Superior! (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

 Superior feels like a film that would have been a low budget film from 1987 when the film is set. It looks and moves like many of the slightly more ambitious films of the period that were trying to do more than be a by the numbers thriller. Its and interesting throwback that is well done but strangely not as clever as it thinks it is.

The plot has sisters Ani and Alessandra Messa playing sisters. They haven’t seen each other in 6 years when one of them shows up at the house of the other needing a place to crash. She is on the run from an abusive boyfriend. As time goes on the pair rekindle their closeness and eventually begin to merge and swap personalities to the point that the people around them can’t tell them apart.

Superior is a film I admire more than I like. It is a meticulously designed film where every image is perfectly presented. I suspect that if there had been enough money the whole film would have been shot on artificial sets instead of actual locations.  This is a film where writer director Erin Vassilopoulos is doing everything within his power to tell us the exact story he wants. The results in a film that looks splendid and feels like it was 35 years old (that’s a compliment)

The trouble is the plot isn’t anything we haven’t seen before. There have been variations of it going back to the early days of cinema with notable stops at PERFORMANCE and the works of David Lynch. We’ve been here before enough that the plot doesn’t have any surprises. While it isn’t fatal, its kind of disappointing since so much work went into the design and making sure that by the end of the film we can’t tell Messa sister's apart. The result is a film that is good but great.

Ayar (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

AYAR is a one of kind cinematic experience that melds a variety of styles and genres into a film that is a wild ride.  If you’re like me you may not be certain of what you’ll think of the entire ride but I suspect you’ll be glad you took it.

The film is nominally the story of Ayar, a young woman who returns from Las Vegas to LA homing to reconnect with her daughter who is being raised by some one else. Its been a few years and Ayar gave up he daughter to pursue a singing career and a romance that imploded.  She is living in a motel room which is being over grown by vines. She is living next to a woman who may or may not have covid. We get to know her and the people around her. Somewhere along the way the film begins shifting going into unexpected directions including turning into  a meta exploration of the making of the film.

The film is a disorienting trip. Subjective collides with objective, making of collides with narrative and conventional collides with experimental. The result is film that grabs you and drags you along. You can’t help but stay staring at the screen because you don’t know what piece of magic or unexpected turn is coming next. I couldn’t look away. It’s a hell of a ride unlike any other.

While I was watching the film I was absolutely enraptured. I had to see how it was going to go. The problem with the film is that as thrilling as the ride is, it does go all over the place. Some where in the final twenty minutes you begin to get a sense that some of the film could have been trimmed. The sequences aren’t hanging together as well as before. When the film was done I was exhilarated by the ride but I didn’t know if I liked it simply because I don’t know if everything gets pulled together enough to be satisfying.

My uncertainty of the finished product aside, AYAR is still worth a look for the cinematically adventurous

Red Post on Escher Street (2021) North Bend Film Festival

 Red Post on Escher Street is going delight many of Sion Son’s fans and annoy others.  This skewed love letter to the movies and the extras that fill the backgrounds is a film that you have  go with before it pays off. It is a film that asks us to juggle a lot of pieces before they are put together at the end.

The plot of the film is nominally the story of a filmmaker trying to make a retirn independent film after shifting toward the mainstream (much like Sono himself). He hands out fliers for an open casting call.  As everyone comes in to audition we get the stories of the extras, the filmmaker as he tries to put the film together and various related people to all the stories. How they interact and come together is the film.

The reason I say you have to work with this film is that the focus of the film shifts every ten or fifteen minutes. New characters come in to replace ones we were following. While we will run across people we’ve met before Sono is constantly introducing us to more and more people. The result is that we feel the films’ almost 150 minute run time because the film never builds momentum, even as it builds to a climax.

It is a grand party of sorts for anyone who ever wanted to be part of a movie

And if you are wondering why I am not saying more it’s because I am still processing the film.  It’s a film I need another pass through because it didn’t come together for me until I got to the end and then it snapped into place for me. Once it came together did  I realized that I needed to watch it a second time so I could properly reference all the connections- but I realized that in order to make the deadline for the festival I was going to have to wing this review since I didn’t have another two and a half hour block.

