Fiftieth Anniversary SFIFF 2007

SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007

LINKS TO ALL CHRIS KNIPP REVIEWS OF SFIFF 2007 FILMS:

7 YEARS (JEAN-PASCAL HATTU)
12 LABORS, THE (RICARDO ELIAS)
AD LIB NIGHT (LEE YOON-KI)
amour-LEGENDE (MI-SEN WU)
AGUA (VERONICA CHEN)
ALONG THE RIDGE (KIM ROSSI STEWERT)
ARIA (TAKUSHI TSUBOKAWA)
BAMAKO (ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO)
BORN AND BRED (PABLO TRAPERO)
CAYMAN, THE (NANNI MORETTI)
COLOSSAL YOUTH (PEDRO COSTA))
CONGORAMA (PHILIPPE FALARDEAU)
DANS PARIS/INSIDE PARIS (CHRISTOPHE HONORE)
DARATT (MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN)
FALLING (BARBARA ALBERT)
FLANDERS (BRUNO DUMONT)
GARDENS IN AUTUMN (OTAR IOSSELIONI)
GRANDHOTEL (DAVID ONDRICEK)
HANA (HIROKAZU KOREEDA)
HEAVEN'S DOORS (SWEL AND IMAD NOURY)
HOW IS YOUR FISH TODAY? (XIAOLU GUO, 2006)
ISLAND, THE (PAVEL LOUNGUINE)
LADY CHATTERLEY (PASCALE FERRAN)
LOVE FOR SALE: SUELY IN THE SKY (KARIM AINOUZ)
MURCH (EDIE AND DAVID ICHIOKA)
OLD GARDEN, THE (IM SANG-SOO)
OTAR IOSELIANI (JULIE BERTUCELLI)
PAPRIKA (SATOCHI KON)
PARTING SHOT (JEANNE WALTZ)
PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES (ALAIN RENAIS)
RAGE (ZULI ALADAG)
ROCKET SCIENCE (JEFFREY BLITZ)
REPRISE (JOACHIM TRIER)
ROAD TO SAN DIEGO, THE (CARLOS SORIN)
ROME RATHER THAN YOU (TARIQ TEGUIA)
SILLY AGE, THE (PAVEL GIROUD)
SOUNDS OF SAND (MARION HANSEL)
SUGAR CURTAIN, THE (CAMILA GUZMAN URZUA)
THESE GIRLS (TAHANI RACHED)
TIMES AND WINDS (REHA ERDEM)
VANAJA (RAJNESH DOMALPALLI )
VIE EN ROSE,LA/LA MOME (OLIVIER DAHAN)
VIOLIN, THE (FRANCISCO VARGAS)
YACOUBIAN BUILDING, THE (MARWAN HAMED)


FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY

200 films from 54 countries.

This will be a blog of the festival, which runs from April 26 to May 10, and also can be a place for anyone at all to discuss the films or the festival and comment on my reviews in the Festival Coverage Thread.

The SFIFF films schedule is posted now, and there was a press breakfast in the St. Francis Hotel this morning with free food and a nice view and Graham Leggat et al. announced all the programs. I'm glad they are showing The Yacoubian Building, an interesting-sounding new Egyptian movie that I just missed in NY. The finale showing is the same one as the Rendez-Vous', the Edith Piaf biopic La Vie en Rose AKA La Mome. Other offerings I've already seen include Dumont's Flanders and Resnais' new one, Coeurs AKA Private Fears in Public Places. Honore's Dans Paris is also to be shown, Bamako, Gardens in Autumn, Paprika.

Lady Chatterley I have not seen and I am eager to because there has been a lot of buzz about it in Europe; it was well received at the Berlinale and has shown in France to excellent reviews, needless to say since it wont the C�sar for Best Film.

Opening Night and the midterm and final showings offer no comps and the prices are pretty outrageous for the opening, $85 minimum, so I guess I won't see the new Emanuele Crialese (of Respiro) offering, Golden Door AKA Nuovo Mondo. Leggatt called it "Nuevo Mundo," but that was okay: he got every other foreign word and name right and got applause for the way he could reel off two dozen local film artists' names at a time -- he is a sharp cookie, acing the credits aspect anyway, good also at hyping the films and the festival, and he gives every indication of being an excellent director. I don't know how well serious film buffs like the selections/presentations; this festival may excel as much or more for its events as for its actual films, though I plan only on seeing films. There are a couple of young guys responsible for some of the more edgy/ avant-garde / political / offbeat selections, and their enthusiasm is inspiring. (The Centerpiece is Tom De Cillo's Delirous starring Steve Buscemi with Michael Pott.)

