31

Mar

French Canadian “Heartbeats” shows us real, crazy love – although in a triangle

“Heartbeats” is an exceptional French Canadian film, from Quebec.  Two best friends, Marie (Monia Chokri) and Francis (Xavier Dolan), meet a beguiling local Adonis, Nicolas (Niels Schneider), who seems interested in each of them.  This is a dramatic romance from writer-director-producer Xavier Dolan, who also portrays the lovelorn Francis (and handles at least three other behind-the-scenes roles).

Three...lovers? with "Heartbeats" (courtesy IFC films)

Minneapolis’ Lagoon Cinema will show this enchanting, exquisite film for a week beginning on April 1st.

The two friends are lost in Cupid’s static, if you want to call it that.  Nicolas loves spending time with either Marie or Francis – as friends.  After having suffered the typical agonies of young love, their desires for Nic’s interest works against them. That may even be Marie and Francis’ respective enemy.  They each want love and intimacy – to be rid of the often crazy-making game of love, and into Nic’s arms.

“Heartbeats” starts abruptly with several 20-somethings talk to the screen, describing their very different romantic mishaps and agonies, both real and virtual.  It’s a hilarious and poignant tool.  This tool, in breaking the fourth wall, reminds you of Spike Lee’s debut feature, 1986′s “She’s Gotta Have It,” which is another story of complicated love.  But this ain’t humor.  It’s heartache.

Marie hungry for love, wants the confusion to stop! (courtesy IFC films)

After the first talk-to-the-screen montage, which divides the acts, Marie and Francis meet Nic. They find his charms, their chemistry and fun with him won’t be enough; it won’t satisfy any of them, except for him.  This is a fun, very witty and urbane take on a love triangle tale.

Our awkward trio forms the heart of the movie.  One run-in shows just how frustrated and funny this is.  After Francis hears about how much Nic loves mid-20th-Century actress, Audrey Hepburn, he buys a poster of her.  Then after bumping into Nic, Francis gives him the poster, expecting at least a kiss, a romantic gesture.  There’s a problem: Nic likes the poster, and likes Francis for having given it, but only as much as he likes the poster.  Francis clearly feels like crap, rejected: confusion, pain and hope trounced.

Unfortunately Marie and Francis put this on themselves.  When you’re hungry for love – no, starving – logic and reasoning aren’t only pointless, but even enemies.  Their hungry competition for Nic’s love tests their bond as best friends.

Movie love stories are weird because they’re rarely realistic.  Most characters don’t act like we see in life, but like we expect in movies.  With “Heartbeats” we have more realism.  That’s refreshing.  Most movie-goers will probably want something fun and witty.  They’ll want this erotic tale of desire and longing to have an insipid format.  This’ll satisfy those who liked and chatted about 1989′s “Say Anything” or 2000′s “High Fidelity,” but offer something more.

Nicolas, the object of Marie and Francis' affection (courtesy IFC films)

A few delightful technical things helped “Heartbeats” to be a delight overall.  Most American movies’ musical scores support and match their stories and images just fine; it’s often symbolic.  The editing, the “montage” in “Heartbeats” goes one better.  It’s lyrical.  Xavier Dolan lifts his montage to a refreshing and cool level.  The images and music are symbiotically connected; they don’t merely match, but are one.  This film’s montage is intimate and beguiling; as beguiling as our two best friends find Nic.

The gently intense music video tone in those montages reminds you of the one that helped to make 1991′s “Deep Cover” by Bill Duke stand out; entertainment reporters fawned over its staccato bits of montage.  Each shot in the montages flows in-sync with the percussion.  Another remarkable montage was used during a party scene: Marie and Francis each liken Nic to art, fine art.  As they watch him at the party, they see these images intercut, in their imaginations, with shots of him dancing with another woman.  For Marie she sees a god-like statue.  For Francis, he sees an impressionist pencil drawing for Francis.

How about a silly Anglicized title?  When you speak a foreign language, like French, fluidly if not fluently, foolish or bad translations of movie titles frustrate you.  The original title, “Les Amours Imaginaires,” (The Imaginary Loves) describes the plot’s emotional gravity and intensity very well.  Many of those people, who watch independent movies, will understand.  “Heartbeats” is a très Américain translation: dull, disappointing and off-the-mark.  C’est la vie.

