AWCH Film Reviews -- March 2007

(Jenny M) Opening March 1, 2007

Have you ever wondered why your Big Mac is so cheap? Would you consider paying a little more for it if you thought the extra money went to help the lives of the people who prepared it and to provide more humane slaughtering procedures for the animals which provided the meat for it? Director Richard Linklater has based his movie on Eric Schlosser’s best selling novel of the same name. He doesn’t answer these questions but instead shows us what is involved in getting that patty onto your polystyrene plate. Greg Kinnear plays Don Henderson, an energetic young executive with a promising future. When tests show that the E coli bacteria is present in the burgers, he is sent from Company Headquarters to its factory in Colorado to discover why this should be. Much of the work in such factories and slaughterhouses is done by illegal immigrants from Mexico, who risked everything for a better life in the U.S.A. Their wages are higher than anything on offer in Mexico but they do a ghastly job in apparently the most dangerous working conditions in America. As hideous injuries are relatively commonplace and healthcare is prohibitively expensive, immigrants discover that they haven’t found their promised land. Farmers aren’t happy either, they watch helplessly as good grazing land is sold off to real estate developers. Animal rights activists from the nearby college meanwhile have the mistaken idea that setting the animals free will solve the whole problem.

Mr. Kinnear is wonderful in this movie and there are great cameo performances from Bruce Willis and Kris Kristofferson with fine supporting performances from Patricia Arquette, Avril Lavigne and Ethan Allen.

(Birgit S) Opening March 1, 2007

The story is based on Joseph Kanon’s book In the Ruins of Berlin, for which Paul Attanasio wrote the screenplay. Director Steven Soderbergh filmed in black and white as well as in the style of the 1940s, skilfully adding original footage, reflecting the atmosphere and mood of the time.

In Berlin 1945, at the end of World War II, the victorious Allied Forces assemble for a Peace Conference. Corporal Tully (Tobey Maguire) is driving war correspondent Jake Geismer (George Clooney, Oscar/Golden Globe for Syriana; Ocean's series) through the ruins of Berlin, cheerfully praising the flourishing Black Market. Jake has been in Berlin before, working for a news agency – and it was then that he fell in love with Lena. It turns out that Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett, Oscar for The Aviator; Babel, Notes on a Scandal) is now the girlfriend of young Tully, the little dealer and corrupt hustler. Lena tries to hide from Jake, pretending they hardly know each other. She is not the only one telling half-truths or outright lies. Almost all characters act unpredictably, and one can only guess at their shady intentions and motives. Times are uncertain and peace seems still very fragile.

Corporal Tully is found floating in the river in the Russian Zone with a bullet in his chest, 100,000 German Marks cash stashed in his pockets. The officials don’t seem to care much. Jake’s curiosity is raised, particularly as all leads point to Lena. He wants to revive their love affair but she has turned into a cold, emotionless woman and her queer behaviour is a total mystery. Her room mate Hannelore (Robin Weigert) adds the only light and cheerful touch to this melodramatic thriller.

What is Lena hiding? Her husband, Emil Brandt (Christian Oliver), once worked with Hitler’s engineering team developing V2 rocket missiles. The Americans (Beau Bridges as Colonel Muller) as well as the Russians (Ravil Isyanov as General Sikorsky) are desperately looking for the blueprints. Whoever is in possession of such dangerous information has the upper hand in any future dispute (the Cold War already looming on the horizon!). But Brandt only wants to tell the appalling truth of the gruelling conditions when thousands of forced labourers were dying miserably in the underground military factories. He is the “good” (but naïve) German.

Second Opinion (Shelly S)

Director Soderbergh always wanted to make a film in this 1940’s noir style and said that although this was not very well received in America, he hoped it would do better in Europe. This is a post-war conspiracy film in Berlin which uses the camera and lighting techniques of the time. Jake Geismer (Clooney) a journalist who has lost his way through the war but ends up back in his old stomping grounds, thinks things will look up once he runs into his old flame Lena Brandt (Blanchett) who is coupled with Corporal Tully (Maguire). Tully is an American optimistic entrepreneur who has used the war to his financial gain. He had the best job in the army as supply driver giving free access to the black market trade with the Russians. His sudden death at the hand of the Russians changes the film dramatically. We are all relieved since his character was so annoying and spews nothing but clichés in a loud tone. What’s great about all the one liners in the old films like Casablanca is that the lines were original and later adapted to the film. In The Good German, the lines are not original and unfortunately ruin the film. Soderbergh needs to work on his casting, especially when he is trying a different style of film that demands a lot. Lena’s character isn’t believable since Blanchett doesn’t speak German. Why not get a German actress? There are plenty of them who are talented as well. The style of this movie demands so many different things that it must have been a challenging film to make, but it certainly did not pay off in the end to the modern audience.

