Gone With the Pope

I caught a midnight movie at the Bridge over Memorial Day Weekend. The film was Gone With the Pope. Also known as Kiss The Ring, the film was a labor of love for Duke Mitchell - the producer, director, writer and star. Filmed in 1975 and unfinished at the time of Mitchell's death in 1981, it was released until 2010. Reportedly, Bob Murawski (editor of Spiderman, Spiderman 2, Spiderman 3 and The Hurt Locker) spent 15 years editing the film.

I'm not sure how to describe the film. The plot, such as it is, focuses on Paul, a convict who is newly released from prison. While in the joint, Paul has gone through hell and back with Peter, Luke and an old man whose name I don't recall but was probably one of the apostles. Paul gets a wealthy girlfriend and Great Dane but eventually takes a murder-for-hire job for the Mob. For some reason, he performs the LA murders but he subcontracts the Las Vegas hits. The Mob intends to double cross (again for reasons that are unclear) Paul but he gets away with the money.

In the second half of the film, Peter, Luke & the Old Man get released from prison and take a boat trip from LA to Rome. While in Rome, they hatch a plan to kidnap the Pope and demand $1 from every Catholic for his safe return. Mainly due to surprisingly lax security at the Vatican, they kidnap the Pope and hide out on the open seas. Eventually, the Pope talks Paul & Luke into returning him. Peter goes along with the plan. The old man has disappeared from the story although the actor who portrayed him is now playing the Pope.

Peter returns to LA alone and seems to get his life in order but the Mob comes gunning for him. They kill the Las Vegas hit man and seem to be closing in. I don't want to give away the ending. I think the ending in the film was not the intended ending but I could be wrong.

So let me count everything that was wrong with this film.

1) The acting was horrible. No one was really up to the task. Mitchell looks and sounds like he is doing a James Caan impersonation. Everyone else is thankfully forgettable.

2) The soundtrack was horrible. Mitchell "sings" his own songs. Apparently Bill Shatner wasn't available. I guess it was meant to be spoken word but Mitchell intones with an earnestness that has to be heard to be believed. There is also a tacky lounge act that shows up periodically featuring a talented, tall redhead that can play the trumpet, guitar and a few other instruments.

3) The plot was horrible. There are holes big enough to drive a truck through. I'd have to go into more detail about the plot to point out the holes in it so you'll have to take my word. One example is when Peter picks up a morbidly obese woman who is walking her poodle. He brings her back to their hotel the night before they are to kidnap the Pope. The intent is for her to have sex with Paul. Paul thinks this is so funny that he decides to join in. Eventually, they steal her clothes and she knocks down the door. It looked like something from a Benny Hill sketch except not as sophisticated.

4) The dialogue was horrible. My favorite line was when Peter threatens to Pope to protect Paul & Luke from criminal prosecution. "If anything happens to these two, I'm going to kill 100 priests...for the fucking Jews!" Or maybe it was the blatantly racist banter Peter has with a black prostitute which I have forgotten except the line "It looks like a brillo" - three guesses as to what the subject of that sentence is referring to.

5) The production values were horrible. The powerful Mafioso bosses looked like they bought their clothes from a JC Penney catalog. While in prison, it looks like the doors only extend halfway across the door frame. For some reason, Paul shakes hands with his paisanos through the bars even though he could move two feet over and have an unobstructed embrace. The Pope conducts his audiences in a dingy reception room and on the day depicted, his appointment calendar was booked with fishwives and peasants.

Enough bitching. Be forewarned that Gone With the Pope is not a diamond in the rough but a piece of crap that's been polished as much as possible - search Mythbusters for the reference. Despite its painfully obvious flaws, I'm glad I saw Gone With the Pope. It's so monumentally bad that it needs to be seen like Plan 9 from Outer Space or Showgirls.

Gone With the Pope starring & directed by Paul Mitchell; (1975/2010) - Official Website

More Catch as Catch Can

I saw a number of films in May that were less than satisfying.

