SIFF 2007: Madrigal Is the Worst Episode Ever

MADRIGAL

(Fernando Pérez, Cuba, 2007, 112 minutes)

The only good thing in Madrigal: Carla Sanchez.

I was hoping Waiter would be the worst film I saw at SIFF, but I hoped in vain. 

Madrigal is worse. How much worse? I wrenched my back a little over a week ago and was in considerable pain for three days. I didn't so much as take an aspirin. Madrigal lasted 112 minutes and about ten minutes in I was screaming for the Vicodin.

Not being familiar with Fernando Perez I had no idea he is one of the most celebrated film directors of Cuba, a fact I never would have guessed from watching this movie. Far from looking like the accomplished work of a veteran director, Madrigal appears to be a first-time feature by a student filmmaker; the depiction of contemporary human behavior and sexual mores being so utterly inept it could have only been written by a kid with zero life experience or a hopelessly out-of-touch old fart.

At this point, I suppose, a diegesis of the plot and characters should be given but, oddly, neither the story nor the protagonists are at fault. At its core, the plot [actor woos and betrays lonely girl at the behest of his conniving girlfriend] has sound elements and solid potential, as does each and every character. The problem, again, is with the treatment.

Perez's writing/direction is so labored, so sodden with bad surrealism, bad poetry and heavily portentous dialogue that the film easily scores an 11 on the pretentious-o-meter. Basically, its an epic Calvin Klein Obsession ad, but without the wit and subtlety. The soundtrack consists mainly of the same piano chord being banged whenever anything vaguely dramatic occurs, leading one to the nagging suspicion that Perez is trying to emulate the Ligeti snippet in Eyes Wide Shut. Further proof of this is provided by an orgy scene so choreographed it makes the one in Kubrick's flick look like a Rocco Siffredi vid.

Aside from some wonderfully lensed shots of the decaying splendor of Havana, the only good thing in Madrigal is Carla Sánchez as the conniving girlfriend, Eva. Although whether that's due to her performance, which injects the only shot of piquancy into the movie, or the frequency of her nude scenes is hard to say.

Wed, June 13, 6:30pm, Neptune
Sat, June 16, 6:45pm, Lincoln Square

Image from TVE / Wanda Visión S.A. (Carla Sánchez). 

More on the phrase "worst episode ever" here. 

SIFF 2007: A Few Quick and Dirty Ones - Art of Crying, Big Rig, Born and Bred, and More

ART OF CRYING / Kunsten at Græde i Kor

(Peter Schønau Fog, Denmark, 2006, 107 minutes)

If you've ever wondered what a Todd Solondz picture would look like if it was directed by Ingmar Bergman, this is the movie. Sick, funny, incredibly deadpan and oddly affecting, Art of Crying has to be one of the most tasteful films ever made about a completely fucked-up family.

Wednesday June 6 4:30pm Pacific Place
Monday June 11 6:45 pm Egyptian

BIG RIG

(Doug Pray, USA, 2007, 95 minutes)

If you're expecting a Smokey and The Bandit, Convoy, CW McCall, naked girl mudflap nostalgia-fest, forget it. There are a few C&W oldies on the soundtrack and a respectful nod to chrome, but Big Rig is a contemporary portrait of a diverse group of long-haul truck drivers, most of whom think the country is going to hell. Interestingly, the three most upbeat truckers in the movie are a Polish immigrant and two black guys, one of whom has the tricked-out truck supreme. Although the doc is by no means comprehensive [no mention of NAFTA and no real explanation of how large trucking companies operate] it features lots of wonderful footage of the USA from a windshield perspective. The pic is well lensed with a Panasonic VariCam with crisp, nighttime photography. Score another one for HD!

Friday June 1 9:30pm Egyptian
Saturday June 2 3:15pm Egyptian

BORN AND BRED / Nacido y Criado

(Pablo Trapero, Argentina/Italy/UK, 2006, 100 Minutes)

I should have liked this film. It had all the elements I normally dig. A desolate, but beautiful landscape, an observational take on human behavior and a resolution that isn't false or un-earned. And yet the story of a man who loses his family in a car wreck and then broods about it in Patagonia left me cold. While taking a shower, it hit me. Born and Bred has no mystery and with no mystery there can be no discovery. We know everything about Santiago by the time he arrives in exile, so every revelation he unveils only surprises the other characters. The film, in a sense, contains its own spoilers. If they had cut out the beginning and end, you would have had the tension of a man unfolding between two suspensions. Without that existential interest, the film becomes an exercise in photography and acting. A rather good one, but disappointing all the same.

