2011 MeeGo Conference

Photos by Marcus Siu

The MeeGo Conference was hosted by the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco.
Photo: by Marcus Siu

Hosted at the downtown Hyatt in San Francisco, CA, on May 23-25th, 2011, the MeeGo community looks to capitalize on its momentum. Positioned as an anticipated event for the future of open source mobile computing, on devices ranging from smart phones to in vehicle infotainment devices to netbooks and more, MeeGo 2011 San Francisco offers OSVs, OEMs, and other MeeGo project contributors a press-friendly stage to showcase their next generation devices and solutions.

MeeGo's Tech Showcase room at the Hyatt Regency.
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Another Tech Showcase room at the Hyatt Regency, featuring Igalia and Qt.

Nomovok launches new Steelrat tablet platform at MeeGo Conference in Hyatt Regency San Francisco, 23.-25.5.2011. Steelrat is a launchpad for MeeGo tablet for companies aiming to create even better MeeGo products.

ICS presents a real world demonstration displaying real-time data from automotive control modules within a Qt Quick based user interface, a new paradigm for design focused user interface development for consumer devices such as mobile phones, media players, netbooks and set-top boxes.
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Party goers let loose at the Exploratorium with food, hosted libations, and the 80's cover band Tainted Love.

 

About the MeeGo Conference San Francisco 2011

MeeGo Project

MeeGo is a Linux-based, open source operating system for small form factor devices. It was created with a unique user experience, designed from the beginning to look great on tablets, handheld devices, in-vehicle infotainment systems, smart TVs, netbooks, and more. MeeGo has a vibrant and active community of developers, enthusiasts, and users. MeeGo is a Linux Foundation project that was established in February 2010. Like with other open source projects, anyone can contribute to the MeeGo project and become a part of the MeeGo community. You can learn more at MeeGo.com.

13 ASSASSINS - MOVIE REVIEW



Koji Yakusho in 13 ASSASSINS, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing.

Imagine the epic scale of Akira Kurosawa’s samurai masterpieces, such as “Seven Samurai” and “Ran”, with its grandeur cinematic landscape and its unrivaled action sequences combined with the uncompromising violence helmed by the “Asian extremist” visionary, Japanese director, Takashi Miike, director of the “Ichi the Killer”, undoubtedly one of the most disturbing films ever.

In fairness to Miike, you can’t judge a director from just one film.  Especially if he’s done well over eighty of them over his prolific ten year career, averaging about three to four per year.  (He makes more films a year than most people get their oil changed in a year.)  His genre of films range all over the map; from Romantic Horror (“Audition”), Nouveau Western (“Sukiyaki Western Django”), New Musical (“Happiness of the Katakuri’s”), or Yakuza (“Dead or Alive”).   

Did I mention he does family-friendly films, as well?

Regardless of the genre, all of his films are unquestionably “over the top” and an “acquired taste” to an eccentric audience, mainly male, who are usually quite forgiving given the unevenness quality of his output, but have an insatiable and intoxicating appetite for more.  Many of Miike fans are in it for the shock value, but also have come to known him as a filmmaker who is out to surprise his audience, as well.   Regardless of what you think of his films, you will find the directors’ trademark all over each of them. 

 “13 Assassins”, a remake from the 1963 Japanese film, doesn’t seem to cram the story with scenes of excessive violence of blood, gore, decapitation, like the outlandish “Ichi the Killer” did.  This time around, the excessive violence is mostly justified and actually embellishes the story, making it quite authentic and credible.  After all, it is a real “slasher” movie.

Based on a true incident, the movie takes place in Feudal Japan in 1844, at a time when peace reigns, and samurai’s are set in “relax” mode.   This quickly changes, as soon as the film opens with a stark and brutal scene showing a hara-kiri of a nobleman.   Though no fault of his own, he takes his own life due to the shame of his innocent daughter, though no fault of her own, had disgraced the family because she was raped and murdered by the ruler, Lord Naritsugu.  It was also an act by the family of protest of having a savage, such as Lord Naritsugu, as a ruler.  

Rather than peace, Lord Naritsugu wants to change the country by governing it through the power of war.   Because he is the young brother of the Shogun, he is in power and can do anything he pleases, especially with all his devoted guards by his side.  He is also in line to be Shogun, leader of Japan. 

