Best of MSPIFF 2011

Here we go, another year down, another 68 movies viewed. Though I have discovered that three weeks is entirely too long for a film festival. Here are the best films I saw this year. Put them on your to-see list (and Netflix if possible)! They are in no particular order, except the first one is the film I recommend when people ask, "What's the best movie you saw at MSPIFF?"

Pure. This film is my best-of-fest, if I have to pick just one. I'm not sure if you'll ever be able to see it here in the U.S. or not, but that's why I go to MSPIFF. Pure is about a young working class woman trying to make a better life for herself. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

Queen to Play is a delightful film about a working class French woman who discovers the joy of Chess. Kevin Kline plays the chess tutor in his first all-French role. Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman.

The Hedgehog tells the story of 11-year-old Paloma and her new working class friend, the building's janitor, Renee. Despite the film having an 11-year-old protagonist, this is not a children's film. Based on the bestselling novel Elegence of the Hedgehog. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

The Arbor, which got a decent review in the May 2nd New Yorker (Anthony Lane), is the most originally told documentary I've ever seen. Using original footage of British playwright Andrea Dunbar, scenes acted out by people lip syncing to audio interviews of her family, and pieces of Dunbar's plays, it tells the story of Dunbar's working class upbringing and life as seen from the point of view of mostly her oldest daughter. Trailer. Netflix.

Cracks is the first feature film directed by Jordan Scott, daughter of famed director Sir Ridley Scott, about a group of girls at a U.K. boarding school, their teacher, and the crazy world they create. Beautifully shot, directed and acted, especially considering this is her first film. This one is worth seeing on the big screen if you have the opportunity to do so. Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman.

Kinshasa Symphony takes you on the beautiful journey of a group of people in Kinshasa (Democratic Republic of the Congo) who practice and perform two difficult Beethoven pieces. Stunning cinematography and sound, so see it on a big screen if you can. Otherwise, watch it online here. Netflix.

Happy, Happy appeared at Sundance this year and is a surprising and funny film about a straight couple in the north woods of Norway and what happens to their "happy" lives when another couple from the city moves next door. The musical interludes are fantastic. The Norwegian title "SYKT LYKKELIG" translates to "Sick Happy". Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman.

The Poll Diaries is directed by the man who brought us Four Minutes, one of my favorite films from a few years back, and he once again follows a girl who gets into a bit of trouble with her family and her community by befriending someone they want to see dead. Trailer. Netflix.

Madly In Love is fun and sweet and quirky and well-done. A woman-centered movie, but not just for women. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

Just Like Us. A stand-up comedy troupe goes on tour in Arabic countries. This art form is very new to the Middle East and older generations did not have the opportunity to appreciate this creative platform. However, through the current Internet age stand-up comedy has flourished in the Arab region over the past few years, and continues to show us that laughter is the common language of the world.Trailer. Netflix.

Louder than a Bomb, which you'll be able to see on OWN sometime later this year, is about a spoken word festival by the same name in Chicago. Trailer. Netflix.

Made in India follows one U.S. family looking for a cheaper way to find a surrogate mother for their baby. The film brings up far more questions than it answers, and it's a good start to a conversation on reproductive ethics and world poverty. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

The Interrupters is about an organization in Chicago working between rules and laws to stop gang violence. By the director of Hoop Dreams.Trailer. Netflix.

Modra** 17-year-old Canadian Lina visits her family's ancestral home in Modra, Slovakia, and discovers some of herself. The director uses her own daughter as the main character. Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman. **Google Chrome didn't like this website. Use another browser.

Orgasm, Inc. Watch the pharmaceutical industry manufacturing a disease they think will be a blockbuster for them: female sexual dysfunction. Funny, sexy, and eye-opening. Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman.

I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured follows the struggle the Coloured people are having today in South Africa, and how it relates to the end of Apartheid. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

Better This World is a stunning documentary about the two men arrested for "terrorism" during the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Watch it to see how the government uses and abuses informants and how the lives of two young men are permanently changed. There's a Quaker in the film! Trailer. Netflix. Directed by a woman.

