MANILA '83

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Subject: EXCERPT FROM MY FILM FESTIVALS  BOOK -- 

MANILA '83 -- -- WAS MEMORABLE!
Posted: Sat, 25 Aug 2012

Subject: EXCERPT FROM MY FILM FESTIVALS BOOK -- MANILA '83

[previous chapter]

 ... We did finally get to Tokyo where I breathed a heavy sigh of relief and settled down to mull over my extended European adventures --Over Siberia to Paris, ten days in Cannes, two weeks in steaming mid-summer Rome sleeping in a sleeping bag out on the roof of an old house where an American journalist I met was willing to put me up for nothing if I didn't mind the primitive accommodations, a mad thunder storm in Venice that knocked out all the electrical power of the city, several weeks in Vienna, and a near crack-up in Manila. I was ready to stick around Tokyo for a while and count my blessings …

MANILA '83 – VANITY OF VANITIES - --

For the next two years I was totally immersed in the study of Japanese film and in publishing articles on both Japanese and Korean film while bouncing back and forth frequently between these two countries. I was also picking up nice sums of spot cash in Seoul, writing publicity brochures for the new Korean films in English and French, but I didn't get to another film festival until January 1983.  This, however, only the fourth festival of my fledgling festival career at the time, turned out to be one of the most memorable ones I have ever been to in my life! -- the Manila Film Festival of 1983.  I managed to wrangle an invitation to Manila as the representative of a weekly magazine called 'Tokyo Journal' for whom I was then writing film reviews on a regular basis. This festival was the dream baby of the First Lady of the Philippines, Imelda Marcos, the flashy wife of Dictator Ferdinand Marcos.  She had unlimited funds at her disposal, and being a former Philippine movie star and beauty queen herself -- not to mention a supreme megalomaniac and arguably the vainest woman on the planet -- she was clearly interested in promoting her own image by surrounding herself with the elite of the international film community and of entertaining them personally in her own inimitable style. To make a long story short this would turn out to be something like a privileged visit to a week long party at the  Palace of the Queen of Sheba, with Sheba herself running the show.    
The very first day Imelda held a fancy afternoon cocktail reception and press conference for all visiting guests at the Malacanang Palace, which is the Philippine equivalent of the American White House -- only more elegant.  One of the nice things here was that the light white cotton or silk vest coat known as the  'Barong Pilipino', which is the traditional man's garment in the islands, and comes in all kinds of prices depending on the material and finesse of confection, is also recognized universally as formal wear for all occasions.  My first move in Manila was to get one of these for around ten bucks, at the recommendation of a friendly cab-driver, so I wouldn't have to worry about not being properly dressed for social events – the very first one of which was –->bam<-- a visit to the presidential palace sponsored by the First Lady herself!  

Manila with its palm-lined boulevards and overlay of Spanish architecture is really a unique city in Asia and I was knocked out there from day one just looking around and taking in the scene.  The mingling of Spanish, Malaysian, Chinese and other bloodlines has produced some of the most fantastic looking women I have ever seen, and the outgoing friendliness of the woman towards foreigners … but that's another subject beyond the scope of this book.  Suffice it to say that a Filipina beauty by the name of Tetchie Agbayani had been featured as a nude centerfold the preceding year in the German edition of PLAYBOY, and because of this international distinction had become a kind of national treasure proudly referred to by one and all as 'The Body Beautiful'.  Unashamed sex is in the air everywhere in Manila and is kind of taken for granted by the locals, but for the uninitiated Western visitor just walking down the street – especially a street like M.S. De Pillar in the heart of 'The Tourist Belt' (i.e., the Sex Belt)– can be an erotic experience all by itself.  Porno films, of which there are countless numbers, are referred to by a much nicer word, 'bold films'.  How can you not love a country that calls pornography 'bold'? 

