18th & GRAND: THE OLYMPIC AUDITORIUM STORY (2021) Slamdance 2021

 

The closing night film of Slamdance is one of the best of the fest. A portrait of the legendary Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and Aileen Eaton, the woman who ran it, its transcends its subject to be a portrait of the city it was located and the times it existed.

A more or less straight forward tale of the Olympic over the decades the film on the face of it doesn’t look like it’s going to rattle the pillars of heaven, but in between the discussion of boxing, wrestling, roller derby and concerts the film opens up into the changing  nature of society.  We get a look at what sparked the zoot suit riots, at how the weekly boxing programs saved the sport when it was seen as something that was fixed, how it created the persona of Muhammad Ali as well as other little tidbits.

Frankly what makes the film so powerful is not the main through tale but all of the little tidbits that we learn along the way. This is a portrait of the ever changing face of Los Angeles and America. Yes the city and country was divided by color and racial lines but everyone went to the Olympic. Some times they were fine and some times they fought, but it was always interesting.

I adore this film. I not only learned a great deal but I was entertained. The stories told by the people who fought or performed there as well as those who filled the seats are entertaining as all get out.  They are so good that the film made me sad that my dad wasn’t around to watch this with. He would have had some great stories to add to the mix.

Highly recommended

Slamdance Episodes- DEAD END, ANXIOUS TAXIDEMIST and BLACK KUNG FU CHICK

DEAD END
Where is the rest of this?

Wonderfully twisted tale of an Israeli bother and sister looking for their younger brother, missing after a nuclear holocaust. This is a delight an wrong and wickedly funny.

Recommended it will make you fear cows more.

ANXIOUS TAXIDERMIST- THE PILOT
Musical series about a woman who is happiest being a rogue taxidermist. 

I liked this and I'm curious how this would go beyond this one episode. I'm not sure how long it will go but I'm curious.

BLACK KUNG FU CHICK
Story of a young woman in high school trying to get into med school with the help of her martial arts master science teacher.

A good idea kind of gets lost in the quirks. The look of the film and the way things play out seem to be there more get noticed than to help the story. They area bit too noticeable for my tastes, but I like the characters enough to see how later episodes take things.

Slamdance Shorts: BUTTERFLY CIRCUS and HOW MUCH AM I WORTH?

 

BUTTERFLY CIRCUS
A man with no limbs working in a carnival side show meets up with people from the Buterfly Circus and decides to travel with them.
Good little drama, perhaps tries a bit too hard to be deep and meaningful (the whole caterpillar/butterfly motif) however it still manages to warm the heart.

HOW MUCH AM I WORTH?
Four women relate the problems with the US healthcare system by revealing how costly the things they need are and how little is actually covered by insurance or the system itself. This film needs to be expanded into a feature so it can piss off more people and result in change.

Slamdance Capsules: EARLY TO RISE, EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PIEROGI, LIFE, ASMR FOR WHITE LIBERALS and CATASTROPHE ALBUM

 

EARLY TO RISE
Why is this in episodes? This is a one joke short film about three people trapped in hibernation pods on a spaceship decades out from their destination.  I honestly don't know where it can go from here.

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PIEROGI
A celebration of pierogis turns weird in this charming film about a Polish staple food.
Recommended.

LIFE
A 4 seconds long film you'll end up playing a couple of times because after all Life is short.

ASMR FOR WHITE LIBERALS
Funny take down of white liberal thought

CATASTROPHE ANTHEM 
Magnificent essay film about how the changing of the way we think and interact is altering the world for the worse.

A Black Rift Begins To Yawn (2021) Slamdance 2021

 

Two scientists pick up where their colleague left off. Supposedly he had taped a weird sound coming from space.  As they begin to investigate they find their sense of time, reality and self deeply disturbed.

I hate it when the title of a film clues you in to how the film is . The key word here is yawn., this film is a snoozer. Full of long almost static shots where nothing much happens. You'll get the idea in the opening minutes as the camera first focuses on the landscape and then it goes to people just standing on a porch... for a long time. Later we get long passages where the characters read the notebooks out loud. I drifted off.

What kills me is this film looks good. It has the look and feel of a number of inde horror and science fiction films from the late 1970's and 80's that I grew up on. The ideas are actually really good, and in another film it would have been killer. The trouble is this film is inert and and it doesn't do anything other than look good.

I can't recommend this film.

FEELING THROUGH (2020) Slamdance 2021

A young man looking for a place to crash meets and helps a blind and deaf man on the street and helps him to get to his destination. 

