The Oxford Film Festival is coming February 17 to 21. Get your tickets now.

Here's word on the Oxford Film Festival that is happening in Oxford Mississippi February 17 to the 21st. Oxford is not a place you'd think of as a film Mecca, hell, when I got the information on the festival I thought it was in England (Sorry guys and girls)., however if you look at the films they are running you'll realize pretty quickly there is something special here. 

Two films jump out the great ARMOR OF LIGHT about gun violence  and John Wildman's awesome LADIES OF THE HOUSE. That last one is a really big deal since the chance to see LADIES on the big screen is just really cool.(You need to see it big and with people-trust me). There are other films of course - a good number I'm hoping to see if the film gods smile on me, but those two should get you started.

As things stand right now I'm planning on doing some sort of coverage of the festival once it starts- but that's five weeks away and right now you need to have the information so you can buy up the tickets and make this festival a sell out for every show. To help you along I've posted the press release for the festival below. This spells everything out and lists the feature films they are running- I do have to say that I removed the list of short films they are screening for the sake of space- I printed out the press release out so I could make notes and found that the shorts alone filled 15 solid pages. My apologies to the shorts directors, but it was too much. (A full list can be found at the festival website)

You'll forgive me if I cut it short but I have 18 pages of films to go through to see what I'm going to see.  If you want more information beyond what's below or if you want to buy tickets the website can be found here.

And keep reading Unseen for reports from the festival.

THE 2016 OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL (FEBRUARY 17-21)
ANNOUNCES FULL SCHEDULE


TONY BLOODWORTH’s “FORCED MOVE”, REX JONES’ LONGLEAF:
THE HEART OF PINE, AND MARK POTTS’ “SPAGHETTI MAN”
WILL MAKE WORLD PREMIERES

21 SHORT FILMS ALSO SET TO DEBUT FOR THE FIRST TIME
AND 80 FILMMAKERS WILL ATTEND THE FEST REPRESENTING THEIR FILMS



Oxford, MS (January 5, 2016) – The 2016 Oxford Film Festival announced the full schedule and complete slate of films for this year’s edition. A record breaking 144 films (25 features, 119 shorts and music videos) representing 14 countries were selected for the film festival taking place February 17-21 in Oxford, Mississippi. A series of special filmmaker panels including a talk with film and television star Joey Lawrence will be offered for Mississippi filmgoers to attend, 21 short films will screen for the first time anywhere, and 21 alumni filmmakers will see their latest work screen at Oxford with as many as 80 filmmakers planning to attend the popular film festival.

Narrative feature films in competition this year include; Claire Carré’s
EMBERS; A.D. Calvo’s THE MISSING GIRL; Kostadin Bonev’s THE SINKING OF SOZOPOL; John W. Mann and Jon Gunn’s THE WEEK; and Rupert Glasson’s WHAT LOLA WANTS. Documentary features in competition are; Gerald Peary’s ARCHIE’S BETTY; Nick Brandestini’s CHILDREN OF THE ATTIC; Ryan Kelley’s DIXIE; Neal Broffman’s HELP US FIND SUNIL TRIPATHI; and Sara Kaye Larson and Joann Self Selvidge’s THE KEEPERS. The presentation of the Oxford Film Festival’s Hoka Awards will take place on Saturday, February 20 at The Lyric (1006 Van Buren Avenue).

Oxford Film Festival Executive Director Melanie Addington said, “The Oxford Film Festival continues to grow and this year’s selections – both in subject matter, representation from around the world, and the sheer number of films chosen – reflects that. As always, we are celebrating our ‘home grown’ filmmakers and their work, but we are also screening films with provocative subjects, from different cultures and a myriad of genres in our effort to deliver a broad spectrum of experiences in the theater to our eager Mississippi film fans. We also are thrilled at the idea of having so many filmmakers attend the festival this year to be here in-person, see their work screened, and be available to talk to the public about their movies.”

Highlights among the feature film selections include “can’t-miss” documentaries like; Amy Berg’s devastating documentary AN OPEN SECRET about the sexual abuse of minors in Hollywood; Les Blank’s A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON, his long-awaited profile of musician Leon Russell; Abigail Disney’s THE ARMOR OF LIGHT, which takes a look at an evangelical preacher’s efforts to discuss gun control; the world premiere of local filmmaker Rex Jones’ LONGLEAF: THE HEAR OF PINE, which traces the history and current status of the South’s primeval forest; and Joanne Grant’s Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker, which looks at the life of the civil rights figure.

On the narrative front, standouts include; Tony Bloodworth’s thriller FORCED MOVE and Mark Potts’ superhero comedy SPAGHETTI MAN which will both make their world premieres; 5-Second Films’ 80’s slasher films parody DUDE BRO PARTY MASSACRE III which is sure to be a crowd pleaser; Johnny Remo’s SAVED BY GRACE stars Joey Lawrence as a bitter ex-cop trying to come to terms with a tragic past with the help of a new relationship which brings some grace into his life; Max Myers’ SLIP, TUMBLE, AND SLIDE features Scott Wilson and Katherine Ross in a story about overcoming addiction through faith, music and love; an encore screening of John Stuart Wildman’s critically acclaimed grindhouse genre film THE LADIES OF THE HOUSE starring Anime voice talent Brina Palencia and former adult film star Michelle ‘Belladonna’ Sinclair; and a special presentation of the restored JONATHAN DEMME PRESENTS MADE IN TEXAS short film compilation about the punk rock scene of the 70s and early 80s, originally screened in 1981.

The series of panels offered are headed by a “Conversation with…Joey Lawrence” where he will discuss his career including his experiences being a teen idol and his new faith-based film SAVED BY GRACE, and include additional compelling panel subjects subjects such as “Casting Character Actors”, “Producing Films in Mississippi”, “Casting Child Actors”, “Dissecting Hollywood’s Diversity Problem”, “How to Get Film Critics to review Your Film”, and “Independent Black Film Collective”.

World premieres and star wattage dot the ambitious slate of short films screening at Oxford this year. Among the 21 world premieres are; Michaela O’Brien’s Anatomical Gifts; Jeremy Jensen’s Araignee; George Gross’ BOOKER WRIGHT’S MASHUP; Damein Wash’s Bottle of Sunshine; G.B. Shannon’s Broke Dick Dog; Kimberly Burleigh’s CANNOT PREDICT NOW; Eileen Myers’ THE FAVOR; Thad Lee’s FIDDLER’S GREEN; Jordan Liebwitz’s Hit & RUN; Sajad Abbas’ THE IRAQI SUPERMAN; Tate Moore’s Kudzu Kings 20th Anniversary; Michael Jackson Chaney’s LITTLE STICKER; Tim O'Grady’s MO’ BOUT JOE; James Martin’s THE NEW ORLEANS SAZERAC; Nancy Maria Balach and Katie McLaughlin’s Ole Miss Rebel Blues; Alice Walker’s Once A Month; Jason Rochelle’s One Star Delta Night; Calum Macdiarmid’s PREACHERMAN; Gloria Chung’s River Moon Black Birds; Roberta Munroe’s THE SIBLING CODE; and Gloria Chung’s Take the Bus on a Hot Summer Day.

Recognizable faces popping up among the short film selections include; Alex Karpovsky in Michael Tyburski’s Actor Seeks Role; Alvaro Ron’s THE RED THUNDER features the trio of television stars Allie Grant (“Weeds”), Miles Heizer (“Parenthood”), and Karen Strassman (“Silicon Valley”); Jeff Tan’s MOTHER’S DAY stars Academy Award-winner Melissa Leo; and Ridley Scott and Michael Fassbender are producers of David Victori’s ZERO.