The main venue the Kabuki has been taken over by Sundance and is being done over and will be nicer. It will still be the main venue though the remodeling isn't quite finished. I was told there will be very few press screenings and they will be at the downtown Embarcadero Cinemas, which means they're at least easier to get to on the BART train (it is the first San Francisco stop) , an improvement, but I'm disappointed there are going to be few of them, because that was one way I got to see a cross section of the offerings as I mentioned earlier and included Noticias Lejanas and Play as well as several other notable offerings. The system of comps is more of a hassle: you have to show up an hour before the showing, go to the press office, and request comps, and they see if there are any left.... This is another reason why I prefer press screenings. They aren't as lively, but they're easier. There will be more screeners of some sort, but you all know full well that's nothing like seeing a film in a nice auditorium. I'm sure glad I didn't have to watch Noticias Lejanas and Play on my home monitor or one of theirs.

Sorry about the reduced press screening schedule.

Films playing at the SFIFF I've reviewed:
Colossal Youth
The Violin
Sounds of Sand
The Old Garden
The 12 Labors
Fish Dreams
Jindabyne

Films playing at the SFIFF I'd want to watch:
Brand Upon the Brain
Opera Jawa
Daratt
The Yacoubian Building
The Island
Born and Bred
Gardens in Autumn
Il Caimano
Lady Chatterley
Aria
Otar Iosseliani: The Whistling Blackbird

I'll look up what you said about Sounds of Sand. It's the sole press screening tomorrow. The stills of it are very striking.

That's easy--if those are all you want to see. I've seen Gardens in Autumn (NYFF 2006) I'll look up the others you mention, of course not Lady Chatterley or Il caimano or The Yacoubian Building, because I already want to see them.

Thanks.

They gave us a CD with over 600 stills on it. I haven't figures out how to use them yet though. And they aren't labeled, which seems like simply a big mistake to me....

Though already reviewed by Oscar in Miami, I decided to go to this one also because the stills intrigued me and it is one of the few press screenings, which are being greatly reduced due to a poor turnout. I'm waiting to get a link that will give me thumbnails for the reviews so they will come later.


SOUNDS OF SAND

So San Fran's been doing it for 50 years?
I didn't know that- looking forward to your posts


I find press screenings ideal.
They are better than the festival proper in some ways- they tend to have "serious" people at them, hence no yapping or talking during the films. One time it was just me and some other guy in the theatre! Kinda cool actually- it makes you feel like they're screening it just for you.


Now for the important question:

So what did they serve at breakfast?
Croissants? with real butter?

Sliced grapefruit?

Or was it burnt toast and cocoa puffs?

Breakfast was all that, I had some moist thick fruitcake stuff and croissants, all with real butter, and yes, grapefruit, other fruits, they did not stint on breakfast in any way shape or form, it was a tasty, generous spread, in a room on the 23rd floor of the Westin St. Francis that has views of the whole city and Telegraph Hill in the foreground, and there was a big crowd on hand for Graham Leggatt's displays of memory and has ability to hype convincingly the festival's comprehensive, amazing programs, awards, etc. The Fiftieth Anniversary? They're celebrating by doing what they always do: lots of local - related events, celebrations of Bay Area filmmakers and film celebs and technicians and the usual round of new films and some you've heard of already from other festivals.. See the program online for the awards to Lucas, Rosario Dawson and Sam Rockwell, Spike Lee, et al.

Why people don't show up for the press screenings I have no idea, that is a real shame. I love being able to see all the Rendez-Vous with the insider crowd at the press screenings, and the entire New York Film Festival last year had all the big directors on hand for Q&A's just for the press. That's just not the way it works out here.. So there will be very few press screenings and I will be seeing what I see mostly through showing up an hour ahead and requesting press comps at the Kabuki Theater. At the PFA it is a bit easier for me, since I live in the East Bay. But the complete program is at the Kabuki in SF.