If you want a score without using numbers, then “Les Amours Imaginaires” is something to see.

Share

779 days ago Short URL Comments

criticism/Film/foreign/French

//////

25

Mar

“Certified Copy” is a romantic talker with little to say

“Certified Copy,” an Italian, French and English-language film, from writer-director Abbas Kiarostami, set in Tuscany, is a zealous and tedious talker.  Middle-aged single French mom, Elle, (Juliette Binoche) meets well-known English author, James Miller (William Shimell), and approaches him like a giddy like a fan.  Shows him the sights of Tuscany, and then after a barista mistakes them for a long-married couple, neither corrects her.

The Edina Cinema shows this film starting on March 25th.

The story turns bizarre, in ways that have enchanted and transfixed many viewers, except or this one!  During a coffee conversation, James answers her question about what even inspired his latest book; that description plays like a verbatim, moment-by-moment scene that had played out between Elle and her son only a few scenes before.  James makes her feel vulnerable.  She vents about her husband or ex-husband who’s otherwise omitted from the story, and starts lashing out at James as she would, and wants to, her man.  And they stick with the silliness of his acting as her lover.

That’s fine and becomes dramatic, evocative and even suspenseful.  But that suspense comes from the fact that this man, James, is a visitor, a stranger and not her lover.  So, when their debate sinks into a real fight, in which he has and owes no part, and still he takes part the situation loses its grip on social reality.  If you consider that this couldn’t happen unless one of them was mentally ill, Molly Ivins comes to mind.  She’s renowned for having said, “There’s no there there.”  If you know no one who, in the real world, would do what James does, except under duress, then that story is beyond fiction!  Apparently, New York and Cannes, which applauded this movie, feel less attached to social realism than usual.

1998′s “Before Sunrise,” which was the best known, most potent romantic talker, gave us the story of a young duo, 20-years younger than Elle and James, who don’t whine, but do connect.  They were interesting.  You cared.  The time they shared made sense.  You wanted to pay attention.  The opposite of this is “Certified Copy.”

Binoche’s character, Elle, would have had a better day, and we the viewers, wouldn’t have to scratch their heads, if James, an over-busy man stopped a silly, pointless facade – no matter that that story has somehow charmed the slips and dresses off from what we presume is a mostly female audience.  James touched and affected something in and about Elle, which threw her off – off-kilter.  He cast himself away from his own celebrity.

If you like watching this kind of movie, great.  But if we were to score this: 3 out of 5.

Share

785 days ago Short URL Comments

criticism/Film/foreign

///

18

Mar

“Of Gods and Men” a sleepy, spiritual movie stands its ground

“Of Gods and Men” is the story inspired by true events, from director Xavier Beauvois, about French monks, who stand firm in 1996, against and between two violent forces: Algeria’s corrupt soldiers (along with their offers of protection), and local guerillas.  As adventuresome as that could be, this film demands patience.  This story based on true events comes to Minneapolis’ Lagoon Cinema for a week beginning March 18th.

Head priest Christian among the villagers (courtesy Sony Classics)

“Of Gods and Men” is full of chanting, praying and basic theological discussions among the monks. They are not only men of the Word, but also of words, not of action.  They face dilemmas and discussions.  It must be safer to flee from their monastery, rather than clash with either army.  But they feel called to stay, represent the Word, and a haven for their village.

The priests’ clash with their elected chief priest, Christian, [Lambert Wilson] who is resolute about standing firm against either set of soldiers, for and before God.  His brothers are far less sure about this, or their safety, than him.  He is one of this story’s obvious stars taciturn, self-assured, a man more of thought than of act.  And then there’s an older monk.  He’s the aging doctor, Luc, [Michael Lansdale] who’s sage and witty, but is becoming less agile and ill.

