So
far, A & O film critics Robert J. Lewis and Nancy Snipper
have seen the following films. Here are their ratings and
comments, always out of 4, reserving 2.5 or more for a noteworthy
film, 3.5 for an exceptional film, 4 for a classic.
________________________
2.7
-- MONSIEUR
LAZHAR, Philippe Falardeau
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
A grade six substitute teacher, Bachir Lazhar, just arrived
from Algeria, is hired under exceptional circumstances to
help a class deal with the suicide of a teacher who hung
herself in the classroom. Two of the students, Simon and
Alice, witness the hanging. The manner in which the various
parties deal with the tragedy is the subject of the film.
The new teacher is frustrated in his attempts to confront
the delicate subject of mortality because school board policy
forbids it, on top of which the tyranny of political correctness
has cast a huge shadow over the proceedings. Simon's feelings
of guilt are never properly situated (his response to the
tragedy is judged abnormal), and the highly problematic
state of mind of the deceased is not given its due. We all
know that a teacher can loom large in the life and imagination
of the student during his or her formative years. To Falardeau's
credit, he refrains from turning Lazhar into a hero -- or
martyr when he is abruptly asked to leave. He gradually
wins the trust and confidence of his students through the
constancy of his care and attention to detail. This is a
small film with a big heart, and a reminder that policy
makers face learning curves no less formidable than that
of their students whose best interest they are mandated
to serve. A fine performance from Fellag in the role of
both teacher and political asylum applicant trying to make
a difference.
2.8 --
ABOUT ELLY (À PROPOS D'ELLY), Asghar Farhadi
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
It's a lesson we invariably learn the hard way, a lesson
more often than not born in anguish: There is no such thing
as 'one' lie. A group of friends living in Tehran decides
to spend the weekend at the beach. Sepideh has asked Elly,
her daughter's teacher, to join them. We are led to believe
that the two have only just met. In the self-appointed role
of matchmaker, Sepideh wants to introduce Elly to Ahmad,
recently divorced. So far so good, until she disappears
in rough seas and is presumed dead. In the first of a succession
of lies and deceits, the group democratically decides not
to advise Elly's ailing mother until the body is recovered.
From therein on, this tightly wound drama consists of unpacking
the enigma that is Elly and exposing the willful duplicity
of Sepideh, who invited Elly to join the group under false
pretences. In especially Iran (or any Muslim country), if
you are already engaged, you don't present yourself to another
man. Is there a relationship between Elly's fate and/or
disappearance (we're never sure) and allowing herself to
get talked into misrepresenting herself? With a nod to Edward
Albee, the dialogue snaps, crackles and threatens to explode
throughout. And while the action is limited to a couple
of rescue efforts in unfriendly seas, the film is exhilarating
and thrilling thanks to the wonderfully managed ebb and
flow of accusation and recrimination as family and friends
turn on each other. Except for a single scene where Sepideh
gets slapped around by her husband (no objections raised)
for withholding the truth, this moral drama is without any
obvious political implications, and it succeeds for that
very reason.
2.6 --
TAKE THIS WALTZ, Sarah Polley
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
When we are thinking rationally, usually not the stuff of
relationships in rough seas, we know perfectly well that
sexual infidelity is a much lesser evil than emotional infidelity.
If your beloved has fallen in love with someone else, s/he
is gone and there's nothing to be done but get on with the
next phase of your life. A chance encounter has married
Margot, a budding writer, falling in love with Daniel, who
is single and just happens to live across the street. He
is cocky, confident and eager to consummate but she refuses,
insisting that she loves her husband. She is also fearful
of the disruption and insecurity that such a decision must
entail. The script makes for a very bumpy ride with far
too many implausible turns, but we stay the course, in large
part, because Michelle Williams delivers such a convincing
performance as someone who is helplessly in love and doing
everything in her power to hold onto her marriage, which
is alright but on a very even keel. As she bounces back
and forth between Daniel and her husband, we're not sure
if she is refusing an opportunity to enjoy true love or
throwing proven love to the wind. We feel for her as she
reverts to the baby talk couples invent in their intimate
life, and tries to resuscitate, through playful touching,
feelings that are no longer there. In the face of growing
self-doubt, she returns again and again to drink from the
well of memory, only to discover, in an unguarded moment,
that it's all a charade, that the well is dry, that she
cannot command herself not to love Daniel. There is much
that is right and much that is not quite right in Sarah
Polley's second film. The lessons learned at the end of
the day are formulaic, the insertion of Leonard Cohen's
"Take This Waltz" is contrived, and, as an aside, the film
version of the song is significantly inferior to the Austin
City Limits 1988 recording; but the dilemma, which
is the epicentre of the film, is presented with extraordinary
sympathy and intelligence. What is poor Margot to do? In
misery and heartbreak, does she wait for the passion to
dissipate over time or, for better or worse, surrender to
it? During a house party, on the subject of infidelity,
someone says "everything at the beginning is new and in
time becomes old."
1.3
-- GOODNIGHT
NOBODY, Jacqueline
Zund
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Four people tell what it is like to be an insomniac. They all come
from different countries: Ukraine, Burkino Faso, the US
and China. Through an eerie soundtrack, repetitive scenes,
darkness, very little talking and artsy shots, the director
effectively captures the foggy feeling of being awake during
the night (Fedor from the Ukraine hasn't slept for 15 years).
Unfortunately, this results in one big yawn for the audience.
Being an insomniac is not funny, yet the few people I know
who are insomniacs have a great sense of humour and are
extremely interesting when they talk. The folks in the film
were positively devoid of anything that could make us want
to listen to them, and considering they have endless hours
to improve their minds by reading a good book, I was disappointed
by their intense self-absorption, lack of soul and character.
Far too serious in tone, this film needed some levity to
deal with a problem as old as the invention of the bed.
2.6-- LA GUERRE EST DECLARÉE,
Valérie Donzelli
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] The film takes us through Romeo and Juliet's ordeal of dealing with
their baby Adam's illness. He has brain cancer. From meeting
doctors who typically say nothing is wrong, to deciding
which doctor to choose, which in turn dictates which city
they will be staying in for a very long time -- to managing
their own parents reaction, bills, isolation, exhaustion
and fear, the film carries us along in the journey. We laugh,
cry, feel frustration, admiration and empathy for the couple,
especially for the honesty happening between them. One part
is really funny when they try to outdo one another while
imagining and expressing in a totally clownish way the worst
that can happen to Adam post-surgery. It is a true story
and is autobiographical, for Donzelli and her former partner,
Jérémie Elkaim did indeed go through all of
this. Highly original in its approach, the film has a soundtrack
that adds humour and heart to the scenes setting a tone
of levity and seriousness. We have to admire these two talented
and devoted parents who had to relive it all to make this
film. Fortunately, the outcome for Adam was life-affirming,
though the couple separated in the end.
