As I said, "depends on levels of distribution and promotion ."
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As I said, "depends on levels of distribution and promotion ."
You did and you are right.
THE HEART OF THE EARTH (Spain/UK)
BELLE TOUJOURS.
It was shown at the NYFF last fall and I wrote a review of it.A good question is whether it meant much to anyone not familiar with Bunuel's "1967 masterpiece." It shows great command but is rather slow to say the least, though the private dinner sequence is memorable, and the bar scenes. Fred Scheck, Hollywood Reporter:Quote:
It's a magnificent film, best enjoyed by those familiar with Bunuel's 1967 masterpiece.
I likeed watching Ogier, Piccoli, and Oliviera's relative as barman, as well as the elegant Parisian locales, but it was not, for me, a highlight of the festival.Quote:
unlikely to have much resonance for those who have not seen its inspiration.
It's taken me over an hour, but I managed to make it through this post, following up with all its links...
I must say I adamantly admire you and Chriss for your dedication to film and bothering to keep this site afloat. Posts like this one, with such valuable contributions to criticism and commentary, legitamize the rest of our ramblings. It's a shame the public is not privy to these monumental posts, whose insight arguably reach further into the psychology of film than is posted on the majority of the internet.
Thank you. I'm glad you enjoy this thread, cinemabon. There's a lot of movie prattle online. It's an honor to share this forum with you, Chris, Johann, bix, mouton, Tab, and others and go "deeper into movies" (to borrow the title of Kael's book).
*I'm one of those people who start conversations with strangers at the end of films. I do this a lot during the festival because the atmosphere is conducive to discussion. I talked to several people after Toujours, most of whom had not seen or did not remember the 1967 film. Some liked it, others found it "slight". I find it difficult to rate Tojours from the perspective of someone who didn't watch the early film. Like most of Bunuel's films, I've seen it several times. For me, the appearance of the chicken is more than a surrealist touch, it immediately brings to mind scenes from Viridiana and L'Age d'or. When Henri tells the story to the bartender, I know when he's lying or embellishing or providing a valid but personal interpretation. I don't think someone without the previous experience can enjoy Tojours as much as I did. I think that person can derive some enjoyment from the film though. I did not find it "slow" at all, but I can't speak for others. Since Bunuel's film is so great, I would tell someone planning to watch Toujours to rent the nice dvd of Belle de Jour prior to watching what I called an "epilogue".
I agree with cinemabon.
Some praise is due here.
I count what, 50 film reviews in a very short time?
50 awesome, well-written, highly focused reviews from someone who is a real cineaste.
I drop a knee my friend.
And you do it without pay.
You are arguably the lifeblood of this site Oscar.
*Don't pout Chris- you know you rule too...*
We're lucky to have you Mr. Jubis.
Film Comment, as great as it is as a magazine, cannot be this comprehensive with their coverage of festivals- not even close.
And they publish long after the dust settles.
Online publishing is great, isn't it?
Standing-O for this great collection of viewpoints.
Hope you do it for many years to come.
Or, since I don't remember that film that well, haven't watched Ogier and Piccoli in many films before and don't know who Oliveira is. I'm sure for me knowing this one is by a very old, very mellow director using remarkable French actors with long careers made me sit up and take notice. Otherwise, I might well have said, What the heck is this all about? If I said it was "slow" I don't mean it was boring. Van Sant's Gerry is "slow," --very, very slow -- but I happen to have really enjoyed it.Quote:
I find it difficult to rate Tojours from the perspective of someone who didn't watch the early film.
Point well taken.Quote:
For me, the appearance of the chicken is more than a surrealist touch, it immediately brings to mind scenes from Viridiana and L'Age d'or.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
If I said it was "slow" I don't mean it was boring.
I apologize. Even though I didn't specify that you called it "slow", I admit I wrote my reply under the false impression that you had written that.
Originally posted by Johann
I drop a knee my friend.
And you do it without pay.
I don't know that I deserve such amazing comments but I thank you. You've provided all the motivation I could need to write the six reviews pending. I must confess that without this outlet and these readers I could not afford to watch more than a handful of films. It's not only that the press screenings precede the festival, but as a low-income person I could never afford to watch 56 films at $12 each.
I don't know what your impression was, but slow is not boring. It's slow, that's all. Fast could be boring too, very easily in fact.Quote:
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
If I said it was "slow" I don't mean it was boring.
