film reviews

Film Review: BLINDED BY THE LIGHT (UK 2019)

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Blinded by the Light Poster
Trailer

In 1987 during the austere days of Thatcher’s Britain, a teenager learns to live life, understand his family and find his own voice through the music of Bruce Springsteen.

Director:

Gurinder Chadha

Writers:

Paul Mayeda Berges, Gurinder Chadha | 2 more credits »

Stars:

Viveik Kalra, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Ganatra

BLINDED BY THE LGHT is inspired by the life of journalist Sarfraz Manzoor and his love of the works of Bruce Springsteen.  Manzoor co-wrote the script with director Chadha and Paul Mayeda Berges.  It is based on Manzoor’s acclaimed memoir Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock N’ Roll.  In real life, Springsteen told Manzoor he loved the memoir which inspired Manzoor to move forward to eventually have the film made.

The story is set in the town of Luton in 1987 Thatcher’s Britain.  Javed (an impressive first performance by youthful Viveik Kalra) is a British-Pakistani Muslim teenager whose life is troubled.  His father has just been laid off and his family has to cope with expenses.  Being Pakistani, he and his family are subject to racism.  His quest to become a writer, however is encouraged by his English teacher but discouraged by his father.   He yearns for a girlfriend.  It is at this point his life where he discovers the music of Springsteen.

African born British Asian Gurinder Chadha has got two commercial hits under her belt – 1993’s BHANJI ON THE BEACH  (Indian women on an excursion to Blackpool) and BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM (female talented soccer player within a close knitted Indian family), which is likely the reason BLINDED BY THE LIGHT got made.  She championed the cause of the film being made based on the memoir her friend Sarfraz Manzoor gave her to read. 

BLINDED BY THE LIGHT had initial troubles in funding but after being made and premiering at Sundance this January, earned a standing ovation as well as a $15 million sale to Want Bros. who is releasing this film.

Like BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM, BLINDED BY THE LIGHT is a manipulative crowd pleaser set in Britain in this case the town of Luton in 1987 where unemployment and racism was present in Thatcher’s Britain.  Ironically during one racial riot scene, a poster of Thatcher “Britain Unified’ can be seen in the background.

The film is heavily laden with Pakistani stereotypes from the rebellious son to the patriarch father to the quiet all-knowing mother.  The young immigrant faces formidable obstacles in his quest to become a writer as well as a romance with a white Brit.  The father is down on the son before reconciliation.  All this have been seen before, as most recent as in Danny Boyle’s YESTERDAY.

There are certain difficulties with translating the story into film.  Foremost is to show how the lyrics of Springsteen’s songs affect Javed.  This director Chadha accomplishes by having the lyrics done as subtitles appearing on the screen as Javed listens to the songs.

Despite being a male dominated story, Chad infuses the strength of the female in the Pakistani family.   She shows the father crying at his failure at one point.  In another scene, the mother makes a distinct influence on the fathers decision by telling him that she would never forgive him if Javed leaves the family.  Yet anther shows Javed’s sister also having a good time partying and is therefore also an individual voice in the family.

Despite director Chadha and the film’s good intentions, the film bows to white commercialism stereotyping minorities, providing no insight to the problems but dishing put easy feel good set-ups like the unbearable ending speech Javed delivers at his graduation ceremonies.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1YFA_J5JBU

Film Review: THE KITCHEN (USA 2019)

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The Kitchen Poster
Trailer

The wives of New York gangsters in Hell’s Kitchen in the 1970s continue to operate their husbands’ rackets after they’re locked up in prison.

Director:

Andrea Berloff

Writers:

Ollie Masters (comic book series), Ming Doyle (comic book series) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany Haddish, Elisabeth Moss

THE KITCHEN follows the premise of last year’s Steve McQueen’s WIDOWS where three women take control of their lives after their husbands are put away.  One succeeds and the other doesn’t.  In WIDOWS, the husbands are dead gone while in THE KITCHEN the husbands are put away in prison.  In the WIDOWS, the widows take on a  robbery while in THE KITCHEN the abused wives take  on being mobsters, collecting protection money and protecting businesses for their money.

