World Cinema Showcase 2008
TIM WONG previews the latest installment of the World Cinema Showcase, compelling in its tenth year.BRIDGING the 12-month gap between New Zealand International Film Festivals, the World Cinema Showcase is a calculated and deliberate late-Summer institution. More than simply jumpstarting the local film festival season, its strategic positioning affords unique advantages: namely, as a sweeper able to pick up on any missed opportunities its bigger brother was unable to lock down the previous Winter. Those curious as to the whereabouts of Cannes flashpoints such as Catherine Breillat’s An Old Mistress (with the red hot Asia Argento), or the festival’s eventual conqueror, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, will be pleased to know both films screen as part of the Showcase this March and April.
As it does every year, the Showcase also plays the role of cinematic saviour, resurrecting several festival highlights gone too quickly six months earlier. Granted a second chance: Roy Andersson’s absurdist, depressionist vignette of Swedish urban misery, You, the Living; the awfully moving coincidences of Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven; and design conscious documentary Helvetica, where different schools of thought on the ubiquitous font’s aesthetics provide some very entertaining loggerheads. In a wise move, the midnight movie double-header of El Topo and The Holy Mountain demands attendance where the NZIFF’s last retrospective outing – the excellent, if under-appreciated American 70s cinema programme – was less successful in attracting numbers. Sure enough, the mobilization of audiences comes with great difficulty concerning films from the past, invariably within convenient reach via DVD or mouse click. Jodorowsky’s acid western and existential quest respectively though draw their life force from live exhibition, and for cannot be so easily ignored.
All in all, the Showcase presents its strongest and least conservative line-up in years, with acquisitions as diverse as Terrence Davies’ seminal Distant Voices, Still Lives, and Gus Van Sant’s formative Mala Noche, both from the 80s. The programming also gives rise to at least one inspired pairing: Brian De Palma’s hand grenade on the Iraqi war, Redacted, coupled with Bruno Dumont’s well-overdue and similarly divisive Cannes Grand Prix winner (from 2006) Flandres, which follows a group of unresponsive young men conscripted to an anonymous war, where they mindlessly rape and kill under the sand dunes of a suspiciously Middle Eastern territory. More predictably, wide release certainties like The Diving Bell and Butterfly and Todd Haynes’ conceptual Bob Dylan movie, I’m Not There (eerily featuring the now-deceased Heath Ledger) create broader appeal, even if their time in the spotlight will continue well after the Showcase’s conclusion. Admittedly less compelling because of a guaranteed life-life beyond their festival berthings, such films are nevertheless essential to the Showcase’s own existence (now in its tenth year). Those who berate its part-function as a roadshow previewing forthcoming theatrical attractions only need to review past selections now missing in action, and the volatility of local distribution: Lars Von Trier’s Manderlay, for instance, screened in early 2006, resurfacing only as recently as November on DVD, while Dominik Moll’s Lemming, a film of relative commercial arthouse potential (it stars the two Charlotte’s, Rampling and Gainsbourg), has yet to see the light of day since its 2007 appearance.
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THE WORLD CINEMA SHOWCASE tours following centres: Wellington, Paramount, March 20 – April 2; Auckland, Academy Cinemas, March 27 – April 16; Christchurch, Rialto Cinemas, April 17 – 30; Dunedin, Regent Theatre, April 24 – May 7. Its website, worldcinemashowcase.co.nz, should be frequented for programme updates. The line-up (as confirmed to date) follows:
STOP PRESS: Since time of printing, further additions to the line-up include Southland Tales (“Hugely entertaining... a true visionary experiment.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice) and Margot at the Wedding (“Acutely attuned to the droll mind games of smart people who only think they are impervious to feeling.” —Peter Travers, Rolling Stone), and An Island Calling (Annie Goldson’s documentary delineating the complex and volatile cultural heritage of 21st-century Fiji).
4 (Australia/USA/Japan/Finland)
Director Tim Slade takes us around the world to hear – and see – four outstanding solo violinists each perform a movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Each performer lives and works a setting where the season in question is at its most vividly pronounced. We experience spring amongst the blossoms in Tokyo, summer in the arid Australian far north, autumn in New York, and winter in snowbound rural Finland. ‘A seamless whole, rich in meaning and emotional resonance... the music is thrillingly performed’ —Evan Williams, The Australian
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania) Rating TBC
The best film of 2007 in the eyes of the Cannes jury and countless end-of-year critics’ surveys 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is further stunning proof of the fertility of a new generation of filmmakers in Romania. Set in the Ceausescu era, when just scoring a cigarette required cunning and subterfuge; it’s an incredibly suspenseful tale of a young woman trying to procure an illegal termination for her strangely unengaged friend. The performances are superb, each character indelibly real, and the film is energised by the same intensely ironic humanism as the earlier Death of Mr Lazerescu. Winner Palme D’Or 2007, Golden Globe nominee. 4months3weeksand2days.com
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Helmed by Cristian Mungiu, the movie dramatises the horror and dilemma of two university students, one forced to abort her child and other trying to help her do that during the stifling dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. Through stark images, Mungiu builds up the tension the two girls face in a regime where abortion is a crime. Termed “pitch-perfect” and “brilliantly acted” by Variety, the film often conveys unbearable suspense without undue political sentimentality. That the suspense does not eventually lead up to unpleasant or frightening consequences may be seen by some as somewhat flat or even disappointing. But Mungiu’s remarkable ability to achieve precisely that can also be seen as an eloquent testimony of his directorial genius.” —Gautaman Bhaskaran
Across the Universe (USA)
Rated M—contains violence, offensive language and nudity
Director Julie Taymor turns the Beatles Songbook into the movie extravaganza the 60s/70s were too stoned to make. The songs are great, of course; the arrangements exult in the endless melodic vitality of John and Paul (and George as well); the actors are soulful, sexy and full of beans and the stagings have enough wit and energy to fuel a full-fledged revival of the movie musical. The plot – a love story featuring Merseyside boy and American WASP princess – is as wildly improbable a catchall of 60s phenomena as the Beatles songbook itself, less persuasive as narrative than as an excuse for a string of exuberant, spectacular theme parties. “A testament to both the enduring emotional power of the Fab Four’s music... and Taymor’s unbridled artistic brio.” —Empire Magazine. Golden Globe nominee. acrosstheuniverse.com
Annie Leibovitz: Life through a Lens (USA) Rated M—drug references
An insightful look at one of the most popular photographers of our time, Life through the Lens, allows Annie Leibovitz to talk for herself about her work for magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair and about the more intimate work revealed in her remarkable recent book. Directed by her sister Barbara, the film also covers personal aspects of her life such as her pivotal relationship with Susan Sontag, and includes interviews with converts such as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Mikhail Baryshnikov & Hilary Clinton. pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters
Beauty in Trouble (Czech Republic) Rating TBC
The latest film from the masterly director and writer team, Jan Hrebejk & Petr Jarchovsky (Divided we Fall, Up and Down), elegantly and shrewdly explores a beautiful young woman’s dilemma. Should she opt for a life of comfort for herself and her children with a benign and wealthy patron, or should she withstand the emotional tumult of life with her wildly unreliable sexy beast of a husband? The film takes its title from the first line of a Rupert Grave’s poem – “Beauty in trouble flees to the good angel, on whom she can rely...”
