Sundance ’17: Assorted Pilots

After years of waiting, we will finally get new episodes of Twin Peaks in May. Considering the real thing is almost here, you would think most fans will just sit tight rather than starting a Twin Peaks knock-off. Nevertheless, at least two pilots transparently “inspired” by the David Lynch cult fave screened during the various television showcases at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

By far, the best pilot following in the Twin Peaks tradition was When the Street Lights Go On, presented as part of the Independent Pilot Showcase. During the course of episode 1 (or is it episode 0?) a popular high school student and one of her teachers are murdered at a particularly compromising moment. Oh, the scandal. What really distinguishes Street Lights are the spot-on early 1980s production details, including the era appropriate soundtrack. It is also nice to see the brooding teen lead is actually played by a teenager—the nineteen-year-old Max Burkholder, who could easily pass for sixteen.

Streets Lights might be hoping viewers will be asking “who killed Chrissy Monroe,” but there will be no question who murdered Cecily’s parents in Shit Kids—assuming she and her meathead boyfriend ever get the job done. In fact, we might assume fools’ luck will protect her admittedly annoying and utterly clueless ‘rents, establishing a certain absurdist pattern for the prospective show. Whether S-Word Kids can sustain itself will or won’t be answered over time, but its eighteen minutes were the highlight of the Independent Pilot showcase. Grace Van Dien (daughter of Casper) makes a hot mess of a femme fatale and series writer-director Kyle Dunnigan scores consistent laughs as her painfully square (and completely un-self-aware) father.

Over in the Midnight Episodic Showcase, Pineapple was also trying to channel Twin Peaks, but less successfully. Most of the first chunk screened during the festival focused on the guilt resulting from the sexual assault of a miner’s young daughter and the resentment of the company’s decision to close the mine. However, it is hard to blame them, since it seems some sort of predatory monster lives in the shaft. Frankly, Pineapple is even murkier looking and slower paced than Street Lights, which does not exactly leave viewers eager for more.

In contrast, Snatchers (the other part of Midnight Showcase, trailer here) is all energy and attitude, with more than a bit of gore splattered on top. Shallow, approval-seeking Sara Steinberg finally gives it up to her oafish on-again-off-again boyfriend Skyler, but rather alarmingly wakes up the next morning mega-preggers. Presumably, he picked up something nasty while on Spring Break in Mexico. Understandably freaked, Steinberg turns to Hayley Chamberlain, the childhood friend she had been “ghosting” in her time of crisis. Of course, it is even worse than Steinberg realizes. She is actually carrying twins—and what little monsters they are. As a further complication, one of them still isn’t ready to leave her.

In all honesty, Mary Nepi’s Steinberg is royally unsympathetic, but she is surrounded by a sharp, peppy cast, including Gabrielle Elyse as Chamberlain and J.J. Nolan as her former teen-mother Kate. It would also be nice is Nick Gomez could survive the first episode as Officer Ruiz, but it would be unwise to get too attached to him or anyone else in Snatchers. Regardless, the mayhem is nutty in the right ways and the dialogue cuts just as much as the parasite’s claws.

Not surprisingly, the festival’s mixed episodic showcases were indeed mixed bags. Without question, Snatchers is the one most likely to catch on, with Shit Kids also earning a second look, following their screenings at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Raw

Forget Goat (easily done) and Burning Sands. This is the Sundance hazing film that has real bite. As a first-year student at veterinary college, Justine will be drenched in animal blood and forced to eat uncooked liver as part of the initiation rituals. It all horribly disgusts the vegetarian, until her tastes start to radically change in Julia Ducournau’s Raw (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

When driving Justine to her prestigious but way-the-heck-and-gone vet school, her parents throw a fit when a bit of sausage strays into her mashed potatoes. However, her upper classmen sister Alexia is not so supportive during hazing week (every week is hazing week at this school). She tells her flat-out to eat the darned liver, popping one down the hatch herself, leaving Justine disappointed by her sister’s apparent departure from family custom and hurt by the betrayal.

Soon Justine’s health suffers, most likely the result of bacteria from the raw meat (you think, maybe?). Her relationship with her sister also strains to its breaking point, due Justine’s resentment of Alexia’s bullying and her sister’s jealousy of her curve-shattering academic brilliance. In fact, things will get very bad between them, in ways that ought to irreversibly sever their relationship. Simultaneously, Justine also starts to crave meat—more specifically raw human flesh.

Arguably, Ducournou’s conflation of sexual empowerment with cannibalism is rather awkwardly on-the-nose. However, the rich emotional complexity of the bitter sibling rivalry stands Raw in a category all its own. These sisters are something else entirely. Docournou constantly calls and raises their excesses in ways that make the jaw slacken.

In fact, Garance Marillier and Ella Rumpf are both pretty incredible as Justine and Alexia, arguably giving two of the best performances you will ever see from thesps drenched in gore. As Justine (a name that deliberately carries associations with the notorious de Sade), the former is a nest of twitchy sexual insecurities, while the latter is an edgy, brooding bundle of accrued sleights and resentments, somewhat resembling a younger, Frencher, gother Rachel Weisz. Initially, it seems Laurent Lucas (probably best known for Fabrice Du Welz’s Alléluia and Calvaire) is ridiculously under-employed as Justine’s father, but he will have his moment.

