AFI Fest: True stories

Travelling home to visit friends and family, it's helpful that I was born in Los Angeles! Not only does this offer a chance to escape to the sunshine during London's drearier seasons, but I can also catch up on film industry stuff while I'm out here. This trip coincided with AFI Fest, which is held at the Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, so I booked in to see five films (there were about 15 that I wanted to see!). Four of them had cast and crew Q&As, and as three of the films are based on true stories, the real people participated as well, which added huge emotions to the screenings. Photos are on the Insta feed (see below). Here are some comments, with full reviews to come...

Society of the Snow [La Sociedad de la Nieve]

dir JA Bayona; with Enzo Vogrincic, Agustin Pardella 23/Sp ****
Taking on another momentous true story (see The Impossible), Spanish filmmaker JA Bayona finds a visceral, authentically immersive path through a retelling of the 1972 plane crash that stranded Uruguayan rugby players high in the Chilean Andes. Through a series of harrowing events, the film pulls the audience into the emotional complexity of a situation far beyond what we can imagine. It’s bracingly involving, riveting and ultimately cathartic.

Me Captain
[Io Capitano]

dir Matteo Garrone; with Seydou Sarr, Moustapha Fall 23/It ****.

Taking a bracingly naturalistic approach, Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone traces the immigrant journey from West Africa to Europe, drawing details and perspective from real-life experiences. Intensely personal, the film finds global resonance in its specific story of a 16-year-old whose innate hopefulness is beaten and battered but never extinguished over the course of an astonishing odyssey. This gives the film a soaring humanity.

Lee

dir Ellen Kuras; with Kate Winslet, Josh O'Connor 23/UK ***.

Noted photographer Lee Miller is the subject of this detailed biopic, which centres on a pivotal period in time to deliver an emotional punch. Director Ellen Kuras approaches the story skilfully, finding clever resonance in several intense set-pieces, even if the script is never particularly ambitious with the material. And Kate Winslet delivers another powerfully invested performance as a complex woman who plotted her own course through life.

Memory

dir-scr Michel Franco; with Jessica Chastain, Peter Sarsgaard 23/US ****

Enormous issues ripple through this warm, complex romantic drama, adding unusual depth of feeling as characters confront the past and future. Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco never takes the easy route through the material, cutting in and out of scenes with an edgy style that leaves space for questions and contemplation. It’s unusually vibrant storytelling, rooted in the way experience and memory define our sense of identity, and not always in the most helpful way.

Evil Does Not Exist

dir-scr Ryusuke Hamaguchi; with Hitoshi Omika, Ryo Nishikawa 23/Jpn ****

Both beautiful and challenging, this Japanese drama cleverly draws the audience in with an astute eye for details and characters that are hilariously deadpan in their interaction. Expanding on the evocative music of Eiko Ishibashi, writer-director Ryusuke Hamaguchi observes scenes with skill and insight, drawing out deeper meanings without us even realising it. So while the film feels somewhat enigmatic, it gets under the skin and lingers.

Also screened at AFI Fest and previously reviewed: ALL OF US STRANGERS (Haigh, UK); FINGERNAILS (Nikou, US); TIGER STRIPES (Eu, Mys); TOTEM (Aviles, Mex); MAESTRO (Cooper, US); THE BIKERIDERS (Nichols, US); 20,000 SPECIES OF BEES (Urresola, Sp); SMOKE SAUNA SISTERHOOD (Hints, Est); ANSELM (Wenders, Ger).

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C R I T I C A L   W E E  K

There aren't many films on general release here that I'm interested in, and I prefer to spend time with my friends and family rather than watching screening links. So these are the only five movies I've seen all week, and I have no plans to watch anything in the coming week either. But you never know - I think Alexander Payne's The Holdovers might be on somewhere...

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On the road: Drop the mask

For my first trip out of Britain in two years, I returned to Southern California to visit family and friends. This is where I was when the first lockdown hit in March 2020, so it's been a bit surreal to be here as restrictions are finally lifting - and it's great to catch up with friends and family after such a long gap. Plus of course the fish tacos. 

