Ebertfest 2013: Day Three

It’s late, I’m tired and tomorrow is going to be a long day but I needed to take the time to write about the amazing films we say today at the 15th annual Ebertfest.

Oslo, August 31 is a film I had already seen and already written about, so I won’t dote much more on it. I will say that while I was left gutted the first time I watched it and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to another viewing, Oslo, August 31 was still deeply sad but strangely provoking. We were joined by writer/director Joachim Trier and he was an absolute delight to listen to. Clearly very intelligent and thoughtful. Very interested in seeing more work from him, hopefully soon, and be sure to watch the entire interview in the archive link at the bottom of this post.

 

 

Next, The Ballad of Narayama, a film that has been on my radar since being released by the Criterion Collection (if you don’t know, I’m addicted to buying Criterions). It was also the last entry in Ebert’s Great Movies feature. He made a last minute decision to include this feature and after viewing it, there seems to be a very profound reason for this that I won’t spoil, but I will say it has to do with his age at his passing. Briefly, The Ballad of Narayama is a folk tale of sorts about a struggling village that sends their elders up the mountain to starve while allowing the younger generations to prosper. It sounds morbid, and it is, but this is not an easy decision for all parties involved. The film is decidely Japanese, but not in a way I had ever really seen before. It has a very theatrical stage presence but in possibly the most clever way committed to film. I highly recommend reading Ebert’s Great Movies article on The Ballad of Narayama since it will do the  film much more justice than I. David Bordwell joined us afterwards to speak on the film and offered some of his amazing analysis, which can be seen in the archive link at the bottom of this page.

Closing off day three was a film I had never heard of, and I presume most (perhaps all) of you have not either, Julia. Starring the illustrious Tilda Swinton, who plays the eponymous protagonist. Though to call her a protagonist is hard since she is a scheming alcoholic that kidnaps a child for ransom and ends up getting in deeper at every turn. It’s almost so complex it seems like a Coen brothers film at times, but the intensity of both Tilda and the other actors in Julia is nothing short of incredible. I strongly urge you to seek this one out, it’s one of the best thrillers I’ve seen. We were also blessed to have Tilda Swinton join us and speak of the film. Admittedly, my exposure to Swinton’s films is spotty but I’ve always been drawn to her work. I can honestly say that her performance here impressed the hell out of me possibly more than anything else I’ve seen from her. Afterwards, we tried staying behind to get a chance for a picture with lovely Tilda, but were unable. Pretty much a huge bummer, but here’s hoping the opportunity arises again. Be sure to watch Tilda’s interview from the archive link below.

Important links:

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Ebertfest 2013: Day Two

Hello again!

The second day of the 15th Ebertfest ended just a short while ago and the day was filled with beautiful films, each in their own right.

For starters, we had a short film To Music, which was co-written and directed by Sophie Kohn, the festival director’s daughter. If this was any other festival, its inclusion could easily be viewed as playing favorites, but To Music shined incredibly bright. Featuring a cameo by director Paul Cox, To Music captures the beauty of life as well as music. As with yesterday’s short feature, I look forward to seeing more from these promising young filmmakers.

Next, from cameo to the director’s chair, came Paul Cox’s Vincent: The Life and Death of Vincent Van Gogh. This film was not quite what I expected. After last year’s introduction to Paul Cox with On Borrowed Time, this was my first true introduction to Cox as a filmmaker. Vincent was not quite what I expected in that I thought it would be a documentary following Van Gogh’s highs and lows, but I should have known better. Narrated by John Hurt through letter’s to Vincent’s brother, Theodore, the entire film consists of stills of Van Gogh’s sketches, drawings, and paintings, with some live action reenactments and scenery. While it was strikingly beautiful, I almost wish I could have read the entire script with the aid of closed captions so I could doubly appreciate the finer details being read. Still, the film was beautiful and while everyone in the audience seemed to expect some of Van Gogh’s more famous paintings to be displayed, they were not. Sorry “Starry Night” fans, but the painting is nowhere to be seen in Vincent, but honestly, the film may be better because of this. It completely humanizes Van Gogh, not just as an artist.

