By: Henry J. Fromage –
This week was back to a true Henry J. Fromage smorgasbord. I won’t even try to tease out a theme this time.
122. The Gorge
Apple TV+’s big Valentine’s Day play was this flashy high concept romance in which Miles Teller and Anya Taylor-Joy play two snipers, one from the West and one from the Eastern Bloc, who are tasked with guarding… something in the giant gorge that spans between them. This is a bit more of a romance film than you would have suspected with that logline, played charismatically by these two, but one plunges into the gorge the other follows to high octane action film results. The existential threat they’re trying to keep in there is pretty coolly realized as well, even if it owes a bit to Alex Garland (that only slightly narrows it down for ya). Two Beers.
123. From My Cold Dead Hands
This documentary comes from a Spanish director, but is thoroughly American- gleaned as it is from the thousands of hours (at least) of Americans doing stupid shit with guns on Youtube. Its thesis is unmistakable- Americans sure love their freedoms and to express that through their affinity for firearms. However, many, many Americans are fucking dipshits who demonstrably should not have easy access to instruments of death, particularly when they can’t ascertain the difference between them and toys. I, an American, also think guns are really fun, from direct, probably slightly irresponsible experience. I just am able to understand that feeling alone is not worth all of the societal consequences. Two Beers.
124. Butts
This short film was packaged with the previous in the virtual film festival I was able to rent it from. Writer and star Kent Rodricks shows us the world from his point of view, which at 3’11” is more or less butt-level for most other folks. With a charming sense of humor he shows us that his life is not some hardship to overcome- it’s just his life. He’s not disabled, he’s just Kent. Two Beers.
125. Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music
Questlove may well be establishing a strangehold on historical music docs at this point between Summer of Soul, Sly Lives!, and this seminal essay on, well, the last 50 years of Saturday Night Live in music. From the absolutely banging musical medley of live performances on the show to open the film to the way it both tells the history of this essential element of the show and the way it in turn helped create musical history of its own, Questlove employs the skills of a master DJ in making the records spin. Two Beers.
126. Filmmakers for the Prosecution
This short documentary profiles those heroes of the Nuremburg Trials who brought a new and particularly damning dimension to the courtroom- film. In particular brothers, soldiers, and Americans of Jewish heritage Budd and Stuart Schulberg helped compile footage shoot when the Allies liberated Concentration Camps with the footage that the Nazis, compulsive recordkeepers as they were, made themselves. While some delusions stay maddeningly alive even today, there was no denying the evil those in that courtroom witnessed over the course of the Trials, making their verdict clear and incontrovertible. Two Beers.
127. Timestalker
The latest from writer/director/star Alice Lowe (Prevenge) is in a very different register. Well, yes, it does feature dark humor and plenty of blood, but this time in service of the story of a woman who chases the apple of her eye across many lifetimes, all of which end, well, bloodily. I didn’t love the washed-out visuals, but I did enjoy the wacked-out energy and seeing how each character manifested in each new timeline (Nick Frost really gets to try some things out). Three Beers.
128. Hurricane Season
This Netflix drama comes from Mexico, where a decomposing body is found in a canal outside of town. A young woman approaches the police- she thinks it’s her cousin. We flash back from there Rashomon-style, as she and two young men tell their stories of the events that led up to this sordid murder. This is a sweltering, sexual story of forbidden desire and terrible decisions yielding tragic consequences, shot with sweat-drenched verve by director Elisa Miller. Three Beers.
