2.6
-- COTTON,
Marty Madden
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Cotton, a sensitive 20-something fellow from the South, ends
up living on a farm to help the owner -- a widower and his
young daughter -- tend to the horses. Cotton has many gifts;
he is a horse whisperer and a hands-on faith healer. But he's
run away from it all. His horrid preacher mother hunts him
down and tries to get him back into the revivalist scene --
a community whose folk turned to him for healing. But his
crazy fundamentalist mom's obsession leads to tragedy, and
no one in the end gets healed. The acting was good, but Lusia
Strus as the mother overplayed it. Marty Madden wrote the
compelling script. Her directing was excellent.
3.8
-- THE GIRL
KIING, Mika Kaurismäki
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
In the 17th-century, the daringly brazen Queen Kristina took
power in Sweden. From the age of six, she found herself in
the role, but unlike other queens, she was brought up to be
manly and courageous; she quests for liberty in all things.
Her lesbianism comes to the fore as she takes up with her
lady in waiting. Eventually she appoints her first cousin
-- one of her suitors to succeed her, calling him her son.
She leaves Sweden to accept the invitation to join the Pope
and become a Catholic where she is able to rule over poets,
musicians and all artists as the Virgin Queen of Rome. Incredibly
curious, this queen defied all manner of acceptable behaviour,
yet excelled in trying to gain peace and freedom for her country
without much success. Brilliant beyond words, the performance
of Malin Buska in the role of Queen Kristina was completely
captivating. A tour de force film of great historical importance
with unforgettable acting.
1.0
-- GREY AND
BLACK, Luis Rocha
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An
utterly boring, badly put-together film about a man on the
run who hides out in Pico in the Azores, but ends up being
killed by the woman he abandoned a long time ago when he left
with a bag of money given to him by a professor. He consented
to help the infirm professor and put a bullet in his head.
Some films aren’t meant to be made, and this is one of them.
3.7
-- FELVILAG
(DEMIMONDE), Attila Szàsz
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Superbly
acted and based on a true tragic story that happened in Budapest
in 1914, the world of courtesan Elza Magnas comes to life.
Her housekeeper/former lover and mentor who introduced her
into a high class club that changed Elsa’s position in life
and made her the apple of a rich man’s eye who once had eyes
for the housekeeper now finds herself being upstaged by a
younger housekeeper who becomes Elsa’s darling. The knots
of jealousy and betrayal tighten, and it is Elsa who will
feel it around her neck, and the housekeeper will pay the
ultimate price. The script is brilliant; the tone grippingly
real and the theme of feminine ambition agonizing. A great
drama.
3.4
-- BOREALIS, Sean Garrity
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Jonah joins a poker game and proceeds within minutes to wrack
up a debt of almost $100,000. To make matters worse, he’s
got about one day to pay it back to his loan shark Tubby Finkelman
(Kevin Pollack) – an old time friend and who overnight becomes
his worst enemy. Set on taking his 15-year-old daughter Aurora,
who is going blind, to see the Northern Lights in Churchill,
Manitoba, Jonah meets opposition all the way, including Finkleman
who has been in hot pursuit to claim the dough owed by the
irresponsible Jonah. This road trip film pits Aurora against
her father, and as his lies surface, his daughter wants to
abandon him and does so on several occasions during their
trip. Ironically, it is Aurora who saves her dad from certain
death and debt. This is a great Canadian film stunningly acted
by Joey King in the role of Aurora and Jonas Chernick as her
father. He also wrote the script.
3.4
-- MISSION
QUANDRY, Wei Jiang
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Based
on a true incident that happened in Iraq, this nine-minute
film packs in an intense load of suspense. One soldier in
the field has stepped on a land mine and he -- being the superior
of the two -- commands the other to continue on the mission,
to move forward on the terrain to complete their mission while
time is running out. But his loyal officer mate wants to try
to defuse the land mine. An Iraqi woman appears and tells
them she just wishes to cross over to the other side. The
soldier wants to search her, but his superior yells that this
is forbidden. Disobeying orders, the heroic soldier goes over
to her and wrestles her to the ground. She pulls out something
from her robe. He shoots her; it was a photograph, she was
holding, but he also discovers a bomb attached to her. Here's
the clincher: as the free soldier makes his way back to try
to diffuse the mine, she is still alive and shoots him several
times. Barely able to breathe, he struggles to approach the
landmine and his superior still standing on top of it. He
is able to push all his weight down on the deadly landmine
as his superior steps off it. The badly wounded soldier is
dripping blood now from his mouth, but he is determined to
keep that mine from going off as he watches the other soldier
run ahead to complete the mission. Then an airplane fires
on the site, and all is blown up. We are left to believe that
the superior completed his mission but his compatriot was
killed.
