Finding will to live: “Une place sur la Terre” [2013 Belgium, France]

Posted on February 26, 2014 by TR

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It seems ages since a French film was reviewed here..!

Fabienne Godet comes across as a seasoned observer of human psychology – her drama “Une place sur la Terre” [Eng. Title: A Place on Earth] explores with authority friendship and love between a disillusioned middle aged photographer and a budding marine archaeologist – both going through depression.

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Ariane Labed in Une place sur la Terre

Ariane Labed in “Une place sur la Terre” aka “A Place on Earth”.

Antoine (Benoît Poelvoorde) considers himself a failure, and when he’s not trying to mask his sadness through dry humour, is seeking solace in alcohol. His close (and only) friend is six year old neighbour Matéo (Max Baissette de Malglaive) whose mother is away most of the time. When twenty-something Elena (Ariane Labed) moves into the neighbourhood, across his courtyard, Antoine first becomes aware of her presence only through the piano music coming from her apartment – it’s not so much the music, but the way she played it that stood out.

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Benoît Poelvoorde in Une place sur la Terre

Benoît Poelvoorde, in “Une place sur la Terre”.

His curiosity will take a voyeuristic turn when he begins to watch her through his camera, and takes pictures unbeknown to her. It is during one of his curiosity-satiating moments that she throws herself off the roof – and Antoine had captured it all with his camera. He rushes her to hospital, taking care not to utter a word to anyone about her attempted suicide. Lucky not to have suffered spinal injury, Elena recovers in full, and a tentative friendship develops between the two.

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Ariane Labed, Benoît Poelvoorde, and Max Baissette de Malglaive in Une place sur la Terre

Ariane Labed, Benoît Poelvoorde, and an endearing Max Baissette de Malglaive, in a scene from
“Une place sur la Terre”.

Antoine will soon start feeling more ‘alive’ than he’d ever before – there is after all a new purpose to his life now – make Elena smile. He falls in love, even if that’s not the way she feels, for she is herself a lost soul barely hanging on – we’re not given reasons for either’s mental illness, but Elena’s way of coping is through volunteering as a youth worker – helping those who’d lost their way in drugs, whilst she prepared for her doctorate. Elena isn’t pleased to discover Antoine’s pictures of her, and when she moves to Alexandria to pursue her career, they depart under a cloud of mixed feelings. Antoine will now have to overcome her absence and find a new purpose in life – this time, his own…

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Ariane Labed in Une place sur la Terre

That enigmatic smile: Ariane Labed in “Une place sur la Terre”.

The storyline might sound depressing, but the film certainly isn’t – Ms. Godet has handled the subject with a great deal of skill, subtlety and humour, because of which characters thoroughly engage by taking us along with them in their search for happiness – we smile with them just as much as we feel their loss. The performances are heartfelt; Benoît Poelvoorde convincingly gets into his character – perhaps drawing from his own personal experience of depression, and beautiful Ariane Labed is able to project her character’s sadness and joy through her trademark gaze alone, and the camera is unashamedly (justifiably too) obsessed with her just as we, looking through Antoine’s eyes. Well edited and put together, the cinematography is slick and stylish. It’s also the most impressive new French film I’d seen so far this year, and Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon.fr DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Ariane Labed
There is brief nudity in a couple of scenes when Ariane Labed’s character is in a bath, and during a sex scene. She may not be showing much of her body in this film, but the Attenberg star has us transfixed nevertheless whenever she appears on screen.

Ariane Labed in the French film Une place sur la Terre

Ariane Labed appears briefly nude in two scenes in the French film,
“Une place sur la terre” aka “A Place on Earth”.

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Things happen unexpectedly: “Tan de repente” [2002 Argentina, Netherlands]

Posted on February 24, 2014 by TR

 

Diego Lerman makes an assured directorial début with his neatly packaged character-study-as-comedy feature “Tan de repente” [Eng. Title: Suddenly]. Set in and around contemporary Buenos Aires, the film vividly captures a lot more than its meagre storyline, thanks to an imaginative screenplay and minimalist black and white cinematography.

