Skyfall and the Castro's Mighty Wurlitzer

On Friday, February 22, I saw Skyfall at the Castro Theater.

Skyfall starring Daniel Craig; with Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes & Naomie Harris; directed by Sam Mendes; (2012) - Official Website

By coincidence, the James Bonds series, which Skyfall was part of, was mentioned in a San Francisco Chronicle article recently.  David Hegarty, one of the organists at the Castro, Apparently, the ownership of Castro's Mighty Wurlitzer is more complicated than I imagined.  I simply thought the theater owned the organ but the article states that the owner of the "Wurlitzer Hope-Jones Unit Orchestra" is separate from the ownership of the Castro Theater.  I guess it is expensive to buy & maintain an organ.

Hegarty launched a 501(c)(3) nonprofit called the Castro Organ Devotees Association (CODA) with a goal to "purchase the organ, replace and enlarge the keyboard console, and add to the pipes."  The price tag for this project is approximately $1 million according to the article.

I will neither encourage nor dissuade anyone from donating to CODA.  I haven't decided myself whether to donate.  A nonprofit organ in a "for profit" theater seems incongruent.  On the CODA website, it is stated that they need $250,000 by May 1 to "secure the purchase of the Wurlitzer and allow CODA to start Wurlitzer organ renovations and continue implementing the full scope of the project."  The other $750,000 is needed by the end of 2013 to complete the project.  That means there is less than month for CODA to make its intermediate goal of $250,000.

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In my previous post, I mentioned that I enjoyed the Joe Swanberg series at the Roxie and wish I had seen more of the films in that retrospective.  A few hours before showtime, I was still unsure if I would go to the Castro to see Skyfall or the Roxie to see Silver Bullets and Art History.  I chose Skyfall after speaking with a few co-workers.  Of course, they had no idea who Joe Swanberg was but some of the adjectives they used in describing Skyfall were intriguing.  I'm quite a fan of Daniel Craig's 007 so it didn't take much to convince me.

As the aforementioned newspaper article alluded to, Hegarty did something unusual at the screening I attended.  I cannot recall another time where he did not descend into the orchestra while playing San Francisco to the audience's rhythmic clapping.  On this evening, he descended while playing the James Bond Theme.  The crowd was quite enthused as he played the song.  I'm not sure if it was the song itself or the fact he was playing something other than San Francisco.  I thought I was watching and listening to something historic but apparently Hegarty had been doing it throughout the Bond series.

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Since the film grossed $1 billion worldwide, I see no point in recounting the plot.  My co-workers had hinted that M dies so it wasn't a complete surprise.  I do like how the new M's office has the upholstered door like M of the Connery/Moore era films.  Moneypenny has also been introduced.  I think they played a little with the Bond canon.  I don't recall him being orphaned.  Skyfall seems like an odd name for a Scottish estate.

As for the performances, Daniel Craig plays Bonds as more gritty and psychologically vulnerable.  He's definitely not a hero.  I will miss Dench for her dry witted bantering with Craig but I always thought she was underutilized until this film.

Javier Bardem seems to be enjoying himself thoroughly playing the most flamboyant of Bond villains.  Our introduction to him as he slowly approaches Bond telling him a story of exterminating rats on a small island was memorable.  It's hard to believe this is the same actor as in No Country For Old Men.

Bérénice Marlohe is one of the sexiest Bond girls I can recall seeing.

The new Q (Ben Whishaw) is an interesting take on the character.  In on film, they cleared slate by replacing M and introducing Moneypenny & Q who had heretofore been missing from the Craig era Bond films.

One of Bonds' spy gadgets is a pistol that only fires if he is holding it using biometric identification.  I heard on the news that some politician was proposing biometric identification be required on all assault weapons as part of the efforts to pass a bill banning assault weapons.  Art imitating life or life imitating art?

Skyfall was a little bloated at nearly 2.5 hours and for most of the film, it didn't look like a Bond film.  The climax was decidedly un-Bondian.  The film certainly entertained me for long stretches; particularly when Bardem was on the screen.  It seems like the producers decided they needed to reboot the series (with the exception of Craig) so they used this installment to clear the decks.

Sexual Politics: The Occasionally Autobiographical And Always Personal Films Of Joe Swanberg

The 2013 San Francisco Independent Film Festival's closing night film was Joe Swanberg's All the Light in the Sky.  The next day, the Roxie kicked off a three day, 12 film retrospective of Swanberg's work.  I was able to see four of the 12 films in the series.  I was impressed by all of to varying degrees.

Uncle Kent starring Kent Osborne, Josephine Decker & Jennifer Prediger; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2011)
All the Light in the Sky starring Jane Adams, Kent Osborne, Larry Fessenden & Sophia Takal;  directed by Joe Swanberg; (2012)
Hannah Takes the Stairs starring Greta Gerwig, Mark Duplass, Kent Osborne & Andrew Bujalski; directed by Joe Swanberg; (2007) - Official Website
Nights and Weekends starring and co-directed by Joe Swanberg & Greta Gerwig; (2008) - Official Website

Swanberg was present at all the screenings.  Kent Osborne was also in attendance for his films.  Jane Adams showed up after All the Light in the Sky.

Last year, I enjoyed How to Cheat at Cinequest.  Kent Osborne starred in that film.  His character cheated on his wife with a woman who lived in a house that was memorable.  She had a nice view of the LA skyline and used stairs to access her door.  One year later, I can still remember the house.  In Uncle Kent, Kent Osborne lived in that house.  I'm surprised I remembered that.

