Tag Archives: 2014 Reviews

SIFF 2014: Family United **1/2

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

The lovely Spanish countryside provides an eye-pleasing backdrop for director Daniel Sanchez Arevalo’s audience-pleasing romp. Not that there’s anything wrong with an audience-pleasing romp (I’m not one of those kind of film snobs…am I?). This lively (if somewhat predictable) family dramedy centers on a wedding. The groom is the youngest of five brothers, who have reunited for the event at their father’s country estate (the parents are estranged). Something unexpected happens, postponing the vows. Further complications arise, leading to an acute case of nuptials interruptus. It’s a slight but likable enough mash-up of romantic comedy and telenovela, with a nifty soundtrack.

Drama, Family Issues, Journalism

SIFF 2014: 1,000 Times Goodnight ***

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

Juliette Binoche is magnificent (as she always is) as a fearless photojournalist torn between her addiction to the adrenaline-pumping unpredictability of her work and the grounding reassurance of home life with her family. After she’s nearly blown to bits while embedded in Afghanistan with a group of female suicide bombers, her husband (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and daughters give her an ultimatum. Erik Poppe’s film is a compassionate, sensitively-acted melodrama in the tradition of Shoot the Moon.

Drama

SIFF 2014: Red Knot ***

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

Bookended by an enigmatic dissolve as mysterious as love itself (Jesus, I sound like a Hallmark card), Scott Cohen’s film focuses on the complexities of human relationships. Newlyweds Peter and Chloe (Vincent Kartheiser and Olivia Thirlby) are honeymooning on a research vessel headed for Antarctica. They’re still getting to know each other; there’s nothing like being stuck together on a boat to bring latent issues to the fore. Increasingly squally seas become a metaphor for the couple’s increasingly tempestuous gulf. Will their love weather this storm, or dash them on the rocks, leaving them stranded, alone in their arctic desolation? Initially, I thought “Lost in Translation meets March of the Penguins“, but it’s more of a mumblecore take on Letter Never Sent. A meditation on love, nature, and the fact that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world. Recommended…but you must be patient, grasshopper.

Culture Clash, Drama, Mystery

SIFF 2014: Kinderwald **

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

If Terrence Malick had directed The Blair Witch Project, it might resemble Lise Raven’s naturalistic period drama, set in the backwoods of 1850s Pennsylvania. The story centers on the reaction of a clannish pioneer community after two boys mysteriously vanish from their family’s encampment. While one gets a sense that the film was a labor of love for its creator, any noble intentions are undermined by a dull script and stilted acting. On the plus side, it is nicely photographed and imbued with period flavor; however, despite a compelling setup, the narrative itself wanders off and gets lost.

Big Money, Documentary, Drug Culture

SIFF 2014: From Neurons to Nirvana: The Great Medicines **1/2

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

Now that medical science has validated the pharmacological benefits of cannabis, it’s time to kick it up a notch (pot being the “gateway drug” and all). Turn on, tune in, drop the Prozac…and legalize psychedelics. That’s the premise of Oliver Hockenhull’s thought-provoking (if somewhat lopsided) documentary, which is a cross between Altered States and What the Bleep Do We (k)now!?. Drawing from an array of scientists, religious scholars, psychiatrists, and practitioners, Hockenhull builds a compelling case for medicinal use. Worth a look, but I have one bone to pick. Any film that tackles this subject, yet neglects to make even a passing acknowledgement of McKenna, Leary or Owsley’s significance feels incomplete.

Documentary, Show Biz

SIFF 2014: I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story ***

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

I kept telling myself “I’m not gonna cry…it’s just a documentary about a man who has made a career out of walking around in a silly bird suit. And spreading joy to the world (*sniff*) and…and making millions of (*sniff*) little children so happy (waterworks now fully engaged). Spinney is the man who has been wearing that silly bird suit (and giving life to Oscar the Grouch as well) for over 40 years now.

There is so much sweetness and light emanating from the subject of Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker’s upbeat profile that he seems too good to be true. But even the film’s darkest Behind the Music interlude (a tragic incident when a murdered woman was discovered on his property) has a silver lining. The film left me feeling so positive that I can forgive its one rather distracting drawback: a cloying, overbearing music score.

Documentary

SIFF 2014: Burt’s Buzz ***

September 21, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 24, 2014)

What struck me about Jody Shapiro’s portrait of Burt’s Bees founder Burt Shavitz was not the story of how the roadside entrepreneur co-created and then ended up signing away ownership of a company now worth $900 million, but the fact that he could care less…as long as he’s got his dog and his modest farm. Perhaps it’s his philosophy, which goes like this: “It’s important to be able to separate one’s wants from one’s needs.”

Drama, Family Issues, Up the Workers

SIFF 2014: Bad Hair **1/2

September 20, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Hullabaloo on May 17, 2014)

This naturalistic drama from Venezuelan writer-director Mariana Rondon concerns a 9 year-old named Junior (Samuel Lange Zambrano) who lives in the rough-and-tumble tower blocks of Caracas with his mother Marta (Samantha Castillo) and baby brother. Impoverished and recently widowed, Marta scrapes out a meager living cleaning rich people’s homes. She desperately wants her old job back as a security guard, but her sleazebag ex-supervisor will help her get reinstated only if she agrees to sleep with him. Adding to her stress, Junior is becoming obsessed with his hair; he wants it straightened, to emulate his favorite pop singer. Most worrisome to Marta, he’s showing an “unmanly” interest in singing and dancing. The increasing tension between mother and son is about to boil over. Using equal parts character study and kitchen sink drama, Rondon metes out subtle social commentary about slum life, class struggle and machismo in Latin culture.

Culture Clash, Drama, Gangsters

SIFF 2014: White Shadow ***

September 19, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Hullabaloo on May 17, 2014)

Israeli director Noaz Deshe’s impressive, strikingly photographed debut is a character/cultural study about the travails of a young albino Tanzanian. There’s also a “ripped from the headlines” element; According to a 2013 U.N. report on human rights, there has been an escalation of horrifying attacks on albinos in Tanzania, because (there’s no delicate way to put this) their organs and body parts have become a high-demand commodity for witch doctors (who use them in rituals and potions). Such is the possible fate for Alias (Hamisi Bazili), sent by his mother to live with his uncle (James Gayo) after witnessing his father’s brutal murder. As if it wasn’t tough enough for bush-dwelling Alias to adjust to life in the big city, his uncle is in debt to gangsters. The subtext recalls Peter Weir’s The Last Wave; a modernized indigenous society struggling to shake off archaic superstitions without losing their sense of cultural identity.

Cop on the Edge, Thriller

SIFF 2014: Monsoon Shootout **

September 19, 2015 Dennis Hartley Leave a comment

By Dennis Hartley

(Originally posted on Digby’s Hullabaloo on May 17, 2014)

Amit Kumar directs this Bollywood crime thriller, a tale of an idealistic rookie Mumbai cop (Vijay Varma) eager to prove his mettle to his partner (Neeraj Kabi), a cynical and world-weary veteran. He gets his chance when he finds himself in a do-or-die face-off with a notoriously slippery assassin nicknamed “The Axe Man”. To shoot, or not to shoot…that is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer through a drawn out court trial, or to take arms, blow this pain-in-the-ass recidivist away now and get a promotion. Perchance to dream…and that’s where the film takes a clunky turn into Run Lola Run/Point Blank territory. Ay, there’s the rub; pedestrian execution of its central conceit puts the damper on an otherwise stylish effort.