LO SCIECHO BIANCO (THE WHITE SHEIKH)

Italy, 1952, 86 minutes, Black and white.
Alberto Sordi, Leopoldo Trieste.
Directed by Federico Fellini.

The White Sheikh is Fellini’s first major feature film. He had been writing for some time and appeared in Roberto Rossellini’s The Miracle opposite Anna Magnani. He regarded Rossellini as something of a mentor and made cuts to this film on Rossellini’s advice. (They have been restored for the DVD edition in 2008, featuring both the film version and then showing the cuts.)

Fellini went on to make Il Bidone and I Vitelloni before making an international name for himself and an Oscar with La Strada in 1954. He never looked back. His classics include Nights of Cabiria, La Dolce Vita, 8½ , Juliet of the Spirits, Fellini’s Satyricon, Amacord, Ginger and Fred, and The Ship Moves On.

The White Sheikh is a very entertaining film. It is one day in the life of two newlyweds coming from the provinces to Rome. They have a full program with an uncle supervising every moment including a papal audience. However, the young wife is enamoured of the film character, The White Sheikh, and slips away to visit the studios. While her husband is desperate when she disappears but has to continue his tour with the family, the wife is tricked by the scriptwriter and other members of the staff into going to location. She ends up changing costume, being in a scene with Alberto Sordi as the sheikh, his making advances and her hurrying away, losing her trip back to the city. She is so despairing that she throws herself into the Tiber but is rescued and taken to an institution. In the meantime, the husband wanders the streets and encounters Fellini’s wife, Juliette Massina, as Cabiria (the role she was to play in Nights of Cabiria). He goes home with one of the women but returns to the hotel the next morning to get the good news that his wife has been found. They continue the journey with the relatives.

Fellini shows great flair with comedy as well as social observation with the satiric touch. He is also interesting on the film industry itself, the personalities, the film-making and the vain stars like Alberto Sordi as the sheikh. He also has a few grotesques who were to increase in his films later (some of them cut for the final issue of the film).

1.An enjoyable film? Italian feel?

2.The work of Fellini, early films, black and white, comedy, comic turns, clowns, grotesques? The music of Nino Rota? The dance and the joy? The inclusion of his wife, Julietta Massina?

3.The movies, movie stars, their image, offering escape, dreams? The reality? The White Sheikh on the screen and the Valentino tradition? The making of films, the reality of films? Compared with the reality of reality? Vanda and her waking up from the dream?

4.The train, arriving in Rome, the excitement? Ivan and Vanda and their marriage, getting the carriage to the hotel, the explanations to the concierge, the background of the wedding, their plans for Rome?

5.Ivan and his type, prim, organised? Vanda and her being young, the marriage? Her hopes?

6.The uncle and his timetable? The other members of the family? Ivan and his taking a rest, Vanda and her going to the bath? Leaving the water running and her escape being discovered?

7.Vanda and her leaving, the letters from the White Sheikh, meeting the writer, the staff, her being led on? Her being tricked? The phone call to her husband? The truth, in the van, going to the beach, still searching for a phone? The White Sheikh on the swing, catching her up, going with her for a drink, changing the dress, going on the boat? The fulfilment of her dreams, romance? His approaches, her being upset, her being left behind?

8.Ivan and his relatives, trying to cover, the upset after the bath, the uncle and his dominance? The meals, the sightseeing, the pretence?

9.Ivan and his wandering, seeing the two women in the night, the fountain, the discussions, about love and marriage? His return to the home of the girl? Not having breakfast, hurrying back to the hotel, the phone call just in time?

10.Vanda and her being upset, going to the hotel, unwilling to go in, going to the river, seeing the angels and their symbolism? Jumping, the shallow water, being saved? The police, going to the institution?

11.Ivan going to the institution, his reaction to Vanda? Hurrying her, the clothes, going to the hotel, meeting the family? Getting ready?

12.The relatives, their personalities, concern, the older generation, the young boy? The visit to the pope, going to the Vatican? Vanda arriving?

13.Each saying that they were pure – and the background of what they had done? The hopes for the future?

14.Fellini’s insight into human nature, comic aspects – with the satirical touch?

The DVD release has the film itself, then an extra with the cut sequences along with the remaining sequences:

THE WHITE SHEIKH: NOTES

The perspective of having the film clip and then the cuts? The comparisons?
- The concierge, his information, the discussion about the marriage ceremony.
- More on the plot, the writer, the phone call, the promise?
- The relatives and detail.
- The sheikh, the boat, his advances
- The girl, the search for the phone
- Ivan, the women in the piazza, his spending the night with the woman, the aftermath in the morning, the offering a meal, her parents
- More detail on the drowning
- The irony of the final comment that Vanda was innocent and pure and Ivan saying that he was also.

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

US, 2008, 116 minutes, Colour.
Anne Hathaway, Rosemary De Witt, Bill Irwin, Tunde Adebimpe, Mather Zickel, Anna Deavere Smith, Anisa George, Debra Winger.
Directed by Jonathan Demme.

After some remakes (turning Charade into The Trouble with Charlie and a new Manchurian Candidate) which received mixed responses and after some excellent documentaries (The Agronomist about Jean Dominque in Haiti and Man from Plains about Jimmy Carter) Jonathan Demme has returned to an original film (with a screenplay by Sidney Lumet's daughter, Jenny).

