reviews

The BAWIFT Review page is where you get the scoop on what's hot and what's not. Where possible we'll link to the official url or to amazon.com so you can check it out for yourselves.

FILMS

China Blue
CHINA BLUE, which examines the harsh reality of mass production of blue jeans in China's garment factories - jeans that are ultimately sold in America - is an amazing, insightful and profoundly moving film. It follows some of the young girls who find their way to the factories to get menial, slave labor jobs, then struggle to survive in the terribly harsh conditions that would be criminal in this country. The use of something very close to a dramatic structure, more typical of feature films, which weaves seamlessly with the documentary exploration, creates a new approach that tells the story with amazing power and involves the viewer completely. The surprise ending was so human, so unexpected, and so filled with hope. I kept thinking that someone or something might come to rescue the factory girls as a result. My mind constructed various possible scenarios of what might happen, but the truth is that the film itself may be what saves them, by bringing their plight to the attention of Western consumers who, it is hoped, will be outraged by the indentured servitude forced upon these young girls, and be unable to ignore the fact that their clothing purchases contribute to such misery and injustice. Shot over a 3-year period, often with an undercover camera smuggled into the Chinese factory, the terrible slave labor conditions endured by a small army of teenage girls is revealed. Through an accident of birth these young workers were born into abject poverty in rural Chinese villages. To try for a chance at a better life and to be able to send a little money back home to their starving families, they make the long and arduous journey to the factory towns, where they work under impossible conditions for a few cents an hour. If they had been born in America they would be attending school, listening to music, partying with their friends, attending sports events, thinking about their hair, makeup and boyfriends - just being normal teenage girls. But as Chinese factory workers with not even enough time to sleep well between excruciatingly long shifts, their lives are an endless drudgery and their teen years are stolen from them. When evaluating a film I want to see how long it stays with me, and this film and the situation that these young girls live in, with no chance of escape, has stayed with me ever since I saw it. I just can't get them out of my head. Their youth is being stolen from them and they are forced into a brutal and inhuman system that rejects their rights and their humanity. Hopefully the spotlight that CHINA BLUE shines on these injustices will lead to real changes. There is plenty of blame to go around for this outrage. In addition to the manufacturers who out-source the clothing production to China and call for ever-lower prices and ever faster delivery, the big stores who retail these jeans are guilty too. If only the labels and the retailers in the western world who contract with the Chinese factories would insist on dealing solely with factories that guarantee fair pay and humane working conditions, this form of slavery would be eliminated in short order. All they would have to do is be just a tiny bit less greedy, and give up just a little of their considerable profit. Producer/Director/Camera: Micha X. Peled Associate Producer/Translation Supervisor/Sound/Hidden Camera: Song Chen (A member of BAWIFT’s Chicks-Chat listserve)
Reviewer: Karil Daniels

Like a Dog on Linoleum (Theatre)
Leslie Jordan's one man show: "Like a Dog on Linoleum" is funny, fast & fabulous - an utterly honest and revealing look at what it was like to grow up in a religious family in a small Tennessee town as a gay boy. Secrets are revealed and emotions served up raw. Experiences of growing to manhood - loves lost, addictions found, and intense self-examination mix it up in a comedic petrie dish, and is a laugh-a-minute that provides the audience with Leslie's boundless energy and an open heart. Highly recommended. "Like a Dog on Linoleum" is playing through July 2, 2006, at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, 620 Sutter Street. Thu-Fri-Sat 8pm, Sun 2:30pm. For tickets see http://www.brotherboy.com or call (415) 474-8800 or (415) 346-7805.
Reviewer: Karil Daniels

Good Night, And Good Luck
Well, once again we have a film that's highly overrated; this time it's George Clooney's first film of the year, Good Night, and Good Luck. Like his Syriana, this is supposed to be the film to get you thinking about issues such as freedom of speech, the terror of McCarthyism vs. the terror we face now since 9/11/01. Unfortunately, if you ask me, it does none of this. Clooney said on NPR's Fresh Air that this film was so important because it shows that the toughest questions are the most important ones to ask, and Edward R. Murrow (David Straithairn) dared to ask them of Senator Joseph McCarthy in the '50s. And that's true; he did successfully help bring down McCarthy, So we have the basic outline of the film. It revolves around Murrow and McCarthy; the film is shot in black and white so all we see of McCarthy is stock film. He's not really a character in the film, and I wish he were, because their arguments are important, and the stock footage just doesn't do the film justice. I understand why Clooney chose this option and shot the rest of the film in black and white, to lend it supposed authenticity. We, for some reason, like historical films to be in black and white. We're used to it; all the films we've seen of things like WWII have been in black and white, and so we're set up to accept this format as somehow ringing true. But I didn't think it worked this time. Moreover, the plot involves too many characters, and it's hard to know who is who. Clooney is Fred Friendly, who I think is the producer of See It Now, Murrow's show. But I'm not even sure. Also present are Joe Wershba (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his