Archive for the ‘foreign film’ Category

  • 05 Feb

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    Review: Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne (1945)

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    [Starting Thursday, February 9th, Toronto's TIFF Bell Lightbox will be presenting a retrospective of French master Robert Bresson's films entitled The Poetry of Precision: The Films of Robert Bresson. To celebrate the event, here is a review of Bresson's second film, which will be playing at the Lightbox on February 23rd and March 5th.]

    Here, in Les Dames du Bois de Boulogne, is a story that might have been given an unsatisfactory treatment, like so much melodramatic drivel, and instead is carefully invested with some actual weight. Each of the central characters and their concerns are represented with an admirable amount of depth and conviction, elevating the narrative to nearly grand proportions. This shows how, even at just his second feature film, Robert Bresson had a firm grasp on his craft. That craft would eventually grow into a singular, pure style far more severe than what he uses here, yet Les Dames still certainly deserves recognition as a notable (and entertaining) entry in the great filmmaker’s body of work.

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  • 13 Dec

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    Trailer: [REC]³

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    Did you have a few snags or bumps during your wedding (assuming you are married)? Well, Paco Plaza, co-director of [REC] and [REC]2 gives you the worst, and most unexpected wedding glitch since, well, uh, Lars von Trier ended the world. Actually, the possibilities of this fraanchise, with its found-footage conceit, were beginning to get a bit strained with the second entry. Things were compensated only by an interesting twist on the mythology, shoring up the weak points between jump scares. This one, apparently a prequel, looks to be made entirely for shits and giggles. Why the hell not a have zombie out break at a wedding? [REC]3 is actually getting a US theatrical release -the first two were shelved for to make way for their English language remakes – on March 30, 2012.

    The full trailer (**UPDATED WITH US VERSION**) is tucked under the seat.

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  • 18 Nov

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    Review: Tomboy

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    (3.5/5)

    [Tomboy opens in limited release in the US this week, so we're reposting and expanding our LAFF review.]

    Moving into a new neighborhood means new kids to play with, and a chance for ten-year-old tomboy Laure (already androgynous with cropped hair, tank top, and shorts) to pretend to be a boy with her new friends. Introducing herself as Mikael, she passes quite well, playing sports with the boys and hanging out with new friend Lisa in a perhaps more than friendly way. At home she continues to be Laure, and her parents have no idea that she’s lying about her gender elsewhere – though they do perhaps have something of an inkling that she is not particularly comfortable identifying as a girl.

    Ten seems fairly young to experience gender identity issues as strongly as this, but writer/director Céline Sciamma wisely keeps the film focused on identity rather than sexuality. Yet this also introduces a certain ambiguity that may or may not be a good thing – when I initially saw the film in June at the LA Film Festival, I left the film confused as to whether Laure really did identify as a boy, or whether she simply wanted to do “boy” things and wear “boy” clothes. In other words, is she really just the tomboy of the title living in a society that for some reason restricts girls from doing boy things while still identifying as girls, or does it go deeper than that? I’m more inclined now to see that ambiguity as a plus than a minus, but it’s still definitely there for me. Others are seeing the film as a fully LGBT film (in fact, it played in an LGBT sidebar at LAFF), but I don’t think it’s necessarily that simple.

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  • 17 Nov

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    Review: Breaking the Waves (1996)

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    With 1996’s Breaking the Waves, Lars von Trier made his first proper venture into the territories of female martyrdom and suffering that he would become so well known for. It features one of his most memorable characters: Bess McNeill (Emily Watson in a one-of-a-kind performance), a child-like young woman who lives with her mother (Sandra Voe) and sister Dorothy (Katrin Cartlidge) in an isolated coastal community in Scotland. At the start of the film, she gets married to Jan (Stellan Skarsgård), who works on an offshore oilrig. Their early days together are happy ones, but he soon returns to the rig to continue his work, plunging the fiercely affectionate Bess into sadness. Then disaster strikes when an accident leaves Jan paralyzed. After a period of slow healing and depression, he makes an unusual request of her: Bess is to pursue sexual encounters with other men and tell him about them as a sad substitute for the moments of carnal bliss they once shared together. With difficulty, Bess complies, leading to tragic consequences in her relationships with Jan, her family, the town and God.
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  • 15 Nov

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    TIFF & AFI Fest 2011 Review: Oslo, August 31st

