Film Descriptions
(Click on titles to
see additional descriptions and reviews.)
Bella (2006)
drama
Mexico/USA
Alejandro Gomez Monteverde, dir. PG-13 91 mins.
Friday, April 4 at 9:15 p.m.; Saturday, April
5 at 7:00 p.m.; and Sunday, April 6 at 7:00 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount
Pleasant)
A beautiful love story, Bella has won the Legacy Award from the Smithsonian Latino Center and the Faith and Freedom Award for Promoting Positive American Values in 2007. Bella is a story within a story. Jose, at a beach in present time, flashes back 4 or 5 years ago when he shared a life-changing day with Nina, a waitress at his family’s restaurant. During that day, he comes to terms with an event that haunts him from his past. Nina is facing a tough decision and when Jose shares the tragedy that affected his life and how his family helped him cope, Nina is also transformed. This enables Nina to make a decision that will forever link her life to Jose.
Bride and Prejudice (2004)
comedy
UK/USA
Gurinder Chadha, dirs. PG-13 111 mins.
Saturday, April 5 at 4:00 p.m. and
Sunday, April 6 at 4:00 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount
Pleasant)
A Hollywood film loosely adapted from a novel by Jane Austen, produced in Bollywood style (lots of dancing and great costumes), starring "The Queen of Bollywood" (Aishwarya Rai) and directed by a woman (Gurinder Chadha) who was born in Kenya, raised in London, married a Japanese-American and spends a lot of time in the USA. That's one way to describe Bride and Prejudice, an East-West love story which, according to The Hollywood Reporter, offers its audience "relentless effervescence." After the dreary winter we have had in Michigan, this films seems like just what we need,
The Canary Effect (2007)
documentary
USA
Robin Davey and Yellow
Thunder Woman, dirs. NR 63 mins.
Friday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m and Saturday, March 29 at 5:30 p.m
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount Pleasant)
This
is one of the most succinct and moving statements ever made on film about
the genocide of Native Americans. Beginning with the voyages of
Columbus and continuing to the present, the film goes beyond just a
sympathetic portrayal of the history of native peoples. It poses profound
questions about the present and future and explores definitions of
genocide as applied to the experience of Native Americans in the United
States. The
Canary Effect features interviews with Ward Churchill, James
Abourezk and Charles Abourezk, among others. It is not a polemic or
a strident diatribe, but a calm and rational presentation.
The Case of the Grinning Cat / Chats Perchés (2004) **
documentary
France
Chris Marker, dir. NR 58 mins.
Saturday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday,
March 30 at 8:00 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
Chris Marker is the enigmatic
French filmmaker probably best known in the United States as the director
of La Jetée, the film which
was remade as Twelve Monkeys. He
has also developed a reputation for the visual essay, which is the
category in which this film belongs.
In this film what ties together Marker’s interesting
social/cultural/political tapestry is a grinning, yellow cat. Portraits of
this feline began to appear around Paris around the beginning of the
millennium. Marker, a cat lover (like T.S. Eliot) ponders their meaning.
Somehow this leads to consideration of French and Americans politics.
The City of Photographers (2006) *
documentary
Chile
Sebastián
Moreno Mardones, dir. NR 80 mins.
Saturday, March 29 at 8:30
p.m. and Monday, March 31 at 7:00 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
This
film should appeal to anyone interested in the potential of photographs
both to chronicle and effect the world. The
City of Photographers features interviews with independent
photographers in Chile who helped to bring down the Pinochet regime by
providing documentation of its brutality. The interviews are
interspersed with a multitude of images from Chile in the 1970’s and
1980’s. The film festival’s reviewers picked this title for the
festival especially because of their perception that there are a lot of
students, faculty and staff at CMU with an interest in photography (and
photojournalism in particular), along with a considerable number of Latin
American scholars interested in the specific context in which the photos
presented in this documentary were used.
The Devil Came on Horseback (2006) *
documentary
USA/Sudan/Chad
Annie
Sundberg, Rick Stern, dirs. NR 85 mins.
