Films can serve as passports to stories around the globe
“Mama Romance” separates tourmaline stones in “This is Congo”; the resident of the Democratic Republic of the Congo smuggles gemstones to make a living and send her children to school.
Take a trip around the world without leaving central Ohio through movies screening in area theaters.
One film provides a look at a troubled African nation; another examines French teenagers in a movie that wasn’t released for 24 years; and a third follows two surfer dudes in Australia.
Get your cinematic passport ready.
• (2017): In 2008, photojournalist Daniel McCabe visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo for an assignment. What he found was a poverty-stricken nation with vast natural resources and a history of warfare and possible corruption.
“The more I started to learn about it, the more I realized how unique Congo was in both its problems and its qualities,” McCabe told Time magazine for a 2017 story. “So I wanted to be able to tell the real story of Congo, with all its complexities.”
The movie will be screened at the Gateway Film Center.
The first feature-length movie for McCabe, who was not available for comment for this story, tells the tale of the 2011-12 insurrection in the eastern part of the nation by M23 rebels (most likely backed by the neighboring nations of Rwanda and Uganda) through the eyes of four people:
• Hakiza Nyantaba, a refugee and tailor who makes a meager living with his battered sewing machine
• “Mama Romance,” a woman who has sent her children to school by becoming a black-market gem smuggler
• Col. Mamadou Ndala, a devoted Army officer whose success against rebels and popularity among citizens has attracted some jealous gazes
• A mysterious officer who goes by the alias Col. Kasongo, who has fought both as an army officer and as a rebel.
“I found their stories and struggles universal and was continually moved by their strength of will and drive for peace and stability,” McCabe said in his director’s statement for the film. “Their dedication and desire to share with the outside world, despite the potential danger to their lives, is bold.”
Where: Gateway Film Center, 1550 N. High St.
Contact: 614-247-4433, www.gatewayfilmcenter. org
Showtimes: 6:30 p.m. Saturday and 4:30 p.m. Sunday Tickets: $9 • “Cold Water” (1994): French director Olivier Assayas finished work on the story of a self-destructive teenage couple 24 years ago. “Cold Water” made its debut at the Cannes Film Festival and was screened at several other European festivals.
And then, it virtually disappeared, halted by a battle over the rights to some of the music used in the film soundtrack.
Now, with the musicrights question resolved, the film has finally been released in America. A restored 4K version of the movie will be screened at the Wexner Center for the Arts. (The film was also screened at the Wex in 2003 by special arrangement with the studio.)
Set in 1972 in Paris, the drama centers on young sweethearts Gilles and Christine, two alienated 16-year-olds.
“I think (the film) deals with teenage fears, teenage dreams, fantasies, in a way anybody who’s gone through that age can understand, hopefully,” Assayas told Vanity Fair in a story published in April.
The drama has been warmly received by critics; “Cold Water” has a score of 91 (out of 100) on the review-aggregate website
“This Is Congo”
Metacritic.
Where: Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St.
Contact: 614-292-3535, www.wexarts.org
Showtimes: 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday
Admission: $8, or $6 for members, students and senior citizens
• “Breath” (2018): TV watchers might remember Simon Baker as the star of the CBS series “The Mentalist.” Baker has returned to his native Australia to direct his first feature-length film, the story of Loonie and Pikelet (Ben Spence and Samson Coulter), two young-teenage surfers who befriend Sando (Baker), an aging former surfing star.
But Pikelet starts a relationship with Sando’s unhappy wife, Eva (Elizabeth Debicki), that quickly turns dangerous.
In the Los Angeles Times, critic Robert Abele wrote: “‘Breath’ boasts no unique truths about maturing, but its serene roar under gray skies makes it a softly roiling, ultimately affecting gem.”
Location: Gateway Film Center
Showtimes: various, beginning Friday
Tickets: $5 to $10.75