Reel Review Roundup

What Maisie Knew (M)

Directed by: Scott McGehee, David Siegel

Starring: Julianne Moore, Alexander Skarsgard, Onata Aprile

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Anyone who comes from a broken home may find What Maisie Knew cuts a little too close to the bone. At times an unflinching look at the effects of a nasty break up on the innocent child caught in the middle, this film based on Henry James’ novel tackles the issue head on. Alleviated (or let down, depending on your point of view) by bouts of sentimentality, this is a dark but honest exploration of an all too common family dynamic that is scarily relatable and rarely given its due in film as it is here.

Manipulative rock star Susanna (Julianne Moore) and her art dealer husband Beale (Steve Coogan) are going though a divorce that Is far from amicable. The custody battle over their young daughter Maisie (Onata Aprile) is toughest part, with Susanna trying to keep her away form her father out of anger and spite. They share custody, but their busy schedules (her touring and his constant trips to the UK) leave Maisie in difficult spot. Custody days are often forgotten, as is who is supposed to pick her up from school on which days. The two eventually marry other people, Susanna to bar tender Lincoln (Alexander Skarsgard) and Beale to Maisie’s young, attractive nanny Maro (Joanna Vanderham). The situation proves to be difficult for all to deal with and particularly poisonous for Maisie.

Amidst a sea of solid performances stands out the impossibly talented Onata Aprile, who, as Maisie, is in a constant state of woe. She wears a lifetime of pain on her emotionally drained features, a striking achievement for such an inexperienced performer. Her performance is a beacon of light in such a dark situation. We don’ just witness the divorce and custody battle, but experience it with Maisie and Aprile’s performance make it all the more heartbreaking. The weight-of-the-world pain she conveys is reminiscent of Haley Joel Osment in The Sixth Sense, but is more impressive due to her age.

At times raw, honest and harrowing, yet at other times awfully “Hollywood” and saccharine in its depictions, What Maisie Knew is an uneven affair. The power of the story is somewhat lessened in the later stages with repetition – this is essentially 100 minutes of Maisie being shafted from one guardian to the next and having to endure emotional battering after emotional battering. Character development also takes a hit when it becomes evident that not only are these people selfish, sometimes heartless and clueless but also incredibly dumb. Not one of her four guardians, who find it impossible to find the time to raise her, thinks to enrol her in day care. At one point she is dropped off at Lincoln’s workplace when he isn’t there. One staff member takes her home with her instead of calling the police. And no one seems to have the brains to call child services. Lapses in character logic aside, What Maisie Knew still carries weight and is an important story that should be seen.

Interior. Leather Bar

Directed by: James Franco, Travis Mathews

Starring: Val Lauren, James Franco, Travis Mathews

Five stars

Review by: Julian Wright

With between three and eight on-screen appearances per year since 2002, James Franco must be one of the hardest working actors of his generation. Or any generation. Dividing his time between the blockbuster Spider Man trilogy, Oscar bait Milk and 127 Hours, Julia Roberts vehicle Eat, Pray, Love, low-key fare The Company and dude comedy Pineapple Express (to name just a fraction) – his filmography looks like the work of a career experiment. Then there was that bizarre stint on TV show General Hospital. His unusual and unpredictable choices have also made him one of the most intriguing actors working today.

Perhaps his most experimental and out-of-left-field project (even more so than his sincere appearance in a soapie) to date is Interior. Leather Bar, which he filmed with his mate Travis Mathews. Passing it off as a personal and experimental project for their own creative fulfillment, Franco and Mathews gather a few mates and amateur actors to recreate the missing 40 minutes of William Friedkin’s Cruising (1980). Hollywood legend has it that the envelope pushing, gay themed film starring Al Pacino was hacked up by the ratings board, that deemed the gay cruise bar footage too racy and so it was excised, never to be seen or screened.

But not only are the adventurous duo going to recreate the scenes, but put their own interpretative spin on it – which leaves many of the cast and crew nervous as to what will be required of them. Straight actor Val Lauren, who takes the Al Pacino role – or at least a version of the Al Pacino role – begins to sweat bullets over what he has gotten himself into. As an actor he knows is it his job and part of his craft to become another person for the story being told – but never before has he been in a position where he might have to draw a line. And what would that mean to draw a line on art?