Friday, March 28 at 9:15 p.m. and Sunday,
March 30 at 5:00 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount Pleasant)
The
message of this moving work is fairly simple: (1) the slaughter in Rwanda
took place because the rest of the world was slow to act and failed to
prevent it; (2) a chance to prevent a similar catastrophe exists in Darfur;
and (3) despite overwhelming evidence that genocide has been taking place
in Darfur, the mistakes of Rwanda are being repeated there. The
observations presented in this film come primarily from a former Marine
captain, Brian Steidle, who went to the region as an observer, armed only
with a camera and note paper.
Enemies of Happiness (2006) *
documentary
Denmark/Afghanistan
Eva
Mulvad, Anja Al-Erhayem, dirs. NR 58 mins.
Tuesday,
April 1 at 7:00 p.m. and Wednesday, April 2 at 8:30 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
When a
young Afghan woman named Malalai Joya spoke out in 2003 at a council of
leaders discussing the establishment of a new government for her country,
she was thrown out of the assembly. Later, as she was running for a
seat in the country’s new parliament, she was threatened with
assassination. This film tells the story of the victory that made
the 27-year-old woman the youngest member of parliament and one of the few
women leaders of her country. However, it is more than just Malalai
Joya’s story. Enemies of
Happiness provides glimpses into day to day life in Afghanistan,
including a rather detailed presentation of a young woman’s fight to
avoid being married against her will to a man in his 80’s.
Flight from Death: The Quest for Immortality (2006)
documentary
USA
Patrick Shen, dir. NR 90 mins.
(Film Society Showcase)
Friday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
FREE ADMISSION
As you might guess from the title, this film deals with ideas of Ernest Becker about death anxiety and its effect on behavior. (Becker’s book The Denial of Death was awarded a Pulitzer Prize in 1974.) Flight from Death was selected as the Film Society’s Showcase film and will include a question and answer session with the film’s co-producer Greg Bennick immediately following its screening. Bennick will also be on the CMU campus for a conference entitled “Terror at the Voting Booth: How Fear Is Used in Politics” to be held the day after the festival screening of his film.
Have You Heard from Johannesburg? (2007)
documentary
USA
Connie
Field, dir. NR 89 mins.
Monday, March
31 at 8 :45 p.m. and Thursday, April 3 at 7 :00 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
While
many of the human rights documentaries are about what went wrong, this
film is a success story about the campaign within the United States to
force the Reagan Administration to impose economic sanctions against South
Africa because of apartheid and other political repression in that
country. In the end, a broad political coalition (including members
of Reagan’s own party) brought about the override of a Presidential
veto. Comments in the film from members of South Africa’s former
regime clarify just how crucial this action was, as it provided a powerful
incentive for the white power structure to move toward reform and eventual
majority rule. Have
Your Heard from Johannesurg? won the award for best documentary at
the 2007 Pan African Film Festival.
The Iceberg/L’iceberg (2005) **
comedy
Belgium
Dominique
Abel, Fiona Gordon, Bruno Romy, dirs.
NR 84 mins.
Friday,
April 4 at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, April 5 at 9:00 p.m.; and Sunday, April 6
at 7:00 p.m.
Park
Library Auditorium (Central Michigan University)
Some
of the most bizarre comedies of recent years have come from Belgium.
Here is yet another one worth seeing.
A woman gets locked in a restaurant freezer, survives, and then
develops a fascination with the cold, embarking for the Far North with a
mute whose affection she is pursuing (while her befuddled, but dedicated
husband is pursuing her). They all end up nearly frozen to death. The
mundane and the magical combine nicely in this film and the ending is both
unpredictable and charming.
Innocent Voices / Voces Innocentes (2004)
Drama
Mexico/USA
Luis
Mondoki, dir. R 120 mins.
