Jean Vigo (1905 - 1932) was the son of Eugene Bonaventure de Vigo and Emily Clero. Jean’s father changed his name to Almereyda (which contained the word “shit”) in a stance against the Establishment. Almeredya had political leanings to the extreme left and wrote for the political journals La Guerre Sociale and Le Bonnet Rouge. His life was punctuated with spells in prison. In the early days he and his family often went hungry and in 1917 was sent to the Fresnes prison on charges of treason, primarily on the basis of L’Action Francaise, a right wing journal. It was reported that he committed suicide whilst at Fresnes. The fact that Jean was known as Jean Salles until his early twenties indicates in some way the notoriety of his father.
After his father’s death Jean spent most of his time in boarding schools. This experience would serve him well when the time came to make his first medium length film Zero de Conduite. During the filming Vigo was under constant pressure from the studios.The tight deadline xacerbated his illness and it was surprising that he even finished the film. There are very few reviews concerning the film but it did cause the censors to stop it from being shown in France. The reason for the ban is ambivalent; the clergy and government ministers are believed to be at the bottom of it. Nounez wanted to further collaborate with Vigo but was a little cautious and chose a script from the writer R. de Guichen. The title of the film is L’Atalante.
L’Atalante revolves around two protagonists; Jean (Jean Daste) and Juliet (Dita Parlo). We meet them on their wedding day. Jean is a captain of a barge, which will be the home of the couple. They appear happy but Juliet starts to long for the city lights.In an attempt to appease his bride Jean takes her ashore to a dance. It is here that Juliet meets a peddler who tells her about city life. Back at the barge Jean is retired to bed. The peddler seeks out Juliet and persuades her to go to Paris. She agrees. Her intention is go and come back before the L'Atalante leaves its mooring. However, Jean sets sail believing Juliet had left him. Juliet finds that the streets of Paris are not paved with gold and finds herself working as a waitress. Jean is unhappy and realises he misses Juliet. He then goes in search of Juliet, finds her and brings her back to the L’Atalante. On the surface this appears to be an ordinary love story. But Vigo has transformed the film into poetry. Within a few weeks of making L’Atalante Jean Vigo was dead
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Released on DVD, 27 February, 2012.
A Useful Life is a film that will appeal to anybody who loves and cares about film. The film centres on Jorge, a middle aged man who has devoted his life working in the Uruguayan national film archive. The archive has seen better days and the lack of investment is clearly visible; the constant breaking down of film equipment and the lack of any sizeable audience is the order of the day. Jorge, as the archive’s film programmer, technical support and PR person, confronts each issue one at a time, keeps calm and carries on – there’s nothing as important as film. The cost of this dedication is high; Jorge who is in his late forties lives at home and has little social life outside the archive.
Jorge and his colleagues make an unsuccessful appeal to the foundation that finances the archive when they indicate that they will withdraw funding. The archive closes. Jorge is saddened. However the situation breathes a new energy into Jorge as he sets about establishing a routine for himself that is based on no routine. He takes the opportunity to invite a woman who he clearly has liked for a long time on a date to which she agrees to. For Jorge life seems full of possibilities especially as film is his resource.
Shot in crisp, atmospheric black and white, A Useful Life is a subtle drama that illustrates the struggles of maintaining culture and heritage in a fast paced, evolving world. The film focuses not on the glamorous aspects of film programming but the hum drum, such as the difficulty in repairing a twenty year-old projector that has seen better days. Beautiful, still and delicate, Federico Veiroj's A Useful Life is an elegy to cinema and celluloid.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Dreams Of A Life is one of those films that is rare in its ability to linger in your mind for a very long time after having watched it. Why? It is a very good story that tries to put together pieces of a puzzle in response to a disturbing incident – one that involved complete lack of interest or even notice when thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent died in her bedsit above a shopping mall in North London in 2003. Joyce’s skeleton was discovered three years later, her heating and her television were still on.
The story was reported in the Sun newspaper, and caught the attention of the film’s director Carol Morley – no picture of Joyce appeared in this article, only the image of the bedsit. From that point onwards, Carol began to search for some answers of how this tragic event could happen; especially in what is often portrayed as a modern and progressive society. The film reveals some clues about who Joyce Vincent was, but leaves the viewer to answer the bitter question: how did her death go unnoticed for three years?