The action takes place over a couple of days with the preparations for Rachel's wedding, the ceremony, the day after. There is a lot of good cheer in these sequences. The large gathering of friends of the bride and groom, a meal where each sings, speaks or makes tributes, offer a very genial marriage preparation as does the rehearsal. The ceremony is given a great deal of attention, especially the recitation of the vows and the groom (from the music business) singing to his wife and then the meal and dancing afterwards.

However, underlying the celebration is a great deal of family animosity, mood swings from love to hate and the clear necessity for conflict resolution and the healing of memories. In fact, the central character is not Rachel at all. Rather, it is her sister, Kym, whose life is beset by very serious problems. Rachel is played by Rosemarie de Witt and Kym is played, in a departure from her sweet and good-natures roles, by Anne Hathaway. And quite effectively.

The film opens with Kym being released from drug rehab for the wedding, being picked up by her good natured but always concerned and protective father (Bill Irwin). Kym wanders the house, ignored by Rachel's many friends, remembering her life. Her initial meeting with Rachel is a mixture of affection and deep recriminations. And these continue throughout the film, especially as we get to know more about Kym's drug-taking, her role in her young brother's death and her inability to forgive herself. Rachel is studying psychology and pulls this authority on Kym several times. Kym, in desperate need of affirmation, tends to see things revolving around herself and sometimes tries to steal the limelight even as she makes a speech about making amends.

She attends some drugs anonymous meetings and has been clean for nine months. However, events and characters from her past combine to disrupt her equilibrium and she drives her father's car recklessly.

The cast were encouraged to improvise on the basis of the screenplay and this is highly effective and confronting at times, especially about her relationship with Rachel and their father's different attitude to each of his daughters. A further complication is that their father is remarried as is their mother (Debra Winger) and, while Rachel does not have issues with her mother, Kym does (which also leads to some dramatic confrontations).

There is a great deal of music throughout the film, there is a comfortable Connecticut setting with quite a range of characters. The wedding is a happy event but the family needs a great deal of healing. Audiences, thinking of their own families and relationships, will find much to observe, much, perhaps, to identify with and much to think about. How would we handle these situations?

1.A portrait of families? Love and hate? Suffering? In the context of the wedding and its preparation?

2.The Connecticut setting, the mansion? The AA and drug addict meetings? An authentic feel?

3.The range of the score, the variations on the classics, the jazz, the various cultural songs, the range?

4.The title, the focus on Rachel and the family? The film being about Kym? The interactions with Rachel, with her parents?

5.Kym, in rehabilitation, an addict, her anger, her talking with Walter at the beginning and his insults? Rose as her supervisor? Audience gaining information? Her father picking her up, giving her a lift, talking about the wedding, the house full of guests?

6.The portrait of Kym: as a person, her anger, her relationship with her father, his watching over her and supervising, with Carol as stepmother? Her arriving at home, meeting people, walking all through the rooms, looking? Hearing the music? Hurrying to the meeting by bike, giving the sample, going to the meeting, listening, praying? Meeting Kieran? The quick sexual encounter? Back home, the strangers? Her clashes with Emma? Discussions with Rachel, Rachel not knowing whether she cared or not? The past, the memories of the two sisters, Ethan and his age, playing, his death? Kym being on drugs? Her need for pardon, not being able to pardon herself? Her wanting to be maid of honour?

7.Kym and her discussions, the screenplay and the improvisations of the cast? Paul, his love for his daughters, protective, focusing attention on Kym, Rachel and her being upset at this? Rachel as the centre of the wedding, Kym upstaging her? Their absent mother, Kym and the discussion about responsibility for Ethan, putting her in charge when she knew her condition? Her mother saying that Kym was best with Ethan? The harsh discussion, the mutual slapping? Wanting to be reconciled, the formal farewell, not being able to talk to her mother? The ups and downs with Rosemary? In the kitchen, the interrupted conversation and the news of the baby? Rachel’s psychological background? Her studies? The washing machine episode and her bringing out Ethan’s plate? The hairdresser and his revealing the story of her fiction during therapy? Rachel’s upset and leaving? The photos of Ethan? Her speech at the rehearsal dinner, rambling, the talk about amendment? The going to the meeting, her telling her story about Ethan? Her crash? Being injured but saved? Going back for the wedding, dressing? Together with Rachel? Talking with Kieran? The farewell, going back to Rose and rehabilitation?

8.Rachel and the wedding, her relationship with Sid, love, the preparations, wondering whether Kym would come or not? Her angers? Emma and her being made of honour, taunting Kym? The meals, the speeches, the songs? Everybody participating? Emma telling the story about Rachel and embarrassing her? Rachel and her father, upset with him? Upset with her mother, talking with her, Abby doing the flowers, Rachel offering any other job she would like? At the hairdresser’s, attacking Kym as a liar? The ceremony, her wedding vows, joy, the dance? Sid and Rachel together? Sid, his story, the non-mentioning of race differences? Americans at ease with race differences? His friends, coming from Hawaii, the military? His talent as a musician? His song at the wedding? The genial family and their presence?

9.Paul and Carol, Paul divorced from Abby, Ethan’s death, protective, making everything nice, enjoying the speeches and the entertainment, the rivalry with Sid in filling the washing machine and the competition? His conversations, his grief, happiness?

10.Abby, absent, the divorce? Remarrying? Her professional life? Discussions with Rachel, arranging the flowers? Her presence at the wedding, the ceremony, the reception? The discussion with Kym, the slapping? Her leaving the wedding and the farewell?

