Z At the Movies: Traverse City Film Festival Part 2

Posted by Jacob Ziegler on 08.12.2007

Read about the movies I saw!

Z At the Movies: The Third Annual Traverse City Film Festival – Part Two

Welcome to Part Two of my recap of the third annual Traverse City Film Festival. I'll be taking a closer look at the particular films that I saw. My ratings are all on the four star scale.

DAY ONE, Thursday, August 2, 2007

Celebration! Rivertown – 6:30pm – Sunshine – 2007/UK/R/108 min.

Okay, so this wasn't technically a part of the film festival, but I wanted to see it and it was showing at a theater that's on the way up to Traverse City, so I stopped off to check it out. I've enjoyed all of Boyle's movies on some level (except "The Beach"), and this is on par with his best work. It's abstract for sure, and many will find it unsatisfying in a number of ways, but this visually stunning space epic hooked me from the opening moments through the finale. It's made almost no money in the United States (just over $2 million), which is a shame. Cillian Murphy continues his ascent to the upper echelon with his performance here, and Chris Evans (of the "Fantastic Four" movies) stands out as well.
Rating: ***½

DAY TWO, Friday, August 3, 2007

Old Town Playhouse – 1pm – Tuya's Marriage – 2006/China/Not Rated/96 min.

My official start to the festival was this unheard of little movie from China (it doesn't even have U.S. distribution yet) that managed to capture both the Special Jury Prize for Visual Impact and the Kodak Cinematography Prize. It follows a Mongolian nomadic shepherd named Tuya (Nan Yu, who has landed a part in the upcoming "Speed Racer"). When both she and her husband are injured, Tuya needs to divorce him and marry a man who will willingly take care of the entire family. While a bit uneven and unsatisfying in the end, "Tuya's Marriage" is a good movie that would never find an audience on a wide scale but is a perfect film festival movie.
Rating: ***

State Theater – 4pm – No End in Sight – 2007/USA/Not Rated/101 min.

I just finished reading Roger Ebert's four-star review of this film, and Rotten Tomatoes shows that most critics are praising this film as well. I certainly agree with all of that praise, and the film won the Special Jury Prize and the Audience Award Non-Fiction Film, so many more agree as well. Director Charles Ferguson (a software millionaire and one-time supporter of the War) has assembled a work of staggering effectiveness, showing how the Bush administration disregarded the advice from everyone who knew anything about Iraq and went and did whatever he damn well pleased. It's not judgmental in the same way Michael Moore movies are, but it's just as damning.
Rating: ****

Lars Hockstad – 7pm – Rocket Science – 2007/USA/R/98 min.

I just completed a full review of this film, which you can access here. It won the Best Fiction Film award, and deservedly so.
Rating: ***½

Lars Hockstad – 10pm – Al Franken: God Spoke – 2006/USA/Not Rated/90 min

This is another one that I tried to see with my sister at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006, but was shut down because of long lines. Director Chris Hegedus and executive producer D.A. Pennebaker were in attendance, and they must have been pleased with the reaction it garnered. The film itself is expertly put together, and quite funny throughout.
Rating: ***½

DAY THREE, Saturday, August 4, 2007

Lars Hockstad – 10:30am – Arctic Tale – 2007/USA/G/85 min.

I'm going to be reviewing this movie in full for its national release date this Friday, so I won't say too much about it here. It's definitely in the same vein as "March of the Penguins," though not nearly as good as that; which is not to say it isn't good itself. It's aimed specifically towards children, and it does an effective job stating its case that something needs to be done.
Rating: ***

State Theater – 1pm – Waitress – 2007/USA/PG-13/107 min.

I actually saw this movie back in May in Grand Rapids, but it never played in Traverse City so the festival brought it here. It's a wonderful film, both funny and sad, and for more reasons than just what's up on screen. Adrienne Shelly, who wrote, directed, and acted in the film, was murdered on November 1 of last year by a 19-year-old Ecuadorian illegal immigrant and construction worker. It's unfathomably sad that Shelly never got to see how successful her film has become. Keri Russell, Nathan Fillion, Andy Griffith, Cheryl Hines, Jeremy Sisto, and Shelly all give tremendous performances in this bittersweet tale about love, and pies.
Rating: ***½

Lars Hockstad – 4pm – My Best Friend – 2006/France/PG-13/94 min.

I started reading a synopsis of this film and as soon as I saw the name Patrice Leconte, I stopped reading. His "Man on the Train" is one of my favorite films, so I was eager to catch another of his films. "My Best Friend" is another bittersweet comedy, about a man named Francois (Daniel Auteuil), who discovers on his birthday that none of his "friends" like him and that he actually has no friends at all. So he goes on a mission to find a new best friend. This is another one that is both funny and sad, but the climax of the film is one of the best I've seen in months.
Rating: ***½

State Theater – 7pm – The Lives of Others – 2006/Germany/R/137 min.

This was far and away the best movie I saw at the festival. Many cried foul when this gem from Germany beat "Pan's Labyrinth" for the Best Foreign Film, but rest assured this is the superior film (and I thought "Pan's" was awesome as well, so no disrespect). It's a beautiful film that takes place in 1984, a few years before the collapse of the Berlin Wall. It focuses on the Stasi, and their obsession with knowing everything going on throughout East Germany. It's coming out on video August 21, and I highly recommend renting it as soon as possible (preferably from your closest Family Video).
Rating: ****

State Theater – 10pm – Notes on a Scandal – 2006/UK/R/92 min.

This is another film that never came to Traverse City, so they played it here. I saw it back in December when it first came out, and I reviewed it then. It's always nice to revisit the great ones.
Rating: ****

State Theater – Midnight – Black Sheep – 2006/New Zealand/PG-13/86 min.

This is the very definition of a "Midnight Movie." This whacked-out comedy from New Zealand is about killer vampire sheep. That's really about the old plot description that is necessary for a movie like this. It's fairly funny and mostly entertaining, but even at a brisk 86 minutes it felt a little long. Still, it's a fun movie to see with a big audience.
Rating: ***

DAY FOUR, Sunday, August 5, 2007

Lars Hockstad – 1pm – Grace is Gone – 2007/USA/Not Rated/92 min.

This could finally be the film John Cusack gets an Oscar nomination for, depending on how much the Weinstein Brothers want to push him come awards season. He plays Stanley Philips, a rather average American man who works a blue collar job. His wife is over in Iraq, leaving him in sole care of their two daughters. When the news comes in that his wife was killed, Stanley avoids telling his girls by taking them on a road trip to an amusement park. Cusack is terrific here, as are the two girls who play his daughters. "Grace is Gone" will be released in October.
Rating: ****

City Opera House – 4pm – Talk to Me – 2007/USA/R/118 min.

Don Cheadle plays fast-talking Washington, D.C. radio Dee-Jay Petey Greene, who rose to fame in the late 1960s. This is another film that follows the biopic formula that has become prevalent in the last several years ("The Aviator," "Capote," "Ray," etc.), but like those films, this one is also good. Chiwetel Ejiofor and Martin Sheen give excellent performances as well.
Rating: ***½

That's all of them! Thirteen movies from six countries, at five venues, in four days. That's exhausting. Check back tomorrow for part three where I wrap everything up into a neat little package!