CONTENTS Page 3 4-7
Editorial Gifted Frank, a single man raising his child prodigy niece Mary, is drawn into a custody battle with his mother.
8-11
The Last Word Harriet is a retired businesswoman who tries to control everything around her. When she decides to write her own obituary, a young journalist takes up the task of finding out the truth, resulting in a life-altering friendship.
12-15
A Man Called Ove Ove, an ill-tempered, isolated retiree who spends his days enforcing block association rules and visiting his wife’s grave, has finally given up on life just as an unlikely friendship develops with his boisterous new neighbours.
16-19
Hampstead An American widow finds unexpected love with a man living wild on Hampstead Heath when they take on property developers who want to destroy his home.
20-23
Souvenir A forgotten European Song Contest singer, fading away in a factory, falls in love with a young aspiring boxer, together they decide to attempt her comeback.
24-30
FilmFest Follower Karlovy Vary A look at the extensive programme of films on offer at the major film festival in the Czech Republic.
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Extras — DVD Sweet Dreams Poster: Gifted PHOTO CREDITS 20TH Century Fox: 1,4,6,7,32 Organic-Publicity: 8,10,11,12,14,15 Entertainment One Group: 16,18,19,30 Studio Canal: 20,22,23 Soda Pictures: 31 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: We would like to thank the following for their help in providing images for this magazine: Price Blackwood and Gemma at Studio Canal Hannah Golanski at Organic-publicity Christina Wood at Entertainment One Group
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EDITORIAL Beyond the pages of this magazine there is a vibrant activity that never ceases to amaze and excite me, it is an international buzz filled with optimism as films are announced, planned, produced, sold, distributed, publicised and screened. Many of these films will debut at film festivals, while others will go on general release to theatres, streamed to numerous devices, or straight to video. Whatever their outlet, they will meet with critical praise or disapproval, applauded or booed, accepted or rejected, remembered or forgotten. MbM is constantly watching previews and trailers of movies that may or may not be reviewed in this magazine, ones that will move you and get you to see them and each cover feature will be our major recommendation. Discovering Gifted was an obvious front-page feature. It is a beautifully told story about a man trying to follow his sister-inlaw’s wishes and bring up his niece in the way that she would have wanted - to lead a normal life or as normal as possible, as she is the gifted one of the title, and his mother wants her to go to a special school for gifted children. The child is played by Mckenna Grace, an exceptional talent. She shares the cover with Chris Evans. When one thinks of Swedish films, comedies do not immediately spring to mind, rather it would be the films of Bergman; both Ingmar the director: The Seventh Seal, Smiles of a Summer Night, Wild Strawberries, Persona; or the actress Ingrid: Casablanca, Spellbound, Notorious, Joan of Arc, Indiscreet, Autumn Sonata. It is therefore a pleasurable surprise to review the comedy A Man Called Ove, starring Rolf Lassgard as a disgruntled figure wanting to live the rest of his life the way he wants to, without help or interference by anyone else. The film is very funny. Other films reviewed in this issue are Souvenir, The Last Word and Hampstead. As always there are the regular features of FilmFest Follower which travels to the Czech Republic for the Karlovy Film Festival and lists a very interesting programme on offer. And of course, we look fine Italian film from Valeria Mastandrea and feature review in this
and choose DVD of the Month which is the Marco Bellocchio, Sweet Dreams, starring Bérénice Bejo. The film was MbM’s cover year’s April issue.
There we have it for another month. Enjoy the read.
Brian Mills Magazine Editor
Paul Ridler Magazine Designer
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GIFTED Directed by Marc Webb Starring: Chris Evans, Mckenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate, Octavia Spencer. Please don’t make me go. You can still keep home-schooling me. - Mary I’ve taught you everything I know. No more argument, okay? We’ve discussed this ad nauseum. - Frank What’s ad nauseum? - Mary You don’t know? Well it looks like someone needs school. - Frank A delightful feel-good movie made by Marc Webb, who directed 500 Days of Summer, a quirky romantic comedy about love and fate, about a young greeting card writer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is hopelessly and helplessly searching for the girl of his dreams, and his co-worker, Summer Finn (Zoeey Deschanel), may just be the one. Their off beat relationship reveals that the road to happiness can be unpredictable, uncontrollable – and unbelievably funny. It was Marc Webb’s feature film debut and he has gone on to blockbusters The Amazing Spider Man and its sequel.
