SXSW ’19: One Man Dies a Million Times

Ironically, celebrated dissident poet Anna Akhmatova came through the Battle of Leningrad relatively intact. It was the Stalinist Purges that killed her husband Nikolay Gumilev. Nevertheless, she captured the suffering of the blockade in her masterwork, Poem without a Hero, which she dedicated to the victims. Her verse is among the primary sources that director-screenwriter-producer-editor Jessica Oreck has adapted into a strange oral history-dystopian narrative hybrid. The writings document the dark days of 1941-1944, whereas the setting is sometime in the doomed near future, but don’t call Oreck’s One Man Dies a Million Times science fiction when it screens again during the 2019 SXSW Film Festival.

It sounds awkward, but it is eerie how easily the ghostly words from the Stalinist era fit a vaguely dystopian future time frame. It is also quite amazing how compatible vintage Soviet architecture is with a cautionary Orwellian setting. Much of Million Times was shot in and around the N.I. Vavilov Institute for Plant Genetic Resources, where botanists struggled to preserve the Institute’s large repository of seeds during the Siege, for the sake of humanity’s future—an apparently will do so again.

Alyssa and Maksim were friends and are now lovers, as well as colleagues in botany, but the stress and suffering of the Siege will take a toll on their relationship. Nevertheless, they remain steadfastly committed to protecting the seed bank and the wealth of bio-diversity it represents, especially Alyssa.

Visually, OMDAMT is often absolutely stunning. There is no question it represents some of the best work from indie cinematographer extraordinaire Sean Price Williams. The use of black-and-white with occasional flashes of color is as starkly dramatic as anything realized on-screen, maybe since Schindler’s List. In fact, there really is merit and substance to Oreck’s concept. She gets at something very specific of the time and era, yet it is also a distinctively individual vision. The drawback is diminishing marginal returns set-in pretty early during the third act for Oreck’s hybrid-hybrid.

As their namesakes, Alyssa Lozovskaya and Maksim Blinov look like they stepped out of a Pawel Pawlikowski film, which is not a bad thing. The latter broods like crazy, but it is the sensitivity of the former that will really haunt viewers. It is pretty compelling to watch them endure dire privations, as when they boil up soup with pieces of a leather belt.

Right, so it turns out Russia was (and will be) decidedly grim. OMDAMT transports viewers to another time and place, much in the manner of Aleksey German’s immersive masterworks, but Oreck’s exclusive reliance on primary civilian texts necessarily leads to a rather soft finish. Regardless, it is a rather fascinating and undeniably ambitious work of cinema, from a filmmaker previously known mostly for documentaries (including the absolutely charming Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo). Recommended for adventurous audiences, One Man Dies a Million Times screens again this Friday (3/15), during SXSW ’19.

SXSW ’19: Tales from the Lodge

This weekend will sort of be like a British Big Chill, but with portents of more death to come. A group of old friends have assembled to mourn a friend who committed suicide, but instead of listening to moldy 1960s pop, they pass the time telling macabre stories. Actually, it is nothing like a British Big Chill, because it is really quite clever. Abigail Blackmore and her collaborating cast-members give the horror anthology a fresh spin in Tales from the Lodge, which premiered at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival.

Jonesy offed himself by drowning, which was dashed awkward of him. Martha is also rather put out that Paul has brought his latest girlfriend to the ash-scattering weekend. Her name is Miki, but everyone keeps calling her Nikki, annoying her no end. Frankly, Emma and Russell are happy to have any excuse to be away from their kids, while Martha’s sickly husband Joe would be miserable wherever he was.

As the resentments start to build, the university friends distract themselves with stories that mix humor with horror. However, the format eventually starts to breakdown. Poor Joe doesn’t get to properly finish his tale, whereas Emma has more of a performance piece (as you might call it). Paul’s story of a sinister auto misadventure is probably the most akin to the sort of British tales of terror you used to see in Amicus anthology films or the Hammer House of Horror TV show, making it a fitting opener. Perhaps the best tale is Martha’s deliciously ironic spirit possession yarn, while Russell’s zombie fantasy is probably the most cinematic, starting out as a jokey lark, but taking a dark turn.

Yet, Lodge is that rare animal among horror anthologies, in that its connecting material is better (and ultimately creepier) than the constituent tales. These sequences are also considerably longer than typical anthology framing devices. In fact, the ill-fated reunion is clearly the whole point of the film instead of a mere afterthought.

The six principals are all cuttingly funny and they play of each other quite adroitly. Laura Fraser is probably the stand-out as the abrasively passive-aggressive Martha. Kelly Wenham also clearly enjoys getting to chew some serious scenery as Miki, but Mackenzie Crook, Dustin Demri-Burns, Sophie Thompson, and Johnny Vegas all take full advantage of their spots, as Joe, Paul, Emma, and Russell, respectively.

Fans of the British horror tradition will get a big kick out of Lodge. Blackmore’s screenplay is incisively droll, but also nostalgic in the right way. Apparently, it was an unusually successful group effort, with the six main thesps getting directing credits for their characters’ stories in the closing titles. Highly recommended for old school genre anthology movie fans, Tales from the Lodge screens again Monday (3/11) and Wednesday (3/13), as part of this year’s SXSW.