Nightcrawler

Nightcrawler was a late addition to the line-up at the Mill Valley Film Festival.  I was not able to see it there but it stayed on my radar.  It didn't seem to get much press and Box Office Mojo confirms that it did modestly well in ticket sales.

I'll digress for a moment.  Of the top 100 grossing films in 2014, I saw ten:

#1 Guardians of the Galaxy
#2 The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1
#17 Gone Girl
#19 Neighbors 
#33 Fury
#52 The Grand Budapest Hotel
#82 Nightcrawler
#83 Chef
#94 Birdman
#95 Boyhood

My movie going tastes are obviously not in sync with mainstream audiences.  Of the top 100 grossing films in 2014, it's not until #15 (Interstellar) that I see a film that I'm even remotely interested in and it is not until #73 (St. Vincent) until I see a film that I would regret missing.

According to Box Office Mojo, the top 10 films of 2014 are:

#1  Guardians of the Galaxy - I saw this film based on a co-worker's recommendation and was slightly disappointed; great soundtrack.

#2  The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 - I saw this film to support the Balboa Theater and was greatly disappointed.

#3  Captain America: The Winter Soldier - I remember this film coming out but had no desire to see it.

#4  The LEGO Movie - I do not remember this film coming out.

#5  Transformers: Age of Extinction - I get all the Transformers films confused.  I haven't seen any of the films in this series.

#6  Maleficent - Snow White tale with Angelina Jolie sporting some massive horns

#7  X-Men: Days of Future Past - I get all the X-Men films confused.  I stopped watching after the second film in the series.

#8  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I get all the PotA films confused (except the original).  I stopped watching after the one with James Franco & Freida Pinto.

#9  Big Hero 6 - I have no idea what this film is about and I don't even remember seeing commercials for it.

#10 The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - who plays Spider-Man now?  Emma Stone is the love interest.  I've never seen one of these films in a movie theater.  I remember Willem Dafoe as the Green Goblin and Alfred Molina as Doc Oct but that was with Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker.

What I find amazing about the top 10 list is that is that four of the films are based on characters developed by Marvel Comics in the 1960s or as they say part of the MCU.  Six of the films are part of a franchise; maybe seven if Guardians of the Galaxy is the first in a series.

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On the last Sunday in December 2014, I went to the New Parkway to see Nightcrawler.  I briefly considered sticking around for The Interview but it was 45 minute until showtime so I decided to go home.

Nightcrawler starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo & Riz Ahmed; directed by Dan Gilroy; (2014) - Official Website

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Like most people in the Bay Area, I am aware that there have been a lot of protests in Oakland lately.  Many of the protests have devolved into mini-riots and vandalism.  I noticed a lot of boarded up windows on Broadway as I walked from 19th St. BART to 24th St. where the New Parkway is located.  Twice in December, I've been on BART trains when service was halted or delayed due to protesters storming BART stations.  That was definitely on my mind as I went to Oakland.  As I walked back to BART around 7 PM, I noticed a lot of the restaurants in the area were open which is good sign.

When going to that part of Oakland, I try to get a sandwich at Ike's or a bite at Sweet Bar.  I've been meaning to stop at Umami Burger and Luka's Tap Room.  I recall getting an email from the New Parkway announcing that they had revamped their menu so I decided to have an early dinner at the theater.  I ordered the pasta of the day which was orecchiette with chicken & mushrooms.  It was very good.  The New Parkway has also revamped their food delivery system.  Instead of a punchcard type reader on each table, you now receive a more traditional pager type device which you lay on the table.  It flashes green when the food is ready so that the servers can see you.

I noticed they have a new facade and signage at the New Parkway since my last visit this summer.  Also, there was a large parking lot across the street from the New Parkway which is now well on its way to becoming multi-family housing.

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Nightcrawler is the story of Lou Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal).  As the film starts, he is stealing some copper wiring from a construction site.  It's clear that Bloom's entire subsistence is based on illegal activities.  What he lacks in ethics & formal education, Bloom makes up for with intelligence, ambition, hard work & emotional detachment.  He finds that these qualities serve him well as a freelance news photographer or stringer.  Bloom is the type of man who has no qualms about filming a person dying from an car accident.  Not only can he film that person dying but he is impervious to pleas of assistance from the injured...like those paparazzi who filmed Princess Diana as died in Paris.