wife, Shirley (Patricia Clarkson), but I really only know that they are married because they aren't supposed to be, and in fact the head of CBS tells them one should quit to make room for others, since everyone knows they are married. But I don't know what they did in the newsroom. Moreover, the cast is filled with well-known names, such as Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella and Reed Diamond, but who they played remains cloudy. Sure, I can get their roles off IMDB, but that won't help, because the structure of the film doesn't really allow for any of these people to really become three dimensional characters. Rather, they seem to be there simply to make the newsroom seem bustling with life, which I must say did work. But did this help the film? No. Rather, like Syriana, which Clooney also directed and which was also confusing as hell, it's hard to tell who is who, or even to care. Structurally, the film seems damaged, being so confusing. And it's just downright boring. Flat acting. Flat cinematography. Flat everything. If this is one of the best films of the year, I can't see why. I really can't. And as with other films this year, I really wanted to see it. Oh disappointment! If Clooney wants so much to make provocative, 'thinking person' films, he should pay more attention to structure and depth, which both Syriana and Good Night, and Good Luck lack.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is Germany's entry into the foreign Academy Award Oscar race, and I hope it wins. It's one of the most tense films I've seen in ages, and is an important political drama that you wouldn't expect to come from Germany. In the past, Germany has been slow to come to terms with the Holocaust and produce any kind of film or record about the atrocities that stemmed from it. Of course, in the '80s this changed, and features exploring the daring exploits of anti-Hitler heroes emerged. But this one focuses on a heroine, the title character, a member of the White Rose resistance group, supposedly the most famous anti-Nazi heroine. Sophie Scholl takes place from 17-22 February, 1943, the last 6 days of Sophie's life. Using interrogation records, the film creates a tense background for us to watch the horrible events unfold. The film starts off innocently enough, showing Sophie (Julia Jentsch) and her brother, Hans (Fabian Hinrichs), printing up leaflets on 17 Feb. that they plan to distribute the next day. We don't think too much of this; no real tension mounts. But then comes the next day. Music pulses. The sky looms, overcast, foreboding, as they walk towards the campus. Is she inconspicuous enough? She wonders. She knows that the Nazi forces have been targeting college campuses, especially this one. Still, they've decided to go ahead with the plan. The techno music stops as they continue into the building they've chosen to distribute the flyers. A pan of it shows it empty. They walk up a stair, and music starts again. As they split up, the camera follows her and we see her drop off the fliers at each classroom door. Eventually they finish doing each room and meet up. "There aren't any upstairs," says Hans; Sophie decides to go with him. As the bell rings, she throws leaflets off the balcony so that they fly into the quad. All of a sudden, Gestapo appear. CAUGHT! The music matches the scene, drawing us in, making us grip our seats as we watch, heartbrokenly, the Gestapo take the two away. What follows is her interrogation. She faces Gestapo interrogator Robert Mohr (Alexander Held), who won't believe her story that she just saw the leaflets on the bannister and pushed them off for a lark. He suspects that she's a member of the White Rose, and pushes her to all sorts of limits. The interrogation takes a number of days; as she is incarcerated, we meet her cellmate, Else Gebel (Johanna Gastdorf), who tries to provide comfort to the scared but strong Sophie. In all, director Marc Rothemund has crafted a gripping drama, more intense than any other political thriller out there these days. (Think Constant Gardener, for example.) What fascinated him most about making this drama despite the existence of a film wholly about the White Rose movement (Die Weisse Rose) is that Mohr originally believed Sophie in the first 5 hour interrogation; she never so much as batted an eyelash at the charges leveled against her. Thanks to minutes of the interrogation released in 1990, both Sophie and Mohr could be researched more. Building a drama around them was fairly simple, as plot elements came directly from these minutes. Of course, a lot of it is fabricated, especially the time leading up to the interrogation, but this doesn't deter you from accepting the realism the film offers. Sophie Scholl has already won three Lolas (German Oscars), including the Audience Award and Best Actress award. It also won two Silver Bears for Best Director and Best Actress at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival. Is this enough for it to win the Oscar? Unfortunately not.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Shopgirl
Shopgirl is an odd little film, based on an odd little novella by Steve Martin, who also wrote the screenplay and stars in the film. I say it’s odd because I think it’s supposed to be a romantic comedy, only it isn’t very romantic nor is it very comedic. At least not in your typical ‘date film’ way. It took me a while – and the reading of the book – for me to decide whether I actually liked the film or not. Well, the verdict is in: I do. In some ways it works, in others, it fails. But overall, I think I got the point of the picture. Which, according to its tagline, is “Relationships don’t always fit like a glove.” Indeed, they don’t, and who wears dress gloves now, anyway? Poor Mirabelle (Claire Danes) knows no one really does, as she stands day by day in the formal glove department at Saks Fifth Avenue, doing little but dreaming of her artwork. She draws, you see. But rather depressing drawings; mostly all black. OK, all all black. But then again, she’s rather depressed herself, just floating through life on