4 from the EU
By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Mar 7, 2008 5:49PM
To state the obvious, the 11th Annual European Film Festival, which opens tonight at the Siskel, is an embarrassment of riches. This year features 61 feature films, all Chicago premieres, representing 26 nations. It's a lively cross-section that spans from the heart-tugging (opening night feature Estrellita) to the unbashedly experimental (In the City of Sylvia), including documentaries (To The Limit) and docudramas (Battle for Haditha, Lagerfeld Confidential). The festival runs through April 3, and the Reader's film blog has a great summation of what's on the schedule.
61 movies is too many even for us, but we were able to catch four of them. Here are a few thoughts on what we saw.
The Inner Life of Martin Frost, directed by Paul Auster (Portugal/Spain/France/USA)
Auster is our favorite novelist. Period. His second gig as a filmmaker has been all over the map, from the sublime (Smoke, co-created with Wayne Wang) to the awkward (Lulu on the Bridge) and the interesting-but-pointless (Blue in the Face). But this, his newest, is his most accomplished yet. An exhausted writer (David Thewlis) retreats to the country for some peace. Then one morning he wakes up next to a beautiful, mysterious woman. He finds himself falling in love with her even when he learns her true identity. The movie is an unabashedly romantic parable, with Irène Jacob luminous as the stranger. It's the kind of story you either buy into or you don't, and we sure did. Auster can't really find a satisfying ending but it hardly spoils an enjoyable rustic tale.
Frozen Land, directed by Aku Louhimies (Finland)
To describe this bleak, wintry film as dour would be ... entirely accurate. The lives of several urban Finns (including a would-be hacker, a directionless party boy, a sadsack vacuum salesman, a self-styled redneck and a workaholic policewoman) intersect once a counterfeit banknote begins to circulate. Shootings, attempted suicides, and references to Tolstoy and chaos theory ensue. Louhimies maintains a matter-of-fact tone that makes the chain of events strangely watchable however, with a minimum of trickery. Worth a look. Just don't go to the theater expecting a comedy.
Boarding Gate, directed by Olivier Assayas (France)
Slick nonsense from the once-promising Assayas, this senseless yarn of industrial espionage spans the globe from Paris to Hong Kong. Starts out talky, ends up loud: Boarding Gate is little more than a cinematic shrug. It plays like the remake of New Rose Hotel that nobody asked for. Eurovixen Asia Argento gives it her all as the heroine, stripping or fleeing depending on the scene, and Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon enlivens things as an enigmatic businesswoman. But it doesn't add up to anything. You've seen it all before. Except maybe Michael Madsen getting strangled with a belt.
Battle for Haditha, directed by Nick Broomfield (UK)
Broomfield departs from his usual genre of essay-documentary (Kurt & Courtney) with this truly wrenching recreation of the 2005 massacre of 24 Iraqi civilians by an overextended Marine Corps company. Broomfield carefully intercuts between the young soldiers, some of whom are on the edge of cracking due to stress; the neighborhood residents, reluctant to cooperate, knowing that there will be consequences if the insurgents find out; and the bombers, who are paid $50 up front and another $50 after they prove they've detonated the IED. The film's believability (and even-handedness) make it very hard to watch, as we're shown the inevitable consequences of an untenable situation. It's a gripping piece of work that filmgoers probably aren't ready to digest.
The Siskel Film Center is at 164 N. State. The full schedule is here.