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Happy 4th of July!!

Karlovy Vary FF: Day 3 Impressions

My last day at KVIFF was unfortunately a short one, leaving me enough time to only see one. Despite some problems, however, it ended up being a nice surprise, and a good way to end my first festival experience:

Day 3 Impressions:

No Tengas Miedo dir. Montxo Armendariz: Child abuse isn't an easy subject to build a story around, yet Armendariz's film tackles it with great skill and taste. He refrains from overwrought sequences of graphic rape, instead choosing to focus on the victim's quiet, pained reactions. It's a decision that pays off in spades. The film is also bolstered by effective work from Lluis Homar (Broken Embraces), Belen Rueda (The Orphanage), and Michelle Jenner. It's a compelling and tightly structured film. Armendariz jumps into the abuse so quickly, that his film starts to run out of steam 2/3 of the way through. The last half hour loses focus, and becomes a patchwork of scenes, that leave the film rather aimless. It's as if Armendariz forgot that he had to bring the film to an end at some point, and had no idea how to do it.

Grade: B

Karlovy Vary Film Festival: Day 2 Impressions

Unfortunately, due to being literally 5 people too far back in line, I was unable to attend the KVIFF showing of The Skin I Live In, one of my most anticipated of the year. I was, however, able to attend three films today, even though one of them I'd seen three weeks prior. Condensed thoughts on the viewings:

Day 2: Impressions

The Tree of Life dir. Terrence Malick: Apparently I got more out of my first viewing of Malick's cosmic opus the first time around than I realized, because this second watch did little to change my opinion. Not that I'm complaining, seeing as I gave the film an "A-" in my original review. The most extreme "change" that I felt may have been in the film's last 20 minutes, which somehow seemed less abstract/obstuse than before, even though I still can't give you an explanation as to what it meant to me. All this viewing did was confirm that this is one challenging, drop-dead gorgeous work of art, with only a handful of tiny stumbles.

Grade: A-

Hanezu dir. Naomi Kawase: The shortest film I saw today (at 90 minutes), Hanezu still managed to feel longer than Tree and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia combined. I honestly can't remember the last time I lost interest in a film so quickly. And despite the script's attempts to portray a couple's relationship in decay, Kawase ends up presenting a film where literally nothing of importance happens. It's one thing for a film to be bad. Bad films can still be interesting failures. Where Hanezu goes wrong is that it's both bad and excruciatingly boring and empty. And in the world of cinema, that's as close to a mortal sin as you can get.

Grade: D

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan: The latest film from Nuri Ceylan, which tied for 2nd Place at Cannes this year, almost feels like two films. The first, which lasts for an hour and a half (maybe a little more), is a slow-burning, quietly compelling, and occasionally mesmerizing crime procedural. Unfortunately, a second movie, lasting only a little over an hour, comes in and mucks up everything, barring a handful of well executed scenes. Like so many movies of its kind, Anatolia's pacing wouldn't be a problem, if it weren't for the film's overlong run time. As a 90 or 100 minute film, this could have been an interesting and compelling take on the crime genre. Instead, it veers off course and overburdens itself with story and character shifts.

Grade: B-

Karlovy Vary Film Festival: Day 1 Impressions

Greetings from the Czech Republic (I probably should have said that four or five posts ago), and more specifically, greetings from Karlovy Vary, home to the 46th Karlovy Vary Film Festival. While lacking the major publicity (at least Stateside) of Cannes or Venice, KVIFF is actually considered one of the premiere film festivals in Europe, and as luck would have it, I get to spend 3 (ish) days here.

Originally shared between Karlovy Vary and Moscow, the festival fell entirely to the care of the Czech Republic after the fall of communism in 1989. Since then, the small town has blossomed into a lovely resort/spa town of sorts. Of course, that's not the reason to go, at least not for July 1-9. With a truly impressive array of films, both in an out of competition (ie: most Cannes titles), KVIFF should prove to be a memorable experience, seeing as this is my first time at a legitimate film festival. Having finished my first day (and only being able to make one screenings; boo), I can only wish that I was staying longer, because I'm starting to develop kid-in-a-candy-shop syndrome.