I apologize. Even though I didn't specify that you called it "slow", I admit I wrote my reply under the false impression that you had written that.
Let's hope online reviewing is growing in respect as politics blogs seem to be doing. I don't think you have to be low-income to find $672 a lot to spend for a few weeks of movie-going. I just went to only 10-15 in the SF festival till I started getting a press pass.Quote:
as a low-income person I could never afford to watch 56 films at $12 each.
The SFIFF will announce their lineup soon. I'm curious. That 10-ticket pass for $80 is a good deal. There's no equivalent at the MIFF.
BEAUTY IN TROUBLE (Czech Rep)
Emmanuel is a boy's name. It's Emmanuelle. In French Danielle, Marcelle, etc. are the female versions of names that have a masculine form. Or not, as in Isabelle.Quote:
Julien gets a respite from her when he receives piano lessons from his grandmother (Emmanuel Riva)
That's what I think about The Page Turner, but you seem to like this better. Why? I would like to see this. Apart from my usual interest in French films, I like Baye, though the films I've seen her in have been uneven. I personally think she's terrific in Le petit lieutenant, and love the film (SFIFF, NYFF, and limited US distribution) though the US reviews were mediocre (Metacritic 72); she got the Best Actress César for that one, I believe.Quote:
They establish a tense mood from the start and sustain it. . .
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
Emmanuel is a boy's name. It's Emmanuelle.
Thanks Chris. I don't want my review to contain errors like this one. Actually I knew it's Emmanuelle but I rushed the posting and failed to check the spelling. Ms. Riva is "Elle" in one of my very favorite French films ever: Resnais' Hiroshima Mon Amour. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it.
That's what I think about The Page Turner, but you seem to like this better. Why? I would like to see this.
I agree that both films create and sustain a tense mood. I like them both Chris, but I hadn't actually compared one with the other. Let's see. What I said about The Page Turner that was negative was that it "lacks the irony, humor and sharp social commentary of the best Chabrol films." I would agree with the following comment about My Son by Variety's Jonathan Holland:
"Subtle ironies abound, as when mother tells the uncomprehending Julien it's better to tell a lie than to hurt someone's feelings: of course, she is telling herself a big lie to avoid being hurt."
These "subtle ironies" are not present in The Page Turner. On the other hand, we know why Melanie is bent on revenge (even though we don't know why in the decade transpired since the failed audition she hasn't managed to accept it and move on) whereas we have no idea how Baye's mom character got to be such a monster and how her marriage got to be so utterly unsatisfying emotionally. When I write that "My Son is more than anything a horror film", I'm suggesting its limitations.
Both The Page Turner and My Son are well-executed, both feature very good performances, both have premises that can be summarized in a single sentence, both are worth seeing, and both lack the scope and ambition of films one considers as among the "best of the year" or "best of the fest". Obviously, the jury at San Sebastian liked My Son more than I did (tied for best film of that festival). My Son is a lot more difficult to watch and one admires the filmmakers lack of concern with giving an audience what they want. To say more would spoil the film. I don't expect My Son to be released in the States although one never knows. If I'm right, you can still get the dvd in France in 6 months or so.
I like Baye, though the films I've seen her in have been uneven. I personally think she's terrific in Le petit lieutenant, and love the film (SFIFF, NYFF, and limited US distribution) though the US reviews were mediocre (Metacritic 72)
Mediocre? 60 and above means "generally favorable reviews".
Le Petit Lieutenant comes out on dvd on April 10th y'all.
Le petit lieutenant reviews not "mediocre."
I shouildn't have said the US Petit lieutenant reviews were mediocre, just not as enthusiastic as I'd hoped. I won't comment further, except I saw it with someone at the SFIFF who thought it was just a cop flick, and I don't think everyone especially Americans would see that it transcends that genre. You will like Baye in it, I think. It also relates to addiction and recovery. I think Jalil Lespert is better than usual in it as the titular "little," i.e., fresh young, police academy grad, maybe he just had a better role and director there--just a guess, since I've seen only a handful of the 24 films this 31-year-old actor has been in. Anyway Nathalie Baye's is one of her best recent roles--again guessing, since only a few of them have been available to me--but this is supported by her getting the César, and La Californie, her latest, is lackluster. She acted for Xavier Beauvois before, in Selon Matthieu (2000), also starring Cannes prizewinner Benoît Magimel (for La pianiste, with Isabelle Huppert), and wouldn't I like to see that--available on French DVD.
