Saturday, May 26, 2007

Nuovomondo (The Golden Door)

Poetic even in its English translation, "The Golden Door," from its literal Italian meaning, "new world"; this film lacks narrative, but, for most, makes up for it with aesthetics. Director Emanuele Crialese takes cues from the widely-acclaimed Fellini as well as a not as well known Italian Neorealist, Luchino Visconti. The film mixes early, narratiive Fellini with late surreal Fellini. It also captures a similar cultural precision of early 20th century, poverty-stricken Sicilians that is reminiscent of Visconti's 1948 film, "La Terra Trema."

Salvatore Mancuso (Vincenzo Amato), an illiterate Sicilian peasant, climbs over a rocky Sicilian countryside with his son, Angelo (Franceso Casisa.) Each of them carry a rock in their mouth as they continue on their laborious climb. With their clothes just as tattered and dirty as their feet, they finally arrive at a monumental Cross made of logs. They humbly drop the rocks onto a pile that indicates a common ritualistic sacrifice among locals. Salvatore begins to pray in the form of asking questions that he can't answer himself.

Outside of a windowless shelter made of rocks cemented together, two generations of women sit in awe over postcards of America that show people towing giant onions, and money growing on trees. With just a touch more of drive from Salvatore and lifelessness from Rosa (Isabella Ragonese), the family finally finds the courage to emigrant overseas.

Salvatore first sets his sights on Lucy (Charlotte Gainsbourg), an Italian speaking Englishwomen who somehow found her way to Sicily, on a chaotic port just before boarding the boat. She seems to need his assistance from the get-go as she pretends to be with him whenever anyone with authority looms near. They get separated; and so, they don't board the ship together. Though, eventually, to the dismay of his mother Fortunata (Aurora Quattrocchi), they reunite. Lucy wants to marry him when they arrive at Ellis Island for reasons unknown, though she states it isn't for love. Salvatore eagerly accepts, and defensively states that they hardly know each other, but these things take time...

The half-baked love story serves as a device for the greater focus of the film; the strife of the early 20th century Sicilian emigrants. When they arrive at Ellis Island, they're treated like animals. The purpose of these tests are not purely medical (contrary to the beliefs of the doctors during that time), but are meant to weed out those who are believed to be intellectually inferior, because studies showed that stupidity is contagious; and officials want to be sure that anyone entering the country isn't going to spread their "stupid gene." Many of these people live on the basis of survival for their entire lives, and lack even the most basic education. Sadly, most fail miserably at these tests.

Ultimately, "The Golden Door" changed genres whenever Crialese felt it was convenient to do so. Not as hard to decipher as Fellini's mid to late Surrealist works, but more artful than Visconti's Neorealist film, "La Terra Trema"; "The Golden Door" aims to please everyone. Though, it's one of the better films that have been released lately, it surely isn't flawless, and somewhat superficial. Lucy is a women with no past; thus, unknown motivations.

A nice touch is that the Sicilians speak dialect, and not proper Italian which adds credibility as well as a sort of charisma to the characters. It isn't a must-see, but it certainly is a should-see.


Saturday, May 19, 2007

Severance

A satiric slasher that cuts itself in half with too much comedy, and too little concept. "Severance" is a film that reveals more plot holes than bullet (though it is certainly action-packed), and leaves us with a lame storyline. A "team-building" weekend funded by a multi-national weaponry corp by the name of Palisades Defence turns into an unoriginal slash fest in a mountainous Eastern European countryside.

The films start with clips taken out of its ending...though the directorial reasons behind this are murky; perhaps Christopher Smith thought it, well, looked cool. Meanwhile, a tour bus with seven weapons designers (or sales people? It's never made clear) roar past on a nearby road - unaware of the doom that awaits. Trivial is almost too sophisticated a word to describe most of the scenes in this film. It's like "Scary Movie" for twenty-somethings that cultivate their political convictions by watching Saturday Night Live.

