A collection of my idiosyncratic thoughts & film reviews. I find spending time sitting in the dark watching far too many films back to back a deeply relaxing experience. International, Indy, Hollywood, Vampires - I have very flexible tastes...
In honor of Halloween I headed over to Seattle Center to participate in the first annual ZomBCon. It was a lot of fun even though I didn't really get a chance to check out too many of the events. Most sadly I missed the local filmmakers session which I'd mistakenly thought was Sunday (it was actually Saturday). Regardless I got to hang out with some fun folks and a fairly large number of the undead. Below is a short video snippet capturing some of the zombies walking about as well as some of the pics I snapped this afternoon. From the feedback I heard sounded like it's been a success - I look forward on checking it out further next year.
When I eventually remembered where I was going (for some reason spaced on ZomBcon's location) was greeted with this hard to miss ZomBcon logo outside the convention space
And now more pictures involving Hello Kitty than any reasonable person would expect to find on a post about a zombie convention.
I picked up an apparently not quite legal Hello Zombie t-shirt. They were sort of being sold on the down-low, thankfully a very nice fellow clued me in.
Towards the end of the day Malcolm McDowell took a break from autograph signing to participate in a Trekkies vs. Zombies trivia contest.
McDowell turns out to be a lively guest - really getting into the trivia. Or at least trying to move it along so he could catch his flight.
Even during the early stages of the coming zombie apocalypse it seems entrepreneurship will flourish in America
With so many zombies walking around the event, even a zombified Hello Kitty isn't completely safe. As she clearly is starting to realize in this shot...
Egged on by the crowd the zombies start to close in
Eventually they left her alone once they realized she was also of the undead persuasion. But it looked touch and go for a bit.
ZomBcon turns out to be a great place to buy your zombie defense cosplay weaponry. As modeled by this rather fearsome zombie hunter.
It's slightly hard to see her - but she's clearly not a casual cosplayer. This seems like a lifestyle commitment with a dagger tattooed on one leg and a sawed off shotgun on the other (not pictured)
I suppose Robin's men weren't quite so merry once they started coming back from the dead. Whoever was trying to take down this formerly young lady clearly missed the memo on the importance of the head shot.
Some of the more photogenic zombies of the day. And maybe former health care workers? - presumably caught unawares by the virus while they were trying to help. LOVE the plastic fork stuck in her head. These ladies also make an appearance on the video clip with this post.
Left 4 Dead Panel Discussion
George Romero signing autographs. Just realized we share a birthday - which I was not expecting to learn today.
A couple of the larger format art prints from Zombies vs. Cheerleaders that I picked up
The writer/editor (Steven L. Frank) of the awesome Zombies vs. Cheerleaders poses with some random guy who's definitely not affiliated with this blog. Thankfully he clued me into the appearance of the zombified Hello Kitty ensuring I stuck around.
Coincidence, or is Hello Kitty a fan of zombies too? Today at Seattle Center (for those out of towners that means right next to the Space Needle in the background) there was a special visit from the famous feline. Missed my opportunity to buy a Sanrio skateboard deck. Maybe next time...
Apparently Hello Kitty isn't afraid to teach the kids a thing or two about gambling. As it turns out I won a $10 Target gift card. So I won't complain too much
What, are you surprised by this? How do you haul your Hello Kitty Trailer?
Sorry, I can't resist. One more photo of the cat - post attempted mauling
Today marks the first of hopefully a fair number of film related posts I'll be doing over at Seattle's own Three Imaginary Girlswebsite. A special thanks to Imaginary Amie for bringing me into the fold. Unless I manage to royally screw things up there's more to look forward to there next week. ;-)
There are a lot of reasons people bond with the character of Lisbeth Salander of the Millenium (aka The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) Trilogy. Maybe it’s her leet hacking skillz, cool photographic memory, or your sympathy for her being screwed over every which way from Sunday. But personally I think it’s her total "screw you" attitude (in the diminutive package) that makes the character work both on the page and on the big screen.
