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BLACK
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February 15, 2017
Arts &
ENTERTAINMENT
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A sampling of films worth watching at PIFF
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Saturday February 18, 2017
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The sense of disorientation and anger that can follow the loss of a loved one is thoughtfully depicted
in ‘One Week and a Day,’ one of the dozens of screenings to see this month at the Portland Interna-
tional Film Festival (PIFF).
The first few days of regular and
preview screenings at the Portland
International Film Festival (PIFF)
have included some films you can
still catch as the festival unfolds
over the next two weeks.
My favorite of this batch was
“One Week and a Day,” a gem
of a film whose depth is likely to
missed by people who have not
had a major grief experience. It
follows the last day of the sev-
en-day period in which the Israeli
couple at its center sits shiva fol-
lowing the death of their 25-year-
old son, and then the day after.
With a surprisingly light touch,
the film deftly demonstrates how
artificial everything seems after
a major loss -- what really is the
difference, for example, between
day seven and day eight following
the death of one’s beloved child?
Israeli-American Asaph Polon-
sky, directing his first feature, has
captured well the sense of disori-
entation that follows such a loss,
the anger at offers of sympathy
that feel dishonest or insincere or
patronizing, the emptiness and im-
possibility of one’s usual routines.
Beautifully acted and starring an
actor who has been described as
the Larry David of Israel, this is
as humane a depiction of grief as I
have seen. You can see it on Feb.
19 or Feb. 22.
The latest movie remake of the
beloved children’s book “Heidi”
is bracing and delightful. This
German-Swiss production has the
o PinionAted
J udge
by
d arleen o rtega
benefit of a particularly wonderful
young actress in the title role, the
reliable Bruno Ganz as the ini-
tially gruff grandfather whom she
wins over, and the gorgeous Al-
pine setting at the beginning and
end of the film. I was genuinely
moved by the film’s attention to
Heidi’s genuine spirit that fights
to be free, and by the two kind
grandparents who nurture her into
being against the blindness of oth-
ers. This film was a big hit in Eu-
rope and is delightful for all ages,
particularly children old enough
to read the subtitles. You can catch
its second showing on Feb. 20.
“Louise By The Shore” is a lan-
guorous animated film about an
elderly lady who ends up stranded
alone at the seaside village where
she spends her summers after she
misses the final train out. Definite-
ly not meant for children, the film
is instead more of an occasion for
poetic reverie, inviting viewers to
savor Louise’s resourcefulness in
fending for herself and the beau-
tiful rendering of her seaside sur-
roundings, and to sit with Louise’s
dawning realization that no one
misses her at home, her shifts
from resignation to satisfaction
to sadness, and her recovery of
memories of her childhood spent
in the same area. The plot is thin
but this film nevertheless has its
pleasures as a reverie about old
age and death. It plays again on
Feb. 18.
“The Death of Louis XIV,”
though accessible, is definitely
only aimed at the limited art-
house audience with an interest
in spending two hours watching a
very carefully rendered depiction
of the last two agonizing weeks in
the life of the Sun King. Reveal-
ing the king surrounded by doc-
tors with no clue of how to help
him, this depiction of the state
of royal life and of death as the
great equalizer faithfully recreates
accounts of life in Louis’s court
and the circumstances of his final
illness. From a historical stand-
point, it is actually consistently
interesting, provided you find the
history of this time and place and
the chance to watch a slow royal
death in 1715 interesting. It plays
again on Feb. 17.
I did not believe one minute
of “The Son of Joseph,” and not
merely because of its stilted,
mannered dialogue and filming
c ontinued on p age 18