Oscar Nominee – We Are Movie Geeks

THE QUIET GIRL – Review

Most film fans know that this Sunday, just hours away, is the big award night. As a beloved former late-night talk show host used to see, even after he hosted the event, “In Hollywood, Oscar is king.” So, who’s going to wear that crown? While all the chatter is about the actors vying for the prize along with the ten (!) Best Picture contenders, this Friday we’ll get a chance to see a Best International Feature nominee that seems to be under everyone’s “radar”. But then, it’s a truly “soft-spoken” story, much like its subject. But don’t be fooled because the emotion is loud. much like its heartbeat, in THE QUIET GIRL.

And that tile character is nine-year-old Cait (Catherine Clinch) part of an ever-expanding family (another arrives soon) living in a ramshackle house in the mud of 1981 Ireland. She’s teased by her sisters, as Cait tries to hide the shame of being a bedwetter. And, yes she is quite shy, keeping silent while seeming to be always looking at her feet. Things are no better at school as she easily wanders away from the playground. This prompts a call to her surly, boozing Da (Michael Patric), who must drive her home early from school. Cait is so “invisible” that he gives a lift to one of his girlfriends from town, while Cait watches from the back seat. A decision is made. With her classes ending, and Mam (Kate Nic Chonaonaaigh) about to give birth, Cait will be spending the Summer with distant cousins, Eibhlin (Carrie Crowley) and Sean (Andrew Bennett) Cinnsealach at their dairy farm in County Waterford. Da drives Cait there and after a pint or two drives away, forgetting to leave the suitcase with Cait’s clothes. No worries as Eibhlin “makes due” with some stored-away boys’ clothes (the spare bedroom has a masculine feel). In all ways Eibhlin helps the little girl, showering her with attention and kindness. Sean is not so quick to embrace her, acting a tad distant and aloof. That changes when Eibhlin must leave the household for a day. When Cait loses her way while helping with the chores, a frantic Sean finally locates her which forms a strong bond. He even becomes a “coach”, clocking Cait’s run time as she dashes down a trail. She begins to break out of her shell, but when a local tells Cait of the couple’s secret, will this new friendship stop well before the end of the season and Cait’s return home?

In a most promising screen debut, Clinch takes on the demanding role with subtlety and natural warmth, proving to be quite compelling. She draws us into Cait’s world with no histrionics and manic gestures. If she chooses to pursue an acting career, Clinch could continue to impress if she can take on roles as well written as this. Also conveying warmth and a most generous heart is Crowley as the nurturing and gentle Eibhlin, who sees the wounded nature of Cait’s spirit and proves to be the healing force she needs, although both end up helping each other overcome their struggles. Much of that can be said of Bennet’s Sean, though he’s slow to open himself to Cait. He’s still processing his past, keeping his emotions in check, perhaps fearful of the pains of the past. He shows us Sean’s spiritual journey, as he inches toward accepting Cait, and allows her to pursue her passions. It’s the opposite of Patric, excellent as the loutish, derisive Da who offers little comfort to any of his “brood”.

All during the recent pandemic, much was said about treating others with kindness, It’s hard to think of another recent film that really embodied that sentiment. As the story unfolds slowly, at just the proper pace, we see how kindness, along with some attention, and an open heart, can truly change a lonely child’s world. Much of the film’s power must be attributed to director Colm Bairead, adapting Claire Keegan’s story “Foster”, deftly guiding this gifted cast and making superb use of the Irish locales and even the native Irish language, so lovely and lilting. He shows us Cate’s reawakening as she leaves the squalor of the family home (very overcast) and begins anew in the golden sun of the idyllic farm. Although the dramatic secret is exposed, it’s done without unneeded theatrics or fanfare. It all builds up to a truly heartwrenching finale which leaves us hopeful without giving us a heavy denouncement. Just be prepared for some “waterworks” as the end credits role. It’s simple kindness that changes the world of THE QUIET GIRL, and perhaps to those who embrace her story.

3.5 Out of 4

THE QUIET GIRL is now playing in select theatres.

WRITING WITH FIRE – Review

WRITING WITH FIRE, a nominee for this year’s Best Documentary Oscar, is about India’s only women-run newspaper, a news source that has gone in digital since its founding in 2002, and one that covers stories overlooked by other news outlets, particularly on abuse, rape and corruption, with hard-hitting reporting and high journalistic standards. That is astonishing enough but the fact that all the women are also Dalits, the cast formerly known as untouchables, makes this news source seem nearly miraculous. But this is not fiction: these hard-working female reporters are the real thing.

WRITING WITH FIRE is one of two documentaries this past year about small news outlets doing journalism right, covering stories larger outlets won’t cover and serving their community and its right to know. The other one, STORM LAKE, tells an admirable story about an award-winning small town newspaper in the American heartland that is doing everything right, in a way so many larger news outlets no longer are. There is something hopeful in having two such uplifting documentaries, about the triumph of the “little guy,” in a year dominated by so much grimness.

In many ways, filmmakers Rintu Thomas’ and Sushmit Ghosh’s documentary WRITING WITH FIRE is the more amazing story. In 2002, a group of women in India established a women-run newspaper, Khabar Lahariya (‘Waves of News’). That is astonishing enough in a country where men dominate the news industry, and much of life generally. More amazing is that this group of women were also Dalits, the people once called “untouchables” who exist beyond the lowest level of India’s caste system. No one expected their newspaper to survive, yet it did. It still remains the only women-run paper in India.