In Uncle Kent, which I suspect to be partially autobiographical, Kent Osborne play Kent.  In real life, Kent Osborne is an animator/cartoonist (he worked on SpongeBob SquarePants) and co-wrote the screenplay for Uncle Kent.  In the film, Kent is an animator on a television show.  He has just turned 40 and has planned a weekend with a bisexual woman he met on Chatroulette.  I'm not too hip on the internet so I had never heard of that site but subsequent research and conversations lead me to believe there is a negative connotation associated with that website.

Kate (Jennifer Prediger) seems like a nice enough woman and there seems to be chemistry between Kate & Kent but there is also an awkwardness.  Both Kate and Kent have their shortcomings; Kate has a boyfriend and Kent snoops on Kate's digital photos.  Unable or unwilling to consummate their relationship by traditional means, the pair hatch a plan to have a threesome and quickly enlist Josephine Decker (I don't think her character's name was mentioned).  In a memorable sequence, Decker serves as the proxy or intermediary between Kent and Kate.  After the deed is done, the awkwardness is only worse between Kate & Kent.

Much of the film's "message" is unspoken and I was impressed by how effectively Osborne & Swanberg were able to communicate Kent's inner dialogue.  The characters Osborne played Uncle Kent and How to Cheat are very similar.

Uncle Kent was paired as a double bill with All the Light in the Sky.  I can see why.  In both films, the protagonist deals with his or her sexuality as they confront their age.  In All the Light in the Sky, Jane Adams plays Marie, a 40something actress who is starting to feel old.  With a beachfront house and paddleboard, she lives an idyllic life.  The arrival of her niece (Sophia Takal) seems to stir something inside Marie.  The presence of the younger woman is an actress who reminds Marie of her younger days.  She also appears to make Marie aware of her own loneliness.  I say "appears" because like all of the Swanberg's films I've seen, characters don't explicitly state their condition.

Marie begins exploring possibilities with various men - Kent Osborne shows up as a handyman/nice guy, Marie's long-time friend & neighbor (Larry Fessenden) has an awkward dinner moment and there are one or two men whom Marie interacts with during research for a role (or was it looking for a second career?).  There is never a great passionate moment for Marie.  Her niece's departure has the superficial effect of calming her as she resumes her surfboard paddling as the film closes.

All the Light in the Sky is a more subtle film than Uncle Kent.  There is no ménage à trois denouement.  As Marie paddles into the sunset, the audience is left to ponder the outcome.  She seemed satisfied when the film began, an externality in the form of her niece perturbs her and by the end of the film, she is back in a closed-loop state with all oscillations dampened out.  Excuse the systems engineering lingo.  This is far from a criticism.  I thought the entire was beautifully contemplative and understated.

In fact, I wondered why the 31 year old Swanberg would be so interested in the concerns of a fictitious 40something actress given the title of the retrospective program.  Then I saw that Adams co-wrote the screenplay for All the Light in the Sky.  I had my Eureka! moment.  Swanberg was bringing to screen the autobiographical aspects of Osborne and Adams screenplays.  Compared to the other two films I saw, I think Swanberg would do well to collaborate more often.

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Hannah Takes the Stairs stars Greta Gerwig as a young woman bouncing between men.  Her first boyfriend is Mark Duplass who quits his job and bum about.  When that puts a strain on the relationship, he ends it without much objection from Greta.  She then hooks up with co-worker Andrew Bujalski who is kind of weird.  Finally, she tosses him over for another co-worker, Kent Osborne.  Along the way, there are some humorous moments.  The finale feature Osborne & Gerwig sharing a bathtub while wearing swimsuits and playing Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture on trumpets which is not the first scene she shares the bathtub during the film.  The quirky film gives Gerwig room to spread her wings and she gives an appealing and realistic performance as a young woman, unsure of how to proceed in her post-college life.

Nights and Weekends features Swanberg and Gerwig in a long distance relationship.  The first half features the passion but eventual breakup of the couple.  The second half, much more interesting in my opinion, takes place a year or so after the breakup.  Swanberg is in town for a business trip and sees if Gerwig wants to meet for dinner or to hang out while he is in town.  This puts Gerwig in a conflicted state.  She is at a low point in her life and a reconciliation sounds appealing but she is not sure.  Gerwig shines in this portion of the film.  This leads to a remarkable scene.  Swanberg is getting professionally photographed for his job and the photograph assume Gerwig is his girlfriend and ask them to post together in front of the camera.  Gerwig & Swanberg non-verbally convey, to the audience, the awkwardness of the situation as the photographer blithely shoots away.  The finale is an equally remarkable scene where the two attempt to have sex but neither is really eager for and it fizzles out...like their relationship.  If Hannah Takes the Stairs is a quirky comedy, Nights and Weekends is a cold postmortem of a doomed relationship.

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I would have liked to have seen more of Swanberg's films but several of them had late start times.  On Friday (February 22), Caitlin Plays Herself was scheduled to start at 10 PM and be followed by Marriage Material.  On February 24 when I saw Uncle Kent and All the Light in the Sky, they were running behind schedule.  I had planned to see Autoerotic at 9:30 PM and possibly The Zone after it but called it quits after All the Light in the Sky.

Silent Winter 2013

The San Francisco Silent Film Festival held a one day event at the Castro Theater on February 16.

The event consisted of five programs but I only saw one since the event conflicted with the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.  The films I missed were Snow White, The Thief of Bagdad, My Best Girl & Faust.  I saw Faust (directed by F.W. Murnau) at the 2012 Cinequest.  I would have liked to have seen The Thief of Bagdad and My Best Girl which starred Douglas Fairbanks & Mary Pickford, respectively.

I saw a short film program titled "Think Slow, Act Fast: Buster Keaton Shorts" which consisted of three films.

