Reverend's Report: AFImpossible

I have to come to admire the annual AFI Fest greatly, not only for its programming mix of potential end-of-the-year awards contenders and US premieres of acclaimed foreign language films but because tickets are provided free of charge to many festival attendees thanks to presenting sponsor Audi.  However, this year's fest, which ran November 1st-8th at Graumann's Chinese Theatre and neighboring venues in Hollywood, proved frustrating to me and numerous other people with whom I spoke.  Free tickets ran out quickly online, and some hopeful attendees who secured them were ultimately turned away from over-filled capacity screenings.  Even holding a press pass, which I had, was no guarantee of admission.  Press were permitted in the priority admission line for some screenings but, inconsistently, not for all.  And many of us journalists were denied tickets for the fest's opening and closing night gala screenings of Hitchcock and Lincoln.

Fortunately, I got into a special screening of the family drama/disaster movie The Impossible but not without overcoming unexpected obstacles in the form of the film's uninformed PR reps and an overzealous security guard.  You know a situation has become intense when I -- a generally rules-abiding, non-threatening type open to dialogue -- and said security guard were angrily staring each other down from a maximum of two feet apart at the gate in front of the Chinese Theatre entrance.  Two other journalists were detained with me for not having hard tickets to the screening, which bearers of press passes weren't required to have, but our initial attempts to clarify that fell on deaf ears.  Thankfully, an in-the-know AFI staffer intervened and let us into the theatre after several harrowing minutes.

Our uncomfortable dilemma was nothing, though, in comparison with the horrific destruction and loss of life depicted in The Impossible that many Thai nationals and holiday tourists endured on December 26th, 2004. A massive tsunami generated by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean struck the coast of Thailand and 13 other countries that tragic morning, killing approximately 230,000 people.  Ewan McGregor, who was on hand to introduce the AFI Fest screening, and Naomi Watts star as a real-life married couple on vacation with their three sons when disaster struck.

 

The Impossible is undeniably compelling and frequently harrowing thanks to its very impressive visual and make-up effects.  The always likable Watts (who spends most of the film’s second half incapacitated) and McGregor have no trouble gaining audience sympathy for their characters’ terrible plight, and the young actors playing their sons are similarly good and charming.  Unfortunately, Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (The Orphanage) unnecessarily piles on foreboding touches such as extreme airplane turbulence during the family’s flight to Thailand.  He also employs a  new 3D sound system so loud and strong that it literally made my teeth vibrate.  Such excesses tend to distract from rather than augment this otherwise solid drama.

There is annually a “secret screening” or two announced during AFI Fest, and this year’s biggie was the Los Angeles premiere of Skyfall on November 7th.  This 23rdJames Bond adventure is indeed (in keeping with its advance buzz) one of the very best in the series’ 50-year history.  Daniel Craig truly owns the role now, and his steely blue eyes are more piercing than ever thanks to Roger Deakins’ superb cinematography.  Theatrically-trained, Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) gathered a superb cast and technical team for this 007 outing and their collective proficiency shows.  Judi Dench as M gets a fitting send-off, Javier Bardem as the possibly gay villain is simultaneously terrifying and comedic, and series stalwarts Q and Miss Moneypenny, both MIA in recent episodes, make welcome returns.  Bond is back after a 4-year hiatus and the series is in its best shape since the 1960’s.

Of course, AFI Fest is primarily construed of smaller independent films, many of which receive their world or US premieres.  One lovely example this year was Joe Swanberg’s All the Light in the Sky.  The increasingly revered writer-director, who also photographed and edited here, is also an actor who made a memorably graphic appearance in 2010’s gay indie Blackmail Boys.  Jane Adams (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Brave One) headlines Swanberg’s latest as Marie, a 40-ish actress quietly questioning her career and life in general as she finds herself increasingly losing roles to the likes of Kristen Wiig.  A visit from her young, relationship-testing niece (well played by Sophia Takal) helps give Marie some perspective.  The film, beautifully shot in Adams’ own Malibu beach property, is observant, gently adult and wryly funny.  Meanwhile, the festival’s Audience and Jury Awards went to the similarly low-budget Eat Sleep Die, A Hijacking, Only the Young and Nairobi Half Life. 