Bloom moves from filming car accidents to staging the scenes to tampering with crime scenes to finally, manipulating the police into dangerous confrontations while he waits with camera in hand.  As distasteful as his actions are, the truly disturbing part of Bloom is his behavior when not filming crime scenes.  He essentially exploits a homeless man (Riz Ahmed) to be his "protégé."

The most fascinating parts of the film is his relationship with Nina Romina (Rene Russo), the morning news director of a local television station whom Bloom sells to exclusively.  At the beginning, Bloom is neophyte and lacks bargaining power.  As Bloom learns the ropes and eliminates his competition, he comes to realize that his video clips are improving the station's ratings.  In a super creepy scene, Bloom extorts Romina into a sexual relationship.  As the scene progresses, we see the power shift from Romina to Bloom as Romina & the audience realize they have underestimated Bloom's intelligence and his lack of scruples.

There are two lines of dialogue that stand out from the film.  At one point, Rick (Ahmed) has had enough of Bloom's abuse and legally dubious behavior.  He tells Bloom that Bloom doesn't understand people and doesn't know how to talk to people.  Bloom allows the comment to pass but a few minutes returns to the topic by saying "What if my problem wasn't that I don't understand people but that I don't like them? What if I was the kind of person who was obliged to hurt you for this? I mean physically."

Towards the end of the film, Bloom removes all doubt as to who is the dominant one in his relationship with Romina.  Out of the blue for Romina and the audience, Bloom unleashes this withering takedown in a monotone voice.  "Now I like you, Nina. And I look forward to our time together. But you have to understand, fifteen thousand isn't all that I want. From here on, starting now, I want my work to be credited by the anchors and on a burn. The name of my company is Video Production News, a professional news-gathering service. That's how it should be read and that's how it should be said. I also want to go to the next rung and meet your team, and the station manager, and the director, and the anchors, and start developing my own personal relationships. I'd like to start meeting them this morning. You'll take me around, you'll introduce me as the owner and president of Video Production News, and remind them of some of my many other stories. I'm not done. I also want to stop our discussion over prices. This will save time. So when I say that a particular number is my lowest price, that's my lowest price and you can be assured that I arrived at whatever that number is very carefully. Now, when I say that I want these things, I mean that I want them and I don't want to have to ask again. And the last thing that I want, Nina, is for you to do the things that I ask you to do when we're alone together in your apartment, not like the last time."  Only at the end when he makes reference to the Nina's sexual resistance do we here the slightest bit of irritation in Bloom's voice.

Gyllenhaal is absolutely incredible in the role of Lou Bloom.  It's as if Travis Bickle from Taxi Driver read some self-improvement books and tried to become an entrepreneur.  Indeed, Bloom operates strictly at night like Bickle which makes the mood more eerie.  Gyllenhaal lost 20 pounds for the role so he has a gaunt look which makes him look more menacing.  Gyllenhaal's greatest accomplishment is that he can deliver the line with barely an inflection but convey a very menacing tone.  He uses his hollowed face and piercing eyes to great effect.

Rene Russo shows quite a bit of range as a hardened news veteran barely concealing her desperation.  She thinks she has gotten a break by meeting Bloom but in hindsight, it seems Bloom had targeted her - the news director on the vampire shift at the end of her contract with the lowest rated TV station in LA.  Bloom is like a drug dealer.  He pushes his videos on her until she is hooked and then he shows no mercy.  Money is not enough; he has to drain her of every last drop of her dignity.

Finally, the scenes where Gyllenhaal & Riz Ahmed are in the car; waiting for a story to break or on their way to a story have a understated metaphysical quality to them. The simplistic Rick is concerned with existential matters while Bloom exhibits solipsism to the extreme with his egocentrism and lack of empathy.  The contrast between the two bring their flaws more into focus.

Nightcrawler is a tremendous film.  It's one of the best films I saw in 2014.

2014 Mill Valley Film Festival

The 2014 Mill Valley Film Festival (MVFF) was held form October 2 to 14.  I saw five films.

