Away From Her (Sarah Polley, 2007) ***1/2

Dir. Sarah Polley
Starring Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie, Olympia Dukakis, Kristen Thomson, Wendy Crewson

In Away From Her, director Sarah Polley tackles the issue of Alzheimer’s disease and how it affects an older married couple. This is a movie that could have gone wrong in so many ways. With a young director, many might question her ability to handle such mature issues. Certainly she’d ruin it with cheap payoffs and ludicrous overacting. The plot itself could have easily been done as a cheap TV-movie. However, Sarah Polley the actress has always been known to make risky choices. After making her breakthrough with the lyrical Atom Egoyan masterpiece The Sweet Hereafter, Polley refused to take the easy route, choosing mostly independent films from directors as varied as David Cronenberg, Doug Liman, Michael Winterbottom, and Wim Wenders. With her first film as director, Polley stays true to that philosophy, making an honest and mature film without standard contrivances.

The film tells the story of Fiona (Julie Christie) and Grant (Gordon Pinsent), an older married couple who haven’t spent more than a month apart in thirty years. When Fiona begins forgetting simple things, they soon learn that she has Alzheimer’s disease. Even worse is the realization that the onset has been so severe that they’re left with no choice but to send her to a nursing home. Their once unbreakable bond becomes severely tested by this separation, especially when Fiona begins to turn her affections to a fellow patient.

Polley’s previous association with Atom Egoyan is evident in nearly every frame of this story. She adapted the screenplay from a short story by Alice Munro, and clearly made a point to make the dialogue as poetic as in Egoyan’s films. What’s amazing is how well it works. At no point does the dialogue feel forced, and that’s a testament to the performances of her cast. Working with actors mostly well above her age range, she shows a distinctive skill at coaxing natural performances from them. The only one that doesn’t work is Wendy Crewson as an annoyingly perky administrator at the nursing home. The idea of the character is sound, but Crewson plays it a bit too broadly to work in the context of this film.

An interesting narrative structure is employed to liven up a pretty basic plot. The story of Fiona and Grant dealing with news of the disease is intercut with scenes of Grant visiting the home of a woman who seems to know Fiona. This sort of time shifting structure has been employed excessively in recent films, but here it serves a better purpose than the director just showing off. The woman Grant visits, played by Olympia Dukakis, is extremely important to the overall story and the plot structure allows her relationship with Grant to have a complete arc, instead of a random interruption into the proceedings halfway through.

Julie Christie is sure to get plenty of attention for her wonderful portrait of a woman whose memory makes it difficult to remember where her emotions should lie, but the most stunning performance comes from Gordon Pinsent. A veteran Canadian actor with 99 credits to his name, he’s stayed mostly under the radar in the states, but hopefully that will change soon. His beautifully reserved performance is a splendid example of natural acting that hasn’t been seen since Peter Fonda in Ulee’s Gold. Also stunning in a supporting role is Kristen Thomson, as a nurse who presents Grant with the blunt realities of his situation.

There is one unfortunate moment where Polley takes us completely out of the film. While watching news coverage of the Iraq War, Fiona bursts out, “Don’t they remember Vietnam?” This analogy is not without merit (it has certainly made countless times), but it does not belong in this story. The entire movie takes place in the small context of the individual lives affected by the disease. This simplistic moment punctures that careful little world that Polley had created and interrupts the reserved, somber atmosphere of the film. While this may seem like a fairly small moment, it sticks out like a sore thumb, akin to a great novel having one page ripped out and replaced with something from Danielle Steele.

Thankfully the movie is able to recover its momentum, and other than some minor contrived plot points (in a key scene, Grant is able to retrieve an address too easily), Away From Her is a remarkable debut for Sarah Polley. She shows a maturity that surpasses most Hollywood filmmakers. There’s a suggestion that Grant had an affair, and he wonders if she is punishing him for it. At several points in the film, Polley is willing to let things go unresolved. She understands that what actually happened is far less important than how it affected the characters involved. There should be no question about it; Sarah Polley is a promising filmmaker, and at the age of 28 already has a great film under her belt.

The TV Set (Jake Kasdan, 2007) ***

Dir. Jake Kasdan
Starring David Duchovny, Sigourney Weaver, Ioan Gruffudd, Lindsay Sloane, Judy Greer

Jake Kasdan’s The TV Set is a comedy about veteran TV staff writer Mike Klein (David Duchovny). He’s just about to reach his dream of seeing his own pilot script being made into a TV series, but must jump through a few hoops before that happens. Those hoops include: slightly insane network president Lenny (Sigourney Weaver) who lets her preteen daughter make judgments on the prospective television shows, network interference with casting of his male lead, and network requests for script changes that water down his main premise. As Jake juggles artistic pride with financial necessity, Kasdan uses this story to make pointed comments about the nature of modern American television.

The TV Set is an amusing satire with several knowing jabs at Hollywood, and will probably be funniest to those familiar with how the TV industry works. They will understand the amusing swipes at the nature of pilot season, network upfronts, and demographic targets. That doesn’t mean it won’t be enjoyable for those unfamiliar with those terms. The overall story still stands fairly well on it’s own, and it’s very amusing to watch Mike’s increasing despair as his show gets trashed by the network and their reliance on focus groups.

It’s not a coincidence that Kasdan has populated this film with actors most known for their television experience. Besides David Duchovny (X-Files),we have Justine Bateman (Family Ties) as Mike’s wife, Lucy Davis (UK version of The Office) as a network exec’s wife, Kathryn Joosten (The West Wing) as an editor, and Lindsey Sloane (Grosse Point, also a TV industry satire) as the actress who wins the job of female lead. By doing this, you get the sense that while Kasdan is satirizing television, he’s doing it from the position of a nostalgic fan. This perspective is much more interesting than if it came from an arrogant elitist.

The TV Set loses its focus in a subplot that follows a former BBC executive (who struggles to deal with the American television format. It’s perfectly reasonable for Kasdan to criticize American television by comparing it to the BBC, and utilizing The Office’s Lucy Davis to dole out some of the criticism was a smart idea. Unfortunately, all of this is trapped in an annoying family subplot, as Davis struggles with adapting to the United States and is constantly seen either pouting or crying because her husband is working late and missing family functions. This becomes tiresome very quickly, and is an abhorrent waste of the actress’ considerable comedic talents.

There are some amusing sight gags in the film. During network meetings, the network primetime schedule can be seen in the background. Mixed in with real life programs are fake shows that unfortunately sound all too real, such as Malibu D.A., Skrewed, and Stat. The funniest is Slut Wars, a Survivor-type reality series with scantily clad women that becomes a major hit for the network. This at first seemed a bit too broad but when you consider the nature of prime time television, it’s really not that far off. Perhaps the scariest title of all is JAG. It’s frightening to think of a world where that didn’t get canceled yet.

Some of the gags are a bit too broad. A network session where they test two different versions of Mike’s show before a focus group has some great potential. Unfortunately, the people involved in the focus group are portrayed as ridiculous caricatures and the scene loses most of its inherent humor. Weaver’s entire performance is over the top, with contorted facial movements that distract from her otherwise amusing material. Mike’s constant back problems throughout the movie lead to an unnecessary development that turns out to be a contrived reason for him to not appear at the focus group meeting.

Kasdan occassionally falls prey to some of his own criticisms. He makes several points in the film about how TV caters to hormones and turns women into objects, noting how the focus group responds to Lindsey Sloane’s character. However, in an early scene he kinda does this to Sloane herself, showing her in a changing room with very little clothing. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, but it diminishes the strength of your argument when you do the very same thing.

Still, it’s hard to deny that this is a pretty funny film. Kasdan is a talented director with a good eye for satire and he’s put together an amusing cast. David Duchovny pulls off a great slow burn throughout the course of the film and Lindsey Sloane has the perfect pitch for her character. Despite the several flaws and an abrupt ending, this is an enjoyable comedy that hits its targets more often than not.

The Host (Bong Joon-Ho, 2007) ***1/2

Dir. Bong Joon-Ho
Starring Song Gang-ho, Byun Hee-bong, Ko Ah-sung, Park Hae-Il, Bae Du-na

Not many people would consider a South Korean horror film their idea of a fun night at the movies. And that is a shame because Joon-ho Bong's The Host (known as Gwoemul in South Korea) is a film that so many people would enjoy. It may come from a director that most people never heard of, or actors that most audiences haven't seen before, but it is made with so much artistry and unrelenting joy that it feels like an expertly made Hollywood film that could have come from the likes of Steven Spielberg. Unfortunately, language barriers have limited this film to only 70 theatres nationwide, but it is absolutely worth making the trip to the downtown art theater to catch this lively thriller.

