January 2004


Last updated on January 8, 2004. Please check back later for additions.

Contents

Cinema Lounge
Vote for The Best of 2003 and Win
Cold Mountain--a member's comments
The Washington Area Film Critics Picks for 2003
European Film Academy Winners Announced
Venice Film Festival in Jeopardy
American Filmmaker Mugged, Killed in Cuba
We Need to Hear From You
Calendar of Events



Next Cinema Lounge

The Cinema Lounge meets Monday, January 12 at 7:00pm for our annual attempt to outguess the Oscars. Join us as we try to guess the nominees in the major categories. So far, our track record is very good. Can we keep up the pace?

Cinema Lounge, a film discussion group, takes place the second Monday of every month at 7:00pm at Borders Books, 600 14th St., NW in Washington, DC (near the Metro Center Metro stop).



Vote for The Best of 2003 and Win

No acceptance speeches. No statues. No media sponsored parties. Just your opinion and a chance to win.

The Washington DC Film Society announces the 4th annual vote for The Best of 2003. This is your chance to vote for your favorite movies, performances, and director of 2003. Log on to
the DC Film Society's website and click The Best of 2003 to cast your ballot and win.

Yes, win! All ballots will be entered in a drawing to win great prizes such as tickets to the 12th Annual Movie Award Party, and more. Hurry! The voting booth is only open January 1 through 31, 2004.

Vote and win!



A DCFS Member's Comments on Cold Mountain

Cold Mountain and Its Lasting Effects of War on Human Minds

By Janette Yeap

Anthony Mingheller’s astounding film (adapted from Charles Frazier’s novel) cleverly sweeps the audience into the horrors of war at its beginning, without the complexities of the religiously spiritual motifs of the Frazier novel. Mingheller then introduces his two principal characters who gradually move the audience into their world wrought by war and hardship. We watch as the characters begin to unravel their internal tortures and their need to subdue their isolation to face their regrets and hope for the future. This is an absolutely fabulous movie that portrays the stunning performances of its stellar cast of actors and the overwhelming raw landscapes that are kept in sync with their events and moods. Observe the stages of emotional changes in the characters. So amazingly and magnificently captured at different camera angles, from scene to scene against the cold, mountainous countryside!

This film doesn’t throw off longwinded dialogue and lengthy physical encounters between Jude Law’s Inman and Nicole Kidman’s Ada to reveal the meeting of two souls searching for a meaningful existence. Yes, it’s that brief and silent stare of Inman as he confronts the graciously low-keyed, prim and proper Ada that explicitly puts their sensory awareness of each other so powerfully on screen. As the events flowed, I was completely mesmerized by watching the Inman character transcend to his sense of isolation and his developing disillusion with his world. On the other hand, I couldn’t take my eyes off the immaculately well-bred and gorgeous Ada as she succumbs into a scrawny hapless damsel in complete distress. It’s fascinating to watch the couple adapt to situations beyond their control and to study the emotional and behavioral attitudes of two human beings altering at such opposing magnitude as a result of one war. Observe how the once popular Inman slips into desolation in the battlefield, becoming even more tormented from his world as he meets up with some very strange characters. Will he ever find solace with these characters, or with Ada at the end? Will Ada, while feeling alienated from her new abode, at the beginning of the film and with the death of her father, be able to battle her insecurity to become spiritually enlightened and physically capable with the help of her new acquaintances? Is she able to embrace what the farmland has to offer her? And will Inman be capable of escaping what the gruesome battlefield has come to mean to him? This film lays out an enormous ground for the examination of the effects a war on different individuals.

The film continues to remind the audience that Ada and Inman are bound together by their haunting memories of one another. That, indeed, is beautifully captured by the expressions on Law and Kidman’s faces. The symbolisms, throughout the film, are plentiful and brilliantly ascribed, allowing the audience to join the dots to the destinies of the couple. Even crows, clearly suggesting doom and destruction, never fail to demonstrate the dark instincts that trouble a man's soul. And those women Inman meets in his journey seem to trigger the audience's expectation of seeing him draw closer to the woman he loves and to home. Even these characters, encountered by Inman, provide a picture of how different people react to the war. But will war ultimately bring peace and safety to its protagonists? This film is a masterpiece that will provide much food for thought.

