Day: January 23, 2015

LFM Reviews Netflix’s What Happened, Miss Simone? @ The 2015 Sundance Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. If you ever heard Nina Simone live, you should have been on your best behavior, because she could vibe an inattentive audience member harder than Keith Jarrett. In all honesty, anyone not fully appreciating her classically trained piano chops and deep smoky vocals deserved a bit of shaming. A forceful presence on stage, Simone knew what she wanted and maintained high expectations—facts we should all respect. However, the tumult in her personal life also contributed to her uncompromising and sometimes self-sabotaging public persona. Through extensive archival recordings and interviews with her closest associates, Liz Garbus paints a complex portrait of the jazz and soul diva in What Happened, Miss Simone?, which screens during the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.

You could see Simone’s classical attack in the way she deconstructed and recombined standards into something entirely new and rhapsodic. Her great ambition was to play a classical recital at Carnegie Hall, but that path was not open to an African American child of the Jim Crow Yellow Dog Democrat South. She never really forgave America for that, even though she eventually played the hallowed hall as the folk and soul influenced jazz vocalist we remember so well.

Initially, she indeed had a lot of success with standards like “I Loves You Porgy” and “My Baby Just Cares for Me” and a strong manager in her husband, Andy Stroud. Unfortunately, their union took a sinister turn, with Stroud, the ex-cop, becoming increasingly violent as Simone became more politically radicalized. Although the late Stroud’s abuse is well documented in the film, he has a chance to speak for himself through never before seen footage shot for a prior unrealized documentary project. In fact, the film is remarkably balanced for a music doc, fully exploring Simone’s own abusive behavior to her daughter, executive producer Lisa Simone Kelly. It also suggests some of Simone’s late career scuffling was partly her own fault, as well as a function of her late diagnosed bipolar disorder. To Garbus’s credit, this is definitely not the stuff of hagiography.

From "What Happened, Miss Simone?"

Garbus and her producers tracked down a lot of never before heard interviews conducted for Stephen Cleary, the “co-author” of her memoir and an earlier aborted autobiography. However, the holy cats centerpiece of the film is the 1976 Montreux Concert (wherein Simone pretty much gives everyone what-for), which has been available in full on DVD since 2006. Still, Garbus gives more context to better understand the off-stage dynamics at play.

For music fans, some of the best sequences feature Al Schackman, her longtime guitarist and musical director, who survived a baptism of fire to become her close musical collaborator. That is what the spirit of jazz is all about. After watching Miss Simone, you will also probably find “My Baby Just Cares for Me” is stuck in your head, but that’s not a bad thing. Highly recommended for fans of jazz vocals, What Happened, Miss Simone screens again next Friday (1/30) in Park City and tonight and next Saturday (1/31) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 4:12pm.

LFM Reviews Sons of Liberty on The History Channel

By Joe Bendel. It is always bad news for an oppressive government when the wealthy elites start making common cause with the drunken rabble. Such was the case at the Second Continental Congress. Bostonians Sam Adams and John Hancock had little in common, but they both loathed paying British taxes. Together with their fellow patriots, they changed history and ultimately founded our great nation. Their early skirmishes on the streets of Boston and the campaign to unify all thirteen colonies are dramatized in the History Channel’s three-night mini-series Sons of Liberty, which begins this Sunday.

Not surprisingly, Sam Adams was a terrible tax collector. When his leniency evolves into outright insurrection, Loyalist Governor Thomas Hutchinson calls for his head. For the sake of stability, the wealthy merchant John Hancock tries to play peacemaker, paying off Adams’ debts and convincing the future revolutionary leader to cool his rhetoric. However, Hutchinson soon radicalizes the moderate Hancock by clamping down on both his legitimate mercantile and smuggling operations (which were largely indistinguishable in duty-despising 1760s Massachusetts). Tensions build until blood is finally shed in 1770, concluding the first night of the series with the Boston Massacre.

At this point Dr. Joseph Warren enters the story, not just to tend to the wounded, but also as a prominent patriot in his own right. Those who know their history will understand what lies in store for him, but at least he gets the mini’s only love scene with Margaret Kemble Gage, the New Jersey-born wife of the brutal new military governor, Gen. Thomas Gage. Their affair may or may not have been true, but there is enough historical speculation to justify its inclusion here.

Meanwhile, the reluctant Sam Adams accompanies Hancock and his brother to the First Continental Congress. Although it is not very productive from his standpoint, they meet two key allies, a lecherous old eccentric named Ben Franklin and the quietly commanding George Washington. Essentially, the second part of Sons sets the scene for Lexington and Concord, as well as the vote-counting at the Second Continental Congress, which will play out in the third climatic night.

