Cinequest

Wrapping Up Cinequest

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EDEN, world premiere at Cinequest. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The live and in-person Cinequest winds up today. Here are the films in the program that I hadn’t posted about yet:

  • Dead Man’s Switch: In this atmospheric Spanish film, a woman’s husband disappears into thin air, and she goes searching for him. Exceptional black and white cinematography accentuates the crescendo of dread we feel for her as she strides alone down dark streets, into uncaring bureaucracies and into the bowels of the subway (she is a subway driver). Will she find out what has happened to him – and will it be even worse for her if she finds out? Not sure that the payoff is worth the 107 minutes of unrelenting gloom. World premiere.
  • Fanti: A young woman is obsessed with building her social media presence and feels entitled to a movie acting career; she hasn’t actually done anything to prepare for any career other than being famous for being famous – despite having a mother who has actually worked as a screen actor. When she catches a break and starts climbing into the world of an ingenue, it seems that someone is stalking her on-line. The strength of Fanti is the insider peek into the Vietnamese movie industry. Its weakness is that it’s hard to care about the main character. Winner of Best First Feature Film at the 2023 Vietnam Film Festival. US premiere at Cinequest.
  • Three Brothers: The best two things about this Argentine drama are that it brings us to an unfamiliar place – the rugged mountains of Patagonia – and photographs it exquisitely, The titular thirty-something brothers have inherited a saw mill on a large tract of land, and they face the global warming consequences of wildfires and flooding. But Three Brothers is really about their unresolved childhood issues and the challenges each faces to his sense of manhood (and one’s challenge to his anatomical manhood). None of them can communicate with the others about feelings, and they all have a fairly bestial view of women (except their sainted mother). There’s a spectacular flood scene at the climax, but, by then, the audience is tired of these unpleasant and unrelatable guys.
  • Eden: This documentary introduces us to a couple who has worked tirelessly for forty years to build a failed winery into a renowned producer of fine wines (Mount Eden Vineyards in Saratoga). It’s time for them to retire, but one adult kid may not have the aptitude to take over and the other may not have the interest. It’s a visually beautiful and dreamy film, romantic about winemaking. I personally thought it was 20-30 minutes too long for the content, and too reverential about the family. World premiere.

Selected films from the program move to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy from March 21-31.

THE INVISIBLES: choosing to live again

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Tim Blake Nelson and Gretchen Mol in THE INVISIBLES. Courtesy of Cinequest.

In the engrossing dramatic parable The Invisibles, Charlie (Tim Blake Nelson) has become so disengaged from his job and his marriage that he becomes invisible – at first metaphorically and then literally – to those around him. Charlie is finding this disturbing enough, but then he happens on an entire community of invisible people like him in a parallel dimension. Can they return to the world of the visible? And do they want to?

The invisibles hang out together in a decrepit bowling alley, led by Carl the affable bartender (Bruce Greenwood). Charlie learns that the invisibles have each experienced a loss, a disappointment or a betrayal so devastating that they have each given up on life in some way. But there’s no more emotional pain in the invisible world, and the bowling alley is a hub of merrymaking.

Charlie and his wife Hannah (Gretchen Mol) have suffered a grievous loss; Hannah has been working hard to recover, but the grief has paralyzed Charlie into a toxic mire of denial, avoidance and apathy.

As Charlie finds himself torn between his love for his wife and the comfort of the invisible world, The Invisibles explores the how people react to the pain of loss and the painful process of getting beyond it. The ingenious metaphor of the parallel universes is the creation of writer-director Andrew Currie. He wrote and directed Fido, one of my Zombie Movies for People Who Don’t Like Zombie Movies.

Tim Blake Nelson is an acting treasure, and he’s at the top of his game here. Mol and Greenwood are excellent, too, as is Nathan Alexis as one of the invisibles.

Cinequest hosted the world premiere of The Invisibles today and will present a second screening tomorrow, March 11. The Invisibles is highlighted as one of two Must See films in my Best of Cinequest.

