2006-2007 Season
Look at Me • Sept. 14-17
Look at Me, succinctly paced and written with economy of style,
will strike chords of human recognition amongst us all. Set in a middleclass
Parisian milieu, Lolita is a plump girl who appears to be angry not
only with herself but also the rest of the universe. She thinks she’s too
fat, too plain, and simply won’t pass muster on any of the counts that
matter. Worse, her father is a self-obsessed writer and publisher who
barely acknowledges her existence. She has to cope with a wafer-thin
stepmother who’s only slightly older
than she is. She hooks up with her voice
coach who helps to instill at least a little
self-confidence and enables her to pursue
her goal of recognition. That comes in a
musical finale when Lolita takes part in
a singing ensemble, and her voice soars
to the heights. Look At Me is one of those
character-driven movies where the plot is
largely incidental to the numerous emotional
truths. Refreshingly, the characters
aren’t likeable a lot of the time; crucially,
however, they are completely believable
and recognizable. Accompanied by a
heavenly sound track for lovers of choral
music, this is one of the most sophisticated movies of the year. 2005
Cannes Film Festival: Best Screenplay. (France, 2004) Director: Jaoui.
French language. 110 min.
Look at Me Review
Der Untergang (Downfall) • Sept. 28-Oct. 1
This is probably by a wide margin the best film that examines Adolf
Hitler and his close associates during the fall of the Third Reich. As
the Russian troops inevitably close in on the city, Hitler will not allow
himself to be evacuated from Berlin. Nor will he surrender. His feeling
now is that it is the German people who have most betrayed him. Der
Fuehrer considers those who will be survivors as traitors, people who
sacrificed his dream for their own petty lives. He gives impossible orders
to troops hoping they will either miraculously prevail or be slaughtered.
Either way he feels good will have been done. And still when he is not
raging he is torn by self-doubts and conflicting emotions. The film generates
a real excitement as it builds to its inevitable and harrowing end.
It has everything to become one of the classic films about WWII of all
time. Not only are we watching great performances from a great script,
Der Untergang is also technically very slick with incredible sets, lighting,
sound and costumes and with very good editing and direction. 2005
British Independent Film Awards: Best Foreign Film. (Germany, 2004)
Director: Hirschbiegel. German language. 156 min.
Der Untergang (Downfall) Review
Up and Down • Oct. 5-8
As Variety scribe Eddie Cockrell points out, “Hrebejk wants us
to laugh through the tears.” Up and Down targets racism and social
injustice while developing characters we gradually come to sympathize
with. The story arrives complete with a biting wit and several moments
guaranteed to provoke laughter. Up and Down tells a number of different
stories, most of which connect tangentially. Each reaches its own
separate, natural conclusion, although editing helps tie things together,
at least thematically. An abandoned baby sets in
motion interconnected stories throughout Prague.
The baby is the son of an Indian woman, one
of a group of refugees being smuggled into the
country. When the boy is left behind in error, he
is passed on to Mila, who is desperate for a child.
In spite of his racist past, Mila’s soccer-obsessed
husband Frantisek enjoys his new son. But the
boy’s dark skin causes resentment from a close
friend of Frantisek. By allowing Frantisek to
navigate the path from inflexible white supremacist
to caring father, Hrebejk shows that love can
melt even the most entrenched prejudice. Up
and Down is an accomplished film that uses dark
humor to leaven its serious topics. 2005 Czech
Lions: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Screenplay. (Czech
Republic, 2004) Czech language. Director: Hrebejk. 108 min.
Up and Down Review
Paradise Now • Oct. 19-22
The word “terrorist” has become synonymous with “evil,” and
evil can only be demonized. Because director Abu-Assad chooses to
peel away the stereotypes and look at the people who commit heinous
actions, he guarantees his movie will offend a host of people. Those who
see Paradise Now as an apologia for terrorism aren’t paying attention.
Abu-Assad’s goal is not to condone terrorist actions (in fact, he goes to
great pains to condemn them), but to explain why two seemingly “ordinary”
men would be willing to sacrifice their lives in an act of mass carnage.
