Beau travail & Billy Budd

Beau travail (1999)
FLICK Based on Herman Melville’s novella “Billy Budd” and set within the British Navy of 1797, Beau travail (literally translated as Good Work) is staged within the French Foreign Legion, and shifts locations from the sea to an East African desert. French director Claire Denis is not concerned as much with narrative and dialogue here as she is about presenting images of an all-male society and the responses they invoke. Themes of racism and political hierarchy come into play as the cinematography beautifully captures shirtless buff men while they work, exercise and play on the hot sand. Hallucinatory, and slightly homoerotic, several scenes play out to excerpts from Benjamin Britten’s opera Billy Budd. My Score: 8 out of 10.

Billy Budd
THEATER (The following is excerpted from the writings of Bill Buchanan. Billy Budd will be performed at the Pittsburgh Opera from May 6-12, featuring baritone Nathan Gunn as seaman Billy Budd. See the link below for more info on their production.)

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) was a 20th Century British composer who wrote in many genres but is particularly known for works for voice including opera… Billy Budd marks Britten’s return to the grand opera style of Peter Grimes. He had abandoned “grand opera” because of the expense and politics of staging large-scale works with immense casts, orchestras and choruses.

In 1948, the author E. M. Forster (A Room With a View, Howard’s End, Passage to India, Maurice) was a guest in Britten’s home at which time Britten discussed with Forster the idea of collaborating on the new opera with him and Eric Crozier. The trio worked on the libretto off and on through early 1950 when Britten finally began the compositional sketch. It is interesting to follow the writing of the libretto, especially in light of Britten’s active involvement: it is not uncommon for a composer to have influence over the writing of a libretto, but Britten was directly involved in its writing from the beginning, and he added text during the compositional phase.

The libretto is set mostly in prose rather than verse. Forster was concerned that a prose text would inhibit Britten; however Britten “found his terse, vivid sentences, with their strong rhythms, melodically inspiring.” Billy Budd, an opera in four acts, premiered at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 1 December 1951 (it was broadcast live on BBC radio) and featured Theodore Uppman as Budd and Peter Pears as Captain Vere.

No further productions were mounted until 1961 when Britten revised the opera into two acts in preparation for a BBC radio broadcast and in hope of mounting a new stage production of the opera (which finally happened in 1964 under the baton of Georg Solti). It is this two-act revision that will be presented by Pittsburgh Opera in May 2007 with Nathan Gunn as Budd.

http://www.pittsburghopera.org/0607season/billybudd.shtml?search=billy=A000

The Hoax

FLICK Set in 1971, the era of "Tricky Dick" Nixon, director Lasse Hallström and screenwriter William Wheeler effectively underscore the lies of the arrogant and the powerful in this recount of the media frenzy surrounding author Clifford Irving's fabricated autobiography of Howard Hughes. The costumes and hairstyles perfectly recreate the look of the period but everything within the film emphasizes falsehoods. A convincing Richard Gere looks as if he’s having a lot of fun playing the scheming, down-on-his-luck author. When Irving decides to dupe everyone into thinking he has the billionaire’s authority to tell his story, he has them in the palm of his hands and the money he receives from publishing house McGraw-Hill is almost secondary. Because Hughes is elusive and eccentric, Irving realizes he can create the most implausible stories and the masses will believe him. Irving sprinkles his fabrications with half-truths, as if to add a dash of realism, and verges on living in fantasyland. We see his conceit get in the way, as when it’s pointed out to him that he is the only one who refers to Hughes on a first name basis. It’s telling, in an early scene, when we see the image of Irving’s hidden face at a masquerade ball that he is comfortable with public cover-ups. Charades like this carry through to his home life. Irving lies about his cheating to his artist wife played by a German-accented Marcia Gay Harden. She eventually gets caught up in the fraud by calling herself Helga and flying to Switzerland to deposit a $1 million book-advance check. Even Hughes’ identity is covered up by the publishers at McGraw-Hill, who secretly refer to him as Octavio. Though some of the movie’s details may be fabricated, The Hoax is no scam, and Gere delivers the goods. My Score: 8.5 out of 10.