Gifted concerns Frank Adler (Chris Evans) who is a single man raising his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) in a coastal town in Florida. Mary is a brilliant child prodigy and Frank’s intention that she lead a normal life are thwarted when the seven-year-old’s command of mathematics comes to the attention of his formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), a wealthy Bostonian whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Mary and Frank. As family tensions and disconnections grow, uncle and niece find support in Roberta (Octavia Spencer), their protective landlady and best friend and Mary’s teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate), a young woman whose concern for her student soon develops into a relationship with her uncle as well. Writer Tom Flynn had sold big comedy scripts to the studios, though some never got made. He left Hollywood for Florida where he started selling real estate and semi-retired. At the urging of his wife, he finally began to write the movie he really wanted to write. He stayed 4
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in his sister’s empty beach house for five uninterrupted weeks. In November and December there was nobody around and everything’s closed, so you don’t have anything else to do. With little to distract him, Flynn walked the beach in the morning, created the dialogue in his head, and then went home every day and worked on the script. His inspiration for Gifted was actually his sister, whom he describes as “the most unassuming ridiculously smart person you’ve ever met. When she was five everyone in the family was afraid of her, she was so determined. I had been around a brilliant mind all my life and I learned how important it was to have fun too, if she hadn’t, she might have been doomed. For the first time Flynn felt no pressure as he worked. Every other time I wrote something it was always with the market in mind, I always wrote to sell it. This one I wrote for the characters and the story. Producer Andy Cohen said: Before I knew it, I had a first draft that was nothing like anything Tom had written before. It was really something special. Once in a while you get lucky and you read something that you absolutely fall in love with. The characters were fully realized and I knew we could get tremendous actors and a top director. Webb brought a unique vision to the film, said Cohen. When he’s directing a scene, it’s like he’s choreographing a dance, not just where the actors stand or what they’re doing, but an emotional choreography. That’s important because each of them have their own unique arc. You never know when you’re building your cast and crew what you’re going to end up with. It’s this magical alchemy. I do think it starts at the top with the director. He paints what he wants the film to be. The film will appeal to men as well as women, if Webb’s reaction is anything to go by. I’m a forty-year-old dude, and I got choked up. All the burly grips hid behind the duvateen (light blocking fabric) because they were crying. I think men are not encouraged to feel, which I think is one of the challenges that Frank has to face, but of course men are emotional creatures too. The gift of the movie is casting Mckenna Grace who plays the child Mary. She is an exceptionally good actress. Here is her intelligent take on the movie and what it means. It’s about family. Family comes in all shapes and sizes, colours, beliefs: have two mums, two dads, or one mum one dad or a mum and a dad or live in a foster home or with a friend or live with your uncle like Mary. But I think the message behind the story is that at the end of the day, is that whoever you care about and whoever loves you and you love them and care about them – then that’s your family. They may not be your blood relatives, or maybe both. But I think that’s your family at the end of the day. Wise words from a wise child just like the child she portrays in this movie who will capture your heart.
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Mary (Mckenna Grace) and Frank (Chris Evans) in Gifted.
Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan), Frank (Chris Evans) and Mary (Mckenna Grace) in Gifted. 6
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Frank (Chris Evans) and Mary (Mckenna Grace) in Gifted.
Roberta (Octavia Spencer) and Frank (Chris Evans) in Gifted.
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THE LAST WORD Directed by Michael Pellington Starring: Shirley MacLaine, Amanda Seyfried, Ann-Jewel Lee Dixon. Miss Sherman, the thought of leaving my obituary to chance is completely unreasonable to me. - Harriet Lauter Well, I am the obituary writer, so when the time comes, I will be writing your obituary. - Anne Sherman I want you to write it now. - Harriet Lauter Ha. - Anne Sherman Here are the names of a few hundred people. - Harriet Lauter Shirley MacLaine plays 81-yearold control freak Harriet Lauter, a no nonsense, often irritating, dictatorial, curmudgeon with a heart of gold. She is a retiree looking for a new lease of life. She’s the type of person who can’t trust another to do what she can do better herself, like the gardener who isn’t trimming the edges right, so she sends him home and does it herself – and better. The wealthy former advertising executive lives basically alone in her comfortable home, scowling at life yet seemingly celebrating her ego with the best glass of wine. A hair stylist later states that Harriet walked in and did her own hair. She did the same with her gynaecologist who gave her back her money because Harriet did her own diagnosis. A priest actually confesses how much he hates her. An ‘accidental’ brush with death and a glance at the local paper’s obituary column and impressed by the obituary writer’s article, Anne Sherman (Amanda Seyfried) changes Harriet’s mind. She wants to supervise while Anne writes her obituary now, while she’s still alive, just to make sure that her life is properly documented and given the appropriate gloss and respect. Anne thinks it’s a crazy idea but her boss pressures her into it because Harriet’s advertising money has kept them afloat for years. She agrees, but soon discovers everyone on the list of people who knew Harriet best all hate her guts. There are mentoring girl with show that 8
flaws in the script, which are obvious such as having Harriet 9-year-old Brenda (Ann-Jewel Lee Dixon), an African-American a smart mouth and seemingly is inserted into the story to she is there to make Harriet look good to others.