11.The range of guests, the range of musicians, the range of family? The Chinese supervisor? The singers? The military man and the consciousness of Iraq?

12.The importance of the music, pervading the film?

13.The marriage ceremony, rituals, the witnesses, the vows, the rings, the song?

14.Themes of love and hate, love and hat coexisting in the same person, needs and attention, affirmation and self-worth, therapy, the twelve steps, conflicts and resolution?

VINYAN

Belgium/France/UK, 2008, 97 minutes, Colour.
Emanuel Beart, Rufus Sewell.
Directed by Fabrice du Welz.

The 2004 tsunami had devastating effects on the populations of the Asian countries where it struck, especially Indonesia, Thailand, Sri Lanka... It also affected a number of people from Europe who were holidaying in those regions. This is a drama that takes the aftermath of the tsunami as its starting point.

The focus is on a couple, he is English (Rufus Sewell) and she is French (Emmanuelle Beart). They have lost their young son in the disaster and have stayed on in Phuket, aligned with some relief activity but the mother, still hoping against all hope, that their son is alive. While watching a DVD filmed in Myanmar by the charity, she believes she sees an image of her son. Nothing will stop her in her quest to find him, despite the more rational approach of her husband and the costs that prospective guides, reputable or not, demand (another concern of the husband).

Their journey leads them to sail north to Myanmar and then enter the jungle. For many stories, an intense journey into the jungle becomes a voyage into what Conrad called 'the heart of darkness', with memories of the river voyage in Apocalypse Now - geographically not far from this journey and just as deadly. In fact Vinyan evokes many images from Apocalypse Now as well as its themes.

The couple and their mercenary guide (who lost his family in the tsunami) become lost in the jungle. Alternate children are offered to them. Gradually, there is the loss of a hold on reality, eerie settings in ruins, ghostly children and final grim confrontations.

Writer-director, Fabrice du Welz, is not averse to showing suffering human beings and not shy of scenes of torture. His previous film, Calvaire, had a hapless hero, lost in the Belgian countryside, hounded cruelly to his fate.

That said, the film is quite powerful in its emotions, sinister in its quest and descending into what we remember from Conrad and Coppola, into 'the horror'.


1.The impact of the drama, the horror? Going into the heart of darkness?

2.The reality of the 2004 tsunami, its effects in Asia, on European travellers, physical, psychological?

3.The visuals of the film, their intensity, the darkness, the jungle, the score?

4.Jeanne emerging from the sea, Paul watching her, responding? Their marriage, the disappearance of their son? Their staying on in Phuket? Grief?

5.The charity organisation, the information, the social concern, the DVD and Jeanne’s response? The reality of Myanmar, the tsunami, the trading in children? The money? The dangers?

6.Kim, her information, her travelling in Myanmar, the connection with Thaksin Gao?

7.Jeanne and Paul, their talking the touches of madness, Jeanne rushing through the city, after dark, the details of the streets, the people, the markets, the activities, the clubs? Her searching for Thaksin Gao? Finding a contact?

8.The issue of money, greed, agents and guides, the possibilities? The boats? Paul and his continued concern about costs?

9.Jeanne and her intensity, cost not being important, searching for her son no matter what? The discussions with Paul, his rational approach? Her emotional approach?

10.Preparing for the travel, the guide, their experience with him, mistrust, paying extra for the boat and the passport, on the sea, met by Thaksin Gao, his shooting the guide?

11.The boat, at sea, the beauty of the ocean, the rock and landscapes? Thailand, Myanmar? The phone connections? The beginning of isolation?

12.On land, mysterious, having to trust Thaksin Gao? Jeanne and Paul, the relationship, their love, sexuality, yet the tension, issues of trust? The elements of paranoia? Feeling alien? Being offered alternate children for their own?

13.The travel, their being lost, the jungle, the apparitions, dreams, imagination?

14.Jeanne giving the money to Thaksin Gao, his keeping it, his being lost? The confrontation with Paul? His leaving, his contacts, his being captured, in the pit, their being unable to get him out, his death?

15.The temple ruins, the strange old people, their helplessness, the children, the visuals of the children, the mud, the malevolence, spirits or real?

16.Jeanne and Paul, being bewildered, the fears, Jeanne wanting her son, Paul and his giving up?

17.Jeanne and her staying, thinking she saw her son, seeing him in dreams and apparitions? Staying in the jungle? Paul refusing to leave? His being taken? The evil overwhelming him, the brutality of his death, picking his body to pieces, the intestines? Jeanne looking on defiantly with the children?

18.The grim and pessimistic tone of the film? The heart of darkness, apocalypse, the horror?

INJU THE BEAST IN THE SHADOW

France, 2008, 105 minutes, Colour.
Benoit Magimel, Lika Minimoto.
Directed by Barbet Schroeder.

Inju the Beast in the Shadow is a murder mystery. It plays with the conventions of the police and murder mystery novel, of the film versions, of audience reactions to reading, to probing mysteries, to responding to films.

The film is highly emotive, rather lush in its presentation of Japan.

The film plays an enjoyable trick on the audience at the opening, giving us a rather sinister and overwrought presentation of a mysterious serial killer and his attacks on geishas. Suddenly we find it is the ending of a film and it is the subject of a lecture in France. Benoit Magimel plays a novelist who is an expert on Japanese murder mysteries, especially a novelist called Oe. When his own novel is published in Japan, he goes on a publicity trip. While on a television program and talkback, he is challenged by the mysterious Oe and his vanity is piqued.

