SHADOWS ARTHOUSE FILMS ’05EVIL | THE HEART IS DECEITFUL ABOVE ALL THINGS
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last update 6.Apr.05
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R E V I E W B Y R I C H C L I N E
With one of the most brazen ideas for a stunt documentary (see also Super Size Me and The Yes Men), these Czech filmmaking students take an unforgettable look at consumerism. And what they find seems to surprise even them.
The idea is simple: launch a massive ad campaign across Prague (funded by a filmmaking grant), teasing the public with the name of a new hypermarket, offering prices that are too good to believe. The posters say, "Don't come" and "Don't spend", and tell prospective customers that they're in for a surprise on opening day. Slickly produced TV spots, a pop jingle and billboards lure more than 4,000 people into a meadow for the ribbon-cutting. But there's only a façade there, and when they realise it's a joke they're not sure how to react.
The film opens with a long take of filmmakers Klusák and Remunda standing in the field explaining what they're about to do. We then follow them through their makeover--replacing their scruffy film-student look with the garb of slick young businessmen--into casting and filming, musical recording sessions, meetings with ad execs and graphic artists. As it progresses, the film gradually shifts from a hilarious prank to a rather eerie examination of a society where convenience is a drug.
This snaps into focus when the designer balks at an ad slogan, earnestly (and hollowly) protesting, "We don't lie in advertising". The power of marketing strategies is shocking, notably the eye-cam that traces exactly where a focus group member is looking, allowing marketers to shape materials subliminally for the addict in us all. When the fateful opening arrives, the film leaves us breathless--what has capitalism done to humanity? People aren't stupid; we're just being shamelessly manipulated by companies and politicians. And it's intriguing that the disappointed punters immediately make the connection with the Czech Republic's then-pending vote to join the European Union.
The film's final segment examines the fallout after the fact--the way Czech society reacted to the news that they'd been duped. And the fact that we're fairly helpless in the hands of the marketers. This is a witty and clever little film that takes on a huge idea. Don't miss it.
with Vít Klusák, Filip Remunda, Thomás Hanák, Linda Finková, the Sedmihlásek Children's Choir
release Cz 3.Jun.04,UK 24.Jun.05
04/Czech 1h27
LONDON FILM FEST
AFI L.A. FILM FEST
TRIBECA FILM FEST
31.Mar.05
R E V I E W B Y R I C H C L I N E
Nominated for the 2004 Foreign Film Oscar, this gripping school drama takes several unexpected turns to tell its story about a fiercely strong-minded teen who refuses to let the system crush his spirit.
Erik (Wilson) is 16 when he's thrown out of his school for fighting, branded by his headmaster as "pure evil". His brutal stepdad (Rabaeus) and loving-but-in-denial mother (Richardson) send him off to a posh boarding college as a last resort. But even though he's determined to stay out of trouble, the harsh realities of life catch up with him, mostly due to the vicious upper-classmen (Skarsgard and Salen).
Echoes of Rebel Without a Cause run throughout this 1950s-set story, from the quiet revolution within the main characters to literal references to James Dean's iconic role. Director-cowriter Hafstrom draws out the period's repressed nastiness; everything looks orderly and nice on the surface, yet seethes with a violence that erupts throughout society. When Erik echoes this, though, he's in big trouble. The school's social structure, of course, is the film's main target--unjust, brutal, unavoidable.
Performances crackle with authenticity. Wilson is superb as a young man trying desperately to break the cycle of violence, even though he knows his skill at fighting might be the very thing that saves him. Lundstrom, Zilliacus and Roosmann are nice counterpoints to the cruelty around him as three people who try to understand and help--as his bookish roommate, illicit love interest and caring swimming coach, respectively. While these aren't terribly complex characters (everyone is clearly good or evil), they're at least fascinatingly drawn with hints of back-stories. The most interesting character is Erik's mum, and Richardson gets it exactly right--compassionate and complicit at the same time.
At its core this is a fairly basic school drama about finding the inner resolve to be yourself, winning respect and standing up for what's right. It's also a heartbreakingly insightful look at the human spirit and the source of real honour. Although as Erik adopts a Gandhi-like policy of non-violence, we know he must have a breaking point.
scr Hans Gunnarsson, Mikael Hĺfström
with Andreas Wilson, Henrik Lundström, Gustaf Skarsgĺrd, Jesper Salén, Linda Zilliacus, Marie Richardson, Johan Rabaeus, Magnus Roosmann, Filip Berg, Fredrik af Trampe, Richard Danielsson, Martin Svane
release Swe 26.Sep.03, UK 24.Jun.05,US 14.Oct.05
03/Sweden 1h54
TORONTO FILM FEST
6.Apr.05
R E V I E W B Y R I C H C L I N E
This disturbing and moving film is based on the autobiographical stories of JT LeRoy, about a boy growing up in horrific conditions that combine the dangers of drugs, squalor, abuse and mind-control religion.
