The 21^st Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Fest was held from April 4^th to the 19^th, featuring 130 movies from 50 different countries. While Minnesota is not a state normally associated with a wide range of diverse movie selections, the Film Fest does offer a chance for Minnesotans, and friends from around the country, a chance to take in many pictures that normally wouldn’t have been screened in North America. Gathering steam in both presentation and notoriety around the film world the last few years, this Fest included appearances by some Hollywood heavyweights (Robert Duvall, filmmakers James Foley and Steve James), and Midwest premiers of many of the pictures showcased.  

The Fest offered Minnesota film snobs opportunities and venues to gather and spout nonsense about “today‘s film scene,” movie fans a chance to widen their horizons, and different nationalities a chance to sample their homeland’s latest offerings (the Fest‘s specialty). The venues lacked consistency (the Fest’s most audibly lamented venue, a downtown Minneapolis multiplex, turned out to be the finest one), the prices high (aren’t they always?), but the energy was ripe every night of the week, with crowds lining up for blocks for even the most obscure pictures. That’s dedication you don’t find on the coasts. 

It wasn’t exactly Sundance or Cannes, but it was mightily impressive compared to other festival programming around the country. Here’s a small round-up of what I caught:  

Crackerjack   (7/10)

Australia

Director: Paul Moloney
Cast: Mick Molloy, Bill Hunter, Frank Wilson, Bob Honery, Judith Lucy

            “Crackerjack” is an amiable Australian comedy centered around the world of lawn bowling. It’s the brainchild of Aussie comedian Mick Malloy, who struggles hard with his own material to create sizable laughs. The picture is a textbook example of a sports comedy, with the twist here being a sport on the verge of cultural insignificance. American audiences might not be used to such leisurely pacing from their comedies, but “Crackerjack” is just pleasant enough a diversion to not pass up.

Supplement   (3/10)

Poland

Director: Krzysztof Zanussi
Cast: Pawel Okraska, Monika Krzywkowska, Michal Sieczkowski, Szymon Bobrowski

            A former medical student tears around his Polish town stirring up trouble with his ex-girlfriend and his brother, all the while questioning the world and the heavens. Potentially enriching and fascinating material promised here, but acted, directed, and written without a single drop of passion. Directed by distinguished filmmaker Zanussi, “Supplement” is dry-as-toast existential soul-searching, and it has the very worst kind of pacing you would want in a film that takes place in the mind of the lead character. Without the beating heart of genuine doubt in place, this picture is about as interesting to watch as ice melting.

The Secret Lives Of Dentists   (9/10)

USA

Director: Alan Rudolph
Cast: Campbell Scott, Hope Davis, Denis Leary, Robin Tunney

            Director Alan Rudolph has been on a unbelievable losing streak as of late (“Afterglow,” “Breakfast Of Champions,” “Trixie”), but it ends here. It’s an intimate story (based on the novel “The Age Of Grief,” by Jane Smiley) about a married pair of dentists (Campbell Scott and Hope Davis) who are experiencing an adulterous hiccup in their normally perfect marriage, with Denis Leary appearing as the conscience of the mild-mannered Scott character. Not in a long time has a director captured the insanity that is child-rearing so well. You can almost smell the Play-Doh from the screen as Rudolph stages the central drama of the story with the backdrop of three high-maintenance kids who demand attention every minute of the day. Those “Secret Lives” of the title aren’t all that covert, but are about getting dinner ready, or dealing with the flu between 5 people living under the same roof. “Dentists” is a revelation for Rudolph, and for audiences who expect a Hollywood fantasy, but receive one of the most accurate depictions of married life seen in the last decade of filmmaking. This film was so well done, I almost scheduled a vasectomy for myself while exiting the theater.  

