Month: March 2015

Child Abduction in China: LFM Reviews Lost and Love

By Joe Bendel. In China, you need a valid state I.D. to travel on a plane, attend university, secure a marriage license, and sign most legal documents, just like here in America (but we’re probably a lot more indulgent about things like voting). Abducted children who are trafficked into new homes are doubly victimized, because they will not be able to do any of these things without their birth certificates. They are effectively denied a future, through no fault of their own. That is definitely the outlook for teenaged abductee Ceng Shuai and Lei Zekuan’s long missing son, who is probably in a similar position. The two men’s related fates will lead to a bond of trust when they head out on the road together in Peng Sanyuan’s Lost and Love, which opens this Friday in New York.

For fifteen years, Lei has driven through China on a longshot quest to find the missing infant son who was snatched away from his grandmother. He doggedly hands out fliers and drives through town after town trailing a banner of the young baby taken shortly before his disappearance. However, when Lei spies a notice for a recently kidnapped Zhou Tianyi, he has a banner made for her as well. He is obsessed, but compassionate.

When life on the road leads to a spot of trouble for Lei, Ceng volunteers to fix his motorbike. At first, he cannot help resenting Lei as an extension of the birth parents he presumes to be negligent. However, as he comes to understand Lei’s story and his lingering pain, he slowly accepts the older man as something of a mentor. Together, they hit the road, following up leads to his possible home village posted on various abduction-resource web sites.

Evidently, the illicit trade of kidnapped infants is a growing problem in Mainland China. For victimized parents, the government’s only partly relaxed One Child policy makes it even more painful, consigning them to a permanently empty nest. Peng’s screenplay offers a peak into the criminal operations causing such anguish, but his primary focus is on the lasting emotional repercussions for birth parent and abducted child alike.

Much as he did in Ann Hui’s quietly moving A Simple Life, Andy Lau completely lets go of his movie star trappings to give a raw, earthy performance as the guilt-wracked Lei. For the most part, his work is reserved and understated, but when he fully explains what the loss of his son meant for him and his family, it is pretty devastating. Likewise, Jing Boran is completely convincing as the confused and angry yet still down-to-earth Ceng. Viewers really get a sense that he is just a kid making his way in the world, but it is even more challenging for him, given his circumstances. Fans will also enjoy seeing “Big” Tony Leung Ka-fai turn up in a rather touching cameo as a brusque but compassionate traffic cop.

From "Lost and Love."

Although Peng’s roots are in television, L&L is remarkably free of manipulation and melodrama. It might be considered an issue-driven film to an extent, but it always feels more like a character study (or rather two character studies). It is indeed an intimate human interest story (supposedly based on real events), but Mark Lee Ping-bin’s arresting cinematography gives it a big, cinematic look. One of the best in the business, Lee vividly captures the expansive beauty of the countryside as well as the mean squalor of the cities. Despite some conspicuous loose ends, Lost and Love is a refreshingly mature and accessible drama, recommended for mainstream audiences when it opens this Friday (3/20) in New York, at the AMC Empire and the Village 7.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on March 17th, 2015 at 10:19pm.

LFM Reviews K @ The 2015 New Directors/New Films

By Joe Bendel. This is Kafka like we have never seen him before: lusty and Mongolian. Our alienated protagonist is indeed a land surveyor stuck in a bureaucratic nightmare, but he is a rather surly slacker of a chap (and a bit of a horndog). Nonetheless, Inner Mongolia (the Chinese Autonomous Republic) stands in quite well for the vaguely Eastern European setting of Kafka’s The Castle in Darhad Erdenibulag & Emyr ap Richard’s K, which screens during the 2015 edition of New Directors/New Films.

K, as he is still simply known, lacks the proper documentation to stay in the small provincial town governed by the nearby (yet conspicuously unseen) castle, despite having been summoned by the governor. Obviously, this causes a bit of an official quandary, especially when it is determined that the original work request was sent out in error. Nevertheless, he is now an employee of the Castle, officially reporting to Minister Klamm, who has already palmed off the surveyor on the ailing town mayor.

Still believing he has actual work to do, K doggedly pursues a meeting with Klamm, unaware his actions constitute a serious breach of local protocol. He even takes up with Frieda, a tavern hostess who is rumored to be Klamm’s mistress, but his motives for that might be more carnal and less mercenary than many assume. Indeed, despite the precariousness of his position, K will have his share of hedonistic indulgences.