THE KITCHEN is directed by Andrea Berloff who rose to fame with his STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON where he won the Oscar for Best original screenplay.  The trouble with THE KITCHEN is that it is based on a comic book series which means that it should not be taken too seriously, which it does.  Both Melissa McCarthy and Tiffany Haddish are dead serious establishing the fact that they can be credible mobsters.  Are both scary?  Would one pay protection money to these two?  Would other mobster heads give in to these two?  Hardly.  This is the prime reason the film fails.  If the script was to that the material more lightly, then the audience would forgive the credibility factor.  Fortunately the Elisabeth Moss character is more concerned with her lover (Domhnall Gleeson) than anything else.

The story is set in the late 70’s in NYC’s Hell’s Kitchen, and hence the film’s title.  It is not a very inviting title – and Sylvester Stallone had to rename his movie PARADISE ALLEY instead of HELL’s KITCHEN in his first non-ROCKY movie.   The three 1978 Hell’s Kitchen housewives have mobster husbands are sent to prison by the FBI.  Left with little but a sharp ax to grind, the ladies take the Irish mafia’s matters into their own hands—proving unexpectedly adept at everything from running the rackets to taking out the competition…literally.

THE KITCHEN is clearly a female oriented movie.  From the very start of the movie, the theme is obvious as the song “It’s a man’s world is heard on the soundtrack.  As in Alfonso Cuaron’s ROMA and the upcoming AFTER THE WEDDING in which the words :  “We women have to stick together”, the words: “They f*** us up every time..” are uttered.  The male roles in THE KITCHEN are written so that they become second-class citizens to their female counterparts.   These are too obvious to be credible.  The film contains too many scenes where the males are speechless at a loss in front of women.  But if taken lightly, it can turn into good fun.

Berloff’s film plays as if it is based on true events.  This is how serious his film gets.  By comparison, McQueen’s WIDOWS knows when to be serious but mainly knows when it need to be fun.

It is good to see McCarthy venture out of comedy with her more serious roles as in this flea and the recent  CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME? and likewise for Tiffany Haddish.  Elisabeth Moss succeeds more comfortably in her role having playing similar roles as in THE SQUARE and THE HANDMAID’S TALE.

Could have been better, THE KITCHEN ends up a missed opportunity.

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

Film Review: SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK (USA 2019) ***

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Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark Poster
Trailer

A group of teens face their fears in order to save their lives.

Director:

André Øvredal

Writers:

Dan Hageman (screenplay by), Kevin Hageman (screenplay by) | 4 more credits »

Stars:

Zoe Margaret Colletti, Michael Garza, Gabriel Rush

SCARY STORIES TO TELL IN THE DARK is based on the series of three horror books for children written by Alvin Schwartz, the first of which bears the film’s title.  The three books each feature numerous short stories in the horror genre where author Schwartz draws heavily from folklore and urban legends as the topic of his stories, researching extensively and spending more than a year on writing each book.  The film comes with the praise of being a Guillermo del Toro production.  At best it is an excellent ghost story made up of other little ghost stories and at its worst slides into slasher type horror with the monster chasing a victim.

The film has the benefit of being set in the late 60’s.  The year is never explicitly stated but one can tell by the Richard Nixon election landslide as seen on a television set during the film. The setting is also reminiscent of the anthology ghost stories that were common in the 60’s and 70’s.

The film begins as a male film with the story concentrating on the boys going out on Halloween.  The boys and a girl take revenge on some bullies before the tide changes.  It is the girl in the group that survives and has to figure out what is happening and how to reverse the spell of the ghost.  The ghost is also female who had made an important discovery in the past and forced to keep silent against her will.

SCARY STORIES is an old fashioned ghost story where a ghost is stuck in the present.  This ghost is Sarah Bellows (Kathleen Pollard) who was locked in a room in the house way back when.  The protagonist of the film is young Stella Nicholls (Zoe Margaret Colletti), who together with two male friends Auggie (Gabriel Rush), Chuck (Austin Zajur) and a new Mexican stranger in town, Ramon (Michael Garza) venture into a haunted house.  They discover the hidden room as well as a book that has a reputation.  Whoever reads a story from the book will die.  As it goes, the kids steal the book and unleashes the fury of the ghost as one by one is killed off.