Here's a list of the SFIFF movies I am tentatively interested in (in alphabetical order):

7 YEARS (French, prison love triangle)

12 LABORS, THE (Brazilian youth story)

AGUA (Argentina/France, about long distance swimmers)

ALONG THE RIDGE/ANCHE LIBERO VA BENE (Kim Rossi Stewart, Italian, about a boy and a dad)

amour-LEGENDE (Japanese, arty love story)

BROKEN ENGLISH (Zoe Cassavetes, with French star Melvil Poupaud)

CAYMAN, THE /IL CAIMANO (Nanni Moretti, Italian political satire on Berlusconi)

GHOST TRAIN (wild Japanese horror movie)

HANA (Kore-eda of Nobody Knows, about a samurai who turns peaceful)

HEAVENS DOORS (Morocco, about hoodlums and an American woman in Casablanca)

LADY CHATTERLEY (French D.H. Lawrence novel adaptation, just won Best Picture César)

LAST DAYS OF YASIR ARAFAT, THE (documentary, Australia/Palestine)

MURCH (documentary about Hollywood sound legend)

ORANGE REVOLUTION, THE (documentary about election scandal in Ukraine)

OTAR IOSSALIANI (France, documentary about elderly filmmaker from Russia originally)

RAGE (Turkish/German, political culture-clash thriller set in Germany)

SUGAR CURTAIN, THE (France/Cuba, doc. about Cuban revolution)

VANAJA (India, about teenage girl who wants to become a dancer)

YACOUBIAN BUILDING, THE (Egypt biggest budget film ever, from a bestseller)

BAMAKO(ABDERRAHMANE SISSAKO)

FALLING/FALLEN (BARBARA ALBERT)

FLANDERS/FLANDRES (BRUNO DUMONT)

GARDENS IN AUTUMN/JARDINS EN AUTONNE (OTAR IOSSALIANI)

PAPRIKA (SATOSHI KON)

PRIVATE FEARS IN PUBLIC PLACES/COEURS (ALAIN RESNAIS)

SOUNDS OF SAND/SI LE VENT ENLEVE LES SABLES (MARION HANSEL)

THESE GIRLS/EL BANATE DOL (TAHANI RACHED)

VIE EN ROSE, LA /LA MOME (OLIVIER DAHAN)

Two films bound to disappoint, based on the available reviews and ratings, would be Ghost Train and Hana, both Japanese. In the case of Hana, no one claims it's a bad film but just about every available review indicates it's not at the high level of Kore-eda's previous films. We'll see. Perhaps your opinion will differ.

Perhaps my opinion won't differ. I'll take your info into consideration, and GHOST TRAIN looks like it may not make the cut. As I said these are only ones I'm tentatively interested in.

By the way I forgot to mention my intention of seeing the latest Carlos Sorin film. I have found his little portraints of Patagonia and environs quite unique and special. The new one is:

ROAD TO SAN DIEGO/EL CAMINO DE SAN DIEGO (CARLOS SORIN)

And among SFIFF films I've already seen I should have also given the 2006 NYFF item, THESE GIRLS/EL BANATE DOL (TAHANI RACHED), an interesting documentary about young women living on the street in Cairo (especially interesting to me, since once upon a time I lived in Cairo).

What about American films--anything good coming here? So far I don't know. You'd think that was the biggest category, but when you remove the revivals and co-credits the number dwindles; still, I should try to find something. There were some few US entries worth considering last year in the festival. For example Half Nelson and Factotum, Art School Confidential and Prairie Home Companion were shown, and also in English I liked the British-made Brothers of the Head. In fact, with my usual perversity, I would say the latter was my favorite of those. The others were all worth seeing, though. What in English is this year?

I plan to go to the press screening Wednesday, AFTER THIS OUR EXILE (PATRICK TAM) if only because there are so few press screenings to see this year at this festival.

I enjoy Carlos Sorin's movies also. Shame that Bombon El Perro, which we've both seen, won't be coming out on dvd. At least not as of now. I think other members would enjoy it.
I missed These Girls at the MIFF.

Oscar, I meant to refer you to Michael Hawley's SFIFF wish list on The Evening Class but that seems to have gotten plowed under. Hawley's remarks make me think I ought to consider Colossal Youth�Im Sang-Soo's The Old Garden, Ghosts of Cit� Soleil�the Chadian Daratt, Opera Jawa, possibly Karim Ainuz's Love For Sale: Suely in the Sky, given that Manam Sata' was a unique effort. I'm uncertain about the Belgian Congorama, also mentioned by Hawley. This would leave me covering a lot of your wish list given above.

