Category: 4. Joe Bendel

By Joe Bendel. At twenty-seven, Taeko Okajima ought to be too young for a midlife crisis, but she carries a lot of baggage from her difficult childhood. However, she might finally start to work through her issues when she lugs her “fifth grade self” along on her vacation to the countryside. Although it was a Japanese box office hit in 1991, Isao Takahata’s animated memory play remained the one Studio Ghibli film that was never theatrically distributed in North America. Fortunately, GKIDS has rectified this frustrating situation with a proper release of Takahata’s straight-up masterpiece Only Yesterday which continues it special two-week, twenty-fifth anniversary release in New York, at the IFC Center.

Okajima’s desire to vacation in the country can be immediately attributed to the frustrations of her childhood. As she boards the train taking her out of Tokyo, she remembers with bitterness being the only member of her fifth grade class who did not have a country getaway lined-up for summer break. Her parents seemed to have two specialties, berating her for her low marks in mathematics and dashing her dreams. However, young Okajima is not the perfect picture of innocence either. In fact, the memories that will be most difficult to work through involve her guilt for mistreating less popular classmates.

In contrast, her time spent with her bother-in-law’s rugged country relations is quite pleasant for Okajima. She genuinely enjoys harvesting the safflowers, a blooming thistle whose pigments are used for cosmetics and dyes. She and Toshio (the second cousin of her sister’s husband) hit it off particularly well. There could even be something more than friendship between them, but it is not clear Okajima’s head is ready for it.

You do not see very many films, live action or animated, that are as emotionally complex as Only Yesterday. While the 1966 flashbacks were based on a successful manga, Takahata developed the original 1980s wrap-arounds, which really take on a life of their own. In fact, seeing the psychological ripple effects years later make the childhood sequences far richer. Consequently, when Takahata delivers the massive payoff, it happens in the eighties.

Of course, Only Yesterday looks absolutely gorgeous. Studio Ghibli’s affinity for safflower fields hardly needs explaining for their fans. The figures are also rendered with unusual sensitivity, particularly 1980s Taeko and Toshio. If you do not quickly take a shine to them, you must be one grumpy old goat. Yet, what really stands out in the film is Takahata’s confident patience to let dialogue fully play out. Early in the film, Toshio and Okajima have a long conversation while he drives her to the farm from the station. It deceptively sounds like small talk, but it really establishes both their characters, as well as the film’s major themes. Frankly, they are just worth listening to.

For the English dub, GKIDS scored a bit of a coup with the casting of Daisy Ridley, currently seen in something called The Force Awakes, as the voice of twenty-seven year old Okajima. However, Japanese pop singer Miki Imai is so perfect in the role, it is still worth opting for the subtitled original version (which the IFC Center is also running for the film’s screenings after 8:00 pm).

Some animation fans consider Only Yesterday a watershed for its mature and realistic portrayal of a woman in adulthood. That may well be so, but it is such a human and humane film, just about everyone ought to be able to relate to it. A wonderful example of studio Ghibli’s artistry, Only Yesterday continues its special, worth-the-wait engagement at the IFC Center, with a national release later scheduled for February 26th.

LFM GRADE: A+

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:07pm.

By Joe Bendel. As part of his 2009 fiscal reform package, Ahmadinejad offered a subsidy of roughly fifteen dollars to all Iranians, but somehow supporters of his political party seemed to be the only one who got it. It doesn’t mean anything to Arineh and Nobahar, since their relatives will be claiming theirs. However, it will make it impossible to withdraw money on the night of the mass deposit. That will be dashed inconvenient when their night on the town takes a surreal turn in Ali Ahmadzadeh’s indescribably weird Atomic Heart, which screens during the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Arineh and Nobahar much prefer western style toilets—and who can blame them. They will wax poetic about them, claiming they were in fact an Iranian invention. However, their riffing often sounds like it holds a doth-protest-too-much sarcasm. Regardless, they probably wouldn’t be in a film that wears its Pink Floyd references on its sleeve, if they were not somewhat progressively inclined. They certainly aren’t getting anything from Ahmadinejad and they understand only too well why their friend Kami is immigrating to Australia. Unfortunately, shortly after picking him up from the side of the road, Arineh has a minor fender-bender.

