DWF ’17: Espionage Tonight

Reality television has become so toxic, the idea of weaponizing it sort of makes sense. However, the CIA has more of an exercise in soft power in mind. The plan is to show how transparent we are at being covert and dirty. Thomas Devlin, “the Swamp Fox,” is just the likable wet works operative to win back the trust of the American people in Rob Gordon Bralver’s broad satire, Espionage Tonight (clip here), which had its world premiere at the 2017 Dances with Films.

Obviously, the Swamp Fox will have to retire into witness protection with a new identity after the first season, but that is just fine with him. He is not crazy about the new focus-grouped “Swamp Fox” nick-name, but whatever. He will work reasonably well with Sebastian Young, the field producer and cameraman. He also still trusts his long-time handler, Sydney Greenstreet (let’s dearly hope they know they are making a reference). However, showrunner Sam Jacobson and network marketing liaison Elizabeth Geary are a different matter.

The show is on regardless, both for Devlin and Amanda Artemova, the Russian actress who will be playing French journalist Isabelle Fremaux, deliberately chosen for her resemblance to the pretty Russian woman executed for helping Swampy during his last mission. Like Devlin, she will also be improving. Supposedly, everyone else is who they are presented to be, but we know better. In any event, Mainland China is making a power play, proposing a transcontinental bullet train through Colombia to compete with the Panama Canal (of course, they would have to first permanently rout those pesky Communist terrorists first, but it would still be bad from a sphere of influence perspective).

Granted, spoofs are not typically what you would call narrative-driven, but the way ET careens from plot point to plot point, you would think it was scripted during a Mad Libs party. It would be a real challenge reverse engineering an outline from this movie. At least, there was some colorful casting at the front end.

Frankly, Joe Hursley is pretty good as the sad-eyed but still pretty crazy Devlin. He and Greg Davis Jr. also wisely refrain from over-playing the subject-cameraman buddy bromance. Lynn Whitfield has the right gravitas for Greenstreet, while Alexie Gilmore is drolly catty as Geary. Unfortunately, Saïd Taghamaoui and Chasty Ballesteros are grossly under-employed as the arms-dealing kingpin Iskandar Yasin and his lover Fei Song, but they certainly are a photogenic couple.

There are some amusing gags in ET, but the constant cynicism gets to be a drag. Even John le Carré finds more inherent honor in the western intelligence services than Bralver’s screenplay allows. The truth is, the more you like spy films, the less likely you are to enjoy this one. Mostly a misfire, Espionage Tonight premiered at the 2017 Dances With Films, which concludes tonight in Hollywood, CA.

DWF ‘17: The Man from Earth—Holocene

If a 14,000-year-old immortal must disappear every ten years to avoid detection, it stands to reason he would eventually live in Chico, California. John Oldman, now using the name John Young, has finally reached that point. He has also finally confided his secret in others, albeit under ambiguous conditions. The Cro-Magnon who might also possibly be Christ and other characters created by the late science fiction writer Jerome Bixby return in Richard Schenkman’s The Man from Earth: Holocene (trailer here), which premieres at the 2017 Dances with Films.

Usually John Oldman prefers to disappear like a thief in the night, but his faculty friends got wind of his leaving a threw him the going away party that is Schenkman’s original Man from Earth film. During the course of the evening, he told them the fantastical story of his life. Reactions were mixed, especially when he implied he was Christ—or rather a disciple of the Buddha who was mistaken for a messiah when he started to preach his master’s teachings in ancient northern Israel. Art Jenkins, the archaeologist particularly resented being played a fool, but when he started researching Oldman in the period between the films, he found himself unable to disprove any of his claims. Unfortunately, his resulting “nonfiction” book short-circuited his academic career.

However, it is the start of a paper trail that intrepid anthropology student Isabel Chang and her friends can follow. They have faithfully enrolled in “Young’s” comparative religion courses, often observing he talks about all the major religious figures as if he knew them personally. Based on a mounting pile of circumstantial evidence, they start to suspect Jenkins’ book is gospel, so to speak. However, the implications are different for each of them.

