AWCH Film Reviews -- October 2005

(Karen P) Opening October 6, 2005

Often seen running around the town of Hanau, Germany, with pen and paper, were two sons of Philipp Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (Matt Damon) and Jacob (Heath Ledger). These boys were fascinated with the multitude of ear-burning folklores engaging in magic, danger, true love, adventure and much more. At an early age, the brothers began transcribing whatever story was told, including some of their own creations to preserve part of their German heritage. In addition, they recognized that if they were to use their imagination to animate a tale, the town folk enjoyed the telling of tales even more. After the passing of their mother and Will’s promise to her to care for his brother Jake, the brothers set out to make a living as traveling entertainers. Others might call them traveling, storytelling con-artists. The rise of superstition among the common folk paved a way for the brothers to use the angle that they could scare the evil away from a situation. They became famous for their ability to scare away evil spirits and were in high demand for their services. They pretended to be protectors of the common folk; however, they only succeeded by using special tricks which were unbeknown to their clients, in exchange for cash. When Napoleon got wind of the brothers’ swindling schemes he was outraged. To avoid the guillotine, the French commissioned the brothers to live near the haunted forest between the German-French borders, in order to uncover the responsible party for a series of recent mysterious murders of the town’s people.

Director Terry Gilliam’s fictional storyline of the two brothers is a tale within a tale adding breath-taking magic, head-spinning romance and terrifying fear, keeping true to a realistic accounting of a Grimm fairy tale. Gilliam uses many of the brothers’ own fairy tales to make an interesting twist to the plot which only accents an awesome creativity. As The Brothers Grimm begins with the mesmerizing words Once upon a time, the special effects and humor in the film make the tale of the brother’s death sentence truly a personal adventure, working through their own fears and reaching for a moral lesson in order to live happily ever after….The End!

(Shauna K) Opening October 6, 2005

Dick (Jamie Bell of Billy Elliot) is a young misfit in a small town in America’s West. Having lost his Mother when he was very young, and being alienated from his father, Dick is raised by the housekeeper Clarabelle (Novella Nelson). Too weak to work in the mine with the real men, Dick works in the grocery store stocking shelves. It is in this grocery store that he meets another who isn’t good enough for the mines, Stevie (Mark Webber). Eventually a strange friendship is forged between the two after Stevie introduces Dick to Bad Steel. Bad Steel is Stevie’s gun. Dick, a self-proclaimed pacifist, is at first shocked. When he learns that Stevie is oddly enough a pacifist as well, a strange alliance is formed. The two young men find confidence and pride, invite the other "freaks" in town to join them, and soon after name themselves the "Dandies". The misfits find themselves, and Dick finds love, through guns personified. A downward spiral into obsession and insanity and an attempt to do one right at all costs trigger tragedy.

Dear Wendy is an extremely powerful commentary on American society through a love letter, with a soundtrack that couldn’t be better. It is a brilliant composition of image, dialogue, music, and message. Written by Lars von Trier and directed by Thomas Vinterberg, it is the type of film one either loves or hates. I, personally, was blown away.

(Kirsten G) Opening October 6, 2005

The good ol’ boys are back in the big screen version of popular early ‘80s U.S. television show The Dukes of Hazzard. This time, cousins Bo and Luke Duke are played by Seann William Scott and Johnny Knoxville, and Daisy Duke’s Daisy Dukes (short shorts) are filled out by singer Jessica Simpson. Uncle Jesse (Willie Nelson) is still running moonshine and trying to hide it from the law, but things get serious when corrupt commissioner Boss Hogg (Burt Reynolds) seizes the Duke family farm. Is this just a case of an old vendetta going too far, or is there more to Boss Hogg’s evil scheme?

