2005 Foreign, Alternative and Independent Films (7 Viewers)

[Adam_S]

Layer Cake - :star::star::star::star:
06/04/2005
35mm

I wanted to see Mad Hot Ballroom or Rock School but was outvoted by an obnoxious loud mouth friend of a friend who apparently hates children (explains why he's a camp counselor this summer...). But that's okay cause this is a damn good five act flick of faustian crime drama. There are some really clever transitions and the filmmaker does a nice job of making editing a function of cinematography. The film is delightfully entertaining and complex tale of things going wrong for the clever buisness-like middle-man main character. Daniel craig does an outstanding job in this role and the rest of the faces in the film are perfectly cast, lending a marvelous presence to the film with their unique faces that prevent you from being confused by the large and complex cast.

If there's a quibble with the film, it's that sometimes the strobe intercutting of simultaneous events is a hair overdone. it works, but it's used just a bit much. The script is outstanding and the storytelling very assured, it's a damn shame this man isn't directing XMen 3 but with the massive piles of supercilious script development comments he probably had dumped on him, I don't blame him.

 

[Dave Hackman]

In My Country

This movie was relaxing to watch. It must have been the scenery of Africa void of highways and skyscrapers or the easy going pace in which it was filmed. Whatever the case, it sure provided a nice diversion from everyday life and a much needed break from the run of the mill action movies.

This story is about Langston Whitfield (Samuel Jackson) a journalist from America sent to Africa to report on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings. These hearings were set up to heal the wounds of Apartheid. Those who committed murder and torture during the Apartheid era were to come forward and confront their victims. By telling the truth and expressing contrition, they might be granted amnesty, if they could prove that their crimes were politically motivated - following orders.

While there Langston’s outspoken nature draws the attention of Anna Malan (Juliette Binoche) a native poet covering the hearings for the South African state radio and NPR in the US. She doesn’t agree with Langston’s American views and confronts him to see if she can challenge him a bit. Unfortunately her attempt is not appreciated and both depart hopefully never to see one another again. Eventually the two get together with the help of Anna’s helper Dumi (Menzi Ngubane) and begin to develop a friendship and respect for one another as both cover and uncover interesting findings throughout their stay.

The story is disjointed and a little vague at times but the bond between the three is quite convincing and enough to make the film enjoyable. Nice to see Samuel Jackson play a more humble character that expresses more then just an attitude.

B

 

[Dave Hackman]

Fear and Trembling

This movie is quite enjoyable to read (subtitles)/watch and one you should hunt down and see.

Amelie is a fluent Japanese speaking Belgian woman recently employed by a Japanese company to work as a translator. Amelie grew up in Japan and is honored to be able to work at such a firm.

Her hopes outreach her perceived abilities and thus begin the onslaught of boring tasks that show no signs of advancement. Couple this with a supervisor who begins to resent her for her attempt to leap forward in the working hierarchy. Amelie handles even the most rudimentary tasks with creativity, inventing unique ways of tackling her assigned tasks.

Amelie may not be a company women but she sure is one hell of a creative force and a lot of fun to watch.

Funny especially if you work in an office environment.

B+

 

[Dave Hackman]

Mad Hot Ballroom

This documentary about inner city students participating in a ballroom dance class offered by their public schools is so naturally wonderful and so engaging that I felt like I was a proud parent bursting with pride after every completed dance routine. I couldn’t help but smile and empathize with the young students as they reaped the rewards of success and the tears from elimination. The filmmakers really hit the jackpot with these great kids, some who really showed dancing talent and others who where more comical and happy to express their ever expanding thoughts on everything from dancing with the opposite sex to when they want to settle down and have children. The teachers were a real hoot too.

I only have a couple of small complaints; I felt it became too apparent who was going to win the entire competition by the dominating camera time spent on the one specific team and I didn’t feel that I really had an opportunity to judge the rest of the teams fairly because they were given so little screen time. I did really like the team who won.

This so far is my pick for best documentary of 2005.

Stick around during the credits for more kid wisdom.

A+

 

[Dave Hackman]

Saving Face

Wilhelmina Pang (Michelle Krusiee) is a 28-year-old intern who is well on her way to becoming a top surgeon. Her father divorced her mother for a woman half his age. Her grandfather is all about honor and hopes to marry her mother off. Wil happens to be single too, always being on call doesn’t facilitate a boisterous social life and her mother (Joan Chen) is doing the exact same thing her father does to her by attempting to marry her up with a well to due Chinese man. Only problem is Wil is gay and her mother refuses to accept it.