Friday,
April 4 at 7:00 p.m.; Saturday, April 5 at 9:15 p.m.; and Sunday, April 6
at 9:00 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount Pleasant)
This film is set in a mountain village in El Salvador during the civil war of the 1980’s, when 12-year-old boys (child-warriors) were routinely forced by the national army to fight against the guerrillas. This story is a true account of one boy's struggle, both physically to stay alive and out of the war to please his mother, and mentally, as he wrestles with his growing political awareness.
Into the Wild (2007)
drama
USA
Sean
Penn, dir. R 140 minutes
Saturday,
March 29 at 12:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 12:30 p.m.
Celebration! Cinema (4935
East Pickard Road, Mount Pleasant)
Based on the true story of Christopher McCandless. A 1992 Emmory University grad, McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) abandoned his possessions, gave his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhiked to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, he encounters a series of characters who influence his life. Unfortunately, this journey of self discovery also consists of errors in judgment and tragic realization.
drama
Russia
Andrei
Kravchuk, dir. NR 99 mins.
Monday, March 31 at 7:00
p.m.; Tuesday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m.; and Thursday, April 3 at 9:00 p.m.
Celebration!
Cinema (4935 East Pickard Road, Mount Pleasant)
Based on a true story, the film introduces Vanya, a six-year-old orphan living in Russia, who has no hope for survival unless adopted by a wealthy family. Vanya gets a chance at having a real family when an Italian couple arrives to adopt him. But, when he sees the mother of another child come to try to find her son who is no longer at the orphanage, he begins to wonder what it would be like if his mother came for him. Vanya escapes and embarks on a journey in which he encounters characters and situations that provide a haunting perspective on post-Soviet Russia.
Margot at the Wedding (2007)
comedy/drama
USA
Noah Baumbach, dir. R 91 mins.
Friday, March 28 at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday,
March 29 at 3:30 p.m.
Celebration! Cinema (4935 East Pickard Road,
Mount Pleasant)
Margot at the Wedding, is a dark comedy about people with flaws that we can often recognize as our own. Nicole Kidman plays Margot, a writer from Manhattan attending the wedding of her sister, Pauline, played by Jennifer Jason Leigh,in the Hamptons. Margot, who hasn't seen her sister in years, immediately disapproves of Pauline's choice for a husband. As a matter of fact, Margot disapproves of almost everything and everyone, because of her own misery. Siblings will recognize the wounding scenes, and the amount of love it takes to rise above the hurt.
The Moustache / La Moustache (2005) **
comedy
France
Emmanuel Carrère, dir. NR 86 mins.
Wednesday, April 2 at 9:30 p.m. and Thursday,
April 3 at 7:00 p.m.
Celebration! Cinema (4935 East Pickard Road,
Mount Pleasant)
In hopes of surprising his friends and family, Marc shaves off the moustache he has sported for years. He thinks his friends and wife will be surprised, but they all insist he never had a moustache, at least not in recent years. As his life begins to spiral out of his control, those around him suspect he has lost his mind and plot to have him committed to a psychiatric hospital. The L.A. Times review of this film calls it a commentary on the self-assuredness of the Parisian haute bourgeoisie. It’s also a lot of fun.
Offside (2006)
Comedy
Iran
Jafar
Panahi, dir. PG 93 mins.
Friday,
March 28 at 9:15 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 3:30 p.m.
Celebration! Cinema (4935
East Pickard Road, Mount Pleasant)
The story itself is engaging: females are banned from attending soccer games in Iran, so girls dress like boys to get into a game. They get caught and are put in a holding area, guarded by soldiers who know less about the game than the girls do. The telling of the story, both subtle and deeply comic, is in the hands of a master-- Jafar Panahi, who also directed The White Balloon and The Circle. J. Hoberman of The Village Voice calls this film “the funniest of Panahi’s features.” It may also be the funniest film in this year’s festival.
Paris,
Je t’aime
(2006) **
International
anthology by multiple directors R 116 mins.
