San Francisco Independent Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

MELORA WALTERS: WATERLILY JAGUAR (2018)


JAMES LE GROS IN WATERLILY TIGER

James LeGros as a slick writer bored with his success

Bob (James LeGros), a writer in Los Angeles, is shutting down in this first feature directed by the busy actress Melora Walters, whose ninety-nine credits include Magnolia and Boogie Nights and who has the support of Paul Thomas Anderson as executive producer here. As the opening title appears, Bob is being feted for something at a rich lady's house full of "wonderful art", an experience he likens to his wife to an "endless colonoscopy." His British agent Bill (Dominic Monaghan)congratulates him; his wife Helen (Mira Sorvino)comforts him. Why the ceaseless tinkly Bach piano in the background, we don't know. Music for a colonoscopy? Next morning he grumpily orders his overdressed, uppity (and entirely too sexy) lady assistant Will (Stacey Oristano) to investigate a cave man era Tar Pit hologram lady he learned about at the party. Material for some edgy, hallucinatory new writing? "Waterlily jaguar" are words he spins by a pool musing on the Tar Pit lady, which eventually become the title of the new novel. "This is the book I've always wanted to write," he says."Finally some literature. Something that will come out of me." Oh gosh! We know that's not going to go well. Now the tinkly piano music is Chopin.

Bob has made himself and others rich writing his bestselling novels of the "airport" variety, successful potboilers. The success is attested by his posh appearance and spacious surroundings. I remember LeGros best as Matt Dillon's doofus sidekick in Gus van Sant's Drugstore Cowboy (where it was Dillon who was the "Bob"). LeGros is a veteran of a great many widely different roles, the consummate character actor. The giant leap from villainous retard to slick writer is a big one that he seems to make with perfect ease. Bob is a milder fellow than the hype for this movie, which speaks of a "spiral of obsession," would have us believe. It's partly a meltdown, partly a mid-life crisis, and evidently fueled by years of too much drinking, which those near him want to stop. So he does stop, more or less.

There is confusion, certainly, lack of communication. We feel a twinge of pity for the bestselling author who wants to go quirky and offbeat. But what a nice house he has, and that classic Porsche! And he has "families to support."

After the Tar Pit visit choppy editing tells us Bob's had a mental breakdown. That's when his wife puts him on a kind of cure, special diet, no alcohol, and a shrink. He writes poetry: his new novel is in verse. It's beautiful," says Will, admiring now. The tinkly piano music turns to what sounds like Eric Satie. And now we learn that Bill, though married, sleeps with Will. And by the way, the worried Helen is a painter,with a flirtatious gallerist, who's in love with her, Jackson, is played by Christopher Backus, Sorvino's longtime real-life husband. They have a conversation in a gallery that I can't make heads nor tails of.

The accoutrements of this movie are fine, the cast is good, but the theme is a tricky one to put over to begin with, and with the irrelevant affair of Bill and Will, things go astray. Partly Walters wants them to. But what is she getting at? It's not a good sign that the basic theme is being stated all over again, and fully for the first time, in a scene between Bob and his agent, two thirds of the way through the movie. But what's clear is that nobody supports Bob in his new direction. Are they right? Who knows? Come to the last night of the SF Indiefest, at the Roxie Theater, and decide for yourself.

SF IndieFest: Waterlily Jaguar: Upcoming Showtimes
February 14 7:00 PM SF IndieFest at the Roxie

Waterlily Tiger, an admirably slim 87 minutes, was the opening night film of the DTLA (Downtown Los Angeles) Film Festival last October, and is to be the closing night film at SF Indiefest, in connection with which it was screened for this review.

[Chris Knipp]

ALEX JABLONSKI, KAHLIL HUDSON: WILDLAND (2018)


A YOUNG FIREFIGHTER IN WILDLAND

A baptism of fire and service

Joblonski and Hudson made a documentary about fighting forest wildfires. This could not be more timely, since global warming is producing the largest land fires in American history and last year the largest wildfire yet raged in California, where there are the biggest ones, entirely destroying the town of Paradise, in Butte County, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, and wiping out houses and killing people in the south too, including Malibu.

