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NEW DIRECTORS/NEW FILMS 2000 Send This Review to a Friend
What's in a title? The French import, A PORNOGRAPHIC AFFAIR, which featured some of the finest acting in the New Directors/New Films series of the year 2000 (March 24-April 9), has been re-titled for American distribution by Fine Line Features as AN AFFAIR OF LOVE. Although less titillating, the new title won't scare off theaters, and the suggestion of pornography in the original was misleading anyhow because nothing resembling pornography was delivered.
By any name this was one of the best films in the eclectic series, sponsored jointly by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and the Museum of Modern Art. It is unfortunate that the film was dismissed by the New York Times, which has special power when it comes to foreign language imports. "An Affair Of Love," is a witty, sophisticated excursion into the relationship between sex and love. Nathalie Baye creates a portrait of a woman stirred by her fantasies, yet reticent about indicating her desire for a permanent relationship unless assured that the man wants her. Sergi Lopez is also tentative about turning sex into something lasting. The performances alone make the film worth seeing.
The man and the woman each face the camera (possibly representing a shrink) and each gives an account of what happened when they met as a result of an ad placed by the woman. She explains her fantasy about wanting a liaison geared purely to sex. The man accepts. One of the sex acts they admit to but never describe--and we never see-- is supposed to be something most people would regard as bizarre.
As their relationship is dramatized, we learn how it is impossible over a period of time for sex to remain isolated, and gradually they become involved romantically as their feelings take over the experiment. Director Frederic Fonteyne, working from Philippe Blasbard's screenplay, shows us just enough sex to not make the film a fraud. There is one especially detailed scene, but the concentration is on the give and take of the relationship and the problem of it leading anywhere, given misunderstandings due to the nature of the couple. The film is rather sad, but it explores human behavior in a way that makes it always fascinating to watch, and a large share of the credit goes to the stars.
Another outstanding performance comes in TWO WOMEN, a film from Iran with an entirely different purpose. Tahmine Milani's drama is a fervent cry for justice and equality for women in Iran's male-dominated, repressive society. Niki Karimi as Fereshteh personifies women who cannot free themselves of control by men. As a student, she strikes up a friendship with Roya (Marila Zarei), a young woman who engages Fereshteh to help with mathematics. Years later, Fereshteh, in a panic, calls upon Roya to help her, and we learn what has happened in Fereshteh's life, in contrast to Roya's more liberated existence.
For Fereshteh there has been one descent after another into increasing despair. She is persuaded to marry a man who pays her fines as a result of an accident that occurred when she was trying to escape a crazed suitor stalking her. Once married, she is kept a virtual prisoner by her husband, and having children has forced her to be even more imprisoned. When she wants a divorce she can get no relief from a biased judge, and her family is complicit by refusing to support her demand to be free and pursue her studies. Fereshteh's desperation becomes increasingly evident, and as events lead to tragedy, her demands for a better life verge on hysteria.
This is an amazingly outspoken film for Iran, and Milani has been courageous in giving a powerful artistic voice to the aspirations of women trying to shake off male domination.
HUMAN RESOURCES, from France, is an outstanding film about management and labor that refrains from cliché and creates characters who seem utterly true to life as they cope with convincing situations. It is unabashedly pro-labor, but with the strength of also being a compelling family drama. At times "Human Resources" seems almost like a documentary, largely because director Laurent Cantet emphasizes authenticity.
Jaili Lespert as Frank, the son of a man who has worked in a factory all his life to see that his son can get an education and rise above his working class status, takes a job as a trainee in the same factory. Management is considering what has become a major issue in France--adopting a 35-hour week to solve some of the unemployment difficulties. Frank is bright and seems bound for success, until he learns that he is being used callously to help hoodwink the workers, some of whom are to be fired, including his father. Frank refuses to go along, and becomes sympathetic to the union, led by a firebrand of a woman. This puts him on a collision course not only with the boss who has the power to advance or thwart his career, but with his father, who thinks it honorable to work dutifully and not be caught up in a strike.
The lives of Frank, his father and mother and others are depicted interestingly and the film doesn't shy from talk about the issues. It is a tribute to Cantet that an audience can feel as if it is privy to the problems. This is a rare film; it gradually takes sides through solid drama rather than polemics.
CRANE WORLD, another film with a working class bent, harks back to the style of Italian neo-realism, only it takes place in Argentina, following the life of a decent, middle-aged, once-aspiring rock star, who now works as a crane operator. This isn't a story in which a lot happens, but writer-director Pablo Trapero succeeds by insinuating himself into the day-to-day life of Rulo, who is struggling to earn a living, care for his mother and be a father to his grown son. We observe his friendship and solidarity with his friends, and follow the course of blossoming romance with an unassuming, mature woman who runs a neighborhood kiosk.
But Rulo runs into difficulty when his construction job in Buenos Aires ends. He gets help from a friend who puts him in touch with a worker in Patagonia who can get him another job. Rulo travels there and starts work, but the conditions of living are awful and that job proves no more dependable than the last. Rulo, whose hopes cannot be crushed, returns to struggle further.
