Reviews by members of the AWC Film Group of films slated to open in Hamburg in March 2004

Beyond Borders 1/2

United International Pictures presents a "social/romantic" melo-drama (thrilling, romantic adventure according to the press release) starring Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider), Clive Owen (Gosford Park) and directed by Martin Campbell (Goldeneye, The Mask of Zorro).

Sarah Jordan (Jolie) is an American, recently married into a wealthy British family and living in London. At a charity dinner she and the others guests are confronted with the dramatic appearance of Dr. Nick Callahan (Owen), who makes an impassioned plea for his refugee project in Ethiopia, which has had its funding cut. The episode changes Sarah’s life and she decides to become involved – first by taking a shipment of needed goods to the camp in the African desert, and later by working for the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR). The relationship between Sarah and Nick is tense at first, but when they meet again for a few days in Cambodia five years later, it develops into an impassioned love story without a future. Another half a dozen years down the line, Sarah learns that Nick has disappeared somewhere in Chechnya, probably taken as a hostage. Against all odds, she sets to find him and bring him to safety, a decision that has fatal consequences…

The press information assures us that Beyond Borders was a "labour of love", with a story that draws from two years intense research into refugee camps around the world, producing what may well be quite realistic images of such camps. The UNHCR has also given permission to use its name which figures predominantly in the story. So, I like to believe that all those involved were very sincere in their intentions for the project. Unfortunately, the realisation leaves much to be desired (after a lengthy drive through the desert, Jolie steps out of the truck in a fashionable and pristine white outfit; after the camp organisers discuss the fact that there is barely two days water left for the hundreds of refugees, Jolie is seen washing her feet in a bowl of clear, unused water; the love story is rather non-credible with extremely unlikely spin-offs, etc., etc.). One interesting aspect the movie touches on, albeit lightly, is the question of people’s motivations for helping. On the whole, the need to assuage feelings of guilt seems to be the strongest one. I assume the filmmakers believed that using a beautiful Hollywood star and adding the romantic, love story element might bring the plight of refugees around the world to a larger audience in a way that public broadcasting documentaries are probably not be able to. I doubt that it will.

Kroko

Kroko is slim and blond and has a perky nose. She is an inconsiderate brat living at home with a single mother and a younger sister. She hangs out with a gang of delinquents who steal for fun. One evening they steal a car and hit a pedestrian. As punishment Kroko must work many hours in a home for handicapped young people. There, the patients are trusting, accepting, and candid; they need her. A comparison between them (the spastis) and her old buddies (the normalos) is inevitable with the former the more sympathetic. After some false starts and more problems at home, she accepts responsibility and learns to respect other people. This rather basic story was originally a short film which was so successful that director Sylke Enders got the chance to make a full-length feature out of it – her first. People are already predicting a great future for talented Franziska Jünger who plays Kroko.

Elephant

This film, which won awards at Cannes, is based on the Columbine-style, high school massacre. It follows several high school students in their everyday life. It illustrates the social problems that the students have to deal with on an everyday basis and how disconnected the kids seem from each other. The film is a collage where the viewer tries to put the puzzle into place before the climax hits, but by then it is too late: the violence is done and there is no explanation and no remorse for the victims. The title comes from the Alan Clarke BBC film Elephant about violence in Northern Ireland. He explains that it is “easy to ignore an elephant in the living room.” This idea is not exactly what I would have guessed on my own; I thought that it was more about an elephant never forgets when others are treating him as an outsider. It is an interesting film but takes a long time to develop and in the end leaves you feeling rather helpless instead of hopeful.

Gegen die Wand (Head-On)

Winner of the Golden Bear top prize at the 2004 Berlin film festival, it is special not only because the director Fatih Akin is a native of Hamburg-Altona. See more in the Currents 54th Berlinale Special Issue.

Die Kinder sind Tot (The Children are Dead)

Director Aelrun Goette interviews men in a bar who reject any interest or responsibility. Then the neighbour women in this high-rise settlement have their say. The police show their reports; the undertaker tacks white satin into a child’s coffin and mentions that he provided the burials at cost. Finally, we meet Daniela Jesse, serving life imprisonment for leaving her two small sons alone in 1999. She went off with a man and they died of thirst before her return 14 days later. Daniela was 17 at the birth of her first child. By 23 she had four children from four men. The youngest she gave up for adoption. Perhaps there was a communication problem, because Daniela assumed her mother Rosemarie had all the kids, and not just the eldest, a daughter, whom the grandmother regularly cared for. In 14 days this grandmother never once went to her daughter’s apartment, although she lived in the same building. Everyone is a loser in this poor, white-trash urban neighbourhood in Frankfurt an der Oder (former Eastern Germany). In this excellent documentary Goette is carefully non-judgemental, although the mother-daughter conflicts, as well as their shared genes, are obvious. This allows the viewer to make judgements. Mine were: did not one of the four fathers of these children care about his child? Why is it always the woman who carries the full responsibility? Nobody was to blame; everyone was to blame in this carefully researched and filmed German documentary.

