TUK screens creme of European Films
TUK screens creme of European Films
Paul F. Agusta, Contributor, Jakarta
PFA0109@yahoo.com
The nominees and winners at the 2003 European Film Academy Awards will light up the screen at Teater Utan Kayu (TUK) on Jl. Utan Kayu 68 H, East Jakarta this weekend.
With the announcement of the Academy Award nominations this week, this timely presentation offers Jakartans a chance to see a bevy of European cinematic beauties ranging in themes from the macabre to the political, from the heart-wrenching to the downright groundbreaking.
Unconventional ideas, creative flights of fancy and entertaining, if not slightly unusual, premises dominate this selection of films.
Although they would give the Oscar nominees a run for their money, these cinematic offerings are not your standard Hollywood fare. These are not "movies", but "films". They clearly reflect the European Film Academy's emphasis on the artistic value of cinema produced in Europe.
Most of this weekend's selections are a fascinating blend of art-for-art's-sake cinema with good old-fashioned storytelling, which is the essence of Hollywood.
While they're entertaining, these are also "films" in the core sense of the word. They focus on the medium of cinema and it's ability to carry statements, evoke emotions, provoke intellectual responses and expand as an art form. Yet, like "movies", many tell solid, enjoyable stories that engross you, entertain you and make you feel you've got your money's worth.
On Saturday, Jan. 1, at 3 p.m., TUK will present In This World from acclaimed British director Michael Winterbottom, a stylistic chameleon famous for letting the story dictate the look of his films. More about the story than the telling,
In This World tells of the struggle of two young Afghani boys who flee the harshness of a refugee camp for what they hope to be better circumstances in London.
Next, at 5p.m., is the Iceland-German-UK-Denmark collaboration Noi Albinoi (Noi the Albino) from director Dagur Kari. This film tells the tale of a young man who dreams of finding a way to sunnier places faraway from his snowbound fjord in northern Iceland.
At 7 p.m., the same day is German director Wolfgang Becker's brilliant and heart-warming rendition of social upheaval, Goodbye Lenin!.
Against the backdrop of the volatile transition sweeping Germany at the fall of the Berlin Wall, Goodbye Lenin! avoids the obvious political pitfalls inherent in most "historical" dramas to reveal the human side of tumultuous world events. The film tells of Alex whose socialist mother falls into a coma just as East Germany awakes from the long sleep of the socialist dream.
When she awakes eight months later, Alex is confronted with the dilemma of how to keep his mother alive in a world she would no longer understand.
On Sunday, at 3 p.m. is the Spanish-Canadian film from director Isabel Coixet, My Life Without Me. This subtly moving film tracks the journey towards death of a young mother whose most passionate desire is to continue to be a part of her family's life long after her own is cut short by a tumor.
Independent film goddess Sarah Polley stars as Ann, the woman who wraps up her life as a gift to give to her family.
At 5 p.m., is a discussion on contemporary European cinema with Panji Wibowo, a respected expert on film and the philosophy of cinema.
Ending this wonderful weekend excursion into the world of European films is French director Francois Ozon's Swimming Pool, a tension-charged thriller about a prim Englishwoman, a wild French girl and a potential murder.