Month: August 2018

Today in Film History – August 22 2018

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Film Review: SUPPORT THE GIRLS (USA 2018)

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Support the Girls Poster
Trailer

The general manager at a highway-side ”sports bar with curves” has her incurable optimism and faith, in her girls, her customers, and herself, tested over the course of a long, strange day.

Director:

Andrew Bujalski

Writer:

Andrew Bujalski

Stars:

Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, Dylan Gelula

 

What is worse that working under an unreasonable boss?  A reasonable boss having to support all of his or her employees.  This is the premise of SUPPORT THE GIRLS, a film with the appropriate themed title that centres on an angel (but with a foul mouth) who supervises a burger and beer joint called “Double Whammies”.  This is not a strip club but the staff are scantly clad, which is a formula for trouble.  But the “Double Whammies” franchise is not that far out an idea.  Toronto has “Hooters” a franchise which is basically the same thing.

Lisa (Regina Hall) is the mother-hen manager of “Double Whammies”.  When the film opens, the audience sees her at work.  She is faced with a number of problems while hiring a few new girls.  There is a man stuck in the duct, some guy trying to break into the place – a good idea at that time.  At work, she has to find a babysitter for one of the other girls, organize a fundraiser to support one of the girls in distress and a cable outage just before the big fight when business is expected to pick up.  “You are the best manager ever, ” Lisa is complemented by one of the staffers in the film.  Lisa runs the place so that there is zero tolerance for abuse.  Touching and insulting are not allowed.  She does not need to call the cops as the cops are usually present in the venue as customers.

Of all the dramatic set-ups, the best segment is the one where a biker calls one of her waitresses fat.  She forces him to apologize or get kicked out of the place.  This scene caused a stir in the audience when the film debuted at SXSW 2018.  It is always a pleasure to watch an asshole, especially a female abuser get his comeuppance.  There are a number of rules that must be followed at “Double Whammies”, the first of which is “No Drama”.  How can one keep that one?   Lisa complains to the ass-hole owner of the place.

The soundtrack is mixed including some rap and Motown music.

Regina Hall holds her own playing Lisa.  Also starring as the wait-staff are Haley Lu Richardson as the cheery pro, Shayna McHayle (aka music artist Junglepussy) as the unflappable vet and Dylan Gelula as the newcomer who’d like to sleaze things up a bit.

The film is summed up by Lisa’s point of view expressed at an interview for a job at Man Cave.  The film’s climax has two staffers screaming at the top of their voices from a rooftop with Lisa looking on.  Their screeching voices are nothing short of irritating.  What should be an exhilarating segment turns out the complete opposite.   What was director Bujalki thinking?

SUPPORT THE GIRLS, good intentions aside (the film stresses the message of respect) runs down the predictable route.  Nothing really expected or surprising is in the script which he also wrote.

Recommended maybe for the staff of “Hooters”!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gp-8oB53P7k

 

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TIFF 2018 Review: SHOPLIFTERS

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Shoplifters Poster
Trailer

A family of small-time crooks take in a child they find on the street.

Director:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Writer:

Hirokazu Koreeda

Stars:

Lily Franky, Kirin Kiki, Sôsuke Ikematsu |

 

Hirokazu Kore-ed’s (his masterpiece AFTER LIFE and last year’s THE THIRD MURDER) latest film won him the Palm d’Or at Cannes this year and is a real gem of a movie.

It tells the story of a poor family barely etching out a decent living in the outskirts of Tokyo.  The family is comprised of a couple, a grandmother and  2 children.  The film contains two twists – story turns (not revealed in this review) that occur after the son, Shota is injured while jumping off a highway overpass in order to escape being caught from shoplifting.  This he does to save his little sister.  

What is revealed is unexpected that teaches the audience what an ideal family should be.  Kore-ed’s actors need not act – his camera does.  From, close-ups, long shots, a character’s glance, the turn of a face, Kore-ed knows exactly how to capture a moment or create an effect.  The result is a superior movie from a clear Master of a medium who is not only a great story-teller (telling a story with a clear timely message) but a superb filmmaker.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwcb5ki1f-4

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Film Review: MADELINE’S MADELINE (USA 2018)

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Madeline's Madeline Poster
Trailer

A theater director’s latest project takes on a life of its own when her young star takes her performance too seriously.

