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NYFF Halftime Report

Filmbrain realizes he hasn't been posting much these past few days. Though he's been seeing many films at the festival, he was also fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to spend time with director Hong Sang-soo -- an absolute thrill, as you can well imagine. (Filmbrain's interview with him will appear in a few days.)

At just past the midway point, Filmbrain is already experiencing a slight burnout -- to the point where he's been attributing dialog from one film to another. As if the festival wasn't enough, he somehow found the time to check out I Heart Huckabees, but needs to see it a second time before commenting on it. Coming up this week is Bergman's Saraband, Jia Zhangke's The World, Hou Hsiao-hsien's Cafe Lumiere, Todd Solondz's Palindromes and Alexander Payne's Sideways. (Not to mention Yousry Nasrallah's five-hour The Gate of the Sun.) Filmbrain will do his best to keep up with the reviews.

Some other NY film bloggers covering the festival:

Aaron Out of Focus has been providing updates, and his open letter to fellow film festival attendees is a must read. As it is every year, many of the questions asked during the Q&A are flat out ridiculous, some embarrassingly so. (Here's a tip -- think about why a director included an image or scene in his/her film before presenting your knee-jerk reaction.)

Karen Cinecultist has posted a few items on Gothamist Arts + Events, and Phyrephox over at Milk Plus has been putting us all to shame with his abundance of reviews, including a glowing write-up of Woman is the Future of Man.

A few quick thoughts on two of the films:

Jonathan Caouette's Tarnation is a film that Filmbrain first liked, then hated, then liked again -- all in the course of eighty-seven minutes. Filmbrain hopes to get his (belated) review up this week, but do make an effort to see it -- it is without a doubt one of the most interesting cinematic experiences of 2004.

Mike Leigh's Vera Drake was, sad to say, a bit of a letdown. Though Imelda Staunton's breathtaking performance is easily one of the best of the year, the film lacks the tension that one has come to expect from a Leigh film. The Drake's are a perfect family -- a husband and wife that love each other, a responsible son, and a shy daughter. Vera is a strong, hard working woman who is constantly doing for others, and her selfless behavior borders on saintliness. Filmbrain felt that too much time was spent presenting this idyllic home life, especially considering how little we get of the aftermath. A family being torn apart is one of Leigh's specialties -- it's just that in most cases they are already on the brink of self-destruction, and the introduction of a new problem/issue accelerates that process. Yet Filmbrain doesn't mean to knock the film -- far from it. The lengthy interrogation sequence is easily one of the finest moments in any of Leigh's films, and worth the price of admission alone. Shot mostly in tight, claustrophobic locations, Vera Drake is certainly a triumphant return for Mike Leigh, though Filmbrain is still waiting for Naked 2.

Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 2, Week 4

It seems that stumping you is going to be a more difficult task than Filmbrain imagined. How was it that so many of you were able to identify this minor moment from John Frankenheimer's Seconds? Regardless, if you haven't seen this film -- you really must. Years ahead of its time, Seconds is a horrifying film that says more about America than it might appear to. Let's just hope that Hollywood doesn't decide to remake this one! Once again, Aaron H was first in with the correct answer. Well done, Mr. H. With the New York Film Festival in full swing, Filmbrain didn't have a lot of time to think about this week's quiz. So, at 1:14AM he randomly grabbed a DVD off the shelf and chose the following scene. As usual, send your guesses to this address. Good luck!

NYFF Review: House of Flying Daggers

Director Zhang Yimou has certainly come a long way since his breakout film, 1987's Red Sorghum. Back then, he made small character-driven dramas that were also critical exposes of life in China. However, his films of late have ranged from lighthearted dramadies (Happy Times) to epic action films (Hero). His latest film, House of Flying Daggers, is a logical next step after Hero, though it's not nearly as grand in scope. Seemingly trying to recreate the formula that made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon such a success, Zhang blends nifty action set pieces (lots of wire work and, yes, a fight scene in bamboo trees) with a tale of tragic romance.