(Becky T) Opening March 1, 2007

Peg and Eugene live together with their younger son Johnny and his pregnant wife Ashley in a small town in North Carolina, USA. Johnny is already 20 and still trying to get high school diploma. Eugene makes wood carvings and Peg cooks, while pregnant Ashley (excellent Amy Adams) babbles on about babies. This southern idyll is interrupted by the older son George and his British wife Madeleine. She runs an art gallery in Chicago and business brings her south so that they also visit George’s parents. This is George’s first trip home in three years and the family’s first introduction to his European wife of six months. The harder Madeleine tries to fit in, the stronger the animosity is against her. Johnny’s old jealousies against his more successful older brother also surface. In the climax, all rush to the hospital with Ashley except Madeleine who is busy convincing the artist David Wark to sign on with her.

With this simple story, director Phil Morrison shows us typical small-town America at church or a baby shower and people sharing a home with visitors who are no longer “family.” It is cosmopolitan self-importance against narrow-minded, good country folk and the doomed relationship is nobody’s fault. I enjoyed this film so much that I checked out the DVD to re-watch it. It reminded me of visits to my hometown in Missouri, where everyone tries to be polite but really wishes I would just go away. I think many of us can relate to this sense of no longer belonging, no matter which life changes we have made.

(Kirstan B) Opening March 8, 2007

My grandmother once told me the assassination of JFK was shocking as it stunned the world, but the death of Bobby Kennedy “ripped the heart out of America.” 1968 was a volatile year propelled by violence, protest and idealistic hopes pinned onto a presidential candidate who spoke passionately about his dream for the betterment of America by focusing on the individual rights of humanity. Perhaps romanticized by an untimely death, RFK’s extinguished potential sets an extremely high bar for politicians to hurdle even today, forty years later.

Quite a lot to portray for any writer/director/producer, especially for Emilio Estevez, a former Brat-packer (St. Elmo’s Fire, The Breakfast Club), who was probably still in diapers the day Bobby was shot. Trying to capture the end of an era on film, Estevez reveals a slice of life through 22 characters, five of which end up shot by Sirhan Sirhan in the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel after Kennedy’s California primary win. Employees, hotel guests, and political aides are shown going about their daily business on the day of the assassination, portrayed by an ensemble of not-quite-A-list actors who fail to tap their best acting potential: Martin Sheen, William H. Macy, Helen Hunt, Anthony Hopkins, Harry Belafonte, Christian Slater, Heather Graham, etc.. Although the stories are interesting enough, all of them are fictional with the exception of a young war bride (Lindsay Lohan) who marries a school chum (Elijah Wood) to keep him out of Vietnam. Estevez takes on alcoholism, political activism, drugs, war, racism, adultery, depression, ennui, AND social pecking order, but comes up lacking the one ingredient to hold it together: passion. Although we see plenty of RFK footage with very long speech voice-overs, somehow the connection isn’t strong enough between these random lives, Robert Kennedy and the momentum of a nation stopped in its tracks on that fateful day.

The image that is burned in my mind is based on the actual photo of the busboy with Kennedy’s bloodied head in his hands; in my opinion, the kitchen crew shows the strongest, most realistic storyline in the movie (fictional or not), thanks to fine acting of Laurence Fishburne, Freddy Rodriguez, and Jacob Vargas.

Make-up, hair, and costumes are all first rate (with the exception of Ashton Kutcher’s unbelievably clean hippie) and filmed with an thoughtful eye from cinematographer Michael Barrett, much to the dismay of Sharon Stone’s/Demi Moore’s/Helen Hunt’s wrinkles and the multitude of Lindsay Lohan’s freckles.

