Capone's Art-House Round-Up with the Oscar-nominated TIMBUKTU, Spike Lee's DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS, and YOUNG BODIES HEAL QUICKLY!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a few films that are making their way into art houses or coming out in limited release around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…


TIMBUKTU
Marking the nation of Mauritania's first-ever entry for Best Foreign Language Film Academy Award consideration (it's one of five nominees), the chilling and worthy TIMBUKTU provides a stark and sometimes unseemly look at the capitol of Mali, where Islamic fundamentalists moved in briefly and were met with varying levels of resistance from the locals.

The film opens with two very telling shots from director and co-writer Abderrahmane Sissako: a group of these Jihadists in a jeep chasing down a gazelle, shooting at it with AK-47 not to kill it but to wear it out, they say; the second shot is of these same men taking target practice using what is clearly African statues, blowing chunks of the art off with uncanny precision. The message is clear, but the response from the local population clearly was not as the religious zealots attempt to take control of their faith by instilling seemingly random and nonsensical laws on the people, and punishing those who refuse to obey with lashing, stonings—or worse.

The film follows a handful of interconnected characters, including Kidane, a musician who lives just outside of the city with his wife Satima, daughter Toya, and a young shepherd they employ to take care of their cows. There are also folks in the city that are being harassed on a daily basis by the Jihadists, including those who run the local mosque, who insist that these men with guns and their shoes on leave the house of God immediately. Rather than simply submit to the will of these radicals, the residents try to negotiate the extremity of the law with them (usually to no avail). When a local girl is essentially kidnapped and married off to one of the invaders, the townspeople demand an explanation, but the Jihanists always explain away their bad behavior by quoting religious text or an approximation of it.

It's too easy to watch TIMBUKTU and simply say that the fundamentalists are bad; the ones presented in this film, when alone with their thoughts, seems to break a few laws here and there themselves (some listen to music, some smoke, etc.), but when they come together, they are much more strict. When Kidane gets involved in a feud with local fisherman, suddenly this man who prides himself on not getting caught up in these religious disputes finds himself smack dab in the middle of one, even though his crime was clearly committed in self-defense.

TIMBUKTU is filled with striking images—some quite beautiful, some surreal, some that will crush your heart, and its heartening to see a film come out of a region that defied oppressors and eventually triumphed after many crushing defeats. If offers a depth to all of its characters and it doesn't sugar coat the region's hardships by showing us a time when the Jihadists were driven out. The film aims to enlighten without sparing us the pain the locals went though to get to a better place. It's a largely quiet but powerful work that deserves your attention and eyes.


DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS
The thing I've always believed about the films of Spike Lee is that whether he succeeds or fails, he does so spectacularly. There are no half measures when it comes to his best work nor his unmitigated disasters. Decided to get financing from crowd-funding on this particular passion project, Lee has unearthed a little-known 1973 cult film (Bill Gunn's GANJA & HESS) and faithfully remade it, with touches of modern elements just to keep things interesting. I'm not sure if the end result, DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS, is any good or if I even enjoyed it, but I never stopped wondering where it would take me, and that's more than a lot of movies do.

The story begins in the Martha's Vineyard home of a snooty black professor Dr. Hess Greene (Stephen Tyrone Williams). After a friend and house guest mortally stabs him with a cursed Ashanti blade, but he still manages to stay alive, the good doctor suddenly develops a taste for blood, leading us to believe that Greene has been transformed into something resembling a vampire (or at least a person with vampire-like urges). When the now-dead friend's ex-wife, Ganja Hightower (Zaraah Abrahams), comes looking for him, Dr. Greene ends up seducing her—both sexually and into his blood-tinged lifestyle—and the two get married and begin luring people into their home to feed upon them.

