Nowtopian

The marathon is over! 37 movies in 13 days!… Last night was the Edith Piaf biopic “La Vie en Rose”… quite a spectacular effort. The lead actress does an incredible job, and the casting was fantastic for the various kids who play Piaf at earlier ages… very sad story, but quite entertaining, well shot and edited (I could have cut out some of the numerous endings that litter the end of the film, but so it goes)…

Here’s the last few capsule reactions/reviews of films I saw:

The Yacoubian Building
Very entertaining, nearly three hours long, a dense movie with at least four or five plot lines all weaving in and out of the Beaux Artes building of the title in Cairo, as well as weaving in and out of class and occupations. Bleak portrayal of the fate of women, which was only the most obvious aspect of the European gaze that framed this story. Based on the all-time best-selling Egyptian novel (written by a dentist!) it blatantly harkens back to an era before the 1956 revolution, when people knew their place and life for the wealthy was very good. One of the main characters is a slowly sinking sonof a pasha, 65 years old, who gets thrown out of his family’s lush apartment by his bitter, heartless sister. His efforts to preserve some kind of civilized kindness is the core of the film, while around that story, several other sagas of political corruption, gangsterism, Islamic terrorism and manipulation, and a whole gay story too, all unfold. The gay angle is super cliche and silly, and the dire portray of women sexually harassed, bought and sold, and kept, all belies the horrified western eye. Of course it’s easy to sympathize since I too am horrified by the treatment of women shown here; few characters are ultimately admirable except the fallen pasha who marries the chaste pretty poor girl for a happy ending. Still, the romanticized Cairo was interesting to compare to the gritty corners occupied by “These Girls” the night before.

Continue reading SF Int’l Film Festival! pt 5

My ongoing reactions and mini-reviews… the Festival ends today and I am finally coming up for air. 36 movies! Wow!…

A Walk to Beautiful
Remarkable documentary on a type of contemporary lepers–in this case it’s young women in Ethiopia who “leak” after failed childbirth when they’re 12-13 years old and their pelvises are not ready. Stillbirth is compounded by fistula–a hole between urethra and vagina, and/or rectum and vagina, leading to incessant drainage and complete social ostracism. It mostly happens among young teens in extremely remote rural Ethiopia (6-10 hour walk to nearest road is typical–146 ob/gyn doctors in a country of 77 million!). The story is heartbreaking, to see so many young women treated like pariahs by their villages and too often their own families. A happier part of the story focuses on the Fistula Hospital in Addis Ababa. It repairs 93% of the 1500 women they operate on per year. Incredibly inspiring place, fantastic to see the women transformed by this fairly simple surgery. And the longer-term impact of the 1500 women a year getting educated about fistula, childbirth, etc., is extremely hopeful. Great documentary! (update: This won the Best Documentary award at the festival as determined by audience rankings.)

The Violin
This won the big prize for best first feature film in the SF Int’l Film Festival I just heard. A beautiful, amazing movie set in a small village in rural Mexico during the 1970s (or the 80s or the 1930s or now!). The director, Francisco Vargas, claimed it had no particular time or place. It feels very timeless, the endless story of Mexico, brutal federales (natioanl army) attacking rural Mexicans who try to defind their land and lives. Vargas said it was a movie easy to describe in terms of time and place. Put a map on the wall, cover your eyes and point, and the place your finger lands is a place where this story happened a long time ago, or is happening right now, and disgracefully will continue happening in the future… An homage to traditional Mexican cinema, music, literature. Vargas happily affirmed his film as a corrido, sandwiched as it is with a corrido at front and back, one that evolves with the saga the movie told. The film is in b/w, no special effects, very nostalgic in certain ways, also very stark. The old violin player tries to save his guerrilla son by riding a mule back into their occupied village, escaping direct violence by his wiles, and playing music. A soft moment with the comandante reveals his own poor background, unrequited love for music, and a little trick solidarity is created between old man and grizzled comandante. But who is tricking whom? The old man smuggles ammo from his corn patch, but is fooled into transmitting disinformation to the guerrillas–the comandante was as wiley as he was. Sad movie, harsh scenes of torture and rape at the outset, but it underscores the intensity of the perpetual rebellion of the Mexican peasantry. Great movie, albeit a bit lost in the romanticism of armed struggle (even if at one brief point the army and the guerrillas are juxtaposed doing the same drills with the same militar resolve).

Reprise
Ostensibly this Norwegian film is about young men, two of whom are aspirant writesr, and their camaraderie, problematic relations with women, careers, happiness, etc. So it is. But it’s the odd herky-jerky pacing and editing, the very funny jokes and vignettes, that make this movie. It’s a sad meditation on madness and survival too, existential malaise, how to love… but it works as a movie, even if I didn’t ultimately love any of the characters. A few flashes of good punk rock too!

Continue reading SF Int’l Film Festival! pt 4