This Just In: New DVD Releases

del Toro and Pan

Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006, Mexico, directed by Guillermo del Toro
In this fairy tale for adults, 10-year-old Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) stumbles on a decaying labyrinth guarded by Pan (Doug Jones), an ancient satyr who claims to know her destiny. With a new home, a new stepfather (Sergi Lopez) -- a Fascist officer in the pro-Franco army -- and a new sibling on the way, nothing is familiar to Ofelia in this multiple Oscar-winning tale set in 1944 Spain from director Guillermo del Toro.

Black Kiss, 2004, Japan, directed by Macoto Tezka
To advance her career, aspiring model Asuka (Reika Hashimoto) relocates to Toyko, where she moves in with a new roommate. Meanwhile, a serial killer is at large, and Asuka soon witnesses his demented handiwork: Across the street from her apartment, Asuka sees a grisly murder, the victim's body mutilated and arranged as a piece of art. At each crime scene, the killer leaves his mark, a black lip print, the kiss of death.

Vengeance Is Mine, (Fukushû Suruwa Wareniari), 1979, directed by Shohei Imamura
Legendary Japanese director Shohei Imamura (The Eel) helms this chilling tale of horror and revenge based on actual events about a seemingly harmless young man who blossomed into a cold-blooded, remorseless murderer. On the run from the police over the course of a 78-day killing spree, Iwao Enokizu (Ken Ogata) reflects on his life via flashback and reveals how he came to have such disdain for human life.

Lola Wants You

Tykwer and Hoffman from Perfume

So while I was sleeping the German Film Academy presented the Lolas for best German films of the year. Back on March 19 I gave the rundown of nominees for the top awards and it appears there was a bit of an upset for Best Picture. The German Film Academy hopes to build the awards ceremony audience up to rival the Academy Awards or the UK's BAFTA.

The big-budget film Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, directed by Tom Tykwer and starring Dustin Hoffman, was thumped by upstart Four Minutes (Vier Minuten), directed by Chris Kraus. While Perfume and Four Minutes were both nominated for eight Lolas, Perfume appeared poised to sweep pulling down six awards. In the end, Four Minutes took the top prize and Best Actress for Monica Bleibtreu.

Four Minutes is the story of an aging piano teacher helping a musical prodigy that is serving time for murder in a women's prison. Perfume is the story of a scent prodigy trying to capture the most exquisite aroma in a bottle, when things go wrong – so to speak.

Winning a Silver Lola was the Bavarian comedy Grave Decisions, directed by Ray Hayter. Grave Decisions uses a Bavarian dialect so heavy that even most Germans can’t understand the dialogue. (Check my March 9 Filmies blog entry on Grave Decisions.)

Hannah Herzsprung co-stars in Four Minutes (Vier Minuten).

Good Mourning

I’d never heard of Naomi Kawase (above) before the Cannes list came out a couple weeks ago. But after reading a bit of her bio, she seems like a cool person – someone we could hang out with and talk. The lead item in her bio on her official website says “Her love for basketball goes back to her junior high days. During her high school days, she became the captain of her school team and led the team to the National Athletic Meet.”

Much of her early acclaim came via documentaries, and she’s been feted by many film festivals around the globe. Her film Mogari No Mori (The Mourning Forest) was selected for competition at Cannes.

Little has been written about Mogari No Mori. The German Press Agency gives the best synopsis I’ve seen.

“The Forest of Mogari is set in an ancient Japanese capital of Nara and highlights a relationship between 70-year-old Shigeki, who suffers from memory loss and a cognitive disorder caused by senility and a 27-year-old caretaker Machiko.

“His longing for his deceased wife and Machiko's guilt at losing her son take them on a mourning journey through the serene forest of Mogari, where Shigeki's wife is buried. Mogari means the time or act of mourning.

“As the odd couple make their way to the graveyard, they contemplate the meaning of life and death.”

Béla of the Ball

Werckmeister harmóniák (2000), Director Béla Tarr

Hungarian director Béla Tarr (at left) is one of several director’s from our seven Sister City countries who have had works accepted at this year's Cannes Film Festival. Tarr’s works – in an exceeding positive review – were once described by a critic as, “Ponderous musings on misery, doom, and despair, set in apocalyptic Eastern European purgatories of feral dogs, relentless rain, and viscous mud …” He’s best known for his trilogy featuring a seven-hour film, with the bookend films clocking in at another six or so.

His film of the hour at Cannes is The Man From London (Londoni férfi) and is based on the novel by Belgian writer Georges Simenon. Tarr adapted the film with László Krasznahorkai. The film production itself seems to fit the above description of agony in the making from threats to shut down the production, lack of financing and finally completion.

The film is about a man who witnesses a mystery, and nothing else is known at the moment. It stars Tilda Swinton opposite Czech actor Miroslav Krobot. The international ensemble cast also features British actress Leah Williams, and Hungarian actors Janos Derzsi and Istvan Lenart. German cinematographer Fred Kelemen is the director of photography.

Tarr has been written about extensively and here are some links to web articles about the artist.
Brightlights Film Journal
Kinoeye
Village Voice

This Just In: New DVD Releases

The Tiger and the Snow (La Tigre e la Neve), 2005, Italy, director Roberto Benigi

Borrowing a bit from the plot of his Oscar-winning film Life Is Beautiful, Italian actor-director Roberto Benigni plays a romantic poet who vows to follow his love (Benigni's real-life wife, Nicoletta Braschi ) to the ends of the earth -- even if that means going to Iraq at the dawn of the American invasion. Skirting political bias, Benigni's whimsical comedy presents a world in which all camps are absurd. French actor Jean Reno co-stars.

