Humans and Hippos in Harmony

Well, it’s been a while since the MSPIFF “Best of the Fest” series finished.  I did manage to see three films that I’d wanted to catch but couldn’t, due to work conflicts or sleep or whathaveyou.  All three were on Monday, May 3rd:

• No More Smoke Signals, USA.  This is a Swiss film about the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota.  The central character is a radio station, KILI, 90.1MHz FM.  This radio station is the prairie home companion (lack of capital letters are intentional) and part cultural glue for the Oglala Lakota nation in Pine Ridge and elsewhere in South Dakota.  It’s run on a shoestring budget, including an eagle feather substitute for a more expensive lightning arrestor system.  The feather didn’t work, unfortunately: the station was blown off the air by a strike in 2006 and caused enough damage that it took over a year to raise the funds to fix the damage.  We see how the station knits the Lakota nation together as poverty and (the filmmaker suggests) the US government’s persecution of the American Indian Movement threaten to undo it.  Recommended.  May show again in the Twin Cities later in the summer? (MSPIFF link, includes link to trailer)
• The Athlete, Ethiopia.  A based-on-the-true-story story about Abebe Bikila, the barefooted marathon runner who surprised the Olympic world in 1960 with his gold medal finish in Rome.  (MSPIFF link)  The start-from-the-middle beginning was a bit confusing, but things fell together quickly.  With so much resentment in Ethiopia toward Italy’s invasion in World War II, the entire nation was overjoyed by Bikila’s win in Rome.  “It took 500,000 Italian soldiers to conquer Ethiopia.  It took only one Ethiopian soldier to conquer Italy,” the saying goes now.  Bikila wins gold in 1964 and even more fame, especially since he’d had an appendectomy six weeks before The Games in Tokyo.  But injuries prevent him from finishing races in Mexico City and other high profile races … and those failures torment him.  A car accident leaves him unable to walk, much less win.  But Bikila is one amazingly tough, competitive son-of-a-gun.  Over a third of the crowd in the theater were east African, and their cheers were as infectious as the movie itself.  The director’s very occasional use of news & film clips from the 60′s and 70′s of Bikila himself were, I think, very effective.  Recommended.  There’s talk that it may get a distribution deal in the US for later this year?
• Tears of April, Finland.  (MSPIFF link) The civil war in Finland at the end of World War I was quite a whopper.  The nationalist Whites defeated the Russian-supported Reds, who were then hunted and killed in revenge.  One principled lieutenant refuses orders to shoot “fleeing” prisoners and instead brings the lone survivor to a judge for trial.  He’s a noted author and poet, an intellectual man who’ll give her a fair trial.  But war has sunk its claws deep into Finland, and the judge and his staff are not immune.  Not a happy ending, but then again, how many civil wars do?  The Cekov/study of the asylum/One Flew Over the Cookoo’s Nest themed bits were too thick, but they’re tolerable.  Recommended.

So, that’s it.  I may follow with a follow-up to this follow-up, since the festival’s audience poll numbers were printed and distributed during the Best of Fest period.  When/if I do that, it’ll be another 11 months before the next Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival.  {sniffle}  I had a blast and am most definitely looking forward to next year.

Thursday was Day 14 of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival, the last full day with 5 screens running.  It doesn’t seem like things have been running for two weeks now.  Louise was able to escape from grading long enough to dash to Punch for some tasty, tasty pizza and the first of these two films:

• I am Love, Italy.  This film had got a 4-of-4 review from the Star Tribune, if I’m not mistaken.  Or perhaps word-of-mouth had spread from its early 4/25 showing?  Tickets were sold out.  Not even the power of my Gold Pass was entirely sufficient to get us two tickets: intervention by Fest co-organizer Ryan Oesterich, who happened to be standing next to the ticket counter when Louise and I were there, got us the second ticket.  Had we known that the film would start over half an hour late, we could have relaxed while eating pizza and beer over at Punch.  Oh well.  At least the Gold Pass superpower sprung us to the head of the line when seating finally did start.  Was the film (MSPIFF link) good?  Yup.  Was it worth 4 stars?  Both of use thought 3.5 was more fitting for the acting and writing.  If the Strib critic was swayed by the cinematography, I could believe that.  Recommended.  Not showing again.
• TiMER, USA.  This is no-phaser-battles, no rogue-computers, no blue-skinned or green-blooded aliens science fiction movie.  What if science could provide you with a timer that would ring the instant you first made eye contact with your one true love in all the world?  What if you got your TiMER at age 14, and it told you that you’d meet Mr. Right at age 42?  What if your TiMER was blank, meaning that Mr. Right hadn’t purchased a TiMER yet?  How can you live without a guarantee of love?  I liked it enough to rate it Highly Recommended.  Not showing again, though hopefully this one will break through to wider distribution nationwide.