2.5
-- THE MIDNIGHT
ORCHESTRA, Jérôme Cohen Olivar
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Michael
Abitbol is the son of Morocco's most famous musician, but
left with his father when he was so small. He never knew why
he was uprooted. This film gathers together the former musician's
of his father's band -- all of whom sorrowfully miss their
leader and resent the fact that he left so abruptly. It turns
out Jews living in Casablanca made a wise decision to leave
during the Yom Kippur war, and little Michael's dad made that
decision under threat of his manager who said he would hurt
the boy if he did not leave; he wanted to take over the cabaret
that at that time was owned by the father. Now Michael is
back in Casablanca -- called there to meet his father, but
no sooner does he arrive than the legendary musician dies.
Michael sets out to find out the mystery behind the leaving
of his father to the USA and to find the musicians of his
band. In so doing, he forms an incredibly heart-warming relationship
with an Arab taxi driver who is funnier than any Jewish comedian
on any movie screen. Also humorous were the two funeral directors
who sycophantically show false sympathy for the loss of Michael's
father in order to get money from him and win him as their
client. There was a side of pretension in the film that diminished
the touching moments in the father-son theme. The two lead
actors were excellent: Avishay Benazra as Michael and Mamoudi
M'barek as the taxi driver exuded formidable chemistry to
seize our interest; we never tired of seeing them; they appeared
in almost every scene. Some scenes were overdone and unrealistic,
but on the whole I would ask this 'Midnight Orchestra' for
an encore.
2.2
-- ZIPREY
HOL (FIREBIRD), Amir Wolf
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An 80-year-old man's body has been found in theYarkon River,
Israel with three stab wounds in his chest. He has a Holocaust
number on his arm. As we find out this man has been courting
old women whose husbands have just died and talks them into
giving him lots of money. He poses as a survivor -- going
to a tattoo parlor to have the number inked into his arm.
However, the detective on the case is able to figure out that
this gigolo was too eager to be accepted into the rather plum
Holocaust Club in the city, and that he was willing to do
anything to gain access to the wealthy widows who were compensated
after the war. His plan is uncovered. The body in the river
is the man himself as we find out in the flashback and this
segment was not clear at all; it was not clearly defined,
so the movie was confusing. The puzzle is pieced together
in an entertaining manner, but what should have been a good
tale was subverted by poor editing and montage.
1.9
-- AMALUK,
Mimmo Mancini
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
In Mariotto, a multi-cultural town in the province of Bari,
Italy, a crisis is happening. Muslim, Jews, Christians and
Catholics are having their disputes as to what to do to find
someone to play Jesus as he makes his way along the Way to
Sorrow. The original Jesus, a vain hairdresser, accidently
sat on the crown of thorns made for the procession, now he
can't walk -- just before he was supposed to take on the role.
But the show must go on. Ameluk, a kind man married to a terrible
Italian nag, takes on the role, only to abandon it during
the procession. The village if full of bigots and boisterousbullies.
No one is happy with the new Jesus .This comedy offers a messy
mix of stereotypic characters. After the first few laughs,
I wanted to leave the theatre to join the throngs of those
who did.
3.9
-- RIDER
JACK, This Lüscher
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Jack Theiler is a 45-year-old unemployed recovering alcoholic
whose life in a small-town Swiss enclave is going nowhere.
Things get worse when he learns he must take care of his father
Paul who is in the first stages of Alzheimer's. When he finds
out hid lonely father actually owns a place in the country,
he sets out with his girl friend to find it. Rider Jack is
so angry at his father for causing a terrible car accident
when he was a kid which left his entire stomach full of burned
scars. Who would think that a father and son road trip movie
could be so rich in humour, anger and scary moments that finally
end in reconciliation and mutual love.The acting of the father,
Wolfram Berger, and the son, masterfully played by Roeland
Wiesnekker, is a tour de force. The emotional twists in this
gem of a film were so unexpected and palpably moving. Ironically,
during the shooting of the film, the director's own mother
was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.
1.0
-- EINSTEIN
IN GUANAJUATO, Peter Greenaway
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Stunning sets, but who needs to see just how this great filmmaker
loses his virginity to his Mexican guide in 1931 in the charming
city of Guanajuato? Pornographic, ridiculous and too much
talking going nowhere except in the backend of the filmmaker.
Of all the things the director could have shown about his
fascinating life, focusing 105 minutes on his sexual identity
was simply distasteful and totally without merit. People were
walking out. Einstein deserved better and so did we.
4.0
-- WOLF TOTEM,
Jean-Jacques Annoud
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
In 1969 two young students come to work alongside a Berber
nomadic tribe in Mongolia. One of the students, Chen, becomes
fascinated in the relationship between the marauding wolves
and the tribe with whom he is living. These nomads revere
wolves and respect their need to hunt and kill. But their
sheep are also threatened by the co-existence of man and wolf.