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There is no question of Shirley MacLaine’s acting ability and talent but one cannot help in comparing The Last Word with previous films in her generous filmography and when we do, her latest film comes up short, so let’s do just that. Her feature film career began in 1955 with The Trouble with Harry, a dark comedy directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and she was cast as a single mother who does seem to know who Harry was and is happy that he is dead. Working with Hitch on your film debut was a fortunate experience for the budding actress. The film was one of Hitch’s favourite films because he has always been interested in establishing a contrast, in going against the traditional and in breaking away from clichés. With ‘Harry’ he took melodrama out of the pitch-black night and brought it out into the sunshine. It was as if he had set up a murder alongside a rustling brook and spilled a drop of blood in the clear water. In the rural countryside of Vermont on a fall day, three shots are heard. A little boy has been playing in the woods discovers the body of a man who, upon investigation, turns out to be Harry. Several people in the community, among them his former wife, Jennifer (Shirley MacLaine), have motives for killing Harry, and others, including an abstract painter (John Forsythe), a retired sea captain (Edmund Gwenn), and an old maid and a near-sighted doctor, believe that they may be responsible for his accidental death. Adding to the confusion, Harry keeps showing up in all the splendour of rigor mortis at the most embarrassing moments. Eventually, it turns out that Harry has simply died of natural causes and the community resumes its uneventful ways. But for the abstract painter, who has fallen under the spell of Jennifer’s very concrete charm, life may never again be the same.
In the same year, Shirley starred with the comedy pair Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in what was one of their best movies. Shirley was a model named Bessie Sparrowbrush and stole every scene she was in with Jerry Lewis. Her next film was Around the World in Eighty Days, starring David Niven as Phileas Fogg and Shirley as the beautiful Indian Princess Aouda, a part which she thought, and I would agree, that she was miscast. Though the film had a commendable cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Martha Hyer Some Came Running was not perhaps the perfect vehicle for Shirley who as Ginnie Moorehead who simply played a girl who adored a G.I.(Sinatra). It was yet another film with Dean Martin, Career which lacked the force of the Broadway play and Shirley cast as a dipsomaniac would have been apt if it had been her reaction to reading the script. The Apartment, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Being There, Terms of Endearment were all films which stand-out as good to excellent films, but one that really showed her at the top of her game was in 1969 – Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity. MacLaine is wonderful, full of energy and bubbly talent as a dance-hall hostage in a sleazy part of New York, who dreams of wedded bliss but is jilted by all and sundry. Shirley scores in all departments as actress, singer and dancer. And as for choosing a word to sum up The Last Word: good.
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Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) and Anne Sherman (Amanda Seyfried) in The Last Word.
Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) in The Last Word 10
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Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) in The Last Word.
Anne (Amanda Seyfried), Harriet (Shirley MacLaine) and Brenda (Ann-Jewel Lee Dixon) in The Last Word.
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A MAN CALLED OVE Directed by Hannes Holm Starring: Rolf Lassgard, Bahar Pars, Ida Engvoll, Filip Berg. Everything in this life is linked. Everything. - Ove Ove (Rolf Lassgard) is resolute, decisive, cynical, cantankerous, embittered, emboldened and unfriendly. But mostly he is a man of simple means who wants things just to his liking. He doesn’t like people driving through his neighbourhood, as it is strictly forbidden. He argues over the coupon price of a bouquet of flowers that he leaves for his deceased wife. And, when he loses his job of forty-three years to a pair of twenty-somethings, he decides to hang himself from his living room ceiling. Except, each time he tries, he is interrupted by his new neighbours: a family who means well in spite of pushing all of Ove’s buttons. Based on a popular novel by Fredrik Backman with a protagonist full of bitterness but with a heart of gold may not be the most original premise, but in the hands of director Hannes Holm and the acting of Rolf Lassgard, it’s a work of art. Anyone who passes him in the neighbourhood complex is subject to ridicule and anger. If Ove believes that person is in any way in violation of anything, no matter how trivial. He sees himself as the lone voice of reason in his little world and he is not shy about letting everyone around him know that they are pretty useless. Hannes Holm’s direction slowly allows it to reveal how Ove became the man he is, using tragedy and humour in a masterful way that makes us understand Ove and eventually love him. The cast is excellent, not just Lassgard. Flashbacks of Soja (Ida Engvoll), his beloved recently deceased wife, show a kinder, gentler Ove, but the scenes that reveal the most and entertain the best involve Ove’s interactions with his new neighbour Parvaneh (Bahar Pars). She is a very strong-willed woman from Iran who married a Swede. Rather than back down from Ove’s tirades, as everyone else does, she gives it right back to him, but with kindness and understanding. He is annoyed by her, but a part of him likes her, even if it takes quite a while for him to express it. There are many sub-plots throughout the film, but most of them are darkly funny and all manage to work. Once again it is the skill of the 12
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director who weaves it all together and makes everything so satisfying. Ultimately, it will leave the viewer feeling happy and what more could one ask from a film that meets its purpose? Three years ago, when Atria Books Editorial Director Peter Borland was sent the first 50 pages of a novel translated from the Swedish, he had no idea what he had in his hands would become a national sensation. Fredrik Backman’s A Man Called Ove was, in fact, a ray of sunshine compared to the dark novel of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo. Backman’s book was filled with humour and pathos, a touchy-feely look at what it means to be human, about a curmudgeonly, suicidal man in his late fifties who seemed at war with the modern world and his neighbours. Borland liked the book, liked its sympathetic tone and subtle wit, liked what eventually became a tale of a suffering man who, thanks to those same neighbours, comes out of his shell. The book was charming but not corny. So, Borland decided to take it on. Yet he was cautious: the 2014 first U.S. printing of Backman’s novel was only 6,600 copies. Although the book enjoyed solid pre-publication reviews from the trades, it was ignored by the major outlets like The New York Times, with sales that didn’t exactly encourage confidence. Then it caught fire. Atria’s independent bookstore sales reps went out of their way to push the novel. The indie bookstore network started to get the word out, and when Ove came out in paperback in May 2015, a major bookstore in Maine named it their book of the year and began selling copies by the truckload. It helped start Ove-mania, and it didn’t hurt that People magazine gave it a rave, saying “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll feel new sympathy for the curmudgeons in your life.” Six months after it came out in paperback, A Man Called Ove, which Borland calls “a great word-of-mouth, reader driven success,” hit the bestseller lists. It remained there for more than 30 weeks, riding as high as #2 in The New York Times paperback rankings, and now boasts more than 650,000 copies in hardcover, paperback, and e -book editions. Music Box Films released the subtitled version of A Man Called Ove in New York, Los Angeles, and in other cities, and agree that the character has a universal appeal, and sees him in the same vein as the crotchety old men played by Jack Nicholson in About Schmidt and Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino. Ed Arentz of Music Box Films says “There is something universal about the angry old man next door who is a pain for no apparent reason. But scratch the surface and he has his own emotional history, and he needs a little kindness to break through that barrier. Ove is your neighbour you don’t talk to, but Ove is also us.” The film was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at 2017 Academy Awards. It won European Comedy Award at the European Film Awards. At the Seattle International Film Festival, it won the Golden Space Needle Award for Rolf Lassgard for Best Actor.
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Ove (Rolf Lassgard) in A Man Called Ove.
Ove (Rolf Lassgard) in A Man Called Ove. 14
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Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) and Ove (Rolf Lassgard) in A Man Called Ove.
Ove (Rolf Lassgard) with children and Parvaneh (Bahar Pars) in A Man Called Ove.
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HAMPSTEAD Directed by Joel Hopkins Starring: Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, Lesley Manville, Jason Watkins. Every time someone threatens your pride, you pop-up like an emotional porcupine. - Emily Diane Keaton, recently honoured at the American Film Institute with its Life Achievement Award in her 71st year, is a formidable actress who has endured through a career which has had led to enviable roles which she has made her own and her vintage years were the 70s. Following her feature debut in Lovers and Other Strangers, she made an appearance in a few TV series and then got the role of Kay Adams in one of the greatest films of all-time: The Godfather based on the bestseller by Mario Puzo. What an experience for a young actress to working with Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, James Caan and Robert Duvall. Diane based her role of Kay on the director Frances Ford Coppola’s wife Eleanor. In 1970 Woody Allen had cast Diane in his Broadway play “Play It Again, Sam”. Two year later she appeared in the screen adaptation of the stage play. It was a wonderful comedy with a hallucinatory Humphrey Bogart offering tips to Allen on how to make it with the ladies. He finds that there is only one woman he feels himself comfortable with and that is Linda (Diane Keaton) his best friend’s wife. Next up was another comedy with Woody, Sleeper, with Diane Keaton playing the role of Luna who must save Miles (Allen) from being captured and reprogrammed by the futuristic government. The Godfather was back with whose Allen’s devastated by merchant.
Part II reprised the role of Kay for Diane and then is Woody for Love and Death, cast as the beautiful Sonja character, a scholar named Boris, has the hots for but is news of Sonja’s plans to wed a foul-smelling herring
But then came Annie Hall. Not only was it Woody Allen’s breakthrough film, winning four Oscars, but Diane Keaton’s too. It was specially written for her by Allen (her real last name is Hall, and her nickname is Annie). She won the Oscar and the Bafta for Best Actress and she started a fashion trend with her unisex clothes and was the poster girl for a lot of young males. Her mannerisms and awkward speech became almost a national craze. 16
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In 1979, she was back with Allen for his love affair with New York, Manhattan. Other highlights in Diane Keaton’s filmography have been: Reds, Radio Days, The Godfather Part III, Manhattan Murder Mystery and Something’s Gotta Give. In Hampstead, a romantic comedy, pitches Diane as an American woman of a certain age named Emily Walters who falls for a homeless curmudgeon, Irishman Donald Horner (Brendan Gleeson), whom she first spies taking a dip in a river. Emily is a widow of one year whose adult son Philip (James Norton) has long flown the nest, Emily works in a charity second -hand store but lives in an apartment decorated in expensive shades of taupe across the street from Hampstead Heath, a municipal parkland much loved by Londoners for its wild aspect and magnificent hilltop views of London. It seems that her late husband turned out to have been a philandering bastard who had been cheating on her before he died with a younger woman and who also squandered all their joint savings. Emily can’t face the idea of selling up and downsizing, although her snobby friend Fiona (Lesley Manville) has tried to help by fixing her up on a blind date with an amorous accountant (Jason Watkins). Emily rebels against her bourgeois destiny and she finds herself drawn to Donald, a beefy loner who has been living in a selfmade hut on the Heath for many years. After a series of emotional switchbacks that see Donald being alternatively rude and then charming and then rude again for flimsy, artificial reasons, the two become a couple, especially when Emily discovers what a sensitive, literary soul Donald is beneath his facial hirsuteness. Technically Donald is a “squatter” having occupied a plot of land that neither belongs to him nor was leased to him under a formal agreement with the owner. But his right to occupancy is protected by laws dating back to the Magna Carta. The important thing is that if he can prove that he’s lived in his home for more than twelve years, he would be entitled to the deeds, but Fiona’s property developer-husband (Brian Protheroe) is determined to have him evicted. No real surprises how the film will end, with the lovers cheerfully optimistic until the final credits. It is an open-hearted, and totally watchable film, but not of the calibre of Diane Keaton’s major oeuvre. Yet despite its shortcomings, Hampstead will live on as a cosy ninety minutes and for that reason, generosity is reflected in MbM’s rating.
