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13th
Ljubljana International Film Festival
Ljubljana, Slovenia, 11-24 November 2002
www.ljubljanafilmfestival.org/13/index2.asp
‘Perspectives’ Section for films by first-
and second-time directors
jury : Anna Karina
(France), Igor Sterk (Slovenia), Neil Young (UK)
winner of the Mobitel Kingfisher Award
:
Juan
Villegas - Saturday
(special mention : Wen Zhu - Seafood)
ALSO IN COMPETITION
ATANARJUAT
– THE FAST RUNNER
5/10
Canada 2001 : Zacharias Kunuk : 172mins
The story : Inuit intrigues. Squabbles over a woman escalate into a blood-feud that
divides (and thereby threatens) a small, remote community of native Canadians.
Atanarjuat (Natar Ungaalaq) must battle his sworn enemies in order to
avenge his brother’s murder and live in peace with his beloved Atuat (Sylvia
Ivalu).
Pluses : Mythical timelessness – story could be taking place in 1002, 1502, 2002, or
perhaps even 2502 (unless you’re an expert on Inuktitut development).
Icy horizons provide strikingly unusual whiteout backdrops. Admirable
attempt to transpose ancient oral storytelling traditions to modern format.
A look into a very different way of life – bizarre touches include weird
‘sunglasses’ made by putting slits in bones. Authentic feel – soundtrack
features much atmospheric ‘throat singing.’
Minuses : 172 minutes long – many pregnant pauses and static moments pad it out to epic
length. Should be widescreen but shot on DV so isn’t - landscape feels
pinched in TV-sized format. Story difficult to follow. Largely wooden
line-delivery from non-professional cast. Incongruously ‘street’ subtitling
of original Inuktitut (“asshole” “jerk” “fucking with spirits” “shit-head”).
Stifling, ostentatiously Worthy air pervades – director’s concerns seem
more ethnographic than dramatic. Even this far away from Hollywood (in
all senses), ancient movieland cliches depressingly creep in: sex represented
by humping shadows projected onto tent-canvas by candle-light; during
rape scene, close-up of attacker’s leering face. Dogs come in for some
unforgivably rough treatment from the bad-guy, but director Kunuk is equally
despicable: the animals don’t know it’s just a movie. Jokey ‘making-of’
footage used alongside end-credits (we see Inuit performers wearing modern
American clothes) is amusing, but jarringly dissipates whatever magic
the movie has managed to create.
(seen Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 16th November 2002)
BLIND
SPOT
5?/10
Slepa Pega : Slovenia 2001 : Hanna A W Slak : 88mins
The story : Ljubljana by night. Lupa (Manca Dorrer) looks after recovering-junkie Gladki
(Kolja Saksida) in her flat as he goes cold turkey. But are they more
than just good friends?
Pluses : 27-year-old Slak shows a strong visual sense in her first feature: story is
told as much through images as words. Skilful use of reflections, metallic
surfaces. Moody music. Impressive awareness of space - Lupa’s shadowy
flat; bleak nocturnal Ljubljana streets lit by harsh neon. Dorrer (lanky
Rachel Griffiths type) and Saksida (suitably Vincent Gallo/Cassel-ish)
both strong, convincing, and work well together. Unexpected twist half-way
through catches audiences unawares.
Minuses : As ever, drug addiction is much more dull for the viewer than it is for the
addict. Ljubljana may have rough areas and drug problems, but film presents
unbalanced, misleading portrait of well-heeled, affluent Slovenian capital.
Atmosphere is ostentatiously downbeat, grim and humourless: “You’re saving
a stinking junkie who doesn’t even care about you!” Lupa is told in one
of the lighter exchanges. Gladki’s hallucinations look like out-takes
from Trainspotting - then when his body starts to fall apart, his
loss of teeth and hair is straight from Cronenberg’s The
Fly. Screenplay goes quickly downhill after the twist – Slak doesn’t
build on the big surprise, instead the pace slows down, then the picture
peters out to disappointingly underwritten ‘climax’. Very predictable
last shot and accompanying off-camera sound-effect. Final impression:
SFW?