Tim Blake Nelson and Gretchen Mol in THE INVISIBLES. Courtesy of Cinequest.

THE ISLAND BETWEEN THE TIDES: what dimension is this?

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Paloma Kwiatkowski in THE ISLAND BETWEEN THE TIDES. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The Island Between the Tides: In this supernatural thriller, a young girl wanders away from her parents on the isolated British Columbia coastline and returns seemingly the same. As a young woman, she disappears again, and this time returns 20 years later, but at the same age as when she left. She’s trying to figure out what has happened, as is the family who has been grieving her loss for twenty years, not to mention her son, who is now older than she is. They and the audience are bouncing between the unsettling possible explanations of delusion and disassociation, ghosts or a dimension where beings move to and may be trapped in different times.

The story is based on the play Mary Rose by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, which I’ve read that Hitchcock wanted to adapt, but couldn’t overcome studio suits finding it “too troubling”. Impressive feature debut for writer-directors Austin Andrews and Andrew Holmes. 

Paloma Kwiatkowski is good as the protagonist, and she is ably supported by Donal Logue, Camille Sullivan and David Mazouz. I always enjoy Adam Beach, and here he gets to play a sunny, non-brooding role,

Cinequest hosts the world premiere as Cinequest’s opening night film. The Island Between the Tides is one of my Best of Cinequest.

The Best of Cinequest

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Photo caption: Tim Blake Nelson and Gretchen Mol in THE INVISIBLES. Courtesy of Cinequest.

Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival, returns live and in-person March 7, back in downtown San Jose, with screenings March 7-17 at the California Theatre and the Hammer Theater. Selected films from the program then move to Cinequest’s virtual platform, Cinejoy from March 21-31..

I’ve already seen almost twenty offerings from Cinequest 2024, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. I’ve also included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest”.

MUST SEE

  • Pain and Peace: This extraordinary and emotionally powerful documentary begins with the story of Rais Bhuiyan. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, an attacker who was looking to kill Muslims, any Muslims, shot two convenience store clerks to death and then entered the workplace of Bangladeshi immigrant Bhuiyan and shot him in the face with a shotgun; Bhuiyan somehow survived and then, perhaps even more remarkably, began a campaign of forgiveness for his perpetrator. What follows is an exploration of forgiveness as a necessary prerequisite to reconciliation and ending the cycle of demonizing other people. Bhuiyan interviews other survivors of hate crimes, many of the highest profile, like the Georgia church shooting, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting, and more. It’s riveting when they retell their experiences and talk about forgiving their attackers. Pain and Peace is the first feature for director Mark Feijó. World premiere.
  • The Invisibles: In this engrossing dramatic parable, Charlie (Tim Blake Nelson) has become so disengaged from his job and his marriage that he becomes invisible – at first metaphorically and then literally – to those around him. Charlie is finding this disturbing enough, but then he finds himself in a parallel dimension of invisible people like him – who have experienced a loss and given up on life in some way. Can they return to the world of the visible? And do they want to? There’s no more emotional pain in the invisible world, and their hangout is a hub of merrymaking. Charlie and his wife Hannah (Gretchen Mol) have suffered a grievous loss; Hannah has been working hard to recover, but the grief has paralyzed Charlie into a toxic mire of denial, avoidance and apathy. As Charlie finds himself torn between his love for his wife and the comfort of the invisible world, The Invisibles explores the how people react to the pain of loss and the painful process of getting beyond it. Tim Blake Nelson has never been better. World premiere.

INTERNATIONAL CINEMA

A scene from Erico Rassi’s SAME OLD WEST. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Same Old West: This contemporary Brazilian western begins with two men slugging it out over a woman, before they start hiring gunmen to take out the other. Same Old West takes us into a Brazil that is neither Rio de Janeiro nor the Amazon rainforest. This is a flat and arid land, a backward place where hired killers are still called gunmen instead of hit men and use their hunting rifles instead of automatic weapons. Literally, the plot of Same Old West sounds male-oriented – a bunch of guys hunting each other with gun violence on their minds. But, it’s really about men who have been rejected by women, and their inability to understand it or to move on. They’re aspiring to toxic masculinity, but they’re too laughably pathetic to achieve it. If you like your humor as dry as the landscape, Same Old West is downright hilarious. It’s also visually striking and richly atmospheric, with hints of Sergio Leone, World premiere.

