2012 Cinequest (Part 3)

Continuing my 2012 Cinequest summary...

Happy New Year, Grandma! was a Spanish (Basque language) black comedy about about an evil old lady who wreaks havoc on her progeny. Exaggeratedly diabolical, Montserrat Carulla shines as the grandmother whose shrieks of "Maritxu!!!" Joxean Bengoetxea plays her hapless grandson-in-law.

Grandma starts off innocently enough, ramps up to the point where Grandma is truly contemptible and kicks it into overdrive as Grandma becomes frighteningly evil. As a coda, the film ominously implies the cycle repeats. The laughs were more measured as the film progresses but I absolutely loved Happy New Year, Grandma! which may have been the first Basque language film I've ever seen.

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The two Faust films were worthwhile as well.

Aleksandr Sokurov closes out his tetralogy on the corrupting influence of absolute power which previously included Moloch (Hitler), Taurus (Stalin) and The Sun (Hirohito). Unlike the other three films, Faust is not set in the 20th century and involves a fictitious character. Having only seen The Sun, I think Faust compares favorably.

Sokurov richly evokes, what I believe, is the 18th century (the specific time and location were not mentioned). Anton Adasinsky as the Moneylender (i.e. Satan) is spectacular if not blatantly anti-Semitic in his performance. We are familiar with the Faustian story so Sokurov layers on elaborate sets and lets Adasinsky's unctuous portrayal off the leash. Johannes Zeiler as Faust is more restrained but the chemistry between Adasinsky and Zeiler is tremendous.

Murnau's Faust didn't quite measure up to his greatest films - Nosferatu and Sunrise. A little too much attention was focused on special effects such that Murnau's Faust didn't invoke the same tragedy as Sokurov.

I didn't recognize Emil Jannings (The Blue Angel) as Mephisto under the face paint and horns. Gösta Ekman as Faust looked more like Moses. Faust is more selfless in the silent version of Faust and his fate seems predestined as his soul is wagered between God and the Devil.

Ultimately, Faust (1926) is too much a film of its period. Some of the silent films have aged well; while others look dated and old fashioned by comparison to today's films.

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Among the foreign film, a pair of Norwegian comedies stood out.

King Curling is set in the world of elite national curlers and reminded of the best Farrelly Brother films. The greatest curler in Norway's history owes his success and downfall to his obsessive compulsive disorder. After being institutionalized, he tries to "get the band back together" to pay for his coach's surgery. The other three members of the team have gone on to other pursuits and always lurking is his chief rival. Linn Skåber as the harpy wife and Kare Conradi, who seems to be channeling John C. Reilly from Boogie Nights, as the archnemesis stand out among the cast.

Sons of Norway is a more absurdist comedy about a young boy who copes with his mother's death. He copes by joining a punk rock band; his father (Sven Nordin in a show-stealing performance) copes by joining a free-love, nudist colony.

A little uneven but ultimately an entertaining film, Sons of Norway seemed as though it was adapted from some best selling novel. The plot seemed ripe for an internal dialogue which is better suited to the written word. Alas, Sons of Norway was an original screenplay from Nikolaj Frobenius. I wonder how much of the film is autobiographical since the lead character is named Nikolaj and the film is set in the late 1970s when Forenius would have been the same age as the boy in Sons of Norway.

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Children of the Golden Dragon was set in Hungary and shows that Chinese illegal aliens are everywhere. Yu Debin plays Wu, a Chinese immigrant in Hungary. He lives in a warehouse guarding cut rate Chinese imports. The warehouse is being sold by realtor Janos (Zoltán Rátóti). Janos is incented to flip the warehouse while Wu has been threatened if he does delay the sale. After initial wariness, the two men form a genuine friendship although they indirectly vie for the attention of pizza delivery girl Regina (Eszter Bánfalvy).

The film leisurely and comedically paces itself until the conclusion where final resoultion about the warehouse's fate and Regina's feelings are revealed. The film shifted towards more serious matters at the end but ultimately, Green Dragon was a feel-good comedy.

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Heavy Girls is a ultra-low budget German film about a gay man who lives with his elderly father and is secretly attracted to her male nurse (who is married). Whimsical and containing an NC17 amount of full, frontal male nudity, Heavy Girls is like nothing I've seen before. Heiko Pinkowski as Sven, the dutiful but semi-closeted gay son masturbates to Ravel's Bolero while frolicing in the nude. The object his amorous attention is Daniel (Peter Trabner) who is more ambiguous about his sexuality but rigid in his desire to remain married for the sake of his son. An extended scene at the end is half naked man macho posturing and half seduction.

Heavy Girls is kind of clumsy at time (like Sven's character) but surprisingly effective. I can't quite say I liked it, I definitely cannot say I disliked it but I salute the Maverick spirit of Cinequest for programming such an unusual film.

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A familiar film was Love, Wrinke Free, an English language film set in Goa, India. The film's tagline was "an anti-ageing comedy." I didn't think that was the primary sentiment but the film was worthwhile regardless.

Ash Chandler plays Savio Monteiro, a mid-level marketing manager who dreams of becoming rich from his edible underwear idea. An encounter with a beautiful woman and smooth talking flim-flam man at a marketing conference convinces Savio to mortgage his house to from a partnership to market his edible lingerie.

Meanwhile, Savio's wife unexpectedly becomes pregnant which adds to Savio's anxiety but the hijinks ensue when Savio must contract with the local Portuguese mobster to recover his investment. Meanwhile, the mobster's nephew is taken with Savio's wife and misunderstandings arise from a case of mistaken identity as to the father of her unborn child.

If made and set in the US, Love, Wrinke Free would be a middling affair. However, set in exotic Goa with Christian Indians, Portuguese mobsters, European architecture and tropical beaches, the film's stature is somehow enhanced. Ash Chandler in the lead role has an easy charm and showed some versatility in acting range. Chandler's imitation of Marlon Brando's Vito Corleone was the single funniest scene at this year's Cinequest for me. Ashwin Mushran as the Portguese mobster was also amusing.

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Dorfman and L!fe Happens were American comedies with decent sized budgets and well known casts.

Sara Rue played Deb Dorfman, the titular character in Dorfman. I shy, mousy, Jewish accountant at her brother's accounting firm, Deb longs for dashing Jay Cleary (Johann Urb), a television news correspondent who reports from dangerous and exotic locations who happens to be a client of the Dorfmans.

When Cleary gets an assignment halfway around the world, Deb volunteers to housesit and decorate his new loft. While at Casa Cleary, Dorfman meets Winston Cooke Jr. aka Cookie (Haaz Sleiman), a handsome neighbor. During the week she is eagerly awaiting Cleary's return, Dorfman begins a budding romance with Cookie who has all the hallmarks of a playboy.

In addition, Dorfman's father (Elliott Gould) is dumped on her by her brother who himself eventually joins the temporary household when his wife discoers his infidelity. So the Dorfman's are at each other's throats while Deb must decide whether to pursue the journalist or the artist.

The film was very funny although some Cleary and Cookie exhibit some last minute character change which were completely at odds with the setup but otherwise the Dorfman was a passable romantic comedy. A very srong performance by Sara Rue carries the film.

L!fe Happens is as much a gal pal flick as rom com. Krysten Ritter and Kate Bosworth play Kim and Deena, respectively. Best friends and roommates, the two apparently bed enough young men that they need to share condom expenses. One night, two men, one condom. Slow on the draw, Kim rides her stallion bareback and nine months later, Max is born.

Raising her son alone while living with Deena and their unbelievably lithe and virginal roommate Laura (Rachel Bilson), Kim has trouble adjusting to single parenthood and harbors some resentment towards Deena regarding the differences regarding their different circumstances.

