Author: Travis Keune

Hopeless film enthusiast; reborn comic book geek; artist; collector; cookie connoisseur; curious to no end

SLIFF 2009 Review: THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN

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If there’s one movie I’ve seen this year that has started with a great premise but has suffered from a failed execution, it would have to be THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN. Written by Thomas L. Carmody and directed by Kevin Willmott (CSA: The Confederate States of America), this fictional pseudo-western tells the tale of a teen-aged Native American boy with the given white man name of Charlie (played by Winter Fox Frank).

Taking place in Kansas during the early 1900’s, the movie follows Charlie’s story, one of many Native American youths that were forcibly removed from their homes and placed into re-education schools that feel more like prison camps. Students are scolded, or even beaten into submission, and punished for speaking their native tongues. These scenes of the school master and the teacher forcing their ways onto these young Native Americans with the idea they are benefiting them are difficult to watch, but illustrate an unfortunate and unspoken chapter in our country’s history.

Seen by the white men as worthless savages, the school attempts to teach the Native American youths their “civilized” ways, how to dress, how to speak, how to live their lives and worship their God. Charlie wants none of this. He resists where his peers have all but given in and submitted to what they feel is a losing battle. In retaliation, Charlie escapes the school, only to be tracked down and captured by Sam Franklin (Wes Studi), a Native American man who has bought fully into the idea of being like the white man.

Sam is a self-made private investigator with hopes of becoming Pinkerton Agency’s first Native American detective. He holds Charlie and proceeds to deliver him for a bounty, lecturing Charlie the whole time about how his insistence on maintaining his indian ways is an outdated and hopeless battle. Sam is proud of his perceived status and acquired material goods, which includes a motor bike and outfit purchased from Lord & Taylors in Kansas City.

During Sam and Charlie’s journey, they end up teaching each other valuable lessons. This relationship between Sam and Charlie is the best part of THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN, developing naturally and with a tangible sense of honesty. After a deadly encounter with three white bounty hunters, Sam and Charlie find themselves being hunted by Sheriff Henry McCoy, a legend amidst white folk for his alleged heroism in battles against the Native Americans.

McCoy (J. Kenneth Campbell) is a tough-as-nails, cold-hearted man with a deeply-ingrained hatred for the Native American man. He repeatedly points out that his entire life has been devoted to killing the indians, but finds himself even more disgusted by the re-education schools, sending McCoy into a crazed and delusional internal struggle over his actions in life. Campbell’s performance is forced and unrefined, but the essence of his character is delivered well enough for the message to be received loud and clear.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN ultimately becomes as much a tale of redemption for Sam as it is a powerful story of historical events neglected by our history books, told through Charlie’s experience. Winter Fox Frank gives a promising debut performance as Charlie. While this film carries a powerful message and a great story, the overall pace of the film is slow and tedious. The impact of the story is lessened by the various flaws from certain performances and inadequacies in production, but if the audience can stay awake for the 114-minute running time they’ll find THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN to be a movie worth the effort, despite it’s flaws.

THE ONLY GOOD INDIAN will screen at the Tivoli on Friday, November 20th at 7:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: THE HEADLESS WOMAN

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Review originally posted on June 15th, 2009 during the CineVegas Film Festival.

I suppose every human being has had something in their lives to instill guilt, ranging greatly over a vast spectrum of severity. Such severity often determines the depth and duration of one’s guilt. Having stolen a piece of candy as a child would naturally be short-lived while causing another person permanent damage would likely weigh much heavier on that person’s conscience. Having been the cause of something to die is clearly amongst the worst guilt a person could endure. Imagine for a moment that you have taken a life, but to what or whom that life belonged you are not certain.

This is the experience the audience is engaged in with ‘The Headless Woman’ (La mujer sin cabeza). This Argentinian film was written and directed by Lucrecia Martel and stars Maria Onetta as Veronica, a middle-aged woman affectionately known to her family and friends as Vero. Driving home by herself, she hits something in the road. Vero believes she heard a dog yelp, but finds herself terribly frightened of what she might find if she were to return to the scene. Vero, clearly disturbed by what has happened, chooses to continue home rather than reveal the truth to herself.

