Category: Documentary

By Joe Bendel. Sophie Tucker once called up JFK in the Oval Office, was immediately connected, and successful convinced him to veto pending stock dividend taxation legislation. If that does not duly impress you, keep in mind she also sang—for decades, as one of the top speakeasy and night club attractions in the country. Filmmaker William Gazecki and producer-Tucker biographers Susan & Lloyd Ecker chronicle her bawdy, trailblazing career in The Outrageous Sophie Tucker, which opens this Friday in New York.

Tucker’s career spanned six decades and just about every Twentieth Century form of media. She was tough and shrewd, but also loyal and generous. She made her debut in the Ziegfeld Follies at twenty-two, but she was too much of a smashing success, at least from the star diva’s vantage point. Before Mae West, she became a sensation suggestively interpreting double entendre-laden lyrics. She was still a household name well into the 1960s, thanks in part to her old crony, Ed Sullivan, but she has largely slipped into the memory hole of a collective cultural memory that barely reaches back to Madonna.

Fortunately, this is where the Eckers come in, burnishing her legacy and promoting awareness. For their books, website, and work on this film, the Eckers were invaluably assisted by the exhaustive multi-volume scrapbooks Tucker maintained, recording her career almost day-for-day. They also serve as time-capsules, capturing the state of show business from 1907 to 1964.

Tucker had such a strong sense of syncopation and a flair for giving lyrics her own unique twist, she could have easily billed herself as a jazz artist, if she had wanted to be paid less. Yet, what is most striking is how far ahead of the curve she was when it came fan outreach. She probably had a MySpace page ready to go, just waiting for the internet to get created.

Tucker’s music and her tart-tongued Horatio Alger story are wildly entertaining. However, despite some creative use of graphics, Outrageous does not look very cinematic. In fact, many of the talking head segments (featuring 1st class artists like Tony Bennett, Carol Channing, and Michael Feinstein) feel very TV-ish. The Eckers (especially Lloyd) are clearly determined to explain just how much Tucker means to them, whether we are interested or not. Nevertheless, it must be granted, they have become the definitive authorities on all things Tucker.

Even if it is not as aesthetically polished as top-notch music docs, like This is Gary McFarland and Searching for Sugar Man, Outrageous does right by its subject and star. Gazecki and company maintain a high energy level and display a deep understanding of Tucker’s many complicated relationships. Recommended for fans of Tucker and the Great American Songbook, The Outrageous Sophie Tucker opens this Friday (7/24) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on July 24th, 2015 at 12:43pm.

By Joe Bendel. San Francisco sure was fun in the 1940s. There was a thriving jazz scene in the Fillmore District, but for an elegant night out on the town, it was hard to beat the nightclubs of Chinatown. However, the iconic trail-blazing Asian American establishment was not in Chinatown proper. Nevertheless, it created a template for cross-over Asian-flavored supper club entertainment. Patrons and performers pay their respects to the nocturnal institution in Forbidden City, USA, which screens as part of a sidebar tribute to documentarian Arthur Dong at the 2015 Asian American International Film Festival in New York.

Frankly, it is rather baffling that there is not more of a memorabilia or market fascination for all things connected to Charlie Low’s Forbidden City and its competitors. Founded by Low in 1938, the club struggled to find its footing until Noel Toy’s “bubble dance” became a sensation. Many of Low’s early (less risqué) dancers started with more enthusiasm than experience, but several honed their art to a remarkably accomplished level. Of course, they were all incredibly photogenic, which harkens back to the question regarding collector interest.

Dong secured on-camera interviews with a number of veteran performers, including the aforementioned Toy (“the Chinese Sally Rand”), Paul Wing (“the Chinese Astaire”), Toy Yat Mar (“the Chinese Sophie Tucker”), and Larry Ching (“the Chinese Sinatra”). The “Chinese X” handle was something many were uncomfortable with, but as a marketing hook, it seemed to work, so they lived with it.

Indeed, Dong keeps viewers keenly aware of the tenor of the era by duly addressing topics such as the Japanese internment and racial segregation in the South (which was profoundly confusing for the Asian American artists when they were able to secure touring gigs). Yet, the film clips, audio selections, and glamourous still photos are so infectiously entertaining, the overall vibe of the film is nostalgic, but upbeat.