2016 will mark a banner year for Oxford filmmaking alumni. Among the seemingly countless local filmmakers seeing their work screen at the festival for the second or third, etc. time are; ARCHIE’S BETTY director Gerald Peary Archie’s Betty (FOR THE LOVE OF MOVIES/2010); BROKE DICK DOG director G.B. Shannon (FRESH SKWEEZED/2012, PRETTY MONSTERS/2012, SONGS IN THE KEY OF DEATH/2013 and more); (Down Down Down director Coop Cooper (The Best Day/2012); Fallen Star AJC & The Envelope Pushers director Clay Hardwick; Fiddler’s Green director Thad Lee (Bill Lilly Builds a Greenhouse/2011); Fitting the Description in North Portland director Jarratt Taylor (THE NEW DEBUTANTES/2012); The Happy Song director Coop Cooper (The Best Day/2012); Hit & Run director Jordan Liebowitz (BINGO NIGHT/2015); THE HOUSE IS INNOCENT director: Nicholas Coles (TOWN PLANNER/2005); INTERSECTION director Brendan Beachman (STASIS/2009); Life is Super Gr8 director: Wade Vanover (REPEATER/2015); LIVING WITH H.I.V. director Kathryn A. Rodenmeyer (UPROOTED/2005); Nirvana: A Short Film About Lung Cancer director J. Michael Hicks (PICTURE SHOW/2014); River Moon Black Birds and TAKE THE BUS ON A HOT SUMMER DAY director Gloria Chung (TAKE 5 WITH MEMORY V/2015); Rock Me Slow director Edward Valibus (Songs in the Key of Death/2014); Snow Day director: Drew Smith (BOOK OF NOAH/2008 and BEING AWESOME/2014); STAGRASSLE PARANORMAL director Glenn Payne (A HORROR MOVIE/2015); and ’Til Death director Matthew Graves (Dummy/2007, The Show Must Go On/2012, Barry/2015).

Tickets and passes are available for purchase to attend the 2016 Oxford Film Festival. For more information go to http://www.oxfordfilmfest.com.


FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS

Feature Films

A Poem is a Naked Person (2015)
Director: Les Blank
Country: USA, Running Time: 90 min
An ineffable mix of unbridled joy and vérité realism, A Poem Is a Naked Person presents the beloved singer-songwriter and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Leon Russell as filmed by documentarian Les Blank between 1972 and 1974. This singular film about an artist and his community never got an official theatrical release and has attained legendary status. Now, after more than forty years, it can finally be seen and heard in all its rough beauty.

An Open Secret (2015)
Director: Amy J. Berg
Country: USA, Running Time: 98 min
An Open Secret is an expose of the systemic and ongoing sexual abuse of minors in Hollywood and the investigation into the now infamous Digital Entertainment Network (DEN).

Archie’s Betty (2015)
Director: Gerald Peary
Country: USA, Running Time: 79 min
An independent documentary search for the real-life characters behind Archie comics.

THE ARMOR OF LIGHT (2015)
Director: Abigail Disney
Country: USA, Running Time: 88 min
What price conscience? Abigail Disney's directorial debut, The Armor of Light, follows the journey of an Evangelical minister trying to find the courage to preach about the growing toll of gun violence in America.

Babysitter (2015)
Director: Morgan Krantz
Country: USA, Running Time: 80 min
A dysfunctional L.A. family hires a mysterious babysitter who changes their lives.

Children of the Arctic (2015)
Director: Nick Brandestini
Country: Switzerland, Running Time: 93 min
Children of the Arctic is a portrait of Native Alaskan teenagers coming of age at America's northernmost edge. As their climate and culture undergo profound changes, they strive to be both modern American kids and the inheritors of an ancient whaling culture.

Dixie (2015)
Director: Ryan Kelley
Country: USA, Running Time: 93 min
The song “Dixie” has haunted the United States for over 150 years. Written in 1859 by a blackface minstrel, the song became the national anthem for the confederacy during the American Civil War. Modern musicians, both black and white, have reinterpreted the song and offered new insights into what it means to be an American, and what the future holds for America's most dangerous song.

Dude Bro Party Massacre III (2015)
Directors: Tomm Jacobsen, Michael Rousselet, Jon Salmon
Country: USA, Running Time: 102 min
Behold comedy troupe 5-Second Films’ hysterical twist on 1980’s slasher flicks. In the wake of two back-to-back mass murders on Chico’s frat row, loner Brent Chirino must infiltrate the ranks of a popular fraternity to investigate his twin brother's murder at the hands of the serial killer known as Motherface.

Embers (2015)
Director: Claire Carré
Country: USA, Running Time: 85 min
After a global neurological epidemic, those who remain search for meaning and connection in a world without memory. Five interwoven stories explore how we might learn, love and communicate in a future that has no past.

FORCED MOVE (2016) - World Premiere
Director: Tony Bloodworth
Country: USA, Running Time: 79 min
A man discovers a series of brutal murders while on his daily jog. Realizing his home is next in the path of the killers, he races against time to save his family.

Fundi: The Story of Ella Baker (2015)
Director: Joanne Grant
Country: USA; Running Time: 63 min
Documentary reveals the instrumental role that Ella Baker, a friend and advisor to Martin Luther King, played in shaping the American civil rights movement. By looking at the 1960s from the perspective of Baker, the "godmother of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee," Fundi adds an essential understanding of the U.S. civil rights movement.

Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi (2015)
Director: Neal Broffman
Country: USA; Running Time: 75 min
A family's search for their missing son and the hunt for suspects in a terror attack tragically converge in Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi, a film about truth and community in the age of social media.

Jonathan Demme Presents Made in Texas (2015)
Country: USA; Running Time: 103 min
The film presentation is a series of six restored short films from Austin, Texas made during the high energy, punk rock ‘70s and ‘80s. Demme originally curated this program in 1981 and the films have been restored and presented as they were from the original screening.

THE KEEPERS (2015)
Directors: Sara Kaye Larson, Joann Self Selvidge
Country: USA, Running Time: 70 min
The Keepers is a portrait of the personalities and work of zookeepers shot with unprecedented behind-the-scenes access at the Memphis Zoo. A bittersweet, nonjudgmental look at what it means to find a place for yourself, working a job that you love.

Ladies of the House (2015)
Director: John Wildman
Country: USA; Running Time: 93 min
Film follows the events surrounding a birthday outing with two brothers and a friend which turns into a horrific fight for survival after they become trapped in a house with a "family" of malevolent women who enjoy a pin-up lifestyle and a special diet.

LongLeaf: The Heart of Pine (2015) – World Premiere
Director: Rex Jones
Country: USA; Running Time: 54 min
A cultural and natural history of the South's ancient primeval forest. Towering stands of old-growth longleaf pine (pinus palustris) once covered over 90 million acres while stretching from southern Virginia to eastern Texas. Today, the total acreage is about two million, with only about two thousand of that considered old growth.

THE MISSING GIRL (2015)
Director: A.D. Calvo
Country: USA, Running Time: 89 min
The Missing Girl tells the story of Mort, the lonely and disillusioned owner of a comic book shop, and Ellen, the emotionally disruptive, aspiring graphic novelist he's hired. The story involves the search for a girl who isn’t missing and the discovery that it's never too late for late bloomers.

Saved by Grace (2015)
Director: Johnny Remo
Country: USA, Running Time: 82 min
A retired police officer (Joey Lawrence), despondent over the loss of his family, contemplates a dramatic decision which will change his life forever, until he meets a mysterious woman who, through her personal stories, gives him a reason to re-examine what is most important to him.

Searching for Hell (2015)
Directors: Pawel Nazaruk, Tomasz Adamski, Darek Barecki, Yuki Nakamura, Gloria Kurnik, James Kenney
Country: USA, Running Time: 77 min
Hell exists. It’s just not what you think it is. The world’s first full-length documentary film in virtual reality cinema.

THE SINKING OF SOZOPOL (2015)
Director: Kostadin Bonev
Country: Bulgaria, Running Time: 100 min
An aging man goes back to Sozopol and brings along his memories and ten bottles of vodka. It is clear that when the vodka is over, something must happen. Something that will change his life forever. Because when hope is gone, a miracle is the last resort.

Slip, Tumble and Slide (2015)
Director: Max Myers
Country: USA; Running Time: 96 min
A family struggles to help the father (Scott Wilson) stop drinking and regain the close ties he once had to his sons and to his wife (Katherine Ross). With love, faith and music the come together as a family.

Spaghetti Man (2015) - World Premiere
Director: Mark Potts
Country: USA, Running Time: 88 min
Clark doesn't care about you. He doesn't care about the world. He barely cares about himself. But after an incident with an old bowl of spaghetti and a malfunctioning microwave, he becomes a superhero that can fight crime with the power of spaghetti. However, you have to pay him.