The film offers food for thought, and reminds us that, in any war,
one who understands the mind set of his opponent gains an important
tactical advantage. The film develops into a thriller when something goes
wrong during the early stages of the terrorist plan’s execution. Paradise
Now is a tough film because of what it attempts to do. It’s a rare thing for
a movie to present events of the Arab/Israeli struggle from the Palestinian
side, where terrorists are viewed as “martyrs” and “freedom fighters”
instead of killers. Even the most liberal viewers are likely to leave the
theater with a deeply rooted sense of disquiet. 2006 Golden Globes:
Best Foreign Language Film. (Israel, 2005) Director: Abu-Assad. Arabic
language. 90 min.
Paradise Now Review
Mad Hot Ballroom • Nov. 2-5
Ten years ago, two New York City elementary schools introduced a
pilot program that would make ten weeks of ballroom dancing a required
course. By 2004, the year in which this film was recorded, more than 60
schools were enrolled in the program, whose teachers are provided by
the American Ballroom Theater. At the end of the course, schools are
given the opportunity to participate in a competition. Mad Hot Ballroom follows three schools on the long road from first class to final bow. Filmmaker
Agrelo is always where the action is, whether lingering over the
forms of awkward young dancers struggling toward moments of ecstasy
and grace or focusing in on the intimate private conversations that girls
and boys hold about each other. Mad Hot Ballroom isn’t just heartwarming
and inspiring, it’s a remarkable look at a group of children whose
most noteworthy trait is that they are ordinary. Even though the competition
is ancillary to the personalities and their development, there’s plenty
of suspense and pathos. This is an amazing documentary achievement.
2005 Satellite Awards: Best Documentary. (USA, 2005) Director:
Agrelo. English language. 105 min.
Mad Hot Ballroom Review
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days • Nov. 16-19
This film tells the true story of a girl who was part of the German
Nazi resistance, The White Rose, that staged anti-Nazi protests in and
around Munich in the early 1940s. Caught red-handed in February
1943 distributing anti-Nazi pamphlets with her brother Hans, she was
incarcerated, interrogated and brought to justice according to the Nazi
laws of the time. There has been the recent unearthing of the transcripts
of Sophie Scholl’s interrogation by Nazi officer Robert Mohr. This direct
peek into history through the literal conversations between the two
protagonists has shed new light on Scholl’s role in the movement and on
her personality. The documents offer us a verbal cat-and-mouse game
between two complete opposites: Mohr, an older male Nazi officer who
believes in the system that has put him where he is and Scholl, a young,
idealistic female who is part of a Nazi-resistance movement. Director
Marc Rothemund wisely focuses his film on his central character and
performance. The story is dealt with in a straightforward fashion and
apart from the metaphorical use of windows and outside light to contrast
with Sophie’s capture, even the cinematography is simple and unintrusive.
The sheer power of Jentsch’s performance as Sophie, and Sophie’s
own words, make this film an absolute must-see. 2005 European Film
Awards: Best Director, Best Actress. (Germany, 2005) Director: Rothemund.
German language. 117 min.
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days Review
Joyeux Noel • Dec. 7-10
The film fictionalizes the true story of the fraternizations that took
place on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 1914, at several points along
the German front, when trenches between Germans and Allied Scottish
and French soldiers were often a mere four to six meters apart. The film
rotates around the principal characters of each country from their call up
to their time in the trenches. One of the sweetest things about this film is
the utter sanity of the idea that once you have talked with your enemy,
shaken his hand and shared his experience, you cannot shoot him. Not
so the aftermath of the fraternization, held by officials, army generals
and senior clergy to be both cowardly and unpatriotic. Hopefully this
film, although we see it out of the context of war-time patriotism justified
by propaganda-fed hatred of an ‘inhuman’ enemy, will make a difference,
at least in our appreciation that love and brotherhood can surface
even in the very teeth of war. Certainly its effect is moving and inspiring.
