Nightcap 5/14/17: Taking a break, GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOL.2, Groundhog Day The Musical and Randi'slinks

Subculture - Teaser Trailer - A film by Jason Kartalian from Jason Kartalian on Vimeo.
You won’t notice it, but I’m going on walkabout for a bit.

The short version is that because of a combination of things in the real world and over doing it with Unseen I’ve hit a wall…and then the wall fell on me. The upshot of which is I’m not feeling it. If the mood hits me I can write like the dickens but if not it’s like pulling teeth and I've been pulling a lot of teeth. The practical upshot is I’m not happy a lot of what I’ve been turning out. Some of the films, deserved better from me.

This doesn’t have anything to do with the flood of Tribeca coverage-I was on the slide before that- and frankly some of  the films thre inspired me to do some of the few recent reviews I am happy with.

This is something else.

I am going to try and work it out over the next few weeks and see what happens.

Until I sort out what I want to do I am going to take it easy and try and piece my love of life, film and writing about it back together.

I'm going to pick and choose more. If it doesn’t call to me I’m not going to bother. I’ve been starting to do that recently but I’m going to be doing it more. I'm also not going to write up any film that is going to be too much work to write up.

It hit me last weekend when I saw a terrible film that riffs on Annie Hall. I realized that I disliked it so much that I was going to spend three or four hours writing an epic destruction of the film. I suddenly couldn’t understand why I was going to spend most of a day picking on a film that needed to just disappear back into obscurity when I could be outside doing something more productive. I emailed the PR people ,apologized and then took the dog for a walk and felt better.

For now I’m going to just try and become one with something or other. I’ll still be giving you a film a day for a while-Unseen programed into August.  I’ve got some new stuff coming, I have some reposts of films that are getting released soon and I have reposts of reviews I did for IMDB and elsewhere coming...  And Lincoln Center Open Road Italian film series coming,. Human Rights Watch is coming... New York Asian, Japan Cuts and Scary Movies are coming,  so I’ve got plans... which will hopefully bring me back to the fold...
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I saw GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY VOLUME 2 when it opened last week. I suspect that everyone will see it so my little bit won't matter but I thought I'd throw in my two cents.

I like it I don't love it. The problem is the first half bickering is wildly out of character with where we left off after the last film ao as a result the film is half over before it starts to work. The music is fine, but the use of Cat Steve's Father and Son is crushing and gives the film an ungodly weight the film never truly earns.

Its James Gunn at his best and worst- often in alternating sequences.
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I Saw the musical version GROUNDHOG DAY on Broadway this week.

The stage is a version of Bill Murray film and it's not bad. Its a beautifully staged show with some real magic in how it's done. Andy Karl is great as the Bill Murray character but at the same time he's such a dick the play is almost over until we begin to like him.

While Danny Rubin is listed as writing the book, it's kind of misleading since the film is almost all music and lyrics from comedian and rock star Tim Minchin.

The problem with the film is that the plot gets lost at times. We know what is supposed to happen do the show goes for a lot of jokes. Sadly that means that any one other than Andy Karl's  character is short changed with the result the romance never quite works. Except at the very end.

Minchin's score doesn't sound like anything he's done before- thats good and bad- its good because we see how broad his range is but it's bad because some of the songs are poor. Worse the there are three songs in the show that belong elsewhere since they add absolutely nothing to the show but fill time- They are songs that "flesh out" nonentity characters that mean nothing to the show. They are probably the best songs in the show but they need a better show around them

And as much as I can and have pulled the show apart the last five minutes left me teary- from the dance in the snow to the curtain I was deeply moved. While I will never say the show truly earns the tears I can not deny I got misty.

Reservations aside definitely worth a look
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And Now Randi's links

Animals were Harmed (the email)
advertsing fails
Out houses of Gowanus
replacing dead actors
Virgin Fibre
Chaplin
Do you know this song
'Hey Duggee' Creator Grant Orchard On Creating An Unconventional Preschool Show
Tale of two Gordons
chasing Amy 20 years on
Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers fire safety
Specsavers Fawlty Car, featuring John Cleese
Samsung ostrich 
Good Night Groot
Good Night Groot take 2
Vin Diesel recording Groot
When Albums ruled the world
Kung Fu 

999-9999 (2002)

After several gruesome deaths at another school the members of the "daredevil's club" wonder what happened to kill all the kids. When a student from the affected school transfers to their school they learn that the victims all called a certain phone number which would grant your wish then kill you. Partly out of curiosity and partly to get what they want, the kids begin calling the number, and dying.