The film has  a few impressive scary set-ups based on urban legends that many North Americans are familiar with.  There is the spider bite that grows and bursts leading to dozens of little baby spiders emerging from the bump.  This is a bit overdone but enough to make ones skin crawl.  Another is the scary scarecrow.  These set-ups are good enough without resorting to senseless violence.

The film squeezes a few issues into the story like bullying, environment pollution and father/daughter relationships.

But as the main characters are the kids with the film aimed at teens and younger adults.  Director Øvredal (TROLL HUNTER) does fairly good job at scaring the audience given the limited material.  

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgzwt0DQujw

Interview with Festival Director Harlan Whatley (WEST TEXAS FILM FESTIVAL)

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The purpose of the West Texas Film Festival is to screen diverse films from both directors and producers that would not normally be featured in West Texas as well as regional media makers. We seek short films, documentaries, features, animation and student films as well as screenplays from all over the world that have the pioneer spirit of filmmaking. We are a registered nonprofit organization in the State of Texas.

Contact

Matthew Toffolo: What is your Film Festival succeeding at doing for filmmakers?

Harlan Whatley: We bring regional filmmakers together in West Texas so they can share ideas with filmmakers from other areas such as New York City.

2) What would you expect to experience if you attend your upcoming festival?

A good mix of films about Texas, international films, students films and documentaries. We don’t have bands and a lot of parties as we are focused on the films.

3) What are the qualifications for the selected films?

5 minutes minimum in length, English or English subtitles, and all films should be completed after January 1, 2018.

4) Do you think that some films really don’t get a fair shake from film festivals? And if so, why?

Yes, for a number of reasons. Maybe the selection committee was biased in some way, the time slot for a screening. Things like that.

5) What motivates you and your team to do this festival?

The Permian Basin is known for oil and gas production. Other than movie theaters, we are one of the few film outlets in the area.

6) How has your FilmFreeway submission process been?

Excellent. They provide so many tools for our film festival managers and staff that make the process run very smoothly.

7) Where do you see the festival by 2023?

Hopefully, it will be larger and include both Odessa and Midland and have more funding and sponsorship.

8) What film have you seen the most times in your life?

The Discreet Charms of the Bourgeoisie (1972) by Luis Bunuel. I discovered it in college and have seen it a dozen times or so.

9) In one sentence, what makes a great film?

The ability to capture and audience’s attention and keep them entertained all the way to the end.

10) How is the film scene in your city?

Most people here are watching mainstream, family-oriented films at the theatre or on Netflix.

Film Review: AFTER THE WEDDING (USA 2019) ***

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After the Wedding Poster
Trailer

A manager of an orphanage in Kolkata travels to New York to meet a benefactor.

Director:

Bart Freundlich

Writers:

Susanne Bier (original screenplay), Bart Freundlich | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Michelle Williams, Julianne Moore, Billy Crudup

AFTER THE WEDDING is the 2006 Best Foreign Film Oscar nominee that put Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier on the moviemaking map.  As the film was released way back when, it has been more than 10 years since Julianne Moore initiated the remake and many will hardly remember anything abut the original  movie, expect that it was really good.  And that’s a good thing.  The plot revelations in the film are what keeps the film both interesting and engrossing.

In the original film, the protagonist played by Mads Mikkelsen is a Dane working in India at an orphanage before traveling back to Copenhagen to secure funds from a wealthy entrepreneur who happens to have a hidden agenda.  In the new version the gender roles are switched.  Isabel (Michelle Williams) is an American transplant who has devoted her life to running a Calcutta orphanage.  Just as funds are drying up, she is contacted by a potential donor , Theresa (Julianne Moore) who insists that Isabel must travel to New York (replacing Copenhagen) to make a presentation in person.  Once in New York, Isabel lands in the sight line of Theresa, a multi-millionaire media mogul who seems to have a perfect life – from the glittering skyscraper where she runs her business, to the glorious Oyster Bay estate, where she lives with her artist husband (Billy Crudup), about-to-be married daughter (Abby Quinn) and younger twin sons.  While Isabel thinks she’ll soon be returning to the orphanage, Theresa has other plans for Isabel. 

The less said about the film’s story the better, as the revelations of the plot would spoil  the film’s entertainment.

