AFI FEST 2009: IMAGES

Director Kirk Jones, Kate Beckinsale, Robert De Niro, and Drew Barrymore attend the AFI Fest 2009 gala screening of Everybody's Fine. Photo by Ed Rampell.

For more images of AFI Fest 2009, go to http://jestherentimages.blogspot.com/

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: KARIN ALBOU

A scene from writer-director Karin Albou's The Wedding Song.

A View of One’s Own

By John Esther

Continuing to explore sexuality and relationships against a community backdrop, Karin Albou’s The Wedding Song (Le Chant des Mariées) breaks barriers.

The follow up to her excellent feature debut, Little Jerusalem (La Petite Jerusalem), director-writer-actor Albou moves her latest film from a micro-community of contemporary Paris to Tunis, Tunisia, 1942, where poor Jews and Arabs live together with ease until a schism called Nazism appears.

Growing up in the same house, Nour (Olympe Borval) and Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré) have been lifelong friends. Nour is a sheltered, uneducated Muslim and Myriam is a rebellious, freethinking Jew. The Jewish-Arab issue is never a question until Nazis begin to occupy Tunisia and “racial laws” are implemented.

Miriam is about to marry her cousin, Khaled (Najib Oudghin), a loafer and, eventually, a collaborator. Meanwhile, Myriam’s mother, Tita (Albou), is arranging her daughter to marry Raoul (Simon Abkarian), a rich Jewish doctor who can well afford the Jewish tax imposed on the occupiers. Raoul, too, collaborates with the occupiers.

Exploring multiple dualities -- culture-faith; Jew-Arab; femininity-masculinity; tradition-modernism; etc. -- against an original World War II backdrop, The Wedding Song proves Albou one of the most original voices of recent years.

The daughter of a French mother and Algerian father, Albou grew up in France singing and dancing before studying theater and literature. Eventually she enrolled in film school to study screenwriting. After school she made her first short film, Chutl, which won the Best First Movie Cinecinema Award. Her second short, Aid el-Kebir, was a love story set in Algeria.

In addition to international acclaim and critic praise, Albou’s first feature, Little Jerusalem, won the Best Screenplay prize at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival (Critic’s Week section) and received two nominations: Best First Work and Most Promising Actress to the film’s lead, Fanny Valette, at the 2006 César Awards (France’s Oscars).

However, despite the success of La Petite Jerusalem and the significant strength of The Wedding Song, the latter has been relegated to Jewish film festivals. Is it a conspiracy?

We spoke to Albou about her work.

JEsther Entertainment: Why did you want to make this film?
Karin Albou: My first idea was to portray a sisterly friendship between two girls and to show how they don’t see their Jewish and Muslim identities as an issue. They are aware they are a little different, but suddenly, as war disrupts their lives, they find themselves on opposite sides. But, as war drives them apart, they unite as women. Both of them are oriental -- even if one is Jewish and the other Muslim -- and have grown up in a patriarchal society. So I mainly wanted to talk about the personal cost of war. Then the historical frame came to me after I discovered of Nazis occupied Tunisia for six months: Except for historians, nobody knew about it and there was no movie dealing with that period of time.

JE: I understand the story was also inspired by your paternal grandmother, Germaine Esther? How historical/biographical is it?
KA: During my twenties I was living at my grandmother’s. I found a box a letters from Germany written by my grandfather. Because he was from Algeria, I didn’t know he went to Germany during WWII. I thought French colonies had been spared from the war. Then she explained that Jews in Algeria were stripped off their French citizenships during the Vichy French government and forbidden to work in many sectors. She couldn’t work because she was Jewish while my grandfather was a POW in Germany. It was only when I was editing the movie I understood that Tita (a nickname for Esther) is a tribute to my grandma

JE: Which character do you identify with the most and why?
KA: I surely don’t identify with Tita. She is very different from me and that is why it was so exciting and challenging for me to play her. I had to search deep in myself to find what emotionally triggers her and makes her think she has the right to marry her daughter against her will. Personally, I would never do that to my daughter. I feel close to Nour and Myriam because both lose their purity while being thrown into the violence of the world. That is why I chose to set the film during their weddings, which is a physical and symbolic loss of childhood. In a way the film is an allegory of the transition from childhood to adulthood, both politically and sexually.

JE: Could you discuss a few of the primary casting obstacles?
KA: The main obstacle was to find actresses who would appear naked. In Tunisia it was impossible. That is why I decided to play Tita; I don’t live there anymore so I don’t mind. That is also why it took me a few months to find Nour -- an actress who looks young, uneducated, who would kiss a boy and who would get naked.

JE: What are the particular challenges making a film in Tunisia, especially as a Jew or as a woman?
KA: The challenge was to make this particular movie in Tunisia – the fact that a woman allows herself to shoot sex scenes, including explicit nudity and, above all, close-ups of her crotch. Some people perceived it as a provocation, or even obscenity, because Tunisian (both Muslim and Jewish) culture is very modest. One doesn’t talk about sexuality. What was more challenging is what I show about Muslim and Jewish relationships -- a deep love and understanding as well as a deep distance and mistrust. This loving relationship can also become very violent.

JE: What are your political intentions with The Wedding Song?
KA: At first I didn’t want to make a political movie. That is why I chose to portray this friendship story during WWII and not nowadays where people are obsessed with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and see everything though this reducing lense. I didn’t want the audience to say who is right and who is wrong, but to feel how two girls find themselves on opposite sides. Besides, I think we – in France and Israel, not in the United States -- are oversaturated with the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on TV and that maybe the task of cinema is to show something else than what we see on TV. Of course now, when I step back, I see that my movie is actually also political and can address contemporary issues. The main message is that if it was possible to love one another in the most tragic moment of history, it should be possible now. Maybe because Tunisia is a country that always tries to deny its own violence in general? I wanted to put an end to this mythology and say that, as most others countries in the world, Tunisia is not spared from violence -- political, historical and even intimate violence. For instance, I didn’t choose golden and warm colors for the set and costume designs, but cold, pale blue tints in order to break the Orientalist view of a warm and nice country because Tunisia is not only that.

