So
far, A & O film critics Nancy Snipper and Andrew Hlavacek
have seen the following films. Here are their reviews and
ratings, always out of 4, reserving 2.5 or more for a noteworthy
film, 3.5 for an exceptional film, 4 for a classic.
________________________
3.2
-- EVERY
THING WILL BE, Julia Kwan
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Vancouver's Chinatown, once a bustling landmark of longtime
Chinese merchants, is rapidly changing as its buildings
are being demolished into condos. In addition, economic
struggles are mercilessly hitting those who wish to keep
their businesses and gathering places alive. We meet a friendly
security policeman who is pals with everyone. He acts as
a guide, taking us into the various shops to meet the old
people who have been carrying on their business for over
half a century: the cheese shop expert, the 90-year-old
newspaper sidewalk sales lady, the young free-spirited artist
who has the kids draw on the warehouse walls of his large,
but messy renovated studio, the young tea herbalist who
is ready to sell her store, the developer who wants to maintain
the heritage of the neighbourhood; he has a museum which
features architectural elements salvaged from Chinatown's
old self. Finally, we meet a non-Chinese poet who lives
in a rooming house/hotel, and feels this place is his real
home. The neon sign created by a famous artist set atop
the museum curator's building says: 'Everything will be
Alright' -- an ironic message with a double-edged sword:
it captures the free spirit of the neighbourhood and the
impending doom about to befall it. This film that makes
us all wonder how any city could so dauntlessly destroy
one of its enduring cultural epicenters, vividly brought
to life for us by the ladies of Chinatown who play mahjong
and sing together without a care in the world.
3.0
-- EVAPORATING
BORDERS, Iva Radivojevic
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Cyprus has proven to not only be unwelcoming to migrants
of all nationalities, especially those from the Arab world,
but sadly lacking in adhering to their democratic principles.
Fascists demonstrate and nothing is progressing. Many Muslims
that seek asylum in Cyprus are not granted working papers
and are held indefinitely at the Refugee Centre. They are
given small dwellings where the families crowd inside. Life
is nto moving for them. The situation is critical -- even
before boats reach the island. The film tells of hundreds
of bodies that end up dead in the sea on route to this island
of their dreams. For so many, Cyprus is the golden gateway
into Europe. An immigrant herself from the former Yugoslavia,
but raised in Cyprus, Ms. Radivojevic, who now resides in
New York examines many of the problems affecting the people
on this island with the focus being on immigrants. She narrates
throughout the film when others are not talking, and does
so in an eloquent manner. The film which is divided into
five thematic parts is a microcosm of the hatred that is
spreading all over the world beyond. The final poem at the
end of the film which was written by an Iraqi poet -- now
a refugee in Belgium --speaks of the anguish the displaced
feel. He asks why people can not simply live in peace and
beauty. The 32-year-old filmmaker is diminutive in size;
her humility is remarkable and she is obviously a gifted
thinker. It's interesting to note that the film had as one
of its producers, Laura Poitras whose film Citizenfour
(also about freedom) played at RIDM this year.
1.1
-- TOUR
OF DUTY, Dong-Ryung Kim
& Kyoung-Tae Park
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This was a directionless, interminably boring film about
a period in history that surely merited a far better approach.
The topic -- one of the most crucially tragic times in Korea
-- examines American soldiers stationed at their base during
the Korean War who set up prostitute dens. The women were
to 'comfort' the men; the Korean women were told it was
their duty to do so. The Americans raped and kept them as
chattel in these special 'clubs.' The film introduces three
women who within the long 150 minutes barely talk, and the
filmmaker used no technique to vividly recreate what happened
to them. As a result we can't grasp the gravity of the situation;
the film failed to move us. One woman had 25 abortions from
this dark ordeal; the other went mad, and the last one was
a strange woman in search of her identity and the story
of how she came to be born. She is a black Korean who meanders
into an abandoned building -- now left in ruins - -to rediscover
herself and relive being with the mother she knew only as
a newborn when she was taken away from her. There are over
twenty ineffectual minutes of her opening and closing doors
to the building, walking over dust and rubble as she enters
various rooms. Most of the film is silent, and this technique
did not prove effective to the cause and traumatic casualties
that resulted from this depraved exploitation. What should
have been riveting in impact was shamefully replaced by
something far more disturbing: the doldrums.
