By: Henry J. Fromage –
Out of the Wisconsin frying pan into the Cleveland (virtual) film festival fire. The first batch features some flicks I missed at previous festivals.
187: Woodland
I missed this German drama at TIFF, but catch up with it here. It’s a profile of a woman who survived a mass shooting event and chooses to return, for an indefinite amount of time, to her childhood farmhouse that she’s not been back to in years, but this is also as much a story of buried secrets and interpersonal relationships warped by distance and hardships as the trauma she brings on her return. It’s an excellent character piece that’s all around well-acted. Three Beers.
188: The Walk
The latest documentary from Honeyland director Tamara Kotevska pairs the story of young Syrian refugee Asil and that of a giant puppet named Amal who is walking from Syria to Europe and beyond. It’s a strangely beautiful odyssey, but one that highlights the trials and tribulations of so many migrants, many of them children, and many of those unaccompanied on this dangerous and traumatic journey. Two Beers.
189: The Contestant
The many travails of Tomoaki Hamatsu, better know as Nasubi (Eggplant), are documented here in this portrait of arguably the first reality TV star. He was placed, naked, in a small room with only a radio, a rack of magazines, and postcards and told he must survive solely on the prizes he was able to win using them (magazine mail-in prizes being a big thing in the 90s), and would be released when he reached 1,000,000 yen’s worth. Thus begins a psychological experiment and mass entertainment shocking in the depths of its cruelty, even as his disturbingly funny reactions make it eminently understandable why it was so popular at the time. And his story goes well beyond that, in the end becoming something truly inspiring. Hopefully the poor man can rest fully on his laurels now, though. Two Beers.
190: The Last Video Store
This Canuck horror is a bit lo-fi and grody, but that’s very much the point. It’s a comedic love letter to VHS, and particularly all of those straight to VHS genre flicks of yesteryear that tend to show up on Redlettermedia and its ilk. The true appreciation of the form and the verve of the performances keep it afloat even when the seams show- if you, too, are a fan of this lost artform, then this will be right up your alley. Three Beers.
191: Bye Bye Tiberias
This documentary from Lina Soualem profiles four generations of women in her Palestinian family, most famously her mother Hiam Abbass who left home to become a renowned actress in the 80s. This is both a very personal portrait of a family and one of the seismic changes in their homeland since the 1940s when great-grandmother was a girl, which continue to reverberate to this day and hour. Three Beers.
192: A Binding Truth
This documentary examines race relations and the legacy of slavery in the relationship of two high school classmates and teammates with the same last name, one white and one black, descended from slaves owned by the former’s ancestors. This is an inspirational story, as the lifelong fast friends give lectures together explaining their shared history and the complex feelings it engenders in them both. This is the way to contend with history- facing it straightforwardly, instead of trying to sweep it under the rug. Three Beers.
193: Impossible Town
This doc follows West Virginian Dr. Ayne Amjad, who has taken up her father’s mission to relocate the 250 residents of Minden, who are disproportionately affected by cancer and therefore suspicious of the nearby mining company. All involved are proud and obstinate in their own way, but want the best for themselves and their neighbors. When Dr. Amjad is named Chief Medical Officer of the State, she finds herself being drawn away from the cause, particularly when a little thing called COVID rears its head… Three Beers.
