Cinematiki Maui

Thank you for showing up for our latest film in such a large number as to create a historical evening at the CINEMATIKI= where we had, in addition to our steady, weekly core audience, the pleasure of receiving a large contingent of screenwriters, actors and directors from L.A. and beyond that  helped us examine, digest and critique “HABEMUS PAPAM” aka “WE HAVE A POPE”…the writer/director/actor NANNI MORETTI in his own prescient way anticipated by a couple of years some of the events that are taking place @ the Vatican right now with all the creative freedom and limitations of his own mind…i would have liked that he explored more of the real issues of the Catholic church in this 21st. century- or any other century- instead of addressing mainly the “parental deficit” of the new Pope and give MICHEL PICCOLI, an emblematic actor that we grew up watching in films like; Belle de Jour, La grand Bouffe, Les chose de la vie = the possibility to show us at this stage of his life and career something more than incipient senility…MORETTI‘s intentions as an intelligent writer/director were good and yet he created a giant mish-mash of styles that kept on taking us through different situations that never quite gel into a sustained symphony…his checkovian opus that started at the hotel where the fugitive Pope  was staying had the surreal quality that added to the delirium of the theatrical representation towards the end with all the cardinals showing up @ the theatre ???…in contrast to the restaurant scenes w/ the chekovian players which were naturalistic  as everyday life for a group of thespians…i found many of the scenes very pleasing as presentations of characters and situations and yet they were disjointed from the film as a whole; the different rides of the Pope in public transportation, the cardinals playing tournaments of cards and volleyball, their usage of medical drugs, the shrink  and her family, etcetera…

it was a real treat to hear as part of the musical soundtrack of the film MERCEDES SOSA singing  “TODO CAMBIA” in contrast to a imaginary and real world where nothing changes…

to be continued ?!?…

Reflecting on God’s Comedy, I definitely plan to archive the scene where Joao de Deus directs the young woman in the swim suit as she swims on his desk. I find that my favorite part of the film and perhaps the most memorable scene in any film I’ve seen. I can only speak of my own gut reaction to the film as a whole. I found the film extremely entertaining: a film about an obsessive slightly perverted man with a passion for poetry, music, dance, literature, swimming and girls..? Count me in! I loved his movements. I loved the way he was effected by classical music. I loved his concern with cleanliness. I enjoyed his ability to archive an organize and label his bizarre collection of women’s pubic hairs (“God shave the Queen”)

Yes, I realize we are speaking about a lot of things that are not politically correct but I must remind you that the history of art is full of such things. Think Duchamp, Man Ray, Luis Buñuel, Dali, Polanski, Hitchcock, Bertolucci, Nabokov, Kubrick, etc.

Remember it is just a film. It is director Monteiro as Joao de Deus exploring parts of his shadow, pushing boundaries and having fun making art.

Tom Sewell