District B13 & Jump

District B13
FLICK Looking for a cool action flick? This one, set in the near future in a sectioned off ghetto in Paris, France, has a simplistic but suspenseful plot about warring drug gangs, street punks and undercover cops. What makes this a thrill ride is how non-stop acrobatic stunts are stylistically captured and incorporated into the film. It's hard to take your eyes off of the screen whenever the leads, martial arts pro Cyril Raffaelli, as super cop Damien, and David Belle, as neighborhood crime stopper Leïto, team up and perform their own amazingly choreographed aerial tricks (a sport called parkour.) There is never a dull moment as they are virtually in constant motion, somersaulting over balconies and literally bouncing off the walls. Who says the French don’t make action films? Banlieue 13 c’est excellente! My Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Jump
MUSIC There are many performers who have had successful songs with the word jump in the title. Think of the Pointer Sisters, Van Halen, Aretha Franklin to name a few. If you’ve heard the album Confessions on a Dance Floor, you know that Madonna’s song titled "Jump" is another one that sends out a positive life lesson and makes you want to get up out of your seat and move your feet. If you haven’t seen her concert, be sure to check out the video for the song. She shakes her groove thing and lip-syncs well enough, but the dancers move like the stuntmen in the movie District B-13, leaping into the air and jumping off the sides of buildings. If you haven’t seen the movie, check out the video to get a taste of what the action is about.


Madonna, "Jump" - Full New Video (3:29)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNJhxarPcN8&mode=related&search=


David Belle – Rush Hour Le Parkour (BBC) (1:32)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAMAr8y-Vtw&mode=related&search=


David Belle Commercial (1:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BOUohniyJU&NR=1

LOST – D.O.C.

TELEVISION Recap, comments, and yes, lots of questions.

This episode should satisfy those who were down on the recent Hurley episode and didn’t care to learn about Paolo and Nikki. I was really glad to get an episode with Sun and Jin’s backstory. It may not serve to advance the overall plot, but it adds perspective and richness to their characters. We never get to see enough of them. Jin is hot and Sun is awesome!
Episode title DOC stands for date of conception, referring to Sun’s pregnancy. In the first scene, Jack checks in on Sun to see how her health is. She is skeptical of him and says he’s been different since he’s been back. Uh-huh. (As I’ve asked before, can we now not trust Jack, or is he just keeping a close watch on Juliet?) Sun thinks the Others may want her baby. Kate tells Sun that Juliet is their fertility doctor. Juliet takes Sun quietly in the night to the hatch we saw in Claire’s flashback and has convinced her that she can help determine the health and father of her baby. Sun doesn’t trust her but she wants answers – and gets some. Excellent acting by these two women who deliver a complete range of emotions.

The hatch has a secret room. As Juliet says, it’s where they bring the women to die. Did we see this room before? We have seen the cribs and baby toys.

Sun tells Juliet that Jin was infertile. But Juliet says that the average male sperm count is between 60-80 million but on the island it’s five times that. Wow!

It’s a no win situation for Sun – another Catch-22. They’ve been on the island around 90 days. Sun is 53 days pregnant. Had the baby been by the other guy, she would hurt Jin. But the baby, magically, is Jin’s, and since she got pregnant during her stay on the island, she won’t live through the third trimester.

Juliet and Sun have a happy moment viewing the ultrasound, learning it’s a healthy baby. It’s moments like this one where it feels easy to buy into Juliet. But we know she is not to be trusted. With Sun outside, Juliet picks up the recorder, addresses Ben, relates Sun’s info, mentions that she will be getting samples from the other women, including Austin (Kate, who has now slept with Sawyer!), turns off the recorder and then says “I hate you.” This statement reinforces that she is an unwilling participant.

Backstory: These scenes take place earlier than the backstory we’ve previously seen with Sun and Jin. As we see them setting up their home, Sun catches Jin in a lie about his mother, and later goes to his father, the fisherman who we saw in a previous episode, to find out why he wasn’t at their wedding. And, it’s possible that he may not really be Jin’s father! Maybe Jack has yet another half-brother he doesn’t know about…

Backstory Blackmail: The woman Sun meets on the park bench, who we learn is the mother Jin never knew, and is a prostitute, wants money for her silence about Jin’s parentage which would cause embarrassment to Sun’s family. Sun then goes and blackmails her father, asking for $100,000 to keep quiet about his shady deals, but also to pay off the woman. He agrees but says that Jin will no longer be a floor manager and will have to work for him. Ugh.

Jin finds the money in Sun’s purse. She lies to him, saying it was for a honeymoon and furniture. Jin says he doesn’t want to be in her father’s debt. But unbeknownst to him, he already is.

