Blu-ray debut for Zhang Yimou's gorgeous and dark period piece, SHANGHAI TRIAD

Don't know how I happened to miss SHANGHAI TRIAD when it was released theatrically in the USA during the turn-of-the year holiday season of 1995-96. Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou and his star Gong Li were at the height of their critical and arthouse/ mainstream success around then, and the film itself -- a beautiful and quite dark costume/ gangster melodrama set in Shanghai in the 1930s -- holds up exceedingly well.

In any case, it's great to be able to catch up with the film in its new and very fine Blu-ray transfer from Film Movement. Visually, this is one of  the more beautiful movies you're likely to encounter, even if you will wonder if and why Zhang (shown at left) decided not (or simply neglected) to bother with any day-for-night effects. Nighttime has never looked this bright or sunny.

The initially-simple-but-soon-grows-more-complicated story involves an adolescent Tang family member (Wang Xiaoxiao, below, right) from the provinces who has come to Shanghai to work for the boss of an upper-echelon crime family, more specifically for that boss' spoiled and nasty showgirl mistress (played by Ms Gong, below, left).

Betrayals of many types soon follow, and characters (some of them, at least) grow and change. By the end of this breathtakingly gorgeous and quite dark movie, the lessons learned have come at a huge cost. If Shanghai Triad does not have the obvious political and emotional heft of To Live, nor the historical/political/feminist framework of something like Raise the Red Lantern, all of these things remain essential to the film nonetheless. They may seem buried under the melodrama, but in a sense this makes them register all the more oddly yet strongly

There is only a single Bonus Features on the disc, but it's a whopping good one: a video essay by Grady Hendrix entitled "Trouble in Shanghai" that goes to town on all the ways one can view Shanghai Triad -- including as a kind of unintentional biopic/biography of both Zhang and Gong and the filmmaking process itself. This is a witty, funny, hugely intelligent piece of criticism/provocation, but do wait until you've seen the film to watch and listen to it.

From Film Movement Classics, in Mandarin with English subtitles and running 108 minutes, the film makes its Blu-ray debut this Tuesday, August 4 -- for purchase (and eventually, I would hope, for rental, too).

DVDebut: Taron Lexton's IN SEARCH OF FELLINI proves (very) light on the Fellini

Can a movie get by almost exclusively on charm and visual beauty at the expense of any kind believable story line? Prior to seeing IN SEARCH OF FELLINI, the first full-length film from South  African-born Taron Lexton (below), I would have thought this pretty doubtful, but after viewing his said-to-be-based-"mostly"-on-a-true-tale movie, I've got to admit the film works well enough to garner an OK rating.  As gloriously shot by Kevin Garrison in Verona, Milan, Rome and Venice, Italy (oh, yeah -- and in Ohio, too), the cinematography is often so breathtakingly beautiful that you'll be swept away long enough to forget, or maybe just ignore, the rather saccharine and unbelievable tale told here.

As written by Nancy Cartwright and Peter Kjenaas, that story is one of a young girl (played in adulthood by the very lovely Ksenia Solo, below), so pampered and secluded from real life by her mother (Maria Bello, shown at bottom, right) that the poor thing is completely unsuited for autonomous adulthood. So what does she do? She leaves her dying mother to head for Italy all by her lonesome and there to somehow meet her new hero, famed filmmaker Federico Fellini, whose movies she has suddenly discovered via a Fellini festival in her home town. (The film takes place a couple of decades back, as Fellini died in 1993.)

Too dumb to get to Rome where the filmmaker resides, she ends up in Verona, then Venice, before finally arriving at her real destination. But that's all to the good because, along the way, she and we get to view a raft of fabulous locations and also meet and fall in love with what must be the sweetest and most handsome straight male in all of Italy (Enrico Oetiker, below, with Ms Solo).

But onward she must go toward Signore Fellini, and so she also almost gets raped-while-being-filmed by a nasty hunk named (against type) Placido. Not to worry, despite its R rating, this is a feel-good movie par excellence, so when our heroine finally does encounter her hero, it is in perhaps via the most gorgeously lit and filmed restaurant scene in movie history -- with no dialog yet, so that we can instead imagine what is being shared by the two.

