January and February film programs at the Japan Society

Japan Society Presents Two-Day Marathon Screenings
of Recently Restored Six-Part Samurai Film Series

*Plus Jan/Feb Film Screening Announcements

The Complete Lone Wolf and Cub

Friday & Saturday, January 25 & 26, 2019, at Japan Society

© Katsu Pro.; Toho Co., Ltd. / Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril

New York, NY – Among the most beloved genre film series in Japanese cinema, the Lone Wolf and Cub introduced the iconic sword-wielding, baby cart-pushing father-son duo to the world with six films made in 1972-74, capturing the imaginations of samurai film fans for over forty years. Adapted from the mega popular manga series by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima, Lone Wolf and Cub features the adventures of itinerant sword for hire Itto Ogami (Tomisaburo Wakayama), who is forced to embark on the revenge-driven road to Hell with his infant son Daigoro in tow after he is wrongly accused of treason and stripped of his position as the Shogun’s executioner. Produced by Katsu Productions (founded by Wakayama’s brother Shintaro Katsu, famous for starring in the Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsmanfilm series from 1962-73) and featuring some of the era’s most talented chanbara filmmakers, Lone Wolf and Cub is Japanese genre filmmaking at its bloody best, each entry replete with bold visual style and brilliant action choreography.

With the two-day NYC premiere marathon presentation The Complete Lone Wolf and Cub, Japan Society screens recent 2K restorations of all six films in sequential order, on Friday January 25 and Saturday January 26.

"The Lone Wolf and Cub series contains some of the best sword-slinging, Buddhist-sutra-spouting samurai fiction ever committed to celluloid, enriched with the beauty of Japan’s natural landscape and seasoned with the vulgarity of its pop entertainment." — The Current

SCREENING SCHEDULE & DESCRIPTIONS

All films are shown on 2K DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. These films are unrated, but not recommended for persons younger than 18 years of age due to excessive violence and graphic sexual content. 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Sword of Vengeance (Kozure Ookami: Ko o Kashi Ude Kashi Tsukamatsuru)

Friday, January 25 at 7 PM

1972, 83 min. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Fumio Watanabe, Tomoko Mayama. 

In this classic first film in the Lone Wolf series, the fearsome former executioner Itto Ogami takes on an assassination job in a remote hot springs area filled with murderous outlaws. Penned by the original manga writer Kazuo Koike and directed by chanbara director extraordinaire Kenji Misumi, Sword of Vengeanceintroduces the iconic father-son duo and their battle against the duplicitous Yagyu clan, setting the tone for the entire series with blood-spewing decapitations and unforgettable action sequences.

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (Kozure Ookami: Sanzu no Kawa no Ubaguruma)

Friday, January 25 at 8:45 PM

1972, 81 min. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Mayo Matsuo, Minoru Oki. 

Itto Ogami and Daigoro continue to get hounded by the Yagyu clan as they travel the countryside, set upon by a deadly female ninja and the spiked weapon-wieldingHidari Brothers. In a touching father-son moment, the battered Ogami survives thanks to Daigoro’s love and ingenuity. A fan favorite entry in the series featuring flying limbs and geysers of blood, this second film makes up a large majority of Shogun Assassin, the 1980 recut and dubbed U.S. release of the franchise. 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart to Hades (Kozure Ookami: Shinikazeni-mukau Ubaguruma)

Saturday, January 26 at 3 PM

1972, 89 min. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Go Kato, Yuko Hama. 

In the thrilling third film, set in the sweltering summer heat, Itto Ogami displays extraordinary virtue and self-discipline when he endures torture to protect a young woman sold to a brothel by local yakuza (who eventually hire him). Later, in a thrilling battle against an army of soldiers, Ogami reveals the true power of his baby cart and its arsenal of hidden weapons. Finally, he ruminates on the true “Way of the Warrior” after a duel with a formidable former samurai (Go Kato). 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in Peril (Kozure Ookami: Oyano Kokoro Kono Kokoro)

Saturday, January 26 at 4:45 PM

1972, 81 min. Directed by Buichi Saito. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Yoichi Hayashi, Michi Azuma. 

For the fourth installment in the series, the last released in 1972, director Kenji Misumi (who directed the first three films) relinquishes the director’s chair to veteran genre director Buichi Saito. As the Yagyu clan continues to pursue him, Ogami accepts a job to assassinate the tattoo-clad killer Oyuki (Michi Azuma), who has been cutting off her victims’ topknots. Meanwhile, Daigoro gets lost and has a melancholic musical interlude in the rain. 

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart in the Land of Demons (Kozure Ookami: Meifumado)

Saturday, January 26 at 6:45 PM

1973, 89 min. Directed by Kenji Misumi. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Michiyo Yasuda, Shingo Yamashiro. 

Kenji Misumi returns to direct the fifth Lone Wolf film, but long-time producer Shintaro Katsu (Zatoichi) leaves the responsibility to his brother and series star Tomisaburo Wakayama. In this next chapter, five disguised messengers test Ogami’s skills in a series of surprise attacks, gradually revealing the information he needs for his next assignment: to kill a revered Buddhist priest. Replete with Buddhist philosophy, this penultimate film taps into the spiritual aspect of Ogami’s journey for revenge. 

Lone Wolf and Cub: White Heaven in Hell (Kozure Ookami: Jigoku e Ikuzo! Daigoro)

Saturday, January 26 at 8:30 PM

1974, 83 min. Directed by Yoshiyuki Kuroda. With Tomisaburo Wakayama, Akihiro Tomikawa, Junko Hitomi, Goro Mutsumi. 

In the final film of the Lone Wolf and Cub series, star and producer Tomisaburo Wakayama is given almost complete creative control and runs with it to extreme ends, bringing in director Yoshiyuki Kuroda. The final battle—10 minutes long and involving undead assassins and an army of skiing ninjas—is one of the greatest action sequences in the franchise in terms of its epic scale and cost (taking a month and half to shoot). In the conclusion to their quest, Ogami and Daigoro share a moment of quiet profundity. 

