Reid Ramsey weighs in on Richard Linklater's APOLLO 10 1/2 (2022) NYICFF 2022 SXSW2021

 

Richard Linklater has made his career off memories. Whether it’s allowing a certain subset of viewers to grow up alongside Jessie and Celine in the Before Trilogy, capturing 12 years of a boy growing up in the suburbs of Texas in the 2000s with Boyhood, or flashing back to the teen-aged 70s in Dazed and Confused, Linklater’s films are always specific and unflinchingly sincere. It’s this exact, highly-attractive quality, though, can make them alienating to certain viewers. His latest, the animated Apollo 10 ½, is no exception.

Set in the height of the space race and right at its geographic epicenter, the film takes viewers to Houston, 1969, and it puts Linklater’s memories front-and-center. The plot is rather simple: NASA recruits a young boy, Stan, to train and venture into space due to the fact that they built the cockpit on their latest rocket too small for an adult to travel in it. Stan’s training and journey are interwoven with his own adult’s memoir-esque narration of his life in Houston at the time. Filled with highly-specific and long-winded detours into different foods, TV shows, games, and everything you may imagine about the Houston suburbs at the time. 

Clearly highly-researched and diligently remembered, Linklater pours as much of himself and his childhood into this as he can, making the detail remarkable and often fascinating – at least until he has dragged it on too long. His remembrances grow rather tedious for viewers who delight a little less in the treasures of a different generation’s past, and it is clear his indulgences have gotten the better of him with this film. 

I had, in viewing, the reaction I can only imagine many others have had when approaching different films of his like Boyhood, School of Rock, or Dazed and Confused: this isn’t for me. Linklater’s passion for the period helps ease some of the pains, and the animation is often a marvel, especially the space sequences and when Stan is home with his family. There are enough pieces to enjoy in here, even for those who find the unceasing attention-to-detail rather boring. 

Pompo The CInephile (2021) NYICFF 2022

The great producer Pompo tasks he harried assistant with turning her deeply meaningful movie script into an award winning film.

While named for Pompo and while her presence hangs over the film, the reality is she is a secondary character to Gene, the assistant who is tasked with directing the film. This is Gene's story about getting to do the think you always wanting to do and following it to the end.

This is a really good film. For those that love the movies it is full of movie references from start to finish. Everything is seems to refer to some other film. I spent half of my time watching the film and half the time scanning for some film reference. For those who are less knowledgeable this film is still a blast, with the crazy happenings and compelling story line.

While I really liked the film a great deal I'm not going to pretend there aren't problems. The structure of the film feels odd at times as it throws down a lot of plot threads and seeming leaves them alone until picking them up at the end in order to get the perfect ending. On some level there is too much going on with the result that there are things that could have been cut out. Its not fatal it just makes the film feel less tight than it probably should.

This is a good film and definitely worth a look when it hits theaters in late April

Apollo 1/2 (2022) NYICFF 2022 SXSW 2022

Richard Linklater remembers his childhood growing up near NASA in Huston and blurs it with his own dream of going to the moon.

This is the story of Stan ,who when he was kid was recruited by NASA to fly a secret mission to the moon in the days before Apollo 11. In and around that story Stan remembers what life was like being a kid.

How you react to this film is going to be determined by how you react to this pure shot of nostalgia. If you are of a certain age, Particularly if you came of age  during the late 1960's and early 1970's this film is going to be a waking dream of what your life was long ago when it was okay to paddle kids, ride in the back of pick up trucks and do all sorts of crazy things that would get you or your parents locked up today.

My experience watching the film was purely talking to the screen and saying "yes, yes exactly" while smiling with utter delight. A form of this film was my childhood and as a result I ate it up and I was five or six years old again.

On the other hand if you are far removed from the days depicted you may not have any connection to what is happening on screen and the fragmented nature of the (shaggy dog) story you may like it less. I completely understand not liking the film because without the nostalgia factor the film doesn't add up to much. I mean there is no grand payoff. This is just several weeks in the life of a kid in 1969 with no real arc.

Is it a bad film?

Oh hell no. Even the people who had no nostalgic connection to the film liked the film, they just didn't love it.

