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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
THREE
Day
6 (23rd Sept) : 21 Grams, PyME (Besieged), When the Right
One Comes Along
Day
7 (24th Sept) : You Have My Eyes, Code 46, Girl with a Pearl
Earring, My Life Without Me
Day
6 : Tuesday 23rd September
21
GRAMS
5/10
[upgraded
to 7/10 after 2nd viewing, Jan 2004]
USA
2003 : Alejandro Gonzalez INARRITU : 125 mins : Zabaltegi (additional
screening)
[no
description in brochure – late addition to schedules]
AKA
Monster’s Ball II:
shameless, tragedy-heavy, fundamentally rather silly melodrama seemingly
designed to provide a gruelling emotional and physical workout for its
actors: Halle Berry went hysterical with the phrase “Red gumball” in Monster’s,
here Naomi Watts, crazed with grief at death of young daughters and husband,
goes hysterical with the phrase “Red shoelaces.” Berry rewarded with Oscar,
Watts likely to obtain same prize (compensation for Mulholland
Dr). Grainy indie feel of Rodrigo Prieto’s cinematography – makes
Memphis, Tennessee look like the coldest city in the world. Prieto did
Amores Perros for
this director and writer (Gullermo Arriaga). Stephen (Traffic)
Mirrione’s jagged editing crucial in success/failure of major gimmick:
Arriaga’s pretentious chopped-up, time-hopping script. Audience must piece
together the puzzle of how tragic events bring/brought together maths
professor Paul (Sean Penn), bereaved Cristina (Watts) and ex-con-turned-god-botherer
Jack (Benicio Del Toro). Never a dull moment along way, even if arc is
mostly predictable thanks to structure (we keep seeing glimpses of the
climax throughout – turns out to make very little sense). Herky-jerky,
rough-edged style somewhat familiar nowadays (not least from Amores
Perros and Traffic, both as over-rated as this movie – classic
cases of movies delivering much less than meets the eye). ‘Wunderkind’
Inarritu overpraised after Perros debut, and the hype will continue
with 21 Grams. But he’s by no means immune to cliché, and over-cooked
approach prevents audience being swept along on emotional tide that keeps
the story moving. Much sound and fury, especially towards the end (to
the extent it feels like ‘one-damn-thing-after-another’) but at heart
(!) isn’t this just TV movie material? Imagine Lindsay Wagner, Tim Matheson,
Brian Dennehy in main roles. Watts, Penn and Del Toro make it seem better
than it is – Melissa Leo arguably the best of the lot, however, as Jack’s
down-to-earth wife (she’s in a slightly different, slightly better, slightly
more realistic movie). Actors provide emotional heft that almost
obscures the odd cringe-makingly duff line (“I got a good heart,” says
Paul after receiving organ from donor who turns out to be Cristina’s late
husband), and almost overcomes fundamental absurdities/implausibilities
of script (final straw: Paul is told he may need a second heart
transplant). But script’s flaws become increasingly apparent and troubling
the more they’re thought about – attempt to subliminally link these tragedies
with September 11 (American flag in background of certain shots) as arbitrary
and cheap as in Fear X. Even Penn can’t overcome script’s
token efforts to convince us Paul is a maths professor: one perfunctory
speech about how numbers lie behind all things, etc. Plus he delivers
final voiceover which explains the title: supposedly amount of weight
lost by human body at moment of death. “How much does 21 grams weigh?”
he asks. At which point viewers, fed up with po-faced metaphysical portentousness
of it all, may feel moved to shout out “Half an ounce, mate!”
PyME
(BESIEGED)
4/10
PyME
(Sitiados) aka Sieged : Argentina 2003 : Alejandro MALOWICKI
: 96 mins : Horizontes Latinos
A
day’s work, perhaps the last, in a plastic goods factory on the point
of declaring bankruptcy. The entire action unfolds in this place where
workers and owner alike try to find a way of solving the crisis certain
to lead them all to ruin. Second feature film by a famous documentary-maker.
Presented [at San Sebastian 2002] as part of last year’s Films
in Progress.