If that sounds like the plot of a not-too-deep T.V. show, that’s not a surprise, because this film feels like an episode that’s extended far too long. Director Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers and Club Dread) manages to keep the feeling of the original show but loses much of the fun. Some of the many problems include trying to update the Dukes to the present day while Hazzard County still feels lost in the past; a weak screenplay where hardly any of the many jokes are funny (despite Chandrasekhar’s continued involvement with the Broken Lizard comedy troupe and cameos by many of its members); and way too many agonizingly long car chases, even allowing for the fact that the Dukes’ ’69 Dodge Charger, “The General Lee”, was and is a character in its own right. The film’s only saving grace is the great soundtrack filled with classic Southern rock tracks. While seeing these Dukes may not be hazardous to your health, unless you’re a big Johnny Knoxville or Seann William Scott fan, it will be a waste of your time.

(Becky T) Opening October 6, 2005

Two elderly sisters, Ursula (Maggie Smith) and Janet (Judi Dench) live alone in a beautiful wind-swept stone house on the English coast. Their lives revolve around cosy evenings listening to the radio, drinking tea and changing from proper old English ladies’ pastel dresses to white nightgowns and back. They are in their nightgown phase when they find a young man named Andrea (Daniel Brühl) washed up on their shore. Excitement enters their lives in spite of a language barrier (he speaks only Polish and German). They nurse him back to health under the sage guidance of Dr. Mead. Slowly, slowly a delicate tension builds up as old Janet falls in love with Andrea; he turns out to be a virtuoso on the violin; a Russian woman named Olga (Natascha McElhone) attempts to befriend him; and Dr. Mead is jealous.

In this first film by director Charles Dance all as smooth as English jelly and sometimes very kitschig, as in one pastoral scene when the farmers are bringing in the harvest. Never do the sisters go at each other tooth and nail or report Andrea to immigration. We’ll never know why Andrea fell into the sea or wants to go to America. The only rough edges come from the housekeeper Dorcas (Miriam Margolyes) and the distant threat of a war in this year of 1936. Perhaps the sense of “nothing happening” comes from the fact that the screenplay is based on a short story by William J. Locke, and a short story offers too little to fill 103 minutes on screen. Also, Locke lived 1863-1930, which we might perceive as the good old days of slower and simpler. After accepting that fact, what is there to enjoy? The scenery is breath-taking; Joshua Bell plays the violin beautifully; this is a rare chance to compare directly Smith and Dench, those formidable dowagers of British film; and Brühl is the right person for the role.

As an aside: Locke probably didn’t know that he was pre-dating Sesame Street when he added two old geezers who sit on a bench and comment on village life. And the film is much more modern than meets the eye. Just this summer an unidentified young man washed up on the shores of Britain. He never spoke but played the piano. Many months later his family was located in German Bavaria. Perhaps if this Piano Man had recuperated at the home of the Waddington sisters, instead of in a state hospital, he, too, would have celebrated a triumph with the London Philharmonic.

(Kirsten G) Opening October 6, 2005

Imagine having to face your first day of high school, not just as a regular kid, but as the only child of famous superheroes. That is the out-of-this-world premise of Sky High, a new Disney film from director Mike Mitchell (Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo). Will Stronghold (Michael Angarano) is the most famous new kid at superhero high school Sky High because of his parents, legendary crime fighters The Commander (Kurt Russell) and Jetstream (Kelly Preston). But things don’t start out well for Will: he fails the first day’s Power Placement test and is relegated to Sidekick rather than Hero – all because he apparently doesn’t have any super powers, much to his parents’ disappointment. But Will soon learns that sidekicks can be heroes in disguise.

Sky High looks and feels like a throwback Disney family film: bright colors, family-friendly storylines, and life lessons learned. Director Mitchell and producer Andrew Gunn grew up on John Hughes films of the 80s and wanted to make Sky High like “The Breakfast Club with capes.” They succeed to a certain extent, but with a product like that, who is their target audience? Thirty-somethings who grew up in the 80s aren’t going to go see a teen movie today, even if the soundtrack is filled with remakes of classic 80s songs, yet today’s teenagers would likely find this film to be decidedly un-hip. Perhaps very young teens would like the spectacle and learn something from the good-intentioned but very obvious messages, but for everyone else, Sky High will probably rank low on the “must-see” scale.

