French Crime Drama About Second Chances (rated 4 stars)

Le Deuxième Souffle

by Jean-Pierre Melville

Jean-Pierre Melville brings his understated and very cinematic touch to the crime drama “Le Deuxième Souffle”. With a taught and nearly wordless opening sequence of a jailbreak he raises the stakes and establishes the character of Gu (played by Lino Ventura) who wants to get away from his life of crime, but of course it isn’t quite as simple as it seems as one last caper becomes possible. As with every film that I’ve seen by Jean-Pierre Melville, he depicts the processes and operations of the criminal and police world in a fine level of detail that always fascinate me. At times it may seem confusing, but in his patient and detailed way, Melville connects all of the pieces in a complex and human story about an aging criminal and the people around him.

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A Focussed Autobiography of a Comedic Craftsman (rated 5 stars)

Born Standing Up: A Comic's Life

by Steve Martin

Steve Martin is a funny man, but he takes his comedy quite seriously. In his thoughtful and intellectual autobiography, Born Standing Up he tells his story in the context of being a stand up comedian. Stripping out all but the relevant details, it’s a fascinating look at the formation of a performer who carefully honed an act and persona that seems silly, but is actually a clever deconstruction of the traditional world of stand up comedy. It’s personal and discreet as well as being entertaining and ultimately it’s touching as we get a bit of a glimpse of the man in the white suit with a arrow through his head.

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A Sad and Beautiful Character Study (rated 4 stars)

I've Loved You So Long

by Philippe Claudel

With a powerful (but subtle) performance by Kristin Scott Thomas at the core of the French film, I’ve Loved You So Long we watch a woman who tries to restart her life after 15 years in prison. The details are revealed slowly and carefully in Philippe Claudel’s directorial debut. Most of the film is built around the relationship between the sister who was estranged from the family (Thomas) and her sister who was then raised as an only child. The film moves through situations that don’t seem related and introduce characters in a natural way that paints a complex picture of family, choices that we make and forgiveness.

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A Balanced Look at The Past of Future of Sharing and Copyright (rated 5 stars)

Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the World Economy

by Lawrence Lessig

Laurence Lessig has a keen legal mind and while he’s firmly in favour of sensible copyright and sharing, in Remix he presents that case in a comprehensive and fair way while clearly taking into account all the participants in the creative ecosystem. It’s not “everything should be free” or “everything should be locked down”, but somewhere in the middle. In a reasonable and entertaining way, he sets out a compromise position that should enable everyone to build on the past and be fairly compensated for creative works that they create.

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A Classic 70s Thriller (rated 4 stars)

Marathon Man

by John Schlesinger

Dustin Hoffman is great as a grad student caught up in a world of intrigue that he hadn’t suspected. John Schlesinger’s taut, paranoid thriller Marathon Man, is filled with twists and great acting as the film adds more information and draws the hero into the story. Taking time to establish the characters before filling in plot details creates a more compelling world that draws you in. It’s great to see an intelligent thriller that balances action, character and plot perfectly.

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A Beautiful and Subtle Story of Loss and Addiction (rated 4 stars)

Things We Lost in the Fire

by Susanne Bier

I’m not really a fan of Hollywood “issue” dramas that take a serious look at things like drug addiction or other topics, but when I saw that Susanne Bier was directing Halle Barry and Benicio del Toro, I was intrigued. In her previous film “After the Wedding”, she told a melodramatic story in a completely compelling and moving way, so this seemed as though it would be a great fit and it was. while many films feel the need to have characters impart important information through dialogue, in Things We Lost in the Fire everything unfolds in a subtle and organic way that gradually lets the audience connect everything together as we get to know characters. The film is filled with moments that are real, painful, awkward and beautiful. The acting, directing, cinematography, editing, and writing all combine to create a character study that shows people as they are, without tidying or simplification.

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Enigmatic Story About a Man and His Heart (rated 4 stars)

The Intruder

by Claire Denis

With the films of Claire Denis describing the plot isn’t the best way to get an idea of what they are about. Much more important than plot are the characters and the settings that they are in. With The Intruder Denis establishes the characters in a leisurely and beautiful way while leaving large gaps in what we see that the viewer needs to fill in for themselves. We’re left to make the connections between what we see and hear in the film and while it never is neatly tied up, it is the beauty of the images and the simplicity of what we see that kept me engrossed in a film that involves characters with mysterious motives, a man needing a heart transplant and the journey that he takes as he searches for a heart and his son.