The opening scenes of ‘The Headless Woman’ introduces the audience to Vero’s questionable psychological state of mind, but takes some time to reveal the underlying cause of her distress. We witness the accident very early on, but at first it seems to be the result of some deeper root cause for her mental state. At first, I found myself wondering if Vero was suffering some early onset stage of Alzheimer’s, but this misdirection eventually passed. Vero’s actions and her frequency to appear oblivious to the world and events around her present an interesting element of mystery to her character.

Vero is a member of a good-sized family of class who care for her, but mostly dismiss her concern and continually reinforce the insignificance of what occurred and attempt to prove it was merely a dog. For Vero, the experience is not that simple to cut herself loose of and finds she is alone in carrying this burden. She finds herself surrounded by children, constantly reminded of the possibility of what she might have done. Once Vero does finally break down and cry for the first time, she does so with a complete stranger.

One of the most intriguing aspects of ‘The Headless Woman’ is Martel’s use of space. The framing and staging of the film emphasizes Vero’s sense of uneasy solitude, forced to deal with the unknown reality of her own actions despite having people around her at all times. During her interactions with others, Vero rarely faces the others and stands removed from the action, but always remains in the foreground. This, combined with a masterful use of racked focus and Vero’s lack of eye contact with others, creates an effect of separating Vero from the rest of the world and allows us a front row seat to her inner conflict of emotions.

The concept of ‘The Headless Woman’ is great, taking something as philosophically complex as guilt and translating it visually on screen, but suffers from an otherwise tedious lack of substance outside of Vero’s mind. The film tends to get bogged down in it’s own pace and can become a bit draining at times. However, this is not entirely a fault to the overall effect the film is intended to have on the viewer. A turn of events is revealed in the final third of the film that presents the opportunity for interpretation of Vero’s feeling of guilt.

In the end, Vero dyes her hair from blonde to black, as if to reinvent herself in an attempt to start over and perhaps even redeem herself for what may have happened. Throughout the film, Vero shuffles between wearing two masks. One false mask of relative peace is for her family and friends while the other mask of sadness is her true face.’The Headless Woman’ is a study of the human psyche, a glimpse inside the rugged terrain of guilt and uncertainty that requires more than casual viewing, but isn’t mired in complicated plot devices.

THE HEADLESS WOMAN will screen at the Hi-Pointe on Sunday, November 22nd at 1:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: THE ECLIPSE

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Ghosts stories are becoming a popular focal point for filmmakers again, experiencing what may turn out to be the early stages of a resurgence such as we’ve seen with vampire stories. The interesting thing about ghost stories however, is that there really are no set in stone rules by which to follow in regards to the lore. Simply put, ghost stories have virtually no boundaries and THE ECLIPSE certainly proves this point.

The story takes place in Ireland and follows a driver named Michael Farr (Ciarán Hinds) as he assists at a literary convention. Michael still mourns the unfortunate death of his wife while raising two children by himself. During the convention, Michael meets a visiting British novelist of ghost stories named Lena Morelle, played by Iben Hjejle (HIGH FIDELITY). The two quickly develop an intimate friendship as Michael also struggles with the feeling that he is being haunted by his not yet dead father-in-law’s ghost.

While Michael and Lena grow closer, Lena finds herself the subject of another man’s obsession. Aidan Quinn plays a best-selling novelist named Nicholas Holden, whom as a result of a previous one night stand with Lena, now seeks to seal the deal. Surprised by this, Lena attempts to make clear to Nicholas that she had no interest in pursuing a relationship with him and Michael inevitably is drawn into the drama.

THE ECLIPSE was written and directed by playwright Conor McPherson (THE WEIR, THE SEAFARER). While as a playwright McPherson is highly acclaimed, I fear his attempt at crossing over into film is less than successful, but does show potential with practice. McPherson clearly has a handle on dialogue and directing actors, an obvious talent carried over from theatre, but his vision as it relates to the image on screen, how to construct the frame and how the big picture should come together needs improvement.

I’ll be frank with potential audiences now. I really did not enjoy this film. Personally, I found the pace unnecessarily slow, the story was dull and I never truly connected with or felt empathy for any of the characters. There were far too many empty scenes, filled with silence that are meant to be creepy. Instead, these scenes fall flat and pull the viewer out of the moment. The haunting elements of this story are few and far between. The relevance of the ghost of Michael’s father-in-law is, so far as I can tell, a plot device to bring him closer to Lena, but ultimately just gets in the way.