This film neatly closes off the series based on the books of the same name, giving Noomi Rapace as Salander plenty of screen time to bring the author’s image to life. I probably enjoyed this film the most of the three, even though it did leave me somewhat befuddled regarding Swedish courtroom procedures.
Last week I decided to try and class things up and catch some theater to augment all the films I've been seeing. So I dressed up a bit and set out to see a play. Though arguably I'm not sure I should claim I really broadened my cultural horizons as my choice for the evening was Evil Dead - The Musical. Inspired by the movie of (almost) the same name. Perhaps more accurately the first two Evil Dead films if we're being purists about things. For those unfamiliar with the class franchise, a bunch of college kids go to a cabin, accidentally invoke a bunch of ancient spirits and end up dead. Not to mention evil, very evil. The sole survivor Ash makes it out of the cabin in the woods via a combination of dumb luck and the willingness to cut into his friends with a chainsaw as needed. So all told, clearly a work that was meant to be adapted into a musical.
Overall, I enjoyed the experience but it wasn't quite as entertaining as I thought it might be. The best part was the staging which used the limited space super well - and the direction provided lots of opportunities to spray blood onto the audience. At least those in the first row, the occupants of which were issued ponchos on entry. The cast was enthusiastic, having fun with their roles and did a solid job. I felt the musical numbers didn't really hugely add that much to things - mostly in the sense that they lyrics didn't make me laugh as much as some of the spoken lines. Though I did definitely laugh. So probably worth seeing, especially as you're not exactly talking Broadway prices here.
The theater is compact and laid out. I suspect there's not really a bad seat, at least in the center section. If you want to maximize getting splattered my sense is your best bet in the right side (from the perspective of facing the stage). I don't think one needs to be especially familiar with the material. That said a quick check of Wikipedia couldn't hurt.
View of the stage before the start of the play
Some folks chatting in their ponchos
Suited up in full protective gear
Update (11/4/2010): Noticed there was a local news story with a bit of footage of the show, so including here:
Sort of an odd little slice of life film from South Korea that combines some really cute laugh out loud moments, with some occasionally confusing back story. All leading to a "what exactly was the point of that again?" moment. I don't think this is something that's going to set box office records - or even make it to theaters outside the festival circuit (though I could be wrong - haven't really checked). But it definitely had enough enjoyable pieces (including at least two laugh out loud scenes) to put in in the category of different, never otherwise going to see the light of day in the US fare I'm glad to stumble onto during a film festival. Even if I wouldn't want to make it a Saturday night destination film. Given the backstory of the work I'm looking forward to what comes next from the young people involved.
What I mean regarding backstory is explained from this snippet of the VIFF programming guide about the film:
Seven film majors in the Art and Design School of Konkuk University teamed up to direct segments of a script wrritten by all of them about the opening of Ku Cinematheque, which aims to be the last single-screen repertory cinema in the new era of multiplexes. Manageress Cho Misook recruits a motley crew of young staffers, including a couple of petty criminals and the convenience-store girl who lost her job because they stole food on her watch. Their challenge is to get through a week of free screenings prior to the official opening, a week in which the cinema will be assessed to see if it deserves government subsidy. Each of the eight chapters is obliquely inspired by a favourite film (from vintage Fritz Lang and Capra to Fassbinder, Jarmusch and Wong Kar Wai), and the script sensibly deals as much with youthful straight/gay romances as it does with the stresses and strains of coping with members of the public. Cute cast, too.
To my mind this description perhaps gives it a little more depth of script than I felt myself. But the cute cast part I'm gonna agree with.
If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle is this year's Romania's official entry for the best foreign language Oscar race this year. While I thought it was somewhat interesting to watch I'm fairly certain you'll be wasting your money if you bet on it to win this year's award.
Contrary to the compulsion people seem to be having to compare every film set within a mile of a prison to last year's masterpiece A Prophet this is an entirely different sort of film, and on a much smaller scale. Though to be fair - it does take place in a prison.
Silviu (Pistireanu George) is a young man close to completing his sentence in a prison camp. As the film starts he seems to be getting by reasonably well, all things considered - with at least a couple of friends amongst the inmates. While not the Hilton he's not suffering the terrors of prison life that are often depicted onscreen (at least not to the degree of the other VIFF prison film I saw this year - R). So, at first it seems like this might be a tale with a happy, rehabilitated ending. But then Silviu's younger brother comes to visit...
