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After a slump of several years, 2007 marked a return to glory for the U.S. film industry. It was as if a Big Bang of creativity unleashed an array of great films across multiple genres, from action and adventure to high art. The former includes "300" and "Transformers," and the latter the Coen Brother's "No Country for Old Men", Wes Anderson's "The Darjeeling Limited" and Paul Thomas Anderson's "There Will Be Blood."
This year's Jeonju International Film Festival will allow local cinema fans to experience in person this renewal of American film. The festival will show 20 feature and four short films from the U.S., ranging from commercial to experimental works. With the help of JIFF programmer Yoo Un-seong, the Chosun Ilbo has selected 10 of the more notable films on offer.
The most highly recommended movies are "RR (Railroad)" by James Benning, the legendary avant-garde film director, and Lance Hammer's debut work "Ballast," for which he was awarded the Directing Award at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. "RR" observes the landscape of far-flung corners of America with a sharp eye for insight into contemporary life and culture. "Ballast" shows that American independent films have learned from European art films, which focus on breathing moral sense into every scene through keen observation rather than plot. Meanwhile, "Chop Shop" by Iranian-American director Ramin Bahrani, takes a look at the Third World within the U.S., specifically in the outskirts New York.
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Clockwise from upper left, ¡®Ballast,¡¯ ¡®Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream,' ¡®The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford,¡¯ and ¡®RR (Railroad)¡¯
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A few aging former giants of American cinema have returned with comeback films. Francis Ford Coppola, acclaimed director of the "Godfather" series, is back with "Youth Without Youth," based on a short story by Mircea Eliade. Peter Bogdanovich, the witty film critic, has released his music documentary "Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a Dream," and George Romero has completed "Diary of the Dead", the fifth sequel in his zombie movie series.
Among the bigger-budget movies made in part by the major studios, worth watching are "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," directed by Andrew Dominik and starring Brad Pitt, and "In the Valley of Elah" by Paul Haggis, who won the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture with "Crash." In very different ways, both works deal with the effects of the Iraq War on the unconscious mind of the American people.
Don't miss this opportunity to catch some well-made, meditative movies and experience the reawakening of American filmmaking. The festival lasts from May 1 to 9. For more information, visit www.jiff.or.kr or call (063)283-4549.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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