Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s
All About Eve
From the Museum of the Moving Image
Times Square Centennial Film Festival:
From The Streets & Stage To The Screen
Loews State Theater

Reviewed March 14th 6:30 PM by Caroline Smith

Compliments, insults, lipstick aside, it's all laid on thick in All About Eve. This 1950's classic, starring a smoky eyed diva, is Bette Davis at her finest. Davis plays an aging Broadway actress, Margo Channing, who seems to have it all: a starry career; a man who loves her; and a circle of friends. However, the hair-pulling begins when little Miss Eve Harrington manipulates her way into Margo's life and disrupts the black and white, or "Margo vs. the rest of the world" picture. She buzzes in like a butterfly with all the pleasantries and propriety that an actress like Margo Channing would adore in a young fan. Anne Baxter, who plays Eve Harrington, gives a stunning performance as a sweet nobody who finds herself in New York and aspires to get on the stage. She studies Margo as if she were a blueprint and successfully makes it hard for us to hate her.

The film straps Margo Channing into an emotional rollercoaster ride. In her frustration with the beautiful Eve Harrington, Margo is non-empathetic and almost scary in her outbursts. Fine, she is a real bitch. When she cannot get to the theater one evening, Eve gives the term "understudy" new meaning as she quickly steals the spotlight and receives rave reviews. This is a film about ambition and betrayal. Hollywood? Yes. There is even a small cameo appearance by Marilyn Monroe (but is she ever really just a cameo?). Her character exploits the naivete and beauty of budding actresses of that time. One can be sure that this black and white film bursts with color when Marilyn Monroe enters the room in her mink coat.

All About Eve is delicious. The bee, Bette Davis, stings hard with her tight-lipped, snide remarks and glaring eyes. The butterfly on the other flower, Anne Baxter, sprays perfume on everybody she meets and eventually proves her talent on the big stage. We see transitions as each woman becomes the other and the gloss fades. Theater critic Addison DeWitt, played by George Sanders, is responsible for both Eve's fresh career and his comments on "aging actresses," eluding to Margo Channing. But in every show, the curtain must rise and reveal something we hadn't seen before. In a fit of tears, Eve slips up for the first time. DeWitt learns about all the lies she had told in order to get where she was today. His character is quick, almost detective-like, and he is the only representation of truth in this world of lying, cheating, and hurt.

In the final scenes, we watch an Eve who goes home to her apartment and fixes herself a drink. Behind her is a young girl, asleep on the setee. The fan awakes and it's a picture of young Eve Harrington with Margo Channing all over again. However this time around, this is a different Eve. All I can say is that the end of this film mirrors the beginning. You have to see it to believe it.

Starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders

For info on tickets, showtimes and guest speakers:
www.timessquarenyc.org/film

Loews State Theater |1540 Broadway
( between 45th and 46th Streets)

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Andrea and Antonio Frazzi’s
Certi Bambini/Stolen Childhood
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films

“Recounts society’s failure to offer another destiny to a child whose fate seems marked from birth” – Diego Di Silva

Cast: Gianluca Di Gennaro (Rosario), Carmine Recano (Damiano), Arturo Paglia (Santino), Miriam Candurro (Caterina), Sergio Solli (Casaluce), Rolando Ravello, (Sciancalepore), Mario Giordano (Brasile), Nuccia Fumo (Grandmother Lilina), Marcello Romolo (Don Alfonso), Emanuela Garuccio (Gemma), Patrizio Rispo (Qui), Terence Guida (Aniello), Gabriele Parrella (Giornaletto), Alessandro Guasco (Venturino)

Reviewed by: Diedre Kilgore

Certi Bambini tells the story of 11 year-old gang leader Rosario (Ginaluca di Gennaro), who takes a train ride to a destination that will undoubtedly change his life. On this journey, we watch as he recalls images and memories of his quickly fading youth and the chain of events, which have placed him on this train.

Along this journey, Rosario remembers his recent past, almost like it was several years ago. We see his relationship with his pill-popping grandmother, beautifully played by Nuccia Fumo, a grandmother who offers him little guidance but plenty of wise words to live by, the memory of which he still carries with him. At other times, we see his trips to a woman’s shelter, where he falls in love with the beautiful sixteen year-old Caterina (Miriam Candurro), and then develops a jealous one-way rivalry with the charismatic Santino (Arturo Paglia), a volunteer at the shelter who Rosario reluctantly looks up to. We are invited along as two young punks, Rosario and his more child-like friend Venturino (Alessandro Guasco), accidentally discover a gun. And, from this discovery of the gun, Rosario is suddenly thrust into further maturity in the volatile world in which he lives.