A beautiful female dancer Vivian (Lynn Chen) enters the picture and catches Wil’s eye. Within no time, they are one. Vivian is outward in her gay lifestyle while Wil is much more hidden. This as usual brings conflict to the relationship and soon becomes the make or break test for their continued togetherness.

Wil’s mother demands to move in with her and cramp her lifestyle for a while because she now 48 has some news that becomes the talk of the town and the ultimate slap in the face for the family. She is pregnant and unwilling to reveal the identity of the baby’s father. She now looks to Wil for a bit of acceptance who ironically she never gave herself.

Both girls are extremely pretty as is Joan Chen who plays Wil’s mother. I found this movie to be ok, nothing great and a little rough around the edges. I would have liked it to be a little less Disney and a bit more dark and personal. I didn’t feel much chemistry between Wil and Vivian. If anything, they seemed more like sisters instead of lovers.

I enjoyed watching it enough to consider it an enjoyable watch but not really something good enough to really rave over. For the independent/foreign hit watchers I would suggest a pass. All others enjoy.

Subtitles are used frequently when the characters who all speak English begin speaking in Chinese.

Stay seated during the credits for extra footage.

C

 

[Adam_S]

Howl's Moving Castle - :star::star::star::star:
35mm subtitled print
07/01/2005

One of the, if not the, best movies I've seen in 2005. It's not the pure perfection of Spirited Away, it's more akin to the fabulous worlds of Kiki's Delivery Service or say Steamboy than the more internal story of Spirited Away.

In short, Sofie, the main character is a rather plain young lady who is a hatmaker in her mother's shop. Off on an errand afterhours shes accosted by soldiers only to be rescued by a mysterious wizard who needs her for a diversion to escape his nemesis the witch of the waste. Later the witch arrives at Sofie's home and lays a curse on her. Sofie must then sneak away to find the wizard, and discover how to break the curse, save the wizard and maybe prevent the continuously escalating war that is now endangering her village.

The cast of characters is absolutely marvelous. Everyone from the charming (and you know he's gotta be important) Cabu, Calcifer the fire demon that runs the titular castle, to the enigmatic Howl himself is just delightfully well done. The world is magnificent to behold and if you're carefully watching you'll notice that the hold of the curse seems to be inversely related to Sofie's strength of character and expression of herself. Magnificent on every level and marvelous for everyone to enjoy. It may be just a teensy bit cliched in the end, and the storytelling is a little lighter than Spirited Away but this is a fine masterpiece alongside his other wonderful films.

Adam

 

[David Lawson]

Like Dave, I have only minor quibbles with Mad Hot Ballroom. Devoting too much screen time to the eventual winner wasn't one of them while I was watching the film, although it is apparent in hindsight. I didn't much care (and didn't see the need) for the segment that set up the "bad guys" for the final competition, and I would have enjoyed some additional footage of the teachers interacting with each other.

Having grown up and attended private schools in south Florida suburbs, I was particularly captivated by the children's "after school" lives and concerns. When I was that age, drugs were never an issue, and while the threat of kidnapping wasn't alien to me due to Adam Walsh, I couldn't spout off any statistics about it. It's sobering, but not depressing. School, at least, is portrayed as a positive experience for all of the children, which is refreshing.

On the whole, it's an extremely charming and entertaining documentary, one which I won't hesitate to recommend.

 

[Adam_S]

Hustle and Flow - :star::star::star::star:
35mm
07/19/2005

This is the best movie I've seen so far this year.

D-Jay is a pimp who's never done much of anything else. It's not a glamorous life, he's more of a chaeffeur picking up one girl, Lexis, from a strip club, running day tricks with Nola. He's got one girl, Shug, at home pregnant (with a trick's baby) and Lexis has a kid there. He sells crappy weed on the side to make do. No one is happy, everyone's on edge. It's a miserable life they just manage to eke by.

