Director Jim Sheridan is the Irishman who made the memorable My Left Foot a number of years ago, which gave Daniel Day Lewis his Oscar. Mr. Sheridan, who introduced his film at this year’s Hamburg Filmfest, has made another film about a feckless Irish family, this time set in New York instead of a poverty-stricken slum in Ireland.

The story is told from the point of view of ten-year-old Christy (Sarah Bolger) whose sister in real life (Emma Bolger) plays Christy’s little sister in the film. Both girls are enchanting. As we all know how irresponsible the Irish are in modern films and novels, the audience’s ability to enjoy this movie depends on the likeability of these sisters. Their parents are played by Samantha Morton as Sarah and Paddy Considine as her husband Johnny. The family hoped to leave sad memories behind and start a fresh though illegal life in the USA. Their awestruck impressions of New York City are a highlight of the film, but reality sets in as they set about finding a place to live there. Mr. Sheridan said that his movie is semi-autobiographical but he’s made it much too sentimental and given it an ending which is surely too far fetched to be based on fact.

Fourteen-year-old Lola takes a bear cub, Misha, for her pet and later to work with in her circus act. As they travel around Europe, she and Misha grow older and closer until her love for Misha (one who travels in two worlds) turns him into her lover. The circus leader, Lou, desires Lola and becomes jealous of the bear with tragic consequences. Beautiful photography and a terrific original soundtrack added some interest to this rambling, fanciful story that found me looking a little too often at my watch. Scenes of Hamburg are stunning on film.

Note from Shelly S: This multinational film (Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Sweden, and Russia) is by Sergei Bodrov. It features the director’s son, Sergei, a well-known actor in Russia who died in an avalanche shortly after making the film.

(Becky T) Opening December 11, 2003

This children’s film based on a series of children’s books is the sequel to Das Sams which won prizes in 2002. Like many sequels, it is not up to par. The Sams (a cross between a hedgehog and a dwarf) returns to Herr Taschenbier (Ulrich Noethen) and his wife and their son Martin (Constantin Gastmann), who is now 11 years old. Martin is a shy, ungainly boy, the victim of a cruel P.E. teacher (Dominique Horwitz, an actor who lives in Hamburg). Although the Sams gives Martin self-confidence and he grows up, the film drags. We get tired of counting the dots on the Sams’ face (which fulfil wishes), tired of the grimaces of one evil teacher and the preening of the other, tired of the skating rink for adults only and their boring rink president election, etc. My press conference was full of children, but they never laughed.

Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(Die Rückkehr des Königs)

(Kirsten G) Opening December 17, 2003

As epic tales go, it doesn’t get much bigger than this: The Return of the King, the final chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s saga as interpreted by writer/director/producer Peter Jackson and his team. And, for once, the last film of a trilogy doesn’t let us down. In every way, King is just as good as (if not better than) its predecessors The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers. King picks up right where Towers left off: fresh from their victory at the battle at Helm’s Deep, Gandalf (Ian McKellen), Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen), Legolas (Orlando Bloom) and Gimli (John Rhys-Davies) set out for Isengard, where they find Merry (Dominic Monaghan), Pippin (Billy Boyd), and a mysterious palantir seeing stone. From it, they discover that the Dark Lord Sauron has set all of his might on Minas Tirith, the last remaining city of Men. Meanwhile, Frodo (Elijah Wood), Sam (Sean Astin), and Gollum (Andy Serkis) are moving ever closer to Mordor and Mount Doom. The battles that ensue – both between armies and individuals – are cataclysmic en route to the final showdown between Good and Evil.

Everything about Return is well done: acting, directing, cinematography, music – you name it. The main battle in particular is truly awesome and gripping, making you dodge and cringe right along with the characters. There are some rather large departures from the books, but they don’t detract from the overall effect (although I am already looking forward to the extended DVD in hopes that some of the missing plot strands will be added back); plus at over 3 hours, the film is already quite long. But overall, The Return of the King is a kingly achievement and one which is destined to become part of movie folklore for years to come.

Heaven’s Gate (Tor zum Himmel)

(Becky T) Opening December 18, 2003

Director Veit Helmer seems to specialize in delicate fantasies like his former film Tuvalu. Nisha from India (Masumi Makhija) is part of a crew of cleaners in Frankfurt airport. She dreams of becoming reunited with her small son. Alexej from Russia (Valera Nikolaev) lives in a hidden area behind the pipes under the airport; he and other men load suitcases onto conveyor belts, and they are at the mercy of the corrupt man who has hidden them. In spite of these dire circumstances this melting pot of humanity looks out for its own. Nisha doesn’t become a stewardess, nor does Alexej become a pilot, but there is a reunification and a tender love. Helmer said that his film was realized with the help of Lufthansa and the actual airport shots were made in Düsseldorf.

The Human Stain 1/2

(Cynthia E) Opening December 18, 2003

Stain: definition one and definition two. No matter our race, creed, social rank, we, as humans, have an uncanny ability to participate easily in communal judgement – “gang-bangs” of human against human. Here is a look at the staggering strait jacket political correctness and age-old bias assert onto our daily lives or upon those around us. These raw, human conditions and choices made are cleverly revealed in this film based upon Philip Roth’s novel. “This is the story of a tricky life and the bitter downfall of Coleman Silk.”

