Oliver's Deal

Director: Barney Elliot

Cast: Stephen Dorff, Alberto Ammaman, David Strathrin, Carlos Bardem

 Despite exploring the corrosive relationship between modern South American nation states and giant American financial corporations, “Oliver's Deal” is one of the most emotionally raw and character-driven stories I have seen so far at Cannes. At the center of the plot is the privileged Upper West Side born and bred Oliver, who is trying to secure a number of valuable Peruvian bonds for an American financial institution. While that may seem about as entertaining as watching paint dry, the story pivots between Arthur and a number of working-class Peruvians, developing several complex characters in realistic ways. An emotionally compelling and highly intelligent screenplay help drive several different story lines to a beautifully interconnected conclusion that is perfectly portrayed by a stellar group of actors.  

Four Corners

Director: Ian Babriel

Starring: Brendon Daniels, Jezriel Skei, Abduragman Adams

After an almost 10-year directorial hiatus, South African filmmaker Ian Gabriel steps back up to the plate with “Four Corners”, a coming-of-age South African crime drama. Filmed with a distinct visual flair and accompanied by a block-rocking original soundtrack that includes many native South Africans, “Four Corners” is often engaging and entertaining, but it is in many respects disjointed.

We follow 13-year old chess prodigy Ricardo as he chooses between pledging allegiance to the warring gangs in the area ( either the 26's or the 28's) or being a good boy and focusing on chess. At the same point, Farakhan (who is also Ricardo's father), a General of the 28's, has just been released from prison and is intent on setting himself straight ( a storyline that is more clichéd than compelling). Additionally, there is a large-scale police investigation of a child serial-killer and a romantic relationship between Farakhan and a young female doctor named Leila returning from London to her childhood home in South Africa.

Gabriel seems unsure of exactly what film he wants to make. Is this a coming-of-age drama, a romantic comedy, or a mystery thriller? The overlapping tones of these different sub-genres makes more for a narrative cacophony rather than a consistent story. What's more, different sub-plots are introduced and re-integrated into the story with no discernible pattern. For instance, we follow South African detective Tito as he tries to apprehend a child abductor that has been plaguing the Cape Flats slums. Forty-five minutes to an hour pass without a single scene dedicated to the investigation then out of nowhere, Tito finds a big clue! After such a long absence from the story, the audience can't be expected to be as emotionally attached to that element of the storyline as they are to others. Instances such as this leave the whole film feeling spliced and uneven from a viewer's perspective. The story would be served with shorter scenes of all the different plot-lines edited together in quick succession.

There are also several plot-holes that are hard to ignore. Some of the more emotional moments of the film are related to Farakhan and his valiant efforts to leave the gangster life behind and rehabilitate himself. He eventually finds himself in a budding romantic relationship with Leila. Apparently, we are expected to believe that these two have known each other prior to Farakhan's incarceration, but no explanation is given, which could have been done with a few simple lines of dialogue. That being said, their relationship feels manufactured and altogether unlikely. Any emotional moments between the two feel more like “The Young and the Restless” than of human drama worthy of the Cannes Film Festival. Another shameful instance of a hurried and annoyingly busy narrative is Ricardo's transition from docile chess player to street solider. With no clue whatsoever to the audience as to why, Ricardo suddenly decides to become a gangster with the 26's, an idea he had vehemently opposed before.

Moments of the story border on ridiculousness. Ricardo goes to help the 26's not by actually being a gangster but, at the suggestion of the one of the leaders of the 26's, by betting money on his chess skills, an idea that just seems silly. What makes this seem more disingenuous in a narrative sense is that earlier in the film Ricardo had been ridiculed and physically abused for playing chess by the very same gang leader. Narrative shortcuts like these rob the audience of a later emotional payoff. As a result, these characters often have big dramatic scenes that don't feel earned, taking away the emotional impact of some very good acting by the entire cast.

Of course there isn't anything inherently wrong with multiple story arcs in a story as long as they are each tended to and developed fully. Gabriel doesn't quite accomplish this difficult feat, but nonetheless shows promise as a director. There is an interesting combination of long and short shots, especially in the opening prison sequence, that perfectly capture the palpable tension prevalent throughout the film. Some seriously beautiful photography nicely complements an excellent soundtrack that fuses South African hip-hop and electronic music with classical sounds. More is said about the environment through the interposition of the music with images of grade-school kids holding AK-47s than any line of dialogue could.

“Four Corners” has the ingredients of a potentially great story. The juxtaposition of the game of chess with the equally challenging game of survival in the South African slums is a creative and fascinating perspective on a world that is seldom explored in film. That alone could have made for a great film, but there is just way too much going on narratively to enjoy it.

