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Film notes
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The
3rd Annual Idaho International Film Festival
(September 29-October 2, 2005)
Roland Atkinson © 2005
Those
who love to lament the passing of the run down, musty yet
romantic art film houses of the 50s and 60s also complain that
serious cinema has vanished accordingly. The two phenomena,
after all, must go hand in hand, right? Well...no. Wonderful
films still abound, both from domestic sources - avant
garde and experimental filmmakers, more visible ‘Indie’
directors - and the vast world of foreign cinema. The
difference these days, as Manohla Dargis observed in “The New
York Times Magazine” (November 14, 2004, pp. 39-40, 42), is
not a lack of quality films, but a shift in the venues where
they screen. There are a few exceptions in some cities -
Cinema 21, Clinton Street and Hollywood theaters here in
Portland - where valiant owners of tired theaters soldier on,
keeping just a step ahead of bankruptcy and the leaks in the
roof. Beyond these few, though, the old art house screens have
gone dark, probably forever. But in their place, Dargis notes,
have come film festivals, a rapidly burgeoning and highly
popular means of viewing and promoting new films of surpassing
artistic value. (On-line subscription services with huge DVD
libraries, like Netflix, also now help fill the art house
void, especially for people who are on a tight budget, kid
patrol or living in the boonies.) There are scores upon scores
of festivals now. Proof that festival fever has become a
rampaging pandemic was never more evident than last weekend in
Boise, Idaho, of all places, where a consortium of media,
theater and other sponsors anted up to host the 3rd Idaho
International Film Festival (IIFF).
Lest you think of Boise as just a
dusty, conservative, red-state capital newly bloated by
California retirees in search of cheap housing and low taxes,
a place equally arid in climate and élan, be advised that this
view is inaccurate. Granted, suburban sprawl is intensifying
at a frightening rate. But the central downtown area is
vibrantly alive with decent bistros and taverns, art galleries
and gussied up 100+ year old buildings. Local companies offer
opera and dance productions. Noted touring lecturers hold
forth at Boise State University. There’s a GLBT film festival,
and even a bar that bills itself as “straight friendly.” Some
Indie films screen here before they get to Portland. And there
is IIFF, a four day event that this year included 26 features,
23 short films and 5 workshops (acting, directing, animation).
Compared to many larger festivals, IIFF is a leisurely, easy
going experience. The festival uses three theaters within easy
walking distance of each other, the hub being the Egyptian
Theatre, a 1927 movie house that has been gloriously restored
to a gilted faux Egyptian aesthetic. Most films are screened
twice. A huge plus is that there are no overlaps in film
running times (one trio of films begins at noon, the next
batch at 2:15, and so on). Audience film rating ballots are
passed out only for individual films at the time of
screenings, eliminating ballot box stuffing. One of the joys
of festivals is the opportunity to mix with and ask questions
of the filmmakers, a number of whom showed up. That was
certainly true at IIFF this year.
Festival Director Bruce Fletcher,
who is in charge of programming, is a friendly, informal
30-something fellow. It’s pretty obvious that he likes horror
films: there were five such features (and two horror shorts),
with titles like Razor Blade Smile
and Graveyard Alive. There was also
a documentary on hip hop, and narrative films about
superheroes and 20-something slackers in Brooklyn. Mr.
Fletcher is clearly catering to the tastes of younger
filmgoers, and it showed in audience demographics: a far
younger set showed up than my partner and I usually see at our
IFF in Portland. This is a good development. Too many of us
art film lovers were bred back in the 60s and are aging all
too rapidly. Steering clear of the horror films and two
animated features, not among my favorite genres, and lacking
the chance to screen any films in advance, we still managed to
squeeze in 14 feature length films and 4 shorts. The features
varied in quality, while the short films we saw were uniformly
good. All in all, we thoroughly enjoyed this relaxed, slightly
quirky festival and plan to return. Check the IIFF website for
more information: http://www.idahofilmfestival.com/
.
Caveat: Conflicting commitments
prevented us from seeing everything we had hoped to,
especially a new film from India,
Devaki, and a program of short films
by Idaho filmmakers. We had seen another festival offering,
the Fijian film The Land Has Eyes,
earlier this year in Portland. I have included my earlier
review of that film in the listings below.
Below is a list of my five
favorite festival films, followed by reviews of all the films
we saw.
