Hang the blame on poor marketing, or a tendency to cater to a
faithful older audience rather than drum up some fresh blood—fact
is, Portland’s International Film Festival (PIFF) is not the Big Deal
it should be. That’s a shame on several levels, not the least of which
is that each year yields at least a handful of excellent films. Seek
them out; the organizers’ efforts need to be met with excitement when
they’ve unearthed something great.
Being that we media types are still knee-deep in screenings for
PIFF, here’s an outlook on what looks good—and not so
good—from our perspective so far.
• The Band’s Visit (Israel, Thurs Feb
7)—This year’s opening-night film. Like last year’s opener,
The Lives of Others, this is almost sure to be excellent, with a
broad appeal and little controversy: It’s a situational comedy with a
sincere heart, in which the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra gets
stranded in a tiny Israeli village. Director Eran Kolirin will be in
attendance.
• In Bruges (Great Britain, Fri Feb
8)—Despite the odds, Colin Farrell does an excellent job in
this dark comedy (and Sundance opener) about two hit men stuck in
Bruges, a Belgian town preserved in its medieval state as a tourist
attraction.
• Then She Found Me (US, Fri Feb 8 and Mon Feb
11)—Helen Hunt’s directorial debut (she also stars) is a
stinker about a woman on the verge of turning 40 grappling with a
ticking biological clock and the newfound fact that her father is Steve
McQueen.
• The Counterfeiters (Austria,
Sat Feb 9 and Wed Feb 13)—Another in the inexhaustible
tradition of Holocaust films, this is the fascinating story of the
Nazis’ counterfeiting program—the largest in history—and
the imprisoned experts and criminals who were forced to pull it
off.
• Caramel (Lebanon, Sat Feb 9)—A
girly flick about the women who work at a Beirut beauty salon, which
demonstrates the universality of a laugh/cry chick flick.
• Chicago 10 (US, Sun Feb 10 and Mon Feb
11)—A documentary told through archival footage and
animation, this examination of the anti-war demonstrations (and their
aftermath) at the Democratic National Convention in ’68 is one of the
best films in the history of PIFF.
• It’s a Free World (Great Britain, Sun Feb 10
and Wed Feb 13)—All but the most stubborn fans of Ken Loach’s
The Wind that Shakes the Barley will be sorely disappointed with
this follow-up.
• Mongol (Kazakhstan/Mongolia, Sun Feb 10 and
Mon Feb 11)—The story of Genghis Khan’s childhood—how
could this not be cool?
• The Duchess of Langeais (France, Tues Feb 12
and Thurs Feb 14)—Equally polite in its humor and melodrama,
this adaptation of Balzac’s History of the Thirteen is more like
watching a play than a film, and sufficiently absorbing to justify its
nearly two-and-a-half-hour length.
• XXY (Argentina, Wed Feb 13, Fri Feb 15, and
Sun Feb 17)—An applaud-able departure from PIFF’s more staid
subject matters, this is about a 15-year-old of indeterminate
gender.
• OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies (France, Fri
Feb 15 and Sat Feb 16)—A resurrection of an old spy-movie
series, this take on the genre is a welcome reminder that foreign films
can be fun, too.
• Taxidermia (Hungary, Fri Feb 15, Mon Feb 18,
and Tues Feb 19)—Almost certainly the first venture into body
horror at PIFF!
• Paranoid Park (US, Mon Feb
18)—
This would be the biggest deal at the festival even
if it didn’t win an award at Cannes: The latest from native Gus Van
Sant, who we all hope will redeem Portland’s growing reputation as the
land where terrible movies are filmed.
For more on PIFF, see Film Shorts for movie descriptions, Found It! for movie times, and nwfilm.org for more information.