(Becky T) Opening October 13, 2005

Director David Cronenberg paints a picture of a man wanting to erase his past and protect his new life even if it means killing ten (more) men, including his own brother. That’s a man pretty desperate for the great American family values dream of a house in Millbrook, Indiana (actually filmed in Ontario), work in a diner, a cheerleader-blond wife and two children. When Tom Stall’s (Viggo Mortensen) past catches up with him, and wife Edie (Maria Bello) realizes that he isn’t the man she thought she married, but instead a hardened criminal named Joey Cusack, her first words are, “Then you aren’t from Portland!?” I nominate that for the funniest film sentence of 2005. Poor Sheriff Carney, trying to get at the truth of the matter, suspects Tom is in a witness protection program, which isn’t far off the mark. Son Jack, a chip off the old block, rises to threats at school by beating a classmate into the hospital, and small blond daughter Sarah sees monsters in the night. To relieve some tension Tom rapes his wife on the residential stairway. So here you have organized crime violence, sexual violence, peer violence, and fratricidal violence. Never fear: it all works out and is hunky dorey in the end. This is not a bad film, just slow and repetitive except for the fight scenes; the slow, repetitive music doesn’t help at all. You will probably guess the ending ten minutes into the film. Actually, this film reminded me very much of Fight Club with Edward Norton, which is also not a bad film. William Hurt received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Richie Cusack, Joey’s brother.

(Kirsten G) Opening October 13, 2005

March of the Penguins is an unusual movie: it is a documentary with a plot like a fictional feature film whose main “actors” are emperor penguins. March follows a colony of emperor penguins over the course of a year, showing their mating and child-rearing rituals and incredible resilience. Each summer, the penguins emerge from their deep sea home and march, single file much of the time, over 70 miles inland to their breeding ground. There, they pair off into couples and mate. About two months later, each female lays a single egg, which she must keep balanced on top of her feet (so as not to touch the ground and freeze), then transfer to the feet of her partner. For the next several months, the partners take turns marching back and forth to the ocean to feed, braving the deadly cold winds and snow of the Antarctic winter.

French director Luc Jacquet and his crew spent four grueling years making this film, including 12 months of completely isolated filming in Antarctica. The result is an amazingly touching drama, narrated in the English-language release by Morgan Freeman, which truly draws viewers in and makes them feel like they are living among the penguins. The photography features not only hauntingly beautiful landscapes but also incredibly intimate footage of the penguins both above and below the water. However, there are some downsides – namely, the film drags in several places, and the lingering question of why this National Geographic-like documentary made it to the big screen when others never make it past the small screen. But overall, this is an educational documentary for all ages worth marching to the theater to see.

(Mary W) Opening October 13, 2005

Inspector Wing (Jackie Chan) is the most decorated and famous member of the Hong Kong police force: a living legend. Unfortunately, his success makes him the central player in a very lethal game of "kill the cops" choreographed by a gang of bloodthirsty masked murderers who receive rewards based on how many they kill. After losing his special forces team in a gruesome contest, Wing loses his self respect and becomes a drunkard, refusing even to see his fiancée. While drunk on the streets, Wing is accosted by a couple of street thugs but is helped by Frank (Nicholas Tse), who later claims to be Wing's new partner assigned to work with him to bring the Gen-X game gang to justice.

Jackie Chan is back in Hong Kong after a taste of Hollywood and it is obvious that he is enjoying the freedom that comes with directing and acting in his own film. He again performs his own extraordinary stunts, for which he deserves his own star. Although the plot is predictable and much of the acting is overdone, the creativity of many of the action sequences more than makes up for the shortcomings, particularly if you are an action film fan. Action that even the toughest extreme sport fans will find sensational!

