Liz Whittemore on Gods Country (2022) which opens Friday

 

The hardest working woman in New York Liz Whittemore of Reel News Daily is back to share her thoughts on GOD'S COUNTRY which she reviewed when the film played the Sundance Film Festival.

Based on the short story "Winter Light" by James Lee Burke, Sundance 2022 feature GOD'S COUNTRY is here to rock you to your core. Sandra Guidry is a local professor mourning the loss of her mother. She now resides alone, surrounded by memories of her past and the miles of wilderness that make up her canyon property. When she arrives home to find a red truck parked in her yard, it is accosting, at the very least. When it reappears the following day, Sandra confronts the passengers. After polite requests to desist, matters escalate, and a battle of wills begins. 

Ingenuity, culture, passion all have you cheering out loud for Sandra. The script smartly comments on race in America. Sandra's quiet "don't fuck with me" attitude makes God's Country as successful as it is. It also tackles commonality in a carefully curated way, allowing us to take breaths amongst the deep-seated hatred and ignorance. But, don't for a second get comfortable. God's Country is ultimately about power. 

Thandiwe Newton is spectacular. She's fearless, vulnerable, and captivating. Sandra's backstory adds another level of insight for the audience. Newton masterfully uses every device in her toolbox. There is a relentless simmering of anxiety that keeps you unsettled. The repetition of the rising water visual takes on an entirely new meaning as the plot progresses. 

Shaye Ogbonna and director Julian Highins' screenplay shifts the power dynamic. It's a reclamation of sorts, a rise above trauma, work through of grief, and obliteration of toxic masculinity. The final shot will stop your heart. God's Country demands your attention with its complexities. It's a tremendous highlight of Sundance 2022.

For more of Liz's coverage of more films and TV series than you could ever shake a stick at (assuming that's your idea of a good time) go over to her regular home Reel News Daily

GODDAMNED ASURA (2022) TIFF 2022

Director Lou Yi-An GODDAMNED ASURA will rock you.  The film is the story of a shooting in Taiwan and what happened in it's wake. Its a story of six people, a video game a, a comic, alter senses of reality and several other threads that will make you realize that nothing is as cut and dry as you see on the news.

I am normally very wary of any film that is the official entry for the Oscar's because it's more often than not a seemingly randomly chosen film that is okay but nothing special. Every year as the entries cross my in box I am always left to decide if I want to be disappointed or not. On the other hand GODDAMNED ASURA surprised me in the best sort of way.  This is a film that is worthy of Oscar's notice simply because it's a great film. If Oscar were truly an awards show for the best films of the year it would be running for many awards.

While I love pretty much everything about this film, I am most thrilled with the screenplay. A tightly wound affair it takes it's time building characters and setting up the narrative threads. Everyone is well rounded and complex. There are layers to everything and everyone and I was half way into the film when I realized that I need to see the film a second or third time just to catch all the little nuances and details that Lou Yi-An put into every scene. Most American films are nowhere near as rich as this and yet they get all the notice.

The cast is first rate. Another recent example of the Academy needing an ensemble award, there was no point where the actor separated from their character, despite knowing I have seen their work in other films. They are so good as a group that  I don't want to single anyone out.

GODDAMNED ASURA also doesn't really resolve many of the threads. Yes we know what happened and why, but the threads of people's lives, the threads of what happens next to everyone isn't settled. We are left to ponder everyone and everything that we have seen with the result that the film hangs with us as we ponder what happened after the final fade out. 

I love this film to death. It kicked me in the gut and made me think about a lot of things that I am still trying to process.

One the best films I've seen this year, it's a film I am going to be pulling for to make it into the final group of Oscar films. It's also a film I don't want to see Hollywood to remake because they will only mess it up.

Highly recommended.

The Camden International Film Fest starts Thursday

The Camden International Film Festival starts this week and I am doing the happy dance. I love this festival to death. I was introduced to the fest a few years ago  and I went from a dismissive okay I’ll use this fest to fill the time to the New York Film Festival, to having my mind blown with all of the great films they were running. As a result it is now one of my must cover festivals every year.

Camden is one of the best fests you’ll run across. Focusing on Documentaries it’s the one fest you need to be watching since most of the films they are running end up in the year end Oscar talk, if not for this year then for next. Its also the place to catch the best films from Telluride, Venice and Toronto before they head off to NYFF and DOC NYC and the other late fall fests.

This year is no exception, Camden is running a slate of films that are absolutely kick ass. Having seen a good number of their goodies I can attest that they have programmed  some great films.

What have I seen? How about:

 AFTER SHERMAN”

ALL THAT BREATHES 

CROWS ARE WHITE

DESCENDANT

I DIDN’T SEE YOU THERE

LOWNDES COUNTY AND THE ROAD TO BLACK POWER

THE TERRITORY

Liz Whittemore on WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND

I’ve also seen the excellent MY IMAGINARY COUNTRY which is playing as a sneak preview before it begins a theatrical run next week. The film is director Patricio Guzmán's ‘s follow up to his epic THE BATTLE FOR CHILE and it’s so good that I’m going to get a copy of it so it can go on my shelf next to BATTLE.

The festival this year is both in person and remote. I’m using a version of the remote option so coverage will be going up not long after I get access to the films.

If  you want to see some great docs before anyone else buy a pass or make the trip up to the fest. For more details and passes go here.

And also check back since coverage is coming.

