FILM REVIEW: FORCE MAJEURE By: Faiz No comments

A scene from Force Majeure.

Accidents will dampen

By Ed Rampell

A French term literally translated as 'greater force,'" force majeure is a clause included in contracts to remove liability for natural and unavoidable catastrophes that interrupt the expected course of events and restrict participants from fulfilling obligations.” A so-called “act of god” is a good example of this, and one such occurrence sets the stage for the plot and theme of Force Majeure, a stylish Swedish movie written and directed by Ruben Östlund that scored the Cannes Film Festival’s Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard.

Tomas (Johannes Bah Kunke) and Ebba (Lisa Loven Kongsli) are a Swedish middle class couple vacationing in the French Alps with their young son and daughter. In a bit of clever casting, Vera and Harry are played by real life sister and brother, Clara and Vincent Wettergren. Some sly dialogue in passing fills us in on the fact that this ski holiday is a rarity, as Tomas is so busy with his career. These throwaway lines inform what happens next.

Your reviewer won’t tell you exactly what that is. Except to say that in this precarious world of climate change, war and the like, this morality play ponders what we’d do when faced with a force majure.

(Some reviewers, such as at least one of KPCC’s blabbermouths on FilmWeek, belong to “The Edward Snowden School of Movie Reviewing." willy-nilly revealing punchlines, plot points and the like, spoiling viewers’ own joy of discovery, because these WikiLeak-type bigmouths are probably trying to enhance their own reviews by misappropriating films’ best jokes, storylines, etc., to burnish their lackluster coverage.)

The perpetrator of the apparent misdeed is in denial over the course of action (uh, or lack of) when the titular force majeure happens, which rocks the marriage and parent-child relationships to the core. The film becomes an examination of gender roles, marital relations, parental responsibility and of this petit bourgeois couple and their children. Interaction with a janitor at the posh Alpine resort where the family is vacationing also cannily injects a class dimension into the story. As things come undone the perp seeks redemption.

As recently observed in a review of August Strindbergs The Dance of Death by L.A.’s A Noise Within theatre company, Force Majeure is also in a long line of “arts reflecting the Scandinavian psyche, including dramatists Strindberg, Henrik Ibsen, painter Edvard Munch, filmmakers Victor Sjöström, Carl Theodor Dreyer and of course Ingmar Bergman... Even the marriage of Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), the fictionalized first female prime minister of Denmark in the stellar Danish TV series Borgen, falls apart -- not even her nation’s most powerful person can keep her marriage together.”

But for this me, Force Majeure is most in keeping with the theme of Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim. In any case, there is some stunning cinematography of ski and snow. Plus excellent use of Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons.”  Also, the ending of this highly philosophical film reminded me of Luis Bunuel’s 1972 film, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie -- but since loose lips sink ships, you can find out for yourself what is meant by that.  

 

 

FILM REVIEW: BLOODWORTH By: Faiz No comments

E. F. Bloodworth (Kris Kristofferson) in Bloodworth.

Sounds and furies

By Don Simpson

After a health scare, E.F. Bloodworth (Kris Kristofferson) returns to the family he abandoned 40 years ago. He left his rural Tennessee home — as well as his wife, Julia (Frances Conroy), and three sons — for a life of troubadouring and aimless wandering. The 40 years have been hard on everyone: Julia has withered to an emotionally and physically fragile skeleton; Warren (Val Kilmer) has evolved into an ego-maniacal womanizing alcoholic; Boyd (Dwight Yoakam) lives in a constant state of depression and anger after being ditched by his wife; and Brady (W. Earl Brown) relies on his bible and witchcraft to protect his mother.

Julia and her three sons share a common hatred and resentment for E.F., so when E.F. arrives in town he is promptly ushered by Brady to a disheveled old trailer home on a secluded corner of the family property. Brady attempts to keep E.F.’s reappearance a secret from his mother, which serves as punishment for E.F. and protection for Julia.