If this is how they train vets in France than jet-setters should probably keep all their pets here in America. Regardless, Raw is such an intense film, precisely because it is so personal and intimate. Frankly, it really is the sort of family cannibalism drama We Are What We Are was supposedly cracked up to be. Highly recommended for cult cinema connoisseurs, Raw opens in select theaters March 10^th, after screening at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: XX

Horror movies introduced us Mrs. Voorhees before we ever met her son Jason, as well as Annie Wilkes in Misery, Asami Yamazaki in Audition, and a host of Japanese lady ghosts, with long flowing hair. Horror fans understand better than anyone everyone is a potential serial killer, regardless how vulnerable they might look. That doesn’t leave any room for sexism, but four (or five counting the interstitial animation) women filmmakers will drive the point home in the anthology film XX (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Jovanka Vuckovic’s The Box is based on a Jack Ketchum story rather than the previously adapted Richard Matheson tale, but the vibes are not completely dissimilar. Thus far, Susan Jacobs has balanced motherhood and her professional work quite well, but while on the train back to the suburbs, she fails to adequately discourage her bratty son Danny from looking in a stranger’s gift box. At the time, he has little reaction, but he permanently loses his appetite thereafter. In addition, he seems to be able to pass along the mysterious malady to other family members.

The Box has a terrific look and feel that sort of brings to mind Todd Haynes’ Carol, but it is by far the better film. Vuckovic manages to give it a fable-like vibe, yet also keep it concretely grounded in its sheltered Westchester (or wherever) world. Natalie Brown is also quite compelling as the distressed mother.

In contrast, Annie Clark’s The Birthday Party is played mostly for gory laughs, but they mostly land thanks to a game cast. About an hour before her daughter’s meticulously planned birthday party, Mary is alarmed to find her husband has dropped dead, so she goes to extreme lengths to cover-up his death. It is a blackly comic one-darned-thing-after-another yarn, but it features Sheila (A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night) Vand as Carla, the intimidating and ridiculously glamorous housekeeper as a happy bonus.

Roxanne Benjamin’s Don’t Fall is easily the most conventional of the assembled films in XX. By day, a group of campers off-handedly discover some rock carvings, but by night they realize they are not alone out there. Benjamin crafts some atmospheric moments, but we have been here many times before.

Happily, XX ends on a high note with Karyn Kusama’s Her Only Living Son. Cora’s son is about to turn eighteen and he is starting to exhibit behavioral problems—yet none of the teachers or administrators at his school seem to alarmed by his sudden aggression. Of course, we have our suspicions why that will be quickly confirmed. Essentially, Kusama’s contribution is a clever riff on Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby, suggesting what might have happened if the pregnant mother had ditched Ralph Bellamy for a real doctor sooner. Kusama steadily cranks up the tension quite insidiously, while Christina Kirk is really quite terrific as the ferociously protective Cora.

Her Only Living Son is probably the best full and discrete installment in XX, but the most distinctive parts are probably Sofia Carrillo’s macabre stop-motion animated wrap-around segments, featuring creepy porcelain dolls and all sorts of haunted house trappings. It is a fairly solid collection, but the first two constituent films go more for feelings of alienation and betrayal or gross-out laughs rather than outright scares. Regardless, the work from Kusama, Vuckovic and Carrillo, along with the presence of Vand and Kirk easily carries the full film. Recommended for fans of horror and the darkly ironic, XX screened at this year’s Sundance, in advance of its February 17^th theatrical opening in select cities, including the Nitehawk Cinema in Brooklyn.

Sundance ’17: Trumped—Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time

On the first Saturday of this year’s Sundance, they held a protest parade, because Main Street just isn’t congested enough during the festival. You can scoff all you like, but it was probably necessary, or else people would have logically assumed Amy Schumer was totally down with Trump. Instead of crying wolf on Saturday, they could have waited for something to actually complain about on Sunday. Just what were the action items for the so-called “Women’s Marches?” Suspension of the Constitution? Imposition of martial law? Whether you like him or feel ever so slightly ambivalent, Donald Trump is now president of the United States. His unlikely electoral triumph is chronicled in Ted Bourne, Mary Robertson, and Banks Tarver’s Trumped: Inside the Greatest Political Upset of All Time (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, before its Showtime premiere this Friday.

Sure, we know the broad strokes of what’s going to happen, but at least it is a happy ending, right Sundancers? Of course, we kid. Actually, this cut-and-paste job from the archives of the Showtime series The Circus makes it clear media pundits Mark Helperin and John Heilemann never saw it coming until it was too late, at which point they look like a comet is about to crash into Earth ending all life as we know it. Frankly, the large battery of editors make them look utterly ridiculous as they constantly pronounce the death of Trump’s campaign, only to see him pop back up the next day, like Freddy or Jason. Former Bush aide and “No Labels” guy Mark McKinnon comes across somewhat better, simply because he is less inclined to make sweeping pronouncement or snap assumptions.

Arguably, the misery Helperin and Heilemann are unable to conceal is one of the reasons Trump won. There is no question he benefited from a reaction against the media and its darling, Barack Obama that was deeper and more broadly-based than anyone working on The Circus realized. Many people just took all the dirt and weirdness reported in the press with a massive grain of salt.

Trumped hits most of the campaigns greatest hits and low lights, but it overlooks Clinton’s collapse at the 9/11 anniversary ceremony and her campaign’s instinctive response to obscure and misrepresent the actual facts. Frustratingly, it also ignores my candidate, independent Evan McMullen, which seems rather bizarre, since they were premiering the film in Utah—seriously he lives half-hour an away, at most. He also gave Trump a real scare in the Beehive State and remains one of his most dogged critics on Twitter.

Let’s be honest, we never should have reached this point. We all know we should have elected Romney in 2012, which would have meant we would have re-elected him to a second boring Steady Eddie term in 2016. Instead, we let the media intimidate us with “binders full of women” and claims that if we like our plan, we could keep our plan. As a result, we’re looking at four (and more likely eight) years of Trump chaos.  So, happy now?