Not as bad as some recent Thai horror, nor as good as others, this film plays like Goonies-lite meets a gory horror film as the fun loving kids are killed in rather nasty ways. The mixing of the styles doesn't work since the film never seems to know what it wants to be. It doesn't help that you almost instantly know whats going on because the film doesn't really give you a chance to think anything else.

Some people I know thought this was going to be the next big thing, unfortunately they were wrong and we're left with an unremarkable horror film that will probably be completely forgotten in another couple of years.

THE 2017 HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FILM FESTIVAL Co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center June 9-18, 2017

New York, May 9, 2017 – The Human Rights Watch Film Festival will be presented June 9-18, 2017 with 21 topical and provocative feature documentaries and panel discussions that showcase courageous resilience in challenging times. In an era of global advances by far-right forces into the political mainstream, assaults on the free press, and the rise of “citizen journalism,” festival organizers hope that the films in this year’s program can serve as inspiration and motivation for the audience, from seasoned activists to those searching for a role in local and global movements.

Now in its 28th edition, the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center. Most screenings will be followed by in-depth discussions with filmmakers, film subjects, Human Rights Watch researchers, and special guests.

“In these trying times for human rights, this year’s festival lineup champions activism—from people demanding accountability and major reform in the US police and justice institutions, to Chinese workers battling an electronics giant’s unsafe working conditions, to Mayan women at the forefront of political accountability and change in Guatemala, to the remarkable work of digital activists in Brazil and Tibet,” said John Biaggi, the festival’s creative director. “The festival highlights the outstanding work of activists at home and around the world, presenting a broad array of urgent human rights issues beyond those that command today’s headlines.”

Three films address the urgent and evolving issues of the refugee crisis and migration affecting millions of people around the world. The winner of the festival’s 2017 Nestor Almendros Award for courage in filmmaking and the Opening Night film, Zaradasht Ahmed’s Nowhere to Hide, follows an Iraqi nurse and his family whose lives are suddenly turned upside down as war once again tears apart their country. Lost in Lebanon, by British sisters Sophia and Georgia Scott, takes a close look at the reaction of a country of four million inhabitants to the arrival of a million refugees. Tonislav Hristov’s The Good Postman follows a postman's mayoral run on a platform of welcoming Syrian families into his tiny Bulgarian town.

The pressing need for systemic change in US police and justice institutions is another focus of this year’s selections. Erik Ljung’s The Blood Is at the Doorstep follows Dontre Hamilton’s family’s demand for justice following his fatal shooting by police in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Peter Nicks’ The Force, based on unprecedented access to the Oakland Police Department, exposes layers of corruption and problems resulting from inadequate officer training. The grave mishandling of domestic violence cases, causing a grief-stricken mother to take up the fight for legal change, is profiled in April Hayes’ and Katia Maguire’s Home Truth. In Lindy Lou, Juror Number 2, by the French filmmaker Florent Vassault, a juror crosses political and religious divides in the Deep South to explore the personal impact on fellow jurors of sentencing a man to death.

Holding governments and powerful forces to account is as important as ever, both at home and abroad. Matthew Heineman’s Sundance standout City of Ghosts follows a team of Syrian “citizen journalists” risking their lives to expose atrocities in the ISIS-occupied town of Raqqa. Global digital activists from North America to Brazil and Tibet covertly counter governments’ expanding invasions of privacy in Nicholas de Pencier’s Black Code. In the special event discussion panel, From Audience to Activist, filmmakers, journalists and activists will discuss the power of citizen-produced media and security challenges faced by those bringing truth to light. The festival’s Closing Night selection, Brian Knappenberger’s Nobody Speak: Trials of the Free Press, unpacks the Hulk Hogan vs. Gawker case and the sale of a Las Vegas newspaper to expose the threat to independent journalism from billionaires with a political agenda.

