Category: Watch Movies!

LFM Reviews Female Directors @ Cinema on the Edge

By Joe Bendel. If you think it is tough for women to get a fair shake in Hollywood, try breaking into the business in mainland China. Two young and jaded film school grads have been stymied thus far, so they are making their own darned movie now. However, their hybrid mockumentary will reveal more than they anticipated in Yang Mingming’s Female Directors, which screens as part of Cinema on the Edge, a retrospective tribute to the Beijing Independent Film Festival now playing in New York at Anthology Film Archives.

Even though they are the compromised guardians of Mao’s leftist revolution, the Party is rather puritanical when it comes to sex. It therefore takes all of ten seconds to figure out why Female Directors had to be produced outside the system. There is more “slut-shaming” in its caustic forty-three minutes than in of Amy Schumer’s films to-date, repeatedly played ten times in a row. Of course, it is important to remember, when Yang and her cohort Guo Yue make naughty jokes, they are actually running real risks with the powers-that-be, whereas Schumer is hailed as the new Sarah Silverman, until the next one comes along.

Soon after Ah-ming and Yue Yue (their fictionalized personas) commence shooting their DIY chronicle of creative unemployment, they discover they have both been carrying on with the same married sugar daddy. Neither professes to feel much for the wealthy little creep, yet they each clearly resent how the other has allegedly cashed-in on the relationship. Actually, they use terms for this that would be inappropriate for a family site. Will their friendship survive? Will they finish the film? Will they confront the man they dub “Mr. Short?”

From "Female Directors."

Given the running time, we will have these answers in short order, but one thing is certain—they will not be welcomed into the filmmaking establishment anytime soon. At one time, Yue Yue might have had a shot. She joined the Party during her high school years, but was expelled for attending an Ingmar Bergman retrospective, which is depressing in multiple ways.

Even by western standards, Female Directors’ dialogue is unusually explicit, but the film never shows any actual whoopee-making and very little skin. Compared to Ah-ming and Yue Yue, the Sex in the City characters sound like Amish women at a quilting circle. Yang and Guo Yue are incredibly charismatic and acerbic, wielding their cutting dialogue like machetes. They seem so believably messy and frazzled playing off each other, and the entire film feels uncomfortably real.

Regardless, Yang is critical of more than just double standards and glass ceilings. The film is also disrespectful to most forms of authority. As a result, the finished package is sly, tight, and surprisingly refreshing, but absolutely not for kids. Recommended for fans of adult meta-comedy, Female Directors screened again with Listening to Third Grandmother’s Stories this Wednesday (8/12) as part of Cinema on the Edge at Anthology Film Archives.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on August 12th, 2015 at 10:10pm.

The Mean Streets of Waikiki: LFM Reviews Paradise Broken

By Joe Bendel. This is not Steve McGarrett’s Hawaii. Behind the luxury hotels, sex and drugs are openly sold, with nary a cop in sight. Even though they are locals, a junkie-pimp and his prostitute-girlfriend have a hard time making it on Waikiki’s mean streets in James Sereno’s Paradise Broken, which MarVista Entertainment releases this week on VOD platforms, including Vudu.

Ray Geronimo and Misha Domingo vaguely dream of owning their own beachfront bungalow, but their day-to-day concerns solely focus on their next hit of smack. Towards that end, Geronimo reluctantly started pimping Domingo out. It was really her idea. She thinks they can do better if they join forces with the Mainlander known only as “Pimp” (seriously, that is all it says on his business cards), but Geronimo sees him as just another outside exploiter. He would rather poach the gangster’s greenest new street-walker. However, Geronimo’s expansionist plans incite Domingo’s jealousy, leading to a messy split at an inopportune time.

Whether together or apart, Geronimo and Domingo will do junkie things as junkies do, which isn’t very pretty to watch, but it is relentlessly honest. Similarly, Sereno is determined to reinforce the notion of two radically different Hawaiis, immediately following up every glamour shot of the coast line or the night club with an up-close-and-personal look at the underclass squalor of Dante’s life.

From "Paradise Broken."

As Geronimo, Dante Basco (a veteran of the Awesome Asian Bad Guys) is a tightly coiled spring, always ready to explode with rage. Nadine Nicole Heimann is also plenty erratic as Domingo, while Katherine Emily Mills is a disturbing picture of innocence as the girl he tries to recruit. However, the demonically charismatic Khalil Kain steals scene after scene as Geronimo’s more ruthless rival. Some might consider it a dubious honor, but Kain’s nameless antagonist might be the most distinctive movie pimp performance since Morgan Freeman’s Oscar nominated turn in Street Smart.

Although there is a bit of an over-reliance on flashback devices, Sereno’s execution is still pretty smooth and the ensemble performances are faultless. Still, there is no getting around the fact this is one downer narrative. Nevertheless, it is genuinely a film of and by Hawaii, featuring some breakout-worthy work from its principals. Recommended for those who appreciate gritty, street smart dramas, Paradise Broken launches this week on VOD, from MarVista Entertainment.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on August 12th, 2015 at 10:09pm.