Black White & Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff & Robert Mapplethorpe (USA) Rating TBC
An in-depth look at the life and work of art curator Sam Wagstaff and his influence on the life and work of his lover Robert Mapplethorpe. “A finely drawn portrait... admirably explores all the shades of Wagstaff's fascinating character.” —New York Sun. blackwhitegray.com
Boxing Day (Australia) Rating TBC
This gritty low budget Dogme-style film, shot on HD video and in real time follows Chris – a recovering alcoholic and home detention prisoner – and his attempts to reconcile with his family while trying to stay on the straight and narrow. “...one of the toughest, rawest feature films in the recent spate of tough, raw Australian films... (Richard) Green’s raw energy and emotional volatility gives it a surprising power.” —Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald
Distant Voices, Still Lives (UK, 1988) Rated M
“Superlatives are in short supply to describe the emotional power of Terence Davies’ fractured chronicle of the life of a working-class family in 1940s and ’50s Liverpool. Drawing on his own childhood, Davies turns his film on the pivot of a brutal patriarch’s death and his daughter’s subsequent marriage, so splitting his film into two episodes (which he filmed a year apart)” —Time Out. Last seen here in the 1989 NZ International Film Festivals but no less powerful in 2008, Distant Voices, Still Lives is presented in a beautiful new print.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/USA) Rating TBC
Julian Schnabel’s deeply affecting version of the internationally bestselling memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric), the former editor of French Elle, who at a young age suffered a massive stroke leaving him with ‘locked-in syndrome’. The film won the Best Director prize for Schnabel at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, has been nominated for three Golden Globes and is a likely Oscar contender. ‘It's an exhilarating, heartbreaking, wonderfully visual big-screen translation of an inherently uncinematic premise: a man so trapped in his own body he can only control one eye” —Andrew O’Hehir, Salon. Winner of two Golden Globes – Best Foreign Film, Best Director. lescaphandre-lefilm.com (French)
Dry Season (Chad) Rated PG—contains medium level violence
When Chad’s government grants amnesty to war criminals in the wake of a 40-year civil war, 16-year-old Atim decides that justice lies in his own hands and he sets out to avenge his father's death. Part of last year’s New Crowned Hope series, commissioned by director/impresario Peter Sellars to commemorate the 250th birthday of Mozart, this is the latest film from the talented Mahamat Saleh-Haroun (Bye Bye Africa, Abouna). “Gently and quietly told… it is an unassumingly political work that unfolds with the simplicity of a parable and the gravity of a Bible story ... the film has the feel of a gift.” —Manohla Dargis, NY Times. newcrownedhope.org
The Edge of Heaven (Turkey) Rated M—contains violence, offensive language, sex scenes
A welcome return from last year’s International Film Festivals. Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s (Head-On) masterful new film tracks the emotional arcs of six people – four Turks and two Germans – as they criss-cross through love, tragedy and borders. “The point at which a good director crosses the career bridge to become a substantial international talent is vividly clear in The Edge of Heaven, an utterly assured, profoundly moving fifth feature by Fatih Akin” —Derek Alley, Variety.
LUMIČRE SAYS: “An exercise in style-through-substance, The Edge of Heaven showcases clever, assured filmmaking and storytelling both. Fatih Akin, takes his various plot strands and orchestrates a beautifully unfolding narrative ballet which unquestionably satisfies whilst subverting the traditional cinematic ‘need’ for tidy closure.” —Jacob Powell
El Topo (Mexico) Rated R18—violence and sexual themes
Rare cinema screenings in a new print of the film that started the Midnight Movie phenomena in the 70s and developed a cult following that never dies. A bizarre, ultra-violent, allegorical Western, El Topo is set in two halves that have been widely compared to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. “Violent, visionary, vital” —Empire magazine. Screening also in the Showcase is Jodorowsky’s next film, the equally enigmatic and controversial The Holy Mountain. el-topo.co.uk
Flanders (France) Rating TBC
Bruno Dumont’s (Humanity) unsparing account of two young farm workers who sign up for war, and of the young woman they leave behind in Dumont’s native Flanders, itself the scene of massive slaughter in World War I. “An extraordinary and raw piece of work. Dumont is one of those rare directors who knows what it means to shoot the unspeakable truth” —James Christopher, The Times. Winner of the Grand Prix, Cannes 2006.
