Movies I've Seen in 2001

MY FAVORITE MOVIES:

• Crazy (Honigman; Netherlands, 1999)
  A stunning documentary about the experiences of Dutch UN soldiers as peacekeepers around the world. Heddy Honigman asks each veteran about music that helped them stay sane, then films them as they listen to the music. From Pergolesi's "Stabat Matter" in Cambodia, "Knocking on Heaven's Door" in the former Yugoslavia, and Seal's "Crazy" in Rwanda, the music helps show the horrors of war.
  
  
• Ronia the Robber's Daughter / Ronja Rövardotter (Danielsson; Sweden; 1983)
  A delightful film based on a story by Astrid (Pippi Longstocking) Lingstrom. Ronia grows up in the forest in a robbers' band, and makes friends with the son of the rival group. She's a young Juliet for our times: gutsy, resourceful, and strong. The perfect children's film for those who can read subtitles and don't mind a little wholesome nudity - comic bathing scenes - and very mild cursing. (And shame on those who would avoid the film for such innocent scenes!)
  
  
• George Washington (Green; USA, 2000)
  Poetic, lyrical, beautifully photographed film about a group of kids who hang out together in a junked train yard, talk about their hopes and dreams, and react in different ways to a tragic accident. Critics are split over this film-festival winner - some hate it, others don't see the point - but I loved it. The performances from the non-professional teenage actors are amazing.
  
  
• Song of Tibet / Yixizhuoma (Xie Fei; China/Tibet, 2000)
  A beautiful film based on love poems written by the sixth Dalai Lama. A young Beijing woman visits her grandparents in Lhasa. Her grandmother recalls the three great loves of her life: the once-flashy brigand Jiacuo, the man she married and who is now dying; Gongsa, her shelter from the storms of married life; and her first love, Songqui, who left her to become a monk.
  
  
• Memento (Nolan; USA, 2001)
  Fascinating thriller about a man tracking down his wife's murderer. The twist is that he lost his short-term memory, so he keeps track of his quest with notes, Polaroid photos, and tatoos. The scenes are in reverse chronological order, keeping us as perplexed as the protagonist. Highly recommended. (See it first, then go to www.otnemem.com for more information.)
  
  
• Loners / Samotári (Ondricek; Czech Republic, 2000)
  An off-the-wall comedy about the failed attachments between a group of young Praguers. David, a travel agent, likes to videotape arguments, so he encourages Petr break up with the intense Hanka. She takes up with stoner Jakub, then learns that she's being stalked by an old boyfriend, a surgeon who is married to David's co-worker. Meanwhile, David takes up with Vesna, a Macedonian emigré who believes in UFOs. Unusual, funny, and bizarre - this film is a winner!
  
  
• Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon / Wo hu zang long (Ang Lee; USA, 2000)
  A 400-year-old sword gets stolen, and legendary fighter Chow Yun Fat and security agent Michelle Yeoh join forces to retrieve it by fighting the evil Jade Fox and her young disciple. Stunning scenery and special effects, with gravity-defying "wire-fu" and two sets of romantic lovers. A beautiful film!
  
  
• 101 Reykjavik (Kormakur; Iceland, 2000)
  Hlynur is a 20-something slacker who lives with his mother, sleeps all day, and cruises the bars at night. He falls in love with his mother's friend, a flamboyant Spanish flamenco dancer. Then his mother reveals that both women are lesbians, several women become pregant, and his life begins to fall apart. This film is funny, lively, and has a great soundtrack.
  
  
• Bread and Tulips / Pane e Tulipani (Soldini; Italy, 2000)
  A neglected housewife is left behind at a roadside rest; she starts to hitchhike home but ends up in Venice. She meets an excentric waiter (Bruno Ganz), finds a job, and learns to play the accordian. When her husband gets tired of a dirty house and cold food, he hires a clumsy plumber as a private detective to find her. Cute, funny, and bursting with charm. A sleeper that deserves more acclaim.
  
  
• New Waterford Girl (Moyle; Canada, 2000)
  Mooney is 15, artistically depressed, and desperate to escape her small-town life rural Nova Scotia. Lou arrives from New York City anxious to fit in. They band together to confront the town's sleazy boys and scheme for Mooney's escape. This film beautifully captures the experience of being a teenage girl.
  
  

OTHER MOVIES I LIKED:

• Yi Yi / A One and a Two (Yang; Taiwan, 2000)
  A three-hour film about a Taiwan family with everyday troubles: NJ is depressed, his newlywed brother has a pregnant wife and a jealous ex-girlfriend, his mother is in a coma, his wife leaves to find herself at a religious retreat, his teenaged daughter is troubled by the loss of her grandmother and attracted to a neighbor's boyfriend, and his young son tries to puzzle out the world around him with the help of a camera. An intricate story, simply and yet richly filmed.
  
