There Can Only Be One: Carol Channing

Originally posted to The Stranger on Mar 14, 2012 at 12:58pm.  

CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE
(Dori Berinstein, US, 2012, 87 mins.)

I review a lot of punk documentaries, so my interest in Carol Channing—as opposed to, say, Chad Channing—may seem odd, except this lady's been kicking ass for decades now.

Further, the gap between punk and musical theater isn't as wide as it might seem, especially since Green Day's American Idiot became a Broadway hit (to say nothing of Stew's Public Theater production, Passing Strange, which lives on as a Spike Lee joint).

I've always been fascinated by Channing's unique voice, which isn't attractive by conventional standards, yet it's more distinct than that of Glee and Wicked co-stars Kristin Chenoweth and Idina Menzel, who are likely to be more recognizable to younger viewers.

Channing has a grittier Vaudevillian style, and the older she gets, the more she sounds like Louis Armstrong, which is ironic, since he also recorded "Hello, Dolly!"

• DRAMATIC FORCES, LLC
• "You're lookin' swell..."

In Gotta Dance, Dori Berinstein profiled the AARP-age performers of the NETSationals senior dance team. She has a way with subjects who've been kicking around for awhile, and Channing turned 90 during the filming of Larger Than Life. Archival footage reinforces her love of white, sequined dresses, and red lipstick.

Like Liza Minnelli, she's rarely changed her look, and there's no need when it continues to serve her so well. Comedy writer Bruce Vilanch describes her as "this creature with huge saucer eyes and gigantic red lips and a massive smile."

Channing grew up in San Francisco,* where she fell in love with performing at an early age. Once she saw Ethel Waters in concert, she knew she wanted to do the same thing, and established a life-long friendship with the singer. Not until years later would she find out that she was part black, and also part Jewish, much like Dolly Gallagher Levi (Channing's parents were prominent Christian Scientists).

If she made the occasional movie—earning an Oscar nod for Thoroughly Modern Millie—theater and television became her bread and butter. Berinstein takes in the totality of her career, but concentrates on Channing's signature role in 1964's Hello, Dolly! (the only high school musical in which I ever participated).

*The film doesn't mention that Channing was born in Seattle.

My favorite Channing screen performance appears in this film (music by Harry Nilsson!).  

Composer/lyricist Jerry Herman says the part was intended for Ethel Merman, who declined, but now he can't imagine anyone else in the role (sorry, Barbra Streisand). He later wrote "Before the Parade Passes By" specifically for her, and Dolly ranks among the longest-running musicals. The indefatigable Channing never missed a full performance—not even while receiving treatment for ovarian cancer.

Larger Than Life prioritizes Channing's public life over her personal one, but doesn't stint on her relationship with the late Harry Kullijian, her sweetheart from the 1930s. After high school, he went off to Korea, and she went to Bennington.

They proceeded to marry other people (she was married for 42 years, Harry for 65*), but reconnected 70 years later, making the film as much a profile of her career as her marriage, to which famous friends from Tippi Hedren to Barbara Walters pay tribute (Debbie Reynolds starts to cry when she talks about it).

On the downside, the jigsaw structure can feel haphazard, as if Berinstein felt that a purely chronological approach might not be sufficiently dynamic. She also hints at darker times, but doesn't push as far as she could, even though Channing seems like a willing participant. Still, a documentary of this nature lives and dies by the personality of its subject and Carol Channing has plenty to spare.

*Also unmentioned: Channing was married four times; her son with Alex Carson, Chan Lowe, is a political cartoonist.

Carol Channing: Larger Than Life opens at SIFF Film Center on Fri., March 16. For more information, please call 206-324-9996 or click here.

The Weight of the Past vs the Hope of the Future in Alexandria Bombach's On Her Shoulders

ON HER SHOULDERS 
(Alexandria Bombach, US, 2018, 94 minutes) 

Alexandria Bombach doesn't build her documentary around a person with a particular job, but rather a person with a particular request. That's how Nadia Murad, the soft-spoken 23-year-old at its center, describes herself to the filmmaker. Through public appearances, she seeks assistance on behalf of the Yazidis (a non-Muslim minority), who suffered genocide at the hands of ISIS in Northern Iraq in 2014.

Nadia's highest profile appearance takes place in 2015 when she speaks in front of the United Nations Security Council. Though Simone Mona-
sebian of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime encourages her to describe herself as an activist, Nadia sees herself as a refugee. Simone doesn't understand why she can't be both, but Nadia doesn't look at the situa-
tion through the same lens. When a Canadian radio host asks about her life before ISIS, she mentions school and farming. When ISIS came to her village, they killed most of the men and all of the older women. They raped younger women, like Nadia, repeatedly. It's difficult to listen to her detail such atrocities, but it must be worse to relive them.

Nadia is a slight fig-
ure with long, dark hair, who once dream-
ed of op-
ening a beauty salon. She has the calm, thoughtful countenance of Charlotte Gainsbourg, circa Jane Eyre. When she smiles, which isn't often, she puts her entire face into it. She's close to Murad Ismael, the 30-year-old executive director of Yazda, who has become a sort of surrogate brother (he also serves as her translator). If she cries on occasion, she spends more time comfort-
ing the Yazidis she meets at protest marches and in refugee camps. It means everything to them that she has become their face to the world.

