The Church (2018)

The Church is an odd duck horror film. A horror film with a message of salvation it is strangely toothless.

The plot of the film has several members of a community trying to convince the pastor of a church to sell the property so that they can all make a killing because their, and the church’s property is wanted by group of developers who have offered to pay top dollar for it all. Of course efforts to change the pastor’s mind results in the release of spirits who end up in a battle with demonic forces… or something.

Forgive me I kind of lost interest early. Blame the performances which are weak. Everyone seems to be acting or being a type. I’m not sure if they genuinely are weak or the result of the cast not really caring. Whatever the reason it just never works. There are no scares because you can’t be sure if the cast are for real or kidding or not.

It doesn’t help that writer director Dom Franklin shoots this like a low budget horror film from the late 70’s or 80’s. You know the sort of films which were kind of anemic and weakly shot. The special effects involved lots of colored lights and okay process shots and/or practical effects. To be certain a good number of the films were entertaining (I have a large number in my collection) but at the same time a lot of them were bad or just missed. The Church misses. It never quite looks like anything other than a low budget film. The effects look like they are in time warp from 30 or 35 years ago.

What is unexpected is that the film has a real sense of trying to save souls. There is a kind of wholesomeness to it all (the film is rated PG-13) and it lacks any sort of scary edge. There is a message floating around, with the film very much wanting us to learn not to be greedy with the villain saying he would come back to tempt the good people as he is seemingly destroyed. ( I say seemingly because the IMDB page threatens that a sequel is coming.)

I was mostly bored. Yea, I made it to the end but it was a long slog to get there.

I can’t really recommend The Church unless you are a horror completeist who’ll sit through any film no matter how dull and boring.

A Crooked Somebody: Maybe it is Better to be an Honest Nobody

Michael Vaughn is a professional psychic. He is also a conman—obviously. The one clearly implies the other. He has been scuffling through crummy commuter hotel gigs. However, he will try to convert a crisis into a blockbuster career break in Trevor White’s A Crooked Somebody, which opens today in New York.

Vaughn is tired of life on the road with Chelsea, his business partner and shill-of-last-resort. Nevertheless, his act is still good enough to impress Nathan, a violent drifter who still carries the remorse of a decades-old murder. Convinced Vaughn made a connection with his victim, Nathan kidnaps the phony medium with the intent to kill. Instead, Vaughn exploits his guilt, promising he can help bring comfort to his victim’s restless spirit and his now grown daughter, Stacey (who was a major sob-story, back in the day).

Shrewdly, he convinces Nathan to lead him to where the body is buried, so he could “discover” it as part of a media event. He does indeed become a trending topic, but he also attracts the suspicious attention of the local cops. Nathan also starts to doubt his sincerity, while Stacey refuses to participate in the media circus.

Crooked Somebody shares a kinship with Irvin Kershner’s The Flim-Flam Man, because both films explore the ways in which bunco artists often get help from their pigeons to con themselves. They also share small-town-off-the-interstate settings, which are convenient if you might have to leave town in a hurry.

As Vaughn, Rich Sommer is impressively committed, portraying him in just about every way a man can be unpalatable, from smug smarminess to whiny desperation. He certainly makes him quite a piece of work. Joanne Froggatt’s Chelsea is subtly reminiscent of Lizabeth Scott in her hardened noir prime, but without any hanky-panky going on. Yet, the best work comes from Ed Harris and Amy Madigan as Vaughn’s devout parents. Thanks to them and screenwriter Andrew Zilch, the Vaughns are not moralizing caricatures. In fact, their faith and earnestness are ultimately quite beautiful and touching.

Frankly, Crooked Somebody works better as a grifter character study than a caper-con. Zilch’s narrative has a few reversals and betrayals, but it would need more to hang with the Ocean franchise and Mamet’s big con films. However, the characters are consistently intriguing and increasingly compelling as the stakes rise. Mercifully, it also avoids the “hey, maybe he’s suddenly psychic, after all” subplot, like it is the doomsday plague. Recommended as a modern, media-savvy Flim-Flam descendant, A Crooked Somebody opens this Friday (10/5) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

Angels Are Made Of Light (2018) NYFF 2018

Angels Are Made of Light follows the lives of several students and teachers in a Kabul. We watch as they go through their daily routine and ponder their lives and futures.

