La Rabia

Very interesting film by Albertina Carri that definitively is art cinema with great slowish pace that allows full contemplation, some truly amazing Pampa photography, great bare setting in an Argentinean Hacienda and good actor’s performances that totally convince that neighbors are not always welcome to your life and if you do so, take responsibility for the consequences.

Produced by Pablo Trapero (director of great Leonera), the story written also by Carri tells about a mute little girl, Nati, that has her life upside down because she has seen her mother having sex with the neighbor. Nati tells us the story with her drawings that become quite interesting animated inkblot drawings; when the drawings are animated they tell what the girl saw and what will come next. Some call the story an erotic tale, probably because Nati’s mother and the neighbor have raw and noisy sex; but I found nothing erotic, as I tend to believe that their sex is violent just as everything else that happens in the story. But violence is raw and very similar to life in the country of many Latin American countries.

Be aware that if you have not experienced life in remote areas where animals live and die just as humans, you could be offended by the use in this film of unfaked animal deaths. By the way La Rabia means “the rage”, but here is the name of the sleepy village and is also what all the characters feel at one moment in the story.

I found many scenes similar to what I have seen in Carlos Reygadas movies, including the use of fix and/or slow panning camera to capture nature at its best. These scenes make the film breathtaking. But I found one key difference; in Reygadas movies I can’t guess the story, while in Carri’s film I guessed the story right quite early. Still it was a pleasure watching the great tech specs of the film.

The movie was screened at the 2008 Belinale in the Panorama Special section and traveled the festival circuit where was honored with nominations and awards, including winning Best Director in the 2008 Havana Latin American fest and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2008 Transilvania fest.

I know that this film is not for all audiences not only because is art, but also because the animals that are killed and the raw/noisy sex scenes; but I do recommend the movie as an excellent example of the new wave of Latin American art cinema.

Definitively this is one female director that I'll try to see more of her work.

Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

37th Norwegian International Film Festival Award Winners

The fest run from August 20 to 27 in Haugesund, Norway and last Thursday they had their award ceremony and here are the winners.

Film Critics Award: Fish Tank, Andrea Arnold, UK, 2009
Jury Statement: The winner is a film with the rawest and most intense female character the jury has seen in a long time. In addition she is played with impressive complexity by a 17-year-old amateur actress. We follow her as the protagonist of a merciless fight to survive where the terms change more rapidly than it is possible to adapt to them, and the director succeeds in creating sympathy for all characters in a story where there are no good Samaritans. As regards the film’s directorial devices, the jury wants especially to emphasise the excellent cinematography and a creative use of music, which becomes like a distinct actor in the action. The award winner proves that she is at the same level as the best and established directors in this genre. Even though it is natural to compare with Ken Loach and Mike Leigh, there can be no doubt that this filmmaker has a distinct, personal voice.

Ray of Sunshine: Looking for Eric, Ken Loach, UK, France, Italy, Belgium, and Spain, 2009
Jury Statement: This year’s Ray of Sunshine goes to a small masterpiece of a film. Through a highly realistic narrative style, but with a touch of magic, a story is told about daring to be honest, to oneself, one’s friends and the world at large. The film is funny, fast-talking and stylistically assured, and manages to touch painful and difficult aspects of life without for one moment to become sentimental. The powerful characters are impressive and believable, we root for our heroes and are delighted along with them in the film’s decisive final scene. A victory for the value of human life and for wisdom!

Andreas Award: The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke, Austria, France, Italy and Germany, 2009
Jury Statement: This year’s award winner has stated that a feature film is twenty-four lies a second. Nevertheless, we are speaking about a director who on numerous occasions has shown a strong determination and a strong ability to uncover lies. Through subtle means and by asking dangerous questions, in his new film the director reaches discouraging but important insights. Various states and degrees of innocence are questioned, religious and secular abuse of power is criticised, and everything is done with an exquisite sense of the ethical and aesthetic force inherent in the special expressive powers of cinema.

Audience Award: UP, Pete Docter and Bob Peterson, USA, 2009

To read the official press release go here.

FIPRESCI Grand Prix 2009

Yesterday this prestigious award was announced for the current year and here are the news releases from FIPRESCI and the San Sebastian fest.

From FIPRESCI official site

Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" (Das weisse Band) will receive FIPRESCI's Grand Prix 2009 for the Best Film of the Year. The film was chosen by the 223 critics throughout the world that took part in our poll. The award will be handed out on Friday, September 18th, during the opening ceremony of the San Sebastian International Film Festival which hosts the Grand Prix since its creation in 1999.

From San Sebastian site

The film Das Weisse Band/The White Ribbon, directed by Michael Haneke, will receive the Fipresci (International Federation of Film Critics) Grand Prix for Best Film of the Year at the San Sebastian Festival opening gala on Friday September 18.

Michael Haneke (Munich, 1942) is one of contemporary cinema’s most greatly admired directors and a recipient of multiple plaudits for his work. Winner of the Golden Palm at Cannes 2009 for Das Weisse Band/The White Ribbon, Haneke has garnered countless accolades, including the Best Director Award for Caché (1995) and the Grand Jury Prize for La pianiste (The Piano Teacher, 2001), both at Cannes Festival. He has also carried off the Fipresci Prize at various festivals, and the award granted by the Federation at the European Film Awards, the first of which went to Benny’s Video (1992).

The Fipresci Grand Prix for Best Film was chosen by members throughout the world of the International Federation of Film Critics, who can vote for any feature film internationally premiered since July of the previous year.

Awarded annually at the San Sebastian Festival, the Fipresci Grand Prix at former editions have gone to the directors: Pedro Almodóvar (Todo sobre mi madre / All About My Mother, 1999 and Volver / To Return, 2006), Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia, 2000, and There Will Be Blood , 2008), Jafar Panahi (Dayereh / The Circle, 2001), Aki Kaurismäki (Miles Vailla Menneisyyttä / The Man Without a Past, 2002), Nuri Bilge Ceylan (Uzak, 2003), Jean-Luc Godard (Notre musique, 2004), Kim Ki-Duk (Bin-jip / 3-Iron, 2005) and Cristian Mungiu (4 luni, 3 saptamâni si 2 zile / 4 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 2007).

They didn’t included the 2008 winner in the above list and if you’re curious let me tell you that the winner was Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood.

On other news about Das weiße Band it’s official that the 2009 Cannes top winner is Germany's Official Submission to the 2010 Academy Awards in the Foreign Language film category. The news come as NO surprise for me, I was expecting the film to be Germany’s submission and surely (if the new Academy system prevails) will be in the list of five (or this year will be more?) films with a nomination.

Antichrist

I really dislike horror films and consequently haven’t seen many, so you can say that my genre knowledge is limited if not very basic. But today I’m asking what the horror genre really is as I cannot understand how a movie like the Antichrist is labeled as horror. But then I also cannot understand why is labeled as thriller. For me this is a drama. A sometimes shocking and violent drama, yes; but in my opinion there is nothing thrilling or horror related in this film.