Deux Jours, Un Nuit

Directors: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne

Producers: Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Denis Freyd

Stars: Marion Cotillard, Fabrizio Rongione

Cannes veterans Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne waste no time diving straight into the main conflict that propels Deux Jours, Un Nuit. Through a series of successive long shots, the Dardennes succinctly establish the central conflict in the film and reveal several main character traits of our protagonist, Sandra, (played by the always astounding Marion Cotillard). It is this bare bones, almost minimalist approach that works so incredibly well for the story the Dardennes have decided to tell. Sandra, upon returning to her job after a long bout with depression, discovers that her co-workers have voted to choose a substantial bonus in lieu of Sandra's return to the company. On a Friday afternoon, suspecting that one of her co-workers deceitfully manipulated the vote in favor of the bonus, one of Sandra's co-workers convinces her boss to conduct a secret ballot the following Monday. Sandra then has just two days and one night to convince her co-workers to forgo their bonus in order to allow Sandra to return.

The Dardennes do an excellent job of stepping out of the way and letting the story tell itself. Perhaps excluding some of those in attendance at the world premiere Tuesday night, virtually everyone can relate to the financial anxiety of having to make ends meet. This is a timely story about the economic hardships of a working-class family. It doesn't need to be embellished with unique camera shots, choppy editing, or a touching musical score to feel authentic; it just does. Several times throughout the film, we are privy to long shots (sometimes spanning two or three minutes) of moments with Sandra, her husband Manu (Fabrizio Rongione in a wonderfully understated role), and her two children. We rarely get any close ups of our main characters, enhancing the idea that we are merely spectators of a family drama that actually doesn't feel like the movies at all. We never really feel as if we are watching a slice of compelling cinema; rather, we are sort of rudely eavesdropping on real life.

Almost every aspect of the film is very “un-cinematic”. Cotillard rarely sports anything other than a colored tank top and jeans throughout the entire film; in fact, it would be easy to believe that all of the actors just brought their costumes from home. As mentioned before, there is no real musical score to speak of and nothing elaborate whatsoever about the set decoration. To envelop the film in any sort of visual flair would betray the sense of realism that the actors and story so perfectly establish.

In this sense, Two Days, One Night is the aesthetic inverse of many of the art-house films that populate the Cannes Film Festival every year. Though this is undoubtedly painting with broad strokes, it is also the narrative inverse of the many “deliberately paced” (read:boring) films that screen at Cannes. While Mr. Turner may have been beautifully rendered and extraordinarily well-acted, it was at times much less than engaging. In fact, the man I was sitting next to at the premiere slipped into a comically loud snore on more than one occasion. However, Two Days, One Night is never boring. Each encounter with a co-worker helps further establish a cohesive story but still remains wonderfully unique. All of these interactions are authentic and compelling. We smile when Sandra is successful in convincing a co-worker to vote for her and we angrily clench our fists when she is rejected. But the Dardennes do a wonderful job of straying clear of black and white character development. Though there are a few characters that coldly deny Sandra, many do so with a heavy heart and tears. This internal struggle, along with Sandra's own internal struggle to psychologically remain in one piece, is a potent force throughout the film.

No one really expects anything less than a world-class performance from Cotillard, and she and the rest of the cast do not disappoint. While Cotillard has of course become a glamorous movie star for playing flashy roles like Edith Piaf in La Vie en Rose, and even crossing over into blockbuster territory with Inception and The Dark Knight Rises, her performance is beautifully subtle and restrained. Her voice is clipped and tinged with an anxious rasp, conveying the palpable sense of mental anguish she carries with her wherever she goes.

Two Days, One Night is a fascinating, genuine look into a world most of us already know very well. This is precisely what makes it a story worth telling. The Dardennes have done a near perfect job of it, creating a emotionally gripping drama that deserved every second of its 15-minute standing ovation Tuesday night.

Running Time: 95 min.

White God Film Review

White God

Director: Cornel Mondruzco

Producer: Eszter Gyarfas and Viktoria Petranayl

Cast: Zsofia Psotta and Sandor Zsoter

What if dogs got fed up with abuse from their cruel human overlords and decided to rebel? This is the question explored in Hungarian filmmaker Cornel Mondruzco's experimental thriller White God. After being abandoned by his human owner, a mixed-breed mutt named Kaegan goes through a series of horrific experiences that results in his leading a full-scale canine rebellion. As absurd as this may sound, the first two-thirds of the film are meticulously plotted, absorbingly shot, and altogether emotionally compelling. The dogs are the stars of the show, with some terrific editing and sound work making these canines appear to be incredible actors with a wide range of emotions. Unfortunately, the premise begins to collapse upon itself, with the last third of the film inevitably playing out as a campy B-movie horror thriller, with plenty of wooden acting, implausible scenarios, and cheesy dialogue. Still, it is an interesting concept that is admirably executed, albeit with many flaws.

