FilmFest DC ’16 | The Lighter Side

Sweet Smell of Spring
Sweet Smell of Spring

21 NIGHTS WITH PATTIE (Vingt et une nuits avec Pattie)
Arnaud Larrieu, Jean-Marie Larrieu
France, 2015
115 minutes, Color

Caroline arrives in a village in the Pyrenees for her mother’s funeral. Unexpectedly, the corpse has gone missing. The local people know more about the colorful woman they’ve dubbed Zsa Zsa than Caroline has ever been told. In the good company of sensual housekeeper Pattie, Caroline spirals into detective riddles and erotic awakening. Pattie also grasps the opportunity to tell Caroline all the juicy details about her own sexual conquests. After the mysterious disappearance of her mother’s corpse and the arrival of the charming, 60-something Jean, the film turns into a playful whodunit. Caroline suspects Jean is the Nobel prize-winning writer J.M.G. Le Clézio while the gendarmerie think they are on the track of a necrophiliac. 21 Nights with Pattie is a superbly acted, witty, and magical sex comedy.—International Film Festival Rotterdam (In French with English subtitles)

BELGIAN RHAPSODY (Brabançonne)
Vincent Bal
Belgium, 2014
100 minutes, Color

This entertaining musical comedy uses the fierce rivalry between two Belgian brass bands, the Flemish St. Cecilia and the Walloon (French-speaking) En Avant, vying for a European championship to illustrate the intractable competition between Belgium’s two language groups in almost every walk of life. As the action kicks off, En Avant blows into the finals thanks to Hugues, the band’s exceptionally talented and handsome trumpet player. But St. Cecilia’s soloist literally gives his all and drops dead on stage after playing his final notes. While the members of St. Cecilia mourn their bandmate—and their chances—crafty Elka, the daughter of the band’s conductor, proposes a solution: Poach En Avant’s super talent. Director Vincent Bal successfully channels the beating heart of classic Hollywood musical romances, even as the narrative remains authentically Belgian. The upbeat final musical number should ensure audiences leave the theater with a grin.—Palm Springs International Film Festival (In French and Dutch with English subtitles)

DOUGH
Johan Goldschmidt
UK, 2016
94 minutes, Color

In this timely comedy, the always-reliable Jonathan Pryce plays Nat, a curmudgeonly old Jewish baker struggling to keep his family business going amid urban decay and encroaching development in London’s East End. On the other side of town, Ayyash, a young Muslim immigrant, is searching to find any job other than working for a dangerous small-time pot dealer. After Nat’s assistant quits, Ayyash finds his way to Nat’s bakery. While Nat’s off negotiating with his late partner’s wife and simultaneously fending off her advances, Ayyash accidentally drops a bag of marijuana into the challah dough. Suddenly, business picks way up. Surprised by all the new young customers lining up, Nat initially doesn’t suspect Ayyash. However, the kid is scrambling to keep both jobs and keep both bosses from learning about each other. Dough is equally comic and poignant in its portrait of modern life.—Dave Nuttycombe

HOW TO TELL YOU’RE A DOUCHEBAG
Tahir Jetter
USA, 2016
80 minutes, Color

MEN & CHICKEN
Anders Thomas Jensen
Denmark, 2015
104 minutes, Color

Men & Chicken, an uproarious comedy starring Mads Mikkelsen (Hannibal) that has broken box-office records in Denmark, is about a pair of socially challenged, bumbling, harelipped siblings who discover in their late father’s videotaped will that they are adopted half-brothers. Their journey in search of their true father takes them to a remote island, where they stumble upon three additional half-brothers—each also sporting hereditary harelips and lunatic tendencies—living in a dilapidated mansion overrun by barn animals. Initially unwelcome by their newfound kin, the two visitors stubbornly wear them down until they’re reluctantly invited to stay. As the misfit bunch get to know each other, they unwittingly uncover a deep family secret that ultimately binds them together.—Various sources (In Danish with English subtitles)

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MY INTERNSHIP IN CANADA (Guibord s’en va-t-en guerre)

PHILIPPE FALARDEAU
Canada, 2015
108 minutes, Color

In Person: Director Philippe Falardeau

Academy Award®-nominated director Philippe Falardeau (Monsieur Lazhar, FFDC 2012) returns with a funny, biting, timely political satire in which politicians, citizens, and lobbyists go head to head as they tear democracy to shreds. My Internship in Canada opens as a Conservative minority government is tabling legislation that will send the country to war. When one of their MPs falls ill, the deciding vote is left to independent Steve Guibord (Starbuck’s Patrick Huard), a former hockey player whose pro career fizzled due to his fear of flying. Pressure comes from all sides, even at home, but salvation arrives in the form of new intern Souverain (Irdens Exantus), a Haitian student who knows more about the ins and outs of the Canadian system than Steve does. Reminiscent of Ealing comedies such as The Mouse That Roared, My Internship in Canada exposes Canadians’ ingrained tendency to focus on the regional instead of the wider picture, taking for granted the unique system that makes their democracy function. Not surprisingly, it takes someone from another country to explain it. This film is the winner of the Toronto Film Critics Association Award, Best Canadian Feature Award at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Canada’s Top Ten Film Festival People’s Choice Award.—Toronto International Film Festival (In French, Creole, and English with English subtitles)


NO MEN BEYOND THIS POINT
Mark Sawers
Canada, 2015
80 minutes, Color

At 37, Andrew is the youngest man alive and one of the few men in this sly comedy about a surprisingly believable future where women are in complete control of the planet. Andrew works for Terra and Iris and cares for their many children; all girls, of course. Expertly produced “historical” films and photographs make a convincing case for how, in 1953, a curious parthenogenesis spread across the globe and fatherless pregnancies became the norm—and yielded only female babies. This “evolutionary act of nature” creates a female-powered world where all nations are subsumed into one cooperative government and nature-worship is its religion. Not all improvements are enlightened. In this increasingly manless world, surviving males are banished to Australia, where Darius, the toothless leader of the men’s liberation organization, seeks to make things “right” again. Judging by the way Iris looks at Andrew, fate may just intervene at last.—Dave Nuttycombe

SWEET SMELL OF SPRING
Férid Boughedir
Tunisia, France, 2016
99 minutes, Color

In Person: Director Férid Boughedir

In 2011 Tunisia, as the Arab Spring awakens, unemployed graduate Aziz, nicknamed Zizou (Zied Ayadi), travels from his Saharan village to the big city of Tunis in search of a job. From television aerial installation to political intrigue, this fresh-faced young Candide will learn the ways of the world, fall in love with the ravishing Aicha (Sara Hanachi), and become famous. Thirty years bring with them deep and long-standing relationships, and foremost amongst those at FilmFest DC is the bond with Tunisian filmmaker Ferid Boughedir. He focuses more on quality than quantity in six features since 1983: His Halfaouine: Boy of the Terraces, A Summer at La Goulette, and Villa Jasmin have all been FFDC highlights. Sweet Smell of Spring—a world premiere presentation—is the welcome new work from a singular voice in Middle Eastern cinema and is destined to breathe deep the sweet smell of international success.—Eddie Cockrell (In Arabic and French with English subtitles)