This’s a contemplative film: the story emphasizes pauses and context, giving us poetic shots of the village landscape.  While many movies are “showy,” providing a lot of drama and activity – consider “Black Swan,” and how its showiness snatched those Oscars! if not action, this’s not one of those.  There’s a difference between a story that’s patient and one that’s slow.  Patient is 2003′s “The Station Agent,” where you click with the characters and how their stories intersect.  It’s fun.  They become friends to we viewers, even if that’s only on-screen.  But that’s not “Of Gods and Men.”  That’s slow, but not entirely boring.

The most dramatic scene comes within the first 30-minutes: the lead rebel, Ali Fayattia, [Farid Larbi] comes to the monastery with his squad demanding Christian, and medicine.  Christian eyeballs him and lays down the facts:  what they have is for the villagers, and they have very little.  Surprisingly Ali respects that response.

More discussions (courtesy Sony Classics)

There’s a moving and symbolic scene of spiritual “action” later in their story where and hear a helicopter arrives and loiters above while the brothers sit in their sanctuary while – the din is intimidating and loud.  The brothers rise and begin chanting, more and more loudly.  The juxtaposition is contentious and profound.  Between those, this quiet monks’ story shows how they deal with the impending peril or even their murders.

If you don’t demand action or a lot of mano–a–mano drama among the monks or between they and the soldiers, this might satisfy you.  The story’s so quiet, so subtle, you might not notice.  It might not pop for you.

If we were to score this: 3.5 out of 5.

Share

792 days ago Short URL Comments

criticism/Film/foreign

//////////

18

Mar

“Poetry” is a subtle South Korean drama that’s easy to miss, but hard to forget.

Some movies just fool you, or at least their posters do.  When you see the one for “Poetry” with an old Asian lady basking in a vibrant, refined feast of flowers, you probably figure you can skip that! – if you want popping drama.  Well you’d be missing out, even though it starts out in an understated way, except for a peculiar shot of a floating body.

“Poetry,” (“Shi” in South Korean) from director Lee Chang-dong, gives us a 60-something South Korean retiree, Mija, [Jeong-hie Yun] whose life with a part-time job is interrupted by circumstances that push her to explore moral and family questions.  But her story only grazes heavy plots such as Alzheimer’s, aging and rape & culpability.  instead of openly raising them, as an American film will.  What doesn’t happen and what isn’t made explicit, and which would be in an American film, works here.

Minneapolis’ Lagoon Cinema will show this for a week beginning on March 18th.

“Poetry” is a slippery story to peg on a type: it’s drama and intrigue are slow cookers and it’s a drama is barely apparent at first.  Really the most interesting drama, with the most potential, comes shortly after we learn that Mija’s forgetting words ­– she wants to learn to write poetry.  Well, that might be a feat if words are falling out of her head, like sand from a dump truck.  Some complexities and patient quirks, which emphasize the characters and their connections to one another, make Mija’s story special and personal.  She’s amusingly forgetful; even she scoffs at it, but of course that’s because it’s petty so far.  Considering her emotional straight, maybe there’s an upside to memory escape.

Grandma Mija looks at her grandson

Her life is simple, complicated by a few random events, which seem foreign from her.  The subplots are rich from subtlety and simplicity.

  • Mija acts on a leaflet advertising a poetry class.
  • Her nursing client makes a clumsy, semi-stealthy pass at her…so he can feel human, like a man again.
  • And then she learns from an utter stranger that her teenage slacker grandson is probably a sexual criminal.

She suffers so much how that a line from 1991′s “The Five Heartbeats,” of all films, comes to mind.  A music critic tells one of the singers …he’ll be a great writer after he’s suffered more.  While Mija yearns to write poetry, she’s blocked for a long time. That sums up the upside of her latest days.  But she might become a good poet.

On that path she sheds a layer of shell in order to give her aged boss the dignity and manhood that his condition have stricken them from him.  She searches her grandson’s face in vain for signs of mercy, for signs he knows and cares about what she knows he did.  She finds a new, different meaning to life as the strange events and forces change her.

Poetry won’t be for everyone.  Some viewers demand formula.  This evades it.  This is a satisfying human story.

If we were to grade this: 4.5 out of 5.