a Prozac-like wave. And that’s where we find her as the film begins. Floating. Along the way, in a Laundromat, she meets Jeremy (Jason Schawartzman), a Gen-X slacker who stencils logos on amplifiers for a living. They sort of click, in an “I’m lonely, you’re lonely, let’s hook up” kind of way. And they have a little fling. And not much more. Then one day along comes an elegantly dressed man into the department. He’s there, surprise, surprise, to buy a lady a pair of gloves. Thrilled, Mirabelle helps out, and even interjects her own opinion – black over grey. And he buys the gloves. Big deal, right? Well, it is a big deal, because she comes home that night to find a package, containing the gloves and a note from said elegant older man, “I want to have dinner with you sometime.” Enough said. Flattered, Mirabelle starts to date Ray Porter (Steve Martin), growing more and more attached to him while he asserts his independence and desire NOT to get involved over and over again. And that’s where I leave off with the summary. Will it work out? Go see it to find out. Now, as for the characters themselves: I didn’t really care for either Mirabelle or Ray. Mirabelle off her antidepressants really isn’t much fun, and even on them, it’s hard to get to like her. Nothing’s really wrong with her, I guess; I just couldn’t muster up much enthusiasm for her success in life. She’s blasé. So is Roy. Just another older guy out there to get a younger girl, lust after her. True, he does treat her well – a little too well, if you ask me (especially in the novella). But there’s not much substance to him. He’s all flash, little else. But not Jeremy. Jeremy (Jason Schwartzman) I liked from the get-go. Sure, he seemed like the average slacker, but I saw hope for him. At least he is honestly who he is. Very well rounded, that Jeremy. Don’t discount him right off. As for other elements of the film, sadly, little new is offered upon which to comment. Nothing exciting cinematographically, nothing by way of music, nothing by editing (although the pace was good. Didn’t drag, even when Mirabelle was literally dragging). Really, this is a plot-driven film, and I guess that if you like the plot, you’ll like the film. A lot is missing from the novella, and that seems a shame, because it could have delved more into her depression, saving it from the mediocre romantic dramedy it is. But this isn’t a date film, so don’t go thinking it is. It might leave your date terribly maudlin. I like that about the film, but then again, I like my humor dark and stories nihilistic.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Clouds shape the night's sky, and overhead, we see planes. Planes dropping bombs. Onto London. Quickly, a family runs into a bomb shelter, one stopping to pick up a picture of his father. BOOM! A bomb hits the house; no one is safe. They all make it to the shelter. So opens The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, foreshadowing what's to come when one world closes, another opens. And indeed, another world opened for me, as I can't remember ever having read the Narnia books, so I went into the film unsure of what to expect. I knew C.S. Lewis' story was allegorical and had a lot of Christian overtones, which made me cringe at the thought of bringing those overtones into the film. Preaching does not make for filmic fun! But I was pleasantly surprised as the story unfolded; as it did, I realized I must have read the book before, for I knew exactly what to expect, narratively speaking. I'm not sure how closely it follows the book, though, but I think it does a fair job. All the elements seem in place, and the result is magnificent. For those who don't know, the film concerns the Pevensie children (Lucy, played gorgeously by Georgie Henley; Edmund, by Skandar Keynes, Peter, by William Mosely, and Susan, by Anna Popplewell). who must flee London, their mother and the lack of safety in their own home (which, as I said, is bombed at the outset of the film). They thus end up in the home of a distant uncle, Professor Kirke (Jim Broadbent, in a cute little role!), where the house maid tells them not to explore the house or disturb the professor. Of course, they do, and a game of hide and seek finds Lucy in front of an ancient wardrobe, into which see descends, pushing past racks of coat upon coat until... SMACK! She's in Narnia. Almost instantly, she runs into Mr. Tumnus (James McAvoy), a Faun, half human, half donkey, who takes her to his home for tea. There she learns about the spell the White Witch (a deliciously evil Tilda Swinton. She should get an Oscar nod for this role, she's that amazing) has cast over Narnia, and how only the "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" can dispel the spell and return Narnia to its former glory, when Aslan (a lion, voiced by Liam Neeson) ruled with grace and ease and fairness. Of course, the trauma in Narnia is little more than an allegorical turn at good and evil; the story really isn't that special. We know, for example, before we are told that the Pevensie children must be the chosen ones to save Narnia, as they are all good and pure and whole. We know a showdown between the White Witch and Aslan must occur, as well as that Edmund must betray his family to set the story into motion. But what we don't know is how all this will unfold. We're enchanted, but unsure, yet ready, thanks to the quick pacing, to find out. And we do, quite spectacularly. For example, when Edmund meets the White Witch, who's wrongly claimed herself Queen of Narnia, we get a glimpse of her sweet nastiness, an oxymoronic charm she has that allows Edmund to fall into her proverbial claws thanks to his wish to be more powerful than Peter. Here, we see Swinton in all her splendor, her blond hair swept up almost dred style, her face white and beautiful, her smile appealing. She tempts him with Turkish Delight and ambrosia, which she conjures readily, and he's fallen for her charm. We're not surprised, for we, too, during this time, are under her spell. Only when we find out the truth about her does the spell break and we