A few words on Ana Arabia (2013) New York Jewish Film Festival 2014

A single take film follows a journalist as she talks to the family and friends of a Holocaust survivor who married a Muslim in Israel. As the people talk we get a sense of  the Arab Israeli conflict on a personal level.

I'm mixed on this film.

Had this film been a stage play this would have been a kickass theatrical experience. On stage the talky nature of the tale would work to it's advantage. Sadly on film are much too static. While the camera moves around a group of buildings to put us in different locations, each time people start to talk the camera stops moving and we are essentially watching people speak while in a tableau.  It might have worked if there was a rhyme or reason to the order of the conversations,but there doesn't seem to be one. There doesn't seem to be a reason for the journalist to keep going back and forth to the various  people. Two people offer to make her tea, she says yes but then walks off to talk to someone else.

The big selling point of the film is single take of the film. Why is the single take so important? If no one had pointed it out (The film itself even mentions that it was done in one take) I never would have known or cared. But by making a big deal about the one take I kept waiting for the reason for it. There had to be a reason to do it in one take right? Apparently not.

Personally I could have missed this film.

The Strange Case of Wilhelm Reich (2012) New York Jewish Film Festival 2014

The life and trials of Wilhelm Reich who ran afoul of the US government with his search for the fundamentals of life. While the government said that he was violating various laws from the FDA they were largely unhappy with his life style and his beliefs which clashed with the teaching or orthodox psychiatry. Told in a series of flashbacks as Reich seeks to defend himself from violating injunctions set against him by the FDA.

I'm going to be honest and say I'm not sure what I think of the film. As a biography of the man it's not a bad film, however as an exploration of his thoughts and ideas I'm kind of less happy with it. For me the problem is that watching the film I'm less sure of what I knew about Reich and his work then I was going into the film.  Yes we are told about Orgone and the accumulators and other things in his work but much of it didn't seem to connect up. What are they exactly? I'm not sure- at least as far as the film is concerned which means as far as what the threat he posed to the US government.

What confuses me is that it's not really a bad film, but it's not a good film, its a film that sort of is. Its it's own unique little thing, which I suppose  is a good thing, but at the same time I don't know if you need to pay for it. You'll forgive the lack of clarity in this review but to be honest I have no idea what to say.

The Jewish Cardinal (2012) New York Jewish Film festival

Excellent look at Jean-Marie Lustiger who was born Jewish and became a cardinal in the Catholic Church. He had converted to Catholicism in 1940 in order to keep him safe from the Nazis. It kept him safe but it caused splits within his family (his father couldn’t see how he could become a priest) and within himself (he still considered himself Jewish despite following in Christ’s footsteps)

Beginning just before he finds out that he has been made a Bishop and taking him to his death in 2007 this is a moving portrait of a man just trying to find his place in the world and his path to God. It’s a path filled with road blocks, confusion and uncertainty as he has to struggle with what he feels is right, what the church tells him is right and how the world perceives him to be.

Made for French television the film isn’t a huge epic story but a small scale story of one man on the road. Its a story that is firmly focused on Lustiger and his inner conflict. That the film works so well is do wholly to Laurent Lucas as Lustiger. He manages to sell the character/the man much better than many of the other actors playing other high ranking Church officials. He manages to let us in on both the humor and the conflict in the man. He allows us to see his choices and reflect upon them. As good as Lucas is some of the others seem to be walking through their roles with Aurélien Recoing as Pope John Paul coming off as weird and in one or two scenes as if he were aping Roberto Benigni.

This is a super little film. I really liked it. It was so good that when it was done I ended up much too late reading on the life of Lustiger on line. For me what set sets the film apart is that it isn’t really about being Jewish or Catholic or both, but its about finding one’s self spiritually, it’s the reflection of the journey that makes this a great film since it’s a journey that we all, to some degree make.