The films tells a so common story about parents grief when their only child dies. But the mastery of Lars von Trier found a way to tell the story in the most unexpected, non-imaginable way while using the most outstanding visuals I have ever seen in any of his movies and in many other films by great cinema masters. The movie visually is stunning with compositions that absolutely take your breath away. Visuals come with extraordinary music and sounds that absolutely complement this unbelievable complete cinematic experience.

With all the controversy around the movie after the Cannes premiere it was impossible not to notice and become aware of the particular scenes with controversy. But me not wishing to be spoiled by any kind of clues heard and read headlines trying not to be contaminated. Still I knew about the “decapitation” of no head but of the sexual organ. The scene in the screen was not more than a few seconds and was nothing special, but the pain I felt was excruciating. Is this horror? Not for me. It was awfully painful like if it was done to me. But I wanted to see more, to continue watching the mesmerizing visuals and the quite brainy story of grief, pain, and despair as von Trier calls his first, second and third chapters.

When Lars von Trier got the idea and wrote the script he was suffering his first ever depression.

" Il y a deux ans j'ai fait une dépression. Ca a été une nouvelle expérience pour moi. Tout, absolument tout, me paraissait sans importance, futile. Je ne pouvais pas travailler. Six mois plus tard, juste pour m'entrainer, j'ai écrit un scénario. C'était une sorte de thérapie, mais aussi une recherche, un test pour voir si je pouvais encore faire un film. "

I do not know about you but I do believe that when you feel the worst is when you produce your best. Again, Trier found a way to tell an explored in many ways story in a totally different way and to me that’s outstanding.

Is the storytelling sexually graphic? Yes it is; but I’m no prude and remember that I do not like pornography at all; still I can take everything sexually graphic that I saw in this movie.

Is the storytelling violent? Yes it is; but I have seen more violent movies and seen those movies where violence is gratuitous. Here violence has a sense and is crucial to the story.

Today I’m still thinking about some issues in the movie and wish I could find only one explanation to many things that happen in the story. But I know that I will find as many explanations as I’m willing to find. That is why I call the story brainy and consequently, I know that viewers will find in the story whatever they wish to see. Still for von Trier the film is about “nature”.

"Une fois encore, le sujet était " la nature " mais d'une façon différente, plus directe qu'auparavant. Une façon plus personnelle. Le film ne contient aucun code moral particulier et possède seulement ce que d'aucuns appelleraient " le strict minimum " en termes d'intrigue. "

By the way I totally avoided reading non-European reviews and viewers comments as I’m aware that due to moral codes and likes/dislikes in films the tone and manner was going to be not positive. If you want to read about this film I strongly suggest you do the same.

I’m not a huge fan of the Danish “enfant terrible” and I admit that I didn’t enjoyed much some of his films (like Dogville); but Antichrist is absolutely outstanding from the storytelling pov, the production values and mostly because of the most amazing visuals even when telling hard to watch scenes. There are many visually stunning moments but the opening, the Prologue, really blows your mind and takes your breath away; it does it so much that you hardly pay much attention to what happens and now I realize that the storytelling really starts when She and He are having intense sex and She is looking to the camera.

Never before have I seen Willem Dafoe performing like this and yes I have seen Charlotte Gainsbourg in many excellent performances but this 2009 Cannes honored with the Best Actress award is one of her best. The entire film is a pas de deux between the two actors and is an amazing to watch display of acting excellence.

I strongly recommend this film that I know I will watch again and absolutely is a Must Be Part of my Collection when the DVD becomes available. Next time I will try not to get lost in the visuals and pay more attention to the story that still today puzzles me in a few points. Will I close my eyes to avoid feeling the excruciating pain in the infamous scene? Yes I will.

BIG ENJOY!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Die Tränen meiner Mutter (My Mother’s Tears)

I find the movie premise interesting as is about a couple that flees Argentina in the early 80’s with their boy Alex and end up in Berlin living in an industrial loft with a group of odd people, mostly artists. The story is told by Alex and is an autobiographical recount of the director, Alejandro Cardenas-Amelio that definitively is watchable, a little entertaining and non-political drama. But I needed more ordinary life drama as I found the movie too light for the theme and kept watching just to find what happens in the end of the movie, which by the way is the beginning.

Watching until the end was easy because tech package is good especially the sets and cinematography. This Argentina and Germany production was honored at 2008 Shanghai fest were won the Golden Goblet Best Cinematography, was nominated for the International Jury Award at 2008 Sao Paulo International Film Festival and perhaps the most colorful character Sik played by Alice Dwyer was honored at the 2008 Max Ophüls Preis fest with the Best Actress award.

This is a movie that you will not remember after watching as it does not have a storytelling that will impact you; but the film is entertaining because the many characters and the many regular life incidents that happen.

Enjoy.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Dangkou (Plastic City)

Very strange debut movie by Nelson Yu Lik wai, who is better known as the cinematographer of Jia Zhang ke (who’s one of the multiple producers) that’s visually interesting but the story and storytelling style is not.

This is a Chinese, Japanese and Brazilian production with a story set in Brazil about a crime family in the counterfeit goods business. Tells about Chinese counterfeit “king” Yuda (Anthony Wong Chau-Sang) and his adopted Japanese “heir” Kirin (Jô Odagiri) who embark on a power war and eventually are ousted by an ambitious Chinese younger “king wannabe”.

What makes this movie strange is that looks and feels like a Japanese or Chinese film/story but the Sao Paulo setting really crashes with the story the film is telling. I tend to believe that if the same story is told in Hong Kong, Tokyo or any other major Japan or China city, the story, the film, and the storytelling style would have made a completely different film that would have been a lot more interesting.

Main actor’s performances are really good but their acting style looks and feels totally out of place; still that’s one of the reasons that allowed me to watch the entire film, besides the eye-catching visuals and excellent cinematography. But neither saves the film as a whole and when is over leaves an unpleasant taste in your mouth that travels fast to your head.

It’s hard for me to imagine how a film with such excellent credentials went so wrong. But this is not the first (and probably won’t be the last) movie with excellent Asian credentials where storytelling goes wrong because of the setting, just remember Kar Wai Wong's Blueberry Nights.

The film was in competition for the Golden Lion at the 2008 Venice Film Festival and I also do not understand how it end-up there, as is a film with style but very little substance.

I cannot recommend this movie.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

57th Donostia Zinemaldia Festival de San Sebastian –Films in Progress Selection

The 16th edition of Films in Progress this year considered 115 projects from 21 Latin American countries and section organizers selected six films to compete for prizes helping filmmakers to complete their production. These are the six projects.

A Tiro de Piedra, Sebastián Hiriart, Mexico
Jacinto Medina, a youngster of 21, is bored with his life as a shepherd in the north of Mexico. He finds a keyring on the ground and, taking it as a signal and guided by his dreams, sets out on a voyage stretching thousands of kilometres. Directorial debut from the Mexican Sebastián Hiriart.

Agua Fría de Mar, Paz Fábrega, Costa Rica and France
On New Year's holidays, Mariana (21) and Rodrigo (30) drive to the Pacific coast. There, late at night and in the middle of nowhere, they find Karina (7) who ran away from home. The couple decides to stay the night and deal with the situation in the morning. But by dawn, the girl’s gone.