The Umbrella Men (2022) TIFF 2022

When his father dies suddenly prodigal son Jerome inherits his father's nightclub. Thinking he has a windfall he returns home only to discover his father is deeply in debt and the loan is now due in short time because the agreement has pay off option. Not sure of what to do and knowing that the money was used to keep his father's band (The umbrella Men of the title)  he is forced to consider other options -- like a robbery.

Charming beyond words heist comedy is really worth your time. This is the reason we need to have cinema from all over the world available to everyone. I say this because director and co writer John Barker have made a film that takes the well worn heist framework and dresses it up with delightful characters, magnificent music (by Kyle Shepherd and Loukmaan Adams).  Yea we've seen the plot before but we haven't seen it told like this, with these characters, and with such great music.

I smiled from start to finish.

I wanted to jump on a plane and go to Capetown so I can go meet these people.

What an absolute delight.

Highly recommended.

Until Branches Bend (2022) Toronto 2022

A young woman working on a peach farm, notices that one of the peaches seems to have been infected by an insect. Her bosses don’t want to deal with it, however she continues to investigate, afraid that something is amiss. At the same time she has to deal with an unwanted pregnancy.

Playimg like a documentary, UNTIL BRANCHES BEND is a good little film. It has a the feel of many of the Film Board of Canada films that regularly won the short film Oscars in the 1970’s and 80’s, except that the film runs 90 minutes instead of 15. It’s a good film full of good people.

To be honest this film might take a bit to find it’s audience. Leisurely paced, with a laid back verite style, this is an inde film that looks and feels like the sort if inde films that used to film cinemas a couple of decades back. This was back in the day when filmmakers wanted to tell their stories and make them feel like real life, as opposed to many of today’s inde films which exist to show off the skill of the director with an eye toward getting a big Hollywood contract. In contrast director Sophie Jarvis wants us to be in the place with the people on the screen and have them crawl inside our souls and change us as opposed to making us go wow with flashy tricks.

On the other hand Jarvis does have one flashy sequence which is going to make you go WOW. The sequence involves a swarm of insects and is such a WOW of a sequence that I replayed the sequence a couple of times. In an age where everything is done with computers, its real life creation is going to blow your mind.

Definitely worth a look for anyone who is tired of the same old same old Hollywood product UNTIL BRANCHES BEND will be headed you way now that it has premiered at the Toronto International Film Fest

Bones of Crows (2022) Toronto 2022

 

Bones of Crows is one of the most beautiful films I’ve seen this year. It has some truly stunning sequences that have haunted me since I saw the film. 

The film tells the century long life of Aline Spears an indigenous woman living in Canada. She was separated from her family by government officials and the church who thought it was best for the children to be forcibly assimilated as part of their attempt to wipe out any and all trace of their culture. She was also assaulted sexually and otherwise by the staff at the orphanage.  During the Second World War she became an asset because she could speak Cree, a language that the government wanted to wipe out but which the military was using as code. After the war she raised her family and became an advocate for the rights of her people.

This is a hell of a story beautifully told.  

If there is any real problem with the film is that pushes too hard regarding the mistreatment of Aline. It’s not that the film deals with it rather it has a to do with how the film portrays it. The film seems to be trying to make sure we get the  that the characters are racist but it seems out of place. For example  at one point Aline is in the room during a meeting or dinner at the orphanage  where terrible things are said. In a film as beautifully crafted as this mostly is it, and similar moments feel artificial. Apologies if that was what was really said but with in the context of the film it comes across as polemical instead of real.

If you can get past the awkward dialog, this is a killer film about a wonderful woman.

BONES OF CROWS is recommended.

Fixation (2022) TIFF 2022

I was not enthused by FIXATION at the start. It felt old hat. We’ve been to the well of person trapped in a crazy asylum before, but having had the film recommended to me by an unimpeachable source I decided to stay with it and by the time the film ended I was talking to the screen and feeling deeply deeply disturbed.

What in the holy hell did I just see.

First off the film rightly starts with trigger warnings. This film has a great deal that will set off survivors of sexual assault and violence and I have to applaud the filmmakers for understanding this and taking steps.

The plot of the film has a young woman in a hospital being evaluated as to whether she can stand trial for a crime she can’t remember (shades of Sucker Punch). Of the course of her stay she will be forced to relive parts of her life in an effort to get her to remember and come to terms.

This is not going to go where you think it will. Yes some of it will  but at the same time director Mercedes Bryce Morgan bends it all in such away that you are constantly surprised at each new twist. By the half way point I was hooked and desperate to know what was next.

As much as I want to discuss the film I really can’t. Where the film starts is not where it ends. How things are walking in is different than the end and if I attempt to discuss what happens I will have to reveal all. I just want to say that I said “That’s F-ed up” a great deal.

The cast is great with Maddie Hasson‘s Dora the sort of performance that should be in the Oscar mix if Oscar ever considered this sort of film as remotely worthy. Additionally Stephen McHattie is creepy as all hell as the doctor with a decidedly bad bedside manner. He seems to be riffing on Al Pacino and giving the greatest performance of Pacino’s career.

Ultimately this is a stunner and worth a look for those who want messed up films.

ROSIE (2022) TIFF 2022

 

ROSIE is a small gem that should be on the radar. It’s the story of a young girl named Rosie who is sent to live with her auntie after her mother dies. Fred is not mother material, she works in an adult bookstore, about to lose her home and her best friends are gender-benders. This is a wonderful little film

Little Rosie is Indigenous and the film deals with questions of how Indigenous people are treated, and how society can’t deal with people who conform to gender norms and how people on the fringes of society survive, and that’s important but what you are going to carry out of the theater are the characters. This is a not a film of ideas but a film of people.

