europa, europa!

Caught a few films at the 8th CineEuropa Film Festival at the Shang:


Dying to Go Home (Netherlands)
The premise is fantastic, in the literal sense: the ghost of a Portuguese man who died in the Netherlands has to find a way to have his remains buried in his native soil, or else he won't be able to "cross over". Sounded interesting, so I came to see the movie expecting to be overwhelmed.

And I was, indeed--not by the film, though, but by that Portuguese male lead, Diogo Infante. The cutest ghost in celluloid history since Casper. haha.

Anyway the film started off promisingly--and with good enough focus. It followed Manuel (Infante) from his Dutch grave to his Portugal home as he searched for ways to establish contact with his living sister Julia. But when the story finally brought Julia to the Netherlands (where she began to make somekinduva life of her own, with Manuel's friends), Manuel's character was inadvertently tucked in the periphery. Nothing could be sadder than a passive one-dimensional ghost of a protagonist. I'd take that 90's Swayze-Moore flick over this anytime.

But I'd take that Diogo guy over Swayze anytime. Hehe. Fact of life#1: beautiful people are born, not made.






A bearded Diogo in 1994




Diogo at present









Fact of life#2: beauty fades. Was it drugs, Diogo? Work pressures? Personal problems? The searing, shriveling Portuguese sun? Plain old age? His case brings to mind the likes of Keanu Reeves and Leslie Cheung. Faded beauties. So sad.


Kroko (Germany)
kroko with a down syndrome dude
kroko in her bad-a$$ mode

Underage German ghetto goddess gets caught in a petty crime, sentenced to do some time in a home for Down Syndrome patients, gradually gets turned around. Realistic, subtle treatment to an aspirational theme...arthouse style. The open ending totally escaped me (Europeans love non-closures, don't they?), but that didn't take away the film's loveliness. And the uber-gorgeous German actress (whose difficult-to-pronounce name escapes me now) was just too glaring to not merit a mention here. Never thought a girl who didn't look like the average sweetheart-next-door (understatement! those eyes can split a man in two. HA-HA-HA) could be so dang beautiful. And this looker can act.






"Kroko", playing the sweetheart-next-door role in real life










The Buttoners (Czech Republic)



Of the four I’ve seen so far, this one for me is the most interesting. I don’t know why but there’s something about the Amorres Perros/Go structure that fascinates me-- makes me want to make something with that structure within this lifetime.

In this film, six seemingly independent short stories are woven together to create a quirky, engaging tapestry that's a bizaare cross between Altman and Ozon. As each story unfolds, each story's connection to the others is revealed. The revelations were so skillfully executed, couldn’t help blurting out, “AH, kaya pala…” aloud nearly everytime.

Haha! How bourgeois of moi. Watch this film. Somehow it made my trek to the Shang worth it.




The Spanish Apartment (France)



A slice-of-life about seven European exchange students in Barcelona, living together in one apartment. Centering on one character (French boy Xavier, played by Romain Duris), this movie offers up amusing vignettes but the plot just kind of plods along...which settled just fine with me. I was just in the mood for a stroll.

I liked the film for its theme: young people struggling to make it in new, unfamiliar territory. Growing up is a universal theme--transcends continents, cultures, sensibilities. And in that aspect, it hooked me.

Was hoping for an impactful/touching/insightful ending, though. But I left my seat with the same wintry discontent that I had felt after seeing Dying to Go Home. So that was the end for Xavier? Running away from his first job and locking himself up in his room to mull over pictures of his housemate-friends? I felt shortchanged.

For the film's humor and insight, though, I enjoyed the stroll-in-the-park pacing. And yeah, Romain Duris is another pretty find in the arthouse block, as well. Haha. The endearing EveryGuy type. Someone you’d be proud to bring home to Mama.



Romain Duris. Come home to Mama.





Lookin to see "Millions" by Danny Boyle (who directed "Trainspotting" and "The Beach"!) and "Faithless" by Liv Ullman (a classic name in world cinema...haven't seen a work of his, hehe) tomorrow.










Met the Monsieur at the French film’s screening. Once the apple of my eye; now, just some Man-up-There who got us cinema seats. Bad beeyatch. Til now I can't get over the fact that I fell for someone who wears an Americana coat with stonewashed denim jeans. Harsh! Am so bad.

Used to call him my "Sacre Coeur", y'know, but the magic is now dead and gone. The mind remembers well, but the heart carries no memory.

An enlightening moment. :-)

One year from now maybe I’d meet my beloved-of-the-moment again. Then I'd say to myself, I fell for a guy who uses expressions like ‘Gaga!’ and ‘Potah ka!’? WTF?!

Let’s leave those sentiments for the future, though. Cause sometimes we can only look at things with clarity and wisdom when we're no longer in the moment. And at the moment, I'm still in the dark. Still blinded.

Still smiling.

Out of sight out of mind, so they say. Gettin there. I take comfort in the fact that everything has a shelf life. And my history shows that I do learn the lesson sometimes.

Right now, though, I'm still looking forward to Christmas. Perfect excuse to get in touch. (Me of 2006: What?! How pathetic could I be?) Maybe by then you’d cease to see me as a semi-friend. Whatever (flimsy) bond that we’d established would have been gone. I'd send you an SMS greeting--the same msg I'd send to every name in my phone directory. Being the polite you, perhaps you’d text back. Maybe a generic reply, or another forwarded "Merry Christmas". And then it would end there. Til next occasion. Til next excuse.

Oh well. Hopefully, by the New Year, I would have finally seen the light.