Holocaust films are always hard to watch but the best, “The Piano” and “Life Is Beautiful,” tend to distract you with stories about distraction leading to survival. “The Counterfeiters” is the incredible true story of a Jewish master craftsman thrown into the concentration camps for, of all things, counterfeiting. Ironically this crime is the gift that gives him the chance to survive for years by helping the Nazi’s mint currency to prolong the war. 

 The counterfeiter Salomon Sorowitsch is played with incredible intensity by Karl Markovics whose emotions and expressions beat with a fearlessness that somehow allows the movie to keep the realities of death enough at bay to lose yourself in the dark flow of the film. Markovics, like Duvall’s Lt. Colonel Kilgore in “Apocalypse Now” eminates a kind of glow that you know will let him emerge from the war without a scratch, but is forced to take risks that could cause the deaths of the men around him. Working for the Nazi’s is like playing poker with the devil, but drawing the perfect card against the evil empire is redemption like no other.

War is bleak, and the Holocaust will always feel like the most devasting of them all, but  ”The Counterfeiters” is one of the most compelling war films of the past decade. This film can not be missed.

Somehow watching a great documentary always makes me feel a little like I just did something healthy for myself – like eating organic vegetables, reading a book or going for a run. I suppose this is because documentaries are extracted from real life, and as such are educational and historical. “Deep Water” is one of those films. It tells an incredible story that most Americans are not likely to have any recollection of.

In 1969, there was a boat race to see who could become the first person to make a solo trip around the world without stopping. Nine contestants entered the race and less than half of them completed it. But the real story revolved around Donald Crowhurst a novice sailor with a nagging zeal to win the race as his one shot to leave a mark on history. He built a odd custom boat and mortgaged his house to compete against some of the finest sailors in the world. Leaving his wife and three children behind for what was expected to be a 9 month excursion, what follows is one of the most fascinating stories in the history of sport. There is nothing particularly unusual about the filmmaking here, mostly just old footage taken before the race, interviews with friends and relatives shot recently, and some haunting footage shot while out on the sea. To say more would be to ruin an incredible mystery, but this film will stick with you long after it is over. 

Filmmage

Despite the greedy, bickering, and seemingly unsolvable problems that have managed to suck much of the air out of the this year’s awards season, 2007 is beginning to feel like one of the strongest movie years of the decade: A happy split between genuinely mass audience popcorn epics, and smallish indie movies that focus on perfectly drawn characters moving through everyday life. As usual, ten films seem like an arbitrary number, so this list will include quite a few more … why not? In any event, most of these movies are already rentable, and the ones still in the theatres should be seen on a big screen without interruption or a pause button, if at all possible.

1.             Once - Dir. John Carney (Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová)

“Once” is an instant classic, transforming the simple story of a scruffy Irish street singer and beautiful Czech immigrant into a kind of kindred musical and spiritual collaboration whose narrative is told largely through lyrics and whose tone is set by the natural chemistry between Hansard’s guitar and Irglova’s piano. It is that rare jewel of a film that not only dares to reinvent the genre but does so using novice actors (although Hansard did play one of the Commitments in the 80′s film and has been leading his own band, The Frames, for over a decade)  and music that has disappointingly eluded the mainstream for years. Watching this film made me somewhat envious of the kind of language and relationship that only music can bring out between a man and woman who learn to love through an unspoken musical language- a kind of romantic groove. If there is any justice in this world, Hansard and Irglova, will win the Academy award for best song, vaulting The Frames into a much deserved wider audience, much like Elliott Smith did with “Good Will Hunting,” and “Once” will become 2007′s little indie that could, accumulating awards and a more visible place in the history of independent film. This film will choke you up repeatedly.

(more…)