I fell in love with the characters thanks to the actors.  Keris Hope Hill who is utterly charming as Rosie. You completely understand how she could make everyone fall in love with her and assemble her own family. She is matched with Mélanie Bray who plays her aunt. The real surprise here are Constant Bernard as Flo and Alex Trahan as Mo who create characters whose “genderless” and shifting characters are something special thanks to performances that have shades and nuances we haven’t really seen before.

Because of the write ups on the film I went in with a completely different train of thought. I had to stop the film midway through as I was expecting something else. I got lost in the filmmakers message, and they were clearly trying to say. However I went back and watched the film again, taking it in on it’s own terms and fell in love with its characters and scruffy nature.  While I found the film had a great deal about various social issues, the truth of the matter, it has more to say about family and friendship.

This is a sweet little film. It’s an off-the-beaten-trail title that Unseen Film loves to discover.

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My Sailor, My Love (2022) TIFF 2022

Director Klaus Härö's MY SAILOR MY LOVE is an emotional powerhouse. This is a film where the most perfect cast you can imagine takes a good script and turns it into a film that will leave you spent and weeping at the end. 

The film concerns Grace. A nurse with a strained relationship with her father, she is unhappy with the way he is letting things go. Figuring he could use a woman's touch to clean things up, Grace hires a widow named Annie to come in to cook and clean. Despite initial friction Annie and her charge hit it off. They hit it off probably much to well for Grace's liking, with Annie and Grace's dad falling in love.

I am not going to lie and say that this is perfect film. It's not. Honestly the plotting is very soapy at times. I mean the twists and turns are often predictable.  On the other hand the road maybe familiar however the film lifts itself up by having a cast that makes every scene seem real and emotionally charged.

All hail James Cosmo, Bríd Brennan, and Catherine Walker. Giving three of the best performances you'll see all year they make you wish that Oscar gave awards for Best Ensemble. I love this trio with all my heart. The manage to take every scene, every word, every gesture and give them weight the vast majority of films never can muster. Words hurt. Gestures reveal pain. Truths are exposed.  While I have had some of the discussions here and could relate, so much more I had no experience with, but as each scene played out I found myself delighting in the feeling that the leads were revealing some great hidden secret.

My mind was blown...and by the end my heart was broken and I was fighting to keep the tears from overwhelming me.

You really need to see this, if for no other reason that you will witness three performances for the ages.

Recommended.

Samaritan (2022)

 

Young boy makes the acquaintance of a garbage man living in his neighborhood. He begins to think that the old guy might be a superhero named Samaritan who supposedly died fighting his evil brother Nemesis.  At the same time an evil gang lord decides to pick up the mantle of Nemesis and full fill his perceived plan of bringing chaos to the world.

I don’t care if the rest of the world hates this film I really like it. Yes the plotting is clunky, the whole evil gang stuff is terribly written, but the whole central line of the young boy finding a father figure and bringing the hero back is gangbusters. Seriously the relationship between Sylvester Stallone and the kid is quite good. Actually it was good enough that the final confrontation brought a tear to my eye. Seriously the central story line is good, it’s just a mess all around it.

I had a good time with this. I really did. Was I expecting the greatest thing since sliced bread, no.  But sitting in my living room on my birthday with a big soda and some popcorn I had a good time. I can’t ask for more than that.

Recommended.

Spiderman No Way Home (2021)

 

This is on the original release of the film, not the extended edition that opened last weekend and is by many reports a better version of the film.

Picking up not long after Mysterio reveals Peter Parker as Spiderman and accuses him of terrible things, Parker asks for help from Dr Strange t have everyone forget him. The spell backfires and rips the multi-verse apart releasing villains he never met and requiring teaming up with other versions of himself.

Money making machine is the point where the declining Marvel Comics films begin to throw everything at the wall and hoping it sticks in a desperate effort to please the zombies.  A nice small scale film is pumped up to a massive size thanks to wickedly cool set pieces that, while entertaining seem to exist to make  fans go oh  cool and sell toys while being emotionally dead inside. Marvel’s clockwork heart is finally revealed to be not as good as a living breathing one made of flesh. Watching the film recently on cable TV I finally understood why the latest Doctor Strange and Eternals were such nothing experiences.

Watching the film I was struck my ho much the film was like the Marvel comic cross over events that made me stop carring about reading comics every week. Its full of sound and fury signifying  but signifying nothing since despite there being lots and lots of danger, there is no real cost despite the death of Aunt May.

Watching this and feeling nothing means that the MCU has jumped the shark and while it has moments of entertainment, for the most part I’d rather cut my toe nails.

Bengali (2021) begins its theatrical run Friday

 

Fatima Shaik is an African American writer with ties to New Orleans going back four generations. Her Great Grandfather  came from India and made a home in the city. Feeling the need to connect with him and her heritage she take a trip to India in order to find out more about her family.

Kavery Kaul's wonderful film is one part family history, one part celebration of New Orleans and one part eye popping travelogue  to India. This is a film that two minutes in had me wondering why the hell I wasn’t seeing it at an in person screening. I say that because the film’s sense of place, both in New Orleans and India is amazing. You get a real sense of being there in person. Not in a travelogue sort of way, but a genuine you are there sort of way. I can only imagine how much stronger the feeling is in a theater.

I absolutely love this film. Beyond the images, I love how the film blends the various elements of trying to connect to the past and to a culture we know little about. Shaik’s connection to India was a blended one before she made the trip. After going and seeing and experiencing it became something else. This is a film that clearly shows how the stories we tell shape us and our world view.

