San Francisco International Film Festival

MOTHER COUCH: obstreperous mom, surreal situation

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Ewan McGregor (right) in MOTHER COUCH. Courtesy of Film Movement.

In the nightmarish fever dream Mother Couch, Ewan McGregor plays a man trapped in an absurd situation – his obstreperous, estranged mother (Ellen Burstyn) is refusing to leave a couch in a furniture store. His adult siblings (Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle), whom he barely knows, are present but not supportive. The oddly singular furniture store is itself a bizarre construction, and this fable of parental emotional abandonment just keeps getting ever more surreal.

The now elderly mom has been a terrible mother – selfish, emotionally unconnected and not the least bit nurturing – and unashamed. Now that she needs care, her two oldest kids are prepared to giver a dose of her own medicine. But the youngest son (McGregor) feels obligated to take care of dear old mom, as hateful as she is.

Ellen Burstyn in MOTHER COUCH. Courtesy of Film Movement.

McGregor’s and Burstyn’s performances are very strong, and the depth of the cast is extraordinary: Taylor Russell, F. Murray Abraham and Lake Bell.  I particularly admired Rhys Ifans’ subtle performance as guy who doesn’t want to be as apathetic and irresponsible as his behavior would indicate. We get to enjoy Abraham as two characters – twin brothers with very disparate personalities.

Mother Couch is the first narrative feature for writer-director Niclas Larsson, an acclaimed director of car commercials, and it’s a remarkable calling card.

This is the most surreal film that I have seen in a long while. I screened Mother Couch for the SFFILM in April; it releases into primarily arthouse theaters on July 5.

BANEL AND ADAMA: we want to be together and left alone

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Photo caption: Khady Mane and Mamadou Diallo in BANEL AND ADAMA. Courtesy of Kino Lorber.

In the well-crafted and beautifully shot Senegalese drama Banel and Adama, a 19-year-old couple live in a remote village, happily in love with each other, but chafing at cultural traditions. Banel (Khady Mane) suffers her nightmare of a mother-in-law, and Adama (Mamadou Diallo) resists the burdens of community leadership that he knows he isn’t ready for. Can they find happiness in their village? Will they leave together?

Their personal stories are set in a dramatic, drought-stricken landscape with houses buried in sand and dust. Writer-director Ramata-Toulaye Sy, in her first feature, and cinematographer Amine Berrada deliver one of the most visually singular films of the year.

Sy gets fine performances out of cast of non-actors. Mane is especially charismatic as Banel.

I screened Banel and Adama for this year’s SFFILM, where I highlighted it in my Under the radar at SFFILM. It’s now been released into arthouse theaters by Kino Lorber.

AFTER ANTARCTICA: one man, two poles

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Tasha Van Zandt’s AFTER ANTARCTICA. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

The fine documentary After Antarctica follows ecological adventurer Will Steger on two polar expeditions – different poles and twenty-five years apart.

In 1989-90, Steger led the first non-mechanized expedition to cross continent of Antarctica (the LONG way – from one coast to the other). This was a grueling and risky endeavor. The international team needed to avoid terrifying crevasses; (check out the beginning of the trailer below.) The volatility of the weather was brutal. Steger noted, “Antarctica doesn’t want us here, and is making every effort to remind us”.

The team faced a crisis of supplies and exhaustion just 16 miles from the end of their 3700 mile journey.  They knew that the earlier Antarctic explorer Robert F. Scott had died only 12 miles from a supply cache. Steger’s leadership, informed by zen discipline and sheer force of will, brought them through.

The Steger team’s achievement will not be matched – due to climate change, the 4000 square mile Larsen ice shelf that they traversed is no longer there.

Tasha Van Zandt’s AFTER ANTARCTICA. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

A quarter of a century later, After Antarctica follows a 75-year-old Steger as he undertakes a solo expedition above the Arctic Circle – contemplating the effects of climate change and and his own mortality. In contrast with the global celebrity of the Antarctic expedition, the Arctic march is solitary.

Will Steger, who has survived both a lethal mountain climbing accident and cancer, has lived a life on the extreme. He is self-focused, crusty and open, without defensiveness, about own personal flaws.

The two polar journeys, the examination of climate change and Steger’s own life are told through the voice of Will Steger himself.

After Antarctica is the first feature for director Tasha Van Zandt. We see never-before-seen file footage of the Antarctic expedition. The Arctic cinematography by Van Zandt and DP Sebastian Zeck is extraordinary. Van Zandt has said that the icy ground and the grey sky of the Arctic hindered depth perception, making the piloting of drones for aerial photography especially difficult.

