Film Favorites of the Week

58th Venice Film Festival

Monsoon Wedding by Mira Nair. Winner of the Golden Lion for best film at Venice, Monsoon Wedding is Indian filmmaker Mira Nair’s colorful Bollywood-like spectacle about a last minute wedding in New Delhi is a colorful multi-arch character soap opera, scripted by Sabrina Dhawan.
Secret Ballot by Babak Payami. An idea by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf provides the background to Babak Payami’s Secret Ballot which received a 10 minute standing ovation at the public screening September 5 and won the Best Director award at Venice 2001.
L'emploi du temps by Laurent Cantet. Director Cantet's third feature, L'emploi du temps is an eerie journey into a man's self-imposed world of pretence, the frightening world of an exile who glides through the motions of life with a strange jester's smile. Golden Lion winner in the Cinema of the Present section.

27th Deauville Film Festival

Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell. Mitchell, who originated the role of the uber-diva, recreates in Hedwig and the Angry Inch his/her stage role and takes on directorial chores in his feature film debut. Picked up yet another award.
Ghost World by Terry Zwigoff. His first feature, the semi-documentary Crumb took the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1994. Ghost World, his second feature, is based on the comic-books of Dan Clowes, and recreates the quirky approach to life of two high-school students Enid and Rebecca. Took home the Jury Prize and Best Actor.

Novocaine by David Atkins. Comedy star extraordinaire Steve Martin is back on the silver screen in Novocaine as Dr. Frank Sangster, a happy and successful man, engaged to the blonde perfection of his assistant (Laura Dern) whose world is shattered when a nutty junkie (Helen Bonham Carter) and her brother begin to infiltrate his life.
Last Wedding by Bruce Sweeney. In his films, Canadian filmmaker Bruce Sweeney has always displayed an unusual outlook on everyday life, one that is everything but glamourous. With Last Wedding he abandons the rural settings of Dirty and Live Bait for the more urban lifestyles of downtown Vancouver.

Rock Star by Stephen Herek. Rock Star takes Mark Wahlberg (Planet of the Apes), playing Chris "Izzy" Coles, through life in a tribute band to front the biggest rock band in the country, in the eighties of course, Steel Dragon.
The Musketeers by Peter Hyams. Director/Cinematographer Peter Hyams brings a reved up adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic, "The Three Musketeers," to the screen starring Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Tim Roth (Planet of the Apes), and Justin Chambers (The Wedding Planner) star.