[descriptions below are taken from the IFFR website and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Jigsaw Lounge or its contributors]
1. Jerichow (2008, Germany) by Christian Petzold
Even in his contemporary remake of The Postman Always Rings Twice Petzold reveals himself to be a precise and merciless film maker of interpersonal confrontations in a desolate East Germany.
2. The World's Greatest Sinner (1958, USA) by Timothy Carey
If Elvis had ever done a movie where he played a cult leader, it might look like this. An underground classic, with a score from a very young Frank Zappa.
3. Of Time and the City (2008, UK) by Terence Davies
The first film by Terence Davies in eight years is one of the cinematographic high points of the year. An exciting and viciously critical documentary journey through the Liverpool of his childhood. The present is also not particularly rosy. See also The Terence Davies Trilogy.
4. Blue Film Woman (1969, Japan) by Mukai Kan
When rates fall on the Tokyo exchange, Kenzo offers his wife to his landlord to pay his debts. Later his daughter Mariko takes revenge on the world by filming her having sex with rich corrupt men and blackmailing them. Sweltering, dramatic and socially critical pinku eiga from 1969.
5. O'er the Land (2008, USA) by Deborah Stratman [52m; SHORTS COMPETITION]
This is America! A visual essay that poses questions about the mythical concept of freedom that is so deeply anchored in American culture.
6. The Inheritors [Los herederos] (2008, Mexico) by Eugenio Polgovsky
Small children's hands pluck green beans at high speed and chop wood for a fire. Just as their (grand) parents have lived for years, so too is the life of these children in the Mexican countryside. Sad? Maybe. An impressive documentary, that's for sure.
7. Floating In Memory (2009, China) by Peng Tao
Grim drama about an unavoidable fate is a kind of Chinese Dardennes Brothers film. The young man with the wrong connections shows an interest in a nice shop-girl. Not with honourable intentions.
8. Tattoo (2009, China) by Wang Liren
Group of young Chinese in a small village in the south of China earn their living with theft, drugs and prostitution. They spend the rest of their days smoking and drinking. Wang Liren watches them with the gaze of a poet from times long gone.
9. California Company Town (2008, USA) by Lee Anne Schmitt
A documentary essay which casts a probing gaze at California towns abandoned by the industries that created them – onetime boomtowns now haunted by the twilight of the American promise, made by multidisciplinary artist, CalArts educated Lee Anne Schmitt.
10. Survival Song (2008, China) by Yu Guangyi
Yu Guangyi documents in this prize-winning portrait of outsiders and marginalisation how a sacked Chinese forest ranger survives as a hunter gatherer in the snow-covered wilderness of northern China. He also tries to maintain his primitive yet fascinating tenant XiaoLi. Rules and progress get in their way.
AND THEN…
No puedo vivir sin ti (2008, Taiwan) by Leon Dai
Father lives as a tramp by the waterside. He does dangerous jobs. It's no life for a child, you would say, but he lives together with his young daughter. That all works out well, until the authorities find out and he has to fight for his fatherhood. Sensitive. Black-and-white.
A Week Alone [Una semana solos] (2008, Argentina) by Celina Murga
Calm and without mock drama, Murga shows a group of rich children in a fenced-off compound in Buenos Aires who have the place to themselves for a week when their parents go away on a journey. What naughty things are they going to do? It won awards in Thessaloniki and also back home.
The Housemaid (1960, South Korea) by Kim Ki-Young
Is apparently in Martin Scorsese's top 3 of all times, this classic from Korean Cinemark. Outsider Kim already made, 30 years before Fatal Attraction, the definitive film about the risks of having an affair for the affluent citizen. Now at last entirely restored. A must.
Jalainur (2008, China) by Zhao Ye
Spectacular shots of snow, smoke and steam trains used for the coal mines of icy Jalainur, in Inner Mongolia, accompany a refined drama about a retired engine driver and his trusty young colleague who follows him around.
The Angel [L'ange] (1982, USA) by Patrick Bokanowski
'A 2001 produced under the same conditions as Eraserhead', The Angel invites for a surrealist ascent into a world of silhouettes and symbols. New adventures in perception in its depiction of the climbing of a giant stairway.
Why We Men Love Technology So Much [Warum wir Männer die Technik so Lieben] (1985, Belgium) by Stefaan Decostere
A 1985 documentary about the close relation between war and technology. Since then it has only become more intensified. The remake became an installation.
Agrarian Utopia (2009, Thailand) by Uruphong Raksasad
Documentary that is not really a documentary, but you don't see that. Or hardly. The maker wanted to show how rice is grown in his village in Thailand. But these days they do that with huge machines. So he made them do it the way they used to. Also intended as a model for the future.
Gushing Prayer (1971, Japan) by Adachi Masao
Several secondary school pupils start experimenting with group sex as a protest against the corrupt world of adults. 15-year-old Yasuko is by her teacher and is contemplating suicide. Shot in beautiful black-and-white CinemaScope, the film is a thematically and stylistically radical statement from 1971.
Asya's Happiness (1966, USSR) by Andrei Konchalovsky
A healthy young Russian beauty working on a Soviet collective farm during harvest time becomes pregnant by a handsome rascal. This movie, made with insight and a good deal of humour, was banned for 21 years because of its supposed religious views. Photography by Georgi Rerberg (Stalker, The Mirror).
FILM IST. a girl & a gun (2009, Austria) by Gustav Deutsch
Deutsch is not only a master sleuth in the film archives looking for exciting, challenging and amazing old images, he's also a master in the subtle composition of his finds into new film stories. A musical, visual feast of long lost images. Shouldn't be left out of any top ten.
Rerberg and Tarkovsky : The Reverse Side of Stalker (2008, Russia) by Igor Mayboroda
A unique documentary rediscovering part of the history of Soviet cinema through the life and work of the brightest Russian director of photography, Georgi Rerberg, the man behind the camera of Tarkovsky's films Mirror and Stalker. Full of unknown material, a real gem for film lovers.
Frozen River (2008, USA) by Courtney Hunt
Sundance prize winner. The prize was above all earned by Melissa Leo. She plays a single mother marked by life will smuggles illegal immigrants through an Indian reservation. The reservation of the last of the Mohicans who have started a casino there. A different kind of Christmas film.
Letter To A Child (2008, Slovenia) by Vlado Skafar
Melancholy quest by the maker for himself and the essence of life in an unambiguous ode to the beauty of love. Skafar is an excellent interviewer and persuades young and old to reveal the most beautiful stories and statements.
also showing, but with Dutch subtitles only:
Il Divo
JCVD
35 Rhums
Tokyo Sonata
OFFICIAL IFFR SITE
