Willow

CINEQUEST’s online fest returns

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EVERYTHING IN THE END, available to stream from Cinequest’s CINEJOY.

Cinequest’s online festival CINEJOY begins on November 4 and runs through November 17. Here are my top five recommendations:

  • Willow: This triptych by Oscar-nominated master Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski plumbs the heartaches and joys of having children; there’s a scene in the final vignette with a mother and son in a car that is one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen. Manchevski’s Before the Rain was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1994. Most recently, he directed my choice as the best film of the 2017 Cinequest, Bikini Moon. Special live online event: Manchevski will appear at the screening at 10:30 AM PST on November 11.
  • Everything in the End: The “End” in the title of this powerful think piece means, literally, the end of the world. Set in a future where climate change has made human extinction certain and imminent, the story imagines how people would react as they understand that they have only a few days left. More profound than grim, End of Everything takes the sensationalism out of the apocalypse and leaves the humanity. Set in the stark beauty of Iceland, this is a visual stunner.
  • Travel Ban: Make America Laugh Again: a serious film about misunderstanding and bigotry with some hilarious comedy by American Muslim stand-up comics.
  • Demon: On the lam from some aggressive bill collectors, Ralph hides out in an off-the-track motel. It doesn’t take long for things to get odd and then surreal. Ralph’s journey to this most mundane setting becomes nightmarish, but this darkly funny film is not really a horror movie. As the lead actor, Ryan Walker-Edwards is very appealing in his feature film debut. This is also the first feature for director and co-writer George Louis Bartlett.
  • Mister Candid Camera: This is an affectionate but clear-eyed biodoc of Allen Funt, who originated the iconic television show Candid Camera and, in the process, invented reality television. It’s written, directed and extremely well-sourced by Allen Funt’s son (and Camera Candid performer) Peter Funt. Peter Funt reveals the secret sauce of the show (e.g., calibrating just how mean can you be without becoming cruel). Baby Boomers will especially appreciate the insider’s look at Allen Funt himself and the nostalgic glimpses of sidekick Durwood Kirby, etc. Everyone will enjoy the classic clips, including the talking mailbox, split automobile and the hilarious utterances of little kids.
Ryan Walker-Edwards in DEMON. World premiere at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Zersetzung Films.

Other films at CINEJOY imclude:

  • 12 Days of Christmas: High school friends reunite when they’re home for their first college Christmas break. They all get down to some serious partying, but two of them must deal with a serious issue. I didn’t buy the unrequited love at the core of the story.
  • Adventures in Success: This broad comedy traces the misadventures of a self-help retreat center led by a self-described energy transformationist who claims to have experienced a 12-hour orgasm. Her movement is centered on the female orgasm, the mantra is Jilling Off, and the sessions are essentially orgies where men are not allowed to ejaculate. Opens with an impressive 28-second performance of urination art.
  • Agua Rosa: First-time writer-directors Miguel López Valdivia and Ca Silva use the camera brilliantly in this 71-minute Mexican relationship drama.
  • Closet: This offbeat dramedy is about one of those quirky only-in-Japan things, like capsule hotels and golf in highrise buildings. Reeling from a breakup, Jin gets a job with a non-sexual escort service where insomniac clients pay him to cuddle with them as they try to get to sleep. Given his recent medical and relationship traumas and the weirdness of his new job, Jin (Yosuke Minokawa) often looks bewildered.
  • Events Transpiring Before, During and After a High School Basketball Game: The humor in this Canadian indie comedy– along the same lines as in The Office and Parks and Recreation – just doesn’t get close to that level. Cast and screenplay were shooting for deadpan, but only reached dead.
  • Far East Deep South: In this genealogy documentary, a Northern California Chinese-American family is stunned to discover that they have roots in Mississippi.
  • Fox Hunt Drive: A woman works as a rideshare driver at night to make the rent and subsidize her futile daytime job search. She picks up a ride who may be a serial killer, and we’re all off on one wild ride. There is a gobsmacking plot twist.
  • Non Western: This aspirational documentary has a lot going for it: an intriguing and underseen setting (the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana) and masterful cinéma vérité filmmaking by Laura Plancarte. But the film is undone by its very subjects – a talented woman with low self-esteem hitches to a guy who poses as traditional – but he’s just a dick.
  • See You Then: This two-hander, which could have been titled My Dinner with Kris, reunites two close college friends after a decade of estrangement. The dramatic power is undercut by a Big Reveal which is too predictable to be shocking.
  • Welcome to the Show: This indie comedy plunges the characters and the audience into a puzzle. Four college-age guys, always up for a party, blow off Thanksgiving with their parents to party, but the joke is on them. What is being done to them? By whom? Why? And just where the hell are they? Are they in a elaborate party game or inside a piece of performance art? Or is this a prank or something more sinister? They don’t know and neither does the audience.

Peruse the entire lineup and buy streaming tickets at CINEJOY.