MY TOP FIVE FESTIVAL FEATURE
FILMS
HANK WILLIAMS FIRST
NATION (directed by Aaron James Sorenson, Canada,
2005, 100 m). Grade: A- (4.25/5)
FIGHTING TOMMY
RILEY (Eddie O’Flaherty, US, 2004, 109 m.). Grade: B+
(4/5)
IN A NUTSHELL: A PORTRAIT OF ELIZABETH
TASHJIAN (Don Bernier, US, 2005, 80 m).Grade: B+
(4/5)
THE TASTE OF TEA (Cha No Aji)
(Katsuhito Ishii, Japan, 2004, 142 m.) Grade: B+ (4/5)
LITTLE MAN (Nicole Conn, US, 2005, 112
m). Grade: B+ (3.75/5)
REVIEWS OF FEATURE FILMS
EARTHLING (Tristan
Bayer, US, 2005, 104 m.). A rich wildlife cinematographer
(Tristan’s Bayer's father, Wolfgang Bayer) and his family show
off their high priced toys and indulgent lifestyle while
cavorting around the world with orangutans, whales and other
creatures in a self conscious, overly cute production they
call a “docunarrative” – a series of reenactments and set up
location scenes. The tour was a celebration of Bayer
pere’s survival following an apparent near death
experience while filming buffalo in winter near the family
home in Wyoming. This is a glorified home movie made by the
wealthy. We left after the first 30 minutes, figuring that the
food at the closing night gala would offer more sustenance
than this film. It did. Grade: C (2.5/5) (10/02/05)
FIGHTING TOMMY RILEY (Eddie
O’Flaherty, US, 2004, 109 m.). SPOILER
ALERT! Rock solid boxing drama about the relationship
between a hungry young boxer and a wise old manager, both of
whom are searching for redemption, a second chance. Lacking
the glitter and star power of Million Dollar
Baby, this film is shot in faded, sepia tinted
colors, and it looks and feels like a 40s film. It has a
noir sensibility and, as regards the boxer, a classic
narrative arc of the fighter's progress when finally given
proper handling. But there’s way more to it than that. Written
by J. P. Davis, who stars in his first leading role as the
intense but self doubting boxer, Tommy Riley, and directed by
newcomer Eddie O’Flaherty, the film’s moving, heartfelt
essence is found in the matchup between Riley and his trainer,
an over-the-hill fellow named Marty Goldberg, played by the
veteran character actor Eddie Jones. The chemistry between
Davis and Jones is stunning. Jones plays to sentiment; his own
boxing career - indeed his entire life - has been bent by his
inadequately concealed homosexual leanings, and he feels
deeply sorry for himself. Davis is a study in earnest
innocence: he yearns for success and for a father figure to
love and believe in him. This film, as Roger Ebert has noted,
is “…quite different from any formula boxing picture…In the
final analysis, it’s not even really about boxing.” Website:
http://www.fightingtommyriley.com/
Grade: B+ (4/5) (10/02/05)
HANK WILLIAMS FIRST NATION
(Aaron James Sorenson, Canada, 2005, 100 m). The opening night
feature, this relaxed, soulful narrative film is set on tribal
lands of the Woodland Cree Indians in northern Alberta, where
Mr. Sorenson, the director, taught school for several years.
An aging member of the tribe longs to visit the gravesite of
his favorite country musician, Hank Williams, Sr., in
Nashville. His younger brother Adelard, a tribal leader
(played by noted Native Canadian actor Gordon Tootoosis)
arranges for his teen grandson to accompany the old man and
off they go by bus. We tune in now and then to the progress
made on this junket, but most of the film is about small
dramas among the folks back home. Affectionately observed by
first time filmmaker Sorenson, the people and their daily
lives are followed with respect and gentle humor.
All but three of the actors are first timers,
amateurs. The best of these by far is Bernard Starlight, cast
in the role of Huey, a young teddy bear of a fellow whose
offbeat charm graces all of his contacts with others. Gordon
Tootoosis is a marvelous actor whose subtle facial gestures
cover a broad range of self-contained emotions. Mr. Sorenson,
who was present at this screening, says that he built each of
his characters upon people he got to know while teaching among
the Crees. An important goal of his film, he said, was to
dispel common negative stereotypes about Native Canadians
(e.g., that they are slackers and addicts). He perceives them
as, typically, people of integrity and faith, with a splendid
sense of humor and a passion for country music; their hero,
almost to a man, is Hank Williams (who, by the way, is buried
in Montgomery, Alabama, near his birthplace, not Nashville).
