Reviews

I spent my week plus at the Sarasota Film Festival hoping beyond hope to get thrilled by close encounters with great cinema. Though I saw many that were wonderful, there was only one blow-away film for me, but boy it blew me away. One of the festival artistic coordinators warned me against missing her favorite of the films showing because I thought it would be back in the theaters eventually because it had a 'big' star, John C Reilly. On her advice I went on the last day anyway.

I left the festival in 2010 thinking that no film would top Winter's Bone for me that year and I was absolutely right. This year I left the festival thinking the same because I saw Terri.

This film takes the decency and humanism in Tom McCarthy's films, most recently Win Win, and catapults it into the stratosphere. With a mind bending performance by the kid and the passionate direction of a near first timer, I can't explain the magnificent place this film put me. In the end, it is like Juno on steroids but so soft, supple and subtle.

And the word of mouth may have exploded into a much earlier than expected release this summer. Like Juno, it was intended for art houses at best, but I think the buzz from the happiness of those leaving the theater will take it somewhere much larger. Likely not to Juno 2008 $222+ million in the US levels, but certainly past any other art house film this year. Well at least I am predicting so.

At a Q&A I asked the director about filmmakers he liked. He mentioned John Hughes. When you see this as you must, keep your eye out for the magnificent Breakfast Club sequence that is so amazingly intimate, touching, funny, deep and sad all at once. This is what this film is, all of those things rolled up into what I will call in the end a great big happy pill that America needs badly right now.

Here's hoping they will take it.

I had heard this film was a study of a landscape photographer's art by presenting the beauty in man's deconstructing the natural landscape. It certainly showed the laborious activities to find locations, setup shots, and capture stark images whose final destinations were art studios worldwide. Put together in moving pictures it is truly a horror show.

This film oozes by you supplanting the shock of ghastly images with gentle waves of a wonderful industrial soundtrack that guides you like on slow moving river. Each sequence stands on its own, but in combination you get deeper and deeper into the feeling of overwhelming inevitability. There are few words, this allowing the grandeur in what is shown to preach in its own way. An awful, massive factory filled with human automata who live in hopelessly lifeless dormitories. Individuals dying early while rummaging for recyclable scraps in mountains of our E-waste. The birthing of gigantic ships and their destruction by hand in giant graveyards. The construction of the Three Gorges Dam, the largest industrial project in human history and likely for all time. The time lapse as a city dies and is simultaneously reborn into a replica of modernity that purposefully destroys all relics of the culture that was.

The most terrifying image for me was a dam engineer explaining that the most important function of the dam was flood control. The shot shifts to the orchard behind the spokesperson where you witness the level of the last flood by the toxic water having eaten the bark from the trees, demonstrating that nothing but the most hideous vermin could be living in the waters.

The obvious not being stated is far more powerful than your normal preachy Save the Earth documentaries. The artist Edward Burtynsky explains the method wonderfully. 'By not saying what you should see … many people today sit in an uncomfortable spot where you don't necessarily want to give up what we have but we realize what we're doing is creating problems that run deep. It is not a simple right or wrong. It needs a whole new way of thinking'. The subtlety of this descends into an either/or proposition, but the film images scream that the decision has very much been made in favor of the dark side.

Though never stated directly in any way, as the waves of what you witness wash away from your awareness and you contemplate, there is only one conclusion possible … we are doomed. The progress of mankind that is inexorable from our natures leaves behind carnage that this artist finds terrifying beauty in. What he is actually capturing are the tracks of we the lemmings rushing unconsciously toward our own demise. Unlike most films with environmental themes, this one ends with no call to arms. It argues basically what's the point, but makes certain you place the blame properly on all of us equally.

A major issue with horror films is their inherently being trapped in some corner of the genre. Vampire films are to a degree less prone to this because they are almost always based in relationships. Their power at times depends on the quality shown in these relationships developing, both human and not.

From the moment this film steps from the eerie softness of the snowfall, you know you may see something different if not extraordinary. This tranquility subsists throughout as you observe the evolution of one of the most interesting and provocative relationships you will ever witness in film. The subtlety and, yes, beauty of this truly throws you off bearings of any expectation.

Then suddenly, in context of genre, horror explodes that both redefines and extends the vampire myth. Most importantly, it scares the crap out of you.

The motion between these two moods really moves your emotions in ways you have not often experienced, almost never in a fright fest. Innocent sweetness. Sick pleasure in revenge. Longing remembrance of first love. Amazement at so simple special effects. An almost tear inspiring bloody kiss. Many others.

It all works because of the wonderful story, amazing performances from two first time actors, cinematography that rivals that seen in Bergman, and direction that drives this amazing sense of continuity.

I recently saw this film at a festival in Sarasota, FL. 28 films in seven days. I've Loved You So Long, The Wrestler, Waltz With Bashir, Slumdog Millionaire, The Class among them. This film was far and away my favorite and will end up somewhere in my favorite five for the year. I think that many film snobs like me who see this will be shocking themselves as they compile their personal end of year lists. Maybe end of year awards, particular considering the expectations of a genre that seldom delivers anywhere near the beauty you witness here.