(Shauna K) Opening October 13, 2005

Wallace (voice Peter Sallis) and his trusty and clever canine sidekick Gromit run Anti-Pesto, a booming business which protects the vegetables of their town from rabbits in a humane manner. All goes smoothly in the vegetable-obsessed village until just a few days before the big annual Giant Vegetable Competition, when a mysterious creature suddenly starts ravaging the gardens by night and devouring the prized vegetables of the town. Wallace and Gromit are instantly on the case, promising to apprehend the creature without harming it and thereby saving the vegetables of the town. Wallace’s antagonist, Victor Quartermaine (voice Ralph Fiennes), is also hunting the beast, though he has not so humane intentions. The competition is heightened by the fact that both are also after the affection of Lady Tottington (voice Helena Bonham Carter), the benefactress of the Giant Vegetable Competition. Can Wallace and Gromit save the veggies, and will Wallace win the heart of Lady Tottington? See Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit to find out.

Wallace and Gromit, directed by Nick Park and Steve Box, is delightful British claymation. The film is light, fun, and entertaining. Continuous gags, a few of which are intended for adults but are subtle enough not to be noticed by children, keep the audience laughing throughout the film. The film is in fact so cute that the fact that one can see fingerprints on the characters throughout the film matters not. Wallace and Gromit will delight and entertain audiences of all ages.

(Karen P) Opening October 20, 2005

Daniel (Michael Nyquist) was brutally bullied as a child for playing a violin in the wheat fields of the Swedish countryside. His mother, being sympathetic to the undue scrutiny and very proud of his talent, relocated the family to another part of Sweden where Daniel could develop his musical gift. His mother was his gallant savior and confidant until her sudden death on his thirteenth birthday. To underscore his loneliness, he committed himself day and night to his studies. He eventually became one of the most famous orchestra conductors in all of Europe. He was famous for his abilities but a very demanding conductor. He was a perfectionist to a fault that eventually led to the onslaught of a heart attack that forced him to leave the profession that he had held so dear to his heart. Feeling a longing to return to his roots, Daniel is hired by the Swedish community of his childhood to direct the church choir. He purchases the old schoolhouse, sets up residence and cautiously begins to engage himself among the community. While the job of choir director is new for him, he is challenged by the decisions he will have to make to make this choir sing like one voice. Aside from showing up to practice, one of the main stipulations that he required of his choir members was that they be honest and trusting of one another. The deepest secrets of each member begins to unfold and Daniel’s church choir begins to live out the full sentence in the Lord’s Prayer, ….On earth, as it is in heaven….

In spite of the fact that Swedish director Kay Pollak doesn’t categorize his latest work as a religious film or encounter, he does address issues dealing with the importance of being a good person, loving oneself and doing the right thing by others. Where do we go to find guidelines for being a good person? For ages, the Bible has been a source for teaching goodness with Jesus of Nazareth as the role model. His relational style to earnestly love, accept and forgive others reveals an awesome goodness that has the ability to change lives – for the better.

After an eighteen year absence from film directing, Pollak has returned to the big screen with this film. The 2005 Oscar nomination in the best foreign film category proves that his talent had not dried up but was only "put on hold" for a time. During his absence, he chose to actively parttake in putting the needs of his family as top priority as well as developed other areas of literature that would serve to enhance his film directing abilities. The Swedish cast is delightful, and their interpretation of each character makes this narrative from Pollak on the list of must-see films and well worth the wait.

(Osanna V) Opening October 20, 2005

Jodie Foster stars in this Buena Vista International production, with Sean Bean (Boromir in The Lord of the Rings) and Peter Sarsgaard (Kinsey, Garden State) in supporting roles, directed by German-born and -raised Robert Schwenke.

