Team Fremont.com-Minneapolis/St.Paul Film Festival Review

Minneapolis/St.Paul Film Festival

Sixteen days of film. There’s no question, it’s quite a marathon. For twenty-three years the Minnesota Film Arts has been putting on the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (M-SPIFF). Being huge movie junkies, it was hard for us to figure out why we had never attended the festival. After all, it’s right in our back yard, so why wouldn’t we at least catch a couple? The Twin Cities area is filled with great movie theaters, from the Lagoon to the Oak Street Cinema to our personal favorite, the Riverview Theater. These places are filled with great movies night in and night out. And with over 150 films from more than 50 countries being shown during the two week event, it was high time we got off our asses and joined the action.

The Schedule

So the first step was picking out which movies to watch. Should we stick with the Hong Kong and Asian flicks, or branch out into other areas? Would our readers care about a coming-of-age film from Kazakhstan or a swindle piece from Canada? It was all about trial and error as all we had to go on were the brief descriptions included in the festival’s promo materials. So after carefully picking out a handful of films from the massive list, we walked away with feeling as though our picks might be suited for the readers of Team Fremont. That and a bill for $173.74. The following is our account of the M-SPIFF.

After explaining to John that Sunday, not Monday, was the first day of the week, we were set to go. Eight films made our final cut: Kung Fu Hustle, Suite Havana, Yang Ban Xi, Floating Landscape, Edelweiss Pirates, The Taste of Tea, Jimmywork, and The Fearless Freaks. Our choices took us from Japan, China and Hong Kong, to Germany and across the ocean to Cuba and Canada.

The Theaters

Oak Street Cinema

The Oak Street Cinema is located in the heart of the U of M campus and was at one time known as the Campus Theater. Dedicated to revivals, repertory classics, foreign, and art house movies, Oak Street has been host to legends like Terry Gilliam, Bruce Campbell, and Peter Fonda, and regularly hosts various film festivals.

Crown Theaters Block E Minneapolis

Located squarely in the center of Downtown Minneapolis, above the Hard Rock Café and Game Works, and across the street from the famous nightclub First Avenue, the Crown Cinema owned Block E megaplex isn’t exactly the type of place you’d guess to be participating in a film festival. However, its central location, adjacent to a large theater district and nightclub scene, makes it a logical choice. After our films, we made certain to make the short trip through the Minneapolis Skyway system to our favorite downtown bar, Brit’s Pub.

Riverview Theater

Built in 1948, the Riverview Theater has become a fixture of South Minneapolis, and is located right down the road from Team Fremont’s former headquarters. The building features most of the same marble tables, old time furniture, and décor as when they first opened. Each week, the Riverview plays second-run features and admission is only $2. They also air local sporting events and midnight showings of Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Big Lebowski, and others. A historical landmark in its own right, the Riverview is our favorite theater in town.

Lagoon Cinema

Located in Uptown Minneapolis, the Lagoon and its neighboring theater, the Uptown Theater, are known as the hot spots for independent and art house films. If you want to see a great movie that’s under limited release, chances are the Lagoon is showing it. Unfortunately, the Lagoon is also home to some of the most uncomfortable theater seats in town. Good luck finding a seat that won’t jam a spring up your ass.

The Movies

Kung Fu Hustle
Hong Kong
Director: Stephen Chow
Theater: Riverview Theater

Riding high off the success of Shaolin Soccer, Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu Hustle will be given a nationwide release here in the US on April 22nd. And boy are we glad we got a sneak preview. Though its somewhat absurd humor may turn off some, there’s actually a lot more to KFH than you may suspect. Part action flick, part comedy, part spoof, part homage, there’s enough here to satisfy just about everyone.

Chow, who wrote, produced, and directed the film, also stars as Sing, a dim-witted wannabe thug who attempts to swindle lowly residents of Pig Sty Alley, and inadvertently sets off a war between the slum-dwellers and the fearsome Axe Gang. The special effects are fantastic throughout, and the comedy never lets up and the capacity crowd in attendance at the Riverview never stopped roaring and applauding.

Chow once again makes an excellent star, but it’s Yuen Qiu as the Landlady who really steals the show. Constantly with a cigarette in her mouth, the Landlady rules Pig Sty Alley with an iron fist, and does so while stealing all the laughs from her co-stars.

Beyond the jokes and the dazzling fight scenes, Chow goes the extra mile to appease film fanatics by slipping in subtle references to everything from Spiderman and The Matrix, to The Shining and old Bruce Lee films. The dialogue is witty and entertaining, and the sets are fantastic.