Although Forbidden City, USA was broadcast on PBS in 1989, Dong subsequently returned to the San Francisco nightclub milieu with a book and curated exhibition. It is easy to see why. The music swings, the performers are charismatic, and the vibe is welcoming. It all looks and sounds sharp thanks to the UCLA Film & Television Archive’s recent digital restoration. Highly recommended, the fifty-six minute Forbidden City, USA screens this Saturday (7/25, to be followed by a book signing with Dong) at the Village East, as part of this year’s AAIFF.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on July 22nd, 2015 at 7:38pm.

By Joe Bendel. It is past time the Library of Congress added Plan 9 from Outer Space to the National Film Registry—not due to artistic merit, but because it is culturally significant. Arguably, no film is more responsible for the Midnight Movie phenomenon. Indirectly, the Rifftrax/MST3K guys probably owe their careers to Ed Wood. While they probably remain the gold standard of sarcastic talking back to the screen, Tim Kirk raises the stakes for ironic genre commentary by creating a wild meta-fictional backstory for a very real film. Director Gavin Merrill and his estranged screenwriter will reveal the whole sordid truth behind the production of their ill-fated Mary Shelley adaptation in Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein, which screens tonight during the 2015 Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal.

Merrill’s Swedish-Irish co-production Terror of Frankenstein is an actual film—and its not terrible. For years, it had a bit of cache as the Frankenstein film most faithful to the original Shelley, but according to Merrill’s newly recorded DVD commentary track we will be listening to, it has recently become quite infamous due to a related criminal case. After years of legal wrangling, a prominent cast-member has finally been executed, so Merrill is scrambling to cash-in.

If that sounds somewhat crass, screenwriter David Falks agrees. In case you are looking at its imdb page, Merrill and Falks supposedly used their “Calvin & Yvonne Floyd” pseudonym, dating back to their experimental theater days. In any event, Falks is only participating in order to correct certain misconceptions propagated by the tabloid media.

The way Kirk constructs a strangely disturbing narrative out of their bickering and bitter reminiscences is quite a feat of storytelling. He doles out revelations slowly, sometimes almost casually, but we quickly get a sense that there was a higher body count behind-the-scenes than on the screen.

Frankly, it is almost shocking that Commentary has not generated any angry protests, because in several instances it creates less than flattering alternate histories for prominent cast-members, most notably including Nicholas Clay (Patrick Redfern in Evil Under the Sun) and Per Oscarsson (seen in the Swedish Lisbeth Salander trilogy). However, Leon Vitali (best known as a Kubrick crony and co-star of Barry Lyndon) is quite the good sport playing himself.

Sometimes Commentary is blackly comical, but it is aiming more for uncomfortable insights into human nature than big belly laughs. In some ways, it is an experience not unlike listening to Orson Welles lose his cool while recording that notorious frozen peas radio commercial. Having produced Rodney Ascher’s Room 237 and The Nightmare, Kirk has keen handle on directing faceless voices for the big screen. (In a bit of a role reversal, Ascher takes on the producing and editing duties this time around.) They also get some first class voice acting from Clu Gulager (no stranger to genre fans) and Zack Norman (Danny Devito’s cousin in Romancing the Stone), as Merrill and Falks, respectively.

Believe it or not, Commentary makes you want to watch Terror of Frankenstein again, straight, sans voice-overs. Yet, it will never be the same innocent film once you have seen Kirk’s hyper-meta fabulization. (FYI, its on Fandor.) Wonderfully subversive yet chocked full of cultist genre love, Director’s Commentary: Terror of Frankenstein is very highly recommended when it screens tonight (7/19) as part of this year’s Fantasia.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on July 19th, 2015 at 6:24pm.

By Joe Bendel. It sounds like a jokey internet meme, but twins separated at birth is clearly a more frequent phenomenon than we might have previously assumed. Thanks to the internet, we now know better. That is how Samantha Futerman was introduced to her twin, Anaïs Bordier, currently residing in London. Recognizing the value of her story for other adoptees, Futerman and co-director-cinematographer Ryan Miyamoto documented the twins’ getting-to-know-you process and their eventual search for their Korean birth mother in Twinsters, which opens today in New York.

