33rd Annual Philadelphia Film Festival Coverage

Philadelphia Film Society
Producers of the
Philadelphia Film Festival
Oct 17- 27, 2024

My oldest friend’s (we’ve know each other since 1st grade) husband passed away in October. It was unexpected and I am truly sorry for her loss. I was very glad to be able to take some time off before and after the funeral to be with her, in Florida (2 days after Milton) but thankfully, her area was not affected. I was definitely focused on her grief and if need be would have stayed longer, but secretly, selfishly, I was so relieved I could, without guilt, be back in time for the start of The Philadelphia Film Festival. It’s become such a natural part of my fall happenings for so many years running, it would feel weird not to attend.

#PFF33 did not have as large a number of directors and guests as #PFF32 (see last year’s coverage) but sometimes that’s just fine. I captured 3 Q&A’s (see below) and really that’s plenty. As always, Philadelphia Film Society ran a great festival, with plenty to choose from and once again Federal Donuts in the Lounge!

I saw 23 films in the 11 days. Not all received a #MiniMovieReview below,
but they are all listed on my Letterboxd.

BLACK DOG |Director HU GUAN | China | 2024

Synopsis: Like the conflicted, solitary antiheroes of classic Westerns, the stoic Lang (Eddie Peng) returns home after a prison stint to discover his rural Chinese town in decay. The abandoned buildings on the fringes of the Gobi Desert have been commandeered by gangsters and wild dogs. In advance of the upcoming 2008 Olympics, a local dog-capturing team has been tasked with clearing out the animals, including a vicious black dog with a bounty on its head. The only remaining authorities are a vengeful criminal, Butcher Hu, and the slightly more upstanding Uncle Yao (played by famed director Jia Zhangke).

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: It’s obvious that prison has very much changed this character Lang who once was a beloved rock entertainer, now stoic and silent by choice. However, prison might be a better alternative to the barren wasteland in the Gobi Desert he returns to. He’s not close to his father, a dying man trying desperately to take care of the few remaining animals, including a tiger, in what used to be the town’s zoo. And the Snake meat and venom producing family of the man he killed wants to kill him. In the midst of it all, he manages to tame the black dog that’s been terrorizing the remaining inhabitants in town. The dog giving him a sense of purpose and cracking his icy reserve. Despite the bleakness and often aimlessness of the film, the absurdist, almost comedic aspects kept me intrigued.

Cast: Eddie Peng, Liya Tong, Jia Zhangke, Yi Zhang

SEPTEMBER 5 |Director TIM FEHLBAUM| Germany | 2024

Synopsis: This taut, thought-provoking historical thriller takes viewers behind the scenes as a TV news team scrambles to cover the unfolding hostage situation at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Thinking that they’re only in Munich to cover athletics, the ABC Sports team must pivot rapidly once shots ring out at the Olympic Village, just a few blocks from their headquarters. Soon unseasoned young producer Geoff (John Magaro) is tasked with a job that’s far beyond his expertise: figuring out how to broadcast the events in real time to the American people.

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: Admission, I’ve never seen Spielberg’s MUNICH (2005). It was prior to starting Tinsel & Tine and I tended not to watch movies that were about terrorism or war; so I never really paid it much mind, despite all the attention it got that awards season. I was barely born when it happened, so the story of the 1972 Summer Olympics and the militant Palestinian faction calling itself Black September infiltrating the Olympic Village in Munich, taking the Israeli team hostage, is not a clearly known event in my memory. And if you want to know more about those events, then I would imagine it’s best to watch “Munich” because “September 5” is not political. We do not meet the hostages or the terrorist. We meet this ABC Sports, not News, Team reshaping the way TV news covered live events forever. We witness all the practical and impractical minutiae of getting this story out of Munich and across the globe, in a newsroom where no one spoke the language. This created a heightened role for their translator, Marianne (Leonie Benesch, PFF32’s The Teachers’ Lounge) who jumps in with two feet, providing more than just German interpreting. I do love an early moment of sexism highlighted where one of the techs sends Marianne to go get coffee. No sooner does she leave the room a bulletin comes over the radio, in German, only Marianne is away dealing with Folgers or Sanka. Something that would not have happened if the translator had been a man. This tension filled, taunt and focused film has Oscar Awards written all over it!

ARMAND |Director HALFDAN ULLMANN TØNDEL| Norwegian | 2024

Synopsis: In this potent, shape-shifting chamber drama, Renate Reinsve (a recent Cannes Best Actress winner for PFF30’s The Worst Person in the World) delivers a stunning performance as Elisabeth, an actress and single mother whose 6-year-old son Armand has been accused of an unspeakable crime by a fellow student. Over the course of a tense, school-mediated meeting between Elisabeth and the other boy’s mother Sarah (Ellen Dorrit Petersen) and father Anders (Endre Hellestveit), the tortured, intertwining histories of the parents come to light as it becomes increasingly clear that the origins of their animosity predate their sons’ alleged encounter.

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: There was something here that could have been juicy and salacious. Or tense and thought-provoking. Instead, with all the imagined moments and surreal foolishness, it just provoked irksomeness in me.

