Month: September 2011

The War Photography of Robert Capa: LFM Reviews The Mexican Suitcase @ DocuWeeks LA 2011

By Joe Bendel. Many writers, most notably Hemingway and Malraux, tried to write the Spanish Civil narrative for a worldwide audience. However, it was the work of trailblazing war photojournalist Robert Capa that supplied the images for the Republican cause célèbre. Unfortunately, thousands of his negatives were lost, suspected to be somewhere in Mexico. Through the efforts of the International Center of Photography (ICP), founded by the photographer’s late brother Cornell, the not-so apocryphal case was found and its contents have been catalogued and preserved. The story of the photos and the photojournalists behind the camera are told in Trisha Ziff’s The Mexican Suitcase (trailer here), which is currently screening as part of the 2011 DocuWeeks in Los Angeles.

Not really a suitcase per se (strangely, it is not pictured on the film’s one-sheet), the suitcase was a small partitioned box crafted by darkroom assistant Imre “Csiki” Weiss. Inside were not just scores of Capa negatives, including some of his best known images, but also those of his wife Gerda Taro and close colleague David Seymour, a.k.a. “Shim.” In fact, the suitcase led to many photos previously considered part of the Capa canon to be reattributed to Taro or Seymour.

Those who only know Capa as a name and perhaps for the iconic “Falling Soldier,” supposedly taken at Cerro Muriano (the authenticity of which has fallen into dispute), should certainly gain an appreciation of his work through Suitcase. Though it was impossible to compose shots in a traditional sense during the heat of battle, he clearly had a talent for framing the action on the fly. The film also gives Taro and Seymour their proper due for battlefield fearlessness.

Unfortunately, Suitcase is overly simplistic in its treatment of the Spanish Civil War, perhaps reflecting the involvement of groups dedicated to promoting the legacy of the Communist-oriented Abraham Lincoln Brigade. As a result, Suitcase strictly adheres to the “good war” Party line, ignoring the sometimes bloody Republican in-fighting between Communists and Anarchists, the Republican atrocities committed against the Catholic Church, the purges perpetrated by Republican sponsor Joseph Stalin (by this time generally public knowledge amongst the educated classes), and the bitter divisions amongst ALB veterans stemming from the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. That is unfortunate, because it robs the film of nearly all the irony and messiness that made the war such a compelling episode of world history. Indeed, which would you rather read, Ernest Hemingway’s undeniably pro-Republican but still nuanced For Whom the Bell Tolls or Alvah Bessie’s Party approved propaganda?

Spanish War photography from Robert Capa.

As art history, Suitcase is fascinating stuff, lucidly establishing the significance of the suitcase’s recovery and the further light its contents shed on the work of Capa, Taro, and Seymour. It also serves as an effective commercial for the ICP and its talented staff. On the other hand, as historical commentary on the Spanish Civil War, the film is rather shallow and should in no way be considered definitive. A mixed bag, recommended at least for photography buffs, Suitcase screens through Thursday (9/8) in Los Angeles at the Laemmle Sunset 5, after which point it should be officially qualified for Oscar consideration, unless canceled New York screenings during Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene affect its standing.

Posted on September 6th, 2011 at 12:08am.

Co-eds & Cajuns: LFM Mini-Review of Shark Night 3D

By Jason Apuzzo. THE PITCH: Riffing off last year’s surprise cult hit Piranha 3D, Rogue Pictures cross-breeds Jaws with Deliverance to create Shark Night 3D – an energetic genre quickie that follows a pack of sexy, edible college students as they navigate a nightmarish evening along Louisiana’s backwaters, dodging voracious sharks and insane Cajuns.

THE SKINNY: Though not half as wild or excessive as Piranha, the surprisingly satisfying Shark Night delivers plenty of thrills, bikinis and even some unexpected satire – while turning Lake Pontchartrain into one of the creepiest cinema backwaters since Boggy Creek.

WHAT WORKS: • The film’s remote Louisiana locations create an unnerving and slightly bizarre atmosphere – an upside-down, backwoods world in which the otherwise ludicrous storyline of shark-fueled Cajun revenge against fancy college kids actually makes (some) sense.

• Sara Paxton delivers a surprisingly credible performance as the lead co-ed, given that she spends the entire film either in an eye-popping cyan bikini or covered in fish-gore.

• It’s hard not to love the film’s colorful, freakish Cajuns – one of whom has teeth sharpened like a possum, another of whom quotes Nietzsche (“It’s beyond good and evil!”) while describing his bizarre, money-making scheme to … ***SPOILER WARNING*** … live-webcast college students being eaten by sharks. ***END OF SPOILERS*** These backwater charismatics give the film a slightly Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe.

• The 3D is excellent, with the film having been shot natively in that format. The underwater scenes in particular look frothy and alive.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: • The film’s lead bad-guy, as played by male model Chris Carmack, is too much of a pretty boy and seems out of place among the ragin’ Cajuns.

• There’s far too much build-up in getting to know the various college kids, none of whom are all that interesting and most of whom are chowder by film’s end.

• The sharks look a little too nimble and digital. I miss the days when movie sharks were bulky, slow and rubber.

• For much of the film, the sharks seem smarter than the college kids. Then again, perhaps that was the point.

THE BOTTOM LINE: The basic fun of Shark Night, its biggest surprise, is that the behavior of the human villains is far more outrageous and ruthless than anything the sharks can muster. In the dog-eat-dog world of today’s economy, the film seems to be saying, it’s amazing what some people will do to get a head. Or to get an arm. Or a leg.

