Reykjavík Grapevine - 26.09.2014, Síða 31

31The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 15 — 2014 RIFF
Critic’s
Picks
Five selections from across
the RIFF programme
Words
Mark Asch
Photos
Provided by RIFF
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‘Art and Craft’
dirs. Sam Cullman, Jennifer Graus-
man and Mark Becker
Mark Landis, one of the more prolific art
forgers in American history, shopped for
arts and crafts supplies at Hobby Lobby;
painted, stained and varnished over pho-
tocopies from auction catalogues; and
donated copies of the same works to
multiple museums. While observing the
ease with which the suggestion of lar-
gesse will open art-world doors, the film
is less a meditation on creativity and orig-
inality than a sympathetic character por-
trait. Landis, a diagnosed schizophrenic
often seen hunching over TV dinners in
front of reruns, with few anchors in the
world since the death of his mother, has a
lifelong gift for drafting, but, he says, sim-
ply can’t think of anything new to paint.
‘The Council of Birds’
dir. Timm Kroeger
Supposedly based on an (actually spu-
rious) unsolved mystery, this German
film sustains an atmosphere of obscure
expectation and spiritual portent, with
beautiful, often low lighting, a woodsy
palette of greens and browns, and a
Steadicam slowly weaving through spin-
dly tree trunks alongside characters trek-
king to and around a remote cabin. Three
friends have come to visit the hermitage
of an old friend, an erratic-genius com-
poser whose letters have turned increas-
ingly worrisome; the audio track, mixing
birdsong with ethereal, atonal and un-
canny music, floats above and around the
characters like a ghost.
‘Jauja’
dir. Lisandro Alonso
Alonso, known on the international fes-
tival circuit for beautiful films equally
slow of pace and light of incident, at-
tempts a Western—after a fashion. Viggo
Mortensen, speaking both Danish and
Spanish like a sorta-native, plays an en-
gineer stationed in Argentina with the
Spanish Army, circa 1882, who rides out
of camp in search of his eloped daughter,
and into the unknown. The expansively
lensed Patagonian landscapes—includ-
ing natural hot springs and crumbling
lava flows—make a suitably otherworldly
backdrop, and Alonso, borrowing from
the entire history of film style, slyly un-
folds an intellectually stimulating, dreamy
shaggy-dog story.
‘Topsy-Turvy’, 1999
dir. Mike Leigh
UK cinema titan Leigh, the featured guest
at this year’s RIFF, is renowned for his pro-
cess as much as for his results: though
tightly controlled in structure, his films
retain the spillover liveliness of their pre-
production, during which Leigh and his
trusted cast members develop characters
via long-form, open-ended improvisation.
‘Topsy-Turvy’ is his film about the creative
process, following Gilbert and Sullivan’s
operetta ‘The Mikado’ from its creators’
mid-career lethargy, through its inspira-
tion in the late-19th century “Japanese
mania,” to rehearsals, backstage poli-
tics, and out into the culture. Full to the
brim with process and personalities, the
film’s 160-minute running time seems like
highlights from a wholly realized world. At
the world’s centre is a surprising, comic
and tender performance by Jim Broad-
bent as W.S. Gilbert, known to history
through the wit of his lyrics, but here a
heavy, booming, barking presence, who
casts a long, awkward shadow even with
his jokes.
'Walking Under Water'
dir. Eliza Kubarska
Polish director Kubarska travels to the
South Pacific archipelagos to document
the life of Alexan, an underwater fisher-
man, from the stateless Bajau people, as
he passes along a mix of folklore and ac-
quired knowledge to his young nephew.
There is a larger story here about the per-
sistence of indigenous traditions under
global capitalism, evident in the recycled
speedboat, flimsy siphon used as an air
hose, and homemade spear that Alexan
does his fishing with. But what mostly
stands out is the diving photography:
you’ve never seen so many shades of
blue, from the steely gray clouds to the
electric transparency of the ocean’s sur-
face when the camera looks up at the sun
through a funnel of fish.