Sorenson does touch on the issue of drug abuse, but only in an
oblique manner, one that highlights a family’s resolve to take
care of its own troubled relative.
Eastern Canadian film moguls turned their
backs on this movie for being “too small and too regional,”
Sorenson told us. So he distributed the film himself in
Alberta and did $140K worth of box office business in that
province alone, over half the cost of his film. Now people are
interested. There are a number of loose ends left dangling in
this story: the fate of Adelard’s grandson and granddaughter,
the outcome of a local election, Huey’s future. Fortunately, a
Canadian TV producer has asked Mr. Sorenson to create several
30 minute films to follow some of these stories further.
I asked Bruce Fletcher how he discovered this
splendid film, my favorite feature in the festival. “Simple,”
he said. “First of all, I’m from Alberta. My friends told me
about this film. Second, I married a Cree Indian.” Visit the
film’s website: http://www.hwfn.com/ Grade A-
(4.25/5) (09/29/05)
HIGH LIFE (Lila
Yomtoob, US, 2005, 75 m.). A group of 20-something slackers
squander a Saturday (or is it Sunday?) hanging out at the
Brooklyn digs of one couple. The woman of the house, Melissa
(Priscilla Holbrook), is middle class, works hard and sees in
her boyfriend Sy (Michael Wiener) a potentially outstanding
artist. She’s uncomfortable and uptight around Sy’s kid
brother Satchell (Sam Marks) and their do-nothing, pot
smoking, beer guzzling friends. But Sy is not what Melissa
wishes he were. He’s a shy fellow who fears success and also
is perhaps too lazy to work at his art. He’s got a gallery
show in two weeks, arranged by Melissa, and conceals from her
the fact that he hasn’t even yet begun to prepare any
paintings. When she discovers this, Melissa even notes that Sy
hasn’t stretched a blank canvas properly. Sam Marks is the
most engaging actor here, an obnoxious yet roughly charming
young man. Wiener is unremarkable. Ms. Holbrook is wooden, but
maybe that’s OK, given her role as a misfit among these
people. The five other friends are so convincing as doofuses
that one can’t be sure if this is good acting or bad, but it
hardly matters. Grade: C (2.5/5) (10/02/05)
IN A NUTSHELL: A PORTRAIT OF
ELIZABETH TASHJIAN (Don Bernier, US, 2005, 80 m).
Here’s a documentary about an aging single woman, someone
without family or resources, a woman who has led a life
notable for both her considerable accomplishments and her
eccentricities, whose imagination, artistic sensibility, and
desire for autonomy have tragically outstripped her capacity
to care for herself. Born into an aristocratic Armenian émigré
family on Manhattan’s upper west side in 1912, she performed
violin recitals at age 9 and won awards for classical
paintings at age 21 while studying at the National Academy of
Design. She lived in a close bond with her mother, a Christian
Science practitioner, until her mother died when Elizabeth was
47. She then took up her mother’s practice for a while but
says that over time this work tired her too much, so she
“retired.”
Several years before her mother’s death, the
two had moved to a Gothic Revival mansion in Old Lyme,
Connecticut. There Elizabeth established the “Nut Museum” – a
place devoted to the display of various species of nuts. More
important, the nuts became a vehicle for conveying her ideas
about people, about human evolution and habits. She came to
refer to herself as a nut culturist. Whether she used the nut
to concretize some personal judgment about the human condition
is not certain. But her love of ideas and the mind sustained
her. “I don’t live alone,” she says at one point, “I have my
ideas.” Eking out a living from a few sales of her paintings
(Kathryn Hepburn, whose family lived nearby, bought one),
museum admission fees and honoraria for occasional appearances
on TV shows in the early 80s, she struggled along in her later
years, gradually losing her ability to manage money and keep
her house in order. At age 90, she was found upstairs in a
coma by a neighbor.
Ms. Tashjian defied medical prognosis and
recovered. Against her most strenuously expressed, clearly
articulated wishes, however, she was made a ward of the court,
and a court-appointed conservator arranged for the sale of her
house, while insisting that she live in a nursing home.
Fortunately, Christopher Steiner, who teaches museum studies
at Connecticut College, discovered Ms. Tashjian’s situation
just in time to save much of her nut collection and her
paintings. Near the end we see her aiding Steiner in the
mounting of a very recent exhibition of her work at the
college.
