The Missing (2003)

A Ron Howard hit made after the kind of profitable disaster of the Grinch.

Ron Howard is a hot and cold director. To me he's mined similar territory to Spielberg but without the full emotional success. His best movies tend to be the comedies like Gung Ho or ED TV. Most of his movies work in pieces but not as a whole and he's made two of the most over rated films of the last few years in A Beautiful Mind and Apollo 13.

In The Missing, the story of the abduction and rescue of several young women in the old west, Howard has fashioned one of his better films. No, the film isn't perfect, the film comes to a somewhat abrupt conclusion and there are little bumps and bings along the way, still its one of the most satisfying, if not the most serious and complex film that Howard has turned out in his 40 year career as director.

Here we are dealing with what is basically a wounded family trying to over come evil that has come into their midst and ripped away one of their own while killing other members. Its a brutal film where everyone is forced to come to terms with mistakes they have made in the past and had the repercussions end up being much more violent then they could have ever imagined.

These are not particularly nice people, including our heroes, they are small petty people who can't see beyond their own lives and prejudices and only turn things around after paying a bloody cost.

Cate Blanchett is the mother of daughters, one of which is stolen. She is a healer and is contemptuous of non-whites. She takes great stock in the word of the bible and has little use for tribal mysticism. Worst of all is her hate for her father, played by Tommy Lee Jones. He long ago walked away from her as a child and only returns to her life on the advice of a medicine man not long before all hell breaks loose. Blanchett does not want Jones around but she quickly realizes that he is her only hope of getting her child back.

The trek to get the girl back is long and ugly. Its probably close to the way things would have gone.

I like the film in that it's not all sweetness and light. Howard has a tendency to have light shine through even in the darkest moments.Its as if it says"Hey I'm a Ron Howard film how bad can it be?". This was a wounding factor to Apollo 13 and Ransom where you got the sense there would be an okay turn out. Even a Beautiful Mind suffers from it simply because there never seems to be any doubt that tragedy will be avoided, after all why make a movie based on real people if it isn't inspiring?

In The Missing people die. People get hurt. There is no certain outcome and its refreshing. At no point does the film feel like Ron Howard made it and its a glorious thing. When its over, when its done, had you said to me it was a Ron Howard film I would have been shocked. Indeed I think my enjoyment of it comes from the fact that I can't believe that Howard did it.

This is a good film and if you like westerns or good thrillers see it.

NYAFF announces the first titles

The 11th New York Asian Film Festival is here!

June 29 - July 15, 2012
Co-presented with The Film Society of Lincoln Center!
In association with Japan Society
All screenings at the Walter Reade Theater and Japan Society!

The New York Asian Film Festival (June 29 - July 15) returns - and this year we’re bringing crazy back!

The opening night film is Pang Ho-cheung’s astonishingly filthy, extremely hilarious VULGARIA, a movie about making movies, shot in just 12 days, all about gangsters named Brother Tyrannosaur, sleazy lawyers, the sex film industry, and men who love donkeys a little too much. The Hollywood Reporter calls it a “...laugh-out-loud, aptly titled comedy.” Pang himself, Hong Kong's hottest young director, will be a guest of the festival and we'll be presenting his new romantic comedy, LOVE IN THE BUFF, about a couple who meet in the smoke break alley outside their office building and try to make their romance work despite cell phones dropped in toilets, friends who have the death touch, and corporate moves to Beijing.



We'll also be giving a Lifetime Achievement Award to Chung Chang-Wha, the great Korean action director whose 1972 movie for Hong Kong’s Shaw Brothers studio, FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH, was the first international martial arts hit to break through in the West. It launched the kung-fu craze over here, and we’ll have him in the house for a screening of a gorgeous print of FIVE FINGERS OF DEATH.



We are super-psyched to be bringing the man who is widely regarded as Korea's greatest actor, Choi Min-Sik (star of OLDBOY and I SAW THE DEVIL), here as our guest and we'll be screening his latest film, NAMELESS GANGSTER (TIME Magazine calls it “The Korean mob film Scorsese would be proud of.”) as well as a fistful of his classics, including OLDBOY and his underseen and heartbreaking boxing film, CRYING FIST.

Over the last few years, Taiwan's film industry has experienced a major revitalization, producing some of the biggest blockbusters in Asia after a brief lull in the late 90's and early 2000's. We'll be hosting a special focus on Taiwanese films, including a Fourth of July presentation of the humongous, uncut, four-and-a-half-hour SEEDIQ BALE, which is that country’s exhilarating, decapitation-filled version of BRAVEHEART, all about its indigenous people fighting for their freedom in 1930. We'll also be screening the hit romantic comedy, YOU ARE THE APPLE OF MY EYE, which set box office records in Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Mainland China.



We've also got a brand new movie from Takashi Miike (PHOENIX WRIGHT: ACE ATTORNEY), a 30-minute short film from Korea’s Park Chan-Wook and his brother Park Chan-Kyung (NIGHT FISHING), NASI LEMAK 2.0, a Malaysian food movie directed by and starring controversial rapper, Namewee, which is one of the most delicious, hyperkinetic, totally redonkulous comedies we’ve ever seen, the brutal animated feature, KING OF PIGS fresh out of Cannes, SCABBARD SAMURAI, the latest film from Hitoshi Matsumoto (director and star of SYMBOL), and more, more, more!!!

The New York Asian Film Festival is deeply grateful for the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office New York (which is celebrating the 15th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region this year), the Korean Cultural Service New York, and the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in New York.

