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To watch or not to watch? I will tour around Amsterdam’s cinemas and answer this crucial question every Friday. Without mercy, of course. Sucky films will be slaughtered, cinematographic pearls will be appreciated as such. Or the other way around. After all, good taste is in the eye of the beholder.
Argo
Every time I see Ben Affleck I have to think of something a VPRO film critic wrote years ago: ‘In this film Ben Affleck is, once again, looking for his charisma.’ Ouch! But true. Affleck certainly wasn’t the most interesting person in Hollywood. Wasn’t, cause since he started directing (The Town, Gone Baby Gone) he’s proven himself as a proper film maker. In Argo, his third film, he also plays the main part.
The story is about the American embassy in Teheran taken hostage, which started in 1979 and went on for 444 days. Six employees manage to escape and hide in the house of the Canadian ambassador. Time is ticking, because the Iranian authorities found out that six people are missing. Exfiltration specialist Tony Mendez (Affleck) is the guy that has to get them out, working together with the CIA. He, a Hollywood make-up artist (John Goodman) and a director (Alan Arkin) come up with an insane plan: they make up a whole film –’Argo’, with a script, director, actors and production company– and say that the six ‘house-guests’ are in fact Canadian film makers on a location scouting in Iran.
Very unlikely, huh? Well, it’s a true story! If you know a bit about history, you know how this is going to end. Either way, Affleck managed to create a nerve wrecking ending. Too bad the last words on screen are a bit lame. (Something about the importance of international cooperation, yeah yeah yeah..) I forgive him. Go see this!
Watch this film in Cineville’s The Movies. Also in Pathe (all of them).
Atmen
Don’t go to this film if you feel a bit gloomy about the world in general and about western society in particular. In the Austrian film Atmen (Breathing) we get to know Roman (Thomas Schubert), a teenager in jail for murder. After a while he’s allowed to get out to do an internship. Conclusion: no one wants to hire him. The only guy that will take him is an undertaker. ‘Right body in the right coffin in the right place at the right time’, is the motto of Roman’s boss. Awesome. The film starts to get more exciting when Roman starts looking for his long lost sister.
Debuting director Karl Markovics knows how to tell a sharp, barren story and keeps us in the dark about Roman’s character. Will all his frustrations lead to another explosion of violence or is he slowly getting back on his feet?
Watch this film in Cineville’s EYE and Rialto.
Haute Cuisine
You were probably thinking, where did all the French films go? After Les Intouchables no week gone by without the premiering of a new French film. Then it suddenly got quiet. Now there is Haute Cuisine, about the former president’s chief-of-staff Mitterand. Hortense Laborie (Catherine Frot) has a lot of scepsis from the other staff to overcome. When that finally works out, there are more obstacles on the road.
Want to turn off your brain for 95 minutes? Haute Cuisine is a good option to do so. Food and Frenchies, what else do you need?
Watch this film in Cineville’s The Movies and De Uitkijk.
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