A Short Synopsis of Film

This is the story of Hana and her children, and the household furniture they gnaw to pieces. Hana is an ordinary woman, a college student at one of Japan’s big universities. My guess is that she’s studying philosophy, but nothing about her school curriculum is made clear. Her children and their father, on the other hand, are a little more complicated in terms of scientific classification. Hana’s mate and their offspring have the ability to transform from human to wolf form and back again in the blink of an eye.

Writer-director Mamoru Hosoda’s new film is rich in hand painted animation as well as a multi-faceted storyline. His ability to balance blissful joy with absurdly black humor, and to instill in the plot both a sense of fantasy and practicality, make this movie both predictable and unexpectedly entertaining at the same time. That last sentence sounds like one big contradiction so let me illustrate what I mean.

Early in the film, one of Hana’s children devours a packet of silica gel granules (you’ve seen these little inserts, about the size of a packet of sugar, often packaged with moisture sensitive merchandise to absorb stray water molecules). Well, the wolf child begins vomiting and Hana is terrified, afraid that the silica is poisonous. Not yet fully in command of the situation, Hana picks up her little boy and begins running toward a nearby medical clinic only to be confronted with a veterinarian’s office on the other side of the street. The dilema is then whether to take the boy to a vet or to a medical doctor. I don’t blame Hana for her indecisiveness, there really aren’t that many books written about the raising of wolf children.

After the accidental death of her husband and increasing harassment from social services (the authorities want to know why her children have never been vaccinated), Hana decides to pack up the family and move to the country. With the help of her new neighbors, she manages to become a successful farmer. But Hana doesn’t deserve all of the credit for her newly found green thumb. As it turns out, the children like to pee on the foliage surrounding their farm and the scent of wolf urine drives away other animals. See, I told you that there were practical aspects to this film!

In pre-modern Japan, wolves were worshipped as sacred. Farmers left offerings near the animals’ dens in the hope that these canines would protect the peoples’ crops against foraging animals such as deer and wild boar. However, with the spread of rabies during the Meiji restoration period (beginning in 1868), the wolf was deemed a threat to ranching. Subsequent bounties and direct chemical warfare against the animals resulted in their complete extinction by 1915.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2013
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese w/English subtitles
Genre: Animation, drama

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In a small Belgian village deep in the Ardennes forest, a farming community gathers together to celebrate the end of winter. Led by 20 foot tall effigies of a man, a woman, and a tractor-sized milk cow, the townsfolk ceremoniously drag their discarded Christmas trees though the streets and up a barren hillside to the site of what will be a giant bonfire. Not far away, on a wooden platform trimmed with strings of white lights, a large group of villagers perform a pagan ritual almost resembling country line dancing.

As the sun begins to set, a life-sized stick figure of old man winter is heaped onto the enormous pile of dying evergreens. It is customary for the teenager most recently turned adult to light the bonfire. The boy who is picked for this task is an unsympathetic youth with a heartless attitude toward his fellow man. When his torch is touched to the heap of wood and nettles, nothing happens. The trees do not ignite; Nature has refused the people’s sacrifice.

After the failed bonfire, everything pretty much goes to hell in a handbasket. Bees vanish, newly planted crops refuse to grow, and cows stop producing milk. As we cycle through the four seasons, climate changes accordingly, but nature’s life cycle seems to have ceased. Except for an abundance of insects, which some people start canning as one would vegetables or fruit, food sources all but disappear.

The only humor, if you could call it that, comes during the absurd moments of this film. In one scene and in a fit of rage, the migrant beekeeper begins throwing boxes of plastic flowers into a nearby stream. The artificial flowers were meant to brighten peoples’ hopes, but apparently it’s not working, at least not for the beekeeper.

And then there’s Fred the rooster. I can’t leave without saying a few words about the dysfunctional bird who doesn’t like to crow. The film opens with Fred standing at one end of a small dining table. At the other end is Fred’s owner who is trying to prepare the rooster for the town’s crowing competition. But as frustration builds over the course the film, Fred will be chased with lawn mower, quoted a long list of chicken recipes, and eventually beheaded by a masked man wearing formal attire.

The Fifth Season is set in the present day, yet incorporation of technology and machinery is kept to a minimum which makes the story almost timeless. It’s told in a format that’s more fairytale than screenplay. For much of the film, we observe the characters’ actions and reactions to the mounting evidence of nature’s abandonment. That’s not to say there’s an inadequate amount of dialogue, just that conversation isn’t frivolously used to propel the plot.