Documentarians Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh follow these women as they engage in a fearless kind of journalism, reporting abuses and corruption no one else covers. Led by journalist Meera Devi, they investigate and report, but also train and encourage other Dali women who want to join them in doing what journalism is supposed to do: speaking truth to power. And they do that while battling both sexism and caste discrimination every day.

The title refers to several things, including the fiery devotion these women have to the mission of their news outlet for truth-telling, and their determination to covering stories that are too hot, too incendiary, for most other Indian media outlets. Often these are issues of particularly concern to women or to Dalits generally, who face prejudice and often live at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. But the title might also refer to their fierce commitment to each other.

These women journalists are committed to reporting untold stories with courage, but the whole operation serves another purpose: to encourage women who otherwise have little power to take control of their lives. The news outlet welcomes any woman who wants to join their effort, training them in reporting and giving them educational and job skills they never had before. All the staff work as a team, with a commitment to uplifting and supporting women like themselves. At the time the documentary was shot, the news outlet was actively embracing new media, arming their female reporters with smartphones for their work, women who have never owned a cell phone and might have little formal education. And it is impressive what these women can achieve with those tools and that encouragement.

The documentary follows the women journalists as they report on a series of stories, including one of serial rapes that have been ignored by both other media and the police. By digging deep and by dogged persistence, the reporters force both other media to recognize the crime and authorities to address it. The film also follows several individual stories, including one new young recruit with no education who discovers a self-confidence and ability she didn’t know she had before. Another thread focuses on a young woman who becomes a star reporter, and with eyes newly opened to life’s possibilities, embarks on higher education. Watching Meera Devi’s devotion to high journalistic standards and to covering the stories others won’t, combined with her skill and warmth as a mentor, is truly inspiring. The women are not only hard working but joyful in their work and fellowship with each other.

If you need a dose of uplift, in the face of all the negative things happening in the world now, WRITING WITH FIRE delivers that, just as these female reporters deliver the news their community needs. WRITING WITH FIRE, in Hindi with English subtitles, debuts on VOD on all major digital platforms on Mar. 22, and will have its TV debut on PBS’s “Independent Lens” on Mar. 28.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

COMPARTMENT NO. 6 – Review

*Seidi Haarla as Laura in the Finnish drama COMPARTMENT NO. 6. Photo credit Sami Kuokkanen/Aamu Film Company. Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics*

Two strangers on a train, a young Finnish woman (Seidi Haarla) and a rough Russian miner (Yuriy Borisov), share a compartment on a two-day trip north from Moscow to the Arctic coast, in the surprising COMPARTMENT NO. 6. The trip is more than a physical journey, and this strangers on a train Finnish drama has won multiple well-deserved accolades since its release and is a leading contender for the Best International Film Oscar.

The film is set in Russia not long after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and although it is primarily drama, it has elements of humor and romance too. It actually starts, not on a train but at a party, in a spacious Moscow apartment, where a glittering mix of intellectuals and artsy types have gathered in bohemian hipness, led by charismatic hostess Irina (Dinara Drukarova), an academic at the Moscow university where Finnish student Laura (Seidi Haarla) is studying anthropology. Irina is also Laura’s lover, and the pair were supposed to embark on a trip to the Arctic together the next day, to see some ancient petroglyphs that Irina had been gushing about to Laura. At the last minute, something comes up and Irina can’t go, but she insists that Laura still go, alone.

COMPARTMENT NO. 6 is directed by Juho Kuosmanen, whose previous film THE HAPPIEST DAY IN THE LIFE OF OLLI MAKI blended drama, self-discovery, humor and romance is a decidedly unique but deeply human way. Some of those same elements are here as well, taking this new film to a deeper, more profound level than we at first expect.

The two-day train trip is more than a physical journey, but a kind of journey of self-discovery for the characters. Without Irina, Laura feels untethered from her life in Moscow and is forced to reflect on her life’s direction and choices, who she is and what she wants. But those contemplations are interrupted by the obnoxious person assigned to the same compartment, a talkative young miner who is also traveling to the Arctic coast for work.

Ljoha (Yuriy Borisov) is rude and crude, and starts off with asking Laura if she is a prostitute. Clueless about her revulsion and unapologetic, he proceeds to hit on her while calling her Estonian instead of Finnish. Laura rebuffs him sharply, and with confident style, but she still retreats to the dining car for the rest of the day. When she asks the woman in charge of the train compartments to move her to another berth, the conductor refuses, claiming there is no room and cooling saying, with perfect Soviet bureaucratic indifference, “what did you expect.” Well, not that.

Laura is sharp-witted and able to stand up for herself but it hardly makes for pleasant traveling. She is relieved when a woman with a baby is also assigned to the compartment and later a young Finnish musician but neither stay long. Meanwhile, Ljoha keeps up his attempts to win over Laura, efforts that begin to hint at something more beneath the crude surface.

Over the course of the journey, both actors peel away layers of their characters. Although the whole story takes place on this journey, we are not always on the train and Laura has a surprising number of adventures and revelations along the way.