When studly Nicholas (Geoff Stults) shows interest in Kim, she lies by saying Max is Deena's child. After that, the film was fairly predictable but still funny, Ritter, Bosworth and Justin Kirk as Deena's initially incompatible boyfriend provide the laughs. Kristen Johnston also appears in a few memorable scenes as Kim's selfish & demanding boss.

2012 Cinequest (Part 2)

The 2012 Cinequest reconfirmed my belief that Cinequest is the premiere film festival in the Bay Area. With six screens within a 1.5 square block area, a strong line-up of films and affordable festival passes, Cinequest edges out the SFIFF. The only downside for me is that it is a 100 mile roundtrip from where I live.

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Before I profile some of the films I watched, there were several films which I did not get a chance to see. Prior to Cinequest, No Look Pass won an audience award at SF Indiefest and after Cinequest, the film won a similar award at the SF International Asian American Film Festival. I skipped the screenings at Indiefest because I knew it was on the program at Cinequest and SFIAAFF. I was not able to fit it into my schedule at Cinequest nor subsequently at SFIAAFF.

Mariachi Gringo also piqued my interest and received positive reviews from a stranger I chatted with in the Starbucks across from Camera Cinemas.

With any luck, I'll be able to catch No Look Pass and Mariachi Gringo at another festival or in limited release.

The Island President is topical because it is a documentary following Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed who resigned abruptly (forced to resign?) in February 2012. Although I missed Cinequest screenings, fortunately the film is currently screening at the Landmark Embarcadero.

I missed the closing night film - Deep Blue Sea which is coincidentally, also currently playing at the Landmark Embarcadero. The film was directed by Terence Davies and stars Rachel Weisz.

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I'm not sure if one film stood out. If forced to elevate one film, it would be Come As You Are, a Belgian comedy about three men with disabilities. I think Come As You Are is the US title because the film credit was Hasta La Vista. Winner of the Cinequest Award for Best Feature Film (Comedy), Come As You Are follows three young men in their journey to a Spanish brothel which caters to men with disabilities. Jozef (Tom Audenaert) is nearly blind, Lars (Gilles De Schrijver) is wheel chair bound due a degenerative disease (perhaps cancer) and Philip (Robrecht Vanden Thoren) is a paraplegic (ALS or perhaps a result of an injury).

Philip, sexually frustrated by being overlooked from young women, proposes the three men visit the bordello. The other two quickly agree and three conspire to also take the vacation on their own as going to a whorehouse is a little awkward when your parents are with you.

Lars' condition worsens which puts the trip in jeopardy but the trio sneak away from their families with the unwitting help of their handicap accessible van driver, Claude (Isabelle de Hertogh), a gruff and heavyset woman.

The rest of the film is a road trip which focuses on three subplots - Philip turns out to be an asshole (although his physical condition and resulting emotional stress contribute to his behavior), Jozef becomes increasingly attracted to Claude and Lars' condition steadily worsens. Although there are many serious moments, the film is definitely a comedy. In fact, the plot is reminiscent of Tom Cruise's Losin' It (1983). Virginity Lost has more poignancy when the protagonist are blind and wheelchair bound. Come As You Are elevates the plot a few steps higher.

In particular, I liked the complex depictions of the three young men. Philip was especially three dimensional. I pondered the "chicken and egg" nature of his personality - was he an asshole who is in a wheelchair or has being in a wheelchair made him into an asshole...or little of both?

Based on Asta Philpot's real-life experiences, Come As You Are successfully balances comedy and drama in bittersweet story of friendship and identity. The film featured excellent performances from the four main actors.

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I had high expectations for Detachment with its big name cast and I'm pleased that the film did not disappoint. Set amidst an educationally decaying high school in New York City, Detachment shifts back and forth between substitute teacher Henry Barthes' (Adrien Brody) personal life and the struggles the school faculty are facing. Metaphors for each other, Barthes and his fellow faculty are suffering from emotional detachment. In both cases, their worlds are ugly and cynical so it isn't hard to detach oneself as a protective mechanism.

However, the result is devasting for the young people associated with them. Barthes takes in a teenage streetwalker who quickly becomes a surrogate daughter while Barthes deals with his dying grandfather. At school, Barthes deals with apathetic students and one student (Betty Kaye) who is desperate for attention. Additionally, Barthes begins to have romantic feelings towards a fellow teacher (Christina Hendricks).

Long accustomed to his detachment, the three women and his father's condition send Barthes into an emotional tailspin which he desperately tries to control. However, Barthes is not much different than his fellow faculty who deal with their professional frustration in various dysfunctional ways in their personal lives. You get the sense that each one of the teachers could have had a similar movie focused on them.

The film is not so much a condemnation of the public educational system in the US. Rather, the decay and rot in the system is reflected in the teachers' lives and vice versa with Barthes being Exhibit A of this symbiotic deterioration. The root cause is unimportant because reversing or at least stopping the decay is urgent.

The cast is uniformly outstanding. With the largest role, Brody shines brightest but a few other actors make the most of their screen time. Sami Gayle as Erica, the streetwalker, and Betty Kaye, as Meredith the troubled student, are more alike than their physical differences would imply. Both show vulnerability and...detachment as a coping mechanism with great skill. James Caan steals the film with one scene where he repeats an obscenity mutliple times to great comedic effect. His detachement takes the form of irreverent humor.

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Salt had the best trailer of the festival. A screenwriter (Fele Martínez) with a passion for Western films, goes to remote Northern Chile to do some research. In the small town he is staying, he is mistaken for a former resident which begins his misadventures. Although his name is Sergio, the screenwriter is mistaken for Diego everywhere he goes. Unfortunately for him, Diego has run afoul with the local jefe Victor (Sergio Hernandez). Out to settle the score with Diego, Victor kidnaps and beats Sergio which begins Sergio gradual transformation into Diego.

Little background is given as to Diego's past and his conflict with Victor. The one piece of information the audience is given is that Diego used to be with Maria (Javiera Contador)...who is now married to Victor. "Diego" and Maria rekindle their relationship (perhaps reconsummate is more accurate) which seems to be the impetus for Sergio's transformation.

I can only wonder what the real Diego was like because Sergio's Diego is one tough hombre. Reminiscent of Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns, Salt has a lot of style and two classic performances from Martínez and Hernandez.

The film is largely an homage to other films. I suspect Sergio is named such as a nod to Leone. Diego is the name of the director and screenwriter of Salt. A good story always shines...however many times it has been told. I empathized with Diego, I loathed Victor and lusted for Maria so the film accomplished all it likely set out to do.

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There were a number of lower budget film (at least they looked low budget) which impressed me. Shuffle was my favorite of the bunch. Lovell Milo (T.J. Thyne) keeps moving through time. One moment he is a child and the next he is nearly 30. However, his disjointed episodes focus on Grace (Paula Rhodes who I think bears a resemblance to a young Alyssa Milano). Eventually Lovell pieces together that Grace is the love of his life and that she died at a young age. He vows to prevent her death.

I won't reveal the ending although Shuffle is one of those film where the future affects past as if the young Lovell has foreknowledge of the future. In the end, I was left wondering if the events were actually part of Lovell's life or part of his imagination.

An imaginative script and winsome performance by Rhodes made Shuffle something special.

Michelle Krusiec shows up for a couple scenes. I didn't recognize her when she was portraying a teenage girl. I thought the younger and older versions of the character were played by two different actresses.

Old Goats, Worth the Weight, Forgetting the Girl, How to Cheat, Touch and Delusions of Grandeur were American made independent (or independent looking) films which impressed me also. The performances by Rina Fernandez (who sounds like Mila Kunis) in Delusions of Grandeur, Porter Lynn in Touch and Kent Osborne, Amanda Street & Amber Sealey (also the director) in How To Cheat stood out in my opinion. Porter Lynn did have a tatoo that seemed out of place on her emotionally repressed character but it was only visible in one scene...when she nude.