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Donald (Brendan Gleeson)in Hampstead.
Emily (Diane Keaton) and Donald (Brendan Gleeson) in Hampstead. 18
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Donald (Brendan Gleeson) and an uncredited character in Hampstead.
Donald (Brendan Gleeson)and Emily (Diane Keaton) in Hampstead.
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SOUVENIR Directed by Bavo Defune Starring: Isabelle Huppert, Kévin Azaïs. I’ll look after you. You’ll be a star again. - Jean Isabelle Huppert has appeared in over one hundred films, her first feature Faustine et le bel ete in 1972, credited as Student No.2. Sandwiched between that and her latest Madame Hyde, which is in post-production and is scheduled for release next year, there are some titles in her lengthily filmography that are worth stopping and rewinding their memories and their place in our hearts. The Lacemaker (1977) Huppert plays a shy woman who is not too enthusiastic about getting into relationships with men. However, a chance encounter with an intelligent boy changes her life for good. The film manages to depict the vulnerability of some women through Isabelle Huppert’s performance. It was in 1980 that she appeared in a film that has become a controversial classic in film history – Heaven’s Gate. Even today, along with Isabelle Huppert co-stars: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken and Jeff Bridges, can claim to have been in a movie that closed a film studio, caused American critics to unashamedly label it a total disaster and yet ironically is now considered to be a masterpiece. Either way that is quite a feat for any film. It was twenty years later that a role came along that was worthy of Huppert’s talent and that was The Piano Teacher playing the part of Erika Kohut, a masochistic pianist teaching music, Schubert and Schumann are her forte, but she’s not quite at concert level. She’s approaching middle-age, living with her mother who is domineering. Erika is a victim rather than combative. This was her first film under the direction of Michael Haneke. White Material (2009) pitched her amidst the turmoil and racial conflict in a Francophile African State as a white French woman fighting for her coffee crop, her family and ultimately her life. Amour (2012), her second film for Haneke, playing the daughter coming to the terms that her mother had had a stroke and trying to help her father who insists in looking after her at home, which is her wish. Louder Than Bombs (2015) A deceased wife, mother and famed war photographer is remembered by her husband and children. Elle (2016) A successful business woman gets caught up in a game of cat and mouse as she tracks down the unknown man who raped her. 20
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And to Souvenir. Here as Liliane she works on the assembly line of a food factory, trying to keep herself to herself. But when a new guy, blue-eyed and blond Jean (Kévin Azaïs) begins his first day, he stands out as one of the few men in the entire plant; he is twenty-one, fair and good looking. Of all the seating options in the cafeteria, he chooses to sit next to her. Making small talk, he asks if her name is Laura because she looks like a pop star from some 30 years ago who went by that name, and who almost won the European Song Contest, but was defeated by the Swedish group ABBA. She insists that she is not Laura, but he doesn’t believe her and we soon learn that he is correct in doubting her. He continues to approach her after work, begging her to perform for a private party.
After work, Liliane drinks whiskey alone in her 1970s-style apartment, furnished as it is with an old TV, a record player, and no computer. She finally relents and agrees, more for Jean than as a chance to step back into the glitz and glamour of being in the limelight again. The main conflict between the two main characters centres on their contrasting outlooks and circumstances in life, and after their first night together, she makes Jean a lobster dinner, but he stands her up as he can’t get out of an obligation with his parents, who at that point don’t know the relationship is no longer platonic. However, the age difference is on the back burner to Liliane’s awkward attempts at a comeback, resulting in Jean giving up his boxing aspirations to manage her.
The first half-hour presents an atypical point of view of someone who was once famous and then divorced herself from the scrutiny of the public and started anew, and consequently there is some class snobbery regarding her fallen, working-class status. But any serious examination of the ramifications of instant fame followed by sudden anonymity gives way to climax, the suspenseful and rousing singing competition The characters move along based on the demands of the story. and as a result, the film is more convincing as a celebration of music rather than as a drama. As a chanteuse, Liliane’s languid pose, in which she stands with her hands on her hip, and her mezzo voice of a few notes recall Marlene Dietrich in her heyday.