One Week starring Buster Keaton & Sybil Seely; with Joe Roberts; directed by Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton; silent with intertitles; (1920)
The Scarecrow starring Buster Keaton & Sybil Seely; with Joe Roberts & Joe Keaton; directed by Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton; silent with intertitles; (1920)
The Play House starring Buster Keaton; with Virginia Fox & Joe Roberts; directed by Edward F. Cline & Buster Keaton; silent with intertitles; (1921)

Donald Sosin accompanied the films on piano.  Frank Buxton introduced the films.

I cannot recall laughing more than I did during this program.

One Week - Keaton & Sybil Seely are newlyweds who receive a DIY house building kit.  A spurned suitor renumbers the parts and causes hilarious mischief.  The finished house looks like a Picasso painting.  Memorable gags included the house spinning on its vertical axis during a windstorm and a train missing a car stuck on the railroad tracks.

The Scarecrow - Keaton woos the farmer's daughter (Seely).  After losing his shirt in a hay thresher, he dresses in the scarecrow's clothes.  Memorable gags includes a pit bull chasing Buster, Keaton and Joe Roberts tossing sundry items around with jury rigged ropes and Keaton, Seely & a preacher on a motorcycle.

The Play House - Keaton is a theater stagehand who falls in love with an identical twin but keeps confusing her with her sister.  (In)famous gags include Keaton (sometimes) in blackface simultaneously performing nine parts via trick photography, Keaton in drag & Keaton pretending to be an orangutan.

2013 San Francisco Independent Film Festival

The 2013 San Francisco Independent Film Festival was from February 7 to 21.  Although films screened at several locations including the Landmark Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley, the New Parkway in Oakland and other non-theater locations, I attended screenings exclusively at the Roxie (or Little Roxie).  I ended up seeing 17 films at the festival.

The Legend of Kaspar Hauser starring Vincent Gallo; directed by Davide Manuli; Italian & English with subtitles; (2012)
Berberian Sound Studio starring Toby Jones; directed by Peter Strickland; Italian & English with subtitles; (2012) - Official Facebook
Antiviral starring Caleb Landry Jones; with Malcolm McDowell; directed by Brandon Cronenberg; (2012) - Official Website
Sightseers starring Alice Lowe & Steve Oram; directed by Ben Wheatley; (2012) - Official Facebook
The Revisionaries; directed by Scott Thurman; documentary; (2012) - Official Website
Simon Killer starring Brady Corbet & Mati Diop; directed by Antonio Campos; French & English with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website
Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp directed by Jorge Hinojosa; documentary; (2012)
I Declare War starring Gage Munroe, Michael Friend, Siam Yu & Mackenzie Munro; directed by Jason Lapeyre & Robert Wilson; (2012) - Official Website
The Last Elvis starring John McInerny; directed by Armando Bo; Spanish and English with subtitles; (2012) - Official Site
The International Sign for Choking starring Zach Weintraub & Sophia Takal; directed by Zach Weintraub; Spanish & English with subtitles; (2011) - Official Blog
Ghosts with Shit Jobs; directed by Chris McCawley, Jim Morrison, Jim Munroe & Tate Young; (2012) - Official Website
Sun Don't Shine starring Kentucker Audley & Kate Lyn Sheil; directed by Amy Seimetz; (2012)
Days of Grace starring Tenoch Huerta; directed by Everardo Valerio Gout; Spanish with subtitles; (2011)
Bound By Flesh; directed by Leslie Zemeckis; documentary; (2012)
Faceless; directed by Tristan Albrecht; Spanish & English with subtitles; (2012)
Funeral Kings starring Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus & Jordan Puzzo; with Kevin Corrigian; directed by Kevin McManus & Matthew McManus; (2012) - Official Website
Its's a Disaster starring Julia Stiles & David Cross; with America Ferrara; directed by Todd Berger; (2012) - Official Website

Two screenings I regret missing were Born Innocent (1974) and Toys Are Not For Children (1972). Those two films were part of a program promoting Kier-la Janisse's new book called House of Psychotic Women.  I've procrastinated so long that it seems like I timed this post but the Roxie is screening two more films featured in the book.  On April 11, the Roxie screens The Mafu Cage (1978) and The Witch Who Came From the Sea (1976).  Although their website does say Ms. Janisse will be attendance, it does say her book "will be available for sale during the show!"

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One of my favorite films from Indiefest, Simon Killer, is opening at the Landmark Theaters (Embarcadero I believe) on April 26.  Featuring outstanding performances from Brady Corbet & Mati Diop, the film is set Paris.  American grad student Simon is visiting a distant French relative as he takes a break from school and a failed relationship.  Left on his own in Paris, Simon appears to be a meek and sympathetic type.  He visits a strip club/brothel and begins a passionate relationship with Victoria (Mati Diop).  As the relationship progresses, we see that Simon is not what he initially appeared to be.  In fact, Simon is shown to be a pathological liar, extortionist, mentally unstable and possibly a murderer.

I also enjoyed Funeral Kings.  Reminiscent of Stand By Me, the film follows a group a of altar boys.  The title is in reference to the altar boys being excused from their parochial school to serve at funerals; they ditch class for the rest of the day.  The three main characters Andy (Dylan Hartigan), Charlie (Alex Maizus) and David (Jordan Puzzo) represent different types of people.  David is the good kid; most likely to be successful as an adult.  Charlie looks to be a petty criminal in the making.  Andy will likely turn out alright if he stays away from bad influences.  The film starts out with minor transgressions such as cursing in church and going through the buffet line multiple times at a Chinese restaurant.  By the end, drug dealers and a gun are involved.  The tone of the film shifted at some point but whether comedy or drama, I was entertained.  The boys got off easy in the end although there is a sense that their fates are already determined.