Anyway, the point (thought I'd never get there, didn't you?) is that I'll be able to give reviews of something other than what's out in theaters or available on Netflix, which makes for a nice change of pace. I plan to wrap up each day with simple impressions, on which I will fully expand in the first few days of next week. So, without further delay, here's a quick glimpse at my one screening, which turned out to be a lovely surprise.

First Impressions: Day 1

Tyrannosaur dir. Paddy Considine: A sturdy kitchen sink style drama that is at times slightly amateurish and blunt, but none the less effective. Considine navigates the limited story (which is more a series of encounters) with a deft hand, despite the heavy subject matter on display (spousal abuse; fun!). What could have been slow, turgid misery porn is actually a nicely effective character piece. The main problem is that one of the film's main characters, played by Peter Mullan, is handled with an odd mix of distance. We see his rage, but even when we understand it, the effect is somehow muted. On the opposite end of the spectrum is the film's leading lady, Olivia Colman, who completely owns the role of a timid store owner stuck in an abusive marriage. We see both her timid desperation (enhanced by Colman's small, pixie-ish face), and those tiny flares of a desire for independence. It's marvelous work, the best I've seen this year since Juliette Binoche in Certified Copy (and that's saying a lot).

Grade: The movie: B/Olivia Colman: A

Tomorrow's schedule (fingers crossed): The Skin I Live In, Hanezu, and Once Upon a Time in Anatolia

Trailer: "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" [music found!]

One of the much buzzed about, but little-exposed films of the year is Tomas Alfredson's Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, an adaptation of the John Le Carre novel of the same name. Boasting a dynamite all-male cast, promotional material has been scant until this trailer. Judging by the Youtube video's title, it looks like another trailer will hit soon for US audiences. That seems like a shame, though, seeing as this 80 second look already has me saying YES to everything. I love the aesthetic of Cold War Era thrillers, where suspense is built more on character interactions (and globe-trotting) that shoot outs or chases. There's also the director, Mr. Alfredson, whose last film was the excellent Let the Right One In (the Swedish original). Then there's that outstanding cast of talented actors. Barring that this is some surprise fiasco, Alfredson and co. can count me as sold on this one.

**Also: Special credit should go to the people who put this trailer together. The clips are well chosen, and let us in on the story without taking us through big sections of the plot. The editing and music are pretty fabulous as well, building a nice little knot of tension in a short amount of time. Bravo.

Trailer(s): "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol" & "War Horse"

Two major December releases gave us first looks today, with both promising very different outings at the movies. The first is the fourth installment in a major action franchise, the second a prestige book/play adaptation from one of Hollywood's biggest names.



While there's nothing here to make me rush to the theater on opening day, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't at least somewhat intrigued by this film. Whether it's new additions like Jeremy Renner and Paula Patton, or the fact that this is the live-action debut of Brad Bird (The Incredibles), it looks like a solid, big thrills action movie. The split-second clips of what looked like a green-brown dust cloud were a little too CGI'd, but overall, the feeling is that this is a welcome return to that time when action movies relied more on stunts than green screens.



Having just scooped up the Tony for Best Play, War Horse is clearly a hot item at the moment, so who better to take it to the screen than Steven Spielberg. Now, while the movie may not be able to replicate the play's (apparently) fantastic staging, Spielberg and co. seem to have compensated by making the whole thing absolutely gorgeous. That shot of the soldiers mounting their horses in the wheat field? The girl's reflection in the horse's eye? Magnificent. If any movie were to stand a chance at giving The Tree of Life a run for best cinematography, this is it. However, one question remains: what about the story? From what I've been able to gather, the source material isn't the most inspired text, and becomes excessively sentimental and cliched at times. Given Spielberg's somewhat sentimental tendencies, the coupling could prove problematic. At the same time, one must consider that sometimes iffy books/plays end up translating better to the big screen than their acclaimed counterparts.