Movie Reviews – Page 2 – LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

LFM Reviews Hooligan Sparrow @ Sundance 2016

By Joe Bendel. You might not know Ye Haiyan’s name, but if you attended the Ai Weiwei retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum, you might recognize all her worldly possessions. When Ye and her young daughter were summarily evicted as part of the Communist government’s relentless harassment campaign, a picture of their meager belongings dumped by the side of the road went viral. Being one of her social media followers, Teacher Ai recreated the photo in a dramatic installation. However, Ye is not the only target of the CCP’s orchestrated thuggery. Her lawyer and her documentarian were also followed, intimidated, and in one case arrested without charge. Nanfu Wang shows guts worthy of her subject throughout Hooligan Sparrow, which screens during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Ye Haiyan (a.k.a. Sparrow) first came to prominence as advocate for sex worker rights. Always one to walk the walk, Ye went to work in the very brothels she protested, becoming an underground media sensation when she offered free sex for migrant workers. In 2013, Ye, human rights attorney Wang Yu, and a group of equally outraged women protested a Hainan grade school principal who abducted, pimped-out, and a raped six of his appallingly young students. Although he and a local government official were caught dead-to-rights, the state declined to prosecute, claiming insufficient evidence. Ye and her fellow activists launched a public protest against the principal and his protectors, earning the full wrath of the state.

What follows is even more intense and galling than viewers will expect, even if they binge watch Ai Weiwei documentaries every weekend. We watch as Ye is attacked by a gang of home-invading ruffians and then arrested for assault when she defends herself. She and Wang are constantly followed and frequently accosted by mobs on the street. At one point, Ye is held incommunicado for days as Wang Yu vainly struggled to visit her client.

You might think you have heard a lot about the state of human rights in China, or more precisely the lack there of, but the viciousness of the campaign against Ye is lower than you can possibly imagine. Obviously, the political implications of Ye’s story are absolutely radioactive. However, this is a deeply personal film that viscerally captures the fear and moral outrage of its subjects. There are times Ye and Wang are afraid for their lives, with very good reason.

As if that were not enough, Wang also structures the film quite adroitly. Using footage of the original protest, she dramatically brings it all full circle. This is independent filmmaking at its most courageous. By keeping faith with her subjects, she put herself at risk, which is beyond admirable. Frankly, the preening, self-congratulatory “Yes Men” should die of shame if they ever see Hooligan Sparrow. (Wouldn’t you like to see them try their stunts in a country that does not respect the rule of law? That’s never going to happen, because they are cowards.)

Sadly, Ye Haiyan was not able to attend the Sundance premiere, because the government confiscated her passport. Lawyer Wang was also missing from the post-screening Q&A, because she has been in prison since last July. Of all the everyday heroes in Sparrow, she might just be the most idealistic and dedicated, so her current state is deeply disturbing (#freewangyu). Unfortunately, this timely film keeps getting timelier.

This is the film at Sundance that most deserves film-lovers’ support. It is an extraordinary debut from Wang that would be an incredible white-knuckle thriller, if it were not so frighteningly real. Very, very highly recommended, Hooligan Sparrow screens today (1/23) in Salt Lake, this Sunday (1/24), Wednesday (1/27), and Friday (1/29) in Park City, and this Thursday (1/28) in Sundance Mountain Resort.

LFM GRADE: A+

Posted on January 23rd, 2016 at 6:04am.

LFM Reviews Director’s Cut @ Slamdance 2016

From "Director’s Cut." — From “Director’s Cut.”

By Joe Bendel. Even with the rise of digital technology, you still need some expertise to make a credible film. However, with the advent of crowd-funding, any joker with a paypal account can buy a producer’s credit. Herbert Blount is one such donor, but he will take it upon himself to finish a troubled serial killer thriller. He’ll finish it alright. Viewers will see his final absolutely-not-studio-approved edit and hear his commentary in Adam Rifkin’s Director’s Cut, which screened at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

As the opening credits roll, Blount explains why Adam Rifkin’s Knock Off was initially poorly received by audiences and critics—not enough Missi Pyle. Blount clearly has a thing for Pyle that will become increasingly problematic as he starts to chronicle the behind-the-scenes chaos. He will even splice some of it in for our viewing benefit. After all, as the top crowd-funder, he bought the rights to be the making-of videographer.