I Declare War features an all child cast.  The premise is that a group of boys play "war" in the woods near their neighborhood.  There are specific rules they established; the games is essentially capture the flag.  They use branches, toys and water balloons filled with dye as weapons.   The director sometimes shows the children with actual weapons firing live ammunition for some of the more intense moments.  It makes for disturbing imagery as we see children firing assault rifles and pistols at each other.   At it essence, the film explores the interpersonal relationships between the boys (and one girl).  Like Funeral Kings, the personalities of the kids are writ large.  One is a heartless leader who will sacrifice his friendship for the goal of winning the game, the girl uses her feminine charms without shame, another boy has feet of clay, etc.  The film ratchets up the tension quite nicely considering the audience knows these are boys playing a game.  I thought the film was very creative and well made for what was likely a small budget.

The final film I saw at IndieFest was Its's a Disaster.  I noticed it is available on Comcast/Xfinity On Demand.  The film is centered on four couples who meet for a Sunday brunch.  During the meal, a dirty bomb is set off a few miles away and they are ordered to shelter-in-place.  They duct tape and hunker down but as the lethality of their situation becomes apparent, they re-examine their lives and relationships.  It's pretty bleak stuff but Its's a Disaster is a comedy and very funny one at that.  The ensemble cast is uniformly good in their roles and although some situations are forced (one couple "swings") much of the humor is derived from the surreality of the apocalyptic afternoon.

The Last Elvis was a tremendous film which surprised me given the lead character was an Elvis impersonator played by an actor (John McInerny) who is an Elvis impersonator.  I probably like Elvis' songs more than most but that won't cut it for a feature film.  As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about.  Although McInerny's singing was spot on, it was his acting that was most impressive.  With a name like John McInerny, I wonder if he is fluent in Spanish.  His performance indicates he is although it would be truly incredible if he was phonetically reciting his lines.  McInerny plays Carlos Gutiérrez, a washing machine factory worker by day and Elvis impersonator by night.  He is more than an impersonator, he has nearly subsumed himself in his idolatry.  His marriage failed because of his obsession (he even named his daughter Lisa Marie).  He is about to go on tour but a car accident hospitalizes his ex-wife and Carlos must care for Lisa Marie.  This forces Carlos to reassess his life.  Let's just say, he chooses an unusual course of action which culminates at Graceland.

Sightseers was a dark comedy about murder and repressed passions.  The two leads Alice Lowe & Steve Oram make for an unlikely cinematic couple but they make an memorable impression in at inventive comedy directed by Ben Wheatley.

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Bradley Smith, the producer of The International Sign for Choking, made an insightful comment after the screening of his film.  Paraphrasing his comments, he said "Mumblecore used to be about a bunch of over-educated  under-employed actors in New York talking about anything and everything...but its moved beyond that."   There were at least three films associated with mumblecore stalwarts on the Indiefest schedule - The International Sign for Choking, Sun Don't Shine and All the Light in the Sky (which I saw a few days after Indiefest ended at the Roxie's Joe Swanberg retrospective).  I enjoyed all three which is quite a revelation for me.  The Roxie is giving Sun Don't Shine a weeklong run starting May 17.

The International Sign for Choking is about a romance that never was.  The film's director, Zach Weintraub, is also the lead actor.  He plays opposite the prolific Sophia Takal.  In the past 18 months or so, I have seen six films which she has appeared in.  Filmed and set in Buenos Aires (although the location does not play a major role in the film), Weintraub and Takal are American expatriates who meet, are attracted and ultimately go their own way.  Weintraub's Josh is ostensibly in Argentina to scout film or commercial locations but his real purpose appears to be to track down an ex-girlfriend.  In the "boarding house" he resides is Anna (Takal), an American with whom he develops mutual attraction.  In one scene, he subtly ends the nascent relationship without nary a reaction from Anna.  That sounds like the worst of mumblecore but as Smith alluded to and Weintraub has executed, The International Sign for Choking has moved beyond mumblecore.

First, there are several instance where Weintraub uses a static camera shot to frame his scenes.  The effect is Ozu-esque given the über-elliptical plot.  Sometimes, the actors faces are partially (or completely) out of camera range.  There must have been a lot of planning to achieve these shots and block the scenes.  Many of the scenes have Takal and/or Weintraub sitting against flowery wallpaper communicating with each other non-verbally through their shared bedroom wall.  The visual composition of the film is deliberate and betrays any notion of haphazard film-making.  Contemplative and measured, The International Sign for Choking, is an impressive film from Weintraub.

Sun Don't Shine is outright noir. Crystal (Kate Lyn Sheil) and Leo (Kentucker Audley) are young lovers on the run.  They're not quite on the run; they are actually trying to establish an alibi because they just killed Crystal's husband and dumped him in the bayou or swamps.  Leo's alibi involves spending time with an older woman.  Crystal is suspicious of the exact nature of their relationship.  The duo is doomed but not by the woman's duplicity and connivance but by her "weakness."  Sheil gives the best performance of the half dozen films I've seen her act.

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I watched a trio of engaging documentaries.

Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp was a biodoc of the world's most famous pimp.  Actually, I can only name two pimps - Iceberg Slim and Archbishop Don "Magic" Juan.  Filled with soundbites from rap stars and comics, Iceberg Slim recounts Robert Beck's life and his impact on popular culture.  Rappers and African American men have been influenced by Beck's books from the 1970s.  His first book, the autobiographical Pimp: The Story of My Life was intended as a cautionary tale but some have used as an instructional guide for pimping.  Having heard of this book for years, I decided to read it for myself after watching the film.  It is harrowing at times and definitely reminded me of Native Son.  As is often the case, I liked the book better than the film although Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp is not an adaption of Pimp: The Story of My Life.  The Big Roxie was close to sold out for the screening I attended.