Come for the poignant and beautifully composed cinematography. Run screaming because not every apocalyptic movie has a happy ending.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2013
Country: Belgium
Language: French, Flemish w/English subtitles
Genre: Drama

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As we enter the 17th day of this year’s Seattle International Film Festival, I present to you some quick observations of movies I’ve screened so far. Whether it’s been our careful selection of what we chose to attend, or the overall quality of festival entries, most of what I’ve sat through has been very entertaining.

A Gun In Each Hand

Middle-aged men, most of whom have been through a divorce, lack the ability to communicate with their spouses or even other men. It feels like a series of dramatic shorts, tied together by everyone ending up at the same dinner party toward the film’s conclusion.

After Lucia

After her mother’s tragic death, a teenage girl moves to Mexico City and enrolls in a new high school. Her father, still riddled with grief, attempts to start a new job as a chef. Neither endeavor goes well. The father quits, and the daughter is abused by her “friends” after a video of her having sex with one of the other students is uploaded to the Internet. She is beaten, raped, urinated on, and force fed a disgusting birthday cake by her sadistic classmates.

Atraco!

In mid-50s Madrid, loyalists of exiled Argentinean president Juan Peron try raising money for his relocation to Spain by pawning the jewelry of the president’s late spouse Evita. When Franco’s wife falls in love with gems, Peron’s men are obliged to steal the jewelry back before Carmen can add them to her collection. Bumbling antics ensue.

Byzantium

A luke warm story about 2 female vampires (mother and daughter) who are bored out of their minds after living for only 200 years. They are pursued by a male brotherhood of blood suckers who intend to punish the women for their violations against the vampire code of conduct. Apparently it’s not okay to make a female vampire, and definitely not okay for a vampire to have children.

Ernest & Celestine

Mice are the tooth fairies who a steal everyone’s deciduous teeth in this charming, off-beat, French tale about tolerance, art and a bear that commits a series of heinous crimes.

Forbidden Voices

Female bloggers from Cuba, Iran and China speak out about the totalitarian regimes that control their countries. Their reward is physical beating, arrest, and imprisonment. But these women, often the only eyes and ears on the ground, are helping to draw attention from western powers and place pressure on repressive governments to change.

Goltzius and the Pelican Company

An unapologetically pretentious film from director Peter Greenaway about a troupe of writer-actors who take to the stage to re-enact six of the sexual taboos from the Christian Old Testament. If you have any aversion to strong language, nudity or bodily function, you might want to skip this movie. Otherwise, the visuals are incredible, so enjoy!

I Declare War

War is not a democracy, there are rules of engagement, and there is a chain of command that must be followed. In the woods behind their houses, a group of young teens have been playing long running games of capture the flag for quite some time. The latest battle turns into a bloody coup when one army’s general is murdered by a soldier under his own command. And then their’s the new girl, who seems to have an agenda completely detached from the game’s actual objective. The movie is original, whimsical and humorous. Everything is make-believe, except for the guns; They do give the kids real machine guns so that they don’t have to go around saying “bang-bang”.

In a World…

In a world of movie trailers and voice overs, Don Lafontaine was the king. Since Don’s passing, no one has used the phrase “In a world…” to introduce a film, but all of that is about to change. It’s a pro-feminist flick.

In the Fog

This is the story of three men: a saint, a doubter, and a villain. Set in western Russia during World War II occupation by Germany, a group of railroad workers sabotage the tracks of a passenger train and are hanged for their crime. One member of the group (the saint) is set free by the Germans, thus painting him a collaborator and traitor. The saint is being used as bait to draw out the resistance.

Jin

Jin is a Kurdish freedom fighter and she’s tired of fighting. One night in the mountains of Turkey, she hugs a female comrade goodbye and disappears into the night, abandoning her unit and heading for civilization, perhaps to visit her uncle. Director Reha Erdem is known for visually stunning films, and this is no exception. What is disturbing to me about this story is that almost every man Jin encounters tries to rape her. Civilized people are more barbaric than wild animals, but that shouldn’t be a surprise.