After a silly setup involving chemical spillage, we are transported to an ordinary, sunny day in Seoul. Park Hee-Bong (Byun Hee-Bong) is a elderly man who owns a snack shop on the banks of the Han river. Working in the snack shop is his lazy, blundering son Gang-du (Song Gang-ho) whose wife abandoned the family long ago. One day, a gigantic sea creature appears out of nowhere and begins eating all the tourists and residents in sight. One of those eaten is Gang-du's daughter Hyun-Seo (Ko Ah-sung). As the family grieves over her loss, Gang-du gets a mysterious phone call from Hyun-Seo, learning that she is not dead but trapped. Gang-du and his family set out to rescue her from the sea creature.

The most notable thing about The Host is how much fun it has developing the individual family members. Also on board are Gang-Du's siblings; unemployed college graduate Nam-Il (Park Hae-Il) and expert archery competitor Nam-joo (Bae Du-na). Together, the group makes for a very amusing dysfunctional family. There are a number of emotional issues simmering underneath, and they all come out here. It's almost as if the sea creature attack is their own version of a typical American Thanksgiving dinner. The most interesting relationships are drawn between Gang-du and his seemingly disappointed father, and then between Gang-du and his pitying siblings. The way the family emotions work themselves out in humorous style throughout the course of the film is reminiscent of last year’s indie winner Little Miss Sunshine. Just imagine a large sea creature chasing Steve Carell.

The Host owes plenty to the classic monster movies of the past and it does them justice. The opening attack by the creature is beautifully staged, with crowds of people attempting to flee the scene, many of them unsuccessful. Gong-du attempts to battle the villain, using a variety of handy props to hurl in its direction. Sure, the creature is a bit silly, but that only reinforces the film’s knowing homage to the beloved genre. While the proceedings are mostly goofy, the action scenes are incredibly well put together, avoiding the rapid cutting technique that plagues modern Hollywood action directors. Instead, Bong chooses large shots that capture all of the action at once.

The Host is a fun ride, but there are a few missteps along the way. Showing us the exact location of the girl is a big mistake, as it takes away some of the mystery that could have been created otherwise. Also problematic is Bong’s decision to follow the girls exploits as the creature’s prisoner. This only takes away from the interesting far more interesting moments between the family members. The film tries to get a little too political for its own good. While an examination of US-South Korea relations is certainly a timely topic, it just doesn’t work here and feels unnecessary in a film that at 119 minutes already runs long for its genre.

The film has been praised for avoiding the sentimentalism of Spielberg, most notably in War of the Worlds. This is an odd comparison, because if anything, The Host has an overly sentimental ending with a sudden twist that does not work at all with the overall goofy nature of the movie. It forces the audience to accept something we don't really care about. Sure the end of War of the Worlds was ridiculously schmaltzy, but at least there was reason to care about father and son reuniting. In The Host, Bong attempts mixing a melancholy ending with ultimate happiness, but the result is a final scene so contrived that even Spielberg at his worst could never hope to achieve.

Despite getting lost at a few points, The Host is an extremely entertaining motion picture. Joon-ho Bong displays a keen eye for perfectly setting up an action sequence and perfectly balances exciting suspenseful moments with a series of comic moments exploring the dysfunctional family. His talented cast finds the perfect note for the characters, never allowing them to become so silly that all sense of reality is lost. American filmmakers have plenty to learn from this film, and American audiences would do well to embrace this film and the many others like it that come from overseas and struggle to find distribution.

Grade: B+

Disturbia (DJ Caruso, 2007) *1/2

Dir. DJ Caruso
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Sarah Roemer, David Morse, Carrie-Anne Moss, Aaron Yoo

There's a really nice shot early on in Disturbia that provides a glimmer of hope that director DJ Caruso might have a clue. After a harrowing car accident scene, one character escapes from the burning vehicle and rushes to the other side to check on the passenger. Caruso avoids showing a gruesome shot of what happened to the passenger, and instead shows us the horrified reaction of the other character. While this was likely done to achieve a PG-13 rating instead of an R, it still shows a nice instinct that is unfortunately missing from the rest of the film, which takes a premise based on Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and throws it away with a third act that owes more to Friday the 13th.

Kale (Shia LaBeouf) is a troubled teenager dealing with his father’s recent death. One day he gets fed up with his teacher and punches him in the face. He avoids jail time but the judge decides to restrict him to house arrest. To enforce the conditions of house arrest, he must wear an ankle bracelet that prevents him from leaving his house. Stuck in his house for the summer, Kale starts to peep through his neighbor’s windows and begins to suspect that the mysterious Mr. Turner (David Morse) might be a serial killer.

The film has a very labored and slow build up to explain the central premise. Even after setting up the reasoning for the ankle bracelet, Caruso must go through a series of teen movie cliches before Kale's mother puts her foot down and cuts off his ability to play XBOX games, his ITunes account, and severs the power cord to the television. Now he watches the neighbors because he's bored, a point that could have been made in about 15 minutes less screen time.

The premise has plenty of potential, but the film severely limits itself by only really focusing on one person in the neighborhood to watch. Sure there is the requisite scene where Kale spies on various people in the neighborhood, noting a few that are having sex or have odd habits. But this is quickly dispensed with as he focuses on Mr. Turner. By doing so, it prevents the chance to give us any real surprise with the ending. It would have been much more interesting, and made the film’s ending seem less mundane, to follow multiple characters through the window.

Disturbia doesn’t have much time for that, because it wants to also tell a story of teen romance as Kale begins to fall for new neighbor Ashley (Sarah Roemer). To be fair, this doesn’t come off quite as bad as it could have. There is reasonable chemistry between LaBeouf and Roemer. However, this subplot becomes rather pointless as Ashley has very little impact on the outcome of the movie. An interesting thread, involving her emotionally abusive parents seems to have been excised from the film, and she stunningly disappears from sight during the film’s conclusion.

Despite this, there is some reasonable tension created by the central premise. The middle section of the film, where Kale and his friends try to figure out what Mr. Turner is up to, occasionally builds a decent amount of suspense. Unfortunately, Caruso is not interested in a psychological thriller or really doing anything thought provoking. He completely switches gears in the third act and abandons the entire story by turning the film into a slasher movie. And not even a very good one at that. The grand finale is a long sequence that takes place in an elaborate set that could not possibly exist given the character’s history at that house.

Instead of creating a stylish sense of atmosphere and building suspense to create scares, Caruso relies on cheap tactics to get to the viewer. There are numerous moments in Disturbia where a character bumps into someone or is suddenly surprised by another person, creating gasps in the audience. This is fine to do once, but here it is put to excessive use and by the time the 5th fake scare rolled around, it was hard to care about the real ones anymore. There is one sequence that almost works, where Kale’s friend Ronnie goes over to the house to try and find out what is inside a bag, while Kale does lookout duty. Unfortunately this scene is riddled with a number of logical inconsistencies, including Ronnie conveniently disappearing for a short time under circumstances that make absolutely zero sense in retrospect.

The most staggering thing to notice is that this film has received glowing reviews across the board. Respected critics from to David Edelstein to A.O. Scott are raving about this film and it received a 67% score from the Rotten Tomatoes website. It seems odd that this film would be rewarded with such high praise considering it fails at almost every level most critics tend to rate thrillers. I can understand getting wrapped up in the clever high concept premise, but there is no getting around the atrocious third act. If we don't challenge filmmakers to do anything more thoughtful than a slasher movie ending, then we don't deserve any better.

Grade: C

Blades of Glory (Josh Gordon and Will Speck, 2007) **

Dir. Josh Gordon and Will Speck
Starring Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Jenna Fischer, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler

There’s nothing wrong with making an excessively silly movie. Sometimes it can be great to just sit back and laugh without concern for the deeper issues of the moment. In the past, movies such as The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Nutty Professor have had success at doing this. The problem with Blades of Glory is that it removes itself so far from reality that it’s hard to care about anything that happens in the film, and what we’re left with is not funny enough to overcome the paper thin premise.