Share

792 days ago Short URL Comments

Asia/criticism/Film/foreign

///

11

Mar

Just asking, again: Why do we love to attack Islam, an ancient faith founded on peace?!

Sometimes a film critic finds himself so flummoxed by people who leap to judgment without considering facts that a comment feels necessary.

Rep. Peter King (R) NY, Chairman of Homeland Security Committee, opened hearings to examine “the radicalization of American Muslims.”  In other words connecting Islam with terrorism.  In the press he uses inflammatory talking points, which make scintillating headlines, but little sense to audiences who think critically and with open minds.

Rep. Keith Ellison testifies before the House Committee on Homeland Security

Why do we rely on rhetoric in lieu of facts when those facts don’t suit us or our hearts?  Consider Dan Patrick Moynihan’s thoughts on facts: “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”  Well, by that reasonable standard, how many talking heads would have to straighten out their acts?

If you watch him in his circuit on the talk shows, his disinterest in subtlety, nuance or incisive thought makes it clear that he’s an egomaniac.  Context doesn’t really interest him.  Headlines do; the big, bold ones.

Why are readers and viewers suckers for incendiary and sensational clips, those quotes that’re so often left out of context?  Remember Shirley Sherrod at the USDA? That department rushed to judgment because of incomplete and highly prejudicial information.  Its chief was compelled to send Ms. Sherrod packing.  As Chris Rock would probably say, context is our friend!  After her statement was put back into context the President himself had to reach out to diffuse that shameful situation.

Should we be concerned more by our impatient demand for instant, but incomplete information, by our disinterest in reading any off-line news, or by how American students’ reading comprehension may be under par these days?  But how much would either of these help us to remember that Muslims, as with most of us, are just nice folks who want to live and love in peace?

Walter Cronkite supposedly said something about an under-informed citizenry: I really tried to do as much as possible with a 22-minute newscast, but people really need to read…

Just asking: why is it so very easy, comforting or convenient to name an overwhelmingly good people – how many of you have met Muslims, found them gracious and quick with a smile – as a nemesis?

As contemptable as the attacks on the Twin Towers were, on a Biblical scale, 10 years later, that’s not enough of a reason to presume that a whole people is an automatic enemy.  Really.

799 days ago Short URL Comments

Essay/national politics/politics/public affairs/rhetoric

//

11

Mar

“I Saw the Devil” is a South Korean delight …if you adore gore

“I Saw the Devil” is a South Korean a blend of police story and horror movie, which shows just how far from the law an aggrieved investigator, Kim soon Hyeon [Lee Byung-hun], can go in pursuit of a Hannibal Lector-like sociopath, after his wife is found dead.  It opens when a helpless, fragile-looking young woman is depravedly attacked.

She is one of a series of similar college-age women, who this outwardly meek monster preys on.  This plays at Minneapolis’ Lagoon Cinema for a week from March 11th.

If Hannibal Lector became a detective or if “Dirty Harry” were Korean, lost his moderate moral compass, and he ignored the phalanx of laws, which he’d sworn to protect, that’d be our detective.  Our “hero” starts off with a presumed code of honor and universal righteousness.  But after his wife is violated and vivisected…he changes, along with his life and world.  What would Dirty Harry, or other heavy-handed detectives be like as badged avengers or vigilantes?  Would you compare Korean detective to Charles Bronson’s character in the “Death Wish” series from the 1970s and 80s?  Maybe.  But he wore no badge.  Plus, there was a load of other differences.

The way and style of the predator and prey’s cat-and-mouse game is great, but…by the middle of the movie it ventures beyond anything rational.

While there’s supposedly a market or a viewer for every film, “I Saw the Devil” is beyond this writer.  The many scenes where the original criminal attacks and tortures his victims are brutal and disturbing.  The detective gives him a run for his money in terms of depravity, brutality and predatory zeal.  That raises questions about those heavy-handed, high-calliber detectives from 1980s movies.  …But that’s for another time.

This experience raises a prickly, maybe enticing question: which one of them is more of the devil?  “I Saw the Devil” is like watching a feature-length and graphic version of “Criminal Minds,” but this police horror movie gives us far fewer insights into the characters than that TV show does.