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    Though I don’t completely subscribe to the “Auteur” theory in all its finer points, I do tend to look at films as having directorial stamps on them – not just from common stylistic points of view or as vehicles that cover similar themes, but as works that have a certain quality about them. For example, when I see a movie like Joachim Trier’s debut film Reprise, I take note of the name of the helmer because there’s a certain something about the film that appeals to me and an attention to detail that shows the person “in charge” cares about the entirety of the work. So when I noticed that Trier’s second film Oslo, August 31st was to screen at this year’s TIFF, it immediately made my short list. It’s a very different film than its predecessor as it was shot quickly, for little money and eschews the many flourishes and stylistic touches of his first film. However, it still fits nicely next to Reprise because there is not only a deft touch with its characters and a strong sense of place, but also an overall confidence about its story.

    Based loosely on the French novel “Le Feu Follet” (which Louis Malle turned into the 1963 film of the same name – better known to English speakers as The Fire Within), the film shows a day in the life of one particular troubled person, but it also illuminates an entire city at the same time. The very beginning of the film shows home movies of a still smallish Oslo, but in the present day the city seems to be growing quite nicely as many cranes litter the streets signifying new construction. As Anders wanders from friend to job interview to his family’s old house, we get to see a large chunk of a lovely, restful city – a stark contrast to Anders himself. You know that friend you have that just can’t seem to get it together? While everyone has their ups and downs, this one particular person always seems to be in the worst shape (or at least that’s what they tell you)? That’s Anders. He can’t pull himself together and has already tried to kill himself once while in rehab. “I’ve always thought happy people must be morons” is one of Anders philosophies and gives a good indication where most conversations with him will likely lead.

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  • 12 Nov

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    Review: Europa (1991)

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    Being the third and final film in Lars von Trier’s Europa trilogy, Europa occupies quite a pivotal place in the Danish director’s career. At the time, it was his most thematically and stylistically ambitious achievement, escalating his ongoing study of European society to impressive new heights. At the Cannes Film Festival, it received no fewer than three awards, including one for “Special Artistic Contribution” – yet this didn’t keep von Trier from playing the sore loser when he didn’t get the Palme d’Or by calling Jury president Roman Polanski a midget. As if in response to this “loss,” von Trier then embarked on a new stage in his work, adopting the rougher, more emotionally lacerating approach seen in films like Breaking the Waves (1996), Dancer in the Dark (2000) and Dogville (2003) that he is perhaps best known for. This drastic shift makes Europa all the more fascinating as an exhilaratingly bold flirtation with large-scale filmmaking and outright spectacle.

    Jean-Marc Barr stars as Leopold Kessler, a naïve American who goes to Germany shortly after the end of World War II to work as a sleeping car conductor. Accompanied by his German uncle (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), he begins to socialize with the Hartmann family who run the Zentropa railway line. He becomes romantically involved with Katharina (Barbara Sukowa), daughter of the company’s owner, Max Hartmann (Jørgen Reenberg), while facing pressure from both an American colonel (Eddie Constantine) and the branch of Nazi supporters known as the Werewolves to aid their respective sides. Eventually, the non-committal Kessler is pushed to finally decide where his loyalties truly lie.
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  • 11 Nov

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    Review: Epidemic (1987)

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    For the second film in his Europa trilogy, Lars von Trier went in a noticeably different direction than the one he tread for his debut effort, The Element of Crime (1984), and the trilogy’s third film, Europa (1991). Both of these works are distinguished by their boldly stylized aesthetics and involving narratives, with Element providing a feverish, orange-tinted variation on the noir genre while Europa weaves a spellbinding tale of postwar Germany. In comparison, Epidemic (1987) feels completely different right from the start, with its sensibilities more rooted in documentary than fantasia – initially, at least.

    The film opens with the writer Niels Vørsel calling his creative partner Lars von Trier (the two men collaborated on the scripts for the Europa trilogy and the television miniseries The Kingdom, and here essentially play themselves) about their latest screenplay. Lars goes over to Niels’ place only to discover that the disc containing the script (entitled The Cop and the Whore, a cheeky nod to The Element of Crime) has been erased. Left with just a few days before they have to hand in their work to their producer, they scramble to write up a brand new script. They decide to create a new story about the spread of a deadly plague across the world and begin to conduct research and map out a plot. They make progress and see to other matters like a road trip to Germany while remaining unaware of an actual outbreak that is quietly making its way across Europe.
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  • 10 Nov

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    Video Review: Melancholia

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    Did you want two minutes of hyper-ecstatic stream-of-thought on Lars Von Trier’s Melancholia? Again, The Substream has got you covered, this time with yours truly talking fast in the damp November cold. The thesis: Why Lars Von Trier is the right man for the job of making a gorgeous epic on depression and self destruction.