The Little House starring Haru Kuroki, Takako Matsu & Hidetaka Yoshioka; directed by Yôji Yamada; Japanese with subtitles; (2014)
I Can Quit Whenever I Want starring Edoardo Leo & Valeria Solarino; directed by Sydney Sibilia; Italian with subtitles; (2014)
'71 starring Jack O'Connell; directed by Yann Demange; (2014)

Two Days, One Night starring Marion Cotillard; directed by Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne; French with subtitles; (2014) - Official Facebook

In Order of Disappearance starring Stellan Skarsgård & Bruno Ganz; directed by Hans Petter Moland; Norwegian, Swedish & Serbian with subtitles; (2014)

I saw The Little House at the Smith Rafael in San Rafael.  I saw I Can Quit Whenever I Want, Two Days, One Night & In Order of Disappearance at the Sequoia in Mill Valley.  I saw '71 at the Lark in Larkspur.  It was the first time I've been to the Lark in a few years.

It was unusually hot on the days I went to the festival.  I remember after seeing '71 at the Lark, I returned to my car which was parked on the street during the late afternoon.  The steering wheel was too hot to handle.  I had to drive with one hand.  As it would become too uncomfortable to handle the wheel with one hand, I would switch to the other hand.  I repeated that for quite a while until I decided to pull over and park in the shade.  It reminded me of Texas.  You don't see it so much out here but in Texas, everyone has car shades which are made of folded cardboard or rolled foam.  If you parked your car in the sun, you would put your car shade on the dashboard.  If you didn't, your dashboard would eventually crack from the expansion and contraction of the dash due to exposure to the hot sun.  In addition, the metal on the seatbelt buckles could cause a slight burn if it touched your skin.  The steering wheel would also be intolerably hot.

Before I forget, I stopped in for coffee at a small cafe in Mill Valley. It's called Beth's Community Kitchen.  The sign on the doors says something like Beth's Community Kitchen and Bakery Atelier.  I had to look that word up.  Atelier - an artist's or designer's studio or workroom.

On the day I stopped in, there was a film crew making a documentary there about Beth.  The director/cameraman had an old school 16 mm camera with a spring wound motor.  Maybe we'll see a documentary about Beth at a local film festival.  Maybe I'll be in the background.

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If I recall correctly, it was announced before the screening of The Little House that it was the only "film" being screened with a 35 mm print; everything else at the 2014 MVFF was digital.  For reasons not explained, this meant that there were one or two breaks in the action while they changed reels.  I'm not sure why that would be.  If it was changeover projection, there should be no breaks.  If it was a platter, the film was short enough that it should have been able to fit on one platter.

The Little House was directed by Yôji Yamada whose career had been defined by his Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man)  or Tora-san series.  The series spanned 48 feature films and 26 years.  Yamada directed 46 of the films.  Actor Kiyoshi Atsumi starred in all 48 films.

More recently, Yamada's Twilight Samurai series has garnered attention.  My favorite Yamada film is The Yellow Handkerchief (1977).

The Little House is like many of Yamada's films - sentimental; sometimes overly so.  Told in flashback, a young man reads his late grandmother's memoirs.  What he discovers is that his grannie was in the middle of a love triangle (maybe 2) during the middle of WWII.

Haru Kuroki plays Taki, a young woman who comes to Tokyo to work as a maid.  After a brief stint in the household of an older couple, she is placed with their niece Tokiko (Takako Matsu) who is married and has a son.  Taki forms a close & loyal relationship to the family, in particular Tokiko.  The titular house reflects Tokiko's Western influence.  It's a Western style house more at home in a Norman Rockwell painting than 1940s Tokyo.  Early into the film, Tokiko is introduced to Shoji (Hidetaka Yoshioka), one of her husband's co-workers.

The main plotline of the film is the affair which Tokiko has with Shoji and Taki's complicity in enabling the affair.  Adultery & its consequences is a rich vein to tap but Yamada has placed the film in Taki's point of view which seems a stretch.  In other words, the maid had quite an influence in that household which I guess is the point of the film.

I won't give away the ending but will say that the consequences of losing WWII intervene before the consequences of Tokiko's infidelity become apparent. There is a postscript where Taki's grandson seeks out Tokiko's son in modern day Japan which seemed unnecessary and slightly cruel to me.

I will also note that there is slight but distinct theme of homosexuality in the film.  Taki, after initially being flustered, seems to be in love with Tokiko; at time she seems to be competing with Shoji for her attention.  Tokiko seems to enjoy the attention from both Taki & Shoji.  Shoji is vaguely effeminate and I began to wonder about the true reasons for his repeated refusals to marry.

