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My earlier review of Silent Light in the NYFF Festival Coverage section. I admit I said "There are no distractions from this story, no subplots, no complications. " But: "Reygadas is excellent at working with non-actors. They may share the film's prevailing reserve, but they seem ineluctably real. The children help with this. Whether they're praying or eating or swimming, they're just themselves." No strings. . .
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This film wasn't well-received by French critics when it opened commercially last November (11 out of 19 publications rate it 2 stars or less) but it received two French Academy nominations:
DARLING (FRANCE)
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Darling directed by Christine Carriere.
Indeed as you say relying on Allocine, this got poor reception by French critics but nominations for Best Actress and Best Adaptation. This came out after I left Paris last fall, and was omitted by the Rendez-Vous, probably wisely, so I can't comment, but I wonder why you chose to see it. No Variety coverage. I'm going to take a guess and say Carriere is not a director of the first rank, despite graduating from the French film school La Femis.
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Originally posted by Chris Knipp
I'm going to take a guess and say Carriere is not a director of the first rank
I have to go by my experience of watching Darling and agree with that. I was wrong to call it her second film. It's her third. All three of them have gotten either Cesar noms or festival prizes but, in my opinion, Darling is less accomplished than minor films by first rank directors.
I wonder why you chose to see it
Last night of the fest and I'm still hungry for more. None of the few films left on my wish list is playing so I walk into Darling. I think it's unlikely to get US distribution. Instead, I wish I could have seen Tell No One, directed by the guy who plays the abusive husband in Darling but that film is too old for the festival.
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Yes, Tell No One is a humdinger, in its way. And Guillaume Canet is in it, with big, good cast.
So you just walked in.....I get it. It's great that you can do that. I don't think that's the way it goes at the SFIFF....
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It was an extremely pleasant experience to attend this festival. The access to the filmmakers was the best thing about it. But the treatment we got from the volunteers and gals from the press department was special.
Carlos Saura's latest performance film:
FADOS
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The years under military dictatorship from the point of view of a younger generation:
LAMB OF GOD (Argentina)
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FADOS--was in the NYFF 2007. My review from that time. I said " it's another jewel in the crown of Saura's musical and dance series and deserves to be seen, and seen again." I love all Saura's musical films, but my favorite is not Tango but Flamenco, because I find that music the most powerful.
I'm not sure if I'm going to the SFIFF or not. If I do, I hope this year it's closer to being as pleasant as Miami's is for you. Making it simple to get into public screenings hasn't quite been the case here as I've mentioned.
LAMB OF GOD-- Variety's Jay Weisberg says "despite her own family's connections to the terror of the '70s, [first-time director Lucia Cedron] seems afraid to tackle the big emotions head-on, and doesn't build her scenes to a needed climax. ." He also writes later "At the start, the family treats the kidnapping as a fairly unremarkable, if mildly stressful, event and, curiously, Cedron fails to provide any sense of the chaotic nature of Argentina's financial crisis." What is your reaction to that? Do you disagree? Why? Your response seems respectful, but somewhat muted. However you say this is "a very assured fictional debut" etc. Obviously compelling subject matter in any case.
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Originally posted by Chris Knipp
LAMB OF GOD-- Variety's Jay Weisberg says "despite her own family's connections to the terror of the '70s, [first-time director Lucia Cedron] seems afraid to tackle the big emotions head-on, and doesn't build her scenes to a needed climax. "
The Hollywood Reporter states that the film received "excellent reviews" at Rotterdam in contrast with other films which "didn't get as warm a reception from press and public alike". The Miami Herald gave the film a good review also. Which evidences that Jay Weissberg's review is perhaps a minority opinion. It is certainly not baseless. This excerpt from my own review wasn't intended as a reaction to Weissberg but it can serve as one:
"Cedron could have chosen to play up certain aspects of the story and make a thriller (like last year's Chronicle of an Escape) or create emotionally cathartic melodrama (the Oscar winner The Official Story, for instance). She chose to make something more thought-provoking and ambiguous and probably less marketable. Lamb of God reflects a certain distance from the events that tore up Argentina during the 70s and consequently invites sober reflection."
It seems to me that Mr. Weissberg would like Lamb of God if it had exploited those aspects of the story that could become the basis of a thriller or a drama that ellicits a visceral response. I say "been there, done that" by filmmakers from Ms. Cedron's parents' generation. 30 years have passed. It's time for more reflective and sober, and perhaps also more intelligent films about the dictatorship and its consequences. I think Lamb of God is precisely that. It's made from the point of view of a little girl who was taken to Paris when she was 4 years old and probably grew up with a lot of questions her mom was not eager to answer. She became an intellectual and a filmmaker and began devoting her career to exploring those aspects of the past that were a mystery to her.
Notice that Variety reviews always take into consideration a film'a viability in the American mainstream and I do acknowledge that LoG is less "marketable" than more thrilling and cathartic Argentinean films dealing with the capture, killing, torture, disappearance, and forced exile of those who battled the fascist regime. Here Teresa's imprisonment and mistreatment by the authorities during the 70s is portrayed in a single, brief scene rather than exploited in order to ellicit the same old, tired reactions from audiences as movies from Argentina have been doing at least since 1985's The Official Story.
Last edited by oscar jubis; 03-22-2008 at 09:56 AM.
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That's a good answer. It still leaves some imponderables or questions, but since I haven't seen the film I won't press on. I know about Variety's need to consider US market viability, but I sensed a weakness above and beyond mere lack of box office potential. Evidently you don't, and you're the one who saw the film.
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I'd like to clarify that Weissberg's opinion has validity. His basic objection is that "Pic lacks a sense of incisiveness, and the story is suffused with a curiously dispassionate air. Cedron is a talented filmmaker -- her short "En Ausencia" won a Silver Bear in Berlin -- but the script has a pervading calmness lacking the power to sweep the viewer into a vortex". My opinion is not that these observations are wrong, but that he fails to realize how that "dispassionate air" and "pervading calmness" results in a film more sophisticated, fresher, intelligent, and thought-provoking (if less thrilling and emotionally arresting) than the long filmic corpus dealing with political repression in Argentina made from the point of view of those who experienced that repression as young adults. Lamb of God is the first film, as far as I know, made from the point of view of the generation that followed.
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Cristian Nemescu made one feature film before his untimely death at age 27:
CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'
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Sounds great. Another sad early death.
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The phrase "diamond in the rough" applies here. I bet you'll get a chance to watch it at the SFIFF. We willl know by the end of the week if I'm right.
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Solid but unspectacular drama from Iciar Bollain, one of Spain's best filmmakers:
MATAHARIS
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