Through Certi Bambini, we are able to see how the street life of a young gangster appeals to Rosario and simultaneously to see his intermittent feelings of longing for the life of a normal child. Through the Rosario’s eyes, we see his dreams and his desire to live without the weight of blood and theft - his longing to live a life where his only cares might be flirting with girls and winning soccer games. Gianluca Di Gennaro’s far off looks hit the mark exactly, depicting Rosario’s many losses through the use of expertly executed silences - silences many adult actors oftentimes have trouble achieving.

Unapologetically, Certi Bambini deftly portrays the enticing glamour (laced with dangerous consequences) of the rite of passage of becoming a gangster.
Paolo Carnera’s camera work is masterful ( a brilliant use of light and reflection) and is wonderfully paired with Ginaluca Di Genarro’s tremendous ability to tell an untold-story.

Certi Bambini won Best film at the Czech Republic’s Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. The film is based on the novel by Diego Di Silva, Certi Bambini (which has been translated into five languages). The novel was awarded the Campiello, Brancati, Fiesole and Bergamo prizes and was a finalist for the Viareggio award.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Lincoln Center |Broadway from 60th through 66th
Museum of Modern Art |11 West 53rd Street

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Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Marineau ‘s
Cote D’Azur
Tribeca Film Festival

“An unbalanced kind of balance”

Cast: Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Gilbert Melki, Jean-Marc Barr, Jacques Bonnaffé, Édouard Collin, Romain Torres, Sabrina Seyvecou, Yannick Baudin, Julien Weber, Sébastien Cormier, Marion Roux

Written and Directed by Olivier Ducastel and Jacques Marineau

Reviewed by Diedre Kilgore

Cote d’Azur is a beautiful and charming story set with the Mediterranean Sea as a backdrop. Set in a world that encourages languid desire, Cote d’Azur is an engaging film full of absurdly humorous twists.

When Marc (Gilbert Melki) and his sexually charged wife Beatrix (Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi) inherit Marc’s family’s seaside house, they relish the opportunity to have the summer home they’ve always dreamed of. A little less enthusiastic are their two children seventeen year old Charly (Romain Torres) and 19 year-old Laura (Sabrina Seyvecou) who begrudgingly come along. When Charly’s homosexual friend Martin (Edouard Collin) comes to visit, Beatrix begins to amuse herself with the possibility that young Charly might be gay.

A delightfully fun, sexually charged vaudevillian comedy, Cote d’Azur takes us on a wild ride. We explore the parent’s constant suspicion regarding their son’s sexuality; the anxiety the parents feel as they realize Laura is dating and most likely having sex; on through the privately indulgent world of Beatrix’s summer fling; and finally, the introduction of Marc’s old hidden romance. Through watching these lives slowly unravel and coming together at a climax, Cote d’Azur delivers a passionate yet adorable story of a uniquely unconventional family. It is reminiscent of any Shakespearean comedy, chalk full of mistaken identities, reversals and presumptions.

See http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org/ for times and dates.

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Hubert Sauper’s
Darwin’s Nightmare
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films

“…I could make the same kind of observation in Sierra Leone, only the perch would be a diamond, in Honduras, a banana, and in Libya, Nigeria or Angola…the fish would be crude oil.” -Hubert Sauper, Director

Reviewed by Diedre Kilgore

Darwin’s Nightmare is a poignant documentary, set in Tanzania, which takes us on a revelatory journey of internal struggle through the viewing of bleak external images.

At some point in the 1960’s, the Nile Perch was introduced to Lake Victoria. This alien predator has since pretty much destroyed the ecological balance of the lake, and it is simultaneously creating economic chaos.

Darwin’s Nightmare is a fascinating film of contradictions, raising the question of how to fight a self-created monster. The introduction of the Nile Perch allowed for a giant economic boom, potentially a solution to the extreme poverty in that region. But instead of helping the local people, it was only lucrative for foreign businesses. While the presence of this fish has given the people of Tanzania an “economy”, it also magnified their economic suppression.