Another strong supporter has been Christine
Woodside, a journalist. Steiner, Woodside and a neighbor
appear often as thoughtful, respectful talking heads, though
Ms. Tashjian herself takes center stage in much of the
footage. And she is beguiling. Thoughtful, well spoken,
impish, and a bit of a ham, she commands the screen whenever
she appears. The film is deftly made. Editing is especially
effective. Often we hear talking heads while viewing some
other scene related to their verbal content. It is a distinct
relief not to focus visually all that much on the interviewees
themselves. The pleasantly non-intrusive soundtrack features
swing music from the 20s among other themes, and even a few of
Ms. Tashjian’s own compositions.
The aging issues raised in this film are
important and tough ones. Ms. Tashjian shows disproportionate
difficulty in looking after herself, when compared to the
relative preservation of her intellect and her capacity to
formulate and articulate clear goals for her own future. It is
more her “executive functions” – the capacity to accomplish
the things one sets out to do each day – that appear to be
diminished, rather than a more global dementia, as best I can
tell through observing her conduct in the film.
My mother was in similar circumstances during
her 90s. It got so she could not shop, clean house or balance
her checkbook. Getting up for the day could be an effort. But
she had the benefit of aid from her family to help her with
such matters, and could afford to live semi-independently in a
retirement center, where nurses looked in on her on those
occasions when her energy reached a low ebb. The serendipitous
circumstances of nearby relatives and financial resources
protected her from the predicament that has befallen Elizabeth
Tashjian, who, by the way, has recently moved to a cheery
private room in her assisted living facility and is currently
planning to sue the State of Connecticut to reclaim her
freedom. My second favorite film of the festival. Website for
this film: http://www.mimeticmedia.com/
Grade: B+ (4/5) (9/30/05)
THE LAND HAS EYES (Pear ta ma ‘on
maf) (Vilsoni Hereniko, Fiji/US, 2004, 87 min.). This
film’s title is taken from a Rotuman saying, “The land has
eyes and teeth and knows the truth.” It reflects the
conviction of the native population of Rotuma – a tiny island
300 miles north of Fiji - that in time wrongs will be righted,
and bad deeds will be avenged. Meanwhile, one must be patient
and live in harmony with others, even one’s enemies. A highly
pragmatic philosophy when everybody is stuck on a tiny patch
of land and they’re all related to one another to boot.
Obtaining justice is an important subtext of
this coming-of-age film, the first feature made by a Fijian
native. The central character is a high school girl, Viki
(Sapeta Sokagaito Taito, a 17 year old native Rotuman), who is
smart and ambitious. Viki feels disrespected by her mother,
who prefers to teach homemaking skills to Viki’s older sister,
not someone with the intellectual skills or backbone we see in
Viki. There is a certain wisdom in the mother’s stance. Viki
gravitates toward her father, aiding him in more physically
demanding tasks like coconut harvesting. More importantly, by
staying close to him she also comes to identify with her
father’s faithful adherence to traditional folkways and
beliefs, as well as his frustration when he is unjustly
convicted of a crime of theft that he did not commit.
Unlike the young heroine in the Maori film,
Whale Rider , with which this film
has much in common, Viki is not constrained by a misogynistic
folk tradition that prohibits women from rising to strong
community leadership roles. Indeed, the film opens with a
reenactment of a Rotuman creation myth that shows the origin
of the first ruler, Warrior Woman (Rena Owen, a Maori actress
who starred in Once Were Warriors ).
Still, Viki and her family must contend with the crooked Poto,
the man who framed Viki’s father and tries to manipulate the
choice of his nephew over Viki to receive a scholarship for
further schooling in Fiji. Fulfilling the promise of the
film’s title, things do work out at the end, though there is
need for some of Warrior Woman’s magic to finally make things
right.
The screenplay, written by the director, is
quite good, but the photography and editing are
undistinguished, failing to evince much beauty in the tropical
surroundings. The acting, apart from Ms. Taito’s more than
adequate turn, is also not first rate. The film is important,
nonetheless, because it is Fiji's first and also because it
provides a fascinating window into a culture most westerners
don’t know. (In Rotuman & English) Grade:
B (3.5/5) (04/16/05)
LITTLE MAN (Nicole Conn, US,
2005, 112 m). An intensely personal and deeply troubling film
documenting the heartrending ordeal of the survival of
Nicholas, a micro-premature neonate (Nicole Conn’s baby
delivered by a surrogate), the baby’s seemingly endless series
of complications and health problems over the next two years,
and the emotional toll taken on Ms. Conn, an award winning
documentary filmmaker and writer, and her partner, Southern
California political activist Gwen Baba. The surrogate mother
had lied about her history of health problems and developed
preeclampsia, necessitating emergency Caesarean section
delivery of Nicholas 100 days early. Weighing just 1 pound,
his odds for survival were rated at less than 4 in 100,000.