Both what is a marvellous about this version are the performances by the two female leads.  Williams is the best, acting through her eyes and mannerisms, and obviously stealing the limelight from Moore.  Moore, understandably gives herself some major lines to dramatize when she, realizing that she is going to die screams that she wants to live.  This is reminiscent of the Jill Clayburgh scene in Daryl Duke’s GRIFFIN AND PHOENIX where she and Peter Falk played lovers who were both dying of terminal illness but finally happy in love.  Clayburgh’s character screams and cries: “Life is so unfair!!”

In the film there is a segment where the females Isabel and her daughter (Abby Quinn) bond together in a moment of distress.  Again, this is right out of Alfonso Curaron’s ROMA where the major line was uttered by the mistress to the maid, when pregnant thought she was going to be fired (by her mistress) but only to be told: “We women have to stick together.”

AFTER THE WEDDING is so immaculately shot n almost too perfect India (with a huge outdoor pool for washing that seems to clean of authenticity) and an orphanage looking too perfect with a perfectly organized wedding where all the speeches are delivered spot-on perfect are examples.  Imperfections occur in real life.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJ4QxPjU2Lk

Film Review: MIKE WALLACE I HERE (USA 2019) ***1/2 Directed by Avi Belkin

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Mike Wallace Is Here Poster
Trailer

A look at the career of ’60 Minutes’ newsman, Mike Wallace.

Director:

Avi Belkin

Stars:

Mike Wallace, Johnny Carson, Mickey Cohen

Documentaries have have often than not, had famous subjects who are talented, who have made a difference in doing good or mankind or those who have changed the course of history.  The new doc directed by Avi Belkin has a different kind fo subject – an obnoxious interviewer that may people did not like.  Mike Wallace is rude, plain nasty and not a very likeable person when he is in front of the camera interviewing people.  Wallace does his best to put his ‘victims’ on the spot by his questions,  to his credit and his team have done the research to dig up the dirt on the interviewee and thus enabling Wallace to do his nastiest best.
The doc follows the identical path of most documentaries.  They go far back to the subject’s childhood, what influenced them to become the persons they are, chart their rise to fame followed often by some tragic downfall and their redemption, if they do succeed in recovering from their fall from grace.
The doc goes back to Wallace when he was a child back in 1937.  His mother was strict and his father was an honest man.  How they affected Wallace is left untouched.  But the film then flashes the photographs of the celebrities that he interviewed in his lifetime.  These include Barbra Streisand, Kirk Douglas, Richard Nixon, Shirley MacLaine, and political leaders like Ayotollah Komeinini, Richard Nixon, Anwar Sadat, Vladimir Putin among others.  Later on in the film, there are footages of more details of these interviews. 
 Among the film’s best segments, Wallace asks mobster Mickey Cohen how many people  he’s killed and ’80s era Donald Trump if he sees politics in his future.  He challenges movie stars (Shirley MacLaine, Barbra Streisand – both telling Wallace what they think of him), politicians (Richard Nixon, Vladimir Putin) and unexpected sorts like the Imperial Wizard of the KKK.  
Sometimes colleagues interview Wallace, who talks about his bouts of depression (which he hid) and the death of his son.
 The film also covers two incidents that rocked the journalism world.  (1) A 1982 libel lawsuit filed against CBS and Wallace by retired U.S. Army Gen. William Westmoreland.  (2) A 1996 pushback when CBS’s corporate side tried to kill a story about tobacco industry whistleblower Dr. Jeffrey Wigand .
The film succeeds in giving audiences a slice of CBS history as well as demonstrate how important an interviewer can be in disseminating information to the public.
The magic question after watching the doc is whether Mike Wallace is a good person.  His interviewees say to him: ” “You don’t have to prove yourself.”  “You are good at what you do.”  When Shirley Maclaine confesses to believing in E.T.s, Wallace jokes that the E.T.s could have met her on her porch, Maclaine tells him: “You don’t have to be this unpleasant, this does not become you.”  The last statement clearly answers that magic question.  And Stresand tells him off; “You put all this toughness in this facade…”   Director Belkin tries to elicit some sympathy for the man with the segment of how he had lost his son.  But the tragedy should have made Wallace a better more considerate man and not the unpleasant interviewer that he had made himself a name of.
MIKE WALLACE is interesting and entertaining enough as a documentary questioning the integrity of the media while confirming the fact what kind of person the man really is.  Director Belkin has made a likeable (and insightful) documentary on a very unlikeable man.
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDSq2fF9flk

Film Review: LUCE (USA 2019) ****

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Luce Poster
Trailer

A married couple is forced to reckon with their idealized image of their son, adopted from war-torn Eritrea, after an alarming discovery by a devoted high school teacher threatens his status as an all-star student.

