By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week saw the kick off of the International Feature Film Festival, which gathers non-nominated Best International Film submissions.
81. Ransomed
This Korean film wasn’t actually one of those, instead being one of the more high profile films to debut there last year. It stars the the popular Ha Jung-woo and Ju Ji-hoon as a Korean diplomat and the world’s least likely Lebanese-Korean taxi driver who have teamed up to try and locate another kidnapped diplomat in war-torn 1987 Beirut. While nominally based on a true story, it’s definitely been blockbusterized, which makes it engaging enough, but also a bit generic in the end (the A Taxi Driver in Mogandishu disses have a ring of truth). Three Beers.
82. The Kitchen
Daniel Kaluuya gets into the director’s chair for the first time (alongside Kibwe Taveres) in this future dystopian film about a group of Londoners living in a massive projects the government is trying to clear out. It’s a neat bit of world-building, although the core of the story is about a young boy who just lost his mother and the man who may or may not be his father who is on the cusp of getting out of there. It’s a bit baggy, but the acting and approach are superb, and show Director Kaluuya has a great film in him somewhere. Two Beers.
83. Moon Heart
The first IFF film is always an automatic watch for me- anything from Peru, which still has a growing but very low-yield film industry, particularly films that make it out to the wider world. This one is a definitely unique, as it follows a destitute and non-verbal old lady who carries sacks of potatoes and otherwise wanders the streets of Lima, pursued by dark memories of a lost child. Her one joy appears to be a low-rent Power Rangers-type hero who defeats terrible CGI monsters on the TV that plays in the market stall she gets her bread and tea in the morning- a hero who starts to walk with her in the real life as well. It’s really a harrowing and quite effecting portrayal of mental illness and living on the margins of society that coheres far better than you would ever expect it to. Three Beers.
84. In the Shadow of Beirut
This IFFF film is from Lebanon, and explores the slums on the outskirts of Beirut, where poor Lebanese, Palestinian and Syrian refugees, and Traveler peoples intermix and try to build a life as well as they can. This documentary doesn’t shy away from the harsh realities of living here, nor cultural practices like marrying off your daughters soon after puberty begins, but also illuminates the humanity and the determination of the people resisting all of that, in ways large and small. Two Beers.
85. The Greatest Night in Pop
Fresh off the Sundance presses, this Netflix documentary tells the story of how Lionel Ritchie and a group of producers got a veritable who’s who of the music world together to record “We Are the World” in 1983, an unlikely feat for many reasons, from schedules to egos to pure musical compatibility. Seeing all of these stars starstruck around each other is strangely endearing, and although the song itself doesn’t do a lot for me, the money it’s raised for good causes since certainly made one very long night for these artists well worth it. Two Beers.
86. In the Name of the Father
This was actually from another film festival that uses Eventive as a platform (the Boca International Jewish Festival), but it’s a quality documentary all the same. It examines the Brooklyn-to-Israel-spanning cult that grew up around American Rabbi Schik that began to unravel and reveal the truth of decades of abuse (all the kinds you’d expect- these self-titled messiahs are brash but far from original), making great use of the testimony of spoiled and he knows it disowned heir Moishi Schik. Two Beers.
87. The Silence of the Mole
This IFF-nominated documentary comes from Guatemala and director Anaïs Taracena, who examines the story of Elías Barahona, a journalist who appeared to betray his compatriots in joining the military government massacring thousands of indigenous and poor citizens. Only decades later does his long game become apparent- he was leaking material and eventually leaves to denounce it- with receipts (and torturous consequences. His 2014 testimony shortly before he died about the prime minister’s actions on a day when protestors were burned alive in the Spanish embassy they had briefly occupied was a final nail in the coffin of their legacy. Two Beers.