2.5
-- ACORZADO,
Alvaro Curiel De Icaza
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] 'I have a dream' is the push behind this adorable film, wherein
Silverio, the hero builds a makeshift raft topped by a car
to stride ahead on the ocean in search of American shore.
Like Don Quixote, he battles wind and storm to reach his
ideal goal -- to leave Mexico, fight for good, and make
a difference in the world. He is heading for America. But
instead of landing on the land of the free and brave, he
lands on the island of brotherly poverty: Cuba. He does
make a difference, finds his own sort of home and garners
the admiration of his new found friends who treat him with
respect -- not like his buddies back in Mexico. Still, there's
no place like home, and once again, he builds his car-boat
to head for whence he came. It is a fetching movie that
touches us; as we laugh we recognize our own noble follies
that drive many of us yonder afield. According to the lead
actor, Silverio Palacios, "A trip like this is an inward
journey into the bowels of every Mexican. It is our nature
to have impossible expectations that can range from the
most banal to winning the World Cup" dreaming of the impossible.
3.5
- ELENA, Andrei Zvyaginstev
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] What is one prepared to do to attain for your children and theirs
what they want and need for a happy life? This finely acted
movie shows what ordinary people will do to fulfill their
goal. Elena is married to Vladimir, a wealthy but cold man.
He treats her more like a maid servant than a beloved wife.
While going for his usual swim, he suffers a heart attack,
but survives. Bedridden, he informs Elena that his will
is to be made the following day, and that all money will
be left to his daughter, Katya whom Elena can't stand. Valdamir
knows Elena wants him to finance her son's education (her
son from a previous marriage), but he won't. It is a recurring
topic in their sparse dialogue, but Elena remains the dutiful
wife. But soon, this changes when she realizes that his
will destroys all her hopes for her son and his grandchildren.
She has been totally devoted to her Russian hard-hearted
man up until the night she murders him with an overdose
of meds that he willingly takes, unsuspecting that his loyal,conservative
wife would ever conceive such a notion. Her potion proves
lethal enough to kill, and powerful enough to give her son
a new chance at life. She burns the draft of the will her
husband has drawn up while in bed the night before he is
killed. It outlines what the notary is to do upon his visit
the next day. That day never comes for him. Elena -- the
perfect wife is evil. This movie lets us follow the inner
life of a diabolical woman whose love for child pushes her
into committing the unthinkable. A fine wholly credible
film -- well-acted. A joy to watch, despite it all. Elena
is one of those women few can forget. Yelena Lyadova in
the main role is breathtakingly understated in her performance.
3.5
-- A SEPARATION,
Asghar Farhadi
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
If we can agree that all the major religions of the world,
in their own fashion, subscribe to the spirit of the Ten
Commandments, the most successful will be the religion that
inculcates the notion that our transgressions, large and
small, entail very real theological consequences. By that
measurement Judaism and Christianity -- and to a lesser
extent Buddhism and Hinduism -- are dysfunctional compared
to Islam. Asghar Farhadi's award winning "A Separation"
casts a radiant light on the meaning of God-fearing and
the men and women (a diminishing tribe) who embody that
precious notion -- strangers in a strange land.
Nader
and Simit, married for 14 years, are separating. Nader has
to hire a domestic (Razieh) to look after his father who
is suffering from Alzheimer's. One afternoon, she has to
leave for a while and ties Nader's father to the bed so
he doesn't wander off on his own. Nader returns from work
to find his father on the floor, nearly dead, and Razieh
disappeared. She can't adequately explain her absence, on
top of which money has disappeared from one of the drawers.
Nader accuses her of stealing and refuses to pay her daily
wage. She refuses to leave without pay and he has to physically
push her out the door. The next day he learns that she's
in the hospitable, has suffered a miscarriage, and that
he is being charged with murder (of the unborn), which the
judge later reduces to a three year sentence if found guilty.
Nader claims he didn't know Razieh was pregnant. His daughter,
on the other hand, at the urging of the mother who has her
own agenda, has a different point of view. Will she, should
she testify against her father? Simit, guided by self-interest,
intervenes and arranges for a financial settlement, the
money of which Razieh's indebted husband will use to pay
off his creditors and avoid going back to prison. But Razieh
has to swear on the Koran that Nader is responsible for
the miscarriage. Among the many issues at play in this complex,
gripping domestic drama are the arbitrariness and severity
of justice in Iran. From the fiery opening exchange between
Nader and his wife Simit, the dialogue is absolutely riveting,
charged with stuff of life in all its shadings; and the
performances are magnificent. Negatively disposed as most
of us are toward Islam (sharia law, its intolerance of other
religions, systematic debasement of women), we discover
in certain situations that the truth, wherever it lies,
is the sole preserve of the God-fearing. "A Separation,"
in part, dedicates itself to the unveiling of these exceptional
believers and the sources of their strength and dignity.
This is a must-see film.
2.7 --
THREE AND A HALF, Naghi Nemati
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
A sometimes nervous, relentlessly wet-grey lens follows
three young Iranian women who are on a 3-day prison furlough.
They have made hasty plans to cross the border and leave
Iran forever -- for reasons which are left to the imagination:
films that threaten to rub Iran's theocratic Islamic Republic
Party the wrong way don't get made -- much less shown. In
the first scene, we hear gun shots, and then observe Hanieh
quickly regaining her composure before joining her friends.
We never learn what crimes the young women have committed.
We suspect nothing more than refusing to abide by the oppressive
dictates of a misogynist regime, since all three of them
have no qualms about talking tough to the slippery men they
have to deal with at the border. These are obviously young
woman who are not planning to live out their lives in the
shadows of their men folk. During the first exchange of
money for freedom, the male facilitators don't honour their
promises and doubt is cast over the venture, the same doubt
that provides for our abiding interest in the fate of these
ambitious, idealistic young women. Hanieh, who is carrying
a child (explaining the numerical title), hasn't been up
front with her friends. She is desperately looking for Nassar,
whose role in her life is left vague until the very end.
The film dwells somewhat too extensively on the hurdles
the women have to negotiate and not enough on the characters,
especially Hanieh's companions.