Great. I'm looking forward to reading all of your reviews from the festival. Naturally, I'm particularly curious about your opinion of certain films.
Another film I missed at the MIFF is Ghosts of Cite Soleil. Variety's Todd McCarthy: "It's amazing this film even exists and that the director is alive". It has a US distributor though.
I thought to myself Daratt is one you'd like to watch, but perhaps not the musical Opera Jawa (by the same guy who directed the doc Serambi which I reviewed).
I like Im Sang-soo's films. I just purchased an import dvd of his A Young Lawyer's Wife which was not distributed in our country. I felt that the romantic story and the political aspects in The Old Garden weren't always integrated smoothly. It's still a good movie.
I enjoyed reading Michael Hawley's recollections of previous SFIFF screenings. He's right when he says that Colossal Youth was "the great audience divider at Cannes". I dealt with this issue in my review. Miami audiences are generally more polite, but there were walkouts here also, as well as people who were enthralled by the cumulative power of Costa's long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations, etc. I generally avoid reading much about a film before watching it, but there are times when one benefits greatly. I think the more you know about Colossal Youth going in, the more you appreciate it.

Thanks. I'll try to look up the films around the days of the screenings, and have the schedule spread out. I like Hong Sangsoo, so if Im is similar.....but I wasn't crazy about The President's Big Bang, it didn't win my heart or anything. I like good political documentaries. . If you warn against Opera Jawa then maybe I should pass on that. As you know I can be okay with " long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations," but it depends on whose and when.

I'm actually sorry people can't see Los Muertos on the big screen. I used to scoff at that distinction, now I sit up close in the theater a lot of the time. I did for Grindhouse.

There is another movie called Los Muertos that just came out or just got mentioned in the US press. I think. I can't find it on IMDb.

I also tend to pursue anything related to the Arab world due to my time spent in the Middle East and my study of Arabic--though Hansley says the SFIFF is strong on Latin American or Spanish language films, I think I would do well to leave them to you.

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I like Hong Sangsoo, so if Im is similar.....but I wasn't crazy about The President's Big Bang, it didn't win my heart or anything.
Actually Hong and Im are quite different. Hong's films are extremely nuanced and understated, deal mostly with relationships between young people who are usually artists or academics, use relatively long takes. You've seen A Tale of Cinema, one of several of his to screen at the NYFF. A favorite theme of Hong is past memories and events and the impossibility of undoing and returning to a past stage in our lives. Hong's Woman is the Future of Man, which was released last summer, just came out on dvd with an introduction by Marty Scorsese, who's a fan of Hong and South Korean cinema in general.
Im's films aim more towards the mainstream. Each of his films seems to adopt a different genre. What unites his last few films is their strong political background. The President's Last Bang is a satirical treatment of the assassination of the president in 1979. The Old Garden is basically a romance during the years of revolt against the dictatorship that followed that assassination. The Guangju Massacre is a major event in the film.

As you know I can be okay with " long takes, his idiosyncratic framing, the monologues, recitations and cryptic conversations," but it depends on whose and when.
Yes. I have no idea how you'd react to Pedro Costa's film. Read about it before you watch it. What some find slow and confusing, others regard as truthful, poetic and mysterious.

I'm actually sorry people can't see Los Muertos on the big screen. There is another movie called Los Muertos that just came out or just got mentioned in the US press. I think.
It's "our" Los Muertos that finally got released. I opened this thread to announce it: Los Muertos Gets Distribution in the USA

Hansley says the SFIFF is strong on Latin American or Spanish language films
Four from Brasil and three from Argentina is strong.
One from Mexico and none from Spain is weak.

I'm afraid you got Hong and Im confused. I only have seen I'm's President's Big Bang, so I was leaving open the possibliity that I might like his work as much as Hong otherwise. I know who Hong is, and certainly remember what I saw of his at the New York Film Festival and wrote reviews of two years in a row; I also saw Woman Is the Future of Man in a theater. But you're attributing his films to Im, whose only film that I've seen is The President's Big Bang.

As for Peter--sorry, Pedro--Costa's Colossal Youth, there's no way of knowing, but Kevin Lee seems to like it, not that my taste and Lee's are identical, but that suggests a degree of interest. (You could read ten essays like Lee's and still not know if you are going to like it. ) It seems to have been discussed on Strictly Film School, but Acquerello's poetic prose leaves it even more ambiguous than Lee's as to whether or not one would like the film; one can only see why people walk out. There is no way of knowing from reviews whether I would like it or not, really. But I can see you are right to warn me. Now you can say you did.