Lucía, Niles Jamil Atallah, Chile
Lucía is a young woman who works as a seamstress in a factory and lives with her father in an old house in Santiago, Chile. The film takes place in December 2006 during the weeks that take place from the ex-dictator Pinochet’s funeral to Christmas. Through the simple observation of Lucía’s daily life, the spectator is allowed access into a hidden and neglected world of a generation of Chileans striving to recover from the military dictatorship. Directorial debut.

Norberto Apenas Tarde (Norberto’s Deadline), Daniel Hendler, Uruguay
Fired from his job, Norberto tries his luck as a real estate agent, putting off telling his wife. His new boss recommends that he attend a personal assertiveness course to overcome his timidity and he starts studying acting at a beginners’ workshop. While preparing the 3-monthly show, while he fails in his endeavours to behave credibly towards his clients and his wife, what he does discover is a tremendous ability to lie to himself. Directorial feature debut from the actor in Daniel Burman’s El abrazo partido (2004), Best Actor Award at Berlin Festival.

Rompecabezas (Puzzle), Natalia Smirnoff, Argentina
María del Carmen, a 50-year old suburban housewife, discovers a special talent for solving puzzles. On the road to enlightenment she meets Roberto, a millionaire in his 60s aspiring to participate in a world puzzle competition in Germany. Together they form an invincible pair on the games table. This opens the floodgate to desires and discoveries. How does life continue with all of this? Exactly the same, impossible. Directorial fiction-length feature from the assistant director of films by Lucrecia Martel, Pablo Trapero, Jorge Gaggero and Alejandro Agresti.

La Vida Util (A Useful Life), Federico Veiroj, Uruguay
Jorge (45) lives with his parents and has been working at a Film Archive for 25 years. He is a film programmer, he makes technical support, and he conducts the film news show at a radio station in Montevideo. Without any other job experience than working at the Film Archive, Jorge loses his position. A Useful Life explores the way Jorge changes his way of living in order to adapt to the new world that appears to him. After all, maybe ‘movies’ will help him survive. From the director of Acné (Films in Progress 12, 2007).

Projects will be presented on September 22 and 23. To check the press release go here.

Max Manus (Max Manus: Man of War)

Some of you perhaps recall that I do not like war movies and you may also noticed that lately I have seen a few about WWII some better than others. But in my opinion there is a big difference between European war movies and let’s say, Hollywood war movies. The later are more action driven, while the Europeans are more drama driven. Max Manus not only is a biopic with not too many artistic licenses, but also has a great tale about a real-life man with a colorful life full of not so usual “adventures” that was able to hurt the Germans in occupied Norway. It is an entertaining mainstream movie that does not look much like your usual Hollywood fare.

I find the story and production values similar to the Danish Flammen & Citronen or the Dutch Zwartboek (Black Book) as this movie tells about a Norway resistance hero that from improvisation went to training in Scotland, to end up blowing famous German war ships and to become one of the most wanted by the local Gestapo, who never was able to kill him, even when he was captured once.

Directed by Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg the film has good production values that make an easy to watch and very entertaining film. By the way, I’m sure that most of the blog readers know the work of these directors, as surely many have seen the Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek film Bandidas that was directed by this duo. The film has nice cinematography and some puzzling scenes with hand-held camera that intensify the drama on the screen.

The movie was honored with many awards at the 2009 Amanda Awards including Best Film, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Actor to Aksel Hennie that plays a very credible Max Manus, andBest Supporting Actress to Agnes Kitelsen that plays Tikken Lindebrække, his contact in Sweden and eventually his wife (that you do not see it in the film, but the film motivated me to read about the real life Max Manus and I enriched my world History knowledge with this interesting hero real bio).

I enjoyed the movie as an interesting piece of Norway History in an entertaining drama about an unusual war hero and as such I do recommend it.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

The Director's Chair: Isild Le Besco

Le Besco has started her career as an actress and then moved to film-making by 2004. Her family is deeply into the movie industry, her sister Maïwenn Le Besco is an actress, brother Jowan Le Besco is a director and actor and her other brother Kolia Litscher also acts.

So far she wrote and directed two movies, Demi-tarif and Charly, and also directed the short story T'es Ou?, the documentary Le Marais (2005) and a segment of the movie Enfances (2007) called "Le regard d'un enfant”, where she also acts. At this rate and considering her age (she was born in 1982), I can foresee a long and prolific career.

What characterizes her work? Simple, intimist stories that portray a moment in the characters lives.

As far as the movies I watched go, Isild Le Besco seems to want her movies to look “rough”, without using fancy camera work, powerful soundtracks or other distractions. At several moments, it almost seems like the kind of home-made movie any of us could do with our cameras (but not really). This is not something that is easy to achieve. Doing some low-budget look, high-quality film is not for everyone.

In my interpretation, I believe she wants us to focus on the story, the substance and not the form. It's about the soul and not about the vessel carrying it.

Le Besco is already planning to direct her third film, the story of three women who accidentally kill someone. As always, her characters remain outsiders. I can't wait to watch this one.

Demi-tarif (2004) aka Half-price

With Kolia Litscher, Lila Salet, Cindy David
Isild was nineteen when she wrote and directed this 63 minutes-long movie.

The story is told from the children's point of view. Three young siblings aged 7, 8 and 9 live alone in a modest apartment. Apparently they were abandoned by their mother and they survive on their own, eating whatever they want, attending school and misbehaving, while keeping their situation a secret.

The children are naked on some scenes. Isild says in an interview that it came naturally, it wasn't pre-programed but there is something animal, wilde, about the state they were in, and in that state it would have been weird to have them dressed, not the opposite.

If this movie is a drama or not, that's a decision Isild prefers to leave to the viewers. It is just a movie about a situation and the feeling about that situation.

Charly (2007)
With Julie-Marie Parmentier, Kolia Litscher

“The loneliness of being young and alone" was the most important thing in this movie, in the director's own words.

Nicolas is a fourteen year-old foster child living with an elderly couple, waiting for the future to come. He sees no future and he is bored, feeling unchallenged. One night he runs away with a book, a postcard and some money he stole from them. The book Nicolas is trying to read is Frank Wedekind's L'Éveil du Printemps, and he will end up reading it with Charly. I suggest some research about the book, it might prove interesting.

When sleeping, Nicolas dreams about the sea and sea life. He wants to see the Ocean.

Charly is played by Parmentier, an actress Le Besco met while working together as teenagers on Emmanuelle Bercot's Le Choix d'Elodie. Le Besco actually thought about playing the part herself, had she not given the part of Nicolas to her brother Kolia. At moments, Kolia/Nicolas has this amazing look of countenance that I will not forget soon.

The Spirit

In the cinematic world of Comics to Films lately there have been some interesting adaptations like Iron Man and The Dark Night; but when it comes to Graphic (noir) comics to films I haven’t found one that really called my attention as I found Sin City unwatchable. So, I have been delaying watching this film but I knew I will eventually watch for the female cast: Scarlett Johansson, Paz Vega, Sarah Paulson and Eva Mendes.

The film is truly visually arresting and for me it does not look like Sin City at all, which makes it a little easier to watch. But the story is really weak and silly; so silly that it made me laugh when you’re not supposed to be laughing! The story tells how The Spirit became the hero in his “second life” and among the many character descriptors you find that he’s a womanizer so that’s the reason for the great female cast.

