Category: 4. Joe Bendel

At Last: LFM Reviews Stony Island

By Joe Bendel. Some things never change. In the late 1970’s, Chicago was home to musicians who played the blues and crooked politicians who gave them, just as it is now. For his feature directorial debut, future Fugitive helmer Andrew Davis captured the vibe of his hometown in the hip musical drama Stony Island (a.k.a. My Main Man from Stony Island). Despite the talent involved in the production, it has been nearly unseen for decades, known mostly to diehard record collectors familiar with the smoking hot soundtrack LP. Happily, this will soon change. Stony Island screens this Wednesday and Thursday at Chicago’s Gene Siskel Film Center, in advance of it April 24th DVD release from Cinema Libre.

Guileless guitarist Richie Bloom has come to Chicago with a dream. He wants to start a band, so he does with the help of his vocalist Stony Island neighbor Edward “Stoney” Robinson and Percy Price, a beloved tenor sax veteran of the Chicago music scene. Slowly, they piece together a grooving big-funk band, but just as it all starts to click, Price, their spiritual leader, tragically dies. With their first big gig on the horizon, the Stony Island Band must pull together to find a way to give the destitute Price a proper send-off.

Comprised largely of tunes arranged and composed by David Matthews (the CTI Records house arranger), the Stony Island soundtrack should have been more sought after by vinyl hounds. Though ostensibly R&B, the Stony Island Band often plays more in a greasy soul jazz bag, which is very cool. A lot of great musicians’ musicians appear in the film, such as Chess Records mainstay Gene Barge, making a strong impression as Price. Those heard but not seen include studio warriors like alto saxophonist David Sanborn (during his groovy CTI, pre-smooth days), guitarist Hiram Bullock, and bassist Mark Egan.

Some of Island’s musician-actors are a bit awkward on-screen, but they always mean well. In contrast Barge gives a fantastically soulful and assured performance as Price, the Obi-Wan Kenobi of funk. Likewise, Ronnie Barron, a onetime sideman to just about everyone from New Orleans, brings the film a fresh jolt of energy as keyboard player Ronnie Roosevelt. His NOLA arrangement of “Just a Closer Walk with Thee” is also one of the film’s highlights.

Viewers should keep an eye out for jazz vocalist Oscar Brown, Jr. in a nonmusical role as the corrupt Alderman Waller. Ironically, a young Rae Dong Chong has a mostly musical rather than dramatic part, appearing as Janetta, a back-up vocalist. Likewise, Susanna Hoffs, the future Bangle and daughter of co-writer-co-producer Tamar Hoffs, never sings a note as Bloom’s girlfriend Lucie.

Even more than his crime dramas like Code of Silence, Davis vividly conveys to viewers of Island a sense of Chicago, soaking up its distinctive sights and sounds. He even uses Daley Sr’s real life funeral as a surreal backdrop. Considering the future big name stars appearing here early in their careers (Dennis Franz as a sleazy hustler? You bet) and the highly regarded (if not exactly world famous) musical talent heard throughout, it seems downright bizarre the film was not reissued far earlier. Cheers to Cinema Libre for getting it.

Granted, the let’s-get-a-band-together story is a bit predictable, but its earnest enthusiasm is endearing. Sentimental in the right way, Island feels like the last gasp of big city innocence. Featuring a swinging, funk-drenched soundtrack and a wonderfully humane supporting turn from Barge, Island is a criminally neglected movie musical gem. Highly recommended for blues-funk-R&B-soul jazz fans, Davis will personally present both screenings at the Siskel Center this Wednesday (4/4) and Thursday (4/5), with the mother and daughter Hoffses set to attend both nights and the great Barge also scheduled to appear at the first screening. For those outside Chicago, it releases nationwide on DVD and screens at Los Angeles’ American Cinematheque on April 24th.

Posted on April 3rd, 2012 at 2:25pm.

Smokeless Romance: LFM Reviews Love in the Buff

By Joe Bendel. It was smoking that brought together Cherie Yu and Jimmy Cheung, but it might be everything else in life that splits them apart. They met during cigarette breaks soon after Hong Kong workplaces went smoke-free in Pang Ho-cheung’s Love in a Puff. Unfortunately, work and time undermine their romance in Pang’s completely stand-alone sequel Love in the Buff, which opened this Friday in New York.

It seems the couple has quit smoking to judge from Buff, but that might be the only responsible thing Cheung has done in his personal life. He has gotten serious about his career, but at the cost of his relationship with Yu. She is something of his mirror image, ready to make a commitment to him, but sleepwalking through her days working retail for Sephora. Eventually, they break-up, with a shrug rather than a bang. That lack of definitive closure will become an issue for them both when they later cross paths again in Beijing.

