The largest annual celebration of international cinema in the region
MSPIFF43 Volume 2
Writing about film for more than ten years has allowed me to cover movies from blockbusters to indies. It’s also given me the privilege of attending major events like TIFF in Toronto and Sundance in Utah. While traveling around the country is nice, it’s the ultimate thrill to be on my home turf, proudly showing off my Minnesota roots and covering the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF).
In its 43rd year, MSPIFF remains a formidable presence in the international film festival circuit. Held at The Main Cinema from April 11 – 25, it has become respected for its meticulously curated selection of world cinema and its exceptional hospitality. In addition to screening 200+ films, they offer panels, talkbacks, hosted events, and opportunities to hear artists discuss their work. Each screening becomes a singular celebration of artistic innovation, all tailored to engage our discerning audiences in the Twin Cities.
Attending MSPIFF resonates with me personally, and it’s not just the comfort of returning to my bed each night and celebrating international stories. The amplification of voices in underrepresented communities and cultures makes this a vibrant two weeks every Spring.
Follow along for capsule reviews of the films I’ve seen at the festival.
The Home Game
A feel-good underdog story about an Icelander's clumsy attempt to complete his father's failed mission: To finally get their beloved fishing village a home game on the unused football pitch he built 25 years prior.
Hellissandur is a modest fishing village located on a peninsula in Western Iceland with a hidden treasure visitors might not expect: a beautifully maintained regulation football pitch (soccer field to us grubby Americans). Built by Vidar Gylfason as a labor of love in the hopes of hosting a match in Iceland’s FA Cup, the goal went unrealized, ending in an embarrassing defeat on neighboring turf. Twenty-five years later, Gylfason’s son picks up where his dad left off, aiming to rally the townspeople and gather a team of former players and newer recruits in hopes of having better luck bringing national attention to achieve the dream his father began and set aside. Guess what happens?
At the end of the charming Icelandic doc that follows a community of determined spirits, you may wonder just how long it will take for Hollywood bigwigs to come calling because directors Smari Gunn and Logi Sigursveinsson have done most of the hard work for them. Much of THE HOME GAME is so cinematic that it seems too good to be true. The past players are now an eclectic mix of the roly-poly and gruff fishermen variety, while some of their younger teammates are comprised of their children who are more than willing to one-up their aging dads.
There are breath-holding waits as significant decisions are made, honest reflections of what didn’t go right the first time, and poignant observances of a father watching his son take to the finish line what he thought had long ago fallen out of the race. Then there’s the lone female player introduced late in the film, representing the equality championed by Vidar back in the day, carried forward by his son, and supported by the team/town. You should be able to see where it is all heading; at a swift 79 minutes, there’s not a lot of room to breathe or get to know anyone on a deep level, the only major drawback, but it doesn’t entirely matter. You’ll still be fighting back the tears (go ahead, shed ‘em…it feels good) and cheering with the rest of your fellow audience members as THE HOME GAME reaches its satisfying conclusion.
The Arctic Convoy
In 1942, seamen with supplies for the Eastern front brave brutal Arctic seas and enemy-infested waters as they head for Murmansk. But when they are ordered to disperse their convoy, a dangerous situation turns truly dire.
Having just sat through a new and not-so-great WWII film directed by Guy Ritchie this week, catching Norwegian thriller THE ARCTIC CONVOY was a terrific palate cleanser, an iron-sided reminder that character-driven war dramas are far more effective than empty spectacles.
A striking new voyage from the creators of The Wave and The Burning Sea, blockbusters in their country, it recounts the true story of a cargo ship carrying war materials across the Atlantic to Russian allies. When their military escorts are withdrawn without warning, and their boat encounters mechanical difficulties, they are left to fend for themselves against German fighter planes, perilous mines, and onboard mutiny.
Director Henrik Martin Dahlsbakken gives you a few moments early on to acclimate yourself to the harsh conditions on board, then it’s time to shape up or ship out because the suspense and tension are unrelenting. As with the Ritchie film, the cast is dominated by men with a lone woman (Heidi Ruud Ellingsen more than holding her own. Tobias Santelmann and Anders Baasmo are stout and steely as they move toward a Crimson Tide-esque showdown. Informative as well as entertaining, you’ll find you’ve grown closer to the characters than you’ve realized when you finally exhale as the credits roll.
Within
When a demolition crew uncovers human remains sealed up in a wall, Inspector Han struggles to stay objective about the case. The dilapidated building was his primary school, and the ten year-old homicide stirs up memories that he has worked hard to forget.