This is one of the best films at the Jewish Film Festival. This is definitely worth seeing when it plays tomorrow afternoon, the 14th and the 20th

New York Jewish Film Festival Capsules : BEFORE THE REVOLUTION, UKRAINE BRIDES 13 YEARS LATER, THE WOMEN PIONEERS and RITA JAHAN FOURZ

More Capsule reviews.

Before the Revolution (2013)
Dan Shadur and Barak Heymann's film on Israeli's in Iran before the Islamic revolution is a must see. The now seemingly way out story of how the Shah and Israel once were friendly is hard to imagine. Its the story of how many went to Iran to make some big money only to fail to realize the trouble that was brewing around them.

Like the best documentaries this absolute gem of a film shows us something we never knew and does so in such away that it alters everything you thought you knew.

This is possibly my first big Wow of 2014.

The film plays on January 20th and 21 and is worth getting you butt down to Lincoln Center to see it.

Ukraine Brides:13 years Later (2013)
Director Nili Tal looks in on the lives of some Ukrainian women who married Israeli men in a kind of mail order bride situation. Tal had first encountered them in 2000 and then stopped in to visit them several times over the years. This is the latest installment and its film that provokes a wide range of emotions from smiles to tears.

I really like the film a great deal however I kind of wish I had been following the stories all along since there were several times I sensed that there was stuff I missed by not seeing what had gone before. That said this is a super little film that's playing on January 22nd and is worth your time.

The Women Pioneers (2013)
Portrait of the some Eastern European women who in the early part of the last century traveled to Palestine to build a new life and "create a new woman". Using archival footage and excerpts of the letters and diaries of the film explores the difficult lives the women chose to lead. An earnest and heart felt film, it didn't particularly connect with me. I know its the result of the film seeming to be a bit too somber for my tastes.

It plays January 21

Rita Jahan Fourz (2013)
Companion piece of sorts to Before the Revolution (see above) about singer Fourz who left Iran when she was a child and moved to Israel. Convinced to record an album in Farsi we watch as Fourz records the album and interacts with her family. A wonderfully messy film that bounces from feeling professional, a home movie, a family drama to making of documentary to concert film, this film is strangely alive in a way that many other films aren't. To be certain some pieces don't work, but others kind of transcend the moment and become something wonderful.  While I did not walk out loving the film I did like it enough to start looking up on line for some of Fourz's music.

This film plays January 16 and 19

For tickets and more information on any of the films go to the FilmLinc website here.

The Congress (2013) The New York Jewish Film Festival 2014

It's all in your head- repeated refrain in The Congress

Let me be up front about this, you will either be madly in love with this film or running to the exits. The screening I attended had some people people leaving once things got really weird and others such myself leaning forward trying to suck in every frame and word into our brains.

The next thing I should say is I'm not sure if this is the last best film of 2013 or the first best film of 2014. Either way it's one of the best films I've seen in some year.

Loosely based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem the man who wrote the source novel for the Solaris films (Andre Tarkovsky's and Steven Soderbergh's) the film follows Robin Wright who plays a version of herself. She is offered a deal from a movie studio a 20 year deal to use her likeness. They will pay her a large fortune and then scan her so they can use her likeness anyway they want (with some restrictions) but she will never be able to act again. She takes the deal.  20 years later she's called back to renegotiate the deal at the time of the Futurist Congress...that's when things get animated-literally.

I'm not going to lie,this film has problems. The film takes a while to get going and then once it comes gloriously to life, it leaps 20 years into the future and has to get traction all over again. The film also suffers from a plot line and logic that sometimes comes and goes- which is annoying but keeping with the It's all in your head refrain that we hear repeated-since this film is all in someone's head.

Personally I forgave the bumps and burps, but some people left the screening shaking their head unsure of what they were seeing.

The styles of the animation are said to be based on those from the Fleischer Studios (Betty Boop, Popeye amongst others) but there are wild riffs on animators such as Ralph Bakshi, Rintaro and his Metropolis and Satoshi Kon and his Paprika, not to mention comic and fine art steals. There are riffs on various films (Dr Strangelove being the most obvious) and movie stars. I also see literary references including Michael Moorcocks Dancers at the End of Time and it's changing reality. The film is full of references and I can't wait until some one annotates the whole film.