(Incidentally, Shark Night is rated PG-13, and most of the film’s violence and nudity are merely implied. This film doesn’t even come close to the bacchic excesses of Piranha, which probably deserved an NC-17.)

There have been some great underwater creature features over the years, from the 3D Creature from the Black Lagoon in 1954, to Jaws and The Deep in the 1970s, to last year’s Piranha (see my review here; Piranha 3DD, with David Hasselhoff and Gary Busey, comes out November 23rd). Shark Night is definitely a minor entry in this genre, but it holds its own.

Hurry!

What’s surprising is that the people behind this unassuming little thriller thought to supplement their toothy sharks with creepy human characters, backwater Cajuns apparently suffering from a major case of class envy. These Cajuns ridicule and sneer at the college kids, and it’s hard to blame them given the way these supposedly brainy kids walk (or swim) right into one obvious trap after another. Shark Night indulges in a certain amount of satire directed not only at the rustic Cajuns, with their outrageous and gruesome money-making scheme, but also toward naive city kids who are useless outside of their safe, academic/urban environments. The same kids who seem hip on their Tulane University campus early in the film – lazily playing Halo, indulging in loose sex talk, and planning their lucrative post-collegiate careers – get ripped to pieces out in the ‘real’ world, fooled at every turn by their cagey Cajun rivals. It’s not exactly Tennessee Williams material, but Shark Night knows when to amplify the terror of the sharks with a dash of class warfare – all to juicy, amusing effect.

I haven’t had the chance to visit Louisiana since Hurricane Katrina, although I’ve been very eager to get back. I think I’ll stick to the cities, though. Those Cajun guys look too clever for me, and I wouldn’t want to end up as some shark’s gumbo.

Posted on September 3rd, 2011 at 2:43pm.

Failure to Launch: LFM Mini-Review of Apollo 18

By Jason Apuzzo. THE PITCH: Timur Bekmambetov produces a $5 million found-footage sci-fi thriller about an ‘officially’ scrubbed Apollo 18 mission that we learn was secretly launched by the Defense Department in December 1974 in search of … a mysterious presence on the Moon.

THE SKINNY: The Weinstein-distributed Apollo 18 wastes a great premise and an effective re-creation of America’s pioneering Moon landings on a listless storyline, thin characters, lame thrills, and a gratuitous cheap shot at the U.S. military that confounds the film’s own plot. NASA was wise to steer clear of this film, and so should you.

WHAT WORKS: • If you ever wanted to experience what a Moon landing might feel like from the first-person perspective of the astronauts, Apollo 18 captures that in 1970s period detail – although the film spends too much time in the claustrophobic confines of the lunar lander, and never fully stretches its legs on the Moon.

• The found-footage motif is worked nicely into the storyline, introducing (courtesy of Apple’s Final Cut Pro) a mixture of handheld Super-8mm footage and distressed analog video that gives the film visual interest and an authentic, period feel.

WHAT DOESN’T WORK: • Actors Lloyd Owen and Warren Christie aren’t able to capture the stoic, tight-lipped heroism of actual astronauts. Their acting performances here are much too histrionic to be believable given the circumstances of the mission and the time period.

• ***SPOILER ALERT*** The plot hinges on the idea that the Defense Department would send U.S. astronauts to the Moon without briefing them on the basic nature of their mission, and would even leave them to die – even when rescue is possible. The film’s cynicism is ugly, and undermines the storyline’s basic believability. ***END OF SPOILERS***

• The film’s amateur attempt at ‘suspense,’ such as it is, never really achieves much of a payoff. The ‘threat’ the astronauts eventually uncover on the Moon would barely pass muster in a Roger Corman movie.

• The film lacks humor or laughs, giving it no place to go once the shock-moments wear off. As a result the movie is dull – like listening to Muzak for 90 minutes inside a 1970s photo booth.

THE BOTTOM LINE: Trying to quickly cash-in on the alien invasion and found-footage genres, Apollo 18 has the extreme misfortune of being out at the same time that a newly remastered, 3D IMAX version of Michael Bay’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon just arrived in theaters this past week. Since Apollo 18 is so utterly forgettable, and even contemptible in its cynicism toward the American military, my strong advice is to spend your money this weekend watching the first 10 minutes of Dark of the Moon, instead. Even if you only stay for those first few minutes, you’ll enjoy a much better experience than Apollo 18 can muster.

Misfire: from "Apollo 18."

If you haven’t seen it yet this summer, Dark of the Moon (see my review here) opens with a heroic sequence that re-creates the 1969 Apollo 11 Moon landing, as astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin step onto the surface of the Moon and – unbeknownst to the world – secretly explore a gigantic, mysterious (and seemingly moribund) alien spacecraft. This breathtaking opening flourish, presented in 3D IMAX, is truly one of the inspired moments in the entire Transformers trilogy, and at its conclusion when I saw the film again earlier this week actually touched off a round of applause in the audience – and I will confess to having had some watery eyes, myself.

Like other such moments in Michael Bay’s films – particularly Armageddon and Pearl Harbor – the sequence summons elegiac emotions of pride in America’s bold, pioneering spirit, our legacy of achievement in pushing the boundaries of outer space, of opening new horizons through courage and innovation. That’s what America’s efforts in outer space mean, not the junk the Weinsteins are currently peddling with Apollo 18, a film destined for the bargain bin at your local gas station – tucked somewhere between other Weinstein classics like Mimic 3 and Children of the Corn 5.

If we ever get back to the Moon, or push ahead further to Mars, it certainly won’t be because films like this are inspiring us with a sense of wonder about getting there.

Posted on September 2nd, 2011 at 6:11pm.