Cinequest 2009
Sitting in front of this stupid page for 30 minutes now trying to figure out what to write about Canary, but I know that’s what writer/director Alejandro Adams wants. There has been a lot of talk about this movie at Cinequest, and some badmouthing, 99% of which comes from Alejandro himself. Never in my life have I seen a filmmaker try so hard to get you to skip his film or prod you to write something bad. Possibly this is genius marketing – what better way to have people watch your film than with expectations at the bottom of the barrel?
Always ready to bite at any challenge, I was not going to be deterred. I did do something that many people did not – I read all the promotional materials. The Canary filmmakers made a great fold-up flier, like the kind you would see at a doctor’s office. It was an information brochure for Canary Industries. There is a lot of information in that brochure that would help a viewer before watching the movie. I also visited their website [now defunct] which also has this information. And with this information I watched the movie and was able to love it.
I guess the main point that the viewer needs to know is that the Canary Industries deals in organs. Organ donations and organ retrievals. The film is set in the present, and if you listen carefully (or read the materials) you will find out that you can register your child (born or unborn) and of course yourself, so that you can receive an organ when necessary, donate one if necessary, and most importantly: take care of them. A good explanation of the company comes from their own words:
If any client is not in compliance with the Conscientious Usage contract, an Organ Redistribution Specialist may be authorized to remove the leased organ in order to preserve it for the future use of the community. The important thing to remember is that the organ gives life to many, not to one. Any individual who endangers an organ is willfully undermining the sustainability of the community.
“Indulging in sports, alcohol consumption, vigorous sexual intercourse, or other prohibited activities” will result in organ retrieval. This also means you must eat only approved foods and, no worries, Canary Industries has their own organic food line.
The movie itself has almost no plotline, no beginning, no end. The only real main character is “Canary Agent”, played by Carla Pauli. She speaks no words, just moves through Canary Industries (which is based in San Jose, of course) and the city without ever being noticed. She is not noticed by the chattering office workers at Canary, or by any citizens as she walks through town, or even when she stalks her organ prey in their own houses.
The Q&A with Alejandro was interesting, in that he decided he would ask US the questions. First one? “What does the last scene mean?” Well, heck if I know. But I loved that he posed it to us, because to me it solidified the idea that this film IS an idea. It’s something to think about. I felt that the Canary Agent, silently both walking among us and ignored by us, really just showed how everyone turns a blind eye on things that happen in the world. We can get a job with an employer that does very bad things in the world, but we’re just employees, we’re not actually taking the organs. Bad things are happening all around us, right under our noses, but we walk on by because they aren’t happening to us. And worst of all, we are passively inviting bad things to happen to ourselves without speaking out or taking action. So don’t be surprised if you’re inanely chattering to your girlfriend about really stupid things on television and then wake up with all your organs gone. You should have paid more attention.
edited to add: After thinking more, I remember that the only person to ever notice Canary Agent is a very young child from the last scene that Alejandro asked about. I suppose now that that scene must have been something of an “Emperor has no clothes” meaning to it. The movie just gets more awesome the more you think about it.
Sadly not available in any way of which I am aware.
Cinequest 2009
The Last Lullaby is based on a story by Max Allan Collins. Price is a career hitman who wants to retire but decides to do one last job. This is an often told tale, but I really did enjoy this movie. Tom Sizemore is fantastic as the hitman who falls in love with his target and the supporting cast also does a great job. Director Jeffrey Goodman said he wanted to tell a quieter story than you usually see, minus the helicopters, explosions, and multi-car freeway chases. He does a great job with this, creating instead a really suspenseful film, one that makes you literally jump out of your seat every time a gun goes off. Seriously. The gunshots were CRAZILY loud (My note during the first shoot-out: “Is the theater BLOWING UP???”). There are also a few twists and turns in the film, none of which I guessed before they happened. And so instead of your average action movie, what you end up with here is a really well told story, with great, developed characters.