He is keenly obsessed with his own forms of sadistic violence.  He enjoys the fear that he instills on his victims.  At will, he will rape, kill, and dismember for sheer pleasure, just because he has the power and no one will stop him.   Not even women, children and babies are safe from his whimsical actions.  He is a merciless tyrant.  Just ask the limbless woman whom he used as a plaything…oops, she can’t talk.

Naturally, there are some people around him not approving of his actions, including a former shogun advisor, who secretly hires Shinzaemon Shimada (Koji Yakusho) (Shall We Dance, Memoirs of a Geisha, Babel) to kill Lord Naritsugu, before he takes over the throne and starts to endanger the lives of the entire country.   

Like “Seven Samurai”, the film shows how the assassins are rounded up and why they wish to fight.  Shimada hires eleven samurai, along with his nephew.  Even though they all have different reasons for fighting, (glory, money, revenge) they all have the same duty and honor of a samurai; to bravely fight and die as a samurai.   

Before the assassins leave, Hanbei, an old rival and sparring partner of Shimada’s, and now Naritsugu’s samurai meet and try to dissuade each other from their goals.  Neither budges.  

The thirteenth assassin, Koyata, like Toshiro Mifune’s,  Kikuchiyo , whom we later meet along the way, adds some surrealistic comic relief to the film, and it works to the films advantage.  

The last third of the movie is an unrelenting, forty five minute action battle sequence.  This is quite a remarkable spectacle: complete with samurai swords, bows and arrows, explosives, and booby traps galore, in a village that is camouflaged to entrap Naritsugu and his army.  This is well worth the price of admission alone. 

Though, the characters are not quite as well compassionately defined as Kurosawa’s, the film is quite remarkable, nevertheless.  Miike has rarely been this accessible, and the film demands to be seen on the big screen, as it is a cinematic feast and a grand action samurai film.   The sets, costumes, and art direction are reason alone to see if at your local theatre, if you are lucky to find one nearby.  Don’t wait for it on video.  You’ll do yourself a disservice…unless this movie doesn’t sound like your cup of tea.

trailer   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-IzbkXo7bo

website:  http://www.13assassins.com/

Cast:  Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Yusuke Iseya, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura, Mikijiro Hira, Hiroki Matsukata, Ikki Sawamura, Arata Furuta, Tsuyoshi Ihara, Masataka Kubota,Sousuke Takaoka Director: Takeshi Miike Screenwriter: Daisuke Tengan Executive producers: Toshiaski Nakazawa, Jeremy Thomas, Takashi Hirajo Producers: Michihiko Umezawa, Minami Ichikawa, Toichiro Shiraishi, Takahiro ohno, Hirotsugu Yoshida, Shigeji Maeda Director of photography: Nobuyasu Kita Production designer: Yuji Hayashida Music: Koji Endo Costumes: Kazuhiro Sawataishi Editor: Kenji Yamashita

 Running time: 126 minutes

Koji Yakusho in 13 ASSASSINS, a Magnet Release. Photo courtesy of Magnet Releasing

SOUL SURFER - EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS CLOSING NIGHT CINEQUEST



The beautiful California Theatre




AnnaSophia Robb, interviewer Marc Silber, surfer Jeff Clark, Bethany Hamilton



AnnaSophia Robb & Bethany Hamilton

AnnaSophia Robb and interviewer, Marc Silber

Director of "Soul Surfer", Sean McNamara



Closing Night Party at South First Billiards



Kathleen Powell interviews AnnaSophia Robb and Bethany Hamilton.

Maverick Award winners AnnaSophia Robb and Bethany Hamilton

Marcus Siu and AnneSophia Robb

Bethany Hamilton and Marcus Siu

SOUL SURFER

Bethany (AnnaSophia Robb) and Alana (Lorraine Nicholson) are competitors on the water, best friends on shore.

Imagine your favorite outdoor recreational activity almost ending abruptly in a near death experience.   The horrifying nightmare will probably stay with you forever.  It happened to mountain climber, Aron Ralston, portrayed by James Franco in the film, “127 Hours”.  Ralston literally went out on a limb and was stuck between a rock and a hard place in Utah.   A similar and equally terrifying accident also happened to surfer, Bethany Hamilton, who nearly met the “jaws of death, losing her left arm, along with over 60% of her blood, somewhere in the waters of Kauai.   Like Ralston, she was extremely lucky to make it out alive.

