NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL (Feb.-Mar. 2016)
NEW YORK MOVIE JOURNAL, February-March 2016
Again I'll provide thumbnail reviews of all I see outside of Rendez-Vous with French Cinema and New Directors/New Films at Lincoln Center, covered elsewhere.
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OSCAR NOMINATED DOCUMENTARY SHORTS, PROGRAMS A & B
Program A:
Body Team 12 – dir. David Darg, Liberia, 13 mins. a direct report on the group who collected the corpses of ebola victims in Monrovia, Liberia narrated by the only female member of the team. It's intense, and touching.
A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness, dir. Sharmen Obaid-Chinoy, Pakistan, 40 min. follows the young woman who was shot in the face and dropped in a river in a bag by her father and brother for marrying a young man she chose. She survived, and went to live with her husband's family. Key fact: all pressure is on women to "forgive" in court in such cases and she does. More principled lawyers and policemen hate this.
Last Day of Freedom dirs. Dee Hibbert-Jones & Nomi Talisman, USA, 32 min. This is available streaming on Netflix and I reviewed it fully elsewhere.
Program B:
Chau, beyond the Lines. dir. Courtney Marsh and Jerry Franck. USA 34 mins. The story of a young Vietnamese man whose mother was exposed to Agent Orange when she was pregnant. Despite dramatic birth defects to his limbs he is determined to become an artist and ultimately a fashion designer and after being in a home, then with his parents in the country, he strikes out on his own, and succeeds in becoming self-supporting as an artist. It is hard to see how anyone could watch this film without being profoundly moved: Chau's spirit and will are incredible. This follows him over a period of years. A remarkable, unforgettable film.
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah Adam Benzine 35 mina. In German, French and English with clips and interviews with Lanzmann, this sheds light on the making of his epic 9 hr. 26 min. documentary about the Nazi slaughter of the Jews, Shoah. A must-see for fans of Lanzmann and his film, which I am, so I was intrigued with the greater detail about two key moments in the making of Shoah, the insight into Lanzmann himself; the surprise (to me) that he had a long affair with Simone de Beauvoir and was a good friend of Sartre. But this seemed to me more a homage than a remarkable documentary. The remarkable documentary is Shoah.
*** ***
Apparently there's no universal agreement on which of the five will win. I've seen Body Team and A Girl in the River favored, but Variety now lists the Lanzmann film. Despite their newsworthiness I still tend to feel Last Day of Freedom is more complex and interesting than those first two; Chau, beyond the lines is remarkable. This is a outstanding set of nominees. Watched at IFC Center 14 Feb. 2016.
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GLASSLAND (Gerard Barrett 2015), 93 mins. A little kitchen sink Irish film about upright 20-something John (the handsome, luminous Jack Reynor) who drives a taxi and lives with his mother (Toni Collette), whose raging late stage alcoholism is driving him nuts. His best friend is a naive kid (an excellent Will Poulter). He has a younger brother, Kit (Harry Nagle), just turned 18, whose mental disability his mother can't face. At considerable personal cost and effort, involving some potentially dangerous illegality to raise the money, he gets his mother into private rehab, and there is hope. Nice use of diagetic music. I could have done without some of the longeurs and the oddball cinematography of shots of knees and backs of heads; but the sincerity and truth of the film and its informed approach to the disease of alcoholism make this a winner. At Cinema Village 14 Feb. 2016.
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DEADPOOL (Tim Miller 2016). Ryan Reynolds in the main role makes this semi-self-satrical superhero comic offshoot lighthearted and the writers, Rhett Reese, Paul Wernick, et al. pack ribald, trendy wit into the fast dialogue, so this movie is funny and fun - for about 20 minutes. For the additional 88, it's the samo-samo, and more pedestrian than many. As Wade/Deadpool's chief competition/adversary, Brit Ed Skrein of last year's TRANSPORTER REFUELED has a chiseled, sexy edge. With its overt sex and nudity and sex talk, this is not for kids and outside the comfort zone of the usual Marvel movies, in a good way, but the wit can only survive for a while. At Regal Union Square 15 Feb. 2016
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BAD HURT (Mark Kemble 2015). About a family in Staten Island with multiple issues this painfully downbeat and somewhat clichéd story adapted by Kemble and Jamieson Stern from Kemble's play (as one can tell), nonetheless is well written and has an arc toward resolution. Summary: "A secret from the past threatens to tear apart the lives of a Vietnam War veteran (Michael Harney), his wife (Karen Allen) and their children." It does tear apart at least one of the lives, and it is hard to watch. The messed up grown kids are too busy but Harney and Allen deliver solid, grounded performances. At Cinema Village 15 Feb. 2016.
