February 22, 2017
BLACK
HISTORY
MONTH
Page 23
International Films to Enjoy at PIFF
C ontinued FroM P age 16
ence in the life of a family in the
Arctic who experiences a brutal
attack and must fight back to sur-
vive. The conditions and lifestyle
here will be utterly foreign to
most American audiences, which
is part of what makes it fascinat-
ing viewing; acquiring and eating
food, building shelter, and sharing
family intimacies demand full-
body absorption, and perhaps as
a result, dialogue does not drive
this particular story. Impressively
staged and filmed, this is a fasci-
nating visit to what may feel like a
different planet. It plays again on
Thursday, Feb. 23.
“Apprentice” opened to good
reviews at the Cannes Film Fes-
tival and is the second film of a
young Singaporean director, Boo
Junfeng. Its focus is Aiman, a stoic
young prison guard who becomes
the protégée of the prison’s exe-
cutioner, Rahim. The tight focus
on Aiman, who lives with an older
sister whose objection to his pris-
on job gradually becomes appar-
ent, and on the realities of working
inside, opens space to contemplate
the toll that such works takes on
those who carry it out, and the lit-
tle stories we tell ourselves in or-
der to survive (or avoid) the larger
impacts of our own actions and
the actions of others which irre-
vocably alter us. It plays again on
Thursday, Feb. 23.
“The Olive Tree” is a
crowd-pleaser, with its story
of Alma, a young farmer who
is fiercely devoted to her gruff
grandfather, who was fiercely
devoted to a 2,000-year-old olive
tree that Alma’s father and uncle
sold against his wishes when she
was a child. As her grandfather
disappears further and further
into dementia, she vows to lo-
cate the tree and, against all log-
ic, promises to bring it back to
the family land. The film sounds
appealing notes of respect for
nature and one’s literal and met-
aphorical roots, and is well-acted
and produced. The script, howev-
er, is predictable and doesn’t bear
the ring of emotional truth; the
family conflicts are too crudely
presented, Alma’s love interest
is under-developed, and there is
a predictable corporate bad guy.
Enjoyable only if you don’t think
about it too hard. It plays again
on Thursday, Feb. 23 and for an
encore on Sunday Feb. 26.
“Old Stone” presents an ex-
ceedingly grim view of mod-
ern-day China. Told in a gritty,
realistic style, the film follows the
story of Lao Shi, a cab driver who
comes to regret his decision to
save the life of a person whom he
has accidentally hit with his taxi
by taking the man to the hospital
rather than waiting for an ambu-
lance. His reward for doing so is
to be treated with brutal coldness
by the hospital who treats the man,
the police, an insurance compa-
ny, and the drunk passenger who
caused the accident, and to be sad-
dled with endless hospital bills for
the man’s care.
The China that is relentlessly
revealed by director Johnny Ma
(born in Shanghai, raised in Can-
ada, and educated in New York)
is one where all incentives are to
avoid helping anyone and, indeed,
to finish off anyone who might
have a claim to recompense or
help of any kind. Strap yourself in
for a bleak ride; this film plays on
Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 22
and 23.
“Sieranevada” will wear out
all but the most alert and deter-
mined audience members. It takes
place almost entirely in a laby-
rinthine apartment in Bucharest,
where a family has gathered for
an Eastern Orthodox traditional
memorial gathering 40 days after
the passing of its patriarch, Emil.
Over nearly three hours, and per-
haps from the viewpoint of Emil
himself, we move from room to
room and eavesdrop as the fami-
ly members clash and talk around
the family’s barely buried secrets
and conflicts. The connections
between them are mostly not ex-
plained and can only be discerned
with the most focused attention --
which pays off to some extent, but
perhaps not as much as the effort
required would suggest. It plays
again on Wednesday, Feb. 22.
Darleen Ortega is a judge on
the Oregon Court of Appeals and
the first woman of color to serve
in that capacity. Her movie re-
view column Opinionated Judge
appears regularly in The Port-
land Observer.
It Does Good Things
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This page is sponsored by Oregon Lottery
C alendar
SUNDAY
12
Judy Blume born,
1938
Abraham Lincoln
born, 1809 (16th
President)
19
Phonograph Patent-
ed, Thomas Edison
in 1878
26
Levi Strauss born,
1829
William F. Cody
born, 1846 (Pony
Express Rider)
February 2017
MONDAY TUESDAY WEDNESDAY THURSDAY
13
Get a Different
Name Day
First Public School
established (1635)
14
George Washington
Gale Ferris born,
1859
Ferris Wheel Day
15
Norman Bridwell
born, 1928
Susan B. Anthony
born, 1820
Valentine’s Day
20
President’s Day
John Glenn Orbits
Earth in 1962
Love Your Pet Day
27
Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow born,
1807
International Polar
Bear Day
21
Malcom X Assassi-
nated (1965)
Washington Mon-
ument dedicated
(1885)
28
Mardi Gras
Public Sleeping Day
Gold Seekers arrived
in San Francisco
(1849)
R
22
George Washington
born, 1732
Be Humble Day
World Thinking Day
FRIDAY
16
Nylon Patented By
DuPont in 1937
King Tut’s Burial
Chamber opened in
1923
23
International Dog
Biscuit Apprecia-
tion Day
U.S. Flag raised at
Iwo Jima (1945)
17
Random Acts of
Kindness Day
National P.T.A.
Founder’s Day
(1897)
SATURDAY
18
Former planet, Plu-
to, Discovered By
Clyde Tombaugh in
1930
24
25
Steve Jobs born,
1955
Wilhelm Carl Grimm
born, 1786
Quiet Day
Artist Pierre Auguste
Renoir born, 1841