Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?

2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Seven, Films 23 – 25

By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 30, 2010

Ed Budz is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on the rest of the festival, clicking here.

What a day. Great, but heavy!

In Earth Made of Glass, USA by Deborah Scranton, the after-effects of genocide is explored in the Rwandan president’s goal of reconciliation and reintegration of the perpetrators who fled to the Congo while also seeking justice from the French government, deeply implicated in atrocities. It is also the story of a survivor whose family was decimated. What haunts him most is the loss of his best friend – his father, a doctor, who was brutally murdered and the body never found. For years, he returns to the area of the roadblock where this occurred, questioning everyone and receiving no answers. Finally, he has a breakthrough and we bear witness to the son’s pain, grief, anger and loss. Conscious of the message his own son is learning, he still strives for peace – even though he cannot forgive. There is no narration and the camera is dispassionate. It allows us to see, hear, feel and think for ourselves. The honesty and simplicity with which the story unfolds lets us see both the worse and best of Rwanda, and by extension, ourselves.

The Chameleon, France/USA by Jean-Paul Salomé, is a taut thriller, based on a true story. A 15-year-old boy who disappeared three years prior, is found and returned to his family, but an FBI agent has her doubts he is who he says he is. Ellen Barkin gives an utterly transformative performance by as the old-before-her-time, drunken, druggie mom and the story keeps getting more complex. Is he? Isn’t he? More and more questions pile up until we find out the terrible truth. Great performances all around make this a chilling and enjoyable find.

My day ended with The Woodmans, USA/Italy/China by C. Scott Willis. Unlike many docs which explore a wider topic and include a few personal stories to make the subject more personal and human, this one stays focused on this one family of artists and does not presume to explore the broader problems it uncovers. Mom, dad and brother are all successful, working artists and sister Francesca seeks her own voice through photography. She produces stunning, personal, inventive images and today is considered a major photographer of the 20^th Century. But a tragedy stirkes. Through candid interviews with family and friends as well as a look at the art this family has produced, we see how art was given the highest regard and how these values were absorbed by the children. It’s amazing how honest and open the family is about their daughter, their pain and their art.

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Tags: in earth made of glass, the chameleon, the woodmans, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Six, Films 20 – 22

Next Post: Stories from Behind the Wall: The Art of Curating Wall to Wall

This entry was posted on Friday, April 30th, 2010 at 10:14 am and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Six, Films 20 – 22
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 29, 2010

Ed Budz is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on the rest of the festival, clicking here.

Knowing I was going to have a very full day between screenings and my desk, I decided to sleep in and miss my 9:15am screening of Dog Pound. I really want to catch this, so hopefully I’ll get another chance.

Started off with a very funny film, The Infidel by Josh Appignanesi, UK. Comedian Omid Djalili plays an ordinary, working class East Londoner. He has a house, a family, a lamp by his bed in the form of a soccer ball and a hot temper. He’s also Muslim, but not the most observant. He rarely prays, he seldom fasts and he has been known to have a pint or two. Deep inside though, he is a believer. His entire world-view gets flipped upside-down when he finds out he was adopted and his birth mother Jewish. A la, La Cage Aux Folles, his son who’s about to get married to the stepdaughter of an orthodox Imam wants him to be ‘more’ Muslim and the rabbi of his birth father, whom he has tracked down, wants him to learn how to be Jewish. As the stereotypes of both worlds are called forth and then torn down, what’s left is the commonality of being human.

I was originally stuck with more than an hour to kill before my next film when I saw that a screening was added of No Woman, No Cry, USA, by Christy Turlington Burns. I was in luck as it’s only an hour long and I could still make my next screening, and I really wanted to catch this one. Glad I did. It tells the story of the threat of maternal deaths from childbirth (or crude abortions) from a Maasai woman as well as women from Bangladesh, Guatemala and the US, which has a higher mortality rate than many poorer nations. Cultural values are explored and we learn how the loss of a mother can rend an entire family as in losing her, they lose the family farmer and caretaker. Interestingly, we are only shown success stories where help was received in time. Appropriate, I think, as this is the message of the film and it’s heartbreaking enough just to imagine the tragedies that could be prevented with education, pre-natal care and safe and sanitary birthing centers.

