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| April 11, 2002
Section: Entertainment Edition: Martin County Page: D1 Gary Shipes staff writer |
| The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival is due to start at month's end. This week's Palm Beach International Film Festival runs through Thursday. Just how many film festivals does South Florida need, anyway? Although under new organizers, this year's PBIFF feels awfully familiar. New wrinkles include a Digital Cinema Showcase this weekend on the Eissey Campus of Palm Beach Community College with a collection of shorts, documentaries and features all shot on digital video. A handful of films directed by women (13 Conversations About One Thing, Lovely & Amazing, American Standoff, White Like the Moon, The Triumph of Love) signal a direction that the festival shouldn't ignore. Also, this year's short films are being screened prior to many of the features, a wonderful idea that serves as a substitute for the trailers that would ordinarily be seen in their place. And there's also an IMAX animated film (The Old Man and the Sea) which plays Thursday on the giant screen at Crown Abacoa's Odyssey theater in Jupiter. But familiarity comes with the top-heavy percentage of too many pedestrian films which tarnish an otherwise promising lineup. And though their Web site banner boasts "Showcasing over 50 international films from over 20 countries," by my count there are barely 10 subtitled films in the entire lineup. Yes, the festival's year-long grants and donations to student filmmakers and helpful seminars deliver what a community-sponsored film festival should, but the festival still suffers from no identity. Too much emphasis on black-tie galas, poster unveilings and celebrity tributes (this year's honorees include Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, James Whitmore and director Brett Ratner) shifts attention away from the heart of the matter - the films. And when an innocuous family drama like A Month of Sundays (with an over-emoting Rod Steiger) can be elevated to Opening Night Film status because its stars have agreed to attend the gala opening, you know your festival is taking the safest route. Surely there's no lack of current films that would add a provocative kick for opening night - the controversial Sundance winner, The Believer, would've singed post-film debates. Michael Haneke's The Piano Teacher. Hal Hartley's No Such Thing. The little-seen gem, Donnie Darko. The list goes on. Heck, even the reissued director's cut of Amadeus would've been more prestigious. This year's honorees have opted for screenings of their own films (The Remains of the Day, Keeping the Faith, Battleground, The Family Man) that have been seen endlessly on cable or are for rent at the local Blockbuster. Why not use the festival as a launching pad for airing new works? Admission prices, thankfully, are the same as the host theater normally charges. Saturday's black-tie gala, with honorees present, will take place at 7 p.m. at the Boca Raton Resort & Club. For more information visit the Web site at www.pbifilmfest.org. All the tuxedoes, klieg lights and champagne-swilling parties won't disguise another missed opportunity. Let's hope next year bravery is an option. The festival's best... American Standoff: Kristi Jacobson's intriguing documentary follows the Teamster's Union strike against Overnite Transportation, a nationwide freight company that's resisted unionization. The union, however, faces its own internecine battles as factions inside the organization led by James P. Hoffa (Jimmy's son) compete for power. Docu-icon Barbara Kopple produced. Battleground: Festival honoree James Whitmore chose this 1949 William A. Wellman World War II saga for inclusion. It follows a band of American soldiers as they engage the Germans in a snowy, foggy winter near Bastogne. (HBO's Band of Brothers updated this particular battle). Low on fuel, rations and ammunition, the pervasive thick fog makes movement and identification difficult and prevents their relief by Allied air support. Company Jasmine: A groundbreaking documentary about the young Israeli women ready to take command in the Israeli army. Filmmaker Yael Katzir, herself a former officer in the Israeli Defense Force, follows five of the 50 women cadets in training as they cope with pressures, challenges and fears. (55 min.) The Last Late Night: Ex-party animals Dave (Aaron Waiton) and Kate (Christine Steel) are trying to fit into the homespun suburban dream when their docile existence is shattered by the arrival of college buddy/ne'er-do-well Paul (Graham Galloway) who's brought his bong, his prescription drugs and his cocaine along for the visit. Vices are flaunted, temptations aren't resisted and it all culminates in a hilarious night of drug-and-alcohol fueled debauchery involving Dave and Kate's straight-laced boss from work, who will learn a thing or three about his new employees. Porn star Ginger Lynn Allen gives a surprisingly good