Director:

Josephine Decker

Writers:

Josephine Decker, Gail Segal (story consultant) | 3 more credits »

Stars:

Helena Howard, Molly Parker, Miranda July

 

MADELINE’S MADELINE, supposedly a largely experiential film begins with an actress told not to be a cat but to be inside a cat, throwing away all metaphors etc.  She purrs like a cat, is stroked like a cat and thus behaves as one.  The screen is also filled with saturated colours for no apparent reason as the audience struggles to make some sense as to what is occurring on screen.

The film centres on a high school student, Madeline (Helena Howard) taking makeshift acting classes under some kooky teacher, Evangeline (Molly Parker).  Evangeline is also pregnant which might explain a bit of the weird behaviour.  Madeline has a eating disorder and is looked after by her overbearing white mother, Regina (Miranda July) who she does not get along with, especially during these rebellious years.  She finds solace in her acting classes including befriending Evangeline who takes a sudden interest in her acting.

Evangeline’s methods lots of improvisation where the actors are ask to do anything from acting out what they feel to pretending to be animals.  It is a wonder that none of the students think Regina is crazy.

At one point, Madeline acts like a sea turtle as the camera gives the audiences the turtle’s eye view of one as it makes itself towards the sea. “Be a sea turtle, not a woman being a sea turtle,” is the response Evangeline gives her.  The rest of the class do weird things like beat the curtains, scream and make sudden body movements.  The class also sit around in a circle to talk about a moment of violence they wish to share.

The film is not without violence, imagined or otherwise.  Most of it is acted out or appear in dreams as in the one Madeline has of pressing a hot iron on her mother.

It is hard to critique a film as different and at times so experimental as this one.  The film could be classified as inventive, exploring and original, going against the grain of narrative film.  It can be also considered as a load of rubbish.  To each his or her own.  But what thing is for sure – MADELINE’S MADELINE is different experience.

There a lot of dramatic mother and daughter confrontations that occur in the car, similar to that of the famous LADY BIRD segment where the daughter suddenly jumps out of the speeding car.  Madeline does the same, getting out of the car when mother becomes too much.

From the very beginning when a voiceover taunts Madeline: “What you are feeling is a metaphor, and your emotions are not yours,” words continually ring that often do not make any sense.  The film requires the audience to surrender to the creative process of the acting workshop and find ones true self like the character of Madeline supposed to be going through.  Unfortunately the workshop is conducted by a very insecure teacher, Evangeline who takes on Madeline like a daughter.  They argue just as ferociously as the real mother and daughter.  Do we really need to watch all this?  Annoying characters, jittery camera, shouting and screaming, no head-or-tail logic and experimental s***.  The film does not allow audiences to think on their own but blare its message and way of story-telling (if one can consider the film to contain one) of ramming it down ones throat.  Decker never answers any of the questions she poses in her film either.  To this critic, MADELINE’S MADELINE is a load of rubbish!

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_ezPTjSSPw

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Film Review: BREATH (Australia 2017)

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Breath Poster
Trailer

Based on Tim Winton’s award-winning and international bestselling novel set in mid-70s coastal Australia. Two teenage boys, hungry for discovery, form an unlikely friendship with a …See full summary »

Director:

Simon Baker

Writers:

Gerard Lee (adapted screenplay), Simon Baker (adapted screenplay) |2 more credits »

Stars:

Elizabeth Debicki, Simon Baker, Richard Roxburgh

 

BREATH is Australian actor Simon Baker’s directorial debut based on the multi-award winning author Tim Winton’s novel of the same name.  Besides directing, maker also shares producing and co-writing credit with Winton.

The film is set in the 1970s and two teenage boys form a connection with an older surfer, Sando played by Baker himself.  The boys Pikelet (Samson Coulter) and Loonie (Ben Spence) have grown up in a small western Australian town and through surfing meets up with Sando, who challenges them to take greater and more dangerous risks.

BREATH shows an all white world where no Aborigines or other minorities appear.  The Australians on display are pure white, golden blonde hair engaging in a general all white male sport.   Baker’s film contains repeated explicitly graphic sex scenes with Pikelet and Sando’s girlfriend Eva (Elizabeth Debicki) once  Sando has abandoned them.  The film and novel title BREATH comes from a kinky sex play the two indulge in.  But Samson is only 14, the age he admits when asked at the beginning of the film.  What is displayed on screen various times amounts to accepted pedophilia  The film runs into problems in the second half once Sando is gone from the picture.  Baker’s film lacks the spark it had and slags towards the end.