For me the brilliance of the film comes from two places. First the film places you in a world of its own devising and it makes you believe its real. Yes its drug induced animation but something about the set up makes it all real.  Some how I really think I could buy that this sort of insanity would be possible.

The other place the film scores heavily is in all of the ideas it has floating around in it's demented little mind. Not only does it rip apart the entertainment industry but it examines the cult of self, the nature of reality (its all in your head), drugs, how we perceive each other (I don't want you to see me as I really am), the notion of love(I've loved you since I started animating you), story telling and I don't know what else. Joyously once we get animated ideas and thoughts and notions keep getting thrown at us.  So much came my way that I thought I was drowning.  There are simply too many ideas floating around in the film.

This is a film that needs to be seen multiple times before it can really be discussed. I stopped taking notes at a certain point. I had to, there simply was no way to write and process what I was seeing. More so I began to catch things in the later part of the film that referenced stuff from the beginning. Had I seen this on DVD or Bluray I would of gone back and checked the reference, but I couldn't do so.It was me and the film and one go through.

I should mention that there is so much visual information in the film you'll want to see the film as big as possible simply to have some sort of chance to catch everything that is going on.

Good god what a glorious mess. I would gladly sit through a flawed film such as this that touched my head and my heart and was carried with me out of the theater to the point where it colored the whole world after seeing it then sit through a super slick damn near perfect film from mainstream Hollywood. When the film ended and I hit daylight I started calling and texting friends to go see this film.

What a way to start a new year (or end an old one).

If you are willing to see something special, something far far from typical give The Congress a try. You may not love it like me, but I would be willing to take a white out pill to bet that you'll come out feeling you've seen something truly special.

New York Jewish Film Festival 2014 Capsule Reviews REGINA, WHEN JEWS WERE FUNNY, LONELY PLANET, ZIGZAG KID and AMY WINEHOUSE THE DAY SHE CAME TO DINGLE

While I've seen many of the films at the New York Jewish Film Festival some of the films have defied my efforts to turn in full reviews. To that end I present some capsule reviews:

Regina (2013)
Hour long portrait of Regina Jonas (1902-1944) the first female rabbi in the world.  The film is a very good portrait of a specific time and place and a person I never knew existed. One has to admire  her drive to do what she felt was God's work. My sole complaint film about the film is that there is too much slow motion imagery which I know was used to evoke a time gone by but what it does is simply slows the film way down do that it feels much longer than it's 63 minutes. Worth a look.

Plays January 13 and 15

When Jews Were Funny (2013)
Alan Zweig's discussion about the influence of Jewish comedians in popular culture. Full of interviews and clips of comedians over the last several decades the film is frequently funny.

Unfortunately the film  suffers in two areas. First if you have any sort of interest in the history of comedy you probably know most of the history here. Yes, there are are new stories and jokes but odds are you know most of this already.

The other problem is that director Zweig makes some major missteps. First he isn't a good interviewer, asking frequently obvious questions or questions that just lie there or get non-answers (I don't have an answer for that or I don't know what you're asking me is a frequent refrain). At other times his subject berates him for not listening to what they are saying. Personally I wanted to smack him.

A funny film but I'd wait for TV.

Plays January 9

Lonely Planet (2011)
A documentary crew investigates the story of Mishka Zilberstein who spent three years living with wolves during the Second World War.

Strange blending of fact and fiction is the sort of film you either buy into or you don't. Gorgeous real life images of traveling through along the Trans Siberian Railway mix with sequences that are staged. It plays like a weird found footage film where some sequences are very much head scratchers or knowingly obtuse. Its a kind of absurdist documentary.

To be honest 20 minutes in I was done and tuned out much of the rest of the film. While I was enjoying the scenery the staged material left me cold. For whatever reason I simply couldn't click with the film.  The mixing of real and stage material just didn't work for me.