Yes, indeed, this is all so silly that it would defy belief -- were it not so lovely to look at. All the leads are super-attractive, and Italy, well, come on: You know how visually enchanting that country can be. So I would suggest placing you brain on hold for the film's 103 minutes and just giving yourself over to its many visual pleasures.

Inter-cut into the film are many moments from the real Fellini catalog. And while Mr. Lexton's work apes the master's, he has filmed his movie with mostly gorgeous actors, while Fellini preferred much more bizarre-looking casts. Both filmmakers give us fantasy based on reality. The master created his films from someplace deep and humane, while Lexton, whose view may be prettier, offers up what might best be called Fellini-light.

From Spotted Cow Entertainment and running 103 minutes, the movie -- after hitting VOD and digital outlets last month -- reaches DVD this coming Tuesday, January 23.

Beauty in both despair and rebirth: Julio Quintana's gorgeous THE VESSEL opens

Faith gets a good workout in the new Spanish-language film, THE VESSEL (El navio), from writer/director Julio Quintana, a fellow who was first assistant camera on Paradise Recovered, one of the very few faith-based films TrustMovies has seen that he actually enjoyed and found worth recommending. This new one is also worth recommending, and not only for its immense beauty. It also tells a rather timeless story of despair, faith and rebirth in a manner smart enough intellectually and with frequent eye-popping visuals that make the trip worthwhile.

Starring a quietly impressive actor, Lucas Quintana (shown below, who may or may not be related to the director, Julio, shown at left), as its hero, Leo, the film also offers a better-known American actor, Martin Sheen (seen on poster, top, and further below), in a major supporting role as the town priest. The beautiful little seaside village in which the movie takes place endured a low-level Tsunami some years back in which all the town's school-age children (along with their teacher) were pulled into the ocean to drown.

Since then, the village has lost its "faith." The women are still wearing black; couples don't copulate; children aren't born. Our hero's mom (played by Jacqueline Duprey, below, left), having lost her other son (the one she preferred) has gone a little cuckoo (she wears pink but gets away with it because she's perceived as nuts). Even Leo's love interest (Aris Mejias, below, right) -- who married that drowned school-teacher because our guy was too shy to speak to her -- seem to have remained "stillborn" so far as any real growth is concerned.

The poor, put-upon priest is unable to coerce his flock into anything approaching belief, let alone action. Now, all this might sound like a set-up for the usual faith-in-Christianity film. And it is. Especially given all the religion symbols we observe visually, followed by something seemingly miraculous and Lazarus-like that happens. But the manner in which Quintana works out what follows is not so simple.

Faith is always front and center here but how it is perceived and acted upon by the "flock" is, as ever, more stupid and sheep-like than anything else. Even Leo's quest to build some kind of ship (below) out of the remains of the schoolhouse does not reflect, well, world-class thinking.

In the end, what happens could be said to be due as much to man as to god (even if man is maybe acting out what he imagines that god wants).

What holds this movie afloat, then aloft, is its great beauty. Quintana and his cinematographer (Santiago Benet Mari), together with the Puerto Rican locations they've chosen, conspire to make this one of the most visually splendid films in a long while.

This is not due simply to the gorgeous settings -- the beautifully "distressed" architecture, the ever-present sea, the vast sky, the colors, the verdant foliage -- but as much to the perspective, often odd and just slightly "off," that the movie offers.

Shots of water bubbling up unexpectedly; old, thick, hardcover books drying out over a clothes line; stunning faces, seen angry or in repose. All of this combines to keep our eyes glued, even as our minds struggle with the meaning.

There are times here when the townspeople seem so stupid and inhumane that they don't deserve to survive (they may bring to mind our current Trump supporters: ah, humanity!), and if the Jesus symbolism gets a little thick -- dragging that boat as a stand-in for the cross -- nothing lasts long enough to become "overdone."