Not convinced yet you MUST see this film and not the likely beyond pathetic US remake already in the works. Any film that can have you weeping at closure with the decision by an innocent yet likely sociopathic little boy running away to facilitate the life of a timelessly young, lonely, and vicious vampire has taken you to a place almost sacred. Go there.

One of the pleasures of an all access pass to film festivals is the opportunity to be drawn to something by word of mouth. I was accidentally standing outside the theatre after the first viewing of this film at the Sarasota Film Festival. Everyone coming out was raving about it, a film that I had originally pegged as just another manipulative true crime documentary. Most had been crying like babies. My freedom at the venue allowed me to change from a viewing of Priceless to this film. I had no idea I was waking into a wall of cinematic fury.

To say it was staggering is inadequate. The impact of it all is in part driven by style. Though the form is a traditional overlapping story structure, the frenetic pace of the presentation creates a sense many times of 'too much information'. Mixed in however are some stylistic tricks that act as accent marks to move your perception to one place versus others. This moves your feelings in one direction or another within the time frame of larger movements of emotion that drive the story. The technique, though not unique, is applied in the course of a story that would seem to demand more subtly, however, it works wonderfully. Could it be that within this piece of time about a very personal tragedy a new documentary form emerges?

But the story and the trek to get through it are what keeps you glued. I will not go into the morphology of the multiplex of stories here since it would ruin the impact. Leave it to say that constant unexpected change ups give one the feeling you are on a roller coaster of emotional complexity. The net effect leaves you nearly breathless and, as one sobbing young woman I convinced to see the film told me, in desperate need of water.

The film ends with a seemingly endless list of all involved, most at least tangentially affected by the event if not actually in the film content. As you absorb the story's impact, consider that the true theme of the film is to introduce you to this virtual community of people discovered by this young filmmaker who started with an homage to his best friend and ended up capturing something far more profound.

There are many moments where we try to take solace in the good that can come from the horrid. After viewing this, ask yourself that even though all involved would have wished for the events not to have happened, the emotional fulfillment exuding from this film may have left all surviving the better for it. This filmmaker's love letter to his vastly extended family that grew out of the tragedy and his odyssey documenting it make for the kind of things we most look forward to in the cinema.

What to make of a travelogue on a nearly empty landscape filled in by one of the most eclectic artists of our time. One certainly should take no expectations entering the theatre before viewing this. But when early on Werner Herzog makes the fatalistic pronouncement, 'We will be regulated,' watch out.

And be assured that a film done by a provocative auteur along with effectively his crew of one bankrolled by interesting sources of money is not going to be something for Travel Channel aficionados. It is far, far more.

Though science is at the center of most quests on the continent, Herzog focuses much of the film on the interesting souls who have fallen to the bottom of the world to help out. Passing by their purpose in the enterprise, the director concentrates on a series of humorous poems on who they are and how they got there. Interspersing this with some of the startling imagery NSF and the Discover Channel sent him down there to get leads to this being one of the most engaging documentaries you will ever see.

But that is what you get when you send a guy like Herzog on a mission. This is best shown in a hilarious moment when he asks questions of the penguin researcher who would rather watch penguins than talk to people. While prying answers from this shy soul, Herzog gets a lead on observable madness in penguins. This segues to a wonderful sequence on the phenomena of some of the birds suddenly running off to the inner nothingness of the continent and their demise, the reasons likely left to the understanding of the lemmings.

Science catches up at the end, however, with discourses on active super volcano researchers and those in the quest to capture neutrino activity. On the one hand you have guys contemplating the inevitable eruption of a monster three times the size of the one under Yellowstone that might end our time on Earth. On the other you have those trying to understand a particulate that may represent the echo of the Big Bang and offer the key component in our understanding of time and other prescient things.

At closure the film offers that our next great race may be to discover a far deeper understanding of the universe before our species implodes to the relics we have left in those endless Antarctic ice caves, deferring to future intelligence, if any, to determine whether our quest was worthwhile.

The images of a last stand for humanity trying to understand itself before the Regulator steps in should put everyone that sees this majestic film into a place of provocative speculation. Only an adventurous, risk taking filmmaker like Herzog would even attempt this let alone pull it off with such verve.

Since the 2005 awards season dominated by little independent films, the studios have attempted to co-opt the process by periodically designating the Indie film of the moment. Like MTV, the keepers of the pop music gates, the major studios have been preselecting little films occasionally for us to view as the art of the moment. Little Miss Sunshine was the designated little film of 2006, and though nice, was promoted all the way to the major award shows it really didn't deserve. Waitress was an early entry in this derby for 2007, a nice but limited film.

Since exploding at Toronto, Juno has become the designated Indy film for 2007. Major studio buyout, omnipresent theatrical advertising, should win this, should win that talk everywhere. I approached the viewing of this film with a tiny bit of jaundice, fearful that the hipness of the now memorized trailer was seen as mostly a promotional opportunity.

God, was I wrong.

