Sorry about the FFM links for anyone who tried them and found them "broken". The FFM site uses dynamic links for the film description listings, and they "expire" after awhile. I've removed them all, so if you want more information, you'll have to go to here and look it up.
Emilka Placze (Emily Cries) (short film). Director: Rafael Kapelinski. Poland (2007).
33 min, Polish with English subtitles.
Stephen is 18, and it’s the eve of Martial law being declared in 1982 in Poland. He’s in love with Emily, who’s dad is a policeman. Shot in black and white and depressingly somber. Stephen slowly woos Emily with dance lessons, and she breaks off an affair with the high school coach. A depressingly dark character sketch of the period – sad, and without much hope. And one minute of summary narration about what happens to all the principals after Communism in Eastern Europe falls.
Behikvot Hahatiha Hahasera (The Quest for the Missing Piece). Director: Oded Lotan (this is his first feature documentary). Israel (2007) 52 min, Hebrew and German with English subtitles.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0984219/
Lotan’s first person “search” for his missing foreskin is the premise for an often humourous exploration about the practice of male circumcision. Being Jewish and Gay, and very secular (like most Israelis), he wants to know why most still adhere to this custom. Interviews with his mother, sister and brother-in-law (with a newborn son), his German husband (who is uncircumcised) are very personal, but he goes out and interviews others…young Russian émigrés in the Israeli army who opt for the procedure to fit in (they are practicing Jews), a group of people who refuse to circumcise their sons (and meet behind closed doors to avoid confrontations). Discussions with a psychologist explain tribal customs and the act of collective identity, and with a German Christian minister on why Christians don’t circumcise (since Jesus was). Muslims, Jews, a lot of North Americans, South Koreans, and Philipinos do – totaling about 1/5th of males worldwide. Traditional ‘bris’ are shown, along with the hospital procedure, and even more interesting, Arabic friends back in Germany having their version of the ritual with their 7 year old son – sort of a Muslim version of the Bar Mitzvah, where the boy becomes a “man”. It sort of makes the Bar Mitzvah physical task of holding up a Torah for about five minutes at 13 years of age (with the threat of fasting for 40 days and 40 nights if you drop it) seem like, well, child’s play. Jonathan and I both were squeamish and averted our eyes at all the injecting of anesthetic and slicing...the idea of someone willfully cutting a “perfectly good piece” off of one’s body, especially from the penis (it’s the male fear of castration, I suppose) just abhors us both, and this despite only one of us having been "cut". Towards the end, Lotan's search for the Mohel (ritual circumciser) that did the job on him, but he’s long deceased. However, an interesting conversation ensures with the late mohel’s elderly son and daughter-in-law. In all, an interesting sociological study. Probably destined to be on a documentary TV channel near you…
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Day Five - Tuesday, August 28
In the Shadow of the Moon. Director: David Sington (this is his first feature documentary). United States (2007) 100 min English.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/
For anyone who followed the Apollo space program and the moon landings, or who is interested in spaceflight, this is a must see. The director gathered all of the surviving astronauts of the program (they’re all in their late 70’s or 80’s) that he could and let them talk in their own words. This candid, moving, and often funny testimony is coupled with stunning remastered archival NASA film footage, much of it never shown before. In all, nine flights went to the moon, and the men who went are still the only humans to have traveled to an alien world. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, did, of course, not participate, as he’s been reclusive about his role for decades. But there is a lot of meaty interviews here, with Michael Collins being particularly eloquent (he was command module pilot of Apollo 11, the only member who didn’t get to land on the moon during that first historic flight). Other standouts from among the nine out of 26 astronauts who went to the moon in the film (with 25 surviving), are Buzz Aldrin (second to walk on the moon), Jim Lovell (command module pilot of Apollo 8, and more famously the commander of Apollo 13), and Alan Bean (click the links if you never learned or don’t remember the significance of the various flights).