Two of the best films I’ve seen in recent weeks weren’t at AFI Fest but had played other festivals prior to their current theatrical releases.  Cloud Atlas is a stunning romantic-philosophical spectacle that gleefully mixes genres as it hops back and forth through 500 years of past and future history.  Its spectacular cast includes Tom Hanks, Halle Berry (the best utilized she has been in some time), Hugh Grant, Susan Sarandon, Jim Broadbent and Bond’s new Q, Ben Whishaw, among others.  Sadly, the pricey film — co-directed by trans filmmaker Lana Wachowski, formerly Larry of The Matrix series’ Wachowski Brothers — has been a box office flop in the US, so I encourage anyone remotely interested to see it on the big screen for which it was intended immediately.

Then there is Flight, the Denzel Washington-starrer instantly notable for its standout shot of a passenger jet flying upside down.  Once that intense sequence ends in a crash thirty minutes into the film, there are still 100 minutes to go that serve as a very effective and positive exploration of the time-honored Twelve Steps in overcoming addiction.  As one of those steps prescribes the recognition that there is a Higher Power capable of restoring an addict to sanity, there is considerable and welcome discussion of faith during the movie.  Washington is award-worthy as the denial-plagued pilot, and it is great to have Robert Zemeckis directing flesh and blood characters once again after his motion-capture opuses The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol. The screenplay does get a bit heavy-handed bordering on the preachy at times, but Flight succeeds as thought-provoking and inspiring cinema.

Reverend's Ratings:
The Impossible: B
Skyfall: A-
All the Light in the Sky: B
Cloud Atlas: A-
Flight: B+

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Preview: Putting the “GLBT” in AFI

While it is not an exclusively or specifically GLBT film festival, Los Angeles’s annual AFI Fest (Presented by Audi) nevertheless has something to offer all lovers of cinema.  The 2011 fest opened with the world premiere of Clint Eastwood’s J. Edgar, which cast the notorious FBI founder (impersonated by Leonardo DiCaprio) in an unquestionably gay light.

This year’s festival, which runs November 1st to the 8th at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and other Hollywood venues, isn’t offering many movies that scream “gay,” but there are several offerings of GLBT-interest to be found.  Best of all, AFI (which stands for the venerable American Film Institute) Fest is absolutely free to the public thanks to Audi and other generous sponsors.

The gala premiere of Sacha Gervasi’s Hitchcock will open the 2012 fest.  Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins stars as the world-renown director during the production of what would become his biggest box office hit, 1960’s Psycho.  While the film reportedly focuses on Hitchcock’s relationship with his wife, Alma (played by fellow Oscar-winner Helen Mirren), James D’Arcy co-stars as closeted bisexual actor Anthony Perkins, who famously embodied the murderous, excessively mother-loving Norman Bates.  It will be interesting to see whether the movie at least alludes to Perkins’ relationships with men, who reportedly included actor Tab Hunter, dancer Rudolf Nureyev and composer Stephen Sondheim.  Perkins died of AIDS complications in 1992.

Night #2 of AFI Fest will spotlight Ang Lee’s lavish, 3D adaptation of the bestselling novel Life of Pi.  This philosophical tale of a young man shipwrecked with a tiger and other wild animals marks the director’s most ambitious effort yet.  Lee won the Oscar for Best Director in 2006 for Brokeback Mountain, his beloved, sensitive look at two sheepherders (Jake Gyllenhaal and the late Heath Ledger) who are secretly in love with one another.  As a result, he is well respected among both gay and mainstream moviegoers.  Newcomer Suraj Sharma, who plays the frequently shirtless title character in Life of Pi, is certainly easy on the eyes.

A number of actors favored by GLBT viewers headline films that will be shown.  Among these are Ewan McGregor in the tsunami-set drama The Impossible; Bradley Cooper in the offbeat comedy Silver Linings Playbook; Kristen Stewart in On the Road, based on bisexual poet Jack Kerouac's autobiography; Maggie Smith in Dustin Hoffman’s directorial debut, Quartet; and singer-actress Kylie Minogue in the semi-musical Holy Motors.

I highly recommend two unconventional, uncompromising romantic dramas from France that will be screened during the fest in the wake of their acclaimed premieres at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.  While both feature heterosexual protagonists, the themes and emotions they evoke are universal.

Amour is writer-director Michael Haneke’s near-perfect exploration of an elderly couple’s commitment to each other in the face of terminal illness.  It won Cannes’ top prize, the Palme D’Or, and is truly one of this year’s best films.  Rust and Bone, meanwhile, depicts the love that develops fitfully between two physically- and emotionally-damaged people.  Academy Award-winner Marion Cotillard (La Vie en Rose, The Dark Knight Rises) plays a whale trainer who loses her legs during a freak accident.  She meets a directionless bouncer and boxer played by Matthias Schoenaerts (who made an international splash in last year’s Oscar-nominated Bullhead and is frequently nude here), who is also father to a young son.  The four lead actors between Amour and Rust and Bone give unforgettably powerful performances.

