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Reviews
American Experience: Guerrilla: The Taking of Patty Hearst (2004)
Fascinating look at the chaos of the late 60's/early 70's
I saw this at the Florida Film Festival and was quite blown away. Taken with the Oscar-nominated doc The Weather Underground, both movies present a jaw-dropping look at just how tumultuous those times were, especially for someone who didn't live through them, like myself. It's amazing to see how far young, well-educated, mostly white kids were willing to go to prove their points about race, money and war. Archival footage, especially that of the harrowing shootout in Los Angeles that was broadcast live on the air, shows you an America that is almost unrecognizable to us. The ending, which juxtaposes images of media-darling Patty with the rest of the SLA either in jail or long-since dead, is truly stunning.
The American Astronaut (2001)
A wild ride that almost goes somewhere
I saw this film at the International Film Series in Boulder, Colorado, and was initially bowled over by its inventiveness. Even though this appears it's his first film, Cory McAbee plunges us into a bizarre world with supreme confidence. The budget is low but it doesn't seem like the filmmakers sweated it - they spent the money on production design and great costumes rather than trying to do convincing spaceships-flying-through-asteroids shots. It reminded me of Eraserhead more than any other movie - using lighting, props and sound effects to set the tone. But, ultimately, what is this movie other than a showcase for the band's music? The musical interludes occasionally drive the whole film to a grinding halt. They brought me out of the movie and I got very conscious of sitting in a movie theater restlessly waiting. The songs are funny but they frequently have very little to do with the action of the movie. I wonder if all of them were written for the film or if the band just wanted to put in some of their regular songs. And, the ending was very unsatisfying. I mean, I definitely feel like I got my money's worth but after sitting through an amazingly creative patchwork of sci-fi serial/western/off-off-Broadway musical you'd think they could have summed it up with one more setpiece. There seems to be a totally-unforeseen mini-revival of the musical going on nowadays and if you ask me, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the only film that's really pushed the genre forward into new territory.
Sweet Jane (1998)
Mildly good indie
I saw this film when I was reviewing it for a film festival. There is fortunately some good acting going on here. I was especially surprised by the kid from Third Rock from the Sun, a show I normally shun like a dark alley. Samantha Mathis is also not bad, although her character is the least well-formed of the two. The story is an interesting, if not familiar one, slipping into melodrama a bit too much. The film definitely exploits the heroin chic that enveloped the indie world following Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting. But, its rather brave tackling of a doomed love in the shadow of AIDS should be commended.
Courting Courtney (1997)
Consistently funny yet overlooked indie
This film really won me over with its consistently snappy dialogue and likable characters. It was really great to see so many familiar young comedians given a chance to strut their stuff in a movie, people like Dana Gould and Kathy Griffin. (before her network TV breakout) I watched these people on those seemingly endless comedian showcase TV programs in the late eighties and early nineties and actually remembered some of them. When I caught this film while pre-screening for a film festival, I thought I would definitely be hearing about it again. But, no distributors or major festivals picked it up and it made its way quietly to video.
It is by no means perfect, however. The documentary filmmaker approach is pretty hackneyed and since little is made of it during the course of the film, is seems superfluous. Also, the female lead comes off as bland when compared to the comic zest of the other performers. Still, I have to say, there were genuine laughs for me in almost every scene, which I certainly can't say of most of the dreadful "dating in the nineties" romantic "comedies" that have been clogging up the market recently. Hopefully, this film will get its due in video distribution.
Barbara Broadcast (1977)
Another class act from Radley Metzger
A classy porn, to be sure, but for a real classic, check out Metzger's The Opening of Misty Beethoven. The opening scene of Barbara is set in a fantastically realized sex restaurant, where the items on the menu are the waiters and waitresses themselves. The plot is much less intricate than Misty Beethoven, but Metzger is still very clever in the ways he fills the screen with the requisite amount of flesh and fornication while maintaining a level of wit and sophistication. C. J. Laing, as the reporter, has an amazing scene with a beefcake-y dishwasher dude in the kitchen of the sex restaurant. You get the impression that these two people were really having sex with each other and enjoying it and the camera was simply recording. In most modern porn the sex seems like a contractual obligation rather than any real expression of sexuality. Hoo-rah for classic porn!