ABOUT THE NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL (NYAFF)

Now in its 11th year, the New York Asian Film Festival is North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema, which the New York Times has called "...one of the city's most valuable events...". Launched in 2002 by Subway Cinema, the Festival selects only the best, strangest, and most entertaining movies to screen for New York audiences, ranging from mainstream blockbusters and art-house eccentricities to genre and cult classics. It was the first North American film festival to champion the works of Johnnie To, Bong Joon-Ho, Park Chan-Wook, Takashi Miike, and other auteurs of contemporary Asian cinema. The Festival has been produced in collaboration with the Film Society of Lincoln Center since 2010.

For all festival news and updates:
www.facebook.com/NYAFF
twitter: @subwaycinema, #NYAFF12
www.subwaycinemanews.com
www.subwaycinema.com (currently under construction)

ABOUT SUBWAY CINEMA
Subway Cinema is America's leading non-profit organization dedicated to increasing exposure and appreciation for Asian popular film culture in all its forms. As the main arbiter of trends and discoveries in Asian cinema for more than a decade, the organization was the first in America to recognize the works of directors Johnnie To and Tsui Hark with retrospectives, and to bring attention to New Korean Cinema with the first New York Korean Film Festival. It also organized several notable programs of classic Hong Kong martial arts and horror films. In 2002, Subway Cinema launched its flagship annual event, the New York Asian Film Festival. It is widely considered invincible

ABOUT THE FILM SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER
Under the leadership of Rose Kuo, Executive Director, and Richard Peña, Program Director, the Film Society of Lincoln Center offers the best in international, classic and cutting-edge independent cinema. The Film Society presents two film festivals that attract global attention: the New York Film Festival, currently planning its 50th edition, and New Directors/New Films which, since its founding in 1972, has been produced in collaboration with MoMA. The Film Society also publishes the award-winning Film Comment Magazine, and for over three decades has given an annual award—now named “The Chaplin Award”—to a major figure in world cinema. Past recipients of this award include Charlie Chaplin, Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese, Meryl Streep, and Tom Hanks. The Film Society presents a year-round calendar of programming, panels, lectures, educational programs and specialty film releases at its Walter Reade Theater and the new state-of-the-art Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center.
The Film Society receives generous, year-round support from Royal Bank of Canada, American Airlines, The New York Times, Stella Artois, the National Endowment for the Arts and New York State Council on the Arts. For more information, visit www.filmlinc.com.

Adios Sabata (1971)

Today we continue with the look at the Satata film with one that is only a Sabata film because they redubbed the name of Yul Brenners character

This is (sort of) sequel to the earlier Sabata with Lee Van Cleef, was filmed as Indio Black and is known as that in several countries. The title was changed when the distributor paid for the right to use the name Sabata from the original films producer. The result is Sabata becomes a dead ringer for Chris, Yul Brynner's character from the Magnificent Seven films (a character Van Cleef was playing in a movie shot at the same time as this).

Aren't the back stage maneuvering of Spaghetti Westerns fun? Some times the stories are more fun than the movies.Fortunately this movie is more fun than the story.

The plot has Sabata (Yul Brenner) helping Mexican revolutionaries attempting to over throw the Emperor Maximilian. Sabata is to steal some gold and then use it to buy guns to attack an evil General. However things don't go as planned and when they go to steal the gold someone else is already there. Add to the whole mix spies, greed and some odd left turns and you get one entertaining, but not very coherent movie.

Don't get me wrong I like this movie a great deal, I just wish it made some sense. Characters appear out of left field when it suits the plot, people don't do anything logical (I mean if you just stole a wagon full of gold you'd make sure that the gold was really there wouldn't you?), after a certain point its never clear if they are keeping the gold or giving it to the revolution. Its enough to drive you crazy if you let it. I didn't since a good many of the spaghetti westerns I've seen make even less sense then this one.

If you like Westerns this is one to see. Its perfect for a rainy Sunday afternoon. I'm still not sure if I think of Brenner's character as Sabata, but it doesn't matter since no matter what he's called he's a kick ass hero with a smart ass mouth. What more could you want?

Mc C Goes to the Monclair Film Festival and sees Evocateur

Over at Mr C and Chocko's regular Internet home Planet Chocko Zine, Mr C has filed reports on the Monclair Film Festival and on Evocateur: The Morton Downey Jr Movie. Follow the links to read his pieces.

Sabata (1969)

Today we begin a three day detour to look at the three film Sabata series. The series is much maligned in some circles thanks in part to the infamous Golden Turkey Awards and the 50 Worst Films of All Time by Michael Medved and his brother, which picked the films as the worst westerns. While the books were slightly satirical many people took them seriously, I mean the Medved's themselves did, which is a shame since it's clear they were written by people who in many cases never saw the films they were roasting.

I stupidly steered clear of the Sabata films for years because the Medveds said the films were bad. Boy was that a mistake since the films are in actuality some of the best Spahetti Westerns you'll find.

Lee Van Cleef stars in the first of the Sabata films. Here he plays cat and mouse games with the leaders of a town who have attempted to steal an army payroll. Sabata stops their scheme and then attempts to blackmail them for his silence, a price that climbs with each failed attempt on his life.

This is a fun western full of great action, twists and wisecracks. Van Cleef is the perfect western hero, a man of few words (and most of them smart ass remarks) he is clearly up to something, although what it is is never fully apparent. He is enjoyably helped by Carrincha a large civil war hero who is forever broke, and his pal a tall silent acrobat. The pair make for one of the best sidekick teams I've ever run across. Also wandering through the film is William Berger as Banjo, a man of decidedly mercenary loyalties, who is Sabata's equal in cracking wise, and who is forever waiting for the right angle to act act upon.

