Sunday, November 01, 2009
18½ Philadelphia Film Festival Recap
On Saturday, October 17 I made the trek into the city to watch four films from the
18½ Philadelphia Film Festival. Alas, that comprised the whole of my viewing experience for this festival, but it was a very good day. Here's a quick recap of three of the films:
- Stingray Sam: This eclectic Musical/Comedy/Sci-Fi/Western film is quite a strange film. Constructed as a series of six ten minute shorts, each with their own opening and closing credits as well as faux sponsors, it's meant to resemble old low-budget SF serials. The story concerns Stingray Sam, a lounge singer on Mars, who teams up with his old cohort, The Quasar Kid, to rescue a kidnapped child. The little girl is being held captive by a spoiled man who is the offspring of two men (one of the highlights of the film is a musical interlude in which the genetic experiments that allowed this union are chronicled - the song consists mostly of the two parents' names and their offspring's name, which is a combination - for example, Fredrick and Edward produced Fredward! It's surprisingly long and hysterically funny with an almost Biblical feel...) The whole film is narrated by David Hyde Pierce, who does an excellent job selling the absurdities and eccentricities of the film's world. The highlights, for me, were the historical digressions and the visual collage work. The actual live action stuff was a bit lacking, though I like some of the stuff there too (I love the recurring handshake, which is this ridiculously long series of gestures that goes from funny, to annoying and back into funny). I usually hate musicals, but for the most part, this film worked well enough for me (I tend to like musicals better when there's a lot more going on besides the music). So this was one of the stranger films I've seen, but it's quite entertaining and well worth a watch. At least the first episode is available on the website too, so check it out... ***
- Bronson: This movie tells the story of Michael Peterson, the U.K.'s most famous (and violent) prisoner. Originally sentenced to seven years in prison, he has now served 34 years, 30 of them in solitary confinement. There is only one interruption in his career as a prisoner, during which time he seeks to make a living by bare-fisted brawling - taking the name Charles Bronson as his "fighting name." But it doesn't take long for him to get back into prison. Once there, he engages in his favorite pastime - taking a hostage, stripping naked, greasing himself up, and then fighting the guards who come to rescue the hostage. Sometimes he doesn't even need a hostage. The film doesn't really offer much in the way of insight into Bronson, but then, I'm not sure there's anything to really know. Sometimes there's no explanation for someone's behavior. As near as I can tell, the most we get to know him is during one of his less violent periods, when he is allowed to pursue art. He seems to enjoy creating art quite a bit... until the warden indicates that art may lead to rehabilitation, at which point Bronson takes the art teacher hostage, strips naked, etc... It becomes somewhat clear that Bronson is an artist, and his preferred medium is violence. It's ultimately a bit pointless, but it's never boring and Bronson is played with volcanic rage by Tom Hardy. It's an impressive and forceful performance, and he pretty much carries the movie on his shoulders (hard to believe it's the same guy who played the villain in Star Trek: Nemisis). I've gone back and forth on this movie, because I don't generally like character studies, especially ones that don't offer much insight or purpose, but I can't help but respect what this movie has done. ***
- Red Cliff: John Woo returns to his native China... and after an extended hiatus, he also returns to good filmmaking. In this movie, Woo has created a historical epic, retelling stories of the warring factions in China near the fall of the Han dynasty. Various warlords were vying for power during this period, but rather than attempting to capture the entire story, Woo focuses in on one of the popular milestones. Unsurprisingly, it's an episode that lends itself to all sorts of epic battle sequences and tactical maneuverings. The battles are pure spectacle, mixing well used CGI with old-school wire-work and kung fu. Some of the characters take on almost mythological personas during these sequences, and they are a joy to watch. However, even during the down times between battles, things are kept interesting by strategic and tactical machinations being played on both sides of the battle. There are several memorable sequences, including one of my favorites in which one side of the fight (the side we are rooting for) realizes that it is low on arrows and someone devises a way to replenish their supplies. It's a little long and sometimes the action approaches fantasy, which doesn't always mix that well with the more realistic historical treatment, but ultimately it works very well. Definitely Woo's best work in well over a decade and one of the better films of this year. This film should be getting a release in November, and if you like historical epics, this is the best one in a while. ***1/2
I also saw
Rembrandt's J'accuse, but there's sufficient material there for a separate post. I posted a quick thought on
Twitter immediately after seeing it, and after some time, I don't think my opinion has changed much. Still, there's a ton of interesting things about the film that I want to get into...
