2014 San Francisco Independent Film Festival

The 2014 San Francisco Independent Film Festival (IndieFest) was their Sweet 16.  The festival ran from February 6 to 20.  The opening night film was at the Brava Theater.  The rest of the festival was held at the Roxie.  Actually IndieFest held 8 days of film screenings at the New Parkway in Oakland but all the films I attended were at the Brava or Roxie.

As I mentioned in another post, the Most British Film Festival coincided with IndieFest this year.  I saw 16 films at IndieFest and 12 at the Mostly British.  I don't know if that means I would have seen 28 films at IndieFest if there had been no scheduling conflicts but I would definitely have seen more than 16.  Among the films I missed which I regret were Aldo, Almost Human & Rezeta.

The Congress starring Robin Wright; with Harvey Keitel, John Hamm & Paul Giamatti; directed by Ari Folman; (2013) - Official Website
Doomsdays starring Justin Rice & Leo Fitzpatrick; directed by Eddie Mullins; (2013) - Official Website

Karaoke Girl starring Sa Sittijun; directed by Visra Vichit Vadakan; Thai with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

Let's Ruin It With Babies starring Kestrin Pantera & Eva Kim; directed by Kestrin Pantera; (2013) - Official Website

Delivery starring Laurel Vail & Danny Barclay; directed by Brian Netto; (2013) - Official Website

You Make Me Feel So Young starring Justine Eister, Zach Weintraub & Kymberly Walden; directed by Zach Weintraub; (2013) - Official Facebook

Grigris starring Souleymane Démé; directed by Mahat-Saleh Haroun; French & Arabic with subtitles; (2013) 

Bluebird starring Amy Morton, John Slattery & Louisa Krause; directed by Lance Edmands; (2013) - Official Website

Hank: 5 Years from the Brink; documentary; directed by Joe Berlinger; (2013)

Teenage; documentary; directed by Matt Wolf; (2013) - Official Website

Bounty Killer starring Christian Pitre; directed by Henry Saine; (2013) - Official Facebook

You'll Be a Man starring Aurelio Cohen & Jules Sagot; directed Benoit Cohen; French with subtitles; (2013) - Official Facebook

The Love Songs of Tiedan starring  Feng Si, Ye Lan, Feng Yun & Li Yuqin; directed by Hao Jie; Mandarin with subtitles; (2012) 

Blue Ruin starring Macon Blair; directed by Jeremy Saulnier; (2013) - Official Website

There is Light starring Maya Koizumi; directed by Yukihiro Toda; Japanese with subtitles; (2013)

Proxy starring Joe Swanberg, Kristina Klebe, Alexa Havins & Alexia Rasmussen; directed by Zach Parker; (2013) - Official Website

A central plot point in Let's Ruin It With Babies was the (RV)IP.  That's a combination of RV and VIP.  The characters in the film tricked out an RV, drove it across the country and stopped at various cities to host pop-up parties.  As I exited the Roxie Theater, the (RV)IP was parked directly in front of the building.  The (RV)IP predates Let's Ruin It With Babies.

Grigris (also spelled GriGris) was Chad's submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at this year's Oscar.  It was not nominated.

There weren't as many short films preceding the main features as in years past.  I only recall seeing one short film.

Here, There; directed by Ichiro Tani; 5 minutes; (2013)

A short film titled Beasts in the Real World was on the program to precede the opening night film but it did not screen.

I thought it was an extremely strong lineup of films at IndieFest this year.  I watched a relatively modest 16 films this year so perhaps I was lucky and caught the cream of the crop.

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My favorite film from the festival was Delivery.  I thought the concept was clever.  Delivery is set up as though the audience is watching a faux, unaired reality television series about a couple having their first child. Rachel &  Kyle Massy (Laurel Vail & Danny Barclay) are the expectant parents who literally experience the pregnancy from hell.  Set over several months, the film within a film captures strange and frightening events occurring to Rachael.  It has the look of Satanic possession a la Rosemary's Baby but the film goes into a different direction.  Instead, the viewer is left to decide whether the happenings are paranormal or psychological.  Delivery played it right down the middle to the very last scene which is as shocking & disturbing as anything I've seen on a movie screen in a long time.

Just the fact that Delivery was able to creep me out earns it high praise from me.  I think the fact that the film leaves open the possibility that Rachel is responsible for these strange incidents made the film more disquieting.  I notice the film is now titled Delivery: The Beast Within which is a clever title; is the beast within Rachel's womb or her mind?

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The prolific Joe Swanberg's participation in a project typically signals an interesting film.  By IMDB's count, Swanberg has acted in 46 films and television episodes since 2003 and directed 27 during that same period.  Speaking of which, the Roxie is screening Swanberg's latest directorial effort, Happy Christmas, from August 1 to 7.  Happy Christmas premiered at Sundance in January.

Proxy was directed by Zach Parker and Swanberg was one of the lead actors.  It's a twisted film that is a guilty pleasure.  Esther (Alexia Rasmussen) is a very pregnant woman who is attacked on the street in a particularly violent manner.  As result of the attack, Esther miscarries (nice dead fetus scene).  She begins attending a support group and meets  Esther meets and befriends Melanie (Alexa Havins), a woman whose son was killed by a drunk driver.

Later, Esther sees Melanie in a department store.  As she watches, Melanie becomes hysterical and claims that her son has been kidnapped from the store.  While the security guards search for him, Esther witness Melanie go to her car and get her toddler son.  She returns to the store and "finds" her lost child.

Esther has her own secret.  Her attacker is actually Anika (Kristina Klebe), her lesbian lover who has a temper and done time in prison. When Esther invites Melanie, she makes a pass at her which Melanie declines.  Then Esther states she knows the truth about what happened at the department store.  This enrages Melanie who slaps Esther and tells her never to contact her again.