From Canada, Nadia travels to Greece and then to New York where the UN appoints her Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking (human rights attorney and recent Vogue cover star Amal Clooney accompanies her on the trip). As the end credits indicate, Nadia has continued to advocate for the Yazidi people ever since. If she didn't set out to become an activist, she has proven to be a very effective one. As a filmmaker, Bombach (Frame by Frame) treats her with respect, but stops short of full-fledged worship. Nadia is still a human being, albeit one with more passion and poise than most.

If there's a subtext to Bombach's film it's that even well meaning people don't always know how to respond to someone like Nadia. Journalists and political figures come across as concerned in a way that seems more awkward than insincere. They can't decide whether to treat her like a delicate flower or a grizzled warrior, and her polite, if reserved manner throws them off. It's not that she's cold so much as self-contained, and I think that's why she never opens up in this film as much as she could have. It always feels as if she's holding something back, but maybe that's the only way to get from day to day, dredging up terrible memories to discomforted people for the greater good.



Endnote: On Her Shoulders plays the Northwest Film Forum (1515 12th Ave) through Thurs, Jan 10. Check the website for times.

Movie of the Month, Part 31: Bal (Honey)

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD
for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

BAL (HONEY) [***1/2]
(Semih Kaplanoğlu, Turkey, 2010, 103 minutes)

In the conclusion to Semih Kaplanoğlu's Yusuf Trilogy (Yum-
urta and Süt), a farming family faces the end of their way of life.

Bal centers on future poet Yusuf Özbek (Bora Altas, excellent),
a diminutive six-year-old with a stammer and a jingling, Charlie
Chaplin-like walk who lives in a mountain village in northern Tur-
key where he enjoys a close relationship with his beekeeper fath-
er, Yakup (Erdal Besikçioglu), who teaches him about the region-
al flora, and a perfunctory one with his mother, Zehra (Tülin Öz-
en), who does more care-taking and housekeeping than socializ-
ing and teaching (the tinkling comes from the bells he wears).

Kaplanoğlu proceeds through Yusuf's days at school, where he
doesn't quite fit in, and at home, where he helps Yakup to collect
honey from the tall trees. Once, according to his father, Yusuf ate
too much at one time, and it made him dizzy. The writer/direct-
or divulges such details slowly and organically, concentrating
on quiet moments rather than exposition-heavy sequences.

Through this patient technique, he reveals that Yusuf has trouble
reading, that Yakup is an epileptic, and that the family is Muslim.

As the honey supply diminishes, Yakup has to travel farther
away, on his own, to collect the substance that provides for his
family, leaving his anxious wife and son to fend for themselv-
es. This dilemma fuels the film's primary source of tension.

Throughout, Kaplanoglu exhibits an excellent eye for com-
position, and Baris Özbicer’s cinematography brings out the
rich greens and browns of Yusuf’s surroundings. The scene
in which the moon's reflection pulsates in a bucket of water
is particularly magical. Bal won the top prize, the Golden
Bear, at 2010's Berlin Film Festival. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 30: Dioses

Endnote: Slightly revised from the origin-
al text. Image of Bora Altas from indieWIRE.

Movie of the Month, Part 30: Gods (Dioses)

I recently reviewed the
following DVD for Video
Librarian, and thought the
results were worth sharing.

GODS / Dioses [***]
(Josué Méndez, Peru, 2008, 91 minutes)

Gods presents a side of Peru not often seen in the United Stat-
es: the lives of the country's super-rich. The story starts off with
two seemingly unrelated narratives: a wary brother looks after
his flirtatious sister at a nightclub, while a lower-class woman so-
cializes with her upper-class fiancé's friends at a dinner party.

Mr. Augustín (Edgar Saba), as it transpires, is the father of Die-
go (Sergio Gjurinovic), a college student, and Andrea, a part-time
model. At one point, Augustín tells his son, "A woman who thinks
is a man." If his unsophisticated fiancée, Elisa (Maricielo Effio),
who shares their oceanfront compound just outside Lima, seems
nice enough, the kids are spoiled brats, and Diego also expresses
an unhealthy interest in Andrea, who finds out she's pregnant, but
has no idea who the father might be (suffice to say, it isn't Diego).

By the time she tells her father, it's too late for an abortion, so he
comes up with a plan designed to save the family's reputation.



Meanwhile, Elisa hangs out around the house, reading and talk-
ing to the help, whom most everyone else ignores unless some-
thing goes wrong or unless one of Diego's drunken friends is feel-
ing frisky (she also appears to come from a family of domestics).

If Elisa enjoys spending Augustín's money, she has little inter-
est in his shallow social circle, in which the men talk business
(and hot babes) and the women babble about more superficial
matters, not counting their hypocritical Bible study sessions.

Taking on the rich and clueless is like shooting fish in a barrel,
but director Josué Méndez isn't heartless, and it's hard not
to feel something for each of these characters. Plus, he incor-
porates a few maids in the action, including the patient Inés
(Magaly Solier), who serve as a sort of Greek chorus, rein-
forcing the Rules of the Game impression. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 29: Little Red Riding Hood

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. (I didn't
select a movie for July.) Image from Global Film Initiative.

