The Decade List: Sånger från andra våningen (2000)

Sånger från andra våningen [Songs from the Second Floor] - dir. Roy Andersson

Described by many as set in the near future, that's a claim I'm not sure is supported by the film itself. One of the characters takes up business in selling crucifixes, exploiting the Christian population's strife to cling to religion, stating it's hard to beat a two-thousand year anniversary. Now this could refer to the anniversary of Jesus' crucifixion, but I somehow doubt it. And yet, it doesn't particularly matter when Roy Andersson's brilliant Songs from the Second Floor is set, because during our current economic crisis, the film holds even more weight and significance than when it was released nine years ago. Set somewhere in Sweden, the grief of a dying economy spreads among the city; it even calls to mind a recent Saturday Night Live segment in which Björk, played by Kristen Wiig, discusses the economic hardships in Iceland, with the country's bail-out consisting of the prime minister tying all the country's wealth to a horse and running it into the sea. Songs from the Second Floor was Andersson's third feature, his first in twenty-five years.

In Songs from the Second Floor, Andersson crafts single-take, deep-focus shots of boiling frenzy with its lid on, absurdist comedy at its finest. No explanation is really given to the recession, but it affects the entire town in Altmanesque fashion, with the film's central character Kalle (Lars Nordh) resorting to burning down his own furniture store for insurance money. The recession has turned into a plague of sorts, taking, not least of which, rationale with it. Kalle takes the subway and meets his youngest son Stefan (Stefan Larsson) at a bar covered in soot after his bit of arson and even screams like a craz(ier) person at his institutionalized son Tomas (Peter Roth), who "wrote poetry and drove himself nuts." In these hard times, there's feeble attempts at "upholding history and tradition," which meets its greatest failure when it sacrifices a young girl for the country's strength.

Though a statement like this can be made about most films, writing about Songs from the Second Floor does little justice. Songs from the Second Floor is howlingly funny, in ways I think only matched by Federico Fellini (especially that fashion show in Roma). Thankfully, the film wasn't followed by another artistic disappearance from Andersson, who followed the film up seven years later with You, the Living, a similarly-styled "poem" of lost souls in his native country. It's the second part of a planned trilogy, one which has a helluva lot to live up to.

With: Lars Nordh, Stefan Larsson, Bengt C.W. Carlsson, Torbjörn Fahlström, Sten Andersson, Hanna Eriksson, Peter Roth, Tommy Johansson, Sture Olsson
Screenplay: Roy Andersson
Cinematography: István Borbás, Jesper Klevenas, Robert Komarek
Music: Benny Andersson
Country of Origin: Sweden/Norway/Denmark
US Distributor: New Yorker Films

Premiere: May 2000 (Cannes Film Festival)
US Premiere: 17 August 2001 (San Francisco)

Awards: Jury Prize (Cannes Film Festival)

More Syberberg, No Kluge

Facets announced another epic Hans-Jürgen Syberberg German biopic for June; this time it's Karl May. The company previously released Our Hitler and has Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King set for 26 May. While doing some research on Facets releasing, I also stumbled upon the fact that all four of director Alexander Kluge's films that had been previously announced (Yesterday Girl, Part-Time Work of a Domestic Slave, The Indomitable Leni Peikert and Artists Under the Big Top: Perplexed) have been canceled (or at least delayed).

Also from Facets in June: Diary of a Suicide [Journal d'un suicidé], the feature debut of Stanislav Stanojevic, whose Notorious Nobodies and Subversions have already been released/announced from the company. The film stars Delphine Seyrig and Sami Frey. Strand will release Doris Dörrie's Cherry Blossoms [Kirschblüten - Hanami] on 16 June. For fans of Dörrie, her 1985 comedy Men... [Männer...], which was her international breakout, was slated for 14 April from MVD/Televista, but that may have been canceled (that studios releases are often unauthorized). And finally, Lionsgate will release Hugo Rodríguez's Nicotina, with Diego Luna, on 9 June. Nicotina's release from First Look a couple years ago was canceled before it hit shelves.

And finally, take a look at Filmbo's blog to read more about the Warner Archive Collection, the Warner HTF chat and the unexciting line-up for MYA Communications.