"Not" defending The Page Turner
I don't want to over-defend The Page Turner; maybe I have a chip on my shoulder about it. I am getting tired of seeing it compared to Chabrol and found wanting -- not you in particular, Oscar. I was very disappointed in Manohla Dargis' dismissive review of it Friday. I am afraid I have lost my former enthusiasm for Dargis. I do think that seeing Dercourt's previous My Children Are Different, or whatever it's called in English, greatly enhanced my appreciation of The Page Turner because it shows his way of looking into the darker aspects of musicianship, and gives me a definite handle on what's distinctive about Dercourt's sensibility. Whether Manohla has seen it I don't know, but I think this approach through the previous work frees one of the compulsion to see The Page Turner as inferior Chabrol. Apparently Dercourt's earlier Les Cachetonneurs is a "joyous celebration of classical music," so he is moving into continually darker realms lately, but with a musical perspective.
Not comparing My Son with The Page Turner.
I see what you're saying about My Son, and that you don't want to be particularly seen as preferring it to The Page Turner (the latter, again, is coming to Berkeley for one week only in a couple weeks so I hope to re-see it). Finally, I do consider The Page Turner one of the "best of" the Rendez-Vous, but that's not the same level of selectivity as "the best of the fest." Looking on the fnac website, only The Page Turner and My Children...etc. are available on French DVD's, so he is only recently being noticed in France.
Emmanuelle Riva's greatest role.
Now you have told me why the name Emmanuelle Riva is familiar to me. I have also seen Hiroshima mon amour a number of times and thought a lot about it; it made a big impression on me the first time, when it was new and I was very young and the Nouvelle Vague was a new and exciting thing. It continues to reverberate through the many film treatments of works by and screenplays by the writer Marguerite Duras--The Lover, starring Jane March (Jean-Jacques Annaud, 1992) was a pretty good treatment of the actual experience of Duras' youth, directly described in her novel La douleur (Pain), out of which the Hiroshima mon amour story grew, in some sense.
You probably like The Page Turner more than me, which doesn't mean I didn't like it. I am obviously curious about what you'd think of Mon Fils A Moi. I like this Spanish rural thriller more than either and it probably won't get distributed either:
The Night of the Sunflowers
Sunflowers. Yes that sounds interestingly done. I think the touble is you don't feel the tension in The Page Turner as keenly as I do. But more is happening in this one, certaily. I really liked The Aura. I'm a little bothered by the use of the word "thriller." It sounds like something more.
So it's called Mon fils à moi--I see. That makes more sense. "The Son" is confusing, because we've just had The Sun and then we've already had Le Fils (Dardennes brothers) and then their "L'Enfant," The Child. Mon fils à moi is more distinctive. I bet this time the accent will read okay for you, because I'm sending this via Internet Explorer.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I really liked The Aura. I'm a little bothered by the use of the word "thriller." It sounds like something more.
Well, it is that but it's not confined by it. I understand though, I'm a little bothered lately by the overuse of "noir". The Aura? Apt comparison. Looks like we are understanding each other.
I bet this time the accent will read okay for you, because I'm sending this via Internet Explorer.
Yep.
Accent--so that is the reason. But now I'm back in Firefox, so see if this works: touché. Touché.
I don't understand how this works and I need to learn more about it.
Not really related to your review:
I saw a comedian on TV say Louis Armstrong was a heavy marijuana smoker, which gives new meaning to "What a Wonderful Wolrd":
I see trees of GREEN...
Clouds of white (smoke)...
sorry, bad joke.
:)
Wikipedia "unsourced" Satchmo quotes:
"At first it was just a misdemeanor, but then you lost the "mis-de" and you just got meaner and meaner. [A reference to the anti-marijuana laws of the 1930s]."
"It really puzzles me to see marijuana connected with narcotics dope and all of that stuff. It is a thousand times better than whiskey. It is an assistant and a friend."
I guess that indicates he was a grateful and regular user. I hope he wasn't addicted to the stuff. When I was growing up the only grass was to be found from jazz musicians; maybe also in the black community.
But why are we talking about this in this thread???
