|
Japan family life, Palestinian chaos, at Spanish film festival
2008-09-24
SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain (AFP) - Two more films -- a portrait of family life in Japan and a vision of chaos in the Palestinian territories -- staked their claims for honours Wednesday at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Hirokazu Kore-Eda's "Still Walking" ("Aruitemo, aruitemo") examines a Japanese family over a 24-hour period during a gathering at the grandparents' house to remember the eldest son, killed in an accident 15 years earlier. Shot in a very aesthetic style, reminiscent of the great Japanese film-maker Yasujiro Ozu, is infused with a great deal of humour. Its slow pace helps lend the film its gentle style. "It's a very personal film," the director told journalists. The grandmother in the film had been inspired by his own mother, who died only three years ago, he said. And his own father inspired the character of the grandfather. This character, an amusing and sympathetic figure, works wonders in the kitchen but despairs of her daughter, who prefers packaged dishes. "In Japan, men live to work and don't know what to do with themselves once they reach retirement, like the grandfather, who was inspired by my own father," said Kore-Eda. This is the third time Kore-Eda has been in competition at San Sebastian: in 1998 he walked off with the Fipresci prize (International Federation of Film Critics) for "After Life" ("Wandafuru Raifu"). Palestinian director Rashid Masharawi's "Laila's Birthday" ("Eid milad") Laila" takes the viewer into completely different world. Masharawi follows a day in the life Abu Laila, who worked as a judge until the government ran out of money, and now makes ends meet as a taxi driver. We follow him through the chaos of life in the Palestinian territories, as he struggles with everything from the daily shortages in basic foodstuffs to the violence all around him. He is determined to finish his shift in time to attend his daughter Laila's seventh birthday, but of course events conspire against him. "I wanted to describe the confusion that currently reigns in the life of Palestinians," Masharawi told journalists. "After more than a half a century of Israeli occupation, after having struggled for freedom, negotiated for peace and waited for progress, we have only gone backwards," said Masharawi, who was born in the Gaza Strip in 1962. "The result is frustration, indifference and an incapacity to handle the small details of our magnificent lives," he said in the film's press pack. Both films are in competition at the festival, held at the northern coastal town in Spain's Basque Country. This year's jury, led by US director Jonathan Demme, still has another four films to see in competition before announcing the winner of the Golden Shell award on Saturday.
| 
