Category: Documentary

By Joe Bendel. If Ed Wood finally had an epiphany telling him to step up his technical game, imagine what he would have produced. That is sort of-kind-of the challenge two amateur filmmakers looking to go pro (or at least semi-pro) set for themselves. The production of their ambitious, new zero-budget science fiction short film is well documented in Myles Kane & Josh Koury’s Journey to Planet X, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Eric Swain and Troy Bernier are genuinely credentialed, buttoned-down scientists. Like many of their colleagues, they have always been attracted to science fiction. For years, Swain was essentially a hobbyist filmmaker, employing cheesy 1990’s technology.  An invitation to appear in one of Swain’s films led to a fast friendship and a close creative collaborative relationship between the two. However, cognizant of the advances in digital technology, Bernier is no longer content with their current level of professionalism. He convinces Swain that it’s time to produce a film that can compete on the film festival circuit.

Swain and Bernier (or Bernier and Swain) proceed to make that film, to the best of their abilities. The plot of Planet X (a.k.a. Planet X: The Frozen Moon, a.k.a. Planeta Desconocido, a.k.a. who knows what) remains rather baffling even after watching the co-directors shoot nearly every scene. However, they do seem to improve on a technical level, upgrading to HD and switching from an old blue screen to the more digital friendly green. They have a legitimate casting call and hire a small but professional crew. Whether they pull it off or not, they are really going for it, which is cool to witness.

Simply the notion of producing a feature length documentary about the behind the scene making of an upstart short film will sound odd to many people. Frankly, it also rather sporting of Tribeca to select Journey, considering both co-directors are co-founders of the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival and Bernier’s efforts courting South Florida’s Geek Film Festival factor prominently in the third act. Good for them, but they are missing out by not scheduling a special screening of Planet X (or whatever it’s called now) as well, because anyone who sees Journey will immediately want to watch Swain and Bernier’s film, on the big screen, in all its raging glory.

Kane and Koury (or Koury and Kane) capture a lot of drama in Journey, but it is the right kind of drama. The audience sees a lot of lunacy going down, but it never feels intrusive or voyeuristic. Ultimately, it is a film about two only slightly mad filmmakers’ friendship and their shared passion for sci-fi and movie-making. An endearing documentary, Journey is enthusiastically recommended for genre fans and those fascinated by the filmmaking process when it screens again this Saturday (4/28) as part of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 24th, 2012 at 12:47pm.

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.

By Joe Bendel. It is time to rock the Casbah, but the music will be Algerian Chaabi rather than British punk. A romantic and elegiac fusion of Arab-Berber and Andalusian musical forms, Chaabi was the popular music of Algiers’ coffeehouses, frowned upon by the classical elites. Of course, the average Algerians loved it, including both Jews and Muslims. Split apart by politics, one of the leading Chaabi orchestras of the 1940’s and ‘50’s reunites in Safinez Bousbia’s El Gusto, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Like an Algerian Duke Ellington, bandleader El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka established Chaabi as a music worthy of concert hall respectability, while never losing touch with his fans on the street. He led the top outfit, featuring both Muslim and Jewish musicians, reflecting the Casbah’s demographics. Unfortunately, following independence in 1962, the Jewish band-members found it advisable to seek refuge in France, as did nearly all Jewish Algerians. Surely the UN is still working overtime to protect their right of return, aren’t they? Yeah, just checking.

Frankly, Bousbia largely steers clear of politics – past, present, and future – which is a rather shrewd strategy. Instead, she concentrates on the Chaabi old-timers, who she plainly fell in love with, ever since she wandered into the antique (junk) store of Monsieur Ferkioui. After a few of his stories about the glory days with El Anka, she was hooked. Over a two year span, she tracked down the surviving members in Algeria and France, eventually producing their reunion concert in Marseilles. Needless to say, it was a hit, leading to subsequent dates, a CD supported by a full tour, and finally El Gusto, the documentary she has been filming the entire time.

It is a perfectly apt comparison, but let us try to get through this review without mentioning a certain Wim Wenders documentary about Cuban music. El Gusto is worthy of its own distinct identity. Frankly, by music doc standards it is unusually well made. In her arresting opening vistas, Bousbia dramatically illustrates the Casbah’s crumbling grandeur, resembling an ancient Rio overlooking the Mediterranean. She then takes us on a picturesque tour of the winding backalleys leading to Ferkioui’s shop. Suddenly it is easy to understand how Pépé le Moko could hope to get lost here.

When the musicians finally assemble, there is plenty of backslapping and some relatively amusing anecdotes. Without question though, the music is the main event. Perhaps not to the tastes of those raised on fast food music, the elegance, lyricism, and insinuating rhythms of El Gusto Orchestra’s Chaabi still ought to appeal to aesthetically mature listeners, even if they are not well versed in the musical traditions of the region.

Although Bousbia is a constant presence throughout the film, she has a knack for staying out of the way. As a result, some lovely sights and sounds are captured in her documentary. Recommended for world music listeners and students of Arab-North African culture, El Gusto screens this coming Monday (4/23), Tuesday (4/24), and Saturday (4/28) as the Tribeca Film Festival continues in venues across the city.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. Photochemical film is having its Buggles moment. It has been killed by digital video, but the death rattle is not quite over yet. While some holdouts still shoot the old school way, digital has steadily become the norm. The aesthetic and economic implications of this sea change in motion picture production are explored in Chris Kenneally’s Side By Side, which screens during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

If you think Martin Scorsese might have something to say about this moment in cinema history, you would be correct. He is one of small army of directors and cinematographers interviewed by co-producer and on-screen host Keanu Reeves. While Scorsese has mixed emotions, George Lucas is all in for digital, while Christopher Nolan stubbornly clings to his photochemical film. To oversimplify the debate, digital is cheaper and more easily manipulated, whereas film has more dynamic character, in much the same way vinyl favorably compares to digital music.

Side By Side gives a brisk and lucid overview of the development of digital technology and its rise from the domain of slacker indies to 3D tent-poles. Most of the interview subjects are exactly the sort of experts one would want to hear from, including David Lynch, Lars von Trier, Danny Boyle (whose Oscar-winning Slumdog Millionaire was a digital watershed), and both Wachowskis, as well as top flight cinematographers such as Vilmos Zsigmond and Vittorio Storaro.

However, it is impossible to ignore the snickering that erupts whenever a filmmaking giant prefaces an answer with: “Well Keanu, I’ll tell you. . .” Poor Reeves. He actually seems like an okay guy when he explains some of the Matrix effects to a young extra on the set of his upcoming 47 Ronin. He just has a certain presence and persona at odds with his on-screen role here.

Kenneally, Reaves, and company demystify a lot of the technical process, without losing sight of cinema as a form of (hopefully) artistic storytelling. As one would expect, every point is generously illustrated with clips from classic films. Some traditionalists might regret a more spirited defense was not mounted on behalf of photochemical film. Still, as it stands, Side By Side is an informative and rather entertaining look at the state of movie-making, considerably superior to the recent National Film Registry documentary, These Amazing Shadows. Recommended for those who enjoy movies about movies, Side By Side screens this coming Tuesday (4/24), Thursday (4/26), Friday (4/27), and Saturday (4/28) as part of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival now running in New York.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on April 20th, 2012 at 4:10pm.