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Bruno Dumont’s forth feature... is hindered by primitive war sequences and unstable characters who, as usual, fuck mindlessly and turn into monsters under a backdrop of menacing widescreen scenery. And yet, Dumont makes movies so improbably compelling (and this time around, also strangely heartfelt) that they cannot to be ignored.” —Tim Wong
Forbidden Lie$ (Australia) Rated M—contains violence and offensive language
Norma Khouri won fame and fortune with her runaway best seller Forbidden Love which recounted the shocking honour killing of her best friend in Jordan. Khouri was the toast of the literary world and a human rights heroine until a Sydney journalist did some research and announced that the book was considerably less than entirely truthful. Aussie documentary maker Anna Broinowski picks up the story and lets Norma tell her ‘truth’. This fascinating psychological study and gripping thriller keeps the surprises coming every step of the way. Winner of the Australian Film Institute award for best documentary (2007). forbiddenlies.com.au
Helvetica (UK)
Having played to capacity houses at the 2007 NZ International Film Festivals, Helvetica clearly deserves another outing. This fascinating, illuminating documentary brings us up to speed on the world’s most ubiquitous font – the titular ‘Helvetica’. Director Gary Hustwit made the film to celebrate the fonts 50th birthday and through often humorous interviews with a variety of designers who either ‘love it or hate it’, cleverly explores the way that type affects our lives. helveticafilm.com
The Holy Mountain (Mexico) Rated R18—violence and sex scenes
How do you top El Topo? You make The Holy Mountain... “A scandal when first released, Mr. Jodorowsky’s movie is a dazzling, rambling, often incoherent satire on consumerism, militarism and the exploitation of third world cultures by the West. It unfurls like a hallucinogenic daydream...” —Matt Zoller Seitz, NY Times. “So extreme in its sacrilege that it achieves a kind of sacredness, The Holy Mountain is a transcendental feast of the grotesque and the sublime” —Bill White, Seattle Post Intelligencer
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Jodorowsky’s follow-up to his classic acid-Western El Topo is a lot more esoteric, but it holds rich rewards for those willing to submit to the mystical experience. It bears elements of a plot, which involves the wanderings of a Christ-like figure across a bizarre, apocalyptic landscape of unrest and chaos. He ascends a mysterious portal where he meets The Alchemist (significantly played by Jodorowsky) who has assembled eight other people from different backgrounds – it turns out that he’s planning to kill and supersede the nine immortal masters atop the Holy Mountain in order to achieve eternal life, and the film thereafter follows their path to the Mountain. (If all this sounds very anticipatory of Monty Python-esque daftness, it kinda is. Except, the humour here being seethed with acid and reformed from its own excrement – you’ll see what I mean.) Because this is a Jodorowsky film, the intense surreal imagery of the film is best left undescribed, but it is utterly (and somewhat dangerously) disorienting, and is barely balanced by the absurdist humour that surfaces sporadically. The final self-reflexive scene recalls that of Persona or The Patsy, but here the inaccessibility of nirvana is likened to the illusion of Cinema.” —Mubarak Ali
Hunting and Gathering (France)
Rated M—contains offensive language & sexual references
The latest film from French veteran director Claude Berri (Jean de Florette, Germinal) brings to screen the Anna Gavalda novel about four Parisian singles whose lives become intertwined. “Four needy people tentatively intersect to touching and entertaining effect in Hunting and Gathering. The lead quartet of actors – Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker, and Francoise Bertin – is pitch-perfect in veteran writer-director Claude Berri’s bittersweet exploration of characters whose problems are as convincing as their foibles.” —Lisa Nesselson, Variety. huntingandgathering.com.au
I’m Not There (USA/Germany) Rating TBC
Todd Haynes’ (Safe, Far from Heaven) highly anticipated and unconventional journey into the life and times of Bob Dylan, where six actors (Cate Blanchet, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger among others) portray him as a series of shifting personae – from the public to the private to the fantastical. The superb soundtrack features a who’s who of contemporary indie music – capped off by Bob himself singing the end-title track. “The movie of the year... I’d say it was the Dylan movie that Dylan was never able to make himself.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice. Winner Golden Globe – Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Cate Blanchett). imnotthere-movie.com
In the Shadow of the Moon (UK/USA)
A riveting examination of the American Lunar programme which includes fresh and often funny interviews with the likes of Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and Alan Bean as well as astounding archival footage. “The extraterrestrial film footage, shot by the astronauts themselves, has been brought out of storage only a handful of times since the sixties and seventies… It’s considered so unique, and so valuable that the original film is stowed under liquid nitrogen” —Producer, Chris Riley. Winner – Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival. intheshadowofthemoon.com
Joy Division (UK/USA) Rated M—contains offensive language
A perfect complement to Control and 24-Hour Party People, Joy Division is a solid, straightforward account of the short life of this hugely influential band. It includes honest and entertaining interviews with key people (including all surviving band members as well as Tony Wilson of Factory Records fame) intercut with excellent performance footage.
