A Week at the Most
rambling of a music fascistnews | music reviews | interviews | features | film reviews
Cleveland International Film Festival Mini Reviews: 24 City, La Belle Personne, Tokyo!
Better late than never, I suppose. Finally, I bring you a handful of reviews of the films I have caught at this year's Cleveland International Film Festival.
I started things off on Day 1 with the film 24 City. The latest from Chinese director Jia Zhangke brought with it a bit of a mixed bag for me. The film is a blend of fictional and factual interviews chronicles the destruction of factory to make way for a high-end apartment complex know as 24 City and how it has impacted past, present and future of its workers. While I really appreciated and recognized what director Jia Zhangke was attempting to get across on screen, I just felt overall the film lacked the true realism and likability of past works like The World and Unknown Pleasures and instead came off as simply a depressing faux documentary.
Day 2 delivered a more satisfying film, in my opinion,with La Belle Personne. Sure, I may be a bit bias being a big admirer of director Christophe Honore previous two films. The film once again stars actor Louis Garrel in one of the lead roles but wisely takes backseat to lead actress Lea Seydoux in a fascinating role as Junie, a young high school student who must choose between Otto who honestly and completely is in love with her and language professor Nemours (played by Garrel) who seems more into lust than love itself. While the film never reaches the excellence of Dans Paris and Love Songs, the film still charmed me throughout and comes with high recommendation.
Tokyo! came in Day 3 and not only charmed me but also rubbed me the wrong way. Three stories of Tokyo and its inhabitants embodied the film with three drastically different results. Michel Gondry's opening segement 'Interior Design' started off like your typical Japanese drama of teenage angst before becoming a full fledged Gondry creation in the last half. With strong shades of the director during his music video days. Leos Carax mess of a second segment, 'Merde', seemed selfish focused on France than on anything remotely Japanese, others than to cross the line to a borderline racist short. Thankfully, Korean director Bong Joon-ho closes things up with the brilliantly beautiful 'Shaking Tokyo'. With clear resemblance to highly underrated Tony Takitani, the closing short starring actress Yu Aio and Teruyuki Kagawa as reclusive shut-ins who only hope for survival is their very own companionship. While the overall film is not as strong as its surrounding parts, it still manages to entertain.
Cleveland Film Festival reviews are Coming
In case you have been wondering about the lack of updates in the last few days, I can explain. Every March for the last 9 years I make it my goal to hit up a few flicks at the Cleveland International Film Festival. For the last three years, I have obtained Media Passes and have caught an unhealthy about of films (last year I viewed 18). This year I plan on bring you short but effective reviews of the films I have experience. It being day 5 already I have alot of catching up to do. Expect a handful of films in the next day or so.
Miroir Noir
I have been lucky enough to see Arcade Fire live twice. In both cases, it was readily apparent that this is a band that sounds just as good in person as they do on tape. (the first time I saw them was right after Funeral was released and I wasn't really a fan when I got there but I sure was when I left; and the second came at a free Obama-backing show during the primaries -- it was mostly acoustic but still rousing enough to induce pure ecstasy, especially during Wake Up. ) And while that fact is still readily apparent, the best thing about the yet to be released Miroir Noir is the curtain being pulled back ever so slightly so we can catch a glimpse of the band behind. What starts off as a grainy hypnosis session bleeds into tiny peeks of the band composing and recording their songs, with the translation between incompletion and the stage.
Most songs are introduced by only their string section, (and generally a narrator babbling nonsense, taken from the band's 1-800 number. Nearly all the messages were goofy or self aware, but when one man begins shouting about religion, the effect is chilling) which gives the whole affair a feeling of dread that was not always readily apparent in their music until now.
But the real knockout is the seemingly coincidental footage that Vincent Morriset (the director) and Vincent Moon (the cinematographer) capture, snapshots that fit perfectly with each individual song. Like Win delivering vocals for Windowsill while driving through New York, hitting the chorus when the car stops right in front of a Best Buy and right next to a stretch limo. What he does next is so hilarious and Dylan-esque, it's massively endearing. Or Regine staring at a thunderstorm through huge glass windows while Ocean of Noise bleats in the background.
The whole movie is full of such small documented miracles, but the one that takes the cake is the first Windowsill sequence. What with Win and Regine playing in an glass elevator, so we can catch small glances of what's decorating the passing floors; and then the scene shifts to a wide shot of three other band members running across three separate floors.
Give most of the credit to cinematographer Vincent Moon, who already had a wide library of such spontaneous beauty, thanks to his incredible La Blogotheque and Take Away Shows. The man knows how to catch lightning in a bottle nearly every time. Still, not enough can be said about Vincent Morriset's influence and superb editing style.
In the end though, Miroir Noir reveals nothing new about the band but peels away layers upon layers of their music, reveling in the magic each note contains. The most telling shot is the band celebrating post-show, pre-encore, using a shutting and opening door for percussion. This is the closest we can come, a door being (gently) slammed in our face, an invitation to join along in celebration but also a reminder that magic does still exist, and we wouldn't really understand it even if we saw it with our own eyes. When it comes to Arcade Fire would you really expect anything different?
Film Review: Team Picture
I can remember the days when Richard Linklater's Slacker set in motion a new wave of no budget filmmaking. At the time, nothing had reached the rawness and reality like that film did. Sure films like Clerks and El Mariachi came strolling along and made waves but those films were more centered in the movie world. IN real life lets face the fact that not everyone is as witty as Randal, as foul-mouthed and humorous as Jay, and most people in Mexico do not carry a guitar case full of guns. Slacker seemed more true to life very much like the Mumblecore movement of recent years.
Filmmakers such as Aaron Katz, Joe Swanberg, the Duplass Brothers and Andrew Bujalski have gained critical acclaim for their mostly relationship based uber-low budget films. A few indie distribution companies have made it easier to obtain these staples in the new generation of film. Benten Films, who so far have released Swanberg's LOL along with Katz's Dance Party USA and Quiet City, is one DVD company in particular that has made it possible for a wider audience to see these films. Created and run by two film critics, Andrew Grant and Aaron Hillis, Benten Films' latest offering is from Andrew Nenninger, a Kentucky native now living in Memphis who hopes to find viewer's stamp of approval with his film Team Picture.
Writer/Director/Actor Nenninger is also known in the filmmaking business as Kentucker Audley a pseudonym obviously inspired by his hometown. Audley's Team Picture perfectly captures low class living and what better location than the ultra laidback Memphis, Tennessee as the set piece. Essentially a film not really about anything, Team Picture follows the everyday doings of David (played by Nenninger) as he gets dumped by his girlfriend, quits his job and parades around in Chicago with hopeful love Sarah (played by newcomer Amanda Harris).
While some may find the film dry, amateur, and a bore those in the mood for a little of the "new talkies" and willing to stick with it until the end will enjoy the feel and calmness of the picture. If you honestly give the film a chance you may see a lot of yourself in these characters. Actress Amanda Harris also has a chance, if she plays her cards right, at a career along the same lines as mumblequeen Greta Gerwig.
The Benten Films release comes housed with not only a commentary track by Nenninger and co-star Timothy Morton but also two short films by by the director (one of which is a follow up to Team Picture shot by Joe Swanberg), music performances, deleted scenes and the original trailer.
