Raya Burstein and Uri Burstein in CHARM CIRCLE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
Inthe superbly structured documentary Charm Circle, writer-director Nira Burstein exquisitely unspools the story of her own bizarre family. At first, we meet Burstein’s father, a sour character who inexplicably is about to lose his rented house, which has become unkempt, even filthy. He is mean to Burstein’s apparently sweet and extraordinarily passive mother, and the scene just seems unpleasant.
But then, Nira Burstein brings out twenty-year-old videos that show her dad as witty, talented and functional. We learn a key fact about the mom, and then about each of the director’s two sisters.
Some of the publicity about Charm Circle describes the family as eccentric, but only one daughter is a little odd – three family members are clinically diagnosable. Charm Circle is a cautionary story of untreated mental illness and the consequences of failing to reach out for help.
This is Nira Burstein’s first feature, and she has two things going for her: unlimited access to the subjects and a remarkable gift for storytelling. Charm Circle works so well because of how Burstein sequences the rollout of each family member’s story.
The Nashville Film Festival returns in a few days, and I attended a screening of Charm Circle, with a Nira Burstein Q&A at NashFilm two years ago. It went on to play both the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and Cinequest, and can now be streamed on the Criterion Channel.
Photo caption: Jennifer Levinson in TRUST. World premiere at Cinequest. Courtesy of Menemsha Films.
After a pandemic-driven hiatus, Cinequest returns in-person for the first time since March 2020. Beginning on August 16, this year’s festival will be live at downtown San Jose’s California Theatre, Hammer Theater and 3Below. On August 25, the program moves to Campbell’s Pruneyard Cinemas through August 29.
I’ve already seen almost twenty offerings from Cinequest 2020, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. I’ve also included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest”.
MUST SEE
This year’s festival Must Sees are the first features from three female filmmakers: writer/actor/producer Jennifer Levinson with Trust, documentarian Nira Burstein with Charm Circle and co-writer/actor Elizabeth Hirsch-Tauber with 12 Months.
Trust: Writer-actor Jennifer Levinson’s absorbing exploration of family betrayal must be the best screenplay at Cinequest. Kate (Levinson) is rocking her college experience when her mother unexpectedly dies. Kate returns to her hometown for the funeral, and apprehensively re-engages with her estranged family. They just might cringe their way through the funeral until an estate planning blunder explodes. Often darkly hilarious, Trust is elevated by Levinson’s textured characters. Kate’s strait-laced, conflict-averse brother is clinging onto functionality by his fingernails. The oldest sister is a flamboyant hot mess, but her astonishingly bad behavior seems to stem from some undiagnosed disorder. Their nogoodnik of a father hides a profound weakness and desperation behind his sleazy gloss. Kate herself has the decency that evades her nuclear family, but she’s immature and too prickly. How will Kate find closure when she has no control over the motives of the others? World premiere. Trailer at bottom of this post.
Charm Circle: You think YOUR family has issues? In this superbly structured film, writer-director Nira Burstein exquisitely unspools the story of her own bizarre family, a cautionary and ever-surprising chronicle of mental illness. Bay Area premiere.
12 Months: This uncommonly authentic film traces the year-long span of a romance, using vignettes that are snapshots of the relationship’s evolution. Just like a real life relationship, 12 Months has moments that are playful and moments that are searing. 12 Months is entirely improvised by its director and its stars, who are extremely keen and perceptive observers of relationship behavior, and they don’t hit a single wrong note. World premiere.
INTERNATIONAL CINEMA
Lidia Vitale and Ludovica Mancini in Gabriele Fabbro’s THE GRAND BOLERO at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.
The Grand Bolero: Early in COVID’s devastating assault on Northern Italy, a middle-aged organ restorer is locked down in a centuries-old church; a salty curmudgeon, she cruelly resists the assistant forced upon her – a runaway young mute woman with no place else to shelter. But the young woman’s unexpected musical gift unlocks passion in the older woman. Passion evolves into obsession, propelling the story to an operatic finale. The Grand Bolero is the most visually beautiful film that I’ve seen in some time, and the music is powerfully evocative. It’s a remarkable first feature for director, co-writer and editor Gabriele Fabbro and his cinematographer Jessica La Malfa. Bay Area premiere.