The film feels, for the majority of it’s running time, about as exciting as the average Merchant Ivory film, but in the handful of scenes when ghost haunts Michael there is a disruptive shift in tone utilizing typical genre scare tactics, with the “ghost” bursting out of the darkness or through the floor boards grabbing at Michael’s ankles. Likewise, the make-up effects used are better suited for a zombie flick than for a ghost, especially in a film where the more traditional concept of A CHRISTMAS CAROL ghost visuals would be more appropriate.

The performances stand out as the most successful aspect of McPherson’s film. Ciarán Hinds (THERE WILL BE BLOOD) deservedly won the Best Actor prize during the film’s premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and Aidan Quinn was well cast in the role of an arrogant, obsessed writer fixated on a woman with no interest and uncontrollably driven to drinking and hostility.

In all fairness, THE ECLIPSE was not all bad. It will have it’s audience, but that audience will likely be small. Fans of paranormal or supernatural stories should view cautiously, because this is not that kind of story. THE ECLIPSE borrows and implements some basic ghost story tactics but uses them sparingly. These tactics are used to tell a story of burgeoning friendship with the potential for romance that arises from a melancholy shared by Michael and Lena.

THE ECLIPSE will screen at the Tivoli on Sunday, November 15th at 9:15pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: TOUCHING HOME

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Whether you’re a baseball fan or not, TOUCHING HOME is a wonderful story and a great little film that’s appeared from somewhere out in left field. The film is inspired by true events, written, produced and directed by and starring the real life twin brothers Logan and Noah Miller. This pair of first-time indie filmmakers have really hit a home run with this movie that among other things, features a pretty impressive cast.

The story is about a pair of twin brothers who grew up together in a household run by their alcoholic father. Through the years, they’ve supported each other while taking care of their father who, if not working, was drinking. The brothers love baseball and play with a passion and seriousness that leads them to playing with the Colorado Rockies minor league system. When poor college grades and being cut from the roster ends their dreams of making it to the big leagues, the brothers reluctantly return home.

This doesn’t spell the end of their hopes to one day make it to the majors, a they agree to regroup back home and practice hard while working and saving their money to head back out to Arizona the following season for tryouts. The brothers begin work right away at the rock quarry that their father still works himself to the bone. When the twins’ father Charlie (Ed Harris) attempts to reconnect to his boys, a split is formed. Beginning as a simple disagreement over whether to associate themselves with the man that stole their childhood, replacing it with a responsibility to care for their drunken father, this rift quickly intensifies, threatening to destroy their dreams for good.

TOUCHING HOME is clearly a story told from the Miller brothers’ hearts. The film is saturated with a powerful honesty and openness that is a testament to the reality of what is unfolding on screen. Noah and Logan delivered commendable performances, given their first outing, but the sense that they were simply reenacting events that had taken place in their own lives adds to that understanding. Some of the scenes of conflict between to two brothers did feel a bit forced, especially the extremely emotional and angry moments, but once again the understanding of how personal a story this is allows for some leniency.

Perhaps the best element of TOUCHING HOME aside from the script would have to be the supporting cast. Robert Forster (JACKIE BROWN) has a small role as the town sheriff, but his character plays a crucial role as the glue that eventually helps to bring the end of the story together. Brad Dourif (Rob Zombie’s HALLOWEEN) plays Charlie’s handicapped cousin Clyde. Dourif is truly an under-appreciated maestro of character acting and delivers yet another unique and memorable performance as the child-like and lovable man who enjoys painting in the barn and whom Charlie has great affection for.

Ed Harris, as if I even had to tell anyone this, is incredible, as always. For some reason, he has a real knack for portraying alcoholic characters with severely complex internal turmoil. Previously dawning the whiskey bottle role as the artist in POLLOCK and later as a writer in WINTER PASSING, I can only hope this isn’t art impersonating Harris’ real life. In TOUCHING HOME, Harris gives a convincing performance as a man who simply cannot put down the bottle and works himself to death just so he can blow every penny on an equally destructive gambling addiction. The guilt and sense of helplessness that Charlie clearly feels about his own condition is made almost tangible by Harris’ subtle perfection of his craft.

Shot in California, where the story takes place, the setting feels very much like the rural Midwest, except for the redwood trees, where baseball is a dream for many young men. The vistas and landscapes filmed in TOUCHING HOME are beautifully picturesque portraits that add to the film, driven primarily by the writing and acting. There is a sense of comfort and warmth created by the cinematography that directly counters the emotions that embody the brothers’ return home and struggle to reconcile their relationship with Charlie.

