Posted by Jsober on: July 10 2010
Jason Sober
Posted by Jsober on: February 19 2010
Was stopped by construction for about 5 min. You might want to avoid
this if you are in a rush
Posted by Jsober on: February 14 2010
This documentary, directed by Tchavdar Georgiev and Amanda Pope, and partially voiced by Ben Kingsley and Sally Field, is about a man and the wonderful work he did to preserve the avant-garde artwork of Soviet Russia.
Igor Savitski started as an artist himself but soon gave up and focused his attention on the wonders of the folk art in southern USSR just at the time when non-propaganda based art was being suppressed by the centralized government. He started collecting this folk art and soon turned his attention to the un-noted artists of the time.
He moved himself and his collection to a tiny city in the middle of the desert in what is now Uzbekistan, where he started the Nukus Museum (which was supported financially by the local government and unwittingly by the very people where were suppressing this culture).
This is a truly amazing story, exploring a period in art that is very under appreciated. The unmentioned, yet vary apparent, intent of this film is to gain support for this gem of Russian art culture that has the odds of the surrounding world stacked against it.
This film was not only wonderful, but also wildly successful as it made me aware and interested in an art that I previously knew little about. It makes me want to travel to one of the most dangerous regions of the world for the sole purpose of seeing this amazing artifact.
Posted by Jsober on: February 14 2010
When I heard the words Australian, Aborigine and Musical used to describe the film Bran Nue Dae I thought to myself ‘ This could ether be great or horrible.”
It was great but for mixed reasons. This is the typical love story of boy-looses-girl and spends the rest of the movie trying to get her back. This time, however, it is done as a satire, on peoples continued belief that a truly exotic Aborigine culture in Australia still exists.
Willie, the protagonist, is in love with Rosie but is sent off to seminary to be taught by German Father Benedictus (played by Geoffrey Rush, fantastic). Willie leaves in a bout of defiance to a rousing song that goes “There’s nothing I would rather be than be an Aborigine.” The rest of the film is the misadventure on the road from the big city back to his hometown, which includes a German hippie, a drunken Aboriginal guide and a condom tree.
All of this comes to a close with one of the most uplifting endings you will see this year. Whether you like musicals or not - you will love this film.
Posted by Jsober on: February 09 2010
I went to see Park Dae-Min’s Private Eye the other evening and was very happy with what I saw. I have seen a range of Asian cinema and know that Koreans are not well known for their accessibility (in theme, humor and stories) to a western audience. Private Eye was exactly what I wanted and have come not to expect. Dae-Min worked with a western story model that made for a good understanding of the film and his choice of humor throughout the film translated much better than most Asian comedies. Also the main character plays the western stereotyped hardened yet snaky detective but with subtleties of Korean culture that keep him a wonderful center of attention. All of these attributes that made the movie accessible did not come at the price of making this not a Korean film.
The film is a period piece set post WWI, in the time of the Japanese occupation of Korea. You can really feel the cultural anxiety over Koreas relationship with Japan in this film. A key example of this is that the bad guy in the film happens to be a freaky looking Japanese man. Who could have guessed? It works so well though, in the same way that making Germans and Russians the bad guys in James Bond films became the standard for years.
Throughout the film there were the, not so typical in Korean cinema, standard fight scenes with hints of martial arts (more typical of Hong Kong cinema). These were fun until I got sick from all the hand held camera work in these scenes. Actually that would be my only negative critique of this film. It was a joy to see.
If you are interested in this film, the last showing of it is tonight Tuesday, Feb. 9 at 9:45 at the Metro 4.
Posted by Jsober on: February 09 2010
When reviewing Ballad I feel like I can only express my disappointment. I knew going into the movie that it was intended for kids and I also knew that it was Japanese. These two factors have never stopped me from seeing a film. With a background in children’s entertainment that beats out most other cultures, Japan’s Ballad had a lot going for it, and the fact that it was being lifted up by the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was very exciting.
In the end there wasn’t much to speak of. Yes, it was a kid’s movie and yes, it was Japanese, but there was nothing special about this film. It actually resembled many of America’s high budget yet shallowly conceived children’s cinema. I actually don’t blame the film for this though. There is a place in cinema for this type of entertainment; it just isn’t at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. I really expected more spark, more cultural relevance and at least good editing.
This is not a bad film to take your children to but don’t go into it expecting to be blown away.
Posted by Jsober on: February 08 2010
In the evening of Friday, Feb. 5th, I went to see the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s presentation of Vincere, an Italian movie directed by Marco Bellocchio. The movie theater was packed. I mean there were not a single open seat in the theater and boy was the audience in for an amazing treat.