Bound By Flesh is about Daisy and Violet Hilton, famous Siamese twins from stage and vaudeville in the 1920s.  They appeared in Tod Browning's Freaks (1931) and the infamous Chained for Life (1951).  It's hard to imagine an uninteresting film about Siamese twins but Bound By Flesh doesn't add much to the Hilton sisters' story - sham marriages for publicity, pregnancy, legal battles to get married, partying with the celebrities of the Jazz Age, vast wealth, exploitation, lost fortunes, etc.  The Hilton sisters had a tough life and the film didn't do much except give a recitation of their lives.

The Revisionaries could also be called the Texas Textbook Massacre.  It follows a few members of the Texas State Board of Education as they wrangle over textbook standards with respect to creationism (or intelligent design) vs. evolution.  It was fascinating to watch and frightening to contemplate.

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The quality of films at this year's Indiefest  was quite high.  The following films were fair to middling but most of them had something interesting.

I was unfamiliar with Kaspar Hauser before seeing The Legend of Kaspar Hauser.  It would have been helpful to know the story beforehand although the Indiefest programmer (Kier-la Janisse, I believe) gave a brief summary of the life of Kaspar Hauser.  I'm not sure what to make of the film - there were UFOs, Kaspar Hauser was played by a woman & Vincent Gallo played one of his roles as if he was tweaking on meth.  Absurd?  Certainly.  Riveting?  Actually, my attention flagged at times.  Memorable?  Two months later, I can recall specific scenes, the soundtrack was amazing and  I can still remember the catchphrase from the film - Io sono Kaspar Hauser!

Berberian Sound Studio was billed as homage to 1970s Italian giallo and Brian De Palma films.  Toby James plays Gilderoy, a British sound mixer who goes to Italy to work on a horror film.  Gilderoy is the person who adds sound effects when someone is stabbed or burned alive.  He encounters crassness and oddness among his Italian hosts.  He seems to go off the deep edge...or is it really happening to him?  The film seemed to be searching for an ending and decided to leave the matter unsettled.  For about 45 minutes, the film firing on all cylinders before it coasted to an unsatisfying ending.

Days of Grace was a stylish film with three independent stories, featuring the same characters, set four years apart.  The televised World Cup soccer matches serve as markers for which timeline the audience is watching.  Set in Mexico City and focusing on the conflict between the cops and drug gangs, I had a difficult time keeping the timelines straight which seemed to be the intent of the director. There was a lot of violence and a Leonesque three way showdown at the end, the film was long on sizzle and short on steak.

Antiviral - a film directed by David  Cronenberg's son.  In the near future, celebrity worship is taken to such extremes that the latest fad is to be infected with the same virus as your favorite celebrity; i.e. isolate the bacteria from a celebrity, replicate it & sell it the public.  I just couldn't get into it.

Ghosts with Shit Jobs - a futuristic scifi where China and the US (or was it Canada?) have switched labor roles; cheap labor is in the US.  One of the characters had a job to go back in virtual reality to erase brand names.  The film bored me and I lost focus for long stretches.

Faceless - an unengaging documentary about undocumented workers at the World Trade Center on 9/11.  Interesting premise but much of the film was spent documenting the how and the why of illegal immigration into this country from Mexico.  I didn't learn much nor was I entertained.

2013 Noir City

The 2013 Noir City film festival ran from January 25 to February 3 at the Castro Theater.  I saw 17 of the 27 films on the program.  The 10 films I missed were films which I had already seen.  Of the 17 films, I had seen one (Street of Chance) before which I didn't realize until a few minutes into the film.  That means I saw 16 new films or films which had not previously seen.  I recognized the ending of Try and Get Me! which leads me to believe I have seen it before but otherwise I didn't recall any of it up to the final scenes.

Curse of the Demon starring Dana Andrews & Peggy Cummins; directed by Jacques Tourneur; (1957)
Hell Drivers starring Stanley Baker; with Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan & Sean Connery; directed by Cy Endfield; (1957)
Try and Get Me! starring Frank Lovejoy & Lloyd Bridges; directed by Cy Endfield; (1950)
A House Divided starring Walter Huston, Douglass Montgomery & Helen Chandler; directed by William Wyler; (1931)
The Kiss Before the Mirror starring Frank Morgan, Nancy Carroll & Paul Lukas; directed by James Whale; (1933)
Laughter in Hell starring Pat O'Brien & Gloria Stuart; directed by Edward L. Cahn; (1933)
Native Son starring Richard Wright; directed by Pierre Chenal; (1951)
Intruder in the Dust starring by David Brian, Claude Jarman Jr. & Juano Hernandez; directed by Clarence Brown; (1949)
The Other Woman starring Hugo Haas & Cleo Moore; directed by Hugo Haas; (1954)
The Come On starring Anne Baxter & Sterling Hayden; directed by Russell Birdwell; (1956)
Man in the Dark starring Edmond O'Brien & Audrey Totter; directed by Lew Landers; (1953)
Inferno starring Robert Ryan, Rhonda Fleming & William Lundigan; directed by Roy Ward Barker; (1953)
Street of Chance starring Burgess Meredith & Claire Trevor; directed by Jack Hively; (1942)
The Chase starring Robert Cummings, Michelle Morgan, Steve Cochran & Peter Lorre; directed by Arthur Ripley; (1946)
The Window starring Bobby Driscoll; with Barbara Hale, Arthur Kennedy, Paul Stewart & Ruth Roman; directed by Ted Tetzlaff; (1949)
Mary Ryan, Detective starring Marsha Hunt; directed by Abby Berlin; (1949)
Strange Impersonation starring Brenda Marshall; directed by Anthony Mann; (1946)

Try and Get Me! is sometimes listed without the exclamation point and is also known as The Sound of Fury.