Director:

Julius Onah

Writers:

J.C. Lee (play), J.C. Lee (screenplay) | 1 more credit »

Stars:

Naomi Watts, Octavia Spencer, Tim Roth

Though based on a play, the film co-written by the director an J.C. Lee, seldom feels like one due to director Onah taking the audience out of one scene and moving the action around interiors, exteriors and intercutting the acts so that thee are frequent scene shifts.  It is a good tactic which works well.

An all-star high school athlete and accomplished debater, Luce (Kelvin Harrison Jr.) is a poster boy for the new American Dream.  As are his parents (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth), who adopted him from a war-torn country a decade earlier.  When Luce’s teacher, Miss Wilson (Octavia Spencer) makes a shocking discovery, finding dangerous fireworks explosives in his locker, Luce’s stellar reputation is called into question.

The most satisfying element of the film is the way the story and characters grab the audience form the start and never let go.  What ever is revealed is just sufficient to get the audience anticipation going and wanting for more  It is difficult to keep the momentum going and the film thus slag, but jut a little in parts.

The script (and play) also leaves ambiguous points unresolved so that the audience can make up their minds on what actually happened – for example whether Luce actually had fireworks in his locker or was it his friend’s who shared the locker with him.  The answer is irrelevant to propel the story but curiosity is till there with the audience.

Performances are excellent all around, especially that belonging to Octavia Spencer as the history teacher, Miss Wilson.  Spencer displays both he strength, courage yet vulnerability of her character.  As she is finally dismissed as a result of her stand, her loss might turn into another Oscar win fo Spencer who has already won an Oscar for a supporting role in THE HELP.  Waits and Roth are both excellent as the often divided couple but they carry the strength of their roles magnificently.  This is not the first time they play a coupe together.  They id in Michale Hanake’s FUNNY GAMES year back as a couple whose ho i invade by psychotic young neighbours.  Last but not least is the performance by newcomer Sim Sim whose first performance as disturbed young black man is reminiscent of Will Smith’s role in SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION.   It is at this point that the film feels like a play fuelled by great  performances.  

Director Onah also demonstrates his sense of humour.  Right after a suspenseful remark is made in the film, the next scene is quick shifted to Miss Wilson having a shower withe the water spraying for the showered, Hitchcock’s PSYCHO-style.  Miss Wilson has a shower can and has a towel wrapped around her as i waiting for something ominous to happen.

The characters are human ad subject to the foibles of human nature.  The love for their son forces the adoptive parents to abandon their good judgement of good and evil in order to keep the family together.  This is not what the audience wishes to see but is what is expected to happen in real life.  Feelings and motions often rule above principles.  The non-compromising non-Hollywood happy ending might not satisfy audience when the film ends, but it is an ending worthy of whether the film’s story is heading.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqzgDB1CMI4

Film Review – TEL AVIV ON FIRE (Israel/Luxembourg 2018) ***

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Tel Aviv on Fire Poster
Trailer
Salam, an inexperienced young Palestinian man, becomes a writer on a popular soap opera after a chance meeting with an Israeli soldier. His creative career is on the rise – until the …See full summary »

Director:

Sameh Zoabi

Writers:

Dan Kleinman, Sameh Zoabi

Stars:

Kais Nashif, Lubna Azabal, Yaniv Biton

Is Tel Aviv really on fire?  TEL AVIV ON FIRE is the name of the fictitious TV spy opera in which a Palestinian female infiltrates the Israeli military in order to kill the commander.  The film begins with an act from the show being filmed.  One can tell right away this is not the real thing but something filmed from the way the scene is carried out, with extra melodrama and cheesiness.  But after the camera pulls back, what happens in the background with arguments among the actress, scriptwriter, director and producer is just as melodramatic.