Unless you’re in a mood for an escape moment with eye-popping special effects and good looking female actors in very silly roles, I suggest you skip the movie.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

25th Amanda Awards Winners

Last Friday the award winners were announced and here they are.

Best Norwegian Film: Max Manus, (Max Manus: Man of War), Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, Norway, Denmark, Germany, 2008

Best Director: Arild Fröhlich for Fatso, Norway, 2008
Best Actress: Ellen Dorrit Petersen in Iskyss (Ice Kiss), Knut Erik Jensen, Norway, 2008
Best Actor: Aksel Hennie in Max Manus, (Max Manus: Man of War), Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, Norway, Denmark, Germany, 2008
Best Supporting Actress: Agnes Kittelsen in Max Manus, (Max Manus: Man of War), Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, Norway, Denmark, Germany, 2008
Best Supporting Actor: Mads Sjøgård Pettersen in Nord (North), Rune Denstad Langlo, Norway, 2009
Best Screenplay: Max Manus, (Max Manus: Man of War), Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, Norway, Denmark, Germany, 2008
Best Cinematography: Max Manus, (Max Manus: Man of War), Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning, Norway, Denmark, Germany, 2008

To check the award winners in all categories go here.

2009 Toronto Film Festival

The TIFF this year will run from September 10 to 19 and will screen too many films in too many sections. Definitively those living in Toronto and nearby will have a great opportunity to watch fantastic films, especially those that come from Cannes 2009, in the big screen.

As most films are known to the blog, I’m listing the fest sections and each name has a link to the section in the fest site for those that want to check the movies and read movie information.

Canada First
City to City
Dialogues: Talking With Pictures
Future Projections
Masters
Reel To Reel
Short Cuts Canada
Sprockets Family Zone
Visions
Yonge and Dundas Square
Canadian Open Vault
Contemporary World Cinema
Discovery
Gala Presentations
Mavericks
Midnight Madness
Special Presentations
Vanguard
Wavelengths

To some of my known readers that live in Toronto I suggest to not miss Choi Voi (Adrift) in the Contemporary World Cinema section. If you haven’t seen the original Nathalie probably you will like Chloe; also Precious and The Private Lives of Pipa Lee in the Gala Presentations section. All are lesbian interest.

Sometimes too much is too much, as is the case with this fest that will screen 271 features in 18 sections (not counting the short section). You really get lost with so many sections.

Kærlighed på film (Just Another Love Story)

Changing your life, even if it happens by accident, can have consequences that you didn't predict at all.

Jonas has a “normal” life – married, kids, and the usual routine – and a not so normal job. Suddenly a set of events he did not initiate will completely transform everything. Jonas can't resist the thrill of what seems to be a new start, a new chance in life that comes along with a new name. The problem is that the new life brings a past of it's own. Jonas doesn't want to live in mediocrity, but there is a price to pay. “Just Another Love Story” is everything but just another love story, and yet it is just another love story. Confused? Go on, watch the movie!

Swedish actress Rebecka Hemse and Danish actress Charlotte Fish are absolutely perfect and so is Anders Berthelsen, playing the conflicted Jonas. Hemse's performance as a woman going through a very difficult situation both physically and psychologically is brilliant and manages to avoid the traps of overacting. I almost forgot to mention Nikolaj Lie Kaas since he only plays a small (but important) part in this movie, but how unfair that would have been. This actor has won several awards both as best actor or best supporting actor and I think that says it all.

The danish production from director Ole Bornedal won some awards and was even nominated for the Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize. I can not praise too much the cinematography and the editing. The ability to play with light and technique produces some beautiful frames. At times we are transported to a world that is not real, but that happens at the right moment. The soundtrack also fits in perfectly, adding to the movie without becoming the protagonist.

There are several layers to this movie that at times seems to explore the anguishes of life, and then it is a thriller with characters with mysterious pasts. Because of the way the story unfolds, I was mesmerized until the last second. The movie is very well balanced and can be ironic, dark, dramatic, surprising, intense. Anyway, it was a pleasure.

Green light!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Polytechnique

Very seldom I watch a movie in one long prolonged breath of air. I didn’t breathe the entire movie as I was totally fascinated and absolutely shocked at the same time. When was over I was exhausted after feeling too many contradictory feelings at the same time. I was able to expel one word: Intense!!!

Yes this is one of the most beautiful and poetic films with the most horrendous story you can imagine, especially if you’re a woman, a career woman.

First let’s talk about the movie. Shot in black and white with absolutely fantastic use of light, outstanding indoor and outdoor cinematography, very non-common camera angles that include many close-ups to details, unbelievable good upside down takes, fast and slow framing to intensify whatever is happening, amazing storytelling that moves back and forward in time as well as tells the story from each character point-of-view, and absolutely great performances by the two lead characters. Wow!

Special mention goes to the sets that with all the concrete, the windowless classrooms and the narrow corridors (that probably resemble the real Polytechnique) easily creates emotions and claustrophobic feelings; but is the use of the camera within these sets what makes you feel everything! Truly amazing!

Winter in Montreal and all Quebec is so special (for me) and with the white and black outdoor shots it never looked so real, so cold and so beautiful. Absolutely great winter photography!

Big Chapeau to Denis Villeneuve for creating such an amazing visual voyage and for doing a tasteful fictionalization of a violent real life tragedy that killed many young women. Yes the story is about a young man that hated women; but not all women, just his own definition of feminist women that basically is related to women doing and stealing work from men while getting all the advantages that women receive in developed societies. Women that stole his life and job opportunities. The story is told via telling the story of two Montreal’s Polytechnique students, Valérie (Karine Vanasse) and Jean-François (Sébastien Huberdeau), the only two characters that are well developed and I really thank Villeneuve for not developing the assassin character as in my opinion that would have made the movie unwatchable, no matter how great were the visuals.

The film was in competition in the Quinzaine des Realisateurs at 2009 Cannes and I imagine that due to the controversial theme the film didn’t get more honors that definitively deserved. The movie is intermittently nerve-wracking deploying some scenes largely for tension-relieving effect, so even if in a way at the beginning I thought it was going to be like Gus Van Sant’s Elephant, very soon I realized that this was quite different and highly superior.

I strongly recommend this movie to cinephiles and to those that like art films as is a truly amazing and visually outstanding film. I strongly suggest women, especially career women, to watch this film for the story; but be aware that is not an easy to watch story even if the filmmaker went to great lengths to ease the watching.

This is not a movie to love for the story, but this time I have to say that I loved this film that absolutely fascinated and shocked me at the same time.

Big Enjoy!!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

66th Venice Film Festival News

While waiting for the opening of this fest on September 2nd I’m sharing some interesting news about what’s going on with the fest organization.

-Maria Grazia Cucinotta hostess of the 66th Venice Film Festival

The Italian actress and producer Maria Grazia Cucinotta – who opened the 1994 Venice Festival as the female lead in Michael Radford’s Il Postino, showcased in memory of Massimo Troisi – will host the opening and closing ceremonies of the 66th Venice International Film Festival, directed by Marco Müller and organized by the Venice Biennale under the presidency of Paolo Baratta, which will be held at the Venice Lido from 2 to 12 September 2009.