begin to hate her, although I for one was still charmed by Swinton's amazing performance. She exudes evil in all its glory. The allegory itself tries to stay clear of Christian connotations, albeit using the "sons of Adam and daughters of Eve" motif, which probably had to be done; otherwise the story would have made little sense. To keep the Christian elements to a minimum, Aslan and the White Witch both discuss the secrets of "deep magic;" Aslan describes his sacrifice and subsequent resurrection not in terms of Christian dogma, but rather as his closer understanding of the magic, allowing him to use it for more power than the White Witch can. Of course, anyone can figure out the Christian connotations, particularly adults, but children will still marvel at the magic that allows such an explanation without missing out on anything. The allegory stays clear: it's good against evil, and when good gets going, watch out! Meanwhile, the CG effects are stunning. We see talking beavers, Centaurs, hags, wolves, a fox, and horses, all of whom can talk and interact successfully with the Pevensie children. Director Andrew Adamson of Shrek fame keeps the plot moving forward and the action coming, never allowing the little ones in the theatre to get bored. I heard many a sigh of awe when Aslan finally jumped into frame for the first time, a well deserved testament to the power of the CG effects, which are almost seamlessly integrated into the film. We have Donald M. McAlpine (Moulin Rouge) to thank for the beautiful cinematography, and Dean Wright (Titanic, LoTR) for supervising the visual effects seemingly effortlessly. In all, then, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is superb; certainly it outshines the rather mediocre Harry Potter installation of the year, and should prove to have both box office and Oscar power.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Match Point
"The man who said 'I'd rather be lucky than good' saw deeply into life. People are afraid to face how great a part of life is dependent on luck. It's scary to think so much is out of one's control. There are moments in a match when the ball hits the top of the net , and for a split second it can either go forward or fall back. With a little luck, it goes forward and you win... or maybe you doesn't, and you lose." So says Chris Wilton (Johnathan Rhys Meyers, Velvet Goldmine), the tennis instructor come upper class gentleman in Woody Allen's newest film, Match Point. This metaphor of the ball on the net becomes an important plot element in this film, one that breaks from the usual Allen hallmarks and successfully treads new water for the director. The film marks his first major departure from filming in New York, instead choosing to make a decidedly English film. It features all UK actors but one, Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Tranlsation), who plays the naughtily seductive Nola Rice, a wanna-be actress who fails at every audition to which she goes. The film centers around Chris and the matches he plays with 2 women, Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer, Young Adam), who becomes his wife, and Nola. Indeed, his fortune revolves around luck, just as he states my opening paragraph, for he is able, for the most part, to survive both matches without getting caught up in one. But there's more to the story than just that. It's quite complicated, actually. You see, Chris meets Chloe through her brother, Tom (Matthew Goode), who's engaged to Nola when Chris and Tom meet. Tom and Chloe's parents take a shining to Chris; their father secures for him a fancy job and grooms him for marriage to Chloe. Meanwhile, Chris, a lower class Irish bloke, learns to love his newfound lifestyle that marriage to Chloe brings. He and Nola have a sexual encounter while at the Hewetts' country estate. Then Tom breaks up with Nola, and no one sees her for a while. Still, as luck would have it, Chris spots Nola one day, long after he and Chloe are married, and they begin a torrid affair. Will luck stay on his side as he tries to keep his relationship with Nola from Chloe, or will that proverbial ball fall back? Overall, this is a strong effort from Allen, whose last few films haven't fared well. Here, he's created a very intimate film; few extraneous characters are introduced, so it's mostly just the Hewetts, Chris and Nola for the most part, a choice that really makes for well rounded characters. The pacing is excellent and the camerawork well done. But mostly the plot is so seductive that it makes the film as strong as it is. So if you like a well-driven plot with twists and turns and luck, check this one out. I guarantee the ball will go forward over the net and you'll score.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Look At Me
Comme une Image, or Look at Me as it’s known in English, is a 2004 French film that really screams for you to look at it. Directed by Agnes Jaoui, the film centers around Lolita, played admirably by relative newcomer Marilou Berry, a young woman struggling with self-image (she’s slightly overweight) and feels no one understands her. A budding singer with a terrific voice, she is often fearful of letting her talent out, fearing, it seems, that people won’t accept a voice coming from such an unattractive woman (of course this is all in her head; she’s really quite beautiful). What makes matters worse for her are her father (Jean Pierre Bacri), Etienne, and his trophy wife Karine Cassards (Virginie Desaurnauts), who herself gets upset when she ‘gains an ounce,’ as Lolita laments. Her father is problematic because he virtually ignores her, taking no interest in her life, instead self-absorbed by his own fame, an author of some repute struggling for inspiration for his next novel. Lolita also has a cheating boyfriend, and of course the perfect guy hiding his passion for her, to deal with. Meanwhile, her singing coach, Sylvia (Agnes Jaoui, starring in her own film) is married to an up and coming author, Pierre (Laurent Grevil); Sylvia seems to believe in her husband’s and Lolita’s talents, but never gets too