New links added

As mentioned in my previous post, with the school holidays, there's not a lot of action on the big screen. With the Easter long weekend, I've got a little more time on my hands and taken the liberty to add some links to the sidebar. Long overdue, I know. Thanks to those who have linked to here.

The Week in Review

School holidays are here, the French Film Festival is over, Melbourne Cinémathèque screened a number of shorts rather than feature films and there's not much of interest in the new releases. What do you do? Well, I checked out theatre, re-watched Paris je t'aime (on DVD) and basically had a bit of a break from film this week. Feel free to offer any comments.

FILMS:

• Les amitiés maléfiques (Poison Friends, Emmanuel Bourdieu, 2006)
• The Namesake (Mira Nair, 2006)
  

SHORTS:

• Wittgenstein Tractatus (35 min, Péter Forgács, 1992)
• Meanwhile Somewhere... 1940-43 (52 min, Péter Forgács, 1994)
• Parallel Space: Inter-View (18 min, Peter Tscherkassky, 1992)
  

BOOKS I'M READING:

• Almodovóvar on Almodovóvar (Revised edition, 2006, Frédéric Strauss)

THEATRE:

• Rabbit Hole (Writ: David Lindsay Abaire, Dir: Naomi Edwards, Red Stitch Theatre)
  

Melbourne Cinémathèque
The short films above screened as part of this week's Cinémathèque programming. I didn't stay the whole night as I was still recovering from the sleep deprivation that the previous week's film count of eleven produced. And I couldn't justify another late night with films that didn't grab me (with the exception of Meanwhile Somewhere... 1940-43, a compilation of home movies that depict the horrors and inequity of fascism).

The Namesake
While dealing with the emigration to New York from Calcutta, this film deals with the fairly universal themes of dislocation, isolation and alienation that accompany a move to a new country. It is an accessible film of some substance, as you'd expect from the director of Monsoon Wedding.

The family depicted was fairly liberal, both in terms of the members remaining behind accepting the migration, as well as the migrating couple's acceptance of their children's American traits. They retain traces of their culture, associating with other Bengalis, but accept that their children are Americans.

It must have been a new experience for the Indian cast members to weather the US winter, and it certainly looked severe for them on screen. Emotionally there was much warmth and various difficulties were well-depicted.

Though the themes of this film were in some respects less 'light' than Monsoon Wedding, the finished product wasn't quite as successful. The second half seemed to struggle with maintaining consistency and didn't engage as well as the first half. Nonetheless, it was an enjoyable film that would appeal to fairly mainstream audiences, and especially those of migrant background or anyone interested in ethnicity.

Rabbit Hole

Writ: David Lindsay Abaire, Dir: Naomi Edwards, Red Stitch Theatre

Rabbit Hole was my second experience of live theatre after seeing Don's Party at The Arts Centre earlier in the year. By chance, Naomi Edwards was assistant director of that production. The Red Stitch Theatre is a smaller and intimate venue. I don't feel particularly qualified to comment in detail on Rabbit Hole as I am not acquainted with the various devices of the medium and have few frames of reference. I offer my perception as a newbie.

My interest in theatre was first roused after reading Alison Croggon’s review of Alkinos Tsilimidos' Em 4 Jay (my favourite film of 2006) on Theatre Notes, and the subsequent contact I had with her. This blog came about as a result of Alison’s suggestion (I’d been contributing to IMDB and At The Movies message boards prior to that).

By chance, late last year I picked up a Red Stitch Theatre brochure at the Westgarth cinema during the Italian Film Festival. I noticed pictures of Laura Gordon and Kat Stewart, who played Em and her sister Jane in Em 4 Jay. I decided then that I’d like to see a performance with these fabulous actors. While Gordon and Nick Barkla (as Jay) excelled, for me Stewart’s small nuanced role at the Kew Boathouse was the heart and soul of this remarkable film.

I understand that Gordon has a US agent and is pursuing her career there. Rabbit Hole has Stewart playing the pivotal role of Becca, a grieving mother who lost her four year old son Danny when he chased the family dog into the path of a passing car. Howie (David Whitely) is the grieving father and much of the play concerns itself with the roller coaster of emotions as the couple argue over their conflicting grief. Becca is tormented by memories of Danny; Howie is aghast that Becca appears to be erasing signs of his existence.

Jason (Martin Sharpe) is the young driver who may or may not have been speeding, is consumed by guilt and has a need for resolution with the grieving family. The title of the play is a reference to a story he wrote at school dedicated to Danny, but also refers to the way the plot unravels at the start. Becca has discussions first with her sister Izzy (Erin Dewar) and then Howie. The audience has to make sense of their realities, which gradually unravels as the dialogue progresses. The title then seems to be an indirect reference to Alice in Wonderland.

The play’s theme is grief – how people deal with it differently and how this results in friction and conflict. Prior to the performance, I had no idea of its subject. Straight away my points of reference are cinematic, and it strongly recalls Sean Penn's excellent The Crossing Guard (1995), a small independent film in which a drunk driver (David Morse) is being released from jail after serving time for the death of a young boy. His parents (Jack Nicholson and Anjelica Huston) are still grieving. Rabbit Hole has a different way of telling a similar story.