FEELING THROUGH is a very good film on it's own terms. It is moving and touching. It is well made and well acted. It will make you feel good.

Since the film is being pushed for an Oscar, it's on the Short List, I have to address if it is indeed Oscar worthy. The answer is maybe. While better than the several of the Short Listed films I don't know if it is the best. I know that Slamdance wise it's one of the better films, but I still think films like CO-OP and especially SINGLE are much better in the Unstoppable short section.

Worth a look

No Trace (2021) Slamdance 2021

This is the story  of dystopian world and a woman who travels across the land via a railcar.

This is a dark and brooding tale where not a great deal is explained. Told with beautiful black and white cinematography where the size and orientation of the images changes. There are long wordless passages where we are left to ponder what it all means.

While this is a beautiful film, one I wish I had seen n a big screen, it is also one that many people are going to walk away from. You have to be willing to go with the enigma of it all and be willing to deal with the long "meaningful" silences. 

For me this was a tough slog. While it looks great it is way too enigmatic. Enigmatic isn't in and of itself bad but for it to work you need to give the audience enough threads hang on to. We need to have a sense of a world on the screen. We need to feel we can step into the world and understand it.

Sadly there aren't enough threads here. We have a few bits but details are lacking. We never connect. We never are part of it. While  director Simon Lavoie has made a beautiful film. he has also made a film that we are always outside of. 

A miss.

Slamdance Capsules: HOMAGE TO AIRWAY, INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE WALL, ROUTINE: THE PROHIBITION and SINGLE

 

HOMAGE TO AIRWAY
Digital experiential film that begins as a discussion of a dog and goes to all sorts of interesting places. I have no idea what it means but I had a good time taking the trip

INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE WALL
Split screen documentary about director Yihan Lin's time in a hotel during quarantine after returning to China. One side is her existence in the room the other is a view out her window or of the virtual animals she conjured up. Worth a look.

ROUTINE: THE PROHIBITION.
A dark and troubling look at the world today and how we are marching toward destruction.
Recommended

SINGLE
A woman with one arm goes on a date with a man with one hand
A great romance and an exploration of the human condition. A wonderful surprise. I love these characters. I want to see what happens next. Can we get a a feature version? One of my favorite films of Slamdance and the year.

Thoughts on The Sleeping Negro (2021) Slamdance 2021

I suspect I am going to be crashing into this film for years to come. In all seriousness I suspect that I will be wrestling with THE SLEEPING NEGRO from this point on. I've already been wrestling with it off and on in the two weeks or so since I first saw it.

The film is the story of an angry black man (writer director Skinner Myers) who is adrift in his life. He is angry at the world and pained by what it is doing to him and making him do. Society sees him as a menace. His boss wants him to cook the books to close a big deal. His girlfriend isn't as loving as he thought. He struggles to retain his humanity even as life fills him with rage. What is he suppose to do?

My initial reaction to the film was to step away. This is a very confrontational film. It is a pained scream into the dark about life and the way it treats African Americans. I wasn't certain what I thought of the film, and because this is a confrontational world I decided not to review the film since I was afraid that someone would take offense at whatever I said about the film. 

However over time and as of the result of a discussion with a friend about Slamdance films where I gushed about all of the the good things the film was doing on a visceral level, I realized that I had to give the film another go and to write it up.  

While I can argue with some of the artistic choices writer director Skinner Myers made in putting the film together I can't argue with the emotional punch the film delivers. This is a film that hits you in the gut and forces you to engage with it on emotional and intellectual levels. Whether you like the film or hate it this is a film you have to take head on because it not only has a lot to say but it is also a film that has a lot to make you feel, really feel, much of it conflicting. It is a film that will make you feel uncomfortable in your own skin.

Yes, the film is a pained scream about race and the politics attached to it as well, Yes the film attempts to make audiences, regardless of racial background, feel the anger Myers' character is feeling but he also forces us to feel the brokenness of the emotions beyond anger. Myers' never wants us to forget or stop feeling that the rage is coming from a place of pain and of humanity. Through it all Myers is struggling to be a person and not fly off the handle despite what is happening to him. He swallows the pain. It's a towering performance of small gestures, shifted body weight and eye movements that keeps things real and in the moment, as if he is reacting to a situation he has just come upon and not written out. I only realized how good it was on a second viewing because it looks like Myers isn't doing anything.  The result  of it all is he and we are never allowed to simply give ourselves over to a cathartic explosion that would release the emotions. Myers instead tethers it to other emotions such as confusion, uncertainty and sadness. His character is also painfully aware of what the people around him are feeling and what exploding in a situation would do. We never fully get a release  of the anger because it is never one emotion but many. Nothing is black and white or gray, but multi-colored. 

