SCREENING LOG - 4/07-4/13, 2003

Back to 2003 Index

I watched WAITING FOR HAPPINESS, BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD, THE BOOK OF RULES, SCUMROCK, NOT A DAY GOES BY, BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, MARION BRIDGE, and CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES. In order of preference:

Waiting for Happiness (2002, Abderrahmane Sissako)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0308363

This ravishing feature took about a half hour for me to adjust to its lack of narrative thread (it's ostensibly about a young student returning from overseas and feeling alienated -- the storytelling more or less reflects it's protagonist's inability to piece his life together) but after a point I felt genuinely transported to the Mauritanian port city whose way of life is captured by Sissako's camera in all its languid beauty. This film puts a lot of confidence in its characters and their innate specialness and it's a risk that pays off -- you're not so much following a story as just sharing in their daily existence as it moves poetically from one encounter to the next. What others claim for David Gordon Green, I claim for Sissako. Count this as a major addition to the annals of African cinema, a movie that offers an environmental movie experience, one you don't so much watch as feel.

Marion Bridge (2002, Wiebke von Carolsfeld)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0329355

This adaptation of Daniel MacIvor's play about three reunited sisters sorting out their family baggage while tending to their dying mother doesn't overcome its theatrical origins in either its line readings or staging, but for the most part it plays to the strengths of those devices: like a great figure skating routine, the rigorous choreography of the performances streamlines the instinctive quirky traits of each character, enveloping the film in a fitting sense of grace. There's a dance-like charm to the movements of these women as they fiddle and fidget about their mom's old creaky two-story house, sometimes bickering along the grooves of well-worn family problems, other times exploding into unexpected giggles. Molly Parker's fascinating face alone makes up half of her wiry performance as the middle sister with the biggest skeleton in the closet, while Rebecca Jenkins as the oldest sister serves mightily as the wavering anchor for this strained household. I'll be amazed if I see a more intimate and perceptive film about families this year.

Bollywood/Hollywood (2002, Deepa Mehta)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0303785

Thoroughly enjoyable send-up of the Bollywood genre in a Toronto setting: a wealthy young man hires a mysterious prostitute (the drop-dead gorgeous Lisa Ray, who is of Indian/Polish descent ) and trains her to be an acceptable bride for his family, with enough self-conscious commentary on its own genre conventions to satisfy a Godard movie. As far as Indian crossover films go, I preferred it to MONSOON WEDDING because it seemed less intent on packaging its culture for mainstream consumption and was more focused on celebrating the Bollywood mentality in all its Indian specificness. I didn't get a quarter of the jokes but they were delivered with such charisma that I laughed at the spirit behind the letter.

I can't bring myself to comment extensively on these next five films, as I have personal ties with nearly all of their constituents so I can't pretend to be objective. I'll just say what I liked best about each, and that collectively they show signs of an emerging new wave of Asian American cinema set to pick up where Wayne Wang and Ang Lee left off (and judging from the amazing $30,000 per-screen opening weekend of BETTER LUCK TOMORROW, one could say this movement has already emerged). These five films are so different from each other that together they map out quite a wide world of experience -- all they seem to have in common is a youthful sense of discovery, sometimes tentative, sometimes brilliantly assertive. In short, they're well worth checking out.

Not a Day Goes By (1999, Joe C. M. Chan)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0180878

- For its unique ear for dimestore conversation in all its gloriously absurd twists of logic. (Incidentally, the director of the film played Cosmo, the firecracker boy in the climactic scene of P.T. Anderson's BOOGIE NIGHTS.)

Scumrock (2002, Jon Moritsugu)

Not listed on IMDb (idiots)

- For not giving a damn.

Charlotte Sometimes (2002, Eric Byler)

http://us.imdb.com/CommentsShow?0284478

- For its affecting portrayal of repressed desire basking in nocturnal hues of neon green, and for introducing America to future star Eugenia Yuan (who just last week won a Hong Kong Film Award for her performance in THREE and who will next be seen in, of all things, THE HULK).

Better Luck Tomorrow (2002, Justin Lin)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0280477

- For delving into the nightmarish detours taken in pursuit of All-American success.

Book of Rules (2003, Sung H. Kim)

http://us.imdb.com/Title?0301055

- For its poetic moments that captured the startling emptiness and confusion lying in wait beneath the everyday travails of disaffected urban bohemians.

Incidentally, I will note that CHARLOTTE SOMETIMES, which was nominated for this year's Independent Spirit Awards, is inexplicably saddled with a 2.7 rating on the IMDb. This is simply ridiculous. It may not be a masterpiece but it is an impressive first feature and deserves at least twice as high a rating, as the general tone of the user comments would attest. I've always doubted the reliability of the IMDb ratings system and this instance pretty much takes the cake -- there is definitely something fishy going on here.

Back to 2003 Index