Spring Cleaning in Vancouver's DTES

Recently, a lot of media attention has been given to the question of how to end homelessness and address the problems in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. In an excellent series of articles in the Vancouver Province, called 'Operation Phoenix' (http://www.theprovince.com/news/operation-phoenix/more-top-stories.html) a number of people, myself included, offered thoughts on what needs to be done. I was particularly interested in the answer offered by former city councillor Jim Green when asked to name two actions to drastically improve the housing situation in the DTES.

"It's very simple. The first is to build affordable housing. The second is to employ local low-income residents in the construction trades."

I wish it was so simple! From my observations over the past 18 months, I have come to realize that the problem is really quite complex. Yes, we must build more affordable housing, and yes, we must help people find jobs. But given the level of drug addiction and mental illness amongst those in the community, and the general urban fabric, much more needs to be done.

For one thing, we need to come up with a means to coordinate all of the different organizations and various levels of government that are active in the area, spending millions of dollars every week. I personally favour a form of 'Community Development Corporation or Trust' that could bring together the key players in a concerted effort to work together. Sadly, I do not believe this is happening at the moment.

I would also like to see a demographic shift within the neighbourhood. I am not arguing in favour of a complete 'gentrification' that would replace the existing lower income residents. However, I do want to see a broadening of the socio-economic profile, with more middle income renters and homeowners, and new businesses moving into the community.

I would also like to see the area 'cleaned up'. Now I realize that this is a very politically incorrect thing to say. However, by starting to remove litter, power washing facades and replacing awnings, painting storefronts and generally improving the appearance of the neighbourhood, I believe this would provide the employment suggested by Green, and hopefully offer local residents a greater sense of pride. It might also alter the attitudes of many of us from outside the neighbourhood, who are often disgusted with what we see now.

Some have suggested that even if we did undertake a 'spring cleaning', it would not take long for the area to return to its current condition. To address this concern, I would propose an 'adopt a block' program, whereby community organizations and neighbourhood residents would work together to keep their block tidy. They might even decide to plant some flowers.

With its stock of heritage buildings, and proximity to the downtown, this could be a truly wonderful neighbourhood. Yes, I have been convinced it should remain a predominantly low income community; but it needs a broader income mix to become more a more 'normal' and sustainable neighbourhood. I believe the opening of the Woodwards development is going to be a positive step towards this end. But there will need to be a lot more market housing, retail development and institutional uses to make this happen. And a good spring cleaning could be a good start!
Now I'm off to UBC to listen to Gary Mason, Jim Green and others at a Globe and Mail/BCTV sponsored panel to hear what they propose as the solutions.

Does the world really need another blogger? Probably not.! However...

However, although I am no longer on my world travels, and not running for any political office, I want to share with a small group of readers some of the ideas and projects with which I am involved. And given the events of today, I thought this might be a good time to re-start this blog.

Over the past little while, like many people of my age, I have completely changed how I obtain and share information. While I still have an electronic subscription to the Canwest publications, I don't spend a lot of time reading the major newspapers. Instead, I get my news from blogs...most notably Frances Bula's daily musings, and the CityCaucus.com entries.

I also check Facebook and Twitter, where I occasionally share what I am thinking. I am surprised at how many people seem to follow one another on these sites.

I think the new media are best described in Clay Shirky's book 'Here Comes Everybody'. It offers a very thoughtful account of how communication is changing in the digital world.

So what happened today? My morning was spent at a Board Meeting of the Urban Development Institute that was attended by Premier Gordon Campbell. He described our current situation with a very good analogy...we are all in a small boat paddling feverishly, to avoid going over a giant waterfall. And if we go over, it will take a long time to get back up on top. I think this is true.

While many of us who have been around for a while can understand this, unfortunately, far too many voters are too young to remember what happened when we last had NDP governments. While I personally liked both Mike Harcourt and Glen Clark, and am sure Carole James is a very nice person, I don't want to see the NDP put in charge of our economy during these very fragile times.