But enough of boldness.  The showcase film of the festival was the Asian premiere of Richard Attenborough's hagiographic masterpiece, 'Gandhi', (Oscar sweeper that year) with both Attenborough and his main actor, Ben Kingsley, in high profile attendance. Other celebrities who turned up during the week included Germans Werner Herzog and Klaus Kinski, American actor Robert Duvall (just passing through), French actress Dominique Sanda, old time Hollywood stars Alexis Smith and Virginia Mayo, and Hollywood pretty boy suntan Adonis George Hamilton, who seemed to have a thing going with the First Lady, dancing with her all the time at the parties and always seated at her table ... 
Incidentally, one never saw President Marcos until the closing gala on the last night when he took the stage to make a ponderously boring speech, and it was said that he never appears in public together with the First Lady so that, just in case there might be an assassination attempt, at least one of them will survive.  The whole atmosphere at this festival, attended by many bigwigs of international film business as well as the stars, was kind of surrealistic if you can imagine surrealism with palm trees, balmy breezes, coconuts, and beautiful women --- and what was unusual for a festival of this magnitude, was that it was very easy to mix informally with just about any of the celebrities there in the hotel lobbies, by poolside, or at special events and screenings. 

The main venue for the festival screenings and press conferences was a spanking new complex of concrete buildings of various types which had been constructed just offshore in Manila Bay.  This was called the New Manila Expo Center and one of the showpieces was an extravagant new hotel with a giant waterfall in the middle of the lobby that looked like a transplant from Las Vegas.  It was rumored that, as the project was being rushed to completion so it could be ready in time for Imelda's film festival, a number of workers had gotten killed in accidents due to lax safety measures, and that to save time their cadavers had just been mixed in with the cement.  I know this sounds pretty bizarre but many locals in Manila were ready to swear by it.  Of course when a lady who prides herself on her two hundred pairs of shoes and has a mad gleam in her eyes all the time is in charge, you never can tell. 

The one big party for all guests – five hundred at least, maybe twice that – which  stands out most in my mind from that magical week was an outdoor evening on the grounds of an old Spanish fortress, catered with unbelievable mountains of food loading down tables all over the place, and exotic tropical drinks in coconut shells served by beautiful young Filipinas clad in clinging sarongs circulating through the crowd all the time.   The entertainment was a spectacular show on a gigantic stage presenting the entire history of the Philippines in dance and song – dance numbers worthy of a Busby Berkeley musical, and the overall staging, costumery, lighting and everything else, the equivalent of the biggest and best show you might ever get to see in Las Vegas. Just mind blowing.  There was also a major fireworks display after that, long lasting, and dancing far into the night to a variety of excellent Philippine bands. Among  familiar faces in the crowd, familiar to me anyhow as an old Hollywood movies buff, I recognized special festival guests Alexis Smith and Virginia Mayo who were standing together having a drink, went over, paid my respects and clinked glasses with them.  They both seemed pleased to be recognized without needing somebody to explain who they were. One final image I have is of Robert Duvall cutting a very fancy rug out on the dance-floor with his dance partner when the Spanish Paso Dobles were being played.  Mr. Duvall is apparently a past master of this noble ballroom dance form

Outrageous German actor Klaus Kinski had grown his blonde hair about a foot long and it hung down from his head to his shoulders or swung around like a mop as he flitted around frenetically.  One day I ran into Kinski at the poolside of the Manila Hotel, the hotel in which General Mac Arthur had for years maintained a permanent suite -- and thought it might be fun to have a chat with him.  I greeted him in German – 'Guten Tag Klaus' – which stopped him in his tracks for a second, but when he found out I was an American journalist he dropped into fluent rasping four-letter English, telling me exactly what he thought of f-----g journalists in no uncertain terms, and didn't give a shit whether I liked 'Fitzcarraldo'' (the film that he and director Werner Herzog were there to promote), or not.  Our chat, such as it was, probably didn't last more than ten minutes but, during this brief interlude he must have gone up the dresses or grabbed the hind quarters or breasts of at least three passing Filipina waitresses – with a mad whoop of glee each time.  I concluded that Mr. Kinski was insane and not worth any more of my time.  Undoubtedly the feeling was mutual since I had nothing for him to grab.   