Watching Darwin’s Nightmare, we are introduced to the people whose existence has been altered by the presence of the Nile Perch. We meet the fishermen, who dive in crocodile-infested waters, with no doctors to help them if they are attacked. We watch the mannerisms of the hardened prostitutes who get brutally beaten, raped and sometimes killed. We listen to a night-watchman, making $1 a day risking his life to protect the fish factory from intruders, hoping for war so he can make more money as a soldier. We are shown the paintings of a boy, who sells images of suffering street kids - all homeless because their parents have either died from Aids, hunger, work hazards, or murder. We sit with an Indian factory worker, who constantly attempts to keep the conversation light. We witness pilots acting violent, racist and wasteful. And after watching a series of interviews with fishermen, prostitutes, fish driers, pilots, and even African dignitaries and European commissioners, it seems that no one has a solution.

Throughout this film, the camera is turned to the sky to show an alarming number of planes, constantly arriving and departing, creating a suffocating reminder of the daily suppression these people live with - struggling to survive, only to have everything taken away from them. These large, ex-soviet cargo planes arrive empty, and leave full of Tanzania’s only resource. We eventually learn they are arriving in other parts of Africa with a planes full of weapons to supply to the war-torn Congolese regions, currently the deadliest conflicts the world has seen since World War II. They then return with fish bought from Tanzania to distribute throughout the world, thus creating a catastrophic paradox.

The fishermen live in huts by the lake, where they constantly die from hunger or HIV. When their husbands die, the wives have no choice but to become prostitutes to survive. These same fishermen oftentimes spend their hard-earned money on the prostitutes, thus feeding a horrific cycle which not only keeps the fishermen extremely poor, but it also continually perpetuates the constant spread of HIV among the population.

Not allowed to fish in the lake for themselves, the people of Tanzania cannot afford to eat the costly Nile Perch, but only are able to purchase leftover carcasses from the factory. Their children fight over handfuls of rice, an unreliable source of food that is not suited for such a drought-laden region. In addition, young children have found a way to produce a sniff-able drug by melting down the fish boxes, a habit that has been fatal to some of them.

And just as if the situation couldn’t get any worse, it turns out that the Nile Perch are cannibals. It is theorized that they are eating their young, in order to survive, thus slowly destroying themselves. Therefore, this explosive ecosystem is about to combust, potentially creating an even bleaker situation than the one they’re facing now.

Hubert Sauper deserves to be congratulated for having the courage and conviction to make Darwin’s Nightmare. In this world we, as individuals, have a tendency to feel helpless in global situations. By creating this documentary, Hubert Sauper has taken an important step in exposing our self-created monsters, arming us with knowledge, and giving us the hope that perhaps as a human collective we can find a way to un-think these monsters from existence.

“These are real people who wonderfully represent the complexity of this system, and for me, they represent the real enigma.”
-Hubert Sauper

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Lincoln Center |Broadway from 60th through 66th
Museum of Modern Art |11 West 53rd Street

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The Devil’s Miner
“The Mountain that Eats Men”
US Premiere
2005 Tribeca Film Festival

A documentary film by Kief Davidson & Richard Ladkani

Featuring: The Miners of Cerro Rico, Basilio Vargas, Bernardino Vargas, Vanessa Vargas, Manuela Altica Vargas, Braulio Jancko, Padre Jesus, Saturnino Ortega

Reviewed by Diedre Kilgore

The Devil’s Miner is a fascinating and gripping documentary set in the Bolivian silver mines of Potosi’s Cerro Rico. The film tells a heartbreaking story about the life of a fourteen-year-old boy named Basilio Vargas. After the death of his father, Basilio has spent the last four years working in the mines so he can provide for his mother and act as a father figure for his younger siblings. Basilio proves to be an extraordinarily strong boy; his goal is to work hard enough to provide an education for himself and his brother and sister so they can leave foothills of the silver mines and live a better life. Basilio’s dream is to one day become a teacher. Basilio possesses a simple and matter-of-fact attitude about life and displays great stoicism in the face of adversity.

Devout Catholics, the miners attend church and pray to God, but once they enter the mine, it is necessary for them to also worship the devil (Tio), in order to be protected from the dangerous conditions of a mountain that has been mined and depleted of its resources for the past five centuries. The empathetic priest does not condemn the miners for worshipping the devil, he simply tries to educate them to the fact that faith through love is stronger than faith through fear. The priest at times feels helpless because he understands that they are simply trying to protect themselves from harm by praying to anyone who will listen, in the hopes that they can “double their armor.”

The mines of Cerro Rico date back to the sixteenth century. When they were discovered , they were the largest silver find in the history of the Americas. At one time these mines provided over two thirds of the world’s silver demand. After the mines were discovered by the Spanish Conquistadors, the Spaniards enslaved the local Indios, forcing them to become miners and using the profit from this slave labor to finance Spanish wars. To date, over eight million workers have perished in the mines and currently, there are about nine thousand Potosi Miners, hundreds of them children who have lost their fathers, all attempting to scavenge what silver is left of these nearly empty mines.