Good but kind bland film about life in a country at war. We watch the daily life of the various subjects while listening to their thoughts in voice over narration. It gives us insight into what is going on in their hearts but it never quite generates the necessary level of excitement, at least to support a two hour film.

The problem is the film is so very earnest in what it is doing and seeming so intent on being good it ends up being bland. In a weird way I got the sense that it wants to be a purely observational film and it stands back and outside a lot of what it is documenting. And yet there wasn’t enough insight into the various people so they added the voice overs. It’s beautiful to look at but it never is quite compelling.

While I like the film, watching it I get the feeling that the film has gotten slots at festivals such as Camden and New York not because the film is truly great but because the festivals have respect for James Longley, the film’s director. I say this because there are so many other better films out there that have not gotten a shot at the big stage but should have.

Recommended for those with interest in the subject but not for general audiences who are advised to look elsewhere.

A fast and loose list of 25 horror films to try for Halloween - I doubt you've seen most of these

With Halloween approaching and everyone making their lists of horror films you simply MUST SEE. The problem is everyone is hitting the same old titles- you know what I’m talking about- NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, HALLOWEEN, ALIEN, HEREDITARY, IT and on and on. If you went by the majority of these must see lists you’d see everything there is to see in one night and never know about the vast trove of horror films out there.

But there are literally thousands of films out there that you probably never heard of and which are way better than the lack of discussion about them would indicate. You have to keep in mind that the reason everyone keeps going back to the same old films is combination of laziness mixed with the big well know films are getting pushed. For whatever reason they had a PR machine behind them that could push them in everyone’s face. As a result you know Jason and Freddie ad nauseum and not a legion of other titles.

We have to correct that.

What follows is a list of 25 films that are largely off the beaten path, that we’ve reviewed in the last two years. While we have reviewed dozens more, these are the ones that are either the best of the bunch that aren’t the big well known titles or are interesting enough so as to be worth a look. I’m not going to pretend that they are all best of the best, that isn’t the case, but they are all worth a look. I've given each film a one line description and linked to the longer review. While you may not like everyone of these I think you'll find a few you'll really like.

Ultimately if you want a good horror film and you are on Netflix or Prime or one of the other streaming services look at the listing for horror and just start watching films - the best stuff is often hidden in under titles that you normally wouldn't try.

(And If you want even more recommendations for off the beaten horror films simply click on the horror tag in the sidebar and page through for hundreds of titles.)


THE BOOK OF BIRDIE - just hitting VOD is a creepy film about a young girl who is put into a convent by her grandmother. Part horror film, part fairy tale it is a film that is not like anything else you’ve probably seen.

WEREWOLF - on the festival circuit this Polish film is about a bunch of children just released from a concentration camp and the horrors of war. It will disturb you deeply.

ENDZEIT: EVER AFTER  another festival film about zombies that is not like anything you’ve seen before. Two women try to get to safety and find that the plague is the result of the earth in revolt.

SHOCKWAVES 1977 classic about undead Nazi soldiers coming back to kill people on an island paradise. A lot of fun and Peter Cushing too.

MANDY() Nick Cage in a wild and weird throwback horror film that is on VOD and in theaters.

END TRIP  a ride share driver is a serial killer in this small scale thriller

CARGO Martin Feeman is bitten by a zombie and has to get his daughter to safety. A great film on Netflix

THE ENDLESS  it may not completely work, but this tale of two brothers visiting the “death” cult they left years before has some creepy moments

THE DEMON  creepy realistic film about demonic possession. Great performances and stark black and white photography help build the chills

HOUSE OF DEMONS  Think a Vertigo comic book melded into a drive-in film in a film about time travel and cults.