Actress Alexis Smith at sixty, was still the kind of woman to turn a man's head when she entered a room and I had the pleasure of a long friendly chat with her one afternoon when she was sitting around waiting to be interviewed for Australian television.  The corpulent  Australian interviewer was one of these walking encyclopedias of American film lore who could tell the actress all kinds of things she had herself forgotten about her own career – like who her co-stars or minor actors or lighting directors were on certain obscure films, and things like that, and she was quite impressed with his erudition. Alexis while never a superstar like contemporaries of hers such as Bette Davis or Lana Turner was, nevertheless, an elegant leading lady of some note playing opposite such leading men as Errol Flynn, Clark Gable and Cary Grant and under some of the top directors such as Michael Curtiz, Mervin Leroy and Joseph Losey.

VIRGINIA MAYO in her Hollywood hey-day had been a super-foxy multi-curvaceous mouth-watering blond bombshell in many forties movies and was Cagney’s sassy gun moll in "White Heat” as late as 1951, but thirty years later Virginia had aged  -- not, would I say badly, but the sexiness had faded away completely to where she just looked like anybody’s sweet pretty old granny living next door. She was a very nice person, unassuming and easy to talk with, and didn’t mind reminiscing a bit, but you just didn’t get the feeling you were in the presence of a one-time Hollywood star and sex-symbol.  All that was clearly long behind her and she seemed rather surprised that she was still well-enough remembered to get asked to a big festival like this with contemporary celebrities hopping around all over the place. 

With Alexis Smith it was altogether different. Alexis dressed with elegant flair – several changes a day - smoked her cigarettes from a slender silver cigarette holder, looked sharp and carried herself like a star every minute.  She was in fact still going strong in a top television series and to some extent in the movies.  Her last one was, in fact, Scorcese’s "Age of Innocence” released in 1993, the year she passed away. In Manila 1983 there was not another woman around who radiated the star aura she did.  Yet she was not at all unapproachable chatting affably with whomever might come along, but the names that came up in her conversation, Flynn, Bogart, Cary Grant, Zachary Scott, Joan Crawford, Eleanor Parker, Michael Curtiz – sounded like a Who’s Who of the golden age of Hollywood.  Not that she was into "dropping names”, she was just talking about the people she worked with and hung out with in her everyday life.  

One day just sitting around the hotel lobby having a cup of coffee in the morning with Alexis and some other people waiting for a shuttle to the festival grounds, I was still intrigued by the fact that she had worked in a number of pictures with one of my favorite directors, the Hungarian Michael Curtiz, so I asked her what it had been like to work with this fabulous legendary director -- „Oh –Mike Cur-teeez – she said with a broad smile, a deep chuckle and a flamboyant wave of her cigarette holder –  Then, leaning forward as if to confide a big secret she says, „Mr. Curtiz had such a thick Hungarian accent that most of us on the set didn’t even know what the hell he was talking about most of the time!  -- He would yell out these instructions and we would look at each other and say  "What did he say? – Did you understand him?” ... She then went on to regale us with a couple of choice Michael Cutiz anecdotes which had us all in stitches to start the festival day. Quite a lady, Alexis Smith – up in the clouds and down to earth all at the same time – so classy and very good-looking for a „woman of a certain age”.

The final gala in the big festival hall arrives. Prizes are awarded and President Marcos appears to makes a long dull dictator type speech. Sir Richard Attenborough, distinguished director of Gandhi, makes a short moving humanitarian type speech. When they play The Star Spangled Banner, tears come to my eyes –- Don’t ask me why, but I suddenly feel patriotic out here in this country of countless Islands, where a stone’s throw away from the very hall where all this is taking place, the Bataan Death March took place in 1942, wherein many young American soldiers died, and from where General MacArthur escaped in a PT boat saying „I shall return”  -- and did return two years later to liberate the islands from the Japs.  And now it’s all being run by this piggish dictator with a Spanish name and his megalo-maniacal First Lady as the spirit of the great Indian humanitarian, Mohandis Mahatma Gandhi, hovers over the hall.