The Little House is a middling film.  It's too sentimental for my taste but Yamada has a flare for these family melodramas.  Playing it out against the backdrop of WWII was also a bold choice.  No matter what happens with the characters, you know that the war is coming and then the defeat is coming.  It puts their concerns of love & honor in different perspective.

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I Can Quit Whenever I Want went on to screen at the San Francisco Film Society's New Italian Cinema series a month after it screened at MVFF.  ICQWIW is about over-educated, under-employed Italians who have no avenues to make a living.  They resort to manufacturing and selling designer party drugs.  It's like Breaking Bad but played as a farce.  It's intricately plotted and the comedy is one of "fish out of water."  It was amusing while I watched it but not particularly memorable.

'71 was set in Northern Ireland during "The Troubles" in (you guessed it) 1971 which was the peak period of the strife.  Jack O'Connell is Gary Hook, a young British soldier in Belfast who is separated from his unit during a mission.  He is forced to make his way from the Catholic area to the Protestant area.  Along the way, he experiences hostility and kindness from expected & unexpected quarters.  The film did a good job in portraying the fear of retribution which normal citizens must have experienced as well as the betrayals and violence fomented by double agents who infiltrated both sides.  Two months after seeing the film, I can't quite recall the plot but instead remember specific scenes for their intensity.  The double crosses complicated the simple tale of rescuing Gary Hook.  The ending in particular made it appear as though the British wanted Hook to be murdered in order to create a martyr and justify their heavy-handed measures.

The Scandinavians make good action/revenge films and I've seen more than one at MVFF.  I saw Hellsinki in 2009, A Somewhat Gentle Man in 2010 and In Order of Disappearance this year.  Not quite as memorable as the previous two film, IOoD features Stellan Skarsgård as a snow-plough driver who takes revenge on a drug cartel for killing his son.  The premise is ridiculous and the violence is ridiculously over-the-top (the title refers to each person Skarsgård dispatches to the afterlife).  It reminded me of Point Blank where the killer seeks revenge by working his way up the criminal organization. Skarsgård is solid in every role he plays and this one is not different.  It's not quite as memorable as Hellsinki but IOoD continues a tradition of dark comedies masquerading as action films.

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Two Days, One Night went on to screen at the SFFS' French Cinema Now a few weeks after the MVFF screening.  It was my favorite film of the five I saw at this year's MVFF.

The premise of the film is inspired.  Marion Cotillard is Sandra, a wife & mother who has been on disability leave at her job (I believe the company assembled solar panels).  It's not stated in the film but Sandra's leave was likely for stress or mental health reasons.  She is the high-strung type.

Anyway, when she is ready to return to work, she is informed that they got along fine without her and her job has been eliminated.  I can't recall how many workers were at her company; 16 is the number in my head.  Management found out there was too much work for 16 but not enough for 17; better to pay overtime sometimes than a 17th salary all the time.  Sandra complains and they offer a no-win solution.  They'll put Sandra's job to a vote among her peers.  They can vote to reinstate her to her job or they can vote for an annual bonus; it's one or the other.  She needs a majority, a tie will result in not being hired back and everyone getting their bonus.  They tell Sandra about this late in the afternoon on Friday.  She has to spend the weekend (the titular two days, one night) tracking down her former co-workers and asking them to vote for her to get her job back.

Naturally disinclined to beg her co-workers to hire her back, she is pushed by her husband and best friend.  However, it is the people that she encounters that make the film memorable and thought provoking.  Some are immediately for or against her.  Other people are sympathetic but need the money.  Some resent being put in a position to make the decision.  She encounters the full gamut of responses.

I won't reveal the ending but it shows that Sandra has learned to deal with stress much better than at the end of the film.

The reason I liked the film was because it made me think about my own workplace.  If I was approached with such a request, how would I vote?  The answer is "It depends on who is asking."  I think some people are qualified to their job so if asked to hire them back and forgo a bonus, I'd decline.  Then I thought that that position sounded harsh.  I think even if I voted no and got the bonus, I would be resentful that management put me in that position.

I fully empathized with Sandra and several of her co-workers during the film which served to make the film more personal.  In addition, Sandra is counting votes so there is the suspense as to whether or not she'll get 9 votes.  Two Days, One Night is an outstanding film; one of my favorites of 2014.