It is truly absurdly comical to watch Helperin and Heilemann constantly underestimate and belittle Trump and to see him reciprocate the contempt right back at the media. As cobbled together by Bourne and company, it all looks so inevitable, which perhaps it was. Revealing in ways the filmmakers probably never realized, Trumped starts to explain how we got to where we are. Sort of recommended mainly as a time capsule portrait of media cluelessness, Trumped airs this Friday (2/3) on Showtime, after screening at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Kaputt/Broken—The Women’s Prison at Hoheneck (short)

Exploiting vulnerable labor for profit is everything socialist propaganda crusades against. Yet, the exploitation of the inmates at Hoheneck Prison helped keep the financially ailing East Germany from completely imploding. Of course, in reality there was nothing democratic or republican about the GDR/DDR. Survivors of the abuse and exploitation tell their tales in Alexander Lahl & Volker Schlecht’s black-and-white animated short documentary, Kaputt/Broken—The Women’s Prison at Hoheneck (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

The Brutalist architecture of Hoheneck screamed East German oppression—and the insides lived up to the outside. It was perennially overcrowded, because at least politically-motivated arrests in the DDR consistently ran above quota. Daily life was a mixture of routine humiliation and grinding toil to make their production quotas in the prison’s bed linen sweat shop.

Kaputt/Broken is a powerful seven-minute indictment of the socialist system, executed in an evocatively severe style that could be described as a cross between Honoré Daumier and a Stasi dossier. Yet, perhaps what is most striking is the grimly poetic language taken directly from original oral histories of Hoheneck survivors.

Conditions at Hoheneck were simply barbaric, but the bitterest pill for the former political prisoners to swallow is the fact the West helped underwrite their torture by buying Hoheneck’s garments. The Wall has fallen, but the victims of the socialist East clearly remain traumatized. That lingering pain comes through clearly in the haunting short. Schlecht’s animation is almost perversely elegant, while the minimalist sound design heightens the eerily tragic vibe. Very highly recommended, Kaputt/Broken won the Short Film Jury Award for Animation at this year’s Sundance. It next screens February 17^th and 19^th during MoMA’s Doc Fortnight.

Sundance ’17: Machines

Who know how many fingers and limbs have gotten caught in the gears of this Gujarat textile factory, but it is doubtful they ever stopped the machinery. Shifts are long and the pay is low, but the workers still travel miles to keep their jobs there. Rahul Jain captures and contemplates their exhausting labor in Machines (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

If you want to see the behind-the-scenes “sausage-making” that goes on in the Indian textile industry than this is the film for you. Safety precautions appear minimal and sanitation is dubious. Yet, many of the workers (a number of them dispossessed farmers) cling to their jobs and dignity, claiming they are not exploited because they willingly work there. Still, others readily admit they would be delighted if management reduced shifts from twelve to eight hours, pointedly asking Jain if he has any ideas how to achieve such a goal. Right, he’ll gave to get back to you on that one.

Frankly, there is not much talking in Machines. It is mostly just take-it-all-in observation. Granted, the net effect is pretty much poverty porn, but the visuals are sharp and clearly very deliberately framed by cinematographer Rodrigo Trejo Villaneuva. The environment is overwhelmingly oppressive, much like Chaplin’s Modern Times except dingier, but the film itself looks crisp and striking.

If you are keeping score with Sundance documentaries, the plastic recycling plant in Plastic China looks like a much more pleasant work environment than the Gujarat factory, but Machines is the more stylish film. Despite the challenges issued late in the film, Jain clearly built up a level of comfort with his subjects. Reportedly, he lived amongst the factory workers for months before he even started shooting, so if the documentary police still consider him exploitative than probably nobody can make this film.

Machines is an impressive downer that just corralled Villaneuva the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Best Cinematography at Sundance. It certainly puts a human face on all the obsessive BRIC economic chatter. Recommended for admirers of films like Powaqqatsi, Machines will be the opening night selection of MoMA’s annual Doc Fortnight on February 16^th, following its North American premiere at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Kaiju Bunraku (short)

How can Japan be some stoic in the face of rampaging kaiju monsters? They are just used to it. If you have seen the Daimajin movies, you know this sort of thing has gone on for centuries. You need not explain the kaiju phenomenon to this particular weary married couple of traditional bunraku marionettes. They will weather yet another attack in Lucas Leyva & Jillian Mayer’s short film Kaiju Bunraku, which screened during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

As per custom dating back to the early 1800s, the puppeteers bringing life to K-B’s characters appear all in black, with their faces hooded. They are performing on an actual stage, apparently before a live audience, but the sets and costumes are so richly crafted, viewers will immediately be transported into the bickering couple’s world. The man and woman live in an unspecified time, presumably pre-Twentieth Century, except they understand only too well the poisonous effects of the radiation released on their environment from the constant kaiju assaults. Like Sisyphus, they ordinarily just pick up the pieces of their lives and carry-on until the next kaiju barges through. However, the man might finally reach his breaking point this time around.

Although fans will say it is not canonical, K-B arguably represents the first Mothra film to make it to Sundance. Regardless, the film is wickedly cool in conception and execution, staying true to the spirit of both bunraku theater and Japanese kaiju cinema. The artistry of the Bunraku Bay Puppet Theater is wonderfully refined and hugely entertaining. They really bring out the emotional poignancy of the two characters.