Overall, baseball plays a relatively small role in this film, but still has a strong enough presence to please the average sports fan. The twin brothers are an inseparable team, pitcher and catcher, who support and encourage each other but find they need the town to help them back on track after family tragedy strikes unexpectedly. TOUCHING HOME has a genuine Hallmark sensibility of human drama and hope, without the sappy writing and unrealistic acting. Hands down, this is a film that anyone can appreciate.

TOUCHING HOME will screen at the Tivoli on Monday, November 16th at 7:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: MADE IN CHINA

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Judith Krant makes her directorial debut with MADE IN CHINA, a satirical mockumentary mumblecore mutt of a movie that is as original and creatively risque as it is funny and intelligent. Jackson Kuehn (SINGULARITY) stars as Johnson, an eager and ambitious young entrepreneur who has decided to go all out and focus on making his novelty invention a reality. He sets off for Shanghai, China at his mother’s behest and begins his journey to find the elusive James Choi, the man who Johnson believes will manufacture anything.

MADE IN CHINA is a wacky criticism of contemporary trends. Part mockumentary, part Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock documentary, with all the appeal of THE OFFICE. Johnson is confident and sure that his product will be a huge hit. His scenes, often aggressive and awkward, hint at an influence from Sasha Baron Cohen without the controversial crudeness. The film switches from segments depicting Johnson on his pursuit for the American Dream in China to segments featuring crudely animated presentations narrated by Johnson, set to stock inspirational music.

The audience will find itself bouncing frantically between moments of hilarity and absurdity to moments whereas we almost forget this is entirely fictional. Johnson daydreams and hallucinates about his product making it big and having its own infomercials. Before his product is even officially contracted, before he has even met with the man who would make it all happen, Johnson is already being sucked into the corrosive and dangerous allure of fame and fortune.

Johnson is a man lost in his dream, oblivious to the world around him and susceptible to con men and industry swindlers. The audience feels Johnson’s nervousness as well as his hope for success. The audience also finds themselves watching squeamishly through the looking glass as Johnson makes mistakes that seem blatantly obvious. Its a strange sensation to pull for the good-natured Johnson and wish him success while also realizing he’s a clueless putz that practically wears a sign reading “screw me over, please”.

Jackson Keuhn delivers a strikingly comical breakout performance that is well-matched with Krant’s vision and imaginative style. MADE IN CHINA is a wholly new breed of comedy that draws from various existing influences. This will surely be a crowd-pleaser and has the potential to become a cult favorite. MADE IN CHINA tells a story with heart, albeit manufactured and often silly, and is equally entertaining and informational. That’s right… you’ll actually learn something about the novelty industry as well!

MADE IN CHINA will screen at the Tivoli on Saturdayday, November 14th at 5:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: CLOUD 9

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Let me paint you a picture. You come home from work one day, tired, but happy to be alive. You spend a quiet evening with your spouse and children. You’ve worked hard for the life you have, but it’s all been worth it. Then the phone rings. It’s your 67-year old mother and she’s calling to tell you she’s been having an affair with a 76-year old man and is leaving your father. Shocked? I would be.

CLOUD 9 (Wolke Neun) is the story of Inge (Ursula Werner). She is a 67-year old woman, mother and wife of 30 years to Werner (Horst Rehberg). Quite unexpectedly, Inge finds herself fallen in love with an older man. She carries on an intimate affair with 76-year old Karl (Horst Westphal). Inge and Karl both are extremely passionate and rambunctious lovers, finding pure joy and bliss when with one another.

After a few weeks, Inge begins to feel guilty not only for having the affair, but more significantly for having kept this a secret from Werner. After confiding this secret to her daughter Petra (Steffi Kuhnert) she decides she can no longer face Werner without having him know the truth. Inge reveals her affair to Werner, and thus begins the downward spiral of their 30-year relationship with each other.

Initially, reaction to the very idea of this film may be one of disbelief or even disgust. Put all of that aside. Ask yourself, is any of this so foreign that we find it unbelievable or repulsive? What Inge goes through, and puts Werner through, can happen to anyone at any age. An innocent playground romance that ends after a week or two. A high school sweetheart that breaks your heart. A middle-aged marriage that just wasn’t meant to be. Who’s to say two grown adults in their golden years could not conceivably experience these very same life events? Once I began seeing CLOUD 9 in that light, the film became much more beautiful than what is seen on the surface.

