Rants and Ruminations – Page 23

Cinequest picks for Tuesday, March 3

March 3, 2015 by movie gourmet

The final (scheduled) screenings of these gems are today:

THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL: An American indie comedy that is decidedly NOT a by-the-numbers battle of the sexes.
FACTORY BOSS: I haven’t yet seen this narrative about the manager of a Chinese sweatshop factory getting squeezed, but I’ve hearing good things around the fest. One of my friends, who has been to factories in Shenzen, entered a screening a little late and initially mistook it for a documentary.

Tonight is the eagerly awaited L’ATALANTE, rarely seen on the big screen. It’s the 1934 masterpiece of French writer-director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 soon after its completion. Richard von Busack, the highly respected film critic for Metro, will receive a Media Legacy Award at the screening.

I also liked the documentary THERE WILL BE NO STAY, a powerful examination of American capital punishment from the perspective of the executioners.

See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest 2015 at mid-festival

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

We’re halfway through Cinequest 2015. What are the biggest hits and the most delightful surprises?

Cinequest’s Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl was definitely right: he predicted BATKID BEGINS and WILD TALES to be among the biggest audience pleasers. The opening night audience reveled in BATKID BEGINS, and WILD TALES, the darkly comic Argentine collection of revenge stories, rocked the California Theatre.

And how about those surprise gems?

CORN ISLAND: This exquisite and lyrical Georgian drama is a Must See for Cinephiles. If it doesn’t turn out to be the best contemporary art movie at Cinequest 2015, I’ll be shocked.
ANTOINE ET MARIE: A brilliantly constructed French-Canadian drama with two unforgettable characters.
THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
IN THE COMPANY OF WOMEN: Unexpectedly sweet, this starts out with a Boys Behaving Badly set-up and then morphs into a tribute to enduring love.
FACTORY BOSS: I haven’t yet seen this narrative about the manager of a Chinese sweatshop factory getting squeezed, but I’ve hearing good things around the fest. One of my friends, who has been to factories in Shenzen, entered a screening a little late and initially mistook it for a documentary.

The most underrated movie at Cinequest? Somehow, the biting darkly hilarious Mexican social satire LOS HAMSTERS is flying under the radar. I think this tale of a dysfunctional family is both very smart and very funny.

It’s also been a notably strong year for the documentaries at Cinequest:

ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s.
MEET THE HITLERS: Tracking down real people burdened with the Fuhrer’s name, this successful doc weaves together both light-hearted and very dark story threads.
SWEDEN’S COOLEST NATIONAL TEAM: A character-driven take on the sports movie takes us into a Nerd Olympics.
THERE WILL BE NO STAY: a powerful examination of American capital punishment from the perspective of the executioners.

Most promising film yet to come? I’d say Tuesday night’s L’ATALANTE:, rarely seen on the big screen. It’s the 1934 masterpiece of French writer-director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 soon after its completion. Richard von Busack, the highly respected film critic for Metro, will receive a Media Legacy Award at the screening.

See you around the fest. You can find my festival coverage, including both features and movie recommendations, on my Cinequest page. Follow me on Twitter for the very latest.

Cinequest Picks for Monday, March 2

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

My Cinequest picks for Monday, March 2:

ANTOINE ET MARIE: A brilliantly constructed French-Canadian drama with two unforgettable characters.
THREE WINDOWS AND A HANGING: powerful and artfully shot drama from Kosovo about gender reactions to a wartime atrocity.
MEET THE HITLERS: Tracking down real people burdened with the Fuhrer’s name, this successful doc weaves together both light-hearted and very dark story threads.
SLOW WEST: This offbeat Western with Michael Fassbender won a prize at Sundance.

Leonard Nimoy: more than Spock

March 2, 2015 by movie gourmet

Leonard Nimoy, with Donald Sutherland and Jeff Goldblum in INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS

We all know Leonard Nimoy, who died last week, for originating the unforgettable character of Mr. Spock in the first four seasons of TV’s Star Trek. I was a teenager during the first run of Star Trek and, although I’m certainly not a Trekkie or even a huge fan of sci-fi in general, I remember that it was Must Watch TV – more of a phenomenon than a television show.

Nimoy gets much of the credit for Star Trek becoming a cultural sensation. The show’s special effects now seem remarkably lame and the other characters pretty ordinary (although the ethnic mix of the cast was novel for its time and William Shatner’s line readings were so eccentric). However, creator Gene Roddenberry’s story lines were so aspirational, exploring themes of tolerance and aggression and peace and discovery – how to Encounter the Other. And then there was Mr. Spock. Sure, the Vulcan’s pointy ears and the freedom from emotion were in the script, but it’s impossible to imagine any other actor as Spock.

Leonard Nimoy had 62 screen credits BEFORE Star Trek, mostly in television work including lots of Westerns like Bonanza, Rawhide, Wagon Train, The Virginian and Daniel Boone. And immediately after Star Trek, he went on to three seasons as part of the Mission: Impossible team in another, even more mainstream, hit TV series.

But my favorite Nimoy performance? It was the chillingly confident and authoritative Dr. David Kibner in the 1978 Philip Kaufman remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Not everybody can be menacing in a turtleneck.