Worth a look when it hits Netflix April 1

Charlotte (2021) NYICFF 2022

This is the artist Charlotte Salomon who was killed in Auschwitz after leaving behind a large body of work including the massive LIFE?THEATER? painting cycle consisting of over 1000 paintings many with stage directions and comments, making a kind of proto-autobiographical graphic novel. The film is a portrait of her up to a certain point with pre-credits text filling us in with what happened to everyone and Charlotte’s work.

Salomon’s life has been the subject of films and documentaries over the years (I highly recommend the documentary LIFE? OR THEATER? From 2011)  and I was familiar with her story from the earlier films. This animated film is a very good historical drama and telling of the story. However in watching the film I ran into the same problem that I had with other films which is that I failed to fully connect to her. I love her art but she still remains a kind of cypher.

I do have to say that I love the choice to do the story in animation. This allows for some truly wonderful effects as the paintings come to life. It is also a very good opening up of the doors to the medium t a wider audience since the story is not for little kids since it deals with not only the Holocaust but also Charlotte's love life.

My own reservations aside I still recommend CHARLOTTE highly for anyone interested in the subject. The English voice cast headed by Kiera Knightly is first rate. Additionally the film brings home the Holocaust and life during wartime to a generation who doesn’t really know what either things is.

Charlotte plays the NYICFF this weekend and will be released theatrically beginning April 22

I AM WHAT I AM (2022) NYICFF 2022

When I staggered out of the first screening of I AM WHAT I AM I headed to the festival organizers and simply asked when it was playing again. They said it was playing next weekend, which delighted me and a coule of other people who wanted to know the same thing. They then asked why I wanted to know and I told them it was because people had to see the film. It had knocked my socks off and I had to get on to people's radar.

This is the story of 17 year old outsider Gyun, who is living with his grandfather while his parents work in another city.At a festival in the village he falls in love with the lion dance. Given a lion mask by a girl with the same name, and who had rescued him when he was being shaken down by some toughs, he talks his two friends into forming a team to compete in an upcoming lion dance competition. The trio then try and track down a coach and then struggle to get in shape and train. However life has further complications  in store for them.

Ye,s I was intentinally vague in describing the plot of the film. I'm doing it because the what happens, after a slightly cliche set up, is a rousing and completely unexpected story and I don't want to give you any clues. In all seriousness the twists and turns that this film take are not what you expect and you should just experience them for yourself. 

All you need to know is that director Haipeng Sun has created some killer characters. Yea, Gyun and his friends are a bit cliche to start but they all arc wonderfully. He gives them unexpected depth. For example the relationship between their coach and his wife is not something you see in any film, never mind an animated one. There is a love there few films ever reveal. More imprtantly there is sense of decades of love which results in some unexpected discussions. When was the last time saw a conversation about regret that circled back into an unexpected way?

The various dance/training sequences will leave you speechless. Each is better than the next. I was constantly going "OH WOW" with my eyes wide and my jaw open. The chance to see them on the big screen was magical. Honestly the dance on the roof before the final competition is one of the most magical things I've seen in years. And the bus sequence left me misty. (I told yu I won't give you details, just get a ticket and see the movie)

I also need to mention the music- it is maginificent. A mix of styles it all rocks. I realized just how good it was when an early chase sequence  had flamenco in the style of Rodrigo y Gabriela infused into it. It was perfect. As the film went on other styles appeared at the perfect moment. What a delight to see a film that used the right style of music at the right time.

I'm kind  shocked that this film is coming out of China since its depictions of poverty and references to Buddhism are not typically things that the Chinese government seem to allow. There is a sly social commentary at work here with clear implications of hard life many experience as well as the lack of safety at work sites. Perhaps they under estimated an animated film.

Ultimtely I love this film.I love that it up ends the underdog film in unexpected ways. I love that that the happy movie world operates inside the real world - or a realer world than the movies normally show us.I love that good things happen in a world that can beat you down, but that we see it's not all skittle and beer in the end.

This movie kicks ass. It is the true hidden gem of this years New York International Film Festival, and one of the great finds of 2022.

Highly Recommended- if you love magical movies, this film is a must.

It is also why NYICFF is one of the best film festivals around.

I AM WHAT I AM is playing one more time at NYICFF March 12. For tickets and more information go here.