Tuesday May 29 7:00pm Pacific Place
Thursday May 31 4:30pm Pacific Place

HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE

(Doris Dörrie, Germany, 2007, 94 minutes)

A profile of Edward Espe Brown, author of the Tassajara Bread Book and resident chef at the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center, this film could have easily been called "How to Live A Contented Existence When You Happen to Be An Incredibly Fortunate Human Being." Actually, that's a bit ungenerous. The San Francisco Zen Center does good work in the community, but anyone who lives a peaceful and secure existence in the Bay Area, let alone Monterey County, would have to be ranked among the luckiest people in the world. Brown comes across as a fairly affable man, who has some valuable things to say about life and knows a heckuva lot about bread baking, but Tony Bourdain he's not. Watch this if you have the time, otherwise wait for it on PBS.

Friday June 15 7:00pm SIFF Cinema
Sunday June 17 11:00am SIFF Cinema

LIFE IN LOOPS (A MEGACITIES RMX)

(Timo Novotny, Austria, 2006, 79 minutes)

Speaking of people who don't have such wonderful lives, this movie is the perfect illustration of something Frank Zappa once said to an audience, "I have an important message to deliver to all the cute people all over the world. If you're out there and you're cute, maybe you're beautiful, I just want to tell you something, there's more of us ugly mother-fuckers than you are... hey!" Starting with some street hustlers in New York, the film bounces around the globe, introducing us to different varieties of horrible. A dye sifter living in a hut in Bombay seems to have the worst life in the world until we meet a group of scavengers salvaging bits of plastic from a filthy river. By the time we come back to a junky in NYC, he doesn't seem to have it so bad. The film sounds like a bummer, but Timo Novotny does a fascinating job of remixing and extending the footage Michael Glawogger shot for Megacities. If you missed this at NWFF, please try to catch it if it comes to town again or get the DVD. It's riveting.

4 ELEMENTS

(Jiska Rickels, Netherlands, 2006, 89 minutes)

To take an analogy from Woody Allen, If Life in Loops presented the horrible, this film presents the miserable. Actually, you couldn't necessarily say the people in this film are miserable. They just have jobs you or I wouldn't want to do. Observing firefighters in Siberia, deep-sea crabbers in Alaska, coal miners in Germany and cosmonauts training in Kazakhstan, Jiska Rickels presents us with a display of labor in four exhausting fields. One of the best things a film can do is to show us how people live and 4 Elements does this in a completely absorbing manner. Again, catch it if it returns and, if not, get the DVD.

GLUE / Glue - Historia Adolescente en Medio de la Nada

(Alexis Dos Santos, Argentina, 2006, 110 minutes)

Left: Gordon Gano's biggest fan

As the lights went down at the Harvard Exit, my friend Bill asked me why I decided to see this movie. I said, "I figured it'll be like an Argentinean Wassup Rockers. You know, underage kids, sex, drugs. That'll be good, right?'" I was joking, but I was right! Glue is very Larry Clark/Harmony Korine, but without the "hell-in-a-handbasket" feeling. You've got glue huffing teenage boys, naked teenage boys, naked teenage girls, teenage boys jerking off, teenage boys having sex with teenage girls, teenage boys having sex with teenage boys, teenage girls taking showers and the music of the Violent Femmes. Basically, it's American Apparel, the movie. I pity anyone who missed this.

MY BEST FRIEND / Mon Meilleur Ami

(Patrice Leconte, France, 2006, 94 minutes)

Upon leaving the theater, an audience member described this as "harmless." Let's leave it at that.

KING OF KONG

(Seth Gordon, USA, 2007, 79 minutes)

This was a fist-pumping "fuck yeah!" of a film. Steve Wiebe got a standing ovation at the Memorial Day screening and well deserved it. Seth Gordon probably won't admit it, but King of Kong is a big up-yours to Florida and all the "USA! USA!" meatheads of the world; and as our representative of Blue State decency, Wiebe and his family come across as the only normal, grounded people in the picture. By contrast, Wiebe's nemesis, Billy Mitchell, is a walking caricature. Seriously, he's about as ironic as Chuck Norris. When they cast King of Kong as a feature, they can stick a mullet on Kevin Bacon and call it a day. If you missed this at SIFF, don't fret. Expect this in theaters everywhere.

Images from Cineplex.com (Jannik Lorenzen in Art of Crying) 

and Frameline (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart in Glue).  

Paris, Je T'aime Does Not Disappoint

PARIS, JE T'AIME
(Various, France, 2006, 120 minutes)

I was looking forward to this film more than any other this year at SIFF, and it did not disappoint. Paris, Je t'aime is beautifully composed of 18 different shorts about love in the city of love (18 different neighborhoods throughout Paris), by 18 different directors.