The film then settles on the writer Salem.  Salem is relatively good-looking, single and a bit of a troublemaker.  Troublemakers make the best reluctant heroes. 

Salem (Kais Nashef) is a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, who is a low-level production assistant on the soap opera “Tel Aviv on Fire” in Ramallah. Following a lie he tells Asi (Yaniv Biton), the commanding officer at the checkpoint he must pass through every day to get to work, Salem is suddenly promoted to be a screenwriter on the show. There is only one problem – Salem can’t write screenplays. To avoid getting fired, Salem makes a deal with Asi, who helps him write in exchange for fine Palestinian hummus, and a promise that the series’ plot will end with a wedding. However, the Palestinian investors want a different ending, and Salem finds himself in a bind.

Most Israeli and Palestinian films have their conflict as the subject and it is not surprising to see the reason.  The conflict has been going on for ages, is still unresolved and makes a permanent dent in the lives of both peoples.

The script loves playing with life imitating art and art imitating art.  What happens in he soap opera affects the characters in the film and vice versa.  “Why do you like the show?  It is anti-semitic,”  Asks the commander to his wife to which the reply is “Not everything is political.  It is romantic.”  The romance of the soap opera eventually changes his hard-ass attitude towards the war.

There is one excellent written scene in which Asi asks the Israeli writer how to tell a couple is in love.  “By hugs and kisses?” asked the Israeli.  “No but by the way they listen to one another.”  The film is about these two enemies coming together listening and writing the script for the TV soap opera together – a subtle message delivered by the film to the audience.

The film has won numerous awards including Venice Film Festival 2018’s Best Film (Interfilm Award).  It recently opened the Toronto Jewish Film Festival to a sold-out theatre.  A definite crowd-pleaser  – this ingenious rarely-seen comedic satire on the Arab-Israeli conflict, about a Palestinian soap opera writer who takes story ideas from an Israeli checkpoint commander.

The film at times tries too hard to be a crowd pleaser.  It is not difficult to see the reason audiences love the picture.  Audiences also love melodramatic soap operas and TEL AVIV ON FIRE while disguising itself as a satire, often plays like one.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5x4bJZ5_IM

Film Review: HONEYLAND (Republic of Macedonia 2019) ****

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Honeyland Poster
Trailer

The last female beehunter in Europe must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland, when a family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood. This … See full summary »

Directors:

Tamara Kotevska, Ljubomir Stefanov

Stars:

Hatidze Muratova, Nazife Muratova, Hussein Sam

HONEYLAND is the so-called for the film’s setting where honey is produced by wild bees.  It has been touted and well believed that bees are necessary for the planet to survive lest exists.  If bees are eradicated from the face of the earth, so will all living creatures.  HONEYLAND bases its premise on the fact and works well to stress the importance of the living bees.

The film begins as a documentary as the camera moves to show the barren terrain of an unarmed country later revealed through the radio that it is Macedonia.  HONEYLAND also marks the rare occurrence of a film that is made in that country that earns a commercial release in North America.  The film is slated as a documentary but it rarely feels like one.  As the camera spans the mountains, it closes in on an old woman, soon revealed to be the last female beehunter in Europe who must save the bees and return the natural balance in Honeyland.  The film has the feel of fiction as it follows the life of the protagonist as she cares for her ailing mother among other chores.   She removes rock from the mountain while on a narrow edge to reveal bees and honey.  She also cultivates honey with the bees back close to her home while looking after her mother.  The film goes on to show how she etches a living going to the town to sell her high quality honey to the vendors.  She gets about 10 to 20 euros per jar.  But trouble then begins in paradise. A family of nomadic beekeepers invade her land and threaten her livelihood.  She initially bonds with the family till their acts threaten her bees.  Her rule is to take half and leave half of the holy for the bees.  This film is an exploration of an observational Indigenous visual narrative that deeply impacts our behaviour towards natural resources and the human condition.

Nazife Muratova plays herself as the beekeeper.  It is so noticeable that she has bad teeth.  For those unaware – I read this in the internet – that honey is really bad and much worse than sugar for ones teeth.  Yet, she is pretty in her own way and has sufficient charisma as the leading lady in the doc.