LFM Reviews Banjo Romantika @ The 2015 Kingston (NY) Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. They were called “Tramps,” but you could say the post-WWI Czechoslovakian back-to-nature movement was somewhat Bohemian. In some ways, they were early outdoorsmen-environmentalists, but they also had an affinity for Americana culture. They were the closest things to cowboys in Eastern Europe, who formed the original nucleus of the most significant Bluegrass scene outside of the United States. Ethnomusicologist Lee Bidgood & director Shara K. Lange explore the continuing Czech Bluegrass tradition in Banjo Romantika: American Bluegrass Music & the Czech Imagination, which screens during the 2015 Kingston (NY) Film Festival.

Yes, Bluegrass was definitely associated with America—and yes, that was a little awkward during the Communist era. Nevertheless, local musicians and fans managed to hold the nation’s first international Bluegrass festival in 1972. These were hearty, hardy folks who often embraced American music and drove U.S. Army jeeps to express defiance. Not surprisingly, Bluegrass often accompanied the Velvet Revolution protests, particularly the music of Robert Křest’an, whom Lange films recording his latest album.

Thanks to American Armed Forces Radio, pioneers like Marko Čermák heard all the American greats. While they can do their share of fleet Scruggs-inspired picking, they processed the music into something very Czech, yet the affinity for the country hills remains. Frankly, there is an unexpected soulfulness to the music performed in Romantika that sounds wonderfully inviting.

From "Banjo Romantika."

As a documentary, Romantika offers a good balance of performance and cultural context. Lange’s interview subjects clearly establish Bluegrass’s Cold War significance as a symbol of freedom, without belaboring the point. East Tennessee State Prof. Bidgood serves as our guide through the history of Czech/Czechoslovakian Bluegrass, but he does all his talking on the bandstand, leading his combo through a set of the music under discussion. They sound great too.

If you have ever spent time in the Czech Republic, especially in the countryside, Romantika will bring back happy memories and make wish for a return trip, which is not something you would expect from a Bluegrass documentary. This is just a terrific, terrific film. Clocking in just under seventy minutes, it is on the short side but it is well worth every minute spent. Hopefully, it will eventually find a further audience on PBS (or somewhere), because it deserves a chance to be seen widely. Very highly recommended, Banjo Romantika screens this Friday afternoon (8/14) as part of the 2015 Kingston Film Festival in Ulster County.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on August 12th, 2015 at 10:09pm.

LFM Reviews Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism

By Joe Bendel. If you don’t work in publishing, you might not realize how many Harry Potter wannabes have been pitched, published, and forgotten since the series started hitting bestseller lists. It is easy to lump Lady Georgia Byng’s Molly Moon series in with the rest of the field of imitators, but at least they have a cute dog. They also have a nice theme of empowerment for young girls judging from Christopher N. Rowley’s big screen adaptation of her first adventure, Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism, which opens this Friday in select cities.

Molly Moon is an orphan, whose pluck rubs Miss Adderstone, the mean-spirited headmistress, decidedly the wrong way. Fellow orphan Rocky Scarlet is her best friend and probably future boyfriend, but they’re only eleven, so that will have to wait. Adderstone is so strict, Moon can only read quietly to herself when she sneaks off to the village library. It is there she happens across a rare hypnotism instructional book. This antiquarian volume really works, which is why bumbling smalltime crook Simon Nockman is so desperate to find it.

Experimenting with her new powers, Moon first mesmerizes Miss Adderstone’s snarly pug Petula with great success. She soon follows-up by hypnotizing Edna, the dreadful orphanage cook and Miss Adderstone. Life is suddenly livable in the waifs’ home, but when she neglects the high maintenance Scarlet, he up and gets himself adopted. Moon follows him to London, where things get even more complicated, thanks to Nockman.

Moon’s first outing is much more modest in scope than the Potters, but they skew towards a younger audience. Frankly, the closer you are demographically to Mademoiselle Moon, the more you are likely to enjoy her film. Still, grown-ups can at least appreciate her resiliency, as well as her aversion to self-pity and habit of accepting responsibility. Basically, she is a good kid who gets caught up in some unusual situations.

From "Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism."

Young Raffey Cassidy is quite well cast as Moon, displaying an appropriately winning screen presence and plenty of energy. In contrast, Dominic Monaghan (from Lost and Lord of the Rings) would probably prefer to forget the shtick and pratfalls that were required of him as the nebbish Nockman. Emily Watson has probably never been as mousey and milquetoast as she is as Miss Trinkleberry, the only kind-hearted orphanage staff-member, which is certainly saying something. However, Joan Collins’ scenery-chewing appearances as Nockman’s villainous mother are rather amusing in a nostalgic kind of way.

There is nothing objectionable in screenwriter Chris Hurford’s adaptation of Byng’s children’s book and there is a good deal of merit to its spirited protagonist. With its respectable production values and Rowley’s healthy pacing, it makes a decent programming choice for kids (but it will not overwhelm their parents). Recommended accordingly, Molly Moon and the Incredible Book of Hypnotism opens this Friday in theaters and also releases on iTunes.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on August 12th, 2015 at 10:08pm.