The movie always bounces back, and its final thought about how we are all connected is expressed verbally with as much beauty and intelligence as Quintana's visuals have offered.

From Outsider Pictures and running a lean 85 minutes, the film opens all across the country this Friday, Sept. 16.

Note: This film is being shown in two versions: one spoken in English, the other in Spanish with English subtitles. Check with the specific theater to learn which version is being shown -- and when.

In New York City, you can see it at the AMC Empire 25; in the Los Angeles area at Laemmle's Music Hall and Playhouse 7, and at AMC's Rolling Hills 20 and Orange 30 (in Orange Country).

Here in South Florida it will open in Miami at AMC's Aventura Mall 24 (spoken in English only) and Sunset Place 24 (spoken in Spanish with English subtitles); in Coral Gables at the Bill Cosford Cinema, (both English and Spanish versions shown here), and in the Fort Lauderdale area at the Cinema Paradiso, Hollywood (in Spanish with English subtitles).

Personal appearance in South Florida 

by star, Lucas Quintana

Friday, September 16
AMC SUNSET PLACE 24 The Shops at Sunset Place 5701 Sunset Dr #300 South Miami, FL 33143 Introduction & Q/A(s) with Lucas Quintana will take place. The Spanish version of the film will be presented.
Saturday, September 17
AMC AVENTURA 24 Aventura Mall 19501 Biscayne Blvd #3001 Aventura, FL 33180 Introduction and Q&A will take place with Lucas Quintana at 3pm. The English version of the film will be presented.
CINEMA PARADISO-HOLLYWOOD 2008 Hollywood Blvd Hollywood, FL 33020 Introduction & Q/A’s with Lucas Quintana will take place at the 6:30pm and 9:30pm screenings. The Spanish version of the film will be presented. ****A special reception at 8:30pm (between the two shows) will feature a live musical performance by Quintana. The reception is open to ticket holders for either screening. Complimentary Tapas will be served and wine will be available for purchase. For Advance tickets and details visit: www.fliff.com
Sunday, September 19 
BILL COSFORD CINEMA 5030 Brunson Dr Coral Gables, FL 33146 Q/A at 4:00pm with Lucas Quintana. For advance tickets and details visit: www.cosfordcinema.com The Spanish version of the film will be presented. The theater will alternate Spanish and English language versions throughout the engagement.

Click here and then click on IN CINEMAS on the task bar to see all currently scheduled playdates, cities and  theaters -- including the forthcoming Q&As.

At FIAF this coming Tuesday: Brigitte Sy's deep, dark and beautiful ASTRAGAL

Coming up at FIAF's CinéSalon this Tuesday, July 21, is a film of which I'd never heard but am very pleased to have now experienced. ASTRAGAL (L'Astragale) is a gift from actress/ writer/director Brigitte Sy, who, as director and adapter of a landmark French autobiographical novel of the same name (by Albertine Sarrazin), brings us the adventures, usually pretty dark, of a smart Algerian girl in France during the 1950s. TrustMovies best knows Ms Sy as an actress (Genealogies of a Crime, Regular Lovers, Declaration of War) but he has also seen her earlier work as writer/director, Free Hands. He finds Astragal an enormous improvement over that former film.

What seems most remarkable is how well Ms Sy (shown at left) succeeds on every level she attempts, all the more surprising because Astragale is a period piece, and Sy captures that period, with the help of her cinematographer (Frédéric Serve) and production and costume designer (Françoise Arnaud) so very well. The look, the feel, the detailing all seem extraordinarily precise and right. Even better, though, is the casting of the film, which includes two fine French actors: the beautiful Leila Bekhti, whom I've often enjoyed (A Prophet, All That Glitters) but had no clue that she possessed the ability to the handle a complex role like this one, and Reda Kateb (Me, Myself and Mum and Far From Men, among his many other choice roles) 

Ms Bekhti (above and below, right) plays Albertine, the heroine of the film, whom we first meet escaping from prison and taking a fall that will damage her ankle for life. Rescue comes in the form of M. Kateb (above and below, left), who plays Julien, a criminal with a kind heart but former obligations. And so begins a relationship that will start and stop and start again for a decade or more, as Julien attends to his life and loves and Albertine, constantly in hiding, finds employment as a prostitute, even as she begins writing poetry and prose that show a distinct and deepening talent.