2005 Leeds International Film Festival: Best Feature. (France, 2005)
Director: Carion. French, German, and English languages. 116 min.
Joyeux Noel Review
Red Lights • Jan. 25-28
Antoine and his wife, Helene, are on the road, traveling through the
South of France. Antoine is annoyed that Helene was late meeting him
after work. By the time they stop for a brief rest at a bar they are sniping
at each other. Twenty minutes after leaving the car, Antoine returns to it,
but Helene is not there. In her place is a note informing him that she has
decided to take the train. Antoine rushes to the nearest station, but misses
her by seconds. Despondent, he visits another bar. It’s there that he
encounters the uncommunicative stranger to whom he later gives a lift.
Antoine is courting danger, or maybe he didn’t hear about the escaped
convict who is the subject of a region-wide manhunt. Red Lights spends
the better part of its final hour generating more tension than a high wire
act without a net. Even seemingly static scenes are suspenseful. As a result
of the discordant rhythm that Kahn gives to the film, it’s impossible
to predict what will happen next, or where everything will end up. When
the whole story has been told, viewers will recognize a kind of karmic
symmetry to events, but the chief pleasure is in getting to that point. Red
Lights is one of the best thrillers of the past few years: tight, taut, and
unpredictable. (France, 2004) Cédric Kahn. French language. 105 min.
Red Lights Review
Schultze Gets the Blues • Feb. 8-11
Exquisitely cast and gorgeously photographed, Schultze Gets the
Blues isn’t the downer its title suggests, but rather a parable of selfdiscovery.
Left to his own devices after being forced into retirement a
decade ahead of schedule, the titular German salt miner stumbles upon
a strange new sound while scanning the radio dial late one night. It’s
Creole zydeco music of the American South. Schultze picks up his accordion
and tries out the tune. The instrumentation seems incongruous,
but somehow it works, and he’s hooked. It’s no surprise that writer/director
Schorr has studied music as well as filmmaking. There’s a deep
sense of appreciation as Schultze traverses the musical landscape of the
South, encountering a German-Czech brass band, a French fiddler and,
finally, his beloved zydeco. Further, there’s no musical sound track other
than what’s performed on screen. The story is realized in small moments
of gentle humor, agony and divinity, that tug at the viewer, producing
profound empathy. 2005 German Film Critics Association Awards: Best
Feature Film Debut. (Germany, 2003) Director: Schorr. German and
English languages. 114 min.
Schultze Gets the Blues Review
Brothers • Feb. 22-25
Jannik is an aimless younger brother who is being released from
prison after committing a crime hardly worth his time and effort.
Michael is the good brother, a loving husband, and a responsible father.
When his Danish military unit is sent to Afghanistan, he goes without
complaint. Within a shockingly short time, his helicopter is shot down,
and his wife Sarah is told he was killed. It is not a spoiler to reveal that
Michael was not killed in the helicopter crash, but captured by Afghan
enemies. As a prisoner he is treated badly. Eventually he is freed and
returns home to find things somehow different. He is no longer able to
subtly condescend to his screwed-up little brother, because Jannik has
changed. And Michael has changed, too. This is the kind of movie that
does not solve everything at the end -- that observes some situations are
capable not of solution but only of accommodation. That is more true to
life than the countless movies with neat endings. In the world, sometimes
the problem comes and stays forever, and the question with the hardest
answer is, well, OK, how are you going to live with it? 2005 Sundance
Film Festival: Audience Award, World Cinema (Denmark, 2004) Director:
Bier. Danish language. 117 min.
Brothers Review
Turtles Can Fly • Mar. 1-4
The movie takes place in a Kurdish refugee camp. That means, in
theory, it takes place in “Kurdistan,” a homeland that exists in the minds
of the Kurds. There are adults in the camp, but the kids run their own
lives -- especially a bright wheeler-dealer named Satellite, who organizes
work gangs of other children. What is their work? They disarm land
mines, so they can be re-sold to arms dealers in the nearby town. The
village is desperate for information about the coming American invasion.
Satellite announces that he will go to town and barter for a satellite dish.
