Day: June 17, 2014

LFM Reviews Jerzy Popieluszko: Messenger of the Truth

By Joe Bendel. For Westerners, the story of Poland’s defiance of Communist tyranny almost exclusively focuses on Gdansk, but events in Warsaw also played a critical role. While Lech Wałęsa co-founded Solidarity and led the striking shipyard workers in the north, Father Jerzy Popieluszko fortified the nation’s spirit from his small pulpit in the capitol. Eventually Wałęsa was elected president, but the good Father never lived to see that day. The life and legacy of the Blessed priest is stirringly chronicled in Jerzy Popieluszko Messenger of the Truth, which airs this Wednesday night on New York’s Thirteen.

The general outline of Bl Jerzy’s life and martyrdom will be familiar to cineastes who have seen Agnieszka Holland’s To Kill a Priest, a film transparently based on the case that has both its considerable flaws and merits. Frankly, the documented circumstances of his murder are far more brutal than anything Holland depicted. Christopher Lambert, the former Tarzan, is not exactly a dead ringer for the unassuming Popieluszko, either.

Bl Jerzy recognized his calling at a young age and he suffered greatly for it during his compulsory military service, but he never compromised his principles. As a result of regular beatings, his health was already weakened before he was ever assigned to a parish. He was not the Church’s most charismatic preacher, but the Primate recognized his potential to serve as the spiritual shepherd to Solidarity and their allies. Before long, his monthly sermons at St. Stanislaus Kostka were drawing tens of thousands of people to the tiny Warsaw church. Needless to say, the Communists were quite alarmed by all this, especially when their masters in Moscow started taking note.

From "Jerzy Popieluszko: Messenger of the Truth."

Just shy of ninety minutes, Messenger overflows with history that fascinates and shocks in equal measure. Few non-Poles truly realize the extent of the dirty war the Communist security apparatus waged against Solidarity and its supporters, such as Bl Jerzy. The pattern of its crimes, from the murder of Grzegorz Przemyk, the son of one of Father Popieluszko’s aides, to his incomprehensibly violent martyrdom, rivals anything ever perpetrated by the worst backwater despot.

Director-editor Tony Haines and writer-producer Paul C. Hensler also incorporate some extraordinary on-camera testimony from Solidarity veterans, including Wałęsa. However, the most moving sequences feature the Father’s gruff former fire-fighter bodyguard, who is clearly still haunted by his friend’s assassination.

Even though we must understand how Bl Jerzy’s story will end (nobody is ever beautified if they peacefully retire to a gated community in Florida), Haines and Hensler tell it in a manner that maximizes the tension and telling details. It is also timely and inspiring, coming at a time when a free and prosperous Poland can credibly aspire to become a world power, while Russia continues to demonstrate militarily aggressive designs on its former captive nations. Highly recommended for general audiences (particularly students), Jerzy Popieluszko Messenger of the Truth airs this Wednesday (6/18) on New York’s PBS station, WNET 13. It is also available on DVD from the film’s website.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 17th, 2014 at 4:55pm.

The Quantum Night of the Comet: LFM Reviews Coherence

By Joe Bendel. Suppose Schrödinger’s cat threw a dinner party. He would probably serve tuna and quantum physics. The notion of quantum superposition made famous by the hypothetical feline becomes a question of life and death for a group of hipsters when a comet crashes their soiree in James Ward Byrkit’s sf mindtrip, Coherence, which opens this Friday in New York.

Mike and Lee are hosting some of their closest friends, as well as Amir’s annoying girlfriend, Laurie, who also happens to be Kevin’s ex, before he started seeing Em. Although she is attractive, Em is highly insecure and nearly paralyzed with regret over her past mistakes. She is therefore less than thrilled to see Laurie, but the comet will provide some timely distractions, spontaneously cracking cell phones and knocking out the power grid.

Noticing a nearby house still has power, Amir and Hugh (the oldest of their circle) leave to investigate, but return thoroughly spooked. They also bring back a rather puzzling box. Panic and mystery ensue. However, a key clue might be found in some notes left by Hugh’s scientist brother referring to Schrödinger’s cat.