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This post is getting unwieldly so I'll carry it over into Part 3 next time. There were so many strong films at Cinequest that there may have to be a Part 4 as well.

2012 Cinequest (Part 1)

The 2012 Cinequest ran from February 28 to March 11 in San Jose. The primary venues were the Camera 12, San Jose Rep and California Theater.

I racked up over 1,000 miles on my car driving to San Jose on 11 of the 13 days of the festival.

I saw 36 programs. All were feature films; i.e. no short film programs. I saw 17 films at the Camera 12, 11 films at the California and eight at the SJ Rep.

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Old Goats; directed by Taylor Guterson; (2010)
Happy New Year, Grandma!; directed by Telmo Esnal; Basque with subtitles; (2011)
Play; directed by Ruben Östlund; Swedish with subtitles; (2011)
Heavy Girls; directed by Axel Ranisch; German with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website
Sons of Norway; directed by Jens Lien; Norwegian with subtitles; (2011)
L!fe Happens starring Krysten Ritter & Kate Bosworth; with Rachel Bilson; directed by Kat Coiro; (2011) - Official Website
Worth the Weight starring Robbie Kaller & Jillian Leigh; directed by Ryan Sage; (2012)
King Curling starring Atle Antonsen; directed by Ole Endresen; Norwegian with subtitles; (2011)
How I Was Stolen by the Germans; directed by Milos Radivojevic; Serbian and German with subtitles; (2011)
Cheap Fun; directed by Zach Sutherland; (2011)
Salt starring Fele Martínez; directed by Diego Rougier; Spanish with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website
Dave; directed by Eric A. Geadelmann; documentary; (2012)
Faust starring Johannes Zeiler & Anton Adasinsky; directed by Aleksandr Sokurov; German with subtitles; (2011)
Shuffle starring T.J. Thyne & Paula Rhodes; directed by Kurt Kuenne; (2011)
Dorfman starring Sara Rue & Haaz Sleiman; with Elliott Gould; (2011) - Official Website
Forgetting the Girl starring Christopher Denham & Lindsay Beamish & Lindsay Beamish; directed by Nate Taylor; (2012) - Official Website
Beat Down starring Marthe Bernard; directed by Deanne Foley; (2012)
How to Cheat starring Kent Osborne, Amber Sealey & Amanda Street; directed by Amber Sealey; (2011) - Official Website
Children of the Golden Dragon; directed by Bence Miklauzic; Hungarian and Mandarin with subtitles; (2010)
The Good Doctor starring Orlando Bloom; with Rob Morrow & Michael Peña; directed by Lance Daly; (2011) - Official Website
The King; directed by K.V. Anand; Tamil with subtitles; (2011)
The Bully Project aka Bully; directed by Lee Hirsch; documentary; (2011) - Official Website
Let the Bullets Fly starring Chow Yun Fat & Jiang Wen; directed by Jiang Wen; Mandarin & Cantonese with subtitles; (2010)
The Harsh Light of Day; directed by Oliver S. Milburn; (2012) - Official Website
Love, Wrinke Free starring Ash Chandler; directed by Sandeep Mohan; (2011) - Official Website
Touch starring Porter Lynn; directed by Minh Duc Nguyen; Vietnamese & English with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website
Delusions of Grandeur starring Rina Fernandez; directed by Iris Almaraz & Gustavo Ramos; (2012) - Official Website
Detachment starring Adrien Brody and Sami Gayle; with Marcia Gay Harden, James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Lucy Liu, Blythe Danner, William Petersen & Bryan Cranston; directed by Tony Kaye; (2011) - Official Website
The Hunting Season; directed by Yavuz Turgul; Turkish with subtitles; (2010) - Official Website
Five Hours South; directed by Mark Bacci; (2011)
Faust starring Gösta Ekman & Emil Jannings; directed by F.W. Murnau; silent with live accompaniment; (1926)
Mixed Kebab; directed by Guy Lee Thys; Dutch, Turkish & English with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
Come As You Are; directed by Geoffrey Enthoven; Dutch, French & English with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website
Jason Becker: Not Dead Yet; directed Jesse Vile; documentary; (2012) - Official Website
Sunflower Hour; directed by Aaron Houston; (2011) - Official Website
Code 2600; directed by Jeremy Zerechak; documentary; (2011) - Official Website

Dennis James and Mark Goldstein accompanied Faust . James played the California Theater Wurlitzer and theremin; Goldstein played the Buchla Lightning Wands which are MIDIs (Musical Instrument Digital Interface).

Although I did not see any short film programs, the following short films preceded feature length films.

Heat Wave; directed by Joey Grossfield; 9 minutes; (2011)
Touch; directed by Jane Lanier; 30 minute; (2011)
Education; directed by various; 4 minutes

Heat Wave screened before Forgetting the Girl and Touch before Shuffle. Education was shown before Dave.

To be clear, there was a short film titled Touch and a feature length film titled Touch. The feature length film also screened at the 2012 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival.

Also, there were two feature length films titled Faust - the 2011 version directed by Sokurov and the 1926 version by Murnau. I suspect the Faustian theme was tied in to Opera San Jose's production of Faust (April 26 to May 6) at the California Theater.

Speaking of film adaptations, Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage is being performed at the San Jose Rep through April 15. The play was adapted for the big screen last year in Carnage whose pedigree is eye popping. The four lead roles are performed by three Oscar winners (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet & Christoph Waltz) and an Oscar nominee (John C. Reilly). The film is directed by Oscar winning director (and convicted statutory rapist) Roman Polanski.

I saw Code 2600 on the Encore Day. The program guide listed the short film Mutant preceding the regular screenings but it did not screen before the Encore Day screening.

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I'm exhausted just listing the films I saw. I'll write more about specific films in the next post.

2012 SF Indiefest

The 2012 San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF Indiefest) ran from February 9 to 23. I saw 17 features and one short film program. All the programs I saw were at the Roxie (or Little Roxie).

Skater 26; documentary; directed by Turner Van Ryn; (2012) - Official Facebook
Snowtown starring Daniel Henshall; directed by Justin Kurzel; (2011) - Official Website
Bullhead starring Matthias Schoenaerts; directed by Michael R. Roskam; Dutch & French with subtitles; (2011) - Official Website
Green starring Kate Lyn Sheil, Sophia Takal & Lawrence Michael Levine; directed by Takal; (2011) - Official Website
Mother Country starring Thomas Galasso; directed by Maria Breaux; (2011) - Official Website
The Disco Exorcist directed by Richard Griffin; (2011) - Official Website
Casserole Club starring Daniela Sea, Kevin Scott Richardson, Jane Wiedlin, Susan Traylor , Michael Maize; directed by Steve Balderson; (2012) - Official Website
The Color Wheel starring Carlen Altman & Alex Ross Perry; directed by Perry; (2011) - Official Website
I Like You directed by Jamie Heinrich; (2010) - Official Website
Girlfriend starring Evan Sneider & Shannon Woodward; directed by Justin Lerner; (2010) - Official Website
Sironia starring Wes Cunningham; directed by Brandon Dickerson; (2011) - Official Website
Still Life; German with subtitles; (2011)
Juko's Time Machine starring Nathan Cozzolino; directed by Kai Barry; (2011) - Official Website
Silver Tongues starring Lee Tergesen & Enid Graham; directed by Simon Arthur; (2011) - Official Website
Beside My Brother; German with subtitles; (2011)
Sahkanaga starring Trevor Neuhoff; directed by John Henry Summerour; (2011) - Official Website
Kill List starring Neil Maskell; directed by Ben Wheatley; (2011) Official Website

The short film program was called Beautiful Dreamers and consisted of:

Honkytonk Ben; documentary; directed by Ryan McKenna; (2011)
Dylan; documentary; directed by Ania Winiarska: (2011)
Boro in the Box; directed by Bertrand Mandico; French with subtitles; (2011)

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I've been so busy since the festival wrapped on February 23 that I'm just now getting caught up. This year's Indiefest was a new experience for me. This was the first time, I just gave up on a festival. During the last seven days of the festival, I only saw six films. That compared to 12 programs at the festival during the seven days preceding the final seven. In other words, I saw 12 programs during the first week but only six films during the second week; I saw two films during the final four days. I skipped opening night so I'm calling the first week February 10 to 16 and the second week week February 17 to 23.