LFM Reviews AIR

By Joe Bendel. In the post-apocalyptic future, two technicians will wrestle with some thorny issues of lifeboat ethics. They happen to be in charge of lifeboat maintenance, but they are not as stable as you might hope. Complications will most definitely arise in Christian Cantamessa’s AIR, the first theatrical release from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound shingle, which opens this Friday in New York.

Due to war, pestilence, and plague, the Earth’s surface atmosphere has become toxic. An elite lucky few were sent into suspended animation in deep subterranean bunkers. In each lifeboat-like shelter, two not so lucky technicians are roused every six months to run diagnostics and check the sleepers’ vitals. They only have one hour and fifty nine minutes to get back in their pods before all the oxygen is sucked out of the bunker and back into the tanks.

Unfortunately, both Bauer and Cartwright are showing signs of stress. The former is becoming increasingly aggressive, while the latter is seeing visions of one of the suspended scientists he clearly fancies. However, his mental projection of Abby often manages to give him rather timely advice. He will need it when his personal pod suffers a malfunction.

From "AIR."

The apocalypse is usually more compelling on a personal level than on a big macro plane—and AIR is a good case in point. There is something very effectively old school about the one set (albeit a rather complex one, impressively rendered by Brian Kane’s production team) and its two or three character dynamic, depending one’s point-of-view. Cantamessa has a firm handle on close-quarters action, dexterously slamming airlocks and sending Bauer and Cartwright shimmying through air-ducts. Despite its claustrophobic nature, AIR is still quite cinematic looking.

No stranger to Kirkman or playing twitchy survivors, Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus has instant credibility as Bauer, yet he still manages to keep the audience off balance with his erratic behavior. Djimon Hounsou is also well cast as Cartwright, the strong, silent, hallucinating type. Although nobody could really sink their teeth into a role like the apparitional Abby, Sandrine Holt still has the perfectly cerebral yet sensitive presence to memorably haunt Cartwright and the film.

AIR is another fine example of how inventive filmmakers can make tight, tense, relatively action-oriented science fiction with hardly any visual effects to speak of. Granted, it is small in scope, but frankly that is rather refreshing in such an overly bloated genre. Recommended pretty enthusiastically for fans of Kirkman and post-apocalyptic SF, AIR opens this Friday (8/14) in New York, at the Cinema Village.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on August 12th, 2015 10:08pm.

LFM Reviews To the Fore

By Joe Bendel. Probably no sport has had a rougher decade than pro-cycling. With most of its recent champions disgraced by doping scandals, there should at least be opportunities for young emerging cyclists. Unfortunately, three former teammates cannot all be champions. However, the sport itself should definitely benefit from the treatment it gets from Hong Kong action auteur Dante Lam in To the Fore, which Magnum Films just released in New York.

Chiu Ming has power. Qiu Tian is a plugger who can climb. Together they are perfectly matched “lead-outs” who should be able to guide the Taiwanese Team Radiant’s star Korean sprinter Ji-won to victory. Unfortunately, just when they start gelling as a team, their sponsor leaves their owner-manager high and dry. Suddenly free agents, they each sign on as sprinters for competing teams. Ji-won is already on the verge of advancing to next professional class, but Qiu is physically unsuited to his new role, while Chiu has trouble controlling his emotions. In between some spectacularly cinematic races, Chiu and Qiu will also compete for the affections of Shiyao, a Mainland indoor track racer recovering from a pulmonary embolism.

From "To the Fore."

If you enjoy cycling, Lam brings the goods with authority. Although there is no fighting per se, his action chops still serve the racing sequences remarkably well. Lam makes it easy to follow the team strategy as it unfolds, while cinematographer Pakie Chan captures the in-race events with remarkable clarity. Lam and co-screenwriter Silver Lam Fung also shrewdly vary the competitions, making their way through the streets of Kaohsiung City, the Italian Alps, a mobbed-up betting track in Busan, and the Tengger Desert. Naturally, each course has its particular challenges.

Somehow, Lam and company manage to steer clear of most of the moldiest sports movies clichés. The interpersonal stuff is still fairly workaday stuff, but Wang Luodan elevates the material as the reserved but engaging Shiyao. Eddie Peng does his cocky Taiwanese Tom Cruise thing as Chiu, but it fits the part. Choi Si-won has the least room to stretch as Ji-won, the Iceman to Peng’s Maverick, but he certainly has the appropriately cool look. However, Shawn Dou manages to scrape out a rather impressive character development arc as Qiu.

Regardless, To the Fore is really all about the cycling. Despite the potential repetitiveness, Lam keeps the energy level cranked up and establishes meaningful stakes for each and every race. It is a great looking film that fully capitalizes on its diverse panoramic locales. Recommended for fans of cycling and sports films in general, To the Fore is now playing in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on August 12th, 2015 at 10:07pm.