This is great stuff.  Twenty four hours after seeing it I was still thinking about. I was also talking to various people about the film just because unlike most other films it felt alive and wondrous.

This film is highly recommended when it opens Friday.

Hockeyland (2021) opens Friday

Portrait of two rival hockey program programs in Minnesota. The film looks at the young men who are hoping to use the program as leaping off point for college and perhps a career in either the NHL or AHL.

This is a good look at the boys and men who make hockey their lives. It’s a film filled with great people and a real sense of the hockey life. I have a brother who for a long time was very into hockey and this film gets the small details right. There is a real sense of the hockey life as it's lived. I could smell the rinks and locker rooms in which  my brother spent his youth.

While the film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it stays very close to the typical sports documentary formula, it does entertain and inform us about a culture that most of us, at least in the US or not in sports crazed families are now aware of.

Worth a look.

Speak No Evil (2022) Opens Friday

Two families meet on vacation in Italy. When they visit each other some time later things take a sinister turn.

This is a deeply disturbing film that lays open the fear that we don't know what other people are thinking... or more to the point capable of. This is a film of slowly building misunderstandings that turn more and more sinister as one couple begins to twist in the wind. 

I was talkng to the screen even as I wasn't certain if I liked the film. In all honesty I still don't know what I think of the film but I sure as hell know that it is f-ed up and deeply disturbing. My reservations come from uncertainty if the film makes any sort of sense since there are several turns that had me questioning what I was seeing.

Then again the film works you over and provokes a reaction. In all honesty I never want to meet anyone ever again lest this play out in real life.

Worth a look for anyone who likes truly disturbing horror.

The Toronto International Film Festival 2022 Curtain Raiser

The Toronto Film Festival starts this week and the Fall Fest season is in high gear.

While not the absolute first of the Fall fests, that’s either Telluride or Venice, Toronto is the big one here on the East Coast of North America because it the one showing World Premieres that requires the least traveling. It’s the one that many here in New York Go to so they can get a jump on regarding fests like New York and AFI.

I’m not going to be going to the fest. As much as I would love to go I have to make choices and saving my days off for the New York Film Festival and other fall fests is more advantageous for me. I full expect to be catching up with all the choice selections through the fall and spring

However  just because I’m not there doesn’t mean that we won’t have  coverage  I’ve previous covered some films at other fests:

LEONOR WILL NEVER DIE and Liz Whittemore's thoughts are here.

LIVING

NANNY

RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER

And we've also seen a few films going in. I can't do full reviews now but there are a few things you'll want to see:

UNTIL BRANCHES BEND is a very good drama about a young woman trying to do the right thing. It also contains one of the most amazing  sequences I’ve seen in any film all year.

MY SAILOR,MY LOVE is a small gem you should put on your must see list. The cast sells this story of how daughter's relationship with her father becomes complicated when she has an older woman go help him out. It will move you.

ROSIE is a sweet film about the families we make that is worth your time

Also if you like music and caper films then you must see THE UMBRELLAMEN. It will put  a smile on your face

There will be more reports  so keep reading.

Signe Baumane talks MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE Tribeca 2022

When I saw MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE was playing Tribeca I reached out to Signe Baumane to ask if I could interview her. She was a bit taken aback since I literally did it moments after it was announced. She said she would be happy to do so but I had to wait until the Tribeca plans were set.

The interview eventually happened, with me sitting in an 18th century graveyard two blocks from where the Tribeca screenings were happening in Manhattan and Ms Baumane on the phone while motorcycles and trucks roared by and church bells rang out.(Issues with the sound of the recording is the reason the interview is only being posted now)

I have been a fan of Ms Baumane’s for years . I’ve met her at several conventions, I have signed DVDs, art work and I’ve backed her films (Including this one.)  She has always been a wonderful person to talk to taking the time to truly engage with everyone before her.

My conversation back in June was a delight. It was one of my most favorite interviews I’ve ever done. While I asked a couple of prepared questions most of it was actually just us talking. Had there been no time limit I suspect we could have gone on for a good while longer because everything she said brought up more things I wanted to know about.

For those who don’t know the film is the story MY LOVE AFFAIR... is the story of a young woman whose life is shaped by the relationships in her life. It’s a musical with moments, especially the ending,  that would kick ass on the Broadway stage.

I want to thank Mr Baumane for taking the time to do it. Some day perhaps we can do it again.

UNSEEN: Thank you for the film I absolutely loved it. I don’t know if you remember I contacted you on twitter

SIGNE: I do remember that. You have a very memorable last name Kopian. That’s Albanian…

UNSEEN: Actually we’re Ukrainian

SIGNE: Oh my goodness.

UNSEEN: We’re actually Ukrainian Polish and what happened was they changed the name because they could get in if they looked Armenian

SIGNE: Oh okay, so you have an Eastern European Background.

UNSEEN: Yes. I have to start with this because I gave to the Kickstarter, how vital is Kickstarter to financing a film for a filmmaker like you?

SIGNE: I don’t think crowd funding is for everybody. I see a lot of people getting trapped and soaking up a lot of hate in their relationship with Kickstarter because Kickstarter is a lot of responsibility, you can’t just take the money and run. You have to deliver gifts. And not only that but there is a relationship you have to build with your backers and if you feel that is something that hinders what you want to do then you shouldn’t be doing it.

We ran a Kickstarter campaign in 2017 because we had zero money to record the actors and write the music, because we knew we had 23 songs, 30 speaking and singing characters, that’s a lot. I think we had to raise 100,000 dollars, but we set it up for 123,000 and we raised 132,000, its an impressive amount of money which went quickly.

