The Referee (2013) at Open Roads 2014 didn't blow my skirt up

Great looking black and white film concerns a low level soccer team, a rude land owner, two farmer/players trying to deal with sheep breeding, a returning player from Argentina and a referee with his own agenda.

as it says in the headline this film didn't blow my skirt up. No, it's not bad, the trouble is that compared to some of the other films playing at Open Roads the film kind of pales. I know that isn't fair but its true. If you've seen some of the other films that I've reviewed over the last week you'll find that this is a not quite as good.

I know the problem with the film is that the film is insistently showy. This first feature by Paolo Zucca is full of touches that make it clear that he is trying to impress. From team workout choreographed as if they were Busby Berkley dance numbers (they are pretty cool), to overly artistic photography, to other touches that make the film more about the form then the content. Watching the film I kept thinking of Gueros which had a flashy first fifteen minutes and then settled down into an amazing film.

This is not an amazing movie. Its a good one.

The film plays June 10 and 11

A brief push to get you to see Fifth Wheel (2013) Open Roads 2014

Charming arc of a life and country as reflected in the life of Ernesto Fioretti, a regular guy over 40 years. Ernesto is a sweet guy, a kind of schlub, who life carries along, and occasionally runs over despite his best efforts to get ahead in life.

What an absolutely wonderful film.

This isn't so much the life that we wish we could lead but the life that we are living or at least the life that most of us are living- that of fighting the good fight.

Everything works, from the performances to the music to the jumps through time.  Its all just works.

I loved this film and that's the best thing I  can say- actually the best thing I can say is that if you don't go see this on the 11th you'll be missing a really special film.

A few words on Quiet Bliss (2014) Open Roads 2014

I'm not too sure what to say about Quiet Bliss. Its one of those really good films that you know should have been  great and the fact that it doesn't reach the lofty place it was aiming for some how makes it, very unfairly, seem less than it it is. I say this up front because its a really really good film that despite a few truly great moments was just going to good. Being good is of course no sin, however in this case its just bothersome

The film is the story of three generations of women who are forced to come together when the family business, a textile mill, closes down. The economic down turn has made continuing impossible so they move in together at the country home in order to make a go of it.

Told in longish takes and in shot choices that shy away from close ups the film feels like a kind of docudrama more than a drama. We are dropped into the lives of the characters and we are watching things transpire around us. The strength of the film is its sense of reality and the small moments. The one bit that comes to mind is the small moment where two characters say hello down a street,one asks the other if he wants to get a cup of coffee. Its a small little nothing moment that I shouldn't have latched on to but I did. I guess it was because there was a realness that was in it that was lost in some of the dramatic scenes (for example the sequences where a mother chastises her daughter for staying out late and going out again felt written  and not lived in)

When you see the movie, and you should, you'll notice I'm pulling bits from the early part of the film and not through it, and that's because after a certain point I stopped taking notes. Normally that's a sign of loving a film and getting lost in it. but here it was the result of knowing early on I wasn't going to have  a great deal to say. Iwas enjoying the film, but I knew if I took notes I'd just nit pick it, which wasn't going to be fair since it would make it seem like a bad film when in fact its a good one.

Worth the effort to see the film plays June 7 and 9. For details go here.

A few quick words on Human Factor (2013) Open Roads 2014

A police inspector who wants nothing to do with police work other than to push papers is forced back into the field when a rich man is found dead. His boss wants him to use his tact and finesse to a solution to the case. However things become complicated when his daughter has been brought in for firing off a gun in the middle of the night.

A great looking film with a frequently wonderful sound design this is more a character study then a real mystery. The film is uniformly well acted by the entire cast that's headed by Silvio Orlando as the inspector.

As I said above this is more a character study of the inspector who is still grieving for his wife and largely disconnected from his daughter. The result of it is that two or three clues in you kind of know where this is going and you just have to wait to see how it all plays out.

How does it play out? Okay. There is nothing earth shaking here and if nothing else it held my attention all of the way to the end. I know that's not a ringing endorsement but when you consider how many films I skip through to the end it is.

The film plays later today (4pm) and tomorrow. For details and tickets go to the website here.

Those Happy Years (2013) Open Road 2014

The Opening Night film for this year's Open Roads at Lincoln Center is Daniele Luchetti's memory film about  his childhood.. His father is an artist who loves the ladies and his mother is a woman struggling to deal with her husband's nonsense. She's also trying to find a place in the world. When the parents begin to to drift apart, his mother runs away, the dynamic begins to change.