The Resistance Saga, a film festival special event, is an epic trilogy of documentaries by Pamela Yates on the saga of the Mayan people of Guatemala, including When the Mountains Tremble (1984), How to Nail a Dictator (2001), and the latest installment, 500 Years: Life in Resistance (2017), which documents the first trial in the history of the Americas to prosecute the genocide of an indigenous people. This day-long gathering will include the screening of all three films followed by a discussion on long-term movement building with the Mayan women protagonists, and a reception and concert by a Mayan singer, Sara Curruchich.

Ordinary citizens who take up causes of injustice are the subjects of two films from Asia. The Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Tiffany Hsiung’s The Apology profiles three elderly "comfort women"—from Korea, China and the Philippines—who continue to demand accountability for their sexual exploitation by the Japanese army during World War II. Heather White’s and Lynn Zhang’s Complicit follows factory workers harmed by exposure to chemicals in their work as they fight the Chinese electronics giant Foxconn, manufacturer for such brands as Apple and Samsung.

Five more outstanding documentaries round out this year’s screening program. Rina Castelnuovo-Hollander’s and Tamir Elterman’s Muhi - Generally Temporary follows a Palestinian toddler suffering from a life-threatening illness and his doting grandfather, who have been stuck in limbo in an Israeli hospital for years. In The Grown-Ups, the Chilean filmmaker Maite Alberdi paints a warm portrait of a group of middle-aged adults with Down syndrome who have attended the same school for 40 years, and now long for a more independent future. Adam Sobel’s The Workers Cup takes viewers inside the controversial labor camps of Qatar, where migrant workers building the facilities for the 2022 World Cup compete in a soccer tournament of their own. Cristina Herrera Bórquez’s No Dress Code Required follows a same-sex couple, Víctor and Fernando, as they fight for the right to be married in their hometown of Mexicali, Mexico. In David Alvarado’s and Jason Sussberg’s Bill Nye: Science Guy, the famed television personality takes on climate change deniers and creationists as part of his mission to advocate for science.

The festival continues its partnership with MUBI, an online cinema community that will feature select films from the film festival online while the New York festival is in progress. Learn more at mubi.com.


All screenings and special programs will take place at the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Walter Reade Theater, 165 W. 65th St. (between Amsterdam and Broadway), and at the IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. (at W. 3rd St.)

TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets are available online at filmlinc.org for the screenings at the Film Society of Lincoln Center and ifccenter.com for the IFC Center, as well as directly from each of the organizations box offices. Film Society of Lincoln Center: $14 General Public, $11 Seniors & Students, $9 FSLC Members. IFC Center: $15 General Public, $11 Seniors & Children, $10 IFC Center Members. A 3+ film discount package is also available for screenings at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Special ticket discount package also available for the Resistance Saga trilogy at FLSC: 3 films + reception $20. For more information, call the Film Society at 212-875-5600 or IFC Center at 212-924-7771 or visit ff.hrw.org. Ticket On Sale Dates: May 16 – Pre-sale to Film Society of Lincoln Center and IFC Center Members. May 18 – General Public. For discounted tickets and festival updates, sign up for the mailing list at www.hrw.org/filmconnect. Follow the festival on Twitter and Instagram @hrwfilmfestival.

PROGRAM DETAILS

7 Golden Men (1965)

A genius named the professor robs a bank in Switzerland of its gold deposits.

Good but strange caper film that begins with the robbery, which lasts for over an hour of screen time, before becoming a standard well planned caper has complications for the last half hour.

Not bad, but very odd in that the film really doesn't let you know any characters other than the professor and his girlfriend for most of the film. Who are these people, you really don't know, even if it is amusing. Its easiest to explain the film as like watching one of the recent Danny Ocean films but starting with the actual robbery, with out all of the set up and character introductions.

I liked it but I really can't understand how the film spawned a sequel, except maybe in that the film is a real Italian Job sort of film. (Maybe) Worth a look, possibly with its sequel.

28 Weeks Later (2007)

The plot has the population of England returning 6 months after the outbreak of the rage virus. It appears that its run its course. However it soon becomes clear that no one knows what the course is...

Continuation of 28 days later is a visceral assault on the senses. I have no idea if it makes sense as such but as an ass kicking film its very good. The opening 15 minutes is easily some of the scariest stuff ever put on film. No you don't have to have seen the first film, this one explains just enough to get you going.