Clearly unstable (like everyone else is in the film), Esther tracks down Melanie at her house.  She observes Melanie, her husband Patrick (Swanberg) and their young son.  She breaks into the house while the three are at home and drowns the boy in the bathtub.  When Melanie discovers what Esther has done, Esther states that now they can be together...just before Patrick shoots her dead with a shotgun.  Having not heard the entire conversation and having no clue about his wife's activities, Patrick assumes that Esther was just a crazy woman; an assumption which is furthered bolstered when the police inform him about the attack which killed her unborn child.

Esther's death puts everyone on edge.  Anika wants revenge, Patrick regret not torturing Esther and Melanie is concerned that her relationship with Esther and ergo her support group lies will come to light.  Without giving away the ending, some people die and some don't.  Actually, the screen fades to black without revealing who (if any) survives.

What I enjoyed most about Proxy is that everyone is a sociopath although I will say that Patrick is the most well adjusted...until his son is murdered by a home intruder.  As I mentioned, Proxy is a guilty pleasure.  It doesn't really say much about a society that could produce these four people.  Parker frames the four as horrible people so there is little chance the audience will sympathize with them.  Instead, it is like watching monsters attack each other with innocent bystanders getting hurt.  The performance are very good although Klebe had difficulty at times expressing Anika's anti-social rage.

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More of a straight-up revenge genre film is Blue Ruin.  Dwight (Macon Blair) is a homeless vagrant when the film starts.  We learn that Dwights's parents were murdered several years ago by Wade Cleland who is being released from prison after being convicted for that crime.  Dwight follows Cleland from prison as his family has rented a limousine to celebrate.  He sneaks in by the back door of a roadside bar where the Clelands are celebrating.  He confronts Wade in the men's room and stabs him to death.  Dropping his car keys during the struggle, Dwight is forced to flee in the limousine.

He visits his sister and confesses the crime.  His sister was unaware of murder which indicates the Clelands have not reported the murder to the police and will instead seek revenge.  Concerned for his sister and her family's safety, Dwight lies in wait at her house while she has taken her family out of town.  When the Clelands arrive, he is able to knock one unconscious and kidnap him in the trunk of the limo but not before getting shot by a crossbow in his leg.

Later, Dwight learns from the captured Cleland that Wade Cleland did not murder his father.  In fact, it was Wade's father who was the murderer; his motive being that Dwight's father was having an affair with his wife.  The captured Cleland is able get Dwight's gun and is about to shoot him before Dwight's survivalist friend from high school shoots him dead.

Hoping the feud is over since the body count is two dead on both sides, Dwight reluctantly prepares for a final showdown when the Clelands indicate they have no intention of ending the feud.

Macon Blair delivers a strong performance as Dwight, a man whose life has been ruined twice by murders - first his parents murder sent him into a tailspin and his revenge killing has put his life in jeopardy.  Eve Plumb (Jan from The Brady Bunch) shows up as the matriarch of the Cleland family (the one who affair started the feud).  Dark, humorless and taut, Blue Ruin is a gritty revenge tale.

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I was also intrigued with the Japanese film There is Light.  It's a provocative film about a young woman who turns to prostitution to make some money.  Not just any kind of prostitution but she works for an agency that specializes in providing services to handicap individuals.  The film uses handicap non-actors for the roles of the clients.  Far from appealing to those who want to see the grotesque or kinky, There is Light shows a range of personalities which Saori (Maya Koizumi) encounters.  This may sound like The Sessions but it has a darker tone.  Saori has her own secrets and in some ways, she is more emotionally damaged than her clients.  The film is weighed down by Koizumi's lackluster performance and at times, the director seems to have lost control over the non-actors but the semi-documentary feel of much of the film compensates.  There is Light is not a great film but it portends bigger and better films in director Yukihiro Toda's future.

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The Congress has an impeccable pedigree.  It premiered at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival and was directed by Ari Folman who also helmed the much acclaimed Waltz with Bashir.  Robin Wright plays Robin Wright, not necessarily herself although there was a scene with large posters of Robin Wright from The Princess Bride and other Robin Wright films.  It's more like the real Robin Wright in an alternate reality.  It's a reality where Wright is offered a large amount of money to sell her digital image in perpetuity.  The condition is that Wright cannot act again.  Wright reluctantly accepts the offer.

The film jumps 20 years in the future where Wright or her digital image is again on the cutting edge of technology which has advanced far enough that people can "become" an digital image and Miramount Studios (portmanteau of Miramax & Paramount) want to work a deal with Wright for people to "become" her.

Before this can happen, Wright is seemingly executed but only to wake up in an animated world.  This is where the film excels.  The literally animated Robin Wright wanders around this animated world consisting of famous people and various animation styles.  The film is visually stunning but difficult to follow the plot.  At this point, I gave up on trying to absorb "the message" of the film and decided to simply enjoy the images.

Harvey Keitel plays Wright's agent and has an impressive monologue.  I recognized Sami Gayle from Detachment (Cinequest 2012) as Wright's daughter.

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Doomsdays - a story about a pair of misfits (later joined by a teenage boy & a young woman for awhile) who break into houses while the owners are out and squat/vandalize the homes.  They are bullshit anarchists whose behavior justifies their slacker attitudes and anger management issues.

While watching Doomsdays, I was reminded of the French film Going Places (1974) which I saw at last year's Sacramento French Film Festival.  During the Q&A after the film, the filmmakers mentioned their film was inspired by Going Places.  At the time I saw the film, Doomsdays seemed more meritorious.  Five months later, it doesn't stick in my memory.  Oppositely, some of the scenes from Going Places have remained in my memory after more than a year.