AFI Fest programmers do take care to include at least a few films of specifically GLBT interest.  2012 offerings include the US premiere of Laurence Anyways, a transsexual tale by young gay filmmaker Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, I Killed My Mother); The Sapphires, an Australian hit about a girl group entertaining troops during the Vietnam War; Ginger & Rosa, a new movie by Orlando director Sally Potter about two teenage girls during the 1960’s sexual revolution; Everybody’s Got Somebody… Not Me, from Mexico, in which a troubled intellectual woman has an affair with an inquisitive teenaged girl; and the short film Alaska is a Drag, about a young gay man living in a small town in rural Alaska.

The festival closes November 8th with the official premiere of Steven Spielberg’s highly-anticipated biographical epic, Lincoln, starring two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis as the 16th president of the United States.  Its all-star supporting cast includes Sally Field (as Mary Todd Lincoln), Tommy Lee Jones, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, James Spader and many more.  Perhaps most significantly, though, the screenplay was written by gay playwright Tony Kushner of Angels in America fame.  No stranger to historical and political topics (he also wrote Spielberg’s Munich a few years back), Kushner could potentially liken Lincoln’s pursuit of freedom from slavery to our modern-day fight for marriage equality.  It will also be interesting to see if the movie addresses rumors about the statesman’s intimate, possibly sexual friendship with another man.

For a complete listing of films and to secure available tickets for screenings and related events, visit the AFI Fest website.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and Rage Monthly Magazine.

Reverend's Reviews: Best of AFI Fest 2011

Though my time at this year's AFI Fest presented by Audi (which ran November 3-10 in Los Angeles) was cut short by the untimely death of a close friend that required me to travel, I was able to see what are shaping up to be several of this year's major awards contenders. I missed screenings of a few other ballyhooed upcoming releases including Shame, My Week with Marilyn and Luc Besson's The Lady, but the following gems I was able to catch at their LA premieres were more than satisfying.

Carnage: I despised the Broadway/LA production of the award-winning play, God of Carnage, upon which Roman Polanski's star-studded movie is based and approached it with trepidation. Imagine my surprise, then, to find the film a vast improvement over its source material. The movie is tighter (it runs a lean 80 minutes), less literal/pretentious in its staging, and -- most importantly for a comedy -- funnier. Polanski wisely adds an opening depiction of the playground violence that instigates the initially-civilized meeting of two sets of parents played by Jodie Foster, John C. Reilly, Christoph Waltz (a particular standout) and Kate Winslet, as well as a delightful denouement featuring a much-discussed hamster. Carnage is scheduled for release in LA and New York on December 16 and will expand nationally in January.

Melancholia: From controversial writer-director Lars Von Trier (Dancer in the Dark, Antichrist) comes what is probably his most hopeful film to date, despite the fact it culminates in the apocalypse. Kirsten Dunst, who was honored as Best Actress at this year's Cannes Film Festival for her performance here, stars as a woman suffering from clinical depression so inconsolably that not even her lavish wedding to True Blood's Alexander Skarsgaard brings relief. She does however find an unusually comforting emotional (and possibly even sexual) connection to a recently discovered planet, Melancholia, that may be on a collision course with Earth. Von Trier employs an all-star cast (including Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland, John Hurt and a chilling Charlotte Rampling), evocative imagery and Wagner's prelude to his opera Tristan und Isolde to spectacular, haunting effect. The movie is now playing in Los Angeles and is available through Video on Demand, although it should be seen on the big screen to be fully appreciated.

We Need to Talk About Kevin: The fearless Tilda Swinton plays grieving, persecuted mother to a teenaged son who slaughtered several schoolmates in Lynne Ramsay's superbly crafted, deeply unsettling adaptation of Lionel Shriver's novel. A Bad Seed for the 21st century, it raises provocative questions about nature vs. nurture when it comes to the development of sociopathic children. As Swinton said at a post-screening Q&A session, We Need to Talk About Kevin is "the play Euripides didn't have the balls to write." I consider Swinton a shoo-in for an Oscar nomination as the searching Eva, with her fellow nominees likely to include Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady, Glenn Close in Albert Nobbs, Viola Davis in The Help, and either Kiera Knightley in A Dangerous Method or Dunst. Swinton's co-star Ezra Miller is also a potential nominee for his frightening performance as Kevin. The film will open theatrically in December.

