St. Louis Film Festival returns
The St. Louis International Film Festival enters its 16th year and continues to impress with its wide variety of in-demand film titles and personalities. Highlights include St. Louis premieres of anticipated films “Juno,” “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead,” “Honeydripper” and “Bill” as well as appearances by filmmakers John Sayles, Peter Greenway, James Gunn, Alex Gibney and Lynn Hershman Leeson. The festival kicks off Sunday night with John Sayles’ “Honeydripper,” and continues through Sunday, November 18. The Tivoli and Plaza Frontenac host most of the screenings, but the St. Louis Art Museum, Webster University and Wash. U.’s own Steinberg Audotorium are hosting films as well. The full schedule of films is available at www.cinemastlouis.org.
‘Honeydripper’
By Brian Stitt
Tivoli
Thursday, Nov. 8 @ 7 pm
Rating: 4/5
John Sayles, director of the often overlooked historical films “Matewan,” “Eight Men Out” and “Lone Star,” among others, now gives us “Honeydripper,” a look at rural Alabama in the 1950s. Danny Glover quietly plays “PineTop” Purvis, who runs a failing juke joint on the wrong side of the tracks. In an attempt to pay off his debts and save the business he recruits radio sensation Guitar Sam to play at his place, The Honeydripper. The film moves ploddingly, like the slow drip evoked by the title, but offers a unique look at music and the South. It utilizes Sayles’ ability to embody a time and place more than portray it. He sets up characters deliberately but allows them to move through the story on their own. Sayles makes his presence felt in the reserved camera movements and uncomplicated structure. The movie feels older than it is but is also much better than it may seem at first. The photography uses all the tricks of the best American artists, the night scenes enlivening the spirit of Edward Hopper. The opportunity to see a new film by this great American filmmaker is not one to be missed.
John Sayles, with producing and life partner Maggie Renzi, will attend.
‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’
By Matt Karlan
Plaza Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 11 @ 7 pm
Rating: 5/5
The year 2007 has been a disappointing year in film. There has been an amalgamation of sequels and prequels, innumerable overrated indies and about “300″ over-budgeted special effects orgies. Two months remain, and there has not yet been a single film of enduring merit. Enter the year’s savior, Sidney Lumet. Lumet certainly has earned respect in the industry, directing multiple pictures that deserve a daily shining in the AFI vault: “Serpico” (1973), “Dog Day Afternoon” (1975), “Network” (1976). But his last critically acclaimed film was in 1982, and he has since served up a dozen nosedives.
What did Lumet need in order to remember how to direct watchable film? First, an expertly paced screenplay with a newcomer screenwriter, Kelly Masterson. Lumet’s “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” begins with a botched jewel heist. The film then reveals tidbits of information surrounding the event in segments separated by broken-glass jump cuts that should be corny, but fit for some reason.
Next, Lumet evoked some of the finest acting performances of the year. Philip Seymour Hoffman has a mental breakdown worthy of his second Oscar, Ethan Hawke sets the bar too high for the remainder of his career, Albert Finney controls every frame he enters, and Marisa Tomei is more often naked than clothed. High praise for all.
The glorification of criminals has become standard in Hollywood blockbusters this decade. The misdeeds of the lawless have few repercussions, and even if their crimes do not succeed they rarely finish the picture worse than where they began. “Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead” ignores this trend and harkens back to older crime thrillers that made Lumet famous. The bad guys are not treated with kid gloves; the lives of these despicable characters become deservedly bleak. Lumet finally succeeds as he returns to his roots in the best film of the year thus far, and the best titled film maybe ever.
‘Punk’s Not Dead’
By Elizabeth Ochoa
Tivoli
Friday, Nov. 9 @ 9:15 pm
Rating: 4/5
So you’ve heard it before, but hear it again from people who were there when it was born. Consisting completely of interviews and song lyrics, “Punk’s Not Dead” captures the enthusiasm and energy of the scene, without trivializing the people behind it or turning them into caricatures. Look for members of Bad Religion, Green Day, Operation Ivy, the Buzzcocks, Fugazi and the Subhumans to name a very very few.
Huge portions of punk’s history are completely glossed over, so if you want to learn about the origins of the scene, this isn’t the documentary for you. This is more a yearly check-up on the kids to make sure everyone’s still pissed at the government, loving making the music and hoping said music changes said government.
Director Susan Dynner does a fantastic job of highlighting the fact that punk is still alive and kicking not only in young kids screaming and moshing in basements but also really old dudes screaming and moshing in other basements.
