Chicago – According to multiple reports from the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, Oliver Schmitz’s artfully lensed, sensitively acted film received one of the warmest receptions. Set in a modern South African village, “Life, Above All” is one of several recent pictures aiming to illustrate that an HIV-positive diagnosis is no longer a death sentence. It’s a film of grand statements delivered with quiet power.
Like Ramin Bahrani, Schmitz is extraordinarily gifted at eliciting naturalistic performances from untrained actors. At the heart of “Life” is Khomotso Manyaka, a child actress devoid of any self-conscious mannerisms to indicate that she is, in fact, acting. Manyaka’s work is beautiful, but Schmitz’s direction is the key to her success. By allowing his young star to freely inhabit her character, he avoids the usual pitfalls that occur when an overly ambitious director is paired with a blank slate. Schmitz seems to know precisely...
Like Ramin Bahrani, Schmitz is extraordinarily gifted at eliciting naturalistic performances from untrained actors. At the heart of “Life” is Khomotso Manyaka, a child actress devoid of any self-conscious mannerisms to indicate that she is, in fact, acting. Manyaka’s work is beautiful, but Schmitz’s direction is the key to her success. By allowing his young star to freely inhabit her character, he avoids the usual pitfalls that occur when an overly ambitious director is paired with a blank slate. Schmitz seems to know precisely...
- 12/14/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
Chicago – At this year’s MTV Movie Awards, Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s “Viva Riva!” had the distinction of winning the first ever “Best African Movie” award, thus equating it with such cinematic masterworks as “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.” Luckily, that’s not the only claim to fame for Munga’s slick neo-noir, which also garnered six African Academy Awards and single-handedly revitalized the film industry in Congo.
It was clearly the director’s intention to make a picture most likely to have international appeal, and in that regard, he has succeeded admirably. Though the film has garnered comparisons to Fernando Meirelles’s masterwork “City of God,” “Riva” is more interested in establishing a rich style and atmosphere than exploring compelling characters. Munga’s background in documentaries brings an immediacy and detail to each sequence, though the people populating the foreground never rise beyond the level of genre archetypes.
DVD...
It was clearly the director’s intention to make a picture most likely to have international appeal, and in that regard, he has succeeded admirably. Though the film has garnered comparisons to Fernando Meirelles’s masterwork “City of God,” “Riva” is more interested in establishing a rich style and atmosphere than exploring compelling characters. Munga’s background in documentaries brings an immediacy and detail to each sequence, though the people populating the foreground never rise beyond the level of genre archetypes.
DVD...
- 10/6/2011
- by adam@hollywoodchicago.com (Adam Fendelman)
- HollywoodChicago.com
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