Movie of the Month, Part 29: Little Red Riding Hood and Other Stories with Cristina Ricci

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD
for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD AND OTHER STORIES [***]
(David Kaplan, 1992-1997, US, 12+ minutes)

Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of
abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple
with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and inter-
pret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a
greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by en-
gaging with these socially-evolved stories, children would go through
emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.
--Wikipedia entry on Bruno Bettelheim

This unique release offers three short literary adaptations from
1992-1997. Christina Ricci stars in the first as a less-than-
innocent Little Red Riding Hood. In adapting "Conte de la Mére
Grande," director David Kaplan (Year of the Fish) eschews
dialogue and shoots in Expressionist B&W. As in the famous
fairy tale, Red meets Wolf (Timour Bourtasenkov), an androg-
ynous dancer in stylized garb, en route to Granny's house.

Once she arrives, Red finds meat and wine on the table, and digs
in, even though the talking cat (a puppet) explains their grim
provenance. After that, Wolf asks her to disrobe and climb into
bed, which she does before taking a break (for "pee-pee" as nar-
rator Quentin Crisp puts it). It isn't clear if Wolf means to
seduce or to kill her, but her final act clarifies the matter.

Billed as a "cautionary tale," Heinrich Hoffman's Little Suck-a-
Thumb revolves around a boy (an adult Cork Hubbert) with poor
impulse control. This time, Kaplan films with color and sound. Af-
ter tucking him into bed, his mother (Evelyn Solann) warns that
he'll lose his thumbs if he sucks them, but he can't resist, and a
pale tailor (Jim Hilbert) with scissors pays a late-night visit.

Kaplan returns to silent-film mode with the Brothers Grimm's The
Frog King, which relays the tale of a girl (Eden Riegel) and a par-
ticularly grotesque frog (another puppet) who retrieves her lost
doll from a well in hopes that she'll sleep with him. (Their conver-
sation plays out though a series of title cards in which the words
"in your bed" get bigger and bigger.) When the girl reneges, the
frog follows her home to ensure that she honors her promise.

This set includes commentary on all three films from folklore
scholar Jack Zipes and Kaplan, who cites artist/filmmaker Jean
Cocteau (La Belle et la Bête, Orphée) and author/child psycho-
logist Bruno Bettelheim (The Uses of Enchantment) as influen-
ces. Fans of Terry Gilliam, the Brothers Quay, and Guy Maddin,
and will surely find this collection of interest. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 28: Carancho

Endnote: Click here for my review of Penelope, a post-mil-
lennial fairy tale with Christina Ricci and James McAvoy.
Slightly revised from the original text. Image from MUBI.

Movie of the Month, Part 28: Carancho

I recently
reviewed the
following DVD
for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

CARANCHO [***]
(Pablo Trapero, Argentina, 2010, 107 minutes)

"Engaging nihilistic neo-noir from Argentine New Waver
about ambulance chasing lawyer trying to escape the per-
ils of his profession. Car accidents and bloody bruisings
galore. I can already see the Soderbergh remake."
--Anthony Kaufman, indieWIRE

According to Pablo Trapero's gritty thriller, Argentina has so
many traffic accidents that "the compensation market is boom-
ing" (an opening intertitle notes 22 per day, 8,000 per year).

Ricardo Darín (El Aura, The Secret in Their Eyes) plays Héctor
Sosa, a low-rent lawyer who meets Olivera Luján (Martina Gus-
man, Trapero's Lion's Den), a medic, at the site of one. They en-
joy an instant rapport, though she refers to him as a "vulture"
in conversation with her partner, because he trolls crash sites
for cases. Worse yet, he stages accidents with accomplices.

As Trapero follows his protagonists along on their rounds, it be-
comes clear that their lives revolve around work, that they're wil-
ling to do whatever it takes to keep going, and that they're more
than a little lonely. In best noir style, Sosa has reached the end
of his tether and is ready to move on. He knows Lujan looks
down on him, so he tries to earn her respect. He succeeds un-
til she glimpses the depths to which he'll sink, and backs off.

After one of his staged events goes wrong, Sosa leaves the sleazy
firm for which he's been toiling, considers his next move, and reig-
nites their thwarted relationship, but becoming an independent a-
gent after years of dirty doings turns out to be difficult at best.

If the pace is more relaxed, until the pulse-pounding conclusion,
Carancho's movie sometimes recalls Martin Scorsese's underrat-
ed Bringing out the Dead, which documented the unraveling of a
burnt-out EMT (Nicolas Cage) in New York's Hell's Kitchen. Both
pictures take place primarily at night when people are exhausted,
vulnerable--and liable to make critical mistakes. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 27: The Girl

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. Im-
age from indieWIRE (via the Cannes Film Festival).

Movie of the Month, Part 27: The Girl

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD for
Video Lib-
rarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

THE GIRL [***1/2]
(Fredrik Edfeldt, Sweden, 2009, 95 minutes)

An unnamed Swedish nine-year-old (the remarkable Blanca Engström) gets left behind for the summer when her aid-worker parents travel to Africa in 1981. They want to bring her with them, but the agency deems her too young, so they entrust the girl to her aunt, Anna (Tova Magnusson-Norling), a single woman who doesn't appear to have much experience with children.

For the next few days, the slight redhead attends a swimming school, while Anna drinks, smokes, plays records, and throws raucous parties. The girl and her friend Ola (Vidar Fors), a shy farmer's son, find Anna's antics amusing, but then she goes off on an extended holiday with an old boyfriend, leaving the kid to fend for herself--a development our heroine actually sets into motion.