I'm a proponent of films that aren't afraid to shift tones during the course of the story, but DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS suffers from a case of drifting tones, and it never quite settles into what it wants to be. Portions of it feel like satire—a comment on rich folks and their belief that anyone economically beneath them should simply bend to their will. But other times, the surreal nature of the tale makes it feel like a commentary on how the only way blacks in America will be able to survive is to become this level of indestructible. In actuality, I don't believe Lee, who also adapted the screenplay from Gunn's original, is attempting to be that on the nose with his messages. He's playing to atmosphere and pushing boundaries that he's never before attempted in film. The final product isn't always compelling, but it's nice to see that Lee (who is about to turn 58) is still capable of taking chances and risks.

Much as the tone moves sporadically, what works and doesn't is all over the place. There are a couple of sex scenes here that are genuinely erotic and fairly graphic (count that as a win); there are strange and downright odd supporting parts and cameos that had took me out of the film occasionally just to figure out "Is that Donna Dixon?" or "Is that Snoop from 'The Wire' in a dress?" (count that as a failure); but I did enjoy the work from Rami Malek as Dr. Green's manservant Seneschal Higginbottom, who creeps around the castle-like estate like the doctor's own personal Igor. And I'll admit to be captivated by Nate Bova as the doctor's ex-girlfriend (high school edition), Tangier Chancellor, who drops in to meet the new wife and then become dinner for the couple.

Other elements to DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS that don't work: Bruce Hornsby's piano score, which in another movie would probably be award worthy, but when combined with this particular work, it never synchs up with the mood of what's happening on screen. The music comes into a scene like a noisy next-door neighbor whose stereo is on too loud. A good score works in tandem with the visuals, but here, it clashes with them. Also, the acting from the leads is so odd that I can't tell if their stilted delivery is intentional or simply a poor attempt at "sounding rich." It's an unwelcome distraction and can often be quite laughable.

In the end, I think there are two groups of people who might appreciate Lee's latest: those who are completists and need to see everything he does, or those who have never seen one of his films. I could easily see someone walking into this film cold, unaware that Lee had a hand in it, and finding it fascinating. Beyond those groups, I'm not sure I can recommend the movie to anyone else. It's an ambitious, yet utterly frustrating piece, but I hold out hope that Spike Lee continues to challenge his audience and himself as he does here.


YOUNG BODIES HEAL QUICKLY
This glimpse into a world where talking is not the preferred method of communication between two stunted brothers, 20-year-old Older (Gabriel Croft) and 10-year-old Younger (Hale Lytle), YOUNG BODIES HEAL QUICKLY is meandering but still mesmerizing tale of siblings on the road and on the run. After a somewhat accidental killing of a girl the boys were fighting with in their hometown, they are lovingly sent packing by their mother, destination unknown (to us). The film's sense of place is not important, but they seem to travel from one small community to the next, eventually arriving at the home of their older sister (Kate Lyn Sheil) and her family, before even she gets sick of them after a day or two.

This rather simple first stop in no way prepares us for the places they go next, including an off-season beachfront town where they are befriended by the French-born maid of a largely empty hotel. She sneaks them into a room and takes care of them (as a mother to Younger; as a lover to Older) before her jealous French chef boyfriend (complete with meat cleaver) chases the kids out of town. The brothers rarely leave a place voluntarily, but they eventually land with their long-lost father, who collects memorabilia from many wars and seems especially keen on Vietnam War re-enactments. In fact, the final act of YOUNG BODIES HEAL QUICKLY is devoted entirely to one such event, but it transforms into something far more sinister and tense before it's over.

YOUNG BODIES HEAL QUICKLY doesn't feature scenes in which the boys learn from their immature behavior or mistakes, so it doesn't exactly qualify as a coming-of-age story. Instead, first-time feature writer-director Andrew T. Betzer seems more interested in capturing these specific weeks in the brothers' lives and seeking out details that another filmmaker might overlook. There are moments here that will make you uneasy—child endangerment is apparently not a concern of the boys' father—and others that unfold gradually, lulling you into a false sense of serenity before revealing a particular scene's true focal point or danger. The film feels like the work of a young filmmaker, with all the good and bad that implies, but in the end, while you may not feel the need to invite these brothers to tea, there is something about the way they approach life that pulls you in, unable to look away.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
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