Best of 2011: The Top 5

#5 How to Die in Oregon (dir. Peter Richardson):

A brave, even-handed look at Oregon's Death with Dignity act.  Rather than dwell on the law itself, Richardson goes directly to those who are affected by its provisions.

Hit the link to read what I had to say about it back in February.

#4 The Tree of Life (dir. Terrence Malick):

Terrence Malick's newest vision split audiences wildly, some lapping it up while other viewers chose to turn their backs on it entirely. To be sure, this isn't your average, run of the mill entertainment, reduced to explainable phenomena and wrapped up with a tidy, little moralistic bow at its close; Malick is grappling with large philosophical issues, the answers to which are unreachable by any artistic medium.

Religion, science, special effects, personal mythology and the mysteries of connectivity are all employed but meaning is left to the viewer to discern. To some, this puzzle felt like homework. To others, a visually rich gift.

#3 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (dir. Apichatpong Weerasethakul):

A farmer dying of kidney failure is visited by long departed family members and a series of memories/visions reaching back to before he was born. Weerasethakul breathes new life into the cinema with this trance-inducing, experiential work that defies literal explanations.

One of the few films I've seen in recent years that bears an excessive amount of repeated viewings. Just thinking about it now makes me want to watch it again.

Hit the link to see what I had to say about it in February.

#2 Le Quattro Volte (dir. Michelangelo Frammartino):

My favorite narrative film of the year was also the biggest surprise at the 2011 edition of the Portland International Film Festival, arriving with little to no advanced hype from other festivals.

Hit the link to read my thoughts about it in February (when it was billed locally as The Four Times).

#1 Nostalgia for the Light (dir. Patricio Guzman):

A documentary that blends parallel facts, concepts and viewpoints into a personal and historically-based meditation on time, memory and loss. Despite the dire truths being dealt with here, Guzmán infuses the film with a tactile sense of hope, refusing to give up on his native soil. A remarkable film that pushes boundaries without flash or pomp.

Hit the link to read what I wrote about it back in March.

Thanks for reading.  If you missed the previous "best of 2011" posts, they can be quickly reached here:

Best of 2011: #6-10 
Best of 2011: #11-15 
Best of 2011: #16-20
Best of 2011: The Runners Up

And remember, the press screenings for the 35th annual Portland International Film Festival begin tomorrow.  I'll be at those screenings and actively posting about them on the blog.  So keep an eye out for updates this week and throughout the festival!

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Cinema Project needs a boost from YOU!

Local non-profit Cinema Project is nearing the final week of a Kickstarter fundraising campaign that will help keep them operational all the way through next season.  As PDX's shining star of experimental and art film exhibition, the organization is absolutely worthy of your support.

My own first encounter with Cinema Project dates back to 2008 when they were able to secure the scarcely seen short films by Apichatpong Weerasethakul for a screening at the Whitsell Auditorium.  Other notable past presentations have included Jonas Mekas' mind-blowingly epic cinematic diary Walden, the most recent work by experimental puppet theater and film director Janie Geiser and far too many other rare gems to recount here.

An excerpt from Walden (1969) by Jonas Mekas:

An excerpt from Worldly Desires (2005) by Apichatpong Weerasethakul:

Even a quick perusal of this season's schedule reveals that Cinema Project's programming is unlike anything else on offer in Portland.  We're extremely fortunate to have these folks kicking around our town, especially when one considers how few organizations like this are available on the national scene.

Here's a link to their Kickstarter page, complete with a budgetary breakdown of what operations the funds will cover.  And as of this writing, they've got about 8 days left to raise just under $2K.  As with most Kickstarter campaigns, there are "prizes" associated with the various levels of support.  Lend them a hand, if you can.  And don't forget to check out one of their upcoming screenings...the next one's on October 11th at 6p.m.


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Portland International Film Festival preview day 8: UNCLE BOONMEE & IN A BETTER WORLD

The press screening at the Whitsell Auditorium was packed on Wednesday in anticipation of two of the more hyped up films at this year's installment of PIFF.  Susanne Bier's (After the Wedding, Brothers) newest picture, In a Better World, took the best foreign language film award at the Golden Globes and is nominated in the same category at this year's Academy Awards.  Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, besides winning the competition for the longest title in the PIFF schedule, is the first film from Thailand to receive the Palm d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Uncle Boonmee is the sort of film that will appeal strongly to a certain kind of filmgoer, while leaving the majority of viewers wondering why so much attention has been placed upon this curious Thai import.  One of the festival staff confessed that a passholder complained that he has had "a better time watching oil drip down a dipstick."  Having said that, Weerasethakul's film is among the best two or three films I've seen in the program thus far.  It's a movie that continues to clang around in your head days after you've seen it.  I'm already dying to see it again.