DOCUMENTARY
Charlie Morgan in OUT IN THE RING. Courtesy of Ryan Bruce Levey.
Out in the Ring is Ryan Bruce Levey’s encyclopedic yet irresistible history of LGBTQ professional wrestlers. Out in the Ring chronicles straight wrestlers like Gorgeous George who pretended to be gay, and the many gay wrestling stars like Pat Patterson who were forced to stay in the closet. It’s also a showcase for today’s panoply of queer wrestling stars. Both unflinching and uplifting. World premiere.
Tell Me a Memory is a simple, yet engrossing, LGBTQ+ oral history. One or two at a time, individuals from Memphis (did you know they call themselves Memphians?) tell their own stories. The subjects are impressively diverse – in age, gender, race and identity. Coming Out in the Bible Belt is a common thread. This is a gentle and emotionally powerful film. World premiere.
AND TWO I HAVEN’T YET SEEN
Jim Gaffigan and Rhea Seehorn in LINOLEUM. Courtesy of Blue Fox Entertainment.
Of the Cinequest films that I haven’t been able to screen yet, the most favorable buzz comes from Linoleum, the Jim Gaffigan science comedy that opens the festival, and the political satire Land of Dreams. Both have distributors – they’ll be in theaters, but you can see them early at Cinequest.
HACKING CINEQUEST
Cinequest recovers its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California, the 550-seat Hammer and the 257-seat 3Below – all within 1600 feet of each other. This year’s beer garden is across the street from the California.
At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $179, and you can get individual tickets as well. Take a look at the entire program, theschedule and the passes and tickets.
As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitterfor the latest. And here’s the trailer for Trust.
Raya Burstein and Uri Burstein in CHARM CIRCLE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
Inthe superbly structured documentary Charm Circle, writer-director Nira Burstein exquisitely unspools the story of her own bizarre family. At first, we meet Burstein’s father, a sour character who inexplicably is about to lose his rented house, which has become unkempt, even filthy. He is mean to Burstein’s apparently sweet and extraordinarily passive mother, and the scene just seems unpleasant.
But then, Nira Burstein brings out twenty-year-old videos that show her dad as witty, talented and functional. We learn a key fact about the mom, and then about each of the director’s two sisters.
Some of the publicity about Charm Circle describes the family as eccentric, but only one daughter is a little odd – three family members are clinically diagnosable. Charm Circle is a cautionary story of untreated mental illness and the consequences of failing to reach out for help.
This is Nira Burstein’s first feature, and she has two things going for her: unlimited access to the subjects and a remarkable gift for storytelling. Charm Circle works so well because of how Burstein sequences the rollout of each family member’s story.
I attended a screening of Charm Circle, with a Nira Burstein Q&A at the Nashville Film Festival. In July and August, it will play both the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival and Cinequest.
Raya Burstein and Uri Burstein in CHARM CIRCLE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
One of the Bay Area’s top cinema events is back – the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF). This year’s festival is a hybrid, with in-person screenings at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre and the Albany Twin in Albany through July 31, with some films streaming from the SFJFF digital screening room August 1-7. The SFJFF is the world’s oldest and largest Jewish film festival, and the program offers over 71 films from over 14 countries (but mostly from the US and Israel), plus 4 programs of short films (Jews in Shorts).
The Must Sees from this year’s documentary program are:
Charm Circle: You think YOUR family has issues? Inthis superbly structured film, writer-director Nira Burstein exquisitely unspools the story of her own bizarre family, a cautionary and ever-surprising chronicle of mental illness.
Speer Goes to Hollywood: In this absorbing documentary, filmmaker Vanessa Lapa takes us inside a Nazi war criminal’s brazen attempt to rehabilitate his image into “the Good Nazi”. Previously unheard private audio recordings of Albert Speer himself reveal him to be one of history’s most audacious spin doctors.
The Faithful: The King, the Pope, the Princess: Filmmaker Annie Berman follows the people who are devoted to iconic celebrities, both dead (Elvis Presley and Princess Diana) and alive (the Pope du jour). I don’t mean “fans”, I mean “devoted”, as in those who make annual pilgrimages and who decorate shrines. Who are these faithful, and how did someone they never met “touch their lives”? The journey is sometimes amusing, sometimes appalling, but fundamentally meditative.
You can peruse the festival’s program and schedule at SFJFF.
