Jamie passion and passionfruit!

Definitely in the category of small films, this little German number set in Poland takes the story of Sven, a young German,who comes to Auschwitz to do his civil service and ends up having to babysit a veteran of the camp who is in his 80’s and far from an easy job.  He is also involved in and around the monuments and this allows him to meet Anya, a Polish guide who he falls for.  The films throws up all sorts of questions about the German role in Poland today with local Polish being relatively cool towards their presence.  It also asks us to look at what and how we remember such tragic events in the past and as the film progresses Sven realizes how important it is to value the memories of history and how that today is a challenge with the young.  A gentle film which makes a number of points quietly, I enjoyed it a lot although there is nothing outstanding either in front or behind the camera to mention in particular.  Simply, a quiet, competent film.

* * *

A strange film with readings on various levels.  The story is that of a French family who live in bucolic abandon next to a motorway that has never been inaugurated.  It is like paradise for the wife (Isabelle Huppert).  Then, after ten years inaction, the authorities give it an extra layer of paving and open it up.  The rural peace is shattered and we watch the family coming to terms or not with the effects of this new lifestyle: the difficulty of getting across the highway to their car, the contamination of the air and plants, the constant noise, etc.  Family relationships start to get strained.  They block up the house with concrete bricks to get some peace transforming paradise into a type of prison. The rationalists will say ‘Why don’t they get out?’ Indeed, the calvary seems somewhat senseless.  Yet reading the film as a type of allegory of being stuck in a place that changes its nature with you being powerless to do much about it, it could be Planet Earth, a state that becomes a dictatorship, a state at war (there was an Israeli film with a similar theme) or simply a neighbourhood that turns sour. The ending is perhaps a little too open and overall, the film is a little dull unless you engage in this reflection based on what it says.  Ursula Meier does a good job of casting with Huppert and Olivier Gourmet up to their normal level and the photography of Agnes Godard which follows the mood of the story perfectly.

* * * +

Independent Argentine film that seems low budget but packs a punch well above its weight.  Unfortunately, its setting and the themes dealt with in the film are not going to draw millions to the box office but as a story of poverty, violence, ignorance and exploitation, the film is a low-key and convincing and remains in the mind for a long time afterwards.

Roberto is an 18 year-old gay whose mother and sister barely provide a stable home life.  He wants his independence, a place of his own and a dream romance within the reasonable expectations of an unemployed boy from the southern suburbs of greater Buenos Aires.  He takes up with Raúl, a 50-ish long-haired loner who earns his money from dubious dealings, seems to be a sort of cross between rocker, dealer and local mercenary and who has a very short fuse which results in acts of considerable violence.  The relationship sputters into life that way with Roberto moving in with him, grateful for a home and trying to reform the older man and balance up the relationship in some way.  As he gets to know more about Raúl, who has a history in the neighbourhood, he realizes that he is sucked into a cycle of violence which involves another lover, his family and his friends.

The film is no joyride but Juan José Campusano manages the pacing and direction with confidence, gives us a largely authentic script and leads his inexperienced actors to some excellent performances.  Oscar Génova as Raúl is quite a character, brooding and hard, Nehuén Zapata does an amazingly solid job with Roberto as a mixture of good faith, courage and innocence and Marisa Pájaro as Alejandra, the sister, is a find.  Vil Romance wins a lot of points in its authenticity and simplicity and for the commentary it makes on human relationships particularly in the context of an impoverished social class.

* * * *

An extraordinary film in the sense that it plays out more like a documentary but is in fact very carefully staged and full of wisdom about people and families.  It takes the story of a Tunisian father who lives in France and when ‘made redundant’ decides to put his efforts and little money into turning a derelict boat into a cous-cous restaurant. His ex-wife will cook for it, his present lover who has a small hotel gets the huff and various members of the family support the project to greater and lesser degrees. The person who most helps him is Rym, his lover’s daughter. Played by Hafsia Herzi, she and Habib Boufares make an odd and compelling couple as they battle local banks and bureaucracy. Both actors, but particularly Herzi, are superb and give us characters that are so real and credible that we hardly feel we are watching a film.  These are real people with no concessions for cinema.  The father is quiet to the point of almost sullenness, the women are quite the opposite and can’t be halted in full flow and with it we learn all about the substrata of family life.  Maybe it is overlong and maybe some of the content drags on a bit but the effect is so natural and so dramatic in precisely a compellingly natural way that you get hooked.  Several scenes, usually involving long dialogues are fascinating and of a type seldom scene in the cinema these days and Herzi’s last main appearance as the belly dancer is stunning.  This is a film that warrants more than one viewing as it gives us real-life drama and many comments about life and immigrants that are most insightful.  Director/Screenwriter Abdellatif Kechiche can take a bow.