It doesn’t help, either, that Franco and Mathews don’t really have much of an idea of what will happen when the cameras roll, or at least none that they are willing to share. They want to capture something organic in their little rented studio mocked up to look like a dark, sleazy underground cruise club – which may include actual penetrative sex between men.

But is this an exercise in art or is it simply a pornographic short film? What is art? And is this project only unsettling because it is dealing with homosexuality? These are just a few questions that will be buzzing around your head hours after the swift 60 minutes is over. Franco – often operating the camera during the sex scenes – admits to being taken aback by what he sees, then asks “but why?” Is he really just challenging himself, and everyone else just a pawn in his project? Or is this his way of changing attitudes towards homosexuality in cinema? He makes a point that he is sick of every commercial and film featuring a man and a woman – never two men or two women.

Interior. Leather Bar is less about performance and more about ideas, which it has bursting from its seams. Deliciously layered, bold, daring and thought-provoking, Franco and Mathews’ meta-centric film will, unfortunately, never be accepted into mainstream where it would make the greatest impact. But this tiny in-your-face step towards changing negative attitudes is an admirable and unprecedented achievement. Franco wants to shake things up a bit. Maybe we need to be woken up because watered down versions of homosexuality on-screen like Brokeback Mountain (2005) or Philadelphia (1993) aren’t quite cutting it. Franco may be right. Can’t wait for his next “experiment”.

Interior. Leather Bar screened as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

Goblin Plays Suspiria

Suspiria (R)

Directed by: Dario Argento

Starring: Jessica Harper, Stefania Casini

Four and a half stars

I remember as a kid waking up with butterflies in my stomach on the days I knew I going to the movies. I was giddy with excitement, having barely slept the night before. Going to the cinema was a special treat and an event, particularly for my most anticipated releases. These intense  feelings rarely revisit as an adult. A trip to the cinema doesn’t feel like a trip to Disneyland anymore. The closest thing has been seeing classics or personal favourites on the big screen that I couldn’t see on initial release.

Heading to Goblin Plays Suspiria, I still didn’t have those feelings. I had tried to watch Suspiria a couple of times but my enjoyment was greatly diminished by the distractingly wretched dubbing. Sure Dario Argento’s film looked pretty, but I could not understand how anyone could get past the audio never syncing with the visual, let alone label it a classic horror film. However, I had an inkling that witnessing Goblin live-score the highly regarded Suspiria at Revelation Perth International Film Festival would be something worth seeing, even if I still couldn’t find merit in this film. I may not have arrived with butterflies, but I left the session with them fluttering in my knotted stomach. The experience made me excited by cinema again like it had when I was 10 years old.

The quintet positioned themselves at their instruments to a round of hearty applause by the enthusiastic audience in an almost packed cinema. A quick question revealed that about half of them were to witness Suspiria for the first time. From the rain drenched opening in which fish out of water American Suzy Bannion (Jessica Harper) touches down in Munich, Germany to commence classes at a fancy ballet school, Goblin’s signature score sent shivers with its booming, nerve shredding melody.

Argento sustains an almost unbearable level of suspense from the get go as Suzy uncovers creepy goings on within the school, starting with her first night when she witnesses a distressed fellow student fleeing into the woods. The girl is brutally murdered, sparking a mystery as to who did it and why. Later, maggots infest the attic, forcing the students to sleep in the dance hall and Suzy is forced to eat her specially made dinner in her room, away from the others. As Suzy and her equally curious friend Sara (Stefania Casini) try to unravel the clues, someone on campus does their best to make sure the truth remains a secret.

Drenched in bright, bold, psychedelic colours, Suspiria delivers one beautifully haunting and disturbing image after another. The short, occasional bursts of graphic violence are all the more shocking with the vivid red of the blood popping off the screen. Boosting the atmosphere of the piece was Goblin’s score reverberating through the theatre and vibrating through the floor under our feet. It was an utterly immersive experience that could not be captured with even the best state of the art home theatre package. At times the score overwhelmed, drowning out some of the softer spoken dialogue, but it was never intrusive enough to leave the audience baffled as to what was going on.

Once the terror was over, the audience erupted into three successive rounds of applause with many getting to their feet. Goblin had thoroughly thrilled their fans and in the process acquired new ones, including this reviewer. I felt like a kid at Disneyland all over again and was reminded of the thrilling possibilities of cinema. A festival, nay, a cinema going highlight.