Typically, these matters are resolved on the streets of Tehran with a quick cash payment. Of course, that is not an option tonight, thanks to the big “welfare” payout, as Arineh mockingly calls it. However, a stranger comes along, who eventually pays off the other driver, after snarkily observing for a while. As strangers go, he is particularly strange—and intense. He has no car of his own, but wherever the two women go, he mysteriously appears. They are in his debt and he is not about to let them forget it, but he will beat the long way around the bush before explaining how he intends to collect. First, he will introduce them to his old friend Saddam Hussein, who is supposedly still alive, living in hiding in his favorite city in the world: Tehran.

Whether demonic, extraterrestrial, psychotic, or some combination of the three, the stranger is one of the smoothest, slickest, creepiest characters you will ever want to meet on film. Mohammad Reza Golzar (former guitarist for the Persian pop band Arian) calls and raises every Tarantino movie ever with his sinisterly charismatic, pop-culture reference-dropping monologues. He is absolutely electric. Atomic Heart will leave most viewers reeling – and he is a major reason why.

On the flip side, Mehrdad Sedighiyan is almost impossibly laid back as the laconic Kami, but quite memorably so. In between, Taraneh Alidoosti and Pegah Ahangarani bicker and banter together in perfect synch. It is obvious they are smart, but frustrated by life, choosing aimless mediocrity, because why not?

The irony in Atomic Heart is massive, perhaps even cosmic. Ahmadzadeh gives us reasons to believe and doubt the stranger really is some kind of being from beyond and the world is on the brink of an apocalypse. Then again, it probably often feels that way in Tehran. One of the oddest, most wonderfully unsettling films to come out of Iran in recent years, Atomic Heart screens this Saturday (1/9) and Sunday (1/10), as part of this year’s PSIFF.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:07pm.

By Joe Bendel. A mystery in Paris sounds romantic, but this one is anything but. Sang-ho could desperately use the help of an Inspector Maigret, but he is very much on his own in the cold, foreign city. He will guide us through the gutters and prostitutes’ working corners in Jeon Soo-il’s A Korean in Paris, which screens during the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival.

Sang-ho originally came to Paris on his honeymoon with Yeon-hwa, but when he stepped away to buy cigarettes, she was abducted, presumably by some sort of sex trafficking racket. Just how the affluent Sang-ho was reduced to sleeping in the street is never explained in blow-by-blow terms, but here he is nonetheless. Sang-ho regularly haunts areas where Asian prostitutes congregate, solely in the hopes someone will recognize a laminated picture of Yeon-hwa.

Apparently, it has “just” been a few year’s since Yeon-hwa’s disappearance, but today’s Sang-ho looks like a completely different person than the man seen in flashbacks with her. The time on the street and his extreme alienation from French society have caused his social skills to deteriorate along with his body. As a result, he is rather confused when Chang, a French Korean prostitute, reaches out with an offer of platonic friendship. Despite his lingering doubts, Sang-ho keeps plugging away, falling deeper into the abyss.

Actually, it is even more depressing than that. A Korean in Paris is no An American in Paris. It makes The Lower Depths look like The Sound of Music. However, it is quite a fine film. There is something quite remarkable about Cho Jae-hyeon’s minimalist performance as Sang-ho. He is almost completely closed-off and soul-dead, yet something about him feels primed to explode. At times, Mi-kwan Lock’s Chang is even more frightfully vulnerable and exposed, but the frustrated humanity she conveys is just devastating. Based on her turn, the French-born, Madagascar-raised Lock should be a rising international star to contend with.