Click here for the age-restricted trailer.

The girl lies to Ola and to her hard-drinking neighbor, Gunnar
(Leif Andrée), about Anna’s whereabouts, giving her license to
do whatever she wants, like pursuing a fleeting friendship with
Gunnar's boy-crazy teenage daughter, Tina (Emma Wigfelt),
and her more sophisticated friend, Gisela (Michelle Vistam),
who like to pretend they're the female members of ABBA.

The girl, who spends more time watching than speaking, doesn't
know how to cook, but she attempts to keep the house clean (and
to raise a tadpole). Mostly, she observes the teens and the adults
around her behaving more badly than the kids. The story is ab-
sorbing enough as it tracks her movements, but then something
happens, which isn't her fault, though she's present at the time.

Afterward, she isolates even more, almost as if she were go-
ing through a sort of premature mid-life crisis. Even so, Fred-
rik Edfeldt's film is hardly depressing, even if tragedy lurks a-
round every corner. Shot with care by Hoyte Van Hoytema
(Let the Right One In), it offers the same suspenseful ap-
peal as Hirokazu Kore-Eda's No One Knows, which also
featured children left on their own. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part
26: Fish Tank - The Criterion Collection

Endnote: Slightly revised from the origin-
al text. Film still from Time Out New York.

Movie of the Month, Part 26: Fish Tank

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD for
Video Lib-
rarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

FISH TANK - The Criterion Collection [****]
(Andrea Arnold, UK, 2009, 122 minutes)

Britain's Andrea Arnold won a best live-action Oscar for the
2003 short film Wasp, but she takes her intimate technique to a
whole new level with Fish Tank. Newcomer Katie Jarvis plays
15-year-old Mia, who lives in the projects of Essex with her trash-
talking sister and party-girl mother, Joanne (Ken Loach veteran
Kierston Waering). It isn't an easy life, but she finds release by
dancing to hip-hop, which she hopes to do professionally.

Around the time Joanne starts spending time with charming Irish
immigrant Connor (Michael Fassbender in an effortlessly se-
ductive performance), Mia becomes fixated on a white horse who
spends its days chained to an empty lot. Whether she recognizes
the broken-down beast as a kindred spirit or not--it recalls Bres-
son's Balthazar--Mia's life isn't much different. With a lack of ed-
ucation and opportunity, she may never escape the slums.



Desperate for affection, she flirts with Connor, who flirts back,
innocently at first. She pushes further and so does he, until the
night he crosses a line. Soon, and in an entirely different way, she
becomes as obsessed with the man as the horse, but the danger
she faces in trying to free the creature is nothing compared to
the danger she represents in trying to punish the man.

Fish Tank begins as a social-realist character study before Ar-
nold shifts gears into thriller territory. In the untrained Jarvis's
hands, Mia remains sympathetic even as she gives in to her bas-
er instincts, but the director doesn't withhold hope, and her film-
making is looser and sexier than in her grim, if gripping debut,
Red Road. Supplements include interviews with Waering (vi-
deo) and Fassbender (audio only), three shorts (Milk, Dog, and
Wasp), and an essay by Ian Christie. Highest recommendation.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 25: Still Bill

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. Jane Eyre,
which features Fassbender and Mia Wasikowska, opens at the
Egyptian on Friday, 3/18. Image from Reverse Shot via IFC.

Movie of the Month, Part 25: Still Bill

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD for
Video Lib-
rarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

STILL BILL [***1/2]
(Damani Baker and Alex Vlack, 2009, US, 78 minutes)

Documentaries about R&B stars often end in death, obscurity, or
sustained stardom. Co-directors Damani Baker and Alex Vlack re-
count a different story, since Bill Withers was in his 30s when
he entered show business, only to walk away from it in the '80s.

In the film, he speaks about his past and his present, while archival
footage fills in for days gone by. He also travels back to his home-
town of Slab Fork, WV and to New York City for a tribute concert.

His laconic, colloquial way of talking makes the 70-year-old ex-
ceptionally good company (a quality that segues into his sing-
ing, in which he combines soul with folk and funk elements).



Aside from a stutter, which he conquered as an adult, Withers
suffered from asthma as a child, and dealt with instructors who
doubted his abilities, which only strengthened his resolve. From
high school, he joined the Navy, and became an aircraft mechanic.

His first single, "Ain’t No Sunshine," put him on the map, but when
the suits pushed him in a more conventional direction, his enthu-
siasm evaporated (one suggested he cover Elvis's "In the Ghetto").
"The fame game was kicking my ass,” Withers laments, to which
friend Cornel West counters, "You have been true to yourself."

Towards the end, Withers works on songs with his daughter, Kori,
proving that he hasn't lost the desire to make music. Other speak-
ers include Tavis Smiley, Angélique Kidjo, and My Morning Jack-
et's Jim James (wife Marcia and son Todd also offer a few words).

Concludes the singer, "We are remiss in overvaluing entertainers."
True, but Still Bill offers a necessary corrective for one who has-
n't always gotten his due. Audio options: 5.1 Dolby Digital and 2.0
Stereo (click here for a list of the extras). Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 24: ELO Live - The Early Years

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. Click here
for my review of +'Justments, here for Just As I Am/Still Bill,
and here for Soul Power. Bill Withers still from Vishows.