As a documentary, the film contains a few unforgettable candid scenes.  One is the birth of  calf as a boy pulls the calf out of the mother.  The other are the segments with the bees.  The beekeepers, Nazife in particular often do not wear any protective gear and yet yet do not get stung.

A multi-award winner at the Sundance festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize (Documentary) and several special mentions, HONEYLAND was also selected at the last Hot Docs Film Festival.  HONEYLAND opens this week at the TIFF Bell Lightbox together with MUSEO a new film from Mexico.  Both these films are the best films opening this weekend.  Take a trip to the Lightbox.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B27ORUHlp6E

Film Review: BARBARA RUDIN AND THE EXPLODING NY UNDERGROUND (USA 2018) ***1/2

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Barbara Rubin and the Exploding NY Underground Poster
Trailer

Barbara Rubin’s twenty-nine-minute experimental film ‘Christmas on Earth’ caused a sensation when it first screened in New York City in 1963. Its orgy scenes, double projections and …See full summary »

Director:

Chuck Smith

Stars:

Richard Foreman, Jonas Mekas, Amy Taubin

This new doc educates on underground filmmaker Barbara Rubin who rose to fame from her 1964 art-porn so-called masterpiece “Christmas on Earth”, made when she was only 18 years old.  The film, showing segments (that are both shocking yet innovative) in the doc, shattered creative and sexist boundaries and shocked NYC’s experimental film scene.
Barbara worked for a large part other ‘career’ with Jonas Mekas at the Filmmaker’s Coop.  Barbara was instrumental in creating NYC’s thriving underground film community and a rare female voice in a world of powerful men.  A rebellious Zelig of the Sixties, she introduced Andy Warhol to the Velvet Underground and Bob Dylan to the Kabbalah.
But beyond shaping the spirit of the Sixties, Barbara was seeking the deeper meaning of life.  After retiring to a farm with Allen Ginsberg, she shocked everyone by becoming a Hasidic Jew.
For years, 94-year-old filmmaker Jonas Mekas has saved all of Barbara’s letters and cherished her memory.  Working with Mekas’ footage and rare clips from the Andy Warhol archives, the film reveals inside the world and mind of Barbara Rubin; a woman who truly believed that film could change the world and then vanished into obscurity.

Like most biopics, the doc begin with the background and influences on the subject,  traces the rise to fame, then some grave downfall and then hopefully, their redemption to a sort of normalcy in life.  How interesting a biopic is usually is affected by how interesting the subject is.  Biopics are often accompanied by interviews with the subject, if still living, their friends and family with archive footage. This doc allows an identical path.

The Barbara Rudin doc can be divided int two parts.  The first charts her and her underground films and the second her lifestyle.  The two blend into each other, but the underground filmmaking slowly disappears as Barbara gets weirder and weirder.

The film gets as weird as its character.  Barbara’s most famous film was the art-porn CHRISTMAS ON EARTH.  One fo the film’s segments has her open letter to Disney asking them to finance her movie, she claiming that she was affected by SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS.  The film also details the pure implausibility of what Barbara wants to have in the film  which is a galactic cast of famous stars and artists including The Beatles, Marlon Brando, Herman’s Hermits and a host of others.  Of course the film never got made.

The film’s most intriguing portion is the last this when Barbara begins to behave very erratically.  This is when the audience sees how crazy this woman can be.   At one point, she wanted to have children with Allen Ginsberg, who never wanted any.  When rejected, she became more isolated, depressed and crazy.  She finally showed up at an Orthodox Jewish orphanage and decided that that was her calling.  She denounced everything that she accomplished, friends included to learn the ways of the Orthodox Jew.

By the end of the film, one can end up either admiring Barbara as a gifted, independent go-getter who influenced the underground art world greatly or some tiresome opinionated commandeering bitch.  Whatever ones opinion on Barbara Rudin, one cannot deny that this woman was a force to be reckoned with.

The film has a limited release at the Royal Cinema.  Originally slated for showings on Aug 4 and 5th, the latter screening has been cancelled (but will be re-scheduled) due to the long weekend holidays.  

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/147803638