Karaoke Girl - an interesting semi-documentary film about an bar girl in Bangkok whose memories, dreams and fantasies form the basis of the film.  Episodic and skimpy on plot, the film is lightweight but enjoyable fare.

Let's Ruin It With Babies - real life married couple Kestrin Pantera & Jonathan Grubb play Channing & Chaz, a married couple whose shared dream is to start RVIP, a party bus/karaoke hybrid (just like the real life couple).  Chaz wants kids and is unable to go on the road with Channing because he has accepted a full-time job.  She must rely on herself and some flighty friends to tour the country with RVIP and generate some publicity.  This results in some predictable but enjoyable scenes in what is, for most of its time, a road trip movie.  Kestrin Pantera's winning performance lifts this film into tolerable territory but Patrick Daniel as a dishonest mechanic is most memorable.

You Make Me Feel So Young - a mumblecore film about a couple who move to a small town for the boyfriend's job (running a arthouse movie theater!) and how the girlfriend's isolation gives her time to observe the deterioration of her relationship with the man.  I enjoyed this film more than I thought I would.  If I'm not careful, I'm going to become a fan of mumblecore...if they still call it that.  Justine Eister is quietly effective in the lead role.

Grigris is the name of the title character (Souleymane Démé), a man with a paralyzed leg who makes his living on gratuities from dancing.  When his step-father falls ill, Grigris must make more money than he can on the dance floor.  He hooks up with a local gangster who smuggles gasoline.  Grigris runs afoul with he skims the money and takes his girl, a prostitute.  The two are on the run from the gangster and hide out in a small town before a surprise ending.  The plot meanders a little but the performances by Démé & Anaïs Monory as the prostitute are impressive given they are not professional actors.

Bluebird - a school bus driver is distracted and misses a boy sleeping on the bus at the end of the route.  The boy freezes to death in Maine during winter.  The affected parties behave differently - the driver, her husband, her daughter, the boy's mother & the boy's grandmother.  The realities of modern small-town lives are examined through the husband's lumberjack job and the town's reaction to the death.  Bluebird is a festival film in the sense that it is too measured and observed to get a distribution but is also the type of film which makes me glad I have so many festival options available to me.

Hank: 5 Years from the Brink - a documentary about Bush's Treasury Secretary during the financial crisis of 2008.  I didn't learn much which was news to me.

Teenage - a disjointed documentary about the role and behavior of teenagers from the early part of the century with celebrity voice over narration.  I couldn't discern much of theme and the visual were not consistent with the narration.  It left me bored.

Bounty Killer - a late addition to the schedule.  It wasn't nearly gritty or gratuitous enough for my taste.  It was very stylized but the cast lacked the acting skills and the film had a plot which felt padded.  I will admit the final shoot out in a office environment with gangsters dressed as businessmen was inspired.  Kristanna Loken has a memorable supporting role.  It was a midnight movie screening which I wish I had rather gone to sleep.

You'll Be a Man - a young man is hired to be the nanny for an overly protected, shy, young boy.  The two form a quick friendship with the man frequently behaving more immaturely than the boy.  The father thinks the relationship is unhealthy, fires the nanny and the young man kidnaps the boy.  Full of cliches and plot holes, I couldn't get into this film.

The Love Songs of Tiedan - I couldn't follow the plot to this film.  As a boy, Tiedan had a crush on the beauty of the small rural town he lived in.  Now a grown man, the woman returns to town with her three  grown daughters.  Tiedan is a folk singer (Er-ren-tai) who seduces the daughters in successive order.  The plot jumped around and further complicating matters was the fact that the same actress was cast in multiple roles making distinguishing the character difficult.

2014 Mostly British Film Festival

The 2014 Mostly British Film Festival was held from February 13 to 20 at the Vogue Theater.

This year the festival overlapped with IndieFest.   In 2013, the Mostly British was held from January 17 to 24; almost a month earlier in the year and with no conflict with other film festivals.  Due to the conflict with IndieFest, I ended up splitting time between the Roxie and the Vogue.

I saw 12 films at the festival this year.

Love Me 'Till Monday; directed by Justin Hardy; (2013) - Official Website
Love Actually starring Hugh Grant, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth, Laura Linney, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Keira Knightley, Martine McCutcheon, Chiwetel Ejiofor & Bill Nighy; directed by Richard Curtis; English and some Portguese with subtitles; (2003) - Official Website
England Made Me starring Michael York, Peter Finch & Hildegard Neil; directed by Peter Duffell; (1973)
The Look of Love starring Steve Coogan, Imogen Poots, Anna Friel & Tasmin Egerton; directed by Michael Winterbottom; (2013) - Official Facebook
The Hit starring Terence Stamp, John Hurt, Tim Roth & Laura del Sol; directed by Stephen Frears; (1984)
The Selfish Giant starring Conner Chapman & Shaun Thomas; directed by Clio Barnard; (2013)
Mystery Road starring Aaron Pedersen & Hugo Weaving; directed by Ivan Sen; (2013) - Official Website
Last Dance starring Julia Blake & Firass Dirani; directed by David Pulbrook; (2012)
Run & Jump starring Maxine Peake, Will Forte & Edward MacLiam; directed by Steph Green; (2013) - Official Website
Life's a Breeze starring Fionnula Flanagan & Kelly Thornton; directed by Lance Daly; (2013)
Having You starring Andrew Buchan, Romola Garai & Anna Friel; directed by Sam Hoare; (2013)
The Lunchbox starring Irrfan Khan & Nimrat Kaur; directed by Ritesh Batra; English & Hindi with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

In March, I was able to catch two additional films from the festival.