Richard Ladkani’s cinematography is breathtaking, a real achievement considering the constrictive and extremely dangerous circumstances that faced his crew. They were hampered by dealing with collapsed tunnels, toxic gases, runaway carts and dynamite explosions and were only able to light their scenes with the open flame carbon lamps used by the Miners. These wonderful images are certainly a wonderful accomplishment. Leonardo Heiblum and Andres Solis have created a beautiful soundtrack which assists in highlighting the constant shifting of tone and emotion of film.

If you wish to help these children, please log onto the film’s website, www.thedevilsminer.com, and follow the links to the organizations listed.

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William A Kirkley’s
Excavating Taylor Mead
Tribeca Film Festival

“Movie star passing through”

Starring: Taylor Mead

Featuring: Jim Jarmusch; Penny Arcade; Paul Morrissey; Gerard Malanga; Michael Auder; Jonas Mekas; Carlo McCormick; Steven Watson; Mary Boone; Wu Tang Clan’s Rza; The White Stripes; & Many More.

Produced by Erik Laibe; Directed by William A. Kirkley; Filmed by Crystal Moselle: Narrated by Steve Buscemi

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Excavating Taylor Mead tells the story of actor, poet, performance artist and barfly Taylor Mead. The star of Ron Rice’s The Flower Thief and one of Andy Warhol’s Super Stars (Taylor Mead's Ass), Taylor is now the octogenarian resident of an amazingly cluttered rent controlled apartment in Manhattan’s actively gentrifying Lower East Side.

Bartender/filmmaker Williams Kirkley came up with the idea. He had been seeing Taylor walk around his neighborhood and had no idea that the old man with the bejeweled walking stick was a former denizen of The Factory. But then he found out and was fascinated. He then enlisted the help of Crystal Moselle, a School of Visual Arts film student.

Together they began to follow Taylor around his neighborhood filming him and becoming his friends. The first night out, they went with him to a party at famed photographer Patrick McMullen’s loft and watched while Patrick took Taylor around and introduced him to all his friends. Taylor was obviously the star of the night.

And on they went, attending poetry readings, house cleaning parties, cat funerals (unbelievable!), and finally ending at the premier for Jim Marmusch’s, Coffee and Cigarettes. Excavating Taylor Mead shows it all, from roaches to limos, and after I watched it, I really felt like I knew Taylor Mead, seeing all his flawed humanity through the filter of his amazing personal charm. So, go see Excavating Taylor Mead and if you are ever seated in a bar on the LES and see Taylor, buy that man a drink. And if you see William, Crystal and Erik, tell them Bravo for a job well done.

For more information about this film and the Tribeca Film Festival in general, log onto: http://www.tribecafilmfestival.org.

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Zézé Gamboa’s
The Hero
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films

Starring: Oumar Makena Diop, Milton Coelho, Patricia Bull, Neusa Borges, Raul Rosario, Orlando Sergio, Maria Ceica, Catarina Matos, Prospero Joao, Nelo Helder, Miguel Hurst, Adelino Caracol and Gracy Costa. `

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Angola is a beautiful land that is seared by desperate poverty, scarred by war and filled with damaged people, people living without families and many (due to horrific land mines) living without limbs. I have never been to Angola and it is doubtful that I ever will go there. Before I saw The Hero, I know very little about Angola other then that it is one of the too many African countries that suffered through decades of civil war.

But that is the beauty of watching foreign films. When you watch a film that has been made on the other side of the world, you get to painlessly “go there” and in a limited way, meet the people and see the land.

The Hero is a beautiful film that tells the story of four characters whose lives intertwine as they try to make their way and find their own peace in the aftermath of the civil war: Vitorio, a soldier who lost a leg in the war; Manu, a young boy who lost both parents and is being raised by his grandmother; Maria Barbara, a prostitute who lost her own son; and Joana, a mulata school teacher who is trying to make her own world a better place.

All four of the characters are scarred and are desperately trying to rebuild the lives they lost. In the aftermath of the tornado that was their civil war, they attempt to pick up pieces from the “dump” that is now their land and rebuild their lives. Someone needs a prosthesis, someone needs a husband, someone needs a son and someone else needs a father. And they all need the basic unit of civilization, a family. And even if they cannot find their original father, husband, son or leg, perhaps they can mend their souls by glueing together the disconnected pieces left lying on the ground after their world exploded.