Chang hopes Oldman/Young has transcendent wisdom he can offer the world. Her roommate Tara is increasingly (and inappropriately) attracted to their professor, who looks remarkably good for his age. The Born-Again Philip is not sure whether the truth threatens or strengthens his Christian convictions, whereas his pal Liko is mostly along for the ride.

The original Man from Earth riffed on themes Bixby first addressed in his Star Trek episode, “Requiem for Methuselah,” but it was produced and released posthumously. In a sense, it is quite fitting these characters continue to live on after him. Setting aside the heavy-handed religious revelations, there is something about the immortal that resonates on an archetypal kind of way.

It helps that David Lee Smith hits all the right notes as the world-weary (he’s entitled at this point) Young Oldman, clearly portraying all the guilt and loneliness, as well as erudition that comes with immortality. Even though her fellow Scooby Mystery Team-mates get all the foibles, it is still Akemi Look who commands the screen as Chang. She really has presence and star power. As Jenkins, William (Greatest American Hero) Katt is certainly convincing playing someone who has seen better days. Yet, it is Michael Dorn (Star Trek’s Worf) gets the best scene as the department chair contemplating his mortality with the sympathetic Cro-Magnon.

Holocene is the sort of speculative fiction that can get by without any special effects. In fact, there is really no call for them here. It is all character and idea driven. Fans will be happy to note the screenplay, co-written by Schenkman and Bixby’s son Emerson maintains the internal logic and narrative consistency of the first film remarkably well. Strangely compelling, Man from Earth: Holocene is recommended for admirers of Richard Matheson’s more spiritual work (such as What Dreams May Come) when it screens imminently today (6/10) at the year’s Dances With Films.

DWF ’17: One Less God

The grim truth is no matter how much security agencies prepare, a Mumbai-style terrorist attack will still cause plenty of death and destruction. As a case in point, French law enforcement reacted to the November 2015 attacks with near tactical perfection, but it was still a horrific tragedy. In contrast, Mumbai authorities were caught flat-footed, resulting in four agonizing days of terror. The savage 2008 terrorist campaign is dramatized from the perspective of the besieged guests of the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in screenwriter-director Liam Worthington’s One Less God (trailer here), which had its world premiere at the 2017 Dances with Films.

The terrorists were indeed Muslims—a fact Turkish tourist Selim would prefer to ignore. He also finds his more modern-thinking sister Eda to be an embarrassing nuisance. Thanks to her they were separated from their mother when the attacks started. They take refuge in the room of a French journalist, but his stubborn refusal to fully recognize the precariousness of their position leads to tension and quarreling.

Eventually, they join up with another group of ragtag survivors, including Sean the Irish tourist, the gut-shot elderly woman he has been caring for, and an Israeli rock star and his wife. By this time, even Selim starts to grasp the gravity of their situation. A few doors down, Atiya’s grandfather understands only too well the savagery unfolding around them, but he tries to shield her from the fear and protect her from the danger as best he can.

Die Hard­­-like films are certainly fun, but OLG makes it clear how far-fetched such confined-space action movies really are. For the Taj Mahal survivors, waiting out the terrorists was obviously their best and really only option. This is just an unrelentingly tense and emotionally devastating film that portrays the realities of terrorism in no uncertain terms.

Worthington also finds the right characterization balance that has bedeviled 9-11 films. He makes the innocent victims readily identifiable, but also down-to-earth and believably human, rather than saintly. On the other hand, the terrorists are stone cold extremists, for whom no excuses are made. Yet, he also denies them super-human status, depicting all their human warts—including for one terrorist, a persistent case of diarrhea.

In his big screen debut, Joseph Mahler Taylor might just breakout to stardom immediately for his work anchoring OLG. He brings considerable depth and feeling to the laidback, ecumenically tolerant Sean and also develops some poignantly halting romantic chemistry with Reilly O’Byrne-Inglis’s Eda. Yet, the young and preternaturally wide-eyed Mihika Rao will truly haunt viewers, becoming something akin to a cinematic poster-child for terrorism victims as the innocent Atiya.