Through conversation it becomes clear that until heading to prison Silviu was involved more than a brother typically is in raising his sibling. The visit is unexpected and after a fair amount of pulling Silviu learns their absentee mother is back in the picture and wants to take the younger son back to Italy with her - in the very near future. As he credits his own failures in life - and current situation to having been cast out by this same woman this scares him immensely. Suddenly Silviu's short two week bit inside seems like a life sentence if he's not able to stop his brother being taken out of the country. Desperate to get out he begs the warden for a solution - and in his highly stressed out state begins to make some very poor decisions - especially one involving a student visiting the prison as part of a project, Ana (Ada Condeescu)
The remainder of the film put together by director Florin Serban makes the viewer witness to the unraveling of Silviu's world - in the sort of way that made me want to yell at the screen for him to pull it together (if I was a screaming at the screen sort of person). So, not exactly light fare.
I didn't come away feeling this was a film that would stick with me long term - and the most interesting part for me was a sense of the setup of a Romanian medium security incarceration facility. Slowly paced I suspect some would describe it as boring. For me it's a decent film, well acted by the lead but not interesting enough to put in a "must see" category. Though it is a reasonable choice if you're in film festival 4-5 flicks a day mode and are looking to bridge a gap between other things.
This post is an extended version of my review that appears in Heeb Magazine.
The Taqwacores is a kick, a film that brings a more expansive view of Islam to the screen than you’re likely picturing if you’ve been seriously fretting the appearance of a mosque in a former Burlington Coat Factory in downtown Manhattan recently. Michael Knight’s originally self publishedbook describes a world in which a collective of Muslim rebelling misfits live together in an old school “punk house” in Buffalo New York. There they challenge their personal and religious boundaries which we’re exposed to through the viewpoint of (at least) initially “straight” resident Yusef. The title comes from the amalgam of “Taqwa’ (an arabic word suggesting piety or god fearing) and ‘Hardcore’ the fast paced stripped down style of punk rock. For a community where ‘could lead to dancing’ may well be a serious concern this is truly subversive material.
Yusef, an engineering student in Buffalo, is searching for an apartment off campus. As the film starts he’s inquiring about a room to share with a group of other Muslims. His family feels that such a shared environment would be good for him and “keep him out of trouble.” As per the laws of nature, or at least those of movie irony, we know from the outset that this housing situation is going to be more complex than he bargained for. Not that this really should have been lost on Yusef either - as he’s led on a tour of the house one of the first things he sees is a Saudi flag with an anarchy symbol painted on it. The rest of the house’s decor is equally subtle, looking very much as CBGB’s would have appeared if it were re-imagined as a youth hostel. For reasons that are not altogether clear given his conservative bent, Yusef signs on for living in the house - a decision that seems to constantly press on his comfort zone.
Through Yusef we are introduced to the rest of the roommates, each an archetype within the spectrum of punk rock (straight edge, skater, drunken goofus, mohawked fellow, etc.). NOT what Yusef was expecting when he knocked on that door. The kicker of course is that they All consider themselves practicing Muslims, all questioning their faith in different ways though, which inevitably causing conflict in the house, and not just what you’d expect with a skinhead and a old school punk sharing the same house (itself an issue for the ages addressed in the 7 Seconds classic‘Walk Together - Rock Together’). I expect that this questioning of faith is more unexpected within Islam - as evidenced by the absolute shock Yusef displays when confronted by the fact that Rabeya the burka wearing ‘riot grrrl’ has crossed out portions of the Koran. She reasonably (or blasphemously, depending on your view) explains that the portion about a man beating his wife bothered her deeply, but she’s felt much better since taking a marker to the page. Such questioning about what is or is not true Islam is key to the film - the author’s message that while having different clothes, colors of hair, and liking different bands they are all true to the same faith (at least that’s how I see it). Or better put by Jehangir who gets almost all the great lines in the film “Allah is too big, and too open for my Islam to be small and closed”. I suspect it’s that sort of progressive dialog, as well as his other great line in the film “it’s only Muslims who use the term ‘innovation’ to mean something bad”, that will make some peoplevery uncomfortable with the material - which is why I imagine Knight’s work has been so well received by many others.