I have no idea what your reaction will be but I suggest proceeding with caution.

Plays January 9

Amy Winehouse: The Day She Came to Dingle (2012)
BBC Arena documentary about when Amy Winehouse went to Dingle in Ireland to record an episode of the The Other Voices TV series.Wonderful portrait of not only a singer and her music but also the village of Dingle. I don't know what to say other than if you are a fan of the late Ms Winehouse you owe it to yourself to see this short documentary (it runs an hour)

It plays January 14 and 15

Zigzag Kid (2012)
Amusing family film about a young boy who is being trained by his police inspector father to follow in his footsteps. When he’s sent away by his dad on the eve of his bar mitzvah he soon finds himself on the trail of a mystery which will impact his life. Better than most recent American family films of the last few years this romp is a great way to spend an afternoon at the movies. Might I suggest January 12 when this plays?

Friends from France (2013) New York Jewish Film Festival 2014

Opening night film of the New York Jewish Film Festival has me scratching my head. What is this film about, really?

The plot of the film has two cousins, pretending to be an engaged couple traveling from France to Odessa in the old Soviet Union.  They are there to bring material to various refusniks who want to leave the country for Israel. As the pair sneaks about delivering their goods they meet various people and circle closer to each other.

Feeling like an ambivalent spy film with some awkward humor mixed in this film doesn't seem to know what it's about. For much of the film I was wondering where this tale of the cousins was going.  Once the film shifted toward romance as the cousins try to avoid crashing together the film seemed to stumble. Is that what the film really about doomed romance? Weird gyrations in the plot seem to be there simply to have the film be about more than just clueless kids giving things to the refuseniks. Just before the film shifted forward ten years I just threw up my hands and went with it. Characters started to do strange things that make no sense (why is one character so damn angry?) Clearly the film wanted to to be sensational for no really good reason and it had to move toward an ending that feels completely contrived.

It's not a bad film, it's just nothing special, though perhaps a tad sleazy.

What is special are the performances, in particular Soko, a singer who I first saw in Augustine which played Rendezvous With French Cinema last spring. A stunning young woman, I'm guessing that she'll be snapped up by Hollywood very shortly and winning an Oscar or two not long after`that.

Should you see Friends From France? Yea, maybe, but I wouldn't go out of my way.

Ain't Misbehavin (2013) New York Jewish Film Festival 2014

This life and times of Marcel Ophüls, his father Max, and cinema history marks the returns of Marcel to film making after 18 years away. It also is a must see film for any film lover.

Put together from various interviews and film clips Marcel Ophuls talks about his life,in all it's aspects. Its a giddy trip down memory lane as he talks about growing up watching his father direct, converting to Catholicism in order to stay safe from the Nazis, fleeing to Switzerland, going back to France, going to Hollywood, returning to Europe after the war and  his personal life. There is way more than that and I realized quite early that I was going to have to go back and see this again because I wasn't catching everything.

And thats kind of the flaw in an otherwise wonderful film, there is a great deal spoken about in the film and if you aren't at least a little conversant in Ophuls's life and times things may not connect with you completely. Bits and pieces flew over my head as I realized I wasn't fluent in some of the films that have clips appear.

That said I pretty much fell into this film and was dragged along. I may not have recognized all of the scenery on the trip, but I was having a blast watching it go by. By the time the film ended I was ready to start over and do it all again.

What a great trip through a life and through film history. Anyone who loves film and it's history really owes it to themselves to get to Lincoln Center and see this film on Wednesday.

What a wonderful way to start The Jewish Film Festival and 2014

The New York Jewish Film Festival starts Wednesday

New York Jewish Film Festival, a co-presention of the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Jewish Museum starts Wednesday at Lincoln Center and all I can say is go. I’ve been spending the better part of the last couple of weeks wading in and sampling a good number of the films screening and I have to say that there are some really good films.