Visually, the film is stunning, as is its lead actress Zhang Ziyi (along with the dashing Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro). Zhang films his actors mostly in close-up, and rightly so. Cinematographer Xiaoding Zhao is no Christopher Doyle, but his presentation of rural China (as well as the Ukraine) is extremely lush and colorful. The film relies a bit too much on CGI effects, but not to the point of distraction.

The plot, sort of an Infernal Affairs set in 859 A.D., is as simple as can be -- police officer Leo (Andy Lau) suspects that blind dancer Mei (Zhang Ziyi) is part of a revolutionary underground alliance known as The House of the Flying Daggers. He sends in his best officer, Jin (Takeshi Kaneshiro), as a mole to infiltrate the group. A handsome police officer heading off alone into the wilds of northern China with a beautiful, blind dancer/fighter -- suffice it to say it doesn't require much intelligence to figure out where this plot is going. In between the elaborate set pieces (including some impressive fight sequences) characters will fall in love, betray each other, and ultimately wind up in tragic circumstances.

Critics have accused Zhang Yimou of making action films with a Western audience in mind, and though this film appears to be guilty of that, it doesn't detract from the sheer pleasure of watching it. House of Flying Daggers isn't a great film, but it hardly matters -- though the plot might be predictable and the ending a tad too overdramatic, it's a highly enjoyable, entertaining, richly cinematic two hours. Bring popcorn.

NYFF Review: Undertow

David Gordon Green's previous features, George Washington and All the Real Girls were both frustrating experiences for Filmbrain. While Green's talent as a filmmaker was evident, his worshipping at the temple of Terrence Malick unfortunately got in the way of other elements, particularly the screenplays. Full of twenty-something angst and cringe-worthy dialog, All the Real Girls could have been a far better film had Green worked with a more mature screenwriter. He's a wonderful director of actors, and his work with cinematographer Tim Orr proves that he has a vision -- it's just that he hadn't yet come into his own as a writer. Naturally then, it was with some trepidation that Filmbrain approached Green's latest film, Undertow. The good news is that for Undertow Green collaborated with another screenwriter, newcomer Joe Conway. The resulting screenplay is, while perhaps a bit formalistic, a vast improvement over Green's previous efforts. Conway, like Green, grew up in the south, and there's a familiarity with the locale and its denizens that allows them to avoid obvious or naive clichés. Also on the roster is Green-idol Terrence Malick, who here takes a producer credit. Purportedly based on real events, Undertow plays out a bit like an updated Night of the Hunter. Jamie Bell (better known as the lead in the ultra-cloying comedy Billy Elliot) plays Chris Munn, a sexually frustrated teenager living on a hog farm with his widowed father John (Dermot Mulroney) and sickly little brother Tim (Devon Alan). Enter John's brother Deel (Josh Lucas), fresh out of prison and with an axe to grind. At first, Chris is enamored with Deel, particularly by the fact that Deel has been out there in the world -- a welcome change from his father, who keeps the two boys in virtual isolation. It's doesn't take long before things go from bad to worse between Deel and John, and the remainder of the film finds the boys on the run from Deel, much as the Harper children were from Robert Mitchum's evil Reverend. Undertow's greatest strength lies with its actors, particularly Jamie Bell, who not only delivers his lines in perfect Southern accent, but is also so utterly convincing as the so-dirty-you-can-smell-him teenage boy on the run. His development from irresponsible teen to father figure for Tim is handled with subtlety, and though the boys are almost continually in danger, the dialog has a wonderfully natural quality to it. Young, frail Tim (often shown vomiting up the various toxic items he mysteriously eats) is stuck at that delicate age between boyhood and adolescence. Not quite ready to face the reality of their situation, he fills in the silence with jokes, observations, and monologues about chiggers (amongst other things). These are some of the strongest scenes in the film, and they are balanced perfectly with the more straightforward action/suspense scenes. Green was clearly interested in infusing the film with a certain 70's look and feel. The liberal use of zooms, for one thing, is a dead giveaway. The opening credits have an almost Dukes of Hazard-feel to them, complete with freeze-frames, wipes, and slo-mo. It comes off as a bit odd, and does not prepare you for the type of film that follows -- is this an attempt by Green to lull us into a false sense of security, or is it simply mood building? Undertow, with its Southern gothic tale, is the most narrative of Green's films, and should appeal to a wider audience than his other two features. He's certainly a filmmaker to keep an eye on -- he's got a great film in him, and it might not be that many years off. Filmbrain is very curious to see how he handles his next project, an adaptation of Confederacy of Dunces. Undertow is being released by United Artists at the end of October.