performance as the seen-it-all trophy wife. But it's Galloway as the obnoxious, haranguing visitor from hell who chews every scene with such vivacity that the viewer is simply left stunned by his unbridled charisma. Director Scott Barlow's script is incisive, amusing and in the end an uncompromised look at life's chosen paths - for better and for worse. Les Destinees: French auteur Olivier Assayas (Irma Vep, Alice et Martin) leaves the contemporary French settings of his earlier films for this ambitious period-piece epic modeled after the Italian legend, Luschino Visconti. The film traces the destiny of a porcelain maker (Charles Berling) and the wives (Emmanuelle Beart, Isabelle Huppert) who join him on his journey to self discovery during the tempestuous years spanning the new century (1900) through World War I. Riveting. Love Life: This video-inspired romantic comedy boasts splashes of technicolor, dizzying camera angles, psychedelic segues and a terrific Brit-pop score (mostly The Divine Comedy and Supergrass). The film follows man-child Scott, who, after having a one night stand with Ally, finds out she is pregnant. While his mates settle down and marry or overdose on drugs, Scott must choose between aimlessness and maturity. Lovely & Amazing: From director Nicole Holofcener (Walking and Talking) comes this charmer about three women (Catherine Keener, Brenda Blethyn, Emily Mortimer) dealing with personal issues who learn life's negotiations from an adopted 8-year-old black girl (Raven Goodwin). Family dysfunction hasn't been this brutally honest since Todd Solondz's Happiness. Dermot Mulroney and Jake Gyllenhaal (Bubble Boy) also star. One of Many: Based on a true story, this tribute to those who fought during the Korean War was inspired by Joseph Camerieri's mission to retrieve the Silver Star for his father, Michael. The papers for the medal, lost in battle, were in honor of Michael Camerieri's valor in saving an ambushed American squad. This short tells his story. (7 min.) Pornstar: The Legend of Ron Jeremy: He's short, fat and hairy. And he's paid very well to have sex with thousands of beautiful women. Some people would call him the luckiest man in the world. Scott J. Gill's fascinating documentary looks at America's unlikeliest sex star with revealing details of his life. Jeremy's carefree attitude and determination to become a Hollywood star are both amusing and heartbreaking. The Remains of the Day: Festival honoree Anthony Hopkins chose this 1993 James Ivory film for festival inclusion. A rule-bound butler's world of manners and decorum is tested by the arrival of a housekeeper (Emma Thompson) who falls in love with him in postwar Britain. Exquisite on every level. Salsa Caliente!: A glowing documentary about a passion for dance and a love of music, that has experienced an explosion of popularity in Latino and Anglo communities. The film gives life to a movement, in 3/2 time, that has swept north to engulf this nation in its rhythmic embrace. (55 min.) The Old Man and the Sea: In an explosion of stunning imagery, Academy Award-winning animator Alexander Petrov hand-painted 29,000 images on sheets of glass to tell Ernest Hemingway's fisherman's tale. The film is being shown in the IMAX format at Crown Abacoa's Odyssey theater. 13 Conversations About One Thing: Filled with the same sedate pauses and silences that inhabited her previous film, the terrific office-existential comedy Clockwatchers, director Jill Sprecher has again created a film about cause and effect. A sterling cast including Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin and John Turturro find themselves the unwitting victims of fate and happenstance as they struggle with optimism and pessimism, grasping for faith amid an endless run of bad luck. Co-writing with her sister, Karen, Sprecher shows an unflagging knack for dialogue and situations audiences can relate to, and leave the theater wiser and entertained. Another don't-miss film. Trailer - The Movie: Talk about an idea whose time has come, Douglas Horn's hilarious short skewers the rotting art of movie previews with deliciously satirical flair. Anyone who has suffered through too many movie trailers spoiling the entire movie's plot lines (Ashley Judd's current High Crimes TV trailer spots even give away the surprise ending) will relish what Horn does here. Realizing that you can make anything look good for two minutes, two young filmmakers salvage their cinematic monstrosity with editing, glossy cinematography, explosive action cuts, that stern, gritted-teeth narrator and, of course, the obligatory Motown number. Oh, and lots of sex and violence, too. Trailer-The Movie, at eight merciful minutes, towers over much of the festival's padded features. Bravo Mr. Horn! What Time is it There?: Hasiao Kang sells watches on the streets of Taipei. A few days after his father's death, he meets a young woman, Shiang-Chyi, who leaves for Paris the very next day. Troubled by the behavior of his grieving mother, Hsiao