Series Admission: $14/$11 seniors & students/$10 Japan Society members. 2-Film Pass: Purchase tickets for two different Lone Wolf and Cub films in the same transaction and receive $2 off each ticket. All Access Pass: $36 for all six films. Tickets may be purchased online at japansociety.org, in person at Japan Society, or by calling the box office at 212-715-1258.

≥≥ ADDITIONAL JANUARY FILM SCREENING

Monthly Classics: Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters                                                                         

Friday, January 11 at 7 PM

1985, 121 min., DCP, color and b&w, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Paul Schrader. With Ken Ogata, Kenji Sawada, Yoshiyuki Nagashima, YasosukeBando. 

This unconventional, visually stunning biopic directed by Paul Schrader (presented in a new 4K restoration) deconstructs the life and work of Japanese writer and outspoken ultranationalist Yukio Mishima—who famously killed himself in a public act of seppuku (ritual suicide) after he failed to incite a military coup—through a dazzling assemblage of biographical dramatization and extravagantly stylized interpretations of his fiction. This screening is presented in conjunction with the current Japan Society exhibition Yasumasa Morimura: Ego Obscura, which runs through January 13. In his artistic exploration of postwar Japanese history, Morimura has repeatedly transformed himself into Mishima, including works featured in the exhibition. 

Tickets: $14/$11 seniors and students/$5 Japan Society members.

≥≥ FEBRUARY FILM SCREENINGS

Monthly Classics: The Ballad of Narayama (Narayama Bushiko)                                                             

Friday, February 8 at 7 PM

1983, 131 min., DCP, color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Shohei Imamura. With Ken Ogata, Sumiko Sakamoto, Tonpei Hidari, Takejo Aki. 

Shohei Imamura's 1983 Palme d'Or-winning masterpiece is set in a remote mountain village in 19th-century Japan wherein tradition dictates that those who reach the age of 70 must be carried to the top of Mount Narayama and left to die. Despite her hardscrabble surroundings, Orin (Sumiko Sakamoto) is still sprightly at 69, working the fields and managing her family's affairs. Even so, when winter returns to the valley, she demands that her eldest son (Ken Ogata) carry out her fate. A film full of mud, lust, sweat and death, Narayama is a grand culmination of Imamura's career-long interest in "the lower part of the human body and lower part of the social structure," presented in a brand-new 4K restoration. 

Tickets: $14/$11 seniors and students/$5 Japan Society members.

Special Screening: Tomoyasu Murata: Stop Motion Master                                         

Saturday, February 23 at 3, 5 & 7 PM

2000-2017. Approx. 84 min. DCP. Written, directed and animated by Tomoyasu Murata. 

One of Japan's most prolific independent animation artists, Tomoyasu Murata (b. 1974, Tokyo) has created breathtaking, boundary-breaking stop motion animated films over the last two decades. Initially inspired by the expressive power of traditional Japanese bunraku puppet theater, Murata's films—at once tender, whimsical and mysterious—deal with themes of memory, absence and mujo (the Buddhist concept of impermanence) through the cinematic manipulation of his meticulously handcrafted puppets and fantastical miniature sets. The eight short films in this program range from the artist's award-winning student work to recent projects that respond to the Great East Japan Earthquake. 

Tickets: $14/$11 seniors and students/$10 Japan Society members.

Japan Society Film offers a diverse selection of Japanese films, from classics to contemporary independent productions. Its aim is to entertain, educate and support activities in the Society's arts and culture programs. For more, visit japansociety.org/film.

Founded in 1907, Japan Society in New York City presents sophisticated, topical and accessible experiences of Japanese art and culture, and facilitates the exchange of ideas, knowledge and innovation between the U.S. and Japan. More than 200 events annually encompass world-class exhibitions, dynamic classical and cutting-edge contemporary performing arts, film premieres and retrospectives, workshops and demonstrations, tastings, family activities, language classes, and a range of high-profile talks and expert panels that present open, critical dialogue on issues of vital importance to the U.S., Japan and East Asia.

Japan Society is located at 333 East 47th Street between First and Second avenues (accessible by the 4/5/6 and 7 subway at Grand Central or the E and M subway at Lexington Avenue). For more information, call 212-832-1155 or visit japansociety.org.

Japan Society’s Film Programs are generously supported by the Lila Wallace-Reader’s Digest Endowment Fund. Additional season support is provided by The Globus Family, Masu Hiroshi Masuyama, James Read Levy, Geoff Matters, David S. Howe, Dr. Tatsuji Namba, Mr. and Mrs. Omar H. Al-Farisi, LaurelGonsalves, and Akiko Koide and Shohei Koide.

Iranian Film Festival HENDI & HORMOZ, THE TALE OF THE SEA and PIG

Starting Thursday, and running to the 15th, at the IFC Center in is the First Iranian Film Festival New York. Because there are so many good films I present some short reviews to help you decide what to see. (Though to be honest they are all good so just buy tickets here)

HENDI & HORMOZ
Aching and achingly beautiful film concerns a 16 year old living in a coastal village who talks his way into a marriage with the girl of his dreams. He has sworn up and down that he will be able to support her by getting a job in the mines, but the job isn’t there and he is forced to take questionable employment in order to support his bride. A film of great beauty and power HENDI & HORMOZ is film that you disappear into. Living painting the film sucks us in and drags us along into the lives of a couple of kids who clearly have the deck stacked against them. An early entry in the most beautiful films you’ll see in 2019 the film is best seen on the big screen where its visual story telling will kick you to the curb.
Highly recommended. (This film screens January 11)

THE TALE OF THE SEA
A writer thrown in depression by his witnessing an terrible event, is returned home after a stay in the hospital where visions and reality mix into a troubling brew. A great looking film is a bit too lyric in it’s presentation for my taste. As compelling as the idea of a patient finding the real world more frightening than the hospital is, the execution is much too literary and formal. Everything always looks perfect and the discussions seem more constructions than real life. It’s not bad but it pales in comparison to some of the other films playing at the festival.(This is the Opening Night Film and screens January 10

