Day 4 of the 2018 Hamptons International Film Festival.
I saw five shows today, including a romantic Polish movie
called ‘Cold War.’ It takes place mostly from 1949-1956, as
the communists try to gather up cultural talent and develop
folk oriented music and dance. Discoveries are made, a star
is born (Joanna Kulig), the teacher picks his favorite pupil,
and things proceed unevenly over the following years. The troupe
of performers travel all about eastern Europe and Paris.
And actually the music performed in this film is the best
I saw in the festival – especially the choir singing, and the
Paris early 50’s jazz. [But I missed the Maria Callas film.]
Shot in black and white, Excellent!!
https://filmguide.hamptonsfilmfest.org/films/cold-war/
‘Dead Pigs’ proved to be a fine Chinese movie showing
us the cheesy side of Chinese mega-entrepreneurship,
contrasted with the well-portrayed daily struggles of the
common Chinese people. The Golden Happiness
corporation is central to this movie in its attempt
to build a giant Spanish style living neighborhood of high
rise apartments and pseudo-Spanish type businesses
and cultural establishments. The romance story in this movie
is similar to the one in the South Korean ‘Burning’ with a younger
poorer male and a more experienced female beauty.
Pigs are suddenly dying and desperate pig farmers don’t know
what to do with the carcasses. So they tend to dump them
in the river at night. Which Shanghai becomes aware of, as the
count reaches 16,000 dead pigs in the river, with great concern
for contamination of the drinking water, and places of meat/pork sale.
There is love, and transportation incidents, hospital visits, the last
house in the way of the Golden Happiness corporation not yet selling
out to them. Go see this one. A well done film from China.
https://filmguide.hamptonsfilmfest.org/films/dead-pigs/
‘Walden’ was a movie like you’ve never seen before. It follows
the vision of a forest and a chopped tree falling, to the transport of the
finished wood produced travelling across an ocean to its final
destination. What makes it unique is that the 100 minute film
has only 13 scenes shot slowly in a 360 degree pan, welcoming
your eyes to savor all the detail that is slowly passing before your eyes.
Good for your patience and meditation. If you want action, and are
hyperactive yourself for whatever reason(s), this might not be the
movie you want to see or sit through. But if you like beauty and nature,
this will cool you down and enlighten you especially concerning the
trucking, railroading and boat transport of wood, starting in Austria.
https://filmguide.hamptonsfilmfest.org/films/walden/
The other shows will be described during the next 48 hours hopefully, including
several not yet annotated shorts programs.
(C) 2018 Claude Mayers