During the course of the trip, it becomes clear that Irina was more sending Laura away than it had seemed at first to the Finnish student, and Laura has to process that fact. Laura is completely enamored of Irina’s sparkling intellectual life, a life she really wants to possess. She wants to be Irina as much or more than she wants her as a lover.

The writing and acting are superb, with plentiful twists and nice performances by Seidi Haarla and Yuriy Borisov, as their characters travel on their differing internal journeys and shared train-bound one. Creative photography by Jani-Petteri Passi, who also shot the fine multi-part HBO historical drama “Chernobyl” as well as the director’s previous film, brings a touch of mystery and the magical to the train trip, and provides support for the strong script and performances. The trip finds the travelers in an unexpected place in life when they arrive at their Arctic destination, and the film wrapped up in a poignant yet satisfying place for audiences.

COMPARTMENT NO. 6, in Russian and Finnish with English subtitles, opens Friday, March 18, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 4 stars

NEVER LOOK AWAY – Review

*Oliver Masucci as Professor Antonius van Verten, in NEVER LOOK AWAY. Photo by Caleb Deschanel, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics*

Art and history meld in the Oscar-nominated NEVER LOOK AWAY, a German-language epic tale that begins in 1937 Nazi Germany, and follows Kurt, an artistically-gifted young German, from his boyhood under the Nazis, to life in communist East Germany, and finally in the West in the 1960s. The personal story is used to explore life in eastern Germany under two repressive regimes, and those regimes shifting views on modern art under those regimes. Naturally, the drama also touches on Nazi war crimes, the war itself and its aftermath under communism but the lens is this child’s experience in wartime and then as a young artist.

NEVER LOOK AWAY is an Oscar nominee in this year’s Foreign Language category and also in the Cinematography category, for Oscar-winner Caleb Deschanel’s stunningly lush work. The visual lushness is a must for a period film centered on art, but three-time Oscar winner Deschanel far exceeds expectations, creating one of the many elements that make this dramatic film so compelling to watch.

German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck also wrote and produced this excellent film. His feature film debut, 2006’s THE LIVES OF OTHERS, won the Foreign-Language Oscar. That drama also touched on the treatment of artists in communist East Germany. Sebastian Koch, who played a lead role in THE LIVES OF OTHERS, returns in this film, appearing as a Nazi doctor, Professor Seeband.

NEVER LOOK AWAY is as much art history as political history, and both form the backdrop for a absorbing personal saga. We first meet Kurt (Cai Cohrs) as a young boy in 1937 Germany, when he and his aunt Elizabeth (an amazing Saskia Rosendahl) are visiting a Nazi exhibit on “Degenerate Art.” While the tour guide descries the various “evils” of the modern art works on display and praises traditional art, Kurt and Elizabeth listen politely. Hanging back as the tour group moves to the next gallery, Elizabeth whispers to her nephew that she likes the “degenerate” art anyway. Elizabeth is Kurt’s mother’s teenage sister, and she is as wild and creative as she is beautiful. Kurt adores her and she encourages Kurt’s drawings, urging her nephew to “never look away” from anything in life.

The period drama has a truly epic scope, covering about 30 years, and a running time to match, at just over 3 hours. Yet the film does not feel long, never drags and keeps the audience engaged and even absorbed in its sweeping story. Love, art, tragedy, family and sweeping change all suffuse this outstanding film.

At first, the family, who live in an idyllic rural area near Dresden, think they have nothing to fear from the Nazis since they are “Aryans.” Kurt’s father, a teacher, finds Nazi ideas personally distasteful, yet he joins the Nazi party at his wife’s insistence, and her belief that it will advance his career. The rest of the family goes along as well, with the older boys in the Hitler Youth and then the army, and pretty blonde Elizabeth, the picture of the Nazi ideal, chosen to hand a bouquet to a Nazi leader visiting her school. Their expectations turn out to be tragically wrong, starting when Elizabeth’s behavior becomes unstable and she comes in contact with Nazi doctor Professor Seeband (Sebastian Koch).

Tom Schilling plays the teenage and then grown-up Kurt, as the drama follows him and his family through the sweeping changes of the war and its aftermath. Kurt does become an artist, a very gifted painter, through a circuitous path that takes us through the shifting landscape in post-war East Germany.

NEVER LOOK AWAY takes a different tack on history than audiences might expect, skipping some more familiar subjects usually covered in WWII set films. The epic is as much art history as political history, and all the history is more backdrop for this personal story. The drama picks and chooses historical details, based on aspects that touch the main character directly. The war and Nazis are depicted through the child Kurt’s experiences, thus it focuses on Nazi ideas about eugenics and extermination of those they deemed “defective” rather than the atrocities heaped on Jewish people. Rather than multiple battles, the film depicts the firebombing of Dresden, in a horrific, powerful sequence. After the war, the hunt is on for Nazis but party members in name only, like Kurt’s father, are as likely a target as real ones like Seeband.

On the art history side, we see Nazi repression of modern art replaced by the communists’ focus on only propaganda-laden Socialist Realism. Even in the non-communist West, the arbiters of artistic taste tell painter Kurt that “painting is dead” and he must embrace some other medium.

Still, the particular events in this life do play symbolic roles to highlight some aspects of the history, noticeable enough that it seems like more than mere chance is at work where some character story lines intersect. Donnersmarck does a masterful job blending the personal and the historic in this art-focused epic.

