Since Feeling is First

The difference between films made in the United States and those made in Europe is probably as deep as the historical differences between the so called Old and New worlds. American films will probably never shake themselves completely of the view that this is a land where anything is possible and achievable; one that immigrants have come to for years in search of a fresh start, a break from oppression by class, religious and political structures, and one marked (and, quite frankly, somewhat marred) by the prominent “pursuit of happiness” which Americans take as a mandate.

So no matter how “dark” an American movie is in terms of subject matter, or how much it tries to be “realistic”, there is always the proclivity to the “happy ending” that has characterized Hollywood films for decades; the uplifting message, the triumph of good over evil, or something of the sort that basically signifies a break with reality. Movies are a form of escapism from what life’s really all about. In Europe, they are a reflection on life.

Mind you, I am simply stating an observation, not choosing one type of film over another, though I admit to being influenced by the country I live in much more than I wish I was. But I count among my favorite directors Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke, the Italian masters Visconti, de Sica, German directors Murnau, Herzog… the list is long and wonderful! And all of this is but a preamble to my writing about two recent European films that I add to my long list of favorites: Jagten (The Hunt) by Danish director Thomas Vinterberg, and The Broken Circle Breakdown by Belgium director Felix van Groeningen. Two remarkable and poignant films which I highly recommend.

La Grande Belleza

Both films were nominated for Academy Awards this year under the Best Foreign Film category. Not surprisingly, the Italian film La Grande Belleza (The Great Beauty) directed by Paolo Sorrentino won over both, although it is far from the superior one of the three. The members of the Academy, quite an elite by any standards, probably related to the plight of Jep Gambardella, the protagonist of La Grande Belleza, a writer at the center of Rome's decadent upper class, one who has traded in his art as a writer for the seductive yet banal life of the rich and pseudo artists. It’s not a bad movie and Felliniesque to the point of including midgets and wild masquerades, but it is not a film deserving of the award, not when compared to the other two.

Jagten

The Hunt is a movie about a school teacher in a small town, an everyday person in a town like millions of others, whose life is turned inside out by a rather innocent lie. But it’s really about relationships, about friendship, trust, loyalty and, ultimately, forgiveness. The film stars an actor I love to see in movies, Mads Mikkelsen. Mikkelsen, who is a tremendously well-known star in Denmark for his mastery as an actor for such movies as A Royal Affair, After the Wedding or The Pusher, is probably best known in the United States as James Bond’s rival Le Chiffre in Casino Royale or, more recently, as Dr. Hannibal Lecter in the TV series by the first name. Mads speaks with his eyes in this movie, and what pain and betrayal he tells with his gaze!  Very deservedly, Mikkelsen won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for this movie.

Mads Mikkelsen in The Hunt

Thomas Vinterberg, The Hunt’s director, is co-founder, with Lars von Trier, of the Dogma movement in cinema, which strove for a minimalist aesthetic to filmmaking. Every shot in this film is well thought out, but to ensure that we become engulfed in the story and are not paying attention to the camera, the music or the set design (like in The Great Beauty). It is a beautiful narrative style, plain and simple, but deep and moving. As the director has stated: “I wanted this film to be as naked and truthful as possible, because this was a film about truth and lies.” This is a movie that makes you reflect about how quick we are to judge, how close to the surface darkness lies in human beings, waiting to make aggressors out of friends and neighbors. This is basically a movie about a modern day witch hunt.

Johan Heldenbergh and Veerle Baetens in The Broken Circle Breakdown

The Broken Circle Breakdown is a love story, a beautiful love story wrapped in misery. But there really isn’t an ounce of exaggeration or melodrama in this movie. It’s hard to watch simply because it is so real. The lovers in this film are Didier, a bluegrass musician in love with this American musical genre and the hopeful pragmatism it represents to him, and Elise, a tattoo artist whose life and past romances are impressed into her skin and heart. Their passionate love is encircled by the wonderful score of bluegrass music that plays throughout the film. We are carried away by both the music and their passion.

Everything about the film feels real. Johan Heldenbergh, who plays Didier, is the author of the play on which the movie is based, and Veerle Baetens, who plays Elise, won Best Actress in the European Film awards. They are both so true in their love and despair. The band of musicians, which are Didier and Elise’s friends, are almost like the chorus in Greek tragedies, a loving chorus of Cowboys.

 These are not flawless human beings and when life hits them, like it does everyone at one point or another, we are witness to their desperation and their search for understanding. Because life and feelings are not linear, the narrative in this film isn’t either. The movie moves back and forth in time and touches on different themes. It is not just the complexity of relationships, but also the conflict between faith and pragmatic realism. How we are able to cope or not with the seemingly insurmountable trials we are given.