Following the death of her husband, airplane engineer Kyle Pratt (Foster) and her six-year-old daughter board a plane (a two-story affair like the A380 Airbus) to accompany her husband's coffin back to the States. Once in the air and after a brief nap, Kyle discovers that her daughter in missing. Panic and confusion grow in her mind as she realises that no one remembers her with a child in the first place, the ground crew back in Berlin say she boarded the plane alone, and she can't find her daughter's boarding card stub. The tension grows as she pressures Captain Rich (Bean) into mobilising the entire crew into searching every inch of the plane. Seeing no successful results, Kyle takes things into her own hands with dogged determination and absolute conviction that she is not going crazy. She is eventually overcome and restrained by Air Marshal Gene Carson (Sarsgaard). Within a few hours, most of the plane firmly believes that she is a distraught, halucinating woman having difficulties coming to terms with the recent death of her husband AND daughter...

At the press screening we were asked (in fact, printed flyers were handed out) not to reveal the significant turning points and outcome of this movie. The truth is that, short of writing a bad novel, I would not be able to do so anyway. The logic is so convoluted, the thread so inconsistent and non-credible (dependant solely on a series of very unlikely coincidences), and the sequences so disjointed, that I would not know where to begin.

This is all a bit of a pity because Jodie Foster can do panic, confusion and tension very well. Box office results in the U.S. (2 weeks at No. 1 so far) would imply that it is enough for the general public; unfortunately, it is not enough for me nor anyone looking for a really intelligent story. I could quote any number of implausibilities, but I think that if I mention that three people in this movie committed murder, kidnapped a child, manipulated all kinds of difficult-to-access data, and threatened blowing up a billion dollar plane, for a total ransom of $500,000 (maybe just enough to buy them each a tiny apartment in Hamburg), I think I need say no more!

(Adele R) Opening October 20, 2005

Fariba Tabrizi (Jasmin Tabatabai) is an Iranian woman on the run from her country because of a (in Iran, forbidden) lesbian relationship. Unfortunately when she lands in Germany and is interviewed by the immigration authorities, she doesn’t admit her real reason for seeking asylum and instead claims political grounds which she is unable to substantiate. In the same detention facilities, Siamak (Navid Akhavan), a young man whom she has befriended, is seeking asylum for legitimate political reasons. Nonetheless he becomes convinced that he will be sent back to Iran and consumed with fear, commits suicide. Fariba discovers his body. In a sequence in the film which strains credibility, she assumes his identity and is sent to a refugee home outside of a small town as Siamak. The effort to maintain the false identity and false gender becomes more and more difficult for Fariba. And then she meets Anna (Anneke Kim Sarnau), a local woman with a young son and a jealous boyfriend, and falls in love.

Despite the credibility issues, this excellent film works. The story is both riveting and moving and Jasmin Tabatabai, a consummate actress, is perfect in the role. The supporting cast, especially Ms. Sarnau, are excellent and the script, although a little slow sometimes, builds to an unexpected climax. The desperate situation of asylum seekers: the fear, the boredom, and the loss of dignity while they wait in forced idleness for the life and death decisions of the immigration system are made painfully clear. And the love affair, which has to self destruct, keeps you hoping for a miracle.

(Patricia R) Opening October 20, 2005

Directed by Frauke Sandig and Eric Black, this documentary reveals the size and worldwide influence of southern California’s human reproduction industry. The sale of frozen sperm and eggs has become California’s fourth largest export industry as highly desirable beach-blond sperm and blond “valley girl” eggs are Federal Expressed worldwide without much oversight or regulation. “As filmmakers we are concerned,” states Ms. Sandig, “because we see a minimally informed public, little critical media coverage and only a small window of time remaining for informed democratic discussion before it is slammed shut by the ever-increasing weight and interest of the biotech industry who would like to have us believe the transition was inevitable.”

“Everyone’s moral code is challenged,” says Sandig’s filmmaking partner, Eric Black. “Our purpose is to show the human and ethical implications of the biotech age. We propose to present these issues through a simple strategy: looking at the future already here.”

We listen to radio talk show host Bill Handel, who is also the owner of a large surrogate mother business, interview Lori Andrews, prominent attorney and author of The Clone Age, who considers L.A. to be the “Wild West of medicine.”

