2005 Philadelphia Film Festival (Day 5)

This was the most maddening day of the festival by far. I had to make an early exit for my first and second film of day 5 because of time constraints. To top it off somehow, despite my precautions to the contrary, I still missed the opening minutes of my third film. This was never a problem at previous festivals. It's true that I've never attempted to see so many films at past festivals, but I remember more time being built into the schedules. There still is some gap between shows, however they've done a piss poor job maintaining that time cushion across all showings. In reality you need about 30 minutes between each film just to arrive on time. Although 30 minutes isn't enough for the Ritz. For the showings at the Ritz theatres (especially the Ritz East) you need to be in the ticket line atleast 30 minutes before the start of the film just to get a choice seat. I recognize that there are limits. Some films have irregular running times. But for running times of 120 minutes or less there should be no problems. I'm going to have to keep this this in mind when I'm doing my movie picks next year. Hopefully this will not continue to be a problem.

Just for clarification - I missed the endings of my first and second films, and the beginning few minutes of my third film. Remember this as you read my reactions (I like to call them this since they aren't really reviews). I'll list the percentage estimate of how much of each film I got to view.

The World - China/France/Japan/2004 - 138 minutes - directed by Jia Zhang-ke

Film Notes: A largely forgettable film about a changing People's Republic of China. Much significance is put into the use of mobile phones. Text messages between the various characters are accompanied by highly colorful animated sequences. This is a largely boring film that is far too long. It may seem like a contradiction considering my overall feelings towards this film, but I actually liked the cast. I just wish they had more to do. One strange character was a male who actually went by the name of Little Sister! With my closed minded Americanism I assumed this was because he was homosexual. But apparently it was just a family joke that he for some reason embraced as his real identity (Fuck gender roles :-) I managed to view about 85-90% of this film.


Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession - USA/2004 - 122 minutes - directed by Xan Cassavetes

Film Notes: this was one of the few films I early on identified as a must see. Unfortunately because of my above mentioned problems I only got to enjoy 75% of it. Z Channel is a documentary about an eccentric head of the same named Los Angeles cable tv station who turned Z into the place for world class cinema. As you can guess there are numerous celebrity cameos - it's LA after all. The real treat here is learning about films that you've never heard of. Many will immediately make their way to your must view list. Some notables being:

Attilas '74 (1975)
Decline of Western Civilization (1981)
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Images (1972)
The Most Important Thing: Love (1975)
La Notte (1961)
Overlord (1975)
The Passenger (1975)
Something of Value (1957)

Games of Love and Chance - France/2003 - 117 minutes - directed by Abdellatif Kechiche

Film Notes: I seriously disliked this film. It is a fantasy, and a dangerous one at that. The setting is the Arab ghettos of France reconstructed as an almost idyllic place. Racism, poverty, and inequality are glossed over. Combine this with the children putting on a classic European play, and the main character's love for a blonde French girl. This is a film that proclaims the joys of being French solely at the expense of being Arab.
I think of myself as a francophile, but despite my appreciation of French culture I will not swallow the hypocrisy of the French state. A state that speaks of tolerance, but outlaws the veil in schools. Which brings me back to this film's representation - how realistic is it to portray an Islamic neighborhood were no woman wears a veil of any type? Islam is superficially handled here. Summed up into statements like, "On the Koran" to signify ultimate truth, but what truth is there in this film? These children live in some of the worst communities in Western Europe. Throughout the film this is ignored. We do learned that the main character's father is in prison. What for we never learn. The world that these children really inhabit isn't truly examined until the sudden arrival of a police car in a latter scene. Never have I been so happy to see the cops! The children are roughed up by the law, but I'm sure the reasons behind this will be lost to most American audiences. A French viewer will know on some level the type of neighborhoods these children live in, and could use this knowledge to put the police aggression into some context. Most international viewers do not have this luxury, especially after being confronted by so much idyllic propaganda on the success of French assimilation. One positive is that the relationships between the children are recreated well. However the French slang used by the kids loses much of its power in translation, and the constant inane chatter of the children while being very believable doesn't make for pleasant film viewing. Look elsewhere for the truth. I viewed about 98% of this film.