IL DIVO: LA STRAORDINARIA VITA DI GIULIO ANDREOTTI (Paolo Sorrentino, 2008)

date watched: April 30, 2009
location: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, NYC

I think the only reason this film got distribution in the United States is because of its subject matter (Andreotti), and the references to the Mafia (Cosa Nostra, as they call it in Italia). Not to mention that the film got the 2008 Cannes Jury Prize.

*Signore Giulio Andreotti (the real Andreotti)

The title refers to one of Andreotti's (many) nicknames, and also an allusion to Divo Julius ("Divine Julius"), what Julius Caesar was called. Let me just say right now that I'm not going to pretend to know politics, because I really don't know politics. And I know almost nothing about Italian politics. All I know is that among his many positions in Italy, Andreotti is most well-known for his work as Prime Minister, and he was part of the Christian Democrats (Democrazia Cristiana, or DC).

I was happy to see Toni Servilo on screen, playing "the hunchback," since there are not so many great deadpan-faced actors like him nowadays. Sorrentino also continued to use his signature styles: switching abruptly from a loud soundtrack to silence, using extreme close-ups, and displaying hallways. He carries on Fellini and early Bertolucci's tradition of interlacing the real and fable.

I'd really like to get my hands on the soundtrack, but alas, an "Il Divo" search in iTunes only returns albums of the Italian male popera ensemble. Perfetto.

I highly recommend his 2004 film, Le Conseguenze Dell'Amore (The Consequences of Love), if you can get your hands on it.

THE EXPLODING GIRL (Bradley Rust Gray, 2009)

date watched: April 28, 2009
location: LOEWS VII, NYC
Screened as part of the TriBeCa Film Festival in New York

Here it is, my first negative review in this blog:

Luckily, I didn't pay for this ticket, so I didn't lose anything, monetarily speaking.
And the movie was short, fortunately.
Let me just say, it truly is hard to make a movie, and impossible to make a good movie.
This guy can definitely learn a thing or two or more from his wife, whose Treeless Mountain (So Yong Kim, 2008) was beautifully crafted.

The coolest feature was Zoe Kazan's performance, not because of her acting per se, but for who she is. For those of you who don't recognize her last name, she's the granddaughter of the great Elia Kazan, director of On The Waterfront (1954) and Splendor in the Grass (1961), among other works. Her most recent appearance was in Mendes's Revolutionary Road (2008) as Maureen Grube.


This film really allowed me to contemplate the importance of the genre-character match. It's often disconcerting to have immature characters (I say immature here because these kids are college-age, and still growing up) act in a mature genre (in this case, the "serious" coming-of-age). Of course, there are films like Adventureland (Greg Mottola, 2009) that used the same cohort, yet was successful because of the careful weaving of comedy and bildungsroman genres.

Towards the later part of the film, during a scene in which Ivy (Zoe Kazan) talks with her boyfrriend on the phone, an audience member shouted, "Who the fuck cares, man. C'mon!" I dare say this was the most refreshing moment of the screening. This kind of "rupture" was badly needed by that point. It really drove home the Heineken slogan in its advertisement for TFF--"In New York, everyone's a critic." So Bravo, New York critics. And an extra Bravo for you, crude young man.

GOOPY GYNE BAGHA BYNE/THE ADVENTURES OF GOOPY AND BAGHA (Satyajit Ray, 1968)

date watched: April 26, 2009
location: Film Society of Lincoln Center
This marks my last viewing of Ray's films in the "First Light" series at Lincoln. How sad :(

I could tell Ray was having a lot of fun with this film, compared to his more serious Apu Trilogy and the other two films mentioned in this blog. It's no wonder this was his most popular film, as it was a domestic box office hit. I almost thought he was experimenting with some recreational drugs at some points, especially during the Ghosts' dancing sequence and the appearance of the Ghost King. It reminded me of the drunken revelries of Dumbo in the Disney movie, when he sees all kinds of elephants dancing. Some of those ghosts looked like teletubbies, and this was 1968!



