ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Teenager Kristian moves to a new neighborhood. He makes friends with two very different boys in the new school: Henrik, an independent boy, and Patrick, the leader of a gang. Later on, Kristian is startled when he finds Patrick is gay and having an affair with the captain of a soccer team.

[memento]

IMDB Plot: Sandra Bullock stars in a wistful story set during the late 1950s. This nostalgic drama portrays the lives and adventures of a group of Brooklyn high-schoolers. Big trouble starts when random gunfire wounds one of the teenagers. The rest of the group now goes in search of the scoundrel doing the shooting.

[oilgun]

aka:  Ondskan



Stars hottie, and A&F model, Andreas Wilson:


From IMDb:   Imagine the schoolboy sadism of Der Junge Törless (1966), the anarchism of If... (1968), with just a dash of the old school bullying of Tom Brown's School Days, and you get something of the flavour of Evil, which sets its student angst in 1950s' Scandinavia. Ironically for a film that will end up on a relatively pacifist message, it starts with a punch up as the rowdy hero Erik (Andreas Wilson), thrashed by his unpleasant step father at home, duly takes it out on another student at his current school - only to be summarily expelled on the basis of his continuing bad behaviour. Dubbed 'evil' by the headmaster at his disciplinary hearing Erik appears, at least at first sight, to be irredeemably bad. Surly and uncommunicative, a trait he only gradually overcomes, he's a disruptive influence. One measure of the film's success is how it will show a growing moral dimension to this truculent and uncooperative personality, the once-bad boy quickly maturing before our eyes. It will also show how being a 'disruptive' influence can ultimately be a positive, just as much as a negative, force in a closed society. But meanwhile Erik's long suffering mother packs him off at short notice to Stjansberg, an exclusive boarding school where, we are told, are moulded generations of Swedish 'supermen'.

Adapted from a bestselling novel based on painful reminiscence, Evil is praised in interview on the disc by the author for its 'journalistic accuracy' in recreating events. It's a fact that makes the environment in which a more subdued Erik finds himself all the more chilling and depressing. For Stjansberg is a school where the teachers believe in leaving students to their own devices outside of classes, a place where enthused with an ethos of alleged 'team spirit' the system of discipline and punishment is arbitrary, prejudiced against the weak or different, and where elements of fascism still lurk within the teaching profession. Despite its regimentation and strict codes, Erik soon discovers that "there's no honour in (the) school - only ways of making it hell," while eventually realising that "what separates men from animals is not only intelligence, it's morality." Set on a painfully steep learning curve, he makes friends with the best student in the school (his roommate), and while remembering his promise to his mother, struggles to stay out of trouble. Erik's painful introspection at this point recalls that of Jim Stark in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) another film in which a troubled male youngster forms an alliance with a weaker soul (Sal Mineo's 'Plato') while in moral agony over conflicting impulses.

Erik may suddenly be concerned to stay out of conflict, but his refusal to compromise a newfound dignity and moral superiority quickly brings him up against Silverstein, the Flashman figure of the piece who, as a the most visible representation of the fascist strain that permeates the school has "to be fought, now and forever." What infuriates the bullies at the school no end is Erik's unexpected - and, in the light of what we have seen of him previously, uncharacteristic - refusal to fight. Instead he maintains a quiet mocking stoicism, bearing glumly, at least to a point, the institutionalised humiliation heaped upon him. Like Gandhi, a name associated with a philosophy of peaceful protest and civil disobedience (and who is specifically invoked at one point in the film) Erik's mature response to provocation is hard earned, but grows increasingly effective.

Wilson is excellent as the put upon student, although from such a physical person one might have wished more passion in his liaison with Marja, the young woman from the kitchen(Linda Zilliacus), who tacitly supports his tactics. In fact, this affair proves to be Erik's Achilles' heel, and the events leading on from it form the real climax of the picture. So much of Evil has been outstanding and intriguing to this point that it's a shame that the conclusion of the piece, springing so readily from a plot 'plant' earlier in the story, is a little too pat. From the interviews on the R2 DVD [also included on the R1 issue] the viewer learns that, in real life, the school in question was brought to book by eventual and unwelcome media exposure prompted by the author. Whether or not it was achieved so easily as is suggested by the movie is a moot point, but the convenient threat of sensational journalism, easily obtainable and brought down upon the head of a palpable corrupt and unfair system is too much of let off, at least to this viewer, as well a cliché of a sort, not to pass un-remarked. One imagines that the scene of an arrogant headmaster made to eat humble pie dramatically was too irresistible to exclude, but I sensed here that such a moment was an easy way out.

