The Top 10 Continues

#8 - A Christmas Tale
directed by Arnaud Desplachin.

I generally deplore Christmas movies. A Christmas Story aside, most Christmas movies these days are excuses to draw families to the theaters between Thanksgiving and December 25 (Four Christmases, par example). Not so, A Christmas Tale.

Desplachin is an auteur's auteur - approaching typical, almost generic, stories with a cinematic zing. The juxtapositions creates a happily unsettling dichotomy. In A Christmas Tale, Desplachin tackles the family melodrama with his typical flare and turns the old genre into an engrossing character study.

The Vuillards are a northern French family with a long and complicated history (much of which is told in a shadow puppet show). Junon and Abel (Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Roussillon) lost their oldest boy to a rare blood cancer when he was six. Three kids later and three decades later, Junon is diagnosed with the same illness just before Christmas time. Thus, the brood is brought togehter, not just to celebrate the holiday, but to also see if anyone in the family is a matching donor to save the matriarch's life. In lesser hands (and with less talented actors), this would be the stuff of a Lifetime movie. In Desplachin's hands, the story of the Vuillards becomes a universal tale of family dysfunction as human mythology (note the names, Junon, Abel, Faunia, Ivna, Baptiste...).

All that makes it sound so academic, possibly depressing. Where the film shines is that it skips along lightly, blending wit, grace, and humor with fist-fights, arguments, and desperation. By the end, you've laughed, loved, cried, and been angered by these people. It's as if they've invited you to pull up a chair to the table, curl up under a blanket on the sofa, and given you a very unique, lasting Christmas present. Unwrap and enjoy.












#7 - In the City of Sylvia
directed by Jose Luis Guerin

If Jose Luis Guerin had made this charming minimalist exercise five or ten years ago, I doubt it would have had such a hard time finding a theater. A daring distributor like Wellspring or Palm (still going, but in a much weaker iteration) would have at least given it a shot in a few theaters here and there, and daring independent cinemas would pick it up a touring show. So, it seems odd that a low-budget Spanish / French co-production that runs only 78 minutes (and contains about three minutes of dialogue) would be a victim of the recession. But the recession has significantly dwindled the numbers of those willing to take the financial risk to back those willing to take such artistic risks.

But what a joyous risk Guerin takes. A man (simply credited as "El" or "him") returns to Strasbourg with the memory of a woman he met six years ago as his motivation. He sits in his hotel room, seeking the inspiration to sketch. He heads to a sidewalk cafe. Eventually, we realize - as he stares at the various women seated around him - this is where he met her. Is that her? What about her? The camera ponders the women, who all have similar enough features. And, then - in one of the most beautiful shots of the year, there she is...on the other side of the glass, inside the cafe.

This is a film that requires patience, and admittedly not all viewers have the patience for it - i'll reiterate - about 3 minutes of a dialogue in a 78 minutes film - but those who do have the patience are rewarded with a trip as light and breezey as a summer in Europe - a reminder of a time when one was young enough to seek lost love and dream of reunions.

Coming tomorrow: Great performances of 2008.