Reviews by members of the AWC Film Group of films slated to open in Hamburg in February 2005.

 

Cellular (Final Call - Wenn er auflegt, muß sie sterben) 1/2

(Shelly S) Opening February 3, 2005

In these modern times, there seems to be nothing more important than having a cellular phone. Everyone has one, and the things that those phones can do! Why cellular phones can even save lives!!!! In this action thriller director David R. Ellis goes all out to explore the functionality of the cellular phone. This film moves at a pace that reminds you of the film Speed and probably will appeal to the same kind of audience. Biology teacher Jessica Martin (Kim Basinger) brings her child to the school bus, returns home where the house cleaner is killed, and is then kidnapped and taken to an attic somewhere where there is an antique phone which has been smashed to pieces. She manages to make it work and connects to stud-boy Ryan (Chris Evans). Since he is arrogant and egotistical, he simply wants to hang up the phone but in the end drives all around L.A. to save the lives of Jessica Martin and her entire family. Ryan steals and crashes several cars, trying to unravel the mystery, while Jessica is fighting her way out of the attic. The plot evolves to a level of ridiculousness that I have not seen in quite a while. Perhaps this film is more hysterical in English but in German, it ended with a DEAD TONE. My favorite line was at the end when Jessica says to Ryan "Is there any thing I can do for you since you saved our lives?” He answers “Don’t call.”

 

Sideways

(Becky T) Opening February 3, 2005

This is a buddy, mid-life crisis, road movie. Some say it’s a “little” movie, but small is more in this case. Good friends Miles (Paul Giamatti) and Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) hit the road for a week of wine-tasting. Miles is the wine expert, teacher and failed writer. Jack is the aging jock, TV actor, and prospective groom. Miles visits his mother on the way out of town and steals her money for his trip. Once in California they check into a hotel in Buellton, famous for its windmill and wine. Miles lectures on the difference between Cabernet and Pinot and more specifically Cheval Blanc, Richebourg, and Fiddlehead Sauvignon Blanc. (Wine lovers should be in their element here and also recognize the meaning of the film’s title.) Jack grunts into the wine glass and again in the bedroom with Stephanie; Miles covers up for his uncouth friend and discusses literature with Maya. Jack is attacked by a jealous husband; Miles plays golf and drinks alone. They return sadder but wiser, and still friends. The film gains momentum from a quiet start, attacking your funny bone along the way, to culminate into a satisfactory, logical ending in an Armenian church and beyond. Giamatti plays the same kind of morose pessimist he played as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor. Director Alexander Payne always seems to have his finger on the pulse of mankind; just consider his other successful films Election and About Schmidt. In a nutshell: imagine Sesame Street’s Ernie and Bert on the road, discussing life. This film is nominated for five Academy Awards including best director, best movie, and best adapted script (from the book by Rex Pickett).

 

Vera Drake

(Kirsten G) Opening February 3, 2005

British director Mike Leigh, well-known for his moving portrayals of the English working-class in such films as Secrets & Lies and All or Nothing, once again sticks with his favorite subject matter in Vera Drake. Vera (Imelda Staunton) is a wife and mother in London in 1950. Unwaveringly cheery, she not only takes care of her family, but also her invalid mother, sick neighbors, and works as a domestic besides. But she also does something that not even her family is aware of – performs free illegal abortions for women with no other options – and when it is discovered, her life and that of her family changes forever.

Although the morality of abortion is never addressed in the film, writer/director Leigh clearly supports Vera’s position. The film focuses instead on the discrepancies of class, showing the unfairness of wealthy women being able to get legal abortions under psychiatrists’ orders while poor women are left with no other choice than Vera’s service. Some of the conflicts and characters’ reactions seemed simplified at times, but the acting is still superb: not only by Staunton but also by the supporting cast including Phil Davis as Vera’s husband and Leigh regulars Ruth Sheen, Lesley Sharp, and Jim Broadbent. The film provides plenty of fodder for post-viewing discussion, so join the critics (who awarded it the Golden Lion and Staunton the Best Actress trophy at the 2004 Venice Film Festival) and see Vera Drake.

