(Netherlands; 92 min.) Filmed in black-and-white and set in Amsterdam, director Timo Veltkamp’s film introduces starving artist Joachim West (Marc van Uchelen), a man who has spent 10 years observing misery in its many forms to write his masterpiece.
Attractions News - page 46
(Romania; 90 min.) Calin Peter Netzer’s film is your classic woebegone Balkans fable. It’s 1995: the new faceless bureaucracy running Romania awards the aged and confused Ion I. Ion (Radu Beligan) a medal commemorating his valor in the Big War 50 years ago.
(Belgium; 74 min.) Certainly Gust Van den Berghe was put on Earth so that Harmony Korine will have someone to talk to at film festivals. With hand-drawn titles and a cast of actors with Down syndrome, this sometimes shining, sometimes aggravating experimental film recasts of the story of the Three Kings.
(U.S.; 72 min.) Nathan Silver’s debut has slaved-over visual and audio surfaces, from the classic-era film titles to the soundtrack of ‘50s show tunes. Kate (Josette Barchilon) exists in a fugue state that would do a Stepford Wife proud; she’s the live-in of an emotionally shuttered young architect (Jonas Ball) who does his best to ditch her whenever possible.
(Canada; 80 min.) Michael McNamara’s globe-trotting documentary hop-scotches about visiting various locales to see how people react to the mysteries of darkness.
Reality TV deserves more than our rapt attention and our mockery. It deserves our most serious reflection, as well. I realized this fact halfway into reading the ambitious and upsetting new novel “Deus Ex Machina” by San Jose’s Andrew Foster Altschul,
We are lucky to live in such a bountiful state. Where else can you get a taste of Louisiana paired with Santa Cruz wine, eat chocolate for dinner and feel like an adult, and learn about French wine and food all in one week? Some might say we’re spoiled, but for us it’s just another South Bay week. Feb. 23- Mar. 2
(Norway; 80 min.) The mountains have historically been a place of refuge for hermits, rebels and philosophers looking to live apart from the modern world below.
(Canada; 108 min.) After surviving a tsunami in her homeland of Sri Lanka—a tragic act of nature that took the lives of her parents and her sister—Parvati (Kalista Zackhariyas) finds herself living with distant relatives in Canada.
(Spain; 105 min.) After an initial shock, this powerful Spanish film unfolds gently and organically, but it’s full of surprises. 80 Days follows 80 days in the life of Axun (Itziar Aizpuru), a 70-year-old matronly type who angers her family by insisting on visiting the hospital to watch over her estranged son-in-law, who’s in a coma