The music by Pink Martini, a Portland-based favourite, is a throwback to the late 1960s of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass, – all before rock music completely conquered pop culture. There is still enough to celebrate here but not enough to be a memorable experience. One can still look forward to Isabelle’s third film with Michael Haneke, Happy End, a drama about a family set in Calais with the European refugee crisis as the backdrop.
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Jean (KĂŠvin AzaĂŻs) and Lilianne( Isabelle Huppert) in Souvenir.
Lilianne (Isabelle Huppert in Souvenir. 22
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Lilianne (Isabelle Huppert) in Souvenir.
Liliane (Isabelle Huppert) and Jean (KĂŠvin AzaĂŻs) in Souvenir.
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FILMFEST FOLLOWER KARLOVY VARY June 30th – July 8
EAST OF THE WEST COMPETITION ABSENCE OF CLOSENESS Directed by Josef Tuka After another failed relationship Hedvika takes her three-month-old daughter Adeka and her dog to stay with her mother and her mum’s boyfriend. Hedvika doesn’t get on all that well with her mother, nor are her feelings towards Adeka as maternal as they could be. One day she finds some diaries that her late father left behind. This smallscale psychological drama by debutant Josef Tuka is shored up by its realistic characters, an understated performance from Jane Plodkova, and perceptive, discreet lensing.
BLUE SILENCE Directed Bulent Ozturk After the release from the military hospital where he was receiving treatment for a past truma, Hakan tries to resume a normal life and form a proper relationmship with his daughter. Excelling for its mature performances and its styllation of image and sound, the film foregrounds Hakan’s wounded soul and underlines his vehement efforts to break free from his own private prison.
DEDE Directed by Mariam Khatchvani It’s 1962 Young Dena, lives in a remote mountain village where life is strictly governed by centuries of tradition. Is it possible to defy the firmly established order? And, if it is, what price must a person pay for doing so? Debut director Mariam Khatchvani set her first film in Svaneti, the stark mountainous region in north Georgia where she herself was born, and she presents us with an authentic portrayal of a number of customs and traditions associated with this province.
THE END OF THE CHAIN Directed by Priit Paasuke Have you ever had a bad day? Well, it would be difficult to top the catastrophe facing a waitress at a fast-food outlet, where people come not for a quick meal but simply to have a good cry. This high-spirited comedy, about the worst that can happen when you’re slaving from dawn to dusk, also examines existential dilemmas, unconcealed selfishness, and the essential desire for compassion.
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FALLING Directed by Marina Stepanska Anton and Katia happen upon one another in night-time Kiev. Both are trying to find their bearings in life, and their encounter changes everything. This psychological drama by debuting Marina Stepanska offers up both a fragile love story and a strong statement on the current young generation as it searches for its place in postrevolutionary Ukraine.
HOW VIKTOR “THE GARLIC” TOOK ALEXY “THE STUD” TO THE NURSING HOME Directed by Alexander Hant This evented road movie about a son and father finding their way to one another has none of the sentiment normally associated with this kind of subject matter. The film introduces an ensemble of wild characters from the lowest social strata, viewed through a lens that finds a balance between profoundly human dimension and its stylishly ironic commentary on contemporary society.
THE MAN WHO LOOKS LIKE ME Directed by Katrin Maimik, Andreas Maimik. Music critic Hugo is going through a post-divorce crisis and just wants some peace to finish writing his book. When his bohemian father suddenly appears on his doorstep, it becomes clear that the new life he has chosen for himself is about to go in quite a different direction. A tragi-comic tale about parents and children and their shared mistakes and complexes.
MARITA Directed by Christi Iftime Thirty-year-old Costi decides to spend a few days with his family. His parents have long been divorced, but Costi thinks it would be a great idea to arrange a surprise reunion, and he persuades his father tom travel with him to meet up with his mother and siblings. Taking the old family car, affectionately known as Marita, they head out on a journey that will ultimately help to heal past wounds and allow Costi to finally understand not only his parents, but also himself.
NINA Directed by Juraj Lehotsky Nina is twelve years old and her world has just been shattered to smithereens. Her parents’ marriage has broken down and they are getting a divorce. After his internationally successful debut Miracle Juraj Lebotsku now brings us an intimate drama in which the viewer looks upon the world and the selfish visionless behaviour of adults through the eyes of a 12-year-old. A girl who is resilient and belligerent, but also vulnerable and just as fragile as the miniature world she creates for herself in the garden shed.
POMEGRANITE ORCHARD Directed by Ilgar Najaf Gabriel returns home to the humble family farmstead, surrounded by an orchard of venerable pomegranate trees; since his sudden departure twelve years ago he was never once in contact. However, the deep emotional scars he left behind cannot be erased from one day to the next. A private drama set in a picturesque landscape which tells of wrongdoings simmering below the surface of seeming innocence.
