Tahara (2020) Slamdance 2020

TAHARA is a major misfire.

The story of two high school BFFs who after a memorial service for a friend who committed suicide end up kissing each other sending their lives spinning off into unexpected directions.

Where do I begin? Probably with the aspect ratio. Shot largely so that that it has the narrow vertical aspect of cell phone video it suddenly springs to full widescreen for some very brief animated sequences which occur to illustrate the opening up of the two girls' world. It works the first time it is used but the following times the effect really isn’t there. Intellectually I understand why the aspect ratio changes were done but emotionally it feels like showing off.

The biggest problem though is the script doesn’t work. Both the characters of Carrie and Hannah seem older than their years. These aren’t teenagers but adults in teenagers bodies. Worse they seem like an adult’s idea of teenagers and not real people. They are full of witty lines in exactly the way real people never are. These are constructs not real people, regardless of how well they are acted.

The script is full of cute bits that take away from this having any notion that this is in any way linked to reality. For example a conversation between the girls at the memorial service consists of the two girls making faces at each other while subtitles reveal what they are supposed to be saying. It’s the wrong sort of attempt at being clever, and even if at the end we see that it is actually supposed to be a written conversation between the girls, it just doesn’t work.

The biggest problem is that the construction feels artificial. Everything takes place in one a couple of hours in a building that is largely empty and it doesn’t feel right. This feels like its been closed down for dome unknown reason It could work if this was on stage but confining events for film it just feels forced.

The couple the restricted setting with the way the movements of the characters around the building seems odd, with everythinge outside of the two main characters always seeming dependent upon which what the plot needs- do we need a crowd? Do we not? The girls have to talk alone lets give them a place to be alone. None of it feels right. How is that they can just wander around the building with no one about most of the day?  I am not against what happens but I am against how it happens here since it feels like the hand the writer/director moving everyone around.

What kills me is is that all of the pieces from the acting, to the one liners, to the basic plot, are all good. The problem here is that how they are put together doesn't work with the result the film as a whole just misses.

The Penny Black (2020) Slamdance 2020

THE PENNY BLACK is a film that has bothered me since I saw it a few days ago. It bothered me so much that I sat on reviewing it until I could really sort out what I think of the film.

The film is the story of Will Smith who got to know a Russian man named Roman when they would both go outside to smoke. One day Roman tells Will he is going away for a couple of weeks. Would it be okay if he left something valuable with him until he came back. Will says sure and ends up with a collection of stamps, potentially worth millions in his possession. Not long after that Will tells director Joe Saunders about it and he begins filming. Then Roman disappears, Will gets spooked and isn’t sure what to do and he begins to try and run down Roman.. It a quest that last several years and goes in unexpected ways.

For the most of its running time THE PENNY BLACK is compelling norish tale with potential links to the Russian mafia, an Arizona murder and robbery and other twists. There are all these intriguing threads of speculation of what might be happening that keep us watching straight on to the end. There are so many dangerous possibilities that we have to see what happens. There is even a mid-tale twist where we begin to wonder about Will because of what happens and his past (his father was conman). We are invested from almost the outset, and we stay invested until almost the end credits…

…and that is the problem, there is a point very close to the end when the grip of the film is released when we realize that how it’s going to end is not going to live up to all the speculation in previous 90 minutes. It’s so bad that when it ended I said “really?” very loudly out loud. Obviously if that’s the way it went, that is the way it has to go and I can’t argue that...

…but at the same time without a big definite payoff the whole thing seems like a long con. While I had moments where I wondered if some of the turns were manufactured, when the ending arrived I was left to ponder if any of the film was true. Some of it probably is or maybe all of it. I wasn’t sure and in the wrong sort of way I didn’t care. Don’t get me wrong it is a hell of a ride- but there is no real pay off it just kind of ends, with the implications about the missing stamps feeling awfully contrived.

I honestly don’t know what to say- it’s a hell of ride that made me feel like I was following PT Barnum’s signs to see the Egress.