PyME
= Pequeno y Media Empresa, though this is never explained in film itself.
Translates as “small to medium enterprise.” Plastic-chair factory in crisis,
bankruptcy looming. Doumentary-maker Malowicki turns hand to fiction,
but doesn’t exactly leap into storytelling possibilities of medium. Stilted,
dry presentation in utterly flat DV: basic to the point of Zen simplicity.
Tinkly piano comes and goes, as does ticking clock, heartbeat on soundtrack.
We never leave the confines of the factory – claustrophobic – scenes mostly
dialogue-heavy two-handers. Talk talk talk. Personal chat sits uneasily
alongside more ‘political’ discourses (soft-spoken boss of firm rails
against the free-market dogma he bought into, which has now turned savage
and bitten him on the ass). Pressing subject: capitalism’s winners and
losers. But deserves and needs much wider perspective. Argentina: total
mess. But issue is better handled in more oblique terms as background-noise
for dramas (Red Bear,
Nine Queens). Those
films dramatically involving, but make effective political points as well.
Here factory ‘noise’ is background and foreground – with arid,
numbing results. (One flash of unintentional surreal humour: bloke comes
in and announces that his child has just been born weighing “3,600 kilograms”
according to subtitles = 7938lb or 567 stones. Should be 3.6kg = 8lb.)
Even armed robbery is only very minor and temporary upheaval – staged
with more brio by Coronation Street on TV back in the 70s
– as just one more damn thing to deal with. Workers go on strike, forbid
anyone from leaving: Bunuelian possibilities of this action aren’t explored.
If intention is portray grinding monotony of industrial-action crisis,
succeeds only too well. “Are you staying or leaving?” someone asks at
a key moment. “I want to see how it ends,” is the response. They shouldn’t
have bothered – film ends (with clunky coda) as it began, schools-TV treatment
of major global problem.
WHEN
THE RIGHT ONE COMES ALONG
6/10
Wenn
der Richtige kommt : Germany (Ger/Swi) 2003 : Oliver PAULUS
& Stefan HILLEBRAND : 78 mins : Zabaltegi
Summed
up in a sentence, this is the tale of a cleaning woman who falls in love
with a Turkish security guard at the company for which she works, who
decides to follow him when he returns to Turkey. That’s the storyline,
but the movie is much, much more. Paula is liberal-minded. She does and
says whatever she wants, has a crazy aspect, even wilder clothes and surprising
friends.
Short,
DV-shot romantic comedy – not especially comic, but touchingly effective
on the romance front. Refreshing lack of cuteness/sentimentality that
bedevils most of dreaded US/UK “rom-com” genre. Unlikely relationship
between gawky, ungainly, goose-like, six-foot Paula (Isolde Fischer) and
dumpy security-guard Mustafa ( Can Sengul). Bare-bones plot delivered
in discrete ‘chapters’: Paula’s “dream”, “journey”, “miracle” then bittersweet
epilogue. Film over relatively quickly, but leaves impression – though
no thanks to ho-hum visuals or tinkle-tinkle piano soundtrack. Very believable
performances in four-hander: Fischer, Seygul, plus Helga Grimme as Paula’s
unreliable friend Frau de Witz, and Tulay Gonen as the unassuming chap
who helps Paula out when she arrives in the dauntingly vast city of Adana.
Film revolves around against-the-odds German-Turkish relationship, but
we’re a long way from the intensity of Fassbinder’s Fear
Eats the Soul (unless the slightly Norma Desmond-ish Frau de Witz
was the one in love, perhaps). Much lighter stuff, though poignant enough
to make it more than just a pleasant time-passer. Limpid, fairytale-ish
story – of an offbeat shape, just like its heroine.
Day
7 : Wednesday 24th September
YOU
HAVE MY EYES
3/10
Te
doy mis ojos aka Take My Eyes : Spain 2003 : Iciar BOLLAIN
: 116 mins : Official Section (in competition)
Starring
Laia Marull and Luis Tosar, Te doy mis ojos (Take My Eyes)
takes a close-up look at the terrible reality of battered women from a
completely new perspective [sic] of surprisingly courageous clear
ideological stance. The movie, written in collaboration with Alicia Luna,
is born as an extension of the short film Amores que matan. [Loves
which kill].