To be frankly honest, the first quarter or more of the film can be a bit tough to sit through. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for senior citizens getting it on. Viva la Viagra! But, the uninhibited choice of director Andreas Dresen to put this highly sexual love affair right in our faces from the get go was both bold and poignant. When it comes down to it, this sort of thing does really happen in real life, but no one ever wants to discuss it or touch the subject with a ten-foot pole. Why is that? [rhetorical question]

Ursula Werner gives a heart-felt and personal performance as Inge, struggling with her mixed emotions and the fact that despite her youthful affair with Karl, she still deeply loves Werner. Inge has no intention of hurting Werner and repeatedly exclaims that she never wanted any of this. Ursula Werner’s performance exudes those many memories of youthful love, sexual confusion and broken hearts. Transplant the elderly characters of CLOUD 9 with a cast straight out of SIXTEEN CANDLES and you have essentially the same basic story of love and love lost. Why then, should we appreciate this story any less?

Karl is a playful and vibrant man at the ripe age of 76, but it’s difficult to feel any empathy for him in this tale. Westphal gives us a wonderful performance as a man simply trying to live out what years remain in his life with as much joy and fervor as he can muster, taking bike rides and skinny dips, but the audience will have difficulty connecting with him. Conversely, the slightly younger Werner appears more frail and content with his life as an older man. Horst Werner plays this role with a melancholy matched only by the resignation in his eyes.

CLOUD 9 is an extremely quiet film, allowing the characters and audience both to reflect on the situation presented. The few moments of excitement in the film comes from either ends of the spectrum of human feeling, whether it’s Inge’s ecstatic expression of pleasure during her many throws of passion with Karl, or the heated and emotional cries and arguments between her and Werner when she reveals the truth, the story is Inge’s to tell as she lives it.

The pace is a tad slow, but given the relatively short running time of the film it never really becomes unbearable. I found the ending to be anything but a surprise, given it’s visibility from a mile away, but this certainly doesn’t withdraw from the devastating effect it has on the viewer. Inge develops into a character that we often want to dislike but simply cannot. She embodies the desires and hopefulness and even the uncertainty we all have in life, regardless of our age. While the story of CLOUD 9 is not new to us, the perspective given the story by Dresen is one we will not soon forget, whether we want to or not.

CLOUD 9 will screen at the Frontenac on Saturday, November 14th at 9:30pm and on Sunday, November 15th at 3:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

Review: 2012

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I find it humorous, if not entirely premeditated, that what is perhaps the disaster movie of the grandest scale be released on this, Friday the 13th, 2009. For a movie that has so much riding on it’s success and so many people sitting on the fence, unsure of how it will do… for it to open on such a characteristically traditional day for neurotic fears of bad luck, well… it ballsy. Then again, I don’t believe in that kind of superstitious black cat and broken mirrors bad luck.

Apparently, neither do the filmmakers. It’s a good thing too, because if they had it may have manifested itself in the movie and turned out much worse that it did. I will admit, I was one of those fence-sitting skeptics, fearful that 2012 would end up being a disastrous disaster movie. I can say with a fair amount of satisfaction that this film holds up to the standards of the genre and is certainly not a disaster… I mean, in the non-geological sense.

2012 is the newest massive scale epic from director Roland Emmerich (INDEPENDENCE DAY, THE PATRIOT). Emmerich has a filmmaker’s hopeless infatuation with the special effects heavy, ginormous budget thrill rides that draw audiences for the pure thrill of the ride. This is the kind of movie he enjoys, so it’s the kind of movie he makes. And, for what it’s worth, Emmerich has mastered the art and craft (10,000 BC excluded) of creating expensive yet exhilarating adrenaline rides.

As is his style, Emmerich wastes no time immersing the audience immediately into the beef of 2012. That is to say, it takes no time flt for the audience to catch up to what’s going on and know that the sh*t’s about to hit the fan. The story centers on Curtis Jackson, or Jackson Curtis… I never really was able to figure out which was his first name. Anyway, the story centers on Jackson [as he is referred to most often in the film] played by everyone’s favorite every-man John Cusack (SAY ANYTHING, HIGH FIDELITY). I mean, really… no matter how bad the movie is, who doesn’t like John Cusack?