Perhaps the most frightening thing about the 2008 siege of Mumbai is that it serves as a template for future attacks. Worthington and his cast give viewers a visceral sense of what it is like to hunted by a highly-armed, well-financed band of mass murdering terrorists. Yet, he still finds reason to hope for the best in humanity, without jarringly departing from the film’s tone or truthfulness. Very highly recommended, One Less God should have a long festival life ahead of it, after premiering at this year’s Dances With Films.

DFW ’17: To the Moon and Back

Today’s Russia is a truly Dickensian nation, rife with orphanages, where special needs children are consigned to lives of institutional anonymity and often times abuse. These innocents have been victimized several times over by macro forces outside their control, starting with the lingering Soviet prejudices against those not fully able-bodied and labor-ready and most recently by Commiczar Putin’s ban on American adoptions. Susan Morgan Cooper chronicles the events that led up to the adoption ban and introduces viewers to the children and parents who have been cruelly separated in To the Moon and Back (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

For propaganda purposes, the adoption ban legislation was named the Dima Yakovlev Law, in reference to Chase Dmitri Harrison, a Russian toddler adopted by a Virginia couple, who tragically died a few months after arriving in America. Cooper does not try to sweep the circumstances of his death under the rug. Instead, she interviews the still-grieving Harrisons at great length about their adoption process, their brief life together, and his sad passing. Granted, it is easy to demonize Miles Harrison in a kneejerk way for forgetting his son in their hot car on a particularly stressful morning, but the Russian system also bears responsibility for the under-development of his vocal and communication skills. Regardless, the Harrisons were more devastated by his death than any of the posturing Russian nationalists.

Thanks to cruel fate and Vladimir Putin, Bill Browder is linked to their story. He was one of the first investment bankers to set up a Russian fund and became an outspoken advocate of financial transparency. For obvious reasons, this did not sit well with Putin, who expelled Browder and plundered his company. Much to his regret, Browder retained the idealistic attorney-auditor Sergei Magnitsky to document the crimes carried out by the Putin government. Magnitsky’s subsequent arrest, torture, and prison death by bludgeoning would inspire the Magnitsky Bill, which froze the assets and banned entry to eighteen Russian officials complicit in the death of Magnitsky and the looting he had investigated.

Naturally, Putin had to retaliate, so he sacrificed the most vulnerable Russians to do so, using Harrison and a handful of other cases (out of thousands) as a pretext. Cooper interviews many prospective parents whose adoptions were cancelled, even though they had already been approved by the authorities and bounded with their children.

Clearly, these kids are the biggest losers from Putin’s churlish power play. There is virtually no domestic adoption within Russia, especially for special needs children. Without the possibility of

American adoption, they truly have no realistic hope of a future. Yet, perhaps most chillingly, the film also illustrates how an authoritarian regime can cynically exploit an isolated incident for purposes of propaganda and distraction.

To the Moon is often agonizingly difficult to watch. From a viewers’ perspective, the Harrisons’ pain is almost unbearable to witness. Yet, the agony and anger of parents whose late-stage adoptions were abruptly canceled are nearly as raw and visceral. The documentary also provides a genuine public service with its clear and compelling explanation of the Magnitsky affair, scoring a long, frank interview with Browder.

Taking its title from one of the would-be adoptive parent’s expression of love, To the Moon is one of the most emotionally devastating exposes you will see all year. However, it is nice to see Sen. John McCain leading the fight for greater human rights accountability in Russia, especially considering the unfathomable affection for Putin expressed by our supposedly Republican president. Indeed, this is one of the most critically timely documentaries currently on the festival circuit. It really ought to be at the Human Rights Watch Film Festival too, but that fest has apparently lost its way and its soul. Very highly recommended, To the Moon and Back screens tomorrow (6/9), as part of this year’s Dances with Films, in downtown Hollywood.