Maria Grazia Cucinotta will inaugurate the 66th Venice Festival on the evening of Wednesday 2 September, from the stage of the Palazzo del Cinema during the opening ceremony, which will be followed by the worldwide preview of BAARÌA, written and directed by Academy Award winner Giuseppe Tornatore, presented in competition at the Festival. On 12 September, in addition, the actress will host the closing ceremony, at which the winners of the Golden and Silver Lions and the other official prizes of the 66th Festival will be announced, followed by a screening of the closing film Chengdu, I Love You (Chengdu, wo ai ni), directed in collaboration by Fruit Chan and Cui Jian.

I’ll be checking the RAI International schedule and will share the time for the broadcast that I hope this year will be a little more entertaining than previous years.

-The "Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker" Award

American director, screenwriter and actor Sylvester Stallone is the recipient of the “Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award”, the prize recently instituted by the Venice International Film Festival and organized in collaboration with Jaeger-LeCoultre, dedicated to an artist who has left his mark in contemporary cinema. The prize has previously been awarded to Takeshi Kitano, Agnès Varda and Abbas Kiarostami.

This year, the prize is intended to celebrate Sylvester Stallone’s stature as a filmmaker. Ever since the visionary opening sequence of his first film as a writer and director, “Paradise Alley” –a chase across the rooftops of New York City in the 1940s– Stallone has shown an original eye and an auteur’s determination. His is a cinema as tender and solicitous as it is ferocious and unyielding. Through the now legendary figures of Rocky and Rambo –all of whose adventures were written by Stallone– he explored both the light and the darkness of the American dream. Even when he participates in films solely as an actor, Stallone shapes his characters with precision, creating a gallery of vivid portraits that also count among the most lucid icons of the contemporary American cinema.

During the presentation of the award, there will be a world-premiere screening of some sequences from the new film written by, directed by and starring Sylvester Stallone, The Expendables, with Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, and Mickey Rourke. “The Expendables - explains Stallone - is a story of heroism and the price that people pay to save others. It’s a great deal of action and human comedy as well”

Really, No Comments!

-Persol 3-D Award

The Persol 3-D Award will be presented to the feature film that best embodies the exploration into this new frontier of film language, which is attracting enormous creative attention from filmmakers and producers, and is greatly enjoyed by audiences. The latest generation of Stereoscopic 3-D is a way of watching films which is focusing attention back on cinema theatres, and which has been seen as a crucial turning point in the history of film, a “third cinematic revolution” (after sound and colour).

The following are the 3-D films eligible for the Award:
- Journey to the Center of the Earth 3D by Eric Brevig
- Monsters vs Aliens by Rob Letterman and Conrad Vernon
- My Bloody Valentine by Patrick Lussier
- Battle for Terra (Terra) by Aristomenis Tsirbas
- Coraline by Henry Selick
- Jonas Brothers: the 3D Concert Experience by Bruce Hendricks
- Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs by Carlos Saldanha (
- Up by Peter Docter
- The Hole by Joe Dante

Read the complete announcement here.

Since last year I started to really notice the importance of animation in film making. Cannes 2009 made fest history with UP premiere and now Venice is establishing for the first time at the 66th Venice International Film Festival a new award. When renown festivals start to promote a “film language” we know that animation is not only here to stay but also that the word “art” will be tied to the word “animation” more often which -among other things- means lots of pleasure for cinephiles in the world!!

Perhaps in the near future I’ll finally succumb to this film language. Let’s hope so.

- George Lucas will present the Golden Lion to John Lasseter and the Directors of Disney•Pixar

American director and producer George Lucas, creator of the revolutionary Star Wars saga and a leader in Hollywood’s digital revolution, will be attending the Venice Film Festival for the first time and will present John Lasseter and the directors of Disney•Pixar –Brad Bird, Peter Docter, Andrew Stanton, and Lee Unkrich– with the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement of the 66th Venice International Film Festival.

The presentation of the Golden Lion in particular to John Lasseter by George Lucas is significant because prior to Pixar being founded in 1986, Lasseter worked in the graphics group of the Computer Division at Lucasfilm (the company founded by Lucas in 1971). At Lucasfilm, Lasseter was the one who designed and animated the figure of the stained glass knight in Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), the first character ever made by computer for a live-action film. In 1986 Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, bought the Computer Division of Lucasfilm, and named it Pixar, after the high-performance computer the division had developed.

To read the complete article go here.

-The Programa of Corto Cortissimo

Ramin Bahrani's Plastic Bag is the opening short film. The bizarre geo-existential adventure of a plastic bag, a true universal and trans-cultural symbol of the globalization of consumers and minds, will open – Monday September 7, out of competition – the program of Corto Cortissimo, curated by Stefano Martina with the collaboration of Giuliana La Volpe, the short film section of the 66th Venice International Film Festival (September 2 – 12, 2009) directed by Marco Müller and organized by the Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta.

The world premiere of Plastic Bag (starring a Plastic Bag, whose voice will be an interesting discovery, and a surprise, for the Venetian public…), a visionary short film created by Ramin Bahrani, the American director who returns after his success on the Lido in 2008 with Goodbye Solo (and a member of this year’s jury for the Venice Award for a Debut Film), will lead a multicoloured parade of 26 small-great films selected (among 1,600) with a preference for the ones steeped in the emotion of discovery – for those who made the selection no less than for those who made the films. The 18 films in competition, representing as many as 16 countries and subdivided as usual into three programs, feature in particular – in addition to a number of prevalent themes, including more or less dysfunctional family relationships and domestic settings, which are dominant this year – a nomadic intersection, frequently asymmetrical and oblique, of nationalities, geographical origins and ultranational artistic-professional careers between the films and their respective authors.

To read the complete article go here where they announce the shorts in competition.

- La Biennale Channel

This is the link to the channel where we will find all kind of videos from the festival.

So, this is it for today.

3rd Queer Lion at 66th Venice Film Festival

I can’t believe I forgot this so special award from the Venice fest; so better late than never (lol!). This year there are 14 movies running for the Queer Lion and 4 LGTB films in the retrospective. Here are the films that will be competing for this year Queer Lion.