Kung Fu Hustle was a hell of a ride and one heck of a way to start off our film festival experience. Be sure to check this one out when it opens nationwide mid-April.

Yang Ban Xi – the 8 Modelworks
China/The Netherlands
Director: Yang Ting Yuen
Theater: McNally Smith Auditorium

Fans of Farewell My Concubine (Ba wang bie ji) will be familiar with the subject matter of this interesting documentary. During the so-called “cultural revolution” of China during the reign of Chairman Mao, propaganda replaced traditional opera. Madame Mao, a once mediocre performer herself, spearheaded the movement to replace all forms of entertainment with the Yang Ban Xi, which was the name for this new medium.

Yang Ting Yuen does a marvelous job of introducing the subject matter to audiences that not only aren’t familiar with 20th Century Chinese history, but also probably don’t care. He interviews former performers, directors, and composers of the Yang Ban Xi, as well as those performers who were blacklisted and not allowed to perform. In a fascinating twist, we also get to see what happened to the Yang Ban Xi participants once Mao died and the “Gang of Four” fell from power. Most interesting is watching the most famous Yang Ban Xi performer return to the stage after over a decade of absence.

In trying to show how the Yang Ban Xi’s influence persists in the today’s Chinese youth, we’re unfortunately forced to sit through awkward and misplaced MTV-style dance routines that seem to pop up out of nowhere. The point of these performances is understood, but that doesn’t help their awkward placement. For example, what begins as an interesting interview with a taxi cab driver inexplicably mutates into a bizarre music video.

Nevertheless, Yang Ban Xi – the 8 Modelworks is an extremely interesting and educational experience; especially if you have any interest whatsoever in the recent history of China.

The Floating Landscape
Hong Kong
Director: Carol Lai
Theater: Block E

Carol Lai Miu-suet has done a remarkable job telling a story of love and loss set in the trappings of a small, provicial town. The main character, a young girl named Maan should be in the prime of her life but is instead dealling with the loss of her boyfriend to cancer. Going through life in dispair and lonliness, she travels to her former boyfriend’s hometown of Quingdao in search of the inspiration for his last sketch.

Settling down in the small town as a hairdresser, she searches with determination for the spot that haunted her boyfriend in his last days. During her journey she meets a young postman named Lit. Using his knowlege of the town, they beging to search together for the illusive spot and in the process of doing so, awaken feelings long thought dorment.

Utilizing some beautiful imagery and great camera work, The Floating Landscape manages to be both melencholy and meaningful all at the same time. While destined to fall into the romance movie trap, this film manages to avoid many of the pitfalls of it’s American bretheren. Dealing with issues as large as life, love and purpose, The Floating Landscape manages to deal with all the heavy issues in an artistic and poetic way. Wrapping up the story is some wonderful animation that brings the movie to a satisfying conclusion.

With some great performances, suburb camera work and a script that deals with heavy subject matter honestly The Floating Landscape stood out as a stellar entry in the festival.

Edelweiss Pirates
Germany
Director: Niki von Glasow
Theater: Block E

I have to be honest here. I picked this movie because I liked the name. Something about Edelweiss Pirates made me laugh. However, the subject matter is far from humorous and in fact deals with one of the darker periods in European history.

Following the story of two brothers living in Cologne during World War II, the older brother Karl belongs to a group called the Edelweiss Pirates. Non-conformist in nature, their scuffles with the Hitler Youth lead them to bigger confrontations with the Gestapo. Karl’s younger brother, Peter, belongs to the Hitler Youth out of devotion to his father, a soldier in Hitler’s army. A wounded, escaped prisoner encounters the boys and takes residence in the house of a local women.

As the prisoner heals, he begins to embed himself in the life of Karl and brings danger to the family. Leading to a failed attack on the Gestapo and a bungled resque of the captured family Karl and his brother find themselves the captives of the Gestapo. Threatened with torture and reprisals Peter refuses to coporate with the Gestapo and hangs with the other Edelweiss Pirates as Karl looks on.

A dark and dismal film dealing with decisions of ideology in times of war, Edelweiss Pirates tells the story of a group of young people firmly against the policies of Hitler. An interesting tale with a dim ending, it once again forces us to reallize the horible period in European history had more concequences than we realize.

