2009 Mill Valley Film Festival Review

I was able to get up to Marin County for four films 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival. The festival ran from October 8 to 18. I saw two films in Mill Valley & two films in San Rafael.

The four films I saw were:

Dark and Stormy Night; directed by Larry Blamire; (2009)
Jim Thorpe, The World's Greatest Athlete; documentary; (2009) - Official Website
Hellsinki (Rööperi); Finnish with English subtitles; (2009) - Official Website
Red Cliff starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai & Takeshi Kaneshiro; directed by John Woo; Mandarin with Engish subtitles; (2009) - Official Website

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Dark and Stormy Night was a spoof of the "dark house" thrillers of the 1930's. You know the type of film - an Agatha Christie (or ripoff) story about people in an isolated mansion who are being killed one by one. Dark and Stormy Night also riffed on His Girl Friday and some Frankenstein films. All the bases are touched - fast-talking banter, crazy old woman roaming dark halls, the scream queen, slutty wife, weak-willed husband, great White hunter and a gorilla. The film's reach exceeded its grasp. The dialog was forced and flat; the humor was lacking. Even the cheesy special effects failed to amuse me. The films was supposed to be a loving pastiche but I thought it was an amateurish throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks. The audience lapped it up but I think there was a local connection for director Larry Blamire. I did discover that Marvin Kaplan from the 1970's television series Alice is still alive and "acting."

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Jim Thorpe, The World's Greatest Athlete is a very entertaining documentary on the famous Native American athlete. Named the Greatest Athlete of the Half Century in 1950, Jim Thorpe did it all - played pro baseball & football, won gold medals at the Olympics in the pentathlon and decathlon and was a stuntman in Hollywood films. He was also an alcoholic, stripped of his Olympic medals and spent most of his life in poverty. Thorpe's life intersected with Pop Warner (his football & track coach), Dwight Eisenhower (his football adversary) and John Magraw (his baseball manager). I knew some of this before seeing film as I recall reading some on Thorpe. As an aside, maybe the time is right to make a documentary or biopic on Thorpe's female counterpart - Babe Didrikson Zaharias. Given her alleged sexual orientation, I'm sure it would be a huge success in the Bay Area.

Anyway, Jim Thorpe looks destined for a PBS broadcast. That's not a pejorative but simply an observation of where good documentaries end up (March of the Penguins notwithstanding). I did learn from the Q&A that Jim Thorpe, PA was named after Thorpe's death. Thorpe's widow needed money so agreed to bury her husband in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania in exchange for some money and changing the town's name. Thorpe may have never step foot in Mauch Chunk; regardless Jim Thorpe (the town) held now special meaning to Jim Thorpe (the man).

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Hellsinki was an absolute masterpiece in the guilty pleasure/crime genre. Mixing humor with violence and some funky 70's costumes, Hellsinki held my attention for two hours. Telling the rise and fall of three men in Helsinki who go from bootlegging to crime lords and their descent into death and prison, Hellsinki is ripe for an American remake. There no explanation about the misspelled titled although the allusions to damnation are apt. This film has a piece of dialog which has to be one of the best ever spoken (of course, I read it in subtitled) - "I fell in love with you the first time we fucked."

The plot involves three men from a rough neighborhood in Helsinki. All three grew up without fathers. Krisu pointed out his father's hiding place as a young boy. It resulted in his father being killed to settle a gambling debt. Krisu coped by killing his father's murderer and wearing the killer's ring for the rest of his life. Krisu ends up hooked on heroin and is killed by a loan shark.

I can't remember why Tom's father was absent; it may have had something to do with his alcoholic mother. Tom achieves some normalcy by marrying an attractive blonde who insists on him going legit. He satisfies this condition by opening a porn shop which ultimately makes him wealthy. His wife's miscarriage destroys their marriage and leads to her suicide.

Kari father died when he was young I believe. Close to his mother, Kari is useless after her death. He feels happier in prison than on the outside so he commits crimes with the intention of getting caught.

There also a old-school cop that is the closest thing to a friend the three have and a young turk (technically, I believe his character was Estonian) that muscles in on Tom's territory. The main plot involves Tom watching his friends and family die (literally or spiritually). Throughout the ordeal, Tom's spirit is indomitable. I won't dwell on the plot details except to say the film feels like a muscular Tarantino film with less dialogue and more subtle humor.

I highly recommend Hellsinki.

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John Woo's Red Cliff was notable for the director's attendance at the screening. The most expensive Chinese film ever made, Red Cliff has a lot of spectacular battle scenes and pyrotechnics. The last half hour of 2.5 hour film involved a extended navy battle where everything is burning. The version screened at MVFF is the western version. The Chinese version was released in two parts with a total run time of over 6 hours.

Certainly an epic in the Hollywood sense of the word, I found the film less than compelling. Some of the action sequences went on too long. Not versed in the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history, I found the panoply of heroes to be difficult to keep track of. I still don't know what constitutes the "turtle defense."

Regardless, there are some interesting (vaguely homoerotic) scenes between Tony Leung Chiu Wai & Takeshi Kaneshiro. What was up the dueling Chinese zithers?

I'm probably being too picky. I'm glad I saw Red Cliff; if for no other reason to say I did.

2009 Mill Valley Film Festival Preview

The Mill Valley Film Festival runs from October 8 to 18. I haven't decided if I am going to go. It's a bit inconvenient for me to drive up to Marin County. There are several films that I would like to see.