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Jackson is a failed writer who works as a limo driver for a wealthy Russian tycoon named Yuri (Zlatko Buric) while struggling to revive his writing. Jackson is divorced, dislikes his ex-wife Katie’s (Amanda Peet) new partner Gordon (Tom McCarthy) and is devastated by his son Noah’s ecstatic approval of his “new dad”. Jackson collects Noah and his daughter Lilly for a vacation of camping with dad in Yellowstone National park, only to discover something strange is happening.

With half of the story now within your grasp, we move on to discuss why 2012 is worth seeing. This initial scene in Yellowstone leads us to Woody Harrelson’s role as the enviro-nutty, conspiracy theorist Charlie Frost, who briefly meets Jackson and his kids after they stumble upon a very hush-hush, yet minimally guarded government secret. The scene is relatively short, but tuck that away in your back pocket as it comes in handy later on in the story.

Woody Harrelson, despite his mere three scenes, is hilarious. He’s 100% certifiably fruitcake, but not necessarily wrong. He divulges his theories regarding the pending doom of the human race via planetary disaster to Jackson, who only later realizes just in the nick of time that Whack-Job Frost was onto something. On the drop of a dime, Jackson rounds up his family and the real adventure begins as the Earth’s crust literally begins to crumble.

So, we’ve got some fairly big stars, including Danny Glover as the President of the United States, Thandie Newton (ROCKNROLLA) as the First Daughter and Chewitel Ejiofor (REDBELT) as the heroic scientist that sits in relative comfort doing the brainy work while Cusack’s Jackson is put through Hell just trying to keep his family alive. Oh yeah, and Oliver Platt as the enjoyably well-played a**hole politician/scientist Carl Anheuser. However, the true star of 2012 is none other than the special effects.

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2012 is rife with extraordinary depictions of destruction and chaos on the grandest scale. The movie features several lengthy scenes of geological carnage, high in detail and excitement. The film does one thing well, if nothing else, and that’s keeping the audience gripping the arms of their seats, nervously watching and wanting more. It’s a morbid sort of entertainment to watch this sort of thing, even if it is purely fictional. Planes, trains and automobiles (and more) all meet their demise along with their many human operators and unfortunate bystanders. Bridges, buildings, streets and landmarks… nothing is spared.

One thing I noticed very quickly as I was washed away into the cinematic calamity that is 2012, is that it’s a movie that really should be experienced in IMAX. I did not view this film in IMAX, but could clearly see the potential and wish I had. Even on the regular old digital cinema projection, the special effects popped and felt real and even slightly three-dimensional, but this was all effect built into the movie to enhance the thrill ride. Add the new D-BOX Motion Technology seats into the mix with the IMAX and 2012 would make one helluva frighteningly fun cinematic experience worth every penny, so long as character development and story is not your primary objective.

At a whopping 158 minutes in length, 2012 ran the very real risk of being too long, but instead holds up well. I can honestly say I never realized or noticed the length until after wards while sitting and watching the credits. The writing is par for the course in a film like this, fairly thin and uncomplicated. There are many “conveniences” taken in the science and plot holes do exist, but 2012 deserves it’s place amongst the other classic disaster films from the past.

2012 surpasses Emmerich’s previous disaster film THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW by way of both special effects and believability, but the ending is still the weakest link in this film. Whereas THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW was far too neat and tidy with it’s ending, trying far too hard to tie up all the loose ends, 2012 does a slightly better job of leaving the audience with at least a tiny bit of their imagination in tact, even if you leave the theater baffled by the though of Kevin Costner’s WATERWORLD stuck in your head.

SLIFF 2009 Review: ALBINO FARM

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Whereas audiences may usually expect a film festival to be comprised solely of artsy dramas and foreign films, ALBINO FARM is a breath of fresh air as one of three horror films that spice up the SLIFF lineup this year. The film was written and directed by Joe Anderson and Sean McEwen. The story follows four college students who venture deep into the Ozark mountains to research a school cultural project. When a flat tire leaves them stranded in a small backwoods town, their adventurous spirit and lack of respect and maturity lead them directly into danger from a secret society of deranged and sadistic redneck religious freaks.