Understandably, the film’s best moments are the surfing segments, even when the philosophy of the sport is explained.  “Paddle, turn and commit, without a moment of doubt.”  The science of the sport is also explained at one point by Sando.  He explains the contiental shelf, the girth and the pursuit of the right wave.  At best, both the fear and exhilaration of the sport are demonstrated simultaneously.

The two young actors Coulter and Spence are real finds and make the movie.  Veteran Australian actor Richard Roxburgh  has a small role as Mr. Pike, the father.

The surf scenes are nothing short of stunning, credit to cinematographers Marden Dean and Rick Rifici.  One wonders how the camera gets so close to capturing the action, with the smoothness of the waves.  The audiences gets to see the surfers paddling out into the sea, the wave slowly forming and the surfers standing up on their boards, as the wave grows gigantic behind them.  These magnificent scenes create a high not only for the surfers but for the audience as well.  The stung landscapes are also on display in the film – the magnificent cliffs, rocks, sea and vegetation.

The film is tied together by the voiceover from start to end, supposedly the adult voice of Pikelet, bringing meaning to the story.  The film is basically the coming-of-age story of Pikelet.  His friendship with the rather uncontrollable wild-card, Loonie is also given due importance.

BREATH ends up an occasionally uplifting though flawed film about boyhood in an all white male surf setting.  At the start of the film, surf is described by the voiceover as beautiful, pointless and elegant.  The film BREATH can certainly described using the same three terms.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17M7kcG0SBQ

 

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Film Review: 1945 (Hungary 2017) ****

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1945 Poster
12 August 1945, 11 AM. Two mysterious strangers dressed in black appear at the railway station of a Hungarian village. Within a few hours, everything changes.

Director:

Ferenc Török

Writers:

Gábor T. Szántó, Ferenc Török

Stars:

Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel

 

The year 1945 is immediately recognizable as the year World War II ended.  While this might be an exhilarating year for most Europeans fighting the Germany and her allies, it certainly isn’t for a small Hungarian village.   Most of the villagers from the film’s unnamed village in Hungary fear that Jews will return after the War to reclaim their property that have been taken away from them and redistributed to these Hungarians.  And some unjustly.  The town clerk, Mr. István (Péter Rudolf ) had informed of his Pollaks neighbours while getting a fellow villager to testify as a witness.  Worst, he guiltlessly watched from his window as his best friend and family were taken away by the Nazis.  He also bribed to get his son out of the army.

Few films on World War II have depicted the effects on those left behind by those who went off to fight during the War.  The excellent recent French film, Xavier Beauvois’ LES GARDIENNES (which is a real crime that it was surprisingly not commercially released in Toronto) demonstrated in great detail how farmworkers survived without any males.  1945 is a Hungarian drama that demonstrates the evil that human beings exhibit as a result of that War, even when staying behind in the village and not going to fight.

Török, who also co-wrote the film directs it in a straight forward manner without resorting to cheap theatrical effects, realizing and relying on the strength of the film’s source material.   The film’s period atmosphere is greatly enhanced by the film’s stark and clear black and white cinematography.

The catalyst of the story is the arrival of two Jewish survivors of the Holocaust (there is a camera closeup of the concentration camp tattooed numbers on one of their arms) by train to the village – a father and son.  The purpose of their visit is unclear to the villagers and they assume they are back to reclaim land that had been taken away from them.  The individual villagers have different reactions, mostly unpleasant.

The story contains a sufficient assortment of characters in varying situations to keep audience’s interest piqued.  Besides the town clerk, his son is a coward about to be married to a woman who clearly does not love him, but the drugstore that his family owns.  She, Kisrózsi (Dóra Sztarenki) has an affair with Jancsi (Tamás Szabó Kimmel) who is unafraid to flaunt the affair as well as side with the liberating Russians in the village.  He is also flirting with a younger woman in front of her.  The town drunk is guilty of being the town clerk’s witness and his wife is hiding all the expensive rugs and silverware the family took from the Jews.  The priest is no Godly saint either, having stolen from the Jews.