Monica & David by Alexandra Codina, USA, is a delightful look at an irrepressible couple. When Monica and David were younger, their life expectancy was 25. Now, it is 60. So it is for people with Down syndrome. Monica’s cousin documents their life for a year – from planning their big wedding to learning how to cook and live together. It is also the story of their mothers – who were both left by their husbands when their children were very young. For these families, their children are a lifelong commitment. The camera never feels intrusive as we are allowed a private look into their lives. Full of humor and sweet moments, as well as the difficulty of such a life, we also see why these parents feel blessed.

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Tags: Monica & David, no woman no cry, the infidel, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Five, Films 16 – 19

Next Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Seven, Films 23 – 25

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 29th, 2010 at 5:14 pm and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Five, Films 16 – 19
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 28, 2010

Ed Budz is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on the rest of the festival, clicking here.

While there are effective moments in Climate of Change, Brian Hill, USA/UK, the overall message comes off too touchy-feely and as heavy-handed propaganda – admittedly for a good cause. We are bludgeoned throughout by kids smugly preaching, a score of new-age music, and what comes across as a noir-ish, Seussian paean to the glories of nature and the consequences of its destruction. By itself, the narration written by British Poet Simon Armitage and read by Tilda Swinton would probably be moving – just not in this context. Some scenes are staged, and look hokey. The film works when the activists – ordinary men and women from Appalachia to Papua New Guinea to Togo – talk about their efforts to end mountaintop removal mining, to preserve a way of life or to save the rainforests from deforestation. They are eloquent and we feel their pain.

Budrus, (USA/Palestine/Israel, by Julia Bacha), is about the titular town in Palestine and its’ non-violent demonstrations against the security fence that Israel is building – in this case, through the generations old olive groves, far from the border. As the protests grow, the women of the village join in, then Israeli Jews and international activists. And tensions mount to the point where the village is occupied. It’s clear that the soldiers, many of them 18-year-old kids, are just following orders from the government, and it’s also clear that the village has a commitment to non-violence as a strategy they hope and believe will be effective. This coming together for a common cause – the rights and livelihood of it’s villagers – helps promote understanding and sets an example of non-armed resistance for it’s people. This is inspiring..

I was deeply moved by Mika Ronkainen’s documentary Freetime Machos, (Finland/Germany), which follows one of Finland’s worst amateur rugby teams. Focusing mostly on a pair of best pals, one married with four kids, the other engaged, it follows them as they play (and lose), travel buses, drink and sit around half naked in saunas talking about women, sex, feelings, and homosexuals. Skillfully edited to the point that it often plays like a narrative fiction, the charm, playfulness, camaraderie, tenderness, strength and insecurities of these men shines through. It’s full of humor and honest moments. Very special.

Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed Faith Akin’s Soul Kitchen (Germany). Set in Hamburg, this sweet-natured comedy of errors involves the just-getting-by owner of a bar/restaurant in an old building at the edge of town. His customers love his pre-fab, no frills food, but when his girlfriend’s job sends her off to China, he is divided between his existing life and a more committed one with his girlfriend. Add a shiftless brother on parole, a drunken, but brilliant new chef – mix in a slipped disc and an unscrupulous businessman and a whole lotta good music and you have a really fun film.

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Tags: budrus, climate of change, freetime machos, Soul Kitchen, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: Stories from Behind the Wall: Sergei Slonimsky

Next Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Six, Films 20 – 22

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010 at 9:18 am and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Four, Films 12 – 15
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 26, 2010

Ed Budz is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on the rest of the festival, clicking here.

Another good day! I finally feel I’ve hit my stride. One of the unique aspects of a festival is running into people. Today, I walked by teens featured in Sons of Perdition. I couldn’t think how far they have come – both literally and figuratively. Yesterday as I was leaving I ran into Jim Browne, one of Tribeca’s programmers, who had to dash in to introduce a screening that I was slated to see first thing the next day.

First up: When We Leave, from Germany, Director & Screenwriter Feo Aladag. This moving drama concerns the cultural/religious traditions regarding family. Like Sons of Perdition from day one and Loose Cannons, (which I’ll write more on soon), it explores the consequences of seeking out a life different than the one your family expects for you. Here, a 25 year-old woman leaves Istanbul with her young son to return to her parents in Berlin.