Goodman and writer Peter Biegen were asked how it was to work with Tom Sizemore, and the hesitation they took before answering really said a lot. But they both agreed that though they “had some issues,” Tom was a complete professional during filming and seemed to really want to prove himself. However it happened, Sizemore gives a great performance, and this is a movie you should find the time to see.
Now available on Netflix, DVD and Instant Video. I’ve owned the DVD since its release and watched it several times over.
Cinequest 2009
Tandoori Love is bright, colorful, musical, romantic, slightly violent and best of all, contains extreme close-ups of the most beautiful, delicious Indian food. This is fusion filmmaking at its best and most hilarious, and you will leave the theater desperately searching for the nearest Indian restaurant.
Sonja lives in the Swiss Alps and is engaged to Markus. Well, he hasn’t actually proposed yet, or given her a ring, but he has already announced the engagement to their families. Markus seems like a nice guy if a bit of a mama’s boy, and Sonja is a gorgeous Swiss Miss with very long legs and red hair.
All is going well until a Bollywood film crew sets up camp next to their chalet/restaurant. Spoiled Priya is a Bollywood diva who loves Raja, the crew cook. But Raja only has eyes for the Swiss beauty in the chalet. Markus, unaware of Raja’s love for his fiancé, hires him to be the new cook for the restaurant.
And now the fun begins. The arrival of the film crew has turned all of Switzerland into a Bollywood movie. Raja makes an impromptu marriage proposal to Sonja in the supermarket and suddenly is singing a love ballad while all the Swiss customers start dancing in sync. After every declaration of love or rejection we cut to an overproduced Bollywood music video. And of course we have the standard boy meets girl, loses girl, accidentally stabs a man in the back, and then wins girl in the end. But you never know which boy and which girl will end up with whom.
This movie is just pure, enjoyable fun. There are no deep messages here, no thoughtful quandaries to think about later, it’s just a fun and quite beautiful Swiss-Bollywood movie. Definitely one of my favorites this year.
One of my favorites ever, and I’ve never been able to see it since. Available only in NON-USA format DVD.
Cinequest 2009
Lightbulb is a hard movie for me to categorize. The program lists it as comedy, and it really was funny. It also had some serious parts too, but most of all it’s just the true story of two guys who are struggling to find that one idea that will make them rich. Matt and his friend are trying to create novelty gadgets to sell, such as a watch that gives you random numbers for the lottery. This idea doesn’t go over very well, but a different watch idea, one with “thinking dogs” (don’t ask) is well received. They go on to lose all their development money at the dog track, so more money is needed to create different watches with the top ten dogs on them. Matt’s gambling problem then not only loses all the business money, but flushes all his wife’s money down the toilet as well, and she smartly leaves him. Eventually they are snookered out of their watch rights and hit rock bottom (trying to steal a gigantic cactus – by digging it out of the desert), but are finally saved when Matt goes to open a bottle of beer and finally comes up with a brilliant idea. The best part of the movie is that this is a true story, and it’s hilarious seeing up on screen an item that you either have at home or have considered purchasing. Matt the gambling loser was obviously a genius.
The movie isn’t the best at the festival this year, but it is very entertaining and well put together, and has some experienced but not well-known actors, and even some pretty funny sex scenes (“It’s Animated! It’s Animated!!!”). I wouldn’t recommend you skip something really great to see this one, but if you have a free spot you won’t be sorry.
[Edited: HAH! What a difference a year makes. The “not well-known actors” are Jeremy Renner and Dallas Roberts!]
For some unknown reason you can only buy this DVD in Australia format. It won’t play on US DVD players.
Cinequest 2009
Heart of Stone: I’m really glad I managed to fit this one in. It had gotten my attention in the festival program but I set it aside because you only need so many Stand and Delivers and Lean On Mes. But after I spoke with the director earlier in the week my friend and I were intrigued, and then after my son saw it and liked it I decided I had to see it too.