Renee Zwellweger is phenomenal in her boisterously loud ‘Ruby’ role. She brings another aspect of the American woman that’s so different in breeding from Kidman’s Ada. Both are educated in their different cultural way of life. What can Ada learn from Ruby, the frontier woman who sees the ‘hands and knees’ toiling as the only way of survival in her community? Zwellweger provides the comic relief that’s much needed for this powerfully intense film. She’s superb in her role as the beacon of strength and hope for injecting a meaningful existence of living. Unlike the soldiers or the hypocritical Home Guard authorities that use guns to destroy their enemies, Ruby uses her hands-on skills to beat the odds of survival. It’s uncannily delightful to watch her interacting with Kidman’s character. She, Law and Kidman are definitely worthy of being recipients of the Oscar statuettes. They exhibit their superb non-stop performing talents in this film with their onscreen appearances. The Q&A session with Brendon Gleeson (who plays Ruby’s father), has prompted me to want to go see this movie again--to watch closely how the strength of the film’s womenfolk can make a difference to the human beings’ survival instincts. I want to study again how hellish wars are for destroying and crippling, not only the physical, but the mental aspects of the masculine race. And Gleeson does drive home an interesting question: When these mountain folks “volunteer” to fight a war, how come they should be penalized as deserters if they were to decide to opt out of it?

This film is a MUST-SEE. It’s beautifully crafted, assembled and absolutely mesmerizing in all aspects of filmmaking techniques and style. The music and soundtracks fit well with the scenes and moods. Even the title smartly projects its allegorical results.



Washington DC Film Critics Name Best Film of 2003

By Willie Waffle

Washington, D.C. The final installment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy rings up another victory as The Washington, DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA) has named Return of the King Best Film, and Peter Jackson Lord of the Rings: Return of the King) Best Director. The 23-member group’s second annual year-end selections included Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) as Best Actor and Naomi Watts (21 Grams) as Best Actress.

21 Grams, Return of the King and Lost in Translation proved to be among the favorites of DC film critics as each received 2 major awards.

WAFCA names the cast of Love Actually as Best Ensemble, while selecting Finding Nemo as Best Animated Feature and Pirates of the Caribbean Best Guilty Pleasure.

WAFCA President Tim Gordon stated, “This year’s awards were a challenge due to the MPAA’s screener ban. We support all efforts against piracy, but feel the studios need to address the leading sources of pirated material instead of hindering efforts to recognize the best of film, whether that comes from the largest studio or the smallest. Thankfully, the studios worked closely with us to help get all movies screened in they way they are intended to be seen--on the big screen.”

WAFCA 2003 Winners:
Best Film
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King/New Line Cinema

Best Ensemble
Love Actually/Universal

Best Director Peter Jackson/Lord Of The Rings: Return Of The King

Best Actor
Bill Murray/Lost In Translation

Best Actress
Naomi Watts/21 Grams

Best Supporting Actor
Benicio Del Toro/21 Grams

Best Supporting Actress
Anna Deavere Smith/The Human Stain

Best Screenplay, Original
Sofia Coppola/Lost In Translation

Best Screenplay, Adapted
Brian Helgeland/Mystic River

Best Animated Feature
Finding Nemo/Buena Vista Pictures

Best Documentary
Fog of War/Sony Pictures Classics

Best Guilty Pleasure
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl/Buena Vista Pictures

WAFCA is comprised of DC area film critics for newspaper, television, on-line and radio outlets. Winners were chosen from among Academy Award eligible films. Voting was conducted from December 15 - 17, 2003.



The European Film Awards

By James McCaskill

This is a follow-up to last month's story detailing the EFA's nominations.

BERLIN, GERMANY. The hit German film Good Bye, Lenin! was the big winner in the 16th European Film Awards at Berlin's Arena, taking home 6 awards. The film was named the European Film of the Year for 2003 and its star, Daniel Bruhl, was named Best Actor. Another award garnered by the touching story of a teenager's attempt to prevent his coma awakening mother from finding out that the Berlin wall has fallen and Lenin had lost went to co-screenwriter Bernd Lichtenberg. The director, actor, and Katrin Sass, who plays the mother, also picked up the Jameson People's Choice Awards as voted viewers across Europe. This is the first time in the 15 year history of EFA that the top award has gone to a German film.

European Director of the Year went to Lars von Trier for Dogville (Denmark) and Charlotte Rampling took Best Actress for her performance in the French film Swimming Pool. Anthony Dod Mantle won for his cinemagraphic work on 28 Days Later (UK) and Dogville. The European Film Academy Lifetime Achievement Award went to France's Claude Chabrol. His latest film, La Fleur du mal (The Flower of Evil) (France 2003) looks at the effects of a mother's political career upon three generations of a wealthy Bordeaux family when a political pamphlet revives an old murder scandal.

