PIFF 35 Preview: WHERE DO WE GO NOW?

The tensions of the Muslim/Christian divide in Lebanon are reproduced in miniature in actor-director Nadine Labaki's (Caramel) Where Do We Go Now?; a film set in a secluded, sleepy village where landmines and the daily news reports are constant reminders of the violent struggle raging elsewhere in the country.  The twist of the piece rests in yet another division in the town, that of gender.  Fearing that their men are being stimulated to mirror national displays of sectarian violence, the women take it upon themselves to manufacture distractions aimed at the men to keep the town from falling into chaos.

This leads to some very hilarious results, including the hiring of a group of seductively-dressed, Russian dancing women and a cooking scene involving the use of "special" ingredients.  There's also a musical sequence, a dance routine, more than a little bit of tragedy and a love story peppered throughout the film.  All this furious activity leaves Where Do We Go Now? feeling a little overstuffed with subplots, making me wish that the story had been more streamlined.  As it stands, the film is a wee-bit schizophrenic in tone, shifting often between scenes infused with manic energy to moments drenched in sorrow.

Having said that, much of the film is quite enjoyable.  It's just ends up feeling at times like a kitchen sink (not this kind of kitchen sink) approach to storytelling.  Overly cluttered in parts, but a worthy diversion, nonetheless.  

 

Where Do We Go Now? will screen for the public at the Whitsell Auditorium on Feb. 11th at 8:30pm and at the Lake Twin Cinema on Feb. 13th at 6pm and 8:30pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: THE FAIRY

Fans of absurdist humor shouldn't hesitate to rush out to one of the upcoming screenings of The Fairy, the newest comedy from the French acting/directing trio of Dominique Abel, Fiona Gordon and Bruno Romy (L'iceberg, Rumba).  How to begin talking about this one?  It's a film powered by it's own off-kilter logic, beginning with a woman (Gordon) walking into the lobby of a hotel, bluntly declaring herself a fairy and offering the desk clerk (Abel) three wishes.  Odd as that sounds, the truly weird and wonderful thing about that moment (and the majority of what follows) is the wide-eyed acceptance by these characters of everything and anything that the story throws at them.

Take for instance, the romantic underwater dance scene that paves the way for a baby to enter the narrative.  Any other film that might orchestrate as pleasurably surreal a sequence as this would likely have it spring from the dream state of one of its characters.  Not at all the case in The Fairy.  The scene, which comes off as some kind of hybridized love child of the classic output of Buster Keaton and the Fleischer brothers, is played completely straight, as if there is no distinction between the reality of the hotel and the undersea dance palace where Dom and Fiona boogie the night away.

I'd never seen anything by Abel, Gordon and Romy before catching The Fairy (something I've since remedied with a home viewing of L'iceberg).  Their style strikes me as a fresh, revisionist take on farce that regularly slips into extremely amusing displays of whimsy.

There's really no one to whom I wouldn't recommend this film, unless there's someone out there with a grudge against laughter and fun.  It's entirely fine for older kids, although it certainly isn't aimed at a children's audience.  It isn't often that something with the potential to have such a wide demographic appeal plays the art house circuit (the last example I can think of is A Town Called Panic).  Seriously, don't miss it, okay?

The Fairy will screen for the public at Lloyd Mall 6 on Feb. 10th at 8:45pm and Feb. 11th at 3:30pm  A final screening will occur on Feb. 14th at the Lake Twin Cinema at 8:30pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: THE FORGIVENESS OF BLOOD

A land dispute turns into a blood feud in Joshua Marston's (Maria Full of Grace) The Forgiveness of Blood.  Playing out somewhat like the Albanian version of Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories, the film focuses on the family of a man named Mark (Refet Abazi).  At the fore of the film, we learn that Mark's grandfather used to own a piece of land that has fallen into the hands of another family in the town.  Mark and his son Nik (Tristan Halilaj) experience a run-in with one of the children of the new landowner, an encounter that sets the tone for a later act of violence, placing Nik and his family under an indefinite term of house arrest.

Basically a cinematic piece on conflict resolution in Albanian society, The Forgiveness of Blood somehow never becomes overly didactic.  Instead, we're drawn into an identifiable human dilemma: Nik's desire for freedom from his father's actions and their consequences.  At the same time that Nik is struggling with his role in the dispute, his sister Rudina (Sindi Lacej) is forced to drop her studies and take up the family business, delivering bread and other goods via a horse-drawn cart.