3.7
-- WE COME
AS FRIENDS, Serge Sauper
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Almost 250 parcels of land in Sudan represent a legally
approved economic raping perpetrated by almost every European
nation when this path of colonization was first carved in
1871 during the African Conference in Berlin. Since then
terrible conflicts and investments profiting foreign powers
have left the country in ruins. The Chinese are there with
their oil rigs; the Americans are there with NATO and their
own electricity power plant; the Moslems of the north are
pitted against the Christians in the southern area. In fact,
since South Sudan gained its independence -- this has become
one of the most crucially devastating conflicts of war and
starvation. There are so many religious and tribal inner
factions as well, which intensify the neo-colonialism. Catastrophic
consequences continue to plague this rich-in-resources country,
plundered by all who stand to benefit. The film presents
the whole picture, addressing these events in an intense
if not sometimes confusing manner, but one thing becomes
so clear in this amazing documentary: Self-interest wears
many banners, and the only ones who have not or will never
benefit from waving them are the Sudanese themselves.
3.4
-- THE
LOOK OF SILENCE, Joshua
Oppenheimer
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Following up on his 2012 The
Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer returns to Indonesia
in The Look of Silence to re-open old wounds. The
Act of Killing follows a group of men who took active
part in the anti-communist purges of 1965-6. These men walk
free as honoured heroes and re-enact in minute detail the
murders they committed. In The Look of Silence,
Oppenheimer expands the scope of his inquiry by following
the optometrist-brother of one of the victims of the regime.
During his rounds in the village, he questions the old men
he measures for new prescriptions. Revealed is an oppressive
climate in which victims’ families are forced to live alongside
murderers, many of whom occupy positions of authority and
honour. Critiqued as thoroughly gratuitous, The Look
of Silence, like its preceding chapter, is a horrific
albeit subtler spectacle. With each encounter, the camera
seems to search, almost desperately, for some signs of remorse
finding none. We find, instead, stubborn, often defiant
pain leaving everyone involved in a hopeless situation that
leaves no room for reconciliation, healing or justice. We
must conclude, sadly, that the only true possibility in
a system that has so thoroughly dehumanized victims and
perpetrators alike is the possibility of more extreme violence.
This threat is made explicitly clear. Montreal's
2014 International Documentary Festival (RIDM) runs
until Nov. 23th.
3.3
-- THE
SECRET TRIAL 5, Amar Wala
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
Screened yesterday in collaboration with Cinema Politica,
The
Secret Trial 5 is a riveting independent work aimed
principally at Canadian audiences. Following the 9/11 attacks,
five immigrant men were arrested on suspicion of terrorist
activities. They were held based on the little known, or
understood, security certificates, a Cold War tool conceived
to detain and deport suspected spies. Once issued, a security
certificate gives the state total control to hold a non-Canadian
citizen without charge or the possibility to examine the
evidence motivating their incarceration. This disturbing
story follows the struggles of these men and their supporters
over the course of nearly eleven years as they fight their
invisible accusers in a process shrouded in secrecy and
studded with bureaucratic absurdity. Described by one of
the five as, “Kafka meets George Orwell,” we are pulled
into an obscene parallel universe of a security state that
has essentially succeeded in subverting our system of traditional
legal and human rights protections. Particularly alarming
as the current government pushes through legislation expanding
the scope of this mechanism to include potential use against
Canadian citizens, The Secret Trial 5 is a must-see.
Though conventional in its presentation, the film nicely
references The Corporation (Achbar and Abbot, 2003)
in its clever use of graphics and animation to deliver a
sobering message. For more information, see http://secrettrial5.com.
3.0
-- LIVING
STARS, Mariano Cohn & Gastom
Duprat
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
This doc has no speaking, just the vibrant vibes of American
pop music hits which people dance to. Coming from all walks
of life, they live in Buenos Aires and its outskirts. No
tango here. What a hoot! The long microphone is set on the
ground, and we watch individuals dance alone or with their
partner. We see the sexy moves of people of all ages and
professions, including students (even kindergarten-goers),
a teacher, a waitress, a dentist, a female hockey player,
a mechanic, housewives and retirees. They can really dance,
and with them is their family or a friend who either sits
impassively staring on or tending to their own thing, such
as reading, cutting onions, fixing watching TV and their
computer. They dance in their houses, apartments, outside
and at work.
1.2
-- THE
IRON MINISTRY, J. P. Sniadecki
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
An endless train full of Chinese people are busy discussing
economic woes and social aspects of their culture and the
effects on their lives; snippets of conversations about
Muslims versus Christians, old and young love, jobs and
various sundry topics connected to spontaneous banter are
touched upon. We see people of all classes, including the
most dramatic shots of people sleeping between train cars,
on the bathroom sink, in beds and on each other. We see
people cutting like butchers huge piece of cow meat and
hanging them on the train knobs. Unfortunately, the filming
is a chaotic mess, and the fact all was filmed 'in situ'
between 2011 and 2013 makes everything more confusing. We
have no idea where the train is heading and if, in fact,
these shots are from different trains in China. Ironically,
the fast moving train comes off as a boring piece of cinematic
laziness. Every film -- no matter its genre -- must be edited.
