Philadelphia Film Festival & Cinefest '09: Day 8

Old Partner

This Korean documentary tells the story of a 79 year-old farmer and his 40 year-old ox. They're both old, skinny, and nearly broken from a lifetime of hard labor. Watching what the ox is forced to endure makes you want to declare it animal abuse but the fact is that his master is working just as hard to survive. The farmer's wife may or may not be working as hard as the other two but one thing is for sure, she complains enough for the three of them. This movie has a lot of heart and a lot of humor.

The King of Ping Pong

Two middle school(ish) aged brothers are forced to confront some of the harsh realities of growing up in this quirky Swedish film. It's mostly about the rivalry between the older, overweight brother and the younger, handsome one and how it comes to a head when a family secret is revealed. I wouldn't say that I totally loved this one but the characters are very well drawn and the plot takes you down some unexpected turns. Those are two things that I really appreciate in a film.

Number One With A Bullet

This documentary about gun-violence and its relationship to hip-hop culture does a good job of raising issues and moderating the debate but aside from some thoughtful interviews with rappers it doesn't really bring anything new to the conversation. It's sort of a like a "Violence in Rap for Dummies", a great place to go if you don't know a lot about the subject but something you can probably skip if you're more well versed. Also, it suffers from not covering these issues as well as the film I saw next . . .

Heart of Stone

I walked into this basically expecting to see Lean on Me: The Documentary with the big difference being that it took place in Newark, NJ instead of Patterson, NJ. But principal Ron Stone of Weequahic High School isn't the no-nonsense, strict disciplinarian I was expecting. The tactics he employs mirror our strategy in Iraq, which probably tells you how bad things have gotten in our schools. Principal Stone works with the students who head up the local chapters of the Crips and the Bloods to keep the peace between the gangs. His strategy is not to keep kids out of gangs but to teach gang members how to resolve conflicts nonviolently. It's a shocking approach but one that acknowledges the reality on the ground. Stone even goes to the gang leaders when one of their members is having trouble in school. This leads to a comical scene where where the leader of the Bloods lectures one of his gang members about what he needs to do to graduate on time. He sounds more like the kids father than his crime boss. Another interesting thing that sets this documentary apart is the depth it goes into about the history of Newark and how it's changed over time. Weequahic used to be the number one high school in the nation in a largely Jewish neighborhood (one of it's many successful alumni is Phillip Roth). Many of the former students who attended Weequahic during the civil rights movement felt that there was a natural bond between the children of Holocaust survivors and their African-American classmates. Later, the Weequahic Alumni Association was founded as a way for the doctors, lawyers and other professional who graduated in the past to try to give a younger generation access to the opportunities that they had. It's a fascinating story and this film does a wonderful job telling it.

Zift

The title for this Bulgarian film comes from a substance that serves as a chewing tobacco/road filler and is used as a slang term for shit. The festival guide describes it as "a well-crafted thriller that uniquely combines elements of both neo-noir and Soviet pseudo-socialist art" and that's a better summary than I could give you. While it's a very watchable film, I'm not sure it succeeds at everything it attempts (and this is an ambitious film so it attempts a lot). The noirish plot will keep you guessing until the end but part of the reason is that it doesn't totally make sense. Fortunately, the film has the good sense to rebel against its ponderous mix of genres and include a sense of humor about itself. There are a surprising number of laughs in what could have been a very dour film.