DWF ’17: Imitation Girl

She is a traveler like Starman, but cuter and a faster learner. A day or two after arriving in the middle of the New Mexican boonies, she is already speaking reasonably fluent Farsi. Neat trick, right? However, the naïve alien has a profoundly less happy earthly double out there, so it seems a near-certainty they will eventually meet in Natasha Kermani’s Imitation Girl (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

As luck would have it, the first image the alien ooze comes across is a “sophisticate” magazine left behind by the horny youth spooked by the loud crashing noise. Juliana Fox was the cover model of that issue, so it is her image the Imitation assumes. The desert is a harsh environment for a woman in a negligee, but she manages to make it to the road house managed by Saghi, the son of Iranian immigrants. He and his sister Khahar will teach her the essentials of human living. They do not quite know what to make of her, but they quickly become found of her, especially Saghi.

Meanwhile, Fox is in the throes of an existential crisis. She has wearied of her work in dirty movies, so she signs up for a long-shot conservatory audition after a chance meeting with a former music teacher. Unfortunately, her drug-fueled lifestyle is really starting to catch up with her.

Lauren Ashley Carter, the horror ingenue star of The Mind’s Eye, Darling, and Jug Face is terrific in the dual role of Fox and her imitation. They could not be any more radically dissimilar, but she makes them both quite poignant in their own ways. Neimah Djourabchi and Sanam Erfani are both very engaging but also believably down to earth as the Southwestern Persian siblings. In fact, he gets the best speech of the film, which he knocks out of the park. As an added bonus, Catherine Mary Stewart (from Night of the Comet) turns up as Dorothy Phan, the music teacher.

Obviously, Imitation has a message about what it means to be human, but it is also a generously forgiving and humanistic film. However, the crisp, clean look is actually counter-productive. It is meant to be a dream-like fable, but it looks like a standard issue indie comedy. Still, it is ultimately not how it looks that matters, but what’s inside that counts, right? In this case, it is a thoughtful work of speculative-fantastical fiction, featuring several mature and graceful performances. Highly recommended for fans of first contact sf and fish-out-of-water movies, Imitation Girl screens tonight (6/6), as part of this year’s Dances with Films, in downtown Hollywood.

DWF ’17: Lore

We tend to idealize Native legends in a hippy-dippy New Agey in-tune-with-nature kind of way. That sort of thinking will get you killed in these mountains. Ann and Rich’s son Eric was not the first teen to go missing in these parts, but her maternal connection tells her he is still up there somewhere. The freshly divorced parents are sure to find something when they head up the mountain in Christian Larsen & Brock Manwill’s Lore (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

Apparently, Eric did not take his parents split well, so he retreated into the woods to have himself a long think. When he failed to emerge, Sheriff Paul and his men thoroughly searched their face of the mountain and the tribal police handled their side, but no trace was found. They assume (and hope) Eric is actually a runaway, but Ann’s dreams tell her differently. Eventually, Rich reluctantly agrees to one more private search, with John, the Native American guide recommended by their pastor. Of course, as soon as they get a fair distance into the woods, they start hearing eerie sounds. It soon becomes clear something is trying to scare them off, but it only spurs Ann to continue forward with more urgency.

Aesthetically and temperamentally, Lore is a betwixt-and-between sort of film. Yes, there is definitely something in those woods. Larsen & Manwill certainly do not want viewers to get too comfortable, but they are still obviously more interested in their character study of the grieving parents. Lyndsey Lantz and Max Lesser are quite good as the divorced couple, suggesting all kinds of shared history, still remembered grievances, and lingering affection. Sean Wei Mah also has real presence and outdoorsy cred as John. As a further plus, it is always cool to see Eric “Work Ethic” Roberts do his thing as reasonable Sheriff Paul (his early scene in Lore was probably the fifth film he shot that day).