Making its US Premiere, writer/director Dalu Guo’s WITHIN is, like all good crime thrillers, slow to boil but scalding hot when it bubbles over. Set in modern-day China, it takes two seemingly separate storylines and begins to thread them together delicately but deliberately, providing the basis for a mystery that might appear easy to solve on the surface when, in fact, the truth is far more complex than we are led to believe.
One storyline involves a single mother (a fantastic Xin-ran Tao, wearing a lifetime of acquiescing wearily on her face) doing her best to provide for her six-year-old daughter so she may get the education she never did. Her precocious offspring has watched her mom struggle and already knows more than she should about the harsh realities of societal hierarchy and gender norms. The other narrative tracks a silent but observant detective (Bingrui Zhao) seeking clues as to who may have murdered an employee at his former primary school and stuffed them in a wall a decade earlier. With the murder weapon still lodged in the bones of the victim, the crime is unequivocally violent, but through flashbacks, we get bits and pieces of who was involved and why. While it doesn’t have many characters to track, multiple actors play the same role over time, which can become confusing if you aren’t paying strict attention.
If I had to summarize it (and there is currently so little about WITHIN out there that I think I am safe to do s), I’d say that it’s less of a whodunit procedural suspense package and more a deconstruction of a horrific crime…as well as a murder. We were told before the screening that it could be some time before this arrives in an official capacity on our shores, but keep your eyes open for this well-crafted puzzle to come out of the shadows.
Watershed
When Mallory Weggemann was 18-years-old, she walked into an appointment for a routine medical procedure, and never walked out. As Mallory focuses on what she could do with her new body, she surpasses even her own expectations by becoming a five-time Paralympic gold medalist, and faces equally insurmountable odds with her husband Jay Snyder on their journey to become new parents.
At the world premiere screening of WATERSHED, a documentary written and co-directed by five-time Paralympic gold medalist Mallory Weggemann, the athlete’s husband (also her co-director) Jay Snyder described the idea of telling their whole story like a “sports as chocolate” approach. First, you get the established fans of Weggemann on board to watch an up close and personal look into her life as she trains for the COVID-delayed Tokoyo 2020 games (held in 2021), where she set records and medaled three times (2 of them gold). Once you have them in your pocket (and I get the feeling the engaging Weggemann and winningly sincere Snyder are as good-natured and persuasive in real life as they are in the film), that’s when you introduce the second discussion the couple wants to have with their audience.
In a time when IVF has again become a hot-button issue for couples who struggle with infertility, it is more important than ever that this treatment remains available for those wanting to start a family. At an early age, Snyder was told he was likely infertile and never thought he’d be able to father a child, a painful admission for anyone to make when starting a new relationship. His partnership with Mallory, who had dealt with stigma and adversity since a medical procedure left her paralyzed from the waist down, gave him the courage and comfort to be an example for other males and couples going through similar efforts to conceive.
While it can occasionally get TV-treacly (the couple never seem to argue) and likely needs one more solid edit from an objective outsider, the raw vulnerability the two offer is pretty astounding because it’s more than just living your life “openly” on social media. We tend to show our best selves online or hope for sympathy when encountering a setback, but what is shared with us in WATERSHED comes from the deep end of the good intentions pool. By saying something akin to “my struggle is hard, but I know I’m not alone, and neither are you,” it provides visibility to the marginalized among us.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person
A young vampire is unable to kill to meet her need for blood, but may have found a solution in a young man with suicidal tendencies.
Revamping the classic vampire tale poses a challenge to filmmakers wanting to put their stamp on a long line of bloodsuckers. However, director Ariane Louis-Seize’s artfully made, darkly comic HUMANIST VAMPIRE SEEKING CONSENTING SUICIDAL PERSON while trading in shades of singular experiences like LET THE RIGHT ONE IN, easily sinks its teeth into the competition.
With a visual aesthetic familiar to fans of WHAT WE DO IN SHADOWS, this Canadian film (in French) sets an askew tone right from the start and follows through with it until the delightfully quirky and supremely satisfying finale. There’s plenty of time in between to fall for the cast and characters, including star Sara Montpetit as Sasha, a teenage (looking) vampire with an identity crisis. She looks the part but hasn’t found her fangs yet, a source of extreme frustration for her family. Finding a connection with the suicidal Paul (Félix-Antoine Bénard), the two consider an arraignment that would benefit them both. She can feed while he can be free from his depression. Realizing she likes her intended prey for who he is inside and not just what’s in his veins, she isn’t so sure her hunger outweighs the emotional bond she has made. Before she gives him the bite, she suggests the fulfillment of a dying wish, and that’s when the night takes them (and viewers) in a direction not unlike a John Hughes movie filtered through a comically sinister horror lens.
