Walken dances! And sings! Reason enough to catch John Turturro's 2005 film that scored only a limited release in September of 2007. I enjoyed this imperfect, but still entertaining flick. Check it on DVD and read more about my thoughts on the film at Scarlett Cinema!
I loved Ang Lee's Hulk when it was released in 2003, and I still love it now in 2008. It was 
Also seen was director Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit, which was fun and funny, and a very nice look at Israeli landscape that is all but Martian to me. Kolirin, like Lee, was also on hand at the festival to talk with the audience. I’m pretty sure his was one of the better received films of the festival.
Ditto for Bill Forsyth’s Housekeeping starring Christine Lahti. The story centers around two sisters left orphaned as little girls whose quirky and sometimes erratic aunt Sylvie (Lahti) moves in to care for them. Unfit for motherhood herself and still stuck in perpetual adolescence, home life resembles more of a slumber party than a structured, safe environment. But since it’s Ebert’s festival, here’s a quote from his review in 1988: “At the end of the film, I was quietly astonished. I had seen a film that could perhaps be described as being about a madwoman, but I had seen a character who seemed closer to a mystic, or a saint.” I think that says it nicely.
Now, my question is, who is this director Tarsem Singh who plops down one of the most horrifying, terrifying films in recent history then falls off the face of the planet? Where did he come from? Where is he now? Well, he was at Ebertfest for a bit of audience Q&A, and he did have a more recent release, The Fall, for which I barely recall a single advertisement (It toured through festivals then landed a nationwide release last May).
If pressed to say which are my two favorite silent films, Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931) would probably top the list, but directly on its heels would be Josef von Sternberg's phenomenal gangster pic--also known as the first movie of the gangster genre--Underworld (1927). I honestly didn't believe that it would even make the program for Ebert's festival of underrated and overlooked films, for what cinephile has either dismissed or been left unaware of such a wonderful film? Well, no one, is the answer. As Ebert believes (and I think he's right), silent films are simply overlooked in general by contemporary audiences. So von Sternberg's film was picked as the annual silent screening, but the flickering sound of the projector was hardly the only sound reverberating through the Virginia Theater, enter: The Alloy Orchestra. Live musical accompaniment made a film that is already so smartly built that its series of visuals double as built-in sound cues, even better. In fact, Underworld, which I have seen at least a handful of times, was practically a whole new and enriched film. The sound accompaniment made such a difference in maintaining the story's tone and flow, it actually felt like a longer movie--not tediously so, just more fleshed out and engaging. I love to watch von Sternberg films, and I love to watch Underworld even more; this was simply the best experience seeing any of the above.
If ever you need a pick-me-up, find joy in the story of Illinois farmer and hippie, John Peterson. His heart is as large as that beautiful, organically grown cabbage he's got his arms around at left, seriously. The documentary follows Peterson's plight to save his farm that has been in his family since (if memory serves) before he was even born. Bright super 8mm home movie reels are woven with present day digital footage to narrate the personal story of his mother's life and death, the dismantling of his land in years past when financial times were tough, and shocking stories of his bewildered country neighbors who perpetuated rumors that murderous black magic took place on John's plot of land (you never knew what those nutty long-hairs where up to in those days, I guess!) But mostly, it's an inspiring, hopeful story couched in the organic food movement that only in recent years has gained a lot of commercial steam. Plus John is such a lovable dude, honest and forthwith and impassioned about his quiet everyday life, it's not presumptuous to say his story makes you feel glad that you are alive.
Ah, and the grand finale for the day! We marveled over writer-director-Hollywood legend Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. It comes post-Taxi Driver and post-Raging Bull, at a time in cinema history that is frowned upon as the era of the bloated blockbuster. That may only partially be true, using Mishima as the definitive case study for the kind of experimental story structure and visual aesthetics employed during the 1980s. The story is a story within a story within a story--the novel, a stage play, and the filmed frame around it all--embellished with sets that simply glow, and a musical score from Philip Glass that haunts me to this day. Schrader was there and I like how he speaks, thoughtful sentences strewn with swears. I don't mean that only in a provocative way either, it's just that there is an amazing energy to how Schrader articulates himself and those choice four letter words are just part and parcel of his individuality. He injects a sense of reality to the conversation, trimming all the fat and self-inflated B.S. you can often easily get from Hollywood directors. The print of the film we saw was Schrader's own. For me, this was the most personal events of Ebertfest, partially because I sat a few feet away from the writer of my favorite American movie (Taxi Driver, 1976), though mostly because I saw a new movie pumped full of magic, wonder and fear--to fall in love at the theater! Mishima is the newest addition to my long best-of list.
To say indie director Tom Decillo's latest film Delirious received distribution is to completely redefine the meaning of the word. More than upset about its poor marketing and subsequent lack of box office success, DeCillo was just plain befuddled about it. He corresponded with Roger Ebert last fall, and Ebert had their Q&A exchange published in the Chicago Sun-Times--a little crash course on the indie film market for the unknowing public. You can read that here, it's a nice chat to be privy to. 
A beautiful movie. I'll have more on director Sally Potter as I move through this long, backlogged queue that includes more of her films. But if pressed to rank this among its Ebertfest counterparts, it gets the silver medal (just behind....ah, well, not to be revealed just yet. I made you wait this long for an Ebertfest recap, what's a few more days?)
Canvas was my one and only disappointment at the festival, which was much too inspired by the oeuvre of the Lifetime network for me to appreciate. Though, if nothing else--good performances from Joey Pants and Marcia Gay Harden!
And I believe director Jeff Nichols' Shotgun Stories wins the bronze! I also loved this movie, which has an uncanny look and tone of David Gordon Green's films (excepting, perhaps, The Pineapple Express). And that isn't a tough parallel to draw, Nichols told us the two directors actually went to film school together. In sum, beautiful scenery of a space that isn't usually thought of as beautiful. Find this one on DVD right away too.
360 degree shots? 360 degree shots! Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet (1996) opened the 2008 Ebertfest last April, and we watched it in 70mm projection, which is so huge it's like staring into an Olympic sized swimming pool. Apologies for the Olympics reference, but I've caught the fever for the Beijing games. Back to Branagh: I live blogged every day at Ebertfest, so you can read more about Hamlet here, at Scarlett Cinema