The final day of AFI Fest 2011 featured the North American premiere of Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson's motion-capture epic, The Adventures of Tintin, as well as award presentations. The Audience Award for best film in the festival's Breakthrough section went to the lesbian-themed With Every Heartbeat, which I reviewed here last week. It is encouraging to see many mainstream film festivals this year honoring GLBT films, with Weekend serving as another example. Our congratulations go out to Alexandra-Therese Keining, writer-director of With Every Heartbeat, and all the filmmakers spotlighted at this year's AFI Fest.

Reverend's Ratings:
Carnage: A-
Melancholia: B+
We Need to Talk About Kevin: A-

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Preview: AFI Fest 2011

The trailer for Clint Eastwood's latest epic, J. Edgar, shows Leonardo DiCaprio as the equally respected and reviled founder of the FBI, J. Edgar Hoover, holding the hand of his #2 and confidante, Clyde Tolson (handsome Armie Hammer), in the backseat of their limousine. While historical evidence of a long-rumored romance between the two men is scant, the new film clearly entertains the rumors. The truth may be revealed in Hollywood tonight, when J. Edgar has its world premiere during the opening night gala for AFI Fest 2011, presented by Audi. It will open in theaters nationwide on November 11.

J. Edgar won't be the first movie to at least allude to questions about Hoover's sexuality. In 1991, Oliver Stone's JFK featured Tommy Lee Jones giving a mincingly-gay performance as Clay Shaw (a.k.a. Clay Bertrand), a New Orleans businessman accused of taking part in a conspiracy to assassinate President Kennedy that involved Hoover's FBI and the CIA. The film also alleged that a ring of early-1960's call boys existed to discreetly serve political power players, including Hoover.

The new movie was written by openly gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, who won an Academy Award for his excellent script of 2008's Milk. Black has been a busy boy lately, having also penned the stage play 8, about the continuing battle in California over marriage equality. 8 had its world premiere in September at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre. In a recent Out magazine interview, Black said of his work on J. Edgar: "To the conservative right, Hoover was a hero. Of course, in the gay community, you hear he was gay and a cross-dresser. I was curious about where the truth lies. Here is a guy who was arguably the most powerful man in the United States in the 20th century... The truth was often more heartbreaking, more horrible than what people think."

Judi Dench, as Hoover's seemingly manipulative mother, and Naomi Watts also headline the film's all-star cast. DiCaprio may seem an unusual choice to play the title character, even with prosthetic make-up. Black defended the casting, saying "Hoover was a pretty good-looking guy in 1919! He was very fit... they called him 'Speedy.' It's not a huge stretch."

What is known about Hoover's relationship with Tolson is that the unmarried Hoover named the man he described as his "alter ego" as recipient of his estate upon Hoover's death in 1972. Tolson also received the American flag that draped the casket at the end of Hoover's funeral, and is now buried near Hoover at the Congressional Cemetery in Washington, DC. Whether Eastwood and Black's J. Edgar reveals anything more remains to be seen. Still, it may emerge as one of the biggest gay-interest movies of 2011, if only due to the pairing of photogenic DiCaprio and Hammer.

Now in its 25th year, the AFI Fest annually spotlights several GLBT-interest films and/or filmmakers. Other screenings in this vein between now and November 10 will include the world premiere of With Every Heartbeat (a.k.a. Kyss Mig), a lovely, sincere domestic drama from Sweden about two women (one of them engaged to a man) who unexpectedly fall in love with each other during a family gathering; an evening with gay auteur Pedro Almodovar, this year's guest artistic director, which will include a screening of his Law of Desire as well as conversation with Almodovar and a yet-to-be-revealed "special guest" (could it be Antonio Banderas?); and Wim Wenders' 3D dance spectacle Pina.

Though I'm not a fan of its source material, I am looking forward to the fest's screening of Carnage. Based on the excessive, inexplicably acclaimed play God of Carnage, the usually-restrained Roman Polanski directs a dream cast (Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly) in the film. I'm also excited about the Los Angeles premieres of We Need to Talk About Kevin, starring GLBT fave Tilda Swinton as mother to a sociopathic son, and Lars von Trier's apocalyptic Melancholia. Watch for my reviews of these awards contenders in my festival wrap-up report here next week.

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Blade California.