I've caught up with just one movie here: Matt Reeves' new take on The Batman, starring Robert Pattison as the Dark Knight. It's a big film, bold in its emphasis on deeper emotions rather than the superficial action. But it's also overwhelmed by a cliched visual stylisation that stubbornly refuses to switch on a light or add much in the way of colour. Fans will love the earnestly whispered dialog, while serious filmgoers will roll their eyes.

On Saturday, I visited the Academy Museum with two university friends (an Instagram image set is below). We had a lot of fun with the extensive collection of clips and artefacts, but wondered why the curators so resolutely ignored the history of Hollywood and the studios. There are a variety of spaces that explore aspects of cinematic craft, and a fun space featuring clips and memorabilia from Oscar ceremonies, while sections dedicated to specific films and filmmakers felt more than a little random. I quite liked the Spike Lee exhibit, which centres around his influences. An enormous room dedicated to Almodóvar features lots of gorgeous posters and unidentified clips and nothing else. And it's fun to stand under the massive Moount Rushmore backdrop from North by Northwest. Other highlights include a large area exploring The Wizard of Oz, a collection of iconic movie creatures and a colourful special exhibition tracing the career of Hayao Miyazaki. Oddly, the small room celebrating Citizen Kane is the same size as the room celebrating Real Women Have Curves. And then there was the giftshop, which is completely lacking in souvenirs that feature Oscar, which seems like a seriously missed opportunity (the one Oscar photo op costs an extra $15). Another inexplicable error is omitting a snack bar on the vast open-air observation deck looking out over West Los Angeles. And lighting the exhibits in a way that makes selfies almost impossible. Let's hope they bring someone on board to make this museum something more properly amazing.

Because of The Batman, there are very few other films being released here these days. The only one in cinemas I'd kind of like to see is a guilty pleasure - the Foo Fighters' Studio 666 - but of course no one here wants to see that with me! So I'll probably wait until returning to London to see something new - plus the offerings at BFI Flare, a festival starting on March 16th.

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Critical Week: Turn the tables

The women ruled at this week's press screenings. Jennifer Lopez (with Constance Wu, above) chomps merrily on the scenery all the way through Hustlers, a far-too-energetic retelling of a true story about strippers who con Wall Street clients out of their cash. Renee Zellweger is nothing short of astonishing in the terrific biopic Judy, following a few months near the end of the icon's life with passion and emotional power. And Downton Abbey brings those fabulous grand dames to the big screen. The men are there too, but who cares when Maggie Smith is shooting daggers at Penelope Wilton?

Brad Pitt travels into space, and into his own repressed daddy issues, in the muted and rather odd Ad Astra, a gorgeous sci-fi epic that simply fails to resonate. Peter Sarsgaard leads the charge as a quirky-nerdy house tuner in The Sound of Silence, a nutty little drama that's more intriguing than involving. From Colombia, Monos is a ripping dramatic thriller about a group of teens working for some sort of paramilitary organisation, isolated in the mountains and then jungle. It looks amazing, and packs a punch. And there were two documentaries: the harrowing Sea of Shadows skilfully traces the horrors inflicted by humans on the diverse sea life in the Gulf of California, while Mother is a sensitive, powerfully moving look at a carer who works with European Alzheimer's patients in Thailand.

This coming week, there are no press screenings for Sylvester Stallone's franchise closer Rambo: Last Blood, so we'll be at the cinemas with everyone else to see this swan song. But we do have screenings lined up for the comedy-horror Ready or Not, Awkwafina in the comedy-drama The Farewell, Dev Patel in the true drama Hotel Mumbai, the claymation sequel A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon, Celine Sciamma's acclaimed Portrait of a Lady on Fire and the British drama Real. Advance press screenings also start next week for the BFI London Film Festival (which runs 2-13 Oct).