Blades of Glory tells the story of rival figure skaters Chazz Michael Michaels (Will Ferrell) and Jimmy MacElroy (Jon Heder). At a major competition, they end up tied and must share the gold medal. During the medal ceremony, the jealous duo gets into an embarrassing fight, leading to their lifetime ban from the sport. Several years later, the pair are convinced to give it a go again as the first male-male pairs skating team. The requisite contrived explanation notes they were only banned from individual competition. They face difficulties along the way, including their own hatred for each other and the threat of a sadistic brother and sister pairs team (Amy Poehler, Will Arnett).

The events in Blades of Glory are played out in a ridiculous over the top manner. The routines that Chazz and Jimmy perform are not just exaggerated versions of real life routines, but a series of bizarre moments that are completely disconnected from reality. Jimmy pulls out a dove at the end of one of his performances, and Chazz doesn’t even perform a real routine, completely stopping at several points and interacting with the audience. Figure skating routines are ripe material for a good satire, but Blades of Glory goes too far and thus loses any connection with the very subject it wishes to parody.

The film makes sure to prevent any connection to the two main characters. Both of them are presented as silly caricatures instead of anything resembling real people. Perhaps the funniest aspect of the pair is that they are inspired by Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan (who makes her own cameo in the film). Unfortunately we’re not really given any reason to root for this duo, other than the fact that their rivals are horrible people. As the film builds in predictable fashion towards the climax, its hard to care if Chazz and Jimmy will win because the movie has been telling us all along to laugh at them, not root for them.

Of course, all of these gripes would be rather pointless if the film was funny enough. For the most part, Blades of Glory fails to maintain a consistent comic tone, missing its targets more often than not. The usual assortment of toilet humor is on display here, with plenty of crotch jokes, vomit scenes, and boob grabbing. Some of this is admittedly funny, particularly a scene where Chazz is caught in an uncompromising situation and his attempts to cover it up (so to speak) only makes things worse. Unfortunately, these moments are few and far between. The rest is a fairly repetitive sequence of events that gets old really fast and suggests that this was material better suited for a short Saturday Night Live sketch.

Part of the blame must go to filmmakers Josh Gordon and Will Speck, former directors of popular television commercials. They appear to be out of place with a 93 minute running time. The timing between the actors often seems to be out of sync, especially with Amy Poehler and Will Arnett. Both are extremely talented comic actors, but here the best they can do is sneer throughout the entire film, and many of the jokes written for the pair fall completely flat. Upstaging them is the wonderful Jenna Fischer, who plays the mistreated younger sister of the pair. Fischer’s sheepish vulnerability is put to good use here, and she is the only character in the entire film that resembles a human being.

There are a few things that work in the movie. Gordon and Speck put together a hilarious extended chase sequence near the end of the movie where characters must use figure skates on surfaces clearly not intended for that purpose. There’s an amusing running bit with a stalker, who casually mentions he will kill Jimmy one day, even while he’s gushing over him. This suggests some potential filmmaking talent, but perhaps for their next outing the pair will put as much thought and effort into their film as Jimmy and Chazz put into their routines.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley (Ken Loach, 2007) **

Dir. Ken Loach
Starring Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Sabrina Barry, Gerard Kearney

The Wind That Shakes the Barley is a beautifully photographed film with expansive views of the Irish countryside. It contains a cast filled with authentic performers, who feel just right fitting into the period setting. It seems clear that the events of the film are very personal to director Ken Loach, given the way he understandably tips the scales in the favor of his own point of view. Despite these admirable strengths, the film never comes together because Loach’s reserved technique saps away the inherent dramatic power contained in the story.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley transports us to 1920’s Ireland and the struggle for Irish independence. Teddy (Padraic Delaney) is the leader of a local guerilla group, but his brother Damien (Cillian Murphy) just wants to get through medical school. After witnessing a series of atrocities, Damien is inspired to join the cause and fights valiantly for his country. When a treaty is signed that gives Ireland a limited version of home rule, the brothers priorities change once again and they end up fighting against each other in a brutal civil war that would tear Ireland apart.

This isn’t a typical war movie filled with expansive battle scenes. Loach portrays the war as a series of smaller conflicts led by guerilla groups. The men fighting aren’t your typical grunts, but the average working class man fed up with British rule. The hardworking local citizenry risk their homes and their lives to support the cause. The drab colors used suggest a dreary existence for these people, and fighting for independence is the one thing they can cling to that gives their life meaning.

Loach makes an incisive point about how war can change people. A truce is signed in 1921 that ends hostilities, but only allows a limited version of independence and still demands allegiance to the British crown. Teddy is a naturally gifted leader and he clearly doesn’t want to give that up, thus he supports the treaty, allowing him to continue a leadership role in the new Irish army. However, Damien is haunted by some of the actions he undertook during the war. He can only reconcile such actions with his total commitment to his belief in full Irish independence. To him, everything he had done was worthless if he has to swear an oath to the very country he changed his entire life to fight against. Thanks to Murphy's strong performance, Damien's transformation is one of the few aspects of the film that is emotionally involving.

The Wind That Shakes the Barley has a decidedly one sided view about the treaty situation. The film clearly takes a stand against the truce and those who support it are considered traitors or cowards. This is certainly Loach’s right to take the anti-treaty side, but he demeans the complexity of the situation by presenting a one-dimensional view of the opposing argument. Any attempt to give weight to the pro-treaty side is thrown aside by the thematic weight of the ending and the trashing of IRA hero Michael Collins (not to mention future British hero Winston Churchill). It should be noted that even Eamonn de Valera, the Irish president who opposed the treaty at the time, would later remark that his own opposition was a mistake.

Even this would be fine if there had been some passion in the filmmaking, but everything here is told in a dry, reserved manner better suited for a more objective view of events. During the most horrific moments, including the execution of a childhood friend, Loach generally pulls the camera back and observes things from a distance. This makes it feel more like a history lesson than a personal story about the fight for independence. Even in the film’s final scene, Loach doesn’t let us connect with a key character, almost completely muting the tragedy that has taken place.

Loach also fails with a misguided attempt to try and show a balanced portrait of the Catholic Church’s role during the conflict. Early in the film, a priest is shown nobly praying for the IRA members. Later on, during a sermon, a priest attacks the anti-treaty crowd and threatens them with excommunication. There is some potency to the complaint against the Church’s involvement in political matters, but without enough time to fully explore this or enough care to create a more three dimensional character, it would have been a better idea to leave it out completely.

There is no doubt that that the struggle for Irish independence was a very noble cause, and the argument against the treaty has considerable merit. The atrocities committed by the British throughout the film and throughout Irish history are certainly abhorrent. However, Loach’s vision ultimately fails because he is either uninterested in the deeper intricacies of the situation or unable to provide a more visceral and intimate connection to the very people fighting for independence.

Screening Log (May 2007)

---

Spider-man 3 (Sam Raimi, 2007) **
Seen: May 19th
Format: Theater (UA Perimeter Pointe 10)

Even with the somewhat subdued critical reception this one had received, this still has to rank as a major disappointment. The 3rd film in this series finds the same flaws as in the Batman series. There are just too many damned villains. Not only do we have Sandman and Venom, but there's still Harry Osborne to deal with. None of these are handled with satisfaction, particularly the Harry situation. The Harry storyline is horribly wrapped up, with an extremely contrived and cloying scene that is really beneath Raimi.

---

Day Night Day Night (Julia Loktev, 2007) ***
Seen: May 13th
Format: Comcast On Demand (IFC In Theaters)

Interesting experimental film about a young woman preparing to be a suicide bomber. You don't know her ethnicity, her religion, or her political motivation. The film rather plainly follows the various mundane activities that take place before she sets off on her mission. Almost has the courage to stay consistent all the way through, but gets a little too clever at one spot near the end. More interesting than compelling, but enough to make it worth watching. Full review forthcoming...

---

28 Weeks Later (Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007) ***1/2
Seen: May 12th
Format: Theater (UA Perimeter Pointe 10)

Probably one of the best ideas for a sequel in a long time. In films with the threat of the world ending, its always been a curiosity to find out what happened once the apocalyptic nightmare was thwarted, and thats what we get here. The film has a wonderful little twist that adds a whole other villain for the survivors to be worried about. Director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo outdoes Danny Boyle on the suspense scale with several expertly staged scare sequences, including a brilliant opening that sets up a moral dilemma that reverberates throughout the rest of the film. The major problems are two incredibly contrived sequences where security is breached to move the plot along. Full review forthcoming...

