AFI Fest Report: The Banquet, Glue, Antonia -- Capsule Reviews

Managing Editor; Dallas, Texas (@peteramartin)

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Delayed a bit due to Internet connectivity issues, here's a few thoughts on Saturday's screenings at AFI Fest.

The upstairs auditoriums of the Arclight Cinemas complex filled up early and often on another unusually warm November afternoon. The term "multiplex" -- too often used as a perjorative -- does not convey properly the outstanding picture and sound that are consistently delivered at the Arclight. The seats are comfortable and the sightlines very good, even if you happen to be seated at the far end of a row, at the top or in the row closest to the screen.

First up for me was Hong Kong's official submission for the Best Foreign Language Oscar.

A dazzling fashion show, The Banquet provides a feast for the senses. The costumes, sets, and photography are all truly gorgeous. The story, based on Shakespeare and translated to 10th Century China, is a devastating tale of romantic intrigue and royal betrayal.

Yet director Feng Xiaogang paces the show as though it were the last supper, and each of its 131 minutes feels twice as long.

ScreenAnarchy's Todd was much more positive in his appraisal after seeing it in Toronto, and Mack's review was, if anything, even more positive. For me, though, the film never ignited, remaining a mute museum piece that was beautiful to look at, but never personally engaging.

Glue (Historia Adolescente En Medio De La Nada) was much more difficult to watch.

From Argentina, director Alexis Dos Santos' debut feature follows three young adolescents as they deal with the first stages of puberty. Their hormones are raging, their emotions fluctuating, and their choices sometimes troublesome.

There is certainly much value, both artistic and social, in recounting the early days of adolescence from an authentic viewpoint. Dos Santos sets the film in a small town in the Patogonia section of Argentina, with humble neighborhoods and wide open spaces nearby. The behavior of the two boys and one girl come across as completely unaffected, which is somewhat remarkable considering that the scenes were largely improvised.

What's lacking is any kind of editorial voice, any sense that choices were made in how the material was presented. It's like a fictional reality show in which the lives of three kids are followed. The formless, plotless shambling nature of the picture may be very appealing to some viewers, but I'm probably too narrative-oriented to appreciate it.

Perhaps if it was televised in shorter segments, it would have been easier for me to take -- or perhaps I'm too far from adolescence to be moved simply by feckless energy -- but the cumulative effect of 108 minutes of watching (no doubt intentionally) muddy, handheld photography soured me on the premise.

Striking a visual balance between the two extremes noted above, Antonia, directed by Tata Amaral, is at heart a story of four female rappers trying to use music to get out of their favela in Sao Paolo, Brazil.

The structure (music or sports provide a way out for the disadvantaged, who must overcome great odds to realize their dreams) is quite familiar, so what makes Antonia such a distinctive, welcome picture is that the characters and their situation are presented with unflinching honesty. Director Amaral avoids cheap sentiment -- you can feel the dangers inherent in the neighborhood, but it's not underlined with menacing music or similar tricks -- and simply presents the struggles of four women.

The women must deal with the men in their lives, pregnancy, children, family disappointments, and the challenge of building a music career, yet they're not depicted as super-heroines.

If Antonia (the name of their group, by the way) finally does not soar, it's probably because it's such a down to earth musical drama about ordinary women who just happen to have a special gift for singing. The highs are not shown to be extremely high, nor the lows to be too low. It's as though the film is saying: "Come, we're too pragmatic for that. We're just trying to get by."

As it happens, that may be the film's greatest virtue.

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