My desire to see the film a second time aside, this is a really good film and is recommended when it plays at the North Bend Film Festival

Luchadores (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

 

LUCHADORAS is a portrait of three female wrestlers living in and around Ciudad Juárez Mexico. The town is notorious for the much too large number of women who are kidnapped and/or killed each year. We follow the women as they go through their days, wrestle, and try to make it safer for the women in the area.

This is a good but slightly uneven film that is often an intriguing portrait of a way of life alien to most people.  It is not a wrestling doc, but a film about women in a specific place and their lives. Wrestling is merely the means by which the women connect to each other and find empowerment  where they can help make things better for the other women.

The unevenness that I mentioned is from the fact that while the everyday life part and the wrestling part are absolutely part of the same story there is a sense at times that this could almost be two films. The story of the lady wrestlers is a subject ripe for expansion while the story of the town where so many women are being murdered is perfect for another.  Truth be told I would love to see a film just on the missing and murdered women since there's clearly something wrong there and it should be highlighted so that the authorities are forced to act. 

Quibble aside this is a very good little film. It is a wonderful portrait of three great women and the people in their lives

Cryptozoo (2021) North Bend FIlm Festival

 CRYPTOZOO begins  with the recounting of a dream abut storming the capitol and taking it over and forming a world where we all can live in peace. It then moves on to a man being speared by a unicorn and his girlfriend in a rage beating it to death. One thing is troubling for the context of the world the film has been birthed into and the other is troubling simply because it's a disturbing sequence. From there the film spins off into the story of a woman who is trying to save all the "mythical" creatures in the world before the government or collectors can snatch them and use them for evil purposes. It is often violent, occasionally sexually graphic and not for all audiences.

As some one who hated director Dash Shaw's first film my saying that this is a film I admire is saying a great deal.  While I have a lot of issues with the film, and I just kind of like it, I still think it has a somethings going for it. For example the film has several moments of great beauty and the plot actually isn't bad when you get down to it.

The problem for me is I don't know if Dash Shaw can fully tell a story. While less meandering than his first film, the plot still moves with fits and starts and has a raw nature of a a big schooler trying to write something bigger than his experience. It doesn't help that the art frequently looks like the work of good but still learning young artist. 

My issues aside I will give it points for decidedly being it's own thing with the only thing I can compare it to is the work of Japanese artist Ujicha (Violence Voyager, Burning Buddha Man) expect that it is more hopeful and less disturbing.

Worth a look for Shaw fans and the adventurous,  it a film that just missed for me.

Tailgate (2021) North Bend Film Festival

 

A family on vacation runs afoul of a psycho on the road. He’s a psycho who will not only take you out but your family as well for bringing you up wrong.

Creepy horror film will make your skin crawl as this film turns your typical horror film on their head and has the psycho lurking in the day light and among the well-traveled by ways. There are no night scenes that I can remember, this whole film takes place in bright sunshine. This is film that makes it clear that there is no where to hide, since crazy people are right there infront of us all the time.

I really liked this film a great deal. I love that the film breaks the rules for this sort of thing and plays in the daylight. It messes up our sense that once the daylight comes we’ll be okay. Actually no we won’t. I was chilled more than I have been in years.

As good as the film is I’m not so certain that all of this makes sense. I’m not certain that he wouldn’t have been caught before this, especially since he seems to to be taking people out at a steady clip and no one is paying him any mind.

Illogic aside this film will disturb you deeply and as such is recommended

It plays this week at the North Bend Film Festival Theatrical, Virtual Cinema, VOD & Digital on July 30

We're Going To The World's Fair (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

 

A young girl gets lost while playing an on line video game and chatting with another player.

