Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet

TEN MINUTES OLDER "The Trumpet" is a compilation of seven ten-minute films by various noted directors that all deal with the passing of time. This is one of such two 2002 projects produced by Nicholas McClintock, the other is subtitled "The Cello".

In Aki Kaurismäki's "Dogs Have No Hell", Markku Peltola is released from jail and has ten minutes to convince Kati Outinen to marry him and board a train to Siberia. There's little explanation of who these people are, why Peltola was in jail or why they must go to Siberia, but the film does compress the Finnish director's style into a short span with its deadpan humour, stony facial expressions and even a performance by a morose rock band.

As Víctor Erice's "Lifeline" begins, a baby's swaddling clothes are stained with blood because of a rupture. The film tracks the suspenseful minutes between the accident and the time that the large household discovers it and saves the child. The film is set in a Spanish village in 1940 and the silence (there's only a couple of lines of dialogue at the end) and clockwork-like buzz of rural life (reaping grain, sewing with a machine) make a real impression over the other films here.

The main character of Jim Jarmusch's "Int. Trailer Night" is an actress (Chloe Sevigny) on a ten-minute break in her trailer while shooting a film. Though these ten minutes are all the time she gets to herself the whole day, her break is constantly interrupted by costume and mic checks and ultimately her dinner is delivered too late for her to eat it. Jarmusch is apparently showing us that a star's life is not an easy one, though considering the enormous salaries that these professionals command, it's hard to really sympathize.

Wim Wender's "Ten Minutes to Trona" depicts an American businessman's desperate attempt to reach a hospital after unknowingly ingesting a plate of cookies dosed with some kind of hallucinogen. As he speeds down a desert road, various camera effects represent his warped perceptions, which range from horrible visions to moments of idyllic beauty. There's such a realism to this that one wonders if it is based on a personal experience by Wenders.

Werner Herzog and Spike Lee chose to make short documentaries. Herzog's "Ten Thousand Years Older" visits a Amazonian tribe that had been contacted by the outside world in 1981 (thus being pulled millennia into the future in the blink of an eye). The first portion of the film consists of footage from the 1981 contact. In the years since, much of the tribe had been decimated by diseases to which they had no resistance, but Herzog captures an interview with two of the men two decades on.

Spike Lee's contribution "We Wuz Robbed" deals with the 2000 presidential election and Al Gore's loss to George Bush in Florida. Lee interviews Democrat strategists about the agonizing wait for the figures to come in. As outraged as I was at the outcome of this election, I find this film to have little to no redeeming value and regularly skip it on rewatchings.

Finally, Chen Kaige's "100 Flowers Hidden Deep" deals with the Chinese state's destruction of Beijing's traditional neighbourhoods in order to build skyscrapers. A middle-aged Beijing man asks a removals team to help him take his things from his old home to his newly built high-rise. When they arrive, they find only a vacant lot and it turns out the local man is quite mad. Through a computer-graphics overlay, Chen shows us what lovely buildings and streets were in this empty plot of land before the authorities demolished it all.

In spite of the talent enlisted for this project, the films here are generally not very deep. I would say that only the Herzog, Erice and Chen films are memorable, but it's hard to be enthusiastic even about these. I think it would appeal mainly to completists of one or more of the directors represented here, but it's hard to represent it to more casual fans.

Seven directors and their view of time. Or maybe I should say six: Spice Lee's contribution might be interesting in another context, but seems misplaced here.

The opening quote by Marc Aurel and the interludes with the melancholic trumpet and the flowing water feel a bit cheesy if you look at them in 2016.

Several other reviewers have provided synopses for the segments, so I will only review the moments that stand out for me: The big old cook/nurse in Victor Erice's short that makes us not only understand, but feel the human bond of an extended, close-knit Spanish household a few decades ago.

The tuberculous Indian warrior Tari in Herzog's short documentary, holding the white alarm clock to his head. It makes you cringe, because the scene makes him look like a true savage, almost like an animal. It touches you, because we know and, more importantly, the Indian knows that his time has run out.

The strange mixture of female beauty, loneliness, silence, and comedy of Jim Jarmusch's segment.

Chen Kaige gives us the moment where a group of simple minded, „modern" Chinese movers, who's brains have been dulled by the faceless progress that surrounds them, have a glimpse at the glory of their own unique past.

Most of these directors have the one unique gift, to make us feel interested in their story or characters after only a minute or two.

