17 movies to watch for at Cinequest:
Most likely to be crowd pleasers:
- The Grand Seduction: In Cinequest’s opening night film, Brendan Gleeson (In Bruges, The Guard, The General, Braveheart) and Gordon Pinsent (Away from Her) play isolated Canadians try to snooker a young doctor (Taylor Kitsch of Friday Night Lights) into settling in their podunk village.
- Friended to Death: Bromantic comedy about a jerk who fakes his own death to see how many of his social media “friends” will attend his funeral. Very funny.
- Words and Pictures: Romantic comedy starring Clive Owen and the ever-radiant Juliette Binoche as sparring teachers.
- Dom Hemingway: Jude Law and Richard E. Grant star as two cheesy British hoods in a reportedly funny and fast-paced crime caper. Opens widely in theaters in April.
- Unforgiven: the Japanese remake of Clint Eastwood’s Oscar-winning Unforgiven starring Ken Watanabe (Inception, The Last Samurai, Letters from Iwo Jima). Since Clint’s career was boosted by a remake of Yojimbo (A Fistful of Dollars), it’s fitting that his Unforgiven is remade as a samurai film.
- Fruitvale Station: the masterpiece debut from Bay Area filmmaker Ryan Coogler, introduced by LA Times and NPR Morning Edition movie critic Kenneth Turan.
Most promising foreign entries:
- Ida: This Polish story of a young nun who learns that she is the survivor of a Jewish family killed in the Holocaust won the International Critics’ Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
- The Verdict: This Belgian drama won Best Director at the Montreal Film Festival. I’ll be writing about The Verdict early this week.
- The Illiterate: Paulina Garcia, the star of the popular Gloria, stars in this metaphorical emotional Chilean drama.
- Class Enemy: You’ll be rocked by this classroom drama, Slovenia’s entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar. I’ll be writing about Class Enemy early this week.
- Heavenly Shift: A hilariously dark (very dark) Hungarian comedy about a rogue ambulance crew with a financial incentive to deliver its patients dead on arrival. I howled at Heavenly Shift, and I’ll be writing about it early this week.
- Zoran: My Nephew the Idiot: OK, this Italian comedy has a great title, and it was a hit at the Venice Film Festival. I’ll be writing about Zoran before its US Premiere.
Documentaries:
- Teenage: Great subject material: chronicling that 20th century American phenomenon – the evolution of “the teenager”.
- Sex(ed): The Movie: Sampling Sex Ed instructional films from 1910 through today. Should be a howl. May be thoughtful, too. World Premiere at Cinequest.
Something you haven’t seen before:
- Happenings on the Eighth Day: This is a pure art film, juxtaposing the attempts to create art against forces seeking to censor or obliterate it. Filmed in the Bay Area by Iranian filmmakers. World Premiere at Cinequest.
- The Circle Within: A Turkish fable that turns into a psychological drama. Not a favorite of mine, but it provides a rare glimpse into the Kurdish religion of yezidism.
Here’s the Cinequest program and ticket information.