Cinequest Picks for Sunday, March 1

March 1, 2015 by movie gourmet

Cinephiles need to see the exquisite and lyrical Georgian drama CORN ISLAND. If it’s not the best contemporary art movie at Cinequest, I’ll be shocked. Today’s other best picks:

CLOUDS OF SILS MARIA: The ever-radiant Juliette Binoche plays an actress now relegated to the older role in her breakthrough play, with her younger role going to Kristen Stewart (All About Eve, anyone?). And Stewart just became the first American actress to win a César (the French Oscar) for this performance.
THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult.
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL: An American indie comedy that is decidedly NOT a by-the-numbers battle of the sexes.
ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s.
THE CENTER

Cinequest Picks for Saturday, February 28

February 28, 2015 by movie gourmet

Here are my picks for Saturday at Cinequest:

ANTOINE ET MARIE: A brilliantly constructed French-Canadian drama with two unforgettable characters. US PREMIERE.
DIRTY BEAUTIFUL: An American indie comedy that is decidedly NOT a by-the-numbers battle of the sexes. WORLD PREMIERE.
FEVER: A French thrill killer thriller (say that quickly three times) strengthened by Julie-Marie Parmentier’s performance as a witness to the crime.

Cinequest Picks for Friday, February 27

February 27, 2015 by movie gourmet

Here are my picks for Friday at Cinequest, starting with three of my favorites:

THE CENTER: An absorbing and topical American indie drama about the seductiveness of a cult. WORLD PREMIERE.
LOS HAMSTERS: A biting darkly hilarious Mexican social satire. NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE.
ASPIE SEEKS LOVE: A surprisingly sympathetic portrait of a guy looking for love like anyone else, but whose social skills are handicapped by Asberger’s. WORLD PREMIERE.

I also like SWEDEN’S COOLEST NATIONAL TEAM (a character-driven take on the sports movie takes us into a Nerd Olympics) and the innovative and good-hearted Hungarian comedy FOR SOME INEXPLICABLE REASON and I’ve heard great things about these following films:

GUARD DOG: dark and violent Peruvian thriller. US PREMIERE.
MILWAUKEE: US indie sex and relationship comedy. WORLD PREMIERE.

See you around the fest!

A filmmaker who literally saved lives

February 26, 2015 by movie gourmet

Not many filmmakers could say that they LITERALLY saved someone’s life, but Bruce Sinofsky could. Sinofsky has died at age 58 from complications of diabetes.

Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger co-directed the three Paradise Lost documentaries, which chronicled the eighteen-year ordeal of the West Memphis Three, who were wrongly convicted of child murders in Arkansas. The three were released from prison in 2011 – one of them from death row. This wouldn’t have happened without the first two Paradise Lost documentaries that Sinofsky and Berlinger made for HBO. The 1996 film is available steaming on Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video; the 2000 and 2011 films are available from those providers plus Amazon Instant Video.

Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger also co-directed the wonderful Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, which was among on my top ten movies for 2004. It’s available on DVD from Netflix.

Cinequest Picks for Thursday, February 26

February 26, 2015 by movie gourmet

Here are my picks for Thursday:

QUEEN AND COUNTRY: Director John Boorman’s Korean War-Era quasi-sequel to his Hope and Glory. Boorman (Deliverance) will appear at the screening.
CORN ISLAND: Major buzz from festival insiders about this reportedly transcendent Georgian drama.
FEVER: A French thrill killer thriller (say that quickly three times) strengthened by Julie-Marie Parmentier’s performance as a witness to the crime.

Mike Rabehl looks at the 2015 Cinequest

February 25, 2015 by movie gourmet

Cinequest Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl

I asked Cinequest’s Director of Programming/Associate Director Mike Rabehl to compare the 2015 Cinequest with the programs of previous festivals. After all, he’s put his imprimatur on twenty Cinequests. “The first time feature filmmakers are the strongest in many years,” Rabehl noted, specifically calling out the overall quality of this year’s writing.

What are your predictions for the biggest audience pleasers? Something like The Sapphires from 2013 or The Grand Seduction from 2014?

Rabehl: Probably Batkid Begins, Wild Tales and Slow West.”

What might be the festival’s biggest surprise hit?

Rabehl: “Possibly Milwaukee, The Center and/or Marry Me.”

Is there anything that we haven’t seen before in a movie? Something wholly original like Polski Film or The Dead Man and Being Happy from the 2013 Cinequest?

Rabehl: “Beast of Cardo is a film that is more about her relationship to the town than it is about the supernatural. Corn Island is completely unique, with very little dialogue, and the filmmakers built their own island to film it. ”

Is there any remarkable new filmmaking talent (a la the 2013 German gem Oh Boy, which later secured a US theatrical release as A Coffee In Berlin)?

Rabehl: “The Center, Antoine et Marie (a second feature), Dermaphoria (a first narrative feature), Fever and Happiest Place on Earth. Plus For An Inexplicable Reason, Factory Boss, Malady and In the Company of Women.”

How does this year’s international cinema shape up?

Rabehl: “Belgium (especially the Flemish side) and Norway are really strong this year.”

Belgian entries include the Flemish films Halfway, In the Heart, Marry Me and Plan Bart, plus the French/Belgian Three Hearts. Cinequest’s Norwegian films are Amnesia, Beatles and Chasing Berlusconi.