(seen on video, Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 19th November 2002)
THE
DAYS I DON’T EXIST
6/10
Aura Ete : Les jours ou je n’existe pas : France 2002 : Jean-Charles Fitoussi : 110mins
The story : Nondescript Parisian Antoine (Antoine Chappey) only exists every other day.
At midnight he vanishes, re-materialising in the same spot 24 hours later:
to him, the time is continuous. He has long since adapted to his unusual
‘half-life’, but complications arise when he falls for the lovely Clementine
(Clementine Baert).
Pluses : Genuinely original (though vaguely PhilDickian) concept/conceit, brilliantly
set-up via deadpan narration and crisply edited sequences of Antoine going
about his business in Paris: ‘Antoine de Montmarte’ a world away from
Amelie. Amusingly uninflected,
matter-of-fact performances from Chappey and Baert, perfect for the wild
story they inhabit. For a time, direction feels exactly measured, just
so: composition and length of each shot precisely calibrated. Shades
of Keiller and Iosseliani
in the poised images of Parisian streets. Antoine’s disappearance and
reappearance nod back to George Melies and the original ‘vanishing lady’
cinematic special-effect. First half is a delightful, extremely Gallic,
metaphysical jeu d’esprit: Jacques Rivette’s Groundhog Day,
perhaps.
Minuses : Disastrous second half. Project started life as a 1994 short, and that’s probably
where it should have stayed - might even work best on paper as a short
story. Basic set-up is worthy of The Twilight Zone, but Fitoussi
doesn’t know what to do with it, so instead amps up the pretentiousness.
Intriguing time-travel angle emerges extremely late on, but by
then Fitoussi has long since resorted to punishingly lengthy shots in
which next-to-nothing happens. Antoine, who feels life flashing past,
should experience things moving too quickly, not with this kind
of infernal slowness. After end titles, one last, long, desperately ‘enigmatic’
shot – which shows thorough contempt for audience.
(seen Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 21st November 2002)
DO
FISH DO IT?
5/10
Fickende Fische : Germany 2001 : Almut Getto : 104min
Lukewarm
first-love tale in which the budding romance between 16-year-olds Nina
(Sophie Rogall) and Jan (Tino Mewes) comes under strain when he reveals
he’s HIV-positive. Getto nimbly sketches the kids’ very different social
backgrounds (her family’s boho flat, his folks’ palatial pad) and the
early stages of their friendship, with convincing performances all round.
Thora Birch lookalike Rogall is the film’s real find, a natural performer
whose Nina is a notably free-spirited, modern, intelligent teenager… until,
that is, Getto’s script has her reacting to Jan’s bombshell with the uncharacteristically
ill-informed and jarringly unsympathetic line “You’ve got that gay disease?!”
This
is typical of a second half which forfeits realism for some disappointingly
melodramatic plot developments, such as the predictable fate of Jan’s
best pal, a fellow HIV-sufferer. When Nina and Jan split up, Getto mechanically
alternates between the pair as they bicker with their parents and stew
in their misery (“life sucks!”) before she brings them back together with
a contrived finale that plays a cheap, manipulative emotional trick on
the audience. We’re led to believe Jan has died, and with Nina suffering
from a similar misapprehension it seems as though an earlier visual nod
to Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet (when Jan and Nina look
at each other through each side of an fish-tank) may have been intended
to foreshadow a tragic, Shakespearean climax.
But
things thankfully don’t quite work out as we expect. The fish-tank scene
turns out to be just one among dozens of visual and dialogue references
to fish from the title(s) on down, reflecting Jan and Nina’s interest
in the subject. The original German title translates as Fucking Fish
– the young lovers frequently ponder the logistics of piscine copulation
as they themselves stumble towards their own sexual awakening. These themes
(along with the fact that Jan and Nina occasionally smoke, drink and at
one point even steal a car) pitch Do Fish Do It? towards the older
end of the teenage moviegoing market - it’s the kind of slightly edgy
subject matter more often tackled in novels aimed at adolescent girls.