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THE STONE Directed by Orhan Eskikoy Emete would swear that the young man seeking refuge in her home is the son she lost long ago. But in her isolated, wasteland village it’s almost impossible to differentiate real hope from self-delusion. Especially since the only way to survive is to throw in with the collective myths and seek comfort in cold stone.
UNWANTED Directed by Edon Rizvanolli Teenager Alban lives in Amsterdam with his mother Zana, who left Kosovo during the war in the Balkans. When he starts going out with the sensitive Ana, neither of them has any idea that unresolved injustices and shadows from the past will make their way to the surface. This insightful, mature debut by a Kosovan director reminds us how difficult forgiveness and reconciliation can be.
OFFICIAL SELECTION COMPETITION ARRHYTHMIA Directed by Boris Khlebnikov Oleg is heading for his thirties. He works as a paramedic and, after a hard shift, he likes to take a few swigs. His wife Katya is also a doctor, working in the hospital’s emergency department. But her patience with Oleg is running thin, so she announces one day that she wants a divorce. One of the most intriguing filmmakers on the Russian scene today, Boris Khlebnikov returns to the big screen with a meticulous piece of direction. Along with precise performances from the cast, the film examines a relationship experiencing an arrhythmia similar to that affecting the hearts of the patients Oleg treats in his job as a paramedic
BIRDS ARE SINGING IN KIGALI Directed by Joanna Kos — Krauze and Krzysztof Krauze We meet ornithologist Anna is 1994 just as genocide is raging in Rwanda, perpetrated by the majority Hutus against the Tutsis. Anna manages to save the daughter of a colleague whose family has been murdered, and she takes her to Poland. But the woman returns to Rwanda to visit the graves of her loved ones. The director originally worked on the movie with her husband but after his death in 2014 she eventually finished the challenging picture alone.
BREAKING NEWS Directed by Julia Rugina A difficult assignment awaits TV reporter Alex. He must film a memorial portrait for a co-worker who died in a tragic accident they both experienced but that only he survived. His colleague’s daughter becomes his guide, although her relationship to her father was more that complicated. Alex becomes an involuntary witness to the girl’s handling of her father’s death, and he also comes to believe that chronicling a person’s life involves more than just a short news report.
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THE CAKEMAKER Directed by Ofir Raul Graizer After the death of his lover, Thomas heads to Israel – the birthplace of the man he adored. Despite prejudice at his German origins he becomes the pastry chef at a local café owned by the widow of the deceased Oran. Yet she hardly suspects that the unnamed sorrow that connects her to the stranger is for one and the same man.
CORPORATE Directed by Nicolas Silhol The life of an uncompromising HR manager named Emilie changes the instant she witnesses the suicide of one of the staff. The investigation of the case becomes a moral test for a woman whose actions, although motivated by her unlimited devotion to work, have caused grief for many an employee.
KEEP THE CHANGE Directed by Rachel Israel Stylish but apathetic, David meets bundle of energy Sarah at a support group. While he’s just fulfilling a court-ordered obligation, she is thrilled to be there. But as they move past their initial conflicts, they become participants in an uncommon romance that won’t yield to convention. Keep the Change is a different kind of romantic comedy about people who are not the same – like most of us.
KHIBULA Directed by George Ovashvili Shortly after the first democratically elected president of Georgia came to power he was ousted in a military coup. He sets out for the mountains with a group of loyalists to regroup with his supporters. Set against an imposing Caucasus backdrop, we witness a man fighting for power while waging an internal struggle as he heads to meet his fate. The winner of KVIFF 2014 returns with an archetypal story told with light melancholy and unmistakable visual poetry.
THE LINE Directed by Peter Bebjak Adam Krajnak is head of the family and aso boss of a gang of criminals smuggling cigarettes across the Slovak-Ukranian border. The failure of one of the transports triggers an avalanche of consequences that compels him to question his own boundaries, none of which he had planned on crossing until now.
LITTLE CRUSADER Directed by Vaclav Kadmka Little Jan, the only descendant of the knight Borek (Karel Roden), has run away from home. His anxious father sets out to find him but his despair at the fruitless search gradually starts to overpower him. Vaclav Kadmka has turned out a stylishly well-contoured adaptation of the poem by Jaroslav Vrchlicky, where he employs a taciturn film form in order to encourage our imagination to engage in a poetic, cinematic pilgrimage.
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MEN DON’T CRY Directed by Alen Drljevic When, less than two decades since the war ended in Yugoslavia, a diverse group of veterans gathers at a remote mountain hotel to undergo days of therapy, it’s hard to expect absolute harmony. This brilliantly directed drama, about the ability to forgive others only after we have forgiven ourselves, presents the pinnacle of the Balkan male acting scene.
MORE Directed by Onur Saylak Fourteen-year-old Gaza lives with his father Ahad on the shores of the Aegean Sea. The intelligent kid would like to continue his studies, but Ahad sees his son’s future differently. He gets Gaza to help with his side business – smuggling refugees from the Mideast. A directing tour de force, this disturbing psychological study of an adolescent boy’s transformation under the influence of those around him bears dark tidings about the contemporary world.
