Sita - Free and Online

Well - looks like it's finally here. Sita Sings the Blues is online and streaming to a computer near you.

It's far from perfect as a way to watch - but it's probably a heck of a lot better than not seeing it. Last I'd heard Nina Paley is planning on making the content available to burn DVD's directly - I think next week. I'll be keeping an eye out for that as I'd rather take that route. But if you'd like to see it NOW just follow this link.

Congrats to everyone involved in getting this visible to a wider audience - hopefully even bigger soon.

Two Lovers

I saw Two Lovers last night at a SIFF screening. What was the film about? A few possible interpretations;

A. The Reefer Madness like cautionary tale (seemingly) funded by my old Hebrew school warning nice Jewish boys of the folly of chasing the hot blonde next door (or anywhere else for that matter).

B. The same school's practical lesson on how to settle for the nice girl gracefully when the shiksa kicks you to the curb for the married goy banker.

C. A more nondenominational cautionary tale of how everyone thinks they want the hot, crazy girlfriend that gets you laid on rooftops until reality sets it.

D. A tour of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn that makes you both nostalgic for your NYC childhood and leaves you wondering what happened to Debbie the blonde (but Jewish girl) you hung out with on a Brooklyn beach who for some reason you never called. Possibly author only on that one.

Set in Brighton Beach, occasionally Manhattan and occasionally Sheepshead Bay (which they seem to merge with Brighton) it is a cool look back at the city - at least for the writer who has been gone for a long time. The main character's parents live in one of the large, old buildings in what is a predominantly Russian neighborhood in Brooklyn. Joaquin Phoenix plays the son of Jewish immigrant parents. (In a huge stretch for the actor) he's dealing with bipolar disorder, loss of a fiancé, and perhaps most devastatingly having had to move back in with his parents. He works in his family's dry cleaning business and takes "artsy" black and white photos. During the process of merging with another business he's introduced (more accurately set up with) to the other owner's daughter. He seems interested, but not overly so. Then he meets the new neighbor, Gwenth Paltrow as the blond with issues. He's drawn to her and tries to juggle both women. The rest of the film is him trying to work out the resolution of that and determine what path his life will take.

I suppose it's possible we're supposed to see the whole set of choices as a metaphor for bipolar disorder. One choice somewhat depressing, one slightly manic. It at least seems more intended than the Top Gun metaphor people joke about. Both women are right for him in some way, very wrong in others. Perhaps the lost fiancé was the perfect blending. But we don't meet her so only can guess at that. OK - after thinking about it a bit longer I'm pretty sure that's what we're supposed to take away.

All the performances are pretty good. Phoenix does toe a fine line portraying a character that both can make you (at least me) cringe while being likable at times. At least enough that you understand why the other characters think well of him. And it is nice to see a more nuanced portrayal of mental illness where someone can struggle with it while not being an angel or the devil. Combining the possibility of just being not a nice person outside the illness plus struggling with a lot of the same types of life decisions as everyone else.

That said I found the entire film a serious downer. Possibly more so than Gomorra. That doesn't mean don't see it - but maybe not the way to start a "fun" weekend or bring a first date. I heard some laughter - but it's a "serious" tale told in a visually darker cinematography etc. So be warned. Maybe it'll grow on me but at the moment I wouldn't recommend rushing out to see it unless something in the description speaks to you. Almost forgot - it struck me as a bit predictable, but I guess some things just are.

Thank goodness

Finally - Kate's got an Oscar! I'm not 100% sure I really agree with this particular win for this movie - but I do believe she's been deserving for a while. Plus, I think we're all (the movie going public) deserving of the chance that she might stop making slightly creepy depressing stuff for a while.

In other notes, can't argue with Departures (Japan) - at least compared with the other films that made it to the final five.

Is anyone else wondering if Philip Seymour Hoffman is planning on robbing a liquor store after the festivities end?

Also - this ceremony hasn't quite been as bad as I'd expected (meaning I stopped fast forwarding with Tivo occasionally to actually watch). Maybe it's just me - but this tribute thing where past winners say wonderful things to the current nominees is just stupid. Speaking of which - OMG - did someone just say they had to Google Richard Jenkins to figure out what he'd done? At least say you looked it up on IMDB. Give some respect.