Simply put this is one of the rare sequels that bests the first film. If you want a few good scares this is the movie to see.

Panorama Europe ’17: Mariupolis

It is hard work enduring a siege, yet the stoic citizenry of Mariupol, Ukraine continue to show up for work each morning as skilled factory laborers, shoemakers, and even zoo keepers. Lithuanian documentarian Mantas Kvedaravicius observes the embattled Ukrainians quietly going about their lives as death and destruction hovers just outside the city limits in Mariupolis, which screens during this year’s Panorama Europe, at MoMI.

It is indeed quiet in the eye of the storm. During the first half of the film, the worst chaos we see is entirely domestically produced. Two trams collide, but nobody is hurt and rather astonishingly, they have the line repaired in time for the evening rush. However, there are disconcerting reports of nearby fighting on the radio and the tell-tale signs of military aggression mar buildings on nearly every block.

Obviously, this is a tense time, but musicians still perform concerts and a young couple proceeds with their wedding plan. Perhaps most ironically, Mariupol upholds tradition with their annual May 9^th Victory Day celebration. However, things get tragically real when a projectile attack claims innocent victims.

Obviously, Mariupolis will not be part of the Putin hit parade, but it is probably too Wisemanesque to serve a polemical role. Of course, that also means Kvedaravicius maintained his aesthetic and journalistic integrity. Still, there is no question where the film’s sympathies lie.  Throughout Mariupolis, it is clear the Russian-backed separatist terrorists are deliberately targeting civilians and they consequently have no appreciable support within the beleaguered city.

To really understand the Maidan revolution and the subsequent Russian invasion, you need more context than Kvedaravicius supplies (which is precious little). On the other hand, it opens a very personal window into the David-and-Goliath conflict. It is rather poignant to see these taciturn Ukrainians celebrate life, while the Russian puppets outside the city walls embrace death. Recommended for sophisticated documentary watchers, particularly those who appreciate the work of Sergei Loznitsa, Mariupolis screens this Saturday (5/13) at MoMI, as part of this year’s Panorama Europe.

28 Days Later (2002)

The story of a plague that has turned most of the population in to crazed "zombies" is for the most part a great new twist on the now well worn tale. Danny Boyle has created a wonderful horror classic that takes you into new territory just when you've begun to think you've seen it all before.

The first half of this film is some of the best horror film making of the last twenty years or so. Simply put a man wakes up from a coma to find the world in ruins and most of the world now blood thirsty monsters. Staggering around England he ends up with a group of people who try to get out of the city to a safe place in the country. Filled with great set pieces this part of the film raises your expectations for a bang up second half and the genre itself.

Unfortunately the military arrive and things shift gears as the movie becomes something else. Its not a totally bad change, what happens is quite good, but after a first half t which effectively rewrites the rules of the genre we get a tale that seems like we've been there and done that. The flight to the countryside becomes literally housebound and it stagnates in ideas that are good but which we've already seen.

That said, see this movie. Its a great kick in the pants, even if the second half isn't on the classic level of the first.

DANCES WITH FILMS CELEBRATES 20 YEARS WITH A BOLD LINEUP OF TRULY INDEPENDENT FILMS

If you are looking for the film list and schedule that was here previously please go to the DANCES WITH FILMS website for the info.

Apologies all around

The short version is I posted the press release hot off the presses- which was a bad thing since I was sent a second one about 24 hours later because there were errors in the first.

That's all well and good, I mean I could just swap the two out and be fine... except that the new will not format correctly for Unseen. Despite several attempts make it right I messed it up so badly I had to take the whole thing down.

WHile I sort that out I ask that you simply go to the DANCES WITH FILMS site for all the info.

Miki (short): Will the Thrill’s Next 100 Days

A prominent radio psychologist once told us every comedian she ever knew wrestled with depression. That is certainly true of “Will the Thrill.” However, he has perfectly good reasons for being down. His mother has just died, but one of her final requests might help him to finally face issues from his past in Miki, Weiko Lin’s short film adaptation of his award-winning play, which starts a week of special screenings this Friday in Los Angeles.

Will never really knew what to make of his mother’s conversation to Buddhism, so he is rather put off when her spiritual advisor-sifu tells the comedian he must marry within the next one hundred days to allow her soul to rest peacefully, according to Buddhist teachings. To add insult to awkwardness, he also informs Will his mother wanted his childhood sweetheart to have her prayer beads.