Domestic
violence: serious, important subject, so powerful that it demands the
most careful, sensitive and intelligent treatment if used as subject for
movie. Otherwise: source of cheap gravitas. Programme of film festival
promised “a completely new perspective” on domestic violence – perhaps
it seems such in Spain, country where sexual equality still lags behind
economic success. But nothing should excuse such a formulaic, cardboard-cut-out
depiction of the issue. Ominous thriller muzak on soundtrack, flat visuals
– direction hits all the most predictable notes. Takes cue from Marull’s
performance battered wife: caricature of meek self-effacement in a tediously
by-the-numbers and woefully mannered performance. On looks, Marull would
have been ideal in title role of Frida,
except on this evidence she isn’t in (even) Salma Hayek’s league as an
actor. Talented Tosar deserves so much better: stuck in thankless role
as caricature pigheaded, drink-swilling macho man spouting monotone paranoid
rants. Character is clearly incorrigible, despite sessions in group therapy
(which is forgotten about in latter stages). These sessions do, however,
provide rare flashes of welcome interest via comic relief – likewise,
her relatives are milked for (rather easy) laughs: sister (Candela Pena!)
gets married to nice-guy Scotsman. Pena should have played main role,
which might have gone some way to injecting life into drab material. Not
quite the Lilya 4-Ever
of marital abuse, but unforgivably two-dimensional.
For
a rewrite of this review click here.
CODE
46
6/10
UK
2003 : Michael WINTERBOTTOM : 92 mins : ‘Getting to know Michael Winterbottom’
[SPOILER
ALERT!] In a world dominated by genetic engineering and climatic desertification,
the only point of entry to strictly guarded cities are a series of control
points. An inspecter [sic] in charge of granting and regulating
use of the documents necessary for travel falls hopelessly in love with
a woman before learning that he was cloned with deceased mother’s DNA.
Predictably
unpredictable team of Winterbottom and scriptwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce
make foray into science-fiction. Results can’t be counted success on level
of hyperactive Winterbottom’s recent fine work (The
Claim, 24 Hour Party
People, In This
World, Wonderland)
but (as in the other prominent DNA ‘thriller’ Gattaca) once
audience accepts daftness of the script, this is a diverting enough excursion
into a mildly dystopian near-future. Also excursion across the globe:
main action unfolds in Shanghai (more Suzhou
River than Shanghai
Panic), with minor detours to (“the free port of”) Jebel Ali in
Dubai, and Seattle. Daft, sub-William Gibson wisp of a plot: should perhaps
have been much longer and more complex (Jeanne Balibar fans will fume
at size of her tiny role in what could have been a more pivotal role).
Many intriguing minor characters around not-so-hot central pairing of
Tim Robbins and Samantha Morton. He’s fine as slippery “empath” but she’s
a distracting presence: this version of the cool-tech future isn’t sufficiently
distinctive from Minority
Report but there are more troubling echoes of her other most
prominent performance of recent years: as she walks through a nightclub
in beatific, strobey slomo, it clicks into place: Morvern
Callar in the 21st Century! Similar pleasures in this
sensual world – lovely woozy cinematography by Marcel Zyskind: both he
and Winterbottom seem in love with Shanghai setting (aim was to do a modern
Alphaville – visually, not far off). As in Morvern, score
adds to mood of movie, even if occasionally a little loud: makes jargon-heavy,
quasi-Spanglophone chat a little hard to make out. Some dopey dialogue
deserves drowning out, however (“The Sphinx gave you a virus,” etc etc).
