Category: Tribeca Film Festival

Internet Freedom in China: LFM Revews High Tech, Low Life @ Tribeca 2012

By Joe Bendel. The internet scares the willies out of the Chinese Communist Party. As a result, they have devoted tremendous resources to censoring underground journalist-bloggers. Yet their biggest challenge is not technological, but the sheer size of China’s discontented population. Huge numbers of average Chinese citizens have turned to the web as a source of unvarnished news and as a means of exposing official corruption. Stephen Maing follows two very different but very independent bloggers in High Tech, Low Life, the best non-music related documentary screening at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Twenty-seven year-old Zhou Shuguang, better known as Zola, will not deny he likes to get attention online. Posting candid photos of himself is part of his shtick. Whether he stirs up positive or negative comments hardly matters to him. It would be easy for some to dismiss the vegetable hawker, until he breaks the story of a middle school girl whose rape and murder, allegedly at the hands of a local official’s son, was covered up by the authorities.

While Zola largely fits the merry prankster revolutionary template, Zhang Shihe, a.k.a. Tiger Temple, is more akin to traditional anti-Communist dissidents. The son of a prominent Party leader purged during the Cultural Revolution, Tiger Temple has witnessed Communist oppression up close and personal throughout his life.

A more reflective blogger, Tiger Temple has documented the destruction of small provincial communities by rampant unchecked pollution, including the illegal dumping of raw human sewage. Not just raking the muck (and foul muck it is), Tiger Temple helps small, overwhelmed village councils draft complaints and package NGO presentations. Frankly, it is a leadership role that makes Tiger Temple a serious threat to the authorities.

While not as extreme as the circumstances facing dissident artist Ai Weiwei, both bloggers find themselves on the business end of Communist harassment as the film progresses. Obviously these are disturbing developments, particularly for Tiger Temple, but it clearly indicates Maing chose his POV-figures wisely.

By documenting the bloggers’ work, Maing has produced an expose of the pervasive graft throughout all levels of Chinese government by osmosis. It is also a profile of courageous truth-tellers (again, especially so in Tiger Temple’s case). If anything, the film might be slightly out of balance, seemingly granting more time to the admittedly attention-seeking Zola than Tiger Temple, who radiates hard-earned wisdom and gravitas.

Whether viewers are China-watchers concerned about the fate of citizen journalists such as Zola and Tiger Temple or Wired readers intrigued by the secret information war raging between dissenting bloggers and the Chinese authorities, HT,LL is a fascinating, alarming, and inspiring film, all at the same time. Clearly the best current events documentary at this year’s Tribeca, it screens again this Wednesday (4/25) and Saturday (4/28) as the festival continues in New York City.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 23rd, 2012 at 2:37pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Headshot

By Joe Bendel. This Thai anti-hero’s career trajectory follows quite a circuitous course – starting as a cop, next becoming a hitman, only to later seek peace as a Buddhist monk. It is safe to say his perspective changes dramatically in Pen-ek Ratanuang’s karma noir Headshot (trailer here), one of the clear highlights of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Keep an eye on Tul’s hair. It will serve as a telling indicator during Headshots many flashbacks. Indeed, Tul will have much reflecting to do. When viewers first meet him, he is preparing for his latest hit. Tul kills his target. He always does. However, he takes a bullet to the head in the process. It turns out to be one of those freak events. Tul survives, but he now sees the world upside down.

As we learn during his reveries, Tul was an honest cop who was framed for crossing a crooked politician. Upon his release, he is recruited by a sketchy doctor with weird eugenic-like theories on the nature of evil to serve as the assassin for his secret cabal. Now that his vision is inverted, Tul wants to retire. Right, good luck with that.

Headshot has all the film noir elements, including two beautiful femme fatales, one hard-boiled killer-for-hire, venal public officials, mysterious grudges, a lot of rain, and a fair helping of Buddhist theology. Pen-ek (sometimes billed as Tom Pannet) has crafted a slick, cerebral thriller, dexterously slipping some curveballs past viewers caught up in the nefarious on-screen business. Even though the constant flashing backwards and forwards can be a bit confusing at times, he steadily cranks up the tension, while maintaining an ominous sense of fatalism. It should also be noted, the majority of the film is seen right-side up, with only a few brief scenes representing Tul’s new POV, so potential viewers should not fear leaving the theater with a monster headache.

Nopachai “Peter” Jayanama is an absolutely dynamite seething anti-hero with serious action cred. His Tul broods like nobody’s business. Celine “Cris” Horwang is also a smart and dynamic screen presence as Erin, the innocent bystander repeatedly pulled into the ex-assassin’s murky morality play. Likewise, Chanokporn “Dream” Sayoungkul is appropriately alluring and vulnerable as the woman initially sent to ensnare Tul.