The acting is as outstanding as the powerful story and beautiful photography. Tom Schilling is superb as the young artist, effectively depicting him from a teen to an ambitious young man. The actor captures to struggle of the artist to express himself despite the strictures of the cultures he finds himself in, and the hunger to create.

Yet audiences might be as taken with the two young women in Kurt’s life. As star-crossed aunt Elizabeth, Saskia Rosendahl is hypnotic, radiating charisma and madness in an emotional, pivotal role. Paula Beers, who was so fabulous in FRANTZ, plays the young fashion designer Kurt meets at art school, a role she carries off with enormous charm.

Sebastian Koch as the doctor is a perfect villain, a fully-rounded person with the impulse to protect his family, but fully committed to the Nazis’ cold ideas. The complexity and intelligence of the character makes him all the more chilling, as he becomes entwined in Kurt’s life in ways neither expect. It is a relationship fraught with tension and secrets, some that neither realize until much later. The other cast are strong as well, with Oliver Masucci as art school teacher Antonius van Verten particularly effective.

It is best to approach this film without expectations built on its historical setting and just let it sweep you up in its flow. One of the year’s best, particularly for fans of art, NEVER rewards well those willing to make the effort to read subtitles and be patient with its epic length. It is well worth it.

NEVER LOOK AWAY opens Friday, February 15, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

CAPERNAUM – Review

*Zain Al Rafeea as Zain. Photo by Christopher Aoun, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics*

The title of Lebanese drama CAPERNAUM can be translated as “chaos,” a word that describes the life of young boy named Zain struggling to live on the bottom of society in modern Lebanon Zain (Zain Al Rafea), who is perhaps 12-years-old, is a penniless boy being held in a Lebanese jail for attacking a man but we first meet him in court for another reason: he is suing his parents for having been born. We are uncertain about Zain’s age, because he is uncertain about his age. Among his complaints about his self-centered parents is that they did not bother to register his birth, which means he has no birth certificate, no papers, and therefore does not officially exist. As a non-person, he is not entitled to even the most basic of social services, no matter how poor he is. He is excluded from even the meager help given refugees from Syria, putting him in the same situation as other undocumented immigrants even though he was born there.

This is one of several social criticisms director Nadine Labaki aims at Lebanese society in CAPERNAUM. The film won the Cannes Jury Prize and was nominated for the Palme d’Or. It has been nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

The social commentary matters but what really makes this film compelling to watch is the remarkable performance by the child playing the one at the center of it. Wise-cracking, clever Zain takes us on a heartbreaking tour of life in the underclass of Lebanon, where people live in nightmarish conditions of extreme poverty on the edge of society. The drama brings to mind Dickens’ London, for although Zain is not an orphan, he pretty much could be for all the care his exploitative parents give him or his many siblings. Zain is both tough and wise beyond his years but it is his enormous heart and kindness to even more helpless victims that surprises and moves us.

Rather than going to school, Zain and his siblings are sent off daily by their parents, mother Souad (Kawthar Al Haddad) and father Selim (Fadi Kamel Youssef) to make money, either by helping shopkeepers or just hustling home-made fruit drinks on the street. There is no school, and also no kind words, no toys, no beds – only life as an endless battle just to avoid being evicted from their crowded, leaky apartment. With Zain’s favorite sister Sahar (Cedra Izam) teetering on puberty, his parents start planning to sell her into marriage, throwing Zain into panicked action to save her.

Zain is propelled on a journey that brings him in contact with other people struggling on the harsh edge of life in Lebanon. Although Zain’s hard life has made him old beyond his years, at other moments, he is still a child, a boy who wants to play, watch cartoons, and is drawn to an amusement park. Yet even in his most boyish moments, Zain keeps a practical eye out for things he can re-use or sell for the next meal.

Director Nadine Labaki chose to cast mostly non-actors whose lives were close to these characters for her searing drama. There are striking parallels to both SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE and Charles Dickens in this grim but gripping drama, from the focus on innocent children trapped in appalling poverty, to indifferent parents, to a cast of nefarious characters, harsh officials, and yet sprinkled with unexpected moments of kindness from strangers.

While CAPERNAUM can be preachy and the device of this penniless boy suing his parents seems far-fetched and even contrived, the film is rescued by a riveting performance by Zain Al Rafea as Zain. Al Rafea has a remarkable, even fiery screen presence, breaking our hearts while impressing us with his fierce will to live, his resourcefulness, and his unexpected inherent kindness.

The film spotlights the hidden world in Lebanon, of people caught in this legal limbo, where having been born in a place does not automatically confer citizenship, putting generations of people born in this shadowy state in the same predicament as illegal immigrants.

While the story type is familiar, we remain caught up in it, not knowing what will happen next. Most astonishing is the heartbreaking performance by Zain Al Rafea as the boy Zain, part Oliver Twist, part Artful Dodger, as he struggles to live amid the chaos, first battling to protect his favorite sister from his selfish parents, and then to care for a toddler whose Ethiopian mother befriends him. Although we see other children play in the middle of this squalor and chaos, Zain is always hustling, and has very few moments of childhood. Still, at one touching moment, he spots an amusement park from a bus, and suddenly gets off, as if hoping to just live there.