TRENCH 11 military horror film about an abandoned secret base and the monsters that live there- its one of the best of the sub-genre

THE OLD DARK HOUSE  Classic horror film about a dark and stormy night and a weird family who opens their doors to travelers

THE VAULT  A bank robbery goes wrong...and James Franco has a solid role

RED CHRISTMAS   Psycho Killer on the loose with a twist- who the killer is not who anyone suspected

DEVIL’S GATE   The FBI goes to investigate the disappearance of a woman and her son and finds something much worse than they could have imagined

THE VOID   a cult opens up a gate to another dimension and things cross over

DON’T KILL IT  Dolph Lundgren is a demon hunter troubled by a demon that jumps from person to person if you kill its host. This film needs a sequel

BE AFRAID   what is the dark figure that appears in a small town driving people mad and dragging people away?

DELUSION   three years on a man gets a letter from his wife saying she will always be around.

DAY OF RECKONING  Demons rise up from the center of the earth in one of the few good found footage films

PARASITES () college kids go to skid row and end up being hunted

LADIES OF THE HOUSE () friends go home with a stripper only to find she and her housemates are cannibals.

WITHOUT NAME () A surveyor goes to an isolated house to map a forest and finds something weird in the woods.

INERASEABLE () is one of he scariest films I’ve ever seen. The story of a haunted house that becomes truly terrifying

THE WAILING ) Mostly one of the scariest films I’ve ever seen about a town where everyone is going nuts and the efforts to stop it which leads to a demon.

(And a big thank you to the great Ted Geoghagen for saying on Twitter how all the list cover the same five titles- Ted -your anger got me to do this list. I hope you approve.

And while we are talking Ted don't forget to see his WE ARE STILL HERE and MOHAWK for two very different types of horror films)

Your Face (2018) NYFF 2018

Tsai Ming-liang’s YOUR FACE  is a series shots of the faces of different people. Some speak some do not. While gazing we are asked to ponder these seemingly random people just by what we see in their face and eyes.

Not for all audiences, YOUR FACE is a film that will enthrall some people and annoy others. "Nothing" happens, and yet in the right mood everything seems to. This is a film that will get your brain turning and moving and trying to piece together who these people are simply by seeing their face. If you only like Hollywood blockbusters or spoon fed stories you are going to be bored, if you are looking for a film that is going to make you think about what you are seeing and come up with a conclusion that is most certainly different than what anyone else does this film is for you.

The images are accompanied by some work by Ryuichi Sakamoto which is so low key and unobtrusive that I had to go back and watch the film a second time specifically to try and hear it.

If you are interested in films that are not cookie cutter, atypical and make you work YOUR FACE is highly recommended.

11 X 14 (1977) NYFF 2018

65 individual shots across America.

This is a film you will either click with or not. Simply unconnected shots arranged in some sort of order this is film you either go with to find your own deeper meaning or you go to sleep to with it's often static" nature.  To be certain some shots are more thrilling, the 10 minute extended take looking out of a Chicago elevated train for example, others are simply sort of there, the gas station at night that follows the subway.

I'm not going to pretend to know how you are going to react to this film. I was up and down with it. Some bits I loved, others I hated. This is not my normal cup of tea but I was given the chance to see it so I did.

If you like to see things more on the avant garde side of film give it a shot. Other wise take a pass.

Nate Hood on Burning (2018) NYFF2018

The characters in Haruki Murakami stories are some of the most reactive in the modern literary canon—they spend much of their time puttering around until inadvertently encountering something (or someone) strange or otherworldly which challenges the nature of reality. His books and stories can require incredible patience, not just for their intimidating length, but for their leisurely pace.

In that light, it’s almost a cosmic punchline that Lee Chang-dong’s Burning, an adaptation of Murakami’s short story “Barn Burning,” would stretch six pages of source material into almost two-and-a-half hours of runtime. Burning might be the best cinematic adaptation of Murakami yet, if not in terms of actual quality, then in fidelity to his work’s texture, mood, and pacing: in addition to nailing the superficial reoccurring details of his work (e.g. explicit, nonchalant sexuality; kitty cats!), it captures his trademark existential anxieties (e.g. the impossibility for alienated young people to truly fit into the collectivist societies of Southeast Asia; kitty cats!).

