Reel World

[February 8th, 2006] The Portland International Film Festival may make you want to kill yourself. And that's meant in the best possible way. It's two weeks of heartbreak, tragedy, murder, injustice, corruption, insufferable pain—but also beauty, romance, hilarity, music and redemption. After watching even a few of the best films of the year from around the world, it's hard to know what to make of humanity. Are we monsters who lead entire nations to their doom? Are we kindhearted souls who befriend our enemies? Do we take our petty grudges out on helpless innocents, or do we make sacrifices to help our friends reach their dreams?

Based on the selection of movies showing at PIFF this year, the answer is all of the above. The range of films is impressive. There's Sophie Scholl—The Final Days, about a German brother and sister who distributed anti-war leaflets at their university during Hitler's reign and paid dearly for it. There's 20 Centimeters, a bizarre, over-the-top musical extravaganza about a pre-op transsexual in Spain that pushes boundaries Transamerica doesn't begin to approach. There's Tsotsi, the coming-of-age tale of a teen thug in South Africa. There's Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon, a rousing documentary about opposing beliefs that are tearing at the heart of a small timber town known for its independent-mindedness. And there's much, much more. You'll find our picks and reviews for week one of PIFF in the following pages, plus listings and an updated schedule online at wweek.com.

Rolling Family

(Argentina)—Your basic Latin American soap opera, complete with screeching women, jealous men, fistfights, hairpulling, toothpulling, teenage humping, mangy dogs and massive dinners—this one just happens to take place in an RV rolling unsteadily across the country to a relative's wedding. There's not that much to the story, but the great acting and the gradual unfolding of each character's personal drama has won the film justifiable comparisons to Robert Altman. (BO) 7 pm Friday B1, 6:15 pm Saturday GU, 6 pm Monday B1.

My Nikifor

(Poland)—Based on a true story, My Nikifor is a brilliant confession of old age, friendship and alienation. An adorable, very old beggar walks into the studio of Marian Wlosinski, an ambitious artist. He takes over Marian's studio, painting incessantly and telling his benefactor, "You don't know how to paint." It turns out this crazy beggar is the famous folk artist Nikifor, who doesn't care for much but painting all day. Unfortunately, this stubborn wonder also has tuberculosis, causing the town to shun him and even burn his paintings. More important, it poses a risk to Marian and his family. Set in 1960s Poland, with a masterly cross-gendered performance by Krystyna Feldmann, this film is a revelatory, tender, and penetrating portrait. (LM) 7:30 pm Friday B2, 5:45 pm Saturday B1.

Tsotsi

(South Africa)—This gorgeous film about one tough little thug's hope for redemption takes place in a dusty Johannesburg shantytown. Young gangster Tsotsi and his pals do increasingly violent "jobs" to get by. Alone one night, Tsotsi steals a car from a rich woman and discovers as he's driving off that her baby is in the back seat. It's hard not to feel completely entranced as Tsotsi's complex reactions to the baby play out on the remarkable face of actor Presley Chweneyagae. The film isn't terribly believable, but it has the weight of myth or parable, so maybe realism can take a back seat to optimism just this once. (BO) 7:30 pm Friday WH, 5:15 pm Sunday WH.

Max and Joseph: Double Trouble

(Sweden)—Sibling rivalry is humorously portrayed in this story of a talking turtle manipulating a little boy. 12:45 pm Saturday WH, 12:30 pm Sunday B1.

Skrítek

(Czech Republic)—Fans of Jan Svankmajer and aspiring vegetarians will dig this wacked-out Czech family drama. With no actual dialogue and surrealistic, almost spastic pacing, the thing starts out weird and gets weirder—it's set mostly in an abattoir, with a butcher who cheats on his haggard wife, his zit-squeezing skatepunk son who chases a hottress, and his miniature daughter who befriends a furry troll creature that rides pigs. And that ain't the half. The slaughterhouse scenes are hilariously gross, complete with burbling sound effects. (BO) 1 pm Saturday B1, 5:15 pm Sunday B1, 6:30 pm Tuesday B1.

The Giant Buddhas

(Switzerland)—After existing for more than 1,600 years, a pair of wondrous, giant Buddha statues were destroyed in February 2001 by the Taliban, Afghanistan's then-ruling Islamic fundamentalist group. Christian Frei's film about this monumental desecration entangles many different narratives, making for a sometimes slow but compelling exploration. He shows us many facets of the problem: from the Afghan people living in the caves of the monument who are homeless after the destruction, to the archaeologist who is devoted to finding the elusive third Buddha, to the supporters of rebuilding the structures. Frei's film is an important work, questioning the struggle for religious tolerance in a very intimate chronicle. (LM) 1:15 pm Saturday GU, 6:45 pm Tuesday GU.

Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon

(U.S.A.)—Philomath has long been known as a quirky little town, established by timber but inhabited by freethinking souls. Since the 1950s, timber giant Clemens has offered to pay college tuition for anyone who graduates from Philomath High—that is, until recently, when high-schoolers started getting too weird for the foundation's Steve Lowther and he threatened to pull the funding if things didn't change. The ensuing battle, which the mayor called a "political civil war," sharply divided the town, pitting old-timers against newcomers and loggers against teachers. Director Peter Richardson is himself a Philomath grad who received a Clemens scholarship. (BO) 3 pm Saturday WH, 5 pm Sunday GU.

