2015 Palm Springs Film Festival
The 26th Palm Springs Film Festival(PSFF) ended in January, but I am reposting to bring my blog up to date. 
This covers only first few days. Each tear the festival has a theme, which focuses 20 to 40 films in a certain category. This year the special theme was “Another Europe”, ie: the one that I am from. I thought I had died and gone to heaven – 41 Eastern European movies. Then the schedule came out – and at first glance, the list included 11 Bulgarian films, same as France and only US had more. But alas, proof reading error skipped the Canada title im the print out, which came thereafter, so it was one from Bulgaria and 9 from Canada. What a relief – could not imagine that many Bulgarian titles, although the two I had seen in years past were excellent.
So the first screening and my first film was from Iran: “Red Rose”, although the tittle should have been, the green bracelet. It’s a story of the Iranian reaction to the stolen of 2009 – the Green Revolution. The demonstration and their brutal repression is captured by cell phone cameras, which were posted via twitter. Our male protagonist is a middle age professional or a literary person, who was active in 1988-9 which brought in the Ayatolla period, who is skeptical whether the middle class youth of northern Teheran can pull the country with them, or that they will be a better choice. Escaping the brutal pursuit a group of them are sheltered briefly in his large apartment. An attractive, determined and perhaps naive 25 year old something, comes back again and again to use his computer to use the twitter and in so doing puts him in harms way. His wife and child have already left for Canada – he is stalling his departure – there is a “romance” – and his apartment is on the market. French financing, Greek location and a small budget, but an intense well executed film. Worth seeing.
The second feature, clocking in at two hours and one of two Ukrainian entries, is called “The Guide”. It’s a big hit in Ukraine. The story begins just as Ukrainians’ “big brothers” decide that for the glory of communism they need to starve some Ukrainian peasants to death, deport or kill some kulaks – the mid 1930’s. This is done by requisitioning all the food in the country side, under penalty of death. Timothy Snyder claims about 3.5 million victims, the script writer introducing the movie claimed 10 m. The story is framed around an American engineer, Michael Shamrock, who helps to build a tractor factory in Kharkiv. He brings his 10 year old son, Peter, with him for the ceremony of rolling out the first tractor. While there Michael falls in love with a singer actress, as does Commissar Vladimir. The father is killed, unbeknown to him, he is carrying a copy of a signed secret order by Stalin and Kaganovich to liquidate the Ukrainian peasants. which Vladimir has to find. Michael is killed on the train to Moscow, the son witnesses the assault, and he is rescued by a Kobzar, which is a group of blind traveling minstrels, a tradition dating back to the not so great Catherine, who in putting down a Cossack rebellion in SE Ukraine, orders the prisoners blinded. The Kobzars use orphan boys as their guides and Peter becomes such a guide as they deal with being pursued and hiding. The Kobzars are also on the liquidation list as they stir up national feelings and memory. The critic calls it emotionally patriotic and it is all that. The director is obviously influenced by the soviet style cinema – noble peasants, songs, love of country, tremendous courage, single mindedness. “Stalingrad” last year had those elements as well. But this is an Ukrainian film and you will understand their feeling at a different level, and may even cringe on the Russian nerve of calling anyone else fascist. I gave it an excellent, notwithstanding it’s penchant for the melodramatic.
The last movie of the day, clocking in at just over three hours, is a the “Golden Era”, from Hong Kong. the period and place is Manchuria and China from 1932 to the fall of Hong Kong to the Japanese in 1941-2. It covers the life of Xio Hang, who is apparently one of the most influential writers of the 20th century China and who was not covered in any of my education. She has a long term turbulent relationship with another famous writer. Beautiful cinematography, lots of quotations – naturalistic both as a film as a writer. With back and forth time wise and with various other intellectuals chiming in with their recollections, Chinese faces and names tend to blend together at first until about halfway through you begin to track who’s who and what’s what. The film also picks up in the second half as the Japanese become a factor and suspense builds. It was more educational than inspiring, and to my mind not enough discussion was given to the literary issues and more to he personal issues, but I guess for those who have read her, the personal might be more interesting. But I agree with the NYT that it was beautifully filmed and different. I would have rated it excellent as opposed to very good if the editors managed to keep it just a bit shorter and faster.