It does follow the same type of storyline, except it is an actual documentary. It is the story of Weequahic High School in Newark, built in the Jewish and African-American section of town, and which churned out more graduates who went on to get PhDs than any other school in America, 1930-1970. Philip Roth, who I just spent an entire semester studying, graduated from this school. But in the 1970s things started changing, and the entire neighborhood was overrun with Crips and Bloods.
In steps new principal Ron Stone. At this point the school had won a single football game in three years, and no state championship in 25. Fights ran through all the halls. The Crips and Bloods were trying to kill each other. And Ron Stone, wearing his bullet proof vest, vowed to make a change.
It wasn’t all Ron Stone’s doing though, and I wasn’t clear who was the chicken and who the egg, but there is also an alumni association involved here. Made up of Jewish graduates from the good times, there is a marked contrast between their lives and those of the current students. Doctors, lawyers and businessmen, they arranged meetings and barbeque fundraisers to help Ron Stone build a gym and create college scholarships. Through the association’s help, students are able to go on ski trips and even a trip to France.
Through the six years of Ron Stone’s rein, the football team wins the state championship and mediators make actual headway with the gangs. Many gang members vow to make sure all their members are going to graduate high school – and they not only do this, but they go on to college.
As promised by Beth and my son, there is a marked ending to this documentary. I’m not going to tell you just like they didn’t tell me – you may possibly see this on TV one day. I will say it’s a tragic ending but not an expected one, and this really catches the viewer off guard. Regardless of that tragedy though, it is obvious that the good that Ron Stone and the alumni association are doing will continue on, and that takes some of the sadness away.
Pretty unbelievable that I can’t find this available on Netflix or Amazon, but you can buy a DVD from their website.
Cinequest 2009
Generic Thriller: I can’t say that I wasted 90 minutes of my life at the theater this evening, because I did get some good nap time in. But I can’t say that you should go see this film either. At all. Ever. The misleading title probably didn’t help expectations, but not even in the Cinequest film description are you told that the entire film is constantly narrated by strangely boring Steven and takes place solely on the stage of the SJSU theatre. There is no “thriller”, generic or otherwise. There is a strange killer of blondes that runs around pretending to stab and shoot people, but it’s really only funny for a couple minutes – and don’t even let that bit get you excited, it was NOT exciting. This was not even a poorly thought out SNL skit that was lengthened to a full length feature – it was a long, rambling stream-of-consciousness with no thought provoking ideas or comedic moments, and most especially, it had no Thriller.
It did have one redeeming quality – the awesome Shirley Jones. Head floating around the stage in a bubble, she gives constant advice to Steven as he continues talking and arguing with his players. But don’t think for a moment that any of these supposed conflicts make this film even remotely interesting. I came home and told my son to take it off his movie schedule immediately. No point missing something really great, or even something good, by wasting your Sunday morning watching this.
If for some bizarre reason you’d like to see for yourself, you can watch it on Netflix, DVD or Instant Video. But just… don’t.
Cinequest 2009
Last night I had the great pleasure of seeing Lifelines, directed by Rob Margolies. I picked this movie because Jane Adams is my Indie Queen and I always love anything she’s in (including 11 episodes of “Frasier”). Lifelines is the story of the Bernstein family, and for the first 6.2 seconds they appear to be the Perfect Family, in the Perfect House, on the Perfect Street. But like the Todd Solondz movies this film is so reminiscent of, things are much different behind closed doors. Daughter Meg sneaks boys into her room to spend the night. Teenage son Michael has a painful stuttering problem. Mother Bernstein, played in the performance of a lifetime by Jane Adams, is a caffeine addict and verbally mistreated by all three of her children. The dysfunction in this family becomes even more apparent when the entire family goes to a family counseling appointment, youngest child arriving in handcuffs after escaping the car and making a run for it. This family meeting has convened so that the parents can announce their impending divorce, which comes as absolutely no surprise to their children. Ah, but the reason for the divorce? Dad has discovered he is gay and is carrying on an affair with mom’s co-worker Mr. Hennessey.
