A Short Synopsis of Film

A prison riot traps a new guard inside the cell block with murderers and psychopaths and his only choice is to pretend he’s one of the prisoners in order to survive. And somehow, his young pregnant wife (who lives nowhere near the prison) manages to get entangled in all of this–I’m still scratching my head about that “twist”.

The plot is predictable and the characters are simple, but I liked it.

Was the movie better because it was spoken in Spanish and had a cast of foreign actors I’ve never heard of? If ‘Cell 211’ had been in English with a well known American cast, would I have liked it less? Perhaps we’re sometimes more forgiving to foreign films, and perhaps a re-release of Event Horizon dubbed into Italian could be this summer’s comedy hit. Afterall, it was pretty funny the first time around.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2010
Country: Spain, France
Genre: Action, Drama
Language: Spanish

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This film has lots of advocates at the festival. It’s a good movie and worth seeing, but it’s not my favorite so far. It deals with suicide and death, so it’s not for young children, but might be appropriate for young teens. It teaches that life is precious and that its disappearance has an adverse effect on those left behind.

We witness the tenants’ lives of a small, upper class apartment building through the eyes of a young girl named Paloma. Her family doesn’t understand her. They want to send her for psychotherapy. Paloma starts hanging around with the building’s woman concierge, one of the few people she respects and can identify with. The concierge begins to form a romantic relationship with one of the building’s new tenants and then… I don’t want to spoil the ending.

The characters’ personalities are overly transparent and simple, but I think we’re viewing people from Paloma’s perspective. The animation sequences of the little girl’s drawings are fun to watch.

All of this is based on the book ‘The Elegance of the Hedgehog’ by Muriel Barbery.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: France, Italy
Language: French, Japanese

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Think of Terry Gilliam directing Penn and Teller (Bennett and Marcus in this case) in a low budget film. Two men travel from town to town with their Ghostbuster equipment, revealing the “skeletons” in peoples’ closets and making their customers sign lots of ridiculous release forms. Bennett and Marcus seem to work for some clandestine international organization, but that part is never explained.

This is probably the first movie I’ve ever sat through the question and answer session for before seeing the actual film. The director was talking to the audience and I happened to be at the theater to pick-up my wife from a late night showing, so I sat and listened.

Apparently it was relatively easy to deposit a small boat in front of the cooling towers of a nuclear power plant and film some of the scenes. The crew came up with the idea for a scar on the colonel’s neck (which makes it look like someone tried to cut his throat) while sitting in a pub. The director’s brother wrote the musical score, and the director’s son played the part of the boy.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2010
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English

IMDB

This is the story of Li Cunxin, a Chinese ballet dancer who chose to stay in the United States after a visit to the Houston Ballet company as an exchange student. To avoid defection, he married Elizabeth Mackey (an American dancer) hoping that China would recognize international marriage law, but the Chinese government revoked his citizenship anyway.

I don’t attend many ballets, but the dancing was enjoyable. The film had a definite 70’s look and feel to it. This is probably the most “watchable” entry I’ve seen at this year’s festival, but not a powerful piece of art. It has placed high on some festival goers lists. Expect to be entertained but not impressed.

The acting could have been better. The numerous ballet performances required casting people with substantial dance experience (e.g. Chi Cao, Amanda Schull, Madeleine Eastoe). Li Cunxin’s English improves as the years pass, which was a nice touch. I was a little surprised to see Kyle MacLachlan and Bruce Greenwood in this movie (maybe because I don’t associate them with biopics).

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2010
Genre: Historic, Drama
Language: English

IMDB

An artist (Mark Hogancamp) suffers brain damage and loss of all past memories. In the process of re-learning everything, he constructs a scale World War II town in his backyard. The town’s inhabitants are G.I. Joes and Barbies, many of who represent people in his life that he can’t remember. The town isn’t a static model though. Mark moves the dolls around to create stories and takes photos of each scene.

All of what he’s done is remarkable, but what I found most interesting was his ability to express very realistic and emotion filled scenes with lifeless objects. His original technique for photographing the village was also a bit awing. Without a functioning light meter, he used trial and error along with multiple rounds of film developing to get the right look. Someone recently asked if you need an expensive camera to take really go photos. No, you just need patience, practice, and a good eye.

There are some other points worth noting about Mark’s recovery from brain damage. Before the injury, his ability to draw was incredible. Afterward, his hands are too shaky to draw well so that’s why he took up modeling and photography. Before the injury, he was an alcoholic. For now, he has no urge to drink. What’s retained and lost by the loss of memory is fascinating. He liked cross dressing before the attack, and enjoys it now as well.

This is Jeff Malmberg‘s directorial debut, though he’s produced and edited a number of past films. The history of the town is compelling. Watching the movie was like walking through 3-D storyboard and having the writer explain the content and back-story of each frame.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2010
Genre: Documentary
Language: English

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