I really liked this movie a great deal, even if it really isn't clear whats going on at times. The main flaw of the movie is that after the first twenty minutes the film simply becomes attempts to blackmail the town fathers by our hero and their attempts to kill him. There's nothing wrong with this since the see saw battle is excellently done, rather it just engenders a sense that you're missing something since you would think something more should be happening.

Definitely one of the better westerns of I've seen. This should be something that those with a desire for good action should seek out.

Savage Pamapas (1966)

Robert Taylor stars as an army Captain in Argentina who is tasked to bring several coaches of women to the fort where he is stationed. The trouble is that the area is being menaced by the bandit Padron who is making a deal with the local natives to get rid of the army. Padron is also filling out his gang with deserting soldiers who are fed up with the tough rule of the general.

While this film hits a good number of typical western cliche's you have to give it a many points by simply setting the action in Argentina. Say what you will mere setting seems to add a great deal of interest to the film simply because it's never certain how it's going to go...

Certainly I never expected the blood in this film. There is a great deal of it, which while obviously fake, still manages to up the ante and make you really believe that the film is playing for higher stakes. Speaking of stakes, I also didn't expect the gruesome end for one character toward the end of the film (you'll have to see the film to know what I mean).

You have to credit stars Robert Taylor, who turns in an excellent world weary performance as Martin, our hero. At the same time Ron Randall's villainous turn as Padron is positively chilling as a man who will stop at nothing to get what he wants or kill, painfully, anyone he wants dead.

This is a film to keep an eye out for. I caught it on Encore Westerns a couple of times in pieces before managing to actually sit down and see it from start to finish. I really liked the film and I'm looking to add it to my collection since it's a film I want to revisit sooner rather than later.

Sunday Nightcap 5/6/12 Film Festivals Old and New

A week out from Tribeca and I’m still decompressing.

I have to apologize to some of the film makers of some of the later films since I never managed to have it in me to write up full reviews. There are a few films that really deserved more coverage than I could give them. But the weight of so many movies in such a short time added to the craziness of just trying to stay on top of administrative stuff just prevented me from doing so.

I really wanted to write up something on Turn Off the Lights about the three young men getting out of prison. This is a super film that really gives you a sense of place and of the people it’s about that it’s kind of like spending a couple of hours with them. In the film’s ability to bring these men to life the film achieves something that even some of the greatest films never do, a genuine sense of real people. Its an amazing film, that at this point has gotten jumbled up in my head.

I also gave the short shrift to Benji, a documentary about the life and death of high school basketball player Benjamin--- who had the world at his feet until a random act of violence ended everything. To be honest my lack of words comes from the fact I simply didn’t have much to say beyond it’s a great film, see it. Sometimes that happens. Sometime films just defy explanation and just are. This is one of those cases. It’s a film that does what it does so well, showing Benji’s life and how it affected those around him, that there is nothing to comment on. Is it perfect? Probably not, but the film delivers enough of a kick that you really won’t care.

Some of the films that I didn’t really write up weren’t worth the effort to do more than I did. With everything that was going on I couldn’t justify taking the time to chronicle their mediocrity.

The one lesser film I feel bad about not writing up is Wagner’s Dream about the current version of Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera. I feel bad simply because the Festival was kind enough to gift me with a ticket to the film and a talk that followed it. It’s a well made film that is going to be on no interest to anyone except those who really want a technical look at how this production was put together…and even then its going to be of most interest who want to know about the set. If you want to know about more than that you’re SOL. There is almost no background on the Cycle or anything else. Yes, the actual production looks great, and yes the film kind of comes to life in the final half hour but you have to suffer through 90 minutes to get there. As for the talk, it would have been of more interest to me had it been less self congratulatory and less focused on things that seemed tied closely to the Opera.

Now that Tribeca is done and as life gets back to normal it’s also time to look else ahead.

The DC Film Fest wrapped up just before Tribeca started and one of our spies was there. They may be turning in a report in the near future.

This weekend was the Montclair Film Festival and Mr C was attending.

The Seattle International Film Festival starts shortly and I’m hard at work trying to get a friend of Unseen to file some reports.(I will not be denied and I’ll keep asking until I get something)

The Brooklyn Film Festival starts in four weeks.

There is BAM Cinema Fest and Animation Block Party not long after that.

The New York Asian Film Festival starts in less than 8 weeks- as does Japan Cuts at the Japan Society.

After that a few smaller festivals (many at Lincoln Center) before the fall season hits, and if possible we’ll be road tripping to Toronto, going to the New York Film Festival, All Tomorrow’s Parties, New York Comicon and then settling in for winter with the planned return of the New York City Horror Fest.

This doesn't include the 100 Years of Universal or Spaghetti Western series that Film Forum will be running in a few weeks. Nor some of the goodies BAM has planned.

Nor does it include the Midnight Movies series nor the complete films of Ridley Scott that Lincoln Center is running

Basically expect a ton of reports in the future.

And as usual expect a film a day every day

In order to decompress I saw a couple of films not a Tribeca screening. I can’t say not related to Tribeca since Detachment premiered last year at Tribeca.

Detachment is Tony Kaye’s punch in the face look at teachers, students and the education system. Adrian Brody is brought in for a month long substitute teaching assignment and despite professing having an ability to detach from events he finds he’s drawn in to life in the school as his own life becomes complicated. The film is a cage rattling experience that not only works as basic human drama but also on the larger scale about our public school systems, among other things. It’s a film that you can’t help but react to. Adrian Brody once again shows why he’s one of the best actors working today.