I agree.
I also agree with Louis- it IS better than whiskey.
In 2004 I bought a mickey of jack daniels and I was never more sicker in my life. I was on the floor of my bathroom for hours, thinking I was dying. "Why did I think Jack Daniels was cool to drink? Ohhh..uggghh..
That stuff is SERIOUS rotgut. It says "This is a sippin' whiskey" on the bottle for a reason.
Perhaps we can all agree that marijuana is better than whisky but whisky is better than GLUE
Cocalero sounds very interesting.
I really like it when "the viewer gets an overview of (x) society"
Congratulations to Evo for getting elected!
Having met Gary Burns (I even did security on his sets for A Problem With Fear- I love Emily Hampshire's performance in that. Pls check it out) I know exactly what he's driving at with Radiant City.
I've lived a considerable amount of time in Calgary Alberta and that urban spawl/ insulated community thing is scary.
The town of Airdrie USED to be a good drive north, now it's practically a suburb of Calgary proper. Many Calgarians live in Airdrie and commute every day. The homes are cookie-cutter, and they are MASS produced.
You could lose your soul living in those "hoods". Whatever big city I've lived in, I've almost always lived centrally, downtown.
I just feel extremely secure in the downtown core of cities- even L.A! You laugh, but I am at home downtown. Precisely because all of the people SPREAD OUT after dark. they go to the burbs, their neighborhoods, their closeted homesteads. Call me crazy but I really love living in the core of a city.
Satanas sounds really good.
Alatriste sounds intriguing.
24 million Euros, eh? Most expensive production in the history of Spanish cinema? Cool.
I dig Viggo.
I'll look for it.
Septembers also sounds good- criminal karaoke? I'm all there!
Fiction I'll look for too.
One of the best at the fest?
I'll take your word for it.
You guys talk of M. Recha's August Days with reverence. Sublime? Visual extravaganza? Sounds gravy to me.
I kept notes.
I really wanna se Margarethe von Trotta's latest. That sounds right up my alley.
Same with Verhoeven's Black Book.
There's something about Verhoeven that grabs me.
The Oscar-nominated After the Wedding has got my interest too.
Full Grown Men sounds warped.
You say a dud? The way you wrote about made it seem like it might be funny. A man-child getting beaten up by dwarves?
Sign me up!
Straight to the Point sounds cool and so does Sweet Mud. Anything that wins a prize @ Sundance must have some merit.
re: Drained
I saw 5 films at the 24th VIFF that I just couldn't summon the strength to review.
One was because it was so amateur and trite despite being a serious effort at tension and taut, nail-biting suspense (Cavite).
One was because I just didn't know how to put into words what I felt (40 Shades of Blue), one was because I lost my notes (a shame, because I really wanted to say something about it: [BL'Enfer/ HELL[/B]), and two because I just wanted to keep the memories of the films to myself, like a selfish cinephile: Water & Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse, which was one of the best screenings I ever attended. The cinemascope, the old-style of Preminger, David Niven, it was a glorious big-screen treat.
Originally posted by Johann
Cocalero sounds very interesting.
Congratulations to Evo for getting elected!
He hates the US as much as Chavez, but he has very good reasons to feel that way. Evo is an extremely likable guy, not an ounce of arrogance or self-importance in him.
Having met Gary Burns (I even did security on his sets for A Problem With Fear- I love Emily Hampshire's performance in that. Pls check it out) I know exactly what he's driving at with Radiant City.
Radiant has an unspeakable twist at the very end. A Problem with Fear is not available on dvd. Will check out if Sundance or IFC channels show it.
Satanas sounds really good.
Satanas was a world premiere so the fact that it doesn't have distribution now doesn't mean it won't in the future. Damian Alcazar is a fabulous actor. I met him briefly and congratulated him just prior to the screening of More Than Anything in the World. Film has obvious commercial appeal.
Alatriste sounds intriguing.
I dig Viggo.
I dig Viggo too, but the film is a mixed bag.
Septembers also sounds good- criminal karaoke? I'm all there!
If I have to do prison time, Spain would not be a bad place.
Fiction. One of the best at the fest?
I'll take your word for it.
A quiet, sensitive drama that blew me away.
You guys talk of M. Recha's August Days with reverence. Sublime? Visual extravaganza? Sounds gravy to me.
I kept notes.