ROMANCE

Aylin Tezel and Chris Fulton in FALLING INTO PLACE. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Falling into Place: This absorbing Scottish romantic drama begins on the Isle of Skye when two visiting London creatives meet outside a rowdy pub and flirt.  Kira (Aylin Tezel), a theater set designer, is on holiday.  Ian (Chris Fulton), a musician, has grown up on Skye and intends to shoehorn in an infrequent visit with his family. Kira is trying to get beyond a recent breakup, while Ian’s relationship is in its final throes.  When Kira hears that Ian has a girlfriend, she puts in the brakes, but she’s drawn enough to Ian that she accompanies him as he faces some family drama. Then, Kira and Ian return separately to London. The audience soon wants these two to get and stay together, but they’ll need to get past some trauma in Ian’s family, his current romantic entanglement, Kyra’s feelings for her ex, an attractive boss with his eyes on Kira and some bad timing. Utterly devoid of the tropes in conventional movie romances, Falling into Place is profoundly authentic. This is the first feature for writer/director Aylin Tezel (who also stars as Kira), and it’s a very strong and promising debut. US Premiere. 

COMEDY

Pedro De Tavira (center) in HUMAN RESOURCES. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Human Resources: In this dark, dark Argentinian comedy, Gabriel Lynch (Pedro De Tavira) is an alienated office worker, in an absurdly alienating workplace. Gabriel is a low-level supervisor on an anonymous lower floor of a corporate hive with too many layers of management and an oppressive, top-down culture. It’s also oversexed, with a carousel of Inappropriate office liaisons. Gabriel, an Iago with a sick sense of humor, begins a ruthless, unhinged campaign against those who offend him. I’ve rarely seen a more cynical comedy. US premiere.
  • Puddysticks: In this good-hearted and original comedy, Liz (Megan Seely) is a puddle of anxiety. She is a workaholic game developer for an enterprise whose company culture, despite its mission statement, could not be more anti-fun. Liz stumbles on a self-help group, led by the ever blissed-out Sylvester (Dan Bakkedahl of Veep, Sword of Trust), where each participant must reveal their innermost secret. It’s cultlike and filled with psychobabble, but it seems to work for Megan and the others. And then Megan learns someone else’s secret… Puddysticks is a scathing satire of tech workplace culture and the self-help movement, somehow without a hint of meanness. Puddysticks is written and directed by Megan Seely (who also stars) in her first feature.  World premiere.
  • Check out even more Cinequest comedies in my Laughs at Cinequest.

THRILLER

Paloma Kwiatkowski in THE ISLAND BETWEEN THE TIDES. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • The Island Between the Tides: In this supernatural thriller, a young girl wanders away from her parents on the isolated British Columbia coastline and returns seemingly the same. As a young woman, she disappears again, and this time returns 20 years later, but at the same age as when she left. She’s trying to figure out what has happened, as is the family who has been grieving her loss for twenty years, not to mention her son, who is now older than she is. They and the audience are bouncing between the unsettling possible explanations of delusion and disassociation, ghosts or a dimension where beings move to and may be trapped in different times. The story is based on the play Mary Rose by Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie, which I’ve read that Hitchcock wanted to adapt, but couldn’t overcome studio suits finding it “too troubling”. Impressive feature debut for writer-directors Austin Andrews and Andrew Holmes. World premiere and Cinequest’s opening night film.