The lights go down and "Gandhi" is shown. Ben Kingsley is uncanny in the title role but I can’t get over the fact that Candice Bergen looks so out of place in the picture.  Then comes the big closing party. At the sumptuous sit-down dinner I find myself sitting at a table next to the famous Russian director Grigori Chukrai of „Ballad of a Soldier” and chat with him in my rusty Russian.  The Serbian guys in baggy suits from the Pula festival turn out to be the best dancers in the room. At one of the drink tables I meet this blustering bulky old Englishman in a white dinner jacket who tells me his name is Lew Grade –Sir Lew Grade.  I say, "Nice to meet you, Sir -- What do you do for a living?” – to which he says, with a huge sniff, "If you don’t know who Lew Grade is, young man, you have no right being at this festival!” – To which I reply affably, downing my martini at a gulp, „No shit? – Well I’m the American journalist Herman Pevner, and if you don’t know who Herman Pevner is YOU have no right being here”.  Sir Lew sees nothing funny in this and stomps off in a huff reciting the alphabet. Somebody who has overheard our little exchange at the cocktail table pulls me aside and tells me, "Guess what -- you just insulted the biggest film producer in England and one of the biggest big-shots in the whole film business in the whole world. "Well, he insulted me first” -- is all I can think of saying in reply, as I start on my second martini and head for the dance floor. Out on the dance floor all-American playboy George Hamilton and Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos in a blood red traditional Philippine gown with high shoulder fins, and some kind of extravagant Spanish headdress, are the center of attention.  The First Lady is no slouch as a dancer and she and Hamilton are still at it as the crowd starts to thin out around three in the morning ... But there are still crowds out on the festival grounds milling about by a theater showing an all night marathon of bold films.

All in all Manila ’83 was just about the most spectacular and luxurious film festival I have ever attended, but that year was also the Swan Song for this particular tropical extravaganza because the next year there was a bloodless revolution in the Philippines, the Marcos’ were deposed and had to flee for their lives to Hawaii (with half of the national treasury) and Cori Aquino became the new president, with more important matters on her hands than self-aggrandizing film festivals. 

When I got back to Tokyo in February I wrote up my Manila article focusing on the high points of the festival without making any snide remarks about the vanity of the First Lady and refraining from any discussion on the politics of the Philippines (if one wants to get invited back one doesn’t bite the hand that feeds) and submitted it to Tokyo journal, a weekly mostly read by the expatriate community.  I was surprised when a letter from a reader sharply criticized my article for ”praising a dictatorship”  and even implied that I was a Fascist for writing such nice things about this Imelda Marcos sponsored event. I made a brief reply to the effect that it was not the duty of film critics to write about politics and I still hold to that.  What was I supposed to say? – that Robert Duvall, Richard Attenborough, Ben Kingsley et al, were all a bunch of dirty Fascists for accepting the lavish hospitality of Madame Marcos?

CANNES, ’83

In any case, the big news in the Japanese film world in early 1983 was the new Nagisa Oshima film, "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence”, --

2012 Karlovy Vary awards and comments

KVIFF 47, AWARDS AND COMMENTS, A TALE OF FOUR WOMAN

by Alex Deleon

 

   SUSAN SARANDON AT KARLOVY VARY

The 47th Karlovy Vary Film Festival closed shop on Saturday July 7 with the customary gala awards ceremony and a screening of Woody Allen's "To Rome With Love" in the vast 1,500 seat Grand Hall (Velky Zal) of the Thermal Hotel. This was followed by the usual swanky closing reception at the stately Hapsburg era Hotel Pupp (Pronounced "poop") at the other end of the central promenade of healing waters, capping off one of the best KV festivals in recent memory. 