All in all, it was a very good day and a much better experience than the last few movies I'd seen at the Philly Film Fest... Not sure if that's because it was all in one day or if it was because the films were just better, but whatever the case, I had a lot of fun.
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
18½ Philadelphia Film Festival
I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Philly is having another festival in the fall. Traditionally, the festival is held in the Spring (and I've attended for the past few years), so I'm not sure if this fall festival will be a permanent change or simply an addendum to the existing festival. Either way, it's an interesting idea and would allow Philadelphia to play films that premiered at other, larger festivals like Cannes, Toronto, and Venice. This year's fall festival is relatively small: 5 days, 37 films. That being said, a number of them caught my eye (alas, only a couple probably qualify as horror movies and are thus suitable for my
6 weeks of Halloween marathon). Amazingly enough, four of my choices fall on one day and are not conflicting, so I'll probably end up seeing more of these fall films than I did in the Spring festival. Here's my schedule:
- Stingray Sam: The PFF site lists genres for each movie, and for this one it lists: Comedy, Feature, Musical, Sci-Fi, Western. That's quite an eclectic combination. The only part that worries me is the musical part, but otherwise, the description reminds me a lot of The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, which means that this movie could be awesome or an absolute disaster. Another odd thing: it's only about 60 minutes long, which is pretty unusual in itself. Still, it sounds fascinating.
- Bronson: I remember seeing the trailer for this a while ago and thinking that it looked like a ton of fun and that I probably wouldn't get a chance to see it until DVD... So I'm glad this one is playing. Not really sure it will be one of my favorites or anything, but it looks pretty off-the-wall, which could be fun.
- Rembrandt's J'accuse: The description of this documentary, which focuses on Rembrandt's most famous work, pretty much sold me:
In what plays out as a detective story of sorts, Greenaway takes the painting apart, line by line, vector by vector, plane by plane, and reads it the way it was read in 1642 after Rembrandt completed it: as an outrageous piece of theater in which the painter bit the aristocratic hand that fed him by embedding within the painting a sensational charge of murder. With The Night Watch, which Greenaway calls the fourth most celebrated painting in the world after the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the Sistine Chapel, Rembrandt delivered a work that charged Amsterdam’s leading citizens with a successful plot to eliminate a financial rival.
This sounds pretty fascinating to me.
- Red Cliff: John Woo used to be such a great director. Then he came to Hollywood and started putting out crap. So it's my hope that this return to Chinese cinema is also a return to form for Woo. In this case, we should not expect any operatic gunfights, but rather a period piece pitting massive armies of soldiers against one another in an epic battle. Maybe some martial arts? I'm going into this film mostly blind, so here's to hoping that Woo does not disappoint.
- The Eclipse: Not sure if I'll end up seeing this, but it looks like an interesting mix of horror, romance and drama. I get a distinct gothic vibe from the description as well, but who really knows?
- We Live in Public: Another documentary, this time examining a guy named Josh Harris, who apparently made a name for himself by designing a series of 24-hour surveillance projects and experiments. Another one I'm not sure I'll be able to make it to, but it does sound interesting.
- Antichrist: This is a controversial film by controversial filmmaker Lars von Trier, and I'm only mildly interested in seeing. Mostly because it's billed as a horror film. The controversy aspect kinda bores me and so does von Trier (who is talented but pretentious and annoying). I probably won't see it, but I'm still considering...
I'm excited, even if I wish there were more horror options available...
Sunday, April 05, 2009
Philadelphia Film Festival: Playing Columbine
A few years ago, student filmmaker Danny Ledonne discovered a computer program called
RPG Maker (which provides an easy way to create a video game without having to learn programming) and decided to make a game that would explore issues important to him. As a high school student in Colorado at the time of the Columbine shooting, he found that event to be particularly important in his life. He recognized himself in the shooters and wanted to make a game that explored that concept as well as the idea that video games were themselves responsible for the tragedy. So he made a game called
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! where you play Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold and act out the massacre, following events on the day of the shootings and continuing after their suicide into hell (where they fight creatures from the video game
Doom).
In 2005 he (anonymously) made the game available for free on the internet. He didn't do much in the way of promotion for the game, but it almost immediately started garnering attention due to its controversial subject matter. Many people condemned the game and its creator, but it eventually started to pick up some supporters who mounted a defense. As a way of explaining his actions, Ledonne made a documentary called
Playing Columbine in 2007 that covers why and how he created the game, and then springboards to broader discussions on the role of serious video games and art in our society.The film has been making its way through the festival circuit since then, including a the showing I saw yesterday at the PFF.
