American Mythologies And Field Diary

Facets Multimedia Center is screening these two documentaries by Israeli-born filmmaker Amos Gitai on successive days, and though I don’t like American Mythologies (1981, 104 min.) nearly as much as Field Diary (1982, 82 min.), when viewed as a pair they show that one can often maintain a sharper focus from the center than from the sidelines. American Mythologies, made around the time of the Iranian hostage crisis and Reagan’s rise to power, is accurately described by Gitai as a montage of visual and aural fragments which represent America for me: a very brutal society with a few people on its periphery trying to behave like human beings. The alienation implicit in that remark points to the film’s limited viewpoint, despite fascinating interviews with Jane Fonda (who poignantly swears that her political radicalization is irreversible), the head of programming for NBC, a fashion designer, a Native American woman, and various hippies. The powerful Field Diary, on the other handwhose negative reception in Israel ultimately played a role in Gitai moving to Franceis coherent both formally and thematically, in part because Gitai is intimately acquainted with his subjects: the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and West Bank, the invasion of Lebanon, and the ways violence against the Palestinians is ‘legitimised.’ Read more

Everybody’s Famous

This likable crowd pleaser (2000)nominated for an Oscar, and predictably trimmed by Miramax for North American consumptionis a good-natured Flemish comedy about a middle-aged factory worker (Josse De Pauw) who’s so eager to make his untalented teenage daughter (Eva Van Der Gucht) a famous recording artist that he kidnaps a pop star (Thekla Reuten) in a harebrained scheme to make the world take notice. This is the first feature I’ve seen by writer-director Dominique Deruddere, and I hope it won’t be the last. 97 min. (JR) Read more

My Life In Pink

Ma vie en rose, the debut feature by Belgian filmmaker Alain Berliner, was one of the most popular films shown at the 1997 Cannes film festival, a delightful comedy about a six-year-old boy who decides he wants to be a girl and the various kinds of consternation this produces in his family and community. Significantly, Berliner cites both Tim Burton and Ken Loach as influences; the Burton input is most apparent in the boy’s favorite TV show, a tacky, surreal fantasy with a Barbie-doll heroine that occasionally suggests Pee-wee’s Playhouse, as well as the Burton spin-off feature, Pee-wee’s Big Adventure. Rich in understanding and insight, this is some of the best Belgian filmmaking I’ve seen outside of Chantal Akerman’s, and it’s a good deal more accessible. 88 min. In French with subtitles. (JR) Read more