Art isn’t always about enjoyment. I think this is the bottom line. The artist shares his or her feelings, experiences and thoughts and they aren’t always feelings of happiness and contentment. But then, neither is life. In America we are steeped in a culture that holds happiness as the ultimate prize in this race called life, undercutting so many other feelings in the process. We wrongly –as the experts in the field are telling us- make our children aspire to constant happiness and enjoyment, only to have them later be unable to cope with the disillusions and challenges that come with life and living.  These films make us look into ourselves, they haunt us with their realism, but ultimately they make us feel deeply. And that’s what life is all about. 

The Rites of Spring

Sweet spring is your time is my time is our time / for springtime is lovetime / and viva sweet love!, e.e. cumming wrote. Who doesn't love spring? Exhibitions of color everywhere on trees, in parks; nature shining! Spring also brings blossoms to film lovers everywhere. In the United States the Tribeca Film Festival began showing its buds last week, with the announcement of many fascinating films. But it is to Europe that most of us film lovers look at this time of year for our goodies, because this is the time of year that Cannes announces its competitors. 

The retro poster for the Cannes 2014 Film Festival may be mirroring the films announced this week in competition for this coveted prize. The poster features the Italian actor Marcelo Mastroianni in Federico Fellini’s Film 8 ½, which was entered into the Cannes competition back in 1963. This year the directors up for competition include some legendary directors of old. To begin with, non-other than Jean-Luc Godard, who is 83, is among the nominees with a very modern 3D film Adieu au Langage (Farewell to Language). Judging from the trailer on YouTube, Godard continues his New Wave style, but with a very present-day feel. No aging there.

Jimmy's Hall

Not quite in the same generation, but in a similar league, two British directors are also up for competition this year: Mike Leigh and Ken Loach. Leigh, the director behind such wonderfully rich yet at the same time every-day-person oeuvres like Vera Drake, Secrets and Lies, Happy Go Lucky and Another Year is presenting his film Mr. Turner about the painter JMW Turner; hence going further back in time to 19^th century England when this –back then- controversial Romantic landscape artist lived. Ken Loach has already won the Palme for The Wind that Sakes the Barley, in 2006. This time he presents Jimmy’s Hall, which is rumored to be his last film, a movie set in 1930 Ireland that deals with James Gralton, the political activist who challenged the Catholic Church’s restriction of free speech.

Mr. Turner

Cannes darlings, Belgian directors and brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are back, which is always good news. The Dardenne brothers won the Palme d’Or for Rosetta (1999) and L’Enfant (2005), as well as best screenplay 2008 for Le Silence de Lorna and the Grand Prix 2011 for Kid with a Bike. The film they present is Two Days, One Night, starring the fabulous Marion Cotillard (Academy Award winner for La Vie en Rose) who plays a woman who has a weekend to convince her colleagues to give up their bonuses so she can keep her job.

Two Days, One Night

Canadian director, David Cronenberg (Eastern Promises, A History of Violence) takes on the topic of the culture of celebrity in Hollywood and our modern day infatuation with it in his movie Maps to The Stars. The movie includes, among others, Julianne Moore, Robert Pattison, John Cusack, Mia Wasikowska.

Maps to the Stars

Moving down in North America, two acclaimed American actors come to Cannes as directors this year. Tommy Lee Jones, who has directed three movies before this, two for television and The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada in 2005, directs and acts in The Homesman, a western about a claim jumper and a pioneer woman who team up to escort three insane women from Nebraska to Iowa. His cast even includes Meryl Streep.

The Homesman

The other actor is the much younger Ryan Gosling and this is his first time behind the camera. Lost River is the name of the film for which he is participating in the Un Certain Regard section. The movie has quite an amalgam of actors; it stars Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, young Dr. Who himself Matt Smith, and Saoirse Ronan, among others. It deals with a single mother of a troubled teen age boy and their journey into a dark underworld.

Also from the United States, New York born director Bennett Miller (Moneyball, Capote) is in competition with Foxcather. The movie stars Channing Tatum and Mark Ruffallo and deals with the story of wresting champion Mark Schultz, who won Olympic gold with his brother Dave in 1984. Dave was murdered by multimillionaire paranoid schizophrenic John Eleuthère du Pont, the founder of "Team Foxcatcher".

Jane Campion

But I’ve left the spring flowers for last. Cannes has received criticism in the past about not favoring films directed by women. This year, to begin with, Jane Campion, the New Zealand director, producer and scriptwriter (her film The Piano won the Palme d’or in 1993) will preside the Jury. Additionally, Japanese director Naomi Kawase’s is in competition with her film Still the Water; Italian director Alice Rohrwacher is participating with The Miracles; and Austrian director Jessica Hausner is participating in the Un Certain Regard section with Amour Fou.

The festival takes place from May 14-25 but its influence shapes movies and audiences for the rest of the year. Let the fun begin!