Mala Noche (USA) Rated M—contains offensive language and sexual references
Gus Van Sant’s assured first feature shows that his poetic identification with disaffected outcast youth has been with him for a long time. Mala Noche introduces us to Walt, who works in a liquor store in Portland, Oregon and his unrequited love for a young Mexican hustler. Shot in 1985 on 16mm film for around $25,000USD this is “the first, smallest and most essential planet on the Van Sant solar system.” —Boston Globe. mk2.com/malanoche
My Brother is an Only Child (Italy) Rating TBC
“Set in a small town in Italy during the 1960s and ’70s, the film depicts the relationship between two brothers, Accio and Manrico, caught up in the political conflicts of Italy’s recent past... In its unabashed reference to recent Italian history My Brother recalls Marco Tullio Giordana’s epic The Best of Youth, which also revolved around two ideologically opposed brothers. But this is a glossier, more audience-friendly affair, that is as concerned with Accio’s coy crush on the beguiling Francesca as it is with changing political times... It’s in the relationship between the two siblings – warm, poignant, beautifully played by Germano and Scamarcio – that the film impresses. Sweet and soft as a slice of panetone, My Brother is an Only Child is exemplary family melodrama of the kind the Italians do so effortlessly.” —Ed Lawrenson, Time Out. mihermanoeshijounico.es (Spanish)
An Old Mistress (France) Rating TBC
This lavish costume drama set in the Parisian high society of the 1830s is a welcome departure for Catherine Breillat, better known for her provocative cine-essays about sexuality (Anatomy of Hell, Romance). But there’s no mistaking her particular point of view in this tale of a beautiful young aristocrat torn between his passionate Spanish mistress and the subtler seductions of married respectability. The fearless Asia Argento is as vivid as a Goya portrait in the title role: no actress ever seemed less constrained by period costume.
Opera Jawa (Indonesia) Rated M—medium level violence
This beautiful Indonesian musical was inspired by an episode in the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana and is like nothing you have ever seen before. Described as the first Javanese opera film; a gamelan musical with Javanese song and dance which also includes specially created art installations as part of the set design. This was part of the wonderfully eclectic New Crowned Hope series, commissioned by Peter Sellars for the city of Vienna to commemorate the 250th birthday of Mozart. newcrownedhope.org
Operation Filmmaker (USA) Rating TBC
The good intentions of liberal American filmmakers who give work to an Iraqi film student are slyly paralleled to the ‘good intentions’ of the Bush regime in this mesmerising behind-the-scenes–at-the-trainwreck doc. In 2004, MTV featured a quick segment on Muthana Mohmed, a young Iraqi with a passion for Hollywood film. With the bombing of his film school Muthana’s prospects of becoming a filmmaker weren’t looking that good. Actor Live Schreiber was so moved he invited Muthana to Prague to work on the set of his first film as a director – Everything is Illuminated. Doco-maker Nina Davenport was enlisted to film Muthana’s progress, but this kid is no grateful intern. No one who attempts to colonize him, let alone conjure a feel-good movie out of his experience gets out unscathed. operationfilmmaker.com
Outsourced (USA) Rated PG—contains low level offensive language
“Outsourced in which a Seattle call center manager named Todd (Josh Hamilton) is fired and then dispatched to India as a consultant to train his own replacement, is a wonderful surprise. At first it threatens to be just another fish-out-of-water story... Gratifyingly, though, the filmmakers treat Todd’s story as a springboard for a smart look at the effect of cultural difference on work, friendship and love, and the global economy’s impact on national and personal identity.” —Matt Zoller Seitz, NY Times. outsourcedthemovie.com
Redacted (USA) Rating TBC
Brian De Palma’s film is a passionately angry response to the Iraqi war and to the incredibly effective censorship of war reporting by the Bush regime. Utilising a mixture of documentary styles – soldier am-cam, surveillance tapes, weblogs, a portentously artful French documentary – he relates a fictitious incident based very closely on actual events – the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl, and the murder of her family, involving five members of a U.S. Army platoon, near Baghdad, in March, 2006. His blunt depiction of young Americans running amok has itself provoked considerable anger. “Powerful, polarizing, and disturbing even in the context of the war’s ongoing horror stories.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice. redactedmovie.com
Steep (USA) Rated TBC
A spectacular and surprisingly thoughtful extreme sports doc about off-trail skiers. Rarely seen images of the sport’s evolution lead us into stunningly shot footage of the sport today: skiers BASE-jumping off cliffs, overtaken by an avalanche, and making insanely dangerous descents in the France Alps. sonyclassics.com/steep
Strange Culture (USA) Rating TBC
Steve Kurtz is a well liked artist and college professor and a founding member of the Critical Arts Ensemble. In 2004 he, along with his wife Hope, was working on an art exhibition about genetically modified food. Out of the blue, Hope dies in her sleep from heart failure. A shocked and devastated Kurtz phones 911. How the emergency services responded to Kurtz’s call is astounding and is the basis of this intelligent and thoroughly alarming documentary on a post 9/11 world gone mad. strangeculture.net
Tell No One (France) Rating TBC
With twists upon twists, Tell No One is a suspenseful adaptation of American novelist Harlan Coben’s bestseller, and boasts a talented A-list cast including François Cluzet & Kristin Scott Thomas. “In the gripping French thriller Tell No One, Francois Cluzet plays a haunted widower, taunted by emails from beyond the grave that suggest that his wife, murdered eight years before, may in fact be alive... this classy psychological suspense thriller cranks up the tension with episodes of energetic action, including a terrific back-street chase that plays like The French Connection ... ŕ pied!” —Mark Kermode, The Observer. Winner 4 Cesar awards (nominated for 9) including Best Director and Best Actor; Winner of the Lumičre award (French Golden Globes). tellno-one.com
War/Dance (USA) Rated M