DOCUMENTARY

Carrete in QUIXOTE IN NEW YORK. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Quixote in New York: This charming documentary follows the 82-yer-old Spanish flamenco dance master Carrete, who wants to cap his career by performing in a major NYC theater. Carrete himself is a hoot, funny AF and even makes rehearsals fun for everybody. There’s a Can’t Miss scene, where Carrete dances in front of a projection of Fred Astaire, mirroring Astaire’s moves in a flamenco interpretation. US premiere.

ART FILM

Kirsi Paananen and Henri Malkki in GIANT’S KETTLE. Courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Giant’s Kettle: If you’re looking for an unadulterated art film, this stark Finnish drama is your pick. First-time directors Marku Hakala and Mari Kaki make one bold artistic choice after another – no human dialogue, a static camera, shots of very long duration with very little action. Giant’s Kettle is an exploration of alienation, loneliness and yearning in a world hostile to connection. Kirsi Paananen, in what is essentially a silent film performance, is heart-breaking, especially in long shot. Giant’s Kettle is intentionally slow-paced, but is only 71 minutes long. Nevertheless, it’s not a movie for everyone. US premiere.

HACKING CINEQUEST

Cinequest resumes its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California and the 550-seat Hammer – all within 1600 feet of each other. 

At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $199 (a ten-pack for $110), and you can get individual tickets as well. Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets.

As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2024 page, with links to all my coverage. 

Here’s the trailer for Pain and Peace (world premiere):

Laughs at Cinequest

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Photo caption: Megan Seely in PUSDDYSTICKS. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The 2024 Cinequest offers a rich menu of comedies: Here are five good ones:

  • Human Resources: In this dark, dark Argentinian comedy, Gabriel Lynch (Pedro De Tavira) is an alienated office worker, in an absurdly alienating workplace. Gabriel is a low-level supervisor on an anonymous lower floor of a corporate hive with too many layers of management and an oppressive, top-down culture. It’s also oversexed, with a carousel of Inappropriate office liaisons. Gabriel, an Iago with a sick sense of humor, begins a ruthless, unhinged campaign against those who offend him. I’ve rarely seen a more cynical comedy. US premiere.
  • Puddysticks: In this good-hearted and original comedy, Liz (Megan Seely) is a puddle of anxiety. She is a workaholic game developer for an enterprise whose company culture, despite its mission statement, could not be more anti-fun. Liz stumbles on a self-help group, led by the ever blissed-out Sylvester (Dan Bakkedahl of Veep, Sword of Trust), where each participant must reveal their innermost secret. It’s cultlike and filled with psychobabble, but it seems to work for Megan and the others. And then Megan learns someone else’s secret… Puddysticks is a scathing satire of tech workplace culture and the self-help movement, somehow without a hint of meanness. Puddysticks is written and directed by Megan Seely (who also stars) in her first feature.  World premiere.
  • Bosnian Pot: A supremely unambitious Bosnian living in Austria, the affable and harmless Faruk (Senad Bašic), when he’s not sponging off others, gets by with a part-time radio show. Faruk sees himself as a writer because he published a volume of poems decades ago and has been thinking about writing a play. But, with the Yugoslavian wars in the past, Austrian authorities are now requiring real artistic accomplishment by Faruk to qualify for continued residence. Faruk’s only hope is to write his play and convince an Austrian theater troupe to premiere it before the immigration deadline. What could possibly go wrong? After decades of slacking, can Faruk find the needed perseverance? The character of Faruk is a delightful scallywag. US premiere.
  • Hailey Rose: In this good-hearted Canadian comedy, the decidedly urban Hailey (Em Haine) is lured home in the sticks under almost completely false premises. She finds herself right back into the dysfunctional family she has escaped, with her wackadoodle sister Rose (Caitlynne Medrek) and her unashamedly selfish mother (Kari Matchett). Hailey had valid reasons to get the family craziness behind her and go to where she could come out more comfortably; but she learns that her sudden exit has impacted others, especially in a heartstring-pulling conversation with her gentle ex-boyfriend Cole (Josh Cruddas). Things wrap up neatly into a Feel Good ending. Matchett’s performance as the insanely crass mom is brilliant; she’s a howl whenever she’s onscreen. Second feature for writer-director Sandi Somers, who set the story in her native Nova Scotia. US premiere.
  • The Trouble with Jessica: In this dark British farce, the most despicable, unwelcome guest at a dinner party dies by suicide in the back yard, and the other four diners must dispose of the inconvenient corpse to prevent financial ruin of the hosts. As one might expect, the foursome must run a gauntlet of nosy neighbors, earnest police and horny drunks. Five very able veteran actors (Shirley Henderson, Alan Tudyk, Olivia Williams, Rupert Sewell and Indira Varma) keep the laughs coming in this light diversion.