Astragal is one of the more genuinely poetic films I've seen in a long time, and its poetry extends not only to the writing we occasionally hear spoken, but to the look of the film (the black-and-white cinematography is splendidly of its time and simply gorgeous to view); the "feel" of the period that Sy, along with her crew and actors, conjure; in the performance of the two leads and their supporting cast; and the entire "spirit" of this project -- in which incipient feminism appears on the French scene and the "place" of women begins to change. Albertine, of course, is in that double bind of being both female and Algerian.

Our heroine spends the film "on the lam," as it were, not exactly running from the authorities (she has broken out of prison, after all) but keeping quietly under wraps (she's often in a blond wig, as above, for disguise). As the small incidents build, so do the characters of Albertine and Julien. When her best friend from prison, Marie (Esther Garrel, above and below, left), suddenly reappears, Albertine must choose and grow.

How this works out and what happens to both the novelized and actual Albertine we learn as the end credits roll and more information is passed to us. The effect is sad because all this seems so unnecessary, but Astragal is about both the past and the change to come. The latter, I suppose is what makes the former more bearable. That, and this film's enormous truth, beauty and spirit.

You have the chance to view Astragal, this coming Tuesday, June 21, at FIAF in New York City. (There's one showing only, at 4pm!) Click here to learn more and/or to purchase tickets. (And remember: FIAF members get into the the CinéSalon programs free of charge.)

Grief explored with a beauty that resonates in Piero Messina's studied L'ATTESA (The Wait)

Grief, along with one's reactions to it, is hardly a new subject for the cinema, but I'll wager you won't have seen a film about grief any more beautiful than L'ATTESA, which translates as The Wait (the Italian word is so much lovelier, no?), the new film from first-time/full-length writer-director, Piero Messina. In fact, this film opens (and continues along for some time) with one drop-dead gorgeous image after another, each beautifully composed and shot, that spread out before our eyes in, well, a kind of wonderment.

Signore Messina, shown at right, begins with a canny mix of religious iconography and sexual imagery (yes, it's Jesus-on-the-cross doing his thing, once again). Is this a funeral? Yes, and eventually we see the coffin, followed soon by the mirrors being covered in a simply stunning Sicilian villa. Readers who appreciate artful and superb cinematography have probably already stopped reading this review and are headed out to the nearest theater to catch L'Attesa, and I certainly can't blame them. The year is not quite half over, but this movie will certainly be remembered as one of its most beautiful.

It also stars an actress who has become a big draw, if not an outright hallmark of quality for American arthouse audiences: Juliette Binoche (above), here seen at in one of her quieter and more inward modes. She plays the mother of the young man who occupies that aforementioned coffin. Or does he? This is -- and sort of is not -- completely clear, for awhile, at least. Is the son indeed dead? When his girlfriend (played by Lou de Laâge, shown below, and who was so impressive in last year's Breathe), shows up for a visit, mom can't quite bring herself to spill the beans to the girl, and thereby hangs the tale of this quietly fraught, maybe-not-quite-believable, but still pretty interesting (and omigod gorgeous) movie.

Messina is not a huge fan of sparkling dialog (the Italian Noel Coward, he ain't). Words are used sparingly, especially at the film's beginning but also often throughout. Were not the filmmaker so adept visually, he might not hold us as well as he does. Once the girlfriend arrives and mom (very) slowly warms to her, and she to mom, the movie also warms up.

So to what, exactly, does "the wait" refer? For the body (if it is indeed missing) to show up? For the right time to spill the beans? For mom to come to grips with her loss? Or is this "wait" actually an opportunity for bonding? Betrayal of sorts is found in the past, and soon in the present. (As we see, refusing to tell the truth is a kind of betrayal all its own.)  A pair of young men -- one gay, one straight -- suddenly appears, and they are invited to dinner at the villa, which allows for even more minor dialog but further commanding visuals.

