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51st
SAN SEBASTIAN FILM FESTIVAL
Nazioarteko
Zinemaldia DONOSTIA-SAN SEBASTIAN Festival Internacional de Cine
report
by Neil Young
official
website : San
Sebastian Film Festival
Section
one : Day 1, Day 2, Day 3
Section
two : Day 4, Day 5
Section three : Day 6, Day 7
Section four : Day 8, Day 9, Day 10, Awards
comment
format
of reviews:
Title
/ rating / original title(s) : country(s) of origin : year : director(s)
: length : section of festival
synopsis
in italics taken directly from official festival brochure
SECTION
TWO
Day
4 (21st Sept) : Donau Duna Dunaj Dunav Dunarea, Grimm, November,
Extrano
Day
5 (22nd Sept) : The Weakness of the Bolshevik, The Story
of Marie and Julien, What
The Eye Doesn’t See
Day
4 : Sunday 21st September
DONAU,
DUNA, DUNAJ, DUNAV, DUNAREA
5/10
aka
Danube : Austria 2003 : Goran REBIC : 89 mins : Zabaltegi
The
second movie by Goran Rebic (Jugofilm, 1997) speaks out in favour
of a Europe spliced through by the Danube as the unifying axis of a world
fraught for the last 15 years by fratricidal wars. A song to the life
of the people on a voyage along the Danube through Hungary, Serbia, Croatia,
Bulgaria and Romania, ending in the Black Sea, telling a tale not unlike
a little Odyssey of reconciliation.
Appropriately
enough, this was the first film I’d ever started watching in one cinema
finished in another – the movie was showing simultaneously in two cinemas
on either side of San Sebastian’s old town, one with English subtitles
and one with Castilian. A mix-up over which was which saw me hotfooting
it from Theatre Principal to Cines Principe shortly after the first line
of dialogue was spoken. The voyage of the characters is much more epic
and arduous – thousands of kilometres of the Danube from the European
Union to the shores of the Black Sea. Itinerary distance marked by periodic
on-screen countdown to zero KM, including the name of each city ‘we’ stop
off at en route. Striking spectacular landscapes along the way, with varied
terrain, water, light, flora and fauna. For those who use cinema as substitute
(or prelude) to travel, moneysworth is very much given. And it’s an original
framing concept. As a drama, however, much more monotone (morose/bittersweet-tragic/sentimental)
and uninspiring. Various stories along the journey, mostly concerning
a search for origins and/or family: father-search/mystic-romantic aspects
surface. Portentous philosophical voiceover. Impeccable intentions (very
much film festival material) but execution very standard-issue: lots of
significant looks and meaningful pauses. Florin Piersic Jr makes impact
as ‘cowboy’ drifter: looks like Emir Kusturica’s younger brother. Moral:
biological ties are less important than the ties we forge for ourselves.
The waters of this river, it seems, are much, much thicker than
blood.
GRIMM
5/10
Netherlands
2003 : Alex VAN WARMERDAM : 103 mins : Official Section (in competition)
With
Grimm, Van Warmerdam travels from the cold, misty northern woods
of his native country to the sunnier, yet still dark, vistas of Spain
in telling a post-modern fairy-tale of Hansel and Gretel gone awry. But
this time around it’s Jacob and his sister Marie who are abandoned in
the woods by their family.
Odd,
very Dutch humour in matter-of-fact update of fairytale situations. Euro-flavoured
precursor of Tim Burton’s Big Fish and Terry Gilliam’s Brothers
Grimm? Hansel and Gretel escapades in “modern” surroundings. Icy Holland-set
first section promises much: audacious, larkish, droll flights of imagination
and moments of inspired physical comedy. Sensational scene where the pair
escape from a meat-cooler: elaborate shenanigans involving farmer, wife,
table, ropes and cow… terrific pay-off. From this fertile northern-forest
terrain, abrupt magical-realist shift to hot south. Pace noticeably drops
(languid Mediterranean rhythms, if being charitable). Entanglement with
sinister 40-ish aristo Don Diego, then escape again to wild-west type
village (deserted movie set?) for final showdown, which sees blood mingling
with eggnog. Original, but in need of rewrites to achieve full potential
of mildly surreal conceits (cf Magonia).
Necessarily episodic, of course, but the pacing goes all skew-whiff. Fitfully
amusing adventures as they negotiate off-kilter world of sudden, irrational
threat – together… Incest hints, but kept tastefully low-key. Terrific
wordless Kees Prins cameo as ‘drunken man’ late on almost saves the day.
Takes its time and something of a stretch at 103 minutes.
NOVEMBER
8/10
Noviembre
: Spain 2003 : Achero MANAS : 104 mins : Official Section (in
competition)
Noviembre
(November) focuses on a provocative street-theatre group. Told
documentary style with interviews of veteran actors who recall their past
in an avant-garde theatre group, alternating with the representation of
this past, the film is a combination of spectacular street productions
and totally contemporary political reflections. Noviembre (November)
features a cast of young actors headed by Ingrid Rubio and Oscar Jaenada.