The twelve entry competition section was not particuarly memorable but this has never been the strong suite of this festival. The strong sections, as usual, were Horizons with thirty titles  and the East-of-West selection backed up by three exceptional hommage retrospectives; Antonioni, Jean-Pierre Melville, and  the Turkish auteur Reha Erdem.  

Melville, whose real name was Gumbach, took his artistic nom-de-plume from the American author of Moby Dick, was greatly influenced by American movies, and specialized in fast paced crime thrillers such as Le Cercle Roge and Le Samourai -- Film Noir in color!  He was regarded as a kind of mentor by the young directors of the French Nouvel Vague such as Godard and Truffaut. A marvelous recent bio-documentary entitled "Sous le nom de Melville"(Olivier Bohler, 2008) contained testimonials by other prominent directors who cited Meville as an important influence on their work --among them Bertrand Tavernier, Volker Schloendorff, and even the Japanese master Masaki Kobayashi. Another emminent French director, Claude Miler who passed away this year, was remembered with a screening of his 1975 masterpiece "La Meilleure Facon de Marcher", another seminal French film starring Patric Dewaere, an iconic enfant terrible of the time who died early of a drug overdose.

FOUR WOMEN STOOD OUT

In a way this was a festival dominated by female figures.

Crystal Globe awards for lifetime contributions to world cinema were dispensed to British actress Helen Mirren. 66, (Oscar for "The Queen" in 2007) at the beginning of the fest and at the closing American actress Susan Sarandon, 65  (Oscar '95 for "Dead Man Walking")  --Sarandon is an iconic character actress with the looks of a leading lady. Susan also appeared in the cult musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) which just closed the longest run in film history in Boston this very week.

Another high profile female guest of the fest was leading Iranian actress Leila Hatami, whose film "A Separation" was a world wide hit and earned the Oscar for best foreign film in Hollywood earlier this year. Sarandon, breezing in from New York on the last three days of the festival looked amazingly youthful with her tousled red hair and unlined visage. Hard to believe that she made her film debut 42 years ago with "Joe" back in 1970. 

All three actresses presented new films here, Mirren starring in Hungarian director Istvan Szabo's "The Door",(Out of competition).Sarandon introduced the American indie "Jeff who still live with his mother", her latest screen outing, and Hatami, presented her latest film "The Last Step"  for which he was named best actress here. In her press conference Sarandon spoke more about the importance of motherhood in her life than anything else. Despite her reputation as a political activist the actress said that politics is realy not that important to her, but as a lifelong democrat she is hoping Obama will win --probably in a close race. Asked if she would like to teach acting she said that never having had any acting lessons herself she wouldn't know how to go about it. At the screening before a gigantic overflow crowd she reminded the audiance that "Jeff" is a small independent film that is not geting much play in the States, but she was clearly delighted facing such a sea of expectant faces here. Hatami was accompanied by her two young children aged three and five, and of course by her husband, Ali Mosaffa, who directed the film. Dressed in a flowing white slacks outfit topped by a bright green head scarf the Iranian actress looked more like an Angel from Heaven than a sequestered rep of an evil  Islamic Republic.

The fourth outstanding woman of the week was Eva Zaoralova, film historian, critic and promoter of Czech cinema, who is practically a national monument in the Czech Repulic.

The Antonioni section was curated by Zaorlova, who knew the famous Italian director personally, and focused on his documentaries, not his features, an exceptional body of work in it own right that is rarely seen. In a way this was a festival that spotlighted unusual women.  Mme. Zaoralova has been artistic director (i.e. chief -programmer) of the festival since 1994 and was largely responsible for injecting new life into it when its existence was threatened in the mid nineties. As a film historian and champion of Czech film abroad she has become known all over the film festival circuit. She was also responsible for a special screening of the digitally restored version of Fellini's landmark 'La Strada". A special event at the festival was the launching of a new book by Eva entitled "A Life With Film" at which the tall white haired grand dame appeared in brightly colored robes as usual belying her eight decades.

