by C.P. Czarnecki
In the week from June 25th to July 2nd of 2005, a big public film festival
took place in Munich, Germany. I attended this fabulous event on five days
and I hope you enjoy this little report.
Saturday, June 25, 2005
The first day of the festival and I’m right there. Today I will attend the
first German screening of Miranda July’s debut film “Me and You and Everyone
We Know” which just won the Camera d’Or at Cannes, for the best first film.
Its 5 pm and I go right into the Maxx theatre to pick up the tickets I
ordered via Internet. Then right down the stairs and into the foyer, where I
noticed a lot of people I know from TV and press and a nice information
centre where you can pick up pamphlets, catalogs and press material. I walk
into theatre no. 3, where I am waiting impatiently to see “Me and You and
Everyone We Know”, which was just hailed by Roger Ebert as one of the year’s
best films. At 5:15 pm the doors closed, everybody sat down and a lady
walked in front of the screen to introduce the film. The lights faded out,
the film started.
“Me and You and Everyone We Know” is a wonderful film about interesting
people in strange situations. It is primarily a tender love story between
the nice shoe salesman Richard (John Hawkes) and the sweet artist Christine
(Miranda July), but also takes more than one look at the lives of Richard’s
children, Christine’s melancholic father (who near the beginning of the film
talks about his new girlfriend and simply provides one of the most beautiful
monologues I’ve heard in a long time) and two young girls attracting
Richard’s goofy friend Andrew (Brad William Henke). July loves all of her
characters and gives them enough place and time to develop their eccentric
qualities. There’s for example the art curator Nancy (Tracy Wright) who
seems to be selfish and unfriendly, as she quickly rejects Christine’s
request for viewing her artistic video project. But there are two scenes in
which Nancy shows us her real emotions and feelings, and one of them made me
cry because of its creative tenderness. While every character seems a little
bit strange or lets say, unique July creates the feeling of real life.
We are all different in our actions and emotions and “Me and You and
Everyone We Know” is daring and intelligent enough to express it in a poetic
way.
This is a very special piece of film that proves how strong American
Independent cinema is today.
Sunday, June 26, 2005
At 7 pm I was sitting in front of the Maxx theatre, slurping my cappuccino
at a little street café and reading the festival’s official catalogue. In
just a few minutes I will attend the German premier of “Crash”, a film I’ve
been waiting to see since I first heard of it. When I finished my cappuccino
and walked into the cinema’s foyer, I was shocked to see how crowded it was.
On Saturday I saw around 15 people in the foyer and now there were easily
100! But when the film started at 7:30, I forgot I was sitting in a cinema.
“Crash” is written and directed by Paul Haggis, the man who wrote the script
for Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby”, which is in my opinion the
best film of 2004. What Haggis does in “Crash” is telling stories about
people colliding. About people crashing into each other in racial and social
conflicts. Haggis doesn’t place his characters like chess figures in the
film, just to push them around to go on with the story, he gives them the
freedom they need to become human and real. And they do. I have seen some of
the finest performances in years in this film. The most daring, thoughtful
and multi-layered character is probably Matt Dillon’s Sgt. Ryan. A racist,
brutal cop at first sight, but also a simple human being unable to help his
suffering father. And all characters are like that. They have good sides and
bad sides and you never know how they will react in the next moment.
“Crash” is thought-provoking, intelligent modern cinema at its finest,
filled with bravura performances and creative in its visual technique.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Another day, another film. Today I would have the unique chance to see this
year’s winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s “L’Enfant”.
I walked right out of the subway, into the cinema and sat down in the
theatre. I wanted to get a decent seat to perfectly enjoy the Dardenne’s new
achievement. I was one of the first in the theatre, so I had free choice.
When the doors closed for the third time and I was ready to see the film,
something unexpectedly great happened: the Dardennes were there! I couldn’t
believe my eyes. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne just walked down the theatre’s
stairs in front of the screen and said that they would talk about the film
afterwards. The lights faded out and the film’s title appeared on the
screen.
“L’Enfant” tells the story of Bruno (Jérémie Renier; who you should know
from the Dardenne’s earlier masterpiece “La Promesse”), Sonia (Déborah
François) and their little son Jimmy. Bruno and Sonia are young and don’t
know anything about raising a child. They live in the present, never
spending a single thought about the future. One day Bruno sells his son to
get money for Sonia and himself to live. This action shocks Sonia so
intensively that she collapses and Bruno decides to get his son back. While
this short summary certainly does not evoke the feeling of greatness, the
film truly is great. “L’Enfant” is a quiet, realistic portrait about youth,
despair and quick, stupid decisions that lead into self destruction. It
doesn’t have a soundtrack, expensive effects or unrealistic outbursts of
corny Hollywood drama, but involved me deeply into the characters’
destinies.
