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Festival

Serenade for Haiti: Can the Arts Save Your Soul?

February 17, 2017 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

“Music is in us.  It is in our lives.  It cannot disappear.  That would be like the end of life.”

– Father Cesar, Serenade for Haiti

Directed by the award-winning documentary filmmaker Owsley Brown (Night Waltz: The Music of Paul Bowles; Music Makes a City), Serenade for Haiti (Serenad pou Ayiti) reveals a side of the country that is often misunderstood by the rest of the world.  Filmed over a seven-year period that began before the earthquake of 2010, Serenade illustrates the powerful role that music, art and education can play in developing and empowering the youth of a nation.  By focusing its lens on Father Cesar and his dedicated staff at Sainte Trinite Music School, this documentary reveals the burgeoning artistic side of the children of Haiti and their commitment to hope.

However, Serenade for Haiti is not merely about the film’s bursting culture and musical talent.  Instead, the film is intent on Haiti’s quest to discover and express its soul.  Despite the vibrancy and colour of the nation, Cesar also reminds us that ‘there is a shadow’ that follows it.  Repeatedly throughout the film, we are reminded of the suffering and anguish that the Haitian people have experienced in recent years.  From politically-rooted violence in the streets to the vicious earthquake of 2010, the nation has found themselves torn apart by fear and bloodshed.

However, herein lies the very heart of Serenade.

In the midst of the pain, Father Cesar and his team recognize that, by teaching the arts to their children, they find a healthy manner of creative expression.  In fact, for Cesar, the arts are not merely a distraction from the country’s social challenges, but potentially the solution to them.  While many children do not have the ability to express their feelings through words, they manage to reveal their hearts via song and paintbrush.  In doing so, they find new hope and life through their creativity.  Like a small plant shooting up from the ashes, music and the arts have become a beacon of hope for the children in the midst of suffering.

Undoubtedly, Serenade paints this creative outburst as a spiritual breakthrough for a nation looking for answers.  As God establishes hope by creating all things new, so too does this expression demonstrate an echo of His image within the people.  In light of this, while the arts may not ‘save one’s soul’, they certainly allow us to connect with the heartbeat of God in a manner that allows for healing and growth.  Repeatedly in Scripture, we see that music is a response to and recognition of the beauty of God.  It is life-affirming and demonstrates an incomprehensible comprehension of His glory that brings wholeness to our soul.

In Serenade for Haiti, we get to see the restorative nature of music first-hand within the eyes of children who have seen the depths of hurt.  In the midst of their suffering, they seek beauty.

And that leads to Hope.

 

Serenade for Haiti is currently making the rounds on the festival circuit.

Filed Under: Film, Reviews Tagged With: documentary, earthquake, Father Cesar, Festival, film festival, Haiti, hope, music, Owsley Brown, school, Serenade for Haiti

Colossal Undertaking – An Interview with director Nacho Vigalondo

November 2, 2016 by Steve Norton Leave a Comment

nacho-promo

When it finally receives its wide release, Colossal will surprise everyone. Given that it will most likely be marketed based on its supernatural elements, the film may seem like a simple monster mash-up.

But don’t tell that to the film’s writer and director, Nacho Vigalondo.

“It’s a mix,” he explains. “50% comes from my love towards monster movies and kaiju eigas. The initial premise is my way to approach those genres from a funny and, at the same time, accessible approach to me as filmmaker. The other 50% is my life, all my shades and bright moments.”

Written and directed by Vigalondo, Colossal tells the story of Gloria (Anne Hathaway), a woman who is dominated by her addiction to alcohol. After her boyfriend (Dan Stevens) ends their relationship and throws her out of his house, she returns to her family home in an attempt to find herself once again. While the Earth deals with a catastrophic kaiju crisis across the globe, Gloria takes a job in a local tavern and re-establishes relations with it’s owner (Jason Sudeikis), a childhood friend with whom she’d lost touch. As the two begin to reminisce and rebuild, Gloria soon realizes that she has a strange connection with the events taking place on the other side of the world.

colossal

For Vigalondo, having the opportunity to work with stars like Oscar-winner Hathaway and comedy veteran Sudeikis was amazingly fortunate, especially considering that their names were brought to him.