JE: Your first two features address sexuality within (or against) the community? Why are you drawn to those kinds of links?
KA: I still don’t understand why I address these issues. I don’t want to answer something just to answer something and pretend that I am witty and know everything about myself. I really don’t know and I think it is part of my personal mystery that I need to confront in my work.

JE: The waxing scene of Myriam’s pubic hair has stirred quite a bit of debate. Why?
KA: I have been told that it is the first time one sees such a scene in a movie. And new things create debate. The scene has kept my film out of more than one film festival.

JE: Young women, nudity, sexual exploration (fornication; masturbation), "bikini" waxing, etc., are the kinds of themes one would think young people would like to see in a film, yet your audiences tend to be older. What do you think is happening?
KA: When young people, by chance or because they follow their parents, see my movies they usually like it. They come to talk with me after the Q&A, to tell me they feel very close to the characters. They don’t really have the opportunity to see these kinds of movies -- not only mine, all art movies -- except by chance. They wouldn’t go on their initiative, because apparently, they are not attracted to movies that deal with issues they face everyday. They see cinema as an entertainment. The main problem for the distribution of art movies is that it is difficult to grow a young audience.

JE: Although there is a deconstruction of the male gaze in your work, you have plenty of female nudity in both films. There is little male nudity.
KA: Well, maybe in my next movie there will be a waxing scene of a man’s balls. [Laughs]. Seriously, I think the answer is in your question: Maybe my task as a filmmaker is to talk about women as a woman because throughout the history of art and cinema, femininity has always been seen and described by male gaze. It is quite new that women have the chance to talk about themselves. But I am not as woman-centered as you suggest. In La petite Jerusalem I showed both men and women naked. In The Wedding Song the problem was that Simon Abkarian didn’t want to be naked in the movie. But while I was shooting the honeymoon scene, I realized it is better for the movie because it is more humiliating for Myriam to show that she is naked and Raoul is not. Raoul appears to be more macho and not powerless in the face of her. In the honeymoon scene between Nour and Khaled they are both naked, which is another detail that shows the modernity of Khaled. And the nudity is meaningful in that scene because they talk about the Koran. They are equal on a religious level rather than on the nudity level. In that scene male nudity is very important and I would have been frustrated and limited if Najib had not accepted to be naked. [Laughs]

JE: Without sounding too sycophantic I should say the scene where Myriam hides under her mother's legs when Khaled escorts the Nazis to her house is brilliant. Many narratives are simultaneously working on many levels. Can you tell us how you conceived that scene?
KA: Thank you, John. I am very happy you mention that scene. You are the second journalist who stresses its importance. During the editing I was about to cut it because some people didn’t like it. I didn’t know how to explain why it was so meaningful. They finally trusted me and I kept it. I now realize it is a kind of rebirth for Myriam in a world where she is alone without Nour and her mother. So when she hides between her mother's legs, she is also symbolically in her womb. And she sees Khaled and the real terror of the situation like an unborn baby. Another level is that Tita hides her with her sexuality and maybe protects her by attempting to be attractive to the soldiers – as a distraction. On another level Tita is no longer a character; she is just legs and a body. She disappears from the narrative and allows Myriam to be woman, an active character.

JE: It is also the point where Myriam understands the real horror of the situation.
KA: Correct. Tita shows her daughter that her mother is not just being mean by making her marry Raoul.

JE: While the characters have flaws, if there is one glaring problem with The Wedding Song, it is that the Jewish characters are more sympathetic than their Arab counterparts (i.e. Myriam vs. Nour; Raoul vs. Khaled; Tita vs. Nour's father).
KA: To feel sympathy and antipathy for a character is very subjective. Personally I think Nour’s father is nicer and wiser than Tita. Nour is as nice as Myriam. Don’t forget she saves Myriam in the hammam (women’s bathhouse), which is very brave. And don’t forget they are both culturally Arab and they speak Arabic. Khaled and Raoul are both ambivalent characters and they have an opposite narrative arc because they are seen through the girls’ eyes. Khaled seems more sympathetic at first than Raoul because he symbolizes a “Prince Charming” before that changes. Khaled is macho but also very modern and liberal with Nour because he gives her books to read, he doesn’t drop her when she is not a virgin anymore and takes responsibility. He allows her to be free at the end when he fakes her loss of virginity with the bloodstained sheet. What he does politically is terrible, but I give him psychological motivations -- he is jealous, he doesn’t have work -- to let the audience feel compassion for him or not. Usually Arab people in the audience think that Khaled corresponds with a certain sociologic reality. That kind of machismo he shows still exists today in most Arab countries, because they are non democratic. It is quite subversive to write a character like Khaled in France and I like it. It's a bit different now, but the problem in many French movies with Arab characters is their lack of reality and credibility because they don’t have any flaws and ambivalence. They have to be "perfect Arabs.” It is the same problem for all minorities. It is an ideological stance because France was a former colonialist country. But to me it is a mistake that is rooted in the same symptoms of racism. You deny people their reality and complexity. You demand them to be flawless because they have to be emblematic of your own non-racist opinions.

JE: Despite the success of La Petite Jerusalem at Cannes and elsewhere, plus the high quality and praise of The Wedding Song, the latter has only appeared in Jewish Film Festivals. A conspiracy?
KA: Well, I was aware of the false accusation of "The Jewish plot" but I never heard about "The Goyim plot." [Laughs]. Seriously, the main reason is because it didn’t correspond with the French period of release of the movie in December. I am very grateful Jewish film festivals like my movie. Considering others festivals, perhaps they didn’t understand the novelty of my movie? Usually most of the WWII fiction movies take place in Europe or France instead of in the former French colonies. The Wedding Song is the only film describing what happened in Tunisia and reminds us the Shoah was not only an European issue, but that the Nazis had spread it all over the world, as it happened in Tunisia and Libya.