I haven't figure out if I didn't like ...WORLD'S FAIR because it's not that engaging or because I'm not connected to the online world as much as Casey our heroine.  I know part of my dislike is the device of having most of the film being  either people sitting staring at the computer screen or images of the computer. Yes there are other images but so much of the film is computer related my interest waned.  

My interest waning was not because what was there was bad, more that too many of the sequences run on way too long. The opening shot of the film is roughly ten minutes long.  While it sets up the sense of isolation and the character and the "world" it goes on way too long. Several other sequences do the same thing, staying  much too long.

I should point out that my dislike of the film is not the result of anything being wrong with the story, the acting (Anna Cobb is excellent in a demanding role) or the actual technical filmmaking, my problem is more with the presentation which is uneven. While there were sequences that impressed the hell out of me, the hands out of the computer sequence had me talking to the screen (and rewatching it), the pacing was off and the static meandering of much of it made it a tough slog to get through.

In all honesty there is a good chance that I am not the audience for this film. In the press notes writer director Jane Schoenbrun talks about how she is making the film for a specific audience who will find hope in her discussion of dysphoria. There is a good chance that my not being trans or nonbinary I can't fully connect with what she is trying to say simply because it is outside my experience. There is nothing wrong with that. It simply means that I will have to walk away until I can find a way to connect.

While I didn't like the film as a whole I will say that there is enough good here that I want to see what writer director Jane Schoenbrun does next.

Ninjababy (2021) North Bend Film Festival

 Ninjababy is a great film.  It’s a fantastic slice of life based upon Inga Sætre‘s autobiographical graphic novel that will win you over and should you be someone who can relate to our heroine, it might be one of your favorite films of all time. (yea it’s that good)

The film follows Rakel a twenty something young woman who has list of things that she wants to be. Nowhere on that list is mother. Unfortunately life has decided to mess up Rakel‘s plans and pushes her toward motherhood. However things are complicated because the dad is a one night stand (the dad is her aikido teacher whom she slept with because he smelled good) and she isn’t sure what do .  

What Rakel does is the film and it’s a great journey. I say this not because it’s touchy feely good time but because it is a journey we haven’t taken before. It is a trip that isn’t down well work paths and as a result is frequently surprising. More importantly it’s a story that feel lived in. Yes this is  essentially a true story, but even if it wasn’t I would swear it was. There is a connection to life that we don’t often see. Even if this wasn’t autobiographical you can still feel how this had to be real, I mean how the characters turn is not how any movie characters I’ve ever seen turn.

Helping the autobiographical nature of the film is the first rate cast.  There isn’t a bad performance anywhere in this film with the result we completely believe everything we are seeing is real. If Oscar gave an ensemble award I would hope they would be in the running.

I love this film. I loved it to the point of stopping the film and emailing several friends to say they had to see it.

This is a wonderful film and highly recommended when it plays at the North Bend Film Festival or anywhere else you can find it.

Code Name Nagasaki (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

Director Fredrick Hana makes films starring his friend Marius. Marius is half Swedish and half Japanese, his father having met his mother on a trip to Japan. Years after his mother abandoned the family and cut off all connection, the two men decide to try and find Marius' mother.

Wonderfully atypical documentary mixes a love of the movies, the film shifts styles, with a genuine desire to solve a mystery. Its a glorious mix that makes the film something special, not to mention something that stands out. I say that it stands out because my one thought watching the film was a sadness that I wasn't seeing it with an audience since I wanted to talk to a people about the film.

This is a really good film and I recommend it.

Swan Song (2021) North Bend Film Festival 2021

 I’ve been asked to only do a short piece on SWAN SONG and then do a full review  when the film is released August 6. I’m perfectly happy to do that because it’s very easy to  write a piece for the North Bend Film Festival and simply say that Udo Keir deserves to be in the running for a Best Actor Oscar. And I while I don’t rationally think he will win (the Academy frequently goes for the favorite instead of the real best performance) I do think it will be a sin if he doesn’t at least get a nomination.