Having lost my own teenage son less than four months ago, my emotions are still quite raw. The ways in which each protagonist expresses grief, and the nature of their conflict was very real. The dialogue was nuanced, natural, idiosyncratic and felt very authentic.

Stewart’s role was pivotal - the play depicted her character interacting with her husband, sister, mother (played by Collette Mann) and the devastated young driver torn with guilt. Having appreciated Stewart's performance in Em 4 Jay, it was a delight to see her with significant stage presence in Rabbit Hole. Sharpe’s performance as the young driver was especially stunning and convincing.

Overall, I found the play well-written and convincingly performed. It was quietly insightful with subdued naturalistic humour, and interesting without being overly profound. It perhaps didn’t have the emotional impact it could but that’s possibly because the writing skilfully avoids the melodrama or sentimentality that the subject could easily have produced. I found it a modest but serious production.

In contrast to my other theatre experience, Don's Party was more mainstream and played to a larger audience in a major venue. I preferred the more casual environment of Red Stitch. Don's Party was more observational than insightful and entertaining rather than challenging. I saw Rabbit Hole on its closing night to a full house.

Photos: David Whitely and Kat Stewart, Martin Short and Kat Stewart

French Film Festival 3

The Alliance Française French Film Festival finishes today, and last night I saw my last screening for the festival, Les amitiés maléfiques (Poison Friends). This stunning film was a fantastic way to end the festival, and came a very close second to my favourite of the festival, Nue Propriété (Private Property).

I almost feel a little guilty for my opening criticism of the festival. Yes, there's lots of light entertainment to be had, but there's definitely been some solid gems available for those that looked (or stumbled by chance). My other must-see picks of the festival are The Right of the Weakest and Premonition. OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies is also a rare good comedy.

As I posted in The Week in Review, I got to see everything I wanted to, except for Coeurs (Private Fears in Public Places)

Nue Propriété (Private Property, Joachim Lafosse, 2006)
What is it with the Belgians? They sure are capable of producing gritty social dramas: the Dardennes’ L’enfant (The Child), Lucas Belvaux’s The Right of the Weakest, and now Joachim Lafosse’s Private Property.

Jérémie Renier played the father blindly unaware of the consequences of his actions in L’enfant. In Private Property, a quietly searing social drama set in regional Belgium, he and real-life brother Yannick play screen brothers Thierry and François. Isabelle Huppert plays single mother to the grown up boys still living at home.

Unemployed, François is quiet and gentle while Thierry works in town and is volatile and sometimes argumentative. The dynamics between boys, mother and father (played by Patrick Descamps, who also appeared as the invalid in The Right of the Weakest) are explored in the context of property laws as they pertain to divorcees – the parents separated some fifteen years earlier. It appears that in law, the house belongs to the boys, and the mother is entitled to live there. However, she wants to sell up and start a new life elsewhere. This leads to conflict, involving the father, and through it, the exploration of the nature of existing and broken relationships, and old resentments. All the roles were portrayed convincingly.

I found the film riveting, compelling and (dare I say it)... profound. As usual, Huppert plays a terrifically nuanced role and she was used to maximum but understated effect without hogging the limelight. She was pulled out of frame at times, particularly towards the end, when the boys 'took over'. The film reeked of emotional honesty and was aptly contemplative.

I loved the lack of music. When the opening credits appeared first to silence, then to background noise – reminiscent of Iranian cinema like the films of Kiarostami or Panahi – it was evident that this was going to be a serious film. The short piece of music at the end was quite chilling, accentuating the previous lack of music and then again silence during the closing credits.

The film depicted moral complexity with skill and avoided stereotypes. The director takes no sides and the audience can make their own judgements. The most quietly profound line was left to the father at the end. Thierry, angry and grieving, explodes: “Fucking bitch!” he yells at his mother. “You let her screw you!” he yells at his father. “Your mother’s not a bitch”, says the father firmly but matter-of-fact, “we just tried and it didn’t work out. That’s all.”

The film is full of beautifully quiet moments and riddled with ambiguity, leaving ample opportunity to ruminate on meanings. There are times of simmering silence and explosive moments that are emotionally compelling. This is a family, not so much in crisis, but trying to deal with real life difficulties. Well-cast, brilliantly written and directed, from the opening credits to the haunting and symbolic images at the end, it reeks quality cinema.

OSS 117 Le Caire nid d'espions (OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies, Michel Hazanavicius, 2006)
Having previously bagged contemporary French comedy*, I'm having to eat my words with this one (which is a good thing). On Matt Riviera's recommendation, I saw and thoroughly enjoyed it. Basically it's a parody of James Bond 007, and largely resembles the early incarnation with Sean Connery, but goofed up slightly like Don Adams' Maxwell Smart in TV's Get Smart.

This film was virtually non-stop laughs and Hubert Bonisseur de La Bath, alias agent OSS 117 (played by Jean Dujardin) was a great combination of Connery-like debonair, competency, sexiness, yet at times clumsy and self-absorbed.

It was a clever start - the opening credits with Gaumont (the production company) appeared to be straight out of the 1950's in black and white (I presume it was taken from stock film). The story starts with a French resistance fighter (apparently how OSS 117 started out) stealing blueprints from the Nazis during the closing stages of World War II.

