FIAF dedicates October CinemaTuesdays to visionary cinematographer Agnès Godard -- who'll appear in-person for a post-film Q&A

TM isn't absolutely certain of this, but he doesn't recall another set of CinemaTuesdays (those mardis devoted each month by the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF) to fine French films) dedicated to a cinematographer -- in this case the amazing Agnès Godard. (At least, not over the past three years, during which this blog has existed.) If this is indeed some kind of "first," it's a welcome one, for Ms Godard, shown above and below, has given us a raft of wonderfully photographed films, each one quite different from the other, even when, as is so often the case, she is working for a single filmmaker -- say, Claire Denis -- who is not in the habit of repeating herself.

Out of the 41 films on which Ms Godard has served as cinematographer, you'd be hard put to pick a single one that wasn't up-to-snuff visually -- or, more likely, memorable. I wish this little mini-retrospecitive had included the likes of Backstage (shown below) or her latest endeavor, The Long Falling, the new film from Seraphine writer/
director Martin Provost, that I hope will get some sort of U.S. theatrical release soon. Still, despite our fondest hopes, a month can only hold four or five Tuesdays, and so we must content ourselves with what is available here. (As it is, FIAF is squeezing six movies into four Tuesdays.)

As a bonus for Godard-ophiles, the cinematographer will make a personal appearance on Tuesday, October 11, the evening of the showing of what is perhaps her most famous work, Claire Denis' Beau Travail (below). This program, in fact, curated by the inexhaustible Marie Losier, is titled The Beau Travail of Agnès Godard. Following the 7pm screening will be a Q&A with Godard and filmmaker/critic/writer Kent Jones.

All screenings, October 4, 11, 18 and 25, will take place at FIAF's Florence Gould Hall in Manhattan. Information on each of the six films can be found further below, while that on procuring tickets and directions to the hall itself can be found at the end of this post.

According to FIAF's press information, after studying journalism for several years, Ms Godard switched to filmmaking and graduated from La Fémis, France’s preeminent film school. She began her career as an assistant camera operator on films by Wim Wenders, Joseph Losey, Peter Greenaway, and Alain Resnais. She worked as a camera operator on Claire Denis’ lauded debut feature Chocolat (above, from 1988), and has been Denis’ regular cinematographer since 1990, when the two worked together on a documentary about nouvelle vague filmmaker Jacques Rivette. Two of their collaborations are featured in the retrospective, which surveys twenty years of Godard’s career.

Speaking about her work, Godard told The Village Voice, “I don’t like feeling like a voyeur. The most inexhaustible landscapes for me remain faces and bodies: I like to look at people, to look at them in order to love them. It’s like dancing with someone, except with a camera you don’t touch them. I just want to tell them that I’d like to put my hand on them.” (The photo above is from Claire Denis' 35 Shots of Rum; the one below is from Catherine Corsini's Leaving.)

Agnѐs Godard won a César and a National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cinematography for her work on Beau Travail. The New York Times has described her cinematography as “exquisite and expressive,” “a spellbinding visual beauty that reminds you of the transporting power of pure cinema.”

Program for 

The Beau Travail of Agnès Godard

Golden Door (Nuovomondo)
Tuesday, October 4 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm
by Emanuele Crialese, 2006. Color. 118 min.
With Charlotte Gainsbourg, Vincenzo Amato, Aurora Quattrocchi, Francesco Casisa
In Italian, English, and French with English subtitles

For TM's money one of the most beautiful films ever made, Golden Door is a must-see, and particularly for the chance to see on it on the big screen. In it, Ms Godard achieves the kind of subtle "special effects" that are actualy rather staggering. The movie is about immigration to the U.S. but it handles this subject in a manner unlike almost any other film I can think of. In its glorious merging of content and style, Golden Door comes across as just about perfect. (My original review of the film for GreenCine appears here.)

I Can't Sleep (J’ai pas sommeil)
Tuesday, October 11 at 12:30 & 4pm
by Claire Denis, 1994. Color. 110 min.
With Yekaterina Golubeva, Richard Courcet, Vincent Dupont, Laurent Grévill

Godard’s debut collaboration with Denis is a potent realization of the real-life couple who murdered more than twenty women in 1980s Paris. As filtered through the impressions of a young Lithuanian (Golubeva), the killings form a shocking introduction to the normally revered city. Denis’ trademark languid style and pacing flourish throughout.