One evening, (I cannot recall which) they screened Serena Bramble's The Endless Night: A Valentine to Film Noir, a 6+ minute compilation of clips of noir legends such John Garfield, Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck, etc.  Ms. Bramble has contributed short films to Noir City for three years or more.

Alan K. Rode, Film Noir Foundation Board member and director of the Arthur Lyons Film Noir Festival in Palm Springs, introduced Curse of the Demon.  Before the film, he said we were going to see the US version but after the film, Rode corrected himself and said they had screened the longer and original UK version.

Noir City seemed a little "off" this year.  I can't quite put my finger on it and it may be that 2 months have dulled my memory but the bloom is off the rose.  If memory serves me correctly, Eddie Muller hinted that Noir City has a limited life span.

In the past two months, I have also learned that Bill Arney, the Voice of Noir City and long-time resident of the apartment where Dashiell Hammett wrote The Maltese Falcon, hosts a television show called Cheese Theater.  The show consists of Arney screening public domain films with interviews and skits between segments.  It airs on Marin TV or Comcast Channel 26 at 10 PM on Saturday nights.  Cheese Theater also has a YouTube channel.

In hindsight, the best film of Noir City 2013 was one I did not see this year - Gun Crazy.  Peggy Cummins was the guest of honor this year.  Her best known work, Gun Crazy, was the opening night film.  Having seen the film before, I can attest to its quality.

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My favorite film was Intruder in the Dust on the evening billed as African-American Noir Night.  Intruder in the Dust was paired with Native Son that evening.

Based on a William Faulkner novel, Intruder in the Dust confronted prejudice and Jim Crow society. Filmed in Oxford, Mississippi, the film focuses on Lucas Beauchamp (Juano Hernandez), a proud black man accused of murdering a white man.  Young Chick Mallison (Claude Jarman, Jr.) has encountered Beauchamp and been suitably impressed by his bearing and presence.  Chick prevails on his uncle (David Brian) to defend Beauchamp.  The lawyer makes no effort to disguise his belief that his client is guilty but is honor bound to do his duty, i.e. defend his client (not just legally but from lynching).  With the help of the spinster Miss Habersham (Elizabeth Patterson), the defense gets to work proving Beauchamp's innocence with little help from Beauchamp himself.

Intruder in the Dust did not feel like noir to me because Beauchamp and his defense team were confronting racism.  Murdering for money or a femme fatale is noir, murdering for the color of the victim's skin is...something else.  I'm certain more black men were lynched than insurance salesman killing clients to be with their wives.  For all their grittiness, noir films are exaggerations of post-war reality.   Intruder in the Dust shows an ugliness that most assuredly existed and depicts events which likely could have occurred...maybe not the boy and old woman solving a murder case but Beauchamp's situation and his attorney's ambivalence seemed realistic.

Juano Hernandez is tremendous as Beauchamp.  You can't take your eyes off of him.  He's like James Earl Jones' voice come to life.  Hernandez has a screen presence which commands attention and piercing eyes.

While in high school, I remember reading two novels by African American authors as part of my American Literature class - Black Boy by Richard Wright and Go Tell It On the Mountain by James Baldwin.  Native Son was not on the curriculum.  So it was some anticipation that I watched Native Son at Noir City.  Not only was the film based on Wright's novel but it starred Wright in the lead role of Bigger Thomas.

I doubt the 40+ year old Wright was the right actor for the role of the 20 year Bigger Thomas.  In addition to the age difference, his acting was a wooden at times.  The film is propelled by the plot which is more Greek tragedy than film noir.  The drunkenness and ignorance of the daughter of his white employer put Bigger in her bedroom as her blind mother enters.  Worried that she will expose his presence in the room (thus risking his employment and possibly life), Bigger silences the younger woman by covering her mouth but inadvertently kills her.  This sets Bigger's downfall into motion as he  first disposes of the body, then shifts suspicion to the woman's boyfriend and finally becomes a fugitive as the police search for him.

Unfamiliar with the story, I was riveted by Bigger's plight.  I took particular notice that the left-leaning Socialists/Communists were depicted as naive and ineffectual.  Bigger's most dangerous enemy was white society and the fear it had instilled in African Americans.  The film painted Bigger a tad too much the victim for my tastes but it made a convincing argument that Bigger's fate was largely determined by his status in society and one false step would doom him.

I cannot fully recall Muller's introduction of the film.  As I recall, the film could not get funding in the US so it was made with an Argentinian production company with some exterior scenes filmed in Buenos Aires.  The cast was not memorable the plot overcame any shortcomings in the performances.

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The Window was very enjoyable.  It was about a boy (Bobby Driscoll) who witnesses a murder committed by his upstairs neighbors.  Because of his history of exaggerations, no one believes him when he tells his parents and the police.  That is no one but the killers who decide leaving him alive is a risk they can't afford to take.  Paul Stewart & Ruth Roman shine as the murderous couple from upstairs.

A House Divided features a memorable performance by Walter Huston as a rough and tumble fisherman who sends away for a mail order bride (Helen Chandler).  A fight with his grown son (Douglass Montgomery) leaves him paralyzed.  That's when stepmother and son begin to develop feelings for each other and all hell breaks loose.  An early talkie by William Wyler, A House Divided portends of great things from the directors.

Mary Ryan, Detective was a cut above the B movie standards which I believe it was.  Although Marsha Hunt was fine in the eponymous role, it was the bad guys and girls who were most memorable.  June Vincent, Harry Shannon, Bill Phillips & Katherine Warren round out the rogue's gallery which memorably features a turkey farm fronting a fencing operation.