Based on Hamilton’s autobiography, “The Endless Summer”, “Soul Surfer” is a term coined in the 1970's and used to describe a talented surfer who surfs for the sheer pleasure of surfing (although they may still enter in competitions, winning may not be the main motive) - since they scorn the commercialization of surfing. 

Perhaps, Brad Melekian, defines the term “soul surfer” more clearly, which was written from a 2005 article in Surfer magazine:

“...to pursue surfing not just as an athletic endeavor or as a sunny day diversion, but to try to glean whatever lessons you can from the practice. It means being aware of your surroundings, and respectful of the people and places that you interact with. It means being patient, mindful, kind, compassionate, understanding, active, thoughtful, faithful, hopeful, gracious, disciplined and…good.”

After seeing the film and reading what Melekian quoted, I now fully understand why the film was not called “Surfing with Sharks”. 

AnnaSophia Robb (Because of Winn Dixie, Bridge to Terabithia, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Sleepwalking) plays the youthful and spirited teenager, Bethany Hamilton, who had already been creating waves for herself as a surfer.  Since the age of eight, her skills catapulted her rapidly into the limelight, competing and winning many championships within her age group in her hometown island of Kauai.  With the constant ongoing encouraging and motivational support from her parents, well played by Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt, along with her brothers, who are also avid surfers; it was only a matter of time when she would start thinking about turning professional.

Then her young life changed.  While laying sideways on her floating surfboard in the sunny waters at Tunnels Beach in Kauai, a 15 foot tiger shark attacked her and tore her left arm off,   Luckily, at the time, she was with her best friend, Alana, who witnessed the horror, and with the aid of her family, rushed Hamilton to a medical team, saving her life.  Hamilton was only thirteen years old.

Her life would never be the same for her after the incident.   She was no longer able to do the things that required coordination of both of her hands that she took for granted, like spreading butter on a slice of toast, let alone paddling with both hands in the water. Many of the locals treated her like some kind of mutant.  The press and paparazzi constantly harassed her in public, as well as at her own home.   Even makers of prosthetic arm products tried to capitalize on her, attempting to have her sponsor their product.

Feeling sorry for herself, she joins World Vision, an organization that helps young children who were devastated by the tsunami disaster in Thailand.  In one scene, she helps reacquaint the children to overcome their fear of the water.  Being in this supportive position, she realizes that she may have been the fortunate one, since she had succeeded in overcoming her fear of water, as well.

Sean McNamara, known mainly as a TV Director, does a first rate job capturing the mood and spirit surrounding the exciting surf competitions of Kauai.  Some of the cinematography of the surf scenes were quite breathtaking, probably because much of the footage was actually of the real life Bethany Hamilton, who was used as her own character’s stunt double.   No need for CGI in those scenes.

Even though you may know the story, the film is still quite entertaining, and is well written and strongly casted.  Robb’s performance is quite moving, filled with every possible emotion you can ask for in a role, especially for a teenage girl.   Look for Carrie Underwood, Kevin Sorbo, and Craig T Nelson in supportive roles.  

The story of Bethany Hamilton is quite inspirational, life affirming, and has all the qualities to make this a terrific family film.  It carries a clear message and makes us all a better person.  If you like “The Blind Side”, you will also love this film, as well.  Though, personally, I believe “Soul Surfer” has more of a bite to it.

Reviewed by Marcus Siu

Opens nationwide - Friday, April 8, 2011.

Trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWeOjBCi3c4

Director:SeanMcNamara;Producers:DavidZelon,DouglasSchwartz,DutchHofstetter,DavidBrookwell,
SeanMcNamara,DavidTice(Executive),DominicIanno(Executive);
Writers:SeanMcNamara,DeborahSchwartz,DouglasSchwartzandMichaelBerk(screenplay),BethanyHamiltonautobiography);Cinematographer:JohnR.Leonetti;
Editors:JeffW.Canavan,DavidW.Hager;Music:MarcoBeltrami;

Cast:AnnaSophiaRobb,DennisQuaid,HelenHunt,JeremySumpter,KevinSorbo,

CraigT.Nelson,CarrieUnderwood,LorraineNicholson Length: 106 min.; Genre: Drama



 


                          From left to right - Bethany Hamilton and AnnaSophia Robb.                          