(Becky T) Opening March 8, 2007

Hugh Grant is brilliant as Alex Fletcher, a has-been pop star and parody of George Michael and other singers of the 80s such as Duran Duran. Alex’s musical star has fallen; he is a nobody until hot-stuff-in-hot-pants Cora Corman (Haley Bennett) hires him to write a song for her. He puts on the old composer thinking-cap, but is at loss for lyrics until plant-nanny Sophie (Drew Barrymore) shows that her talent lies in spouting words rather than watering cactus. Sophie’s sister, Rhonda (the excellent Kristen Johnston), married and mother of two, is ecstatic that she is just one degree of separation from her old teenage idol and encourages the budding relationship between the two. But Sophie mistrusts happiness after her former English professor shamelessly exploited her love. The film gets a bit sappy at the end, but this is a romantic comedy after all, and everything prior is so much fun that lovelorn gazes at the piano player are allowed.

It begins and ends with a hilarious video clip of Alex’s old band PoP and their top single PoP Goes my Heart. There are many original songs by Adam Schlesinger performed by Grant, Bennett, Barrymore and Schlesinger, although Grant claims that he couldn’t sing or dance before filming began. The story sparkles with one-liners such as “Come on. I’ll show you the roof. It’s upstairs.” Or “God never had a hit. Yeah? He’s got the whole world in his hands?” Grant’s British accent is perfect for the film which unfolds in Manhattan; try to see it in English, but certainly see it – in any language.

(Adele R) Opening March 8, 2007

Solidarość and Lech Wałęsa exploded on the world in 1980 when the workers at the Lenin Shipyards forged a strike that spread throughout Danzig and infected half of Poland. The workers forced the shipyard, and the Politburo in Warsaw to make extraordinary concessions for a Communist country: the right to strike, the right to form an independent labor union, the right to freedom of speech. Eventually, the authorities cracked down, but Solidarość and Walesa, who won the Nobel Peace Prize a few years later, had made history and a hesitant movement throughout Eastern Europe took heart, leading ten years later to the fall of Communism. The founder of Solidarość, however, was not Wałęsa, but a tiny, feisty woman called Agnieszka, (Katharina Thalbach) in Volker Schlöndorf’s fictional film ( her real name was Anna Walentynowicz.)

The strike in Danzig didn’t happen overnight. It had its roots in years of mistreatment, exploitation, and lies and the unrest came to a boil in 1970 when a disaster, caused by dangerous, neglectful conditions, killed 21 workers. The subsequent cover up, and the denial of compensation and pensions for the widows was too much for Agnieszka She led a protest for which she was imprisoned, severely beaten and eventually fired from her job, but the widows got their pensions and the workers insisted she join a secret movement at the yard along with a young electrician named Lech (Andrezej Chyra). The group forced the yard’s directors to give Agnieszka her job back and did not stop there. Agnieszka was their leader, the spirit and the strength who galvanized the workers, speaking out against injustice wherever she saw it.

Katharina Thalbach gives an extraordinary performance. The photography is incredible. Schlöndorf returned to Danzig (the location of his Oscar-crowned film The Tin Drum, also starring Thalbach) and the scenes shot on the docks with the present shipyard workers as extras, the towering half-built ships and ten story-high cranes are absolutely breathtaking. But I was left shrugging my shoulders. Somehow, the film does not capture satisfactorily how extraordinary this incredible woman and her brave colleagues were in a Communist world totally controlled by repressive and vindictive authorities.

(Birgit S) Opening March 8, 2007

Roland Spatz (Ulrich Noethen), his wife Sybille (Katja Riemann), teenager Linus (Josef Mattes) and son Charles (Volker Bruch) enjoy orderly, happy lives. Father Roland has an important job as risk manager. Well-groomed Sybille runs a successful art gallery in town and meets with friend Hannes (Martin Feifel) at the gym in her spare time. Dutifully she sees to the boys’ breakfast, though Linus would prefer his calcium and vitamin pills instead of freshly pressed orange juice and milk from happy cows, as offered by his mom. Charles thinks he has fallen in love with a guy in the army (he is serving his term) and is busy fighting his confused feelings. Then father Roland loses his high-powered job. At first, the family reacts rather coolly, remarking, “Do we have to sell the house?” “Oh, no!” is the self-assured answer. Instead Roland intends to modernise the house, eagerly starting to demolish the living room wall. Everyone’s schedule and “peaceful” routine is disturbed. He annoys every member of the family and even clashes with his wife. One feels sorry for this stranded manager, who had not shown any interest in his family during the past 20 years, who does not know what kind of art his wife is selling or which subjects his son takes at school. He means well but is turning into a helpless and hopelessly clumsy husband and father. He is totally out of his depth. As his next job offer is lost, he seeks help from the influential new neighbours (Alexander Held, his wife Juliane Köhler), only to learn that the grass is not greener on the other side.