The portrayal of the kings were most intriguing: the corpulent King of Amloki who chases out bad musicians on gaunt donkeys; the good-natured King of Shundi; and the King of Halla, brother to the King of Shundi, who was under the evil spell of Borfi and his own Prime Minister. I would also add the Ghost King, who speaks like one of Alvin's chipmunks and has a visage filled with so many sequins you can hardly focus.

It is the Ghost King who grants Goopy and Bagha three wishes, and being simple men, they ask not for riches, but for a voice and a rhythm, some food, and easy transportation. I suppose the ability to paralyze the audience through song was a bonus.

When the King brothers reunite, they bring with them their only daughters, as wives for Goopy and Bagha. Here, Ray borrowed a little of Fleming's magic, as the image transforms from grays to Technicolor, like the moment Dorothy steps into the colorful land of Oz. Like Oz, the colors seen on the screen are almost too much for the eyes. Especially since Indian culture values color so much, the abundance of hues seem fake, even. But this splash of color was an unexpected gesture of Ray's, since all of his films (the famous ones, anyway) are in black and white. Sometimes, surprises are necessary, even in the world of cinema, right?

MAHANAGAR/THE BIG CITY (Satyajit Ray, 1963)

date watched: April 25, 2009
location: Film Society of Lincoln Center
This film was a part of the "First Light" series in FSLC on Satyajit Ray's films

Our heroine in Charulata/The Lonely Wife returns in Mahanagar/The Big City (techincally, it's not a "return," since Charulata came after Mahanagar), and I don't blame Ray for wanting to cast her again. She has the types of brow-furrows and stares that allow spectators to know her thoughts. Plus, she has the strength to freeze those expressions in front of a camera, most likely glued to her face.

I like to consider myself a forward-thinking woman, and the limitations posed on the main character, Arati, were at times frustrating for me. This frustration was a necessary component, however, and it really gave Arati a lot of power throughout the movie, as we saw the family slowly fraying at the edges without her presence in the house. Especially haunting is the Father's tenacity: he visits his former students, using their skills as credit to his work as a professor; these visits are nothing short of panhandling, despite his external dignity.

I thought the biggest strength of the film was the foil that Arati's husband, Subrata Mazumdar (played by Anil Chatterjee), and Arati's boss, Mr. Mukherjee (played by Haradhan Bannerjee), made up. In the last part of the film, the shadow cast by Subrata on the curtains curiously splits into two (I take this double as the presence of Mr. Mukherjee), as he seriously ponders his wife's new job and its imbrications. The next day, he meets Mr. Mukherjee, who humorously says that they are "two birds of a feather," coming from the same town.


It takes Subrata some time to realize what a great wife he is living with, but the moment of his revelation is truly rewarding. Instead of his earlier statement of "exit husband, enter wife," they will undoubtedly work under the healthy slogan of "enter husband AND wife."

EARTH (Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield, 2007)

date watched: EARTH DAY! (April 22, 2009)
location: Lincoln AMC 13, NYC

Brought by Greenlight Media AG, BBC Worldwide, and Disneynature

Earth is essentially made possible by two elements amalgamated: technology (the photography often has the "realer than real" aspect) and mother nature. Without the former, we wouldn't be able to see the wonders of the latter on the silver screen.

It's always humorous to give animals human qualities. I can't believe how many times I laughed during this movie. And yet we are surprised time and time again by animal behavior because it is so close to ours. Eating, sleeping, child-rearing, attracting love interests--they all belong to both animal and human realms.


One of the key ingredients in this shimmering documentary about our planet is the soundtrack. Original music was composed by George Fenton, and he certainly has the Ennio Morricone touch of bolstering the images, and yes, often overpowering them too.