“A national school dance and music competition is an unlikely symbol of salvation for three Ugandan children-Rose, Nancy and Dominic-survivors of Africa’s longest ongoing conflict and the subjects of this immensely moving documentary. For more than 20 years, the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel militia group, has been waging war in northern Uganda. Amidst the violence, the LRA has abducted thousands of children, stealing their childhood, forcing many to take up arms and commit unspeakable acts against their own people. War/Dance is a film of striking paradoxes in which the children's accounts of affliction are starkly contrasted with the joy and pride achieved in preparing for competition.” —Hot Docs 2007. Winner of the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance 2007. wardancethemovie.com
You, the Living (Sweden) Rated M—contains sex scenes
You, the Living delighted audiences in last year’s NZ International Film Festivals and is getting a well deserved reprise in this year’s Showcase. “As austere, ingenious, hilarious and miserable as the Swedish director’s 2000 wonder Songs from the Second Floor, Roy Andersson’s fourth feature includes a more romantic and hopeful strain of emotions... Named after a phrase by Goethe, You, the Living is comprised of stark, mordantly funny vignettes that portray people who are desperate for others to acknowledge them yet are blind to anyone’s pain but their own. A brass band, a house on a train and a failed magic trick all figure prominently in a movie that confirms Andersson’s status as one of world cinema’s true originals.” —Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly. royandersson.com/dulevande
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Roy Andersson’s... similarly themed Songs from the Second Floor floored me, and You, the Living with its sickly pallor, Nordic non-sequiturs and wondrous tableaux did the same. Interposed throughout with the phrase ‘tomorrow is another day’ (delaying idealism) the tragi-comedy – wallpapered with Gustav Danielsson's emaciated, communist chic – delivers a beguiling query into the strange meaning and meaningless of existence. Jarmuschian in the manner of staging a collection of painterly vignettes that do not necessarily remain loyal to or really even hinge on an overarching narrative, Andersson’s wry, gloomy humour is consistent – with more emphasis on the fatalistic, tentatively hopeful despair of his players than the capitalist critique present in Songs.” —Jessica Borrelle
4 (Australia/USA/Japan/Finland)
Director Tim Slade takes us around the world to hear – and see – four outstanding solo violinists each perform a movement of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. Each performer lives and works a setting where the season in question is at its most vividly pronounced. We experience spring amongst the blossoms in Tokyo, summer in the arid Australian far north, autumn in New York, and winter in snowbound rural Finland. ‘A seamless whole, rich in meaning and emotional resonance... the music is thrillingly performed’ —Evan Williams, The Australian
4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (Romania) Rating TBC
The best film of 2007 in the eyes of the Cannes jury and countless end-of-year critics’ surveys 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days is further stunning proof of the fertility of a new generation of filmmakers in Romania. Set in the Ceausescu era, when just scoring a cigarette required cunning and subterfuge; it’s an incredibly suspenseful tale of a young woman trying to procure an illegal termination for her strangely unengaged friend. The performances are superb, each character indelibly real, and the film is energised by the same intensely ironic humanism as the earlier Death of Mr Lazerescu. Winner Palme D’Or 2007, Golden Globe nominee. 4months3weeksand2days.com
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Helmed by Cristian Mungiu, the movie dramatises the horror and dilemma of two university students, one forced to abort her child and other trying to help her do that during the stifling dictatorship of Nicolae Ceausescu. Through stark images, Mungiu builds up the tension the two girls face in a regime where abortion is a crime. Termed “pitch-perfect” and “brilliantly acted” by Variety, the film often conveys unbearable suspense without undue political sentimentality. That the suspense does not eventually lead up to unpleasant or frightening consequences may be seen by some as somewhat flat or even disappointing. But Mungiu’s remarkable ability to achieve precisely that can also be seen as an eloquent testimony of his directorial genius.” —Gautaman Bhaskaran
Across the Universe (USA)
Rated M—contains violence, offensive language and nudity
Director Julie Taymor turns the Beatles Songbook into the movie extravaganza the 60s/70s were too stoned to make. The songs are great, of course; the arrangements exult in the endless melodic vitality of John and Paul (and George as well); the actors are soulful, sexy and full of beans and the stagings have enough wit and energy to fuel a full-fledged revival of the movie musical. The plot – a love story featuring Merseyside boy and American WASP princess – is as wildly improbable a catchall of 60s phenomena as the Beatles songbook itself, less persuasive as narrative than as an excuse for a string of exuberant, spectacular theme parties. “A testament to both the enduring emotional power of the Fab Four’s music... and Taymor’s unbridled artistic brio.” —Empire Magazine. Golden Globe nominee. acrosstheuniverse.com
Annie Leibovitz: Life through a Lens (USA) Rated M—drug references
An insightful look at one of the most popular photographers of our time, Life through the Lens, allows Annie Leibovitz to talk for herself about her work for magazines such as Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair and about the more intimate work revealed in her remarkable recent book. Directed by her sister Barbara, the film also covers personal aspects of her life such as her pivotal relationship with Susan Sontag, and includes interviews with converts such as Mick Jagger, Yoko Ono, Mikhail Baryshnikov & Hilary Clinton. pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters
Beauty in Trouble (Czech Republic) Rating TBC
The latest film from the masterly director and writer team, Jan Hrebejk & Petr Jarchovsky (Divided we Fall, Up and Down), elegantly and shrewdly explores a beautiful young woman’s dilemma. Should she opt for a life of comfort for herself and her children with a benign and wealthy patron, or should she withstand the emotional tumult of life with her wildly unreliable sexy beast of a husband? The film takes its title from the first line of a Rupert Grave’s poem – “Beauty in trouble flees to the good angel, on whom she can rely...”
