TFC Journal at TheFilmChair.com

You know this movie, but if you’re like me you probably haven’t seen it on the big screen. Thanks to the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival’s “From the Page to the Projector” program, now you can get a chance to watch Mike Nichols’ landmark dramedy The Graduate the way it was meant to be seen.

Mark Harris, EW columnist and author of Pictures at a Revolution, will receive the CIFF’s From the Page to the Projector Award after the screening for writing what is the definitive book about the change that occurred in Hollywood (and America) in the 1960s.

Don’t miss it.

The Graduate screens today at 1:40 p.m. at the 34th  Cleveland International Film Festival. Tickets are available at the box office only.

The Ape (2009)–***1/2

Director Jesper Ganslandt says that his film The Ape was inspired by the true crimes he read about in newspapers. But he didn’t want the fiction behind those stories. For 81 minutes, Ganslandt thrusts us into the life, and the psyche, of a man dealing with the aftermath of a violent act of his own making. It’s not an easy experience, and by the end of the film, you question how rewarding it was at all. Yet, Ganslandt, whose clearest objective may simply have been to unsettle the audience, succeeds in intimately tying the character’s psychology to our own.

The film opens with Krister (Olle Sarri), a man in his mid-to-late 30s, waking up on his bathroom floor covered in blood. You don’t immediately get the sense that he has done anything, but something terrible has definitely happened. About the time that Krister, who works as a driving instructor, flips out on one of his students, you realize that he knows what happened and he knows he did it.

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The Ape has already made a splash in Toronto, Venice and London. Now it will debut in Cleveland in the CIFF’s “Someone to Watch” category. Directed by Jesper Ganslandt, The Ape is, as described by the CIFF, ” the story of a series of untidy events – just like in real life.” From Sweden.

Screening tonight at 10 p.m. (tickets at the box office only) and tomorrow at 2:15 p.m. at the Cleveland International Film Festival.

Sure SXSW may be going on in Austin right now, but in my backyard, it’s Cleveland International Film Festival time. The 34th Cleveland International Film Festival, March 18-28, 2010,  kicks of tomorrow night with a screening of the film TiMER, director Jac Schaeffer’s first feature.

I won’t be at the opening, but I  don’t think I won’t be living at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland every other day of the festival. Last year, I saw my No. 1 movie of 2009, Ramin Bahrani’s Goodbye Solo, early on at CIFF. That’s reason enough for me to head back again. And like last year, I sat down and dug through the more than 300 feature and short film selections and pulled out a few dozen nuggets that cannot be missed.

Here’s a quick and dirty list for right now:
The Ape
All of Us
The Graduate
No Crossover: The Trial of Allen Iverson
Toe to Toe
Women Without Men
The Joneses
I Am Love
The Taqwacores
A Town Called Panic

I’ll post trailers and reviews of these movies and more over the next week, just to keep you up-to-date on the goings at the CIFF. I may not be in Austin, but with the CIFF going on, I sure am #HappyinCLE.

If you have a report from the 34th CIFF, send it to dan@thefilmchair.com. Follow @TFCJournal and @DanStasiewski for more updates of the 34th CIFF.

The 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival ended Sunday and I only saw 16 movies during the 10 day festival. (I say only because a coworker decided to see 33 of the 317 films screened.)

Of course, day jobs, though helpful when it comes to paying the bills, do not make it easy to write about every single film seen. I was moved to write about Goodbye Solo, Sugar, Voy a explotar, Orz Boys, Ask Not, and Alexander the Last, but what about the rest? Well, my adoration of all things Twitter has inspired me to write flash reviews for the movies I didn’t get a chance to blog about. So in 140 characters or less…

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Alexander the Last (2009)–****

Mumblecore king Joe Swanberg told the audience at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival that he develops his stories after spending a week living with the people in his films. They bond, tell stories, and collaboratively develop the relationships, and thus the scenes, in the film.

Alexander the Last, which follows an actress and her musician husband as they try and maintain their marriage when their arts strain the relationship, is the first Swanberg picture to apply this method to professional actors. Some of the actors, who have actually worked on “real” movies, thought he was crazy, Swanberg confessed. But with these pro players, Swanberg, for the first time in his rather short, but revolutionary filmmaking career, has created a picture that forces the audience to consider, if not understand, what he does.

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I’m Gonna Explode (Voy a explotar) (2009)–***1/2
Quick Review

Two free-spirited teens, one a middle class girl and the other the privileged son of a Mexican congressman, attempt to abandon their lives for an existence outside the prescribed daily dramas. A film raging with the all passion and rebellion of teenage tumult, this Mexican drama is Harold & Maude cool and Badlands powerful. Even at its darkest moments, and it does get dark, I wished I was a teenager watching this movie, feeling its profound impact at a time when I would have mattered most. Directed by Gerardo Naranjo.

I’m Gonna Explode (Voy a explotar) was screened at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. Catch it again today at 11:30 a.m. For tickets visit ClevelandFilm.org.

Sugar (2009)–****

Sugar says a lot about America’s pastime, but this drama following a rising Dominican baseball star says a lot more about the world outside of the game. Many people would say that’s true of other sports films, that there’s a grand lesson in defying the odds and being all that you can be. Yet, there’s something truly inspiring when a player, in this case Miguel “Sugar” Santos, just does it his own way. Read the rest of this entry »

Goodbye Solo (2009)–****
Quick Review

A Senegalese cab driver in Winston-Salem, North Carolina befriends an old man who wants to be driven to an area in the mountains where he plans to commit suicide. Another stunning film about people in the oft ignored corners of society, this quiet drama compels the audience to be aware of the selflessness and dignity of all people. Red West’s performance as the old man is deceptively understated, while Souleymane Sy Savane constructs a moving portrayal of a man discovering the ultimate meaning of friendship. The Blowing Rock mountain sequence is overwhelmingly affecting–physically, intellectually, and spiritually. A masterpiece from a filmmaker the world needs right now. Directed by Ramin Bahrani and beautifully shot by Michael Simmonds.

This film was screened at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. More at www.goodbyesolomovie.com.

Orz Boys (2008)–***1/2
Quick Review

Two Taiwanese boys with rocky home lives rely on their imaginations (and a little mischief) as they make the journey to adulthood. Joyfully entertaining and, at times, rhapsodic, Orz Boy captures the spirit of childhood despite facing the turmoils of growing up. The cultural criticism combined with the story of early adolescents on the verge allows positive comparisons to The 400 Blows, while the animations give the film its unique artistic fingerprints. Directed by Ya-che Yang and starring Kuan-yi Lee and Chin-Yu Pang as the boys. From Taiwan.

This film was screened at the 33rd Cleveland International Film Festival. More at ClevelandFilm.org.