Le Week-End starring Jim Broadbent, Lindsay Duncan & Jeff Goldblum; directed by Roger Michell; (2013) - Official Website
Stay starring Taylor Schilling & Aidan Quinn; directed by Wiebke von Carolsfeld; (2013)

I saw Le Week-End at the Landmark Aquarius in Menlo Park and Stay at the Little Roxie.

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Love Actually was my favorite film of the series.  On December 20, 2013, Midnites for Maniacs screened Love Actually.  I was ill that day.  I was surprised to see the film on the Mostly British lineup within two months of the Midnites' screening but cannot complain.

re: Midnites for Maniacs - Jesse Hawthorne Ficks has posted his next four event.  The one which caught my eye is his screening of The Wiz on Friday, August 29.  That is Labor Day Weekend.  I've never seen The Wiz and I am very anxious to see it.  The Wiz is The Wizard of Oz transplanted to 1970s Harlem with blaxploitation aesthetics.  The only bad part is that it conflicts with Kenji Mizoguchi's Street of Shame at the PFA.

Midnites for Manics screens the Back to the Future trilogy starting at 5 PM tonight at the Castro Theater.

There is no way I an do justice to Love Actually with a plot synopsis.  There are about 10 plot lines in the film and the characters are interconnected in some form or another.  Just integrating all these characters into a 136 minute film is an impressive screenwriting, directorial and editorial accomplishment.  However, it doesn't end there because the cast is superb and stellar.

What I most enjoyed about Love Actually is that love in its many forms is depicted as messy; much like real life.  The relationships shown in the film are blocked or interrupted by infidelity, unstated emotions, death, distance, British tabloids, etc.  More a dramedy than rom-com, I was thoroughly smitten with Love Actually.  If I had to criticize something, it would be that a few of the subplots could have been dropped to reduce the length of the film or spend more time on some of the more interesting stories.

The cast is huge.  I didn't mention Billy Bob Thornton (as the President of the US!), Claudia Schiffer, Rowan Atkinson and other have small roles.  From the principle cast, I would call out Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon and Colin Firth for special recognition.

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The Lunchbox received the widest US theatrical distribution of any Indian film.  I recall it was still in theaters last month.  The guest who introduced the film at the festival spoke at length about the dabbawalla system.  In India (particularly Mumbai), there is an extensive dabbawalla system.  Dabbawalla translates roughly to "lunchbox delivery person."  Dabbawallas collect lunchboxes with food from various restaurants and residences in the mid-morning, using multiples modes of transportation to deliver them to central distribution point where they sent to their ultimate destination which is usually an office or workplace.  In mid-afternoon, the dabbawallas reverse the distribution from offices back to the starting points.  In Mumbai, there are 5,000 people delivering 200,000 lunchboxes per day.  The error rate is very low...so low that it serves as an effective plot device for a Bollywood film.

Irrfan Khan is Saajan, a government accountant approaching retirement.  He is a widower and has his lunches prepared by a restaurant and delivered via the dabbawallas.  Ila (Nimrat Kaur) is a young housewife whose marriage is stagnating.  Hoping to put the romance back in her marriage, Ila lovingly prepares her husband's lunch which is delivered by the dabbawallas.  One day, the two lunchboxes get misdelivered.  Saajan notices the improved quality of the food immediately.  Ila's husband also notices the decreased quality of the food but they don't talk much.  It turns out he is having an extramarital affair.  Eventually Ila realizes that despite the unlikelihood, her husband's lunchbox is being delivered to someone else.  She slips a note into the lunchbox and thanks the unknown recipient for complimenting her by eating all the food in the lunchbox.  Thus begins an epistolary relationship between Saajan & Ila.

The two begin to share details about their lives with each other.  Saajan has been lonely since the death of his wife.  He is training his replacement at work but the young man has conned his way onto the job and is woefully unqualified.  Despite this, Saajan and the young man (Nawazuddin Siddiqui) become friends.  Ila's father is terminally ill and she feels deeply dissatisfied with her marriage.

What sets The Lunchbox apart is this old-fashioned romance by letter plot device.  The two lead actors do not share a scene if I recall correctly.  If they do, they don't exchange dialogue with each other.  The depth of their feelings are conveyed through their narration of their letters.  The tone shifts gradually from two lonely people connecting with each to two people falling in love with each other.  Thankfully, their "love" remained unconsummated given their characters' age difference.  This gives The Lunchbox a bittersweet tone which I thought perfectly matched the performances and the plot.

I recall Irrfan Khan from his roles in Maqbool and Slumdog Millionaire.  I was impressed by Nimrat Kaur's performance in Peddlers last year.  Both actors shine in The Lunchbox.

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The Look of Love was directed by acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom and starred Steve Coogan, an actor who I am appreciating more and more.  The film is a biopic of Paul Raymond (Coogan), the smut king of the UK who (according to the film) was the wealthiest man in the UK at the time of his death in 2008.  Raymond published pornographic magazines, owned strip clubs and adult cabarets but made much of his fortune by investing in commercial real estate in the Soho area of London.

Mostly of the film is set in the 1960s and 1970s when a man like Raymond could bloom.  Anna Friel plays Raymond's wife Jean.  Jean leaves him when he takes up with equally libertine Amber St. George (Tamsin Egerton in a flashy performance).  The third woman in Raymond's life is his daughter Debbie (Imogen Poots).

The Look of Love chronicles Raymond's personal descent into drug usage, debauchery, emotional isolation and other excesses while his professional success and wealth soar.  The Look of Love appears superficial and empty which is likely caused by the source material.  In other words, The Look of Love appears superficial and empty because Paul Raymond lived his life in such a manner or at least, Michael Winterbottom chose to frame his life in such a manner.