enthused about either. None of these characters seem to know what to do with themselves; they are all unhappy, and none seem to care about each other at all. The story has little in the way of plot; yes, things happen, but mostly this is a discourse on how to be miserable, and little else. That’s not to say it isn’t likable; I think Jaoui has some real talent and will develop into a good filmmaker (it’s her first film; she’s a fairly well-known French film actress). This just isn’t the best material to be working with. And she and Jean Pierre Bacri wrote the darn thing! I must say, though, that there’s something to be learned from such suffering. I felt much better about my own flaws once I witnessed theirs. The DVD comes with an extensive “Making of…” that shows you almost every little thing about the coming together of the film; every rain drop, every scene locale, every little scrap of information that quite frankly I didn’t care about. It’s an hour long, and that is far too long for a film that really wasn’t that superb. Perhaps had the film blown me away I might have liked to watch the behind the scenes stuff, but… not this time. Deleted scenes also exist resurrected; however, even these aren’t satisfying. They’re the type that come without commentary, so you don’t know neither where the scene would have gone were it kept, nor why it didn’t make the final cut. Two previews come on the DVD; one for the terrific Triplets of Bellevue I enjoyed reviewing again. Overall, I’d recommend this film if you can detach yourself, as I can, from what you’re watching; otherwise you’ll likely wind up depressed. Better to look at yourself than Look at Me.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Corpse Bride
In Corpse Bride, Tim Burton comes back to life as a director, having disappointed many with his last few outings, Big Fish and Planet of the Apes, and perhaps ushering in a new stop animation film to cult status, as his The Nightmare Before Christmas has. Indeed, audience reception at the city’s Tuesday night premiere showed hardcore Nightmare fans reveling in this delightful, quirky, witty and satirical film. Basically, the film breathes new life into what would otherwise be a dead plot. Victor (voiced by Johnny Depp) is set to marry Victoria (Watson), only the powers that be (mainly incompetent family members and a clergyman) stand in their way. Instead, Victor accidentally drops Victoria’s wedding ring on what appears to be a dried out twig. Instantly, the twig comes to life as a phalanges, belonging to the skeletal remains of the Corpse Bride (Bonham Carter). Of course, he becomes duty bound to marry CB, as I shall call her, leaving poor Victoria in the clutches of the money-hungry Barkis Bittern (Richard E. Grant). In other words, this is a romance gone dead wrong, and only CB and her friends in the Land of the Dead can put things right by coming to the Land of the Living. It’s an old story, but it’s done well, with lots of satirical bites at the classism of the Victorian era, catchy tunes done by Danny Elfman, and of course brilliant animation. As in The Nightmare Before Christmas, Burton et. al. work with shadow and light to create a beautiful cinematic vision, a dark Wonderland of the Dead not so unlike its upstairs neighbor in monochromatic tones. And what fine touches Burton adds, especially imagery of butterflies that become growingly important to the plot. Look for them as you go enjoy this film. It’s the perfect length for such a film, unburdened by extra plot devices that only add to the running time and make you bored. Certainly, Corpse Bride will be at least an underground hit according to audience reaction; maybe it will also gain some mainstream, aboveground following too.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Kamikaze Girls
This is ended up being my favorite film of 2005, this bizarrely beautiful Kamikaze Girls. Funny and innovative, this film moves at a quick pace yet keeps throwing in plot twists and funky fictions that tantalize and please at every moment. The film opens with a scooter/truck crash, Momoko (Kyoko Fukada) flying over a bunch of cabbages and starting a voice-over monologue that introduces us to her and her desire to be living in 18th Century Versailles, the Rococo period to be exact, where hedonism, sex, and embroidery played first, second and third fiddles in that order. She is, in fact, isolated from all those around her. She tells her mother, for example, to just go do what she wants to be happy, “get all the liposuction and boob jobs you can and win a beauty contest,” which is precisely what her mom later does. So isolated from others, in fact, she tells viewers that people are born alone, live alone and die alone, so why bother with people? She makes fun of her “useless” father, who sells fake Versace clothes, and really connects with no one. Until, that is, she literally connects, through a headbang, with Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya). You see, Momoko is hooked on this designer line of clothes, Baby the Stars Shine Bright, and needs money to get her coveted frilly frocks that lend her a Lolita sensibility. Enter Ichigo, who comes seeking Versace through an Internet ad Momoko places. The two couldn’t be further apart in terms of personality. Ichigo, you see, is a member of an all-girl biker gang, and needs the approval of others. Still, to Momoko’s and our eyes, a friendship is forged, one as bizarre and appealing as that of the two girl in Ghost World. I won’t delve into the plot any more, for I want everyone to see this film. Not only because the narrative is hysterically funny, but also because cinematographically the film is innovative and fresh, playing on pop culture, Japanese style. We get a scene of anime “to keep the kids from getting bored,” for example, and visually the settings look straight out of the Rococo period. Master editing work paces the film perfectly; as the narrative turns, our attention does not, and we end up getting caught deeper into the lives of these two titular characters. Also, the film takes risks with visual styles, using a 3D framework in the aforementioned cabbage truck scene, for example, and regaling us with slo-mo, fast-mo and every other speed of motion imaginable. For many filmmakers, this would all be too much, but director Nakashima keeps everything delightfully together. He adapted the screenplay from the comic book of the same name, and again we see a parallel with the almost equally quirky and successful Ghost World. In all, Kamikaze Girls is the most fun I’ve had watching a film in a long time, a rare comedic gem that should not be missed. I know you’ll enjoy it, maybe as much as I. It’s won 3 awards in the three film festivals it’s been in, so you know others are liking it as well. I only hope it gets a wide enough release to truly let its charm sparkle. Baby, the sun shines bright on Kamikaze Girls, and you should let it shine on you.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Manderlay