Harry Hamlin co-stars with Pyle as himself, Harry Hamlin, playing the misogynistic, compulsively vaping police detective Godfrey “God” Winters. Blount is convinced Hamlin is Knock Off’s weak link and he might be right in that limited respect. As the FBI profiler, Pyle must work with the sleazy Hamlin and Hayes McArthur playing himself playing Winters’ partner Reed. In the film, they are directed by the harried Adam Rifkin, while in the film-with-the-film, they are bossed around by their lieutenant, played by Lin Shaye, in an inspired bit of casting.

About ten minutes into the film, Blount gives us a strong indication he is a bit off the rails when he installs spy cameras in Pyle’s room. Of course, his behavior will only get more erratic. Just for the record, Director’s Cut was itself crowd-funded, but it sure doesn’t seem to think much of the practice. Whether it be Blount invading Pyle’s space or Rifkin mailing out t-shirts, the film just doesn’t make fundraising strategy look like it is worth the hassles.

You have to give Hamlin and his wife Lisa Rinna credit for poking fun at their celebrity images. However, nobody is a better sport than Pyle, who soldiers through all sorts of embarrassing situations and allows the film to remind the world she was in A Haunted House 2, with Hayes McArthur. Rifkin shows some nice comedic timing of his own. Yet, Penn Jillette dominates every second with his in-character, relentlessly un-self-aware narration and his larger-than-life, uncharacteristically unsettling presence.

Sure, we have heard Teller talk here and there, but his whacked-out speaking cameo in Director’s Cut will be absolute catnip for Penn & Teller fans. It is consistently amusing, in an awkwardly creepy sort of way, but Tim Kirk’s conceptually similar Director’s Commentary—Terror of Frankenstein creates a richer, more subversive secret history for its ostensive meta-text-film. Anyone who has seen

Penn & Teller Get Killed knows Jillette is the sort to go for broke on the big screen—and Director’s Cut is no exception. It is funny and sometimes acerbically insightful, but Rifkin and Jillette get a bit bogged down during the endgame. Still, whenever this much self-referential humor is offered in such questionable taste, no self-respecting cult film fan should pass it up. Recommended for fans of Penn & Teller and the films of Kirk & Rodney Ascher, Director’s Cut just had its world premiere last night at this year’s Slandance in Park City, Utah.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 23rd, 2016 at 6:03am.

LFM Reviews Dead Hands Dig Deep @ Slamdance 2016

By Joe Bendel. Edwin Borsheim is the embodiment of all Tipper Gore’s worst fears, even her most outlandish. He is notorious to a select few as the front man of the extreme metal band Kettle Cadaver. For one unlikely moment, it looked like he band was building some momentum, but then reality set in. Since their implosion, Borsheim has existed in a highly unstable state of self-imposed exile. Filmmaker Jai Love ventured into Borsheim macabre lair, documenting his profoundly anti-social attitudes and behavior in Dead Hands Dig Deep, which screens during the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival.

This film is not for those who are weak of stomach or easily offended. Borsheim’s fame, such as it is, rests on his graphic stage excesses involving unsimulated self-mutilation. Apparently, Kettle Cadaver sold enough of their two shock videos to be in regular inventory at Tower Records. Be warned, there is a lot of blood in DHDD and it looks real enough. However, Borsheim willingly did it to himself, so there you have it. Frankly, Borsheim makes Insane Clown Posse look like the New Seekers and DHDD makes Last Days Here look like Mariah Carey’s A Christmas Melody.

Not surprisingly, Borsheim had trouble making his relationship with the love of his life work, so he crafted a wooden mannequin to take her place. When not passively aggressively threatening suicide, he manically fantasizes about shooting sprees and mass murder. At one point, he signed on for a planned campaign of hate crimes against Christian charities, but the conversation of an accomplice threw a spanner in the works. By the time someone pulls a copy of Mein Kampf off his shelf late in the film, it hardly registers anymore. The truth is DHDD would be deeply unsettling if it were a horror film. As a documentary, it is terrifying.

