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Reviews
The 2001 Santa Barbara International
Film Festival:
A Semi-Spiral Review of Selected Films
by
Natasha Todorovic & Chris Cowan
Plus our ratings from * to ***
101 Reykjavik (World Cinema) *
* *
(Iceland, 2000. Director, Baltasar
Kormakur)
Set in downtown Reykjavik, Iceland. Hlynur is a reclusive 20- something who seems determined
to spend his life on social security, living with his mother and
partying as much as possible. He hits Beta quickly when he is
forced to reassess his previously stable life, particularly when
he experiences deep feelings (and makes love with) his mother's lesbian lover -
a Spanish dance instructor - after
a passionate encounter. He later discovers she is pregnant
with his child, as is his girlfriend. Parking meters play an important role in 101
Reykjavik. This film is funny, engaging
and surprising straight-forward for a premise which could become outrageous in
less skillful hands. Those without too many sexual hang-ups and an open attitude
about life, as well as an interest in life in Iceland, will enjoy it immensely.
The Adulterer *
(and that's a small one)
(USA, 2000. Director, Douglas
Morse)
A young married man feels the
'seven-year' itch and attempts to have an affair. Guilt and repercussions -
enough said. The Adulterer
is a shallow film with hollow characters and a predictable wrap-up.
It still boggles the mind that the " Hollywood" solution to marital
problems seems to be the panacea called 'a little bundle of joy.' Even with the
new baby in tow, the lead kept an eye open for comely matrons in the
park. Ho, hum. The producer/director and cast members of this
million-dollar independent film appeared following the premier
and managed to focus the bulk of the Q&A on the most notable
aspect for them - their appearance on the big screen and the size of
their pores and noses. (The final cut arrived by FedEx for the showing and even
the director had never seen it off the editor.) This is a film depicting ER at
its most shallow and self-absorbed. Unfortunately, the production values shared
by the New York-based group never got out of smug egotism.
Amores Perros (World Cinema) *
* * (and those are great big ones)
(Mexico, 2000. Director,
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu)
In Amores Perros (Love's a Bitch, Tough Love, Love
Bites), three separate
lives, three stories of idealized love, and two canine companions
reflecting their owners' beings and transformations meet around one fateful event - a car
wreck at the center of its universe. The
multiple international awards (Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize,
Tokyo International Film Festival Best Director, Golden Globe and Academy Award
nominations, etc.) are a testament to the riveting quality of this film set in
Mexico City, a place Inarritu calls "an anthropological experiment."
You can smell the place onscreen in this intense film.
A heavy aspect of BO and CP shows the effects of poverty, love and
need on one couple and their family - for the dog, brutal fighting and abandonment; ER
success and then tragedy strain another
relationship between a supermodel and the man who wants her for her beauty - for
the dog, lost in darkness; and DQ passions reflect back on a homeless ex-guerilla revealing
guilt at purpose lost while he works as a hit man - for the dog, rescue, murder,
and reform. Passions, greed and obsession braid these stories
together in a gripping and memorable directorial debut to fulfill the promise
of the title - Love's a Bitch. This is a must-see, rich in imagery and Spiral
meaning. Amores Perros will put the Mexican film industry a big
step forward.
... And the Beat Goes On (Humanitarian
Documentary) * *
(***big stars for Dr. Richner's work)
(Switzerland, 2000. Director,
Georges Gachot)
Dr. Beat Richner - concert cellist and physician - works
against the odds to stem the unstoppable tide of sick children
who pour into the three hospitals he has built during eight years
in Cambodia. This is a beautifully shot documentary with an inspiring, shocking
and moving message. Tuberculosis, malaria and now AIDS. (HIV
was not an issue in Cambodia until infected UN soldiers brought in the
disease in 1992 despite pleas, overruled on grounds of discrimination, that they
be excluded from the nation.) Parents bring in 600 gravely ill children each day
to the hospitals.
Over 2,000 children receive medical care as outpatients; an average
of 12 operations are performed and 500 vaccinations carried out
on healthy children as a preventive measure. If it weren't for
the medical care provided at Kantha Bopha Hospital, a further 2,400 children,
if not more, would die every month in Cambodia, and many more
would be left disabled for life. Because medicine is free, food
is provided and patients are transported to the hospital for follow-up
treatment for their monthly tuberculosis injections, there are
no drug thefts at the hospital and patients do not sell their
medicine. Dr. Richner has a 95% follow-through on the out-patient
care because he has created a structure and system that acknowledges
the dominant life conditions, which includes carefully selected
staff. They and Dr. Richner focus all their efforts towards the
objective of saving children's lives and building a system that is
self-perpetuating. There is ongoing conflict with the UN's WHO regarding which
drugs are effective and useful versus which are being promoted by international
drug companies and thus approved by the agency.
