SIFF Sighting: WINTER'S BONE (drama; USA)

When we arrive in the Winter's Bone world of backroad Ozarks, we immediately know that 17-year-old Ree (Jennifer Lawrence) is tough. Tough from poverty, tough from cold Missouri weather and tough from growing up too fast.

Her father Jessup, a meth-mixer, has gone missing. He's on the run from the law and may or may not already be dead. Her mother is on site, but not present. She's ruined from drugs and maybe some mental illness thrown in for good measure. There are also two younger children: Sonny (Isaiah Stone) and Ashlee (Ashlee Thompson), who just want to be fed.

Ree learns that unless her father materializes, the family will soon lose the log cabin home they're living their miserable existence in, so she sets out to find him. Under normal circumstances, this would probably be no big deal, but in this rural nightmare it proves to be extremely dangerous. She is threatened, beaten, chased off—you name it—because she shouldn't be asking questions.

Resourceful, if not intelligent, Ree tries to join the Army to earn the money to save her home, not realizing that she can't take her siblings with her to basic training. If you think this scenario sounds sad, it is. But it's also a series of quiet occurrences that you can't take your eyes off of.

Everyone is punished at one time or another for someone else's stupid mistakes, and to watch this poor girl endure a life sentence of other people's mistakes is practically unbearable. Ree is a martyr for sure, but all of the characters in the film are tragic.

I didn't like riding out the pain of her struggles, but I certainly appreciated the writers' brilliance to get me there. Every situation, however horrific, was made believable by the realistic dialog and the impressive, understated acting.

A fine triumph in independent film.

Winter's Bone screened at the 36th annual Seattle International Film Festival.

~~~

WAITRESS Show Update

Good news—our technical difficulties have been resolved and we are back up and running.

Episode 31, WAITRESS, will be available on June 13.

In the meantime, here are a few more capsule reviews from Tassoula, who is currently attending the Seattle International Film Festival.

2 DAYS IN PARIS (romantic comedy)

Fans of Before Sunrise and Before Sunset will be delighted by the return of Julie Delpy in this film, which lands her in Paris portraying half of another bantering couple. This time she's paired up with former real-life boyfriend Adam Goldberg who plays her American boyfriend coming home with her to Paris to "meet the family." His germophobia and her past relationships create a comedic landscape that the two travel effortlessly upon, throughout the course of the film.

Goldberg is at his funniest as Jack, balancing the right amount of physical comedy with the timing of his sarcastic lines; Delpy is both a sweetheart and a spitfire as Marion, who you alternately question and adore. In the Q & A with Goldberg (see photo below) at SIFF, he explained that Delpy, who also directed the film, created a pleasantly collaborative atmosphere on-set, which probably explains the great on-screen chemistry between all the actors.

I only hope we see more from this gifted filmmaker.




2 DAYS IN PARIS premiered in the US at the 33rd Annual Seattle International Film Festival earlier this month. It will be open in limited release nationwide August 10.













GRIMM LOVE (German title: ROHTENBURG) (drama/thriller)

Years ago a man in Germany was imprisoned for cannibalism and murder after he met a willing participant on the Internet, killed him and ate him. This film is inspired by that story and is told through the journey of grad student Katie (Keri Russell) who is researching the killer, Oliver Hartwin (Thomas Kretschmann).

Fascinating as the story is, even I (who has a high tolerance for the bizarre) was sickened by the film's apparently accurate portrayal of the act. I wish that the filmmakers had left more to the imagination and explored further why both gentleman were driven to be aroused by such a heinous practice. We get more background on the 'victim' than we do the killer and even that isn't altogether satisfying.

The dialogue is also borderline campy for such a horrific topic and takes away from the effect of the outcome.

GRIMM LOVE screened at the 33rd Annual Seattle International Film Festival last month.

AMERICAN SHOPPER (documentary)

The nicest surprise for me so far at the festival has been this hilarious documentary.

Set in my college town of Columbia, Missouri, the story follows the quest of an insurance agent to launch the first-ever "National Aisling Championships" in the local Schnuck's grocery store.

What is aisling? Well, it's a sport/theatrical exercise that the agent created to bring pride to the city of Columbia. Never mind the fact the town boasts three respected institutions of higher learning—he wanted to invent something that the regular citizens could participate in and have fun with.

And darned if he didn't do just that.

We see the evolution of the idea come to (comedic) fruition from his initial meetings with the grocers to the actual day of the competition, which featured over 20 finalist competitors presenting their decorated shopping cart and accompanying routine to a panel of judges—and dozens of shoppers. Along the way you get to know quite a bit about the cast of characters who chose to participate and watch how they formulated their theme ideas, strategies and choreography. It's all presented in a cleverly edited, warmly funny way that will leave you shaking your head in happy disbelief.

You have to see it to believe it.

AMERICAN SHOPPER will screen at the 33rd Annual Seattle International Film Festival on June 10 at 1:30 p.m. For tickets, click here.

Cinebanter #26 - THE LOOKOUT

The MP3 file of Cinebanter Episode 26 is available here.

In this episode, Michael and Tassoula admit to feeling disappointed in THE LOOKOUT. They also deliver their Last Five® and respond to Listener Feedback. Tassoula also shares a post-show special announcement to wrap things up. The breakdown is as follows:

• 00:00 Intro
• 00:32 THE LOOKOUT Discussion
• Break
• 14:18 To Sum It Up
• Break
• 14:52 The Last Five®
• Break
• 29:23 Listener Feedback
• 36:23 Special Announcement
• 37:39 Credits and Outtakes

If you'd like to subscribe to the show (it's free, of course) via iTunes, click here.

The show is also available on Podcast Alley, Pop Current and Podcast-Review. Please vote for us at any of those sites if you like what you hear. And, if you're compelled to donate to the show, there is a PayPal button labeled 'Make a Donation' to the left of this blog. All donations are much appreciated.

Michael's Last Five in this episode were: ELEPHANT, ZODIAC, HOLLYWOOD DREAMS, THE NAMESAKE and BLADES OF GLORY. Tassoula's Last Five in this episode were: SORRY HATERS, FILM GEEK, JET LAG, THE MAGDALENE SISTERS and COME EARLY MORNING.

Special thanks to Brad Daane and Mark Cummins for providing the music in this episode.

Reviews and/or notes of every movie Michael sees can be found at his MichaelVox website.

Tassoula has reviews and musings at Tassoula's Movie Review Blog.

Feedback is always welcome - you may leave comments here or e-mail the hosts at cinebanter@gmail.com.

We hope you enjoy the show!