Jeon and cinematographer Kim Sung-tai capture some fantastic images, proving that the back alleys of Paris are nearly as cinematic as its landmarks. The film can be painfully deliberate and revealing, but the work of Cho and Lock is absolutely riveting. While not exactly optimistic by any stretch, Jeon incorporates enough Good Samaritan characters to leave the audience some remaining shreds of faith in human nature. Recommended for those who appreciate a bit of mystery and a truckload of uncompromising naturalism, A Korean in Paris screens this Saturday (1/9) and Sunday (1/10), as part of this year’s PSIFF.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:06pm.

By Joe Bendel. Apparently, Sarah Fording is majoring in bad karma. For her thesis project, she has the bright idea to invite her friends for a weekend at her prof’s cabin, where she will film them experiencing the scares she has pre-planned. Right, because what could go wrong? Of course, she has some unexpected help in James Simpson’s Definition of Fear, which screens during the 2016 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.

With her closed circuit cameras in place, Fording arrives with her pals Victoria Burns, Frankie Toms, and Rachel Moore. Mostly Fording has prepared recorded bumps in the night and the like. However, Burns goes off script when she insists she saw a menacing psycho-stalker in the woods. Oh, that’s just Oddle, the handyman Fording assures everyone. Nonetheless, the weirdness starts to pile up, so the women logically seek answers from a Ouija Board. Soon they are in touch with the spirit of “Mary,” who freaks them out even worse.

Definition has the distinction of being the American movie premiere of Sri Lankan Bollywood star Jacqueline Fernandez, so probably millions more viewers will take it in than your average indie horror film. Somewhat fortunately, the film is actually rather good for what it is. Simpson cranks up the dread steadily and surely and the initial Ouija sessions are impressively tense. Yet, as is par for the spooky movie course, the women ultimately turn into gimpy quarterbacks who stay in the pocket way to long. When Mary tells them to “GO” they should be out the door, no more questions asked.

Despite a few such shortcomings endemic to the genre, the attractive cast handles the supernatural business rather well. It is her showcase and Fernandez does indeed make quite an impression during Fording’s sultry scenes of possession (regular genre viewers will definitely want to see more of her). As the “sensitive” Burns, Katherine Barrell seems genuinely terrified. Blythe Hubbard’s Moore is refreshingly down-to-earth and relatively proactive, while Mercedes Papalia shows pleasantly surprising range as Toms.

The fab four all hold up their end, but none of their characters seem like logical candidates to be the “final girl,” if you know the rules—not that anyone will object. Still, they mostly keep it clean, despite a game of Truth or Dare. It is a far cry from this year’s It Follows, but if you dig old dark house movies, it is certainly entertaining. Recommended for horror and Bollywood fans, Definition of Fear screens Saturday (1/9) at the Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:05pm.

By Joe Bendel. Successful horror films are like franchise restaurants—location is key. Technically, a number of creaky old courthouses and a Civil War bunker were edited together to serve as the unfinished and uninhabited faux Gilded Age apartment complex, but it still feels like a very real and creepy place. That setting generates a whole lot of dread in Eytan Rockaway’s The Abandoned (known as The Confines at this year’s Los Angeles Film Festival), which opens tomorrow in select markets.

Julia Streak is a single mother with a fistful of scripts from various psychiatrists. She needs to make her new night guard gig work if she wants to continue to see her daughter. That should not be a problem, considering her partner Cooper has been there for years. He has a toxically bad attitude and also happens to require a wheelchair. Their building should have been the poshest address in the city, but the developers ran out of money. Now only a skeleton security crew works there to keep out the tramps and squatters. Streak will do the patrolling, while Cooper watches on the many closed circuit cameras. At least, that’s the idea.

Streak happened to pass one such vagrant on the way to her first day of work. Despite his aggressive behavior, she lets him in when he asks for shelter from the storm. In retrospect this will be a mistake. However, his hostile behavior pales in comparison to the dark forces that start toying with her. It seems she always had a sensitivity to spooky stuff and there is a heck of a lot of it in the sub-basement.