In TM's view this is one of Denis' strongest and most shocking films in its juxtaposition of horror and everyday life. It goes deeper than the mere "banality of evil" into a place that questions our very humanity and comes up with no easy answers.

“Directed by the idiosyncratic, intelligent, strong-willed Claire Denis…it calmly lures viewers into an ordinary world where the sinister and the benign wear the same face…With its slow, undramatic treatment of a subject usually made explosive, sensational and easy, it is a strong addition to [Denis’] underrated career.”—The New York Times

Meet the Director of Cinematography: Agnès Godard,
following the screening of Beau travail
Tuesday, October 11 at 7pm
by Claire Denis, 1999. Color. 92 min.
With Denis Lavant, Michel Subor, Grégoire Colin, Richard Courcet

Many would call Beau Travail Denis’ masterpiece, thanks in no small part to Godard’s hypnotic depiction of Djibouti, which won her a César for Best Cinematography. As a Foreign Legionnaire (Levant) reflects on his career, the commander he devoted himself to, and the fractious, jealous relationship he developed with a young soldier, that continue to pierce his memory.

This is nowhere near TM's favorite Denis film nor, he thinks, does it reflect Godard's best work. It's content hardly merits its running time, and it struck me as more than a little obvious on all fronts. But since everyone and his uncle seems to love the film, I guess you should see it, if you have not already done so.

“Claire Denis’ finest film to date…The visually spellbinding movie depicts their rigorous drills and rituals as ecstatic rites of purification and the embodiment of an impenetrable masculine mystique…Not to be missed.” —The New York Times

“…Beau Travail might be their most spectacular accomplishment, a model of symbiosis between director and cinematographer.”—The Village Voice

Home
Tuesday, October 18 at 12:30, 4 & 7:30pm
by Ursula Meier, 2008. Color. 97 min.
with Isabelle Huppert, Olivier Gourmet, Adélaïde Leroux, Madeleine Budd

An interesting film on every level, this one also shows Godard in her subtle but surprising mode. A peaceful, remote way of life is interrupted when a family’s property is encroached upon by the construction of a nearby highway. The intrusion of industry upends their tranquility, and each person’s limits are pushed beyond their breaking points. Intensely emotional performances by Huppert and Gourmet anchor the film.

“Both the natural-sounding dialogue and Agnѐs Godard’s camerawork seem to generate from the characters organically, which keeps them fully human.”—The New York Times

“Confident, appealingly bizarre…working with all-star DP Agnès Godard, Meier effectively communicates the sense of upended privacy.”—The Village Voice

Jacquot de Nantes
Tuesday, October 25 at 12:30 & 4pm
by Agnès Varda, 1991. Color and B&W. 118 min.
with Philippe Maron, Edouard Joubeaud, Laurent Monnier, Brigitte De Villepoix

Varda’s elegiac, intensely personal tribute to her husband (and legendary director) Jacques Demy—made just one year after his passing—simply could not have been made by anyone else. Combining home footage from his youth with clips from his films, Jacquot de Nantes is as uncategorizable as it is moving.

“Extremely evocative…an engrossing, moving tribute.”—Time Out Film Guide

The Dreamlife of Angels (La vie rêvée des Anges)
Tuesday, October 25 at 7:30pm
by Erick Zonca, 1998. Color. 113 min.
with Élodie Bouchez, Natacha Régnier, Grégoire Colin, Patrick Mercado

Winner of three César awards and the Best Actress award at Cannes (shared by Bouchez and Régnier), Dreamlife is an affecting portrait of two young working class women struggling to find meaning in life. A surprising kinship evolves as they explore the hardship, buoyancy, and determination that has brought them to this turning point.

“This impassioned first feature by Erick Zonca reveals a soulful, moving vision of our shared responsibility for one another's lives…as raw and immediate as it is heartfelt.”—The New York Times

About FIAF

FIAF's mission is to create and offer New Yorkers innovative and unique programs in education and the arts that explore the evolving diversity and richness of French cultures. FIAF seeks to generate new ideas and promote cross cultural dialogue through partnerships and new platforms of expression. www.fiaf.org

FIAF would like to extend a special thanks to Agnès Godard, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and NYU’s Maison Française.

CinémaTuesdays is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State agency.

