Films for the Week of May 4, 2007

Once again, I’ll start with the San Francisco International Film Festival presentations .

San Francisco International Film Festival

La Vie en Rose, Castro, Thursday, 7:00. Early in this Edith Piaf biopic, a hunched, aged-before-her-time Piaf walks up to a recording studio microphone. She looks bored and mildly annoyed. When she starts singing in that incredible voice, she still looks bored and annoyed, her facial expression contrasting sharply with her soaring vocals. I knew then that La Vie En Rose wasn’t going to be a happy film about the redemption of art. Marion Cotillard gives one of cinema’s great performances as Piaf, who’s short life–at least in writer/director Olivier Dahan’s view–was about as miserable as a life can get. Horrendous childhood, bad luck, and her own selfish and unpleasant personality hurt her at every turn. This isn’t an easy film to watch, but it is also impossible to ignore. Great songs, too. The Festival’s closing night show; and don’t worry if you miss it–it will get a regular release.

Strange Culture, SFMOMA, Friday, 8:45; Pacific Film Archive, Tuesday, 7:00. Like American Splendor, Strange Culture mixes scripted drama performed by professional actors with documentary footage and interviews of the real-life, still-living people those actors are playing. And while Steve Kurtz lacks Harvey Pekar’s fascinating personality, his story is both compelling and frightening. Kurtz woke up one morning to find his wife dead. Then he was arrested as a bioterrorist. The terrorism charges have been dropped, but he’s still awaiting trial for mail fraud (although no one was defrauded). It’s hard to go wrong with so powerful a story, and writer/director Lynn Hershman Leeson makes an effective piece of agitprop. If you miss Strange Culture at the festival, don’t worry. It’s been sold for a regular release.

Delirious, Kabuki, 7:00. It’s official: Low-budget independent films can be as slick and lightweight as Hollywood entertainment–and as entertaining. Tom DiCillo’s comedy about paparazzi and the celebrities they prey upon lightly satirizes our obsession with the rich and famous, but still falls for the glamour of its supposed target. Basically a buddy movie only marginally more realistic than Blades of Glory, it offers nothing in the way of any real insight. On the other hand, it offers likeable characters, a touch of cynicism, a bit of suspense, Gina Gershon in very tight pants, and plenty of laughs built organically into the story. For those not interested in Gina Gershon, you also see plenty of Michael Pitt. But it’s Steve Buscemi who steals the picture (and gives it indie cred) as a self-hating paparazzi–excuse me, “licensed professional.” The Festival’s “Centerpiece” screening, Delirious will receive a regular release after the festival.

Murch, Pacific Film Archive, Saturday, 3:30. Not as well-known as the directors he’s worked for, film editor and sound designer Walter Murch (The English Patient, American Graffiti, everything worthwhile Francis Coppola ever made) played an essential role in the Easy Riders, Raging Bulls film brat revolution of the 1970’s. What’s more, he’s articulate enough to discuss his work intelligently. And that’s pretty much all this documentary provides–Murch facing the camera and talking about his work, with appropriate clips to illustrate his points. Editor/co-director Edie Ichioka tries to liven things up occasionally with strange visual and audio effects which are occasionally clever but more often annoying. Murch’s talk is sufficiently interesting without the pyrotechnics.

Flanders, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday, 5:15; Kabuki, Tuesday, 9:00 and Wednesday, 9:30. Judging from Bruno Dumont’s film, you don’t want to spend your vacation in the bleak Flemish winter. On the other hand, it’s a lot better than a war of attrition in an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Dumont puts us in both environments in this atmospheric study of how war affects those who go and those that stay behind. The film suffers a bit early on from the dull nature of the leading characters (who take part in some of the most depressing sex I’ve ever seen), but stick around; it improves. Flanders will receive a regular release.

Reprise, Clay, Friday, 9:00; Kabuki, Sunday, 9:30; Aquarius, Tuesday, 9:30. Yet another drama about post-adolescent angst. Two young men, best friends and each an aspiring novelist, deal with insanity, uncertainty, romance, and the boorish, sexist jerks they hang out with. Writers Eskil Vogt and Joachim Trier (who also directed) give us some very good scenes and one interesting love story, but little that’s both believable and original. The constant narration ranges from Y Tu Mama Tambien witty to Little Children annoying.

