NAZIS, GANGSTERS AND MANIC-DEPRESSIVES, OH MY!

In February I saw a bunch of films at the Portland International Film Festival. Here are the highlights. Bear in mind that it might take awhile for some of these babies to hit theaters.


Sophie Scholl – The Final Days
Grade: A

Based on real events, this moving German film was nominated for this year’s Best Foreign Film Oscar. Julia Jentsch (The Edukators) delivers a potent performance as Sophie Scholl, a young woman who was arrested and executed in 1943 for her role in an anti-Nazi resistance group called The White Rose. The lengthy scenes between Sophie and her interrogator are intense and claustrophobic, and the despotic courtroom procedures will make your blood boil. Despite all the uncomfortable feelings it evokes, the film leaves you with the hopeful sense that Sophie’s humanitarian ideals will ultimately triumph over tyranny.


Tsotsi
Grade: A-

Filled with images of senseless violence and abject poverty, this Oscar winner isn’t likely to boost tourism in South Africa. The title character is a young black gang member, thief and murderer who gets a shot at redemption when he discovers a baby in the backseat of a car he steals. Presley Chweneyagae is phenomenal in the complex lead role, convincing us that Tsotsi has the capacity for both unspeakable rage and heartfelt contrition. Though there are some overly sentimental scenes toward the end, this is the most gripping coming-of-age film to come along in quite awhile.


The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Grade: A-

Music and mental illness collide in this fascinating documentary about Daniel Johnston, an artist and singer-songwriter whose fans include Beck, Sonic Youth and the late Kurt Cobain. Combining interviews, audio recordings and home movies, director Jeff Feurzeig follows the gifted and troubled artist from his childhood in West Virginia to his brief glory days in the Austin, Texas music scene in the 1980s. Though manic-depression sabotaged his initial quest for stardom, Johnston is now working his way back from the brink à la Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys.

L’ Enfant (The Child)
Grade: B

Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne of Belgium won the coveted Palm D’Or at the 2005 Cannes Film Festival for this gritty and depressing portrait of a bona fide loser who catches hell from his girlfriend and others when he tries to sell his infant son. Skip it if you look to movies for escapism. But fans of cinema verité will find plenty to admire in the naturalistic acting and the decidedly unglamorous settings.

Art School Confidential
Grade: B

Five years ago director Terry Zwigoff and comic book writer Daniel Clowes brought us Ghost World, one of the smartest American comedies in years. Their uneven follow-up collaboration pales by comparison, but it’s still edgy and funny. Max Minghella plays an idealistic art student who begrudgingly resorts to ass kissing and amoral behavior to get ahead. The supporting cast is a hoot, particularly John Malkovich as a nutty professor and Jim Broadbent as a down-and-out reject from the art world.

Look Both Ways
Grade: B

This quirky and disturbing Australian feature ranks with Harold and Maude as one of the most morbid comedies ever made. In animation sequences, an artist pictures herself being devoured by sharks and getting shot to death by masked intruders. Her new boyfriend, a photographer with testicular cancer, also sees death and decay all around him. Strong performances and imaginative visuals offset the film’s tireless – and eventually tiresome- obsession with disaster.