Transferred by their companies (for very different reasons), the ex-lovers planned to start fresh on the Mainland. Each will find a significant other who would seem much better suited to their respective temperaments. Yet before long, they have reverted to form, sneaking around with each other behind their partners’ backs.

From "Love in the Buff."

Do not get the wrong idea. The “Buff” in the title is only really there because it rhymes with “Puff.” In truth, Buff is about as risqué as an average episode of Friends, perhaps even less so. Yet it is definitely a film for adult sensibilities (in the best sense of the term). In fact, Pang’s treatment of their relationship issues and dynamics is brutally honest and at times rather caustic.

As a result, viewers will feel acute sympathy for the deceived lovers. Indeed, the earnestness of the beautiful Shang You-you and Sam, the gentlemanly divorcee, will make viewers want to see them get together instead. However, Buff is too sincere for such “change partners” gimmicks (though there are a number of novelty cameos from Chinese/HK celebrities that will be largely lost on American audiences).

Instead of trying to be compulsively likable, Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue are consistently maddening in a very realistic, down-to-earth way as Yu and Cheung, respectively. They really convey a sense of flawed chemistry that is central to the film. Not simply set decoration, Mimi (Mi) Yang projects a tangible, needy vulnerability that should have quite the effect on audiences. As for Xu Zheng’s Sam, well okay, he is rather likable.

At times Buff approaches the edge of melodrama, yet always pulls back at the last minute, just in the way people do in real life every day. Altogether it is a well-written look at the pitfalls of romance with a highly attractive cast and an appealingly swinging soundtrack. Recommended for movie-goers looking for something smart but not too heavy, Love in the Buff opened this past Friday in New York at the AMC Empire and AMC Village 7 as well as in San Francisco at the AMC Metreon, courtesy of China Lion Entertainment.

Posted on April 2nd, 2012 at 2:45pm.

Welcome to the New Russia: LFM Reviews Generation P

By Joe Bendel. Only a bold film would invoke the name “Ishtar,” but Victor Ginzburg is clearly a bold filmmaker. The context is much different here, of course, but Elaine May’s notorious box office dud might have been quite popular in the old USSR, since it co-starred Reds helmer Warren Beatty. As it happens, Soviet era nostalgia plays a significant role in Generation P, Ginzburg’s adaptation of Viktor Pelevin’s Illuminatus!-esque novel of late Yeltsin-era Russia, which screens this week as part of the 2012 New Directors/New Films.

Eventually viewers learn that the Babylonian goddess Ishtar has a special relationship with Russia and its secret history. Though previously oblivious to the byzantine machinations of the behind-the-scenes power players, Babylen Tatarsky has always felt a kinship to all things Mesopotamian because of his name, originally conceived as a hybrid of Yevtushenko’s poem Babi Yar and Lenin. A failed poet working in a kiosk owned by the Chechen mob, Tatarsky falls backwards into a “creative” gig at one of the upstart Russian advertising agencies catering to Russia’s nouveau riche industrial class.

Tatarsky specializes in calibrating campaigns to appeal to Soviet nostalgia. He does not believe in it himself, though, because he does not believe in anything. That ideological flexibility allows him to advance to larger, more connected firms. However, he has a spiritual advisor in the person of Gireyev, a Buddhist mystic and expert harvester of psychedelic mushrooms.

The “P” in Generation P is an ironic reference to Pepsi, the cola of Glasnost. Though it never outright glamorizes terrorism, P is not that far removed from V for Vendetta, exhibiting similar anarchistic inclinations. However, the closest comparison might be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, giving viewers a hallucinogenic tour of Russia worthy of Hunter S. Thompson.

P arguably peaks halfway through. At its most inventive, it mixes Mesopotamian and Soviet imagery to evocatively hint at ancient mystic secrets. However, once Tatarsky reaches the inner circle, the film gets bogged down in rather standard, dog-wagging conspiracy rigmarole.

Beyond its heavy-handed critique of consumerism, it is hard to get a bead on P’s exact ideology. While Tatarsky’s cynical nostalgia campaigns are clearly intended to be problematically simplistic, the only real reference to Russia’s Communist past are the fondly remembered Pioneer Days, which are presented with a Norman Rockwell-like patina of lost innocence. The film also has little love for Yeltsin, but plot developments ironically absolve him of much of his buffoonery. Likewise, there is constant white noise equating all capitalists with oligarchs, but they constantly wind up assassinated for running afoul the mob or the government.