JE: What are the particular challenges you face as "Jewish Female" filmmaker?
KA: The main challenge is that I don’t really see myself as a Jewish filmmaker. I feel myself as a filmmaker who tries to describe universal feelings in a specific cultural surrounding. My cinematographic mentor or heritage could be Martin Scorsese’s first movies, such as Mean Streets. Actually it is the fact that this movie is going to Jewish film festivals that makes me feel that, yes, maybe I am a Jewish filmmaker.

JE: Judging by the research and responses I have read your work also strikes a positive chord with non-Semitic men (i.e. gentiles). What do you think is going on there? Are Jewish/Arab women still "exotic" or representing the Other in the eyes of Occidental males?
KA: Men can answer that question. Representing "the Other" and being exotic is the same. For western audiences movies may be exotic because they are different – like the films of Satyajit Ray and Abbas Kiarostami. Maybe exoticism is the first step of cultural dialogue, or the first step of innovation. Perhaps it is as negative as it sounds. For instance, because I am French or Arab-Jew or whatever (I don’t know exactly what I am!), for me a big city like Los Angeles, or even the boonies, are very exotic because it is very far from what I know.

FILM REVIEW: A CHRISTMAS CAROL

Screwge this remake

By John Esther

Angered by recent Wall Street events of grand greed and government complicity, one of Hollywood's most reactionary artists, Robert Zemeckis (Back to the Future; Forrest Gump), has turned his newfound socialism and channeled it into a cold critique of capitalism worthy of Gang of Four.

I jest, there is nothing contemporary or cool about the latest cinematic adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Presented in Disney Digital 3D, A Christmas Carol stars a barely recognizable Jim Carrey as Ebeneezer Scrooge, the miscreant, miserly misanthrope who lives to hate until he is visited by three ghosts -- all haphazardly played by Carrey and noticeably lacking any psychological insight considering the trope -- one Christmas Eve and finds redemption in his coal soul before it is too late.

From concept (Zemeckis' comments on Dickens' adaptation desires of the novel are laughable) to execution, not only is this an awful adaptation of A Christmas Carol, it may just be the biggest financial loser of the season. Where is the audience for this $175 million-plus movie? Judging by the press screening the film is too rambunctious for kids. The adolescent market will be heading for This is it, Paranormal Activity and the Fourth Kind. Adults have other choices such as the literary choice of Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire or the middlebrow fare of The Men Who Stare at Goats. In fact it is hard to imagine adults will take a trip over to a theater, slap on some 3-D glasses and watch a remake of a story they have seen so many times and in so many ways over decades for free at home. Home viewing sales to the rescue!

FILM REVIEW: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

The Oscar race has begun? Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire opens tomorrow.

Trials and tribulations in the hyper-real ghetto

By Don Simpson

Set in Harlem, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is the heart wrenching tale of Clareece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an obese, illiterate, abused and molested 16-year-old African-American girl.

Impregnated for the second time by her otherwise absentee father, Precious is expelled from high school; but her principal, who recognizes Precious’ true potential, refers her to an alternative school (Each One Teach One) with an intimate student-to-teacher ratio and teachers and counselors who are appropriately trained to work with troubled students.

As things improve at school, matters at home spin ferociously out of control. Precious’ welfare queen mother (Mo’Nique) has always treated her as a slave and a human punching bag, but the abuse escalates tenfold once Precious brings her second child home from the hospital.

We know that Precious does not want to follow in her mother’s footsteps; she frequently escapes to another life in daydreams in which fantasizes about wearing fancy clothes and dancing and being happy. Precious is an amazing young woman with an unyielding desire to break out of her hellish predicament – she is the victim of practically every bad thing that could ever happen to a person. There are several occasions where one would expect Precious to give up, but no matter how bad things get, her strength and tenacity shine through. This is a story of perseverance and hope. I guarantee that not one viewer will leave the film thinking, “my life is worse than Precious’.” The moral is: if Precious can succeed in life, why can’t you?

Being that the content of the film is so dense with the stereotypical problems of the ghetto (drugs, incest, rape, abuse, welfare queens, Down Syndrome, HIV/AIDS) and director Lee Daniels opts to portray the images in such an unreal fashion (with oversaturated yellows, oranges and reds interjected with wildly lavish dream sequences), one might expect Precious to click her heels three times while saying “there’s no place like home” and suddenly she returns to Kansas. Precious is essentially a hyper real tale, in which everything from the characters to the plot to the visuals are exaggerated to the point that all of this could only exist in the world of Hollywood. It is also worth noting that the source material (Sapphire’s 1996 novel, Push) was also criticized by many for being exaggerated and overburdened with stereotypes.

Watching Daniels’ film, I continued to dream of a film much more toned down than Precious, maybe even shot on gritty black and white 16mm film stock (a la Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep) – something ripe with realism and honest to the world that it is attempting to represent. Instead, Precious is purely a work of fiction; an emotional roller coaster (a tearjerker, if you will) and true Hollywood fodder – and with Oprah’s seal of approval the possibilities are endless.

Many critics are already predicting that Sidibe and Mo’Nique will be strong contenders during the awards season. Sidibe’s portrayal of Precious, with a blank expression and a glimmer of intense curiosity sparkling in her eyes, is enough to moisten one’s eye sockets. The events unfolding around Precious seem to build and intensify inside her, yet she rarely shows the pain on the outside. Sidibe simply exemplifies restraint while being Precious while Mo'Nique’s gripping performance as Mary Jones (Precious’ mother) is the polar opposite, yet no less worthy of praise. All of the rage and intensity becomes her and Monique plays Mary Jones as the crazed loose cannon that she truly is.