  
• Chikin Biznis (Luruli; South Africa, 2000)
  Sipho quits his city job to sell chickens in the market, but runs into plenty of problems with competitors, theft, and his wife. A cute, buoyant comedy with a wonderful star.
  
  
• The Shop Around the Corner (Lubitsch; USA, 1940)
  Set in a Hungarian leather-goods shop, head salesman Jimmy Stewart and newly hired Margaret Sullavan fight at work, but are secret sweethearts as they correspond through an anonymous post-office box. This classic film is dripping with charm and humor. Be sure to see this version instead of the modern remake You've Got Mail.
  
  
• La Collectionneuse (Rohmer; France, 1967)
  An early Rohmer classic (Moral Tales III) about handsome, self-centered Adrien, who spends a month at friend's villa on the Mediterranean with his friend Daniel and the nymphette Haydée, who sleeps with a different boy every night. Adrien becomes obsessed with Haydée but pretends that she is chasing him. A witty portrayal of a man trying to resist temptation.
  
  
• The Devil's Accordion / El Acordeón del diablo (Schwietert; Switzerland, 2000)
  Documentary about 92-year-old Pancho Rada, Columbia's most famous accordion player. This film features his reminiscences, scenes of his son, who has followed in his footsteps as an itinerant musician, and lots of great music.
  
  
• Souzhou River / Suzhou He (Ye Lou; China, 2000)
  Interlocking stories, along the Suzhou river in Shanghai, of two couples: a videographer and his bar-mermaid girlfriend, and a motorcyle courier and a mobster's daughter. A moody mix of realism and fantasy, helped by the hypnotic point-of-view filming by the narrator/videographer.
  
  
• Otomo (Schlaich; Germany, 1999)
  A blazing performance by Isaach de Bankolé highlights this story (based on real life) of an African immigrant in Germany who wants to work but meets with racism and harassment from everyone - or almost everyone. A confrontation on the subway leads to a city-wide search for "the only Black man in Stuttgart" that ends in tragedy.
  
  
• Venus Beauty Institute / Vénus beauté (institut) (Marshall; France, 2000)
  Almost-great movie about a forty-something beautician, highly repressed and adicted to one-night stands, who resists a charming younger man who falls for her. Despite the flaws, there's lots of charm in this unconventional love story.
  
  
• The Natural History of the Chicken (Lewis; USA, 2000)
  A crowd-pleasing documentary about people who like chickens, and the poultry in their lives.
  
  
• Angels of the Universe / Englar alheimsins (Friðriksson; Iceland, 2000)
  This beautiful, touching film about schizophrenia follows Páll, an unsuccessful artist, in and out of a psychiatric hospital.
  
  
• Left Luggage / (Krabbé; Belgium/Netherlands/USA, 1998)
  A young woman, raised to ignore her Jewish heritage by Holocaust-survivor parents, becomes a nanny for a strict Hassidic family in '70s Antwerp. She becomes drawn to the silent four-year-old Simcha while struggling with the ultra Orthodox father's reaction to her blue jeans and short skirts. Very good acting in this sweet but somewhat schmaltzy tearjerker.
  
  
• La Capagira (Piva; Italy, 1999)
  An offbeat film, set in Bari, about two thugs searching for a lost packet of cocaine and the bar employees who are waiting for the drugs to arrive.
  
  
• From Opium to Chrysanthemums / Från opium till krysantemum (Holmquist/Khardalian; Laos/Thailand/USA/Sweden, 2000)
  Interesting documentary about the complex history of the Hmong in Laos, Thailand, and America. 30 years ago, Lao Tong's village survived by growing opium. To save their children from addiction, the village replaces the poppies with chrysanthemums. Footage from 1969 contrasts with the changes of modern life, including interviews with Hmong immigrants in America.
  
  
• Born in Absurdistan / Geboren in Absurdistan (Allahyari; Austria, 2000)
  Comedy about two Austrian babies switched at birth. One set of parents are immigrant workers and are deported to Turkey. The other new parents, a complacent Austrian couple, learn about Austrian xenophobia when they try to retrieve their child. An amusing piece of fluff.
  
  

OTHER MOVIES I SAW:

• Eva's Eye / Evas Øye (Nesheim; Norway, 1999)
  Eva, a struggling artist and single mother, finds a body, but doesn't call the police. Why? The investigating detective becomes fascinated with Eva's reactions to his questions, and with Eva herself. A character-driven drama with interesting but rather undeveloped characters.
  
  
• Odd Little Man / Da jeg traff Jesus... med sprettert (Leikanger; Norway, 2000)
  A "cute kid" film about little Oddeman, who muses about life's mysteries (including the impending war) and tries to find Jesus with his slingshot.
  
  
• Down Periscope (Ward; USA, 1996)
  Comedy starring Kelsey Grammer as a submarine commander in charge of a rusty old sub and a group of misfits. Of course these wily underdogs win the war games against an atomic sub. Suprisingly enjoyable for a run-of-the-mill Hollywood film.
  