Unfortunately, Paul Cox was not able to make it to the festival since his doctor would not let him fly, it would have been quite interesting to hear about the film from his perspective. Sophie Kohn and her filmmaking partner, Feike Santbergen, were on hand, however, which was quite pleasant. You can find the session in the link to the archive at the end of this post.

After running a bit late to get started, we were finally graced with In the Family, another film by a first-time filmmaker, Patrick Wang. In the Family is a startlingly frank look at some topics that, if handled in an indelicate fashion, would be controversial. A young man, Cody (Trevor St. John), loses his wife in childbirth to their son, Chip (Sebastian Banes née Brodziak). He falls for a contractor working for them named Joey (Patrick Wang) and together they raise Chip. Several years later, Cody dies in an accident and unbeknownst to Joey, Cody’s sister was named Chip’s legal guardian. Joey is faced against the law and the not-so-understanding nature of their small Southern town to fight for his son. The film is incredibly moving but also surprisingly funny at times. Films with this much heart are rare enough, but films with this much heart that are not patronizing or manipulative are downright endangered. Race and homosexuality are at the forefront of In the Family and yet neither topic is addressed directly, which is simply amazing to me. Also amazing are some of the long takes in this film, which place the viewer in the story and makes us feel like we are a part of Joey’s life. I had never heard of this film before its announcement at Ebertfest but I urge everyone to keep it on your radar. I daresay there was not a dry eye in the house by the end.

Patrick and Trevor were available for the q&a session afterward, which is definitely worth checking out in the link to the archive at the end of this post.

To cap off the second day, the wonderful film Bernie was presented. When I first watched Bernie, I was hugely surprised by it and was looking forward to seeing it on the big screen with a crowd. I have to admit that I liked it even better a second time through. Check out the above link for my initial thoughts on the film. The experience was made even better by having writer/director, Richard Linklater, in attendance. Jack Black, the star of the film, was also supposed to attend but was unable to make it in person and had to join via phone. I strongly urge you to check out Bernie, but also to watch the session with Linklater and Black in the link to the archives below. It was very illuminating into the process of the film and the real Bernie Teide.

Though it was a rainy day here in Champaign, that didn’t stop the crowd from enjoying these great cinematic gifts given to us by Roger. It was a fantastic day filled with terrific movies.

Important links:

Ebertfest
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Video archives
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Ebertfest 2013: Day One

Today marked the first day of the 15th annual Roger Ebert’s Film Festival (aka Ebertfest) in Champaign, Illinois. Since Roger’s passing less than two weeks ago my anticipation for this year’s festival has been mixed emotions of excitement and sadness. For the film festival, Roger wanted to share some of the finer movies of the past year as well as a few gems that he loved and without him here there is an obvious gap. However, we are there to not only enjoy Roger’s selections for the year, but also to celebrate Roger’s life and love of film.

In case you missed the schedule for this year’s Ebertfest, here it is.

Before I begin with the festival itself, I want to point out that The Virginia theater has been under extensive restoration since the close of last year’s festival and the results are simply stunning. You can see some of the details for yourself on their website.

Day One, of course, began with a lovely introduction by Chaz Ebert, who gave a heartwarming thank you to us for giving her something new to do. The festival is dedicated to Haskell Wexler, one of the directors of photography for tonight’s main feature, Days of Heaven. Chaz also introduced director Grace Wang, of the short film that officially kicked off the festivities, I Remember.

I Remember is clearly a film about love, but also of loss. Taking place on the bed in a lonely apartment with a view of the street below, we see a young woman. There is very little dialogue in the film, entirely taking place in a phone conversation between She and someone, maybe a former fling, maybe the man She is missing. We do not know, but we can tell She is annoyed by the call. It isn’t until She finds a man’s shirt with a note inside that we start wondering what happened to She and if the man she is remembering is still around and what happened between them. The apartment scenes are cut with scenes of a beach with the hands of a young woman and some shells, the same shells also appear on the window ledge in the apartment.