While being hosted in Japan – and the film has a great deal of Japanese life, customs, especially the performances by the geishas, he falls under the spell of a geisha dancer who asks him to solve a mystery.

For those who read murder mysteries, the villain and Oe’s identity might be obvious fairly early – and many audiences have been able to pick the killer. If this is the case, the film is interesting in determining the clues and whether the screenplay was playing fair with the audience in giving indications of who was the killer.

The film is based on a novel by Edogawa Rampo, a novelist in the early part of the 20th century – and it is said that his own character and behaviour were somewhat similar to the behaviour of Oe in this film.

Barbet Schroeder has directed a range of films, beginning in France with dramas then moving to the United States with such films as Barfly, Desperate Measures and the police thriller Murder By Numbers. He also worked in Latin America with Our Lady of the Assassins and directed the very interesting documentary on Jacob Varges, Terror’s Advocate.

1.A film about murder mysteries? Novels? Cinema? Life?

2.The opening, the geisha, the geisha house, the policeman, the geisha’s death, the violence, the killer and his face? Discovering that this was a film? The effect? Alex’s explanation to his class? How films work? Adaptations from novels? Alex as a successful novelist, the Japanese translation, his motivation, his life?

3.Alex and his success, his agent, the preparation for Japan, his acknowledgment of Oe and his novels, his going to the airport, the plane, his reading, his waking up being strangled by the killer?

4.Japan and the contrast with France? Tokyo, its vitality, the buildings, lights? Kyoto and the contrast? The parks? Hotels, streets? Japanese television studios? The geisha tearoom? Homes, offices? Japanese atmosphere? The stylish score?

5.The sections of Japanese culture, traditions, manners?

6.Ken and his meeting Alex, helping him, going to the television station, the interview and his boasting, the phone call from Oe? The reaction? Ken and his meeting the agent Asawe? Getting the documents from the office? Going to the tearoom? His death?

7.Alex and the television, his arrogance, the reaction of Oe, watching him? The smoke? The threats? The increasing number of dreams? Tamao in his dreams?

8.The geisha tradition, the dancing, the tea, the service? Alex fascinated by Tamao? The contact, her confiding in him, the story of her life, an orphan, her parents’ accident, going to the geisha school, her training? The suitor, her refusal, his vengeance? Her showing him the note? Her fear? The sexual response? Alex wanting to help, no matter what the danger? The revelation of her being the killer, sitting in the chair, smoking? Her relationship with the businessman, her pregnancy? The story with the businessman? Asawe, his visiting the prison, his being under her power, helping her and arranging everything? The intruder with the mask sent by Tamao and Asawe?

9.Alex, in himself, his vanity, his believing Tamao, fascinated by her, his investigations, the story, suspicions, identifying Oe, the boss, the manuscript in the desk, his trying to warn him at the plane, in the apartment, the violence? His henchmen? The gun and his shooting the businessman? His continued dreams and suffering?

10.Asawe, the information, the visit to prison, the truth and the taunting?

11.Alex and the businessman, killing him, the court, going to prison, the polite customs for prisoners? His desperation?

12.His being defeated by Tamao, by his own arrogance, by his inability to solve a mystery which he could do in his writings?

HAPPY TEARS

US, 2009, 95 minutes, Colour.
Parker Posey, Demi Moore, Rip Torn, Ellen Barkin.
Directed by Mitchell Lichenstein.

Who's mad? Who's not mad? Most of the characters in Happy Tears could raise their hands – in the affirmative.

Dysfunctional families can be amusing to watch or they can be just as irritating to the audiences as they are to each other. This gallery is irritating, has moments of quirkiness, many more moments of absurdity and limited redeeming features.

The focus is on Jayne (Parker Posey), neurotic, not averse to drugs, married into a San Francisco wealthy art family, wanting a child, cocooned by her older, protective sister, Laura (Demi Moore) from knowing the uglier side of her growing up. Laura is the common-sensed sister, in Pittsburg, caring for their deteriorating father (Rip Torn), a most unlikeable man. Jayne has to learn the truth about her father but the writing by director Mitchell Lichenstein (Teeth) does not provide Parker Posey opportunities to create a credible or consistent (even in oddness) character. Sometimes sensible, sometimes ditzy, always wilful.

Then there is Ellen Barkin as a caricature of a down-at-heels, crackhead prostitute who likes the father but is after his money and a place to stary.

Depending on frustration tolerance for the family and how they interest an audiences, this is a hit and miss experience.

1.An American quirky comedy, dysfunctional family?

2.The Pittsburgh settings, the suburbs, the house, hospitals? The contrast with San Francisco and the art world, boutique shops?

3.The title, the reference to Jackson’s comment about happy tears, the relevance to the other characters?

4.Happiness and sadness? Lies, truth, honesty?

5.The focus on Jayne: her initial lies, about going to the airport, buying the boots, the price, her imagining the salesman as a monster? Her memories of meeting Jackson, the art, his asking her to stay? Their talk?

6.Laura and her exasperation, the older sister, taking care of the father, his illness, her reactions to Jayne, the boots, love and irritation? Cleaning Joe with the hose? His confusion? Jayne’s reaction, always bright, Laura and her planning to go, Jayne testing her patience? Laura and her marriage to Laurent, her children?