The film depicts Morley’s long search from the placing of adverts in newspapers and on the side of a London cab. The director was, it seems, more successful than the police in the discovery of Joyce’s family, friends and boyfriends; some of whom agreed to be filmed and some of whom did not agree to be filmed. This latter reminds us that the world is not made up of happy families. Morley also interviewed the MP for the area Joyce lived in, and who had tried to raise Joyce’s situation in Parliament, tried to get some answers from the Housing Association and utility companies, but was left frustrated by their lack of responsibility and response to her queries.
The image of the bedsit that no-one had entered for three years punctuates the entire film so that the viewer will not forget this unsettling and shameful event. The director reconstructs imagined scenes with young Joyce played by Alix Luka-Cain, and an older Joyce played by Zawe Ashton. These scenes reveal an attractive person who had a circle of friends and was interested in music, but always seemed to be holding back some deep painful truth. A dark secret was hinted at when Carol discovered that Joyce had stayed in a refuge for battered women and that she had a tense and strained relationship with her father. This intensified after Joyce’s mother died. If a couple of ex boyfriends had not made contact with Carol we probably would not have known anything about Joyce, at all. By the end of the film, we have gotten a glimpse of the real Joyce –a good reason to go and watch this remarkable film.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Released on DVD, 27 June, 2011 Eureka Video.
Marie (Gina Manès) an orphan, is destined to live a life of servitude working in bar owned by the couple who adopted her. Petit Paul (Edmond van Daële), a thuggish layabout desires Marie but she is in love with Jean, a dock worker. Marie is forced to leave with Petit Paul. Jean follows, and eventually catches up with them. Jean and Petit Paul fight over Marie. During the fight a policeman is stabbed and, while Petit Paul escapes, Jean is arrested and imprisoned. A year later Jean returns to find Marie living in poverty with a baby she can not afford to buy medicine for. Jean and a crippled neighbour try to help Marie but Petit Paul, warned by gossiping neighbours returns, and in the ensuing confrontation the neighbour obtains Petit Paul’s gun and shoots him.
As we can see from the outline of the story, Coeur Fidele is a simple tale of love and violence. By contrast, director Jean Epstein was more complex. His credentials included more than thirty films (1920s-1940s). He was also a critic of literature and film, and a novelist, too. He has become associated with French Impressionist Cinema – a movement linked to a group of French films and filmmakers of the 1920s, and included directors such as Abel Gance and Germaine Dulac. Coeur Fidele one of those films that was remarkable for its time (similar in vein to the films Kulhe Wamphe and Battle Ship Potemkin). Firstly, it is shot entirely on location. Marseilles’s docks and wharfs are an integral part of the film and Epstein uses images of these to evoke and heighten emotion. Secondly, the characters are the unglamorous working class who live in squalor and frequent rough bar rooms. Lastly, Epstein uses rapid and rhythmic editing techniques as well as innovative use of close-ups and superimpositions of images to intensify emotions, and suggest feelings of loss and sadness.
Included in the DVD is a booklet, and it is worth buying the DVD just for this.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Sawako Decides concerns a young woman, Sawako, who at the age of eighteen eloped with the tennis club captain to Tokyo. Five years on she is living in Tokyo, working at a dead end job and going out with her fifth boyfriend, Kenichi. Kenichi is divorced, and has a daughter from his previous marriage. Kenichi’s hobbies include knitting and daydreaming of an eco-friendly way of life – he is not a man with a plan. When Sawako’s father Tadao falls ill, she is compelled to return home to save his freshwater clam processing business from folding. However, the journey back home is not easy for Sawako as she is forced to face up to her mistakes, and the perceived failures of her youth. Kenichi, who was fired from job, uses this opportunity to come along with Sawako to her hometown with his daughter in tow.
Sawako soon faces up to the challenge of not only of the clam business but life itself. She comes to terms with the fact that making mistakes is a part of life – by taking charge, she forms a new life for herself. The film characters are depicted in a loveable and comical way, creating a drama that is filled with human warmth. Sawako is one of those characters that we just cannot help rooting for.
