Lisa's reviews (a work in progress):
There seemed to be several themes to the movies. First, movies in which the initial scene started with a gunshot, then flashed back to the events leading up to that moment (Snow Angels, The Good Life, Weapons). Second, Alzheimer's and senile dementia (Away from Her, The Savages, The Good Life).
Here are my short reviews of the movies I saw, from best to worst.
Director: Sarah Polley
Main Cast: Julie Christie, Gordon Pinset, Olympia Dukakis
Synopsis: A husband struggles with his wife's descent into Alzheimer's. Based on a short story by Alice Munro.
My review: Loved it. I have found Sarah Polley to be a phenomenal actress, and her debut as a director is just as good. Pinset's acting was brilliant, as he watches the woman he loves leave him. Has she truly forgotten him, or is she punishing him for past wrongs? Can he do anything to bring her back, if only for moments? Can he let her go? Each moment is poignant and moving.
Director: James Strouse
Main Cast: John Cusak, Shelan O'Keefe, Gracie Bdenarczyk
Synopsis: Upon learning his military wife has just been killed in Iraq, a father cannot find a way to share the news with his two daughters, and takes them on an impromptu road trip.
My review: Loved it. Cuask's performance was top-notch, but what stole the show was adolescent actress O'Keefe, who plays the 12-year old daughter. Unlike her younger sister, O'Keefe suspects that something is not quite right, and, over the course of the movie, she matures from a child into a young adult.
On a local note, both child actresses are Chicago-area residents, and I hope to see them on stage (or screen) soon. In addition, the road trip from Minnesota to Florida was filmed almost entirely in the Chicago north suburbs, making it fun to watch. ("Hey, they've been driving for two days, and they're still in Lake Forest!" we commented.)
3. Snow Angels
Director: David Gordon Green
Main Cast: Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Michael Angarano
Synopsis: A recently-separated husband finds it hard to separate from his wife and toddler daughter, while a teenaged boy finds first love. An unexpected tragedy affects them all.
My review: Loved it. The two stories - that of the separated couple and the teenaged boy - are only loosely connected (the boy and the wife work in the same restaurant, and she used to babysit him). The story of the boy falling in love is cute and uplifting and lighthearted, whereas watching the separated couple struggle is painful. But, thematically, the stories are intertwined - the couple were high school sweethearts, and the implication seems to be that they were once just as happy.
Director: Tommy O'Haver
Main Cast: Catherine Keener, Ellen Page
Synopsis: A fictionalized version of the real-life torture and murder of a 16-year old girl by a family entrusted with her care in Indiana in 1965.
My review: Loved it, despite the fact that I've read (so far) four reviews that lambasted it. The critics say that the movie is gratuitous and sensational, and that the movie doesn't provide any insight into why the perpetrators committed their crimes. I disagree.
This movie disturbed and haunted me. It is not an easy movie to watch. For the next several days, it stayed with me, and Torsten and I discussed it. I even went online to look up facts about the real story (since this was a fictionalized version). This, I think, is a sign of a good movie.
The mother incites the torture of the girl, Sylvia, but the whole family participates. Over the course of two months, Sylvia is locked in the basement and beaten, burned, and tortured at whim. Worse, kids in the neighborhood come over and participate in the torture. And neighbors hear Sylvia literally shrieking in pain, but decide that it's best not to get involved. In one scene, a teenaged girl is at first horrified when one of the siblings burns Sylvia with a cigarette, but two minutes later, goaded on by others, happily does it herself. The torture depicted in the movie is unfathomable. What's worse, from what I have since read, the movie toned downed the torture by many degrees.
Why, then, do I think the violence is not gratuitous? Why do I disagree that the movie fails to provide insight into the crimes? Although (hopefully) this kind of child abuse would not occur these days (what with mandatory reporting obligations and neighbors less likely to turn a blind eye), I still feel it is relevant. We live today in a world where our soldiers stand accused of torturing prisoners, and we cannot understand why. What causes someone to ignore their moral compass?
Director: Jeffrey Blitz
Main Cast: Reece Daniel Thompson, Anna Kendrick
Synopsis: A teenaged boy afflicted with a stutter is recruited by the star of the debate team to be her partner.
My review: Loved it.
6. Waitress
Director: Adrienne Shelly
Main Cast: Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Cheryl Hines, Adrienne Shelly, Andy Griffith
Synopsis: A diner waitress finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy by her no-good husband, and embarks on an affair with her obstetrician.
My review: Loved it.
7. The Savages
Director: Tamara Jenkins
Main Cast: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Synopsis: A brother and sister have to care for their dementia-inflicted father.
My review: Loved it.
8. My Kid Could Paint That
Director: Amir Bar-Lev
Synopsis: A documentary focusing on child modern art "prodigy" Marla Olmstead and the media hype surrounding her art.
My review: Really enjoyed it.
9. The Pool
Director: Chris Smith
Main Cast: Venkatesh Chavan, Ayesha Mohan, Jhangir Badshah
Synopsis: An Indian boy fantasizes about the garden and swimming pool at a nearby house, and befriends the father and daughter living there.
My review: Really enjoyed it.
10. Broken English
Director: Zoe Cassavetes
Main Cast: Parker Posey, Drea de Mateo, Melvil Poupod
Synopsis: A lonely and quirky New Yorker cannot find love.
My review: Really enjoyed it.
11. Year of the Dog
Director: Mike White
Main Cast: Molly Shannon, Peter Sarsgaard, John C. Reilly, Laura Dern, Regina King
Synopsis: A dog-loving single woman gets involved with animal rights issues.
My review: Liked it.
12. Expired
Director: Cecilia Miniucchi
Main Cast: Samantha Morton, Jason Patric
Synopsis: A socially-challenged meter maid living with her stroke-impaired mother finds possible love with an angry and unstable co-worker.
My review: Liked it.
13. Noise
Director: Matthew Saville
Main Cast: Brendan Cowell, Maia Thomas, Henry Nixon
Synopsis: A mass murder on a subway train in Australia impacts the whole community, but especially a police officer assigned with investigating the crime.
My review: Didn't get it.
14. The Good Life
Director: Steve Barra
Main Cast: Mark Webber, Zooey Deschanel
Synopsis: A 20-something in Nebraska struggles to make ends meet for himself and his mother, while also caring for an elderly movie theater owner. He meets a mysterious woman who inspires him.
My review: Hated it. I could not wait for this movie to be over. It was definitely the low point of the festival for me. That being said, Torsten loved it.
There is a trope in movies lately of the beautiful and mysterious and troubled and damaged woman who inspires the main character. He loves her instantly - because she is beautiful! And mysterious! And troubled!! And damaged!! But, of course, he cannot have her, because she is troubled and damaged. Still, she will inspire him (because she is beautiful! And mysterious! And troubled!) and change his life. When this works, it works well (see Almost Famous). When it doesn't work, it just drives me nuts.
This movie embraces that trope, and not well. Deschanel's character is beautiful, and mysterious, and troubled, and damaged. And, of course, Webber falls for her. And, predictably, she inspires him. Snore.
If that weren't enough to make me dislike the movie, everything else in Webber's life is overwhelmingly depressing. His father has just committed suicide. His mother cannot even pay the electric bill. He works at a gas station where he is harassed and even beaten up by a local crazy. His movie theater-owner friend apparently has Alzheimer's, frequently forgetting what year it is, or even to open the theater on time. The movie is as dreary as the dark, shadowy tones it is filmed in.