Son Linus builds bombs in his room and blows up the bird house in the garden (no one in the family seems to notice) as well as an ugly sculpture in the neighbourhood (which is noticed and immediately followed by a chase). Eccentric Florina (strong performance by newcomer Hannah Herzsprung), a rebellious, exotic looking 16-year old, fascinates Linus. A tender relationship develops, soon resulting in turbulent scenes involving the whole family. Dramatic situations alternate with comical scenes. Katja Riemann and Ulrich Noethen give their characters depth and integrity, well complimenting each other. The film ends literally with a blast – but it feels like a happy end with room for hope and positive feelings.

(Adele R) Opening March 15, 2007

In the early minutes of Freedom Writers an extraordinarily naive Hilary Swank as the real, first-time teacher Erin Gruwell, gives you serious reason to doubt that the movie has a chance. But almost immediately, Swank’s character begins to learn about the students in her class and realize that teaching these kids will take all the creativity and empathy she can muster. Her mind-boggling naiveté slips away and her dedication begins to bloom (and, incidentally, to contribute to the disintegration of her marriage to Scott (Patrick Dempsey of Dr. McDreamy fame).

The teenagers in Room 203 are a mixed lot: Asian, Latino and Black with one frightened white boy who finds himself isolated and (thankfully) ignored by the violent, warring factions of the ethnically divided class. The film, in flashbacks, gives us the backgrounds of these discarded kids—juvenile delinquents, gang members, underprivileged students from poor neighbourhoods and broken families who have been bussed into the school in the name of integration and are just killing time in an institution which cannot wait for them to be gone.

In the early weeks a shooting involving members of her class radically changes Gruwell’s teaching methods. Her new approach takes them back to the Holocaust and the Diary of Anne Frank to show them that racism, hatred, gangs, and war are not new and have engulfed kids many times in history. And she inspires them to write their stories, record their experiences and their emotions in dealing with their violence-filled lives.

This is a true story and it is a successful film, very different from the usual charismatic-teacher-inspires-rebellious-kids stuff we are so used to, because it is based on the actual diaries written by Gruwell’s students and eventually published as a book they titled The Freedom Writers.

The movie, written and directed by Richard Lagravenese, who wrote The Fisher King and The Bridges of Madison County, is engrossing and deeply moving. April Lee Hernandez in her first feature role as Eva is wonderful, as are most of the actors playing the students, and Swank’s personal identification with Erin Gruwell is evident in her excellent performance.

(Karen P) Opening March 15, 2007

The acclaimed documentary filmmaker, Kevin Macdonald, recreates a chilling portrayal of Ugandan life under the rule of Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker). Even more disturbing is Macdonald’s description of Amin’s unstable mental state that fueled his horrific dictatorship. Macdonald based his narrative on the novel, The Last King of Scotland, by Giles Foden. Together Macdonald, Foden and the screenplay writers, Andrea Calderwood, Lisa Bryer, and Charles Steel, eloquently combined fact with fiction to tell one of the most tragic stories of inhumane treatment known to man. I guarantee that it will keep you glued to the seat in the cinema for the full duration of the film.

The world is well aware of the atrocities Idi Amin brought upon his Ugandan people. Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland gives a real face to this extreme Ugandan leader told in the first person by his personal physician, the young Scottish Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy).

A graduate of medical school in the 1970s, Nicholas Garrigan leaves Scotland in search of a life of adventure that would feed his personal recklessness but offer practical assistance to a country in need of his medical skills. He lands a job working with Dr. Merrit (Adam Kotz) and his wife Sarah Merrit (Gillian Anderson) in a Ugandan medical mission.