Like a lot of people all over the world at that time, I was enthralled with the space program – I scrapbooked every article out of my dad’s Time magazines and New York newspapers that he read daily. I had the model spacecraft, the books, even the G.I. Joe Mercury Astronaut and capsule, complete with a 45rpm record of John Glenn’s audio recording during his flight. So this film was a particular joy, to revisit these men, all very human, despite their amazing exploits that elevated them to national and international heroes. They’re all from the older school of astronauts, having the Right Stuff. And indeed, listening to them talk about how very on the bleeding edge all of the technology was then, all of the unknowns, and risks they were taking, fully cognizant of the odds of making it back alive, brought back the sense of wonder and amazement that I had as an eight-year old boy. What started truthfully as a political race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., in the end became, for a brief time, something a good portion of the world looked up at as a noble adventure.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0925248/
For anyone who followed the Apollo space program and the moon landings, or who is interested in spaceflight, this is a must see. The director gathered all of the surviving astronauts of the program (they’re all in their late 70’s or 80’s) that he could and let them talk in their own words. This candid, moving, and often funny testimony is coupled with stunning remastered archival NASA film footage, much of it never shown before. In all, nine flights went to the moon, and the men who went are still the only humans to have traveled to an alien world. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, did, of course, not participate, as he’s been reclusive about his role for decades. But there is a lot of meaty interviews here, with Michael Collins being particularly eloquent (he was command module pilot of Apollo 11, the only member who didn’t get to land on the moon during that first historic flight). Other standouts from among the nine out of 26 astronauts who went to the moon in the film (with 25 surviving), are Buzz Aldrin (second to walk on the moon), Jim Lovell (command module pilot of Apollo 8, and more famously the commander of Apollo 13), and Alan Bean (click the links if you never learned or don’t remember the significance of the various flights).
Like a lot of people all over the world at that time, I was enthralled with the space program – I scrapbooked every article out of my dad’s Time magazines and New York newspapers that he read daily. I had the model spacecraft, the books, even the G.I. Joe Mercury Astronaut and capsule, complete with a 45rpm record of John Glenn’s audio recording during his flight. So this film was a particular joy, to revisit these men, all very human, despite their amazing exploits that elevated them to national and international heroes. They’re all from the older school of astronauts, having the Right Stuff. And indeed, listening to them talk about how very on the bleeding edge all of the technology was then, all of the unknowns, and risks they were taking, fully cognizant of the odds of making it back alive, brought back the sense of wonder and amazement that I had as an eight-year old boy. What started truthfully as a political race between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., in the end became, for a brief time, something a good portion of the world looked up at as a noble adventure.
Day Four - Monday, August 27
Grand Odyssey. Director: Tomoyuki Kato. Japan—France (2007) 19 min, English.
Japanese science fiction anime tends to veer towards the childish. Combined with the ever present cheap electronic keyboard schmaltzy background music (a problem with most Japanese films), and a horrific English language dub, this tale of earth descendants trying to return the now mythical home planet is a groaner.
Tana-no-Sumi (The Dark Corners of the Shelves). Director: Hajime Kadoi. Japan (2007) 81 min, Japanese with English subtitles.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1031975/
Yasuo runs a toy store with his second wife Hideko. One day, a woman buys a marked-down toy from a corner shelf…and turns out to be Yasuo’s former wife, Yoko. Yoko had run out on Yasuo when their son Tsuyoshi was less than one year old. Tsuyoshi’s never known a mother other than Hideko, and Yoko, who’s been reassigned as an insurance salesperson to the district, is obsessed with watching her son. She’s also not happy with her relationship with her boss Shindo, a younger man who wants to marry her.
A workaday film adaption of a novel. It’s a Japanese “chick flick” version of the type of movie of the week fare that TV networks like LifeTimeTV (a woman-centric digital channel) offer up to their viewers. The story’s revolves more around Yasuo, and his bitterness over Yoko’s abandonment of him and his son, but the strongest character is the stepmother Hikedo, a woman who is barren, and yet is totally devoted to her adopted son and her husband. It is she who ultimately gives Yoko a chance to spend a bit of time with her son, so Yoko can have some resolution and move on with her life. Competent but nothing that shines brightly on this one.
Japanese science fiction anime tends to veer towards the childish. Combined with the ever present cheap electronic keyboard schmaltzy background music (a problem with most Japanese films), and a horrific English language dub, this tale of earth descendants trying to return the now mythical home planet is a groaner.
