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Stories Certainly Serious-Part 4

Film Reviews of the Montreal Festival of New Cinema

By Frederic Eger

Special to The Epoch TimesNov 06, 2006

According to its publicity material, the Montreal

Festival of New Cinema held in October each

year presents a distinctly avant-garde focus.

Viewers watch film and video, installations,

websites and performances with special

emphasis on digital work. The festival has four

main sections�Feature Length Film and Video,

Short and Medium Length Film and Video, New

Media, and Digital Cinema. Reviewer Frederic

Eger has selected his top picks to critique.

(Editors)

The Violin

"The Violin" opens with a documentary-style

camera shot where the audience witnesses a

cold-blooded interrogation and torture of

villagers by military officials in a basement.

After the credits, the almost unbearable

opening scene changes to street

entertainers�an elderly violinist and farmer

Don Plutarco (Tavira), his son Genaro who plays

guitar (Gerardo Taracena) and grandson Lucio

who sings and collects donations (Mario

Garibaldi).

Their street entertainment day job alternates

with providing weapons to the peasant guerrilla

movement trying to overthrowing the country's

dictatorial regime. The three return to their

village where the military has wrecked havoc,

burning down homes, and possibly raping

women. While Genaro prepares to fight back,

Don Plutarco initiates a coincidental yet

fortunate relationship with a former

schoolmate, the cynical military captain

(Dagoberto Gama). The friendship between

Plutarco and the captain plays a key role in this

guerrilla war-military thriller by showing chaos both at the beginning and end of the story. As Don

Plutarco plans to recover ammunition hidden in his cornfields, music and violin lessons play a central role

in the developing trust between the two men. Believing he is above suspicion, the father leads the

military directly to his rebel son.

The opening sequence is memorable yet morbid. The 81-year-old Tavira expresses emotional complexity

as he assists the guerrilla cause even as he loves his son. Tavila is a Sancho Pansa�a harmless-looking old

man who heaps loss on himself because of his own ego. Tavira's real-life loss of his right hand in an

accident at age 13 creates a metaphor of the character's hand that is lost (which is not explained in the

film) and the son he is about to loose.

As the writing/directing debut of Mexican filmmaker Francisco Vargas, "The Violin" is an outstanding piece

of well-driven drama. Not only is the performance of Don Angel Tavira perfectly balanced but the choice

of black and white film to tell the story makes the intent clear�to expose and denounce human rights

violations and social injustices in these places. The impeccable storytelling guarantees a clear success for

an arthouse/indie film that will find its audience. Simply beautiful! Written & Directed by Francisco

Vargas with Octavio Castro (Zacar�as), Dagoberto Gama, Mario Garibaldi, Ferm�n Mart�nez, Gerardo

Taracena (Genaro), Don Angel Tavira (Don Plutarco). Runtime: 98 min.

2:37pm "2:37pm" tells a complex tale of six high school students whose lives are frighteningly

contemporary. The film is, in many ways, another teenage movie about unsatisfaction and despair

but�for once�is about Australian and not American youth. The characters face serious issues of brother-

sister incest and rape, and the shame of a heterosexual kid who wonders if he's homosexual, or at least

bi-sexual. It's really more than a teenage drama: the force and originality of this film make it reality-

based. The script's structure drives the film like a police drama. The film opens with the discovery of a

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suicide note and we are left to find out who committed suicide. With skillful cinematography, Director

Muralli Thalluri chose an original approach to plot resolution by alternating the point of view among the

characters and showing how each character experiences the tragic morning and afternoon. Thalluri also

cleverly uses a documentary approach to some interviews, a kind of "Road to Guatanamo" re-enactment,

while still retaining the narrative stream. At times, pacing weakens the flow of the story and

sometimes�and only sometimes�the viewer could get bored.

The casting and fresh performances of these Aussie kids elicits plenty of sympathy. It is obvious we are

watching a dramatization of an actual tragic event. "2:37pm" shows us that things are not so different on

the other part of the globe. Two thumbs up!

"2:37" was an official selection at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival and the 2006 Toronto International Film

Festival and was the "secret" opening-night film of the 2006 Melbourne International Film Festival.

Written, directed and produced by Muralli K. Thalluri with Clementine Mellor(Kelly), Teresa Palmer

(Melody), Joel Mackenzie (Sean), Frank Sweet (Marcus), Charles Baird (Uneven Steven), Sam Harris (Luke),

Marni Spillane (Sarah), Sarah Hudson (Julie), Chris Olver (Tom), and Xavier Samuel (Theo).

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