I didn't expect The Look of Love to be introspective or subtle film and it did not disappoint.  Much of the enjoyment came from the costumes and soundtrack capturing the fashions of the day.  The four lead actors turn in solid performances.  There is also a fair bit of nudity and sexual situations.

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The Hit was Stephen Fears' second feature film.  The Mostly British screened his first feature, Gumshoe, in 2012.  The Hit was also Tim Roth's film debut.

Terrance Stamp plays Parker, an English criminal who has testified against his accomplices and now, a decade later, is living under witness protection in Spain.  He is captured by two hitmen - the older, more experienced Braddock (John Hurt) and his impulsive apprentice Myron (Roth).  The two assassins have instruction to deliver Parker from Spain to Paris where the gangsters Parker testified against are waiting to kill him.  It's a long drive and the trio stop in Madrid at a criminal safe house Braddock knows about.  An Australian criminal and his younger, Spanish girlfriend Maggie (Laura del Sol) are squatting at the safe house when Braddock, Parker & Myron arrive.  Not wanting to risk their location being revealed, Braddock kills the Aussie and kidnaps Maggie.

The rest of the film is a road trip with the four.  Parker creates discord among the two hitmen while Myron becomes sweet on Maggie.  Parker also assumes an untroubled attitude despite his likely impending murder.  The stress of their situation becomes too much for Braddock who unilaterally decides to abandon the trip to Paris.  I'll refrain giving away who lives and dies but the ones who do die reveal their "true" character before their deaths.

The performances were all strong although John Hurt was particularly memorable.

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Love Me 'Till Monday - a low budget film about a young woman navigating romance and life in the 21st century England.  While not forgettable, the film is certainly not recommendable.

England Made Me - Michael York was supposed to be in attendance but was a last minute no-show due to dental surgery or something.  A radio interview was played in the theater.  He also called in and was interviewed by Ruthie Stein.  England Made Me was based on a Graham Greene novel of the same name.  York play a ne'er-do-well Englishman who gets in over his head with his older sister and her wealthy industrialist fiancé.  Set in pre-war Nazi Germany and including an incestuous relationship between brother and sister, the film is a bit of a jumbled mess.  The actors seem miscast and the film tries too hard to invoke Cabaret.

The Selfish Giant - two boys deal in stolen scrap metal until an accident kills one of them.  Issues of childhood friendship, bad influences, bad choices and forgiveness are explored.  Nice performances by teenagers Conner Chapman & Shaun Thomas as the two boys.

Mystery Road - above average Australian crime thriller about an Aboriginal cop brought back to his Outback hometown to investigate the murder of a girl.  He finds drug dealing, teenage prostitution and dirty cops.  The plot was too complicated by a half but the film strikes a dark tone which ratchets up the suspense.

Last Dance - Australian film about an elderly Jewish widow and a wounded, young Muslim terrorist are holed up in her house following a terrorist attack.  Effective drama if not a little simplistic and predictable.

Run & Jump - Saturday Night Live alumnus and Nebraska star Will Forte plays a doctor who goes to Ireland to conduct field research on a man who is recovering from a stroke.  The doctor lives with the man's family and begins to insert himself into the family dynamics.  In particular, an attraction develops between the doctor and the man's wife (Maxine Peake in good performance).  Run & Jump is one of the better films I saw at the festival.

Life's a Breeze - an Irish comedy about family who remodels the matriarch's house and unwittingly toss out a bed mattress containing her life's savings.  The woman and her granddaughter search the streets and landfills of Dublin looking for the mattress.

Having You - a young man finally decides to settle down and marry his long-time (and pregnant) girlfriend...only to discover his one-night stand from a decade ago produced a child.  The mother (Anna Friel) has cancer and want her son to meet his father.

Le Week-End - a couple (Jim Broadbent & Lindsay Duncan) decide to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary with a weekend in Paris.  Their marriage is far from healthy as the events of the weekend show.  Jeff Goldblum steals the film as an unctuous and faux-sensitive colleague of Broadbent.  Many reference to Jean-Luc Godard's works.  I'm glad I was able to catch this film after the festival ended.

Stay - Taylor Schilling and Aidan Quinn are a long-time couple living in Ireland.  When Schilling finds out she is pregnant, Quinn expresses his lack of desire of having children and Schilling returns to Montreal to say with her father (Michael Ironside).  After that the plot seem to go nowhere.  Quinn deals with an odd teenager, a housing project he doesn't want built near his land, some buried human remains?  I can't recall what Schilling dealt with - pregnancy issues, something about her father.  Stay was a largely forgettable film buoyed by solid if not memorable performances by Schilling & Quinn.

Frank Capra at Stanford and David Rumsey at SFO

Before I forget, there is a great map exhibit in Terminal 2 of the San Francisco International Airport.  It's titled San Francisco Maps from the David Rumsey Map Collection.  The exhibit runs through August 3 and is post-security so you'll need an airline ticket to see it.  Most (if not all) of Virgin America's flights arrive & depart out of the Terminal 2 gates.  The David Rumsey site is quite a treasure trove for amateur and professional cartographers.  I was particularly fascinated with the map of Chinatown from 1885.  The map conveniently (or disparagingly) shows opium dens, gambling dens and houses of prostitution with a color coded legend.

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The Stanford Theater had a month long Frank Capra series in January & February.  They took less than a week off between the end of their Joan Fontaine series and the start of the Capra series.

Several of the films in the series were also screened at the PFA as part of their Early Capra series in 2010.