The Last Days of Yasser Arafat, Kabuki, Sunday, 6:15. Sherine Salama conducted Yasser Arafat’s last interview, then she made this documentary about it. Her film’s power comes from the sense of immediacy, of being an eyewitness to history, but that’s a sense that can only go so far. It carries the fascinating first section, detailing her struggles to get an interview. It’s one thing to read about the bomb-shattered compound that was the heart of the Palestinian Authority , it’s another to watch Salama shuttled between soldiers and bureaucrats in an environment that barely seems functional. The interview itself (the middle section) is interesting, not so much for what Arafat has to say as for the spectacle of him as an old, frail man, smiling and joking. But the last section–the death watch–goes on too long as we wait for the result we know is coming.

The Monastery, Kabuki, Friday, 7:00 and Sunday, 1:00. A crusty old bachelor offers his castle to the Russian Orthodox Church for a monastery, then has to contend with a feisty nun. The plot of this documentary sounds like a sitcom. It might have made a good one, but it’s just not an interesting documentary. For one thing, it never really explains the old man’s relationship to the Church–spiritual, emotional, legal, and financial. The Monastery has a few funny scenes, and some moments of insight about this man’s loneliness, but not enough to fill a third of its 84 minutes.

Everything Else

, , Indiana Jones Triple Feature, Castro, Sunday. If you’re tired of serious artistic fare, the Castro is taking Sunday off from the San Francisco International Film Festival to screen two of the most entertaining turn-off-the-brain action movies ever made. The bad news: They’re also showing one of the worst. The problem is that, unlike the Godfather trilogy, the bad Indiana Jones movie is in the center–Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (the links lead to my microreviews). The great entertainments were made before (Raiders of the Lost Ark) and afterwards (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade). If you want to see the movies in the order they were made, which is a good idea if you’ve never seen them as Last Crusade has some jokes that require you to know the character, you’re best bet is to go to the 2:00 screening of Raiders, take a long late afternoon break, then go to the 6:30 screening of Last Crusade. Otherwise, start with that 6:30 screening and stay for Raiders.

The Iron Giant, Cerrito, Sunday, 2:00. The young hero of Brad (The Incredibles) Bird’s first feature befriends a massively-huge robot from outer space. Hey, Steven Spielberg’s Elliot only had to hide the diminutive ET. The robot seems friendly enough, but there’s good reason to believe he was built as a weapon of mass destruction. Using old-fashioned, hand-drawn animation with plenty of sharp angles, Bird creates a stylized view of small-town American life circa 1958 that straddles satire and nostalgia, and treats most of its inhabitants with warmth and affection. A good movie for all but the youngest kids. A benefit for the Children’s Hospital Research Center.

The Toll of the Sea, Stanford, Friday, 7:30. Anna May Wong received one of her few starring roles in this blatant rip-off of Madame Butterfly. But the real star is the very early two-color Technicolor process. A good but not great movie in its own right, lifted into special interest by Ms. Wong’s beauty and talent, and its value as an excellent record of a now-dead color process. The print is from a UCLA restoration made from the original negative (rare for a silent film). However, the last reel of The Toll of the Sea is missing, and the story filled in through new footage and title cards. Accompanied by Jim Riggs on the organ.

Broken speakers and Broken People: A Real Grindhouse Double-Feature, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Thursday, 7:30. In the spirit of Grindhouse, the YBCA will present a real “double-feature of fucked-up, freaked-out and forgotten 70s exploitation films.” And they’re not giving us the titles in advance.

Duck Soup, Cerrito, Saturday and Sunday. A blatantly corrupt politician becomes the country’s all-powerful leader on the whim of the wealthy elite. Once in office, he cuts benefits for the working class, fills important positions with unqualified clowns, and starts a war on a whim. But how could a comedy made in 1933 be relevant today? The Marx Brothers at their very best. A Cerrito Classic.

Pan’s Labyrinth, Red Vic, Monday and Tuesday. Young Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) lives in fascist Spain with a cruel and powerful stepfather–a very dangerous and scary place to live. But so is the fantasy realm into which she frequently escapes. But at least the fantasy world, which may or may not be a figment of her imagination, holds out the possibility of hope. Guillermo del Toro fashioned a nightmare inside of a nightmare, filled with dark, gruesome, and often gory imagery, a child’s fantasy that’s appropriate only for adults, and an unforgettable experience. Pan’s Labyrinth is also continuing its runs at the Cerrito, and Parkway.