A slow-burn thriller if ever there was one, the film follows disaffected twentysomething farmer Jong-su (Yoo Ah-in) as he falls in love with old childhood friend Hae-mi (Jeon Jong-seo) after accidentally running into her. His feelings are tested after Hae-mi, an impulsive free spirit in the mould of so many of Murakami’s female love interests, traipses off to Africa for a vacation and meets Ben (Steven Yeun), a rich playboy with an unusual hobby involving fire. After Hae-mi mysteriously disappears, Jong-su begins a fateful—and potentially fatal—private investigation to find her.

There’s maybe only an hour of plot in Burning; the rest is either filler or sequences stretched to interminable length for the sake of interminable length. Much like Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, the 2016 NYFF cause célèbre, it could easily lose an hour of irrelevant subplots and sequences of characters literally wandering throughout the countryside. The film’s point is to create intense ambiguity—but certainly this can be done in a tight hundred minutes.

Are Lee’s methods here faithful to Murakami? Yes. Do they translate to a good movie? Maybe. Austere, brilliantly acted, and punctuated with flashes of genius (a sequence where a stoned Jeon dances topless in front of a sunset is one of the most beautiful and hypnotic of 2018) one’s appreciation for Burning will depend on one’s patience for tedium.

Rating: 7/10

Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin To Perform Iconic Score Live During Suspiria Screening

MILWAUKEE – Thursday, October 4, 2018 – Milwaukee Film is excited to welcome Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin to the Oriental Theatre as they perform the live score for Dario Argento’s Suspiria. The cult-classic horror film was originally scored by the Italian progressive rock band and remains one of the most recognizable and evocative film scores of all time. This special one-off screening is presented in partnership with Milwaukee Record and WMSE 91.7.

Following a young American dancer as she attends a prestigious, and mysterious, German dance school, Suspiria quickly transports audiences into a surreal tale as strange as it is unnerving.The film has received wide critical acclaim since its initial release in 1977 due to the influential use of vivid colors and lighting, along with the haunting score created by keyboardist Claudio Simonetti and his band Goblin.

“Suspiria is arguably the best known feature from Italian giallo-horror master Dario Argento, rightly lauded for its intensely saturated technicolor visuals and memorably off-kilter soundtrack,” states Justin Hamilton, Milwaukee Film’s guest and alumni manager, who programmed the unique screening. “The film’s nightmare-like psychedelic style remains iconic to this day, with Argento’s influence on full display in the works of David Lynch and Nicolas Winding Refn. Adding to the one-of-a-kind experience is a prog-rock soundtrack so beloved it’s been sampled from Wu Tang to A$AP Mob, making this a cult-classic unlike any other.”

Tickets for Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin Performs Suspiria are on sale now and available at orientaltheatremke.com.

EVENT INFORMATION

EVENT: Claudio Simonetti’s Goblin Performs Suspiria

WHERE: Oriental Theatre Milwaukee

DATE: Saturday, November 17, 2018

TIME: 9 PM (doors open at 8 PM)

PRICE: $30 Milwaukee Film members

$35 advance tickets

$40 at the door

###

About Milwaukee Film

Milwaukee Film is a nonprofit arts organization dedicated to entertaining, educating, and engaging our community through cinematic experiences, with a vision to make Milwaukee a center for film culture. The organization is one of the largest of its kind in the country, with over 4,000 members and 84,000 festival attendees. Milwaukee Film recently launched the Milwaukee Filmmaker Alliance, an industry pillar with over 350 members dedicated to stimulating and growing the filmmaking economy in southeastern Wisconsin. In addition, Milwaukee Film operates the magnificent Oriental Theatre, a historic three-screen cinema committed to high-quality and accessible film and education programming. The 10th Annual Milwaukee Film Festival will take place from October 18 - November 1, 2018. For more information, or to become a member, visit us online at mkefilm.org.

