Choices, choices…and more choices

Paul O’Rourke reviews the films screened at this year’s film festival. This installment is from the second day of the four-day event.

Strategic choices are an integral component for TFF attendees each year. Opting to see one film and not another can have a domino-like effect on what you see the next day and the day after that. Anyone who’s experienced the frenetic four days of the festival can confirm what Co-Founder and Co-Director Bill Pence always cautioned: you won’t see all the films you’d like to see…and the ones you don’t see will be really, really good.

The Piano Lesson

With Mr. Pence’s dictum firmly in mind, I set out Saturday morning resolute in my conviction to see every film I wanted to see. The Piano Lesson, which premiered at TFF #51, was high on my list. How could it not be? The movie was adapted from the 1987 work of Pulitzer Prize winning playwright, August Wilson. Denzel Washington’s two sons, Malcolm and John David have significant roles in the film, Malcom making his directorial debut and John David starring as Boy Willie. Denzel produced the film. Samuel L. Jackson, as Doaker Charles, brings to the cast and the film a great connection to the play. Jackson played Boy Willie in the play’s 1987 production at Yale University. And…there is a ghost.

The Piano Lesson, as you might suppose, is about a piano, a family heirloom that holds, in the form of its intricate carvings, the Charles’ family history, back to the days of enslavement. It also holds a few secrets. Boy Willie and his widowed sister, Bernice (Danielle Deadwyler) hold antithetical views on the disposition of that piano and its future role in the family. And that dramatic, soulful and artfully told family story—not to mention, the ghost—give The Piano Lesson great depth and meaning. This film should be on your list, too.

Zurawski v Texas

I knew this documentary was about the women who courageously filed a lawsuit against the State of Texas and its dangerously restrictive anti-abortion laws. I knew where I stood on the issue. I knew I wanted to see this documentary. What I didn’t know was the extent of the suffering (physical, emotional, financial, even marital) dozens of women endured as a consequence of the poor health care they received—if they received any at all—due to the legal restraints placed on their physicians after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. Zurawski v Texas is the brave, powerful yet painful story of not only the 21 women who filed suit in Texas—Amanda Zurawski was the first to sign on with attorney Molly Duane—but for the thousands, perhaps tens of thousands of women with unviable pregnancies or who are at risk themselves and who are now forced, if they can afford it, to travel to other states where abortion health care is available. It is a story, yes; and a painful, horrific, yet inspiring story. But Zurawski v Texas is also a cautionary message; a message that must be transmitted to every corner of the globe. It is that important. Directors Maise Crow and Abbie Perrault are to be congratulated on informing us and inspiring us. It’s now our job to inform and inspire our friends, family, and anyone who’ll listen.

Conclave

The irony of leaving a documentary about abortion rights and waiting in line to see a film about the Catholic Church and the Pope was not lost on me. But, then again, I enjoy that sort of thing.

On its face, Conclave, which premiered at TFF #51, is the story about one of the world’s most followed yet most secretive events—the election of a new pope. Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) has been given the job of officiating over this elaborate and ritualistic process. All is accomplished, as we know, in sequester, insulated so it would seem, from the outside world. The image of the steel window coverings closing as the conclave convenes gives us the sense the world, at least for a time until the election is completed, has come to a stop. Director Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front) is not one to offer only a simplistic competition between Cardinals Bellini (Stanley Tucci), Tremblay (John Lithgow) and Tedesco (Sergio Castellitto), each vying to become the new Pope by whatever means they can employ. Into this political-party-convention-like atmosphere are tossed—both literally and figuratively speaking—a series of bomb blasts. When it appears chaos and conflict will win the day, we meet Sister Agnes (Isabella Rossellini) who becomes the conclave’s moral compass. Resolution and the election of a new Pope eventuate, of course, but only with a few “I didn’t see that coming” occurrences. The directing, cinematography, and cast (Fiennes gives a very strong performance) of Conclave are more than wonderful and should receive much attention and attendance when the film is released on November 1. Go see it!

The Friend

I am—and always have been—a sucker for a good dog movie, and I’m ever watchful, if not fearful for the Old Yeller sort of ending that I’ve never forgotten since 1957. Apollo is a Great Dane (named Bing in real life) and is one of the several friends in the David Siegel and Scott McGehee directed film, The Friend, which premiered at TFF #51 and was adapted from the novel by Sigrid Nunez. That Apollo’s master and great friend Walter (Bill Murray) passes away not too long into this canine-friendly film gave me pause and prompted more than a little dread, sensing what might be coming. We’re not certain at first if Iris (Naomi Watts) is up to the task of becoming Apollo’s new friend, let alone master, after she is “bequeathed” the handsome yet overly large pooch; she appears more concerned about retaining her rent-controlled yet no-pets-allowed Manhattan apartment. Iris, through a few emotional trials and tribulations, finds her way and herself and comes to dearly love her new found friend. You’ll have to see The Friend to find out what happens to Apollo. With apologies to Naomi and Bill, Bing was “Best in SHOW.”