Bravo to Zézé Gamboa for having the courage and the vision to create this film in a land where only two years ago there was fighting in the streets.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Lincoln Center |Broadway from 60th through 66th

 

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Nimrod Antal’s
Kontroll
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films
Walter Reade Theater

Hey Trainspotting fans, it’s time to jump on the subway!

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

The Budapest subway that is, the setting for Kontroll, a farcical tale about a mismatched bunch of subway ticket inspectors (hooligans really), who have sunk so low in life that they now have unfortunate job of collecting tickets from the snarling deadbeats who ride the subway in this film's tripping world. Kontroll manages to be both farcical and mystical. It is filled with fairy tale illusions. And I’m talking about fairy tales the way the Brothers Grim meant to tell them: a world filled with trolls, fighting bears, haunted tunnels and beautiful castles (like the enchanting conductor’s cab inhabited by a wonderfully drunken goblin of a train-main). And this beautiful and horrifying world of Kontroll is served up with lots of ketchup, blood, vomit, and pulverized corpses. Hey, I told you it was like Trainspotting.

Kontroll tells the story of Bulcsu (played by the very talented Sandor Csanyi) who is driven by his internal demons to live and work in the underground. There he heads a ragtag crew of tickets inspectors who are menaced by: rival crews of inspectors, the before mentioned deadbeat subway riders, a shaving-cream-squirting hoodlum and an “Angel of Death” (a ghoul who enjoys pushing unsuspecting riders to their deaths on the tracks). There he also meets his love, Sofie (played by the charismatic Eszter Bela), and by meeting and wanting to be with Sofie, Bulcsu sets in motion the internal changes that let him confront (shall we say push?) his demons and having done so, he then has the courage to resurface above ground.

Kontroll is a lot of fun and I have been telling every young man I know to do go see it. But then I though, hey wait, I'm not a young man and I liked it. So go see Kontroll, it’s a hoot to watch and your chance to see the glories of the Budapest subway (the world’s second oldest), from the comfort of a reclining seat in New York City.

I am not the only one who liked Kontroll. Kontroll was the recipient of a Gold Hugo at this year’s Chicago International Film Festival, Le Prix de la Jeunesse (Youth Prize) at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival; multi winner at the 2004 Budapest Hungarian Film Critics Awards (best director, lead actor, supporting actors and cinematography), best director and best cinematography at the 2004 Copenhagen International Film Festival, as well as the Perrier "Bubbling Under" Award for emerging filmmakers at the US Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Wow!

Kontroll is written and directed by Nimrod Antal and stars Sandor Csonyi, Sandor Bador, Zoltan Mucsi, Zsolt Nagy, Csaba Pindroch and Eszter Balla. It is produced by Tamas Hutlassa. Gyula Pados is the director of photography and Neo composed the original score. P.S. The score rocked.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Kontrol will open in New York City on Friday, April 1st at The Angelika Film Center (18 W Houston Street at Mercer) and Lincoln Plaza 6 Cinemas (1886 Broadway).

Lincoln Center Walter Reade Theater 65th Street between Broadway and Amsterdam
(Walk East from 65th and Broadway)

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Jorge Gaggero’s
LIVE-IN MAID
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films

Written and directed by Jorge Gaggero

Cast: Norma Aleandro as Beba, Norma Argentina as Dora, Marcos Mundstock as Victor, Raul Panguinao as Miguel, Susana Lanteri as Meme, Elsa Berenguer as Sara, Claudia Lapacó as Perla, Mónica Gonzaga as Irma and Eduardo Rodríguez as Luisito

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Live-In Maid tells the store of a deep and abiding friendship between two women who are not aware that they are in fact, friends. Dora (the very talented Norma Argentina), an Argentine maid from a lower-middle-class background, has worked as a live-in maid for the upper-class-but-now-broke Beba (the also amazing Norma Aleandro) for the last twenty eight years. Beba, now very much down on her luck (due to both her failed marriage and the current financial crisis in Argentina), has not been able to pay Dora's salary for the last seven months, leaving Dora with no other option than to reluctantly move on with her life by finding other employment.

But more binds these two women then just the employer/employee relationsip. Beba is bereft, even though she has always treated Dora as her maid (leaving messes around the house, asking to be served drinks), Beba needs Dora for the same reasons we all need family. Dora is the person she looks for when she comes home, her confidente and anchor. And even thought Dora is by far the more pragmatic of the two, she is still deeply entwined in Beba’s life, so much so that Beba’s estranged daughter only calls home from Europe when she knows that Dora will be home alone.