The arc of the story is modest and from what I can tell follows the book pretty closely. Yusef moves into the house and begins to grapple with the concept that it’s not wrong to be different. The various groups argue and occasionally fight, but continue to come together to pray considerably more than in any punk house I’m familiar with. As Yusef’s learns more about the other housemates his feelings towards what being a good Muslim, and possibly a good person mean seems to evolve. He struggles with temptation as well - most directly in the persona of Lynn a young, partial convert to Islam with let’s just say more traditional US college students sexual mores. I felt Yusef was changing, but one of the weaknesses of the film is that I’m not exactly how and to what degree the environment alters him as a person. At times equally perplexing is why he moved into the house in the first place. I ended the film feeling he he purposefully did the thing that scared him and was molded by the experience - in which case good for him. The final portion of the film ends with some punch as Jehangir (the one with the best hair and probably the choicest role) imports a series of Taqwacore bands from California - including a conservative punk band (Bilal’s Boulder) that doesn’t go over so well with the more liberal members of the house (for example the women, gay, and drinking members of the community). But that sequence allows the story to come to a definitive end to the arc, though we’re cast out with the need to interpret for ourselves what to make of the proceedings.
Clearly the source material speaks directly and deeply to at least a subset of Muslim youth who have been said to have passed the xeroxed pages of the book from person to person in its early years until it found a publisher. I’d imagine that for conservatively raised kids the view that they could both retain their faith and stray away from their elders definition of it must have been a spiritual mind-fuck far beyond that of my personal revelation that bacon is rather delicious. The clearest indication of the power of the material is that the fictional construct of taqwacore bands created by Mr. Knight has since become a reality. A documentary (Taqwacore - The Birth of Punk Islam) about some of these bands on tour with Michael Knight is also making the rounds of the festival circuit. My thoughts on that and a recounting of the sadly not very punk rock disagreement I hadwith the filmmaker’s entourage in that case are chronicled elsewhere. A bit of self disclosure - having lived in Buffalo for 7 years coming via NYC where I was definitely into the hardcore punk scene I have more than a casual affinity to this material. But I don’t believe one needs that - and in fact I think having that may actually hurt due to an ability to over analyze the sub-genre of the characters in the “punk” continuum. Though I suspect folks from all walks of life will recognize the over the top militant straight edge dude.
I liked the low-budget DIY feel of The Taqwacores which I think fit in well with the punk aesthetic that the filmmakers were trying to cultivate. From time to time they take the imagery to black and white evoking xeroxed show fliers or punk zines from the 80’s - a nice touch. And having spent time in Buffalo - while there aren’t a lot of exteriors onscreen the ones they use evoke the town I remember just as accurately as Buffalo 66 did (though in reality Taqwacores was filmed in Cleveland). The actors deliver on their roles well - though I felt at times their believability as fully formed people was challenged by the the level of caricature of the punk types and simplification of the script’s dialog at times. One area in which the movie excels in comparison with the novel is the degree of difficulty for non-Muslim viewers. Both require close attention because they’re throwing around tons of religious lingo that wasn’t covered at Temple Sholom’s Hebrew school’s comparative religion hour. At times for me the book was as confusing for me as I’d imagine it’d be for ones shiksa girlfriend listening to you go on and on about tallis and tefillin. Sadly the film has far fewer references to Minor Threat relative to the book. Those I’m quite sure I would have gotten.
