Month: October 2014

Frank Capra at Film Forum: LFM Reviews The Donovan Affair

By Joe Bendel. Although everyone recognizes Frank Capra was spoofing old dark house mysteries in Arsenic and Old Lace, few understood he was also spoofing himself. That is because his very first 100% talky was a murder mystery set in an atmospheric manor, but almost nobody has seen it since its 1929 premiere. Perversely, there is a decent print preserved in the Library of Congress, but none of its sixteen inch Vitaphone soundtrack discs survive. On the other hand, we have the sound for its trailer, but not the film.

As part of his efforts to mount comprehensive Capra retrospectives, Film Forum repertory programmer Bruce Goldstein has reconstructed the dialogue to produce special “live read” presentations of Capra’s The Donovan Affair. Twenty-some years in development, Goldstein and company’s stagings were a highlight of last year’s TCM Film Festival and the current Frank Capra film series soon to conclude at Film Forum.

Jack Donovan is a gambler, adventurer, and all around cad. If you didn’t want to kill him, you probably didn’t know him very well. His next dinner date will be his last. He has been invited to the birthday party of Capt. Peter Rankin, who hates his guts, because he knows Donovan has been blackmailing his trophy wife Lydia (but he has not used any of the proceeds to pay off his gambling debts). Donovan also has eyes for her step-daughter, which rankles her tightly wound fiancé. To make matters worse, Donovan happens to be available now that he seduced and subsequently abandoned the Rankin’s maid.

Yes, Donovan only has himself to blame, especially when he has the lights turned out to show off his glowing cat’s eye ring, in a scene that only works in a synch-sound picture. When the lights come on again, we see someone has availed themselves of the opportunity to dispatch the heel. Soon the blustering Inspector Killian and his oafish right-hand man Carney are on the scene, but they do not inspire much confidence, especially when their attempt to recreate the murder works a little too well.

Yes, if we could hear them, Jack Holt and Fred Kelsey are probably putting the “ick” in shtick as Killian and Carney, but Capra seems to be having great fun playing with sound. Complicating matters for Goldstein and crew, Capra experiments with conversations conducted between people in different rooms, often outside the camera’s field of vision. Plus there are plenty of those chaos-generating blackouts. It is quite the tricky shoot, featuring a good deal of skulking outside the house and the exchanging of loaded glances.

Eschewing the MST3K aesthetic, the live read cast plays it scrupulously straight within the film’s dramatic context. Of course, they still convey the larger than life nature of their characters, maintaining an appropriately madcap energy level. For many viewers, Boardwalk Empire’s Allen Lewis Rickman and The Practice’s Michael Badalucco will be the most recognizable fuming and bickering away as Killian and Carney, respectively. However, for discerning patrons, James Karen is the man, having appeared in The Return of the Living Dead, Poltergeist, Samuel Beckett’s Film, and the original Broadway production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Yes, wow. Naturally, he brings the voice of authority to Capt. Rankin.

From "The Donovan Affair."

From time to time, lost films are rediscovered, but this is more like a resurrection. Donovan must have been somewhat successful, since Capra’s career continued on an upward trajectory following its release. It is clearly a product of its time, but it is frankly scandalous that Columbia could misplace both the sound and the script (forcing Goldstein and his cast to supplement an incomplete dialogue transcript found in the files of the defunct New York State Board of Film Censors with studious lip-reading sessions). This is Frank Capra we are talking about. Films like It’s a Wonderful Life, It Happened One Night, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington are not just movies, they are pillars of American culture.

The effort was definitely worth it. Despite the nostalgic creakiness of the film, it leads to a greater appreciation of the breadth and depth of Capra’s career and his early mastery of sound. It is also just a lot of fun to watch the dark and stormy bedlam. This is something you cannot see every day, so if Goldstein and the Donovan players ever mount a live-read near you, jump at the chance to see it. The Donovan Affair definitely added something special to Film Forum’s Capra retro, but they have yet another special to come. Following the Wednesday night (10/22) screening of You Can’t Take It With You, Rickman will moderate a Q&A with Anne Kaufman and Chris Hart, the daughter and son of playwrights George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

Posted on October 21st, 2014 at 11:50pm.

LFM Reviews Carnival of Souls @ The Anthology Film Archive

By Joe Bendel. It must be the only film selected for both the Criterion Collection and the Rifftrax treatment. Rightly or wrongly, it was largely ignored when first released and would be the only feature narrative helmed by its producer-director. Yet, Herk Harvey remained a prolific filmmaker, releasing scores of educational shorts through his Kansas-based Centron Corporation. Like Harvey, many future horror auteurs honed their craft and bided their time making educational and industrial films that often strangely foreshadow their macabre work to come. Fittingly, Harvey’s Carnival of Souls with the Centron short None for the Road screen together during Anthology Film Archive’s before-and-after film series, Industrial Terror.

