A Short Synopsis of Film

First of all, do you know who Robin Wright is? Maybe you remember Princess Buttercup, the girl looking for true love in The Princes Bride. What about Audrey Dunn, wife to Bruce Willis’s character in Unbreakable? She also played Erika Berger, publisher and lover of Mikael Blomkvist in the American remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. And of course, there’s her more recent hit series, House of Cards on Netflix. If you still don’t know who I’m talking about, don’t worry. Soon, you won’t be alone.

Ms Wright’s acting career is about to take a decade long downturn. She’ll pick all of the wrong parts, turn her nose up at anything science fiction, and lose big at the box office. The upside to all of this is that she’ll have more time to spend at home with her son (Aaron) and daughter (Sarah).

Home is a converted DC-9 hangar just beyond the perimeter fence of a medium sized commercial airport, tastefully furnished and much cozier than it sounds. It’s a residence chosen because of her son’s love for flying kites and watching heavy jets take off. The reason for all of these quirks (in career, abode and familial indulgence) can be traced back to a degenerative disease, one that will slowly render Aaron deaf and blind by the time he’s 30.

In the midst of her son’s medical bills and degrading health, the film industry is about to go digital. I’m not talking about digital vs. 35 mm prints, I’m referring to the elimination of actors in favor of scanned copies, duplicates that retain a movie star’s voice and appearance. Writer-director Ari Folman (Waltz with Bashir) uses digitization as a metaphor illustrating society’s increasing disconnectedness from reality, and he doesn’t stop there. The film and pharmaceutical industries will eventually merge in this futuristic plot to provide us with drugs that trigger an irreversible and completely immersive, animated view of the world around us. Yes, you will someday be able to live in a cartoon.

Israeli born director Ari Folman takes aim at both medical drug research and dealing with the dictatorship of big studios within the film industry. Imagine how much Miramount (the fictitious studio holding Robin’s contract) will make at the box office with tireless, unaging actors. And then eliminating the box office altogether by replacing it with hallucinogenic drugs. The only person in this story that could potentially benefit from the future is Robin’s son, who won’t be able to interact with reality anymore anyhow. Treating symptoms in favor of providing cures and prevention, that is the reality in which we exist.

The Congress is based on the 1971 novel The Futurological Congress by Stanisław Lem. The characters and setting have changed, but it’s an interesting update of the original. Which actors and locations would you choose for shooting this movie you call your life?

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2014
Country: Israel, France, Germany
Language: English
Genres: Drama, live action, animation

IMDB

Milo is an actor, or at least he tries to be when he’s not waiting tables. You can’t get theatrical work in L.A. without an agent, and Milo has neither. After a failed, bathtub suicide attempt, Maggie appears at her brother’s Los Angeles hospital room with a bag of cookies. The two haven’t spoken in nearly 10 years and Milo doesn’t seem to want his sister’s help (at least not with baked goods).

Milo and Maggie are twins originally from suburban New York. Suicidal tendencies run deep in their family. A father that jumped from a bridge and depressive mood swings by both brother and sister are hammered on throughout this story. It isn’t until midway into the film that we understand why these kids are so messed up. After a drop-in visit from their unaffectionate, new-age mother we start to appreciate why their father offed himself.

And then there’s that whole subject of long term estrangement from one another. Both characters posses darker, self-destructive sides that they need, though don’t always want, each other’s help with. Whether that help comes in the form of betraying a secret told in confidence or diffusing a morbidly serious situation with humorous banter is something that helps keep the story less than predictable.

When I saw two former Saturday Night Live alums up there on screen, I cringed at first. But Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader walk the line between drama and comedy, knowing on which side to fall and when. Too often, the transition from stand-up to a movie career results in the production of disappointing, slap-stick. Is it that some actors don’t have the range necessary for more dramatic roles, or are they being exploited by producers and studios who aren’t giving these people the opportunity to expand into other genres. I suppose like any complex formula, it depends.

If forced to describe this movie in a single sentence, I’d say it’s “You Can Count On Me”, but with actors and writing from the other side of the tracks.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2014
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama, dark comedy

IMDB

Sutter Keely is a high school senior, class clown, life of the party, and not worried about the future (not one bit). He’s got everything he needs, a cute girlfriend, a reliable set of wheels, and a part-time sales job to fund his carefree lifestyle. Oh and we mustn’t forget that bottomless flask of whiskey in his coat pocket, it makes everything around him sparkle!

Sutter’s girlfriend Cassidy isn’t quite as impressed with his lack of ambition. Finally fed up with Sutter’s drunken antics, she dumps him not far into the film. But don’t worry, in these types of stories, the right person comes along at just the right time.

