Reviews by members of the AWC Film Group of films slated to open in Hamburg in August 2003

 

Spun

(Mary W) Opening August 7, 2003

The worst thing about this film is that it is based on three actual days in the life of the screenwriter Will De Los Santos. Do you want to know what it is like to be a twenty-something loser whose idea of a good time is to snort crystal methamphetamine (hereinafter "Ice"), be paranoid and do nothing for endless days without sleep with your only priority being to score more Ice?

Ross (Jason Schwartzman) lives in a hotel room with no apparent source of income. He likes to tie up his sex partner and leave her for hours. Spider Mike (John Leguizamo) is an Ice dealer with lots of tattoos who lives in fear of everyone. Ross drives over to Spider Mike's to buy some Ice and there he meets Cookie, Nikki and Frisbee. Spider Mike buys his gear from The Cook (Mickey Rourke) who manufactures the Ice in another hotel room, completely oblivious to everyone/thing around him except for his occasional interest in a particular female body type. Ross is lucky enough to get work as The Cook's driver, because Ross has a car.

The cops try to bust up this Ice ring by wiring Frisbee and sending him to Spider Mike's to do a deal. First the cops snort some Ice, then the TV cameras roll for the reality show. Spider Mike is jailed, Frisbee has his testicle shot off, The Cook accidentally blows himself up, the sex partner is saved by a lesbian Debbie Harry and Ross, well, I forget what happened to him. Guess I spun out.

 

Swimming Pool

(Adele R) Opening August 14, 2003

Charlotte Rampling has always seemed to me to be the embodiment of sexuality. An intense, secretive, deeply erotic actress with a catlike self-indulgence, she has sometimes been cast as manipulative, twisted, or perverse. (Think of Visconti’s The Dammed or Nagisa Oshima’s Max, Mon Amour in which she played a wife who cheats on her husband with a monkey). But in all her movies, Rampling’s sexuality is core to the film and fully exploited as it certainly was in Francois Ozon’s recent film, Under the Sand.

In Ozon’s new film, Swimming Pool, however, Ms. Rampling has a different role entirely—that of Sarah Morton, a spinsterish, repressed British author of mystery novels, cranky and impatient with herself and the world, and obviously in a mid-life and mid-career crisis. And although she softens as the film progresses, she never really releases the repressed sexuality of her character. Ozon, who is both the author and director, says that he and the wardrobe director, Pascaline Chavanne, studied pictures of Patricia Highsmith, Ruth Rendell, Patricia Cornwell and P.D. James to develop the look and the demeanor of Sarah Morton. And Rampling brilliantly becomes a plain, middle-aged woman, with short, unfashionable hair, and “comfortable”, unbecoming clothes, and stays that way throughout the film.

In the film, Sarah Morton takes the advice of her publisher, John (Charles Dance) and leaves rainy, dreary London for his house in the south of France. They both hope that there she will get back her inspiration and present him with another of her best-selling detective novels, beloved by older women (to her chagrin) and a gold mine for them both.

But Sarah Morton’s inspiration takes quite another direction with the arrival at the villa of John’s young, illegitimate daughter, Julie (Ludivine Sagnier) who has left her boring job and come to lie in the sun, mostly naked, and practice casual sex with men from the surrounding villages. Julie’s unbridled carnality, loud music and even noisier sexual exploits enrage Sarah at first.

But even before Julie’s arrival, Sarah has begun to thaw in the warm sun, enjoy the food and wine at a local café with an attractive, forty-ish hunk of a waiter, with whom she has stilted, but friendly conversation. Eventually, the relationship between the two women begins to evolve and Sarah discovers a lost and badly damaged child behind Julie’s insouciant, self-confident bravado.

But, Ozon’s story is not the evolution of a friendship between two disparate women; it is a slyly developed, suspenseful thriller. He plays with his characters, his script and his audience, keeping his cards close, and teasing us, often with humor. The ending is a total surprise.

 

Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life 1/2

(Osanna V) Opening August 14, 2003

Once again Angelina Jolie takes on the role of the intrepid Lara Croft, accompanied in her adventures by Gerard Butler as former British agent Terry Sheridan. The movie is directed by Jan de Bont.

An earthquake off the Greek coast brings rumours of the appearance of a sunken temple on the Mediterranean seabed. Various archaeological teams are searching for it but, thanks to her access to the latest high-tech, Lara is the one able to pin-point its location. She believes that the ruin is Alexander the Great’s Moon Temple, containing most of his wealth, and she is not disappointed. Among awe inspiring statues and priceless treasure, she discovers a mysterious medallion and a glowing, amber orb. Unfortunately, she has been followed to the ruin and barely escapes with her life. The globe and medallion disappear with her attacker.

Back at the family mansion, with her faithful helpers, the butler Hillary (Christopher Barrie) and the computer whiz Bryce (Noah Taylor), Lara begins to decipher the riddle encapsulated in some of the photos she managed to take of the site. Unfortunately, what she deduces is not good. The orb appears to be some kind of map to find the location of Pandora’s box, at the Cradle of Life. Lara knows that the truth behind Pandora’s box is much worse than what most people remember from the legend, and that, in the wrong hands, it could prove to be the most devastating weapon to be visited upon humanity. Unfortunately, it is on its way to getting into the wrong hands – those of Dr. Reiss, a biological weapons expert. Faced with very little time to get hold of the orb herself, Lara is obliged to enlist the help of someone she would rather avoid at all costs, ex-British agent Terry Sheridan, also Lara’s ex-lover.