 

Facebook: OrientalTheatreMKE | Twitter: @TheOrientalMKE | Instagram: @OrientalTheatreMKE

About the Milwaukee Film Board of Directors

Milwaukee Film’s independent board is made up of the following members: Chris Abele (Past Board Chair); John P. Bania; Donna Baumgartner; Elizabeth Brenner; Karen Ellenbecker; Alexander P. Fraser; Cecelia Gore; Bill Haberman (Past Board Chair); Susan Haise; Katie Heil; Patti Keating Kahn (Board Chair Elect); Tracey L. Klein (Immediate Past Board Chair); Michael G. Klein; Michael J. Koss Jr.; Mary Ann LaBahn; Alexander Lasry; Steve Laughlin (Past Board Chair); Emilia Layden; Michael R. Lovell; Marianne Lubar; Mark Mone; Kenneth W. Muth; Barry Poltermann; Bob Pothier; John Ridley; Joseph A. Rock; Ramona Rogers-Windsor; Lacey Sadoff; Dave Stamm; Julia Taylor; John Utz; Emeritus members: Tom Barrett; Jacqueline Strayer

DREAM OF A CITY (2018) NYFF 2018

DREAM OF A CITY confounds me.

Filled with images of New York City from sixty years ago, the film stuns the eye with almost every shot. It’s marriage to a largely classical soundtrack often raises the stakes and yet by the half way point I was largely done. For all it does right the pacing is off and it never quite builds to anything.

Filled with 16mm footage that director Manfred Kirchheimer and his friend Walter Hess shot the film is structured around the building of some skyscraper near the Empire State Building. The film then breaks off to show us street life and other places in the city before returning to the construction site. The images are often glorious and are the sort of images that will stay with you forever.

The problem is that most of the first half of the film is the construction, and while it’s fascinating to see the difference in how things are done (there are no barricades and people are effectively watching mere inches from the workers) but there is simply too much of it. How many whirling steam shovels can we watch? The film shifts away from that in the second half but the damage is done and the spell is broken. Yes it returns for an image or a sequence but mostly the film becomes something that is nice over all but nowhere near as glorious as the individual images.

I like the film but I don’t love it. I love the pieces, the images, the Sinatra joke and the parts much more than the film as a whole.

Is the film worth seeing? If you can see it big and without distractions yes, the images are truly breathtaking. However if you can’t see it big it’s less necessary.

DREAM OF A CITY plays October 6 and 8 with the feature CARMINE STREET GUITARS at the New York Film Festival

The Grand Bizarre (2018) NYFF 2018

Impossible to full describe mix of animation, experiment, travelogue and head trip Jodie Mack's THE GRAND BIZARRE is one of the finds of the New York Film Festival.

The film is a heady mix of styles ashed together to create a one of a kind cineamtic head space as textiles dance around the screen as Mack travels around the globe. This is a film you watch on a BIG screen in the dark and fall into for an hour to go somewhere else and to think thoughts you've never had before.

I can't explain what this film is like only implore the adventurous of you to seek this film out and give it a look.

One of the must sees of this year's NYFF.

Happy as Lazzaro (2018) NYFF 2018

Alice Rohrwacher's HAPPY AS LAZZARO is an intriguing, if not always successful parable or religious allegory about a holy innocent who lives on an estate unaware that he is being exploited by everyone around him. Saint-like, he takes everyone as they come which leads to complications.

Two part tale begins as a kind of rich exploiting the poor tale during which innocent Lazzaro is put upon by everyone around him. He is everyone's friend, despite their having him do all the work. Things go sideways when a prank goes wrong and it is discovered that the Marquise has been keeping the people working for her in a kind of slavery from which they are accidentally released. The film then shifts decades into the future when Lazzaro returns unchanged and encounters those he left behind living on the edge of society. It is here that we get into the religious parable at it's heart.

A full confession I didn't realize who Alice Rohrwacher was. I thought she was a different director, having completely forgotten that she directed CORPO CELESTE, a film a despise so much I've refused to see any of her films ever after. Had I known that I would have skipped the film...thus missing an intriguing little film, and one of the few Main Slate films at the New York Film Festival that belongs on there.

A sly and rambling tale, HAPPY AS LAZZARO is not perfect. The pastoral Marxist first half of the film is intriguing with it's view of the dynamics of society. As good as it is it kind of runs out of steam because there is a point where the story has no where to go, something happens to the title character and the film begins to go odd when the police arrive and find out that everyone has been kept as a kind of slave. What do?