Fleming (Reece Thompson), Boyd’s only son and E.F.’s only grandchild, is the only Bloodworth who treats E.F. with respect and admiration. He has probably been told many horrible stories about his grandfather, but Fleming allows his grandfather to commence their relationship with a clean slate. In fact, Fleming seems to relate, physically and mentally, more to his grandfather than the rest of his kin. Not satisfied with the cards he has been dealt in life, Fleming is trying to find a responsible way to escape from his hometown and family — literature appears to be his best chance at success. Fate delivers Fleming into the arms of Raven (Hilary Duff), a beautiful and seductive young woman from a nearby town. Raven’s mother (Sheila Kelley) works from their home as a prostitute — Warren is one of her favorite clients — and she has raised Raven to follow in her footsteps. Like Fleming, Raven’s home life is oppressive at best, so it is only right and natural that Fleming and Raven will find a way to run away together.

Adapted from William Gay’s novel, Provinces of Night, Bloodworth is the story of an ardently literate (read: intellectual) teenager who yearns to escape his backwards back-country family and he wants to take his hussy girlfriend with him. (It is very interesting that Fleming is a high school dropout, yet an enlightened reader of literature.) 

Unfortunately, this is a story which is propagated by stereotypical white trash Southern characters (alcoholics, womanizers, prostitutes, bible-thumpers, musicians, weak women and controlling men) limping along as it relies on one age-old cliché after another. But it is this preponderance of stereotypes and clichés — as well as the timeless production design and Tim Orr’s lush cinematography — that helps Bloodworth play like a classic Southern Gothic tale of redemption.

Quite ably directed by Shane Dax Taylor (The Grey), Kristofferson is amazing as the Bloodworth family’s estranged patriarch and Duff lends her most emotionally realistic performance to date. In fact, the acting of this mostly seasoned ensemble cast is excellent all around. (Keep an eye out for Hank Williams III as Trigger Lipscomb.)

And then there is the music…Executive music producer T-Bone Burnett’s soundtrack is — as we have come to expect from Burnett — pretty damn amazing. Age has rendered Kristofferson’s vocals grizzled and foreboding, yet soothing and graceful all the same; his voice, like so many of his golden generation of singer-songwriters (Kevin Ayers, John Cale, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Neil Diamond), has aged beautifully like a fine wine. I think it is about time for Kristofferson (like Johnny Cash and Diamond) to collaborate with Rick Rubin or maybe Daniel Lanois.

LAAPFF 2011: HOSPITALITE By: Faiz No comments

The main cast of Hospitalité.

Make yourself at home-lessness

By John Esther

Set somewhere on the outskirts of Tokyo, Japan, members of a makeshift family are increasingly altered as more and more people occupy their home and work space.

Mikio Kobayashi (Kenji Yamauchi) is a hardworking, rather unintelligent man who owns a printing shop he runs with his considerably younger, wife, Natsuki (Kiki Sugino), who is also teacher his daughter, Eriko (Eriko Ono), some English. Rounding off the home is Mikio's sister, Seiko (Kumi Hyodo), who has just returned home after a failed marriage.

A simple reconstructed family, the Kobayashis remain afloat in the somewhat dye-ing business when Kagawa (Kanji Furudachi), the son of old friend of the family's appears, takes residence and a position at the printing shop.

It does not take long to see Kagawa's presence is more than suspect. First his wife, Annabelle (Bryerly Long), shows up. Where she came from she will never voluntarily tell truthfully. But her appearance is no mistake. Then the others, less Japanese, came in droves to live at Kobayashis. Thanks to mistakes on their part, individually and collectively, Mikio and Natsuki are unable to stop the occupation. Apparently the Kobayashis are the target of some foreigner scheme, much to the horror of their xenophobic, anti-homeless neighbors.

A well-acted, finely paced film, writer-director Koji Fukada's funny debut feature, Hospitalité, offers a deadpan look at the absurdity of any given "family" structure and plays it to an open-ended affect. The Kobayashis are not so much victims of foreign elements but of their own devious devices. If they were not so human, they would be just fine.