The remaining film is set in 1955 and the period reproduction - not of the time, but of early Bond films set around the time - is terrific. I found various flashbacks by characters, with muted pastel tones, to be especially effective visually. The array of period vehicles in use, such as cars and a Lambretta scooter added a nice touch. Of course, there is a clever and stylised reproduction of political incorrectness of the time.

Unlike the Bond franchise, which has become a fairly stale action-film franchise, overly dependent on CGI, OSS 117 maintains interest with little action or special effects. It's more like the earlier Bond (or even Hitchcock) films, and perhaps the most sophisticated piece of surveillance equipment used is a telephone. While the laughs were mostly non-stop, the film could perhaps have been edited by dropping five or ten minutes to keep the action a bit tighter. But that's only a small criticism others may not agree with.

This film has been picked up for distribution and the word is that it will go straight to DVD, probably later in the year. It was definitely worth seeing on the big screen.

* I acknowledge the possibility that there may be a body of contemporary smart French comedy being made, that doesn't make it to Australia. Generally, I find what is distributed here to be fairly inane, inoffensive, light, feel-good, charming and what could usually be described using other such mediocre superlatives.

L’ivresse du pouvoir (A Comedy of Power, Claude Chabrol, 2006)
Isabelle Huppert, with her usual nuanced and cold nature, was perfect for the role of magistrate, Jeanne Charmant-Killman, investigating a corporate corruption case - a company has been paying illegal commissions. Sounds much like the AWB scandal, which as far as I can tell, no heads have rolled yet.

The film investigates Jeanne's character and how she 'squeezes' the heads she's chasing to get them to comply. Very realistic, and reminds me of the strategy of the Stasi as described and depicted in The Lives of Others. The film also looks at her personal life, and how her work adversely affects her relationships.

Chabrol is a veteran film-maker - he's made some 60 or so films since his debut in 1958 - and this is the first of his I've seen. So I can't compare it to any of his vast body of work. There's no doubt when watching this film that it's well made. All the technical aspects are strong: directing, acting, lighting, etc.

Ultimately, the film didn't hold much interest for me, because the story itself didn't really engage me. It seems too preoccupied with the process of obtaining compliance and convictions from defendents. The title is interesting; it certainly has nothing to do with comedy. Apparently the original title refers to "drunk on power", which could equally refer to the corporate heads being pursued, or to Jeanne herself.

Mauvaise foi (Bad Faith, Roschdy Zem, 2006)
Cécile de France seems ubiquitous at this year's festival, appearing in no fewer than three films. I haven't seen The Singer at the festival in which she stars opposite Gérard Depardieu, but wasn't particulary impressed with her role in Orchestra Seats. In this film she plays a Jewish woman and Roschdy (who both stars and directs) plays a Muslim man in what is basically a meet the parents drama.

It's not a heavy-weight film, but is played serious. Aimed at a mainstream audience, it uses the usual devices like pop soundtrack (including Elvis' Suspicious Minds), cutesy-pie female protagonist and some predictable plot stereotypes. Nonetheless, it's enjoyable enough for the casual film-goer out for a light evening's entertainment.

Les amitiés maléfiques (Poison Friends, Emmanuel Bourdieu, 2006)
Poison Friends is a thought-provoking film. It is about friendship, intellect, ego, manipulation, power, deception and lies. And it is all too believable, to the extent that my heart rate took an hour or more to settle after it finished - it was so affecting. The film is considered drama, but its effect was more like a thriller.

It took a while to warm to the film – to understand the direction it was taking and who the different characters were. I still feel a little confused about some of the opening narrative, and the film almost demands a repeat viewing.

André Morney is confident, highly intelligent and has the respect of lecturers and co-students alike. He is also a sociopath. The narrative investigates various intellectual ideas as the characters go through the process of studying writing at university. Those with a tertiary education will have some appreciation of the personality types and the type of dialogue depicted in various conversations.

The writing of the film is very strong and original, and directed with much skill. The actors all played their parts effectively. The cinematography was generally good, though I sometimes found the night scenes a little dark (not uncommon with this type of film). Highly recommended.


The end of a festival is both relief and lament. It's pretty intense trying to fit it in all the films one wishes to see, what to speak of writing about them as well (I'm pretty run-down right now). The French Film Festival is my favourite festival other than MIFF, and French social drama is possibly my favourite genre (not that I generally think of film in terms of genre). I just love the way the French portray social realism with such conviction. So it's sad to see the festival end. That's all for this year, and I keenly await next year's festival. Thanks again to Matt from Last Night at Riviera for his recommendations.

Previous posts: French Film Festival 1 & 2
See also: Last Night at Riviera 1, 2, 3 & 4

The Week in Review

Another busy week of films, to the extent I took a day off work for some advance screenings from the Goethe-Institut Australien Festival of German Films and Paris, je'taime. The shorts at Sam Fuller screenings were at Melbourne Cinémathèque, and most of the rest were part of the Alliance Française French Film Festival, finishing on Tuesday.