Try and Get Me! is based on a famous lynching incident in San Jose in 1933.  Although Frank Lovejoy was the nominal noir protagonist, it was Lloyd Bridges' performance as the charismatic but sociopathic accomplice which remains in my memory two months later.  The finale was also memorable and featured the aforementioned lynching via a jailhouse riot amidst a fog of teargas.  I also recall the shriek Bridges let out as the mob grabbed him.

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Man in the Dark and Inferno were, incredibly, 3D films.  3D and film noir don't seem to go together. Indeed, I thought both films would have been fine as 2D and that 3D didn't add much except a few gimmicks.  Man in the Dark use the sharp object into the camera trick while a lit kerosene lantern was flung directly at the camera in Inferno.

Man in the Dark even used the tried and true amnesia plot device in a thoroughly unoriginal story.  Between the 3D, sexy Audrey Totter and serviceable performance by Edmond O'Brien, the film plods alongs.

Inferno, which was filmed in color, was much better film.  The film made great use of the vista afforded by the Mojave Desert which wasn't enhanced by the 3D treatment.  A classic love triangle where Rhonda Fleming & William Lundigan conspire to kill her husband and his business partner (Robert Ryan).  The method of murder is unique - Ryan has broken his leg in the desert.  Fleming & Lundigan send the rescue party in the wrong direction assuming Ryan will die of thirst or heat stroke.  Robert Ryan is one tough SOB and crawls, limps and hobbles his way to revenge.  I have come to the conclusion that any film with Robert Ryan is a worthwhile viewing experience.

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Hell Drivers is an entertaining vehicle for Stanley Baker.  I can't remember why but he goes undercover to bust up a corrupt trucking firm.  They haul gravel and they haul ass on narrow roads putting their own lives and other drivers' lives in danger but that isn't why Baker is infiltrating them.  What I do remember is Peggy Cummins filled out a pair of blue jeans nicely as the secretary and Patrick McGoohan was great as the #1 driver and psychopath.

Curse of the Demon was more of a horror film.  Dana Andrews is an American parapsychologist in England.  Initially skeptical of a satanic cult, Andrews gradually comes around.  Cummins is "the girl." The most memorable performance is from Niall MacGinnis as the leader of the cult.

The Come On features Anne Baxter & Sterling Hayden in swimwear.  Hayden encounters a pair of grifters (Baxter & John Hoyt) and tries to pry Baxter loose from Hoyt.  Hoyt ends up dead and a shady private dick (Jesse White) tries to blackmail the lovers.  It wasn't bad; it wasn't great; it was something in between.

The Other Woman seemed oddly familiar.  Directed by and starring Hugo Haas, the film co-stars busty blonde bombshell Cleo Moore.  Moore & Haas made seven films together; I think I have seen three of them at Noir City.  Cleo plays a movie extra who gets a shot at three line speaking part.  She flubs the lines (in a nice scene) and blames the director (Haas).  She vows revenge and eventually drugs and blackmails Haas' character.  Haas captures the crass beauty of Moore's character although the second half of the film focuses on Haas' character.  One of his better performance, Haas' character in The Other Woman allegedly represented his actual view on Hollywood and the studio system.

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Everything else was flawed enough to forget.  Abrupt endings (Laughter in Hell), cop out dream endings (The Chase & Strange Impersonation) and legally dubious endings (The Kiss Before the Mirror & Street of Chance).

Don't Stop Believin'

I went to the New Parkway for the first time in 2013 on Saturday to see Don't Stop Believin'.

Don't Stop Believin':  Everyman's Journey; directed by Ramona S. Diaz; documentary; English & Tagalog with subtitles; (2012) - Official Website

I walked from the 19th St. BART station to the New Parkway in less than 10 minutes.  It wasn't a bad walk although downtown Oakland streets were awfully deserted for 4:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon.  I wouldn't want to walk that route late at night.

Once at the theater, I ordered a $9 hamburger which was bland and unmemorable despite the beef being advertised as Niman Ranch.  I'm still not sold on the food at the New Parkway.

The film started 10 to 15 minutes after the posted 5 PM start time.  Thankfully, there were no PSAs or previews.  I can't recall if I was in Theater 1 or 2 but it was the theater with restaurant style seating on the main floor.  Wanting to eat my hamburger at a table instead of in a chair, I sat downstairs with one other person.  The rest of the audience sat in balcony area.  I'm not sure how many people were up there.  Having seen The Perks of Being a Wallflower in the balcony of that theater, I think I prefer sitting on the ground level.

I have been to restaurants, hotels and banquet halls where they put ice in the urinals.  There are many theories regarding the specific benefits of putting ice cubes in the urinals.  The New Parkway is the only establishment I can recall visiting which puts citrus fruit in the urinals.  On Saturday evening, they had sliced lemons in the urinals.  Since there were multiple slices in both urinals, I can only assume management has instructed the janitorial staff to put the lemons there.

Don't Stop Believin':  Everyman's Journey was the opening night film at the 2012 San Francisco  Asian American Film Festival but I opted to go to Cinequest that evening.  During the 2013 San Francisco Asian American Film Festival (renamed CAAMFest), Don't Stop Believin' was playing at the Sundance Kabuki, but I chose not to see it (more on that in a future post).  I was happy that the New Parkway booked Don't Stop Believin' for at least a week.

Don't Stop Believin' follows Arnel Pineda, a Filipino singer in a cover band who is plucked from obscurity and relative poverty to be the lead singer of Journey.  Reportedly selected by Journey guitarist and founder Neal Schon after viewing YouTube videos of Pineda singing Journey songs, Pineda sounds a lot like Steve Perry. A sampling of Pineda's YouTube videos indicate he is very good at mimicking the voice famous singers on several cover songs. This skill comes in handy for a band like Journey whose legions of fans expect the classic songs to be sung like Steve Perry used to sing them.