Tana-no-Sumi (The Dark Corners of the Shelves). Director: Hajime Kadoi. Japan (2007) 81 min, Japanese with English subtitles.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1031975/
Yasuo runs a toy store with his second wife Hideko. One day, a woman buys a marked-down toy from a corner shelf…and turns out to be Yasuo’s former wife, Yoko. Yoko had run out on Yasuo when their son Tsuyoshi was less than one year old. Tsuyoshi’s never known a mother other than Hideko, and Yoko, who’s been reassigned as an insurance salesperson to the district, is obsessed with watching her son. She’s also not happy with her relationship with her boss Shindo, a younger man who wants to marry her.
A workaday film adaption of a novel. It’s a Japanese “chick flick” version of the type of movie of the week fare that TV networks like LifeTimeTV (a woman-centric digital channel) offer up to their viewers. The story’s revolves more around Yasuo, and his bitterness over Yoko’s abandonment of him and his son, but the strongest character is the stepmother Hikedo, a woman who is barren, and yet is totally devoted to her adopted son and her husband. It is she who ultimately gives Yoko a chance to spend a bit of time with her son, so Yoko can have some resolution and move on with her life. Competent but nothing that shines brightly on this one.
Day Three - Sunday, August 26th
Song of Slomon (short film). Director: Emmanuel Shirinian. Canada (2007) 7 min, English.
A hilarious film about an ultra-Orthodox (“frume”) young rabbi, just settling into his new job at a synagogue, who seems to be excessively strict with his congregation as a reaction to finding his own faith weakening. Counseled by his childhood friend, a Catholic priest, to “live a little”, he entertains a fascination with a black female vocalist he’s seen on TV by attending a rave where she’s singing, on a Friday night after Sabbath services. The results are more than he bargained for, but God moves in mysterious ways… Very cute, and well executed. It was funny to all, but a plotzer to any Jews in the audience. Much laughing ensued.
Eskimosim ba Galil (The Galilee Eskimos). Director: Jonathan Paz. Israel (2007)
99 min, Hebrew with English subtitles
www.imdb.com/title/tt0910890/
A bittersweet film about a dozen or so octogenarian Kibbutz founding members, now comfortable in their dotage, who awaken one morning to find that everyone else has left, taking anything they could with them, and left the elders behind. Heavily in debt, the Kibbutz was sold off to the bank in return for writing off the debt, but no one told anyone about the old folk left behind. A big surprise for the bank and the investor buying the property on the Lebanese border for his ambitious casino resort plans. The remaining seniors, all socialist from the founding days of Israel and the Kibbutzim movement, rally to become self-sufficient once again, and stave off the builders intent with destroying their home. There’s even plans to become a commercial success and keep the Kibbutz going. But there is also a sense of impending doom, where the choices are armed rebellion, or acquiescence to the offer of a plush seniors residence when they leave. The last weeks are spent reliving all the sweet and sad moments of their lives. The director’s parents were Kibbutzim, and it’s a loving portrait of the beginnings and eventual decline of the original idea of the Kibbutz, and of society’s casual disregard of its elders. So far, my favourite film, with Wind Man coming in second.
All the Days Before Tomorrow. Director: François Dompierre (his first feature film).
United States—Canada (2007) 100 min, English
www.imdb.com/title/tt0439115/
Wes is quiet, academic. Alison is the opposite, and is the former almost girlfiend. She’s leaving L.A. in the morning to return to her boyfriend in Toyko, but wants to spend the evening. Wes is ambivalent but agrees finally, and the night is spent in reflection of what happened through extended flashbacks. We’re also party to Wes’s dreams, where he’s visited by what he calls his “angel”, who has the “right” but cryptic answer to all of his questions, played by Richard Roundtree. They say “opposites attract”, but I just can’t fathom the interest Wes has in vapid Alison. It seems they’re both lost to each other, and Alison’s moved on to a listless relationship with her Tokyo boyfriend. As for Wes not having made the move at the right time (you know how it is, if you become friends too intimately, it’s rare that things can jump to the sexual like they can when you first meet), I kept wondering if he’s truly just a metrosexual or is a closeted gay guy. But then, he wouldn’t be the first well-groomed geek straight guy who misreads the moment because he’s overanalyzing things. A well-made first feature film by a Montreal raised, L.A. educated (UCLA Film school?) Dompierre, but Wing Man flies circles around it. Beautiful scenery of southern Utah (which is, in truth why Jonathan and I went to see this film, since we had a one-week road trip to the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park, among other places during our last “west coast” trip in 2006). I also wondered about the funding he raised...there is SO MUCH SMOKING in this film (as much as in Japanese films, where's it's notoriously bad), could it have been Big Tobacco?