FILMS:

• Copying Beethoven (Agnieszka Holland, 2006)
• The Naked Kiss (Sam Fuller, 1964)
• Park Row (Sam Fuller, 1952)
• Wut (Can - His World Has Its Own Rules, Züli Aladag, 2006)
  
• Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot (Grave Decisions, Marcus H. Rosenmüller, 2006)
• Paris, je t'aime (Various, 2006)
• Scoop (Woody Allen, 2006)
• Nue Propriété (Private Property, Joachim Lafosse, 2006)
• OSS 117 Le Caire nid d'espions (OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies, Michel Hazanavicius, 2006)
• L’ivresse du pouvoir (A Comedy of Power, Claude Chabrol, 2006)
• Mauvaise foi (Bad Faith, Roschdy Zem, 2006)
  

SHORTS:

• Refren (Refrain, 10 min, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1972)
• Fabryka (Factory, 17 min, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1970)
• In the Street (15 min, James Agee & Helen Levitt, 1953)
  

BOOKS I'M READING:

• Almodovóvar on Almodovóvar (Revised edition, 2006, Frédéric Strauss)

Copying Beethoven
Copying Beethoven is an imagining of the final year of Beethoven's life, when he was putting the final touches to the 9th Symphony. As someone completely ignorant of this truly inspirational composer, there is some educational value to a film like this. I must admit, though, to having a problem with the biopic genre. While I can enjoy a film on its own merits, I find it a little disconcerting that a fictionalisation of someone's life can over time become considered factual, or more factual than it is.

Ed Harris is a compelling actor, and someone I'm always keen to see, especially after his magnificent performance in Pollock. With his transformation as Ludwig van Beethoven he completely inhabits the role and was at first virtually unrecognisable. His portrayal reminded me of Daniel Day Lewis (another excellent actor) in Scorsese's Gangs of New York. In other words, the performances didn't really match the respective films.

The cinematography, lighting and period reproduction in Copying Beethoven are visually stunning. But the story and direction were lacking. I think the biggest problem for me was the role of Beethoven's copyist, Anna Holtz, played by Diane Kruger. There was nothing wrong with her acting, but she was too 20th century beautiful with modern sensibilities, and her role seemed largely window-dressing to the detriment of the narrative. I found it distracting.

Another element I found distracting was the repetitive camera tracking inside Beethoven's apartment, with out-of-focus objects (like candles or pictures) in the foreground. Once was enough, and it was used way too many times.

Overall, the film is enjoyable. There is a ten minute segment of the 9th Symphony which sounds terrific and inspires me to buy a recording of this famous composition.

The Naked Kiss
This is my first Sam Fuller film and I feel inadequate to comment in detail. I also feel I don't have a good historical perspective on it. But that's what film is all about: discovery and learning. From what I could appreciate, this both noirish and melodramatic film was quite bold for it's day: dealing with generally taboo subjects like prostitution, official corruption and paedophilia.

The film felt somewhat dated, though the performances were good and the story remains engaging.

Park Row
I found this a more satisfying film than the previous, and reminded me of Welles' Citizen Kane for its depiction of corporate ruthlessness. Set in the 1800s and made in the 1950s, it is a timeless story that is just as relevant today, if not moreso. Basically it is a moral tale about the pursuit of truth in journalism and how vested interests will stop at nothing to prevent the same.

Historically it was interesting to see how labour-intensive the process of producing newspapers once was. Fuller employs an interesting cast that highlights New York's ethnic diversity, and some of the social issues that implies.

Scoop
This was my second screening, and this time I went with others, including my six year old son who loved it. I'm not familiar with Allen's earlier classics, having only recently become acquainted through films like Melinda Melinda and Match Point (both of which I enjoyed, particularly the latter). I don't bring any baggage or expectations as to how an Allen comedy should be nor can I compare it to his earlier work.

I found this film good old-fashioned family comedy. The performances were nothing special (I hope Johannson doesn't do too many of these types of roles), but the film didn't demand it. The humour was sharp and witty - I like Allen's self-deprecating style.

I intend writing separately for the films from the Festival of German Films and the
French Film Festival.

French Film Festival 2

This post covers four films: Premonition, Orchestra Seats, Inside Paris and The Right of the Weakest. I found two impressive, one OK and one tolerable.

Le Pressentiment (Premonition, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, 2006)
Darroussin is perhaps best-known to Australian audiences as a regular member of the ensemble cast in the outstanding and thought-provoking films of Robert Guédiguian such as La ville est tranquille (The Town is Quiet, 2000). Like Guédiguian, Darroussin concerns himself with social issues. Premonition is an impressive debut as feature-film director as well as lead actor in which he portrays an upper-middle class lawyer who is dissatisfied with his bourgeois life, leaving his old life behind to the consternation of his family.

He moves into a poor area of Paris, inhabited with immigrants, single parents, unemployed, prostitutes and the like. Darroussin’s character has a Zen manner as he attempts to emotionally distance himself and yet redeem himself by assisting others according to his means. There are long stretches without dialogue which remind me of Kieslowski’s films and there is one visual salute to the great Polish director: a number of pigeons are fighting over a large piece of bread on a cobblestone gutter. The birds fly away, and we see the bread is within a puddle that momentarily reflects the French flag.