Enjoyable little film was a weird nostalgia trip for me. Set in the mid 1970's, the films director stand-in is approximately the same age I would have been during the film. Watching the kids in the film it was eeriely like watching myself and my brothers back 40 years ago.

Outside of the nostalgia factor I think this is really good examination of the the changes going on in a family just as  the world was changing (women's liberation was sweeping the world). The film nicely shows how the old ideas of what a family and relationship should be were being shaken apart.

In writing this film up I find that my attitude toward the film shifted. Originally I was going to do more discussion of the changes happening in the world and the family, when I suddenly realized that while the film is nominally being told from the point of view of the kids you could pretty much cut them out and it would make no difference. This isn't the kids story, but the parents. This is an child reshaping his memories  and those of the family into something else.  This isn't to be a criticism of the film, only a statement that I'm still parsing it.

While I do that I suggest that you try to get a ticket to one of the two screenings tomorrow.

A few words on Small Homeland (2013) Open Roads 2014

Maids Renta and Luisa supplement their income with an occasional roll in the hay. They are hoping to get enough money to get the hell out of Dodge. Hoping to get big money fast they get involved in a blackmail scheme that unfortunately for the girls things go wrong...

Less crime drama then a portrait of two girls on the edge and their world, this film plays for large chunks of it as a kind of slice of life film as the camera films their lives with a documentarians eye. That is of course not surprising since director Alessandro Rossetto's bread and butter are documentaries. The cast is largely non-actors and their freshness keeps things seeming real.

I like the film a great deal (even if I can't say much beyond that)

The film plays June 5 and 9 details and tickets can be found here
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South is Nothing (2013) Open Roads 2014

If you don't talk about things they can't hurt you -Grazia's Grandmother

A coming of age story has 17 year old Grazia trying to deal come to terms with her life and the secrets that her family keeps and refuse to deal with allowing no sort of closure or worse understanding of the events that are transpiring around her. No one talks about her brother who has been dead the last five years. No one talks about the end of their livelihood thanks to the local crime organization making an offer they can't refuse.  No one wants to deal with life lest it get worse. Grazia no longer is able to bear it and begins to take steps to get out.

Miriam Karlkvist gives a striking performance as Grazia. Dressed essentially in male drag it takes awhile before you realize that she is really a girl. Its a wonderfully nuanced performance that transcends the normal acting performance since much of the acting is physical, the result of her world being one where no speaks or expresses anything except in outbursts or talking about things that don't matter. Because of the lack of communication talking does hurt people.

This is a small scale gem of the film I's a film that works because the characters. These are people I know, and in some case I see bits of myself in them. While I don't have their troubles I see how their fighting to keep the status quo makes them think they are safe.

I know that the intrusion of a bit of magical realism in the film is not going to sit well with some people, but for me it worked nicely since its not over done.

Definitely worth making an effort to see.

South is Nothing plays June 8 and 9. For tickets go here

Open Roads New Italian Cinema starts this week

The  between film Open Roads slide from last year's festival

Ciao

I’m in Italy- no actually I’m at the Film Society of Lincoln Center for their Open Roads New Italian Cinema series. You should be here too.

Actually you need to be here starting Thursday when the films start, until then you should be going over the schedule and picking things out. Trust me on this this year’s films kick ass-then again every years films kick ass.

To be perfectly honest Open Roads series is the best place to see Italian films every year. For me every year the best films from Italy almost without exception come from this series. Its as if the curators watch every film from Italy and manage to grab all the best ones and put them in this collection. This year’s bunch are no exception leaving every every other festival with the second best films.

If you need to some pointers for this year’s festival might I suggest THE FIFTH WHEEL? It's one of my favorite films of the year. It’s a wonderful comedy about the arc of one man’s life over 40 years. The title comes from his father’s comment that he’s as useful as a fifth wheel, however his father can’t see what a great guy he is. Its charming and funny and wonderful and I’ve seen it twice, and I love it.

I also recommend SOUTH IS NOTHING about a young woman coming of age in the shadow of her dead brother; or perhaps the opening night film THOSE HAPPY YEARS about the directors life when he was a growing up and the world's changes began to rattle his parents lives.

If you need more pointers just keep reading since I have reviews running for the next seven days- and while I liked some more than others, all are wonderful and only suffer in comparison to the other films in the series.

Not to put too fine a point on it Open Roads is an embarrassment of riches. Go indulge yourself.

For tickets and additional information go the website which can be found here.