First, Steve (Danny Dyer) openly takes hallucinogens despite the fact that he's on a corporate outing, but no worries, no one seems to find this bothersome or unprofessional anyway. Then, perhaps in an effort to emphasize the types of cityslickers we're dealing with, everyone whines about walking down an unknown road that the bus driver refuses to take instead of using their energy to move a fallen tree out of the main road so that they can pass. It makes little sense considering the whole point of the weekend is to unify the team, and the length of the walk is unknown. It's also odd that no one questions why a perfectly normal bus driver would suddenly turn ballistic when asked to go slightly off-route. The lack of subtitles is also the lamest of cop outs because it frees the filmmakers from having to write, I don't know, something that makes sense or maybe has meaning...

The characters are ocassionaly likeable but never intriguing enough to care about when slaying time abounds. When bear traps are complemented by flame throwers and mine dodgers the film really does become entertaining, but any expectation of a poignant political satire should be left at ticket booth. A missle crashing into an airplane flying overhead is about as funny as seeing a decapitated head smile eagerly at the camera...This film left many major questions unanswered like: who is behind this vengeful militia or why didn't this go straight to DVD?

Friday, May 11, 2007

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Armin

"Armin" is potentially a slogger film, but relies on omission as its saving grace. If you think about the pace of this film in a logical way - it really shouldn't work. Not too much happens; not too much changes. The shots are average in length, but offer a seductive silence that teases curiousity, and cultivates patience. What's odder about the pacing is "Armin" isn't even a mystery, far from a horror flick, but a comedy of sorts.

Ibro (Emir Hadzihafisbegovic) waits with his son, Armin (Armin Omerovic), by a bus stop in Bosnia. All we know is that they're headed for Zagreb, the largest city in Croatia. For the first ten minutes of the film, we are unaware of their names, the nature of their relationship, and lastly, whether they even know each other. On the bus, naturally, they sit next to each other, and still not a word has come out of Armin's mouth. Though Ibro is a bit of a chatterbox; he drinks from a flask, talks to the businessman in a seat nearby, and then, tosses insults at the bus driver for his lack of skill. All the while, Armin sits in silence.

When they arrive, we finally learn that Armin is auditioning for a German film about the Balkan conflict. Armin reads the script in a way that someone who doesn't know how to act does: without emotion, or rhythm. Throughout the lobbies, bars, and hallways of the hotel, Ibro manages to brag about his son's accordian playing skills - something, he believes, none of the kids have, or are even capable of.

Their trip to Croatia symbolizes a global trend in the "widening gap." Ibro is baffled by modern technology such as the hand dryer in the men's bathroom, and car alarms. Armin refuses whenever his father wants to buy him something - a characteristic of a child who feels guilty of spending money they know their parents don't have. But Ibro is supercilious, and always insists until his son finally gives in, and so his ego is satisfied.

Armin's first indulgence is eating an enormous amount of McDonald's - something every small-town Euroteen can never seem to resist. Then he's interested in a world atlas he sees in a newspaper stand. Ibro immediately buys it for him even though Armin protests this as well. Back at the room, they look it over, and Ibro comments on how large China is; a sort of subconcious realization of how small they actually are.

This is reiterated through awkward social situations in the hotel lounge with film people. Ibro is loud, a little dorky - even his speech lacks assimilation. He's is ultimately laughed at, but luckily, too drunk to notice. This is relatively subtle like everything else in the film, and this subtlety is precisely what makes it so interesting.

What's more interesting is Ognjen Svilicic wrote "The Melon Route," Armin Omerovic's acting debut. This leaves us wondering what the fact-to-fiction ratio of "Armin," the film, really is. Ultimately, this film serves as an interesting critique of what it is to be a foreigner; futhermore, what lacking privilege can really mean - especially when combined with facing true hardships. In this context, success by many would be considered just plain survival, and this epiphany is exactly what Ibro and Armin get to take home, back to Bosnia, with them.

Written and Directed by Ognjen Svilicic.



I was unable to locate a trailer with subtitles...sorry!