Baba and Conn already had a delightful,
healthy two year old daughter, Gabrielle. Baba was reluctant
to have another child, what with the busy careers of both
women. But Conn was insistent, even after it became clear that
the pregnancy was extremely problematic. We are led step by
graphic step through Nicholas’s course over the 158 days he
spent in the Neonatal ICU, hooked to numerous tubes and
monitors. He is so tiny: a cuff measuring his blood pressure
is the size of a bandaid. Nicole Conn stays almost constantly
by his side, through his persistent inability to breathe or
nurse on his own, bouts of kidney failure and seizures,
emergency abdominal surgery to establish a gastric feeding
channel, and more. He comes so close to death so often. And it
almost appears as if Conn’s indefatigable will that he should
live is what sustains Nicholas.
Meanwhile, Ms. Baba is raising Gabrielle as a
virtual single parent, and the women rarely have a moment
together. Baba fears that the fabric of their family will be
irreversibly damaged. She cannot in good conscience fully
support Conn’s attitude that Nicholas’s survival is the
paramount issue. Everyone the couple knows implores Conn to
let go of Nicholas. She won’t. She can’t. And against all odds
Nicholas does survive and finally comes home. But the problems
don’t end there. He develops signs of dysautonomia, an
inability to regulate functions of the sympathetic nervous
system. Later his extreme myopia is discovered and corrected
with glasses. Then a severe hearing disorder is detected.
Now, at age 18 months or so, Nicholas is
peppy and beguiling, but way behind developmentally. As new
problems multiply, even Nicole Conn has begun to second guess
her earlier steadfast conviction that she had done the right
thing to advocate for, to insist upon, his survival. The
questions raised here are stupendous in proportion and scope.
Pro-lifers will of course applaud Ms. Conn for resolutely
standing by her convictions. For these activists, Nicholas’s
survival will represent the supreme triumph of love and
reverence for life over expediency and personal convenience.
On the other side, as regards the current sophisticated state
of neonatology, Conn, Baba and Nicholas are - as someone in
the film expresses it - “trapped in a Devil’s dance of
technology,” …a “world of manufactured disability.” An
imponderable question is this: how much distress has Nicholas
endured through the months of agony in the NICU? What will be
the lasting effects of these traumatic experiences? Moreover,
Nicholas will likely suffer from severe, handicapping problems
for the rest of his life. So, what will be the quality of his
life in the future? When does a mother’s passion cross the
line from caring to self-serving obsession without due regard
for the infant at risk?
And what about the financial costs and their
consequences? By the point Nicholas left the NICU, the bill
had risen to more than $2 million dollars. Conn and Baba had
good health insurance, to be sure. But astronomical expenses
in complex cases inevitably result in higher insurance
premiums for everyone. Without insurance, taxpayers would have
ended up footing the total bill. As this film demonstrates so
profoundly, the frontiers of premature infant care are being
pushed back all the time, and cases like Nicholas’s are
becoming more and more common. Can we afford this? Should we
afford this? How many children with lesser problems will be
denied access to care or receive compromised care because of
the preemptive costs in cases like Nicholas’s? Website: http://www.littlemanthemovie.com/
Grade: B+ (3.75/5) (09/30/05)
OLIVE OR TWIST (Peter Moody,
US, 2004, 55 m). A tour of the history and composition of the
Martini cocktail. It seems clear that the drink originated
sometime in the mid-19th C. in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Opinion is divided between SF itself versus Martinez across
the Bay. All parties agree that at first it was a decidedly
sweet drink, with liqueurs or sweet vermouth added to gin.