Rohrwacher jumps ahead thirty or so years and turns everything into a holy innocent or holy idiot tale as Lazzaro shows up unchanged in a world even more dark and cynical than before. Its a direction change that some how works and makes us sit up and take notice. While it holds our attention and makes us ponder the mystical, I'm not entirely sure it adds up to much largely because the final scene is another out of left field turn that seems to exist simply to give the film the ending Rohrwacher wanted or needed when the running time had come. While I know that has to be the ending for the parable to align with the tales of the saints, it's placement feels random and out of place. As a result I don't know what I feel about the film.

Reservations aside I do recommend the film as something that will make you ponder  a great deal more than your navel.

Carmine Street Guitars (2018) NYFF 2018

I regularly go to Carmine Street in Manhattan because there are several restaurants there that I love to  share with friends. In all the many trips I've made I've never really noticed the small non-script guitar store that resides there. However after seeing the film about it you can be damn sure that I will be visiting it just to see the wonders produced there.

CARMINE STREET GUITARS is a "week" in the titled guitar shop during which owner Rick Kelly, his apprentice Cindy Hulej and Kelly's 93 year old mother Dorothy during which they make guitars and hang out with the likes of Bill Frisell, Jim Jarmusch , Marc Ribot, and too many others to mention. Over the course the conversations we get a sense of how Rick works, why so many people love his guitars and how he is keeping parts of old New York alive through using old wood.

I love this film. This is just good time with great people talking about something thay have a deep passion for, while playing some occasional bit of music. This was manna from heaven for me, a man who loves great conversation.

Rick Kelly and Cindy Hulej

Part documentary, part staged conversation, any sense that this isn't really a day in the life disappears once everyone begins to talk. Nothing seems forced or out of place. It's just people lost in good conversation.

One of the things that clicked with me as a New Yorker and history buff was Rick Kelly's drive to connect with his past. Kelly is constantly searching out pieces of wood from old New York Buildings to make guitars out of. There is something about the the old wood that enhances the sound the guitar makes  so he is constantly trying to get really old wood to work with. (Not in the film, but in the press notes is the fact that Jim Jarmusch was the man behind Kelly's quest)

Another thing I loved about the film is the passion everyone has. Watching everyone talk and play and create you feel their love of their art  bleeding off the screen. We watch the guitars come into being and musicians play them and it all looks so easy. Cindy and Rick bang out their guitars as if it is nothing- and yet we know it isn't. We watch the various musicians just whip off a song and we know it's not that simple- they are just doing what they love and what they have been doing for years and the love makes us love the film and its subject even more.

When the film was done I wanted to go down to Carmine Street and hang out in the shop. While I know I could never afford anything they sell, I just wanted to be there when more wondrous things happened.

This was the first great film I saw from the New York Film Festival and it's another addition to my favorite films of the year.

An absolute delight and highly recommended.

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018) NYFF 2018

Bi Gan's LONG DAY"S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT is an ethereal mess. The film about a man searching for a woman who meant something to him in his youth and who is seemingly drifting in and out of memory and time before falling asleep in a movie. Once he falls asleep the film becomes a 3D single take dream that rehashes everything we've seen in the previous hour to no real purpose.

It is telling that all anyone talks about concerning this film is the hour long 3D sequence. No one really talks about the plot only the single take sequence that spins around and around a small village. It's also telling that they talk about the technical virtuosity of the sequence and not what happens in it. Clearly no one really cares about the plot.

Personally I found the whole film a mess. The plot is a jumble and makes almost no sense. Yes it all looks and sounds good but that is all. As for the 3D sequence it's really not that good and looks like a cheap TV production especially when compared to the lush images in the first half. It is all sound and fury signifying nothing... except a wasted evening.

More cinematic tone poem than neon noir, LONG DAYS JOURNEY is a long dull haul best enjoyed by those who prefer form over content and pretension over meaning.

Roi Soleil by Albert Serra NYFF 2018

Albert Serra's hour long record of a performance piece done in Lisbon he directed. It is simply actor Lluís Serrat dressed as  Louis XIV wandering an around or lying on the floor of a room with red lighting moaning.  He moans hoy or oy or roi or some variation for an hour or so. For most of the film we are alone with the king and then right before he dies the audience wanders in.