(Go to http://www.beat-richner.ch/
for more information about Dr. Richner and to help the hospitals
which works solely on donations, largely from Switzerland.)
Ashes of the Volcano / Las Cenizas del
Volcan
(Humanitarian Documentary) * *
(Spain, 2000. Director
Pedro Perez Rosado)
Spanish director Pedro Perez Rosado, burdened by the
world's silence regarding Mexico's treatment of the natives in Chiapas, returns
to visit friends and help to take the story out to the world. (This film was
produced before Mexican President Fox and Subcommandante Marcos opened dialogue
in 2001.) The Zapatista Army for National Liberation is a movement for justice
and land reform. This documentary tells a familiar story of racism and
repression of indigenous people helping to convey the horrific Life Conditions
imposed on them that they must endure. A very poignant moment comes when we
realize that movement throughout the country is restricted by 60,000 soldiers
who are 'enforcing peace' and who
demonstrate that foreigners are not welcome. Rosado is able to
pass as a Mexican native; he knows the laws of the country and uses them
to travel despite the sometimes harrowing incidents with the military. His ability
to understand and use the rules of DQ with one soldier was particularly thought
provoking. On the spiral this film represents a complex and mixed bag ranging
from BO/CP indigenous peoples' issues to ER economic pressures shaping political
decisions. Although somewhat behind the fast-changing curve of events in Mexico,
this documentary is well worth watching.
Decalogue
(probably great, powerful and significant; we just didn't want to sit through
them all)
(Poland, 1988. Director,
Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1941-1996)
Kieslowski
created a series of ten 55-minute films for Polish television with an intense focus
on the internal psyche of the characters replete with heavy DQ
symbolism and mental anguish. Set in what appears to be a housing
project in Warsaw, the films interlink and relate loosely to the
Ten Commandments. The imagery is bleak, dark, cold, wintry and
gloomy. This is a monumental work which film students will relish. From our
perspective, Decalogues 1 & 2 left us stunned, depressed and unwilling
to subjugate ourselves to more sadness. Hence, we chose to pass
on the remaining 8 showings.
Decalogue 1 was fashioned around 'I am the
Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other God but me.' The story
is about a father and son computer genius duo who worship the technology in
their PC's. However, disaster strikes the family
- the heavy DQ elements of this story battle with ER, resulting
in a disturbing film with many meanings depending on the viewer's perspective(s).
Decalogue 2 claims to center on 'Thou shalt
not take the name of the Lord in vain.' The story revolves
around the serious illness of a concert violinist's husband. She is pregnant
by another man and confides in her husband's doctor who lives
in the same Warsaw housing complex as Decalogue 1. Issues of guilt, healing, the
nature of relationships, and of miracles.
For a serious film student, The Decalogue provides
a wealth of material for analysis and discussion. The rarely-shown films
also offer a brooding portrait of Poland a decade ago. For us they were
simply too weighty to enjoy when so many other important films were
playing.
The Diplomat (Humanitarian Documentary)
* *
(Australia, 2000. Director
Tom Zubrycki)
This film is about Nobel
Peace Prize winner Jose Ramos Horta's efforts, during his 24 years
of exile, to work on behalf of his homeland and people of East
Timor. The documentary portrays Horta as a passionate, determined
and focused individual who works on the single objective of raising
awareness of the occupation by the Indonesian military. While Ramos Horta works on the outside going wherever
he is needed, Xanana Gusmao
leads the resistance in the jungles of East Timor. Although we
follow the life of the diplomat, we only get an idea of the human
being and can only intuit what must be happening inside him through
his work, his media-savvy activities, and those around him. His
mother speaks of the horrific loss of her other three children
during the invasion. His wife speaks of their estrangement and
eventual divorce in relationship to his drive to achieve independence and to
achieve his goals. Still, we never really felt we got to know Horta or truly care about
him, just his cause. This documentary had an opportunity
to make strong comments regarding the underlying political and economic causes of the tragedy
in East Timor, and/or to portray the essence of a man who has devoted his live
(and the lives of others) to a cause. It missed the chance for both. We
felt the void.
The Endurance: Shackleton's Legendary
Antarctic Expedition * * *
( * Natasha - "too cold and long" )
(USA, 2000. Director George
Butler)
The film begins with an advertisement:
"Men wanted for Hazardous journey, small wages, bitter cold,
long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return
doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success." Five
thousand responded to Ernest Shackleton's ad and a crew of 27 English
adventurers set out
in August, 1914, with 69 sled dogs and a cat to make the
1500-mile journey across Antarctica. The difficulties of this two year adventure
gone wrong were almost beyond
imagination - ship crushed by ice, survival through the Antarctic winter with
few supplies, astounding navigation to a whaling station, trek across
frozen mountains on boots with wood screws as crampons. Yet Shakleton's brilliance in managing
this near-impossible situation stands with the greatest stories of
survival and how regression to AN needs can be met with discipline,
fortitude, collective sacrifice, and hope.