There were many reasons for this but this year the programming was not to my liking. After seeing the films that piqued my interest during the first week, I was not interested in taking chances with films whose synopses did not interest me. Additionally, with Cinequest starting five days after Indiefest closed, I was saving my energy. The fact that I saw 36 programs at Cinequest leads me to believe my lack of commitment was more about the programming than my energy levels.

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My favorite film of the festival was Girlfriend - a low budget job about a man with Down Syndrome and his relationship with the object of his high school desires. Evan Sneider plays Evan, the lead character. Sneider has Down Syndrome which undoubtedly provided authenticity to his and his costars' performances.

Evan (the character) has recently come into some money as his mother is recently deceased. On his own for the first time, Even makes some questionable decisions regarding the money. He decides to give most of it to Candy (Shannon Woodward), a debt-laden single mother with a stalker ex-boyfriend. However in Evan's eyes Candy is his dream girl. Initially unaware of the source of the donation, Candy quickly becomes embarrassed when she learns of the source of her providence. In no position to return the money or decline Evan's subsequent cash presents, Candy reluctantly accepts the gifts. When she is still evicted from her rental unit, she has nowhere else to go but Evan's house which Evan interprets as confirming her status as his girlfriend.

Girlfriend treads dangerously close to a relationship many would see as exploitative, abnormal or abusive. Skirting the edge of common decency, Sneider and Woodward give remarkable performances as the couple. Ultimately, the relationship is consummated. Somehow director Justin Lerner makes the scene almost noble. Almost...Woodward's Candy is a desperate woman not above sleeping with her married landlord to get rent forgiveness and repaying Evan's initial gift by letting him watch her bathe. Only in this context can the film work. If Candy had been financially secure or more principled, the plot would have stalled. Instead, the audience is treated to a complex (if not inevitably painful) relationship between Evan and Candy. Candy isn't all bad. In fact, Evan mentions her simple acknowledgement of him during high school as the source of his feelings towards her. Candy is a woman in a tough situation (likely caused by her unwise decisions). Not cruel by nature, Candy has to survive for her son's sake and it leads to some ethically dubious choices. I really empathized with Evan. I don't have Down Syndrome but the isolating nature of it must be unbearable...especially if you are self-aware and functional like Evan. Although Evan Sneider had the flashier role, Woodward's performance as Candy is what makes the film special.

I can only imagine what the actual filming was like as Sneider's costars must have wondered where film Evan started and real Evan stopped. The strain of the situation seems to have enhanced Sneider's costars' performances.

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I was also smitten with The Color Wheel. Perhaps the first mumblecore film I have embraced, The Color Wheel has a provocative ending which I won't reveal here. Like Girlfriend, it comes dangerously close to one of the universal taboos. Up until that point, which surprised me, the film followed to hapless siblings Colin & JR (director Alex Ross Perry & Carlen Altman, respectively) as they take a road trip to retrieve JR's belongings from her recently ex-boyfriend's apartment. Along the way they bicker incessantly. Humorous on film, their nonstop banter would be excruciating in real life. For most of the film, I found their verbal sparring amusing.

Towards the end of the film, they encounter some truly boorish behavior which leads to the final, shocking scene in the film. Without revealing that scene, the film is hard to describe because so much of my memory of the film is packed in that final few minutes. I had no idea what was coming.

What I can say is that Carlen Altman delivers an outstanding performance as JR - vulnerable, sexy & defensive. Altman (who cowrote the script with Perry) seems has the more meaty role. Perry's Colin is a schlub who doesn't seem to aspire to anything more. However, JR craves the approval of her professor/boyfriend, high school "friends" and even her brother. It's this search for validation which propels the film as the siblings pinball from one outrageous situation to another. Colin would have been fine staying at home but is coaxed into going with his sister whom he likes more than their constant bantering would indicate. Actually, their bantering has a certain playfulness to it which hints towards the affection they have for each other.

As I write this, I realize I would like to watch the film again to pick up on the foreshadowing of the final scene. I am in luck as the Roxie has booked The Color Wheel for June 1 to 7. Some (many?) in the audience may find the ending upsetting but afterwards, I thought of it as the only logical conclusion for these two siblings who have been ridiculed by the rest of characters in the film. The cinematography which was 16mm black & white was also noteworthy.

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I also liked Casserole Club which, visually, was at the opposite end of the spectrum from The Color Wheel. Casserole Club is set in the late 1960s and full of the colors and fashions of the era. However, Casserole Club covers some of the same ground as The Color Wheel. Five suburban couples meet for dinner once a week. The wives have a casserole cookoff contest amongst themselves. After too much drink (and marijuana or was it pills?), they engage in some swinging...as in wife swapping.

This unlocks some deep seated desires and subsequent recriminations. These couple had some serious issues - one is a cutter, one is closeted, one is willing to break up two marriages to be with her partner and one seems to be androgynous.

The resulting confusion drives the film to its conclusion. There is even a paradise lost moment when interlopers are invited into the tight knit circle thus unbalancing the social decahedron the couples have formed. What appeared to be a satire of the mod 1960s ends up being a dark commentary on the lives of suburbanites. Appropriately, the most well-adjusted couple is original swinging pair who open the Pandora's Box by introducing the other couples to their lifestyle.

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Belgian Bullhead (which was nominated for an Academy Award this year), low budget Sahkanaga and the intriguing Silver Tongues deserve mention for entertaining/intriguing me.

Two German films bored me silly - Still Life about a father who seems to use the services of prostitutes as a surrogate for his daughter and Beside My Brother about two dysfunctional identical twins. Equally underwhelming was an American indie film titled I Like You whose specific plot points escape me a month later. A teenage slacker falls for a girl and I don't recall what keeps them apart. I remember being on the verge of walking out of the screening.

The Disco Exorcist is a faux 1970's exploitation film which got embarrassingly few laughs out of a story which featured disco dancing, porn and exorcisms. The Disco Exorcist didn't exactly bore me but left me wishing for more.

The opening night film, Skater 26, was more of glorified short film. I prefer Hell On Wheels which screened at the 2007 Docfest and covers much of the same ground. Skater 26 did feature the fabulously (stage)named Chantilly Mace.

Snowtown was a very powerful Australian film about a serial killer. I had a hard time understanding the dialog. I chalked it up to the actors thick Aussie accents but someone else suggested it was the sound system in the Little Roxie which only reinforces my contention that it is the worst screening room in the Bay Area.

I was passionately mild about the other features although I could probably be persuaded to upgrade Juko's Time Machine and Kill List to "I kind of liked it."

I was also unimpressed with the short program Beautiful Dreamers which can be summed up as:

Honkytonk Ben - a slightly interesting documentary about a guy who tricks outs pianos.
Dylan - an exploration into the life of an unremarkable Irish teenager.
Boro in the Box - an utterly incomprehensible bio-pic of Walerian Borowczyk; if you ask "Who's he?" you are in the same boat as me. I actually walked out on this film which is a rarity for me. I frequently consider walking out; I rarely do. The plot device they used was to introduce scenes in alphabetical order. I don't know how many letters are in the French alphabet but I walked out after "D" or "E."

