Filmwell

Liverpool (Alonso, 2008 – SLIFF 2009)

Reviews that object to the minimalism of Alonso’s Liverpool usually proceed along the lines of: too slight, too similar to his earlier work, or just simply, yawn. But I am not sure such responses noticed the remarkable contrasts and transitions that give the otherwise spare film its shape and momentum. Even just in the first few minutes we transition from the mechanical din of a large cargo ship heading to port to the relative quiet of a tiny bulkhead bunk in which the mere... Read More

The First Midrash SLIFF Jury Prize Winner…

I was happy to be part of the institution of a new annual award at the St. Louis International Film Festival called the Midrash St. Louis Film Award. Last night we went to the gala award ceremony and were happy to present a sizable cash prize to Chris Grega, director of the indomitable Game of the Year. It was nice to have something of such a high caliber on which to hang our hat this first go around, and there were some very gratifying murmurs of approval from the audience when... Read More

Game of The Year (Grega, 2009 – SLIFF 2009)

Quotability is rarely used as a critical yardstick, but sometimes the shoe just fits. Films like The Big Lebowski, The Blues Brothers, or Office Space achieved their hallowed fandom aura so easily because of the way they become instantly portable. “Ah, ah, I almost forgot…I’m also going to need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too…” or “That rug really tied the room together.” Inside jokes like these can condense entire films into one offhand reference,... Read More

Beeswax (Bujalski, 2009 – SLIFF 2009)

I guess if there is a metaphor that sums up Bujalski’s films, it is the constant hum of the hive in which repeated shapes are communally developed based on blind instinct propagating at a geometric scale. Even though bees move in patterns that seem erratic to the naked eye, they are actually very predictable to bee scientists. Beeswax teeters on this behavioral crux. It is a crux that Bujalski places at exactly the right spot in all of his films, during which we catch his... Read More

Jerichow (Petzold, 2008 – SLIFF 2009)

(This is part of ongoing St. Louis International Film Festival coverage. Please click Festivals above for more reviews.) This loose visit to The Postman Always Rings Twice throws the whole notion of new German cinema for a loop. But this is what Christian Petzold seems good at: throwing things off balance. Every jot and tittle of the film is intensely precise, as if engineered rather than directed. The landscape shots of this lush rural corner of Germany are clinically framed,... Read More

Munyurangabo (Chung, 2007 – SLIFF 2009)

Apparently, this is a Filmwell favorite, as Jeffrey Overstreet has already posted a lengthy two part interview with director Isaac Lee Chung. Chung was kind enough to let us post some of his thoughts. And Ron Reed even posted some screening dates. But as it is playing at this year’s St. Louis International Film Festival, I might as well toss an additional review into the mix. Munyurangabo is such a quiet, unassuming film that it feels odd to call it a great feat of naturalist... Read More

Lake Tahoe (Eimbcke, 2008 – SLIFF 2009)

Jeffrey Overstreet has already talked about this film at Filmwell. But it is screening at the St. Louis International Film Festival this year, and deserves as much attention as it can get. There are a few reasons why the minimalism of Lake Tahoe stands out among the large annual festival crop of similarly pared down films. The first is that Eimbcke’s approach to filmmaking seems organically related to his set, the washed out right angles and open spaces of this dead-pan Yucatan... Read More