The most prominent being La Mission. This film was selected for Sundance and was the opening night film for the 2009 San Francisco International Film Festival. The film tells a familiar story - a young man revealing he is gay to his father. In this case, the men are Latino so there is his father's (Benjamin Bratt) machismo to deal with. Actually, writing that last sentence made me realize how much La Mission relies on Latino stereotypes - the Mission District of San Francisco, the father's tattoos, the lowrider cars, etc.

While the film slums it in the barrio, Benjamin Bratt gives a strong performance. Putting aside the Aztec warriors dancing in the street when Bratt has his epiphany and other silly tropes, Bratt plays an angry man (regardless of ethnicity) with conviction. I haven't seen Bratt in a role like that. It's not too hard to make a comparison between Bratt's Che Rivera and Robert De Niro's Jake LaMotta. In fact, director Peter Bratt (Benjamin's brother) peppers the film with cinematic references - posters of Clint Eastwood and The Godfather are featured prominently and Rivera's catchphrase is a quote from Animal House.

La Mission entertained me although it never made an emotional connection. I couldn't quite bring myself to care for the characters. Besides Bratt's performance, the film has little going for it. With his numerous & ominous tattoos and hardened face (given considerable street cred by the graying facial hair), Bratt dominates his fellow castmates. The plot feints and weaves for most of the plot but eventually takes the long way around to where I expected it to end.

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Speaking of Clint Eastwood, I caught The Good, The Bad, The Weird which is a Korean remake of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly. Set in remote Manchuria (which looks a lot like the US Southwest) during WWII (perhaps pre-Pearl Harbor), three Koreans are looking for buried Ching Dynasty treasure. What are Koreans doing in China during Japanese occupation? I don't know but it doesn't matter. Although marketed as a "Kimchi Western," the film's showcase scenes are action oriented including an extended train robbery, a shoot 'em up escape/gauntlet in a outdoor market and a mechanized Charge of the Light Brigade.

Thoroughly ridiculous, the film still wasn't completely a waste. Strangely, the Bad was vaguely effeminate and bore a passing resemblance to the rock star Prince. The Good was a victim of the vicious bandit known as The Finger Chopper (maybe it lost something in the translation). He even has a prosthetic fingertip/whistle although it did not seem to affect his impressive dexterity with firearms. The Weird turns out to be pretty damn Bad and Ugly at the end. The Japanese Imperial Army stands in for the Confederacy and they even have the three way shoot-out for a climax. Clint Eastwood was iconic and Eli Wallach was pitch perfect in the role. In The Good, The Bad, The Weird, the Good is kind of boring, the Bad looks like a glam rocker and the Weird is a schmuck until a dues ex machina ending.

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The PFA screened The Valiant Ones, a 1975 HK action film. I had high hopes but was ultimately disappointed. The action sequences looked quaint 35 years later but this could have been overlooked with a few charismatic or ever over-the-top performances. The actors' interpretations were a too flat or even subtle for my tastes. This is a Hong Kong action film after all. Sammo Hung (barely recognizable due to 35 years of age and weight and thick white face paint) gives 110% as the evil Japanese pirate.

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La Mission starring Benjamin Bratt; directed by Peter Bratt; (2009) - Official Website
The Good, The Bad, The Weird; Korean with subtitles; (2008)
The Valiant Ones directed by King Hu; with Sammo Hung; Mandarin with subtitles; (1975)

Catch as Catch Can

I caught several films at various venues in the past month.

My favorite was OSS 117 - Lost in Rio that I saw at the Lumiere. The French spoof on James Bond and the 1960's hit several of the right notes including tremendously inspiring wardrobe by stars Jean Dujardin and Louise Monot. Those swinging cats in the 60's knew how to dress. With homage to Sean Connery, North by Northwest and Harper, OSS 117 (117 as opposed to 007) looked like a 1960's film down to the film stock. The plot is just a vehicle for Dujardin to bumble his way aroung Brazil as Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, France's greatest spy which is roughly akin having the best sushi restaurant in Outer Mongolia. Casually racist, self-absorbed and sexist, de la Bath tangles with some Nazis in exile (boys from Brazil) and their Lucha Libre henchmen. He is ably and patiently assisted by Israeli Mossad agent Dolorès Koulechov (Monot). Although not nearly as silly as Austin Power, Lost in Rio elicited several laughs and smiles from me. Among my favorite scenes were the climax on the Christ the Redeemer statue, the opening dance sequence, de la Bath's dabbling with LSD and group sex and the "masquerade party" where de la Bath was dressed as Robin Hood, Dolorès as a sexy French maid and everyone else in SS uniforms.