---

Half Nelson (Anna Fleck, Ryan Boden, 2006) **1/2
Seen: May 10th
Format: DVD

Hard to wrap my head around this. It's certainly a movie that defies conventions, and contains terrific performances from leads Ryan Gosling and Shareeka Epps. However, the story just doesn't seem to go anywhere. Sure, it's supposed to deal with realistic situations instead of conventional movie storytelling, but so many scenes linger on for far too long and the pacing suffers as a result. However, the performances are strong enough to overcome this and the conclusion is undeniably moving.

---

Close to Home (Vardit Bilu and Dalia Hagar, 2007) *1/2
Seen: May 9th
Format: Comcast On Demand (IFC in Theaters)

Certainly a well meaning movie, but utterly inept on almost every level. Tells the story of two female soldiers in the Israeli army. The attempt to make a political statement is halfhearted at best, and the relationship between the two leads is not convincingly developed. There's a really nice scene near the end of the film, where the filmmakers cut away from a horrific moment, but you can still hear the audio. It's the only inspired moment in the entire film. Full review forthcoming...

---

The Prestige (Christopher Nolan, 2006) **1/2
Seen: May 9th
Format: DVD

Nolan's film is beloved by many, and it is certainly more substantial (in many ways) than The Illusionist. Unlike the latter film, this one actually has some clever twists to be proud of, and the technical work is even stronger. Sets up an interesting battle between two magicians; Borden (Christian Bale), who is a great illusionist but poor showman and Angier (Hugh Jackman) who is the direct opposite. What's intersting is that the film suffers from the same problems as Borden. There are plenty of neat tricks within the complicated plot, but its really not that much fun. The screenplay gets so caught up in trying to surprise that it forgets to develop any of the three major female roles. The result is a movie with some wonderful visuals and surprises, but in the end it's hard to care about anything that happens.

---

Spider-man (Sam Raimi, 2002) ***
Seen: May 5th
Format: Comcast On Demand

Watched this again in preparation for seeing the new film. Not nearly as good as I remembered it initially, and part 2 seems far superior at this point, although my impression of that one may change on a second viewing as well. This is still a decent adaptation of the comic book, but there is some clumsy plotting throughout, including the Peter/Mary Jane/Harry love triangle. The action scenes are also not quite as memorable this time around, with the climactic fight being particularly disappointing. Still some enjoyable stuff here, with Tobey and Kirsten putting in performances that are lively enough to stand out amongst all the CGI.

---

Atlanta Film Festival in Review

Well this wasn't one of the best lineups I've seen at the Atlanta Film Festival, but perhaps I just made some really bad scheduling choices. I did see two great films and some interesting documentaries. Below you can find links to my daily coverage of the festival, followed by my own award winners...


Day Two (The TV Set, King of Kong)
Day Three (All the Days Before Tomorrow, Third Monday in October, Away From Her)
Day Four (Drifting Elegant)
Day Six (Park, Kamp Katrina, Great World of Sound, Somebodies, Elephant King)
Day Seven (Election Day, Pretty in the Face, Last Days of Left Eye)
Day Eight (American Fugitive: The Truth About Hassan, The Insurgents)
Day Nine (Montclair, Blood Car, Rocket Science)

Personal Picks for the 2007 Atlanta Film Festival

Best Narrative Film: Great World of Sound (Craig Zobel)
Honorable Mention: Away From Her (Sarah Polley)

Best Documentary Film: Third Monday in October (Vanessa Roth)
Honorable Mention: Last Days of Left Eye (Lauren Lazin)

Best Actor: Gordon Pinsent, Away From Her
Honorable Mention: Reece Thompson, Rocket Science

Best Actress: Julie Christie, Away From Her
Honorable Mention: Meagan Moses, Pretty in the Face

Best Debut Performance: Meagan Moses, Pretty in the Face
Honorable Mention: Mike Brune, Blood Car

Best Film About a Car That Runs on Blood: Blood Car
Honorable Mention: Sadly, no qualifier.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Nine

After some major disappointments over the past few days, it was nice to wrap up the festival with a nice trio of films that could not possibly be more different.

Up first was MONTCLAIR, which tells a typical indie story about thirtysomething adults living in the small suburban town of Montclair. Nothing new about the plot but I like the filmmakers decision to mix in the story with footage of actual Montclair residents. The individual stories are fairly basic stuff: Jay and Amy struggle when Jay's work demands get in the way fo their future family planning, Suzanne and Joel have difficulty connecting during her pregnancy, Vaclav hides behind his reclusive nature to cover up an old tragedy, and Bruce is a divorced slacker with dreams of being a comedian.These stories certainly don't burst off the page, but the director tells it with so much empathy and the actors (for the most part) invest so much warmth in their characters that it becomes hard to resist. The standout performance comes from Jeremy Schwartz as Vaclav, a character that threatens to become a stereotype but instead becomes the most winning performance in the film. Interesting trivia note: Bruce is played by Bruce Sinofsky, co-director of acclaimed documentaries BROTHER'S KEEPER and PARADISE LOST.

And next we have BLOOD CAR. This is the movie that led to a pitiful protest by a right winger who stole the festival blimp. It was one of the most anticipated films of the festival, and the buzz during the sold out screening was palpable. Thankfully the movie delivers. BLOOD CAR is set in the future, at a time when gas prices are so high that people refuse to drive. (The first laugh comes when the opening narrator tells us this is only two weeks in the future.) Vegan kindergarten teacher Archie Andrews has plans to make a car that runs on wheat grass, but during an accident eventually discovers that his engine runs on human blood. Sure the political analogy is absurdly direct, but this is actually a solid movie that keeps a consistent comic tone throughout and fits right into the grind house style that Tarantino and Rodriguez just recently paid tribute. The film loses some momentum toward the end as Archie goes off the deep end and director Alex Orr starts using spastic camera movements to convey this. Sure the technique makes sense, but it's not very funny. Other than that, this is a hilarious film that is every bit as crazy as its title suggests. Catch it at a festival near you, because I doubt it will get released, or if it does it will be severely edited. The cut I saw will definitely get an NC-17.

My festival week closed on a strong note with Jeffrey Blitz's ROCKET SCIENCE. Blitz burst onto the scene with SPELLBOUND, a superb documentary about the national spelling bee. Once again, Blitz tells the story of kids with offbeat personalities that participate in school competitions. The only difference is that this one is a fiction film. ROCKET SCIENCE follows Hal Hefner, a kid with a stuttering problem who decides to join the debate team and falls for his teammate. This seems like a typical three act underdog sports drama, and the first act certainly plays out that way. But Blitz has a few surprises in store for us. What's great about this film is that Blitz keeps you guessing every step of the way. At almost every point of the narrative, he avoids doing the obvious and ends up with a real original. The film is certainly quirky, especially with regards to the supporting characters, but in his first fictional film Blitz shows a good talent for making sure that quirkiness never threatens to overpower the film. The only problem is some contrivances with the events in the 3rd act, especially a scene with a cello that is left dangling the rest of the movie. Despite that, this is a smart, funny, and winning fiction debut for Jeffrey Blitz.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Eight

Great news to start off the day. My favorite film of the festival, GREAT WORLD OF SOUND, has been announced as the Grand Jury Prize Winner and will get an encore screening on closing night.

Bad news: I was unable to see RESERVATIONS or LA VIE EN ROSE, both films I had been anticipating. Also, the films I did get to see were not very good.

The first was AMERICAN FUGITIVE: THE TRUTH ABOUT HASSAN, a fairly stale documentary that talks about David Belfield, a man wanted for murdering an associate of the Shah of Iran in 1980. He immediately fled to Iran where he remained in hiding until 2001. That was when Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Mahkmalbaf cast him in his film KANDAHAR. The American press picked up on his appearance, and director Jean-Daniel Lafond travelled to Iranto interview the man now known as Hassan Abdulrahman. This is certainly a very interesting subject for a documentary and that carries the film a long way. Hassan is a very interesting and intriguing person, and is very candid in the interview segments. Unfortunately the film is very dry, rarely rising above the level of a decent episode of Dateline NBC. The moments that stand out the best are when the filmmaker interviews Hassan's family and the victim's brother. This is the only time the film explores the human effects of the murder. The rest of it is just a series of scenes where Hassan and others spout off on American foreign policy in the Middle East. There's nothing wrong with that, but such a unique subject deserved a more original treatment.

