IN THE BASEMENT ***
Forget about the bedroom; people tend to disclose themselves and reveal their most deep desires and fetishes while hiding in the basement, using the place as a form of self liberation and freedom for their ideals. That’s the examination in this new shocking documentary directed by Austrian troublemaker Ulrich Seidl, one of the most fearless directors in modern cinema. He started career as a documentarian in the 80’s and finally gained acclaim with “Dog Days” and “Import/Export”. After a hiatus of almost 6 years, he returned with the little seen trilogy “Paradise” and now he gets back to his primary field, documenting the secret lives of regular people and their activities in their basements. Throughout a collection of revelatory images and testimonies, Seidl creates a raw portrait of people engaged in their privacy: a woman takes care of her dolls with the same tenderness of a child; a group of friends gather to practice their brass band, preserving elements of Nazism; a man creates a museum with the heads of the animals he shot down during hunting; teenagers smoke, flirt and listen to trendy music; an old couple are proud of their bar; and other couples explore their sexual fantasies, such as the “love slave”- a man who obeys to his wife’s demands, including humiliation and sadism. It takes a lot of guts to explore such themes with honesty, and Seidl does it precisely, shocking and revealing the human condition with daring courage. (Runs November 6-12 at Anthology Film Archives, 32 Second Avenue, NYC)
DISCONNECTIONS
Two excellent documentaries reveal devastating aspects of the complications and dangers experimented by Palestinians and Israelis due to their attempt to unite forces and develop equal goals. In “Partner with the Enemy”, two middle-class women defy their respective authorities and families to create a business on their own trying to fight the male-dominant control of commerce. And three gay Palestinian friends living in Tel-Aviv are the subjects in “Oriented” a compelling and heart-breaking look at love and its inevitable consequences, prejudice and cultural clash. (Playing at Cinema Village, part of The Other Israel Film Festival)
SEX UNLIMITED
Gaspar Noé provokes again and this time he goes totally explicit. “Love 3D” explores the relationship between two youngsters, told through their sexual movements, and encounters with others- literally. It’s like watching a porn but with the sumptuous aesthetic envisioned by an efficient and outrageous artist whose tasteful use of visual, sound and atmospheric, sees no limits to explore his players’ reactions related to sex and drugs, making an authentic insertion into modern struggles. Although it’s a bit too long (whomever is for the sex scenes won’t mind it), and it lacks consistency in the study of the characters’ dilemmas, the film is an extreme observation on sex, that will definitely cause an orgasmatical overdose. (Now Playing)
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