Some would walk out of Los Muertos. I actually only went to it because Travis said it was great.

Do you think taking Spanish language as a category is wrong, hence your equivocal comment on whether the SF festival's selection thereof is strong or weak? I assume the Miami selection is stronger, clearly? But my point is, you are more qualified to cover that area. And your polite ambiguity aside, I gather Miami covers it better than San Francisco. I have yet to figure out where San Franicicso is strong; perhaps, not untypically, in a certain showmanship, and in the sidebar events and their way of drawing on local talent. But of course I guess everybody does that, and Cannes and Berlin and Venice etc. can draw on all of Europe.

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I'm afraid you got Hong and Im confused.
Ah silly me. I've corrected the post. Thanks.

As for Peter--sorry, Pedro--Costa's Colossal Youth, there's no way of knowing
Right, there's no way of knowing with certainty. I like how Mark Peranson approaches the film Cannes '06. Go to the last third of his long essay.

Some would walk out of Los Muertos.
Absolutely.

But my point is, you are more qualified to cover that area. And your polite ambiguity aside, I gather Miami covers it better than San Francisco. I have yet to figure out where San Franicicso is strong
San Francisco seems to me to have excellent balance as far as showing films from all over the globe. One thing I haven't been able to figure out is which of the films playing are world premieres or American premieres. I read somewhere that one of the variables to judge a film festival is the number and quality of its world and national premieres. For me, that is not a major factor per se. The MIFF is very strong when it comes to films in Spanish and Portuguese, solid in European films in general, and somewhat weak in Asian films.
Sometimes knowing the language really makes a difference, but only sometimes. I'll give you an example. One of my favorite films of all time is Carlos Saura's Cria. Well, there's a pop song in it that the young girls who are the protagonists sing repeatedly. The lyrics of the song are very important in conveying meaning but the lyrics were not subtitled when the film was shown commercially in the USA.

Quote:

---

I read somewhere that one of the variables to judge a film festival is the number and quality of its world and national premieres.

---

Well, of course. The greater number of premieres go to the more famous and well positioned (in space and time of year) festivals.

Quote:

---

Sometimes knowing the language really makes a difference, but only sometimes. I'll give you an example. One of my favorite films of all time is Carlos Saura's Cria. Well, there's a pop song in it that the young girls who are the protagonists sing repeatedly. The lyrics of the song are very important in conveying meaning but the lyrics were not subtitled when the film was shown commercially in the USA.

---

Your point seems a bit fuzzy here. Knowing the language, and of course also the culture, is always important, but sometimes more important than at other times.

Of course for Tony Jaa, you don't need subtitles. But try an Ingmar Bergman movie without them. But consider also how much subtitles leave out; and "language" also means culture.

Rosenbaum had never mentioned Costa, as none of his films had played in Chicago. Colossal Youth will screen there this week as part of the Chicago Latino fest.

Colossal Youth
"Most or all of Pedro Costa's films reside in a netherworld between documentary and fiction, and the two I've seen are awesome. Where Lies Your Hidden Smile? (2001), an account of Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet editing one of their films, feels very intimate, though they were also being observed by students (whose presence is elided by Costa). And the exquisitely composed, naturally lit chiaroscuro of Colossal Youth (2006), shot in the surviving ruins of one Lisbon slum and around a high-rise in another, combines realism and expressionism, Louis Lumiere and Jacques Tourneur. It was cowritten by the nonprofessional, marginal, mainly nonwhite cast; rehearsed and shot in multiple takes; then edited down from 320 hours to 155 minutes over a period of 15 months. It's unlike anything else I've seen -- mysterious, exalted, demanding, leisurely paced, and very beautiful -- and you're bound to either love it or hate it. In Portuguese with subtitles." (Jonathan Rosenbaum)

It's good to have this recognition, but I think your own review of Colossal Youth told me more than this, along with some of the same basic information. Interesting to note that Costa likes his films to be seen at public screenings so people will see others walk out, feeling that is part of his process.

