By Joe Bendel. What is it outdoorsy types say: “take only memories, leave only blood spatter.” Something like that, right? There are definitely plenty of campers and hikers here in Park City, making Sable & Batalion’s musical horror short The Legendof Beaver Dam a perfect selection for the Sundance Film Festival, where it precedes Jason Eisener’s neo-exploitation film Hobo with a Shotgun.
Danny Zigwitz is not a born scout. Annoyed by the sensitive young geek, the troupe leader humiliates him while telling the story of Stumpy Sam, a figure of campfire lore somewhat in the tradition of Candyman. However, when the murderous bogeyman actually shows up, Zigwitz has a chance to shine while belting out a rock opera anthem that sounds as if it were lifted straight from Rent. Or perhaps not.
Bloody, profane, and subversive, Beaver is considerably funnier than the feature film following it. While you might not leave the theater humming Zigwitz’s big show-stopper, Sable & Batalion’s music is frankly better than it has to be. Midnight movie regulars will also be happy to see makeup specialist Hugo Villasenor’s gore is professional grade.
In truth, Beaver’s humor often works better in a short form than as a full feature, where the need for filler often kills the energy level. For those who do not mind piles of dead kids here and there, it is a pretty funny little horror short. Destined to be a cult favorite, it screens with Hobo today (1/28) and Saturday (1/29) during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
By Joe Bendel. There is an old saying: “one man’s terrorist is another’s freedom fighter.” It sure is convenient to quote if you happen to be accused of terrorism. Daniel McGowan certainly falls back on it in If a Tree Falls: a Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Marshall Curry’s public relations salvo on behalf of the convicted eco-terrorist, which screens at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
First radicalized at New York’s Wetlands Preserve, a now defunct music club and clearing house for environmental agitation, by his own admission former Earth Liberation Front cell member McGowan took part in dozens of destructive “actions” targeting lumber companies, forestry research facilities, and the like. However, he claims that a particularly ambitious double operation soured him on the ELF.
McGowan and his co-conspirators believed Superior Lumber was engaging in genetic engineering that violated the tenets of their environmental faith. Actually, they Superior Lumber was not, but the ELF only discovered this fact after burning the company’s offices to the ground. Simultaneously, the arson planned for an agricultural geneticist’s university office burned out of control, taking part of the school’s library with it. Sorry dudes, our bad.
Some of the ELF's handiwork.
If a Tree is really two irreconcilable films grafted together. In the first half, ELF supporters revel in their glory years, unambiguously boasting that they were finally putting palpable fear in the hearts of the world’s polluters and lumber barons. However, once McGowan and his co-defendants were caught, the very same people decried the injustice of applying domestic terrorism laws to the ELF defendants. (For his part, MacGowan has no such scruples throwing around the word himself, proudly sporting a tee-shirt labeling Pres. George W. Bush an “international terrorist.”) Yet, the fear and intimation resulting from their actions were not unexpected by-products, but the conscious and deliberate goals of the ELF operations. To then debate whether McGowan’s actions meet the legal definition of terrorism constitutes mere sophistry.
McGowan and Curry make much of the lack of human casualties directly attributable to ELF actions, but it is hard to think of a lower ethical bar to clear. In a wider sense, though, it is actually not true. Given the businesses damaged and even outright destroyed by McGowan and his fellow eco-terrorists, many innocent people clearly lost their livelihoods. These are working people, whose lives were shattered by McGowan, but Curry steadfastly refuses to delve into such inconvenient details.
To Curry’s credit, he gives the Assistant U.S. Attorney and lead detective who brought down the ELF a fair opportunity to speak for themselves, never casting them as fascist caricatures. However, that is the extent of his fairness doctrine. Aside from those brief segments with law enforcement and the rather unlucky Superior Lumber proprietor, Curry confines his interviews solely to those supportive of the ELF, scrupulously avoiding its critics. He never once challenges McGowan’s radical environmental pronouncements nor does he explore the full repercussions of the ELF’s crimes.
Well beyond one-sided, If a Tree should not be considered a documentary at all, but the work-product of McGowan’s defense team, while the sympathy it elicits for the convicted domestic terrorist is profoundly misplaced. Yes, he destroyed property, but he also intentionally terrorized people and ruined lives. It is highly skippable this morning (1/28) at Sundance.
By Joe Bendel. Are a stolen election and a massive, coordinated assault on human rights enough to forestall reform in the Islamic Republic of Iran – or will they fuel the fires lit by the “Green” coalition? While our current administration was busy being scrupulously “nonprovocative,” hundreds of Iranians from all walks of life were arrested during the protests of 2009, many of whom would never be heard from again. The courage and idealism of those Iranian activists is celebrated in Ali Samadi Ahadi’s partially animated documentary The Green Wave(trailer above), which screens as part of the Premiere section at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
The revolution that nearly was, was not televised in Iran. However, it was recorded on Twitter, blogs, and cell phone cameras. Based on the blog entries of real Iranians, Wave gives a voice to those whom the government silenced, telling their stories with animation stylistically similar to that of Ari Folman’s Waltz with Bashir. Each POV character had previously given up on politics, yet the candidacy of Mir Hossein Mousavi inspired them to reengage with the political process.