On the Road To Emmaus   (4/10)

Finland

Director: Markku Pölönen
Cast: Puntti Valtonen, Risto Aaltonen, Tommi Eronen, Peter Franzén
            A bizarre Finnish experimental film that I’m convinced must be some kind of inside joke. Shot on DV, this Dogme-esque journey centers around a young cad (Punitti Valtonen), who returns to his boyhood home to sell it. On the short walk to meet a cab driver, he comes across friends, family, and flashbacks to his younger years, which remind him of the person he once was, and has become. The plot is fine, but it’s shot slapsticky, with actors breaking out of character, addressing the camera, and crew members walking into frame time and again. It’s not the unprofessionalism that bothers me as much as the deeply unfunny nature of it all. I appreciate “Emmaus” for attempting something new, but it doesn’t work as a whole. In fact, the end credits show the entire production downing a shot of alcohol collectively, so there’s a big clue on where some of these artistic choices perhaps came from.

Bark!   (5/10)

USA

Director; Kasia Adamik
Cast: Lee Tergesen, Heather Morgan, Lisa Kudrow, Hank Azaria, Vincent D’Onofrio

            “Bark!” is one of those pictures that you can tell lots of favors were called in to finance the film. This story, about a man (Lee Tergesen) who is trying to help his wife (screenwriter Heather Morgan) out of a bout of depression in which she has regressed to a dog-like behavior, coasts along initially as a comedy. An unfunny comedy, for sure, but pleasant and inventive, featuring nice work from supporting actors Hank Azaria and Lisa Kudrow. Director Kasia Adamik (who shoots the film in “muddy vision” DV) stars to thicken the soup a little by slowly introducing a more honest origin and portrayal behind the canine motivation, but in the very end, she decides that fantasy is more interesting than reality. What a shame.

Me And Morrison   (5/10)

Finland

Director: Lenka Hellstedt
Cast: Irina Björklund, Samuli Edelmann, Roope Karisto, Eva Röse
            “Me And Morrison” was one of the few foreign films of the Fest that had a sense of modern filmmaking as we see it from American every weekend. This Finnish film’s claim to fame was big box office in its homeland, but here, this drama’s story of a young party girl (Irina Björklund) who meets and falls for a lothario drug dealer (Samuli Edelmann) with a Jim Morrison fixation, is strictly movie of the week quality. Director Hellstedt keeps the action moving briskly as these two lost souls fall in love, and continues to move as they engage in a mutual downward descent into substance abuse. Then the film stops moving entirely for most of its third act. Outside of some fine performances from the two leads, and a competent supporting turn by child actor Roope Karisto, “Me And Morrison” just doesn’t have the dramatic juice to see itself all the way through.

Laurel Canyon    (7/10)

USA

Director: Lisa Cholodenko
Cast: Frances McDormand, Christian Bale, Alessandro Nivola, Kate Beckinsale, Natascha McElhone

            Writer/director Lisa Cholodenko’s follow up to her heavily lauded 1998 effort “High Art” is another an interesting mix of temptation and desire, piggybacking on the weary spine of logic. Featuring a stellar cast, “Canyon” is an alluring study into the sexual and artistic lives of those who lack good judgment. It doesn’t have quite the subtle punch of “High Art,” nor the creative fortitude, but it is, at the very least, an easier sit. Brave performances from the cast help make up for some of Cholodenko’s dramatic failures.  

Out Of Order   (8/10)

USA

Director: Wayne Powers
Cast; Eric Stoltz, Felicity Huffman, Justine Bateman, William H. Macy, Peter Bogdanovich
            This Showtime pilot for a proposed series details the life of a screenwriter (Eric Stoltz) who is dealing with his dying household pets, a mentally-questionable wife (Felicity Huffman), a director who demands rewrites (Peter Bogdonovich), a soccer mom who catches his eye (Kim Dickens), a neighbor who has his eye on him (Justine Bateman), and a moral ambiguity that he questions every day. For a cable pilot, this is biting material, even when it touches on cutesy in-Hollywood namedropping and inside jokes. It offers Stoltz the best role of his career, and remains a light-hearted affair even when it plunges into dark matrimonial terrain, and flat-out adultery (handled with an honest, explicit nature that is refreshing). It’s also good to see Justine Bateman back in action, here playing a suburban sex kitten with such delicious forthrightness, she buries the sweet natured “Family Ties” Mallory Keaton character for good.   