Not especially chilling, apart from implication (cf Skunk Anansie at the
end of Strange Days) that Coldplay are going to be with us for
quite a while yet…
For
a full review of Code 46 click here
GIRL
WITH A PEARL EARRING
7/10
UK
(UK/Lux) 2003 : Peter WEBBER : 91 mins : Official Section (in competition)
The
screen version of Tracy Chevalier’s bestseller, “Girl with a Pearl Earring”
is exquisitely set and studied in every detail. Young actress Scarlett
Johansson embodies Griet, the young maid turned model for one of the most
famous paintings by Vermeer, played by Colin Firth. The light and mystery
reflected against the pearl hanging from Griet’s ear fill this film above
all about a love for painting. [sic]
Period
drama with Firth, Tom Wilkinson… costumes and period settings (1660s Delft)
– clearly a deluxe production (albeit on a budget) from ‘Delux Productions’.
Strings and horns on soundtrack, sly servants, bustling street scenes,
costumes. Familiar stuff? But the casting (by Leo Davis) is spot-on: seldom
so many amazing sets of eyes in a single movie. Firth underplays it as
Vermeer, necessarily a more still and watchful presence surrounded by
all these remarkable women and their remarkable faces (alternative title:
Master V and the Women?) Doll-like Essie Davis as Vermeer’s jealous
wife (cf Miranda Richardson as Queen Elizabeth in TV’s Blackadder);
Judy Parfitt as his mother-in-law, glowering in best Bela Lugosi/Robert
Blake tradition – but sympathetic despite flinty surface (as in Dolores
Claiborne). Creepy little Alakina Mann (from The
Others) as Firth/Davis’s spiteful kid. Not to mention Cillian
Murphy as the butcher’s boy who falls understandably in love with… Johansson’s
Griet. More amazing eyes, set in a bonewhite face of luminous intensity.
She’s terrific in a nightmarishly tough role: largely observant, reactive,
switching between servant-girl and muse/model in an instant (recalls line
from The Player: “I’m not just me – I’m also the job”). Actress
exposed to almosy uniquely intense scrutiny by the camera, and stands
up to it remarkably well. Everything boosted by Eduardo Serra’s cinematography
(Vermeer to Greet, explaining hos his camera obscura works: “It’s an image
– a picture made of light.”) Pale sunlight of wintry c17 Holland – Delft
convincingly sketched in, but as backdrop for absorbing, small-scale drama:
economic in itself, and also expressly concerned with the economics
of art. Creation of a single masterpiece, examining the subtle agonies
(external and internal pressures) of the creative process. Webber,
however, keeps it simple: lets Johansson and Serra get on with things.
Unexpectedly spellbinding results.
Click
here for an interview with director Peter
Webber
MY
LIFE WITHOUT ME
7/10
aka
Mi vida sin mi : Spain/Canada 2003 : Isabel COIXET : 100 mins :
Horizontes Latinos
Isabel
Coixet’s new film was one of the big hits at the Berlin Film Festival,
where it captivated the audience with its unassuming style. Anne is one
of the most attractive and sweetest characters even seen in films. Her
tragic story of love and self-sacrifice is full of hope and faith that
life without her really will still be life for the people that she loves
most. Sentimental without sentimentalism. [sic]
Spanish
production, but filmed in Canada and full of familiar faces : Scott Speedman
(Dark Blue, Underworld)
as Anne’s husband. Debbie (‘Deborah’) Harry as her mother. Amanda Plummer
as friend. Cameos from Maria de Medeiros, Alfred Molina, Leonor Watling.
Film utterly dominated, however, by Sarah Polley in central role : most
reliable, self-effacing and talented young actress working in (North)
American films, though of course she doesn’t work often enough. Coixet
realises what a trump card she’s got, tells commendably uninflected tale
of woman in early 20s, given only a couple of months left to live, she’s
practical, indominatable – in fact, odd that she’s a cleaner living on
a trailer-park (though she was pregnant at 17). Potentially very
mawkish subject-matter, but never bogs down into sentiment. What’s left
out is key: no death scene, nobody even knows she’s dying apart
from herself, doctors and audience (we become conspiratioral sounding-board).
Minor caveats: perhaps a little chick-flick-ish, just a little too indie-textured
and bittersweet?
films
seen at cinemas Principe, Principal, Astorias and Kursaal, San Sebastian/Donostia
by Neil
Young
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