Lasting

It’s hard to make a relationship last, especially when you’re a college student whose boyfriend has killed a man and you’ve just found out that you’re pregnant. A boy and girl chance to meet and fall in love during one of their summers working on a farm in Spain. We learn how normality can be turned upside down by a single, unforeseen event.

Much Ado About Nothing

Joss Whedon decided to celebrate completing one of the most successful super-hero movies of all time by filming a movie with his longtime collaborators in his own home. A literal and yet very modern adaptation of the Shakespeare classic, the movie shows off the actors’ depth of understanding of the material and expert comedic timing.

Populaire

A romantic comedy about a French girl from a small town during the 50’s who dreams of becoming a secretary. Her one qualification, other than good looks, is that she can type. For no reason I can discern, the girl’s new boss begins training her to compete in speed typing contests. It’s a fun flick, good comedic dialogue and timing, not the least bit heavy.

Putzel

Walter Himmelstein (affectionately known as Putzel) plans to take over the family business when his uncle retires, a smoked fish shop that he grew up working in. However, Walter’s uncle is experiencing what appears to be a mid-life crisis, so it’s unclear for much of the film who the fish shop will actually be sold to. And then there’s the bartender that both Walter and his uncle fall in love with. None of these characters are worth caring about.

Shadowed

A group of 20-something friends hike into the forest on a two day camping trip and are all murdered, one by one. Go figure. The camera and sound are alright, but the dialog, acting and directing could use some help. This was a Kickstarter project. Hopefully it was a good learning experience for the film makers. Just to make it clear, this is not my least favorite film at this year’s festival.

Stories We Tell

Canadian writer/director Sarah Polley ruthlessly interrogates family and friends to try and uncover the identity of her real father. This film is a documentary, and I jest about her ruthlessness. The story is cleverly constructed using firsthand interviews as well as reenactments of past events by actors filmed with a Super-8 camera.

The Broken Circle Breakdown

Even if you can’t understand Dutch and don’t like reading subtitles, the musical soundtrack in this feature is well worth your time. Basically, it’s a boy meets girl story. Elise runs a tattoo shop in a little Belgian town. Didier plays banjo in a bluegrass band and idealizes America. Elise joins Didier’s band, the two fall in love and have a little girl. Unfortunately, their daughter becomes extremely ill which causes Elise and Didier’s relationship to fall apart.

The Daughter

After the murder of 6 girls in a small town, Russian police still have no leads on the perpetrator. The story revolves around a young woman named Inna whose new friend Misha falls victim to the killer. Shortly after her friend’s death, Inna’s father confesses the identity of the murderer to the town priest, but of course the priest is bound by confessional confidentiality and cannot inform the police, even though one of the victims was his own daughter. What a dilemma.

The Fifth Season

A small farming community gathers together to celebrate the coming end of winter. The townsfolk perform a pagan dance, fabricate an effigy of old man winter, try and convict him, and then place him atop a giant pile of discarded christmas trees that they intend to light on fire. But the wood won’t burn. The gods refuse to accept the sacrifice.

The Fruit Hunters

There are more varieties of fruit on this planet than one person could sample in a lifetime, and some of these plants grow only in a sole micro-ecosystem. This is a well rounded documentary that follows the people and organizations who try to preserve fruit species in the face of deforestation and urban sprawl. It also addresses the pitfalls of big business monoculture.

The Spectacular Now

Some people aren’t able to live in the here and now, but not high school senior Sutter Keely. Sutter’s problems are that he has absolutely no plan for the future, and that he’s an alcoholic. After being dumped by his steady girlfriend, Sutter awakens the next morning on a stranger’s front lawn to find Aimee the neighborhood paper girl staring down on him. Aimee isn’t like his last beau, she’s geeky and nice. For the remainder of the film, we get to see Sutter’s life slowly disintegrate while he helps turn Aimee into a lush.

What Maisie Knew

A 7 year old girl is repeatedly forgotten, misplaced and devalued by her narcissistic parents during a bitter divorce battle. Read the full review here.

With the rise of modern civilization, dreams have lost some of their mystique and taken on a more clinical feel. Sleep imagery is no longer recorded for posterity, but instead dissected and examined in an effort to better understand the individual.

Doctor Atsuko Chiba is a research psychologist. Her team of scientists at the Institute for Psychiatric Research have developed a device called the DC mini which allows her to enter a patient’s mind and interact with their unconscious to help discover the source of an anxiety or neurosis. Paprika is the alluring 18 year old alter-ego of Atsuko; She’s the projection of Atsuko that people see in their dreams, the girl who takes troubled minds out for drinks at an Internet cafe and then to a movie.