takes refuge in the memory of the brief encounter. In an effort to bridge the miles, he switches all the watches and clocks he sells from Taipei time to Paris time. The surprising ending finally connects the two main characters in a poetic, unexpected way. Directed by Ming-liang Tsai. White Like the Moon: Marina Gonzales Palmier's 22-minute short is also worthier than the full-length features it accompanies. White Like the Moon is a shocking visit to late '50s America where a young Mexican American teenage girl is forced to bleach her skin so she can fit in with her white schoolmates. Palmier's lush visuals contradict the sterility of growing up the wrong race in a Texas town. Dreams of escape as a ballerina fuel the young girl's plans, but at a price. The film's final image is as unforgettably tragic and heartbreaking an indictment of womanhood since 1975's The Stepford Wives. It's not to be missed. ...and the rest: All You Need: Family troubles - an alcoholic mother, the Thanksgiving dinner from hell - get the microscopic treatment in this sometimes humorous drama starring Kellie Martin (E.R.) and Robert Pine (C.H.I.P.S.). You saw it seven years ago, when it was called Home for the Holidays, directed by Jodie Foster with an energy sorely missing here. Dischord: Lucian, a Yanni-esque new age musician and his Jewel-like pop singer/violinist wife named Gypsy take a sabbatical from stardom and the covers of Spin and Billboard and retreat to their New England digs where Lucian's errant brother, Jimmy, has arrived for his once-a-decade visit. Oh, did I mention Jimmy is a raving psychopathic murderer? But if you had to suffer with Lucian's dreary keyboard meanderings and Gypsy's insufferable artistic pronouncements, you might be too. Call it a very guilty pleasure. Dog Run: The friendship of two guys who've come to New York City to deal drugs is tested. They are quickly screwed over by their dealer and find themselves with no money in a strange city. It's being billed as: from the folks who gave you Kids. Don't let them kid you. Drive-In Movie Memories: Filled with lively interviews, beautiful photographs, and historical footage, Drive-In Movie Memories transports viewers back to that more innocent (and sometimes not so innocent) time when Saturday night meant a hot date in Dad's De Soto in front of the big outdoor screen. The documentary is a culmination of Don and Susan Sanders' 14-year love affair with drive-in movie theaters. Would be one of the event's better offerings, if it hadn't already been shown last year in Fort Lauderdale. Echoes: Anomie in New York's East Village is explored with this tale of Leslie, a remote young woman who seeks familial truths on a sojourn to Virginia with an Italian neighbor. Under the direction of Atsushi Funahashi's black-and-white lensed film, her trip is sparse, ambling and frustrating. So's the movie. Expulsion from Paradise (Czech Republic): Loosely based on Desmond Morris's The Naked Ape, this tragicomedy about our ability to be free takes place at a nudist beach that becomes an image of the world with all its good and bad points, misbehaviors and aspirations. But even Vera Chytilova's stunning cinematography and a score courtesy of Mahler. In Czech with English subtitles. The Family Man: Nicolas Cage stars in this treacly It's A Wonderful Life wannabe as a single amoral investment broker who wakes one day to a wife, kid and SUV in the suburbs. What's a two-year-old holiday film doing here? Festival honoree (and South Floridian) Brett Rattner gets the blame. Fool's Gold: A Jew and Latino from a small Oklahoma town commit an accidental crime and find themselves on the road. On their journey they meet two eccentric cheerleader-clad women and are chased by an emotionally unbalanced FBI agent. This nearly five-year-old B-movie is being shown presumably because Camryn Manheim (The Practice) has a cameo in it. Keeping the Faith: Festival honoree Edward Norton chose this film for inclusion which he also directed. Norton stars as a Catholic priest who vies with Ben Stiller's rabbi for Jenna Elfman's attention. This harmless comedy really doesn't showcase Norton's thespian skills to their fullest. Where's Fight Club or American History X to do those honors? Lautrec: Umpteenth showing of this French biopic of the troubled Montmartre artist. Memo to sponsors the Children of the French Cinema: Can we find a new French film to screen, s'il vous plait? L'Chayim, Comrade Stalin: In March 2000, director Yale Strom flew to Moscow to begin his trek to the fabled Jewish Autonomous Region in Siberia. Strom's interviews and encounters are intercut with archival footage and scenes from the rare Soviet propaganda film about Birobidzhan. His interviews with early Jewish pioneers paint a vivid portrait of the circumstances surrounding the unique chapter in Soviet and world history. Narrated by Ron Perlman. Maelstrom: Narrated by a slimy fish about to be disemboweled, Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve's pretentious