But early on I decided early on that our relationship with our backers was something essential to this project. So we started writing these updates keeping in touch with the backers telling them what is going on, what is happening and we built a lot of meaningful relationships through the Kickstarter. And I feel that actually got us through 7 years of making the film because of people’s support, emotional support not just the money. Emotional support and people’s desire to see the film was very encouraging. I didn’t feel like I was this lonely animator sitting by my table, you know being completely isolated from society, we had a group of people who were enthusiastically waiting for this film to come out.

UNSEEN: I had fun seeing the updates. It was a blast because I’m an animation junkie. It was fun watching it get to here. You gave us a lot of stuff that was unfiltered so for me as a film fan it it was fun to see the reports and go now its at this point which means we’re going to see it soon. It was a lot of fun

SIGNE: Thank you

UNSEEN: It helped a lot. Why did you decide to do a mix of 3D backgrounds and 2D characters?

SIGNE: The 3D backgrounds go way back before I even started my previous feature ROCKS IN MY POCKETS. I was invited to go to Italy. This fashion designer, Aspesi. He’d seen I believe TEAT BEAT OF SEX my short films and he said “I really love your work, your style. Come and do  a mural for me. And when I went to Milan and did the mural, he said "can you do three dimensional sculpture our of paper mache?"  I had never done anything three dimensional but I figured for money, of course I’d do anything for money and so I did around 30 human sized sculptures, big, not just tiny but big. And then I thought I’d like to incorporate that into my film, but how do I do that  because I’m not a stop motion animator and I don’t know how to move the figures and the paper mache really breaks, you can’t move it around. And then I thought I’m going to make backgrounds three dimensional

With ROCKS IN MY POCKETS, it was very very low budget production and I’m not going to animate much but I’m going to have stop motion movement of the back grounds. And you know when you have the parallax... So as an audience  you see the parallax of the foreground faster and the background slower that kind of catches my eye. It always catches my eye and I want to keep watching even when there is not much going on. And I thought that would be my principle about how to make a film fast and cheap so I made ROCKS IN MY POCKETS with that as the key

With the new film I wanted to develop the technique even more and my partner Sturgis Warner, who is also the film’s co-producer, casting director and what not, he has a lot of hats.... And he also has the carpenter skills and he was able to build the sets you see. They are very well built and sophisticated, some what realistic, and somewhat surreal environments. And I think that we did take that technique about 100 steps farther than we had in ROCKS IN MY POCKETS

UNSEEN: It’s so wonderful. And to me the end scene where the set opens up is so arresting in a way that you wouldn’t get if it was 2D animation.

SIGNE: You know I don’t work with storyboards, I don’t storyboard everything, I only story board little scenes here and there, but mainly what happens is we build the set, Sturgis builds the set then my two assistants cover with paper machie, they color it, and then we bring it into the shooting room where we put it under the lights and Sturgis, he’s also lighting designer, he puts the lights on and I’m putting the camera there, I’m camerawoman, And I start seeing the characters moving though the space, interacting with each other, interacting with the doors. And my task now as the camera woman is to capture them, but of course I just capture my imagination of what the characters are and what they do, so it’s a strange process but I feel its every improvisational and creative.

UNSEEN: You just impressed me even more because typically with animation there is no improvisation. But how you do it you can do improvisation. I love that.

SIGNE: You know what bugs me about animation is you’re supposed to have a storyboard before you start animating but the thing is once you have the storyboard, it is carved in stone, you can’t change it. And I want to live my life and explore new things and I go to movies and I see things and I’m like that’s so cool I want to try that in my film and  I’m able to have something new, I can incorporate something I learned about life into the film that I’ve been working on for seven years. Imagine if I worked on a film from a storyboard that I did several years ago, that would be really stifling to my development of me as an artist and also the luxury that I have that a lot of people don’t have is that I animate my own work. A storyboard is very helpful if you have a team, designers, set builders, the animators. A whole team that has to work from the storyboard. But in my case that’s in one or two people and we can communicate on a different level. For example my partner Sturgis, who builds the sets, just understands me so that is why I am able to keep this improvisational.

UNSEEN: How many changes were there over the seven years because of the improvisation?

SIGNE: You know we started the film the first thing we were animating was Elica’s Song and then we went into the class number Zelma becomes a cat. Those were the first scenes I animated. And as I went along our sets got better, my skill as an animator got better,  the characters…everything got better and better. And then we finished part two, we knew the opening sequence of these outdoor sets had to be spectacular to draw the audience in, and we thought we were in good shape and we knew what we were doing with the set. And then we built the set of Zelma running through the village and those were created when I was in a better shape.

But you as the audience don’t see the change but I see it. I see the first scenes that I animated are not as good as the ones I animated later. The more we worked on the film better things became and the more inspired in the things we could do.

UNSEEN: I’m in awe of the music. When you wrote the script did you have all the songs done? I know you wrote the lyrics and Kristian Sensini wrote the music.  But the songs drive the film, and they are Broadway quality…and the one thing I was thinking when it was done was that this was great, that you could put this on a Broadway stage…

SIGNE: Really?  I was thinking the same. I was think that when we released the film we had to go on Broadway.

UNSEEN: No it’s in my review which you haven’t see because of the embargo, but  I was think the film ends and the door open and that is just such a Broadway moment, the moment everyone screams and yells and leaps to their feet and cheers and I’m like "oh my god this is Broadway musical", it has to go to Broadway

SIGNE; I’m glad you’re saying that. Yea  of course I don’t have any idea how to put it on Broadway but maybe somebody sees it and understands it and understands what you understood.