The Lost Boys: Desmond says they can’t let anyone know where they are, then Hurley fires off a flare into the air. Oops!

The woman who parachuted down and was found by Desmond, Hurley, Charlie and Jin speaks Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and finally English. What is the significance of her being multi-lingual? And was she in the same helicopter as the two men in the season two finale?

The first thing she says, in Spanish, is that she is dying, and we see her chest injury. When she speaks Italian to Mikail after he treats her puncture wound, he translates that she says thank you. She actually said “I’m not alone." So who was she with (Penny?) and where are they? Mikail saves her life, but only because the Lost Boys agreed to let him get away. Mikail says that the wounds heal differently on the island and she’ll be fine in a day, maybe a day and half.

We thought Mikail died, as Hurley said, in “the electro-fence thingy.” What happened there? (I’m sure he’s not like Claire on HEROES who can regenerate herself.) If things do heal that quickly, why haven’t we seen past victims come back to life?

Jin chases Mikail and fights him, twice, the second time recovering a phone.

Hurley later picks up the phone and says “Mom?” The parachute woman hears him and asks, in English, where she is. He tells her they were on Oceanic flight 815 and crashed there. She says that's impossible because the plane was found, but there were no survivors. How does she know this? Is it true? Was there was a press release, or a cover-up on the mainland? Could the Others have planted a duplicate plane? Are they in a parallel universe? Purgatory?

Dining Out for Life

Don't forget that tomorrow, Thursday April 25, is Dining Out for Life. If you haven't made a reservation yet in Philadelphia, check out the restaurants listed at this website.

http://www.diningoutforlife.com/home.php?city=2

All About the '90s (Films, that is.)

MOVIE A friend directed me to the following website, where they are listing the best films of the ‘90s. I tend to agree with many of the selections, particularly Raise the Red Lantern, Eyes Wide Shut, Bound, Ed Wood, Fargo, Boogie Nights, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Central Station and The Nightmare Before Christmas. There are just a few I would have to disagree with, particularly Chasing Amy and Pretty Woman.

Off the top of my head I would add Longtime Companion, All About My Mother, Open Your Eyes (Abre los ojos), Muriel’s Wedding (!), Postcards From the Edge, and The Grifters, to name a few.

It’s a fun read. Be sure to check it out.

http://www.theaspectratio.net/bestof90slist1.htm

Björk & Scarlett Johansson on SNL

TELEVISION I’m usually just lured to dramatic programs, but since this past week was dramatic enough, I checked to see what was happening this week on SNL. And I’m glad I did. Hosted by Scarlett Johansson and featuring musical guest Björk, I had lots of laughs and saw two great musical performances.

Johansson shows a previously unseen (at least to me) comic range and really nailed several skits. Among them was the hilarious Regis and Kelly skit, where she impersonates Ivanka Trump. I tend to think of Ivanka as a softer side of her father, but Johansson accents her robotic nature and somehow never cracks up when describing her family vacation. And I could watch Amy Poehler as Kelly Ripa all day. It’s one of the funniest “characters” I’ve ever seen her portray. Johansson’s mother-daughter scene with Kenan Thompson at the dress store, verges on stereotype, but was done with perfect comic timing. Check them out at YouTube:

Regis and Kelly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaC9UbaNn3I

Dress Store: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BF8mUWjLliw

MUSIC But I was elated when I caught Björk sing her new song “Earth Intruders” from her new album Volta. The tribal drum sound is very cool and really accents what sounds to be an invasion! And I loved that shiny red/green dress! I need to get more details about the back-up singers/French horn players. (They reminded me of the Greenland Inuit choir she used when touring for her album Vespertine.) Check out her performances at YouTube:

Earth Intruders: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQISaX5ps0k

Wanderlust: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rntJREbfSU&mode=related&search=

HEROES --- .07%

TELEVISION What a long wait for a new episode of Heroes! It was truly satisfying, and a little sad as we most likely won't get to see one of our heroes again.

.07% is the title of the episode referring to the number of people who will die if Peter explodes NYC.