Lillian (2019) Slamdance 2020

Playing like a mix between Agnes Varda’s VAGABOND and the under appreciated KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER, LILLIAN is the story of a young Russian woman who finds herself stranded in New York she decides to go home by walking back to Moscow.(It is based on an incident that happened in the 1920's)

Absolutely beautiful to look at film is a portrait of the backwaters of America as Lillian travels across the country getting by whatever means she can manage either by making friends, stealing clothes and food, sleeping in cars or abandoned houses. It is a largely solitary existence that mixes beauty with desperation. It is an almost wordless journey

To be honest I honestly don’t know what to make of this film. As I said at the top this film reminds me of several other films. While there is absolutely nothing really wrong with it, especially if you take it on its own terms, ultimately I was left feeling as though I had wasted a couple hours of my time because I don’t know what I am supposed to get out of this film. Where Varda’s film raised issues of self-sufficiency, a woman’s place in society and life in general, and where KUMIKO showed us the folly of obsession, LILLIAN simply doesn’t seem to have a point, or one that requires two plus hours of screen time. Yes, the film has things to say about America and how outsiders perceive it but at the same time I’m not sure it adds up to very much.

A beautiful film but nothing more.

Slamdance 2020 Shorts

ZORG II
An alien comes to earth to star in a movie. A government type tries to stop him.
An amusing little tale with a great look and soundtrack. Its a nifty little tale that may be a little too long for what it is but then again the whole thing is great fun so who cares?

400 MPH
Utterly amazing film about a chimpanzee trying to reach 400 MPH. A true work of visual art. A gorgeous masterpiece of the highest order

HAPPY ENDING
A disturbing film that reveals the inner thoughts of a Korean prostitute. While visually compelling at times the words cut to the bone making for an uneasy experience. Recommended

IT'S BEEN TOO LONG
Wickedly funny film about a two sometime lovers coming together in a cabin to hook up who confess all their insane sins. I have no idea what to say other than this film is a perfectly timed little gem full of endlessly quotable dialog. Definitely a film you want to track down.

WASHED
A man goes to the Eldritch Laundry to arrange to have his laundry done. It does not go as expected. That last line refers to not just the main characters on the screen but the audience as well. I did not expect where this as going at all and neither will you. A brilliant little comedy.

MESSAGE FROM SPACE
The story of our first contact with aliens and what follows. It's a neat little tale that doesn't go as you think and it wonderful as a result. It is also nicely compact telling its story and then getting off.

ORACLE
Okay story about a little girl who sees a dark shape in her house. It's good but I'm not sure it works to the end.

HOT PURSUIT
Digital decayed clips of The Dukes of Hazzard....and this one just didn't work for me.

GREETINGS FROM THE PLANET KROG!
Dead pan narration keeps the story of a mother kidnapped by aliens from fully soaring. However the creepy visuals and the basic plot keep things interesting.

GODS FROM SPACE
Dr George King contacted was contacted by aliens and soon after began The Aetherius Society to spread the word that we have moved away from the spiritual path. Intriguing short doc is a brief mediation on the society and it’s founder that works as a kind of tone poem. I am intrigued enough that I need to do some deep digging on the Society and their teachings. Ideally I would love a feature on the society.

SWEEP AWAY HUNGRY GHOSTS
A son tries to come to terms with his deceased father’s transvestism.
Visually over powering film borders on a being a horror film mediation of familial obligations and the unintended consequences people leave in their wake. While this is hands down one of the best looking films I’ve seen in years, I find that the thematic elemets didn’t click with me. I completely understand what the film is getting at but as anything other than a visceral experience I’m not sure it really works since everything is a little too symbolic.

THE LITTLE SOUL
A soul leaves a body and wanders off through the forest.
Feral stop motion film echoes and riffs on the work of Albert Pinkham Ryder, Hieronymus Bosch and William Blake. It is a glorious creepy trip to the darkside and the afterlife. Highly recommended

SMILES
Absolutely evil short film about a young man going home to meet his girlfriends family only to find they are wearing weird yellow smiley face masks- or are they? I don’t dare say more because that would ruin the absolutely wrong in the absolutely right way fun of this wicked little short. A hellish must see.