Production designer Akin McKenzie and the location scouts deserve a good deal of credit for Abandoned’s scariness. The vibe and atmosphere are spot on throughout. As Streak and Cooper, Louisa Krause (from Ava’s Possessions) and Jason Patric bicker and sulk quite well together. Frankly, Rockaway keeps the tension cranked up well into the late innings, rather exceeding genre norms. Unfortunately, he tacks on a wholly unnecessary big twist ending that we’ve seen before and don’t really need here. The film is effectively hair-raising without it.

To his credit, Rockaway does not overplay the surveillance motif. In fact, his execution is rather strong overall. Cinematographer Zack Galler further heightens the moody mysteriousness of a very technically accomplished horror package. If nothing else, it should convince viewers not to let strange homeless men into cavernous deserted buildings they are responsible for keeping secure. Recommended for genre fans, The Abandoned releases today (1/8) in theaters and on VOD.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:04pm.

By Joe Bendel. Japan’s Aokigahara Forest has long been one of the world’s top suicide sites. Some estimate it ranks just below the Golden Gate and Nanjing Yangtze River Bridges as a final ending place. It is hard to say for sure, because many lost souls enter with the intention of never being found. Unfortunately, it seems Sara Price’s twin sister Jess was one of them. It has been five days since she walked in the woods. Generally, that is more than sufficient time to conclude the worst, but Price feels she is still alive through their twinster connection. She will duly go into the notorious woods after her in Jason Zada’s The Forest, which opens today nationwide.

For years, the Price sisters only had each other, but Sara has since married Rob. He is usually a stable lump of husband material, but he often loses patience with Jess’s drama. However, Price understands her sister has always had a greater affinity for the dark side and therefore makes greater allowances. After freaking out everyone at the school where Jess taught English (or teaches, if we share her optimism), Price retraces her sister’s steps to Aokigahara, the destination of their recent field trip that now looks rather ill-conceived.

Finding Jess will be difficult, even assuming she wants to be found. It’s like a forest in there. Yet, Price seems to have good fortune when an aspiring American journalist and an off-the-books guide agree to accompany her into the woods. At least Meryl Streep isn’t in there, so how bad can it get?

Real bad, of course. Michi is a decent fellow, but the local knows enough to be scared of the forest. There is no way he will spend the night out there. Aiden on the other hand, is more than game. Inevitably, Price starts to suspect the hipster expat had a hand in Jess’s disappearance. By this time, her mind has obviously been clouded by the forest’s malevolent power, but that does not mean she is wrong about Aiden.

The Forest is not dazzlingly original by any stretch, but it is cool to see Zada incorporate a lot of J-Horror influences without getting slavish in his homages. Zada taps into the Aokigahara folklore rather effectively, even if the film was shot in the Balkans rather than Japan, judging from all the Serbian names in the credits. He also profitably invests a good measure of time exploring the Price Twins’ respective psychological hang-ups.

Nobody will be working to remind Academy voters about Natalie Dormer’s performance this time next year, but she is not bad at all playing the twins. Frankly, the extent to which she glams down might be what is most impressive. Most of the time, it looks like she is uncomfortably damp and her feet are hurting her. Conversely, Taylor Kinney’s Aiden never comes across as particularly trustworthy or outdoorsy, so it is hard to understand why Price ever thought he would be good to have around. Most of the Japanese cast serve in helper roles, including Yukiyoshi Ozawa’s Michi, but Rina Takasaki nicely covers both ends of the horror movie spectrum as the mysterious lost schoolgirl, Hoshiko.

It seems foolish to belabor The Forest’s shortcomings in a week when the nasty gristle of Uwe Boll-produced zombie ugliness called Anger of the Dead also opens. Although it basically ranks alongside middling Blumhouse productions, a good deal of style went into The Forest, including Bear McCreary’s evocative score. Even casual genre fans will have seen far worse. Not classic, but presentably distracting, The Forest opens in theaters today (1/8), including the AMC Empire in New York.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on January 8th, 2016 at 7:04pm.