If not, any attempt to capture realism behind the lens risks
failure.
3.2
-- THE
IRON MINISTRY, J.P. Sniadecki
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
In the running for RIDM’s official selection in the International
Feature prize, The
Iron Ministry takes us on a journey -- in fact a composite
of 55 journeys over three years. Fluent in Mandarin, armed
with a compact consumer video camera, director J.P. Sniadecki
brings the spectator into close contact with a China in
flux. This is a documentary that tells very little, letting
its subjects, in various stages of engagement with the filmmaker,
tell their story. The story is mostly one of a certain type
of endurance that can only be experienced during a long
train journey. Without narrative and very little translation,
Sniadecki forces an experience that can often feel alienating,
claustrophobic, and yet, one that fundamentally leaves room
for a multitude of readings. As such, The Iron Ministry
becomes a personal voyage for both, filmmaker and spectator,
creating a raw point of contact uncluttered by explanation
or narrative that draws upon common humanity as a locus
of understanding. Nevertheless, the hermetic effect is not
total as the voices allowed to be heard (in translation)
betray political motivations meant to highlight huge structural
inequalities that can only be hinted at by the camera eye.
The Iron Ministry is a haunting experience, created
in part by forays into abstract cinematography not to mention
ethereal sound editing.
3.0
-- STRAY
DOG, Debra Granik
[reviewed
by Andrew Hlavacek]
The director returns to Mississippi to document the trials
and tribulations of biker and mobile home park owner Ronnie
'Stray Dog' Hall -- a Vietnam veteran who struggles daily
with the horror in which he participated as a young man.
Granik’s unrelenting camera follows Stray Dog’s biker tribe
of fellow veterans as they ride to dull the pain and keep
alive the memory of the perished and the disappeared. There
is a purposeful absence of narration and directed interview
formats; Granik, instead, choses to let her subjects be
themselves as much as her camera will allow. What evolves
is a stark portrait of marginal existences: the men and
their families who form Stray Dog’s circle are stuck in
significant ways, left mostly to their own devices to deal
with the long-term effects of war. Though resources may
be somewhat available -- Stray Dog has been in therapy for
many years -- many don’t know where or how to seek help.
Perhaps most tragic is realization that the inherent structural
problems are now hitting generations of new veterans from
more recent conflicts. Although the film hints at such broader
issues, the scope of Granik’s documentary remains more personal
and focused on the community these broken men animate to
cope their daily existence. Bizarrely, though the system
clearly fails them, they show very little bitterness or
anger, which is a telling testament to the power of the
American mythos, as well as the resilience of the people
who have paid most dearly to perpetuate it. See Stray
Dog at RIDM (Montreal's
International Documentary Festival) November 22
at 21H15.
2.8
-- CITIZENFOUR,
Laura Poitras
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
Edward Snowden, a top techie in his late twenties was
working for the National Security Agency (NSA) when he decided
to expose the massive secret surveillance network of spying
on every citizen in the United States by the US government.
He holes up in a Hong Kong Hotel and begins to divulge the
written and visual meta data of classified documents that
allow for indiscriminate silent invasions of privacy by
the NSA. Journalist Glenn Greenwald, who writes for the
Guardian,
orchestrates the interviews and goes on TV to expose the
illegal tentacles of spy technology and the access it has
to people all over the world The cat comes out of the bag
and the mice are now scrambled to preserve their own agendas.
Obama is outed as a bad guy, and Snowden seeks refuge in
Moscow. Snowden is courageously committed to the protection
of civil liberties, knowing full well the consequences of
his actions. He has been vilified and is wanted by the US
government. A lot of tech talk and little action makes this
doc a potential confusion for those who are not cerebral
computer experts.
2.1 --
ONCE UPON A TIME, Kazim
Öz
[reviewed
by Nancy Snipper]
A family of Kurds leaves for Ankara to work for a nasty
Turkish boss in the fields, spending ten hours a day planting
lettuce with their bare hands while coming in direct contact
with chemically treated soil. Poverty, family feuding,
backbreaking work with inhuman scheduled breaks for relieving
oneself and eating, and a run-away man with his sweetheart
leave their families toiling in the fields as they seek
a better life. The father of the girl threatens to take
two daughters from the male’s family if the correct dowry
cannot be paid. This documentary shows how pathetic the
Turks treat the Kurds and the fact that their rights are
subverted in a land where they are most unhappy.
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