Where is Anne Frank? (2021) NYICFF 2022

Ari Folman's look at Anne Frank and her legacy is an incredibly messy film. It has moments of great power but it is trying to do too much and ends up disappointing.

The plot of the film had Kitty, the fictional person Anne spoke to in her diary entries, coming to life a year from now and trying to find her friend. The trouble is while she is in the Anne Frank Museum she is invisible however outside, when she has the diary with her, she is a real person who ends up sort of romancing a pickpocket she saw at the museum, and becoming involved with refugees in Amsterdam. (And there are flashbacks to the war where Anne and Kitty talk)

Yes it is as messy as it sounds. 

While I can admire what the film is trying to do I don't think it really achieves most of what it was hoping to do. It simply has too many plot lines ging at the same time with the result that nothing is really explored. The refugees pop in and out, but we don't get to know them, they are kept at arms length. Mostly Folman assumes we know about their plight until a late in the game revelation that they were fleeing war.It's simple a general idea place holder. The pickpocket is there and not and there again. Even Anne Frank's story is given the short end of the stick because the film assumes you know all about Anne, and the war and what happened. As a result we get a highlighted version (kind of) of her story that is just random moments.

At the same time the film is hypercritical of the cult of Anne Frank and how she is everything with so many places named for her. The film takes everyone to task for the reverence shown her, arguing in the end that we should be treating her story as something different than a tourist destination and a way to name things, however the film never fully explains what that is. Lrd knows it tries but it never fully puts it over.

While it could be argued that the film is Kitty's story, even that is all over the place with the idea that she's imaginary, but real, and that she can travel in time but is here now being narratively messy. The rules for her existence seem to be made up on the fly or what a sequence needs to have happen. Even the romance with the pickpocket doesn't fully work because of its on again off again nature.

There are things that work, the scene where Kitty goes shopping is great. The Nazi's, riffed from the classic Alexander Nevsky are meancing (though I'm not sure we need the Battle on the Ice from Eisentstein's film refought with Anne's version of Ready Player One). The romance, when it is the focus, is great and magical. Truthfully the pickpocket is the best drawn of all the characters, including Anne and her family.

Apologies, this is a hard film to write about because while it's not bad its such a mess on so many levels I just want to pull it apart scene by scene. 

A disappointing miss.

I should mention that the film played with a short called NAOMI about four girls who go into a swimming pool after hours. It's well made and well acted, but it feels like part of something else and doesn't add up to much. It needs to be a feature film

Short Films One NYICFF 2022

 I've been going to the New York International CHildren's Film Festival for over tw decades and this is one of the best collections of shorts they have ever put together-which is saying a great deal.

Here is brief word on the nine films that make up the collection

CAT IN THE ART PARK
This is the story o a giant cat in a par and it's interactions with people.Its funny and magical and I loved it

POUMPOUM
Weakest film in the collection is abstract images dancing to a percusive soundtrack.

MAMA HAS A MOUSTACHE
Children of non-bianry parents talk about life. 

I dn't have words to describe this film.Its a glorious celebration of life, of parenting and children. Told with cut out animation we listen as kids talk about their lives and how they can be who what they want to be.

I got nothing and it's sheer joy made me weepy in the best sort of way

BATTERY DADDY
Excellent story of a hard working battery. I can't explain it more because of how its told will be ruined by saying more.

WOLF AND CUB
The thesis project o a film student is finished by his family. Its the story of a ather and son turning a trip to bring mom lunch into a Lne Wolf and Cub adventure. If you are going to riff other films- do it as magically and wonderfully as this. This is pure delight

STAR BOUND
A young boy talks t his uncle, a space engineer, abut going to other planets. Again this is pure magic.

FRANK AND EMMET
One of the best films of 2022. This is the story of a puppeteer having to tell his friend that he will be going away. This is as perfect a short as you are likely to see.

Deeply profound examination of life and death had me crying ugly. This would be the sort of conversation that Jim Henson might have had with Kermit or Carol Spinney with Oscar or Big Bird. The end of the film pretty much completely wrecked me and I was glad I sat alone in the back so no one culd hear me sobbing.

(Note to John and Bully- you can never see this)

META
A philosophical examination of life  is absolutely beautiful.