As a movie, however, there isn’t quite enough here for adult viewers -
though the moody, mostly electronic score by Tom Deininger and Sten Servaes
does help maintain interest.
(seen Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 15th November 2002)
EVERYDAY
GOD KISSES US ON THE MOUTH
7?/10
In fiecare zi dumnezeu ne saruta pe gura: Romania 2002 : Sinisa Dragin: 95mins
The story : Dumitru (Dan Condurache) leaves prison after serving an 11 yearsfor murder.
He takes a train-ride home and, after an argument over a game of cards,
kills again. Meeting his family, he finds his wife pregnant with his brother’s
child. More killings ensue. Dumitru flees to another town and works as
a butcher in a slaughterhouse. More killings ensue. But God, it seems,
has at least one eye on this very wayward son…
Pluses : Never a dull image, thanks to Alexandru Solomon’s striking sepia-toned cinematography.
Many original compositions and effective tracking-shots, often featuring
natural backdrops – trees, birds, etc. Key plot points revolve around
Dumitru’s two pet geese, with whom he has touching (platonic) relationships.
Convincing edge-of-desperation performance by grey-haired Condurache,
who could be Frank Langella’s shorter, gone-to-seed brother. Dumitru’s
life is like a blues song – wall-to-wall misery tips over into deadpan
black comedy, as in monochrome Slovenian absurdist ‘situation tragedy’
Bread and Milk,
though multiple murders lend more grand guignol aspects here. Welcome
touches of film-noir: early on, gipsy fortune-teller provides Dumitru
with very doomy predictions. Melancholic tendencies of long-suffering
Romanian national character given full vent. Dogs almost always barking
in the background. Occasional moments of brutal poetry. Religious angles
handled with restraint – Dumitru has odd relationship with a God who treats
him like Job. Plenty to think about after strong closing shot.
Minuses : Suspicion whole is lesser than sum of parts. Picturesque visions of peasant
poverty? Unwelcome touches of Fellini – life as parade of weirdness: travelling
band appears out of nowhere at one stage. Plot is strongly reminiscent
of Gaspar Noe’s excon-butcher-goes-killcrazy epic Seul
Contre Tous.
(seen on video, Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 18th November 2002)
INCH’ALLAH
SUNDAY
2/10
Inch’Allah dimanche : France (Fr/Algeria) 2001 : Yamina Benguigui
: 98mins
The story : 1974: the French government allows the families of immigrant Arab workers to
join their husbands. Zouina (Fejria Deliba) arrives from Algeria with
two children and unsympathetic mother-in-law (Rabia Mokeddem) in tow.
The arrival of this extended family immediately causes friction with Zouina’s
garden-obsessed, small-minded French neighbours. As Zouina struggles to
adapt to her new environment, husband Ali (Anass Behri) reacts by becoming
increasingly violent. His downtrodden wife makes friends with a pair of
French women (Mathilde Seigner and Marie-France Pisier), who encourage
her tentative steps towards independence. But this is easier said than
done.
Pluses : The performances are arguably as good as the underwritten roles and the screenplay’s
general shoddiness allow.
Minuses : Cartoonish, cack-handed treatment of serious domestic-abuse/women’s-liberation
issues. No sense that this is the mid-seventies – only a few token attempts
to recreate period detail. Music overdone. Fatal uncertainty of tone:
broad, larkish sit-com aspects (repetitive clashes with caricatured xenophobic
neighbours) sit very awkwardly alongside more serious intentions. Seigner
and (especially) Pisier wasted – latter left looking dumbly on in chaotic,
hurried, would-be-farcical climax that ends on thoroughly unconvincing
upbeat, fairy-tale note.
