Category: 4. Joe Bendel

By Joe Bendel. Annie and her sister handle stress badly. The former just runs away, while the latter self-medicates. They are both attractive, though, so midnight movie patrons will likely forgive them their shortcomings in Nicholas McCarthy’s The Pact, which screens late nights during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

The two sisters had a horrible childhood, but we never really learn why. It was so bad, though, that Annie has never forgiven her mother for it. As a result, the ex-junkie sister is stuck being the responsible one when their mother passes away. Then one night (in a Grudge-like opening scene) something bad happens to her in their old house. Reluctantly, Annie finally comes to investigate her sister’s disappearance, suspecting she has simply relapsed once again. However, after spending her own harrowing night in the family casa, Annie comes to understand there is something seriously sinister afoot there.

For some seemingly out-of-character reason, biker Annie goes to the coppers to report that her house is haunted. Of course, all this really gets her is an opportunity to indignantly protest her sanity. At least Creek the good cop is willing to swing by to take a few photos or something.

To be fair, the horror movie mechanics of The Pact are pretty good, including the first (and probably last) genuinely creepy internet search. McCarthy also blends the elements of the supernatural and psycho killer sub-genres fairly effectively. Still, there is an over-reliance on unrealistically dumb flat foots and cheap scares built around sudden loud noises. The clear implication that the outward Christian piety of Annie’s family masked something profoundly hypocritical is also a tiresome cliché. Just once it would be cool to see a horror movie in which the psychopath was a loud mouth atheist jerk.

Again, it must be conceded that Caity Lotz and Agnes Bruckner have the right assets to play the haunted sisters. They truly look like twins and already have considerable scream queen cred with the fanbase. Evidently Starship Troopers’ Casper Van Dien is now taking the parts Michael Biehn passes on, but he is not terrible as the jaded but decent Creek.

You will see better horror movies than The Pact and you will see worse. Fanboys will certainly want to see more of Lotz and Bruckner. Overall it is a serviceable, but only occasionally inspired chiller, probably best seen with a large and slightly buzzed audience at this year’s Sundance. It screens again this Tuesday (1/24) and Thursday (1/26) in Park City and Saturday (1/28) in Salt Lake.

SUNDANCE GRADE: C+

Posted on January 23rd, 2012 at 1:44am.

By Joe Bendel. Sofia, Bulgaria looks like a great city for night life, but not so hot for finding a job. That is why Neli is supposed to marry her rich American fiancée. However, her lingering feelings for her reckless Bulgarian ex threaten to derail the plan in Kristina Nikolova’s Faith Love + Whiskey (trailer here), which screens during the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival in snowy Park City.

Neli’s grandmother might be losing her eyesight, but she still has that twinkle in her eye. She is delighted her granddaughter will be marrying the wealthy and attentive Scott. As far as she is concerned, there is no future for her in Bulgaria. Frankly, Scott might be a bit too nice. Stifled by it all, Neli precipitously returns to Bulgaria and launches into a bender of booze and passion with her former lover, the slightly Rutger Hauer looking Val. It is uncertain just how long they can maintain this flight from responsibility, but those dead soldiers sure do pile up fast on the balcony of their motel room.

Whiskey is a relatively simple story that takes a major New Wave-art-house turn in the third act, but it vividly evokes a sense of the Eastern European after hours vibe. It will make viewers (particularly festive Park City patrons) want to visit Sofia. Indeed, quite a bit of the Bulgarian club music heard throughout the film is surprisingly catchy and distinctive.

It would be perilously easy to lose patience with a character like Neli, but the Macedonian Ana Stojanovska projects a sense of emotional confusion more than mere self-indulgence, which is honestly quite human and relatable. Poor John Keabler does not have much to work with as the terminally nice Scott, but Ljuba Alexieva is quite charming and appealingly grounded as her silver-haired grandmother. As for Valeri Yordanov’s Val, even though he is a bit stiff on-screen, at least he is definitely a credible barroom brawler.

Although it was clearly shot on a shoe-string budget, Whiskey is quite an interesting looking movie. Alexander Stanishev’s grungy, gauzy cinematography seems perfectly suited to Bulgaria. Nikolova also capitalizes on her cinematic locales, while maintaining an intimate focus on her characters.

Whiskey is a cerebral and sensual film, which is actually a rather cool combination. It should definitely resonate deeply with former expats. Recommended for serious festivalers, it screens again this coming Wednesday (1/25) during the 2012 Slamdance Film Festival.

SLAMDANCE GRADE: B+

Posted on January 23rd, 2012 at 1:43am.