3.6
-- THE
GIRL IN THE WHITE COAT, Darrell
Wasyk
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Based on Gogol's classic story, "The Overcoat," this highly
riveting work tells the story of a lonely girl whose only
love and company -- for that matter -- is the white coat
and tweeting budgie she has in her small Montreal apartment.
Her factory work is horribly dull, and she is teased non-stop
about her tattered white coat the minute she clocks in.
So, one day, she saves enough money to have it repaired.
It is much better than before. Its silk lining is stunning,
but it soon disappears in a cafe where she has gone up to
the cashier to pays for her bill. In her pursuit of chasing
down the supposed thief, she ends up catching a girl in
a white coat and tearing it off her back. But it is the
wrong girl and the wrong coat. Guilt plagues her, and she
finds in the coat pocket an address. She decides to go to
the dingy place to return the coat to the girl. Her good
deed turns into a terrible one. She is raped upon opening
the door of the place. What a film -- masterfully made.
Gogol would have been pleased.
1.0
-- ABSOLUTELY
TAME IS A HORSE, Asb,
Heyvan-E-Najibist & Abdolreza Kahani em
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Thank God this film was withdrawn from the festival at the last minute.
I do not know why, but here's my take on its sudden disappearance.
Still, I was asked to view its screener; I jumped on this,
as the write-up in the festival program made this film sound
like a must-see. Boy, nothing could be farther from that
claim. No one wants to watch a bunch of men at night traipsing
around with a cop who is trying to get money from them --
each one having committed some crime, such as having a mixed
wedding party, cavorting with a woman or rejecting a wife.
In the end, we discover the cop is out on leave from jail.
He is no cop at all, just as this movie is no movie at all.
An Iranian film fiasco!
1.2
-- DO ME
LOVE, Jacky Katu & Lou
Viger
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Who needs to watch a young girl fantasize about killing herself during
an affair she has with an older man. This film is boring
and silly. A poor excuse for the French to reinvent 100
ways to discover sexual excitement between the young and
the young. "Last Tango in Paris" was far superior. Not even
the seductive attempts of actor Lizzie Brocheré as
Juliette could hold our interest. Collective audience yawning
was the only sound worth joining in on, despite the supposedly
exciting sex scenes.
2.8
-- END OF
THE NIGHT, Daisuke Miyazaki
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] What makes this hypnotic film compelling is the ensemble acting that
puts the beautiful face of Akira, a young man in every shot.
In fact, he is a super shot in more ways than one: he goes
around killing people for no apparent reason. Then, we see
a glimmer of hope for him when he meets a young prostitute
and tries to protect her. But he is in such trouble, the
police get to him and to her. He loses her to a bullet.
Akira, the young man was in fact found by a hit man when
he was a baby while on a job inside a house. Akira doesn't
stand a chance of redemption. Not much plot in this film.
Still, it is starkly beautiful and the acting thropughout
is entrancing. Beauty and violence never looked so compatible.
This is the brilliant irony. Melancholy and magnificence
make this film completely intriguing to watch. Man is indeed
an aberrant concoction.
3.8
-- THE FLYING
MACHINE, Martin Clapp,
Dorota Kobiela & Geoff Lindsey
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Wondrous, magical and musically hypnotic. What more could one expect
from a stop-motion picture that has the great pianist, Lang
Lang, playing Chopin's etudes while the two puppet children
fly through the sky on a magic piano, visiting all the places
where Chopin left his mark. In fact, the little girl is
trying to find her dad in London. Real-life characters eventually
replace the child puppets as they take a journey along with
their business-like mom into the meaning of family, love
and magnificent music. Totally inventive, colourful and
enchanting, the film's puppet children are so uber-expressive
that their 'acting' far surpasses their real human counterparts.
Heather Graham as the mother was weak. No matter. This co-production
between Poland, England and China is remarkable. Chopin
lovers will eat it up.
1.0
-- THE
LAST ROAD TO THE BEACH, Fabiano de Souza
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
When road movies go nowhere, as this one did from the very
outset, it is usually because the characters are poorly
drawn. To that fatal shortcoming, we add a pathetic script
that forges together one unconvincing scene after another,
as if each pitiable episode was fashioned to outdo its predecessor,
resulting in a road trip that drags on endlessly along the
deserted beaches east of Porto Alegre, Brazil. Here's an
example: The three travelers (two guys and girl) stop in
an ice cream shop. The four, which now includes the female
employee, all end up on the floor devouring buckets of ice
cream, which they smear into each others' hair and face
and clothes which they have to remove which (following the
law of cause and effect) provokes a ménage à quatre.
3.5
-- HANEZU,
Naomi Kawase
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Great beauty and grace infuse the stunning Japanese countryside that
cocoons a couple in love. But there is a problem. The woman
is married and pregnant. Her husband does not connect to
her, except in complimenting her on her cooking; he is obsessed
with food, teaching her about herbs and edible leaves. He
loves her deeply, but does not show it in meaningful ways.
She feels nothing for him, and seeks to be with her lover,
a sculptor who cooks for her. She is deceptive in her behaviour
to both -- is she or is she not pregnant? A reversal of
feeling, fortune and her own frustration, has her returning
to her husband who, by now, has committed the sudden act
of taking his own life. Without her, life is nothing. She,
in turn loses everything. This denouement creates a most
unexpected and understated conclusion. In fact, the whole
film magnificently, unfolding with sparse dialogue, creates
an eternal story that echos a legend born in antiquity.
This seventh-century legend is about romance, conflict and
ownership.The film opens with Unebi, Miminashi and Kagu
-- the three-peak mountain that watches over the village
of Asuka -- said to be the birthplace of Japan, itself.
One should say -- herself, as the film equates the age-old
myth of two men fighting to own the mountain to present
day fighting over a woman. Ironically, there is no fighting
in this film, just quiet internal emotions that the characters
refuse to reveal. Communication equals silence. Hanezu is
a precious piece of exquisitely crafted cinema where past
and present blend into sublime simplicity. Nature and man
seem to share a magnificent respect, but, sadly, man and
woman never seem to find peace. Restraint running rapturously
though this film aptly earned it a screening at Cannes.