Because Myers keeps it so amazingly complex his film becomes something greater than if this was just a blind scream into the void. Myers has created a character who is much more like us than any one in any other similar film because he is always coloring what he and we are feeling to make it more like real life. It is the complexity that is what makes this film a glorious challenge to get a handle on. More so than most filmmakers making films about race and related subjects Skinner Myers understands that life, unlike the movies, in not just one thing. Everything is bundled up together. We can not simply be one thing because we are many all at once. By presenting his character as feeling many things in key moments we are forced to really ponder what the film is trying to show us. It transcends what a typical Hollywood portrayal would be and becomes a living film.

For me seeing the film the first time I didn't know how to handle the complexity of what I was seeing. Its not a simple "well it isn't Hollywood therefore I'm confused." Rather this was a "This film is not going to sugar coat anything or dumb it down. It is going to show the complexity of real life". No one, not even the great masters, did that. Or no one did until Skinner Myers.

I am in awe of the emotional punch this film produces. As I said I have been haunted by this film for weeks  turning it over in my head and in conversations. I can't let the film go no matter how hard I try.

Do I think you will like the film? I don't know. Frankly I don't know how I feel about it. However as a living, breathing vital discussion of race and related matters the film is something that you have to see. This is a film that will produce a reaction, for good or bad. Not only will it will make you feel, it will make you think about things in ways you probably haven't done so before. When a film does that, when it produces a reaction as strongly as this one does, it is the not only a great work of art but the calling card of a great filmmaker.

MAN UNDER TABLE or: I’m Writing a Movie (2021) Slamdance 2021

 

Guy is trying to write a movie but keeps getting pulled into other projects or away from writing

Off kilter, self-depreciating and very mannered Man Under Table is either a film you either click with or you don’t. It’s a film that is very hard trying to be something quirky and whether that works for you is something I can’t guess.

For me it was a struggle from the get go. The instant that I saw two guys staring at each other in respirators in a mens room  just breathing at each other I kind of stepped back. The fact that Guy was so high strung and needed to be medicated didn’t win the film any points either. I know it’s a reaction to the world around him but then again no one is nuts as our hero.

And that’s a big problem for me with any film, you can’t give me someone I totally hate from the first frame. If there isn’t something I connect to I turn off. I hated Guy and found his fumblings increasingly stupid. I wanted to smack the living shit out of him.

The rest of the film is actually quite good, unfortunately we are focused on the worst part.

Some people may like the mannered comedy, I didn't

Slamdance Capsules: WHITE HORSE and URGES

 

WHITE HORSE
Aman with an accordion has an encounter with a horse

Seemingly painted animated film is a visual delight. Full of blues and whites that blur and come together.

A small gem.

URGES
A candy colored exploration of our urges and the things that delight us. 

This is a wonderful two minute whirlwind.

Slamdance Shorts; UNFORGIVABLE, SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL and EXQUISITE SHORTS Volume 1

 UNFORGIVEABLE
Portrait of a gay gang member and former hitman in an El Salvadorian prison. 

This is a very good film that reveals what it means to be gay in another country and in a incredibly macho and toxic place such as the prison.

Recommended

SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL
While speaking with an evangelical exorcist the director attempts to come to terms with her past.

An intriguing idea doesn't fully come together. The problem is this is too much exorcist and found footage which results in a film that doesn't feel fully formed.

EXQUISITE SHORTS VOLUME 1
Based on the Exquisite corpse game this film is a series of short films randomly connected by the first and last word or each segment. The result is a wickedly wonderful head trip film. Its a glorious non sequitur of film that surprises as a result unexpected turns.

Highly recommended

Brief thoughts on A Family (2020) Slamdance 2021

 

A lonely man hires actors to reenact scenes from family life so that he can record them.

Off kilter comedy drama maybe too dry and knowing for some people. Very measured and very much of a certain feel this kind of feels like an Eastern European attempt at a Charlie Kaufman film. Its all low key and dry.

While I normally don't care for this sort of thing I found myself connecting to the action on screen. In an age where physical contact is frowned upon the desire to have a family and interact with people really hit home.

