A Sunday in the Country: That's pretty much it

I've been working my way through Roger Ebert's Great Movies and that's how I found A Sunday in the Country. This one didn't really do anything for me. It's about an old man who's children and grandchildren come to visit him in the country . . . on a Sunday. And, uh, not a lot happens. I guess that if you have a burning desire to find out what a typical lazy Sunday was like outside of Paris in the early 1900's this would be a great film for you. Otherwise, you can probably give it a miss.

Grindhouse: Like two old awesomely shitty movies, only way better

Now, I've seen my fair share of exploitation double/triple features thanks to the guys down at Exhumed Films and the Philadelphia Film Festival's Danger After Dark series, so I was well prepared for Grindhouse when I saw it with Corey and Ringo last night. The movie gets off to a great start with a fake trailer for Machete, starring Danny Trejo. It looks like just about the most awesome thing I could imagine:


Danny Trejo is such a bad ass that not only did he serve time in San Quentin but he also won the lightweight and welterweight boxing titles while he was there. I have no idea what "welterweight" is but I'm pretty sure that means he could kick the crap out of everyone in prison. And I guess I'm not the only one who who fell in love with the idea. It looks like Robert Rodriguez is working on a feature-length version of Machete. I've never been excited about a direct-to-video release before!

After the preview, we get into the meat of the film with Rodriguez's Planet Terror:


This is a post 9/11 zombie flick that is completely disgusting and an awful lot of fun. When people get shot, blood erupts from their bodies and cars blow-up for no apparent reason. The whole thing is just infused with a genuine affection for old exploitation movies and a real joy of film making. Oh, and somehow Rose McGowan with a machine gun leg is even hotter than it sounds:


After a few more super-awesome trailers comes Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof:


First of all, who knew that Sidney Poitier's kid (the irritatingly named Sydney Poitier) had such a great ass? Secondly, Kurt Russell is still great. I don't want to talk about the plot at all because I think it's got a couple of nice surprises. However, I will say that I think it's Tarantino's most subversive film to date. A lot of people seem to complain that this one is boring but I think that's because it's got a lot of character development. And that's something more movies could use.

Also, Grindhouse features Fergie and I think this picture pretty much sums up her role in the film:

Film Festival: Closing Night

Waitress

For the closing night of the festival they always show a bigger movie that's about to get a theatrical release. Waitress is no exception, it stars Keri Russell and on May 2nd it will open with a limited release. If I had to place this one in a genre I'd say it's sort of a drama with a lot of light romantic-comedy conventions and a dark streak to keep things interesting. I suppose you could label it a chick-flick but I have to say that I really enjoyed this one and I think it has the potential for broad-based appeal. Russell plays a waitress who is also a pie virtuoso (come on, that's just adorable) in a diner owned by a grizzled old man played by Andy Griffith (who, I was happy to discover, is still alive). The film was directed by Adrienne Shelly who was murdered shortly after the editing of this picture was completed. There are so few female directors working today (and, therefore, even fewer ones who are any good) that, after seeing this, I can say it's a real shame that the world lost this one. Essentially, her last act on this earth was to make a very sweet, funny, and touching film about life. I would recommend that you all see this one, it's a real crowd-pleaser.

Well, that's it. The film festival is over. In two weeks I saw 52 programs (I could have seen 53 but I overslept one day) and none of them sucked. I'm pretty impressed. Sure, a few of them were a little boring but they all had their moments. I'm completely exhausted and I've got a ton of work to catch up on, so I better go.

Oh, and that may be me in the audience pictured below.

Film Festival: Day 13

Out Of This World Animation

This is a collection of animated shorts (mostly from CalArts students). These things are always a mixed bag, most are good, some are pretty boring. The one I enjoyed the most was Golden Age, itself a series of shorts. The film presents the "E! True Hollywood Stories" version of newsreels about fictional cartoon characters (as opposed to real cartoon characters?) and their personal turmoils off-screen. It's pretty witty and has a good sense of animation styles through the ages as well as the darker side of Hollywood history. One great moment comes during a segment that lampoons wartime shorts like Donald Duck's Der Fuehrer's Face and Bugs Bunny Nips the Nips (don't try looking for that last one on your Looney Tunes - Golden Collection, Warner like to keep it under wraps). In it the villains are racist caricatures of Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito. Only for Hirohito they use Chinese stereotypes instead of Japanese ones, priceless.