Isaac Mendez – I know that the death of Isaac (or, as I’ll miss Hiro call him, Mistah Esahk!) was foreseen but I’m hoping that we can still see him again, possibly when Hiro and Ando return from the future, and before Sylar slices his head open. But Isaac had no real powers to fight Sylar, and having been killed while crucified to the floor against one of his painting is probably a pretty good sign that we won’t get to see him going forward. It’s always sad when one of the hottie boys gets taken away. Check this link to TV Guide to read an interview with Santiago Cabrera. http://www.tvguide.com/News-Views/Interviews-Features/Article/default.aspx?posting={23DA113A-BD44-4024-BE17-80D4937A070A}

Peter Petrelli – we were spared seeing Sylar slice open Isaac’s head but that didn’t stop us from seeing part of Peter’s head get it. Ouch! I could feel his pain as the blood started to drip down his forehead. And he was forceful enough to push Sylar to the other side of the room. So when Peter became invisible, I‘m assuming since he didn’t get very far away he was trying to be quiet, but did he not think he would get hit by a shard of glass that Sylar had suspended in mid-air? Peter’s hair was slicked back after he wakes up at his mother’s home. I’ll miss the way his long hair drooped over his right eye. Maybe it will come back.

Claire – At the Petrelli home, Mrs. Petrelli attempts to make nice with her granddaughter. She wants to ship Claire off to Paris, but this is only to avoid bringing up her illegitimacy during Nathan’s election. Mrs. Petrelli is both sympathetic and cold when she tells Nathan to let the girl (Claire) have her moment with Peter’s body. It’s a good thing she did that or Peter could still be dead. When Peter comes back to life, is it just because the shard of glass is no longer pressing against his brain or does Claire show some of the same signs of restoring life that Mr. Linderman has shown?

Nathan Petrelli – when he’s talking with Linderman, he sees the painting of himself in office. Linderman tells him that they “all have their role to play” and that Peter’s “curtain call” will come the day after Nathan becomes elected. Are we going to lose hottie boy Peter too?

Matt Parkman – when we first see him, that same ugly bug is in the foreground that we saw when Sylar was imprisoned at the Paper Factory. Matt hears instructions from HRG to help them escape. He can’t do it alone and needs HRG, and Ted, to get him out of there because, let’s face it, Matt isn’t the smartest cookie in the jar. The jump cut editing worked well to accent his confusion. Later at the diner, Matt calls HRG middle-management and finds it funny when he realizes that HRG doesn’t know who Linderman is.

HRG – it felt like a Twin Peaks moment when he, Matt and Ted are in a diner and he recommends a piece of Cherry Pie. They are leaving on the next bus for NYC.

Mohinder Suresh – has dropped Peter’s body off at the Petrelli house and was asked not to say. So, he still thinks that Peter is dead. Back at the apartment, Suresh holds a card with primatechpaper.com printed on it and says to Thompson that he isn’t the one he called. If you go to the website, check out the detailed questionnaire on the Careers page. You can also call this phone number 1-800-PRIMA16. http://www.primatechpaper.com/

Jessica/Niki – she wants to keep Micah away from Linderman, telling him Micah wasn’t part of their deal. Later we see her turn Micah over to his flunkies but realize that it’s actually the shape-shifter Candace. (Candace opens up the episode posing as Claire to HRG, who realizes right away it’s an imposter.) Linderman tells Jessica he wants to “borrow” Micah, but for what reason? Linderman asks Micah if he would like to save the world.

Hiro Nakamura – he and Ando are five years in the future, wondering how they can get back and make changes to avoid the impending disaster. When they go to what would be the Sylar-inhabited Isaac apartment, they see ropes with newspaper clippings---a timeline---hanging from the ceiling. We hear a sword being removed from its casing, and when he looks up, Hiro is confronted with himself. The future Hiro looks very serious. Has it been established exactly how he loses his accent?

The Last King of Scotland

FLICK Portraying an historical person is never easy, but Forrest Whitaker gives an unforgettable performance and captures the balance of playfulness and menace that is the former Ugandan leader, Idi Amin. James McAvoy plays the young, naïve doctor, Nicholas Garrigan (apparently a composite of several people), who is enamored with the generous gift-giving Amin, and becomes his personal physician. Whitaker deservedly won his Oscar, capping a year that included varied and intense performances on television in “The Shield” and “ER.” Co-screenwriters Peter Morgan (The Queen) and Jeremy Brock (Mrs. Brown) raise the shock level as the story proceeds but it’s the playful scenes in the first half of the film that are more successful. Both actors spar nicely with each other as their characters move from a jovial, almost affectionate friendship to one that is tension-filled, accenting the shifting environment surrounding them. And watching Whitaker as the friendly leader is even more unnerving given how we anticipate what is to come. The movie itself reflects this transition too, moving from the optimism of a new leader, with the ending closely becoming a horror thriller. But that's to be expected when you have a mass-murderer running the country. US DVD Release Date: April 17, 2007. My Score: 7.5 out of 10.