Photo Credit - Mario Perez.

Courtesy of FilmDistrict and TriStar.

 



CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 21 - WAR GAMES AND THE MAN WHO STOPPED THEM

War Games and the Man Who stopped them

Reviewed by Lidia Thompson & Marcus Siu

1. Ryszard Kuklinski at the Warsaw Pact Conference, 1980

© Apple Film Production

Were it not for the actions of one Polish Colonel, we might all be living in the wreckage of a nuclear war – Charlie Cockey

In the 1970s, the Warsaw Pact armies under the USSR control occupied Poland and most of Central Europe. The Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, commonly known as the Warsaw Pact, was a mutual defense treaty, subscribed to by eight communist countries in Europe.   In May 1955, it was established by the USSR’s initiative and realized in Warsaw, as a military response to an integration of West Germany to NATO Pact.

Colonel Ryszard Kukliński, who served over twenty years in the rank with the Polish Army, solely subordinated to political interests of the Soviet Empire. In 1972, Kukliński contacted the CIA, and for nine years, handed them over 40,000 secret Warsaw Pact documents.  His position had made him one of the most important sources of information that the Western world had in the Soviet Bloc during the Cold War era. His increasing knowledge about the Warsaw Pact plans, while working in the Operation Board of the General Staff, also played a significant role.  According to the plans, Poland could be destroyed and become a nuclear desert as a result from a possible third World War.  In 1980, after the Solidarity movement was established, Kukliński continued to inform Washington about the Polish government plans to suppress the Solidarity movement and implement the Martial law in Poland.  In November 1981, with his covert operations close to being exposed, Kukliński and his family evacuated to Berlin, and then afterwards, to the United States. On December 13^th, 1981, the Martial law was established in Poland, becoming reality; military vehicles and soldiers patrolled the major cities of Poland, telephone lines were disconnected, airports and main roads access were closed.  Democracy was suppressed for eight long years.   

In 1984, in a secret court trial, the Warsaw Military Court sentenced Kukliński  to death.  In 1990, a year after the communist regime collapsed, his death sentence was changed to 25 years in prison.   In 1995, his sentence was cancelled and his ranking of Colonel was completely restored.  In 1998, he visited Poland but never returned, remaining in exile during the last years of his life in the United States.   His decision to not return to Poland remained controversial, as the Polish people did not know whether or not to deem him as a hero or a traitor. That issue was never fully solved for many Poles.   

“War Games and the Man Who Stopped Them”, written, directed and produced by Dariusz Jablonski, is a well done documentary.   Jablonski approaches the story from many angles by interviewing the members of the highest echelons from both sides and those most closely associated with Kukliński; from the U.S. head of espionage, General William E. Odom to the Warsaw Pact, Commander-in-Chief Viktor Kulikov, the Polish General, Wojciech Jaruzelski, and former Polish President, Lech Walesa, and to friends and family.  The film asks probing questions about Kukliński .  When did he become convinced to make his move to contact the CIA?  Did he ever regret what he did?  

In addition to the extensive archive footage, we see the officials during tightly-framed interviews and meetings in voice-over filmed with a small, often half-hidden camera.  Photos of Kukliński come to life with 3D motion effects, and the recurring theme of the war games.

Internationally renowned, Dariusz Jablonski, a graduate of the Directing Department at the Film Academy in Lodz, and recipient of many national and international awards, worked on some of the most ambitious film projects of Polish cinema in the Eighties.  He was the First Assistant Director on “The Decalogue” (1989), directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, and a First Assistant Director on “Magnat” (1987) directed by Filip Bajon.  Jablonski is also member of the European Film Academy and the Board of the European Producers Club.  He is the founder of Apple Film Production; one of the first and leading independent production company in Poland, which to date has produced 21 documentaries, nine feature films and 15 television series.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGz8PlGxiso

Director: Dariusz Jablonski; Producers: Izabela Wojcik, Violetta Kaminska; Co-producer: Patrik Pass; Writer: Dariusz Jablonski; Cinematographers: Tomasz Michalowski, Pawel Banasiak; Editors: Milenia Fiedler, Bartosz Pietras; Music: Michal Lorenc; Cast; Józef Szaniawski, Hanna Kuklińska, Stanisław Radaj, Zbigniew Brzeziński, Walter Lang; Countries: Poland, Slovakia; Language: English; Length: 110 min.; Genre: Drama

War Games and the Man Who Stopped Them plays on March 5th at 1:30pm, March 9th at 9:30pm, and March 10^th at 3:45.  All screenings are at the Camera 12.

