Day: July 30, 2013

Found Footage, First Contact: LFM Reviews Europa Report

By Joe Bendel. This will either be private space exploration’s finest moment or its greatest tragedy. For the six intrepid astronauts in question, it will either be first contact or bust in Sebastián Cordero’s Europa Report, which opens this Friday in New York.

It is in fact theoretically possible Europa’s subterranean oceans could sustain microscopic life. With that fact in mind, a private foundation sends forth a manned expedition to survey and report. Unfortunately, communications were lost en route to Jupiter, until a sudden transmission was received out of the blue. Of course, that will be our movie.

Initially, it seems the Europa mission is merely beset by a series of technical problems and human mistakes. Clearly, there is no margin for error in the cold vacuum of space. Yet, Cordero manages to subtly suggest there might be some other factor at play. Despite damage to the ship and fatalities to the crew, the survivors resolve to continue on, because mankind may never get this far again.

Arguably, most of Report is much more closely akin to Apollo 13 than Ridley Scott’s Alien and its subsequent imitators. However, Philip Gelatt’s screenplay pushes in all its genre chips in the jaw-dropping closing seconds that will resonate profoundly with readers of a certain American author of the weird and fantastic.

Essentially, Report operates on the premise that all scientific pursuit is heroic, even when it is also strange and scary. Cordero and Gelatt seriously address themes of courage and sacrifice, which adds surprising substance to the film, like a Roddenberry script written amid a bout of depression. Cordero also nicely exploits the austere, claustrophobic setting for maximum audience unease.

As is frequently the case with found footage films, there is not a lot of opportunity for old fashioned character development in Report. Nonetheless, the Europa crew look and act like convincing astronauts. HK movie-star Daniel Wu has a suitably authoritative presence as the mission commander William Xu, while accomplished Romanian actress Anamaria Marinca (probably best known for 4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days) projects a natural sensitivity and perceptiveness as Rosa Dasque, the co-pilot and archivist. However, Dragon Tattoo’s Michael Nyqvist lays on the Slavic accent with conspicuous thickness as engineer Andrei Blok.

To its credit, Europa Report is visually far more impressive than one would expect, given its budget constraints and found footage conceit. In fact, it is a surprisingly effective hybrid of science fiction sub-genres. Recommended for fans of hard science based SF and Wu, Europa Report opens this Friday (8/2) in New York at the Cinema Village.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on July 30th, 2013 at 11:23am.

LFM Reviews Smash & Grab: On the Trail of the Pink Panthers

By Joe Bendel. This international ring of jewel thieves was brought to you by the bureaucrats at the EU. It is a complicated story, but Havana Marking has her sources. Using animation to protect their anonymity, a handful of former members explain the inner workings of their loosely structured organization in Marking’s Smash & Grab: the Story of the Pink Panthers, which opens this Wednesday in New York at Film Forum.

Marking is careful not to unduly glamorize the high-end jewelry thieves that came to be known as the Pink Panthers, in honor of the Blake Edwards franchise. Yes, they always avoided bloodshed on their jobs, at least so far. Yet, they have always been armed robbers, rushing into each score loaded for bear. They have never exactly been Robin Hoods either, simply divvying up the proceeds from each job amongst themselves.

These were professionals, who invested significant time and money to meticulously plan each heist. Of course, they were not just men. Every caper started with a woman—a striking femme fatale, who would not look out of place trying on expensive jewelry as she cased the joint. Marking talks at length with one such scout. She goes by the name “Lela” for the purposes of the film and like many Panthers, she hails from the former Yugoslavia.

The shadowy group’s roots lie in the Balkans’ tragic war years. With Serb Socialist Party boss Slobodan Milosevic stoking the fires of ethnic hatred, the EU responded by imposing a punitive economic embargo on the entire Yugoslavia. Apparently Brussels hoped the widespread suffering would appeal to Milosevic’s heretofore unseen compassion, compelling him to behave better. Instead, it gave rise to an extensive black market, where future Pink Panthers learned the essentials of illicit commerce.

Reportedly, the Panthers largely consist (or consisted) of Serbians and Montenegrins, like “Mike,” Marking’s star witness. However, she presents a conscientiously balanced portrait of the various Balkan nationalities involved. In fact, Milena Miletic, a Serbian journalist and veteran of the anti-Milosevic protests, is clearly one of Marking’s most sympathetic and authoritative talking heads.

Even though Marking’s animated interviews with Mike and Lela look somewhat similar to those roto-scoped Charles Schwab commercials, they still serve as an effective counterpoint to the very real surveillance footage of the Panthers getting down to business. Unlike most true crime programming, there is nothing lurid or exploitative about Smash. Nevertheless, Marking’s eye for ironic imagery adds a bit of dash to the proceedings.

Leanly constructed and briskly paced, Marking’s film gives viewers a vivid sense of the scope and tick-tock professionalism of the Panthers’ operations. Fascinating and often darkly comic, Smash is a good documentary for viewers who do not ordinarily enjoy documentaries. Recommended for popular audiences, Smash opens this Wednesday (7/31) at New York’s Film Forum.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on July 30th, 2013 at 11:22am.