Sanzaru (2020) Slamdance 2020

Evelyn, a nurse from the Philippines moves into take care of an elderly dementia patient. With her patient sliding away she begins to get a sense that something is not right in the house. As she tries to find out what is going on and what is the presence in the house, Evelyn discovers the dark history of her employer.

This mix of Southern Gothic and a ghost story by way the the Philippines results in a film that defies genre. The lack of clear cut genre works to the films advantage since it adds to the unease being created. What exactly are we watching? We can't be sure. Can we work out where this is going? Not really since the films rhythms are unique.

You will forgive me if I don't say a lot about SANZARU. It is not because I don't want to rather it is because this is a small film that deserves to be seen on its own merits. There are secrets and twists and turns here that I don't want to reveal because they will spoil the fun of the film.

Do yourself a favor and when you get a chance see SANZARU. It is a small gem that will entertain you better than many bigger films which is all you need to know.

Shoot To Marry (2020) Slamdance 2020

After his girlfriend dumps him when he asks her to marry him on Christmas day, he turns the camera on himself and uses it as a cover for finding and meeting women that he might be interested in marrying.

My feelings about Shoot To Marry are split. As Steve Markle says in the film it is a fantastic portrait of a some truly great women (I won’t single any out because they are all wonderful). I would gladly sit down and spend an evening with everyone of them. As long as the camera is focused on them this film is gangbusters. It is an absolute delight to listen to the women talk about their lives and feelings.

The problem is that the thread that links them together is Markle and after spending 75 minutes with him I really understand why he was single. Yes what he is saying, especially in the final 20 minutes is spot on and deeply moving at time, but he is also absolutely correct when he calls himself a nebbish and that he just won’t shut up. In regard to that last statement there is moment when he realizes that the reason that some of the relationship attempts crashed and burned simply because he didn’t really listen to the women. The fact he doesn’t shut up makes spending time with him tough…

…on the other hand the women he meets are amazing and I would love a documentary on each of them where they can just reveal their wonderfulness.

While never a bad film I am going to recommend the film because there is some truly great stuff here. Whether you love the film or are just like me and just like the film will be determined by how you react to Markle.

There Were Four Of Us (2020) Slamdance 2020

Trippy animated film that starts off about a meeting of four people and goes on from there.

One of the best films at Slamdance There Were Four pushes the notions of form and narrative through carefully controlled images, sound and dialog, both aural and written. It is a visceral film that forces you to engage with it on so many different levels that I will need to see the film several more times in order to properly do it justice.

Simply put this film is a stunner and an absolute must see for any one loving animation or truly adventurous and groundbreaking filmmaking.

Thoughts on Higher Love (2020) Slamdance 2020

This may have been the first truly great film I saw for Slamdance. It is a film that haunted me for days after I saw it. It is a tough tough film about what drugs are doing to society.

The focus of the film is Daryl Gant a resident of Camden New Jersey. Daryl has a good job and tries to stay out of trouble. When his girlfriend Nani gives birth to a son Daryl has to struggle to take care of the child since Nani is an addict and can very easily fall off the wagon. The film also shows us the story of Iman, a friend of the couple who was was an engineer until he started dealing and became addicted.

If you don't want to see the real cost of addiction  stay away. This is an in your face film that does not shy away from showing us the high cost of drugs on our communities and on our bodies. It also powerfully shows us in no uncertain terms the toll it takes not only on the addicts but the lives of the people who love them. As having heard the  statement "why don't they just walk away" in regard to the friends and family of the addicts, this film makes it painfully clear why that isn't always an option.

I was repulsed, troubled and deeply moved. As I watched the film I found that I kept wanting to stop the film and walk away, I didn't want to see this, I need to see this and yet I kept watching because director Hasan Oswald kept filming and thus kept insisting, rightly that I needed to. When it was done I seriously considered walking away and not writing it up simply because I didn't want to revisit the film. However despite my best efforts not to think about it, I couldn't stop. Hours after seeing the film I found I was thinking about how to attack a review. I also came home and had a discussion on line with a friend about how I couldn't shake the film and hw it might be the first great film I saw for Slamdance.