While I wouldn't say that Ledonne is anywhere close to Errol Morris territory, I do think he has crafted an effective exploration of an intensely personal subject. Without knowing much about the game or the movie going in, I suspected that there might be something of a conflict of interests for Ledonne. Was this going to just be an exercise in self-serving defensiveness and bias, or would it be a legitimate exploration of video games, art, and culture? I'm happy to say that Ledonne has succeeded in making a movie that is more than just a defense of his simple game.
Of course, the film starts by detailing the controversy surrounding the game and the response to the game. However, the movie wisely strays from the game at almost every opportunity in order to explore broader and more interesting concepts such as the demonization of video games in the media, the value of video games as an artistic medium, censorship, responsibility and the nature of violence and school violence. There is a somewhat cyclical structure to the film, as each segment uses the
Super Columbine Massacre RPG! game as a springboard to discuss different ideas and controversies surrounding video games in general. For instance, one segment covers an incident where the game was pulled from the
Slamdance Film Festival's Guerrilla Gamemaker Competition by festival director Peter Baxter. As a result, half of the other game developers withdrew their games from consideration and USC pulled its sponsorship of the competition. The details of this particular story are interesting by themselves, but the movie uses this as a jumping-off point to discuss broader ideas of censorship and art.
The film is comprised primarily of talking head interviews intersperced with video game and movie clips, but Ledonne has done a great job assembling an appropriate and noteworthy cast of game developers, university professors, media experts, school shooting survivors and even game critics. Some notable names include Ian Bogost (video game professor and designer), Hal Halpin (founder of video game trade organization), Jenova Chen and Kellee Santiago (designers of Kaedrin favorite,
Flower), Jack Thompson (attorney and anti-video game activist), and Andrew Lanza (NY State Senator and video game critic). There are lots of other worthy contributers as well, and they mostly have interesting and thought provoking things to say. By necessity, Ledonne himself also appears throughout the film (for example, there are excerpts of interviews and lectures he has done), but you see him as one of many video game designers and experts throughout the film, not as the
director (unlike, say,
Bowling for Columbine).
The movie obviously has its own bias, and the amount of time given to critics is dwarved by proponents, but the film does a good overall job of letting you know that fact. Perhaps it's just my current obsession with video games and art, but I did thoroughly enjoy this film. Unfortunately, I it may be difficult to actually see the film, as there doesn't appear to be any DVD release scheduled and I suspect there are a lot of clearance issues that would need to be worked out. Still, if you get a chance to watch it, I would recommend it. Even if you're not interested in a Columbine game, the movie goes much deeper, exploring interesting and broader topics like censorship and violence in the media. Speaking of which, I'm reminded of this
exchange from the Acts of Gord:
"We would like a quote for the front page of the newspaper talking about videogame violence, and it's possible impact on society."
"Video games don't make people more violent, and I'll kill anyone who disagrees."
<dramatic pause>
"I don't think we can print that."
Heh. I'm still not sure I'll ever play the game, but that isn't because I think there's something wrong about its very existance or anything. Anyway, because of the game, we get a good, thought-provoking movie, which is good enough for me. ***
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Philadelphia Film Festival: Recap (part 1)
As I've mentioned earlier, this year's festival isn't quite as exciting to me as it has been in previous years, but so far I've had pretty good luck. Here are some quick thoughts on a trio of pretty good movies.