Goblin Plays Suspiria was performed as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

The Deep (Djupio)

Directed by: Baltasar Kormakur

Starring: Olafur Dari Olaffson, Johann G. Johannsson

Four stars

Review by: Julian Wright

One of the more remarkable “based on a true story” films we have had for a while, The Deep is one man’s journey of survival through some of the harshest terrain who is ultimately left to face the haunting question: “why did I survive?” It is an existential drama/mystery that is refreshing in that it that doesn’t offer any answers presented neatly in a gift wrapped package, taps into universal fears of death and isolation and leaves you with a sense of unease mixed with hope.

In 1984, a fishing boat with a crew of several men is capsized of the coast Iceland. One by one, the men succumb to the below freezing ocean water, except for Gulli (Olafur Dari Olaffson) who i left stranded in the middle of nowhere. Gulli spends hours swimming in no particular direction in hopes of finding land. Against the odds, he finds land, but then must scale the cliff-side and walk through a blizzard bare foot to the nearest village. What follows is Gulli’s, and a selection of intrigued scientist’s, attempts to figure out how or why he survived.

The first half of this survivalist film is characterised by a sombre, downbeat mood – the sense of dread is palatable and Gulli’s fight to live is heart-wrenching. Director Baltasar Kormakur’s gloomy imagery perfectly captures the icy winter temperatures that Gulli survives and adds to the tension. The Deep shifts in tone in the second half with the tension alleviated when Gulli becomes somewhat of a guinea pig for the inquisitive scientists, but to Kormakur’s credit, he is still able maintain a mysterious atmosphere as our hero struggles with the big questions.

This journey for answers that are never found, which is surprisingly never frustrating, is buoyed by Olaffson’s understated performance – Gulli is a man of few words but continues to be an intriguing presence due to Olaffson’s quiet, soulful acting. While he never mutters the words, we can feel his internal wrestle with the “why me?” questions. This stark, icy, but beautifully shot and easy to digest film is sure to haunt and create chills.

 
The Deep screened as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival.

The Earth Wins

Directed by: Jerry Grayson

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

There is no question that the human race takes this planet and its resources for granted. We pillage the land to expand and develop, often with little thought for the harm we are doing or the consequences that may arise in the future. With the environmental movement throughout the decades and recent awareness of climate change, we are slowly changing our attitudes and methods, but whether we care to admit it or not, we are destroying our home.

At times a hypnotic slide show of beauty and other times a stark reminder of how small and insignificant the human race is, The Earth Wins is a thought-provoking 40 minutes about how we treat our world and how it treats us back. Stringing together images that range from animals in the wild to the aftermath of natural disasters that director Jerry Grayson collected from a helicopter over four continents, this short film reminds us to appreciate the Earth but also make us quite aware that we are constantly at Mother Nature’s mercy.

Accompanying the striking imagery are rhetorical questions posed to us – some obvious and familiar, others more thoughtful and pointed. At times it feels like we are being constantly prodded, in which case Grayson could have eased off a bit with the text. However, there are moments in which they are quite effective. The choice of angle is purposefully distancing; instead of getting up close and personal, Grayson takes a step back, which allows us to see from a different perspective.

Exploring the relationship between a home and its inhabitants with the use of perfectly framed and colour-filled shots, The Earth Wins finds the beauty in the stunning and the beauty in the devastating. It will make you think twice next time you drop litter on the ground or when Mother Nature arcs up again with a nasty storm.

The Earth Wins screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival with In Search Of Blind Joe Death on July 13 and 14.

Gimme The Loot

Directed by: Adam Leon

Starring: Ty Hickson, Tashiana Washington

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Gang warfare, coming of age, blossoming romance, comedy, farce, heist. Gimme The Loot is nothing if not packed with flavours, but too many ingredients can sometimes make for a confused dish, particularly if the chef does not quite have the experience to juggle them all evenly. Writer/director Adam Leon’s feature film debut is a relaxed but sweet and funny story about a pair of young New York graffiti artists trying to pull their biggest tagging job, hampered with hiccups.

Malcolm (Ty Hickson) and Sofia (Tashiana Washington), a couple of constantly squabbling best friends, are caught up in a graffiti war with a rival gang. In an attempt to one-up their enemy on their home turf, they devise a plan to scrawl their tags over the Mets’ baseball grounds. Their day-long journey to gather the cash to make it happen is filled with set backs which cause rifts between the two who are always playfully insulting each other but you can sense the affection between them.