I also saw Cabin in the Woods. This is a twisty little film that’s being hailed in some quarters as one of the best films of the year. I wouldn’t go that far. It’s a knowing send up of the cabin in the wood style horror film that for my money is too intent on being clever rather than telling a wholly logical story. While I like the idea of the film, I found the internal logic doesn’t work. Plot holes? It’s Swiss cheese. Yes it has some really cool moments in it, but I found myself at a certain point going, “but that makes no sense” which is the death knell for any sort of fantastic tale like this. It’s the sort of film that drunken fan boys might come up with after a debauched evening at Comicon…but which no sane person would ever take beyond the talking stage since it could never (and doesn’t) work. Wait for cable.

And now some links:

The horrible things implied by happy endings.

The ghost from the Grudge throws out the first pitch at a baseball game

Kubrick Quiz

(This weeks films- Spaghetti Westerns)

Cemil (A movie brought to you by the cigarette manufacturers of Turkey)

I have never seen so much smoking in one movie in my life. Even having seen a good number of Turkish films where smoking seems to be a way of life this film takes the case, or the smoke. Geeze, find a dead body have a smoke. Look at a corpse have a smoke. Almost get beaten up by a man with chains on his hands, bum a smoke from the poor guy. I think I may have gotten lung cancer just from watching this thing.

All kidding aside this is a very good action film starring Cüneyt Arkin, one of my favorite actors. Arkin is a doctor who moonlighted as an actor. Think of him as a cross between Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris, and probably able to beat the crap out of both of them.

The plot of this film has Arkin investigating the death of the daughter of a friend of his.(I think this is the case since I saw this in Turkish without any English). The girl had some how gotten involved in prostitution and porn and was killed for her trouble. Arkin runs roughshod over the bad guys, kicking a few butts in the process of trying to track down which slime-ball was responsible. Arkin also has to deal with his friend who insists on getting involved as a result of a personal vendetta.

The action is well done (though it gets very silly at the end) and the plot is interesting. As Arkin films go its not at the top of the heap but its close. I'm sure that had I been able to understand the dialog I would have enjoyed it more.

If you're new to the films of Turkey and of the work of Cüneyt Arkin and feel adventurous you may want to give it a try with the understanding that this is middle of the road Arkin. if you've run across Arkin and his brand of action before and liked what you saw give it a try, this is basically more of the same. If you're not up to trying something new take a pass and wait for one of the other better Arkin films to come your way.

Rob Kohr's The Lift (2010) and I Am (2003)

I met Rob Kohr at the MoCCA Festival on Saturday April 28th. He's an animator who's day job is at Nickelodeon making promotional spots for the network. He is a super guy to talk to, making this Tribeca shell shocked person feel less like he was completely out of his depth. He's the sort of guy you want to take to dinner and have him talk about things that are near and dear to his heart.

He is without a doubt one of the most knowledgable people I've ever talked to about how one should finance an independent film. In the course of our tenor fifteen minute conversation he explained to me so many pitfalls that people fall into when making movies that I think he should be teaching a course at film schools. His is a wonderful example about how to do it without maxing out the credit cards or becoming persona non grata with in one's family by draining their bank accounts.

Seriously guys, if you're thinking about making a movie, track Kohr down and have him tell you how not to go broke(r).

The catalyst for the conversation was my purchasing of his short film The Lift. This is a short film that took him four years to make. I had caught bits of the film on an I-Pad at his table. I liked what I saw so I picked up the DVD.

The film concerns a young woman who closes the door to an elevator one evening on an older lady. The next morning she finds herself on the elevator with the lady. Wracked with guilt she tries to return one of the woman's earrings that falls off when the old lady leaves the elevator. Things then spins out into something else.

A nice little trifle of a film this was the perfect antedote for the long films at Tribeca. A beautifully animated film it's clear that Kohr has a real sense how to tell a story and dazzles us with some "Oh Wow moments.

As I've frequently said the problem with short short films its kind of hard to talk about the film without wrecking it for the the audience you are writing for. The film runs six minutes and if I say too much it will remove the fun of finding out. For get what I have to say and just realize that I think you should definitely try the film.

Also worth seeing is one of the extras on the DVD. Its a film called I Am. Its a short film about a young woman, trapped in a room, wondering about what is on the other side of a window. It's nice little film that made it's way into numerous film festivals. Based upon what Kohr has told me about his next film its there are going to be some echoes between the two.

Take a look at Rob Kohr's films at the Kohrtoons Studio website.

Cross Over From Spectator to Supporter: An Urge to Assist Remember O Goddess

With the rising prominence of social media in our lives, the distance between audience and artistic creation has been closing.  No longer must consumers of entertainment await passively for the next intriguing internationally based film to hit our shores, nor do we wonder when the next superhero epic will be released. Information is for there for the taking for those too enthusiastic or curious to wait for it.  But, is it enough to simply gain information earlier? After all, the increased access of information becomes part of the strategy behind promoting large productions and getting there early does not necessarily mean changing the relationship between consumer and producer of these creative works.  But, is it possible to cross over? To have more of a hand in determining the direction of the creative landscape, what gets made and what doesn’t?  Even if it’s just a little?

This brings up a Korean film project, REMEMBER O GODDESS, in need of support.  I have been intrigued of late to see word of its progress moving along the social media channels I peruse.  It promises an exploratory look at time, memory, and love through a tale that unfolds with surreal elements.  It is a premise that reminds me of a thought provoking Korean movie from a few years back, M, about the struggles of inspiration and creativity.