I'm finding it hard to access the SFIFF's press information, and so I missed the fact that at the last minute they added a press screening of Emanuele Crialese's Golden Door on Friday, and this is an $85-ticket grand opener that I may not otherwise be able to see. I am going to try to make it to what remains of the press screenings, , minus the Edith Piaf biopic which I've already covered and was the finale at the Rendez-Vous. Tomorrow they are showing a Czech film that was shown at the Berlinale, David Ondricek's Grandhotel and I will do my best to make it to that, at least. Just about every other press screening is at a different venue. This is probably because the Kabuki, the main venue, is still being done over by the Sundance people. But it will still be the main venue of the festival and they say it's going to be very nice. Well, Graham Leggatt says.

As promised, a review of the press screening of this new Czech film shown recently at the Berlinale:


DAVID ONDRICEK'S "GRANDHOTEL" (2006)

A good one.


IM SANG-SOO: THE OLD GARDEN (2006)



.

Great little documentary on the film and sound editor.


EDIE AND DAVID ICHIOKA: MURCH (2006)




.

Smart and occasionally surprising Sundance teen flick, but you may want to wait for the DVD.



JEFFREY BLITZ: ROCKET SCIENCE (2007)



.

I'm going back over Oscar's lists and mine for the SFIFF now as the festival begins this week. The opening night is Thursday. Regular showings of up to 21 a day begin in the main venue Friday.

Oscar's lists:
Films playing at the SFIFF I've reviewed:
-Colossal Youth
The Violin
-Sounds of Sand
-The Old Garden
-The 12 Labors
Fish Dreams
Jindabyne

Films playing at the SFIFF I'd want to watch:
Brand Upon the Brain
Opera Jawa
-Daratt
-The Yacoubian Building
The Island
Born and Bred
-Gardens in Autumn
-Il Caimano
-Lady Chatterley
-Aria
-Otar Iosseliani: The Whistling Blackbird

The tick marks show ones I've already seen or hope to see. Some of the omissions are merely due to venue or scheduling problems. Of course I have some others on my wish list, which you can find above.

The press screenings are still a source of frustration. As few as there are, theyu've made it harder to see even those by scattering them among various venues and scheduling them with four hours in between them.

*Ondricek's Loners had a commercial run in NY in 2002, based on awards at 2nd-tier Euro fests, but it didn't get good reviews here. Not on dvd. A better choice for the SFIFF would have been Jan Hrebejk's Beauty in Trouble.

*FF Coppola hasn't directed in 10 years. His Youth Without Youth has been completed. Walter Murch edits of course. I hope the Ichiokas doc ends up as an extra on a dvd or gets broadcasted on cable because I'd like to watch it.

*If it's convenient for you to catch The Violin check it out. I think you might enjoy it.

Quote:

---

A better choice for the SFIFF would have been Jan Hrebejk's Beauty in Trouble.

---

You may well be right on that; I would hope so. I did not choose to see the Ondricek film; I simply went because it was a press screening offered. Last year just turning up for the then conveniently located and scheduled press screenings was a good way of getting a cross section of the festival and that's how I happened to see Play, Noticias Lejanas, Half Nelson, Brothers of the Head, Factotum, and the award-winning documentary, Iraq in Fragments. A different story this year: far fewer shown, harder to get to, and I only managed to see five.

Quote:

---

*If it's convenient for you to catch The Violin check it out. I think you might enjoy it.

---

I don't know what I will be able to get to yet, but I've circled that one with the others.

Quote:

---

I hope the Ichiokas doc ends up as an extra on a dvd or gets broadcasted on cable because I'd like to watch it.

---

The Murch documentary/interview is certainly one any film buff or fan of Coppola and Zoetrope would want to see and I hope it is presented in some easily available form.

Astonishingly ambitious youthful effort from Morocco.


SWEL AND IMAD NOURY: HEAVEN'S DOORS (2006)



.

Elegant mystification from Taiwan.



MI-SEN WU: AMOUR-LEGENDE (2006)



.

Sketches for a cinema of exhaustion



PEDRO COSTA: COLOSSAL YOUTH (2006)



Oscar:
I don't want you to delete your post about Colossal Youth replying to my review. Why would that be in order? I simply contend that I am not attacking your point of view, and therefore a refutation wasn't really necessary. A reply was certainly quite justified. I will quote your post, so that it will stand.

Oscar Jubis writes:

Quote:

---

Of all the films I've seen this year, including 67 films at Florida festivals, Colossal Youth is the one I can't seem to get out of my mind.
It's reassuring to me, as a fan of the film, that it managed to place third on the 2006 Indiewire list of Best Undistributed Films, as voted by mostly American, "alternative press" critics. I think it speaks volumes that Colossal Youth did that without a single screening at American festivals in 2006 (the sole North American screenings took place in Toronto, reportedly at odd hours and with a third reel that was subtitled in French).

