Source: Maui Time, Maui News, Best of Maui, Maui Activities

Film%20Critique
Maui Film Festival
A look at this year's offerings...

June 18, 2009

Celestial Cinema (Wailea)

Rock Prophecies

(Thursday, June 18, 8pm)

Photographer and Oahu boy Robert Knight gets up close and personal with some of rock’s greatest axe men, including Carlos Santana, Eric Clapton, BB King, Slash and many more. Prepare to have your hair blown back. 

Art Officially Favored

(Thursday, June 18, 9:30pm)

If you’ve never heard of Berkeley musician Michael Masley, don’t worry—most people haven’t. But after watching this film—which highlights Masley’s unique, groundbreaking style of play—you won’t forget him.

Sita Sings the Blues

(Thursday, June 18, 11pm)

Hindu gods do epic, visually stunning things in this animated eye-pleaser from syndicated cartoonist Nina Paley.

Splinterheads

(Friday, June 19, 8pm)

The world’s oldest man, a conniving carnie and a young dude smitten—pretty much your classic comedic love story.

SPOTLIGHT

One Peace at a Time

(Friday, June 19, 9:45pm)

Problems. We all know we’ve got ’em, but solutions are harder to come by. Director Turk Pipkin sets out to remedy this by traversing the globe in search of stuff that’s broken (environmentally, socially, politically) and then looking for fixes. Bonus: Willie Neslon, who will be given a “Maverick Award” before the screening (runner up: Sarah Palin) makes a cameo. Double bonus: this is a world premiere. 

Cash Crop

(Friday, June 19, 11pm)

Northern California’s Emerald Triangle ain’t named after the redwood trees. Take an enlightening trip inside this booming black market industry—and don’t forget your snacks.

Paper Heart

(Saturday, June 20, 8pm)

Bumbling, stuttering Gen-Y everyman Michael Cera meets a girl who doesn’t believe in love in this genre-bender from director/star Charlyne Yi.

Yossu N’dour: I Bring What I Love

(Saturday, June 20, 9:30pm)

Follow the remarkable journey of the titular African poet/musician as he rises from obscurity to rub elbows with Springsteen and Bono.

Lightbulb

(Saturday, June 20, 11pm)

The title of this buddy flick refers to the metaphorical kind of lightbulb that supposedly goes off over your head when you have a bright idea. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the dudes in question are full of good ideas.

More Than a Game

(Sunday, June 21, 8pm)

Some guy named LeBron James leads a high school basketball squad from a ramshackle Ohio gym to contending for a national championship in this sports-as-a-metaphor-for-life uplifter. (Note: Then James became an auto mechanic and no one ever heard from him again.)

Facing Ali

(Sunday, June 21, 10pm)

A collection of boxers who had the guts to step into the ring with the Greatest of All Time—including famed adversary and grill pitchman George Foreman—share memories both pointed and poignant that shed new light on the iconic fighter. 

SandDance Theater (Wailea)

Explore Shorts Showcase

(Friday, June 19, 8pm)

A collection of globe-spanning short subject works from director Charles Annenberg Weingarten, including: Guardians of the Sea, Wild Dolphin Project, No Child is Born a Terrorist, Rwanda Gorilla Special, The Arctic: Change at the Top of the World and India’s Song.

Mustang: A Journey of Transformation

(Saturday, June 20, 8pm)

This is not about a guy fixing his Ford. Rather, it’s the tale of a small kingdom, pronounced “moose-tong,” that goes through a cultural and spiritual revival. 

SPOTLIGHT

Dirt! The Movie

(Saturday, June 20, 8:30pm)

There is perhaps nothing on Earth more underappreciated than, well, earth. Dirt, dust, mud, that brown stuff beneath our feet. We consider it a nuisance, something to be vacuumed up, washed off, swept away. Yet where many see filth and grime, others (including the makers of this film) see one of the primary building blocks of life. Dirt! seeks out people—a physicist, an environmental education advocate, the founder of the slow food movement—who understand and appreciate the richness of soil in all its forms. Basically, this movie begins with the old saw “God made dirt, so dirt don’t hurt” and takes things a step further to show that dirt, in fact, made us.