According to that classic thought experiment, given a certain set of Rube Goldberg pre-conditions, a cat placed in a box that has equal chance of being dead or alive when the container is opened, simultaneously exists in both states until an outside force interrupts, forcing the two existences to collapse into a single reality. Determining how it applies to them will be an unsettling experience.

Byrkit takes that cryptic premise and runs with it, steadily raising the stakes and cranking up the anxiety. Following Darren Paul Fisher’s Frequencies and Richie Mehta’s I’ll Follow You Down, Coherence heralds a mini-renaissance for concept-driven micro-budget science fiction with virtually no special effects. Eventually, Byrkit employs a bit of SFX trickery, but it is far from the point of the film and spoilery to address in any meaningful way.

Considering how head-spinning Byrkit & Alex Manugian’s story gets, it is hard to imagine sending the cast out to do it cold improv style, but that is largely what they did. Mostly just armed only with their prepared situation and character notes, the ensemble somehow makes it work. Indeed, it is certainly never a problem for them to look confused or panicked, which is required throughout most of the second two acts.

Frankly, casting Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s Nicholas Brendon as Mike, a washed-up former Roswell co-star is so meta-inspired, Coherence could have coasted into conventional riff on Night of the Comet and still satisfied fans. In fact, Brendon loses his cool rather spectacularly as Mike.

Although she initially seems rather vanilla, Emily Foxley’s Em deftly pulls off a critical pivot late in the game. Demonstrating consistency under difficult thesp circumstances, Hugo Armstrong anchors the film and handles the egghead material with authority as the more down to earth Hugh. Bill Clinton would also be interested to know former Miss America and elusive Paula Jones witness Elizabeth Gracen chews her share of scenery as Hugh’s New Agey wife Beth.

Coherence is a smart, tense genre outing that thoroughly shows up big budget tent-poles with its superior inventiveness. Byrkit and company take a lot of risks, but they all payoff significantly. Highly recommended for fans of sf and cult cinema, Coherence opens this Friday (6/20) in New York at the Village East.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 17th, 2014 at 4:50pm.

Rohmer at the Beach: LFM Reviews A Summer’s Tale

By Joe Bendel. It might be summer, but Eric Rohmer characters never get a vacation from their personality hang-ups. Strangely, they are still good company, thanks to the auteur’s feather-light touch. Despite its place in one of Rohmer’s great thematic film series, the Tales of the Four Seasons quartet, as well as a young cast predominantly dressed for the beach, A Summer’s Tale is only now getting a proper American theatrical release, when it opens this Friday in New York.

Gaspard is a dedicated musician, who has recently completed a master’s degree in mathematics, but he is not very smart when it comes to women. He has come to Dinard in Brittany for a short holiday before his first adult job commences, in hopes his pseudo-girlfriend Léna will join him there. Much to his frustration, but not necessarily his surprise, she has flaked on him. In spite of his general mopiness, an attractive ethnology student waitressing in her aunt’s café takes a liking to Gaspard. Also separated from her lover, Margot assures Gaspard there will no possibility of romance between them, but she encourages him to pursue Solène, a casual acquaintance of hers.

After a bit of prodding, Gaspard successfully acts on her advice. Yet, just as his fling with Solène threatens to get serious, Léna resurfaces. Will he sabotage his flawed romance of the moment for an even more problematic relationship from the past, while taking for granted all the chemistry we can plainly see in his platonic friendship with Margot? It puts the socially awkward Gaspard in quite a quandary, but Margot is openly dismissive of his self-centered confusion.

Most viewers will not be very impressed by Gaspard’s whiny vacillations either, but Amanda Langlet’s Margot is a different story. It is worth enduring his neurotic dithering so we can hear her undercut him. Formerly the young star of Rohmer’s Pauline at the Beach, in thirteen years Amanda Langlet had matured into a charismatic young woman, whose charm and intelligent presence consistently elevates Summer. It is strange that she has been so rarely seen by international cineastes outside Rohmer films, yet Melvil Poupaud’s star continued to rise after his gawky turn as Gaspard.

