Very good work from director/cowriter Charlie Birns and cowriter/editor
David Barker. Neither seems to be affiliated with Terrence Malick, but
the tender, searching film _Human Affairs_ surely evokes _Days of Heaven_.
This is not just the poetic images (set an an angle to the dialogue to
create an oblique gauze), but also the elliptical, curious-about-the-world narration by Julie Sokolowski. She plays a French woman who has left her abusive American boyfriend and lives on a farm in the Northeast. Trying
to make money and find a life direction, she agrees to be a surrogate
for a theater power couple Lucinda and Sidney (Kerry Condon and Dominic Fumusa). Hence her dreamy soliloquy about surrogate statistics and
Lucinda's hair and favorite movies. She fails in love with playwright
Sidney, whose relation with his somewhat self-centered leading lady
Lucinda is getting frayed. The extended montage ending, a fast forward
to the future, is brilliant and more Gabriel Garcia Marquez than Malick
-- although the migratory bird image might be a tribute? This is Birns' feature debut and I haven't seen anything by Barker before, but I will
make it a point to look for them. Julie Sokolowski, who had her cinematic
debut with Bruno Dumont, is very naturalistic here, and Kerry Condon's performance has such character and edge. The Malick influence is what
is saving cinema this decade. I wish more young American film makers
learn to make heartfelt films like this.

Jay Anania's films are more about mood and camera work excellence than
story. But I wish _Long Time Since_ is a bit less specious. It may be
my fault -- I accidentally turned on the director's commentary on the DVD
the first time, and it was so intriguing I couldn't turn it off. It is
never a good idea to let the director tell you which image means exactly
what. He points out that the archery refers to the goddess Diana and to Apollo, and the episode of abduction and murder glimpsed in the film's beginning refers to the twin gods' slaughter of Niobe's children. It is
all very interesting and far-fetched, and I wonder if I wouldn't have
enjoyed the film more if I had not known these. Anania spends most of
the commentary track praising the extraordinary beauty and talent of lead actress Paulina Porizkova, whose "Diane" character is a draughtsperson; Porizkova apparently did all the drawing herself, and nails the archery
pose the first time. (It is hard to argue with Anania about Porizkova,
to be honest.) He also praises Julian Sand and Julianne Nicholson
effusively. This is his third collaboration with Nicholson that I've
seen. I like _Her Name is Carla_ best, although Nicholson's last scene
in _Shadows and Lies_ may be the most devastating thing she has done in
her amazing career. But despite all that, _Long Time Since_ is still
well worth watching:. Watch it for the stately academic ratio (4:3) compositions; the beautiful lighting; for Manhattan; and, let's face
it, for Paulina's engimatic, goddess-like poses. Anania is another
true independent director who deserves a lot more attention.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)