Liberation. Whether They Want It or Not. So reads the tagline to Lars von Trier’s amazingly potent Manderlay, the second in his series of USA films, the first being the critically lauded yet poorly received Dogville. And so sums up what this film is all about, and how this “moral comedy” asks viewers to ponder some tough questions about racism, slavery, oppression, and cultural colonialism. The film starts where Dogville left off, showing Grace, this time played by Bryce Dallas Howard instead of Nicole Kidman, who played her in the first film, and her father, played this time by Willem Dafoe, arriving at Manderlay plantation in 1933. We see them arrive in a cute little diagram of a toy car driving across a white map of the United States, traveling from Dogville, Colorado. But this is the only cute thing in the film. For the film is all about slavery. Manderlay plantation is under the control of Mam (Lauren Bacall), whom Grace has murdered by her father’s thugs once she finds out about the conditions of the plantation. “Don’t you know slavery has been abolished for seventy years?” she asks the slaves. Their answer is no. And so Grace stays in Manderlay, deciding to right the wrong and give the slaves their freedom. A good idea, you think as you’re watching. But soon you learn perhaps otherwise. Once Grace has freed the slaves, led by Timothy, in a stunning performance by Isaach De Bankole, she tries to set up a democracy, having the freed men and women vote on issues such as who will sow when and who will plow, etc. Meanwhile, the tables are turned on the white workers of the plantation, who Grace makes slaves in order to teach them the ills of their ways. At one point, this has the white men put on blackface, a powerful moment in the film and one not easily forgotten. Things go horribly awry at the plantation now that freedom is granted, and plots and ploys occur all the time. No one wants to do any work, or rather, no one understands how to do the work now that no one (except Grace) is telling them what to do. Chaos erupts, money is stolen, and poor Wilhelm, the house slave (Danny Glover) wishes for things to return to normal. Is this in fact what they all want? Is their liberation more trying for them than enslavement? Go see the film and find out. And see it I hope you do, for it has tremendous acting from a powerful, ensemble group. This film is so controversial that British actors were cast as nine of the twelve slaves, as African-Americans avoided it because of the content. Sad, but oh well. The Americans lose out, and the acting by all the ex-slaves is amazing. They include Suzette Llewellyn, Charles Manquignon, and Michael Abiteboul. Each one emerges as a distinct character. Amazing, just amazing. Those of you who saw the amazing Dogville will know what to expect visually and aurally from the film. Using a minimalist, Brechtian approach, the confines of cinema space are a wood soundstage, with chalk outlines of the important sections of the plantation, a few pieces of furniture/props, and little background music, used mostly only when a new chapter is introduced. Hand-held camera work abounds, lending a realism the stage-like setting would otherwise lack. The acting is deliberate and hard, each actor knowing his or her role and sticking to it. Originally, the role of Grace was to be played again by Nicole Kidman, but that didn't work out. Still, says von Trier, "So when [the role] turned out not to be [Kidman], obviously the character had to change according to the actress. For example, I think it's great that [Howard] is so young, because it makes the stubbornness of the character more plausible. And also her very naive approach to things, though of course naivete is something my heroines have always possessed." Von Trier also calls the film "a moral comedy" and agrees that there aren't really any heroes or heroines in the film, except for maybe Mam (Lauren Bacall), even though she dies to free the slaves in the beginning of the film. "Grace ought to be one, of course, but she spoils everything around her by being too stupid and too idealistic. What she lacks is political pragmatism; she is just stupid and idealistic. And far too emotional. You shouldn't be like that in politics because if you are you just don't get anywhere." Other actors appearing in the film include John Hurt as the narrator (voice-over), and Zeljko Ivanek as Dr. Hector, a villainous lout if ever there was one. Both of them appeard in Dogville, but here Ivanek takes on a different role, although some of the characteristics are the same. He, for example, was equally a bastard in the former film as he is here, out for himself. In fact, all the characters in Manderlay are selfish to some degree or another. All that being said, Manderlay emerges as the most amazing film of this fresh year. It ends with pictures of oppression as the credits role to the tune, "Young Americans," by David Bowie, showing not only slaves but also contemporary visions of oppressed people and those who oppress them (Bush, for example). It really takes a political stance, and is a thrilling, deft “moral comedy.” Look at yourself as you look at Manderlay: it compels you to, and you should heed its demands.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

