By: Henry J. Fromage –
This was another hodgepodge of a week thanks to theatrical releases, IDA awards voting, and randomly blowing winds.
652. Silent Night
I wish I could report that John Woo’s first Hollywood film in almost 20 years is a resounding return to form, but outside of a pretty gnarly in media res action scene right at the beginning, this feels more later Taken sequel than Hard Boiled. The lack of dialogue feels more like a schtick than organic to the story being told, and there are some truly embarrassing attempts at injecting emotion. Four Beers.
653. The Night Owl
I haven’t checked out a new Korean film in awhile, and up popped this Dynasty-era thriller from this year, based on the true and truly suspect historical fact that a Prince died bleeding out of all of his orifices, but the official cause of death was listed as malaria. We enter the story via a blind, skilled acupuncturist who gets a job as a palace physician, just in time to witness a terrible crime no one thinks he’s capable of seeing. Perhaps a bit oversold on the potential uses of acupuncture, but some genuinely killer twists buoy it along. Three Beers.
654. Golda
Helen Mirren is perhaps not the most intuitive choice to play Russian-born Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, but she nails the role of the woman who led her country through several crises, none more existential than the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Israel defeated the combined forces of 12 primarily Arabic countries in 19 days. Mirren ably communicates the extraordinary pressures of making decisions in this situation, and subtle yet steely resolve Meir exhibited in making them. Three Beers.
655. The Old Way
I believe this straight to video Western from earlier in the year is why we’re only getting the superior Butcher‘s Crossing now despite it debuting at last year’s TIFF. Here Cage plays a once legendary and merciless killer who’s left that life behind, or, of course, so he thought. There’s a weird plotline where it’s implied he may be a sociopath and his daughter has inherited it from him, but otherwise it’s a pretty standard Oater in plot and execution that shows its budget. Four Beers.
656. Landscape with Invisible Hand
Cory Finley took an odd detour with this film after the acclaimed sharp cruelties of Thoroughbreds and Bad Education which clearly threw most critics for a loop. This one is about life on Earth after alien contact has only increased the divide between rich and poor due to their advanced tech, but Finley’s perhaps more interested in the strange worldbuilding than commenting deeply on our own, which for me wasn’t a disqualifier- just don’t assume you know what you’re getting in for after his previous work. Three Beers.
657. The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Shere Hite was one of the foremost sex researchers and writers of the 1960s and 1970s, whose work ranks up there with Kinsey and Masters & Johnson in helping dispel myths of human sexuality and the way females and males experience and think about it. And yet her work has faded from view, perhaps due to an exasperated relationship with media displaying a lot of the patriarchal attributes her results couldn’t help but expose. This documentary tells her story and places her back at the pinnacle of her field, where she belongs. Three Beers.
658. The Holly
This documentary profiles an anti-gang violence activist who ended up going to prison after shooting a gang member several times point blank himself. It’s a complicated case that calls into question the competing priorities of different groups trying to serve, live in, and/or violently control the community they share. Three Beers.
659. Jesus Revolution
This faith-based film details the unique fusion of Christian ideas and the counterculture spirit of the 1970s in Southern California to spur a revivalist movement that we’re still feeling the effects of today, for good and ill. The good is the energy and empathy engendered by this coming together of older traditionalists and truth-seeking youth, but there’s also seeds of today’s pop music-obsessed mega churches sewn here. Three Beers.
660. The Pigeon Tunnel
Errol Morris trained his Interrotron on David Cornwell, better known as suspense writer John le Carré shortly before he died in 2020, and it yielded yet another fascinating portrait of a man whose relationship with the truth is worthy of constant reevaluation, a Morris specialty. He was a spy himself in WWII, and what he experienced there would shape his cynical yet accurate-feeling worldview ever since. A must for any fan of either man’s work. Two Beers.
661. Get Gotti
This Netflix true crime series documents the rise of John Gotti to the top of the New York Mafia crimeworld and the halting and not always organized yet ultimately successful efforts of police and federal agents to take him down. It does a great job of telling the story from the mouths of principals on both sides of the law, even if it’s a story you may have heard much of before. Three Beers.
662. Tune Out the Noise
Hey, Errol Morris again, but extremely stealthily so (seriously, The Pigeon Tunnel played every major festival this year and I’ve heard not a single peep about this one until I discovered an online screening to check out). Anyway, this doc is about the rise of quants and data junkies in the financial services industry, bringing a measure of science to an industry that was gutfeel before. Doubles as a handy primer on playing the market for keeps as well. Two Beers.
663. They Shot the Piano Player
This animated documentary from Fernando Trueba tells the story of a journalist investigating the story of Tenorio, Jr., a Brazilian pianist recognized by his peers to be one of the key figures in the rise of Bossa Nova across the globe, before he disappeared when going to a corner store after a concert in Argentina one night. Investigating the reason uncovers a conspiracy that joined the worst impulses of the military dictatorships that ruled a wide swath of the South American continent at the time. Three Beers.