All in all, this collection of shorts does not always feel coherent, but maybe that wasn't the intention to begin with. It's like looking at short sketches of contemporary masters of cinema, and learning what they can do with 10 minutes of time, which is a lot. A very good way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon.

A mostly very recommendable collection of shorts by some of the most renowned arthouse directors. In DOGS HAVE NO HELL a man starts a new life with the woman he loves. Aki Kaurismäki delivers, as usual, grand melodrama in the most deadpan manner. Wonderful photography. Werner Herzog's documentary is his usual ethno-cliche crap: Modernization blows away the culture of a small hunter-gatherer group. Herzog mourns this but uses evolutionist-colonialist vocabulary like "tribe" and "stone age" - he obviously never realizes that his perspective overrates the power of Western culture in the same way as die-hard modernizers do. Embarrassing.

Jim Jarmusch's vignette about movie making combines a calm view of everyday situations with some subdued comedy. Quite unassuming and more complex and substantial in hindsight. Wim Wenders returns to his roots: 35 years after his early shorts we are once again in a car for almost the entire film and listen to rock music. Just this time we get an exciting plot, beautiful retro-psychedelic visuals and a poetic near-death moment: Wenders shows all his abilities.

Spike Lee reports irregularities of the last US-presidential election, quite frightening of course, beautifully shot, but a bit out of place here.

Chen Kaige's 100 FLOWERS HIDDEN DEEP gives us a little parable about the change of modern Beijing, which is a bit silly at first (and includes some awful computer animation), but has a further dimension: The worker's pantomime and the old man's effeminate gestures are stylistic devices from Peking Opera, an art form of the past, virtually surviving "hidden deep" in cinema.

But the one piece overshadowing all the others is Victor Erice's LIFELINE, a portrait of a peaceful afternoon in a Spanish village in 1940, with death and destruction always close at hand: Children play, farmhand reap dry grass, old men play cards, while a baby starts to bleed to death. The beauty and poetic power of the images and sounds is outstanding, only comparable to Tarkovsky (another director with a genuine feel for life on the countryside). Marvelous.

This is a very interesting Short film compilation. Seven Directors are all trying to bring their view of time on canvas. Kaige Chen (segment "100 Flowers Hidden Deep") This is the story of an old man who returns to the city where he grew up. Even though things have changed he still sees the old neigbourhood (wooden Cabins, Trees...). Workers laugh at him, but then they see the place through his eyes... Not really touching, but I supose its a must see for architechure students.

Víctor Erice (segment "Lifeline")-B&W Scenes in a day (during WW2) on the Spanish countryside.

My personal favorite short of them all. Werner Herzog (segment "Ten Thousand Years Older") This one brings us in the Brazilian jungle. It documents the first encounters with an urban trial 20 years ago and shows what happend to them since. Makes you think... Jim Jarmusch (segment "Int. Trailer Night")-B&W We become wittnisess of a short 10 min break in the life of an actress (Chloe Sevigny) Jim Jarmusch proves once more that he is able to create extrodinary characters on canvas, even in the tight frame of 10 min.

Aki Kaurismäki (segment "Dogs Have No Hell") A man is releasd from prison he has 10 minutes to: get a wife, train, and quit his old job. Spike Lee (segment "We Wuz Robbed")-B&W Treats of the "democratic" election of Mr. Bush. very good! Wim Wenders (segment "Twelve Miles to Trona") A middle aged Man overdoses on a drug by accident. now he has to make it to Trona Hospital. suprisingly light for a Wenders but funny and entrtaining. Altogether I belive this is a fantastic Cinema experience! I can`t wait for the second compilation (Ten Minutes older: the chello) which is said to include Volker Schlöendorff, Claude Codard...

A dream come true for art-house film buffs, and anyone whose out looking for an interesting way to spend 90 minutes. This is perhaps one of the most amazing collection of short films. The secret lies in the vast variety of genre and style of the films. From pure eye-candy to dramatic documentaries. In a collection like this, there is no such thing as "out of place". I found all the films enjoyable and interesting. For me, the weakest segment was the Wim Wenders film. It felt like an episode of a made-for-TV mini-series-road-movie. Another let down was the Aki Kaurismaki segment, maybe it's because this was my first Kaurismaki experience, I didn't really "get it". The most powerful being Chen Kaige's nostalgiac reflection of the ever-changing city of Beijing.

The segments in order of preference: Chen Kaige, Werner Herzog, Victor Erice, Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders, Aki Kaurismaki.

My preference could change after multiple viewings. I strongly recommend this collection to film-lovers. Can't wait to see the other collection: "The Cello"