The 28th Palm Springs Film Festival (PSIFF 2017)
The Festival has started and because it highlights Polish Cinema with 6 films, I am as the French would say it ” en septieme ciel.” We start with three films:
From Hungary/UK (still), a documentary “Keep Quiet” what happens when a virulent anti-semite vice president of neo-nazi, anti-semitic Jobbik party in Hungary discovers, as does his party, that his mother, and therefore so it seems him, are Jewish. This takes place in 2005-2006. He is a holocaust denier, founder of black clad national guard. His shock and disbelief are enormous. For reasons not explained, he finds probably the most orthodox congregation(seems hassidic) and it’s rabbi in Budapest, there were other choices, and starts a conversation with the Rabbi, who despite his misgivings, concludes, I don’t have to like you, but you are Jewish (aka Bernie Madoff or Goldman Sachs or Jared Kushner or Netanyhu). Two years later, throwing his foreskin to the wind, he becomes certifiably Jewish. He discovers inter alia that his grandmother was deported to Auschwitz, her tatoo explains why she always wore long sleeve garments, she keeps it quiet. I certainly know how that goes, since while in Poland we kept our Jewish identity quiet. The rest of his family from the small Hungarian town perish. He makes a pilgrimage to Auschwitz, rehabs family tombstone(s). Csanad Szagedi, our protagonist, does a lot of speaking himself. The old Jews cannot readily accept his transformation, he seems sincere, but he himself seems to leave the door open for another identity at some point. Both in line, online and in q and a, the alter cockers have problems with him. I gave it an excellent – good discussion film.
From Quebec, Xavier Dolan (I Killed My Mother and Mommy) this 26 year old master of family dysfunction and raw emotion, does it again, in an emotionally drenching tour de force. A young gay writer, Louis, has left this small provincial town, presumably for Montreal and has become a successful play writer, but returns 10-12 years later both to reconnect and to tell them that he is dying. The disfunction, jealousy, rage and the neediness of his family makes his mission impossible and he, a man of few words and short post cards, leaves suddenly in blazing emotional chaos, without fulfilling either mission. The Guardian called it histrionic and claustrophobic, which it certainly was in the second row. If you thought your family had issues, this will make you feel better. More interesting than enjoyable.
From South Korea we “The Age of Shadows” a pretty riveting suspense thriller, about Korean resistance to Japanese occupation in the 1920’s. A pragmatic Korean police captain in the service of the Japanese is tasked with tracking down guerilla leaders, who gamble when push comes to shove that he will remember that he is a Korean. Nobody can be sure, even the captain. Loosely based on actual events, they have to smuggle dynamite from Shanghai for a planned event in Seoul. Lots of double crossings and twists and a dramatic train journey. Great double agent action flick – thoroughly enjoyable as well as educational.
Film festival will continue.
