By Kendra Hibbert
January 31, 2003
While other critics are all wrapped up in the hottest buzz surrounding this year’s Sundance Film Festival, raving about films that won’t hit the theatres for at least six months, I thought I’d take a look at some of the films from last year’s festival circuit that may still be at an art house theatre near you.
CITY OF GOD
Jeffery Wells has been going on about CITY OF GOD in his column since August, but I thought, since it just opened in a limited release and is slated for a possible wider release soon, I’d remind you all to go out and see this movie – the true crime story set in Rio De Janeiro’s oldest slum in the 60s and 70s. Not since THE GODFATHER movies has a more epic history of organized crime hit the big screen. Not since THE MEAN STREETS has it felt so real.
The story is told through the eyes of a young photographer who goes by the name of Rocket. Through his narration, we see the rise and fall of Lil’ Ze – a kid Rocket’s age whose brutality made him a legend in the city. Rocket is the narrator but he’s not the main character -- he plays the Ishmael to Lil’ Ze’s Captain Ahab. He’s a good kid whose brains and brother keep him from a life of crime. Lil’ Ze, however, chooses an entirely different path.
It’s difficult to describe the impact of seeing such raw performances in this film. Director Fernando Meirelles cast mostly real people living in the actual City of God and, with his co-director, Katia Lund, worked with them on the script for 8 months before filming. The result is kids, no more than 18 years old, playing their characters with more feeling and intensity than any of the “Oscar-worthy” performances from A-list actors this year.
Meirelles is just one of the directors coming out of Brazil who have been making films with some of the most brilliant cinematography to come out in the last few years. Kinsman Walter Salles made a stunningly beautiful film BEHIND THE SUN (Abril Despedaçado) last year and is due to put out THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES based on the journals of Che Geuvara later this year sometime. Both Salles and Meiralles know exactly what it takes to find the beauty in the grim, how to take the slums and poverty of their subject matter and make it beautiful to watch.
HEAVEN
I have no idea why this film has escaped every critic’s notice this year. I kept waiting for it to hit big and it never did. Directed by German Tom Tykwer (RUN LOLA RUN) and written by the late Polish writer Krzysztof Kieslowski (the THREE COLORS trilogy), this fascinating film in Italian stars UK actress Cate Blanchett and American Giovanni Ribisi.
The film tells the story of a teacher Philippa (Blanchett) who inadvertently kills four innocent people (including two young girls) when she plants a bomb in the office of a businessman she knows is selling drugs to the kids in her school. While awaiting her trial, she meets a young guard Filippo (Ribisi) who offers to translate her testimony for her. The guard falls in love and breaks her out of jail so she can kill the intended victim of her bomb and then kill herself as penance for murdering four innocent people. Filippo convinces her to go on the run from the law with him until the authorities catch up with them.
 |
There’s a quietness to the film that comes from Kieslowski’s writing and a stunning visual style that comes from Tykwer. After the couple escape from the police, they exist in this kind of odd purgatory that you never want to leave. Ribisi plays a perfect Fillipo with an unbelievable Italian accent and just the right mix of innocence and world knowledge. Blanchett is perfect in her role as the terrorist – perhaps a bit too perfect. It could be the backlash against 9/11 that made Miramax want to bury this movie but it’s definitely worth checking out.
NAQOYQATSI
A movie I was completely surprised hasn’t been hyped a lot more is the return of the Godfrey Reggio and Phillip Glass team-up in the third film in the qatsi trilogy, NAQOYQATSI (the other two being KOYANISQATSI and POWAQQATSI). This time, Glass has brought cellist Yo Yo Ma along for the ride and Reggio has brought his digital filters.
Those familiar with the other two movies know the formula for these films – basically, a string of images cut together to music. Kind of like a 90-minute music video with a message. The title is (like the others in the series) a Hopi word which, loosely translated, means “Life as War.” That’s the topical theme here folks. A barrage of images from television and life, from pop art and reality edited to a mesmerizing, minimalist score.
 |
Don’t go into the theatre expecting this to be as mind-blowing as the first two films - but damn, if it isn’t still 500 times more interesting than anything else anyone’s been doing in film in the last ten years. The digital effects are somewhat jarring at times (although I realize there were moments with they were supposed to be) and the images don’t flow as well as the other two films. It’s still an interesting hour and a half and a staggering experience (with or without mind altering substances). The film is still making the rounds in various art houses around North America. Keep an eye out for it in your town and try to catch it on the big screen before settling for renting it - definitely worth the night out.
THE EYE
I caught a movie on DVD recently that I see is still wandering around on the festival circuit. Whether you watch it in the theatre or if you can find it in your local Asian video store, the Hong Kong film THE EYE (JIAN GUI) from the Pang Brothers is the creepiest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I mean “goose-bumps-up-the-spine-for-a-week” creepy. So creepy in fact, that I don’t want to describe some scenes to you for fear I’ll get creeped out again.
THE EYE tells the story of a blind girl who gets a cornea transplant and starts to see dead people – all the time. But this film goes way beyond being a simple SIXTH SENSE rip-off. It plays up the ambiguity of the situation brilliantly. Is that strange blurry shape a ghost she sees walking down the hall or is it just her imagination? Is that strange floating man with the screwed up face she’s trapped in an elevator with really there or is he just a side effect of her new eyes? As Mun starts to realize the things she is seeing aren’t normal she pieces together the strange history of her donated eyes which leads her to a startling revelation about her eye’s previous owner.
There are no big-budget special effects shots here or over-the-top gore make-up. Just some easy-to-do but disturbing film techniques that are so effective you’ll wonder why more people aren’t making cheap horror movies these days. Definitely a must-see to all who liked THE RING (both the original version and the re-make). Definitely a good time for everyone who likes creepy movies.
Creepy, creepy, creepy.
SHOOT-BACK HERE! |
ARCHIVES