3.2 --
HANEZU, Naomi Kawazi
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
The film opens with a conveyor belt sluicing through and
destroying the pristine country side (Nara, Japan). As it
turns out, it's not the work of a mine but an archeological
dig, whose findings will illuminate the present. Then we
are introduced to an arcane ancient myth that predicts the
outcome of man's eternal strife over woman. In the modern
version, the protagonists, unlike the ancient gods, are
gentlemanly, avatars of civility. Hako, a dye-maker, is
caught between two men: the one she lives with (Tetsuya)
and her lover, Takumi, who is a sculptor. The rivals never
meet. Each in turn prepares scrumptious food for the object
of their affection. One day she advises Takumi she is pregnant,
and a few days later, Tetsuya. Both show no outward signs
of anger, jealousy or torment. Instead, they withdraw into
silence that dissolves into the magnificent landscape. The
film ends with Tetsuya's suicide. The story is minimal,
the symbolism and link between the past and present vague
-- at best. But the film is absorbing because of its extraordinary
lyricism and exposition of the Japanese sensibility. Nako's
face, its softness and radiance, seems a direct issue of
the landscape. Kawase, whose marvelous "The
Mourning Forest" won Camera D'or and Grand Prix
at Cannes, takes the ordinary and transmutes it into poetry.
The hypnotic sound track is comprised of the trickling of
water, the flutter of wings, the chirping of insects, the
music of rain on the surfaces of life, the crunch of a delicious
carrot in the mouth. The enjoyment of the simplest foods
is raised to a level of appreciation and sensuality that
causes us to look inward and beyond. In short, "Hanezu"
is why we travel; it's the reason we go to films.
1.9
-- WASTED
YOUTH, Argyris Papadimitropoulos
& Jan Vogel
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
In the age of the Internet (facebook, twitter), it has become
increasingly easier to mobilize popular protest against
corrupt governments and financial institutions. In "Wasted
Youth" that unfolds in Greece (Athens), the best revolt
a group of youths can mount is to print up 'malaka' (wanker)
signs which they plaster on buildings, windows and, at the
very end of the film, on a police car (spoiler: bad move).
Prior to that, we separately follow the lives of a brooding,
middle aged man, who, only deep into the film, we discover
is a policeman; and a 16-year-old kid who is alienated from
his father, hooked to his iPod, soldered to his skateboard
and slave to his hormones. They will eventually meet in
the ruins of modern Greece where the gods of yesteryear
have gone mute. If the directors made the film to cast the
police in a bad light, they forgot about making an enlightening
film. The only thing they succeed in showcasing is their
dubious agenda and vision (lack of). After the 'skata' hit
the fan I said to myself, "Wasted Youth," wasted
film.
2.7 --
WITHOUT, Mark Jackson
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
There is no getting around the fact that living in isolation
will have its effects, be it in the land of the midnight
sun or a remote island off Washington State. We don't know
why, but Joslyn, young and attractive, has agreed to become
a live-in, care provider for Frank, who is suffering from
extreme dementia. He is totally unresponsive, confined to
a wheelchair, has to be fed, undressed and bathroomed. It's
not pretty. Energetic and eager to do well, she soon finds
herself coping with not only with Frank's morbid condition,
but being 'without' the conveniences of modern life (a computer)
and a growing sense of isolation, which she knowingly signed
up for. The reasons for this form the basis of a film whose
bold and self-assured pacing and withholding of information
create mystery and suspense out of the mundane. In and of
themselves, Joslyn's actions don't tell much: she is constantly
looking at her cellphone, she exercises regularly, is interested
in her naked body, is unresponsive to the advances of a
man from the mainland who has taken an interest in her,
whom she later agrees to meet and shortly after rudely rejects.
Then the TV remote begins to act up, a mysterious rash develops
on her back, just as her behaviour begins to deviate from
the norm: she suspects brain-dead Frank isn't as helpless
as he appears and sexually taunts him before slapping him
up in his wheelchair -- hardly the stuff of nurse Betty.
Prior to that, she has locked all the doors and the windows,
but we never learn why. Is there someone out there? The
viewer is left to disambiguate how much of this is the product
of her imagination (paranoia), while a tease of clues suggests
an event in the past might be responsible for her erratic
behaviour. With a nod to "The Tenant," (Polanski)
this foreboding, but not unnerving, mood piece, doesn't
miss a beat, which redounds to a remarkable debut from director
Mark Jackson. As a syntactical device, his manipulation
of understatement -- in both the dialogue and action which
result in an at once a compelling and muted narrative --
is the film's most singular achievement. Stellar performance
from Joslyn Jensen in the role of Joslyn whose beguiling
stoicism and slippery identity are totally believable. Since
art-house films are generally better received in Europe
than in North America, "Without" will probably not break
out of the festival circuit, at least on this side of the
Atlantic
2.2 --
DECHARGÉ, Benoît
Pilon
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Good intentions don't necessarily translate into good films.
Benoît Pilon, who gave us "The Necessities of Life," one
of the best films ever to come out of Canada, plunges the
viewer into the hard scrabble life on the streets of Montreal.
Pierre (David Boutin), a reformed delinquent/criminal, is
happily married with three kids and is the owner of a fleet
of garbage trucks. He continues to live where he grew up,
in a mean environment that breeds gangs, criminals, prostitutes,
pimps and drug addicts. He takes an interest in eye-catching
Ève (Sophie Desmarais), junkie-hooker. He has convinced
himself he only wants to help her change her life around
-- but she's got a sympathetic face and the kind of body
that could bring a statue to life. In the meantime, this
good Samaritan doesn't seem to realize that he might be
jeopardizing his marriage. From the outset, the film threatens
to become formulaic: at the end of the long day's journey
into dark and darker we have learned nothing new of any
city's mean streets and the relationship between hookers,
their pimps and bad habits. What would otherwise be hugely
disappointing film is somewhat mitigated by the scenes between
Pierre and his wife Madeleine, who fears she is losing her
husband.
2.7 --
THE SKIN I LIVE IN, Pedro
Almodóvar
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Any film that gets us to rethink our genre preferences and
prejudices is to be taken note of. In the spirit of full
disclosure, I am unapologetically negatively disposed toward
both the horror/vampire and science fiction genres. Almodóvar's
latest, "The Skin I Live In," is a masterly crafted hybrid
of science fiction and horror. Roberto, a plastic surgeon,
has developed a skin that doesn't burn, that he grafts onto
his wife who was badly burned in a car accident. Years later,
he witnesses the rape of his daughter who later commits
suicide. Roberto captures the rapist, imprisons him and
then prepares him for a series of operations -- beginning
with the removal of his penis and substitution of a vagina
-- that will turn him into a woman who will resemble his
daughter, with whom he will eventually have relations in
yet another patent Almodóvar conflation of the bizarre and
macabre. Spain's, if not Europe's most talented director
is clearly familiar with the masterpieces from the past,
and continues to explore his favourite subjects: sexual
ambiguity, the mystery and instability that define relationships,
and of course his disinterested love of the female body:
female skin that glows right out of the pages of Vogue.
