Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The Visitor

When Jon and I saw The Station Agent in 2004 (?) I was stunned to find out that it was Thomas McCarthy's first film. So delicate were the characters approached and so subtlety funny were the humorous movements in that sad film about a lonely man, that I was sure this was an experienced and skilled hand at work. I was wrong.

When I discovered (after seeing it) that The Visitor is his movie as well, it made perfect sense.
The Visitor is another film about a lonely person -- another film that is perfectly cast and played -- another film that tackles something as big as isolation and solitude without being heavy handed.

Walter, the main character (played perfectly by Richard Jenkins who was the father/ghost on Six Feet Under), finds his way though his sadness by meeting a guide (actually a few guides) who shepherd him though his own baggage. He is as surprised as we are at the man who emerges.

This film tackles some bigger issues in the periphery, but it transcends the need to solve or answer or even comment on the big picture by just showing us what we need to know or what Walter needs to know.

Thoughtful and well done.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Irina Palm

Oh no we didn't....we didn't just go to this to see Marianne Faithfull playing the "wanking widow" who, apparently has the "best right hand in London" and uses it to pay her grandson's medical bills. Well, actually, we did. If it hadn't been the lovely Ms. Faithfull, we wouldn't have been caught dead at this film. It had some good moments, a few great lines, but not nearly enough to carry the awkward plot and bizarre ending.

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Ano em Que Meus Pais Saíram de Férias, O (The Year my Parents Went on Vacation)

What I have to say first that this film is directed by a guy named Cao Hamburger (I'm not up on my Brazilian Portuguese but I think that's pronounced "cow.")

What I will say second is that Mr. Hamburger has directed a very sweet and original coming of age story set in a very interesting time in Brazil. 1970 was the year Brazil won the world cup and a year of political upheaval and unrest. It was also the year that Shlomo's freedom fighter parents had to run from the police and go on "vacation" leaving him with his Jewish grandfather until, they promise, they will return to watch the World Cup with him.

Great characters and wonderful acting by the kids, especially. Watching the scenes of the city shutting down for each round of the finals that their team made it through, Jon and I got a great flashback to when we were in Rome during the World Cup that Italy won in 2006.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

Build a Ship, Sail to Sadness

Debut feature-length movie from film school weirdo Laurin Federlein. The main character gas-huffs his way across the Scottish countryside on a scooter talking to locals about how they might support and collaborate on his "traveling disco." It is as weird as it sounds and weirder. For one thing, the locals are not actors. They are actually locals who have only been asked if they want to be in a film, and then the camera rolls. The other thing is the look of the film -- Federlein turned the contrast way up and forced us all to squint and look away about half-way through the film from the dreamy, gas-huffing, glare of lime green and burgundy landscapes.

Part of what made me enjoy this was that I wasn't quite sure what I was watching. We knew nothing going into it and some of the dialog (all improvised, so near as we could tell) and camera shots are so fantastically bizarre, you can hardly believe what you are hearing and seeing.

Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Sukkar banat (Caramel)

Peek into the daily lives of five women living in Beirut. Think Steel Magnolias set in Lebanon (OK, so I never saw Steel Magnolias, but I'm pretty sure the analogy holds up. ) We read Charles (did we see the same movie?) Mudede's review in The Stranger and had high hopes for it reaching outside the salon and their petty (and sometimes bizarre) problems and solutions to problems, but it stayed in the blow-dry chair the whole time. And blew.