Days passed, more movies have come and gone and still HIGHER LOVE hangs with me.  I still don't want to talk about the film largely because I really don't have the words to describe it in a way that does it justice. I think that all I can say is all what needs to be said- HIGHER LOVE is a great film and is must see.

Brief thoughts on Close Quarters (2020) Slamdance 2020

When Manuel and Lupe discover he can not father a child they ask his friend Ruben to be the father. However as Manuel ponders what this will actually mean in their lives and his standing as a man, Ruben asks to stay a few days before he heads to America. This puts the already fragile Manuel into a spiral he many not be able to pull out of.

Solid domestic drama/psychological portrait is a small jewel of a film. A carefully modulated tale is given weight by the three leads Paulina Gaitan, Jorge A. Jimenez and José Pescina who seem to inhabit their characters. You can feel the tension, sexual and otherwise between them in a way that bleeds off the screen. That the film remains compelling is due to their perfect casting.

Recommended.

CLOSE QUARTERS plays again on Wednesday the 29th. For tickets ans more information go here.

1986 (2019) Slamdance 2020

After her father is arrested, a young woman takes over his business f running into and out of the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant. This seems to mirror a disintegration in her personal life.

Director Lothar Herzog has made a film that sneaks up on you and jumps you from behind. As I write this several days have passed and I find that while I have seen perhaps a dozen other films that are playing Slamdance, Herzog's film is the one that I am still thinking of. It is a film of quiet power that haunts your psyche.

I think a large part of why the film works is actress Daria Mureeva as Elena. She pulls us close from the opening sequence where she is simply talking to her boyfriend straight on to the end. We can feel every emotion in every sequence, we sense what she is thinking even in the quiets moment and she makes us a co-conspirator. It is a powerful performance that hopefully will get her bigger roles.

It also helps a great deal that director Herzog masterfully moves Ms Mureeva through the story. While I could talk about a great many things that he does wonderfully I would like to simply focus on how he uses the landscape as a character. Watch as in the sequences in the cities the camera is in close, Mureeva is a large presence, and contrast it to how as she goes into the exclusion zone she becomes smaller and smaller. Her life and circumstance are devouring her- until in the end she completely disappears.

I am in awe of the skill of the filmmakers and the actors.

I should warn you that on the face of it 1986 is a small film. However while it is not big and flashy  it is a film that packs serious punch. It is a film that haunts you and gets under you skin.  It is a quiet masterpiece.

Queen of the Capital (2019) Slamdance 2020

I have to say something right at the start QUEEN OF THE CAPITAL is a lovely film. It is the best sort of cinema - good times with great people. It made me smile for its entire running time and for days afterward.

I know that isn’t the way one should begin a serious review, but to hell with it, this is my site and I just loved this film to death and as soon as I was done I emailed the director to say I loved his film. (and yea I can do that because I am a film fan first and a writer second and I love when I can tell a filmmaker how much I love their work)

The film is the story of Daniel Hays who performs as Muffy Blake Stephyns in Washington DC. He is trying to become the Empress of Imperial Court of Washington, D.C. The organization is made up of LGBT people who get together to dress fancy and raise money for various charities. It is patterned on a royal court. The Empress is one of the co-chairs of the organization who reign for a year and over see the charity work.  Over the course of the film we meet Muffy‘s friends and watch as the organization raises money and spreads good cheer to all.

I really don't have a great deal to say other than -What an absolute joy this film is. Everyone in this film is an absolute delight. As I said at the top this is good time with great people, and everyone that is part of the organization are just great people, they are charming people doing good things for deserving organizations. I was so moved by the film that when it ended I went out and donated to local organizations helping out at risk youth. Any film that gets me off to give is something special.

I know this isn’t a deep meaningful review but it is heartfelt, which is what QUEEN OF THE CAPITAL is- and big hug and much love to some wonderful people and especially Muffy.

Highly recommended.

Destined to be one of my favorite films of 2020.

