The hottest and glitziest film festival in North America launched its Silver Anniversary effort on Friday, January 3, 2014, with the British costume movie “Belle”.  The sold-out opening night film was screened for 1200 attendees, dignitaries, and celebrities at the Palm Springs High School auditorium.

The selection of the opening night film is extremely important in setting the tone and quality of the films that are to follow over the next ten days. “Belle” didn’t disappoint the audience.  It’s nicely directed by British writer/director Amma Asante, who is on Variety’s “Top Ten Director’s to Watch” list.  “Belle” is her second feature film.

Set in England in the late 18th century, “Belle” is the illegitimate daughter of Royal Navy Captain, Sir John Lindsay (Matthew Goode) and an African woman, now deceased.  Before shipping out on another voyage, Lindsay asks his great uncle and aunt, Lord and Lady Mansfield (winningly played by Tom Wilkinson and Emily Watson) to take care of his illegitimate daughter, called Dido.  They gracefully accept, although they are taken aback when they first meet her to discover that she is black.  But in the stuffy and class oriented English society, under the law, aristocratic birthright trumps bigotry in this lush and engaging British costume drama.

Dido played by beautiful English actress Gugu Mbatha-Raw, brings just the right amount of reserve and assurance in her new position as an heiress and as a young and desirable woman of substance, especially in 18th century England where nothing attracts men more than beauty and money.  As the fortune hunters emerge like ants to honey, the bigots and racists put in their tuppence-worth, only to be rebuffed and ignored by Dido and her aristocratic family.  Her heart belongs an idealistic commoner, John Davinier (Sam Reid) the local vicar’s son.

The issue of slavery as a legal business in British society is brought into sharp focus in “Belle”.  English commercial shipping interests, who transport slaves worldwide, are lobbying the Crown to favor their position in a lawsuit brought by the insurance cartels who want the insurers to pay for any losses when slave ships and their cargos are lost for any reason.  Wilkinson, as Lord Mansfield the highest-ranking aristocrat and King’s High Commissioner, will adjudicate the lawsuit.  His decision will affect the lives and commerce of millions of his countrymen, and others around the world.

This romantic tale is pretty straightforward when it comes to an uncomplicated storyline and boasts a solid cast of extremely accomplished British actors.  The marvelously gifted English character actress Penelope Wilton, playing Lady Mary Murray has a wealth of credits including: four seasons on TV’s “Downton Abbey” portraying Mathew Crawley’s mother, Isobel Crawley.  “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, “Calendar Girls”, and Woody Allen’s film “Match Point”, among others, leads the support pack displaying her rapier-like wit and comedic talents as the old maid aunt of the family in “Belle”.

Also sharing the screen with Mbatha-Raw is lovely Sarah Gadon as Lady Elizabeth, Dido’s cousin, and Miranda Richardson as the bigoted and money obsessed Lady Ashworth.

The film is an entertaining visual feast for the eyes and ears.  The characters may not be discovering Radium, or creating great works of literature, they are just the subjects of a crowd-pleasing movie.  We Americans dearly love happy ending in our movies.  Yes, Dido and John Divinier finally do embrace and yes, they do live happy ever after.

Foreign films, thankfully, are still mostly character-driven and require strong stories to underpin the emotions and actions that appear on the screen.  Screening at the 25th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF) is the intense, powerful and thought-provoking film “The Broken Circle Breakdown”, Belgium’s Official submission as Best Foreign Language Film for the 2014 Oscar.

“Broken Circle Breakdown”, masterly and sensitively directed by Felix Van Groeningen, from a script written with Carl Joos, is a story that resonates with audiences in a bitter/sweet way.  Potent forces and emotions are unleashed in this film concerning the healing power of the grieving process, the role of guilt in personal relationships, the part played by unconditional love, and the reality and finality of death.

It’s a story that could take place anywhere, however, this is a poetic and poignant story revolving around a young family that takes place in rural Belgium.  Elise (brilliantly played by Veerle Baetens, and Didier, (a towering performance by Johan Heldenbergh) fall in love at first sight (yes, it still happens).  Elise works as a tattoo artist and Didier plays and sings in a bluegrass band.  They are drawn to one another by their shared enthusiasm for American music and culture (he is a bluegrass fanatic whose idol is Bill Monroe, she’s an Elvis fan) who jump headlong into a passionate relationship.

Didier has a passion for all things American.  He dresses, looks, and acts like a cowboy, calling his farm a “ranch”; raising cows and horses in between his bluegrass music gigs is part of the charm that attracted Elise.  Her passion is tattooing.  They adorn a great part of her lithe and attractive body.  Tattoo’s are not for Didier but on the beautiful Elise… well that’s a different matter.

When Elise becomes pregnant, and delivers a daughter named Maybelle (an adorable young Nell Cattrysse), Didier and Elise’s relationship moves into a “parental mode” which both relish.  He proposes to her during one of his bluegrass gigs, propelling their love story to a new level, and Elise eventually joins the band as a solo singer, and the band becomes increasingly popular.