Keir plays Pat Pitsenbarger a hairdresser living in a nursing home. He is there because at some point in the past he has had a stroke.  He spends his days sneaking smokes and hanging out with the other residents. An unexpected visitor shows up and tells him he will get 25 grand if he does the hair for a recently passed friend. Things didn’t end well between Pat and his friend, but she wanted to mend fences in her last days and left money to make up for lost time. Keir at first refuses but then heads off on one last great adventure.

There is much to say, and I will in a longer piece, but for now see this film because Keir is a revelation. Sure he is a force of nature and the grand gestures are noticeable but watch the small moments. Watch the little gestures and the way we see what is going on behind his eyes. It’s stunning.  Its one of the best performances of the last decade and it must be seen.

Highly recommended

Nightcap 7/11/21- North Bend Film Festival Starts this week and Random Notes

 

The North Bend Film Festival starts Thursday and if you can make an effort to see something. 

Yes I know the world is opening up but the fine folk at North Bend have made arrangements and they are going both in person and virtual this year, so there is no  reason not to take part.

In years past I was aware of North Bend but I never really covered it because of where it landed. It always hit my calendar after I had scheduled something else. However I moved closer to covering it when it was one of the five festivals that formed the Nightstream Festival last year in order to give fans a super festival in a covid world.  And because of covid this years festival fell at an opportune time so I dove in.

Having seen most of the features and a handful of the shorts  I can honestly say if something hits your eye, see it. While I have liked some films more than others , all of the films are worth seeing.

What films do I recommend? Well I’m glad you asked…

SWAN SONG has the magnificent Oscar worthy performance of Udo Keir as a retired hairdresser making a trip to do one last job. Its one of the great films of the year.

LUCHADORAS is an excellent documentary about a group of women who are using wrestling to get the message out about the dangers lurking in their small town in Mexico where there is a wave of crimes against women.

WITCHES OF THE ORIENT is a one of a kind documentary about the unbeatable women’s volleyball team from Japan that won the Gold at the 1964 Olympics.

TAILGATE is a frightening film about a psycho hunting the road killing those who he feel wronged him. This is better than most other recent psycho on the loose films.

NINJABABY is a wonderful film about a young woman who suddenly finds herself pregnant

There’s more but you can start with those.

For more information and tickets, both in person and virtual go here

---

In regard to NYAFF I do not know what movies will be added or what films will be in person and just virtual. 

----

Twitter I announced that I would be doing a series in response to "Film Twitter's" insistence that there are only five or six filmmakers we should be following (Tarantino, Scorsese, Spielberg....), all of whom have been around since the flood. In their minds they are the only one's that count and should be celebrated. It seems in the mind of "Film Twitter: that no one beyond their five or six are doing anything interesting. 

They are dead wrong

To prove them wrong I will be looking to point out a bunch of filmmakers who are doing wonderful things, and changing cinema and storytelling in really interesting ways, ways most of their calcified gods can't imagine.

The series will run Sundays starting in August and continue at least through September- because lets face it -there are so many great filmmakers out there no one is talking about, that someone has to highlight them.

---

I did not secure a public badge for New York Comic Con. As much as there are things I would love to cover,  the need to hang on line for hours was not possible.  Make no mistake I love the con, I'm just at the point where the need to spend hours sitting trying to get tickets is not something I can do (I have too much to do for this site). 

I have however put in for a press badge so I am hopeful.

----

My attitude toward the TOMORROW WAR is it is one of the stupidest films I've ever seen. Sure its spectacular and has great monsters but nothing in it makes a lick of sense. Its stupid as a stick with a plot that is best described as a hole.

---

Anyone know if  the complete FIREFOX was ever released to home video? Actually is there any version that has the different cuts of the film?

Witches of the Orient (2021)is at the Film Forum and is playing the North Bend Film Festival this week

This is a look back at the unbeatable Japanese volleyball team that was formed as a factory team and went on to international stardom and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. They had an unbeaten streak that will probably never be equaled in any sport. The film is the first time some of the ladies spoke publicly about what they achieved.

