Miguel Wants to Fight, on Hulu

Miguel might be Generation Z, but at least he has ambition. He is tired of watching like a freeloader, while his friends leap into scuffles, to protect each other’s’ backs. He must be quick about, because his parents will be moving to a new city and they are obviously taking him with them in Oz Rodriguez’s Miguel Wants to Fight, which premieres tomorrow on Hulu.

Ironically, Miguel’s father is a boxing trainer, but he strongly discourages street fighting. Nevertheless, Miguel’s friends, Cass, Srini, and David (the son of a late boxing legend, who trained with Miguel’s dad) always “jump in” when somebody starts mixing it up with one of their gang. Up to now, they never noticed that Miguel never jumped in with them. It still really doesn’t bother them, but Miguel considers it a grave failing.

Given Miguel’s massive fandom for martial arts films, his previous reluctance to fight makes him feel hypocritical. He also believes he has let down his friends. However, they think they are humoring him, by assisting his campaign to debut as a brawler. Since Miguel is a nice guy, he needs to provoke someone else to throw the first punch. He has a few old bullies who would make good candidates, but absolutely not the hulking Damien Delgado. Of course, he should really just tell his friends the truth about his impending relocation, so they can make the most of their remaining time together.

In some ways, it is too bad Rodriguez’s film is skipping a theatrical release and heading straight to Hulu, because it would have had a lot of critical support. The banter between the Fab Four friends is appealing and the cinematic references are hip and clever. For each prospective foe, Miguel envisions their potential showdowns in the style of an iconic film or anime, including Enter the Dragon, The Matrix, and One Punch Man.

5-25-77: It was a Long Time Ago…

Forget about May the Fourth/Force. 5/25 is the real birthdate for Star Wars. If you grew up in the late 1970s or the 1980s, it completely changed how you related to movies. It certainly blew Patrick Read Johnson’s mind. He eventually went to Hollywood, caught on as a special effects guy and directed films like Spaced Invaders and Angus. Johnson revisits his pivotal introduction to Star Wars and the awkward high school moments before and after in 5-25-77, which releases today on DVD.

Initially, Douglas Trumbull was “Pat Johnson’s” idol and 2001 was his touchstone film. We see him laboring away at his backyard sequels to Jaws and The Planet of the Apes, but he never quite finishes anything. He is sure he has to leave Wadsworth, IL, so he can apprentice under Trumbull in Hollywood, but he has no idea how to get there. Then he meets Linda, an actual prospective girlfriend, who somewhat distracts him with other common high school concerns, but she can’t shake his filmmaking ambitions.

Thanks to Johnson’s indulgent mother, Johnson eventually makes it to Hollywood, but he is clueless when it comes to networking. However, he gets to see some early footage of Star Wars thanks to Herb Lightman, the editor of American Cinematographer magazine. Johnson tries to become a prophet hailing the coming of Star Wars, but his classmates would rather act like they are characters in American Graffiti, or maybe a rowdier 1980s teen comedy.

5-25-77 is a love letter to Stars Wars (and Close Encounters, Silent Running, and 1970s science fiction in general), produced by Gary Kurtz (Star War, Empire Strikes Back, and Dark Crystal). It is achingly earnest, to the point of being overly self-serious. Johnson’s thinly fictionalized self is also a walking face-palm, who often makes the film an excruciating viewing experience. The ample examples of Johnson’s half-baked DIY filmmaking ingenuity also get to be a bit too cute.

Wyrm

In our world, there is already plenty of pressure on geeky middle school kids trying to ask someone out. In this alternate 1990s, Wyrm Whitner could be held back if he doesn’t get to first base fast. His electronic monitoring collar will know whether he lands that first kiss or not. Of course, his weird family drama is hardly helpful in screenwriter-director Christopher Winterbauer’s eccentric coming-of-age fantasy, Wyrm, which releases today on VOD and in theaters.

Whitner’s brother Dylan was the jock-hero of his high school, but he wasn’t such a great brother, or even much of a person. Nevertheless, Wyrm doggedly records audio tributes for Dylan’s one-year memorial, perhaps as an excuse for the embarrassing collar obviously still affixed around his neck. Unfortunately, his older sister Myrcella is not helping, even though she hangs out with Izzy, the new girl across the street. Instead, she is more interested in earning “credit” with the Norwegian exchange student and writing poison pen letters to their classmates.

Poor Wyrm is pretty much on his own, because neither of his parents are much of a presence in their lives anymore. Instead, their slacker Uncle Chet and his immigrant girlfriend Flor handle most of the parental duties. Maybe they aren’t perfect, but at least they are trying.

Wyrm works surprisingly well because Winterbauer maintains the logic of the “No Child Left Alone” system, while not boring us with the deep dive details. Admittedly, the obsession with preteens’ sexual development feels a little creepy, but the Last-American-Virgin-style drama is weirdly compelling. Perhaps inadvertently, it also maybe argues how mandates can be counter-productive. (It is also worth noting the actual “No Child Left Behind” program was not designed to put pressure on kids. It was intended to measure the effectiveness of their teachers, who started stressing their kids out to perform well, just to cover their butts, so riffing on its name in this context really isn’t fair.)

Japan Cuts ’21: It’s a Summer Film!

Can't decide if you are in the mood for a sappy teen romance, a samurai Chanbara film, or some light science fiction? Well, you do not have to choose. This film does it all—and it might just save the future of filmmaking in the process. Genres collide, but the can-do spirit of teen filmmakers prevails in Soushi Matsumoto’s It’s a Summer Film!, which screens on-demand and in-person, as part of the 2021 Japan Cuts Festival of New Japanese Film, at the Japan Society.