Everyone also agrees that these days the authentic Martini
should be mixed with only the slightest bit of dry vermouth
and served straight up, as cold as possible. Filmmaker Moody
comes down on the side of lemon twist over olives but
sidesteps the grave issue of stirred versus shaken. For anyone
except a Martini lover like me, this film is likely to be a
colossal bore. Grades: C (2.5/5) – B (3.5) for Martini
devotees. (Shown together with a 4 minute short by Moody,
IT’S MARTINI TIME, featuring brief shots of
neon tavern signs and a monotonous soundtrack repeating dumb
lyrics of the title song. This short does not merit
screening.) (10/01/05)
THE PERFECT CRIME (El Crimen
Perfecto) (Alex de la Iglesia, Spain, 2004, 105 m.)
So-so Spanish sex farce about a narcissistic, craven,
womanizing department store salesman who accidentally kills
the man that stands in the way of his promotion to floor
manager. Unluckily for him, the crime is witnessed by the one
female clerk whom he has steadfastly spurned. Now, however,
she blackmails him into the dalliance she has sought for
years. There are funny spots in this movie, for example, the
woman’s grotesque family, and the salesman’s all night sex
romps through the store’s bedroom displays and food courts.
But the main body of this work is freighted with the worst
sexist clichés and stereotypes. It’s a film 40 years out of
date. (In Spanish) Grade: C (2.5/5) (09/30/05)
PLAGUES AND PLEASURES ON THE SALTON
SEA (Chris Metzler & Jeff Springer, US, 2005, 69
m.). A nice little documentary about one of the saddest of
California dreams gone sour, the man-made but largely
land-locked Salton Sea, in the desert northeast of San Diego.
At its peak in the 1950s, the Sea beckoned thousands to buy
lots, throw up vacation homes or trailers, or simply show up
for weekends of fishing and partying. Since then, however,
there’s been a steady downhill spiral. In winters marked by
heavy rains, the waters have risen, flooding out some
developed areas. Artificially introduced fish species go
through cycles of over- and under-population. High water
temperatures, declining oxygenation and resultant fish
die-offs breed algae, which reoxygenate the waters and start
the next cycle. Now there are only a few old timers left
around, folks without the means to escape, to buy a home
elsewhere. A handful of economically marginal younger families
do move in, attracted by cheap housing. The waterfront
generally looks deplorable. The last remaining eatery of any
consequence just closed.
The filmmakers spent over 3 ½ years shooting
this movie. They got to know people well and were accepted and
trusted. It shows in the relaxed candor of people’s comments.
Trouble is, most of these people are rather dull, so it’s hard
to sustain much interest in what they have to say. The most
intriguing thing about the Sea is contemplating its future.
While he was alive, Congressman Sonny Bono, who represents the
area, tried to attract federal resources to rejuvenate the
Sea. Since his skiing death, that effort has drifted astray.
The environmental issues are troubling. The Sea is now
steadily shrinking in volume, due in part to recent diversion
of inflow to nearby populated areas that in fact want even
more water from this source. If the Sea is allowed to dry up,
this will remove the last major marshy area available in
southern California for migratory birds, who pass through by
the millions each year. Moreover, alkali dust storms from a
dry seabed could blow north to affect the ecology of Palm
Springs. Sustaining the Sea in a manner that can control its
high salinity and wildly variable fish and algae cycles will
take resources that so far seem unlikely to materialize.
These environmental issues are only touched
upon lightly in the film. I spoke with co-director Chris
Metzler afterwards, and he told me he has a longer version of
the film that does explore these issues in greater depth. The
trouble, he says, lies is balancing the interests of different
target audiences: i.e., environmentalists versus those just
curious about a funky place versus those with nostalgic ties
to the Salton Sea (one such family, who regularly vacationed
there in the 50s and 60s, was present at this screening).
Metzler says he has had trouble with distribution and even
festival acceptances because reviewers think the film is too
narrowly focused on a single, unique place. That's too bad.
Website: http://www.saltonseadoc.com/
Grade: B (3.25/5) (10/01/05)
RUSH TO WAR (Robert Taicher,
US, 2005, 62 m.). An expertly crafted, well edited documentary
about the run up to George W. Bush’s war in Iraq. For those of
us who are members of “the choir,” those like myself who have
followed this whole story and are deeply critical of Bush’s
decision to go to war, there is not much here that is new. For
those unfamiliar with the story, on the other hand, the film
should be highly edifying. It comes as no surprise that this
film has been well received in Europe, as Mr. Taicher told us.
I especially enjoyed Taicher’s reference, early in the film,
to instances of our efforts to overthrow democratically
elected governments in the past: in Guatemala and Iran in the
1950s, and in Chile in the early 1970s. It's a great beginning
and could have been enlarged upon.