“Those were the first names offered and today I can´t think of a better casting for this roles,” he muses. “They are talented, clever, and both surprising.”

What’s more, in an interesting twist on the kaiju genre, Colossal shifts the monster mayhem to Seoul, Korea, as oppose to the more traditional Japanese setting. For Vigalondo, however, the setting actually speaks more about the way American culture grapples with disasters that take place around the globe that do not affect them directly.

“Seoul represents [the] ‘not-USA’,” he begins. “[It’s] a nation struggling with a disaster that American people within the comfort of their houses contemplate, try to understand, and make jokes about.”

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With this in mind, one setting that is important to the film is the local tavern where the friends congregate each night. Gathering together until the early hours of the morning for drinking and storytelling, this location seems to take on the role of sanctuary for the characters. Nonetheless, Vigalondo also believes that the bar carries with it an element of danger as well.

“Not just the bar, but [more] specifically the “men cave” beyond the Country and Western side—the place where they drink after 2 am. That´s the place that works as the ultimate shelter for these characters, but it´s a trap. I’ve been there.“

What sets Colossal apart from other monster films (other than, arguably, the kaiju films developed overseas) is its ability to balance both character-focused drama with city-crushing monsters. (No offence Guillermo, but Pacific Rim hardly contained intimate personal issues.) Vigalondo admits that the film serves as metaphor for one woman’s struggle with addiction.

“The movie disguises itself as a cautionary tale about alcohol and addiction,” he explains, “but reveals [itself to be] something else as the story unfolds. The monster initially feels like a projection of Gloria´s (Anne Hathaway) troubles but later we see it´s just her.”

colossal1

Of course, any film is better off with Anne Hathaway leading the cast. With Hathaway’s incredible talent and range, she is able to portray Gloria as a woman in pain yet gradually discovering strength and hope. When asked where that hope comes from, Vigalondo explains that he believes true power comes when we’re forced to make changes in our lives.

“That was one of the most tricky parts while writing the script. How can I make this character survive this situation while saving as much lives as possible? As in real life, in order to change, you need to experience a breaking point and, after that, you need to think about yourself in new terms. Out of the box. That what she does, it´s not about being more strong, but to change the nature of your strength.”

With Colossal, Nacho Vigalondo has created something truly unique and captivating. By it’s unique blend of character-driven indie and kaiju film, Vigalondo manages to explore the damage that can be done to our souls by others while still offering sci-fi elements and humour. Both fun and serious, the film will truly give you something you’ve never seen before.

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Colossal, which made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, is currently touring the festival circuit but is expected to receive a wide release early in 2017.

Filed Under: Film, Interviews, TIFF Tagged With: alcohol, Anne Hathaway, colossal, Festival, Godzilla, Guillermo del Toro, Jason Sudeikis, kaiju, monster, movie, Nacho Vigalondo, TIFF, TIFF16, Tim Blake Nelson

Thursday at Newport Beach Film Festival

April 30, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

nbff16 001

As the Newport Beach Film Festival comes to an end, I need to give kudos to the staff and volunteers for their wonderful work in making the festival a outstanding event.

love-is-all-you-need

While it has an interesting premise, I had problems with Love Is All You Need? The premise of the film is to create a world in which same-sex relationships are the norm and heterosexual relationships are viewed as deviant and perverted. It is something like what was done with race in the 1995 film White Man’s Burden. When a star quarterback on the college football team (a woman, by the way) falls in love with a male reporter, it sets up a scandal in the town. Meanwhile, a junior high girl is struggling with her sexual identity and is harassed and bullied by others because of their perception of who she is. The film was designed to be a way of talking about bullying and gay bashing—serious problems that LGBT people deal with. However, the film uses the church as a foil, and a very disingenuous portrayal of the church. It is modeled on Westboro Baptist Church, which is an aberration within Christianity. I understand that the church as a whole has a lot to answer for regarding its treatment of LGBT people. (See the notes below on An Act of Love.) But there is venom in the film towards the church which is not much less toxic than the venom that the church in the film aims at the deviant heterosexuals. Probably the film I was most disappointed in at the festival.