Luis Margani, paunchy and looking the part, brings Rulo to life with a sincere, totally realistic performance that fits the documentary look of the film. Non-professional actors help provide the veracity, and Trapero's slice of life drama conveys much about conditions in Argentina. There isn't the final dramatic wrench one often got from a film of the Italian neo-realism genre. This one just ends gently after its effect has taken hold.
In keeping with its presentation of films from throughout the world, the series also included the Chinese SHOWER, directed and co-written by Zhang Yang, who tells a story set primarily in the neighborhood bathhouse in Beijing. It is an occasion to observe a set of characters who include the father who runs the place, his retarded son who assists him, and another son who has returned to visit. There is also the entourage frequenting the bathhouse; one teenager longs to sing and belts out his favorite in his best Italian, but freezes with fright if he has to perform before an audience.
The film's focus is on sorting out life's priorities and lending a hand to one another despite the pressures that envelop the various individuals. There is a tender scene in which the father is brought closer to his wife, from whom he has been growing apart. The plot moves forward with the threat of the bathhouse being closed to make way for construction in the name of progress. What makes "Shower" involving is the attention to the various characters, their desires and needs, and the vivid portrait of the odd milieu in which they exist.
Set in Shanghai, SUZHOU RIVER attempts to develop a mystique as a young man follows an obsession. Mardar (Jia Hongsheng), a motorcycle messenger, becomes smitten with Moudan (Zhou Xun), who is very pretty. But she appears to have died in a plunge from a bridge into a river. Mardar is jailed as a result of his involvement in a crime, and upon his eventual release, he meets a go-go dancer named Meimei (also played by Zhou Xun), is smitten once again and is sure the woman is Moudan. The story is wrapped in narration about the flow of the river, and writer-director Lou Ye's doting on the Shanghai scene gives the film character. A haunting mood is created, but the story doesn't have enough impact to get one emotionally involved. Yet it does show a director in very strong control of his material.
One major disappointment was ADRENALINE DRIVE, an elaborate Japanese film written, edited and directed by Shinobu Yaguchi. This is an odd mix--part youth film, part caper comedy, part romance. When an explosion messes up a gang, a nurse and a clerk for a rental car company retrieve a briefcase full of money and make off with it. A battle follows, with the surviving gang members trying to recover the loot. It's slapstick mayhem, too silly by far. Perhaps it seems fresh in Japan, but the film is neither funny enough nor romantic enough. The chases grow tiresome and "Adrenaline Drive" is a reminder of many better earlier films from other countries.
The series even included a film from Slovenia. IDLE RUNNING, directed and co-written by Janez Burger, looks in on the life of a college student called Dizzy, who doesn't quite know what to do with himself, expect be egotistical and see everyone else mainly in relation to his wants and needs. He behaves that way with his girlfriend, although he does permit his roommate to bring his pregnant girlfriend to share the tiny dorm room them. Dizzy, played in a shoulder-shrugging style by Jan Cvitkovic, does show some signs of kindness and growing up, and we do get a glimpse of the malaise permeating the lives under inspection, but frankly, watching Dizzy try to mature isn't worth the trouble.
A much better slice of life film comes from the United Kingdom. RATCATCHER, written and directed by Lynne Ramsay, observes the life of James (William Eadie), a 12-year-old boy in Glasgow and is set in the mid-1970s. He's a dreamer who longs for the time when his family can move to an improved flat. His neighborhood is rat-infested, the filth made worse by a garbage strike. His father is a boozer. Apart from anything else, James is haunted by an accident that claimed the life of a young friend in a local canal and he blames himself.
Through following the adventures of James, including his childlike nude trysts with a girl he knows, we get a glimpse of life of the downtrodden, as well as the fantasies with which James and the other boys fortify themselves. It takes imagination to tie a mouse to a balloon and let it rise under the impression it is going to the moon. James's life appears headed for tragedy one way or another, and Ramsay involves us to the point of hoping against hope that James will somehow survive and grow into a better life.
I couldn't catch all of the works included in the Film Society-MoMA movie marathon, but apart from those already described, one of the strongest that stands out is an entertaining American oddity, THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE. Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato have created a satirical documentary of Tammy Faye Bakker, the wife of preacher Jim Bakker, who was sent to prison amid accusations of fraud. Presenting Tammy Faye straight would be enough of a satire, but they have added a wink, partly through introducing various segments with puppetry, and partly by highlighting aspects of Tammy Faye that are bound to elicit laughs.
Yet she also emerges as a strong if pitiful character, a woman who seems to have believed in all of the preaching and trappings that went with their religious broadcasting mission. She comes across as a survivor of adversity, a woman who feels she isn't attractive without her heavy make-up, yet a person with a bent for show business, whether it be promoting religion on television or talk show hosting. She has a sense of humor about herself, yet is driven to succeed at something, anything that will bring her celebrity.
The film makes observations about what happened to her and Jim. It gives voice to her view of minister Jerry Falwell as their enemy, who, she alleges, took advantage of them. The documentary doesn't attempt to sift the truth, but is content to etch its portrait of Tammy Faye and the world in which she has moved. Thanks to her being a larger-than-life character no matter what one thinks of her, the film is immensely entertaining, as well as a depressing bit of Americana.
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