Adopting green as their official color, they campaigned with a hopeful fervor reinforced by polls showing a landslide victory for their candidate. Then on Election Day the predictable reports of “irregularities” began, culminating in a government blackout of the media and the inevitable announcement of Ahmadinejad’s dubious re-election. Outraged but empowered, the Green activists took the streets in protest. Wave pulls no punches documenting the brutal suppression that followed.
Yes, in many ways Mousavi is a problematic figure, who had been handpicked by the ruling establishment to serve as Ahmadinejad’s opponent. While his stance towards Israel might not have been appreciably different, he embraced the Green platform of liberalization. He also had the virtue of not having a messiah complex, unlike his chief rival.
Wave is a well constructed film, integrating strikingly dramatic animation well suited to representing the abject brutality of the Iranian government, with eye-witness video shot on handheld devices. As a result, no one watching the film can possibly question whether these abuses really did happen. Further bolstering the case, Ahadi includes some moving testimony from survivors of the government’s orchestrated attacks amongst his talking-head interviews. Perhaps the most chilling animated testimony, though, comes from a militia man who considers himself most likely damned (in the eternal sense) for his actions in the crackdown.
Wave manages to be both an infuriating and inspiring film. Dedicated to the protesters who were tortured and killed, it expresses hope that the spirit of their movement will eventually serve as a catalyst for meaningful reform in Iran. Yet, it is difficult to share that optimism given the atrocities the film documents. Socially significant and aesthetically accomplished, Wave is one of the most important films at Sundance. Highly recommended, it screens again during the festival tonight (1/27), tomorrow (1/28), and Saturday (1/29).
By Joe Bendel. If anyone out there ever thought shows like Gossip Girl and Melrose Place would be better if they were duller and more depressing, there is a film for you at Sundance. Five attractive young women get together for a girl’s night out, but we are told from the get-go only one will survive in Erica Dunton’s To.get.her, which screens during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
Ana Frost has a bad relationship with her soon-to-be step-father. Care to make a wild guess why? She is not the only one of her fab five having problems. For instance, China Rees is emotionally distraught over her recent break-up with her boyfriend. Again, care to speculate what’s going on there? All five supposedly high school aged women have secrets that will be revealed during the course of their “Night of No Consequences.”
Though framed to set the audience up for a thriller, those expecting something in the tradition of And Then There Were None will be disappointed. Thriller or not, To.get.her takes longer to get started than most Michener novels. Yet, its ultimate destination is so grim and unsatisfying (not to mention derivative), one wonders why Dunton and her cast bothered.
Frankly, To.get.her can be a painful movie to watch, particularly during the many scenes shot with the camera pointed directly into the sun. Of course, the adults in the film are uniformly stupid, even including Bryan, the friendly drug-pusher living next door to the Frost family beach house. It also hardly helps that none of the cast really look age appropriate, except perhaps model Jazzy De Lisser, evidently a big enough It Girl in the UK to merit her name above the title in the opening credits.
To be fair, De Lisser is rather good as Ana the ringleader. Audrey Speicher also takes a compelling turn as Abigail Pearce, the conflicted daughter of religiously conservative parents. (Gee, what could she be grappling with?) Unfortunately, their efforts are somewhat wasted on a flat, clichéd story and further undermined by a distractingly gauzy visual style that brings to mind some of the 1970’s horror films seen on MST3K.
To.get.her probably supplies the most unintentional humor of the festival, but at least that’s something. Indeed, the cast certainly tries, but it just doesn’t work. For those still intrigued, it screens again tomorrow (1/27) during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
By Joe Bendel. Criticized for his overly “metaphysical” approach, historian-philosopher Arnold J. Toynbee’s writings fell out of favor with the smart-set in the 1960’s. One mysterious urban propagandist has undertaken an unlikely guerrilla campaign to re-popularize Toynbee’s more outlandish speculations. His cryptic tiles have baffled many and intrigued a hardy band of investigators, who try to crack the riddle of his identity in Jon Foy’s documentary, Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles, which screens during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
If you live in New York, Philadelphia, or a host of other cities in the Northeast and Midwest, you might have stepped on or driven over a Toynbee tile. The basic message reads as follows:
“TOYNBEE IDEA
IN KUBRICK’S 2001
RESURRECT DEAD
ON PLANET JUPITER”
As if that were not weird enough, many tiles also feature sidebar tiles that rant against the government and media in terms sometimes approaching outright anti-Semitism. In other sidebars, the tilist claims sole responsibility for the Toynbees, despite their appearances across the country and in four Latin American countries.
For various reasons, the rag-tag group of Toynbee researchers take him at his word, narrowing in on three marginalized Philadelphians as their prime suspects. While their investigative process is often fascinating, Foy spends far more time than necessary introducing the self-styled Toynbee experts, particularly his central POV figure, underground artist Justin Duerr. Good for them for being intellectually curious, but they are not exactly enthralling on-screen.