The movie starts with his buddy bartender (Issac Hayes) telling him that an old hometown Nashville boy and now big time platinum rapper is coming home and renting out the whole bar for the Fourth of July. This gets him thinking, and when a bum trys to swap him some kids casio mini keyboard for some weed he relents. Then he runs into an old school buddy at a gas station, and that gets him thinking of laying down some demo tracks. The rest of the movie flows from this set up. Sure, this is a movie dealing with stereotypes, but it explores them and pushes you moments after it thrills you with its musical prowess. It's a very balanced and accomplished movie that leaves you feeling unbalanced but believing in DJay's 'family' so that you understand and love them because of their intense humanity, rather than dismissing them as just some low lifes with big dreams.

This is a story that really works because its about finding the passions that are the best of us perhaps even mroe so because we see them in people that some would consider to be the worst of us.

 

[Dave Hackman]

My Summer of Love

This is a highly regarded movie by reviewers, at least this is the impression I get from reading the 90% rating at the Rotten Tomatoes website. I didn’t read any of the reviews there before I saw this movie so I didn’t have any expectations. I will say that there is not one single part of this movie that I liked. I hated it from beginning to end and I should have walked out and would recommend it if the impulse arises while watching.

The story opens with a young man babbling some religious nonsense to likewise believers while his sister peers down in disgust. I empathized with her because I too had this same look throughout the entire showing. Next, she is laying down in the grass behaving as if she is dead when a wealthy girl about her age riding a horse approaches inquiring whether she is ok and single. One thing leads to another and both girls become nearly inseparable first trying on clothes and recanting past sorrows then becoming more personal and intimate. The born again brother sees his sisters’ ways and attempts to remove her from the temptation but he himself has a few unholy thoughts that get in the way. The summer ends and so did my misery.

Awful

F

 

[Elizabeth S]

Just saw "Kontroll" today at the Academy of Arts and have a major question. If someone who saw it could spoilerize the answer or PM me, I would greatly appreciate it!

Are we supposed to know the murderer in the hooded coat? Basically all I saw is the lower part of his face as he passed Bulcsu, and he had a light-colored beard. Is he someone we'd seen in the course of the story? That was also him curled up in the little hole that Bulcsu found, right?

I feel like an idiot, but would appreciate any insight. Thanks!

 

[Michael Reuben]

Elizabeth --

It's been a few months, so I'm fuzzy on the details. But it was clear to me at the time that Bulscu is the murderer. He's dreaming when he crawls through the tunnel, and he never quite sees the face of the man he finds at the end of it. The figure that passes him is his own mental image of the killer, but it's him all along.

And when he goes up the steps at the end, it's a fair assumption that he's dead.
M.

 

[Elizabeth S]

Thanks, Michael! I was quite tired when I saw the movie, but I totally did NOT interpret things like that. That puts an entirely different spin on the film, and I may just have to watch it again on DVD someday.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I should note that the film is careful to preserve its ambiguities; so it's open to interpretation (especially the ending, which is more suggestive than literal). My wife thought that:

Bulscu spends the film fearing that he's the killer, but discovers that he's not, and therefore feels free to leave at the end. She likes happy endings.

M.

 

[Elizabeth S]

That's always rather interesting when people interpret things in vastly different ways, though.

While I know I had a brief moment during the film when I wondered if Bulcsu was the murderer, it was perhaps more from pondering a not unfamiliar ploy used in films. However, that chase scene between him and that young kid where the hooded figure suddenly appeared to push the kid on the tracks seemed to dispel that idea for me, though if Bulcsu is again dreaming that, then that's moot. I should have been more aware of the points at which he slept, but everything played so straightforwardly to me.

Oh well, the DVD is out next month in R1. I'm interested in giving it another go. And perhaps others can chime in with their interpretation. . .!

 

[Dave Hackman]

Will the real Kontroll killer please identify himself?

I thought for a while that Bulcsú was the killer but dismissed it when he and his crew got off a train to find another person being scrapped off the tracks. I don’t know what kind of response time is required for clean up but at the time, I didn’t believe he pushed the person in front of a train then caught up with his crew and arrived to view his early morning no breakfast killing. I thought that when he was accused of being the killer he would bring up and alibi or something, it was weird how the police where never called in at any point. I had a strange feeling along the way that the big wig in charge with the scar was the killer but when I saw the actual killers face it didn’t match.


I think trying to interpret this movie is more fun then watching it. I will say that the music was great. Some of the camera shots were quite good like the way it panned as it followed the killer in his dark coat without really showing much of his face. The tunnel scene was good as was the hallucinogenic feeling you got when following the girl toward the tunnel. The chase scenes with the elusive mace sprayer were a lot of fun too.