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Tatiana Saphir, Veronica Hassan, and Carla Crespo in Tan de repente aka Suddenly

Tatiana Saphir, Veronica Hassan, and Carla Crespo in “Tan de repente” aka “Suddenly” (2002 Argentina).

Chubby, affable Marcia (Tatiana Saphir) works as shop assistant at a lingerie store that hardly appears to draw customers. Still recovering from the end to her previous relationship and desperate to get back in circulation, she attends fitness classes and readily listens to advice from anyone regarding weight issues, only to end up comforting herself with food in front of tele late at night. Her unhappy yet relatively stable world is challenged one day when she’s approached on the street by two tough-looking girls with attitude, Mao and Lenin (Carla Crespo and Veronica Hassan). When Mao propositions her for sex whilst proclaiming that she isn’t a lesbian, Marcia, taken aback a bit (“Shall we fuck?” being Mao’s first words to her), rejects the request. So they kidnap her at knife-point, car-jack a taxi, and head off to a beach to impress Marcia, who’d never been to one.

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Tatiana Saphir, Carlo Crespon, and Veronica Hassan in Tan de repente

Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, and Veronica Hassan: in “Tan de repente”.

After running out of petrol, they seek out Lenin’s aging aunt (Beatriz Thibaudin) whom she hadn’t seen in years, and crash at her home housing two other lodgers – painter Delia and shy medical student Felipe (María Merlino and Marcos Ferrante). What starts off in the vein of a Thelma-Louise bad-girls-on-the-road movie transforms into a riveting character study of the unlikely threesome.

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Carla Crespon and Tatiana Saphir in Tan de repente

Carla Crespo and Tatiana Saphir: “Tan de repente” (2002, Argentina).

While Marcia is worried about her fate, she doesn’t attempt to escape even when opportunity presents itself – it’s as if she was secretly longing for something like this to happen to her, or perhaps, a rebel inside her was waiting to break free of conformity to experience something different from clockwork routine. Mao is a girl with a mean streak – after having had her fun with Marcia, she suddenly looses interest and starts eyeing Felipe. When a distraught Marcia tries to leave, she’ll also prove to be a big bully by trying to have her own way. (see clip below – hard-coded subtitles have been inserted to help you follow the conversation)

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This is when the film begins to unfold unexpectedly – instead of a meek and submissive Marcia asserting herself, we rather see transformations in Mao and Lenin. Behind Mao’s aggression and butch behaviour is a young woman just as lonely and craving for love as Marcia – her frailty and insecurity laid bare during the course of the film. The elderly aunt’s natural warmth and positivity will bring to fore Lenin’s own longing for normal family life – she left home after a fight and hasn’t spoken to her mum since.

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Tatiana Saphir and Carla Crespo in Tan de repente aka Suddenly

Tatiana Saphir and Carla Crespo: “Tan de repente” aka “Suddenly”.

The film tries to tell us that unexpected things happen, and that we should make the most of every moment, while we can, during all our encounters and relationships. It engages by drawing us into the characters’ lives and observing them beyond their defensive outward persona, without forcing any judgements upon them. It’s a film that’s beautiful in its simplicity – message and tone, and will appeal to those who’d like to be entertained and challenged in equal measure. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

 

The Nudity: Paula Ituriza, Tatiana Saphir, and Carla Crespo
There are two scenes featuring nudity in the film – the first is in a shower showing Paula Ituriza and Tatiana Saphir, while the second is during a sex scene between the characters played by Tatiana Saphir and Carla Crespo.

Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, and Paula Ituriza nude in Tan de repente aka Suddenly

Brief nudity from Tatiana Saphir, Carla Crespo, and Paula Ituriza in Diego Lerman’s
“Tan de repente” aka “Suddenly”.

