More exceptional foreign-language films at QCinema

Here are some more international films that I was able to see in the still-ongoing QCinema International Film Festival, which is having its third edition this year and, by this point, has already proven itself to be one of the most exciting film events in town. 

• "Tale of Tales" (2015, Italy/France/UK), dir.: Matteo Garrone, writers: Garrone, Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Citti and Massimo Gaudioso

Loosely-adapted from 17th-century Neapolitan poet Giambattista Basile's motley and freewheeling collection of fairy tales titled Pentamerone, this latest film from the acclaimed director of "Gomorrah" and "Reality" could very well have been taken for a David Cronenberg film, as it also boasts of some grotesque imagery. Yet, Garrone isn't as so much exactly preoccupied with body-horror and its attendant psychology, as with the fairy tale-like nature of the story (or stories) itself, with the ironic suggestion that kings, queens, princes and princesses aren't altogether living a royal life. At its worst, theirs is a life that reeks of depravity, malady, incestuous affection and debasement. For all its strangeness and deviousness, however, "Tale of Tales" doesn't count as among Garrone's best. While it is entertaining in its own way and once again demonstrates the director's skill in working with different genres, it lacks the daring and vigorous punch of "Gomorrah" (a crime drama) and "Reality" (a satire). Even the smaller, earlier "The Embalmer" (a thriller) is to be admired for its twisted intimacy. Each of the tales in the film (as far as we are concerned, there are three) may be engaging in itself, but as a whole they don't really come off roundedly which could've made the film an altogether fascinating experience. It doesn't help that the film transitions from one story to another in a rather non-associative manner, perhaps with only a far-angle shot of each of the big castles serving as a kind of "transitional" or "establishing" device. While "Gomorrah" has a complex narrative strand that truly engages, "Tale of Tales", on the other hand, is a loose multi-narrative that may prompt us to ask by the end: "Does any of it really make any sense?" 

• "Court" (2014, India), dir.: Chaitanya Tamhane, writer: Tamhane

I don't know, but I rarely watch Indian films. I haven't seen enough of the works of, say, Satyajit Ray and Mrinal Sen, and of the Bollywood musicals. But when I saw "Court", I immediately realized that this work by a first-time feature film director has got to be one of the best films I've ever seen. It's an excellent dramedy that's outwardly simple but works deeply on many levels. The basic storyline of a 60-something travelling folk singer named Narayan Kamble (played by Vira Sathidar) who gets arrested and imprisoned for allegedly causing the suicide of a sewerage worker through the content of one of his inflammatory songs may be the stuff of a Kafkaesque absurdity. But rather than diving headlong into the existential, the director's agenda is rather social in nature. From that basic story, Tamhane, working on an intelligently-written screenplay, goes on to thoroughly examine the failings of the Indian judicial system, with its age-old draconian laws and systematic yet loopholed procedurals, as well as the lives outside the court of the prosecution and defense lawyers and the presiding judge. We clearly see the slow grind of the wheels of justice, the social inequality and the class differences, all done by way of an understated yet sharp humor. Tamhane tellingly employs a fixed camera and long takes through all the goings-on (somewhat like Michael Haneke), making the viewer experience to become more immersive, as if we are among the spectators in the court or one of the characters' neighbors. Some movies use courtroom scenes to generate high-strung drama or calculated suspense;"Court", on the other hand, utilizes such scenes to subtly lay bare the cogs that clog the machine of justice. By the end of the day, when the lights are once again dimmed inside the court, we sadly realize that there's just another delay or miscarriage that has happened, not that this is something that seldom occurs. 

• "Victoria" (2015, Germany), dir.: Sebastian Schipper, writers: Schipper, Olivia Neergaard-Holm and Eike Frederik Schulz

Depending on what transpires onscreen and how the director and the actors handle it, a one-shot film can either be fascinating or tiring to watch. The style, moreover, isn't particularly an innovation for "Victoria", as there are already films that employed such a style before: to name some, Alfred Hitchcock's "Rope", Mike Figgis' "Time Code", Alexander Sokurov's "Russian Ark" and, just recently, Alejandro Iñarritu's "Birdman". Yet, Schipper's film is still a marvel to watch, thanks to its kinetic and youthful energy, its fly-on-the-wall approach ala-Dardenne brothers and terrific, near-improvised performances. I think the other reviews have already pointed out how "Victoria" is such an impressive stunt. Well, I couldn't emphasize it more. The progression of the title character herself (played by the stunning Laia Costa), a Spanish immigrant in Germany working as a café waitress, from a light-hearted and free-spirited party waif to a beleaguered and vulnerable streetsmart is just one of the strong points in the film, all happening in a single night in a continuous real-time two-hour span over twenty-two locations within Berlin. In the film's first half, there appears to be "not much" that's happening, as we merely see Victoria and her new male friends (one of whom, Sonne (played by the winsome Frederick Lau), seems to take a particular liking to her) wandering and idling about and just getting to know each other. This is in fact a way for us to spend some "small moments" with the characters, as it would be if we were with some newfound friends. So that by the time the film reaches its second half wherein a particular sneaky activity sets in and the tempo significantly ratches up, we now manage to actually care for the characters, as they breeze through the rest of the night trying to get themselves out of the mess. At this point, the film's manic energy is already bursting off the screen that if we wander our eyes away from it even for just a split second we risk missing something. Another strong asset of "Victoria", of course, is cinematographer Sturla Brandth Grøvlen's fly-on-the-wall camera, which deftly manages to imbue with such a breathless activity the film's contiguous time and space within a two-hour span and literally brings us into the center of the action. For its storytelling wizardry, "Victoria" is a must-see for every cineaste. 

• "Cemetery of Splendour" (2015, Thailand), dir.: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, writer: Weerasethakul

As with Apichatpong's previous films, notably "Tropical Malady", "Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives" and "Mekong Hotel", in his latest film the otherworldly and the ordinary co-exist as if they were living on the same plane, as if it was a common occurrence. I always find his films to be a curiosity: they are slow in a tranquil way, but it may happen offhandedly that something uniquely ethereal, erotic, sensual, spiritual or transcendental will show up onscreen, which makes the viewers really wonder what is it that they have just seen or what does it have to say about the entire film. Apichatpong's films can be a test of one's patience, but thinking about it they are really a delight to watch. It's because the filmmaker always has something piquant to show in each of his films and they have a certain charm that's quite hard to resist. And "Cemetery of Splendour" is no exception. Though even if I actually find it hard to describe this latest bafflement of his, a number of images still linger in my mind: the strange illumination of the bedside lights of the hospital patients;a narcoleptic being brought down on a series of escalators;the park visitors oddly changing places from one bench to another;the tractor doing some land work from afar;a nurse being joined over for snacks by two plain-looking "goddesses";the "therapy" provided to the deformed leg of that nurse by a fellow nurse;the film's final shot. Is "Cemetery of Splendour" a love story? A spiritual allegory? A metaphysical dreamscape? A tranquil poetry? A many-layered visual art? An indecipherable riddle? Well, just like in any other Apichatpong film, there are no explicit or direct answers in this one. I wish I could write something extensive about it someday, in the hope of somehow getting under its mysterious skin. But for now, I'll be just content with how another Apichatpong film has brought me to an experiential level of cinematic viewing like no other. 

Chaitanya Tamhane's "Court": An excellent film that works on many levels