 

Finding Neverland (Wenn Träume fliegen lernen) 1/2

(Kirsten G) Opening February 10, 2005

“All characters, whether grown-ups or babes must wear a child's outlook as their only important adornment.” This piece of direction written into the script of the original play of Peter Pan is a perfect summation of the spirit of Finding Neverland, a film inspired by the events in the life of Scottish author J.M. Barrie that led to him writing Pan. Neverland is a magical though emotional journey, directed by Marc Forster (Monster’s Ball) and starring the perfect boy-man, Johnny Depp, as Barrie. The film begins as Barrie is looking for inspiration after his latest play opens to poor reviews. He soon meets the Llewelyn Davies family: four boys and their recently widowed mother (Kate Winslet). Barrie befriends the family, and, despite the rumors that start circling through British society and the disapproval of Barrie’s proper wife (Radha Mitchell), starts spending a great deal of time with them. In an attempt to engage the boys, he creates wonderful imaginary worlds of castles and kings, cowboys and Indians, and pirates and castaways. Soon, Barrie has found the ideas for Pan, a story unlike anything British society has seen before, and the magic of the play transforms everyone from the audiences to the family whose adventures it’s based on.

Neverland is a feast for both the eyes and the mind, effectively conveying Barrie’s retreat to the happiness of childhood with the boys before they all must face the difficulties of growing up, and mixing the real with the imaginary using a vibrant visual style. Depp is outstanding – becoming almost a real-life Peter Pan – as is the rest of the cast, which also includes heavyweights Dustin Hoffman and Julie Christie. The film cleverly highlights each instant where Barrie may have found inspiration for an element of Pan – not overdoing it, but just giving each scene enough resonance to bring the audience in on the joke. And though the ending tears your heart out, it beautifully demonstrates how imagination and finding something to believe in can get you through even the most difficult times in life. In all, Neverland is an amazing film, and despite a somewhat slow start, one that can transport you to a place well-worth finding.

 

Kontroll

(Becky T) Opening February 10, 2005

Bulcsú (29-year-old Sándor Csány) checks tickets in the Budapest subway. He works with a team of misfits who have landed this unappealing, underground job by default. They are unpopular with the passengers, especially one, Bootsie, who always manages to escape their interrogations. More serious is a murderer who shoves innocent people onto the tracks. He wears a long cloak with a hood, much like the Grim Reaper. Bulcsú plays a macho game with a rival: they jump onto the tracks in front of the last train of the evening and race to the next station before the train can kill them. The ending is optimistic as Bulcsú rides the escalator into the sunlight with a pretty girl on his arm.

The year, according to director Minród Antal, “could be anywhere between 1950 and 2050.” The four old escalators are faster, steeper and louder than any in Hamburg. The cold neon lights cast shadows and flicker into total blackness. Rock group NEO composed the music. The gloom, aggressiveness and hopelessness are interspersed with little sparks of black humor. One scene of the ticket checkers sitting together could be straight out of Coffee and Cigarettes. Antal filmed on location every night from 11:30 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. for nine months. The Budapest subway, built in 1896, is the oldest on the European mainland. A stipulation to receive permission to film in the subway was that the Director of Transportation be allowed to read a statement saying the film does not resemble the reality of subway travel in Budapest. The stilted, socialist style of this disclaimer makes it very funny for the audience.

Anatal has created an excellent thriller leaving your imagination to fill in the scary parts. It was the opening film at Hamburg’s last Fantasy Film Festival. It is Hungary’s candidate for this year’s Academy Award. Anatal has already won the Prix de la Jeunesse in Cannes for this, his first feature film.

 

Beyond the Sea

(Adele R) Opening February 17, 2005

Kevin Spacey dreamt of making this film about Bobby Darin for over seventeen years. And the development of the film was tortured and confusing. It went through a number of “visions and revisions” and a number of writers who begged the Screen Writers Guild not to give them any credits. The final script was written by Spacey and Lewis Colick (who refused his automatic alphabetical position on top). It was also directed by Mr. Spacey, produced by Mr. Spacey, acted, sung and danced by Mr. Spacey, who also conducted the 17 piece orchestra. Spacey was considered too old for the part at 40 when he brought the film to Paramount six years ago. They were right, but that is not all that is wrong with this film.

If you close your eyes during the songs you may not hear an exact imitation of Bobby Darin’s voice, but Kevin Spacey can certainly sing and has evident talent as a jazz singer and musician. As the arrangements of all the songs were Darin’s, that part works well and the last few songs in particular are really good. The dance scenes are a disaster: Spacey should have left those out, and his performance as Bobby Darin is, in my opinion, positively embarrassing! As for the script, in an attempt to paint his idol in the most heroic colors, all the dark parts of Darin’s life and personality are left out, as are those of his wife, Sandra Dee (played competently by Kate Bosworth). The result is a sentimental, uncritical puff piece which is so treacly it makes you cringe.