The Queen

FLICK All elements of this film come perfectly together under the direction of Stephen Frears. The script by Peter Morgan relates many documented moments, but it’s the surmised private moments that create a sense of realness and are full of believability. [On his direction choices, Frears stated on Fresh Aire with Terry Gross: The Tony Blair scenes and the queen’s scenes are separate. Two different styles of filmmaking. Tony Blair is shot in 16mm and Elizabeth is 35mm. 16mm is more “demotic” (“ordinary” and “pertaining to the common people”) and used on television. “35mm is more beautiful and one associated with Hollywood films.”] There are many moments which nicely display the conflicts of traditional royalty with a modern People's Princess. Helen Mirren successfully captures the physical presence of Queen Elizabeth II and her subtle performance nails details which create the effect that she isn't acting and has actually become the monarch. For this she deserves all of the awards and nominations she has received. There is a recreation of the night Princess Diana got into her car and was chased by the paparazzi. Through news flashbacks, we see a very public Princess Diana. These scenes are contrasted nicely with those of the Queen driving alone in her car on the estate, bonding with nature instead of her people. When a 16-point stag is killed, we see that the queen does appreciate beauty and is not entirely without emotion. That she has learned to hold back her feelings we see how it can be difficult for others to understand her perspective, especially her dislike of Diana who she sees as someone who was given many fortunes and opportunities but considers them to be thrown away. Other standout performances include James Cromwell as Prince Philip and Alex Jennings as Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Critic David Edelstein states: "She has a mystical emotionally charged connection with a magnificent stag…That said, when she finally makes her grudging statement of grief, it’s not a stand up and cheer kind of climax. It is however, a momentous one. Because it marks for Queen Elizabeth II the passing of a more dignified, more orderly world. She knows that Diana, the princess of the modern celebrity culture, has won. But this cheeky yet reverent not to mention absolutely delightful movie makes you happy she surrendered with dignity." (2006, DVD Release Date: April 24, 2007.) My Score: 10 out of 10.

The Beat That My Heart Skipped

FLICK How can you miss with a title like that? Romain Duris (L’Auberge Espangole, Russian Dolls) grounds this stunning film with a superb and extraordinary performance. Duris plays Tom, a real estate thug trying to reconcile his life with his father, a man who also makes his money from dirty real estate deals, and the life he missed out on with his deceased mother, a concert pianist. As he looks to find the missing note in his life, Tom hires a Vietnamese piano tutor so he can audition for the agent who once handled his mother. We see that he has a difficult time communicating with his tutor, verbally as well as musically. As he consumes himself with piano playing, his growing sensitivity gets in the way of his business. It's the attention to detail, like learning a piece by Bach that is more mechanical than emotional, that lends depth to the story. This is more than a remake of the James Toback film Fingers. It expands on the themes of parental loss and acceptance, loyalty to friends and lovers, attempting to change for the better in spite of what may be predestined, and searching for the beat that skipped out of your heart a long time ago. (France, 2005) My Score: 9.5 out of 10.

Fair Play

FLICK Not everyone plays fair in Fair Play, a film about office workers trying to get ahead by any means necessary. Not only do we learn about the company politics, but all of the blackmailing, back-stabbing and a sexual-harassment suit as the co-workers compete on assorted playing fields of sports that include sculling, racquetball, golf, rock-climbing and hiking through waterfalls. An original concept that gets more exciting as the stakes get higher. The sports settings are the perfect metaphors for each competitive situation, as the audience becomes spectators, watching these people lie, cheat and kill to win the game---and their jobs. Only the strong survive as we wait to see who will be the champion. All bets are off and the winner takes it all. Strong performances by all, including Jérémie Renier (A Love to Hide, L'Enfant), Marion Cotillard (remarkable as Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose) and Eric Savin who plays the detestable head of the company. Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. (France, 2006) My Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Fracture