There are many wonderful but poignant moments in this film. Two examples are: Beba selling her earrings so she can have enough money to pay Dora’s back salary and Dora then deciding that she can only have very expensive tile in her barrio home. Dora has been exposed to a better way of life and knows how things should be done. But the aspect of the movie that I loved the most was the filmmakers beautiful potrayal of the life styles of both upper middle class and lower middle class Argentina: the clothes, the furniture, the card games, the dances in the barrio, etc. etc. Alter watching this film, I really felt like I had had a glimpse of life in Argentina and in the process met two unforgettable women through the charácter portrayal of two unforgettable actresses.

Produced by LibidoCine, Aquafilms and Filmanova Invest.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

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Agnes Jaoui's
Look At Me
Open Nationwide
Reviwed at the 2004 New York Film Festival

Reviewed by Evan Sung

Filmmaker/Writer Agnes Jaoui's latest film, Look At Me comes to New York City on October 1st to officially open the 42nd Annual New York Film Festival. Only Jaoui's second directorial effort, this deft and perceptive study of characters skates along lightly but surely on the razor-thin line between comedy and pathos. Part of the success owes to the fine history Jaoui and her longtime writing partner Jean Pierre Bacri have in crafting complicated, human ensemble pieces that are both comic and sad, without ever becoming farcical or maudlin. Look At Me is another pitch-perfect effort from the duo.

The story centers on Lolita Cassard (Marilou Berry in her first film role), a 20 year old singing student, wrestling with her weight and self-image. Lolita is tired of longing for the affections of her celebrated, and barely-there father, the novelist Etienne Cassard (played by the brilliant comic actor and co-scenarist, Jean Pierre Bacri) and frustrated by a world which seems to have no time for a girl who does not correspond to covergirl ideals of beauty. Agnes Jaoui plays Sylvia Miller, a singing teacher to Lolita, and wife to Pierre Miller (Laurent Grevill), a struggling writer, plagued by self-doubt, who finds himself living the life of a successful author after meeting Lolita’s renowned father, Etienne. As for Etienne Cassard, he himself is suffering from a lengthy bout of writer’s block, as well as an acid-tongue that is all too ready to cut down his daughter, his 20-something girlfriend Karine, his subservient assistant Vincent, and anyone else within lashing range. Another newcomer, Keine Bouhiza, plays Sebastien, Lolita’s friend who accepts her for who she is, but finds himself taken for granted while Lolita swoons for another boy.

Each character is a refraction and reflection of the others, seen through the prism of self-doubt and envy. Like so many French films, this one is a talker. But this is no staid intellectual dialectical disguised as comedy. This is human fare, and we see ourselves all too readily in Look At Me. Each character wrestles in their own way with the desire to fulfill their own idealized self-image, and each runs constantly aground of their own tendencies to trample others or be trampled upon. What is fantastic in Jaoui’s script is that none of the leading characters are the conscience of the film. We sympathize with Lolita’s plight, but she’s so wrapped up in self-doubt that she is blind to the kindness of her friend Sebastien, and incapable of reciprocating the friendship that her father’s girlfriend is so ready to offer. Pierre, under the tutelage of Etienne, forgets his friends and long-time editor, wowed by the glitterati of the publishing world that Etienne’s friendship opens up for him. Nor does Jaoui spare her own character, who is creeped out by the adulation of Lolita, but attracted by the prestige and power offered by the proximity to Lolita’s father. Jaoui has said that her interest was in treating power, “from the point of view of those who tolerate it, not from the bully’s point of view.” And its true that the only true bully in the film is Bacri’s Etienne, whose power and aura set the rest of the world spinning about. They inflict damage on themselves and each others as they try to emulate and ingratiate themselves into Etienne’s world.

Dark matter to be sure, but there is plenty of humor in this film too. And it is a testament to Jaoui and Bacri's comic instincts, because in other hands, such themes can quickly become self-righteous and indulgent. But Jaoui keeps it light, giving her cast plenty of comic scenes and lacing them with only just enough poison in someone’s dejected look or offhand comment, to speak volumes about the troubled waters running between the characters. Bacri does the shtick that he has honed to perfection, the irritable, incorrigible Frenchman, arguing with everyone, amazed by the stupidity which surrounds him. Though Etienne is likely the most disturbed of the lot, Bacri's wit and comic presence give him a glimpse of humanity. Even when Etienne admits to having walked out of Lolita’s first big singing recital, in his helpless shrug and daft attempts to win his daughter back by telling him how good the others said the recital was, we laugh and almost try to understand his point of view.

