YNOT at the Movies

Director Matthew Garrett expands his 2006 short film "Ellie" into his feature debut "Morris County" by adding two more stories: "The Family Rubin" and "Elmer & Iris." All three stories are supposed to be happening in Morris County (NJ), which could be any suburbia town in America.

In "Ellie," 17 years old girl Ellie sees no way out when she copes with her devastating secret. Her reckless acts only deepen her troubles instead of find her an escape. In "The Family Rubin," the husband and wife keep a secret from their young son and the outside world. When the secret is about to be exposed, the desperate husband takes an extreme measure. In "Elmer & Iris," a loving old lady Iris works as a secretary and treats her co-workers as her own family. After she is laid off, she returns to the only family left for her — her husband Elmer. Her daily life seems normal as usual by looking from outside of her house, the truth is anything but normal.

All three stories share one common trait — seemingly normal lives in the suburbia America are filled with secrets and horror, and people are feeling hopeless and despair. The film offers not even a slight hint of hope or comfort. It is uncompromising and utterly depressing.

The world premiere of "Morris County" will be on Feb. 6, Feb. 9 and Feb. 19 at the 11th San Francisco Independent Film Festival (where else?).

The Eleventh Annual San Francisco Independent Film Festival (IndieFest), featuring more than 100 absolutely independent films and videos, runs February 5-20, 2009 at Bay Area theatres including the Roxie Cinemas and the Victoria Theater in San Francisco and the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley.

In 2008, I watched a total of 264 feature films, including 30 films that I screened for the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival that are not listed and the reviews about them are not published.

As always, because it has become very difficult to classify which year a movie should belong to, I put together my top-ten films among those I saw in 2008.

Top Ten Films in 2008

1. Never Forever (두 번째 사랑, South Korea/USA 2007, 90 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
2. And the Spring Comes (立春, China 2007, 101 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
3. Frozen River (USA 2008, 97 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
4. A Gentle Breeze in the Village (天然コケッコー, Japan 2007, 121 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
5. Solos (Singapore 2007, 77 min.)
   
   
   
   
6. Happy-Go-Lucky (UK 2008, 117 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
7. Che: Part One (USA 2008, 128 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
8. Glasses (めがね, Japan, 2007, 106 min.)
   
   
   
   
9. The Unknown Woman (La sconosciuta, Italy 2006, 118 min., Review)
   
   
   
   
10. Mommy Is at the Hairdresser's (Maman est chez le coiffeur, Canada 2008, 97 min.)
    
    
    
    

Forty years after Che's death, Academy Award winning director Steven Soderbergh's two parts biopic "Che" brilliantly bring Che back to life. Academy Award winner Benicio Del Toro's terrific portrait of Che won him the Best Actor Award at 2008 Cannes Film Festival.

Che was an Argentine physician who became involved in political movements fighting capitalism, neocolonialism, and imperialism which he believed to be the root of the poverty in Latin America. At the age of 27, Che met Fidel Castro in Mexico in 1954 and jointed a group called "26th of July Movement." The goal of the organization is to overthrow Cuba's Fulgencio Batista government by a guerrilla force.

On 26 November 1956, Che sailed to Cuba with Fidel Castro and other rebels. Eventually, he rose to a revolutionary hero in Cuban Revolution.

After the victory of Cuba Revolution in 1959, Che was proclaimed a "Cuban citizen by birth" and served as Industry Minister and the president of Cuban National Bank. He traveled around the world to as the spokesperson of socialist Cuba.

In 1965, Che suddenly disappeared from public eye without a trace. Fidel Castro revealed a letter from Che that declared his intention to leave the power and fame in Cuba and to help the fight in other country's revolution. Later, Che reemerged in Bolivia as a leader of an underground guerrilla group consists of Cuba comrades and Bolivian recruits. Che was captured and executed on 9 October 1967.

Director Steven Soderbergh's ambitious effort to bring Che's story to an epic on the big screen results in not only one, but two feature films: "Che: Part One" (USA 2008, 129 min.) tells Che's story during the Cuban Revolution; and "Che: Part Two" (USA 2008, 128 min.) focuses on Che's guerrilla campaign in Bolivia.