Much to Will’s surprise, his mother had kept in touch with Miki. When he was thirteen, he was convinced she was the one—and frankly he probably still believes it. Unfortunately, she moved away and eventually married. After several self-destructive stops on his college tour, Will finally reconnects with Miki. It is a difficult reunion for both, but Will just might begin to understand some of the darkness Miki went through during the intervening years.

In all honesty, Miki might be the most emotionally devastating short you will see in the next one hundred Sundays. As the titular Miki, Karli Hall tears the audience’s collective heart out. It is just a quietly overwhelming performance, better than the vast majority of work you will see in features. Likewise, Eric Martig’s portrayal of Will the Thrill is unusually brave, bringing to mind Jeff Bridges’ aggressive self-loathing in The Fisher King.

Miki is very much about what ails both damaged people, but it is also intriguing for the way it portrays the American Buddhist convert experience. Good old Will can’t help remarking on the pasty whiteness of his mother’s sifu (played by Daniel Van Kirk, who makes a strong impression during his brief screen time). Yet, the film clearly implies her Buddhist faith was a source of strength for his mother and also for the Jewish Miki.

Lin helms with a deep sensitivity and a sure hand. Presumably, he had to greatly condense his stage-play, but he still covers a great deal of emotional ground in twenty-five minutes. Regardless of length, Miki is a mature and accomplished work. Very highly recommended, it opens this Friday (5/12) in LA, at the Laemmle Playhouse 7.

The Last Shaman (2017)

James Freeman is a young man with severe depression. Traveling to the Amazon in a last ditch effort to find something that might happen he begins a series of visits to various shamen who begin to help him find a way out.

Philosophical and medical journey into the heart of darkness both in the form of the jungle and Freeman's heart is an interesting but not wholly successful  look at trying to find an alternate means for treating depression. There is some good stuff here, particularly some of the various philosophies of the various shaman but how you click with the Freeman himself.

Freeman is a nice chap but to be honest he is rather a bland soul. I suspect that director director Raz Degan found something in him to cause him to make the film but for me I just never connected. He could have been anyone, which may have been the point, but at the same time I never connected.

Degan has also shot and assembled the film to look as if it is of the utmost importance. Everything has a mystical quality to it and each shot looks as if it could he hung on the wall. Its so perfect that the film feels less a documentary then a position paper or a very meaningful art film,where everything is staged. Watching the film I pondered how much of this was actually a recreation.

My ambivalence toward parts of the film is unfortunate since the film raises some interesting questions about treatments that might be found in places like the Amazon. The focus of this film is the drug ayahuasca, which at the center of the Oscar nominated the LAST SERPENT. It is a drug that many people swear by and which potentially could help a great many people. I wish the film had focused more on this rather than the deeply meaningful packaging.

Worth a shot if the film interests you, but you don't have to rush right out to see it.

Help CALCULATING EUPHORIA get made

This is a heads up on a film project you might want to consider backing. The project called CALCULATING EUPHORIA is being financed on IndeGoGo. The plot is described as:

Two best friends on a cross-country road trip challenge each other to think of The Best Horror Movie Ever. But by the time they get to Hollywood, nobody’s sure where the movie-in-a-movie ends and the terror begins. Help us make this brilliant homage to horror, Hollywood, and the power of YouTube.

The producers at Leomark are very high on the script and they told me that “5 actors play 14 roles in 3 timelines. A real challenge for both the cast and the director. It's gonna be fun!”

Join the fun and give some sheckles- there is less than a week left – for more information or to back the project go here.

(500) Days of Summer (2009)

The story of a relation ship over the course of 500 days. Zooey Deschanel plays Summer, the object of Tom Hansen's eye (he's played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt). We watch the relationship out of order as we are told what day we are seeing.

Off beat romantic comedy turns the notion of a romantic comedy on its head as well as the notion of what is romance anyway. Very well acted, Daschenel and Gordon-Levitt sell the films quirky construction enough that we accept the way the film is told..

I think this is the sort of film that we probably can all relate to, more so if we've had a relationship crash and burn and we've had to crawl from the wreckage. It is as, the advertising says, not a romantic film but a film about romance in all its joy (there's a musical number) and sorrow. recommended.

