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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 19, 2014)
Page 20 The Portland Observer Black History Month February 19, 2014 WELLS FARGO One history. Countless heroes. ‘The Last Step, ’ an Iranian feature film starring Leila Hatami. Favoritiest0 Watch c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 11 ìi & ■ & * ii « C e l e b r a t i n g o u r n a t i o n ’s p r o m i s e an d p ro g re ss. Black history isn’t just words on a page. It echoes in the footsteps of civil rights marchers. It comes to life with the words of great leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And it continues to ripple through generations, changing us all for the better. Wells Fargo honors Black history, which is American history. Wells Fargo is proud to present The Kinsey Collection: Shared Treasures of Bernard and Shirley Kinsey — Where Art and History Intersect. This nationally touring exhibition helps share the often untold story of African American achievements and contributions to American history. Join us in our celebration and visit wellsfargo.com/kinseycollection to learn more. Together we’ll go far © 2014 Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. All rights reserved. Member FDIC. (1170746J 1062) the U.S. and also a Chinese perspec w tive on the U.S. itself. Wildly popular in China, this film from Hong Kong has been dubbed "the Chinese Social Network." It tells the story of three young men who meet at university, bond over their dreams of studying in the U.S., and end up founding a hugely suc cessful corporation that tutors stu dents in English and coaches them on what they need to obtain a U.S. visa. The U.S. actors in the film are distractingly awful and the plotting sometimes feels clumsy, but in the end I wondered if my perceptions as to the latter might in part reflect some cultural differences; ultimately the film sells its distinctly Chinese perspective on U.S-Chinese rela tions. (Plays again on Feb. 20) ’’The Snow on the Pines” (6.5) is primarily interesting for what it may signal about a shift in Iranian soci ety. It lacks the complexity that I have so admired about other Iranian films (including "The Last Step," discussed below). By Western stan dards, its story of a woman who discovers that her husband has been cheating on her is fairly well-worn territory. But for an Iranian film to focus entirely on the woman's expe rience, including her burgeoning interest in a man not her husband, feels pretty remarkable -- indeed, I was having trouble wrapping my head around the fact that this film actually won awards in Iran. Appar ently it took a couple of years to get the film past Iranian censors, but things must be shifting if this film can gamer critical interest in main stream Iranian cinema. (Plays again on Feb. 20) "Thy W omb” (5) offers the op portunity to observe the culture of one of the Philippines Muslim prov inces, the island community of Tawi Tawi, but doesn't provide the narra tive structure to help non-Filipino audiences understand what they are seeing. The story revolves around a middle-aged fisherman and his wife, Shaleha, a midwife who has never been able to conceive. Shaleha decides, finally, to help her hus band find a second wife. We don't learn enough about their culture to get a sense of why she would make such a choice and to interpret the other complications of the plot, as the two have a loving relationship and it's not even clear that he under stands how this decision will end up affecting her. There also is intermit tent violence in the film that is en tirely unexplained. It's beautifully filmed and often arresting to watch, but leaves a lot of questions unan swered, having offered the audi ence no tools to answer them. (Plays again on Feb. 20) Three of my favorite films have ended their festival run, but are so good that I recommend keeping an eye out for a theatrical or DVD re lease: "Metro Manila" (10), a British film set in the Philippines, is my favorite film at the festival so far. It w on an A u d ien ce A w ard at Sundance and was Britain's sub mission for the Academy Award for best foreign language film; it de serves to be among the nominees since it is better than the four that I have seen. It's the third film o f its talented writer director, Sean Ellis, who wrote the screenplay in English and shot the film in Tagalog, with the help of his strong Filipino cast. It's a bril liantly plotted, beautifully acted, suspenseful and moving story of a couple who leave their farm to seek a better life in Manila and encounter the worst of humanity there. I can't think of a more satisfying thriller, and it also has a really important story to tell. I expect to write a longer review o f this one, which is a strong contender for my own list of the best films of 2014. "The Last Step" (10), which fin ished its PIFF run on Monday, may have dimmer commercial prospects in the U.S. but is also quite wonder ful, in its own way. Inspired by Tolstoy's novella "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" and James Joyce's "The Dead," it explores re lationships between a husband, a wife, and their mutual friend, veer ing back and forth in time. It is clear early in the film that the husband has died, and the action changes time periods frequently, shifting before and after his death. The shifts are filmed without any fade-outs or clues, which is disorienting at first but ends up giving the film a sort of metaphysical quality, blurring the lines of time and space in a manner that mirrors the spiritual world and captures subtleties in the relation ships that might not otherwise be perceptible. Iran continues to produce par ticularly dazzling films; I'm anxious to see this one again because its riches can't be absorbed fully with just one viewing. "Ida" (9) is the last of the three strong Polish films I saw at PIFF this year and may have a shot at a limited U.S. release, as it deals with World War II themes that Americans re spond to and has won awards at several international film festivals. Set in 1962 and shot beautifully in black-and-white, it tells the compel ling story of a lovely young orphan who has spent her life in a rural convent. About to take her vows as a nun, she is instructed by her mother superior to visit an aunt in Warsaw that she didn't know she had, and once there she learns things about her family and identity that she never suspected. The aunt is a beautiful and hard-drinking judge who earned her reputation as "Red Wanda" for prosecuting state enemies. The two women are a study in contrasts, and embark on a journey to find what became of the younger woman's par ents during the war. It's a compelling story, told with restraint and care. Next week: my own list of the best films of 2013, just in time for the Academy Awards.