SECOND DAY
From Estonia a beautiful black and white elegy to the victims of Stalin’s deportations un 1942 “In the Crosswind.” It certainly qualifies as an art film – not only for the beauty of it’s cinematography, but also because it uses motion and still life in a unique way. Until the Russians arrive on the scene, to begin their deportations of the reservists and their families, which typically meant educated elite, and other educated elite the film is just black and white. Once off the train, for the next 12 or 13 years of her stay in Siberia we have still life in panoramic sweeps, narrated fro the letters of our protagonist. When a few years after Stalin’s departure (3/5/1953) she finally returns to Estonia the film resumes (moving pictures). Whether that is your thin, if you see it you will find it beautiful, elegant and touching.
“Timbuktu” from Mauritania attracted me because it covered the foreign Jihadists take over of that long lost city in 2013. I was curious how the dynamic of that take over actually work – how the jihadists and locals interact in their daily lives. I was not disappointed. Without hysteria or caricature or cliche the director portrays both sides and how their dance with Sharia works among various segments represented by different persons. You get beauty, brutality, stupidity, history and african music. Could be slow for some, but you may begin to understand how ISIS and others of such ilk operate.
“Halla Halla” (Hello, Hello) from Sweden ended the second day. Well acted situational comedy where a divorced or separated nurse with two children is still not over her husband, who has found a younger, fitter replacement who is soon pregnant. In the meantime it seems like this four times married father of seven is or is not looking at number 5, our nurse.. To my mind more of tv serial than a serious film, but a very good serial with feminist urgings.
DAY THREE
Only two movies today, starting with Israeli “Gett, the trial of Vivianne Amsallem” where we struggle with the Vivianne to get her divorce from an alter cocker rabbinical court. Gett is a politically motivated movie in the cause of the reform of the Jewish divorce law. It would appear that in addition to conversion or who is or is not Jewish, the only way to get married and divorced in Israel is through rabbinical courts. It would also appear that there are as many as 85,000 women who have not been able to get a divorce in 5 years. What we get to see is a small cramped room, with two desks, elevated podium where the idiots sit. We visit this room, and this room only for five years as Vivianne tries to get a divorce and apparently cannot get one unless her husband consents. This civil versus rabbinical bi-furcation was a result of earlier political calculation and is a hostage to the religious parties that form a conservative coalition. The film does well to convey the biases and the disfunction of the system in a dramatized way designed to have a greater emotional impact than an one hour tv documantary.
Concluding with French-Canadien “Mommy” , clocking in 134 minutes of mental illness disfunction we see a foul mouthed emotional and intense mother trying to handle a willful, crazy, aggressive, ADHDin love with his mother teen-age son. Both key roles, mother and son, are extremely well acted. She also has to navigate Quebec law, dealing with commitments etc. The director is 25 years old and this is his fifth film – two of which deal with mother and son relationship. I haven’t seen this kind behavioral issue portrayed like that – and the film leaves you with plenty to talk about and consider.
DAY THREE
Another only two film day. From Bulgaria’s only entry came “The Lesson” Tells a story of what seems like a reasonably able teacher, her daughter and husband. The father seems unemployed and an alcoholic. He has spent the mortgage money on other things and now the bank wants its collateral back. When her part payment offer to the bank is stolen (robbed) – to save her home, the proper teacher has to some unexpected things and a loan shark. Economic, well paced story, of a family dealing with current economic reality not that different from many areas in US.
The second film and the reason I could not handle another was at 196 minutes this Palm D’Or winner from Cannes by Nuri Ceylan (He did once upon a time in Anatolia, Climates and Three Monkeys.) What we got was a three hours Chekhov play he never wrote set in Cappadocia – amid the cave dwelling and in a dwelling hotel owned by the main protagonist – a retired actor, dabbling in writing, managing his inheritance which includes hotel and some rental properties. Thus from Turkey we have “Winter Sleep.”
Since Checkov characters are always talking to each other, and this film is mostly conversation about life, meaning, relationships, love – the conversations are between the iwner and his younger wife, and his sister, and his servant, and his neighbor and a number of shorter encounters in between. If you cannot get enough of Chekhov like dialogue or scenes from Cappadocia this may be your movie.