I have to view it again to verify, but this film was staggering. There are so many things to talk about how wonderful it was, but I will point out the two most obvious. This could be the best written film I have seen in years. Though small in scope, the interloping themes swirling around what is a very simple story are driven much further by the wit and wisdom of the words. What an ear this young woman has for turning phrases into significance. One hopes she isn't reduced to the one hit wonder this thing could become.

Then there is the kid. I don't think I have ever seen a film intended mostly for adults with such a dominant performance by a young person. Ellen Page was simply luminous. She is perfect for this role because of her eyes and expressive mouth that created such a terrifying visage in Hard Candy. Almost all of her dialog gains extra pungency from those piercing expressions. Though her always surprising, obtuse responses to questions and situations are played surficially for laughs, they are delivered with an in-character, intelligent sweetness that enchants while cutting to the bone of a whole number of issues in our time. In the end she pulls off the major theme of the film, going to term her way as a statement of almost subversive independence, with a gusto that calms as it persuades. I was of the opinion that Evan Rachel Wood might evolve into the Meryl Streep of the sub-X generation, but I think she may have some major competition in Ms Page.

Of course it could all be an accident of organic connection. A great off-center writer creating her dream off-center character and finding the perfect actress to pull it off. Mix that with a beyond competent director likely too young to get in the way of great material and you have magic.

More is going on here, however. Everything clicks. The shot selections have a "what's that?" feel that leaves you thinking after they move on. The perfectly selected songs chirp sub-themes galore and carry a tone that moves between fantasy and a much needed reality-check. The editing has similar dynamics shown in Thank You for Smoking. The other characters carry on somewhat independently likely because of the actors selected, most particularly the step mother who evolves from an adversary to the obvious perfect role model before your very eyes.

But in the end, I feel most a need to experience this film again to reconnect to its intentional, optimistic wisdom that its beyond-their-years writer, director, and most importantly its actress communicate so subtly and effortlessly. Some studio honchos picked a winner. This one deserves all the Awards Season accolades it gets.

What to think of a film that has the most literary references than any since 'Love and Death'. The danger here is that those with little knowledge of Jane Austen will have no understanding of what is going on since the dialogue twists and turns on discussions of characters and themes in 200 year old novels.

But unlike a Woody Allen punch line comedy full of in-context jokes, you do not need a complete understanding of Austen to appreciate this literate work. The reason Jane Austen interests people two centuries later are the universality of her themes. Seeing these themes played out can work at many levels. Addicts will revel in the dialogue's appreciative in jokes. Those with some experience like me will pick up things here and there while enjoying the whirling dervish playing out in the verbal repartee. Neophytes will simply enjoy the characters living out these timeless motifs likely leaving desirous to learn more.

Some have complained about the lack of directorial artifices to woo us here and there. What better way to emphasize the literacy of it all by letting good actors use wordplays to move us instead. If this is too subtle for you, 'American Gangster' awaits.

Others have complained about obvious symbolism in the characters. A woman trapped in her time, Austen wailed subtly against her capture by focusing thematically on one potential way out through love and relationships. The film and the book it is based on strive to provide a meaningful glimpse into the core themes of this wonderful writer and how for the most part these strivings remain among us as lively as ever. If the characters are archetypes, they are necessarily so and once understood become more powerful in their abstraction.

But it is their likability that rues the day and throughout you feel for them as they traipse through their foibles. The fixer who cares more for the happiness of others than her own, a defense mechanism against longed for passion. The mother who wades through the ultimate disappointment with courage that makes her stronger when her dreams of marital bliss return. The aggressive young lesbian courageously bouncing between adventures until disappointed into seeking another. The young teacher walking to the edge of a potentially luxurious mistake and passionately imploring her man to save her from herself through Austen. The older woman wanting to keep tasting because the effort, though difficult, is worth it. And in the middle, the almost goofy, literature driven, emo-dreamboat who attracts them all in various ways though suffering from an almost paralyzing inhibition ultimately resolved

Unfortunately most men won't get it or even take the time to appreciate it all. In my screening, women outnumbered men 17-2. In the end this intelligent, optimistic feminism may have too small an audience to save itself from obscurity, but if it ends up a voice in the wilderness, it is far better left said than not.

'Once' is a film that could confound many who see it. There is an innocence and simplicity in style that captivates. The musical that lies within is tinged with an originality that comes straight from its street feel driven mostly by the flowing hand-held camera work. Because of this, it operates as almost an abstract, experimental film walking the line between verite and a pseudo-neo realism, but has this organic feel by centering on its core theme, love as the most important ingredient in the birth of music.

And most importantly, it presents a story of an unrequited yet fulfilling love that is more heartfelt and real than almost any requited love story I've ever witnessed.

That's what makes the boy's gift of a piano to the girl at the end magical. Their powerful lovemaking through musical creation would continue on in both lives even if they never met again.

I don't think a simpler film has ever made such a moving, profound statement about what's most important in our lives.

A lot of things to absorb. Most important in the end, however, is the soulful warmth you leave the theater with. I hope as many people as possible get to experience this. They all will be better for it.