AFI FEST 2007 – Thursday, Nov. 8
The AFI FEST 2007 is being held at the ArcLight theater complex in Hollywood.
Alexandra (above, Russia) at 1:30 p.m. – Alexander Sokurov weaves an anti-war story set at a Russian army camp in Chechnya, where Alexandra (Galina Vishnevskaya) goes visit her army officer grandson. At the camp, nobody wants the old lady. Nobody wants to go on fighting, either. In Russian with English subtitles. 92 min.
Irina Palm (Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg, UK) at 2:00 p.m. – Another grandmother-grandson love story, but with a twist. Veteran actress-singer and European Film Award nominee Marianne Faithfull (above) stars as a working-class grandma who loves her ailing grandson so much that, unable to get either a loan or a "regular" job to pay for the boy’s life-saving trip to an Australian medical facility, decides to work at a sex club — where she becomes the Best Wanker in London. Unfortunately, Irina Palm is neither as risqué nor as subversive as it sounds. In fact, this is one more in the series of naughty-cutesy comedy-dramas that have been made in the UK in the last decade or two. (Think The Full Monty.) It’s ideal Pedro Almodóvar material bowdlerized for the enjoyment of 11-year-olds and churchgoing old ladies. Sam Garbarski directed from a highly sentimental — and much-too-tame — screenplay by Martin Herron and Philippe Blasband. 103 min.
Shame (Sweden) at 3:00 p.m. – In Ingmar Bergman’s 1968 psychological drama, Liv Ullmann and Max von Sydow play a married couple whose lives are about to be turned upside by a world war. Hey, does it sound like the state of the world in 2007? Go check it out. In Swedish with English subtitles. 103 min.
Afghan Muscles (Denmark) at 4:00 p.m. – Andreas Mol Dalsgaard’s documentary shows male bodybuilding in Afghanistan, supposedly a very popular activity in that country. In the film, buffed-up guys parade around in Speedos to the delight of their (male) audience. In English / Pashto with English subtitles. 58 min.
The Aerial (Argentina) at 6:45 p.m. – Esteban Sapir’s surreal film is set in a city where people have lost their voices, though they apparently can — literally — read what each other is saying. According to AFI FEST reviewer Jacqueline Lyanga, The Aerial has touches of Georges Méliès‘ A Trip to the Moon, Luis Buñuel’s Un chien andalou, Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin, and Fritz Lang’s Metropolis. In Spanish with English subtitles. 90 min.
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (France) at 7:00 p.m. – For this film, Julian Schnabel won a best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. That is hardly surprising, but for all the wrong reasons. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly exemplifies the sort of self-conscious filmmaking that calls attention to itself — funky camera angles, funky music, funky editing — so as to disguise the vacuousness of the material. The screenplay is based on an autobiographical book: Elle editor Jean-Dominique Bauby suffers a stroke, ends up paralyzed but manages to write said book by blinking one eyelid. Those who thought that Schnabel’s Before Night Falls actually had something to say about the human condition will probably love this. Others might want to look for entertainment/enlightenment elsewhere. Now, I must add that no movie with the superb Marie-Josée Croze can be a total waste of time. She’s in this one, playing a nurse. Too bad The Diving Bell and the Butterfly isn’t about her. Also in the cast: Mathieu Amalric (as Bauby), Emmanuelle Seigner, Anne Consigny, Marina Hands, and Max von Sydow. In French with English subtitles. 111 min.
Look (US) at 9:30 p.m. – Adam Rifkin’s film follows different people whose lives have one thing in common: they have been watched, are being watched, or will be watched by those pesky surveillance cameras. Note: Look is shot entirely from the point of view of the cameras. 93 min.
Tom Cruise, Meryl Streep, Robert Redford at LIONS FOR LAMBS Premiere
AFI FEST 2007 – Wednesday, Nov. 7
HOLLYWOOD CHINESE at the AFI FEST 2007
AFI FEST 2007 – International Shorts Competition
AFI FEST 2007 – Saturday Highlights
American Film Market Public Screenings – Friday
AFI FEST 2007 – Latin Showcase
AFI FEST 2007 – American Showcase
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