Me too. I hope to have a chance to see it without having to import the dvd from Spain ($$$).
I really wanna se Margarethe von Trotta's latest. That sounds right up my alley.
Euro trash, but really good Euro trash.
Same with Verhoeven's Black Book.
Will "play wider" than your average foreign-language film because it's hugely entertaining and engrossing.
The Oscar-nominated After the Wedding has got my interest too.
Danes are not afraid of strong emotions. Blier is a little like Bergman.
Full Grown Men sounds warped.
You say a dud? The way you wrote about made it seem like it might be funny. A man-child getting beaten up by dwarves?
Sign me up!
Only if you bring some strong weed :)
Straight to the Point sounds cool and so does Sweet Mud. Anything that wins a prize @ Sundance must have some merit.
The Brazilian film is very authentic and I love samba. The Israeli film won an audience award here (I'll post the award round-up soon).
re: Drained
I saw 5 films at the 24th VIFF that I just couldn't summon the strength to review.
This post of yours came at the perfect time (thanx) to give me breather from writing (I left the toughest review for last, but it's almost done).
One was because it was so amateur and trite despite being a serious effort at tension and taut, nail-biting suspense (Cavite).
Curious mostly because of the setting. Available on dvd.
One was because I just didn't know how to put into words what I felt (40 Shades of Blue)
I didn't feel strongly about it either way.
one was because I lost my notes (a shame, because I really wanted to say something about it: (L'Enfer/ HELL)
CK reviewed it. I put it on my wish list and the damn thing never came out. Apparently its out on dvd in Hong Kong, which means I can afford it. Will look into it.
Otto Preminger's Bonjour Tristesse, which was one of the best screenings I ever attended. The cinemascope, the old-style of Preminger, David Niven, it was a glorious big-screen treat.
You probably know Jean Seberg's character in Breathless is an extension of the restless teen she plays in Bonjour. I love Preminger! Everybody knows Laura and Anatomy of a Murder. Just as great and recently released on dvd: Angel Face with Gene Tierney and his last great movie: Bunny Lake is Missing also, like Bonjour[/i], in gorgeous CinemaScope format.
Problem with Fear is not available on DVD?
Hmm. They seem to be everywhere up here.
Strong weed is not an issue.
Let me just dig into my bag here...
Whoa!
Yep, that is some strong herbage pardner...
Yeah man, take a breather.
Aren't your nalgas sore?
Aren't your posaderas a little numb?
Oh yeah, the festival was over a while ago...
:)
yeah, Bonjour Tristesse was beautiful.
Felt like a vacation watching that movie.
The scenery, Seberg's sexiness, preminger's assured hand...wonderful to see it on the big screen. I said to myself that I was keeping that memory private. (not so private now...)
Cavite was one I didn't mean to miss but you are making me think it's not worth renting.
I did review Forty Shades of Blue when it was shown in September 2005 at Film Forum. I found it had some indie-viduality and said itAfter the Wedding is coming to a Landmark theater in Berkeley soon and I certainly will be interested to see it.Quote:
has an unforgettable character at its center. But there is something static about her and the film at some times that makes it awkward and painful to watch.
I also appreciated Johann's notes and comments highlighting some of your Miami reviews, Oscar, and I'm sorry I've kept less effective track of your Miami festival screenings, though I have read your reviews. I hope you'll have a brief Best Of listing at the end.
A wide range of people at Lincoln Center press screenings recently spoke with awe of Hell/L'enfer yet it seemed to me too much like a Kieslowski knock-off. The director also personally didn't impress me. He didn't strike me as very sincere. I didn't think he meant it. I feel Kieslowski emphatically does; he has a high moral seriousness that is impressive, along with his artistic command.
Sagan's Bonjour Tristesse -- the book -- seemed like a clever and elegant little piece of fluff when it was a bestseller back in the day; good for a beginning French student but nothing to linger over. I hence avoided seeing the Hollywood film version, and I preferred more hardcore French stuff with Seberg in it, namely of course, Breathless/À bout de souffle (1960). But a guy named Fred Camper in Chicago Reader rates Preminger's BT as a Masterpiece. I can't comment, except to say maybe they ought to retire that word, and that it's not my type of film, too mainstream Hollywood, making a big production out of a very economical little book, and having people who're French speaking English -- no thanks -- and has anybody noticed Seberg couldn't act? But I haven't seen it; that's just my prejudgment based on who I am and where I came from.
