Marquee-in-transition

Goodbye, Woody…

Hello, Mumblecore…

There’s also CZECH DREAM

With all the awesome press our MUMBLE WITHOUT A CAUSE series is getting, I almost forgot that CZECH DREAM opens today too.

Good thing I have 3 Imaginary Girls to remind me.

Here is a link to the CZECH DREAM official website, where you can watch a trailer, read more reviews and the ‘audience blog‘ (is this normal? sounds a bit risky to me), and peruse the most entertaining film photogallery I’ve ever seen.

The documentary plays through September 13 at 7 and 9:15 daily.

The Old Turks

Just a note from Toronto, where I’m attending the most important festival in N. America. Yesterday I kicked off my screening schedule (some 4-5 filmss a day) with several new films from well established filmmakers; Jacques Rievtte, Bela Tarr, and Guy Maddin. And although in some way the Rivette film was the gem stone of Thursday’s line-up, I’d like to make a small but interesting note about Turkish born, German raised Fatih Akin’s new film EDGE OF HEAVEN. An absolute change of pace for the director, who brought most famously the kinetic energy of youth in HEAD-ON. This new film gives us a far more more measured and contemplative tone. A tale of criss-crossing relationships, father-son, mother-daughter, lover-lover, Akin’s films in some ways is a parable for the crisis of identity in a global Europe. I don’t want to give too much away, but the real pay off for me was the films final shot, which finds the aforementioned son arriving at a seashore to track down his father, who he has become estranged to after a series of unfortunate events that have sent both of them back to Turkey from Germany. The composition is striking as the son sit down beside a boat to wait for his dad to return. The credits begin to roll over his back and we’re left with a painterly portrait that has a striking resemblance to Winslow Homer’s “Waiting For Dad” (photo above). Why this location, why this composition? I can only assume that this resemblance was an intentional reference to Homer, and frankly a fitting and tranquil touch.