Although ap Richard’s screenplay simplifies the unfinished Kafka source novel, he is still relatively faithful to its overall storyline. K duly butts heads with Artur and Jeremias, the two locals assigned to serve as his assistants. He also becomes ambiguously involved with the family of Castle messenger Barnabas, particularly his older sister Olga.

Frankly, the oddest thing about ap Richard’s adaptation is how much fun it allows K. Up until the closing sequences, he and Erdenibulag maintain a tone that is better described as eccentric than surreal or, shall we say, Kafkaesque. Since they largely dispense with the paperwork motif, it is even more challenging to read allegorical significance into their updated re-conception. However, they certainly capture a grubby sense of provincial corruption.

From "K."

As K, Bayin serves partly as the film’s straight man and partly as its madman, but he is a weirdly effective in both capacities. Jula similarly keeps the audience off balance as the possible femme fatale Frieda, while both Yirgui and Jüdengowa have surprisingly touching scenes as Olga and Pepi, Frieda’s barmaid successor, respectively.

It is entirely possible that there is only enough room in the world for one lascivious Mongolian Chinese Kafka adaptation, but K (co-produced by Jia Zhangke) fills that spot rather nicely. Erdenibulag and ap Richard create a strange and irrational world, but it is not as nearly as existentially soul-deadening as most takes on Kafka tend to be. It ends in a rather ambiguous place, but when you leave the theater the sun will still shine and the birds will still chirp. Recommended as an idiosyncratic but mostly successful cross-pollenated oddity, K screens this Saturday (3/21) at the Walter Reade and Sunday (3/22) at MoMA, as part of this year’s ND/NF.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on March 17th, 2015 at 10:18pm.

LFM Reviews Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police

By Joe Bendel. Andy Summers went from stadium tours as the lead guitarist of the Police to headlining at the Baked Potato, an intimate jazz club in Los Angeles. He had the chops for both and enough left over from the former style of gigs to enjoy the latter. Jazz listeners always knew Summers was the coolest member of the Police and that judgment is vindicated by Andy Grieve’s Can’t Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police, which opens this Friday in New York.

Although Stand is based on Summers’ memoir One Train Later and features his confessional narration, it never has time to touch on his jazz work. For blindingly obvious reasons, Grieve’s film is mostly concerned with Summers’ tenure in the Police and his relationship with the other two band members, particularly Gordon Sumner, a.k.a. Sting. However, Summers’ early scuffling years will be surprisingly interesting to those who do not already know them chapter-and-verse. He nearly caught on with a number of bands in the late 1960s and early 1970s, even serving a stint in Eric Burdon’s The Animals, but he never managed to break out big.

Summers was about to chuck it in when he found himself playing a couple of one-offs with Sumner and Stewart Copeland. The two were trying to make a go of it with a pseudo-punk ensemble called the Police. Summers was not sure he had the right feel for the new style of music, but when he and Copeland happened to arrive for a meet-up on the same subway train, he took it as a sign (hence the title of Summers’ book). You basically know the trajectory the band took from there, but casual fans might have forgotten some of the details and diehards will enjoy reliving them from Summers’ viewpoint.

To his credit, Sting (as we must refer to him now) was reasonably cooperative with the film, even though he does come across as a bit of a prima donna. Clearly, he had no objections when the press focused in on him at an early stage. He just as obviously had one foot out the door for quite a while, yet he still tried to impose his my-way-or-the-highway will on the band. At least, that is how it looks from the candid archival footage. Perhaps most damning, it is decidedly not cool to see him act like a jerkweed to Martha Quinn in an MTV interview.

From "Can’t Stand Losing You."

Yet, Summers oral history is just as hard on himself as it is on Sting (so apparently Copeland must have the patience of a saint). It would be fair to say he let the rock star thing sabotage his personal life. However, his third act was rather redemptive in ways Grieve might have spent more time exploring. Instead, he essentially concentrates on their 2007 reunion (thanks to tour footage directed by Lauren Lazin) and a special exhibition of Summers’ photography, mounted in conjunction with Taschen’s publication of I’ll Be Watching You: Inside the Police 1980-83.

If you lived through the 1980s, Stand brings a lot of it back—and maybe delivers a little closure. It must be conceded their music still holds up pretty well, as does Summers’ jazz work, such as the Monk tribute album Green Chinmeys. He certainly emerges from the film as a relatively down-to-earth figure, as well as a survivor of considerable chaos. Highly recommended for fans of the Police and 1980s music in general, Can’t Stand Losing You opens this Friday (3/20) in New York, at the Village East and the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on March 17th, 2015 at 9:36pm.