FLICK What should be an open-and-shut case murder case becomes a mystery as Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling spar skillfully in this thriller that sets up their duel from the start. Hopkins' character Ted Crawford shoots his adulterous wife in the head and confesses to it from the outset. But when the cops can't find the murder weapon, we know he has set a plan in motion. Hopkins’ blank expressions come dangerously close to those he uses as Hannibal Lector, but they're appropriate without having a chewing-the-scenery affect. Gosling easily holds up his end of the challenge as Willy Beachum, the prosecutor who takes on the case, thinking it will be an easy win but ends up causing problems for him in and out of the courtroom. His charismatic performance bonds us to Willy and his personal struggles, which move from slight arrogance and opportunism to assured responsibility. During the opening credits, we see a miniature roller coaster-like contraption that Ted, a structural engineer, has built, with a marble rolling smoothly down and around a narrow track which has all of the twists and turns of the cat and mouse game the two will play. When the marble eventually falls off the track, we know Ted too will take a fall. Any simplicity in the story is heightened by the sometimes moody atmosphere and attention to detail by director Gregory Hoblit. But it’s most fun to see if it will be Hopkins or Gosling who will crack. My Score: 8 out of 10.

La vie en Rose (La Môme)

FLICK Director Olivier Dahan turns in a stunning epic portrait of one of the most beloved vocalists of the 20th century from a child until her death. The performance of Marion Cotillard as Edith Piaf holds the film together and is Oscar-worthy. She inhabits all of the body language and expressions of the Little Sparrow as a starving girl singing for her supper in her late teens to the fragile woman who is losing her flaming-red hair and dying of cancer. In Piaf's later years on stage, she occasionally looks like a kabuki version of Judy Garland, but it's the music that sweeps you along. Because of the fierceness of the performance, the fact that Cotillard is lip-syncing to Piaf's recordings remains insignificant and virtually undetectable. Though Dahan avoids showing us life in France during WWII and seems to miss details that would otherwise delve into Piaf's sorrow, the film is nevertheless visually exquisite. Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival where it won the Audience Award for Best Feature Film. My Score: 8.5 out of 10.

LOST---Catch-22

TELEVISION LOST---Catch-22 (aired 3/18/07)

Here is another episode with the ever-engaging Desmond as the focus of the back story and many more things to ponder. I have a feeling, when Season 3 is over, I’ll have to watch them all over again!

--Had we previously known Brother Desmond was in a monastery? I don’t recall if we did. Could this be why he calls everyone brother, or is it just a coincidence and he’s done this all his life? I’m just asking…
---Moriah Vineyards is the name of the wine the monastery produces. Moriah is also the name of the mountain where Abraham is asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac, as a test, but does not. This is paralleled later when Desmond, who intends to sacrifice Charlie in order to rescue Penny, cannot let Charlie die. The details in Desmond’s flashes can’t change or the outcome will change. But he has a good heart and his instinct is to save Charlie’s life, again.

---Did this really change the outcome of his flash? Desmond thinks he’s going to save Penny. In the end of the episode, we see that it’s another woman who they pull out of the tree and calls his name. And in the season two finale there are two men in the helicopter who speak to Penny on the phone. Did some time-shifting actually happen or are Desmond’s visions off? And Desmond couldn’t affect his timeline before coming to the island?

---“Ardil-22” was the name of the book in the woman’s backpack, which is the Portuguese title of the Joseph Heller novel “Catch-22.” Not only is this the title of the episode, but this is Desmond’s conundrum. If he lets Charlie die, he thinks he can save Penny. But, again, it’s against his nature to let this happen, so he saves Charlie and we end up meeting a woman other than Penny at the end. Did things really change? A real catch-22…

---After a man out of nowhere punches Desmond in the nose, we learned that Desmond was supposed to marry Ruth but got cold feet, got totally blitzed, woke up in the road and saw the brother who Desmond took as a sign that he should be a brother too. When the brother “fires” him and says God has bigger plans for him, is it safe to say that all of this was his destiny in order to meet Penny?

---Was is just the storm that made the helicopter crash? We can see from this that the island really is accessible from the outside.

---So, who is the woman pilot that is hanging from the tree?

---Kate gets jealous when Jack avoids her flirtations and she sees him eating with Juliet. She then goes and pounces on Sawyer. But then Sawyer, after he gives Kate a Phil Collins mix tape, gets his feelings hurt when he realizes Kate was using him?! Or was he just happy to have spent time with her? Kate always makes the wrong decisions. So choosing Sawyer as a runner-up was a wrong decision? And is Kate next in line to get pregnant?

---Sawyer says to Jack and Juliet: “You two arguing over who’s your favorite Other?”