(seen on video, Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 17th November 2002)
LIGHT
OF MY EYES
6/10
Luce dei miei occhi : Italy 2001 : Giuseppe Piccioni : 114mins
The story : Easy-going science-fiction-reading chauffeur Antonio (Luigi Lo Cascio – a younger
Sam Waterston) falls for Maria (Sandra Ceccarelli – an older Lara Flynn
Boyle), put-upon owner of a loss-making frozen food store. Though single-mother
Maria bluntly states she isn’t attracted to Antonio, he isn’t easily dissuaded
and tries to alleviate her financial worries by doing some gratis
driving for her creditor Saverio (Silvio Orlando – a heavier Joe Mantegna),
a slightly shady ‘businessman.’Complications ensue.
Pluses : Intriguing, original kind of non-romantic ‘romance’ sparked by Antonio’s love-at-first-sight
chance meeting with Maria. Convincing, rounded characters – Ceccarelli
isn’t afraid to be unsympathetic as the rather chilly Maria, who at one
point tellingly asks Antonio to turn off her shop’s freezers. Paul Schraderish
elements: many night scenes; solitary, bookish driver drifts into fringes
of criminal underworld while developing romantic obsession with slightly
older woman; his saintly conscience threatened by moral miasma. Effective
use of off-the-tourist-track Rome locales. Italian equivalent of quirky
Spanish character-based romantic drama Ten
Days Without Love: main subject of both movies is emotion.
Minuses : Title remains frustratingly unexplained. Repetitive, monotonous voice-over from
Antonio, who reads many extracts from his beloved sci-fi novels – shades
of Tobey Maguire’s character in Ang Lee’s Ice Storm, except the
passages aren’t so well-chosen here. Talky: many scenes where Antonio
has long conversations with Maria or Saverio. Shady-underworld subplot
feels bolted on to main story – and conspicuously short, slight Antonio
is hardly debt-collector material (cf skinny Martin Compston in Sweet
Sixteen.) Tone is mostly realistic, but there’s slightly jarring
melodrama involving Maria’s young daughter Lisa (Barbara Valente), subject
of a child-custody case initiated by her grandparents. Script (by Piccioni,
Umberto Contarello and Linda Ferri) paints itself into a corner by having
Maria so vehemently resist Antonio’s charms – if she eventually succumbs,
it will feel like a betrayal of the character’s independence. If she doesn’t
– what’s the movie actually going to be about: Antonio’s slightly creepy,
stalkerish persistence? In the end, a slightly fudgy middle-way is negotiated.
(seen Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 21st November 2002)
MY
RUSSIA
5/10
Mein Russland : Austria 2002 : Barbara Graftner : 87mins
The story : Margit (Andrea Nurnberger) is a domineering, fortysomething divorcee with two
grown-up children, living in Vienna with her nice-guy boyfriend. Her well-ordered
domestic situation undergoes major upheaval when the extended family of
her son’s Ukrainian fiancee pay a visit. Chaos rapidly ensues and long-simmering
family tensions reach breaking point. (Cast also includes Hannes Gastinger,
Natalia Baranova, Holger Schober, Julia Hofler.)
Pluses : A refreshing change to find relatively upbeat material coming out of Austria
after the bracingly bleak Lovely
Rita and Dog Days.
Force-of-nature, edge-of-mania performance from Nurnberger holds the movie’s
disparate subplots in place with daunting, centrifugal power. Initially
a somewhat grotesque mother-in-law-from-hell, Margit develops into a surprisingly
sympathetic kind of monster. Blending actors and non-professionals, debutant
writer-director Graftner aims for a rough-edged, dark-toned sitcom ambiance
with aspects of Mike Leigh and dogme: high-definition DV gives
a documentary, home-movie feel. Several successful comic sequences featuring
punchy dialogue from Margit, whose chubby face and Louise Brooks hairstyle
fill the screen in numerous intense, amusing close-ups. Culture-clash
nimbly dramatised: Russian (Ukrainian?) dialogue isn’t translated as Margit
doesn’t speak the language.