Carlo di Palma, Italy, won the European Achievement in World Cinema 2003. Mr. di Palma has made 51 films in a career that began in 1956. The EFA Discovery award went to the Russian film Vozvraschenie (The Return). Special mention in this category went to Gori Vatra (Fuse) by Pjer Zalaica, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Film Academy Critics Award went to the Italian film Buongiorno, Notte (Goodmorning, Night) directed by Marco Bellocchio. EFA Documentary award went to the French film S21, La Machine de Mort Khmere Rouge (S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine).

The Short Film Award went to (A) Torzija by Stefan Arsenijevic, Slovenia and the Non-European Film Award was won by Les Invasions Barbares by Denys Arcand, Canada.



Venice Film Festival in Jeopardy

By James McCaskill

VENICE, ITALY. The simmering row between the arts community and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's government has erupted into a conflict that threatens the Venice Film Festival. In December the Minister of Culture, Giuliano Urbani, fired the entire governing body of the Biennale of Venice, who run the Venice Film Festival, on the day that they were to sit and confirm Moritz de Hadeln as head of this year's festival.

Four previous directors of the Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica of the Biennale di Venezia (to use its official name) have declared their availability to jointly direct an alternative event in the event that de Hadeln is is not confirmed or the new director did not possess the professional and cultural attributes required for the prestigious film festival. The alternative, modeled after the highly successful Giornate del Cinema of 1972-73, will only be organized if necessary and would take place on the same dates as the Mostra. Already major national and international filmmakers, film critics have announced their support of this action.

Politics seems to be behind the firings as more liberal heads of art institutions have been dismissed and replaced with conservatives. Rumor has it that the conservative Australian arts critic Robert Hughes as been tapped for the director job.



News we didn't see in the Post

American Filmmaker Mugged, Killed in Cuba

A 33 year old production assistant on NBC's Access Hollywood, en route to the Havana International Film Festival in Cuba with his short film Capicu (winner of the best short prize in New York's Latin USA Film Festival) was mugged and robbed of cash and clothing and his body dumped a block from his hotel. He died a few days later. We hope to have a full report of the Havana Film Festival in next month's Storyboard.



We Need to Hear From YOU

We are always looking for film-related material for the Storyboard. Members have written about their trips to the Cannes Film Festival, Venice Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival, Edinburgh Film Festival and others. Have you gone to an interesting film festival? Have a favorite place to see movies that we aren't covering in the Calendar of Events? Read a film-related book? Gone to a film seminar? Interviewed a director? Read an article about something that didn't make our local news media? Send your contributions to Storyboard and share your stories with the membership. (And thanks to Janette Yeap and Willie Waffle for their contributions this month).



Calendar of Events

FILMS

American Film Institute Silver Theater
In January is a series of films starring Nicole Kidman, including Flirting (1991), To Die For (1995), Moulin Rouge! (2001), The Others (2001), Eyes Wide Shut (1999), Dead Calm (1989), The Hours (2002), Days of Thunder (1990) and Far and Away (1992). The last two are in 70mm. Week-long premiers include The Big Animal (Slawomir Rogowski, 2000) and The Real Old Testament (Curtis and Paul Hannum, 2003); revivals include From Here to Eternity (Fred Zinnemann, 1953), Modern Times (Charles Chaplin, 1936) and I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1953). Krzysztof Kieslowski's 10-part Decalogue and 3-part Three Colors Trilogy Blue, White, Red can be seen separately or in a marathon screening. See the website for dates.

American Film Institute at the Kennedy Center
To accompany the Kennedy Center's "Festival of France" which features opera, theater, ballet and music from France, the AFI at the Kennedy center will show new films from France from January 28-February 15. Please check back later for titles.

Freer Gallery of Art
In January and February is the Freer's 8th annual series of Iranian films. The films for January are Crimson Gold (Jafar Panahi, 2003) on January 9 at 7:00pm and January 11 at 2:00pm; Marooned in Iraq (Bahman Ghobadi, 2002) on January 16 at 7:00pm and January 25 at 2:00pm; and Letters in the Wind (Alireza Amini, 2002) on January 30 at 7:00pm and February 1 at 2:00pm. More are in February.