Little Long Nose (Zwerg Nase)

This animated Russian film, directed by Ilja Maximov, is based on the fairy tale by William Hauff. It is about a young boy who is disfigured by a wicked witch; she changes him into a dwarf with a huge nose. Not even his own mother recognizes him, and she thinks that her son has disappeared forever. He is saved by a princess who has problems of her own, and everyone lives happily ever after. The art work is fine and the story familiar.

Out of Time

Set among the beauty of coastal southern Florida and Miami Beach, this detective-light tale is thoroughly enjoyable as long as you don't mind its predictability. The beauty extends to the main characters as well: police chief Matt (Denzel Washington), all buff with a killer smile, his perfect 10 almost-ex wife Alex (Eva Mendes), and his mistress/childhood sweetheart Ann (Sanaa Lathan), who gives new meaning to Miami heat.

Matt learns that Ann has terminal cancer and helps himself to some drug money which he gives to Ann so that she can try some expensive alternative treatment. Funny enough, Ann disappears with the money. Speaking of funny, there are plenty of laughs as this film doesn't take itself seriously with the best comical character, Chae (John Billingsley), trying to convince Matt to take the money and run -- with him. Chae is the town pathologist with a passion for beer and fights with his wife. When Ann and her husband are found burned to death in their Florida bungalow, all evidence points to a jealous Matt who became the beneficiary of a $1 million life insurance policy on Ann. Alex is the lead detective on the murders which helps and hinders Matt's own efforts to hide his affair with Ann and avoid charges of murder. Then the Feds turn up demanding the drug money which they need as evidence in a major federal case. Grab a beer, sit back and take a pleasant break in the Florida sunshine.

Shaolin Soccer (Shaolin Kickers)

Often referred to as the “Jim Carrey of the East,” comedian Stephen Chow wrote, produced, directed and edited this off-the-wall movie, as well as starring in the lead role. Further actors include Ng Mang-tat, Xie Xian, and Zhou Wei, all very well-known in China. Sing (Chow) is one of a group of former Shaolin monks now trying to get ahead with their lives in the big city. Yet, while the others struggle with whatever jobs they manage to find, Sing dreams of finding a way to bring the art of Shaolin to the general public. One plan after another fails, until he crosses paths with Fung (Ng Mang-tat) – a former football star who has fallen on hard times. Suddenly, the idea of combining football and Shaolin seems destined for success and, once Sing manages to convince his former fellow monks to join him, this proves to be the case. With incredible and amusing tactics, the Shaolin team goes from victory to victory till they find themselves at the national finals facing the unbeaten Evil Soccer Team. The story behind Shaolin Soccer is pretty straight forward and predictable, but the realisation is extremely entertaining, producing plenty of loud laughter among the viewers. The four older teenagers I had with me all agreed it was great fun.

Timeline

Based on the 1999 book by Michael Crichton, author of Jurassic Park, this is a science fiction/adventure story and another example of bad science. A team of Yale archeology students are working on a dig at the former site of Castlegard in the Dordogne Valley of France, a famous battle site during the Hundred Year War between England and France. When their beloved professor suddenly disappears, they discover that their high-tech, research-firm-sponsor had sent him back to the site in 1357 with an unpredictable time machine (that looks more like a metal vegetable steamer with mirrors). The team decides to follow him back in time to rescue him and bring him back. Where the book version gave the team several days to accomplish their mission, this team must do it in a few hours before their markers fade and the wormhole closes. Instead of being chased by dinosaurs, they are chased by both the French and English armies. Their peasant costumes and lack of Middle Age languages must have given them away. Trying to beat the clock as well as the English “for the good of France” or history would be changed forever, they must be “brave at heart” and endure flaming arrows, flaming catapults, and flaming “Greek oil.” At least all of the flying fiery arrows were pretty lighting up the night sky!! The film was directed by Richard Donner of Lethal Weapon, Superman and Ladyhawke fame, another castle setting. It should have been exciting and you should have cared whether Lady Claire was rescued or not, but in the end you just wanted the wormhole to close before anyone else got killed and entire family trees ceased to exist.

Welcome to the Jungle

Peter Berg (Very Bad Things) directs Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (Scorpion King), Seann William Scott (American Pie), Christopher Walken (Catch Me If You Can) and Rosario Dawson (Men In Black II) in an action caper set in the Brazilian jungle.