2014 French Cinema Now

The San Francisco Film Society presented the 2014 French Cinema Now (FCN) from November 6 to 9 at the Vogue Theater.  I saw 7 of the 11 films on the program.  Of the three mini-festivals presented by SFFS this autumn, I attended the most films at FCN.  The lineup was very strong this year.

Paris Follies starring Isabelle Huppert & Jean-Pierre Darroussin; directed by Marc Fitoussi; French with subtitles; (2014)

The Last Diamond starring Bérénice Bejo & Yvan Attal; directed by Éric Barbier; French with subtitles; (2014)

The Good Life starring Zacharie Chasseriaud, Nicolas Bouchaud & Solène Rigot; directed by Jean Denizot; French with subtitles; (2013)

Love Is the Perfect Crime starring Mathieu Amalric, Karin Viard & Maïwenn; directed by Arnaud Larrieu & Jean-Marie Larrieu; French with subtitles; (2013) - Official Website

Three Men to Kill starring Alain Delon; directed by Jacques Deray; French with subtitles; (1980)

The Easy Way Out starring Laurent Lafitte, Benjamin Biolay & Nicolas Bedos; directed by Brice Cauvin; French with subtitles; (2014)

Clouds of Sils Maria starring Juliette Binoche, Kristen Stewart & Chloë Grace Moretz; directed by Olivier Assayas; (2014)  

Two Days, One Night was on the FCN program but I had already seen it at the 2014 Mill Valley Film Festival.

Clouds of Sils Maria is an English language film.  It also played at the 2014 MVFF but I was not able to see it then.  I believe it sold out quickly.

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Paris Follies was the opening night film & Isabelle Huppert must be the hardest working film actress in France.  In 2014 alone, I've seen her in four films (The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby, Abuse of Weakness, Tip Top & now Paris Follies)   Paris Follies reunites Huppert with director Marc Fitoussi with whom she made Copacabana.

Paris Follies plays a housewife opposite Jean-Pierre Darroussin (Le Havre and Rendezvous in Kiruna).  They breed cows and I'm not referring to cattle for beef or milk cows,   It seems like they breed them for competition like the AKC dog show.  My knowledge of animal husbandry is limited so I cannot identify the type of cow.

Anyway, Huppert is bored in her marriage as her husband is somewhat bland.  She concocts an excuse to go to Paris to rendezvous with a younger man she met.  When she loses her nerves, she ends up with a Scandinavian businessman staying at her hotel.  Meanwhile, her husband has discovered her deceit and has gone to Paris to...well I'm not sure what his intention was.  You would think he would confront her but instead, he observes her.

Paris Follies is notable for making infidelity funny and keeping Huppert's character likable despite her behavior.  There is one tremendous scene which has nothing to do with the main plot.  Huppert's son is studying to be a mime.  Darroussin's character, convinced of his wife's betrayal, takes consolation in visiting his son while he is performing.  There is a sequence where the mime fall off a staircase onto an unseen trampoline and bounces back.  Initially, I thought they reversed the "film" but repeated use of the gag & careful observation lead me to believe it was performed as shown.

Paris Follies is an entertaining enough film.  Huppert is very good at showing her character's insecurities & quirks.

The Last Diamond is a caper film about a diamond heist.  Yvan Attal (Rapt) is the con man & expert thief.  Bérénice Bejo (The Artist) is the mark.  The Last Diamond was fairly predictable.  The con man (who is a decent guy at heart) falls in love with his mark but has to continue with the job because he is partnered with some ruthless associates.  It is a well made film and Attal & Bejo are solid in their roles but it wasn't too original.  

I can't help but think that with films like Paris Follies & The Last Diamond that actors of the caliber of Huppert & Bejo aren't slumming a little.  

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The Good Life is based on a true story of parental abduction and living underground for more than a decade.  Yves (Nicolas Bouchaud) lives on a desolate farm with his two teenage sons, Sylvain (Zacharie Chasseriaud) and Pierre (Jules Pelissier).  Fleeing from the police, Yves & Sylvain are separated from Pierre.  They set up house on a riverbank far from anyone.  At least they think that until Sylvain meet an attractive teenage girl who is fishing.  Having been isolated all his life (no school & discouraged from making friends), Sylvain keeps his budding relationship with Gilda (Solène Rigot) a secret from his father.  The heart of the movie is the romance between Gilda & Sylvain.  Gilda has her own issues as her father is an alcoholic.  From her viewpoint, Sylvain's odd & secretive behavior represent a rejection of her until he reveals his secret.

