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It’s festival time againHere’s a look at films at the Starz Denver Film FestivalGil Whiteley, DDN columnistFriday, November 13, 2009 |  | | Producers of the film “Precious,” Gary Magness, left, and wife Sarah Seigel Magness, center, with director Lee Daniels, right, pose for cameras during the Red Carpet on opening night at the Starz Denver Film Festival at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House yest |
Starz presents the 2009 Starz Denver Film Festival, and we’re all the better for it. It’s festival time again, and Denver will be lit up with some incredible and innovative films until Nov. 22. If you haven’t been a festival attendee in the past, then you are missing out.
I have been screening films from the festival for the past month and have seen some really entertaining films, which I will chronicle here. This is a guide of the films I have seen and will hopefully give you an idea of what you want to see over the next 10 days.
Here goes. I will be rating these films with a scale of 10 stars. Seven stars is a solid recommend, eight is Oscar worthy, and Casablanca got nine from me, but it not in this festival.
Films
“American Faust”: From Condi to Neo Condi, if you are a liberal then you may love this film. This is an attack on former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice; it’s full of accusations and people who have an axe to grind. Condi Rice served this country to the best of her ability, and deserves better than this. If you’re a liberal this movie rates eight stars. I give it four stars Ń now you know where I sit.
“Black Box”: This is a thriller out of Mexico, and this is from the mind of director Ariel Gordon. This is a political thriller, which pits a common man who is dying in a plot to assassinate a former presidential candidate. Seven stars.
“Buick Riviera”: This is a Croatian film shot in the USA. Two men who are both Bosnia immigrants are tied together by a common language, but are from completely different political backgrounds. This is a duel of intellect from a couple of guys who are struggling to exist in a new world, and it all comes down to the ownership of an old but classic Buick Riviera. Six stars.
“Crossing”: This is a touching road trim film that touches us on many levels. Manny is about to become a father in Monterey, Mexico, on the same day his father sits in jail in Texas waiting to be executed. Manny isn’t ready for the responsibility of fatherhood but must fight his own demons on his road trip to discovery. Seven stars.
“Eccentricities of a Blond Hair Girl”: An not engaging film about a man who falls in love with a girl he sees out the window of his office. He knows nothing about her but is totally fascinated by her looks, which are just OK. This is a shallow film with poor production values and a peculiar ending. Don’t waste you time. Four stars.
“Everybody’s Fine”: Things don’t always turn out in life the way we plan them. Sometimes you just have to settle for the truth. Kirk Jones, who brought us “Waking Ned Devine” about 11 years ago, has developed a masterpiece. Robert De Niro is magnificent as Frank, the patriarch of a family that never really communicated with him. His wife of many years has recently passed away, and he has invited all of his adult children home for the holidays. None of them show, and they all give him lame and transparent excuses why they couldn’t come. Frank decides to surprise all of his children and visit them. Their lives are not what they seem, and they try to keep their failures from him. This is one of the year’s best films, and will be nominated for several Academy Awards, which will include a Best Actor nomination for De Niro and best director for Kirk Jones. Eight stars.
“Footprints”: This is a quirky but fascinating film set in the Hollywood I grew up with as a kid. A woman wakes up in the courtyard of Grauman’s Chinese Theater, literally on the footprints of movie stars gone by. She doesn’t remember who she is or why she is there. She is aided be several interesting people who have there own stories, which we learn about in due time. Particularly funny are the two Hollywood tour guides who hark back to films of yesteryear for analogies of almost every situation. My heart was glad to see a renovated Egyptian Theater, which is one of Hollywood’s greatest but almost always overlooked movie palaces. I saw my Fair Lady there in the first week of its theatrical release in 1964. For film historians this is a fun film, it’s a small film, but I loved it. Seven stars.
“Forgetting Dad”: A week after a freak automobile accident a man loses his memory and cannot remember the family he is living with. This is a documentary on how this man struggles to regain his life and his family’s support in him doing so. Fascinating film. Seven stars.
“The Girl on a Train”: This is a film based on a true story of a girl who is somehow seeking attention and makes up a story of Arab youths attacking her on a commuter train. She is thought to be a liar by most of the people around her, but the media picks up on the story and blows it out of proportion. Seven stars.
“Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench”: This is an attempt at art but turns out quite boring. Boy meets girl, boy loses girl, all in a black and white and filmed with hand held cameras. The film occasionally breaks out in song and dance with people who can’t do either particularly well. Five stars.
“Happy Tears”: Two sisters (Demi Moore and Parker Posey) trying to take care of their cantankerous father (Rip Torn). He’s eccentric to say the least, and his girlfriend (Ellen Barkin) seems to be taking advantage of him. Does dad really have a buried treasure in the back yard? No one thinks so, but it’s something to think about, and if he does, they need him to find it before he dies. Seven stars.