PIG
To be completely honest I don’t know what I think of Pig. This is a bold, violent pitch black comedy about a banned film director caught up in the search for a serial killer beheading film directors is not like most other films I’ve seen, especially from Iran. The t-shirt clad lead is a rude crude individual and the people around him are a collection of truly one of a kind characters. The humor runs the gamut of styles but is often very uncomfortable as someone is always behaving badly. To say that the film smacked me in the face with an unexpected slap is an understatement. I stared at the screen for much of the film’s running time wondering how the film got made in Iran since this is not the sort of film I associate with the country. An offbeat, off kilter gem- the film is very highly recommended to anyone who really wants to go away from the typical-and I mean that about films from anywhere not just Iran. This is one of the great films of the Iranian Film Fest and highly recommended. (This film screens January 11)

For tickets and more information go here.

Nate Hood on the great Buffalo Boys which opens Friday

Whatever the intention of the individual filmmakers, the Western genre has always been one about the triumph of colonialism. Despite the genre's preoccupations with justice, personal honor, and rugged individualism, America's westward expansion necessitated the displacement of native peoples and the exploitation of immigrant populations, usually at the point of a gun. It's a bloody, brutal history sanitized through literal decades of whitewashing and cultural sanitization. But it's because of all this that Mike Wiluan's Buffalo Boys is such an odd and exciting surprise—an Indonesian Western that borrows wholesale the visual trappings and thematic touchstones of John Ford, Sergio Leone, and Sam Peckinpah to tell a defiant story of gory colonial revolt.

Set in 1860, the film follows two gun-slinging brothers—Jamar (Ario Bayu) and Suwo (Yoshi Sudarso)—as they return to their ancestral homeland after growing up in the wilds of California to avenge their father, an Indonesian sultan murdered by a cruel Dutch overseer named Van Trach (Reinout Bussemaker). Traveling with their elderly uncle Arana (Tio Pakusadewo), they embark on a perilous quest taking them through a countryside ravaged by Dutch exploitation: of families massacred for growing food crops instead of opium; of company-branded children; of roaming bands of criminals allowed to rape and pillage in exchange for keeping Van Trach's peace; of barely pubescent girls forced into sex slavery. Van Trach's right-hand man, a pitiless "half-breed" enforcer with a silver six-shooter and superhuman aim, even feels like a direct nod to the stoic and silent gunslingers of Clint Eastwood and Franco Nero.

The majority of the film takes place in a Dutch settlement ripped straight from Poverty Row, complete with a swinging-door saloon with a tack piano and petticoated prostitutes. But Wiluan never loses his ultimate focus: the brothers have arrived to enact brutal, apocalyptic revenge on murderous imperialists.

The film's overly long second act is an emotional endurance test for audiences as Wiluan graphically details every imaginable horror inflicted upon native Indonesians, complete with scenes of whipping and rape lifted wholesale from American slave narratives. But these sequences are also an endurance test for the audience's patience. Both brothers spend a good 15-20 minutes of screen-time watching said atrocities take place no more than 10 feet away from them while in disguise, leaving the audience wanting to scream "Do something!" in their stunned, stupid faces. There are times where their impotent inaction seems less like appropriate character responses than poor screenwriting designed to prolong Wiluan's indulgent torture-porn. But when the action kicks back in it does so with a fury.


The last third is a superb rollercoaster of expertly shot and choreographed shootouts, fistfights, and open warfare. All complaints about the plodding second act go right out the window at the sight of two Indonesian cowboys riding water buffalo into an enemy encampment as an Ennio Morricone electric guitar twangs in the background.

Rating: 8/10

It should also be noted that the film has spawned a sequel series which will play on HBO Asia.

Festival season starts this week - a joint curtain raiser for The First Look Fest, The NY Jewish Film Festival and the first Iranian Film Festival New York (plus notes on the rest of the year)

The film year 2019 is beginning with three festivals in New York City (That I’m aware of) this week. Basically we are going from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye.

Normally the Museum of the Moving Image’s First Look Festival is the first fest out of the box but this year its playing at the same time as two other festivals. As this posts I haven’t really had a chance to wade into the festival ( Though I saw two films PUTIN’S WITNESSES and YOUNG SOLITUDE this past September at the Camden Film Fest- I’m reposting the reviews) but the hardest working man in film criticism Joe Bendel has some pieces ready to go and I am hoping to catch a few more this week. Reports will come as we see things. (Tickets here )

I have only begun to wade into the New York Jewish Film Festival but as they have done every year that I’ve attended they are responsible for screening the first truly great films you’ll see all year. Trust me on this the films they are screening will stick in your head and end up on your year-end lists. I particularly loved CHASING PORTRAITS about the director trying to find her great grandfather’s art which was scattered in the early days of World War 2 in an effort to keep it safe…but it ended up further scattered. It transcends being just an art detective story to be something much more. (Tickets here)

The First Iranian Film Festival New York starts Thursday and it really rocks. Seriously this is poised to be one of the great film festivals of the year. I say that because you may think you have an idea what Iranian cinema is, but his festival will open your eyes. Films like the closing night SHEEPLE (a violent gang film),PIG (a black as night comedy about banned filmmakers, and murder) and SLY (a rip at a former President) are not the sort of things you would expect from a country where Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi appear to be the face of the industry worldwide. I’ve seen most of the films screening and while there was some I didn’t care for as a matter of personal taste, none were bad. I’ll be reviewing everything I’ve seen in the next few days, but to get you started might I suggest you try SHEEPLE, PIG,SLY, THE HOME and I WANT TO DANCE. (Tickets here)

And we have begun to plan and schedule things for the rest of the film year and it is almost too much:
-We already have the start of our coverage slotted and ready to go for both Sundance and Slamdance with more to come. (JB is going to be on the ground and I’m going to be doing remote reviews)
-We will have coverage of the FAIF’s Second Annual Animation First at the end of the month
-Plans are underway to go to the BAM Kids Fest in February.
-We have cleared the decks for the New York International Children’s Film Festival in February and March.
-The annual 12 hour Hong Kong-athon from the New York Asian Film Festival this February is in our sites
-We have already been credentialed for the Tribeca Film Festival so look for our typical heavy coverage in April and May.
-And of course Film Comment Selects,The oxford Film Festival, New Directors, New Films, NYAFF proper, Fantasia Japan Cuts, New York Film Festival and much more.