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I drove down to Palo Alto to catch High Noon and Stagecoach at the Stanford Theater.

I've seen High Noon many times but never in a theater. I can't recall the last time I saw the film but will say that I recall the theme song playing a larger part during the film as a leitmotif. The use of the song was not nearly as prevalent or obvious as I recalled. I also noticed that Stanley Kramer's production company produced the film. Katy Jurado was more beautiful and her character more dignified than I remembered. Gary Cooper was still wooden and Lloyd Bridges was still a punk. The roles of the three gunman waiting for Frank Miller was less significant than I recall. I thought Lee Van Cleef got more screen time.

I watched Dark Waters at the recent Roxie Noir series. The heavy in that film was played by Thomas Mitchell. At first, I though it was Charles Laughton as Mitchell seemed to be imitating his speech. Before Dark Water, I could not have identified Thomas Mitchell by name or appearance.

By coincidence, Thomas Mitchell played the mayor in High Noon and the drunken doctor in Stagecoach. In Stagecoach, it seemed the role was patterned on W.C. Fields and Mitchell's performance was styled after Fields' performances opposite Mae West.

I've never seen Stagecoach in its entirety in one sitting. In fact, I can say now that I had not seen Stagecoach it its entirety over multiple viewing. I have seen parts of the film many times on television but there were scenes that were new to me when I watched it last weekend at the Stanford.

Stagecoach was famous for making John Wayne a star and director John Ford's first hit film (in talkies). The film looks cliche now but I can overlook. Looking at the performances, I was that impressed with the Duke. Andy Devine as the nervous, high-pitched stagecoach driver, Berton Churchill as the insufferable embezzler and Thomas Mitchell as the drunken doctor drew more attention for their over-the-top performances. John Carradine as the Southern gentleman/gambler and Claire Trevor as the prostitute clinging to her last strand of self-respect gave quiter and more affecting performance. John Wayne...well, he went through the film like mailman delivering his letters: it wasn't too exciting, he made a few mistake but ultimately he got the job done. Chris-Pin Martin made the most of a small role as a way station manager with an Apache wife.

The best parts of the film were not the action scenes (which were rather sparse) but the social conflicts between the passengers. What a motley bunch - escaped convict (John Wayne), drunken doctor (Mitchell), gambler (Carradine), whore (Trevor), meek alcohol salesman, blustering banker (Berton Churchill) and pregnant wife (who didn't look pregnant to me). The banker, the wife, and the gambler (with the manners of a Southern gentleman) look down on the outlaw, the whore and the drunkard.

There was also an interesting epilogue where John Wayne's character confronts three brothers in Lordsburg. The main brother is described as a stone-cold killer that would cut down the Ringo Kid (Wayne) but when news of the Kid's arrival reaches him and his brothers, they seem petrified. I'm guess they devalued Ringo's enemies to make it more realistic (it was 3 on 1 afterall). It also highlighted the courage of Ringo by contrast.

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I finally saw a general release film - Kick-Ass at the AMC 1000 on Van Ness Ave. The building the theater is in used to be a Cadillac dealership. It's multi-story and Kick-Ass was playing on the top floor. I think I must have gone up four or five flights of escalators. Although it has 14 screens, it doesn't look like any multiplex I've been in.

Much has been written about Kick-Ass. I saw it nearly 3 months after it was released. I enjoyed it. I'm not so big on action films. The gunfight and hand-to-hand sequences looked cartoonish which may been the intent. It was interesting how they sprinkled anxiety inducing moments of violence among the action scenes. Two scenes that made me cringe was when they were torturing a mobster and they had his pinky finger in between the blades of a lock cutter and when they put another mobster in an industrial size microwave oven (used for desiccating lumber).