I screened After Antarctica for the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), where it won a jury award. It’s finally available to stream on Amazon, AppleTV and YouTube.

Under the radar at the 2024 SFFILM

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Isabelle Huppert and Tsuyoshi Ihara in Élise Girard’s SIDONIE IN JAPAN. Courtesy of SFFILM.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens on Wednesday. SFFILM presents a wide-ranging slate of films from 40 countries. The opening and closing night films, Didi and Thelma, are justifiably generating the buzz. Here are four more under-the-radar recommendations.

  • Sidonie in Japan: The great Isabelle Huppert stars in this French drama as a writer whose life has been shaped by grief. Her first success came from a book about her own traumatic loss; her life was reignited by a supportive husband, whom she has also now lost. A new translation of her first book finds her on a book tour of Japan. Sidonie eventually finds that she can explore the navigation of grief with her translator (Tsuyoshi Ihara), for whom still waters run deep, and the silent beauty of Japan’s gardens and temples, helps too. Add some magical realism, and Sidonie in Japan becomes a satisfying story of surviving painful episodes in life. The personal drama is leavened by fish-out-of-water comic touches as a Frenchwoman is introduced to the oft counterintuitive protocols of Japanese culture.
  • The Practice: This deadpan Argentine comedy is a triumph of absurdism. An Argentine yoga instructor living in Chile (Esteban Bigliardi) faces a set of challenges that most people find a way to overcome, including an ex-wife who doesn’t want him back, a nagging mother, a knee injury, a thieving student. Unfortunately, he is devoid of common sense and his every instinct is a misfire. A romantic opportunity arises, but will he find a way to self-sabotage that, too? Ever droll, this film by writer-director Martín Rejtman is very funny.
  • Mother Couch: In this nightmarish fever dream, Ewan McGregor plays a man trapped in an absurd situation – his obstreperous, estranged mother (Ellen Burstyn) is refusing to leave a couch in a furniture store. His adult siblings (Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle), whom he barely knows, are present but not supportive. The oddly singular furniture store is itself a bizarre construction, and this fable of parental emotional abandonment just keeps getting ever more surreal. McGregor’s and Burstyn’s performances are very strong, and the depth of the cast is extraordinary: Taylor Russell, F. Murray Abraham and Lake Bell. Mother Couch is the first narrative feature for writer-director Niclas Larsson, an acclaimed director of car commercials, and it’s a remarkable calling card.
  • Banel and Adama: In this well-crafted and beautifully shot Senegalese drama, a 19-year-old couple live in a remote village, happily in love with each other, but chafing at cultural traditions. Banel suffers her nightmare of a mother-in-law, and Adama resists the burdens of community leadership that he knows he isn’t ready for. Can they find happiness in their village? Will they leave together? Their personal stories are set in a dramatic, drought-stricken landscape with houses buried in sand and dust.

Peruse the program and buy tickets at SFFILM. All my SFFILM coverage, including eventual full reviews, will be linked on my SFFILM 2024 page.

A scene from Martin Rejtman’s THE PRACTICE. Courtesy of SFFILM.

First look at the 2024 SFFILM

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Izaac Wang stars as “Chris” in writer/director Sean Wang’s DÌDI, a Focus Features release. Credit: Courtesy of Focus Features / Talking Fish Pictures LLC © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens April 24, and runs through April 28. The fest is in-person, at the Marina, the Premier Theater at One Letterman, t Vogie, the Walt Disney Family Museum, and Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA).

The menu at SFFILM includes films from 40 countries, including 12 world premieres, 8 North American premieres and 5 US premieres. Peruse the program and buy tickets at SFFILM.

Here are more special elements of this year’s SFFILM:

  • The opening night film is the the highly-buzzed-about coming age dramedy Didi. This will be only the third festival for Didi, which was a hit at both Sundance and SXSW, and which is scheduled to be released on July 26. It’s the first narrative feature from director Sean Wang, who was Oscar-nominated for his documentary short Nai Nai & Wai Po.
  • The closing night film is a hoot – Thelma, starring 93-year-old June Squibb (Oscar-nominated for Nebraska) in an action picture. Squibb plays a scammed senior who goes on a quest to recover her money from the scammers. I’ve seen it, and it’s a surefire audience-pleaser. Thelma also features indie favorite Parker Posey and the sweet final performance of Richard Roundtree (Shaft).
  • Tributes to Joan Chen and Chiwetel Ejiofor.
  • Movies starring Chen, Squibb, Roundtree, Posey, Isabelle Huppert, Colman Domingo, Ellen Burstyn, Ewan McGregor, Rhys Ifans, Lara Flynn Boyle, Lake Bell, Taylor Russell,  F. Murray Abraham, Judy Greer, Julianne Nicholson, Elias Koteas and Paul Raci,

As usual, I’ll be looking for under-the-radar gems and posting my recommendations just before the fest’s opening. My coverage will be linked on my SFFILM 2024 page.