LFM Reviews The Fool @ The 2015 New Directors/New Films

By Joe Bendel. The assassination of Boris Nemtsov is yet another example of how tragedy continues to mysteriously befall critics of the Putin regime. Although Putin’s name is never mentioned in Yuriy Bykov’s latest film, his friends should keep a close eye on him. Bykov unambiguously indicts the corruption and lawlessness of Putin’s Russia, but he goes even further than Andrey Zvyagintev’s Leviathan, condemning the complacency and complicity of the average citizenry that allows such abuses to continue unchecked. Viewers will find Bykov’s The Fool is a bitter cocktail with a powerful kick when it screens during the 2015 edition of New Directors/New Films.

Dima Nikitin is a plumber, but he is studying structural engineering in hopes of securing a promotion in the municipal works department. His wife finds his efforts ridiculously naïve, because everyone knows such matters are arranged through pay-offs. Yet, he continues nonetheless. Called to cover for a drunken worker in a dilapidated housing project just outside his district, Nikitin has the training to recognize the tenement is on the verge of collapse. There is a huge fissure running up on side of the listing building on down the other. The foundation is literally crumbling and the ground has shifted beneath it. Concerned for the fate of the 820 residents (and what unsavory tenants they are), Nikitin takes the matter directly to the civic council, which has conveniently assembled to celebrate the birthday of corrupt Mayor Nina Galaganova.

Of course, nobody wants to hear what Nikitin has to say. Where did all the money earmarked for the complex’s maintenance go? After the mayor got her cut, it paid for a lovely house for the daughter of public housing manager Fedotov, as well as an apartment in Moscow for his thuggish son. Nevertheless, when Nikitin takes Fedotov and the fire chief out to the building, they are forced to acknowledge the urgency of the situation. The politically inexperienced Nikitin takes Galaganova at her word when she agrees to evacuate the building, but her shady advisors have different ideas.

Despite its explicit commentary on Putin’s Russia, The Fool works as a ticking clock thriller on two levels. We experience the suspense of whether Nikitin and his reluctant allies be able to start the evacuation before it is too late, while simultaneously worrying he will go the way of Nemtsov and Anna Politkovskaya for his efforts. This being Russia, it is hardly spoilerish to say the answer will be blackly ironic.

From "The Fool."

Due to its dourly naturalistic vibe, the grit and depth of the performances in The Fool sort of sneak up on the audience, but their resonance lingers. Artyom Bystrov elevates Nikitin far beyond a workaday everyman or symbolic victim. He is an anguished and self-aware Quixotic figure. Likewise, Boris Nevzorov and Kirill Polukhin are absolutely riveting as the knowingly compromised Fedotov and the fire chief. Alexander Korshunov adds tragic heft as Nikitin’s futilely principled father, the block from which he was chipped, but Olga Samoshina and Darya Moroz are rather one-dimensional as his relentlessly shrewish mother and under-developed wife.

Perhaps Bykov gives us a tad too much of Nikitin’s family drama, but his long dark night of soul is completely engrossing and profoundly alarming. Bykov lets nobody off the hook, least of all the mean, petty, loutish, and entitled tenants Nikitin is trying to save. Clearly, they are almost as much of the problem as Galaganova, but that is hardly the sort of message the state-controlled Russian media is likely to trumpet. Very highly recommended, The Fool screens this Thursday (3/19) at MoMA and Saturday (3/21) at the Walter Reade, as part of this year’s ND/NF.

LFM GRADE: A

March 17th, 2015 at 9:36pm.

LFM Reviews The Challat of Tunis @ The 2015 Socially Relevant Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. There is plenty of mock in Kaouther Ben Hania’s hybrid-doc, but the attitudes it depicts are embarrassingly real. In 2003, an unknown assailant drove through the streets of Tunis, slashing the buttocks of women who were not sufficiently “modest” in their dress. One Arab Spring revolution later, the so-called Challat is still regarded as a cult hero by a significant number of Tunisians—all male and Muslim, of course. Ben Hania set out to find the slasher in a traditional documentary, but official road blocks forced her instead to make a true-in-spirit examination of the Tunisian national character in The Challat of Tunis, which screens during the 2015 Socially Relevant Film Festival.

At least eleven women were attacked by the Challat. The “at least” caveat is important, because the Tunis police do not exactly encourage reports of sexual violence. If you suspect they might blame the victim, you don’t know the half of it, but Ben Hania saves their real life testimony for the final act. Most of the narrative is devoted to her semi-fictional pseudo-Michael Moore style search for the unpunished perpetrator. Circumstantial evidence points to an unemployed misogynist named Jalel Dridi, who adamantly takes credit for the slashings. Initially, he is quite convincing, but Ben Halia eventually starts to doubt some of the details of his story.