Sawako Decides is directed by Yuya Ishi, and opens at ICA on July 8. For more information, visit http://www.ica.org.uk/films
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Brad Fletcher (played by Gian Maria Volonte) a liberal and upstanding history professor is forced into retirement by his poor health and moves west for the warmer climate. His retirement results in a malaise and a mental paralysis, which results in tedium and lethargy for him. However, his world is turned upside when he is taken hostage by famed bandit Solomon Bennett (played by Tomas Milan). Fletcher soon becomes seduced by Bennett’s audacious and bold lifestyle, which liberates him from any regard of existing laws and conventions. It isn’t long before he is identified as a member of Bennett’s outlaw gang, drawn to its sense of camaraderie and honour among thieves. Whilst Bennett’s disregard for the law sickens Fletcher at first, Fletcher begins to become drunk on the zest and exuberance of the criminal underworld. It’s not long before his intellect results in a more daring and carefully thought out bank robbery. The robbery fails because Bennett, in a moment of weakness, reveals compassion for a Mexican boy who is seen by the local townsfolk as an outsider. Fletcher takes over the gang from Bennett with a new and efficient cruelty; bonds between friends have been broken for good. Many commentators have drawn parallels between Faccia a Faccia and the rise of fascism in Italy. The film also echoes the fine line between good and bad of the Charles Bronson character, Paul Kersey, in Death Wish. There is also a physical resemblance between Tomas Milan and Charles Bronson.
Produced by Sergio Leone’s long-time partner Alberto Grimaldi, featuring techniscope cinematography and a score by Il maestro Ennio Morricone.
For more details about Faccia a Faccia visit Eureka Video.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Michelangelo Antonioni was always more Novelle Vague (new wave) than Neo Realism (this may be due to his middle class upbringing and believing that film does not have to have a socialist mandate). Antonioni first worked as a film critic then went on to make short documentaries followed by his first feature in 1950. His belief that the director’s vision can not be dictated to by the script resulted in cinematic expression such as L’Adventura, La Notte, Il Desserto Rosso and The Passenger (which stared Jack Nicholson).
His desire not to conform to traditional narration or to the need that everything needs to be explained unsettles the viewer, which results in their playing an active part in the unfolding of the story- how many of us have left an Antonioni film with the movie playing in our mind long after the credits have rolled. Knowing that Eureka Video were about to release two Antonioni’s films La Signora Senza Camelie (The Lady Without Camellias) and Le Amiche (The Girlfriends). I visited a library only to find out that the book about Antonioni had been relegated to the basement. How quickly we forget such pioneers of cinema.
La Signora Sensa Camelie incorporates Antonioni’s previous career as a film reviewer. The protagonist Clara Mani (played by Lucia Bose), a recently discovered starlet, has to deal with the ups and downs that newly acquired fame brings. With her beauty and the femme fatale characters she portrays comes box office success but no critical acclaim. When she does try to become a serious actor, she flops and no one will take her on as a serious actor. Woven into the plot is her jealous husband (himself a film director) and her lover, an Italian diplomat (who treats her more as a curiosity than an individual). Realising that she will never be taken as a serious actor, Clara accepts her lot. With this film we can empathises with Antonioni’s frustration with the risk adverse attitude of the Italian film industry. There are some great images of Cinecittà - –the film studios based in Rome.
Returning to her hometown, Turin, to manage a branch of a fashion salon, Clelia, an elegant and independent woman on her first night there, finds the young Rosetta Savone near death in the hotel room next to her. Clelia soon becomes involved with Rosetta and her rich female friends who seem to live life without any clear purpose or consideration. Clelia soon realises that the selfishness of the women can only bring about tragedy. The viewer is allowed an insight into the human condition; something that Antonioni explores in all his films.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
It's not often a film about an architect is released. The last one I can recall having a theatrical release was My Father, The Architect , concerning the mysterious architect Louis Khan, which was directed by his son Nathaniel Khan. How Much Does Your Building Weigh, Mr Foster? explores the British architect Norman Foster and his monumental creations that are rooted in the major cities of the world.
The style of cinematic representation in many ways resembles the man himself. Foster is portrayed as measured, enquiring, inquisitive, challenging and determined. He does not have a there’s no burying your head in the sand and hope it will be all right in the end approach but rather let’s tackle this problem head on.
He was born in 1935 and grew up in Manchester. His working class parents worked hard to provide their only son with a private and grammar school education, and consequently their strong work ethic was passed on to their son. After working for a short time at the local town hall, and for a local architecture firm, he went on to study architecture at Manchester University and then to Yale.
