TuesdayBride of SilenceIn a village in Vietnam 200 years ago, a young woman is put on trial for having gotten pregnant while out of wedlock. When she refuses to talk or divulge the name of the man who made her pregnant, the village elders order that her head be shaved and her baby set adrift on the river. Just as the baby is about to be sent to its fate, a fierce thunderstorm erupts and many people are killed. In the chaos, three itinerant carpenters save the child, but the mother is jailed out of fear. Years later the boy wanders through the countryside seeking traces of his mother's existence. Glacially paced this just didn't move fast enough for me. Most of the screen time is devoted to Hien at age 20, but there is some screen time devoted to his character as a young boy. I was fortunate enough to find a production still of all the young actors together.
Rating : 5/10
Boy Actors: Tran Minh Thanh, Ngo Thanh Binh
Link:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)FrozenIt's two years since the mysterious disappearance of Kath Swarbrick's older sister Annie. But Kath remains haunted by the need to know what happened. When police investigations wind down, Kath continues the search herself. She gets nowhere until she steals some surveillance TV footage of her sister on her final day. Visiting the spot where she was filmed, Kath becomes convinced she has found a gateway to another reality in which Annie is still alive. Those close to Kath are sceptical. They question her sanity, beg her to stop searching. Has Kath really found a way to access the afterlife? Or is she losing her grip on reality?.. No young actors to be found. I thought the story was told in a rather mystical fashion. The suspense picked up in the final portion of the film.
Rating: 6/10
Link:
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)The Blossoming of Maximo OliverosMaxi, a gay pre-teen, is slavishly and uncomplainingly devoted to his family of small-time criminals in a Manila slum. He cleans house for them, cooks for them, washes their underwear, mends their tattered jeans, and, if need be, even covers their tracks so they won't be caught by the police. His world revolves around them. That is, until he meets Victor, a principled, idealistic and handsome young policeman. Victor befriends Maxi and inspires in him the hope for a better life. This doesn't go down too well with Maxi's family. I have never seen such a character as Maximo in the first part of this film. He was portrayed as extremely flaming boy with curlers in his hair, a bracelet and the most exaggerated walk. A boy who dressed up and played "Beauty Pageant" with his friends! Then I remembered that this was a Fillipino film where over the top is the norm.
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)Soon after he meets Victor, Maxi changes his appearance to be more boyish so as to please his new friend [see picture 8/10 post].
Although Maxi behaves very affectionately toward Victor, his efforts are not reciprocated. The synopsis implies that this film is a romance and it really isn't. Victor's value to Maxi was to show him an example of a person who was not corrupt, perhaps one of the first such adults Maxi had ever met. This and other events in the film motivate Maxi to try to make his own way in the world instead of relying on the favor of others to achieve his self worth. I enjoyed this film and the performance of Nathan Lopez, a 14 year old devout Christian, whose mother is a minister!
I'm not the only one who liked it as this film won the competition for best first feature film at
the festival. 8)
Rating: 9/10
Boy Actors: Nathan Lopez, Peter Anthony Tumbaga
Content Alert: Teen Nudity, Boy/Man Kiss, Underwear, Attempted Rape
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)After this film, I had a long walk to complete to make it over to a screening of Canadian student short films. I knew I was going to be late, but Maximo was just too good to leave early.
Open SeaTorrential rains are flooding the planet. A little boy seems to be the only one determined not to accept his impending doom. This short film's story was told in voice over. The technique annoyed me here. Although the premise seemed like there might be some excitement in the story, my notes just said :snooze:
Rating: 4/10
Boy Actor: Simon Pigeon
Q+ANo answers just questionsA tagline rather than a synopsis, but this was a short film.
The film was a humorous depiction of the fear and mistrust people have for anyone who is different from them. The point was made by a white man and his black female friend who are sitting on a park bench, questioning the intentions of the two asian women sitting on a nearby bench.
I thought it was very witty and I hope its maker moves on to bigger and better things.
Rating: 9/10
(You need to Login or Register to view media files and links) (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)The Sirens of BastogneA young soldier's encounter with an elusive bird during the Battle of the Bulge in WWII.
War is hell.
Another film featuring voice over narration that annoyed me.
Rating: 4/10
TiesAn old man waiting for a train at an abandoned railway line is befriended by a curious young boy. This film had sort of a mystical feel to it. The old man comes to the abandoned line because he knows someday his train will come. The boy isn't sure whether he can remain friends with such a man, after all the whole town says he's crazy, but by the end of the film we are able to see that meeting the old man has had a lasting effect on the boy....
Rating: 8/10
Boy Actor: Ryan Beattie
Lost DomainA story, told on three time planes, of two men of different nationalities and fates who are connected by a love of flying. The younger man, Chilean-born Max, is alread 50 when he hears gunfire: the army is staging a coup d'état against Salvador Allende's democratically elected government. The event triggers memories of another war. Back then, when he was a pilot in the air force, he had taken off from London to battle the German Luftwaffe. When he returned to base, he almost failed to notice that the new instructor, a Frenchman named Antoine, was the same man who had taught him to fly a year earlier. Max was barely ten when, one day, a plane descended from the heavens to a Chilean village, and a man stepped out who was to become his teacher and role model. Together they toured the country's rugged landscape, meeting villagers, crossing mountains in the hope of finding interesting work. The pair wandered onto a mysterious estate, only to lose all trace of it the next day.....This is a film I'm glad I watched with josephk because I'm sure his review will make more sense of this than I did. Although I watched all of the parts, I wasn't able to assemble them into anything completely coherent. The concept of two people whose lives are intertwined by fate is interesting enough, but there are some deliberate attempts to make sure the material is not interpreted too literally which threw me for a loop. I await joseph's superior intellect on this one.
Rating : 6/10
Boy Actor: Robert Florentin Ilie
Content Alert: PJs, Spanking
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Montreal WFF 2005 (Read 40,969 times)
