The Starz Denver Film Festival begins tonight, in traditional fashion with an opening night film and celebration at the magnificent Caulkins Opera House. You have to either be socially connected or a populist film fan to actually want to attend opening night, it's largely a sold out affair with a crowd-pleasing piece of cinema that won't and couldn't possibly set the audience up for the mostly respectable and occasionally sublime offerings ahead during the next ten days. Most of the films that are celebrated with fanfare to kick off the fest are already slated for major release, some as soon as this weekend; others like von Trier's "Melancholia" have been available on-demand for a while now. That's okay though, most everyone knows that the primary reason to attend is for the big-screen experience, something that "Melancholia" offers up in a major way for the Denver Filmcenter/Colfax opening night on Thursday and serves dual purpose as a major programming statement. Saturday's Big Night back at Caulkins rolls out the mostly excellent and highly admirable "The Descendents," the final prospective blockbuster before retiring into a week of substantial cinema covering all levels of the field. The festival always brings a great balance with their programming, and so far this year seems to wield wildly successful results in many areas, particularly world cinema.
As a prospective client recently related to me via email last week, "Big Night films end up at Landmark a few days after so we stick with the indies. I love them." My sentiments exactly.......and of course not everyone has the same taste in films, that's what makes the festival and reporting on it so much fun. After having screened a number of films in advance, I offer up the following for those who want to successfully navigate a few screenings without wasting much time, at least if you trust my judgement, have an open mind and a highly adventurous taste for film.
The best of the fest so far:
"Attenberg" is easily one of the festival standouts, it's almost absurd how perfectly it marries a compelling, humane narrative with some of the most distinct and elegant visuals in contemporary cinema today. Athina Rachel Tsangari delivers a thoughtful meditation on love, death, and friendship through a truly endearing father/daughter relationship that's akin to Big Night's "The Descendents" only more gratifying for those looking for a sublime visual purpose with their prose. Her graceful sensibilities for the off-kilter abound whether in tracking shots across rain-soaked tennis courts, solitary foosball games, or synchronized walking. Everything is sexualized here but in the most uncommon ways, the entire narrative leading to a climax in which the young protagonist asks her best friend to sleep with her dying father, an unusual request but one that the viewer can firmly connect with after watching the proceedings unfold. Greek society may currently be on the rocks, but lets hope filmmakers like Tsangari remain unscathed, she stands to become a world force if given the latitude and backing to press forward.
The recent Canadian feature narrative "Curling" has been getting as much respect across the globe in the last year as "Attenberg," both films having screened previously at many international festivals. It's an equal to Tsangari's film in terms of elevating a major talent, something the festival programmers want to enforce by offering director Dennis Cote's debut feature "Drifting States" during the festival as well. Death seems to lurk in every corner of "Curling," with no easy answers and certainly no overbearing directives. Also centered around a father/daughter relationship, the narrative covers a lot of territory but is supremely simple at its core, constantly extending in diffuse and subtle directions. It's a mystery that keeps unraveling slowly but never concedes to any sort of conclusion or perhaps deeper perception of the characters, other than that they are human. Strange in all the right ways and places, Cote delivers an incredibly well executed film that has everything and nothing at all to do with the unusual sport it is named after.
U.S. Independent film is usually in a tough spot when it comes to SDFF, almost every director working in the field today wants to have their screening at Sundance, which follows just three months after the Denver Fest. Many of the entries are either post-sundance big-buzz-films like "Marth Marcy May Marlene" (which gets an exclusive reel-members only screening Thursday night, just one day before the film opens in wide release) or castoffs from that net that can show up in any number of other festivals without ever really seeing a wider stage. But every year SDFF delivers a few gems and this year "The Color Wheel" seems to be one of them. It's a very refreshing film, one that many people might initially (and arguably) find aweful and pretentious but quickly catches a groove all its own that is refreshing and absolutely hilarious. The director and screenwriter are the actors at the core of the drama, exerting an off-kilter brother/sister bond. Both are equally strange and the success of the film is derived from their tight-knit relationship both on-screen and off. Shot old-school in 16mm and B&W, "The Color Wheel" is as unusual as it gets and indie to the core!