Eichmann's End uses a combination of existing historical footage and modern historical narrative filmmaking to tell the story of how the SS officer Adolf Eichamann was tracked down by an accident of history--the daughter of a Nazi hunter goes on a date with Eichmann's son. Sorry, no trailer.

Cairo 6, 7, 8 is a fictional portrayal of three women who get enacted a law about sexual harassment in Egypt. If only I had the courage of these women. Trailer

Home for Christmas is not your Hollywood Christmas movie, but a gentle, sad and at times heartwarming. If you're looking for different visions of "home for Christmas", this film is for you. It was for me. I'm looking forward to seeing it this December again if I can. I loved this song from the film Home for Christmas by Maria Mena. Trailer

Project Nim. I grew up hearing about Nim the chimp who could use sign language. I had no idea of the crazy story of abuse behind it. A completely compelling story and well-done documentary. Trailer. Netflix.

Eleanor's Secret is about a boy who can't read but inherit's his great aunt's first edition book collection. He has to figure out how to read in order to save them from a greedy antiques seller. And magically, the books come to life to help him. Trailer. Directed by a woman.

The Pruitt-Igoe Myth exposes how the Pritt-Igoe public housing project became a myth about the failure of public housing instead of a failure of government to give the project all it needed because they catered instead to big business. Trailer

In Another Lifetime Like many of the best films I see at MSPIFF, I can't find a trailer for this one, and it's not on Netflix. Set in the last days of WWII, one Austrian family houses and feeds Jews, against the will of the townspeople, being marched toward Germany. We get to look at not just what the SS or Nazis did to support the war, but common people. Directed by a woman.

MSPIFF 2011: 70 Films in Three Weeks

It's been a busy lead-in for our household for the last two weeks and the MSPIFF website has been DOWN for much of that time, but I finally 1) have chosen the 70 films I'm seeing the next three weeks and 2) can tell you about it. As for the last couple of years, the films are all at St. Anthony Main.

*If the links don't work, it's not my coding. It's MSPIFF and Minneapolis/St. Paul Film Society. Their websites are only online intermittently, apparently. They were online as I was writing this, and then when I tried to link to the closing film, I couldn't get to any of the sites. Also, I'll put up links as soon as I can find them, but I figured it's better to get the list out there. Perfect is the enemy of good.*

Thursday, April 14

7:30 pm Page One: Inside the New York Times

Friday, April 15

7:00 Triumph 67
9:45 Cracks

Saturday, April 16

5:30 Kinshasa Symphony
7:15 The Green Wave
9:30 The First Beautiful Thing

Sunday, April 17

11:00 The Ugly Duckling
1:00 Broken Dreams
5:00 Happy, Happy
6:45 Gigola
8:30 The Poll Diaries

Monday, April 18

6:30 Two Indians Talking
9:15 International Narrative Shorts

Tuesday, April 19

5:00 Familia
7:00 Madly In Love
9:45 Aftershock

Wednesday, April 20

4:45 Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune
7:00 Minnesota Shorts: Emerging Filmmakers 1
9:00 The Light Thief

Thursday, April 21

4:30 International Documentary Shorts
7:00 Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles
9:15 Pure

Friday, April 22

2:45 Truck Farm
4:45 Bardsongs
6:45 Bringing King to China
9:15 Just Like Us

Saturday, April 23

11:00 Childish Shorts 2
2:15 U.S. Shorts Program
3:45 Sound of Noise
7:30 Connected: An Autobiography About Love, Death & Technology

Sunday, April 24

12:00 Louder Than a Bomb
2:30 Made in India
4:30 The Interrupters
8:30 Merry-Go-Round

Monday, April 25

5:00 Modra
7:15 The Arbor
9:00 The White Meadows

Tuesday, April 26

5:00 The Queen of Hearts
7:00 Minnesota Shorts: Docs and Animation
9:30 Orgasm, Inc.