Whisky Galore (2016)

Remake of the classic 1949 film, which is based upon a novel and a true incident that occurred in 1941, WHISKY GALORE is a charming romantic comedy about an island that has run out of alcohol thanks to the privations of the Second World War. As the the two daughters of the local postmaster find romance, a cargo ship runs aground off the coast the locals spring into action to try to rescue the cargo of tens of thousands of bottles of whisky. Unfortunately a stick in the mud army Captain (Eddie Izzard) tries to stop them.

Utterly charming, completely non-taxing and fully enjoyable WHISKY GALORE will put a smile on your face. This film that seems to seek to do no more than just entertain manages to do that in spades. I have been so full of important films at film festivals and big budget money grabs from Hollywood that this film was a real delight. In fairness I think I would have had a smile plastered across my face no matter when I saw it because it just clicked with me.

While the script is a spruced up version of the original story, that I think adds much more romance to the tale (forgive me it's been at least a couple of decades since I saw the original), it still is decidedly old fashion in it's story and story telling. There are no bad words any where and I don't think there is any real violence. The result is a wonderfully low key film.

That the film works as well as it does is because the cast sells it. We fall in love with everyone because they manage to make everyone so charming.

Highly recommended to anyone who wants a good film that isn't big and loud and crude when the film hits theaters Friday.

The Tribeca wrap post including our best of and worst of lists

The light projection on the sidewalk outside the Cineopolis on 23rd Street

Tribeca finished a week ago but its ripples are still being felt. As any regular readers have seen we’ve been reviewing films for the last week simply because we saw so much that required long reviews. Additionally various films that were screened there are hitting theaters (THE DINNER hit Friday).

I’ve attended the festival for the last 8 years, 7 of which were as a member of the press. In years past the films were very scattershot with as many really bad films as really good ones. This year there were very few films I disliked. Even the ones I wasn’t crazy about seemed to have a reason as to why they were at the festival. From a programing stand point this was the best of the 8 years I have attended. While the film festival has always been one of my favorites and must attends this year it just out did itself.

In trying to pull thoughts together about the fest I find that I have little to say. Any problems I have concern more things on the press end than the public face of the festival- though the location of the HUB, BMCC and the Regal screenings away from the main locations in Chelsea still make getting to some locations a tough slog. But that's a minor complaint when the films were this good.

This was a truly great year.

I want to thank everyone at the festival for being great. From the volunteers to the administration, PR and programmers I can’t thank you enough.

Thank you to everyone in the press corps for contributing many weeks of great conversation.

Thank you to Joe Bendel for throwing additional coverage, for the good company and being my Lucky Burger wingman.

Thank you to Chocko for coming through in a few surprising ways.

And a big, HUGE thank you to Ariela who has turned out some great reviews, kicked me in the ass when I needed it and even let me steal popcorn from her. You thanked me for letting you come along- and I thank you for being crazy enough to come along.

If you want to know what Ariela and myself thought were at the extremes of the festival I’m presenting our best and worst lists.

My best list are the films I never hesitated putting on the list. The almosts are the ones that had a moments hesitation.

Best
THE DEPARTURE
LA 92
THE FAMILY I HAD
BOMBSHELL HEDY LAMAR
SHIVA
DEAR BASKETBALL

The Clive Davis Concert
Burt Reynolds in DOG YEARS
The gotcha shot in MA
the cinematography in NOVEMBER


Almost
THE GRAY STATE
KING OF PEKING
DIVINE ORDER
MANIFESTO
GILBERT
WEDDING PLAN

Worst
2/3 of AWAKE
1% MORE HUMID
NOBODY'S WATCHING
FLAMES
TILT

Ariela's lists

Best films:
Ice Mother
The Last Animals
True Conviction
The Wedding Plan
Dabka
Take Me

Worst films:
The Dinner
Nobody 's Watching
Aardvark

Ariela adds: "I'm bummed I missed quite a few good ones.. but what can you do. Hopefully they'll be available at some point or another"

Harlem Film Festival Capsules: GINA'S JOURNEY, SOME GIRLS, DAY AFTER DAY and INTERIOR NIGHT

GINA’S JOURNEY
I am mixed on Sean Durant’s GINA’s JOURNEY, a  reconstruction of Regina Mason’s researching and writing of her book Life of William Grimes the Runaway Slave about her ancestor. The film uses reenactments and special effects to tell both Mason’s story and that of her forefather. Its an interesting story told very unevenly, the various styles and green screen effects lessening the effect and making it seem as if it’s something less than it should be. It feels more like something you’d see in school history class as opposed to something in a theater.

