23 picks to see
Milwaukee Film Festival places focus on independent, foreign films
You could almost forgive the organizers of the Milwaukee Film Festival if they'd lost their focus. ♦ In the past four months, Milwaukee Film, the festival's parent organization, announced a $10 million plan to take over and revitalize the Landmark Oriental Theatre, and has been involved in plans for a film-industry business incubator at the former Pabst complex. ♦ Oh, and it put together a 15-day festival showing 297 films (including shorts) in 342 public screenings at five theaters and two galleries. ♦ But the ninth annual Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs Sept. 28 through Oct. 12, still hews to the festival's core message: Bring stuff to Milwaukee moviegoers that they wouldn't have a chance to see in theaters.
"We're trying to make Milwaukee a great town for cinema culture. A piece of that is the great films of our time have to screen in a cinema," said Jonathan Jackson, artistic and executive director of Milwaukee Film. "There's nothing more frustrating as a Milwaukeean than to read about good movies and (we) can't engage with them."
This year's festival lineup includes a larger-than-normal swath of independent and foreign-language films that, while getting attention elsewhere, haven't made it to a theater near you (you being Milwaukeeans), from "I, Daniel Blake," the winner of the Palme d'Or at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, to "Landline," the 1990s-set comedy that's the festival's closing-night film.
But the festival's centerpiece film might be the best indicator of Milwaukee Film's aims — and how the organization is pursuing them.
Directed by Milwaukee filmmaker Erik Ljung, "The Blood Is at the Doorstep" chronicles the life and work of the family of Dontre Hamilton in the aftermath of Hamilton's fatal shooting by a Milwaukee police officer in 2014.
The documentary is a feature-length expansion of Llung's short film "Mothers for Justice," which won a $35,000 prize through the Brico Forward Fund at the 2015 Milwaukee Film Festival.
"To me, the (2017) festival is defined by 'The Blood Is at the Doorstep,' " Jackson said. "It's a very hard film to watch as a Milwaukeean who cares about the city. … (It shows) a community in crisis and a family with an unimaginable burden. They want to stay here and work for positive change."
Meanwhile, Milwaukee Film is working on festival No. 10, which for the first time will be based in its in own theater — the Oriental, 2230 N. Farwell Ave.
Since announcing in June that it had signed a 31-year lease to operate the East Side movie palace, Milwaukee Film has received a $1.5 million gift from festival backers Donald and Donna Baumgartner, and $1 million from Marianne and Sheldon Lubar. Those gifts raised the fund-raising total for the Oriental project to $5.5 million.
To get you started on this year's Milwaukee Film Festival, here are 23 movies to put on your check-it-out list.
In addition to the Oriental, the venues for the 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival include the Downer Theatre, 2589 N. Downer Ave.; Avalon Theater, 2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.; Times Cinema, 5906 W. Vliet St.; and Fox-Bay Cinema Grill, 334 E. Silver Spring Drive, Whitefish Bay.
For information on tickets and more, check out mkefilm.org. (Disclaimer: The Journal Sentinel is a sponsor of the 2016 Milwaukee Film Festival.)
Better late than never (movies that didn't open here but should have)
"Columbus": John Cho plays a man who, after coming from Korea to take care of his ailing father in Columbus, Ind., bonds with a local woman (Haley Lu Richardson). 9:15 p.m. Oct. 5, Avalon; 1 p.m. Oct. 8, Downer; 1:30 p.m. Oct. 9, Downer.
"Person to Person": Lives collide, intersect and complicate in this New York City comedy shot in 16-millimeter, with Michael Cera, Abbi Jacobson, Michaela Watkins and Philip Baker Hall. 9 p.m. Sept. 30, Oriental; 7 p.m. Oct. 3, Avalon; 4:30 p.m. Oct. 10, Downer.
"Landline": A Manhattan family puts the fun in dysfunction in Gillian Robespierre's comedy, set in the pre-iPhone era, with Jenny Slate, John Turturro, Edie Falco and Abby Quinn. 7 p.m. Oct. 12, Oriental.
The winner could be … (official entries for this year's Oscar for best foreign-language film)
"Carpinteros" ("Woodpeckers"): The Dominican Republic's entry is a love story set in a prison, in which male and female prisoners communicate through prison bars using their own special sign language. 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2, Times; 1:30 p.m. Oct. 4, Avalon.
"The Divine Order": In 1971 Switzerland — where women still didn't have the right to vote — a woman frustrated by her husband's refusal to allow her to return to work helps lead the belated fight for suffrage. 7 p.m. Oct. 7, Downer; 4 p.m. Oct. 11, Avalon.
"White Sun": A drama about brothers on opposite sides of Nepal's civil war who must come together to bury their father, a traditionalist whose values they have both rejected. 12:30 p.m. Sept. 30, Oriental; 8:45 p.m. Oct. 6, Oriental.
Seeing stars (international icons in indies)
"Rock'n Roll": Real-life French film stars Guillaume Canet (who also directed) and Marion Cotillard play themselves, each wrestling with what getting older means in the movie business, in this meta-comedy. 4:30 p.m. Oct. 1, Avalon; 6 p.m. Oct. 9, Oriental; 1:30 p.m. Oct. 10, Downer.