K-B will absolutely leave viewers wanting more bunraku and more kaiju, but the film itself feels entirely self-contained. It is a terrific short that should be a cinch to get programmed at the genre festivals coming later in the year, much like Do No Harm. Enthusiastically recommended for those who appreciate Japanese culture and cult cinema, Kaiju Bunraku premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Sundance ’17: Bushwick

In New York City, Manhattan does all the work and Staten Island and Queens pay all the property taxes, but Brooklyn always thinks it’s all about them. This time they are right. Red Dawn is about to break out amid the partially gentrified neighborhood in Cary Murnion & Jonathan Milott’s Bushwick, which screened during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Lucy and her boyfriend have ventured into Brooklyn for dinner at her grandmother’s apartment, but you don’t need to know his name, because he ain’t gonna make it very far. While they were in the subway, urban warfare broke out on the streets of Bushwick, but this time it is particularly bad. Suddenly single, Lucy makes a wrong turn into potential rape and murder, but fortunately Stupe the building super is there to save her. Right, he’s a super like Casey Ryback is cook.

Stupe is indeed Marine Corps trained, so he reluctantly agrees to help get Lucy to Grandma’s, before dashing off to Hoboken to check on his wife and son. However, the level of tactical coordination and armaments exhibited by the assailants makes him suspect this is no ordinary day of Brooklyn rioting. After a little “enhanced interrogation,” (remember, that never works, right?), Stupe discovers the truth: a coalition of Southern and border states has invaded Bushwick hoping to force the president to approve their succession demands (of course, that would be Pres. Trump, but whatever).

The first act of Bushwick is actually not bad, notwithstanding the Rope-like faux-single-take gimmick. Dave Bautista Dave Bautista has a big, credible action movie presence and the fact that he is not a superman, but a mortal who is injured quite early in the going could have really distinguished Bushwick. Unfortunately, the film just craters once it elevates ideology over action. Of course, the idea of holding Bushwick hostage is just ridiculous. Frankly, most New Yorkers would say: “that’s all very well, but couldn’t you destroy Williamsburg instead? Or maybe Greenpoint?”

It probably should come as no surprise the second half of Bushwick crashes and burns. Milott & Murnion’s last Sundance selection, Cooties was recut before its eventual theatrical release. Brittany Snow is inoffensive as Lucy, but her hippy-stoner sister Belinda (played by Angelic Zambrana) is like fingernails on the blackboard.

Bushwick is the sort of film that uses the decision of who lives and who dies as stick to beat the audience over the head. It is all an unruly mess, especially since most of the supporting characters are ugly criminal stereotypes, who undercut our sympathy. Not recommended, Bushwick premiered at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Deidra & Laney Rob a Train

Cinema practically began with the Lumière Brothers’ Arrival of a Train, but ever since 1903’s Great Train Robbery, most train movies involve some sort of larceny. The Tanner sisters will be the next sort-of-great train-robbers. They ought to know better, but desperate times call for desperate measures in Sydney Freeland’s Netflix-produced Deidra & Laney Rob a Train (trailer here), which screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

In the real world, Deidra Tanner would be showered with scholarships as the economically-disadvantaged, African American likely valedictorian of her high school. In Freeland and screenwriter Shelby Farrell’s world, she will have to rob trains to pay her first year’s tuition. Granted, she and sister Laney have the added expense of their mother’s bail. Apparently, mother Marigold just snapped one day at work, taking out her frustrations on a flat-screen TV. Of course, their absconded father is no help financially, but at least old Chet moves back in, to provide some low-stress adult supervision.

Taking matters into their own hands, the sisters start boosting high-end electronic goods from cargo trains laying over in the nearby railyard. Finally, being on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks pays off. However, the rail line’s over-zealous investigator soon starts suspecting the Tanners, based on their proximity and need. Ordinarily, Deidra would be the cautious one and Laney, a Teen Miss Idaho contestant, is the starry-eyed one, but the older sibling has been rather recklessly skimming off their takings to build her college nest egg, unbeknownst to Laney, risking their unity when they will need it most.

D&L often feels like a throwback to 1970s Disney live-action movies, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Granted, the pothead ex-boyfriend who eBays their loot isn’t exactly a classic juvenile Kurt Russell character, but whatever. Generally, there is the same level of characterization and a largely comparable breeziness.

Ashleigh Murray and Rachel Crow are adequately likable and upbeat as the Tanner Sisters. Missi Pyle probably gets the biggest laughs as Mrs. Fowler, Laney’s pageant coach. Yet, David Sullivan adds the greatest dimension to the film as Chet, the deadbeat dad who finally starts to step up. Unfortunately, the normally reliable Tim Blake Nelson perpetrates the worst kind of Barney Fife shtick as Truman, the railroad flatfoot.

Okay, so D&L is mostly harmless, aside from teaching kids sometimes stealing is okay. Plus, the title will rankle the pedantically inclined—obviously “train” should be plural. Still, it definitely celebrates the family unit—and a relatively traditional one at that. Mildly recommended, Deidra & Laney Rob a Train premiered (strangely enough in the NEXT section) at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Do No Harm (short)

The Hippocratic Oath is about to get a serious workout and the surgical scalpel will become a lethal martial arts weapon. She is truly a doctor who fights for her patients, but there is a special reason for her ferocity in Roseanne Liang’s Do No Harm (trailer here), by far the best film in the Midnight Shorts Program at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

In a private Hongjing hospital, the unnamed doctor is quietly stitching up a gangster, until a rival gang rudely interrupts. They nearly massacre the entire surgical team, but the doctor is tough to kill. Her patient is probably just a bad a thug or maybe even worse, but she will protect him no matter what, racking up a gosh darned impressive body count of her own.

Harm is a super-charged, ultra-gritty action movie in the tradition of hospital shoot ‘em ups like John Woo’s Hard Boiled and Johnnie To’s Three, but Liang averages considerably more mayhem per minute. As the doctor, Marsha Yuen instantly establishes herself as an action figure, but also has sufficient gravitas to be a trusted medical profession. If you were going under the knife, you would want her to be the one in charge of the operation.