  • 09 Nov

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    AFI Fest 2011: Le cercle rouge (1970)

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    (5/5)

    Usually I skip repertory screenings at festivals to focus on the newer stuff that I might not be able to see elsewhere, but when I saw that Artistic Director Pedro Almodóvar had programmed Jean-Pierre Melville’s crime drama Le cercle rouge, I couldn’t resist. I’ve been meaning to see this film for quite a while, ever since I saw and loved Le samourai, but despite a nice Criterion release and it even being on Instant Watch for a while, I didn’t get around to it. Seems like when that happens, I end up with the perfect opportunity to see it on a big screen in a great place like the Egyptian Theatre. Melville is quite simply France’s master of crime dramas (no disrespect to Chabrol or Clouzot, who tended a bit more toward the mystery/thriller aspect anyway), and this film combines elements of crime drama, police procedural, and heist film together perfectly into an intricate slow burn building to its inevitable climax.

    Initially, there are two major strands of story. Detective Mattei (André Bourvil) is escorting a suspect, Vogel (Gian-Maria Volonté), on a train when Vogel manages to escape. Meanwhile, Corey (Alain Delon) is being released from prison, but not before being tipped off by a corrupt prison guard about a really great potential job. Corey shakes down a mob friend of his for some money, which sets the rest of the mob on his tail. Vogel happens upon Corey’s car as he’s trying to evade the police dragnet and gets in the trunk, which Corey notices but protects him. The two decide to work the tipped-off job together, bringing in former police sharpshooter Jansen (Yves Montand) as well. So the mob is after Corey, Mattei and the police are after Vogel, the internal affairs department is after Mattei for letting Vogel escape, Jansen is recovering from the DTs, they’re all harrassing a nightclub owner who has mob connections as well as ties to Vogel, and in the midst of all this, Corey, Vogel, and Jansen are planning a major jewel heist. Yes, it’s really complicated, but never once was anything confusing.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 06 Nov

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    AFI Fest 2011: This is Not a Film

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    (4/5)

    Director Jafar Panahi was at the AFI Film Festival a few years ago presenting his film Offside, a well-regarded drama about an Iranian girl breaking all the rules and pretending to be a boy to attend a football game, something that girls are forbidden to do in Iran. This year, he could not be here, and indeed, could not legally make this film, because he has been placed under house arrest and banned from filmmaking for 20 years, with a potential of up to 6 years in prison for making subversive films. This (non)-film documents a day in his life at home while he waits to hear the results of his appeal, chafing under his restriction from his life work and also testing the limits of filmmaking itself.

    Since he’s not supposed to make a film, Panahi calls his friend Mojtaba Mirtahmasb (he cheated a bit to get this part in the film) to come over and film him telling the story of the film he was planning to make. Meanwhile, he fills Mirtahmasb and us on how he submitted the script to the government to get the necessary approvals and permits, but was denied, even after making some requested changes. Soon after he was placed under house arrest and banned from filmmaking, screenwriting, and giving interviews for 20 years – but, as he points out, there was no mention of acting or reading an existing script.

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  • 26 Oct

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    Trailer: The Secret World of Arrietty

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    Disney released the first trailer for the North American dub of Studio Ghibli’s adaptation of The Borrowers, The Secret World of Arrietty. While the American voice cast (Bridgit Mendler, Will Arnett, Carol Burnett, Amy Poehler) is not as high profile as the UK one (Saorise Ronan, Tom Holland, Olivia Colman, and Mark Strong), this new trailer gives a lot of more plotting and visual information than the previous UK trailer, but by some accounts, it is entirely misleading in tone. Nevertheless, things look like classic Ghibli to me. Hayao Miyazaki is not directing this one, but he did co-write the screenplay.

    The full trailer is tucked under the seat.

    » Read the rest of the entry..

  • 23 Oct

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    Toronto After Dark Video Reviews: Redline

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    Check out all The Substream coverage for the Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011, including the quite excellent print reviews by Mamo!’s Matt Brown.

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