The heartache comes on all sides – the parents and her brothers from the disgrace they feel – the father to be separated from his son (though the less sympathetic point of view presented), the sister who may lose her own hoped for dreams because of her sister’s actions, the boy to bear witness to the sudden moves and anger around him and the mother’s anguish at feeling she has to make a choice while being presented with no good options. Here, a woman must obey her husband – she belongs to him. If she should leave, the son belongs to the father and the woman is a whore. The most fully developed characters of the parents and the mother express a wide and believable range of emotions about the situation. You truly see the warring sides of the emotional conflict written on their faces. To do what they should do vs. what they must do. One thinks one has an idea of how it will all end because of the opening scene, which starts near the end of the story, so what does happen comes as much more of a shock.

Next up was a total romp from Ireland. In Zonad, by brothers Kieran and John Carney (Once), a small town that seems stuck in the 50’s receives a mysterious stranger…from Space? One family takes him in and hilarity ensues as he explores the joys of booze and every teenager…make that every woman – in town. Think Sleeper meets Pleasantville meets Down and Out in Beverly Hills (or the French original). The performances are dead on – especially of Zonad, the teenager whose home he stays in and her boyfriend. And the joke remains funny right until the end.

Loose Cannons, from Italy by Ferzan Ozpetek is billed as a comedy. And it certainly is genuinely funny. Laugh-out-loud funny at times. But it is much more than that. It is also a richly nuanced and beautifully told story of the choices we make. A young man from a wealthy pasta manufacturing family is about to be named a partner by his father in a company merger. He, however, wants to write. More importantly, he decides to tell the family he’s gay – something he knows will shock his father. Thwarted by his older brother, he wrestles between following his mind (and heart) or pleasing his father. So much is conveyed throughout the film – by the spare, pitch-perfect dialogue, but also by what is not said or by a subtle look. This is a very fine film. See it!

My day ended with Just Like Us, from the US by stand-up comedian and first-time director Ahmed Ahmed. It documents a comedy tour of the Middle East: Dubai, Beirut, Riyadh and Cairo. While anything goes in Beirut, one can’t even say the word ‘shit’ let alone talk about religion or politics in the other cities. Despite these restrictions, this talented group of established and new comedians – including the first woman to ever do stand-up in that region – show that the more we can laugh at ourselves, the better we come to understanding each other. I almost went to see another film, but the idea of waiting another hour made me take the chance on this, and I’m glad I did. Ahmed’s time spent with family both in Egypt and New York rounded out an already good film.

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Image credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Tags: down and out in beverly hills, just lik eus, loose cannons, pleasantville, sleeper, sons of perdition, tribeca film festival, when we leave, zonad

Previous Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Three, Films 7 – 11

Next Post: Stories from Behind the Wall: Sergei Slonimsky

This entry was posted on Monday, April 26th, 2010 at 8:56 am and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Three, Films 7 – 11
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 25, 2010

Ed Budz is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on the rest of the festival, clicking here.

DAY THREE, Films 7 – 11

Today more than makes up for yesterday’s weak showing! First off, Sons of Perdition, is a must-see. It is from the US and directed by Tyler Measom and Jennifer Merten is a hopeful doc about a heartbreaking subject – the teens, (mostly young men), who have courageously left their lives as members of Warren Jeffs’ FLDS, (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) cult. The film let’s these teens speak for themselves over the course of two years, and they prove wise and strong beyond their years as they struggle to live independently, though they feel deeply the loss of their families. Jeffs’ own recorded preaching interspersed throughout creates a chilling counterpoint. What’s so sad is that the families have bought into a belief system that would rather see their child dead than leave the church – for to do so means eternal damnation, despite the fact that every one of these kids would make any normal parent proud. The story of the young girl’s lives – kept as baby machines with no free will – is touched on, and as worthy as its own film.

Next up was pure fun – Clash, from Vietnam by Le Thanh Son. This action flick, with an operatic score, washed out look, and immensely likable (and sexy) heroes totally worked. The police and rival gangs are all after a laptop containing government secretes. There’s been a trend in martial arts scenes to be so fast paced and filled with impossible moves that your can’t keep track of what’s going on. Here, you manage to somehow follow every move. The little bits of humor are just enough to keep things from getting too heavy and the main characters convey a believable humanity.

