Cinequest: THE MEMORY OF WATER

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THE MEMORY OF WATER
THE MEMORY OF WATER

The most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016 might just be the Chilean drama The Memory of Water by Matias Bize. The Memory of Water is an exploration of grief, its process and its impact. After all, the individuals who make up couples grieve in different ways and at different paces.

We meet a couple (Benjamin Vicuña and Elena Anaya) who has recently experienced a tragedy.  He is undertaking an everyday task.  She is (literally) revisiting the tragedy.  Director Bize brilliantly takes us to the wall in the home where parents record the height of their growing kid –  the camera scans up the marks for  2, 2/12, 3, 3 1/2 and then stops after 4.  We understand.

The husband is extremely sensitive and tries his best to comfort her.  It’s not enough.  She tells him that he needs to cry just once.  The movie is his journey to being able to cry that one time.

We see him at work, faced with something that reminds him of the tragedy,  She is a medical translator and, in the most heartrending scene, must maintain her poise to get through a task that no one should be asked to perform.  There’s an explosive sex scene, beautifully shot in red light, that’s all about the release of passion in an encounter that is itself passionless and meaningless.

And we see water.  Water that evokes tragic memory.  And water in a different form that brings joyful memory.  And, finally, water in a scene of closure.

The Memory of Water explores the same ground as Rabbit Hole, the excellent Nicole Kidman/Aaron Eckhardt film based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play. But The Memory of Water is better cinema.

The 35-year-old Bize (The Life of Fish) is a major filmmaking talent.  The Memory of Water is a Must See at this year’s Cinequest and screens on March 2, 10 and 12.

Cinequest: THE PROMISED BAND

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THE PROMISED BAND
THE PROMISED BAND

The documentary The Promised Band is about a group of Israeli and Palestinian women seeking to fight through the cultural, legal, political, military and security barriers between them (by forming a girl band).   It effectively brings the audience into the Israel-Palestine border situation and the isolating effects on both Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel’s solution to the security situation has created a world in which Israelis and Palestinians do not interact and get to know each other personally.  The American filmmaker Jen Heck has friends on both sides, and sought to connect them personally – which is not easy.  In fact, it is illegal and dangerous for Israelis to visit parts of the West Bank that are designated as Area A (under complete Palestinian control).  And it’s downright impossible for Palestinian residents of Area A to enter Israel.  The women decide to form a band, with the hope that a performance in Israel can legally justify a visit by the Palestinian women.

Is this extremely naive?  Indeed, Heck herself and one of her Israeli friends seem pretty clueless about the risks…at first.  But other Israeli women had been in Palestine while serving in the Israeli Defense Forces, and the Palestinian women live with the harsh realities every day.

The most compelling subject of the documentary is the main Palestinian character, the charismatic Lina.  Lina is a rock star, and a little imbalance is created when she is matched with the other subjects of the documentary.  Lina is clearly repressed by both Israeli occupation and her own conservative culture, but she doesn’t grouse about the latter to her Israeli friends.

The Promised Band is a successful exploration of the effects of mutual isolation, as well as a  wistful personal study of the women (and a man) who come and go from the band.  Along the way, it provides a very explicit snapshot of the barriers to travel and social integration.  The Promised Band is one of the 129 woman-directed films at this year’s Cinequest.

The Promised Band’s World premiere will be on March 4 at Cinequest, with additional screenings on March 6 and 12.

Cinequest: FEVER AT DAWN

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FEVER AT DAWN
FEVER AT DAWN

The Hungarian drama Fever at Dawn is a little movie with an epic romance.  Set just after the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps,  Hungarian invalids who survived the camps have been sent to convalesce in hospital camps in Sweden.  A young patient, Miklos, gets a dire diagnosis and determines to find love once more before he dies.  A half century before internet dating, he concocts a scheme to get himself in front of every sick Hungarian woman in Sweden.  When he meets his potential soulmate Lili, a moral question rises to the surface – should he share his diagnosis?

Some Holocaust survivors experienced ambivalence about the Jewish identity that led to yellow stars on their clothes and, essentially, targets on their backs.   This ambivalence becomes a significant thread of Fever at Dawn and is addressed more explicitly than usual for a Holocaust (or post-Holocaust)  movies.