If you love the music, buy the real Bobby Darin 4 CD-set (“As Long As I'm Singing: The Bobby Darin Collection” by Rino records) or go see Kevin Spacey on his upcoming tour as Bobby Darin (72 appearances in the States this coming year). But spare yourself the film!

 

Constantine

(Kirstan B) Opening February 17, 2005

Good vs. evil film # 367. This time it is the rise of the demons in an attempt to surge forth again (last time was explicitly conveyed as the Nazi regime). Tsk tsk, something is amiss...apparently the earth plane is forbidden except for humans. Demons can inhabit a body, but not emerge out of it in physical form, just to clarify for all you demon-illiterate folks. I assume it goes the same for angels, but this movie doesn't really go there. Here's the deal: John Constantine (Keanu Reeves) grows up with the ability to see the demons inside us (mankind), and to him they are graphically real and not just figures of speech. Trying to explain this to an un-seeing world insures years of therapy and medication as he is labelled insane. He takes his own life which is a mortal sin. This act, according to the Bible and its satanic counterpart (yes, there is an Un-bible for the dark types) damns him to hell. He is revived after two minutes and is forced to live knowing, eventually, his real death will send him to hell again forever. Grasping at any kind of means for redemption, John spends his time exorcising demons from humans to favorably persuade God and his angels to reconsider his chances for heaven, second-death-around.

Enter the twins (Rachel Weisz), good looking babes who are also "seers". One, Angela, denies the visions and becomes a cop; the other, Isabel, acknowledges them and is committed as insane. When Isabel jumps off a roof, the suicide brings John and Angela together to try and find a way to get the dead sister out of hell. Well, hate to say it, but all hell breaks loose....Lucifer's son Mannon is trying to take over the show by a live birth on earth (if God can have Jesus, isn't it time for the damned to have a chance?). Do you think one of the twins could be the chosen womb? Uh, maybe. Constantine is a well-made film in the genre of The Matrix ...great graphics, dark shadows, good CGI, attention-keeping story. But that is about it. Where The Matrix takes you on a journey with a spiritual message of Buddhist proportions, Constantine leaves you with Religion 101 and a technical rule game. God and Lucifer are playing for souls with their trusty rulebooks.

As for the three-star rating, I congratulate Tilda Swinton in the (once-again-androgynous) role of Gabriel the messenger angel, and Peter Stomare in a late appearance as Lucifer. Keanu did just fine in his aloof coolness. Is he acting? Just think of The Matrix meshed with Army of Darkness, minus the much-needed message.

 

The House of Sand and Fog (Das Haus aus Sand und Nebel)

(Becky T) Opening February 17, 2005

Two very different people must deal with each other over the sale of a house. Colonel Behrani (Ben Kingsley) has fled from the turbulence in Iran to start a new life in California. Whereas in Iran he enjoyed wealth under the protection of the shah, he now does hard manual labor. Kathy (Jennifer Connelly) is far from her support system of relatives, her boyfriend has left her and she barely holds a job. She retreats into the cocoon of the house she inherited, but this is brutally taken from her through a bureaucratic error. It is sold in public auction to Behrani and his wife and son – to them a symbol of the glamour of their former lives. With the help of a policeman, Kathy fights for her house; Behrani has the law on his side, and a cruel and escalating tug of war ensues with a tragic ending. Based on the book of the same name by André Dubus III, the director Vadim Perelman expertly shows us two outsiders who are victims of circumstances and who deal with it according to their past experiences, expectations, and values. This is an excellent film, especially for anyone who has ever lived in a foreign country and tried to muddle through a problem which could have been resolved differently in your own country. Nominated for Academy Awards last year, it’s a shame to open here a whole year later, but better late than never; it is definitely worth your time.