The film’s visuals and narrative are not quite as bleak as Guédiguian’s films but just as serious. The cinematography is pleasing, employing lots of natural lighting and capturing the raw beauty of urban decay. The ending is a little controversial due to its ambiguous nature. This slightly melancholy and subtly uplifting humanistic story is very satisfying – the type of film I go to the festival to see.

Orchestra Seats (Fauteuils d'orchestre, Danièle Thompson, 2006)
In spite of this film being a comedy (as previously stated, I’m not a big fan of contemporary French comedy) and its having a commercial release date (May 24), I went to see this film because it has an OFLC classification (and thus I could take my son).

It’s not a bad film, per se, but as far as I’m concerned is just a crowd pleaser that were it in English, would be completely in place at the cinemaplexes. Sydney Pollack plays a small role as a famous American director, but he is utilised clumsily. I was a little surprised to see that this film was France’s official entry as foreign language film for this year’s Oscars. Not my thing.

Dans Paris (Inside Paris, Christophe Honoré, 2006)
This was an interesting film that I found enjoyable enough, but didn’t fully engage me. I’m not sure if that’s the film’s fault, my not getting it, or just being too tired to appreciate it fully. There was a slight sense of whimsy at times, perhaps to lighten the tone, but mostly it was concerned with the dynamics of three adult males: two brothers and their father.

Romain Duris is an excellent young actor, though for me his best performance was in The Beat My Heart Skipped (De battre mon coeur s'est arrêté, Jacques Audiard, 2005) – and what a terrific and apt title that was! In Inside Paris, he portrays a depressed man who moves into his father’s and student brother’s Paris apartment after breaking up with his girlfriend. The family is fractured which provides different suspenseful elements and scenarios.

La raison du plus faible (The Right of the Weakest, Lucas Belvaux, 2006)
Having seen four films at the festival this weekend already, I risked pushing the patience of my partner and suffering further sleep deprivation by going to a late Sunday screening of this film. It was the only opportunity I had to see it, and it was a good decision. This was a terrific film.

It started off as a grim social drama with a The Full Monty scenario – a group of men in an economically depressed steel town play cards in the local pub and bemoan their struggles. Multi-story government housing blocks (whose lifts often break down) overlook the town, and are breeding places of despair. Think Mike Leigh, Ken Loach or, perhaps more aptly, the Dardenne brothers – the film is a Belgian/French co-production set in Liege, Belgium.

The film takes a grim turn when the idea of crime is introduced to alleviate their material conditions. With a rag-tag team that include a recently released criminal (played excellently by the director), an invalid, a not-too-bright worker and an unemployed university graduate, it becomes heart-in-your-mouth suspense as you wonder whether these guys can possibly pull it off.

The cinematography is consistent with the finest of social realist dramas and adds wonderfully to the strong character development and gripping narrative. There is so much heart-aching verisimilitude. Whilst I’m planning to see between two and five more films at the festival, this and Premonition are my pick to date.

My earlier report: French Film Festival 1

Matt Riviera's reports from the Sydney French Film Festival: 1, 2, 3 & 4

The Alliance Française French Film Festival 2007 is screening until Tuesday April 3 at Palace Como, Westgarth and Balywn

The Week in Review

I'll get another report of the French Film Festival up shortly (which has dominated the week), as well as some more comments about the sublime Kieslowski screenings.

FILMS:

• Reign on Me (Mike Binder, 200)
• Trois couleurs: Rouge (Three Colours: Red, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
• Krótki film o milosci (A Short Film About Love, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1988)
• Le lièvre de Vatanen (The Year of the Hare, Marc Rivière, 2006)
• Le Pressentiment (Premonition, Jean-Pierre Darroussin, 2006)
• Fauteuils d'orchestre (Orchestra Seats, Danièle Thompson, 2006)
• Dans Paris (Inside Paris, Christophe Honoré, 2006)
• La raison du plus faible (The Right of the Weakest, Lucas Belvaux, 2006)
  

SHORTS:

• Murarz (Bricklayer, 17 min, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1973)
• Dworzec (Railway Station, 13 min, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1980)
• Gadające głowy (Talking Heads, 15 min, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1980)
  

BOOKS I'M READING:

• Almodovóvar on Almodovóvar (Revised edition, 2006, Frédéric Strauss)

French Film Festival 1

[Edit: images added, links to Last Night at Riviera appended]

[This post has been largely re-worked]

The Alliance Française French Film Festival 2007 kicked off in Melbourne last Tuesday and runs to Tuesday April 3 (15 days). Screenings are at the Palace Cinemas at Como (South Yarra), Westgarth (Northcote) and Balwyn.

I have a strong proclivity for French cinema – I saw 27 in 2006, second in number only to films from the US. Contemporary names like Ozon, Cantet, Chereau and Guédiguian come to mind, though none of these names appear at this year's festival. My perception is that the festival is more about previewing middle-of-the-road light-weight films that are getting a commercial distribution than in showcasing the pinnacle of cultural and artistic excellence that French cinema is famous for. In other words, getting bums on seats.

What to do? I find with a bit of planning, research and consulting others, there are gems to be found. As far as planning, my priority is to see films that I know don't have a commercial release as I can always see those later. I know of at least three films (Hey Good Looking!, Priceless and The Singer) that open straight after the festival, so I'm in no rush to see these right now.