The San Francisco festival press screenings begin next week.
Cavite annoyed me.
I appreciated the effort (it was the filmmakers' first film (2 guys whose names I can't remember- they introduced the movie before the screening) but it was just too....amateur.
It went on and on. The guy has a cell phone on his ear for practically the whole damn movie and the guy who's telling him what to do has a grating voice coming thru the receiver. I didn't really believe the story. The acting didn't convince me. The audience clapped because the filmmakers were in the theatre, but I bolted when the credits were rolling. Didn't hang around for the Q & A.
40 Shades of Blue interested me, but it did have a very sombre tone. It seemed like a dead-stop to my mind when I went to see it.
I may have had other movies on my mind too.
That happens at festivals.
You'd be sitting waiting to see a film just after you watched something powerful, something you're still thinking about.
Even when you're watching the movie, thoughts of the other one enters your head.
Ah, festival madness...
Hell I remember liking but it is definitely
NO K. Kieslowski. I remember wondering what he would've done with the story. Kieslowski was posessed. He was consumed by his filmmaking, like Kubrick.
Nothing he made didn't have the stamp of utterly personal genius on it.
Tristesse is a mood movie, a very specific STYLE. It left me with a euphoric appreciation for the style, the overall luxuriousness and just plain "good quality movie" aspect.
Masterpiece is a word i understand somebody using to describe it, but it's not a quote unquote "masterpiece". It's just a really good studio film. (with David Niven sashaying & lounging around in his swimming trunks)
*I'd like to watch Bonjour Tristesse in a theatre. It's really good. Just had a chance to watch Malle's Elevator to the Gallows on the big screen. Becket, with O'Toole and Burton, is playing here. I have to check it out.
*Perhaps I'll pass on Cavite then.
*I'm going to the SFIFF site to learn about the films showing as soon as I finish this post.
*If I go to the Sarasota festival, I'll write notes in between screenings to get my thoughts about a movie out of my head before the next screening starts. Perhaps that'll relieve "festival madness". I'd be watching 3 or 4 films a day.
*I still want to watch Hell.
*Might do two MIFF "Best of" lists: one for commercial and one for art films. I'll start with the awards list then a list of what I missed. Here's the last review:
COLOSSAL YOUTH (Juventud em Marcha)
Notes are essential to me at a festival.
I'd never remember a damn thing, never write a review:
So what film did you see, Bob?
I can't remember.
C'mon Bob, you must remember something!
No not really...There were people in it....and a dog...
Oh Bob, you are such a wacky guy...
Johann
When all is said and done I am not crazy about festivals. One movie a day is enough and if I have to write a review of it one a day is too much, though even when I'm just on my own in NYC I often see two or even three a day, but then, I'm free to take a day off or go to a museum, or for a walk, or do nothing. At a festival while it's on there's no letup.Quote:
I may have had other movies on my mind too.
That happens at festivals.
You'd be sitting waiting to see a film just after you watched something powerful, something you're still thinking about.
Even when you're watching the movie, thoughts of the other one enters your head.
Ah, festival madness...
Notes--Nonetheless I don't have that much trouble keeping movies separate in my mind, and besides, when you have a press kit you don't need notes, or you can jot them on the press kit. During the French series this time I used the press kits to jot down French vocabulary . . My ideas often come in the writing process though, not in the theater. I probably am weak in concrete details due to this.
I liked what you said about Kieslowski. I would consider Danis Tanovic's Hell a Kieslowski knockoff. He'd have been better off doing something entirely of his own. I have to say I was underwhelmed by No Man's Land. LIke a lot of new directors when they can get hold of the money or even when they can't, he shows great technical accomplishment, but I'm not sure he has found himself as a director, going by those two.
Oscar
And again please let me know any suggestions or comments on the list. What I did last year was I just went to all the press screenings. They're just a fraction of the whole. Then I went to a necessarily selected few of the public screenings, letting my young friend pick a lot of them. He can't go this year, so I guess I'll pick on my own.Quote:
I'm going to the SFIFF site to learn about the films showing as soon as I finish this post
Noticias Lejanas and Play were press screenings. I saw Los Muertos in the previous year because my young friend saw it with his dad and said it was great. Who knows if I would have chosen to see them? Yet they were the highlights that I remember now. I also suffered thorough some dim productions at the press screenings too though. Every time it's a very mixed bag. That's why I like the NYFF. At least in the minds of the jury, its selections are not a mixed bag, but the best of the best.