The Class (France)

Today (with what appeared to be much of Seattle) I ventured out to see this Palme d'Or winner (so often the commercial kiss of death in the US) which is also one of the five films competing for the Academy Award in the foreign film category. This makes the fourth out of five that I saw in the last year - so I'm feeling a little better about having an opinion on the category. Though that opinion continues to be that some other very strong films probably should have been on the list (and WTF - why is Bashir not at least also in the animated category?). For whatever reason, nice to see a true crowd showing up for the first screening on a Sunday for something that doesn't involve Madea going to prison.

I really did like this film. Which isn't so much a story with a specific plot as a slice of life following a class of 13-14 year olds in a rougher part of Paris through their year in French class. The build up in the press has been so relentless that I was actually expecting to be hugely underwhelmed. But the realistic performances where no one was perfect and everyone was trying to figure different things out really worked for me. The insight into the French school system was also a nice plus. In a lot of ways it could have almost as easily been a US class - though some of the issues about nationality/race would have probably then been attenuated.

The teacher of the class is in only in the classroom for his fourth year - meaning he looks generally comfortable in the classroom but hasn't seem to solidified his views of the "right way" to do everything. I get the impression that his casual if argumentative style might not necessarily be optimal - you sort of accept it is what it is. And that he may have many things to learn himself. A lot of issues get touched on, and there's probably a lot of good conversation to be had if you go with others. Since (in my view) this is about experiencing the school's year without a lot of preconceptions I'm not going to try to describe the happenings further. There's no big surprise/explosion/reveal about ghosts. But I left feeling like I knew more than before and had been interested all the way through. So I do recommend. Just don't expect something like American Teen.

Is this my pick for best foreign film (given the 4 I've seen). Well, thankfully no one's asked me to weigh in on that.

One thing is sure - teaching seems to be a hard job in France too - and no doubt grossly underpaid there as well.

Everlasting Moments (Sweden)

A working class Swedish woman with more kids than she can quite afford and a husband with a wandering eye and drinking problems discovers the magic of photography during the first part of the 20th century. After getting into using the camera the new world she sees tends to gloss over / allow her to survive the tough times relatively unscathed. And there are definitely some tough times over the course of the film. I cannot say it's a fun experience. That said there is some beautiful photography/cinematography as befitting the subject matter. I believe this was on the short list for this year's foreign film Oscar and it's not at all an unreasonable selection. Didn't make the final round though.

It's hard to not recommend to someone who is interested in the changes that occur when one views the world through a camera lens. It's well acted - so really nothing at all wrong with it. I was pretty tired going in so there's a possibility it would have affected me more if fully awake. At this point I'd say it was a very solid film even if it didn't completely blow me away personally.

Gomorra (Italy)

Thanks to the fine people at SIFF I was able to catch up this past weekend on one of the films I didn't get a chance to see in Palm Springs.

This film provides a slice of life snapshot into the activities of the Camorra which appears to be a loosely organized but extremely violent "organized" crime group in Italy. Activities range from the expected such as drug dealing, to the less so such as illegal toxic waste disposal to the everyday/surprising such as fashion. As opposed to many "mafia" film based on southern Italian groups there's zero in the way of romanticizing the criminal activities or people involved. Lives are treated as worthless and practically everyone ends up dead, or (seemingly) soon to be so. It is not the feel good movie of the year. With title Gomorra - hopefully that's not what you're going in expecting.

The film felt slightly long to me, and this isn't something where any particular character is likely to draw you in. Everyone has a born to lose/dead man walking feel about them. Life is cheap and characters are constantly being gunned down. It's a bleak situation and they seem to have purposefully made a bleak film to tell the story. I felt it was effective - with a number of riveting shots where the camera is held steady on a person or scene until eventually you're forced to realize what the film maker is trying to say. And I mean that in the best possible way - a true model of showing vs. telling (Think of it as the cinematic opposite of reading a Twilight book). Especially the opening scene which I completely was pulled in by. The best part for me was that sometimes the significance of what you were seeing didn't reveal itself until much later in the film.