Red Cliff (2009) - Acclaimed action director John Woo delivers a jaw-dropping epic based upon a legendary historical battle at the end of the Han Dynasty. In his quest to control all China, ruthless Prime Minister Cao Cao declares war on two neighboring kingdoms, whose only hope for survival lies in their ability to ally as a single force. Cao Cao pursues these renegade leaders and their cadre of loyal men to a showdown at Red Cliff, stronghold of the tranquil Southlands. The severely outnumbered allies must rely upon deft strategic planning to survive, employing ingenious battle tactics that make the Trojan horse look like child's play. Full of arresting combat sequences and Woo's famously fluid fight choreography, as well as penetrating performances by mega-watt stars Tony Leung, Chiu Wai and Takeshi Kaneshiro, Red Cliff is an unforgettable big screen experience.

Dark and Stormy Night (2009) - Who is murdering the houseguests of the Cavinder Estate? What secrets lie hidden in the passageways of the dark old house? Did someone lose a gorilla? Mysteries abound in this hilarious homage to 1930s "dark house" horror flicks. Written and directed by cult movie maestro Larry Blamire (The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra, MVFF 2001, The Lost Skeleton Returns Again, MVFF 2008), the film follows the overnight exploits of a group of oddballs attempting to stay alive after a reading of the cursed Cavinder Will. Characters include a pair of fast-talking reporters, a whacked-out psychic, the loyal butler ("Jeens"), an antsy ingénue and one poorly cloaked phantom. Recalling the screwball comedies of Howard Hawks and the frantic antics of the Marx Brothers, this giddy love letter to the movies of yesteryear—captured in gorgeous black-and-white—will leave you grinning well past the witching hour.

Hellsinki (2009) - Elegantly produced and featuring exceptional performances by Finland's top film talent, Hellsinki tracks the rise and fall of three enterprising young criminals in Helsinki's vice-laden Rööperi neighborhood of the 1960s and 70s. Tom, an ambitious thug from the neighborhood, figures there's no future in rolling drunks and selling illegal booze on the street. Convincing his pals, wily Krisu and oafish Kari, to join him, Tom launches his hostile takeover of the city's black market alcohol trade. Now successful, each faces greater threats from within: the painful legacy of absent fathers, the children they themselves have abandoned and a yearning for normal domestic life. As a younger, more ruthless generation of criminals appears on the scene, and with all the old-school honor codes broken, what remains of "the life"? With a healthy dose of black Nordic humor, Hellsinki is a must-see for fans of stylish and psychologically rich gangster films. North American Premiere. The titled is apparently intentionally misspelled. The Finnish title is Rööperi.

Happy Tears (2009) - Dad may have Alzheimer's, but he's not the only one whose mind and life seem to be slipping out of reach. Sisterly opposites Jayne (Parker Posey) and Laura (Demi Moore) return to their childhood home in Pittsburgh to somehow and reluctantly manage their widowed, increasingly weird and terminally ill father. Mitchell Lichtenstein's second feature (follow-up to 2007's horror spoof Teeth) explores after its own fashion, but with equal frankness, themes broached in Tamara Jenkins' The Savages (MVFF 2007): Just what do we owe the imperfect ones to whom we are family? Musing all the while, with raucously sardonic but ultimately affirming humor, on the legacies of fathers living and gone, Happy Tears takes supreme advantage of a powerhouse cast—not least the excellent Rip Torn, who as the sisters' deteriorating dad mingles wry raunch with a gently stirring frailty; and Ellen Barkin in a brave, not to say bizarre turn as a frighteningly feral, slyly endearing crack-head gold-digger.

Jim Thorpe, The World's Greatest Athlete (2009) - He may not have been as fast as a speeding bullet or able to leap tall buildings, but Jim Thorpe came real close. Considered the finest athlete of the 20th century, he was a US Olympic multiple gold medal winner as well as a star of professional football and baseball. But Jim Thorpe was also an American Indian. At the peak of his fame, Jim was still legally considered a "ward of the state" and not a citizen. Tom Weidlinger's superb documentary—using old recordings, re-enactments, newsreels and animated photos—brings Thorpe's career alive with a warmth for its subject that shines as bright as Jim's crooked smile. In this life story, too, is a tale of American racism and how one man overcame prejudice through sheer strength of personality. Weidlinger's film re-acquaints us with Jim Thorpe, and lets us fall in love with the story and the man.

The Red Machine (2009) - Washington, DC, 1935: At the height of the Great Depression, hotheaded Eddie Doyle (Donal Thoms-Cappello), an ace safecracker, is just doing what he does best: stealing. Now facing prison, Eddie finds he's got an option after all. Enter Lt. F. Ellis Coburn (Lee Perkins), a cool-as-ice Navy man with a problem only Eddie can solve. The Japanese Foreign Office has changed its encryption codes, and the government isn't too happy. A prominent Japanese diplomat holds the key to his country's secrets in the form of a mysterious red machine. As Eddie and Coburn work together to pull off the heist of a lifetime, they find more to the job than they bargained for as things get personal. Full of crackling dialogue, eye-catching visuals and unpredictable twists, co-directors Stephanie Argy's (Gandhi at the Bat, MVFF 2006)and Alec Boehm's The Red Machine is a charming throwback to the great espionage capers of the 1930s.

Tenderloin (2009) - Anyone who has walked the streets of San Francisco's Tenderloin District has seen the seedy side of the city. It's a place that isn't on a first name basis with hope. When Ben takes a job as manager of a residential hotel there, he can't deny he's hit bottom. An Iraqi war veteran trying to keep his repressed anger under control, Ben just wants to hide. The last thing he expects to find is a home. But before he knows it, he's drawn into the lives of those around him, finding friendship in the faces of strangers. As he moves forward and tries to reconnect with his estranged young son, Ben learns that, wherever you live, choices are hard. Trying is one thing, believing another. Gritty and authentic, Marin director Michael Anderson's Tenderloin brims with eccentric characters that give a heartfelt and familiar face to a lonely and desperate world.