Despite his appalling circumstances, Zain will touch your heart through his sheer charm, his resourceful determination and his innate human decency. CAPERNAUM is not an easy film to watch nor a subtle film, but it is powerful, nail-you-to-your-seat human drama.

CAPERNAUM, in Arabic with English subtitles, opens Friday, Feb. 1, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

COLD WAR – Review

*Joanna Kulig as Zula in Pawel Pawlikowski’s COLD WAR. Photo courtesy of Amazon Studios (c)*

The Oscar-nominated COLD WAR is a brilliant, beautiful film about a passionate romance between two mismatched people, set against the backdrop of communist Poland and the Cold War. Shot in gorgeous black and white, director Pawel Pawlikowski’s Polish-language drama traces the ill-fated, incendiary love affair of two musicians through fifteen years, from their meeting in 1949 communist Poland through the decay of Polish communism throughout the Cold War, as the couple cross back and forth over what was called the Iron Curtain. The story is inspired by the director’s own parents, with the characters sharing their names.

COLD WAR is a compelling romantic drama is full of tragic twists of fate and history, about two people of differing background and personality yet bound by irresistible attraction, all further complicated by the impossible situation of the times in which they lived. Tale is brought to vibrant life by the two appealing actors playing the star-crossed couple, aided by a fabulous jazz-driven score and beautiful photography.

Pawlikowski’s previous film IDA won the 2018 Oscar for foreign-language film, and COLD WAR is among this year’s nominees for that Oscar, as well as winning Pawlikowski the Best Director award at Cannes. Like IDA, the director uses lush black and white photography to tell a historical story that blends the personal and the political. The film is short, a mere 89 minutes, and skips ahead in time between scenes, leaving us wanting to know more. At the center is the star-crossed love story, inspired by the director’s parents, with a charismatic pair of actors whose vibrant performances

Wiktor (Tomasz Kot) is the musical expert and piano accompanist of an ethnographic team collecting Polish folk songs and dances in rural areas. Ethnographer Irena (the excellent Agata Kulesza) is not only recording these vanishing mountain folk songs but she and Wiktor have been tasked by the Polish government to recruit young people from mountain villages for a new school devoted to the preservation of rural folk music. The plan is to train these young people for a program of traditional rural songs and dances, to be presented on stage around Poland, as a way to promote national pride and patriotism.

Blonde teen Zula (Joanna Kulig) is among the young people auditioning with folk songs or dances. Although it quickly becomes clear she is only pretending to be a mountain girl, Wiktor is struck by her potential star-power more than her voice, and persuades Irena to accept her in the program, even though she is not “authentic.” Wiktor and Irena stick by their choice, even when it comes out Zula is on parole for attacking her father. “He mistook me for my mother so I showed him the difference with a knife,” she coolly states when asked about her crime, a statement that illustrates both the dry wit and strong spirit of the ambitious Zula.

Overseeing the project is a Communist Party operative, Kaczmarek (an oily Borys Szyc), who gives ideological speeches to the young recruits and also keeps an eye on Wiktor and Irena. Irena and Wiktor set up an academy devoted to folk music in a rundown mansion, and start training the recruits for a patriotic production of traditional rural Polish dances and songs. Despite their differences in age, education, background and temperament, Wiktor and Zula are romantically attracted.

Zula proves a fast-learner and quickly ascends to a star position in the folk music production that academy tours around Poland. The folk music troupe becomes a hit in the Communist world, with Zula as its star, and they are invited to tour Russia and East Germany. Success brings pressure from Communist Party officials to incorporate propaganda pieces about land reform and praising Stalin into the folk music program. Alarmed at the violation of her program’s mission of preserving authentic folk culture, Irena gently points out that Polish peasants did not sing about such matters and there are no traditional folk songs about land reform. She is overruled, and at the next performance, we see a grim-faced Irena watching her troupe perform a musical number lauding Stalin under a larger banner of his image.

The writing is on the wall. While the troupe is performing in East Berlin, Wiktor tries to persuade Zula to defect to the West but she hesitates. In the communist world, Zula is a star but she is uncertain what awaits in the West. Divided by the Iron Curtain, neither can let go of the other, and they begin a back-and-forth relationship across the Cold War’s divide.

This mismatched couple would have challenges in any case but their difficulties are amplified tragically by the twist of fate that places them in the midst of the Cold War and at it’s most dangerous boundaries. The story ranges across Europe, from Berlin to Italy to Poland to Yugoslavia. The intersection of obsessive, passionate love and political conflict and intrigue heightens the film’s tensions to thriller levels. Pawlikowski avoids a pat sentimental romantic ending, giving us something far more striking.

The acting is superb, and the charismatic leads are one of three strong elements that make this film. Tomasz Kot is perfect as the romantic leading man but it is Joanna Kulig who is truly riveting on screen, as the complicated Zula. The characters are so appealing that we root for them and their love, even when both of them behave badly. In what may be a breakout, Joanna Kulig is fascinating to watch, by turns a petulant, mood woman, a scheming teen and a devoted lover. Her appearance seems to shift, from poised beauty to plain peasant. The obsession both characters feel draws them together repeatedly, a force we can sense on screening. Yet once together, their strong wills and differing views lead the to pick at each other and constantly bicker. Yet, Wiktor at one point in the film calls Zula the “woman of his life.” Sometimes tragic events separate them, sometimes their own temperaments do, but neither can entirely leave. The tension and the passion keep the audience riveted.

