Month: January 2013

LFM Reviews Fallen City @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. When disaster strikes, government is there to step in and help, right? In today’s China, not necessarily. When the 2008 earthquake hit Sichuan, the town of Beichuan was simply leveled to the ground. Documentary producer turned director Zhao Qi records the ironies and indignities of the city’s rebuilding process in Fallen City, which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

Once a community of 20,000 strong, the survivors of Beichuan now live in crude temporary housing as they await the shiny new city the state media breathlessly promises them. Each and every one of them grieves for multiple family members. Especially heartrending are the Pengs, who mourn their eleven year old daughter. Watching the inconsolable father pore over her drawings salvaged from their flat like holy relics is truly painful. They are not alone in their agony. The audience also sees in clear terms how the teenaged Hong’s behavioral issues are directly related to the loss of his father.

To add insult to injury, when the citizens of Beichuan seek traditional solace on the anniversary of the quake, the police physically prevent them from entering the “old city,” thereby undermining their attempts at closure through ritual. In fact, the disconnect between officialdom – as expressed by Orwellian newscasts – and reality is a theme running throughout Fallen.

In several ways, Fallen lets the government off the hook, scrupulously avoiding discussion of the so-called “Tofu Construction” causing the disproportionate collapse of school buildings, or the Party’s concerted efforts to prevent the release of an accurate death toll. Yet, the facts on the ground Zhao captures through his lens are impossible to miss. We see the media hypocrisy, institutionalized economic inequalities, and corrupt criminal justice system up close and personal.

Constantly documenting events since the 2008 disaster, Fallen represents a work of true documentary commitment from Zhao. Even those who think they have been de-sensitized by images of Hurricanes Katrina and Sandy will be staggered by the ghostly sight of old Beichuan. Nonetheless, it is the pictures and video of the children (negligently) killed during the quake that will really hit audiences in the gut. Powerful and profoundly troubling, Fallen City is highly recommended when it screens again this Monday (1/21), Wednesday (1/23), Friday (1/25), and next Saturday in Park City, as well as this Thursday (1/24) in Salt Lake as a World Cinema Documentary Competition selection of the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 19th, 2012 at 5:10pm.

LFM Reviews This is Martin Bonner @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. It seems like the only job Martin Bonner can get involves doing the Lord’s work. He has decidedly mixed feelings about that. Yet, his own uncertainties make him a more accessible adviser for a remorseful ex-con in Chad Hartigan’s This is Martin Bonner, which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

An Australian transplant in Reno, Martin Bonner is starting over. After a long period of unemployment, he now works for a Christian outreach program for recently released prison inmates. Technically, he is not Travis Holloway’s mentor, but he makes a tenuous connection when pinch-hitting for his assigned volunteer. It is not that Holloway does not like the devout Steve Helms – he is simply more comfortable with Bonner.

Bonner is a film that could have gone one way or another. We quickly learn Bonner was fired from his previous church job because of his divorce. However, Hartigan never really grinds that ax. Nor is the evangelical Helms presented in fanatical terms. Instead, the film could be called a study of questioned faith in action. Frankly, it offers some of the most mature and nuanced discussions of Christianity in everyday practice you are likely to see in any major film festival.

Paul Eenhoorn’s performance as Bonner is arguably Oscar caliber (unquestionably so, if Cooper and Jackman truly are so this year). This man is not a saint. He can even be a little prickly, but he is trying to do the right thing. Eenhoorn perfectly conveys that humanistic temporizing. Likewise, as Holloway, Richmond Arquette (yes, from the Arquette family) creates an unusually deep portrait of regret and pathos. In fact, the entire ensemble is small but powerful, especially including Sam Buchanan as Holloway’s estranged daughter Diana.

Bonner is a modest, quiet film, by any standard of measure. Yet it has moments of rare honesty. Aside from the scene of Bonner lip-synching to his teenaged garage band’s old 8-track (which feels a little too cute and calculated), Hartigan’s patience and sensitivity always pay-off with surprising interest. Recommended with a fair bit of enthusiasm for general audiences, This is Martin Bonner screens again Sunday (1/20), Tuesday (1/22), and Friday (1/25) in Park City and next Saturday (1/26) in Salt Lake, as part of the 2013 Sundance.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 19th, 2012 at 5:09pm.