As the issues of infertility can become abstract and technical, we are introduced to a few Californians who are playing their distinctive roles in this new industry: a surrogate mother, the adopting couple which includes the sperm donor, an egg donor, a mother and son whose sperm came from an elite sperm bank, and the owner of a sperm bank.

The film also refers to the fact that it is now possible to patent human genes and therefore there is a possibility to sell the technology to block undesired genes or to promote desirable genes, just a hint of the complexity of where reproductive technology is racing.

Frozen Angels puts an important subject under the microscope as would-be parents are more often choosing genetic donors with beauty over those with intelligence. We have to really think about whether we want a world with lots of surfer guys and Valley girls – like, y’know? India and China are already struggling with a bachelor boom from sexual selection.

The first film produced by this pair was After The Fall that told the story about the rapid disappearance of all remains of the Berlin wall. It was shown on television worldwide and won several film awards, including the German Camera Prize and the Golden Spire from San Francisco’s International Film Fest.

(Mary W) Opening October 20, 2005

Harry Lockhart (Robert Downey, Jr.) is a charming petty thief. While Christmas shoplifting, an alarm sends Lockhart running right into an audition for a Hollywood detective movie. His natural ability for crime gets him a flight to L.A. for a screen test. To prepare, Lockhart is paired with Perry van Shrike (Val Kilmer), a tough private dick a.k.a. Gay Perry after his sexual preference.

Lockhart the thief, playing an actor whose character is a private detective, meets real aspiring actress Harmony Faith Lane (Michelle Monaghan), and sweet music begins. Then it appears Harmony’s sister committed suicide. Is the suicide connected to a murder being investigated by real detective Perry and fake dick Lockhart? As more bodies pile up, Lockhart risks his life for lady love but does he have lady luck on his side? Shane Black directs this dark comedy that will brighten a long winter night.

(Becky T) Opening October 20, 2005

The International Catholic Caritas Gulu Center is in Pajule, northern Uganda, where the Ugandan army and rebels have been fighting a civil war for 19 years. One rebel tactic is to kidnap children (20,000 since 1986) and force them to kill, and thus indoctrinate them into the life of a soldier – a life which is difficult to leave. Children cost little money, have no families to support, and are pliable both physically and mentally. Because of the danger involved, documentary filmmakers Oliver Stoltz and Ali Samadi Ahadi were the first white people to visit the Caritas Center in over two years, an oasis without electricity, telephone, or running water.

Here young Ugandan social workers have counselled more than 800 children who escaped from the bush. The children arrive tainted as murderers (80% of them have killed someone else), traumatised as victims, and often wounded as survivors. Four of these children are Francis, 12; Jennifer, 14; Kilama, 13; and Opio, 8. They speak about their experiences: murdering a mother while her young child looked on, guarding captives and letting them go, being raped, fear of HIV infection, etc. In this safe atmosphere, these children slowly become children again, as far as is possible. They draw pictures of their experiences (also a new experience since many of them have never held a pencil). The social workers visit their families in the outlying villages in an attempt to relocate them at home. Often this is impossible, either because the clan members fear renewed kidnappings with consequences for everyone, or they believe that once a person has killed, he will kill again, although sometimes African voodoo celebrations can wipe the child clean. Often the child is afraid to sleep in the village, so each night 40,000 “migrant sleepers” walk into the town to sleep in public buildings, schools, or on the street. Anyone who sees Kilama’s joy when he receives “his” designated bed – a mat on the floor surrounded by 30 other mats – will rethink personal priorities. The Caritas Gulu in Uganda is run by Ugandans, proof that Africans can help themselves; they work in the name and spirit of Christianity. At the same time, war lords such as Joseph Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) say, “God is with us.”

The film directors are no strangers to war. Stoltz, born 1969 in Bonn, lived in Namibia during the civil war there. Ahjadi was born 1972 in Iran and trained to be a soldier during the Iran-Iraq war. At age 12 he fled Iran and arrived alone in Germany, where he got his Abitur in Hannover.