The elders gather as he tries to bring in a signal. The sexy music video
channels are prohibited, but the elders wait patiently as Satellite cycles
through the sin until he finds CNN, and they can listen for English words
they understand. They hate Saddam and eagerly await the Americans.
But what will the Americans do for them? The plight of the Kurdish people
is that no one seems to want to do much for them. When they were
fighting Saddam, the first Bush administration supported them. When
they were fighting our ally Turkey, we opposed them. This emotionally
powerful film is about the actual lives of refugees, who lack the luxury
of opinions because they are preoccupied with staying alive in a world
that has no place for them. 2005 Berlin International Film Festival: Best
Feature Film, Peace Award. (Iran, 2004) Director: Ghobadi. Kurdish
language. 98 min.
Turtles Can Fly Review
Caché • Mar. 22-25
The opening shot of Caché shows the facade of a townhouse on a
side street in Paris. As the credits roll, ordinary events take place on the
street. Then we discover that this footage is a video, and that it is being
watched by Anne and Georges. It is their house. They have absolutely
no idea who took the video, or why it was sent to them. So opens a
perplexing and disturbing film of great effect, showing how comfortable
lives are disrupted by the simple fact that someone is watching. More
videos arrive. All the videos they receive will have the same style: A
camera at some distance, simply looking. No comment is made in the
videos through camera position, movement, editing -- or perhaps there is
the same comment all the time: Someone wants them to know that they
are being watched. In the film, the camera is hidden. So are events in
Georges’ life. Some of what he knows is hidden from his wife. The son
keeps secrets from his parents, and so on. “The unexamined life is not
worth living,” said Socrates. An examined life may bring its own form of
disquiet. (France, 2005 ) Director: Haneke. French language. 117 min.
Cache Review
Millions • Apr. 12-15
Millions offers a tale of great heart that can be enjoyed by all but
the youngest of children. Damian and his older brother, Anthony, have
moved with their father (James Nesbitt) into a new house. One day,
while playing near the railroad tracks, Damian discovers a bag full of
money - 229,000 pounds, to be exact. He tells his brother about it, and
they decide that no adults can be informed. Damian and Alex disagree
on how the money should be used. The older brother sees it as passport
to material possessions and school status. Damian, however, wants to
give the notes to the poor. Complicating matters is the fast approach
of Euro day, after which all British pounds will be as worthless as fly
paper. Whether or not the money is a gift from God, there are Earthbound
criminals in search of it. Although there are adults in Millions, the
story unfolds as seen through the eyes of a child. Instead of romance,
this movie substitutes the love for a recently departed loved one. It’s an
uplifting motion picture that will bring smiles to faces. 2005 British Independent
Film Awards, Best Screenplay. (England, 2004) Danny Boyle.
English language. 98 min.
Millions Review
If you crossed Three Men and a Baby with City of God the result
would be something like Tsotsi. Yeah, it’s a weird combination, but the
film is so ruthlessly effective that it will surely draw you in, no matter
how unlikely the premise may be. David is a young man living in the
dregs of society in a shantytown outside Johannesburg. Since a young
age he’s lived in absolute hopelessness, but clawed his way up to a level
of independence, thanks to crime. During a carjacking, he shoots a
woman outside her home and flees, only to crash a short while later. The
reason? He was distracted by the woman’s baby in the back seat. Not
having the slightest clue what to do next, he tries to look after the child,
only for painful memories of his past to come flooding back. He imposes
himself on a reluctant local young mother for help and comes to regret
his life of crime. After much inner reflection, he decides to give the child
back. There’s a lot going unsaid in Tsotsi. You can see it in David’s eyes
and the atmosphere between certain characters feels tense and genuine.
The musical score is deeply emotional and the cinematography is
brilliant. If you leave unaffected, or not even the slightest bit teary, then
you have no heart. 2005 Academy Awards, Best Foreign Language Film.
(South Africa, 2005) Gavin Hood. Zulu, Xhosa, and Afrikaans languages.
94 min.
Tsotsi Review
