and I can
understand why the jury went for it. Powerful stuff. ***
1/4
Unexpectedly, for me at least, the
L.A. Film Festival in its new downtown digs at the Regal multiplex in
L.A. Live has been a smashing success. Sellouts and large crowds,
even for obscure foreign language films, have been plentiful. The
audiences seem younger than I've observed in past years, and more film
savvy. And the level of the films I've watched so far has been
very high (though I've heard contrary rumbles, especially about the
narrative films in competition.) And I'm impressed with the Regal
14...it is truly a worthy addition to the L.A. movie scene.
Remarkably I've even had no trouble finding street parking nearby to
the west of the theater. Compared to Seattle's parking and
logistics nightmares this has been a walk in the park.
PARADE (Parêdo)
(d.
Isao
Yukisada)
Four disparate, young Tokyo moderns share an apartment. When one
of them, a girl in a drunken stupor, brings home an 18 year old male
hustler to crash on the couch it sets off a series of unexpected and
delightfully perverse events. Each character is extremely well
defined; and even though I did predict the outcome fairly early on, it
was just a lucky guess since the script was full of novel
MacGuffins. It's tempting to compare this film to the tv sitcom
"Friends"; but nothing could be further from the case as this is
more high class melodrama and quite skillfully cinematic with a
memorably propulsive score. I'd like to give a special mention to
Japanese teen idol Kento Hayashi, who imbued his bleached blond hustler
character with quirky charm and charisma. ***
1/2
R (d.
Tobias Lindholm
& Michael Noer)
In the past year there have been a number of excellent foreign language
films about prison life: France's A Prophet,
Spain's Cell 211,
Brazil's Lion's Den
all have depicted the unique nature of each country's penal
systems. Add Denmark to the list with this violent and even
shocking revelatory film. Johan Philip Asbæk (a Danish
actor to watch, who also co-starred in another film at this festival, A Family) plays
Rune, novice inmate serving a two year term for some indeterminate
stabbing. He is thrown in with a cell block of tattooed,
rough-and-tumble, real-life ex-prisoners in an authentic looking,
dilapidated prison environment. This is no Shawshank Redemption...it's
pointedly
not the
run-of-the-mill prison escape or riot film, rather a down and dirty
exposé of filth, corruption and anarchy. Plus points for
surprises along the way and authenticity; minus points for a somewhat
familiar story not quite as well done as those films mentioned
above. ***
ANIMAL
KINGDOM (d. David
Michôd)
This is an amazing Australian noir drama about a crime family from the
point of view of a teenage boy/man who is thrown into dealing with his
grandmother and three
crazed uncles after his mother, estranged from her family, dies from an
overdose. I
don't want to give away details of the story, which is totally
mesmerizing and involving. It reminded me of a recent Australian
tv series that I was lucky enough to catch on DirecTV's 101
Network: "Underbelly", also being a story about Victoria
low-lifes and corrupt policemen. Kudos to young James Frecheville
and veteran Guy Pearce (playing the one sympathetic cop in the entire
film) for their contributions to an outstanding ensemble of actors too
many to mention individually. First-time writer-director David
Michôd is also to be commended for the polish he gives to the
wide-screen production reminiscent of Michael Mann (although
Michôd's style is not as visually exciting as Mann's, his
narrative sensibility is in the same ballpark). *** 1/2
MAHLER ON THE
COUCH (d.
Felix O. Adlon & Percy Adlon)
Percy Adlon, who let's face it is a distinctive auteur, has partnered
with his son Felix to make this super-arty biopic. The Adlons
claimed, pre-film, that they were the only father-son directing team
that they could think of; and they may be right. In any case, the
combo turned out to be a mixed bag from my seat. The film is
structured as a series of flashbacks as a neurotic Gustav Mahler
consults Sigmund Freud while the latter is on vacation. Mahler's
problem, as envisioned by this script, is a block caused by his passion
for his unfaithful ex-wife Alma. The flashbacks are dominated by
Barbara Romaner, an Austrian stage actress in her first major film
turn, who plays Alma as a spoiled rich girl whose fickle passions are
thwarted by the role of subservient muse she must play as Mahler's
wife. It's a great performance (not surprising since Percy Adlon
is a superb director of women). The scenes between Mahler
(look-alike Johannes Silberschneider) and Freud (Karl Markovics) are
not as successful, confusingly shot and rather prosaic compared with
the vivid flashbacks. The film looks gorgeous...but not in the
gauzy, burnished way of the usual period productions, rather a more
crisp, contemporary look thanks to being shot in digital. I hate
to admit this: but for all the adult theme and high production
values, I found the film a little boring. ** 3/4
LIGHT GRADIENT (Rückenwind)
(d.