The human race is truly set apart by brain power, but we are simultaneously the weakest species. I don't know how confident I would be without all my gadgets out in the wilderness. That being said, kudos to the cast and crew of Earth! I can't imagine how much time and effort must have gone into capturing everything, especially since they were working with non-actors, incapable of being directed.

It is a G-rated picture, however. We only get a glimpse of the seal tail hanging out of the great white shark's mouth, and there are no sequences of carnivores feeding on herbivores. But the chase sequences hopefully make up for the lack of violence.

17 AGAIN (Burr Steers)

date watched: April 21, 2009
location: Lincoln AMC 13, NYC

I guess I don't have to talk about who the main actor in this movie is. He is only the hottest teenager out there since High School Musical, right?
It is reported that he decided to take up this role because even he's been through all the teenage ups and downs, he was never the father of teenagers.
That's all I'll say about Efron. But that is truly why I envy actors: they are given the chance to be anyone else, to live another life, albeit briefly.

Overall, the movie was not too poorly structured, but the ending could have been done with more class, in my opinion. According to imdb.com, the director seems to have more experience in television, which may explain the struggle in the resolution. With some more experience with the medium, he could probably be a noteworthy director of comedies.

Personally, I have a yen for movies dealing with reliving the past. Wild Strawberries is one of my favorite films of all time, and I still enjoy listening to the story of Ebenezer Scrooge (though nobody reads it to me anymore). I liked that Mike O'Donnell still made the same choice, even though he got a second shot. It's as if you come back from a superb trip abroad, only to realize how much you missed home. Hence, our utterances of "home sweet home" as we lay down all our bags in the foyer.

IS ANYBODY THERE? (John Crowley, UK)

date watched: April 19, 2009
location: AMC 13 in Lincoln Sq., NYC

More than anything, I liked the visual texture of the film. It's as if a dusty sheet had settled on the celluloid, which seems highly appropriate for a film that takes place in a nursing home. Maybe because the geriatric population is on the rise, or simply because we are looking for more emotional stimulation, old people in film are popular topics nowadays. As I've once heard, if you want to get any emotion from the audience, all you need is an old person and a puppy--which brings us movies like Is Anybody There? and Marley and Me. Even middle-age romance is a commonplace genre, as you can see with Last Chance Harvey (definitely one of the better ones) and Nights in Rodanthe (which I didn't even see). Even The Curious Case of Benjamin Button conducts many of its scenes in nursing home.

The most valuable achievement of Is Anybody There? is Michael Caine's performance. I don't know about anyone else, but even in the new series of Batman, I consider him the #1 hero, and NOT the man in the black leather bat suit. He can make any old tearjerker classy, and this film is no exception. So, my advice is, go watch it for Caine, if anything else.

Charulata aka The Lonely Wife (Satyajit Ray, 1964)

date watched: April 18, 2009
location: Film Society of Lincoln Center
Part of the "First Light: Satyajit Ray from the Apu Trilogy to the Calcutta Trilogy" series

Ray is truly one of the 20th century's best film auteurs. He seems to exemplify Alexandre Astruc's notion of the caméra-stylo* flawelessly.
The imagery is that of the cadence of a well-written poem, and Ray, coming from a long line of artistic intellectuals, wields the same power his ancestors had with the pen, except he does it with the camera.
The swing scene is, I daresay, one of the most beautiful scenes in film I have ever seen thus far.
I found a clip in youtube, but it cannot do the scene justice, since the quality is so horrible:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcUHbTBElO0

Madhabi Mukherjee's performance as Charulata is mesmerizing: she has so much control over her facial expressions, and it is difficult not to identify with her.
The ending is hauntingly poetic, also. The three or so freeze frames of the wife, the husband, and the servant really places the spectator within the household. We are thus given the opportunity to be the patriarch, the lonely but intelligent wife, and the senile servant, all at once. Additionally, the heading of "Ruined Nest" appears, it is suggestive, but not in a manipulative way whatsoever. It merely invites the spectator to imagine the life beyond the frame, but simultaneously suggesting that this is where the film ends, and has gone as far as the frame can reach.

