Day: April 16, 2013

Lab Rats of Eastern Germany: LFM Reviews Errors of the Human Body

By Joe Bendel. Dresden was the center of East German research and technology. That did not make it any more fun than the rest of the country. Germany has since unified, but a visiting American scholar finds it still a rather sinister environment in Eron Sheenan’s Errors of the Human Body, which screens round midnights starting this Friday at the IFC Center.

Dr. Geoffrey Burton is known for once having a promising career. Forced out by his university, he has accepted a visiting scholar position at a non-profit German research institute. Fortunately, everyone there seems to speak English, including the British director, Samuel Mead, and Burton’s old flame, Dr. Rebekka Fiedler. They will reconnect, but Burton is not exactly good relationship material these days. He still obsessively calls his ex-wife and grieves over the infant they lost to a rare genetic disorder.

Understandably, Burton’s late son inspired his controversial research. Much to his surprise, it also motivated Fiedler’s recent work begun with her unstable former collaborator, Dr. Jarek Novak. She has had tremendous success regenerating salamanders, but has yet to apply it to anything with fur. However, Burton learns the salamander-looking scientist has secretly helped himself to her research. Gee, could all that sneaking around lead to a risk of infection?

Errors is not a bad dark science fiction cautionary tale. Since it is set in a non-profit, we are spared the clichéd corporate demonization. It is also has an effectively chilly vibe. While the particulars of Dresden’s GDR history do not factor in the narrative, the city is certainly portrayed as a severe, impersonal locale. (Those intrigued by the Dresden’s role in East German techno-industrial history should check out Dolores L. Augustine’s fascinating book Red Prometheus.) The make-up and visual effects are quite presentable by genre standards, but Sheenan’s story is more character and concept driven.

Cult TV veteran Michael Eklund (whose credits include Fringe and Alcatraz) shows a talent for physically and emotionally self-imploding as Burton. In contrast, Karoline Herfurth is almost tragically Teutonic as Fiedler. Fortunately, Tómas Lemarquis dives into Novak’s Faustian scientist villainy with admirable enthusiasm.  It is also amusing to see Rik Mayall (of The Young Ones) pop up as Mead, even if he plays it frustratingly straight.

If you want to see highly educated adults chasing mice around a lab Errors is the film for you. Frankly, the set-up is smarter than one might expect and the kicker has some bite. Recommended for genre fans, Errors of the Human Body begins a run of midnight screenings this Friday (4/19) in New York at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on April 16th, 2013 at 8:23am.

An Od(d)yssey of Post-Communist Bulgaria: LFM Reviews The Boy Who was a King

By Joe Bendel. It is impossible to imagine Pu Yi, China last boy emperor, successfully standing for election as the country’s head of state. Yet, that is exactly what happened in post-Communist Bulgaria. Andrey Paounov kind of-sort of tells the remarkable story of Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a.k.a. Simeon II, in The Boy Who was a King, which screens this Thursday as part of Disappearing Act V.

Born in 1936, Simeon II reigned from 1943 to 1946. It was a short but eventful period. Deposed by a dubious Communist backed referendum, Simeon II went into exile. A successful businessman who married a member of the Spanish aristocracy, the King (or Tsar) continued to speak out against Communist oppression during the Captive Nation years. When the Soviet system collapsed, he did not immediately return to Bulgaria, but he accepted a Bulgarian passport.

Much to the King’s own surprise, many Bulgarians placed their hopes for a better government in the former monarch. Eventually, he reluctantly assumed the position of Prime Minister when his vaguely Ross Perotish center-left party was overwhelmingly swept into power. Simeon promised to restore public integrity in 800 days. What happened during his administration? Politics.

Paounov gives viewers a thumbnail recap of Simeon’s life, but his approach is more impressionistic than authoritative. More often he turns his camera on eccentric or marginalized Bulgarians, some of whom still harbor monarchist sentiments. Others are deeply disillusioned by the former PM, including one who was inspired to get a rather crude, painful looking crown tattoo in Simeon’s honor. There’s a good argument for the separation of tattoos and state.

At times, Paounov’s approach is downright weird, as when he follows a coyote donated by Simeon’s sister from the taxidermist through the streets of Sofia to the Natural History Museum. Other times, there is method in his stylistic madness, as when he observes a meeting of the Bulgarian Communist Party held in a crummy state constructed flat. Consisting of six or seven bitter old prunes whose claims about Simeon appear patently false based on everything Paounov has previously shown the audience, it seems unlikely the hammer-and-sickle will rise again in Bulgaria anytime soon.

Frustratingly, Boy never gives viewers enough information to pass judgment on Simeon as an elected statesman. He certainly has a regal bearing, though. Indeed, the film’s most intriguing episodes explore the way Simeon’s roles as republican and royal complimented each other. Sometimes fascinating and other times bemusing, The Boy Who was a King is recommended for viewers with a taste for idiosyncratic documentaries when it screens (free of charge) this coming Saturday (4/20) as Disappearing Act V continues at Bohemia National Hall on Manhattan’s Upper Eastside.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on April 16th, 2013 at 8:22am.