However, there is no getting around the fact Larsen & Manwill over-promise and under-deliver in the mythical beast department. They also drop some monster “lore” that they never circle back to. Still, most viewers will get sucked into the couple’s tragic drama regardless of their expectations (it is worth noting DWF did not program Lore for their midnight section, so we can’t fault their positioning).

In fact, Lore is a well-made, finely acted film, but it will be a challenge finding the right audience for it. Lantz and Lesser deserve particular shout-outs, but it should be readily admitted Roberts quite good in his umpteenth guest star-walk-on appearance. Recommended for those who like their genre films restrained and brooding, Lore screens Tuesday (6/6), as part of this year’s Dances with Films, in Hollywood, USA.

DWF ’17: Crossing Fences (short)

During the dark days of the Berlin Wall, the Baltic Sea was a lot like the Florida Straits. Thousands of liberty-seekers were fished out of the water and arrested, while over two hundred drowned or were lost at sea. Christine and Volker Schmidt were fortunate to survive their escape attempt, but they did not feel very lucky at the time. The harrowing 1974 incident is faithfully dramatized in Annika Pampel’s short film Crossing Fences (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

Volker Schmidt aspired to lead a free life in the West, whereas Christine was determined to spend her life with him. Although she did not chafe under the Party’s restrictions of free expression and thought as much as he did, she still risked everything to join his desperate flight across the Baltic in a makeshift row boat. Sadly, they will not get very far. Arguably, the guards in the watchtower are the very model of socialist efficiency, but they are still sufficiently alert to notice the not so stealthy couple.

Yet, they may have a comparative stroke of good fortune when it is Captain Harold who intercepts them. The urbane officer seems to be curious about the thwarted refugees. In fact, he will even ignore a direct order to summarily execute them in the water, just so he can take their measure.

For obvious reasons, most movies about the former GDR have used the Wall as a focal point. It was indeed a forbidding obstacle and an ominous symbol of oppression. Films like Night Crossing and The Tunnel recreated real life efforts to go over or under, but the watery northern border has been largely overlooked by cinema and television. That alone would make Crossing Fences a valuable short film, but it also happens to be a potent human drama and remarkably well-crafted period production.

Nina Rausch and Christian Wolf make a convincingly loving but desperate couple. Yet, it is Philippe Brenninkmeyer who will really come to personify the film for many viewers. He is terrific as the commanding Captain Harold, but it is important to remember such humanistic officers were the exception rather than the rule under the Communist regime (frankly, it would not be surprising if his real-life counterpart had been purged shortly after his encounter with the Schmidts).

Crossing Fences makes recent history come alive and celebrates the resilient spirit of “ordinary” people like the Schmidts. It is also frighteningly timely, arriving at a time when Putin is openly coveting the Baltic nations. Very highly recommended, Crossing Fences screens this Sunday (6/4), as part of Competition Shorts Block 5, at the 2017 edition of Dances with Films.

DWF ’17: Central Park

Seriously, why couldn’t these prep school kids have just gone to a coke-fueled dance club. It’s not like they don’t have money. Then again, a few of them are scholarship students. That makes it even more unfair when a maniac with a grudge against a Madoff-like Ponzi-schemer hunts his sons’ friends through that big park over there in Justin Reinsilber’s Central Park, which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

These are strange days for Harold Smith. His father Charles Lincoln Smith Jr. is in jail for the biggest investment con game of the millennium and a gaggle of reporters are permanently parked outside his fashionable Upper Eastside townhouse. The media frenzy is particularly intense, because Smith’s biggest victim was the NAACP. At least his friends are standing by him—while they’re still alive.

Really, for no compelling reason, they are going to drink and get stoned in the park. Look, it’s just a really bad idea to go in their late at night. Mikey the scholarship student will start to have second thoughts when the weed brings out his paranoia. Unfortunately, he will call their cool teacher, Daniel Shaw, for help, even before they know they are being stalked. That means the faithful husband and father of a newborn will get dragged into their madness. It also means his wife Melissa will call in a favor with her ambiguous NYPD detective “friend,” when he goes off the grid.