For a short film with next to no dialogue, a beautiful story is hidden and we only catch glimpses of it around the edges. I found the film haunting and quite well-made. Grace Wang, who you may recognize as one of Roger’s far-flung correspondents, did a fantastic job in her debut effort.

Next, we had a sing-along to the tune of Those Were the Days, with modified lyrics by Roger himself. It was quite charming, though instead of singing, I opted to listen to the choral group onstage. To close the evening, we were graced with Days of Heaven on the big screen in its original glory. While I have been a bit spoiled by the completely remastered Criterion blu-ray version of the film, seeing it in its original format the way it was meant to be seen was quite a thrill. I won’t go into detail of the film, as I covered it last year. I do wish more people could watch this film in theaters as the beauty is even more breathtaking on such a grand scale.

Haskell Wexler did a Q&A session afterward that was quite interesting and I will say that for an
87-year-old 91-year-old, Mr. Wexler is still incredibly sharp and is still working! For those of you that have seen Days of Heaven, you may wonder how Malick was able to get the shots of the locust swarms rising from the fields. According to Wexler, a helicopter dropped coffee beans and they reversed the film to make it look like a locust cloud rising. Incredible. Hit the video archive link below to see more!

Stay tuned for more on Ebertfest and follow me on Twitter for live updates of what I’m doing!

Important links:

Ebertfest
Live video stream
Video archives
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Ebertfest Wrap-Up

With Eberfest nearly a week behind me, I have finally found the time to finish my blogs about the experience. I had never been to Ebertfest before, despite it only being a two and a half hour drive from me. I can safely say I will be coming back for the foreseeable future. I had never even visited the University of Illinois campus in Champaign-Urbana before, so I was going into this experience completely blind. The town itself was fairly small, but the university is so large that it makes the town feel sprawling. It’s not quite suburban feeling, but it’s not quite rural either.

Everyone we met during the fest was incredibly nice. In general, the crowd was older, which was a bit surprising to us. With such a large university a short walk away, we were expecting a college crowd, but it was more of a faculty crowd. I think this led to a more civilized experience, though. We were able to get in, save our seats (something that is thankfully standard practice) and talk to people around us with ease.

The one major downside to the whole week was the weather, unfortunately. In Chicago, we are used to weather that radically changes daily and April weather can be 90 degrees or 40 degrees and both would see normal even if they occurred in the same week. We were met with cold, wind, and rain, unfortunately. Waiting in line outside for over an hour in 50 degree rainy weather is no fun at all.

Watching three movies a day and being in a theater for over 12 hours a day was not nearly as exhausting as it may seem, but I was beat at the end. The only movie we skipped was Terri, which I had already watched…But we skipped it to go see Casablanca down the road on the big screen, so I would say we made the right choice. Luckily, all the Q&A sessions are streaming online, so while we didn’t get to experience it live, we were able to experience it.

If I had to count my regrets, they would be few. I only wish I had been a bit more prepared with food and drink. One can only have so much junk theater food before going crazy, and every day after the 2nd movie was wrapping up around 6 or 6:30, we were ravenously hungry. I also wish I had mingled a bit more, I didn’t physically meet as many people as I would have liked, including some of the other panelists and critics.

The films:

• Joe Versus the Volcano
• The Truth About Beauty and Blogs / Phunny Business: A Black Comedy
• Big Fan
• Kinyarwanda
• On Borrowed Time
• Wild and Weird (The Alloy Orchestra)
• A Separation
• Higher Ground
• Patang
• Take Shelter
• Citizen Kane

All in all, it was a magnificent experience. It makes me want to try other film festivals, but a part of me knows there was something magical about this one. I will patiently count down the days until next year. Thank you Roger and Chaz, and everyone else involved in making something like this become reality.

And thank you all for reading along with me. I have several other blogs to post to catch up on, including the April recap, so bear with me!

Ebertfest Day Five – Citizen Kane

If you enjoy watching movies even a little bit, then Citizen Kane is required viewing as far as I’m concerned. I would hope that everyone in attendance for the last viewing of Ebertfest had seen the film at least once because we viewed the film with Roger Ebert’s commentary playing over.