Look At Me is another successful entry in Jaoui's and Jean Pierre Bacri's continuing study of the minefield of human relations, and the petty foibles that make it both laughable and treacherous. Funny and bitter, Look At Me holds up a mirror to all of us. We laugh at the reflection, but we cringe a little bit too.

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Huck Botko and Andrew Gurland’s
Mail Order Wife
Open Nationwide

Starring: Andrew Gurland as Andrew, Eugenia Yuan as Lichi and
Adrian Martinez as Adrian

Reviewed by Rachael Roberts

It all seems so easy; open a catalog, pick out a lovely lady, pay some
money and presto - you can be a happily married man. This is what
Adrian, a doorman from Queens, thinks when he decides to marry
a mail order wife. And he didn't even have to pay for her,
Andrew Gurland, an opportunistic filmmaker, covered all the costs in
exchange for letting him document the experience. Things take a turn
for the worse, though when Andrew starts to question Adrian's motives
for "buying" a wife and ultimately falls in love with the wife himself.

Writer/director duo Andrew Garland and Huck Botko trick the audience into thinking Mail Order Wife is a true doc but it is definitely a trick, because Mail Order Wife is a mockumentary. And while it can be slow and sadistic at times, there are many gems including a boa constrictor named Chipwhich. The acting is very "real" and absolutely sells the movie as a documentary. Adrian is played by the terrific actor Adrian Martinez who can currently be seen at The Public in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot <see review in the theater section>. He is very endearing for a sadist and is nicely paired with Eugenia Yuan who turns out to be quite the schemster.

Mail Order is a fun movie and is now playing exclusively at the
Village East Cinemas. I would highly recommend you check it out before
its gone!

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Zornista Sophia’s
Mila from Mars
Lincoln Center New Directors New Films

“..deals with how and why you stop runing away and start facing your life
as it is. And what love has to do with surviving.” – Zornista Sophia
www.milafrommars.com

Written, Directed and Produced by Zornista Sophia

Cast: Vesela Kazakova (Mila), Asen Blatechky (The Teacher),Lyubomir Popov (Alex), Zlatina Todeva (Mother Zlata), Jordan Bikov (Jabnaki the Blue), V. Vasilev Zueka (Director of the Orphanage

Reviewed by: Diedre Kilgore

Mila from Mars opens in Sarajevo as Mila, a teenage orphan (expertly played by Vesela Kazakova), is “rescued” by Alex (Lyubomir Popov) the local drug dealer who makes her his whore. Mila, not perceiving herself as a whore, falls in love with the abusive Alex and her life with him turns out to be nothing but a series of disappointments. In the midst of a desperate attempt to find a place to hide, the pregnant Mila hops into a grocery truck and then she unwittingly embarks on a personal path of enlightenment.

Mila finds herself in a small village in the Bulgarian town of Sofia, where she instantly becomes an object of obsession among the delightful elderly pot-smoking villagers. As luck would have it, though, this happens to be Alex’s marijuana plantation. Mila gives birth to Alex’s baby with the help of the entire village who embrace her and shower her baby with gifts. The Villagers decide to name the baby Christo, since they see him as a gift to them in the form of a Christ.

So, about three months after the birth of Christ, Mila finds a hot young recluse (Asen Blatechky) to kick it with. He’s Buddhist, but baby Christ doesn’t seem to
care. But you see, Mila had become a little used to being the center of attention in the village, that is until the baby was born, and then, the townspeople go and shower the friggin BABY with gifts, knocking the wind out of Mila’s sails. It made me wonder if that’s how Mother Mary felt. Was Mary pissed when the wisemen gave all the gifts to the baby? Probably. I would be. I’d be all….”dude, you guys blow”.

A brilliant moment in Mila From Mars comes at the end, during a confrontation. It is an explosive finale, but the whole thing is done in complete silence, which is an extremely powerful choice.

I was impressed with this film before I was aware that this is not only
Zornitsa Sophia’s first film, it’s her f**king GRADUATION film for the
National Academy for theatre and film. It certainly doesn’t show. Mila
from Mars has attracted more media attention than any Bulgarian film has in
the past 15 years and it’s almost a no-budget film. Among the ten
international awards it’s won so far, two of them were for best film. Oh
yeah, and if that’s not enough, it also happens to be the official Bulgarian
submission for the Oscars. You just can’t get any better than that, for
your first time out.