The Norwegian competition entry "Mer eller mindre Mann" (The Almost Man) was a suprise winner of the Crystal Globe for Best Film along with a $25,000 cash compensation.  Henryk Rafaelson who starred as a thirty year old new father mired in adolescence was named Best Actor, sharing the distinction ex-aequo with Polish actor Eryk Lubos for his powerful  portrayal of a traumatized war veteran in Jan Jakub Kolski's  "To Killl a Beaver".  

Although the Iranian film The Last Step was regarded as rather weak by most professional viewers, Leila Hatami was sufficiently captivating in the role of a famous actress (essentially playing herself) traumatized by the accidental death of her husband --- to walk off with the Karlovy Best Actress award. It turns out that the accident may not have been so accidental and she gigggles uncontrollaby to cover up her chagrin.  The film itself was given a "best" by the FIPRESCI jury of Foreign film critics -- somewhat of a head shaker with possible political undertones. The poster for the film was also voted best festival poster giving "Last Step" three distinctions in all.

 

A special Jury Prize (the equivalent of a Silver bear at berlin) along with $15,000 in cash went to the Italian film "Piazza Fontana" which recounts the story of a huge bomb exloded at a bank on Piazza Fontana in Milan in 1969 and the complex police invetigation that followed. It must be said that the Crystal Globe statuette has a high intrinsic value as the Bohemian crystaL is itself is a highy valued handicraft of the region.

With well over 200 films on view,  many with enticing content or must-see directors, every day brought hard decisions on what to see and what to pass up. A packet of reviews will be presented separately.

Alex, Prague

KVIFF 2012, ECHOES AND ENCORES

with a Certain Geriatric Regard
by Alex Deleon

Besides the customary unveiling of new and upcoming talent from far and wide which is the hallmark of this festival,  Karlovy 2012 provided such an extensive look at film history that these selections alone could have constituted an entire festival on their own.  Among digitally restored new prints of landmark old films were Fellini's "La Strada, 1954, which among other things made burly actor Anthony Quinn into an arthouse icon, and Miloš Forman's "Fireman's Ball" (1967) the last film he made in Czechoslovakia before giving Communism the final finger. Hard to believe that this forward looking Czech director who later made prize winning crowd pleasers in Hollywood such as "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" (1975) and "Amadeus"(1984) is now eighty and still going strong.  His next project concerning a new view of the Munich pact that sold Czechoslovakia down the river to Hitler in WWI is now in the works.

The first unveiling of a digitalic-restoration of David Lean's1962 masterpiece "Lawrence of Arabia" was also screened here as was  the very rarely revived "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp" made at the height of the war in 1943 by the dauntless duo Pressburger and Powel. Blimp was a epic making sendup of the the stuffy British military class based on a lovingly satirical comic strip which so enraged British prime Minister Winston Churchil that he tried to have it banned. One of those films that is as timeless as Gone With the Wind.  In terms of film history what is arguably the film even of the year is the fifteen hour love letter to the seventh art put together with encycopedic dedication by Englishman Mark Cousins.  Hitting all the high spots and many of the hidden gems as well this amazing documentary was shown here in three easily digestible five hour istallments --with never a dull moment in any of them -- according to those who took time out to take in this special treat.

Now if we' are really talking about the advancing years, Manoel Oliveira of Portugal, 101 (!) is the oldest, still active (sic) film director in the world and a poster prominently displayed all over the festival premises with the large letters "101" announced a new  interview on film with the centenarian helmer from the edge of the continent.  Made by Spanish producer and longtime admirer Luis Minarro who worked with Oliveira on his last two films and spoke with viewers here about his experience with the incerdibly forward looking Mr.Century. Young fellow countryman Rodrigo Areias, 31, whose slow-paced meditative zen western  "Estrada de Palha" was shown in competition, was proud to report that when he showed his new film to Oliveira the elder statesman not only sat through it attentively but gave it his glowing praise.