The next film was THE INSURGENTS, a film so bad that I was infuriated that I had arranged my festival schedule so I could see both it and BLOOD CAR. THE INSURGENTS is about a group of left wing radicals who plot to blow up a building. The group is led by Robert, a college professor played by John Shea. He recruits the group, which we see develop through a non-chronological narrative structure. These scenes are pretty painful to sit through, particularly when Robert indoctrinates Hana. As played by seemingly medicated Juliette Marquis, Hana comes across as a very stupid woman who is easily manipulated by Robert, and when she spouts off political stuff it comes off as something she's memorized. Mary Stuart Masterson shows up as a government operative who has a past with Robert. Given the ending, her character is supposed to have some importance to the story, but she only appears in a handful of scenes and Masterson seems pretty bored. The connections between the characters that are supposed to set up the ending do not come across at all during the film. Writer-Director Scott Dacko is particularly terrible with actors, unable to even coax decent performances from veterans Masterson and Shea. His (award winning, he will tell you) screenplay contains some pretty awful dialogue and lame attempts at political debate. This is one of the worst films I saw at the festival.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Seven

After the misery of yesterday, it was nice to see three decent films today. First up was ELECTION DAY, a documentary that followed various individuals during the presidential election in 2004. Among the stories followed are an ex-convict voting for the first time; an elections supervisor checking up on various precints; a racially charged sherriff's race in Florida; and an international rights group noting several flaws with the process. The film takes an interesting look at the process, showing how small mistakes can cause problems for tons of voters. Director Katy Chevigny is an experienced documentary filmmaker, and this film comes off with much more technical precision than your average festival doc. She clearly has an agenda, as this film takes a leftist viewmost of the way, which is certainly not a problem when you can back it up. Chevigny weaves the several stories together expertly, leading to one of my favorite moments. A right wing precint captain is interviewed and denigrates the voting problems in 2000 by blaming the voters and suggesting if you can't work the machine then maybe you shouldn't be voting in the first place. Hilariously, a few scenes later we witness the Republican elections supervisor having trouble with a sample ballot, declaring it a malfunctioning ballot until the Democratic poll watcher shows him how to properly work it. The strongest part of the film was the sherriff's race in Gadsden County, FL. In a town that is 70% black, they haven't had a black sherriff since the 1800's. We don't really hear much about the race, but Chevigny gives us a good view of how important it is to the community and as the night wears on the results are very close, providing us with suspense in a film where we didn't expect it. While everyone else is focused on a nasty Presidential election, these citizens are determined to make an important change in their local community. I would have preferred a documentary that followed only this race, but this one will have to do.

PRETTY IN THE FACE is certainly the lowest budget film I saw at this year's festival. Writer-Director Nate Meyer also handled the cinematography, production, and editing duties. Most of it was shot on a handheld camera leading to very distracting shaky photography, and the sound was inaudible for most of the scenes. However, Meyer has an interesting story to tell and for the most part he does a good job in getting it across with his financial limitations. The film is about 26 year old Maggie and 14 year old Daniel. Both have very low self-esteem and get constantly crushed by other characters throughout the course of the film. Maggie must deal with her live in boyfriend's cheating, while overweight Daniel is embarassed by his extremely overweight mother. When Daniel's mother falls ill, Maggie agrees to watch over Daniel while his mom is in the hospital and both begin to bond over their shared grief. For a film with such a low budget, the cast was surprisingly good. As Maggie, Meagan Moses gave a beautifully reserved performance, reaching moments of inner depth that most Hollywood actresses couldn't hope to approach. It's a strong debut that powers the film through the poor technical work. Meyer's ending is a bit weak, as the solutions for each of the characters is fairly simplistic, particularly for Daniel's mother. Still it's an interesting piece of work that should make a good run at the festival circuit, and hopefully someone will give Meyer some money for his next film.

The last film I saw today was the sold out screening of LAST DAYS OF LEFT EYE, a documentary that follows the last few days of Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes' life. Working with her family, the director utilizes footage that Lopes shot herself while on a spiritual cleansing trip to Honduras. For such an emotional subject, the doc at first seems pretty straightforward, chronicling the path of her career by hitting all the major stuff (notably the Andre Rison house burning incident). It actually feels right at home in the hands of VH1, who produced the film. However, the film is unique because of the bittersweet structure of the events. During the retreat, Lisa talked openly about many of the events in her life and career, and the film uses these segments to have her narrate her own life stThis is mixed in with footage of the retreat, showing Lisa's connection to a docory, using archival footage to supplement her own discussions of each moment. This gives the film the bittersweet feel of a person narrating their life story after their own death. tor that sells natural remedies, her charitable work, frank discussion of her fears, and taking us right up to the moment of the tragic accident. At times the film threatens to approach the level of a True Hollywood Story episode, but the sensitive material is mostly produced with class. If anything, the film relies too much on outside footage, when it's the Lopes footage that really captures her strong spirit and unique personality.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Six

I had to skip Monday's screenings due to work commitments, but had a pretty busy Tuesday at the festival. Unfortunately, it was not a good day, as most of the films stunk it up, displaying the kinds of flaws that would scare most people away from a festival.

The first film was PARK, which shows what happens when twelve very different individuals all go to a remote location in Los Angeles. There are various reasons for the trip, some have gone for suicide, some have gone for sex, some have gone to skip work. Some of them eventually cross paths as the day goes on and each reaches their own epiphany by film's end. This is one of those comediesthat goes overboard trying to be quirky and ends up being annoying. The entire film is played as a joke, even the suicide, and there's no reason to care about any of these people. The director is thoroughly incompetent, with awful musical montages and a ridiculously banal ending for each of the characters. The ensemble cast is mostly awful, with William Baldwin achiveing a level of annoyance that surpasses even his previous accomplishments. This will probably get an unceremonious DVD release soon, but skip it and instead watch previous fest hit ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, which shows how quirky can be done.

A film I had been looking forward to was KAMP KATRINA, a documentary about a unique charity effort in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. A New Orleans 9th Ward resident known as Ms. Pearl opens up her backyard to 14 homeless individuals. They erect tents and have access to electricity and running water. There are rules, including the prohibition of alcohol or drugs (but curiously a pregnant woman may smoke), but these eventually get broken and relief support in the city begins to break down. The film is well intentioned, but the filmmakers just don't have the skill to tell the story correctly. With 14 people in the backyard, they're only able to really let us get to know two of them, a married couple with a baby on the way but a crack and alcohol addiction getting in the way. One by one, people leave the camp for various reasons, but it's hard to care about people you haven't really met. Ms. Pearl and her husband are very interesting personalities, but we only learn a little about them, most of it is in reaction to the efforts in their backyward. This film needed either more focus on them or to get inside some of the other tents and let us know about these sad, desperate people.

Thankfully the day brightened up considerably with GREAT WORLD OF SOUND, a very entertaining effort from Craig Zobel, a former associate of David Gordon Green, who made a smashing debut at the 1999 festival with GEORGE WASHINGTON. Zobel's film is about Martin (Pat Healy), a man who takes a job for a record company as a talent scout. He teams up with cocky, energetic Clarence (Kene Holiday) and travels the country looking for the next great talent, but eventually learns they may be part of a scam. We are treated to a series of hilariously bad audition scenes as the pair have to sit through some really awful nonsense. These scenes threaten to become repetitive, but Zobel is able to keep them lively and varied enough to prevent that from happening. As opposed to cynical and self-conscious indies such as ALL THE DAYS BEFORE TOMORROW or PARK, Zobel's film is filled with nothing but pure, unadulterated love for his story and characters. Zobel doesn't use any filmmaking tricks to show you how clever he is. Instead, he fills every frame of this film with a low-key sensitivity that rings true, from the opening shot of a record being painted gold to the way Martin is moved by a young girl's rendition of a "New National Anthem". He's found a memorable duo in Healy and Holiday, who create a natural chemistry as a mismatched pair of friends. GREAT WORLD OF SOUND is exactly the type of memorable indie film you look for at a film festival.

SOMEBODIES was a popular sold out showing (twice) at the festival. It was filmed in Athens, Georgia and contains plenty of local talent. It's a comedy about a college student in Athens and his offbeat friends and family. The film borders on the offensive, as all of the characters fit into tired stereotypes. If a racist was going to make a film about black people, then I imagine this would be close to it. Except that the film also fails to contain one positive white character. All are portrayed as one-dimensional buffoons wuthout any sense of dignity. The film features almost every stereotype in the book and treats everything on a comic level including the death of a major character that plays like an SNL skit, but then suddenly asks us to care. This is all pretty bad, but I should note that there is some funny material in here. There are some amusing comic situations, such as a scene where the main character's girlfriend wants to re-enact her favorite scene from MONSTER'S BALL. This has been picked up by BET as a regular television series, which will probably only strengthen Aaron McGruder's complaints about the network. Can't wait for the first Boondocks cartoon that talks about this show.