Ultimately I suggest you just keep reading because lots of coverage is coming.

Bug (2006)

Lost and alone, hiding from her ex-con husband, Ashley Judd spends her time in a run down motel working and partying. When she meets a shy withdrawn man who seems nice she ends up drawn into his world and the insanity that lives there, a world filled with tiny bugs.

A wonderfully acted trip down the road to hell this is a movie that is a true horror film. There are no monsters or serial killers just a trip into the minds of two people who bond and feed off each other.

Brutal and graphically violent at times, this is more disturbing for what it says about the need for people to belong and the willingness to believe in order to do so.She needs his kindness and he needs some one to believe him. Together they mesh perfectly in a yin and yang circle of destruction. Whats scary here is that as the film progresses we begin to go along with the idea of the existence of tiny bugs. We, as outsiders, know that the bugs don't exist, but we are sucked along with the characters as their mania is allowed to run rampant and as things go on we begin to believe, perhaps fleetingly that maybe there is something to the story. Its a frightening thought that anyone could lose themselves in a situation like this, but it happens every day, one need only look at the news to see people living in personal little hells.

I was left disturbed for days after viewing this movie. Its not for most people, but those who want to be challenged on most levels should search this film out, it will rock your world.

The 2019 Oxford Film Festival Announces Competition Selections (February 6-10)

John Stimpson’s GHOST LIGHT is the Opening Night Gala selection, and Jacqueline Olive’s ALWAYS IN SEASON is the Closing Night choice

World Premieres include John Reyer Afamasaga’s DOOR AJAR – THE M.B. MAYFIELD STORY and Jeffrey Dennis’s SHARDE THOMAS: LEGACY OF THE FIFE

Oxford, MS (December 3, 2018) – The 2019 Oxford Film Festival (February 6-10), the first major stop on the year’s regional film festival circuit. has announced John Stimpson’s GHOST LIGHT as the Opening Night Gala selection, with Jacqueline Olive’s ALWAYS IN SEASON tabbed as the fest’s Closing Night Gala selection immediately following its debut at Sundance. Another choice hot off of Sundance will be Jon Strong’s documentary, LONG TIME COMING, presented as a Special Screening. Oxford Film Festival favorite Malcolm Ingram will present his latest documentary, SOUTHERN PRIDE as a Special Screening as well. Also announced were the competition lineups for this year.

Recognized as one of the most prominent (as well as popular) cultural sign posts in the state, in addition to taking a leadership role in terms of the representation of female filmmakers and LGBTQ+ artists, OFF became a signatory of the 505x2020 Pledge this year joining film festivals around the country pledging to reach a 50/50 parity between male and female filmmakers by the year 2020.

OFF also received a grant from the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences recently to assist in the effort to expand the film festival’s LGBTQ+ programming. Those efforts have seen gains in the representation on both fronts during this year’s edition. 43% of the 2019 films are female directed or co-directed, which has continued a pronounced upward trend over the past three years (23% in 2017, 37% in 2018). Similarly, the LGBTQ+ features and shorts competitions have both nearly doubled in size following the introduction of those dedicated competitive categories last year.

Oxford Film Festival’s Executive Director, Melanie Addington, said, “Each year, it seems as though our film festival becomes more entrenched not simply as a way for people to see films here in Oxford and Mississippi, but also as a key place where Mississippians look forward to meeting filmmakers from different parts of the country and world, different cultures, and different lifestyles. As always, we seek to entertain, but beyond that we embrace our cultural and social responsibility and the mission of being one place and one event that Oxford film fans and Oxford Film Festival filmmakers can count on to help build those bridges between different people in the best and most enjoyable way.”

That dedication to provide that forum for film artists in the land of William Faulkner and put forward the best of Mississippi to outsiders seems to be working as the Oxford Film Festival had a record year of submissions (1595) from 62 different countries, representing an increase of 10% over the prior year. Those submissions resulted in a lineup that will include 27 world premieres (including John Reyer Afamasaga’s DOOR AJAR - THE M.B. MAYFIELD STORY and Jeffrey Dennis’s SHARDE THOMAS: LEGACY OF THE FIFE), and 13 U.S. premieres.

Stimpson’s GHOST LIGHT combines laughs and scares as an understudy, aiming for the lead role and the leading lady during a traveling production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, unleashes mayhem by disregarding the time-honored superstitions that go along with staging “The Scottish Tragedy.” The film stars an impressive cast including Cary Elwes, Roger Bart, Carol Kane, Shannyn Sossamon, Danielle Campbell, and Tom Riley. The film screens Thursday, February 7 at 7:00PM at the Gertrude C. Ford Center (351 University Ave.).

Mississippi native Olive’s film, ALWAYS IN SEASON takes a look at how the terrorism of lynching in our country’s history still bleeds into the present via the case of Lennon Lacy, a teenage boy found hanging from a swing set in rural North Carolina in 2014. The film traces his mother’s pursuit of justice for her son as well as intersecting with stories from other communities looking seeking justice and reconciliation. The film screens Sunday, February 10 at 6:00PM at the Malco Commons (204 Commonwealth Blvd.).


The two documentaries receiving Special Screening presentations include Strong’s LONG TIME COMING, which looks at how a simple little league game was anything but when it took place in the racially segregated South in 1955, and the two teams in question were a team of white boys and a team of black boys. Ingram’s SOUTHERN PRIDE brings us up to date via his film juxtaposing a bar owner who struggles to organize a Pride march in her hometown in Mississippi, while in another part of the state organizers of a Black Pride celebration are working to overcome numerous obstacles facing them.

