The Anti-Blockbuster: European Films On American Screens

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

Summer is the traditional time at movie multiplexes for blockbuster films from the Hollywood studios that tend to focus more on explosions and special effects than effective storylines. While there is no denying the box office clout of such films as TRANSFORMERS, TERMINATOR SALVATION and WOLVERINE, there are some less deafening art films that are also being released on American screens. Call it counter-programming, a strategy of offering a breather from the summer staples, that is proving to be an effective marketing ploy. Films that appeal to adults and to sophisticated tastes in the heart of summer.....who knew?

This week alone two French films have opened to rapturous reviews. THE BEACHES OF AGNES, an impressionistic documentary essay film by Nouvelle Vague favorite Agnes Varda, has captured the imagination of the arthouse crowd and is proving to be a summer sleeper hit.

THE GIRL FROM MONACO, a splashy romancier by Anne Fontaine, provides the requisite helping of sex, seduction and romantic settings that appeal to the Francophile crowd.

These two new entries come on the heels of several other French films that have remained remarkably popular in the light of so much Hollywood competition. One of the big hits of the summer season has been the film SUMMER HOURS by Olivier Assayas. The film opened back in May and continues a remarkable run that has yielded almost $2 million at the American box office. SERAPHINE, the celebrated biopic of outsider artist Seraphine Louis directed by Martin Provost, has also been a strong contender this season, as it expands its run outside of the traditional centers of New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago to become a modest but well esteemed arthouse hit.

Other European titles filling the void include CHERI, the Stephen Frears-Christopher Hampton adaptation of twin novels by French writer Colette that explores the fevered relationship between an aging courtesan (Michelle Pfeiffer) and her immature younger lover (Rupert Friend) in fin-de-siecle Paris; DEAD SNOW, a Norwegian horror satire by Tommy Wirkola populated by Nazi zombies (!!!) who terrorize a small town; LAILA'S BIRTHDAY, a Dutch/Palestine co-production by director Rashid Masharawi about the strange and disorienting everyday life for Palestinians in the Israel-occupied West Bank; MOON, a sci-fi meditation on loneliness and futuristic alienation by UK director Duncan Jones; and QUIET CHAOS, a slice-of-life Italian drama starring Nanni Moretti and directed by Antonello Grimaldi.

Add to this the retrospective of the existential films of Russian auteur Andrei Tarkovsky at New York's Film Society of Lincoln Center (and scheduled to do a national tour) and one finds that amdist the cyborgs and superheros, that summer movie-going (of a more discriminate palette) has its own pleasures.

Andrei Tarkovsky In The New York Spotlight

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

There are few filmmakers more controversial or more "difficult" for mainstream audiences to appreciate than the Russian existential master Andrei Tarkovsky. His films are indeed an acquired taste, but for those willing to take the complex cinematic journeys, there are many rewards to be had. A Tarkovsky fan is indeed a Tarkovsky fanatic, and the Film Society of Lincoln Center in New York provides both devoted fans and those new to this important oeuvre a rare opportunity to sample the master's handiwork.

No less a film giant than Ingmar Bergman praised his Russian counterpart as a "master who invented a new film language." First and foremost a visual artist, Tarkovsky invested a mystery and melancholy in his films that shone a light on the human condition and the aspiration for belief in something greater than ourselves. The Film Society of Lincoln Center brings back the complete oeuvre of this astonishing artist in REVISITING TARKOVSKY, an eight film series beginning on Tuesday, 7 July.

Showcasing all seven of the auteur's landmark films, the series will also premiere Dmitry Trakovsky's provocative new documentary, MEETING ANDREI TARKOVSKY, featuring rare interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. The series opens with the director's 1962 debut IVAN'S CHILDHOOD, a coming of age story which earned the 30 year-old director the coveted Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.