As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST 2024 page, with links to all my coverage.  Here’s my Best of Cinequest.

Em Haine (top) and Caitlynne Medrek in HAILEY ROSE. Courtesy of Cinequest.

PAIN AND PEACE: forgiving the unforgivable

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Rais Bhuiyan in PAIN AND PEACE. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The extraordinary and emotionally powerful documentary Pain and Peace begins with the story of Rais Bhuiyan. In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, an attacker who was looking to kill Muslims, any Muslims, shot two convenience store clerks to death and then entered the workplace of Bangladeshi immigrant Bhuiyan and shot him in the face with a shotgun; Bhuiyan somehow survived and then, perhaps even more remarkably, began a campaign of forgiveness for his perpetrator. What follows is an exploration of forgiveness as a necessary prerequisite to reconciliation and ending the cycle of demonizing other people.

Bhuiyan interviews other survivors of hate crimes, many of the highest profile, like the Georgia church shooting, the Buffalo supermarket shooting, the Orlando nightclub shooting, and more. It’s riveting when they retell their experiences and talk about forgiving their attackers.

Bhuiyan, as a hate crime survivor himself, brings major credibility as an interviewer and is superb as the narrator/guide of the film.

Pain and Peace also introduces us to some perpetrators of hate crimes, and that brings some surprises, too.

Pain and Peace is the first feature for director Mark Feijó.

I screened Pain and Peace for its world premiere at Cinequest. I highlighted it as one of two Must See films in my Best of Cinequest. It’s not very often that I see a movie as potentially life-changing, but this one is.

SAME OLD WEST: where men are men but aren’t great shots

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A scene from Erico Rassi’s SAME OLD WEST. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The contemporary Brazilian western Same Old West begins with two men slugging it out over a woman, before they start hiring gunmen to take out the other. She is the only woman in the film, only on screen for about 45 seconds, and, as one who knows her well observes, she has had bad luck with husbands.

Same Old West takes us into a Brazil that is neither Rio de Janeiro nor the Amazon rainforest. This is a flat and arid land that looks like it could be in Spain, Mexico or the American Southwest.  It’s a remote and backward place where hired killers are still call gunmen instead of hit men. The gunmen don’t own a .44 magnum or a Glock or an AK-47 among them – they use their hunting rifles. This is a place where making an escape on horseback is still absolutely normal.

Literally, the plot of Same Old West sounds male-oriented – a bunch of guys hunting each other with gun violence on their minds. But, it’s really about men who have been rejected by women, and their inability to understand it or to move on. They’re aspiring to toxic masculinity, but they’re too laughably pathetic to achieve it. Female audiences will appreciate the sharp critique of maleness at its most dunderheaded.

Same Old West is being characterized as a drama, which isn’t really wrong because it’s about murderous manhunts. But I see it as a dark comedy that skewers male cluelessness. The very sparse and overly formal dialogue, delivered deadpan, is remarkably droll. If you like your humor as dry as the landscape, Same Old West is downright hilarious. 

Same Old West is the second feature for writer-director Erico Rassi. It’s a visually striking and richly atmospheric film, with hints of Sergio Leone.

Cinequest hosts the world premiere of Same Old West, which I’ve highlighted in my Best of Cinequest.