All the way up to this announcement the laughs are plentiful and they are out loud guffaws. But as the counselor brings each family member into an individual session, even darker secrets are uncovered. The youngest son was raped by a male neighbor when he was five and never told anyone. The oldest son saw what happened and wasn’t able to help, thus initiating the stuttering. The mother turns out to be just what her daughter has been complaining about all along: a stark-raving lunatic bitch.
The acting of everyone involved in this film was amazing. Jane Adams ranges from her usual meek, incompetent, loser character to a psychotic, screaming, belittling mother from Hell. The teenage daughter, played by “Gossip Girl’s” Dreama Walker, is a wonderfully expressive actress, and so gorgeously beautiful that she was sometimes distracting in her background scenes. And Jacob Kogan, who you have seen playing the creepy title character in 2007’s Joshua, was amazing as the precocious young son. You’ll be seeing him again soon playing young Dr. Spock in the new Star Trek movie. What amazed me most was when 26 year old writer/director Rob Margolies walked out on stage. A KID did this? I would have bet a million dollars that Todd Solondz had directed this film, but it was all Rob who wrote the story and coaxed such striking performances from Jane Adams and the rest of the young cast.
It was simply an amazing film; those of you missed it missed something really good.
Unbelievably I cannot find any way to view this movie now. This is incomprehensible to me. If anyone ever locates it on DVD or the internet, SEE IT, and tell me where.
Cinequest 2009
My first movie today was called How To Be… with a young actor you may have heard of…Robert Pattinson?
IMDB describes it: A young man having an existential crisis convinces a Canadian self-help guru to come to London and become his personal life coach.
IMDB leaves out the part where the self-help guru actually comes to LIVE with him (and his parents!), and often pops up at inconvenient times. I really liked this movie, MUCH more than I had expected. I had not gone to see it for Robert Pattinson, like the 1000 young girls in the audience who were cheering and squeeeing everytime young Robert blew his nose. But you would not believe how good he was in this movie!! There was a lot of physical acting in this film, and he was really quite charming. I just really liked the character. Cinequest sold out of the first showing, and nearly packed in the Cal Theater for the second showing. I think someone would be remiss in passing up the opportunity to get this film out now while the Pattinson is hot.
The director was there and stayed for Q&A, and he delivered a lot of really interesting information about making the movie. Including the time Robert Pattinson let him know that he had gotten a “small part” in some American horror film, haha.
Did it “WOW” me? Mmmm, it came close. It’s definitely up there on my favorites this year, but I wouldn’t say it WOWed me. I would say though, that you should go see it.
And you can! Because it’s now available on Netflix, DVD and Instant Video.
Cinequest 2009
Billy Was a Deaf Kid was a very trying movie for me to get through. The two speaking characters, Sophie and her boyfriend Archie, were the most annoying couple I’ve ever seen on screen or in person. They never STOP TALKING. But they don’t talk about anything, it was just “Why did you do that?” “Why did you do that?” “Why are you doing that?” “But why did you do that?” Ten bajillion times over. There are also a couple of shocking moments, starting with the opening scene of Archie spitting into Sophie’s face about a hundred times. Now, this was part of an agreement, so you know, whatever. But there was a point where she told him to stop and he kept going. The spitting continues through the movie with Sophie several times asking him to stop. There is also some arm grabbing and refusals to let Sophie leave the room. Despite this, and in spite of me mentally yelling, “RUN, Sophie, RUN!!” Sophie sticks with him to the end of the movie (even after he also violently pushes his own adult sister into the concrete).
The Q&A after was interesting. One woman and one man both raised their hands and said they had never laughed so hard at a movie. I laughed a couple times, but never very hard. But you know who really never laughed? The 28 people who walked out of the theater. Ten of them during the first spitting scene. I hadn’t meant to keep count but I was sitting near the exit, and when a parade went past I couldn’t help but count them, and then kept a tally through the movie. 28 people, gone.