Dr. Merrit is called away on a medical emergency and orders Nicholas to tend to Sarah and the mission compound. Taking orders from someone else was not Dr. Garrigan’s cup of tea and he rather enjoys the authority he has caring for the compound. While Sarah and Nicholas trave outside the compound for a little rest and relaxation, they happen upon one of Idi Amin’s political rallies. On their way home from the rally they come upon a car accident. The car belongs to Idi Amin! As Sarah and Nicholas approach the scene, Amin’s body guards freak out and summon them to attend to the wounded--one of which was a cow. Dr. Garrigan’s bold response to the crisis surrounding the accident impresses Amin. A few days later, Amin sends for the young doctor and offers him a job as his personal physician. Dr. Garrigan is thrilled with Amin’s offer and gladly accepts. He is inspired by the idea of being in the midst of Uganda’s new regime that demonstrated the real possibility of making a difference in their history. He could only imagine what opportunities he could glean from this experience. Dr. Garrigan’s fascination with his position is the beginning of a journey that tests his morals and threatens his very existence. The question is, will he live long enough to tell about it?

(Birgit S) Opening March 15, 2007

Dark and foggy London, only the wind softly moves the fallen autumn leaves in the graveyard. Whilst an informer is warning chief inspector Even Longer (Oliver Kalkofe, comedian/script) and his colleague Very Long (Bastian Pastewka, comedian/script), he is struck down by arrows. The Wixxer is back in town! His first victim has died. With horror the two inspectors discover a row of empty, freshly dug graves, complete with names engraved in stone. Their own names are amongst them as well as Victoria Dickham’s, daughter of the legendary ex-inspector of Scotland Yard (marvellous Joachim Fuchsberger, after 30 years again to be seen on screen). All victims will be killed by The Wixxer within the next 24 hours. Panic-stricken, they take action as the dead bodies pile up in Dr. Brinkman’s pathology (Oliver Welke, comedian/script). Inspector Even Longer, who is madly in love with young and sexy Victoria Dickham (Christiane Paul), would prefer to guard her himself for the next 24 hours but urgent tasks are demanding his attention. Time is running out. How can Victoria be safe in the old castle? His dancing brother, detective Much Longer (Christian Tramitz), is responsible for her personal safety. But what is the role of Alfons Hatler (Christoph Maria Herbst), the weird manager of an asylum, singing karaoke in his spare time? Does he have any control over his inmates? The suspense grows. Who is the Wixxer hiding behind a mask and covered in a wide cloak?

Since 2004's Der Wixxer played to an audience of about two million; the new movie Neues vom Wixxer will have its fan club already. Producer Christian Becker has won more big names like Joachim Fuchsberger (in the ‘60s he was inspector Barth of the successful Edgar Wallace movies), Christiane Paul, Sonja Kirchberger (Lady Dickham) and Judy Winter (Sister Lucipha). Chris Howland and Wolfgang Völz are another two “Oldies” adding their special touch. A few insider gags can be recognised as homage to the original Wallace films and will please all fans of this genre. Unexpected cameo appearances of well-known public personalities surprise throughout the story. This who-done-it comedy is directed by the young duo Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert (Märchenstunde – TV and script).

(Birgit S) Opening March 15, 2007

Good son and bad son live in a small Dutch town. Good son (Mounir Valentyn) is bright, never looks at girls and is destined to study medicine. Bad son (Mohammed Chaara) is satisfied with the study of girls. The father (Sabri Saad El-Hamus), a hardworking Moroccan shop owner and mighty proud of good son, is prematurely bathing in the admiration of his Arab friends. Good son Nordip does not share his father’s dream. There must be more to life than study. The Blue Vulture Hotel has a vacancy for a dishwasher who must be a strong young man. Secretly he starts work and his sheltered life becomes a thing of the past. The hotel kitchen is chaotic, in fact, it is hell. He finds himself amidst a horde of boisterous characters, shouting, spitting, smoking, laughing or swearing in all languages and surrounded by sweltering heat from steaming hot pots and sizzling pans. Will he survive the mean, intriguing cook Sander (Micha Hulshof) and lazy drunken boss Willem (Frank Lammers)? Yes, because an angel, beautiful blond Agnes (Bracha van Doesburgh), has entered hell, which now spells “paradise”. Among stacks of dirty dishes and burned, tough Schnitzels sweet and tender love begins to bloom. However, today’s world is fast and so is the tempo in the kitchen. Before long, hot kisses are exchanged in cool rooms, watched over by naked slabs of slaughtered pork, until jealous Sanders becomes a witness. Paradise is shaken and matters get complicated: dishwashing, dark-haired Moroccan on one side – blond, charming niece of hotel owner on the other. We all know that could be a problem but none that Dutch director Martin Koolhoven couldn’t solve.