The film is really melds various genres into one - teen sex comedy, revenge tale and comic book action story. Also there were many tremendous performances - Nicholas Cage was a bit stiff as always but he got a lot of mileage out his Adam West inspired speech cadence. Chloë Moretz as his profanity spewing, ass kicking daughter had the flashiest role and made the most of it. Christopher Mintz-Plasse also showed some range and skills as the son of a mob boss who assumes a superhero alterego to lure out the titular character.

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I went to see The Red Machine at the Red Vic. The directors and star were in attendance. The film was very low-budget and it showed in the wardrobe and acting but overall I was impressed and entertained. The plot could have used another round of polishing to clear up a few matters. In a nutshell, the US Navy recruit a safecracker out of prison to steal a top secret code/cypher machine from a Japanese naval attaché (the film is set in the 1935). Technically, they can't steal it because if it is missing, the Japanese will change they cryptology. They have to dismantle it to figure out how it works and reassemble it without the Japanese knowing. Then for good measure, they steal the codebooks.

The two men assigned to the job are genial safecracker who feels he isn't living up to his potential as a criminal and a stone-faced naval officer who was infamously disgraced (for reasons never quite revealed) and has a history with the Japanese officer and his wife. They are an odd couple but eventually grow to like and admire each other. I won't give away the ending because it was contrived.

The major plot hole I couldn't reconcile is why these two men were assigned this crucially important job. Everyone's performance seemed a little flat. Lee Perkins who played the uptight naval officer could have gotten away with the performance because it was consistent with the character. Towards the end, he has an emotional scene where he recounts his failed love affair and Perkins couldn't find the right emotional tenor.

However, a small film like The Red Machine deserves to be graded on the curve.

The Red Machine was preceded by a short film called Gandhi at the Bat (2006). It was a cute faux newsreel about Mohandas Gandhi visiting a Yankees-Phillies game in the 1930's. The Mahatma gets to bat and the results are suitably (and expectedly) amazing. The two leads from The Red Machine appear in Gandhi at the Bat. If nothing else, Gandhi at the Bat is worthwhile for its closing credit soundtrack - a catchy rendition of Take Me Out To the Ballgame played on Indian musical instruments.

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OSS 117 - Lost in Rio starring Jean Dujardin and Louise Monot; French with subtitles; (2009) - Official Website
High Noon starring Gary Cooper and Grace Kelly; (1952)
Stagecoach starring John Wayne & Claire Trevor; directed by John Ford; (1939)
Kick-Ass starring Aaron Johnson & Christopher Mintz-Plasse; with Nicholas Cage; (2010) - Official Website
The Red Machine starring Lee Perkins and Donal Thoms-Cappello; (2009) - Official Website

I Still Wake Up Dreaming

The Roxie recently concluded their two week noir series, I Still Wake Up Dreaming. Of the 28 films screened, I watched 25. The three I missed were: 99 River Street, Jealousy and Power of the Whistler. 99 River Street, a Phil Karlson film, has been screened extensively the past few years. I caught it at the 2007 Noir City. I recall enjoying Evelyn Keyes' performance. It also screened at a Karlson retrospective at the PFA last year. I missed Jealousy due to a dinner engagement. I skipped Power of the Whistler to watch The Red Machine at the Red Vic.

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I Still Wake Up Dreaming
Mysterious Intruder starring Richard Dix; directed by William Castle; (1946)
High Tide starring Don Castle; (1947)
Shield for Murder starring and directed by Edmond O’Brien; (1954)
Nightmare starring Edward G. Robinson; (1956)
The Mark of the Whistler starring Richard Dix and Janis Carter; directed by William Castle; (1944)
The Lady Confessesstarring Hugh Beaumont; (1945)
Treasure of Monte Cristo; (1949)
The Invisible Wall starring Don Castle; (1947)
The Red House starring Edward G. Robinson; (1947)
Sideshow; (1950)
Voice of the Whistler starring Richard Dix; directed by William Castle; (1945)
Lighthouse starring Don Castle; (1947)
Secret of the Whistler starring Richard Dix; (1946)
Roses are Red starring Don Castle; (1947)
Johnny Cool starring Henry Silva and Elizabeth Montgomery; directed by William Asher; (1963)
Cop Hater starring Robert Loggia; (1958)
The Fearmakers starring Dana Andrews; directed by Jacques Tourneur; (1958)
Stolen Identity; (1953)
Dark Waters starring Merle Oberon and Franchot Tome; directed by Andre De Toth; (1944)
The Lady and the Monster starring Erich von Stroheim; (1944)
Secrets of Monte Carlo; (1951)
The Glass Alibi; directed by W. Lee Wilder; (1946)
The Thirteenth Hour starring Richard Dix; (1947)
Below the Deadline; (1946)
Behind Locked Doors; directed by Budd Boetticher; (1948)