---On the beach at night, Jin holds a flashlight under his chin and apparently is telling a ghost story and startles Hurley. I loved this!

---The brother told Desmond, who was drunk from drinking the wine, that they had only bottled 108 cases this year!

---There is a picture of Fionula Flannagan, who played the store clerk Ms. Hawking in the episode titled “Flashes Before Your Eyes,” with the Brother on the Brother’s desk. So, other than being Irish, what’s this connection?

---Supposedly Jack has a new tattoo on his arm:

http://lostpedia.com/images/a/a7/Jack%27s_Tattoo_Left_Arm.jpg

---Here is a link to seeing some of those things, like the pic on the desk, which you may have missed: http://losteastereggs.blogspot.com/

The Ten

FLICK Director David Wain was inspired to make a comedy version of Krzysztof Kieslowski's "The Decalogue", a 10-hour miniseries about the Ten Commandments. Thank God this version is only 93 minutes. And even that may be a bit too long. There are no morality tales here as slapstick devolves into silliness and never gives us anything involving. How invested can we get when we see the adulterous Winona Ryder leave her husband on their wedding night to have an affair---with a marionette? When Adam Brody goes skydiving and neglects to wear a parachute, he lives (!) his remaining days in a field, permanently stuck in the ground. He becomes a national treasure and a strange god when his situation propels him to become the hot star of a sitcom. Paul Rudd would be perfect as he introduces each segment if it weren't for the constant interuptions by side characters moving the focus away from the central themes. The intention of many segments seem good enough, (look what they're adapted from!) but they are played out so implausibly and veer so far off into absurdity that there is little to create a good belly laugh. And isn't that what we really want from the Ten Commandments? Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. (In attendance were director David Wain, producer Jonathan Stern and a most personable Paul Rudd.) My Score: 4.5 out of Ten.

Red Road

FLICK When we first see Jackie (played by Kate Dickie in an intensely engaging performance), she is working, sitting in front of a wall of monitors looking out over Red Road, a high rise apartment complex in a run-down part of Glasgow. Though she is doing her job as a surveillance operative, watching the moves of the residents in a small rundown town, it's as if she is also keenly searching for something or someone. Almost like a God's-eye view, she sees the comings and goings of everyone. When she targets Clyde, and insinuates herself into his life, we don't immediately know her movitvation (can it be purely sexual attraction?) which is what keeps us glued to her every move in this powerful drama that is set up as a thriller and reveals much more. (UK, Denmark) Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival where it won the Archie Award for Best First-Time Director. My Score: 9.5 out of 10.

From the NY Times: (Director Andrea) Arnold walked off with the jury prize at Cannes and has since won an award at the BAFTAs...for special achievement in a first feature...Though Ms. Arnold wrote her won screenplay, she was given all of her major characters beforehand. "Red Road" is part of a Scottish-Danish initiative called Advance Party, which is an offshoot of Dogma 95, the film movement started by Lars von Trier and three other Danish direcotrs as an attempt to restore authenticity to filmmaking by establishing rules for directors to follow...Advance Party would consist of three low-budget films by three novice directors, each one shot digitally in Scotland in six weeks. The catch? All three films would feature the same group of characters (provided to the directors in a bare-bones outline) and be played by the same actors. Each director would then create a story, and the characters would change and be fleshed out from film to film...Ms. Arnold said "the trick was to try to make these characters my own. So I went off and wrote a lot of my own things about them, filling in gaps about who I though they were." For instance, Jackie, who was described in the outline as a "bit aloof and cool," has to be aloof and cool in all three films, but it was Ms. Arnold's decision to make her a closed circuit television operator, and this occupation can change in the next two films. The producers of Advance Party chose Ms. Arnold after viewing her short films....

Zoo

FLICK Creative approach on the topic of zoophiles - people who have developed a loving or sexual bond with an animal. This documentary is reminiscent of Errol Morris' directing style, but lacking in substance. Using reenactments with anonymous first-person accounts detailing the death of a man having engaged in sex with a horse, the film doesn't delve far enough to elicit an emotional response or provide an explanation as to why a person would want to have this experience. Conversely, there is no exploration of the horses urges or reactions. Is the horse really interested and involved or just reacting to pheromones or sexual stimulation? The filmmakers have wisely stayed away from unnecessary explicit sex scenes. But without a thorough probing, the film offers no understanding of the subject, which allows those outside of their community who place shame on them, to continue to do so. Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. My Score: 5.5 out of 10.