Unfortunately the night had to close out with one more stinker. THE ELEPHANT KING is a fairly generic film for something appearing in the World View series. It's about a shy, depressed young man who goes to Thailand to persuade his brother to return to the states, but he eventually gets caught up in the Thai nightlife to the point where he wishes to stay. This is like so many other movies where a character travels to a foreign land and finds romance with a native woman, but intrigue and violence eventually get in the way. Worst of all is the elephant of the title actually does appear. I mean, they actually own an elephant, who spends time with them at the pool. See above re: cynical, self-conscious indies. It's not a poorly made film on a technical level and Tate Ellington is decent in the lead role, but it lacks imagination throughout. Ellen Burstyn is in the film as the mother, but she is relegated to a series of repetitive phone scenes where she cries and begs her sons to return. If there were a new reality show called "Who Will Waste Ellen Burstyn's Talents the Most?" then writer-director Seth Grossman is sure to go pretty deep in the competition.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Four

Big news at the festival. Some idiot stole the Atlanta Film Festival blimp to protest the screening of BLOOD CAR and posted the video on YouTube. He said he would only return the blimp if the festival would drop Blood Car from the program. The result:BLOOD CAR has now sold out its Friday screening and is well on the way to selling out its Thursday screening and the blimp has recently been returned. This really just shows that conservatives are terrible at protesting. Stick to talk radio, fellas.

The only film I saw today was DRIFTING ELEGANT, based on a play by Stephen Belber (who also wrote the play and screenplays for THE LARAMIE PROJECT and TAPE). The film deals with race relations in a post-9/11 world, telling the story of an unhappy white married couple, their African-American businessman friend, and an Arab-American who has just been released from jail after his rape conviction was overturned. It's easy to see that this was originally theatrical production, as most of the film takes place in a few small spaces. Director Amy Glazer's idea of translating this to a film is bridging the scenes with shots of the city, speeding up the frame to show cars whizzing by. There are also constant flashbacks that show the relationship between one of the characters and the rape victim. Neither of these add to the film very much, so Glazer should have probably stuck with the claustrophobic atmosphere of confined locations. The film is also thematically problematic. As we witness racial tensions heat up throughout the course of the film, what's really at stake is a white couple's marriage. There are a few other flaws, including a stupid ending, but the film does have some good material, with pretty strong dialogue and a surprisingly solid cast of unknowns.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Three

ALL THE DAYS BEFORE TOMORROW is a drama about the evolving relationship of two twentysomething friends who clearly want more from each other, but allow complications to prevent any romance. The film boasts some good scenery (using easy shots of the Grand Canyon), but is a complete mess in so many ways. The worst aspect of the film are surreal black and white dream segments where Richard Roundtree shows up as El Doctor, a character that gives advice to the male lead. These scenes are completely unnecessary and feel like a bad student film. The main romance is obviously inspired by Linklater's BEFORE SUNRISE and BEFORE SUNSET but the main difference is that the characters in this film are incessantly annoying and we could care less what happens to their relationship much less spend 100 minutes listening to them yap about it.

The day gets back on track with THIRD MONDAY IN OCTOBER, a very entertaining documentary about middle school students campaigning for student class president. Director Vanessa Roth follows races in four different schools across the country, and for the most part comes up with some very exciting elections to watch. There is deceit, unfairness, heated emotions, and even a recount. These elections took place in 2004 and Roth attempts to present the Bush-Kerry election as a backdrop, but does not really spend enough time with that to be successful. The quality and structure are both very basic. You won't confuse this with the technical excellence a Kirby Dick or Errol Morris doc. Still, it avoids the problem of MAD HOT BALLROOM which failed to really capture the stories of individual kids. Several of these students do stand out, particularly Kayla Bacon and her rivals at Inman middle school.

The last film I saw today was AWAY FROM HER, Sarah Polley's impressive directorial debut. It tells the story of an older married couple (Gordon Pinsent, Julie Christie) and how they deal with separation when she is diagnosed with Alzheimer's. She is sent to a permanent care facility, and her husband must deal with loneliness and grief, especially when he finally visits her and she not only barely remembers him but has turned her affections to another patient. It is an accomplished debut for a director so young, and the cast is very strong. Julie Christie is sure to be a part of the Oscar race, but it would be a shame if Pinsent doesn't get his due recognition for his powerful and heartbreaking performance. There are a few faults, including a stupid scene involving mention of the Iraq war, but for the most part Polley stays on track, telling an honest and mature story about love and loss.

Atlanta Film Festival: Day Two

I skipped this year's opener Last Days of Left Eye because I plan to see it later in the week. I also skipped the secret screening at 11pm, mainly because I didn't have the guts to try it. They were very tight lipped about the film and I just wasn't willing to take the chance of wasting my money on what could have been a miserable film. However, the two films I did see today got my festival week off to a strong start.

THE TV SET (Jake Kasdan) is a comedy about a TV writer (David Duchovny) trying to get a pilot picked up by a network, but continually finds himself butting heads with a nasty airheaded network executive (Sigourney Weaver). This is a funny comedy with several knowing jabs at Hollywood, and will probably be funniest to those familiar with how the industry works. Duchovny pulls off an amusing slow burn throughout the movie, Weaver is over the top but hilariously demented, and it's a pleasure to see Lindsey Sloane (from another TV industry spoof GROSSE PONTE). The film loses its way with an unnecessary subplot involving a British executive and his homesick wife (Lucy Davis whose considerable talents are completely wasted.) and the abrupt ending., but it's still a pleasantly entertaining comedy.

KING OF KONG (Seth Gordon) is another in a long line of recent documentaries that follow the quirky contestants of unique competitions. Previous entries in this genre include the brilliant SPELLBOUND and the not quite as brilliant MAD HOT BALLROOM and WORD WARS. Gordon's follows a couple of people dedicated to setting the world record on the classic arcade game DONKEY KONG. The film surprisingly becomes rather one sided, although Gordon does have video evidence to support this. Still, he piles it on a bit high to make his favored subject look like a saint, eventhough we see him with some questionable parenting skills early on in the film. The most interesting personality in the film is Walter Day, a man who dedicated his life to classic video games and set up a central organization to judge and verify high scores for all video games. I would have preferred it followed him a bit more than the two competitiors.

The Illusionist (Neil Burger, 2006)

Dir. Neil Burger
Starring Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell

Writer-Director Neil Burger's The Illusionist is a film made with remarkable skill. The technical aspects are all first-rate and the idea is intriguing enough to draw initial interest. He's cast two of the finest actors working today in Edward Norton and Paul Giamatti. Unfortunately, The Illusionist never comes together as a completely entertaining story. Despite all of the considerable strengths, the film fails with several poor choices in storytelling structure and a serious error in casting.

The Illusionist follows the story of Eisenheim (Edward Norton), a magician from a lower class standing who is in love with his childhood sweetheart Sophie (Jessica Biel). They are forbidden to see one another because of the disparities in their families social standing. Much later when Eisenheim begins making the rounds in Vienna as a renowned performer, he runs into Sophie again, who is now a Duchess and destined to marry the Crown Prince Leopold (Rufus Sewell). Eisenheim begins using his abilities to try and win Sophie’s heart, but faces trouble from Chief Inspector Uhl (Paul Giamatti), who closely watches his actions.

The first mistake made by Neil Burger is choosing to tell the story with a framing device. The film begins with Uhl arresting Eisenheim and then explaining to the Prince what happened. As he tells the story to the Prince, we flash back and witness Eisenheim's childhood and all the events that led up to the arrest. The problem with this is that Uhl is not privy to many of the events that we see throughout the film. Certainly, it's possible that Burger is just switching perspective on such moments and filling in the gaps, but his ability to do this is all the more reason why the framing device was unnecessary.

The decision to focus on the romance is extremely problematic because of the serious mistake in casting Jessica Biel. As played by Biel, Sophie is a blank slate and not worth all the fuss Eisenheim creates over her. This is partially a problem with the writing, as they never fully flesh out the character or give her enough wit to make us think that she's more than just a pretty face. However, Biel can't walk away unscathed. Her flat line delivery at almost every point destroys many of the film's most interesting scenes.