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Like last year’s festival, several of the 16 mm prints were in poor condition. In particular, the dialogue in High Tide was rendered indecipherable by the poor sound quality.

The Roxie has announced encore screenings of several of the films in a four day program called I Still Wake Up Dreaming: Noir Redux from June 4 to 7. Two of the films I missed are screening - 99 River Street and Jealousy.

Johnny Cool screens June 4.

Nightmare and The Fearmakers are presented on June 5.

The best double feature of the redux is 99 River Street and Cop Hater on June 6

Three 16 mm films with improved sound quality will be screened on June 7 - High Tide, Jealousy and The Lady Confesses.

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The most surprising aspect of the series was that I thoroughly enjoyed The Whistler films. I don’t recall enjoying The Whistler (1944) at last year’s Columbia Noir series. The Mark of the Whistler, Voice of the Whistler and Secret of the Whistler were three of my favorites from this year’s festival.

In addition to the three aforementioned Whistler films, I particularly enjoyed Cop Hater, Lighthouse, The Glass Alibi and Shield for Murder.

A grab bag of synopses and thoughts:

Shield for Murder star Edmond O’Brien as a dirty cop who kills a bag man and steals his money. The interesting part of this film is that everyone knows O’Brien’s character is dirty and probably committed the crime – the other cops in the squad, the precinct captain, the newspaper reporter on the crime beat and the gangster whose money he stole. However, it’s only the gangsters who are willing to do something about it…that is until O’Brien’s partner (a young man who idolizes him because he helped pull him out of the streets as a boy) is forced to confront the issue. Claude Akins is particularly memorable in the role of a nasty gangster.

Nightmare was filmed in New Orleans and has a nightmare sequence that seems to have inspired Alfred Hitchcock and Bruce Lee.

The Mark of the Whistler is about a drifter (Richard Dix) who sees a notice in the newspaper about unclaimed bank accounts. By coincident, one of the account holders has the same name as him. Dix plans meticulously to fraudulently claim the money. He forgets to plan for the possibility that the man he is impersonating has enemies.

The Invisible Wall was interesting to me for its exterior shots of Las Vegas in 1947. Otherwise, its plot has an unusually high number of plot twists that keep the audience interested.

The Red House was full of moody atmosphere helped immeasurably by a musical score by Miklos Rosza and Bert Glennon. It dragged on a little too long and Edward G. Robinson started to wear thin but it did have the luscious Julie London.

Voice of the Whistler has a great setup. A wealthy industrialist (Dix) is dying. Alone and lonely, he falls in with the denizens of a poor Chicago neighborhood. Given only months to live, he asks the nurse at the local clinic to marry him. It’s strictly a business proposition. He knows that she grew up impoverished and yearns for the security of wealth. She also has a boyfriend whom she has been engaged to for four years. The proposition is that she marries him, keeps him company for his remaining time and inherits his fortune upon his death. Nothing goes as planned though – the man’s health improves, the boyfriend shows up at the lighthouse they are convalescing at and a murder is planned.

Lighthouse was the second half of the lighthouse noir double feature. In this film, Don Castle plays a lighthouse assistant and lothario. He goes into town to romance various women. When the woman he been stringing along pays a surprise visit at the lighthouse, a love triangle is formed. Spurned by Castle, the woman (June Lang) decides to marry the lighthouse keeper and move into the living quarters on the lighthouse island. Her husband is unaware of her previous relationship with his assistant. Castle who was a “love ‘em and leave ‘em” type before becomes obsessed with his boss’ wife when they begin to live in such close quarters.