Movie of the Month, Part 24: Electric Light Orchestra Live - The Early Years

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing DVD
for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA LIVE: THE EARLY YEARS [***]

Heaven for Electric Light Orchestra fans, this release pres-
ents the band on stage between 1973 and 1976. In the first per-
formance, the group plays at the UK’s Brunel University. There's
nothing fancy about the low-ceiling stage set-up, but certain ec-
centricities are already in place, like the towering platform heels,
singer/guitarist Jeff Lynne's halo of hair, violinist Mik Kaminsky's
vampire cape, and the way Hugh McDowell play his cello like a
guitar for the cover of Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire."

The songs are also longer than the Top 40 singles for which ELO
would become famous, but Lynne had a feel for appealing melo-
dies from the start (time spent with the Move can't have hurt). In
the liner notes, Malcolm Dome describes their music as prog pop.



For Hamburg's 1974 Rockpalast broadcast, the septet has a bigger
stage on which to roam, while the disc concludes with a set at Lon-
don's New Victoria Theater during 1976's Face the Music tour. The
band still eschews bells and whistles, but the venue is larger yet.

Throughout, they perform the hits "Ma-Ma-Ma Bell," "Showdown,"
"I Can't Get It out of My Head," "Strange Magic," and "Evil Woman."
Though Brunel and Rockpalast duplicate three songs, including
Edvard Grieg's monumental "In the Hall of the Mountain King,"
they serve as better showcases for Lynne as he shouts more at
the '76 gig (his tenor works better in a traditional pop context).

The bonus feature offers a brief interview with the outfit, along
with sound engineer Rick Pannell. Also, completists should note
that the UK version adds two versions of Chuck Berry's "Roll o-
ver Beethoven." Audio options include Dolby Digital Stereo,
Dolby Digital 5.1, and DTS Surround Sound. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 23: Everyone Else

Endnote: I usually call this feature Movie of the Month, but
DVD of the Month made more sense this time around. Slightly
revised from the original text. Image from The Quietus ("Look-
ing Back at the Cosmic Career of the Electric Light Orchestra").

Movie of the Month, Part 23: Everyone Else

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing film for
Video Lib-
rarian, and
thought the results were worth sharing.



EVERYONE ELSE [***]
(Maren Ade, Germany, 2009, 119 minutes)

A German couple watches their relationship crumble in Maren
Ade's carefully observed pas de deux. On holiday in the Medi-
terranean, they seem happy enough as they loll about his moth-
er's pool and play Willie Nelson and Herbert Grönemeyer LPs.

Gitti (Birgit Minichmayr), an outspoken music publicist, and
Chris (Lars Eidinger), a retiring architectural student, argue
like most people, and Chris worries about a design competi-
tion, but things could be worse. Early on, Gitti tells her in-
secure mate that she finds him "completely beautiful."

Mostly the two talk, which lends the film a French feel, until
they run into Hans (Hans Jochen-Wagner), an avuncular archi-
tect, and his pregnant wife Sana (Nicole Marischka), a fashion
designer, neighbors who appear to be a few years older. Chris
has been trying to avoid them, but he agrees to come over
for a barbecue, though Gitti would rather go boating.



Things get off to a good start until Hans lectures Chris about
his slow-moving career. Gitti tells him she finds that patroniz-
ing, which embarrasses her boyfriend. After that, their bicker-
ing accelerates, despite Gitti's attempts at romantic gestures,
like a hillside picnic. Chris wants her to "act normally," but his
increasingly judgmental demeanor makes her uncomfortable.

Further encounters with Hans and Sana deepen the divide. In
the end, Ade leaves it up to viewers to decide whether Gitti has
emotional problems or whether Chris is making her sick. Though
the film has elicited comparisons to L'Avventura and Scenes from
a Marriage, it has more in common with the earthy theatricality
of Bergman than the existential ennui of Antonioni, though Sardi-
nia's rugged terrain does, at times, recall Sicily. Extra features
include deleted scenes, interviews, a short film, and an essay
from Cinema Scope editor Mark Peranson. Recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 22: The Oath

Endnote: I'm sorry to say that Ade's second film, after The
Forest for the Trees, did not open in Seattle. Slightly revised
from the original text. Image from indieWIRE/Cinema Guild.

Movie of the Month, Part 22: The Oath

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing film for
Video Lib-
rarian, and
thought the results were worth sharing.

THE OATH [***1/2]
(Laura Poitras, US, 2010, 90 mins.)

I read a lot of DeLillo while I was in Yemen. The anti-hero and ter-
rorism themes in his work were appropriate company. During ed-
iting, I saw a retrospective of the Dardenne brothers at the FSLC,
which reminded me to trust the intelligence of the audience.
-- Laura Poitras to indieWIRE

In 2006's Oscar-nominated documentary My Country, My Count-
ry, director Laura Poitras spent time with a Sunni physician in
Baghdad. In The Oath, she focuses on a taxi driver in Yemen.

An affable, open-faced family man, Abu Jandal (née Nasser
al-Bahri) served as Osama bin Laden's bodyguard from 19-
97-2000, during which time he recruited his brother-in-
law, Salim Hamdan, who became bin Laden's driver.

