Reviews by members of the AWC Film Group of films slated to open in Hamburg in September 2003

 

My Life Without Me

Opening September 4, 2003

See Currents’ Special Berlinale report by Mary W and Kirsten G, page 8-9 or click here for the online version.

Pirates of the Caribbean (Fluch der Karibik)

(Kirsten G) Opening September 4, 2003

From the moment I heard there was a film being made using a Disney theme park ride as its inspiration, I wondered what kind of film it would be. A fast-paced but tame action movie aimed at the pre-teen set, or a darker, violent look at pirate life, with more mature themes? Well, Pirates of the Caribbean ended up trying to be both, and as a result, it doesn’t quite work. It tells the story of a pirate captain, Jack (Johnny Depp), trying to recover his ship from his mutinous crew, led by Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). The crew, meanwhile, are attacking towns in search of the last piece of a lost treasure, held unbeknownst to them by a Governor’s daughter (Keira Knightley from Bend It Like Beckham). When they kidnap her, her childhood friend Will (Lord of the Rings’ Orlando Bloom), who may or may not be destined to be a pirate himself, must join forces with Jack to come to her rescue.

As this is a Jerry Bruckheimer film, it has the expected big action sequences, eye-popping special effects, and in-your-face soundtrack. The actors all do a good job, and there is some clever dialogue. Yet it was obvious that the screenwriters (veterans of Shrek and Aladdin) had to dig deep to find enough story for the 2¼ hours running time. But for kids (or the young at heart) who have always dreamed of being a pirate, Pirates of the Caribbean is an entertaining, though quite mindless, popcorn flick.

A View From the Top (Flight Girls)

(Pat R) Opening September 11, 2003

We travel with Donna (Gwynneth Paltrow) from Silver Springs, Nevada, where she yearns to escape from her job selling luggage at a local store, all the way to Paris, via the air flight attendants training program with Royale Air Lines. Donna spends a few lonely nights in Paris and then decides to move back to Cleveland where her boyfriend Ted is. What happened? Somehow we not only don't get a view from the top, we don't even get a peek.

Director Bruno Barreto said, “it is a fable about the American dream, about the dream that we all have to make it to the top, to live well, and to have a good life.” But why was Donna always alone in Paris and where was the rest of her flight crew? Where were the scenes from the Zebra nightclub in Paris, or the wild parties at the thermal baths in Iceland? A former Pan Am flight attendant, Mary, wrote; “I bid flights according to my wants. If there was a play in London that caught my fancy, then that was my choice. If I needed new shoes or clothes, then I would go to Paris or Rome. If I had an urge for sun, I'd go to Rio." I think we should have followed Mary rather than Donna. Mike Myers played the air flight attendant school trainer, with a lazy eye that had supposedly kept him from reaching his dream. Candace Bergen was the airline legend (think of Mary Kay of the skies) that encouraged Donna to fulfill her destiny and work toward the International First Class Paris route. She threw in words of wisdom such as “follow your head - not your heart” and “every pilot needs a good co-pilot.” But all the big hair, mini dresses and full cleavage couldn't get this “romantic comedy” off the ground. All of the great acting talent couldn't overcome a bad script and editing. Gwynneth, why did you take this role?

I hope at least that the people of Cleveland felt some satisfaction having beat out Paris for Donna's final choice. I, at least, am now motivated to see the director’s last film, Bossa Nova, starring Amy Irving, to see why that film was successful and why it was included in the Official Selection of the Berlin Film Festival.

Veronica Guerin (Die Journalistin)

(Jenny M) Opening September 11, 2003

This movie is based on a true story about heroism, told in a straightforward manner by Jerry Bruckheimer, a producer who delights in telling stories. One of his earliest successes was Flashdance and his most recent the regrettable Black Hawk Down.

Cate Blanchett, with a commendable Irish accent, plays Veronica, a journalist whose exposure of Dublin’s drug world in the mid 1990s forced its citizens to confront their problem and the Irish government to change its laws about dealing with drug lords. A worthy movie about a worthy subject will naturally glamorize a worthy heroine, but in this case there’s hardly any need to. Veronica may be the world’s best dressed journalist but she also played soccer for Ireland, was European Basketball Player of the Year and in 1995 travelled to New York to receive the International Press Freedom Award, the first Western European journalist to do so.