Directions & Tickets
FIAF's Florence Gould Hall is located at 55 East 59th Street
(between Park and Madison Avenues)

Admission:
$10; $7 students; Free for FIAF Members ($2 in advance)

Tickets:
fiaf.org | 800 982 2787

Information:
fiaf.org | 212 355 6160

Transportation:
Subway - 4, 5, 6, N, R and Q to 59th Street & Lexington Avenue;

F to 63rd Street & Lexington Avenue; E to 53rd Street & 5th Avenue

Bus - M1, M2, M3, M4, Q31 to 59th Street; M5 to 58th Street

All photos are from the films themselves, 

except for that of Ms Godard at top, 

which comes courtesy of  brandonconstant.com, 

and just below the top, in the lavendar sweater, 

which is by Nelly Florès.

Stream scene: IRONCLAD's clanking armor and severed limbs prove pretty potent fun

Better than then recent "star"-heavy Robin Hood (shorter, too: this one's only 120 minutes compared to the earlier film's 140), IRONCLAD barely opened theatrically to dismissive reviews (eeeewwwww: too gory!) but should prove worthy of a large following on cable, DVD and streaming (the latter is how TM watched it, in High-Def, via Netflix). Directed with brawn and brains and co-written (with Erick Kastel) intelligently by Jonathan English (shown below), the movie is never less than interesting and often surprisingly riveting.

Mr. English is a fellow new to me, but who, on the basis of how well-put-together this movie is -- and the fact that, of the three films he has directed so far, each has risen higher than its predecessor in the IMDB ratings: the first received only a 1.5; the second garnered 3.5; and now Ironclad is up to 6.2 -- I would say that the filmmaker is learning on the job. His latest begins with the signing of the Magna Carta and then offers its own view of what that really bad King John got up to, post-MC. (Not nice, and it should call to mind the betrayal that ended Robin Hood, in which the excellent actor Oscar Issac essayed the role of "Prince" John.)

In any case, according to Ironclad (nice, descriptive one-word title, that!), when King John begins betraying what the Magna Carta stood for, those nobles who had forced the king to sign it now must see that he stands by it instead of executing (and rather nastily) all of them, one by one. To that end, a couple of Knights Templar rise to the occasion, and one of them (the sexy, tight-lipped James Purefoy, above, left, and below, in white skirt and red cross) then raises a (very small) army to stand against the King.

This little group (above) who number around a dozen (against what look like hundreds) eventually find themselves inside Rochester castle, where they are -- and how! -- besieged something fierce. This siege is the meat of the movie, and for the most part, it's a humdinger. Handled in a surprisingly believable and incident-specific manner, it becomes one of those sweet-Jesus: how much-more-can-they-take?! tales that keep viewers alert & on their trembling toes.

The cast -- surprisingly stellar (Paul Giamatti, above, plays King John, plus Brian Cox, Charles Dance, Derek Jacobi, Jason Flemyng, with Kate Mara, shown at bottom, as the somewhat unusual "love" interest) -- also proves very good, and the screenplay is full of nice, intelligent touches, such as the scene in which Purefoy recruits a soldier (Rhys Parry Jones, below) who must bid good-bye to his children. The fellow looks at his young son a moment, before saying, "Work hard," and then at his even younger daughter, to whom he advises, "Be polite."

The movie is no classic -- the screenplay is not good enough for that -- but it's suitably brawny (the battle scenes are excellent), and the performances lift it up a notch or two. When the two hours are through, you will feel as though you -- like those characters in that increasingly fragile castle -- have lived through something fierce. I'll certainly be interested to see what Mr. English does next.

Ironclad is available now on DVD, Blu-ray and via streaming.

49-Up! THE NEW YORK FILM FESTIVAL nears its half-century with a diverse line-up

Another fall, another NYFF -- this year's seemingly (TrustMovies has seen only one of the 22 Main Slate movies) even more interestingly diverse than usual. In addition to those 22, the festival will offer some 42 Masterworks, plus its annual Views from the Avant-Garde plus the HBO Directors Dialogues (that's Julia Loktev, above, who'll appear in person with her new film, The Loneliest Planet, below), Forums, and the ever-present Special Events.  Oh, yes, and those Galas, too -- five of them this year, each sporting a $40 or $50 dollar price tag.

Is just me or does this year's roster appear not just much broader and numerous than usual but much deeper, too? Well, why not -- since The Film Society of Lincoln Center added new theaters to its usual roster this year. Now, film buffs can bask in more movies, events and personal appearances than they can possibly keep up with. (Despite all that's going on, you can only be in one venue at a time, right?)