Black White & Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff & Robert Mapplethorpe (USA) Rating TBC
An in-depth look at the life and work of art curator Sam Wagstaff and his influence on the life and work of his lover Robert Mapplethorpe. “A finely drawn portrait... admirably explores all the shades of Wagstaff's fascinating character.” —New York Sun. blackwhitegray.com
Boxing Day (Australia) Rating TBC
This gritty low budget Dogme-style film, shot on HD video and in real time follows Chris – a recovering alcoholic and home detention prisoner – and his attempts to reconcile with his family while trying to stay on the straight and narrow. “...one of the toughest, rawest feature films in the recent spate of tough, raw Australian films... (Richard) Green’s raw energy and emotional volatility gives it a surprising power.” —Garry Maddox, Sydney Morning Herald
Distant Voices, Still Lives (UK, 1988) Rated M
“Superlatives are in short supply to describe the emotional power of Terence Davies’ fractured chronicle of the life of a working-class family in 1940s and ’50s Liverpool. Drawing on his own childhood, Davies turns his film on the pivot of a brutal patriarch’s death and his daughter’s subsequent marriage, so splitting his film into two episodes (which he filmed a year apart)” —Time Out. Last seen here in the 1989 NZ International Film Festivals but no less powerful in 2008, Distant Voices, Still Lives is presented in a beautiful new print.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France/USA) Rating TBC
Julian Schnabel’s deeply affecting version of the internationally bestselling memoir by Jean-Dominique Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric), the former editor of French Elle, who at a young age suffered a massive stroke leaving him with ‘locked-in syndrome’. The film won the Best Director prize for Schnabel at last year’s Cannes Film Festival, has been nominated for three Golden Globes and is a likely Oscar contender. ‘It's an exhilarating, heartbreaking, wonderfully visual big-screen translation of an inherently uncinematic premise: a man so trapped in his own body he can only control one eye” —Andrew O’Hehir, Salon. Winner of two Golden Globes – Best Foreign Film, Best Director. lescaphandre-lefilm.com (French)
Dry Season (Chad) Rated PG—contains medium level violence
When Chad’s government grants amnesty to war criminals in the wake of a 40-year civil war, 16-year-old Atim decides that justice lies in his own hands and he sets out to avenge his father's death. Part of last year’s New Crowned Hope series, commissioned by director/impresario Peter Sellars to commemorate the 250th birthday of Mozart, this is the latest film from the talented Mahamat Saleh-Haroun (Bye Bye Africa, Abouna). “Gently and quietly told… it is an unassumingly political work that unfolds with the simplicity of a parable and the gravity of a Bible story ... the film has the feel of a gift.” —Manohla Dargis, NY Times. newcrownedhope.org
The Edge of Heaven (Turkey) Rated M—contains violence, offensive language, sex scenes
A welcome return from last year’s International Film Festivals. Turkish-German director Fatih Akin’s (Head-On) masterful new film tracks the emotional arcs of six people – four Turks and two Germans – as they criss-cross through love, tragedy and borders. “The point at which a good director crosses the career bridge to become a substantial international talent is vividly clear in The Edge of Heaven, an utterly assured, profoundly moving fifth feature by Fatih Akin” —Derek Alley, Variety.
LUMIČRE SAYS: “An exercise in style-through-substance, The Edge of Heaven showcases clever, assured filmmaking and storytelling both. Fatih Akin, takes his various plot strands and orchestrates a beautifully unfolding narrative ballet which unquestionably satisfies whilst subverting the traditional cinematic ‘need’ for tidy closure.” —Jacob Powell
El Topo (Mexico) Rated R18—violence and sexual themes
Rare cinema screenings in a new print of the film that started the Midnight Movie phenomena in the 70s and developed a cult following that never dies. A bizarre, ultra-violent, allegorical Western, El Topo is set in two halves that have been widely compared to the Old and New Testaments of the Bible. “Violent, visionary, vital” —Empire magazine. Screening also in the Showcase is Jodorowsky’s next film, the equally enigmatic and controversial The Holy Mountain. el-topo.co.uk
Flanders (France) Rating TBC
Bruno Dumont’s (Humanity) unsparing account of two young farm workers who sign up for war, and of the young woman they leave behind in Dumont’s native Flanders, itself the scene of massive slaughter in World War I. “An extraordinary and raw piece of work. Dumont is one of those rare directors who knows what it means to shoot the unspeakable truth” —James Christopher, The Times. Winner of the Grand Prix, Cannes 2006.
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Bruno Dumont’s forth feature... is hindered by primitive war sequences and unstable characters who, as usual, fuck mindlessly and turn into monsters under a backdrop of menacing widescreen scenery. And yet, Dumont makes movies so improbably compelling (and this time around, also strangely heartfelt) that they cannot to be ignored.” —Tim Wong
Forbidden Lie$ (Australia) Rated M—contains violence and offensive language
Norma Khouri won fame and fortune with her runaway best seller Forbidden Love which recounted the shocking honour killing of her best friend in Jordan. Khouri was the toast of the literary world and a human rights heroine until a Sydney journalist did some research and announced that the book was considerably less than entirely truthful. Aussie documentary maker Anna Broinowski picks up the story and lets Norma tell her ‘truth’. This fascinating psychological study and gripping thriller keeps the surprises coming every step of the way. Winner of the Australian Film Institute award for best documentary (2007). forbiddenlies.com.au
Helvetica (UK)
Having played to capacity houses at the 2007 NZ International Film Festivals, Helvetica clearly deserves another outing. This fascinating, illuminating documentary brings us up to speed on the world’s most ubiquitous font – the titular ‘Helvetica’. Director Gary Hustwit made the film to celebrate the fonts 50th birthday and through often humorous interviews with a variety of designers who either ‘love it or hate it’, cleverly explores the way that type affects our lives. helveticafilm.com