The large supporting ensemble of gangsters also have impressive stage-fighting skills and project the appropriate malevolence. Young Emily Tam is also quite effective in her third act appearance. In fact, she and Yuen are so good, the ambiguous ending is rather frustrating. Hopefully, Liang will fix that in the feature version—because this is exactly the sort of short that seems ripe for a longer treatment. Regardless, the butt-kicking is highly entertaining and the credible performances duly reflect the dire stakes. Enthusiastically recommended, Do No Harm should be a cinch to turn up at genre festivals like Fantasia after rocking the Midnight Shorts at this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Their Finest

Michael Powell and Charles Frend were great filmmakers, but they couldn’t win the war on their own. Catrin Cole will also do her part as a “Rosie the Riveter” of screenwriting. Initially, she is recruited to boost a prospective propaganda film’s appeal to women, but her talent will lead to more substantial contributions in Lone Scherfig’s Their Finest (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Cole thought she was applying for another clerical job, but it was in fact a position writing “slop,” Bechdel Test-passing dialogue, for wartime propaganda films. Evidently, her bosses were impressed by her uncredited newspaper work. Of course, she will remain uncredited on the film and she will necessarily be paid less than her male counterparts. Yet, it is still quite an opportunity.

At first, veteran screenwriter and committed cynic Tom Buckley is less than thrilled to share an office and duties with Cole, but he recognizes her talent relatively quickly. Their mutual attraction will develop more slowly, but in an assuredly steady fashion. Cole will also win over hammy past-his-prime leading man, Ambrose Hilliard, as she helps morph his comically bumbling character into a figure of tragic heroism, while still serving the best interests of the film.

Frankly, the film-within-the-film Cole and company labor to complete actually looks like it would be pretty good, or at least easily watchable if Scherfig and her ensemble made it for reals, which is definitely saying something. Conceived as a chronicle of the Dunkirk evacuation designed to boost British moral and sway still neutral American public opinion, it definitely seems to be in keeping with the tone and aesthetics of the classic Powell, Frend, and Cavalcanti films of the era.

The primary film itself is also quite stirring and genuinely touching. Gemma Arterton takes a completely charming and engaging star-turn as Cole that could potentially raise her profile in America to the level she has reached in the UK. She is like a more vulnerable Rosalind Russell, which we do not say lightly. The romantic chemistry she forges with Sam Claflin’s Buckley always feels like it develops organically. Likewise, her scenes with Hilliard (played with wry zest by Bill Nighy, the acting guy) have the wit and charm of vintage Ealing comedy. Yet, perhaps the biggest laughs come from Jake Lacy, portrayying an American RAF volunteer, cast in Cole’s film for his jawline and real life heroic exploits rather than his painfully awkward line-readings.

To its credit, Their Finest is not the predictable feel good film you might expect. Overall, it will do wonders for viewers’ morale too, but Scherfog and screenwriter Gaby Chiappe stay true to the desperate realities of London during the Blitz. Regardless, it is a pleasure to watch the accomplished ensemble do what they do best, including Jeremy Irons and Richard E. Grant making the most of cameo appearances. It would make a fitting pairing with The King’s Speech with its rousing portrait of the British home front, but with a pinch of feminist commentary unobtrusively sprinkled into the mix. Enthusiastically recommended, Their Finest screens again today (1/28), as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Rumble—Indians Who Rocked the World

Rock & roll definitely appropriated from African Americans, so why not from Native Americans too? In this case, it is more of a case of not getting their proper due. A number of key Native rockers really made rock rock the way it did. Their stories are told in Catherine Bainbridge & Alfonso Maiorana’s Rumble: Indians Who Rocked the World (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

From the title and the poster, it should be clear rock guitarist Link Wray holds a special place of significance in Rumble. Bainbridge, Maiorana, and dozens of musicians across genres convincingly make a case that his driving instrumental “Rumble” influenced just about every hard rocker who came after him. It also holds the distinction of being the only instrumental to be banned in the late 1950s rock & roll panic, which perversely warms our jazz hearts (it just goes to show, you don’t need lyrics to move people).

Frankly, Bainbridge & Maiorana tell half a dozen such stories, giving overdue ovations to influential rockers, anyone of which could (and possibly should) be expanded to feature length. However, that gives the film a somewhat patchwork feel. There really is not much of a through-line, except for the periodic guilt trips. At least nobody can say Rumble fails to deliver what it promises.

In fact, one could argue it is rather contemporary, given the section featuring Pat Vegas from

Redbone, whose hit single “Come and Get Your Love” is heard during the opening sequence of Guardians of the Galaxy, which is about as mainstream-crossover as you can get. There is also some good material on bluesy Taj Mahal sideman Jesse Ed Davis and late, great Ozzy drummer Randy Castillo. (In general, one of the most refreshing aspects of the film is its respect for sidemen and an understanding of their contributions.)

Of course, nobody would call Robbie Robertson from The Band unheralded, but here he happens to give some insights into the early days of electric Dylan that fans should appreciate. Likewise, the Native heritage of three towering icons Mildred Bailey, Charley Patton, and Jimi Hendrix are also explored (though the latter gets considerably more screen time).