This year's presentations include everything from mainstream/highbrow (Alexander Payne's The Descendents (above), showing as one of the Galas) to the lesser-known (Betzy Bromberg's Voluptuous Sleep, below, part of the Avant-Garde) to a panel discussion on just how the Avant-Garde influences mainstream movies (part of the Forums).

There is so very much available this year that you really must click on all the links above and peruse them well  -- or risk missing something that you (and maybe only you) would consider a must-see. That's part of the beauty of the NYFF: how amazingly inclusive yet utterly specific it manages to be.

Though I will be seeing during upcoming press screenings Wim Wenders' first foray into dance (and 3D!) -- Pina (above) -- and the latest from Aki Kaurismäki -- Le Havre (below) -- the only film I've viewed so far is the most recent from Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne, The Kid With a Bike (shown at bottom), which I am thrilled to say may be my favorite Dardenne film so far. The brothers seem to have distilled all they've learned about filmmaking into a single sad and lovely story about the loss of a parent, growth and the taking of responsibility. The film is cemented by three terrific actors: the increasingly versatile Cécile De France, Jérémie Renier and, in the title role, a simply riveting performance by a newcomer named Thomas Doret.

Many of these films have already lined up U.S. distribution, but many have not (and probably will not). So take a good look at the entire program(s) and choose wisely. (Except for those of us who are prescient, how do you do that? ) Well, good luck!

The New York Film Festival opens tomorrow, Friday, September 30 and lasts through Sunday, October 16. Click here for venues and maps, and on the individual films and/or programs, once you find them, to procure tickets.

AMERICAN TEACHER gives educators their due--& America a well-deserved raspberry

A joyous celebra-tion of good teachers and good teaching, the new documen-tary AMER-ICAN TEACHER makes a fine coun-terpoint, if not a counter-active, to last year's over-hyphed, over-sold and over-done education documentary Waiting for Superman. With all the talk of charter schools being our salvation, they only come back to the same idea as has been on the back burner for a century or more: So far as providing our kids with a good education is concerned, it's the teachers that count most.

Directed and co-produced by Vanessa Roth, shown at left (and co-directed and edited by Brian McGinn), the film introduces us to four major players in the education profession, as well as several more whom we meet only cursorily. These four, shown at the top of the poster above, are -- clockwise, from top left -- Erik Benner, Rhena Jasey (also shown with her students, below), Jonathan Dearman and Jamie Fidler, and you're going to be damned impressed with all of them.

Though it begins on a high note of immense satisfaction and joy -- these teachers really love their profession and the kids they teach -- as the film moves along, it darkens considerably. No surprise, this, to anyone who follows the state of American education, for the picture is dire, and growing more so almost daily. Beginning teachers gets the lowest salary and the hardest classes. They work very long hours and, to boot, they must pay for many of their classroom needs out of their own pocket.

 
The movie is not awash in statistics, but those provided are important.  We learn the attrition rate for new teachers (bad!), and history of the ever-declining "male" classroom teacher (34% in 1970, 22% in 2002, 16% in 2010) and how women were introduced to the profession, in part to help keep the salary-level down. Keeping that salary level down seems one of the more consistent goals of American education, and it no doubt accounts for why our kids are testing lower and lower on the international learning scale.

One of the very smart things this movie does is to show us the top three countries in terms of test scores for the kids -- Finland, Singapore and South Korea -- and then also shows what these countries have in common regarding how they treat their teachers.  This section is eye-opening, and it makes clear and cogent what must be done here in the USA. Will it? Fat chance. Education and America's children are about as high on the scale of what our politicians truly care about as are the environment and the genuine regulation of Wall Street and the banking industry. It's all about fancy words and nearly zero deeds.

Fortunately, there do seem to be a few alternatives such as The TEP Project to increase teacher's salaries, but this is a drop in the bucket compared to what must actually be done. As we learn more about our foursome, their stories deepen and take on a darker cast, particular that of Erik Benner, above, who must (as do so many teachers) take on a second job to keep his family going. Erik's history, where he came from and where he is now headed, seem particularly heart-breaking.