2046
Wong Kar-Wai has long been known as a wacky, surreal director, ever since Quentin Tarantino pushed the envelope on Hong Kong Cinema and brought to the US the cult favorite Chungking Express in 1994. Then, in 2000, he gave us the highly cerebral In the Mood for Love, a romance of sorts, and people noticed his development as a director, having made a near-perfect movie about love and lust unfulfilled. With his new 2046, Wang brings these two genres he created together, building a beautiful masterpiece, an utterly satisfying, beautiful picture filled with science fiction, romance, and drama. Tony Leung plays Chow Mo Man in the film, which is kind of a sequel to In the Mood for Love, kind of not. Indeed, the main character is the same, but little else resembles the former film. Instead of a romance, we have a non-linear plot that encompasses Chow Mo Man’s many sexual encounters with the various women with whom he has contact. Leung’s character is still a writer, and the title refers back to In the Mood for Love (Leung’s and Maggie Cheung’s characters hotel room number), but this film takes an approach to storytelling more akin to Chungking Express. And Wong Kar-Wei himself says it’s not a sequel. Still, parallels exist, parallels perhaps best explored elsewhere. We meet many beautiful women in this film, all of them box office stars in Hong Kong, playing women with whom Chow has some sort of sexual relationship. For example, young Zhang Ziyi, best known for her work in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and House of Flying Daggers, plays a prostitute hopelessly in love with Chow, while Gong Li, another well known Chinese actress (Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine), plays Su Li Zhen, a gambler with a mysterious gloved hand who helps Chow when he needs it most, to recover from a gambling debt. Too many to list herein, the women come in and out of Chow’s life in a narrative that circles around and around rather than playing out straight through. Thrown into the mix is a little sci-fi, as Chow, a fiction writer, creates the fictional world of ‘2046’, a place everyone goes to to remember something but never returns… except of course Chow’s fictional Japanese character. This is a world of beautiful androids, one of with whom Chow’s fictional counterpart falls in love. If all this sounds a little crazy, it is. It’s much clearer in the film; describing the plot (if you even want to think of it as one) is quite difficult; suffice it to say that it’s an intriguing one worth the effort of unraveling. But the real pleasure from the film comes from the cinematography, the music, and the atmosphere Wong creates. Set in the ‘60s, the film is stylized brilliance; the clothes exquisite, the women even more so. Opulence exists everywhere, as the screen is saturated with color, whether from an android’s blue hair or a dream girl’s sumptuous dress. Camera angles clarify and confuse, sometimes helping the plot seem clearer, sometimes discouraging the narrative from forming. Overall, though, this is a beautiful film, one best appreciated on the big screen. Don’t let my rather rambling summary turn you off from seeing 2046: it is truly a master work by a master director. Only Wong Kar-Wai could pull this one off.
Reviewer: Dr. Diana Slampyak

Ellie Parker
Ellie Parker (Naomi Watts) runs. Runs from audition to audition, from guy to guy, from therapist to acting class. Ellie Parker’s story could be Watts’ own; both are Australians trying out different accents for different roles, and both waited and waited for their own big breaks. In the film, we see Parker struggle to keep her determination alive, we feel for her breaking heart and breaking dreams, and we see a very realistic portrayal of the life of a wanna-be starlet. Of course, whereas Parker is neurotic, self-loving and wacky, Watts is not, but rather is known for being humble and a hard worker. So hard, she juggled this project with The Ring 2, creating it as a labor of love that really shows off her acting talents. In the film, Ellie lives with her self-serving boyfriend, Justin (Mark Pellegrino), relies on her best friend Sam (Rebecca Rigg), and her new boy-toy (Coffey) to keep her going, although none of them provide the support she actually needs. She also has her manager, Dennis (Chevy Chase), but he also offers little – when she threatens to quit, he just stands idly by and seems not to care either way. Will she give up the chance she’s looking for? Or will she go for that one last audition that could be her big break? Thus is the crux of the film. For me, the first 16 minutes were cinematic magic, a perfectly contained little featurette of a film. No wonder the short has garnered the awards it has (it’s played at the Sundance Film Fest as well as a few others, one (the Method Fest) where Watts won best actress for her performance). The rest of the film maintains the momentum of the short, but doesn’t quite have its exuberance. But don’t worry: enough is still there to keep you interested and involved in Parker’s crazy life. The cinematography is intense and real, very cinema verite. Hand held DV shots follow Parker everywhere, even when she’s driving, providing a claustrophobic effect I really enjoyed. The camerawork is also quite voyeuristic, and really gives us a sense of intruding upon these people’s lives. In all, the cinematography adds to the rushed pace of the film, providing extra energy to keep the short film moving into a feature well. Ellie Parker may as well represent our own hurried lives as we dash from work to play to dinner to wherever, serving as metacriticism of our own harried lifestyles. In that vein, the film works as well. I can see myself in Ellie Parker, rushing about trying to accomplish too much in too little time, and I cringe. Truly, the film makes you think about your own life as you watch hers, and that can never be a detrimental thing. See this little movie. It packs a powerful punch, a lot of laughs and, most importantly, a labor of love.