Participants before and behind the camera will personally attend the premiere at Abaton on Nov 3.

(Alyssa C) Opening October 20, 2005

Set in England in the late 1700s, Jane Austen’s well-known classic is the story of five sisters on the hunt for husbands who can ensure the financial security of the family. Although the traditions portrayed in the film are somewhat old-fashioned, the story is timeless – young love, broken hearts, mistaken impressions, scandal, but above all, happy endings.

She’s only 20 years old, but Keira Knightley is already a force to be reckoned with on the screen. I don’t image there are too many actresses her age that could “win” an argument with Judi Dench, no matter how the script has it. She truly shines in this role of Elizabeth Bennett, a character to whom every woman can relate, especially those of us who, against our better judgment, are often attracted to arrogant men.

Matthew MacFadyen as Mr. Darcy, on the other hand, isn’t quite able to show the depth of his character as well as Colin Firth could in the same role for the TV mini-series in 1995. However, thanks to Ms. Knightley’s expressive portrayal, the love story is nonetheless believable.

The movie drags along at times, but perhaps purposefully so, because when love is unrequited (or believed to be), the days do tend to crawl at an unbearably slow pace. These moments were able to create a bit of suspense in an otherwise well-known, predictable plot.

The supporting actresses portraying the Bennett sisters were well cast, especially the angelic Rosamund Pike as Jane, the eldest. One wonders why Donald Sutherland would take such a bit part as Mr. Bennett until his very touching scene at the end. Aside from the acting, another reason to see the film is to plan your next vacation to the English countryside. The scenery, filmed entirely on location in England, was breathtaking! Yet another plus was the musical score, as every cultured lady simply must play the piano.

(Jenny M) Opening October 27, 2005

This is based on a German fairy tale which is well known in Germany but never made it to the Disney studios. This may be because it makes the assumption that women are universally discontent with their husbands and their marriages. This contentious theme is tackled by a well-known and much admired German director, Doris Dörrie, who has made a visually beautiful film and transferred the setting in part to modern Japan. A quarrelling couple are turned into fish and condemned to the sea until another married couple find them. The fish are koi, and the word koi also means “love” in Japanese. The married couple, played by Alexandra Maria Lara and Christian Ulmen, meet and marry in Japan but are soon home in a colourless German suburb, where the ambitious Ida starts to nag her man and the first flush of love is quickly over. Do the koi become human again or do they continue their fishy fighting in the sea? It all depends on Ida and Otto. The movie is a light-hearted and humorous one despite the theme, and it ends on a happy and hopeful note.

(Becky T) Opening October 27, 2005

Under difficult circumstances (rain, darkness, border controls with dogs) Mexican Santiago Munez (Kuno Becker), his father Hernan, a younger brother, and his grandmother cross the Rio Grande into the U.S. Ten years later Hernan is a gardener for rich people in Los Angeles, helped by a crew of other Mexicans including his son. Whereas Hernan dreams of his own truck, Santiago dreams of becoming a professional soccer player. Encouraged by British talent scout Glen Foy (Stephen Dillane), he flies to Newcastle to play for Newcastle United. There are stumbling blocks along the way: his father disowns him; he misses the ball on the soccer field; he makes headlines in bed with a bevy of naked girls; he has asthma attacks. His support comes from granny (long distance), Glen and girlfriend Roz.