The son's cell phone is used in a major way, providing access to various characters' thoughts and motives, as a strong feminist bond begin to grow between the two women. But, as the third major character insists -- mom's handyman and jack-of-all-trades (Il Divo's Giorgio Colangeli, shown above) -- the girlfriend should be told the truth.

How this all pans out manages to be both semi-surprising and semi-expected, and if my good opinion of L'Attesa rests mainly on its visuals, this is because the film finally lacks much emotional resonance -- despite very good performances from its cast.

Plotwise, at this point in his movie-making career, Signore Messina seems a little too manipulative for his film's own good, and perhaps even too studied in his exquisite use of composition and cinematography (the camerawork here is by Francesco Di Giacomo). But I would call L'Attesa is a very good start to the further filmmaking that surely lies ahead.

From Oscilloscope and running 100 minutes, the movie opened end-of-April in New York and L.A., followed by a rollout across the country in limited release. Here in South Florida, it opens this Friday, May 20, for a one-week run at the Bill Cosford Cinema in Miami. To view all currently scheduled playdates, with cities and theaters listed, click here and scroll down aways....

Arturo Ripstein's back with BLEAK STREET, an empathetic descent into the hell that is Mexico. Or Mexico for certain people, at least.

It's not that the grand old man of Mexican filmmaking, Arturo Ripstein, doesn't make many movies (the IMDB credits him with directing 58 of 'em during his 50-year career), but rather that we here in the USA get to view damn few of them. His best known is probably Deep Crimson (another telling of that Honeymoon Killers tale). His latest (and perhaps one of his best -- but how would I know, having seen so few), BLEAK STREET (La calle de la amargura), opens this week, and it might also open the door a tad wider in garnering the filmmaker a larger audience here in the USA.

Señor Ripstein, shown at left, along with his near-constant screenwriting collaborator (as well as his wife), Paz Alicia Garciadiego, have here concocted a tale said to be torn from the headlines of Mexican newspapers. It involves quite a set of characters, beginning with identical twins (midgets who double as luchador wrestling mascots), their parents, and a couple of local whores who have aged to the point that their pimp no longer wants to work with them. One whore's significant other is a cross-dressing fellow who prefers boys, while the other's, well, "business partner" is a very old woman/mother figure no longer able to care for herself, who is put out on the street daily as a beggar, and who brings home more money than does her would-be "daughter" from that meagre prostitution trade.

OK: This sounds pretty sleazy, and of course, it is. But thanks to Ripstein and Garciadiego's skills at presenting these folk honestly and empathetically, the pair manages to embrace reality while avoiding sentimentality. This is no mean feat. The approach here amounts to a kind of clear-eyed tenderness.

Stylistically, Ripstein opts for a combination of noir and neo-realism that works wonderfully in keeping our gaze focused on the proceedings, finding a kind of artful beauty in the ugliness and despair without losing its grip on how difficult are the lives depicted here. (The black-and-white cinematography comes via Alejandro Cantú, whose camera usually moves between semi-close-up and middle distance, gracefully following the participants from one awful situation to the next.)

The realistic dialog occasionally offers a choice morsel: One whore to the other, "This trade is like mange; it never ever leaves you."  And the performances, to a man and woman, are terrific, combining that neo-realism with enough theatricality to make us cognizant that we're not watching a documentary. Particularly moving and always riveting are the two whores, played by Patricia Reyes Spíndola (above, left) and Nora Velásquez (above, right, and below, left)

Weakness piles upon weakness, betrayal tops betrayal, until arrives a surprise that changes everything. The great old song we hear over the end credits is, under these circumstances, about as ironic as it comes: a vinegar-drenched love letter to a Mexico that could exit only in the minds of the deluded rich or the entirely unaware tourist.

Distributed by Leisure Time Features and running 99 minutes, the movie has its U.S. theatrical premiere this Wednesday, January 20, in New York City at Film Forum. Other playdates? I have no idea, and Leisure Time's website provides not a clue. (The company may be a waiting to see how well their film does during its two-week NYC debut.)

