Category: Trailers

By Joe Bendel. When the television adaptation of Stephen King’s Under the Dome hits the airwaves, fans will duly wonder where he gets his ideas from. Hmm, maybe Christoffer Boe’s Allegro or Marlen Haushofer’s Die Wand. Of course, both predecessors are much more introspective in nature. Indeed, viewers witness a very private apocalypse in Julian Pölsler’s adaptation of Haushofer’s 1963 novel, The Wall, which opens this Friday in New York at the IFC Center.

A woman is holidaying with friends in an Austrian mountain lodge. Her hosts drive into town for supplies and never return. Venturing out the next morning she discovers an invisible barrier blocking the road. Scouting the mountainside, she discovers that the strange wall encircles her. She can see people on the other side, but they appear frozen in place. Time seems to only pass on her side of the wall, but it passes very slowly.

Told in flashbacks via the unnamed woman’s journal entries, The Wall consciously echoes Robinson Crusoe. With no Man Friday, the woman develops a close bond with the couple’s dog, Lynx. Indeed, it is largely her rapport with animals that keeps the woman engaged in her solitary world.

Obviously, The Wall implies much about man and our unbalanced relationship with nature. The English language voice-overs are often rather heavy-handed (and clash with the limited subtitled German dialogue) but the film’s vibe and rhythm are eerily evocative. Viewers will feel like they are getting a true taste of what it would be like to be the last sentient person on Earth.

Shot over the course of several seasons, Pölsler and his battery of cinematographers fully capitalize on the stunning scenic vistas that utterly dwarf the lone woman. Carrying the film almost single-handedly, Martina Gedeck (co-star of the modern classic The Lives of Others) gives a remarkably assured performance. Mixing depression and empowerment, it might be the purest cinematic portrayal of existential living. However, it is also worth noting Pölsler’s own dog Lynx is quite the performer in his own right.

The Wall may well be a rebuke of patriarchy and industrialization, but it still works rather well as a survivor’s story. Admittedly, it is deliberately paced (for obvious reasons), but the overall effect is hypnotic. Recommended for those who appreciate apocalyptic and allegorical cinema, The Wall opens this Friday (5/31) at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on May 30th, 2013 at 4:26pm.

By Joe Bendel. If Rizzo were dying of cancer, surely Frenchie would reunite the Pink Ladies. Such is the position married and well-to-do Im Na-mi finds herself in. Some members of the girl gang are happy to get back together, but others are harder to find in Kang Hyeong-chul’s monster hit Sunny, which screens tonight as part of the Korean Cultural Service’s free Korean Movie Night in New York.

While not exactly a life of quiet desperation, Im leads a sheltered existence that is not wholly fulfilling. Since her husband and daughter are too busy to visit her mother-in-law in the hospital, she upholds their obligations. During one such visit, she chances across the room of Ha Chun-hwa, the leader of the clique dubbed “Sunny.” When Im’s family moved to Seoul from the countryside, Ha took the shy teen under her wing. As we watch in flashbacks, most of Sunny quickly fell in line, but not Jung Su-ji, the moody prospective model.

When not rumbling with other girl gangs, Sunny practiced their choreography. However, they were never able to perform their big number, for reasons that will eventually be revealed. Hmm, anyone smell some unfinished business here?

In a Korean film, when a character is introduced with a fatal illness in the first act, it is a cinch there will be an emotional funeral coming down the pike. This goes way beyond Chekhov’s gun. Without a big weepy payoff, audiences would want their money back. Not to be spoilery, but Sunny delivers the goods.

Yes, this is a chick flick, but it is an admittedly well crafted film. Employing some surprisingly striking transitions for each temporal shift, Sunny is more visually stylish than it probably needed to be. In fact, Nam Na-yeoung won the best editing honors at Daejong Film Awards for good reason. As the narrative unfolds, it pulls you in – despite viewers’ macho or hipster resistances.

