We did it – 20 (21 for Jeff) movies in 9 days! Very fun; very exhausting. (We know, truly a first world problem.) Unlike last year, I didn’t leave early from a single movie. But that doesn’t mean every movie was good. There were a few gems, one real clunker, and the majority were fine but nothing special. Even though we spent a ton of time trying to pick interesting and intriguing options (from over 150 films), they can’t all be winners.
As you’ll see from our annual summary of the movies below, we saw a huge variety of movies, including many more Spanish language films than in past years. In addition, we attended one of the themed dinners paired with a Culinary Cinema movie. This was a terrific experience where we met one of the founding chefs of Noma and creator of the New Nordic Cuisine philosophy – Claus Meyer, his daughter, the film’s director and his parents. We enjoyed sitting at a table with 9 locals and are proud to say we spent the entire evening talking about movies and food in Spanish. We will want to repeat this experience next year for sure.
Here are the movies we saw (in the order we saw them):
Blackbird – by the director of Notting Hill, a remake of a Danish drama about a terminally ill woman spending a last weekend with her family before ending her life. Terrific cast that includes Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill, and Kate Winslet. It focuses more on family and life’s complexities than death. It was a good way to start the festival.
Portrait of a Lady on Fire – a French film set in 1770 about the relationship between a female painter and her subject, a young woman soon be married to a man she’s never met. A beautiful but slow-moving study of the plight of women with limited choices and power. (Jeff skipped this one.)
Mientras Dure La Guerra (While at War) – Alejandro Amenabar’s latest movie in Spanish about the struggle of one of Spain's greatest intellectuals to come to terms with the events leading up to the Spanish Civil War in 1936. A fascinating story of how ideals and political realities often do not mix well. We enjoyed this opportunity to learn about a critical moment in Spain’s history.
Bridges (Zubiak) – a Basque film about the bridges being built between the victims and perpetrators of ETA terrorism. Watching a widow break bread with her husband’s assassin was intense and a reflection on the power of regret and forgiveness. For us, a chance to dive into the sometimes-violent history of the Basque region.
7 Reasons to Run Away (From Society) – 7 vignettes that merged comedy and horror in an often cringe-inducing way. While the first was extremely funny, in a sick way, the later ones mostly missed the humor and focused on the horror. (Thankfully I skipped this one.)
Seberg – Kristen Stewart’s portrayal of actress Jean Seberg, who was targeted by the FBI for supporting back activists, and particularly the Black Panthers, in the late 1960's and early 1970's. An interesting story of government abuse, but it didn’t impress.
The Truth (La Verite) – Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche portray an egotistical movie star mother and her daughter in conflict. Despite the great cast, and a few fun zingers, we couldn’t find much to like. It was lovely to see Binoche in person presenting the film with the Japanese director.
The Taste of Pho – a Vietnamese immigrant’s struggle to relate to his young daughter and his unfamiliar, changing environment. A standard, slow moving tale with nothing new to offer.
Pacified – A story about family, politics and violence in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Jeff thought this movie was well done, but did not appear to break a lot of new ground. The festival jury appeared to disagree and awarded this movie its highest accolade. (I skipped this one.)
The Green Wave/Let It Be Law – a documentary about the efforts to make abortion legal, safe and free in Argentina, where one woman dies every week from complications from a clandestine abortion. Even though we knew beforehand that the law did not pass, we were still disappointed at the end of the movie for all of those who campaigned for it. The efforts to pass the law continue. The audience’s standing ovation for the director and an actress-activist was great to see.
Zeroville – James Franco’s latest release about an oddball who becomes an editor in Hollywood in the early 1970’s. While it had several very funny moments, it made no sense to me. (Jeff liked it more.)
Death Will Come and Shall Have Your Eyes – from Chile, it was about a couple coping with one’s decision not to seek treatment for a terminal illness and to spend her last days in a remote cabin location. It was slow and it’s use of magical realism added nothing.
Double Plus 15 (El Doble Mas Quince) – a woman nearing 50 meets a “man” through an internet sex site, only he turns out to be a 16 year-old boy. The connection they make by spending several hours together impacts them both in unexpected ways. This was a clever and fun way to explore how human interaction is important in an increasingly disconnected world.
The Burnt Orange Heresy – a dramatic thriller set in the art world with Donald Sutherland and Mick Jagger (!). Well-paced, sinister, and sufficiently intriguing to be recommendable. One of the better movies we saw, and we loved Mick’s performance.
Rocks – a poor, British-Jamaican teenager’s struggle, with the help of her diverse group of friends, after her mentally unstable mother leaves her and her younger brother alone. This film had good buzz after the Toronto festival, but we didn’t think it lived up to its potential.
The Specials – this French movie from the directors of The Intouchables tells the story of two non-profit organizations, one run by an orthodox Jew, the other by a Muslim, and their efforts to help and care for severely autistic young adults, in part by training under-privileged youth from the Paris projects to be one-on-one care givers. An amazing and very special film that won the festival’s audience award – at the screening we attended the audience gave the directors and one of the actors a more than five-minute standing ovation. See it!
Wasp Network – based on real events in the early 1990’s when a network of Cuban spies operated in Miami to stop anti-Castro terrorism. With Penelope Cruz and Gael Garcia Bernal. Interesting but not compelling.
Spider – an Argentinian film about a trio of young right-wing nationalists’ participation in efforts to undermine the Allende government in the early 1970's and how those events haunt their lives in present-day Chile. A more compellingly-told story than Wasp Network, but still felt like the movie missed opportunities to really make a point about the continuity of right-wing violence from the past to the present.
Gazta – a documentary about Idiazabal cheese, one of the Basque country’s signature foods. We learned a lot and enjoyed seeing the local landscape and livestock, as well as hearing famous Spanish and Basque chefs wax poetic about this special ingredient.
A Taste of Sky – a documentary about a cooking school and restaurant (Gustu) in La Paz, Bolivia, which was founded by Noma’s chef to provide under-privileged youth an opportunity to become chefs. Amazing to see what opportunity looks like for two students who knew very little about gastronomy before starting the program. One of them is currently working in San Sebastian in a Michelin-starred restaurant and he was one of the chefs responsible for the post-movie dinner we attended. The director is a young, recent USC film school graduate, and we enjoyed talking with him and his parents. We also enjoyed comparing notes about movies with the 9 Spaniards with whom we shared a table at dinner.
Song of Names – a young Jewish violin virtuoso disappears without a trace before his debut performance in 1951 London. 35 years later Tim Roth’s character searches for his long-lost adopted brother based on an obscure clue while reflecting on their complicated and haunted relationship during WWII. Another movie with great potential that got lost in its own story-telling.
Amazing Grace – a movie pieced together from the footage filmed by Sydney Pollack of Aretha Franklin’s 1972 recordings in a Los Angeles Baptist church of the all-time, best-selling Gospel album. It was fabulous to watch this tribute to Aretha’s talent and passion, but I’m not sure I’d pay for a full-priced movie ticket to do so. Hopefully you can watch some or all of it on Netflix one day.
So, that’s all of them. As we review the list, we are reminded why the film festival is our favorite event of the year and we are already looking forward to next year.
Hasta luego,
Shana & Jeff
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