National Gallery of Art
Films from Denmark, both old and new are featured at the Gallery in January and February. Director Lars von Trier and other members of the film collective "Dogme 95" advocated a return to "artistic integrity" in cinema with more location shooting, hand-held cameras, no props or music, and modern narratives. The films include Breaking the Waves (Lars von Trier, 1996) on January 4 at 4:30pm; Inheritance (Per Fly, 2003) on January 10 at 2:30pm; Dogville (Lars von Trier, 2003) on January 11 at 4:30pm; New Scenes From America (Jorgen Leth, 2001) shown with Soren Ulrik Thomsen (Jorgen Leth, 1999) on January 17 at 2:30pm; Giselle (Anne Wivel, 1991) on January 17 at 4:00pm followed by a discussion with Frank Andersen, artistic director for the ?Royal Danish Ballet; The Humiliated (Jesper Jargil, 1998) on January 18 at 4:30pm; Truly Human (Ake Sandgren, 2001) on January 24 at 1:00pm; Mifune (Soren Kragh-Jacobsen, 1999) on January 25 at 4:30pm; Minor Mishaps (Annette K. Olesen, 2002) on January 31 at 2:30pm; and Open Hearts (Susanne Bier, 2002) on February 1 at 4:30pm. The older Danish films are coming in February.

Also in January at the Gallery are three art films: Mark Rothko, Abstract Humanist (Isy Morgensztern, 2003) on January 7, 8 and 9 at 12:30pm; Rothko's Rooms (Tate Modern, 2000) on January 14-17 at 12:30pm; and Decasia (Bill Morrison, 2002) followed by The Film of Her (Bill Morrison, 1996).

National Museum of African Art
A series of short films by Abderrahmane Sissako is featured this month. On January 15 at 7:00pm and January 18 at 2:00pm is Le Jeu (The Game, 1988) shown with Octobre (1991) and Sabriya (1997). On January 22 at 7:00pm and January 25 at 2:00pm is Rostov-Luanda (1997) about Sissako's search for an Angolan student he befriended while studying in Russia. A moderated discussion follows each program.

The National Postal Museum
On January 24 at 1:00pm is a screening of Charade (Stanley Donen, 1963) starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. If you didn't realize that film had a philatelic twist, find out what it is and after the film visit the exhibition "Art of the Stamp" which has original stamp art of both actors.

Films on the Hill
On January 7 at 7:00pm The Man of a Thousand Faces (Lon Chaney) is seen in an early film False Faces (Irvin Willat, 1919), made when he was just getting a reputation as a master makeup expert and character actor, shown with the earliest extant Lon Chaney film By the Sun's Rays (1914). Two early William Holden films are featured in January: Texas which co-stars Glenn Ford (George Marshall, 1941) on January 14 at 7:00pm and Arizona (Wesley Ruggles, 1940) which also stars Jean Arthur on January 16 at 7:00pm.

DC Jewish Community Center
On January 12 at 7:00pm is Kedma (Amos Gitai, 2002) about a European cargo freighter packed with concentration camp survivors trying to make a landing in Palestine while British soldiers attempt to stop the unauthorized landing. On January 27 at 7:00pm is Tikkun (Taliya Finkel, 2002), a video documentary about Rabbanit Leah Kook. A discussion follows the film with a speaker to be announced.

Goethe Institute
Two films by Hans-Christian Schmid are shown in January: It's a Jungle Out There (1995) on January 12 at 6:30pm and 23 (1998) on January 26 at 6:30pm.



FILM LECTURES

Smithsonian Associates
"Swooning With Valentino" on January 24 at 2:00pm. Emily W. Leider, author of a new biography on Rudolph Valentino (Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino) leads a discussion about that legendary actor. Film clips enhance the lecture.

"Steamy Nights with the Silver Screen" on January 28, February 4, and February 11 at 7:00pm. Film scholar Tom Wiener hosts three evenings filled with observations, comparisons, opinions and theories of evolution as he discusses leading men, leading ladies, and romantic teams--then and now. Clips of pertinent films are shown and a question-and-answer session concludes each evening.

National Museum of Women in the Arts
"Women at Work: Hollywood Films the Businesswoman" on January 25 at 2:00pm. Max Alvarez analyzes how Hollywood has portrayed women in business throughout the decades: as dangerous predators, corporate cutthroats, seductresses and deceivers, or workaholics in desperate need of male leadership. The lectures includes slides and video clips and showcases the silent comedy The Clinging Vine (1926) whose female protagonist is so immersed in her work that she has to re-learn "feminine" traits.



Previous Storyboards

December, 2003
November, 2003
October, 2003
September, 2003
August, 2003
July, 2003
June, 2003
May, 2003
April, 2003
March, 2003
February, 2003
January, 2003
December, 2002
November, 2002
October, 2002
September, 2002
August, 2002
July, 2002
June, 2002
May, 2002
April, 2002
March, 2002
February, 2002
January, 2002
December, 2001
November, 2001
October, 2001
September, 2001
August, 2001
July, 2001
June, 2001
May, 2001
April, 2001
March, 2001
February, 2001
January, 2001
December,2000
November, 2000


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