NYFF Review: Notre Musique

Notre Musique, the latest bit of cinematic poetry from Jean-Luc Godard, is a philosophical treatise on war that examines the various conflicting forces that have time and again led us to battle. Structured as a Dantean triptych (made up of the three "kingdoms" of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven), it's a film that, although containing a narrative, is more akin to Godard's political works from the 70's. One key difference, however, is that it is ultimately a very optimistic film, even when one considers its bleak subject matter.

The first kingdom, Hell, is a ten-minute montage of war scenes, sourced from both documentary and Hollywood footage (including Apocalypse Now and Kiss Me Deadly). Shown without sound (other than some tinkly piano music and a few lines of narration) it is broken up into four sections -- battle footage, war technology, victims of war, and images of Sarajevo during the war -- in preparation for the second kingdom, Purgatory.

Making up the bulk of the film (about an hour), the Purgatory section is set in current-day Sarajevo. A group of people (both real and fictional) has been invited to attend a Literary Encounters conference, including JLG himself, who has been asked to speak to students about text and image. (Other real participants include the poet Mahmoud Darwish, writer Juan Goytisolo, and architect Gilles Pequeux.) World War II, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and even the fate of Native Americans since the time of Columbus are discussed (the latter in a powerful sequence shot in the ruins of the Sarajevo Public Library). It is in this section that we also meet Olga (Nade Dieu), a Jewish Israeli who carries a tremendous amount of guilt with her about the situation in her country.

Many of the characters in this section speak about conflicting forces that have been around since time immemorial -- vanquished and victor, darkness and light, activists and storytellers etc. Godard, in his speech to the students, applies it to a cinematic reference -- shot and reverse shot -- and provides an amusing, but applicable, anecdote about Howard Hawks.

The film ends with the third kingdom, Heaven, which is depicted as a lush green forest guarded by US Marines. (In a Le Monde interview, Godard claims he got the idea from the final lines of the The Marines' Hymn, adding, "The Americans want to have everything.") The heaven of Notre Musique is full of young people having a good time, including a young man reading David Goodis' Street of No Return (which is also Sam Fuller's final film). Naturally, heaven for Godard could not exist without at least one film reference.

Notre Musique has been met with a fair amount of controversy. As Girish pointed out (see comments), fellow filmmaker Chantal Akerman denounced Godard as an anti-Semite at the Toronto Film Festival. Filmbrain is a bit surprised by her rather knee-jerk reaction. True, the film does draw a parallel between the Holocaust and the Palestinian exile as a result of the Middle East conflict, but that hardly results in automatic anti-Semitism. Godard, the self-proclaimed "Jew of the cinema" expresses surprise that nobody has already drawn that parallel. He adds:

And when I do that, I'm not thinking about it, I do it like a scientist bringing elements together. People would rather talk about something than really look at it. What I'm saying is, let's look at the images. I would rather look [first], then talk about it afterwards.

Godard insists that the film is optimistic, and the Sarajevo setting can be seen a metaphor for the various global political/social reconstruction efforts that he believes are still possible. A challenging, thought provoking work that almost allows Filmbrain to forgive JLG for his attack on Michael Moore and Fahrenheit 9/11 (without even having seen the film.) Obviously, no Godard fan should miss this one.