- Landscape No. 2: This Slovenian thriller follows a young burgler who accidentally steals a document revealing post-WWII atrocities while on a job. When his partner is found dead, he realizes that an assassin is targeting everyone who has been exposed to the documents. This is pretty standard thriller material and it suffers from a severe lack of empathy for most of the characters, most notably the main character. This may be a bit of a spoiler, but let's just say that he gets what he deserves in the end. Along the way, he inflicts a lot of collateral damage on those around him though, and some of it is painful to watch. There is one scene in particular that is utterly brutal in its intensity and violence (it is made even more brutal by the circumstances of the victim). It's well made enough and it has some interesting moments, I suppose, but I just didn't like spending time with any of these characters. **
- 4BIA: A Thai horror anthology featuring 4 stories and an awful title (it's supposed to be a play on "phobia"). Don't let the title get you down though, as this is a fantastic little film. Like most horror anthology films, some of the segments work better than the others and the worst I can say about this film is that it ends on one of the weaker stories. Still, each story is involving and each makes it's own distinct impact. The first segment features a girl stuck in her apartment with a broken leg. She begins texting with a strange man... but the texts soon shift from cute to bizarre and ultimately to creepy. It's a deliberately paced opening, but I have to admit that this segment features a superbly executed "boo" moment that actually caused me to shout in the theater (not something I normally do). The second segment plays like a minature Final Destination movie, with a group of teenage bullies cursed by black magic. This segment is much more stylized than the others, using quick cuts and shaky handheld camera movements. The kills are inventive and surprising and the ending is suitably eerie. The third segment takes a more comedic approach, following 4 teenage friends on a camping and rafting trip. Movie references galore in this segment, which is often played for laughs but which also retains a certain creepy quality. As you might expect, this referential segment is almost by definition derivative of other movies, but it knows what it's doing and it plays with it. It might be the best segment overall. The final segment follows a stewardess on a pair of unusual flights. There's an element of Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart" going on here, though it also strays into the realm of the supernatural as well. Not my favorite segment, but still better than a lot of horror out there. Overall, the film features a great balance of stories and works really well. I doubt any other film will be able to unseat it as my favorite of the festival. ***1/2
- I Sell the Dead: Before facing the guillotine, a grave robber recounts his exploits to a priest. Due to the ridiculous nature of the Schuylkill Expressway, I was about 15 minutes late to this show, but I saw most of the film and indeed enjoyed it. When I started watching the film, it was conventional enough. Two grave robbers, played by Dominic Monaghan (of Lost and LotR fame) and Larry Fessenden, were basically tasked with providing a steady stream of fresh dead bodies to a local "doctor" (played by Kaedrin favorite Angus Scrimm). For a time, all was well. Then they began to find that not all bodies in graves are completely dead. Hilarity ensues. The film strays into farce territory as it moves on, but that's not a bad thing in this case, and it works well enough. Monaghan and Fessenden play off each other well and you can kinda tell they had a good time making this movie. It's not a great film, but there's a lot to like here and there are some rather interesting stylistic touches to the film. I enjoyed the ending a lot as well. **1/2
So far, so good. Alas, not many more films on my schedule, and I may be skipping one of them due to Villanova's unexpected tourny run (I loath the sport of basketball, but I do make an exception for 'Nova).
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Danger After Dark
The schedule for the
Philly Film Festival was announced recently. As with
previous years, my favorite part of the festival is sure to be the
Danger After Dark series, which is generally filled with all sorts of genre films. However, in flipping through the
program guide, it seems that the PFF is significantly reducing the size of the Danger After Dark series. Last year, there were 19 films in the DAD series. This year? 11. I was talking to someone at a screening last year who said that the guy that used to run the series was great, but that he left and the new guy wasn't as good. I guess new guy is still there. Particularly noticeable is a lack of Asian gangster films. Just about everything listed is a horror film.
All of that said, looking through the rest of the program, I think I'll be able to find some other films to pick up the slack. Here are the films I'm most looking forward to:
- 4bia: A Thai horror anthology film with an awkward title that's supposed to be a sorta pun on Phobia (there are 4 stories in the movie, so I guess it makes sense). Anyway, it looks horrific. In a good way. It is a horror film.
- I Sell the Dead: A retrospective of a pair of gravewrobbers and, uh, their shennanigans or something. Sounds fun, I guess, but it features a cameo by Kaedrin favorite, Angus Scrimm! Score.
- Left Bank: Long distance runner versus an "ancient, unknowable evil." OK! (Incidentally, if it's unknowable, how do we know it's evil? How!?)
- Playing Columbine: A video game documentary about the developer who made a game called "Super Columbine Massacre RPG!" and all the various responses to the controversial game. Doesn't seem as fun as The King of Kong, but it could be good.
- Landscape #2: Burglers steal a painting, find hidden documents in the painting, and must flee from hitmen hired to get the documents back. Interesting sounding Euro-noir.
- Surveillance: FBI tracks serial killer by piecing together the stories of 3 survivors. Sounds like Rashomon with serial killers. Could be good.
- The Brothers Bloom: Finally! Rian Johnson's follow up to Kaedrin favorite Brick (it was near the top of my best of 2006 list) is apparently a con movie, which could be great fun. I have to admit that the trailer for this isn't exactly awe-inspiring, but I'm still looking forward to this. It's apparently getting a wide release in May, so I may skip it, but we'll see.
- Moon: This movie is about a lone astronaut on the moon. It stars Sam Rockwell and is directed by... David Bowie's son? Ok, I'll give it a shot.
And that about covers it. I probably won't get to all of these and I might see something not listed, but it looks like it could be a decent festival, despite the lack of
Danger After Dark fun. Ah well, maybe I should try
Fantastic Fest in Austin instead!
