Movies

Cinequest: The Dead Man and Being Happy

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THE DEAD MAN AND BEING HAPPY

The first thing you notice about The Dead Man and Being Happy (El muerto y ser feliz) is the narration.  Breaking every film school precept, the narrator describes what we are seeing for ourselves.  Then he confides a fact that we can’t see, but with the caveat, “But you aren’t supposed to know that yet”.  As the movie goes on, it’s clear to us that some of the narration is patently false.

And then there’s the sound design: all the sound in the film is abruptly silenced every time the narrator is about to hold forth.  The effect of the narration and the sound design is to let us know that The Dead Man and Being Happy is pretty wacky and doesn’t take itself too seriously.

Give credit to director and co-writer Javier Rebollo for creating a decidedly offbeat and completely entertaining Argentine road movie.  A professional hit man in his sixties (Jose Sancristan) is dying of cancer, loads up with pain medication and goes on a final road trip.  He picks up a woman in her mid thirties (Roxana Blanco) with her own demons, and they, seemingly randomly, drive around and across Argentina.  We’re not talking tourist Argentina here.  The prickly pair drives around way out in the boonies, stopping at shabby roadside cafes and inns, even visiting a lake that belongs in an apocalyptic sci-fi movie.  Of course, we all know how the hit man’s trip must end.

The whole ride is funny and curious and intoxicating.

Cinequest: One Day or Another

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ONE DAY OR ANOTHER

In the Turkish dramedy One Day or Another (El yazisi), writer-director Ali Vatansever does a better job writing than directing.  The story seems to contain four threads, each about a different couple; but Vatansever cleverly reveals one decades-long romance by illustrating  stages of that story with the other seemingly contemporaneous relationships.  In a funny side story, a French backpacker happens upon the town and is mistakenly embraced as the new English teacher.  The child actors are especially good.  Unfortunately, the directing is clunkily paint-by-the-numbers.  But it is still a worthwhile and enjoyable film.

Cinequest: Polski Film

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POLSKI FILM

You’ve never seen a film like the absurd Czech comedy Polski Film, in which four Czech actors play themselves banding together to make an ill-fated movie with Polish financing.   Think of a film-within-a-film  mockumentary made by Christopher Guest’s repertory company with the actors in their own personae – and with a touch of Bunuel; then flavor the whole thing with the Czech Republic’s own unique humor.  Of course, there are also comments on the Poles and a very funny German joke.

A Czech tabloid concocts a false story that one of the actors is dying of cancer; he uses the lie to gain the sympathy of a beautiful Polish actress and then must continue the charade.  Another actor enjoys getting reactions from friends and even passersby by acting outrageously; we never quite know whether his meltdowns with his colleagues are real or performance art.  And then there’s the Czech GPS system that berates drivers for not following directions – actually voiced by one of the stars of Polski Film.

This movie is not for anyone who needs to understand what’s going on at all times, but those who will just let it unfold will be rewarded.  Unfortunately, the trailer is in Czech without subtitles, so we non-Czech speakers miss out on the deadpan humor.

Cinequest: Oh Boy

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Ranging from wry to hilarious, the German dark comedy Oh Boy hits every note perfectly.  It’s the debut feature for writer-director Jan Ole Gerster, a talented filmmaker we’ll be hearing from again.

We see a slacker moving from encounter to encounter in a series of vignettes.  Gerster has created a warm-hearted but lost character who needs to connect with others – but sabotages his every opportunity.  He has no apparent long term goals, and even his short term goal of getting some coffee is frustrated.

As the main character wanders through contemporary Berlin, Oh Boy demonstrates an outstanding sense of place, especially in a dawn montage near the end of the film.  The soundtrack is also excellent – the understated music complements each scene remarkably well.

Oh Boy plays again at Cinequest on March 9. 

Cinequest: Dose of Reality

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The American thriller Dose of Reality packs wire-to-wire intensity and a surprise ending that no one will see coming.  A woman is found in a bar’s restroom after closing time, apparently beaten and raped, but unable to remember by whom.  Two bar employees are the only possible suspects.  Both deny it, and the woman launches a series of searing mind games to determine her attacker.

Fairuza Balk (American History X, Almost Famous) commands the screen as the woman.  Her character, coming from a place of utter victimization, becomes totally dominant over the men.  The most interesting of the guys is played by Rick Ravanello, a veteran TV actor with 77 acting credits on IMDb.  Ravanello’s eyes are uncommonly able to portray dimness, cunning, tweaked impairment, guilt and terror.

But, although it’s a compelling movie for the first 75 minutes, Dose of Reality is all about the Big Surprise – which is on the scale of The Crying Game.  Afterward, I was able to identify at least four clues in the story, but none of the 250 audience members at Dose of Reality’s Cinequest world premiere was unsurprised.  Actor Ravanello recounts that when he first read the script, he got to the end and blurted “No Fucking Way!”.  Writer-director Christopher Glatis has a real winner in Dose of Reality.