Buy tickets: http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1560

2. Ryszard Kuklinski at his yacht

© Apple Film Production

CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 21 - IRENA SENDLER

IRENA SENDLER: IN THE NAME OF THEIR MOTHERS

Reviewed by Lidia Thompson & Marcus Siu

Courtesy of Cinequest 2011

As a Polish Catholic social worker, Irena Sendler along with a group of young women in Nazi-occupied Poland managed to rescue 2,500 Jewish children from the Warsaw Ghetto.  They smuggled them under garbage, in suitcases, in boxes, though the canals, as well as other inconceivable passageways that would rescue them from being deported to the concentration camps, saving their lives from the Nazis.  Their unspeakable act of heroism and bravery was kept quiet for decades during the communist era.  The documentary “Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers”, directed and co-produced by American filmmaker Mary Skinner, brings this miraculous and profound story of human goodness to life.  Extensive archive footage and interviews with survivor, Sendler, her co-workers and the children she had rescued, is indeed, an unforgettable experience. 

In 1939, when World War II began, over 3 million Jews lived in Poland with 400,000 residing in Warsaw, making up one third of its population.  In 1940, the Warsaw Ghetto was established and was the largest of all the ghettos in Nazi-occupied Europe.  The conditions in the Warsaw Ghetto were unbearable and worsening each day.   In 1941, the average food rations for Jews were limited to 186 calories, compared to 1,669 calories for Poles and 2,614 calories for Germans.  People in the Ghetto were starving and dying on the streets, while hundreds of orphans begged for a piece of bread.  The situation was traumatic for everyone, but especially for defenseless children. 

Irena Sendler was 29 when the Nazis invaded Poland.  She served as a social worker in the Polish Underground and later with the Żegota Resistance Organization.  As an employee of the Warsaw Social Welfare Department, she had a special permit to enter the Warsaw Ghetto to check for signs of Typhus; something the Nazis feared would spread beyond the Ghetto.  During these visits she and her co-workers intercepted approximately 2,500 Jewish children and smuggled them to safety, rescuing them from their certain death in concentration camps.   Their risk of helping Jews in any way was extremely dangerous; if they were discovered by the Nazi’s.

“Nothing was more dangerous than as hiding a Jew” quotes, Polish Resistance Activist, Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, “because if you are hiding a box of ammunition, you don’t need to feed it every day, you don’t have to care for it if it becomes ill, and the neighbors don’t need to know about it”.  Not only did Sendler and those young women smuggle Jewish children out of the Ghetto, but they also provided them with false documents sheltering them in Polish families, and then were sent off to safer places like the catholic convents outside Warsaw.  In addition, Sendler maintained the identities of those young survivors.  She buried a jar keeping track of their original Jewish names along with their newly created Polish names, so when the war ended they could be reunited with their parents, if they were still alive.  In 1943, Sendler was arrested by the Gestapo, severely tortured, and sentenced to death, but in the last minute was rescued by the Polish Resistance.  She survived World War II, but during the communist regime she was prosecuted because of her connections with the Polish Resistance.  Her story was unknown for many years.

In 1999, Kansas students produced a play based on research into Irena Sendler's life story entitled “Life in a Jar”.  This drama has now been performed over 285 times across the United States, Canada and in Poland.  It has since been adapted to television as “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler” and over 1,500 media stories.

Mary Skinner, director of the documentary, acknowledged on the official film website, “I grew up with stories about the courage and compassion of Polish heroines like Irena Sendler.  I heard about them from my Polish mother.  She was barely a teenager in 1941, when she was rounded up in Warsaw and sent to a concentration camp for smuggling food.  Her father had been killed, her mother was dying, and her brother and sister had already been taken.  No one else in her family survived the war. 