Running Time: 119 min.

"Short Term 12" FIlm Review

    

"Short Term 12"

    Though a film about troubled youth trying to find their way in a unforgiving world isn't exactly untrodden ground, “Short Term 12” (written and directed by Destin Daniel Cretton)is unlike anything else you've seen before. Set in a group home for troubled teenagers called Short Term 12, we come to love and cherish the delightfully diverse cast of characters that inhabit it's colorful walls. There's Marcus, a tall, brooding aspiring rapper who has a fish named Nas. There's Jayden, an acerbically witty, disarmingly insightful teenage girl who hangs scientific diagrams of penises up as "décor" for her room. Then there's Grace and Mason (Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr.), the two head caretakers (who are also romantically involved) at Short Term 12, who help mend the wounds of these children's maimed childhoods.

    What propels the well-paced, hilarious, and often heartbreaking story is the true star of an incredible cast, Brie Larson. At first Larson's Grace navigates the troubled waters of angsty teenage emotion with an apparent effortlessness, but never with indifference. But as we realize not so long into the film, Grace has a considerable amount of skeletons in her own closet, many of which have yet to be resolved. As an audience, we why Grace works with troubled kids: she wants to be there for these kids the way nobody was for her. What's more, we know this fairly early in the movie, which is a courageous move on the part of Cretton. It would have been easy and emotionally manipulative for the audience hold all of Grace's problems and have them spill out in some emotionally over-the-top, Oscar-winning moment at the end of the film. But letting the audience in gradually into Grace's tortured psyche grounds the film in reality and makes it all the more compelling. When the “big reveal” of Grace's does happen, there's no cheesy Lifetime music in the background to add any dramatic flair; the despair and anger in Larson's eyes are enough to have you reaching for your handkerchief. Larson, filled to the brim with love, empathy, and unresolved rage, is nothing short of a revelation.

     Serving as the anchor in an emotional sea storm of a film is the ridiculously likable John Gallagher Jr. as the goofy, loving, and selfless Mason. Serving as the foil to Grace's dark past, Mason is the proof of the good that can come from being raised by loving foster parents and his motivation for being a foster parent is thus crystal clear. Though Mason mainly serves as a rock of emotional stability for the rest of the characters, Gallagher absolutely nails it. His Mason is sweet, hilarious, and unabashedly honest.

However, as teenagers Marcus and Jayden, Keith Stanfield and Kaitlyin Dever threaten to steal the show (in the best way possible). Avoiding the cliched archetype of the loud, rebellious teen, Stanfield plays Marcus with captivating stoicism, making the moments where he does come out of his shell (for instance, during a rap about his mother) even more captivating. And while he is black and he is underprivileged, he isn't a black underprivileged teen. Marcus, whether feeding Nas in his colorful fish tank or encouraging the other children to make birthday cards for one of their emotionally distraught housemates, defies the traditional stereotype of African-American males portrayed in films in a refreshing way. Dever also nails the mix of hostility, insecurity, and vulnerability that every teen goes through. One minute dropping one-liners with a hilariously dry monotone, the next literally spitting on her caretakers in an abandonment-fueled rage, Dever dances between the emotional poles of teenage emotion with astonishing dexterity. The intimate moments between her and Larson are so of the films best.

  “Short Term 12” is a film you want to be absolutely perfect because the good outweighs the bad so greatly. However, there are some emotionally big moments that don't quite feel forced but at the same time don't feel as natural we'd like and some characters you'd have liked to know more about. But the film is so compelling and the characters so rich and emotionally accessible, that we just don't give a damn. In only his second feature film, Cretton shows an amazing ability to tell an intimate story without getting in the way. This could also easily be a social commentary of a film about the unloved children of society, but Cretton also wisely strays away from that path. This film, from opening to end credits, is purely about characters. And perhaps best of all, the film doesn't try to wrap any pretty red bows at the end. Some issues are left unresolved, but that is okay because this isn't a film about closure and making all the darkness of the past simply disappear. It's a film that says we all go through horrible things, some worse than others, but what makes life tolerable are the relationships we form with those around us and the love that results. It's a message that could easily come across as cliched and hackneyed, but instead is just beautiful.