Lost Horizon starring Ronald Colman; directed by Frank Capra; (1937)
The Bitter Tea of General Yen starring Barbara Stanwyck and Nils Asther; directed by Frank Capra; (1933)
That Certain Thing starring Viola Dana & Ralph Graves; live accompaniment by Dennis James; silent with intertitles; (1928)
It Happened One Night starring Clark Gable & Claudette Colbert; directed by Frank Capra; (1934)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington starring James Stewart, Jean Arthur & Claude Rains; directed by Frank Capra; (1939)
American Madness starring Walter Huston & Pat O'Brien; directed by Frank Capra; (1932)

I saw American Madness at the PFA as part of the aforementioned Capra series.  In order to make the trip to Palo Alto worthwhile, I watched American Madness a second time.  It was paired with Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

I saw The Bitter Tea of General Yen at the Castro in 2010.  My subsequent memories of the film led me to believe it would benefit from a second screening.

I've seen Lost Horizon, It Happened One Night and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington on television before.  Each of the screenings were the first time I saw the films on a movie screen.

I had never seen That Certain Thing.  They screened the film 3 times of four days and I caught the last screening.  That was fortunate for me because the print burned in the projector.  The projectionist did some quick work to skip to the next reel while James never missed a beat.  They would not have been able to screen the film another time without some splicing.  Technically, I didn't see the entire film.  When the resumed the film, a plot point had been resolved.

I had not intended to see Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and American Madness because their screenings conflicted with the Mostly British Film Festival and the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.  However, Shirley Temple (23 April 1928 – 10 February 2014) passed away and the Stanford preempted their schedule on February 15 & 16 with six Shirley Temple films each day.  Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and American Madness were bumped for Miss Temple but rescheduled to March 1 & 2 which allowed me to fit it in my schedule.

I'll start with those two film.  For many years, I have found Mr. Smith Goes to Washington to be a bunch of hokum.  The premise is that Jefferson Smith (Stewart) is this naive man child.  Stewart was in his early 30s at the time of filming.  Jeff Smith is the head of the Boy Rangers which I assume is a take on the Boy Scouts.  The Boy Rangers go around doing good deeds.  How Smith makes a living at this is unexplained.  It's also kind of creepy that a thirtysomething man spends so much time around prepubescent boys although I'll attribute that to modern day cynicism.

When the US Senator from Smith's state dies in office, the governor taps Smith as the replacement; mainly on the recommendation of his sons (not coincidentally Boy Rangers).  Frankly Smith seems unqualified to be a US Senator is glossed over.  He is honest to a fault which in Capra's eyes makes Smith more than qualified.

When Smith arrives in DC, he is taken under the wing of the senior Senator from his state, Joseph Paine (Claude Rains).  Paine is machine politician and is set to clean up financially.  He's bought up land near the site of a dam he is going to propose.  Unknowingly, Smith has his eyes on the same site as a camping ground for his Boy Rangers.  When Smith proposes a bill to seek funding for his bill, he sets in motion the full weight of Paine's machine.

I won't bother with more of the plot.  My "favorite" part is when Paine has his moment of amends by admitting his crime on the floor of the US Senate!  That immediately follows Paine's attempted suicide in an antechamber.

Capra lays it on too thick in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.  I can stomach It's a Wonderful Life but Mr. Smith is just too much for me.  Capra is too obvious in Mr Smith; it lacks all subtlety.  Over the years, I have begun to resent Stewart's character for his ignorance and naiveté.  Maybe I resent the film's iconic status or Stewart's celebrated performance (he was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar).  Even the much discussed filibuster scene lacks depth.  I found myself wanting more Harry Carey as the Vice President than Stewart as Smith.

Anyway, my curmudgeonly pronouncement is that this viewing will be the last time I watch Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

American Madness suffers some of the same problems as Mr. Smith.  Capra has a strong sense of right and wrong and he wants to share it in his films...even if it ruins the film.  Ambiguity and cynicism can be powerful agents of drama and humor.  They better fit our everyday lives but Capra seems oblivious to this.  To be fair, he made his name during the Great Depression where upbeat and uplifting movies were considered social benefits.  It just doesn't fit modern attitudes.

Cocksure bank president Dickson runs his bank his way which is to cater to little guy and downtrodden.  The board argues these are high risk loans but Dickson sticks with his instinct; we don't need no damn FICO scores.  One of his employees robs the vault and he is caught short on cash reserves.  Rumors spread and there is a run on the bank.  There is an endless montage scene showing how the rumor spread.

Anyway, the customers may not believe in the bank but Dickson believes in the customers.  He tries to get them to leave their deposits in place, tries to slow the outflow of cash, tries to line up short-term loans, etc.  It's all to no avail until at his darkest moment, some customers conspicuously and triumphantly enter the bank to make deposits which is enough to stem the run on the bank.

There is a subplot involving the employee who robbed the vault, Dickson's wife and another employee (Pat O'Brien) who is being framed for the crime.  It was kind of hokey and had a B picture feel to it.  Like the inner workings of the US Senate in Mr. Smith, my favorite part of American Madness was inner workings of the bank.  Opening and closing the vault door was quite possibly, my favorite part of the film.

That Certain Thing didn't make much of an impression on me.  Viola Dana plays Molly Kelly who wants to marry a millionaire.  She's kind of a gold digger.  She makes the most of her opportunity when she actually meets a millionaire - Andy B. Charles, Jr. (Ralph Graves).  Technically, Jr. is the son of a millionaire which comes into play with A.B. Charles disowns his son for marrying poorly.

Molly is back to where she started except now she has a husband with no marketable job skills.  After failing as a ditch digger, Molly & Andy come up with an idea.  A.B. Charles' chain of downscale restaurants are the source of frequent complaints from the laborers.  Molly & Andy start a box lunch company in direct competition.  In time, Sr. is forced to buy out Jr. business and thus fulfilling Molly's dream of being married to a millionaire.