With this hesitation, one can recommend the film thoroughly, being both excellently shot and acted as well as making an important statement of its own. Rather amusingly in the accompanying DVD material is a comment from one of the principals, that they didn't want it to be "a Dogme film, a small film that no one cares about, we want(ed) it to be a stylish, big, expensive, heavy, good film." It's an ironic remark as, arguably, a stricter and more rigorous approach to the story, familiar from Van Trier and colleagues, would have led to some fascinating dividends especially in the presentation of such stark material. Fortunately filmic conservatism also pays off when the results are so sincere and full of verisimilitude as here, and with a cast who fit their roles like a glove and, as a film with an 'old fashioned' humanistic message about standing out against the evils of totalitarianism in a closed society, the message is as relevant as ever. In short I doubt whether another 'school film' as fine as this will come along for some time, and so seek it out.

[Fran]

Also known as:  "Not One Less"

From IMDb:  In a remote mountain village, the teacher must leave for a month, and the mayor can only find a 13-year old girl, Wei Minzhi, to substitute. The teacher leaves one stick of chalk for each day and promises her an extra 10 yuan if there's not one less student when he returns. Within days, poverty forces the class troublemaker, Zhang Huike, to leave for the city to work. Minzhi, possessed of a stubborn streak, determines to bring him back. She enlists the 26 remaining pupils in earning money for her trip. She hitches to Jiangjiakou City and begins her search. The boy, meanwhile, is there, lost and begging for food. Minzhi's stubbornness may be Huike and the village school's salvation.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llevtAQUhHQ[/youtube]
Trailer 1:30

[southendmd]

Plot:  A campus flirt who has been "pinned" by most of the boys of Sigma Chi fraternity falls for a no-nonsense athlete who doesn't have time for such diversions as women.

[memento]

The Friendship Round

[memento]

From IMDB: There are a few things in life that we can't experience more than once and the college experience is one of them. Especially if we're living in a foreign country and in a apartment with 6 wackos from 6 different countries. Xavier the main character leaves his tidy life in Paris, his ex-hippy mother and his beautiful girlfriend and goes to Barcelona to study spanish in order to get a job at the embassy. He falls in love with the wife of a french doctor and he makes friends that make him look at things differently. When Wendy's brother (Wendy is one of the room mates) comes from England the film starts to become a lot funnier. Well anyway, Xavier starts to see things differently with all his new friends and he probably lives something he will never forget and will change his life forever. Overall a very nice nostalgic film, which becomes even more interesting because of the multinational cast. I thought it was very interesting that you could see all these kids from different countries, all of them speaking different languages and having different cultures get along with each other and fun. I gave it a 9 out of 10 because I left the theatre with a smile on my face and thinking about things I haven't done yet while I'm still in college and would want to do before it's too late.

[Fran]

From IMDb:  Mark O'Brien is a journalist (for Pacific News Service) and poet who lives in Berkeley, California. He is in his 40's, and for most of every day, he is encased in an iron lung, the result of polio as a child and a relapse 20 years later. O'Brien comments on his life, his parents' courage and devotion, his studies at Cal, his writing, the sweetness of friendship, and his fears. Occasionally he recites one of his poems. The film includes footage from days when O'Brien motored around the sidewalks of Berkeley, flat on his back. While O'Brien's health declines, his meditations on the spiritual and on the nature of the soul embody great power.

Also from IMDb:  I just saw this incredible film by Jessica Yu and just have to say something about it. Actually, it's not really an achievement in filmmaking --  the images and words used here really tell all there is to it. I simply can't describe it; you have to see it for yourself (if you're interested in life). Words just ... aren't enough to say what kind of man Mark O'Brien was. No, even that isn't saying enough. I just want to praise his parents for their incredible loving, his friends for respecting him as a human being and, of course Mark O'Brien himself, for, well, just being who he was. I really learned from these 35 minutes, more than from most people I have met and from most films I've seen, books I've read. This man's thoughts about God, life, his poetry -- I reckon many people won't expect that from a man who can't live outside his machine, who actually hasn't got a body, at least not like most others. But his thoughts and courage reach far beyond those of most people who have the ability to move and do things Mark O'Brien can't. Or couldn't, because he passed away after the making of this film. So this is for you, Mark, and for all the others who have the courage to make life worth living for all of us and who teach us things that matter. And thanks to Jessica and all who worked on this for telling this story. Here's to all of you!

[southendmd]

Plot:  Two architects and best friends have a difficult time sharing an office and their troubled private lives.

[memento]

From IMDB: Griff and Pete are two regular guys going to college someplace in the Western U.S., that enjoy rough housing with their friends, partying, going to sporting events, all the typical "guy" things, except dating in public, since they're gay. Pete is proud of his relationship with Griff, Griff however, is afraid that he'll have to choose between his lover, and his frat house friends.

When Pete gets attacked after they have an argument, Griff has the difficult choice to make of helping catch Pete's assailants and being 'out-ed', or letting his partner's assailants possibly get away.

This movie is not nearly as light hearted as "Get Real", and most of the characters aren't developed as fully as they could have been. I gave it a higher rating than I normally would have, since it was a really good effort by independent film makers.