When reluctant street racing passenger Mary Henry manages to walk away from a fatal accident, it ought to be an occasion for some soul searching. However, she seems determined not to process it. Always temperamentally aloof, she simply proceeds with her prior plans, accepting a church organist position in Utah arranged by the owner of the local pipe organ factory. In her new town, Henry tries her best to cut herself off from social contact, even though she dearly needs an emotional support system.

Beginning during her lonely drive into town, Henry has been haunted by visions of a ghoulish man. Perhaps even more troubling, she experiences episodes of time-stoppage, during which the townspeople around appear oblivious to her freaked-out presence. Spurning offers of help from the kindly priest and concerned Dr. Samuels, Henry becomes increasingly obsessed with the darkly picturesque abandoned carnival outside of town.

That carnival setting is definitely creepy, but most of Harvey’s film is a rather Edward Hopper-esque take on the horror movie genre. There is no gore at all, but the lighting and shadows are all kinds of eerie. Refreshingly, this is the sort of film where priests and factory owners are good people. Unfortunately for Henry, there is also very real supernatural business afoot.

Granted, some of the line readings are a little stilted, but Harvey’s visual style is remarkably accomplished, particularly his smooth jump-cut transitions. He patiently builds an atmosphere of foreboding, rather than resorting to sudden shock scares, perfectly supported and emphasized by Gene Moore’s unnerving organ score.

The performance of method-trained Candace Hilligoss (who bears some resemblance to Judith O’Dea in Romero’s original Night of the Living, another Industrial Terror selection) is almost too inwardly focused for the demands of the genre, but she is certainly convincingly brittle and standoffish. While the supporting ensemble is admittedly all over the place, Stan Levitt provides a solid anchor as Dr. Samuels and Harvey himself is effectively ghastly as the ashen apparition man.

Carnival will have its critical champions and detractors, but you can see its influence in scores of films, such as Adrian Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder. It is a strong example of the greater efficacy of suggestiveness rather than splatter in horror movies. Thematically, it is also a good fit with None for the Road, in which a research scientist gets lab mice hammered and tries to balance them on metal dowels, while telling kids that if they are going to drink and drive, get so blitzed that the Highway Patrol is guaranteed to pull them over. Science is hardcore. Carnival of Souls is also weirdly potent stuff. Highly recommended, it screens this Friday (10/24) and next Tuesday (10/28) as part of Industrial Terror at Anthology Film Archives.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on October 21st, 2014 at 11:49pm.

LFM Reviews When You Can’t See the Film @ The 2014 UN Association Film Festival

From "When You Can’t See the Film."

By Joe Bendel. For Hollywood, Chinese multiplexes are paved with gold. Unfortunately, you will be more likely to see a leprechaun inside one than a locally produced independent film or documentary. Any film accurately reflecting the struggles of China’s underclass and the corruption of the Communist government will never be approved for domestic distribution. Of course, that will not be an issue for our left coast moguls, but it is a persistent frustration for discerning cineastes and just plain curious viewers. The sad state of official Chinese film distribution is analyzed in Yijun He’s short but revealing documentary, When You Can’t See the Film, which screens as part of the 2014 UN Association Film Festival in the Stanford area.

Sadly, Yijun’s film is especially timely in the wake of the thuggish forced closure of this year’s Beijing Independent Film Festival. This is a familiar story to a small but hearty band of the underground film clubs that have sprung up to fill the demand for unsanctioned independent film, particularly documentaries. Often meeting in bars or universities, organizers risk arrest and persecution for the sake of cinema, but they are not bandits. Clubs always screen films with the consent and participation of filmmakers grateful to have a forum for their works, typically offering a small honorarium for their appearance.

Since their previous venues were shut down under suspicious circumstances, the primary club featured in WYCSTF ironically rents space from a local multiplex, sort of following the hide-in-plain-sight strategy. It is nice to see American documentarian J.P. Sniadecki (whose The Iron Ministry was one of the unlikely hits of this year’s NYFF) present his previous film Yumen and graciously engage with patrons. On the state authorities’ Richter scale, Yumen is probably about a three, given it applies Sniadecki’s uncompromising ethnographic observational aesthetic to an abandoned Northwest industrial ghost town.

From "When You Can’t See the Film."