Wednesday, April 27

4:45 A Screaming Man
7:00 I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured
9:30 Better This World

Thursday, April 28

5:15 Eichmann's End
7:30 The Hedgehog
9:45 The Sleeping Beauty

Friday, April 29

2:45 Cairo 6,7,8
4:15 Reconciliation: Mandelas Miracle
7:30 Illegal
9:00 Home for Christmas

Saturday, April 30

12:00 Strictly Confidential
2:30 Paradise Recovered
5:15 10 to 11
7:15 Project Nim
9:15 The Bengali Detective

Sunday, May 1

11:00 Eleanor's Secret
2:00 The Pruitt-Igoe Myth
5:15 Twisted Roots
7:15 Tehran, Tehran
9:15 Queen to Play

Monday, May 2

4:30 Europe's Backyard/King of Oslo
6:45 The Tree
8:30 Bibliotheque Pascal

Tuesday, May 3

5:00 Vespa
7:30 In Another Lifetime
9:30 The Imperialists Are Still Alive

Wednesday, May 4

4:45 Tomorrow Will Be Better
6:30 Love During Wartime
9:45 Minnesota Shorts: Narrative

Thursday, May 5

7:00 Stuck Between Stations

Post-Fest Schedule and Opportunities

Well, the post-fest MPSIFF schedule is out (they call it Best of Fest--I call it "Festival Leftovers"). You can see a couple of things I really liked or come to something I haven't seen yet but heard good things about.

Films I liked and are showing May 1-6:

Sunday, May 2, 4:30 pm: Nora's Will
Thursday, May 6, 7:30 pm: Letters to Father Jacob (my favorite film of the festival)

Films I heard good things about and will see May 1-6:

Saturday 1 pm: Tahaan
Sunday 1 pm: Woman with 5 Elephants
Monday 5 pm: No More Smoke Signals
Monday 9:30 pm: Tears of April

And I'm tempted to see Letters to Father Jacob again on Thursday. Especially if anyone wants to go with me.

Finally, Minnesota Shorts Program 1 and Program 2 are rumored to shown again. I'll post that as soon as I know when because they're worth making effort to see--shorts don't get shown at theaters or even at Netflix.

Best of Fest

Hey folks! I'm going to be updating this blog post most days with the films I loved seeing at MSPIFF. I'll post a link to the MSPIFF website and I'll also post a link to the trailer if there's one available, and I'll make a few comments at each film. You could add most of these to your Netflix queue or be on the lookout at your local art theater for them.

The newest films are at the top.

Letters to Father Jacob is my best of fest in the feature film category. It's about a woman who has been pardoned from prison, and we don't know her crime until the end. She gets placed with a blind pastor, Father Jacob, tasked with reading letters requesting intercessory prayers, and responding to them. It's a simple but beautiful tale; there wasn't a dry eye in the theater at the end. Trailer.

Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls is a documentary about the Topp Twins, a yodeling lesbian country music singing and comedy duo from New Zealand. I know that sounds too weird, but my face hurt after I watched this film from smiling and laughing so much. Hold onto your hats if you go to this one. My best of fest in the documentary category. Trailer.

Nora: A beautiful visual poetry story about Zimbabwe-born dancer Nora Chipaumire--she does all the choreography in this film. The light, the dancing and the story are all amazing. Sorry, no trailer.

Nora's Will: A man finds his very controlling ex-wife's body after she commits suicide, and does everything he can to subvert her well-laid plans. I loved this funny and tender story. The filmmaker does a nice job catching and keeping your interest. Trailer.

Over the Hill Band: A bittersweet and funny film about a woman and her sons after her husband's death. She and her two friends rejoin with her wayward son to create a band. Unexpected. Funny and tender. Trailer.

La Pivellina: A "Roma" woman (gypsy) finds a two-year-old girl in a park and cares for her after she finds a note asking her not to call the police, that she'll come back for the girl. An astonishing performance by the two-year-old, and a sweet story. Trailer.

