Sound and Vision: Film

This is my first blogpost in over a year... A list of the best, most refreshing or entertaining films I saw at the International Film Festival 2013

'Halley' by Sebastián Hoffman: a film about a zombie, without being a zombiefilm, an interesting portrait on decay, and man in relation to its body. The contrasts between the ineradicable bodily decay of main character Beto and images of the active and energetic bodies of people working out in the gym, is phenomenal. The same contrast is seen in Beto's compulsive orderliness in regard to his house, and his failure to gain the same effect with his own body. One of the greatest surprises of the festival.

'Spring Breakers' by Harmony Korine. Somehow his least shocking film, but definitely his most hilarious: the disturbing discomfort of 'Gummo' made place for an over-the-top style, ultimately resulting in the embodiment of the word hyperbole. James Franco's character is hilarious, and Britney Spears' music will never be the same after seeing this film.

'De Ontmaagding van Eva van End' by Michiel ten Horn; finally a Dutch film that borrows from the style of Wes Anderson, Todd Solondz and 'Little Miss Sunshine', and is clearly influenced by the graphic novels of Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes. A dysfunctional family, but not as dark and destructive as those in the Solondz films. We definitely needed one of those!

'Kid' by Fien Troch: Social realism + a child's perspective (and the humour and cheekiness that comes along with this) + astonishing photography = Belgian films how we like 'em

'Berberian Sound Studio' by Peter Strickland; despite sound being a crucial factor in creating dramatic effect in film, it is ofter undervalued, or considered of minor importance in relation to image: this film is all about sound, and hence makes you aware of its significance. Also plenty of dream versus reality, film within a film strings thrown out in this one, resulting into a mysterious, David Lynch-worthy atmosphere.

'Stoker' by Park Chan-Wook: Had Edgar Allen Poe been a filmmaker, this could have been a film he would have made.... sinister, morbid and impeccably stylish.

'Me Too' by Alexei Balabanov; some absurdist film about Russians driving through the snow, drinking and looking for happiness, what more does one want from a film?

'Paradies: Glaube' by Ulrich Seidl: to me, more interesting, hilarious and featuring a more tragic dimension than Paradies: Liebe.

'Bellas Mariposas' by Salvatore Mereu, as a member of the Big Screen Award Jury we awarded this film with distribution in the Benelux, so how can I not recommend it? From our jury report: a refreshing film providing a young perspective, an incredibly positive story about the joys of the small things in life and ultimately: a celebration of life all together.

'Vergiss Mein Nicht' by David Sieveking: 'Amour' in documentary form, a touching family history: Sieveking's family has to (re)create the past, now his mother is losing any sense of that past, due to Alzheimers. Touching to see how these changes bring the family closer together.

and no trailer, but also: 'The Pervert's Guide to Ideology' by Sophie Fiennes: is there anything better in the world than Slavoj Zizek explaining the ideology behind a Kinder Egg?

The end of 2010 is near, and this year has been incredibly awesome for me. However, I'm not looking forward to doing anything during the holidays, I just wish I could spend it hibernating and I want for this year to be OVER. It's been good, I have had a lot going on, but enough is enough and I'm keen on making a 'fresh start' in 2011. There are a lot of great things to look forward to, but also certain goals I want to achieve, so it could become a rather important year.

Anyhow, as a tradition during December; end-of-the-year-lists are popping up all over the internet. Rough Trade had its top 100 albums of 2010 ready about two months ago, while I can't even figure out my top 10. I'm working on it though, as from Tuesday we're doing a countdown on IKRS. So, my end of the year list concerning albums (or 'Audiophilia part 4') will be on here at the very end of the year somewhere.

My favourite films 2010
As I don't recall having seen that many GREAT films (not sure why though... is it the crisis? did I go to too many gigs to leave time to visit the cinema? were the films released this year just not my taste?), I only came up with a top 5.

