Category: 4. Joe Bendel

By Joe Bendel. What were the crimes artist and poet Mu Xin was arrested for during his lifetime? Hardcore offenses, like talking informally about Madame Mao at a social gathering and making sketches in what became known as Taiwan in the years before the revolution (that’s right, he did not have the gift of clairvoyance). Of course, the Red Guards hardly needed a pretext to arrest and torture anyone during the Cultural Revolution. His secret, nonpolitical art was more than sufficient. Filmmakers Francesco Bello & Timothy Sternberg coaxed the late artist into reflecting on his life and work in the elegantly elegiac short documentary Dreaming Against the World, which screens during this year’s DOC NYC.

Mu Xin was born into a well to do family in Wuzhen, so he was doomed to face hardships during Mao’s various ideological campaigns. However, his early years were also greatly enriched by the extensive library a local intellectual left in his family’s care. Frankly, Mu Xin was better read in classic Western literature than any of us, which would hardly help his case during the Cultural Revolution, but it gave him perspective.

Although Mu Xin was a reluctant interview subject, he radiates dignity and erudite charm. Obviously, the episodes he warily speaks of were difficult to revisit, but he also seems to experience some cathartic release from the process. Yet, he is extraordinarily Zen-like referring to the scores of paintings, poems, plays, and other writings confiscated and destroyed during the collective insanity as mere “practice.”

For those who doubt the Communist experience immeasurably impoverished the world, Mu Xin’s lost work is conclusive proof. He is now best known for “Tower Within a Tower” series of landscape paintings and his secretly recorded Prison Notes, sixty six pages of such minute lettering, they are recognized as a work of art in their own right, as well as a courageous act of defiance. Still, one has to wonder what treasures would also be celebrated had they survived.

As Bello & Sternberg rightly point out, Mu Xin could have been summarily executed had his signature works been discovered while he was creating them. It is an incredible story, told with tremendous sensitivity. The filmmakers add just enough context to ensure any viewer can appreciate Mu Xin’s life and work, without getting sidetracked by the nightmarish historical dynamics at play. Several of the credited translators are also names we recognize and therefore give us even further confidence in the film’s accuracy and integrity. It is a film worthy of its accomplished and insightful subject. Very highly recommended, the thirty-five minute Dreaming Against the World screens before Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah this Thursday (11/19) at the SVA Theatre, as part of DOC NYC 2015.

LFM GRADE: A+

Posted on November 17th, 2015 at 10:33pm.

By Joe Bendel. They saw starvation during the Holodomor, Stalin’s forced starvation of Ukraine and radiation sickness during the Chernobyl meltdown. The latter paled compared to the horrors of Stalin. Having persevered through Stalin’s terror, they were not about to let a little thing like radiation scare them off. Holly Morris & Anne Bogart visit several of the two hundred-some matronly survivors who returned to their once-abandoned homes in The Babushkas of Chernobyl, which screens during this year’s DOC NYC.

The once bustling villages and mid-sized towns supporting the Soviet nuclear industry are now overgrown with weeds. Instead of a scorched wasteland, nature has largely taken back the so-called “Exclusion Zone.” According to PBS’s Nature, the wolf population has thrived in recent years. Considering their advanced age and vodka consumption, the “Babushkas” also seem to be doing relatively well. Valentyna Ivanivna attributes her longevity to the healing power of herbs, while Hanna Zavorotnya puts her faith in moonshine. They are probably both right.

Although the government still tightly controls access to the zone, they have semi-officially condoned the women’s recolonization, believing they will succumb to old age before the effects of radiation manifest in their bodies. It seems a quite reasonable position really. In contrast, Morris and Bogart also incorporate some of the video shot by the foolhardy thrill seekers venturing into the Exclusion Zone, often inspired by the Stalker video game. It is certainly fascinating footage to watch, but stupid as hell.

Indeed, Morris and Bogart had to take a tag team approach to limit their exposure. We also get a series of timely reality checks from Vita Polyakova, a government guide, who shares the filmmakers’ affection for the Babushkas. Still, between the wolves and the returnees, you have to wonder if there are natural phenomena at work off-setting the effects of radiation.