Notre Musique screens at the New York Film Festival on Oct 3 @ 4:15PM and Oct 4 @ 9:00PM and is being released by Wellspring later this year.

NYFF Review: The Big Red One

This is fictional life based on factual death. Sam Fuller's restored title card is just one of the many additions to be found in the newly reconstructed The Big Red One, Fuller's World War II epic from 1980. At the time of its initial release, Fuller was forced by (the now defunct) Lorimar to make major cuts to the film, something which caused him great dismay. Now, twenty-four years later, we finally have an opportunity to see the film as the director intended, thanks to Richard Schikel who tracked down and re-incorporated the thought-lost-forever footage. At 162 minutes (nearly an hour longer), the film seems much less episodic, and gives us greater insight to the Sergeant, brilliantly portrayed by the inimitable Lee Marvin. Based on Fuller's own World War II experiences with the US Army First Infantry Division, The Big Red One follows Lee Marvin's Sergeant and his core team of four "dogfaces" through Africa, Italy, France, Belgium and finally to a Nazi death camp in Czechoslovakia. Robert Carradine plays Private Zeb, the Bronx born cigar-chomping writer who is the alter ego of Fuller himself. (Hard to believe that this is the same actor that will go on to star in Revenge of the Nerds.) Rounding out the rest of the Sergeant's team are Private Griff (Mark Hamill), Private Vinci (Bobby Di Cicco) and Private Johnson (Kelly Ward). Between the many odds-always-against-them battles, the four will find time to laugh, swap stories, and do whatever they must to avoid thinking about the sense of doom that is constantly hovering over them. Unlike the WWII films that precede it, Fuller is not interested in spinning a tale of heroic glory nor is he going to play into the hackneyed clichés of the war genre. (Not once do we see a soldier pull out a snapshot of his wife moments before being shot.) This is simply the story of four young men, their gruff but likeable Sergeant, and their overwhelming desire to survive. While Fuller certainly doesn't glorify war, he's not at all interested in preaching or finger wagging to a younger generation either. There are no political or moral messages here, and though it clearly is an anti-war film, the point isn't belabored. The trite but true "war is hell" seems to sum up Fuller's position. This is best exemplified by the contrast between Marvin and the German soldier Schroeder (Siegfried Rauch). A minor character in the original version, Schroeder is now fully presented as the dark doppelganger to Marvin's Sergeant. Though the motivation of the two men may differ, the words they offer their troubled soldiers are identical -- "We don't murder, we kill." But whereas Schroeder is driven by his unyielding love for Deutschland and der Fuhrer, the Sergeant's war is less ideological than it is personal -- he is exorcising demons haunting him since WWI. Generally unaffected by the fighting and death that surrounds him, his one soft spot is for children, and there are two very strong sequences with children that will bring a tear to all but the hardest hearted. Of course, a Sam Fuller film wouldn't be a Sam Fuller film without a certain amount of raw machismo. Though not overdone, some of the scenes are less than subtle -- soldiers slipping condoms over their gun barrels (to keep out the salt water) is taking the gun as phallus metaphor a bit too far. Same with a scene of a young soldier who has tripped a landmine that has castrated him. Fearing he has lost his penis, Marvin assures him he only lost one testicle, telling him "you can live without it. That's why they gave you two." Instead of leaving it with that, the soldier repeatedly screams at the top of his lungs, "I sill have my cock!" Though these scenes don't detract from the film's power, they are guilty of drawing unnecessary attention to themselves. With this restoration, The Big Red One can now be added into the pantheon of great WWII films. At the same time, the film can also be considered one of Lee Marvin's greatest achievements as an actor. (Fuller was even able to get a great performance out of Mark Hamill, something Lucas never could.) It's only a matter of time before somebody writes the inevitable comparison to the far inferior Saving Private Ryan, but there's no doubt that Fuller's personal statement about the war, in this new version as he intended, will better stand the test of time. The Big Red One screens at the New York Film Festival on Oct 2 @ 11:00AM, and will have a limited release in November.