Weerasethakul keeps the narrative wide-open, blending everyday life and myth within a loose and experimental narrative that requires the audience to suss out much of the details for themselves.  Coming out of the film with a friend, we spoke about it in terms of lenses through which the film could be viewed, rather than the specifics of plot, ranging from the mindful juxtaposition of interior and exterior spaces to representations of time.  None of which goes anywhere near describing what the film looks or feels like to a first-time viewer. 
What to expect: long (VERY long) takes of natural jungle settings, vividly life-like sound design, supernatural events, unexpected movements away from the primary narrative with little to no conventional segue (ex: hey, suddenly there's a princess being carried through the jungle by her servants...um, ok, I'll just go with it), etc.

I really don't want to talk too much more about the film, as I'd encourage potential viewers to go into it with as little preconception as possible.  But here's just a very basic overview of the plot:
Boonmee is a man dying of kidney failure.  One evening while dining, the spirit of Huay, Boonmee's late wife, appears at the table.  While having a conversation with Huay's ghost, their long-missing son, Boonsong appears in a greatly transformed state.  There's talk of shadowy figures called "monkey ghosts" and interspecies (or is it supernatural) mating.  Oh, and later there's an awe-inspiring and befuddling sequence involving a princess and a catfish.  Yup...a catfish.

Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives plays at the Whitsell Auditorium on Feb. 16th at 8:45pm.  There is an additional screening at Cinemagic on Feb. 18th at 9pm.

In a Better World is exactly the type of film you expect to see programmed in festivals and featured at awards shows.  Examining nothing less than the human condition and the phenomenon of violence as it cycles through the culture, it sets its sights on extremely lofty (and hyper-dramatic) goals that, although traveled by many other filmmakers (yeah, I'm lookin' at you Alejandro González Iñárritu), it mostly ends up achieving.

Centering on two young boys, Christian and Elias, who have come under the attack of school bullies, the film exhibits how (yeah, I know...it's simplistic and obvious) violence begets more violence.  Parallel to the schoolyard squabbles, Elias' father, Anton, is bullied by a mechanic after Anton breaks up a fight between two kids at a playground.  Despite Anton's warnings that reprisals will only bring more trouble, Christian and Elias decide to teach Anton's bully a lesson, a decision that spirals out of control, as these things tend to do.

In a Better World plays at Cinemagic on Feb. 20th at 4:45pm.  There is an additional screening at the Broadway Theater on Feb. 21st at 7:15pm.

Portland ❤ film & February is a great month for film in PDX

Hello and welcome to The Rain Falls Down on Portlandtown, a multi-topic blog focusing mainly on cinema but also on art, life and more in the little big city that is PDX, Oregon.

I've been toying with the idea of blogging for about a year now, mostly due to wanting an outlet for writing about film.  This February, I'll be working the door at one of the six screening venues for the 34th annual Portland International Film Festival (PIFF).  The gig translates, for me, as access to press screenings, etc. and it seemed like the perfect excuse/opportunity to force myself into (blogging) action.  No time like the present, eh?

The full festival schedule won't be announced until February 1st.  However, the following films have been confirmed by various local media outlets such as The Oregonian, Willamette Week and The Portland Mercury:

Certified Copy dir. Abbas Kiarostami (Taste of Cherry, Close-Up)
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives dir. Apichatapong Weerasethakul (Syndromes and a Century, Tropical Malady)
Some Days Are Better Than Others dir. Matt McCormick (The Subconscious Art of Graffiti Removal)
When We Leave dir. Feo Aladag
Honey dir. Semih Kaplanoglu
How to Die in Oregon dir. Peter Richardson (Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon)
Son of Babylon dir. Mohamed Al Daradji (Dreams)
Outrage dir. "Beat" Takeshi Kitano (Fireworks, Sonatine)
Potiche dir. Francois Ozon (Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Swimming Pool)
In a Better World dir. Susanne Bier (After the Wedding, Brothers)
The Revenant dir. D. Kerry Prior (Roadkill)
The Princess of Montpensier dir. Bertrand Tavernier (Coup de Torchon, The Clockmaker)
Of Gods and Men dir. Xavier Beauvois (Le Petit Lieutenant)
Cold Weather dir. Aaron Katz
Flamenco, Flamenco dir. Carlos Saura (Tango, Carmen)
Mutant Girls Squad dir. Yoshihiro Nishimura (Suicide Club) and Noburu Iguchi (The Machine Girl)
Passione dir. John Turturro (Romance & Cigarettes) 
Rubber dir. Quentin Dupieux

The festival begins on the 10th and comes to a close on the 27th of February.  I'll be sure to post again as soon as the official schedule appears online.  Plus, I'll spend some time talking about films as I see them.  Thanks for taking the time to peruse this post.  Press screenings begin on Monday, so keep an eye out for updates.  And, who knows, I might find something else to blather on about before then...