Dog Bite Dog

This is an incredibly brutal Chinese gangster film about a Cambodian hitman and the Hong Kong cop trying to track him down. It's a real competition to see which of these men is more ruthless in the pursuit of his goals and, although I'm not all that familiar with the situation, after seeing this film I could believe that all of China's human rights violations are perpetrated by the police in Hong Kong. This is a strange movie and when you think everything has been resolved, it just keeps going only to find more complications. This is also one of a few movies I've seen that has double subtitles (Chinese and English) and it's funny to think that China is such a large country with so many dialects that they have to subtitle their own movies so that the non-Cantonese speakers can understand what's going on.

Film Festival: Day 12

Ghosts Of Cité Soleil

This fascinating documentary is about the slums of Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti. The film primarily follows one of the five gang leaders who covertly works for the President to intimidate his political opponents. The gangster goes by the name '2Pac' and one of the members of his crew is named 50 cent. Things get a little confusing when the Haitian 2Pac calls up his friend the Haitian Wyclef Jean who is, like, the real Wyclef Jean. It's a great look at a complex political, social and personal situation where there are no real good guys. Only people doing what they can to survive in a terrible situation.

Trapped Ashes

The premise of this film is that six people get trapped in a haunted house while taking a tour of a rundown movie studio that is lead by Henry Gibson. (Excellent premise!) The gang realizes that they are being forced to reenact an old movie and everyone is forced to tell their own personal real-life horror stories. Each tale is told in flashback and is directed by a different person with Joe Dante directing the wrap-around segments at the studio. As with any of these things the individual segments are sort of hot or miss and unfortunately the best parts are at the beginning. The first one involves a woman who gets breast implants that come from real breast tissue recovered from cadavers (clearly, this will not end well). The woman's newly enhanced bust takes on a life of it's own and begins sucking the blood of any would-be suitors. It's sort of reminiscent of Rabid, the David Cronenberg film with legendary porn-star Marilyn Chambers. So, if you start off your omnibus with vampire tits, where can you go from there? Demon sex. That's what the second segment is about. Both of those are pretty great but what comes after that is a little bit of a let-down.

End of the Line

This is a good (but politically muddled) horror flick about a group of Christians who get the word that the Day of Reckoning is upon us and start killing everyone to save their souls. It is unclear how killing someone before Satan's army arises from the dead will lead to everlasting life. This was made on a shoestring budget but it does offer a few jumps and a lot of suspense.

Wicked Flowers

This Japanese horror film is sort of like Cube meets The Game with Michael Douglas, only a lot stranger. It's kind of slow but I have to give it props for being weird as all get-out.

Film Festival: Day 11

Dante's Inferno

This is an all puppet retelling of the classic with Dermot Mulroney as Dante and James Cromwell as Virgil, his guide through the underworld. It's pretty funny.

Judy Toll:
The Funniest Woman You've Never Heard Of

This is a labor of love by the brother of a comedienne who recently died of cancer. It's funny, it's got a lot of heart and it would seem cruel to criticize it.

The Living And The Dead

This is an interesting mix of a family drama and a horror film with the horror aspect being a combination of a well-meaning, mentally ill caretaker and his cancer stricken mother. It's not always easy to tell fantasy from reality and that only adds to the suspense.

American Fork

This movie is billed as being "From the makers of Napoleon Dynamite" but a more accurate description would be "from the editor, casting director and sound department of Napoleon Dynamite." I went in thinking this was going to be Napoleon Dynamite II and I was surprised to find a slower, more poignant film. It's got some really eccentric characters that are good for a few laughs, for instance it has a pompous actor played by a Baldwin brother (not the famous one or the crazy Christian, one of the other two) but it's more of a drama than a comedy.