Pineda is a congenial and gracious man as he confronts mild racism and the impossible expectations of fans who prefer Steve Perry to him.  This isn't really dealt with very much.  Similarly, I would have expected him to have tremendous cultural and socioeconomic shock as he lives in the rarified air of rock-n-rock legends.  This isn't dealt with at all.  Pineda seems to hit the ground running.  Most of the film is spent documenting the minutiae of life on the road of a rock and roll band.  Arnel caring for his vocal cords, Arnel meeting VIP fans backstage, Arnel doing vocal exercises, Arnel interacting with the stagehands and roadies, etc.  Frankly, got to be a bit boring.

I would have liked to have seen some of the difficulties which the movie hints Arnel has sidestepped. Throughout the film, Arnel is alluded to as a Filipino role-model and icon akin to Manny Pacquiáo.  In one segment, Arnel meets the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.  I cannot believe the man has not been changed by the experience but the film doesn't address that aspect of his life story.

Instead, the film approaches hagiography.  A few references to sex, drugs & rock-n-roll from Arnel's youth are briefly mentioned but Arnel states he won't risk his marriage today.  Don't Stop Believin' is a sugary concoction which could used a little more flavoring.  Regardless of what I think of the film, Pineda's singing is incredible...even more so considering he did not formal training.  His success transcends the film's attempt to capture it.  His story is incredible by any measure but I just didn't the film gave an accurate portrait of the man.

The Golden Age of British Television

In the 73 days between the beginning of the Mostly British Film Festival (January 17) to Saturday (March 30), I went to the movies on 60 of those days. That means, I didn't go to a movie screening for a baker's dozen. Two evenings of the 13 were spent at ACT for 4000 Miles and Dead Metaphor.  Another three were spent at a chess class.  During those 73 days, I saw 126 films or programs.  I feel like I am emerging from a long tunnel into the light.

I have many posts to write in order to catch up with the films I've seen over the past three months.  I may as well get to it.

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For the past several days, I have been mostly holed up watching the boob tube.  As I mentioned, I saw Season 1 of Game of Thrones earlier this year. After praising the show, I was given the Season 2 DVD set. It took me five days but I made it through the 10 episodes (approximately 9 hours).  I'm aware that Season 3 premiered last night but I don't have HBO so I don't know what has happened.  I've also started reading George R.R. Martin's Game of Thrones.

Having watched nearly 20 hours of Game of Thrones, I have to admit it is an addictive piece of fantasy...a genre I have never cared for.  Fortunately, they keep the dragons, zombies and magical powers to a minimum.  The characters are richly drawn.  With the notable exception of King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), all the characters have escaped melodramatic depiction.

I could cite the whole cast for their performances but a few the smaller characters/actors have caught my attention.  Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister almost brings empathy to his opportunistic character.  Young Maisie Williams as Arya Stark was at her best when opposite Dance as her character is made the servant of Lannister.  Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Tywin's eldest son Jaime also showed more depth this season which is amazing since he was kept in a cage for most of the season.  Coster-Waldan has a soliloquy while imprisoned with a distant cousin which was memorable.  German born Sibel Kekilli as Shae, Tyrion Lannister's whore/true love was also memorable throughout the season.

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Last week, Comcast/Xfinity has "Watchathon Week" when many programs were available for free and in several cases, in their entirety (meaning all episodes from all seasons).  I used the opportunity to watch Downton Abbey which I had heard so much about.  I made it through episode 8 of the second season which ended with Mr. Bates being arrested for murdering his ex-wife.

I wasn't sure what to expect with Downton Abbey.  I recall Upstairs, Downstairs as a boy so I was expecting a dowdy drama about English gentry and their servants.  However, Downton Abbey veers dangerously close to soap opera territory.  If not for the droll humor of Maggie Smith's Dowager Countess, the show would be indistinguishable from afternoon TV.

I have to admit that I was quickly and utterly drawn into the lives of these characters.  The improbable romance between the valet Mr. Bates (Brendan Coyle) and the housemaid Anna Smith (Joanne Froggatt) is notable because it reminds us that we have been conditioned to expect romance to progress in a certain way in films and television.  The lame, jowly, middle-aged Mr. Bates has qualities beyond his appearance that appeal to Anna and by extension the viewers.

Mr. Bates may be the centerpiece of the series for many viewers but it is the quality of the cast which elevates Downton Abbey to the cultural pinnacle in now occupies.  Jim Carter's (as the butler Carson) sonorous voice is a thing of beauty.  At the other end of the tonal spectrum is Phyllis Logan's (Mrs. Hughes, the housekeeper) slight Scottish brogue which suggests the kindness and decency of her character.  The cast is enormous and it seems each character is a specialized cog in the machine.

I also notice that Downton Abbey is the master of the quick edit scene.  Some scenes last less than 10 seconds but impart a tremendous amount of information.  Some scenes are repetitive as well.  Whenever Tom and O'Brien (typically O'Brien follows Tom) go out for a cigarette or huddle in the hallway, no good can come of it and usually Mr. Bates is the object of their scheming.

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Downton Abbey airs on PBS in the United States but is filmed and produced in the United Kingdom.  Similarly HBO's Game of Thrones, is filmed mostly in the UK and uses actors from the British Isles.  Combined with BBC America's Copper and Ripper Street, it appears to be a Golden Age of Television in the UK.  Some of the actors (Iain Glen & Jerome Flynn) appear on more than one of the shows.  I don't watch that much television so it's interesting that given the countless options, I would gravitate towards four shows from the UK.