"Aquarius": Brazilian powerhouse actress Sonia Braga has drawn raves for
her performance as a woman whose beachfront home is threatened by conniving developers. 2:30 p.m. Oct. 8, Times; 3:30 p.m. Oct. 12, Fox-Bay.
"The Midwife": The indomitable Catherine Deneuve plays an ailing woman trying to connect with the no-nonsense daughter of her late lover. 3:30 p.m. Oct. 2, Downer; 9 p.m. Oct. 4, Fox-Bay; 3:30 p.m. Oct. 8, Oriental.
"Lucky": In one of his last feature films, the great Harry Dean Stanton plays a man in his 90s, shambling through life and looking for answers. 3:45 p.m. Sept. 29, Times; 9 p.m. Oct. 2, Downer; 6 p.m. Oct. 8, Downer.
"You're Killing Me Susana": Gael Garcia Bernal, who gets to show his comic chops in the Amazon series "Mozart in the Jungle," plays an actor who follows his wife to a writers' workshop in Iowa in this throwback culture-clash comedy. 3 p.m. Oct. 3, Oriental; 1 p.m. Oct. 10, Times; 7 p.m. Oct. 12, Fox-Bay.
"Manifesto": What's better than a movie with Cate Blanchett? How about one in which she plays 13 different characters, all making distinct artistic statements? 6:30 p.m. Oct. 2, Downer; 4 p.m. Oct. 4, Oriental; 9:30 p.m. Oct. 9, Times.
"Lemon": Absurdist comedy about a struggling actor (Brett Gelman) spiraling out of control, with a cast including Michael Cera (yes, again), Judy Greer, Gillian Jacobs and Nia Long. 9:30 p.m. Oct. 2, Oriental; 3:30 p.m. Oct. 4, Downer; 8:15 p.m. Oct. 7, Oriental.
Global auteurs
(celebrated directors on screen)
"Afterimage": The last movie made by Andrzej Wajda, Poland's most decorated director, explores the art and life of painter Wladyslaw Strzeminski, whose uncompromising approach to art put him at odds with Stalinist forces. 3 p.m. Oct. 2, Oriental; 6 p.m. Oct. 6,
Oriental.
"After the Storm": With a typhoon looming, a novelist-turned-detective makes a desperate attempt to connect with his son, over the objections of his ex-wife, in another poetic drama by Japanese film master Hirokazu Kore-eda. 1 p.m. Sept. 29, Oriental; 1 p.m. Oct. 1, Fox-Bay; 1 p.m. Oct. 4, Times.
"I, Daniel Blake": Director Ken Loach's award-winning drama centers on one man's battle against the British bureaucracy, and the power of workingclass people in the face of the unfeeling in power. 1:30 p.m. Sept. 30, Downer; 4:15 p.m. Oct. 6, Oriental; 6 p.m. Oct. 11, Fox-Bay.
Reel Milwaukee (movies by and about Milwaukeeans)
"The Blood Is at the Doorstep": The shooting of Dontre Hamilton by a Milwaukee police officer in Red Arrow Park rocked the world of his family, but they turned their grief and anger into action; Milwaukee filmmaker Erik Ljung captures the Hamilton family's story and struggle, which defines them and may well end up defining their city. 7 p.m. Oct. 6, Oriental; 11 a.m. Oct. 7, Oriental; 8:45 p.m. Oct. 10, Times.
"Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992": If you missed it when ABC first aired it (on a Friday night in April), Oscar-winning writer, Mequon native and Milwaukee Film board member John Ridley brings back his gripping documentary on L.A. in the years leading up to the 1992 riots. 7:30 p.m. Oct. 4, Oriental.
"Manlife": Local filmmaker Ryan Sarnowski's documentary following Merle Hayden, who for decades has been the last man standing up for Lawsonomy — the movement that, for years, had as its prime physical evidence a sign off I-94 reading "Study Natural Law." 1:45 p.m. Sept. 30, Oriental; 6:30 p.m. Oct. 3, Times; 1 p.m. Oct. 12, Oriental.
"Roller Life": Documentary following the world of the Brewcity Bruisers, Milwaukee's roller-derby league, and the women who give it life. 9:15 p.m. Oct. 3, Downer; 3:30 p.m. Oct. 10, Times.
Happy returns (classics worth a new look)
"The Lost World": Before there was "Jurassic Park," or even "King Kong," there was this 1925 sci-fi-ish silent action movie based on Arthur Conan Doyle's story about a world where dinosaurs still roam. With live musical accompaniment by the Alloy Orchestra, whose visit to the film festival has become a tradition. 7 p.m. Oct. 3, Oriental.
"Tampopo": How can you not love a movie described as a "ramen Western"? This reissue of the cult 1985 Japanese movie centers on a lone truck driver who decides to stand up for a family-run noodle shop. 3 p.m. Sept. 30, Oriental.
"Love Jones": Nia Long and Larenz Tate meet at a poetry slam, but fight the chemistry that is clearly between them in this charming 1997 indie romantic comedy, showing in a rare 35-millimeter screening. 7 p.m. Sept. 30, Oriental.
Getting virtual
The 2017 Milwaukee Film Festival has a new VR Gallery, featuring a curated program of more than a half-dozen virtual-reality films showing in a converted gallery space at 2021 E. Ivanhoe Place Sept. 30 through Oct. 8.
Admission to the VR Gallery screenings is free.