With its short running time, the story is very spare, and there are moments when we long for more details. Still, the director gives us enough to understand the couple and paints events, political and romantic, in an effective, impressionistic style.

If nothing else, COLD WAR is a visual delight, one of this year’s two Oscar-nominated films to use black and white photography to great dramatic effect, the other being ROMA. Pawlikowski shows off his considerable skill for the image on screen with artistically-framed black and white imagery and the use of an old-fashioned aspect ratio suits the historical period. The director to mesmerize the audience with the sheer beauty of the visuals, often centrally framed or with the characters set in crowded locations. In one disorienting scene, we see Wiktor and Irena at a crowded reception after a performance, only to realize the presence of a mirrored wall is distorting what we think we see, a nice visual allusion to illusions.

Another delight of COLD WAR is its strong use of music, particularly jazz. The characters at the center are musicians, and the score is filled with music ranging from classical, to Polish folk songs, to jazz. Jazz was forbidden music in communist Poland, heightening its appeal to the classically-trained Wiktor, who at one point is eking out a living playing in a jazz band in Paris. The starving artist romance of Wiktor’s spare apartment and marginal existence escapes once-poor Zula, who prefers her Soviet stardom. One of the Polish folk music show’s most popular centerpieces is a traditional Polish love song about star-crossed lovers. It becomes Zula’s signature song, one that appears again and again, in various forms, throughout the film. As the film progresses through time, the music evolves, from the classical and folk music to the jazz of 1950s Paris to early rock and roll.

COLD WAR is a remarkable, haunting film about a fiery but doomed romance against the backdrop of history, a film greatly fired up by the two excellent romantic leads and its jazz score.

COLD WAR, in Polish with English subtitles, opens Friday, Jan. 25, at Landmark’s Plaza Frontenac Cinema.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI – Review

A shot from the animated children's feature MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI. Courtesy of GKIDS. — *A shot in the animated children’s feature MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI. Courtesy of GKIDS.*

One of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Animated Feature, the French/Swiss MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI (Ma Vie en Courgette) is a complete charmer. The stop-motion children’s film focuses on a lonely boy nicknamed Zucchini (Courgette, in French) who is sent to a group home after his mother’s accidental death. Life had not been good with his hard-drinking mom after his father left them, but the boy clings to his only mementos of them and his childhood: a kite that depicts his little-remembered dad as a superhero, one of his mom’s empty beer cans, and the strange nickname his mother gave him.

Zucchini expects the worst when the kindly policeman who has befriended him, Raymond, takes him to the rural orphanage. At first it seems as if he will get just that – not from the staff, who are consistently warm and understanding, but from one of the kids, Simon. A bully who bosses around the other kids, Simon taunts the new boy, calling him Potato. Simon knows everyone’s sad story and tries to pry Zucchini’s story from him as well. The ethnically-diverse kids are not all orphans but all have experienced some kind of trauma or loss.

This premise sounds grim but the film quickly turns into a warm and funny tale of bonding between unlikely friends, as kids have a way of adapting and finding fun in unexpected places. The film is based on a book, “Autobiography of a Courgette” by Gille Paris. The stop-motion animation is beautifully done, using wide-eyed puppets whose appearance is both comically surreal and remarkably expressive. The visuals are supplemented by nice voice acting by the French cast, young and adult alike. For the English language version, director Claude Barras leads a voice cast that includes Will Forte, Nick Offerman, Ellen Page, and Amy Sedaris. Lively music, by Sophie Hunger, sets the right tone, and the film’s hopeful and uplifting message of tolerance and kindness charm, while the kid-style humor delights.

The arrival of another orphaned girl adds an extra spark to the children’s growing bond, and changes Zucchini’s life. One of the things that makes this film so delightful is its naturalness and complete lack of saccharine elements, despite the story’s potential for that. While MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI has a message, it never feels like it is preaching, making points indirectly through the children’s interactions and characters.

The film ends with lively hand-drawn credits, some more of the winning score, and a bonus scene of the lead child actor’s audition – but still appearing in his animated incarnation. It is a wonderful comic touch to end a heart-warming, completely enjoyable film.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

TONI ERDMANN – Review

*Sandra Hüller as Ines, in TONI ERDMANN. Photo @ Komplizen Film, Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics*

One of the nominees for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language and a hit at Cannes, the German-language comedy TONI ERDMANN pits a very serious young businesswoman against her anything-but-serious father, who is desperate to reclaim their childhood closeness, no matter what. An ex-music teacher more accustomed to interacting with young children than adults, Dad is prone to wearing costumes, wigs and false buck teeth and impersonating various characters, which does not fit well with his single daughter’s high-powered career, especially as she is trying to negotiate a crucial international business deal. Boundaries – international and personal – are crossed with abandon, when the father turns up posing as Toni Erdmann, telling people he is either Ines’ CEO’s life coach or maybe an assistant to the German ambassador, depending – all in an effort to get his daughter’s attention.