Reverend's Report: AFI Fest 2010

By the closing night of Los Angeles's AFI Film Festival November 11, oddball filmmaker and Guest Artistic Director David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet) had filmgoers reciting "I love AFI!" along with him during his endearingly earnest endorsement statement, shown before each of the fest screenings. While not everyone loved closing film Black Swan (reviewed here in advance on November 5), there were enough celebrity appearances, parties with open bars and (best of all) free tickets to all the movies to keep attendees happy throughout the fest's seven days.

I was only able to take in a handful of the 60+ films shown, but each was a gem. Here are my more detailed reactions to them:

Cave of Forgotten Dreams: Speaking of oddball filmmakers, Lynch wasn't alone: obsessive auteur Werner Herzog introduced and responded to questions following the screening of his latest documentary. Following his awful Bad Lieutenant sequel/re-imagining last year, it was great to have Herzog on more secure cinematic ground. In this case, he actually goes underground into France's remarkable Chauvet Cave... and he takes the audience with him courtesy of 3D. Watching this film is truly the next best thing to actually being there, as rock overhangs, stalactites and fossils extend out of the screen. The cave, discovered only in 1994, also houses a collection of highly accomplished drawings estimated to be 32,000 years old. They depict now-extinct mammoths, wooly rhinos, cave bears and lions, as well as an occasional human form and at least one artist's well-preserved handprints. Herzog goes a little off course at times when he asks philosophical questions such as "What constitutes humanness?" and during a postscript about irradiated, albino crocodiles. The movie shouldn't be missed, though, especially since the Chauvet Cave has since been restricted to limited scientific explorations. Reverend's Rating: B+

Rabbit Hole: The audience of the packed-to-the-rafters LA premiere of this domestic drama, based on the Tony-nominated play by David Lindsay-Abaire (who also wrote the excellent screen adaptation), struck me for its broad demographics. There were older, more mature "theatre types" likely familiar with the material; more than a few gay men who would claim to be fans of either Nicole Kidman or Aaron Eckhart, who star, or the film's director, John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Shortbus); and a number of younger film and/or theatre students. There was also a significant turnout courtesy of festival sponsor Clarisonic. The plot, about a married couple grieving the accidental death of their 4-year old son 8 months prior, is inherently engrossing as well as achingly authentic, powerfully moving and surprisingly funny at times. Kidman will likely be among this year's Best Actress nominees, and Eckhart has a shot in the Best Actor category. Mitchell (who looks positively elfin and all of 12 years old in person) is also an award candidate for his lovely, sensitive direction. Reverend's Rating (despite some critical — yet understandable — remarks about God in the film): A-

Chico & Rita: A stunningly animated love story about a pair of Cuban musicians who forge an enduring, affecting relationship despite personal differences, political unrest and international separation. Seven years in the making, the movie (which I pray receives a theatrical release and future awards consideration) features excellent use of light and shadows; a great depiction of 1940's, Capitalist Cuba; a magnificent, period score that includes both standards and original songs; and "cameos" by musical greats Charlie "Bird" Parker, Dizzie Gillespie, Tito Puente, Nat King Cole and Desi Arnaz. The film has a melodramatic vibe that can be excessive despite being proper to the cinematic milieu, historically speaking. I was also reminded stylistically of Ralph Bakshi's films of the 1970-80's, especially his American Pop. Not to be missed by animation, music and history buffs, or anyone who appreciates a good love story between people separated by distance and/or time. Reverend's Rating: A-

Precious Life: It was just announced that this extraordinary documentary is one of 15 currently under Academy Award consideration. The film provides a gripping, intimate perspective on the ages-old conflict between Jews and Palestinians via the plight of little Muhammad Abu Mustaffa. Born without an immune system to Palestinian parents, Muhammad is in need of a delicate bone marrow transplant that can only be performed with the technical expertise found in an Israeli hospital. Journalist Shlomi Eldar (who states at the outset, "I don't like hospitals, and I don't like hospital stories") would find himself inexorably drawn into the situation, ultimately befriending the principals in addition to directing and narrating the movie. The suspicion and skepticism that Muhammad's parent, Ra'ida and Faozi, hold toward the Jews, who are ultimately funding and providing their son's care even as the Israeli military bombards Gaza with missiles, serves as a microcosm of the ongoing strife. Precious Life is powerful stuff. Reverend's Rating: A-

Audience Awards in four categories were presented at AFI Fest's conclusion. Of the films I saw, only Chico & Rita was an award contender, in the World Cinema category, but it was beaten by the New Zealand entry, Boy. The other winners were Hamill (Breakthrough Award), Bedevilled (New Auteurs Award), and LittleRock (Young American Award), about which I heard considerable buzz following its fest screening. Indeed, my only gripe about AFI Fest is that each film is shown only once (although the four Audience Award recipients were screened a second time on the fest's final day, after they were announced as the winners). Since most of the movies are shown concurrently, there is no way for one to catch all of the festival entries. Also, only a handful of them were screened for critics beforehand.