 

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In The Great and the Small, a young man on probation for petty crime is living on the street. He gets a job working for a boss who is trying to lead him into bigger crime. He reconnects with an old girlfriend, but mostly for the sex. He also seeks out the woman who adopted the child that his girlfriend had a few years before. She is deeply in grief over the child’s death. As he tries to negotiate his way among the relationships and seeks to find some sense of security in his life, he is also being pursued by a detective looking into his boss’ crimes. The timeline for the film is a bit problematic at times. About half way through it goes back to an earlier scene, but I’m not sure that helps us understand the convergence of storylines. The relationships he has with the two women are something that leads to mutual growth for them all.

schaefer

In 2013 Rev. Frank Schaefer was put on trial within the United Methodist Church because he performed a same sex marriage for his son and partner. An Act of Love is a documentary that uses the trial and Rev. Schaefer’s story to look at the struggle within the UMC (and by extension many other denominations) over LGBT issues. It does a very good job of tracing the issue back to the church’s 1972 General Conference that adopted language that both recognized that LGBT people are loved by God and should be welcomed in the church, and that homosexuality was “inconsistent” with Christianity. Within the UMC there continues to be a great struggle between those who wish to fully accept LGBT people into the life and ministry of the church and those who seek to maintain a more traditional (and in their minds, biblical) position. The trial and the national coverage it received put this issue into the broader national discussion about sexuality. In the Q&A with director Scott Sheppard (whose father was a United Methodist pastor) and Rev. Schaefer, it was noted that the church’s quadrennial General Conference will be meeting very soon. Copies of the film have been sent to all delegates to the Conference that will be considering possible changes to the way the denomination relates to the issue. This is an excellent film for those who want to think about this issue in the life of the church.

Filed Under: Current Events, Film Tagged With: Festival, Frank Schaefer, LGBT, Newport Beach Film Festival, role reversal, United Methodist Church

Tuesday at Newport Beach Film Festival

April 28, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

nbff marquee

It was a dark and moody day at the festival.

Steve-Mojean-Aria-2

The day opened with Call of the Void a noirish tale of love and madness. Steve is determined to win back the love of his life Veronica yet it seems clear she wants nothing to do with him. In fact, even his therapist tells him he needs to move on with his life. But really this is not so much about the story as it is about the mood. Set in the 1940s with black and white cinematography that emphasizes light and shadows, this creates an eerie environment that sets up the final twist.

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Demimonde is the story of three women—a well-known prostitute who has found a rich patron, her housekeeper, and a new maid—in Budapest in the early 20th Century. The new maid is entranced by the worldliness she encounters. The housekeeper tries to protect the new girl from corruption. The lady of the house seems to see some special promise in the girl. The dynamics of jealousy, virtue, desire, and control all intertwine as the story evolves.

fare

Fare takes place almost entirely inside a car. Eric drives for a ride-sharing service. We see a few of his fares, and then he gets called to one he can’t believe he’ll be driving—the man with whom his wife is having an affair. As they drive around and he reveals who he is, there is a great deal of animosity exchanged, threats made, and discussion of relationship and marriage. And then his wife gets in the car as well. I really like the discussion and shifting perspectives as they drove around. It kind of fell apart in the final act, however.

Filed Under: Current Events, Film Tagged With: Festival, Hungary, Newport Beach Film Festival, noir

Monday at Newport Beach Film Festival

April 26, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Red-Mountain-kiss

The Chinese film Red Mountain is a minor family saga, told by a son about his father and grandfather who served as mountain rangers in a remote section of China. When the (then) young father wants to leave to go to college and see the world, the grandfather forbids it, forcing the younger to stay and take over his role on the mountain. For years, he resents his missed opportunity and, when he has a son of his own, he resents being away from him. He seems trapped in an unhappy life. But in time he discovers that this mountain is a part of his life and wishes to pass that relationship on to his son as well. It is a bit melodramatic at times, but it exhibits a love for the natural world and our place within it.