This is a small gem. Definitely worth a look during the Slamdance Film Fest

Sundance Capsules- DEA and HURRAH, WE ARE STILL ALIVE

 

DEA
Put together by numerous women, this is the story of an Indonesian woman who wants to go to Hong Kong in order to become a domestic worker. The result is an almost documentary like film that will open your eyes.to what the women who want to better their lives have to go though.

This is a moving film that will make you think.

Recommended.

HURRAH, WE ARE STILL ALIVE
A commune of filmmakers awaits the return of their director, however over time one wonders if he is gone or still there.

Good but perhaps a bit too controlled film, never manages to shake the off the sense we are being manipulated. As a result I never connected with the film and while I can admire the film on a technical level it never  I never did more than like it.

Taipei Suicide Story (2021)

 One of the best films at Slamdance TAIPEI SUICIDE STORY is an absolute must see. 

This is the story of the desk clerk at a suicide hotel who meets one of the guests who hasn't left. What happens is a beautiful if heart breaking story.

I can't say enough good about this film. This is a perfectly modulated story that is beautifully acted and very real. We feel the emotions bleed off the screen. We love everyone on screen. 

Running around 45 minutes this film is a perfect example of why you make a film as long as you need to tell your story. I love this film did what it had to and got  off. The result is we have one of the best films of the year.

I was moved in all the right ways by this film. 

This is an absolute must see at Slamdance or where ever you can. 

Progressive Touch (2020) Slamdance 2021

 Three couples, two men, two women and a man and a woman, have sex/dance to the beat of dance song.

Sexually graphic (as in adults only) short is going to provoke a reaction based on how you are when in comes to depictions of sex.  Prudes clearly need not apply. On the other hand if you are open minded concerning sex this is an interesting experiment that kind of makes you wonder what sort of dance choreography we may see in the future.

The film is essentially a dance number but with sex included. I don’t know if it has any meaning as anything other than an experiment into something most of us haven’t run across before. Is it any good?

Personally its an interesting footnote. Once I was half way through I was pretty much done. I wasn’t getting anything from it. I mean that as in intellectually. I didn’t find it particularly erotic.

Worth a look for the curious but all others need not apply

Brief word on Mia Misses Her Revenge (2021) Slamdance 2021

Mia's break-up with her boyfriend is unpleasant. Wanting nothing more than to get revenge she ends up connecting with many other women.

Good little drama nicely doesn't follow the movie rules. Taking things in cinematically unexpected ways the film delights by playing things a bit closer to real. 

This is a nice little film and worth a look

Code Name: Nagasaki (2021) Slamdance 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 abut the film.

This is a really good film and I recommend it.

Everyone Wants To Be The Next Weismann (2020) Slamdance 2021

This is a film about a man haunted by artist Richard Weismann. He was some one that art collector Martin Solo had collected but had never promoted properly and now has huge regrets over. As a result now that he is opening his private museum up to the public he is pushing his latest favorite Mu Pan.

This film is a portrait of artist Pan,  collector Solo and the art world itself. Its an exploration of how so much art is being created and ending up in private collections, museums and storage facilities and not seen by anyone. As Solo says at one part art needs to be seen and confronted not locked away.

This is a breezy hour long film that probably could have been a little longer. Say what you will this film moves a little too much like the wind with the result that I was glad I was watching this at home because I could stop the film and really look at some of the art that blew by. It also allowed me to take rewind and catch one or two things I thought I missed. (Sorry I was looking too hard at some of the spectacular art I tuned out some of the words)

As someone who gets flooded with art docs every year, and who can be picky as a result, I had a blast with this film. I love when a film opens up my eyes to work I’ve never seen before and also peels back the layers of a subject I thought I knew. EVERYBODY does that with the art world and I think I’m better for it.

This is a wonderful film. Recommended to anyone who loves art or just a great doc

Workhorse Queen (2021) Slamdance 2021

 Loving portrait of Ed Popeil who performs as Kasha Davis.  Davis was a contestant on Ru Paul’s Drag Race and it sent her career into the stratosphere.

I have a really big problem with WORKHORSE QUEEN and that is it is so good I don’t have anything to say about it.  I mean this is good time with a great person. Its kind of like going to dinner with a great raconteur and just sitting there not really eating your meal because you are just so wrapped up in listening you forget to eat. While I did sit there and have popcorn, I was so focused on the film and Davis‘ ups and downs that I didn’t take any notes. I just let the film play out smiling the whole time.

While that isn’t much a person looking for a pull quote to hang their hat on about what the film is, it is an absolute rave because it means the film did everything it was supposed to which was inform, entertain and win over my heart. What a wonderful thing.

Highly recommended