01. Submarino
The latest film by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, director of 'Festen' and part of the Dogme 95 collective, is darker than dark, hence incredibly depressing, but oh so mindblowing. Submarino is about two brothers experiencing a traumatic childhood. Thirty years later, the scars of their past are still visible and goes way beyond the label of 'dysfunctional family': one of the brothers is filled with anger and agression, has been to prison and is seen drinking continuously, while the other brother is a widow, a heroin addict and father of a young boy named Martin. Little Martin here is the only opportunity of breaking the cycle of abuse and damage, but no matter how hard his father tries, does Martin have any future when his father can't kick the drug habit? Vinterberg does another great job here of making you feel uncomfortable throughout the film, as its content is poignant, and you're never sure whether you want to continue watching or want to look away.
When I saw this film in the cinema, I gazed across the room when it was over and saw a full grown man a few rows away from me wiping his eyes. I could relate to him entirely. Vinterberg is back, and how.

02. The American
Dutch photographer-turned-director Anton Corbijn referred to his second feature film as 'a suspense thriller in the framework of a Western', and it truly was the most pleasant of surprises this year. From the trailer I would have considered this to be a typical Hollywood thriller, not very interesting in my eyes. But then I heard so many postiive things about it, I decided to give it a shot. And I'm glad I did because 'The American' was wonderful. The film is incredibly slow, but there's no moment without tension. There's barely any dialogue, yet that is exactly where its strength is, as Corbijn almost goes back to the basics of filmmaking as applied by people like Alfred Hitchcock: to let the film tell the story. George Clooney here does a great job of not speaking much, and this Jack character is one of the darkest he's ever played. To stay in the Hitchcock mood: he also slightly resesmbled Cary Grant. The tempo, beautifully shot images and close ups (being a photographer Corbijn clearly has an eye for visuals) make this film nothing like a Hollywood film, but not completely European arthouse either, it's somewhere in the middle, making its result incredibly effective.

03. The Social Network
Almost a classic story of friendship, jealousy, betrayal and wanting to belong in a group; The Social Network tells (through two different lawsuits) the story of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. He is a computer nerd at Harvard, who more or less steals the idea of starting an online social network from some of his fellow students, until the website goes beyond limits Zuckerberg could ever dream of. Despite Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook obviously existing in real life, and certain elements in the film might be based on true events too, there's no other way to approaching this story as fiction. But then again, brushing up events from real-life to add extra drama prove to create an excellent film.
The portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg here is very interesting for two reasons;
a. We are never really able to grasp what he's thinking or how he feels; we hardly come across any facial expression (I don't recall a single moment of seeing a smile on his face) or enthusiasm about what he's doing; he truly appears to be an excentric whizzkid, whose motives are mainly defined by actions.
b. In the beginning of the film Mark's girlfriend breaks up with him, because, well, he's an asshole. He only has one true friend and he wants to be in a final club, probably to simply 'belong' and join in on the parties. Then at the end of the film he may be millions of dollars richer; he has lost the one true friend he had, his ex-girlfriend still doesn't care about him (we can see him sending her a friend request on facebook and frantically refreshing the page), he's still wearing ridiculous flipflops and his interns are snorting cocaine off each other's bodies at a big party, while he sits in the Facebook headquarters working on the site...
Next to this characterisation of the almost tragic Zuckerberg; the strength of the film lies in the dialogues, which are incredibly fast, cunning and as sharp as a knife. A brilliant, well-written film, as long as you are able to keep in mind you are looking at fiction here.

04. A Single Man
First thing to be said about this film is that from a visual perspective it is probably the best film I have ever seen. There is so much attention to detail, but then if you see who directed, it all makes sense: it is fashon designer Tom Ford's debut as a film director. The story depicts a day in the life of George Falconer, an English Literature professor in 1962, who has lost his partner Jim in a car accident. With the death of his one true love and the unbearable loneliness that has followed up on this, he decides he is going to commit suicide at the end of the day... Colin Firth delivers a delightful perfomance as the grief-stricken, world-weary and terribly lonely George. Oh, and Julianne Moore isn't too bad either.

05. J'ai tué ma mère
Literally meaning 'I have killed my mother', this Canadian film is an intruiging portrait of a disturbed mother-son relationship, as well as the story of a confused and angry teenager. Hubert Minel, a homosexual sixteen year old wanting to move in with his boyfriend, despises his petty, old fashionedly dressed mother, and their 'conversations' involve hysterical yelling, screaming and wishing each other the worst. As this is mainly what the film consists of, it's not the most pleasant of things to watch, even though the fact that it's done so in French, makes it all the more passionate and intense. Xavier Dolan, who is responsible for directing, writing and playing the main character, has provided us with a visually stunning and enchanting debut, something quite remarkable for a twenty year old I should say.