Yet, the similarities between a blunt-talking nationalist “reformer” (literally created on a hard-drive) and the current Russian president – who refuses to relinquish his grip on power – are difficult to miss.

A relentlessly satirical look at the new Russia.

Amidst the maelstrom of satire and metaphysics, Vladimir Epifantsev somehow creates a memorable, multidimensional portrait of Tatarsky, the everyman turned insider. Ginzburg also keeps viewers’ feet solidly on the ground, giving them plenty of narrative handles to guide them through the complicated and surreal storyline. It is a very accomplished work, but it is not clear what it all adds up to, particularly for those coming from what the film somewhat mockingly refers to as a “Soviet mentality.” A strange, sometimes dazzling film certainly worth attempting to decode – but in no way to be considered the final word on the immediate post-Soviet years – Generation P screens this Friday (3/30) at the Walter Reade Theater and Sunday (4/1) at MoMA, as this year’s ND/NF concludes in New York.

Posted on March 28th, 2012 at 5:00pm.

Malaise in Moscow: LFM Reviews Twilight Portrait

By Joe Bendel. In Moscow, you can never find a cop when you need one—if you’re lucky, that is. While ostensibly nonpolitical, a scathing picture of the Putin era’s petty corruption, casual cruelty, and moral malaise emerges in Angelina Nikonova’s Twilight Portrait (see a clip here), which screens this week during the 2012 edition of New Directors/New Films.

Initially, Marina appears to be a woman who has it all: a career she is ambivalent about, a husband she cannot respect, and a lover she despises. Unfortunately, after another unsatisfying tryst, the wheels come off Marina’s life. A stolen handbag, a broken heel, and a bit of dishevelment later, the cops pick up Marina on the assumption she is a prostitute and therefore fair game. The details are kept deliberately obscure from the audience, but we know some combination of the three officers rapes her in their patrol car.

Twilight’s second act might be the most realistic, bluntly unvarnished portrayal of the aftermath of such trauma yet rendered on film. Marina’s depression and anger manifest themselves in ways that are sometimes understandable, but often perplexing and off-putting. However, Twilight is just getting started. When Marina takes up with Andrei, one of the cops from that fateful night (who apparently does not recognize her in a different context), the film gets even darker. Is this part of an elaborate plan for revenge or compulsive self-debasement? Perhaps it is both or neither. Indeed, part of her seems drawn to Andrei’s unapologetic masculinity in much the same way Russia collectively submits to an authoritarian strongman like Putin. Twilight keeps its cards close to its vest, but it is safe to surmise their relationship is deeply twisted.

Olga Dihovichnaya as Marina in Angelina Nikonova's "Twilight Portrait."

At this point, it might be helpful to point out Twilight was co-written by Nikonova and her lead actress, Olga Dihovichnaya. Nonetheless, some might find the film’s sexual dynamics, as described above, considerably troubling – which is perfectly reasonable.  This is not a film for everyone, just like Bad Lieutenant is not a film for the masses. However, like Ferrara’s arguable masterwork, there is always a point to the degradation. Frankly, Twilight is not very explicit in terms of what it shows on-screen, but the implications of the character’s words and actions are undeniably disturbing.

Beyond visceral, Dihovichnaya gives a phenomenal performance that will make viewers squirm in discomfort. Film patrons will not see better work on-screen this year, but it is so brutally honest and tightly controlled, Dihovichnaya is unlikely to get the accolades she deserves, at least around these parts. (We’ll probably just shower our awards on Meryl Streep’s next schticky impersonation.)

Nikonova masterfully controls what the audience sees and what it thinks it perceives, keeping them off-balance and edgy throughout the film. It is not an easy film to watch, but it has some real arsenic to it. Recommended for those who fully understand what they are getting into, Twilight screens this Friday (3/30) at MoMA and Saturday (3/31) at the Walter Reade Theater, as the 2012 ND/NF wraps up a particularly strong year.

Posted on March 28th, 2012 at 4:55pm.

China’s One Child Policy: LFM Reviews Huan Huan

By Joe Bendel. China is a man’s world and becoming ever more so. In addition to making young girls increasingly less common, China’s One Child policy poisons the personal relationships of several working class provincial villagers in Song Chuan’s Huan Huan, which screens during the 2012 New Directors/New Films, jointly presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center and MoMA.