His tongue-in-cheek, light-hearted comedy is a delight to watch. The young, energetic cast all act with great bravura. It feels good to laugh without having to find excuses for politically incorrect jokes. This scurrile love story was the most successful Dutch film since its release in 2005. It was selected to show at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, as a Variety’s Critics Choice in the Europe Now category.

(Mary W) Opening March 22, 2007

In a lush suburban neighborhood of Los Angeles, drug kingpin Sonny Truelove (Bruce Willis) is helping his son Johnny (Emile Hirsch) learn the business. Johnny is owed $1200 from a small-time dealer, Jake (Ben Foster), who enjoys sampling the gear. When Jake cannot pay the debt on demand, Johnny seizes the opportunity to pick up Zack (Anton Yelchin), Jake’s naïve little brother. Zack at just fifteen had escaped out of his bedroom window to avoid a confrontation with his parents.

Zack worships his totally strung out, drunken, addict brother and so tacitly agrees to stay with his kidnappers to help Jake out. Johnny leaves Zack in the care of Frankie (Justin Timberlake), a basically good-hearted rich kid whose daddy generously offers to share his doobies and bimbos. Along with Frankie, Zack parties with slick chicks while they all inhale and imbibe to excess. As time passes, Johnny has second thoughts about the crime he may have committed and after consultation with his lawyer, comes to the absurd conclusion that killing the kid is better that being popped for kidnapping.

Sound like a B-grade film? It would be except for some superb performances by Foster and Timberlake, and the chilling facts – this is a true crime story.

(Shelly S) Opening March 22, 2007

Based on the true eyewitness account of Adolf Burger, the beginning shows Salomon Sorowitsch (Karl Markovics), known as the King of the Counterfeiters, living fast and corrupt in Berlin before WW2. Life was a game where all you needed was money and if he needed it, he would print it. That was until he was arrested by Friedrich Herzog and put into the concentration camp. Later found and transferred to Sachsenhausen by Herzog, Sororwitsch finds himself head of Operation Bernhard, a system for producing counterfeit money in order to sabotage the Allies’ economic system. They used the best printmakers, graphic artists and typographers in the camps and brought them to these barracks where they were all to work under Salomon Sorowitsch.

This is an amazing story showing the conflict between saving your own skin by helping the Nazis or fighting for a greater cause, which meant stopping the machines. The conflict is set up by two very different personalities in the camp: Sorowitsch, who is interested in survival and Adolf Burger (August Diehl), who has lost everything and begins to sabotage the operations. Director Stefan Ruzowitzky does a wonderful job in showing how much these people suffered and how even a character like Sorowitsch who seems so self-confident loses himself in a situation of immense human suffering. It is a shame this film did not take any awards at the Berlinale since the director and actors did a wonderful job. This film should have won outstanding artistic contribution (instead of The Good Shepherd).

(Birgit S) Opening March 22, 2007

Returning from vacation, vivacious 19-year-old Lili is welcomed by her parents. Something is wrong. Why this worried look? They tell her that her twin brother Loic left home after a terrible fight with his father (Kad Merad). Mother Isabelle (Isabelle Renauld) is helpless and unhappy. Startled by their peculiar behaviour, Lili dials Loic’s mobile number to find out what really happened. He does not answer and ignores all her messages. It makes no sense to her!

She accuses her parents of hiding the real reason from her. Something might have happened to him. Had the police been informed? Paul, her father, seems to take it all very calmly, totally detached, not in the least concerned about his son’s whereabouts. The uncertainty and tense atmosphere in the house is hardly bearable. Her close friends, Léa (Aissa Maiga) and Thomas (Julien Boisselier), are her only support. Lili cannot eat, cannot sleep and after a collapse has to be submitted to hospital. It is heartbreaking to watch Lili’s frustration, her suffering. Will she ever recover? All she wants to do is to die. She is certain that Loic is dead.

One day a postcard from her brother arrives out of the blue: all is well; he loves her and will soon write again; he couldn’t handle their nagging, depressing father any longer and is now roaming the country for a while, playing his guitar. More postcards arrive from different places. Fragile Lili slowly finds back her energy but cannot come to terms with her brother’s apparently new lifestyle. Secretly, she is looking for him, visiting the places mentioned on his cards. Whilst sitting in a café on the coast, watching the rain, she sees a familiar hooded figure dropping a postcard into a mailbox and follows.