Secret of the Whistler is similar to Voice of the Whistler. Dix plays an artist who was selling caricatures in the park before marrying a wealthy woman. The woman is deathly ill but that doesn’t stop Dix from hosting cocktail parties at his art studio/apartment. Dix meets a gold digging model whom he wants to marry. He is patient enough to wait for his wife demise until she makes a miraculous recovery…and discovers his affair.

Johnny Cool stars Henry Silva in a convoluted revenge tale. Johnny Cool (Silva), a Sicilian, is sent to America by the original Johnny Cool, an exiled mobster living in Rome. Silva goes around killing mobsters and corrupt politicians but he also picks up a girlfriend, a bored divorcee (nice performance by Elizabeth Montgomery who is better known as Samantha on the television series Bewitched). Things are going well for Silva and Montgomery until she feels some guilt about her involvement in his crimes. Sammy Davis Jr. has a small role and sings on the soundtrack.

Cop Hater was the grittiest film in the festival. Based on the first 87th Precinct novel by Ed McBain, the film stars Robert Loggia as the detective tasked with finding a cop killer. The late Jerry Orbach has a small role as the leader of a street gang called the Grovers. I know they were the Grovers because they conveniently had T-shirts with “Grovers” written on the back like a jersey. This film was so low budget that I think Loggia only wore one shirt during the entire film. Shirley Ballard stands out as the tranny-ish but still slutty-looking wife of Loggia’s partner.

The Lady and the Monster was the worst film of the festival in my opinion. I was quite certain I saw this film on Elvira’s Movie Macabre show in the 1980’s but a brief conversation with programmer Elliot Lavine convinced me I was thinking about a remake called Donovan’s Brain with Lew Ayres. Levine called this film his all-time favorite which makes me wonder about his taste in films. A brain is kept alive in a laboratory and, through means I cannot recall, exerts a malevolent influence on the two doctors (one of whom is Erich von Stroheim!) who removed it from its body.

Secrets of Monte Carlo was an above average B film about a fireworks importer who gets tricked into muling fake stolen gems out of Monte Carlo. After that is cleared up, he tags along with the insurance investigator and his beautiful sister to Hong Kong. Once there, they tangle with the gang that stole the real gems. The film was a predictable potboiler but was historically interesting for its casual racism towards the Chinese exemplified by the dialogue and performance of Philip Ahn as the “inscrutable Chinaman.”

The Glass Alibi which was paired with Secrets of Monte Carlo also exceeded expectations. Once again, a man (this time a ne’er do well author/reporter) marries a wealthy but ill woman with the certitude of her impending demise and his subsequent inheritance. So certain is he that he will soon be a widower, he doesn’t even break it off with his not-so-secret paramour (stunningly beautiful Anne Gwynne). When Gwynne’s jealous mobster boyfriend breaks out of jail, the timetable for the wife’s death has to be accelerated.

From Rome to Manila

I never caught a Midnight Mass screening with Peaches Christ. "She" hosted a midnight series at the Bridge for many years. Famous for their elaborate stage shows which preceded the films, the Midnight Mass series was well-attended and highly praised. Between the raucous crowds and late nights, I never got around to a Midnight Mass. I would have liked to have seen the Elvira and Tura Satana appearances. (I've never seen Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!).

Last year, Peaches announced she would semi-retire from the Midnight circuit. Since then, Joshua Grannell (Peaches' alter-ego) has written and directed a horror film which premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival. The film, All About Evil, packed the Castro Theater. The film was shot in San Francisco and set at the Victoria Theater. I read somewhere that All About Evil will screen at the Victoria later this year.

In addition, Peaches returns to the Bridge for a Midnight Mass on July 2 and 3 with a screening of Prince's Purple Rain (1984). That film brings back memories from high school - I knew a girl named Nikki; I guess you could say she was a sex fiend; I met her in a hotel lobby...