What Would it Look Like

(Saturday, June 20, 10:30pm)

A film that looks to stimulate the mind as well as the eye and to widen the lens to look at the big picture. So yeah, one of those cool, trippy deals.

Castle Theater (MACC)

Adam

(Thursday, June 18, 7:30pm)

A romantic comedy about two people from different backgrounds who somehow come together and find love. Not exactly a genre-buster, but sometimes that’s OK.

The Cove

(Saturday, June 20, 7:30pm)

A based-on-a-true-story, Sundance award-winner about a dolphin trainer and a filmmaker who lead an expedition into a deep, dark cave to uncover a deeper, darker secret. Part-time Maui resident Richard Donner directs.

SPOTLIGHT

(500) Days of Summer

(Sunday, June 21, 7:30pm)

After a January screening at Sundance, this flick has been gaining buzz as the Juno-style indie breakout of the year. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a greeting card writer who is, shockingly, not totally satisfied with his life. MFF honoree Zooey Deschanel plays an alluring woman who enters his life but doesn’t exactly make things easy. Sharp dialogue, cutting comedy (a scene involving the young couple, an Ikea bed and a Chinese family is not to be missed) and unexpected plot turns make this more than your average boy-meets-girl tale.

McCoy Theater (MACC)

SPOTLIGHT

Blue Gold: World Water Wars

(Thursday, June 18, 5pm)

It’s long been said that the wars of the future would be fought over water. Well, the future is here. This important, timely doc takes a look at who’s controlling the world’s potable water supply and how they’re doing it (a Coca-Cola report quoted in the film ominously proclaims that the company is “redefining how consumers get hydrated”). In the end, Blue Gold points out how free market capitalism has co-opted even the most basic human necessities, and turned a substance  that comprises three-quarters of the human body into a commodity. Thirsty?

Automorphosis

(Thursday, June 18, 8pm)

Cars will change dramatically in the next couple of decades. That’s a fact. What’s up for debate is how they’ll change, and more specifically what they’ll run on. This film proposes an outside-the-box (to say the least) solution that involves something called “smiles per gallon.”

Between the Folds

(Thursday, June 18, 8pm)

The intricate art of origami is explored, with psychedelic undertones. Sounds awesome.

Houston—We Have a Problem

(Friday, June 19, 5pm)

Neither Exxon propaganda nor knee-jerk enviro hysteria, this film promises to give the oil industry a fair, honest look, examining the ways that gooey black substance and its purveyors power the world even as they hold us back. 

Unmistaken Child

(Friday, June 19, 8pm)

The four-year search for the reincarnation of a powerful Tibetan maser who died in 2001 is chronicled with surprising and occasionally humorous results.

What About Me?

(Sunday, June 21, 8pm)

This new film from the makers of 1 Giant Leap takes throat singers, hip-hop artists, tribal Africans, gypsies and other eclectic types and unites them under the umbrella of global unity and shared humanity. What sounds grandiose and perhaps even clichéd comes across as fresh, raw and deeply moving. Ledward Ka‘apana and Willie K make appearances, lending the film a Hawaii connection that’s especially appropriate given the subject matter. 

Hawaii 3D

(Concludes every screening)

Check out three-dimensional coral reefs and the cool, colorful creatures that inhabit them without having to strap on a snorkel. This 20-minute feature plays after every film at the McCoy Theater. 

SPECIAL HONOREES

Zooey Deschanel A rising indie favorite and star of the MFF feature (500) Days of Summer, Deschanel will receive the Nova Award. Thursday, June 18, 8:30pm at SunDance Theater in Wailea.

Willie Nelson The iconic troubadour who needs no introduction will be given the Maverick Award for a lifetime of singing—and living—against the grain. Friday, June 19, 9:30pm at Celestial Cinema in Wailea.

For tickets and more info, call (808) 579-9244 or visit www.mauifilmfestival.com