Four films in less than twelve hours

I just saw four films in less than twelve hours! What a smorgasbord for the eyes. Here are my impressions:

The Journals of Knud Rasmussen is worth seeing but I recommend it with reservations. I loved the Camera D’Or winning Atanarjuat (the Fast Runner), also directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Norman Cohn. While that film was accessible and universal; this film was more challenging. At times it was even confusing.

The film, set in 1922, is based on the journals of Rasmussen, a scientist who recorded Inuit culture. Avva, the main protagonist is a shaman who is powerless to protect his people’s beliefs and ways. It is also the story of his daughter Apak, who shares some of his spiritual powers. The main motif is storytelling as different characters tell the tales of their lives both to Rasmussen and to us.

The film focuses on first contact with Europeans but it is also about politics within an Inuit community. In the end, the choice each family member must make is to either convert to Christianity or starve to death.

The glorious Inuit music throughout, including mystical throat singing sequences, are set against the Christian Inuit songs at the end of the story. These tunes are “easy to learn” and performed without vitality; dirges for a condemned people and culture.

Laitakaupungin Valot (Lights at Dusk), directed by Aki Kaurismäki, is film noir without the detective. A crime is committed and blamed on the protagonist, a loser who fails to make good choices throughout the film. Unlike Philip Marlowe, our underdog protagonist never gets to fight back while the bad guys grind him harder and harder into the muck. There are some funny moments but not enough for me. My favorite is when the gangsters are playing high stakes poker over a super-charged soundtrack. As we are drawn into the scene, the gangster’s wife spoils the ambiance by starting to vacuum the room. Overall, the tone of this world is bleak; a place where love and virtue are never rewarded.

Nouvelle Chance, directed by Anne Fontaine is yummy. Visually pretty and artistic yet accessible, I recommend it to anyone who loves theatre and actors. Augustin, a character from Fontaine’s two previous films, works by day as a chichi pool attendant. In his off-hours, he is a theatre director who strives to create a typically French play for his Swedish clients. He casts his play partly at the posh club and partly at a kind of group home. The resulting conflicts between a retired operetta star and a TV actress are funny yet subtle.

Fontaine gave charming responses at the Q&A, explaining that although she originally set out to create an 18th century piece, based on correspondence by the Marquise du Deffan, her idea developed into a playful, backstage homage to theatre people. In fact, Fontaine said each role was written for the actors who, in turn, play roles influenced by their off-screen selves. The subtext of this sprightly backstage confection, is a nod beyond the world of theatre, to the multiracial citizens of current French society.

Wang-ui nam-ja (King and the Clown) deserves it’s place as the top-grossing film in South Korean history. It has everything: low comedy, noble sacrifice, aerial acrobatics, murder, suicide, sex, a gymnastics throw-down, romance and tragedy to rival the ancient Greeks.

The director, Lee Jun-ik, brings out the beauty in every scene. Lee Joon-gi, who plays the sexually ambiguous Gong-gil, is stunning. Performing in a Korean clown style which combines high wire gymnastics and street theatre, he plays the ingénue opposite Jang-seng (Karm Woo-sung), who decides he will make his fortune by mocking the King.

I laughed and cried, feeling empathy for the two performers who have enough audacity to cause revolution and enough tenderness to die for each other. Now that is ultimate showmanship.