Ahoy, squirts! Quint here to present our spy Psychedelic, who has a half dozen or so mini-reviews from his adventures at the AFI Fest in LA. Tons of stuff below, even a film he compares favorably to CITY OF GOD! Enjoy!!
Hey Harry and Rebel Rousers,
A caffeinated bloodstream only goes so far for vampiric daylight aversions in sunny Los Angeles. It’s one of many addictions and vices bartered and sold in the indulgence marketplace on which the city thrives. For fear of what I might lust after next staring at throbbing neck veins, delicious breasts, and unguarded flesh—I fled to the 2005 American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival (aka AFI Fest) held at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.
Tsotsi
Most the time when slums, ghettos, etc. are portrayed it’s usually about people’s actions. Is he/she gonna rob the store? Will they get off drugs? Will they pull themselves together and get out of there? In Tsotsi, with elegant direction by Gavin Hood based on the novel by Athol Fugard, a detailed psychological portrait is painted of the main character. For the first third of the film you stare at him wondering what makes him tick. Is he a sociopath, brain damaged, or crazy? Soon more layers are added. By the end of the film, full meaning is given to his final actions; they don’t feel like plot points but genuinely come from the character. In a nutshell, a hardcore thug accidentally steals a baby when carjacking. The story deals with how he handles this new life. This is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year and South Africa’s nominee for the Best Foreign Language Academy Award. Reminiscent of City of God in its detailed atmosphere, it gets released in February by Miramax. I highly recommend it.
Burning Man: Beyond Black Rock
Behind the scenes look into the Burning Man festival details tremendous organizational effort on the part of the festival’s planners and featured artists over the course of an entire year. All walks of life come to the festival for an unprepackaed, non-corporate, grassroots experience. It’s about more than wild partying. It’s an unfettered freedom of expression. The three or four artists followed talk at length about what their art and the festival means to them and why they do it. Nearly everyone points out how it’s not about money. Edited and directed by Damon Brown, a genuine honesty comes across. These people strive for something organic and real in an increasingly complicated society that wants everyone pigeon-holed so they fall into line humming the same songs. I enjoyed this film. It doesn’t come off as pretentious, but rather as coming from the heart.
Initial D
From directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, the same team that brought us Infernal Affairs, comes this manga adaptation about street racers. The car races are stellar. They put to shame most done by Hollywood in the past ten years. The camera zips in and out of cars as they squeal around daunting curves while literally hurling down a mountain. The last race is worth the price of admission alone. The supporting story is weak but congenial. Various teenagers thump their chests and chase various girls while going through growing pains. It never really grabbed me even though the stylization is cool. Their fathers are refreshing characters who support them while having their own personality quirks. Catch it for the car races if nothing else.
Screaming Masterpiece
This excellent documentary chronicles the Icelandic music scene and, to some degree, connections to the country’s poetic and musical history. Generally speaking, the music is played with a punk-like aggressive attitude mixed with melodic harmonies for a potent combination. Rock, techno, and rap are covered within the panorama with high energy concert footage. There are a couple too many scenes with Bjork. With such diversity of groups, better choices could be made. A little more historical context would be desirable. The pacing gets redundant and awkward toward the end. Some groups were left on the editing floor. With an 88 minute run time, writer-director Ari Alexander Ergis could benefit from additional material. Some featured musicians: Bjork, sigur ros, Mum, Bang Gang, Mugison, Minus, and Slowblow.
On The Other Side (aka To The Other Side)
This is one of those self-appointed ‘important’ films that has the emotional depth and character development of an After School Special. The social issue is immigration. It explores the effects on three families—one for Mexico, Cuba, and Morocco— when the father leaves for the United States or Europe to better his family financially and for future opportunities. Writer-director Gustavo Loza creates two-dimensional characters and unimaginative cross-cutting between stories. In one scene, the instant I saw a character I knew who, what, and why he is. Talk about predictable, geeze. It would be better to focus on one family by getting inside the children’s minds as to how the vacant father affects them. Certainly, a good movie could be made about this relevant subject. This is not it.
The Suspect
It begins as a solid police procedural thriller. A dead guy turns up in front of a store. A young cop is accused of murder. Then the cop is run over in the street when fleeing police questioning. Directed by Ryoichi Kimizuka and based on a Japanese television show, it strangely delves into police politics while questioning the head Investigator’s moral integrity and how his background affects his job performance. Supporting characters appear unexplained. A villainous defense attorney is cartoonish. The murder’s ultimate solution is pretty hair-brained. However, the acting is so good and characters so likable that it makes up for many of the film’s weaknesses. My feeling is the movie makes more sense for those familiar with the television show, Bayside Shakedown.
Last night Paul McCartney was in the house seeing Wallace and Gromit. Even in this city of celebrities, that’s pretty damn cool. I was tempted to sit in the lobby to catch a glimpse of him, but probably no one in the world gets hounded like he does.
-Psychedelic
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