The Good Life does a good job representing the difficulties a family like this must cope with on a long term basis.  It was very sad that in trying to raise his children, the father was actually doing more harm than good.

I know I see a lot of French films because I recognized all three leads in Love Is the Perfect Crime.  I saw Mathieu Amalric from Venus in Fur & Quantum of Solace, Karin Viard & Maïwenn from Polisse and for good measure Denis Podalydès who has a supporting role in Love Is the Perfect Crime was in Camille Rewinds & Granny's Funeral.

Let me start by saying that one of the stars of Love Is the Perfect Crime is the architect who designed the glass enclosed, curvilinear building on the University of Lausanne campus where much of the film is set.  Mathieu Amalric is Marc, an instructor at the university who has a habit of sleeping with his female students.  Actually, he also has a habit of killing them which is established in the opening scene.  I guess to be fair, the audience is initially unsure if that murder is some fugue state hallucination.  One thing that does become clear is that Marc had/has an incestuous relationship with his sister Marianne (Karin Viard) who is dating Marc's detested boss (Denis Podalydès).

Anna (Maiwenn) shows up on campus looking for her missing daughter (one of Marc's victims) and in a delightfully perverse plot twist, Marc beds mother as well.  Not only that but at times, it seems as though Anna suspects Marc killed her daughter.  There is a slutty coed that's coming on to Marc (he's banging everyone without a Y chromosome) but she's brings her own set of problems - her father is a gangster & she thinks Anna is cop.

Love Is the Perfect Crime is preposterous much of the time but it goes about it any sense of self-doubt.  Indeed, the exterior shots in the Swiss Alps and the university campus are beautiful.  The actors & director go about this film as if they are making a masterpiece.  My comments should not be interpreted as a negative review.  The film is great fun.  There is something addictive about Love Is the Perfect Crime which just kept my attention throughout.  Marc just keeps digging himself in deeper until the ending which is the the most preposterous scene of all.

While watching Three Men to Kill, I thought it was a film that Jean-Pierre Melville would have made if he survived into the 1980s.  The character's motivations seemed sufficiently inexplicable for a Melville films.  It was only afterwards that I did some research and found that Three Men to Kill star Alain Delon made three films with Melville (including Melville's final film Un Flic).  Anyway Three Men to Kill resembled a Melville crime film with 1980s aesthetics and fashions.

The plot to Three Men to Kill is very simple.  Delon plays a gambler who while driving comes across a car accident.  He transports the accident victim to the hospital but this was no accident.  It was a murder intended to look like an accident.  The assassins decide Delon has to be killed for reasons I not clear about.  Delon's character proves to be hard to kill and he spends the rest of the film working his way back up the food chain to find out who is responsible.

There is some expository dialog about the titular three men but none is given about why Delon's character is so skilled at high speed pursuit, evading killers, etc.  He has these skills, police contacts and a stubborn streak...deal with it like Delon deals with his assailants.

Perhaps if Melville had made Three Men to Kill, it would have been better.  Under Jacques Deray's direction, it was barely memorable.

The Easy Way Out is about the intersecting lives of three brothers.  Antoine (Laurent Lafitte) is gay, about to move to the suburbs and feeling bored with boyfriend/husband.  Gérard (Benjamin Biolay) can't get over the breakup with his estranged wife.  Louis (Nicolas Bedos) is engaged to be married but is dragging his feet and cheating on his fiancée.  These three brothers are in various states of love and stages in their respective relationships.  Agnès Jaoui as Antoine's headstrong & outspoken coworker and Gérard's love interest is memorable.