Let me talk a little bit about the music. The music, the songs, the score and everything were written by this very very talented composed in Italy Kristian Sensini and I worked with him on my previous animated film ROCKS IN MY POCKET and I thought he was very talented but I didn’t know if he could write songs. So when I wrote the script I put 33 songs in the script, I wrote the lyrics and all that. And I sent him the script and I asked him if would be able to write these songs. And he looked at it and said yea, no problem. And so he wrote these songs and I was just amazed at how he was able to do that because it’s a special talent to do that. And he has the ability to do as you say the Broadway, the comedy the lightness, the darkness so he’s a very versatile composer. 

And then after the film was done he wrote the score and I’m very happy with the score for the biology part, I feel that its very moody mysterious, the kind of a drumbeat and I’m very happy about that discovery. So yea Kristian Sensini's song writing is really an essentially part of the film. I don’t know how, I can not imagine the film to be with out his particular sensibility in music.

UNSEEN: It drives the film. It wouldn’t work without it. I mean that in a good way. It's clearly your film but you brought in this wonderful composer and a killer voice cast. It’s a beautiful beautiful film and if you pulled any of it out it wouldn’t work. If you pulled the songs out it wouldn’t work. You hit everything perfectly.

SIGNE: And the end credits song, we wrote that at the end, when the film was done and I told him I need a three and a half minute song and he said send me the lyrics and I sent him like three pages of lyrics and he sent it back to me and said this is shit I can not write a song to that. So we are true collaborators,it had to be together, the words and music have to come together. And he was really crucial that he really pushed myself together to write lyrics that he could work with. And then Storm Large, I don’t know if you know her work, she’s this amazing  singer. I hear the song and it blows me away, the power of her voice.

UNSEEN: I’m running out of time and I don’t want to keep you, you have a lot to do.

SIGNE: Do you have another question?

UNSEEN: One quick question because its key to the whole film because you go back and forth with it. Do you think Love is chemistry or do you think its something else?

SIGNE: Love?

UNSEEN:You’re constantly talking about how its all a chemical reaction. You’re attracted to this person because its chemistry or that person because its chemistry

SIGNE:I think at this point in human history I think its very difficult to separate, in a relationship of love where the biology starts and where it ends and where culture starts and where it ends. We are social animals. We live a lot in our imaginations, and  fantasies and the stories we tell each other, so I feel that even now for me that love is a story, a story about feeling. But of course it has the neurochemicals being released that cause this emotion or that. But being in certain situations, certain stories make you feel a certain way. And so for me I wouldn’t say that it was one or the other but I think that we are creators of love. And our biology is an important element but so is culture and so is the stories around us so I don’t know if I can say one way or the other. But I’m also amazed that when I made the short film the  TEAT BEAT OF SEX I would give out copies to people and write that "sex is a dangerous drug, use it with caution and as often as you can"

UNSEEN: I have a signed DVD from you and that’s what you wrote on it

SIGNE: and I could say the same about love. It’s a powerful feeling and we should exercise it so we have a handle on it. Sorry I didn’t have a good answer

UNSEEN: No it’s a good answer. Thank you so much for this. Thank yo so much for the film

Favorite Daughter (2022) Telluride 2022

Filmmaker Dana Reilly asked her mother to film her days with her mother (Reilly's grandmother) during the pandemic lock down. Reilly said she didn't want to miss anything. Not only didn't Reilly not miss anything she revealed everything about mothers and daughters and families.

While the roots of the film is in the Covid Pandemic, it is so much more It's one of of very very few Covid created films that speaks about life in anytime anywhere.

Glorious beyond words, this is a frank portrait of three women living there lives together. Its a film that reveals the love between the generations. We get to see the women in good times and bad.  Though there really isn't any bad times, just a few disagreements. The women also discuss almost every facet of life. It's amazing how much is said in only 20 minutes. 

Best of all Reilly doesn't look away. Where other films may not have leaned into some of the discussions, Reilly does. As a a result we get a beautifully rounded, portrait of the women at its heart and very frank look at the lives of women. Honestly I am amazed that Reilly's mom let her daughter show some of this, but I'm glad she did because what we see is special beyond words. There is a humanity that presents the women as people, not just mothers and daughters but full blood individuals without classifications (perhaps even as simply just friends).

Watching the film the discussions reminded me of the times when an ex-girlfriend would sit down with her mom and grandmother during a family gathering and just talk. There were these occasional wonderful moments where there was no holiday of familial stress, just several generations of women talking about life, as confidants and co-conspirators. The world opened up and life was revealed in magical ways. It is these moments of great love, life and affection  between the women that I see reflected in FAVORITE DAUGHTER. In both real life and on screen it was times of true magic.

Rarely have I ever seen a film reflect life as lived. This masterpiece of a film is lightning in a bottle. 

Forgive me words fail me. This film is too much of a towering achievement for me to really talk about it. If it wouldn't get me locked up I would simply hand you all the film and tell you to just watch it and we'll discuss it afterward. Even if it was just to small at each other and simply say "yea that is something special"

Just see it and reconnect to life.

This is a great film. It's one of the best of 2022.