That said, "The Skin I Live In," which will doubtlessly
shiver the skin of genre enthusiasts, is at times confusing,
and at the end of two hours, we wonder to what end, other
than pure entertainment, which the film provides in spades.
2.6 --
TOLL BOOTH, Tolga Karacelik
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Kenan works at a busy toll booth in Istanbul; his nickname
is 'robot.' Elegant in his dress, refined in appearance,
he looks more like a doctor than a toll booth operator,
which suggests he is either an underachiever or someone
who doesn't know where he belongs. "Toll Booth" is a quirky,
sometimes comical film with a major existential component.
Kenan doesn't mix much with his colleagues, he looks after
an ill father who abuses him, he's haunted by childhood
memories of his domineering father, the death of his mother
-- and he is not married. To supply the deficit of what
is missing in his life, he begins to fantasize and even
hallucinate on the job, which obliges his manager to transfer
him to a remote toll booth where he takes an interest in
a woman who passes by everyday. Is it a rule of thumb that
what ails a person follows him? In his new environment,
will Kenan be able to let go of his past? In the role of
Kenan, Serkan Ercan's radiant face is worth the price of
admission: his reticence, bewilderment and longing are like
fledgling birds you want to hold in your hand. A promising
debut film from a young director who is not afraid to take
risks.
2.5 --
BLUE BIRD, Gust Van den
Berghe
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Even in rural Togo, it only requires a few essential ingredients
for an enchanted childhood: a minimum of one parent who
cares, three meals a day and a place to play. "Blue Bird"
is part allegory and ode to childhood. "Bafiokadie and his
sister Tene are caring for a magnificent blue bird that
escapes. We experience their resolve to the find the bird
from a child's eye view: the screen's horizontal-vertical
ratio is 3:1. When we first encounter their mother who is
bathing them, we don't see her head. The literary equivalent
of this cinematic technique is writing the word BIG in an
exceptionally large font. The entire film is shot through
a pale, blue lens, I suppose to best capture the dreamy,
idyllic years of childhood. During their journey through
mostly arid, parched scrubland, they meet a variety of characters
who are more symbolic than real: the King of Pleasure, a
coffin maker, their deceased grandparents, a ritualistic
assembling of the region's children who have to undergo
a long and difficult trek in order to be born. But despite
intrusions from the adult world, Bafiokadie and Tene are
firmly rooted in the magic of their youth, even though there
is no mistaking what kind of life awaits them.
2.2 --
WHITE WHITE WORLD, Oleg
Novkovic
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
During the Serbian Siege of Sarajevo (1992-96), 10,000 Bosnians
were killed or went missing. Eighteen years have passed
but the horrors and the effects from the losses sustained
continue to haunt the present such that normal life is impossible,
especially in a city choking in industry. To forget, the
survivors consume spectacular amounts of alcohol, they smoke
dope all day long, they sniff or inject drugs, they are
unconscionably rude to each other and the sexual coupling
is ugly and profane. These are human beings who have consciously
refused their humanity; they have been hurt bad and never
want to be hurt again. "Only cry when nobody can see you,"
someone says. The film unwisely (affectedly) borrows too
much from Greek tragedy. The insanely jealous Ruzica, who
is madly in love with King, has killed her husband. Her
daughter, the hot and often naked Rosa, unwittingly provokes
an incestuous relationship with her father, King. When she
learns she is pregnant she resorts to patricide. Meanwhile,
the spurned boy who loves Rosa commits suicide via an overdose.
For the sake of the unborn child, the noble Ruzica confesses
to the murder and serves the prison term. There are several
musical interludes featuring one of the leads suddenly breaking
out into song. Since the film isn't a musical, it doesn't
work, especially if the Slavic scale isn't to your liking.
King's acting is straight out of the woodwork. Jasna Duricic
(Ruzica) gives a strong performance despite a slipshod script
and a story that doesn't seem sure of itself.
3.0 --
ROMÉO ONZE, Ivan
Grbovic
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
All parents want their children to be happy -- code for
good job, married with kids. Rami works in his strict and
fastidious father's Lebanese restaurant. At the same time
he's studying to become an accountant. He's under significant
pressure to succeed scholastically and find a wife, especially
since his sister is now engaged. But Rami is withdrawn and
troubled. He suffers from major complexes due to a birth
defect which left both legs severely atrophied: he doesn't
walk but shuffles -- like an old man. Online, as romeo11
(man of the world), he meets malaury26. They connect and
decide to meet in real life. Without tugging at the heartstrings,
"Roméo Onze" will break your heart. In its at
times excruciating baring of Rami’s fragile emotional
state, we are brought face to face with what is universal
in the human condition, which for many means learning early
in the game that life isn’t fair and that too much
depends on the luck of the draw. It's also about the risks
of online dating and short shrifting the protocols of disclosure.
Shot in the gorgeous reds and yellows of Montreal's celebrated
autumn, this is not a formulaic, uplifting, we-shall-overcome-film;
we all make mistakes in life, some of us learn from them.
Between Rami and romeo11 where does the truth lie? This
very affecting and mature film concludes on a sublime Felliniesque
note which speaks to an outstanding debut from Ivan Grbovic.
2.8 --
BLACK BLOOD, Miaoyan Zhang
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
The film takes place in northwestern China, in the Gobi
desert, but not the dune-pristine Gobi glamourized in National
Geographic. Director Miaoyan Zhang's landscape is fissured
and pulverized, as if an angry god took a sledgehammer and
beat the living daylights out of it. "Black Blood" tells
the bleak but very real story of farmers trying to eke out
a living from land that won't give. To make dead-ends meet,
many of them have to sell their blood. We meet Xiaolin at
the side of a dirt road, waiting for the tractor to arrive.
It's hauling a flat wooden wagon where the blood is taken.
We never see the needle, if it's re-used or not, but we
suspect the worst. At home, Xiaolin and later his sweet
wife, Xiaojuan, who is also selling her blood, are drinking
water by the pail, believing it helps the body to produce
more blood. In the background, the radio is reporting every
hour on the hour on the many successes China is enjoying
under Mao and socialism. Both parents are proud of their
7-year-old daughter who can already read and write. They
want to send her to a more advanced school. To raise the
money, Xiaolin decides to set up his own blood clinic, which
does well enough for him to purchase an indoor toilet and
a flock of goats. Then one day his pregnant wife falls ill
and life for this loving couple will never again be the
same. The entire film is beautifully shot in black and white.