What is striking about the project is the amount of talent involved, some from the beginning and others having thrown in their support and commitment to the production after being won over by its potential. First there is the director and driving force behind funding the movie, Philadelphia-based Yoon Jung Lee, who worked as script supervisor on acclaimed director Kim Ji-Woon’s wildly spirited fast-paced action epic, THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE WEIRD.  It is edited by Sae Kyoung Moon who was an editor for Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER, and the lead is played by Kim Jung-tae, a name familiar to the world of more established mainstream Korean productions (BANGABANGA, SUNFLOWER, MISS RIPLEY).

The film’s first 25 minutes have been completed and has been presented as a short film at numerous festivals and film related events, among them, the New York International Film Festival of 2011.  It is an accomplished production that shows a man suffering from memory loss, who may even be displaced temporally, as he tries to reclaim his sense of self.  An interaction with a convenience store clerk shows a sign of recognition that may or may not be genuine.  Is she going through the motions of a good employee or does she hold the key to answering questions about this mysterious figure’s past?  It becomes a point of obsession for the main character, as it presents his sole opportunity to discover his own identity.

Here is a look the opening sequence of REMEMBER O GODDESS,which stands on its own as an impressive piece of mysterious narrative.



Remember O Goddess can be supported through its Kickstarter page here, where more information is available about the project.  With enough support, its crew will be able to carry the film project through to its intended feature length.  As of this writing, the fundraising campaign is in its final week.  That makes it a critical time for potential supporters to get involved, as a little support from a significant enough number of people will make the difference in it reaching its goal.

I urge you to take a look at the project, decide for yourself, and consider taking action.  You can have a hand in bringing about the realization of promising independent cinema.


links:
REMEMBER O GODDESS Kickstarter page:  
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/21269065/remember-o-goddess-film-noir-adventure-and-love?ref=live

REMEMBER O GODDESS Official Site:
http://rememberogoddess.squarespace.com/movie/

Biggest Fist

A no budget Turkish action film.

What can I say about a movie that lifts its action scenes from mismatched American movies (They flipped sequences from Diamonds are Forever so the words are backwards, uses the chase from Goldfinger, and I'm trying to figure out where the motorcycle sequences come from- also what car the hero drives changes in mid sequence), only pauses for two minutes at a time for drinks (no really), has a svelty pre-Xena wanna be in spandex as the kick ass heroine, has a beauty contest in the middle of it for no reason, a catfight for the affections of the hero- during which he sits and reads the paper, has more martial arts action then any ten Hong Kong films, loses its logic half way in- but keeps going,had bad visual effects (except for those it stole) and is in Turkish with no subtitles?

The only thing to say is five stars, one of the best schlock action films ever made.Pure dreck but worth three bags of popcorn and two gallons of soda. This is pure balls to the wall cinema which was some how released to paying customer-albiet in Turkey. Amazing, absolutely amazing...and really watchable even if you have no idea what they're saying (Maybe its better that way).

If you can go with the badness and surf it, this is one of the great cinema treasures of action moviedom. A movie to hunt down and enjoy repeatedly.

Burn (2012) Tribeca 2012

A year with a firehouse in Detroit.

I'm a firehouse brat. My dad is a volunteer fireman and I spent much of my childhood hanging out at the firehouse with my dad. I always wanted to be a fireman, but by the time it came to sign up I was a pain in the ass teenager who thought he knew anything so I never joined. that doesn't mean that I stopped wanting to be one.

Following the men of Engine COmpany 50, the busiest fire house in the country, this is a year in the life of the firemen. We see everything that happens to them and some of their families.

Burn is a you are there, in the fire, on the trucks, racing to the rescue sort of a film. It has footage of fires that will make your jaw hang open. Why? Because you've never been in a fire like this. For get Backdraft or any other fire film, this is the real deal. Its so amazing that for the first time I understood exactly what all the stories  I was told actually meant.

A more complex film then just men fighting fires, the film is a look at how government budget choices affect public safety. A stat is given that as the number of fire calls have gone up the number of fire fire fighters has been chopped in half. The men are are not being replaced. As for the equipment, lets just say it's seen better days. One of the characters in the film is the Fire Commisioner who wanders through the film stuck between a rock and a hard place, not having the money to fix things and getting ears full from his men who need working equipment. We also see the tragic result of having a non-functioning pump.

This is a super film. Its a film that is a nice counter point to Hollywood epics or the craziness of TV's Save Me. You really want to see this film., especially if you can do so on a really big screen.

One of the better films shown at Tribeca.

(I should state that this won the audience for Best Documentary at Tribeca. Its not, it's definitely the most spectacular but not the best over all)

Take this Waltz (2012) Tribeca 2012

Strange, disjointed and not very good film  from Sarah Polly about a woman who meets her neighbor on a business trip and then kind of contemplates a relationship with him.

I'm going to be honest here, I left an hour in. I had no idea what the hell I was watching. I really didn't. Ten minutes in I thought I had missed a half an hour of the film. I hadn't but I had no idea what was going on. Michelle Williams is in a Canadian historic site, she says something to a guy in passing and she ends up next to him on a plane. It turns out she lives across the street from him but didn't know. They kind of orbit each other as she has uncomfortable conversations with her husband... there seems to be a great deal of back story that wasn't in what I saw. I had no idea.

I walked out.

Talking to someone after the screening I was told that the movie was good, far from the best ever made but not that bad. They added that it was strange, really strange. I can only guess what that means, but I never need to find out.