Probably the most unusual scene in the movie is the one in which Jamie Fidler, above, now a new mom but back in school after only 6 weeks, must find some private place in the school where she can breast pump -- because she is nursing her baby. Or listen to Jonathan Dearman (below) talk about his dedication to education: "From the money I made earlier in real estate, I thought I could subsidize my "teaching habit."  If only. Eventually, he leaves to return to his family's real estate business.

Despite its shiny surface, the movie offers a lot of thought, if not much hope. The fish stinks from the head, and despite these wonderful teachers -- and many more like them -- they are but underlings with little power to change anything. As that super-wealthy one-per-cent, together with our vast conglomerates and paid-for politicians, conspire and succeed in turning us into wage slaves, the education level will keep descending. Only faster. Well, why not? Still, America once held out such promise, didn't it?

American Teacher, from First Run Features, opens in New York City at the AMC Empire 25 this Friday, September 30, for a week's run, with a DVD release not far behind.

Côté & Henriquez's grim YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo

So what kind of folk hang out as prisoners in Guantánamo? For all the secrecy that surrounds the abuse, if not out-and-out torture, of these inmates -- which we've caught snippets of it documentaries such as Laura Poitras' very interesting THE OATH and the Whitecross/ Winterbottom hybrid The Road to Guantánamo -- the world at large has not been given much of a view inside the place. Now comes the U.S. theatrical premiere of a documentary by Canadian filmmakers Luc Côté (shown just below) and Patricio Henriquez (further below) that takes us there via a 99-minute movie culled from seven hours of surveillance during the questioning by Canadian intelligence, over a four-day period, of a Canadian teenager accused by the USA of being a war criminal.

YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo is the result, and TrustMovies would be lying if he did not tell you that this is difficult movie to sit through. But I'm afraid, it is also de rigueur for film buffs, documentary-lovers and any Americans -- hell, citizens of any country -- who want to know what we (and this came as a surprise to me) the Canadians are doing to the detainees. While we see no physical torture here, the metaphysical kind, the nasty mind-game-playing, is horrible enough.

The film is mainly composed of the surveillance video taken during the period in which Canadian intel-ligence tries to get our boy, Omar Khadr, to confess to things that -- over time and with some further investigation and documentation by various reporters -- we learn are simply untrue. The videos them-selves (below and at bottom), blurry and uninteresting (except, of course, for what is going on) are visually boring but shockingly on- target, audio-wise. One lengthy scene in which Omar (below), deliberately left alone, sobs and cries for his mother, is enough to reduce strong men to tears.

This is a grueling documentary for a number of reasons, chiefly that the filmmakers have no real access to their subject -- only to the surveillance visuals. Consequently they must rely on interviews with some of Omar's former cellmates, lawyers, newspaper reporters, psychiatrists and even Canada's former foreign minister Bill Graham.

By far the most interesting interview is with a fellow named Damien Corsetti, who worked as an interrogator in both Afghanistan and Iraq. "I did very bad things," he tells us.  "I became that monster that was written about me." And yet Corsetti finally blames the Canadian people (and by extension their government) for not protecting this boy upon his arrest. "I -- a cold, calculating son-of-a-bitch -- had more compassion for this boy than his own people." (Omar is shown above, at the age at which he was imprisoned, and below, as he appears now.)

The person you will probably most remember from this grim film, however, is Omar's Canadian interrogator: peppy, smart-assed and beyond reprehensible. Doling out lies on top of lies, he leaves his charge in a state of depression that grows worse from day to day. Though it was America who arrested the boy and charged him, it turns out that his own country, Canada, never tried to help him gain his freedom and instead became part of the nasty charade of fake justice/fake victory/fake-just-about-everything (except death) that has been the hallmark of our two current wars.

Yes, the movie raises more questions that it can answer completely. Omar was indeed with the Taliban when the attack occurred, but this does not mean that he was any part of its operation. His dad had left him in its care, and in the attack he was nearly killed and hardly capable of the murder of the American soldier for which he stood accused. (Investigative reporter Michelle Shephard pretty thoroughly debunks the government case in her section of the film). Finally, the movie stands as yet another example of American post-9/11 folly -- in terms of justice, human life and simple economics -- this time unfortunately abetted by our neighbor to the north.

YOU DON'T LIKE THE TRUTH: 4 Days Inside Guantánamo opens tomorrow, Wednesday, September 28, in New York City at Film Forum for a one-week run. Click here for screening times in New York, and here for past and upcoming screenings, worldwide.