The Memory of Water – The Movie Gourmet

2016 at the Movies: most overlooked

December 30, 2016 by movie gourmet

CHEVALIER. Photo courtesy of Strand Releasing

This blog exists because I’m an evangelist for outstanding films that may be overlooked by people who will appreciate them. You don’t need ME to tell you that Loving and La La Land are good movies. What’s important to me is that you don’t miss the less well-known gems:

The character-driven crime drama Hell or High Water has topped my list of Best Movies of 2016 – So Far since I saw it on Labor Day Weekend. It’s now available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
Chevalier is a sly and pointed exploration of male competitiveness. Director Athina Rachel Tsangari is obviously a keen observer of male behavior. Both men and women will enjoy laughing at male behavior taken to extreme. I sure did. Chevalier is perhaps the funniest movie of 2016, and it’s on my list of Best Movies of 2016 – So Far. I’m hoping that its popularity explodes now that it’s available to rent on DVD from Netflix and to stream from Netflix Instant, Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The Hollars is an unabashed crowd pleaser with a great cast, especially the irreplaceable Margot Martindale.
San Jose native Matt Sobel’s impressive directorial debut Take Me To the River is entirely fresh. Not one thing happens in Take Me to the River that you can predict, and it keeps the audience off-balance and completely engaged. You can stream Take Me to the River on Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play or rent the DVD from Netflix.
NUTS! is the persistently hilarious (and finally poignant) documentary about the rise and fall of a medical and radio empire – all built on goat testicle “implantation” surgery in gullible humans.
The highly original documentary Tower retells the story of a famous mass shooting without dwelling on the shooter.
All the Way is a thrilling political docudrama with a stellar performance. It’s the story of President Lyndon Baines Johnson, warts and all, ending official racial segregation in America with the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Bryan Cranston brings LBJ alive as no actor has before.

These three Cinequest films haven’t gotten an US release, either in theaters or on video. But they are excellent enough to make my list of the year’s best. Here’s hoping that you will be able to see them soon, too. Stay tuned, and I’ll let you know.

The Memory of Water: This Chilean drama explores grief, its process and its impact, and was the most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016. Exquisite.
Magallanes: Another Cinequest film, this Peruvian psychological drama is about those wrongs that cannot be righted.
Lost Solace: Writer-director Chris Scheuerman’s brilliant debut is a highly original psychological thriller. Premiered at Cinequest.

Andrew Jenkins in Chris Scheuerman's brilliant debut LOST SOLACE — Andrew Jenkins in Chris Scheuerman’s brilliant debut LOST SOLACE

Best Movies of 2016 – So Far

July 10, 2016 by movie gourmet

Instead of waiting for my year-end Top Ten list, I keep a running list throughout the year: Best Movies of 2016 – So Far. At year’s end, my list usually is comprised of 20-25 films with an Official Top Ten. I’ll also be updating my list throughout the year as films become available to stream or to rent on DVD. Right now, my list includes:

The Memory of Water
Eye in the Sky
Magallanes
Chevalier
Weiner
Frank & Lola
Take Me to the River
Lost Solace
Green Room

I usually start my list in April or May, and I don’t think that I’ve ever waited until July before. I guess that’s because none of these early-in-the-year releases have popped out at me like Ex Machina from last year, Boyhood or Ida from 2014, Blue Is the Warmest Color or The Hunt (2013), Winter’s Bone (2010) and the like. But these are all really, really excellent films.

Eye in the Sky and Take Me to the River are available streaming or on DVD right now, (see Best Movies of 2016 – So Far for details) and Frank & Lola will be in theaters later this year.

I’m self-conscious about how many of these films can’t be seen right now (or maybe ever) because they don’t have US distribution. I really try NOT to be precious and list a bunch of super obscure films. I’m particularly wringing my hands over three gems from Cinequest – The Memory of Water from Chile, Magallanes from Peru and the Canadian indie Lost Solace. But I’m pretty sure that you’ll be able to find the rest of the movies on my list by year’s end.

I’m still waiting to see many, many contenders for my year-end list, including film festival favorites Loving, Manchester By the Sea, The Birth of a Nation and Toni Erdmann. I also reserve the right to reshuffle the list.