Goal! will appeal to the average cinema consumer. The storyline fits a known pattern. Becker is a good-looking actor, probably now even more good looking since he underwent soccer training for five weeks before filming. Why this film, now? Director Danny Cannon says that it’s the first Hollywood film about soccer, in spite of many films on football, basketball, baseball and even golf. We in Hamburg, of course, can think of several soccer films, e.g., just this September there was the Spanish Longest Penalty Shot in the World at the Hamburg film festival and, of course, the ultimate soccer film: The Miracle of Bern. It might come from Hollywood, but I wouldn’t consider this a U.S. film. It starts in Mexico, goes shortly to L.A. and lands for the bulk of the film in Newcastle, a picturesque town (yes, actually quite nice) in England, all made with the expressed support of the Federation International de Football Association (FIFA). Cannon could film in the Newcastle stadium with professional soccer players, e.g., David Beckham. Considering that the 2006 World Championship is not until this summer in Germany, you might wonder why the film opened so soon. Do not despair. This is Part I of a trilogy. In Part II Santiago goes to play with Real Madrid, and Part III shows him in his biggest triumph at – surprise, surprise – the World Championship in Germany. All this, you bet, to appear in European cinemas parallel to the games this summer. It’s all about making money, marketing, merchandising, which we can forgive, if it raises interest for professional soccer in the U.S. In my audience there were 10-year-old members of FC Teutonia soccer team from Altona. Achmed and Jeffrey from the group said, “We’ve never lost a game,” but otherwise they were underwhelmed, probably because the film started late, was in English, and is geared towards an adult audience.

(Osanna V) Opening October 27, 2005

Once again directed by Martin Campbell, with screenplay by Roberto Orgi and Alex Kurtzman, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones return as Alejandro and Elena de la Vega, ten years down the line with Adrian Alonso as their son Joaquin.

Family life for Alejandro de la Vega/Zorro has become complicated. His son Joaquin thinks he's a spineless coward and openly worships Zorro, unaware that his father and the hero are the same person. His wife Elena seems bent on creating a rift between them, pushing towards divorce, apparently charmed by the elegant aristocrat Armand (Rufus Sewell), recently arrived from Europe.

In the meantime, California is about to become the 31st state of the USA, though dark forces tracing their roots back to a mysterious Middle Age secret society are bent against that happening. As if that were not enough, the ruthless McGivens (Nick Chinlund) and his thugs are stealing land from the innocent peasants on behalf of some unscrupulous, unknown character moving behind the scenes.

With all the trouble that is going on, Alejandro is forced to don his Zorro identity more and more frequently at the cost of time spent with his son. Little Joaquin, in turn, decides that he himself has to take on the bad guys because his father is such a wimp, and Elena too has been drawn into the fray against her will, finding herself playing spy for government agents...

The Legend of Zorro does not have a memorable story, but there is enough swashbuckling fun going on throughout the whole movie, to entertain fans of The Mask of Zorro. The young Mexican Adrian Alonso, playing Joaquin, will steal everyone's heart, and this, his first-time peformance, is excellent.

(Karen P) Opening October 27, 2005

“Anyone can make it if they learn how to shake it” was the slogan given to an experimental project to teach children from the Bronx to dance – ballroom-style. The goal of the project was to see if these kids could learn to do something that was incredibly foreign to them and succeed. The school district was interested in finding an attractive venue that would teach children the value of learning, to encourage them to stay in school and to stress that a good education is valuable for their future.

In 1994, three elementary schools were chosen from the New York public school district to participate in this pilot project. Among these three schools, only the 5th graders were allowed to participate. This was not an easy experience for most of the children, but those who entered the program and finished the task of learning how to ballroom dance were stricken with a passion to make a difference in their world.

Due to the success of this project, today, in the city of New York, over 6,000 elementary school children among sixty schools now take ballroom dancing lessons. Many of these kids go on to perform in the yearly city dance competition. Most are just grateful to have experienced this program. Whatever the outcome, the moves of ballroom dance such as the Foxtrot, Meringue, Swing, Rumba and Tango put a step into these kids’ life forever that will be a precursor that will challenge their passions. These teachers who go the extra mile to bring a glimmer of hope to their children also silently encourage them to step outside their national ghetto box in order to see a different side of the world.

This brilliant documentary stirred my emotional tank from A to Z. As the audience was led through the process of teaching these kids the various dancing steps, I found myself wanting to head to the nearest theater isle to practice too. Oh, this is a must-see film and so funny! Ballroom is in my blood now….A-one, two, three, four……