Buntat Na L. (L's Revolt). Director: Kiran Kolarov. Bulgaria (2006) 115 min, Bulgarian with English subtitles
On the eve of his graduation from language school, bored with life in Communist Bulgaria, Loris tries to defect to the West and is caught. Imprisoned as a political prisoner, he’s subjected to brutal torture and humiliation, but learns to survive. Given amnesty after 1989, he quickly falls in with ex-prison mates, some criminals, some politicals, and the former deputy warden, now a mobster. Seemingly happy with just being one of the “carrier-pigeons” (driver/gopher) for the mobster, his main job is escorting high-class prostitutes to clients. A Russian woman about his age, reduced to being a whore, befriends him. And things aren’t going to well with his boss starting to require that he and his buddies fetch and bury bodies, or help with the kidnapping of a local girl. When he draws the line at being party to a murder, he revolts yet again, thinking he can fight and flee once more. But you can only kill a few top mobsters before you’re going to get whacked yourself, and Loris has never learned to quell his arrogance.
We really weren’t prepared for this film – the description was sufficiently vague that the film's wholesale nihilist decent into post-Communist criminal anarchy, which had mired a good portion of the former Soviet Eastern Bloc, and of course, Russia itself, was a bit of a surprise for us. It just kept getting darker and darker. The body count isn’t legendary, but the casual brutality got to me. And yet, the story moves along at a pace where you aren’t bored. I almost started rooting for Loris to make it through to the end (no spoilers here), given him being the hero and the anti-hero of sorts. Is Koralov critiquing Bulgarian society’s decent in organized crime (a la Juzo Itami’s famous ‘war’ with the Yakuza?), in depicting Loris as Bulgaria’s modern alienated soul traumatized between the former brutality of the unyielding Party line and the even more brutal mobsters that now have control? Maybe I’m just reading too much into it…
A hilarious film about an ultra-Orthodox (“frume”) young rabbi, just settling into his new job at a synagogue, who seems to be excessively strict with his congregation as a reaction to finding his own faith weakening. Counseled by his childhood friend, a Catholic priest, to “live a little”, he entertains a fascination with a black female vocalist he’s seen on TV by attending a rave where she’s singing, on a Friday night after Sabbath services. The results are more than he bargained for, but God moves in mysterious ways… Very cute, and well executed. It was funny to all, but a plotzer to any Jews in the audience. Much laughing ensued.
Eskimosim ba Galil (The Galilee Eskimos). Director: Jonathan Paz. Israel (2007)
99 min, Hebrew with English subtitles
www.imdb.com/title/tt0910890/
A bittersweet film about a dozen or so octogenarian Kibbutz founding members, now comfortable in their dotage, who awaken one morning to find that everyone else has left, taking anything they could with them, and left the elders behind. Heavily in debt, the Kibbutz was sold off to the bank in return for writing off the debt, but no one told anyone about the old folk left behind. A big surprise for the bank and the investor buying the property on the Lebanese border for his ambitious casino resort plans. The remaining seniors, all socialist from the founding days of Israel and the Kibbutzim movement, rally to become self-sufficient once again, and stave off the builders intent with destroying their home. There’s even plans to become a commercial success and keep the Kibbutz going. But there is also a sense of impending doom, where the choices are armed rebellion, or acquiescence to the offer of a plush seniors residence when they leave. The last weeks are spent reliving all the sweet and sad moments of their lives. The director’s parents were Kibbutzim, and it’s a loving portrait of the beginnings and eventual decline of the original idea of the Kibbutz, and of society’s casual disregard of its elders. So far, my favourite film, with Wind Man coming in second.
All the Days Before Tomorrow. Director: François Dompierre (his first feature film).