Your contention that "Costa offers less to viewers (and conversely perhaps gives them more to do) than almost any filmmaker presenting lives and people" clashes with my experience of the film. Two scenes come to mind in particular: Vanda in her new apartment telling Ventura the story of the birth of her daughter. The tale, delivered in monologue, is so rich it's almost epical, alternatively sad, funny, tragic, absurd, angry, and sublime. Another scene involves Ventura's visit to a man at a Rehabilitation Clinic. The injured laborer tells Ventura about his hopes for a better life, his inability to find more suitable employment, and his disillusionment over a rift with his mother. It's quite eloquent, moving and, more importantly for the purposes of this discussion, extremely nuanced and detailed. At moments like these, it's hard to refer to Colossal Youth as minimalist and hard to see a connection between the film and Beckett's "impoverished vocabulary".

Further enriching the film is certain, perhaps oblique, allusion to Portugal's colonist past and to the current conditions of Costa's characters as a natural extension of the history between Portugal and Cape Verde. This is a crucial aspect of the film that has only been broached, albeit briefly and as far as I know, by Pascal Acquarello:
"For the characters in Colossal Youth, the historical landscape of the Cape Verde islands as barren land, exploited colony, commercial way station, slave port, and leprosaria institution is not a forgotten anecdote, but a suffocating reality that continues to weigh on the collective consciousness of its inhabitants, even in their migration and displacement."

---

I am sorry that you moved to delete your post before I even finished editing my reply to it. (I might have toned down what I said too--that's one function of my self-editing. But now I'll have to let what I said originally stand, since you even quoted my most annoying remark.)

True to Graham Leggett's contention that the festival champions independent work, the SFIFF is showing Colossal Youth three times, twice on weekends, and not at odd hours.

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I think you may have misread my "contention," and I don't think a refutation was necessary. This is my review; do you have to have the last word?. You have already spoken.

I thought you were interested in discussing the films. I am deleting my post immediately. I'll delete this one after you've read it.

Oscar Jubis wrote:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I think you may have misread my "contention," and I don't think a refutation was necessary. This is my review; do you have to have the last word?. You have already spoken.

I thought you were interested in discussing the films. I am deleting my post immediately. I'll delete this one after you've read it.

---

I'm sorry if what I said above was provocative. You can have the last word and often do. I merely meant to assert what I did in the previous sentence: I don't believe my statements about Costa in the film being a minimalist should be taken as a condemnation. They are meant to show that the film is challenging for many perhaps most viewers to watch, as are the novels of Samuel Beckett. I regard Beckett as one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century. To compare anyone with him is hardly a slight on my part. But I repeat, Beckett's novels are challenging and difficult. It is the essence of minimal art that it is maximal in implication. Less is more. You may well feel that my response to Costa is less enthusiastic than mine, but not that I am attacking him. You don't need to refute what I said, but you certainly can reply and should!

I am indeed interested in discussing the films. I'm sorry my viewpoint offends you. A third voice is essential at this point. . . I have cited Justin Chang, Aquerello, and Kevin Lee, to provide a range of opinions, and I've aligned myself with Lee, while implying, intentionally, that I think Justin Chang's descriptions accurately reflect how a majority of viewers might respond. Lee's criticism seems to me to have merit, and so does his praise. I thought that be referring to those other writers, I was providing balance, and placing myself in a middle position, between the extremes of Aquarello and Chang, and close to Lee.

Berlusconi skewered. Nanni Moretti's new film from Italy offers an embarrassment of riches. Perhaps too much of good thing?




NANNI MORETTI: THE CAYMAN (2006)



.

Are we ready for a cowardly samurai?



HIROKAZU KOREEDA: HANA (2006)


.

A cold dish in a hot climate (Another look at revenge).



MAHAMAT-SALEH HAROUN: DARATT (2006)



.

SFIFF SKY Prize contender: Strange ways of loving. . .




JEAN-PASCAL HATTU: 7 YEARS (2006)


.

A festival favorite with lovely cinematography, from India. . .



RAJNESH DOMALPALLI: VANAJA (2006)



.

A portrait of urban Brazilian youth



RICARDO ELIAS: THE 12 LABORS



.

A provocative film about Turkish-German conflicts



ZULI ALADAG: RAGE



.