I'm also not a big fan of French comedy, as least not those that are released here. I find little to differentiate them from most Hollywood comedies. Francis Veber's Le dîner de cons (The Dinner Game, 1998) is a rare exception, though I've not thought much of anything Veber has made since. I tend to seek out the drama, which the above-mentioned names do so well. My pick at last year’s festival were Ozon's Le temps qui reste (A Time to Leave, 2005) and Emmanuelle Bercot’s Backstage (2005, which also screened recently at the Melbourne Queer Film Festival).

Out of the 25 films programmed for Melbourne, at least fourteen are comedies, so that narrows my focus considerably. I’m not ruling out comedy all together; they’re just not a big priority. Interestingly, at a recent French Film Festival in New York, only 2 of the 16 films programmed were comedies. That says a lot about the different markets.

For research, there’s always the invaluable IMDB, and word-of-mouth via blogs. This year I’ve also sought the opinion of a fellow blogger from Sydney, where the festival has already screened. Matt Riviera, himself of French origin, from Last Night at Riviera has recommended: Comedy of Power, Inside Paris, Private Property, Bad Faith and OSS 117: Cairo – Nest of Spies.

From my research, I’ve earmarked: Poison Friends, Premonition and The Right of the Weakest. The criteria: they’re all dramas, don’t have a commercial distribution and all have a reasonable average score on IMDB (around 7/10).

La faute à Fidel (Blame It On Fidel, Julie Gavras, 2006)
This is an interesting and well-made film. It depicts a 9 year old girl’s perspective of the changes in family life as her lawyer father and writer mother become involved in political activism. Set in the 1970’s, it starts against the backdrop of an uncle executed under Franco’s regime in Spain.

This is an interesting theme, and I have seen a number of films recently that connect to this theme: Salvador (Puig Antich) (Huergo, 2006), The Executioner (Berlanga, 1963), The Spirit of the Beehive (Erice, 1972) and Pan’s Labyrinth (del Toro, 2006). I even saw similarities with Bresson’s Au Hasard Balthazar, in that both stories were filmed from the perspective of an innocent (Balthazar was, of course, a donkey). Pan’s Labyrinth and The Spirit of the Beehive also shared this perspective. It adds a different layer, because we get to experience or understand reality through a different filter. The camera work in Blame It On Fidel often takes the angles a child would see. At parties, we would see people from below looking up, and often cutting off people’s heads.

The lighting and cinematography are lovely, the acting is consistently good all round and the film is worth a look.

Je vous trouve tres beau (You Are So Beautiful, Isabelle Mergault, 2005)
The subtitled title for this film was You Are So Handsome. In changing the name for the festival, the film is perhaps more marketable but a subtle meaning has been lost. When an elderly farmer’s wife dies and he seeks a mail-order bride from Romania, the line of young female candidates all open with “you are so handsome” (which he is not).

Basically the film is a light-hearted romantic comedy and will probably be a crowd-pleaser. It’s the type of film I consider pretty much Hollywood in French language. It’s not particularly smart and not my sort of film, though I acknowledge there’s a strong market for this kind of film.

Le lièvre de Vatanen (The Year of the Hare, Marc Rivière, 2006)
Up until about one third of the way into this film, I thought it was reasonable as a children’s film. You know, the type of show kids might watch on ABC TV when they get home after school where a character (usually an adolescent) goes on some adventure with a cutesy animal.

In this film, it’s an adult protagonist but I truly thought it was a cheesy kids film until there was some nudity obviously not intended for a young audience. Then my worst fears were realised and I knew the remaining hour would be tedious (and it was).

Not really a French film (it’s a Belgian, Bulgarian and French co-production, set in Canada), it jumps between slapstick humour, cheesy humour and drama that just doesn’t work for me at all. I could have walked out at any time (but didn’t). I'm a bit disappointed that this film was advertised as drama/adventure. I suppose it is has some elements of that, but it really was comedic. The drama/adventure aspect was not what I call adult entertainment.

As an aside, I’ve noticed in the past that Palace Cinemas seem to attract a middle-age, upper middle-class female audience that loves to chatter, even during films. There was a distractingly high volume of chatter during the ads before the film by this demographic at the Westgarth. It didn’t go away when the film started. I identified at least three groups of women all chatting and laughing away. I figured it’s got to die down but after five minutes it was still as enthusiastic and showed no sign of abating.

This is a dilemma: do we suffer in our silence, or do we speak out and then feel self-conscious to the detriment of our enjoyment of the film? Well, enough is enough, and I decided to say something and not allow myself to feel self-conscious. I called out loud and firmly, “for fuck’s sake, will you all just shut up!!”. It worked, and everyone enjoyed (or not) the rest of the film. I figured most people wouldn’t know who spoke up, but a couple of women approached me later and thanked me profusely for having the guts to say what everyone else wanted to. I appreciated that. This tends to support the idea that the French Film Festival is more a social event for certain demographics rather than a serious cultural event for cinephiles.