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That was the 2012 Indiefest - vaguely disappointing and subconsciously fatiguing. I saw 18 programs in 15 days; by the end I wondered if I was burning out on the film festival circuit. Not to worry...as my next post will show, Cinequest rejuvenated me.

San Francisco, Austin and Mostly Britain

Last month, I wrote that Gary Meyer "seemed re-energized and doesn't seem eager to step away" from the Balboa Theater. I was wrong. A few weeks ago, Meyer announced (via email) that he was stepping down from his position at the Balboa. He announced that Adam Bergeron and Jaimi Holke will take over operation of the Balboa as well as the Vogue. The two theaters will henceforth be operated jointly as Cinema SF. Long-time Balboa general manager Roger Paul will serve in that same capacity for both theaters. Meyer will serve as a programming consultant to Bergeron and Holker.

Regarding Bergeron and Holke, Meyer wrote "A few months ago I was approached by an enthusiastic San Francisco couple who loved the Balboa and wanted to know if I would be interested in selling or taking on a partner. After spending time with them it was clear that they had the passion required."

I wonder if Bergeron and Holke are one of the parties Meyer was referring to several months ago when he wrote in a weekly newsletter, "As I continue discussions with interested parties for taking over the Balboa I am heartened by the passion and loyalty many people have expressed for the theater. There are wonderful dreamers who think it would be fun but have no idea what is involved in running this kind of business. I love their enthusiasm but soon they become overwhelmed by all the aspects of staying afloat."

It seems that Meyer has engineered a split of the responsibility for the Balboa lease from the responsibility for the theater operations. Not only that but he found a new operator for the Vogue which I thought was doing relatively well. Both theaters have new websites - Balboa and Vogue.

I'm criticized for being pessimistic but I wish Mr. Bergeron & Ms. Holke the best of luck in their new venture. Their first announced change is that the Balboa now accepts credit cards. I have previously thank Gary Meyer for his work at the Balboa and do so again. One year, I have to go out to Telluride during Labor Day Weekend to see what his widely praised film festival is all about.

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The Vogue hosted the Mostly British Film Festival from February 2 to 9. The festival had four screenings at the Smith Rafael Film Center during that week also. Two rump sessions were held on February 18 and 25 at the Balboa to screen the remaining Up series installments (more on that below).

I saw 14 films at the Vogue and an additional 4 films at the Balboa.

Perfect Sense starring Ewan McGregor and Eva Green; (2010) - Official Site
Neds starring Connor McCarron; directed by Peter Mullan; (2010)
Gumshoe starring Albert Finney; directed by Stephen Frears; (1971)
Stormy Monday starring Melanie Griffith, Tommy Lee Jones, Sting & Sean Bean; directed by Mike Figgis; (1988)
Seven Up!; documentary; directed by Paul Almond; (1964)
7 Plus Seven; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (1970)
21 Up; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (1977)
33 Postcards starring Guy Pearce; (2011)
South Solitary starring Miranda Otto; directed by Shirley Barrett; (2010)
Performance starring James Fox & Mick Jagger; with Anita Pallenberg & Michele Breton; directed by Donald Cammell & Nicolas Roeg; (1970)
Chalet Girl starring Felicity Jones, Tamsin Egerton & Ed Westwick; with Bill Nighy & Brooke Shields; directed by Phil Traill; (2011) - Official Blog
Albatross starring Jessica Brown-Findlay; with Felicity Jones, Sebastian Koch & Julia Ormond; directed by Niall MacCormick; (2011)
Sensation starring Domhnall Gleeson & Luanne Gordon; directed by Tom Hall; (2010)
A Lonely Place to Die starring Melissa George; directed by Julian Gilbey; (2011)
London Boulevard starring Colin Farrell; with Keira Knightley, David Thewlis, Anna Friel & Ray Winstone; directed by William Monahan; (2010) - Official Website
28 Up; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (1984)
35 Up; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (1991)
42 Up; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (1998)
49 Up; documentary; directed by Michael Apted; (2005)

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Last year, Mostly British coincided with the first week of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival (SF Indiefest) and I chose Mostly British. This year I wasn't faced with that choice. The 2012 Mostly British Film Festival largely avoided the Indiefest. The last night of the Mostly British was the Opening Night for Indiefest. I shunned both fests to see The Killing of a Chinese Bookie at the YBCA.

My favorite "film" was the Up series which isn't surprising since it is possibly the most celebrated documentary series ever created. Much imitated in different countries, Up follows the lives of 14 children who were 7 years old in 1964. Chosen to represent a cross section of socio-economic backgrounds in the UK, the 14 boys and girls have been interviewed every seven years. The genesis of the series is taken from a Jesuit school motto, "Give me a child until he is seven and I will give you the man." The filmmakers use much of the original footage to show how the subjects have changed and (more surprising to me) foreshadowed their own futures.

The Up series is greatly helped by the continuity provided by Award winning director Michael Apted. The director of films such as Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist and the underrated Thunderheart, Apted returns septennially to the Up series. Initially a researcher who helped select the 14 children in 1964, Apted has directed each installment since 7 Plus Seven. For some reason, that installment was not called 14 Up.

A few of the participants dropped out of the series but 10 of the subjects have appeared in all seven installments through 49 Up. One subject appeared in 6 out of the 7 films while another appeared in 5. So 12 out of the 14 appeared in 49 Up. This allows for a fascinating comparison between these middle-aged people and not just their 7 year old selves but themselves at various seven year incremented stages of their lives. As I mentioned, the most amazing part is when the seem to prescience their own futures. Apted has been criticized for adding to this effect by skillful and selective editing but overall, it's impossible to change the past which is recorded on film for these people.

Each installment has an element of suspense. You wonder what has become of these people in the intervening seven years. You wonder if your predictions for their futures will be validated. I was surprised and saddened as often as not by the arcs of their lives. In short, there was great drama in the documentaries. Seeing the 7 installments in four weeks allowed me to recall the previous episodes which enhanced the viewing experience.

Apted is busy at work with 56 Up which is scheduled to be released this year. "Released" may not be the correct term since the Up installments are televised on the BBC and PBS. Actually, there was little gained by screening these films on the big screen. They were projected from a DVD that you could play at home. However, having never seen any of the installments in their entirety, I benefited from having the entire series available in such a compressed time period.

I find I frequently fast forward through portions of a DVD or easily become distracted. One benefit of film screenings is that I am forced to watch the film in one sitting. That can be a curse as well as a blessing, depending on the film. For the Up films, it was definitely the latter.

I highly recommend viewing the Up. The first two installments are shorter and weaker than the others but I think that's because the children were under (unseen) pressure from their parents to appear. By age 21, more of their personalities emerge. Apted skillfully shows that clues to their adult personalities were present at 7 and 14 but these first two films act more as background or source material for the future installments. Starting with 21 Up, the films are self-contained and full of drama.

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Screening the entire Up series is not very innovative but the rest of the festival was quite strong. I credit festival programmer Ruthe Stein for putting together a strong lineup which mixed some revival screenings with new films. Excluding the Up films, Stein screened five films from before 1988 out of the 27 unique feature programs.

Given my proclivities, it's not surprising I enjoyed these older films. Of the five films before 1988, I saw four. I missed The Great White Silence which was my favorite film at last year's San Francisco Silent Film Festival.

I was impressed with Gumshoe, a 1971 hybrid starring Albert Finney. Gumshoe was the directorial debut of Stephen Frears who would go on to make My Beautiful Laundrette, Dangerous Liaisons and High Fidelity.