It’s an interesting if less than deeply engaging work. At some basic level I like the idea of the film more than the movie itself. If I were in NYC or LA when it opens (this weekend in NYC) I’d probably try to catch a theatrical screening with folks who may have a more personal connection with the material. I think that could only add to the viewing experience. As someone raised in a questioning environment the material didn’t resonate with me on a personal level. All in all I found it an entertaining enough affair full of energy and delivering its simple message to question authority in a positive way. Some points off for the meandering, particularly the why is he here what did he learn aspect of Yusef as written. But if you look at it more as a slice of life film than something with a dramatic arc I think one won’t be too disappointed. In addition to some solid soundtrack support from Taqwa bands depicted in the documentary (love the rude boy version of Shariah Law in the USA by The Kominas paying tribute to the Sex Pistols that plays over the intro) the filmmakers saved some bucks to mix in classic Bad Brains over a key concert montage towards the picture’s conclusion. Which I’ll admit - may have bumped up my evaluation slightly.
Oh - and if you get really into the film (or the book) you’ll thank me for pointing to this fellow’sTaqwacore to Heathen Glossary (my name, not theirs).
The official announcement of this year's submission from around the world for the 2010 83rd Annual Foreign Language Oscar have been announced. Lot's of good viewing opportunities to be had. Personally a quick count shows me at 5 down 60 to go. Not counting the half of Dogtooth that I missed at SXSW due to a conflict. Keep hoping to get another chance at that one. VIFF this year had a fair number of the 65 playing and it seems like several missed opportunities for me there looking at names I recognize but didn't make it to.
The official narrowing down to the nominations are scheduled to be announced on Jan 25th. From what I can recall there's usually a short list announcement sometime in January. Just in time to produce ridiculously long lines for those named at the Palm Springs Film Festival.
In case you don't feel like following the link above to the main announcement here's a reprinting of the submissions (what I've seen are highlighted in red):
Bruce Willis plays retired CIA wunderkind assassin now retired to a quiet life whose main pleasure is wooing pension services phone rep Mary-Louise Parker by phone under the false pretense of checks lost in the mail. One evening he's assaulted in a spectacularly unsuccessful fashion by group of heavily armed men in black. After picking up Parker on the way he reunites with his old colleagues to try to find out just what the heck is going on. This includes Morgan Freeman the aging brains of the outfit, John Malkovich (stealing his parts of the film as) a paranoid, even though everyone is out to get him bad-ass, and Helen Mirren introduced as "the best wet-work asset in the business." They're all what we learn is described by the CIA as RED: retired, extremely dangerous.
The comedy-actioner's path is a little overly windy with some slow spots but generally delivered the fun promised in the preview trailers. It's possible as some have suggested that the experience is enhanced due to our prior relationships with each of the actors involved. But really - that goes to judging the filmmaker's in some way that's beyond my caring. I paid $10 and had a good time, 'nuff said. Well, actually I paid nothing because this was payback by Gold Class Cinemas for the spectacular failure I experienced at Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. But you get the idea....
And yes - that scene where Willis steps out of a spinning car to take quite a few shots at the fellow chasing him is as tres cool as it.
In the next few days I hope to get my review of Gallants (aka Cocoon with kung-fu) posted. There is an interesting comparison to be made between these films, but I guess that will have to wait just a bit. In short though Gallants has characters who while still masters of the form have to accept the limitations of their age where putting the effort in doesn't mean they'll triumph. While in the case of Red these guys are all portrayed as as good as they were before (or still better than everyone). Maybe firearms truly are the great equalizer.
Regardless of it's reasonableness it's fun to see the aging stars take a most successful run at action comedy again. And it's way better than another comparable "hey we're old but can still kick ass" reunion that of The Expendables earlier in the year - which I'm still trying to forget.
On Saturday I returned to Vancouver for a whirlwind of film activity culminating on Monday, Canadian Thanksgiving. At some point I should look up why north of the border they don't realize the holiday is supposed to be in November - but until then I'll chalk it up to nobody's perfect. ;-) Maybe it's confusion caused by all the marijuana I kept smelling in between screenings around the Granville. Regardless, without further adieu here are some quick thoughts on what I caught. Time permitting I'll post longer reviews on the ones I found most interesting (in either a good or a bad way)
A picture postcard moment from October
October (Peru) - A moneylender/loan-shark is a sad sack sort of fellow, who appears to be very into his aloneness. Until a baby is dropped off at his place when he's not around. He tries to play it off that he found the baby but practically everyone seems to know it's his son with one of the many prostitutes he visits on a regular basis. After some less than successful attempts to conduct business with the baby around he hires a woman from the neighborhood to care for the child while he lends mother, and looks for the mother. An interesting film mixing quiet moments of sadness with humor (especially as the main character attempts to pass off a counterfeit 200 peso note he was stuck with to everyone he meets with limited success). I liked but didn't love this film.