Dalecarlians

(Sweden)—This chaotic tragicomedy follows a 30-year-old woman who returns to her rural hometown, Dalecarlia. 3:15 pm Saturday B1, 2:45 pm Sunday B1.

Sisters in Law

(Great Britain)—In Cameroon, where women and children are incessantly the victims of physical abuse, two women fight for justice. 3:45 pm Saturday GU, 12:15 pm Sunday WH.

Roots

(Russia)—A heritage tour of Jewish relatives in a small Ukrainian town takes a strange turn when a con man enters their lives. 4 pm Saturday B2, 8:30 pm Monday WH, 6 pm Tuesday B2.

The Wild Blue Yonder

(USA/Germany)—Werner Herzog's new sci-fi IMAX film is a beautiful, funny spectacle narrated by a space alien. 5:30 pm Saturday WH.

To the Other Side

(Mexico)—A Mexican boy, a Cuban boy and a Moroccan girl all share the loss of a father who has emigrated in search of a better way of life. 6:30 pm Saturday B2, 5 pm Sunday B2.

Paheli (The Riddle)

(India)—It's impossible to stay grouchy while watching this film. Sure, it's totally cheeseball, but the sheer exuberance, the over-the-top vivid sets, the lovely, lovely dancing girls and everyone's tendency to break into elaborate musical numbers all the time are just too much fun. The story is an old folk tale about a ghost who falls in love with a new bride and takes her husband's place (inhabiting his body so completely he gets his wife knocked up), only to be dismayed by the real husband's return. It's a rare happy ending at PIFF, and the music is great. (BO) 8:15 pm Saturday B1, 8:30 pm Monday B1.

Merry Christmas

(France)—In 1914, when war broke out in Europe, groups of men from Germany, France and Scotland faced each other in the trenches. On Christmas Eve, thanks mostly to a set of bagpipes, they unanimously decided to call a truce, just for the night. This film based on the event is heartfelt without being too sappy, mainly thanks to a great cast who resist overplaying. The message that comes through loud and clear is that, whichever trench they're in, these guys are men first and soldiers second. (BO) 8:15 pm Saturday WH, 7 pm Tuesday WH.

Dreaming of Space

(Russia)—This is a sweet, odd film set in the 1950s, immediately after the Russians launched Sputnik. A stranger named Gherman suddenly appears in a small northern Russian border town, and his presence, at least as much as the existence of the satellite, expands the world of a naive cook and his waitress girlfriend. The film is beautiful to look at, but it's a little baffling toward the end as key characters vanish and you realize that what you thought was the central mystery is never going to be solved. (BO) 8:45 pm Saturday B2.

20 Centimeters

(Spain)—I didn't think it was possible to externalize a migraine, film it and set it to music, but Spain has done it. 20 Centimeters, about a pre-op transsexual hooker who lives with a dwarf and falls for a beefy motorcycle stud, is just SO wrong, in so many ways. Imagine the cast of Moulin Rouge forced to run with the bulls at Pamplona and then act out the beauty-school dropout scene from Grease. Love it or hate it, it'll leave an impression, and at least one of the musical segments is hysterically funny. (BO) 9 pm Saturday GU, 7:45 pm Sunday GU.

So Close, So Far

(Iran)—This profound film follows a hubristic neurologist searching through the desert for his young son, who has just been diagnosed with a brain tumor. 2 pm Sunday B2, 7 pm Monday B2.

Short Cuts 1

(International)—Nine shorts from North America and Europe. 2:15 pm Sunday GU.

Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye

(Switzerland)—The brilliant photographer's work from 1940 through the 1960s is spotlighted in this intimate profile. 3 pm Sunday WH, 9 pm Tuesday GU.

The Devil and Daniel Johnston

(U.S.A.)—The bizarre history of the innovative songwriter whose mental problems have been equal to his talent is profiled in this documentary. 7:15 pm Sunday B2, 8:45 pm Tuesday B1.

The Death Of Mr. Lazarescu

(Romania)—Cristi Puiu's bittersweet tale recounts the last night in the life of an aging widower who lives with his three cats. 7:30 pm Sunday B1.

Sophie Scholl—The Final Days

(Germany)—A rare World War II film that focuses on non-Jewish Germans who resisted the war and the Hitler regime, Sophie Scholl is the moving tale of a gutsy student and her brother, who were caught distributing anti-war leaflets at their university. They were immediately jailed and, when it became clear that denial wouldn't fly, opted to stick to their guns and stand up for their beliefs in the face of Nazi wrath. Sophie (Julia Jentsch) enrages the Nazi bureaucrat who interrogates her because, as he says, "You're so gifted—why don't you think like we do?" (BO) 7:30 pm Sunday WH.

Tapas

(Spain)—The entanglement of five strangers in a Barcelona neighborhood makes for this comedic melodrama. 6:15 pm Monday WH.

Wah Wah

(Great Britain)—This semi-autobiographical account of the dissolution of a boy's family in southern Africa mirrors the fall of the British Empire. 7 pm Monday GU.

Lower City

(Brazil)—In Brazil's Salvador da Bahia, an enraged love triangle occurs when two friends help out a young hooker. 8:30 pm Tuesday B2.