Narrative feature films in competition this year include: Daniel Campbell’s ANTIQUITIES; Stimpson’s GHOST LIGHT; Rob Heydon’s ISABELLE; Alex Eaton’s MOUNTAIN REST; Katie Orr’s POOR JANE; Jillian Armenante’s STUCK; and Jordan Noel’s THIS WORLD ALONE.

THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED, WHILE I BREATHE I HOPE, WRESTLE

Documentary features in competition include; Dava Whisenant’s BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY; Nicholas Laviola’s HOLY GHOST FIRE: THE ECSTASY OF RANDY WOLFORD; Assia Boundaoui’s THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED; Jon Strong’s LONG TIME COMING; Jamal Sims’s WHEN THE BEAT DROPS; Emily Harrold’s WHILE I BREATHE, I HOPE; and Suzannah Herbert and Lauren Belfer’s WRESTLE.


The LGBTQ Juried Feature Competition will include; Kevin O'Brien’s AT THE END OF THE DAY; PJ Raval’s CALL HER GANDA; Keith Behrman’s GIANT LITTLE ONES; Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher’s GOSPEL OF EUREKA; and Daniel Laabs’s JULES OF LIGHT AND DARK.

2019 OXFORD FILM FESTIVAL FILMS AND DESCRIPTIONS

North Texas Film Festivals Announce BEST OF FESTS Film Festival Event (January 10-13, 2019)

Dallas, TX (November 14, 2018) – Film festivals based in Dallas, Forth Worth, and North Texas have joined forces for the first time to present a Best of Fests film festival on January 10-13, 2019. Twenty-one different film festivals will present films that either were popular with their audiences or represent their programming esthetic. The films will be screened at venues across Dallas that include Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, Studio Movie Grill, and the Texas Theatre.

Participating film festivals include; 3 Stars Jewish Cinema, Asian Film Festival of Dallas, Crossroads Film & Music Festival, Czech That Film, Dallas International Film Festival (DIFF), Dallas Jewish Film Festival, Dallas Video Fest, Deep in the Heart Film Festival, Denton Black Film Festival, EarthxFilm, Festival de Cine Latino Americano, Flicks By Chicks, Forth Worth Independent Film Showcase, Frame4Frame, Lone Star Film Festival, Oak Cliff Film Festival, Pegasus Film Festival, Q Cinema, Sons of the Flag Film Festival, South Asian Film Festival, Thin Line Film Festival, and Women Texas Film Festival.

EarthxFilm Festival Producer Emily Hargrove (one of the organizers who made Best of Fests happen), said, “The film festival community in Dallas, Fort Worth and North Texas has long been an unsung hero for film lovers locally, bringing films to audiences that they likely would never have had an opportunity to see on a big screen or even be aware of, otherwise. These films come from different sources, different cultures, and countries, yet demonstrate the universal magic and power of storytelling though cinema. We wanted to do something that has never been done before: bring all of these unique film fests together and offer this sampling of these incredible festivals as a gift to film lovers across our region.”

Best of Fests will open on Thursday, January 10, at the Texas Theatre with DIFF’s offering of David Blue Garcia’s thriller TEJANO, about a South Texas farmhand, who attempts to smuggle cocaine across the Mexican border in order to help his ailing Grandfather. The film will be preceded by one of the Flicks by Chick’s short film selections, Liz Cardenas’s IMAGO, about a 15-year-old gay teen’s decision to fully embrace his true identity.

Variety is the theme (as it naturally would be) throughout the festival, including; the Asian Film Festival of Dallas’s screening of Sung-hoon Kim’s RAMPANT, a fresh take on the zombie film sub-genre; Deep in the Heart Film Festival’s screening of Christopher J. Hansen’s BLUR CIRCLE, a drama about a woman still struggling to come to terms with her son’s death two years prior when she meets a mysterious stranger who may change everything; the Lone Star Film Festival’s offering of Rob Smat’s drama The Last WHISTLE, about a high school football coach facing protests from the town when he keeps pushing his team toward a championship despite one of his star players collapsing during a practice; and Q Cinema’s screening of Matthew Montgomery’s DEVIL’S PATH, which follows two gay men as they are attacked and then pursued by murderous thugs looking to finish the job.

Best of Fests will also offer some entertaining and compelling documentaries, including; 3 Stars Jewish Cinema’s screening of Ferne Pealstein’s THE LAST LAUGH, which looks at the use of the Holocaust as comedy and movie material; Dallas Video Fest’s offering of Mark Birnbaum’s THE BIG BUY: TOM DELAY’S STOLEN CONGRESS, about the infamous, criminally convicted former Texas Congressman’s dealings which led to him being put in jail; EarthxFilm’s screening of Matthew Testa’s THE HUMAN ELEMENT, which follows photographer James Balog (CHASING ICE) as he explores how environmental change is affecting the lives of everyday Americans; Festival de Cine Latino Americano’s screening of Jose Manuel Davila’s 1950: THE NATIONALIST UPRISING, about the experiences of Puerto Ricans who participated in the Nationalist Uprising of 1950 to free Puerto Rico from the United States of America; and Women Texas Film Festival’s presentation of Skye Borgman’s film festival hit, ABDUCTED IN PLAIN SIGHT, a true crime documentary about a naïve, church going Idaho family that were “groomed” by a sociopathic neighbor to hand over their 12-year-old daughter to him.

EarthxFilm is the 501c3 fiscal sponsor of Best of Fests. Sponsors and partners include EarthX, Prekindle, Selig Polyscope, Arts OnePass, Alamo Drafthouse, Texas Theatre, Studio Movie Grill, Cinépolis Luxury Cinemas, Kelly Kitchens PR and Wildworks PR.

Film festival passes and tickets are on-sale now. For more information, go to: www.bestoffests.org.


