films ...

 

 

 

 

The Band's Visit  - June 26
My Brother is an Only Child - June 19
Unfinished Sky - June 19
Mongol - June 19
Sex and the City - out now

 

 

 

(William McInnes in Unfinished Sky)
 
 

 

 

 

Starring Sasson Gaabai, Ronit Elkabetz and Saleh Bakri

Directed by Eran Kolirin

Rated M (infrequent moderate coarse language)

86 mins

Madman Films: out June 26

 

 

What if an Egyptian police band turned up to the wrong Israeli town to play at the inauguration of the Arab cultural centre?

 

A pleasing premise for a light story of friendship and understanding.

 

Director Eran Kolirin remembers his past when there was such a visit, the days when families in Israel used to watch soap operas from Egypt on TV.  He also says that the question for this part of the world is not how peace can be achieved but, more deeply, 'why peace?'

 

As we see the band leader reminisce with the woman who owns the bar and they exchange stories, as we see the assistant conductor at home with a husband who has had an argument with his wife, as we see the young policeman coaching a gawky local how to charm a young woman at the local skating rink, something of the answer comes across in a light, often charming, way.

 

 

 

Starring Elio Germano and Riccardo Scarmarcio

Directed by Daniele Luchetti

Rated M (moderate themes and violence, coarse language and sexual references)

100 mins

Sharmill Films: June 19

 

 

In the early 1960s, a number of Italian directors, some of them soon to be big names like Bolognini and Pasolini, made films about disaffected young men in and around Rome. These films serve as a contemporary mirror of the times.  Forty years later, Italian directors are still fascinated by stories and characters from these backgrounds.

 

My Brother is an Only Child has proven popular at the Italian box-office.

 

It opens in 1962 (actually the year that the Second Vatican Council opened).  It has a church and anti-church beginning typical of the times: the younger brother goes to a junior seminary, his parents proud of him and happy to have a priest in the family; his older brother is opposed, taunts him, leaves him a photo of an actress and the teenager recognises he will have sexuality problems and leaves the seminary.  Apart from holy pictures on walls, that is the end of the presence of the Church in these young men's lives.

 

What inspires one is the Communist party, Italian style, full of sound and fury but idealistically wanting to signify something - brought to a head in the film in the student revolutions of 1968. That is the path of the older brother who works in a factory, develops skills as a political demagogue, has a girlfriend from a wealthy family in Turin but who gets caught up in the struggle, letting it consume his life at the expense of family.

 

What initially inspires the younger brother after his return home is a Fascist friend who fills his imagination with Right-wing enthusiasm.  He joins the party and absorbs the ideology.

 

Luchetti has the advantage of two very strong emerging young actors to embody these characters and their political and emotional conflicts: Elio Germano as the younger, Riccardo Scarmarcio as the older.

 

The characters can be both irritating and frustrating for the audience - and that is one of the strengths of the film.  The other is the strong drawing of the supporting characters, the boys' angry mother.

 

Audiences who are familiar with 20th century Italian history will find the film an emotional story that will remind them of Italy 's political and social change.  The film ends just as the neo-terrorist groups are beginning their attacks.

 

 

Starring William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx and David Field

Directed by Peter Duncan

Rated M (moderate themes, violence and coarse language)

91 mins

Palace:  June 19

 

 

This is an Australian movie that has been a firm audience favourite on the Festival circuit, wherever it has been shown.

 

Filmed on location at an old homestead (Wyambin) in Beaudesert , Queensland , the movie tells the story of a reclusive outback farmer, John Woldring (William McInnes) who hesitantly befriends Tahmeena, an illegal Afghan refugee (sensitively played by Monic Hendrickx).

 

Intelligently written for the screen by the film's Director, Peter Duncan, and based on a screenplay by Kees van der Hulst, the film is no ordinary version of a run-of-the-mill outback romance. This film is a re-make of a Dutch movie called "The Polish Bride" in which Monic Hendrickx also starred, and it is translated here into an Australian setting to emphasise its universal themes.

 

Plot and setting don't exactly fit and the ending disappoints a little, but psychological and emotional overtones abound and they bring to the film considerable complexity and impact.

 

This is a political-romantic story of a growing love between two injured people. John Woldring is injured by his own isolation and consuming grief over the death of his wife; and Tahmeena is injured by the hurt others have done to her. The mutual hesitancy of both of them is slowly replaced by trust and love.

 

It is very well acted and directed, and the photography of Robert Humphreys is excellent.

 

The Australian landscape provides excellent contrast with the human drama that unfolds.

 

One of the most interesting aspects of the movie is that Tahmeena's words in her own language are never sub-titled. The audience and the principal characters have to find in common the ways to understand what is really happening; and meaning comes through visual and emotional cues that ultimately reflect very fine direction by Peter Duncan and quality acting by McInnes and Hendrickx.

 

Trust rescues both of them for different reasons.  It comes for Tahmeena from the help and support she needs and which John provides. It comes for John by the understanding and emotional support that Tahmeena senses he wants.

 

The movie is about finding the courage to trust and love again, and this is a genuinely uplifting message.

 

Peter W. Sheehan is an Associate of the Australian Catholic Office for Film and Broadcasting.

 

 

Starring Tadanou Asano

Directed by Sergei Bodrov

Rated MA 15+ (strong battle violence)

120 mins

Hopscotch: June 19

 

 

This film was the official Kazakhistan entry for the 2007 Oscars for Best Foreign Language films and, in fact, was one of the five finalists.

 

It is the story of Genghis Khan's early years and is said to be the first in a trilogy about him.

 

It is a sweeping drama, filmed on location in Mongolia and China with a Japanese actor as Temudjin who became the khan, and a Chinese actor as his friend, then enemy, Jurmukha.  The rest of the cast is Mongolian.  However, to show international co-operation, director Sergei Bodrov is Russian.

 

The location photography is quite spectacular.  The effects for the battles provide for immense attacks and fights.

 

Khan himself emerges as a just leader according to his lights, devoted to his wife who is a good adviser to him.

 

Historians may consider that he is presented in too favourable a light.  However, he has been played in the past on screen by John Wayne (The Conqueror) and Omar Shariff

(Genghis Khan).  This one seems a bit more authentic!

 

 

Starring Sarah Jessica Parke, Chris Noth, Kristen Davis, Cynthia Nixon and Kim Cattrell

Directed by Michael Patrick King

Rated MA 15+ (sex scenes)

145 mins

Village Roadshow: out now

 

 

This is one of those highly anticipated blockbuster events that is review proof.

 

The emphasis is certainly on the city, New York .  It is a star in its own right.  This is where three of the famous four girls (now forty-something women) live while the fourth lives

in (and criticises) Los Angeles.

 

The emphasis is also on the sex of the title, but, compared with so many films, this is quite restrained with a few breakout moments to emphasise Samantha's roving eye and appetites.

 

In fact, by the end of the film, traditional values have been affirmed, especially as regards marriage and commitment - which may also help to explain its wide appeal.

 

The story is slight as stories go.  It is the girl-power in the friendship through thick and thin for so many years that is the core of the film.  The other aspect is fashion, and even more fashion - glamorous clothes galore.

 

Somebody remarked that one of the underlying principles of this kind of story is that 'expensive is good' - which will certainly irritate the more social-justice-minded amongst us.

 

Which means that Sex and the City, despite its yearning for love and commitment, is a glossy would-be fantasy-fulfilment of the American dream.