Enter Aimee, the papergirl. After an all night drinking binge, Sutter awakes to find himself sprawled out on a neighbor’s front lawn. He doesn’t know where his car is, and since Aimee is presently canvasing the neighborhood, an alliance (or friendship) is born. Although the premise might sound a bit goofy, this is one of the more creative and adorable meet cutes I’ve seen in a film lately. Director James Ponsoldt provides narration of this scene in a New York Times blog post.

It surprises me sometimes what I choose to focus on from a film. The initial meeting of Aimee and Sutter seemed simple and superficial at the movie theatre. But after reflecting for a time, I believe it succinctly illustrates the complexity of their relationship. What appears at first to be another light-hearted romantic comedy about two fundamentally different teens falling in love, turns quickly into the downward spiral of an alcoholic and their effect on the people around them. The characters are plausible and the acting is believable. This is one of my favorite films so far this year.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2013
Country: USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama

Official Site
IMDB

In 1994, two people bound for different destinations chanced to meet on a train disembarking in Vienna. Jesse was headed back to the United States, and Celine was returning to university in Paris. During their overnight layover in Austria, the two strolled through the streets and talked for almost the entire length of the film. Director Richard Linkater’s Before Sunrise was the first in a trilogy of feature length vignettes about the blossoming love affair between an American named Jesse (Ethan Hawke) and a French woman named Celine (Julie Delpy).

18 years ago, the couple’s conversations were flirtatious, witty and effortless. They didn’t know each other and we didn’t know them. In the beginning, there was neither regret nor an excess of baggage, only cautious optimism. However, afraid to ruin a perfect evening, the two never exchanged phone numbers and not until the last moments of the film did they agree to meet in Vienna some six months later. It was a meeting that never took place though, because despite Jesse’s best efforts, Celine was unable to return.

The second film, taking place some nine years later, is a little less effortless. Jesse’s marriage is on the rocks (he seems frazzled) and Celine is just downright manipulative. Ethan’s character has written a book about the twosome’s first night together in Vienna and is presently on a book signing tour that has stopped in Paris. Which brings us to Before Midnight, the third movie in the trilogy, co-written by Hawke, Delpy and Linklater.

The reason I’ve recounted so much of the first two films (other than to set the stage), is that I suspect Before Midnight can’t be fully appreciated without intimate knowledge of Jesse and Celine’s past. It’s not the particulars that are important. For example, it doesn’t matter how they met, where they strolled, or even what was said. What matters is the progressive change (or stagnation in some cases) of each character’s demeanor over the years.

Jesse still notices the cute asses of 20 year old girls, but is weighed down by the guilt of loosing parental custody of his son to an alcoholic ex-wife. Celine has evolved from a carefree, flirtatious Parisian into the busy mother of three and constant worrier (her only spare time to think is while sitting on the toilet at work).

Intelligent, intimate, realistic dialogue between Julie and Ethan are the cornerstone of this movie franchise, it’s why audiences keep coming back. But beyond that, Linklater’s series of films delve into the subjects of infatuation, love, marriage, and ongoing commitment. These are extremely accessible stories, something that most of the population can relate to. His characters deliver a highly concentrated contemplation of the day to day relationships that many of us live with.

Venue: Egyptian Threatre, Seattle
Country: USA
Language: English, with untranslated French and Greek
Genre: Drama

Official Site
IMDB

I submit to you 12 films from this year’s festival, 11 of which are worth seeing. The best of this batch are Redemption Street, A Hijacking, and Wolf Children, three very different movies from the countries of Serbia, Denmark, and Japan.

Orange Honey

A young military clerk goes about his routine duties, typing up absurd court decisions and scheduling the daily execution of convicted subversives in Franco’s 1950s Spain. But all of that is about to change, because unbeknownst to Enrique, his fiancé (and boss’s daughter) is a key player in the Spanish underground. The festival wouldn’t be the same without seeing 3 or 4 entries inspired by dictator Francisco Franco’s wacky regime.

Naked Harbour

Finnish cinema is sometimes less subtle, though more enjoyable, than a swift kick to the head. For many of the characters in this film, a cerebral hemorrhage might be preferable to the mental anguish they’re forced to suffer. First, a bullied boy with few friends is separated from his dog after the child’s mother has his beloved pet put to sleep (the animal annoys her). Then, a lonely girl looking for attention and fame is lured into the making of a hardcore, handheld porn flick. After that, a father and son dressed as Santa Clauses commit armed robbery to pay off a loan shark. There are several more parallel plot lines, but you’ve suffered enough for one day.