Citizen Kane is known as the best movie ever made and I will not debate this (mostly because I agree) but I will say that even after seeing the film at least half a dozen times, Roger Ebert’s commentary blew my mind the first time I listened to it. It is an incredibly detailed commentary of the film and unless you are experienced in critical film analysis it will probably blow your mind.

Ideally, we would have watched the film in its entirety and then immediately watched the commentary because Roger’s track is so packed that I don’t think a single line of film dialogue makes its way in. Regardless of this, the commentary is so enlightening that you don’t need a deep knowledge of the film to appreciate it. In fact, during the Q&A session, Roger sent up a note that he apologized for the woman in the lobby demanding her money back for someone talking over the film the whole time, apparently she didn’t get the memo.

If you own Citizen Kane, and you should, I would urge you to check out this commentary on your own. If you have four hours to spare sometime, watch the movie then stretch, get a drink, and put on the commentary. I did this as soon as the 70th Anniversary Blu-Ray came out and was blown away then too.

As a way to close out Ebertfest, I cannot even imagine anything more perfect. To hear Roger’s voice again was emotional for me, and when Chaz Ebert came back on stage, she was in tears. Luckily Roger recorded commentary tracks like this before he lost his voice in 2006 because they are incredible. To bring his voice back to the Virginia Theater for Ebertfest was fantastic.

As for Citizen Kane…

I give it 5 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL

Ebertfest Day Four – Take Shelter

Take Shelter is a film I waited to see once I knew it would be at Ebertfest and I’m so glad my first experience with it was on the big screen. We were joined by writer/director, Jeff Nichols, and actor, Michael Shannon for easily my favorite Q&A session of the entire festival.

Take Shelter is a hard film to describe. In presenting the film, Jeff Nichols said that it is very much a snapshot of the state of the United States economically which took me by surprise at first. After watching it, I very much agree.

Curtis (Michael Shannon) and his wife, Samantha (Jessica Chastain), and their young, deaf daughter live in a blue collar town in Ohio. Curtis works at a quarry, or something like that, and Samantha sells pillows at flea markets to make ends meet. The film begins with Curtis having a dream where there is a storm rolling in and the rain is thick, like motor oil. His dreams get more and more bizarre, and he takes them as being prophetic. We soon learn that his family has a history of mental illness, so we are left wondering what is really happening.

With the mindset of America’s economic turmoil over the last 5 years, it’s very easy to connect some dots to certain things in the film. Even without having that seed planted, you can easily side with Curtis as he worries about the future. While Curtis’ dreams are extreme, they are easy to relate to in most ways.

During the dream sequences, the entire theater of 1600 people was holding their breath. After reality picked back up there was always an audible sigh because the dreams are incredibly tense, verging on a horror movie. In fact, Jeff Nichols would go on to say that The Shining was one of Take Shelter’s main influences. I cannot recommend this movie enough and it likely rewards multiple viewings. In fact, as soon as the lights came up, I got on my phone and ordered a copy of the Blu-Ray on Amazon.

As for the Q&A session, it’s very hard to do justice in describing it. Jeff Nichols is new to directing, but I truly believe he is the next Christopher/Jonathan Nolan wrapped into one. He has huge potential, and I am going to be tracking down his first film, Shotgun Stories, very soon. Michael Shannon, who is one of my favorite actors currently working, was surprisingly profound and funny. If there is one Q&A session that you stream, please let it be this one (the link is below), but be warned there will be spoilers if you haven’t seen the film yet.

After the Q&A session, we stuck around to try and meet Michael Shannon…and we did! Please ignore my half-smile (I’m on the left) and Julian’s look like he just woke up. I guess we were both so excited that we couldn’t control our facial expressions.

Michael Shannon is a very nice guy considering there were about two dozen of us following him around trying to get pictures with him and the poor guy was just trying to leave…But I regret nothing.

As for Take Shelter…

I give it 5 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL

Ebertfest Day Four – Patang

Patang, which means “kite” in Hindi, I believe,  is possibly the most divisive film shown during Ebertfest this year. It’s an Indian film, made by a young Chicagoan named Prashant Bhargava, that has dazzling visuals but left many people (at least that I overheard) say “what was the point?”.

When Patang first started rolling the projection framing was totally wrong, like the picture had been zoomed. After about 5 minutes of movie, where the subtitles were cut off completely, Prashant came back on stage briefly, rapped for us (literally), then explained that the film was shot in a unique aspect ratio, 2:1, so he understood the issues. We then restarted the movie, to everyone’s delight.

Aside from the aspect ratio, Patang is visually stunning film. It is wildly colorful and is broken up by unique handheld sections which are from the point of view of one of the main characters. The plot itself is where other festival goers seemed to lose interest. A rich man and his daughter come back to their home town of Ahmedabad for the traditional kite festival where there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of kites being flown. As the film unravels we learn more about the family and some of their struggles. There are several messages hidden in the film, but I do not wish to spoil it.

I can see why people would be quick to write Patang off, but that is not fair to the material. The story of family is strong here and there is a fresh new filmmaking voice in Prashant. It may not have a tightly focused narrative and it doesn’t wrap everything in a bow at the end, but that is life. We are viewing this family’s life for only a few days out of the year, we are not meant to know everything that has happened or will happen to them, it’s a snapshot in time.

The use of non-actors really helps sell Patang, too. The characters are all believable and while I’ve never traveled to India, I would be surprised to find a more realistic portrayal. If nothing else, Patang is a unique film and that is what small festivals like Ebertfest are for. Even those that left the theater nonplussed by it have seen a film that few others have seen, and very few will likely even get the chance to see.

Unfortunately, I did not stick around for the Q&A session, which apparently had a stage full of people. If you’re interested, it is available for streaming in the links below. Oh, and in case you’re wondering, the pronunciation is similar to puh-tah-ng.

I give it 4 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL

Ebertfest Day Four – Higher Ground

To kick off the last full day of Ebertfest, we began with Higher Ground. Contrary to what the title may lead you to believe, Higher Ground is not a teenage stoner comedy, it’s actually based on the memoir of the same title by Carolyn Briggs. Carolyn also came to speak with us about the process of the novel, some artistic liberties the movie took, and her story in general.

Higher Ground is, at its most basic, the story of a woman growing up. Corine (Vera Farmiga, who also directed the feature)  finds religion and tries so desperately to make religion fit in her life but she is left feeling empty despite her truly best efforts. She gets married and starts a family at a very young age (the teenage Corinne is actually played by Vera Farmiga’s younger sister, Taissa) and joins, what could easily be described as a Christian cult. Religion and Jesus takes such a large portion of her life but ultimately for all the love and time she gives she gets little in return.

I have never been religious in even the slightest sense but the story really rang true for me. Religion could very easily be the butt of the joke for the film, but it is not. It is treated with utmost care and while some of the Christian practices were very strange, they are not mocked. I really can’t explain why, but Higher Ground really hit me and it was the last movie I was expecting to even remotely like from the entire festival. Vera Farmiga does such a stunning job both acting and behind the camera, she is such a tremendous talent.

When Carolyn Briggs came back out to talk to the audience she had some funny stories about the screening of Higher Ground. One screening was done for a Christian university, or something of the sort and she was very worried that it would be received negatively since it does involve a woman losing most of her faith. That audience was able to overlook that, it seems, which is a very important thing to note about the film. When asked what box for religion she would check in a survey about herself, she thought for quite some time before saying she would probably just skip the question and leave the box blank. That sums up Higher Ground perfectly. Though it does meander a bit aimlessly a bit, so does life.

I give it 4 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL

Ebertfest Day Three – A Separation

A Separation was definitely my favorite film of the entire festival and also instantly became one of my favorite films of all time. Michael Barker, from Sony Pictures Classic, introduced the film as “the perfect film” and it absolutely is. There is not a single scene that I would have removed and the actors were incredibly true to life. I had not seen it beforehand, but I will definitely be seeing it again.