Well, he's not the detective. Maybe he IS the "Devil?"

There are viewers who just love this stuff.  Apparently there are genres, which when a film critics discovers them, are a surprise and disappointment.  Some viewers don’t merely enjoy seeing senseless perverse gore on-screen, they crave and revel in it.  If story or character development test your patience, and you like scenes awash in blood, guts and brain matter and pathos, go enjoy “I Saw the Devil.”

With these faults, its high production values do satisfy.  It’s shot handsomely and has a great score.

If we were to grade this:  3 out of 5.

Share

799 days ago Short URL Comments

Asia/criticism/Film/foreign/horror/suspense & thriller

////

10

Mar

“Would the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?” at MN’s Cuban Film Fest

“Would the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up?,” from director Saul Landau, is the third offering of Minnesota’s 2nd Annual Cuban Film Festival, screened at St. Anthony Main for several Thursday evenings.  Unfortunately the first films in the series, “Cangamba” and “Lisanka,” boasting promising descriptions, weren’t available.

This film is an interesting not quite feature-length documentary.  In using scads of talking heads, both of scholars and of activists and by-standers, it provides a well-executed film, the type, which The Learning Channel used to air when its content reflected its name.

(courtesy Creative Commons)

The film’s problem is that it spends about the first hour of what might be 80-minutes introducing or reminding viewers of Cuba’s socio-political tumult, since Fidel Castro seized power from Fulgencio Batista.  Of course, if this is news to you, great!

That’ll please some people, but when it opened with Danny Glover priming or teasing us by asking passersby as a strip mall “what are the Cuban five?” you expect to be satisfied well before the last 20- or so minutes.  It’s not terrible, but awkward.

But that last, climactic section raises fascinating, vital questions (like what is a terrorist? and why that answer might depend on whose side your on.)

Who are or were the Cuban five?  Cubans busted in the U.S., on the charge of spying for Cuba.  They were alleged to have infiltrated US-based groups of Cuban exiles [terrorists], who were planning terrorist attacks on Cuba-citizens and visitors.  Their allies greeted them as freedom fighters.

That last section takes the documentary from nice and competent to interesting and juicy – one hour into it.  But meager time is spent on it.  There were “Law & Order”-like questions, which continually curious people (like certain film critics) just eat up.

If we were to score this for the majority who know little about Cuba: 4 out of 5.

Share

800 days ago Short URL Comments

criticism/documentary/Film/foreign/independent/Latino

/////

03

Mar

“Kuroneko” an old, mystical Samurai movie at Mpls’ Lagoon

On March 4th Landmark Theatres’ Lagoon Cinema will show a peculiar old (1968) Japanese film, “Kuroneko” which, while set in the Feudal era, is disparate from the typical (Samurai) swords & sandals stories.  Its quirkiness might interest you.  It plays at the Lagoon for a week starting on March 4th.

This is a mystical story of vengeance in a land where war, starvation and toil have become common among the masses.

The movie is merciless, opening with an attack on a mom and daughter.  Their aggrieved ghosts attack samurais and drink their blood – but they’re not vampires…even though they float through the air, when attacking.  The vengeance tone reminds you of the 1978 exploitation flick “I Spit on Your Grave,” because of its justified man-bashing.

This is more about characters than a story.

The film’s last half is more concrete, giving us the son and husband (one man) of these women, who had already left the mom and daughter before the film began.  He’s returned from battle, as a distinguished samurai.  But the women’s blood lust for his battle brethren compels his samurai boss to dispatch him to kill those who are mysteriously slaughtering his troops.   What’s an ambitious samurai to do?

“Kuroneko” is more about mood, mystery and mysticism than action or story.  So, it’s a peculiar story of personal vengeance that turns into a different story of love interrupted.  It’s a strange mix of genres.

If strange and mystical old films suit you, check this out.

Share

806 days ago Short URL Comments

Asia/criticism/Film/foreign/suspense & thriller

/////

Blog at WordPress.com.
Theme: Esquire by Matthew Buchanan.

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.