Repeaters (Canada) - A less than subtle alcoholics anonymous version of Groundhog day depicting what Bill Murray might have done in that film if he had serious pathological issues. Three young folk at a rehab center get the shock of their lives one night, literally - and then figuratively when they realize they're in a time loop of the same day. Yes, much like that episode of Charmed. At first they try to make amends with those they wronged, then they act out as only they can in a world without consequences, then one of them starts to take things to a very dark place. Will they sort things out, will the time loop continue forever, will Andie MacDowell make an appearance? You'll just have to go to find out. Though I will say there are far more askew angle shots than anything since Battleship Earth. I didn't especially like the film but I know others found it more compelling than me.
King's Road (Iceland) - A son and his German friend return to an Icelandic trailer park after quite a few years away. Everyone is preternaturally quirky. And I don't mean that in a good way - some in the sense that I wanted to hit them in the head with a baseball bat. Sorry, that's the Brooklyn in me talking. Many folks seemed to be laughing. I was not one of them. 'nuff said.
The Council (France) - a very solid example of the young lawyer gets overly involved in defending the mob and wonderful things happen rags to riches story. Oops, I mean at first everything is fine before everything goes to shit. Meaning this is in the don't work for the mob bad things will happen legal thriller genre. Not my favorite type of film but this one kept the energy and tension throughout and me watching fairly intently. Use that knowledge as you like...
Certified Copy (France) - Juliette Binoche and William Shimell recreate the roles of Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy - just older, in Italy, and with some sort of joint schizophrenic / break from reality type of disorder. OK, I'm mostly kidding about that last part. But the similarity is obvious in that two people very different from each other spend a day before a train leaves walking around and talking. I was very tired when I saw it - so given that I sort of dug it for a while until I began to struggle staying away I think it's probably worth another viewing. At least for me. If you hated Richard Linklater's to films about walking around and talking I'm not sure Certified Copy is going to be your cup of tea.
L.A. Zombie - Ummm - fairly explicit gay zombie sex, often with dead bodies. Oddly enough - not as good as it sounds. A more complete explanation is here.
Snow and Ashes (Canada) - a couple of reporters go into a war zone, and one comes back. He has to explain what transpired to the other's girlfriend. Told in flashback it's one of those films where I felt it was well done while I was watching, but at the same time wasn't completely interested in the outcome. Could have done with a little less defocusing during a variety of scenes - presumably there to give the proceedings a dream like quality. Would have rather just had the camera stay in focus on the actors who were doing a good job. Not their fault I heartlessly didn't feel invested in the story.
The Ugly Duckling
Ugly Duckling(Russia) - the classic tale told via animation techniques and singing foul. An unexpected treasure amidst a lot of other films I suspect I won't quite remember months from now. But the critique of Soviet society mixed in with beautiful visuals and the singing collective to birds who make our swan hero's life miserable won't soon be forgotten. Just love the songs about how the bird's coop is the best coop there is, how everything they need is provided for them, and how great it is they don't have to fly as their wings are consequently so good looking. All interspersed with classical symphony music. Keep an eye out for this one.
Score: A Hockey Musical
Score: A Hockey Musical (Canada) - I'm not Canadian or a hockey fan. And I found numerous parts of this film to be fairly horrible - so yes, I loved it. The story of a young home schooled boy (raised by Olivia Newton John) who's a hockey prodigy and his lifelong next door female friend (a cellist) who try to navigate his national discovery as the potential wunderkind of Canada's national sport. Yep - it really is a musical and I'm sure I missed some in jokes. But the goofy relationship between the kids and his singing hockey team totally worked for me.