While the festival has only been around for 23 years I only started attending it in 2012 when I went to see some interviews that had been trimmed from Shoah and a documentary on artist and film maker Joann Sfar (The Rabbi’s Cat). Last year I saw three films and this year- I’ve seen a good many more and there are some real winners here (Favorites so far include The Congress, Amy Winehouse, Ain't Misbehavin and Before the Revolution).

I know some of you are backing off going because you think the films are going to be all about Jewish subjects, but that's not the case. In the case of something like The Congress the film is being included because it was made by a Jewish filmmaker. Other films touch on Jewish subjects but aren't just about being Jewish, Ain't Misbehavin is about Marcel Ophuls's life and films, some of which had Jewish subjects. The Amy Winehouse film is about a singer who just happens to be Jewish. This is a festival many good films with only lose connections to Jewish life. Mostly it's just a festival of good films which is why I'm covering the festival.

Over the course of the festival we'll be doing lots of reviews. Tomorrow we begin a week of reviews from the festival. Monday,Tuesday and Thursday will be full on reviews of films, while Wednesday and Friday I'll have some capsule reviews (some reviews didn't move me to do full write ups).  After that there is going to be some more reviews scattered through out the run of the festival.

For tickets and more information go to the festival website here.

Nightcap 12/22/13- Almost years end so almost a wrap up

2013 is done, more or less. All that’s left is to look back and take stock and plot and plan for 2014.

As I write this I’m working out my end of year lists. They’ll start appearing next Sunday night with a look back at the year in Festivals. Mostly that’s just to flog my favorites, mention one potential new favorite and talk about a head scratcher or two. I’m also working on the Best and Worst lists as well. Mercifully the worst of the year list is rather short. While there were lots of films I didn’t like most were not so loathsome that I’ve remembered them here at years end.

Now about that Best of the year list- I’m still fighting with myself over what’s going on it and the secondary Finds list but two things are clear. First it only has one, maybe two “big” films on it. In other words unless you've been reading Unseen or going to festivals you may not know most of the films. Part of the reason for this is I still haven’t seen things like Her, 12 Years a Slave or some of the other big films. The main reason for this is in my humble opinion most of the films just weren’t The Best. Many were good, some were great, but as for being the best, no. The other thing you’ll see is that there are a lot of short films. Yes five minute films Decelerators, The Day God Slept and Flutter mix with feature films. Why? Because they nail it. A best film is a best film. I’ve spent more time thinking about those films than I did about something like Pacific Rim or American Hustle (which is great- but not great enough).

Complicating some of the lists is the fact that I’m seeing films for the New York Jewish Film Festival which starts in just over two weeks (It starts on the 8th) and I’m running across some great films that you should rush out and see. I’m seeing them in 2013 for review in 2014- I'm not where do they go since I run my list by what I see in what year. This uncertainty cocked me up this year as several films I had included on my 2012 list ended up in my head as 2013 films-even though I put them on the 2012 list.

And speaking of the New York Jewish Film Festival, while it didn’t end up being talked about my piece on great film festivals for 2013, it will be on my 2014 list. Simply put in the last three years that I’ve been going it went to something where I went to a film here and there to something I’m wading into to see great stuff I would never have noticed otherwise. I’ll be posting a piece on the festival around the 5th. There’s some great great stuff here (Ain't Misbehavin and The Congress off the top of my head) and since many of the films sell out you’ll want to act now to get tickets. Details and tickets can be had here at the Film Linc website.

This week we begin winding down our month of Criterion with a week of Chaplin. My pieces are less reviews and more commentary. Hubert is due to chime in on boxing day with one of his favorite all time films City Lights.

Before I head off to continue wrapping Holiday gifts I want  to end this last Nightcap of 2013 and say thank you all for reading, and please stay tuned for lots of goodies in 2014

And now our last link round up of the year:

Overlooked Christmas Films

The Sight and Sound article on the Snowpiercer debacle and the war between the films director and the Weinsteins

A Cthulu holiday meal

Peter O'Toole stories

Info on BAM Kidsfest

The Next Bunch of free films from the Korean Cultural Service

Photos of a new crater on the moon

On Rube Goldberg