Rumble tries to shoehorn as much as it can into its 100-some-minute running time, which really isn’t such a terrible documentary filmmaking strategy. It is certainly much more informative and compelling than Neil Diamond’s Reel Injun (co-directed by Bainbridge). If you want to hear Native rockers (and you probably do, whether you realize it or not), Rumble is a good place to start. Recommended for old school rock fans, Rumble: Indians Who Rocked the World screens again this afternoon (1/28) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Bad Day for the Cut

It is sort of like a Northern Irish western, but instead of looking for the man who shot his pa, Donal is out to kill the chick who had his mum’s head bashed in. It turns out it is part of an IRA feud dating back to the 1970s. Who knew they could hold a grudge so long in those parts? Yet, they most decidedly do in Chris Baugh’s Bad Day for the Cut (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Donal is resigned to be a quiet middle-aged farmer, who lives with his mother and fixes cars on the side, until dear old Florence is murdered in an apparent burglary gone wrong. Shortly thereafter, two thugs try to dispatch Donal in a phony suicide, but the crusty cat is harder to kill than they anticipated. It also helps that Bartosz’s heart really wasn’t in it. His was forced to assist in the hit job by human traffickers holding his sister Kaja. Forging an alliance of convenience that will blossom into trust, Donal and Bartosz follow the chain of gangsters up the ladder to Frankie Pierce, who built a trafficking and prostitution empire out of her father’s old IRA terrorism network.

Baugh and co-screenwriter Brendan Mullin repeatedly emphasize the tragic nature of the unending cycle of revenge-taking. Yet, there sure seems to be a lot of people in Bad Day who need killing. So maybe the real message is you better just finish the job completely, because that last bad guy left alive is ever so likely to come back to haunt you later.

Regardless, Nigel O’Neill is all kinds of awesome as salt-of-the-earth Donal. He broods like a monster, yet still remains believably unassuming. He is the kind of dude who will convince you Nixon was right about riling up the quiet majority. It is definitely a bad idea in Donal’s case. This is not a buddy movie by any stretch, but the co-conspirator chemistry he forges with Józef Pawlowski’s Bartosz evolves in credibly engaging ways.

Bad Day is also blessed with several great villains starting with Susan Lynch, who plays Pierce with wonderfully foul-mouthed Cruella De Vil flamboyance. She is ably assisted by Stuart Graham as her natty right-hand man. Plus, David Pearse (Grabbers, Zonad) gets to do his weaselly thing as Gavigan, Pierce’s first lieutenant unlucky enough to fall into Donal’s hands.

According to Bad Day, revenge is like money and good looks—you can never have too much. Nevertheless, Baugh certainly isn’t mucking around with this hard-nosed morality play. He stages some brutally intense action scenes, often exploiting whatever common household items might be at hand. It is a lean, mean killing machine, but it definitely has a moral center. Highly recommended for fans of payback movies, Bad Day for the Cut screens again today (1/28) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Rememory

Without our memories, we wouldn’t have our guilt, jealousy, and resentments—all the stuff that makes us human. It would seem the messy combination above also contributed to the death of noted memory specialist Dr. Gordon Dunn. Unfortunately, Dunn’s new game-changing invention is also missing, prompting the mysterious Sam Bloom to conduct his own investigation in Mark Palansky’s Rememory (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

It is not clear whether Bloom really was a friend of Dunn’s or if he simply hoping the Macguffin device would help him process his emotional issues. Clearly, Bloom blames himself for the death of his rock-star brother, because he was behind the wheel at the time of the fatal accident. This looks like a perfect case for Dunn’s treatment. His invention records and plays back memory with flawless accuracy, stripping away the distortions we layer on over the years. According to Dunn, viewing painful memories in this fashion is cathartic, but at least one disgruntled patient vehemently begs to differ. As a further complication, Dunn had begun tweaking his device after documenting a number of unfortunate side effects.

Of course, the agitated Todd is seen furtively leaving Dunn’s office on the fateful night in question. So is his spurned lover Wendy, who is also rather disappointed Dunn used a number of her emotionally charged memories in his Steve Jobs-style product launch, without prior permission. Tracking down the memory VCR would certainly help Bloom crack the case, but it might not necessarily cure what ails him.

It is hard to explain why, but Rememory does not feel like a Sundance film. It is built around an intriguing premise, but Palansky never delves too deeply into issues of memory and identity. Nevertheless, the noir style is quite appealing. Game of Thrones fans will also be happy to hear Peter Dinklage is terrific as Bloom. It is a moody but understated turn that proves he can carry a film. His scenes with Julia Ormond playing Dunn’s slightly estranged widow are especially rich and laden with complicated chemistry. The late Anton Yelchin (who had two films at Sundance this year) is also twitchy and jangly, like a raw nerve ending, as poor desperate Todd. Plus, Martin Donovan is perfectly cast as the smooth-talking Dunn, but unfortunately there is no opportunity for a proper scene with him and Dinklage together.

Rememory is a reasonably entertaining film, but it is nowhere near as clever as it thinks it is. Regardless, it is a pleasure to watch pros like Dinklage and Ormond do their thing. Sadly, it also takes on additional irony as one of Yelchin’s final films that happens to be all about memory and grief. Recommended overall for fans of social-psychological science fiction, Rememory screens again tomorrow (1/28) at Sundance Mountain Resort and Sunday (1/29) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Pop Aye

Thana is definitely experiencing a mid-life crisis, but he buys an elephant instead of a sports car. It’s a guilt thing rather than a Thai thing per se. Parking him in Bangkok will be a challenge, so the architect and his pachyderm light out on a road trip in Singaporean Kirsten Tan’s Pop Aye (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

These are not happy days for Thana. His marriage to the haughty Bo is on the rocks and his most famous commission is about to fall under the wrecking ball. However, he comes alive when he spies a shabby huckster mistreating a former circus elephant. In fact, Thana is convinced this is his provincial family’s former elephant, Pop Aye (think “the sailor man,” but without any potential copyright infringement). To do right by the beast he apparently once wronged, Thana commences a road trip to his Uncle Peak’s country home. Along the way, they encounter scheming exploiters, Zenned out tricksters, and transgendered performers. This is indeed Thailand.