“Heiran”: A beautiful young Iranian student falls in love with an illegal Afghan man in a forbidden relationship. He has to leave the country, and she searches for him in vain. This is an interesting twist on the Romeo and Juliet theme that is touching and rings true. If this film is eligible for a best foreign language film, look for it to get a nomination as well. Try to catch this film. Eight stars.
“Last Conversation”: Johanna ter Steege gives an incredible one-woman performance in the “Last Conversation.” She is a woman traveling alone in her car, and we only hear her side of several conversations. She is brilliant and captivating. Seven stars.
“Memory”: This is a tale of love and loss. A woman loses her husband in a tragic accident, or did she? A year after he was thought to be dead, he shows up at a concert that his widowed wife is also attending. The problem is he doesn’t remember her, and she is adamant that he is her long lost husband, although he denies it. Somehow, he is still drawn to her, and they get involved. This is compelling stuff, and has an ending you don’t see coming. Eight stars.
“October Country”: This is a boring documentary about impoverished people who don’t seem to want to own up to their own plight. Circumstances are one thing, but these people are mired in self-loathing, and there is no way out. Very missable! What’s the point? Five stars.
“Passenger Side”: Two very different brothers spend the day together running errands. They run into some of the weirdest people in Los Angeles on their appointed rounds. The brothers clash about their lives and relationship. It’s very watchable, as you get drawn into their lives. Seven stars.
“Quest for Honor”: This is a horrifying documentary about the practice of honor killing in Kurdistan. For some reason in several Middle Eastern nations, killing wives because they bring dishonor to a family, no matter how small, is allowed. Girls are bought and sold as wives, and there is nothing they can do. This is an unsettling film about the plight of these women and the dilemma to even report about it. Very good film. Seven stars.
“Saint John of Las Vegas”: Steve Buscemi is a not-so-recovering gambler who is an insurance claims adjuster, and his job brings him back to Las Vegas Ń his living hell. His boss doesn’t want to pay any claims and considers them all frauds. It is his job to punch holes into the stories of the claimants. This is a very funny film with some odd characters. Seven stars.
“Solitary Man”: Michael Douglas is a man alone. He’s a former car dealer who has fallen on hard times, and all of his own doing. He may be the biggest philanderer ever captured on film, which is hilarious in and of itself. He’s on a spiral into oblivion and can’t find any ground to hold onto. The man is doomed to his own destruction. What happened to make him this way? It’s like watching a car wreck that you can’t do anything about. Douglas is terrific and is surrounded by a great ensemble of actors. Eight stars.
“Son of the Sunshine”: Sonny is suffering from Tourette syndrome, and let’s just say it complicates his life. In a series of vignettes he struggles with people who don’t understand his malady, and he deals with his eroding relationship with his girlfriend. It’s hard to watch at times, but I liked it. Seven stars.
“St. Nick”: A young boy and his sister are on their own to fend for themselves. They have to scrounge for food and places to sleep. They are in this together, and manage to find an abandoned house where they set up home. They know nothing of life, and have to live by instinct. This is a compelling film that draws you in, and you don’t know where it’s going to take you. Seven stars.
“Tahaan”: Tahaan is an 8-year-old boy who loves his pet donkey. It is unrightfully taken from him, and it is his quest to bring his donkey back home. Unfortunately he has to trek through war-torn Kashmir in winter to achieve his goal. A terrific performance by the young Purav Bhandare. Eight stars.
“That Evening Sun”: Hal Holbrook is wonderful as a man who wants to reclaim his life. He’s been put in a nursing home by his son, but isn’t ready for his destiny quite yet. He leaves the assisted living home and goes back to his real home, where he has spent his entire life, only to find out that it has been rented out to a family with a lowlife husband and father. Seven stars.
“Two Spirits”: A documentary of a transgender boy who is murdered by ignorant hate mongers. There is a Native American tradition of honoring men who are also in touch with their feminine side, and the life of this young boy is celebrated. Seven stars.
“The Vicious Kind”: Still suffering from a relationship breakup, Caleb warns his brother of the dangers of getting to close to the opposite sex. He goes to pick up his brother and his new girlfriend to bring them home for the holidays. He is immediately drawn to his brother’s girlfriend (a very hot Brittany Snow), but can’t keep himself from being rude to her. Caleb is a conflicted guy, who we find out about as the film progresses. J.K. Simmons is terrific as their father, who is at the heart of a lot of the confusion in these boys’/mens’ lives. Seven stars.
“West of Pluto”: Another Gus Van Sant vehicle that left me cold. It recreates incidences in the lives of teenagers in a suburban Quebec high school. Kids behaving badly in front of a camera, what a concept? Sorry, this is a miss. Five stars.
Ń Gil Whiteley reviews films and writes sports columns for the Denver Daily News. Listen to Whiteley every weekday at noon on “The Sports Nooner” on AM 1510 KCKK.
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