It looks like I won’t be going to any films on Friday, the last day of the fest.  Looking at the “Best of Fest” schedule for May 1-6, I think I’ll be returning for a few more films.  NOTE: “The Girl” from Sweden won the viewer’s balloting for best film at MSPIFF this year.  It’s showing on Saturday May/1 at 9:30pm.

Wednesday was Day 13 of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. It was a day of contrasts, the concrete and the surreal.

• Pianomania, Austria.  This documentary follows a year in the professional life of Stefan Knüpfer, a piano technician and tuner who works in concert halls and venues in Austria.  (MSPIFF link) His pursuit of the ideal piano sound is truly geeky, in large part because “ideal” depends on the pianist, the music, the piano (we learn quite a bit about Steinway serial numbers #109 and #245), the piano’s many parts, and the concert hall.  Near the end, we get to see the music duo Igudesman & Joo (of “Rachmaninoff Had Big Hands” fame) work with Knüpfer on some new jokes.  Recommended.  Not showing again.
• Presque Isle, USA.  Weird, dreamy, surreal, dreamy, what-the-****, arty.  And a bit cool at the same time.  Skip.  Not showing again.

Tuesday was Day 12 of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Mom left for home today, so I didn’t have a movie buddie today.

• Father and Guns, Canada.  I was expecting a comedy, and I got one.  “De père en flic” (MSPIFF link) is the highest-grossing French Canadian film.  What I didn’t expect was the acting.  There are some serious, emotional moments throughout the film, and the film had my attention and everyone else’s in the theater.  No giggles, no snide “yeah, right” comments.  And the funny bits were pretty damn funny. Recommended. Showing again on 4/29.
• Dear Lemon Lima,, USA.  Coming of age genre, check.  Struggles with infatuation and heartbreak, check.  Outsiders and geeks, check.  Misfits hanging out in detention after school (Breakfast Club) the weightroom during gym class (MSPIFF link), check.  “Napoleon Dynamite” meets “Juno“?  Well, without the pregnancy, maybe.  It was sweet, definitely quirky, and safe/no-bad-words-or-images for young families, if that’s a worry.  Recommended.  Not showing again.

The “Best of Fest” schedule is now available for Saturday – Thursday, May 1-6.  I hope to catch “La Mission” and “The Athlete” and “The Boneman” and “North” during that week, oh oh, and “No More Smoke Signals”.  If you’re a documentary nut, these three are showing again during the Best and they’re all worth seeing (see my previous blob postings): “The Unreturned”, “Ghosts of the 7th Cavalry”, and “Pink Taxi”.

Monday was Day 11 of the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. Mom stayed with us for a few days, to catch up on the worst of jet lag before driving home on Tuesday.  Movies are a great cure for jet lag….

• Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Canada.  I’d known a bit about Glenn Gould, but this bio-pic (MSPIFF link) helped explain why he was such a sensation in his day.  His move away from live performances to the recording studio was amazingly prescient: he predicted over 30 years ago that people would be recording and mixing audio at home.  He thought it would be using equipment kits shipped to homes across North America.  Instead, it came in the form of personal computers.  Highly recommended.  Not showing again.
• The Sicilian Girl, Italy.  Based on the true story of Rita Atria, a 17-year old young woman who has kept diaries for over five years of the Sicilian Mafia’s activities in her village.  She turns the diaries over to the state’s chief prosecutor to get revenge for the murder of her father and her brother.  In the end, she’ll settle for justice.  This story does not have a happy ending, but it demonstrates the Mafia’s corruption of Sicily in many ways that Franco used to keep Spain under his control.  (See “Forever Waiting” in an earlier blog posting.)  Recommended.  Not showing again.