AFI FEST - Sunday Picks
by Andre Soares
A few picks for today at the AFI FEST:
Directed by Nicholas Hytner, and starring Richard Griffiths, Clive Merrison, and Frances de la Tour, the dramatic comedy The History Boys (12:30pm) was written by Alan Bennett from his own Tony Award-winning play about eight young students trying to get into college. The film has received 4 nominations for the British Independent Film Awards, including Best Actress (de la Tour) and Best Screenplay (Bennett).
At 1:30pm, one can travel back in time to the ancient world of Rolf de Heer’s Ten Canoes, which tells a story within a story within a story that isn’t much of a story at all. But if Ten Canoes is lacking in terms of plot and drama, it offers an unsentimental, unflinching look at a culture — belonging to one of Australia’s aboriginal groups — that has nearly vanished off the face of the planet.
I found the rhythm of Ten Canoes much too slow, especially at the end, but the film is still worth a look because it shows how human beings can be so different from "us" and at the same time be so very much like "us." (I have the "us" in quotes because, after all, those spear-throwing, goose-egg hunting, big-headed people in de Heer’s film are "us," too.) Ten Canoes is Australia’s submission for this year’s Foreign Language Film Academy Award.
Based on director Szabolcs Hajdu’s brother’s experiences, Fehér tenyér / White Palms (6:45pm) follows a talented Hungarian gymnast who, left traumatized by an abusive teacher, strives to regain his passion for the sport after emigrating to Canada. The film is Hungary’s submission for this year’s Foreign Language Film Academy Award. (The AFI FEST synopsis states that White Palms was nominated for an European Film Award for Best Film. It wasn’t, though it was in the running for a nomination in that category.)
Screenwriter-director Florian Henkel von Donnersmarck’s Das Leben der Anderen / The Lives of Others (6pm), a drama about the Stasi, East Germany’s feared state police-cum-spy agency, became a huge box-office hit in Germany and has been widely praised. The film won 7 Lolas (Germany’s Academy Awards), including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Ulrich Mühe), and Best Screenplay. Das Leben der Anderen is Germany’s submission for this year’s Foreign Language Film Academy Award, and has been nominated for 6 European Film Awards (out of a mere 7 categories), including Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor (Mühe), Best Actress (Martina Gedeck), and Best Screenplay.
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