The Cliff Edge

BSkyB doubles up its culture shows with Sky Arts 2

Vanessa-Mae gets her own show on the culture channel Sky Arts 2

By Ray Bennett

LONDON — Classical music and opera will be front and centre on a new channel called Sky Arts 2 being launched Oct. 20 by British Sky Broadcasting featuring new shows from performers such as Vanessa-Mae. With the addition of the new channel, Sky Arts will be renamed Sky Arts 1 and will focus on contemporary and niche interests including documentaries and live rock concerts. Sky Arts HD will provide high definition content from both channels.

Sky Entertainment Managing Director Sophie Turner Laing said: “Arts is integral to the Sky platform and we now have the wealth and breadth of diverse arts content to warrant two dedicated arts channels. This is further evidence of our commitment to invest in the content that people love and demonstrates how pay-TV can meet viewers’ individual needs.”

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Locarno: Story of Jen drifts from drama to dull chase

Marina Hands (right) and Laurence Leboeuf shine as a mother and daughter at odds

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — A woman who gave birth to her daughter at 14 strives hard to stop history repeating itself, but the girl’s impetuous passions pose a challenge in Francois Rotger’s complex drama “Story of Jen.”

Set in a French-speaking community in British Columbia, that Canadian province’s vast hinterland plays a role too as the domestic drama transitions into a deadly manhunt.

Well-intentioned and boasting some fine acting, the film suffers from its segue into the parkland with a chase lacking pace or tension. Prospects may be brighter on cable.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: More gruel than flavour in Feast of Villains

Zhou Cheng plays a sad young man trying to deal with the death of his father

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Slow moving and marred by nondescript performances, Chinese filmmaker Pan Jianlin’s “Feast of Villains” (”Liu Mang de Sheng Yan”) describes the terrible state of affairs that afflicts the poor when dealing with faceless institutions.

Obviously heartfelt and deserving attention for its dire topic, the film’s painfully inert structure and absence of energy in most of its players will limit much exposure beyond sympathetic festivals.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: Parque Via and actress Occhini top 2008 awards

Best Actress Ilaria Occhini and Locarno festival artistic director Frederic Maire

Festival juries like to spread their gongs around so it’s no surprise that Ilaria Occhini won the best actress award representing “Black Sea,” which otherwise might have won as best picture.

That prize went to “Parque Via,” honoring director Enrique Rivero rather than his sublime lead actor Nolberto Coria, which allowed Tayanc Ayaydin to step up for “The Market — A Tale of Trade.”

No arguments with those awards although Ireland’s “Kisses” would have made a worthy Golden Leopard winner too and so would Peru’s “Dioses.”

Kelly O’Neill is very impressive in “Kisses,” as are Laurence Leboeuf and Marina Hands in “Story of Jen,” Betty Qizmolli in “Katia’s Sister,” Ksenia Rappoport in “Yuri’s Day” and Dorotheea Petre in “Black Sea.”

On the men’s side, Song Sam-Dong shows great comic timing in the Korean comedy “Daytime Drinking” and John Hurt does the business as usual in “Lecture 21.”

Best director Enrique Rivero celebrates his Golden Leopard in Locarno’s Piazza Grande

Here’s a rundown on the awards:

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Mexico’s “Parque Via,” directed by first-timer Enrique Rivero, has won the Golden Leopard, the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Italian star Ilaria Occhini was named best actress for “Black Sea,” Turkey’s Tayanc Ayaydin won as best actor for “The Market — A Tale of Trade,” and Canada’s Denis Cote picked up the best director award for “All That She Wants.”

The Jury Prize went to “33 Scenes From Life” by Malgoska Szumowska of Poland with special mentions to “Feast of Villains” by China’s Pan Jianlin and Korean Noh Young-seok’s “Daytime Drinking.”

“Parque Via” also won the critics’ prize with the audience award going to “Son of Rambow” by England’s Garth Jennings with the top prize in the Filmmakers of the Present sidebar given to “La Forteresse” by Fernand Melgar of Switzerland.