7.Joe, his age, his past with the music, his career stopped at fourteen, his sexual encounters, the range of women, his love for his wife, always referring to her? His response to his daughters? The talk of treasure hidden in the field, their digging up and finding the dog’s corpse with the quotation from the film The Mummy? His relationship with Shelly, believing her, defending her? Not wanting to go to a home? His irritations, the car crash, in hospital, with the nurses, the sale of the house? Going to the home and flirting with the nurse?

8.Shelly, her drugs, an opportunist, rough, her gross eating, wearing the stethoscope, her chatter? The plain talk with Jayne? Stealing, coming back into the empty house?

9.Jayne and her being pampered, her husband and his neuroses, the world of art, management? Worrying? Jackson and his cutting his hand, the blood on the painting? Having plenty of money? Jackson going to the institution? Not wanting a child? Jayne and believing all the untruths about her father? Her reaction to digging up the dead dog? Her believing in the treasure? Not knowing about her father’s women? Driving the car, going through the field, the crash? Hospital? Organising the sale, the neighbours and their getting the goods? Ray and the digging, his coming into the house, the drugs, the sex, the swimming and jellyfish fantasy? Her pregnancy, fulfilment for her? The actual treasure? Joe digging it up and giving it to his daughters?

10.Laura at home, Laura and the massage, the children?

11.The antique dealer, buying the cabinet and the vase – and on television? The relative merits of possessions?

12.The visit to their mother’s grave? The family reunion, the meal – happy or sad? A future?

THE COUNTESS

France/Germany, 2009, 94 minutes, Colour.
Julie Delpy, Daniel Bruehl, William Hurt, Stephen Blomberg.
Directed by Julie Delpy.

Count Istvan Thurzo reminds the audience at both beginning and end of this 16th-17th century Hungarian tale that history is written by the victors – and questions whether it is trustworthy. We need only think of the nearby Transylvanian history, legends and myths of Vlad the Impaler and the Dracula stories.

Countess Erzebet Barthory is not so well-known (and in an impassioned speech at the end of the film the Countess reminds us of continued male dominance and influence and the putting down of women, women rulers – although the Countess was a younger contemporary of Elizabeth I).

The tales of Countess Barthory concern the killing of virgins so that she could bathe in their blood and maintain her fresh complexion.

Julie Delpy has wanted to make a film about the Countess for some time. At last, she has done so. The style of the film is traditional enough and it revels in its castles, décor and costumes and music.

Born in 1560, Erzebet had a strict, aristocratic upbringing, cold, merciless and Protestant. Her adolescent misdemeanours (including bearing an illegitimate child) were harshly punished. She bore her husband, in an arranged marriage, three children and managed his estates with successful efficiency while he was away at war with the Turks. On his sudden death, she assumed full control of the estates and might have made a more powerful rule than she was (not afraid to challenge the king to pay his debts to her) had she married the ruthless Count Thurza (William Hurt).

Instead she fell passionately in love with the count's son, Istvan (Daniel Bruehl). His father intervened to prevent the liaison, marrying off his son in Denmark.

Living in isolation in her castle, her closest friend and adviser a woman considered a lesbian witch (Anamaria Marinca), she became obsessed with her looks as she moved into her 40s. An impetuously angry attack on a young servant spattered her with blood and the process of seeking and killing virgins began.

After the historical narrative of her upbringing and the death of her husband, the film settles down and becomes a focused drama about the deteriorating mind and character of the Countess.

Julie Delpy wrote, directed, composed the score and is a powerful presence as the Countess. Some gory touches but much less than a continued spattering of the screen. More is left to the imagination.

1.The legends about the Countess Barthory? Fact, fiction?

2.Istvan and his comments about history being written by those who conquered, whose perspective here on Countess Barthory? Enemies, men, the powerful?

3.Julie Delpi’s project, her variety of roles and performance?

4.The 16th and 17th centuries, Central Europe, Hungary and its castles, Vienna and the city, the churches, Protestant and Catholic? The wars against Turkey? Power, the role of the church?

5.The explanation of the countess in her historical context: her difficult birth, her mother’s hostility and coldness, growing up hard, burying the canary alive to understand about breath, her fights, the warriors, the sexual encounter as a teenager, the reprimands, the birth of her child and its being removed? Her grief and her hardness?

6.The arranged marriage, her husband being away at the wars, bearing three children? Her skills in management, yet her reliance on Darvulia? The household suspicion of the sexual relationship with the witch?

7.The count’s return, his illness and death? The consequences? The countess going to the king, demanding payment for her debts? His reaction? The banquet, the meeting with the Count Thirza? His proposal, her wanting her independence?

8.Istvan, seeing her at the dance, the meeting, her calculated approach, the dance, the seduction, the night, the effect on him? The effect on her? The differences in age, falling in love? The exchange of letters, her hopes, waiting, her plan?

9.Istvan’s father, his scheme, ruthlessness? The marriage for his son?

10.The rendezvous, her waiting, his being imprisoned? Her not knowing the truth?

11.The countess and her children, moving them from the estate, going to visit them? Her return? Relying on the witch and her advice?

12.Her decline, clothes, pining away, her abrupt angers? Her being concerned about age, her appearance? The blood incident with the servant? The sadism with the man from Vienna? His being part of Istvan’s father’s plot? The contrast whether he should die or the witch should die? The death of the witch – and her final words to the countess?

13.The idea of the blood, her extreme vanity, the girl and draining her blood, the others, the maids and the man helping, the murders, the construction of the machine? The priest, the burials, the money? His death?