The scenes that really sparkle are the ones involving Eisenheim and Uhl. The characters are so interesting and played by such exceptionally talented actors that Burger is inspired to take things a step deeper than he is at other spots in the film. There is a splendid little moment where Uhl gives Eisenheim a warning while at the same time subtly hinting that he understands more than expected. Unfortunately, there aren't nearly enough of these scenes as Burger wastes time with the weak romance at the center.

Unfortunately, the film wastes some great technical work. Burger is a gifted technical director, and knows how to stage scenes with precision. The effects are top notch, perfectly finding a balance between being captivating and refusing to be too showy. Cinematographer Dick Pope does a good job capturing the dark and mysterious world of magic, but the dreamy glare he provides for the ending is a serious error. The legendary Phillip Glass provides a terrific score, which wonderfully captures the essence of intrigue and deception in Eisenheim’s illusions. All of this makes the film far more bearable than it would have been otherwise.

As the film approaches the ending, it becomes clear that Burger thinks he's extremely clever. Eisenheim is handed a clue, and there is a flashback to several scenes from earlier in the film as he begins to figure things out. This is Burger's way of showing the audience how he pulled off such an amazing trick. The problem is that Burger tipped his hand with the nature of the events that take place in the 3rd act. What could have been a nice surprise turns out to be another series of pedestrian events leading to a decidedly hollow conclusion.

Grade: C+

Dandelion (Mark Milgard, 2005)

Dir. Mark Milgard
Starring Vincent Kartheiser, Taryn Manning, Arliss Howard, Mare Winningham

Mark Milgard’s Dandelion is a confused mess of a film. It wants to do several things at once, but can’t seem to figure out which to focus on. There is the typical disaffected teen romance that the film is sold on. There is also the father-son morality play the filmmakers want to explore. Finally, we have a story with a mother and father stuck in a passionless marriage. With so many threads going on and a running time of only 93 minutes, Milgard is unable to make any of his stories dramatically compelling and the entire film suffers as a result.

Mason Mullich (Vincent Kartheiser) is a lonely teenager living in an empty town with nothing to do. His parents’ marriage is falling apart but neither of them seems to realize it. Danny (Taryn Manning) is his new neighbor with a mysterious past. Her initial scene is so lazy and clichéd that it was reminiscent of Jen’s first arrival in Dawson’s Creek. That’s not a very good sign for a movie that takes itself seriously. Mason and Danny begin to fall for each other, but the relationship gets sidetracked due to issues with his misguided father.

Dandelion struggles with the lack of a coherent vision. Milgard tries to make a point about how his teen characters are cut off from the real world, stuck in a boring town. In making his point, we get plenty of shots of the vast empty fields and deserted streets that surround the town. Unfortunately, his talented cinematographer seems a little too eager in showing off how beautiful he can shoot the landscape. Everything is focused with a bright, sunny glare that the town ends up looking like the most beautiful and pleasant place to live. It’s hard to imagine why anyone would want to leave.

The film takes several shots at the people that inhabit small towns. Mason’s father has a pending city council election, but the campaign signs designed by a local print shop accidentally misspell his name. Mason’s father goes into a rage and amazingly the film seems to take his side. The store clerk is treated as a dimwitted idiot (like all small town folk, right?), with a ridiculously misguided comment about offering a price reduction. There is nary a secondary character in the small town portrayed with any degree of empathy.

There is a bizarre narrative structure at play here. Just when the film begins developing the romance between Mason and Danny, a major twist takes place that causes the film to advance two years in the future. The romance is put on hold while Milgard decides to try out his secondary story about the relationship between father and son, and how that is strained by an excruciating moral decision made by Mason. Not a bad idea on its own, but the film doesn’t have enough time to spend on this section, which only distracts from the central romance. Both stories have the potential to be arresting, but the structure of the film prevents either of them from becoming emotionally relevant.

Dandelion is not a technically poor film. Tim Orr is one of the most talented cinematographers in independent films, having previously done superb work on George Washington and All the Real Girls. The ensemble cast is mostly solid. You get the sense that really understood their characters, and with better writing could have done a terrific job. There is an especially nice supporting performance from Mare Winningham as Mason’s mother. She has one incredible scene when she confronts her husband, suggesting yet another underdeveloped story thread that Milgard wanted to explore.

Ultimately, it is the thematic structure that ruins Dandelion. No matter how stupid they make the locals, or how deserted they make the town look, it stills seems like a beautiful place to live. The film also makes several points about how casual drug and gun use is in this town, which seems to be an odd idea. At one point, one of the characters leaves town on a train, presumably hoping for a better life in a big city. If they’re expecting the big city to be devoid of guns, drugs, and idiotic store clerks then they certainly have a surprise coming.

Grade: C-

Zooey (Sherman Lau, 2006)

Dir. Sherman Lau
Starring Sarah Louise Lilley, Xavier Jimenez

One of the great things about independent films is that they almost always are made by people who really care about the material. This is especially true with extremely low budget films, the kind that go to the Slamdance film festival instead of Sundance. Since there is little studio interference, the director usually has complete creative control and focus groups aren’t used to sap the film dry of anything controversial or interesting. All of this is true about Sherman Lau’s Zooey, a film made with intense affection for the main characters. The only problem is that it is mind bogglingly awful from start to finish.

Angel (Xavier Jimenez) is a runner for a drug dealer and Zooey (Sarah Louise Lilley) is a prostitute. They meet one day when Angel is running from some hoodlums after a deal went awry. Director Sherman Lau doesn’t seem too interested in showing how their romance developed. In an all too brief sequence of events, they eventually fall in love and get married. Both have dreams of better lives, but a variety of problems constantly keep them stuck in their dangerous dead-end careers.

There are a few things about the film that suggest Lau might have some future potential as a filmmaker. He utilizes an interesting filmmaking technique by having several fast forward sequences throughout the film that quickly get us through the mundane moments of everyday life, suggesting Lau is not interested in wasting time with boring exposition. These sequences are also effective at evoking the sense that the characters are constantly trying to run away from their current path in life.

Lau based the film on the story of two people he knew in real life, and it’s obvious he cared about them deeply. He fills every frame of the film with sensitivity, refusing to judge his characters for their professions. Unfortunately, Lau is not a skilled enough filmmaker to overcome the obvious lack of budget that he has here. He clearly has trouble figuring out how to properly stage a scene. An early scene where Angel ties two thugs’ shoes together so he can get away is laughably unrealistic. A later scene involving a shootout with cops avoids any sense of logic to make it through to the conclusion.

Lau’s writing could also use some work. There's a confusing subplot where Angel and Zooey take care of the son of one of Zooey's prostitute friends while she is away. In an unconvincing series of scenes they begin to care about the child. When his mother never returns, he is taken in by social services, but Zooey and Angel want to adopt him. Lau never bothers to explain how any of this makes sense, especially a scene where the agency tells them that their applications looked very good. It’s pretty hard to understand how they managed to accomplish that.

The performances are particularly weak. Sarah Louise Lilley is occasionally able to find some inner depth for Zooey, but the constant shouting scenes do the actress no favors, and she seems completely lost during her character’s drug induced hazes. Even worse is Xavier Jimenez who isn’t able to utter one convincing line in the entire film. His attempts to emote are painfully embarrassing. His wooden performance really detracts from any emotional resonance the film tries to create. Performances from minor character are equally bad, especially the stereotypical pimps and hookers that pop up throughout the film.

Sometimes amateurish performances can actually add to the realism of a film, particularly in gritty independent films. This has worked in the past with films like Down to the Bone or Sherrybaby, but Zooey is a blatantly sympathetic film that requires a deep emotional connection to the main characters. Lau and his actors are unable to help us make that connection, making the film almost completely empty of any real value. I don’t have a hard time believing that the real life characters this film was based on were decent individuals stuck in a miserable life, but Lau‘s film doesn‘t do them justice. As if their fate wasn’t already bad enough, they deserved a much better movie made about them.

Grade: D

Black Girl (Ousmane Sembene, 1966)

Dir. Ousmane Sembene
Starring Mbissine Therese Diop

Ousmane Sembene had a very interesting life before he began to direct movies. He was a Senegalese man drafted to fight for the free French forces in World War 2. Back home he got involved in the trade union movement. Participating in railroad strikes and protesting the French participation in Vietnam. He then became a novelist, using his experiences as inspiration for stories that could shed light on important issues for his people. Quickly realizing that his books would only reach a limited audience, he began work as a filmmaker as a way to reach the outside world. He would eventually be considered the premiere African filmmaker in the world, and his 2004 release Moolaade would receive international acclaim and even an American theatrical release. Almost 40 years earlier was the release of his first film Black Girl, a sincere but uneven depiction of the tragic consequences of racism and colonialism.