One of my least favorite films of the film festival.

Tribeca Capsule Reviews From the On Line Feature Film Library

I spent the last two days of Tribeca catching up with some of the films that appeared in the Tribeca Press Library. Here are some Capsule Reviews

BAM 150
This is a look at The Brooklyn Academy of Music now and over the last 150 years.

This was to be one of the last films I saw in the theater at Tribeca but because I was exhausted and because I wanted to see Rodriguez live in concert I decided to pass. Instead I picked up the film as part of the press on-line library. Its a good look at the institution and how its changed and survived, not to mention thrived over the last century and a half. As someone who recently started to attend performances at the insttution I found I was greatly enlightened by this place I'm now starting to call home. At the same time I'm not sure how this is going to play in Peroria. Will anyone not in New York or Brooklyn really care? Maybe for some of it. Some of it is going to be of no interest. I know that even I didn't care about some of this. Its nice to see how it operates, but at the same I didn't really care that much about some of it. Definitely worth a look if you run across it on say PBS but outside of that, it's not worth going out of your way to track down.

FAME HIGH
The Freshmen and Sophmores at the Los Angeles Country High School of the Arts go through their paces. If you liked Fame and Glee and anything similar you'll like this. If you don't, and I'm one of those people who really don't, you'll find you'll want to walk away as fast as possible. Basically its a film that will appeal to its intended audience and annoy everyone else. (and this isn't to say it's bad only going to be liked by people who think they are going to like it from the get go).

Queen Days of Our Lives
The history of the rock group Queen. This is a good but not quite great look at the band. Forgive while I am a huge Queen fan, this film disappoints when compared to not only some of the other films at Tribeca (Searching for Sugar Man, Don't Stop Believin, The Russian Winter, El Gusto) but also a film like the Mott the Hoople film that played the New York Film Festival in the fall. WHile it's really good, it's just that compared to recent music films it's too staid.

ON THE MAT
Good but wholly unremarkable film about high school wrestlers in Lake Stevens High in Washington. I apologize for not saying more than that but after over 70 films this one completely slipped away from me. Of all the films I saw that were connected to Tribeca this one was the most neutral of any of them…neutral to the point that it left me with almost no feelings either way

BABY GIRL
I didn’t want to see this film. I had gone out of my way not to see this at any of the screenings during the festival. However on Saturday night, desperate for something to keep the Tribeca experience alive, I broke down and watched the film as part of the Tribeca On Line Festival which was running free films.

Slap me up side the head for being stupid, this is a really good film.

This is the story of a young woman living with her mom. Forced to deal with the fall out from Mom’s poor choices in men, she decides to show mom how bad a choice the new guy is. At the same time she has to navigate the men in her own life. Better than you think it is going to be and not falling into the trap that many similar urban dramas do, this film is surprisingly good. Buoyed by a great cast and marvelous soundtrack, this is a film that I really wished I had seen on a big screen instead of my small laptop’s screen. This is the sort of film that film festivals were created to highlight. Track this one down

JOE PAPP IN 5 ACTS
The life and times of Joe Papp, founder of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theater. Destined for screenings on PBS, this is a super biography of a man who fell in love with the theater and wanted to bring it to the masses free of charge. It’s a film that fires up a desire to see really good Shakespeare…or just really good theater. Using current interviews with friends and family the film is supplemented by archival footage of Papp talking about his life and of some of the shows he staged. This is a treat. Do yourself, when this airs, make an effort to see this film. This was one of the better films at the festival. Its so good I can't believe they only gave it one screening at the festival on the final day.

FUTURE WEATHER
Young woman leaves her mother's home and flees to her grandmother’s house. She becomes obsessed with the notion of global warming destroying the environment. While great to look at this is the wrong sort of deep and meaningful film that got a special screening at Tribeca. I saw the film on line thanks to a press library and to be perfectly honest, despite a good look, despite some great performances, I was bored. I got fed up after about 40 minutes and shut it off. There wasn’t a whole hell of a lot to grab you, at least nothing that we hadn’t seen before. In all honesty had the film not had ties to global warming the film probably never would have been shown at Tribeca, it mirrors any number of similar (better) family dramas. I freely admit I maybe wrong, and will try the film again down the line but for right now I’m unimpressed.

Chicken with Plums (2011) Tribeca 2012 (Lots of SPOILERS)

Follow up to Persepolis from Marjane Satrapi is a film you're either going to love or hate. I didn't think it was all that great, but the woman sitting next to me was visibly shaken by the end of the film.

Forcibly bitter sweet film is fairy tale of sorts. Its the story of a violinist who, unable to play music to his satisfaction, takes to his bed and dies eight days later. the film then flashes back and tells us what transpired over the eight days, that happens to several characters after that time, and what happened in the years before that brought him to this unhappy conclusion.

A grand shaggy dog story of foiled romance this is a film that makes a great deal of effort for very little pay-off, at least in my opinion. The problem for me is three fold.

First and foremost Nassar Ali, our hero, is a self centered jerk. Sure we come to understand why he is at the end, bt to be quite honest even by the time the real start of events occur, he's a jerk and there is nothing anyone can do about it. Worse the structure of the film, which has him on his slow march to his doom before revealing his failed romance, has him abusing everyone for no good reason. He's a jerk and if you don't like him early on, the whole film is doomed.

Secondly this film has too many pieces in differing styles that it never pull things together. We have the flashback romance, the abuse of his wife (and yea its abuse), the animated segment, the meeting with the Angel of Death, the weird farting sequence, the mystical violin teacher, and several others, all if taken on their own work wonderfully, but connected to everything else fall flat. Yes, I laughed and smiled all through the film at the great sequences, but I was taking each sequence on it's own terms, and was never drawn into the central narrative.