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Creative Control (Benjamin Dickinson 2015). This sophomore effort (his first was 2012's First Winter) is glitzy and hip with handsome b&w lensing and strong use of classical music. A futuristic treatment of successful Brooklynites' urban malaise; but underneath it's mainly just a portrait of confused young people struggling with jobs and relationships. It's set in a near future where i-devices are transparent and keyboards are virtual and sex with holograms is becoming possible. Protag David reps an ad campaign for Augmenta, a new virtual-reality program involving Oliver Peoples-ish clear plastic glasses. Playing with them, alcohol, and drugs leads him to get involved with ad agency co-worker Sophie, shagging, or virtual-shagging at a boutique hotel, the Wythe, neglecting his yoga instructor gf-roommate Jennifer. There are refs to the Antonioni of Blowup and Kubrick of Clockwork Orange. If the conventional plot and somewhat shallow characters can't earn comparison with such masters, Dickinson nonetheless evinces "creative control" enough of his own to be a director worth watching. I didn't see his low budget debut First Winter, about a hippie commune-ish group gone wrong, but this too -- it has a NY State sequence and a shaggy yogi who starred in the first film -- for some reason reminded me of Sean Durkin's spooky Martha Marcy May Marlene, suggesting that is maybe this is good territory for Dickenson to return to. (Full review before this film's 11 March release.)
THE WAVE (Roar Uthaug 2015
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THE WAVE (Roar Uthaug 2015). There is something quite endearing about a natural disaster movie that repeats all the old formulas with complete conviction, and this one from Norway about a tsunami among the fjords and mountains works, is nerve-wracking and terrifying, touching and beautiful, and at 104 minutes, highly economical. All you need is a family of four, squabbling but loving parents, cute little daughter, and cute adolescent son; and a disaster waiting to happen. Everybody has to mention last year's Scandanavian film based around an avalanche, Force Majeure. Yes, that one is more unnerving and original; but this one provides more simple comforts and satisfactions. What happens in a tsunami? You drown, right? Well, The Wave (original title Bølgen) got me closer to the feeling of drowning than I'd ever been at the movies. This was at Toronto and Norway's official Oscar entry. This is a corker, and beautifully made. Roar Uthaug is a director to watch. Viewed on a screener for review from Magnolia 3 March 2016. Opens wide in US 4 March 2016.
New York debut of SXSW music doc from Mali
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THEY WILL HAVE TO KILL US FIRST (Johanna Schwartz 2015). Vibrant color and pulsating soundtrack of live performances of African pop blues, ballads, rap and soul, plus score by Nick Zinner of Yeah Yeah Yeah mark this documentary debuted at SXSW about Malian musicians driven into exile by invading jihadists, and a partial comeback. The latter includes a successful London album by the Songhoy Blues quartet plus a brave return to perform in Timbuktu by divas Khaira Arby and Disco (Fatimata Walett Oumar), which climaxes this immensely hopeful film. The joy and excitement of these musicians and their music jump off the screen. I cried. We also see the quiet Tuareg singer Moussa ag Sidi; he left his wife behind and the jihadists put her in jail. Scenes show atrocities, destruction of radio stations, etc. Interviews with the musicians and singers provide narration throughout. Western musical luminaries (Damon Albarn, Marc-Antoine Moreau, Brian Eno) also help out. The images and editing are fine. Watched at Village East Cinema 5 Mar. 2016 where it had its theatrical premiere 4 Mar.
Dester Fletcher's 3rd directorial effort celebrates an English amateur sports hero
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EDDIE THE EAGLE (Dexter Fletcher 2016). Biopic with fictionalized elements about Eddie Edwards who competed in the 70m and 90m Olympic ski jumps at the Winter Games in Calgary in 1988 despite only one year of ski jumping. With versatile everyman Taron Egerton of Kingsman as Eddie and Hugh Jackman as his reluctant coach and a cameo by Chris Walken. I also liked Edvin Endre as the very young Norwegian world champion ski jumper. The presence of Jim Broadbent as the BBC radio announcer shows Fletcher is well connected for casting. Everybody is good. A simple inspirational film about having faith in yourself and competing for the pleasure of the struggle not for medals, and the spirit of amateurism that is an essential part of English culture. This is Dexter Fletcher's third directorial outing after many, many acting gigs (98) since Bugsy Malone at age ten. I love him in Caravaggio and The Rachel Papers. He has had BAFTA nominations for his two previous outings as director (2011 and 2013). This reads as a very minor, not very original, film here, but Eddie's fame in the UK would mean more attention there and I'm betting it will get somewhat better reviews from the Brits upon its UK release 28 March. Opened wide in the US 26 Feb. 2016, watched at Village East Cinema 6 Mar. 2016.
Box office success 10 CLOVERFIELD LANE
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10 CLOVERFIELD LANE (Dan Trachtenberg 2016). A young woman called Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) whom we follow up to to a car accident, wakes up confined in a bunker by survivalist control freak Howard (John Goodman), who tells her there's been a massive chemical or nuclear attack and everybody but them is dead. Turns out there is a guy, Emmett (John Gallagher Jr. of Newsroom), also confined here. The question is whether it's armageddon or just a sick game by Howard. Michelle "has some fight in her" so she aims to find out, with Emmett as her secret ally. Described as a giant "Twilight Zone" episode this reps an able debut by first-timer Trachtenberg, backed for a super-wide release by mega-producer J.J. Abrams, who produced Matt Reeves' less well-received over-the-top 2008 sci-fi found footage monster invasion flick Cloverfield to which this is only a distant cousin; the similar title was tacked on only later. I found Reeves' movie more fun and this distinctly unfun -- but its confinement, menace and mystery are powerful ingredients, well-manipulated here to hold audience attention. From an original idea by Whiplash auteur Damien Chazelle, and Howard has something in common with J.K. Simmons' character. Released (NYC 8 Mar. 2016, watched at Regal Union Square 12 Mar.