The
Page 20
Portland Observer Black
History Month
February 18, 2015
Counterpoint to the Oscars
continued
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until February 28th, 2015
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from page 13
constructing this story, writer-di-
rector Richard Linklater created a
container for storytelling that is far
more authentic than the usual film
fare, certainly more authentic than
other coming-of-age stories and
stories about children. He gets ex-
cellent work from the two children at
this film's center, and also great work
from the parents, played by Patricia
Arquette and Ethan Hawke, who
deserve to win Oscars for their per-
formances. The film is full of nuance
about how kids and parents can be
both good and perfectly awful, some-
times in the same moment. The film
has been justly criticized for depict-
ing an unrealistically white Texas in
which the only Latino character is a
crude stereotype; though that isn't
okay, I still think the film succeeds
on its own terms, and I hope Linklater
has absorbed that very fair criticism
in the midst of all the praise he has
justly received.
4. Wes Anderson's films are fa-
mously not for everyone, and I will
cop to being a fan, though not of
every one of his films. "The Grand
Budapest Hotel" is one of his best.
It is characteristically quirky, laugh-
out-loud funny, and packed with
interesting characters who are both
comic and soulful. He has achieved
a meticulous and dazzling visual
style here that feels both borrowed
and original; Anderson loves old
things and puts them to fresh use.
And the film's plot centers around a
very ugly and complicated part of
European history, which gives the
whole enterprise an air of tragic wist-
fulness that makes it linger in one's
memory. Like all of Anderson's best
films, I expect to revisit this one
often.
5. "Metro Manila" was my favor-
ite film of last year's PIFF, and I am
really disappointed that the film
achieved neither a theatrical release
nor the critical acclaim that it de-
serves. That's the price that director
Sean Ellis paid for following the
path that the Filipino story he sought
to tell led him; he worked with Fili-
pino actors, relied on them to trans-
late the story into Tagalog, and ac-
cepted the challenge of directing in
a language he didn't understand.
Those choices surely dimmed both
the film's commercial prospects and
its chances for awards recognition
(since it doesn't look like typical
award-worthy fare), but the pay-
offs in terms of the authenticity and
depth of this story are profound.
This film literally took my breath
away when I first saw it, and I highly
recommend taking its absorbing
journey into the lives of marginalized
people.
6. I admired the film "Whiplash"
and am happy for its Oscar nomina-
tions for best picture and best sup-
porting actor (J. K. Simmons). How-
ever, the antidote to the philosophy
of Simmons' character--a conserva-
tory band director who espouses
the view that great music requires
sadistic abuse at the hands of a
mentor--can be found in the tran-
scendent "Keep On Keepin' On."
This documentary--my hands-down
favorite of the year--explores the
relationship between jazz trumpeter
Clark Terry, who played with the
likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Count
Basie and was a mentor to Quincy
Jones, and a young sight-impaired
pianist, Justin Kauflin. Kauflin is
merely the latest in a long, long line
of musicians who Terry has
mentored and loved into doing their
best musical work, and here one
sees a relationship that is profoundly
life-giving to both men. Both are
struggling with health issues and
life challenges, and both speak the
language of music so well that lis-
tening to and watching them is a
very moving revelation. This is love
Sandra, having persuaded the boss
to hold a re-vote the following
Monday, sets out to persuade a
majority of her colleagues to change
their minds. Marion Cotillard per-
fectly captures Sandra's fear and
agony, and the story unfolds to
demonstrate the array of ways in
which people respond when called
upon to think about interests other
than their own. This acutely percep-
tive film tells a particular and some-
what ordinary story very well; it
also functions as a metaphor for the
ways in which we humans often
badly assess the stakes of our con-
stant battles for resources and en-
ergy. There is much, much to think
about here.
9. I little suspected that "Dear
White People" would end up on my
top 10 list when I first saw it, be-
cause it was so uncomfortable to
watch. That discomfort turned out
PHOTO COURTESY OF C APTIVA C INEMA D ISTRIBUTION
The harsh realities of life in Manila are depicted in a scene from
‘Metro Manila,’ one of ‘Opinionated Judge’ Darleen Ortega’s
most favorite films of 2014.
personified--and it works.
7. "Ida" is another of the films I
saw first at last year's PIFF, and it is
a beauty. Set in Poland in 1962, it
follows a young novice nun's reluc-
tant journey into her own history,
where she discovers that she is a
Jew and that her family history con-
tains terrible tragedy. The director
cast a veteran to play Ida's hard-
bitten aunt, who has managed her
trauma by grabbing at destructive
power, and chose a young woman
he encountered in a coffee shop to
play the title character. Both choices
paid off richly, and the latter actress
(who had never acted before) per-
fectly captures the soul of a young
woman at a crossroads, whose years
of spiritual practice prepare her to
struggle with questions she had not
thought to examine.
8. The films of Belgian directors
Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne are
concerned with realistically depict-
ing the day-to-day struggles of the
working class, and "Two Days, One
Night" is their very finest work to
date. Its main character, Sandra,
about to return to her factory job
after a medical leave, learns that her
job has been eliminated by a vote in
which her foreman presented her
colleagues with a choice between
receiving a significant bonus or
keeping Sandra in her job. What
follows is a weekend in which
to be so rich with ideas and tools for
struggling with them that this clever
film won me over with its sheer am-
bition. It tosses up a whole host of
questions about race that no other
film has dared to touch, and then
wisely resists answering them. This
film contains challenges for every-
one on the spectrum, and that kind
of rare courage and originality de-
serves a shout-out in any year.
10. Finally, another of the films I
saw first at last year's PIFF, "Find-
ing Vivian Maier" tells the story of
an obscure life that contained ac-
tual buried treasure, and gives one
pause to reflect on how often the
same may be true of those we over-
look. Its subject spent her life as a
nanny to a number of Chicago fami-
lies, while obsessively document-
ing her observations of the world in
beautiful and artistic photos which
she never developed, and which
were later discovered by the film-
makers. The film applies a kind of
reverence to the exploration of a
very odd person with a keen eye for
outsiders, and invites reflection on
the neglected art of attentiveness.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on the
Oregon Court of Appeals, the first
woman of color to serve in that
capacity. Her column Opinionated
Judge appears regularly in The
Portland Observer. Her blog is
opionionatedjudge.blogspot.com.