Light up the screen:
It’s film festival time!
By DANA DUGAN
Express Staff Writer
Ah, spring. The snows melt, the mountains
start shimmering with a touch of green, we till our soil and the Magic Lantern
Film Festival brings us three weeks of fabulous movies.
Beginning Friday, April 25 and continuing
though Tuesday, May 15, nine movies will be featured.
Foremost is "Rabbit-Proof Fence," an
Australian movie directed by Phillip Noyce. A true story, "Rabbit-Proof Fence"
takes place in 1931 when three aborigine girls—among many—were forcibly removed
from their families and taken to a camp 1,500 miles away at Moore River to be
trained as domestic servants, all part of official government policy.
The girls attempt a daring escape by
following on foot the rabbit proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and
towards their home in Jigalong.
It combines an adventure story with a
history lesson. Noyce's instincts rely on the humanistic issues, without
political posturing. Despite the fact that three children are at the center of
the film, the film plays as a grown up film, not a family drama. Without
hysterics and without cheap sentimentality, "Rabbit-Proof Fence" tells an
extraordinary story.
The other two movies for the first week
are "Standing in the Shadow of Motown" and "Confidence."
"Standing in the Shadows" has received a
great deal of press for its joyously funky look at the anonymous musicians
behind the Motown sound. The movie, which details the rise and a reunion of The
Funk Brothers, won the 2002 National Society of Film Critics Awards for Best
Nonfiction Film.
"Confidence," directed by James Foley has
all of the elements for an entertaining caper: a clever script, enjoyable
performances and atmospheric cinematography. It stars Edward Burns, Dustin
Hoffman, Rachel Weisz, and Andy Garcia. A small-time con goes bad when it’s
discovered the mark happens to be an accountant for a high level mobster. Foley
also directed the movie version of the stylish "Glengarry Glen Ross."
In subsequent weeks, Magic Lantern
features a film adaptation of Charles Dicken’s "Nicholas Nickelby," a
first-love, love story titled "All the Real Girls," "Laurel Canyon" with Frances
McDormand, David Cronenberg’s "Spider" and the French thriller "Irreversible,"
with Monica Belluci and Ralph Fiennes.
The festival ends with a newly minted
print of the stunning classic "Lawrence of Arabia."