Jan
Krüger)
Two 20-something gay boys embark on a bicycle trip into the forest on a
pleasant German country lane. They're comfortable with their
sexuality, enjoying nature and their mildly sado relationship au
naturel. The film can't quite decide whether it wants to be Blair Witch or Summer Storm;
but
we're
aware
that
something
strange
is
lurking
in
the forest. That
there is no ultimate payoff is irrelevant. Either one goes with
the flow (literally, since water is an everpresent metaphor for sexual
freedom) and enjoys the pleasures of nature and some
attractive boy flesh (Sebastian Schlecht is an actor to watch for)...or
one finds the slow pacing and mysterious subtext maddingly obscure and
a waste of time. I'm neutral; but I wish the sex scenes had been
a little less coy and arty. ** 1/2
GAY DAYS (Hazman Havarod) (d.
Yair Qedar) plus short THE LIBERATION OF
GRIFFITH PARK (d. Matt Spero)
Gay Days is
an interesting and informative feature documentary about the history of
gay
life in Israel, featuring interviews with ordinary people and
celebrities who
were instrumental in the recognition of Tel Aviv's becoming a kind of
gay mecca in the '90s. It breaks no new ground as a documentary;
but succeeded as a film experience with its satisfying mixture of
politics and artistic expression.
But I want to talk about the short film which played with it,
called The
Liberation of Griffith Park. It's an historical document
of early gay life in Los Angeles, utilizing 8mm footage and voice-over
interviews from a 1971 "Gay-In" in Griffith Park. What made this
so personally involving was that I attended this actual event; and I
met my first lover, Lorenzo in the parking lot as I was going
home...and we enjoyed 15 year together after that until he was murdered
in 1986. Furthermore, I'm almost 100% certain that the first
voice-over commentary was of me being interviewed at the event,
although I didn't
actually see any live action footage of either myself or Lorenzo.
This was almost 40 years ago; but I have clear memories of that
day. And this film captured a great deal of the feelings of
liberation that we had attending this event. *** (for the
feature) *** 1/2 (for the short).
FIT
(d.
Rikke
Beadle-Blair)
Beadle-Blair is an English gay activist-filmmaker who has a flair for
relevant social drama with a flamboyant sensibility. His British
tv series, Metrosexuality
seen at the 2001 Outfest, was a touchstone of gay television
achievement. With this wide-screen major production, he's
expanding and putting on film a project he's been working on for years:
a theater piece which travels to schools in Britain teaching tolerance
by example to a generation of school kids. The film follows a
drama class with a new, out-and-proud gay teacher (played by
Beadle-Blair himself) as the kids explore their own friendships and
relationships emphasizing the gay-straight dualities. If the film
is reminiscent of the American tv series Glee, with a
little bit of Fame
thrown in, I think that's all to the good. The lessons of
tolerance go down easy because the dramatic scenes are well written and
acted. *** 1/4
ADULTS
IN THE ROOM, THE (d.
Andy Blubaugh)
Blubaugh is a real-life 30-something
Portland high-school drama teacher, who at age 15 became sexually
involved with a 30-year old man he met on the internet. Using
actors to re-create the relationship (the young actor is actually 16),
plus interviews with himself and such "experts" as advice columnist Dan
Savage, he examines the dynamics of such a relationship with remarkable
even-handedness. Blubaugh is careful to respect the
sensibility of the man he was involved with, maybe too careful.
But perhaps it was the only way to get this film made. For all
the squickiness of the subject matter, the film really does have a lot
to say about intergenerational (and incidentally illegal) sex...and
says it in a novel and inventive presentation, something between
documentary and docudrama. I have a lot of respect for Blubaugh
as a person and filmmaker, even though his film made me
uncomfortable. ***
SASHA
(d. Dennis Todorovic)
A Montenegrin family living in Germany...the elder son is preparing for
his conservatory classical piano audition while struggling with being
gay and in love with his male piano teacher while living in a
traditional homophobic family. That's the set up for this dramedy
which isn't very funny; but nevertheless is affecting as the melodrama
works its way to resolution. The acting, especially the parents,
is a little over-the-top; and the director could have paced the film
better. It does almost work, however, since the boy's
coming-of-age story has the ring of cultural accuracy. ** 1/2
BEARCITY (d. Doug Langway)
**
SPRING FEVER (d. Ye Lou)
* 1/2
ROLE/PLAY (d. Rob Williams)
** 1/2
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