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FNC: Capsule Reviews #2
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Odete
As much as Juan Pedro Rodriguez was acclaimed by critics a few years ago, this one deceived many North American critics. Unfortunately, while the character of his previous film was spooky yet touching, the characters in Odete are rather cold and it’s hard to have any kind of feelings for them. The main character is crazy, she needs help and she does things hard to understand. As Odete goes deeper and deeper in her descent we simply don’t care. The numerous improbable events don’t help – how could a gay man who just lost his lover fall in love with a psycho girl wearing the same ring (which she stole on the dead body)? The film just seems like a succession of implausible events. His previous film too contained a series of unlikely events, but there was something very particular and gripping about that main character’s quest.
Workingman’s Death
You think you’re job sucks? Wait till you see this film! At times, this film may remind you of Discovery Channel’s “10 worst jobs” which aired recently; it features some of the same locations and it cover the same subject. It’s similar except it’s not crappy TV! It’s rather a groundbreaking and intense documentary. The film’s 5 main chapters are crude testimonies of the way cheap labor has evolved over the past few decades—or rather how it hasn’t evolved. The most interesting aspect of this film is the absence of narration which doesn’t dictate any interpretation on the part of the spectators. Unable to rely on a narrator’s affirmative and authoritative voice to find comfort and to escape the atrocities on the screen, the spectator is forced to watch the thought-provoking images all by himself! Scary!
La Petite Jérusalem
Religion and philosophy don’t mix well. What if you put a free-minded nichean daughter fanatical of her philosophical studies in a family whose religious values stand high above anything else. Sparkles! Director Karin Albou’s film doesn’t advocate for any sides; rather it brilliantly outline the many paradoxes of faith—be they religious or philosophical. After philosophy fails her and as the need for love intensifies inside her, despite she’s been avoiding love not to be a slave to her emotions, she decides to reconsider faith—and what faith can do for her. The two main actors are simply brilliant and the simple yet subtle mise-en-scene adds a lot to this film.
Petit Pow! Pow! Noël
Yikes! Haneke is known for making movies that are extremely disturbing. No one really expected to see a French Canadian director Robert Morin to make such a disturbing film. In Petit Pow! Pow! Noël a man with a camera on his shoulder and a syringe full of bleach in his pocket, a man sneaks into a nursing home to put his elderly father on trial… and execute him. Instead than being a quick operation, it turns out to last several hours as the on tries to confront his father—and torture him. The film is very difficult to watch; not only does it deal with a difficult issue but it’s shot in a camera-vérité style. Definitely one of the must see of the festival!
Entre ses mains (In his Hands)
How would you react if you’d fall in love with a man who you later learn could be a serial killer. Most people would be scared but the main character of this film is instead more appealed by him. We never know until the end of the killer whether or not he’s the killer and that can’t be reassuring! We certainly would prefer if he were, for the main character’s sake, but strangely, for some reasons, the woman seems deceived when she learns in the middle of her tale that he is probably not the killer. If he’s the killer she’s likely going to die, if not she’ll be deceived and the relationship will end. As their relationship deepens, we can’t help but see this dead end approaching at a fast pace; only here, you can’t put the break to avoid the wall. Either way Anne Fontaine’s film is going to crash hard in front of our eyes and this voyeuristic feeling—this intricate need to see a crash happen—is very challenging.