Granted, the Babushkas are steadily passing away, but what can we expect. They survived the Holodomor, the National Socialist occupation, and in some cases terrible marriages. Frankly, their resiliency and ironic humor is impressive. They are almost as old as Bernie Sanders, but they have actually lived under the socialism he is so blindly devoted to. Perhaps we should listen to them when they tell us to keep plenty of moonshine and pig fat handy. Recommended for the rugged charm of its subjects and an intriguing view of a land few will visit, The Babushkas of Chernobyl screens this Wednesday (11/18) and Thursday (11/19) at the IFC Center, as part of the 20105 DOC NYC.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on November 16th, 2015 at 6:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. By now, nobody puts too much stock in Wikipedia and other online databases. This is especially true when it comes to the filmographies of Harold and Lillian Michelson. For years, their contributions to classic Hollywood productions as a story board artist and researcher have been vaguely credited or completely uncredited. They finally get their due in Daniel Raim’s Harold and Lillian: a Hollywood Love Story, which screens during this year’s DOC NYC.

Unsung is maybe a slight exaggeration in Harold’s case, since he was able to graduate up to production designer gigs, earning two Oscar nominations (including one for Star Trek: the Motion Picture). Still, it is not like people out there are saying: “of course, Harold Michelson. He was the production designer on Johnny Got his Gun.” Credits for Lillian Michelson are even sketchier, but she enriched hundreds of pictures, often through research into period design details, but also into more specialized fields, such as occult imagery for the dream sequences in Rosemary’s Baby. Francis Ford Coppola thought so much of her, he ensconced her and her research library at his Zoetrope Studios, but unfortunately that did not last as long as he hoped.

Obviously, their Greatest Generation romance and six decades of marriage are of central importance to the film. It is quite endearing, but most viewers will be more interested in their contributions to classic cinema. Happily, one of the directors who comes off the best in their recollections is everyone’s favorite auteur, Alfred Hitchcock, who treated Harold like a genuine collaborator on The Birds and Marnie. Coppola and Mel Brooks also have plenty of nice things to say as does Harold’s old crony, executive producer Danny Devito.

Sadly, Harold Michelson passed away in 2007, but Raim still has sufficient interview footage for him to be a consistent presence in the film. The poems in his handcrafted valentines and birthday cards to Lillian also provide an ironic running commentary on their lives. However, the surviving Lillian always gets the last word, not that that would concern her beloved Harold. She is absolutely lovely, but she can also dish like Hedda Hopper, which makes her reminiscences highly watchable.

The Michelsons’ work is way more interesting than you might think and they are quite charming to spend time with. It is a super nice film that will be catnip for regular TCM viewers. Warmly recommended, Harold and Lillian screens tomorrow (11/17) and Wednesday (11/18) at the IFC Center, as part of the 20105 DOC NYC.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on November 16th, 2015 at 6:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. In the 1970s, Arthur C. Clarke predicted that you would read this review. It was all a matter of science and he was one of the best at putting the “s” in “sf.” Recently, Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs opened with Clarke’s outlandish prophecy that personal computers would one day become commonplace and now a new documentary prominently features Clarke’s conception of a space elevator, and the 1979 novel The Fountains of Paradise in which they reshape our world. Of course, his predictions regarding computers have already come to pass, but the space elevator’s time has not yet come. Miguel Drake-McLaughlin & Jonny Leahan profile the scientists and entrepreneurs trying to realize the not-impossible space elevator dream in Sky Line, premiering at this year’s DOC NYC.

Sky Line does a super job explaining the space elevator idea for layman, which in itself is probably a significant contribution to the discourse. Essentially, it is like a tether ball. Some kind of node is attached to the terra firma by an enormous chord that becomes taut due to the Earth’s rotation. In theory, we should be able to zip cargo and space vessels up that line much more economically than by using dirty old rockets. The problem is we do not quite have strong enough material for the cable yet, but we are close.