Official Selection
A Single Man, Tom Ford, USA, 2009 (gay theme)
Persécution (Persecution), Patrice Chéreau, France, 2009 (gay interest)

Orrizonti
Choi Voi (Adrift), Thac Chuyen Bui,Vietnam (lesbian theme)
Io Sono L’Amore, Luca Guadagnino, Italy (lesbian character)

Venice Days
Celda 211 (Cell 211), Daniel Monzón, Spain (gay interest)
L’Amore e Basta, Stefano Consiglio, Italy (9 lesbian and gay love stories)
Gordos, Daniel Sánchez-Arévalo, Spain (gay character)
Qu’un Seul Tienne et Les Autres Suivront (Silent Voices), Léa Fehner, France (gay theme)

Controcampo Italiano
Il Compleanno (David’s Birthday), Marco Filiberti, Italia (gay theme)
Poeti, Toni D’Angelo, Italia (gay interest)

Critics’ Week
Domaine, Patric Chiha, France and Austria, 2009 (gay theme)
Good Morning Aman, Claudio Noce, Italy, 2009 (gay theme)

Out of Competition
L’Oro di Cuba, Giuliano Montaldo, Italy (some LGBT personalities are interviewed)
Valhalla Rising, Nicolas Winding Refn, Denmark (gay characters)

The Jury
President: Gustav Hofer – Italian culture correspondent for Arte TV and documentary filmmaker
Luca Ragazzi – Italian Cinema Critic, director/screenwriter/producer/actor
Mark Smith – British deputy editor of Time Out Amsterdam and other publications
Peter Macias – Italian director and screenwriter
Roberto Schinardi – Italian journalist, cinema and TV critic

It is unbelievable that there is no woman in the jury! (lol!) So we know the interest of the movie that has more probabilities to win and I can tell you that will not be lesbian interest just because the odds. The surprise could really come from the movie from Vietnam.

Message from Daniel N. Casagrande, Queer Lion Award Director

“Queer Lion - Part 3. The Queer selection of movies presented at this year’s Venice Film Festival looks one of the most interesting of the last years; other than the 14 movies competing for the award (who are listed at the following webpages), we dearly welcome the 4 re-discoveries in the retrospective “Questi fantasmi 2”. But, beyond the titles presented in this Magazine, the Film Festival can as usual have some surprises in store. For this reason, the jury can take any movie into consideration. In a program so rich, we welcome the arrival in Venice of Chinese director Yonfan, longtime friend of the Turin Gay & Lesbian Film Fest, and in Competition here with Prince of Tears; the friendly presence of Todd Solondz and his Life During Wartime with a great Charlotte Rampling; the camp atmospheres of Pipilotti Rist’s Pepperminta; the animated shorts Teat Beat of Sex, from acclaimed director Signe Baumane; the surreal and poignant comedy The Last Days of Emma Blank from Alex van Warmerdam. And, icing on the cake, heading the Official Jury, Ang Lee, leading figure of contemporary cinema and director of LGBT masterpieces The Wedding Banquet, Brokeback Mountain and Taking Woodstock. Enjoy the show.”

As always happens, if a film not in the list has any type of LGTB theme/character will also be considered for the award.

To read the official announcement go here where you will find information in English for each film and check the info for the four films in the retrospective that includes one rare film with lesbian interest: La Nave Delle Donne Maledette, Raffaello Matarazzo, Italy, 1954

Just for fun check the Promo video for this year’s awards.

57th Donostia Zinemaldia Festival de San Sebastian – Official Selection Lineup

The San Sebastian International Film Festival will screen in this section 18 films not yet released that will compete for the Golden Shell, up-to-today there are 15 films announced that I list here and will update when the final list for the Official Selection is published.

Official Selection

Opening Film: Chloe, Atom Egoyan, France and Canada (the plot seems like the remake of Nathalie, will check if I’m right... yep, I'm totally right! but Julianne Moore is NO Fanny Ardant!)

(*)11’e 10 Kala (10 to 11), Pelin Esmer, Turkey, Germany and France
Blessed, Ana Kokkinos, Australia
City of Life and Death (aka Nanjing! Nanjing!), Lu Chuan, China and Hong Kong
Los Condenados (The Damned), Isaki Lacuesta, Spain
(*)Get Low, Aaron Schneider, USA
Hadewijch, Bruno Dumont, France
Keshtzarhaye Sepid (The White Meadows), Mohammad Rasoulof, Iran
(*)La Mujer Sin Piano (Woman Without Piano), Javier Rebollo, Spain
Non ma fille, tu n'iras pas danser (Making Plans for Lena), Christophe Honoré, France (great casting)
Le Refuge, François Ozon, France
El Secreto de sus Ojos (The Secret in Their Eyes), Juan Jose Campanella, Argentina and Spain
This is Love, Matthias Glasner, Germany
Yeong-do Da-ri (I Came from Busan), Jeon Soo-il, South Korea
(*)Yo También (Me Too), Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro, Spain

(*) Competitor for the Kutxa-New Directors Award

Official Selection Jury
President: French director Laurent Cantet
Mexican actor Daniel Giménez Cacho
Korean director Bong Joon-ho
Spanish actress Pilar López de Ayala
British director John Madden
Iranian director Samira Makhmalbaf
Portuguese actress Leonor Silveira

Out of Competition

Closing Film: Mother and Child, Rodrigo García, USA (with Naomi Watts, Annette Being and Kerry Washington and yes Rodrigo is the son of Grabriel Garcia Marquez!)
El Baile de la Victoria (The Dancer and The Thief), Fernando Trueba, Spain

To read info about the films go here. In the Selection we have some outstanding French directors and some films with great casting (two with Argentinean Ricardo Darin!).

Watch trailers @ Movie On Companion

57th Donostia Zinemaldia Festival de San Sebastian – Zabaltegi New Directors Lineup

The San Sebastian International Film Festival will screen in this section 17 films from 13 countries that will compete for the Kuxta-New Directors Award. From these films, only three will compete in the Official Selection; the three are identified with an asterisk.

*11’e 10 Kala (10 to 11), Pelin Esmer, Turkey, Germany and France
77 Donorship, Pablo Aguero, Argentina and France
Animal Town, Jeon Kyuhwan, South Korea and USA
El Cuarto de Leo (Leo’s Room), Enrique Buchichio, Uruguay
Desperados on the Block, Tomasz E. Rudzik, Germany
Huit Fois Debout (Eight Times Up), Xabi Molia, France
*La Mujer Sin Piano (Woman Without Piano), Javier Rebollo, Spain
Le Jour Ou Dieu est Parti en Voyage (The Day God Walked Away), Philippe Van Leeuw, Belgium
Màscares (Masks), Elisabet Cabeza and Esteve Riambau, Spain
Min Dit (Before My Eyes), Miraz Bezar, Germany and Turkey
Norteando (Northless) Rigoberto Perezcano, Mexico and Spain
Ori, Miguel Angel Jiménez Colmenar, Spain and Georgia
Sammen (Together), Matias Armand Jordal, Norway
The Scouting Book for Boys, Tom Harper, UK
Wo de Tang (Seasons in the Sun), Zhang Huilin, China
*Yo También (Me Too), Alvaro Pastor and Antonio Naharro, Spain
Zorion Perfektua (Perfect Happiness), Jabi Elortegi, Spain

New Directors Jury
President: Actress Saffron Burrows
Directgor Borja Cobeaga
Journalist Antonio Gasset
Director Lucile Hadzihalilovic
Actor and director Daniel Hendler

To read info about each movie go here and here. In this section there are more new to the blog films with some that seem interesting. Will try to find trailers but probably is going to be hard as all are new directors and to my amazement many filmmakers do not have in top of their mind that the first and best marketing tool for their films is doing a good trailer that motivate viewership without telling too much about the plot, just enough for you to wish to see more.

New in Town

A too predictable story in a romantic comedy that definitively didn’t seem too funny for me, but I did laugh at some darkish jokes that according to what I read, general audiences not necessarily will get unless you live in one of those frigid states of America. If not for the few darkish jokes this film would have upset me a lot as I didn’t liked the way they portrait a career oriented woman.