Following the meeting, and a very inspirational luncheon address by Campbell, I set off for the Downtown Eastside, where I spoke to a community meeting in the Carnegie Centre. I had been invited to discuss my proposal to create temporary housing with relocatable factory produced modules. While I found the setting heartbreaking, with many homeless people coming up to the microphone to speak, I was very impressed with the respectful, and generally positive response.

Most of those opposed are concerned that if this housing is built, it will defer or maybe even replace permanent social housing. I understand this concern, but still think it is better to have additional housing in place, while we wait for permanent facilities. Time will tell if the province is prepared to support the demonstration project.

Now I'm off to another homelessness discussion...this time at the Public Library.

Aujord'hui

I have what could be the hottest collection of famous people to share a birthday with: Akira Kurosawa, Michael Haneke, Amanda Plummer, Damon Albarn, Catherine Keener, Chaka Khan, John Bobbitt, Hope Davis, Richard Grieco, Keri Russell and Ric Ocasek [Correction: AND Joan Crawford. Holy shit.]

The Decade List: Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes (2000)

Gouttes d'eau sur pierres brûlantes [Water Drops on Burning Rocks] - dir. François Ozon

Water Drops on Burning Rocks was the first of François Ozon's bountiful offerings in 2000, the year in which he presented the two best films of his career (I have yet to see Ricky, however). Adapting the film from an unpublished play written by a nineteen-year-old Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Ozon mapped out his own career, in both his finer and weaker points. Unlike fellow second generation Douglas Sirk admirers like Todd Haynes or Pedro Almodóvar, Ozon's fascination with the melodrama could be attributed best to Fassbinder. While Haynes took a more direct approach, Ozon drew inspiration through the filtration of Sirk's legacy in Fassbinder, acknowledging his own (intended) similarities to the director with Water Drops on Burning Rocks and later Sous le sable, Le temps qui reste and Angel. The film, then, would showcase the talents of both artists before Ozon ventured on his own later in the year.

For Fassbinder, the play wonderfully embodies the sinister humor of his notable early works, like Katzelmacher and Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?, but it's The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant where the most similarities can be found. With all the action confined within the walls of a single apartment, the single set piece transforms into the carefully adorned fighting ring for the four characters. It could be suggested that the claustrophobic restriction of the set would be the catalyst for the uncoiling misery in Franz's (Malik Zidi) life in the same way Catherine Deneuve's apartment in Repulsion would trigger her own demons. However, the apartment better represents the incubation chamber of Franz's despair, being left alone for weeks while his older lover Léopold (Bernard Giraudeau) travels on business. The key to Franz's unhappiness, like Petra von Kant's, lies within him as he becomes unable to extinguish the fact that he's fallen in love with someone who (likely) doesn't love him; the walls just amplify the anguish. Also like Petra (Margit Carstensen), he finds the outlet for its release in other people, spitting malice in the face of his former fiancée Anna (Ludivine Sagnier) just as Petra would to her secretary Marelene (Irm Hermann). Anna, though, is hardly the innocent witness to Franz's transformation. Between the two films (Petra von Kant was released nine years after Fassbinder would have written Water Drops), the most noticeable difference can be seen in the reversal of roles between the two central pairs of lovers, pegging the older Léopold as the predator in contrast to the younger Karin (Hanna Schygulla), whose involvement with Petra suggests self-advancing manipulation.

For Ozon, traces of Water Drops on Burning Rocks can be found in almost all of his subsequent works. Divided into four acts, the film moves from the playfully sexy to the dreadfully bleak, though the path isn't as straightforward as one might assume. Water Drops on Burning Rocks doesn't descend into the austere with each passing act; in fact, it retains its borderline misanthropic humor even after things get hopeless for Franz and Véra (Anna Thomson), Léopold's former lover who had a sex change in order to rekindle the spark in their dying relationship. The moment where Léopold phones Franz's mother at the end of the film painfully recalls the final moments of Why Does Herr R. Run Amok?; this coldness is shared by both of Franz's lovers, with Anna's line "Who's going to father my children now?" placing her on the same careless plane as Léopold.