One part sports film, one part biography, one part meditation Witches is a one of a kind film that will play best with patient audiences. I say this because the construction of the film is such that it’s deliberate construction is going to confound anyone looking for a typical sports film. I say this because among other things this is a film that doesn’t use rapid fire cutting  to build excitement and it incorporates anime as a means of telling the story. The result is a film that is more like hanging out with the ladies than being told the tale in a punchy TV documentary style. You have to be willing to go with the film and let it work its magic rather than feeling the urge to turn it off.

I give you the warning since I had to start the film a couple of times because it wasn’t what I expected. I had read a little bit on the film and it sounded like a great film, but when I first tried it I was looking for a typical sports doc, you know like an HBO or ESPN 30 For 30 sort of thing. When I didn’t get exactly what I wanted, I stepped away until I could dive back in and give the film its due. The result  of doing this was discovering a really good little film that tells a hell of a story. It a film that kind of brings us closer to the women on the screen because it really lets us see the women as they are and not in pumped up puff pieces.

This is a really good film that will delight anyone who wants to spend good time with good people and take a unique ride while doing so.

Witches is currently playing at the Film Forum in Manhattan and will be screening at the North Bend Film Festival starting the 15th

Nightcap 7/4/21- Festivals, past present and future and a note on LEVERAGE: REDEMPTION

After qualifying for the Oscar's Kohima is heading to LA Shorts.

Happy July 4.

As we celebrate the nations birthday I’m going to pick up the pieces after Tribeca and the various events of the last few weeks.

---

I’m still trying to sort out how Tribeca went. The shifting nature of the festival of this year made it odd, and so I’ve forgiven  it some problems. However I see some other problems that shouldn’t have happened (for example the kerfuffle involving a member of the press who quit covering the fest via twitter) and I wonder if the issues will be there next year.

I do know that I’m kind of worried about where the fest is going to go since the festival dropped FILM from its title. Film was what made the festival and will the seeming sidelining of it mean the fest is something else? Its hard to get a bead on where its going because the virtual nature of this year’s press  coverage made it hard to know what the fest will be like when we return to the trenches. What I mean is because of the virtual nature I did not interact with many people with the fest as I do when it’s in person.

I do know that I miss the in person and if the fest doesn’t go back to in person coverage I will have to rethink how I cover it next time since not going into the city allowed me to see more films, if massively reduced the excitement and wow factor.

--

As those of you who have been  emailing me know we are now four weeks and five days until the start of the New York Asian Film Festival.  I am mentioning this because I’ve gotten several emails asking what I knew about titles, schedule and tickets. People are worried because other than the announcement of dates there has been no word and there is nothing on the Film at Lincoln Center for the Festival website.

While I have had conversations with people from both Lincoln Center and NYAFF I have nothing I to report other than an announcement is expected very soon. Actually I was told that an announcement was due this past week but for whatever reason that was pushed back. Other than that there is nothing I can report. I don’t know what the films are or when what will play when.

I know this is making plans difficult for those of you who want to attend to work out your schedules, especially for the people who were considering splitting time between NYC and Montreal for Fantasia, but I would say go with what you know. 

I’m expecting some sort of preliminary release will come this week, however I can’t be certain.

For those wondering the  festival is going to be both virtual and in person. The virtual will be through the Lincoln Center Virtual platform. I am not sure where the screenings will be because of Lincoln Center’s NYFF 58 Redux series- though it will have some screenings at SVA on 23rd street.

---

Just a heads up The North Bend Film Festival starts July 15 both in person and virtually and there are a lot of great films playing. I’ll have more coming soon, but you should look into getting tickets because you are certain to find something you will like. I will have a ton of reviews and a suggest watch list starting next weekend so belt in.

Details here.