As the story unravels it becomes evident through the interaction of the cast of characters how rare it is to see individual truth. There are hidden truths in every life, caught in complicated webs, whether you are the de-throned, furtive, Dean of Classics, Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins); a grown woman, product of childhood sexual abuse, abandonment and an unloved teenage runaway, Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman); a blocked author fearful of life’s pitfalls, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise); or a delusional Vietnam veteran, Lester Harley (Ed Harris).

The story: life goes onward, regardless of the hurdles and loves it hands you. The lesson: few people escape scars of life. They just vary greatly. The beauty: standing bare-naked totally exposing their “human stains,” ultimately, two find love just for being who they are. The tragedy: the new found freedom of total exposure is quickly taken from them by death itself.

For those who have read the book, most likely the film skims the surface; for those who have not, Robert Benton and Nicholas Meyer present an interesting and thought-provoking film covering a complex subject in a short period of time. Entertaining? With an incredible cast of characters including a very sexy looking Ed Harris, superb portrayal by Gary Sinise and a perhaps questionable casting of Anthony Hopkins and Nicole Kidman, it is certainly worth taking the time to decide.

Renée Zellweger and Ewan McGregor step into mighty big shoes in an attempt to recreate a modern version of some old 1950s films. Doris Day and Rock Hudson they are not, but younger viewers will not make rigorous comparisons. Zellweger is Barbara Novak, author of a bestseller called Down With Love in which women are challenged to compete with men in the job market, as well as in their casual approach to sex without the shackles of love. Chocolate is a good substitute for romantic feelings. Catcher Block (McGregor) is a dashing journalist who pretends to be a shy country boy in order to beat Novak at her own game and get an exclusive interview. Their respective side kicks, always around to keep up the chatter, are Vikki (Sarah Paulson) and Peter (David Hyde Pierce – very funny). Naturally, everyone falls in love and walks off into the sunset, but not without a surprise ending and not without an elderly Tony Randall. He was in the original Pillow Talk (1959) which provided many of the ideas for this film, such as a bachelor pad with low lights and a comfy bed appearing at the touch of a button or split screens showing two people touching toes while telephoning. The fashions alone are smashing enough to keep your attention for 100 minutes of forgettable nonsense.

Just in time for Christmas, Universal Pictures brings us Honey, a story about not giving up on dreams while learning about the true meaning of friends and family. If it sounds clichéd, unfortunately, it is. Basically Flashdance with a twist, Honey tells the story of Honey Daniels (Jessica Alba from TV’s Dark Angel), a talented upper middle class dancer who breaks away from the safe road her parents have plotted for her future to try to break into music videos. When her big break comes, she embraces it with gusto and quickly moves from dancing in videos to choreographing them for some of today’s hottest hip-hop and R&B artists. But when everything falls apart, she returns to her roots and rediscovers her love of dancing through working with the neighborhood kids she used to teach in dance class.

It’s no surprise that first-time feature film director Bille Woodruff got his start directing music videos as there are several interspersed throughout the movie, and the film often feels like a long video without a compelling narrative. The visual style is strong, and the sets and costumes feel real. But the story contains every cliché in the book, and the acting is only so-so: Mekhi Phifer (8 Mile) as the supportive boyfriend does as much as he can with an under-written role, but Alba is over-earnest and a little too nice. Overall, Honey was too sticky-sweet for me, but I’m sure it will be an inspiration for the target audience of teenage girls everywhere.

Luo and Ma are 18- and 17-year-old friends. As sons of intellectuals during the Cultural Revolution in 1971, they are sent to a remote Chinese village on the Phoenix of the Sky Mountain. Their “re-education” consists of back-breaking work in the mine and on the fields. The villagers have never seen a violin nor heard a Mozart sonata (hurriedly renamed Mozart is Thinking of Chairman Mao) which Ma performs. Their life is hopeless as there is only a three percent chance to escape, although freedom is a major theme. The villagers allow them to visit the next larger village to enjoy open-air films which they re-tell at home. In order to ensure the admiration of the Little Seamstress, the daughter of an itinerate tailor, they read her stories from contraband books, the first one being Balzac’s Ursule Mirouet.

Director Dai Sijie wrote the book three years before the film. Comparing film and book is almost a lesson in script-writing because events in the book correspond to the film, except that they often appear in a different order or are attributed to a different character in the film. Contrary to the book, the adult Luo and Ma appear in the film; both are successful and live in Shanghai and France. (My fellow reviewers, Adele and Pat, believe this part was unnecessary for the storyline.) It makes one wonder how autobiographical the story is and whether the Little Seamstress really had an illegal abortion. Dai Sijie himself was sent for re-education in 1971-74 and finally moved to France in 1984. Le Figaro magazine called this film, “this year’s most beautiful declaration of love: to literature, to life, to irony, and to a woman.” I agree absolutely.