Directors include Olivier Assasayas, Joel & Ethan Cohen, Wes Craven, Alfonso Cuaron, Gerad Depardieu, Gux Van Sant, and more - and stars include Steve Buschemi, Miranda Richardson, Willen Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Bob Hoskins, Natalie Portman, Gena Rowlands (whose bittersweet story was one of my favorites) and too many more to mention.

Weaving drama, comedy, musicals, and even horror together, the stories collectively show you all sides of love - not just the fuzzy, romantic, head"n-the-clouds wonderfullness - but also the underneath: the problems, the heartbreak, the REALness of it. The blended together seamlessly, and when it was over, I was wishing there were more.

Paris, Je T'aime shows again at SIFF today (Monday, May 28th) at 11am @ The Harvard Exit, and it opens at The 7 Gables this Friday. Actor Elias McConnell (who starred in the Gus Van Sant story) is scheduled to attend today's screening.

Image from Fandango (Gena Rowlands in "Quartier Latin").

Girls Rock! Benefit for Rock and Roll Camp

GIRLS ROCK!
(Arne Johnson and Shane King, USA, 2007, 87 minutes)

Last night, I saw the excellent documentary Girls Rock! at SIFF, and the director mentioned that today there's a benefit for the Rock and Roll camp the film is about.

Head over to Chop Suey - 1325 E Madison - TODAY. Doors open at 1:30pm, you pay $10, it goes to a good cause, and you get to see some pretty amazing girls....rock.

And if you missed the film last night, you've got another chance. It's playing tomorrow (Sun, May 27) at SIFF Cinema. Showtime is 1pm.

Image from Rotten Tomatoes.

SIFFBloggers! A Question from a Reader

Faithful reader Emily emails:

"Hello,

Random question for you. I was also at the festival last night and really enjoyed the film and the gala. My question is: are all the galas as amazing as that one was? Or are they much smaller? What are they like?

Thanks for your time!"

As a non-attendee, I cannot answer this. But those of you who did, won't you please weigh in in the comments?

No one ever answered this question. Image from the Seattle P-I.-ed

SIFF 2007 Opening Night Gala: Son of Rambow

SON OF RAMBOW
(Garth Jennings, 2007, UK, 95 mins)

Last night, I had the extreme pleasure of attending the 2007 SIFF Opening Gala at the new Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Deborah Person, Carl Spence, and Gary Tucker all openly shared their love for the festival, and a general sense of excitement about this year filled the theater (which was packed full). Then the movie started, and I forgot about everything else.

Son of Rambow, directed by Garth Jennings (both Jennings and Producer Nick Goldsmith were in attendance for the screening), is one of the sweetest coming-of-age comedies I have ever seen. Everything about this film made me happy from beginning to end. As for a capsule, I can't say it any better than it's already been said, so click here to read about it on the SIFF site.

To my delight, the film has tons of 80s references that led me down a nostalgic memory lane - and tied right into the DJ theme for the party portion of the evening. Directly after the film, we were herded out through a fancy tented area (VIP only), and down to the Exhibition Hall for the party. Decorated in white and lush, deep red - the party area resembled a comfortable, hip lounge. There were couches and beds to sit on with tons of pillows, big red curtains shielded the walls, the Bombay Gin and Pyramid Ale areas were set up nicely, there were lots of good food vendors (including excellent friend chicken from Ezell's), and there was a big screen (and several smaller ones) playing loops of 80s classics Pretty in Pink and The Breakfast Club.

In other words: My kind of party. 

The fact that it was absolutely that should be evident by my departure time (1:30am) and the five SIFF Bombay gin drinks, which led to me falling all over producer Nick Goldsmith later, telling him exactly how and why I thought his movie was magic. In retrospect, it's probably a good thing I couldn't find the director. Thank god my party companion was sober enough to drive me home!

This year's festival is off to a really good start - I am ready and excited to go see more films. As for Son of Rambow, you may have to wait awhile to see it if you missed opening night (IMDb is showing a US release of 2008), but trust me: it will be worth it.

Image of Will Poulter and Bill Milner from RogerEbert.com.

Running on Empty: An Insurance Salesman, a Soapmaker and a Waiter Walk into a Bar...

RUNNING ON EMPTY / Der Lebensversicherer
(Bülent Akinci, Germany, 2006, 97 minutes)

DR. BRONNER'S MAGIC SOAPBOX
(Sara Lamm, 2006, USA, 88 minutes)

Right: Meshugge like a fox

The great philosopher Boris Grushenko once said, "There are worse things in life than death. If you've ever spent an evening with an insurance salesman, you know what I'm talking about." Yes, but what if you spent the evening with an insurance salesman, a soap maker and a waiter? What's worse than that, the chicken & biscuit bowl at KFC? Actually, the insurance salesman was erratically engaging, the soap-maker was entertainingly crazy and the waiter? Let's just say he's not getting a tip.