LFM Reviews Shopping @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Willie is a quiet kind of kid. The patriarch of a roving band of thieves can envision useful roles for him. The allure of their outlaw lifestyle will test his bond with his younger brother in Mark Albiston & Louis Sutherland’s Shopping, which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

With a wave of race riots still fresh in New Zealand’s public memory, half-Samoan Willie’s domineering Anglo father insists he keep his head down and nose to the grindstone. Working part-time in the local department store, the young man confronts Bennie, a flagrant shoplifter, who somehow still slips away like the old pro he clearly is. Later outside, he offers Willie a bit of consideration the honest lad duly refuses. Not so the next time. After a few parties and few capers, Willie is definitely considering throwing in his lot with the “shoppers.” Yes, Bennie also has a daughter who makes a strong impression on Willie. Unfortunately, showing interest in her can be a dicey proposition.

In addition to the Oliver Twist-y story, Albiston & Sutherland also depict the unusual close relationship between Willie and his sibling. Instead of resenting all the time he must spend with the physically and socially awkward Solomon, Willie is a genuinely protective and indulgent older brother, to an extent not often seen on film.

For a young actor, Kevin Paulo is a surprisingly effective slow burner. As Willie, he dramatically conveys how tightly wound and conflicted the pre-teen is. Likewise, Jacek Koman is both roguishly charming and downright menacing as Bennie. Unfortunately, Willie’s erratic father and passive mother are essentially stock figures.

Basically, Shopping is three parts coming-of-age story and one part crime drama. Albiston & Sutherland handle the material with great sensitivity, but a bit more humor in the mix would have helped counter-balance the heavy, naturalistic atmosphere. Recommended for those who appreciate sibling stories with a thin layer of social commentary, Shopping screens again in Park City today (1/19), Thursday (1/24), and Friday (1/25), as well as in Salt Lake on Sunday (1/20) as part of this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on January 19th, 2012 at 5:08pm.

LFM Reviews Crystal Fairy @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Travel is broadening – you can discover exotic new ways to get high. For an extraordinarily annoying American expat, Chile is all about one thing: San Pedro cactus. Chile is welcome to keep him. Still, he just might learn something from a hippy-dippy free spirit in Sebastián Silva’s Crystal Fairy, which screens during the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in Park City.

Did I mention how truly unpleasant it is to spend time with young Jamie? Well, it is. Nonetheless, three Chilean brothers befriend the self-centered, manic, immature drug-vacuum. They are about to embark on a little Fear-and-Loathing road trip in search of some of that increasingly rare cactus to boil up and ingest on the beach. However, Jamie complicates matters when he invites along wild child Crystal Fairy. He will regret the overture as soon as he comes down from his coke bender. While the brothers three try to make the best of it, Jamie acts like a complete jerkweed around his fellow American. Yet somehow, there might be a thimble-full of redemption lurking in the third act.

While Michael Cera still looks like a moppet, he is so convincingly irritating, it is rather amazing his management signed off on this Chilean escapade. Were it not for the climatic emotional pay-off Silva handles with remarkable sensitivity, Crystal might sour viewers on Cera indefinitely.

Between Crystal Fairy and his class conscious The Maid, Silva is beginning to emerge as the maestro of the awkward situation. He is also clearly willing to present his cast in a profoundly unflattering light. Indeed, Jamie dubs Gaby Hoffman’s character “Crystal Hairy” for reasons that are vividly and repeatedly established. The obvious exceptions are his three real life brothers, Agustín, José Miguel, and Juan Andrés – who all come across as decent chaps with sufficient hygiene.

Essentially, Crystal Fairy shows the dark side of the kooky, quirky characters that typically inhabit indie films. Frankly, it is sort of a corrective to many other films that will play in Park City over the coming week, reminding viewers there are often rather unfortunate reasons behind eccentric behavior. That is not nothing, but Silva forces the audience to sit through a lot of noise before it starts to get real. Only recommended for viewers with little fondness for precious-sized indies or Cera, Crystal Fairy screens today (1/18), Wednesday (1/23), and Friday (1/25) in Park City, today (1/18) in Salt Lake, and tomorrow (1/19) in Ogden, as a World Cinema Dramatic Competition selection at this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on January 18th, 2012 at 8:33am.

LFM Reviews The Capsule @ The 2013 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. There are plenty of fantastical happenings in this girls’ finishing school, but it certainly is no Hogwarts. Clémence Poésy’s Harry Potter fans will not know what to make of it. Part fashion show, part art installation, but entirely experimental cinema, Athina Rachel Tsangari’s The Capsule screens as part of the New Frontiers Shorts Program at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival.

Six young women have arrived in mysterious ways at an ancient coastal villa for metaphysical instructions on becoming women. This naturally includes music classes and lessons on how to look elegant while walking your goat. Narrative is decidedly slippery here, but it is definitely inspired by Sisyphus, Prometheus, and Sappho, as well as the art of co-writer Aleksandra Waliszewska.