As a festival for the people, though, with many free tickets generously provided through the support of sponsor Audi, AFI Fest is hard to beat. I'm already looking forward to next year!

Review by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

Reverend's Preview: Black is in at AFI Fest

The American Film Institute's now annual (and free, thanks to presenting sponsor Audi and other supporters) festival AFI Fest kicked off last night in Hollywood with the world premiere of Edward Zwick's Love & Other Drugs. Alas, critics were denied admission to the rom com starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Anne Hathaway, reunited for the first time since Brokeback Mountain five years ago. However, I look forward to attending several other fest screenings between now and November 11 and I've already gotten an advance look at its closing film, the imperfect but still terrific Black Swan (more on that one below).

Despite advance reports that Jake and Anne both show plenty of skin in Love & Other Drugs, there is more GLBT interest behind the scenes of various AFI Fest offerings than on the screen, although Black Swan and Heartbeats, the second film by I Killed My Mother writer-director Xavier Dolan, are notable exceptions to this. The current buzz is that Colin Firth, who lost the Best Actor Oscar last year for his gay turn in A Single Man but headlines festival entry The King's Speech, is virtually a lock to win the golden guy this year. Similarly, Natalie Portman, who gives an amazing performance as a psychotic ballerina with lesbian longings in Black Swan, and GLBT fave Nicole Kidman, as a mother grieving the death of her young child in Rabbit Hole (screening this Sunday), are running neck-and-neck for Best Actress among Academy Award prognosticators.

Rabbit Hole, by the way, is directed by John Cameron Mitchell of Hedwig and the Angry Inch and Shortbus fame. Other noteworthy filmmakers debuting movies at AFI Fest include John Sayles (Amigo); Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams, in 3D no less); George Hickenlooper (Casino Jack), who unexpectedly passed away just last week; and actor Diego Luna of Y tu Mamá También fame making his directorial debut (Abel). If they don't represent enough star power behind the camera, David Lynch is serving as the festival's first-ever Guest Artistic Director. Lynch will be presenting a selection of personal favorites, among them the sexually charged classics Sunset Boulevard, Lolita and Rear Window.

Despite having polarized critics and audiences — understandably so — at this year's Cannes Film Festival, I highly recommend Darren Aronofsky's Black Swan to more adventurous filmgoers. Aronofsky is one of the best and most intelligent directors working today, as evidenced by his previous films Pi, Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain and The Wrestler. His "psychosexual" take on gay composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky's classic ballet Swan Lake, starring Portman, has already gotten his leading lady into hot water with her orthodox Jewish father, according to recent news reports. Portman doesn't appear nude in the film, but does have a heated masturbation scene and gets hot 'n heavy with both Vincent Cassel, who plays her demanding choreographer, and company rival Mila Kunis.

The cast of Black Swan, which also includes Barbara Hershey, is excellent, with the exception of a miscast Winona Ryder. I couldn't buy Ryder as an aging prima donna in her brief scenes and it doesn't help that, unlike Portman, we never see Ryder dance. I was riveted by Portman, though, who makes an award-worthy impression that is underscored by her spectacular, increasingly passionate dancing (choreographed by Benjamin Millepied, who also plays the Prince in the Swan Lake scenes). Matthew Libatique's photography and Andrew Weisblum's keep-the-audience-on-the-edge editing are also excellent. The film is scarier than I anticipated and, while some of its "Boo, gotcha!" moments are predictable, at least a couple of them made me jump out of my seat. The Nutcracker, it ain't! Black Swan is scheduled to open in theaters nationwide beginning December 3.

Click here for more information about AFI Fest, running now through November 11, or to attempt to secure any remaining free screening tickets.

Preview by Rev. Chris Carpenter, resident film critic of Movie Dearest and the Orange County and Long Beach Blade.

The American Film Institute Top 10 Special, June 17th

Don't miss the upcoming special from the non-profit American Film Institute, its Emmy-award winning "AFI's 100 Years..." television series. This year they've altered the format; instead of 100 films related to a single genre, this time they will feature AFI'S 10 TOP 10 – the top ten films in ten different genres: animation, fantasy, science fiction, gangster, western, sports, romantic comedy,