As a child, Ines (Sandra Huller) was close to her eccentric, prankster dad Winfried (Peter Simonschek), but as an adult, she finds his corny jokes and irritating behavior wearing thin. Winfried is a unshaven, disheveled, slightly-overweight bear of a man shambling impulsively through the world, while Ines is polished, smartly dressed and slim, always organized and prepared. When dad’s chaos meets daughter’s rigid order, conflict is inevitable.

TONI ERDMANN is touching and warm-hearted, and writer/director Maren Ade has hit a chord here, at least for business-minded children of counter-culture boomer parents. Parents who cross boundaries are something familiar to many grown children, although few parents are as odd or relentless as Winfried, an ex-school music teacher who maybe spent too many years perfecting social skills for interactions with 7-year-olds, and is an overgrown kid himself.

When Dad shows up, uninvited, at Ines’ work place with a series of strange stories. Ines smoothly, calmly, handle each interruption, moving Dad out of the way.

She keeps thinking she has put her dad back in his box, only to have him escape and pop up once again. Once he appears as Toni Erdmann, deflecting him becomes much more difficult. It is not clear if her business colleagues believe Toni Erdmann and his tales, or are just being polite and confused.

However, Winfried has a goal beyond just getting his daughter’s attention – he’s trying to save her from an empty life. Ines is so driven, so focused, so globalized that she has no other real life than her career. Her father’s pranks disrupt her business dealings but also underscore what she is missing in life. Toni Erdmann forces her to connect with people on a human level.

Writer/director Ade inserts a dose of social commentary into the comedy, commentary on the costs of globalization and on business practices that dismiss the real impact on human lives. The German company for which Inez works uses its greater economic strength in making a deal in less economically-powerful Romania. Within her own company, her father’s intrusions also reveal the work place sexism Inez faces as well as the company’s toxically high performance standards. Actually, the film has a little fun with the word “performance,” as in “work performance evaluation” versus the improvised “performance art” of alter-ego Toni Erdmann.

This is the third film for Ade and she shows a firm hand is directing the nearly three-hour film. She is aided greatly by a pair of terrific acting performances by Simonschek and Huller as the father and daughter. The film perfectly captures the relationship between this daughter and father, a mix of affection and tolerance on her part and a longing to reconnect on his. Huller’s Ines is rarely surprised by her dad’s pranks, playing along like they are well-rehearsed routines. When he invades her business dealings, her reaction betrays some embarrassment but she remains calm until they are alone. Even then, it takes a lot to crack her emotional control. Huller does an outstanding job portraying Ines’ transformation, as critical insights sparked by her Dad’s unconventional actions lead to changes in her career and life. Simonschek comes across as sincere but whether his character’s corny joking and his boundary crossing charms or irritates might depend on the viewer.

TONI ERDMANN is a thought-provoking, touching film. Much of it is funny, but not all the comedy works. Sometimes the film seems to be trying too hard: some jokes go on too long or strive for whimsy or an absurdist humor, only to achieve the mere ridiculous (really now, how many of us would invite our boss to a nude birthday party?) Still, there is one particularly magical scene in this father-daughter comedy, in which Ines is forced by her father’s deceptions to sing in front of a houseful of strangers. Huller sings with a gripping abandon, even if her voice is not perfect, and the scene is one of the most memorable in the film.

How much TONI ERDMANN pleases individual viewers might depends on how much Simonschek’s overgrown imp amuses and the film’s chaos versus order theme appeals to him or her. Many have praised it as transformative while others have had a cooler response. Regardless, the film’s warm message of the importance of human relationships, family and cultural connections is universal.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO – Review

Despite its awkward title, director Raoul Peck’s documentary I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is a surprisingly timely film, even though it’s focus, author James Baldwin, died nearly 30 years ago. The film is an Oscar nominee in the documentary category, and a strong contender to win.

This is an astounding film – engrossing, even entertaining, visually inventive and beautifully constructed, all in a spare 93 minutes. Throughout the film, Baldwin comes across as a man of great intellectual prowess, dignity and warm humanity. It is startling how much of Baldwin’s Civil Rights era social commentary still applies today. The title comes from something Baldwin says in an interview, heard near the film’s end, and is a sort of weary request to be taken as himself, a unique human mind, rather than an entity fitted into a box labeled “Negro.” That term seems dated but the sentiment Baldwin expresses is timeless.

I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO opens with insistent music, a screen divided into black and white blocks, and the clacking sounds of a typewriter, as words describing its basic subject appear. In 1979, Baldwin began work on a book telling his story of America through the lives and assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and Medgar Evers. Using a mix of stills and footage from the Black Lives Matter movement and other contemporary events, and archival visual material, the documentary is built around the acclaimed author, intellectual and social commentator’s last unfinished book, “Remember This House.” Baldwin completed a mere 30 pages of his work on Malcolm, Martin and Medgar, all of whom were close friends of Baldwin. Often the documentary adds Baldwin’s words printed on-screen as Samuel L. Jackson provides voice-over narration.

*James Baldwin and Medgar Evers. Courtesy of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.*

The words are drawn entirely from Baldwin’s writings. Baldwin’s unfinished manuscript is the major focus but other of Baldwin’s writings are included and supplemented by extensive footage of Baldwin himself on camera. The documentary serves as a sort of introduction to Baldwin’s work, as well as a look at how much about race in American remains unchanged from the Civil Rights era. It is remarkable how much of Baldwin’s observations on American society have proven prescient but the author’s ever-present optimism about humanity is uplifting.

