Silentium [Wolfgang Murnberger, 2004]

A cheerfully irreverent comedy thriller. Along with the expected
plot twists and chases, there are some nice surreal moments, and
some good pastiches of other films (the North by Northwest sequence
being my favourite). There are also some well-judged shifts into
more seriously dark territory. Some of the humour doesn't quite
come off, but on the whole it's an enjoyably witty film.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0386038/ ]

Angel-A [Luc Besson, 2005]

This modern transposition of `What A Wonderful Life' and `Wings of
Desire' to Paris turns out to be a charming but slightly
unsatisfactory film.

The film features a beautifully photographed black and white Paris,
and an engaging soundtrack by Anja Garbarek (which includes Jan
Garbarek's haunting tenor saxophone sound). The stunning setting
provides the perfect backdrop to the romance element, but also an
effective one for the comically violent scenes.

What really sustains the film, though, is the wonderful central
performance by Jamel Debbouze. He combines a faultless sense of
comic timing with an ability to bring real sincerity to the central
theme of the film (the gradual realisation of his own worth and the
acknowledgement of the feminine side of his nature). Even when, in
the final stages, the film becomes a little too sentimental and
neatly formulated, his performance sustains some semblance of
credibility.

Although I remain unconvinced about the ending, and other elements
of the film, it is still on the whole very enjoyable.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0473753/ ]

Three Times [Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 2005]

This has been the most `difficult' film I've seen at the festival so
far, but many of its scenes have stubbornly embedded themselves in
my mind.

`Three Times' is a triptych of short stories that unfolds in a
meditative and often elliptical style, where narrative and character
hesitantly reveal themselves by some process of osmosis rather than
overt plotting. The central relationship in each story is played by
the same actors, and therefore comparisons between the stories are
actively encouraged. With each film set in a separate era (1966,
1911, and 2005 respectively) the different natures of the
relationships is fascinating: the surprising innocence of the 1960s
couple - with the first holding of hands, beautifully observed in
close up, becoming a highly charged moment; the strange formality of
the 1911 relationship; and the apparent freedoms of the modern
relationship, where real emotional connections are problematic.

The first 1960s story is the most readily accessible and, for me,
the most affecting. Beautifully shot, the story is told through
looks and glances as much as through the sparse dialogue. The
middle story I found the most puzzling, perhaps partly through my
lack of knowledge of the historical context, though the silent film
style made for a fascinating paradoxical effect of both distancing
the action, but also bringing closer concentration on gestures and
looks. The abrupt jump into a noisy discordant modern setting
heralds a finale where the freedom of youth is fragile; physically
intimate but emotionally cold and confusing; a need for love without
the language to express or communicate it.

[IMDB link: http://uk.imdb.com/title/tt0459666/ ]