Getting off to a shaky start, with the inexperience of the cast sometimes painfully obvious, Gimme The Loot and its lead actors eventually find their rhythm. As the cast appear more comfortable on-screen, the story becomes more enjoyable and engaging. There are some truly special moments in this film, mostly in scenes in which Hickson and Washington are required to walk and talk. Like Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, the chemistry in these simple dialogue driven scenes are a highlight as they riff like Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, only far more charmingly so.

Eventual secure footing aside, though, the film suffers a slight identity crisis, not quite knowing what it wants to be or where it wants to place its focus. The blossoming relationship feels almost like a last-minute inclusion, rarely hinted at until the final moments. Not quite as snappy as it could be, Gimme The Loot still draws you in with its authenticity, genuine heart and undeniable charms.

Gimme The Loot screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 13.

Burn

Directed by: Tom Putnam, Brenna Sanchez

Starring: Brendan “Doogie” Milewski, Dave Parnell, Donald Austin

Four and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Not that anyone doubted the hero status of fire fighters, those who gallantly charge into burning buildings to save the occupants, their loved ones or precious possessions,  but Burn is a timely reminder of their unwavering heroism. But as we learn, behind the bravado there is also an abundance of little-seen vulnerability. Burn follows a group of fire fighters who live and work in Detroit (the run down city that has a high rate of unemployment, arson and unsolved murders) that battle more than just blazes, but also funding cuts and bureaucratic red tape.

Setting the scene with damning facts and figures (population plummeting, crime rate increasing), Detroit is laid out as a wasteland in need of salvation. Among the warm, relateable characters in the Engine Company 50 squad that have made it their mission to keep the city afloat are field engine operator Dave Parnell, who is on the verge of retirement and nursing his ill wife, and Brendan “Doogie” Milewski, who began his career young but faced early retirement when he was paralysed on the job. While they contend with their own turbulent personal lives, the men also have to deal with newly appointed Commissioner Donald Austin from Los Angeles, an outsider and villain type whose budgetary hands are frustratingly tied. Their vehicles are falling apart, and many are not roadworthy, but there is barely enough funding to pay them their wages. Pleas for new equipment are constantly brick walled.

Despite the daily adversities, the team’s comradeship, heart and endurance is admirable, but this is not a sugar-coated glimpse into the thankless profession of fighting fires. Doogie’s isolation, Parnell’s loneliness and everyone else’s constant frustrations are deeply felt. And the incessant potential for life threatening danger is wildly apparent. While this emotional roller coaster ride swings from one heartbreaking moment to the next, there is never a sense of depression or loss of hope.

But this is as much about a decaying city as it is the men that try every day to salvage it. When told to let abandoned properties burn to the ground, they get out their equipment and hose it down. They are the soldiers on the front line that know that homeless people could be squatting in any of these dilapidated establishments, further solidifying their sense of duty to their city and its people. Film makers Tom Putnam and Brenna Sanchez are granted astonishing access, with emotionally raw admissions from their subjects to real fire fighting jobs caught up close in widescreen format. It is one of the most cinematic documentaries, but never forgetting the human element. By the end of Burn, these men feel like family. Someone pass the tissues.

Burn screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 6 and 8.

Pictures Of Superheroes

Directed by: Don Swaynos

Starring: Kerri Lendo, John Merriman, Shannon McCormick

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

Quirky movies with characters that speak in monotone are not in short supply, particularly since runaway indie hit Napoleon Dynamite made them cool.  Now they seem to be as common in art-house cinemas as summer blockbusters are in the multiplexes. Bringing a much needed freshness to the sub genre, Pictures Of Superheroes follows the formula but creates a potent, dreamily off-kilter atmosphere that is enthralling.

Bringing a refreshing Mary Louise Parker slash Daria quality to her role, Kerri Lendo plays Marie, a down on her luck maid who is fired from her boring, mundane, bottom of the barrel job. As if that isn’t depressing enough, her boyfriend Phil (Byron Brown) mentions that he plans to dump her on their next date. Carting her suitcase of cleaning supplies down the street, she is approached by super busy businessman Eric (Shannon McCormick) and he hires her to clean his house, where his friend Joe (John Merriman) lives in the spare room – without him knowing about it. Things go from kooky to kookier as their relationships blossom.