Chen captures a small wolf cub, but soon discovers that no
one else feels the same way as he does about it. He loves
it. The horrific Communist leader who visits the tribe finds
ways to eliminate the wolves and the very rich grassland that
the tribe is dependent on. This absolutely stunning story
with reversals of fortune, tragic events and heart-warming
scenes are framed within the breathtaking cinematography.
The balance between nature and man is corrupted by greed and
insensitivity towards land and animal.
2.7
-- SIN &
ILLY STILL ALIVE, Maria Henegge
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Sin is trying to get herself off heroine, and believes if
she can just get to a Greek island with Illy -- her other
drug addict friend -- they both will be cured. Sin gets the
money by stealing blank prescriptions from her father’s office
-– a doctor with whom she has no contact, nor with her mother.
Looking for Illy’s passport, both girls end up in a run-down
place where Illy’s mother, an alcoholic, lives. Neither makes
it to Greece, but Sin does take a different route for recovery.
A dark, highly realistic film, magnificently acted by Ceci
Chuh (Sin). The streets of Frankfurt never looked greyer.
1.3
-- COME AWAY
WITH ME, Ellen Gerstein
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A woman (Ellen Gerstein) sits beside a black man at a park.
He has Alzheimer's; but she reveals that they were high schools
sweethearts. He only repeats things about trains to her but
enjoys her company. Not sure how this woman suddenly appears
out of nowhere and how often she comes to visit him, but one
thinks she does come and sit with him every day, but he doesn't
remember. A short that just doesn't quite linger long enough
in your heart to make it memorable.
3.3
-- A WALK
IN THE WOODS, Ken Kwapis
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Famous travel writer Bill Bryson whose incredible sense of
humour comes through in this true-story film teams two of
the world's best actors, Robert Redford (Bill Bryson) and
Nick Nolte (Katz), who is fleeing warrants for his arrest
and carrying around a bottle of booze. Bryson decides he wants
to hike the 2,200 mile-Appalachian Trail. The only problem
is he has no one to go with him. The only willing companion
is his long lost former friend Katz who is about as fit as
a 500-pound man, and as tough as a recovering alcoholic..
Bryon agrees to go with him, but what they encounter, along
with stunning forest, is their endurance to stick it out,
fight the inclination not to resurrect a difficult past friendship
and finally, to know when to call it quits when treading the
terrain of a trail that few can finish -- especially at their
age. This is a gem of a film whose superb actors and chemistry
is as breathtaking as the stars and the natural world inhabit
and view. Bryon has set out to do this with no book deal in
mind. He simply wishes to test himself and stay curious. However,
he does end up writing a book under the same title as this
film. I suspect the book is even more hilarious than the film;
Bryson is a great humorist.
0.0
-- THE SOUL
OF A SPY, Vladimir Bortko
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper Lafontaine]
How anyone can make a film about a spy that is persistntly
boring, flat and so annoying with repetitive music played
under clips and scenes that make no sense -- is beyond understanding.
Alexander Fedorov is a double agent who ought to get shot
early on, and along with him the director of this totally
confusing attempt at making a movie. The only thing I can
think of is that the Russian director allowed too many vodkas
to slip down his gullet at the time he conceived such a bomb
of a story that actually had no story. And to think this film
is in the world competition category.
3.2
-- FOU D’AMOUR,
Philippe Ramos
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A young handsome priest moves into a cozy little mountain
village and begins to seduce the women there. Rose, one of
the young girls, is blind, and he gets her pregnant. Her fate
is sealed, and so is his. He commits an unspeakable act, is
found out and guillotined. This is a delightful French comedy
that turns intensely dark. An unusual film whose light-hearted
humour takes an unexpected turn, transforming the plot into
a horrific event. The scenery is lush and the simplicity of
life infectious.
4.0
-- MISSION
MOZART- LANG LANG & NIKOLAUS HARNONCOURT, Christian
Berger
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
For four days, legendary conductor Maestro Harnoncourt, the
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the sensuous Chinese genius
pianist record two of Mozart's piano concertos inside the
stunning Golden Hall of the Vienna Musikverein. Fantastic
editing links the playing with the two geniuses discussing
segments of the two works and how to interpret several phrases.
Mozart is revealed. The stunning and subtle understanding
of the composer's feelings is grasped by both artists. Mozart's
feelings are expressed through his music by these two artists.
Unique humour, excellent communication and their utmost passion
for Mozart make this film a treasure. I will never approach
my Mozart piano playing in quite the same way. If only though
I could play like Lang Lang.
![Canadian Tire Repair Scam [2211 boul Roland-Therrien, Longueuil] = documents-proofs](../2010_v9_n5/images/mapleleaf.jpg)