Cinequest 2016: Festival Wrap-up

March 13, 2016 by movie gourmet

We’ve completed a strong Cinequest 2016, and I’ve seen 36 feature films. All of my features on this year’s fest , along with recommendations on over twenty Cinequest 2016 films are on my CINEQUEST page. Here are the festival highlights (and lowlights).

PERSONAL FAVORITE: I loved writer-director Chris Scheuerman’s brilliant debut – the highly original psychological thriller Lost Solace.

BEST OF THE FEST: The Memory of Water: This Chilean drama explores grief, its process and its impact and was the most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016. Exquisite.

BIG MOVIES: The selection of this year’s Spotlight Films, the prime-time movies shown at the California Theatre, may have been Cinequest’s most successful ever. Cinequest programmers led off with a home run with the Opening Night rouser Eye in the Sky, the thriller-meets-thinker from Oscar-winning director Gavin Hood. The screening was preceded by Cinequest co-founder Halfdan Hussey’s interview of Hood, which was probably also the best ever on-stage interview in festival history.

The Cinequest audience also loved the next Spotlight Film, the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave. Arnaud Desplechin’s affecting coming of age film My Golden Days was also popular. I liked James Franco and loved Ed Harris in The Adderall Diaries. Cinequest’s Closing Night feature, the Australian drama The Daughter, packed a powerfully emotional punch.

BIGGEST SENSATION: The hard-hitting and often excruciating Love Is All You Need?, the exploration of homophobic bullying and hate crimes, will be the Cinequest film that gets the most national attention.

MOST IMPRESSIVE DEBUT: Along with Lost Solace, I was also impressed by Chris Brown’s The Other Kids and Lori Stoll’s Heaven’s Floor.

BEST FOREIGN FILM: Along with The Memory of Water, I most admired Magallanes, a Peruvian psychological drama about those wrongs that cannot be righted. Magallanes won the jury award for international cinema. I also enjoyed the sex, intrigue and murder in the operatic Hungarian period drama Demimonde.

COMEDY: There really wasn’t a Can’t Miss comedy this year, but fans of absurdist deadpan comedy had The Modern Project and Lost in Munich. My Guilty Pleasure was the deliciously low brow A Beginner’s Guide to Snuff.

BEST ROMANCE: We don’t always have an extremely strong romance at the festival, but the Hungarian Fever at Dawn was just that – an urgent period romance between Holocaust survivors, with an unexpected nugget at the end.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: If I had to pick just one, it would be Chuck Norris vs. Communism, but I also liked Dan and Margot, The Promised Band and The Brainwashing of My Dad.

WORST OF THE FEST: Thankfully, there were not many stinkers at this year’s fest, but Remember Me was a disappointing clunker and The Blackcoat’s Daughter was utterly wretched.

See you at Cinequest 2017.

Cinequest at mid-festival

March 13, 2016March 7, 2016 by movie gourmet

We’re halfway through Cinequest 2016. What are the biggest hits and the most delightful surprises?

BIG MOVIES

Cinequest programmers hit a home run with the Opening Night rouser Eye in the Sky, the thriller-meets-thinker from Oscar-winning director Gavin Hood. The screening was preceded by Cinequest co-founder Halfdan Hussey’s interview of Hood, which was probably the best ever on-stage interview in festival history (at least that I have seen).

The Cinequest audience also loved another Spotlight Film, the Norwegian disaster movie The Wave.

INDIES

Film festivals are very important to first-time directors, and Cinequest 2016 has hosted some world premieres of two wonderful debuts:

Love Is All You Need?: The hard hitting exploration of homophobic bullying and hate crimes is the most sensational film at Cinequest. COme to think of it, “hard hitting” is an understatement.
Lost Solace: Highly original psychological thriller and a brilliant directorial debut – my personal favorite so far at this years festival.
Heaven’s Floor: Absorbing and character-driven autobiographical drama about a most complicated woman and the choices that indelibly affect several lives.