LFM Reviews François Ozon’s In the House

By Joe Bendel. Germain did not become a teacher to coddle teenagers’ self-esteem. He wanted to teach great French literature. That probably sounds nobler than it is in practice. In fact, the after-school tutoring he offers a talented pupil leads to unlikely scandal in François Ozon’s In the House, which opens this Friday in New York.

Germain begins the new academic year with his usual pessimism, but Claude Garcia’s first composition catches him off guard. It displays a voyeuristic fascination and caustic condescension toward his classmate, Rapha Artole, and the lad’s family. It also happens to be well written: B+. Using his natural talent for mathematics, Garcia insinuates himself into the Artole household as Rapha Junior’s trig study partner. After each visit, he writes what he claims are non-fiction accounts of the Artoles, but Germain analyzes as if they are part of a developing story.

It is hard to tell just how much of Garcia’s forays into the Artole house are truth or fiction, because the whole point is to keep the audience guessing. Ozon masterfully adapts Juan Mayorga’s play, toying with truth and reality in nearly every scene, yet keeping the film firmly rooted in its characters and their relationships. At times, it comes across like a comedy in the Annie Hall tradition, but it becomes steadily darker as the psychological gamesmanship intensifies.

Germain is the sort of arrogantly urbane character Fabrice Luchini was born to play. Perfectly exhibiting the cutting wit of a failed novelist, he could be the high-handed French cousin of Fraser Crane. Yet, it is really up to Ernst Umhauer’s Garcia to make it all work. He is convincingly creepy as the young master manipulator, but he also memorably expresses Garcia’s youthful insecurities at key moments.

The brilliant teacher-student tandem is backed-up by a big name French cast, including Emmanuelle Seigner (Mrs. Roman Polanski), playing against type as Rapha’s mother. A desperate housewife of an entirely different sort, she is surprisingly earthy and vulnerable. In contrast, Kristin Scott Thomas elevates the role of Germain’s gallerist wife Jeanne above a mere I-told-you-so commentator with her elegance and sly screen presence. Whenever you see KST on-screen you know you are in for something smart and sophisticated.

Ozon has similar credibility. Frankly, it is remarkable how postmodern In the House is on the page, yet how absorbing it is on the screen. Masterly controlling the mood and thoroughly undercutting one viewer assumption after another, Ozon wraps it all up in a note of near perfection. Very highly recommended for fans of French cinema and KST, In the House opens this Friday (4/19) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 16th, 2013 at 8:20am.

Steel Cage High School Reunion: LFM Reviews Fists of Legend

By Joe Bendel. Like Steven Seagal in Under Siege, Lim Deok-kyu is a cook, not a fighter. He once knew his way around a boxing ring, but those days are over – at least until a hard-charging producer recruits him for a mixed martial arts reality show. Much to his surprise, he will grapple with some old friends in Kang Woo-suk’s Fists of Legend, which is now playing in New York.

Lim’s boxing career ended on a sour note. It was complicated, as we will learn in a series of flashbacks. The middle-aged one-time high school legend tries to be a good single father to his daughter, but he is having trouble making ends meet with his noodle restaurant. Reluctantly, he agrees to appear on Hong Gyu-min’s program pitting notable former school yard brawlers against each other. Of course, Lim starts notching up victories, including an early “W” against his old chum Shin Jae-suk.

The teenaged Lim and Shin ruled over two high schools together with their running mates Lee Sang-hoon and Son Jin-ho. Lim largely dropped out sight, while Shin became a small time gangster. Lee resigned himself to a career as the well-heeled Son’s corporate yes-man, bitterly resenting the constant humiliations. As they often do, events will conspire, forcing Lee onto the show to face Lim. However, the champ quickly sours on his new found fame. Nonetheless, he will be one of the fan favorites for the show’s tournament of champions.

Essentially, Fists combines the sensitive juvenile delinquent drama (like Green Fish for example) with a MMA smackdown. Action director Jung Doo-hong’s fight scenes in both time frames are cinematic and convincingly brutal. Evidently, actor Yu Jun-sang had to be rushed to the emergency room during filming, which is always a promising testimonial for an action film.

Hong Sang-soo admirers will probably be surprised to see the auteur’s regular surrogate in such an action driven role, but Yu clearly gave it his all. As Lee, he is also quite strong on the dramatic end, as well. While Hwang Jung-min navigated plenty of mayhem in New World, his work as Lim is still an impressive shift of gears. He totally nails the world-weary earnestness viewers demand from their Rocky figures. As the Ringo of this Fab Four, Shin could have easily become a caricature, but Yoon Jea-moon invests him with surprising dignity and presence. Of the quartet, only Jung Woong-in’s entitled Son is an underdeveloped stock figure.

The Rocky comparison is hardly accidental. “Eye of the Tiger” is heard throughout the film and audiences are sure to take a strong rooting interest in Lim and his daughter. However, screenwriter Jang Min-seok nimbly sidesteps the big climatic fight cliché, with a smart, almost intimate finale.

Nevertheless, Fists brings more pain than the average wuxia or gangster conflagration. It is not for the overly sensitive, but MMA and boxing fans will feast on its steel cage beatdowns. Recommended for fans of contemporary martial arts films with a hint of media criticism, Fists of Legend is now playing in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 16th, 2013 at 8:19am.