However, Xu Xin’s Karamay qualifies as a radioactive ten-plus. The nearly six hour epic documentary exposes the infamous (despite a total media blackout) fire in which nearly three hundred school children perished while government officials were ushered to safety. It is clearly the film to program if you want your screening swarming with cops.

The club organizers Yijun profiles and the filmmakers they support truly represent independent film in its bravest and most honest manifestation. It puts to shame our smug little so-called indies that cling to the label and the marketing platforms that come with it. At a svelte thirty minutes, When You Can’t See the Film is quite illuminating and sadly frustrating for film lovers. Highly recommended, it screens this Saturday (10/25) in Palo Alto, as part of session 27 of this year’s UNAFF.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on October 21st, 2014 at 11:49pm.

LFM Reviews Twin Sisters on PBS’ Independent Lens

By Joe Bendel. It is hard to imagine how a parent could ever abandon two good kids like Mia and Alexandra, but China’s draconian One Child policy and the extreme rural poverty force people to do desperate things. At least they were each adopted into loving homes—that is, each of them separately. Evidently, the orphanage thought they stood a better chance of adoption individually, rather than as a package deal. However, through the intercession of fate, the sisters would maintain not just an awareness, but also a love for each other, despite living on opposite sides of the Earth. Mona Friis Bertheussen documents their indomitable bond in Twin Sisters, which airs this Monday as part of the current season of Independent Lens.

In 2003, the Hauglums from Norway and the Hansens from Sacramento came to China to adopt a baby girl. The Norwegian group was supposed to be gone by the time the American adoptees arrived, but events conspired to delay the Hauglums. Suddenly, they were amazed to see the Hansens holding a little girl, who was the spitting image of their Alexandra. Despite the orphanage’s denials, they exchanged contact information and eventually performed a DNA test, but it would hardly be necessary as the girls got older. Seriously, look at them.

Although there are cultural and linguistic barriers, both girls grow up feeling a deep connection to each, even though they had never really met. Eventually, the parents arrange to visit each other and are rather staggered by the girls’ similar mannerisms and personalities.

Obviously, the twins’ situation is imperfect, since they would dearly wish to live together, but their respective parents are good people, who do the best they can. Frankly, that is quite nice to see in a documentary, for a change. For sociologists, there is probably plenty of nature versus nurture grist as well, but most viewers will just be charmed by the sweet tempered girls themselves.

From "Twin Sisters."

Cheers to Bertheussen for making Sisters, because its European festival screenings served as another catalyst to bring together the twins. However, there is a conspicuous lack of follow-up with respects to the orphanage. Many viewers might like to see her try to get some bureaucrat there to admit on-camera they flat-out lied, as the Hansens and Hauglums can prove. Instead, she maintains her focus on the families, preferring a humanist vibe over potential confrontations.

Consequently, Twin Sisters is a sensitive film that borders on outright feel-goodism. Bertheussen’s young subjects are more than engaging enough to sustain the film, convincing viewers China’s loss will be America and Norway’s considerable gains. Recommended for those in search of wholesome family viewing, Twin Sisters airs this Monday (10/20) on most PBS outlets nationwide.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on October 20th, 2014 at 9:22pm.

LFM Reviews Young Ones

By Joe Bendel. For centuries of human history, more battles have been fought over water than probably any other natural resource. Apparently, Gwyneth Paltrow’s brother only recently discovered the strategic value of water, but he is duly impressed. Unfortunately, viewers will find an entertainment drought in Jake Paltrow’s Young Ones, which opened Friday in New York.

Ernest Holm was once a farmer, but his parched land is almost as arid as the characters he encounters. Following some sort of vaguely defined environmental disaster, Holm and his socially underdeveloped son Jerome eke out a modest living selling supplies to the knuckle-draggers working for the corrupt water works in the mountains. Flem Lever (a name everyone says with a straight face, to their estimable credit) covets Holm’s trading business and his eternally distant daughter, Mary. Despite Holm’s rugged manliness, the pretty boy Lever still manages to kill him in the desert, framing his new pack mule android for the murder most foul.

Of course, it takes Jerome quite a while to suspect Lever, because intuition hardly runs in the family. Ironically, Lever is much better suited to reversing the family’s fortunes, given his devious nature and ruthless follow-through. Nevertheless, little Jerome will get himself some payback when the time is right.

From "Young Ones."

Ernest Holm is the sort of role Michael Shannon was born to play, but sadly that is the only bit of casting that makes sense in Young Ones. A slow burning brooder like Shannon should be counterbalanced with someone who can project and maybe even chew a bit of scenery. Instead, for Holm’s sort of grown children, Paltrow calls on Kodi Smit-McPhee and Elle Fanning, two of the mousiest screen thesps you will ever come across. Watching them shuffle around the farm makes the films of Bela Tarr look like madcap romps.

