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Festivals’ Top, the Zabaltegi section, showcase
for some of the most interesting movies screened at other festivals,
this year offers a more daring selection than on other occasions
with the inclusion of three documentaries. This move reflects
the boom currently being experienced by this genre at all international
events. The series of movies opting for the TCM Audience Award
with its €30,000 for the distributor in Spain of the winning
film, sponsored by TCM (Turner Classic Movies),
features titles from Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Toronto and Venice.
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BEAUTIFUL
BOXER, Ekachai Uekrongtham. Thailand. Cast: Asanee Suwan,
Sorapong Chatree. |
| First feature
from one of the most prestigious theatre directors in South-East
Asia. The history focuses on the life of Nong Toom, a Thai
boxing champion who in fact felt more like a woman. In the
words of the person known as “the boxing transvestite”:
“Although my body is that of a fighter, I’m
a woman at heart”. Nong Toom finally achieved his
sex change in 1999. Presented in the Panorama section of
Berlin Festival. |
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COMME
UNE IMAGE (LOOK AT ME), Agnès Jaoui. France. Cast:
Marilou Berry, Agnès Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri. |
| Agnès Jaoui
and Jean-Pierre Bacri received the award for best script
at the last Cannes Festival for this intelligent comedy
on self-esteem and accepting ourselves as we are, not as
we would like to be or as we think others see us. Story
of stories, woven around the world of music, writing, love
and indifference, its honours trick comes in the shape of
brilliant dialogues and characters who end up winning our
hearts. |
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DARWIN’S
NIGHTMARE. Hubert Sauper. Austria-France-Belgium. (Documentary) |
| A new species
of enormous fish has entered Lake Victoria in Tanzania,
bringing an end to all of the lake fauna and giving rise
to an industry of such tremendous dimensions that, instead
of bringing progress, it is seriously upsetting the balance
of the country. These fish are trafficked in Russian freight
planes that don’t come empty to the African continent.
A political documentary raising a cry to European conscience
in the attempt to call attention to the tragedy of Africa.
To be screened at Venice Festival (Giornate degli Autori). |
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LA DEMOISELLE
D’HONNEUR (THE BRIDESMAID), Claude Chabrol. France-Germany.
Cast: Benoît Magimel, Laura Smet, Aurore Clément. |
| Philippe falls
in love with Senta, one of the bridesmaid at his sister’s
wedding. Their mutual passion is so intense that Philippe
doesn’t at first notice that the girl’s obsessive,
dreamy nature and her proposal to kill someone for love
can have fatal consequences. Claude Chabrol has returned
to the world of writer Ruth Rendell (A Judgement in Stone)
to make this dark, complex thriller starring Benoît
Magimel (The Piano Teacher; The Flower of Evil) and Laura
Smet (Eager Bodies). To be screened at Venice Festival.
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DIARIOS
DE MOTOCICLETA (THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES), Walter Salles.
USA-France-Argentina-UK. Cast: Gael García Bernal,
Rodrigo de la Serna. |
| In 1952 the man
later to become Che Guevara travelled around South America
on a motorbike with his friend Alberto Granado discovering
the reality of a continent of which he knew absolutely nothing.
That’s the plot of this initiation road movie with
a privileged hero. The excellent performances of Gael García
Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna were ignored at the last
Cannes Festival, despite being one of the most popular films
with the critics and audiences. |
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SHI MIAN
MAI FU (HOUSE OF FLYING DAGGERS), Zhang Yimou. China. Cast:
Takeshi Kaneshiro, Andy Lau, Zhang Ziyi, Song Dandan. |
| Zhang Yimou seems
to feel at home with a cinema packed with heroes, swords
and fantastic beings permitting him to create real visual
spectacles packed with magic and colour. We are in the year
859, when the Tang dynasty is being assaulted by a variety
of rebel groups, among which is The House of Flying Daggers.
While two captains plan a strategy to capture the head of
this army, we soon discover that nobody’s who they
seem to be in this enchanted forest. Presented out-of-competition
at the last Cannes Festival. |
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MARÍA,
LLENA ERES DE GRACIA / MARIA FULL OF GRACE, Joshua Marston.
USA-Colombia. Cast: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Yenny Paola
Vega, Guilied López. |
| Catalina Sandino
won the award for Best Actress at the last Berlin Festival
for her part as this young Colombian girl who’d do
anything to immigrate to the country of her dreams, the
USA, even if it means taking serious risks when her passport
to happiness turns out to be none other than the white powder
of heroin. First movie by a young Californian educated in
Europe and holder of a Degree in Political Sciences. |
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MOOLAADE,
Ousmane Sembene, Senegal-France. Cast: Fatoumata Coulibaly,
Maïmouna Hélène Diarra. |
| A mother and sufferer
of genital mutilation succeeds in saving her only daughter
from this rite known as Purification. In seven years this
woman has managed to save from the rite four girls who accepted
her offer of asylum in Moolaadé. An African movie
pointing the finger at the terrible reality of accepting
or not an atavistic ritual such as female circumcision.
Sembene won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes. |
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NOTRE
MUSIQUE, Jean-Luc Godard. France-Switzerland. Sarah Adler,
Nade Dieu, Rony Kramer. |
| It’s not
a documentary; it’s not a feature film. It’s
an essay with a history. Divided into three parts: Hell
takes us towards conflict with war movie editing; Purgatory
concentrates on a visit to Sarajevo for the European Book
Conference; Paradise portrays a peaceful landscape custodied
by US marines. Past and present wars: Palestine and Israel:
the best Godard of recent times screened at the Cannes Official
Selection. |
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SALVADOR
ALLENDE. Patricio Guzmán. France-Spain-Belgium-Germany-Mexico. |
| Patricio Guzmán
has spent the last 30 years unrelentingly researching into
the history of that terrible 11 September 1973 which put
paid to the hope of a better world. With Salvador Allende,
the director of La batalla de Chile (1973-1979) pays homage
to one of the most important men in the history of South
America, uncovering his figure to the new generations who
never got to know him. One of the most outstanding documentaries
at the last Cannes Festival. |
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SUPER
SIZE ME. Morgan Spurlock. USA. |
| One of the surprises
at Sundance. This self-documentary dares to question one
of the pillars of North American culture: fast food. Based
on an experiment carried out guinea pig style by Spurlock
himself, the film is an entertaining yet serious analysis
of the American Way of Life and how it can become totally
self-destructive. |
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VERA
DRAKE, Mike Leigh. France-UK. Cast: Imelda Staunton, Phil
Davis, Peter Wight. |
| A
family tries to survive in grey, miserable and decrepit
post-war London. The father works in a garage, the son in
a tailor’s shop, the daughter has an impossible boyfriend
and the mother, in addition to working as a cleaner, visits
the sick and practices illegal abortions. When one of her
patients is taken to hospital, the lives of Vera Drake and
her entire family are shaken to the roots. One of the star
titles in competition at the Venice Mostra. |
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WHISKY.
Juan Pablo Rebella & Pablo Stoll. Uruguay-Spain. Cast:
Andrés Pazos, Mirella Pascual, Jorge Bolan. |
25 Watts was
already a sign that these Uruguayans were going to cause
talk. Whisky is the confirmation and proof that the cold,
strange world of Kaurismaki’s Finland can be perfectly
represented in the cold, strange world of Uruguay. Jacobo,
Marta and Herman form a trio impossible to forget in their
silences, lies, hidden feelings and concealed sense of
humour. The most highly acclaimed movie of Un Certain
Regard at the last Cannes Festival, winner of the Regard
Original award. |
August 20th, 2004 |