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A review: “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” [2013 Russia]

Posted on February 20, 2014 by TR

After taking us on a metaphysical journey into the unique customs and traditions of a distinct northern Russian tribe with his 2010 Ovsyanki aka Silent Souls, Aleksey Fedorchenko revisits the region and its people to inform us of some of their more practical concerns, relating to sex and happy marriage – all seen from a female perspective. Fedorchenko believes “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” [Eng. Title: Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari] to be his Decameron to the Mari people.

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Nadezhda Smirnova in Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

Nadezhda Smirnova in “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” aka “Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

Presented as an anthology of twenty three short stories – unrelated, save the fact that all the characters’ names start with the letter ‘O’, they range from minute-long snippets to ten-minute segments featuring pagan customs that Mari people had absorbed into their Christian faith in pursuit of sex and love. They don’t see conflict between the two belief systems – for them, life exists hand-in-hand with death, and change alongside continuity. And shame and virtue are not defined by the deeds themselves, but the time, place, and context within which they happen.

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Yulia Aug in Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari

Yulia Aug (Silent Souls, Intimate Parts) with a giant forest-woman in “Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

For a people in close connection with nature and its surroundings, even simple acts like bathing in a stream or kissing under a tree have a sanctity and decorum associated with it. It is a world cohabited by fairies and devils, dead and the living, and where the long departed ‘prepare’ young women just about to embark on a life of marriage. It is also a world where blessings and hexes are currencies used to trade favours. The film focuses on the varied ways in which women have taken advantage of these customs and beliefs to empower themselves.

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Anna Derkau in Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

Anna Derkau in “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” aka “Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

The cinematography, by using formal compositions of the landscape and its seasons, the people and their costumes, may have given the film a documentary semblance, but nevertheless evoke a variety of emotions – it is bewildering, enchanting, scary, touching, wildly funny, and also erotic. That’s the reason why the film deserves more than a passing reference to Decameron, and Pasolini – it carries an authenticity and storytelling-by-the-camp-fire charm that Pasolini would approve of, and like him, Fedorchenko approaches the unscientific using visual poetry and inference. The film is not necessarily an anthropological study even if it might interest those into it – it gloriously celebrates the Mari way of living without judging their idiosyncratic beliefs.

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Yekaterina Sokolova in Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

Touching – Yekatarina Sokolova in “Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

Some stories may be too short to give insight into the broader context within which they’re placed, but they are also among the more beautiful ones in the anthology – a bit like an imaginative haiku. One of my favourites is the touching story of Olika (Yekaterina Sokolova), a young bride who dies after a snakebite – I must’ve seen it separately a dozen times, but have yet to grow tired of it.

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A scene from Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari

Outrageous – a scene from “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” aka
“Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

However, there are also beliefs portrayed in the film that are as outrageous as could have been conceived by a Marina Abromovic for her Balkan Erotic Epic – its fixation with genitalia and their functions can be off-putting to a prudish audience, but is nevertheless presented in a tactful manner without resorting to explicit imagery. The film ought to be seen by every adult as it is a celebration of life itself in all its shades, from a Mari, but importantly female perspective. Highly Recommended Viewing..!

 

The Nudity: Olga Gilova, Anna Grachova, Yuliya Aug, Aleksandra Masko, Yana Troyanova, Olga Dobrina, and several others
Apart from two long scenes, nudity is generally brief where depicted.

Olga Gilova, Anna Grachova, Yuliya Aug, Aleksandra Masko, Yana Troyanova, and others in Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari aka Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari.

Olga Gilova, Anna Grachova, Yuliya Aug, Aleksandra Masko, Yana Troyanova, and others in the Russian film “Nebesnye zheny lugovykh mari” aka “Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari”.

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‘C’ for crime: “Der amerikanische Soldat” [1970 West Germany]

Posted on February 18, 2014 by TR

Mention “Der amerikanische Soldat” [Eng. Title: The American Soldier], and we’d be talking about early Fassbinder. For this was the period when Rainer Werner Fassbinder was experimenting with various genre in his own unique style that was still evolving, before maturing and finding international acclaim in few years through films like Ali: Fear Eats the Soul.