Reviewer: Diana Slampyak

Girl with a Pearl Earring
As speculative fiction, Girl with a Pearl Earring (the book and the movie), inspired by the exquisite Vermeer portrait, is a bit flimsy in the plot dept.. (So the lovely young woman in the portrait was a scullery maid with a penchant for paint and a particular hold on Vermeer, so what??) But what the story lacks in imagination, it makes up for in texture. Amplifying the domestic particulars of a 17th century Delft household, 'Girl' manages to reconstruct (to uncanny effect) the tenderly quiet, illuminated canvases of Vermeer, while fleshing out a story of the way in which repression is siphoned into art. Cast-wise, Firth is underused (his two modes--alternately lecherous and longing, wear rather thin), Tom Wilkinson is, as ever, brilliant, and Scarlett Johanssen dials in (or is it DSL?) the lips. But all joking aside, 'Girl' manages a feat few movies attempt: to slow your pulse, to force you to quietly look, and listen, and contemplate, and be absorbed in a slowly unfolding scene of domestic life. The drama here, such as it is, reveals itself slowly via the sublime, and, much like Vermeers modest but beautiful little scenes, the effect is quite disarming.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
If the summer’s Disneyesque nautical fare was a little too unsalted for you, Peter Weir’s terrific new film is just the dish. Managing his usual atmospherics, Master and Commander is at once unsettlingly quiet and mysterious, unflinchingly brutal in its reenactment of Napoleonic era naval warfare, and a wonderful portrait of men and boys (fighters, pacifists, convicts and unfortunates) trapped on a boat for months. Based on the series by Patrick O’Brian, the plot is deceptively simple: Britain’s HMS Surprise is commissioned to the South Seas to overtake France’s Acheron, a ship it comes to realize is infinitely superior in design, navigation, and positioning. In Weir’s able hands, the drama of naval warfare is nested in a richly textured film, as much interested in psychology, natural history, and nationalism as it is with seamanship.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Mystic River
If Eastwood's latest felodrama were a dinghy, floating on the Mystic River in Massachusetts, the collective cast, suffering from extreme accent drift, would be flailing about somewhere off the coast of France. Based on the bestselling Lehane one-off, this tale of regional tragedy in provincial Beantown is a misguided effort to explore how the past continues to contaminate the present (this theme, playing itself out structurally, is manifest in absurd flashbacks only John Woo could get away with). I'm actually looking forward to the JLo/Affleck adaptation of an earlier Lehane (they've recently bought rights): it couldn't be half as ponderous as this overwrought, overrated dirge.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Lost in Translation
Neorealism from the jetset. Scarlett Johansson is beguiling (if a little Lolita-esque, but that's obviously the point) as our flaneuse protagonist, killing time in Tokyo while her photographer hubby goes to work. Ditto Bill Murray, a fellow American, fellow insomniac, and actor, in town for the shooting of a demeaning yet profitable whiskey commercial. While the film suffers from an abundance of unfunny sight gags, sophomoric transcultural observations and weakly drawn relationships (the respective marriages of the leads are less than believable), the film finally gains some momentum as the two strike up a tender friendship. Infused with a pervasive sadness, LIT is ultimately about the intensity of friendships made in the netherland of production--sweet and doomed to end. Jesus and Mary Chain's great 'Just Like Honey'provides the final musical note, and indeed, the film is, just like the song as it plays now, drenched in a foreshortened retro-hip, and just like honey, sweet but actually quite good for you.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

American Splendor
Unlikely heroes are the stock in trade of comic books, and, in turn, of the recent movies revisiting them. Unlikely is putting in mildly in the case of one Harvey Pekar, the interminably kvetching anti-hero of American Splendor. But if you find (as I did) Pekar to be relentlessly gloomy, the film, while managing true portraiture, manages to be anything but. A.S. goes well beyond clever (you'll have heard of its doc/fic fusion, featuring actors and their real counterparts) in its homage to 'coping' rather than 'overcoming', to 'settling' rather than 'striving'. Infused with the comforting palette of autumn and the romantic aesthetic of a run down city (this one Cleveland, but insert your own), and peopled by folks in perpetual thrift shop gear, A.S. is nothing less than a comic-book-poem-film dignifying non-heroic lives lived everyday by quietly desperate people. You know the feeling.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Dirty Pretty Things
Despite the clunky title, Stephen Frears' new film, at once a genre thriller and potent criticism of the Dickensian plight of illegal immigrants, is a soulful, heart wrenching tale of survival in contemporary London. Nothing is wasted in this economic film--not even a wink of sleep as we follow the sleep-deprived Okwe (cab driver by day, hotel porter by night), an African illegal and former doctor who stumbles upon a black market organ ring operating in the seemingly quiet plush of his hotel's rooms. If it all sounds a little farfetched, it may well be, but the performances, direction, cinematography and story all come to a tragic, and tragically honest conclusion, in a film that is as much about physical mutilation (you didn't really need that kidney, did you?) as it is about the emotional pain of being adrift in an unflinchingly brutal world.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Spellbound
Following a dozen or so kids on their journey to and in the National Spelling Bee, Spellbound is as riveting and suspenseful a doc as it gets. From the very first girl (Angela from Texas, whose father, to this day, does not speak a word of English) to the last, here are kids who are still more in their heads than their bodies, and have not yet seemed to have boxed themselves into gendered, nevermind sexual, beings. From those who devise, completely unself-consciously, their own quirky study tricks, to those in abeyance of parents' ambitions for them, there is in this film something that one doesn't see often enough in the movies--innocence, vulnerability, fragility, and a disarming sense of hope. For both the parents and children the bee is an agonizing, pressure cooker event. And despite the rather bland aesthetic of the film, you will feel every missed heartbeat, every bead of sweat as these kids step up to a mic to spell absolutely frightening words they have yet to grasp the meaning of.
Reviewer: Sarah Dunham

Better Luck Tomorrow
This movie is currently playing at the Parkway Theater in Oakland (http://www.picturepubpizza.com/calendar/)... I found it really interesting. It's directed by a young Asian filmmaker. It was well edited and there was some really interesting and creative shooting. The story was also a bit unique. It is about a group of over-achieving high school seniors who, bored with their suburban lives, get involved with extra-curricular criminal activities. It had a degree of realism that I liked and some pretty funny moments, and although there is some violence I appreciated the fact that the filmmaker kept the violence to a minimum
Reviewer: Ami Capen

BOOKS

EVENTS

Members click here to add your own listing.
Any questions or comments?