A scene from Erico Rassi’s SAME OLD WEST. Courtesy of Cinequest.

HUMAN RESOURCES: Iago with a sick sense of humor

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Pedro De Tavira (center) in HUMAN RESOURCES. Courtesy of Cinequest.

In the dark, dark Argentinian comedy Human Resources, Gabriel Lynch (Pedro De Tavira) is an alienated office worker, in an absurdly alienating workplace. Gabriel is a low-level supervisor on an anonymous lower floor of a corporate hive with too many layers of management and an oppressive, top-down culture. It’s also oversexed, with a carousel of Inappropriate office liaisons. And, we’ll soon see, is shockingly tolerant of what we would see as the most horrifying workplace violence.

Gabriel, an Iago with a sick sense of humor, begins a ruthless, unhinged campaign against those who offend him. Alienation leaks out in how her treats everyone. Mischievous, mean-spirited and completely unashamed, he’s very fun to watch. And, as venal as Gabriel is, he is matched, step-for-step, by Veronica from Finance (Juana Viale).

Around the 41-minute mark, Gabriel makes his grievance explicit (followed by a great drone shot)

“I’ve lived like the secret son of a king for a long time, waiting for a courtier to rescue me. Of course, nobody rescued me. Nobody rescues anybody.”

Human Resources is the creation of writer-director Jesús Magaña Vázquez. I’ve rarely seen a more cynical comedy.

Cinequest hosts the US premiere of Human Resources, which I highlighted in my Best of Cinequest.

I love the Spanish language trailer, even without English subtitles:

PUDDYSTICKS: scathing satire on the way to self-discovery

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Megan Seely in PUDDYSTICKS. Courtesy of Cinequest.

In the good-hearted and original comedy Puddysticks, Liz (Megan Seely) is a puddle of anxiety. She is a workaholic game developer for an enterprise whose company culture, despite its mission statement, could not be more anti-fun.

Liz stumbles on a self-help group, led by the ever blissed-out Sylvester (Dan Bakkedahl of Veep, Sword of Trust), where each participant must reveal their innermost secret. It’s cultlike and filled with psychobabble, but it seems to work for Megan and the others. And then Megan learns someone else’s secret…

Puddysticks is a scathing satire of tech workplace culture and the self-help movement, somehow without a hint of meanness.

Puddysticks is written and directed by Megan Seely (who also stars) in her first feature.  Cinequest hosts the world premiere of Puddysticks.

FALLING INTO PLACE: uncommonly authentic

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Aylin Tezel and Chris Fulton in FALLING INTO PLACE. Courtesy of Cinequest.

The absorbing Scottish romantic drama Falling into Place begins on the Isle of Skye when two visiting London creatives meet outside a rowdy pub and flirt.  Kira (Aylin Tezel), a theater set designer, is on holiday.  Ian (Chris Fulton), a musician, has grown up on Skye and intends to shoehorn in an infrequent visit with his family. Kira is trying to get beyond a recent breakup, while Ian’s relationship is in its final throes. 

When Kira hears that Ian has a girlfriend, she puts in the brakes, but she’s drawn enough to Ian that she accompanies him as he faces some family drama. Then, Kira and Ian return separately to London. The audience soon wants these two to get and stay together, but they’ll need to get past some trauma in Ian’s family, his current romantic entanglement, Kyra’s feelings for her ex, an attractive boss with his eyes on Kira and some bad timing.

Utterly devoid of the tropes in conventional movie romances, Falling into Place is profoundly authentic. This is the first feature for German-born writer/director Aylin Tezel (who also stars as Kira), and it’s a very strong and promising debut. As a director, she paces Falling into Place perfectly, keeping us eagerly engaged as the threads if Kira and Ian meet and part and meet again. She is especially adept directing the scenes in the Isle of Skye bar and the London art gallery opening, with lots of moving bodies and ambient sound. But it’s Tezel’s screenplay, without a single false note, that really soars.

I screened Falling Into Place for its US premiere at Cinequest.