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Karl Scheydt and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in The American Soldier

Karl Scheydt and Rainer Werner Fassbinder in “Der amerikanische Soldat” aka “The American Soldier”.

As part of Fassbinder’s gangster-themed trilogy, The American Soldier is outwardly presented as a pastiche of American film-noire, only to shatter the viewers’ preconceptions few minutes into the film. It’s a different kettle of fish altogether – cleverly mixing a straight narrative with images ranging from digression to deviant mischievousness. The outrageously grotesque final shoot-out scene, shown in slow-motion, is just one example of Fassbinder’s digression from established film-noire expectations. The film is replete with such moments, but it doesn’t necessarily make a mockery of traditional story-telling – it does retain a conventional narrative structure, but is more concerned with the tone than the story itself. Portraying realism is also sacrificed in the process.

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A scene from Fassbinder's Der amerikanische Soldat aka The American Soldier

Strange family reunion – a scene in “The American Soldier”.

The film is about the eponymous soldier, named Ricky (Karl Scheydt) – a Vietnam veteran who’s now a hired assassin. A group of corrupt cops, under pressure to crack a case, decide to close investigations by finishing off suspects by not getting directly involved, and hire Ricky to do the dirty in Munich, a city that he also hails from – he was born to a German mother and American father. Ricky, who’d become a heartless thug after all that he’d seen and been through during his war years, will not be distracted by a German past even as old acquaintances try to haunt him, but he’ll use his old childhood friend Franz (played by Fassbinder himself) as a reliable sidekick for the mission. He’ll later visit his mother, with whom his strange brother still lives, and after establishing their uneasy relationship, the film finishes with the afore-mentioned shoot-out sequence.
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Ingrid Caven in Fassbinder's Der amerikanische Soldat aka The American Soldier.

A glamorous and newly married Ingrid Caven in Fassbinder’s
“Der amerikanische Soldat” aka “The American Soldier”.

Anecdotes:

  • Interestingly, the film anticipates “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” by partly revealing its plot during a passage of play, through a maid played by actress and future film director Margarethe von Trotta.
  • The film was made around the time when Fassbinder also married Ingrid Caven. She appears in a scene, at her glamorous best, as club singer Inga – Ricky’s old flame – the scene includes actual footage from their wedding reception.
  • Fassbinder’s on-and-off girlfriend Irm Hermann also makes an appearance in the scene when we’re first introduced to Ricky – she plays a talkative prostitute picked up by him upon arrival in Munich, only to grow tired of her quickly.

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a scene from Der amerikanische Soldat aka The American Soldier

Murderous intentions – a scene from “Der amerikanische Soldat”.

As a work of art, the film may not be among Fassbinder’s most refined works, even if it is wickedly satisfying and funny. But it does offer a glimpse into his mind at work – into his pet themes like impractical love that’ll later become his obsession. If you’re new to Fassbinder, this is probably not the first place to explore his work, but if you’ve already sampled some of his later films, this little nugget is Highly Recommended Viewing..!

Amazon DVD Link [PAL]

 

The Nudity: Elga Sorbas and Karl Scheydt
Rosa, played by Elga Sorbas, is girlfriend of one of the corrupt cops who hired Ricky. When the cop overhears Ricky calling for the services of a ‘classy’ prostitute to soothe his murderous nerves, he asks Rosa to fill in – a role she assumes with indignation, but one that she’ll soon begin to enjoy. The hotel maid (Margarethe von Trotta), who’d set her eyes on Ricky, is peeved upon finding a paid-for woman in his room – she had offered herself to him gladly, and his preference for a ‘prostitute’ instead is hard to take.