Unholy Women

This is three short Japanese horror films rolled into one. The first and last section are both solid but it's the middle one that's a real gem. It's a funny, terrifying, and just plain bizarre tale about a boy who gets set up on a blind date with a girl who's got nice legs but is completely encased in a burlap sack from the waist up. She never speaks but does make inhuman, almost insect-like, screeches and her sack is lumpy and bulbous. Clearly, there is more than just a girl underneath. It ends with an act that I can only describe as (spoiler alert) a reverse-birth/consumption sex act. It's weird and wonderful.

Film Festival: Day 10

VHS - Kahloucha

This is a documentary about a guy (Kahloucha) who's basically a Tunisian Ed Wood. It's a lot of fun to watch him make Tarzan of the Arabs (pictured above) and see all of his friends crack up as they watch his work. It's also interesting to see who his screen heroes are. I wasn't surprised that Clint Eastwood was his favorite but who expect to him to know Jim Kelly and Alain Delon? If I hadn't seen his movies I'd say that he has great taste.

Viva

This dead on parody of 70's sex flicks shows a remarkable attention to details. Just look at that room, the clothes on the men, and the turquoise eye-shadow on that woman. It invites (and deserves) comparisons to Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, although this film is more limited in it's scope. I really admire it for playing the entire thing completely dead-pan. A lesser film would have given into the temptation to wink at the audience. After the first minute I thought, surely they can't keep this up for the whole movie? But they did, for two straight hours. That would be my only complaint, though, the length. It's a remarkable exercise but, at it's heart, it's a one-joke movie and I think a briefer runtime would help. It's not that the film ever drags, or that it feels padded. I just think it's a super-awesome movie that's screaming for a more ruthless editor.

The Killer Within

This is the best documentary I've seen at the festival. It's about a man who shot his sleeping dorm-mate at Swarthmore College in 1955 and his decision to go public with this information after fifty years. He tells everybody, his daughters, his in-laws, his friends, his co-workers, his psychology students and the media. He says that he's coming forward because he wants to take a stand against bullying, which is what lead to his break-down and the subsequent killing (a the time he was declared mentally unfit to stand trial and spent almost five years in a hospital for the criminally insane). The film mostly follows his youngest daughter and her attempts to make sense of the situation which is only made more difficult when friends of the deceased come forward to deny that the killer was abused. It's a challenging film that raises many question (both ethical and factual) and doesn't provide any easy answers. It's a film that demands you to think.

Them

This is a frighteningly claustrophobic Romanian horror film that is made all the more terrifying because it claims to be based on a true story. Of course, you can't always trust movies to tell you the truth about something like that (I'm looking at you, Fargo). It's incredibly suspenseful and it hits all the right notes. I'd say that it's a stand-out in the genre, I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

Film Festival: Day 9

Dead Daughters

This is a solid ghost film but it has the shakiest camera movement that I've seen since The Blaire Witch Project. Only then there was a reason for it, in this movie the image just jumps all over the place for no reason. I can understand using hand-held shots during the scary parts to increase the tension or even having the camera move in every shot like Gosford Park. But having a spastic camera during mundane scenes is just irritating and Robert Altman pretty much stuck to fluid camera moves. Anyway, I sat really close and got a headache.

Trigger Man

This is a suspense movie that is incredibly slow. Probably because there isn't much of a plot (even at a glacial pace the runtime is only 80 minutes). Here's the story: Three friends go hunting. Someone (or someones) unknown starts shooting at them. They shoot back. That's it. I have to give the director credit for making it into a somewhat compelling movie but I definitely heard some snoring in the theater.

Severance

This movie rules, like you would not believe. It's a horror-comedy and it delivers on both fronts, in a big way. It'll be playing again as part of the Festival Favorites on Tuesday in the Ritz 5 at 9:30. Do yourself a favor and go see it. Seriously. I just saw 30+ films and this is the first time I'm giving you a show time and venue. But be sure to get your tickets in advance, I'm sure it'll sell out.

Comrades In Dreams

This offers an interesting look at people who run (very) independent movie theaters all over the world, from India to Burkina Faso to North Korea to Wyoming. The documentary is more about the people who bring the movies to their communities (that would otherwise have to do without) than the movies themselves which is sort of a shame because those North Korean propaganda films are pretty interesting.