This is an intensely visual, music-filled film, which the director aptly describes as a kaleidoscope. Director Raoul Peck was born in Haiti, a country that freed itself from slavery early on, grew up in New York, and has lived in several places around the world. The director’s personal experience gives this film a fresh take on its subject. Peck lets Baldwin do the talking but makes his points through the images we see with those words.

All the words are Baldwin’s, although we hear Samuel L. Jackson’s famous voice reading them. Still, it is the less-familiar voice of Baldwin himself that is most hypnotic in this film. It is a rich, even seductive, and erudite voice that seems mismatched for the author’s less-imposing physical appearance. Baldwin’s style of speaking is so intimate, so personal, as well as brilliant, that one feels as if he is speaking to you directly and personally. Baldwin’s well-modulated tones and astonishingly quick wit, which seems to go straight to the heart of the matter with remarkable insight every time, make the archival footage of the author in talk-show discussions or interviews some of the most engrossing portions of the documentary.

Baldwin was a film buff, and Peck includes some of Baldwin’s commentary on Hollywood, its depiction of race and attitudes towards black actors, which sounds especially timely now. The film includes footage of Civil Rights protests in the South, which Baldwin, a Northerner who moved to France as a young man, observed first-hand and covered as an outsider. Some of the most fascinating footage is from interviews with the author and from appearances on the Dick Cavett talk show, where Baldwin’s chain-smoking and restless energy present a vibrant personal presence, and his genius and verbal skills pointedly reduce lesser intellects on the subjects of American society and race.

It is unexpected to find a film that is so intellectually engaging, so informative and at the same time, so enjoyable to watch. I AM NOT YOUR NEGRO is a must-see film for all, and an invigorating experience.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

JULIETA – Review

2016 certainly turned out to be a good year for films, particularly dramas, and JULETA is one the last of those to come to local screens. A nominee for Best Foreign Language Film in the upcoming Oscars, the Spanish-language JULIETA is simply one of director Pedro Almodovar’s best – a visually lush, beautifully constructed, haunting mystery about love and loss, tied up with a satisfying but unexpected ending.

The acclaimed Spanish director’s latest film is a drama in a familiar vein for him, a tale of a woman – a mother – in crisis, yet JULIETA is brilliantly fresh at the same time. Julieta (Emma Suarez) is a successful, beautiful woman living in Madrid, who is on the verge of leaving her home of many years as well as a breakup with her long-time lover Lorenzo (Dario Grandinetti). But Julieta’s plans are disrupted by a chance encounter that brings back a flood of memories of her daughter Antia, who vanished mysteriously as a teenager many years earlier. The news that an old friend saw Antia, even spoke to her, sparks a renewed search and exploration of why her daughter disappeared. The search leads us into a flashback of Julieta’s life.

The story unfolds like a mystery, and there is a strong dose of Hitchcock in Almodovar’s film. The Hitchcockian flavor is not just in the idea of a chance encounter sending a character on a life-altering adventure, but in Hitchcock references sprinkled throughout the film. JULIETA is also a film of stunning visual beauty, under the masterful hand of director of photography Jean-Claude Larrieu. The film’s gorgeous imagery seduces the viewer but it is Almodovar’s intriguing mystery and affecting characters that really hook us.

Two actresses play Julieta, younger and older, and both turn in strong performances. Having erased evidence of her daughter from her life, Julieta is now gripped by uncertainty and guilt as she renews her quest for Antia, a search that reveals how little the mother knew of her daughter and only child. In flashback, young Julieta (Adriana Ugarte) meets a man named Xoan (Daniel Grao) as a stranger on a train but, unlike Hitchcock’s film of that name, the result is romance, not murder. The sequence opens with Julieta gazing out the train window, transfixed by a graceful stag running along side the train. When the stag vanishes and the train comes to a sudden halt, she worries that the deer is the cause, a concern that plays a role in the connection she makes with Xoan, the man who becomes her husband. Almodovar skillfully blends a sense of mystery and beauty with themes of fate, life and death, all within the sequence.

Almodovar is a master storyteller, and his powers are in full-bloom here. He both directed and wrote the film, based on three stories by novelist Alice Munro. The film is filled with unexpected twists, so that the audience never knows where it will go next. As the older Julieta, Emma Suarez is brilliant, a strong, sure woman now tormented by questions – why did her daughter vanish as a teenager, where has she been, what part did her mother play in that decision, why has she never contacted her? The director explores all that, un-spooling the story with a sure hand, keeping the audience in suspense.

Women in crisis, particularly mothers, are one of the director’s favorite themes, as are campy, tongue-in-cheek, soap opera-style comic tales, like his last film. Here Almodovar returns to gripping, searing drama, in the vein of award-winners such as TALK TO HER and ALL ABOUT MY MOTHER. With its Hitchcockian elements, JULIETA is one of Almodovar’s most accessible films but it also has great depth, as a thought-provoking film for parents particularly but it is also a moving love story, and a tale of how chance events can change have life-altering results.

Whether one is a longtime fan of Almodovar or not, JULIETA is a must-see drama, well worth that effort to read subtitles, and certainly a film worthy of an Oscar.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

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