The Holy Mountain (Mexico) Rated R18—violence and sex scenes
How do you top El Topo? You make The Holy Mountain... “A scandal when first released, Mr. Jodorowsky’s movie is a dazzling, rambling, often incoherent satire on consumerism, militarism and the exploitation of third world cultures by the West. It unfurls like a hallucinogenic daydream...” —Matt Zoller Seitz, NY Times. “So extreme in its sacrilege that it achieves a kind of sacredness, The Holy Mountain is a transcendental feast of the grotesque and the sublime” —Bill White, Seattle Post Intelligencer
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Jodorowsky’s follow-up to his classic acid-Western El Topo is a lot more esoteric, but it holds rich rewards for those willing to submit to the mystical experience. It bears elements of a plot, which involves the wanderings of a Christ-like figure across a bizarre, apocalyptic landscape of unrest and chaos. He ascends a mysterious portal where he meets The Alchemist (significantly played by Jodorowsky) who has assembled eight other people from different backgrounds – it turns out that he’s planning to kill and supersede the nine immortal masters atop the Holy Mountain in order to achieve eternal life, and the film thereafter follows their path to the Mountain. (If all this sounds very anticipatory of Monty Python-esque daftness, it kinda is. Except, the humour here being seethed with acid and reformed from its own excrement – you’ll see what I mean.) Because this is a Jodorowsky film, the intense surreal imagery of the film is best left undescribed, but it is utterly (and somewhat dangerously) disorienting, and is barely balanced by the absurdist humour that surfaces sporadically. The final self-reflexive scene recalls that of Persona or The Patsy, but here the inaccessibility of nirvana is likened to the illusion of Cinema.” —Mubarak Ali
Hunting and Gathering (France)
Rated M—contains offensive language & sexual references
The latest film from French veteran director Claude Berri (Jean de Florette, Germinal) brings to screen the Anna Gavalda novel about four Parisian singles whose lives become intertwined. “Four needy people tentatively intersect to touching and entertaining effect in Hunting and Gathering. The lead quartet of actors – Audrey Tautou, Guillaume Canet, Laurent Stocker, and Francoise Bertin – is pitch-perfect in veteran writer-director Claude Berri’s bittersweet exploration of characters whose problems are as convincing as their foibles.” —Lisa Nesselson, Variety. huntingandgathering.com.au
I’m Not There (USA/Germany) Rating TBC
Todd Haynes’ (Safe, Far from Heaven) highly anticipated and unconventional journey into the life and times of Bob Dylan, where six actors (Cate Blanchet, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger among others) portray him as a series of shifting personae – from the public to the private to the fantastical. The superb soundtrack features a who’s who of contemporary indie music – capped off by Bob himself singing the end-title track. “The movie of the year... I’d say it was the Dylan movie that Dylan was never able to make himself.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice. Winner Golden Globe – Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role (Cate Blanchett). imnotthere-movie.com
In the Shadow of the Moon (UK/USA)
A riveting examination of the American Lunar programme which includes fresh and often funny interviews with the likes of Buzz Aldrin, Mike Collins and Alan Bean as well as astounding archival footage. “The extraterrestrial film footage, shot by the astronauts themselves, has been brought out of storage only a handful of times since the sixties and seventies… It’s considered so unique, and so valuable that the original film is stowed under liquid nitrogen” —Producer, Chris Riley. Winner – Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival. intheshadowofthemoon.com
Joy Division (UK/USA) Rated M—contains offensive language
A perfect complement to Control and 24-Hour Party People, Joy Division is a solid, straightforward account of the short life of this hugely influential band. It includes honest and entertaining interviews with key people (including all surviving band members as well as Tony Wilson of Factory Records fame) intercut with excellent performance footage.
Mala Noche (USA) Rated M—contains offensive language and sexual references
Gus Van Sant’s assured first feature shows that his poetic identification with disaffected outcast youth has been with him for a long time. Mala Noche introduces us to Walt, who works in a liquor store in Portland, Oregon and his unrequited love for a young Mexican hustler. Shot in 1985 on 16mm film for around $25,000USD this is “the first, smallest and most essential planet on the Van Sant solar system.” —Boston Globe. mk2.com/malanoche
My Brother is an Only Child (Italy) Rating TBC
“Set in a small town in Italy during the 1960s and ’70s, the film depicts the relationship between two brothers, Accio and Manrico, caught up in the political conflicts of Italy’s recent past... In its unabashed reference to recent Italian history My Brother recalls Marco Tullio Giordana’s epic The Best of Youth, which also revolved around two ideologically opposed brothers. But this is a glossier, more audience-friendly affair, that is as concerned with Accio’s coy crush on the beguiling Francesca as it is with changing political times... It’s in the relationship between the two siblings – warm, poignant, beautifully played by Germano and Scamarcio – that the film impresses. Sweet and soft as a slice of panetone, My Brother is an Only Child is exemplary family melodrama of the kind the Italians do so effortlessly.” —Ed Lawrenson, Time Out. mihermanoeshijounico.es (Spanish)
An Old Mistress (France) Rating TBC
This lavish costume drama set in the Parisian high society of the 1830s is a welcome departure for Catherine Breillat, better known for her provocative cine-essays about sexuality (Anatomy of Hell, Romance). But there’s no mistaking her particular point of view in this tale of a beautiful young aristocrat torn between his passionate Spanish mistress and the subtler seductions of married respectability. The fearless Asia Argento is as vivid as a Goya portrait in the title role: no actress ever seemed less constrained by period costume.