The cast of unsuspecting college students includes four staples of the slasher genre, including Brian (Nick Richey) the Seann William Scott style smart mouth guy along with Sanjay (Sunkrish Bala) the straight guy, in this case along the vein of Kal Penn, Melody (Alicia Lagano) the up-tight control freak brunette and finally Stacey (Tammin Sursok) the fun-loving slutty blonde. Following suit, ALBINO FARM feature plenty of other genre staples, including a freaky old dwarf and a creepy old blind guy whose warning falls on deaf ears.

ALBINO FARM looks amazing. Anderson and McEwen have truly capitalized on the scenic beauty of The Ozarks, displaying a natural talent for capturing moody vistas and employing natural light with confident command. Overall, the lighting ends up being the most accomplished aspect of this film. Clearly, this seems an odd observation to make about a horror film, especially one that is at it’s core a run-of-the-mill slasher flick. However, truth is truth and these two filmmakers have successfully incorporated an otherwise uncommon element into the art of rednecks killing city slickers.

While the look of the film was a pleasant surprise, I feel the need to point out some irregularities in shot consistency and editing. Nothing that necessarily ruins the movie, it these minor faults due occasionally disrupt the flow of action and threaten to pull the viewer out of the story. The story unfolds in a bizarre inbreeding of one part WRONG TURN and one part Scooby Doo mystery as the college students attempt to piece together the truth about this strange town.

The filmmakers spared no expense in this relatively low-budget flick making sure to deliver everything the self-respecting horror fan desires. If it’s not enough having an albino redneck preacher villain (Kevin Spirtas) and a nymphomaniac mutant character literally called Pig Bitch, the film also offers up a mutated infant baby and a disturbing mute boy who attempts to help the college students by writing on his portable chalkboard.

As the danger rises and chaos ensues, the fate of our college victims is looking grim. From meat hooks, bloody bear traps and exposed breasts, to characters catching unclear video footage of freakish creatures on their camcorders, ALBINO FARM basically sticks to the standard genre script.

ALBINO FARM isn’t the most spectacular or most frightening horror film you’ll see this year, and the ending seems somewhat familiar ( I’ll let you figure that one out on your own) but for fans of the genre who want to support quality efforts from local indie filmmakers, this one is certainly worth 90 minutes of your time.

ALBINO FARM will screen at the Tivoli on Friday, November 13th at 9:45pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: BEESWAX

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One of the first things that must be noticed about BEESWAX is that the film is filled with color, and match of that color is pink. The film fits fairly well into the mumblecore genre, melding comedy and drama with a minimally stylized, straight-forward handheld visual approach. BEESWAX was written and directed by Andrew Bujalski (FUNNY HA HA, MUTUAL APPRECIATION) and stars the real-life twin sisters Tilly and Maggie Hatcher.

BEESWAX was shot in Austin, Texas and follows a pair of identical twin sisters, Jeannie and Lauren, as they each deal with their own places in life. Lauren (Maggie Hatcher) is considering a teaching position out of the country, while Jeannie (Tilly Hatcher), who has been a paraplegic since birth, attempts to sort out her unequal relationship with her business partner. Jeannie co-owns and runs a small retail shop called the Storyville Boutique.

The movie flows along at a comfortable pace with performances that are fitting for the slice-of-life sort of story. Watching the two sisters’ lives unfold, cutting between the two, but also intermingling in each others’ stories is engaging. The draw comes from a sheer curiosity in watching the human drama unfold. While there are some moments of relatively dry and awkward humor, BEESWAX is more of melancholy dramedy than strictly a comedy.

Lauren’s story appears on the surface to be more reflective and intra-personal, weighing the pros and cons in her current opportunities. Jeannie’s story appears to be more external, coping with a heavy workload, one which she feels has been unfairly placed primarily on her shoulders by her partner and attempting to manage a new employee with workplace conflicts. Lauren is a bit of a reluctant optimist while Jeannie struggles to remain optimistic about her situation.

BEESWAX has sort of a CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM feel, with less neurosis and targeted at a slightly younger audience. Nothing seems to go right, characters seem inherently indecisive, especially Lauren, and there is a sense of pending social doom that lingers just over the heads of these characters in a semi-fictional Austin, Texas. Jeannie and Lauren both have pressure squeezing down on them and the Hatcher sisters capture these emotions well, especially in the second half when the story intensifies.