Nowadays, he is constantly drawing and is never far from a pencil and paper. He is passionate about cross country skiing, cycling and flying. These activities not only keep him fit but allow him time to absorb the natural environment; a source of inspiration for his constructions. He is an astute businessman, his risk taking (he was a few times on the verge of bankruptcy) paid off and he eventually realised that being a global player meant he could survive economic downturns.
Ultimately he is a visionary and a creative individual who is fuelled with a self belief that enables him to see the challenges rather than the obstacles. It seems to me that Foster brought shape (other than squares or rectangles) to buildings. He brought a new way of understanding the relationship between form and function, and the relationship between structure and space. His buildings are poetic, sculptural meditations between man and his urban environment.
The film explores some of Foster’s monumental creations such as Hearst Tower, Terminal 5 Beijing Airport, HSBC Building Hong Kong, and the great court at the British Museum. What I like immensely about this DVD is how the camera explores the architecture; it seems to glide through the structures and their space. This strong imagery allows each building to effortlessly unfold its incredible form without the need of narration. This permits the viewer to take a journey through the buildings and help them make their own connections to Mr Foster’s creations. This documentary is an overwhelming and graceful sensory experience, and Mr Foster commands great respect as an artist.
Anybody who is interested in creativity or architecture should view this film and be absorbed into the buildings and space of Mr Foster - and they will also find out how much Mr Foster’s buildings weigh.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
Ernest Hemingway once said “a man can be destroyed but not defeated”. In some ways the character of Um Ibrahim (translates as Mother of Ibrahim) in the film Son of Babylon is a testament to this statement. The film is essentially a road movie with a difference, a movie about intergenerational relationships (a conflict between the past and the future), a rite of passage (although the young boy has grown up too soon), and redemption (no monopoly on suffering).
Son of Babylon centres around grandmother Um-Ibrahim and her grandson Ahmed, who come from Northern Iraq, an Iraq post Saddam. After hearing of the uncovering of mass graves south of Baghdad, Um Ibrahim and a somewhat begrudging Ahmed embark on a journey to find the grave of her son, Ahmed’s father, who was taken by the authorities during the Saddam era. Um Ibrahim does not speak Arabic, only a Kurdish dialect, and has to rely on Ahmed to communicate. The journey is a perilous one and is dogged by roadblocks, curfews, lack of oil (which is ironic in a country with large oil reserves) and lack of an infrastructure. Strangers help her on the way and they cross paths with fellow pilgrims, who are on all too similar journeys. When she reaches the graves there are no records of her son’s death. Then it is reported that more mass graves have been uncovered, and her journey continues. As she continues her journey we soon become aware of the determination of the Iraqi people to discover the fate of their missing relatives. Some are lucky, but many are unlucky. We can see that the reluctance of the authorities, their lack of procedures and resources to carefully exhume the bodies in a systematic way so identification can be made, makes the process of finding missing relatives an added trauma and unforgivable anguish.
The grandmother moves on to the next grave and to the next only to be disappointed, over and over. Ahmed struggles to understand his grandmother’s search as he witnesses her grief and heartache. He wants to move on from the past as he believes living in the past can only mean sorrow. On their journey they meet Musa, a man who was involved in taking people to prison - he had no choice as it meant his life and the life of his family. In coming to terms with his past the man is determined to help the grandmother. At first, she is reluctant to accept his offer of help. But the grandson wants to accept the man’s kindness, realising that many people suffer and no one group has a monopoly on suffering. The grandmother, who is destroyed by heartache, dies. The child realises he must move on from the past and try to build a future.
This film shot on location in Iraq, and really reminds us of the human cost of conflict and repression. It is also a reminder of the soul and determination of the people of Iraq.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2011
The current U.K. government argues that its current deficit reduction plan is necessary so future generations will not pay the price of the “wreckless” actions of the current generation. It will be interesting to see what arguments current governments use when they champion nuclear fuel as a way to meet current and future energy demands – will they consider the burden of future generations in relation to the storage of nuclear waste?