  
• My Mother Frank (Lamprell; Australia, 2000)
  A single mom with grown children goes back to college, where she clashes with the rules and a conservative professor. Corny disease-of-the-week comedy with powerhouse overacting by Sinéad Cusak and the ubiquitous Sam Neill. This film flaunts the mother-and-son actors with exactly the same color of red hair and blue eyes, and wraps everything up neatly - other than the disease - for the required two-handkerchief happy ending. But it's better than an equivalent American film would be.
  
  
• A Paradise Under the Stars / Un Paraiso Bajo Las Estrellas (Chijona; Cuba/Spain, 1999)
  Dumb but cute screwball comedy with a soap-opera plot of birthmarks, mistaken identities, and entangled relationships. Nightclub dancer Sissy loves Sergito, Sergito loves Sonia (as a wife or as a sister?), Sonia loves Armando, and Armando wants to sleep with Sissy. Candido, who hates Armando, is married to Olivia, but loves Mabel. Can Olivia supply the key to unscramble all the couples? There are plot holes big enough to do a rhumba through, but this film is so stupid it's funny.
  
  
• Adult Behavior / Vuxna människor (Herngren/Lindström; Sweden, 1999)
  A yuppie lawyer fantasizes about every woman he sees and has an affair with an art student. He thinks his wife suspects, but she's actually sleeping with her best friend's slimy lover. Mildly amusing, but the general level of immaturity gets annoying fast.
  
  
• Platform / Zhantai (Zhangke; China, 2000)
  Detailed movie about the changes in China between 1979 and 1989. Members of a traveling performing troupe start out with propaganda theater, then adapt as foreign culture - pop music and TV - begins to affect the country. Long, slow, delicately nuanced, and hard for this westerner to understand.
  
  
• The Pilgrimage of Students Peter and Jacob / Zpráva o putování studentu Petra a Jakuba (Vihanová; Czech Republic, 2000)
  The saga of two students and their experiences with a Romany (gypsy) crime of passion. This movie is interesting in parts and is very beautifully filmed, but it's choppy, confused, and full of embarassingly dated cliches.
  
  

MOVIES I WASN'T TOO WILD ABOUT:

• Erotic Tales V
  The fifth in a series from Berlin that highlights famous international directors who make half-hour films on erotic themes. This year's offerings were so-so at best.

  The Gas Station (Stelling; Netherlands, 2000) - I arrived late and missed this one, but it got applause at the end, so it must have been better than the other three. The lobby buzz implied it was quite funny.
  Powers (Zelenka; Czech Republic, 2000) - A nightclub magician (Ivan Trojan from Loners) suddenly has real magical powers that he can't control. His assistant won't believe him, but a young doctor does. Interesting ideas in a well-made film - albeit not particularly erotic.
  Angela (Kollek; USA, 2000) - A whiny old man wants young women to find him attractive. He begins noticing a kinky neighbor who specializes in S&M. Eventually they meet. She humiliates and hurts him. Big yawn.
  Kimono (Hartley; USA, 2000) - What a stinker. An Asian bride wanders the forest, losing clothes along the way. ("Oh, my dress is snagged! My dress has fallen off! Now I'm climbing rocks in 4-inch heels and a corset!") She is watched by two blue-eyeshadowed women who later pour milk on her thighs. It's hard to believe that this stupid, boring flick is from the same man who made The Book of Life and Trust.

• Requiem for a Dream (Aronofsky; USA, 2000) - Oh, gosh. Drugs are bad. If you're an addict, bad things happen to you. Crime. Degredation. Blood poisoning. Kinky sex. Amputation. Chain gangs. Electroshock treatments. Orange hair. ... The flashy camera work and a hypnotic score provide the indie-film trappings for a cliched, tired story about junkies descending into their various personal hells. It's been done before, and much better, but perhaps not with so many split-screen montages. Instead, see Drugstore Cowboy, Trainspotting, or Round Midnight.

MOVIES I WISH I HAD SEEN:

• Aelita, Queen of Mars / Aelita (Protazanov; USSR, 1924) - In this silent film, a Soviet engineer builds a space ship to find the alien woman who haunts his dreams.
• Amores Perros / Love's a Bitch (González Iñárritu; Mexico, 2000) - Three intertwined stories in a Mexico City barrio. Nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
• The Debt / Dlug (Krauze; Poland, 1999) - A hit at this year's Mpls/St.Paul International Film Festival.
• Ikíngut (Erlingsson; Iceland/Canada, 2000) - An arctic fairy tale for children.
• Seven Songs from the Tundra / Seitsemän laulua tundralta (Lapsui/Lehmuskallio; Finland, 2000) - Another hit at the Mpls/St.Paul International Film Festival.