I am truly excited to watch other Ray films that aren't widely shown thanks to the Walter Reade theater.

*French film critic Alexandre Astruc first coined the term caméra-stylo, or "camera-pen." To use the helpful SAT analogy tool to practice (sadly, analogies are not part of the exam anymore):
writer : pen :: filmmaker : camera

Luo Ye Gui Gen/Getting Home (Zhang Yang, 2007)

date watched: April 16, 2009
location: at home, thanks to The Global Film Initiative's Global Lens 2009 and Laura de Toledo at the Chapin School

Getting Home follows a middle-aged man's journey to China's Three Gorges, where he must arrive to fulfill his dead friend's wish of being buried there.
Despite the paucity of dialogue, the film was in no way lagging or boring. On the contrary, the excellent performance of Zhao Benshan and the breathtaking rural landscapes make up for "lost time," so to speak.
The film really made me wonder about the meaning of home, and the homelessness that the modern man often feels due to displacement and disorientation from reality.
There are some chilling scenes that reveal the sheer vileness of mankind, and yet the director offers an uplifting message of hope: there is always someone on your side, and no matter how abject the situation, help is on the way.

Many similarities could be made with Preston Sturges' Sullivan's Travels (1941), Charlie Chaplin's Modern Times (1936), and Sisyphus, the character in Greek mythology.

My favorite scene was in which the protagonist appears to have given up, and digs a hole in the ground for his friend to lie peacefully. When he crawls into the hole himself, he decides to end his journey, saying, "Brother, I'm going with you." He even ties a rope around a stone to bang himself with, only to find that he is not ready and too scared to die. A truly honest portrayal of man's psychology.

I'm not sure when this will get a wide DVD release, or if it ever will. Hopefully.
For more information, go to globalfilm.org

Valentino: The Last Emperor (Matt Tyrnauer, 2008)

date watched: April 15, 2009
location: film forum, nyc

Although a documentary, Valentino is more like a love story, with a complete narrative. And sorry, Mr. Valentino, but I think the star of this film is Giancarlo Giammetti. It goes without saying, however, that Valentino is truly the last of the era's haute couture geniuses, and one of the most entertaining personas in fashion/art history, along with Karl Lagerfeld and Salvador Dalí.
According to director Matt Tyrnauer, one of the reasons Valentino liked the film was because his dresses came to life, since they are "meant to move." This really is a tribute to his Valentino Reds, and documents all the hands and minds that breathe life into the flowing creations he will always be remembered for. In addition, Giammetti also comes to life, not just as Valentino's "shadow," but as a figure all on his own.

Possibly the best scene is in which Giammetti reveals his honest comment in the back of a car, post-awards celebration: "You look a little bit too tan."
The biggest understatement of the year, certo.

Sugar (Ryan Fleck & Anna Boden, 2008)

date watched: April 11, 2009
location: Lincoln Plaza Cinemas, NYC

The hot trend in American Independent Cinema seems to be the mockumentary. Mockumentary styles are seen in films like Sin Nombre (Cary Fukunaga, 2009), and Goodbye Solo (Ramin Bahrani, 2008). And Sugar, I would say, belongs to this emerging "genre" as well.
This film was one of the better ones I saw so far this year, and the co-directors definitely are NOT suffering from a sophomore slump, even after a great film like Half Nelson (2006).
I had the privilege of seeing clips of Sugar before going to theaters, since I attended "Teaming Up" at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, in which the co-directors talked about their experience of working together.


In the casting process of Half Nelson, Shareeka Epps was the second contestant they met, which made it fast and easy for them. For Sugar, Algenis Perez Soto was the 452nd one they met. This goes to show just how backbreaking casting can be; but I would say that he turned out to be a great Sugar.