This film by Philippe Lioret is a sensitive and moving portrait of a middle-class family and is as engrossing as a thriller, but not without its funny moments. Mélanie Laurent carries the whole film and is a delight to watch. She received the “Romy Schneider Prize” for her touching performance as Lili and was invited as a shooting star candidate to the 2007 Berlinale.

(Birgit S) Opening March 29, 2007

Tucked away in the Emmental valley, 80-year old Martha (Stephanie Glaser) listlessly tends her little corner shop in picturesque Trub. She has not only lost her husband but also all interest in life around her. Even the traditional and jolly Sunday card game with her girlfriends Lisi, Frieda and Hanni cannot bring her laughter back. They worry about her until a new task comes up: the old choir’s club flag has to be mended.

Excitedly, the four friends take the bus into town to buy the necessary material. Whilst handling and choosing the material for the flag Martha remembers her time as a qualified seamstress, telling her friends that she had always wanted to open a lingerie boutique in Paris. But then she married, settled in the village and the plan was shelved. Only a beautifully-made brassiere hidden away in a box remains as a sample of her talent. Her eyes begin to sparkle; love of life seems to return. Her friend, the lively and enthusiastic Lisi (Heidi Maria Glössner), persuades Martha to refurbish the shop, design again her exquisite underwear and open a lingerie boutique in Trub. One can easily imagine the effect on the traditional and pig-headed village folks. To her dismay, her son is putting more than one “spanner in the wheel” and even some friends are sceptical.

Martha’s hard work and all her effort does not pay off and she is about to give in, but her rebellion has ruffled the village people and some change in attitude is showing. Her resolute friend Hanni (Monica Gubser) decides to take driving lessons and prim and proper Frieda (Annemarie Düringer), getting bored in her old age home, joins the computer group. Together the four friends manage to stand up against their own children (not so young any more either). Their courage, wit, enthusiasm and optimistic look at life are catching.

For her performance Stephanie Glaser won an award at the 2006 Locarno Film Festival. She is an over 80-year-old theatre actress and this is her first leading part starring in a movie. The X-Verleih presents this Swiss comedy by Bettina Oberli with German subtitles as the village dialect of the Emmental valley is not easy to understand.

(Birgit S) Opening March 29, 2007

With this French-Italian film Alain Resnais won the Silver Lion for best director at the 2006 Venice film festival. Scriptwriter Jean-Michel Ribes moved his adaptation of Alan Ayckborn’s Private Fears in Public Places from London to Paris. This story is different from Ayckborn’s usually light and entertaining plays. It has a more serious and heavy mood, which is emphasized by the continuously falling snow. Nicole (Laura Morante) and Dan (Lambert Wilson) are looking for a larger apartment which includes a study. Thierry (André Dussolier) patiently offers them one place after another. Young Dan, dishonourably dismissed from the army, is unemployed. It is difficult to understand why he needs that extra room. Tension builds up between him and Nicole.

A tension of another kind develops between Thierry and his colleague Charlotte (Sabine Azéma). She has lent him a video, which starts off with a religious programme and ends with an exciting surprise for Thierry, who shares his lonely life with his sister Gaelle (Isabelle Carré). Every night she sits in a restaurant, reading and waiting – with a bright red carnation pinned to her lapel. One day Dan turns up and her life takes a turbulent turn. Dan usually hangs out at an upper-class hotel making a nuisance of himself and drinking until bar keeper Lionel (Pierre Arditi) turns off the lights. At home Lionel has to cope with his bed-ridden, complaining old father. Charlotte helps out temporarily. One evening she has an ingenious idea to cope with the insufferable, insulting old man.

(Becky T) Opening March 29, 2007

In this Korean film Hee-bong runs a snack bar on the beach with little help from his three grown children: one mentally slow son, one university trained son who rarely dirties his hands, much less his fancy clothes, and one Olympic archery champion daughter who fails to release the arrow. Their pride and joy is small granddaughter Hyun-seo. Little do they know but a cute animal happily splashing in the river will reappear five years later, no longer cute, but a huge meat-eating monster, part fish and part dragon, the result of arrogant pollution on the part of American scientists. It terrorizes the screaming population, captures its prey and drags it down into the sewers of the city. One victim is poor Hyun-seo. The rest of the family mobilizes to rescue her, although all four of them together have fewer wits than Hyun-seo herself. They work together, are separated, make progress, run into the law, and communicate via mobile phone, mostly in the pouring rain. The ending is happy by pragmatic, stoic Asian standards.