There were some physical comedy scenes and Molly lives in a wild tenement building which provides some laughs.  Dennis James spoke before the film and mentioned that the box lunch used in the filming were later used to feed the cast and crew.

I had not seen Lost Horizon since I was a child and did not recall it so well.  Based on the best selling James Hilton novel by the same name, Capra's version of Shangri-La seemed kind of boring to me.  Ronald Colman plays British diplomat Robert Conway.  Helping Westerners escape an armed conflict in China (I cannot recall if the conflict was between Japanese & Chinese or between Chinese), Colman escapes on the last plane out of China with his younger brother George, a paleontologist, a flimflam man and a terminally ill woman (likely a prostitute).  Despite the danger, the plane flies "over the hump" as they would say in WWII.  That is it flies from China to India over the Himalayas.

The plane is hijacked, crashes in the Himalayas and the passengers are taken to Shangri-La; a term now so ubiquitous than it doesn't need an explanation but originated in Hilton's novel and perhaps more widely by this film.  People age slowly in Shangra-La but they do age.  The High Lama (Sam Jaffe) is near death and on the advice of Sondra (Jane Wyatt), arranged for Conway arrival.  Sondra is better read about the outside world than most residents of Shangra-La.  Familiar with Colman's writings, she & the Lama think Colman would make a suitable successor.

Most of the of the visitors want to leave Shangri-La but it's George's brother who is most vocal.  He has taken up with a woman (Margo) who, seemingly, is the only person who wants to leave Shangra-La.  Reluctantly agreeing to leave, Ronald sets out with Margo in tow.  However, as they leave the sphere of influence of Shangri-La's magical properties, Margo ages and dies (she is really several hundred years old).  George goes insane at the sight and leaps to his death.  Ronald eventually makes his way back to England, his memory of Shangra-La mysteriously gone as a result of his ordeal.  When he later regains his memory, he returns to Shangri-La.

Like Colman's character, I had no recollection of specific scenes from the film.  As the film progressed, I began to recall the film; particularly Sam Jaffe's performance.  Ultimately, I found Lost Horizon bad dated which is becoming a trend with Capra's films. Whatever impact Lost Horizon had on audiences in 1937 is long gone in 2014.  That could be said of any 77 year old film but whatever universal or timeless truths Lost Horizon was alluding to seem ridiculously quaint today and Capra's "let's-spell-it-out" approach only reinforces the sense that this film doesn't have much to say in 2014.

As a historical relic, it was interesting to see.  There is a fascinating backstory about production cost overruns and a 3½ hour preview version of the film.

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Lest one thinks the Capra series was a complete bust, I'm glad to report that The Bitter Tea of General Yen held up well to a second screening and It Happened One Night lived up to my expectations.

I stand by what I wrote on September 2, 2010. I will add a little based on the second viewing.  First, Nils Asther's performance has a little more racism than I initially thought.  His General Yen almost yearns to be white - adopting Western manners and forsaking all for a white woman.  I guess it is a form of self-loathing but it's also a symptom of Yen's lust for Stanwyck's Megan Davis.  If the opposite had been true - a white man spouting Confucius and forsaking a white woman for an Asian woman, the reaction would have been outrage in 1930s and derisive laughter today.  Instead, the self-obvious superiority of Western ways is seamlessly interwoven into the plot.

Like Asther's performance, I detected more racism in Stanwyck's role.  Her character has this innate belief on the superiority of her culture, her religion, her beliefs, etc.  It is only at the end, when Yen has given up his Chinese empire and identity that Davis adopts the role of Chinese concubine to comfort the dying general.  In that sense, the story comes down on the side of the Chinese but the next scene shows that Davis' position in China is untenable.  She has to leave the country for her own safety, a victim of reverse discrimination and potential Chinese barbarity.

After having seen The Bitter Tea of General Yen twice, I am anxious to see it a third time.  It's amazing to me that Capra followed American Madness with The Bitter Tea of General Yen.  General Yen was a box office failure which likely played a part in Capra's future directorial efforts.

In It Happened One Night, Claudette Colbert is Ellie Andrews, a wealthy heiress who runs away from her father's yacht to marry a man her father doesn't approve of.  Without money and unwilling to reveal her location to her father, Andrews is forced to accept Peter Warne (Clark Gable), a fast-talking, wise-cracking, newspaper reporter.  As they make their way from Florida to New York with little to no money, the pair slowly fall in love.  Andrews is a spoiled rich girl and Warne a cynical newsman.  Initially they dislike each other but their mutual reliance and attraction carry the day. 

It Happened One Night is an oft-told romantic story (Moonlighting with Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepherd was one of my favorite versions).  However, Gable & Colbert have undeniable screen appeal and elevate the film beyond what most other actors could have achieved.  Colbert in a particular is funny, sexy, petulant and appealing.  What constitutes "funny, sexy, petulant and appealing" in a woman changes as men age.  Colbert, 29 years old during filming, gives a performance which I would not have appreciated as a boy or younger man, but greatly appreciate in my middle age. 

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San Francisco Chinatown (1885)

The Puzzle Within the Castro Theater's February 2014 Calendar

The Castro Theater is only closed one day in February - on the 18th.  It is having a private event on February 4 and the program for February 25 is still to be announced.  That left only three photos on the calendar for the month.

After several days of on-line and paper copy perusal, I drew a blank.  The most promising lead was the man pictured in February 4.  I identified the statuette he is holding as an Emmy Award.  That sent me off in the wrong direction as I assumed the person had won the Emmy in the 1950s or 1960s based on the vintage of the photo.  That proved to be incorrect.  My co-worker also thought he was on the verge of recognizing the man.  After scouring the list of Emmy winners from the era, I switched tactics.