Their race against time and Dr. Reiss’ malevolent plot, lead Lara and Terry along the Great Wall of China to the robbers hold-out, to Shanghai and finally to Africa. In spite of having every possible gadget at their disposal, the final outcome of the adventure stands on a knife’s edge, calling for one of the biggest sacrifices Lara will ever have to make.

Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life is a fun second installment to the first movie which came out two years ago and became the most successful women’s action movie of all time. Fans will probably not be disappointed, as Angelina Jolie once again captures the computer game heroine to perfection.

 

Whale Rider

(Osanna V) Opening August 14, 2003

Starring Keisha Castle-Hughes, Rawiri Paratene and Vicky Haughton, this is based on a novel by Witi Ihimaera and has won awards in five film festivals so far, including Sundance 2003. It is directed by Niki Caro.

This is a touching story of the struggle between tradition and reality faced by a small Maori community on the New Zealand coast. Tradition has it that this community, descended from the Whale Rider Paikea, should be lead by his first male descendant, generation after generation. The reality at the time of the story is that Koro (Paratene), the current leader, has an eldest son who not only has no desire to follow his father’s footsteps but also has no son of his own. His only child is Pai (Castle-Hughes), a girl.

With her father off travelling the world as an artist, Pai is brought up by her grandparents, Koro and Flowers (Haughton), who both love her dearly. However, in spite of her deep feelings for the stories her grandfather tells her and for her community traditions, Koro does not consider that Pai has any role of importance to play in the future. Faced with the lack of a successor, he sets out to teach and train the young boys in the community, rejecting any idea that Pai should learn as well.

Pai’s distress grows as she experiences her grandfather’s stubbornness. At the same time, she feels a growing, mysterious call from the sea, and finds herself responding to it, sending out her own call in turn. When a whole school of whales is beached right in front of her home, things take a dramatic and unexpected course…

Whale Rider is a movie of warm characters and beautiful scenery, that gives us an insight into the difficulties faced by traditional communities in the changing tides of time.

 

Brown Sugar

(Mary W) Opening August 21, 2003

Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) and Dre (Taye Diggs) are childhood best friends who meet again fifteen years later. Sidney is a famous music critic and Dre is a record producer. Sid and Dre grew up on the streets living and loving HipHop music. Now, Dre feels like he sold out to mass music, marketing bad rap. But at least he has Reese (Nicole Ari Parker). And Sid meets basketball star Kelby (Boris Kodjoe). Everyone is beautiful, they live in among the black upper class of NYC and have perfect lives. Except maybe Sid and Dre are more than just good friends. Queen Latifah steals the show as Sid's best female friend. A predictable ending with light humor, this is a semi-sweet beach book on film.

 

Die Ritterinnen

Opening August 21, 2003

See Currents’ Special Berlinale report by Mary W and Kirsten G, page 6 or click here for the online version.

 

Agent Cody Banks

(Becky T) Opening August 28, 2003

Cody Banks is a teenager much like Ferris Buehler, except that when the alarm clock rings, Cody, contrary to Ferris, goes to school. On the way, he rescues a child in an action scene involving a state-of-the-art skate board, a car, and a mother wringing her hands on a sidewalk in Vancouver. Thus, we know that Cody has all the spirit and courage necessary to be a mini James Bond, which he is, having gone to summer agent camp for $10 million tuition, courtesy of the CIA. From there the film loses steam until the explosive ending. Cody must date – a skill he failed at camp – Natalie in order to meet her father Dr. Connors, who is a scientist in the clutches of Francois Molay and Dr. Brinkman. (Are these names intended slurs against the French and the Germans?) They are interested in his Nanobots, i.e., mini biological robots which eat up the waste from oil spills. In the end, Cody, Natalie, Dr. Connors, and Agent Ronica Miles escape from the hidden laboratory via helicopter, a vehicle which has been indispensable in every action film this year. The villains are left behind to be eaten up by the mini robots which have acquired an extended, less oily, taste. This is a fine film for captive audiences in airplanes, especially young people who will recognize the stars from two TV shows: Malcom in the Middle (Frankie Muniz as Cody) and Lizzie McGuire (Hilary Duff as Natalie). The marketing possibilities are endless: teen-size secret agent x-ray sun glasses, suction shoes, watches with paralyzing rays, skateboards, telephones, snowmobiles, etc. Director Harald Zwart is the first Norwegian to become a member of the Director’s Guild of America, after a successful career in Scandinavia.

 

Tears of the Sun (Tränen der Sonne)

(Kirsten G) Opening August 28, 2003

Bruce Willis has made some questionable career choices lately, especially his recent soldier roles in 2002’s Hart’s War and this year’s Tears of the Sun (perhaps he will have more luck playing John McClane yet again in the just-announced Die Hard 4). His stoic acting style works for some roles, but in this film a show of any emotion would have really helped the plot along. Willis plays Lt. A.K. Waters, a battle-hardened Navy SEAL whose unit is assigned to extract an American-by-marriage doctor (Italian actress Monica Bellucci) from her makeshift village hospital in the middle of civil-war torn Nigeria. All goes according to plan until she refuses to leave unless the soldiers also help the villagers escape to the safety of nearby Cameroon. As a result, Waters and his men are forced to choose between doing their duty and doing “the right thing”.

Director Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) does a good job of showing the moral dilemma of soldiers thrust into a war that is not theirs. The graphic scenes of “ethnic cleansing” by the rebel army are truly horrifying and will certainly make for interesting post-movie discussions about whether nations like the U.S. should get involved in trying to stop mass killings that happen during other nations’ civil wars. However, Tears ultimately turns into yet another “U.S. saves the day” film, due to a very contrived storyline and only average acting. The film may bring you to tears in a few places, but overall its message rings hollow.

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