IFFR 1999: Day 6
IFFR 1999, day 6
Project A, Survival Guide to the IFFR 1999
Review: Orphans
DIRECTOR: Peter Mullan
CAST: Douglas Henshall, Gary Lewis, Stephen Cole, Frank Callagher, Alex Norton
Alex Cox metioned that he didn't quite understand why actors wanted to be directors. Well, some can go right ahead and continue making films! Like Peter Mullan who was in Braveheart and Trainspotting. This story about three brothers and their empaired sister who mourn about the death of their mother and every single one runs into the trouble the night before the funeral. The fast pace and the everchanging plots of the four keeps the viewer on the edge. The whole film is packed with jokes, but also with strong emotions. It doesn't matter that some of the dialog is almost incomprehensable because of the scottish accent. Great fun!
Review: Black Angel II
DIRECTOR: Ishii Takashi
CAST: Amami Yuki, Yamato Takeshi, Kataoka Reiko
This film is almost too stylised. From the first shots onward every camera angle is carefully set most of the shots are made from the ground, the scenes are slow and an atempt is made too be poetic. This movies fails in that, the best scenes are the very violent shootouts and fightscenes, lots of different angles, highly orchestrated. This film is about style and in that it's good.
Review: La sueur des palmiers
DIRECTOR: Radwan El Kashef
CAST: Sherinan, Mohamed Nagati
Maybe I just don't get this or Egyptian cinema is too alien for me. But this very moralistic story with a lot of religious undertone is just not my cup of tea. It has it's moments and it's good to see some Egyptian culture, but in the end it bored me to death.
Review: Barrio
DIRECTOR: Fernando León de Aranoa
CAST: Crispulo Cabezas, Timy, Eloi Yebra
Young boys get bored easily, young boys in the outskirts of the city even easier. That's why in the end they always run into trouble and even turn to crime. The three teens in this Tiger Award offering haven't run into trouble yet, but the way thing progress it soon will happen. This makes for very funny wiseguy dialog, funny situations and some very painful twists. Original story, excellent acting by unknown young actors and beautifully filmed.
Review: Three Businessmen
DIRECTOR: Alex Cox
CAST: Miguel Sandoval, Robert Wisdom, Alex Cox, Isabel Ampudia
Men on the road are scared, scared of their surroundings, scared of other people, scared of every new situation they get into. And because this happens all the time to businessmen on the road this is a good basis for a funny movie. Alex Cox has pulled this concept into absurdity and letting the two businessmen get lost, very lost, from one city to another, constantly talking about whatever men talk about: gadgets, business, science, nothing, and looking for restaurants. The religious twist at the end is the icing on the cake. Enjoyable.
Review: Victor... pendant qu'il est trop tard
DIRECTOR: Sandrinne Veysset
CAST: Jérémy Chaix, Lydia Andrei, Mathieu Lané, Skan Guenin
I've said it before, I'll say it again, this movie already has won the Tiger Award if I had my say in it. It's the first movie in the festival which gave me chills down the spine. A little boy runs away from home and finds refuge with a hooker who has a comparable sexually abused childhood as the boy, they become good friends. Every single person in the movie is acting excellently especially the little boy and hooker played by Lydia Andrei. The rough and dark photographing make it even more touching.
Review: Touch of Evil
DIRECTOR: Orson Welles
CAST: Orson Welles, Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, Marlene Dietrich
Halfway through the movie Marlene Dietrich sums it up, almost, by saying: "It's so old it's new". Sadly it's not and even making a directors cut out of the memo Orson wrote after the studio had butchered one of his masterpieces. Let's face it's old, so the actors act too much, talk too much and it takes a while till the story picks up. The photographing is excellent though and you should definitly see it for the opening sequence alone, which is truly amazing.