‘All is Lost’ at the Mill Valley Film Festival, but ‘Cheba’ sings and the ‘Keeper of the Beat’ rocks on!

By Robert Render Harrison

With 60,000 attendees this year, the 36^th annual Mill Valley Film Festival (October 3-12) was 20% up over last year. Eleven days, 150 films, 85 premiers, and 125 sold-out screenings. Sounds like the good folk of Marin County, C A (that’s where you land after crossing the Golden Date bridge from San Francisco) appreciate their local film fest. Most of the movies were split between the renovated (since the roof caved in last year) Sequoia movie theater, and the (also restored, and rather elegant) Christopher B. Smith Rafael Theater, herein after simply called the Rafael.

On the last night, we saw ‘All is Lost,’ starring Robert Redford in a solo performance; that’s right, he’s the only player in this extraordinary, minimalist movie. Written & directed by J.C.Chandor, it tells the tale of a man and his 39 foot sailboat, alone on a vast ocean. Until he encounters a shipping container. From there on, Redford’s character battles with ever-increasing turns of bad luck. Every time you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Redford has virtually no dialogue - except for trying to raise anyone on his radio. Of course, you know that isn’t going to work either. None of his other ideas to secure his vessel did. This is a movie of high adventure, a man who knows all about pitting his skill and experience against the forces of nature. But a floating shipping container isn’t a force a nature; it’s in a category on its own.

If you’ve ever seen one of those huge container ships, stacked high with shipping containers, and wondered how they manage to cross oceans without falling off, well some don’t. Here’s a graphic illustration of what happens to all too many of them. Falling off the container ship in bad weather, they will eventually run aground somewhere if they remain intact; those that get holed by the forces of nature sink, although their cargo may be washed ashore, resulting in a windfall to natives on far-distant islands of running shoe’s, children’s clothes, etc. In fact, oceanographers track the origin and path of the containers from where the contents make it to shore.

‘All is Lost’ is an action movie that isn’t all crash and flash; one wouldn’t expect it of Mr. Redford. He’s got far too much class for that, and a taste for the unusual; remember The Milagro Beanfield War, that Redford directed and produced? If you haven’t seen that movie, try it some time when you want your spirits lifted, with some good laughs along the way. No laughs in this latest from Redford, but it does what all good high adventure movies must do: draws the viewer into the story to empathise with the protagonist, battling against odds, all the way to what we feel must be the inevitable end.

If you stay for the credits (don’t we all?) you’ll probably agree with me that never in the field of moviemaking have so many (crew, technicians, special effects, etc) been devoted to making a movie about so few (just Redford), utterly dispelling the notion you might have had up to then that this was a low budget, minimalist crew to go along with story. The movie went on national release five days after we saw it at the Sequoia movie theater in downtown Mill Valley, where the MVFF originated. Earlier in the eleven day festival, I saw two other movies at the beautifully restored 1918 Christopher B. Smith Rafael Theater (called the Rafael for short) which with the Sequoia comprise the two main venues for the Mill Valley Film Festival.

‘Cheba’ is a relatively low budget, indie movie, set in an Arabic-speaking neighborhood in France. Beautifully shot on that desirable combination of an Arri digital cinema camera with Zeiss lenses by the director, Francoise Charpiat. It was her first film, and quite delightful, both in the story, and the cinematography. There are a number of songs, performed in Arabic, yet not subtitled like the French dialogue. I asked the director why she chose not to subtitle the words of the songs. She said it was a deliberate choice because she wanted the emotion of the music to be conveyed directly to the audience so they could feel it rather than focus on the translated words. ‘Cheba’ is a very human story of a young Algerian woman caught between a boyfriend she chose, and a future husband chosen for her by her family. She closely resembles a famous Cheba singer, and although she is capable of being a great Cheba singer, she isn’t supposed to even enter the club where such entertainment is performed, so strict is her family. But it all works out nicely in the end. I, and the rest of the audience, were most impressed by maturity of skill illustrated by Charpiat, and we expect more good movies in the future.

Run by the same organization (CA Film Institute) that puts on the Mill Valley Film Festival, the Rafael theater consistently shows current independent movies, and classic movies from around the world. There, earlier in the year, I saw ‘One Track Heart,’ the story of Krisna Das, an American who went to India in search of a guru (and himself) and became an internationally renowned master of singing the spiritual chants of India.

I was reminded of ‘One Track Heart’ when I saw the documentary ‘Keeper of the Beat: a woman’s journey into the heart of drumming.’ Now that’s a title! It’s about the life of drummer Barbara Borden, a San Francisco Bay Area drummer of considerable renown. The documentary is excellent in all respects: the legacy footage and stills blend seamlessly into the recent footage, the way a good life story documentary should, all woven around the core of Barbara’s life – the passion for drumming. I got a ticket for this movie literally at the last minute on a recommendation from the folk at the box office. They knew that I was doing a small review of the festival, and said this was a must-see movie. ‘Cheba’ had just finished, and I didn’t look at my festival program. After thoroughly enjoying the movie, Barbara stepped onto the stage with the director and cinematographer David L. Brown, whom I first encountered ten or more years ago. David, a 35-year veteran documentary moviemaker, has accrued some 80 awards, and is instructor in documentary filmmaking at City College of San Francisco. He also consults with documentary moviemakers.

Take a look at the website David and Barbara created for fundraising for ‘Keeper of the Beat:’ if you want to learn how to do this from a master, it’s all right there. For beginning moviemakers wondering exactly how to go about making a presentation in order to raise funds, just take a look at the website for ‘Keeper of the Beat,’ and follow the link to ‘Budget.’ It’s all there.

Barbara then treated us to what she’s known for: drumming. Never has the Rafael Theater rocked to anything like this dynamic solo performance Barbara treated us to that night. Many of the younger members of the audience got up and danced, and the joint positively rocked!

www.kobmovie.com

- click on ‘About the movie’ and then on ‘…download full proposal & budget

Article Posted: 4/3/2014

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‘All is Lost’ at the Mill Valley Film Festival, but ‘Cheba’ sings and the ‘Keeper of the Beat’ rocks on!