The Best of Fests Film Festival official selections:

Race (2016)

Race is the story of Jesse Owens and his record setting Olympic wins. The film follows Owens, played by Stephan James, as he is trained by Larry Snyderplayed by Jason Seudakis and goes to Berlin for the Olympics. On all levels Owens has to fight through racism both at home and abroad.

A moving story about one of the greatest athletes the world has ever seen is given a serviceable telling by Hollywood. There is nothing really wrong with the film except that the film has dress up quality that kind of diminishes from the weight of the story. It feels less like history than a story than something that is good for us. The film is also hampered by the casting Jason Seudakis who is a little too light for the material. I know he is capable of doing heavy drama he does have a certain strength that radiates out from him but at the same time he never fully blends into the film and we are pulled out of the period when he walks on screen.

While I could quibble with a couple of one or two small details (the end text blurbs should have ended with the note that Owens couldn’t even get a job instead of beginning with it) I did like the film and I’m writing it up because the film is most definitely worth seeing- more so now that it is on cable and is streaming.

Catch Up Casules: DUMPLIN', THE PREDATOR and PAPILLON

DUMPLIN'
Willowdean is a plus sized teenager whose mother runs the local beauty pageant. When she and her friends sign up for the pageant as a protest they end up changing everyone around them. Utterly charming film  about finding out who you really are and not giving a damn so you just go for it. A joyous celebration of our true selves, it is a film that had me grinning from ear to ear and wondering where this film had been all my life.

THE PREDATOR
Latest film in the franchise is the weakest film in the series (even the one with the Aliens). Much too jokey and simplistic, the film has a Predator crashing in Mexico. When a sniper on a mission witnesses the carnage of the alien wiping out his team, a secret group of government people come in and take him into custody with the intention of making him an insane patsy. Meanwhile another predator has come to earth to hunt the first...things get complicated from there as the sniper's young son is brought into it as well as group of crazy soldiers and a science teacher with an interest in alien biology. Kind of dumbed down  with action sequences that are just okay THE PREDATOR disappoints by never generating any suspense or thrills. Yea its funny but it isn't enough.

PAPILLON
Henri Charrière tale of false imprisonment and escape from Devil's Island has been brought again to the screen once more with Charlie Hunnam and Rami Malik in the roles previously portrayed by Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman. A solid true life adventure, this telling will either thrill you if you haven't seen the original film or  kind of just sit there if you have. Don't blame the actors or the directors but whose ever idea it was to not only base the film on Charriere's books but on the screenplay for the original film. Its so close to the original film that you have to bother why they bothered to make the film. Truthfully it's not a bad film, simply that it's too close to the original to stand on its own. Worth a look

Erotic Journeys: Em(m)anuelle & Just Jaeckin January 25-February 6 at the Quad

On the occasion of the 2K restoration of Just Jaeckin's 1974 softcore classic Emmanuelle, the Quad spotlights Jaeckin's best works alongside five steamy Em(m)anuelle spinoffs

Emmanuelle

Opens Friday January 25—U.S. premiere of 2K restoration
Just Jaeckin, 1974, France, 95m, DCP
Thai-born Emmanuelle Arsan (who appeared in The Sand Pebbles) was identified as the writer of the scandalous 1959 novel Emmanuelle, but her husband Louis-Jacques Rollet-Andriane was later alleged to be the author. Carnally incarnating the character onscreen, Dutch actress Sylvia Kristel was catapulted to international fame; Emmanuelle’s marriage to diplomat Daniel Sarky is rocked by sexual explorations—some startling—with and via older man Alain Cuny. Jaeckin’s movie was a phenomenon in France, an X-rated hit in America, and banned in some countries; the “Emmanuelle” brand extended to wicker chairs after one racy scene in particular, and led to an avalanche of official and unauthorized sequels over the next several years. A Kino Lorber Repertory release

"Like a softcore version of The Story of O commissioned by Vogue Magazine."
—Chris Petit, Time Out

As a portal opened for crossover between mainstream cinema and adult entertainment in the 1970s, French director Just Jaeckin was, with one movie, able to restore a Continental influence on the cinematic depiction of female sexuality; his debut feature, Emmanuelle, established a one-word universal language for adventuresome erotica. Jaeckin had trained as a photographer and was also an artist, architect, and sculptor. The success of Emmanuelle—released in the U.S. by no less than major studio Columbia Pictures—pivoted Jaeckin into a decade-long run as a softcore auteur, after which he strolled away from the industry to pursue art and life. Meanwhile, the floodgates opened for various Emmanuelle sequels and extemporizations—some legitimate and some not, with a deliberately dropped consonant creating a copyright loophole for the rival Emanuelle series to trade on the name and reputation. Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the novel that gave the world Emmanuelle, the Quad brings together movies weaving in and out of the series canon(s) as well as films made by Jaeckin that showcase his own post-Emmanuelle aesthetic evolution. While Emmanuelle and Jaeckin’s paths didn’t cross again, they are forever coupled in movie history.
Beyond Emmanuelle: Just Jaeckin

February 1-6
Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Just Jaeckin, 1981, UK/France/West Germany/U.S., 105m, 35mm

The Last Romantic Lover
Just Jaeckin, 1978, Spain/France, 104m, Betacam

Madame Claude (aka The French Woman)
Just Jaeckin, 1977, France, 105m, DCP

Private Collections*
Walerian Borowczyk/Just Jaeckin/Shūji Terayama, 1979, Fr/Japan, 103m, 35mm

The Story of O
Just Jaeckin, 1975, France/West Germany/Canada, 97m, DCP

*Presented in collaboration with Federal Express, who delivered this print a full three months after it was originally scheduled in our Omnibus series.

