SLIFF 2011 Feature Films
23 Minutes to Sunrise
They say the darkest hour is just before dawn, and at the Sunrise Diner, it’s very dark indeed. Documentary filmmaker Jay Kanzler (“Close But No Cigar”) returns to SLIFF with his first narrative feature. Screening as a work-in-progress, this drama co-stars Eric Roberts (“Star 80,” “The Dark Knight”), Nia Peeples (“The Young and the Restless,” “Walker, Texas Ranger”), and comedian Bob Zany. Filmed in Sauget, Ill., “23 Hours to Sunrise” keeps a tight focus on eight people whose lives become intertwined at an out-of-the-way 24-hour diner in the deepest part of the night: a middle-aged couple in crisis, a cook who thinks he’s finally catching a break, a waitress in a bad relationship, a young punk and his girlfriend who are sure this is their last stop, and a dark stranger and young girl who seem from another world entirely. As daylight approaches, the octet discovers that not everyone is what they appear.
With director Kanzler, producer Pat Pinkston, and co-star Jilanne Klaus.
3 (Drei)
Tom Twyker, the director of “Run, Lola, Run” and “The International,” returns to Germany – “3” is his first German-language film in nearly a decade – for a sexy romantic drama that nods to classic Hollywood’s screwball comedies. Hanna and Simon, a couple in their early 40s, live together in Berlin. With their 20th anniversary looming, they’ve become restless despite being truly and deeply in love. Unbeknownst to one another, they both become acquainted with Adam, a younger man, and fall in love with him. Clearly not your typical 1930s romp, this reinvention of those classic films is a playful update: an intellectual study of a modern couple looking for redefinition in a world of absolutes. The New York Times calls “3” a “sophisticated comedy of adultery and sexual experimentation” and says that “the collective sensibility on display is determinedly forward looking; you might even say avant-garde.”
96 Minutes
In “96 Minutes,” four young lives are slammed together in one terrifying act of violence. With absent and irresponsible adults offering no guidance, the teens are left on their own to try and survive both the night and a difficult world. The tense events unfold in real time, but the film deftly cuts between a climactic nighttime carjacking and the beginning of that day. Following each of the quartet of kids, the film reveals their backgrounds and details the seemingly innocuous decisions that lead them toward a frightening and life-changing conclusion. This electrifying first feature premiered at the 2011 SXSW Film Festival, where it earned a Breakthrough Performance Award for actor Evan Ross. The Austin Chronicle praises debut writer/director Aimee Lagos for creating “a fully gripping night world, a moment-to-moment film noir reminiscent of ‘The Night of the Hunter.’”
With director Lagos.
9:06
Beginning with a simple crime investigation, “9:06” soon mutates into an intimate thriller and compelling study of psychological transformation. A police inspector investigating an unusual case – the death of a man who appears to have fallen off a bridge in the middle of nowhere – develops an obsession with the case when he realizes it was a suicide. He starts to live in the deceased’s apartment, digging through his life, getting involved with people the man knew, and gradually taking over his identity. Tense and intriguing, “9:06” won a record 15 awards at the 2009 Slovene Film Festival. Variety writes: “A coolly elegant one-man police procedural slowly develops into a beguiling psychological mystery in the Slovenian genre-bender ‘9:06.’ Scribe-helmer Igor Sterk and regular co-scripter Sinisa Dragin have created an impressive hall of mirrors that raises more questions than it answers, as it toys with ideas of guilt, identity, suicide and chance.”
A Cat in Paris (Une vie de chat)
The studio behind “Mia & the Migoo” delivers a new animated classic in this beautifully hand-drawn caper set in the shadow-drenched alleyways of Paris. Dino is a pet cat that leads a double life. By day he lives with Zoe, a little mute girl whose mother is a detective in the Parisian police force. But at night he sneaks out the window to work with Nico – a slinky cat burglar with a big heart, whose fluid movements are poetry in motion. The cat’s two worlds collide when young Zoe decides to follow Dino on his nocturnal adventures and falls into the hands of a blustery gangster planning the theft of a rare statue. The Seattle Weekly raves: “‘A Cat in Paris’ is a gem, a treat not to be missed by children or their parents (or animation-loving adults without kids)…. The almond eyes, the sailor pants and tiny feet, the sun-washed checkerboard kitchen floors, the soundtrack strains of Billie and Django – all create a storybook Paris of the imagination, of the artist’s easel.”