Opera Jawa (Indonesia) Rated M—medium level violence
This beautiful Indonesian musical was inspired by an episode in the ancient Sanskrit epic Ramayana and is like nothing you have ever seen before. Described as the first Javanese opera film; a gamelan musical with Javanese song and dance which also includes specially created art installations as part of the set design. This was part of the wonderfully eclectic New Crowned Hope series, commissioned by Peter Sellars for the city of Vienna to commemorate the 250th birthday of Mozart. newcrownedhope.org
Operation Filmmaker (USA) Rating TBC
The good intentions of liberal American filmmakers who give work to an Iraqi film student are slyly paralleled to the ‘good intentions’ of the Bush regime in this mesmerising behind-the-scenes–at-the-trainwreck doc. In 2004, MTV featured a quick segment on Muthana Mohmed, a young Iraqi with a passion for Hollywood film. With the bombing of his film school Muthana’s prospects of becoming a filmmaker weren’t looking that good. Actor Live Schreiber was so moved he invited Muthana to Prague to work on the set of his first film as a director – Everything is Illuminated. Doco-maker Nina Davenport was enlisted to film Muthana’s progress, but this kid is no grateful intern. No one who attempts to colonize him, let alone conjure a feel-good movie out of his experience gets out unscathed. operationfilmmaker.com
Outsourced (USA) Rated PG—contains low level offensive language
“Outsourced in which a Seattle call center manager named Todd (Josh Hamilton) is fired and then dispatched to India as a consultant to train his own replacement, is a wonderful surprise. At first it threatens to be just another fish-out-of-water story... Gratifyingly, though, the filmmakers treat Todd’s story as a springboard for a smart look at the effect of cultural difference on work, friendship and love, and the global economy’s impact on national and personal identity.” —Matt Zoller Seitz, NY Times. outsourcedthemovie.com
Redacted (USA) Rating TBC
Brian De Palma’s film is a passionately angry response to the Iraqi war and to the incredibly effective censorship of war reporting by the Bush regime. Utilising a mixture of documentary styles – soldier am-cam, surveillance tapes, weblogs, a portentously artful French documentary – he relates a fictitious incident based very closely on actual events – the rape and murder of a fourteen-year-old girl, and the murder of her family, involving five members of a U.S. Army platoon, near Baghdad, in March, 2006. His blunt depiction of young Americans running amok has itself provoked considerable anger. “Powerful, polarizing, and disturbing even in the context of the war’s ongoing horror stories.” —J. Hoberman, Village Voice. redactedmovie.com
Steep (USA) Rated TBC
A spectacular and surprisingly thoughtful extreme sports doc about off-trail skiers. Rarely seen images of the sport’s evolution lead us into stunningly shot footage of the sport today: skiers BASE-jumping off cliffs, overtaken by an avalanche, and making insanely dangerous descents in the France Alps. sonyclassics.com/steep
Strange Culture (USA) Rating TBC
Steve Kurtz is a well liked artist and college professor and a founding member of the Critical Arts Ensemble. In 2004 he, along with his wife Hope, was working on an art exhibition about genetically modified food. Out of the blue, Hope dies in her sleep from heart failure. A shocked and devastated Kurtz phones 911. How the emergency services responded to Kurtz’s call is astounding and is the basis of this intelligent and thoroughly alarming documentary on a post 9/11 world gone mad. strangeculture.net
Tell No One (France) Rating TBC
With twists upon twists, Tell No One is a suspenseful adaptation of American novelist Harlan Coben’s bestseller, and boasts a talented A-list cast including François Cluzet & Kristin Scott Thomas. “In the gripping French thriller Tell No One, Francois Cluzet plays a haunted widower, taunted by emails from beyond the grave that suggest that his wife, murdered eight years before, may in fact be alive... this classy psychological suspense thriller cranks up the tension with episodes of energetic action, including a terrific back-street chase that plays like The French Connection ... ŕ pied!” —Mark Kermode, The Observer. Winner 4 Cesar awards (nominated for 9) including Best Director and Best Actor; Winner of the Lumičre award (French Golden Globes). tellno-one.com
War/Dance (USA) Rated M
“A national school dance and music competition is an unlikely symbol of salvation for three Ugandan children-Rose, Nancy and Dominic-survivors of Africa’s longest ongoing conflict and the subjects of this immensely moving documentary. For more than 20 years, the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel militia group, has been waging war in northern Uganda. Amidst the violence, the LRA has abducted thousands of children, stealing their childhood, forcing many to take up arms and commit unspeakable acts against their own people. War/Dance is a film of striking paradoxes in which the children's accounts of affliction are starkly contrasted with the joy and pride achieved in preparing for competition.” —Hot Docs 2007. Winner of the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance 2007. wardancethemovie.com
You, the Living (Sweden) Rated M—contains sex scenes
You, the Living delighted audiences in last year’s NZ International Film Festivals and is getting a well deserved reprise in this year’s Showcase. “As austere, ingenious, hilarious and miserable as the Swedish director’s 2000 wonder Songs from the Second Floor, Roy Andersson’s fourth feature includes a more romantic and hopeful strain of emotions... Named after a phrase by Goethe, You, the Living is comprised of stark, mordantly funny vignettes that portray people who are desperate for others to acknowledge them yet are blind to anyone’s pain but their own. A brass band, a house on a train and a failed magic trick all figure prominently in a movie that confirms Andersson’s status as one of world cinema’s true originals.” —Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly. royandersson.com/dulevande
LUMIČRE SAYS: “Roy Andersson’s... similarly themed Songs from the Second Floor floored me, and You, the Living with its sickly pallor, Nordic non-sequiturs and wondrous tableaux did the same. Interposed throughout with the phrase ‘tomorrow is another day’ (delaying idealism) the tragi-comedy – wallpapered with Gustav Danielsson's emaciated, communist chic – delivers a beguiling query into the strange meaning and meaningless of existence. Jarmuschian in the manner of staging a collection of painterly vignettes that do not necessarily remain loyal to or really even hinge on an overarching narrative, Andersson’s wry, gloomy humour is consistent – with more emphasis on the fatalistic, tentatively hopeful despair of his players than the capitalist critique present in Songs.” —Jessica Borrelle
Vicky Cristina Barcelona: What's not to like? Barcelona in summer. Passionate artists Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz spend quality time with the free-spirited Scarlett Johansson. Blazingly sensual escapism, ground in realism. The Woodman's still got it, directing with a big heart and a sure hand. Cruz, liberated from mediocre American movies, is a Almodovarian force of nature.
Jak Blow and Buffs, Inner City wrote:
cinema buffs of wellington cry with disbelief? Not one film from India, China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam ... etc...and EVEN not one documentary from any of those countries? More bloody boring French provincial rubbish. Who runs film festivals these days. Committees? The Film Commission?