FILM REVIEW: THE WEDDING SONG

Lizzie Brocheré and Olympe Borval star in Karin Albou's The Wedding Song.

Give peace a chance

By Don Simpson

From November 1942 to May 1943 German forces occupied Tunis, which was the Axis powers’ final stronghold in Africa before retreating to Italy. Previously occupied by the French, Tunis was a relatively welcome home for Jews. The German occupation changed that.

Writer-director Karin Albou's The Wedding Song (Le chant des mariées) begins in 1942, prior to the German occupation. Sephardic Jewish teenager, Myriam (Lizzie Brocheré), and her childhood Muslim friend, Nour (Olympe Borval), live next door to each other. The intense and inseparable bond between them is partially akin to sisters and that of lovers – as they appear to always exist on the verge of kissing each other. The teens' closeness lends a strong erotic subtext, as the The Wedding Song reveals their restricted role in Tunisian society – women are only afforded freedom of expression at a pre-wedding party and inside of a hammam (public bathhouse); both situations are female-only.

The two girls are promptly approaching their respective marriages – Nour to her cousin, Khaled (Najib Oudghiri), Myriam to an older Jewish doctor, Raoul (Simon Abkarian). Nour is forbidden to marry Khaled until he finds employment; Myriam resists her marriage to Raoul.

Enter the Germans. They immediately prey on the Muslim population’s inherent nationalism in an attempt to oust the Jews from Tunis. The spread of anti-Jewish propaganda pits Muslims and their Jewish neighbors against each other. The Germans demand that all Jews in Tunis pay an outrageously high fine – which Myriam's mother (Albou) can't afford. The fine lends a new sense of urgency to Myriam’s impending wedding with Raoul (he is rich and can provide protection to Myriam’s family).

Khaled finds work, unfortunately it is for the Germans. If all of the unease caused by the German occupation did not already cause enough tension between Myriam and Nour, Khaled’s new job definitely does. Khaled convinces Nour that the inequalities in Tunis were brought about by the Jews: Jews are rich, while Muslims are poor; Jews attend school, while Muslims do not; Jews are friends with the French, while Muslims want to be freed from French occupation.

Entrancing, stimulating and motivational, French director Albou’s The Wedding Song continues a discussion of themes from her 2005 film, La Petite Jérusalem: female sexuality in repressive cultures and relationships between Muslims and Jews. Albou professes that peace is possible between Muslims and Jews, just as Myriam and Nour's friendship is saved purely by mentally conquering their cultural differences and the politics of racism.

FILM REVIEW: THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD

The Yes Men fix roll a little fun at terror with Halliburton's Survivaball.


Sí se puede!

By Don Simpson

Directed by Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno (a.k.a. the Yes Men), and co-directed by Kurt Engfehr (editor-producer Bowling for Columbine; Fahrenheit 9/11), this humor-injected political documentary makes Michael Moore’s most recent effort seem utterly uninspired. Posing as high-ranking representatives of evil corporations, the Yes Men con their way into business conferences and television interviews in order to wake up their audiences to the dangers of passively allowing greed to rule the world. The results are more than just silly activist pranks; the actions of the Yes Men are thoughtfully conceived acts of protest designed to reach the largest possible audiences, inciting discussion, debate and action.

One example, Bichlbaum, in the guise of a Dow Chemical spokesperson, appears on a BBC News interview (viewed by over 300 million viewers) and announces that Dow will finally clean up the site of the largest industrial accident in history, the Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India. As a result people celebrate worldwide while Dow's stock value free falls, losing over two billion dollars. But the reality is Dow will never clean up Bhopal because the stockholders will never stand for it. With the market guiding our morality, our whole planet is at risk. But, there is a bright side: the audience of the BBC News was instantly re-educated on the subject of the Bhopal tragedy and presented with a perfectly viable solution that would only hurt the greedy capitalistic interests of Dow Chemical and its shareholders. The stunt resulted in over 600 articles in the US press about how Dow had purchased Union Carbide but was refusing to deal with Union Carbide’s liabilities in Bhopal.

Another example is when The Yes Men appear in New Orleans in front of 1000 contractors as representatives of HUD (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). Bichlbaum (alongside an unsuspecting Mayor Ray Nagin) turns the tables on the government’s plan to tear down livable housing projects (to build new mixed-income developments) as he announces that HUD’s revised strategy is to keep the existing housing projects in tact. The most surprising part is that the contractors appear to agree. Bichlbaum also announces that Exxon and Shell have agreed to finance the rebuilding of New Orleans’ wetlands (a natural barrier to hurricanes) from part of their 60 billion dollars in profits this year – a claim less believable, but met with a welcome reception. The result of the Yes Men’s shenanigans: the contractors and people of New Orleans now know that the housing projects are being knocked down by the government out of pure greed. They also know that Exxon and Shell made their city much more vulnerable to hurricanes.

But, wait, that’s not all! The Yes Men get into plenty of other mischief, including: golden skeletons, SurvivaBalls, climate-victim candles and a fake issue of the New York Times.

Sure, The Yes Men Fix the World still suffers (just like Moore’s films) from preaching to the choir. The film itself provokes more giggles than action, but it’s the immediate results of their actual gonzo schemes that count (and those schemes are witnessed firsthand by people of various political persuasions). In fact, I see The Yes Men Fix the World as a public relations piece, highlighting the clever actions of Bichlbaum and Bonanno since November 2004 (The documentary, The Yes Men, was released in 2003). Of course, naysayers will discredit the Yes Men as liars because they misrepresent themselves, but sometimes a little white lie is necessary to discover the truth. The Yes Men’s lies are purely a means to unravel the web of lies spun by their targets.

Honestly, I cannot believe that the Yes Men have not been sued or incarcerated, and that large corporations, government officials and media still fall for their tricks. In fact, the Yes Men just pulled one over on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on October 19, 2009. Let’s hope that the effect of that stunt reverberates to influence effective climate legislation!