Director Eiji Uchida and Actor Hiroshi Abe talk OFFBEAT COPS NYAFF 2022

 As part of the New York Asian Film Festival I got to spend a few minutes with Hiroshi Abe and director Eiji Uchida who were there for the world Premiere of their film OFFBEAT COPS. I have been a fan of Mr Abe’s ever since I first saw him ina movie. He’s a mega star in Japan working with  many  that countries best directors, in particular Hirokazu Kore-eda. Eiji Uchida is a great director who has been making what would be considered inde films here in the States. They are small gems  such as LOW LIFE LOVE or MIDNIGHT SWAN which may have flown under the radar in mainstream American circles but have been the highlights of festivals such as NYAFF and Japan Cuts.

While I went into the interview hoping to quiz Mr Abe about his body of work, I spent most of the time speaking with Eiji Uchida

The interview that follows pretty much everything that happened except for the frequent laughter  that we were all prone to.

I want to that  Hiroshi Abe , Eiji Uchida and the New York Asian Film Festival for making this happen.

UNSEEN: First I loved the movie, I absolutely loved the movie. I told whom ever sent me the screener who much I loved the movie and they were so happy I can’t wait to see how everyone reacts tonight.

How did the film come about? This doesn’t seem to be the typical film that you’ve made. Your films seem to be more independent with its own view and this seems like a big budget mainstream American film. This is a bigger cast, a bigger view.

EIJI UCHIDA: The origin was actually a video I saw on YouTube there was a police band, I believe it was Aichi Prefecture, and I saw them performing in this video and that was my first encounter with any kind of a police band and I became interested and I thought I might want to develop it into a movie. I started writing the screenplay but it took a long time after that. By the way I would still characterize this as an inde film.

UNSEEN: How did you come to cast Mr Abe. He’s so wonderful

EIJI: (in English) I think so too. (translator). So in terms of how I got hooked up with Abe-san, I consider this an independent film so I never thought he’d appear in my film because he is the actor who represents our country. But I think when I make films the two most import elements are the casting and the screenplay and I thought if I could get Abe-san to be the character in this film it would be a film of great value

UNSEEN: when you say he represents Japan he really does. SO many people I know when they think of Japanese actors he is one of the first they think of.

If this is an inde film why did you agree to take this role?

HIROSHI ABE:  So I did want to work with Unchida-san, I had seen his previous film MIDNIGHT SWAN and it was really something that had made me want to work with him, so I was receptive when he reached out. That being said I had no experience with musical instruments so it was going to be something challenging for me, and I do like challenging myself. I knew it would be hard but I knew if I worked at it I would be able to have fun. I also thought I might  be able to discover a new version of myself.

UNSEEN: Are you still continuing to play the drums?

ABE: I thought of buying my own drum set and then I realized I couldn’t practice at home, so I gave up on that idea, but I haven’t given up on the dream. I haven’t done the practicing but I don’t want to forget what I learned for the film.

UNSEEN: You should do what my niece does, she plays drums among other instruments and she has a little electronic set about this big and just takes it out and plays with headphones (Abe laughs and nods)

You’ve only done a sequel to ROMAE THERMAE, but this is so wonderful would you follow up with the character in another film if this does well? 

ABE: Its hard to say since we just wrapped with this one, but if there was the opportunity I would definitely want to hear about it.

UNSEEN: Now I have to ask, because I just had lunch with a friend and he threatened my life if I didn’t ask this because the they are his two favorite films of yours, but would you ever do a third ROMAE THERMAE?

ABE: I don’t think so

UNSEEN: I had to ask.

How was it to shoot this film during the time of Covid? I ask since this film has these big scenes with lots of people, I was wondering if there was difficulty shooting with crowds

EIJI: I think we shot during the worst time of the Covid protocols. W had to be very careful during shooting. Starting with myself and the staff we had to call out to each other to make sure everything was done right. The actors had to be very careful. Thanks to that we came out of it unscathed but it was very difficult

UNSEEN: You worked with some of the best directors in the world, such as Uchida-san Kore-eda, who else would you like to work with?

ABE: Its actually less a specific director, then a director who would have a conception of a project I would want to work on, they would have the idea and write the screenplay on their own. That doesn’t happen a lot in Japan. We have a lot of adaptations or manga or anime, I would rather work with someone who has an idea from the beginning like it was with director Uchida-san, so I would be happy to work with a director who conceived the idea and wrote the screenplay themselves.

UNSEEN: DO you come up with your own projects or do you only take what is offered to you?

ABE: Its less coming from me and more Whats proposed to me

UNSEEN: Forgive if this is scattershot but there are so many questions and so little time.

What Actors would you like to work with? You’ve worked the best actors in Japan, like Mr Abe, but who would you like to work with?

EIJI: As you’ve said I’ve worked with some of the best actors in the world , Mr Abe, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi in my last one, I’d actual want to work with actors of that caliber one more time. Its not a matter of working with a lot of people but less people on a deeper level. With Abe-san I didn’t get to know the whole Abe so I would want to work with him again

UNSEEN: You you have anything in mind where you could work with him again (to Abe) and do you want to work with him again?

EIJI: In Japan there are a lot of really young actors, and once they pass into their 40’s they are less active compared to abroad, so there is some potential for that age or generation, but I don’t think there are that many active, but those that are are the ones I want to work with like Abe-san

UNSEEN: Are they not active because of a lack of parts or they just don’t want to work

EIJI: I think in the job of an actor there is a tendency for them to be used up or consumed. I think they should be able to perform for a long time, but there is tendency to go through them

Director Shinji Higuchi and Producer Tomoya Nishino talk SHIN ULTRAMAN (2022) NYAFF2022

Being a big fan of Shinji Higuchi's  films I made a last minute decision to see if a slot was available to speak with him before the NYC premiere of his SHIN ULTRAMAN. Amazingly there was one. So I got to sit down and talk to him, as well as producer Tomoya Nishino about his film and getting to play with properties loving like Ultraman and Godzilla. What follows is more or less what happened.  I removed a slight digression in our discussion  that had nothing to do with his films. I also didn’t get his mentioning that design of Ultraman in the film is based on a scan of Susumu Kurobe who played the role in the original series and is still in fighting shape.(Thank you for Nobo for telling me to ask him about that, curses to me for turning off the recorder before I got the answer)

I want to thank  Shinji Higuchi and Tomoya Nishino for sitting with me and the New York Asian Film Festival for making it happen.