Gumshoe starts off as a comedy as perennial loser Eddie Ginley lives a sort of pathetic fantasy life. A bingo caller cum stand up comic at night, Ginley aspires to be the titular, hard boiled detective by day. He goes so far as putting an ad in the newspaper (lifted straight from The Maltese Falcon) offering his detective services. Although set in a hardscrabble, Liverpool neighborhood of the 1970s, Ginley dresses and talks life a bad Humphrey Bogart imitation.

Unexpectedly, Ginley gets an inquiry regarding his ad. He meets with a suspicious character who gives him some money and a gun. That leads to a femme fatale, South African heroin smugglers and ultimately back to Ginley's brother and his wife (who was engaged to Ginley before marrying his brother). Frears subtly changes the tone of the film as it progresses. What start off as a comedy ends up in a very dark place with Ginley having transformed himself from hapless loser to a hardass, cynical survivor. The parallels to The Maltese Falcon are many. I was expecting something closer to Play It Again, Sam and instead a more serious film which pleasantly surprised me. A moderate fan of Finney's works, I was glad that he was at the top of his game for Gumshoe

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Another interesting revival was Performance which was Nicholas Roeg's directorial debut effort (Roeg co-directed with Donald Cammell). Although several audience members walked out of the screening, I found the film more than interesting enough to stay. Mod & surreal, Performance follows an London East End gangster (James Fox) who runs afoul of his superiors (who all appear to be gay). Fleeing for his life, Fox takes refuge in the rented basement flat of Turner (Mick Jagger). Turner, a recluse, is ensconced with two attractive women (Anita Pallenberg & Michele Breton) and an impressive amount of hallucinogenics. While hiding at the house of the flamboyant Turner, Chas (Fox) begins exhibit homosexual tendencies which explains a lot about his association with his mob bosses and their reaction to his departure. Towards the end of the film there is a great sex scene in which the gender of the four housemates blur together.

Performance also features what may be the first music video as Jagger sings "Memo from Turner" which kicks off the blurring of identity and sexuality for Chas.

I can't say Performance is a masterpiece but it is an interesting film and foreshadows Roeg's later The Man Who Fell to Earth with David Bowie. Roeg seems to have a knack of getting the best performance out of proto-androgynous British rock stars. Jagger appears to be playing himself and then he slicks back his hair and belts out "Memo from Turner" and you begin to wonder what Jagger is really like. Jagger more than holds his own in his scenes with James Fox who has a formidable screen presence.

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Albatross features a remarkable performance by Jessica Brown-Findlay (Downton Abbey) as a wild child who is a catalyst for change for a hapless family who own a B&B on the Isle of Man. As Emelia, Brown-Findlay is like a hurricane - her destructive, teenage energy is too much for the family to bear. Emelia quickly seduces the father (Sebastian Koch), a novelist forever trying to regain the glory of his first novel. Later Emelia becomes friends with the daughter (Felicity Jones) and the consternation of the mother (Juila Ormond), her wild ways rub off on the Oxford bound teenager. Nominally, a buddy film with Brown-Findlay and Jones as polar opposites, Albatross is Brown-Findlay's star making vehicle from the beginning. She exudes all the beauty and ugliness of youthful vigor. Brown-Findlay's is the main reason to see Albatross.

Similarly, South Solitary features an outstanding performance by Aussie actress Miranda Otto. Set on an isolated lighthouse island near Australia in the 1920s, Otto plays Meredith, the spinster daughter and assistant of the new lighthouse head keeper (played ably by Otto's father Barry Otto). An insecure woman, Meredith makes an unwise choice by taking up with the assistant lighthouse keeper (Rohan Nichol) whose bitchy wife (Essie Davis) and bratty kids live on the island. Before long, their affair is discovered and the family use it as blackmail to force a transfer to a better location.

Meredith's father unexpectedly dies but the island isolation and a storm keep her on the island with the only other inhabitant, Jack Fleet (Marton Csokas) the shell-shocked 2nd assistant lighthouse keeper. As they ride out the storm in the lighthouse, the taciturn Fleet and nervously garrulous Meredith have to endure each other's company in close quarters.

I thought South Solitary was a bittersweet romantic comedy buoyed by Miranda Otto's versatile performance.

Sensation starring Domhnall Gleeson (Brendan's son) was also worthwhile. A comedy about a young man who inherits a sheep ranch. Unwilling to continue the ranch after his father's death, Donal (Domhnall Gleeson) quickly sells the herd and sets about living the rest of his life...but not before losing his virginity via the services of a on-line "escort" (Luanne Gordon). Inexperienced with women and possessing a certain youthful earnestness, Donal quickly becomes enmeshed in the woman's problems. The solution to their problems is to open an escort agency with Donal using his inheritance as seed money for the operation.

Like Gumshoe, Sensation subtly evolves from a comedy to a fairly serious film as Donal learns some lessons about life and love courtesy of his prostitute/partner/girlfriend. Nice performances by Gleeson and Gordon.

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London Boulevard was stylish if not much else. Although set in present day, it had a retro-1960s, modern-noir feel (mostly as a result of a soundtrack featuring The Yardbirds). Colin Farrell acquits himself well enough as an excon hired to be bodyguard for a reclusive actress (Keira Knightley). David Thewlis as the pot smoking majordomo and Eddie Marsan as a crooked cop shine in smaller roles. London Boulevard is most notable for Ray Winstone's ferocious turn as the mob boss looking to recruit Farrell into his gang.

Neds about a Scottish juvenile delinquent was powerful. It could easily have been set in the Compton or East LA.

Stormy Monday was oddly disappointing. Although Tommy Lee Jones & Melanie Griffith received top billing, I was most impressed with Sting's performance as a tough blues club owner resisting the encroachment of a thuggish Yank businessman (Jones).

Chalet Girl was a lightweight comedy. Although Felicity Jones was the star, the beautiful Tamsin Egerton stole the show.

33 Postcards has received some critical praise but it didn't quite get it done for me. Guy Pearce gives a understated performance which is offset by Zhu Lin's frequently cloying performance. 33 Postcards is the story of an Australian prison inmate (Pearce) who financially supports a Chinese orphan girl (Lin). When the girl's choir is invited to perform in Australia, the girl grabs her opportunity to meet her benefactor...who has been lying about being a park ranger. A little too sentimental for my tastes, 33 Postcards had its moments.

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The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the New Mission Theater in the 2500 block of Mission Street in San Francisco is being renovated by the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas of Austin fame. The Alamo Drafthouse and Mission Local Blogs gives more details. The current proposal is to subdivide the New Mission Theater (built in 1910) into five screens with a total capacity of 900.

I don't know what to write. I think an Alamo would be a welcome addition to the local cinema scene. I wonder if SF can handle an additional 900 seats of rep/art house screening venues. I suspect that a local rep house such as the Roxie or Castro would be hurt if a Drafthouse opens. I say if because San Francisco is notorious for putting up roadblocks for new projects. In this case, the New Mission Theater is a designated San Francisco Landmark (#245) which will slow the process down.

The Chronicle article summed it up in the last paragraph of it article. "The next step is to complete an environmental review that is expected to be made public in August or September... After that, the project still needs approval from the Planning Commission and other review committees. So far...there is no estimated cost for the entire project."

Noir City X

The 2012 Noir City Film Festival ran from January 20 to 29 at the Castro Theater. 2012 is the 10th year of Noir City so this year's festival was referred to as Noir City X. They had a snazzy anniversary logo in which the "y" in "City" merges into the "X." I guess the festival is like the Super Bowl - big enough that it merits Roman numerals. Certainly the crowds were gargantuan in size. The evening screenings were packed and many of the matinees filled up the main auditorium (I think the balcony was closed for the matinees). It wouldn't surprise me if they had a total attendance of over 15,000 for the 10 day festival.

The 23 films I saw were:

Dark Passage starring Humphrey Bogart & Lauren Bacall; with Agnes Moorehead; directed by Delmer Daves; (1947)
The House on Telegraph Hill starring Valentina Cortese & Richard Basehart; directed by Robert Wise; (1951)
Okay, America starring Lew Ayres & Maureen O'Sullivan; directed by Tay Garnett; (1932)
Afraid to Talk starring Eric Linden; directed by Edward L. Cahn; (1932)
The Killers starring Lee Marvin & Angie Dickinson; with Ronald Reagan, John Cassavetes & Clu Gulager; directed by Don Siegel; (1964)
Point Blank starring Lee Marvin & Angie Dickinson; with John Vernon, Carroll O'Connor, Keenan Wynn & Lloyd Bochner; directed by John Boorman; (1967)
Laura starring Gene Tierney & Dana Andrews; with Clifton Webb & Vincent Price; directed by Otto Preminger; (1944)
Bedelia starring Margaret Lockwood, Ian Hunter & Barry K. Barnes; directed by Lance Comfort; (1946)
Gilda starring Rita Hayworth & Glenn Ford; with George Macready; directed by Charles Vidor; (1946)
The Money Trap starring Glenn Ford & Elke Sommer; with Rita Hayworth, Ricardo Montalban & Joseph Cotten; directed by Burt Kennedy; (1965)
Unfaithfully Yours starring Rex Harrison & Linda Darnell; directed by Preston Sturges; (1948)
The Good Humor Man starring Jack Carson; with Lola Albright, Jean Wallace & George Reeves; directed by Lloyd Bacon; (1950)
Naked Alibi starring Sterling Hayden & Gloria Grahame; with Gene Barry; directed by Jerry Hopper; (1954)
Pickup starring Hugo Haas, Beverly Michaels & Allan Nixon; directed by Hugo Haas; (1951)
Thieves' Highway starring Richard Conte, Valentina Cortese & Lee J. Cobb; directed by Jules Dassin; (1949)
The Breaking Point starring John Garfield & Patricia Neal; with Phyllis Thaxter; directed by Michael Curtiz; (1950)
Three Strangers starring Geraldine Fitzgerald, Sydney Greenstreet & Peter Lorre; directed by Jean Negulesco; (1946)
The Great Gatsby starring Alan Ladd & Betty Field; with Ruth Hussey, Barry Sullivan & Macdonald Carey; directed by Elliott Nugent; (1949)
Roadhouse Nights starring Helen Morgan & Charles Ruggles; directed by Hobert Henley; (1930)
The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez & Bebe Daniels; directed by Roy Del Ruth; (1931)
City Streets starring Gary Coooper & Sylvia Sidney; with Paul Lukas & Guy Kibbee; directed by Rouben Mamoulian; (1932)
Mr. Dynamite starring Edmund Lowe & Jean Dixon; directed by Alan Crosland; (1935)
The Glass Key starring Alan Ladd & Veronica Lake; with Brian Donlevy, Bonita Granville & William Bendix; directed by Stuart Heisler; (1942)

I only missed three screenings - House of Bamboo (which I saw at the PFA in 2010), Underworld USA and The Maltese Falcon (which I have seen several times although not on the big screen). House of Bamboo and Underworld USA were part of a Sam Fuller double feature which I regret missing. The Maltese Falcon was the final film of the festival and capped a six film Dashiell Hammett marathon on that last day. Having caught 5/6 of the Hammett marathon, I was too exhausted to stick around.

I actually had the opportunity to see Underworld USA but passed. I had one too many Sidecars at Sauce that evening. I occasionally do things other than go to the movies. I feel like admitting inebriation is more acceptable than admitting going to the movie theater every evening. I caught a ride home. As we were driving, I was tempted to ask the driver to drop me off at the Castro Theater but my swooning head and likely snickering comments made me reconsider. Sauce has a Guinness Stout Malt on the dessert menu which put me over the top...

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Let's get a few of the miscues out of the way first. January 24 was billed as "A Night of Comedy Noir." The two films were Unfaithfully Yours and The Good Humor Man.

Unfaithfully Yours, starring Rex Harrison and written/directed by Preston Sturges, was the better film. It reminded me of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Danny Kaye. In Unfaithfully Yours, Rex Harrison portrays a symphony conductor who suspects his wife of having an affair and fantasizes about how he will exact revenge. He fantasizes while conducting a symphony and his heightened emotions produce the most inspired work of his career. Unfaithfully Yours was a serviceable comedy. I wonder if I would like Walter Mitty now; it's been 30 years or more since I saw it. Anyway, I had a hard time seeing elements of noir in Unfaithfully Yours. Ultimately, I didn't think it was noir and its comedy was not completely to my taste.

However, Unfaithfully Yours was a masterpiece compared to The Good Humor Man. The Jack Carson comedy was slapstick at its worst (or best, depending on your tastes). The audience seemed to lick it up. The Good Humor Man can be described as a bad Bob Hope film crossed with a bad Abbott and Costello film. I found the film insufferable. It limped along for the first two thirds but a chase scene closed out the film. The scene was epically horrendous and seemed to last half an hour. Carson's character and his girlfriend were chased into a school by the bad guys but some kids come to their rescue by throwing balls, musical instruments, shop class tools and ultimately pies at them. I don't know what is about the pie in the face routine but for me, it gets old pretty quick.

Unfaithfully Yours and The Good Humor Man made me wish I had gotten sauced at Sauce that evening instead of Sam Fuller night.

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There were six films from the 1930s in this year's festival. I wouldn't consider those films "miscues" but between the rapid fire dialog, early sound recording and pre-WWII sensibilities, I can't rightly call these film noir even though many of them were based on Dashiell Hammett's works.

The definition of film noir is debatable but I always believed that post-war weariness and trauma were integral parts of the film noir protagonist and/or contemporary audiences. Several of the 1930s vintage films were quite good but didn't feel like film noir to me.

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As it happens, my favorite film of the festival was a 1930s film - City Streets based on a Hammett's story. Starring a youthful Gary Cooper and effective Sylvia Sidney as a young couple caught up with the mob, City Streets remind me of one of those cautionary tales put out by Warner Brothers during the period. Cooper plays a carny sharpshooter who is duped into joining the gang to help his girlfriend (Sidney) who refuses to testify. When she gets out of the joint, she is dismayed to learn that Cooper (simply known as The Kid) has become a big shot in the mob; he found better uses for his gun skills. As they try to navigate their way to happiness, the couple has to contend with rival gangsters and gun molls as well as Cooper's embrace of the lifestyle which Sidney is trying to distance herself from.

Strong performances by the lead actors and pre-Code sensibilities elevated City Streets to top of my list of 2012 Noir City films.

I was also entertained by Bedelia, a British vehicle for Margaret Lockwood as a black widow trying to prey on her next soon-to-be-deceased husband. Her efforts are foiled by an insurance investigator posing as an artist who insinuates himself into the title character's life. Full of suspense and Lockwood's bravura performance, Bedelia stood out for me.

Angie Dickinson was in the house for a double feature - The Killers and Point Blank. Both films were very gritty films that were immeasurably buoyed by Lee Marvin's performances. Taciturn, merciless and single-minded in both films, Marvin was a true movie star and made for these types of roles. Dickinson's roles were most definitely secondary (even tertiary) to the plots but she made the most of her screen time. The Killers and Point Blank were among my favorites as well.