The overall story just was too unfocused for me. It felt like a bunch of movies in a pot that never separated into a final meal. I liked bit’s and pieces but not as a whole.

This movie reminds me somewhat of Don’t Look Now which I like without the good ending.

C-

 

[Elizabeth S]

OK, I'm glad I'm not the only one who left "Kontroll" with a lot of questions (but intrigued).

 

[Adam_S]

Thumbsucker - :star::star::star::star:
35mm
08/26/2005

Darn good, and surprising first film. What makes this a wonderful film is the relationships between the characters, the brotherly relationship feels very very real, and the director keep making all the right decisions in terms of character dynamics.

Justin is a thumbsucker, it's compulsive, the only way he can control himself. In fact he had oral surgery earlier in life and his teeth are starting to go bad again. He's nervous and shy, and attracted to the star of the debate team, but he can't share his secret with her and she can't stay with him. His goofy dentist (keanu reeves) tries hypnosis, but it only makes Justin angry, he's quickly diagnoses as ADHD and put on Ritalin. Boom, he can focus he's a star student and arrogant, he loves winning, a lot. He makes a lot of bad decisions and then starts looking for something that will substitute the ritalin (which was only substituting the thumb really). He reconnects quietly and cautiously with the girl and is worried his mom is having an affair.

The film is very well written, and a nice comedy/drama. It's rated R for language (mostly the coarsely tongued twelve year old [as all twelve year olds are]) but this is a really stellar film about family and in that respect it succeeds admirably because it doesn't succumb to independent film depressing untruthfulness about the horribleness of the world.

Yeah there are a few moments that are a bit awkward, but they work well for the film, because this is about awkwardness.

 

[Dave Hackman]

The Beautiful Country

This movie was a pleasure to watch. I easily became absorbed in the story as the camera angles and acting performances blended together into a total focus on the journey this young man took. The story is about an 18-year-old Vietnamese boy named Binh who has grown up away from both his birth mother and Father. His mother is rumored to be residing somewhere in the city and his father a former American soldier during the Vietnam War is recorded to hail from Houston, TX. The young man who is half-American and half Vietnamese leaves behind a village that never really accepted him and sets out to find his separated family. Along the way, he will find that his journey costs more then just money and that this will be one trip he will never forget.

I liked this movie and thought it felt less like a film and more like a book. Some of the logic how Binh gets from one place to another is a little vague but never did it distract from my overall enjoyment.

This movie is over 2 hours long and never once did I feel it began to drag. If anything, a couple of extra minutes could have been used for a more direct ending.

B+

 

[Dave Hackman]

Mysterious Skin

Stick with this movie for it starts out with a ho-hum approach that appears to be headed down a basic low budget path but instead builds into a very pro-founding imprinting story that is extremely powerful.

This movie is about two boys who were molested and how their molestation contributes to their current behavior. Brian Lackey believes he was abducted by aliens and is unable to remember his exact whereabouts during his molestation. Neil McCormick is a male prostitute making his money providing sexual acts to men willing to pay for a good time and actually has a good recollection of the event. Both take different paths throughout the years but remarkably not until they meet again will they both be able to get out of their respective ruts and on with their lives.

This move is better then words and must be seen to see how it affects you.

I will caution you that this movie is extremely direct and graphic and doesn’t seem to hold anything back. You’ll witness Neil performing his tricks on men clients more then once and vise versa. You’ll see a pedophile seduce two little innocent boys with videogames and candy, which progresses into kissing and sex games for money. It’s a lot tougher to watch then The Woodsman.

This is probably the most impacting movie I’ve seen since The Sea Inside.

A

 

[Adam_S]

Midnight Movies: From the Margin to the Mainstream :star::star:
09/04/2005
Encore timeshift

This played in LA and New York for about a week earlier this year and now it's wound up on encore. It's an okay documentary, quite solid, as it covers El Topo to Eraserhead and the development of a midnight aesthetic. A lot if information is gone over, but after a while the film starts to feel repetitive rather than an organic progression, the interviewees essentially keep glowing about each individual movie in identical ways, it's a nice overview of these films, but it's more an entertainment journalism fluff piece than a well thought out examination and critique of this quite unique phenomenon. It starts off strong though, as the El Topo section is probably the best one in the entire film.