Beck (Johnson) is a bounty hunter with a love for good recipes. He dreams of earning enough money to get out of the business and open up a restaurant, a dream that comes a step closer when he’s sent to South America to locate and bring home Travis (Scott), his boss’ very own son. Of course, Travis has no desire to return home, as he’s very close to finding an archeological treasure know as El Gato. Unfortunately, it’s located in the middle of a gold mining area controlled by a nasty slave driver known as Hatcher (Walken), who gets wind of the imminent discovery and wants it for himself.

Inevitably, though their goals are totally different, circumstances tie Beck, Travis and the beautiful rebel leader Mariana (Dawson) together in a race for their lives through the jungle and a final showdown back at the gold mining town known as “Helldorado”.

Welcome to the Jungle is just about what you expect it to be: lots of action, lots of fists flying, bullets tearing through the air and explosions destroying every building in sight. It’s the kind of movie most teen-age kids will probably enjoy. Could have been worse...

Back to Gaya

Gaya is a fantastic world of beautiful landscapes, magnificent colours and remarkable inhabitants. These inhabitants are much smaller than humans, but nevertheless not completely dissimilar. There are the daring hero Zino, the clever inventor Buu and the beautiful daughter of the mayor, Alanta. But there are also the eternal adversaries of the Gayaners, the mean Schnurks. And just as the Gayaner are having one of their rapid confrontations with the Schnurks, they suddenly disappear from their sound world into an exciting adventure of completely new dimensions. The magic stone, the heart of Gaya, has disappeared. Who stole this Dalamit, which counteracts evil forces? The three heroes and the Schnurks have only one goal in the world of humans: find the magic stone to save Gaya.

Brother Bear (Bärenbrüder)

The moral of this Disney offering is that universal understanding comes from walking in the other man’s shoes. In this case a boy grows to manhood by becoming a bear. Three brothers live in a tribe of Eskimos during the Ice Age. In a coming-of-age ceremony each must follow a worthy goal: Kenai the bear of love, Denahi the totem of wisdom, and Sitka the eagle of leadership. Sitka suffers a fatal accident and Kenai, in a wild ascension into the colorful northern lights, is changed into a bear. Denhai, sporting a faux Richard Gere squint, sets out to revenge them both. He climbs sheer mountains which make the Andes in Touching the Void look easy. He comes into conflict with a bear: his own brother. In the end Dehnai has the wisdom to lead the tribe and Kenai remains in bear form at the side of his new-found younger brother Koda, a buck-toothed bear cub. The children in my audience laughed at the bears’ antics and the clumsy elks with the Swedish-Berlin accent. They sat round eyed when it got scary. The music composed and performed by Phil Collins swells and keeps a snazzy beat. Still, it’s hard to agree with the film’s Oscar nomination for best animated feature film, considering it seems just plain out of date, old-fashioned and flat. If Disney wants to survive after Pixar leaves the partnership, it will have to come up with something fresher; otherwise, we might as well check out the 1942 video of another animal which lost his mother: Bambi.

Drumline

Devon (Nick Cannon of The Nick Cannon TV Show) is a Harlem boy full of rhythm who lives at home with his mother. Upon graduation from high school he receives a scholarship to attend Atlanta A&T University, which is famous for its 170-piece marching band, including several – not just one – lines of drummers. Before he takes off for college, he visits his absent father to flaunt his promising future with no support from him. This seems unnecessarily cruel and is a clue to the problems that he will have at school due to an immature cockiness. After being relegated to the back row and forced to learn to read music, he accepts the motto “one band, one sound” and grows up. Other characters are the love interest (Zoe Saldana), the band leader (Orlando Jones) and a competitive drummer (Leonard Roberts).

This type of marching band originated fifty years ago at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, under the direction of Dr. William Foster. Cannon’s double is talented drummer Jason Price. Dallas Austin composed much of the film’s music. Since his first hit single Hey, Mr. DJ, he has worked with Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Lenny Kravitz, Fishbone, Paula Abdul, etc., and composed sound tracks for Nutty Professor, White Men Can’t Jump, etc. Director Charles Stone III normally directs video clips. Although the story is simple (kind of Fame on the football field), although football appears for all of six seconds, it’s the drumming that will mesmerize you. This is a five-star film for anyone interested in this music which climaxes in a gigantic drumming competition.