On the surface, A Separation is a film about a couple going through a divorce. The film opens with Simin and Nader in front of a judge discussing why they should be allowed to get divorced. She wants to leave Iran, he needs to stay to take care of his ailing elderly father and is concerned about their preteen daughter’s education. Simin helps hire a caretaker for Nader’s father, and a series of events causes the woman to have a miscarriage, but she blames this on Nader (I don’t want to get into specifics about the events leading up to this, for spoiler reasons).

The best thing about A Separation is that it keeps us guessing. We do not know the full truth, we watch as it unravels. The relationships between characters are so incredibly heartfelt that even the most flawed characters, we are all flawed in some way, become personal. Incredible script, incredible performances and a fantastic ending, A Separation is simply amazing. Even in writing this I wish I could be watching it again right now.

For the Q&A session, Michael Barker came back out along with Paul Cox (On Borrowed Time) and one of Roger’s far flung correspondents, Omer Mozaffar. Omer spoke of some cultural significance and offered some insight into things that would go right over the heads of people not deeply familiar with Persian and Muslim customs. I truly hope that the home release has some special features detailing some of the things he spoke of, it was very enlightening. Paul Cox also had a terrific line that I’m going to paraphrase, “this entire film was shot on a budget that is definitely less than the cocaine budget on a Hollywood film”. He’s probably right, and that is a frightening thing to think about. If A Separation is what can come out of Iran, I need to see more.

I give it 5 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL

[Update]

Movie One Hundred Ninety Eight

After getting a chance to revisit A Separation on a small screen, the film was less of a surprise but had more of an impact. Let me explain. A Separation is a film that is crafted in such a way that the viewer does not know all the details of plot. Those details are carefully laid out as the film progresses and each seemingly minuscule detail forms a hugely moving setting for each of the characters in some way. While the details of the plot were not a surprise a second time through the film, seeing the way the film is crafted gives me a tremendous appreciation for A Separation. The editing and writing is done in such a precise fashion that it’s nothing short of remarkable that the film works at all, let alone works as well as it does. Details are implied, but not explained until later but this is not confusing, it’s revelatory.

If you haven’t seen A Separation yet, I really can’t say it enough – Go see this movie. It is a perfectly crafted film with the kinds of touching human relationships that Hollywood can’t seem to produce anymore.

Ebertfest Day Three – Wild and Weird (The Alloy Orchestra)

I have put off writing about Wild and Weird because I’m not totally sure what exactly to write about. Wild and Weird is a series of short, silent films in which the Alloy Orchestra creates and performs the accompanying soundtrack. The Alloy Orchestra is three men that mostly play percussion instruments, some traditional, some unique. They take great care in their music and, while untraditional, works extremely well with the source material.

For Ebertfest, the Alloy Orchestra did not play their full repertoire, the Wild and Weird DVD contains 14 shorts, I believe we saw 8-10 of them. The shorts were all unique, all different, and all fairly unusual. My favorite was Red Spectre (note this video has no sound) which is hand tinted and had a fitting devilish soundtrack to it.

As a huge huge fan of early silent cinema, the entire show was totally enrapturing. The music completely changes the tone of some films, but it keeps you entertained and at attention. I will be purchasing the Wild and Weird DVD shortly, actually.

Two of the guys from the Alloy Orchestra came back for the Q&A afterwards (the third guy was selling merchandise) and they went over some of their techniques, some of their instruments and their experiences with short films. It was said that films like Hugo have really brought the interest for silent cinema back in demand. YouTube is a haven for many silents, but so many have been destroyed or neglected over the years it’s an absolute shame. The Alloy Orchestra have been at this for over 20 years, long before YouTube, which is totally admirable. I recommend checking them out if you ever get the chance, I do not think you will be disappointed.

While I haven’t seen the DVD…Based on the stuff I saw…

I give it 5 out of 5.

Some interesting Ebertfest links:

Alloy Orchestra: http://www.alloyorchestra.com/
The festival’s main site: http://www.ebertfest.com/
Stream the interview sessions for free: http://ustre.am/JauL