Most of the winners are reviewed below on The Cliff Edge with more to come soon. Here’s more about the festival

Locarno: Outlander is a rousing good time

Jim Caviezel is just one of the aliens who drop in on Jack Huston’s Viking community

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Here’s a twist for fans of creature features: Aliens versus Vikings. There’s no reason to suppose that if extra-terrestrials visit Earth it has to be in modern times. In Howard McCain’s “Outlander,” futuristic terrors land in 10th century Norway with no idea what they’re getting into.

It’s entertaining nonsense with major league special effects, larger-than-life characters and inventive monsters that draw on the “Aliens” and “Predator” models, being terrifying but also vaguely sympathetic.

The film had its world premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival and, handled suitably by the Weinstein Company in the U.S. and Wild Bunch internationally, it should do crowd-pleasing business all around.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter and more about the movie

Locarno: Tale of a contentedly lonely man in Parque Via

Nolberto Coria plays a man who’s used to his own company and prefers it like that

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Mexican director Enrique Rivero’s first feature film “Parque Via” is the study of a simple man who lives alone and really likes it that way. Slow and repetitious, it uses the structure of a short story that lulls the reader with ordinariness before a stinging climax.

Nothing much happens until that final bang but Nolberto Coria, as the caretaker of a grand house that has been otherwise empty for many years, holds the attention with his grave dignity and dry humor. Audiences will take to the quiet man and his determined solitude with festivals and art houses likely to profit handily.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: Touching tale of female friendship in Black Sea

Ilaria Occhini and Dorotheea Petre make a fascinating odd couple in ‘Black Sea’

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — A clash of cultures and generations gives way to understanding and friendship in Federico Bondi’s touching “Black Sea” (Mar Nero) in which a grouchy Italian widow slowly bonds with her young Romanian caregiver.

Acclaimed Italian star Ilaria Occhini and Romania’s Dorotheea Petre make a lasting impression in a variation on the odd couple theme. Petre was named best actress in the Cannes sidebar Un Certain Regard for “The Way I Spent the End of the World” in 2006.

Full of gentle wisdom and the fresh air of New Europe, the film’s fine acting and general warmth will endear it to festival and art house audiences everywhere.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: Katia’s Sister holds family and film together

Betty Qizmolli as the endearing little sister who dotes on Katia (Julia Seijkens)

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Dutch director Mijke de Jong’s “Katia’s Sister” (”Het Zusje Van Katia”) is an observant snapshot of a young woman who is the heart and soul of an all-female Russian expatriate family living in Amsterdam.

It features an endearing performance by Betty Qizmolli as Lucia, a plain teenager who adores her glamorous older sister and deals patiently with their slatternly mother and addled grandmother.

The film should do well in its home market and thrive at festivals.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: The Market trades comedy for reality at a loss

Tayanc Ayaydin (left) plays a wheeler-dealer who’s not as sharp as he thinks he is

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — An uneven saga about capitalism’s capacity to corrupt the innocent, Ben Hopkins’ “The Market — A Tale of Trade” tries to blend whimsy with harsh reality but doesn’t quite pull it off.

Set in Turkey near the Azerbaijan border in the mid 1990s, the film tells of a man named Mihram (Tayanc Ayaydin) who spots opportunity in a fast-changing economy but lacks the guile and ruthlessness to take advantage.

Framed as a fable related by singer Rojin, the story aims for comedy in depicting Mihram’s inept attempts at sharp trading before turning earnest as he takes on the job of acquiring vital medicine for local children.

Only mildly diverting, the film may enjoy some success in its home territory but reaching wider audiences will prove troublesome.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter

Locarno: All That She Wants just isn’t enough

Rejean Lefrancois and Eve Duranceau are caught up in crime and family intrigue

By Ray Bennett

LOCARNO, Switzerland — Shot in atmospheric black-and-white but lacking clear exposition, Quebec filmmaker Denis Cote’s “All That She Wants” (”Elle veut le chaos”) tries without success to combine a gritty crime story with a portrait of loneliness.

The French title suggests that Coralie (Eve Duranceau) wants chaos and she gets it at a dusty rural outpost where she is the only woman involved with some very nasty characters, one of whom is likely her father.

Moody and sometimes indecipherable, the picture contains some interesting set-ups and decent performances but its descent into violence invites merely indifference. Boxoffice potential appears equally bleak.

Read my full review in The Hollywood Reporter