Film Yap: Soul Kitchen

When a farce doesn’t feel like a farce and just feels like life, then the film is completely working. The latest film from German director Fatih Akin (Head-On) is a delightful comedy centered around a restaurant owner named Zinos whose life is constantly being tested.

It’s just the little things originally. He has a bit of his back ache; his brother Illias needs a job so he can be out on parole; an old childhood friend keeps bugging him about the Soul Kitchen; his new cook is a bit of a snob; he’s behind on his taxes; his girlfriend, Nadine, got a job in Shanghai and wants him to travel out there. Life is composed of all of these miniature conflicts and the real story is how they all come together.

The screenplay by Akin and Adam Bousdoukos, who is also the star of the film, is so smart by just letting everything be organic and fun. It is not structured in the usual path of resolution or comedic breakdown. The friction is allowed to ebb and flow in a way that is so much fun. All of the actors have the right chemistry with each other that saves time on worthless exposition.

While still being comedic, Akin has the camera still place everything with the highest stakes possible. The shots are composed so impressively that works within the elements of the farce. Just like the complex nature of the script, each frame masterfully aligns the characters into their perfect positions and centers the movement around them like an axis.

Just like Zinos is trying to achieve with his Soul Kitchen, the tone of the film really means everything. The music and the look isn’t of a heightened Germany, but of the fun and danger we have in this reality. The only time that slips is a few questionable moments of slapstick that are fun but just seem to be in the wrong comedy.

The DVD is awfully bare, but it does have one great bonus feature. The making-of featurette is well produced. It bounces from an informal interview between Akin and Bousdoukos to while they are filming the movie. A few of the cast members are fun to talk to and it’s exciting to see the evolution of a scene. The biggest problem with the DVD is that the synopsis on the back gives away things that happen in the final 30 minutes. Also they have a plot statement in there that isn’t true at all. Avoid reading it.

The film has done well at a number of film festivals including Venice and Toronto. It even made the list of Best Foreign Films on this year’s National Board of Review. Yet, it still isn’t making enough waves in America. This is such a shame because this movie completely works.

Film: 4.5 Yaps

Extras: 3.5 Yaps

http://www.thefilmyap.com/2010/12/19/soul-kitchen/

Higgens Network: The Fighter

The Fighter was a movie that was being worked by Darren Aronofsky and the reins were eventually handed over to David O. Russell. At this point he needed a victory as much as the subject matter. It has been a long six years since I Heart Huckabees, which was a critical failure. Since tapes have surfaced of Russell mishandling a set and one of his projects was completely canceled. This new movie could break him.

Instead it is a surprise victory. The story of Mickey Ward seems very conventional. He’s a boxer who isn’t well respected and hasn’t had a big chance yet. What’s holding him back is his two-faced family led by his brother Dicky and his mother Alice. Wisely Russell and his screenwriters focus on the journey of the family, instead of the underdog aspects of the sport.

Right away the movie plays with expectations. Mickey and Dicky (Mark Wahlberg and Christian Bale) are talking to the camera for an interview. However the interviewers are not interested in Mickey, but they want to talk about Dicky’s planned comeback. This is especially odd considering Bale resembles The Machinist not Batman. It is this sort of script direction that makes this movie exciting as well as Russell’s experimenting camera.

Some elements in the movie work better than others. Amy Adams plays Charlene, the bartender who starts to date Mickey. Thankfully she wasn’t the clichéd “I don’t want you to get hurt!” sort of girlfriends, but she did have to be very blunt throughout the movie to get the ball moving. Some of it felt natural and some of it didn’t. Her being dismissive of the family makes sense from her perspective, but the film takes a more complex look.

Bale and Melissa Leo are fantastic as they never come close to villainizing their characters. There is just as much love as there is neglect every time they are on screen. There is no easy answer to what is best for Mickey and his career. Wahlberg keeps everything minimalistic almost too much. He has to be passive because that’s the core of the story, but there needs to be a little bit more. He’s solid in the ring and as a reactionary in a conversation, but when he has to step up it doesn’t always sell.

Through all of this, The Fighter sells this world and these people thanks to very solid storytelling. Hopefully this marks the creative return of Russell, a director that used to creatively turn heads back in the 90s.

http://www.higgens.net/ticketstubs/?s=lugar-121710

Higgens Network: Black Swan

There is an admirable intensity that radiates with Black Swan. So many people are at the top of their game in this movie. Natalie Portman and cinematographer Matthew Libatique both deserve Oscars for their masterful work. Different elements can be studied and appreciated for what nuances they’ve accomplished but there too many things stopping this from being its potential masterpiece.

Ballet is a medium that requires a lot of subtly to accomplish its goals. The way the dancer moves across the stage means everything to the character and the performance. Black Swan portrays the ballet scenes with amazement with the way the actors are handling the material, the camera is in the middle of the action and the way the music is just incredible. However what’s missing is the subtly. What really hurts this film is the lack of subtext.

Portman plays Nina Sayers who desperately wants to play the lead of Swan Lake. Can she be able to transform herself into the Black Swan is the main conflict of the film. From the beautiful opening dance sequence, it is obvious this film will run parallel to the ballet itself. If that wasn’t clear, it will be stated in the dialog over and over again. The black and white symbolism is radiating off the screen almost to the point of a drinking game.

This is only a real issue in the first act of the film and parts of the second. A second viewing will be able to constitute whether or not it effectively worked as a set-up for the characters. Right now it feels clunky but it can be excused for how well the finale was executed. The film is electric and becomes a powerful piece of art.

That accomplishment can be attributed to Darren Arnonfsky’s enthusiasm for the project and Natalie Portman’s tour-de-force performance. Stories of duality allow the actor to show their range. Look how innocent and corrupted they can be! Portman clearly has the range, but she nails the transformation with physical excellence. Her character is obsessed with the ballet in such a troubled fashion. So it only makes sense that the way she composes herself will reflect that institution. As she ebbs and flows with her confidence, there’s something impressive going on which shows that Portman is incredibly controlled as an actress but also plays with the organic principals of the character.

There are enough bizarre elements of the film to make this an “arthouse” flick. It becomes weird in a Cronenberg fashion, but because of its insistence to make everything clear it’s never entirely out of the blue. There is still enough there to form a intelligent dissection of it but it could have left more to the audience.

http://www.higgens.net/ticketstubs/?s=lugar-121310