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A Very Dark Comedy About Perception (rated 4 stars)

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

by Laetitia Colombani

The less I explain, the better. Laetitia Colombani carefully constructs the film from two distinctive points of view, while counting on the audience to bring their memories of Audrey Tautou’s other characters with them. It’s very precisely constructed with clever twists that change our perception of what we’ve seen previously in the film. It’s almost like a more subjective version of Run, Lola, Run and I throroughly enjoyed He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not.

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A Recursive Drama About Life (and Death and Art (and relationships)) (rated 4 stars)

Synecdoche, New York [Theatrical Release]

Charlie Kaufman is a distinctive writer of quirky films that usually subvert formal structures and are built around narcissistic characters who lack self-awareness. To say that Synecdoche, New York takes places within Kaufman’s usual territory would be an understatement and in his directorial debut he takes it one step further in a messy, frustrating and fascinating film. Filled with strange images, characters and situations that sometimes make sense and sometimes don’t, it’s one of the most unique films that I’ve seen over the past year. I don’t think that it’s for everyone, but it is so dense and lovingly constructed that I think people will be talking about it for long time.
What kind of strange is it, you may ask? (he asked rhetorically). There are parts that are a bit dreamlike and surreal, but not in the way that David Lynch does it (with Lynch it seems more intuitive). There are parts that are like Jean-Luc Godard (but not as political or ecstatically cinematic). It’s quite neurotic and darkly funny and emotionally brutal at times.
It’s unsettling with complex performances from the cast who have to work within very strange parameters. I don’t think that I’ve seen a film that operates with such a strange sense of time and identity with days or years passing between cuts and the elements blurring the distinctions between places, times and people. Magical surreal images are sprinkled throughout the film with an absurd sense of humour that sometimes is poignant.
This is a unique vision and one that I need to revisit to start to piece together more.

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An Inspirational Biography of a Pioneer (rated 4 stars)

Milk [Theatrical Release]

The biographical drama is a well-worn genre and while it allows for important stories to be told, the conventions often will make the films a bit boring. Luckily with Gus Van Sant’s Milk he avoids the traps and with a wonderful performance by Sean Penn, the film blends a bit of documentary with solid performances and a bit of style to create a film that is powerful and entertaining. Establishing the context and touching on early and significant moments in Harvey Milk’s life, the film focuses mainly on Milk’s activist and political career in a clever balancing of the needs of the biographical story and a character study. The film is filled with an infectious energy and enthusiasm of those who surrounded Milk as played by the great cast. Van Sant handles with the film with a light touch and the two hours breeze by as we watch the brave and bold fighter for gay rights struggle and laugh and live.

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A Stark 48 Hours with a Suicide Bomber (rated 4 stars)

Day Night Day Night

by Julia Loktev

In Julia Loktev’s Day Night Day Night we accompany a woman who is a suicide bomber as she prepares. With any politics stripped away and with a minimalist and intimate style, it’s an unsettling, tense and very human look at a character in an extreme situation. Shot an edited in a style that is simple, close and claustrophobic, it becomes increasingly gripping and compelling as the inevitable approaches.

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A Sprawling Dysfunctional Family Melodrama (rated 5 stars)

Un Conte de Noel

by Arnaud Desplechin

Arnaud Desplechin’s Un Conte de Noël (A Christmas Story) is filled with characters and moments that are unforgettable. The characters aren’t neccessarily likable, but they are fascinating to watch. Desplechin weaves an intricate plot that pulls the characters together at Christmas. The matriarch played by Catherine Deneuve finds out that she is has cancer that could be fought with a transplant from someone in her family. But with his trademark bold style, it’s not a melodrama about fighting cancer, but about the tensions, battles and triumphs that happen within the family. It was a bit confusing at first, but as I kept watching the film more pieces start to fit together and I absolutely loved it.

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A Beautiful Look at Horrible Things (rated 4 stars)

Le bonheur - Criterion Collection

by Agnès Varda

Agnes Varda is a gifted and often overlooked filmmaker who was associated with the French New Wave and pioneered many of the techniques and styles later popularized by other members of the movement. In Le Bonheur (Happiness), she paints a strikingly beautiful story of a man who commits adultery. Every frame looks like a painting and she uses her trademark long shots and carefully-composed frames along with lovely music as the husband happily decides to cheat on his wife. It’s very jarring at times as it casually unfolds, but as it goes on the events that we’re seeing work completely at odds with the way they are presented. It’s unique and powerful, just like Agnes Varda.

