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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (March 20, 2019)
Page 12 March 20, 2019 Film Fest is Window to World C ontinued from P age 2 is PIFF’s Opening Night feature, “Amateurs.” Set in a fictional small town in Sweden, this film’s depiction of the town council’s bid to be chosen as the site of a Ger- man big box store is an excellent backdrop for a funny and uncom- monly wise exploration of expe- riences common to immigrants and outsiders. Clearly the bright- est mind on the town council is Musse, whose family immigrated to Sweden from South Asia; in meetings, he is the one with ideas, energy, and optimism. Given lim- ited budgets, he comes up with the idea of enlisting local high school students to make a film that will make the town’s case for itself-- but that enterprise mostly serves to awaken the unshakeable inter- est of Aida and Dana, two girls Dr. R.H. and Lady Lucy E. Edwards Sr. TRUE VINE MISSIONARY BAPTIST CHURCH 29th Year Pastoral Anniversary Everyone is invited to True Vine Missionary Baptist Church, 4735 N. Commercial Ave., for their 29th year pastoral anniversary celebration, in honor of Dr. R. H. and Lady Lucy E. Edwards Sr., Sunday, March 31, at 3:30 p.m., with guest evangelist Rev. Dr. Robert L. Jeffry Sr., the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in Seattle. The theme of the service will be “Honoring the high calling of God through Christ Jesus,” Philippians 3:13-14. Everyone is invited to come and hear this mighty man of God. True Vine will also celebrate the pastoral anniversary when it serves food after its regular 11 a.m. service. For more information call True Vine Baptist Church at 503-282-2422 who are also children of immi- grants and who have a lot of ideas for a film about their quirky adopt- ed home. Director and co-writer Gabriela Pichler smartly uses the occasion of trying to win a “prize” of European culture to celebrate the perspective of three outsiders, to show how the stakes of using one’s voice vary in different com- munities, and to illustrate some of what we miss when white suprem- acy homogenizes some voices and erases others. This delightful film is available for streaming on iTunes and Amazon. “Transit,” from German di- rector Christian Petzold, begins a regular run at Cinema 21 in Portland on Friday, March 22. Working from a 1944 novel about people fleeing Nazis during World War II, Petzold sets the story in modern-day Marseille. No specif- ic conflict is named, but the police presence and anxiety over citizen- ship translates believably to an imaginable time of tension in Eu- rope (or the U.S, for that matter). The film centers around Georg, trying to escape France, who ends up almost accidentally assuming the identity of a subversive author who has killed himself. Yet the back stories of Georg, the author, his estranged wife, her lover--all remain opaque in a time when people are reduced to their ability to move. It’s an interesting con- cept, well-executed, suggesting how quickly our relationships to movement, time, legitimacy and love can be thrown into chaos. I expect that “Shadow,” a gorgeous martial arts epic by the great Zhang Yimou (whose prior work includes “Hero” and “House of Flying Daggers”), will also have a theatrical run in Portland and will eventually be available online. The story here involves a series of conflicts--be- tween kingdoms and disputed territory, between a king and the highly respected commander of his armies, and between the commander and the man who was chosen as a child to serve as his double (his shadow) in or- der to minimize the dangers the commander must face. The ruse has worked well for years, with only the commander and his wife, Madam, aware of it. But as the commander’s health deterio- rates and the political stakes are raised, gorgeous battles ensue. Zhang uses a palate of mostly desaturated grays and blood red, with resplendent costumes and intense zither music, to create a stylized world of intrigue, beau- ty and bitter conflict. See it on the big screen if you can. Darleen Ortega is a judge on the Oregon Court of Appeals and the first woman of color to serve in that capacity. Her movie review column Opinionated Judge ap- pears regularly in The Portland Observer. Find her movie blog at opinionatedjudge.blogspot.com.