The Secret Cinema Presents
Stag Movie Night: Vintage Porno From The 1920's, 30's and 40's

There's really nothing quite like watching porn with an audience of a couple hundred strangers and, if I'm not mistaken, a couple of people I know (don't worry, I won't out anybody). These shorts have an odd mix of the naturalistic and the artificial. It has women that come from an age before plastic surgery and, since these were shot on the cheap, it's unlikely that they did many second takes so you end up with shots of men awkwardly stepping out of their pants. But, at the same time, the women mimic the exaggerated, over-dramatic acting style of the silent stars of that era. Needless to say, it's unique.

Best line of the night: Behold, the gushing fountain of youth!

Film Festival: Day 8

Kurt Cobain: About A Son

This is an inventive documentary (although, not quite as inventive as Zoo) that uses a series of recorded interviews with Kurt Cobain combined with footage of the towns where he lived and the people who live there now to tell his life story. However, it notably does not use any of Nirvana's music and the only images of Cobain himself are saved to the very end. It can seem a bit tedious at times but if you're interested in the man or how fame affects people, it'll be worth the wait.

The Unseeable

This is my first ghost movie of the festival and it's from Thailand where, apparently, young women shower while wearing towels (no fun). It's got a ton of ghosts (which, by the way, are all quite seeable) and they all have their own back story. This film is loaded down with more sub-plots than it knows what to do with. It's definitely got it's creepy moments but it's mostly a big mess.

War In Peace (Shorts Program)

This program consists of two shorts, the first of which is City Harvest. It offers an interesting look at how a prison gardening program provides seedlings to community gardens, which use them to grow produce to donate to local food banks, which distribute the vegetables to needy families, usually in the same communities where the prisoners came from.

The second short is Recovering Satellites and it's about three Vietnam veterans who got short changed on a New Jersey memorial. It covers the story from two angels by telling the personal story of one of the men and it also gives the bigger picture of how we failed to support our troops during Vietnam. Can I just say that I'm a little sick of people who try to make me feel guilty for not giving the troops a proper welcome when they came back from Vietnam? I mean, I wasn't even around back then. But I guess people are still really upset about that. Hey, how about we make a deal? Bring the troops home from Iraq and I'll show up for the parade. Oh, and I promise I won't spit on anyone. Deal?

Cashback

This is a really great film that was adapted from an Oscar-nominated short. In fact, the entire 18-minute short is contained in the feature film. I'm tempted to describe it as Clerks meets Amelie meets my sexual fantasies but that doesn't really do it justice. It starts out as sort of a mid-twenties-life-crisis/slacker comedy but it evolves into something magical. It's full of wonder and surprises. You should all see it.

Film Festival: Day 7

Fair Play

This is a pretty solid French thriller. After a lot of corporate backstabbing they decide to make the annual office outing a rock climbing trip through a white-water-rapid-filled canyon. Clearly, they're not all going to make it out. The problem is that there comes a point when you realize that all of the characters are terrible people and that you don't want any of them to escape.

A Dirty Carnival

There's a lot going on in this post-modern gangster flick. I mean, a whole lot. I wouldn't even know where to begin but if you're a fan of Asian gangster films, or gangster films in general, it's not to be missed.

Eagle vs Shark

First of all a double shout out to Corey for coming to Princess and this, which he accurately described as a mix of Napoleon Dynamite and Wes Anderson. It's really great and, as I've said before, there's nothing sweeter than nerd love. If you have an affection for dead-pan humor and characters that are a little off you must see this funny, bizarre and wonderful film.

Princess

I loved this movie even though I completely disagreed with it's message. This film is against pornography (which I am for) and for violent revenge, including the bombing of innocent civilians and breaking the bones of small children (things I am against). That being said, this was an incredibly well-directed film. It has a stunning visual style, an inventive combination of animation and live action, and it takes a harsh look at disturbing issues you'd rather not contemplate. It's just a shame that the hero exhibits the moral code of a terrorist.

Film Festival: Day 6

Life Can Be So Wonderful

This is the kind of movie that Corey would dismiss as pretentious but I really liked it. It's cinematic poetry.