In my opinion, the Dardenne brothers are two of the greatest geniuses of
modern cinema. “Rosetta” was one of the best films I’ve ever seen and “Le Fils”
and “La Promesse” were brilliant as well. “L’Enfant” is not an
exception. While I haven’t seen the other nominated films yet, it’s a very
well deserved Palme d’Or and a movie that will not leave my mind for the
future.
While I was still loudly applauding after the film has ended (as well as
everyone else in the audience), the Dardennes came back to answer questions.
There was time for around five or six questions from the audience, some
interesting, some don’t. Luc Dardenne also told us a nice little story that
was a symbolically perfect addition to the beautiful film we’ve just seen.
After the whole event was finished, I walked out of the theatre, still
touched by the psychological depth of the film and my happiness about the
presence of the directors. As I just wanted to go downstairs to get the next
train back home, I saw Jean-Pierre and Luc standing in front of the theatre.
I couldn’t miss the chance to talk to them personally. So I walked right in
front of Jean-Pierre (while Luc was talking on the telephone) and told him
how much I admired “L’Enfant” (the Dardennes’ English isn’t very good, but
there was luckily a nice woman translating everything I said to
Jean-Pierre). I added that their films enrich the lives of many people
(including me) and he was obviously very touched by that statement. He
sincerely thanked me for my enthusiastic words and after this very special
meeting I walked down the stairs to the subway station and got back home.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
For my next film at the Munich Film Festival I choose Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s
“Café Lumière”, an homage to one of my all-time favorite directors, the
great Yasujiro Ozu who lived from 1903 to 1963. The screening was at 5:30 pm
and I had a good friend of mine accompanying me.
I’ve heard a lot about Hou Hsiao-Hsien in advance, but I have to admit
that “Café Lumière” was the first film I’ve seen from this gifted director. But I
am a big admirer of Yasujiro Ozu’s work and have seen many of his films, so
I was impatient to recognize the references Hsiao-Hsien would build into his
film. As expected and hoped, “Café Lumière” is a slow-paced, poetic little
film about the beauty and sadness of everyday life. It follows Ozu’s motif
of “mono no aware”, the bittersweet nostalgia as Roger Ebert perfectly
interpreted it on the audio commentary for Criterion’s “Floating Weeds” DVD.
While I loved the mood, camerawork and subtle use of music in “Café Lumière”,
I felt it was a little bit too shaky and uncertain whether it’s a Hsiao-Hsien
film or an Ozu homage. The film certainly feels Ozu’esque in its composition
and atmosphere, while sometimes losing itself in unnecessary moments like
the scene in which Tadanobu Asano’s character shows Yoko (Yo Hitoto) the
train animations on his computer. The modern mood of the 21st century often
distracts from the beauty of Hsiao-Hsien’s shots and interrupts the unique
atmosphere.
While I highly enjoyed viewing “Café Lumière”, I sometimes felt as if Hou
Hsiao-Hsien was uncertain which way the film should go. It remains a good
film, which I want to recommend everyone who loves Ozu’s work as much as I
do (the Hsiao-Hsien fans have probably already seen it).
Friday, June 1, 2005
This was my last day at the Munich Film Festival and I attended a special
theatrical screening of Takeshi Kitano’s 1993 film “Sonatine” at 2:45 pm at
the Maxx 1 cinema. I’ve seen “Sonatine” once or twice before and always
admired the poetic scenes at the beach, where the Yakuza troupe finds back
to the childish freedom and innocence they never really had. While I think
that “Sonatine” has some flaws in storytelling and composition, it still
remains a very interesting and intelligent film with a great score by Joe
Hisaishi and some beautiful landscape shots.
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Its Monday now and the Film Festival in Munich is over. I highly enjoyed my
time in Bavaria’s capitol and was happy to feel a little bit of the unique
mood such a film festival can provide. I met two of my favorite directors of
all time personally, saw three of the greatest films of the year 2005 and
simply had a great time at the movies!
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Gary Tooze
Mississauga, Ontario, CANADA |
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Thank You!