The title comes from the fact that Jandal pledged a loyalty oath
to the al-Qaeda leader. As it transpires, he later pledged a contra-
dictory oath to the government of Yemen. In conversation with a
young acolyte, he describes bin Laden as a "father figure" while
drinking a Coca Cola (he admits he can't resist Western goods).

From 2001-2009, Hamdan was based at Guantánamo Bay;
in 2006, he became plaintiff in a Supreme Court case which
led to the first trial under the Military Commissions Act.
"Thinking about him," Sandal says, "wrenches my heart."

While Poitras films Jandal, she represents Hamdan's thoughts
through the letters he sends to relatives and the statements of
Lt. Commander Brian Mizer, his military lawyer, who denies that
his client engaged in terrorist activities, describing his case as one
of "guilt by association." He fears the tribunal won't be fair. The
courtroom prohibits cameras, but Poitras covers the aftermath.

Considering that the filmmaker hails from the States, it seems
surprising that Jandal would speak with her so openly, but he's
also shared his thoughts with The New York Times and appear-
ed on 60 Minutes. Whatever his reasons, he's a fascinating sub-
ject. Hamdan, who never appears on screen, remains an intri-
guing enigma. The special feature offers additional footage
and extended interviews. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 21: The Way We Get By

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. Click
here for my review of My Country, My Country. Image
from indieWIRE (link leads to an interview with Poitras).

Movie of the Month, Part 21: The Way We Get By

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing film
for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

 

THE WAY WE GET BY [***1/2]
(Aron Gaudet, US, 2009, 84 minutes)

It may not have the name recognition of Chicago's O'Hare or
New York's JFK, but Maine's Bangor International Airport re-
ceives pride of place in Aron Gaudet's film, since troops leav-
ing for and returning from Iran and Afghanistan often pass
through its doors (the documentary aired as part of P.O.V.).

Since 2003, 87-year-old Navy veteran Bill Knight has made it his
life's work to thank over 900,000 men and women for their ser-
vice. "Our troops need our support," he explains. His companions
include 74-year-old Jerry Mundy, an ex-Marine who lost his only
son to illness, and the filmmaker's mother, 75-year-old Joan Gau-
det, whose family counts three military members, including her
late husband who fought in the Korean War (Aron's wife, pro-
ducer Gita Pullapilly, helped to conduct the interviews).

Gaudet films the greeters, all of whom have health problems, at
the airport and at home. Knight shares his alarmingly messy
farmhouse with a dog and countless cats (Mundy and Gaudet
claim canine companions, as well). During filming, he finds out
he has prostate cancer, but opts to keep greeting while he can.

In the meantime, he moves into a trailer while preparing to sell
his house and pay down his credit card debt. Knight also plans to
place his cats with a shelter, since he can no longer afford to feed
them. Though Joan would like to see the war come to an end, she
admits that she'd be lost if she didn't get to shake hands with the
troops each week, no matter how early the call. Her son deserves
credit for avoiding pathos, pity, and divisive politics in this exam-
ination of dedication and mortality. A strong recommendation.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 20: My Year Without Sex

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. I didn't pick
a DVD for September, but if I had, it would've been Sweet-
hearts of the Prison Rodeo (click here for my Siffblog review),
which plays the NWFF 1o/8-10. Image from Living in Cinema.

Movie of the Month, Part 20: Sarah Watt's Winning Dramedy My Year Without Sex

I recently
reviewed
the follow-
ing film
for Vid-
eo Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.


MY YEAR WITHOUT SEX [***1/2]
(Sarah Watt, Australia, 2009, 96 minutes)

The title promises comedy, but My Year Without Sex quickly
turns dark before the mood starts to lift. It begins as Ross (Matt
Day, Muriel's Wedding), a Melbourne audio technician, celebrates
his 39th birthday. All seems well until his wife, Natalie (Sacha Hor-
ler), who works in a retirement home, suffers a brain aneurysm.
Her recovery is slow--and far more realistic than what narrative
features usually depict--and Ross worries about their future.

When Natalie returns home, life normalizes, though they avoid
anything that could impede her recovery, like sex. Instead, Ross
gets her a dog after hearing a speaker on the radio claim they can
help people to live longer. Director Sarah Watt (Look Both Ways)
continues to track the events of the next 12 months: eight-year-
old Ruby (Portia Bradley) suffers a minor injury, Ross takes on
additional work as an assistant soccer coach (Jonathan Segat
plays their 12-year-old footy fanatic son Louis), the family
takes an ill-starred vacation, and Natalie changes careers.



All the while, they bicker about faith and parenting, make up, and
socialize with Anglican priest Margaret (Maude Davy, a standout)
and Uncle Greg (Fred Whitlock) and Winona (Katie Wall), a photo-
genic couple with fancier possessions, but problems of their own.

While her previous film featured animated segments, each section
of My Year Without Sex opens with a brief montage that intro-
duces the theme to come, a unique touch. Unlike most American
family dramedies, which toggle between quirk and sentiment, like
Little Miss Sunshine, Watt sees both the humor and sorrow in ev-
eryday life without getting too big, too cute, or too soft. It's a re-
freshing change, and the cast is terrific. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 19: Alice -
A Look into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. I didn't provide
a DVD pick for July, but if I had, it would've been Mystery Train
(click here for review). Image from The Sydney Morning Herald.