AFI FEST 2009: A SINGLE MAN

Jim (Matthew Goode) and George (Colin Firth) in Tom Ford's A Single Man.

Heart attacks

By John Esther

A gala selection at AFI Fest 2009, fashion designer-turned-filmmaker Tom Ford's adaptation of Christopher Isherwood's novel of the same name is charged with anger, angst, ego and eroticism.

A US premiere, after credits continue-um with a naked male underwater, A Single Man shifts in a dreamlike state blending eros and thanatos as George (Colin Firth) walks toward a wide-eyed dead Jim (Matthew Goode) laying in bloody snow and kisses him. It is a haunting scene of love and lost shattered by the dreamer denied as George wakes up to his miserable existence.

Miserable existence? On the surface, George seems to have his life in order: money, style, architecture, art and some solitude. Yet this means little to George.

In one of the most gripping film scenes this year, we quickly discover George has lost the love of his life, Jim. He is paralyzed by the loss. Being what they and the times were, the man "light in the loafers" is not permitted to attend Jim's funeral. His mourning must be done alone.

Set over the course of a day, we watch George losing his grip with the present through flashbacks of his past. Stricken by what he no longer has, George is incapable of realizing what the future could hold. With young men flirting with him under the golden California sun, fate may have something good in store, but uptight, determined George continues to plan his demise. The former Londoner who now lives in Los Angeles accepts the inevitability of death, but why, or so why not, hurry up with it?

Although minutely flawed with pretentiousness and filled with a ghastly glamorization of cigarette smoking (plus I would like to see the car crash scene again -- in retrospect, the model of the car seems more recent than 1962), Ford's feature directorial debut bursts with radiant images of love, loss and lust in rather equal measures. Rather than making our lives hell, sometimes other people are the only heaven we will ever know and Ford designs this sentiment like a fine suit. (A Single Man reminds one a lot of last year's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.)

Firth's portrayal of a man of his times and times loves lost is brilliant. It is probably the best performance I have seen this year (I imagine he had a little help from Isherwood's novel if not Isherwood's longtime lover, Don Bachardy, as well). Co-starring Julianne Moore and Nicholas Hoult. (Recommended)

(A Single Man is scheduled to screen Nov. 5, 7 p.m. at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com)

AFI FEST 2009: BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS

Terence (Nicolas Cage) and Frankie (Eva Mendes) waste away in Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.

No big easy watch

By Miranda Inganni

Detective Terence McDonagh (Nicolas Cage), a policeman honored for his heroics during Hurricane Katrina, is now a drug addict using his gun and police badge to wield power and get whatever he wants.

Along with his prostitute girlfriend, Frankie (Eva Mendes), McDonagh spirals out of control. On the job he teams up with Big Fate (Xzibit), trying to solve the murder of a group of illegal Senegalese immigrants while off the job helping him acquire some illegal narcotics. It just so happens that Big Fate is not only a drug lord, but also the prime suspect in the murders.

For those folks who enjoy watching Cage play a crazed addict a la Leaving Las Vegas, director Werner Herzog's remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 film starring Harvey Keitel may tickle their fancy. This World Cinema selection did not tickle mine. Relocating the film from New York to New Orleans did not seem to help either, and the hallucinations involving reptiles and voodoo dancing are silly.

(Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans is scheduled to screen today, 7 p.m., Mann's Chinese Theater 1, Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-Fest; www.afi.com)

AFI FEST 2009: LOOKING FOR ERIC

Eric Cantona and Steve Evets star in Ken Loach's Looking for Eric.

Going postal

By Ed Rampell

The AFI Fest often premieres hard to see but nevertheless worthy films for Los Angelenos, such as Ken Loach’s stellar, stirring Looking For Eric.

In the past this great progressive British helmer has directed explicitly political features, such as 1995’s Spanish Civil War classic Land and Freedom, 1996’s pro-Sandinista Carla’s Song, 2000’s L.A.-set, pro-union Bread and Roses, 2006’s Irish Revolution drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley, etc. He has also placed working class life under the movie magnifying glass in films such as 1998’s My Name is Joe.

Looking For Eric combines both Loach trends – with a dose of magical realism. The title character refers to Eric Bishop, a washed-up mailman (Steve Evets) subject to panic attacks and Eric Cantona, the real life soccer player who – like Humphrey Bogart in Woody Allen’s 1972 Play It Again, Sam – appears to advise the proletarian protagonist on how to be heroic and play it cool.

The ending to this World Cinema selection is a thinly veiled socialist solution, as mass unity and action intervene, with a mob of mailman and other UK workers singing "La Marseillaise," taking matters into their own plebian hands and going postal. The rousing finale may be a reference to Bertolt Brecht’s athletic socialist clubs in the newly re-released German classic, Kuhle Wampe. Of course, in the best tradition of Wilhelm Reich, the mass action also gives Eric the confidence to finally – after 30 freakin’ years – get the girl (Stephanie Bishop). Bravo, Loach!

(Looking For Eric is scheduled to screen Nov. 5, 7 p.m., at Mann Chinese Theater 1, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com.)

AFI FEST 2009: BELLAMY

Gerard Depardieu and Jacques Gamblin star in Bellamy.

By Ed Rampell

Fifty years after the French Nouvelle Vague swept cinema, auteur Claude Chabrol, one of the masters of that innovative movie movement with classics like 1969’s La Femme Infidele, is back with the North American premiere of Bellamy.

In this mystery, death does not take a holiday, as vacationing Parisian police inspector Paul Bellamy (a more understated Gerard Depardieu) is swept up in investigating local crimes of passion. But rather than emphasizing the action inherently associated with violence like a typical policier thriller would, Chabrol instead concentrates on the characters’ emotional underpinnings. Not only of the criminals, but Bellamy’s own family politics, with his n’er-do-well half-brother Jacques (the resentful Clovis Cornillac) and Bellamy’s wife, Francoise (the seductive Marie Bunel). Their erotic playfulness suggests a 21st century, grown-up version of Nick and Nora Charles in the Thin Man series.