Beware Of Dog (2020) Slamdance (2020)

A woman in Moscow with OCD tries to find a way to have normal relationship. Her cousin in Berlin tries to start a relationship despite being bi-polar. Meanwhile in New York a boxer deals with addiction, anxiety and the feeling he is just no good.

When I started BEWARE OF DOG I was very confused, not because it was bad, rather because for a long while I thought it was a documentary. Never mind there is an early scene where an attempt at love making is interrupted by the need to fold towels, this was way to raw and real not to be a documentary.

All hail writer director Nadia Bedzhanova for she has made one of the best films at Slamdance.  While I can quibble about some of the storytelling, I can not quibble with the fact that she has made a narrative film that feels real. Watching sequences I stopped seeing actors but instead felt I was watching real life instead. I've seen some of the things that happen in the film. I have had conversations with people about what it's like to deal with depression, addiction and bipolar swings and this film seems to have it.

More importantly Bedzhanova has not only written a script that gets it right, and filmed it in differing styles that brings it all home, she has found a cast to sell it. Marina Vasileva, Buddy Duress) and Paula Knüpling sell their stories perfectly. They are not even remotely characters but they are actual people and we are watching them deal with their very real problem.

As I said above I could quibble about the story telling, particularly some choppiness in how we move from story to telling, it's a quibble, what is on screen is choice and needs to be seen by a wide audience.

Recommended

OUT OF TUNE (2019) Slamdance 2020

A tuner of sonic shrines runs up against vandals trying to detune them.

This experimental short film is mix of live action, animation and experimental music which re-imagines our world as something alien and quite different. It is a heady mediation on the importance, or not, of traditions and the clash between generations.

Filmmaker Aaron With has made a one of a kind film in the best sort of way. Kudos to him for doing what every science fiction film maker always claims they want to do- namely one that has a unique look and perspective on things.  Looking and sounding unlike anything else out there it is a film that forces you to engage with it.

If you want to see film that isn't like every other then see OUT OF TUNE.

A Dog's Death (2020) Slamdance 2020

A series of mistakes and bad choices spell trouble for a vet and his wife  after he botches a routine surgical procedure on a dog.

Bitter and extremely acid take down of the dull bored middle class, A DOG'S DEATH is going to make many people uncomfortable. This is a film where everything that happens makes you wince. Even as we chuckle at some of the turns we are also mixing in a groan because we know that we probably shouldn't be laughing.

While writer director Matias Gantzhas given us an excellent script it is the work of Guillermo Arengo and Pelusa Vidal who manage to sell the events and keep us watching. They manage to walk the fine line so we both are siding for them but also completely understand that what happens is entirely their fault. Because they never trip over the line we keep watching.

This is a smart little film and recommended who like their comedy like their chocolate dark and bitter.

Majnuni (2019) Slamdance 2020

Adnan drifts in and out of madness as he stalks a long ago love and her new family.

Dreamlike and hypnotic MAJNUNI is a film that is for anyone who wants to see a one of a kind portrait of a man lost in obsession. Dark moody and in your face watching the film you are definitely all in to the head space of out main character. It is a trip to the darkside of one man's psyche. One has to applaud director Kouros Alaghband for making a film that truly makes us see, and perhaps understand, the world in way different from our own.

The film works largely because of the performance Adnan Omerović, whose haunted eyes and searching expression draws us into trying to sort out what is going on behind his eyes.

A  word of warning, this film is not for everyone. It is very much an art film. There are long passages where nothing is said, we are left to ponder what is going on and make our own conclusions. This is a film you have to work with and not  be spoon fed by. If you are up for that and willing to see something with its own look and feel than MAJNUNI is worth seeing. If you want giant robots and explosions stay away.

Tapeworm (2019) Slamdance 2020

Cringe comedy or almost anti-comedy is either going to click with you and make you smile knowingly or make you want to kill the directors.

The film concerns a bunch of losers in and around Winnipeg who crisscross each other like some grand no-fi Robert Altman film. There is a guy freaked out by the blood in his stool, an unfunny comedian, a guy who stays home and plays video games, his mother and some others. It's all dead pan and uncomfortable silences.