SOME GIRLS
A look at a group of Latina- girls over four years as they investigate their roots and explore where they came from. It’s a very good film where we watch how their quest for an identity slowly begins to empower them and give them a sense of place in the world. Its not bad.

DAY AFTER DAY
Form over content story involving two couples trying to work things out is okay. The problem with the film, and the reason I’m not really discussing the details of the plot, is that the film seems way more interested in manipulating the image. Colors are shifted, grain is added and everything has some sort of effect. It all looks good but after about ten minutes I kind of wish it would have toned everything down and let the plot and characters speak for themselves. I tuned out.

INTERIOR NIGHT
Four characters come and go in an apartment one night. Over the course of the evening all of them have to come to terms with the dark secrets that they have been hiding. Okay drama is little more than a filmed stage play. This would have worked better on stage but on the big screen it just never seems ral just overdone.

Steve's take on FOR AHKEEM (2017) Tribeca 2017

Daje Shelton aka Boonie (pronounced Boney) is a very smart young girl who occasionally is getting into trouble. When yet another fight sends her before a judge she is given a choice, go to a special school or drop out. If she goes to the school she has a chance at finishing high school and going to college. Thus begins For Ahkeem, a portrait of Boonie over the next two years.

A you are there portrait of a black teen For Ahkeem is a deeply movie. Showing live of the impoverished family is going to shock most people, even people who think they have seen it all. While not tragic nor violent, this film makes clear exactly what life is like for people like Boonie is like. We see how the mistakes we make as kids can haunt us for life. For example Antonio, Boonie’s boyfriend, is a high school drop out with no prospects whose missteps prevent him from taking the hand out and leg ups that are being offered to help make his life better. Similarly The Ahkeem of the title is Boonie’s son while a ball of love, is a reminder at how hard life can suddenly become.

Deliberately paced, the one knock I heard after the press screening was that the film seemed slow, the film brings you into events and the flow of life in a way that few films manage. We see and feel what Boonie is experiencing and it changes how we see life. For the upper class sort of people who attend Tribeca and other film festivals poverty will hopefully cease to be an abstraction. Here is the life of a good kid, who should be excelling, struggling to get by. Here is a film that transcends the pit falls that other similar films fall into and actually become a film that may actually help to make things better…

I was moved.

My one question concerning the film is how did the filmmakers get the across the board access to make this film? It is truly amazing.

One of the first films I saw At Tribeca For Ahkeem is a must see.

The Eyeslicer (2017) Tribeca 2017

I have no idea what to make of THE EYESLICER.

No strike that. I know what I make of it, the question is what are you going to make of it.

THE EYESLICER is a series of ten hour long episodes bringing together  a collection of new short films from a variety of filmmakers. The show is suppose to showcase "punk rock filmmakers". Based on the episode they screened that is short for pushing the envelope and pushing buttons.

The episode that ran was the second one called Facial Reconstruction and it takes its name the subject on one of the films which has a woman get a facial transplant. Its a strangely compelling tale which sucks you in and drags you along.

Other stories in the show has how to wear make up to screw up facial recognition programs, the story of a thief who walks in on a birthday party and one called Mulignan which has black actors saying stereotypical things you might hear in an Italian neighborhood. While it's very funny it also makes you realize how silly the racism and sexism is.

My one complaint with the series is the computer generated Max Headroom like host who just doesn't work.

Outside of the host the shorts contained in the episode are good enough to make me want to see the rest.

Moscow Never Sleeps (2016) Harlem International Film Festival 2017

Johnny O'Reilly's MOSCOW NEVER SLEEPS is a love letter to the city and it's people. A film with five plot threads running through it the film is a gorgeous, beautifully acted love song.