Gilda is a classic and I'd seen it before. I'm still not sure about some of the plot specifics but the film is a showcase of Rita Hayworth in every sense. When not looking sexy or singing torch songs ("Put the Blame on Mame" is a great song), Hayworth banters with Glenn Ford to great effect.

More surprising was how much I enjoyed The Money Trap. Made 20 years after Gilda, Ford plays a straight arrow cop who is induced into stealing mob money because of money problems at home. Home is where his younger, sexy, younger wife (Elke Sommer) throws parties every night. Egged on by his partner (Ricardo Montalban, in a great performance), Ford plans out the caper but he unexpectedly encounters his high school sweetheart - a ravaged looking Rita Hayworth. Hayworth was an alcoholic and perhaps suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease but it was truly depressing to see her appearance in The Money Trap. The film exploits her condition to full effect as she plays a washed up alcoholic in the film. This give the film a tragic feel which would not likely have been achieved with another actress in Hayworth's role. It puts a regretful hue on everything Ford's character does. It improves the film but I felt like I was exploiting Hayworth just by watching her at this stage of her life.

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The Breaking Point which was based on Hemingway's To Have and Have Not and The Great Gatsby had the benefit of great source material. I read both novels in high school and recall being greatly impressed by them. I re-read both novels in my twenties and was relieved that I still thought highly of them as that is not case with all the books I re-read.

However, neither film really captured the full greatness of their respective source novels. That's a shame because both films were "near misses." John Garfield, Patricia Neal, Alan Ladd & Betty Field gave strong lead performances in the two films. Certainly, I thought more highly of these films than their well known cousins - To Have and Have Not with Bogie and Bacall and directed by Howard Hawks and the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby with Redford and Mia Farrow.

I was particularly impressed by Neal's performance which captured her sexiness and intelligence better than anything else I've seen her in.

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Pickup also entertained me. Hugo Haas is tremendous as a man who fakes deafness to collect his pension early only to find out his wife (Beverly Michaels in a great role) not only doesn't love him but also want her boyfriend to kill him. The scenes where Michaels talks openly with her boyfriend about her disgust with her husband while he is within earshot but feigning deafness were incredible.

Afraid to Talk also stood out as one of the most cynical films of the festival. A bellhop witnesses the murder of a mob boss. Crooked politicians and the mob conspire to frame him for the murder. Another pre-Code film, Afraid to Talk was very dark and intense; it surprised me by the way its plot forced the everyman protagonist to suffer.

Naked Alibi and Thieves' Highway were potboilers helped by strong performances by Sterling Hayden and Richard Conte in the lead roles, respectively. Gloria Grahame, who is great in everything I've seen her in, added her screen appeal to Naked Alibi as did Gene Barry as the villain.

I'm fairly certain that the Coen Brother's Miller's Crossing (1990) is based on The Glass Key, either the film or Hammett's novel. Albert Finney played the Brian Donlevy role and Gabriel Byrne in the Alan Ladd role. Miller's Crossing is one of my favorite films of all time so once I picked up on the similarities, there was no way I could The Glass Key in anyway except in comparison to Miller's Crossing. The Glass Key held its own but ultimately couldn't displace Miller's Crossing in my estimation. That's unfair to The Glass Key but I can only watch watch a film from the perspective of my past experiences.

All the other films were a step below the ones mentioned above.

I'd like to write more but I'm pressed for time...too busy watching films to make time to write about them.

2012 German Gems

2012 marked the end for Ingrid Eggers' German Gems Film Festival. As reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, Eggers said "I gave it long, deep thought...The Bay Guardian gave me a lifetime achievement award. Once you get that, it's time to quit." Apparently, whatever animus existed between Eggers and the managers of her former festival, Berlin and Beyond, has dissipated to the point that she can claim, B&B is "is back on track."

I thank and congratulate Ms. Eggers for her many, fine years of programming excellent German language cinema in San Francisco. I'll miss her programming.

Unfortunately, the 2012 German Gems ran up against a Henri-Georges Clouzot series at the PFA. I was only able to see one film at the day long event at the Castro Theater.

Under Control; documentary; directed by Volker Sattel; German with subtitles; (2011)

The Castro runs previews before some its screenings. In December, I saw a funky, 1970s looking festival trailer for the 2012 German Gems. I'm still not sure what it was all about but if I had to guess, I think it was referencing Under Control which was filmed at various operating and abandoned nuclear power plants in Germany. I think the outfits in the trailer where riffing on the hazmat/radiation protection suits worn by workers at nuclear power plants.

Let me start by stating (or admitting given your viewpoint) that I am an electrical engineer. More accurately I have degrees in electrical engineering; I don't do engineering work anymore. My specialty was power engineering. Although I didn't specialize in nuclear power, my understanding of how a nuclear power plant works is better than the layman or man-on-the-street. With that out of the way, I was fascinated by the imagery in Under Control. Shot on 35 mm and at times, looking like an outtake from 2001: A Space Odyssey , the film beautifully captured the design of nuclear power plants. The effect was similar to what I read about Manufactured Landscapes which I haven't seen.

As the camera panned across control panels, fuel rod storage pools, the interior of containment buildings, etc., I recalled why I became an engineer. I think it is beautiful to see scale models and pipes and cable trays forming geometric patterns. However, I wondered how many in the audience understood what they were looking at. The dialog was minimal at times.

More problematic was the lack of a narrative. The film seemed to take place at several power plants. Some were still in operation, others were shuttered, still another was converted into an amusement park. I wasn't sure which power plant I was looking at. At one point, it seems like there is an emergency like a stuck valve which would lead to a containment breach or nuclear meltdown. The plant is evacuated. I think that would have made the news but I don't recall anything like that. Was it an exercise? Was it staged for the film? I don't know, it was never mentioned again. The fact that they were using 1960s & 70s looking switches and panels (like the original Star Trek) made me scratch my head. Why hadn't they upgraded that equipment and controls?

In essence, the filmmakers go to nuclear power plants and beautifully film the routine processes and tasks the employees must do as well as the equipment and facilities. Then it hops around to employees of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the crumbling ruins of an abandoned plant(s), etc. The overarching theme seems to be that we (or at least Germany) built these plants to control nature - harnessing the energy of the atom for our increasingly energy-intensive lifestyle. Now, 40 or 50 years later, the people are under control of the nuclear plants - operational safeguards and procedures dealing with the nuclear waste control the lives of those who work at or live near these power plants. I found the premise to dubious. Let's not forget the status quo when these plants were built. In Germany, they were burning coal to generate electricity. Who knows how much air pollution was avoided due to these nuclear power plants? Would they be any less "under control" if there was coal plant spewing NOX and SOX emissions and asthma rates were doubled? Society is all about controls which are more restrictive than anything shown in Under Control.

Avoiding a debate on nuclear power, the film seems to wants decry of the constraints imposed by generating nuclear power. The land use, the storage issues, etc. I just didn't find the arguments compelling. Instead, I found the images compelling.

If anything, I was saddened by the demise of nuclear power in Germany. The images in Under Control hearkened back to the days when society confidently "conquered" the environment. Engineers used to design and build big, ambitious projects like dams to tame rivers, long tunnels to defeat mountains, bridges to span the impassable and nuclear power plants to power a nation. Now, lawyers and environmentalists subvert those ambitions. Is it better for society? Perhaps; solar or wind generation brings a host of problems that most people don't consider. Most of these issues are because we can't "control" the output but for me, it's sad too. The enlightened societies won't allow a nuclear power plant to be built or in Germany, even remain in operation because the risk are too high. Society wants renewable power on demand without any risks and at low costs. It makes me recall why I stopped being an engineer...

As you can see, my take Under Control is intensely personal and unique. I liked the film despite its flaws but I can't really recommend it...except to some of my classmates from engineering school.