2.6 --
MELANCHOLIA, Lars von Trier
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
"Melancholia" unfolds like a tone poem in three movements.
The first that runs ten minutes -- set to Wagner's "Tristan
and Isolde" which is reprised throughout this very
long film -- is comprised of images only. The second and
third parts are named after two sisters, Justine (Kirsten
Dunst) and Claire (Charlotte Gainsbourg), whose cynical,
self-absorbed, thoroughly detestable mother we meet at Justine's
over-the-top wedding that is extravagantly provided for
by Claire's husband, John (Kiefer Sutherland), whose running
commentary is one of the few delights in this intractably
monotonous and morose film. Each of the daughters, in her
own fashion, bears the indelible mark of the mother's genotype
as they face their personal fears and fate: waiting to learn
if the planet Melancholia will collide with and destroy
the planet Earth. The bride is beautiful but clinically
depressed. Why handsome Michael, who could have any woman
he wants, would marry someone so blatantly unstable defies
logic. After the wedding, he completely disappears from
the screen, which again flies in the face of logic. Apparently
von Trier is willing to sacrifice cause and effect and plausibility
for the cinematic equivalent of the poetic. Besides the
fractured relationship between Justine and Claire, the film's
style, exquisite sets and costumes count for everything
-- or too much depending on your taste. Fairly early in
the game, we begin to suspect that von Trier has nothing
to say while saying it magnificently -- not unlike Tarantino
who has become a parody of himself. Nonetheless, the visuals
are spectacular and Kirsten Dunst gives the performance
of her life.
2.5 --
GIANTS (LES GÉANTS), Bouli
Lanners
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
"There are children in the morning, they are leaning out
for love, and they will lean that way forever," writes Leonard
Cohen. In the deep green countryside of Belgium, three teenagers,
whose parents have flown the coup, find themselves with
unlimited time and freedom on their hands. They do what
kids are expected to do at that age: smoke dope, talk about
sex, joke around, steal when they're hungry, break into
unoccupied homes when they need a place to sleep - and of
course take to the road in search of adventure. On their
way, they mess up, they get into trouble, sometimes big
trouble, and discover the hard way that with freedom comes
responsibility and consequences. But the kids are alright.
We care for them, we fear for them and we wish these 'would
be giants' all the best as they face an uncertain future
without any compass or instruction. A first-rate, folksy
sound track accompanies the dreamlike pastoral landscapes
that provide the backdrop to the turbulence and longing
that is so characteristic of adolescence.
2.8
-- TAKE
SHELTER, Jeff Nichols
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Dark clouds are gathering ominously in the sky. Curtis,
in a role nailed by Michael Shannon, gazes into the eye
of the storm. It begins to rain, but the drops are translucent
and oily. Has the world finally done itself in? We soon
learn the tempest that rages is in the mind of the beholder.
With the precision of a radar device, "Take Shelter"
painstakingly tracks Curtis's gradual descent into madness:
the visions and hallucinations. He becomes convinced that
a pending disaster is imminent and he decides to build an
underground shelter. We see the world crashing into Curtis
as if it's real: think "Beautiful Mind." We learn
that the mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia in her
early 30s, but Curtis, who's been having horrible dreams,
is mostly in denial. However his wife Samantha, played by
Jessica Chastain, is becoming increasingly alarmed, especially
after Curtis gets fired for having borrowed without authorization
heavy equipment to build his shelter. Throughout the film,
in wonderful sequences, we see, up close, in the hypnotically
expressive faces of Curtis and Samantha, the ballet-like
equivalent of a pas de deux, as each in turn registers bewilderment,
consternation and deep concern: Samantha over her husband's
increasing bizarre behaviour and Curtis over the gathering
storm in the skies. At the 2/3 point in the film, during
an uneasy sleep, Samantha is awoken by her husband, who
is having a seizure that results in significant bleeding.
That she doesn't insist that Curtis immediately seek professional
beggars credulity. From that point on, at least for me,
the film loses its gilt edge and never quite recovers, despite
wonderfully nuanced performances from both Chastain and
Shannon, and at times mesmerizing cinematography. Kudos
and then some to 33-years-young director Jeff Nichols.
2.0
-- SHAME,
Steve McQueen
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Shamefully pornographic in content, this sexually turgid film takes
every possible plot hook and screws it up. The director
completely copped out of creating a plot. I doubt he did
any research on the subject of sex addiction. In the film,
Brandon is a sex addict. At his work, porno garbage is discovered
by his boss. That scene goes nowhere. His sister Sissy is
a nympho who has a disturbing attraction towards him. Brandon
can't seem to shake her off. That intriguing piece of incest
history is never revealed properly -- except that they are
Irish. Yes, incest is far more widespread among the Irish
than one cares to investigate; however, several academic
papers have dared to address this topic, revealing statistics
and reasons for its rampant occurrence. Back to the movie:
Brandon likes a lady at work, and he goes nowhere with her.
In fact, that is the only hope of plot advancement; but
neither their relationship nor follow-up of episodes involving
the two -- not even their sexual encounter goes anywhere.
Ironic indeed. The only real dialogue takes place when they
go for dinner, but who cares anyway? In fact, this movie
is a series of sex scenes that overwhelm any possibility
of making an interesting film about a sex addict. Why couldn't
the director examine that aspect -- the psychological making
and unraveling of a sex addict rather than focus so repeatedly
on the physical aspect of things? Michael Fassbinder as
Brandon played his role with taut introversion, and Carey
Mulligan was believable as the lost lady without a home
or a head -- for that matter. McQueen needs to dig deeper
into plot for any future film he may dare to make, but right
now, all I can say to him about this film is: "Shame on
you."
3.4
-- SHAME,
Steve McQueen
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
We first meet Brandon (Michael Fassbinder) in the New York
subway; his handsome killer look is aimed at the attractive
rider sitting across. He tries to follow her but loses her
in the rush. In the next scene, he's relieving himself in
the bathroom. We soon learn that Brandon is a sex addict,
that his preferences have been informed by porn: his computers
at work and at home are full of it and so is his closet.
Then his scattered, emotionally volatile, talented sister
Sissy (Carey Mulligan) drops in on him unannounced, needing
a place to stay. She an aspiring singer, and has invited
Brandon and his boss to hear her perform, at which point
we are treated to one of the highlights of "Shame:"
Carey Mulligan singing New
York New York like it has never been sung before (keep
an eye on youtube where it is sure to appear and take note
of the gorgeous piano accompaniment -- the achingly haunting
descending chord sequence at the top of the song). It requires
no more than a weak pick-up line and a couple of drinks
to bed Sissy who, like her brother, is strung out on sex.