Lastly after this long round about story of the eight days leading up to Nassar Ali's death, the film shifts gears to tell the magical story his romance with a girl name Iran, who he's not allowed to marry, and how like him has a miserable life as a result, and who refuses to recognize him when they are older, precipitating his slide to the grave. Weeeeee!

You'll either have bought into the film and be crying buckets like the young woman next to me, or you'll be like me wanting to scream "YOU MUST BE JOKING!" when the end credits roll.

I'm not going to suggest which your reaction is going to be but I can't suggest you run out to see this.

A miss.

(By the way... I dare you to follow the internal time line of the film and not ponder what drugs the filmmakers were on. If I figured it right the characters ages are all screwed up. It can only work if some of the characters are very much younger than they should be...but then it isn't important and only a case of me over thinking out because I wasn't fully engaged in the film)

Off Label (2012) Tribeca 2012

One of the worst films of the Tribeca Film Festival...possibly the worst film because it completely takes an important subject, prescription drugs and blows it all to hell and back.

The film is about prescription drugs, their testing, their use, abuse and profit margins. Following 8 people in about 80 minutes this film moves you around a great deal but says nothing of any importance.

There is:
- a bi-polar women who takes truck loads of drugs to control her disorder, which she manages because her doctors won't. that's about all we learn other than she lives in a Bigfoot museum.
-an Asian man who is a test subject. I have no idea what he's doing here because he doesn't do anything
-an older test subject who barely gets by writing about drug testing. There might be something here but it's never explored.
-a 60ish man who has problems as the result of being a test subject in prison. There is something here but its lost by the shitty editing of the whole film. He Needs a whole movie to himself.
-an anthropologist who once worked for the drug companies and now studies how they do business. This is great and the only thing that works from start to finish in the film.
-a woman who's son killed himself since he had a choice of a mental institution or drug trial and he ended up in the trail. His end was truly horrific and it would be a warning if we had more than sound bytes. This is a features documentary unto itself and the shortness does everyone a disservice.
-A soldier who has issues as a result fighting in Iraq. He wants help and to talk about his problems but the doctors just want to medicate and forget him. Again a story here that wickedly short changed.
-a couple who financed their wedding with drug trial money. What they are doing in this film beats the shit out of me.

8 people in an 80 minute movie, meaning that minus credits they get about 9 minutes of screen time. maybe.

All the stories are jumbled. Nothing connects. There is a ten minute 60 minutes piece in all of this, that about it.

This is too long, its badly edited and in its current form totally pointless.

Its a wasted opportunity.

At the screening I attended there were several walkouts. Do yourself a favor and never walk in. This is the sort of film that gives entire film festivals a bad name.

Beyond the Hill (2011) Tribeca 2012

A controlling patriarch is visited by one of his sons and grandsons. As they spend an afternoon and evening together tensions come to the surface as family problems are revealed and a constant "conflict" with the local nomads boils over.

Beautiful to look at film is full the gorgeous Turkish countryside. Unfortunately it's also full of many pregnant pauses and deep meaningful glances and lines of dialog. It's exactly the sort of art house film that I really can't stand, aching to be be about something greater than just the characters on the screen. We're clearly in for a deep revealing afternoon and evening and the film goes to great lengths to telegraph the emotion via a slightly jumbled story line that has little clips out of context replay later on in context. It's also clear that all of the families was are going to be revealed on this one fateful day.

I was bored. I wanted something to happen other than for the film to steadfastly insist it was going to tell me something important...or if it was going to be deep and revealing I wanted it to be something truly meaningful, but that didn't seem likely.

Actually I started to nod off, and with four more films on my schedule for the day I saw this I got up and walked out about an hour in.

If you'd like to see the Turkish countryside I say go for it, but if you want a film to hold you're attention I'd say skip it.

Tribeca 2012 Short FIlms including one of the best of Tribeca - Foxes

As a way of decompressing from a month of films at Tribeca I spent a Saturday night catching up on some of the short films at the festival via the Press on Line Library:

First up a film you really want to track down---

FOXES
I want to really talk about this film, but I don't dare. I don't want to ruin it for you. This is a film of mood and of surprise that you just need to see. These hair raising 15 minutes are best experienced rather than wrecked by careless words.

This is a chilling short film from Ireland about a couple living all alone in a lonely row of houses. She becomes obsessed with the foxes that wander the neighborhood. Where her obsession goes is the story, and it will mess with your head. Seriously this is an eerie film of the highest order. The end sent a genuine chill through my body.

Put it on the list of best films of any length at Tribeca and possibly of the year. Absolute proof that great things come in small packages.

INCOMPLETE HISTORY OF THE TRAVELOGUE, 1925
Actual travel film shot by a rich family from 1925 is married with passages from The Great Gatsby and period music. A nice idea that doesn't quite work.

INQUIRE WITHIN
A short four minute WTF film of choices. Your guess is as good as mine. My guess is it doesn't add up to very much.

INTERMISSION TIME
Freaky animated film about the concession stand at a drive in and what happens when the subjects of the nightly "show" turn the tables. Yes, I'm being obtuse, simply because I can't explain this with out ruining its wonderful That's not right feeling. Its not right, and damn creepy as a result. Worth watching. One of the best short films at this years Tribeca.

