Mar 25 2008

Lady Jane

In sharp contrast, Robert Guediguian's Lady Jane is a dark misfire that left me cold. A revenge thriller set in the southern town of Aix-en-Provence, it tells of the reunion of a trio of gangsters who, back in the day, acted like black-clad Robin Hoods. In flashbacks set to the thump of Canned Heat, they hand out a truckload of furs to a working class neighborhood -- but in the present, Muriel (Ariane Ascardie), Rene (Gerard Meylan), and Francois(Jean-Pierre Darroussin) live much more quotidian lives.

When Muriel's son is kidnapped, she contacts her former buddies, setting the stage for what could have been a let's-get-the-gang/band-back-together drama along the lines of What to do in case of fire? But instead of revisiting an apparently politically charged past, the film loses itself to a disappointing revenge plot that leaves a set of promising characters unexplored.

Megane (Glasses)

The fourth and final film of my seventh day at the Berlinale was Megane (Glasses) by the young Japanese director Naoko Ogigami. In this wonderfully droll and touching story about Taeko (Mikako Ichikawa), a Tokyo woman dressed in black and white on a sparsely populated island, everybody is indeed wearing glasses. With understated humor, the meticulously framed film observes how Taeko learns to adapt to an almost surreal set of rules that govern the otherwise empty inn where she is staying.

Every day begins with a curious form of exercise on the beach. The proprietor and a strange old woman keep suggesting she should be "twilighting," without ever explaining what "twilighting" is. Days are taken up with knitting and the consumption of food, which is lovingly shot and detailed: fish, eggs, barbeque, slow-cooking beans, shaved ice, pickled plums, lobster, beer.

Without apparent conflict and traditional drama, Megane is nonetheless full of pleasures, laughs, sensory delights, and an unexpected profundity that sneaks up on you. Since I happen to be married to my co-guide Marcy Dermansky, I feel that I know her taste in movies pretty well, and I'm confident that Megane, which dwells on the faces of beautiful women, generous helpings of delicious food, and turquoise waters lapping at white beaches, would have been one of her favorites at the Berlinale. On the eve of our first Valentine's Day apart, I wished she could have been here to watch it with me.

• Filth and Wisdom. Madonna, 2008. ***
• Quiet Chaos. Antonio Luigi Grimaldi, 2007. ****
• Lady Jane. Robert Guediguian, 2007. **
• Megane (Glasses). Naoko Ogigami, 2007. ****