TWO STRANGERS TRYING NOT TO KILL EACH OTHER |
Director MANON OUIMET, JACOB PERLMUTTER| UK, Denmark, USA | 2024

Synopsis: Joel Meyerowitz and Maggie Barrett met later in life. A slew of marriages, children, and creative endeavors preceded their relationship. Now Joel is 84 and Maggie is 75, and the two are still steering through the often rough waters of marriage while trying to maintain their own artistic identities. Joel, a world-renowned photographer, and Maggie, a self-published author and artist, often find themselves in a place of creative and marital friction. When a sudden incident drastically disrupts both of their lives, Maggie and Joel’s partnership is truly put to the test.

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: This I liked very much! I felt pulled into this marriage. I totally can relate to her feelings of never having reached her full potential in life. But I’d leave all the bitterness behind me if I had a good man who would furnish me with homes in both Tuscany and NYC. She said she appreciated these things too, but was still such a bitch to him over her disappointments. Meanwhile, he is the epitome of a mensch.

ANORA |Director SEAN BAKER | USA | 2024

Synopsis: In films like Tangerine, The Florida Project (PFF26), and Red Rocket (PFF30), director Sean Baker has honed a one-of-a-kind filmmaking style, often depicting those on the margins of American society through a dynamic, deeply humane lens. Baker’s latest is perhaps the greatest distillation of his talents yet, a hilarious yet emotionally resonant screwball romance that rightfully took home the coveted Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Mikey Madison is a revelation as Anora (aka Ani), a Russian-American erotic dancer who spends her nights hustling at a Manhattan gentlemen’s nightclub. There she catches the eye of Ivan (Mark Eydelshteyn), an oligarch’s son whose privileged, carefree attitude provides a breath of fresh air, as well as a chance for escape. Ani and Ivan’s whirlwind romance eventually carries them to a Las Vegas wedding chapel, but this Cinderella story nearly screeches to a halt when Ivan’s parents catch wind of the nuptials.

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: What I liked most about “Anora” is the large number of attendees in their early 20’s both with tickets and waiting in the rush line! Everyone keeps saying the younger generation doesn’t care about going to the movies anymore, that they’d rather just be home on Tik Tok, but this showed there’s still some young movie lovers out there if you present them with something as wonderfully real and audacious as Mickey Madison in ANORA. I also loved the whole nod to “Pretty Woman” as Vanya basically does a Richard Gere type ask of “be my beck and call girl” for a week, for a tidy sum, thing. But the movie really finds its rhythm after the week is up and Vanya’s parents send their goons and a fixer to separate their son from his Vegas bride. Baker captures the action with equal parts tension and humor. He shot the film in a real-life strip club, mansion, airport, etc. Some of the venues were even open for business while the movie was being shot. As he’s done in “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket”, he cast experienced actors alongside nonprofessionals, leaving plenty of room for improvisation. Also as with these two previous films, Baker has created a highly entertaining, yet unlikely protagonist, who takes you by surprise when you realize how invested you’ve become in them winning.

MARIA |Director Pablo Larraín | English Language| 2024

Synopsis: Oscar-winner Angelina Jolie lends her tremendous star power and otherworldly talent to this moving look at another iconic performer: legendary opera singer Maria Callas. Directed by Chilean auteur Pablo Larraín, Maria follows the American-Greek soprano in the final week of her life, as she holes up in a lavish Paris apartment several years after retiring from the stage. Addled by addiction and consumed by memories of her past glories, she still plays the diva in her domestic sphere, lording over her staff and holding forth for an interviewer (Kodi Smit-McPhee) about her past triumphs and heartaches.

What Did I (LeAnne) Think?: I hear a lot of comparisons to Larraín’s SPENCER and JACKIE (click for T&T MiniMovieReviews) it’s impossible not to, after all, it definitely feels like a trio. Wonder if he’ll do more studies of significant women of the 20th Century? As much as I admired these other two films, I had clear criticisms on both, not so with “Maria”. I settled into it immediately. Loving the elegance, autumn coloring, the decor of her spacious Parisian Apartment (Guy Hendrix Dyas ) and more than anything, the costumes! (Massimo Cantini Parrini). I understand many pieces actually belonged to Callas.

The film CONCLAVE is intriguing and a definite contender for this year’s Awards Season, and yet the presence of such well-known actors – Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow keep it from being a great movie – they took me out of Vatican City. Not so somehow with Angelina Jolie as this quintessential Opera Diva. Her performance feels honest. She plays her as a woman still in control, fully aware of her madness, knowing everything she’s doing or not doing will shorten her life, yet she forges on with icy determination.

I was good with every decision of when to go back in time and the significance of those memories. I never cared enough to Google it, but was always unclear as to how Aristotle Onassis (Haluk Bilginercould) could be linked to both Jackie Kennedy and Maria Callas, as it appeared to be the same time period. Now I know, he was seeing both. I would believe he loved Callas more; but a woman like that, no matter how deeply they love, would never be able to fully give in to the love of something as mortal as man. Not when the magic of music stirs them to celestial heights.