Clean, safe (?), cheap and independent are some of the words used by those commentators in favour of nuclear fuel. However, they rarely talk about nuclear waste (which will always be a by-product of nuclear fuel) nor more importantly, the storage of nuclear waste. Into Eternity is a film which examines Finland’s response – the first permanent nuclear repository named Onkalo - to the moral dilemma and the difficulties and hazards of storing nuclear waste. Why is nuclear waste an issue? Because it is radioactive now and remains radioactive for at least 100,000 years – individuals who are exposed to radioactive substances will at best be seriously ill or at worst die (depending on the level of exposure). Radioactivity can not be seen and cannot be smelled.
It soon becomes apparent that there are few definite answers, but only possible suggestions. This is not a film about the pros and cons of nuclear energy - it is about what to do with the nuclear waste so that no human or living organism can come into contact with it, now and the near and distant future.
Onkalo is a Finnish word for hiding place. It is situated at Olkiluoto in Finland, approximately 300 km northwest of Helsinki, and it is the world's first attempt at a permanent repository. Work on the concept behind the facility commenced in 1970s and the repository is expected to be backfilled and decommissioned in the 2100s – more than a century from now. No person working on the facility today will live to see it completed. Once the waste has been deposited and the repository is full, the facility is to be sealed off and never opened again. But how to ensure that? And how is it possible to warn future generations of the deadly waste left behind? How to prevent them from thinking they have found hidden treasure, burial grounds? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect the instructions? While gigantic monster machines dig deeper and deeper into the dark, experts above ground strive to find solutions to this crucially important radioactive waste issue to secure mankind and all species on planet Earth now and in the near andvery distant future.
There are no frills, CGIs or bright vibrant colours in the photography, only stark muted shades heightening the danger of the journey to the underworld and the future; near and distant.
The opening scenes of Le Grand Jeu, with its fast cars and its beautiful modernist apartment (reminiscent of the designs of the Irish born architect Eileen Grey), epitomise the glamour and fast living lifestyle of 1930's France. The character of Florence (played by Marie Bell) with her modern hair style and beautiful modern clothes evokes the image of the “new woman” found in the paintings of artists such as Tamara De Lempicka –the woman who is bold, drives fast cars, wears fashionable clothes and most of all loves the wealth and the decadence that was synonymous with the French capital of the 1930s.
However, it is fast cars and the “new woman” that results in the French Foreign Legion for the character of Pierre Martel/Pierre Muller in Jacques Feyder’s 1934 film Le Grand Jeu - released on DVD in the UK on 21 June 2010. Pierre’s uncle agrees to pay Pierre’s astronomical debts on condition that Pierre leaves France. Florence, whose desire for nice things and is responsible for Pierre’s trouble, refuses to leave with him. Pierre is devastated.
Pierre travels to Morocco and agrees to hand over five years of his life to the French Foreign Legion. He finds it hard to forget Florence and numbs the heartache through drink and self pity. After several months of marching in the Moroccan countryside Pierre is on leave and asks Blanche, the owner of a hotel, to tell his future. The cards reveal that Pierre will meet a woman and come into money.
The woman is Irma (also played by Marie Bell) who could be the twin of Florence. Irma works as a cabaret singer in one of the many bars that “entertain the troops”. Pierre becomes obsessive and possessive of Irma. He sets her up in a job in Blanche’s hotel bar so he can have her all to himself. Initially Pierre torments and punishes Irma for not being Florence. As the years pass Pierre forgets Florence and finds comfort and love with Irma.
When Pierre is eventually demobbed, he and Irma plan to go back to France. Preparations are well in hand when Pierre bumps into Florence. Pierre is overcome with desire for Florence, and on the pretence he will meet Irma in a couple of days in France he persuades her, Irma, to leave for France without him. Pierre is devastated – again - as Florence rejects Pierre’s love – she has moved on. Realising he has also lost Irma, Pierre signs on to the Foreign Legion again –however, this time, the cards reveal that death is his future.
Feyder, together with Jean Renoir and Marcel Carne were associated with Poetic Realism, a movement that emerged in France during the 1930s. It was concerned in depicting “reality” by utilising lighting, composition, location shooting and realistic sets to heighten the underlying predicament of the main protagonists. The script often had a fatalistic view of life; with the protagonist resigned to disillusionment of life or death at the end of the film. It is not hard to see how Le Grand Jeu is one of those landmark films in history and embodies the traits of the Poetic Realism movement. Nonetheless there are still issues particularly with the representation of the colonisers and the colonised; the dearth of Moroccans depicted (a bit better than Casablanca), and white Europeans often represented in positions of power.