Nobody loves samurai films more than “Barefoot.” (She and her friends have somewhat eccentric nicknames that don’t seem to bother them.) Much to her frustration, the film club throws all its resources behind the popular Karin’s weepy teen melodrama instead of her script, Samurai Spring. Her friends, “Kickboard” (of the Astronomy Club) and “Blue Hawaii,” (a member of the kendo team) encourage her to go it on her own, but she is reluctant until she suddenly finds her perfect lead.

For some reason, the mysterious Rintaro insists she must make her film, but he is reluctant to star in it. Barefoot is confused when he talks about being her greatest fan, but there is definitely romantic attraction percolating between them. Things really get confusing when the crew learns Rintaro’s secret—so much so, it becomes unclear whether Samurai Spring will be completed in time for the high school’s summer festival.

In some ways, Summer Film bears some thematic similarities to the original Bill & Ted, but its teen characters are much smarter. It might best compare to One Cut of the Dead, because they both use genre elements to pay “feel-good” tribute to the filmmaking process. Summer Film has more to offer than cuteness, but it is indeed as a cute as a button.

First Date: It’s All About Teens, Cars, and Drugs

It is really hard to rebound after messing up a first date. However, shy teenaged Mike has a very good excuse: the drug dealers out to get him. It is nothing personal. They just want the large stash of cocaine hidden in the used car he bought. He is way too nice a guy for this sort of thing, but despite the bad start, he might just make some progress with his longtime crush in Manuel Crosby & Darren Knapp’s First Date, which opens today in theaters and on-demand.

When they were younger, Mike and Kelsey were friends. Now he assumes she is out of his league. Yet, when his best friend Brett tricks him into asking her out, Kelsey says yes. The problem is Mike has no wheels. Again, Brett “helps” out by finding a used car. Unfortunately, the shady Dennis pulls a bait-and-switch, but Mike buys the ’65 Chrysler beater anyway, because it has an 8-track player. We can follow that logic.

It turns out that is not the only extra the car is tricked out with. Unbeknownst to Mike, it also carries a considerable cache of drugs. After realizing there is something wrong with his jalopy, Mike returns to confront the seller, but he finds the place ransacked, Dennis mysteriously missing, and his high-strung wife on a rampage. This ill-fated encounter makes Mike hopelessly late to pick-up Kelsey, but eventually she is pulled into the bedlam too.

Admittedly, First Date traffics in a lot of teen movie cliches and stereotypes, but it does so in a smart way. It also features a more inclusive cast than some of the vintage 1980s teen comedies that probably inspired it. However, the escalating body count and violent edge makes the film feel decidedly contemporary (especially if you live in the current war zones known as New York and Los Angeles). No, this is not your slightly older brother’s Risky Business or Adventures in Baby Sitting.

Premature: Déjà vu High

Yes, what really is a Hoya, but Rob Crabbe might not get that. He is under extreme pressure from his alumni parents to get into Georgetown, but he keeps blowing the interview—and everything else he tries this very bad day—over and over again. For some cosmic reason, his high school angst fest keeps resetting whenever he can’t hold his horses, which happens pretty frequently in Dan Beers’ somewhat naughty high school genre comedy, Premature (trailer here), opening tonight at the IFC Center.

Crabbe is a diligent kid with all the right extracurriculars for a college application, but the wrong ones for impressing girls. He only has two real friends, the sex-obsessed Stanley, who seems to be on the cusp of graduating into a Kevin Smith movie and his conspicuously cute platonic girlfriend, Gabrielle. He also tutors a fake friend, Angela Yearwood (a.k.a. Afterschool Special), the school’s promiscuous hottie. Crabbe is to be interviewed by Georgetown alumnus Jack Roth, but he always starts off on an embarrassing foot, because of a bullying incident (by the volleyball team of all people). On the upside, Yearwood finally invites Crabbe over to her house for a tutoring session, which is where Crabbe’s cosmic Etch A Sketch usually gets cleared.

There is no denying the obvious: Premature is a fluid-obsessed teenage sex comedy co-written and directed by a guy named Beers. Tailor your expectations accordingly.  If perchance you are looking for some relentlessly shameless laughs, it aims to please. Beers and co-screenwriter Mathew Harawitz rather cleverly adapt the Groundhog Day concept to high school, finding fresh ways to make sex jokes, while still maintaining a relatively innocent heart.

As Krabbe, John Karna is clearly trying to be the next Jason Bateman, but he is way too low-key and reserved. You’d probably pick on him too, if you had the opportunity. However, Craig Roberts makes amends for walking around looking so sad-eyed and sensitive in the annoyingly precocious Submarine with his wonderfully foul-mouthed and energetic turn as best-bud Stanley. Katie Findlay also displays a winning screen presence as Gabrielle—almost to a problematic extent, far outshining the campus bombshell-temptress. Yet, perhaps the film’s MVP should go to Alan Tudyk as the wildly unstable Roth. Just as he did in Tucker & Dale vs. Evil, he shows a real knack for creating outrageous characters that are still profoundly decent.

If you consider “juvenile humor” a term of derision than good luck with Premature. On the other hand, if you enjoy a good boob joke as much as the next horny adolescent than its time to stock up. Recommended for fans of films with the words “Pie” and “Lampoon” in the title, Premature opens tonight (7/2) in New York at the IFC Center.