Now that I see far more movies in theaters than on home video and not the other way around as it was a decade or so ago, I consider the theatrical experience overwhelmingly superior. The DVD/tape is only a useful tool to study or catch up, but that's the main reason why I perhaps won't see Cavite now--if it was in a theater and I had the time, I'd go see it still to see if I agree with what Johann says or not.
Originally posted by Chris Knipp
And again please let me know any suggestions or comments on the list.
I'm on top of it. List will be made publicly available tomorrow.
Every time it's a very mixed bag. That's why I like the NYFF. At least in the minds of the jury, its selections are not a mixed bag, but the best of the best.
I've noticed that they save most of the truly adventurous fare for "Film Comment Selects" and "New Directors/New Films".
MIFF AWARDS
They sure do. But "truly adventurous" is a very value-laden phrase. I hope your statement is not meant to imply that nothing in the NYFF is adventurous, or that the other smaller series are of higher quality. Neither is true. There are just so many overlaps. The NYIFF goes for high quality, and it contains "truly adventurous" entries. And some of the "Film Comment Selects" and "New Directors/New Films" are unsuccessful, this year from reports especially the former series had some dogs in it. I wouldn't take on the trouble and expense of spending a month in New York to see "Film Comments Selects." But maybe I should go to Toronto, or Berlin, or Cannes. I dare say now you, Oscar, will say you'd rather go to Rotterdam. "De gustibus..." We do what we can do. And there are those overlaps. If you went to all the big festivals, there'd be plenty of films you could skip because you'd already seen them, and that goes on for over a year for them.Quote:
I've noticed that they save most of the truly adventurous fare for "Film Comment Selects" and "New Directors/New Films".
WHAT I MISSED AT THE 2007 MIFF
Films that have distribution deals
Red Road (Scotland)
Chronicle of an Escape (Argentina)
Manufactured Landscapes (Canada)doc
The Valet (France)
First Snow (USA)
Films likely to have distribution in one form or another
Banished (USA)doc
Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa (USA)doc
Padre Nuestro (USA)
Ghosts (UK)
Films unlikely to get distributed (the ones that got away):
The Dog Pound: Uruguayan drama about a 20-something slacker.
The Silence: Cate Shortland's follow-up to her amazing Somersault. Made for TV.
U:Animated film opened in France to copious praise.
The Only One: Belgian drama about an octogenerian struggling to maintain his independence.
The Boy on a Galloping Horse: arty Polish b&w film.
Living with Hannah: German drama about a traumatized young woman.
Red Like the Sky: Italian psychological drama about a blind man.
The Valet AKA La doublure was in the Rendez-Vous series and I wrote a review. It's a very conventional and old fashioined romantic comedy and you didn't miss anything by not seeing it--except a beautiful blonde babe.
You used the word "arty", I consider that a kind of breakthrough.
*I read your review at the time you posted it and I noticed your lack of enthusiasm for La Doublure. This director's films are enjoyable but certainly not important or particularly accomplished. It wasn't screened for the press and it has distribution so I didn't see it at the fest.
*First Snow has already been released in a couple of markets. I will try to alert readers when other festival films are released comercially.
*Manufactured Landscapes will be showing in Sarasota. I'll probably watch it there because the "captures" look amazing.
*Haha! I thought of using "painterly" instead of "arty". Reviews I read praise the visual qualities of the film over other aspects.
Francis Veber's films surely are influential, and that makes them important. He has been remade in Hollywood--another sign of influence. La Cage aux Folles and The Closet are particularly notable, not to mention The Man with One Red Shoe, the interesting The Dinner Game, and others. At film comedy, he is accomplished. Though I don't think this one is as good as earlier ones, still La Doublure is a well-oiled machine. The fact remains, nobody in this crowd necessarily needs to run out and see it. But one can't say he's not important or accomplished just because one doesn't like his work particularly. His work is not particularly to my taste either, but I can't dismiss it quite that easily. No big deal, though, I'm just being picky, as usual.Quote:
This director's films are enjoyable but certainly not important or particularly accomplished.