Made with some of the surviving photographs by the
expedition photographer, as well as new footage shot on site in
Antarctica this is a documentary for those who love the details of
adventure and imagine what it would be like to be stranded near the
South Pole.
God and Man II: The Language of Sand
and Stone * * *
(China, 2000. Director
Gao Hongming)
The film started late. It turned out we'd been
delayed an hour
for Steven Segal to arrive and introduce it. Segal is a Buddhist, and this is a
film about Tibettan Buddhism. The images were breathtaking and set in a region where three major rivers
intersect - the Yangtze, the Yellow and the Lancang - then wind
their way to the Pacific Ocean. Heavy in ritual, tradition and scenes of self-
sacrificial living, this documentary depicted the weeks of painstaking
work needed for Buddhist monks to create a mandala of sand, a metaphor for the
years required to make a spiritual person.
Three days after completing the mandala a ceremony takes place wherein the
colorful
grains of sand are blended back together and transferred to the river with blessings of
love and peace. In the spirit of beauty, creation, and detachment
this film introduces viewers to the world of Tibet by a most unlikely source
- a Chinese director. Gao Hongming took a great risk in making and showing
this film which began as one in a series. He visited the Buddhist sacred land without
political bias, and against the wishes of the Chinese regime. The occasional 2
liter Pepsi bottle in the monasteries
reminded us that despite the Buddhas on screen and search for spiritual
discovery, we are all living on earth in three-dimensional form with a
mix of thinking coming closer to everyone. After the showing the Mr. Gao,
Segal, and a professor of Tibettan studies from UCSB discussed the
future of the monasteries and the decisions China faces regarding
preservation of Tibettan culture for tourism and the Communist desire to
wipe out religion. Several scenes were shot in long outdoor corridors
made of literally millions of colorfully painted prayer stones. The
stone walls have shrunk as the Chinese haul away truck loads of prayers
for use in construction projects.
Great Day in Havana * *
(USA, 2001. Directors
Laurie Ann Schag & Casey Stoll)
This
documentary is a story of Cuban culture as told through the eyes,
ears and hearts of some of its leading artists, sculptors, musicians, poets, dancers
and writers. The unifying theme - warmth, beauty and joy in collectivism
- came through in mixed ways. The artists told their stories,
shared their visions and passions and love for their country -
the good, the bad and the sad. Although slow in places and not shy in portraying
the decrepit nature of the island, we left
with the forty-year question: "Why does the US still hate Cuba?"
In our culture of individualism, there is much we can learn from
the healthy expression of the artistic community living in conditions
that are less than ideal. We discover that Cuba's artists are
supported, encouraged and appreciated by their culture - one whose collectivism
relishes the arts. The 'starving'
artist is cliché and it was replaced by the
critical but joyful artist in a society of scarcity, but enough. The people are rich, complex, vibrant
and engaging. This is no apologia for Castro, but it does show how it is
possible for a cool-colored system to function adjacent to warm-colored
political pressures for decades.
The Hundred Steps/ I Cento Passi (World
Cinema) * * *
(Italy, 2000. Director,
Marco Tullio Giordana)
This terrific little film is
based on the true story of activist Peppino Impasto's challenge to the
corrupt, mafia-ruled, small-town culture controlled by his uncle
in Sicily. The culture is heavy in DQ with a strong BO undercurrent. Young Peppino,
moving toward ER and FS, courageously questions
the status quo by printing radical newspapers and passionately
broadcasting on a pirate radio he and some friends create. (The film's title
derives from the location of the radical radio station - only a hundred
paces from his parents' home.) His attempts to raise awareness and
shake the citizens of the area out of their silent complicity and obedience to the men who control every aspect of their lives are
inspiring. He speaks truth, as he sees it, and pays a price for it
along with his family for his lack of 'loyalty.' Contact with some
European "hippies" who try to impose their values over the
Sicilian activists' own indigenous style add a rich contrast in styles
of social change.
This engrossing challenge to authority, tradition, and to corruption is a powerful tribute to
the citizens who risked everything to overturn the stranglehold
the mafia has had on society for decades by committing to social change. The
film is entertaining and gripping with a good message for
activism.