The space elevator seems tantalizingly doable, but NASA has not exactly taken a leadership role in its development. It has largely been left to private academic and entrepreneurial concerns. Some of the various space elevator proponents share what could be described as a friendly rivalry, whereas others clearly do not. Michael Laine, the founder of LiftPort seems to a real feather-ruffler, but he certainly put his money where his mouth was. He is also probably the film’s best interview subject.

There is a lot of interesting science made understandable in Sky Line, but probably the coolest stuff in the film are the excerpts from the abridged Fountains of Paradise LP read by Clarke himself and all the striking retro Chesley Bonestell-style concept art. Unfortunately, the film suffers from the lack of a clear dramatic arc, but there is not a lot Drake-McLaughlin and Leahan could do about that, short of rolling up their sleeves and brainstorming a breakthrough in carbon nanotube technology.

Arguably, there is even more urgency to the drive to realize the space elevator concept than Sky Line suggests. Right now, the American space program has no manned space travel capacity. We are entirely dependent on Russia if we want to hitch a ride to the International Space Station. Obviously, this is a highly problematic situation. Regardless, Sky Line does a nice job explaining the concepts and benefits of the space elevator, but it doesn’t quite fire up the audience the way proponents were probably hoping. However, it is highly informative, which is certainly laudable. Recommended for space program boosters and those interested in popular science, Sky Line screens this Sunday (11/15) and the following Wednesday (11/18) at the IFC Center, as part of DOC NYC 2015.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on November 13th, 2015 at 12:42pm.

By Joe Bendel. During the swinging sixties, Cambodia’s King Sihanouk was composing rock & roll tunes. Unfortunately, when he made his Faustian deal with the Khmer Rouge, he had to shift gears and churn out patriotic dirges. Needless to say, Cambodians prefer his earlier work. The 60s pop surveyed in Don’t Think I’ve Forgotten remains popular, but sadly nine out of ten Cambodian recording artists were murdered during Pol Pot’s socialist genocide. However, an unlikely new group has found success giving those catchy tunes a fresh contemporary spin. Marc Eberle documents their formation and growing pains in Cambodian Space Project: Not East Rock ‘n’ Roll, which screens during the 2015 Hawaii International Film Festival.

When Australian musician Julien Poulson met Srey Thy [Channthy], she was working in a karaoke bar. Her job did involve singing, but other duties were implied, as Poulson quickly confirmed. However, something about her stage presence stuck with him. Like a Cambodian Pretty Woman, Poulson hatched an idea to form a band with Srey Thy, combining elements of Western and Cambodian pop.

Despite her humble status and other assorted prejudices against her, the Cambodian Space Project kind of sort of takes off. In the short run, this means more gigs than dough. However, Srey Thy starts to envision a respectable future for herself—with Poulson, at least for a while. Let’s just say their relationship evolves considerably.

Cambodian Space Project might be the only band truly worthy of a reality TV show. There is a heck of a lot going on with them backstage (even though Eberle problematically ignores the other members of the group). Yet, in many ways, the identity of the CSP is inextricably intertwined with the tragic history of Cambodia. Srey Thy has a particular affinity for the sassy songs of Pen Ran, who was one of so many artists deliberately ferreted out and executed by the Khmer Rouge for their involvement in bourgeoisie culture. She can also directly observe the effects of their reign of terror in her father, who ostensibly survived the genocide, but remains deeply traumatized by the tortures he endured.

Clearly, chronicling the Cambodian Space Project was a mission of passion for Eberle, who also directed several of the band’s videos. He invested several years following them around the world, capturing some significant and telling moments as a result. While their story is deeply Cambodian, it has elements both Horatio Alger and O. Henry would appreciate. Of course, that messiness makes it rather fascinating, in a voyeuristic kind of way.

While Eberle’s doc is nowhere near as emotionally moving or aesthetically elegant as Davy Chou’s Golden Slumbers, it is briskly paced and incorporates some cool graphics and interstitial animation. It is also nice to be hipped to such a groovy band. Recommended for fans of world pop, Cambodian Space Project: Not East Rock ‘n’ Roll screens this Friday (11/13) and Monday (11/16) as part of this year’s HIFF.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on November 13th, 2015 at 12:42pm.