Disfunction and the Other Side
This month’s films center on desire, love and disillusion, so going in the order of this column’s title, we’re going to start with the Orinda Theatre’s free movie of the month.
“Mildred Pierce” should be the movie Joan Crawford is best known for. It’s a sad state of affairs that puts “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane” or “Mommie Dearest” above it, for this film is by far the heartier meal.
As anyone who knows about Joan Crawford could tell you, ambition is something she, and in this case, the character she plays, had a plentiful supply of. Indeed, it would not be too far a stretch to posit that this film was in many ways autobiographical.
The only real difference was her ambition’s goal. In the film, it is focused on her daughter Veda, played with a similar ferociousness by Ann Blyth – while in real life, her ambition was more inwardly focused. In many ways Mildred shares some of the same traits as Nora Desmond from “Sunset Blvd,” though with vastly different reasons and results.
Another aspect of this film’s staying power was its director. To film buffs like me, the name Michael Curtiz is often only synonymous with “Casablanca,” but a quick rundown of his other films easily shows that he was a director of high quality, going all the way back to the age of silent films.
Anyway you look at it, this month’s free movie is not one to be missed. It will screen at the Orinda Theatre on March 21. Please check with orindamovies.com for further details.
The International Film Showcase (IFS) is next with this month’s entry, “Io Capitano.” This sometimes fanciful, occasionally idealistic, often grueling film deals with a hot topic that everyone seems to be talking about these days, namely immigration.
Unlike other films on the subject, it approaches the topic from a slightly different angle.
True, our two central characters decide to leave their home (in this case, Senegal) to seek something better, but their dreams are a little more naïve. Suffice to say, things do not go as planned and we are thrust into a nightmare of smuggling, separation and hardship.
Many who have read to this point may decide to give this film a pass, but I think it important to remind everyone that IFS founders Jo Alice Canterbury and Efi Lubliner have judged this film to be of vital import and therefore not to be dismissed, especially now.
The film puts a human angle on the issue, making you really care about these two young men and the perils they face. By portraying immigration in a straightforward way, it might serve to open your eyes to this very real problem. Go to internationalshowcase.org for the trailer and to orindamovies.com for showtimes.
So, until we meet again, remember to always veer toward those wonderful images made of sound and light, for that’s where the reel magic lies.