Yoo Ho-jeong plays grown-up Im with admirable restraint, never overplaying the gilded cage empowerment card. Likewise, Shim Eun-kyung is earnest and awkward as teenaged Im. Yet both Jin Hee-kyung and Kang Sora really outshine the ensemble as the ailing adult and fearless teenaged, Ha, respectively. Although hardly a teen herself, singer Min Hyo-rin has her moments as the high school ice queen, Jung. As for her adult counterpart, that is really the question driving Sunny’s third act.

If Cyndi Lauper floats your boat and you prefer Boney M’s version of the title song over Bobby Hebb’s original, than Sunny’s unabashedly 1980’s soundtrack will be your catnip. The ways screenwriter-director Kang interjects and darts around the May 1980 democracy protests also gives the film a bit of seasoning. He certainly conveys his point of view, without waving the bloody shirt. Sunny is shamelessly manipulative and sentimental, but it does exactly what it sets out to do. Recommended for those looking to celebrate sisterhood, it screens tonight (5/28) at the Tribeca Cinemas—free of charge, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on May 28th, 2013 at 12:30pm.

By Joe Bendel. Murder and vino have always gone together, ever since Montresor offed Fortunato in “A Cask of Amontillado,” so who would make a better amateur sleuth than an enologist (wine expert)? For a vintner accused of murder, Benjamin Lebel is the man to call in Blood of the Vine, seasons one and two, now available as two separate 2-DVD sets from MHz Networks.

In the series opener, Tears of Pasquin, the Bordeaux based Lebel puts the moves on an attractive colleague, France Pelletier. She is mature enough to consider his assistants, Mathilde and Silvère, wet-behind-the-ears kids, but she is still young enough to look good on his arm. Over the next two seasons, she will become accustomed to having romantic dinners and weekend getaways interrupted by murder.

Pasquin happens to be one of the series’ more intriguing crime stories. What appears to be a serial killer case ultimately involves the nasty legacy of Vichy era collaboration. That still seems bold for French television. Pasquin also introduces Lebel to Commander Barbaroux of the Bordeaux police force, who is admittedly befuddled by the rare bottles of Pasquin left at multiple murder scenes. He calls in Lebel as a consultant, but quickly has misgivings.

Loyal Silvère looks different in Le Coup de Jarnac, but replacement Yoann Denaive and the rest of the regulars will stick around for the balance of the first two seasons. Hired to audit the storied Aludel cognac distillery divided by feuding siblings, Lebel and his assistant receive a rather frosty reception at the chateau. However, Lebel is quite welcome at the tavern in town co-owned by his old flame, Shirley. Unfortunately, the legendary mixer and friendliest Aludel heir falls victim to an untimely accident.

Vine often features well known guest stars (at least to French audiences), such as Marisa Berenson, the co-star of films like Barry Lyndon and Cabaret, as well as a one-time guest host of The Muppet Show. As Shirley, she and series star Pierre Arditi have a nice wistfully flirtatious thing going on.

Likewise, Margaux’s Robe features another notable guest star, Arditi’s daughter Rachel, playing Lebel’s daughter, Margaux. Recently, returned from New York, Margaux Lebel has accepted a PR job with a new Chateau owner who is absolutely, positively not a member of the Russian mob. When sabotage kills Margaux’s co-worker-lover and badly injures her, the Soviet educated Swiss mogul puts pressure on Lebel to solve the case quickly or he will do it his way, which adds a good twist to elegant sleuthing.

Fittingly, the first season ends with one of the better crafted mysteries, while also challenging Lebel’s loyalties. When a former assistant’s struggling chateau is beset by a suspicious outbreak, Lebel comes to investigate. Knowing the grand dame who once fired him covets their land, Lebel pays a visit to the regal Mme. Newman. Both Arditi and Judith Magre (probably best known for Louis Malle’s The Lovers) clearly relish their affectionately acid-dripped banter.

Season two begins with A Question of Brandy . . . or Death. Once again, Lebel and his assistants have been hired to assess a struggling distillery. In this case, it is the Baron Castayrac who expects Lebel to simply sign off on his insurance claim, but the enologist does not play that game. Pretty much every key element of the series comes into play in this episode, with a union boss of questionable repute thrown in as an added bonus. Continue reading Casks & Caskets: LFM Reviews Blood of the Vine Seasons 1 & 2