This could be your average midnight, science fiction, B-movie except that there are many twists and turns in the plot which goes from hysterical grief to help from unexpected sources to intelligent choices to plain luck, and all of that is accompanied by subtle slapstick. It’s funny. It’s Laurel and Hardy. The digs at Americans are not so subtle. Not only is the U.S. responsible for the catastrophe, Americans have no solution to the problem and intentionally mislead the population. Director Bong Joon-ho’s film was the most successful ever to show in Korea and is definitely to be recommended, simply as an example of successful Asian cinema. The special effects come from a San Francisco company called The Orphanage which was responsible for Day After Tomorrow and Sin City.

(Shelly S) Opening March 29, 2007

This is an adventure story based on the book A Day with Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce. A baby is left at an orphanage on a rainy night and ends up being super-genius-inventor Lewis. His unhappy roommate, Goob, only wishes to win a baseball game, but night-owl Lewis prevents him from sleeping. The Science Fair is a turning point for Lewis, who invents something that will revolutionize the future. Wilbur, a boy from future time, warns about a strange man in a bowler who will attempt to steal his invention. Lewis meets a family from the future, which is as crazy and inventive as he is, but he must return to the past.

The characters are zany but unfortunately too reminiscent of Toy Story and The Incredibles characters. This is confusing to kids who know those movies as well. The storyline deals with time travel, i.e., going forward or backwards in time, which is confusing for children under ten. The film has a dark side: the world loses hope for the future, a concept which is also difficult for younger kids. However, future world, with its scientific inventions, does leave kids with a positive message, namely: learning and creativity are important for our future.

(Kirstan B) Opening March 29, 2007

Madcap, physical, hanging on a gag until it hurts, Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) has this time embarked on a journey to the French Riviera, won as a prize in a church bazaar. Armed with his new handy-cam and plaid suitcase, you can guess how he will lose his travel documents, miss his train and end up being scoffed at by gawkers abound. His travels complicate as he finds himself trying to unite a father and son separated at the Gare de Lyon en route to Cannes. Turns out the boy’s father is a distinguished Russian director on the film festival jury and believes Mr. Bean has kidnapped his son. Responsibility isn’t a Bean-like trait, but there is a sense of companionship between the boy (Max Baldry) and Mr. Bean as they take the very round-about route to Cannes, all recorded diligently on the video camera. A third plot begins to brew when Mr. Bean encounters an arty director (Wilem Dafoe) and budding actress (Emma de Caunes) on the set of a yogurt commercial in the French countryside, setting the stage for a road trip in a yellow Mini to the big finale at a Cannes film premiere.

The delight of Mr. Bean’s Holiday is that he cleverly works his silly behavior through decent but simple plots, relying on few spoken words, physical humor and extreme expressions to deliver the laughs. The antics of Mr. Bean seem to have a special appeal to German audiences, much along the same lines as the annual airing of Dinner for One on Silvester…typically British (bungling) humor. You either like it or you don’t.

While language gaffs and spoofing of French culture may keep the adults amused, take note that there are a lot of subtitles to read, therefore much of the funny bits are lost on non-readers if you plan on taking the children along. Three stars for an all-around healthy movie whose only motive is to make you laugh at and with Mr. Bean. Gracias!

Second Opinion

Mr. Bean war sehr witzig im Film (mit seiner Vidiokamer). Er war manchmal nötzlich. Manchmal sehr frech. Und spielt mit seiner Vidiokammer. Ich glaube Mr.Bean hatte sich es verdinnt das er Ferien hat und er zur Strand fährt. Das finde ich gut das Mr.Bean ein bissen sprechen kann. DAZU VERDE ICH DIESEN FILM 5 STERNE GEBEN!!! (Jack B, 11)

(Translation: Mr. Bean was very funny in the film – with his video camera. Sometimes he was helpful, sometimes very impudent. I think that Mr. Bean earned his vacation and the right to go to the beach. I think it’s good that Mr. Bean can talk a bit. I will give this film five stars.)