While stylishly directed this World Cinema selection doesn’t have any of the cinematic panache and inventiveness of 1959’s (and beyond) New Wave classics, such as the jump cuts in Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless or the haunting freeze frame that closes Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows (BTW, the best movie ever made about unhappy childhood). But with Bellamy’s focus on emotional intensity, rather than on mindless action, 79-year-old Chabrol continues the tradition of a New Wave that long ago ebbed -- although his talent never has.

(Bellamy screened Nov. 1, 1 p.m. at Mann Chinese Theater 1, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more info: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com.)

AFI FEST 2009: FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Jason Schwartzman at the North American premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox. The feature opened AFI Fest 2009. Photo by Ed Rampell.

Wes Anderson gets animated

By Ed Rampell

During Opening Night at AFI Fest 2009 last Friday night, I asked Wes Anderson, the co-writer/director of quirky character driven pix such as 2001’s The Royal Tenenbaums and 2007’s The Darjeeling Limited, “what’s the difference between directing live action and animated films?” The rail thin, long-haired 40-year-old replied: “Animation is lots slower.”

Director Wes Anderson at the North American premiere of Fantastic Mr. Fox at the AFI Fest 2009, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, Hollywood. Photo by Ed Rampell.

Indeed. The excruciatingly executed handmade stop-motion techniques pioneered in classics such as King Kong and Ray Harryhausen’s Sinbad, Gulliver and Argonauts flicks must require tons of patience and perseverance to pull off. But Anderson acquits himself well in Fantastic Mr. Fox, based on the story by Roald Dahl (who may have been strange but whose work is no stranger to animation).

In a nutshell, Fantastic Mr. Fox is an animated parable about the struggle for survival that children of all ages will enjoy. Top actors provide the characters’ voices, including George Clooney as the rascally Mr. Fox, Meryl Streep as foxy Mrs. Fox, Jason Schwartzman as their klutzy cub Ash and Bill Murray as Badger – who, in that hallowed Hollywood tradition of typecasting, an attorney. Let’s hope, however, that Anderson didn’t typecast himself by playing Weasel! A good time is had by all, on and off-screen, in this saga of the survival of the foxiest – which is, but of course, a 20th Century Fox release.

(Fantastic Mr. Fox screened as the opening night gala, Oct. 30, Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com.)

AFI FEST 2009: THE ART OF THE STEAL

Argott’s Art Argosy

By Ed Rampell

If Michael Moore’s Capitalism: A Love Story attacks private enterprise, director Don Argott defends the sanctity of private property and creativity in his advocacy documentary, The Art of the Steal.

A Documentaries selection at AFI Fest 2009, Argott’s art argosy contends that the late Albert Barnes’ multi-billion dollar collection of Post-Impressionist paintings is being looted by the “establishment” of the so-called “City of Brotherly Love.”

The barbarians at the gates of the Barnes mansion, where the deceased collector’s canvases and an educational art foundation had been based for decades, include: The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly’s mayor, Pennsylvania’s governor, and assorted “philanthropists” such as the Annenbergs, who appear to be wolves in sheep’s clothing and make the home of the cheesesteak look pretty Philly cheesy.

According to the doc, these aesthetic vandals are violating Barnes’ will by ransacking his privately owned collection in order to relocate the paintings to a Philadelphia main drag – you know, near where Sylvester Stallone as Rocky ran up those steps as trumpets blared -- where the assorted Picassos, Van Goghs, Matisses, etc., can be turned into a major attraction to boost tourism to Philly as a world class city. (It’s akin to moving the Huntington Library's collection to Sunset Strip.)

Standing in the way of the powers-that-be are Barnes’ neighbors, who protest turning their ‘hood into a crowded tourist attraction (think The Getty), as well as moving the artworks, plus talking heads such as the L.A. Times’ critic Christopher Knight and NAACP standard bearer and ex-presidential candidate, Julian Bond. Along the way, the struggle includes a racial wild goose chase exploiting civil rights activism.

Argott’s cleverly named doc makes a powerful case, but still, there’s something to be said about making art more accessible to the masses, instead of cloistering it in a less accessible location for the edification of rarefied elitist aesthetes.

(The Art of the Steal is scheduled to screen Nov. 4, 7 p.m.,at Mann Chinese Theater 6, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com)

AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL 2009: PART THREE

Jason Reitman's Up in the Air closes Austin Film Festival 2009


Part Three: October 28 - 29

By Don Simpson

American Cowslip – Ethan (Ronnie Gene Blevins) is an unemployed agoraphobic heroin addict, and his only ambition is gardening. Ethan’s parents are long gone, but he is still rents the same house that he was raised in. His neighbor, Trevor (Rip Torn), is his evil landlord who has been trying to evict Ethan for several months (as an unemployed heroin addict, Ethan cannot afford his rent). Most of the other residents of Blythe (a small California desert town) try to help Ethan get by. A few old ladies occasionally drop by for a game of cards (letting Ethan win in order to give him much needed cash). The aged prostitute across the street has also taken a liking to Ethan; as has Georgia (Hanna R. Hall), a 17-year old who seems to be the only person in Blythe who feels more existentially trapped in Blythe than Ethan. American Cowslip is one of the strangest films I have seen in a long time (which says a lot). The exaggerated characters, backdrops and colors all seem to be lensed by a camera on acid – the colors absolutely pop and facial expressions comically explode. Everything about American Cowslip is surreal, even unreal. The crazed over-the-top acting performances are mind-blowing and the cinematography is eye-popping, but the herky-jerky and half-assed plot left me craving a whole lot more.