When Veronica wrote her articles about Dublin’s drug world for the Sunday Independent newspaper, her main contact was John Trayner (Ciaran Hinds) who worked for the crime boss John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley) whom she was determined to confront. Veronica’s relentless pursuit of justice raises a problem and you find yourself wondering about the meaning of heroism and when the line between bravery and naiveté and recklessness is crossed. Why doesn’t it occur to Veronica that it might not be a sensible idea to drive up to Gilligan’s front door and put her at risk of being beaten up by him? That having a bullet shot into her window and later another shot into her leg might mean that it’s time to reconsider her priorities? Or realize that her husband and little boy deserve some attention?

Such questions didn’t trouble Veronica or director Joel Schumacher, who is intent, and quite rightly so, on making the audience aware of her tremendous achievements. But the movie preaches to the converted and those who should watch it, such as Dublin’s heroin addicts and those who grow and sell the poppies from which heroin is derived, most probably won’t.

In This World

Opening September 18, 2003

See Currents’ Special Berlinale report by Mary W and Kirsten G, page 4 and 8, or click here for the online version. Winner of this year’s Golden Bear.

Rosenstrasse 1/2

(Adele R) Opening September 18, 2003

As a prize-winning writer and director, Margarethe von Trotta has a highly respected reputation in Germany for her serious and historically correct films. Rosenstrasse, which she directed, is another of her films about an astonishing and little-known historical event.

In the freezing Berlin winter of 1943, many hundreds of women stood stubbornly for seven days and nights in front of a building on Rosenstrasse until the Nazi authorities, under Goebbel’s direction, were cowed into releasing their husbands: 1,500 to 2,000 Jewish men who were being held there for deportation to Auschwitz. (Twenty-five men who had already been sent to the camp were also returned to Berlin and freed). The men were all in “mixed marriages” that is, married to Aryan women, and were among the very last Jews in Berlin to be rounded up for transport to the death camps.

To give a more personal approach to the historical events of Rosenstrasse, as if the facts themselves were not dramatic enough, Ms. von Trotta has chosen to develop a confusing, and, I found, not totally successful, storyline.

A young Jewish woman in New York, Hannah (Maria Schrader) is engaged to a non-Jew from Nicaragua, Luis (Fedya von Huet). As the film opens, Hannah’s father has died suddenly and in her overwhelming grief, her mother, Ruth (Jutta Lampe), turns to the succor of her religion, and insists on the most orthodox rituals surrounding the mourning. Ruth also demands that Hannah break off her engagement to Luis since he “does not belong”. But Ruth’s reasons for her sudden embrace of Judaism, a religion she has never practiced, her dismissal of Luis, and her life up to the time of her marriage, remain a mystery until later in the film to both audience, and the characters in the film.

Hannah discovers that the key to her mother’s early life, and an explanation for her sudden opposition to Luis, might be uncovered with the help of a 90-year-old woman, Lena von Eschmann Fischer (Doris Schade) in Berlin. As a young woman, Lena, movingly portrayed by Katja Riemann, was a baroness who, with her brother Arthur, was instrumental in the success of the Rosenstrasse protests.

Hannah journeys to Berlin to discover the details of her mother’s life from the elderly Lena. How Ruth, then eight years old, was involved in the events of Rosenstrasse and what it all had to do with her grief-stricken behavior in New York is revealed slowly against the backdrop of the events on Rosenstrasse.

Therein lays the strength of the film: the story of Rosenstrasse itself. Those frightened, courageous women, defying the Nazis’ deadly threats, standing their ground, shouting “We want our husbands” until the Nazis, astoundingly, gave in.

Seabiscuit

(Osanna V) Opening September 25, 2003

Directed by Gary Ross (Pleasantville) and starring Toby Maguire (Spiderman, Cider House Rules), Jeff Bridges (The Fabulous Baker Boys and so many more) and Chris Cooper (Adaptation), this movie brings to life the best-seller Seabiscuit, An American Legend written by Laura Hillenbrand and based on a true story.

The film opens following the individual threads of three men’s lives: Red Pollard (Maguire), a young man with an exceptional talent for horse riding, separated by the Great Depression from his loving parents, and struggling to get ahead in a world where he believes he has to fight every step of the way; Charles Howard (Bridges), a self-made millionaire for whom every moment of his life seems blessed until his young son in killed in a truck accident and his wife leaves him; Tom Smith (Cooper), an old cowboy and ‘horse whisperer’ whose world is shrinking as civilisation and automobiles creep into the West.