Gothika

It’s not every day that US producers, namely Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis and Susan Levin, search for a director and come up with a Frenchman, namely Mathieu Kassovitz. Together they made this modern gothic film -- gothic in that it is mostly dark, rainy and scary. Dr. Miranda Grey (Halle Berry) and her husband are psychiatrists in an asylum. Miranda’s patient Chloe (Penelope Cruz) tells her, “You can’t trust people who don’t listen.” Soon their relationship changes from doctor/patient to fellow inmates as Miranda is locked up after having killed her husband. She can’t remember a thing. Her colleague Dr. Pete Graham (Robert Downey Jr., finally in a satisfactory role) stands by her. Her husband’s best friend, who is also the sheriff in the case, does not. Played by John Carroll Lynch, his tattoos give him away as he grows more evil, quite a reverse from his role as the solicitous husband in Fargo. The film vacillates between horror and science fiction; ghosts rise up unexpectedly, invisible hands open cell doors, and the words “not alone” appear on glass and skin. The ending, however, is not mysterious at all, but quite explainable in modern terms: pornography. The ending might have been quite different if Miranda, upon her breathless escape, had taken old-fashioned car keys which do not open locks by remote control.

The Passion of the Christ (Die Passion Christi)

This is the story of Jesus Christ from the moment that Judas betrays him until he dies and briefly, rises again. In the beginning, we see Jesus (James Caviezel) sweating, suffering and praying in a kind of blue mist. His disciples have fallen asleep. Then we are in the Temple where Judas accepts 30 pieces of silver to betray where Jesus is staying. Jesus is arrested. Unless you are familiar with the Gospel according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, other than the severe suffering of Jesus, you may have some difficulty understanding who is who, what is happening and why. Mel Gibson (who also directs) and Benedict Fitzgerald wrote the screenplay from the Gospel and the characters speak Aramaic and Latin.

Jesus is beaten in such a way that mere mortal words cannot describe. His torture endures for almost the entire two hours of the film. With one eye swollen shut and his entire body bleeding profusely, Jesus still asks for forgiveness for his torturers. This film is rated Restricted (no one under 17 admitted without parental guidance) purely for the unrelenting violence inflicted upon Jesus. The cameras never flinch from the flaying and the beating, and the crucifixtion of Jesus is excruiatingly gruesome nail by nail, with bones audibly cracking. Caviezel holds your attention, that one almost amber eye conveying acceptance, not fear. At times Satan (Rosalinda Celentano) is glimpsed in the crowds, the pale hooded face challenging Jesus to save himself. Just when you think Jesus has suffered enough and surely must pass out or die, he rises again.

Whether you consider this film a docu-drama or a good yarn, the passion of the cruelty may be hard to bear. But just in case you are not sure what to feel, the heavy-handed melodramatic music will clue you in with swells and thunder at appropriate moments. Flashbacks attempt to fill in major events in Jesus' life but not enough to inform those who have not read the Bible. And whatever possessed Gibson to add a light-hearted flashback about Jesus the Carpenter inventing the first table that you sit down at with high chairs? Not exactly the greatest story ever told.

This is an exquisite film by Kim Ki Du of South Korea: lyrical, touching, spiritual, and incredibly beautiful. The story, and there is one, includes faith, discipline, lust, love, and death in many forms. If there was any film I saw during the Hamburg Film Festival that I would recommend unequivocally, it is this extraordinary work. If you possibly can make it, see this film. You will not be disappointed.

Big Fish 1/2

Tim Burton brings together Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Jessica Lange, Billy Crudup, Danny de Vito, Helena Bonham Carter and more in a film based on the book by Daniel Wallace.

At every chance, Edward Bloom (Finney) tells the story about the enormous fish he caught with his wedding ring – and let go so as to get the ring back – on the day his son Will (Crudup) was born. It’s just another of the fantastical tales that Edward has always told since his son was small but, when he repeats it yet again at Will’s wedding, the young man has had enough. The two quarrel and break off any direct contact.

Three years later, as Edward lies dying of cancer, Will returns to visit and to try and discover who his father really was, as opposed to the hero of impossible adventures that he grew up hearing about. However, Edward sees the world with very different eyes to his son; eyes that make every second person he encounters a magical being, every situation a setting for mystery and amazing spectacles. As he takes his son back through the episodes of his life, Will is, at first, as incredulous as ever, yet little by little he begins to get glimpses of understanding, which eventually turn into touching acceptance.

The ideas behind Big Fish are great ones – accept people the way they are rather than how we think they should be; how does each of us see the world?, is there only one real way to see the world?, what is real anyway? – and this could have been a great movie. However, Burton has chosen a very "staged" look, which left me indifferent for the first two thirds of the film. Interestingly, like Will, I did warm up towards the end, so maybe that was part of the plan! Finney, Lange, and McGregor’s performances were competent, while I found Crudup – who I thought was great in Almost Famous – rather uninteresting.