Oh, and one other thing. The soundtrack is phenomenal. It is so good in fact
that it made me look up each of the bands and try to get some of their
music. I might have to travel to Sofia to get it, though. As far as I can
tell, none of it is available here. THEREFORE, if this film goes somewhere,
which I think it definitely will, I would love to see a purchasable
soundtrack, which of course would do wonders for these artists. Here are
their names, in case you are as passionate about rare finds as I am. Most
of these guys have websites. Bluba Lu, Chakruk, Vataff Project, Monday
Morning, Milenita, Irina Florin, People from the Ghetto, Sealiah, and
Infinity. For more information: www.milafrommars.com.

For times and dates, log onto: http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Lincoln Center West 62nd & 65th Streets & Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues

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John G. Young’s
The Reception
2005 Tribeca Film Festival

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Christopher Monger's
Special Thanks to Roy London
2005 Tribeca Film Festival

Based on prize winning prose by Wojciech Kuczok

Cast: Wacek Adamczyk (young Wojciech), Jan Frycz (Father), Michal Zebrowski (Old Wojciech), Agnieszka Grochowska (Tania)

Reviewed by: Diedre Kilgore

The Welts is an existential Polish film, which portrays how child abuse can leave scars that may never heal. Becoming entangled in a psychological web of pain, we watch as young Wojciech (Wacek Adamczyk), a boy abused by his father (Jan Frycz), grows up to become a hardened cynical man.

Wojciech deeply wishes he could look up to his father, but eventually becomes so afraid of him he runs away, only to suddenly catch himself many years later acting like the monster he so desperately tried to escape. The father has no desire to be abusive but doesn’t know any other way to enforce discipline on a pre-teen boy. Jan Frycz artfully portrays tenderness, anguish and regret each time he feels the need to discipline young Wojciech. The father tries to show Wojciech he loves him, but it doesn’t outweigh the mental and physical pain Wojciech feels. In addition to beatings by his father, he is also beaten by teachers and emotionally undermined by the Priest. From these experiences, Wojciech learns that adults cannot be trusted, and this is something he brings with him, where years later, we see him much older, and much more powerful (wonderfully portrayed by Michal Zebrowski) as a harder, distrusting and isolated man. His outlook begins to change when he meets Tania (Agnieszka Grochowska), an unrelenting woman who is drawn to the child beneath Wojciech’s tough exterior. Tania fights every step of the way to discover the frightened boy Wojciech has trapped deep down inside of him.

Marcin Koszalka is a marvelous Cinematographer, giving the film strikingly beautiful images amidst emotionally ugly circumstances, beautifully depicting how external façades are used to disguise internal sludge.

The Welts won six awards at the polish film Festival in Gdynia and was the Polish entry for the 2004 Academy Awards.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
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Lincoln Center |Broadway from 60th through 66th
Museum of Modern Art |11 West 53rd Street

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Liu Hao's
Two Great Sheep
Lincoln Center’s New Directors New Films

Starring: Sun Yunkun, Jiang Zhikun and Yang Zuojiu
Reviewed by Armistead Johnson

At what point does a bad gift become a burden? Does it start when one first opens it and has to smile, pretending like they like it? Or does it start, as in the case of Uncle Deshan and his wife in Two Great Sheep, when you have to give up your food and shelter to the gift?

Uncle Deshan and his wife find themselves on the receiving end of a seemingly generous gift in Two Great Sheep that make Uncle Deshan and his wife the talk and envy of the entire town. Their benefactors? The government. The gift? Two rare foreign sheep who’s children and wool are going to pull the village out of poverty. The catch? They are the prissiest sheep Uncle Deshan and his wife have ever seen.

The sheep are too cold outside, so they are moved inside the small hut where uncle Deshan and his wife live. On particularly cold nights, the sheep are given Uncle Deshan and his wife’s coats and blankets. When the sheep begin to lose weight, the sheep are given Uncle Deshan and his wife’s food, and when the sheep have digestive problems, Uncle Deshan must take a days quest across the mountains to find grass the sheep will tolerate.

The cinematography of Two Great Sheep is absolutely beautiful, as are the performances and script which is filled with simple language, a clean, clear plot and subtle political overtones.

For times, dates and other information about the Festival, log onto:
http://www.filmlinc.com/ndnf/index.html

Lincoln Center |Broadway from 60th through 66th