Headshot is the rare film that should thoroughly entertain gangster genre movie fans and also satisfy art-house crowds. In short, it is the complete package. Very highly recommended, Headshot screens again this Thursday (4/26) as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A+

Posted on April 23rd, 2012 at 2:14pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Sleepless Night

By Joe Bendel. Crooked cops are as French as frog legs and escargot. But in fact, there are varying degrees of police corruption, as viewers can see in Frederic Jardin’s cops vs. cops vs. drug dealers shoot-out Sleepless Night, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Vincent and his even more corrupt partner Manu just relieved some couriers of a huge shipment of cocaine. Unfortunately, he took a stiletto wound in the process. Without time to be properly stitched up, he must quickly bundle his son off to school and then show up at the station to play innocent. Events take a turn for the worse when the kingpin Marciano abducts the lad, demanding the coke as ransom. Into the lion’s den, or in this case Marciano’s club Le Tarmac, Vincent goes. When the even more corrupt internal affairs officer swipes his hidden coke, the desperate father starts improvising. That is when things start getting good.

Poor, morally compromised Vincent bleeds in every corner of the up-scale hipster disco/restaurant/pool hall, but he always gives as good as he gets. The kitchen gets a particularly messy going-over, worrying the staff to no end. And every time Vincent returns to their domain, the film gets an invigorating jolt of energy.

Tightly helmed by Jardin and stylishly lensed by frequent Eastwood cinematographer Tom Stern, Sleepless Night is sort of like an adrenaline-charged, action-driven variation on the brooding Paris By Night, which screened at French Rendezvous earlier in the year. As Vincent, Tomer Sisley (a.k.a. Largo Winch) is not as cool as Roschdy Zem, but he is still one bad cat.

While not exactly legendary, Sleepless also has some respectable villains, including Serge Riaboukine, whose somewhat larger than life Marciano clearly enjoys the trappings of gangster life. French rapper Joey Starr also brings the appropriate ferocity as Feydek, Marciano’s impatient buyer. Also making quite the impression in a small role as a bystander helping Vincent, Dutch-Russian-Korean model Pom Klementieff should definitely have a future looking alluring in films.

Although Sleepless Night wastes some time up top, over-establishing what a disappointing father Vincent is, once it gets going it becomes a thoroughly entertaining roller-coaster. Not quite at the level of Gareth Huw Evans The Raid: Redemption, but a pretty impressive excursion into action filmmaking nonetheless, Sleepless screens tonight (4/22), Thursday (4/26), and Friday (4/27) during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, with a theatrical release slated for May from Tribeca’s film distribution arm.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on April 22nd, 2012 at 9:31pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Eddie – the Sleepwalking Cannibal

By Joe Bendel. The Canadians and Scandinavians are all very polite, right? Maybe so, but there are those who are also pretty twisted. Happily, we will be meeting a two of them in Boris Rodriguez’s wonderfully aptly titled Eddie – the Sleepwalking Cannibal (trailer here), which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Lars Olafssen has an international reputation and a chronic case of painter’s block. Since he can no longer create art, he figures he might as well teach and the Koda Lake Art School is remote enough for him to do so anonymously. (Those Canadian winters are hardly intimidating for a Dane.) Yet, as soon as he arrives, he starts getting pressure to paint, both from the school’s dean and his serpentine agent. Having given up on his artistic career, Olafssen just wants to fit in and impress the skeptical colleague he is attracted to. Toward that ends, he agrees to look after Eddie, the traumatized man-child of the school’s recently deceased patron.

Guess what Eddie the gentle giant does in his sleep? Actually, it usually just involves small woodland creatures. However, getting in his way while sleep-walking can be dangerous, as Olafssen observes. Much to his shock, the sight of blood actually spurs the artist’s long dormant creative juices. Let the carnage facilitation begin.

As great as its title is, Eddie – the Sleepwalking Cannibal does not quite do the film justice. Sure, there is plenty of sleepwalking cannibalism, but this is a surprisingly droll and sophisticated picture. While it mashes up plenty of horror elements, it is the “artistic” mentality that really gets thoroughly skewered.

A nearly lifelong veteran of arthouse cinema, a twelve year-old Thure Lindhardt debuted in Pelle the Conqueror and was somewhat recently commanding the screen as Danish resistance hero Bent Faurschou-Hviid (a.k.a. Flame) in the riveting Flame and Citron. As Olafssen, he is more than just a good sport. He portrays the painter’s mounting creepiness quite credibly and seamlessly. An effective on-screen counterpart, Dylan Smith plays poor Eddie with a keen physicality, suggesting a tragically reluctant monster, roughly in the tradition of Lon Chaney Jr.’s Wolfman.