Tells about a Miami businesswoman (Renee Zellweger) that’s transferred to a tiny Minnesota town to oversee the restructuring of a blue collar food manufacturing plant and since her arrival she behaves really silly and “stupidly” (like her traveling clothes!) which make me remember about the cliché that attractive blondes have to be dumb. Anyway whatever it’s established in the first third of the movie changes in the second third to pave the way to the “happy” last third where she saves the town.

I do not enjoy Harry Connkick Jr. in the screen as he performs too stiff and always seems he's forcing his acting and here is not an exception playing Zellweger’s love interest. I’m saying this when I really love him as a singer as he absolutely is my kind of jazzy male singer. Renee Zellweger looks really thin and quite elegant when wearing the high-end couture but I believe that comedy is not her forte. Secondary characters have the funniest darkish lines that made me laugh and allowed me to watch the film until the end.

If you like romantic comedies maybe you will enjoy the very old fashion comedy style of the film, but I strongly suggest you lower your expectations.

Enjoy.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

Contact Us

Times change and we believe is time that this blog opens a communication line with all of you that wish to communicate with us. We are pleased to announce that in the first column you will find a link that will allow you to send us emails.

Some of you have been leaving general messages as comments in posts and we truly appreciate them, so much that now we will make it easier to contact us either pressing the envelope in this post or by using the link in the first column.

Some filmmakers have been offering to send us movie screeners for our “unusual” review and as of today we are opening the possibility to communicate with us privately to define how to make the screeners available to us.

We thank you very much for visiting the blog and the many kind words about this blog that started as a way to express my thoughts about movies, evolved into an ever growing database of films, festivals, synopsis, and trailers, and will continue to evolve in the future into a more coherent Movie site, that hopefully will be a reference for many.

What started with only Storyteller now has Chaos and I envision more contributors that will enrich the future of this site.

Many, many THANKS!!!

57th Donostia Zinemaldia Festival de San Sebastian – Horizontes Latinos Lineup

The San Sebastian International Film Festival will run this year from September 18 to 26. Yesterday they announced the lineup for the Horizontes Latinos section that screens Latin American films and here are the thirteen (13) films in competition.

Opening Film: Sin Nombre, Cary Joji Fukunaga, USA and Mexico

El Arbol (The Tree), Carlos Serrano Azcona, Spain and Mexico
Contracorriente, Javier Fuentes-Leon, Peru, Colombia, France and Germany
Daniel y Ana (Daniel and Ana), Michel Franco, Mexico and Spain
Francia (France), Israel Adrian Caetano, Argentina
Gigante, Adrian Biniez, Uruguay
Huacho, Alejandro Fernandez Almendras, Chile, France and Germany
Ilusiones Opticas, Cristian Jimenez, Chile, Portugal and France
La Invencion de la Carne, Santiago Loza, Argentina
Marea de Arena, Gustavo Montiel Pages, Mexico and Argentina
Perpetuum Mobile, Nicolas Pereda, Mexico and Canada
El Ultimo Verano de la Boyita, Julia Solomonoff, Argentina
Los Viajes del Viento (The Wind Journeys), Colombia, Argentina, Germany, and Netherlands

Horizontes Jury
President: Manuel Pérez Estremera
Director Federico Veiroj
Ilse Hughan

We can say that the famous fest has started and soon all the films in the rest of the sections will be available. Let’s hope that this year the fest will be fun to “read”.

Most of the films in this section are known to the blog, but there are a few new ones. To read information about each movie and the complete press release go here or here . I’ll be checking for trailers and will post the link ASAP.

Watch some trailers @ Movie On Companion

15th Sarajevo Film Festival News

I was going to wait until tomorrow to post about this fest as is when they will announce the award winners, but today I found an article that I know that many of the LGBT readers of this blog would like to read.

The article besides telling about the fest Tribute to Jia Zhang-ke (a director I simply love) and the Celebration of Wouter Barendrecht also tells about the first-of-its-kind (for Sarajevo) panel entitled “Gays in Long Shot and Close-up: Adding Insult to Injury”. A panel inspired by the controversy and violence that erupted after Organization Q attempted to hold the firs Sarajevo Queer Film Festival in September 2008.

To read the complete article please go here. This article is a reminder about how lucky some countries are when freely allowing (some) human rights while others still remain in the Dark Ages.

Beverly Hills Chihuahua

As a cinephile that I wish to be, I’m not proud to admit that I watched this movie; but some of you know about my eclectic taste. Still, this time I didn’t watch this movie because my taste, I did it because now I’m the new co-owner and co-caretaker of a real Chihuahua! So I had to inaugurate my new "position" by watching this movie.

The movie is kind of silly, but have to say that did entertain me even when I couldn’t help to notice the huge amount of inaccuracies, but I suppose that’s common in movies that are fantasy. Still I do not approve, especially when kids will repeat the inaccuracies like for example The Aztecs in Chihuahua!!! Gosh, too much.

Had NO idea that Piper Perabo and Jamie Lee Curtis were in the movie or that the lead character Chloe voice is Drew Barrymore and well, it was a surprise to find them in this movie, but they have to work and bet you made a lot of money (if they have a percentage on earnings) as the movie made over the US$100 million mark domestic and international, not counting the dvd market and I’m a proud owner of a Blu-ray for this movie… lol! (What dog’s make you do, isn’t?)

Many people have told me that a dog could change your life. I’m happy to say that it has changed my life so much that I even watched this movie!!!

I do recommend this movie only to Chichuahua owners and kids of all ages that like silly dog stories.

Enjoy!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

A Dama do Lotação (Lady on the Bus)

As I imagined –but was hoping not to happen- I couldn’t endure the movie that to me it was just an excuse to show Sonia Braga at her erotic prime in one, two and many more sexual encounters that for me became boring after a few I saw completely; the rest I fast forwarded!

The film has a story that could have been interesting as writer Nelson Rodrigues oeuvre is known for being against the Catholic Church and the establishment. Two childhood friends marry in a big wedding. Solange (Sonia Braga) goes into marriage a virgin. But the first night she freezes, asks for more time, she cannot have sex with her husband. The husband rapes her. A friend tells Solange that probably she’s cold only with her husband, so she suggests trying another man or men. She takes the advice and starts to ride buses to have sex with strangers.

One thing was simply outstanding for me, the original music by Caetano Veloso! But I’m familiar with all the songs in the movie, so nothing new; just the pleasure of listening to old recordings.

Probably I will not watch another Pornochachada soon and definitively I liked a lot more Dona Flor e Seus Dois Maridos that was more interesting to watch.

I have to thank a dear blog reader for sending me the movie and give me the opportunity to watch another Pornochachada with Sonia Braga. Many Thanks!!!

This movie could appeal only to those that are interested in watching a very young Sonia Braga sans clothes many, many times.

Sigh.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

The Limits Of Control

This is the new movie from filmmaker Jim Jarmusch, set in the landscapes of Spain (both urban and otherwise). Christopher Doyle (In the Mood for Love, Paranoid Park) is the responsible for the cinematography. I have followed Jarmusch’s career for a while, as well as Doyle’s, and I was hoping to be impressed. That was not the case, however.