Saturday,
March 29 at 8:45 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 7:00 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount Pleasant)
In an
age some would claim has no sense of place, location is at the core of
these vignettes that are all set in Paris and are all about love-- love
between mimes, between vampires, all kinds of love. Try spotting familiar
places (if you have been to Paris), or familiar actors, including Ben
Gazzara, Natalie Portman, William Dafoe, Juliette Binoche, Nick Nolte,
Fanny Ardant, Gena Rowlands and Bob Hoskins. Each short had a different
director, among them the Coen Brothers and Wes Craven. Even if the
backdrop weren’t Paris, these tightly-constructed gems would be worth
seeing.
Poison
Friends / Les Amitiés Malefiques
(2006) **
drama
France
Emmanuel
Bourdieu, dir. NR 100 mins.
Friday, April 4 at 8:45 p.m.; Saturday, April
5 at 7:00 p.m.; and Sunday, April 6 at 8:45 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
Eloi, a passionate literature
student, meets Andre, who despises people who write only to be published. Inspired by Andre’s aptitude, Eloi and two more of his
friends make Andre their mentor. It
turns out much about Andre is not what it seems to be. Andre tells people
he is going off to America to work at a university there, but this is also
a lie. Lisa Nesselson of Variety
writes of the film: “One never knows who may end up as burnt toast...
[an] engaging tale of ambition, fabulation, romance and deceit...”
Strange
Culture
(2007)
*
documentary
USA
Lynn
Hershman Leeson, dir. NR 76
mins. (HRW)
Thursday, March 27 at 8:00 p.m. and Wednesday,
April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Park Library Auditorium
(Central Michigan University)
Steven
Kurtz, associate professor of art at SUNY/Buffalo, was planning an exhibit
to comment on genetic modification of foods. He had procured what the film
presents as harmless samples of bacteria and scientific paraphernalia for
the show and was storing them at home when his wife had a fatal heart
attack. Emergency personnel arrived, saw the material, and soon the
FBI was questioning Kurtz, apparently for suspicion of being a
bio-terrorist. The case seems so bizarre that it is difficult
to describe in a brief synopsis. (One element involves law enforcement
officials allegedly locking the suspect’s cat in an attic.)
West Bank Story (2005)
comedy
USA
Ari
Sandel, dir. NR 21 mins.
Thursday,
March 27 at 7:15 p.m. and Sunday, March 30 at 7:15 p.m.
Park
Library Auditorium (Central Michigan University)
FREE ADMISSION
This is
both a call for peace and a satire of cinematic works (including West
Side Story and Fiddler
on the Roof), as well as of Arab and Jewish stereotypes The story
centers on conflict between two fast food restaurants, the Kosher King and
the Hummus Hut. Acting is right on the mark and the musical numbers are a
riot. (West
Bank Story won the Academy Award in 2005 for best short.
live-action film.) This film, which opens the festival, is less than half an
hour long and admission is free.
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki (2007) *
documentary
USA
Steven Okazaki, dir.
NR 86 mins.
Saturday, March 29 at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday,
March 30 at 9:15 p.m.
The Broadway Theatre (downtown Mount Pleasant)
Most of
the film presents recent accounts by Japanese survivors of the bombs
dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of Americans who helped to build the
bombs and get them to their targets. While many of the images from
World War II in other films are in distancing black and white, much of the
archival footage from 1945 used in White
Light/Black Rain is in color, which, combined with the recent
interviews with survivors, some of whom were children in 1945, gives a
compelling immediacy to the film.
The Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006)
drama
UK
Ken
Loach NR 127 mins.
Monday, March 31 at 9:00 p.m.; Tuesday, April
1 at 9:00 p.m.; and Wednesday, April 2 at 7:00 p.m.
Celebration! Cinema (4935 East Pickard Road, Mount Pleasant)
The time is 1920, and Ireland is in a state of unrest. Brothers Damien and Teddy must decide where their loyalties lie. Teddy is the leader of a small squadron of soldiers fighting for Ireland’s independence. Damien is a medical student who wants to complete his schooling in London, but he instead stays and fights side by side with his brother. When peace fails, the two brothers, like their country, become divided. This film won the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
*
Selections from the
Human Rights Watch Traveling Film Festival.