10/08/2002 Entry:
"CIFF - Day Four"

I noticed last night that every audience so far has burst into spontaneous applause at the end of the film in question. I have no other comments on this subject. I also wonder about the people who laugh at the Mercedes ad with the genie, its just not funny. However, there is this cool little CIFF promo that I enjoy. This guy is waiting for a movie to start, and two yakking women sit down behind him. He offers them some jujufruit, and of course it shuts them up since you can't talk while eating jujufruit. Believe me, its better than it sounds. Really. I was pondering my audience comments from yesterday, and I'm less encouraged after some thought. I mean, look at what I've seen. Bowling For Columbine, with Michael Moore there. Well, sure, thats gonna sell out. Happiness Of The Katakuris - heavily hyped cult director. Makes sense. Bellaria and Afghan Alphabet - shown in a room that seats like 10 people. Russian Ark selling out the big room at Music Box is the only real surprise. Turns out City Of God did not in fact sell out, which I guess isn't surprising considering it was letting out at around 11:30 on a school night. So while it is nice to see the crowds I've seen, its not really all that surprising or necessarily an indication of anything. Sorry about all this babbling, I'm pretty beat.

Russian Ark was first, as well as my first Sokurov, although I'm betting that this is not typical in terms of the rest of his work. Of course, I had the chance to see about a dozen of his films at a recent Facets retrospective, but that is neither here nor there. I assume most people who are reading this know the gag - the film is one 95 minute long take shot on hi-def digital video. It follows an anonymous European and a ghostly unseen entity through the Russian State Hermitage Museum, as they pass back and forth from past to present wandering from room to room and interacting (or not) with those they meet. As a technical feat Russian Ark is a marvel. Not only is it all one take, but it is all the first take. They only had the opportunity to do this once. The cinematography is sumptuous, beautifully lit and exquisitely composed. The film has no real plot to speak of, I kind of viewed it as a David Lynch travel documentary, and on that level its really a wonder. The floating steadicam is hypnotizing as it wanders from room to room, especially effective in the final scene in which over a thousand extras in period costumes dance, weave, drink and play. My second favorite film of the fest so far, after Bellaria. I tore a 4.

I listened to the Bears/Packers game on my radio in the time between screenings, and that experience was nearly as brutal as Fernando Meirelles' City of God. This film is best described as GoodFellas set in the ghettos of Rio, but without the class, style or morals. The craft here is actually quite nice. The camera is loose and comfortable, and the picture is shot with confidence and a gritty playful feel which is always engaging. However the story plays out with no real surprises or sense of destiny. I never felt a lot of empathy with the film's main protagonist, an amateur photographer named 'Rocket', who wanders the streets in a kind of daze getting bounced around from one situation to the other. In the end, the whole exercise seemed to have no point at all, and while I was initally fairly into the film due to the skill with which it is made, a day later I feel fairly empty about it since it had nothing in particular to say. I was really hoping for a more socio-politically aware take on the gangster film, similar to what Y Tu Mama Tambien did for the teen sex comedy. Alas it was not to be. I have no doubt this film is going to be an arthouse breakout hit though, and it seems assured that it will be much talked about, although probably never for the right reasons.