Manoel de Oliveira
Born	11 December 1908 (age now 103!)

As for older artists still working, and how --we have French director Alain Resnais who will turn ninety in June, and French actor Jean-Louis Trintigmant (81) in this lineup.  Resnais whose dazzling "Last year at Marienbad" changed time scrambling in film forever, checked in with "Vous n'avez encore rien vu" ('You ain't seen nothing yet') wherein a renowned dramatist arranges to have friends who appeared in his play Euridice come together at his funeral where the play is put on.  Full of references to earlier works this could be the famed directors swan song -- or could it?
One of the hottest tickets of the week was  "Amour"  the new meditation on old age, infirmity, and approaching death, by German Michael Haneke who is known for attacking difficult subjects in difficult ways. His principle performers, literally giving the performances of their lives and long careers, are Jean-Louis Trintignant (81) and Emmanuelle Riva (85) playing a loving octogenarian couple whose old age has not quenched their love -- even when she suffers a debilitating stroke. Both these films in the plush Horizons section. Riva came to the fore in Resnais' first feature "Hiroshima mon Amour" (1959) and is also seem in this festival in the Melville retro in "Léon Morin, prêtre" (1961).
Trintignant is one of those actors known for the penetrating intelligence of his portrayals as much as his charm and vulnerability. His debut next to Bridget Bardot in "'And God Created woman" (1956) was the start of a brilliant career not only in France. Some other landmarks of a filmography studded with them are "Z" by Costa Gavras, "The Conformist" Bertolucci, and "Three colors Red", Kieslowski (1994) and of course the international smash hit  "A Man and a Woman" in 1966. In 1986 he and co-star Anouk Aimée did a reprise called "A Man and a Woman twenty years Later'' (!) proving that even then Jean-Louis was not afraid to show his age. Since the subject of Old Age is practically a taboo in cinema and nearly sure death at the box office this entrancing new treatment may be a hard sell outside of the Art house market, but it should do a rousing business there and one can even her tinkles of oscar bells in the distance ... Oh yes, Haneke's "Amour" was very justifiably awarded the Palme d'Or (Grand Prix) at this year's Cannes film festival although it was up against Carax's infamous unholy gem "Holy Motors".

Trintignant at Cannes this year --
 Finally if the subject is elderly artist still active a word about Woody allen is certainly in order.
In the company cited above Woody may rank as a callow youth but he has been plying his unique brand of cerebral humor for nearly five decades, ever since "What's New Pussycat"  in 1965, and it is hard to believe that this international youth idol director is now 76.  Acting in his own film as a retired opera impresario he definitely looks his age but his latest work "To Rome With Love" is something of a return to the zany earlier form that made him into a living American legend.  There have been ups and down in Woody's last few outings but his new love leter to Rome is definitely an up and has some of the finniest shtik in it he has ever done.  One that will go down in the Allen cannon as a super landmark is the opera singer he has singing on stage in a real opera while taking a shower in a real shower stall!  It seems that Woody, on vacation in Rome, has discovered a magnificent new vocal talent in a mortician (funeral director!) who has a voice like Caruso, but only when singing in the shower. With typical Allenesque logic the way to fix that is put the guy in a shower on stage so he can let loose full force --and this he does to the great applause of the dignified opera crowd. Another feature of the film is a most enticing (even if getting a little long in the tooth herself) Penelope Cruz (38) packed mouth wateringly into a blood red mini dress while working as a red hot hotel hooker. "Rome" opened the LA Film festival a month back and closed Karlovy a week ago, demonstrating once again that Woody's brand of filmaking has evergreen appeal to both the mainstream and the art film circuits.
Next up a quick survey of some of the newer films at Karlovy.
Alex in Prague

Trintignant with Anouk Aimée in"A Man and a Woman"  1966 which at the time was the most successful French film ever screened in the foreign market.