UNSEEN FILMS: Because I think you and I are about the same age I have to ask you what your first memory of Ultraman?

SHINJI HIGUCHI: Ultraman started in 1966. I was born in 1965 so I was only one year old so I don’t have any recollection from when it first came out. My first memory was when it was rebroadcast. We didn’t have a color TV, so I didn’t get into it until I was in elementary school so the first time I saw it was in black and white

UNSEEN: The reason I ask is it came over in the late 60’s and I was 3 or 4 and when it played I had to have my dinner in front of grandparents’  TV every Saturday night.

SHINJI; in America?

UNSEEN: Yea

SHINJI: Where did you live?

UNSEEN: Right here in New York. As I was just saying to some one I saw the film on a screener for this interview and it was the first time in 50 years I was watching the show on TV with one of my brothers.

I’m curious about the structure of the film. Watching it plays as if it’s as if it’s 4  episodes of the TV series. It’s almost like one of the compilation films. Why did you want to go for a more TV structure of a pause every 25 minutes as opposed to what we consider film structure with no pauses?

SHINJI: For the original series it was a structure of 30 minute episodes. For our film we could have had one narrative for one story for the whole film but I think that would have diluted the whole narrative. So instead we have these episodes in the same film, but connected to the whole. This was something that Anno the screenwriter had the concept of doing. Actually there are five episodes, though I call them more incidents or events where Ultraman comes and solves the issue in that incident. And every time this happens the relationship between Ultraman and the characters changes. That said there is an essential order, an essential chronology so you couldn’t change the order of the incidents. So they were all these blocks that we put together to enhance the narrative.

UNSEEN: Speaking of Anno there was a piece on you tube showing him doing motion capture for Ultraman.  Was he used for the motion capture and why didn’t you do it?

SHINJI: As you can see from my physique I don’t resemble Ultraman. I’m more appropriate for the kaiju. If I was Ultraman I would look more like the kaiju.

UNSEEN: I’m curious as to why all of the Kaiju are in the first 20 minutes?

SHINJI: In terms of the battle scenes you mentioned you have Naranga, Nobara, in the first 25 or 30 minutes. This was something that was in the screenplay, but then again we were focusing on the drama between Ultraman and the people in the films. That was the heart of it. There wasn’t enough in terms of the drama with the kaiju because as characters they don’t talk, and then later on we added in the aliens. But again this is something that came from Anno the screenwriter. But we did focus on the battles between the kaiju and the aliens which was the appeal of ultra man.

UNSEEN: You made Lorelei, Shin Godzilla and this, and you take a subject like World War 2, like Godzilla and you change things up. You alter the history and the backstory. How do you decide what you are going to keep and what are you going to change.

SHINJI: This is something we were really concerned about and something that we really wanted to focus on in terms of everything with the original. Anno and I really thought about that. When we saw the original version we thought about what appealed to us. Our first impression when we saw a certain franchise is really important. On the other hand we have to think about people who are not familiar with a franchise and what appealed to them. So for that purpose we got a bunch of information gathering from people, because we didn’t want to just have our … it’s prejudicial just basing it on what we like but we have to know what other people like as well so we did research  into what people who don’t know the franchise might appeal to them. There was a slogan that was on the poster and that was something that Mr Anno had come up with “the hero’s journey and the strength of friendship" and I think this is something that encapsulates whats in our film.

UNSEEN: When you got to play with Godzilla and Ultraman, did your inner kid go crazy in that you got to play with something you grew up loving? Was this like being the keys to the kingdom or was this a purely business deal?

SHINJI: (laughing) Of course I wanted to play to my hearts content, but this was work, so I had to persevere and do what I had to so which I think this added up to more stress for me.

UNSEEN: Would your inner kid be happy with the movie?

SHINJI: I think everything I would have wanted to see as a child is in the final film.

Loving Highsmith (2022) opens Friday

Cinematic biography of Patricia Highsmith is a  revealing look into her life,  her sexuality and her relationships and how it ties into her writing. It's an eye opening film that in looking at one author speaks volumes of the connections between an author’s life and their writing.

While the film begins with the publication of Highsmith’s Strangers On a Train the film reveals that Highsmith really came into her own with the publication, under a pseudonym, of The Price of Salt (renamed Carol). Based on an interaction in a store where she was working. The  book became a classic of lesbian literature and “infamous” for having a happy ending. Up until it’s publication lesbian stories had to end badly.  As a result Highsmith had to shop the book around to different publishers.  The writing of the book was liberating for her and it allowed her to find herself. The film then follows the arc of her life.

If you are a fan of Highsmith this film is a must. It’s a film that will add a great deal to understanding Highsmith’s work. If you’re not a big fan of the author, this film might make you one.  For me, someone who was never a big fan, there were a number of “ah ha” moments.

I really liked this film a great deal and I can’t wait to see it again.Opens Sept. 2 at Film Forum in New York, and Sept. 9 at Landmark's Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles