Month: May 2015

LFM Reviews The Sarajevo Assassination @ The 2015 Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival

L'ATTENTAT DE SARAJEVO from CMCA on Vimeo.

By Joe Bendel. Many historians believe Archduke Franz Ferdinand was far more progressive than your typical early Twentieth Century aristocrat. He generally advocated for greater decentralization of power and provisionally lent his support to the unlikely concept of a “United States of Austria.” Unfortunately, he was the perfect crowned head to kill if you wanted to ignite a war. Eastern European history professor Paul Grandvohl will re-open the Archduke’s cold case in Nedim Lončarević’s The Sarajevo Assassination, which screened during the 2015 Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival in New York, proudly celebrating its twelfth anniversary as one of the most welcoming fests in the City.

The way textbooks typically dismiss the Archduke as a historical footnote is problematic in its own right. Even more dubious are the frequent descriptions of the assassin, Gavrilo Princip and his accomplices as Dostoyevskian pan-Slavic revolutionaries. While Grandvohl probably does not collect enough evidence for a court indictment (nearly 101 years after the fact), he makes a strong circumstantial case, suggesting a certain government played an instrumental role planning and financing the attack. Needless to say, it was not Bosnia (where the Archduke was particularly popular).

As a sidebar to the historical inquiry, Lončarević also follows Grandvohl as he researches his own family history in Sarajevo’s traditional Jewish quarter. What he discovers is much more satisfying than the roots of Ben Affleck’s family tree. Through the process, viewers also get a sense Sarajevo was an unusually tolerant and cosmopolitan city, especially by the standards of pre-WWI Europe.

Although Assassination clocks in with a TV-friendly running time just under an hour, it is chocked full of interesting historical background and context. It is particularly eye-opening to see how Princip was venerated as a revolutionary hero under the Communist regime and remains a celebrated figure in Serbia today.

PBS really ought to pick-up Assassination for broadcast in America. Frankly, the murder of the Archduke and his morganatic wife, the much-maligned Sophie, Duchess of Bavaria is something everyone has heard of, but very few really understand to any significant extent. While the film never feels drily academic, Lončarević and Grandvohl shoehorn in a good deal of informative and telling history. Highly recommended for those fascinated by WWI (and the ultimate origins of WWII), The Sarajevo Assassination screened Saturday (5/23) as part of this year’s Bosnian Herzegovinian Film Festival, which has become an annual tradition both for the expat community and a growing number of cineaste supporters.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on May 26th, 2015 at 3:54pm.

Only the Victims are in Stitches: LFM Reviews HC3

From "Human Centipede 3."

By Joe Bendel. So much for truth in advertising. Tom Six’s third go-round stitching together poor hapless victims claims to be “100% politically incorrect,” but nothing could be farther from the truth. Take for instance the setting: “George W. Bush Prison” in East Jesus, Texas. Unfortunately for viewers, Six desperately wants to be considered “relevant” as a satirist, but he just isn’t funny. However, what is really unforgivable is the baffling lack of scatological grotesqueness in Six’s Human Centipede 3 (Final Sequence), which opened last Friday in New York.

The narrative, such as it is, follows screechy prison warden Bill Boss as he sexually harasses his secretary Daisy, bullies his bean-counter Dwight Butler, and wages open warfare against his heavily tattooed gang-member inmates. Boss has embarrassed the politically ambitious Governor Hughes once too often. If he cannot restore order to the prison in one week, Hughes will give him the axe. Fear not, Butler has a perfectly logical solution. Form the inmates into a Human Centipede, just like in Six’s movies. In fact, Six will pop in meta-style, to offer his advice.

Frankly, ‘pede-3 really should have been grosser and gorier, because at least that way it would have been something. Instead, Six tries to make a comedy, but it is deafeningly unfunny. Absolutely nothing lands here. You really have to wonder what was going through Dieter Laser’s head as he raged and mugged as the horrendously loud and annoying Boss. Did he ever ask Six: “Is this funny? Is this really working?” Whatever the director might have said, the answer is a resounding “no.”  As a result, it is truly embarrassing to watch Laser face-plant time after time. Seriously, his bulging eyes and schticky twitching are so over-the-top, it’s like he is trying to be Meryl Streep on a bad day.

From "Human Centipede 3."

Honest to goodness, there is only one solitary dry chuckle in the whole film, earned by Clinton Rohner’s understated delivery as the unlicensed prison physician. However, it is still deeply depressing to see the G vs. E star mired in this muck. Sadder still, HC3 probably represents the dumbest, most underwritten film of pornstar Bree Olson’s career. Yet somehow Eric Roberts manages to skate through relatively cleanly as the governor. Say what you will, that man works a lot. If you don’t like him here, wait a few weeks and watch him play the mayor in LA Slasher.

While it was certainly not a masterpiece, the first Human Centipede was an effective mad scientist film in its own defiant way. This film is simply not funny—period, end of story. Nor does it try to fulfill any traditional horror movie functions. There is just a lot of Laser yelling at the camera. It is sort of like watching Gilbert Gottfried playing Richard Nixon in Secret Honor, without any sense of irony. Not recommended for genre fans or even viewers who enjoyed the previous two films, Human Centipede 3 opened last Friday (5/22) in New York, at the IFC Center.

LFM GRADE: F

Posted on May 26th, 2015 at 3:53pm.

LFM Reviews Winning: the Racing Life of Paul Newman

By Joe Bendel. Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward were way too classy to ever appear in a reality TV show. However, for decades racing fans were able to get a good close look at Newman that was entirely different from what one could glean from the glossy entertainment magazines. He was a competitor through and through, who is fondly remembered by his colleagues and teammates in Adam Carolla’s Winning: the Racing Life of Paul Newman, co-directed by Nate Adams, which releases on VOD this Friday.

Winning was a 1969 Newman-Woodward vehicle that was reasonably successful at the box office, but it had special significance in Newman’s life. In preparation to play Frank Capua, Newman was sent to racing school, where he quickly discovered a real aptitude for driving. It quickly became a passion. As a successful movie star, Newman could indulge an eccentric hobby, but it eventually became a bona fide second career.

Throughout Winning the documentary, Newman’s former rivals give him credit for putting in the time and effort to develop his skills. He was willing to lose a lot of races before he started winning. He was legit, coming in first in his class and second overall at the 1979 Le Mans (the subject of the 1971 Steve McQueen movie). Frankly, it is really cool how to hear how Newman became an accepted and respected part of the racing world.

Believe or not, Carolla is building an impressive portfolio as a filmmaker. Following up the solidly entertaining Road Hard, the comedian (who collects and restores Newman’s former vehicles) has assembled a first-rate sports doc. Fans should understand, there is not much material concerning Newman’s film career here, besides Winning and the Pixar animated film Cars, for which Newman voiced the character of the Hudson Hornet. However, Carolla did score a sit-down with an old Newman friend and co-star by the name of Robert Redford.

Winning (2015) also features interviews with Winning (1969) co-star Robert Wagner, Cars director John Lasseter, both Mario and Michael Andretti, and trailblazing African American driver Willy T. Ribbs, who credits Newman’s support for his big break in motorsports. Sometimes amusing and other times revealing, their anecdotes paint a compelling portrait of Newman the sportsman.

It is just great to have a new Paul Newman film nearly seven years after his death. However, Carolla’s interview subjects make it pretty clear Newman’s zeal for racing necessarily resulted in fewer films for posterity. On the other hand, he therefore chose projects with a discernment that well served his cinematic legacy. Wholly entertaining and surprisingly insightful, Winning: the Racing Life of Paul Newman is highly recommended for fans of the man and the sport when it launches on VOD this Friday (5/22). Fittingly, it will also have a special screening at the Indiana State Museum IMAX Theater in Indianapolis on the same night.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on May 18th, 2015 at 10:06pm.

LFM Reviews Paradise in Service @ The 2015 Seattle International Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. Unit 831 was sort of like the USO, except they managed a brothel to keep the early 1960s Nationalist Chinese Military’s morale high. They were not comfort women. It was more complicated than that. A young enlisted man will learn just how complicated in Doze Niu Chen-zer’s Paradise in Service, co-produced by none other than Hou Hsiao-hsien, which screens during the 2015 Seattle International Film Festival.

Lo Pao-tai has the physique to be a frogman, but he literally cannot swim to save his life. Washing out of the Sea Dragons training program, he is transferred to serve out his remaining mandatory term of enlistment at a local Unit 831 brothel. His first day will be quite an eye-opening experience for the naïve young man. However, in his new assignment, he will periodically meet and greet some of his former comrades, including the grizzled Sergeant-Major Chang Yung-shen. In fact, he will see quite a bit of the veteran sergeant, since he has fallen for Chiao, a.k.a. Number 8, the top girl at Lo’s “teahouse.”

Unfortunately, Chiao is a bit of a game-player, whereas Ni-ni is the exact opposite. She came to work at the teahouse under rather tragic circumstances. She and Lo soon become friends, but not yet with benefits. Their courtship will be a slow business that often must be deferred by more pressing Unit 831 business.

Yes, there is probably no better place to come of age in a hurry than a military cat house. While Niu makes it plenty clear just what goes on there, the vibe of the film is strangely innocent. In a way, its concerns are not so very different than Neil Simon’s Biloxi Blues, but can you imagine how delighted his sex-obsessed Eugene Jerome analog would have been with this sort of service detail?

The time capsule-like period details of Paradise are often quite eye-opening. The idea of armed conflict with the Communists was hardly idle speculation for the military stationed on Quemoy, where each side constantly blasted propaganda through loud speakers at each other. There is definitely a sense that both sides are in a not so “Cold” War staring contest.

From "Paradise in Service."

While the setting of a military brothel could easily lend itself to comedy (“no time for procurers”), Niu plays it achingly straight, often diving into pure melodrama. However, the cast sells it like an ensemble of champions. Ethan Ruan has never been better as the innocent Lo, developing some deeply felt chemistry with Regina Wan Qian’s Ni-ni. She is also terrifically sensitive yet restrained as the inherently respectable prostitute. Like a Taiwanese Tommy Lee Jones, Chen Jianbin rock solidly anchors the film as the gruff but vulnerable sergeant, while Miao Ke-li steals scene after scene as Cher, the older, brassier working woman.

Although the Taiwanese military is not exactly eager to talk about the now defunct Unit 831, Paradise never feels like an expose. In fact, there is a strange feeling of camaraderie that develops between the women and the staff. Whether you find it credible or not, that vibe really distinguishes the picture. When it finishes, you feel like you were briefly stationed at Quemoy, which is something. Recommended for fans of the big name Taiwanese and Mainland cast (who do not disappoint), Paradise in Service screens today (5/18), and next Tuesday (5/26), as part of this year’s SIFF.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on May 18th, 2015 at 10:05pm.

LFM Reviews Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World

By Joe Bendel. Probably no other Swiss dude ever creeped out as many people as Hansruedi “H.R.” Giger—and his fans loved him for it. His ominous visions of sexualized dystopias are uniquely distinctive and immediately identifiable as Giger. He was an artist with a rabid fanbase who was also steadily gaining stature in the proper museum world, like a Warhol with talent. One year after his death, almost to the date (5/12/2014), documentarian Belinda Sallin introduces fans into the cult figure’s private life in Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World, which opened last Friday in New York.

Giger’s designs for Jodorowsky’s oh-so-close-to-being-realized Dune could have stood the film world on its ear, but that is a lament for another documentary. However, connections initially made through the celebrated non-film subsequently led to Giger’s Oscar winning design work for Ridley Scott’s Alien. Giger’s fate would not be denied. Perhaps Giger’s most recognizable album cover is Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Brain Salad Surgery, but arguably just about every 1980s Heavy Metal cover owes him a debt of gratitude.

From "Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World."

It is hard to make a dull film about someone who is regularly asked to sign body parts (as we see from time to time), but Dark Star quietly gets off to a slow start. There is a lot of milling around Giger’s Escher-esque house, as he graciously hosts friends and family. It is nice to know Giger’s final months were pleasant, but the film only starts getting interesting when it explores the psychological roots of his macabre, futuristic images. Much of the film’s psychoanalyzing is appropriately done by Czech psychiatrist and Giger crony Stanislav Grof (a good head-shrinker name if ever there was one).

It is fascinating to contrast Giger’s nightmarish images with his genial presence. Physically, the artist had clearly lost a step or two, but he was as sharp (and eccentric) as ever. Of course, his art is really the main attraction and it has lost none of its potency. Sallin’s basic strategy was to hang out and capture as many telling moments as she could. It is not a radical approach, but it will suit Giger’s fans (many of whom are large tattooed men you should not antagonize).

Dark Star is a reasonably compelling and wholly respectful portrait of an artist in his final days. It is nice to have it for posterity, but everyone would prefer Jodorowsky’s Dune if that were somehow an option. Recommended for Giger fans, Dark Star: H.R. Giger’s World opens today (5/15) in New York, at the Landmark Sunshine.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on May 18th, 2015 at 10:05pm.

LFM Reviews The Chronicles of Evil

By Joe Bendel. Chief Detective Choi’s latest investigation represents something of a conflict of interest. He is under considerable professional and political pressure to close the case quickly, regardless of the truth. Technically, he also happens to be the killer, but you would hardly call him the mastermind of screenwriter-director Baek Woon-hak’s dark thriller The Chronicles of Evil, which opens this Friday in Queens.

After years of plugging, Det. Choi is on the verge of a national appointment. He has just received the presidential service medal, so if he can avoid entanglements for the next few months, his career should be made. Unfortunately, after a night celebrating with the Detective Squad, Choi’s cabbie waylays him, taking him to a remote park, where he tries to kill the baffled flatfoot. Leathery old Choi turns out to be more than his assailant can handle. However, after killing the man in self-defense, Choi covers up the incident rather than risk the inevitable controversy. This will be a mistake in retrospect.

The next morning, the top brass is outraged when a corpse is found very publicly dangling from a crane at a construction site. Of course, Choi recognizes him. To satisfy his superiors, he will have to clear the case quickly, but he knows the DNA under the vic’s fingernails and the blurry CTV images of a passenger in backseat will inevitably lead back to him. Therefore Choi must try to ferret out his mystery antagonist, while struggling to cover his own tracks.

In a way, Chronicles somewhat parallels Kevin Costner’s breakout hit No Way Out, but Baek gives the story some grittily distinctive cops-and-stalkers twists. He shrewdly positions Choi as a figure compromised enough to deserve his predicament, but decent enough to root for. Baek nicely keeps one darned thing coming after another, getting flat-out Biblical down the stretch.

Recognizable to genre fans from Huh Jung’s Hide and Seek, Son Hyun-joo is perfectly cast as Det. Choi. He looks like a migraine personified and has vinegary world weariness sweating out of every pore. Ma Dong-seok (a.k.a. Don Lee) is also reliably charismatic and hardnosed as Choi’s chief deputy, Det. Oh. This is a manly ensemble that has little time for romantic subplots or comic relief. They are all about covering-up and settling scores. When you spy a somewhat metrosexual character, be suspicious—very suspicious.

Baek is a wickedly smooth director, who pulls the audience through this murky morality tale at warp speed. Even though it is a supporting role, Chronicles (along with The Fives, Kundo, and Nameless Gangster) suggests Ma/Lee has enough cult/genre credibility for Hollywood to start calling. They could use someone with his action cred and screen presence. Highly recommended for fans of anti-heroic cop thrillers, The Chronicles of Evil opens this Friday (5/22) at the AMC Bay Terrace, in Flushing, Queens.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on May 18th, 2015 at 10:05pm.