Anyway, that is a long lead up to say that the Bridge is continuing its midnight series but not with Peaches Chist (July 2 & 3 notwithstanding). On May 28 & 29, the Bridge is screening Gone With the Pope which caught my attention.

Gone With the Pope is a never-before-seen exploitation film starring writer/director Duke Mitchell (Massacre Mafia Style) as Paul, a gangster with an unholy scheme: to kidnap the pope and charge "a dollar from every Catholic in the world" as the ransom. Shot in 1975 as Kiss the Ring, Gone With the Pope was unfinished at the time of Duke Mitchell's death in 1981. Sage Stallone and Bob Murawski of Grindhouse Releasing rediscovered Gone With the Pope in 1995 and vowed to save it from obscurity. Academy Award-nominated film editor Murawski (The Hurt Locker) spent 15 years completing Gone With the Pope from the surviving film elements.

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The YBCA will screening noted Filipino director Brillante Mendoza's Kinatay (2009) on June 12 and 13. I have seen Mendoza's Serbis and Slingshot in the past year or two and am interested enough to view Kinatay. Those two films showed the gritty and seamy side of the Philippines and Mendoza seems to have ratcheted it up for Kinatay.

Brillante Mendoza is the most sophisticated, fearless Filipino filmmaker working today. Kinatay, for which he won the Best Director award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, is a harrowing journey into the heart of darkness (take heed: sensitive viewers should go nowhere near this film). It traces a 24-hour odyssey in the life of a trainee policeman, from his wedding to an endless night out with corrupt colleagues and a junkie prostitute. With a nerve-shredding pace and gritty, verite-style photography, Kinatay is an unforgettable denunciation of societal and political corruption in Manila.

What to See in May and Beyond

The Roxie series titled I Still Wake Up Dreaming: Noir Is Dead!/Long Live Noir! runs from May 14 to 27. I've purchased a series pass so I'll be spending a lot of time in the Mission the next two weeks.

On the last day of the Noir series, the Red Vic is screening The Red Machine. I recall this film from the 2009 Mill Valley Film Festival. It interested me but I was not able to see it at the time. I may skip the Roxie that evening. Gandhi at the Bat, a short film about a ficitonal incident where the Mahatma pinch hit for the 1933 NY Yankees.

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.

On May 29, the PFA is screening The Valiant Ones.

A righteous husband-and-wife swordfighting duo are called to protect China from the machinations of Japanese pirates and corrupt officials in King Hu’s masterly work, noted for its forest fight scene set to the moves of a Go match. “A muscleman is not enough; we need a schemer,” one character muses, illuminating the film’s intricate web of betrayals and plots. The only nobility to be had is in the swords of the valiant ones, those doomed to protect the shores of an empire rotting from the inside. Pai Ying and Hsu Feng are elegance incarnate as the married couple, a suave, sword-wielding Bogart/Bacall act catching arrows out of midair, foiling assassins, or coolly demonstrating their fighting techniques on an assortment of Ming dynasty stooges. Hong Kong action mainstays of the eighties and nineties Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung appear in minor roles, Biao as a young student and Hung (even then) throwing his considerable weight around as the main Japanese pirate.

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In wide release, I would like to see Kick-Ass and Iron Man 2.

In limited release, The Good, The Bad, The Weird, La Mission, OSS 117 - Lost in Rio and Harry Brown interest me.

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On June 4, PFA kicks off their 3 month Kurosawa series.

That same night, the Paramount Theater in Oakland is screening Georgy Girl (1966), featuring the late Lynn Redgrave's starmaking performance.

PFA kicks off a long weekend of Mexican Classic Sci-Fi films from June 24 to 27.

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival runs July 15 to 18 at the Castro.

Hole in the Head run from July 8 to 22. Will the Thrill and Monica the Tiki Goddess of Thrillville will be presenting a double feature on closing night - Mil Mascaras vs. The Aztec Mummy and its follow-up Academy of Doom.

How the Irish Saved Civilization, Cherry Bomb and Birdemic

I recently caught two films at the Roxie.