Notes from Under the Ground, Part Three: Farewell, Casino Jack, and Fish Tank

Click here
for part two

FAREWELL
(Pacific Place, 5/10)

Cold War drama set in the 1980s.

Two directors [as stars]..."To our babuschkas"...East German
wife, works as an engineer...Niels Arestrup (A Prophet)...[Fran-
çois] Mitterand..."decadent Western music"..."Keen" (Queen),
"Waving your banner all over the place"..."Johnny Walkman"...
more intrigue than thrills; about marriage, relationships...Pier-
re [Guillaume Canet] and Sergei [Emir Kusturica]...Westerner
and Easterner become emboldened...Burn after Reading...not
pro-communist, not pro-Western-style democracy either.

Farewell opens in Seattle on 8/6 (venue TBA).

CASINO JACK
(Seven Gables, 5/10)

Alex Gibney takes on Jack Abramoff.

Pest control business, DDT...DEA, HUD..."self-centered jerk"
with a "special genius for finding money where no one else
thought to look"...Saipan sweatshops..."if you could make ev-
erybody poor so you could be rich"...House Majority Lead-
er [Tom DeLay]...Ralph Reed = Pete Campbell (Vincent
Kartheiser)...tribal money...restaurateur..."fucko, bitch
ass" [email]...Metallica, Talking Heads, Le Tigre...AIC,
Scanlon...lifeguard...Malaysia...off-shore gaming.

Click here for finished review.



FISH TANK
(Metro Cinemas, 2/09)

Andrea Arnold's follow-up to Red Road.

Watches girls dance...tries to free a horse...headbutt, "cunt"..."I
wonder what's wrong with you?" "You're what's wrong with me"...
cider, hip-hop dance, abandoned flat...dog on leash...Conor O'Reil-
ly, dirty-blond hair..."I'm a friend of your mother's"..."You dance
like a black. That's a compliment"...female gaze..."fuckface," "cunt-
face"...squatters...Puts to bed, takes off pants..."You've got some
weird shit"..."How can you call Bobby Womack 'weird shit'?"...
Kind, patient, attentive, catches fish with bare hands...James
Brown...narcissistic...Tilbury, gated community, princess,
razor scooter..."Life's a bitch, and then you die. That's
why you never know when you gonna go."



Endnote: Christian Carion directed Farewell. Kusturica directed
Underground; Canet directed Tell No One (among several other
films). Image from Radio Station EXP (© Nord-Ouest Production).

Movie of the Month, Part 19: Alice - A Look into Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I recently reviewed the following documentary for Video
Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.

ALICE: A LOOK INTO ALICE'S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND [***1/2]
(Gerry Malir, UK, 2009, 90 minutes)

Without Alice Pleasance Hargreaves (1852-1934), aka Alice Lidell, the classic novel Alice's Adventures in Wonderland wouldn't exist. 

This British documentary explores the relationship between the author and his muse, which came about through Lewis Carroll's employment with Oxford's Christ Church College, where Alice's father, Henry Lidell, served as dean. When the mathematics lecturer, born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, met Alice in 1855, she was only three years old, too young to befriend, so he initially socialized more with her three older siblings.

Other members of the extended Lidell clan would become Wonderland characters, such as the governess-inspired Queen of Hearts--the documentary posits Carroll himself as the White Rabbit. He also took inspiration from the works of William Blake and William Wordsworth, who shared his belief in the innate wisdom of children; while the 1865 book sprang from a tale he spun to entertain the young Lidells. Drawings, photographs, and clips bring his resulting story to life.

While at Oxford, Carroll took up photography in addition to writing, displaying a talent for both; he even provided the manuscript's pen and ink illustrations. Young girls became his favorite subject, though the documentary doesn't claim any impropriety on his part. Director Malir does note, however, that the diary pages detailing this four-year period no longer exists, since relatives removed them. Lidell herself later wrote, "Being photographed was a joy to us, not a penance."

Sadly, Carroll broke with the Lidells prior to the publication of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland for reasons that remain unclear, though the narrative offers a convincing theory. With an extensive quantity of literary and historical detail, Alice takes aim more at the academic viewer than the casual fan, but never gets too dry, and includes the 1903 and 1915 silver-screen adaptations. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 18: Beeswax

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text. Click here for
my review of Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland. Image from
Poets.net: Alice Pleasance Liddell with her sisters (circa 1859).

Movie of the Month, Part 18: Beeswax

 I recently reviewed the follow- ing film for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing. 

BEESWAX [***1/2] 

(Andrew Bujalski, 2010, USA, 100 minutes) 

Andrew Bujalski continues his winning streak of insightful independent features with Beeswax. Sisters Tilly and Maggie Hatcher play twins Jeannie and Lauren, who live in Austin, site of Bujalski's first film, Funny Ha Ha. Jeannie, who uses a wheelchair, runs a vintage clothing shop and fears that her business partner, Amanda (Anne Dodge), may cost her the store. 

Amanda, whose father drafted their contract, is often out of town, spends little time in Storyville, and even hires employees without consulting her. Jeannie's fear permeates every scene, even when more mundane things, a Bujalski specialty, seem to be happening.

   

By contrast, Lauren isn't irresponsible or aimless, but she lacks Jeannie's focus and ambition. Between jobs and newly single (Goliath director David Zellner plays her ex-boyfriend), she considers taking a teaching position in Kenya. Bujalski presents their relationship with sensitivity, but steers clear of sentimentality. 