Noam Chomsky has said that no country has a
more sordid record of terrorism than the U.S. Taicher could
have included other examples of our state-sponsored terrorism,
for example, our ruthless destruction of villages in Vietnam
and our financial support of Israeli terrorism against
Palestinians and Turkish “cultural genocide” perpetrated
against its Kurdish population. But then this would have
become a different film perhaps, or at least a much longer
one. To broaden the domestic viewer base, even in the film's
present form, I wonder if a less "polarizing" title is needed.
Something more neutral like: "Steps to War" or "The Path to
War," or even the well known quip that Taicher uses on his
website for the film: "Between Iraq and a Hard Place.".
The talking heads are for the most part good
choices. I especially liked the interview with George
McGovern, a wise man whom we see too little of these days. Mr.
Taicher told me that he intends to interview Howard Zinn soon
and add his comments to others in an epilogue to the present
cut. That will be an improvement on the footage of Zinn in the
present version, which is taken from one of Zinn's speeches. I
loved in particular two quotes that Taicher offered. This one
by Adolf Hitler: “What luck for the leaders that men do not
think.” The other quote, from W’s father, on his basis for
deciding not to take down Saddam in 1991, I can only
summarize: Bush the elder said that it would have caused major
loss of life and destabilized the country to a degree that
would require our occupation for years to come, that there was
no clear exit strategy. I had not heard this deeply prophetic
statement before. If only the son could have followed the
wisdom of his father. Website: http://www.rushtowar.com/
Grade: B (3.5/5) (10/02/05)
SIDEKICK (Blake Van de
Graaf, Canada, 2005, 91 m.). Norman (Perry Mucci), a nerdy
computer troubleshooter at an investment firm in Toronto,
fills his personal time and imagination with comic
superheroes; his best buddy runs a comic book shop where he
often hangs out. One day in the coffee room at work, Norman
sees Victor (David Ingram), one of the slicker salesmen, grab
a toppling coffee cup in midair with such lightening speed
that Norman guesses he must possess some sort of telekinetic
powers. Turns out he guessed right. Norman offers to train
Victor to focus the use of these powers more intentionally,
and, after initially spurning the offer, Victor acquiesces.
Norman envisions training Victor to become a superhero,
fighting crime with his paranormal skills, while Norman sees
himself as a sidekick, like Robin is to Batman. Trouble is,
Victor has no scruples whatsoever and laughs off the idea of
becoming a crimefighter in favor of accumulating corporate
control and wealth through his powers, even if this requires
violence. Norman has inadvertently created a monster and
resolves to pull the plug on him. The screenplay is cleverly
written. Ingram is perfect as the narcissistic bad guy. Mucci
is burdened by playing a character too naive to be believed.
Grade: B (3.25/5) (10/01/05)
THE TASTE OF TEA (Cha No
Aji) (Katsuhito Ishii, Japan, 2004, 142 m.) An
imaginative, visually pleasing, quietly meditative and
occasionally surreal series of reflections on the daily life
of an extended family who live in a rural village within
commuting distance of Tokyo, where the father, Nobuo, carries
on a clinical hypnosis practice. His principal challenge in
life is not clearly articulated, but life tasks facing the
others are clear, and we follow them closely. Yoshiko, the
mother, is a former animation artist now attempting to resume
her career outside the creative milieu of the studio. Teenage
son Hajime struggles to find peer acceptance at school and
wonders how to approach a new girl he has a crush on. Six year
old Sachiko needs to overcome her self consciousness.
Grandfather Akira, possibly a retired actor, tries to stay
fit, aids Yoshiko in her drawings (by posing in various
fighting postures), while secretly preparing gifts to leave
behind for the others when he departs this world. Yoshiko's
wild brother Ayano shows up from the city to visit. He's been
adrift since the love of his life married someone else. This
captivating series of portraits is not without a few
incomprehensible ripples. Why on earth do huge turds keep
appearing in unlikely places? What's that unnamed guy doing
buried up to his chin in mud? Chalk up some of the curiosities
here to the zany aesthetic of the filmmaker, a buddy of
Quentin Tarantino's, who, among other accomplishments, created
the fabulous animation sequence in Kill Bill, Vol.
