Day Five : Sun Oct 16, 2005

0 LOST CHILDREN (OLIVER STOLTZ & ALI SAMADI AHADI - 2005 – Germany). This documentary about child soldiers in the civil war in Northern Unganda is a complete disaster. Not only does it look very messy but the tragic dialogues are dubbed in English. So you get to see for example a mother and child who talk about the war in a mud hut but you hear silly American voices. I left the theatre after 20 minutes, not shocked by the picture but pissed of by the retarded dubbings.

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Guillermo Arriaga, the Mexican screenwriter of “Amores Perros” and “21 Grams”, is the author of the grandiose **** THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA (TOMMY LEE JONES - 2005 – USA).


Tommy Lee Jones, the actor-director plays the role of Pete Perkins, foreman of a Texas ranch. His best friend, Melquiades, a "wetback," is found dead in the middle of the desert. Because the local police have no plans to pursue his murderer, Melquiades is given a summary burial. But Pete decides to investigate the crime himself. He eventually catches the culprit and forces him to dig up Melquiades's body and take it to his native village in Mexico, to give him a burial worthy of the name. This majestic contemporary western complete with chapter headings ("The First Burial," etc.) won the Grand Prix for Best Movie at the festival. Dwight Yoakam is godlike as local Sheriff Belmont and the Mexicans actually do speak Spanish which is a true relief for an American movie.

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0 MY BROTHER’S SUMMER (PIETRO REGGIANI - 2005 – Italy)
A moronic coming-of-age comedy about a teenager who hates the idea that his mother might be pregnant and fiercely resists the prospect of a new sibling. The Vivialdi score proofs that Reggiani has nothing to offer besides very boring and infantile cinema. Awful.

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Although *** BRIDES (PANTELIS VOULGARIS - 2004 – Greece) is an old-fashioned film in both tone and virtues about 700 young mail order brides crossing the Atlantic from Greece to North America in 1922, I found the film charming and visually elegant. The story is captivating and dramatic and though we are talking about a very conventional film, I was moved by the very poignant end. Martin Scorsese was executive producer of this satisfying melodrama, sentimental but heartfelt.