Taxidermia

In my first festival post I joked about how long it would be before I saw a penis. Well, the answer was day six and that penis shot about three feet of flame, as you can see. I really don't know what to say about Taxidermia. It tells the story of three generations of men who each have an obsession: sex, food and, uh, taxidermy? Maybe that last one's supposed to be death, that probably works better thematically. This Hungarian film has things that I guarantee you've never seen before and they're things that you might be better off not seeing. It's definitely not for the squeamish and it has some vomit scenes that put Stand By Me to shame. Needles to say, I loved it.

On a side note, György Pálfi, the director, is also responsible for Hukkle (Hiccup) a film that shows life in a small town in Hungary without any dialog, other than a song. It is beautiful and this couldn't be more different.

Mr. Pilipenko And His Submarine

This is a documentary about a Ukrainian man who builds a submarine in his garage and has dreams of taking it to the Black Sea. When he takes his sub to a local pond for a test drive you become absolutely terrified that this clearly deranged man is going to die before your very eyes.

Cruel Winter Blues

This is not what you would expect from a gangster film. It's about two men who are waiting for a hit and kill time by, well, living. It's a character study and I think it does for gangster films what Pat Garret & Billy the Kid did for westerns (or maybe it's what McCabe & Mrs. Miller did for westerns, but I digress). It's just full of life, all the good things as well as the bad.

Film Festival: Day 5

Jindabyne

First of all, I'd like to give a shout-out to Tim for coming out to this one and one for his friend who gave me a ride to my next screening afterwards and who's name I've already forgotten (also, I'd like to give a belated shout-out to Ringo for going to The Ten with me). This is one that will definitely hit theaters. I mean, it's got Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney. If you've ever seen Robert Altman's Short Cuts you'll recognize the story of four guys who go on a fishing trip, find a body, continue their vacation and wait until they they get home to report the incident (both are based on the work of Raymond Carver). The story was a small part of the Altman film but here it's really fleshed out and the cast, directing, and pretty much everything are just great. Additionally, this movie taught me that I can't tell the difference between Aborigines and white people. Who knew?

Consequences

I've got to hand it to the local guys who made this film, it is seriously disturbing. The only problem is that the story is pretty weak and might even boarder on being retarded. It also seemed to have a current of homophobia and, quite frankly, I'm surprised that it got into the festival seeing as one of the villains seemed to be sporting the same red leather pants that I think I've seen on the Executive Director of a certain film society. But if you like movies that make you wince and feel really uncomfortable, you can't go wrong with this one.

The King of Kong

I know we're not even halfway done but I'm going to go ahead and declare The King of Kong to be the most fun documentary of the festival. It's about two middle aged men battling it out for the world's record for highest score on Donkey Kong. This movie is filled to the brim with eccentric characters, unexpected intrigue and awful haircuts.

Triad Election

This was my second Johnny To (the "Jerry Bruckheimer of Hong Kong") film I've seen this festival, after Exiled and I didn't really understand what was going on in this one either. Part of my confusion is that this is a sequel to Election (not the one with Reese Witherspoon) which was supposed to be screened during the festival but got pulled at the last minute due to print availability so, obviously, I haven't seen it. But it was still cool and I learned a lot of things about Hong Kong gangs, such as:

Gangsters elect a Chairman to serve for a two-year term (the duties of a Chairman are unclear)

The Chairman is elected by the "Uncles" who, apparently, make up the board of directors for the gang

If a gangster kidnaps an important person, they will store them in a coffin with the lid screwed shut

When sealing someone in a coffin it is customary to stick one of your own henchmen (preferably the fat guy) in the coffin on top of the person to "keep an eye" on them

Just when you think that you are out they pull you back in

It is acceptable for gangsters to drink out of juice boxes (but, possibly, only if this action is immediately followed by a machete fight)

Film Festival: Day 4

Now that I'm done with the first quarter of the Film Festival, I'd like to take a moment to reflect. I feel like all the movies that I've seen so far have been solid to really good. Nothing has really blown me away or been just crap. I hope the first thing will change but I fear it's more likely that second will.