In his 2006 movie Paprika, Director Satoshi Kon takes psychoanalysis to a new level, one in which therapists no longer interpret a patient’s dreams through second hand account, but instead witness a person’s unconscious struggle first hand. Although the DC mini has not yet been approved by the government, the chief of Atsuko’s lab asks her to begin using it to treat one of his old schoolmates. The patient is Detective Toshimi Konakawa, a man that is plagued by a recurring dream of being trapped in a cage at the circus, surrounded by a mob of angry people, all wearing Toshimi’s own face.

Not long after Paprika begins her treatment of the detective, one of the DC mini prototypes is stolen by what is presumed to be a terrorist, and that’s when the cop and shrink team up to try and solve a potentially nightmarish crime (pun intended). One of the dangers of the DC mini, and perhaps why the government has been dragging their heals on approval, is its ability to wirelessly broadcast dreams into a person’s mind (whether the recipient is asleep or awake). None of this bodes well for Atsuko’s boss, who goes on a nonsensical tirade, jumping out of a second story window after someone shoehorns a crazed parade full of trumpeting frogs and walking toasters into his brain using the stolen device.

Over the course of the film, Paprika’s storyline gradually degrades from concrete to abstract. Not unlike the interpretation of a dream, the film’s second half is hard to decipher and it is often unclear whether we’re viewing the character’s unconscious thoughts or the waking world. I’ve watched the movie twice, once dubbed in English and once in Japanese with subtitles, but still don’t understand all of the surreal imagery. Perhaps not every frame of this anime has a purpose, or perhaps Paprika’s murkiness is a reason to see it more than once.

After a nightmare, we comfort ourselves with the knowledge that it was all “just a dream”. But what is life if not a dream we all share, one that everyone eventually awakens from.

The story is based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2007
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese w/English subtitles
Genre: Animation, mystery, sci-fi

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A 7 year old girl and her nanny answer the front door of their posh, Manhattan apartment to take delivery of a pizza. It’s dinner time but, in the background, a man and woman are screaming at one another. The screamers are the little girl’s parents and tonight’s performance of bickering and insults is nothing new. What the girl knows is that her parents are making her nervous, and that her home life has become both unpredictable and stressful.

The nanny’s name is Margot (Joanna Vanderham), and her little charge is Maisie (Onata Aprile). The audience never learns more about Margot than her having a cousin with a beach house, but it’s clear from events that she’s a good person and really cares about the child.

In the coming weeks, Maisie’s parents will file for divorce and enter into a bitter custody battle. Her narcissistic, musician mother will go on tour and her unaffectionate, businessman father will move to London. Somewhere in the midst of all that, dad takes the nanny as his wife and mom marries a bartender named Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgård). It’s evident that their re-marriages are ones of convenience, entered into only as chess moves designed to sway the court’s decision about custody of the little girl.

For some of us that were “raised” by absent parents, left with strangers, repeatedly screamed at for no reason, and used as pawns in the sick games that narcissistic adults play, the escape from a nightmare such as Maisie’s is to grow up and build a life where we feel safe, far away from the people that hurt us. There’s often no happy ending to situations of neglect. But during the last quarter of this film, there’s a silver lining that emerges and strikes me more as a child’s fantasy than a likely outcome of the divorce. Maisie’s newly appointed step parents, Lincoln and Margot, repeatedly find themselves caring for Maisie during the unscheduled absences of the girl’s mother and father. The bartender and nanny form a friendship that blossoms into a romance, and Maisie finds refuge in their joint care.

One thing I like about this film is that it doesn’t spend much time developing characters’ back stories, but instead uses their behaviors and interactions to tell its tale. Some of the behaviors seem slightly exaggerated though. For instance, Maisie’s parents are often both out of town at the same time, sometimes leaving her on peoples’ doorsteps without first checking to see if the folks are even home. Another thing I like about this film is Onata Aprile’s performance, both believable and flawless. I’m half afraid that she might end up being one of the youngest people ever nominated for an Oscar.

This story is a contemporary retelling of Henry James’ 1897 novel What Maisie Knew.

Venue: Seattle International Film Festival, 2013
Countries: USA
Languages: English
Genre: Drama, romance

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