Texas Heart (2015)
Director: Mark David
Country: USA, Running Time: 100 min
Film tells the story of Peter Franklin, a crooked lawyer who's caught up in a loveless existence, loses a critical case for the mob, and runs off to hide out in a backwoods Texas town. There he encounters a compelling story involving a mentally-challenged young man who is accused of killing a beautiful girl. Frank soon faces an agonizing choice: ignore the case in order to remain anonymous and far from the prying eyes of the mob or reach out and try to save the young man.

THE WEEK (2015)
Directors: John W. Mann, Jon Gunn
Country: USA, Running Time: 97 min
Dick Romans is a washed up TV host whose wife leaves him the day before their ten-year anniversary celebration. Alone with his thoughts, his dog, and a ton of booze, Dick decides to go through with the week-long party... by himself. The seven event-filled days become his reluctant vision quest, filled with odd characters, awkward romance, and some long-overdue self-examination.

WHAT LOLA WANTS (2015)
Director: Rupert Glasson
Country: USA, Running Time: 81 min
17-year old Lola Franklin runs away from home but allows the world to believe she has been kidnapped. Intent on making her way across country, she meets a boy her age in a New Mexico diner. They fall instantly in love. But when Marlo learns of the reward for Lola's safe return, he must confront his own past and decide whether to take Lola back home to collect the reward or help her continue her mysterious journey.


ABOUT OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL
The Oxford Film Festival was founded in 2003 to bring exciting, new and unusual films (and the people who create them) to North Mississippi. The annual four-day festival screens short and feature-length films in both showcase and competition settings, including narrative and documentary features and shorts; Mississippi narratives, documentaries and music videos, and narrative, documentary, animated and experimental shorts. The festival is a 501c3 not-for-profit organization.

Once more for tickets and more information go here.

THE LAST DAYS OF CONEY ISLAND is the latest from Ralph Bakshi and its a masterpiece

In a decaying Coney Island various characters collide and battle over the love a girl named Molly. Sadly everyone is on the road to hell...

Visually unique and comparable only to the work of it's director Ralph Bakshi, THE LAST DAYS OF CONEY ISLAND is a one of a kind artistic triumph. A mix of Bakshi's painting and some of his animated films (COONSKIN, HEY GOOD LOOKING) where photographs and film footage appears as backgrounds this is a film that sucks you in and transports you to its own little world. The film feels as though we are truly locked into the brain of the creator.

I have been a fan of Bakshi since I first discovered him, which was right about the time I stumbled upon FRITZ THE CAT and was, as most teens would be, fascinated by the idea of an X rated cartoon, this was right about the time that his WIZARDS was released. The weird visuals of that film made me sit up and wonder what sort of wild man was loose at the drawing boards of Hollywood.

Of course that despite the love many people had for Bakshi he always seems to be a kind of an outsider with his wild visions getting him the call to come make movies, while at the same time creating problems for him as the money guys freaked out at what he was doing (MIGHTY MOUSE). Worse sometimes the money just wasn't there or ran out (the later episodes of his SPIDERMAN series has Spidey just swinging because they had no money to do new animation.) Despite creating masterpieces at every turn many of his projects ended up disappointing him.

All of which is a long winded way of circling back to THE LAST DAYS OF CONEY ISLAND. Financed via Kickstarter and available on Vimeo as a rental, the film was largely done by Bakshi alone. He did all of the backgrounds and most of the animation himself which makes this 23 minute gem probably the only one of his films to be exactly what he intended...and it makes you wonder what he could have done with this kind of autonomy all along.

No matter- LAST DAYS exists and that's all that matters.

The film is a jarring disorienting trip to the dark side as we drift back in time to a place truly run down. The images are stark and at times half finished. We can see the pencil lines under the finished images. Outside of the background images and films everything is a cartoon or a garish take on people and places. Watching the film on a big screen in the dark the complete lack of normalcy is jarring. Its hard to know who is talking or what is going on a for several minutes. It seems like a mistake but slowly you realize that you are no longer in your home but in this world of Bakshi's creating.

There was a sense of oppression and heartbreak. This was a world that no one was ever going to escape from. Worse it's a place that seems to be some where past the end. It has the feel of a world that has ended but which no one seemed to notice. I've seen I don't know how many films about the end but this was the first time where it really felt that way. This truly is a kind of post apocalyptic world where freaks and clowns and hoods and cops all mill around. IS anyone man or woman, you can't be sure, Yes they speak one way but visually some women look like men...

I am somewhere beyond words. I am somewhere that is kind of pure emotion. With LAST DAYS Bakshi has made a film that is does what all films should do which it move your heart and move your head. Its film that forces you to think and feel- even if you hate the film I'm guessing you'll have a great deal as why you don't like it.

It is a cinematic masterpiece from a cinematic master who at last finally gets his complete vision on the screen.

An absolute must see for any film/animation or art lover worth their salt.

The film can be rented here.

SEAHORSES opens Friday so here's a review and my interview with the director.

Jason Kartalian's SEAHORSES is getting a theatrical release starting Friday in Los Angeles. It is also going to be available at iTunes, Google Play and via Amazon's streaming service. Its a super film that I have been trying to get people to see since it first appeared. Now there is going to be no excuse.

In the hope of getting you to get out and see it I'm going to republish my original review and I'm going follow that with the interview I did with Jason.

I don't know what else to say. This is a super little film.  It has some great performances and is the sort of thing that ends up haunting you. I say this because I've been pushing this film since I saw it.

Trust me I think you're really going to like this film a great deal.

Seahorses world premiered a couple weeks back at Dances with Films. It’s a film that needs to get out and find its audience so it can dance around and through their lives.

The film is the story of Lauren and Martin who met through Craig’s List. They have returned to Martin’s apartment after a night out. As the film opens she is hesitant to really go in; he assures her just wants to the company. She warns him that she probably shouldn’t come in, that there are times one shouldn't let strangers in. We get the sense of a great darkness hiding behind her eyes. She eventually does come in, making her way to the bathroom. Revelations begin immediately for the audience, and less quickly for the couple as we see that they are both deeply damaged souls looking for something. Both, it seems, have more emotional baggage than is allowable by law. The question is: will the pair be able to navigate the evening and find — perhaps if not "the one" — but someone they can hold on to?.

Seahorses is a grand dance between Lauren and Martin. Will they crash together or will their respective bits of baggage — his neediness or her need to constantly protect herself — ruin a potential real relationship? It’s never really clear, especially since the tone is never really full-on romantic. If you walk into the film blind, as I did, you really can’t be certain where this is going or how it will ultimately play out. Cliché it is not (you don't know how good it is to say that).

From my point of view, this is a really good solid film that says so much about today's existence and relationships. If you need proof, all you need do is watch the first half hour which plays out as a kind of twisted version of what seems to be most dates today, two people together but not together. You know what I'm talking about — two people on cellphones, not interacting with each other, but rather with other people somewhere else in the universe. He's in his living room or kitchen trying to coax her out; she is in his bathroom, refusing to leave. They don't talk face to face but via their phones. It’s a clever twist — especially since so much cellphone action these days seems to involve people not talking to a person but staring at a screen and tapping.

The script by director Jason Kartalian is good enough that with a few adjustments this could play very nicely on a stage as a kind of updated version of Terrence McNally's Frankie and Johnny in the Claire De Lune. The film scores points in giving us two people who are closer to real than to Hollywood’s idea of romantic couples — even McNally's idea — since these are very broken people.

While I have a few small reservations with bits of Kartalian's script, his directorial choices are largely first-rate, with a color scheme that matches Martin's aquarium and the staging of several visceral exchanges between the two would be lovers done with a surgical skill that exposes just how raw and broken they really are. Frequently it's Kartalian's staging of the action that speaks louder than his words and allows his actors to reveal hidden layers with looks, postures or gestures. This isn't a film that relies on just one thing, this is a film where it works to create a greater whole.

That the film works as well as it does is thanks to Ian Hutton as Martin and Justine Wachsberger as Lauren. They keep the film wonderfully alive from start to finish. Both of the performances are the sort that show how good actors can be, that get you big roles in big films (said with no disrespect to small films like this). If Wachsberger ends up with a faster rise to the top, it's only because she has the showier role with more to do. However, one shouldn't forget Hutton, who is equally good. He has to play it as a a kind of straight-man, which means he has to be just as good as his partner so as to allow her something to play against. He can't show off lest her performance, and the whole film, crumble. It’s a difficult acting trick, but he pulls it off as flawlessly as Wachsberger.