Yet, there is a point to DHDD beyond mere gawking. You do not need five minutes of psychiatric training to diagnose Borsheim’s clinical depression. He might have scared the snot out of Love and his Australian crew, but their camera became the closest thing in his world to a psychiatrist’s couch.

Still, the trappings of death and witchcraft surrounding Borsheim speak volumes. We try to avoid cursing here, but there is no other way to say it: this film is fucked up. It is just one WTF after another. Slamdance has programmed some adventurous docs in the past, like Kung Fu Elliot and The Institute, but DHDD is in a league by itself. Love is probably still suffering from shellshock, but he and his crew deserve all kinds of credit for guts and perseverance. Highly recommended for those who appreciate hardcore metal, hardcore documentaries, and hardcore reality, Dead Hands Dig Deep screens again this Wednesday (1/27) in Park City, as part of this year’s Slamdance.

Posted on January 23rd, 2016 at 6:02am.

LFM Reviews The Lure @ Sundance 2016

By Joe Bendel. Silver is a mermaid, not so very different from Disney’s Ariel. She likes to sing songs with her sister Golden and frolic in the sea. She will also be tempted to permanently adopt human form when she falls in love. That will be a big deal, because the mermaids typical eat men, after ensnaring them with their siren songs. Love is wet and painful in Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s The Lure, which screens during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Golden will regret not eating Mietek the bass player when she and Silver had the chance. Instead, they were rather quite taken with his playing, so they start singing with his family’s trio, Figs and Dates. Their sleazy impresario recognizes the novelty value of two naked singing mermaids, so he starts promoting them aggressively. Soon, they are the toast of Warsaw’s retro-1980s “dancings” scene, but there is trouble brewing.

The long stretches out of water are not good for the mermaids, particularly Silver, who has sworn off human flesh in deference to Mietek (but Golden, no so much). Despite her obvious torch-carrying, Mietek remains oblivious to her ardor—perhaps even willfully so. However, this holds some pretty heavy implications for mermaids.

Isn’t it great to have a splashy new water-based musical? It is like Ethel Merman swims and sings again. The Lure is strangely impressive when based solely on movie musical terms, but what really makes the film distinctive is the way Smoczyńska and screenwriter Robert Bolesto update and deepen the mermaid mythos for a generation of urban fantasy readers and dancings scenesters.

Marta Mazurek and Michalina Olszanska sell it perfectly as the relatively innocent Silver and the vampy Golden. Yet, Kinga Preis nearly out-divas Olszanska as the vocalist-mother of Figs and Dates. It all has a suitably eccentric look of indefinable vintage thanks to the work of production designer Joanna Macha and her team.

The Lure is sort of like love itself. It can be dark and sinister, but you miss it when its over. This is a wonderfully weird fairy tale that could be considered the flip side of Károly Ujj Mészáros’s warm and humanistic Liza, the Fox-Fairy. Highly recommended for mature genre and musical fans, The Lure screens again tomorrow (1/24), Tuesday (1/26), Thursday (1/28), and Saturday (1/30) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 23rd, 2016 at 6:01am.

LFM Reviews Sky Ladder: the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang @ Sundance 2016

From "Sky Ladder: the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang." — From “Sky Ladder: the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang.”

By Joe Bendel. As a young boy growing up during the Cultural Revolution, Cai Guo-qiang witnessed the turbulence of the era play out within his own family. His father was Cai Ruiqin, an accomplished calligrapher and painter with a vast library of great Chinese literature. His mother was illiterate and evidently not very happily married. Yet, despite painful memories of the time, Cai designed the fireworks display that opened the Shanghai APEC summit meeting. Kevin Macdonald surveys Cai’s life and career while documenting his most ambitious project yet in Sky Ladder: the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang, which screens during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.

Growing up in Quanzhou, a traditional center of Chinese fireworks production, had a formative effect on Cai’s art. Although he also build fixed installation pieces, he is best known for literally painting the sky. For years, he has tried to realize his “Sky Ladder,” an illuminated Jacob’s Ladder reaching into the cosmos inspired by the Apollo 11 moon landing. However, circumstances beyond his control, like weather and 9/11, stymied his past attempts.

In between those very expensive false starts, Cai accepted some very high profile commissions from the Chinese government. He and his associates readily defend his work for the Beijing Olympics, because his original artistic conception remained relatively intact. However, his former workshop director is openly troubled by his work on the lavish APEC gala, even though his original plans were almost entirely emasculated by the Communist government.