See also Matt Riviera's reviews at the Sydney French Film Festival: 1, 2, 3 & 4

Reign Over Me

L-R: Saffron Burrows, Liv Tyler, Adam Sandler & Don Cheadle (courtesy: Sony Pictures)

Reign Over Me is about grief and friendship. At first glance, it concerns itself with one man’s grief. Charlie Fineman (Adam Sandler) lost his wife and daughters (aged five, seven and nine) in one of the planes overtaken by terrorists on 9/11. Formerly a dentist, he has become a shadow of his former self and has taken to wandering (and motor-scootering) the streets of Manhattan, drumming in clubs with a heavy metal band, collecting vinyl records, playing computer games and constantly renovating his kitchen.

Alan Johnson (Don Cheadle) was Charlie’s college room-mate. Upon a chance sighting of Charlie, he reconnects with his old friend. By exploring the reawakening of friendship and, through it, the attempted healing of Charlie’s grief, we also become aware of the tribulations of others who may be indirectly affected by the events of 9/11.

Grief is an unpredictable beast. It is a lonely experience and affects everyone differently. No-one can relieve a person’s burden but friendship can be a catalyst for healing. There are many sub-plots and narrative diversions in the film (which work against it), but the heart and strength of the film is Sandler’s strong performance as a grieving man who is over the edge. Having lost everything dear to him, he rejects all who try to get close to him.

An important message of the film was that judgements may be made about people around us and their characteristics. But opinions should be reserved without knowing more about a person’s circumstances.

I’ve mentioned before that there are a number of actors who cut their teeth in comedy but appear more convincing in serious roles. This includes Robin Williams (Dead Poet’s Society, One Hour Photo, Good Will Hunting), Jim Carrey (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Man on the Moon), Steve Martin (Grand Canyon, Shopgirl) and Kevin Klein (Grand Canyon, The Ice Storm).

As he did in Punch-Drunk Love, Adam Sandler shows that he too can be more convincing in a serious role. Perhaps comics playing serious roles messes with our expectations. We expect a gag at any moment, and when it is not forthcoming, the seriousness of the situation has more impact. Maybe?

The film is a crowd-pleaser (or attempts to be) that uses various devices to make some serious issues palatable to a wide audience. I found many of the devices irritating. Some, taken on their own, are not a problem, but with so many, the cumulative effect couldn’t be ignored.

I had a problem with the link to 9/11. It felt exploitative, as if losing a family in that way would be a greater loss than say, a car accident. Of course, 9/11 is a valid issue to explore, but the cumulative effect of Charlie losing his beautiful wife and three beautiful daughters on that day all seems contrived for maximum manipulation of our heart strings (and mind you, it really does work at times). I’d have related better if it were a less sensationalistic scenario. Charlie’s loss and Alan’s apparent success in life both seem to be exaggerated and lack subtlety.

There’s no real comparison, but as I’ve seen several Kieslowski films recently at Melbourne Cinémathèque, his films come to mind as to how grief can be depicted with conviction and mastery. Perhaps Wayne Wang’s Smoke (1995) is a fairer comparison. It is a much more effective exploration of male bonding and grief, largely because it is subdued and realistic (and well-written).

*** SPOILERS FOLLOW ***

On at least two occasions, a character’s selecting a vinyl record resulted in a track from that record being played shortly thereafter in the film. It became too predictable. The music that Charlie listened to, such as Springsteen, seemed to be inconsistent with the heavy metal band he performed in.

At the start we see Charlie riding his motorised scooter around Manhattan. One moment it is day, the next night. It appears that the intention was to depict how Charlie is lost to himself and how he floats for hours through the city, a ghost of his former self. But the transition between day and night was abrupt and ineffective. While this could be overlooked, it annoyingly occurred a second time.

Alan’s receptionist was quirky and appeared to be used as a comic device to lighten the tone of the film. Sure, Binder found an interestingly different personality to project and she was funny enough, but the idea of a quirky receptionist has been done to death.

While Alan’s sense of alienation from his wife was believable, given her character traits, the dynamics between them lacked verisimilitude. They reminded me of the black couple in Paul Haggis’ Crash (2004), which also seemed too staged. Cheadle enjoyed the major screen time but his acting often seemed a bit hollow. Also, Alan’s sudden expression of dissatisfaction with his job seemed tokenistic and was emotionally unconvincing.

The main female roles (except the receptionist) were all played by beautiful women. The roles weren’t major, and the casting seems to be focused on ‘window-dressing’ rather than realism.

The most ridiculous scene involved Alan being confronted by one of these women while he is working on a client’s teeth. He encourages the conversation, because the girl is under a general anaesthetic and the nurse apparently speaks no English. The situation was embarrassingly silly beyond belief.

Another ludicrous scenario involved the same woman making a sexual proposition that was pure male fantasy. It completely conflicts with our expectations of reality. The consequences of this among the dental partnership were predictable and hackneyed.

A later court scene was similarly clichéd, in which Donald Sutherland performs well as a paternalistic judge, but was hampered by poor writing. Charlie’s father-in-law leaving photos in front of Charlie was implausible and should have extracted condemnation from the judge, but rather Charlie was dragged away catatonic.

