The St. Louis International Film Festival includes diversity and gems

From November 7 to 17 the 33rd Annual Whitaker St. Louis International Film Festival presents an impressive diversity of narrative and documentary features and shorts. Over 30 countries are represented in 271 live action and animated films, many with similar topics organized into 29 shorts programs. Themes include: "African-American Experiences," "Films for Kids and Tweens," and "The Asian Experience."  

The Fest launches at the Hi-Pointe on Thursday, November 7, with a party and screening of “A Real Pain,” writer/star Jesse Eisenberg’s directing debut. In a Yin/Yang pairing, Eisenberg’s David Kaplan and his cousin Benji (a terrific Kieran Culkin) travel to Poland to find their deceased grandmother’s original home. Amidst very funny banter and a clash of personalities, the two visit a Polish Jewish cemetery and a Holocaust camp, adding significant weight to this reminder of the importance of remembrance.

Friday, November 8, "The Brutalist's" three and half hours invites surrender to its rollicking roller coaster ride through post-WWII Hungarian Jewish immigrant and architect László Tóth’s whiplash life. As Tóth, Adrien Brody gives a magnificent performance as László ricochets through repeated failure and success in equal measure, Tóth’s arrogant inflexibility causing his difficulties. A complex coterie of men and women both complicate and champion his architectural talent. Shot in Vista Vision by cinematographer Lol Crawley, the film is visually sumptuous with striking, interpretive music by Daniel Blumberg. “The Brutalist” lingers in the mind for the many chances it takes and the powerful impact it makes.

Saturday's spotlight shines on director RaMell Ross's "Nickel Boys," his adaptation of Colson Whitehead's Pulitzer Prize winning novel which revealed the brutality of Florida's historic Dozier School when unmarked graves were found. With wrongly accused Elwood Curtis's first-person point-of-view anchoring the film's first half, the inhumane Nickel Academy unites Elwood with Turner from whose perspective the film's second half unfolds. Over two and a-third hours, cross cutting between the 1960s and 2010s, their friendship buoyed by their defiance sustains them in amidst horrific racism. Highlighting the resilience of both young men, “Nickel Boys” burrows deep into the emotional and physical pain the school’s sadistic, merciless treatment caused.

Sunday, November 10, in an inspirational story of profound empathy, the documentary "Catching Bullets" profiles Darren, an ex-dope dealer who now leads a youth mentoring center from a previously condemned church in Walnut Park, one of St. Louis most dangerous neighborhoods. Darren's uplifting outreach, captured in formal and informal moments, focuses on Preston, among others. Offering an alternative lifestyle to pervasive violence, Darren listens to, identifies with, and supports young men, hoping to redirect their energy into positive action. As a bonus, director Ben Scholle will lead a discussion after the film.

Sunday evening, Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” captures a microcosm of intolerance and violent retaliation. Anchored in his Tehran family, Iman earns a promotion to Investigative Judge in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Court, an advancement welcomed by wife Najmeh. Meantime, their teenage daughters Rezvan and Sana become entangled, through a schoolmate, in violent protests challenging repressive head coverings. Bureaucratic and interpersonal intimidation, demands for unquestioning compliance, paranoia, and sadistic retaliation all materialize with the metaphor of the sacred fig tree that strangles its host suggesting a chilling comparison.

The first half of the Film Festival concludes Monday night, November 11 with director F. W. Murnau's 1923 classic "Nosferatu," enlivened with music by Radiohead. There's so much more to enjoy at the Festival: Best of St. Louis Showcase, Cinema for Students Programs, two filmmaker Masterclasses, Indie and Animation Spotlight offerings, 1999 Archival Presentations, and multiple other choices. Programs screen at numerous venues, including the Hi-Pointe and Chase Park Plaza Cinemas; Webster University, Lindenwood University, and Washington University; the Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis Public Library's Central Library and Julia Davis Library. You may visit the SLIFF website for details of venues, times, film trailers, and more at sliff.cinemastlouis.org