Futerman’s acting career was going comparatively well, all things considered, but Bordier’s friend actually saw her in a web video rather than 21 & Over or The Big C. Needless to say, he found the resemblance uncanny. Soon, the two suspected twins are skyping and compulsively texting each other. Neither of their adoption records mentions any siblings, yet there are similar inconsistencies in their files that only encourage their suspicions.

It would probably be spoilery to reveal the outcome of the DNA testing, but the fact that it happens midway through the film should give you a clue, as should the film’s very existence. Despite Bordier’s initial reluctance, they will indeed travel back to Korea (which really ought to cinch it for you). It is there the film really kicks in emotionally when they meet the two very giving women who served as their foster mothers before adoption.

It is good that the film has those moments, because it needs more of that sort of lift. Twinsters arrives in theaters roughly nine months after the PBS broadcast of Mona Friis Bertheussen’s Twin Sisters, which is much more engaging, because its subjects are younger and still coming to grips with who they are and how they perceive the world. They are really nice kids, whereas the “Twinsters” are grown adults, whose discovery of each other isn’t so very dramatic. As a result, the later film suffers in comparison.

Still, their encounters in Korea are quite touching. The film finally gives foster mothers some of their just due, which is a good thing. Nevertheless, the first two acts have a lot of texting and not a lot of heft. There is a built in sibling audience for the well intentioned and reasonably pleasant Twinster, but they will find Twin Sisters more rewarding. For adoptees who relate, Twinsters opens today (7/17) in New York, at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B-/C+

Posted on July 17th, 2015 at 6:35pm.

By Joe Bendel. The Israeli Broadway musical To Live Another Summer, To Pass Another Winter had some surprising spring in its step, but pioneering jazz-and-pop musician-composer Gary McFarland’s work-for-hire supervision of the original cast album hardly seems like a fitting final session. Alas, fate and a criminally irresponsible prankster would deem it so. McFarland’s life and music are surveyed in Kristian St. Clair’s This is Gary McFarland, which screens tomorrow in Albany in conjunction with a performance of the Gary McFarland Legacy Ensemble—and also streams online for Fandor subscribers.

McFarland died too soon and he started playing professionally unusually late in life. Somehow, in between, he still had time to record absolutely classic sessions with Bill Evans, Steve Kuhn, and Clark Terry. He broke into the business as a vibraphonist, but soon became more in-demand as an arranger and composer. He is now most in/famous for his trailblazing pre-“fusion” fusion of jazz and pop music, which overshadowed his Third Stream-esque classical style jazz arrangements.

Had he lived longer, the rest of the world might have caught up with McFarland. Frankly, it is rather baffling his funky environmental protest album America the Beautiful has yet to catch on. Sadly, he did not survive to see jazz-pop fusion reach critical mass, due to no fault of his own. Yes, St. Clair makes it clear McFarland struggled with many of the demons that afflicted his fellow musicians, but he had nothing to do with the fatal dose of methadone that killed him. Not afraid to name names, the film calls out Mason Hoffenberg (co-writer of Candy with Terry Southern), a registered methadone user who was at the 55 Bar on the fateful night McFarland and others were mysteriously dosed with the potent drug. Gee, didn’t the counter-culture have the darnedest sense of humor?

For the most part though, St. Clair focuses on the music, incorporating extensive musical samples into the film. Logically, he includes generous selections from the America concept album, but there are also a number of less obvious choices, such as “High Camp,” a McFarland tune recorded by Mingus drummer Dannie Richmond on his only LP as a leader (and a personal favorite around here). For perspective and reminiscences, St. Clair sits us down with a number of McFarland’s legendary friends and colleagues, such as the aforementioned Terry and Kuhn, as well as Bob Brookmeyer, Grady Tate, Phil Woods, Chet Amsterdam, and Airto [Moriera].

Visually, TIGM is rather lively by documentary standards, vividly conveying a flavor of McFarland’s career through periodic montages of record jackets and press clippings. St. Clair has an ear for McFarland’s music, picking selections that best reflect the bright tonal colors of his music. Admirably well done, This is Gary McFarland is highly recommended in its own right for Fandor users. It will should also make for quite an event as part of the Gary McFarland Legacy Ensemble concert-tribute, which should be a terrific show, since it features the piano and arrangements of Bruce Barth. For all our lobbyist readers, the program started this past Tuesday (7/14) at the Madison Theater in Albany.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on July 16th, 2015 at 11:03pm.