The next day, Brendan is seduced by a beautiful co-worker
but he can't consummate. The killer look we saw in the first
frames has become a doubled-up fist of anger and frustration.
Brendan is looking at 40 and doesn't know how to connect.
As we observe brother and sister trying to shed their skins,
we learn nothing of their background and family life and
are forced to conclude that something went horribly wrong
since they both carry hurts and wounds that will never properly
heal. Has Brendan become sexually disabled consequent to
his dependency on porn, the film asks? Steve McQueen, who
gave us the masterpiece "Hunger," doesn't waste
a frame on a subject that is as disconcerting as tiptoed
around. By film's end, Brendan's spirit has been broken,
replaced by a tragic figure left to its own devices in the
unforgiving digital age. "Shame" is an important
film and should be included in every high school curriculum.
2.4 -- MONSIEUR
LAZHAR, Philippe Falardeau
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] There are many things going on in this film that examines the violence
in the world within restrained institutions and in unbridled
war. Hatred and despair certainly destroys us all. Starting
in the classroom, a teacher has hung herself. A young boy
feels he's responsible for her suicide, and in the classroom
he acts out his guilt in aggressive words. Even his project
about the school reflects his shattered view of school life.
Monsieur Lazhar, an Algerian substitute teacher, has taken
over over the dead teacher's class. He earnestly wants to
deal with the children's emotion about the ordeal, but the
director of the school is against this. In fact, his empathy
for the kids comes to light when he appears before the immigration
hearing during which he must plead his case. He lost his
own family in a horrific terrorist act in Algeria. Now he
is seeking refugee status. He poses as a teacher to get
the job, but we learn that he was in fact a restaurant owner
back in his war-torn country. Too much is dealt with in
this film to dig deeply into each issue, but the film director
successfully examined the troubled psyche of chlldren not
allowed to express themselves under dire circumstances in
the Quebec education system. I imagine the play by Evelyne
de la Chaneliere is riveting and somehow more intimate and
powerful.
3.2 --
ONCE UPON A TIME IN ANATOLIA, Nuri
Bilge Ceylan
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
From the outset, acclaimed director Nuri Ceylan sets out
to reverse the paradigm. The title predicts a lush and grandiose
cinematic experience, à la Sergio Leone, but where
is Anatolia? In point of fact, it's a large province in
western Turkey, much of it lying in the low mountains where
wheat for its celebrated ekmek
(bread) is grown. There has been a murder, it's late at
night, and in this 'midnight clear' the local constabulary,
an inspector, a doctor, diggers and two murder suspects
are looking -- with the only light provided by car headlights
-- for the body of the murder victim. Which makes this a
detective movie, but one ingeniously stripped of the usual
suspects and props: there's hardly any mystery, tension,
plot development, discovery, climax, confession and punishment.
Instead, we get a movie which, in its unhurried pacing and
natural dialogue, seems to play out in real time, where
people from different backgrounds have to get along in order
to get the job done. It doesn’t take long for the
murder story to take a permanent back seat to the highly
entertaining relationships and vibrant give and take between
the members of the investigating team. The script sparkles
from beginning to end; the repartee is priceless. In the
cramped quarters of a car rolling along a dirt road, the
camera lens, with the chilly breath of the night on its
glass, uncovers what is universal in the human condition
and is a window into a way of life that explains our fascination
with travel. In its cinema verité, “Anatolia”
is nothing less than a thorough and thoughtful deglamourization
of the detective/mystery genre that both film and TV have
commodified for entertainment purposes. That we hardly notice
we have lost interest in the "who done it" is
testament to Ceylan’s wonderful ear for dialogue that
unfolds in the nether regions of a country the film wants
to make familiar. As an unintended effect, “Anatolia”
makes a very good case why Turkey should be allowed to join
the EU. The characters, exhibiting flaws large and small,
are all too human, and even in outlying regions Turkey’s
commitment to law and order gets top marks. That said, the
film doesn't shy away from showing that women, in rural
areas, continue to live in the shadow of men. Checking in
at two and a half hours, some viewers will find the film
very slow going. For the rest of us, it’s a lesson
on the art of film making on a shoe-string budget.
2.7 --
OSLO, AUGUST 31ST, Joachim
Trier
[reviewed
byRobert Lewis]
Anders, a troubled young man of 34, is trying to find his
way and purpose in Norway's biggest city, Oslo. It's fall,
the days are getting shorter, and our very likeable Anders
is entertaining suicide -- again. We learn that he was a
promising writer, that he comes from a good and well-heeled
family, that he fell into the drug scene for five years,
checked into rehab, has been clean for ten months, and has
a job interview lined up. So far so good, but all is not
well, and we're not sure if that's due to Anders's constitution
or the narrowing of opportunities in Norway? Anders's disquiet
and despair are palpable; his smile, his charm and unsuspected
grace betray a fragility that throws into stark relief a
city that can (unapologetically) afford to lose some of
its citizens, where friends too easily learn to live without
their friends. What is left but to fall back and return
to a mindset that obliterates the future and all uncertainty.
But Anders can't fool himself; he knows what lies ahead,
and we're with him every stop along the way.
2.6 --
ELENA, Andrei Zvyagintsev
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Held up to the proverbial mirror, modern Russia doesn't
do well by this film, which does a fair enough job in telling
it like it is. Elena, the second wife, has been married
to wealthy Vladimir for ten years. She's from the lower
classes, her adult son is a loser and in debt. Vladimir
has an adult daughter, the sullen and coltish Katia, whom,
while in hot pursuit of lucre, he has neglected and pampered.
After Vlad suffers a heart attack, he advises Elena that
he wants to write up his will, that he is leaving everything
to his daughter, a generous monthly stipend to his wife
but nothing to her indebted son. Elena, unhappy with the
math, decides to take matters (and Viagra) into her own
hands. With all due respect to Dostoyevsky, in the new Russia
there is nothing to confess. Crime and punishment are in
the eyes of the beholder, or in this case, the perpetrator;
blood runs thicker than principle and almost everyone lives
happily ever after. Top notch casting.
