Austin Film Festival 2013 Day #1

I just love picking up our film passes at The Driskill, feeling the energy and anticipation of so many film lovers and creative writers and wannabe filmmakers who come to town to participate in this film festival.  I never mind all of the walking we do as we leave our car south of the River and run back and forth between theaters.  And now that we're here 4 years I just love running into all of the filmmakers and film lovers I've come to know.  I never mind waiting on line for an hour because the conversation is always so exciting.  Our picks today were quintessential NYC films.  No problems being seated at The STATE Theater or The Rollins.  The first film PUTZEL about a family's connection to a smoked fish store was heartfelt and amusing.  Wonderful memories for me the daughter of a smoked fish grocer.  Then we saw JACK, JULES, ESTHER and ME with a wonderful Q&A with the director, a private tutor of rich kids in NYC.  He captures the world of adolescents, both rich and ethnic working class in their unique worlds beautifully.  Tonight was a ride through NYC with some delightful films. And delightful conversations.

CAPTAIN PHILLIPS

Of course one cannot say enough about  Tom Hanks' performance.  He plays the "everyman" so naturally, respectfully and with enormous grace.  His humility and inner power comes shining through throughout this well shot film.  What I liked the best about this film (other than his performance) was the surprising story.  While the SEALS are presented as bigger than life hulks with brains (about rescue missions) had it not been for Captain Phillips' extraordinary bravery and personal choices we might have seen a different outcome.  To be able to fend off the gunshot from khat chewing terrorists who are crazed beyond belief required enormous survival tactics.  It was Captain Phillips who saved the day.  Do not miss this!

What Would Never Happen In New York #3

I would never ever be in a promo video for NYC Ballet.

 http://www.balletaustin.org/community/about.php

Short Term 12/Violet Crown

Anyone who has worked in a group home or residential treatment center with kids knows how this work changes you forever.  You will never ever assume that the world is a neutral place where kids grow up and can make the best of it.  You will have your eyes opened to the atrocities that occur within families and the evil that comes to fall on innocent kids.  The kids present you with so  much anger, mistrust, and  constant provocation and have such a hard time letting you get close. There are glimpses and moments of true affection.  But watch out.  Right after that moment they might steal money from you and you'll be pissed off again.  Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Short Term 12, spent two years working in a group home and has done a fine job of bringing you into that world.  So often the staff are young and idealistic just like I was in a group home for runaways in the Lower East Side of Manhattan many years ago. I come to films like this with a critical eye and Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. offer honest and gripping performances as the workers/lovers in this residence.  Keith Stanfield as an about to be aged out resident offers a wonderful performance as a brooding thoughtful and very hurt young man.  There is an original music score, fine photography and an important story to be told here.  Highly recommend this film to anyone interested in expanding their view of what happens in families.

Cutie and the Boxer/Violet Crown

We both loved this beautiful documentary shot in NYC for many reasons.  It portrays an 80y.o. man and his 59 y.o. wife as energetic, adorable, full of life with passion and strong opinions, and love of their art making careers.  Zachary Heinzerling shows us an imperfect marriage of 40 years whose foundation has persevered because of a wife's endurance.  We see a man whose desire to acclaim fame turns him into a narcissistic alcoholic who remains creatively productive, albeit an inadequate husband and parent.   I found this film exhilarating  because of it's honesty and more selfishly because I love and need to see older people living their lives free of all of the stereotypes we so often associate with older people.  There are no walkers, complaints about pain or non-visiting children. This is a beautiful portrayal of what happens in a marriage when people remain committed. More, more, more films like this say I.  Please?

Why you should see "The Butler'

If you weren't alive when this country was confronted by black Americans demanding their civil liberties in the 1960's then this is a film you should not miss.  The live footage of the confrontations, the freedom rides, the deplorable treatment of the brave souls who stood up to the violence of Jim Crow are all assembled here in this fictionalized account of a butler who made it to the White House.  You will cringe at the deplorable hateful behavior of southerners so threatened by integration.  You will see the seeds of anti-immigration sentiment and be aghast at the despicable behavior of Southerners when faced with a change in legislation ordered by the Federal government.  Oprah and Forest Whitaker perform beautifully.  Lee Daniels brings us our presidents from Eisenhower to Regan with humor and caricature.  For me this was not a creative or artistic endeavor.  This is a film about our history.  Sit back and become aware.  This is how I became a social worker.

'The Act of Killing' /Austin Film Society

AFS brought us a preview of Joel Oppenheimer's documentary last night prior to it's official opening in Austin next week with a very informative Q&A via SKYPE with Mr. Oppenheimer following the show. Having seen the executive producers Werner Herzog and Errol Morris discuss the film I was prepared for a powerful and painful to watch film about the death squads of Indonesia in the 1960's. The squads of gangsters hired by the military to rid the country of Communists. The ludicrous gangsters who perceived of themselves as the gangsters they knew from Western films.  Mr. Oppenheimer highlights these ruthless killers when he invites them to make a film about their experiences at the time.  These men continue to receive enormous notoriety and elevated social status in their country and have never been brought to justice despite the fact that a million people were killed.  We are also introduced to "respectable businessmen" with the same killer history who live highly respected lives elsewhere, return by plane, and discuss their involvement with great pride and defense of their acts.  Mr. Oppenheimer discusses his motivation to make this film with keen emotional intelligence and well thought out plans.  He is a humanist in the finest sense of the imagination.  And he uses filmmaking to explore the human condition and broaden our understanding of what is included in our capabilities as human beings.

Yet, what I was totally unprepared for was the feeling that I was watching  a horror movie.  The direction, staging, make-up, wardrobe, and use of non-actors including very small children to re-enact torture, death, terror, unbelievable fear all constituted the making of a horror film.  We hear Mr. Oppenheimer incredulously  pointing out to the lead subject who shall remain unnamed (I can't bear to see his name in print without a bounty on his head) that he is only acting his fear while the people he killed were really afraid.

This film was like returning to Germany and having the Nazi masterminds and murderers sitting in cafes, running for office, sending their children to college and being rewarded for their acts. For this family who came to exist because two people survived Hitler's death camps watching this film was particularly painful.  The comparison to Nazis who go unpunished is a very difficult concept for us.  I saw no remorse in any of the killers.  I thought the subject's dry heaving was dishonest and poorly acted. I hope this film infuriates the world and that the victims and survivors of these atrocities are alive to see justice served.

 It's not entertainment but go see this powerful film.  It's important.