Cat Girl Kiki, 2007, Japan

Nothing much ever happens to shy Yoshiro, until one day when he brings home a stray kitten. The next morning, Yoshiro awakens to discover that the kitten has become a beautiful woman named Kiki. She may be the girl of Yoshiro's dreams, but how will he deal with her nasty habit of scratching the furniture? This nerd-meets-girl comedy is the second film in the Akihabara Trilogy, following The Legend of the Doll and preceding Pretty Maid Café.

Don't Look for Me (Such Mich Nicht), 2004, Germany, Director: Tilman Zens

Wounded in the line of duty, contract killer Anna (Lea Mornar) has decided it's time to hang it up. Her boss is willing to let her retire, provided she fulfills one last job. But when Anna learns that her final target is someone close to her heart, she finds herself faced with an impossible decision. Directed by Tilman Zens, this stylish German thriller also stars Udo Schenk, Stipe Erceg, Jürgen Lehmann and Mark Zak .

Linda, Linda, Linda, 2005, Japan, Director: James Iha

It's three days before the big school talent show and Kyoto, Kei and Nozumi are in a fix when their lead singer quits over artistic differences. Their only candidate to fill the spot is a Korean foreign exchange student who can barely speak any Japanese. Time for some all-night rehearsals! Directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita and featuring a score by former Smashing Pumpkins member James Iha, this lighthearted comedy stars Du-na Bae and Yu Kashii.

Shinsengumi: Assassins of Honor, 1969, Japan, Director: Tadashi Sawashima

One of Japan's most revered actors, Toshirô Mifune stars in this historical samurai epic. As the end of the 19th century nears, the balance of power shifts from the shogunate to the emperor. Isami Kondo (Mifune), a farmer turned warrior, leads the fierce Shinsengumi, a small rebel army composed of farmers and peasants. Isami and his men oppose the emperor and band together to wage a battle against the inevitable tide of change.

Silent Light

Here’s the second installment of my profiles of films from our seven Sister City Countries tapped to play at Cannes.

Stellet Licht (Luz silenciosa), directed by Carlos Reygadas

The film was shot in Chihuahua, Mexico, and was funded in June 2006 by the World Cinema Fund.

“Reygadas, who in 2002 received a special mention for the Camera d’Or in Cannes with his debut film Japón and who was selected for the Cannes competition last year with Batallo en el Cielo, is seen as one of the biggest talents of international cinema, according to motelfilms.com.

“Stellet Licht is produced by the Mexican production company Mantarraya Producciones (which also produced Japón, Batalla en el Cielo and Sangre) in co production with BAC Films, Arte France and Motel Films and is also financed by the Netherlands Film Fund.
“Stellet Licht tells the story of the married Johan who, against the laws of God and his people, falls in love with another woman. He is faced a dilemma: will he betray the woman he once loved so much or will he sacrifice his true love?

“The love story of this film plays in a Mexican community of Mennonites. This small community lives according to the laws of their very traditional belief that finds its origin in the Netherlands. Therefore the language spoken in the film is old Dutch.

“Distributor Lumière will release Stellet Licht in the Benelux.”

Gotta Have Faith

Cannes is coming, Cannes is coming. So as part of the lead up to Cannes, I’ll try to give an overview of films from our seven Sister City Countries, starting with ...

Edge of Heaven (Auf der Anderen Seite), Director Faith Akin
Info on some of the Cannes films is limited, so I lifted this from ioncinema.com. Above is a picture of Akin receiving the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlinale for his film Head On. There’s also a “Making of Auf der Anderen Seite” video, if your German is good enough. Otherwise, it’s interesting visuals (apparently Akin is a big foosball fan, I mean, who’s not?).

“Linked through encounters, relationships and even death, the fragile lives of six people connect on emotional voyages toward forgiveness and reconciliation in Germany and Turkey ... Nejat (Baki DAVRAK) seems disapproving about his widower father Ali's (Tuncel KURTIZ) choice of prostitute Yeter (Nursel KSE) for a live-in girlfriend. But he grows fond of her when he discovers she sends money home to Turkey for her daughter's university studies. Yeter's sudden death distances father and son. Nejat travels to Istanbul to search for Yeter's daughter Ayten (Nurgl YESILCAY). Political activist Ayten has fled the Turkish police and is already in Germany. She is befriended by a young woman, Lotte (Patrycia ZIOLKOWSKA), who invites rebellious Ayten to stay in her home, a gesture not particularly pleasing to her conservative mother Susanne (Hanna SCHYGULLA). When Ayten is arrested and her asylum plea is denied, she is deported and imprisoned in Turkey. Lotte travels to Turkey, where she gets caught up in the seemingly hopeless situation of freeing Ayten.”

Director Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg and began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg's College of Fine Arts in 1994. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin - You're The One! (Sensin - Du bist es!), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival, followed by Weed (Getuerkt, 1996). His first full length feature film, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz und schmerzlos, 1998), won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (Im Juli, 2000), Wir haben vergessen zurueckzukehren (2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen die Wand, 2003), Crossing the Bridge - The Sound of Istanbul (2005), and The Edge of Heaven (Auf der anderen Seite, 2007).