Central Park is mostly standard issue stuff, but Reinsilber cleverly incorporates some of the Park’s lore, including “Barry,” the “Central Park Bigfoot.” The details he sketches out on Smith’s father and his crimes are also sound highly plausible, in a way that is very much analogous to the Madoff case.
Unfortunately, the teen characters are mostly rather boring. In contrast, the most intriguing figures in the film are Melissa Shaw and Max, the detective who lost his surname. The fact that their relationship and the circumstances that gave rise to it are never precisely spelled out, gives a bit of an edge to their scenes together. Marina Squerciati and Charles Borland portray them with mature, grounded credibility. Michael Lombardi is also quite strong as the diverted Daniel Shaw. The kids? Eh, whatever.

Central Park actually looks like Central Park, not Stanley Park in Vancouver. Reinsilber makes it feel rather creepy and not the least bit inviting. It’s not spectacular, but there are a heck of a lot worse films out there. Arguably, as a first film, Central Park shows some signs of promise. We’re definitely willing to check out his next film, for what that’s worth. Basically recommended for horror fans in the mood for some competent slasher business, Central Park screens this Saturday (6/3), as part of this year’s Dances with Films, in Hollywood, USA.

DWF ’17: Cassidy Red

During frontier days, they never wrote songs about women who stayed home and darned socks. Of course, women were the subject of plenty of songs, but they were usually falling in love and/or seeking revenge. Josephine Cassidy is one of them. She intends to shoot down the man who killed her beloved Jakob like the rabid dog that he is. Rather awkwardly, that villain happens to be Jakob’s brother and the corrupt sheriff of their ailing territorial town of Ruby in Matt Knudsen’s Cassidy Red (trailer here), which screens during this year’s Dances with Films.

The piano player’s name is Cricket, just like Hoagy Carmichael in To Have and Have Not. He will be regaling Quinn, a much-abused working lady, as well as the audience with the bloody ballad of Josephine Cassidy. She was the product of the weekly unions shared by her brothel-bound mother and Cort Cassidey, a hard-drinking but still very lethal hired gun. Since she grew up on old man Cort’s ranch, Ms. Cassidy learned to handle firearms at an early age. In fact, her steady aim would save her future lover, Jakob Yazzie from the sadistic neighbor boy Tom Hayes.

Much to the peevish Hayes’s surprise, his guilt-ridden father decides to adopt the hungry Yazzie. In an even more perverse twist of fate, the restless Cassidy later agrees to marry the grown Tom, on the condition they will move somewhere with greater opportunities in life. Yet, as soon as Cassidy is thrown together with Jakob, the old sparks fly. Much to everyone’s embarrassment, Hayes arrives home in time to witness her unfaithfulness—and immediately starts planning his grand revenge. Of course, revenge will lead to more revenge. However, to get the job done right, she will need some special tutoring from her dear father.

In fact, the complicated relationship between the Cassidy father and daughter is one of the best aspects of Red. Rick Cramer is just terrific as the world weary but still cocky Cort. He sort of has the look and demeanor of a vintage William Sadler, which is definitely a good thing. Abby Eiland is also all kinds of fierce as the titular Cassidy. David Thomas Jenkins is maybe somewhat more reserved as Hayes than genre fans would prefer, but we still buy into the acrid villainy in his heart. Jason Grasl is basically disposable as Yazzie, but Gregory Zaragoza adds the right jaded seasoning as Cricket.

Hollywood’s virtual abandonment of the western genre leaves a void more independent filmmakers ought to be rushing to fill, so cheers to Knudsen for staking an early claim. Red is a solid western that is traditional enough to entertain the genre stalwarts and just revisionist enough to feel contemporary in its attitudes. No matter what happens theatrically, it ought to clean up on VOD, because there is an under-served market of considerable size for precisely this kind of film. Recommended with a good deal of enthusiasm, Cassidy Red screens this Friday (6/2), as part of this year’s Dances with Films, in Hollywood, USA.