Isaach De Bankolé stars in the lead role, in his fourth collaboration with Jarmusch. The Limits of Control also features John Hurt, Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Gael García Bernal, Paz De La Huerta and Luis Tosar, just to name a few. Impressive casting, to say the least, and the acting was according to it.

So we have the story of a stranger on a mission (De Bankolé). He is in the process of completing a job but initially we don’t know what the mission is. His journey takes him (and us) across Spain, meeting different and quite mysterious people, receiving something from them that he needs to keep going. Each of these characters engages in a monologue about subjects like musical instruments, music, art, science and so on.

The Lone Man usually just sits there listening. The monologues seemed pretentious and if they were meant to be thought provoking, it didn’t work for me. On top of that, there are some core ideas that Mr. Jarmusch seems to want to make sure we don’t forget, as a main theme underneath the story, and I found them quite ordinary and very annoying after a few repetitions. The slow pace of the movie also does not help and even if I’m not against slow-paced movies just because, in this particular case it’s not a good thing.

The ‘Lone Man’ has the interesting habit of always asking for two espressos and I can relate to that. It’s the only thing in the movie I can relate to, though.

Seems to me Jim Jarmusch must have had a really good time making this movie and I hope he did, to me it just looked like an exercise of intellectual masturbation. In my opinion, when you want to make a deeply intellectual movie sometimes it best not to be too obvious about it.

Best thing of the movie: the visits of the Lone Man to the Reina Sofia Museum. For anyone that likes to look at paintings, of course.

If you want a more mundane reason to give this movie a chance, that might be the opportunity to watch Paz de la Huerta nude basically all the time. De la Huerta says that her character, who is first seen naked and pointing a gun, is an enigma. “Hopefully the audience will feel about her what they wish.” Well…the audience will feel what they wish, but even her presence didn’t stop me from yawning. If you are into some pseudo-philosophical dissertations that bring nothing new, I suggest going to a bar with a few friends and buying them some beer. Same effect and much more entertaining.

Yellow light. And I really mean, “Proceed with caution”.

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

State of Play

Maybe some of you will believe me when I say that I decided to give this movie a try because one actress. Yes, Helen Mirren is in this movie and even if she’s not in the screen a long time, her performance is absolutely great; which obviously make this movie worth watching. But have to admit that even when the story seems like great advertisement for print newspapers -against online press- it is entertaining and tense/thrilling at moments.

Basically the movie is about two characters, reporter Cal McAffey (Russell Crowe) and Congressman Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who are friends since college and “use” each other thanks to past issues that make them vulnerable. But the main issue is that Cal slept with Stephen wife (Robin Wright Penn) and he feels guilty and easily agrees to help Cal when his lover Sonia is killed. That’s an easy way to describe what happens in this movie, but the plot is complex and thickens fast with many twists and the unveiling of Corporate America greed, this time hitting companies that are outsourcing suppliers for the Defense Department.

Performance by Crowe is acceptable and have to say that this is the perfect role for Affleck as the character was supposed to be stiff and Affleck’s performances are predominantly stiff. Female actors have secondary roles as this is a “boys movie”, but as I mentioned Helen Mirren has a very strong performance and screen presence.

I agree with those that mention that this film seems like a good old fashion entertaining American cinema as definitively has the style of movies by Alan Pakula like All The Presidents Men; so if you enjoyed that era of good entertaining movies then you will definitively will enjoy this one.

I do recommend this movie for entertainment purposes and to catch a glimpse of Helen Mirren always excellent performances.

Enjoy!!

Watch trailer @ Movie On Companion

1st Romania International Film Festival News

Important news to all Romanian cinema lovers, like me!

“The Bucharest International Film Festival (BIFF) will be moved to Arad starting this year, and will be renamed Romania’s International Film Festival (Ro-IFF). It will take place during September 26–October 4 and will feature Emir Kusturica as special guest.

“We moved the festival in order to assure its continuity, first of all. If we remained in Bucharest, all our efforts and ideas would have died,” Festival Manager Cornelia Palos declared, as quoted by Mediafax. “From the very beginning, many of my colleagues did not want me in Bucharest,” she revealed. Presently at the fifth edition, the event will be entitled Romania’s International Film Festival (Ro-IFF) starting this year. One of the locations for film broadcasts during Ro-IFF will be the Old Theatre of Arad, which is also the oldest cinema hall in the country, as it served this purpose since 1903.

During the festival, short films will be broadcast in the Mayoralty Square, while documentaries and long films may be watched at the Arta and Dacia cinema theatres.

The surprise of this year’s edition of the festival will be a concert by Emir Kusturica and No Smoking Orchestra, due to be hosted by the Polyvalent Hall in Arad. Moreover, the festival will have a “Focus” section dedicated to the great director, featuring some of his films. The period of subscribing films to this year’s edition of Ro-IFF ended at the beginning of this month, and approximately 40 productions were selected so far. The list will be completed with films, which caught the producers’ attention during other similar festivals.”

I’ll be checking for more information about this fest.

62nd Locarno Film Festival Award Winners

Yesterday the fest had its awards ceremony and here are the winners.

International Competition

Golden Leopard: She, A Chinese, Xiaolu Guo, UK, France and Germany, 2009

Special Jury Prize: Buben Baraban, Aleksei Mizgiryov, Russia, 2009
Best Director: Aleksei Mizgiryov for Buben Baraban, Russia, 2009
Leopard for Best Actress: Lotte Verbeek in Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009
Leopard for Best Actor: Antonis Kafetzopoulos in Akadimia Platonos, Filippos Tsitos, Greece and Germany, 2009

Leopard for Best First Feature: Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009

Filmmakers of the Present Competition

Golden Leopard: The Anchorage, C. W. Winter and Anders Edstrom, USA and Sweden, 2009
Silver Leopard: Variaciok, Krisztina Esztergályos, Hungary, 2009 (short)
Special Jury Prize: Piombo Fuso, Stefano Savona, Italy, 2009 (documentary)

Youth Jury Awards

First Prize: Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009
Second Prize: La Donation, Bernard Emond, Canada, 2009
Third Prize: Akadimia Platonos, Filippos Tsitos, Greece and Germany, 2009

Audience Award: Same Same But Different, Detlev Buck, Germany

Netpac Prize: Sham Moh (At The End of Daybreak), Ho Yuhang, Malaysia, Hong Kong and South Korea, 2009
Special Mention: Ye Dian (One Night in Supermarket), Yang Qing, China

FIPRESCI Prize: Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009

Ecumenical Jury Prize: Akadimia Platonos, Filippos Tsitos, Greece and Germany, 2009
Special Mention: Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009

FICC/IFFS Prize: La Donation, Bernard Emond, Canada, 2009
CICAE Prize: Nothing Personal, Urszula Antoniak, Netherlands and Ireland, 2009

Critics Week Prize: Auf der Suche nach dem perfekt Klang (Pianomania), Robert Cibis and Lilian Franck, Austria and Germany, 2009 (documentary)

To check awards for shorts go here and open the pdf file with your language of preference to read about the other awards. All award winners have trailers (except one) @ Movie On Companion.