The DVD jacket is itself appealing, depicting the striking face of Marie Bell. The opening credits begin with a graphic typical of the 1930s followed by images of Morocco, utilising tracking shots that will be found in Renoir’s La Grand Illusion. Included with the DVD is a terrific booklet on Le Grand Jeu, written by Ginette Vincendeau.
The DVD was released in UK on the 21 June 2010 by Eureka Video.
Animation’s current success with film goers has seen the reappearance of Ralph Bakshi’s Wizards, which had its U.K release on DVD and Blu-Ray on 24 May 2010, (see the following website www.eurekavideo.co.uk)
Bakshi worked for the TerryToon studios and on the Spiderman’s series in the 1960s, and made the animation feature Wizards in 1977. At the time, it was a financial success. Often misunderstood by critics and by the ever powerful studios, Bakshi has become a legend in animation. He has been cited as the animator’s animator.
Wizards is ultimately a story of good versus evil; good is represented by the pint size wizard Avatar and bad is represented by his brother, the wizard Blackwolf. The action takes place in a post apocalyptic future where humans have destroyed each other. The only life forms that remain are various forms of mutants, elves and fairies. There is an element of magic realism that runs through the film. Avatar, along with his trusty companions elf warrior Weehawk, sexy fairy princess Elinore and Peace - a robotic assassin sent by Blackwolf to assassinate Avatar - rally themselves to confront Blackwolf and his legion of mutant armies. For Avatar to triumph and save this new world he must destroy Blackwolf’s secret weapon, which has been found in the ruins of previous lifetimes; it is a projection of Hitler and his armies mobilising for war. Ultimately this film is a reflection on man’s capacity to destroy. Bakshi’s use of stark colour and dark shadow heightens the intensity of this deformed landscape with the only glimmer of hope embodied in the fairies, elves and Avatar. His images of barren landscapes and morphed forms suggest a surrealist influence. Rotoscoping is heavily employed, and to great effect.
Stunningly designed and thrillingly dramatised, this unforgettable cult classic is presented in a breathtaking new high-definition transfer, released on DVD and Blu-ray on 24 May 2010 see www.eurekavideo.co.uk . Extras Include: Audio commentary by Ralph Bakshi,The wizard of animation featurette, Stills gallery, TV-spot, Theatrical trailers x 2.
Petropolis is a film that was commissioned by Greenpeace and depicts the destruction of the Boreal forest in northern Canada. Beneath the Boreal Forest lies an abundance of plant life that has been compressing for some 200 million years. That ancient life is now the world’s largest oil reserve, now known as the tar sands. The tar sands consist mainly of sand and the crude oil known as bitumen- it is this bitumen that is refined to produce oil for general consumption.
The opening montage depicts vast green forests that suddenly turn into industrial landscapes of furnaces, open pit mining and tailing ponds, reminding us of the massive effort required to refine the bitumen. The viewer is informed that processing bitumen requires a number of natural resources, such as water, and the residue is piped into holding tanks that are placed right by the shore. There are sweeping images of vast expanses of industrial wasteland, so soulless that it is hard to believe that anything exists there. Petropolis is shot primarily from a helicopter and it is this aerial perspective that has greatest impact in helping us comprehend the naked destruction to this ancient land. There is very little dialogue; the images are punctuated with informative sound bites detailing key statistics. The result is an astonishing observation on the reality that the power of oil reigns supreme and that compassion is something that has been forgotten.
Help uncover a dirty secret and win £500!
Creating lakes of toxic waste that can be seen from space, Canada’s tar sands operations are destroying formerly pristine forest and polluting the air and water, with profound consequences for local people and wildlife. Welcome to the real Avatar.
Director Peter Mettler’s film chooses an aerial perspective to tell the story of the most pressing climate change threat of our time. Devastation looks different from above. Can you do better? How would you put the impending climate and ecological disaster of Canada’s tar sands in the limelight? Submit your ideas or designs for a poster, billboard, game, badge, photograph, animation or shortf ilm; or come up with something entirely different. Get creative and help us communicate the folly of the tar sands.
The winner, judged by us at The Co-operative, will receive £500, and your brilliant idea maybe used in our high profile Toxic Fuels campaign. Find out more about tar sands at www.toxicfuels.com and submit your entries to www.facebook.com/toxicfuels by 18 June.