But my mother never forgot the ordinary women like Irena Sendler – the ‘angels of mercy’ in Warsaw who detested war, but would go to the devil for a war-wounded child like her.  Right before my mother died, I felt I needed to find those women, to tell their stories, to remember them.”

http://www.irenasendlerfilm.com/

Director: Mary Skinner; Producers: Mary Skinner, Betsy Bayha, Piotr Piwowarczyk, Richard Wormser, Jan Legnitto, Paul Mitchell, Richard Adams; Cinematographers: Andrzej Wolf, Slawomir Grunberg; Editors: Marta Wohl, Anna Ksiesopolska; Music: Tom Disher; Countries: USA, United Kingdom; Language: English, German, and Polish, (w/ English subtitles); Length: 60 min.; Genre: Documentary

Preceded by the short film: Living For 32; Director: Kevin Breslin; 40 min.; USA; The inspirational story of a survivor of the tragic Virginia Tech shooting massacre and his courageous journey of renewal and hope.

Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers plays Sunday, March 6^th, 2011 at 2pm at the San Jose Repertory, and Wednesday, March 9^th, 2011 at 9pm at the Camera 12.

Buy tickets:   http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1510

CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 21 - MIDNIGHT SON

MIDNIGHT SON (USA)  

After having vampire symptoms and watching a vampire video on his TV, Jacob (Zak Kilberg) tests to see what would happen if he put a wooden cross against his forehead. He is happily surprised that his forehead did not burn.

Vampire movies produced in today’s Hollywood system have become too “popcorn” for my tastes.  I have become quite cynical when I see endless lines of teenage girls camped out several days in advance for a special midnight advance screening of the latest in the series of a franchise movie at their local Cineplex, so they can scream and drool over their favorite heartthrob, and perhaps, see the movie at least two or three more times before it is mandatory for them to return to school the following Monday. 

Not to say these particular movies don’t have any redeeming values to them.  If you look past all the blatant supernatural visual effects and vampire cliché’s that Hollywood bestows on its audiences, you will see that there can be something a little more cerebral hidden behind all those computer graphics (CGI). 

Recent international offerings in the last couple of years brought us a new wave of realism for vampire films, such as Sweden’s “Let the Right One In” and Korea’s “Thirst”, which make watching them a much more thought provoking and intriguing.   The independently made, “Midnight Son” belongs to this group, as it gives the overdone genre a new fresh perspective.  

Jacob (Zak Kilberg), a 24-year old security guard who works nights, has a rare skin disorder that prevents him from going out during the day.  He seals off his windows in his basement apartment, so he is not exposed to sunlight.   While painting artistic sunsets on canvas, he starts to discover that whatever he eats (mainly microwavable meals loaded with carbohydrates), his appetite is not satisfied, regardless of how much food he consumes.  He is diagnosed by a doctor who tells him his body is malnourished and thinks Jacob is lying about him “eating like a horse”, and tells him that his body is craving something.   As each night progresses, his body continues to change; much like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly.

As he starts to slurp the beef juices from the Styrofoam meat packages, he begins to recognize what his body truly craves.  Replenishing his empty Starbucks coffee cup with “red liquid” that he picked up at the local neighborhood meat market, he walks around naturally along the streets and into late night video stores.  He is slowly transforming into what we know as a vampire, but he is still trying to figure it out for himself, as his diet continues to change before us.   To fulfill his new appetite, he finds more creative ways to find his meal, so he doesn’t grow weak. 

In the meantime, Zak’s only social outlet is going to the neighborhood bar in the wee hours of the night, where he meets Mary (Maya Parish), who gets his attention by selling him candy and cigarettes outside the bar.  As they get to know each other, a relationship between them starts to bloom and develop.  At the same time, his condition worsens, as does Mary’s, who also has personal problems of her own, as well.   Strange things start happening even at work, where Zak becomes oblivious to strange events that happened nearby, surprising even the police department.  This is where the film takes you in for a wild ride. 

Director and writer, Scott Leberecht, along with an all around excellent cast led by Zak Kilberg and Maya Parish, create a moving, sort of a “coming of age” vampire movie; injecting humanity and compassion into their characters.   The chemistry within the two leads is quite natural and credible as they begin their relationship and both try to overcome their personal struggles.   

From the opening notes of the eerie musical score to some bleak cinematography, this is one film that grabbed me from the beginning and took me on a journey in different directions.   “Midnight Son” is an impressive feature film debut for Leberecht, and I certainly hope to see him continue his work as a filmmaker.   After all, “Everybody’s got their thing”.

