Nostalgia for the Light has been one of the most talked about documentaries at the San Francisco International Film Festival. It pairs some very unlikely subjects. After all, what do Chilean astronomers, archeologists studying human remains, and women, searching the desert for the bodies of loved ones killed concentration camps,have in common on the surface? Nothing it seems. But Patricio Guzmán's poetic film makes a human connection between them all in an incredibly moving way.
Ruins have captivated my imagination since I was a child, for reason that shouldn't need to be explained. They're mysterious, and a bit sad, bursting to tell their stories, but unable to do so. I didn't consider the idea of modern ruins until I was an adult but I now find them equally as intriguing, if not more so. With these factors in mind, it's easy to understand why Detroit is such an interesting city. It truly is becoming an abandoned city.
Yesterday celebrated the half way point of the San Francisco International Film Festival with its Centerpiece film, Azazel Jacob's Terri. The film stars John C. Reilly, Jacob Wycobi and Creed Bratton. Terri already screened at Sundance and SXSW earlier this year and has met with mixed reviews.
In the opening scene of The Dish and the Spoon, from director Alison Bagnall, we're introduced to a woman named Rose, driving a car while experiencing some sort of emotional trauma. She stumbles into a convenience store, grabs a six pack of beer and some doughnuts and takes her incoherent fit to a new level when she realizes she doesn't have her wallet with her. Her distress obvious, the cashier gives her the items and she continues her semi-reckless driving/drinking beer frantically and eating the powdered doughtnuts until somehow, she finds herself at lonely and cold beach.
Blessed Events is one of my favorite films of the entire festival so far. It's my favorite for many reason, but mostly because I have no idea what it's really about. I have my guesses, and I know what the festival guide told me, but I can't be sure. There were times when I felt sure there was a thread of terror underlying the whole thing. At other moments it was authentically a pleasant story of things working out for the very best. Or were they? Was there some sort of conspiracy dictating the characters actions? I DON'T KNOW. It's a thrilling experience, watching Blessed Events. I highly recommend it.
Black Bread is one of SFIFF's more understated films, despite a few fairly grotesque moments. It's an examination of the effects of politics and war on the Spanish people immediately following the Spanish Civil War. With its slight supernatural themes, it firmly reminds us of Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth (Sergi Lopez is even cast in a role in Bread very similar to the ruthless authority figure he played in Labyrinth).
Black Bread stays much more firmly rooted in reality, however. The film is directed by Agustà Villaronga who adapted it from a very critically acclaimed novel by Emili Teixidor. The film focuses on a ten year old by the name of Andreu who is just old enough to begin understanding the complex world going on around him. And it is very complex.
Post-apocalyptic vampire zombies. The only way a movie about post-apocalyptic vampire zombies could be better is if they were Nazis. The monsters in Jim Mickle's Stake Land are not former members of the Third Reich, but we won't hold that against him since the movie is pretty freaking awesome. What's best is that despite the overtly dramatic elements to the film, Mickle had the good sense not to rush anything along, but to let everything slowly stew.
SFIFF has done a good job of selecting worthy documentaries, and Eva Mulvad's The Good Life seems to be one of the better ones. It's being described as a new Gray Gardens but it's important to note that the impoverished mother and daughter in The Good Life are not mentally ill. They are completely sane.
Freud would have had a veritable field day with the creepily erotic film I'm Glad My Mother Is Alive by France's acclaimed Claude Miller, and his son, Nathan Miller. That eroticism takes place largely between a mother and son. Which is wrong, of course, even though this mother gave up this particular son for adoption years before the bulk of the story takes place.
The strange tale receives an added sense of singularity considering the familial relationship between Claude and Nathan. This is a bit cryptic, but you'll understand after watching the film. And I wholeheartedly do recommend you see this film. Although the I'm Glad was originally meant to be directed by Jacques Audiard (Un prophete, The Beat My Heart Skipped) thirteen years ago after he read an article based on true events. It eventually ended up in the very capable hands of Miller who did a rewrite with his son.
There has not been a single recent movie released in the past few years--really my whole life--where the inclusion of 3D technology has caused my interest to be piqued more than usual. Until news broke last year, that Werner Herzog was granted limited access to the Chauvet cave in France to film a documentary that would feature the technology. Although I was not originally sure it would really benefit the film in any way, I was sure about Herzog's talent as a documentarian. Even those who have found Herzog's work lacking in the past will have a hard time writing off Cave of Forgotten Dreams.