The Milk Of Sorrow is a story that has parallels in the lives of indigenous populations the world over who have suffered from the terrors of political and military conflict. It also expresses the tensions between the old and the new, the rural and urban, adult and child, the haves and the have-nots. The film is set in Lima, Peru. The opening scene depicts an old lady who is bedridden; she is singing. The lyrics tell us that during the country’s war on terrorism she was violated and mistreated. She relives her fears so as not to bury the memory of the evil. Fausta, her daughter, tends her mother and she, too, communicates via singing. Fausta sings about their memories. This is an Andean expression of capturing its history so it passes down through the generations. It soon becomes clear that Fausta is traumatised by her mother’s memories. The mother dies and the daughter faints. Later in hospital it is revealed that the fainting was not just due to the grief but also to a peculiar measure that Fausta’s mother took to protect her daughter from a similar fate. Fausta has a potato buried deep in her body. Fausta’s uncle believes that she is suffering from the condition known as the milk of sorrow.
Fausta returns to live with her uncle and his family; Fausta has only one wish and that is to bury her mother in the village she was born in. For Fausta’s wish to be granted she first must earn money. Her relatives are not well off and are saving for the wedding of their own daughter. Fausta works at two jobs; as a servant to a cruel and egotistical pianist and also as a waitress at wedding functions. The pianist is entranced by her singing of traditional folk songs and promises to give her a pearl every time she sings. Fausta has to be escorted by a member of her family to and from work; she is fearful of everything. She makes a friend in Noe, the pianist’s gardener. As she earns the money, her mother‘s embalmed body remains in Fausta’s bedroom. The weddings that Fausta works at have taken on the trappings of western affairs with the white dresses, photographs and tawdriness associated with a consumerist society. The weddings symbolise progression and in doing so, replace the tradition of festivals, myths, rituals and song of a previous world - the world that Fausta is more at home in.
The pianist betrays Fausta. On returning home from a successful concert she drops Fausta off in the middle of nowhere. Fausta is full of fear but does make it home. As part of Fausta’s revenge, she goes back to the house and removes the pearls set aside for her but never received; Fausta faints again. Noe takes her to the hospital and Fausta has the potato removed. On her journey to bury her mother she sees the ocean and realises the world outside “the village” can be beautiful. It is at this precise moment that she completes her journey from fear to freedom. The beauty of the ocean has worked its magic.
The director Llosa has personalised the impact of political and military conflict and in doing so reminds us the extent of suffering and trauma some people go through. The story is subtle and beautifully paced. The spectator is allowed to enter the world of Fausta and her relatives and through them learn the history and culture of Peru. It is a deep meditation on identity, rediscovery and hope.
Claudia Llosa writes The Milk of Sorrow is a metaphor for breakdown, for a repressed country that can only express itself via its collective unconscious: its myths, its fears and traumas. The body of a bleeding woman expresses emptiness that needs to be filled, anguish that needs to rest, the terror of coming across something extraordinary, of losing control. We live in an indecisive, repressed country whose main informer is its body. But memory is not the only aim of the battle.
Directed by Momoko Ando
Kakera : A Piece Of Our Life is a film and a half. Based on the best-selling manga ‘Love Vibes’ by Erika Sakurazawa and featuring a soundtrack by James Iha (former guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins), the debut feature of Momoko Andô, is a delicately nuanced portrait of two very different women, Haru and Riko.
Haru is a college student who is frustrated by the lack of any real spark between herself and her idle, two timing and indifferent boyfriend who only seems to be interested in her for sex. One day, while brooding over a cappuccino in a cafe, she catches the eye of Riko. Riko joins her, and the two strike up a conversation. We know from this meeting that Riko wants Haru and it is important that Riko lives her life as an active participator rather than some passive bystander.
Haru is drawn to Riko initially because Riko is not scared of her own desires and is open and direct about her feelings and life . As the loving relationship develops between the two, their bond is tested by Haru’s ex boyfriend, society’s view, and the growing pains of adolescents as the couple experience the pains of discovering themselves and their place in the world. Kakera: A Piece Of Our Life is a perceptive, well thought out drama, examining love and desire.