When Howard – supported by his second wife Marcela (Elizabeth Banks) – decides to buy a race horse, he crosses paths with Smith and intuitively recognises him as the man to help him. In turn, Smith intuitively recognises Seabiscuit as the horse and Red Pollard as the rider. Thus begins an incredible relationship where each man – and the horse – are given a chance to rise to unexpected heights, overcoming incredible challenges and set backs, and give truth and content to Smith’s comment: “You don’t throw a whole life away just ‘cause it’s banged up a little.”

Inevitably, large portions of the book are missing in the filmed version, but there is no doubt that the story presented stands up in its own right. The acting is superb, the camera work impressive and the pacing exciting. It captures a time (without any feeling of exaggerated patriotism) when Americans heroically pulled themselves up after a devastating period in their history, once again showing us what people can achieve when they set their mind to it.

Secretary

(Jenny M) Opening September 25, 2003

This is a film from the U.S. by Steven Shainberg: kinky girl seeks kinky man. She finds him and they do kinky things together. It is impossible to summon up interest or sympathy for the two main characters. The audience seemed to be wondering why it was bothering to watch this movie.

Second Opinion by Shelly S: Lee arrives out of the psychiatric ward to go back to what she does best: self-mutilation, only this time she applies for a job. The secretary position at a lawyer’s office is the perfect place for her, and she has finally met her perfect match. Yet another strange, sado-masochistic relationship film with pretty set designs, but the character’s motivations leave you cold.

Shaolin Soccer (Shaolin Kickers) 1/2

(Osanna V) Opening September 25, 2003

Often referred to as the “Jim Carrey of the East,” comedian Stephen Chow wrote, produced, directed, edited and starred in this off-the-wall movie. Other 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. His plans fail, one after another, until he crosses paths with Fung (Ng) – 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 until they find themselves at the national finals facing the unbeaten Evil Soccer Team.

The story behind Shaolin Soccer is pretty straightforward 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.

Till Eulenspiegel

(Becky T) Opening September 25, 2003

This is Germany’s most ambitious animated children’s film with 500 participants working for three years and spending Euro 15 million. Herman Bote (1467-1520) was the first to write about Till Eulenspiegel who supposedly was born in Braunschweig, 1300, and died fifty years later in Mölln. We like to think that his legend was based on a real person, who exposed people’s weaknesses, had a gift of gab, and helped the poor, like Robin Hood. In the film he wears typical Medieval garb and looks uncannily like actor Jim Carey with red hair. The story is so generic that it could have just as well starred Peter Pan or Mogli from Jungle Book. It opens at the tower clock and ends happily there, too. Till, with the help of his trusty owl Cornelius, must find his uncle who has disappeared. The magician uncle left behind a wonderful room of mirrors. Like the mirror in Snow White, one contains a chatty person, who gives Till three assignments: cause a fish to fly, demonstrate courage, and fall in love. In the story there is also a young king who says, “My people love me, don’t they?” He is in the clutches of a wicked aunt who says, “It’s lonely at the top.” There is a lord mayor whose daughter is not a classic beauty, and also a plump baker. A small yellow duck steals the show and saves the day. Eulenspiegel purists might complain, but the kids will have fun and appreciate such modern ambiguities as a magnet card and a TV remote control.

Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself

(Becky T) Opening September 25, 2003

This Danish film has two of the main ingredients of Harold and Maude: a bratty young man who repeatedly attempts suicide by rope, blade, gas and pills and a dying grown-up who guides him to maturity. Wilbur (Jamie Sives) goes to live with his brother Harbour (Adrian Rawlins) after annoying his therapy group to the point that everyone in it wishes him success in his next suicide attempt. Harbour is unfailingly optimistic and generous to the point that not even a collapse in the supermarket prevents him from delivering the whipping cream for his step-daughter’s birthday cake. He marries shy Alice, who has lost her night job cleaning hospitals (played by Shirley Henderson; she reminds me of Holly Hunter). They met in Harbour’s second-hand bookstore, the source of income for all four of them. In supporting roles are Alice’s colleague Sophie who wishes to pair off with Dr. Horst (the only Danish actor in a cast of Scots and Brits), and Moira, the blond nurse who craves Wilbur. Although not as funny or quick or brightly colored as Harold and Maude, there are bursts of black humor. The scenes are subdued brown and grey, much like the paintings of the Danish artist Hammershøi, on exhibit in Hamburg’s Kunsthalle. Danish director Lone Scherfig (well known for her prize-winning Italian for Beginners) has made her first English film in Glasgow. Although in English, the Scottish brogue was sometimes incomprehensible, so the German subtitles were a big help.

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