* * * *++

This is no world beater as a film but as a rainy Sunday afternoon chick flick it does have some merits.  Not the least of which is Meryl Streep, who once again gives us a superb portrayal of the famous American cookery writer Julia Child, who living in Paris took classes in French cooking and then wrote about it to introduce the Americans to that cuisine.  We see her life in Europe, her supportive diplomat husband played by Stanley Tucci and her efforts to nail the definitive book with her local friends.  Streep does another masterpiece on accent and on body language – the tall almost ungainly woman with the passion for life and food.  Less gripping is the modern blog story featuring Amy Adams as Julie, the New Yorker who seeks respite from her day job sorting out 9/11 traumas to cook all the recipes in Child’s original book and write about them! Adams does her best and is clearly an actress of talent and her scenes with Chris Messina are good but they pale in comparison to the scenes with Child.  Good photography and music and Ephron has a sure hand with the direction though the script can be a bit cloying at times as she tries to milk a life lesson every so often.

* * *

Intelligent and well directed Argentine film about a retired judge’s clerk who decides to write a novel about a case twenty years previously that was never quite solved to his satisfaction, as was a potential love affair that never got off the ground with the judge’s secretary.  Consequently, the film is shot with plenty of flashbacks which fits in with its mystery theme and the element of romantic memory that it contains.  Juan José Campanella is a more than competent director and is well supported by favourite Ricardo Darin, the very able Soledad Villamil, an effective Pablo Rago and the most surprising comic actor Guillermo Francella who turns in a remarkable performance as the alcoholic sidekick Sandoval. Great photography from Felix Monti too.  While there may be some quibbles about time frames and continuity, this is a satisfying work of art without rising to great heights.

* * * *+

Marco Tullio Giordana is noted for his period pieces for RAI television and his latest film smacks of the same careful reproduction of the period and rather monotonous pacing.  There is no denying the seriousness of the cast and crew as they recreate this real story of the death of two actors famous during the Fascist regime in WW2 Italy.  The story of how the regime tried to influence the art and muzzle the noted directors of the time and how the wannabe’s tried to use this opportunity to grab fame is well portrayed as is the climactic persecution of such upstarts as the war ends.  The flashback technique is a little irritating in this respect as it takes time to work out who is who.  Acting credits go to Luca Zingaretti who is excellent as Osvaldo Valenti and Monica Bellucci is ever magnetic whenever on screen as the siren Luisa Ferida. All in all the film is a good opportunity to learn about an episode of war and Italian history that has lessons for posterity, but as a movie it does drag in parts and lacks a certain something to lift it into a better category. Interesting but not vital.

* * *

Indie darling of a couple of years back, there is no doubting that this is an original little movie about a bunch of interconnected people in the suburbs – child sexuality, child molesting, lost adults, etc etc.  Parts of it I found almost irritating and writer-director Miranda July as the leading lady and performance artist is definitely close to maddening, but the sheer inventiveness of the script and the stories makes up for her character.  There are some good performances from a non famous cast and a nice brevity to the film but it also falls short of the great revelation I perhaps expected.  July is an artist to be watched and there may be more than one actor here to go on to better things, so at the end of the day it gives plenty to enjoy and think about.

* * * +

A curiosity that ends up being less than curious.  VS Naipaul’s first novel set in Trinidad and brought to the screen by Ismail Merchant of the Merchant and Ivory team.  As a work designed to depict a certain period in Trinidad’s history (1940’s and 50’s) it is sound enough, the great problem being that the story of this Indian upstart becoming a masseur, magic man and politician is not that fascinating and despite the efforts of actors and screenwriter Caryl Phillips, the film has a plodding predictable nature that kills our interest. Only the lush countryside and the fact that this is a ‘new’ subject for a film kept me going to the end.

* *

German remake of an American independent film of the 80’s and both are based on a real incident at a Californian High School in the 60’s.  It recounts a week project by a political science/civics teacher who decides to show his students how an authoritarian society can come about by leading them through a simulation of the process.  Trouble is that the students buy into the project to such an extent that they start taking it way too seriously and things get totally out of hand. The film itself is nothing special with an upbeat staging and direction by Dennis Gansel and a solid leading man in Jürgen Vogel, but it is the issues that the film raises,  which keep one interested and the fact that it is made in Germany has a special relevance.

* * * +