For part-time cover-waif Poésy and her co-stars, The Capsule is as much a modeling assignment as it is an acting gig. The costumes by leading designers, including the only mildly fetishistic school uniforms, are quite striking, but the faded glory of the villa and exotic surrounding environs are Capsule’s strongest asset. However, the super-imposed animation would not have cut it on MTV’s Liquid Television back in the day.

Expressly intended for adventurous viewers, the thirty-five minute Capsule is nonetheless unusually stylish by experimental standards. Cinematographer Thimios Bakatakis gives it all a cool, glossy sheen appropriate to its neo-gothic austerity. Recommended for New Frontiers track veterans and uncommonly hardy fashonistas, The Capsule screens as part the NF shorts block at this year’s Sundance.

Posted on January 18th, 2012 at 8:32am.

PBS’s Newest British Detective: LFM Reviews DCI Banks

By Joe Bendel. East Yorkshire DCI Alan Banks is an avid jazz listener. From this we can deduce he is a man of principle, used to doing things the hard way. His Detective Sergeant respects and is frustrated by that (the principles, not the music). He might be tightly wound, but in the words of a superior officer, he “is the least worst man for the job.” Based on Peter Robinson’s novels, BBC Worldwide’s DCI Banks enters into syndication on PBS stations across the country this month, reaching an impressive 77% market clearance.

DCI Banks starts with an apparent ending. In The Aftermath, two patrol officers responding to a domestic disturbance discover a serial killer’s chamber of horrors. One of the officers is killed in the ensuing struggle and the murderer is comatose. For acting DCI Banks this is no happy ending. After fruitless months of investigation, one young woman is still missing. The big question is what role did his battered wife play in her husband’s crimes? Already stretched to the breaking point, he is in no mood for the internal investigation headed by the ambitious DS Annie Cabbot.

After an involuntary vacation and an unexpected promotion to full DCI, Banks returns for a standard but well executed game of cat-and-mouse in Playing with Fire. Despite their rocky start, Banks and the freshly transferred Cabbot have developed a strong working relationship. Yet her questionable romantic involvement with a figure involved in the case threatens to undo everything.

Technically the second episode of the first full season, Friend of the Devil is easily the best of Banks’ first two full seasons. Returning to a notorious scene from the pilot Aftermath, Friend of the Devil delves into some dark, painful psychological recesses. It is a case that hits close to home for the force and keeps on hitting. In fact, there will be considerable turnover in the Yorkshire CID over the course of the series.

Likewise, Cold is the Grave entangles Banks in a messy intersection of police and family business when his high-handed superintendant asks Banks to unofficially find his runaway daughter and bring her home. It turns out that the London vice lord she had shacked up with may somehow be involved in an armed robbery-turned cold blooded murder back home. Although it would seem like it would take a lot of elbow grease to force these strands together, Robert Murphy’s adaptation of Robinson’s novel does so rather neatly and orderly.

The shoe is on Banks’ foot in Strange Affair when his estranged brother is ensnared in a murder case. With a suddenly pregnant Cabbot on the verge of a leave of absence, Banks meets his new DI, Helen Morton, under slightly embarrassing circumstances. He is the prime witness in her first case. Socially awkward, even compared to Banks, their professional chemistry will develop slowly. However, they synch-up quite nicely in Dry Bones that Dream and Innocent Dreams, two traditional procedurals that both have nicely turned third act twists, at least by television standards.

For British mystery fans, DCI Banks might be closest in tone to the Inspector Lynley Mysteries – but its best episodes, like Aftermath and Friend of the Devil, approach Wire in the Blood’s murky psychological terrain. TV veteran Stephen Tompkinson’s Banks is somewhat like Inspector Lewis, but with more edge. (Evidently Yorkshire crimes are more brutal than those in Oxford.) Airing as either 45 minute two-parters or in ninety minute blocks, the entire series is consistently tight and tense. Notable directors include James Hawes (Aftermath), who helmed Masterpiece’s entertaining 39 Steps and Marek Losey (Cold is the Grave), grandson of Joseph.

Driven by Topkinson’s intense middle-aged rectitude, DCI Banks episodes are produced with above average intelligence and are addictive like popcorn. A worthy addition to the ranks of favorite PBS-BBC detectives, DCI Banks is easily recommended for mystery fans as it begins its syndicated run on many PBS outlets (including WLIW), so check those local listings.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 14th, 2012 at 12:38pm.