IFFR REPORT #3

Friday started with You, The Living by the director of the hilarious Swedish Songs from the Second Floor, Roy Andersson. Second was the critically acclaimed pregnancy drama/comedy Juno, starring Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner, that is destined to become the favorite for the KPN audience award that is presented on Friday February 1. This rather modest day (due to some changes in my program) ended with the much anticipated but disappointing Thai horror flick The Unseeable.

YOU, THE LIVING (2007)

The Swedish You, The Living (Du Levande) is by the director of the rather fascinating Songs from the Second Floor, Roy Andersson. You, The Living shows a large amount of different portraits of a diversity of people and focuses on how they react to each other, how they are dependent on each other and their surroundings. There is a woman who has the feeling nobody understands her, a girl who is heavily obsessed with a rock star and a man who dreams he is sent to the electric chair for breaking a rich family’s china. Just as with Songs from the Second Floor, the scenes are shot from a broad perspective, observing people in the presence of others.

You, the Living had more dialogue though compared to Andersson’s previous film. The situations and people are much more common. The humor still is what makes this combination of drama and comedy tick, even though there is also a huge amount of pettiness and cruelty in the lives of the seemingly ordinary Swedish. The music is a prominent mood maker. I highly recommend this film.

Directed by: Roy Andersson
Starring: Jessica Lundberg, Elisabet Helander, Björn Englund
Runtime: 95’
Also screened on: Sunday 27 January, 1 pm; Friday 1 February, 5 pm
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JUNO (2008)

Juno by American director Jason Reitman (Thank You for Smoking), is currently a big hype in the independent circuit. The dramatic comedy starring X-Men and Hardy Candy’s Ellen Page as well as Jennifer Garner is about a young woman played by Page who is faced with an unplanned pregnancy. This Juno is also confronted with the father of her unborn child, her boyfriend Paulie (generally referred to as Bleeker), who isn’t involved in Juno’s plan to find a solution for her problem. Juno decides to have her child adopted and in the search of the right parents she gets in touch with Vanessa and Mark (Garner and Jason Bateman). Juno gets more and more attached to the lives of this young couple.

This much anticipated dramatic comedy is reminiscent of Ghost World in approach. The dialogues are perky and sometimes feel forced (especially Page’s), but then again the problems Juno is facing are tackled with wit and a smart attitude in life. Yes, the screenplay was written by former stripper that goes under the pseudonym of Diablo Cody. Her first screenplay was guaranteed for an Oscar nomination. And even though the gag-rate is paced down once Juno is on the way, her writing is smart and innovative. So is Ellen Page’s role and with this role she asserts herself as one of the biggest talents of the moment. It is even more impressive the heavy subject matter is treated with just the right amount of relativity, without underestimating the effects a pregnancy can have on the life of a teenager. Besides this, it is good to see J.K. Simmons in a serious and moving role for a change (besides the fact I also love him in his other parts).

Directed by: Jason Reitman
Starring: Ellen Page, Michael Cera, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman
Runtime: 96’
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THE UNSEEABLE (2008)

The Unseeable (Pen choo kub pee) is an old school horror film from Thailand that centers around a haunted apartment complex and takes place in the 1930’s. The complex is visited by the pregnant Nuan Jan who is looking for her lost husband. The house belongs to the rich Ran Juan. Nuan Jan is not allowed to visit the main premises of the complex where Ran Juan dwells. Rumor say Ran Juan hides her husband in those rooms. In The Unseeable men are completely absent or appear as ghosts. When Nuan Jan delivers her baby things become even stranger.

At first the atmosphere is moody and eerie, which is also courtesy of the moving soundtrack. Then Nuan Jan is seeing dead people and dead people and dead people galore running through halls and halls and halls galore. The timing is absolutely horrible, especially when director Wisit Sasanatieng starts showing the herds of dead people to the viewer before Nuan Jan sees them, which takes away most of the thrill and horror. In the last half hour there are also plot changes galore that try to tie loose ends without making sense. Horrible film, which seemed to be confirmed by the sighing reviewers around me. The one star ratting is because of the rather pretty photography.

Directed by: Wisit Sasanatieng
Starring: Supornthip Choungrangsee, Siraphun Wattanajinda, Tassawan Seneewongse, Sombatsara
Runtime: 97’
Also screened on: Friday February 1, 10:15 pm; Wednesday January 30, 10:30 pm; Thursday January 31, 10:30 pm; Friday February 1, 10:30 pm
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All images courtesy of The International Film Festival Rotterdam

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