Without question, Young Ones’ MVP is cinematographer Giles Nuttgens, who also lensed Perfect Sense, an infinitely superior apocalyptic allegory. He gives the parched vistas the proper John Ford treatment, but unfortunately he does not have much else to shoot in terms of narrative or characters. Unremittingly dull, yet also pretentious, Young Ones is a would-be futuristic western genre-bender that completely melts down. Not recommended for anyone, it opened Friday (10/17) in New York at the Village East.

LFM GRADE: D-

Posted on October 20th, 2014 at 9:21pm.

A Sherman Tank’s Last Stand: LFM Reviews Fury

By Joe Bendel. Sherman tanks such as the one Sgt. Don “Wardaddy” Collier commands were like portable Alamos. During WWII, American tank crews suffered staggering losses to Germany’s superior armored forces, but they could still do a lot of damage before their number came up. Essentially, that was also the strategy of the fanatical German remnants, who refused to recognize National Socialism’s imminent defeat. Instead of a march to victory, a new post-Normandy addition to Collier’s crew will have the mother of all fiery baptisms in David Ayer’s Fury, which opens tomorrow nationwide.

For years, Collier has beat the odds, somehow bringing his men safely through each battle. Unfortunately, his luck, or at least his machine-gunner’s, has just run out. For a replacement, he is stuck with Norman Ellison, a transfer from clerical services, who could not possibly be anymore naïve. In contrast, the German-speaking Collier has no illusions about the nature of war or the enemy they face. His tank, “Fury,” is indeed aptly named, reflecting his general attitude, particularly when it comes to the SS.

Of course, Ellison will take plenty of not-so good-natured ribbing from his new brothers-in-arms: Boyd “Bible” Swan, the token fundamentalist, Trini “Gordo” Garcia, the token Hispanic, and Grady “Coon-Ass” Travis, the token sociopathic jerkweed. When the rookie Ellison makes a mistake that leads to the death of another crew, Fury becomes an even more tense and awkward place to be. However, Collier is determined to make a stone cold killer out of Ellison, one way or another. The process might even involve a fair amount of climatic heroics.

Frankly, Fury’s first act is a tonal traffic accident, designed to shock us out of our supposed “jingoism” and rub our noses in the war crimes committed by the Greatest Generation. We see a lot of Collier dispatching surrendered Germans, until some script editor apparently noticed the film was making the Nazis look sympathetic. As a result, the second act is a sort of war crimes poker game played out between Collier and the SS, in which battlefield executions are called and raised with strafed civilians.

It is a darned shame Ayer wastes so much time trying to be hip and revisionary, because when Fury gets down to the a-man’s-gotta-do-what-a-man’s-gotta-do action, it is pretty spectacular. The early battle scenes are certainly tense and brutal, but they also clearly and dramatically establish the mechanics and dynamics of armored combat. They are all well staged, but the big centerpiece showdown-conflagration is an instant classic. (Sensitive viewers should be warned: there are graphic scenes of limbs severed by all manner of projectiles and explosives.)

From "Fury."

Without question, Fury features the best tank-fighting sequences ever staged on film. Unfortunately, the further they get from the Sherman M4, the shakier the film gets. As a case in point, an overly long sequence in which Swan, Travis, and Garcia crash a quiet moment Collier and Ellison are trying to have with two German women makes no sense within the film’s dramatic context.  They are supposed to fear and revere Collier, but they are acting like knuckle-dragging savages, just to make the audience hate them.

Nevertheless, Brad Pitt gets down to business quite effectively and efficiently as Collier. He is one of the few contemporary American screen actors with genuine movie star presence, but he is still completely credible playing a grizzled hardnose. Shia LaBeouf is also surprisingly flinty as Swan, so his reported self-mutilation did not go to waste. As Ellison, Logan Lerman also brings more grit and substance to the table than one might expect. Conversely, Jon Bernthal’s Travis is all bug-eyed shtick, while Michael Peña’s Garcia has really no distinguishing personality traits whatsoever.

There is a real disconnect between the extraordinary armored combat scenes and Ayer’s problematically erratic screenplay. Flirting with moral equivalency, he keeps telling us war is Hell when he is not blowing stuff up real good. Still, Pitt and the awesome warfighting scenes are just enough to carry the day. Recommended for fans of war movies, Fury opens wide tomorrow (10/17), including the AMC Loews Lincoln Square in New York.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on October 16th, 2014 at 2:40pm.