WORLD CINEMA SHOWCASE 2009
The
World Cinema Showcase has always been considered something of a stopgap, “something to tide you over” until the International Film Fest arrives in winter. But after perusing 2009’s meaty programme, this kind of temporary placeholder description now seems ill-fitting, as this year presents one of the strongest WSC line-ups yet, with the list of must-sees far outweighing the filler.
The wide-ranging programme features a few faves returning from last year’s fest (
Gomorrah,
Respect Yourself: The Stax Records Story,
Boy A), new films from veteran directors (Francis Ford Coppola, Jonathan Demme and Terence Davies), the odd retro flick (the 1972 Jimmy Cliff reggae classic
The Harder They Come) and recent festival circuit fare like Charlie Kaufman’s polarising directorial debut,
Synecdoche, New York (that’s “see-NECK-da-kee“ when you’re buying tickets).
Laurent Cantet’s
The Class is one of the higher profile films screening, winning last year in Cannes and nominated this year for Best Foreign Film at the Oscars. On the surface it looks like another classroom drama with problem kids and a determined teacher trying to keep them in check. But
The Class is the anti-
Dead Poets Society, anti-uplifting inspirational teacher movie. Vibrant, amazingly acted and absolutely riveting, the film stars François Bégaudeau – who’s playing himself in a role based on his semi-autographical novel – as Mr Marin, a middle school teacher in a multi-racial Parisian neighbourhood. Constructed around mesmerisingly protracted classroom sequences,
The Class definitely earns the overused 'documentary-like' tag; 10 minutes in, and you totally forget it’s a movie.
For a stranger case of actor-as-himself-type meta-filmmaking, don’t miss
JCVD, which casts Belgian martial arts star Jean-Claude Van Damme in a brand new – and quite surprising – light. Given the chance to flex more than his biceps, Van Damme plays Van Damme in this peculiar, oddly poignant and ungimmicky movie that humanises his celebrity persona, saddling him with problems like custody battles, money issues and growing old. The central premise puts him in a hostage situation in his hometown of Brussels, but this is no action flick: Van Damme reveals a previously unseen on-screen vulnerability, at one point delivering a lengthy dramatic monologue which might be the best acting he’s ever done.
If there’s one film you have to experience on the big screen, it’s Carlos Reygadas’
Silent Light. The WSC are in possession of a barely touched 35mm print of this film, which means you can fully appreciate every splendorous frame as it’s meant to be seen. Opening and closing with two of the most staggeringly gorgeous shots ever committed to celluloid,
Silent Light peeks into the private world of the Mennonite Christian sect, its story focused on a farmer’s crisis of faith after having an adulterous affair with another woman. Reygadas takes a cue from transcendentalists Bresson and Dreyer, combining austere formalist compositions, gruellingly long takes and first-time actors into a patient, quiet, devotional piece of cinema.
In the documentary section,
Trouble The Water and
Second Skin are well worth catching. The former is an incredible first-hand account of surviving Hurricane Katrina told from the point of view of aspiring rapper Kimberley Roberts and her husband Scott. They captured their entire ordeal with a handy cam, from the calm before the storm all through the flooding of their neighbourhood – it’s a hair-raising sequence that’ll leave you speechless.
Second Skin explores the synthetic universe of MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game). Following the lives of seven hardcore gamers, the even-handed doco avoids depicting the culture as some sort of geeky past-time, instead giving it a positive spin (friendships, romance, cathartic release from reality) while acknowledging its more disturbing aspects, chiefly addiction.
I saved the dooziest pick for last:
Tony Manero. Like some sleazy ‘70s grindhouse hemroid shot through the Euro-cinema-of-pain sensibilities of Haneke/Noe/Dumont, Pablo Larrain’s grimy, sick little movie set during Pinochet’s dictatorship is about a deadbeat (Alfredo Castro: magnetic) in his 50s whose only ambition in life is to impersonate John Travolta’s character in
Saturday Night Fever for a TV talent show. That, and he also does a little serial killing on the side. Drab lensing, shallow focus, jump cuts, roving hand-held camera conjure up feelings of dread and dizziness as this character study tracks its protagonist on a road to… nowhere. There’s nothing quite like it.
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WANT MORE?
Latest: Dunedin, Regent: March 12 - 25; Christchurch, Rialto: March 19 - April 1; Wellington, Paramount: April 2 - 15; Auckland, Academy: April 16 - May 6.
Web:
worldcinemashowcase.co.nz