San Francisco International Film Festival 2018

[Chris Knipp]

SFIFF 2018 begins.

The Festival began last night with A Kid LIke Jake.

Links to the reviews and Festival Coverage thread will be HERE.

Today's films include City of the Sun, The Rider, Winter Brothers, Barry, The Price of Everything, Makala, Workshop, Angels Wear White, I hate Kids, American Animals, My Life with James Dean, The Distant Barking of Dogs, Civilizations: How Do We Look? (Episode 2), and What Will People Say?.

Reviews of The Rider, Winter Brothers, and Workshop have already appeared on Filmleaf. I will soon be reporting in this thread on:


ANGELS WEAR WHITE

Angels Wear White
My Life with James Dean
The Distant Barking of Dogs
Civilizations: How Do We Look? (Episode 2)

[Chris Knipp]

ANGELS WEAR WHITE (Vivian Qu 2017)

Very young girls are molested in a motel by a middle-aged official. It takes a long time for anything to happen. This sophomore feature by the maker of the 2013 Trap Street (ND/NF 2014) is beautiful to look at but too diffuse and meandering. But it never ceases to be watchable - or #metoo-relevant. From China. In many festivals.

First 2018 SFIFF review.

[Chris Knipp]

MY LIFE WITH JAMES DEAN/MA VIE AVEC JAMES DEAN (Dominique Chosy 2017)

A gay French charmer about a hunky young filmmaker vaguely promoting his eponymous new film in Calais and some other towns on the Norman coast, with an actor he likes, a projectionist who likes him, and an organizer who likes the wrong person. Lightness is maintained. Stay for the surprise Bollywood finale.

Three screenings in the SFIFF, with the filmmaker and star present at all of them.

[Chris Knipp]

THE DISTANT BARKING OF DOGS (Simon Lareng Wilmont 2017)

An intimate documentary of Oleg, a 10-year-old Ukrainian boy living with his granny on the edge of the war zone of the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Beautiful and harrowing.

[Chris Knipp]

HAL (Amy Scott 2018)

Lesser known than other New Hollywood directors like Scorsese, coppola, Spielberg, or Lucas, Hal Ashby produced seven notable films in the nine years from 1970 to 1979. He declined thereafter and died at 59 of pancreatic cancer. This is a short reintro that tells more about the work than life. For a cool examination of that work you'd have to go to Pauline Kael's review of his 1978 Coming Home, anyway. Some of the actors and editors that worked with him reminisce here.

[Chris Knipp]

KIM MIN-HEE, ISABELLE HUPPERT IN CLAIRE'S CAMERA (HONG SANG-SOO)

April 7. Today is day 4 of the SFIFF.

I count 22 features or documentaries.This is not including celebrity live vents with Alex Garland, Wayne Wang, et al. Totally overwhelming! Filmleaf is covering a few of today's offerings, though.

Will cover the first three, have covered the second three:
Claire's Camera
The Human Element
The Third Murder
Winter Brothers
The Rider
The Workshop

Scheduled today in the festival:
The Human Element
Half the Picture
Makala
The Price of Everything
Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind
Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Claire's Camera
The Judge
The Third Murder
Ulam: Main Dish
Generation Wealth
No Date, No Signature
Kodachrome
Winter Brothers
The Rider
The Workshop
Un Traductor
Loveling
The Miseducation of Cameron Post
Three IDentical Strangers
A Man of Integrity
Revenge

[Chris Knipp]

CLAIRE'S CAMERA (Hong Sang-soo 2017)

A shorter film produced by Hong's swift, improvisational method, which seems to be working for him very well. This one has a Metascore of 80%. It was shot at Cannes, and includes Isabelle Huppert as a high school teacher on vacation with a Polaroid camera, who has never been to Cannes before. I like them longer and with more Korean (this is largely in English, nobody's native language here), but this is still profound, yet witty and light.

[Chris Knipp]

THE THIRD MURDER (Hirokazu Koreeda 2017)

Debuted at Venice, this presents a lengthy dramatic exploration of the motivations of a man who has committed murder a third time after being released from lengthy incarceration. The lawyers are seeking the motive that will be the best defense. An exploration into devious psychology and complicated circumstances is a welcome departure perhaps, from conventional puzzle-murders. But it's not Koreeda's best work. He is not in his element here.