2003 Foreign, Alternative and Independent Films - Page 9

Brook K · 08-14-2003, 04:31 AM

Jason, I agree with you on Swimming Pool and with most of your comments on Lilja except the ending completely works for me. I think it's really the only way it could have ended and I found the final image beautiful, spritiual, and sublime. It's one of my top 3 of the year so far.

Dirty Pretty Things was ok, I liked the way it showed the plight and shadow life of refugee's/illegal immigrants in a big city like London, and the characters were compelling enough to keep me interested, but the thriller/crime aspects of the story were pretty standard stuff. Audrey Tautou isn't very convincing as a Turkish woman but there's a long history of stars adopting phony accents so I don't know that she should be singled out for criticism. The actor playing the male lead gives a good performance and grounds the film. It was better than average, I didn't feel like I'd wasted my time/money, but it's not a movie I'll be thinking about in the coming
weeks. B-

Can't say the same for Northfork a spiritual Lynchian story of the last days of a town about to be put underwater by a new dam and the folks trying to rescue the last remaining souls. Packed with symbolism and offbeat humor (there's a one liner that is fall out of your chair funny, of course the 3 people in front of me never laughed once the entire film) I am going to have to see this again and read some reviews to figure out where certain things are coming from. I'm unsure of the ultimate loyalties of some of the characters, and I think this is an important aspect of the film that I need to "click" .

Also after years of seeing Anthony Edwards on E.R., it's very weird to see him with multi-lensed glasses and wooden hands costumed like somebody out of City Of Lost Children. Extremely interesting and often quite funny, I'd recommend this. I didn't think a whole lot of the Polish Bros. 1st movie, Twin Falls Idaho, and skipped their 2nd, but with Northfork, I'm interested to see what they do in the future. B+ but open to improvement once I understand a few things a bit more.

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Edwin Pereyra · 08-15-2003, 12:15 AM

The current indie film right now that is getting a lot of praises is American Splendor. Hope to see this one when it comes around.

~Edwin

Brook K · 08-15-2003, 12:34 AM

I'm interested in seeing it too. The other two Indie trailers I've seen that looked good were In America and John Sayles new film Casa de los Babies, but then Sayles is a favorite so I want to see everything he does.

Lew Crippen · 08-15-2003, 09:03 AM

Sounds like one to see guys, but up next for me is the restored Hiroshima mom amour. Anybody else planning on seeing this one? I saw it in the early 60s and have not seen it again.

Brook K · 08-16-2003, 01:41 PM

I haven't seen it, I'll just rent the DVD. If Hiroshima is a Rialto release it has maybe a 1% chance of showing up in Atlanta. I believe Le Cercle Rouge is the only Rialto re-release to show up in Atlanta. None of the Bunuel or Godard films they've done have been shown here.

Has anyone seen The Secret Lives Of Dentists? It got a pretty good review in the paper Friday. I'm kind of wishing I'd seen that instead of Dirty Pretty Things. The Magdalene Sisters just opened here too, and I want to see it, but won't get a chance before I go out of town again on Monday. Hopefully it will be playing in Tucson and I can see it there.

Michael Reuben · 08-16-2003, 04:44 PM

Quote:

Has anyone seen The Secret Lives Of Dentists?

Yes. Highly recommended. The best work Alan Rudolph has done in a long time. And if you want to have a mini Hope Davis festival, see it in close proximity to American Splendor. She's brilliant, and utterly different, in both.

M.

Ted Todorov · 08-16-2003, 06:26 PM

Quote:

Yes. Highly recommended. The best work Alan Rudolph has done in a long time.

I agree with the recommended part -- it's a very good film. However, I didn't think it was nearly as good as Investigating Sex, Rudolph's previous film, which was absolutely brilliant, had a top notch cast and very funny to boot. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have gotten any type of distribution. I caught it at the Walter Reade last year -- if it has had any other public screenings, I don't know about them. I'd love a DVD.

Ted

Jan Strnad · 08-18-2003, 03:56 PM

We saw American Splendor this weekend and enjoyed it thoroughly! Paul Giamatti does a terrific job as the misanthropic Harvey Pekar, but the film is spiced up with appearances by Harvey himself, his wife Joyce, and his friend Toby (the ultimate nerd), plus a bit of animation from the pages of American Splendor the comic book. Innovative and entertaining filmmaking! Highly recommended for those who love the offbeat!

Jan

Michael Reuben · 08-18-2003, 04:29 PM

I'd go further and say that it's recommended for anyone who enjoys good filmmaking. In its innovative blending of animation, documentary and docudrama, American Splendor displays so much creativity that it puts most of Hollywood's recent output to shame. The film not only tells Pekar's life, but it also manages to give you a feeling for how he transformed the mundanities of that life into a story worth telling.

Giamatti is brilliant, but so is Hope Davis in a role that, if not pitched just right, would have quickly become annoying. Her Joyce may be nutty, but in a way that perfectly meshes with Harvey's, uh, character. In fact, when you see the real Joyce, you can't wait for Davis to replace her, because Davis reveals Joyce on film, while the real person doesn't give much of herself away. (It's a nice demonstration of what good actors do.)

The Sundance Channel is currently running an installment of Anatomy of a Scene about American Splendor, which contains some fascinating comments from the creative team (especially the cinematographer and production designer) on how the film's look was achieved. When this film hits DVD, people will ask whether it's really supposed to look that drab and washed-out. Yep, it is. The effect is to make the extreme personalities that inhabit this landscape even more vivid.

M.

Michael Reuben · 08-19-2003, 09:27 AM

Even with half of the U.S. theaters playing American Splendor hobbled by the blackout, it still did impressive per-theater box office for the weekend. This bodes well for a wider release.

M.

NOTE: This post and the preceding two have been copied, with Jan Strnad's premission, from his separate American Splendor thread.

Edwin Pereyra · 08-24-2003, 08:46 PM

Whale Rider

Some of the most memorable things I remember from my New Zealand trip a few years back are its beautiful scenery, its culture, the Maoris, their legend and their traditions. In more ways than one, all of these are in full display in Niki Caro’s Whale Rider - an affecting coming-of-age story that pits progressive thinking against old traditions.

While the themes explored here are quite familiar, Caro’s approach and Keisha Castle-Hughes’ natural screen presence as the young leader-to-be bring an intriguing look to its subject matter. Whale Rider has been playing in my area for almost two months now – quite surprising for such a little film with hardly any advertising. Good word of mouth is definitely helping it.

~Edwin

JonZ · 08-25-2003, 01:05 PM

I saw the Anatomy of A Scene for Amercian Splendor.

Right now,its the film I want to see most along with Thirteen and Swimming Pool.

Anyone see Thirteen?