Olivier Père, the artistic director of the 64th Festival del Film di Locarno is a firm believer of the Italian doctrine of ‘La Bella Figura’. He wears nice suits, coloured shoes and trendy specs. He’s young, looks good and is the ideal eyecatcher of this festival. Last year his debut was good. This year he surpassed the expectations and positioned the festival as one of the most interesting on the circuit. This edition rested on three pillars. Cinema of the auteur, breakthrough cinema and glamour.
Three elements make up the cinema of the auteur. The main competition, namely the Concorso Internazionale, the retrospective and the honouring of Abel Ferrara awarded with a Pardo d’onore.
The winner of the main prize, the Golden Leopard was ‘Abrir Puertas y Ventanas’, English title ‘Back to Stay’ by Milagros Mumenthaler. A Swiss-Argentine-Dutch coproduction about three sisters living with their grandmother. One sister leaves after the old woman dies and the tensions rise. The selection of the main competition is a bit safe. The word auteur is used a lot in regard to this competition but it concerns mostly gratitiuos coming of age drama’s like the cool but pretentious ‘Un Amour de Jeunesse’ by Mia Hansen-Love and the poetic but visually flawed ‘Tokyo Koen’ by Shinji Aoyama who receveid a special prize recognizing his earlier work. The Dutch film ‘Onder ons’ by Marco van Geffen dissapoints. It’s good at depicting the life of a Polish au pair in a desolate Dutch suburb, but lacks in imagination and sophistication., not to mention the confusing ending. 'Din Dragoste cu cele mai bune intentii’, English title ‘Best Intentions’ by Adrian Sitaru won best direction and best actor. This Romanian film was at least original by using an interesting point of view camera technique throughout the movie involving the audience with the amusing story about a paranoid son mistrusting everyone in the hospital his mother is staying after suffering a stroke. The festival redeemed itself in regards to the meaning of auteur with the annual retrospetive dedicated to auteurs who established themselves as big names of film history. This year Vincente Minelli was picked. An excellent choice. If the days pick was not appealing, one could escape into the worlds of ‘An American in Paris’, ‘Some came running’, ‘Lust for Life’ and many other colourful classics. Minelli and his work were discussed and reviewed at high level by specialists introducing each film. Another example of love for the auteur was the presence of Abel Ferrara at a forum with the public. Everybody could just walk up to Ferrara for a tête a tête. It’s this laid-back atmosphere that makes Locarno special.
The second pillar of the festival consisted of the breakthrough cinema, first and second features which make up the Concorso Cineasti del Presente. Storylines are less idyllic or pathetic but rawer, more avantgarde. Less accesible at times but more daring. ‘Hanaan’ by Ruslan Pak convinces with it’s raw and vivid recount of the Korean minotity in Uzbekistan and the dangers of drug addiction in the former Soviet republic. ‘El Estudiante’ is a very sophisticated debut by Santiago Mitre who made a political thriller about the campagne for the position of dean at a big university in Buenos Aires. A succesful allegory of the hectic political climate of present day Argentina. Oddly enough the organisation was in doubt about the film. Some said it was good enough for the main competition but eventually it was decided the film was too superficial to contend. The winner of the Concorso Cineasti del Presente was the Italian film ‘L’Estate di Giacomo’ , again, a poetic coming of age drama revolving around a deaf teenager knowing he has to let go of his childhood.
The last pillar was all about glamour. Père puts his money on star quality and why not? The festival gets more recognition, and one way or another glamour and cinema will be linked forever.
Harrison Ford and Daniel Craig got on the stage of the beautiful heart of the festival, the Piazza Grande, to introduce the, highly anticipated but cheesy ‘Cowboys and Aliens’. Leslie Caron, star of the classic ‘Gigi’, spoke lovingly about her former mentor Vincente Minelli on the same spot. Abel Ferrara gave an unforgettable concert in the pouring rain and Cluadia Cardinale picked up a golden leopard. Even Kirk Douglas at 95 found time to salute the audience on the opening night from the giant screen.
The highpoint of the festival besides Ferrara’s concert and Q and A, was the screening of ‘Drive’ by Nicolas Winding Refn who already won best director in Cannes for this instant classic reinventing the genre of film noir, supported by an amazing soundtrack and a memorable performance by Ryan Gosling, the Indie circuit favourite who’s going mainstream.
The public however chose Canadian film ‘Bachir Lazar’ by Phillippe Falardeau which won the prize of the public reserved for out of competition films screened on the Piazza Grande. A well crafted emotional classroom drama about children struggling with the aftermath of the suicide of their teacher. In comes the Algerian refugee replacing her, helping the children to mourn with unconventional methods through the eyes of the rigid Quebequan parents and schoolsystem. However the film never explores the suicide of the teacher, who hanged herself in the classroom for a number of children to see. The hastily clarification at the end feels forced and makes the film less meaningful then it could be.
That the winner of the prize of the public went to a French speaking movie could hardly be a surprise considering the traditional French orientation of the public at Locarno. This was clearly evident in the overcrowded forums of two of France’s biggest stars, Isabelle Huppert and Gérard Depardieu. Huppert’s Q and A was boring. Depardieu however was entertaining during a hilarious , entangled monologue. 'I immediately recognize the difference between a labour of love and an industrial film. Just like I recognize the difference between good, home made wine and industrial wine. But to do so you have to practice, hence my ridiculous nose’. When asked about his relationship with Italian cinema he answers 'I like Italy, because they have a tradition of good food, working the land, growing good products’, nothing is said about his collobaration with Bernardo Bertolucci or Marco Ferreri. ‘I eat a lot in Italy’. When asked if he was having a good time in Switzerland the reply was 'You have good cheese’. During a lucid, non-food related moment, he actually explained the essence of Locarno. ‘What makes this festival so great, are the screenings in the open air at the Piazza Grande. A movie theatre is nice as well, but outside, that’s a celebration of cinema. It brings me back to when we were all kids, somewhere outside watching moving images on a big screen. Pure magic!’. Well said, Gérard.
No comments:
Post a Comment