The Easy Way Out is an excellent comedy about disappointments & compromises we make in life which are only compounded by our neuroses.  Strong performances by the three lead actors and Guy Marchand & Marie-Christine Barrault as the parents buoy the film

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Sils-Maria is a small town in the Maloja district of the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland.  That's not crucial to appreciating the Clouds of Sils Maria but I kept wondering about it during & after the screening.  Maloja Snake is a fictitious play which plays a key role in Clouds of Sils Maria.  The Maloja (rhymes with Aloha) Snake is not an animal but a real fog formation - the fog snakes its way through the valleys of Maloja.  Clouds of Sils Maria makes use of an actual 1924 German documentary called Das Wolkenphänomen von Maloja (The Cloud Formations of Maloja) which shows the Snake.  Reading an interview with director & screenwriter Olivier Assayas, Maloja Snake (the play within the film) was envisioned as a harsher version of Fassbinder's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant.

Clouds of Sils Maria was an incredible film.  Juliette Binoche portrays Maria Enders, a famous 50something actress who go her big break by playing the co-lead in Maloja Snake as a young woman.  Maloja Snake is about a older woman who falls in love and becomes obsessed with a younger woman.  The relationship is so volatile that it ends with the older woman committing suicide.  Valentine (Kristin Stewart) is her personal assistant.

As the film begins, she is on her way to pick up a lifetime achievement aaward for Wilhelm Melchior, the playwright of Maloja Snake.  In transt, Maria learns that Melchior has died which turns the event into more of a tribute.  It also gives Maria a more introspective mood.  She has accepted the older woman's role in a revival of Maloja Snake but has misgivings.  She attempts to back out of the play but is contractually obligated.

Maria & Valentine decamp at Melchior's house in Sils-Maria.  His widow does want to live there anymore due to the memories it conjures.  Before leaving, she confides to Maria that Melchior's death was a suicide as he had a terminal illness.

Maria & Valentine spend the summer rehearsing Maloja Snake.  This is where Clouds of Sils Maria begins to show its something special.  As they rehearse, Maria's memories of the original play begin to come to the surface.  She transforms herself from playing the tormentor to playing the victim, both in the play and in life.  At times, Maria becomes overly emotional while rehearsing with Valentine.

Chloë Grace Moretz is Jo-Ann Ellis, the troubled teenage actor who is cast in the younger woman's role in Maloja Snake (the role Maria played many years ago).  Ellis is troubled Hollywood star with internet videos of her indiscretions readily available.  As Maria views these videos and gossip items, she becomes unsure of her co-star.  It isn't until a meeting with Ellis that Maria feels reassured.  Valentine ominously notes that Ellis' companion is a well-known writer who is married and the tabloids will eat it up.

The final portion of the film is set in London during the weeks & days before the play.  Ellis is at the center of a media firestorm as news of her affair has gone public.  It proves to be a distraction for Maria but by this point, her transformation is nearly complete.

The plot recap doesn't do justice to the nuances of the film.  The performances of Binoche & Stewart are tremendous.  The plot is the key to the film.  Key plot points are advanced elliptically which gives the film a vaguely mysterious tone and allows for the viewers to assign their own motivations to the characters' actions.

Among the standout scenes are the ones with Hanns Zischler as an actor who seduced Maria as a younger woman.  She is still bitter about it and the two are forced together when Melchior dies.

In a film within a film (not to be confused with the play within the film), Maria & Valentine go to a local cinema to see Ellis' latest film which is set in outer space and looks like something out of the 1970s.  Afterwards, in response to Maria's derision, Valentine defends the film's message despite the sci-fi trappings.  Of course, Stewart could just as well be talking about her own Twilight series films.

The most discussed plot point concerns Valentine's disappearance.  While hiking the mountains to get a view of the Maloja Snake, Valentine disappears while Maria is hiking in front of her.  The audience doesn't see the circumstances of her disappearance and in fact, I wondered if her disappearance didn't indicate that Maria was losing touch with reality.  Her disappearance is never explained and in the next scene, Maria has a different personal assistant.

The word meta applies to Clouds of Sils Maria; a working knowledge of Binoche & Stewart's professional & personal lives comes in handy during some of the film's scenes.  Knowing Maloja Snake is modeled on Petra von Kant gives some context for Maria's trepidation.

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Although I enjoyed all seven films in the FCN series, there was only one film that I was enthusiastic about - Clouds of Sils Maria.  Less ambitious but still worthwhile is The Easy Way Out.  Everything else was step behind.

The Puzzle Within the Castro Theater's October 2014 Calendar

The October calendar at the Castro Theater was tough.  The only person I quickly recognized was Ralph Bellamy on Halloween.  My co-worker, whose facial recognition skills I praised in my September post, drew a blank for the other three.

