First Look ’13: Sleepless Night

Everyone says marriage requires hard work, but nobody ever wants to show it on film.  Yet, there is certainly plenty of dramatic fodder there.  A young married couple will prove the point when they navigate some tricky issues in Jang Kun-jae’s Sleepless Night (trailer here), which screens this Sunday as a selection the Museum of the Moving Image’s second annual First Look film series.

They have been married two years without getting pregnant.  This may have been either a conscious or subconscious decision.  Money is a concern.  He works in a warehouse and she is yoga instructor.  Perhaps more significantly, he is still not sure he is ready to be a parent.  Both clearly understand this is an important difference of opinion, leading to anxiety over the state of their union.  They will have to do that everyday couple’s work to stay together, especially with more and more of their married friends divorcing or having children.

Like many films programmed at this year’s First Look, Sleepless is a quiet, moody film.  However, it is also wholly engrossing for viewers willing to invest in it.  This film is far too honest for anyone whose idea of movie romance is Gerard Butler planting a sloppy kiss on an impeccably blow dried Jennifer Aniston.  By the same token, it is also considerably more erotic.

Kim Soo-hyun and Kim Joo-ryeong make an attractively down-to-earth couple.  Together they share a genuine, lived-in chemistry that rings true in every scene.  While Jang’s two dream sequences are not well delineated on-screen, his patience and sensitivity allow some telling moments to develop organically.

Deceptively simple, the sixty-five minute Sleepless Night is surprisingly deep and rewarding.  Recommended for those who want to see a movie relationship presented in an intelligent and very real manner, it screens with the longish short As the Flames Rose this Sunday (1/13), the final day of First Look 2013, at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens.

First Look ’13: Winter, Go Away

Ten graduate students from Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s Documentary Filmmaking and Theater School did what the Russian media establishment was largely incapable of.  They covered the 2012 Russian presidential election and the surrounding protests fairly and accurately.  Inseparable from their cameras over the dramatic two month span, the ten budding documentarians captured some chilling moments of “democracy at work” in Winter, Go Away (trailer here), which screens this Saturday in Astoria, Queens, as part the Museum of the Moving Image’s second annual First Look film series.

For the record, the ten filmmakers are: Elena Khoreva, Denis Klebleev, Dmitry Kubasov, Askold Kurov, Nadezhda Leonteva, Anna Moiseenko, Madina Mustafina, Sofia Rodkevich, Anton Seregin, and Alexey Zhiryakov. Remember those names (that’s a dare).  Although none of Winter’s scenes are specifically credited to a contributing filmmaker, the sheer volume of newsworthy footage speaks highly of them as a group.

Two painful realities quickly emerge in Winter.  The Putin campaign is highly organized, while the divided opposition is not. With the not-so-quasi state media firmly in his pocket, Putin probably need not have fixed the election.  Yet, it is pretty darn clear he did exactly that, based on the video recorded in poll sites on election. 

Obviously cooking the voter rolls, local election officials refuse to turn over documentation to poll watchers.  Mysterious buses show up with ostensive voters, who are a bit touchy about being filmed.  When opposition groups stage protests, the police respond with violence.  In one jaw-dropper of an incident, they literally grab an opposition spokesman in mid-sentence while he is giving an on-camera interview to a reporter.

Winter should instill shock and outrage in viewers, but let us not forget there were similar instances of election shenanigans and intimidation reported in Philadelphia later in 2012.  Indeed, the suspicious busloads of “voters” demonstrate why stricter voter ID laws would serve the interests of democracy.

Watching Winter, Go Away is a wildly frustrating experience, but the truly independent filmmakers deserve enormous credit for their journalistic integrity.  They documented actual crimes the Russian and international media has cravenly ignored.  Highly recommended for all Russophiles, Russophobes, journalism students, and media critics, Winter, Go Away screens this Saturday (1/12) during the 2013 First Look at the Museum of the Moving Image.

First Look ’13: Inori

A small community in the mountainous Nara prefecture seems to live in perfect harmony with nature.  Actually, that is sort of a problem.  There ought to be more people around to throw off the balance.  Instead, only a rapidly aging remnant is left.  Director-cinematographer-editor Pedro González-Rubio quietly documents the villagers and their environment in Inori (trailer here), which screens tomorrow as a selection the Museum of the Moving Image’s second annual First Look film series.

Totsukawa village was always small, but it was once relatively bustling.  However, as economic opportunities dried up, the younger generations migrated to larger cities.  Now only senior citizens remain.  Some feel honor bound to stay and tend the graves of their parents.  Others simply cannot face the trauma of moving.

Ironically, some viewers might initially consider the village a verdant paradise.  Produced by celebrated Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase, Inori is more similar in look and tone to her contemplative feature Mourning Forest than her intensely personal documentaries.  González-Rubio vividly captures a sense of the area’s hushed stillness. At first it is quite striking, but it never really changes.  As a result, Inori’s mere seventy-two minutes become rather sluggish.  Time indeed passes slowly up here in the mountains.

Nevertheless, González-Rubio frames some lovely shots.  While his approach is strictly observational, Inori still engenders respect for the villagers.  These are not hicks.  They have worked hard all their lives, but they are educated and dignified.  Religious and/or spiritual, Shinto and Buddhist practice also appears to be strong within the remaining community.  Frankly, this was probably a nice place to live in more prosperous times.

Inori has images that could be sold as collectible prints, but as a viewing experience it is rather static.  More of a hike through the woods than a film, Inori is best saved for González-Rubio and Kawase’s most ardent admirers.  For those self-identifying cats, it screens tomorrow (1/6) in Astoria, Queens, as the 2013 edition of First Look continues at MoMI.

First Look ‘13: Arraianos

Start the New Year with the salt of the earth and the theater of the absurd.  Eloy Enciso combines the observational documentary with vignettes from Jenaro Marinhas del Valle’s play O Bosque forming a decidedly experimental hybrid.  For those looking for a tactile sense of Galicia, the Museum of the Modern Image is the place to be when Enciso’s Arraianos (trailer here) screens as part of this year’s First Look.

In a hardscrabble Spanish village near the Portuguese border, Galician is still the common tongue.  Time appears to stand still and nature rules capriciously.  In what could be scene out of Waiting for Godot, two old women bicker as they try in vain to chart a course out of the dark woods. Meanwhile, rough-hewn farmers labor with tools that appear wholly inadequate for the tasks at hand.  For respite, they gather at the pub and sing traditional Galician drinking songs together.  Perhaps salvation lies with a blind prophet who promises to lead wayfarers through the forest, but his appearance may only be a short-lived narrative tease.

The songs heard in Arraianos really are cool.  Unfortunately, the music and occasional snippets of folklore invariably give way to long shots of livestock.  Enciso is clearly more interested in creating a visual tone poem to Galicia than any sort of traditional documentary or narrative feature.  The result should be catnip for those who admire Denis Côté’s Bestiaire.  Cinematographer Mauro Herce fully captures the grey, dankness of the region.  Yet for mere mortals, the film is rather frustrating, temporarily stimulating out interest, but then quickly shifting the focus to some cows.

While last year’s First Look featured the New York premiere of films from internationally renowned but accessible filmmakers like Johnnie To and Philippe Garrel, this year’s edition looks like it was programmed with high-end cineastes specifically in mind.  Despite it relatively brief sixty-some minute running time, Arraianos moves at a purposefully measured pace. Those fascinated by Iberian culture may enjoy unpacking it, but casual viewers will find it decidedly challenging.  For the adventurous, Arraianos has some evocative musical moments and more than its share of cattle when it screens this Saturday (1/5) as a selection of the 2013 First Look at MoMI.