It's fascinating to watch their differing reactions as the siblings are stifled under the constant threat of violent retribution.  The parameters of their liberty may be restricted but Rudina's ingenuity and Nik's youthful defiance color the film with an unexpected optimism tempered with uneasy acceptance.  And, yes, hand-held cinematography in art house films is SO prevalent that it may very well be reaching its breaking point (see this recent NY Times article for Manohla Dargis' take on the ubiquitous shooting strategy), but its use is entirely appropriate here, achieving both the standard aim of "reality" mixed with a tangible feeling of claustrophobia that works well with the subject matter of the film, transporting the viewer to the edge of their seat at multiple points in the story.

The Forgiveness of Blood will screen for the public at Cinemagic on Feb. 10th at 8:30pm and at the Lloyd Mall 5 on Feb. 12th at 5pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: THE SNOWS OF KILIMANJARO

A large group of men huddle outdoors as their union representative, Michel (Jean-Pierre Darroussin) calls out names drawn from a box.  He pulls his own name, thus joining the ranks of those laid off from working at the docks.  His brother-in-law Raoul (Gérard Meylan) asks if Michel is "crazy" for including himself in the drawing, while Michel's wife, Marie-Claire (Ariane Ascaride) comments that it's hard sometimes to live with a "hero."  These differing reactions describe the central tension of Robert Guédiguian's The Snows of Kilimanjaro, a meditation on how our values hold up when tested.

Essentially, it is Michel and Marie-Claire's faith in their own social status that is at stake in the film.  Shortly after entering into early retirement, the couple is robbed at gunpoint by Christophe (Grégoire Leprince-Ringuet), one of the workers whose name Michel had pulled during the layoffs.  When Christophe is apprehended by the police, Michel confronts the younger man about what he has done.  Instead of showing remorse, Christophe shocks Michel by challenging the comforts he will enjoy as a middle class pensioner, contrasting the safety net afforded Michel with the complete lack of security the other laid off men have available to them.

Though the scene between Christophe and Michel is brief, the debate rages on throughout the film as Michel and Marie-Claire are treated to a variety of opinions on the matter from friends, family and the police.  For their part, they seem more interested in direct action, coming to the aid of Christophe's young brothers, pausing only once to discuss the strain between the socialist views they've held and the class position they occupy.

It's a film anchored by the performances, especially the work of Darroussin, whose quiet expressiveness modulates masterfully between growing humiliation and graceful acceptance.  Even when the plot veers towards becoming an apologist piece, his solid presence offers the viewer something to embrace.

The Snows of Kilimanjaro will screen for the public at Cinemagic on Feb. 11th at 6pm and at the Lloyd Mall 6 on Feb. 13th at 8:45pm  A final screening will occur on Feb. 16th at the Lake Twin Cinema at 8:30pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: ALMANYA: WELCOME TO GERMANY

Based on audience reaction during Wednesday's press screening for Almanya: Welcome to Germany, it's going to be really popular with this year's festival goers.  The film details the lives of a large Turkish family living in Germany.  Hüseyin (Vedat Erincin plays him in the present, Fahri Ögün Yardim is the younger version) and Fatma (Lilay Huser presently, Demet Gül in the past) left Turkey to participate in the "economic miracle" of the 1960s, when workers of the world flocked to find employment in the city centers of Germany.

40+ years later, Hüseyin and Fatma are officially becoming German citizens.  This doesn't rest too well with Hüseyin, who secretly purchases a home back in Turkey, springing the news on his family as they gather for a celebratory dinner.  He insists, to much protest from his family, that they join him in a journey to fix up the house during the upcoming holidays.

Almanya is a film that unfolds across two time periods.  The story of Hüseyin and Fatma's past is explained to Cenk (Rafael Koussouris), the youngest member of the clan, by his cousin Canan (Aylin Tezel).  Director Yasemin Samdereli allows the tale to flit between reality and light surreality, often without warning.  This works extremely well in the first half of the film, like in the very funny scene where Hüseyin and Fatma finalize their German citizenship and immediately have a pork-rich dinner thrust upon them.  The recurring sequences involving their son Muhamed's (Ercan Karacayli in the present, Kaan Aydogdu as the younger version) Coca-Cola obsession lean the hardest on the use of the surreal, yielding some of my favorite moments in the film.