Copyright © Artyfacts2010
Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini
With the Gospel According to St Matthew Pasolini achieved a cinematic masterpiece. I can not understand why it is not shown more often and I would recommend this film to anyone who is interested in film, regardless of beliefs. Pasolini’s interpretation of the life of Christ is great because of its simplicity, its realism and its use of music (Passolini evoked the nature of spirituality through the music). Paolini’s mother, Susanna, played Mary, an unknown Spanish student played Jesus and a Roman truck driver was cast as Judas. Pasolini shot the film in Calabria by which he heightened the authenticity of the representation. The literate reading of the Gospel according to St Matthew is thought by some commentators to evoke communist as well as Catholic beliefs and is probably why Pasolini chose it.
Pasolini was a poet, writer (he wrote several novels) and an ardent critic of the Establishment. He was murdered in 1975, in mysterious circumstances.
Copyright © Artyfacts2010
Who Is Maurice Pialat?
Pialat is one of those directors who is best described as a maverick; not belonging to a movement or school. He came to filmmaking late in life (he made his first feature film when he was 44). Originally he studied at L’Ecole des Arts Decoratifs and the L’Ecole des Beaux Brts in Paris. During the 1940s he had several solo exhibitions. He has often said that Jean Renoir’s film La Bête Humaine was the reason he became a film maker. He left painting and took on many small jobs in TV and theatre including the job of actor. He made his first short film L’Amour Existe in 1960. However, he didn’t make his first feature film until 1969; L’Enfance Nue – he was forty four.
The aesthetics of Maurice Pialat
Pialat often drew on the techniques of painters to achieve an aesthetic that achieved emotional intensity and the sense of immediacy. He allowed actors to be inventive with the script and often adopted documentary methods, for instance natural lighting,and sequence shots to achieve a realistic and naturalistic effect. The characters drive his scripts and he is nonchalant about the need to adopt a linear narrative; he often leaves gaps in the spectators’ knowledge about events and in some cases, presents rather than introduces characters. The audience is an active audience and for Pialat are an integral part of his films; spectators often feel they are in the scene with the characters - again suggesting immediacy.
A Nos Amours portrays the sexual liberation of Suzanne (played by Sandrine Bonnaire), a teenager who believes she will never find love but at the same time, likes men. Her relationships are fleeting, never finding love or worse; she does not have the hope of finding love. Suzanne’s father (played by Pialat) abandons the family, after which the mother becomes more and more neurotic. Suzanne’s brother Robert has a complex relationship with his sister; at times he is violent towards her and at other times is both protective of her and incredibly tender towards her. After considerable emotional upheavals the family reaches a fragile peace; Suzanne has married as has her brother. The last scene is of a dinner party, which represents this newly aquired normality, but it is only the calm before the storm. The father returns unexpectedly to disturb the status quo and challenges the existence of his estranged family. This film is remarkable not only as a great work of art but for both the explosive performance of Sandrine Bonnaire, who was only fifteen at the time of filming and also for the menacing portrayal of the father by Pialat.
Sous Le Soliel De Satan is adapted from a book by the French author George Bernanos. It depicts the inner torment of a priest Donissan played by Gerard Depardieu who is struggling with his beliefs and is tormented by the struggle. The torment is expressed in Donissan’s lack of ability to focus on the rituals of the Catholic Church and has become unconcerned with his duties of a parish priest. A senior priest Menou Segrais, played by Pialat, tries to temper his frenzy. Donissan is then confronted with Satan and tempted by Mouchette (played by Sandrine Bonnaire) who has murdered one lover and threatens to destroy the life of another lover. Donissan finds strength from these meetings and eventually performs a miracle by bringing back to life a boy who has just died. The images that Pialat creates are reminiscent of biblical paintings by the Italian artist Caravaggio, particularly in the use of light and le mise en scene. This is no ordinary religious depiction and we are reminded once again of Pialat as artist and Depardieu as an outstanding talent. Pialat won the Palme D’Or for this film at Cannes in 1987
The DVD’s include many extras including in the case of Sous Le Soliel De Satan - some of Pialat’s short films – no one who has any interest in films should exclude Pialat in their collections. I find it a relief to be reminded of what films can truly achieve and the genius (a word I do not use lightly) of a film maker who realised emotional soul on the screen.
Nehrain Khalifa, 2010
Eureka Video website www.eurekavideo.co.uk
The above links are for information only. The organisations are not connected with us and do not necessarily express our views.
You may contact us at editors@artyfacts.info