By focusing on less celebrated Founding Fathers like Hancock and Warren, screenwriters Stephen David & David C. White help distinguish Sons from HBO’s John Adams and the old 1980s Barry Bostwick George Washington miniseries, its natural comparative titles. Frankly, the best part of Sons is the way it celebrates the idiosyncrasies and unruliness of the early Patriots. Was Franklin a bit of a hedonist? You bet—and a genius too. Clearly, they had to be wired slightly differently to challenge the mighty force of the British Empire, but they were also highly intelligent (both strategically and tactically), courageous to a fault, and indeed willing to sacrifice their lives, fortune, and sacred honor.

From "Sons of Liberty."

Ben Barnes is suitably intense either brooding or raging as the mercurial Sam Adams, whereas E.T.’s Henry Thomas is stuck playing the far less cool John Adams as a bit of a worrywart. Of course, nobody has more fun than Dean Norris, who gleefully captures Franklin’s sage insight and mischievous humor. Ryan Eggold also adds a nice bit of romantic dash as the good Dr. Warren. Yet, the biggest surprise is how well the historical Hancock holds up as a central figure and how convincingly Rafe Spall portrays the steady blossoming of his leadership and integrity.

As period productions go, Sons is okay, but not exactly sumptuously detailed. Nonetheless, Canadian director Kari Skogland keeps it moving along at a brisk trot. To their credit, she and the screenwriter tandem never water down the colonials’ complaints about intrusive government and confiscatory taxation, making it rather timely for Twenty-First Century American viewers. Definitely recommended for those who enjoy historicals, especially those that come with a bit of ale-swigging, Sons of Liberty premieres this Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday evenings (1/25-1/27), on the History Channel.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 4:05pm.

LFM Reviews Night Will Fall on HBO

By Joe Bendel. It was a case of one legendary director replacing another. Billy Wilder was in and Alfred Hitchcock was out, but the project was not a suspense-thriller, like Double Indemnity. It was a Holocaust documentary that was to incorporate devastating footage shot by Allied film crews during the liberation of National Socialist concentration camps. Only years later would a partial, incomplete cut see any sort of meaningful exhibition. However, the British Imperial War Museums have recently reconstructed and restored the intended director’s cut of the bureaucratically titled German Concentration Camps Factual Survey. Yet, there is still more to the story that is finally told in Andre Singer’s documentary, Night Will Fall, which premieres this coming Monday on HBO.

Some Hitchcock completists will be familiar with what was retitled Memory of the Camps when it aired on PBS, but the print was decidedly rough and the final reel was missing. Technically, it had never been completed (a problem the restoration team rectified using the surviving screenplay and cue lists). While it was generally known Hitchcock was more of an advisor than a hands-on director, Singer and company actually make a compelling case his vision largely guided the direction and aesthetic of the planned documentary.

While Hitchcock researchers really should consider it part of his filmography, producer Sidney Bernstein was the man most responsible for its day-to-day production and editing. Unfortunately, he would not see it to completion. With signs of the Cold War already surfacing during the early days of the Occupation of Berlin, the Allies essentially put the project in turnaround. The Americans still wanted a picture to convince Germans of their national guilt, so they recruited Wilder to recut some excerpts into the documentary short subject Death Mills.

As fascinating as the story is, Hitchcock fans will be disappointed he does not factor into Night to a greater extent, but he was only assigned to the project for a month. Nevertheless, they will gain a considerable appreciation for Bernstein, his team of editors, and the brave military cameramen who recorded the nightmarish footage in the first place. Ultimately, it is a tribute to their work, which in many cases left deep psychological and spiritual scars.

There are some dramatic interviews with surviving veterans and the excerpts from the finally finished film are truly horrific. Night also supplies a good deal of explanatory context that ought to be quite familiar to most viewers, but sadly is probably necessary given the declining level of historical awareness among younger generations and the precipitous rise of anti-Semitism abroad. If you have seen the work of Lanzmann and Ophüls, you should already know full well the bigger truths, but there are still telling details to be found throughout.

At just seventy-nine minutes, Night is brisk but surprisingly comprehensive. It also further burnishes Hitchcock’s reputation and gives Bernstein his long overdue acknowledgment. One can imagine it works best screening in conjunction with the restored Factual Survey (as it did at last year’s Berlinale), but it easily stands alone (as it will on HBO). Highly recommended for general audiences and particularly for students of history and cinema, Night Will Fall debuts this Monday (1/26) and repeats on various arms of HBO over the following days and weeks.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 4:05pm.

LFM Reviews Angels of Revolution @ The New York Jewish Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. As envisioned by Alexey Fedorchenko, the real life Polina Schneider is something like the mythical heroines of the French Resistance. She is an action figure and an artist, who can juggle legions of lovers while remaining faithful to her leftist ideology. Unfortunately, her latest assignment will end badly when she tries to win over the indigenous people of western Siberia with avant-garde Soviet art and theater in Fedorchenko’s Angels of Revolution, which screens during this year’s New York Jewish Film Festival.