Bellaria: As Long As We Live!   (7/10)

Austria

Director: Douglas Wolfsperger
Cast : Karl Schoenboeck, The Tenbuss Twins, Lady Lips von Lipstrill

            “Bellaria” is a bizarre documentary about a small Vienna movie theater, and the senior citizens who come every day to watch old movies there. “Bellaria” is a celebration of cinema, and adoration for the art form. It’s a peak inside the lives of life-long film fans, whose every move has been based around the cinema. We meet them, their loves, their pasts, and their thoughts about the future, including their own mortality. It’s a funny, sweet, and charming journey, that is only undone by its lengthy 100 minute running time, which cannot support such a thin premise for a documentary. The highlight is an appearance from one of the last remaining stars of yesteryear to the theater, and his overwhelmed expressions as the locals shower him with affection and reverence. “Bellaria” is a true treat for film lovers everywhere.  

Reno: Rebel Without A Pause    (2/10)

USA

Director: Nancy Savoca
Cast: Reno

            Here’s a case of a film that is simply about audience and performer chemistry. Reno, a New York performance artist and comedian, created a one-woman show designed to vent her feelings about September 11, 2001. Living only a short distance away from the Twin Towers at the time of the terrorist attack, “Rebel Without A Pause” recounts Reno’s adventures and thoughts as she discusses the events that day. As first person accounts go, Reno certainly has the advantage of being right there for the action, and she has lots of stories and asides to fill a feature length concert movie. But Reno isn’t very funny, and her stammering, constantly left-turning delivery was like a lumberjack pile-driving an axe into my brain. “Rebel” is basically review-proof, because it all comes down to whether or not you find Reno funny. I didn’t even in the slightest way, and no amount of reverence to the event in question is going to change that.

Rare Birds   (8/10)

Canada

Director: Sturla Gunnarsson
Cast: William Hurt, Molly Parker, Andy Jones, Vicky Hynes

            “Rare Birds” is one of the few features presented during the Fest that’s already made its debut on home video some time ago. However, the enjoyment of the film is found with an audience, as the picture’s quirky plot elicits some unusual crowd reactions. William Hurt plays a Newfoundlander whose restaurant is on the verge of bankruptcy. With his buddy’s (Andy Johns) help, the pair concoct a rumor in which rare birds have been spotted right around the restaurant, thus helping business improve with the arrival of worldwide bird watchers. The synopsis might sound sociable enough, but “Birds” is filled with cocaine jokes, gun play, and sensual moments that make the smiles hard earned at times. Based on the novel by Edward Riche (who also scripts), “Rare Birds” is as goofball a comedy as they make them these days, but it will also keep you guessing to where it will go to next. Which is always a nice treat.

Lovers And Leavers   (8/10)

Finland

Director: Aku Louhimies
Cast: Minna Haapkylä, Anna-Leena Härkönen, Laura Malmivaara, Peter Franzén

            Star Minna Haapkyla’s performance in this Finnish romantic drama is reason enough to delve in. She’s stellar here, crafting a human portrayal that is heartbreaking, and ultimately true to life. The same could be said of the film, which traffics in romance clichés and the worst in film geek screenwriting, but doesn’t grind any of it into the ground. It chooses reality over sappy, and with Haapkyla’s commanding and brave performance leading the film, the picture rarely fails her. 

A Decade Under The Influence   (9/10)

USA

Directors: Richard LaGravenese, Ted Demme

            Recently completed in the shadow of co-director Ted Demme’s death, this documentary on the challenging and richly detailed films of the 1970s is a must see for any fan of filmmaking. Interviews with the actors (including Bruce Dern, Jon Voight, and Julie Christie) and directors (William Friedkin, Sidney Lumet, and Francis Coppola) shed light on what made this very significant movement in cinema history so important to both the artists and the audiences. A look at archival footage and vintage posters make the doc grandly entertaining, and discussions about legendary talent such as the late Hal Ashby make it informative as well. Though the film will be presented with a longer running time when it premieres on the Independent Film Channel this summer, the theatrical release is the only way to truly drink in what Demme and director Richard LaGravenese were trying to achieve, and that is cinematic reverence where it belongs.  