At its best, Resurrect explores a fascinating intersection of outsider art and conspiracy theory subcultures. The pursuit takes them to some unlikely places, including the shortwave radio community, which is evidently still alive and broadcasting. Yet, perhaps the weirdest surprise of the film is the extent to which the mystery man reasonably interprets Toynbee. Though the historian did not necessarily say it would happen on Jupiter, he did hypothesize on the future possibility of resurrection through the rejuvenation of dead molecules. (However, the Kubrick connection is something of a stretch.)
The Toynbee tile phenomenon is a great idea for a documentary and it is cool that Foy retains some of the mystery surrounding them. Though it could stand to lose about ten minutes of Duerr’s backstory, Resurrect is still one of the more satisfying documentaries at this year’s Sundance. Definitely recommended, it screens again tomorrow (1/27) and Saturday (1/29) as the festival continues.
Dominic Cooper as Saddam Hussein's son Uday in "The Devil's Double."
By Joe Bendel. Somewhere in the lower depths of Hell, Saddam and Uday Hussein are watching this film as they slowly roast on their spits. Graphically dramatizing the sadistic brutality and drug-fueled hedonism of Saddam Hussein’s ruling family, Lee Tamahori’s The Devil’s Double lands the first unequivocal knock-out punch at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it has one more can’t-miss public screening this Saturday.
Latif Yahia had the profound misfortune to resemble Saddam’s psychotic son Uday. Even more despised than his despot father, Uday recruited Yahia to serve as his double. It’s not like the Iraqi officer is given any choice in the matter. He could either relinquish his identity to serve as Uday’s public doppelganger or his family would be tortured to death in Abu Ghraib. He knows the junior Hussein means it only too well. As his first tutorial on being Uday, Yahia is forced to watch videotape of his shadow self at work as the head of the Iraqi Olympic Committee, raping and tormenting the nation’s athletes. It is a disturbing scene, but Double is just getting started.
Dominic Cooper and Ludivine Sagnier.
Beginning during the Iran-Iraq War and continuing through the first Gulf War, Double forces the audience to witness Uday’s crimes up-close-and-personal. We watch as he abducts underage school girls straight off the street and violently rapes newlywed brides still in their wedding dresses. Truly, there is really no perversion too heinous for him.
Obviously, being a party to such crimes – albeit against his will – takes a profound emotional toll on Yahia. While his assignment progressively eats away at his soul, Yahia embarks on a dangerous affair with Sarrab, Uday’s favorite amongst his women on-call. Yet, even without their assignations, it is clear that life in the House of Saddam is always brutish and short-lived.
The horrors of Saddam's reign.
It is one thing to intellectually concede the crimes of the Husseins, but it is quite another to confront it in such visceral and immediate terms. To its credit, Double waters down nothing. Nor does it indulge in any anti-American cheap shots. This is about Uday (and to a much lesser extent Saddam) Hussein’s crimes and Tamahori and screenwriter Michael Thomas offer them absolutely no mitigating circumstances or justifications. Adding to the film’s newsworthiness, the extent to which it depicts the Iraqi Olympic Committee as an extension of Saddam’s secret police will be a genuine eye-opener for many. (Though no fan of the Husseins, it is important to note that the real life Yahia is also a vocal critic of the CIA and Operation Iraqi Freedom.)
In a truly intense dual role that will probably take years of analysis to recover from, Dominic Cooper gives a career-making performance as Uday and Yahia. In terms of mannerisms (and behavior), his Uday bears a strong resemblance to Pacino in Scarface. Twitchy and erratic, he is an unsettling presence, even when apparently at rest. By contrast, Cooper portrays Yahia as a serious slow burner, outraged and slowly deadened by the atrocities surrounding him. Providing further seasoning, French actress Ludivine Sagnier is at her most sensual ever as Sarrab, far eclipsing her sex appeal in films like Mesrine and Chabrol’s A Girl Cut in Two.
The Uday lifestyle.
No, Double is not a subtle film. Likely making Double even less palatable to critics,Tamahori and cinematographer Sam McCurdy rendered the film in a slick, visually dynamic style reminiscent of the 1990’s glory years of Michael Mann and Tony Scott. Indeed, this is a major production, with art director Charlo Dalili perfectly recreating the ostentation and tackiness of Saddam’s palaces.
Predicting unfavorable reviews for Double from the rest of the Sundance press corps is a pretty short limb to climb out on, as the film’s implications will threaten many worldviews. However, Double constitutes bold filmmaking on several levels. Double also serves as a pointed corrective to the Doug Liman-ACLU-PEN sponsored “performance-installation” on the alleged use of torture by the American government scheduled this Saturday. For those in Park City who really want to understand the horrors of torture, skip the performance art and try to scrounge a ticket for Double this Saturday (1/29) at the Prospector Square Theater as a Premiere selection of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
[UPDATE: Hollywood Reporter says today that The Devil’s Double is close to getting picked up for distribution, with a potential deal in the works with either Relativity Media or Fox Searchlight.]