There was a discussion of whether what Archie did could be considered domestic abuse, and the woman who played Sophie defended the actions saying that when Archie poured soda in her face and mouth and nose while holding her down on the floor, it was only after Sophie had spit soda in his face. And in the first scene, she was slapping him while he was spitting on her. Well. That’s not exactly how I would describe what happened. I would say that it starts crossing the line into abuse when Sophie tells Archie to stop and he refuses, and ANY time that he won’t let her go. Yes, she started some of the fights. But at no time did she hold Archie against his will (nor could she have) and never did he tell her to stop doing something except during the first scene. Granted, she did start slapping him again after he told her to stop, but it was because he would not stop spitting in her face. I would have done more than slap Archie at that point, I would have kicked his fucking ass instead.
I loved the parts with them riding on the couch, and I quickly realized this was because it was set to music and Sophie and Archie could SHUT the hell UP. If all the dialogue could be taken out of this movie, I would love it – possibly including the spitting and slapping. So, special supporting role of the Couch gets an A+ from me.
I felt through most of the movie that either the writing was just really, really, REALLY amateurish, or the actors were improvising as they went along. Apparently there was a little of both. But it wasn’t until the scene with Billy’s doctor that I understood the reason for the inane dialogue. The thesis statement comes right out of the doctor’s mouth: “Communication means you talk and then someone understands.” The doctor was trying to describe Billy, but at that point you realize there is no communication in the film between anyone, no matter how much talking they do. Even Archie’s sister has her iPod on and does not notice them stealing Billy from her house.
I know Cinequesting liked it, but I cannot recommend it. At least 28 others in the theater also don’t recommend it. I think the filmmakers hold promise, I understand the meaning of the movie, I just don’t ever want to sit through 90 minutes of Sophie and Archie yappering to each other ever again.
[Edited: The filmmakers and I have become fast friends and they are LOVELY people; their sense of humor is so great they even quoted this review in their official trailer. I have a total soft spot for them.]
Now available on Instant Video.
Christmas in Tent City – One of the best of a great group, Francisco and Roberto Jiménez tell the story of a childhood Christmas 60 years ago, after having emigrated from Mexico. Switching between talking heads with the brothers and beautiful illustrations detailing the story, you can’t help but shed a tear when his mother cries. Click the link to watch it!
Drag King – I was disappointed to realize this movie was not about actual Drag Kings. Oh no. This film was red-neckery at its most perplexing. In Lake County, California, there is a demolition derby where the drivers also tow boats behind their cars. I don’t know why. I didn’t understand this movie at all. It got a huge applause though.
Forced into Comfort, Fighting for Apology – GOOD GRIEF. The Comfort Women in Japan did not volunteer to be raped, beaten and tortured. SHAME ON YOU JAPAN. This was an EXCELLENT film.
Naming Pluto – About the woman who actually named the planet (she was 11 years old at the time). It was a really interesting film. Although when I started giggling every time they said “discovered Uranus” and “observations of Uranus” I knew I probably watch too much South Park. Click the link to watch what IMDB claims is the full film, but I could swear it was longer than one minute. 
Pickin’ and Trimmin‘– My mind started drifting the moment the old man started mumbling about… ZZZzzzzzzz. I think I probably should have liked it, but I didn’t, and it was torture for me waiting for it to end. Don’t hate me if you thought it was charming.
Click the link to watch it!
Rare Chicken Rescue – LOVED this one. About a man suffering from depression who raises very rare chickens. And these birds are Gorgeous. At 26 minutes, it was just starting to lose my interest when suddenly a tragedy hits and I woke right up again. I would watch this one again just to see those gorgeous birds. Click the link to get a 2.5 minute trailer and a taste of the film (but not a taste for chicken).
Popcorn and Vodka 