Reviews

I just saw this film last night at the Denver Film Festival and didn't think it was very good. From what I have read about the original play, that sounds like it would have been the better version to see. The dialog in this film did not sound real to me. The characters were not developed. I didn't understand why the mother was so unhappy. I couldn't believe, or have sympathy for, the daughter's choices. I didn't buy the relationship between the black boy and the white boy at all. The part of the story about black woman's family was more believable but still not explored enough. Also, I think most Chicagoans will have trouble with the veracity of some of the scenes. I lived all my life in Chicago until two years ago and, I'm sorry, white teenagers do not hang out in the projects. Nor do their white fathers go there at night and hang around on roof tops smoking cigarettes.

I saw La Coupure recently at the Denver Film Festival and thought it was a very good film. Well acted and written with a story I had not seen before. The director was there and spoke very well. He said that he was intrigued by the painful situations that incestuous relationships cause after reading a book by a psychologist who had several such patients. He said that he has since spoken with several people in such relationships, including those that have come up to him after screenings and telling him about their lives. He asked the audience before the screening to be open minded. He felt that many people in their lives have loved the wrong people yet been unable to break up the relationship and he hoped that viewers could relate to the film on that level. I feel that he succeeded in presenting a difficult subject matter in a sympathetic light.

I saw Sensation of Sight on Friday night at the Denver Film Festival. I thought it was a very good film with an excellent ensemble cast. The audience at the screening gave a round of applause and seemed to have a very positive reaction. The story realistically portrays a small circle of people struggling to communicate their feelings of grief and loss, although there is a nice touch of the mystical as well. The first time writer and director, Aaron Wiederspahn was there and spoke at the screening along with David Strathairn, Scott Wilson, Ian Somerhalder, Ann Cusack, Elisabeth Waterson and Joseph Mazzello. The cast unanimously spoke well of the director and their experience making the film. They all stayed at the same bed and breakfast shown in the movie and shot it in 18 days; true independent film making.

I just saw this film yesterday at the Denver Film Festival which is showing in competition under the English title Ants in the Mouth. Although this is not a new story, a guy gets out of prison to look for the woman who double crossed him, nor told in a fresh style, it is well filmed and entertaining none the less. The good guy protagonist is sympathetic, a real Humphrey Bogart kind of character that you hope will get out of it alive. The bad guy is a creditable bad guy and you hope he does get killed and the woman is beautiful and mysterious. The film is beautifully shot in a re-created Havana just before the rise of Castro with great period costumes and cars along with a lovely score reminiscent of Chinatown.