Let’s not sugarcoat it. There is something deeply pathological about a society in which people want to be known as violent criminals who prey on women. Dridi might be a fraud or an actor in a put-up job, but there are plenty of men-in-the-street responses to him that speak volumes about Arab Muslim attitudes towards women. For instance, one imam endorses his Challat video game, because it grants points for slashing disrespectfully dressed women, while deducting from players’ scores if the assault women in suitably oppressive garb.

From "The Challat of Tunis."

Some of the comic bits are better developed than others, but they all reflect highly problematic social iniquities and double standards. Ben Halia even shows an aptitude for broad Apatow style comedy when Dridi buys a “Virgin-o-meter” to test his unlikely new girlfriend. However, the film really knocks the wind out of the audience when Ben Halia dispenses with her hyper-real narrative to interview two of the Challat’s extraordinarily brave victims on camera. Their stories of lingering physical and emotional pain, as well as the humiliation they experienced at the hands of the police, make the blood run cold.

There are a wealth of telling moments to be found in Ben Halia’s street interviews, such the unusually candid coffee house patron who initially argues Muslim prejudices for the attacks, but walks it back as an “Arab” thing when his cronies object. Clearly, nobody (no man) in Tunisia wants to forthrightly deal with Challat attacks and the lasting cultural effects, which is why Ben Halia’s film is such a bold poke in the eye. It has some odd moments, but there is always method to her madness. Strongly recommended, The Challat of Tunis is by far the feature highlight of this year’s SRFF when it screens this Thursday (3/19) at the Tribeca Cinemas.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on March 17th, 2015 at 9:35pm.

LFM Reviews The Unclean @ The 2015 Socially Relevant Film Festival

From "The Unclean."

By Joe Bendel. Incidents of Muslim cab drivers refusing service to blind passengers with guide dogs made headlines in Minneapolis and Saskatchewan, but the resulting hand-wringing would have baffled Iran’s theocrats. Dog ownership is forbidden in Iran (under pain of 74 lashes), because canines are considered “unclean” accordingly to Islamist teachings. However, it is not as if dogs no longer exist in Iran. Sadly, when a decent henpecked Iranian husband accidentally hits a stray with his car, it causes a moral dilemma he is powerless to resolve in Bahram & Bahman Ark’s short film, The Unclean, which screens during the 2015 Socially Relevant Film Festival.

Naser probably never had a hope of seeing the poor dog as he was driving home through Tehran’s poorly illuminated streets, but he sure felt the sickening bump. Not the type to hit-and-run, Naser bundles up the bloodied animal and somehow manages to get him to a veterinary clinic. Unfortunately, it has no in-patient facilities, leaving Nasr two choices. He can either have the dog put down or he can have him treated, but he would have to find a safe place for him to recuperate. Obviously, his gossip-sensitive wife will never allow an unclean animal in the house. Nor will his anyone else in his limited circle of acquaintances.

As his namesake, Naser Hashemi’s performance is absolutely devastating, in a quiet, unassuming sort of way. He straightforwardly and viscerally conveys the anguish of an everyman who tries to act humanely, but is undermined by ideology and circumstance, yet will carry the resulting sense of guilt nonetheless. Frankly, this film is a tragedy for both man and dog.

Unclean might sound relatively small in scope, but it makes a powerful statement. The film’s low-fi nocturnal look also rather appropriately fits Naser’s long dark night of the soul, giving viewers a sense of how menacing the streets of Tehran can feel during the late night hours. It is the sort of film that hits you on a gut level, but it might be too much for sensitive dog people to take.

There is also quite of bit of harrowing imagery in the festival’s other Iranian short, but Yahya Gobadi’s animated Tears largely decontextualizes the time and place, making it more of a timeless fable. Nevertheless, it depicts the traumas of war quite vividly through the eyes of a child (who gets little help from the surviving adults around her after her parents are killed in a bombing raid).

Stylistically, the animation of Tears is somewhat akin to the more grounded passages of The Wall. Visually, it is distinctive, but Unclean is a far more personal and directly immediate film. Highly recommended, Unclean screens Sunday afternoon (3/22) at the Quad Cinema and the well-meaning Tears screens this Friday (3/20) at the Tribeca Cinemas, as part of short film programs at the Socially Relevant Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on March 17th, 2015 at 9:35pm.