Frankly, it is pretty impressive how much Macdonald pushes him on this issue. The truth is, that reality check needs to be there, since we have already seen Cai moved to tears when explaining his father’s suffering during the Cultural Revolution. As a result, Macdonald leaves viewers with no illusions regarding the current state of artistic and intellectual liberty in China.

Still, Cai need not feel neglected, because Macdonald’s film vividly presents the artist’s often stunning work. This is one of the few documentaries that would have been suitable for IMAX treatment. His characteristically ambitious work (sans government interference) is more than mere fireworks, in some cases involving explosions of colored dust. You really need to see it to understand the full effect.

Everything is complicated in today’s China, but the Cai that emerges through Macdonald’s lens really is an artist who creates art for art’s sake. In all likelihood, there will be little tangible payoff from realizing the Sky Ladder, yet watching Cai pursue it becomes surprisingly exhilarating. Altogether, Sky Ladder: the Art of Cai Guo-Qiang is an unusually complex and intelligent profiles of one of the most important contemporary artists of our time. Very highly recommended, it screens again this morning (1/22), Thursday (1/28), and Friday (1/29) in Park City, and tomorrow (1/23) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on January 21st, 2016 at 6:00am.

LFM Reviews Synchronicity

By Joe Bendel. Klaus Meisner has an unusual business plan. His company supplies delicate designer flowers, the rare radioactive energy source MRD, and possibly time travel. Presumably, the mark-up on the first two is extremely profitable. The latter is under-development. Unfortunately, the socially awkward scientist who devised the wormhole opening technology is getting a little erratic. That sort of happens when your future self comes back in time. Complications arise in Jacob Gentry’s Synchronicity, which opens this Friday in Los Angeles.

Meisner has a stranglehold on the world’s MRD supply, but it is the only thing powerful enough to drive Jim Beale’s Frankenstein-looking apparatus—thus, his overtures to the stone cold venture capitalist. Initially, his command test drive looks like a disaster, but when the smoke clears, Beale discovers the duly transmitted sample dahlia—or something. Don’t get hung up on any technical details. Gentry knows they make no sense so he blasts them by the audience at warp speed. Just accept some serious time traveling is about to happen—unless its actually a wormhole to a parallel dimension.

Just don’t get hung up period. The important thing is Beale figures out Meisner and his femme fatale kept woman Abby have been playing him—unless Meisner has been playing them both. Maybe she seduced him or maybe they just fell for each other. Beale will try to determine which is true and also save his breakthrough technology from Meisner’s grubby clutches by jumping through the wormhole. Of course, he can’t meet himself in the same time period, so his Mutt & Jeff assistants, Chuck and Matt, will contrive ways to keep them apart. That will get increasingly difficult.

The world of Synchronicity is rather pleasantly neo-retro-futuristic, looking like half Bladerunner and half New York Marriott Marquis, which is pretty cool. There are a lot of concrete stairs for Beale and Beale Prime to scamper up and down. This is a wonderfully choreographed time travel film, much like Timecrimes and The Infinite Man, but it lacks a similarly airtight internal system of logic. Rational causality goes out the window pretty early, but Gentry replaces that pedantic hobgoblin with a healthy dose of hardboiled noir. He even throw in a dash of the unreliable narrator down the stretch.

Chad McKnight is solid enough as the theory-smart, life-dumb Beale and Briane Davis generates plenty of sparks as Abby. However, the real genre glee comes from Michael Ironside doing his villainous thing as Meisner and A.J. Bowen’s Chuck, serving as the slightly smart-alecky audience surrogate and increasingly exasperated voice of reason. Good things happen when those two are on the screen.

There are some nicely rendered effects in Synchronicity, but it is the look, vibe, and locations that you will remember. Gentry keeps the chaos churning and the pace at a breakneck gallop. Frankly, the way he throws caution to the wind and keeps going all-in will wear down the objections of any regular genre film patron. Recommended for time travel and noir fans, Synchronicity opens this Friday (1/22) in LA at the Sundance Sunset Cinemas, and also releases on VOD platforms.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 19th, 2016 at 8:36pm.