United States—Canada (2007) 100 min, English
www.imdb.com/title/tt0439115/
Wes is quiet, academic. Alison is the opposite, and is the former almost girlfiend. She’s leaving L.A. in the morning to return to her boyfriend in Toyko, but wants to spend the evening. Wes is ambivalent but agrees finally, and the night is spent in reflection of what happened through extended flashbacks. We’re also party to Wes’s dreams, where he’s visited by what he calls his “angel”, who has the “right” but cryptic answer to all of his questions, played by Richard Roundtree. They say “opposites attract”, but I just can’t fathom the interest Wes has in vapid Alison. It seems they’re both lost to each other, and Alison’s moved on to a listless relationship with her Tokyo boyfriend. As for Wes not having made the move at the right time (you know how it is, if you become friends too intimately, it’s rare that things can jump to the sexual like they can when you first meet), I kept wondering if he’s truly just a metrosexual or is a closeted gay guy. But then, he wouldn’t be the first well-groomed geek straight guy who misreads the moment because he’s overanalyzing things. A well-made first feature film by a Montreal raised, L.A. educated (UCLA Film school?) Dompierre, but Wing Man flies circles around it. Beautiful scenery of southern Utah (which is, in truth why Jonathan and I went to see this film, since we had a one-week road trip to the Grand Canyon, and Zion National Park, among other places during our last “west coast” trip in 2006). I also wondered about the funding he raised...there is SO MUCH SMOKING in this film (as much as in Japanese films, where's it's notoriously bad), could it have been Big Tobacco?
Buntat Na L. (L's Revolt). Director: Kiran Kolarov. Bulgaria (2006) 115 min, Bulgarian with English subtitles
On the eve of his graduation from language school, bored with life in Communist Bulgaria, Loris tries to defect to the West and is caught. Imprisoned as a political prisoner, he’s subjected to brutal torture and humiliation, but learns to survive. Given amnesty after 1989, he quickly falls in with ex-prison mates, some criminals, some politicals, and the former deputy warden, now a mobster. Seemingly happy with just being one of the “carrier-pigeons” (driver/gopher) for the mobster, his main job is escorting high-class prostitutes to clients. A Russian woman about his age, reduced to being a whore, befriends him. And things aren’t going to well with his boss starting to require that he and his buddies fetch and bury bodies, or help with the kidnapping of a local girl. When he draws the line at being party to a murder, he revolts yet again, thinking he can fight and flee once more. But you can only kill a few top mobsters before you’re going to get whacked yourself, and Loris has never learned to quell his arrogance.
We really weren’t prepared for this film – the description was sufficiently vague that the film's wholesale nihilist decent into post-Communist criminal anarchy, which had mired a good portion of the former Soviet Eastern Bloc, and of course, Russia itself, was a bit of a surprise for us. It just kept getting darker and darker. The body count isn’t legendary, but the casual brutality got to me. And yet, the story moves along at a pace where you aren’t bored. I almost started rooting for Loris to make it through to the end (no spoilers here), given him being the hero and the anti-hero of sorts. Is Koralov critiquing Bulgarian society’s decent in organized crime (a la Juzo Itami’s famous ‘war’ with the Yakuza?), in depicting Loris as Bulgaria’s modern alienated soul traumatized between the former brutality of the unyielding Party line and the even more brutal mobsters that now have control? Maybe I’m just reading too much into it…
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Day Two - Saturday, August 25
Centigrade (short film). Director: Colin Cunningham. Canada (2007). 15 min, English.
A short worthy of a Twilight Zone story. What sort of personal and collective hell awaits those trailer park trash that abuse their blameless children? 19 minutes of collective retribution, in which they are towed, sealed in their trailers, to a dessert, to die of heat exhaustion. Isn’t it so nice that we feel smug in our collective judgment of a deserving punishment.
Kuro-Obi (Black Belt). Director: Shunichi Nagasaki. Japan (2006) 95 min, Japanese with English subtitles.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1084019/
Cinemoo saw this one with us, and offers this review:
Japan's answer to the Chinese kung fu movies .. a karate movie. set in the 1930s .. the disciples of a karate sensei are conscripted into the military police to teach them the martial art .. one explores the "dark side" of his ability, the other continues on the more spiritual route. There is corruption in the military police, there is organized crime, with appropriate caricatures to make it easy for the audience. the film is stylized, almost an animation using real actors. however it is worth seeing .. for the scenery and the choreographed fights .. before the screening, there was a karate demonstration in the theatre .. what's the rasping all about ?
