MSPIFF, Part One

Being the first installment of short commentaries on films that have played at the just-completed Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival.

1. "Wah-Wah". The title is the equivalent among upper-crust British in the African colonies of "Yaddah-yaddah"... as in "It's all just a lot of wah-wah". The writing and directring debut of actor Richard E. Grant, "Wah-Wah" is the semi-autobiographical story of his growing up in the African colonies. The film may very well be an accurate portrait of Grant's youth, but it doesn't always make for an absorbing film... Grant's surrogate character is pretty much your generic resentful kid, Gabriel Byrne as his father seems to think that his being an alcoholic for most of the film gives him license to over-act as broadly as he feels like, and Miranda Richardson as his first wife is your typical movie witch (or similar word). However, Emily Watson is absolutely spot-on as Byrne's second wife, a brash American barging into this outpost of dignity and upsetting everything. Unlike Byrne, she reigns herself in just enough (in spite of the outgoing nature of her character) to make you forget you're watching Emily Watson performing and just see the character. You might wind up just a bit teary-eyed at the end, but that will probably be more of a tribute to Watson than anything else.

2. "John & Jane Toll-Free". A documentary from India about several native Indian citizens who work for one of those American call-in centers that you reach whenever you order something you've seen on TV. The film takes a fascinating look at how people of other nations, who have lived in and absorbed the native culture of their own land for more than 20 years, can find themselves not merely absorbing that of a different nation, but actually becoming ashamed of being who they are and trying to pretend to be "the other". One of the workers even talks about how he has no desire at all to have any contact with his fellow Indians or their society and wishes he could literally live in the call-in center so he'd never have to go out into the world surrounding him. For those who don't think globalization can ever be a bad thing, "John & Jane Toll-Free" might give you some second thoughts about how America is trying to gradually become the entire world, and the frightening extent to which it's succeeding.

3. "Shanghai Dreams". Many urban families relocated to the countryside during China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960's and 70's, and not all of them became adjusted to their new environment. "Shanghai Dreams" tells the story of a father who still longs to return to Shanghai some 15 years later and resents the wife who persuaded him to agree to move in the first place. On the other hand, his teenage daughter was born in the small community in which they now reside, and considers it her home... she loathes the very idea of moving back to Shanghai. A relatively typical dysfunctional family (people may not be totally alike all over, but sometimes it's close) has some unique elements added to their story by the cultural and historical context as well as some nicely restrained acting and directing to result in a "family" movie of definitely above average interest.

4. "A World Without Thieves". Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau stars as a dedicated professional thief working various scams with his increasingly reluctant girlfriend, who wants out of the game. The two of them encounter an extremely innocent (you mnight say naive) young man one day in their travels who is carrying his vast life's savings with him on his way home to get married (the young man believes nobody would think of stealing it from him and believes he lives in "A world without thieves", a notion of which Lau longs to cure him). The job is complicated by the fact that a totally different set of thieves have also set their sites on the man. It can't really be disputed that this film is very much a commercial effort, down to Lau's starring role... nothing of the art film here. That being said, it's still a well-made one, with attention to the smallest details in the story, casting, and all other elements. It moves along at the kind of brisk pace a film like this should and gets the viewer caught up in the complicated scheming and counter-scheming. Hong Kong commercial film making has been going through some difficult times at the box office in recent years, but it's still in strong creative shape if this film is anything to go by.

5. "The Hidden Blade". A few years ago, there was a Japanese film called "The Twilight Samurai" that was nominated for a foreign language film Oscar (and should have won), that played around with accepted notions of what a Samurai film is supposed to be while still exemplifying all the qualities of the best of such films. The same director now brings us "The Hidden Blade", and once again works the same kind of magic he did in his earlier work. At the heart of "The Hidden Blade" is an impossible love story between a dedicated, loyal Samurai and a housekeeper who, being of a different caste, is forbidden to him. The film also tells the story of a man who has dedicated his life to the service of a profession and a government governed by a rigid code of honor, and what happens when he finds that those he has been serving are not nearly as honorable as he had thought (no, I'm not suggesting there are any parallels here for the associates of George W. Bush to think about... no, not at all). And as if all of this wasn't enough, it's also a story that mourns the passing of an era... it's set in the same time as Tom Cruise's "The Last Samurai" (and is of course a much better film), as Western weaponry is entering Japan for the first time and changing the function and purpose of the Samurai (and as a result giving the film some moments of slapstick humor as the Samurai forces try to master the use of this unfamiliar technology). All of these very disparate elements are blended together smoothly and seamlessly into a genuine modern masterwork about a very human man trying maintain his beliefs and dignity as he's swept up into all kinds of vast events beyond his control. And, by the way... there is ONE major duel in the film (only one), but it's almost at the very end of the film. I TOLD you this was a director who likes to play with people's preconceived ideas of Samurai films. "The Hidden Blade" is a truly outstanding film, and one of the two best of the ten films I saw at this year's Festival.

Coming soon, reviews of the other five films I saw at this year's Fest, including the other of the two best... as well as reviews of a couple of new releases including "Thank You For Smoking" and "Friends With Money". Be here, or you'll regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon, and for the rest of your life.