14.The king, the discussions about the countess and her behaviour? Istvan, his father? Sending Istvan to arrest her? Her seeing him riding in the distance, his arrival?

15.The countess and the effect? Istvan and the effect? Their love?

16.The meeting, the trial, her arrest, the search, finding the proof, the machine? Her being walled up?

17.The countess and God, her prayer, sense of sin, not wanting to go to Hell, slitting her veins and dying?

18.Her final speech, the feminist content and approach?

19.The overall effect of this portrait of a 17th century woman?

THE BONE MAN (DER KNOCHENMANN)

Austria, 2009, 121 minutes, Colour.
Josef Hader, Birgit Minichmayr.
Directed by Wolfgang Murnberger.

The third film in a series based on crime novels by Wolf Haas. The second was Silentium. Silentium, set in a seminary, with very dark themes of money, lies and sexuality was very serious indeed. The Bone Man has a serious setting, but is very facetious in tone, ironies,jokes and quips – a strange example of Germanic humour.

The central character is a former policeman now re-possessing cars. One assignment takes him to a village restaurant in the snow-clad countryside. There are crimes - blackmail and murder – but he does minimal detection and simply stumbles into the solution. No tense sleuthing here or tantalising clues.

The other setting is a Bratislava sex club where dire things happen and cover-ups are the order of the day (or night).

The owner of the restaurant, who grinds chicken bones for chicken-feed recycling and who, therefore, can grind corpses, is a big brutal man who can't stand his son who wants his inheritance.

While the film is on screen, the curiosity factor keeps us going but, in retrospect, it's not really all that much of a plot for a crime thriller and it really has little tension – which we may not notice at the time because of the facetiousness.

1.Crime thriller, Austrian style? The local crime? Detection? The former policeman and his work?

2.The tone: grim – the Russians, prostitution and rackets, the restaurant and the bones?

3.The tone: facetious – Brenner, comic touches, jokes, gallows humour, quips?

4.The introduction and the comment on motivation? The sex club, the Russians, the fall from the window, faking death? The false documents? The restaurant owner and presence, the Russian photographing the numberplate, leading to blackmail, the confrontation, the owner killing him, butchering and grinding him? The girl accompanying him, his pushing the car and its crashing into the river? His son finding the documents and the cassette? His partner, appearing in the wheelchair, pursuing the owner? The jokes about the wheelchair, the attack? His hanging in the freezer?

5.Brenner and Berti – the repossession job, the mother and the child for the kindergarten and his giving them a lift, the new job, the argument in the bar? Berti and the girl? The cigarettes? The job, going into the snow country?

6.The restaurant owner, his hostility, the waitress, the members of the public, the staff? The wife and her husband? The car, its being moved? Pauli wanting to hire him to follow his father? His staying, travelling with Pauli’s wife, refusing the job? Berti’s frantic calls?

7.Pauli, following his father, his father’s evasive driving, causing the crash? The hostility between father and son? Hostility from his wife? His desperation, finding the documents, wanting to go further, watching the video, going to the police, their considering it a hoax – the man in the wheelchair? The father and tying him up, Brenner freeing him, stabbing his father? Everybody leaving him? Yet his being the owner of the restaurant?

8.The butcher, the chickens, the grinding, the wife and the delivery of the feed, Brenner accompanying her? The relationship, the sexual encounter, going down for the raffle, her leaving her husband?

9.Berti and his anger, arriving, the finger in the car, talking with the man with the sex operation, the detail? The attraction?

10.The character of the restaurant owner, his being in the bar and the club in Bratislava, the compromise, the return, taking the girl, looking after her? The blackmail? Tying his son up, the threats, managing the party, the confrontation with Brenner? Almost killing Brenner?

11.How satisfying as a crime drama, thriller, comic touches?

WELCOME

France, 2009, 116 minutes, Colour.
Vincent Lindon, Firat Ayverdi, Audrey Dana.
Directed by Philippe Lioret.

A film to be welcomed (and winner of an Ecumenical Jury award in Berlin, 2009).

Xenophobia, whether racially or economically motivated (or both), is an emotional (and irrational) disease that corrodes individuals and societies.

The wars, revolutions and persecutions that marked the 20th century still take their toll. On the other hand, the greater social awareness which the often (justly) maligned media can take a great deal of credit for, means that the phobias can be identified more readily as they surface and can be combated.

Welcome is a helpful contribution to this kind of awareness, especially in the aftermath of the invasion of Iraq and the consequent upheaval in that country and in the region. Welcome is obviously an ironic title.

Director, Philippe Loiret, says he opted for a feature film fiction rather than a documentary, even though there is much documentary material throughout the film. It concerns young Iraqi men and boys trudging and getting lifts through Europe to Calais and their so often futile attempts to pay their way and hid in stringently examined trucks to cross the Channel to England.

The French, concerned for years about the retention camps on the coast and refugees' attempts to hide under the Eurostar, have a special force to police solely for the illegals. And illegal it is for local citizens to shelter the refugees and they too are policed as are the volunteers staffing soup kitchens.

This is all there in Welcome.

The fictional narrative focuses on a 17 year old Kurd, Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), who wants to reach England to be with his girlfriend whose family are legal residents in London. Joining the group at Calais, he assumes that it is easy enough (with a fee to a 'handler') to cross to England. Not so.

An athlete and hoping to play for Manchester United, he decides he will swim the Channel and goes to a local pool for lessons. He meets the coach, Simon (Vincent Lindon) who has been a swimming champion but did not reach full potential. He still loves his wife (a soup kitchen manager who chides him about his head in the sand attitudes towards the illegals) who is divorcing him.