The ultimate test to their relationship comes when Maybelle, now seven years old, is diagnosed with cancer.  The scenes during her treatment periods are both heart -wrenching, and uplifting.  The film walks a thin line between melodrama and being a tearjerker.  But the performances of Baetens and Heldenbergh, never fall into bathos.  Both gifted actors are firmly anchored in the reality and the moment of the film and its complex and powerful message and story.

“The Broken Circle Breakdown” is not structured in a linear format.  There are many flashbacks punctuated with musical bluegrass interludes, which then help move the narrative forward.  The music for the film composed by Bjyorn Eriksson is just terrific, becoming a haunting leit-motif that lends an aura of grace and tranquility to the visuals created by director Van Groeningen and his cinematographer Rueben Impens.

Together, the creative and artistic teams have combined to render a modern European film with an “old world “ philosophical feel to it.  But it’s not without some controversy.  The decision concerning what some might consider as “assisted suicide”, even in a hospital setting, maybe a point of contention and/or discomfort for some American audiences (precisely a point made in the film).

I had an opportunity following the film to meet director Van Groeningen.  He is already on the film industry’s 10 Directors to Watch list.  This is his fourth feature film, which he said was made for about $ 2 million dollars, and took one year to make.

He also added, the editing process is a key component in his filmmaking career.  “I sit in the editing room with my editor, however, I never touch the equipment.  We just keep rearranging and shifting the scenes until the magic begins to happen.  Filmmaking is quite an emotional roller-coaster ride” adding, “If you asked me ten years ago would I ever make a movie where music played a large part in the story, I would have said No, yet here we are in Palm Springs with a film where music is intrinsic to the story.”

Van Groeningen is a filmmaker with a wealth of personal vision, and that’s what it takes to get quality films made.  There is no doubt that “The Broken Circle Breakdown” is a powerful, quality movie that is richly filled with thought-provoking ideas, images, and emotions about life, love, marriage, and death.  It’s an impressive piece of work.

It will be a strong contender, for Best Foreign Language Film, come Oscar time on March 2, 2014.

The second largest film festival in the country, the Palm Springs International Film Festival (PSIFF), launches the annual 25 th edition of its celebrity filled Gala and Film Festival onJanuary 3, 2014.

Palm Springs is not only a world-class tourist attraction, it becomes the center of world cinema for a ten-day period every January as it hosts more than 135,000 movie fans and film junkies from all over the globe as they try and spot the stars, directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, and distributors amid the glitz and glitter of its star-studded 1200 Gala attendees on Saturday, January 4th, at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

PSIFF, the 800-pound gorilla of film festivals, will present over 185 films from 60 countries.  All of The Best Foreign Language Film entries are also on the Academy’s Oscar radar screen and hope to snare a nomination for this coveted statuette come February.

According to festival executive director Darryl Macdonald, “This year’s lineup is particularly diverse in theme and content, encompassing vintage work by established directors alongside auspicious debuts by a vast number of emerging talents”, adding “the overall quality of the films vividly reflects the banner year we’ve seen in cinema worldwide, with a trend toward more personal, character-driven stories that defy easy genre labels.”

Proof of the drawing power of PSIFF is in the number world-class stars and celebrities who are attending this year’s Gala and festival:  Tom Hanks, who receives the Chairman’s Award; Meryl Streep, who receives the ICON Award; Julia Roberts, the Spotlight Award; Lupita Nyongo’o, the Breakthrough Performance Award; Thomas

Newman, his second Frederick Loewe Award; and Variety will honor director John Lee Hancock, for one of the “10 Directors to Watch” award.  Variety is also honoring actor Jonah Hill with the Creative Impact in Acting award.  It’s a night to remember for celebrities and the expected number of fans who will catch all of the action as the stars walk the Red Carpet to the Gala and other selected screenings.

The Festival’s opening night film, with 1200 attending the event in the Palm Springs High School auditorium, is the British film “Belle”. It follows the life of Dido Elizabeth Belle, the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of a Royal Navy captain and an enslaved African woman.

The closing night film wraps up the festival with the comedy “Le Week-End”, starring English actors Jim Broadbent, and Lindsay Duncan, in a story about an older married couple’s trip to Paris in an attempt to rekindle their love.

It’s hard to believe that this Festival has been topping itself, year after year; growing bigger and better… but it has.  This year’s festival is bringing the Canadian film industry into sharper focus by featuring the talents of the directors, writers, and actors and films of our neighbors to the north.

Tickets go on sale this week.  It will be a hectic but fun and thought provoking 10 days that no true cineaste will want to miss.  For tickets, passes and film packages call the Festival Box Office at 800-898-PALM (7256) or go online to: www.psfilmfest.org.

See you at the Festival…