This is a smart little film you need to keep an eye out for. The film is currently on the festival circuit and it will be getting a later theatrical run. See this film. It’s a neat little story that shows us how much like seahorses we are, trying desperately to steer our lives but really at the mercy of the tide, which may or may not push us toward something or someone we can hold on to.

And here is my interview with Jason:

UNSEEN FILMS (U) We had been emailing back and forth concerning the film, and you said in one, that Seahorses came from a place of truth and a therapy for somethings in your life. Would you care to explain where the film came from?

JASON KARTALIAN (J) I was in both professional and personal crises that lead me to writeSeahorses. Professionally, I was tangled up with this sci-fi television series project that started out as a thing of beauty and became frustrating and ridiculous once the money people got involved. Personally, my mother’s health was failing and it was time for the family to make some very difficult life and death decisions that I’m sure we were not equip to make at the time. I started to lose control of everything I valued. I started thinking about life. I started thinking about loss. Was I wasting my time chasing the Hollywood dragon? As for filmmaking, maybe I just needed to create something real. I needed to confront my problems instead of running away. I started to make art for myself. I started writing Seahorses. Then something amazing happened, people started getting involved. They helped enhance and elevate my vision. One person’s story became a mission shared by many talented people. That’s how movies are really made.

(U) I know you've done two other films, How do you go about putting one of your films together? Do you have a family of craftsmen and women that you work with?

(J) With Seahorses, I was very lucky to begin the process with Producer Roxy Shih. She is young, smart, a great people person and possesses an incredible energy. At the time she had been working on all sorts of shorts, rock videos and low budget features that helped us hand select from that talent pool and assemble a “dream team” crew for Seahorses. The team that worked on Seahorses has inspired me as filmmaker and the possibilities one can reach even with a limited budget. I have really tapped into a young vibrant group of filmmakers who are positive, talented and are in it for the right reasons. I look forward to working with the same team in the near future. 

(U) A large portion of the success of the film that I'd like to talk about talk about casting. Where did you find Ian Hutton and Justine Wachsberger? Had you known them before?

(J) I spent over 6 months casting Seahorses, I read hundreds of actors (drove my producer Roxy crazy) and then I finally found Ian and Justine. Justine was brought to me as a recommendation from an actor friend. Ian actually originally came in to read for the bad guy role, Travis. I knew he had something special and asked him to try out for the lead. I told Justine she would have the part if she dyed her hair blue. I told Ian I would give him the part if he lost 40 pounds (he was a little chunky at the time) Justine dyed her hair blue and Ian went on a fluid diet! Both Ian and Justine are amazing actors and have great chemistry together. The script was adjusted for them after they were cast. During the rehearsal process, Ian, Justine and myself, worked together creating the beats and the nuances to enhance every moment. 

(U) How much did you change once the actors had been cast?

(J) We added a couple of scenes that were work-shopped during rehearsal. We also worked on enhancing moments within the scenes. Ian Hutton is from Oklahoma so we adjusted some lines to fit someone who was a transplant to LA. I learned that Justine multicultural being raised in both Los Angeles and Paris, and I wanted something different for the scenes she had with her brother, so we translated those scenes to French. I feel the French language scenes give her character Lauren even more texture and mystery.

(U) How much of the characters are really you?

(J) I write from the core, the main characters Lauren and Marty have many traits that I possess. I feel these characters are relatable as well. I might an expert writing dysfunctional characters. Marty is hiding from pain by shutting himself in; Lauren is running away from pain by acting out with drugs and sex. Perhaps writing and making movies like this allow me to act out in fiction without acting out in real life.

(U) Where did the seahorses come from? Were they and the metaphor always part of the story?

(J) At first, the seahorses were not in the script. I live near an aquarium shop. When I was writing the script I was always strolling through the shop. One day, I saw some seahorses swimming around, they had trouble moving and the water pumps were pushing them around. They reminded me of my characters in the script I was writing: fragile and adrift. I started doing some research on Seahorses and they fit so well into the piece, the seahorses became the piece!

(U) At what point did the idea to use the haunting blue and the color schemes that permeates much of the film come from?

(J) Aquariums have blues and dark reds and black lights and funky glowing colors, so we took that color palate saturate the film with that style. I brought my production team into aquariums and we took tons of pictures. We also used strange looking practical lights that look like sea creatures and underwater plants. We spend a great deal of our budget getting cool aquatic looking things, like that crazy bubble wall that shows up in the film a bunch of times. The film was really lit with very non-traditional lighting sources and I feel that makes it unique.

(U) How close to what you first envisioned when you started did the film end up?

(J) At first we were going to make it more realistic style hand held, movie with the camera whipping around with stark production design. Then I was introduced to some really resourceful creative people like Director of Photography, Basil Mironer and Production Designer Reed Johns, and they opened up a new world to me of some really cool possibilities. “Can we create and underwater world for our characters?,” I asked. They delivered. 

(U) One of the thing that struck me about the film was that with a few changes the script could be a stage play. Did you ever considered going that route?

(J) It was always intended as a feature, I feel that we worked to make it as cinematic as possible, with lighting, mood and visual motifs. I love the theatre and grew up in that environment, but I also love gear, lights, lenses, cameras; all the methods we use to tell cinematic stories.

(U)The music in the film plays an important role. How did you end up choosing to work with Jason Solowsky and did you have input into how the music was done?

(J) Jason Solowsky and I had worked together before so he knew what he was getting into dealing with me! I was really hands-on with the score and he was a Saint for letting me work with him at that level. We did many different versions of each cue, I was insistent on not letting the music telegraph the moment. Instead of a traditional score that guides the audience, I wanted us to reach for mood and textures. Solowsky was very patient with me; sometimes he would provide me with as many as eight to ten different versions of a scene. Solowsky likes to really create dense scores, so I really was into peeling away layers to match the economy of the moment.

(U) I know your dad is Buck Kartalian. Did you ever consider following in his footsteps? 

(J) My father was a master character actor, a one-of-a-kind personality, a hard act to follow. The one thing I noticed growing up watching him, was that the actor needs a part, a script and a project. I feel more comfortable in a place where I create the part, the script and the project. 

(U) Your last film was Driller, a horror science fiction film. Before that was Pedestrian, a film with fantasy elements to it. With Seahorses, you're firmly rooted in real life. Is it harder or easier working on a story where you have to remain entirely real? 

(J) To me, cinema is elevated reality. We find beautiful, and interesting looking people to tell our stories, we light them glamorously, we put them in interesting settings. We condense their stories to make them impactfull and interesting. Given the stylistic flourishes and the underwater themes I feel that Seahorses really is a fable. The characters are rooted in real life situations and react in humanly “real” ways. To me, even the most fantastical situation is real, because the human element and the reactions to that situation are rooted in the “real world.” 

(U) Since Seahorses is a romance, what, in your opinion are the best films in that genre?

(J) The English Patient is a film that haunts me to this day. I love the film Choose Me by Alan Rudolph. Lina Wertmüller’s Swept Away. Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. I love the natural beauty of many Eric Rohmer romances. More currently, the dysfunctional romance of Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color.

(U) Who are your favorite directors? 

(J) So many here is a short list: I like directors with distinct voices that explore new worlds or places I’ve never been: Woody Allen, Pedro Almodovar, Wong Kar Wai, David Cronenberg and David Fincher.

(U) What are your favorite films? What films do you watch just to watch? What do you watch to inspire you?

(J) I have such a broad reaching taste from art-house to genre. Love films that have a message that resonates: The painting of American consumerism in George Romero’s,Dawn of the Dead. The dying of French cinema in Oliver Assayas’ Irma Vep. I think that the new frontier is television for cinematic excellence. For total craftsmanship you just can’t beat Game of Thrones.

(U) Are there any films — outside of Seahorses — that you think have been unfairly overlooked?

(J) One of my favorite films of my childhood (and to this day) is the Richard Rush film The Stuntman. Even though that film got a couple of Oscar nominations at the time not sure if many people know of it outside hardcore cinephiles.