Redemption Street

The war that resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia was devastating. After the fighting ended, war tribunals were established to hunt down and prosecute the individuals who perpetrated heinous crimes against both civilians and members of opposing forces. This is the story of a young prosecutor who, though a gifted investigator possessing keen intellect, is politically naive with regard to the surviving power structures that the war left behind. It’s a mystery, thriller and great drama all rolled into one.

7 Boxes

Set at night in Asunción, Paraguay’s Market #4, the logistics of filming this movie are as interesting as its plot. The market is a dangerous place, not only for the characters in the story, but for film crews as well. A young wheelbarrow porter named Víctor is offered $100 US to babysit 7 crates for a few hours by carting them around the market and eventually returning the boxes to their point of origin. Victor’s misplaced motivation for taking this job is rooted in his desire to purchase a cell phone with built-in video camera so that he can upload his face to YouTube and become famous. Needless to say, this is a dark comedy.

Camion

An aging widower and commercial truck driver is involved in a head-on collision, killing the female occupant of a small car. After the accident, sons Samuel and Alain travel home to cheer up their father and help him contemplate a new career. It’s a slow moving character study of the 3 men with no real plot twists or grand resolution. It’s a reasonable and realistic film, much like the demeanor of Canada in general.

The Artist And The Model

An aging artist in German-occupied France decides to give his quest for the perfect sculpture one last shot. Armed only with a shotgun and a beautiful young girl, Marc Cros re-opens his dusty workshop in the foothills of the Pyrenees and begins to sketch. Whether Marc can remain completely disjoint from the war going on around him remains to be seen though.

A Highjacking

After a Danish cargo ship is hijacked by pirates off the coast of Africa, the company’s “hands-on” CEO attempts to negotiate the crew’s release. It’s not that the CEO’s a bad negotiator, quite the contrary, but pirates aren’t like typical businessmen. Time is often a factor in big business, and closing a deal quickly can be a necessity. However, in the world of kidnappers and pirates, time is a way of wearing down the corporate negotiators who’s sailors are being held hostage.

Papadopoulos & Sons

America is still the land of opportunity, where the son of a Greek immigrant can build a prepared foods empire. But when Harry Papadopoulos over leverages his thriving businesses in order to build a commercial plaza, the economy unexpectedly goes bust and financial lenders are forced to call in their debts, rendering Harry broke and his family out on the street. Yet, even in times of monetary dispair, it’s possible to find happiness and laughter in the re-opening of your family’s old fish & chips shop. What I took from this film is that the lower middle-class is happier than the lower upper-class.

Haute Cuisine

In the fall of 1988, a small farm owner and self-trained cook named Danièle Delpeuch was asked by the French government to become the personal chef of President François Mitterrand. For years, she ran a small kitchen at the Palais de l’Élysée, preparing traditional, home-cooked meals for the aged politician and his guests. In this film, the part of Danièle is played by a character named Hortense Laborie. Apparently, cooking for the president of France was such a stressful experience that Danièle first forgot her real name and then fled to the Antarctic for a year to hide out and recover.

Wolf Children

This is the story of Hana and her unconventional love for 4-legged beasts. While attending university, Hana happens to fall in love with a classmate who turns out to be half wolf and half human. The remainder of the film addresses the problems associated with raising multi-species offspring. Japanese storytellers often impress me with their ability to combine fantasy, practicality and historical reference. Read the full review here.

Yesterday Never Ends

Set in the not too distant future, Spain’s economy and banks have failed for the 4th or 5th time (I lost count). Europe is no longer going to bail out the Spanish speaking country to its south and everyone is moving to Germany, leaving tens of thousands of homes abandoned. Meanwhile, a long divorced couple spend the entire film at a deserted mausoleum, discussing the failure of their marriage and death of their child that resulted from cut-backs in emergency services (the child’s death, not the marriage). There, I’ve just made this movie sound 10 times more interesting than it actually was.

Jump

Several lives and their stories cross paths over the course of a new year’s eve in this fast-paced, north irish action-drama. The various plot lines are competently interwoven to produce a cohesive and surprisingly understandable piece (despite the Derry accents). It’s about a spoiled crime boss’s daughter named Greta and her inability to commit suicide. She has this strange fascination with a particular bridge, upon which we find her in both the film’s opening and closing scenes. The in-between moments amount to your run of the mill “girl meets boy, boy steals large sum of money from girl’s father, girl’s friends accidentally run over boy with their car and hide his body in the trunk, car gets stolen, everything works out in the end.”