Movies I've Seen in 2004

MY FAVORITE MOVIES:

• Depuis qu'Otar est parti... / Since Otar Left (Bertucelli; France/Belgium, 2003)
  A lovely study of the relationships between a grandmother, mother, and daughter in post-Soviet Georgia.
  
  
• Se souvenir des belles choses / Beautiful Memories (Zabou; France, 2002)
  Charmingly unbelievable story of a young woman with early-onset Alzheimer's who falls in love with a troubled man at the care center.
  
  
• Ässhäk: Geschichte aus der Sahara / Ässhäk: Tales from the Sahara (Koch; Netherlands/Switzerland/Germany/Niger, 2003)
  Stunning documentary about Tuareg life in the desert, by the director of The Saltmen of Tibet.
  
  
• Touchez pas au grisbi (Becker; France, 1954)
  Stylish film-noir gangster movie starring Jean Gabin and featuring a very young Jeanne Moreau. An aging gangster has pulled off one last job and wants to retire with the loot (the "grisbi"), but his friend gets mixed up with a rival gang. As the gangster tries to salvage his spoils, his friend makes mistake after mistake, and a rescue operation turns sour.
  
  
• Whale Rider (Caro; New Zealand, 2003)
  A young Maori girl, the end of her family line, struggles against her traditional grandfather to fulfil her destiny as the next chief of her people. Great acting, beautiful scenery, and a very moving story add up to a winning film.
  
  
• Babusya / Granny (Bobrova; Russia, 2003)
  Apple-cheeked grandmother Tosya, who dug ditches in WWI and raised 3 generations of family, is shunted between relatives who don't want to care for her. The symbolism (Tosya is mother Russia) is a bit heavy handed, but acting is so wonderful that it doesn't matter.
  
  
• Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion (Peosay; USA, 2003)
  Eye-opening documentary about China's invasion of Tibet. This film describes the history of Tibet, explains its geo-political importance, and provides a sense of Tibetan culture and religious beliefs. There are shocking images of Tibetan uprisings and crackdowns, alongside interviews with Tibetan monks and nuns who have been arrested and tortured. The horrific images of ethnic cleansing contrast strongly with the Dalai Lama's commitment to a non-violent solution. This film is definitely worth seeing. For more information, see the San Francisco Chronicle's review and the film's official web site.
  
  

OTHER MOVIES I LIKED:

• S'lyubovyu, Lilya / With Love, Lilya (Sadilova; Russia, 2003)
  Comedy about marriage-obsessed Lilya, who works in a slaughterhouse and cares for her stroppy grandfather. She stakes out her dream man, who doesn't know she exists, and almost misses other possibilities around her.
  
  
• Nuda v Brne / Bored in Brno (Morávek; Czech Republic, 2003)
  Adorable comedy about a young disabled man and his sweetheart preparing for their first night of intimate relations. Their funny preparations are intertwined with the stories of four other couples preparing to make love on the same night.
  
  
• The Ladykillers (Mackendrick; UK, 1955)
  Alec Guinness, Herbert Lom, and a young Peter Sellers star in this classic black comedy. Five crooks masquerading as a string quintet rent a room to plan and execute a robbery, but they are brought to their knees by their sweet, elderly landlady. Much as I like Tom Hanks, it looks like his remake butchers the delicate comedy of the original. See this one instead.
  
  
• 17 Fois Cécile Cassard / 17 Times Cecile Cassard (Honoré; France, 2002)
  Romain Duris steals the show in this wrenching drama about a woman (Béatrice Dalle) recovering from the death of her husband.
  
  
• Vozvrashcheniye / The Return (Zvyagintsev; Russia, 2003)
  Drama about two boys whose long-absent father returns to take them camping. Beautiful cinematography and good acting, but the tragic story remained cold and distant.
  
  
• Maður eins og ég / A Man Like Me (Douglas; Iceland, 2003)
  Another Islandic slacker story – a twenty-something mail-sorter falls for a beautiful, dynamic Chinese woman with a daughter.
  
  
• Les Triplettes de Belleville / The Triplets of Belleville (Chomet; France/Canada, 2003)
  Manouche jazz, Mozart's requiem, and cartoons about cycling – could it get any better than this? Well, it could, but this weird film about a tiny grandmother rescuing her Tour-de-France biking grandson from angular French mafiosos is a non-mainstream treat. This animated film drags a bit in the middle, but the visuals and music are wonderful.
  
  
• Guo chan Ling Ling Qi / From Beijing With Love (Chow/Lee; Hong Kong, 1994)
  Chinese James Bond parody starring Stephen Chow and Anita Yuen. Fun!
  
  
• Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (Ritchie; UK, 1998)
  Complicated story about four would-be hoodlums (with thick British accents) who attempt a heist to pay off a gambling debt. Entertaining but flawed; you can tell that Guy Ritchie is more at home shooting music videos.
  
  
• Calendar Girls (Cole; UK, 2003)
  Cute piece of fluff based on a true story. The middle-age-and-older women of a Yorkshire village pose nude (artfully) for a fund-raising calendar and create a sensation. Unfortunately, the director padded the slender plot with several contrived subplots that distract from the charm of the main story. But who can complain about a film starring Helen Mirren?
  
  
• Dame La Mano (Honigmann; Netherlands, 2003)
  Choppy documentary about Cuban immigrants who gather in a New Jersey nightclub to dance the rumba. This film just didn't take flight for me, although I love this director's other documentaries. But the scenes in the tiny nightclub were great.
  
  

OTHER MOVIES I SAW:

• Red Barn (Milgrom; USA, 2004-?)
  A work in progress by the Twin Cities' own Al Migrom, who filmed the protests against a fast food restaurant (Red Barn) in Dinkytown in 1970.
  
  
• Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Verbinski; USA, 2003)
  Over-the-top Disney schlock that happens to have some good acting. If only this movie had had a better director – and a real editor – it could have been truly fun. As it was, Johnny Depp is great and the other actors are passable, but the plot is full of holes, and the ridiculous special effects are way overdone. ("Let's show the sailors-to-skeletons effect over, and over, and over, and over...") I was ready for this film to end long before it did.
  
  

MOVIES I WASN'T TOO WILD ABOUT:

• Surplus: Terrorized into Being Consumers (Gandini/Söderberg; Sweden, 2003)
  Content-light, repetetive film about the excesses of modern civilization, with many similarities to a music video. Although some interesting issues were raised (and infuriating ones, like anarchist John Zerzan's claim that a forced return to the stone age would solve all of society's ills), there's so much more that the filmmakers could have done to make an effective point. Instead, they linger over their footage of a sex-doll factory.
  
  

MOVIES I WISH I HAD SEEN:

• Balseros – Documentary about the current lives of several Cuban boat refugees (balseros).
• The Fog of War – The Thin Blue Line's Evan Morris does Robert McNamara and the ethics of war.
• Master and Commander – But I didn't want to ruin my mental picture of Aubry and Maturin.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Televised – How the recent coup in Venezuela was distorted by the American media.
• The Saddest Music in the World – and other films in the Walker's Guy Maddin Festival.