First Look Festival 2016: The Museum of the Moving Image

Friday the annual First Look Festival starts at the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria. This annual series showcases a number of films from around the world before they hit local theaters. Every year they mange to get in some really stunning films and this year looks to be no exception. 

This year I got a chance to see four films prior to the festival start. I loved two I was eh on two, but I'm planning on going to Astoria and seeing some more. 

The festival runs from Friday through the end of the month so there is plenty of time to catch something.

For more information and tickets go here.

I'M THE PEOPLE
Anna Roussillon's portrait of a family in rural Egypt over the three years of the Arab Spring. We watch as Farraj Abdelwahid and his family try to scrape by on their farm and ponder events far away that they aren't sure are going to have any effect on them.

Moving documentary probably says a hell of a lot more about people and revolution than all the other documentaries on the events in Cairo simply because the film focuses on the average person over a longer period of time. If you want to know what revolution means to the guys outside the city this is the film for you.

Actually if you just want a really good portrait of a family over time this is a film for you

The film plays the 9th

PIECES AND LOVE ALL TO HELL
This companion to  RIP IN PIECES AMERICA  this is collection of rants of You Tube videos that were removed as inappropriate.  Its a collection of paranoid rants by women (the earlier film focused on men)

How you react to this is going to depend upon how much of the rants you can take. I was worn down rather quickly and ended up walking away from the computer screen I was watching the screener on and  just letting it play in the background. Yea its important to know that this much rage and anger is out there but it's a tough slog even at an hour.

This plays with OF THE NORTH on the 10th.

OF THE NORTH 
A collection of video images recorded by people in the arctic showing what life is like.

Kind of like watching someone's home movies for 75 minutes with an occasional music track over it. Some of this is really good, some of it it is why did the bother and I was left wondering if ths wouldn't have been better as You Tube clips I could bounce between at my own pace.

This plays with PIECES OF LOVE ALL TO HELL on the 10th

PAWEL AND WAWEL
Strangely hypnotic documentary/essay/experimental film is a record of the filmmaker's trip to Iceland. Static camera shots record people in bars, restaurants and fields, or shots out a window a trip some where.

Decidedly not for all tastes this film this film is the sort of thing that you can fall into and go somewhere else mentally as you try and join everything up. Think of this as a documentary mashed up with performance piece.

Highly recommended for the adventurous if you can see this on the big screen.

This film plays on the 22nd.

Two from Swirl Films LYFES JOURNEY and STOCK OPTION

LYFE'S JOURNEY (2014)
Banking executive gets caught up on the wrong end of a merger. Coupled with a one night stand that goes wrong he ends up on the street.  Will he find redemption?

Are you kidding?

Okay faith based film could have been better if the script matched the actors. The actors are across the board wonderful and really deserve better material to work with.  The script is oddly paced in that the film spends an hour of its run time on Lyfe's fall and then rush's to a conclusion in the final 20 minutes. It never really feels real and seems to have everything move for the whim or the author instead of the arc of the characters.

Its not bad but it isn't anything special with an ending that feeles more like they ran out of time than anything real.

STOCK OPTION (2015)
When a model is rescued by  a homeless guy who hangs out by her building she takes him home an cleans him up. As a friendship gros she begins to wonder about the relationship she's in.

Pure wish fulfillment is well acted fluff. Its never believable for an instant but it is occasionally amusing.


Both films hit home video today.

Anesthesia opens Friday

ANESTHESIA premiered back at Tribeca last year and has at last finished the festival circuit and is getting a  regular theatrical review this Friday.  Our correspondent Ariela saw the film back at Tribeca and filed a report not long after the festival. Here is a repost of that report.

Anesthesia
Anesthesia had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. I'm happy I was able to attend one of the screenings. Anesthesia takes place in New York City and tells the store of a professor who gets violently mugged. The movie starts with the mugging and then goes back and we learn who this professor is and the relationships that surround him and what leads to the mugging. I don't want to give too much away, especially because I really enjoyed it! It was really gripping.The cast was great, it includes Sam Waterston as the professor, Glenn Close as his wife, Kristen Stewart, Gretchen Mol, Tim Blake Nelson (who also wrote and directed it) among others.I really hope this gets picked up, because it was by far one of the best movies I saw at the festival. (out of the 14 I saw)

Neighboring Scenes Starts Thursday- here are some capsule reviews

Neighboring Scenes is a fantastic way to begin a year.

Normally my film year gets going with the New York Jewish Film Festival but this year we’re getting treated- and I do mean that- to some films from Latin America via the Neighboring Scenes series and we so much better for it.

The films cover a wide variety of genres and styles and based on the handful I’ve seen all kick serious butt. This truly is a sampler of the best of the best of films from the region. One of the films is the crushing THE CLUB and is so good it was a late addition to my Best of the Best for 2015.

While all of the information for the series can be found at the festival web page here, I’ve written up the small number of films I’ve seen below in the hope of getting you to go see something. The reviews are short at the request of the festival. I’m told all of the films are getting released over the next few weeks and they would prefer that full reviews run when the films actually hit US theaters.

In all seriousness based on the handful of films I’ve seen you need to get tickets and go. I’m in the process of rearranging my schedule so I can make a few more films because I am so high on what Ive seen.

Go see something.

Here’s the festival info.

And these are my reviews

BLEAK STREET
Bleak is right.

Life in the slums of Mexico has two midget luchadores being drugged, robbed  and worse by two middle-aged prostitutes they pick up to celebrate a win. Based on a real life  incident this film is time in a dark and twisted place. Shot in a gorgeous black and white the film follows events as they happen which mostly involves everyone abusing and being abused. Its an overwhelming experience that follows possibly too many characters before focusing on the plight of the wrestlers. Recommended for those who like dark places.

THE CLUB
This film will kick you to the curb.

It's a damning look at the Catholic Church and the evil that priests do as revealed by a bunch of priests who are being warehoused in a small coastal town in Chile. They are there because of what they did to children. Locked away they go through their days kept away from the other villagers and controlled in a strictly regulated manner. Their only outlet is training a greyhound for a race. One day a new priest arrives and before he can barely even sit down a young man claiming to have been abused by the priest stands outside and begins to shout graphic details about what happened to him. Everyone is terrified about being found out-when one of the men produces a gun and tells the new priest to go scare the shouting man - he does go outside and shoots himself.  What happens in the wake of shooting is the film.

Billed as a darkly comic film, all humor is choked out of the film in the first 20 minutes as a the screws are turned and it ll becomes more and more harrowing. By the time the black humor arrives with a crisis counselor there is nothing to laugh out at only pain and suffering and the urge to get sick. If the film is flawed in any way it's that it's just not funny despite a couple of attempts at uncomfortable humor.

I don't have words beyond this film will rock your world and it's easily it will be the first great film you will see in 2016. An absolute must see-but only for those with strong constitutions.

THE GOLD BUG
Treasure Island meets the Gold Bug in a hyper meta film about an actor who discovers the location of a treasure who tries to talk his friends int making a movie as a cover for a treasure search only to find out he's in a movie which he then bends to his ends to use as a cover  for the treasure hunt...but there is more as the film spins out in a several different directions as it ponders all sorts of questions and issues as it drifts in and out of levels of reality as it even questions reality and truth.

To be honest I stopped taking notes a short time into the film. It was not because the film was bad, more it was that I was being carried along by it's always surprising nature. Story threads and themes and issues keep raising their heads as we treated to a film that has a great deal on it's mind and is going to tell you in one stream of consciousness  telling. This is the sort of film that when it finished I wanted to go back through because I finally knew what it was doing.

While that is not perhaps a great review it should hopefully be enough to get you out to but some tickets for it.


IT ALL STARTED AT THE END
Luis Ospina tracks the course of the Cali Group, a group of artist and friends who came together to change film, art and culture in Columbia through his own story.

If you can forgive some navel gazing and a longish section at the start focusing on Ospina's childhood and recent diagnosis with cancer this is a really good look at creativity and the need to create even if it's turning one's own life into fodder for the art gods.  This is one of the best looks at artists as human beings you'll ever run across and if you're up to its three and a half hour running time you'll come out both enlightened and as if you've spent time with a bunch of good people.

Worth a look if the subject interests you.