The film is not a spectacular survey, though, but a quiet, intimate study of a small team of firefighters. Technically they are a Type II Initial Attack handcrew based in southern Oregon. It stays with the single team for a season, then another, through screening, hiring, training, and work. Most of them are young, as they need to be, since the job is a matter of twelve and sixteen hour days, or worse, backbreaking work. They have a tough, experienced instructor, Tim, who quotes: "Fighting fire is just long hours of hard, boring work punctuated by moments of sheer terror."

I don't think we see the terror. What we see is boredom and disappointment, followed by excitement when they're sent to California to fight the big one, at last, then more boredom, perhaps exhaustion, but, in the end, exhilaration and a sense of having done something about as worthwhile as anything you could do. At first we see only digging row after row of connected trenches and they don't even see smoke. Then in California eventually they are on hillsides rimmed with fire, the flames are approaching them and they are choking from the smoke and we say, "Oh my God!" This is really dangerous. You can die.

Many of the crew members are first-timers. A number of them have just gotten out of jail. They are alone, or with families. They're young, mostly or sometimes middle-aged. (One guy says this is probably his last time: his body can't take it any longer. And we worry. But nobody falters.) I couldn't help it: the line, "Toughest job you'll ever love" occurred to me, along with the sense that this is really something special to do. The literature about the film describes the crew as "working-class men." But the film follows one of the young guys home, one of two, Charlie and Aiden, who joined together after dropping out of bible college. His family house is large: he comes from wealth.

The crew members are not doing this for the lack of anything better, then, but sometimes they join for an adventure, a challenge, for something real, for a coming of age experience, for a sense of redemption, to get completely away, to banish depression. At least one is a recovering addict. All are seeking a tempering and purification. But the film's aim is twofold. It means to show us the men in some depth, as individuals. But of course it's about fighting forest fires. It shows that in detail on the ground. But there's no "big picture" here, despite a few excerpts from daily news broadcasts about fires. What we do get is a sense that the crew members are performing well as a team and that they have made a contribution. After a while it also becomes true that the filmmakers and photographers are imbedded with the team. They became firefighters themselves and shared the risk when they were plunged into the heart of the California fire and at one point are hemmed in for a while, with no escape. “We actually became firefighters to make this film," Jablonski. said in an interview: "If we were going to do this story right, we needed to experience it with these guys, and just be there all the time." Jablonski and Hudson and those who worked with them paid their dues, and Wildland is admirable for its simplicity and authenticity. You feel that throughout in a film that is as visceral as it is unpretentious.

See full article at Filmmaker Magazine_Director Interviews »

This film was presented in one-hour form on PBS’s Independent Lens series. The full eighty-minute form is being shown in festivals and select theaters. It was screened for this review as part of the 2019 SF INDIEFEST.

Showtimes:

Fri, Feb 8 - 5:01 PM Roxie Theatre

Sat, Feb 9 12:30 PM Roxie Theatre

[Chris Knipp]

TAKUMI SHIMUMKAI: CENTERLINE



Artificial intelligence on trial in a slightly futuristic Japan

Due to the development of self-driving AI, traffic accidents are drastically decreased in 2027. Amane Yonago, a new Prosecutor, is assigned to the Transportation Division. Unhappy with her new job, she decides to indict the self-driving car's AI which crossed the center line in error and caused an accident. The instant the trial begins, the AI admits that they killed the victim on purpose. Because of this allegation, Amane Yonago must find a way to prove the AI has feelings. -JM (Indiefest blurb).

This is a fascinating and timely idea. Especially fans of Asian sci-fi and of Japanese film will enjoy it. I got a bit lost in the relatively dry details of the trial, however.

SF INDIEFEST SHOWTIMES:
Sun, Feb 10
2:45 PM Roxie TheatreBuy Tickets

Mon, Feb 11
7:01 PM Roxie TheatreBuy Tickets