Schneider has the dash of Amelia Earhart, the crack marksmanship of Lara Croft, and the politicized artistic soul of Simone Weil. Her Soviet masters are confident she can stem the discontent brewing among the Khanty people and perhaps spilling over into the neighboring Nenet. In his infinite generosity, Stalin has built the town of Kazym, complete with a boarding school, where indigenous children forcibly attend classes, but are forbidden from using their native tongues.

To reach their hearts and minds, Schneider and her four male colleagues will build atheist monuments and stage ridiculous pageants. While their revolutionary spirits are willing, it seems their artistic talents are inadequate for the task at hand. If you think you know where this is all heading, you are probably right, but Fedorchenko keeps the bloodshed not wholly off-screen, but mostly confined to the far corner of the field of vision.

It also hardly helps that he does everything possible to chop and dice his narrative, incorporating needlessly whimsical intertitles and injecting highly stylized interludes. This is a fascinating yet under-reported historical incident that would be better served by a more straight forward approach. Still, despite its rather scattershot nature, Angels represents a considerable rebound for Fedorchenko after his excessively sketchy and overly precious Celestial Wives of the Meadow Mari. In contrast, Angels has a pointed perspective and it very definitely builds to something significant. Rather than one powerful indictment of the Stalinist era, it is more like a half dozen little nibbling critiques.

Regardless, with his largely sympathetic treatment of the Khanty and Nenet, Fedorchenko has established himself as the leading cinematic chronicler of Russia’s ethnic minorities, following his earthy but lightweight ode to the Mari and the austere but surprisingly moving Silent Souls, featuring the Merjan Russians. Fedorchenko and his co-art director Artem Khabibulin also brilliantly recreate the Soviet constructivist madness of the era.

When Angels works, it is absolutely inspired, but when it gets bogged in its own affectations, it can get stuck noodling about for a while. Consequently, it is dramatically uneven (featuring intentionally stiff, ironically intentional propaganda-like performances), but its ambition, historical honesty, and ironic sensibility pulls it through. Recommended with mild aesthetic reservations, Angels of Revolution screens twice this coming Tuesday (1/27) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of the 2015 NYJFF.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 5:03pm.

LFM Reviews American Songbook at NJPAC

From "American Songbook at NJPAC."

By Joe Bendel. They are Broadway stars, but they have serious pop culture cred. Laura Osnes won a network reality show competition to land the leading role in the most recent Broadway revival of Grease. Santino Fontana gave voice to the prince in a little animated movie called Frozen. They also shared the stage together in the recent Broadway production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, so they are clearly comfortable performing together. Given their crossover appeal, they are quite the logical choice to kick off the second season of American Songbook at NJPAC this coming Wednesday on NJTV.

For Osnes and Fontana’s concert, everything comes in twos. Throughout their set, they pair one classic with one relatively contemporary thematically related Broadway duet. Not surprisingly, the newer material will be less familiar than the old standards, but those turn out to be some of the set’s best surprises. While they attack a pseudo-novelty number like Irving Berlin’s “Anything You Can Do” with admirable gusto, an unheralded tune like the Off-Broadway ringer “First Date/Last Night” really sneaks up on the audience. They also maintain a sense of the piece’s theatricality in a way that is appropriate to the cabaret-like nature of the concert.

Naturally, there are a few selections from Cinderella, including a lovely rendition of “Ten Minutes Ago.” It is odd to think of a Sondheim song as popular crossover selection, but with the Into the Woods movie now in theaters, many more viewers will now be familiar with “It Takes Two.” Frankly, it is a very Sondheim song with some really awkward initial lyrics, but they stick with it and land it like champs.

From "American Songbook at NJPAC."

Arguably, there is something old school about Osnes and Fontana. They can patter and rib each other in between tunes, launching into the next number perfectly on cue. You have to wonder how many performers coming up could handle that kind of cabaret-revue format. They also introduce the musicians onscreen (rhythm section, guitar, and two strings), which seems like the obvious, classy thing to do, but might have easily been cut by an overly time sensitive producer.

Both vocalists are charismatic performers with strong, clear voices (particularly Osnes, who starred in Bonnie & Clyde, a somewhat short-lived original Broadway music that deserved a better fate). Showcasing artists like them is simple concept, but it’s the sort of real deal arts programming more PBS affiliates should be producing. It is good for the talented, but maybe not quite household name artists, good for NJPAC, and good for the American Songbook. Recommended for fans of Broadway and popular standards, American Songbook at NJPAC: Osnes & Fontana premieres this Wednesday (1/28) on NJTV and later airs on WNET Thirteen on March 21st.

Posted on January 23rd, 2014 at 5:02pm.