At 90 minutes, Louis-Seize’s film bolts out of the gate and never looks back. There’s rarely a lull, and when it does take a breather, it’s so Montpetit and Bénard can share a charming moment feeling their feels over Brenda Lee’s ‘Emotions’. After a successful run in festivals since premiering in Venice (always a good sign to be included in so many), I can see this one finding a real fanbase…and it deserves it.
Hesitation Wound
Criminal lawyer Canan has to make a moral choice that will affect the lives of her ailing mother, a judge, and a murder suspect client, whose defense is turning in his favor.
At a slim 84 minutes, this Turkish drama is a lithe mix of gripping courtroom potboiler and a family drama peeking into the lives of two sisters making a critical decision on their mother’s future.
That writer/director Selman Necar’s HESITATION WOUND feels like it only scratches the surface of characters we want to go deeper with speaks volumes to its quality, namely the performance of actress Tülin Özen playing a character struggling to separate her work as a criminal defense attorney from her responsibilities as a daughter and emotionally available sibling.
Necar’s script finds Özen’s lawyer on a most challenging day, the summation of a first-degree murder case for a client she believes is being railroaded by a justice system ignoring procedure. Across town, her mother is dying; final plans have to be ironed out, and time is of the essence. Saving the life of her client while preparing to grieve her mother blurs the lines, leading to an unexpected emotional crossover that exposes the vulnerability she keeps buttoned up.
The vice-like first hour gives way to a tonally languid final act, but it allows Özen to shine even brighter during Necar’s long takes, which favor stark silences mirroring real life when we run out of words to comfort and assure.
The Fishing Hat Bandit
He was known as “the Fishing Hat Bandit” when he robbed 23 banks in Minnesota over 18 months in the early 2000s. Finally caught, imprisoned, and now free, John Whitrock’s story unfolds in utterly surprising ways.
I was neck deep in college during the 18 months that John Whitrock was active robbing banks in the Twin Cities metro area and around Minnesota so the spree runs vaguely through my memory.
Dubbed The Fishing Hat Bandit by the media (though Whitrock amusingly points out in Mark Brown’s documentary that it was a golf hat), when he was finally caught, he served a 13-year stint in a correctional facility. At first, this seems like a perfect project to find a home at true crime-loving Netflix, which is always stocked with well-titled content. And it’s true that Brown’s angle to focus on the real victims of Whitrock’s crimes, the bank tellers, is an intriguing approach able to stir a significant response from an attentive audience. However, the project was filmed over years (a reason why Whitrock ages and de-ages throughout), and it turns repetitive, sometimes retelling the same story multiple times.
That’s more of a problem with the editing than anything, and it ultimately holds the film back from telling a resonant story of restorative accountability. Then there’s the issue of a strange tiptoeing around a sensitive (but obviously meaningful) subject meant to “explain” Whitrock’s motivation but like much of the attempts to examine the ‘why’s’, the film backs down in favor of more simple rehashes of information we’ve already been told.
If the film were to get a fresh edit (maybe from the ground up), I think it would be stronger and shine the light on the healing possible when we see one another not just for our actions but as humans who make mistakes asking for forgiveness.
Tehachapi
In the heart of Tehachapi, California, amidst an eerie landscape in the middle of nowhere, the most unexpected and unforeseen space that could lend itself to the creation of an artwork emerges; one of the most impregnable high-security prisons in the USA.
After presenting the fantastic SING SING and unforgettable DAUGHTERS already in the first half of the festival, The MSP Film Society completes a trilogy of sorts on the topic of prison rehabilitation programs with TEHACHAPI. A striking documentary from French artist JR, who was granted unprecedented access to the titular maximum-security prison in scorching Southern California, it begins as a chronicle of his work in 2019 with a group of Level 4 inmates on an art installation designed to have viewers on the outside look beyond those jailed on the inside.
Finding himself drawn back to this group of men and impacted by their stories in the same way he intended the world to see them, JR continues the Tehachapi project for years. Eventually, the picture opens up and includes family members waiting for their sons and brothers to return home, with JR taking time to let the inmates speak for themselves and contemplate their incarceration on the terms they become more aware of through their participation in the project.
Coming from a country where the penal system doesn’t write off young lives as quickly, JR maintains a balance anyway, keeping TEHACHAPI without judgment of our American justice system. However, identifying the inmates by their prison terms, the age at which they were sentenced, and how long they are to serve tells an entire story on its own. This is a moving, terrific example of how important rehabilitation programs are for even the most unforgiven offenders.
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