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An Oddly Muted Satire (rated 3 stars)

How to Lose Friends & Alienate People

by Robert B. Weide

Sometimes a film is like something that is cooked. You can have all of the proper ingredients and when it comes out of the oven it just didn’t work. With “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People”: there are some strong performances, funny moments and a great idea, but overall it just doesn’t work. I love Simon Pegg, but within the script there is a tendency to tone things down and as the film progresses it becomes more and more predictable. At times the film felt as if the production was rushed with some surprisly obvious technical flubs such as the boom in the shot or the distinctive shadow of the camera and a person beside the camera. For a film that was satirizing the world of celebrity and journalism, it pulls too many punches and falls into a romantic comedy formula that washes away the satirical edge.

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A Beautiful Night (rated 5 stars)

Friday Night

by Claire Denis

Claire Denis has a gift for capturing small and beautiful details in her films and Friday Night is simply follows a woman as she leaves her apartment to move in with her boyfriend and drives across Paris during the gridlock of a transit strike when she meets a stranger and spends the evening with him. Telling the story elliptically and with a minimal amount of dialogue it’s a poetic sketch of a moment in time.

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A Subtle Story About Difficult Choices (rated 5 stars)

Frozen River

by Courtney Hunt

With a powerful performance by Melissa Leo at the centre of the film, Frozen River is an understated look at the choices a woman makes as she tries to make a better life for herself and her children. Set in the winter along the US and Canadian border, it’s the gripping story of how someone gets involved in smuggling people across the border. Shot on location with a documentary feel by Courtney Hunt, it’s a powerful film that presents realistic characters in an honest and brave way.

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A Watered Down Adaptation (rated 2 stars)

Blindness

by Fernando Meirelles

I really wanted to like Blindness and thought that it was a pretty safe bet with Fernando Meirelles who directed the heart wrenching “City of God”: as well as “The Constant Gardener”: , but it just didn’t work for me. For some reason I never connected with the characters and the film very much felt as if it was designed and constructed by a very large committee. While there are some nice visual touches, I kept thinking of other films that did the whole breakdown of society thing much better such as Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later and Alfonso Cuaron’s Children of Men . The large cast and the jumping around between the characters distanced me from what was happening and when a voice-over comes in later in the film, I was wondering how much longer the film was. While it does create the world with some interesting shooting and production design, it just wasn’t very compelling on a human level.

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A Melancholy Dystopian Comedy (rated 4 stars)

Visioneers

by Jared Drake

They don’t care about pole vaulting. Or dreams.

In the debut feature from Jared Drake (with a script cowritten by his brother Brandon), Visioneers there is an odd and melacholy tone, almost like a darker version of “Idiocracy” where it all holds together much better. There is a compelling lack of explanation for most of the absurdity in the film, which is at times very funny and at times poignant. One of the most unique films I’ve seen in a while, it’s a meditation on the pointlessness of work and consumerism that pushes things off-kilter to make a satirical point in a much more effective way than if it played it completely straight.
With strong and compelling performances by Zach Galifianakis and Judy Greer it’s a film that is hard to explain or categorize. I’m glad that I didn’t know a lot about it before seeing it as seeing the consistent, but puzzling world emerge was a lot of fun. It’s truly independent and special and I don’t know how it’s going to fit into the distribution system, but I hope that it does get out there.

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A Film About A Band That Isn't Here Any More (rated 4 stars)

Joy Division

In Grant Gee’s Joy Division he tells the story of the band and those surrounding it. It’s stylish filmmaking and he pieces together the interviews, photographs, sounds and archival footage skillfully to create a full and moving portrait of a band that only had two albumns before the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. Gee’s previous music documentary about Radiohead and their OK Computer tour, Meeting People is Easy was a downbeat and fascinating existential look at the soul-draining process of a gruelling tour. With Joy Division Gee relies on archival footage and audio presented in a visually interesting way. It’s respectful and for me it provided context for the Manchester scene and the people there. Some of the visual touches are quite clever with a running motif of titles that identify “Places That Aren’t There Any More” and displaying iTunes-like visualizations for audio-only interviews. It has just enough of the story and music to tell the story and give us a glimpse into the lives of the people who formed the band and who were left behind.

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Sappyfest 2008

While I really should go to more live music throughout the year, I don’t seem to be able to find the time. Luckily for the past three years I’ve gone to the Sappy Records Music Festival (or Sappyfest ) in Sackville, New Brunswick for my live music fix. It’s an amazing deal with a pass that costs just $60 for three days of music. I think that I saw about half the bands that played, which was about 27 bands.
The shows took place in a tent on Bridge Street which sheltered us from the rain, as well as in the Vogue Theatre as well as George’s Roadhouse. With a largely volunteer crew, the shows ran smoothly with very little time between the bands that played amazing sets. It’s a fantastic time and it’s reassuring to know that I can see great live indie music in a great location every year. Go Team Sappy!

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