Reviewed by Marcus Siu

Watch trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS2nLbEoMy8

Director: Scott Leberecht; Producers: Scott Leberecht, Matt Compton; Executive Producers: Eduardo Sanchez, Reed Frerichs; Writer: Scott Leberecht; Cinematographer: Lyn Moncrief; Editors: Ian McCamey, Scott Leberecht; Music: Kays Alatrakchi; Cast: Zak Kilberg, Maya Parish, Jo D. Jonz, Larry Cedar, Tracey Walter, Arlen Escarpeta; Country: USA; Language: English; Length: 88 min.; Genre: Drama

Midnight Son plays on March 4th at 9:30pm at San Jose Repertory Theatre, March 6th at 6:45pm at the Camera 12, and March 11th at 12:30pm at the Camera 12.

Buy tickets: http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1521

Jacob (Zak Kilberg) tries to conceal himself from Mary (Maya Parish) after his eyes turn yellow in a very intimate moment.

 

CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 21 - COPACABANA

Films worth seeing in San Jose at Cinequest 21

COPACABANA

Esméralda (Lolita Chammah) reunites with her mother, Babou (Isabelle Huppert) in Ostend, who recently gets a promotion in her new job selling time-shares.

No serious International film festival is complete without an appearance with the great French actress, Isabelle Huppert, who transcends just about any role that is offered to her.  In this French comedy, directed by Marc Fitoussi, she plays Babou, an unconventional, independent, and eccentric single mother living with her 22 year old daughter in Tourcoing, a city in Northern France.   Babou doesn’t want to be tied down to any jobs, responsibilities, serious relationships, or even confined into any one routine.   Rather, she would rather be free and imagine herself in new and untraveled places that she hasn’t been to, such as Brazil, even though she can only imagine it, since she cannot afford to fly there.

Babou’s daughter,  Esméralda, (Lolita Chammah, who is Huppert’s daughter in real life) after returning home from a night with her boyfriend, tells her mother that she is planning to get married and wants to live a normal middle class life, instead of the bohemian lifestyle that her mother lives.  She also tells her that she doesn’t want her to be present at the wedding, not only because she is too poor to afford it, but because she is self absorbed and is too embarrassed of her behavior to have her there.  

Emotionally hurt about the announcement, Babou decides to leave her home, as well as her social circle of friends, including Burt; her male friend who is secretly in love with her.  She lands a job handing out flyers to help spur interest for potential customers to buy time share apartments in Ostend, a seaport city in Belgium, during the off-season. There, we meet quite a cast of characters that both befriend and clash with her, including a young homeless couple, Kurt and Sophie, whom she helps find shelter when she can; Lydie (Aure Atika), who plays the part of a tough woman boss in order to motivate her “flyer” helpers increase sales calls, but shows she can put her “act” away when she lets her guard down; and for comic relief, her suspicious roommate, Irene, whom never trusted Babou the moment she met her, well played  by Chantal Banlier, who probably gets the most laughs in this film.

Fitoussi, who also wrote the well paced story, focuses mainly on Babou, as Huppert, whom is almost in every single shot.  The camera and supporting cast revolve around her quite adequately, but it is Huppert who makes the film shine.   

Copacabana is not just about a relationship and unconditional love between a mother and a daughter, but also about not having to abandon your personal values to stay true to yourself.  After all Babou, is determined to gain back her daughter’s love anyway she can, and will do it at any risk.  

Reviewed by Marcus Siu

Watch trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7O1A2p-5pU

Director: Marc Fitoussi; Producer: Caroline Bonmarchand; Writer: Marc Fitoussi; Cinematographer: Helene Louvart; Editor: Martine Giordano; Music:Tim Gane and Sean O’Hagan; Cast: Isabelle Huppert , Lolita Chammah , Aure Atika , Jurgen Delnaet, Chantal Banlier; Country: France; Language: French (w/ English subtitles) ; Length: 90 min.; Genre: Comedy

Copacabana plays on March 2nd at 9:15pm at the California Theatre, March 4th at 12:30pm at the Camera 12, and March 7th at 7pm at the California Theatre.

Buy Tickets:  http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1500

CINEQUEST FILM FESTIVAL 21 - MAMA GÓGÓ

Films worth seeing in San Jose at Cinequest 21



 

MAMMA GÓGÓ

Unfortunately, not all nursing homes are perfect for containing their patients, especially, when Alzheimer patients can be quite deceiving, like Mamma Gógó often demonstrates. 