The story is emotionally powerful as Simon keeps helping the very polite Bilal, is questioned by the police and finds in Bilal a substitute for the son he never had.

The rest of the film is not easy, as it never could be. At one sad moment, the audience audibly sobbed so much had the characters gotten to them.

A hope would be that Welcome, while not solving any political or economic problems, would get to audience humanity and sense of compassion.

1.The relevance of the film? The 2008 setting? The director’s option for fiction rather than documentary? The effect for the audience, emotional, learning?

2.The background of xenophobia, the 20th century and social change, migrants, revolutions? The responsibility of Europe and its colonial attitudes in the 19th and 20th centuries, refugees from war? The 21st century and Iraq and Afghanistan?

3.The types of xenophobia, racial, economic – as shown in the film?

4.The title, the mat of the aggressive neighbour? The irony, regrets?

5.The arguments about migrants, the objective arguments about economic difficulties, the role of the police? Subjective attitudes and compassion?

6.The London opening, their Kurdish background, lifestyle in London, the close-knit family, going to work, the son and his washing dishes, the father and his being patriarch, the phone calls and the children concealing them, Mina and her hopes? The later dashing of her hopes? The cousin, his restaurant, the father managing it, arranged marriages? The effect on Mina, her phone calls to Bilal?

7.Bilal, his age, the trek from Iraq, his hopes, expectations that it would be easy, finding his friends in Calais? The issue of handlers, the money paid, the men getting into the trucks, the difficulties, stifling, the drivers and their lies, transferring to other trucks, the searching techniques, the dogs, the spying eyes? The CO2 and the bags over the heads? Bilal and his fear of the bag, spoiling the attempt to escape, the men and their angers, his explanation of his eight days with a bag over his head, in court, the plea, his not going to detention?

8.The group of young men, their age, at the shelter? The soup kitchen? The ruthless handlers? The young men stealing to pay, the clashes? Supermarket security and their not being welcome?

9.The police, the reasons for the squad, their manner, raids, interrogations, the tearing of Bilal’s photo? Simon, the police harassment? Their wanting to get the do-gooders and the volunteers?

10.Bilal and his wanting to swim, going to the pool, the meeting with Simon, Simon as a coach, Bilal and his poor swimming, being taught how to breathe and swim? The men going into the pool for the showers? Simon giving Bilal and his friend a lift, the meal, their admiration for Simon? The medals – and the young man stealing, Simon recovering it?

11.Simon and his age, his past, his being alone, love for his ex-wife, the documents for the divorce, at the supermarket with her, watching the security episode, his wife denouncing him? Bilal and the training, inviting him to his house, sheltering him, showing him the wetsuit, Simon at the pool, his assistant, the children and their training? The warnings? Telling him not to swim? Taking him to the channel? The cold water, the long hours? The friendship? The neighbours and their criticism? The police, Bilal getting away? The wife coming for her books, her being desperate about Simon’s behaviour? Simon’s anger, thinking that Bilal had stolen the medal, his apology, giving him his wife’s ring? The phone calls, London? Bilal swimming, Simon contacting the coast guard, saying he was his son? The final attempt at swimming, Bilal’s death, Simon’s grief?

12.Bilal and the effect of not being able to escape, his strength, football background, the phone calls to London, Simon’s anger, his decision to swim? The scenes of him swimming, the coast guard? Eight hundred metre from Dover? His death, the funeral?

13.Mina, the phone call for him not to come, because of the arranged marriage? Her father and his interventions?

14.Simon, the police, questions, charged, the news about Bilal’s death, his going to London, talking with Mina, explaining things, giving her the ring?

15.The background of Calais, the documentary look, the city, the retention camps, the docks, the beach and the ferries continually going past, the coast guard?

16.The realities for migration for these young men – solutions?

GIGANTE

Uruguay, 2009, 84 minutes, Colour.
Horacio Camandulle, Leonor Svarcas.
Directed by Adrian Biniez.

It would be a bit hard not to warm to this short picture of ordinary and supermarket life in Montevideo.

It would be a bit hard not to like Jara (Horacio Camandulle), the huge but gentle (most of the time) giant of the title.

As with the security monitors his job requires him to watch, the film's camera watches, shifts focus, twists for close-ups and has the capacity for replays.

We follow Jara to work, watch him at work, get to know his home life in some detail, learn his tics and idiosyncrasies, appreciate his capacity for knowledge (from crosswords to computer games to TV info programs), his second job as a bouncer at the Disco Club Molotov. But, most of all, we watch him to do to supermarket cleaner, Julia (Leonor Svarcas) what the director is doing to him, almost stalking: Jara turns his camera on Julia, follows her everywhere, learns her tics and idiosyncrasies, her clumsiness and irritating her boss, her time at an internet cafe, window-shopping, cinema taste (he thinks she has gone to see a love story but, instead, she is enjoying 'Mutant', her day at the beach, where she lives, her internet date.

And, that's it.

Well, no, that's not exactly it. We get to know Jara. We stay interested. We like Jara and Julia and we really hope the shy giant will actually speak to Julia.

Our lives are microcosms – and so this is a rather sweet look at identity, self-image, attraction, love, reserve and shyness and power struggles and unemployment. And hard not to like.

1.A likeable film and characters, a portrait, a Uruguayan microcosm?

2.The town, the streets, the cinema, shops, homes, the beach?

