2005 Summer Indie Preview - Part 2
The Independents
By Dan Krovich
June 22, 2005
Remakeable
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Usually, when you talk about remakes in regards to the indie film world, it's about a foreign film getting the Hollywood makeover, so it's rare to see an American film get the remake treatment from a foreign director. In this case the director is Jacques Audiard (who had success in the US with Read My Lips) and the film getting the remake treatment is Fingers, the debut film from James Toback. In the original, Harvey Keitel played a virtuoso concert pianist who also happens to be a collector for his mafia loan shark father. Audiard updates the story of a man caught between two worlds to modern day Paris and Romain Duris (L'Auberge Espanol) takes on the Keitel role. Strong reviews with particular notice for Duris' performance are the one chance this has of becoming more than just a curiousity.
Pulse (Kairo)
Ahead of next year's release of Dimension's English language remake, Magnolia opens Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Japanese Internet ghost story this summer. Strange things happen to various individuals after they visit a Web site that purports to allow web-surfers an encounter with ghosts. Their television reception goes haywire, they begin to hear strange voices on their cell phones, and they begin to act bizarrely to the point of committing suicide. The film is obviously a metaphor for the isolating aspect of technology - after all, what is the Internet other than a vast collection of disembodied souls? With remakes of Japanese horror films currently en vogue (The Ring, The Grudge, Dark Water) it's always nice to get a chance to see the original.
Reality Bites
The Aristocrats
The movie is a joke... literally. The entire documentary is about a single joke that has achieved legendary status among the fraternity of stand-up comedians. The joke always has the same beginning and punchline, but the middle of the joke allows the teller to improvise, riff, and essentially make the joke their own. The joke is also vulgar and vile and leaves the boundaries of good taste far back in the rear-view mirror. It is certain to have problems receiving an R rating and it wouldn't be surprising if it were released unrated based on language alone. While the raunch will be the most talked about aspect of the film, the joke also allows for an examination of what is funny. A who's who of comedians is represented, each of whom has his or her own style and each viewer is likely to have their own opinion of who is funny and who is not. Funny is in the eyes and ears of the beholder.
Murderball
It's not the Special Olympics. When most people think of disabled athletes, it provokes images of a gentle competition where everyone gets a ribbon just for trying. The participants in Paralympic quadripalegic rugby will have none of that. Their sport is competitive and brutal, featuring athletes hurling their bodies and modified wheelchairs at each other and high-impact collisions. The main thrust of Murderball is the rivalry between the US and Canadian squads in the World Championships. Joe Soares, angry about being dropped from the US team, joins the Canadian team and makes it his mission to defeat the Americans in the sport they have dominated.
European Sights
The Edukators
Two friends spend their evenings pulling pranks on those they feel have become too complacent in their comfortable lives. They are relatively harmless, as the pranks consist of breaking into homes and rearranging furniture while leaving their calling card by signing their remodelling efforts as "The Edukators." When one of the friends' girlfriend gets involved and one of the pranks goes awry, their immature antics may result in real consequences and they are forced to examine the ideas they have used to justify their actions. A playful rebellion for rebellion's sake is no longer an option and the choice between going with the flow or working for real social change comes into focus. The young, charismatic actors are led by Daniel Bruhl, who is becoming better known in this country thanks to his performances in Good Bye, Lenin and Ladies in Lavender.
Nine Songs
Michael Winterbottom's career so far has been varied and prolific - films such as Code 46, In this World, 24 Hour Party People, The Claim, Wonderland, and Welcome to Sarajevo have dealt with very different subject matters and employed very different styles. So it's not surprising that Winterbottom had to look far afield to find a project that would allow him to explore new territory. The basic plot of Nine Songs is pretty simple. A couple meets at a concert, has sex, goes to another concert, has more sex, repeat nine times. The noteworthy aspect of the film is that the sex scenes between the two characters are not simulated - it's real, explicit sex. While most films about romantic relationships show everything but the sex, this film shows the arc of the relationship using only the sex scenes. It's sure to be a hard sell, even to the more liberal arthouse crowd, but it is definitely a worthy cinematic experiment.
Lost in New York
Keane
The character at the center of Keane is a schizophrenic man searching for his daughter who may have been kidnapped in the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City. That's "may be" because the story is told from his perspective, so it's difficult to know whether the kidnapping is based in reality or in his own mind. William Keane is the guy you cross the street to avoid - unkempt, wandering, and muttering to himself - but Keane forces you to spend time up close and personal with him. Director Lodge Kerrigan films with a claustrophobic style, often putting the camera tight on Damian Lewis (Band of Brothers) who plays the title character. The entire film hinges on Lewis, and he delivers a performance that deserves serious Oscar consideration. Scheduled to be released in mid-September, Keane could provide a bridge to the Fall season by playing through the end of the year.
Unknown White Male
In 2003 Doug Bruce found himself traveling on the New York subway near Coney Island with no idea who he was or where he was from. He suffered from a rare and complete form of amnesia. Though doctors could not find any medical reason for the loss of memory, he did have enough information on him for them to locate his friends and family. One of those friends, director Rupert Murray, decided to document Doug's reintroduction to his life resulting in Unknown White Male. The situation certainly provides ample opportunity to examine themes such as memory and identity in addition to providing the drama of a man trying to reconstruct his life.
Asian Influence
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Someone in Hollywood needs to snatch up Korean director Chan-wook Park to make a big budget film stat. Tartan Films had success by releasing his film Oldboy earlier this year, and now they release his Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, which is actually the first film in his "revenge trilogy." (Oldboy was the second film, and the third film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, will be released in Korea this year.) In this first film, a man who is trying to raise money for his sister's kidney transplant operation kidnaps the daughter of a wealthy businessman and tries to collect a ransom, but the plan goes horribly wrong. Park's work is becoming more accessible in the US (Joint Security Area, about an incident in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, is available on DVD and he directed one of the segments of the horror anthology Three...Extremes to be released later this year). He has definitely established himself as one of the most talented directors working in Asia today. On second thought, maybe Hollywood should just leave him alone.
Tropical Malady
Thai avant garde filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul's latest film was an award winner at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival even though it divided critics between those who thought it was brilliant and profound and those who thought it was just weird. It is a mix between a naturalistic love story between a soldier assigned to duty in the jungle and the country boy he meets there and a supernatural Thai legend about a tiger creature who is able to morph into man or beast. Comparisons to Apocalypse Now (with a soldier journeying through the jungle in search of the heart of man) abound.
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