While Lendo guns for the award for least facial muscle movements in a feature film, Zach Galifinakis lookalike McCormick vies for most likeable goofball – but their peculiar chemistry is winning. The cast dead pan their way through this wacky, snail paced but strangely charming slice of life for a handful of off the wall characters. Despite the familiarity, there is a one of a kind feeling to this film.

Pictures Of Superheroes screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 5, 6 and 11.

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction

Directed by: Sophie Huber

Starring: Harry Dean Stanton, Sam Shepard, David Lynch

Three stars

Review by: Julian Wright

While not as outwardly unusual or bizarre as the penis collecting curator in The Final Member, Partly Fiction is a curious piece. Slow and sombre to the point of being dull, it takes a look at quiet recluse and Hollywood legend Harry Dean Stanton who doesn’t seem to want to be the subject of a documentary.

Character actor Harry Dean Stanton, who shields himself from the spotlight but managed to appear in more than 200 films including Alien, Cool Hand Luke and Repo Man (it took him 30 years to score his first leading role in Paris, Texas) is a closed book. He hates the public eye and keeps many aspects of his life private – in the opening minutes of this documentary, he flat out refuses to speak about his mother. It is an awkward introduction to this private man (how will we spend 75 minutes with someone who refuses to open up?) but his silence also speaks a thousand words.

Stanton gives one sentence answers and pauses for what feels like minutes before speaking again or when director Sophie Huber asks another question. It is sometimes telling but mostly painfully awkward. Why he agreed to be documented like this boggles the mind because it is just not in his character to be involved in such productions. He clearly prefers to be left alone. While he is never obnoxious or rude, he often is apparently uncomfortable with the situation.

Stanton seems most accessible when he indulges in a bit of singing – another love of his. Stanton doesn’t open up until about the midday point, but even then we only get a peek. Friends and colleagues David Lynch, Wim Wenders, Sam Shepard and Deborah Harry offer the most insight with anecdotes and observations about the stalwart (he still works consistently now at 87 years old). But with this only limited window into the soft spoken and guarded octogenarian, one often wonders why this documentary crew bothered.

Harry Dean Stanton: Partly Fiction screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival 2013 on July 6, 9 and 13.

Cheap Thrills

Directed by: E.L. Katz

Starring: Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, David Koechner, Sara Paxton

Three and a half stars

Review by: Julian Wright

How far would you go for a quick buck? A financially struggling Demi Moore agonised over a $1 million offer for one night from Robert Redford in Indecent Proposal, and small town folk Billy Bob Thornton and Bill Paxton went to extremes measures to ensure the bag of millions they found stayed in their possession in A Simple Plan. The promise of (a lot of) money makes us loco, and yet we can all relate. It’s no wonder that “Show me the money!” became one of the most quoted lines of film dialogue. Cheap Thrills plays with the morality of a situation in which one is asked to do increasingly outrageous things but strikes an unusual tone while doing it.

Recently jobless, straight arrow Craig (Pat Healey) swings by a bar to drown his sorrows (he has a wife and baby at home he has to support) and bumps into old high school buddy, screw up Vince (Ethan Embry). While the two catch up over drinks, they are invited by Colin (David Koechner) to join he and his young wife Violet (Sara Paxton) and they are playfully dared to take shots for a couple of bucks, but things intensify. The dares start out juvenile but relatively harmless and without major consequence – shots of alcohol, throwing a punch at a stranger, pooing in the neighbour’s house – but it gradually escalates and these men end up doing far more disturbing things than they thought they were capable.

Carefully crafted, this builds slowly and believably, each subsequent dare only slightly more obscene than the last that it is believable that these two desperate characters would indulge in such behaviour of one-upmanship. The character development laid out in the opening sequence is simple, yet effective. Just a few minutes of conversation and we are acutely aware of Craig and Vince’s plights, which lends to their devastating believability later in the film. The cast is impeccable, even Paxton who is given little to say or do as the constantly texting trophy wife, but remaining an ominous presence throughout.

Director E.L. Katz dabbles with the humour of the scenario, but also sustains a sense of dread. However, this ambitious film ends up in a tonal limbo – often too violent and disturbing to be laugh out loud funny, and sometimes too funny to be paralyzingly frightening. It is a tricky balance to strike, and Katz, with all his ambition shoots, but does not always score. But we do feel like we have gone on this journey with these characters and Katz leaves us pondering our own reaction to such a situation with a haunting final shot.

Cheap Thrills screens as part of Revelation Perth International Film Festival on July 5.