Days Like This   (3/10)

Sweden

Director: Mikael Hafstrom

Cast: Kjell Berqvist, Carina Johansson, Fares Fares, Josefin Peterson, Eva Rose

            For a madcap Swedish comedy, this movie has an amazing drought of laughs. “Days Like This” details the events in an apartment building as an old vacuum cleaner salesman drops by door-to-door on unsuspecting customers, and somehow ends up intertwined in their daily events. The comedy ranges from pretty slapsticky material to situations that wouldn’t merit laughs from even the most mean-spirited audience member (one scene has two characters firing a BB gun at a disabled man living on the other side of the building). To make this concoction even worse, the director tries to tie all these loose ends up with a death in a bid for profundity that is never earned. “Days Like This” flails wildly in front of the eyes, but never does it earn a ticket to the funny bone or the heart.

Bellissima   (0/10)

Poland

Director: Artur Urbanski
Cast: Maria Goralczyk, Ewa Kasprzyk, Pawel Wilczak, Maria Morin-Kielar

            We can thank Polish television for this utter dreck. I’m not entirely sure what the dramatic goals were for this film, but it featured something along the lines of a stage mother who pushes her teenage modeling daughter around too hard, resulting in the teen rebelling and abandoning the mother. Of course, this story can barely find the time to situate itself in-between scenes of statutory rape, drug imbibing, religious abortion imagery, and a general lack of finesse from the director to tie any of this together in the end. At a running time of 61 minutes, this is the shortest film I caught at the fest, but it sure felt like the longest. 

God Is Great, I Am Not   (4/10)

France

Director: Pascale Bailly
Cast: Audrey Tautou, Edouard Bear, Julie Depardieu, Catherine Jacob

            French ingénue Audrey Tautou (“Amelie”) returns to the screen in this purportedly “light” comedy. As a fashion model with little in the way of a religious compass, Michele has explored Catholicism and Buddhism about as far as she can go with both religions. Her life changes when she meets love Francois (the startlingly unfunny French comedian Edouard Baer), and dives right into studying, and mastering, his Jewish heritage, much to his dismay. “God Is Great” certainly is filmed with energy and attempts at humor, but rarely does a joke land. We’re mostly stuck watching two people who don’t belong together fight, break up, then get back together again only to repeat the cycle over and over. Watching Tautou is like watching a laundry basket full of kittens, but her charm isn’t enough to carry this weak script that ranges from farce to serious domestic disturbances. 

Detective Fiction   (4/10)

USA

Director: Patrick Coyle

Cast: Patrick Coyle, Mo Collins, Sarah Agnew, Brent Doyle

            Writer/director/star Patrick Coyle’s attempt to revive the film noir genre is an admirable venture, but it creates an exceedingly tough sit. As a recovering alcoholic who turns to hard-boiled detective stories to deal with his life and his crumbling marriage to his wife (Mo Collins, “Mad TV”), “Fiction” in an intriguing change of pace for most independent productions. Everything about the film is slowed down, including Coyle’s repetitive dialog, editing, and the usually frantic Collins, who is sweet here as the neglected wife. The molasses-like pacing eventually doesn’t do the film any favors, as the careful building of mood never pays off with emotion or desire, just continuing static. For a first feature, the Minneapolis-shot “Detective Fiction” is assured and inventive, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll want to sit through it.  

Undying Love   (9/10)

Canada

Director: Helene Klodawsky
Narrated by: Molly Parker
            It astounds me to see filmmakers continue to find unique and compelling stories within the much-covered history of the Jewish Holocaust of World War II. “Undying Love” is a prime example of material that is both original and engrossing, while still retaining familiar tales of horror and woe. It’s about love found on and off the concentration camps during the Shoah, featuring interviews, re-creations, and archival footage. We meet people who, in the face of definitive horror and loss, find others that they will ultimately share the rest of their lives with. The stories range from sweet (one couple seems to fall even more in love as they recall their tale), to sad (an elderly man recounts his life during the war when he was devoid of love, until he met his future wife, only to lose her in old age, leaving him back where he started), to troubling (another woman is bullied into marriage after the war just to stay alive). But, as with almost every Holocaust story, this is a film about hope. It’s also a film that can back up hope with genuine joy and smiles, which is rare for this often relentless subject matter. 

Hejar   (8/10)

Turkey