I next turned my attention to the month of February and guessed the puzzle had something to do with Presidents Day, Valentine's Day or perhaps the Winter Olympics.  I searched photos of actors sharing the same surname as presidents and Winter Olympians or actors named Valentine or Valentin.  I discovered I don't know the names of very many Winter Olympians.

At this point, I gave up and I cheated by using Google Image Search on the February 4 photo.  I discovered to my chagrin that the photo is of Bob Newhart, a comedian I have enjoyed for years.  I discovered the highlight of his early stand-up comedy routine was to portray a phone conversation with someone or even God.  The photo is likely a routine Newhart did on an Emmy Awards telecast.

Armed with Newhart's identity, I immediately suspected the February 25 photo was of William S. Hart and I quickly confirmed this.  The Valentine's Day theme was confirmed - Newhart and then Hart.  I made a guess (which was proven correct) that the woman pictured on February 18 was not named Newhart or Hart or had "heart" in her surname.  I quickly zeroed in on the names Hartley and Hartman.

I searched through IMDB listings of Hartley first.  I first eliminated Mariette Hartley and eventually a number of other actresses named Hartley whom I didn't know about.  The highlight was scanning Nina Hartley's credits; the most recent of which is Lesbian Adventures: Strap-On Specialists Vol. 5...Volume 5 is, of course, the seminal entry in the series.   Hartley, a porn star with over 600 "acting credits" to her name, has been making porn for 30 years.  Her sole "legitimate" role was in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights.  I remember her performance well; she played William S. Macy's wife.  After diligently looking through Ms. Hartley's photos (my favorites were Splendor in the Ass and Pussyman 15: Bone Voyage), I decided it was not her and I gave up on Hartleys altogether.

I moved on to Hartman and hoped it was photo of a young Lisa Hartman.  It was not but I will say that Ms. Lisa Hartman posed for several bikini photos that would have made Ms. Nina Hartley proud.

The next name on the list was the late Elizabeth Hartman.  She passed away in 1987 at the age of 43.  I have not seen any of her films except for the original Walking Tall where she portrayed Mrs. Buford Pusser.  I don't recall her performance in that film.  Her IMDB photos were promising and I searched on-line and immediately found the exact photo used on February 18. Nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in A Patch of Blue (1965), "Hartman [eventually] succumbed to her lifelong depression and jumped from the fifth floor window of her apartment in an apparent suicide" in 1987.  I have not seen A Patch of Blue but am now interested in seeing it.

February 4 - Bob Newhart

February 18 - Elizabeth Hartman

February 25 - William S. Hart

I can only assume the clues are referencing Valentine's Day and its common symbol:  the heart.

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Looking at the Castro calendar for the month, Age of Consent (1969) on February 13 looks promising.  "James Mason is a painter on the wane who retreats to a remote island off the Great Barrier Reef, unexpectedly finding inspiration in the form of nubile free spirit Helen Mirren. This sublime restoration of Michael Powell’s last feature includes the infamous censored nude scenes and the original score."

The Coen Brothers' Miller's Crossing (February 19) is one of my all-time favorite films although it's been many years since I last watched it.  Unfortunately, IndieFest and Mostly British are playing that night.

Woody Allen's Crimes and Misdemeanors (February 21) is one of my favorites by him.  It screening as part of a Midnites for Maniacs program.

I haven't seen Star 80 (February 27) for many years and have never watched it on the big screen.  I recall the film favorably although it has been 20+ years since I last saw it.

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Castro Theater Calendar - February 2014

The Puzzle Within the Castro Theater's January 2014 Calendar

The first thing I noticed about the Castro Theater's January calendar is that they are open all 31 days in the month.  On January 4 and 14, the theater is closed for "Private Events."  If not for those private events, there would be no puzzle in this month's calendar.

Joan Fontaine passed away on December 15.  Fontaine was a graduate of Los Gatos High School and longtime resident of Carmel.  She also had a famous feud with her sister, Olivia de Havilland.  In recapping her career and sibling rivalry, the media quoted Fontaine - "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!"

On the calendar:

January 4 - Joan Fontaine.  I immediately recognized her because I had seen many photos of her in the past few weeks.

January 14 - Olivia de Havilland.  I quickly surmised it was de Havilland.  If I had seen either photo a month ago, I'd be scratching my head.  Even as it was, I double checked the photo.

I'm a little surprised Peter O'Toole wasn't pictured on the calendar since he passed away the day before Fontaine.

Other than marking the passing of Fontaine and recognizing the animus between the sisters, I'm not sure what the clues are pointing to.  Perhaps it is today's screenings of Blue Jasmine which features Cate Blanchett and Sally Hawkins as sisters with an uneasy relationship.

The Stanford Theater has programmed a tribute to Fontaine consisting of Rebecca & Suspicion (January 2 to 5) and Letter from an Unknown Woman & The Constant Nymph (January 9 to 12).

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The first quarter film festival dates have been announced.  The first quarter of the year is jammed with my favorite festivals.  In 2013, I saw one third of the films I watched during the first quarter of the year.

I plan on spending significant time at five festivals during 2014-Q1.  The schedule is as follows:

Noir City - January 24 to February 2
IndieFest - February 6 to February 20
Mostly British - February 13 to February 20
Cinequest - March 4 to March 16
CAAMFest - March 13 to March 23

On top of that, Berlin and Beyond returns to January after a few years in the autumn.  It will run from January 15 to January 21.

I'm not sure how I'm going to fit in watching curling at the upcoming Olympics on television.

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Castro Theater Calendar - January 2014