Huan Huan has not taken control of her own life. She passively married a habitual gambler and acquiesced to the advances of “Doctor” Wang, a dodgy practitioner of “Chinese and Western medicine” married to Chunfeng, the village’s government enforcer. When their ill-concealed affair becomes public, Chunfeng starts harassing Huan Huan’s family, while Wang starts paying a monthly consideration to her deadbeat husband. Huan Huan’s eventual pregnancy complicates matters tremendously, particularly in light of the One Child policy and Chunfeng’s infertility.

Indeed, given the harsh procreation laws, everyone is interested in Huan Huan’s baby, hoping for a son of course. As a result, what might be a passionate infidelity melodrama in the West becomes a study in cold calculated decisions for Huan Huan’s circle. The frank matter-of-factness with which Song Chuan addresses the One Child policy and the petty corruption of local officials is nothing less than stunning. He also clearly argues contemporary Chinese society is sexually objectifying women, most notably in the low pop culture it imports.

Unfortunately, though Song’s social criticism is undeniably trenchant, his unprofessional cast largely acquit themselves as such. Lead Tian Yuefang is rather convincing in a true-to-life way as the sullen and self-destructive title character. However, the supporting cast is guilty of frequently awkward line readings and a clumsy fight scene that would not pass muster in most dinner theaters.

In addition, Song follows in the aesthetic tradition of independent Chinese filmmaking initiated by the Digital Generation (or DGenerate) School. As a result, Huan Huan features the long static shots and unhurried ground level naturalism that are hallmarks of the movement, but can be distancing for undisciplined viewers. He displays a strong sense of composition, though, vividly conveying the hardscrabble environment of Yunnan.

Ultimately, Huan Huan is more interesting for what it portrays than as a fully engaging drama for audiences to submerge themselves into. According to Deadline Hollywood, Song was denied a visa to attend ND/NF, so it worth seeing on those grounds alone. A bold undertaking, but quite a mixed bag cinematically, Huan Huan screens this Tuesday (3/27) at the Walter Reade Theater and Wednesday (3/28) at MoMA.

Posted on March 26th, 2012 at 11:09am.

LFM Reviews My Girlfriend is an Agent

Kim Ha-neul in "My Girlfriend is an Agent."

By Joe Bendel. Evidently Jamie Gorelick also set up an information-sharing firewall for Korean intelligence. Unbeknownst to each other, two agencies are tracking the same Russian gangster-spies out to purchase the latest monster virus. Nor do Ahn Soo-ji and her ex realize they work for the rival agencies. Things get rom-com complicated in Shin Tae-ra’s My Girlfriend is an Agent (trailer here), which screens – for free – this Tuesday in New York as part of the Korean Cultural Service’s current It’s a Fine Romance film series.

Ahn is an excellent operative, but things like rejection make her loose her cool. In contrast, Lee Jae-joon is completely incompetent, but he is a rookie. At least his Russian background will be useful. Obviously, the evil Victor Somethingrussian has a huge advantage. Every Korean operation targeting him is blown when Ahn and Lee blunder into each other.

Of course, they fight like cats and dogs, providing much entertainment for the local coppers, while scrupulously maintaining their classified affiliations. When Ahn and Lee’s teams finally start to suspect their respective exes, they assume each is in league with the Russians, as duly required in secret agent comedies.

Agent is not afraid to milk a public yelling match for all its worth. Indeed, the comedy is pretty broad here, but it barrels ahead quite confidently. To give credit where it is due, Shin and screenwriter Cheon Seong-il certainly know how to introduce their heroine, immediately putting Ahn into the field as a pistol-packing, jet-ski driving undercover bride. That so works.

In fact, as Ahn, Kim Ha-neul makes a pretty engaging action protagonist, poised in her fight scenes and rather endearing when navigating her romantic frustrations. However, the slapstick incompetence of Kang Ji-hwan’s Lee is lathered on far too strongly, quickly undermining any possible dramatic credibility. Still, his goofiness is not difficult to translate.

Clearly, Agent just wants viewers to have fun, which is cool. Frankly, it contrasts rather favorably with Hollywood spy comedies of recent vintage that unfailingly portray either the CIA or the U.S. military as the “real villains.” Though they have their secrets, Agent’s heavies are still Russian, through and through.

A smash hit in Korea, it is fairly easy to understand Agent’s appeal. Light and breezy with a healthy dose of romance, it is an amusing bauble. It ought to be quite pleasant to watch it with an appreciative audience—again, for free—so plan to arrive early when it screens this Tuesday (3/27) at the Tribeca Cinemas, courtesy of the Korean Cultural Service in New York.

Posted on March 26th, 2012 at 11:07am.