1, arguably the best thing in that film. Perhaps
Taste of Tea could have been shorter, but it plays
well enough as it is. By the end we feel an endearing tie to
these people and are sad to see them go. Film website: http://www.chanoaji.jp/ (In
Japanese) Grade: B+ (4/5) (09/30/05)
24 HOURS ON CRAIGSLIST
(Michael Ferria Gibson, US, 2004, 76 m). To make this
documentary about the legendary Internet classified ad
service, Michael Gibson first assembled 8 separate video film
crews he discovered through the San Francisco Bay Area
Craigslist website listings. Then, lining them all up one
morning (August 4, 2003, as it happened), he dispatched these
teams to contact Bay Area people advertising various services,
products, needs and desires on Craigslist, and then to go out
to visit and shoot interviews with the most promising or
colorful contacts, all within a single 24 hour period. The
accrued footage was then edited to make this film. It was a
clever concept but the product falls flat. Most of the people
interviewed are either boring or boorish. The editing is way
too frenetic, too chop chop.
The film might have been far better if Gibson
had lingered longer on a few carefully chosen, engaging,
viewer friendly people. I did learn here that the number “420”
is, like “Bob,” a code for marijuana, but when I Googled “420
marijuana,” I found 497,000 listings: I’m clearly the last
person on earth to find out about this code. One fun thing
that was featured is a phenomenon called “flash mob” games
(708,000 listings on Google, sigh). Players find each other
via Craigslist. Everyone receives written instructions (by
e-mail, I suppose) to gather at a certain place and time and
then follow a precise, timed protocol for how and when to
behave. This being San Francisco, I thought the game would
involve nude romps through town, but no. In one game, a
hundred or more people converge to fill the lobby of an
upscale hotel, whereupon they first hug everyone else who’s
there like long lost amigos; then they all crash to the floor,
flopping down upon one another in simulated sleep, like some
convention of narcoleptics. If only the rest of the film could
have been this good. Grade: C (2.5/5) (09/30/05)
X, Y (Vladimir Vitkin, US,
2004, 90 m.). At a strip club one night, a lightening bolt or
something of the kind hits the place, and in its wake the
identities of a female stripper and an older male customer are
exchanged. The guy dies later. The woman finds life difficult,
as does her live in boyfriend and her mother. This film is
pure sleaze. The screenplay is dumb. The acting all around is
lousy. The photography is poor. We left after an hour of this
punishment. My top candidate for worst festival film. Any
questions? Grade: C- (2/5) (10/01/05)
SHORTS
BON APPETIT (Justin Lutsky,
US, 2005, 25 m.). World premiere of an hilarious film about
how the staff at an upscale restaurant subdue a bunch of
gangsters and their rich ringleader, who happens to own the
place where they all work. A student project, this film is
assured, sports very high production values, is well acted and
in general is a rich romp of a flick. I’ll be looking for more
good stuff from Justin Lutsky in the future. Website: http://www.epicimageentertainment.com/
Grade: A- (4.25/5) (10/01/05)
HERBIE! (Drew Barnhardt, US,
2005, 18 m.). Who is this glum old guy, Herbie? Some depressed
denizen of a nursing home? Guess again. It would be felonious
to reveal spoilers in an 18 minute film. Just believe this:
Drew Barnhadt generates more horrifying suspense in a few
minutes than most feature films accomplish in two hours.
Website: http://www.radardogproductions.com/
Grade: B+ (4/5) (10/01/05)
THE LISTENER (Michael Chang,
Ireland, 2004, 11 m.). Writer, violinist and filmmaker Michael
Chang moved from Seattle to Galway City, Ireland, in 1999, to
learn traditional Irish fiddling. This little gem of a film is
his first, and is based on an idea for a short play he
conceived several years ago while in school. When a reticent,
deaf and speechless woman follows a blind street musician
home, in hopes of giving him money that had blown out of his
collection hat, entwined yet opposing themes of generosity and
invasion unfold. Very powerful little film. Website: http://www.listenerfilm.com/
Grade: B+ (4/5) (10/02/05)
WAR ON THEIR MINDS (Jennifer
W. Glos, US, 2004, 26 m.). The director’s MFA thesis project,
this film documents the responses of Southern California kids
- from preschoolers to cadets at a high school military
academy - when asked about various issues related to war.
Every view you can imagine comes forth. Judging from the
ubiquity of dental braces on display, one can assay that many
of these kids come from well off families. This is a highly
worthwhile project, but it would have been good for balance to
include more inner city kids. Website: http://www.galagostudio.com/
Grade: B+ (3.75/5) (10/02/05)
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