664. Furies
This sequel to 2019’s kick-ass Vietnamese action flick Furie jumps back in time to tell the origin story of its villain, and while there’s still plenty of neon-soaked, John Wick-indebted action to go around, a change in directors and possibly budget, or possibly the ‘rape-as-motivation’-heavy plot saps some of the magic from the franchise that feels like it’ll get another sequel or two courtesy of Netflix. Four Beers.
665. The Venture Bros.: Radiant Is the Blood of the Baboon Heart
The Venture Bros train keeps chugging along with this feature-length installment that sees the now quite extensive gang of classic cartoon-inspired rogues and her… also rogues come together for another adventure. The plot is almost superfluous to the escalating jokes and complicated references and callbacks, which are as great here as always. Three Beers.
666. Inauguration of the Pleasure Dome
A buddy of mine has gotten way into classic film lately, which I should be making a greater effort to do as well. We tossed on this Kenneth Anger short in the background when visiting, and it is very Kenneth Anger, a psychedelic queer opera of mythical proportions and not much discernible plot. It’s got some stunning imagery, though. Four Beers.
667. Stephen Curry: Underrated
IDA will also feature more high profile docs from bigger producers on occasion, such as this profile of basketball superstar Stephen Curry from Apple. This does a good job of running down how he rose from an undersized high schooler which few colleges took seriously to March Madness phenom at small school Davidson to the perennial MVP candidate and four-time champion he is today. Two Beers.
668. You Were My First Boyfriend
This inventive HBO doc sees Cecillia Aldarondo recreate and reoccupy her 1990s Middle School experiences, where like most girls of that age she felt the scorn of those more popular than she, developed some enduring body image issues, and pined after cute boys she never talked to. The difference here is she revisits with some of those long-grown peers to see how this time shaped them as well to evocative and sometimes surprising result. Three Beers.
669. And Miles to Go Before I Sleep
This deeply sad and disturbing documentary examines the plight of migrant workers in Taiwan, many either illegal immigrants or caught up in illegal enterprises like logging due to the ease with which they are exploited by unscrupulous business owners. The main entry into the story is a shameful episode where a naked Vietnamese man having a clear psychotic episode tries to get into a police car and is shot 9 times as a result, then left for too long to bleed out. Police violence isn’t only an American issue. Three Beers.
670. Mad Cats
This terminally goofy Japanese film is about a slacker who goes on a quest to save his brother from a group of transformed cat ladies with a bloodlust against anything anti-cat. Hyper-violent and slapstick, you’ve got to love the energy at least. Four Beers.
671. Waorani: Omede Beye Ante Nee Adani (Guardians of the Amazon)
This documentary short visits the Amazonian homeland of the Woarani people, held as the last tribe to make contact with the “civilized world” (or at least form a relationship with it- there are others we know of who have not been contacted, or who have met contact with spears and arrows as they perhaps well should). These people are unintimidated by the camera, telling stories of the way things used to be and the way they yet remain, as well as their own perspective on the evolution of their relationship with the outside world, from at first even helpful missionaries to the loggers and oilmen that followed in their tracks bringing nothing of value to a people surviving just fine in harmony with their environment. Three Beers.
672. Subject
The subject of this documentary are the subjects of other famous documentaries, people whose lives can’t help but be changed by being caught on screen for the world to consume and form their own opinions about. In doing so, it raises fascinating questions about the ethics of documentary filmmaking and who gets to tell these stories. Three Beers.
673. Bobi Wine: The People’s President
This superb yet enraging documentary profiles singer turned serious political candidate Bobi Wine, who set out to break the 35 year regime of Yoweri Museveni and faced obstacles and deadly threats at every turn. An important profile of anti-democratic forces at work and a man brave enough to face them down despite grave personal risk that ranks up there with Navalny in execution and importance. A Toast.
674. The Mother of All Lies
Another top-notch documentary from IDA, this one hails from Morocco and has an interesting conceit, as Asmae El Moudir recreates her childhood street in diorama form as a way to tell a tragic family story that it’s clear this family has never fully grappled with, perhaps due to the oppressive presence of her grandmother, who won’t let photographs of the family be taken, much less anyone speak of the fateful events of one bloody day in 1981. A Toast.
675. Anonymous Sister
This documentary takes a look at the Opioid Crises from the very personal lens of one family consumed by it, first when one daughter is prescribed “safe” opiates for the wear and tear on her body from a near-Olympic skating career and then later when her mother also gets that dreaded prescription, as sister and father sit back and watch the drugs take over their lives. In many ways this family is among the lucky ones, and yet it’s too easy to see how it could have gone so much worse (and still could). Two Beers.
676. Rewind & Play
This oddity is constructed from an old master of a French television program that was shot (but I’m guessing never aired) right after Thelonious Monk’s last concert on his 1969 European tour. There’s some great piano playing, sure, but also some deeply uncomfortable repartee between Monk and the host that lay bare his patronizing racism and general ineptitude in an almost anti-comedy fashion, almost like something Tim & Eric would come up with. Three Beers.