 

Meet The Fockers (Meine Frau, ihre Schwiegereltern und ich)

(Jenny M) Opening February 17, 2005

If you’re a Hollywood screenwriter faced with the dilemma of writing a sequel to a movie which grossed 295 million dollars, what do you do? In this case you bring on more big-name stars and bask in the knowledge that all the people who enjoyed the first movie are predisposed to enjoy the second one too. Well, it hasn’t worked. Meet The Parents was a funny movie, written with a light touch and displaying the considerable talents of Ben Stiller. Meet The Fockers (the title sets the tone of the movie) aspires only to raise cheap laughs in heavy handed situations. Mr. Byrnes (Robert De Niro), for example, wears a plastic boob to help him bond with his grandson; in turn, the little boy’s first word, repeated ad nauseam, is “arsehole.” The new stars (Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand) are Mr. and Mrs. Focker, an aging hippie and a sex therapist respectively. Throw in the fact that they are Jewish and you can regurgitate jokes about foreskins and Jewish mammas too. Despite the wasted talent and the unfunny, unsubtle story, this movie is probably going to make more money than the first one, which means that the screenwriter will consider that he’s done his job well and can have the last laugh.

 

Sophie Scholl – Die letzten Tage

(Pat R) Opening February 24, 2005

Sophie Scholl and her brother Hans are considered heroes today as organizers of The White Rose (an anti-Nazi resistance group) while students at the University of Munich. This film directed by Marc Rothemund is an emotional and sympathetic account of their last five days. An early scene shows Sophie, stoically portrayed by Julia Jentsch, shoving their leaflets over the railing so that they float down into the lobby just as the students are about to leave their classes. As the University was under the supervision of the SS troops, this was a very courageous but fatal act. Sophie, Hans (Fabian Hinrichs), and another member of The White Rose were all interrogated by the Gestapo, sentenced to death and executed.

Sophie’s interrogation is presented as a debate between two competing ideologies – a passionate humanism opposing a rigid National Socialist dogma. Their anti-fascist arguments were written in six leaflets that were distributed on campus as well as throughout the city. They tried to encourage the German people to passively resist the Nazi government. When the three are sentenced before the sea of brown Nazi uniforms, un-swayed by their show of strength and conviction, it is effectively disturbing. Where did the German people stand?

Another film which approached this sensitive topic of resistance met its own resistance. Michael Verhoeven was twice denied support by the German Ministry of the Interior for his 1982 film Dare to Defy – The White Rose. During its filming in Munich the police were called continually to stop the filming and arrest the actors. One 50-year-old man stated that “Hitler would have had you all hanged.” Other films on the Scholls are Five Last Days, a 1983 film from Adlon and The Nasty Girl in 1989, again by Verhoeven. Angelica Huston is planning to direct another film about The White Rose.

This is a story that should rightfully be told, again and again, to encourage all activists and members of resistance movements who are so easily ignored and even ridiculed by the mainstream public and media. As we all are challenged by the continuing restriction of our own civil rights by authoritative governments, Sophie’s message should remind us that apathy is complicity.

There have also been several books written about the Scholls and the White Rose:
• The Students Against Tyranny – The Resistance of The White Rose – Munich 1942, 43 by Inge Scholl, younger sister of Hans and Sophie. She includes personal memories as well as the texts of the six leaflets.
• At the Heart of The White Rose: Letters and Diaries of Hans & Sophie Scholl by Inge Jens.
• German Women Recall the Third Reich by Alison Owings, about the woman who headed up the U.S. branch of The White Rose and whose husband smuggled leaflets out of Germany.
• The Short Life of Sophie Scholl by Herman Vinke.

Second Opinion by Nancy T

This intimate docu-drama portrays the last six days of Sophie Scholl’s life, February 17–22, 1943; this short time spans the commitment of her "crime", imprisonment, shockingly swift trial and execution by guillotine, along with her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs), both members of the White Rose resistance movement. For this very intensely personal account of young Sophie's (Julia Jentsch) emotional rollercoaster, and of her amazing stamina and resourcefulness, director Marc Rothemund tried to keep his film close to the known facts. Archives previously suppressed in the DDR were open to the public with the 1989-90 German reunification. The protocol of the Gestapo on The White Rose was used in the screenplay by Fred Breinersdorfer, author and lawyer, who also writes for the "Tatort" and "Anwalt Abel" TV series.

The actual rooms, where Sophie and Hans lived at Fanz-Joseph-Straße in Munich, were used for filming. The printing office where The White Rose met no longer exists nor does the Munich Gestapo Headquarters, which was destroyed in 1964. However both were reconstructed from existing detailed architectural plans in Bavaria Studios. Ludwig-Maximilians-University and the Munich Palace of Justice were also filmed onsite. Sophie has been called a 20th century Joan of Arc. The film intimately focuses on her, reminiscent of Dreiser’s silent classic The Passion of Joan of Arc which is available on loan at the film library.

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