---

The restart of the series LEVERAGE, LEVERAGE REDEMPTION is hitting Amazon Prime tomorrow. I was a fan of the original series so I had to see the new one. While the first episode is severely weakened by setting everything up, the episodes that I saw  that followed were good. Not as good as the original series but entertaining enough to say that if it were on TV  I wouldn't turn it off, which says a great deal.

North Bend Film Festival Announces Upcoming Hybrid Edition for 2021 Event

Festival’s 4th edition set to run both virtually and in-person in North Bend, WA July 15-18, 2021

NBFF to Feature 20th Anniversary Celebration of DONNIE DARKO with Director Richard Kelly and First Annual Dulac Vanguard Filmmaker Award Presented to Jane Schoenbrun

June 15, 2021 // North Bend, WA -- The North Bend Film Festival returns this summer with a hybrid festival taking place July 15-18, 2021. The in-person portion of the fest returns audience members to the historic art deco North Bend Theatre for a curated offering of feature film and short screenings, while both the virtual and physical programs will be complemented by special events, conversations with filmmakers, and immersive experiences. The majority of titles will be exclusive either to physical or virtual programs, with only a few overlaps making for a unique festival experience however you choose to attend.

This year's festival will open with the in-person screening of Swan Song, Todd Stephen’s ode to being singular in a world that pushes individuality to the side. Its endearing main character, Pat, is flawlessly embodied by screen legend Udo Kier. Closing the festival’s physical program is Carlson Young’s debut feature The Blazing World. A visually stunning, Neil Gaiman-esque dream that stars the director alongside Kier in another scene-stealing performance. 

Few films so perfectly encapsulate the distinct flavor of the North Bend Film Festival like Richard Kelly’s trailblazing and pivotal cult feature Donnie Darko, and for its 20th Anniversary NBFF will host a conversation with the visionary director, moderated by highly regarded screenwriter April Wolfe. The festival will also present the film in its original version for a special in-person screening.

New to the festival this year is the introduction of the Dulac Vanguard Filmmaker Award. Named after French filmmaker, film theorist, and activist Germaine Dulac, her 1928 film The Seashell and the Clergyman is regarded as the defining first film of the surrealist movement. The award will honor an extraordinary achievement in groundbreaking filmmaking with a director’s first or sophomore feature. This year’s recipient is Jane Schoenbrun for their debut narrative feature We’re All Going to the World’s Fair. "World’s Fair is a beautifully haunting work that captures with surreal relevance the dual sadness and hope of life lived through a screen,” says Senior Programmer Joseph Hernandez. “We're so excited to see Jane carry this torch and it's our great pleasure to honor them with the first annual Dulac."

Continuing the festival’s mission to present groundbreaking immersive events, this year will feature a tongue-in-cheek pregnancy mystery party with I Swing, You Swing, a self-led storytelling experience that will take place across North Bend with Marcia Needs Space, and the in-person return of fest favorite Strange Storytelling Hour, which will be recorded in front of a live audience and offered online for virtual viewing after. 

Bolstering the virtual program are a duo of sports documentaries celebrating the female spirit and sheer athletic dominance in The Witches of the Orient and Luchadoras; a mad ode to casting and the filmmaking process with the latest from Sion Sono, Red Post on Escher Street; the outrageous and heartfelt SXSW audience award winner Ninjababy; and much more.

North Bend Film Fest virtual programming is geo-restricted to the Pacific Northwest with two types of festival passes currently on sale: a 10 feature or shorts program package for $95 for the public (geo-blocked to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho) and a 12 feature or shorts program package for Industry Members (geo-blocked to the U.S.) also priced at $95. All panels and podcast programming will be free to pass holders with a limited amount of tickets going on sale for virtual events. Individual ticket options also include a $3 discount for locals attending in-person screenings. 

To buy a pass, visit: https://northbendfilmfest.eventive.org/passes/buy

All in-person screenings will be held in strict accordance with state and federal guidelines regarding safety through the ongoing COVID pandemic.

FEATURE FILMS