El Paso: No, this is not a film from Texas or Mexico. It's a Czech film about a Roma woman (gypsy) who is evicted and is facing massive fines. It's also about the bias and oppression she faces as a Roma. A delightful story about a not-so-delightful situation. Not only can you learn about the situation in Europe for this oppressed group of people, you can gain some insight into our own culture and the ideas (the collective) we have about some segments of our population. Trailer.

Today's Special: A heartwarming tale of an American man who reconnects with his Indian roots. As my friend and movie critic Colin Covert says, "Don't attend this screening with an empty stomach!" Written by The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi, who also plays the main character. Sorry, no trailer.

Night Catches Us: A powerful drama about a man who comes home to Philadelphia in the summer of 1976 to face demons of the past after his father dies. I loved Anthony Mackie in Brother to Brother and now in this (and these make me want to see The Hurt Locker, finally). To top it off, it was written and directed by Tanya Hamilton, an African American woman. Yay women directors! Yay people of color in the director's chair! She was the only African American woman director at Sundance this year. Sorry, couldn't find a trailer.

Alamar: A stunningly beautiful film of a boy and his father, bonding. Yay for brown people telling their own stories from their POVs. The audience can relate directly, and they become human instead of people to be "helped" or pitied. See it on a big screen if you can. Trailer.

Oath: A documentary about Osama bin Laden's driver and the supreme court case that basically slapped Bush's hand about how he handled prisoners of war. It's amazing what kind of access this woman director and woman cinematographer got. The Oath is riveting. Trailer.

Looking for Eric: Yeah, yeah, a movie about a straight white guy. But he's deeply working class. This movie made me want to be a Manchester United football* fan, and I'm still grinning from the experience. It's a chick flick that both men and women can like. And you don't even have to like football*. (Another one I think Nils and Peg will like). Be sure to turn on English subtitles because the English in this film is heavily accented. Trailer.

*football: soccer to us Americans.

Mid-August Lunch: An Italian man and his mother take in three other elderly women for the mid-August holiday. I enjoyed its meandering story and the end; I've put it on this list because I think my friends Nils and Peg would enjoy it. Trailer.

Harlan: In the Shadow of the Jew Seuss: Veit Harlan was a cinematic film director who made the most anti-Semitic film used by the Nazis to encourage people to hate Jews (about a powerful man from the 17th century named Joseph Oppenheimer), and in this film, Harlan's children and grandchildren talk about their experience of Harlan, and of having his name, carrying guilt because Harlan always claimed he was forced to make the film. It's on my list because it's a powerful film about not guilt but repercussions and reparations.Trailer.

S.O.S.:Summer of Suspense: Another great Scandinavian film with a powerful girl. Think seventies made-for-TV kids movie where the hero is a bi-racial girl who faces off with drug dealers, and definitely updated for this century. Race is acknowledged, but isn't THE issue. Great entertainment for everyone. Trailer.

Forbidden Fruit: A Norwegian girls coming of age film--we don't see many "coming of age" films about girls, and this one is surprising in many ways because we Americans are trained well by American media and Hollywood. It reminded me why I wipe out my calendar for two weeks to spend so much time at this film fest. Trailer (no subtitles in the trailer, but you can get a sense of the film from it).

Max Manus: The best WWII film I have ever seen. Ever. Seeing this will help you understand why Inglorious Bastards is a shadow of a movie rather than a really good one. Trailer.

MSPIFF Calendar 2010

MSPIFF 2010 has come and gone. Won't you join me at the Best of Fest? Or put some of my favorites on your list?

MSPIFF Films Directed by Women

Well, the films have started to show up on their website (look to the right, click on films, and choose by category, though there seems to be some cross-over). I'm going to list here the films directed by women. It's sometimes hard to tell because the films come from all over the world and some names don't indicate a gender. But I'll do my best (thanks to Google image search). I'll also update this weekly until the final program is out and I list my film schedule.

