It might not receive the same fanfare as other Bay Area counterparts, but the California Independent Film Festival in Orinda — celebrating its 25th anniversary — deserves to bask in the spotlight.
This year’s program of 28 films from 14 countries runs Nov. 9-16 and reflects organizers’ emphasis of quality over quantity, particularly in the international selections.
Screenings take place at the Orinda Theatre. Tickets for most screenings are $13. Festival passes run $100-$250. Tickets, a complete schedule and details on the return of the popular “Grease” sing-along screening (7 p.m. Nov. 14) are at www.caiff.org.
Here are some of the compelling offerings.
“Driving Madeleine”: Sometimes that weathered adage about looks being deceiving does prove out. Such is the case with the fest’s opening night feature “Driving Madeleine.” From outward appearances, and even in its opening moments, one might assume that this drama centered on a 92-year-old Madeleine’s (Line Renaud) taxi ride with driver Charles (Dany Boon) through Paris will be a ham-fisted tearjerker. Even though tears will indeed flow, this is far more ambitious than a pull-on-the-heartstrings road trip.
Christian Carion’s seventh feature does a fine job of steering clear of hackneyed tropes, alternating between jarring flashbacks of Madeleine’s hard domestic life and those intimate conversations between this unlikely duo who form a bond as the day shifts into night. “Madeleine” is a showcase for its two leads; both are exceptional. So is the film, which gently reminds us to feel compassion for others since we never quite know where another person has been or where they are going. Screening: 7 p.m. Nov. 9, preceded by the 11-minute animated short “War Is Over.”
“Full Time”: Julie (Laure Calamy) is at her wit’s end. The single mom hustles day and night, running from her job as head house cleaner in a ritzy Paris hotel to her chaotic home in the ‘burbs with her two children. Julie’s plight, so intensely depicted in Eric Gravel’s anxiety-producing drama, only worsens due to a strike and protests that all but bring public transit to a halt.
Both as director and writer, Gravel succeeds mightily, putting us into the worn-down shoes of its protagonist. The real glue holding the film together is Calamy and she is phenomenal. “Full Time” is one of the best films I’ve seen this year and includes one of the best performances I’ve seen as well. It never stumbles, and leads to a most welcome outcome. Screening: 4:30 p.m. Nov. 10.
Phone home: Given all the ugliness going on around the globe, who couldn’t use a legit break from it all by revisiting a heartwarming family classic? The fest presents one of Steven Spielberg’s best films — 1982’s “E.T.” — at 10 a.m. Nov. 11. Expect to get a lump in the throat.”
“Godland”: Piety and prejudice prove to be a powder-keg combo in director/writer Hlynur Pálmason’s visually spectacular feature debut. This epic (2 hours, 23 minutes) starts slow and then boils over. Set in the late 19th century, it’s about an ill-prepared Danish priest (Elliott Crosset Hove) assigned to build a church before winter comes in untamed but beautiful Iceland. immediately it’s obvious that this Lutheran man of faith is out of his league. The disdain in the eyes of Ragnar (Ingvar E Sigurðsson), his Icelandic guide, is evident and it is their antagonistic relationship that gives “Godland” its power and punch. The film is a stunning visual and cinematic experience. Screening: 3:30 p.m. Nov. 14.
“Il Boemo”: If you’re a big fan of opera or handsomely mounted biopics that throw you back into another era, get your aria-loving selves to Petr Václav’s lavish “Il Boemo (The Bohemian).” It chronicles with due decadence and a touch of naughtiness the scrappy beginnings of Prague-born composer Josef Mysliveček (played with vigor by Vojtěch Dyk) and his successes and excesses as a major classical music force in Italy. This is a grand and glorious epic (2 hours, 10 minutes) with Václav spending equal time with the music and the composer’s lovers — including an acclaimed and reviled diva with a huge sexual appetite, an unhappily married woman whose husband is jealous all the time, and even a young Mozart. Screening: 4 p.m. Nov. 15.
Contact Randy Myers at soitsrandy@gmail.com.