For more information and tickets on the series go here

Nightcap 1/3/15 Unseen Films were art thou bound?

Happy New Year.

As a new year starts and Unseen races towards its sixth birthday it’s time to pause, after several days of looks back to pause and tell you where we’re going.

For the short term, i.e.: the next two months, very little is going to change. We are going to keep cranking out a film a day every day at least through the beginning of March. After that things are going to change- with passing of our actual birthday (February 20th) and the day I announced its existence to the world (March 1) I’m doing away with the idea of a film a day. I simply can’t do it anymore. If you are wondering why I can’t- consider that while the notion of a film a day may have worked fine at the start but we’ve never done just a post a day we’ve gone over it- to the point that the last four years we did way over two a day and in 2015 we did almost three a day. And that’s not the total number of films we’ve since covered a good number of posts review multiple titles…

A reoccurring question I get is how many movies do I see a year? I have no idea. Easily way over a thousand to be certain. Not all of them get reviewed but a large chunk do. It’s not the watching that is killing me it’s the writing.

Seeing that many films may sound like fun, and it is, I’ve been doing it for decades, but you have to now add another step- you have to feed the beast. You need to write up what you see and make sure you have at least one film a day. After you do that for a year I’ll pause to ask you if you are exhausted yet? How about spinning that out for six solid years? How are you feeling now? Now add in the running of the website, and before you rest add in a full time day job and an existence away from film and watch your time slip away. And remember that the site generates NO money. So that what is a second job is being done for love.We did 925 posts last year- and because a number of them had multiple films we probably reviewed more than that, even allowing for Nightcaps, interviews and other pieces.

While I do have a bunch of great friends who help in writing and running things (Thank you guys and girls) most of this is just me, just Steve. And after 6 years I’m broken. The physical requirements of doing this has broken me.  As many of you have noticed my writing has become really erratic. Some pieces are great and a lot of them recently are short and mechanical. Joe Bendel has done everything except break my fingers to get me to stop. Mondocurry has been rallying against my all-inclusive coverage of film festivals. My desire to provide fodder has just eaten my ability to write well every time…well it doesn’t work unless I have passion for what I’m writing on…

…To that end, after March 1 I’m only going to do reviews for things I feel passionately about, good bad or indifferent. As much as I would love to be a website of record I simply can’t do it anymore.

What does this mean over all?

Hopefully better pieces. I want to write things I’m proud of and not things that are simply filler.

How will this affect festival coverage? I don’t know. Hopefully not worrying about a film a day will allow better coverage. I will try to be a place of records for a couple of fests (NYAFF, Fantasia and Tribeca) but I’m not going to live and die if I don’t.

At what point will the film a day drop away? I don't know. I've got a bunch of things scheduled and I've been bumping things along to the point that I'm pretty set into late March. I'm guessing things will stop on either side of Tribeca- or even at Tribeca if I end up doing it on my dime. Keep reading because at some point things will pause.

What else is going on- shortly we should be a .com. Details about that when its all set.

As for programming January will be random posts wrapped around several film festivals. Neighboring Sounds and MOMI's First Look are this week, the week After is New York Jewish, then Sundance,Slamdance and the usual stops. February I'll be ending the film a day so I'm going out bug by doing all the Tarzans from Johnny Weissmuller through to the end of the direct line of the series in the early 70's. And then who knows.

2015 catch up post- CONCUSSION,EVEREST, DANISH GIRL, MONKEY KINGDOM, PAPER TOWNS, MAZE RUNNER, AIR, VACATION, LEGEND, HEIST and SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

This is my annual catch up post. I’ve done one or more of these posts since I started Unseen and it’s bunch of capsule reviews for films from the previous year that I saw but never got around to reviewing. Some of the pieces are of films I saw a while ago and some are the result of my annual year end catch up where I wade into theaters  and DVDs and see what I should have.

CONCUSSION
Will Smith gives an Oscar worthy performance as Dr. Bennet Omalu who was out on the trail of the effects of head trauma in football when does the autopsy of Mike Webster (David Morse also Oscar worthy) a favorite player from the Pittsburgh Steelers. A damning indictment of football because of the injuries it inflicts.It's right that the NFL is frightened of what the movie will do to their livelihood. And while the film may not make a fortune, but it will get the attention of people if not now when it hits VOD and home video. See it and you will never let your kids play football again. As drama the film is a bit too preachy, but at the same time its message is vital and the performances are amazing.

EVEREST
Recounting of the 1996 tragedy of death and heroism on Mount Everest.  A visually spectacular recounting of the tale that took so many lives in one go (and which strangely was one of the safest years over all on the mountain) the film suffers the problem that the earlier INTO THIN AIR did which is the story is simply too big to tell in a narrative film in two hours or less and have it feel satisfying. There are simply too many characters, and too much attempting to shoehorn back story in that the film feels rushed and soap operaish. Yes its entertaining but nowhere near as good as any documentary or book on the events even if it looks amazing.

THE DANISH GIRL
Eddie Redmayne follows up his Owscar winning performance in THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING with a portrait of Einar Wegener, a Danish landscape artist who became one of the first people ever to undergo surgery to change his sex. A great looking movie that feels like it it trying way too hard to be about something. I lost interest about half an hour in as the look and tactile feel of the film overwhelmed the under whelming script. Far from bad the film felt almost like a random PBS/BBC drama.

MONKEY KINGDOM
Documentary about monkeys in an abandoned city in Sri Lanka is the latest in Disney's true life adventures has some stunning images undercut by just okay narration and a need to be family friendly. It looks great but I didn't need the narration.
Where is the BBC when you need them?

PAPER TOWNS
Quentin Love Margo. When Margo goes missing Quentin enlists his friends to go find her. Okay film probably plays better if you're a teen and can relate to the angsty love and desire to find a future film is about. I also think it would have been better if I didn't want to slug Margo or find Quentin's friend Twee

MAZE RUNNER
Yet another dystopian YA fantasy series comes to the big screen as a bunch of kids find themselves near a glade near the entrance to a gigantic maze. Whats on the other side of the maze?  Good film on its own terms doesn't seem that great since it plays like so many other YA novel based films of late. Score points for fantastic visuals, take some away for standard dystopian teen interaction. I do like the film I just wish it wasn't like so many other films.

AIR
Okay science  Fiction throw back has the feel of a 1980's science fiction that is more talk than action. The film concerns a pair of technicians woken up in an underground facility in order to do maintenence on the machinery that keep air clean for the cryosleeping population. It seems that a chemical accident has wiped out most of the population of earth and made the air unbreathable. As they are finishing up their shift somethings go wrong and their lives are put in danger. Good enjoyable film is a bit too low key to be exciting but at the same time it manages to hold your attention.  Worth a shot for those who want an off the beaten path science fiction tale.

VACATION
As low as you can go sequel has a grown up Rusty going on a family vacation with his wife and kids. In it's way it is as bad as you've heard but it still has laughs coming from every sort of inappropriate subject you can think of. Its awful but it has laughs. Wait for cable when there will be no record of you ever watching it.

SCOUTS GUIDE TO THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE
Remarkably good zombie comedy has a trio of scouts fending off a zombie outbreak. Despite a few stupid jokes and continuity that is wonky (Strippers head almost falls off but is attached in the next shot, stand up of Dolly Parton always faces the camera) this is a very funny film with a few jump scares. Definitely worth you time.

HEIST
Jeffrey Dean Morgan and friends rob a casino operated by tough guy Robert DeNiro. When it all goes south they are forced to hijack a bus... Decent B level crime film is a real head scratcher thanks to the A level cast. Why are they in this film?   No matter this is a solid little thriller that won't rock your world but will entertain the hell out of you on a rainy Saturday night when nothing is on.

LEGEND
Tom Hardy plays both Reggie and Ronnie Kray, the notorious gangsters who held sway over London in the mid 1960's. The film documents their rise and fall from power. In many ways better than Peter Medak's 1990 film bio, this film has problems of it's own, chief among them being a reason for us to care about these bad men. Yes they are interesting to see go through their paces, but at the same time we never really like them and there is no reason to root for them. Like the earlier film the Krays come off as bad guys from another time and place and don't resonate much as being reflective of today. That said the violence and the sheer insanity of their behavior does make this compelling at times, much like watching a traffic accident is compelling.

