Friday's film, the world premiere of
Older Than America, was introduced by the writer/director Georgina Lightning, writer/producer Christine Walker and actor Tantoo Cardinal, all Native American.
The film's story centers around a woman named Rain, her long-time boyfriend Johnny, her aunt Apple and her mother Irene, as well as several people from a northern Minnesota town located in a Native American Reservation. Rain spends the movie discovering that she shares the gift of "sight" with her mother, and comes to reveal atrocities done to Native American children at a local Catholic boarding school (cultural genocide, rape, torture, murder, physical and emotional abuse). While this movie is fictional, it is inspired by true events experienced by the director's family and accounts by other Native Americans of boarding schools.
Filmed in Minnesota,
Older Than America shows off writer/director Georgina Lightning's gift for storytelling and film making. She uses music to highlight the tension and to move the story along to great effect (and occassionally the music is a little overdone). The acting, editing and direction are worthy of an award. I'm looking forward to more films written and directed by Lightning, and you should too.
Older Than America will be showing at SXSW and film festivals all over north America, so see it if you get the chance.
Saturday was a mixed bag. The first
shorts program befuddled me. At first I wondered if the curators had a hard time finding women directors skilled in making short films with a narrative arc. Then I wondered if the curators disdained the kind of storytelling that film is best suited--visual story. And then I wondered if wanting to be entertained made me shallow.
The first film, 5 Cents a Peek, directed by Vanessa Woods, was a film interpretation of a poem, but you don't necessarily understand that until the end when the credits roll. A flash of black and white images and edgy music kept me confused and looking for a story.
Then, with high hopes, I watched Labyrinth by
Jila Nikpay and it had a similar feel and edginess as the first film. Once again, I didn't get it.
I almost walked out of the third film, Catalogue of Birds: Book 3, and I'm glad I didn't, but not because of this long, repetitive, modern "showing" of someone playing the piano. One description claims the film contains a lot of imagery, but once again, where was the story????
I eventually enjoyed Drum Room once the director got to the point of the whole film which, in retrospect, seemed to be a study in following one's passion in the middle of everyone doing the same thing. The filmmaker uses sound to tell a powerful story of hope.
Finally, Mirroring Cure was a nice blend of documentary and fiction to tell one person's story of personal healing.
The program redeemed itself by the end. But I couldn't help but wonder if the Women With Vision shorts curation could use a shot of main stream taste and a desire for storytelling. The shorts program of
MSPIFF is always sold out, and there were only a handful of people in Walker's audience. Why produce a program that's only accessible to a few when you could expose women directors to broader audiences by tossing some of the "art" snobbery?
On the other hand, the
Women in Film & Television Short Film Showcase demonstrated great cinematic storytelling.
The first film, made by a Minnesota film maker Jill Broadfoot and called The Pussycats, documents the journey of four middle-aged women traveling to the Corn Palace in South Dakota to see Tom Jones perform. The film was feisty and fun, and seeing the cream-stuffed penis-shaped cupcakes quivering was worth every minute of this film. It's a must for the fifty-something and older set.
In Chinese Dumplings, filmmaker Michelle Hung tells the sweet story of sisters who would do anything to get out of an hour of violin practice. In the end, it's about universal sisterhood and what it means to be an ally.
As if in counter point, One Hundredth of a Second shows us how harmful it can be to choose to not be an ally. Filmmaker Susan Jacobson unflinchingly reveals one moment in the life of a war photographer through flashback. This film isn't for the faint-of-heart.
Genevieve Poulette's award-winning short film Meet-Market.ca delves into the lives of two single women and their exploits on a local online dating community. It wasn't a memorable film, perhaps because of the blind-date cliches throughout, modernized for the internet age.
Orchids, directed by Bryce Dallas Howard and starring
Katherine Waterston and
Alfred Molina, introduces us to quirky Beatrice who loves taking pictures but never develops them until she meets a wealthy middle-aged recluse. Orchids demonstrates why it's important to have women directing films--it shows intimacy between a man and a woman without suggesting sex.
In Happiness, director Sophie Barthes follows one factory worker (who tests condoms) who tries to buy happiness in a discount store. Happiness premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. It's worth seeing if you have a chance.
Finally, The Betty Mystique, directed by Minnesotan Susan Marks, chronicles the many lives of Betty Crocker and the icon's impact on modern American culture. Cake anyone?
There is no doubt that Doubt, starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Viola Davis (who not only cries on screen, but gets her nose to run--how did she do that?), will garner lots and lots of award nominations. All the actors, in fact, received nominations for Golden Globe acting awards.
But I found the play-turned-movie to be too small for the big screen. On a stage, you're limited by the available space; in films, there are no such limitations. Unfortunately, the playwright, John Patrick Shanley, also wrote the screen play and directed the film. I think he forgot that film is expansive.
My review: Worth Renting or Worth a Matinee to see extraordinary acting skill from all the main actors, but especially Viola Davis. And the added bonus, if you're Catholic, you'll laugh throughout this heavy drama as a few women did during the screening Wednesday night. Definitely don't pay full-price for Doubt.