The best of CINEQUEST 2020

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I’ve already seen over 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”.

[NOTE: This was a preview post written just before the festival opened. The best film in the 2020 Cinequest program was Driveways (which I actually saw after the festival because of COVID-19).]

Jenna Lyng Adams in BEFORE THE FIRE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

MUST SEE

  • Before the Fire: In this year’s Must See at Cinequest, the only escape from an apocalyptic flu pandemic is a woman’s long-estranged rural hometown – but the scary family who traumatized her childhood is there, too. Written by its female star Jenna Lyng Adams, and the first feature by its female director Charlie Buhler, this indie thriller rocks. World premiere.

3 DAY WEEKEND. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

THRILLERS

  • Before the Fire, of course and
  • 3 Day Weekend: In this inventively constructed thriller, the point of view keeps shifting, and so does the genre. The screenplay is a triumph of storytelling. World premiere.
  • Fox Hunt Drive: One gobsmacking plot twist. World premiere.
INEZ & DOUG & KIRA. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

INDIES

  • Inez & Doug & Kira: A tangle of love, friendship and bipolar disorder – and obsession. Bay Area premiere.
  • Small Time: Rural America’s opioid crisis explored through its impact on one little girl; what is the shelf life of innocence? Shot over three years with insight and verisimilitude. World premiere.
OWNERS. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

WORLD CINEMA

  • Owners: This dark Czech comedy takes a jaundiced view of human foibles – as if penned by a modern Czech Mark Twain. Recognized as the year’s best film from the Czech Republic. North American premiere.
  • Willow: This triptych by Oscar-nominated master Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski plumbs the heartaches and joys of having children; there’s a scene in the final vignette with a mother and son in a car that is one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen. North American premiere.
  • I Am Frank: This excellent Slovenian drama is about the return of a charismatic misfit who just can’t leave well enough alone. US premiere.
BREAKING FAST. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

FEEL GOOD

  •  Breaking Fast: Just another gay Muslim romantic comedy…I predict that Breaking Fast will become the Feel Good hit of the 2020 Cinequest. World premiere.
THE QUICKSILVER CHRONICLES. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

DOCUMENTARY

  • The Quicksilver Chronicles: Two bohemians live in a ghost town close (yet far) from Silicon Valley, and life happens. World premiere.

AND TWO I HAVEN’T SEEN YET

  • The Burnt Orange Heresy: See it here before its wide release. This neo-noir features Elizabeth Debicki, Claes Bang, Donald Sutherland and…Mick Jagger.
  • The Longest Wave: I am a sucker for a surfing documentary, and this one comes from filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster).

CLASSIC MOVIE EXPERIENCE

  • The silent 1920 The Mark of Zorro with Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckling across the screen will be projected in a period movie palace, the California Theatre, accompanied by world-renowned Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ. I hear that last year’s Buster Keaton triumph has encouraged Cinequest to open this year’s silent screening with a Keaton short.

BEFORE IT’S IN THEATERS – SEE IT HERE FIRST

  • Several Cinequest films already are planned for theatrical release later this year. I haven’t seen them yet, but you can see them first at Cinequest.  Resistance, The Burnt Orange Heresy, Hope Gap, Roads Not Taken, The Longest Wave and Driveways are among the movies slated for theatrical release later this year.

HACKING CINEQUEST

Cinequest retains 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 the VIP lounge at The Continental Bar. There will still be satellite viewing in Redwood City; if you’re going to and from Redwood City between 3 and 7 PM on a weekday – take Caltrain instead of driving.

At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $165, and you can get individual tickets as well. The express pass for an additional tax-deductible $100 is a fantastic deal – you get to skip to the front of the lines!

Take a look at the entire program, the schedule 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 Twitter for the latest.

Klaes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki in THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

WILLOW: a mother’s heartbreak, a mother’s joyous triumph

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WILLOW. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.

Willow is a triptych by Oscar-nominated master Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski that plumbs the heartaches and joys of having children. Willow contains the stories of three mothers and the heartache of childlessness, the heartbreak of losing a child and the emotional roller coaster of parenting. In Willow, a mother’s love can bring devastating grief and triumphant joy.

There’s a scene in the final vignette with a mother and son in a car that is one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen.

There’s also a woman who is drawn to a man when she watches him act with profound decency – even though he doesn’t know anyone else is watching him. That launches a deeply beautiful love story.

Just about every parent has had a child vanish at the turn of one’s head, and plunges into panic, desperation and terror until the child is found. There is more than one of these scenes in Willow, and they are uncomfortable.

As a World Cinema bonus, we are introduced to the Macedonian phrase, “wash the bananas”.

Manchevski’s Before the Rain was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Oscar in 1994. Most recently, he directed my choice as the best film of the 2017 Cinequest, Bikini Moon.

Cinequest hosts the North American premiere of Willow.