Guru

Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck, whose first feature Half Nelson garnered acclaim for both them and for lead actor Ryan Gosling, give us an even more narratively successful sophomore effort with the baseball-fish out of water story Sugar.  The film was produced by Paul Mezey, who also produced Maria Full of Grace, a film this at times reminded me of, full of not only grace but thoughtful, empathetic but non-patronizing depictions of people from a culture different than our own.

Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***

First a few words on writer/director Eliseo Subiela. Talk about onomatopoeia: Say his name aloud and you'll be floating on clouds, a somewhat similar effect to what happens when watching his films. Subiela may be a household word in his native Argentina, but he is hardly one here in the U.S. This is too bad, as we could learn a bit from the filmmaker, whose preoccupations seem to be sex and desire, altered states, reincarnation and how to really see the world (via his own unique vision, anyway).

Subiela's most successful movie stateside is probably Man Facing Southeast (1986, sadly out of print on DVD), although his The Dark Side of the Heart was an enormous success in Latin America, Europe and Canada. Other titles worth renting are Don't Die Without Telling Me Where You're Going, Last Images of the Shipwreck and his sequel, Dark Side of the Heart 2. In all of these, the writer/director combines his penchant for philosophy, history, imagination and physicality into motion pictures that take us places we rarely venture. His latest film is also worth a rent: Don't Look Down.

Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ****½

We Americans see so few films from Uruguay that when one as accomplished as The Pope's Toilet (El Baño del Papa) comes along, it's difficult not to over-praise, while simultaneously gliding over its some of its subtler accomplishments. First off, the movie is the collaboration between two men -- César Charlone and Enrique Fernández -- who share the responsibility for both writing and directing. How they managed to put together something so seamless would make a fine question for an interview.

The Pope's Toilet tells an imagined story within the framework of a real event: the planned visit in 1988 of the penultimate Pope to a small, and rather impoverished, town in Uruguay. The townspeople make plans to profit by the papal visit through whatever means they can: selling everything from chorizos to cotton candy to the crowds who will gather from nearby Brazil (the town is near the border of the two countries). The main characters comprise one family -- dad, mom and teenage daughter -- who, divided among themselves, take a slightly different approach, from which comes the movie's title. In the process of telling their story, the filmmakers show us the life of this town, the family, its neighbors, local law enforcement (we learn a lot about a kind of benign smuggling operation that keeps many of the citizens afloat), and even a little about the local media and the Pope's retinue.

Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ***½

The great Flicker Alley continues its superb series of silent-era films on DVD with Under Full Sail, a fun five-film collection that every nautical, and silent film, buff should see.

Reviewer: Alan Hogue
Rating (out of 5): ****

Directed by Luchino Visconti.

Tullio Hermil (Giancarlo Giannini) is a wealthy, handsome Italian aristocrat who believes (and shades of Dosteovsky must be intentional here) that he leads a free, full life. For him, this means abjuring conventional social attachments, especially religious ones. He has been married for years to a beautiful, seemingly docile woman. But, having cut himself off from social obligation, and having no temperament for the life of an ascetic, the only way he knows to feel alive is through the passion and agony of romantic affairs. This life has served him well enough, and he thinks he knows all about how to live fully.

As both Jeffrey and James note here, critics in general got pretty animated about The Spirit, and not in a good way. Occasional GreenCine contributor Scott Weinberg wrote on Fearnet: "If, however, you like your films to include stuff like good sense, character development, internal logic, and a smooth-flowing story ... well, all I can say is that someone should have gotten Robert Rodriguez on the phone." But hold the phone! say Jeffrey and Jim, in their, er, spirited defenses of the film, enjoying it for what it is.

Reviewer: Jeffrey M. Anderson
Rating (out of 5): ***

Due to holiday pressures and deadlines, I missed the press screening for The Spirit, as well as its Christmas Day opening. (One of my colleagues informed me that he "was willing, but The Spirit wasn't.") I didn't catch up to it until it was all but pronounced dead a couple of weeks later.

And as it began, I found myself grumbling at the stupid dialogue right off the bat.

But as the film went on, I discovered that it had a kind of appealingly dumb, playful quality. Indeed, it's far more low-key and purely enjoyable than either the amazing but grim Sin City (2005), which Frank Miller co-directed, or the aggressively stupid 300 (2007), on which he's only credited as the creator of the source material. It moves in a similarly artificial, elastic way, but without the fetishistic need for excessive violence. Here Miller is paying tribute to the great comics pioneer Will Eisner, a man whose work any comics nut worth his newsprint should know. (Eisner's work has often been rightly described as the Citizen Kane of comics. I definitely recommend them to potential viewers.) To that end, Miller effectively combines his own style with Eisner's style, which was starkly visual, but also humorous.

Reviewer: James Van Maanen
Rating (out of 5): ***

The strength of Parvez Sharma's documentary, A Jihad for Love comes from its genuine attempt to negotiate the path from Islam to homosexuality. Or is it the reverse? Depends, I guess, on which is most important to you. As an autonomous person, you can change -- or drop entirely -- your religious affiliation. Your sexual preference? Not so easily -- unless you can manage deep denial, to be deeply closeted, or perhaps a simple psychotic break. These resorts may come to mind while watching Jihad for Love because, in many Fundamentalist Muslim-controlled countries, imprisonment and death await those found guilty of this "sin." Seeing the photograph of one young man's back -- scarred from the 1,000 lashes he received while in prison -- should make you all the more impressed and proud of those Muslims who choose to come out and fight for the right to their sexuality -- at the same time making you likely to better understand those who do (or can) not.

Reviewer: Dylan de Thomas
Rating (out of 5): ****

Avant-garde music giant Philip Glass is a polarizing figure among most who have heard his cascading tones played either in concert halls or heard on one of the dozens of film soundtracks that he has scored over the years. And the response to Glass: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts is likely to be no different in that regard. Fans of the man will likely treat this hagiographic piece directed by Australian filmmaker Scott Hicks (Shine, Snow Falling on Cedars) the same - finding much to hold close - while detractors will have much to scoff and chortle over.

To his credit, both Glass and Hicks take the manifold criticisms of the man's work head on and without defensiveness: his music is repetitive and can be perceived as excruciating. Though not pointed out in the film, the criticism of Glass can sometimes be so repetitive and of few notes itself, that it can resemble the criticisms of the very thing it's criticizing. That said, members of his longtime ensemble and other close friends note - always laughing heartily - his many detractors and their criticisms of Glass' work.