Even more unusual and frankly shocking, is "Gandu." Anyone seeking an absolutely new manifesto in contemporary filmmaking should take in this brash film, another captivating and singular work in black and white (with the most raucous, crazy-cool hardcore interlude of color ever seen) by the mysteriously named Indian director "Q overdose." The title translates to "Asshole" and even though it's been compared to the formidable work of french director "Gaspar Noe, you have definitely never seen anything like it, ever. This is what contemporary cinema should be, it pushes in many new directions that build upon its new-wave predecessors in ways that can only be accomplished today, though with extremely refined and timeless visual sensibilities. It might be easy for some to dismiss because it's overly hip and daringly non-linear in so many ways, but it has the chops to pull it off visually, sonically and as a major artistic statement. "Gandu" succeeds in ways that will leave it seared in your brain for a long, long time and leave you waiting to see what the director will do next, it's an absolute big-sreen trip. And though it is stunningly realized, it is definitively not for everyone, particularly conservative christians and maybe most of our nation's underage youth.
Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki's universe changes little over time, and it's a lovely, singular one that you wouldn't be able to mistake for anything else. His latest is distinctly brighter in color palate than normal, which would almost seem jarring if it weren't for the director's trademark combination of clear composition and the duration that it holds. "Le Havre" reprises Kaurismaki character's from his masterpiece "Scenes from the Bohemian Life' of almost 20 years ago, with delightful results that are more uplifting than his usual fare, almost oddly so because it's such a subtle yet impactful tone he's honed over the years. Fans of the Finn will enjoy for sure and newcomers will likely grasp the warmth and oddity of the characters and action throughout.
Alexander Payne's latest "The Descendents" isn't likely to be as big a box-office smash as some of his previous films, though I wouldn't bet against it, it has George Clooney after all, cast (or at least clothed) a bit against type. But it is as thoroughly enjoyable and has as much of a slightly off-centre conscious as everything else Payne's accomplished to date. Clooney is complemented by a great cast that also goes a bit against type, the Hawaiin setting dictating much of that. Most everyone will be talking about magnetic newcomer Amara Miller as Clooney's daughter, she almost steals the show, along with her neandrethal boyfriend who has one of the most potent scenes in the film. Another mostly father/daughter psychological study, Payne methodically builds the narrative to a calmly riveting climax that doesn't overstep itself. It's likely to induce much crying and will stir genuine emotional feelings from all who take it in.
Press the eject, now:
That's what I did, or should have done in the case of three of the festival films I screened in advance. Though I wasn't surprised that "The FP" couldn't muster up the goods to become a "cult-classic" except for the inept or blind, I was completely shocked at how little I could stand actor Paddie Considine's directorial debut "Tyrannosaur," which has been singled out as a programmers pic. One might say this is an acting tour-de-force, to be expected from such a lauded and gifted actor as Considine, and it's certainly well shot. But I was thrown completely by how utterly and absolutely the piece is over-dramatized. Those who like this kind of film will probably hate all of the above (except maybe for "Le Havre" and "The Descendents"), preferring something that spoon-feeds the grool till it starts flowing from all orifices. Part-way through, one of the lead characters throws something at a framed picture of Jesus on the wall, followed immediately by a closeup of the Jesus teetering in frame.......at that point in the film I thought all hope was lost. A few moments later the rape scene indeed proved that all hope was gone, I still rode the train-wreck out but the whole thing just left a very, very bad taste in my mouth. The same could be said for the no-budget indie drama "Bad Fever," it's hard to imagine anyway walking out of this film raving about it or even giving it any regard if they make it all the way through. I did not, so I can't ultimately say it's valueless but I'm pretty certain any payoff is going to be too long in coming and removed for any discerning audience. "Attenberg" is the perfect example of how this type of narrative can and should be done, and it's certainly enough for one festival.
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