Courtesy of Music Box Films
Courtesy of Music Box Films

The creator of All in the Family, Maude, The Jeffersons and several other amazing and successful TV shows is the subject of Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You. There was a time when he had six shows in production at one time. This film chronicles his career and speaks of his influence on the medium. It also touches a bit on his activism outside of TV. Now in his nineties, he is still active and much of the film consists of his own memories of the events. Even with an hour and a half, his career had so many successes that it’s hard to spend much time on any of them. The clips that are shown are some of the best in the history of TV. This film is part of the PBS American Masters series and will be in theaters in July.

Courtesy of NGLFilm.com
Courtesy of NGLFilm.com

When Army Chaplain Justin Roberts experienced a post-deployment depression, he reunited with many from the unit he had served with in Afghanistan to talk about their experience there, and the difficulties involved in coming home. His conversations with these comrades makes up the bulk of No Greater Love. That deployment was a difficult one for that unit. They lost several soldiers in very strenuous battles. As he interviews them in the film, they relive some very emotional moments. This is about more than just the PTSD that many must deal with; it seeks to get to the hearts of these soldiers and their commitment to one another. In the Q&A after the film, Roberts noted that in part this grew out of an attempt to cut the number of veteran suicides that began even before the deployment. The film is very powerful and moving film with intense battle scenes that Roberts filmed while with the unit.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Afghanistan, chaplain, China, Festival, Newport Beach Film Festival, Norman Lear, PTSD, TV, war documentary

Saturday at Newport Beach Film Festival

April 24, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

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It seems that most every festival has a time travel conundrum, which I love. Something about the paradoxes involved appeals to me. This year at NBFF that is the French film House of Time. A reclusive genius invites a group of his friends to spend a weekend at a secluded chateau. He has studied Nazi documents about a very secret project and claims he has found a way to travel back 70 years. When he pushes the button on his invention, it seems they are back in 1944. Almost immediately a wounded woman arrives at the chateau, claiming to be part of the resistance. There are German soldiers at the gate. Have they really traveled back in time or is this a very elaborate ruse with actors playing their parts? The mystery remains—and even grows—even at the end of the film. It was great fun.

RwandaPoster

Rwanda and Juliet follows a retired Dartmouth professor to Rwanda to stage a performance of Romeo and Juliet using Hutu and Tutsi survivors (mostly orphans) as actors. The idea is to use this play to speak of the need of reconciliation. Most of the film chronicles the rehearsal process, but also gives us a chance to meet some of the people involved and hear their stories. It is fine for that, but it really misses the opportunity to go deeper. A few days before they are scheduled to perform, the cast discusses what they are doing. Some issues come up that really need a deeper examination, such as whether twenty years after the genocide reconciliation has already happened or not, and whether it is the role of well-to-do North Americans to come to Rwanda to show them how to be reconciled. Such things are only touched on without going as deep as the questions deserve.

MyInternshipInCanada

Canadian politics is the backdrop for the comedy My Internship in Canada. Souverain, an idealistic young Haitian, turns up in the office of Steve Guibord, a Canadian Member of Parliament from rural Quebec, to be his intern. Guibord is an independent who really has no political power, but serves the people of his district well—mostly by being available to hear their complaints (that he can do nothing about). When the Prime Minister wants to send troops to a war, it turns out that Guibord represents the deciding vote. He decides to travel his district to hear what the people want, but gets caught between various factions that each want something that has nothing to do with the war. He must also deal with a division in his own home: his wife supports the war and his daughter opposes it. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister is offering a cabinet position for his vote. Souverain, however, has a better understanding of the political situation than his boss. He serves as the most lovable Machiavelli ever.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Canada, Festival, France, politics, Rwanda, time travel

Friday at Newport Beach Film Festival

April 24, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

Flexibility always comes in handy when you make your plans for a festival. For example, the first film I had planned on seeing was for some reason cancelled. That can happen for various reasons, but it does occasionally. I feel for the staff and volunteers who have to deal with that. For me it meant finding something else that fit my time window. As it turned out, I wasn’t disappointed.