Dear Prudence (France) - a young girl's mom dies. Dad takes it hard and sort of disappears. Older sister is missing in action. Young girl acts out while trying to make sense of it all. Being a French film various attractive people take their clothes off. Not an easy film to watch (nudity excepted) but a well done small film.
R (Denmark) - Blurb writers of the world please repeat after me, "just because a film takes place inside a prison you do not have to compare it to A Prophet." A prisoner is transferred to a tougher cell block. Where he has a hard time, tries to deal with it, and things happen. Generally not warm fuzzy things. Proving that generally staying out of prison is a good idea. A well done film - but without much rhyme or reason. Further down in the festival's film description (after the ridiculous reference to A Prophet) it suggests that rather than having a story R is about the experience of being in prison. Which is what it feels like - and for me that's why I just felt somewhat blah about it)
Winter Vacation
Winter Vacation (China) - This is the sort of film you're going to love or hate. I was pretty much in the direction of loving it. Though I'll admit on a different day, in a different mood I could have ended up on the other end of the spectrum. Not much talking goes on, certainly no action, and I don't think much really happens overall. Which is likely the entire point. It's hard to explain how the nothingness of the film's slacker teenagers and oddball adults was so entirely appealing. I'm always nervous about film's where the description in any way mentions Jarmusch - but in this case I'm pretty glad I took the risk.
Tamara Drewe (UK) - have you ever sat through a film wondering over and over if this was the film your friend warned you about? Well I have, and the name of the film is Tamara Drewe. Just sort of dumb, and not in a particularly entertaining way. Even the very attractive lead and an oddly placed element of murderous bovines couldn't rescue this one for me.
An entertaining and interesting film history lesson, American Grindhouse is a journey from the start of cinema through the current day with a focus on the film industry's delivery on the public's more prurient and/or violent interests. The history of exploitation films and the factors in each generation's environment that shaped them forms a great excuse to show a wide variety of clips from films ranging from Freaks to Ilsa: She Wolf of the SS and Big Doll House. Not surprisingly by the end I had a personal list of things I'd like to check out given the opportunity.
Following the message that "A profitable picture is a good picture" there's a clear interplay between convention pushing independent filmmakers and the large studios who tended to follow with similar themes, though with larger budgets and better made films. Talking heads (such as Eddie Muller of Seattle's film noir series) help drive the historical narrative sharing screen time with clips from films through the years. While generally familiar with the history of pre-code films through more current exploitation film making I learned a fair amount from the visual and spoken history lesson.
How hard would you work to get your sibling out of prison if they were wrong convicted of murder (assuming you're not on the show Prison Break)? And how long would you fight? Those are the sorts of questions that come to mind while watching Conviction. Based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters (played by Hilary Swank) whose brother Kenny (Sam Rockwell) was convicted of murdering a neighbor in an era before DNA evidence. Betty Anne put herself through college and then law school with the express goal of finding a way to free her brother. It took her quite a long time (16+ years I believe) but eventually she found the evidence required to free him.
It's an undeniably impressive story and the film is populated with actors that certainly know what they're doing. I was somewhat more drawn in due to the writing and acting than I expected to be. Particularly by Sam Rockwell who did a great job with the character. But overall it's not a movie that's going to stick with me in any deep way. If this sort of David vs. Goliath legal film isn't your cup of tea (and it's generally not mine either) I don't think you have to beat yourself up for skipping it.
Do you like gay porn, zombies, how about art films with almost no dialog and obscure plot lines? Well, regardless of how many of these you're down with I'm still not 100% sure LA Zombie is for you. Though undoubtedly I have a certain amount of respect for the degree of difficulty being attempted with this film.
When it comes to the zombie genre I'd felt there wasn't necessarily a ton of new ground to cover. Though once I heard a about a gay zombie film I realized that the sexual preferences of the walking, rotten undead is really never touched on in the average zombie film. Which seemed fair as it strikes me that zombies are generally "beyond" issues of sexual orientation. Unless you're one seriously, seriously screwed up and misplaced priority homophobe why would you care about the romantic gender preferences of the thing that is trying to eat your brains? Fast zombie vs slow zombie seems a far more relevant concern. Just thinking out loud there.
