Eh! U European Film Festival

Eh!U European Film Festival

The 2009 Meet the Europeans – European Film Festival begins this week Thursday and runs for two weeks.  The best thing about the festival is that all the films are free!  Actually, the best thing about the festival is that the films selected are really top notch.

Austria presents this year’s Cannes Palme d’Or Winner THE WHITE RIBBON while France selects UN PROPHETE, clearly one of the best films of 2009.

All the films are new and have not been released commercially.  The films are from 23 countries:

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden.

For complete schedule of films, venue and description of films, check the festival website at:
http://www.eutorontofilmfest.ca/2009/

Below are capsule reviews of the films I have seen.  Due to Canada Post problems, the reviews of a few of the films listed below will be posted later:

THE ALZEIMER CASE (Belgium 2003) ****
Directed by Erik Van Looy

What starts off as a typical cop film with the detective chief and his partner solving a hostage situation soon crystallizes into an innovative noir thriller of cat-and-mouse game involving an aging killer Angelo Ledda playing an avenging angel.  Director Van Looy paints a layered picture of Antwerp with the rich and famous driving their BMWs and Mercedes while the victimized poor suffer at the hands of the corrupted.  But this is a fast paced, thrill a minute actioneer with smart dialogue, stylish atmosphere and a social commentary to boot.  Van Looy also traces the similarities between cop and criminal and then surprises the viewer with the differences as well.  Anything can happen here – innocents get killed and principal characters get shot.  Filmed mainly in Dutch, French and Flemish, Looy’s film also has a realistic ring to it.  Perhaps the best cop movie to be seen in the last few years.

BLACK ICE (Finland 2007)
Directed by Petri Kotwica

THE LAST HOMECOMING (Cyprus 2008)
Directed by Corinna Avraamidou

Director Avraamidou’s ambitious family tale set during the political upheaval of 1974 examines what happens to several family members as narrated at the start and end of the film by a child.  One brother returns to the seaside town with his fiancé while the elder brother and her start an affair.  The elder is involved in unsavoury political activities.  Father is having relationship problems with the mother.  While all this is happening, the Greek tragedy “Trojan Women” is being staged.  The play is supposed to reflect prophetically the events of the film but it also reflects the effects of Avraamudou’s film – over dramatized (as over dramatized by the play’s main busty actress), artificial (from the musical score and constant repetitive playing of the scenic seaside scenes) and meaningless.  The child narrating the film has nothing much to do with the story either.  Avraamudou should shed some light on the political problems of the film setting as not many will be familiar with Cyprian History.  Good story though!
(Screening Sunday Nov 22nd at 8.30 pm)

POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Romania 2009) ***
Directed by Corneliu Porumboiu

Director Corneliu Porumboiu’s POLICE, ADJECTIVE is an observational piece. The film follows an undercover cop Cristi (Dragos Bucur) as he goes about his daily routine.  His current assignment is to bust the local supplier of hash.  Cristi wheels and deals at his work to get what he needs (i.e. information from records; photos; names and addresses), pressures the busted school kid, calms his dissatisfied wife among other things.  All in a day’s work!  Director Porumboiu offers his audience a good look at Romanian life while entertaining them with lots of humour and insight as well.  This seems to be the current trend of Romanian cinema.  We are not complaining.

UN PROPHETE (France 2009) ***** Top 10
Directed by Jacques Audiard

UN PROPHETE (THE PROPHET) is a powerful and moving portrait of Malik (Tahar Rahim), a nobody serving a 6-year imprisonment for the beating up of a cop.  Though the story is basically grim (Malik is beaten up countless times; humiliated throughout most of the film), director Audiard lifts his film to new heights.  As this pariah rises to power, Malik realizes his potential and executes the most deviant acts to satisfy his basic needs of food, sex and ultimately power.  But Audiard is brilliant enough to work the emotions of his audience, often creating a feel-good movie at various points of Malik’s journey to sel-realization.  The audience feels Malik’s elation of being the best at what he is good at.  But the film’s best performance belongs to Neils Arestrup as Cesar Luciano, the psychopathic Corsican kingpin who lives a Godfather-like existence in the cells.  Audiard’s last film which also co-starred Neils Arestrup DE BATTRE MON COUER S’EST ARRETE (THE BEAT MY HEART SKIPPED) won the Cesar for Best Film and the BAFTA award for best foreign film.  That film never got a release in Canada except for one showing, courtesy of Cinefranco.  Perhaps UN PROPHETE will put this brilliant director on the map in North America.

TIME TO DIE (Poland 2007)**
Directed by Dorota Kedzierzawska

Written specially for 91-year old actress Danuta Szaflarska and dedicated to the director’s grandmother, TIME TO DIE has its moments but is marred by sentimentally and by Kedzierzawska’s persistence of showing the elderly Aniela’s dog’s expressions every time something happens.  The film opens impressively with Aniela telling off a stand-offish rude doctor.  Her strong personality is maintained throughout the film as she holds firm to renovate the villa that she has lived in ands till loves.  Her son wants to move her out, but she and her dog hold their guard.  The story could have gone on to make a strong point on seniors and their rights but instead borders on sentiment and yes, shots of that dog.  The black and white cinematography is stunning though.