Joy (2015)

Disappointing David O Russell film  feel as though it was lifted in a mix and match film from several other recent films from the director , in particular SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.

Based on the life of Joy Mangano the film follows the life and times of a young woman who invents a new kind of mop. We watch as her fortunes rise and the effects it has on her family.

I was lost almost from the get go with it's this is the story of my granddaughter telling which leads into a sequence of Joy trying to get to work only to have her errant father return hope and trash the house. The look and feel was much too much like SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK to the extent that I kind of felt this was a sequel. The telling also results in a kind of magical realism which makes the whole thing feel kind of like its a rah rah feel good film two hours before it's earned it. Similarly the opening statement about this being inspired by a lot of women adds a sense of this being artificially constructed rather than it's organic.

Weird touches kept me from ever connecting something best explained by the weird dream & soap opera sequences as well as Isabella Rosselini's performance as a woman who, dates Robert DeNiro and stakes Joy's company. What planet did she come in from and who did her make up because she looks very very silly

Who did they make this film for? I'm not sure. The film feels like its a weird cross between an infomercial and a Lifetime original movie but cast with A list actors.

On Further Review: STAR WARS THE FORCE AWAKENS doesn't suck but is still a troubled cash cow rather then satisfying work of art (Contains spoilers)

(Warning this may contain spoilers if you haven't seen the film)

I'm kind of horrified that Star Wars: The Farce Awakens will be the highest grossing film of all time.

While infinitely better than the mistakes George Lucas directed the film still isn't up to the first three films. There is a weightlessness to it with any gravitas borrowed from the earlier films and generating almost none of it's own. Its a film I stared at frequently pondering why it was getting the love it has because the film is so feather weight and flimsy that it crumples when you try and get close to it.

To be honest I don't think its a bad film, I just wonder why anyone with any sense is calling it anything other than a just good film.

While the plotting of the film is considerably less stupid than the last three films, I would think most of the problems with the film are the fault of JJ Abrams who has made a flashy film that isn't very deep. It has some great set pieces but nothing past that...which is kind of like most of the other things that he directed. or even the TV series he produced. He's more a guy who keeps things flashy to mesmerize his audience while giving them little of substance. Frankly the only thing he's done previously was the first of the rebooted Star Treks.

What bothered me about the film?

Belt in, this is going to take a while (It would be longer but I ran out of napkins to take notes on)

The first thing that pissed me off was the opening crawl. It was beyond simplistic. Luke is gone, Leia wants to find him and there is a map to where he is somewhere so she sends he best pilot to go get the map.

Really?

That's it? Its more simplistic than even the most simple of the old Universal movie serial crawls that the trope is lifted from. Its so simple that we's be better off with out it.

It also shines a light on one of the films biggest problems - the film has no real characters.

No, it doesn't - anything you are reading into the characters you're bringing to it.

Who is Oscar Isaac's Poe Dameron? He's Leia's best pilot. We know that because we are told in the crawl. What is he beyond that?

Come on - someone anyone - what is he?

No really, what is he based on the film?

I have no idea, we have nothing.

How about Finn? Who is he? He's an ex storm trooper and he he does the right thing...and what else?

Anyone?

Nothing. No complexity there. (And if he was in sanitation what is he doing in uniform and how does he know how to fight?)

How about Rey?

Okay, there is a little bit more here, We get a sense of her beyond what we're given. She's clearly full of the Force and will do what she has to but if you look at here there isn't much there. No seriously there isn't. While I believe that she is one of the best written characters in the film, She is little more than cardboard. I also think that many people are loving her is because she's at the center of a big budget film rather than she's a compelling character in her own right.

Kylo Ren...Oh christ, no.

He's a whiny affulenza afflicted asshole of the sort you find in the upper part of Manhattan. He's a little brat playing dress up who is far from menacing. This is the new Darth Vader? Bite me. What does he do that's menacing- order people to die and throws temper tantrums. He's one of the worst villains in any film in years. People are afraid of him, really?

The only character that works in the film at all on any level is Lupita Nyong'o's Maz Kanata. Here at last is a character, a real character that belongs a Star Wars film. Everyone else comes across as just another face in an over loaded group of characters. Abrams has given us so many characters that none of them other than Maz are well drawn.

And as for the old guard- what hell are they doing here? Outside of Han and Chewie thay are given nothing to do. Leia stands there and looks serious, C3PO is pointless and R2D2 appears at the end as a deus ex machina simply to set up the final bit. Did we really need all of the cameos from past films here?

No, no we didn't.

George Lucas is on record as saying that the film was made more with an eye for nostalgia than with telling a story, and he's right. The plot is largely a remake of the first three films with echoes and riffs on past glory. Abrams has simply tried to hide it all with a a coat of paint and some clever tricks but lets face it between the father issues, fall of Jedi and the planet killer secret weapon we've seen this all before.

One of Abrams' problems is he structured the film completely wrongheadedly. Where the first STAR WARS essentially started small and got bigger as Luke goes out into the world, thus allowing us to be spoon fed what we need to understand the world of the film, Things got bigger as they went on. Here we start big and get bigger. People and places are added willie nillie for no real reason. Why even bother with destroying the Republic worlds when they otherwise have nothing to do in the film beyond being destroyed (The destruction of Alderaan in the first film had a real reason, this doesn't)

There are HUGE plot problems and world creation problems that make no sense even internally. Worse there is no room for back story so we don't know how somethings came about or why they are happening. Things just happen and that's it. The world doesn't bleed off the screen the way it should. The result is that the minute we think about the plot it all falls down.

Let's take a few story problems of various sizes. Mind you this is only going to be a few because there are way too many to list them all (and I ran out of paper in the screening)

One thing at the start - you are not allowed to tell me that it will be explained in the next film, or a tie in or something. Everything in a film has to work within the film and can not be brought in from elsewhere. That's not fair and not right. This film gets a pass with some bits since its the seventh film in the sequence - but outside of the STAR WARS films this film can not refer to anything else.

Easy one - why are the stormtroopers wearing armor when one shot and they are dead? Anyone? Why would anyone join up if you die that fast?

What is the structure of the universe? Why is there a Republic which in theory the government and a rebellion? Didn't the rebels win in JEDI? I understand the new Empire but you also have rebels? Why?

If Luke doesn't want to be found, why did he leave a map? Why did he leave it in two pieces? Why is there a reference to it in the old Imperial archives? Where does R2 come from and why didn't anyone know he was there? Why is he suddenly so important?

If the new "death star" sucks in a star ;to power it's weapon and it's carved into a planet - how does it reload?

Why does Chewie ignore Leia at the end instead of embracing her? He should hug her not Rey.

Okay, if the planet killer weapon is firing across hyperspace, how do the rebels know when it's supposed to fire?

Why does Snoke deal with Kylo Ren when he is clearly a basket case?

There is so much more I want to question - nit picky things that are the result of the film simply throwing up way too much and not explaining enough.

I suppose the problem with the whole film is that it has no weight. There is no cost to any of the main characters until near the end and that, for better or worse, is a kind of forgone conclusion. All of the destruction, all of the death is largely to people who don't matter. Even the one bit of cost resulted in no reaction from the audience. It should have been a horrifying moment but one of the people involved is so badly drawn there is no emotion and no feeling of loss. It simply plays as if its just a plot point getting it's boxed ticked.

Characters appear and are gone. Things happen to move things not because they feel right. We get Max von Sydow at the start but's he's dead almost instantly. Why did they cast him? Everyone has been making a big deal about Captain Phasma but she's in two scenes and does nothing other than drop the shields - and if she was such a bad ass as she seems in her first scene why does she wuss out?.

IS that what Star Wars is now? Random cool looking characters with no backstory and weight that we can project on to? Is everyone like Boba Fett and Darth Maul - two characters that feature big in promotion but did shit in the actual films? Are they simply cardboard figures to be moved around instead of characters acting in an organic manner?

Sadly I think they all exist not for the myth building but for the money taking. This film doesn't care about expanding the myth it simply cares about making money.

Fuck you very much JJ Abrams and Disney, I hope you choke on all the coins.

Sadly this is a clear sign that big budget film-making truly has ceased about creating art or myth but simply about making money. If you need proof that almost every big budget film over the last few years and from here on is not a piece of art but an ATM this is it.