I suspect most people are going to find it tedious or silly. I found it silly. I suspect that is part of the point- but at the same time I want to shake Serra and ask him if he is really serious about this. He probably is.  Which is fine, I mean you want to make pretentious twaddle go for it but asking people to pay for this?

I can't recommend any one paying for this sort of thing, but if you are curious here are a list of the big things that happen and the time they occur.

It begins with Louis standing in a room in the distance. He just moans
5 minutes in a close up of his back
about 8 minutes in he looks in a mirror preening while on the floor
11 minutes in shot in the mirror
12 candy dish groaning stops until he eats too much and lies down
Eats more then lies down
20 minutes slurps through a tube that goes nowhere
25 minutes dropper of medicine
28 minutes clearsthroat
33 minute in we see he has one black foot/leg- or is it a sock?
38 minutes we see a crack in the floor
44 minutes someone wanders in
45 minutes all sorts of people wander in (its a performance piece after all)
47 minutes music is finally heard
48 minutes he dies and people watch him laying there
59 minutes in two people come down and check on him and find he's dead
60 minutes in lights out applause (in the film)

ROI SOLEIL plays at the NYFF and is only for a select audience or those with insomnia

Wildlife(2018) NYFF 2018

Paul Dano's adaption of the Richard Ford novel is a good little film. It is a solid literary adaption that will hold your interest even if it will eventually fade from your memory.

In 1960 a family moves to Montana in search of a new start. When dad Jake Gyllenhaal loses his job his wife and son step up to keep money coming in. Things become complicated when Dad takes a job fighting the wild fire that are devouring the forests nearby. His wife, Cary Mulligan, soon realizes that she may not want to be there any more. As their teen age son tries to navigate a new school he is forced to watch as his mother drifts away from the person he always knew.

Small lovingly made film is the sort of drama that is the sort of film that will big hit with critics and festivals. Its deep, meaningful and while entertaining it is the sort of film that is going to be forgotten by next year because most people don't really want to see this sort of a film.  I don't say that out of cruelty or dislike, its simply that most American audiences don't want smart literary adaptions no matter how good. (I wish this film wan't playing at the New York Film festival because it wouldn't have the baggage and expectations connected to playing at the festival)

Driven by four sterling performances WILDLIFE is a solid little film. It is the cinematic equivalent to reading a really good novel. When the film is done you know you've seen something. Its very meaty and satisfying. I went into the film not really wanting to see it and came out  delighted I had seen it.

WILDLIFE is solid little drama and highly recommended.

The Book of Birdie (2017)

The Award winning THE BOOK OF BIRDIE hits VOD today and it's a strange trip into a a dark fairy tale realm.

Birdie is a teenage girl who bleeds mysteriously. Her grandmother is unable to care for her and leaves her in the care of the sisters in a convent. There she makes the acquaintance of the daughter of the groundskeeper. Things begin to go weird when the convent is suddenly slated for closing and choices have to be made.

One of a kind fairy tale is full of emotion and unease. Thanks to stellar filmmaking and a perfect use of Catholic imagery THE BOOK OF BIRDIE is one of the most uncomfortable films you'll see all year.As the film goes on the cool imagery such as the hanging nun that Birdie talks to goes from that's cool to some how disturbing. The universe of the film, no matter how cool it looks is just really off and it wears us down and gives us nightmares.

While perhaps not a film filled with shock scares it it a film that is much more insidious in that it invades our brains and stays with us long after the final credits roll. I saw this right before bed and the imagery drifted into my dreams and haunted me all the next day.

Recommended for anyone who wants something more than your typical hack slash horror and instead wants a thoughtful fever dream of a film

Non-Fiction (2018) NYFF 2018

Any Olivier Assayas film playing the New York Film Festival is a must for me. His CARLOS was the first thing I ever covered as a member of the press  in 2010. As a result any film of his that plays the fest is one I will attend.

This year's offering is NON-FICTION starring Juliet Binoche. The film is the story of Binoche who plays an actress, her husband who is a book publisher, one of his authors and the author's wife. As the couples have affairs and go through life they discuss the state of the world, publishing both as hard copies and digital ebooks,  and the state of  humanity in the digital world.

