Sayles’ Go for Sisters

To judge from John Sayles’ latest, everyone in Tijuana’s Chinatown is involved in human trafficking.  It is not quite the case of profiling that it might sound like.  Everybody in the sin-ridden border town is up to something according to Sayles’ Go for Sisters (trailer here), which opens tomorrow in New York.

Back in the day, Bernice and Fontayne were close friends and fellow cheerleaders. Then a mister came between the two high school girls who could “go for sisters.”  They went their very divergent ways after their falling out.  Twenty years later, Bernice is the by-the-book parole officer assigned Fontayne’s case.  At first, she wants none of her former friend’s excuses, but she uncharacteristically gives Fontayne a pass on a minor infraction.  Initially, she is a little uncomfortable with Fontayne’s resulting gratitude, but she soon calls in the marker. 

Apparently her son has fallen in with the criminal element and has gone missing south of the border.  Bernice will need Fontayne’s help navigating the shadowy world of gangs and vice.  Obviously, human trafficking is a little out of the recovering addict’s league, so they duly recruit the more seasoned services of Freddy “The Terminator” Suárez, a disgraced ex-cop who knows people on both sides of the law and both sides of the border.

To an extent, Sisters represents something of a return to form for Sayles after the profoundly disappointing anti-imperialist finger-wagging of Amigo.  Like his best films, Sisters is a character-driven affair that lets every quietly revelatory scene play out in its own patient time. 

However, his thriller mechanics are a bit rusty.  We never really see any of the bad guys and frankly they never act all that menacing. (Particularly problematic, the few Asian characters we briefly encounter are clumsy stereotypes, such as Mother Han, the Godmother of the Tijuana Chinatown mob.) Sayles might be a veteran writer for hire, but he would make Chekhov wince when the mysterious smuggling tunnel Bernice and Fontayne are invited to explore never factors at all in the later narrative.

What works for Sisters are its three primary co-leads.  LisaGay Hamilton and Yolanda Ross are terrific together, convincingly conveying all the complicated history shared by Bernice and Fontayne.  As Suárez, Edward James Olmos raises steely reserve to a high art.  It is also nice to see Hector Elizondo turn up in a cameo, even if his scene serves little dramatic purpose.

Despite the supposed ticking clock, Sisters ambles along at Sayles’ typically unhurried pace. It feels like a Sayles movie, which is cool, even if it undercuts its genre ambitions.  Even if it is not a breakneck thriller, Sayles provides a sympathetic showcase for his cast.  Refreshingly free of polemics, Go for Sisters is recommended (with respect rather than passion) for those who appreciate understated drama.  It opens tomorrow (11/8) in New York at the AMC Empire and the Village East.

Sayles’ Amigo

During the Spanish-American War, U.S. troops in Cuba got all the glory (remember San Juan Hill?). By contrast, those who served during the Philippine-American War got monsoons, dysentery, and the clap. For indie filmmaker John Sayles, it also represents Viet Nam, Iraq, and everything else he does not like about America to judge from his clumsily didactic Amigo (trailer here), which opens today in New York.

Rafael Dacanay, the mayor of a remote Filipino village, assures the relatively sympathetic American Lieutenant Compton he is an “Amigo,” or ‘friendly” to use terminology of slightly more recent vintage. As a reasonable chap, Compton allows him to continue on as “head man,” but he frees the dastardly Spanish priest Dacanay had imprisoned (hadn’t we just been fighting the Spanish?). Of course, it is not long before Dacanay has taken his place in solitary, thanks to some stupid misunderstandings on the part of the Americans and the villainous machinations of Padre Hidalgo.

Compton legitimately wants to win the “hearts and minds” of the villagers (yes, he really uses that expression), but his neo-conservative commanding officer Col. Hardacre (yes, that really is his name) is having none of that mushiness. He is convinced the locals have information on the guerillas and Compton is to squeeze them until they talk.

What happened during the shooting on the island of Bohol? The resulting Amigo is not just a bad movie. It is a depressing experience to watch something like this from the director of great films like Lone Star and The Secret of Roan Inish. Despite the presence of several accomplished Filipino actors, like Joel Torre and Ronnie Lazaro (both excellent in the arty horror movie Yanggaw), the film never rises above the level of crude political street theater.

Perhaps most embarrassing is the normally reliable Sayles-regular Chris Cooper as the grizzled Col. Hardacre. Frankly, he looks and sounds like a pirate. Rather than threatening Dacanay with hanging, the audience will expect him to make the Mayor walk the plank. These are not characters, they are stock stereotypes. Evidently, only Garrett Dillahunt was allowed to approach his character, Lt. Compton, with any nuance. It was certainly welcome though.

Those who hate America, the military, and Catholicism will probably feel compelled to pretend Amigo is a good film. It isn’t. Granted, Sayles productions are always extremely indie affairs, but even the sets here look phony. The rest of us should hope Sayles got this ideological hiccup completely out of his system and can move on to deeper, more rewarding projects. Completely skippable, Amigo opens today (8/19) in New York at the AMC Empire.

IFP: Honeydripper

Juke joints were associated with two things: getting down and getting dead. Blues drenched killings have been immortalized in the lyrics of such classics like “Stagger Lee,” which is in fact heard in John Sayles’ new juke drama Honeydripper (trailer here), which formally opened Independent Film Week Mon. night. As a juke joint drama, it shows both the good times and the undercurrent of potential violence that often accompanied the Devil Blues.

Being a John Sayles film, Honeydripper (named after one such juke) eases into its plot at a leisurely pace. Again, as is often the case with Sayles films, it has a strong sense of place. Set in 1950 Alabama, it presents the trials facing juke owner and former big band pianist Tyrone “Pine Top” Purvis, a well meaning family man overwhelmed by his current circumstances. Danny Glover plays Purvis, basically recreating the same character he has played for the last twenty years. In fact, Honeydripper’s biggest fault is the relative weakness of its characterizations. For instance, Stacy Keach’s corrupt sheriff is only a pale shadow of Lone Star’s Kris Kristofferson, a villain who can evidently be bought off with a fried chicken drumstick.

Perhaps the most intriguing character is a mysterious itinerant blues musician played by Keb’ Mo’, whose benevolence or malevolence remains an open question in the film. His appearances are also occasions for some pretty cool solo guitar work from Mo.’

The music of Honeydripper is spot on, capturing the period when the blues was evolving into R&B, which of course would be popularized to white teenagers as rock & roll. In addition to Mo’s tasty solos, there is some impressive work from the emerging Texas blues musician Gary Clark, Jr. as the young new guitar slinger in town. The great Dr. Mabel John also contributes some rocking vocals. John appears to be experiencing a late career renaissance, having also published her first novel late last year (reviewed here).

Honeydripper looks right and sounds great. It may not be perfect, but its blues literacy is readily evident. Unlike many of the films screening this week, it is completely finished and placed with a distributor. Look for it late in the year.