And despite it all I like the film.

Hey it doesn't suck like the last three so that counts for something.

It has some great set pieces. It has Maz Kantana and there are a couple of moments where it all goes right and it's 1977 again and I'm seeing something amazing.

I enjoyed myself in a weird way.

Will I ever see it again?

In bit and pieces on TV, but I doubt I'll sit down and do so from start to finish.

Will I see the next ones?

Yes. I'm hopeful that they will at least be entertaining- besides the next film ROGUE ONE a stand alone story has Donnie Yen, Wen Jiang and Mads Mikkelsen.

Ultimately its a good but disappointing film that it never truly soars like earlier entries in the series.

Worth a look, but nothing special.

The Best of 2015 The Best of the Best

These are the Best of the Best films and experiences for me in 2015. These are the ones that I never hesitated about or had second thoughts about being right here.

I loved every interview I did this year and this year I got to talk to some people I've admired and some who are just way cool.

The Quay Brothers interview was probably the top interview because I've loved their work for decades. Being able to sit down with them to talk and laugh for half an hour was just beyond cool because they are beyond cool

The Sabu interview was one of the weirder things I've done-doing it before the film and being the only one who didn't speak Japanese was beyond daunting, but Nobu from Yahoo helped me out (Thank you) and I still got to interact with one the best directors in the world today.

The Julian Richings interview was really amazing.For me a perfect example of when things click and just letting someone talk yields great things

The Bill Corbett Interview was one of the highlights of Tribeca. Just talking to him before the fact made it one of the best festivals ever. And I loved that I got to talk to him before the Fest when he wasn't on  and not being all out silly which I was told the Rifftax interviews at Tribeca were.

The Cosima Spender interview was fantastic. I loved doing this because I really got to understand the wondrous film PALIO even more.

The John Wildman/Justina Walford interview- the longest interview I've ever done was one of the best. Not only did I finally get to really talk to someone I've known for years but I got a handle on why and how horror means so much to both John and Justina. Its an interview that set the bar for all future interviews impossibly high because they didn't give easy answers and gave thought to everything they said. They challenged me to be better. Thank you.

I don't care where you're from discovering your work in a movie trailer is way cool and finding it in connection to films I love (SONG OF LAHORE and OPPOSITE FIELDS) made me smile for days.

Seeing Ringo Lam at NYAFF was one of the coolest things ever. Ringo Lam is one of the coolest guys ever and it was just beyond amazing to be in a room with him. Watching him get his Life Time Achievement Award was deeply moving.

Maggie Smith in LADY IN THE VAN gave one of the greatest performances I've ever seen even if no one else seems to think so.

The opening of MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART with the Pet Shop Boys Go West is just as good as film openings gets.

KING OF NERAC was a complete surprise. This wonderful portrait of David Breuer-Weil is a wonderful explanation of why we create

DELIMAN watching this history of Jewish Delis is a physical thing- it will make you hungry

ON BEAUTY- short film about the beauty in all of us.

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM ART ADDICT- wonderful portrait of a woman who shaped the art world and saved it during WW2 as well

MAD MAX FURY ROAD- one of the greatest action films ever

END OF THE TOUR- two guys talking for two hours. Brilliant

THE WITCHING HOUR- fantastic short film about the monsters coming out set to Danse Macabre

REUNION (Short)- deeply moving film about a dead girl in her old home town. Pure magic.

SONG OF LAHORE-How classical Pakistani musicians found new life in playing Jazz standards

WOMEN HE'S UNDRESSED- one of the best portraits of old Hollywood I've ever seen. An absolute delight

THEORY OF OBSCURITY- Story of the Residents and how sometimes going your own way is the only way to go. I love the film and I can't stop talking about it.

THE CLUB-Chile's Oscar entry has an opening 20 minutes as harrowing and disturbing as any film I've ever seen. To be honest those opening minutes so rocked my world I don't remember the rest of the film but they are strong enough to make this the late entry on the best of the year list (A review on Monday)

And last but not least seeing Danny Elfman TWICE at Lincoln Center singing the NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS songs was just - well- magical

Thoughts on having seen ONLY YESTERDAY a long time ago and the over riding feeling that hung with me ever since

ONLY YESTERDAY opens today in New York and is finally getting a theatrical release in the US after 25 years. The last of the Studio Ghibli films to be released here the film presented a problem of sorts for the studios initially looking to release it since despite being a Ghibli film it had nothing fantastical so they couldn’t market it to kids. As times changed over the last quarter century animated dramas presented less and less of a problem, but it still remained in an animated backwater and unless you caught it at a festival, on an import DVD or its single Turner Classic screening you haven’t seen it.

The plot of the film has Taeko leaving the city nominally to help family in country, but actually taking a break from her life to reassess her life. Staying with a family that is tenuously connected to her (it’s the family of her brother in law) she contemplates her life to this point and perhaps finds romance.

To be honest I haven’t seen the film in probably a decade or more. I own an import DVD but it’s not a film a revisit. Despite several attempts the film never connected to me. Of course that doesn’t really matter since the film was one of the biggest films in Japan in 1991.

While I admit I should probably take another look at the film, the one thing that always hung with me was the feeling that the film seemed to be saying that happiness for a woman is to attach herself to a man. It’s part of the reason that I haven’t gone back to the film. Yes I know it's Taeko's choice but at the same time considering all the other Ghibli heroines she is kind of a disappointment.

Again I'll have to take a look down the line, but the feeling I had when I first saw it has me at a road block..

If you're a Ghibli fan and you haven't seen it give it ago, all others the choice is yours

Tree In The Desert or The Film That Really Made Me Want To Start This Website

We're about 51 days to Unseen Films 6th birthday.  Four Thousand Five hundred and something posts- at least one every day for six years.

As some of you know I'm going to be making some changes in the site soon. Most of them are due to my not being able to run at this pace any longer- Its not the post a day that's killing me it's the additional coverage of new releases- I can not sustain a pace that had me doing 90 features at Tribeca, almost 60 at NYAFF and NYFF and 132 of 157 films at DOC NYC. Plus a huge chunk of Fantasia, all of Japan Cuts and on and on and on.

Additionally life is happening around us, which has caused some of the Unseen writers to drift away for a bit and for things to become complicated for the rest of us.

Part of my desire to change is that I'm getting away from what I intended with the site. I'm still dealing with films that may get over looked but at the same time the choices are becoming less and less mine- PR people who send me stuff and I'm finding it hard to say no. I need to find my way back home.

Recently I was researching to see what I had said about a particular film I had reviewed in the early days and in the process I ran across a post I did on the six month anniversary of the site which kind of got me thinking about how far I've moved from the original stated purpose of Unseen. 

In the hope of begining a trip back to the place where we belong I present the piece I wrote six months into Unseen's soon to be six year run and it statement of what this site is supposed to be


Today is August 20th. It was six months ago today that I started this film blog. The idea was, and still is, to highlight the films either no one is paying much attention to, or the films no one is seeing because no one is thinking to look.

The review that follows is the review I posted on another blog. It's also the moment where I seriously began thinking about starting a blog like this one.

The kind of sad thing is I don't think I have this film in my collection any more. I think I passed it on to someone - I think Eden - simply because someone had to know about the film besides me.

In honor of every orphaned and unwatched film I present what should have been the first review here at Unseen Films; instead consider it the half-year anniversary marker. Let's hope that someone somewhere is watching the film and enjoying it.

Tree In The Desert
A man living on the edge of the desert takes a wife and begins to raise a family. He falls ill and she takes over his job of planting trees. Similar to several films produced nominally by the Chinese government (they talk about party conferences and the greater good), so much so that I wasn't sure if I hadn't seen it before. It's a soapy tale set in the village and in a hospital a good distance away. A good little film that has some of the most beautiful desert photography I've seen. The visuals are what make this film a small gem. It's also the sort of thing that makes me sad that almost no one, other than someone from China, or someone crazy enough to watch a VCD randomly picked up in Chinatown, will ever see it and similar films. No, it's not a “great” film, but it's worth a look for those who want things not on the regular film path. There are so many orphaned films out there, it kind of makes me sad.

9/2/10Addendum
I've discovered my copy of the film tucked away in a hidden nook. How it got there I'm not sure.