Third was Feathered Cocaine, by Thorkell Hardarson and Orn Marino Armarson from Iceland – another compelling and well-crafted film, six years in the making. The film follows the story of a Mr. Parrot who once sold falcons to the Sheik’s and princes, but now has dedicated his life to saving what is becoming an endangered species. His unique access to the Arab world to preserve falcons has led him to draw some startling, exhaustively documented, conclusions. He makes a creditable case that Washington isn’t really interested in capturing Osama Bin Ladin. From the lucrative, (up to one million dollars per bird), but unsustainable black market practices of falcon trading, a trail is traced to the Arab falcon hunting camps where money is regularly funneled to terrorists and Bin Ladin is a frequent visitor, but many of the elite have long-held ties to our government.

Next, I watched Gainsbourg, Je T’Aime…Moi Non Plus by first time director/cartoonist Johan Star out of France. Gainsbourg was a French singer who kept reinventing himself musically and whose songs were huge for decades in France. He also was a womanizer and one of his lovers was Brigitte Bardot. I know this now. Despite never having heard of him before, this biopic, which starts during his childhood in Nazi occupied France and goes through the 70’s, sucks you in. Throughout the film, puppet-headed alter-egos of the protagonist – which only he can see - alternately taunt, jeer and cheer him on. So committed are the director and the actors to accepting this convention, that it adds rather than detracts to the film. Featuring great (albeit new to me) music and a brilliant performance by Eric Elmosnino.

Lastly, The Space Between by Travis Fine, from the US, is a different kind of road movie. A bitter flight attendant is given charge to mind a 10-year old Pakistani boy as he travels alone from NYC to LA. Something happens to put the airlines in turmoil and the woman is ‘stuck’ caring for the boy. She decides to bring him back to his father in NY, and along the way, musters up some compassion for him and some forgiveness for herself. The performances were fine and truthful as we get to know the woman through the eyes of the boy.

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Tags: clash, feathered cocaine, Gainsbourg Je T’Aime Moi Non Plus, sons of production, The Space Between, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Two

Next Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Four, Films 12 – 15

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 6:43 pm and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Two
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 24, 2010

Ed is blogging the films he sees at the Tribeca Film Festival. To see his thoughts on day one, click here.

It should be noted that I’m mostly avoiding pix with star power and focusing on smaller films. You’ll see though in coming days that I will indulge in a few guilty pleasures – sometimes just because I can’t resist and other times because the schedule gives me little other choice.

Today was not as productive and it was sooooooo S-L-O-W! My first choice was Into Eternity, out of Denmark/Finland/Sweden and Italy, directed by Michael Madsen. The topic looked promising – a doc about Finland building an enormous underground repository for their nuclear waste, designed to last 100,000 years and to be kept safely buried through the ages. That message is endlessly repeated by the director and scientists. The info here could have been condensed into a rather short film. There simply is not enough of interest going on here. The director tries his best to infuse some drama in this dull film, but it doesn’t fit, and the talking heads are just too genial about the whole thing.

The second disappointment of the day was my third film, Buried Land by Geoffrey Alan Rhodes and Steven Eastwood out of Bosnia and Herzegovina/UK and US. This disjointed film about the 2005 discovery of a grouping of pyramids in central Bosnia, (debunked by many leading scientists), could not make up its’ mind whether it was a doc, a film-within-a-film, a narrative drama, a social commentary or a piece of avant-garde theatre. The mix of genres just doesn’t gel. Though there are some beautiful shots, it just isn’t enough to hold together cohesively. Even some of the dialogue seems to come out of nowhere. What could have been a good film about the exploitation and tourist-ification of a supposed national treasure is simply a muddle.

Which brings me to my middle film, from Iran: The White Meadows, directed by Mohammed Rasoulof. This metaphor of a chaotic country is served up as a poetic and mysterious story of a man who rows his boat from island to island off the salty coast of Iran, collecting heartaches and tears in bottles. Each village is isolated and the residents deeply superstitious. Their rites are ancient and relentless – there is no tolerance for deviation from the norm, and every island visited reveals another victim. Filled with startling imagry – the dark-clad villagers against the stark, white salt flats – the endless rowing against the pale blue water – a ritualized burial at sea – these shots stay with you and resonate long after the credits roll.