I cheated and used Google Image Search to identify Ruth Gordon on October 6.  Ms. Gordon is best known for her role in Harold and Maude which doesn't get screened as much now that the Red Vic is closed.  She was also memorable in Every Which Way But Loose and Rosemary's Baby.

That knowledge broke the logjam for me.  I recalled that Ralph Bellamy & Ruth Gordon appeared together in Rosemary's Baby (1968).  Then I noticed the guy on October 20 looked a lot like the actor who portrayed Ruth Gordon's character's husband in the film.  A quick IMDB search resulted in his name - Sidney Blackmer.  That only left the woman shown on October 28.  Seeing the Rosemary's Baby association, I looked each actress in the cast up in IMDB until I found Patsy Kelly.

Summarizing:

October 6 - Ruth Gordon

October 20 - Sidney Blackmer

October 28 - Patsy Kelly

October 31 - Ralph Bellamy

The clues obviously point to Rosemary's Baby but unfortunately the film is not on the Castro Theater's October calendar.  Roman Polanski directed the film so I looked for other films by Polanski on the calendar this month. No luck.

After perusing the calendar for a few moments, I recalled what Jesse Hawthorne Ficks of Midnites for Maniacs had told the audience at the September 19 screening of Inside Llewyn Davis and Coal Miner's Daughter.  He mentioned his upcoming events.  On October 17, Ficks is screening The Dark Knight & Reign of Fire.  Although not listed on the Maniac's website nor the Castro's, I recalled that Jesse had said he was screening a double feature consisting of The Notebook (directed by Nick Cassavetes) and Minnie and Moskowitz (directed by John Cassavetes) in November.  John Cassavetes was in Rosemary's Baby but it seems a stretch for the clues in the October calendar to be pointing to a November film event.

I can't find anything with Mia Farrow on the calendar either.

I also tried looking for anyone whose mother was named Rosemary.  The following individuals' mothers were not named Rosemary - Alfred Hitchcock, Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak (Vertigo), Bernardo Bertolucci (October 18), Nicholas Kristof (October 7), Lauren Bacall (several films on multiple dates) and Andy Warhol (Chelsea Girls).

I notice Ghostbusters on October 24.  That movie deals with a case of demonic possession which is close to the plot of Rosemary's Baby.

Halloween is the most obvious choice for the object of the calendar's clues, but I don't think that is right.  Kind of life, the puzzle on the calendar don't come with a key so I can never know with 100% certainty if I am right or wrong.

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I've never been a big fan of horror films or Halloween.  Halloween always seemed silly to me and now seems like an excuse for people to get drunk.  Horror films rarely frighten me anymore.  I guess I'm just becoming a grumpy old man.  For that reason, the Castro's October calendar is not particularly appealing to me.  Also by my count, the Castro is screening 21 films in October which I have seen before.

I would have liked to have seen Gandhi on Sunday but had other plans.  Orpheus (October 21), The Pawnbroker (October 22) and Giuseppe Makes a Movie (October 27) interest me.  All three non-film events sponsored by the Bay Area Science Festival on October 25 interest me as well.

However, it is the Hou Hsiao-hsien retrospective at the PFA which excites me the most in October.  With 18 films in the series, I believe the series contains all of the Taiwanese director's feature film efforts.  The series begins Friday (October 10) with The Sandwich Man and Cute Girl and continues until December 14.

At present, the Mill Valley Film Festival is occurring.  It will continue until Sunday (October 12).  I have seen several films there this past weekend and intend to see more this upcoming weekend.

November looks to be a busy month compared to October.  The San Francisco Film Society is sponsoring three mini-festival:  French Cinema Now (November 6-9), Hong Kong Cinema (November 14-16) and New Italian Cinema (November 19-23).  All three series will be at the Vogue Theater; their lineups are scheduled to be posted tomorrow.

Third I's program has already been announced.  The San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival runs in two segments.  The festival will be at the Viz and the Castro from November 6-9 and at CineArts in Palo Alto on November 15.

Finally, Elliot Lavine (and Don Macolm) returns to the Roxie from November 14-17 for a French film noir series titled "The French Had a Name For It: Classic French Noir from the 40s through the 60s."  The program for the series is not yet posted.

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Castro Theater Calendar - October 2014