Don’t read too much about this movie before seeing it.  There’s an unexpected nugget at the end.

Fever at Dawn’s US Premiere will be on March 2 at Cinequest, with additional Cinequest screenings on March 3, 7 and 9.

Cinequest: THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD

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THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD
THE BRAINWASHING OF MY DAD

Ever notice how people who watch a lot of Fox News or listen to talk radio become bitter angry and, most telling, fact-resistant?  In the documentary The Brainwashing of My Dad, filmmaker Jan Senko as she explores how right-wing media impacts the mood and personality of its consumers as well as their political outlook.  Senko uses her own father Frank as a case study.

We see Frank Senko become continually mad and, well, mean.  And we hear testimony about many, many others with the identical experience.  Experts explain the existence of a biological addiction to anger.

Senko traces the history of right-wing media from the mid-1960s, with the contributions of Lewis Powell, Richard Nixon, Rush Limbaugh, Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch.  Senko even gets right-wing wordsmith Frank Luntz on camera to explain the power of buzz words.  If you don’t know this story (Hillary was right about the “vast, right-wing conspiracy”) , Senko spins the tale very comprehensively.  If you do know the material (and my day job is in politics), it is methodical.

This topic is usually Senko’s focus on mood and personality is original and The Brainwashing of My Dad contributes an important addition to the conversation.  One last thing about the brainwashing of Senko’s dad – it may not be irreversible…

The U.S. Premiere of The Brainwashing of My Dad will be March 5 at Cinequest, with additional screening on March 6 and 9.

Cinequest: ORLEANS

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ORLEANS
ORLEANS

Contemporary Russian cinema has been pretty dark and cynical lately (Leviathan and Elena), for example), focusing on the profound and persistent corruption in that society.  Having said that, the comedy Orleans is dark by even Russian standards.

We meet a rogue doctor in a small town, a guy who relishes a matter-of-fact everyday depravity.  He and a local hairdresser are living in a world that is morally bleak enough, when magical realism intrudes in a very bad way – an invincible stranger with evil powers visits town.  They all even go to the circus – it’s kind of Fellini meets Tracy Letts meets Rob Zombie.  There’s even one of the most cringeworthy eye procedures since Un Chien Andalou.

Orleans is a trippy movie.  Settle in, but don’t think that you’ll remain comfortable for long.  North American Premiere at Cinequest on March 2, 3 and 4.

Cinequest: GORDON GETTY: THERE WILL BE MUSIC

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GORDON GETTY: THERE WILL BE MUSIC
GORDON GETTY: THERE WILL BE MUSIC

San Francisco billionaire Gordon Getty was born into great wealth, so he was never going to be a Regular Guy.  And few aspire to become composers of classical music, as Getty has.  He is profiled in the documentary Gordon Getty: There Will Be Music.

Getty sees himself as more 19th Century than 20th (tellingly, not even mentioning the 21st).  It’s an apt description of someone who bases musical compositions on the works of Poe and Dickinson.  Affable and genuine,Getty is easy to spend time with.  We get a fun glimpse into the Getty family history – and learn that Gordon was already out of college when he read that his dad was the richest American.   “I knew he was rich, but…”

Getty is conscious that his uberwealth brings major advantages to his vocation as well as detracting from his credibility.  Naively, he thinks that they balance out.  But one thing is or sure – Getty is no dilettante.  He is a serious composer, who has devoted himself to his craft.

The most interesting aspects of Gordon Getty: There Will Be Music are Getty’s music and the insight into his process as a composer.  Getty’s passion in pronounced, but it’s a quiet passion.  The pace of the film reflects its subject and his music, which is not pulsating.  Classical music fans will enjoy this film than those who are not.

Plays Cinequest on March 6, 11 and 12.

Cinequest: A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SNUFF

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A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SNUFF
A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO SNUFF

The shamelessly low brow comedy A Beginners Guide to Snuff features a very dim pair of would-be actors who seek to win a horror movie contest by simulating a snuff film.  What could possibly go wrong?  To get the most realistic performance out of their leading lady, they decide to kidnap her and pretend that they’re going to torture her to death on film.  Their choice of that leading lady (played by Bree Williamson) brings some very unexpected consequences.