The Taste of Tea
Japan
Director: Katsuhito Ishii
Theater: Lagoon Cinema

One of the great things about foreign films is their ability to take you to real places you’ve never been. The Taste of Tea is a hilarious comedy based on the Haruno family who lives in the Japanese countryside. Best compared to the Wes Anderson film The Royal Tenenbaums, each family member has their own unique story to tell. There’s Hajime, an awkward teenager who’s doing his best to confront the girl he loves. His sister, Sachiko, sees visions of a giant version of herself and she spends the entire movie trying to be rid of it. Their uncle, Ayano, is a recording engineer looking for his place in life. Yoshiko, the mother, is a manga artist and their father a hypnotist. But perhaps the best character of all is Grandfather, a crazy unibrowed old man who carries around a tuning fork.

Together, the Haruno’s story is subtly hilarious. They run into crazy cosplay fanatics on a train, deal with obsessive pop-star wannabes, foil the plans of cross-dressing bullies, and tell one of the greatest poop jokes ever told.

Some of the scenes tend to be a bit drawn out (we spend a lot of time watching Hajime ride his bike and the ending drags on forever), and sitting in the horribly uncomfortable Lagoon Theater seats didn’t help any. But our patience was well worth it. Director Katsuhito Ishii is responsible for the animated sequence in Kill Bill Vol. 1 and shows off a nice animated sequence towards the end of this movie as well. While we don’t foresee The Taste of Tea receiving a nationwide release here in the states, by all means track it down on DVD if and when it comes out. You won’t be sorry.

Suite Havana
Cuba
Director: Fernando Perez
Theater: Block E

Unfortunately, as we arrived to the screening of Suite Havana, we were informed that it was stuck in customs and would not be shown at the festival. Perhaps that’s what we get for trying to see a movie that shows the ins and outs of Cuba. To learn more about the movie, click the link and check out the official site.

Jimmywork
Canada
Director: Simon Sauve
Theater: Oak Street Cinema

Jimmywork is an interesting film by director Simon Sauve that tells the story of Jimmy. He’s a man in debt and finds himself at a bit of a midlife crises as he approaches his 50th birthday. Desperate to get out from the strain of mediocrity, he poses as an American ad producer and offers his services to a local Rodeo.

As Jimmy tries to sell his ad campaign to the Rodeo, the movie slowly starts turning into a caper movie of sorts. From the Rodeo kitchen, Jimmy tries to extohrt the beef stock from teh Rodeo worht a quarter of a million dollars in an elaborate scheme.

Hard to classify and even harder to explain Jimmywork was one of the more interesting films we managed to see during the week.

The Fearless Freaks
USA
Director: Bradley Beesley
Theater: Bell Auditorium

There really is no other band like The Flaming Lips. Head Lip Wayne Coyne has over the years transformed the band from a noisy punk band into a group of musical visionaries. The Fearless Freaks chronicles the history of The Flaming Lips from the mid-80s until the present using fifteen years of footage. But the genius of the film is that it not only traces the history of the band, it reveals real-life factors that impacted the band and made them what they are today.

We get to see snippets of Wayne’s childhood and his family through old home movies. We see his brothers and the different paths they took, including his one brother the former lead singer and “jock” of the family, and his other brother who Wayne believes is a meth addict. We see the beginning of Michael Ivin’s career as a bass player when they saw him at a party and thought he looked the part. And, perhaps most interestingly, the audience is surprised to find out just how vital Steven Drozd is to the band and just how compelling of a character he is. From his tragic family situation to watching him shoot heroin on camera to listening to Wayne ponder whether Steven will live to see the end of their Christmas on Mars filming, Drozd seems to bare the most in the film.

It was only fitting, then, that after the film the audience was treated to a question and answer session via phone with Steven Drozd. Answering questions from the mundane to the intimate, Drozd was genuine, forthcoming, and more than gracious.

Even though The Flaming Lips have been teetering on the edge of the mainstream, there are many who haven’t had the privilege of experiencing their greatness. Even if you’re not a fan or don’t even know who they are, The Fearless Freaks is a fascinating, gritty, honest, and important piece of film.

Fin

Well, that’s a wrap, folks. Although this was our first experience with a film festival of this magnitude, we feel extremely fortunate to have not seen a single bad movie in the bunch. We hope you’ve enjoyed this feature and hope that it may have inspired you to either check out a few of these films when they either come to your town or hit DVD.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to post them in our forums, or drop us a line at mailbag@teamfremont.com.

Thanks for reading!

Article By: John and Hilden