NON-FICTION is an odd film. Nominally a romantic comedy of sorts, most of the talk is actually about ideas. This is the rare film where people are actually talking about ideas in an intelligent way. While some writers have argued that the discussions are dated by a year or so, I really didn't mind because the film acts as a kind of snap shot of where we were when the film was made. Additionally I simply loved that we have adults talking rationally about serious subjects. I didn't need it to be exactly of the moment since the talk of making everything digital and things like how binge watching is effecting our viewing habits are still relevant. What is weird is that the romance kind of takes a back seat to the ideas.

As for the romance, it's well handled. More a question of who is having an affair with whom, the film reveals itself to be a very light bedroom farce of sorts. While not quite perfect, everyone is a bit too forgiving about the affairs, it still remains entertaining. Besides any film that has a big unkempt guy being able to capture the heart of someone as beautiful and intelligent as Binoche keeps the hope alive that I too can find someone special.

While I know some people will want more romance and less talk, for me the mix was perfect and I enjoyed the hell out of this film to the point that I am planning on adding the film to my collection down the road.

This is a wonderful mix for the head and the heart and is heartily recommended.

Ash is Purest White (2018) NYFF 2018

Jia Zhangke's ASH IS PUREST WHITE is nominally a gangster film. It is actually the arc of a relationship between a young woman  and her gangster boyfriend over an 18 year period.

Qiao is an important part of the life of her boyfriend Bin's life. She acts in his behalf and takes care of things that have to be taken care of. She is given a great deal of respect by the other gangsters. When Bin, Qiao and their men are beaten up by a gang of young toughs on motorcycles she pulls an illegal gun and saves everyone's life. This ends up sending her to prison for five years. However when she gets out Bin is nowhere to be found. Qiao then goes off to investigate why.

This is a  solid and intriguing drama about a very complex relationship of the sort you don't see in most films. Rarely do we ever see a film which doesn't end in either happily ever after or utter heartbreak. This is something else entirely as we see that there is more to romance than just being in love. Pride, history and a whole boatload of emotions are involved. This is the sort of film that only Zhangke could make.

However since this is a Zhangke film it also has some of his less positive traits. First the film is very much set in the China where Zhangke lives. This isn't a bad thing because it makes the film very much alive, however like TOUCH OF SIN and MOUNTAINS MAY DEPART there are shades to the film that are only apparent if you are Chinese. There are nuances to the politics, references  and society that make ore sense if you share his view of the world.

The other problem with the film is it runs almost two and a half hours and it feels it. While much happens in the film, there is a point where you realize that there isn't enough to support a film of this length. This is ultimately a love story but not a strong enough one to run as long as it does.

However this being a Jia Zhangke film quibbles are pointless. No one is attempting to do the things that the master is doing.

 As with all Zhangke films ASH IS PUREST WHITE is recommended.

Studio 54 opens Friday

With STUDIO 54 opening Friday in theaters here is a repost of my brief review from this years Tribeca.

Ian Schrager breaks his silence to tell the story of Studio 54.

Sold to me as the definitive story of the legendary night club by someone associated with the film, its more like a glitzy coffee table book that looks great and lacks complete substance beyond the surface. Other than the frankness and the uncensored pictures there isn't much that we haven't seen before.

Yes I was entertained but I didn't come out feeling as though I really learned anything new.

Decidedly good but not definitive.

Monrovia, Indiana (2018) NYFF 2018

Frederick Wiseman's latest film is a portrait of the titled town. Over the course of 143 minutes we get to visit the farms, the businesses and government of the town.

Sitting down to write this review the one thing that stuck in my head was that this was very much like a Wiseman film. It shows us life as it is lived which means it drifts between rapturous and deadly dull (sorry the Masons' ceremony had me nodding off).

Other than describing what we see in the film I really couldn't come up with anything to say beyond that. To me this is beautiful depiction of life being lived but for me I didn't get any sort of deeper meaning. That is not a knock more that sometimes it is impossible to review life.  MONROVIA INDIANA is life.

If you are a fan of observational documentaries then MONROVIA INDIANA is a must. As with most of Frederick Wiseman's films- this is as good as it gets.