CUPIDS
Three kids on a school bus try to sort out who their beloved busdriver should date so she can have a romantic trip to Paris. This is a glorious and perfect confection that most of the kids I over heard after the screening loved most. It is a perfect endng to the series.

The Glorious ITS A SUMMER FILM plays NYICFF this weekend

With IT's A SMMER MOVIE playing NYICFF this weekend I'm re running my review from the multiple festivals it played in 2021.

IT'S A SUMMER FILM is a lovely love letter to the movies. The story of three film loving friends who decide to make a movie.

Mixing genes and twisting into unexpected places this is on of the best surprises of the year. I was not expecting to fall so head over heels for this film. To be honest I wasn't planning on seeing it for either Fantasia or Japan Cuts but the fact both festivals programmed it made me curious.

This film is a delight. It works on so many different levels, from the straight forward one that will make anyone who walks into it fall in love with it, to the one that is full of cinematic references to Japanese cinema and culture that will make you smile knowingly at everything that happens.  I was so wrapped up in the film that I was talking at the screen with a running commentary about the cool way that director Soushi Matsumoto was blending all the ingredients together.

What an absolute joy.

If you love the movies this is a must see. Its also a must if you jut want to see a great film that will make you smile from ear to ear. Trust me- this is going to be a film you watch over and over again for yeats to come.

One of the best films I saw in 2021 Poupelle of Chimney Town (2020) plays NYICFF 2022 this weekend

 In a world called Chimney Town things are tightly controlled by the inquisitors. No one is to know anything except what they tell them. Stories of life outside the town and star above the smoke are forbidden.  When young Lubicchi makes friends with Poupelle, a man made of garbage, they decide to see if the story of stars is true.

This visually stunning animated film is a must see on a big screen. This is a film that will make even the most jaded animation lover’s jaw hang open at some point. I want, nay I need to see this big so I can really see the wonders.

The basic plot about a boy, his friend and de facto father figure, is a deeply moving one. This dystopian tale has a great sense of place and character that makes the whole place real. It’s a film that plays our heart strings in the best sort of a way. You will be like me, and want to see it again for the characters as well as the visuals.

You will also want to see this film for the philosophical, religious and political threads running through the film. Rarely have there been a finely sketched portrait of an evil regime in a film like this

In its way this is one of the most magical animated films of the year.

If there is any problem with the film is that there are several sequences that go on way too long. However it’s not so much that they are too long but rather they are derivative. In a film that is often brilliantly its own thing, it often resorts to sequences such as the mine car ride, that have been done to death elsewhere. Its not that the sequences are bad, but old hat .

Despite the bumps this film is magical. I laughed, I cried I said wow a whole lot.

Despite my failing words this is one of the best films of 2021

Highly recommended.

Zero Gravity plays NYICFF 2022

In California a teacher and a group of kids from various backgrounds take part in the Zero Robotics competition, The kids will have to code a robot so that it will do a series of tasks. The competition will have them compete other schools across the country. The kicker is that the robots are located on international space station.

Very good documentary about a bunch of kids leaning to love coding and science. This is a really cool little film that transcends a basic idea of a school competition and makes it into something more. Seriously this film made me go wow and I'm not talking about the spectacular space views but the idea that they have to deduce how to move a robot moving in zero gravity. The idea that they are programming something that they probably didn't understand amazed me. 

I know that doesn't sound cool, but trust me it is. 

Also really cool are al the people we meet. I kind of fell in love with everyone on screen.

This film is great fun and recommended a when it plays at The New York International FilmFestival this weekendand the Prt Jefferson Documentary Series May 2nd

NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL CHILDREN’S FILM FESTIVAL 2022 CURTAIN RAISER

NYICFF is one of the  great film festivals of any year. Started by parents who wanted to get their kids into film the festival has grown over the years and it also spun off G-Kids one of the finest film distribution companies in the world.

This year the festival is back in person, with the films for Tots playing virtually, and I couldn’t be happier.

Because I am taking advantage of the in person our early coverage is only going to be reposts of films we saw at other festivals. However because I know the festival from the last 22 plus years of existence I have no trouble in saying if you see something that intrigues you buy a ticket and go…. And go to the short films  because honestly in almost every fetival they have contained most of the truly best films. There is a a reason this is an Oscar Qualifying festival, and that is their choices of films kicks serious bottoms.

For tickets and more information go here