Tags: buried land, into eternity, the white meadows, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day One

Next Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Three, Films 7 – 11

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 24th, 2010 at 10:29 am and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Error: Unable to create directory /usr/local/apache2/htdocs/www.symphonyspace.org/blog_content/wp-content/uploads/2012/05. Is its parent directory writable by the server?
2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day One
By Ed Budz, Director of Film Programs
Published on April 23, 2010

I’ll be reporting on the films I see each day. While there are films I seek out, there are times when the schedule is such that my available choices are not films on my radar and I’m very happy to take what comes my way. It’s a good way to discover something new and unexpected and I’m rarely disappointed.

My day starts out with a Phillippines/France co-production: Lola directed by Brillante Mendoze – Cannes’ Best Director in 2009. It is in Fillipino and Tagalog–which I mention strictly because my nephew Todd has developed many internet friends in the Phillipines and is learning Tagalog! The film centers around a theft resulting in homicide, but both the victim and the accused are ancillary to the story, which mostly centers around their respective grandmothers. One is looking for funds for a burial and the other to post the bail bond. Set amongst the poverty of the Manila slums, its overcrowded streets and waterways, the ever-present roar of traffic, TV’s and torrential rainstorms, these matriarchs scratch out an existence and are the driving forces of their families.

Despite the harshness, there is still dignity. One notices the clean clothes and civility, the neighbors’ donations towards the funeral. This is a culture that respects age. It is also one in which the state does not prosecute if the victim’s family have come to an understanding – which brings the grandma’s together. The films pace and feel make it seem very ‘real’. There is little dialogue, which adds to the overall effect, combined with simple, powerful performances. A few lighter moments relieve the heaviness – even in the worse of times, there can be some joy, however fleeting. What comes across even more strongly, are the ties of family, perseverance and making do.

Next up is Moloch Tropical by Raoul Peck from Haiti/France. A fictional Haitian President is ensconced in his mountain fortress – with an ultra modern, designer interior – and the best food, wine and clothes. The country is in chaos- riots and protests against the U.S. backed regime – but the reigning megalomaniac and his cronies, women and men, hold fast to their power and the perks. Even the servants scheme for a buck or a visa, trading sex for promised favors, but they have little choice anyway.

By shooting the film almost entirely in and around the fortress, the isolationism of the government to the people and of the Island to the world is heightened and further illustrated by the difficulty of the staff to secure a good crowd of dignitaries to commemorate the anniversary of independence. What little humor there is comes across as very dark, while scenes of brutality to a political prisoner are chilling in their understatement. This is a good ensemble cast of strong performers and a most unusual, but worthwhile film.

Last film of the day, (hey, I have to get back to my desk on weekdays!), is Road, Movie. An India/USA film directed by Dev Benegal. Good way to end as I need a little relief from the previous seriousness. A young man persuades his uncle to let him deliver his truck containing a portable cinema to a distant city. Along the way, he picks up a young boy and an old man. This simple tale starts with a somewhat self-centered man who makes a believable transition to one with compassion. Most of the journey takes them through the desert, and the many mirage-like episodes of their encounters are hauntingly beautiful.

The scenes in which old films are shown to people who have rarely or never seen such works are reminiscent of Cinema Paradiso in the best possible way. The most grave moment in the film deftly turns light – just the right thing. Despite a few minor inconsistencies (why do they need to tap onto an electric line to power the projectors in one village, but have no problem powering up in the middle of the desert?), this is a lovely film, well-acted, beautifully shot, and restrained. I look forward to more work by Mr. Benegal!

Catch the rest of Ed’s thoughts about the Tribeca Film Festival by clicking here

Tags: lola, Moloch Tropical, Road Movie, tribeca film festival

Previous Post: Apartments and Neighbors Winner!

Next Post: 2010 Tribeca Film Festival Day Two

This entry was posted on Friday, April 23rd, 2010 at 12:15 pm and is filed under film. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.