After time in a foster home, 7-year-old Jeremiah (first Bennett, then the Sprouse brothers) goes back to live with his young mother Sarah (Argento), who can't beat her addictions to sex, alcohol, drugs and dangerous men. Eventually abandoned, Jeremiah spends a few years in the home of his grandparents (Muti and Fonda), who run a fundamentalist religious cult that's even more terrifying than the string of boyfriends (Pardue, Schulze, Renner, Manson, Sisto) his mother brings home. Then she comes back for him.
Artful and stylish, Argento's acting and filmmaking are edgy, authentic and rather nuts. The film is a feast (or maybe an assault) on the senses with light and colour, sound and texture, grimy rawness and goofy effects. Several scenes imply truly horrific assaults that are more memorable because Argento shows such restraint, letting us feel the pain more deeply because we have to imagine it.
Performances are uneven, but all contain emotional power. Argento is such a vivid presence that we can forgive her wild-eyed excesses--Sarah is the black sheep of her goodie-goodie family, a junkie slag who simply hasn't a clue how to be a mother. Bennett and the Sprouses are simply astonishing as Jeremiah, bringing a transparent soul to this young boy with adult eyes. And Robinson is the other standout, with a remarkably natural performance as their trapped uncle. It's also nice to see Manson shake loose his iconic image as beer-swilling trailer trash.
By telling the story from Jeremiah's point of view, Argento reminds us that, regardless of what actually happened, this is how this young, impressionable mind perceived his childhood. Even if the film is almost overwhelmingly seedy and grim, it also has a bleak tenderness that reaches out to us, keeps us gripped, and lingers long in the memory afterwards.
scr Asia Argento, Alessandro Magania
with Asia Argento, Jimmy Bennett, Dylan Sprouse, Cole Sprouse, John Robinson, Ornella Muti, Peter Fonda, Jeremy Renner, Michael Pitt, Jeremy Sisto, Marilyn Manson, Ben Foster, Kip Pardue, Matt Schulze, Tim Armstrong, Winona Ryder
release UK 15.Jul.05,US 10.Mar.06
04/US Tartan 1h37
AFI L.A. FILM FEST
LONDON L&G FILM FEST
30.Mar.05
R E V I E W B Y R I C H C L I N E
Korean filmmaker Kang (Shiri) goes for broke both with this war epic that's both an action-packed account of a brutal conflict and an intimate portrait of a family caught in the middle. It's powerfully moving and thoroughly involving, although rather over-constructed.
Jin-Tae (Jang) shines shoes as his part of the family effort to send younger brother Jin-Seok (Won) to university. But when the Korean War begins in 1950, both brothers are drafted to fight. Jin-Tae takes his responsibility with him, engaging in daring heroism to earn top honours so he can have his brother sent home. But to Jin-Seok this looks like a form of obsessive, thuggish patriotism.
Taegukgi is the name of the Korean flag, and Kang's film is strongly nationalistic; its characters proudly wave their flag with each victory, and the war itself is played out like a battle for Korea's soul, with America backing the plucky south and China aiding the aggressive north. The combat scenes are shockingly edgy and intense--Saving Private Ryan cranked up to 11. Writer-director Kang (Shiri) throws us right in the middle of the frenzy, and it's jarringly relentless and horrific. It's also hard to imagine a more brutal or chaotic cinematic depiction of battlefield grisliness and wartime atrocities.
Alongside this is a stirringly heartfelt story focussing on the brothers' own journeys, complete with surging orchestral score and weepy Spielbergesque bookend scenes. Even though it's emotionally engaging, this side of the film is more problematic, as the script falls back on corny expository dialog and lots of contrived conveniences, such as the fact that the brothers just happen to arrive back home as Jin-Tae's fiancee (the late Lee Eun-ju) is arrested by anti-communist goons. These scenes aren't quite believable enough to hold the entire film together, although the raw gustiness of it all carries us through. It helps that, just as things seem to be winding down, there are a couple of remarkable twists that add both complexity and resonance. Jang and Won are so good in these roles that we willingly travel with them to hell and back. And in the process we get a relevant history lesson.
with Jang Dong-Kun, Won Bin, Lee Eun-ju Kong Hyeong-jin, Lee Yeong-ran, Choi Min-sik, Jo Yun-hie, Jung Doo-hong, Kim Bo-kyeong
release Korea 6.Feb.04, US 10.Sep.04,UK 3.Jun.05
04/Korea 2h20
1.Apr.05
See also: SHADOWS FILM FESTIVAL | SHORT FILMS
© 2005 by Rich Cline, Shadows
on the Wall