Black Girl is centered around Diouana (Mbissine Therese Diop), a young woman from a small town in Senegal who goes to work as a nanny for a rich French couple in Dakar. The couple moves to France and takes Diouana along with them. She initially has great dreams of the beauty of the French beaches and shops, but never gets a chance to visit them. The couple now expects Diouana to work as their servant instead of nanny. She begins to feel isolated and lonely as the harsh treatment increases throughout the story. The couple is only referred to as Mister and Mistress throughout the film and we never learn their names, suggesting a disconnect from the normal trappings of human relations and a parallel to slavery.

It's not hard to see that Membene was originally a novelist who graduated to film. In Black Girl, he utilizes constant narration to make his point, with very little dialogue throughout. Most of the plot developments are told to us by Diouana, even as we see them happening. Membene is not yet ready to trust the audience to grasp the inner thoughts of his characters. Instead of allowing the actress to express such thoughts through her acting, or utilizing more filmmaking techniques to advance plot points and thematic elements, he has Diouana tell us everything as if she is reading a book.

Unfortunately, Membene's narrative does not appropriately build to his conclusion. Mistress is certainly rude and most likely racist, but the things done to Diouana throughout the film are fairly tame compared to what we've seen and read in countless stories about the civil rights struggle in America. Mistress constantly scolds her, forces her to wear an apron, and lies to her about her expected duties. This is all certainly bad, but we are shown nothing that warrants the impending tragic conclusion. There isn't even a point where she is prevented from leaving the job. The film is likely more potent for those in the region, who will certainly have a stronger inherent anger about the colonialism and abuse suffered at the hands of the French. Such inherent anger will likely make the treatment of Diouana seem much worse.

A subplot involving a romance between Diouana and a man from Dakar is developed in a confusing, haphazard manner. Diouana keeps a photograph of the man throughout her stay in France, but the character isn't remotely developed. We only see bits and pieces of him, and hear what Diouana says about him in the narration. It's uncertain why Membene felt the need to include this romance in the film, since it doesn't add anything to the overall message of the film and the positive spin put on it actually detracts from the overall theme of Diouana's increasing despair.

It's impossible to doubt the sincerity of Membene. He is clearly angry about the treatment of his country by the French, and by the way that Africans are defined by the color of their skin. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of moments where he conveys that Diouana is treated as a racial object. The rest of the film it seems like she just has an excessively mean boss. Since the film only has a 56 minute running time, it feels like much more could have been included to support Membene’s arguments.

There is one beautiful running sequence throughout the film that shows Membene's inherent storytelling skill. There is an African mask that Diouana takes from her hometown and gives to her employers. It changes hands throughout the film, a constant reminder of her heritage. At the end, the mask is used as a reminder of what happened. Racism is one of the ugliest aspects of human nature, and as the mask chases down Diouana’s employer, it chases us down too, and reminds us of the horrors perpetuated in the name of racial subjugation. It’s the most effective aspect of Black Girl, and makes you wish the rest of the film had lived up to the power of that theme.

Grade: C+

300 (Zack Snyder, 2007) **1/2

Dir. Zack Snyder
Starring Gerard Butler, Lena Headey, Dominic West, Michael Fassbender, Vincent Regan

The Battle of Thermopylae is one of the most interesting historical events I’ve ever read about. The fact that a small group of men were able to hold off a vastly superior army was fascinating and inspiring. There had only been one prior film version of this battle, the absolutely unwatchable 300 Spartans, and there didn’t seem to be much interest in this battle since then. Most of the books or websites discussing it talked about Thermopylae in a philosophical or dry historical context. It was hard to find something that could really get you to feel what it was like. Likely spurred on by the success of Lord of the Rings, two studios started working on film versions of Thermopylae. The first one that made it to the screen (the other one is still in doubt) was the adaptation of Frank Miller’s graphic novel 300. Miller’s story was not pure history, as it added fantasy elements to the classic battle, but its highly stylized nature actually did a great job of capturing the heat of the battle. Director Zack Snyder’s adaptation of that novel is a glorious and rousing technical production that suffers from the inclusion of an embarrassingly bad subplot.

In 380 BC, the Persian army was rumored to be a million strong (although current estimates place it much lower than that), and they were marching right for Sparta. Sparta’s King Leonidas has a perfect plan for stopping them, by funneling the vast Persian army into the narrow mountain pass at Thermopylae. Unfortunately, he is prevented from leading his army to battle because of an important Greek festival called the Carneia. Despite his pleas, the oracle has spoken and no war must be fought during the festival. Leonidas then decides to lead a small force of 300 men (all whom already had sons who could take care of the family) to hold the Persians long enough for the rest of Spartan army to join the battle. Despite constant attacks from the Persians, Leonidas and his men stood their ground and frustrated King Xerxes.

Director Zack Snyder was a great choice for the project. He had previously shown his ability to add life to an adaptation with his Dawn of the Dead remake. In 300, Snyder and his team did a brilliant job of capturing the visceral moments of this famous battle, the only fault being some bizarre heavy metal music cues. Many have complained about the excessive use of slow motion, but it fits right in with the film’s graphic novel style. Snyder gives us a perfect introduction to the Spartan phalanx formation, and seeing it in action is beautiful. Leonidas and his men instantly push the Persians back, killing them quickly and efficiently, and those that don’t die instantly find themselves pushed off a steep cliff. The movie gives you a perfect view of the nature of this battle and how the Spartans were able to use the narrow terrain to their advantage. In these moments, 300 approaches cinematic greatness.

However, there is a distracting subplot going on back in Sparta. Leonidas’ wife Queen Gorgo is desperately trying to convince the Spartans to ignore the festival and join the 300. Every once in a while Snyder takes away from the incredible battle scene and comes back to the political affairs of Sparta. It’s a pretty jolting experience and Snyder himself doesn’t seem so interested in it. The scenes lack so much energy or careful thought that we get the feeling it was included more to be faithful to the graphic novel than to try and make an interesting movie. While being faithful to the source material is nice, there’s no reason to do it when the source has obvious flaws. If you leave in these flaws, then you’re accepting them as part of your adaptation. And considering that the conclusion of the subplot has absolutely no bearing on the main plot makes it a completely worthless enterprise.

The treatment of Queen Gorgo, and women in general, is one of the weakest parts of the movie. At the beginning, they portray her as a strong individualistic woman who isn’t afraid of standing up to any man. Later in the film, she struggles with threats made by a councilman named Theron. He’s threatened to block any attempt to send the Spartan army to help out Leonidas, but offers her a way out. The fact that Queen Gorgo accepts his proposal does not fit with the noble character we’ve seen up to that point in the movie. It seems this scene was written solely for the silly crowd pleasing moment near the end of the film when she speaks to the council. The problem is that this final scene still could have taken place and been just as crowd pleasing if Snyder had allowed the character to retain her dignity earlier in the film. The other women in the film are portrayed writhing around on the ground or seducing the Greek traitor Ephialtes.

There has been some debate about the political message this film apparently brings. Even Iran has gotten in the middle of this, complaining about the film’s treatment of Persians. There are several moments during the political subplot that people seem to think suggest a parallel to the current situation in Iraq. The claim is that by siding with Leonidas’ decision to stop the Persians, Snyder is trying to positive spin on Bush’s decision to invade Iraq. The problem with this claim is that the film is a faithful adaptation of a graphic novel that was written in 1998. Any similarities to the controversial situation in Iraq are purely coincidental similarities to historical incidents. It would be just as likely that the film is attacking the role of religious fundamentalism in politics. However, I think any attempt to pin a political message on this picture is pointless. Zack Snyder was far more interested in displaying awesome battle sequences than attaching any message to his picture.

Despite the considerable flaws, 300 remains an exciting depiction of one of the most important battles in world history. The outstanding technical work makes for extremely exciting action sequences that perfectly capture the brutal nature of war. As Leonidas, Gerard Butler has such an incredibly commanding presence, that you want to suit up and go help him out. If only Snyder had rejected a needless subplot, he could have had something great. As it is, we are left with a decent historical action movie containing some incredible moments.