SUPERCOOL: a teen comedy familiar, until it isn’t

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A scene from Teppo Airaksinen’s film SUPERCOOL, which played at SFFILM. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

Supercool has the familiar arc of a teen comedy – until it doesn’t. We get the high school cafeteria lunch period, the adolescent social awkwardness, the bullies and the parents-away teen house party. And then there are some unexpected sparkles.

Our protagonists, Neil (Jake Short) and Gilbert (Miles J. Harvey) have a commonplace obsession for teen boys: they aspire to get SOME sexual experience with another person. And Neil worships a girl whom he is afraid to even talk to,

There’s a funny scene (glimpsed in the trailer below) where the guys fantasize a situation where girls would be attracted to them, unaware that Neil’s parents are hearing every word.

The guys also have two misadventures that put them in hilariously uncomfortable sexual situations.

Neil has a helluva imagination and creates graphic novels that picture how he hopes to eventually woo his beloved. Fortunately, he is sweet on a girl who turns out to have an awesome sense of humor.

I must note that Supercool does contain the best-ever movie use of the (only?) Haddaway song What Is Love.

I screened Supercool for its world premiere at SFFILM in April 2021. Supercool can now be streamed from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.

First look at SFFILM 2022

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Photo caption: SFFILM returns in-person to the Castro Theatre and other venues. Photo by Pamela Gentile. Courtesy of SFFILM.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens April 21, and runs through May 1. The fest is IN-PERSON, which is a big deal after cancelling in 2020 and going virtual in 2021. Screening all the films at San Francisco’s Castro, Roxie, Vogue and Victoria theaters, and Berkeley’s BAMPFA, SFFILM is doubling down on its live events. Mask and proof of COVID vaccination will be required for attendees.

As always, it’s a Can’t Miss for Bay Area movie fans. The menu at SFFILM includes 130 films from 56 countries, with 16 world premieres and 10 North American or US premieres. Once again, a majority of the films were directed by female and non-binary filmmakers, and a majority of the movie in this years program have BIPOC directors.

Here are more special elements of this year’s SFFILM:

  • SFFILM honors Michelle Yeoh (the martial arts star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Bond Girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, and the steely mom in Crazy Rich Asians). On April 29, Yeoh will appear for an on-stage interview by Sandra Oh. On April 25, SFFILM will present a 35mm print of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the big screen at the Castro.
  • After last year’s fine selection of Mexican films (Son of Monarchs, Nudo Mixteco, Fauna, Dance of the 41), SFFILM offers a promising expanded Latinx program, with films from Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and of course, Mexico.
  • The most topical film is probably Klondike, where a mortar attack wipes out the front of a couple’s Ukrainian farmhouse. The film is set in the 2016 conflict that has since erupted into a full-scale war with the Russian invasion.
  • Again, SFFILM has highlighted a cross section of movies and events as Family-friendly, something that more film festivals should do. Introduce the kids to good cinema! Artist William Joyce will present his the Oscar®-winning The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore and his latest creation, Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat – and will finish with a live drawing activity, welcoming audience members to draw along.

As usual, I’ll be looking for under-the-radar gems and posting my recommendations just before the fest.

The 2022 SFFILM opens April 21. Here’s the information on the program and tickets and passes. Throughout SFFILM, you can follow me on Twitter for the very latest coverage, my coverage on my 2022 SFFILM page.

Michelle Yeoh, appearing live at SFFILM. Photo (c) by William Laisne Getty Images. Courtesy of SFFILM.

SON OF MONARCHS: resolving his identity

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Photo caption: Tenoch Huerta in SON OF MONARCHS. Courtesy of SFFILM.

In the contemplative indie Son of Monarchs, things seem to be going well for the young biologist Mendel (Tenoch Huerta). His career as a scientist at an elite NYC institution seems to be starting well, his mentor respects and encourages him, his peers invite him to socialize and he’s dating a woman with a very unusual hobby. But something is not right, and it’s that Mendel’s very identity is unresolved,.