Wonderful word in a subtitle: gormless
After the show, we stopped at the food court on our way to the other theatre (we'd normally, and lazily, take the metro the few blocks east, but it [was] closed because of cracks in an access tunnel infra-structure that have got several downtown blocks sealed off) .. anyway, back to the food court: we noticed the entire cast of the film were sitting near us (and several even got their lunch where i did at Tiki Ming) .. they had a press conference that afternoon because the film is entered in the festival's official competition.
Wind Man. Director: Khuat Akhmetov (this is his first film)
Russia (2007) 95 min, Russian with English subtitles.
Cinemoo saw this one with us and offers this review:
The blurb: during a wind storm, an old man with wings falls from the sky to a small village on the steppe. He is filthy and doesn't speak. Identified as an angel, he is given a "residence" in a young family's chicken coop and is befriended by their son who calls him Grampa Wind. The film looks at how different people react to the presence of this stranger .. My initial reaction at reading the blurb was the Gabriel García Márquez story, a very old man with enormous wings.
Another link on the story. It had its own movie a few years ago .. but this Russian film is even more sinister ... though it has its share of stock comic characters, death itself seems to be wandering around the edges of this microcosm of our larger society …
The story has a moral: some things that fall from the sky are benign; some are not.
See it if you have a chance to.
I second Cinemoo’s review, and would add that the Magic realism, coupled with the Russian central Asian location make for a dreamlike otherworld-ness that works. A wonderful first effort that would shame many a seasoned director’s ability.
How to Survive a Fall From 35,000 Feet (short film). Director: James Ricker. Canada (2007) 3 min, English.
Cynical air travelers and the flying-challenged will both find comfort from this tongue-in-cheek “manual” on how to survive being sucked out of an airliner.
Running with Arnold. Director: Dan Cox (this is his first feature documentary).
United States (2007) 72 min, English.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0386757/
A very unflattering look at “Ahr-Nold” the "Guvernator" ex-Terminator’s climb to political stature as the governor of California. Narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, noted cause-celebre of the Left. If you weren’t scared by Schwarzenegger’s rise to power, fame, and money, culminating in his political ambitions, this film, which shows him even more of a puppet of Right-wing corporate interests than Bush, will scare you silly. Don’t be blindsided by his apparent soft stance on social conservatism (supporting stem-cell research, and gay civil unions). Includes a mini-lesson on the Recall procedure in California, and how it gave Arnold the edge to get in over Gov. Davis. The dirty tricks used to silence women coming forward to complain of his history of sexual abuse are right up there with the best of the Republican Party’s Karl Rove tactics. And, don’t think they haven’t given up on changing the U.S. Constitution so Arnold (Austrian-born) could run for the Presidency. A must see for any political junkie or California resident. Or if you adored his films...*cough*
A short worthy of a Twilight Zone story. What sort of personal and collective hell awaits those trailer park trash that abuse their blameless children? 19 minutes of collective retribution, in which they are towed, sealed in their trailers, to a dessert, to die of heat exhaustion. Isn’t it so nice that we feel smug in our collective judgment of a deserving punishment.
Kuro-Obi (Black Belt). Director: Shunichi Nagasaki. Japan (2006) 95 min, Japanese with English subtitles.
www.imdb.com/title/tt1084019/
Cinemoo saw this one with us, and offers this review:
Japan's answer to the Chinese kung fu movies .. a karate movie. set in the 1930s .. the disciples of a karate sensei are conscripted into the military police to teach them the martial art .. one explores the "dark side" of his ability, the other continues on the more spiritual route. There is corruption in the military police, there is organized crime, with appropriate caricatures to make it easy for the audience. the film is stylized, almost an animation using real actors. however it is worth seeing .. for the scenery and the choreographed fights .. before the screening, there was a karate demonstration in the theatre .. what's the rasping all about ?