Erotic Journeys: The Many Faces of Em(m)anuelle

February 1-6
Black Emanuelle
Bitto Albertini, 1975, Italy/Spain, 91m, 35mm

Emmanuelle II
Francis Giacobetti, 1975, France, 83m, DCP

Emanuelle’s Daughter
Ilias Mylonakos, 1980, Greece/Cyprus, 91m, 35mm

Emanuelle in Prison (aka Women’s Prison Massacre)
Bruno Mattei, 1983, Italy/France, 89m, 35mm

Goodbye Emmanuelle (aka Emmanuelle 3)
François Leterrier, 1977, France, 100m, DCP

Catch Up Capsules INCREDIBLES 2, ANT MAN AND THE WASP, and VENOM

THE INCREDIBLES 2
The super hero family is back in a great looking film that has its moments but, like the first film, didn't really work for me. While far from groundbreaking the story about a rich billionaire trying to get it so super heroes are no longer outlawed is okay. Yea it allows from some cool sequences but you have to wonder about any film here the best part is kind of a throw away gag (Jack Jack and the raccoon). Worth a look but nothing special.

ANT-MAN AND THE WASP
Several years after the events in Captain America Civil War Scott Lang is under house arrest. With days left on his sentence things begin to get weird as a big business deal is in question and he is having dreams where Janet Van Dyne appears to him. Unsure what to do he slips out of his house and tracks down Hank Pym and Hope Van Dyne who are on the run since the government is pissed that Lang used his equipment to take part in the battle in Germany. Things become even more complicated when a mysterious woman- out of phase with all the dimensions, makes a play for the equipment Hank and Hope need. It’s a grand game of round and round we go as everyone ties to stay out police custody and maintain control of Hank Pym’s laboratory which is constantly being shrunk down to suitcase size.

Far from serious and little more just a grand romp Ant Man and The Wasp is just a lot of fun. Probably not quite up to the first film, there is a strange lack of weight to the proceedings owing to it having to set up threads for the Avengers Infinity War films (you can’t make radical changes). At the same time there is a wicked sense of humor running through it and its fun to watch on it’s own terms, which in this age of mega super blockbusters is enough.

VENOM
Tom Hardy stars in a reboot of the much loved Spiderman villain Venom. Originally the character was living creature that bonded first with Peter Parker’s web slinger in the comics before leaping to Eddie Brock. He then appeared briefly, and was under used in the third Tobey McGuire film when Topher Grace played Brock in what amounted to cameo. In Venom there is no Spiderman only Brock and it makes for an odd film.

The film has an evil billionaire bringing home several symbiotes from a comet. The creatures need to bond with host and need to feed on living things to survive. Hardy’s Brock stumbles on the evil plotting of the villain and ends up bonding with one of the creatures. He then has to battle to remain alive as the bad guys want the alien back.

Clunky film picks up a couple of notches once the man melds with the monster. It woks best when Venom is loose in the world and anything can happen. Is it high art? hell no, but it is amusing superhero action which is really enough.

OSS 117: Murder for Sale (1968)

If you've ever wanted to know what the Bond films might have looked like if Sean Connery hadn't come back to do DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER then track down OSS 117: MURDER FOR SALE. Removed from most people's memory is the fact that after George Lazenby walked away from being Bond the producers signed John Gavin.to star. They then agreed to Connery's insane salary demand and Gavin was out (though he got his full salary). Interestingly this film exists and with a villain played by  Curd Jurgens it can be seen as a sort of Bond film.

In the film OSS 177 has plastic surgery to look like a noted killer named Chandler. Chandler is being recruited or an organization that kills for money and specializes in political killings that will turn a big profit for one side or another. Sent to kill a peace negotiator he as tree days to complete his task . To make sure he stays on point he has been given a poison that needs to ave the antidote administered each of the three days. After the third dose he will be immune.

Closer in feel to the first Bond films before spectacle took over plot MURDER FOR SALE is a solid spy drama. A mix of clandestine operations and the occasional fight the film is a solid little spy drama. Not having seen any of the other films in the series I can't say how it compares, but on it's own terms it is quite entertaining.

As a glimpse of what might have been Gavin makes a solid spy. Deftly handling the snooping and the fisticuffs he makes a solid hero and he would have made a great Bond. If one need proof watch his scenes with Jurgens, Stromberg on THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and you can tell he holds his own against Bond level villainy.

Recommended

Tribeca Film Festival 2014 Unseen Photos

Way at the bottom of the draft file at Unseen was this post which Chocko never actually posted way back in 2014. In the interest of cleaning house here are some flashback photos from Tribeca 2014

The Unseen Film Awards 2018

After several weeks of voting it is time to announce the winners in the Fourth Annual Unseen Film Awards. It was a hard fought battle with the ballots literally changing the front runner with each one that came in right up until the absolute final deadline- and beyond.

The ballots were sent out to 52 film lovers around the world. When I started the awards they were voted on just by the Unseen Films family of writers and over the years the voting body has grown include not only more writers but also filmmakers, film professionals and film fans who see a lot of films. In choosing the voters I tried to get film fans who aren’t just one type film fan but people across the spectrum. I wanted to make sure that the views of what constituted the best in the year's cinema went across the spectrum and wasn't just from one point of view.

Voters were asked, at the very least, to vote for their best/favorite film they saw in 2018. They were also asked, if possible, for another five films to help with tie breaking. If voters wanted to include addition choices for documentary, animated and short film choices I would compile awards for those as well. As a result 19 films were picked as the top film with 67 different films appearing on the various the ballots in the Top 5. If you add in shorts, animated, documentary and other titles a grand total of 106 different films were being considered for all of the awards  thrown in to the mix.

After all the voted were counted the BEST FILM OF 2018 is ROMA.

Not only did Alfonso Cuarón's film get the most votes as the best film of the year. Other than the first year of this award when all but but one top pick went to MAD MAX ROAD FURY ROMA received the most Best Film votes for any film in the brief history of the awards.

While I know some people weren't rapturous about the film, I have yet to meet anyone who hasn't liked it and in those who championed it  it provoked deep emotions to the point  they were over come with emotion simply talking about the film even weeks after the fact. I will be very curious how the film is received  by the Academy voters come Oscar time because I was at an Academy screening where it's merits were hotly debated (again everyone liked it but some were unsure it was the best).