2.4 -- TAKE
THIS WALTZ, Sarah Polley
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Margo meets this handsome artist at the Fortress of Louisbourg in
Nova Scotia. She works for Parks Canada. There is an attraction
that becomes all the more intense when he sits beside her
on the airplane, and upon landing and sharing a taxi, they
end up on the same street. He watches her from his outside
porch in Toronto. It turns out, he lives across the street
from her. Margo has a dilemma. She's married to Lou, a chef
specializing in chicken dishes. Their marriage is kiddish.
There is no sexual tension between them; they opt for playing
silly word games and perform childish antics Their physical
contact is akin to grade school kids who are best friends.
Clearly, life is giving Margo an opportunity to change her
direction and her man. Michelle Williams as Margo plays
her with enigmatic freshness. She really brought so many
aspects to the character of Margo, and quite frankly is
deserving of an Oscar. Seth Rogen as her husband is totally
boring and dumbs himself down for the role. I'm not sure
if he was acting or playing himself. Luke Kirby as Daniel,
the man she tries to resist, but can't, brings stirring
profoundness, authenticity and humour to the role. The ending
is somewhat ambiguous. Canadian music, including a Leonard
Cohen song and the Toronto setting clearly imprint a Canadian
stamp on tone and understated emotion.
2.4 --
THE TURIN HORSE, Bela
Tarr
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] On January 3, 1889, Friedrich Nietzsche witnessed a coachman continuously
whipping his horse. The philospher threw his arms around
the horse, and soon after went insane. But who was this
mean monster? This startling bleak film, shot in black and
white and all of its shades, opens with a farmer and his
daughter stuck inside a stone hovel of a house; they are
held prisoner by the ferocious wind storm outside. Their
horse refuses to take them anywhere. The film repeatedly
shows these two unfortuante people eating potatoes, peeling
them with their fingers, putting the harness on their unmovable
horse, and trying to survive in a sterile environment. They
do receive a visit from a friend who talks about Man's acquisition
and debasement of all things; this is the pattern of the
world, and God has a hand in it all. Man is doomed, and
it's been like this for a very long time -- according to
this guest of 'good cheer.' This unique film is a masterpiece
in art direction. Incredibly powerful, the film nonetheless
failed to captivate me. Sparse dialogue and no plot are
its downfall; and althoughs effective and authentic, it
is still monontonously predictable.
3.0
-- DE BON
MATIN, Jean-Marc Moutout
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] Wertret has worked his way into a top position, only to be cast down
to a low, unimportant department in the French bank to which
he has dedicated his professional life. Paul just isn't
making the grades when it comes to getting more clients
as an accounts manager. To make matters worse, his boss
is a steely, no-nonsense guy who tells Paul like it is.
Times are tough in France and the whole world feels the
mess of the US loan fiasco. He suffers three demotions until
he reaches rock bottom. The movie begins with him taking
out a gun and shooting his boss and his own replacement
for the accounts management position. It ends with him taking
drastic measures to ensure he never has to endure such humiliation
again. This movie is a brilliant comment on what happens
to those who become part of the slicing block when capitalism
fails, shamefully ruining lives of those stuck in companies
dedicated to capitalism's inevitable doom. Flashbacks related
to present action pepper the movie, but not in the most
fluid of ways. Jean-Pierre Darroussin in the role of Paul
is mesmerizing. A movie with a powerful message!
2.4 --
THE ISLAND, Kamen Kalev
[reviewed by Nancy Snipper] For four years, Sophie and Daneel have been in a passionate relationship.
Sophie surprises Daneel with tickets to Bulgaria. He doesn't
want to go. He then tells her he was born there and was
adopted, but know nothing about his early childhood. Daneel
decides they should stay on one of the islands. It is a
strange place, and things begin to go wrong in their relationship
as Daneel's moody and abusive comments cause Sophie to take
the first boat back after a few days. Daneel stays on to
uncover the truth about his birth mother, who in fact is
the wife of the owner of the rooms rented on the island.
She admits nothing to him, but he knows it's her. He returns
to Paris, gets a role on a TV Big Brother House show, playing
a mentally handicapped geek. Sophie misses him so much and
she enters the show. They end up together as a couple and
have a baby. It was a very strange movie whose plot fell
apart once Big Brother entered the picture. It does show
how trust takes a back seat in the grand scheme of being
in love. The heart wins out defying logic. The movie has
a suspenseful feel to it but it sabotages any potential
to be a good thriller by taking a wrong turn into inane,
absurd territory.
2.5
-- LAURENTIE,
Mathieu
Denis & Simon Lavoie
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
We first meet laconic Louis in lap dance land, and then
he gets drunk and goes on a rampage, and then he makes love
to a girl he seems to know, and then we catch him spying
on her, then at work (as an audio visual technician) watching
over the duplication of porn tapes, we catch him unbuckling
his belt, and then he's invited to his neighbour's party
but he doesn't connect, but, after spending an unusually
long time in the bathroom, he manages to freak out on the
dance floor. Even when he's with his two drinking buddies
or the girl with whom he has sex, he's hardly there. So
where is he? What is eating or eating away at Louis? What
family and social forces were at play in the production
of the enigma named Louis? Do we want his type in our midst?
Is Louis, who likes to read poetry, a poet -- the one who
dares to live in the destitution of his times, or is he
the destitution? Despite too many drawn out scenes that
go nowhere, Louis will get under your skin. Warning: graphic
sex.
2.7
-- LA GUERRE
EST DECLARÉE, Valérie
Donzelli
[reviewed
by Robert Lewis]
Once
you're born, it's a war you don't win; the lucky are the
ones who get to go to war. Valérie Donzelli's "La
guerre" is waged through the resilience and heartbreak
of parents who learn their 2-year-old son has a brain tumour.
But they never lose hope, even after discovering the tumour
is malignant, and aggressive, and that their son has one
in ten chance of surviving. However this commendable film
is not about illness or bad luck of the draw. The parents
are Juliet and Roméo, and this is their love story,
a love that endures through thick and thin. 'Why did this
happen to us?' he asks. "Because we can overcome it,"
she says -- with the help of friends, family and community.
In its grit and spirit, the film recalls Roberto Benigni's
magnificent "Life Is Beautiful." To be noted,
though not necessarily applauded, is the exceptional role
asked of the music that is often substituted for dialogue
in order to convey the emotional volatility of the parents
as they try to get on with their lives while the life that
is their issue remains problematic. This is a film the heart
(and tear ducts) will not be able to refuse, in large part
because from the outset we wholly identify with the leads.
![Canadian Tire Repair Scam [2211 boul Roland-Therrien, Longueuil] = documents-proofs](../2010_v9_n5/./images/mapleleaf.jpg)