Riva at Cannes this year --now 85

Resnais at 89

CRUZ AT CANNES --a stunning thirty eight!

Closing the Book on KVIFF 2012

A Survey of Titles to Watch For
by Alex Deleon, Prague

       
           Jackie Siegel, the Queen of Versailles and some of her eight kids
Because of the eclectic nature and precious programming of Karlovy Vary
many interesting films seen here are not likely to surface or be spotted elsewhere.
Quite a few, however, are of sufficient general appeal to travel far and wide, some
because of the notice they receive at this prestige European event.Among films to watch for that will definitely be "out there"  sooner or later are:

1. Istvan Szabo's "The Door" -- for its focus on women in the main roles and the ever
magnificent Dame Helen Mirren as a regal figure in rags following up her Oscar role as The Queen --
A quiet classic from an old Hungarian master of the craft.

2. "Game Change" USA 2012
The presidential campaign of 2006 -- McCain Versus Obama, with wild card Sarah Palin, sexy governor of Alaska thrown in.
Not a  documentary but a feature film with actors standing in for the original "cast" --
With Julianne Moore playing Palin need anything MORE be said!

3. "The Queen of Versailles", This  IS a documentary, but one so fantastic it reads more like a suspense thriller based on Citizen Kane...
 Even though this is a doc it should be getting general distribution and is worth keeping an eye out for. The rise and fall of the American Dream.  The principal characters, Jackie and David Siegel -- she 33 -- he 74 -- who agreed to display their greed on film, have reconsidered and are apparently suing the director, Lauren Greenfield, for invasion of the privacy they invited her to invade. Therefore, one to see quick before it is withdrawn from circulation. Rags to riches and Richest back to rags --Almost.-- or, The American dream in Reverse.

4. "Holy Motors" by Gallic Bad Boy Leos Carax: Holy Smoke! --John Waters meets Luis Bunuel in Paris ... Don't let this misleading title mislead you. I thought I was  depressed after the first viewing, but in retrospect I realize that I was much more exilirated than depressed. In fact, I can't wait to see it again. And maybe again after that.  A natural born cult film if ever there was one. It has everything except Susan Sarandon in it...

5. "Iron Sky", What's not to like about a movie with Nazis from the Moon invading Earth? ... Far-out Finn Timo Vuorensola teams up on the scifi genre and everything else. Having already done three sci-fi spoofs (The Star Wreck trilogy) Timo seems to be taking over the Absurdist baton from fellow Finn Aki Kaurismaki. The premise here is that a band of Nazis who escaped in 1945 have established a colony on the dark side of the moon and are preparing to invade the home planet to establish a Fourth Reich as the new World Order. One wonders if that might not be an improvement on the World Disorder we have on our hands these days.

6. "Amour"-- or Death can be beautiful when acted out by great artists ... French icons Jean-LouisTrintignant (81)and Emmanuelle Riva (85) give it their all in a bold look at old age, infirmity, and approaching end of life, by Michael Haneke.

7. "To Rome with Love" -- In case you decided to pass the latest Woody Allen up --Don't ! --It's really a riot. A rousing return to his best zany form after a few slight misfires, and a special surprise for opera lovers. Nel Blu dipinto di blu ....Alec baldwin plays a wise latter day Jimminy Cricket and Pamela Cruz is simply Out-of-Sight.

8. "Ang Babae sa Septic Tank" = The lady in the Septic Tank >(Toilet waste accumulation receptacle) is a highly irreverant Pilipino comedy that takes the piss out of filmmakers who will do anything to get themselves a stroll down the red carpet -- even having a major actress deliver a plaintiff oration from inside a septic tank -- This is the most successful Philippine indie ever made, has been making the rounds of the festivals and, in spite of its subject matter, was the Philippine entry at the Oscars last time around. Philippine films are hard to come by but this one is now around and is worth watching for.

ALEX, Prague, July 10, 2012