A
pseudo-documentary on the rise and fall of a radical Madrid street-theater
troupe, November sounded like the least appetising of the 16 films
in competition for San Sebastian’s Golden Conch. But the film surpassed
all expectations – it’s a brilliantly original, dazzlingly confident and
utterly unclassifiable delight. Imagine a Spanish, politically-charged
Being John Malkovich
and you’re edging in the right direction. It stamps writer-director Manas
as one of the few current Iberian film-makers capable of emerging from
the Almodovar shadow. With a drum-tight (and extremely clever) script,
deceptively freewheeling tone and ferociously committed performances –
especially from Jaenada as November’s mercurial, messianic leader – it’s
impossible to say whether Manas is celebrating the gang’s counter-cultural
idealism, quite royally taking the piss or doing both at the same time.
The results are hilarious, thought-provoking and, at the abrupt climax,
surprisingly moving. A word in British distributors’ shell-like: buy this
movie - it demands to be seen.
[review
originally appeared in slightly extended form in Time Out as the
‘Discovery of San Sebastian 2003]
For
a full length feature on Achero Manas' November click
here
EXTRANO
6/10
aka
Strange : Argentina 2003 : Santiago LOZA : 87 mins : Horizontes
Latinos
Axel
has left his job as a surgeon. Wandering among people, he is able to feel
their pain. One day meeting a pregnant girl, the couple establish a relationship
of mutual companionship, not unlike love. Loza’s movie, a compilation
of timid gestures and words, of silences and glances, won one of the Tiger
Awards at last year’s [sic] Rotterdam Festival after having been
presented as part of Films in Progress [at San Sebastian 2002].
Julio
Chavez – star of A Red Bear
– is something of a Kevin Spacey lookalike. Appropriate enough for a film
that might be called Argentinian Beauty, (as opposed to American
Beauty) portrait of a professional man in mid-life crisis.
Except this chilly, autumnal film is about a man’s personal implosion,
not explosion: surgeon quits job, goes from woman no woman (there are
no other adult men in the film at all). Clearly post-traumatic (his crisis
– what caused him to quit – some operating-table disaster?). He’s stunned
into reflection – landscape shots (many trees standing alone – behind
one, written in small graffiti on a wall, the word EXTRANO). Argentina
gripped in a similar crisis of confidence – cautious shoots of optimism
visible among the grimness? Made up of extended shots, but very well edited
to 84-minutes. Philosophical ruminations. Audience will either be seduced
or anaesthetised.
Day
5 : Monday 22nd September
THE
WEAKNESS OF THE BOLSHEVIK
6/10
La
flaqueza del bolchevique : Spain 2003 : Manuel Martin CUENCA
: 100 mins approx : Zabaltegi
Based
on Lorenzo Silva’s prizewinning novel, Manuel Martinez Cuenca’s first
work following the documentary El juego de Cuba is a contemporary
love story. But it’s also set in today’s Madrid, with its gridlocks, contained
violence and hidden wealth. Luis Tosar is Pablo, an executive victimized
by an unhinged society from which his salvation arrives in the shape of
Rosana, a teenager played by the debuting Maria Valverde.
Appropriately
enough, from Rioja Productions comes a movie that’s a good example of
new wine in a very old bottle. Fixation of respectable fortyish businessman
on schoolgirl after coup de foudre love-at-first-sight. All following
a minor car crash that leaves the grille of his car dented: VW askew.
Tragic consequences for all concerned. American
Beauty scenario – Tosar’s Pablo even plays loud rock in his car,
looks a little like Spacey from certain angles. Twists : (1) he’s not
married. (2) he’s not especially sympathetic (dog-faced Tosar also looks
a little like Ross Kemp). Something of a creepy pervert when he loses
his self-control. (3) She’s more than a match for him. The Bolshevik’s
weakness was for a pretty face, and Valverde shows real star quality in
debut role (justifies the “and presenting” credit among opening titles
that’s usually a reliable kiss of death to a young career.) He’s a bit
of a blank, but she’s luminous: something of a young Kate Winslet, with
fiery Winona Ryder eyes blazing when she’s roused. Lifts movie whenever
she’s on screen, which isn’t enough. Unhurried movie, many longing looks
accompanied by melancholy piano. Uncluttered visuals in character-study
two-hander. Somewhat underpowered, though this is really setting us up
for the violent finale (his comeuppance?) – all the more jarring/numbing.
In retrospect, occasionally daft convolutions of plot have in fact been
part of a noirish inevitability. Nothing amazing, but does what it does
pretty well.
THE
STORY OF MARIE AND JULIEN
4/10
Histoire
de Marie et Julien : France (Fr/Ity) 2003 : Jacques RIVETTE
: 145 mins : Official Section (in competition)
Julien,
a mature, unmarried watchmaker, meets the young, beautiful and vulnerable
Marie. The intense love sparked off between the two leads them to shelter
in a place where neither life nor deathe exist, a house where dream and
reality merge. Actors Emmanuelle Beart and Jerzy Radziwilowicz star in
this latest work by the great moviemaker Jacques Rivette.
