Gurinda Chadha's "Bend it for Beckham" (out of competition) is no slouch in the crowd-pleasing department either - the film is already a runaway hit in the UK. You thought Stallone's Rocky had it tough? Then imagine you are 18, an Indian in England and so totally in awe of soccer legend Beckham that you want to become a soccer player -- did I mention that you are also a GIRL ? So what do you do when you are spotted by a scout for a local high-school team whom you befriend - but who turns against you when she thinks you are making the moves on the team's coach (Jonathan Rhys-Myers); when you dream of going to America where student athletes get scholarships and sponsorships but your parents won't allow you to play because you'll ruin your sister's arranged marriage? Guess what the outcome is going to be. This "soccer Rock-ette" - a delightful piffle - is played by refreshing élan by Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightley, who played Nathalie Portman's handmaiden in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" ("which spoiled the whole series for me now that I know how it's done: I always thought the light sabers aren't real!") and just wrapped a TV adaptation of "Dr. Zhivago" in Prague.
Okay: Mom's a slut (she left with another man ten or twenty years ago), Dad's a drag queen, Sonny's an aging punk who loafs about with other zonked-out rainbow-haired punks, but has always been in love with his sleepwalking sister and embarks in an incestuous relationship with her. One big happy family, yes? Well, Japan's "Filament" (in competition) is far more interesting - and interestingly filmed - than that. Starting with the father (the true heart of the piece) who, as a photographer-artist using himself as a subject, quietly pushed the boundaries of life and art. The acting is uneven, but Takao Osawa, as the father, is absolutely stunning.
Now is cross-dressing emerging as a major theme of this year's festival? In "All About My Father" (documentary, in competition), Even Benestard focuses on his father, a 52-year old Norwegian doctor who dresses up as a woman and calls himself Esther Pirelli; "The Cockettes" (Another View section) are, like, Rockettes with, ahem, you know; "Venus Boyz" (also in Another View) is about women who dress up as men; and "Britney, Baby, One More Time" about a Milwaukee loser who cons a (male) Britney Spears impersonator into financing his (very vague) film project. Due to popular demand, several screenings have been added... go figure.
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