LEONID'S STORY
Animated/live action documentary about Chernobyl and how one family got swept up in it. The human story is good but it just sort of misses. I think the problem is that the subtitling seems not quite right.
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LIBRARY OF DUST
In the process of taking stock of things at the Oregon State Hospital, a room full of copper cans containing the ashes of former patients is found. A small scale and sad story about people who ultimately really were forgotten by everyone.

SCENES FROM A VISIT TO JAPAN
Super 8 Travel footage of Japan. I'm at a loss as to why this was shown at the film festival. In all honesty it's like watching someone's home movies...which gives me an idea, I'll submit my family films nor next years festival.

TROTTEUR
A Young man races a locomotive. Lyrically beautiful metaphysical tale seems to want to be about something, the question is what? I watched this twice because I thought it would click the second time, it didn't.

TURNING THE CORNER
A man explains how a chance meeting changed his life. The question is why are we being told this story? Its well made, and the story is interesting, but devoid of any connection to anything larger this becomes a disposable story. You will wonder why anyone would take the time to animate this story.

VOICE OVER
A voice over narrator deals with a shifting story. A good little film, but I'm not sure that the pay off is worth the effort to get there. Worth a look if you have other things to watch as well.

CURFEW
Sitting in a bath tub and about to commit suicide a man's sister calls him up to have him come watch her daughter while she runs out. He goes and it sets in motion a series of life changing events. A very good little film...though in full disclosure I think I would have liked this better had the publicity team not been pushing this film as a must see. Give me a gentle push not a hard sell.

DEMOCRATIC LOCATIONS (GERMAN VERSION)
Locations in modern day where historic events happened. And the point of this is what? Boredom? If you you nailed it.

DREAMSCAPES
Good, but unremarkable portrait of painter Stephen Hannock. We watch as he paints and goes through his paces. I'm being snide, this is a good film, but it's placement in the Festival alludes to a more important and better film. Its good but, not great.

BARCELONA
A trip through Barcelona set to music. Think of it as someone’s photo screensaver on the big screen.

THE LAST ICE MERCHANT
A look at the last man carting ice from the glaciers on ---- and selling it to a dwindling number of customers. Talk about a dying job, this is a look at a man who is really the last of his kind. Its completely understandable as to why the need for glacial ice is dwindling, there are modern ice makers, and people no longer care about how the ice tastes so long as it keeps their drinks cold. A good little film.

PERFECT FIT
A look at the big burly men who make ballet shoes. As one of the guy jokes, people think he’s kidding when he says that he makes ballet slippers, but its clear, watching the men turn out the shoes, you need big strong men to make things so dainty. An amusing trifle.

CHUPACHUPS
Very good Korean short film about a young woman recently admitted to the police force who goes home to meet an old friend who runs a coffee shop. A very nice little drama.

That's all I managed to squeeze in. I did miss a few that I wanted to see such as Baseball in the Time of Cholera and Beauty Culture because they were not available for screening.

If I can leave you with any thought, it's track down FOXES because it is that good.

The FREE SAMPLES (2012) are poisoned Tribeca 2012

I saw this despite being warned it was a stinker. Several people who saw this at one of the press screenings talked about how bad the film was. Stupidly, I thought how bad could it be?

Well, I found out.

Obnoxious young woman who has dropped out of law school (for a semester) is asked by a friend to man an ice cream truck for a morning while she is off being part of a substance abuse intervention. This results in the young woman being visited by a steady stream of customers and friends.

This is dreadful film. It has obnoxious brain dead characters, pay check performances and a script that is so polished any humor has been removed. Its a film that has all the ear marks of being the work of a not very talented guy with lots of famous friends bringing them together to make a movie. Some people shouldn't be coddled.

For all the unkind words that I have for the finished product, and I have a great many, the ultimate problem is that the film feels like its a series of well polished sketches and blackouts randomly strung together. Had this been Laugh In this might have worked, but as a feature this really sucks. You can almost feel the rim shots after some bits. In better hands these bits might have been strung together into a film that worked... alas that wasn't what happened here.

It doesn't help that the level of humor is frequently beyond juvenile, with a running joke concerning a couch cushion that was peed on by one of the girls boyfriend.

It can't be stressed that the lead character is jerk. She's just a jerk and you can understand why she has few friends and most of those are drunkards. 90 minutes with her is an eternity.

Say no to these Free Samples.

Headshot (2011) Tribeca 2012 (corrected)

From the director of Last Life in the Universe comes the story of a hit man who is shot in the head when a job goes wrong and then sees the world upside down. Things get complicated when some men come gunning for him.

Bouncing back and forth through time, the film tells the story of Tul, once a cop , now reduced to working as a hit man (the result of not giving in to a corrupt politician). After killing another corrupt politician while dressed as a monk, Tul is shot in the head. After waking up from a coma, Tul finds he now sees the world upside down.

Billed by Tribeca as an action film of sorts, its more a mediation on past deeds as the hunter is now the hunted. There are some action sequences but these are rather low key.

While the film has much on its mind, the film is full of notions of karma, justice and redemption, the film doesn't seem to add up to much. Tul is hounded for being a hit man, but its a choice that was thrust upon him with out really being a choice. How can you discuss karma and justice when the choice is beyond him? How do you punish for the wrong choice when there is no choice?

The other problem is that the film is very much set in Thailand. The film and its sense of corruption is very much Thai. According to the director the bleakness of the out look is responsible for the film's having villains who would never be punished had they been caught killing Tul. Such is the way of Thai society.

I liked the film, but I didn't love it. I know Mondocurry's take on it is different than mine, since he is more familiar with the director and his work. However since movies should stand on their own, I think the film is disappointing.