This paragraph in bold italics contains minor spoilers: Interesting during the first half, director Török brings his film to an impressive climax where the clerk’s son leaves the village in despair and the deserted bride takes revenge on the groom’s family.  Despite all the gloom and despair on display, there is a bit of hope in the clerk getting his comeuppance and his son finally breaking away from his family’s hold.  When it is revealed the true purpose of the Jew’s visit, there is also some sympathy shown by the villagers.

The film was screened in the Panorama section at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival and was awarded the 3rd place prize in the Panorama Audience Award.  1945, a sincerely made film about the emotional baggage left behind by WWII is one of the best foreign films released so far this year and indeed worthy of a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCg3jVRX85A

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Today in Film History: Disney’s Bambi is released

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LISTEN to the Daily Film Podcast via iTunes, or go to www.wildsoundpodcast.com

LA Feedback Festival Testimonial – August 18 2018

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lafeedbackfilmfestival's avatarLos Angeles feedback film festival

James Hughes (THE HITLER PARADOX)

I wanted to enter this festival mainly due to the emphasize on the written word, so much so that you would do a table read for the winner. The feedback was great and thorough, but the best moment for me was watching the reading, to see the actor(s) snicker or hold in a laugh at something I’ve written just makes me feel great. A small(.01%) of the feeling I want when everything about this project is said and done.

Submit exclusively via Film Freeway:

Genre: Sci-Fi, Comedy

Two time travelers find themselves in conflict as they aim to bring Hitler to justice, although in vastly different ways.

CAST LIST:

Eva: Tayna Bevan
Hitler: Scott McCulloch
Narrator: Kate Fenton
Tiom: Danilo Reyes
Jonny: Michael Lake

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Now Accepting Submissions: 11th ANNUAL HAMILTON (NEW YORK) INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

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GRANT SLATER OF SLATER BROTHERS ENTERTAINMENT HAS ANNOUNCED SBE IS NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

The festival is July 22nd – 28th, 2019

http://www.sbehiff.com/

SUBMIT via FilmFreeway

Recent Testimonials:

“Can’t say enough about how wonderful SBE’s Hamilton International Film Festival has been. Truly honored to have our film “My Hero” included and I want to thank Grant & Todd Slater and everyone else involved for such a great experience. Just amazing. 
Hope you’ll have us back next year!”

– Loring Murtha, Actor/Director My Hero

“SBE’s Hamilton International Film Festival presents an incredible opportunity to network with other ambitious filmmakers, exchange ideas and fundraising strategies while experiencing the charm of Hamilton, New York. The Hamilton Theater is a gorgeous venue and Grant Slater has put together a 5 star festival with a great selection of film, food and local beers. This is a must-attend festival that offers more than just frivolous laurels to it’s filmmakers… one could say that you leave Hamilton with a new group of friends that offer a different perspective on making and watching movies!”

-D.J. Higgins Director, Writer/Producer Meet Mario

“The charm and intimacy of the Hamilton International Film Festival makes it a MUST for all filmmakers. Grant and Todd Slater and the entire Hamilton community couldn’t be more hospitable. I can’t wait to make another film just so I can come back!!”

-Doug Dearth, Producer/Director Underdogs

“It was an absolute honour to be part of such a well respected film festival. Thanks to the help, hard work and commitment from SBE my career in the UK has gone from strength to strength. My Single, Worry hit the iTunes Download chart and peaked at Number 6. The follow up track I’ve recently released has hit the viral UK Top 50 on Spotify and we have now put a European Tour together. Its thanks to people such as Grant believing in me from an early stage of my development that has helped me get to where I am now.”

-Sebastian Tree
United Kingdom Recording Artist

“Had a great time this past weekend in Hamilton, NY at the Hamilton International Film Festival with Tika Simone. “Five Dollars” was received with nothing but positive reviews from a beautifully sold out theater! Huge thanks goes out to Grant Slater and the Slater Brothers for being great hosts once again!”

– Rez Ota, Producer/Director FIve Dollars

We have safely arrived in Austria and I just wanted to thank you once again for the invitation, as well as the chance to present Noriko at your festival. I had a really great time, for it was one of the most intimate and passionate festivals I’ve ever been to. 

It was a great experience to be part of the HIFF. Thank you for the support.

-Christian Jilka (Austria)
Writer/Director Noriko