The Secret of Kells; animated; (2009) - Official Website
The Runaways starring Dakota Fanning and Kristen Stewart; (2010) - Official Website

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I didn't enjoy The Secret of Kells. One of the main reasons I wanted to see it was that it was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. I found the story confusing. I often think that animated films focus too much on fantastical animation at the expense of the plot or character development. In this case, the story focused on Brandon, an Irish boy whose uncle is the Abbot of Kells, the village where they live. Set in the 9th century, the Abbot's sole purpose seems to be constructing a wall to keep Viking marauders. A monk from the island of Iona arrives in Kells with his cat and the Book of Kells. What is the Book of Kells? It's never made clear in the film but it is a Latin version (with illustrations) of the Four Gospels of the Bible.

Brandom becomes captivated by Brother Aidan and his book. He ventures into the forest (where his uncle has forbade him to go) in search of berries to create green ink to continue the illustrations. He meets a wolf who turns into a girl and there is some dragon whose eye is the lens to understanding the Book of Kells. To be honest I lost interest after a few minutes in the forest full of kaleidoscopic images. Eventually the Vikings come and sack the village. Aidan, Brandon and the book escape.

What does a lupine shape shifter have to do with Viking raids on Ireland or Irish monks transcribing books in the Middle Ages? Nothing as far as I can see. I thought the film would have been infinitely better without the fantasy elements.

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The Runaways is a biopic of the pioneering all girl rock & roll band of the same name. The film focuses on Joan Jett (Kristen Stewart) and Cherie Currie (Dakota Fanning). Rather than a fully formed story, the film amalgamates various scenes to create a superficial but enjoyable analysis of the rise and the fall of The Runaways.

Jett is the driving force behind the band although what drives her "Love of Rock 'n Roll" is never explained. Curie is chosen by Jett and band manager Kim Fowley (Michael Shannon) based on her appearance. Curie, the daughter of an alcoholic father and selfish mother, is transformed as the film progresses. Naive and largely chaste when the film begins, she is a drug addict and bi-sexual by the time she breaks off from The Runaways. As for Fowley, who is referred to as a scumbag and Svengali, I'm not sure what the problem is. He has sex but not with the underage band members. He teaches them to project their sexuality into their performances which Curie quickly masters. He abdicates much of his managerial responsibilities to Jett who seems only too willing to accept that role. When he does exert his authority, it's to bully Curie into performing at the record stuiod which seems appropriate since the other band members and audience can't understand (or sympathize) why she can no longer perform.

The film features a great 1970's era soundtrack and Stewart is dead on as Joan Jett. The film depicts a lesbian relationship between Jett & Curie which given Curie's pre-Runaway, wide-eyed, barely menstruating depiction may explain a lot about her subsequent drug use and the demise of The Runaways.

A few of my favorite scenes.

Before forming The Runaways, Jett takes some guitar lessons. She is expecting electric guitar lessons. The teacher is an aging but sexist looking Beatnik who thinks its not appropriate for women to play electric guitar. Instead, he tries to teach her "On Top of Old Smoky."

At the end of the film, promoting her debut album with the Blackhearts, Jett is dressed in jacket/T-shirt combo that looks like something Ellen Degeneres would wear on her talkshow.

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A couple weekends ago, the Roxie screened Birdemic at 11 PM on Friday & Saturday nights. It was in the middle of the San Francisco International Film Festival so I missed it. I guess it must have been a hit because they are scheduling encore screenings on May 28 and 29. The film is touring extensively around the country over the next two months.

What is Birdemic all about? According to the official website, aplatoon of eagles & vultures attack the residents of a small town. Many people died. It's not known what caused the flying menace to attack. Two people managed to fight back, but will they survive Birdemic?

Is Birdemic any good? According to Wikipedia, Birdemic has been noted for its vastly poor quality, with reviewers calling out its wooden acting, bad dialogue, nonsensical plot and, in particular, its special effects, consisting entirely of poorly rendered CGI eagles and vultures that, in addition to performing physically awkward aerial maneuvers (non-animated bird sprites in the background will simply rotate 360° in mid-air), spit acid and explode upon impact with the ground.

Am I going to attend Birdemic? I don't know. It sounds like a midnight movie classic-in-the-making but I find I don't like films that are too cheesey.