Eddie – the Sleepwalking Cannibal is a smart, fun film. It will not disappoint the genre enthusiasts who regularly attend Tribeca’s Cinemania (formerly Midnight) screenings, but will also appeal to a wider audience of festival patrons. Really good stuff, the Sleepwalking Cannibal screens again this coming Saturday (4/28) as this year’s Tribeca Film Festival continues at venues throughout Lower Manhattan.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 22nd, 2012 at 9:29pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Graceland

By Joe Bendel. One crooked Filipino congressman is used to handing out the traditional sort of bribes, but when his daughter is kidnapped, he also has to give a little financial consideration to get the cops to do their job. Unfortunately, they are determined to hassle his former driver, whose daughter was also abducted. To save her, he will have to navigate Manila’s seediest back alleys without the help of the openly antagonistic police in Ron Morales’ Graceland, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Though ostensibly a driver, one of Marlon Villar’s primary duties is to clean up after his boss Rep. Chango’s predatory indulgences with underage girls—or at least it was his job. Given the soul-deadening acts Villar witnessed, he is shocked when the congressman summarily fires him. The timing is particularly bad, considering his hospitalized wife desperately needs a transplant. That is also why suspicion immediately falls on him after the kidnapping. In what was to be his final task for his former employer, he picks up his daughter Evie and her best friend Sophia Chango from school, only to be waylaid by armed thugs.

Unfortunately, complications arise during the kidnapping that put Villar in a particularly tight spot. In a way, it is like a dark twist on the botched kidnapping in Kurosawa’s High and Low, but unlike Toshirō Mifune’s upstanding Kingo Gondo, Chango cannot be relied on to do the right thing. In fact, it quickly becomes clear the case directly involves the politician’s bad karma.

Granted, Graceland is not at Kurosawa’s level, but it is an intense dark crime drama that totally pulls off some audacious hide-in-plain-sight twists. However, it is not likely to delight the Filipino tourism bureau, depicting unhygienic slums, where shocking vice is carried on with near impunity, thanks to widespread police corruption.

Of course, for a desperation-in-the-city noir, such a setting works perfectly – as does Arnold Reyes, the terrific lead. As Villar, he broods ferociously, but is no superman. In the complex role, he keeps viewers on the edge of their seats and fully vested in his fate. In memorable support, Menggie Cobarrubias radiates sleaze as the dishonorable congressman, while Dido de La Paz brings a feral cunning to the corrupt Det. Ramos.

Tightly helmed by Morales, Graceland works every step of the way and completely holds together in retrospect. With its visceral sense of place and Reyes’ powerhouse performance, it is one of the best films so far at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Highly recommended, it screens again tonight (4/21) and next Saturday (4/28).

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:57pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews The Russian Winter

By Joe Bendel. This film was made possible by President George W. Bush. You’re welcome, I’m sure. In his final days in office, the second Pres. Bush commuted the sentence of John Forté, a former hip hop producer turned neo-soul-ish vocalist, convicted of drug possession with intent. Once at liberty, Forté is invited to launch his comeback in a country where civil liberties are dramatically eroding. His subsequent career resurgence and tour are documented in Petter Ringbom’s The Russian Winter, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

In what his Russian manager refers to as his “accident,” Forté was intercepted in Newark International Airport carrying thirty-one pounds of liquid cocaine. As Daniel Day-Lewis says in Gangs of New York: “oopsie daisy.” To his credit, Forté resists playing the victim card outright, positioning himself instead as a representative of everyone currently serving unduly long minimum mandatory prison sentences for drug crimes.

So off Forté goes, touring the land of Tolstoy, frequently stopping to record tracks with well known Russian artists. However, his Russian collaborators often sound more interesting than Forté himself. Watch the hit video (also directed by Ringbom) for “Wind Song,” his duet with Ukraine-born SunSay and then decide who you would prefer to watch on-screen for ninety minutes.

Of course, it is Forté we get, so we observe as he rehearses, dresses down road managers, and has periodic panic attacks. Nonetheless, it is important to note Forté is 100% in the right during what might appear to be his big ugly American moment. When a weasel arranger tries to claim co-composer credit for one of Forté’s old songs for which he simply penned a string chart, Forté tells him and his mobster-looking father what-for in no uncertain terms—and rightfully so. I know musicians have heard this countless times before, but it always bears repeating—never let anyone mess with your publishing. Period.

There is a great documentary about a soul vocalist playing at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. It is Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man, about the mysterious Rodriguez, whose life story is far more compelling and voice is considerably more distinctive than Forté’s. In comparison, Russian Winter is just sort of whatever. For Forté fans, it screens this Monday (4/23), Tuesday (4/24), Wednesday (4/25), and Friday (4/27). For anyone looking to see a really good film, Sugar Man also screens Tuesday (4/24) and Friday (4/27) as part of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, now in full swing.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:43pm.