Dose of Reality is playing Cinequest again on March 5 and 9, and will release on DVD and VOD on March 26.

Cinequest: Congratulations!

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In the very funny deadpan comedy Congratulations!, a squad of stolid cops search for missing ten-year old in his own house – and move into the home, too.  Writer-director Mike Brune sends up the police procedural in the vein of Airplane! (and Brune makes no secret of his admiration for the Zucker brothers).  The dough-faced John Curran is superb as the police detective who determinedly leads the search behind the couch and under the coffee table.

Filmmaker Brune cleverly finds new ways to sustain the joke throughout the movie, until an absurd climax and a very funny final shot.  Fittingly for such a subversive film, Brune shot the film at his parent’s suburban Atlanta home while they were vacationing.

I saw Congratulations! at its world premiere at Cinequest. Congratulations! plays again at Cinequest on March 5.

Cinequest: Solace

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In the solid drama Solace, we meet two characters talking in a confined space about a matter of life and death, then another couple in a separate story and finally another setting with two more characters.  The three tales are effectively connected together at the very end by writer-director-editor Vandon N. Gibbs.

I’m looking forward to Gibbs’ next work.  The middle segment is a little too stagey, but Solace keeps the audience engaged throughout and the denouement is compelling.  The best of the cast are Russell Durham Comegys as a regretful hit man, Dupree Lewis Jr. as a street hustler and Rhoda Griffis as a wronged wife.

I saw Solace at its world premiere at Cinequest.  Solace will be playing at Cinequest again on March 6.

Cinequest: Chaos

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Niels Schneider in CHAOS

In the unsettling and suspenseful French Chaos (Désordres), a teacher moves to a rural area only to have his family stalked by one of his new students.  It doesn’t take too long for us to figure out that the student Thibault is up to no good, but we can’t guess his plans or his motivation.  Writer-director Etienne Faure has created a story that grips the audience as Thibault is revealed to be more and more twisted and dangerous.

In a performance reminiscent of Robert Walker’s Bruno in Strangers on a Train, Niels Schneider plays Thibault.  The always reliable Isaach De Bankolé (Night on Earth, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, 24) plays the teacher who seeks his bliss but who underestimates the kid’s weirdness.  Sonia Rolland (Josephine Baker in Midnight in Paris) plays the teacher’s wife; so beautiful that she can make your teeth hurt, Rolland is excellent as a woman who moves from aggrieved to reckless with breathtaking speed.

[BTW later this year Sonia Rolland joins Niels Arestrup (A Prophet, Sarah’s Key, War Horse) and Julie Gayet to star in 72-year-old director Bernard Travenier’s political dark comedy Quai d’Orsay, filmed at the real UN Security Council.]

Chaos will play again at Cinequest on March 7.

Cinequest: The Deep

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The compelling The Deep tells the fact-based survival story of a shipwrecked Icelandic fisherman’s ordeal in frigid waters.   Amazingly, all of the footage was shot in the ocean (no tanks) without stunt professionals.  The lead actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson makes the protagonist endearing, and he must be a hell of a good sport to spend all that time in icy water.  Writer-director Baltasar Kormákur made the unconventional and successful choice not to end the movie with a climactic rescue, but to instead explore the impact of the incident and the attempts to explain how it was possible.

Kormákur also wrote and directed a very different and even better 2006 film, the very dark neo-noir police procedural Jar City, available on DVD and streaming.

The Deep plays again at Cinequest on March 3 and 4.

56 Up: surprisingly mellow

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56 Up is the next chapter in the greatest documentary series ever. Starting with Seven Up! in 1964, director Michael Apted has followed the same fourteen British children, filming snapshots of their lives at ages 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42 and 49 – and now at age 56. Choosing kids from different backgrounds, the series started as a critique of the British class system, but has since evolved into a broader exploration of what factors can lead to success and happiness at different stages of human life.

We have seen these characters live roller coaster lives.  The surprise in 56 Up is how contented they seem to be.  They seem to have independently reached a stage in their lives where they live with acceptance and satisfaction.  Accordingly, it makes for mellow and pleasing viewing for us.

Michael Apted is a big time director (Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, most recently the 2010 chapter of the Chronicles of Narnia saga).  It is remarkable that he has returned so faithfully to his subjects in the Up series.  I’ve included the 7 Up series in my list of Greatest Movies of All Time.

Because Apted includes clips from earlier films to set the stage for each character, you don’t need to watch all eight movies.  Because there is so little conflict in 56 Up, it would be ideal to first screen an edgier film like 35 Up or 42: Forty Two Up.  But 56 Up stands on its own, and it’s another gem in the series.