RALANG ROAD Directed by Karma Takapa The stories of four individuals intertwine in a maze of Himalayan countryside, village buildings, and the local social microcosm. With a captivating internal rhythm and the stylistic elements taken firmly in hand, the film presents a narratively courageous look at the region’s social web and the influence of cultural immigration on social life.
TRIBUTE TO KENJI MIZOGUCHI THE DOWNFALL OF OSEN A maid named Osen prostitutes herself to support messenger Sokichi’s education. In later life he’s a prosperous doctor who has forgotten his benefactor, until one night on a rain-swept station platform …This deeply poignant love-tragedy has the richly expressive visuals of a late silent movie and a daringly convoluted flashback structure.
KENJU MIZOGUCHI: THE LIFE OF A FILM DIRECTOR Directed by Kaneto Shindo This documentary, shot over two years, recounts the master’s life and career across some 36 interviews with actors, producers and crew members from the films. It describes the trajectory of Mizoguchi’s long career clearly and accurately, and provides a lot of anecdotal testimony about his aims and working methods.
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THE LIFE OF OHARU th
A 17 century story cycle unified into the tale of Oharu’s decline from lady-in-waiting to common prostitute. The film balances sympathy for Oharu with a broader, Buddhist perspective, which sees sexual pleasures and social injustices alike as aspects of the evanescent material world. The stately pace and exquisitely controlled images and sounds won Mizoguchi a Venice prize, launching his reputation in the West.
MISS OYU Oyu is a young widow with a child, flattered by attention from Shinnosuke but unable to marry him because social propriety dictates that should remain faithful to her late husband. So Shinnosuke seeks out and marries Oyu’s sister Oshizu instead and the three begin living together. The scandalous ménage a trois of Tanizaki’s celebrated novel Ashikari brings a certain wit to its account of the emotional manoeuvring between the three main characters.
MY LOVE HAS BEEN BURNING Inspired by the autobiography of Kageyama Hideko, a late 19th-century feminist pioneer, the picture follows a young woman who rebels against her parents and begins to work for a fledgling political party in Tokyo. There are scenes of astonishing violence but the film’s real power lies in its political analysis and fiery performances.
NEW TALES OF THE TAIRA CLAN A young samurai rises to power in the 12th century struggles between land-owning nobles and the Buddhist clergy – only to be undone by his own arrogance and vanity. The control of colour and design (scrupulously researched as usual) and vivid performance from a large ensemble cast make sense of the complicated historiography.
OSAKA ELEGY Ayako, a company telephone operator, needs to cover her father’s drinking bills and her brother’s school fees, although neither thank her for her efforts. She pins her hopes on eloping with her fiancé. The film marked the strt of a lifelong collaboration with screenwriter Yoda Yoshikata and made Mizoguchi the most famous director in Japan.
THE TALE OF THE LATE CHRYSANTHEMUMS Kikunosuke is expelled from the Onoe family of kabuki stars and only the maid Otoku supports him while he joins a travelling theatre group. But the time he is ready to return to Osaka, she has sacrificed her own health. Based on fact, the story is a sublime meditation on artistry and the space between performance and life.
TALES OF THE MOON AND THE RAIN Rural potters Genjuro and Tobei set off to Kyoto to sell their wares, unaware that their village has been sacked by marauding samurai. Heading home, their paths diverge and, as events take their course, both men receive salutary shocks. Simple human values come up against transient follies and vanities to supremely moving effect.
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SANSHO, THE BAILIFF The wife, son and daughter of an exiled provincial governor are seized by slave traders. The mother Tamaki is sent to Sado Island, while the children are indentured in a work camp run by the cruel bailiff Sansho. The son Zushio submits to the harsh regime, but his sister Anju refuses, when they reach adolescence, she succeeds in persuading him to escape. But righting past wrongs proves severely challenging.
STREET OF SHAME In a series of interwoven storylines, the film explores the lives of the women who work in the brothel, from the mother who’s trying to support her child and sick husband and the man-eater who’s looking for a rich husband, to the young novice who’s terrified by the prospect of selling herself. The film’s up-to-date sociology is underlined by the electronic score from modernist composer Mayuzumi Toshiro, providing a tonality that’s new in Mizoguchi’s work.
Casey Affleck will receive the 52nd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival President’s Award in the Czech Republic which will be presented after the presentation of David Lowery’s “A Ghost Story”.
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EXTRAS DVD OF THE MONTH SWEET DREAMS Directed by Marco Bellocchio Starring: Valerio Mastandrea, Bérénice Bejo.
Based on the bestselling autobiographical Italian novel by Massimo Gramellini, this is a deeply engrossing story of how one man’s life is haunted by the tragic loss of his mother, in mysterious circumstances, when he was a child. Now a successful war reporter, Massimo’s emotional fragility forces him to confront the truth of the past to move on with his life. Adeptly switching between 1960’s childhood period scenes and modern-day Turin, Sweet Dreams is a mature example of serious filmmaking from Marco Bellocchio. There are no extra features on the DVD. Available to purchase from HMV stores or online from Amazon.co.uk.
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