The Page Turner

FLICK Hitchcockian tale of former piano player Mèlanie (Déborah François, L'Enfant), a twenty-something woman who goes to work as a nanny for Ariane (Catherine Frot) the woman who she feels ruined her music recital when she was a young girl. The two women perform perfectly together as the scheming François puts the stoic Frot in a comfort zone. Director Denis Dercourt purposefully doesn't rush the storytelling of this psychological thriller, leaving us to anxiously await Mèlanie's next move. The initial images of Mèlanie pounding the piano keys alternating with her father, a butcher, chopping meat are very telling. She is reminiscent of Rhoda Penmark (who also played the piano) in The Bad Seed, except that Mèlanie is very methodically controlled. We know that she will enact her revenge, but how and when remains to be seen. Dercourt offers no detailed explanations for Mèlanie's behavior (why can't she just get over it?), but watching her every move is what holds this story together. The classical pieces played in the film perfectly enhance the suspenseful and sinister atmosphere and add depth to the simple tale. (AKA La tourneuse de pages) Screened at the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. My Score: 7 out of 10.

Broken English

FLICK Parker Posey fixates on her French and does what she does best in Broken English, a romantic-comedy about a woman looking for love in all the wrong places. Posey is perfectly cast as Nora Wilder, who wants a mild relationship with a man but mood swings get in the way. When Nora meets Nick (Justin Theroux), a well-known actor who is also a sexy Mohawk-wearing cad, she swears she won't spend the night with him, until cocktails and low self-esteem take over. Director Zoe Cassavetes enlists her mother, Gena Rowlands, to play Nora's meddling mother who sets her up on a date with seemingly perfect catch Charlie (Josh Hamilton), until he reveals he isn't quite over his ex yet. But the third time creates fireworks when, at a 4th of July party, she meets the handsome Julien, played by French actor Melvil Poupaud whose effortless performance really makes this work. His charisma and sincerity (and big beautiful brown eyes) are almost magical, sweeping Nora and the audience off their feet. Poupaud knows we need to care about him in a short time or the impulse that skeptical Nora feels to become wilder, looking to mend her broken spirit and blindly leave New York to search for him in Paris, would have no pay-off. With a familiar and simple story, Cassavetes, in her debut as director-screenwriter, smartly lets the actors shine as they head toward the City of Light. Screened at 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival where the Jury Award for Best First Film was given to Zoe Cassavetes. My Score: 7.5 out of 10.

Salty Air (L'aria salata)

FLICK Heart-wrenching story of Fabio (Giorgio Pasotti), a prison social worker who realizes the stranger he is helping is his father (Giorgio Colangeli) who was incarcerated 20 years ago when he was a small boy. Evocative direction by Alessandro Angelini and emotionally powerful performances from lead actors create an intensely complicated father-son relationship that is rarely seen. Angelini's attention to detail is apparent from the opening shot, with Fabio, a jogger, running screen right to screen left. This repeated image portrays Fabio, instead of moving forward, as running to the past, hoping to fill a parental vacancy with his newfound father. While he missed the presence of a father, he is conflicted with feelings of resentment for being abandoned, as well as his family's humiliation for being related to a murderer. Fabio's attempts at reconciliation are as exhausting and challenging as when he can no longer run. The contrast with his father, who is older and stagnant, speaks volumes about the chasm between them. It was mentioned to me that some of the guitar music in the film was played in reverse, also accenting the dissonance that will always exist between the two men. (Italy) Screened at 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival. My Score: 8.5 out of 10.

MY PFF TOP 10

Here are my TOP 10 favorite films from the Philadelphia Film Festival, in no certain order. Comments to come...

Red Road
Uro
Rocket Science
Jindabyne
Salty Air
La Vie en Rose
Grave Decisions
The Page Turner
Away From Her
Fair Play

Making a Move

I'm making a Move to put my movie comments out in the world. Not only are movies great entertainment but a wonderfully creative artform. Right now I'm still in festival gear as the 2007 Philadelphia Film Festival comes to a close tomorrow. As of tomorrow night, I will have seen 30 films at the festival in 14 days. I'm making a Move to get as many film commentaries as I can out there and looking forward to discussing each of them with you. Once they're up, I'll be waiting for you to make your Move. Enjoy! --Mario