character study follows Bibiane, the spoiled rich daughter of a powerful Montreal family. After an abortion, a disastrous business deal, and a hit-and-run traffic accident shake her out of her malaise, she seeks redemption by finding the accident victim's son. The film wanders all over the map thematically and stylistically, and borrows heavily from David Lynch, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Lars von Trier while failing to find a spark of its own. A soundtrack blending Charles Aznavour, Tom Waits and opera grates. In French and Norwegian with English subtitles. Mary/Mary: Mary/Mary follows the path of a young man's neurosis as it spreads from lover to lover, friend to friend and two women named Mary. His fear of contracting a sexually transmitted disease triggers two imaginary '50's style gangsters, named Q & A, who constantly question his intentions and repeatedly force him to visit the health clinic. Mi Amigo: Three old friends confront the past when they return as heroes to their hometown in Texas to renew old ties and settle old debts. Written and directed by documentary filmmaker and songwriter Milton L. Brown. My Big Fat Greek Wedding: A romantic comedy about a young Greek-Canadian woman (Nia Vardalos, who also wrote the script) who falls in love with a non-Greek (Sex and the City's John Corbett) and struggles to get her family to accept him while she comes to terms with her heritage and cultural identity. Gia Carides, Michael Constantine and 'N Sync's Joey Fatone star. Tom Hanks produced so it has to be good, right? Right? Never Again: An exterminator (Larry Sanders' Jeffrey Tambor) and an administrator (Jill Clayburgh), both of whom have pledged never to fall in love again, discover each other in a gay bar. This romantic comedy was written and directed by Eric Schaeffer (If Lucy Fell) who has yet to make a watchable film. One Eyed Kings: Yet another semi-autobiographical story of ethnic roots, flared tempers, dead ends and violent youth set in Manhattan's infamous Hell's Kitchen. Stars William Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Armand Assante, Jason Gedrick and Jim Breuer (Saturday Night Live's Goat Boy). Martin Scorsese, you have a lot to answer for. Shteps: Kyle, a young, aspiring, dancer has a dream to win the prestigious "Wasp Knuckle Dance Championships", the underground Olympics of Ballroom Dancing. He has the talent, training and drive to win, but he has a problem - he's hooked on Mouth Guards, a powerfully enticing new drug. Okay... Stalled: A dark comedy takes to the road when the journeys of a stripper, a band, a pharmaceutical salesman, a backwoods family and short order cook intersect in the bathroom of Hear-abouts, Alabama. Suspended Animation: Separated from his friends on a snowmobile trip, Hollywood animator Tom Kempton's only refuge is a small cabin, hidden in the frozen hills of Northern Michigan. What began as a relaxing getaway becomes a waking nightmare when Tom finds himself in the hands of two psychotic cannibalistic sisters who plan to make him their next victim. Cinemax/USA Network stalwart Alex McArthur stars. A Time for Dancing: Two teenage girls' dreams of becoming dancers are crushed when one of them is diagnosed with cancer. This contemporary film's shameless obsession with Flashdance and Footloose is reflected by the bad hair, spandex and out-of-date dance moves. And the awful music wouldn't fit in any decade. Shane West (A Walk to Remember), Peter Coyote and Amy Madigan hang their heads admirably despite it all. Totally Blonde: Baywatch Hawaii babe Krista Allen plays a woman who just can't seem to find Mr. Right. With a little help from a bottle of blond hair dye her love life kicks into full swing. Meg's romantic bliss becomes complicated when she must choose between a hilarious smooth-talking club owner and a gorgeous beach hunk. The Triumph of Love: Cursed Oscar winner Mira Sorvino tries to outrun her jinx by playing a princess determined to restore her homeland's throne to its rightful heir in this period comedy. Using love as her only weapon, she assumes both feminine and masculine identities, discovering she has a powerful talent for seduction. But it proves uncontrollable, and she quickly finds herself engaged to three people. Sexy beast Ben Kingsley co-stars. Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci's wife, Clare Peploe (High Season) so at least it'll look incredible. The Undefeated: The story of a man fighting for Ukrainian independence during and after World War II. The story line is similar to Michael Collins and Braveheart, and covers a time that had been repressed by the Soviets until the fall of the USSR. In Russian with English subtitles. Do it for Uncle Manny: A "comedy" by writer/director/star Adam Baratta. Two best friends arrive in Hollywood and the usual high jinks ensue. |
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copyright (c) 2002 Stuart News/Port St. Lucie News. |
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