Cheaper by the Dozen (Im Dutzend Billiger)

Mr. and Mrs. Baker (Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt) may have twelve children, but they haven’t grasped the first rule of how to bring them up. You and I know that throwing balls, skateboarding and hockey games are never allowed in the house. Because they are allowed in the Baker home we are meant to find them funny, and the mishaps, which they cause, funny too.

Director Shawn Levy decided that twelve children with varying degrees of cuteness (or naughtiness, depending on your point of view) and lots of slapstick humour were the perfect ingredients for a good, old-fashioned family movie. His premise may be correct but he hasn’t managed to achieve it with this one. Slapstick needs a light-handed approach to make it work, but here we see the same old subjects treated in a heavy-handed way. One joke about someone swinging from a chandelier may be funny, one supposes, but if it’s repeated half a dozen times then it’s half a dozen times too many. And there’s nothing funny – ever – about children sliding about in vomit. If a master of slapstick such as Steve Martin can’t pull it off, then you know your movie is in trouble, Mr. Levy.

It might be interesting to compare this film with the original one made half a century ago. Are there, for example, as many mixed messages and stereotyped characters in the first movie as there are in the new one? Fifty years ago a family of twelve children was not the rare occurrence it is today, and childrearing methods must have been very different. Our present world is very much a child-centred one. After you’ve seen this movie, you can make up for the time you wasted on it by considering the pros and cons of children being seen and not heard, and the advantages and disadvantages of the nuclear family. Perhaps you can read the book on which the movies are based? It has to be more interesting than this film.

M. Ibrahim und die Blumen des Koran (M. Ibrahim and the Flowers of the Koran)

Better late than never: your trusty film reviewers almost missed this one. We were not invited to the press preview, and now the film has been running for weeks in Hamburg and will probably not be around much longer. But, if you can manage, do try to see this charming, moving little picture. It is playing in the original French at Abaton with German subtitles and dubbed into German at the Holi.

Omar Sharif does a wonderful job in the title role of M. Ibrahim, but the star, believe me, is a beautiful young lad of 12? 14? named Daniel Boulanger who plays Moses. From the beginning, the “Arab” in the small, general store across the street, M. Ibrahim (Sharif) calls Moses, Momo. Ibrahim turns a blind eye to Momo’s shoplifting, and tells him pointedly that he is not an “Arab” but comes from another part of the world – Turkey. And he is, he says, a Muslim and a happy man because “I know what my Koran tells me.”

Moses is Jewish and lives with his father, a dour man with little interest in his son and an ex-wife who left him when Moses was a baby, taking, he says, his older, much loved son, Popol, with her. Moses cooks for his father and shops at M. Ibrahim’s store (open from 8 to midnight, seven days a week, says the proprietor). The story is rich in vignettes of the neighborhood, Le rue Bleu, and in the life of the adolescent Moses, who patronizes the prostitutes on the block when he can raise the cash, has a brief disappointing romance with the young Jewish girl who lives a floor below, and eventually, after losing his father, is adopted by M. Ibrahim and goes off to see Turkey.

That is just an outline of a film whose central theme is the blossoming relationship between the wise, deeply courteous Muslim and the young, unhappy boy. The gentle pace belies the many facets of the story and the wealth of insights. Happily too, music plays a large part in the film. A wonderful combination of rock and swing from the very early 60’s, it reflects both the joy Momo brings to Ibrahim and Momo’s own growth and acceptance of himself. It’s a lovely movie.

Starsky & Hutch

Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson star in this action, comedy caper based on the TV series of the seventies and directed by Todd Phillips.

Starsky (Stiller) and Hutch (Wilson) are as far apart in their attitude towards police work as can be. The first is rather uptight and very to-the-book, while the second is relaxed and quite prepared to bend the rules when it suits his purpose. As both have just managed to mess up their most recent assignments, their superior decides to team them up as a form of punishment. As he says: "they deserve each other". Neither is pleased with this turn of events, but they’re soon caught up in the investigation of a big drug deal that, according to their street-wise informant Huggy Bear (Snoop Dogg), is going down. On the one hand, the team seems to have good instincts for pinpointing the bad guys but terrible ones when it comes to executing their plans to nail them. This leads to all kinds of amusing and embarrassing episodes, but also to a consolidation of their growing respect for each other and friendship.

For a light-hearted action movie based on a series, I actually found this pleasantly well-balanced and unexpectedly entertaining. It had a funny, saucy, and all-round good cast that also included Juliette Lewis, Carmen Electra and Vincent Vaughn as the bad guy.