Most of the humor in Beginners Guide comes from the dumb and dumber filmmakers and spoof on low-budget horror cinema.  But Williamson’s electric performance, like a shot of adrenaline, animates and elevates the movie whenever she is on-screen.  Her character is so many tiers above the two boobs that she remains in charge even when chained to a table.  On top of that, she has some unanticipated skills and characteristics…

A Beginners Guide to Snuff ends with a particularly inspired trailer for the movie-within-the-movie.  If you’re looking for broad and dark comedy with a sparkling performance by an actress, this is your movie.  World Premiere at Cinequest on March 4, 6 and 11.

 

DVD/Stream of the Week: THE HUNT

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THE HUNT

In honor of the opening of this year’s Cinequest, this week’s pick is the Danish drama The Hunt from the 2013 Cinequest.  Mads Mikkelsen plays a man whose life is ruined by a false claim of child sexual abuse. You’ll recognize Mikkelsen, a big star in Europe, from After the Wedding and the 2006 Casino Royale (he was the villain with the bleeding eye). He won the 2012 Cannes Best Actor award for this performance.

The story is terrifyingly plausible. The protagonist, Lucas, is getting his bearings after a job change and a divorce. He lives in a small Danish town where everyone knows everyone else, next door to his best friend. The best friend drinks too much and his wife is a little high-strung, but Lucas embraces them for who they are. He’s a regular guy who hunts and drinks with his buddies and is adored by the kids at the kindergarten where he works. He’s not a saint – his ex-wife can get him to fly off the handle with little effort.

A little girl hears a sexual reference at home that she does not understand (and no one in the story could ever find out how she heard it). When she innocently repeats it at school, the staff is alarmed and starts to investigate. Except for one mistake by the school principal, everyone in the story acts reasonably. One step in the process builds upon another until the town’s parents become so understandably upset that a public hysteria ensues.

Director Thomas Vinterburg had previously created the underappreciated Celebration (Festen). The Hunt is gripping – we’re on the edges of our seats as the investigation snowballs and Lucas is put at risk of losing everything – his reputation, his job, his child, his friends, his liberty and even his life. Can Lucas be cleared, and, if he is, how scarred will he be? The Hunt is a superbly crafted film with a magnificent performance by Mikkelsen.

The Hunt is available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and PlayStation Video.

Cinequest: DAN AND MARGOT

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DAN AND MARGOT
DAN AND MARGOT

Margot is a vibrant and salty 27-year-old Canadian woman. She suffered a schizophrenic break when she was away at college. Now she’s medicated, and fighting to resume her life. Margot is the subject of the documentary Dan and Margot, and I’ll leave you to find out who Dan is or is not.

How do we think of schizophrenia?  We often visualize the feral-looking guy ranting to himself outside the 7-11. But how about those who are just slipping into a schizophrenic break or those medicated – with the disorder under control?  In this very personal look examination of one person’s illness, Margot and her friends and family share how the disorder can sneak up on not only the individual, but their support system, as  well.

Filmmakers Chloe Sosa-Sims and Jake Chirico parachute themselves and their camera into Margot’s life and take advantage of the access without sensationalizing her life. Dan and Margot is a solid and thought-provoking movie.

[Note: there is a little animation in Dan and Margot, but most is live action and almost all of that is Margot herself. The trailer is more representative of the film than is the still image above.]

Cinequest: PARABELLUM

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PARABELLUM
PARABELLUM

The Argentine drama Parabellum is a trippy movie unlike anything that you’ve seen.  Set in a pre-apocalyptic near future, cities are crumbling into disorder and meteors are plunging into the Earth with alarmingly increased frequency.  Clearly everyone should be panicking, but no one is.

Instead, the characters in Parabellum don blindfolds and are motored up a jungle river to a secret adventure resort where they learn survivalist skills – kind of Camp Heart of Darkness.  The most life-and-death exercises are addressed matter-of-factly, with an absurdly calm determination that makes Parabellum seem like something out of Buñuel.

Parabellum’s measured pace seems so at odds with the impending disaster (whatever it will be), that it’s part of the joke.  What the hell is going on and what are these people thinking?  Beautifully shot, engrossing and witty – Parabellum is a wacky treat.