Cummings Farm – What better place to meet for an orgy amongst friends than Cummings Farm, right? It is as if the place was named not to be a strawberry farm at all, but specifically for orgies…We first meet a young Jewish couple, Yasmine (Yasmine Kittles) and Alan (Adam Busch), as they bicker about which wine would be better suited for the orgy: Beaver or Platypus? (There are sexual innuendoes aplenty here at Cummings Farm.) Their sexual relationship has been on the rocks – Yasmine hopes that this orgy is going to kick-start their sex life again. Alan is a quirky tightwad hoping to get a piece of Yasmine’s friend, Rachel. Next, we are introduced to Rachel (Aimee-Lynn Chadwick) and Gordon (Jordan Kessler). Gordon is an alcoholic with no ambition – a source of tension between him and Rachel – so, like Yasmine and Alan, they bicker a lot. Rachel wants to get away from the perpetually drunken Gordon; and Gordon is drunk enough to not care about whom he’s having sexual relations with. The only married couple is Tina (Laura Silverman) and Todd (Ted Beck, also the screenwriter). Cummings Farm is owned by Tina’s family and it is where she grew up. Tina has had two children, and a very low self-esteem. Todd looks suspiciously like a child molester and he is the most in to the concept of the orgy, having planned out several warm-up activities. Tina is the least interested, haunted by thoughts of her children. We are never told who or what instigated this event and why – Cummings Farm is essentially the antithesis of Humpday, jumping straight to the main event rather than harping on the why’s and how’s. Andrew Drazek’s directorial debut may read like a low-budget independent soft-porn flick, but there is no nudity and very little sex. Prudes should beware: there are frank and mature discussions about sex and anatomy.

Downtown Calling – In the late 1970s, New York City was devastated by economic problems. The city crumbled and burned, literally, as the plethora of vacant buildings caught fire or otherwise fell to the ground. Up from the rubble came one of the most creative (and self-sufficient) movements in the history of the United States (if not the world). Concurrently, the music scene introduced the world to punk rock, no wave, new wave, post-punk, avant-garde, and hip hop; while from the art scene arose Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring and a plethora of graffiti artists; and the club culture brought us new forms of expression through dance. Most importantly, racism was all but erased during this time as artists of all colors were able to interact with and learn from each other with no tension. Produced, directed and edited by Shan Nicholson, Downtown Calling brilliantly intertwines archival film footage and still photos with talking head interviews of many of the major players reminiscing about the glory days. We are reminded by Downtown Calling that the most troubled and trying times have historically created the best art. The New Yorkers of the 70s created something amazing out of virtually nothing. They thrived off an atmosphere that most outsiders viewed as apocalyptic. The economic turmoil wound up making one of the most expensive cities in the world, a playground for poor artists. So if you are worried about the destruction of Wall Street or the plummeting housing market, just think of the affect this current economic downfall could have on the creative world. (Downtown Calling won the Documentary Feature Special Jury Mention.)

The Young Victoria – This costume drama, directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, is just that – a costume drama about Queen Victoria’s (Emily Blunt) courting of, and eventual marriage to, Prince Albert (Rupert Friend). Rife with historical inaccuracies, The Young Victoria focuses more on costume and set design than dialogue or character development. The scenes are purposefully chopped short, as the film barnstorms through the Cliff Notes of Victoria’s late teens. This is a mere outline of a plot, rather than a fleshed out story. Queen Victoria became Queen of England at age 18 and reigned for over 63 years; she was an intelligent and strong woman (for whom the Victorian era was named – a period of great industrial, political, scientific and military progress in Great Britain), but we would never know that from The Young Victoria.

Up in the Air – Jason Reitman (winner of the 2007 AFF Audience Award for Juno) closed the 2009 Austin Film Festival with Up in the Air. It seemed fitting that I too head up in the air to the balcony of the majestic Paramount Theater with Guinness in hand (the only way to fly, in my opinion). Loosely based on Walter Kim’s 2001 novel, Up in the Air, the protagonist of Reitman’s film, Ryan Bingham (George Clooney), is a career transition counselor; in other words, corporations bring him in to fire their staff. Ryan spends a majority of his life up in the air, and is quickly approaching a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles with American Airlines (a landmark reached by only six others in the history of aviation). Ryan relishes his relationship-free life – separated from his family and no woman to hold him down…that is until he meets Alex (Vera Farmiga). Alex maintains an eerily similar lifestyle to Ryan (as Alex points out, she is like Ryan except with a vagina), but somehow by meeting his twin Ryan opts to eschew his old ways (including abandoning his subsidiary career as a motivational speaker about the virtue of a relationship-free life) and settle down. The question remains: does Alex feel the same way? Up in the Air effortlessly juggles critiques of: corporate downsizing, modern humans becoming antisocial beings (thanks to technological innovations – from the telephone to the internet), and the absurdity of frequent customer rewards.

It seems to be a tradition at the Austin Film Festival that I never attend screenings of the films that win awards. Other than Downtown Calling (which won the Documentary Feature Special Jury Mention), 2009 proved no different. And the winners are:

Documentary Feature Jury Award: Grown in Detroit
Narrative Feature Jury Award: Tobruk
Narrative Feature Special Jury Recognition for Acting: Myna Se Va
Narrative Feature Special Jury Recognition for Independent Filmmaking: Thor at the Bus Stop

AFI FEST 2009: YOUTH IN REVOLT

Micheal Cera is Youth in Revolt.

One more virgin popped

By Don Simpson

Directed by Miguel Arteta, this World Cinema selection is adapted from C.D. Payne’s novel, Youth in Revolt.

Nick Twisp (Michael Cera) enjoys great literature, foreign cinema and Frank Sinatra – which means, of course, that he is still a virgin. While vacationing at a trailer park, Nick falls head-over-heels for Sheeni Saunders (Portia Doubleday), a Francophile with a taste for Jean-Paul Belmondo and Serge Gainsbourg. She dreams of being swept away by a bad guy named Francois. When Nick finds himself at risk of losing Sheeni’s affection he develops a rebellious alter-ego named…Francois. Armed with a moustache, cigarette, and white trousers, Francois takes Nick down a road of destruction with outrageous consequences...all in the name of love.