Similarly, he doesn’t play Jeannie's disability for laughter or tears; it's just a part of her life. She doesn't feel sorry for herself and nor do her companions treat her like anything less than an equal, from her mother to her on-and-off-again law student boyfriend Merrill (Woodpecker actor and filmmaker Alex Karpovsky), but the way they all try to help out with her career conundrum could end up doing more harm than good--hence the title allusion to "mind your own beeswax."

In a quiet and understated way, Andrew Bujalski's matter-of-fact detailing of her everyday life feels almost feels revolutionary. 

Supplements include a "tribute to extras" featurette with directorial commentary, actor Kevin Corrigan's affectionate liner notes (he doesn't appear in the film), and D.J. Taitelbaum's alternate score, a minimalist electronic affair (the filmmaker otherwise eschews a conventional soundtrack). Highly recommended. 

Click here for a review of Bujalski's Mutual Appreciation and

here for Movie of the Month, Part 17: The Missing Person

Slightly revised from the original text. Image from SXSW.com.

Movie of the Month, Part 17: The Missing Person

I recently reviewed the
following film for Video
Librarian, and thought the
results were worth sharing.

THE MISSING PERSON
(Noah Buschel, US,
2009, 95 mins.) [***1/2]

Top-lined by two Oscar
nominees and dipped in
dusky shades of gold and
brown, The Missing
Person delivers a styl-
ish take on the private-
eye genre. The efficient Miss Charley (Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone) sets the story in motion when she hires gin-soaked pri-
vate investigator John Rosow (Michael Shannon, Revolution-
ary Road) to trail Harold Fullmer (Frank Wood), a mystery
man traveling across the country with a Mexican boy.

On Rosow's assignment to return Harold to his wife, he tracks him
by train from Chicago to Los Angeles, both cities existing in a sort
of timeless space, neither past nor present (Rosow digs old-school
jazz, but lives in a world filled with cell phones and Segways). On
his journey to the West and back, he discovers that Fullmer went
missing after 9/11; Rosow turns out to have secrets of his own.

Like Robert Aldrich’s Kiss Me Deadly (or Robert Altman's The
Long Goodbye), writer/director Noah Buschel’s third feature
conjures up a tone so off-kilter, it sometimes slides into surreal-
ism, as when the dyspeptic detective dreams about a woman
who may not actually exist, but Rosow is no Mike Hammer
tough guy—he's smarter and more sensitive than that.

If the eventual explanation for his unusual behavior doesn't
completely satisfy, Margaret Colin (Gossip Girl) as a sly se-
ductress and John Ventimiglia (The Sopranos) as a Serpico-
obsessed cabbie help to make The Missing Person an en-
joyable outing for fans of noir and character pieces alike.

It also proves that Michael Shannon is ready for more star-
ring roles after a string of strong supporting parts in mov-
ies like Before the Devil Knows You're Dead and Bad Lieu-
tenant: Port of Call New Orleans. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 16: The Beaches of Agnès

Endnote: Slightly revised from the original text.
For more Shannon reviews, click the links for Shot-
gun Stories, The Runaways, and My Son, My Son,
What Have Ye Done. Cinematographique image.

Movie of the Month, Part 16: The Beaches of Agnes

I recently reviewed the following film for Video Librarian, and thought the results were worth sharing.



THE BEACHES OF AGNES [***1/2]
(Agnès Varda, France, 2009, 110 minutes)

To love cinema is to love Jacques Demy, painting, family, and puzzles.

--Agnès Varda, The Beaches of Agnès

***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** *****

As French New Wave veteran Agnès Varda (Cléo from 5 to 7, The Gleaners and I) explains in her enchanting documentary, she's spent a lifetime filming other people, because "It's others I'm interested in, others I like to film." The Beaches of Agnès, on the other hand, allows the self-described "pleasantly plump and talkative" 80-year-old artist to turn the camera on herself for a change.

Because she has fond memories of trips to the beach as a child (dubbing it "my favorite landscape"), that's where she speaks about her life, surrounded by mirrors, photographs, and recreated scenes from her past. Actors, like Jane B. for Agnès V.'s Jane Birkin and Séraphine's Yolande Moreau, appear in these memories.



Some of these images, Varda says, "have haunted me for a long time." To this material, filmed in France and California, she adds visits to significant locations with clips from her filmography, putting her movies into more of a personal context (suffice to say, there's no separation between the woman and the work).

In chronological order, Varda moves from her childhood in Brussels to her adolescence in Paris to her years as a photographer to her relationship with Jacques Demy (The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Donkey Skin)--their children would also join the family business.

In looking back at her career, Varda honors other artists with whom she has collaborated, like Alain Resnais, who edited La Pointe Courte, actor Philippe Noiret, who starred in the film, and avant garde essayist Chris Marker, who interviews her disguised as his feline alter ego, Guillaume. For a movie about times gone by, The Beaches of Agnès is far more playful than regretful. Highly recommended.

Click here for Movie of the Month, Part 15: Passing Strange

As part of this year's P.O.V. Series on PBS, The Beaches of Agnès airs on June 29 (check local listings). Slightly revised from the original text. Image of Agnès Varda and Guillaume from Film Forum.