This story is based on the relationship between the passion obsessed Ida Dalser and politically propelled Bonito Mussolini. In the film, Dalser, played by Giovanna Mezzogiorno, meets a young Mussolini, played by Fillipo Timi, in a series of revolution based events including the opening scene in which Mussolini, standing before a theater of workers, makes the empirical conclusion that God is dead. And the crazy just keeps coming. Early on in the film we find out that Ida, swooning for her revolutionary lover, has sold all her possessions to fund Mussolini’s news paper and that she is having his baby (who’s name is Bonito Mussolini). And then we meet Mussolini’s wife. As Mussolini gains attention from the public, Ida first gets shuffled off to a secluded home with her son and then gets institutionalized. The film follows Ida as her mental stability crumbles. It is fitting then that the title of the film is Vincere, translating loosely into ‘win’, because here we see Mussolini’s victory, not over the people, but over a single woman.
Beautiful would be an understatement when describing this film. Director, Marco Bellochio not only used great skill and subtlety when depicting this period piece but also colored the film very dark and earthy in a way that screams classic Italian cinema. Interspersed throughout the film, Bellochio throws in quick shots of Ida in clinical mental distress that appear each time Ida’s despair hits a new peak, until these shots match her everyday life. Each time this happens it throws a chill down your spine.
Bellochio also shows an amazing ability to cast doubt over Ida’s relationship with Mussolini from the very beginning. Timi does an amazing job of playing a subtly cold yet breathtakingly passionate Mussolini disguising his affair with Ida as a lustful devotion. The audience is as betrayed just as Ida is. Mezzogiorno thought, tops all performances with her depiction of Ida and her overwhelming and continuing conviction. All around the actors are top notch and I would not be surprised to be seeing Mezzogiorno and Timi in more movies soon.
On that note I find it funny that one of the most memorable scenes in the film has very little to do with ether of the main characters. As a show of the internal conflict Italy was facing at this point in time, Bellochio included a scene set in a movie theater that is full of audience watching political newsreels. Soon, half the room is yelling at the other and an all in fight brakes out, and yet the silent movie era piano player keeps playing the intense escalating music that makes the scene very powerful.
I definitely expect to see this film at the top of my list when the festival is complete and I hope you do to. If you don’t get a chance to see this on the big screen I think that it would easily translate to a tv as long as you can still read the subtitles. And yes, this is a good enough film that I expect to see it widely available on DVD.
Posted by Jsober on: February 08 2010
The first movie I went to at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival was a Tajikistani film called True Noon, directed by Nosir Saidov.
Set in the remote village of Safedobi, this is a story of a girl, Nilufar, and her uncle Kirill Ivanovich. Kirill is a scientist whose focus is on weather, and the relationship of the sun in the sky (true noon being the moment at which the sun is at its highest point in the sky during the year). Nilufar has been working as her uncle’s apprentice for years, a job that is inappropriate for her to continue after her upcoming wedding. So drama number one is how will they seek to keep her working and contributing in a field of work that she loves after her wedding. Life becomes much more complicated when the soviet Russians erect a barbwire fence through the middle of town making life for villagers much more difficult and the upcoming wedding seem impossible. So the tables turn and drama number two becomes the task of even performing this wedding. And all mixed into this story are the smuggling a pregnant woman across the new-formed border, newly installed landmines and the fear of social collapse when communication with the big city goes dead.
This is a captivating movie. The story is fun and emotional which keeps you waiting and watching for what might happen next. It is also filmed in a beautiful village, in which the brilliant color of the clothes and culture contrast with the ever-present muted earth tones. I didn't know anything about Tajikistan before this film but after the first twenty minutes you can tell that this country is wedged between vibrant and spicy India and cold war, European mother Russia. It starts bright and chromatic but becomes dull with the erection of the fence only to become vibrant again when the prospect of a successful marriage is restored.
One of my favorite moments is when the fence is newly erected and the town is trying to continue as if life has not changed. This scene starts with merchants hanging products and clothes on the barbed wire. This physical division becomes a merchant bizarre and, as if that isn't fun enough, the school (which is now divided) meets at the fence for daily lessons rather than in a classroom. It is a beautiful vision of the human response to this unnatural divide.
If you can't tell by now, I really enjoyed this movie. The visual composition, editing and especially the story were a wonderful treat and I would recommend checking this out if possible. My only critique would be that I don’t think that this movie would be as captivating if watched at home. This film truly needs the big screen in order to shine.
If you are interested in seeing this film there are two more screenings, both at the Metro 4. Wednesday, Feb. 4 at 7:45 pm and Friday, Feb. 12 at 8:00 am.
Posted by Jsober on: May 09 2009
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