(Youth in Revolt is scheduled to screen Nov. 3, 10:15 p.m., at Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com)

AFI FEST 2009: ABOUT ELLY

Golshifteh Farahani and Taraneh Alidoosti are About Elly

Lies like a Persian rug

By Miranda Inganni

Sepideh (Golshifteh Farahani), along with her husband and their friends are vacationing north of Tehran. Elly (Taraneh Alidoosti), Sepideh’s son’s kindergarten teacher is invited along, ostensibly to help with the kids, but there are other motives -- involving the group’s recently divorced friend, Ahmed (Shahab Hisseihi).

After an initial 24 hours of music and merriment (volleyball; charades), things take a turn for the worse. Elly is asked to watch three children playing on the beach, when her back is momentarily turned, one of the boys goes under the water. In the ensuing chaos, Elly, too, goes missing.

Lies beget lies and the group’s mistrust of each other has them fighting. And the longer Elly is missing, the more the group tosses blame around for this mysterious woman’s disappearance.

Sepideh thought she was doing Elly a favor, but when the truth finally comes out, it seems Sepideh’s best intentions only lead to tragedy.

The story moves at a smooth pace allowing the viewer to comfortably watch the web of lies unravel even as the tension increases.

A 20/20 selection at this year’s AFI Fest, filled with taut writing and a wonderful and beautiful cast, writer-director Asghar Farhadi has created a fantastic movie about the dangers of deceit. (Recommended)

(About Elly is scheduled to screen Nov. 2, 7 p.m. Mann Chinese Theater 6, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST)

AFI FEST 2009: THE MESSENGER

Woody Harrelson and Ben Foster star in The Messenger.

Bearing bad news

By Don Simpson

After recovering from wounds inflicted during a tour of duty in Iraq, the heroically decorated Will (Ben Foster) is assigned to the Army’s Casualty Notification Office. Will’s superior officer, Tony (Woody Harrelson), is a recovering alcoholic carrying other apparent psychological baggage as well. When Will befriends Olivia (Samantha Morton), a next of kin of a killed soldier whom they recently notified, Tony and Will’s relationship sours.

The superbly acted film is essentially apolitical in that it opts to focus solely on the effects that war has on the families left behind by killed soldiers and the Army officers who are the first to notify the next of kin.

Director Oren Moverman (co-writer of Jesus' Son and I’m Not There) co-wrote this New Lights Competition film with Alessandro Camon. (Highly Recommended)

(The Messenger is scheduled to screen Nov. 3, 7 p.m., at Mann Chinese Theater 1, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com)

AFI FEST 2009: NORTH BY NORTHWEST

AFI Fest screens Hitchcock classic

By Ed Rampell

When I was attending Hunter College film school, classmates criticized me for stating that the ending of 1959’s North by Northwest symbolized Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint having sexual intercourse. The next class I brought in Francois Truffaut’s book of interviews with Hitchcock (Hitchcock/Truffaut), wherein the "Master of Suspense" confirmed my suspicions.

Part of this year's Special Presentations program this tongue-in-cheek espionage thriller is fraught with symbolism, including what is arguably screendom’s greatest chase sequence: a relentless crop duster in hot pursuit of Grant at a cornfield, hellbent on turning the pre-Don Draper (m)ad man into dust. The Mount Rushmore sequence is also immortal. Hitchcock also built replicas of the U.N., a Frank Lloyd Wright house, etc., for this classic with its quintessentially Hitchcockian theme of a wrong man being pursued. (As Hitch vacationed frequently at the Swiss Alps’ swankiest five star hotel, Badrutt’s Palace, at idyllic St. Moritz, it’s hard to comprehend how the director could have such a pessimistic outlook.)

A cinematic gem featuring one of those unforgettable Bernard Herrmann scores, AFI has a film preservation and historical mission it richly lives up to by screening North by Northwest. Don’t miss this good fun, sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat movie masterpiece – and that cheeky final shot.

(North by Northwest is scheduled to screen Nov. 2, 6:30 p.m., at Mann Chinese Theater 1, 6801 Hollywood Blvd. For more info: 866/I-FEST; www.afi.com)

AFI FEST 2009: PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL "PUSH" BY SAPPHIRE

A gaze of abuse: Gabourey Sidibe stars in Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire.

A bearable darkness of being

By Don Simpson

Set in Harlem, Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is the heart-wrenching tale of Clareece “Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), an obese, illiterate, abused and molested 16-year-old African-American girl.

Impregnated for the second time by her father, Precious is expelled from high school; but her principal, who recognizes Precious’ true potential, refers her to an alternative school with an intimate student-to-teacher ratio and teachers and counselors who work well with troubled students.

As things improve at school, matters at home spin out of control. Precious’ welfare queen mother (Mo’Nique) has always treated her as a slave and a human punching bag; but the abuse escalates ten-fold once Precious brings her second baby home from the hospital. Despite her blank expression, Precious is an intelligent and curious young woman with an amazing desire to break out of her predicament.

Still buzzing from scoring the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize for best drama at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and the People's Choice award at Toronto International Film Festival, Precious is being featured as a Gala Screening at AFI Fest 2009.

Should we believe the hype? The brutally honest performances by Sidibe and Mo'Nique (many critics are already predicting that both women will be strong contenders during the awards season) are juxtaposed with hyper-real images dripping with oversaturated yellows, oranges and reds. Precious is an emotional roller coaster and true Hollywood fodder; and with Oprah Winfrey's support, the possibilities are endless. (Highly Recommended)

(Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire is scheduled to screen Nov. 1, 7 p.m., Grauman's Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Blvd. For more information: 866/AFI-FEST; www.afi.com)