I feel better prepared to deal with the fest this year due to a couple new acquisitions. The iPod that Corey, Ringo, and Leslie gave me has been a handy thing to have on the longer walks and when I have an hour or so to kill between screenings. Also, the cargoish pants that Colleen picked out for me have been very useful. I've got a pocket that can hold a day's worth of granola bars on each leg!

One thing that troubles me is that I have a tendency to forget what I want to put in this blog by the time it comes to actually write it. For instance, in my review of White Palms I wanted to inform you all that, apparently, in Hungry "stiff as a whore" is an expression. Incredibly, I also failed to note that Hell's Ground features a zombie dwarf.

Also, my left knee is really starting to hurt.

On A Tightrope

This was documentary heavy day for me. The first one is about Chinese-Muslim children who train to become tightrope walkers. It offers a really interesting look at how China indoctrinates it's youth while insulating them from religion. Additionally, it features children in peril as they don't use nets. But don't worry, none of the children fall very far.

Disney Cartoon Rarities

Somehow the curators were given access to the Disney Vault to produce this series. I think the most illuminating were the Alice shorts which featured real girl in a cartoon world. They were introduced by Leonard Maltin and Roy Disney (the one that's still alive) and they talked about how Disney/ABC gained control of the Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoons that Walt directed by trading Al Michaels to General Electric/NBC/Universal.

The Curse Of William Penn

This is a pretty good documentary about Philadelphia being unable to win a championship since Liberty One rose above the statue of William Penn.

Crazy Love

It's a simple story of boy meets girl, boy gets girl, girl finds out boy is married, girl leaves boy, boy hires two black men to assault girl, girl opens door to receive a face-full of acid, girl goes blind, boy goes to jail, boy gets out of jail, boy gets girl back, boy marries girl, girl finds out boy has a mistress, boy threatens to throw acid on mistress, boy goes to court (again), girl stands by boy. This doc really has to be seen to be believed.

Best quotes: From the boy's friend, "Even Hitler had friends" and from the girl "I thought marrying him would be the best revenge".

Zoo

Okay, I saw the horse-fucking movie.

First of all, I'd like to say that this is a very inventive film in terms of it's form. It really pushes the boundaries of what a documentary can be at a time when so many in the field are just talking heads. I think the only movie I can really compare it to is American Splendor in the way that it combines interviews with those involved with artistic re-enactments featuring many people playing themselves. I feel like the line between feature films and documentaries can be drawn between these movies with American Splendor just barely being a feature and Zoo just barely a doc.

As for it's content, Zoo really makes you consider the issue of bestiality (or zoophilia). It forces you to confront the humanity of the people involve and I think that's what the best documentaries do.

Film Festival: Day 3

638 Ways To Kill Castro

This is a wacky look at history as well as an indictment of the Bush administration for harboring anti-Castro terrorists. If those two things don't sound like they'd go together well it's because they don't. It's an interesting documentary about the (many) plots to kill Fidel Castro but the tone is inconsistent.

Paprika

I think that picture sums up the film nicely: It's crazy, confusing, weird, wonderful and most of all, fascinating.

The Silent Films Of Our Gang Presented By Leonard Maltin

Shorts weren't really designed to be watched five-in-a-row and although the presentation got to be a bit tiring, the films themselves hold up remarkably well. Before the screening Maltin informed the audience that the idea for Our Gang was born when, one day, producer Hal Roach looked out his office window and saw some kids playing in an abandoned lot. Roach sat transfixed for over half an hour before realizing that the simple pleasure of watching children play could be put on film (and make him a tidy profit). It's that simple charm that makes these shorts classics.

Exiled

I didn't always understand what was going on in this Hong Kong action flick but it was still pretty awesome.

Sisters

A solid remake of an early Brian DePalma film that explores slightly different themes. I think they changed the ending and made it better (I know it's only been about two weeks since I saw the original but I'm can't remember exactly how it ended). Either way, watch out for conjoined twins. Them bitches are crazy! Oh, and so are psychiatrists. Don't go messin' around with them either. You basically want to avoid all doctors and patients. In fact, I'd recommend giving the entire health care industry a pass.