This is the sort of humor you either like or you don't. I'm not a fan of it, largely because to me it always seems that these comedies are trying way too hard to be something clever. They rarely are, or at least as clever as they think they are. Even the early films of Jim Jarmusch which this film mirrors in tone at times, frequently crashed and burned. While TAPEWORM doesn't crash and burn, it is actually one of the better comedies of this sort, it still remains for a small audience who like this sort of thing, a group I am not in.

Worth a look for those who like this sort of thing. All others advised to stay away.

To Calm the Pig Inside (Ang Pagpakalma sa Unos)(2020) Slamdance 2020

One of the best films at Slamdance is a documentary/essay about the destruction left on the islands by super typhoon Yolanda. Shot in moody black and white and mixing new footage with stills, children’s drawings and news footage, director Joanna Vasquez Arong has made an utterly hypnotic descent into a destroyed village.

What makes the film so haunting is that the director’s narration adds several levels of understanding to the proceedings. This is not just a look at the destroyed place, but at the wrecked psyche of the place as ghosts wander the landscape, Saints perform miracles and children find themselves swimming in an ocean filled with dead bodies.

This is the stuff of nightmares and unfortunately it is all true.

I have no idea what Joanna Vasquez Arong is doing next but whatever it is I want to see it because even if it is half as good as this film it will be twice as good as anything coming from most other directors.

A must see.

Lovembil (2019) Slamdance 2020

This is a repost of a review that ran last September when LOVEMOBIL played the Camden International Film Festival.

Portrait of the lives of the woman who work in campers across Germany as prostitutes and the aftermath of the murder of one of them.

Gripping portrait of life on the edge of society works thanks to the filmmakers taking the time to really let us get to know all the parties involved. There are not just random people but people who come to mean something to us.

An Ordinary People (2020) Slamdance 2020

Spinning is a sport that grew out of South African gangster culture. Years ago when a gangster died his friends would steal a car, “spin it” (do circle burn outs and some crazy stunts) then set the car on fire as a means of respect. The spinning of cars grew out of that into a dangerous but truly awesome dance between man (or men) and machines. There are now competitions held across South Africa where teams compete to find out who is the best spinner.

An Ordinary People is both one of the coolest films I’ve seen this year and one of the most frustrating.

This is just a really cool looking film. The images of the spinning cars are absolutely mind blowing. More to the point what the drivers and their crews are doing is absolutely amazing on so many levels. Director Ernest Nkosi and his crew have assembled a visual masterpiece- a grand cinematic dance fil of the highest order. This film is going to stay with me for a very long time. How do I know- because I was half way through the film and I was emailing friends and relatives that they had to see the film.

The problem with the film is that it takes a while before you really have a sense of what you are looking at or what this film is about. As someone who knew nothing about the sport except from a couple of brief clips I came into the film blind and was slightly taken aback. As the film opens we are watching clips of several crews spinning cars from either inside the car or from cameras attached to one of the spinners. It is very POV and it is almost 10 minutes before we actually see what is going on outside the cars or have anyone explain to us what we are seeing. The film then slowly winds it’s way into explaining the sport, the drivers and the fans. It’s a set up that requires the audience to be patient and willing to work with the film. Even though it is clear the filmmakers know their subject backwards and forwards they should have had someone outside the sport take a look so that we outsiders have an easier path into the sport.

Reservations aside, An Ordinary People is a must see for anyone who loves motorsports and who is willing to work with the film. It is a film that will make you talking out loud to the screen as people do the most amazing things.

The Wind A Docu-Thriller (2019) Slamdance 2020

This is a repost of  the review that we ran when the film played DOC NYC last November.

Atypical documentary that skirts the notion of whether it is a documentary at all concerning the wicked halny winds in Poland’s Tatra Mountains that occur a couple of times every year. The winds are so strong that they cause terrible destruction of trees, property and the human psyche.

Despite being more an observational film about the people in the region than anything concrete about the winds, this is one of the creepiest films you’ll see all year. There is something oppressive about it all which makes it hang with you despite you’re wanting more concrete information and the passage of several days time.

Recommended for curious audiences