Frenchy’s Fracas

Movie: Dry Season (Mahamat-Saleh Haroun, France, Chad, Belgium, Austria , 2006 - 90 ‘ )

Date: Jan 31, 2007

Rating: (just intense)

Plot: The Truth And Reconciliation Committee in the African country of Chad declares a general amnesty after decades of civil war. A young man is told by his grandfather to go and avenge to killing of his father. Revenge can be a complex state of mind and this film, Daratt, shows us one of the takes on that complexity.

Cast: Youssouf Djaoro, the actor who portrayed the Bad Guy, wow.. Such a commanding presence.

Visuals: Without any flashy stuff, you get an interesting view of how life could be in Chad.

Conclusion: The tension between the young man and the object of his revenge is incredible. They feed each others fiercest emotions, complicating the relationship even more. I liked the way the plot was resolved.
Sidenote: just minutes before the movie started I realized I’d lost my ticket. Luckily, one of the movie crew (who shall remain nameless) helped me out and offered me a ticket. But, believe me, it didn’t influence my rating in any way whatsoever. Thanks again!

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Movie: The Mission (Johnnie To, Hong Kong , 1999 - 82 ‘ )

Date: Jan 28, 2007

Rating: (it’s entertainment!)

Plot: After a failed assassination attempt, Triad Boss Lung enlists the help of five of the best bodyguards he can find.

Cast: Again a great cast, with a lot of familiar faces: Antony Wong and Francis Ng carry the movie effortlessly.

Visuals: Nothing spectacular, just solid action.

Conclusion: Entertaining and well crafted. The scenes with the guys just hanging and interacting were the best (especially the little football match at the office scene).

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Movie: Driving with My Wife’s Lover (Kim Tai-Sik, South Korea , 2006 - 92 ‘ )

Date: Jan 28, 2007

Rating: (expected a bit more than this)

Plot: A quiet stamp maker has discovered that his wife is cheating. The culprit is a taxi cab driver, so he decides to take a very long taxi ride. This doesn’t turn into a simple quest for revenge, both men are paying for their mistakes.

Cast: Both the husband as the taxi driver give a solid performance, especially during the more bonding scenes.

Visuals: Some surreal moments and great angles: mountain side views, the scene with the cockerel and of course the cantaloupe scene. Loved the colors!

Conclusion: The film score was light and slightly French (like in the Amelie movie) but the wacky humor wasn’t always that crazed and funny. I like how the revenge angle has been worked out, but still.. Not very refreshing, had a few laughs, but just a nice movie.

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Movie: Offside (Jafar Panahi, Iran , 2006 - 99 ‘ )

Date: Jan 30, 2007

Rating: (funny and entertaining)

Plot: Irani women aren’t allowed to go see football (or soccer for our culturally challenged friends in the US, and no, Beckham’s not gonna change that..) matches in stadiums. Well, they are allowed but only when the crowd is all female. When the boys go to see a game, they don’t want to have the women around (hmmm.. familiar?)
Some women are so football crazy that they try to get in to the World Cup qualifier match against Bahrein. And they use every trick in the book..

Cast: Great group performance, not one specific actress/actor really stands apart, but that’s okay.

Visuals: Not a lot happening, the emphasis is on the story. Funny detail: there’s probably less than 60 seconds of actual game play being shown.

Conclusion: Also a movie that delivers as promised. The ladies try to get in with varying degrees of success. The discussions about the total absurdity of the law forbidding women to go see the match, is handled quite tastefully and intelligently. The women aren’t larger-than-life heroes and the men aren’t over-the-top macho pigs. Nice balance, simple and effective message that is also humorous and entertaining.

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Movie: The Last Dining Table (Roh Gyeong-Tae, South Korea , 2006 - 91 ‘ )

Date: Jan 29, 2007

Rating: (love it or hate it, there’s nothing in between)

Plot: Not really. Let’s say it’s a collage of short scenes (30 seconds to 2 minutes) consisting of absurd absurdities. Seemingly random, but you realize after half an hour that there’s a structure, a cast of characters and a semblance of a plot. Much like the Earth can resemble a kid’s marble.

Cast: skippable..

Visuals: Ooooh, for me it was pure eye candy. The opening scene where some guy’s getting dragged by two guards along a hall with different mini-stories happening in every room/cell they’re passing by - that was great stuff!

Conclusion: This movie’s on the edge: not the cinema edge, but that edge that creative people walk between pretentious crap and interesting genius. Is it genius? Nope, but it really is a friggin’ interesting movie. I can imagine people fiercely disliking it too and considering this movie as pure pretentious ego-stroking. It’s that kind of movie and that’s why I go to a film festival. I was intrigued, amused, annoyed, disgusted and much more: works fine for me!

UPDATE: I lowered the rating, just couldn’t stand seeing this one at the top of my ratings list, heheh..

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