The series also features the director's best-known film, SOLARIS (1972), a sci-fi classic based on a novel by the great Polish writer Stanislaw Lem. Considered a spiritual cousin to Stanley Kubrick's landmark 2001 A SPACE ODYSSEY, the film uses space bound scientist Chris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) as a medium for viewers to meditate on the ideas of perception, relationships and love. The film was later remade by Tarkovsky fan Steven Soderbergh in 2002, with George Clooney as the existential astronaut.

One of Tarkovsky's most controversial films was produced two years later. THE MIRROR (1974) is a loosely autobiographical and experimental film based on his father's poetic writings. Taking close to ten years to come to fruition, and banned by the Soviet film ministry on the eve of its Cannes Premiere, Tarkovsky's masterwork has developed a cult reputation among cinephiles.

The series also features rare screenings of ANDREI RUBLEV (1966), a sprawling tableau of the Russian icon painter that was mangled upon its initial release and later screened in a restored 205-minute cut; STALKER (1979), a sci-fi twinged thriller about a town that has been unalterably changed by a cosmic event; NOSTALGHIA (1983), a meditation on human relationships starring one of Russia's most famous actors, Oleg Yankovsky, opposite the Swedish actor Erland Josephson; and Tarkovsky's final film THE SACRIFICE (1986), a cri de coeur against nuclear proliferation that embodied the director's fears for the future and belief in the essential goodness of mankind.

For more information, visit the website of the Film Society of Lincoln Center: www.filmlinc.com

European Films Highlight Tribute To Strand Releasing

by Sandy Mandelberger, North American Editor

Being an independent distributor of European films in the American market is more a labour of love than it is a ticket to monied success. Among the most hard-working and celebrated of these arthouse distribution companies is Los Angeles-based Strand Releasing, which is receiving a 20th anniversary tribute next week at the prestigious Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

MoMA is presenting a six-film showcase of recent titles from Strand Releasing in the exhibition Carte Blanche: Marcus Hu and Jon Gerrans, the names of the co-founders of the company. Strand Releasing has been at the forefront of independent and arthouse cinema, with a particular focus on films with gay content and by gay filmmakers. Founding their visionary company in 1989, Marcus Hu and Jon Gerrans have since maintained a dedication to risk-taking directors who privilege innovation and authenticity over commerciality.

Although the company has distinguished itself with contemporary films from around the world, it has always had a strong focus and allegiance to the new European cinema. Included in the six-film tribute, programmed by Hu and Gerrans themselves, are such landmark European titles as LE TEMPS QUI RESTE (Time To Leave), an existential meditation on death, eroticism and the human legacy by French filmmaker Francois Ozon; AUF DER ANDEREN DER ANDEREN SEITE (The Edge of Heaven, 2007), Turkish/German director Fatih Akin's award-winning look at cross-culturalism in the new Europe, with an outstanding cast led by actress Hannah Schygulla; and AVANT QUE J'OUBLIE (Before I Forget, 2008), a semi-autobiographical memory film about an aging gay gigolo, written and directed by and starring Jacques Nolot.

Several European co-productions that introduced international talents on the world film stage are also included in the tribute, including SUD PRALAD (Tropical Malady, 2004), Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Thai/French co-production about the mystical love affair between a young soldier and the country boy he seduces.; the French/Taiwan co-production TIAN BIAN YI DUO YUN (The Wayward Cloud, 2005), an erotic musical fantasy about a jaded porn film star that established the international reputation of Taiwanese writer/director Tsai Ming-Liang; and Argentine director Lucrecia Martel's LA MUJER SIN CABEZA (The Headless Woman, 2008), an arresting film about a bourgeois woman who loses all sense of memory, that was co-produced with Spain, France and Italy.

Strand Releasing remains quite active in the current theatrical marketplace, with plans to release the following European films in the next few months, including A WOMAN IN BERLIN (Max Foberbock, Germany), LE CHANT DES MARRIES (Karin Albou, Tunisia/France), and DONNE-MOI LA MAIN (Give Me Your Hand, Pascal Alex-Vincent, France). For more information on the Museum of Modern Art program, visit: http://www.moma.org/. For more information on Strand Releasing, visit: http://www.strandrel.com/