Documentaries

If You Dare
No More Smoke Signals
The Oath
Summer Pasture

Sun Behind the Clouds: Tibet's Struggle for Freedom

Global Lens

My Tehran For Sale


World Cinema

My Only Sunshine
Nora's Will
Poto Mitan: Haitian Women Pillars of the Global Economy
St. Louis Blues
The Sicilian Girl
Ward 6
Dear Lemon Lima

Bluebeard


Not Directed by Women (but of interest to this feminist).

Power and Control
Pink Taxi
The Snow Queen
Gods

Men Who Hate Women

Today I got to see a preview of the film, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. If it weren't for the subtitles, you might not know this is a Swedish film. This suspense movie doesn't make you work like some European films do--the plot makes traditional turns through a narrative arc that keep you engaged with compelling characters. It's like an artistic version of a Dan Brown novel.

The plot is that an old rich man named Henrik Vanger wants to find out who killed his niece forty years before. He hires a then-disgraced but previously respected investigative journalist Mikael Blomkvist, who teams up with punk goth hacker hero Elisbeth Salander to find out "who did it."

The most interesting and compelling character is Elisbeth Salander who has an complex history that's only hinted at in the film (and in the book). But we get to see some of that history on screen. She's abused by a man who has some power in her life, and she gets her own brand of revenge and takes her power back. (No, I'm not ruining anything for you).

I loved the film because, like in the novel, Salander is brutalized but is never a victim. She has sex only for her own pleasure. She takes control of her life.

But most of all, I liked her because she's not a "consumable" on screen. We see her naked. She's got tiny breasts and she's so skinny you can see her ribs and spine. Her eyes are heavily lined in black, and she is just about as butch as they come. Salander gives no coy looks and never bats her eyes at men. She slouches and stomps. She's clearly in the story as a character in her own right with her own purposes.

Some are saying that this film, about to be released in the US, won't make it as big as it should because it's subtitled.

I don't think it will make it either, but not because of subtitles. I can think of several successful subtitled films in the US. Slumdog Millionaire's first forty minutes was almost entirely subtitled. Other films include Life is Beautiful, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo could be as well loved. Dan Brown fans would come out to Girl in full force. But they won't.

Why?

Because Salander isn't consumable in our culture that prefers its strong women to be sexual fantasy fodder.

Think about Sarah Palin (you know who she is), Danica Patrick (race car driver who has beaten the boys), and Venus and Serena Williams (you know why they are). Then do a Google image search for all of them.

Only four of the first twenty one images of Danica Patrick are of her in her racing outfit. Over half of Venus Williams' pics are of a scantily clad Williams. You can guess what I found for Serena Williams. Even one of the three photos of Williams playing tennis highlighted her boobs and her butt.

But then consider Kelly Kulick. Who's that, you ask? Well, the first woman to ever beat a man in bowling. Do a search for pics of her, and you find a woman scowling, clenching her teeth and raising her hands in victory. You see her bowling, in a short sleeved, high necklined shirt and long pants. You even get to see a hint of a muffin-top at the edge of her belted pants. But no bikinis. (Some people are saying Kulick isn't getting any attention because bowling isn't really a sport. I bet no one would say that if she'd just show a little tits and ass so men could fantasize about her.)

This isn't just true in sports--it's true in films and television too. Strong women have to be sexy. We don't like it when they're not.

While there are probably a few men who will find Salander sexy, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, most won't and so it won't get much play outside of art film houses.

See it if you can. My rating: Worth $10, hiring a babysitter, and $10 for crappy popcorn and a pop that'll make you get up in the middle of the film to pee.

Oh, and why is this blog post titled "Men Who Hate Women?" Because that's the literal translation of the book's and the film's title. And another reason this film won't be popular: if it were, we'd have to acknowledge that misogyny exists right here in the west (and not just in all those faraway places we like to cluck our tongues about).