Wonderful word in a subtitle: gormless
After the show, we stopped at the food court on our way to the other theatre (we'd normally, and lazily, take the metro the few blocks east, but it [was] closed because of cracks in an access tunnel infra-structure that have got several downtown blocks sealed off) .. anyway, back to the food court: we noticed the entire cast of the film were sitting near us (and several even got their lunch where i did at Tiki Ming) .. they had a press conference that afternoon because the film is entered in the festival's official competition.
Wind Man. Director: Khuat Akhmetov (this is his first film)
Russia (2007) 95 min, Russian with English subtitles.
Cinemoo saw this one with us and offers this review:
The blurb: during a wind storm, an old man with wings falls from the sky to a small village on the steppe. He is filthy and doesn't speak. Identified as an angel, he is given a "residence" in a young family's chicken coop and is befriended by their son who calls him Grampa Wind. The film looks at how different people react to the presence of this stranger .. My initial reaction at reading the blurb was the Gabriel García Márquez story, a very old man with enormous wings.
Another link on the story. It had its own movie a few years ago .. but this Russian film is even more sinister ... though it has its share of stock comic characters, death itself seems to be wandering around the edges of this microcosm of our larger society …
The story has a moral: some things that fall from the sky are benign; some are not.
See it if you have a chance to.
I second Cinemoo’s review, and would add that the Magic realism, coupled with the Russian central Asian location make for a dreamlike otherworld-ness that works. A wonderful first effort that would shame many a seasoned director’s ability.
How to Survive a Fall From 35,000 Feet (short film). Director: James Ricker. Canada (2007) 3 min, English.
Cynical air travelers and the flying-challenged will both find comfort from this tongue-in-cheek “manual” on how to survive being sucked out of an airliner.
Running with Arnold. Director: Dan Cox (this is his first feature documentary).
United States (2007) 72 min, English.
www.imdb.com/title/tt0386757/
A very unflattering look at “Ahr-Nold” the "Guvernator" ex-Terminator’s climb to political stature as the governor of California. Narrated by actor Alec Baldwin, noted cause-celebre of the Left. If you weren’t scared by Schwarzenegger’s rise to power, fame, and money, culminating in his political ambitions, this film, which shows him even more of a puppet of Right-wing corporate interests than Bush, will scare you silly. Don’t be blindsided by his apparent soft stance on social conservatism (supporting stem-cell research, and gay civil unions). Includes a mini-lesson on the Recall procedure in California, and how it gave Arnold the edge to get in over Gov. Davis. The dirty tricks used to silence women coming forward to complain of his history of sexual abuse are right up there with the best of the Republican Party’s Karl Rove tactics. And, don’t think they haven’t given up on changing the U.S. Constitution so Arnold (Austrian-born) could run for the Presidency. A must see for any political junkie or California resident. Or if you adored his films...*cough*
Day One, Friday, August 24th
Back again this year with 20 films to see, a few with my friend Cinemoo, who will guest review some films that all three of us are seeing.
Tibor, a heterosexual writer in middle-age angst, on the rocks with his actress wife, gets ‘marked’ by Zsolt, a 19 year old street hustler. Out of ennui, more than anything, he decides to indulge Zsolt and himself with an affair, not realizing just how much of a liar and a thief the boy is. Gay sex is not unknown to Tibor, who had a brief youthful affair with an older, famous writer, and it’s the old story of youthful beauty reawakening feelings of lust mistaken as love. Unfortunately for Tibor, he thinks he’s in control and can manage the relationship as a tryst with a female prostitute, to his literary advantage, but Zsolt is toying with him, on levels that go deeper than the writer’s willing to acknowledge. And his wife, starved for affection, preoccupied with her fading looks and declining career, thinks that it’s a young lady that has her husband's affections, and flirts with Zsolt, who’s been introduced to her as a young writer Tibor’s mentoring. Everything starts to unravel… If anything, the film’s a parable on mid-life ennui and the dangers therein – where not even a writer’s ego is strong enough to rein in the last wild testosterone-fueled flailing against the inevitable slide towards entropy and death. Darkly filmed in
Dong Sun (Bamboo Shoots). Director: Jian Yi (this is his first feature film).
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