from The Weekend Sailor website
from The Weekend Sailor website

In 1973, the first Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race was held. The superstars of sailing took part. The Weekend Sailor is a documentary (looking back forty years) to the Mexican entry, Sayula II. When Mexican businessman Ramon Carlin saw an ad about the race, he thought it would be a good thing to do with his teenage son. He had no boat, no crew, and very little experience. His wife, son, nephews all were part of the crew and a few people from other countries with some experience sailing joined with them. This was a very hazardous voyage (a few sailors from other crews died in the race). This race was definitely over the head of most of the crew. And yet…. The Weekend Sailor is a story not so much about the race (although we follow the boat and crew through the race and its perils) as it is about the bond that developed among this crew and the way they handled themselves in good times and bad.

photo courtesy IFC Films
photo courtesy IFC Films

When I turn in my ballot for audience awards after each film (all audience members get to rate films as excellent, good, fair, or poor) I tend to hold off on using “excellent” except for something exceptional. My first “excellent” of the festival goes to The Man Who Knew Infinity. Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons star in this story about Srinivasa Ramanujan, an uneducated Indian mathematician who is “discovered” by G. H. Hardy of Cambridge. Hardy brings Ramanujan to Cambridge just at the start of World War I. Ramanujan intuited math and likened the theoretical mathematics that they were involved in as art. The film also reflects on the importance of both proof and faith. Hardy was an atheist who could not believe what could not be proven. But Ramanujan saw in mathematics “the thought of god”. The Man Who Knew Infinity opens in theaters next Friday.

Filed Under: Film Tagged With: Festival, mathematics, Newport Beafh Film Festival, sailing

Newport Beach Film Festival – Time to dim the house lights

April 22, 2016 by Darrel Manson Leave a Comment

I look forward to film festivals and it is time for me to head to the beach for the 17th annual Newport Beach Film Festival. This year there are over 350 films from 50 different countries. Obviously I won’t get to them all. But I like to try to find a broad sample of films from among the many offerings.

Although NBFF may not be as widely known as festivals like Sundance or SXSW, I’m never surprised that, when Oscar nominations come out, I discover there is something I’ve seen at this festival among them, often from the shorts or documentary films.

Some of the films that have caught my attention in my early planning (and of course I can’t see all of them) are The Man Who Knew Infinity, a UK film about an Indian who was admitted to Cambridge during World War I;  Love Is All You Need?, about a scandalous heterosexual love affair in a world where same sex relations are the norm; The Wizard, about an Iranian refugee in the US and finding his identity in his high school wrestling team; Rwanda and Juliet a doc about an American who goes to Rwanda to stage a production of Romeo and Juliet with Hutu and Tutsi actors; and Fare, a thriller by a filmmaker who is Christian, but this is not your typical faith-based film—it is R rated and is inspired by (but not the story of) C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters.

nbff marquee

There are some interesting retrospectives being shown this year as well. There is always a John Wayne film (he lived in Newport Beach). This year it will be the 1966 film El Dorado. Disney’s The Fox and the Hound will be shown to commemorate its thirtieth-fifth anniversary; and The Lord of the Rings:The Fellowship of the Rings will mark fifteen years with a screening of the Extended Cut.

And, of course, there will be shorts. I’ve always been fond of the way the programmers at NBFF have organized the shorts programs into interesting sets. Some of the programs titles include “After ‘16”, a group of Irish shorts dealing with the Easter Uprising 100 years ago; dance is celebrated in “Dance in You Shorts”;”Made in California Shorts”; New Short Beginnings” “Not Short on Hope”; and “Older Not Shorter. On Saturday and Sunday one venue is dedicated to Collegiate Shorts programs, including from Chapman University,UCLA, USC, UC Irvine, Orange Coast College, Saddleback College, and Cal State Fullerton.

There are also several films in the Arts, Architecture, + Design section, an Action Sports section, and a Music section, including a program on April 30 of music videos.

What I’m looking forward to the most is being surprised by something I never heard of that may rock my world. It seems to happen at least once every festival.

I’m ready for the lights to go down.

Filed Under: Current Events, Film Tagged With: Festival, Newport Beafh Film Festival

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