With European Film Awards winner, YOUTH, Paolo Sorrentino offers up another amazement

A master class in filmmaking, from a visual standpoint, certainly, YOUTH is... what? Paolo Sorrentino's best yet? Don't we say that nearly every time a new movie appears from this guy? Why not? In my estimation, he is among and perhaps the finest living filmmaker, even if his movies are, yes, all over the place. But what he lacks as a screenwriter, he more than makes up for as a director. As a writer, he seems to cajole, even fondle, his screenplays into providing the kind of imaginative, rich, one-of-a-kind visuals in which so many of us art-movie fans exult.

Sorrentino's stories fascinate, as well: tales told to make their themes resonate -- even if sometimes not as strongly or in as condensed a fashion as we might like. And yet, post viewing -- and I have seen most of his movies more than once -- I find myself enjoying and learning from them even more. With Youth, the filmmaker (shown on set, at left) has made a movie about -- among other things -- age, art, love, family, moviemaking, creativity and commerce -- and he's wrapped all this into a near-constant array of stunning color, composi-tion and juxtaposition.

Take the poster image, shown at top, as one instance. This is from one of the film's most ravishing scenes, in which youth and age are juxtaposed to marvelous effect in a lush, deep and dark several moments that brings to the by-now tiresome "dream sequence" something unique -- and visually beyond compare. (The cinematographer here is the great Luca Bigazzi.)

The story is one of two old friends -- a retired composer/conductor (played by Michael Caine, above) in his consistent and increasingly elegant less-is-more mode) and a filmmaker (Harvey Keitel, below) working on what may be his final opus. The two spar (often about a girl they once knew), enjoy each other and their surroundings (a first-class hotel high in the Swiss mountainside) and try to work through their various family problems (the Caine character's daughter is married to the Keitel character's son).

Further complications arise when the maestro is contacted by a very high-level personage and asked to come (briefly) out of his retirement while, simultaneously, the filmmaker finds himself having trouble finishing his screenplay worked on (in the Italian style) by a bevy of screenwriters (shown below).

Along the way, much is made of the composer/conductor's series of songs that have proven his most acclaimed and popular work. Much is also made of a certain leading actress, who is to be the star of the filmmaker's new work. We hear about both of these over and over again, from different angles and various other characters. This is quite a build-up. Many filmmakers would be content to leave it at that (or fearful not to, and then have to make good on their inflated claims). Not so Sorrentino.

When we meet at last that famous star, as played by Jane Fonda (above and below) in a role that requires not merely terrific acting but a near-complete abandonment of the usual "star" vanity, Ms Fonda more than delivers the goods.

Likewise, the movie's finale, when, at last, we approach the moment when we're about to hear that famous and much bandied-about music. We expect, of course, a cut to black, as the movie ends, letting instead our fertile imaginations provide the celestial music. Oh, no. Sorrentino, together with his composer David Lang, provide an ending so glorious, aurally and visually, that it brings this 124-minute movie to a grand close.

In the youth department of Youth are Rachel Weisz (above) as Caine's daughter, and Paul Dano (below, right) as a famous young actor researching some background material for his latest role. Both are fine, especially Mr. Dano, but they take an understandable and expected back seat to their elders here.

In set piece after set piece, Sorrentino provides great beauty (to crib from the title of his previous film), as well as fine irony and ideas to chew over at some later time -- maybe when you watch the film again. One of the things I liked best about Youth, in retrospect, is how it makes rather joyful and endearing fun at movie-making and movie-makers.

God knows that Sorrentino takes his art and craft seriously. Yet he also, I believe, understands that, hey, it's just a movie. But since it is a movie, why not make of it every glorious thing we can?

Youth, from Fox Searchlight Pictures, while continuing its run in New York and Los Angeles, opens around the country Friday, December 25 (what a Christmas present for film-goers!), Here in Southern Florida it will play in West Palm Beach, Naples, Delray Beach, Hollywood, Miami and Fort Lauderdale.  Click here then enter your location to find a nearby playdate.