In terms of characterization, Véra becomes the film's most tragic figure. Officially entering the film in the fourth act after showing up earlier at Léopold's door twice, she is subjected to Léopold's cruelty within her first steps into the apartment. Despite these initial signs of hostility from Léopold (he purposefully refers to Véra as an old "copaine" in order to correct himself with the masculine form of the word to insult her), she plays along with his game of sexual manipulation until it becomes clear that she's only being used to hurt Franz and to seduce Anna. For Franz, Véra's return gives him a glimpse of his own doomed future; however, he succumbs to the hopelessness before Véra even reveals her own inability to stop loving Léopold. Véra emerges as the tragic figure when the film lets her humanity surface. Unlike Franz, she didn't succumb to the unbearable mimicry that occurs in Franz during the third act. She retains the sad hope Franz holds in the second act, when his awareness of Léopold's nature is still balanced by attempts to reconcile his lover's terminal dissatisfaction. Thomson, who enjoyed a wave of popularity in France after the starring in Amos Kollek's Sue and Fiona, gives Véra the perfect amount of compassion and sorrow, which makes the film's final shot, in which the audience learns all they need to know about her future, ever so desolate.

Looking back at Water Drops on Burning Rocks, you can almost see Ozon's entire career up to now inside of it. Between the amazing fourth-act dance number to Tony Holiday's "Tanze Samba mit Mir" (8 femmes), the crippling aspects of a relationship gone sour (5x2), the knowing touches of melodrama (Le temps qui reste), the pop music cues of Françoise Hardy's version of "Träume" (Une robe d'été) and a character's inability to accept the end of a relationship (Sous le sable), all of his films appear to have stemmed from this one film. Although his body of work may vary as much in quality as it does thematically, the same can't be said for Water Drops on Burning Rocks.

With: Bernard Giraudeau, Malik Zidi, Ludivine Sagnier, Anna Thomson
Screenplay: François Ozon, based on play Tropfen auf heiße Steine by Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Cinematography: Jeanne Lapoirie
Country of Origin: France
US Distributor: Zeitgeist Films

Premiere: 13 February 2000 (Berlin International Film Festival)
US Premiere: June 2000 (New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival)

Awards: Teddy Award: Feature Film (Berlin); Best Feature Film (New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival)

The Decade List: Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV - dir. Lloyd Kaufman

In an effort to keep The Decade List from becoming too high brow, I present Citizen Toxie, the fourth installment of Troma's most popular film (it hilariously apologizes for parts 2 and 3) and the second of three recent Troma films (Terror Firmer and Poultrygeist being the others) to exceed its company's legacy of micro-budget gross-outs. Citizen Toxie is crass, obnoxious and, surprisingly, quite funny. A shabby mix of Citizen Kane, The Wizard of Oz and the Bizarro episode of Seinfeld, the film places Toxie, the first superhero ever from New Jersey, in a mix of interdimensional travel after failing to save the school of retarded children from a group of diaper-wearing terrorists. He's planted into Amortville, no relation to, but probably a close suburb of, Morteville from John Waters' Desperate Living, the lawless counter of his beloved Tromaville, NJ. I tried to find Citizen Toxie's most inspired moment, a send-up of Citizen Kane's newsreel sequence, on the Internet with no avail. Citizen Toxie is the best sort of tasteless; its reflexive grotesqueness puts to shame its low-minded Hollywood counterparts, not to mention the slew of putrid imitators (hi, Gutterballs).

With: Dave Mattey, Clyde Lewis, Heidi Sjursen, Joe Fleishaker, Paul Kyrmse, Michael Budinger, Lisa Terezakis, Debbie Rochon, Dan Snow, Ron Jeremy, Barry Brisco, Corey Feldman, James Gunn, Jason Sklar, Randy Sklar, Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf, Julie Strain, Eli Roth, Lloyd Kaufman
Screenplay: Patrick Cassidy, Gabriel Friedman, Trent Haaga, Corey Kalman, Lloyd Kaufman, Matt Levin
Cinematography: Brendan Flynt
Music: Wes Nagy
Country of Origin: USA
US Distributor: Troma

Premiere: 2000 October (Sitges Film Festival)
US Premiere: 2001 November 2