Reviews from CLIP’s first week of films

EDGE OF HEAVEN (Thurs. Oct. 9, 9:15 p.m.) Winner of the best screenplay award (for writer-director Fatih Akin) at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, Edge of Heaven is one Clip selection that every Bay area film lover should see. Turkish-born pensioner Ali and his son, Nejat, a literature professor in Hamburg, could hardly have less in common. But after Ali invites a prostitute home to be his companion, Nejat finds himself ensnared in a border-crossing search for the woman's daughter, Ayten, a political dissident branded a terrorist by Turkey's government. The rebellious Ayten, in turn, escapes to Germany and meets Charlotte, an adventure-seeking blonde who falls for her hard. The pair embark on a relationship that climaxes tragically in an Istanbul alley and reveals much about the complex ties between parents and their adult children along the way. The film's unusual narrative structure will keep viewers marveling at the characters' intertwined paths and missed connections. —Megan Voeller

EQUALITY U (Sat. Oct. 4, 1:30 p.m., Tampa Theatre) An affecting documentary that follows the first Equality Ride, in which young GLBTs traveled in a bus around the U.S. for 51 days in 2006 to confront discriminatory policies against gays in 20 colleges, including Oral Roberts University and Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. While there is a bit too much footage of the terribly earnest Riders arguing the pros and cons of civil disobedience, the final section of the film, at Brigham Young University, is unforgettable. A Mormon student who tells about trying to commit suicide after his mother told him she'd rather he were dead than gay decides to come out in a public ceremony during the Riders' visit to his campus, risking expulsion. As part of the ceremony the Riders perform a "die-in," reading the names of students at this and other schools who did commit suicide — a sobering reminder of why endeavors like the Equality Ride remain necessary. —David Warner

THE NEW WORLD (LE NOUVEAU MONDE) (Tues., Oct. 7, 9 p.m., Tampa Theatre) For anyone with a passing familiarity with The L Word Season 1, the premise of this charming French film will seem familiar. Lucie dreams of a baby, but her partner, Marion, is slow to share her enthusiasm; once the happy couple agrees to conceive, they embark on a tragicomic adventure that includes finding the ideal sperm donor, home insemination and dropping the bomb to family, friends and colleagues who (surprise, surprise) don't always support their choice to be moms. The film sidesteps some of the more interesting issues it briefly raises (e.g., Marion's suggestion that she prefers a straight donor or Lucie's hippie father's puzzlement at why she feels the need to "conform" to the bourgeois norm of parenting). Recast The L Word's central lightning rods, Bette and Tina, as likeable, middle-class Parisians, and you've got The New World — a lesbian baby mama drama centered on a down-to-earth couple with a sense of humor. —MV

RUBY BLUE (Thurs. Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m., Tampa Theatre) "I am full of surprises," says one of the characters in Ruby Blue. So is the script, but unfortunately just about all of its surprises can be spotted from a mile away, kind of like the flocks of homing pigeons that play a central part in the plot. Bob Hoskins is Jack, a lonely widower who raises the birds at his home in the British seaside community of Ramsgate. Grieving and estranged from his only son, he finds solace in an unlikely trio of characters: the charming Frenchwoman (Josiane Balasko) who lives across the street; a street thug (Jody Latham) who takes an interest in Jack's pigeons; and a sweet little red-headed neighbor girl (Jessica Stewart) whose babysitter he inadvertently becomes. Small-town suspicions threaten to destroy these friendships, but just as the pigeons fly away and come back, reconciliations and returns take place among the humans, too. It's all a little too pat, with every character and every big moment assigned thuddingly obvious theme music. But Ruby Blue is worth seeing for the acting, particularly the subtle chemistry between Hoskins, who goes convincingly from being totally miserable to a man in love, and Balasko, who's so full of warmth and joie de vivre that you can almost forgive the soundtrack playing "La Vie en Rose" on the accordion every time (it seems) she turns up. —DW

THE SECRETS (Sun. Oct. 5, 9 p.m., Tampa Theatre) After her mother's death, beautiful, brilliant and pious Naomi convinces her father to send her to an all-girls seminary to postpone marriage. No sooner than she arrives, the mischievous, cosmopolitan Michelle — who is less than thrilled that own her father has sent her from France to Israel to study the Torah — appears. When the two are assigned to look after a terminally ill French woman living in the small Israeli town of Safed, grudging respect blossoms into affection; Naomi's prim devotion softens, while Michelle reveals her compassionate side. As the two women uncover the sordid past of their doomed charge (played with ghostly gusto by legendary French actress Fanny Ardant), they conspire to absolve her sins through a series of ritual purifications. Concealing their own mounting transgressions, Michelle and Naomi struggle to establish their identities at the uncharted intersection of Orthodox Judaism and feminism. —MV

TRU LOVED (Fri. Oct. 3, 7 p.m., Tampa Theatre) The road to bad filmmaking is paved with good intentions. Tru Loved means well, but except for an engaging performance by Najarra Townsend in the title role of Tru, a city girl stuck in a suburban California high school (Walt Whitman High School, no less), this Gay Tolerance 101 sitcom makes your average after-school special look like Eugene O'Neill. There's a closeted black athlete named Lo (as in down-low, get it?) who seems to have a supportive mother (Jasmine Guy, looking a little long in the tooth since her Cosby days) and grandmother (Nichelle Nichols, aka Uhuru). Still, he feels it necessary to make Tru his Katie Holmes for high-school appearance purposes. Tru has two mommies and two daddies, with one major plot point being their decisions to get hitched (but not married; the film seems to have been made before recent developments in California). The standard faculty caricatures are all in place, including the tolerant drama teacher (Marcia Wallace of Newhart) and the bigoted coach (an egregiously bad Vernon Wells), both stereotypes realized much better in Were the World Mine. The best thing in the movie is big ol' Bruce Vilanch as the gay dad of Tru's boyfriend, tossing off lines like "Sit your ass down, I'm makin' hot chocolate!" with his own particular brand of panache. —DW

WATERCOLORS (Thurs. Oct. 9, 7 p.m.) After a gratuitous shower scene near the beginning of Watercolors, you might be forgiven for wondering whether the filmmakers are more interested in glorifying post-adolescent flesh than creating believable dialogue or a compelling storyline. When Danny, a sweet and artistically inclined geek, and Carter, a pill-popping jock with a chip on his shoulder, are thrown together for a weekend, an improbable romance blossoms. No surprise, unhappiness ensues, much of it centered on Carter's unwillingness to come out of the closet, his struggle to reign supreme on the high school swim team, and issues with a mom and dad who aren't exactly exemplary role models. Despite a strong performance by Tye Olson as Danny, Watercolors suffers from more than a few moments of hackneyed writing and poor sound recording that intermittent views of Carter's chiseled abs and taut posterior can't quite compensate for. If you're looking for eye candy in Watercolors, your admission dollars will be well spent; if you're looking for cinematic artistry … well, don't say we didn't warn you. —MV

See next week's issue for reviews of films from the final few days of the festival, including Were the World Mine.

This article appears in Oct 1-7, 2008.