WORLD CINEMA

As usual, Cinequest is screening some real gems from other nations. The best have been:

The Memory of Water: This Chilean drama explores grief, its process and its impact and might just be most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016. Exquisite. Probbly the best cinematic achievement at this year’s Cinequest.
Demimonde: Sex, intrigue and murder in this operatic Hungarian period drama.
Magallanes: A Peruvian psychological drama about those wrongs that cannot be righted.
Fever at Dawn: Urgent period romance between Holocaust survivors, with an unexpected nugget at the end.

DOCUMENTARIES

The usual solid batch of Cinequest docs:

Chuck Norris vs. Communism: The subversive impact of movies (ANY movies) on a culture-starved society.
Dan and Margot: A very personal look at schizophrenia from the schizophrenic’s point of view.
The Promised Band: A group of Israeli and Palestinian women seek to fight through the cultural, legal, political, military and security barriers between them by forming a girl band.
The Brainwashing of My Dad: Personalizes the effects of right-wing media on mood and personality as well as on the political culture.
Gordon Getty: There Will Be Music: Insights into the quiet passion and creative process of a most unusual classical composer.

WOMEN FILMMAKERS

This year, Cinequest presents the world or US premieres of sixty features and sixty-nine shorts. And of these 129 premieres, 64 were directed by women! These include Love Is All You Need?, Heaven’s Floor, The Brainwashing of My Dad, Dan and Margot and The Promised Band.

STILL TO COME

I’ve only seen The Daughter so far, but these upcoming films look promising:

February (Shipka Kiernan from Mad Men, Emma Roberts) March 12; and
The Adderall Diaries (James Franco, who will be making a personal appearance) March 12;
The Little Prince (already spoken of as a contender for the 2017 Animated Feature Oscar) March 13.
The Daughter: Based on an Ibsen play, this Australian drama is Cinequest’s Closing Night film and packs a powerfully emotional punch. March 13.

Bookmark my Cinequest 2016 page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitter for the latest.

Today, March 2 at Cinequest

March 2, 2016 by movie gourmet

It’s World Cinema day at Cinequest, as the fest rolls out its strongest foreign films. Here are my picks:

The Memory of Water: This Chilean drama explores grief, its process and its impact and might just be most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016. Exquisite.
Demimonde: Sex, intrigue and murder in this operatic Hungarian period drama. U.S. Premiere.
Fever at Dawn: Urgent period romance between Holocaust survivors, with an unexpected nugget at the end.
Parabellum: This absurdist and trippy Argentine drama is set in a pre-apocalyptic near future; clearly everyone should be panicking, but no one is.

Bookmark my Cinequest 2016 page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitter for the latest.

Cinequest: THE MEMORY OF WATER

March 2, 2016March 1, 2016 by movie gourmet

The most masterful filmmaking achievement at Cinequest 2016 might just be the Chilean drama The Memory of Water by Matias Bize. The Memory of Water is an exploration of grief, its process and its impact. After all, the individuals who make up couples grieve in different ways and at different paces.

We meet a couple (Benjamin Vicuña and Elena Anaya) who has recently experienced a tragedy. He is undertaking an everyday task. She is (literally) revisiting the tragedy. Director Bize brilliantly takes us to the wall in the home where parents record the height of their growing kid – the camera scans up the marks for 2, 2/12, 3, 3 1/2 and then stops after 4. We understand.

The husband is extremely sensitive and tries his best to comfort her. It’s not enough. She tells him that he needs to cry just once. The movie is his journey to being able to cry that one time.

We see him at work, faced with something that reminds him of the tragedy, She is a medical translator and, in the most heartrending scene, must maintain her poise to get through a task that no one should be asked to perform. There’s an explosive sex scene, beautifully shot in red light, that’s all about the release of passion in an encounter that is itself passionless and meaningless.

And we see water. Water that evokes tragic memory. And water in a different form that brings joyful memory. And, finally, water in a scene of closure.

The Memory of Water explores the same ground as Rabbit Hole, the excellent Nicole Kidman/Aaron Eckhardt film based on David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning play. But The Memory of Water is better cinema.

The 35-year-old Bize (The Life of Fish) is a major filmmaking talent. The Memory of Water is a Must See at this year’s Cinequest and screens on March 2, 10 and 12.

https://youtu.be/6ygJP2p5eqI