There was a tie for the runner up film by three films, all of whom where in literally in the mix for the top slot until the final ballots came in during the final hours of voting. The runner up films are

BLACKkKLANSMAN- Spike Lee's film on racism quietly figured on numerous ballots.

FIRST REFORMED A film which split the voting body in some ways - some people didn't connect to it but which others had a mad passion for it.

PADDINGTON 2 the film from the very start of 2018 which most everyone seemed to love but which kind of embarrassed some staid writers to say how much they enjoyed- until you said you loved it too.

For those curious the complete list of films chosen by voters as their top choice is as follows

ROMA
THE FAVOURITE
HEREDITARY
BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY
BLINDSPOTTING
UPGRADE
BLACKkKLANSMAN
AQUAMAN
PADDINGTON 2
LEAN ON PETE
VENOM
ANNIHILATION
HEARTS BEAT LOUD
PRIVATE LIFE
ANGELS WEAR WHITE
CARGO
EL MAR LA MAR
PHANTOM THREAD

This year we are awarding a BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE  film award to Hirokazu Koreeda's SHOPLIFTERS. This story of a found family of criminals won the hearts and minds of a good number of the voters. It actually ended up highest total of votes of any film without getting a Best Film nod. Truth be told if it had gotten even one Best Film vote it would have been the best film winner.

The film voted as BEST DOCUMENTARY is WON'T YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR. While I said that people could give me their choices for  Best Documentary the film actually appeared more lists of voter's BEST FILMS (full stop) than actual lists of Best Docs. (Not everyone voted for docs, animated and shorts).  While I know that some people were too close to the Fred Rogers to vote with their head, pretty much everyone I know seconded Peter Gutierrez's  thought about the film  of it is not if you cry during the film but when.

The runners up for Best Documentary is split between

RBG the moving portrait of the supreme court justice the world has fallen in love with was film many held close to their hearts.

BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY about industrial musical figured into several voter's best of the year lists including the top spot.

The choice for BEST ANIMATED FILM is SPIDERMAN: INTO THE SPIDER-VERSE which appeared not only as people's choice for best animated film but also in top five lists for Best Film of the year for people who didn't include a Best Animated Film choice.

This year's Animated Runners Up is INCREDIBLES 2 which also appeared  on voter's Best of the Year lists as well as being voted for Best Animated film.

Sharing the Runner up award is Maasaki Yuasa's THE NIGHT IS SHORT WALK ON GIRL about a boy and a girl and their courses over an evening. The love for the film was strong and like SPIDERMAN and INCREDIBLES 2 the film was voted for both on the Best of Year lists submitted and as a stand alone vote for Best Animated Film.

The voting for the short film awards was split across the divisions of Narrative, Documentary and Animated. It should be noted that not everyone who turned in a ballot voted for the short films

The BEST NARRATIVE SHORT of 2018 is LABORATORY CONDITIONS. This short horror film  begins with a doctor played by Marisa Tomei tying to locate the body of a recently deceased patient only to discover an unauthorized and secret experiment being headed by Minnie Driver. Creepy, scary and just a kick in the ass the film has been a topic of conversation since many of the voters saw it at Tribeca. It's film so good a couple of voters told me it was the only short they remember seeing this year because it gave them a serious chill.



THE BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT of 2018 is BENEATH THE INK. One of my personal best 5 films of 2018, this doc about a tattoo artist who covers over hateful body art when the wear sees the error of their ways rocked everyone who saw it. How good is it? It is the only time I've ever had filmmakers not connected to a film contact me to talk about a film that they thought had to be seen and the Academy had to notice.

THE BEST ANIMATED SHORT of 2018 is a tie. Receiving an equal amount of votes and deep passionate love by the voters the winners are


ONE SMALL STEP is a small gem that I was brow beaten into watching by several voters for the better part of the last year because, let's face, it is that good.


LOST AND FOUND another one of my personal top five films of 2018, have tissues with you when you watch it. A late addition to the awards mix, the film was discovered by a couple of voters when after the Oscar Short Listing they saw the film as a "Short of the Week" and fell in love with it.

And as we’ve done every year we issue several special awards for things we think need to be noted.

I’m going to begin with an AWARD OF DISMERIT to all the movie theaters who are not using a bright enough bulb when the run 3D films. So many chains are not switching from the cheap ass bulbs that are barely bright enough for regular projection and using them to project 3D films. I know they are well aware that the glasses dim the light coming into the eye but they really don’t care. This is a huge problem since so many filmmakers are using darker images for their films that we as an audience are not getting to see what the director intended until we get to see the films at home. If you want an example consider SOLO which was rendered almost unwatchable at times in 3D and which was reconsidered on Blu-ray and home video by several members of the Unseen family and members of the press. This award is shared by most of the major chains such as AMC who are striving to get people into the their theaters and then shooting them in the foot by giving fans a crappy visual experience.

The BEST REPLACEMENT FOR MOVIE PASS goes to AMC’s A-List. As Movie Pass goes into its final death throes AMC has delighted pretty much everyone I know with their service which allows three films a week, without restrictions, for 20 bucks a month. All the film fans I know have jumped over and have been going movie crazy with service that is bringing them into the theater more often than ever before.

BEST CHRISTMAS FILM is being awarded to ANNA AND THE APOCALYPSE. While discussion among the voters I quizzed about the lessened the film's nomination as the BEST CHRISTMAS FILM EVER MADE, no one really had a major problem with it being slotted as the best Christmas Film of the Year.

And lastly THE FILM GOER OF THE YEAR AWARD goes to Hubert Vigilla for his insane attempt to try and use Movie Pass to see 300 films in theaters in a year. Thanks to Movie Pass, AMC A-List, film festivals, a handful of press screenings and an insane drive to prove how crazy he is he managed to see 317 (he could have done more but he slowed down to smell the roses after reaching 300 in mid-November). When all is said and done he spent almost an entire month at the movies not including all the travel time and writing reviews. We jokingly thought of giving him an AMC gift card so he could see more films but I think a trip to a local park is more in order so he can see the great big blue sky.