Right, so basically Pop Aye is like The Protector films starring Tony Jaa, but without the martial arts. It also left out most of the cutesy quirk you might expect in an elephant road movie. Frankly, the tone of the film really is closer to the Protector franchise than the embarrassingly Bill Murray vehicle, Larger than Life. Many of the backwater byways Thana and Pop Aye travel are undeniably dark and gritty. Tan’s visuals, focusing on a man and his elephant even get a little trippy at times, at least for non-Thais.

Sad-eyed former musician Thaneth Warakulnukroh is scrupulously reserved but deeply compelling as the architect in crisis. Penpak Sirikul also brings unusual dimension to the henpecking Bo. However, Bong inevitably steals the show as Pop Aye, just like W.C. Fields would have predicted.

Pop Aye is a quiet film, but you would not describe it as happy-go-lucky. To the contrary, Tan quite assuredly maintains a distinctive note of sadness all the way through. She also briefly evokes 1980s nostalgia with a video tribute to Thana’s soon to be demolished shopping center. Altogether, it is a deceptive simple film of considerable maturity. Recommended for discerning viewers, Pop Aye screens again tonight (1/27) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: The Discovery

Science is still essentially agnostic. It makes no promises of harps and angels. However, Dr. Thomas Harber claims to have proof that after death, human consciousness leaves for a different plane of existence, the details of which remain unknown. As a result, tens of millions of people have committed suicide in anticipation of a fresh start. Yet, karma is still karma in Charlie McDowell’s The Discovery (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Forty million plus have already taken their lives after “The Discovery,” but Harber is not inclined to take responsibility or show remorse. After all, they will go on somewhere, right? Perhaps he is also somewhat desensitized to suicide after his wife took her own life, pre-Discovery. Of course, that is why he is so driven to establish the specifics of the afterlife or whatever.

Harber’s semi-estranged son Will has come to his cult-like research institute hoping to convince the scientist to recant his claims. On the ferry to chilly, off-season Newport, Will encounters the mysterious Isla. Having sensed something dark hanging over her, Will manages to intervene during her suicide attempt. His father rather takes a liking to her too, so he agrees to take her on as a research subject/associate/cult member. Meanwhile, the junior Harber makes a discovery of his own that not necessarily contradicts his father’s, but radically alters its implications.

In terms of its metaphysical aesthetics, Discovery is not wildly incompatible with Matheson’s What Dreams May Come. It is safe to say karma plays a role, but it would be spoilery to spell it out. Still, it is probably safe to say McDowell and Justin Lader’s screenplay takes a radically unexpected turn, but it will not leave viewers dispirited. Quite the contrary.

Frankly, Jason Segel and Rooney Mara do some of their best work to date as Will and Isla. They are both convincingly smart and damaged, so it really feels like their relationship develops organically. Although it almost goes without saying, Robert “Sundance Kid” Redford’s Dr. Harber has all kinds of gravitas and presence. Yet, maybe the biggest surprise is Jesse Plemons’ humanistic, sneaks-up-on-you turn as Will Harber’s deceptively slacker-ish brother Toby.

The Discovery is an unusually smart film that features some provocative speculation but never skimps on character development. It is a worthy follow-up to McDowell’s crackerjack debut, The One I Love. Highly recommended, The Discovery screens again tomorrow (1/27) and Saturday (1/28) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Icarus

Unlike most subjects of documentaries premiering at Sundance this year, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov was not available for post-screening Q&A’s. That is because he is in Witness Protection. Dr. Rodchenkov and the Federal government believed he was targeted by the Putin regime for assassination, perhaps much like several of his colleagues who suddenly died under mysterious circumstances. Before he went underground, Dr. Rodchenkov told his story to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and filmmaker Bryan Fogel. As a result, Fogel radically reshaped his proposed doping documentary into the riveting expose, Icarus, which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

As a high-performing amateur cyclist, Fogel originally conceived the film as a guerilla chronicle of his undercover attempt to conduct his own doping regimen in the mode of Lance Armstrong. He was referred to Dr. Rodchenkov, because the director of the Russian Anti-Doping Center was considered sufficiently maverick to serve as Fogel’s advisor. As Fogel and Rodchenkov develop trust and rapport, rumors start to swirl regarding the legitimacy of Russia’s record medal haul at the Sochi games. Soon, Dr. Rodchenkov is directly implicated in those allegations. At that point, the doctor levels with Fogel: he oversaw a systemic doping campaign across all sports on the direct orders of Putin’s trusted deputies. He now fears for his own life.

In the scenes that follow, Icarus becomes the film CitizenFour was hyped to be, but can’t hold a candle to. After assisting Dr. Rodchenkov’s escape to America, Fogel engineers the release of his story to the press and WADA. Dr. Rodchenkov packed light, but he wisely brought along hard drives and cell phones loaded with proof.

Icarus is shocking in many ways, starting with how poorly Dr. Rodchenkov’s story was reported in the West. We mostly just accepted news of the Russian doping scandal as par for the course, following in the alleged tradition of the old school Communist Olympic training machines. However, the “smoking gun” conclusiveness of Dr. Rodchenkov’s evidence is stunning. Yet, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to ignore it, presumably out of deference to Putin’s vodka and caviar. Aside from Putin and his FSB enforcers, the biggest villain in Icarus is undoubtedly Thomas Bach, the cravenly hypocritical IOC president.