Minuses : Over-familiar form and content – see also this year’s Minor
Mishaps and Grill Point. Austrian wine in Danish, dogme-shaped
bottles. These aren’t bad films by any means, but this kind of bittersweet
comedy-drama is developing into a predictable mini-genre. “Russians” stereotyped
as booze-crazy party-people with dodgy Mafia-type connections – as in
Birthday Girl,
except Jez Butterworth’s movie got away with it by using the conventions
for dramatic ends.
(seen Komuna cinema, Ljubljana, 19th November 2002)
SISTERS
6/10
Sestry : Russia 2001 : Sergej Bodrov, Jr : 85mins
The story : The sisters are, in fact, half-sisters - 13-year-old Sveta (Oksana Akinsina)
and 8-year-old Dina (Katja Gorina), whose father is a mid-ranking gangster
in the Russian Mafia. He’s released from prison after serving time for
a robbery – but finds his ‘colleagues’ on the outside suspect him of stashing
away some of his crime’s ill-gotten gains. To ensure his ‘co-operation’
they plan to kidnap his children – but the resourceful, independent kids
escape ‘underground’ and hide out in the countryside. The squabbling sisters
temporarily put aside their differences as they try to stay one step ahead
of their would-be captors.
Pluses : Bodrov Jr was Russia’s most popular young actor after appearances in Brother,
Brother 2 and his father Sergej Sr’s Prisoner of the Mountains.
Sisters is his directorial debut – he was working on a second movie
when he was killed in an avalanche that also wiped out many of his crew.
This gives Sisters a tragic feel – his cameo as a charismatic young
hood is almost unbearably poignant (though there is one rather dubious
tracking shot which features an array of impossible tough-faced hard-men
culminating with the rather sweet-featured Bodrov himself). And this is
an accomplished, very promising debut – Bodrov also wrote the script (with
Gulsat Omarova) which is commendably unsentimental in its treatment of
Sveta, Dina, and the other streetwise children they meet on their travels.
Strong performances from Akinsina and the rather scarily unsympathetic
Gorina – we’re thankfully a long way from the sugary dad-worship of Road
To Perdition. Back-of-beyond Russian locales are effectively deployed.
Minuses : Though the copious use of Russian rock and pop gives the film a certain distinct
character, at times we get far too much of a good thing - the soundtrack
occasionally overpowers the on-screen action it’s supposed to be accompanying.
And there’s a major problem with the ending – we build towards a tense,
action-packed climax that doesn’t actually arrive: the finale is so hurried,
it feels like Bodrov ran out of time, money or both. A slightly more polished
and tightly structured variation on similar themes (teenage sharpshot
employs rifle skills against eastern-European gangsters to defend sibling)
can currently be found in Srdan Golubovic’s Absolute
Hundred from Yugoslavia.
(seen on video, Cankarev Dom, Ljubljana, 22nd November 2002)
SMOKERS
ONLY
4/10
Vagon Fumador : Argentina 2001 : Veronica Chen : 87mins
The “story” : Buenos Aires by night. Bisexual hustler Andres (Leonardo Brezicki) drifts
into an intermittent but intense relationship with Reni (Cecilia Bengolea),
who sings in a Portishead-esque rock band. The volatile Reni flirts with
suicide, then impulsively decides to try her luck at prostitution – under
Andres’ expert guidance. Complications ensue.
Pluses : Nocturnal images from cinematographer Nicolas Theodossiou gives the episodic
narrative a muddy, gauzy but distinctive look – much juddery slo-motion,
distorted monochrome footage from bank-lobby CCTV. Arty fragments of aimless
youth in the painful transition to adult responsibility. Crowd scenes
obviously shot ‘on the hoof’ – real people walk past, as in Michael Winterbottom’s
London-by-night Wonderland.