The Legend of Love * * * (
* * Chris - "great visuals, plot too romanticised")
(Iran, 1999. Director,
Farhad Mehranfar)
This beautiful, haunting
film follows a doctor as she searches for her lost fiancé
in the mountains of Kurdistan. Horam, who is also a doctor, was
compelled by the death and destruction of his people to return
home and help them in their struggle for 'freedom.' The mountain scenery, imagery and the interweaving
myth of eternal love and reunification speaks to the deepest levels
of human passion, suffering and hope. The film takes us among hill tribes who
live much as they have for centuries, following traditional patterns in birth,
marriage, and death. Yet it also shows the horror of revolutions and the tragedy
that warfare, even on a small scale, causes. It is both rich and unsettling,
beautiful and ugly, and whispers the voices of many unseen levels
on the spiral.
Life Without Death * * *
(Canada, 2000. Director
Frank Cole)
Eerie, profound, thought
provoking, bizarre, courageous, foolish, mad, enlightening, and slightly morbid.
Despite going into it because there was nothing else to do, we couldn't stop talking about this
film for the rest of the festival. Others who saw it made the same
comment. This biographical documentary was directed, produced and filmed
by Frank Cole. It depicts his amazing search to comprehend mortality. Compelled
by the death of his grandfather, Cole struck out to understand life. To
do that, he chose to cross the Sahara Desert alone. Armed with a jug of water,
a tripod, three Bolex camera bodies, outdated maps and a camel, Frank
goes in search of death so they can do battle in life. His enemies are
time, loneliness, fear, heat and 4400 miles spanning across the desert.
His film journey begins in Toronto as his beloved
grandfather dies. After two years of preparing his mind and body for loneliness
and stress, he embarks on his voyage across Africa, through sun,
emptiness, loneliness, discovery, and death; he pursues life. A one-man
exploration which he barely survives (and films) and several camels
don't. Awesome. Amazing.
Marshal Tito's Spirit * * *
(Croatia, 1999. Director,
Vinko Bresan)
Most fun in show, this Croatian film is utterly charming in
its nostalgic pursuit of prosperity through the 'good'ole days' with Marshal
Tito. A small island town is disturbed by sightings of the deceased communist
leader of Yugoslavia in the graveyard. Local entreprepreneurs decide there's an
opportunity for tourist revenue if they bring retired party members to the local
hotel and revive the regime. In the push-pull dynamic between ER and DQ,
communism and capitalism, old and new, rock back and forth as this witty and
entertaining film keeps going like a Tito-theme park ride. (Things move toward
resolution when Agents Muldric and Scullic arrive to investigate. Much cell
phone flipping, but still no service!) This film was definitely a favorite.
Regarding Bunuel * *
(Spain/Mexico, 2000. Directors,
Javier Rioyo & Jose L. Lopez-Linares)
Luis Bunuel and his fellow surrealists, including Garcia-Lorca
and Salvador Dali, seemed determined to shock society. In this
documentary made with actual footage from the era artist and director Bunuel weaves through
a fascinating mix of CP, DQ and ER with great
expressiveness, exuberance and defiance. Yet his creative and artistic flair is a great
contrast to his absolutism regarding acting. His actresses were
not to be vulgar; he was faithful to his wife; and yet his work
was sometimes twisted and bizarre. This documentary makes for
a great biography and detailed film about cinema art history for those
interested in this important figure.
In The Company of Fear (Humanitarian
Documentary) * * *
(* * Chris - "great work, only fair
film")
(Canada, 2000. Director,
Velcrow Ripper)
The amazing Peace Brigade
International volunteers accompany human rights workers and local activists as unarmed
body guards in some of the most violent hotspots in the world.
They call it 'protective accompaniment' and it is an effective
non-violent tactic to hold off human rights abuses, at least while
the international volunteer/observers are present. This documentary takes us to Columbia
and is includes commentary by linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky. It is a profound statement of what more complex systems,
especially FS with A'N',
can do in the face of violence from DQ/cp, or culture and repression played out
more publicly
on a global ER stage. This was a favorite humanitarian documentary and a great
illustration of how peaceful intervention can help change happen.
Zoe (US Independent) *
(and that's a small one, too)
(USA, 2000. Director, Deborah Attoinese)
Three teenage girls run away
together and set off westward across the US to find maturity. Meanwhile, a British woman
drives across the Southwest seeking the spot where she must fulfill
her mother's last request - to bury her ashes on sacred Indian land in New Mexico.
Their paths cross as the girls are in
that awkward stage between childhood and adolescence and the woman feels both
pain of mourning and reacquaintance with her mother. One of the run-away
teenagers pairs up with the woman and a new maternal relationship develops,
along with friendship. This movie has
its cute moments with elements of Hollywood Indian BO romanticized with an
odd yearning for meaning, family and connection. It is
best be described as a 'teenage chick flick,' and not worth the
price of admission if you are not a member of that group.
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