“You
don’t know me.”
“It’s
you who doesn’t know yourself.”
“I don’t
want to know myself.”
Etc,
etc, for two-and-a-half hours. But for Rivette that counts pretty much
as a short. When did he last turn in a movie at less than 145 minutes?
Has he ever? His track record means benefit of doubt is given – enough
credit in the bank, even if Va
Savoir, though widely praised, came as a dip after excellent recent
works like 1997’s (173-minute) Secret Defense. Reunited with SD
leading-man Radziwilowicz. Here he’s dominant figure (previously second
fiddle behind Sandrine Bonnaire). Film takes its cue from his doughy solidity.
He’s a clocksmith – “it’s a matter of patience.” Describes the workings
of a clock as looking like “an instrument of torture.” Long film full
of ticking clocks – is this Rivette’s idea of a joke (he is in
his seventies. On record as saying Showgirls as one of best films
of recent years. Losing his marbles?) Skilled clocksmith Radziwilowicz
explains to Beart that clock repair is as much a matter of listening as
looking: shows her how to detect when a clock is audibly “limping”. Flat
look to movie bears this out, but Rivette seems oblivious to his mechanism’s
defective “limp”. Drags along to third-act left-turn into Solaris
territory, of all things. Metaphysical romance – most unconvincing.
Beart climbs a chair and emits mumbo-jumbo speaking-in-tongues… “Something’s
going to happen,” she intones. Fat chance. Viewer can feel (hear?) Rivette’s
control of his material slipping inexorably away, his reputation starting
to crumble. We should know we’re in trouble when sole source of energy
and humour is from (black) cat. Best performance, though Nicole Garcia
briefly brings movie to life when she comes on towards end and ‘explains’
Beart’s background. The black cat’s name is Nevermore. Not-so-subtle hint
that we’re staggering towards Edgar Allan Poe territory (writer much loved
in France). Poe once wrote a story ‘How to write a Blackwood article’
– deconstruction of supernatural tall tales. Rivette could be illustrating
a story entitled ‘How to make an arthouse movie’: long silences, meaningful
looks, overextended scenes (check out how long we watch Jerzy sweeping
the floor!) portentous dialogue (“nothing – that’s what I like”), hot
but implausible sex between grizzled older bloke and younger gamine
sex-bomb (what’s Beart done to her lips, though?) As often happens
with ‘Magus’ type directors, Rivette’s colossal reputation daunts all
around him – nobody dares tell him he’s lost it.
For
a full-length rewrite of this review click
here
WHAT
THE EYE DOESN’T SEE
5/10
Ojos
que no ven : Peru (Per/Spn) 2003 : Francisco LOMBARDI : 149
mins : Official Section (in competition)
Lombardi
tells us six tales set at a particularly harsh political moment in Peruvian
history: the fall of the Fujimori regime as a result of what was known
as the “vladi-video” scandal showing the presidential advisor Vladimiro
Montesinos bribing people of national importance. A movie denouncing the
hypocrisy, opportunism and corruption of political power.
“It’s
a military soap opera!” snorted The Guardian’s Derek Malcolm,
who was sitting next to me in the cinema. Hard to disagree – a Peruvian
entry into the urban-intersections genre (Short Cuts, City of Hope
etc), set in Lima. Novelistic knitting-together of stories. More explicitly
topical/political than most in the genre: 2000’s Vladi-video affair. Perhaps
“political telenovela” would be closer to the mark: filmed by Costa-Gavras
fan who’s seen Magnolia.
Even uses Magnolia-ish instrumental interludes (as camera glides
from participant to participant) to break up the action. Tendrils of corruption
affect all strata of society, from army/law on down. Exploitation of women
by men (not one but two moustachioed lechers – one of them, scheming to
have his wicked way with a teenage virgin, is straight from the Victorian-villain
archives.) Blood on military bloke’s pristine white uniform: we get the
point. All revolves around hospital, a sure sign of melodrama. Videos
look explosive stuff, but relegated to background. Excess of incident,
made bearable by comic relief (Walter Mitty monologues from geeky lovelorn
nerd – director has clearly seen Nashville as well; amusing ‘Stadler
& Waldorf’ pair of bickering old gents in hospital ward). Ambition
commendable, and nothing much wrong with it, but would be much more effective
on (Peruvian) TV, in three (or even four) fifty-minute segment. Lack of
script/directorial flair all the more obvious when seen on big screen
in one lengthy sitting. God-awful final freeze-frame of violated teen
playing in orchestra, wind mysteriously blowing through her hair and sun
bathing all in optimistic glow: unfortunate echoes of Hannibal
finale presumably unintentional.
films
seen at cinemas Principe, Principal, Astorias and Kursaal, San Sebastian/Donostia
by Neil
Young
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