Some effective use of ‘found’ locations: amusing close-up of Mel Gibson,
staring out from a Payback poster outside a cinema (also showing:
Destino Final!)
Minuses : Mannered, self-conscious direction of a somewhat thin, humourless story – overuse
of juddery slo-mo gimmick. Gestures and dialogue heavy with unearned significance:
the city is “an octopus, full of tentacles… a monster”. Tired attraction/repulsion
aspect between the star-crossed ‘lovers’. Repetitive, occasionally laughable
sequences of Reni in her bath, contemplating suicide and ‘accidentally’
cutting herself. Jared Leto-ish Brezicki looks the part, but unfortunately
doesn’t seem able to act. Unlikely, over-romanticised business of Reni
turning to prostitution. Frustratingly ‘enigmatic’ ending, though it does
finally explain the title. Poseur director aiming for a bleak, night-town
urban poetry – straining for ‘elegant ennui’ like a parody of a sixties
Italian art-movie, complete with steamy arthouse sex-scene. Reni’s songs
include several priceless lines: “My north was de-magnetised.” No wonder
the band doesn’t make any money.
(seen Kinoteka cinema, Ljubljana, 18th November 2002)
LA
SPAGNOLA
5/10
aka The Spanish Woman : Australia 2001 : Steve Jacobs : 90mins
The story : Australia, the early 1960s – in a small town mostly populated by Spanish immigrants,
Italian couple Lola (Lola Marceli) and Ricardo (Simon Palomares) live
with their teenage daughter Lucia (Alice Ansara) in a shack-like house
yards away from an oil refinery. When Ricardo suddenly elopes with another
woman, Lola is enraged – and Lucia blames her mother for her father’s
exit. As their feud intensifies, both mother and daughter fall for the
suave charms of local stud Stefano (Alex Dimitriades) – with disastrous
consequences…
Pluses : In a deliberately campy film featuring several over-the-top, mildly hysterical
performances, Lourdes Bartolome turns in an engagingly sympathetic, relatively
restrained turn as Lucia’s boisterous but kindly sister Manola. The oil
refinery provides an unusual, bizarrely scenic constant backdrop. Australia’s
melting-pot of immigrant cultures is nimbly conveyed by having characters
alternate between Italian, Spanish and English – Lucia already has a strong
local accent. Several jokes hit the target, making for an enjoyably energetic,
if undemanding and very female-oriented comedy.
Minuses : Lucia is at the centre of the movie, so it’s odd we see so little of her life
away from her family – apart from her brief interludes with Stefano. Where
are all her school friends? This feels like a major gap in Anna Maria
Monticelli’s screenplay. Marceli’s unhinged, hyper-passionate Lola is
rather too temperamental for comfort – there’s something of a Mommie
Dearest aspect to this glamour-puss thirtysomething’s exceedingly
spiky relationship with her plain-Jane daughter. Debutant director Jacobs
aims for the kind of gaudy stylisation often works well in shorts but
which in features is much harder to sustain. In La Spagnola’s case,
there’s often an uncomfortable problem of tone. It’s mostly a jokey farce
(one gag involves the messy consequences of a laxative), but there are
some jarringly dark moments that aren’t successfully integrated – most
notably a harrowing knitting-needle abortion sequence that’s played for
laughs. And there’s a pet-served-as-meal episode that’s as disturbing
as the equivalent scene in Every Day God Kisses Us On the Mouth (see
above).
(seen Komuna cinema, Ljubljana, 21st November 2002)
THIS
IS NOT A LOVE SONG
5/10
and
WILD
BEES
3/10
both reviewed in Leeds competition
(opening-night
movie, also in competition : My Big Fat Greek Wedding)
reviews written 27th November – 7th December 2002
click here
for reviews of competition highlights City of God, Saturday
and Seafood
click here for out-of-competition movies Absolute
Hundred, Freedom and Human Nature
by Neil
Young
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