It's hard to say I "recommend" this - as it's not an entertaining experience. I am however quite glad I saw it. Likely won't be a top favorite for the year, but it has some examples of style/presentation that will be with me a long time. Might make an interesting double feature with II Divo for the extremes of Italian problems/corruption and a contrast between the hyper kinetic political film with this much slower tale of continual homicide.

Sita in the NY Times

There's a nice article about Sita Sings the Blues in the NYTimes. It's a pretty good read - especially in that it's more about the history of Nina Paley making the films than about the troubles getting it out. Think of it as a decent film festival Q&A without the guy asking about how much it cost to make. Though I think it does cover that too - in case you're that guy - and just need to know.

Most importantly, it's going to air in NYC on the PBS station WNET on March 7. Nina's website also indicates they're getting close to being able to distribute it online.

Last Chance Harvey

Be warned - the title of Last Chance Harvey is deceptive. You're likely to think it's a last chance for the character to discover love, his family - you know, "it's never too late to...". But in reality it's a warning you realize too late yourself, in that about 5 minutes in you've lost the chance to make a clean escape.

In several ways this is more bleak and depressing a film than Gomorra(which I saw yesterday). It's similar in that Gomorra features a ton of characters that are presented as one dimensional leaving you not caring if they're killed off. Much the same here, except the Italian film did it for a purpose. And a good one - if depressing at times.

Look, I'm not saying "it's never too late" is a bad sentiment. But I am saying there isn't even a 90 minute film with Dustin and Emma worth seeing here. Maybe try Late Bloomers instead.

Oh yeah - the story? Guy estranged from everyone and his job on the rocks goes to London for his daughter's wedding. It's awkward and painful for him and he's fired en route. Then he meets a woman (also relationship challenged) and good stuff happens. You can learn this from the from trailer, or watching the movie. I suggest the former.

And can someone tell me WTF is up with the Polish smoker guy?

I'm probably being slightly too hard - but I really just never cared about the characters and their incredibly predictable movie lives.



Spoiler alert section:
Towards the end of course he runs into the hotel and the elevators are broken. So all but the most casual moviegoer knows he's likely going to have a heart related episode. For a brief moment I was thinking the film might redeem itself by killing off the character just short of true love. But sadly that wasn't to be. In my mind that was probably one of the few things that could have redeemed the film - short of Zombies. No love there either. :-(

Heavy Metal in Baghdad (Upate)

I was just surfing the NY Times site looking to find out the latest in today's important groundhog related news. Then I saw a brief blurb that opened up to a larger story about how the Iraqi metal band Acrassicauda has been granted asylum in the US. Some folks may remember them from the movie Heavy Metal in Baghdad. Their story seems far from over - but it's nice to know that they're at least getting a chance to follow their dream. Checkout the NY Times story if you get a chance.

BTW - in case you were wondering, the most well known groundhog saw his shadow (six more weeks of winter) and the one in NYC bit the mayor. Really. Apparently the NYC one disagreed about the shadow part - but heck after biting the mayor I'm sure everyone was laughing too hard to care.

SIFF Cinema updates (Feb)

Maybe it's just me paying attention, but it seems as though there's suddenly a lot of interesting stuff at SIFF's cinema. I managed to miss most of the French Crime Wave series. I tend to miss a lot of the theater's screenings. But at least with the crime series I felt bad about it. Several interesting things coming up - going to try to end the month with less regrets.

- Annual Noir series - with a special focus on "newspaper noir". Includes Ace in the Hole - most description mention that when it came out that critics called it one of the most cynical, mean-spirited movies ever made. But when you watch it you'll recognize it instantly as everything you've ever suspected about cable news. I haven't seen anything else in the series, so I'm going to try to go at least once or twice. At least once, as each day is a double feature.
- French shorts series - just 6 shorts, so why not?
- Ben X - the first time in a while I've seen something playing at SIFF Cinema that actually was at SIFF. I'd wanted to see this film from Belgium during the festival but couldn't quite fit it in. I'd heard several folks call this one of their favorites - though in several cases these were people I often disagree with. So now I'm especially curious.