Appropriate for all ages
A Dangerous Method
In “A Dangerous Method,” controversial Canadian director David Cronenberg (“Dead Ringers,” “The Fly”) examines the intense relationship between Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender, “Inglourious Basterds”) and Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen, “The Lord of the Rings”), who gave birth to modern psychoanalysis. Seduced by the challenge of an impossible case, the driven Jung takes the unbalanced yet beautiful Sabina Spielrein (Keira Knightley, “Pirates of the Caribbean”) as his patient. Jung hopes to help Sabina using the methods of his master, the renowned Freud, but when both men fall under her spell, she fractures their relationship. Adapted by Christopher Hampton from his play “The Talking Cure,” this lush period drama was featured in the prestigious Telluride, Toronto, Venice and New York film festivals. Todd McCarthy in the Hollywood Reporter writes: “Precise, lucid and thrillingly disciplined, this story of boundary-testing in the early days of psychoanalysis is brought to vivid life by the outstanding lead performances of Keira Knightley, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender.”
A Useful Life (La Vida Util)
After 25 years, the Uruguay cinematheque’s most devoted employee, Jorge (real-life Uruguayan critic Jorge Jellinek), still finds his inspiration in caring for the films and audiences that grace the seats and screen of his beloved arthouse cinema. But when dwindling attendance and diminishing support force the theater to close its doors, Jorge is sent into a world he knows only through the lens of art and forced to discover a new passion that transcends his celluloid reality. Stylishly framed in black-and-white with brilliantly understated performances, Federico Veiroj’s sly and loving homage to the soul of cinema is a universally appealing gem and knowing charmer about life after the movies.
All Those Yesterdays
Years after their intense romance abruptly ended, Nathan and Maggie – played by John Gregory Willard and Libby Bibb, who also starred in writer/director Aaron Coffman’s assured feature debut, “Texas Snow” – agree to meet for coffee. But what was meant as a casual lunch quickly turns into a day of soul searching and discovery as they struggle to determine why their lives haven’t worked out the way they’d hoped. Reminiscent of Antonioni’s work in its compositional precision and canny use of the architectural environment, the St. Louis-shot “All Those Yesterdays” features an extraordinary performance by Bibb and confident cinematography by Coffman. Tom Stockman of We Are Movie Geeks describes the film as “a moody, introspective drama about life and love. It magnifies the little things, paying scrupulous attention to dialogue and the subtleties and mannerisms of body language.”
With director Coffman.
Aurelie LaFlamme’s Diary (Le journal d’Aurélie Laflamme)
This delightful coming-of-age charmer from Canada is based on a popular series of books for teens written by India Desjardins. Aurelie Laflamme feels alone in the world, especially since her father’s death five years ago. She wonders whether her father was perhaps an alien who left Earth to return to his own planet. In that case, Aurelie would be an alien, too, and that would explain many things: Why she feels different from others, especially her mother; why she can’t string two words together without making a mistake; and why boys really get on her nerves. Through the pages of her diary, Aurelie confides her joys and sorrows, successes and failures, loves and friendships, and tries to find her place in the world.
Bedlam Street
A gritty, character-driven drama, the locally shot “Bedlam Street” thoughtfully examines crime, poverty, race, religion, and family in a bleak inner-city environment. Taking place over a single day near Christmas, the film follows the struggles of several interconnected characters. Ajani and Muna are immigrants running a convenience store and attempting to build a better life for themselves and their young son. Gabe is a troubled youth with an expectant girlfriend and a desperate need for money. Police officer Leon is struggling with his faith while trying to manage communication difficulties with his dying mother and his impressionable teenage son. And Catlin is a drugged-out prostitute rapidly losing all hope.
With director Wendell.
which tells the story of African youth who move to America, primarily from Liberia and Somalia, and form violent street gangs.
Pages