Aurelia Nolin is not exactly a household name either, but viewers can well understand why Gaspard has such a hard time getting over her. As is usually the case for Rohmer’s screenplays, Summer is a talky film, but the primary cast makes his often brutally honest dialogue sound natural and spontaneous. It is very Rohmeresque, even though it is not set in his familiar Paris. In fact, he consciously anchors Summer along the Brittany coast, capitalizing on the local color and sea shanties.

Always a considerate host, Rohmer carefully marks the passing of each day leading up to Gaspard’s scheduled departure and deliberately identifies the relevant landmarks for the audience. Even after the HD restoration, Summer never dazzles visually, but it still makes Dinard look like a lovely place to visit.

There are profundities to be found amongst Summer’s prosaic exchanges. It can be pointed at times, but it is never a rude or crass viewing experience. Sharply observed but scrupulously forgiving of human foibles, it is a classic example of the Rohmer style. Highly recommended for Francophiles and those who appreciate intimate chamber comedy-dramas, A Summer’s Tale (finally) opens this Friday (6/20) in New York at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on June 17th, 2014 at 4:45pm.

King Hu at BAM: LFM Reviews Raining in the Mountain

From "Raining in the Mountain."

By Joe Bendel. It is a temple, not an inn, but the principles are the same for King Hu. A motley cast of characters have duly assembled to hunt for a precious scroll and influence the succession at Three Treasures Temple. Worldly greed and ambition will clash on sacred ground in King Hu’s Raining in the Mountain, which screens during BAM Cinématek’s retrospective, All Hail the King: the Films of King Hu.

Esquire Wen is a man of means, who has faithfully supported the temple, but he is also a crooked operator, who would prefer to acquire the temple’s priceless Tripitaki scroll as cheaply and dishonestly as possible. To that end, he has retained the services of the notorious thief White Fox to masquerade as his concubine while she cases the joint. Conveniently, the Abbott has requested his presence to offer counsel while he chooses his successor.

However, Wen is not the only double-dealing guest. General Wang Chi is also staying at the temple for the same ostensive and covert reasons. His chief enforcer is the former brigand turned corrupt cop Chang Chen, who had railroaded the temple’s newest acolyte, Chiu Ming on bogus charges. At least the Abbott can trust the counsel of revered layman Wu Wai, who arrives with an entourage of beautiful women, because he is already beyond such earthly concerns (but from a cinematic standpoint, it is quite considerate of him).

From "Raining in the Mountain."

There is plenty of action in Mountain, but Hu saves most of the martial arts for the climax. Instead, he treats viewers to a feast of acrobatic sneaking around, which looks absolutely fantastic in and about the striking temple setting. It is a huge place, but White Fox and company duck in and out of every alcove and cranny. Hu served as his own art director on Mountain, crafting a wonderfully elegant, richly appointed widescreen-friendly period production.

Mountain is an absolute blast for wuxia fans, thanks to the half-roguish, half-heroic nature of Wen’s party. They are inclined to do the right thing and help Chiu Ming, provided nobody is watching and it will not interfere with their own plans. Nevertheless, there is still plenty of tragedy and irony in the mix, clearly informed by Buddhist religious traditions.

Hu regular Hsu Feng dazzles as White Fox, another woman of great action. Yet, for sheer mischievous glee, it is hard to match Suen Yuet as Wan, the scheming anti-hero. In contrast, Tung Lam’s salt-of-the-earth Chiu Ming has an acutely earnest and forgiving presence, who delivers the film’s Buddhist teachings with credibility.

This is a great film, partly because there are so many contradictory facets to its personality that nonetheless fit together perfectly. It is briskly paced, but increasingly deep and meaningful. Very highly recommended, Raining in the Mountain is a terrific way to conclude All Hail the King when it screens this Tuesday (6/17) at BAM.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on June 17th, 2014 at 4:40pm.