The insurance salesman is Burkhard Wagner, a modern day Flying Dutchman. Instead of roaming the high seas, he cruises the autobahn, unable to go home until he fulfills a seemingly Sisyphean sales-quota. Sporting a giggle the Riddler would find annoying, Wagner encounters one financially tenuous soul after another, offering them salvation in the form of a life insurance policy to be redeemed by their loved ones. In the process he has sundered his own soul from all that he holds dear; his wife and child. A mysterious woman offers him a lifeline to his own redemption, but will he accept it? Bathing the film in blues and greens, director Bülent Akinci paints a portrait of alienation worthy of Edward Hopper. Burhkard possesses a loneliness so deep, Willy Loman would cry a river for him, but he makes a superb salesman, squeezing every ounce of his remaining sanity into another sales pitch. At times the film mirrors the disassociation of its protagonist, taking us into a realm touching upon the Lynchian, but Running on Empty bears closer kinship to Gilles Marchand's uncanny Red Lights and Who Killed Bambi. This is nowhere more evident than the ending, where Burkhard comes to a resolution which may strike one as deeply unsatisfying but, which upon further reflection, proves to be both beautiful and fulfilling.

Running on Empty
June 2, 9:30pm SIFF Cinema
June 4, 4:00pm SIFF Cinema

Another flavor of mischegas is on display in Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox. Anyone familiar with Dr. Bronner's pure-castile soap has spent time trying to decipher the eye-strainingly bewildering text, arranged on the bottle like some verkakte mid-rash, exhorting the reader with philosophic gems like:

Whatever unites mankind is better than whatever divides us! Yet, if absolute-unselfish I am not for me, I am nothing but classless, raceless, starving masses, never free nor brave! Only if constructive-selfish I work hard perfecting first me, like Mark Spitz-arctic owls-penguin-pilot-cat-swallow-beaver, bee, can I teach the MORAL ABC'S ALL-ONE-GOD-FAITH, that lightning-like unites the Human race! For we're ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE! "LISTEN CHILDREN ETERNAL FATHER ETERNALLY ONE!" EXCEPTIONS ETERNALLY? ABSOLUTE NONE!

The source of this enlightenment was a German refugee, Dr. Emanuel H. Bronner. Emigrating to the US in 1929, he spent a number of years as a journeyman chemist. An outspoken proponent of the "All-One-God-Faith" and the "Moral ABC's," Dr. Bronner had the forceful, airless deliberation of the kind of visionary typically referred to as a 'crackpot' and in person resembled Samuel Fuller doing an impersonation of Mel Brooks's 2000 Year Old Man. For his tireless efforts, he was eventually committed by his sister, but managed to spring the bug house and, like all enterprising men of vision, headed for California. It was there he established his soap company and flourished. Through a commitment to the Moral ABC's, nude sunbathing and a daily body rub with Peppermint Pure-Castile Soap, Dr. Bronner lived to be a ripe old alter kocker. Using a mix of archival footage and contemporary interviews, Sara Lamm gives us the whole megillah on Dr. Bronner, his family, his company and his philosophy. Indeed, one of the signal achievements of the film is that, once you've seen it, the teeny-tiny rants on the bottle make sense, Mark Spitz and all. ALL ONE! ALL ONE! ALL ONE!

Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox
May 26, 4:00pm SIFF Cinema
May 28, 7:00pm SIFF Cinema

For a somewhat unclean feeling, one can see The Waiter. Utilizing a premise similar to Stranger Than Fiction, but with all the warmth and humanity of Hostel, the film depicts a frustrated screenwriter mercilessly toying with and tormenting his characters until he discards them like Kleenex. Although the point of the film is what a bad writer he is, it suffers from the fact that, as an audience, we have to endure the same cruel, humorless plot as his characters. In this regard, it is reminiscent of Mulligan Stew, Gilbert Sorrentino's un-readably bad novel about a character trapped in an un-readably bad novel. At least Sorrentino threw in a terrifically steamy sex scene, something writer/director Alex van Warmerdam declines to do. Arguably, van Warmerdam serves himself a taste of his own medicine as, in addition to writing and directing the film, he plays Edgar, the hapless waiter of the title and the central figure of torment for the writer-within-the-film, Herman. However, unlike van Warmerdam or Edgar, you the SIFFgoer have the choice of eliding this chazarai altogether by not seeing the film.

Waiter
May 26, 11:00am Neptune
June 3, 9:45pm Neptune

Image of Dr. Bronner from Blogging by Cinema-light.