By Joe Bendel. Ambassadors are generally addressed as “your Excellency,” which is nice. They can also carry briefcases loaded with diamonds through customs, no questions asked. That is even cooler. It is definitely what mad Mads Brügger had in mind when he set out to buy a diplomatic post. His resulting misadventures are documented in The Ambassador (trailer here), Brügger’s latest gutsy cinematic provocation screening at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

If you have seen Brügger’s Red Chapel (and I really hope you have), you will be familiar with his fearless brand of documentary filmmaking. The plan this time is to buy an ambassadorship representing Liberia in the Central African Republic (CAR) through a “diplomatic broker.” Once credentialed, Brügger will establish a match factory as a cover for his illegal diamond smuggling operation. The shocking thing is that he pretty much goes about doing exactly that, but there are complications.

For the record, these are very definitely blood diamonds he is talking about. There just aren’t any other kind in the CAR. That means the politically connected mine owner Brügger starts negotiating with is a pretty scary character. Indeed, there are real stakes for Brügger in this masquerade, including life and limb.

Frankly, Ambassador would be hilarious if it was a feature narrative, but as a documentary, it is rather staggering. The wholesale government corruption Brügger captures on film is widespread and pervasive. While some blame for the country’s lawlessness and desperate poverty is laid at the feet of their former colonial power, the good old French, there is truly no excuse for such dire conditions to exist in a country so richly blessed with mineral resources. Clearly, something is rotten in the failed state of CAR, and Liberia is hardly any better.

Looking like a character from a Graham Greene novel, Brügger plays his part to the hilt. Unlike Red Chapel, where the director was in a constant on-screen dialogue with the viewers and his co-conspirators in his attempt to punk the North Korean regime, Brügger largely stays in character throughout Ambassador. His neck is also on the line when things get dodgy.

Had a conventional Michael Moore-inspired doc-grinder tackled this subject, they simply would have ambushed the receptionist at Liberia’s UN mission and claimed a great moral victim when the low level employee could not discuss their countries diplomatic personnel in the CAR chapter and verse. Brügger puts them to shame. (This specifically includes the Yes Men.) Until they start challenging the kind of people who can make them disappear, on their home turf, they are not worthy of carrying Brügger’s cigarette holder. Another have-to-see-it-to-believe-it film from the muckraking provocateur, The Ambassador is very highly recommended when it screens at this year’s Sundance in Park City on Tuesday (1/24), Thursday (1/26), and Friday (1/27), as well as next Saturday (1/28) in Salt Lake.

SUNDANCE GRADE: A

Posted on January 22nd, 2012 at 11:12am.

By Joe Bendel. Sixto Rodriguez, a.k.a. Rodriguez, a.k.a. Jesus Rodriguez was considered the Bob Dylan of inner city soul. His voice even had a vaguely similar nasal quality, but was much richer and sonorous. Despite positive reviews for two albums, Rodriguez quietly slipped into obscurity in America. Yet, unbeknownst to him, his music would be embraced by a generation of anti-Apartheid Afrikaners. Two South African music lovers’ dogged investigation into Rodriguez’s fate is documented in Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man, which screens during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival.

Due to his musical tastes and mispronunciations of his name, Cape Town record store owner Stephen Segerman has been nick-named “Sugar Man” since his army days. As any anti-apartheid white South African coming of age in the 1970’s knew, “Sugar Man” was one of Rodriguez’s greatest “hits.”

Though he never sold in America, it seems the visiting daughter of naturalized South African Americans brought a copy of his debut album Cold Fact with her and it just caught on, or so the legend goes. First bootleg copies circulated, but eventually legitimate South African labels started licensing it from future Motown honcho Clarence Avant’s Sussex Records. The money part of the story remains hazy (Bendjelloul lets Avant off rather easy in their on-camera interview), but none of it ever made its way to Rodriguez.

With no biographical information on his record sleeves, Rodriguez became a man of mystery to his hundreds of thousands of South African fans. Wild legends sprang up regarding his spectacular demise. However, the truth is worth staying for.

Sugar is a really well put together documentary. Camilla Skagerstrom’s cinematography vividly conveys the spirit of Rodriguez’s native Detroit and the Cape Town of his number one fan, as do the seamlessly integrated animated passages. Nonetheless, it is Rodriguez’s songs that truly give the film such a distinctive character. Extremely soulful and lushly orchestrated (nobody can fault Sussex for their production quality), they speak for themselves.

While the collector’s label Light in the Attic has reissued Rodriguez’s catalog, he remains far from a household name in America. Still, Bendjelloul’s documentary could possibly deliver scores of new fans. Wisely, he includes extensive selections from Rodriguez’s body of work, which are well served by the film’s excellent sound quality. Despite the singer’s politically charged lyrics, Bendjelloul also shrewdly avoids ideological partisanship. As a result, Sugar is a very accessible and satisfying film. Highly recommended (especially for Soul listeners), it screens in Park City today (1/20), Wednesday (1/25), and Friday (1/27), as well as this Sunday (1/22) in Ogden.

SUNDANCE GRADE: A-

Posted on January 21st, 2012 at 10:05am.