There is a time when children of their parents need to make a decision on what to do with them when they can no longer take care of themselves.  Not because their elderly bodies start failing them, but because they start to become oblivious to their own surroundings, causing physical damage around them, as well as affecting the people who are most dearest to them.  

Mamma Gógó is a semi-autobiographical film by director, Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, whose film “Children of Nature” received an Academy Award nomination for Best Foreign Film in 1992.  It was the first and only time Iceland was ever represented in this category at the Oscars.  Fridriksson’s latest film is based on his personal, and at times, comedic experiences with his real life mother who had Alzheimer’s disease, while his professional career was collapsing under him, at the same time.  

Ironically, the movie opens up with a premiere of “the director’s” (Hilmir Snær Guðnason) latest film called, “Children of Nature”, which from the audience reactions, looks like it is already doomed for commercial failure.   His original intention was to make an artistic, political and insightful film targeted for a much older audience, but later on, realizes that this particular audience doesn’t go to the movies.  As time passes, and hardly anyone sees his film, he optimistically envisions that it will be well accepted in the US, and maybe even be nominated for an Academy Award, and save the Icelandic Film industry.   No one buys this opinion, except for his always supportive loving mother.

As his own personal debt starts to pile up, he starts to have a string of bad luck.  His vehicle gets towed away while he helplessly watches from his bedroom window; his credit card gets cut up in small pieces by a waitress who tells him that she was instructed to do so by the credit card company; and even the Hollywood blockbuster movie deal that he thought was locked in as a director, became null and void. 

In the meantime, Mamma Gógó’s (Kristbjörg Kjeld) sharp wit and memory starts to slowly fade and deteriorate.   She leaves the stove unoccupied while boiling pasta, slowly drifting asleep in the living room while watching her sons’ movie.  Her neighbor, aware of the smoke from her apartment, pounds on her door to get her out.  A few days later, she gets out of bed and steps onto a puddle of water, forgetting to turn the facet off, flooding the apartment below.  She even becomes suspicious with the children, falsely accusing them of taking her keys and gold jewelry, when she misplaced the items herself.

Without hesitation, her children decide to put Mamma Gógó into a full time nursing home, even with the “director’s” ongoing financial problems.  None of the children were motivated to put up with her full time.  The director’s life, already in turmoil, needed to rebalance his own life, as even his loving wife starts to doubt his credibility the way things are going.

As Mamma Gógó starts tuning out of the present and hallucinating more into the past, she starts having romantic visions of her late beloved husband.   Contrasting black and white shots, representing their nostalgic youth fifty years ago, intertwined with vivid colors, representing a time much closer to the present day, we see the couple together enraptured with each other, even after 50 years.  

The director realizes that even with all his personal turmoil and his career tumbling down, his mother was the most important person who he cared about above all else, and that he wasn’t quite able to say everything that he wanted to say to her before she tuned out of the world.  It’s almost like the curtain went down suddenly on a show that you thought would continue.

Writer/Director Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, does an admirable job in balancing the compassion and humor in his script, as well as eloquently directing the fine cast, whose two leads, Kjeld and Guðnasonm were quite moving.   Also worth noting is the breathtaking cinematography by Ari Kristinsson , who captured much of Iceland’s natural landscape beauty, and also Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson’s exquisite score.

This was Iceland’s official submission to this year’s Academy Awards. 

Reviewed by Marcus Siu

Watch trailer:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=316HhqFJe_E

Director: Fridrik Thór Fridriksson; Producers: Fridrik Thór Fridriksson, Gudrún Edda Thórhannesdóttir; Writer: Fridrik Thór Fridriksson; Cinematographer: Ari Kristinsson; Editors: Sigvaldi J. Kárason, Tomas Potocny, Andres Refn; Music: Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson; Cast: Kristbjörg Kjeld, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Gunnar Eyjólfsson, Margrét Vilhjálmsdóttir; Country: Iceland; Language: Icelandic (w/ English subtitles); Length: 90 min.; Genre: Drama

Mama Gógó, Preceded by the short film, Sunday’s Best, plays on March 2^nd at 7pm at the California Theatre, March 4^th at 7:30pm at the Camera 12, and March 6^th at 11:15am at the Camera 12.

Buy Tickets:  http://www.cinequest.org/event_view.php?eid=1518