Mendel comes from rural Michoacán, which Nature has blessed with Monarch butterflies and cursed with disasters that traumatized Mendel in his childhood. The same childhood experiences have built his passion to understand life and have estranged him from his brother and their homeland. When he has occasion to revisit Michoacán, he can no longer compartmentalize his inner conflict.

SON OF MONARCHS. Courtesy of SFFILM.

Son of Monarchs is the second feature for writer-director Alexis Gambis, who makes the most out of the visual contrast between chilly NYC and the vivid warm of Michoacán.

Tenoch Huerta is very good as the somber, restless Mendel. Gabino Rodriguez (recently in the deadpan Fauna and a very scary villain in Sin Nombre) brightens the Michoacán segment.

I first saw Son of Monarchs at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM). It’s now streaming on HBO Max.

FAUNA: how droll can you get?

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Gabino Rodriguez and Luisa Pardo in Nicolás Pereda’s FAUNA. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

In Fauna, Luisa (Luisa Pardo) and her boyfriend Paco (Francisco Barreiro), both actors, visit Luisa’s remote Mexican hometown and meet up with her brother (Gabino Rodriguez), stepping into humor even drier than the parched landscape. They intend to visit Luisa’s parents (Teresa Sanchez and José Rodríguez López).

Paco wanders into the town, looking for some smokes. He meets an older man, who makes the encounter unnecessarily awkward. It turns out that the man was his girlfriend’s father.

Luisa runs some lines with her mom, and it’s clear to the audience that the mom is much better than the “professional actress”.

In the highlight of Fauna, the three guys go out for a beer. The dad is fascinated by Paco’s tiny role in a big episodic TV series and has him “perform” in the cantina. It’s a masterpiece of cringe humor and comic timing.

José Rodríguez López, always deadpan, is hilarious as Luisa’s dad. Where has this actor been? Despite being nominated for a 1991 Ariel (Mexico’s Oscar) for his first movie performance, Fauna is only his seventh feature film.

More than halfway though, Fauna pivots. Luisa’s brother has been reading a mystery , and the film begins to mirror the book. The deadpan continues throughout all of Fauna’s 70 minutes.

Mexican-born writer-director Nicolás Pereda lives in Toronto, and Fauna competed as a Canadian film at the Toronto Film Festival.

I screened Fauna at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM). It’s been released into some theaters, but is hard to find.

MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY: a simmering romantic reunion

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Idella Johnson, Sivan Noam Shimon and Hannah Pepper in Marion Hill’s film MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY. Courtesy of SFILM.

In the beginning of the simmering romantic drama Ma Belle, My Beauty, the New Orleans musicians Bertie (Idella Johnson) and Fred (Lucien Guignard) receive a surprise visitor. Fred, the band leader and Bertie, the vocalist, have married and relocated their jazz band to a rambling French farmhouse owned by Fred’s parents. Both the marriage and the move were Bertie’s idea, but now she’s depressed and no longer working with the band.

We learn that Bertie, while involved with Fred, had a simultaneous relationship with Lane (Hannah Pepper), until Lane starting dating another woman. Now Lane is single again, and Fred, hoping to shake Bertie out of her depression, has invited Lane to visit and surprise Bertie.

A surprise it is, and not altogether welcome. Bertie tells Hannah that Bertie’s happiness does not depend on either Fred or Lane – but is that true? And is Lane really willing to accept a non-exclusive relationship? And who is whose creative muse?

Bertie and Hannah spar, Hannah has a noisy fling with another guest, sexual tensions simmer, and before you know it, somebody is harnessing on the strap-on.

Almost all the action takes place at the farmhouse and the setting is sumptuous – Grade A Travel Porn. The farm is located in Anduze, France, at the very edge of the Rhone Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Cévennes.

Ma Belle, My Beauty is the first feature by writer-director Marion Hill, and it won an audience award at Sundance. I screened Ma Belle, My Beauty at SFFILM, and, in the Q&A, Marion Hill said that she was seeking to shoot a film in this idyllic French location, along with aspiring to explore the post-breakup dynamics of polyamorous women.

There’s a touch of jazz in Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Idella Johnson’s vocal performance shine.

The setting may be languid, but we know that Hill’s characters may erupt in passion at any moment. Ma Belle, My Beauty is a gorgeous, sexy, character-driven film. I screened Ma Belle, My Beauty at the 2021 SFFILM.