Jeannie’s part-time boyfriend Merril (Alex Karpovsky) studies for his BAR exam and juggles this with serving as Jeannie’s pro bono legal advisor in deciphering what to do with her business. As the rift between Jeannie and her partner deepens, Merrill serves as a source of stability in her life. The heart of what makes BEESWAX enjoyable is in finding out how the story plays out, how it all ends… but, does it? Some may find this portion of the film disappointing, but I applaud the audacity.

BEESWAX is a solid film and Bujalski’s third feature, making him a writer/director to keep an eye on as his filmography expands. The only element in the film’s performances that pulled me out of the story, and please pardon my lack of expertise here, is that Tilly Hatcher tends to show movement in her feet and legs, of which I was unclear whether this was intended or even possible for a paraplegic. Aside from this, BEESWAX is less than extraordinary but far above average.

BEESWAX will screen at Webster University on Friday, November 13th at 7:00pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

SLIFF 2009 Review: GAME OF THE YEAR

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GAME OF THE YEAR is a mockumentary written and directed by local filmmaker Chris Grega (AMPHETAMINE, RHINELAND). The film follows a rag-tag group of guys who put together a team to compete on the reality TV show called “Game of the Year” in which teams square off against each other in role-playing games. The winning team gets to run the host’s new gaming company for one year. What ensues is a special brand of humor and a film that is either ridiculously revealing and hilariously nostalgic, depending on the viewer’s own history with role-playing.

The cast of character’s developed for the film are perfect. The game master, or in other words the living breathing rule book of the role-playing game, is a British ex-pat named Richard who is both arrogant and lacking any actual control of his players. The remainder of the team consists of the hopeless, socially inept nerd, the “cool” guy who doesn’t want anyone to know he’s a gamer, the loud mouth aggressive jock and the guy with zero attention span who doesn’t take the game seriously.

The actors involved in this film were extremely successful in maintaining interest, creating a natural fluidity in the character interactions while pulling off some absurdly funny tangents like the argue about whether Leonard Nimoy was British or not and how this applies to the structure of their role-playing team’s leadership. Mark, the hopeless nerd, is perhaps the most entertaining character, especially after an unexpected female participant is injected into their game despite objections.

The humor in GAME OF THE YEAR is dry and sometimes a bit “inside” but it works well. The approach and humor of the film is very much along the vein of early mockumentary films like THIS IS SPINAL TAP. Grega has clearly, or at least appears to be, heavily influenced by the films of Christopher Guest, seeking subtlety over shock value as is the current trend in films like BORAT and BRUNO.

Grega clearly did his research for this film. As a former player of RPGs (role-playing games) as a kid, I was fascinated by how much of the film felt familiar, even reminiscent and slightly embarrassing. The film takes place heavily in the basement of one character’s house, which is fitting as many gamers spend hours if not days secluded in their gaming caves, becoming fully immersed in their hobbies.

GAME OF THE YEAR begins with a very well constructed mock-up of the typical intro seen of Survivor-style reality TV shows, then quickly throws the audience into the world of role-playing. The film has a clear and solid three-act structure, leading the audience gradually up to a near-melt down of the team as the tension of the game and preparation for the show begins to spill out into the players’ real lives with devastating results.

As for the overall feel of the film, the only criticism I have is that the tripod is used too much. The film interlaces static interview shots which appropriately implement a tripod, with shots capturing the events as they unfold. These are the segments that would have benefited ever more from a hand-held style of shooting. By keeping the camera on the tripod, the scenes lose much of their spontaneity.

Regardless of this, every other element of the film falls damn near perfectly into place, creating a compelling non-fiction style story. What becomes of the group of gaming friends, their lives and relationships and do they get on the Game of the Year TV show? That’s for you, the audience to experience for yourselves.

I highly encourage seeing GAME OF THE YEAR, not just as a fun and accomplished film, but also in support of local filmmaking. For those who may find the subject matter intimidating, fear not, because it’s good for a laugh and a thrill even if you’ve never been a part of the role-playing culture.

GAME OF THE YEAR will screen at the Tivoli on Sunday, November 15th at 9:30pm during the 18th Annual Whitaker Saint Louis International Film Festival.

Shown with “Donnie Baker and the Pork Pistols: Live” (Jay Kanzler, U.S., 2009, 25 min.), a behind-the-scenes look at “carport band” Donnie Baker and the Pork Pistols, who perform live at the Pageant.