THE REST OF THE FEST
In no particular order, I also saw:
“Corn Island” from Georgia, another go at Abkhazia-Georgia war of 92-93. It seems that every Spring, the run-off from Caucasus creates islands in the river flowing between the two territories, and on some islands Georgian farmers can plant crops ( the soil is rich). In out case the farmer and his teenage granddaughter, help themselves to one of those island, build a hut and plant corn. Fall rains eventually cover the island just when the harvest is due. In the meantime soldiers from both sides visit – looking for this person or that, one of whom hides there for a while. These visits provide a hint of menace, The cinematography is stunning and again this is a naturalistic poem to the beauty of the simple life struggling under the menace of conflict.
“Gemma Bovery” from France, similar in spirit to last year’s “Bicycling with Mollier”, beautiful Gemma from England moves to a cottage in Normandy, next to a baker, with a previous academic career and love of literature, who becomes convinced that Gemma is the next Emma – a lovely young and bored wife, neglectful husband and a handsome lover – she will need to be rescued from the fate that befell Emma, suicide. So we have a comedy and a bit of romance – until the next beautiful woman moves into the cottage. A delightful way to spend an hour and a half.
From New Zealand “What We Do in the Shadows” pretends to be a documentary about vampires and such in Wellington. It’s pretty funny for about 25 minutes and then it just gets repetitive and stupid and stops being amusing. An awful movie.
“The Reaper” from Croatia. Is a tense and sad drama set in Slavonia (eastern Croatia) where our heroine runs out of gas, but is helped by taciturn Ivo who is working at night on his tractor. He drives her to the gas station where she learns that 20 years ago, Ivo served time for rape. Sick with anxiety she nevertheless accompanies Ivo to his living quarters in a large farm building. The gas attendant worried when she doesn’t come back and calls police. The policeman’s story and gas station clerk’s are intertwined with the central episode in a tightly drawn, efficiently told story about life in a place where not much is forgotten and not much forgiven.
“Mirage” is a Hungarian western set in the area of somewhat desolate south Hungarian plain. Our stranger is an African footballer – strong and handsome. The farms have become largely abandoned and criminal gangs force the farmers into slave labor on their behalf. Our footballer gets pulled into one of those awful situations – but ultimately there is a shoot out at the corral and the good guy wins and the bad guys and a few policemen are dead. All that’s missing is a white hat.
“Kebab and Horoscope” was my second Polish entry ( I had seen “Ida” previously and loved it. Two losers meet in a Kebab shop – one just quit, because his horoscope told him two, the other has just been fired – he wrote the horoscope. They decide to become business/marketing consultants and their first job is a carpet emporium with six or seven employees, and without a single sale. In full swing of consulting jargon which sounded even more absurd in Polish they take the staff on a consulting ride of exercises, while various relationship develop among the participants. The joviality of the film does not hide the emptiness and loneliness of the lives impacted. A gentle comedy unlike any other Polish movie I have seen.
“Henri Henri” from Quebec – another gentle comedy – gives an orphan who from early childhood at the orphanage was given the task of changing light bulbs (bringing light to people). When a developer buys the convent, our hero finds himself on his own. Luckily he stumbles into a lighting shop “The genie of the lamp” owned by a turban hindu. Along the way he befriends a king of pickles who cannot find his secret formula because he can no longer remember the combination to his safe. He also falls in love with a blind cashier at a porno movie house when he works on the marquee. Yes there’s a happy ending and everyone who doesn’t die of old age lives happily ever after. A pleasant movie with no particular message to import, except maybe that things can work out in unexpected ways.
“Manpower” from Israel, deals with interaction between emigration police and african migrant workers. There is also an Israeli-Filipino boy trying to assert his Israeli bona-fides by trying to join the army. We also have a migrant family deciding how to deal with the Israel’s “self deportation” policy. You see a different, grittier Tel Aviv and the struggle to make ends meet, where even our main policeman is underpaid and broke. It seems the film simply wants to convey a certain kind of Israeli reality without being judgmental. So you get a different look at Israel than the typical film experience or tourist experience.
Again from Hungary, “Afterlife” – a son of pastor, a young man is released from a mental institution, sent there by his hyper-critical father – who then dies of heart attack. Our hero however cannot shake his father who seems to follow him, only him, and engage him after death. As the story develops the son tries to ease his father’s ghost journey to the other dimension while at the same time resolving his issues with his father. Amusing and surprising – a good first feature.