Beginning with an open credits that cleverly put the titles into the sky line of Moscow the film sucks us in and drags us along in it's five tales: A Business man has to deal the government officials, a young girl deals with her broken home, a celebrity is at the center of a kidnap plot, A singer has to choose between men and young man has to choose family or girlfriend. The tales occasionally intersect but mostly they run their own course giving a view of differing lives in the ancient city.

Unexpectedly wonderful, this is not really what I thought it would be. I'm not sure what I expected, but this isn't it. I think the fact that the film was written and directed by a man from Ireland made it seem like I was not going to be seeing something that felt so incredibly Russian. This is a film that feels like it was made by someone who lives and breaths Moscow. Apparently Ireland is now part of Russia.

While suffering from a small case of the affliction that many multi-narrative films suffer from - we want to spend more time with the characters- the film manages to keep the pains minor and fleeting by constantly returning us to the people who have now become friends.

I can't wait to see it again. Put iton your list of films to see.

While the film has completed it's single screening at The Harlem International Film Festival, it is scheduled to hit theaters June 9th so you'll have a chance to see it for yourself.

The Sensitives(2017) Tribeca 2017

Disappointing look at people who are so sensitive to the chemicals and magnetic and electrical fields that they are forced to either live in far away places where these things don't exist or they are forced to live spartan lives in rooms wrapped in foil.

Focusing on three stories. Bob is a grandfather who several years became hypersensitive to chemicals, smells and electronic fields who is considering a move to Texas to a special development made for hyper sensitive people. ---- and her twin sons who live in the middle of nowhere in Arizona. They are watched over by --- 96 year old mother who intracts with the world for them. Lastly there is Susie, a sufferer and activist who is the go to person for information on the disorder.

Rambling, disorganized and lacking information THE SENSITIVES shows signs of a great film on the subject, but sadly this isn't it. The problem with the film is that there are simply too many people and not enough time to get to know anyone. Bob and his family come off best since we get to know both Bob, his wife and daughter. Susie is reasonably well represented  but  everyone else just come off as shadows. Who are they? We really don't know.

One of the problems with the film is that for a large part of the film the people suffering from the disorder come off as more than a bit loopy. Granted part of it is the fact that the isolation these people live in makes them slightly crazy and self centered, the other problem is that seeing a room that is covered in "aluminum foil" like a crazy homeless man's hat makes it instantly hard to relate to the person. Yes we come around on Bob but at the same time you can't help but thinking these people are nuts at least for a good chunk of the running time.

Another big problem with the film is we don't know a hell of a lot. Where does Bob live, I must have blinked and missed it. We have no sense other than a phone call how anyone with this disease gets money t live. Even the disorder its self isn't well explained. We see some explanation, we see some video of Susie, but at the same time why can they go out sometimes and are fine and at other times they are not (This is an acute problem with Susie's trip to Washington - why is she in a wheel chair and not or okay and then doubled over? There is no sense of it) Why are somethings wrapped in plastic and others not?

I was left repeatedly wanting to stop the film to ask the filmmakers clarifying questions.

There is a good story here. There is a moving feature film that could be cut from this and I'm hoping the material left on the cutting room floor. Sadly this film while okay, isn't really worth your time.

One of the big disappointments of Tribeca.

Curtsy Mister (2017) Harlem International FIlm Festival 2017

Portrait of Ronnie Grant who was raised in the projects on the upper Westside of Manhattan he had his life changed when his aunt dressed him u as girl which then set him on a course that was anything but typical. It is a story that is unexpectedly poignant and funny thanks to its raw honesty.

Based upon Grant’s theatrical production of his life his beautifully rendered memory bubbles from the play are woven around interviews with Grant as well as some with his friends and family. The result is an entrancing film that is a beautiful portrait of a unique individual who has taken what life has thrown at him with grace and humor. A survivor in the truest sense of the word Grant is a man to be admired since he has managed to get this far in a life that at times might have broken lesser mortals.

While the film is incredibly moving, the film suffers from a small flaw that keeps it from achieving perfection and that is the segments of Ronnie Grant’s perfectly crafted play don’t quite blend with the interview segments. It’s kind of like bouncing between a silk robe and a linen sheets, both are comfortable but one is a bit smoother than the other.

I really liked this film.  This is one of the films I run across every now and again and that make be glad I agree to try films I know absolutely nothing about. This is a gem that was hiding in an unexpected place.

Very recommended.

For more information or tickets go here.