3.The supermarket, the staff rooms, the loading bay, the floors, the cafeteria, the offices? Surveillance?

4.The range of the musical score – and Jara’s tastes?

5.The camera following Jara (stalking him)? Jara and his camera and his following and stalking Julia? The role of surveillance, security, exploiting people spied on, the girl and the voyeurs? Interest?

6.Jara, on the bus, going to work, changing, his fellow worker wanting to spar with him? His job, watching? Eating, going to sleep, doing crosswords? Going home? His clothes? With his sister, nephew? Playing games? Fixing the antenna? Watching the television – and knowing from the television how to do massage?

7.Julia, the cleaning women, the squad, uniforms, their work? Pilfering? Jara seeing them? Julia and her being accident-prone, the boss and his criticism, the focus for Jara, looking at the worker, flirting with Julia? Julia in herself?

8.Jara following Julia, the audience reaction, his seeming to stalk her, yet infatuated and falling in love? His skill in shadowing Julia – and having to buy the knitting magazines? Going out with his nephew? Seeing her at the internet shop, his hovering there, her window shopping, going to see the film, choosing the love story but Julia watching Mutant? Her house, the lipstick and dropping it, Julia at the beach, Jara watching, the ball hitting his nose and its bleeding? Jara not speaking to Julia, buying her the cactus? Searching for her files?

9.The routines at the supermarket, the security hours, the men who did this work, discussions in the cafeteria at table, the kind of talk?

10.The protest, the circulation of the petition, the issue of strike, those being fired?

11.Jara as shy, not speaking to Julia, his confrontation of the woman stealing, Julia and the spilling of the yoghurt, his keeping watch for the boss? His anger, the alarm, the water and his being soaked? His smashing the stalls in the supermarket? Fired?

12.His going to the house, finding out where Julia was, going to the beach – and the long take with the two of them chatting on the beach?

13.The audience liking Jara and Julia? Identifying with them and their hopes?

BURROWING (MAN TANKER SITT)

Sweden, 2008, 87 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Fredrik Wenzel, Henrik Hellstrom.

There is a touch of Swedish melancholy in this brief film set in moments of twilight.

It opens with a paradoxical quotation from Thoreau's Walden – about being ashamed of what is good in most people and repenting of it while relishing the bad. Audiences will be trying to see whether this applies to the group of characters presented in a housing estate by a woods and a creek.

The initial voiceover is by 11 year old Sebastian who throughout the film relishes being in water - even after wandering off in his formal clothes from a neighbour's 50th birthday party. He is a loner. He imagines and he thinks. The English title of the film comes from his statement that his head, unlike an animal's snout and front paws, is an 'agent for burrowing', intellectual burrowing – and an enigmatic final freeze frame as he decides on which is the right place to burrow in the creek. We are left with the 'Why?' and the 'What for?'.

Sebastian lives with his mother and, while seeming to love her and obey her, he is also mischievous in stealing (and denying it) her prized watch which he throws down a drain.

As the screen shows a kind of Google Earth map of the estate, Sebastian explains about Anders who runs and is building a carport. He explains migrant worker, Mischa, 30 years in Sweden now and also a neighbour, who searches for fish and is cheeky (literally) to householders.

Most interesting, and making the film worth seeing, is Jorgen Svensson as the 25 year old Jimmy who lives with his parents (but is not allowed a house key) and has a baby son, Silas, on whom he dotes. Never has there been such a maternal father - carrying, hugging, kissing, wandering the woods, taking Silas to the creek to get used to being in water, changing his nappy in a supermarket parking area and resisting being reported to welfare.

No plot to speak of. Miniature glimpses.

1.A Swedish production? Homes, the streets, the woods? Supermarkets? The town atmosphere?

2.The musical score, the chance, the theme of serenity and lack of serenity?

3.The initial quotation from Thoreau? Its tone? Good and bad in people? Repenting of the good rather than the bad?

4.The title, Sebastian’s explanation of his ‘agent head’? Burrowing in the river? Intellectual burrowing to understand people? Burrowing under the foundations – which were rotten – of the houses? Of society?

5.Sebastian, the initial voice-over, the expression of enigmas? His mother calling, going to meals? The stealing of her watch, his lies, throwing it down the drain? Dressing for the party? Bored at the party, wandering off? His age, character, loving being in water, being wet, the comments finally about burrowing? His information about the people in the town?

6.The estate, the kind of Google map and Sebastian’s explanation of where people lived? Seeing through Sebastian’s eyes – and then beyond? The film and the characters taking a life of their own?

7.Anders, his house, his rages, running, building a carport, fighting?

8.Mischa, coming to Sweden in the 1970s, working in the factory, old, fishing, mooning the neighbours, searching for fish?

9.The various neighbours, their life, suburban? The fiftieth birthday party for Jimmy? Their work in their gardens?

10.Jimmy and his story, his age, living with his parents, not having a key? His son? Wanting to borrow keys? The kind neighbour looking after him and the baby? His being bored, his parents arriving home? His later anger, hitting the man with the paddle?

11.Silas, the baby, no mention of the mother? Jimmy and his continually carrying the baby, hugging and kissing, changing in the carport with the woman from social welfare criticising? Able to calm Silas’s crying? In the woods, losing his shoe? Naked in the water, accustoming Silas to being in water? The maternal aspects of Jimmy’s love for his son?

12.The cumulative effect of these miniature portraits – and the microcosm in this suburban estate?