“Eye for Beauty” from Quebec by the director of “Barbarian Invasion” – is a beautifully filmed story of an architect, his beautiful home and the banks of St.Lawrence, his beautiful if fragile wife, his beautiful mistress, his beautiful second wife – several beautiful homes and settings. Nothing seems to be missing from this active, materially rich life except, wisdom, tranquility and happiness. I’ll watch Denys Arcand’s take on contemporary life anytime, anywhere. Very good movie.
“Ciudad Delirio” from Columbia, takes a visiting Spanish Doctor in Cale, into the whirlwind of salsa dancing, exuberance and color. The romance story is just an excuse to show you how crazy Cale is about Salsa. A good show. I gave on Salsa long ago, but watching it now, made me think of heart attacks – great energy, choreography.
“Theeb” from Jordan was a beautiful cinematic poem to the know broken and domesticated Bedouins. The story takes place in 1916 where the English are sending agents to direct the fight against the Turks, who control the mid-east that the english covet. Our hero is a young boy who the director found by accident to play the role and he is terrific. Like so many of the films at this festival the cinematography itself can carry this picture, which still has a good story. Also like seemingly so many of the films at this festival – now that World War II, the Holocaust and the events of 1989 no longer occupy the same cinematic space as in the previous years – we have many – to my decrepit taste, too many, young man comic of age stories. This one, however, was worth watching. Don’t miss it. Theeb means “wolf”.
“Li’l Quinquin” in a French coastal town populated seemingly by ugly idiots, we have to sweet, but mentally challenged policemen, trying to solve a series of bizzare murders where the bodies of victims are shoved up the assess of otherwise nice cows – which is more than the cows can bear. Quinquin (another boy) and his true pre-adolescent love follow all the proceedings on their bicycle, while avoiding his mother. At four hours I wasn’t sure why I would ever care. In it’s never ending stupidity it reminded of the New Zealand fiasco, see above. It was filmed as a five episode tv series compressed into one movie showing.
“Human Capital” from Italy, refers to the terms of insurance payout, resulting from a payout in a hit and run death. We approach the story from three different perspectives while we try to get at the truth. We have a relationship between the daughter of failed businessmen and the spoiled son of a rich businessmen, the dance of the poor businessmen trying to strike gold with the rich one, and relationship of the daughter to another young man she falls for. So we have who done it, with a social critique and character study. Originally based on a story set in Connecticut – it becomes a very good movie, with lots of twists and turns.
From Russia we have “Chagall – Malevich” , a Jewish and a Polish painter who in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution find themselves in Vitebsk (Chagall’s Byelorussian hometown) where Chagall starts an art academy which is active to this day. As in “the Guide” we have a complicating factor of a commissar in love with Chagall’s wife. Malevich is the founder of a supremacist school of art, which prefers bold colors and geometric designs to Chagall colorful phantasmagoria. I was drawn to the film because Chagall has always been in my sights having come from the same part of “Litwa” as my grandmother’s parents – who also thought of themselves as Russians, and were part of Litwak exodus of 1885 when this part of the Pale became administratively part of Russia proper, hence Jews were not allowed to be there. Many migrated to Odessa and “New Russia”, Poland proper and off course the west. It was an interesting look at the period and a discussion of art. I learned a lot.
From Egypt we saw “Excuse my French” in which a young boy (there again) from an affluent Coptic family, decides to try a public school in which he tries to hide his Christian identity, while being already better educated and mannered then the Egyptian riff-raff he is thrown in with. It took 8 years for this film to be shown, because the light in which it shows Egyptian public education. probably on par, perhaps even inferior to our inner city public schools. Not sure what the point was – but as a travelog it showed you another Egypt than what we are used to seeing.
For me, the festival ended with a film from Kyrgystan “Kurmanjan Datka Queen of the Mountains” beautifully cinematography (again) from Altai Mountains shows through the life of the queen, and her journey to be queen and afterwards, the tribal wars (Kirghiz – refers to the forty tribes that made up the country. Kirghiz went to Russia in a treaty with Chine around 1885, while it settled Eighurs (related tribes) in western China. Originally on the Silk route, the country was typically, except for several hundred years, somebody else’s territory and the original turks now hove predominantly Mongol features. The queen’s deceased husband tried to unify the tribes, but could not convince Uzbeks, so tribal strife played into Russian hands who conquered the territory and ruled with their cultural indifference. The queen lived a ripe old age. The movie portrays that history while taking pride in Kirghiz past and tradition.