*** END OF SPOILERS ***

Like the recently released Bobby, there were many parts of the film that showed intelligence but attempts at being too profound were to its detriment. At 124 minutes, it was over-long (20-30 minutes could have been cut) – it wasn’t engaging enough to warrant the length.

The visuals were generally up to scratch, though I noticed right away that it was filmed digitally. It reminds me of Collateral – the night scenes look very grainy. I’m not a big fan of the look – hopefully the technology will soon improve – though the person with me didn’t notice it at all.

New York was filmed beautifully, without being too picture-perfect. The scenes looked authentic and Charlie looked completely in place riding his scooter around the East Village and surrounding areas. More attention to detail regarding the scooter would have been more satisfying. Any visitor to Manhattan knows that in reality, Charlie would have taken the scooter indoors and not chained it up outside, as occurred on at least two occasions (anything left on the street would be quickly stolen or stripped).

As a point of interest, the film’s title is derived from The Who’s Love, Reign O’er Me, covered by Pearl Jam for the film’s soundtrack. The relevance of the film’s title is not overly evident, but is left to the imagination.

While there is merit to Reign Over Me, and Adam Sandler was surprisingly good, the film’s strengths were overshadowed by its many flaws. Many won’t have a problem with these imperfections and for them it could be a very enjoyable film. But not for me.

Official website / IMDB

Dir, Scr: Mike Binder Rating: M Duration: 124 min Genre: drama Language: English Country: USA Release: 22/3/07 Dist: Sony Pictures Releasing Prod Co: Mr. Madison/Sunlight Productions Prod: Michael Rotenberg, Jack Binder Sound Des: David Bach, Elmo Weber Phot: Russ Alsobrook Ed: Steve Edwards, Jeremy Roush Prod Des: Pipo Wintter Mus: Rolfe Kent Cast: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett Smith, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows

The Week in Review

FILMS:

• Running With Scissors (Ryan Murphy, 2006)
• Trzy kolory: Bialy (Three Colours: White, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1994)
• Amator (Camera Buff, Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1979)
  
• Bobby (Emilio Estevez, 2006)
  

BOOKS I'M READING:

• A Spanish Labyrinth: The Films of Pedro Almodovóvar (Mark Allinson, 2001) - finished at last
  

Running With Scissors
I found Running With Scissors very disappointing, not that I went in with high expectations (mostly because I knew little about it). Like A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, it documents the dysfunctional life of a writer who depicts his own life on screen. While Montiel's film used gritty realism and is reasonably successful at conveying his personal struggles, Murphy's gets caught in a quagmire of (1) attempting (unsuccessfully) to be quirky like Little Miss Sunshine (which itself is mediocre), (2) emulating the wit of American Beauty (but not even getting close, even though Annette Bening is used in a similar role) and (3) in spite of reasonably good performances, suffering poor writing and direction. The film is over-long and fails to engage. But hey, I thought that about Little Miss Sunshine and it was immensely popular, so go figure.

Three Colours: White
It's been 13 years since I first saw Three Colours: White. I always remembered Blue as my favourite of the trilogy, so didn't have expectations as high as I did after seeing Blue last week. I still prefer Blue, but White is still a very impressive and totally absorbing film. The humour is more evident in this film, but contains all the moral complexity, subtlety and depth of any other Kieslowski film.

I noted links to Blue that I hadn't noticed on first viewing: Juliette Binoche enters the courtroom momentarily at the start as she did in Blue, the bent old person attempting to place a bottle in a recycling bin and the finger tracing the map similar to the the finger tracing the music score in the earlier film. Both films start with the death of a relationship and maybe that's incidental (but maybe not).

One thing I'm unclear about is the significance of the pigeon shitting on the protagonist at the start. That's a big blob of white, and perhaps it signals this guy's lot in life. We see pigeons at different times, such as the flashback to the wedding, but most times we just hear the pigeon wings flapping in the background. It seems to be a code for something, but I'm not sure what.

Janusz Gajos' performance as Mikolaj was outstanding and his slowly unfolding relationship with Karol was most intriguing and the most appealling aspect of the film.

While Karol's revenge against Dominique maybe considered the most obvious manifestation of the film's theme of equality, what struck me both at the start and the end was the lack of equality that migrants often experience. In court, Karol was disadvantaged in France and Dominique similarly so in Poland. It calls into question the ironic proclamation etched into the French courthouse at the start - Fraternité Égalité Liberté.

Camera Buff
There was a fresh honesty in this small yet complex film. Most fascinating to me was the parallels I could see in my own life. As a teenager, I also happened to end up with a camera (35mm SLR) that changed the avenues open to me. And more recently, I've found myself drawn more and more into cinema. I always carry a camera with me and try to capture things that may interest me. Others have suggested, and I've contemplated experimenting with a video camera. The film recalls Smoke (Wayne Wang, 1995) with Auggie falling into photography by chance, and it changing his life.

Bobby
While the intent of the film is honourable (like Old Joy and Full Nelson, to highlight the loss of idealism Kennedy offered at the height of the Vietnam war), it lacks subtlety. It tries too hard to be profound, when understatement would have been more effective. It relies on lots of high profile names, which might appeal to some but holds little interest for me. I can't let the opportunity pass without saying that Demi Moore was well-cast as the egotistical stage performer.