Unlike Snowden (with whom Dr. Rodchenkov is directly compared with), viewers can feel the Russian whistleblower’s life is constantly in palpable danger during the doc’s second and third acts. Yet, there are even graver stakes involved. Fogel trenchantly points out Putin invaded Ukraine while riding a wave a nationalist popularity largely based on Russia’s Sochi triumphs.

Granted, there is a little too much of Fogel doing prep work for his original conception of the documentary, with him in the center. However, once the focus shifts to Dr. Rodchenkov, the film becomes taut, tense, suspenseful, and downright revelatory. This is truly gutsy documentary filmmaking. Icarus could very well be the motivation for the hacking of this year’s Sundance, if it was not the Chinese Communist Party in retribution for the screenings of the outstanding Joshua: Teenager vs.Superpower. (Such scenarios might sound petty, but that is how dictatorships roll.) Very highly recommended, Icarus screens today (1/26) at the Sundance Mountain Resort and this Saturday (1/28) in Park City, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: 78/52

Marli Renfro is a former Playboy Bunny and cover model who participated in truly groundbreaking cinematic history. She was Janet Leigh’s body in Psycho and there was quite a bit of doubling for her to do—78 set-ups and 52 cuts in total—and what cuts they were. The construction and legacy of the iconic/notorious shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho are lovingly analyzed in Alexandre O. Philippe’s 78/52, which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Sure, there are knowing homages (like the prologue to Scream), but no film has really come close to the shock of presumptive star Janet Leigh’s first act death in Hitchcock’s 1960 masterpiece. Of course, she was dispatched while taking a shower. If you haven’t seen Psycho several times already than shame on you, but keep in mind Philippe will “spoil” Norman Bates’ big secret almost immediately. This is a film for film lovers that presupposes intimate familiarity with Psycho, the Hitchcock canon in general, and the slasher and Giallo films it inspired.

Technically, Philippe shoehorns in some wider discussions of Psycho, such as the rainy driving sequence that in many ways foreshadows the shower scene in question. He also gives some solid “making of” background. Sadly, neither Hitch nor Leigh is still with us, but Renfro stills looks great and is happy to discuss her role in the film. Without question, her recollections will be the most newsworthy for fans. In addition, Philippe also incorporates commentary from a host of genre superstars, including Jamie Lee Curtis, Guillermo del Toro, Eli Roth, Karyn Kusama, Richard Stanley, Leigh Wannell, Mick Garris, and Elijah Wood.

Frankly, there are not a lot of groundbreaking revelations in 78/52, but Philippe’s deep dive provides a useful methodology for taking stock of the film’s artistry and cultural influence. Some diehards might complain that composer Bernard Herrmann’s instantly recognizable themes get somewhat short shrift. He also mercifully spares Gus Van Sant an awkward discussion of his ill-conceived 1998 shot-by-shot remake.

Without question, Psycho is one of the most important genre films ever made and the shower murder is clearly its defining scene (although some of us will argue the epilogue in which Simon Oakland explains it all is a close second). Philippe’s feature-length analysis easily sustains itself and the decision to render the film in black-and-white was rather inspired. Recommended with affection for fans of Hitchcock and nearly every subsequent psycho-stalker film, 78/52 screens again tomorrow (1/26) in Park City and Saturday (1/28) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.

Sundance ’17: Marjorie Prime

Perhaps we can think of it as the emotional singularity: that potential juncture when our artificial intelligence constructs better understand our inner psyches than we do. It is possible humanity or at least one family reaches this point in Michael Almereyda’s adaptation of Jordan Harrison’s play, Marjorie Prime (trailer here), which screens during the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

To help her deal with the loss of her beloved husband, Marjorie’s daughter Tess and son-in-law Jon have installed the latest in bereavement technology: an AI hologram of her late husband. They are somewhat surprised when she opts for the young, handsome Walter who proposed to her, rather than an older version that would better match Marjorie in her current advanced years. He is there to comfort her and remind her of memories that have slipped her increasingly unreliable mind. However, knowing she will not remember the truth as it happened, Marjorie will sometimes recommend alterations, to make Walter Prime’s stories better reflect reality as she would have preferred it.

Although Marjorie’s health is clearly failing in the first act, Tess is unable to resolve the issues in their strained relationship before her death. Despite her skepticism, she too will try achieve some sort of catharsis with the help of Marjorie Prime. There is a great deal of family history that has been left unspoken and even deliberately forgotten, but the primes might know more than the mortals realize.

Ironically, Marjorie Prime is a film about artificial intelligence that is deeply humanistic and insightful into the foibles and weaknesses of humankind. Almereyda embraces the stage roots of his source material, accentuating the intimacy of the chamber drama. He definitely opts for a minimalist style, but that actually heightens the elegiac tone (also thanks to a considerable assist from accomplished indie cinematographer Sean Price Williams).

Lois Smith (who originated the role on stage) anchors the film with a wide-ranging yet subtle performance as Marjorie/Marjorie Prime. Jon Hamm develops some intriguing chemistry (if we can really call it that, in this case) with her as Walter Prime. Azumi Tsutsui is terrific in her brief but pivotal scene as Tess and Jon’s granddaughter Marjorie. However, the wonderfully sensitive performances of Geena Davis Tim Robbins as the brittle Tess and achingly empathetic Jon are what really linger in the viewer’s head after it all wraps up.

Frankly, there is a lot of provocative speculation about how AI could alter the human condition that is hidden within plain sight throughout Prime. It definitely qualifies as science fiction, even though it is driven as much or more by its characters than its ideas. Very highly recommended for sf fans and those who will appreciate it as a richly textured family drama, Marjorie Prime screens again this morning (1/24) and Saturday (1/28) in Park City, tomorrow (1/25) at Sundance Resort, and Thursday (1/26) in Salt Lake, as part of this year’s Sundance.