News Feature by Patrick Dye
As a city, Cambridge has a confusing attitude towards film. Only a few short years ago the excellent Arts Cinema was closed down to re-emerge as a bar. This was maybe inevitable given that the other two city centre cinemas had already succumbed to the need for yet another branch of Marks & Spencer and a further pub. So on the face of it drinking and shopping take precedence over cinema-going in this centre of learning. However, running counter to this worrying trend is the growing reputation of the city’s film festival. Now in its 26th year the festival managed to cram 200 screenings into 11 days with UK premieres of films ranging from Pixar’s latest crowd pleaser Cars to David Mamet’s disturbingly unwholesome Edmond.
The city is currently booming as a result of the huge inward investment of high tech firms. Not surprisingly then technical innovation featured large on the festival agenda. Festival director Tony Jones said that he wanted the event to become a ‘launch pad’ for independent cinema by encouraging filmmakers to embrace the contemporary horrors of podcasting, viral marketing and other innovations to widen audiences for their work. Certainly the organisers practice what they preach and seemed obsessed with the festival’s website. At the end of any hosted presentation audiences were invited to visit the festival website where they could give feedback on the film. Perhaps this emphasis on getting the films out to audiences can also explain the relative lack of events aside from screenings. There were no opening or closing ceremonies and few events that were not tied around presentations of the film. This meant that even personal appearances by notable filmmakers usually involved the carting on of a microphone and some chairs in front of the screen to allow the auteur in question to comment. Cinema auditoriums are a great place to watch films but as forums for the discussion there are better alternatives.
Documentaries:
The festival premiered an eclectic mix of documentaries. Allan Sekula’s The Lottery of the Sea knits together tales of seaboard and sea folk to produce a beguiling portrait of a world grounded in the harsh realities of world trade where goods are still manhandled across watery voids, the concrete flipside of vague talk of globalisation lovingly rendered. In Jonestown: The Life and Death of People’s Temple Stanley Nelson revisits the Johnstown massacre interviewing former followers of Jones in a bid to answer why so many chose to follow the man to their premature graves. Although interesting it ultimately treads where others have trod before. A more optimistic view of humanity is offered in Paper Clips which recounts the story of school teacher Linda Hooper’s brilliant initiative to help her waspish charges appreciate the scale of the holocaust. They were encouraged to bring one paperclip to the school for each of the 6 million Jews who perished and the results were inspiring. For those who’d rather exclude optimism from the curriculum, the festival also saw the UK premiere of Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man. Built around footage of a tribute concert and performances from the likes of Rufus Wainwright and Jarvis Cocker, the film offers an intriguing portrait of the reclusive Cohen (who called a Zen monastery home…) for converts and novices alike.
Retrospectives:
To accompany the premier of Michel Gondry’s The Science of Sleep, the festival ran a retrospective of the director who brought the world Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Included in this was a series of shorts – Meet Michel - providing an insight into the man’s early years emerging from shattered dreams of musical stardom to a realisation of his cinematic talents. The Science of Sleep sees Gondry again explore the potential for altered states to wreak romantic havoc with Gael Garcia Bernal playing a man whose dream world both enhances and threatens his romantic life in the here and now.
Fashion photographer and film maker Bruce Weber has managed to mix work with the likes of Ralph Loren with some striking cinematic works. This retrospective revealed his appreciation of everything from the search for male identity in his portrayal of a boxer and the boys’ club he nurtures in Broken Noses, to the power of animals to enhance our lives in the remarkable A letter to True (True being one of Weber’s pet retrievers).
Other premieres…
A Scanner Darkly is Richard Linklater’s adaptation of the ever popular Phillip K Dick’s tale of drugs hell, rendered in a ‘flashy’ comic book graphical interface and boasting a starry cast headed up by Keanu Reeves. Reeves stars as cop Bob Arctor reporting on the activities of fellow drug users ably played by Robert Downey (who better to portray addiction) Winona Ryder (ditto) and Woody Harrelson.
Angel-A is the latest from Luc Besson and plays out as a sort of Gallic Wings of Desire, all black and white and brooding. Like wings of desire it centres on an angel who has come to earth to help humanity. However, this being a Besson film we have Rie Rasmussen to stare at for 90 minutes – a little easier on the eye than her German counterpart. Rasmussen’s striking 6ft blond ‘slut’ has been sent to save an apparently worthless chancer, Andre (Jamel Debbouze) whose life looks set to end shortly either by his own hand or that of his many underworld creditors. Through a series of life-affirming escapades Angela persuades Andre of his self worth and he performs a similar trick on her. Besson manages to keep the film just the right side of sickly, but only just with the performance of Debbouze doing much to add emotional depth.
Mamet’s Edmond sees William H Macy trot through his familiar portrayal of outraged and slightly deranged Middle America, only this time things go a little too far. The film is Falling Down with high brow pretensions as Edmond Burke, frustrated with his wife, heads into town for a little action and over the course of an evening sees his world gradually disintegrate. Suddenly aware of the savage nature of the society that surrounds him, his own savagery emerges driving him to violence. Ultimately this film is a nasty affair that lacks any true insight. Edmond’s descent is swift and brutal and his ultimate redemption unbelievable and frankly odd.
In a similar vein to scanner darkly – certainly visually – is Renaissance. A comparable technique of superimposing graphics over real actors has been used to create an eerie Parisian futurescape against which a tale of corporate intrigue is played out.
Harsh Times sees Christian Bale as an ex-marine purging the trauma of time spent fighting in the Gulf by righting wrongs on the streets of LA. Director David Ayer - who cut his teeth as writer of Training Day and The Fast and the Furious - creates a pacy if disturbing snapshot of the dystopia that apparently passes for urban life in the US.
Also well worth a look…
Little White Lies is adapted from a stage play by its lead actress and writer Helen Griffin. It tells a tale of working class racism in a tragicomedy that starts out like an episode of The Royle Family but gains a ferocious pace. The action centres on a mother/son relationship that has stayed static since childhood until the intrusion of the BNP brings it violently into the present.
Gigolos is an odd little film focussing on a select group of young men who ply their trade in Mayfair ‘entertaining’ wealthy ladies of a certain age. It is beautifully played in places with cameo appearances from the likes of Sian Philips, Susannah York and Anna Massey. Though lacking in narrative thrust it provides a fascinating portrayal of loneliness spanning the generations.
The West Wittering Affair is a comedy of errors with a difference. Although the plot outline and scene structure were sketched out by male lead Danny Scheinmann, the dialogue is entirely improvised. And remarkably it works. Examining the intertwined lives of two couples and the repercussions of a disastrous holiday weekend the film is both funny – very funny in places – and compelling.
In sharp contrast, 4.30 is a sober and tightly structured depiction of one boy’s obsession with the only male role model available to him. Apparently deserted by his wayward mother, schoolboy Xiao dedicates his life to monitoring every movement of a Korean ‘uncle’ with whom he ‘shares’ a flat. The uncle is recovering from a broken heart and spends his days wrapped in a misery that outweighs even the boy’s. The two struggle towards a bond in Royston Tan’s gentle study of lives left untended.
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