• Che: Part One

  "Che: Part One" (USA 2008, 129 min.) (also called "The Argentine," although I did not see this tile in the film) begins with the meeting where Che meets Castro for the first time in Mexico and chronicles the Cuba Revolution led by Castro and Che. Jumping in and out of their battles in Cuban's countryside, the film reenacts Che's visit to the Unite Nation in New York City during his tour around the world.

  The film does a brilliant job to narrative the vast amount of materials and historic contents into a 129 minutes motion picture. A heroic, intelligent, brave, inspiring, charismatic, disciplined, and confident revolutionary vividly lives on the big screen through Benicio Del Toro's impeccable performance. The film is a tribute and celebration to Che's idealism, dedication, and sacrifice.

  When Che was asked to identify the most important quality of a revolutionary, his answer is "Love." That explains why Che passionately fights for what he believes in, and nothing can deter his determination.

  

  Like the speech Che gives at the podium of the the Unite Nation, shot beautifully in black and white, "Che: Part One" has an uplifting tone of victory and exhilaration. This is one of the best films I have seen in 2008.

• Che: Part Two

  "Che: Part Two" (USA 2008, 128 min.) is also called "Guerrilla," a title again I fail to find in the film. This film entirely focuses on Che's underground guerrilla war effort in Bolivia. Che wants to start a revolution in Bolivia and repeats the victory in Cuba.

  After Che disappeared at his fame and power, he reemerges secretly in Bolivia to lead a guerrilla group. However, he does not have the support and alliance as during the Cuba Revolution. The film shows how he loses one battle after another one to the Bolivia Army. In the end, he is captured and executed.

  The condition is horrendous in Bolivia mountains, yet Che's spirit and courage are never shaken. He continues to fight until his last breath for his idea and his belief.

  "Che: Part Two" has a much different tone as "Che: Part One." The film seems showing nothing but how Che is defeated and how he is leading the guerrilla group on the run, instead of attacking. It is quite depressing.

  It would be better if the film contained more historic background and more character development. Instead, the film tells the story like a documentary and follows the exhausted guerrilla fighters escaping from one ambush to another one. Besides Che, I can hardly tell Che's comrades apart, especially when they wear the same uniform and the same beard.

  

  Perhaps I am so impressed by the Che's valorous figure in Part One that I reluctant to see him falling in Part Two.

Director Steven Soderbergh will appear in person for a Q&A on opening night, Friday, January 16, 2009 at the 7:30 show.

The film follows 15-year-old Alaskan Garrett's home-school assignment to study a controversial book written by Dr. Max Gerson that claims diet can cure cancer. He sets off to find the truth about these claims by interviewing many doctors, patients, scientists, and Gerson Institute staff members. He finds out the "beautiful truth"—virtually all cancers and chronic diseases can be cured by Gerson therapy, contrary to the opinions from medical communities and the pharmaceutical industry.

I am sure that many Gerson therapy patients and Whole Foods Market shoppers would warmly embrace Garrett's finding. For everyone else, the film will not convince them to begin to practice the key elements of the Gerson therapy: a strict diet including dietary supplements and coffee enemas.

I certainly agree that removing toxicants through diet is very crucial to improve one's health and to boost body's immune system. This theory is very much agreeing with principles of traditional Chinese medicine. However, I am very much skeptical about diet's effectiveness on curing cancer. As much as I want to believe that the Garson therapy indeed benefit many patients, I am disappointed that the film does not present the data scientifically. Therefore, the claim has no power by the end of the film. If I were the tutor for Garrett, his assignment on Garson research would have come out differently, which would make more sense.

Writer/director Steve Kroschel wraps up his film by sounding out quite a few words as if he was giving an eulogy—"It doesn't matter how many you know, but how many will miss you when you are gone." Perhaps he is trying to distract my thought from figuring out if the claimed "beautiful truth" in this film is actually the truth.

Even though I need more research to come up any conclusion about Garson therapy, after hearing in the film how coffee does to my body, I quit drinking coffee. I drink more tea.

"The Beautiful Truth" opens on January 9, 2009 at Roxie Theater in San Francisco.