Elga Sorbas and Karl Scheydt nude in Der amerikanische Soldat

Margarethe von Trotta, Elga Sorbas and Karl Scheydt in Fassbinder’s
“Der amerikanische Soldat” aka “The American Soldier”.

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A brief review: “Bonitinha Mas Ordinária” [2013 Brazil]

Posted on February 16, 2014 by TR

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João Miguel and Letícia Colin in Bonitinha, mas Ordinária

João Miguel and Letícia Colin in “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária”.

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Moacyr Góes tries to update Nelson Rodrigues’ torrid play “Bonitinha Mas Ordinária” [Eng. Title: Pretty, but Ordinary] for the twenty first century, but one couldn’t help wondering whether it was a futile exercise…

Letícia Colin in Bonitinha, mas Ordinária

Molested in a nightclub – Letícia Colin in “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária”.

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It’s a tragic story of seventeen year old Maria Cecília (Letícia Colin), the daughter of powerful businessman Dr. Werneck (Gracindo Júnior), after she had been raped by five black men in the nightclub of a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Her parents decide to get her married, and ask their manager Peixoto (Leon Góes) to find a husband who could remain subservient to them. He chooses Edgar (Leon Góes), a simple man in their company who’d worked his way up after joining as an ‘Office Boy’ eleven years ago.

Leandra Leal and João Miguel in Bonitinha, mas Ordinária

Leandra Leal and João Miguel in “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária”.

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Even though Edgar had been trying to win the affections of the rather stubborn neighbour Ritinha (Leandra Leal) – and his is still a work in progress, he’s hesitant to accept the proposal because of the Wernecks’ attempt to ‘buy’ him by dangling dowry-like financial rewards. But when he meets Maria Cecília and learns about her rape ordeal first-hand, he begins to fall in love with her as well. The dilemma presented between Edgar’s principles and genuine feelings of love towards both women will be resolved when additional facts concerning Ritinha, Maria Cecília, and Peixoto come to light…

Leandra Leal and João Miguel in Bonitinha, mas Ordinária

Hesitant intimacy – Leandra Leal and João Miguel in “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária”.

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The issue with the film is that it appears outdated for today’s Brazil, and most certainly for Rio; marriage and prostitution seem to be the only viable prospects available for women, rich people are shown to be doing whatever they want as if it were some feudal society, and while class barriers and racial stereotyping still exist, in reality it is a whole lot more subtle than how it’s shown here.

Letícia Colin nude in Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária

Letícia Colin in a scene from “Bonitinha, Mas Ordinária”.

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But my main problem with the film is the quality of the production itself, which has more in common with a daytime telenovela than proper cinema. It was disappointing to see that Moacyr Góes’ screenplay has not been fully developed, especially since I’d thoroughly enjoyed his earlier film O Homem Que Desafiou o Diabo. The quality and style of editing is poor, because it snuffs out whatever drama the actors get to project. While Leandra Leal gives a fine performance as she always does, the rest are at best passable. For a more convincing interpretation of the story, I’d recommend the older version of the film (Bonitinha Mas Ordinária ou Otto Lara Rezende, from 1981 – itself a remake).

DVD Order Link [NTSC]

 

The Nudity: Letícia Colin, Beatriz Bertu, Lisa Fávero, and Patrícia Elizardo

Pretty Letícia Colin appears nude in three scenes, and all three are about the rape as seen from different viewpoints – the ‘official’ version of events, Maria Cecília’s, and later Peixoto’s. Beatriz Bertu, Lisa Fávero, and Patrícia Elizardo – they play the younger sisters of Ritinha – appear briefly nude during a scene when all the sisters are raped at a party organised by Wernek.

Letícia Colin, Beatriz Bertu, Lisa Fávero, and Patrícia Elizardo nude in Bonitinha, mas Ordinária

Brief nudity from Letícia Colin and others in the Brazilian drama “Bonitinha, mas Ordinária” (2013).

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Posted in Brazil, Leandra Leal | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments