Syracuse International Film Festival: Little Girl Blue

Among them: Julie must deal with her 20-year-old
crumbling marriage to businessman hubby Richard (Karel Roden, familiar
to stateside audiences with Blade II, 15 Minutes and Hellboy),
her realization that her 17-year-old daughter Cecile (Martha Issova) is
no longer a little girl, and the fact that her affair with selfish
stage director Karel (Ivan Franek) is going nowhere. This could have
been a dour slice of naval-gazing female empowerment, but Nellis tweaks
the material in novel ways, especially when her script uses the 2003
death of jazz singer Nina Simone as an apt backdrop, thus allowing for
Simone standards like the title tune and “Feeling Good” to filter the
soundtrack. In another neat touch, Nellis visualizes Julie’s own
imagined flights of fantasy as she cruises through the boulevards of
Prague to figure out her problems, as street people break into a
Dumpster dance, a lovers’ quarrel ends up tying traffic with an
impromptu tango and a seemingly anonymous roller-skating imp (whose
identity is cleverly revealed near the end) saves the day for a senior
citizen. Bittova’s on screen from start to finish, and she’s an
engaging, inspiring presence in this sweetheart comedy-drama. Palace, Saturday, May 3, 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, May 4, noon, followed by an appearance from Iva Bittrova.