The light mood does not prevail for the entire film, though, as the third act transition feels more manipulative than authentic.  While the move to a more serious set of circumstances is entirely appropriate, the manner in which it is orchestrated plays out much more by the numbers than anything that preceded it.  As I hinted at the beginning of this post, this didn't seem to faze those in the audience on Wednesday, and while it might not bother everybody, it did bug me.

Overall, Almanya is a good film with an incredibly charismatic cast of characters that will likely please a lot of PIFF attendees (expect laughter and clapping).  I just wish it could have taken a more honest route to its conclusion, without relying on emotional gerrymandering.

Almanya: Welcome to Germany will screen for the public at the Whitsell Auditorium on Feb. 10th at 6pm, the Lloyd Mall 6 on Feb. 11th at 3:15pm and 8:30pm  A final screening will occur on Feb. 12th at the Lake Twin Cinema at 8pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: BREATHING (ATMEN)

Roman Kolger (Thomas Schubert) has a problem.  He's been in prison since the age of 14 and now, at age 19, needs to find work in order to gain parole.  He's not terribly animated, motivated or skilled, so it seems awfully befitting when he falls into a job as an undertaker.  Breathing (Atmen) is a slow-moving, Austrian character piece that hovers warily over its protagonist, rarely offering hope but, patiently, revealing small details and slight grace notes that allow for insight into Roman's plight.

At first, there is only one thing we know about Roman; he's alone in this world.  The only advocate he has is a social worker who drives him around town, prepping him for an upcoming parole hearing.  The film is predominantly built upon extended moments of observation that yield small reveals, most of which occur in the spare moments when Roman risks interaction with others.  There is a fleeting encounter with a girl on the train back to his holding cell.  A failed attempt to reach out to a co-worker.  And another involving an older woman...but I don't want offer up too much, especially since this is a film that hinges so delicately on little details.

Austrian actor-turned-director Karl Markovics understands that explanations aren't of primary concern to his story.  Instead, he sticks with small events and repeated passages, like the indignities that Roman must endure each night as he returns to prison, to draw in the viewer.  It's a particularly strong directorial debut for Markovics, who has spent much of his prior career on television and in the theater.  Likewise, Schubert's turn as Roman, his first film role, has an appropriately affectless feel to it.  He plays Roman as someone who has been abandoned by society; a truth that only deepens as the evidence of his life unfolds.

Breathing (Atmen) will screen for the public at the Lloyd Mall 6 on Feb. 10th at 6:15pm and, again, at Cinemagic on Feb. 12th at 8pm.  A final screening will occur on Feb. 14th at the Lake Twin Cinema at 6pm.

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PIFF 35 Preview: DECLARATION OF WAR

Early on in writer-actor-director Valérie Donzelli's Declaration of War, written in semi-autobiographical collaboration with her co-star Jérémie Elkaïm, a young man and woman (Romeo and Juliette) have a chance meeting at a noisy nightclub.  After exchanging names, the woman states with some amusement, "so we're doomed to a terrible fate."  Her tossed off prediction, it turns out, is both true and false.

The scene is a flashback directly following an establishing moment with Juliette standing over their son, Adam, as he's undergoing an MRI scan.  His ailment, a brain tumor, is the prolonged concern of the film, which somehow is able to sustain an optimistic energy throughout, even with the plot centering on a parent's worst nightmare.

All credit for this result rests with the writing and performances; the entire film is grounded by the beautifully observed adult relationship that lies at the center of the film.  Romeo and Juliette's strengths, weaknesses and overall growth in the face of the circumstances they face as parents are all made available to the viewer.  Their love feels authentic and, even when the filmmakers take risks that don't entirely pay off; the awkward musical duet that plays out shortly after they find out about Adam's illness, for instance, watching the couple interact onscreen is a captivating and joyful experience.  Strange as it sounds, I'd argue that the film is essentially a romance, albeit one that folds childhood cancer into the mix.  Highly recommended.

Declaration of War will screen for the public at the Whitsell Auditorium on Feb. 10th at 8:30p.m.


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