Bonus includes a hearty lineup of ‘classic’ punk rockers saying how not punk current punk rockers are. This is quickly offset by the interviewees who state that Sum41 is just as punk as the Ramones. Also look for the insightful commentary from St. Louis’ own Annie Zaleski.
Bottom line: Punk isn’t dead. It’s just move to Warped Tour and basements.
‘Waiter’
By Elizabeth Ochoa
Plaza Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 11 @ 2 pm
Monday, Nov. 12 @ 5 pm
Rating: 3/5
“Waiter” is a surreal film from the Netherlands with a unique plot. A writer creates a character, Edgar, and then proceeds to make everything go wrong in Edgar’s life that can: terminally ill wife, needy mistress, a second mistress who is also his best friend’s wife and is also cheating on both of them with a mysterious third man, a horrible job, the mafia living next door. Edgar’s life, in no uncertain terms, blows.
The meta-fun sets in when Edgar shows up at the writer’s real apartment in the real world to beg for a better life. Doesn’t this sound great? It sounds like something you’d be willing to watch even though it is subtitled. It sounds like something you’d be willing to watch even though it’s poorly translated (or possibly worse, a good translation of really shitty dialogue.)
Sadly, “Waiter” falls short of dazzling and leaves something to be desired. That something is that the seemingly inherent humor, stemming from a fictional character interacting with the real world, is resolutely ignored. Maybe “Waiter” was deep and it was lost in the subtitles. The substory of Edgar is fantastic, but the cross between the real and fictional world is poorly executed.
‘The Method’
By Elizabeth Ochoa
St. Louis Art Museum
Sunday, Nov. 11 @ 7:15 pm
Rating: 4/5
Right about now everyone is cleaning up their resume and dusting off the horribly uncomfortable suit their mom helped them pick out. It’s interview season. We’ve all experienced, or know someone who has, the wretched, gut-wrenching interview questions.
A Spanish film, “The Method,” looks at seven eager people competing for one position. The catch? One group interview, and after each question or task the group has to vote someone out of the process. Think “Survivor” gone corporate.
The characters face tough questions: Would you be loyal to the company in wake of an economic crisis? Would you employ a former union boss? Would you put what could be true love before the company?
“The Method” keeps you on your toes, trying to guess who will get kicked out next, who will get the job and asks if the process of proving yourself to others is worth it. The fast-paced dialogue forces the viewers to keep a close eye on the subtitles.
The highlight of the movie is at the climax, when the three remaining applicants are forced to defend a country, either the UK, Spain or Italy, based on their respective strength in the global economy. The game quickly breaks down into sexual innuendo and insults. Doesn’t sound too thrilling? Here’s the kicker: It’s in French, English and Spanish.
A must see for anyone who has ever applied to a job.
‘The Memory Thief’
By Brian Stitt
Tivoli
Saturday, Nov. 10 @ 2:30 pm
Rating: 3/5
Holocaust survival is at the center of “The Memory Thief.” Lukas, a gentile L.A. tollbooth operator, has no cultural identity of his own until an encounter with a Holocaust survivor pushes him to explore the Jewish culture and its relationship with the travesty that so few survived. The film broaches some interesting subjects and will certainly engender debate about people’s rights to forget the past weighed against their social responsibility. “The Memory Thief” does probe a certain depth with its questions, but fails to tell a completely believable story. Lukas, and the film, are quirky and overtly strange, which, to director Gil Kofman’s credit, did not harm the seriousness of the subject matter. But the central relationship between Lukas and a pretty Jewish med student, whose father is a survivor who Lukas becomes obsessed with interviewing, never holds up. Why would she want to be with such a strange guy? The film hints at answers but spreads itself thin by going down paths it should have avoided. Still, it is very much worth seeing and Kofman will attend the screening, which should allow a forum for many of the questions raised by the film to be answered.
‘Getting Home’
By Brian Stitt
Plaza Frontenac
Sunday, Nov. 11 @ 4:30 pm
Rating: 5/5
A successful road movie depends on the strength of its diversions and its ability to stay on course. A black comedy comes with its own unique brand of problems mostly concerning finding a singular tone that encompasses the emotional scope of the film. “Getting Home” accomplishes all of this and, more importantly, manages to translate laughs, a notoriously difficult task. The film follows a man carrying his dead drinking buddy back to his hometown for a proper funeral. The friend’s body, constantly slung over our hero’s back like a beloved sack of potatoes, influences many of the comedic moments of the film but also serves as an ever-present reminder of mortality. Many films try to create such a somber yet jovial mood and are praised for barely missing the mark. “Getting Home” fails at none of its aims and is not overly simple, although much of the emotion of the film is carried in the always-changing Chinese landscape.
Popularity: unranked [?]
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