But then along comes Bruce LaBruce to shatter our misconceptions and narrow minded thinking. In what apparently is his second gay sex zombie romp we get LA Zombie, a very unusual film.
I'm going to quickly run down the storyline as I understand it. At the film's start out of the ocean rises the titular zombie (played by French porn star François Sagat). He gets a ride from a guy. Car accident ensures and guy ends up dead with some open bleeding wounds. Zombie fucks guy back to life. Literally. In the open, large bore wound. Then they part ways. And no (everyone asks me this) the formerly dead dude does not appear to be a zombie.
Sagat proceeds to wander the urban wastelands of LA where he observes people being killed and then *ahem* re-animates them in his own special way (employing each time, his gigantic penis - seemingly slightly modified for the alien/zombie character). I'll admit there's definitely some cleverness in the first few times - particularly when he stumbles across a gang member left dead with a huge gunshot hole in his forehead (in the middle of his skull if that was too subtle for you). But watching him wander, find people dead and having sex with them just becomes repetitive. Even though I suspect this could be a purposeful and ironic mirroring of the structure of a porn movie it still becomes a bit boring.
This is probably the time where I should point out that I'm not the right demographic for a film featuring men having sex with men (not that there's anything wrong with that). So it's entirely possible that these scenes would be more interesting if you were. But you'd have to be into the bloody carnage and the often homeless looking characteristics of the folks going at it. Well not really that homeless looking - everyone in the film appears to be a rather fit porn actor.
This is going to sound ridiculous, but my largest issue with the film is that I had serious difficulties following the plot. By the end I realized that perhaps we're supposed to wonder if there is a zombie or if this is either an imagined or real massive break from reality of a member of LA's extremely buff and well endowed homeless community. And perhaps an allegory for something. But as I wasn't even clear how many brain fucking zombies by the movie's conclusion were wandering about there's a fair chance I missed a major plot point in what felt like the rather repetitive scenes.
LaBruce's earlier film Otto; or, Up with Dead People sounds as though it's more plot driven. I wish I could compare the two but Otto was something I'd missed when it was on the festival circuit. If you do decide for some reason L.A. Zombie is on your to see list I should point out that I've read there's both the festival version and a hardcore one floating around. So if the porn component is important to you that's something you might want to hold out for. The version I saw ran a bit over an hour at the midnight screening I attended - no idea of the length of the "uncut" version. Most of the folks I met the next day who'd gone had left after a while. I did stick out the entire film as I wanted to know how it ended. And yes, I'm shaking my head as I write that...
On my last day attending VIFF between screenings at the Vancity theater (which is pretty awesome by the way) I stumbled upon a "Meet the Film Maker" series discussion with Aaron Katz the writer/director of Cold Weather one of my strong recommendations to catch at this year's VIFF. I stayed for a little while to listen - though in hindsight I wish I'd just skipped the next film and listened to the entire thing.
I taped a small bit of it - mainly Katz's bemused answer to what he thought about the "mumblecore" label being applied to his work. This video's sound quality isn't ideal due to where I was standing, but it's generally understandable.
I've been snapping photos here and there over the last couple of days. As I prepare to enter my final day visiting Vancouver wanted to post a few of them. And not just because that's much easier than writing reviews for the 11 films I've seen in the past 2 days. Nope, actually that's the only reason. Enjoy, I plan to get busy posting the reviews over the next few days. Not including the five VIFF films I still need to catch up on via screeners.
This year's new Park Theater just a short train ride away from the Granville. Nice change of neighborhood and much better seats. Wish I'd spent more time there.
Vancouver's spanking new subway line made getting to the Park Theater a breeze. So glad a local friend suggested it vs. driving which would have been a huge, time consuming mistake.
Visa is a cross the board sponsor, but one of their most visible perks is the naming of the largest theater at the Granville 7 in their honor
The somewhat grungy looking Granville Marque looks a bit nicer at night with its pretty neon.
Just one of the Granville screening rooms starting to fill up.
The last remnants of these candy samples from Fantastic Fest got me through a tough spot on Saturday as I was succumbing to sleep
A view of the Granville on a rainy Saturday morning
