|
|
|
cologne's 2002 verzaubert filmfestival took place 11/27/2002 to 12/04/2002.
films were performed in other major german cities such as berlin, frankfurt, hamburg and munich, as well.
there are three sisters sonja, wanda, and michelle, and they are very different personalities: sonja, the sex columnist, seeks an answer to the question "what women really want". her womanizing lightly slippery husband is not much of a help to answer this question as he is scared to death by a painful urological infection which requires several unpleasant medical examinations. besides he's having an affair with his wife's sister: wanda.
wanda is a concept artist still hoping for her break through. michelle, the eldest of the sisters, is married to jan, a doctor, who is also treating hugo's urological infection. the doctor's villa is packed with foster kids and refugees as michelle, driven by her social commitment, allowed them to stay.
all of the three sisters seek escape from their daily problems in a dreamlike family property, the portugese strand hotel "paraiso", which belongs to the family for decades. however, this property is endangered, when their gay brother nino decides to marry a woman (!), the cool and calculating bo. under these circumstances (that's in father's last will) nino inherits the hotel and the sisters will be out of the game !
the plot is based on a story by brett easton ellis (author of "american psycho") and was one of the tougher films at the festival.
basically it is a triangular with the fragile virgin college girl lauren (shannyn sossamon), the cynical gay college boy paul (ian somerhalder), who is favouring straight guys, and the "boy next door" type sean (james van der beek), who deals with cocaine at college and has some stress with his drug suppliers.
the film starts with the same situation it finishes with, the "end of the world party" in december: drunken lauren gives up alle hopes to find "mr. right" and allows an accidental party guest to deflower her: but it is not him, as he is filming the scene with a videocamera. a glance over her shoulder shows her, that it is a totally unknown boozy apathically grinning italien guy who is working his way into her. what follows turns this sequence into the meanest sex scene ever shown in a film...
cute 16 years old vincent (refreshingly played by julien baumgartner) is a talented pupil and an excellent swimmer preparing with his sports team for a forthcoming tournament. he even has an attractive girlfriend and their love is anything but solely platonic. nevertheless vincent is gay which he manages to conceal from his parents, classmates and sports colleagues. when the gay classmate benjamin (very sexy: jérémie elkaim) shows interest in vincent in a way that is a little bit too frank, others find out and - due to a graffito on the school front door - everybody knows the next day: many classmates and almost the whole swimming team turn away from vincent, his jealous brother (who feels repositioned in the family) reveals vincent's sexual orientation to their parents. but vincent experiences solidarity from many sides, as well. and he learns, that he has to fight, if he wants to make it with "being different". a well-arranged coming-out story, which gives you courage. never forget what vincent's lover benjamin says: "you have to take your freedom! freedom, that is given to you, is no freedom, it's charity."
i can't understand why the festival organizers showed this excellent film at an unattractive time such as late afternoon. as pics in this review are in black & white i like to mention that the film itself is a colour film and a feast for the eyes!
the plot starts in seoul: the young stock broker suk-won has lost everything (money and wife) and finds himself among the homeless people in seoul central station (shown in a shatteringly realistic way). here ex-mountainclimber dae-shik, a muscular macho with chin beard (yet being a gentle guy behind the hard surface) has the command and takes the stranded ex-yuppie under his protection.
40 years old claudio leads a settled gay life: he works in a bank and has a reliable friend - dario - who is thinking in well ordered paths. claudio regularly goes to the gymn, and claudio regularly goes to the hospital to have his bloodcell ratio checked and to have the latest triple-drug-combination prescribed, as claudio is hiv-positive.
claudio's rigidly structured life gets out of balance when he stumbles into a passionate affair with the bartender andrea. (however, due to a tv-documentation style camera work, the passionate scenes look rather dispassionate.) his lover wants "love pure", without a condome, in spite of knowing that claudio is hiv-infected. so after a few weeks - what a surprise! - andrea's got the sniffles.
the festival's last film dares to cover the taboo topic pedophilia:
15 years old howie blitzer lives with his dad in a luxurious villa in a middle class area on long island. he lost his mom a year ago due to a car accident at long island expressway. his father owns a construction company which is screened by fbi because of accidents resulting from buildings that were not fireproof. there is no genuine communication between father and son. dad gets his rocks off with his new girl friend. howie joins a boy gang which breaks into suburban houses in order to kill the time. this gang is guided by the self-confident narcissus gary, a tattooed and pierced "white trash kid" with an angelic face and a diabolic sex appeal. at the same time gary is the favourite object of howie's erotic fantasies. nobody of the gang has an idea that gary is selling his young body as a hooker at the motorway parking lot.
during one of their forays the gang steals two expensive weapons of the vietnam-veteran big john (brilliantly played by brian cox) who is highly esteemed in his town. soon big john gets onto the boys. the 60 years old man, who is a pedophile, calls howie to account for the theft: "what can you give me that is worth 1000 dollars?" "nothing" howie replies.
when little later howie's father is arrested by the fbi and howie remains left alone, the relationship between howie and big john becomes unexpectedly close...
|
review of the filmfestival 2002)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
)
andreas