“Zoe”– Movie Review

This weekend, I attended the Centerpiece screening at The Tribeca Film Festival, the World Premiere of the new science-fiction romance, “Zoe”, starring Ewan McGregor. 

Synopsis

In a futuristic company that specializes in human relationships, can a romance between two co-workers survive despite a revelation that disturbs them both?

Story

In the not too distant future, a market has developed that is to help people with their romantic relationships.  A small start-up company known as Relationist has become one of the leaders in this field; they have perfected a technology that will determine whether or not a couple will be a good match.  While this has gained them some notoriety, what they are really working on is “synths” – synthetic forms of human beings.  Some would call them robots, but they are really the next generation.  These synths can do much more than merely walk your dog or landscape your yard:  they can be your life partner. 

The founder of this company is Cole (McGregor), a brilliant but lonely man who buries himself in his work in order to forget about his failed marriage.  Overseeing the manufacture of the synths is Zoe (Léa Seydoux), who secretly harbors romantic feelings for Cole, which she is reluctant to express.  Together, they work to create what they hope will be the next generation of synths, which is one they call Ash (Theo James).  Once he is brought online, Ash is brought to socialization, which includes education of qualities that will make him more human-like. 

Despite the fact that Ash develops an attraction for Zoe, she spurns him because Cole is the object of her desire.  Unable to contain her feelings any longer, Zoe and Cole embark on a romance – but it turns out to be ill-fated once Zoe learns from Cole that she is one of his synth creations.  After an accident which results in Zoe being taken offline temporarily, Cole decides he must end the relationship.  Distraught, Zoe delves into the black market of synths where she seeks to be taken offline permanently.  But when Cole finds out about this, can he stop Zoe before it’s too late?   

Review

If you are a fan of the genre of films popularly known as mumblecore, then there’s a good chance that you might like “Zoe”.  Having said that, however, it should also be noted that “Zoe” is a decent science fiction drama that, while presenting a dystopian future, also provides a glimmer of hope for that very same future.  While it may be seen that “Zoe” is a story about robots, it is, in fact, more of a story about humans and what makes our relationships imperfect and fallible.  Like any good science fiction, it is less about the futuristic gadgets and more an introspection of who we as human beings are right now.

Although the film is of a reasonable length, at times it feels as though it’s dragging; this may be attributable to its slow pace.  It’s a science fiction movie, but there aren’t any sequences that contain “action”, mainly because it’s more of a psychological story.  This isn’t a criticism so much as an observation.  Viewers should be aware that this is not going to be like a Star Wars type of experience; it’s much more low-key than that and if you are looking for chase scenes or shoot-em-ups, then you would be advised to search elsewhere.  “Zoe” is an enjoyable – but at times languid – motion picture.       

Following the screening was a question and answer session with the director and cast.  Doremus said that he has a strong connection to the theme of love; he feels it is a constant longing and this film asks the question, “What do we need in order to fulfill ourselves?”.  “Zoe” focuses on the less evolved synths versus the more evolved synths.  He said that he encouraged much improvisation during the filming.  His choice of many close-ups in the movie was due to the fact that he felt there was so much intimacy in the story, he wanted the audience to feel as though we almost shouldn’t be watching this.  

“Duck Butter”– Movie Review

This week at The Tribeca Film Festival, I attended the World Premiere of the new comedy, “Duck Butter”, starring Alia Shawkat.

Synopsis

When two women become disappointed in relationships, they decide to spend 24 hours together in order to restore their faith.

Story

Naima (Shawkat) is an aspiring actress who has become disenchanted with relationships due to the dishonesty she has experienced.  She has suffered as many professional disappointments as personal ones.  One night, she goes to a nightclub to let off some steam.  While there, she meets Sergio (Laia Costa), an aspiring singer/songwriter, who is also performing at the club.  Afterwards, they chat and find that they are really hitting it off.  In fact, they discover that they have both shared similar disappointments in their respective relationships. 

Later, they go back to Sergio’s place for a hook-up.  Afterwards, they concoct a plan that they believe will solve their problems:  to spend 24 consecutive hours with each other, having sex every hour, where they will be forced to confront each other in an open and hones way while sharing both emotional and physical intimacy.  In so doing, they believe, this will restore their faith in their ability to have an actual relationship with someone – possibly even each other.  Initially, things go well, but after hours without sleep, both become irritable and disagreeable. 

They return to Naima’s the next morning to continue their plan.  Living together is not as comfortable as they had both hoped it would be.  Sergio’s mother is supposed to meet her for breakfast, so they invite her over to Naima’s home, where she prepares a meal.  Things don’t improve much once she arrives; her presence only adds to the conflict and anxiety between the two.  After she leaves, Naima and Sergio must confront the reality with which they are faced:  has their experiment actually blown up in their face or can they overcome their difficulties to be a couple?

Review

If you already know the meaning of the term “Duck Butter” – or have had the opportunity to research what it references – then you probably have a reasonable idea of just how disgusting this movie has the potential of being.  Assuming you are entertained by the output of a rectum, then it’s possible that you may find the film “Duck Butter” to be a joyful cinematic experience.  However, if this does not sound like the foundation of solid filmmaking, then perhaps it might be time to look elsewhere.  As a fan of much of Alia Shawkat’s other work, this comes as a major disappointment. 

While watching “Duck Butter”, one gets the sense that it is utterly disjointed and nonsensical in its concept.  There’s a good reason for this:  as it turns out (based on the post-screening interview with the director and its stars), there was no screenplay.  At least not in the traditional sense.  Apparently, here’s what happened:  director Miguel Arteta received an outline from Shawkat; this was written at a very high level, one would think because Shawkat lacked the discipline to do the heavy lifting of writing an actual script.  She admitted during the interview that no dialog was written. 

The concept of the story is that these two women spend 24 hours together where they are having sex with each other every hour.  What we learned from the post-screening interview with Arteta is that in order to create the authenticity of a couple being awake for 24 hours straight, he chose to shoot the sequence in real time, during a 24 hour period where no one had a chance to sleep.  It shows.  What comes across is some kind of manic dream where people are unable to think clearly and are operating on sheer emotion.  Unfortunately, this results in unsympathetic characters and you really can’t root for either of them.

“Love, Gilda”– Movie Review

This week at the opening night of The Tribeca Film Festival, I attended the World Premiere of the new documentary, “Love, Gilda”. 

Synopsis

A documentary that covers the life, loves, influences and premature death of a beloved comedy actress from the original cast of “Saturday Night Live”.

Story

Detroit in the 1950’s was a special place to grow up.  It was among the best and biggest cities in America – known as The Motor City because it was the home to automobile manufacturing.  This is where Gilda Radner grew up.  Born into a family of means – her father was successful in real estate – she was a child who came late to her parents, born when they were around 50 years old.  It was therefore a traumatic event when her father passed away when she was only 14; she believed that because he died before she became a woman, she subconsciously wanted to remain a child forever after. 

During her childhood, Gilda was a bit on the chubby side, which caused her to be the focus of much ridicule from her classmates.  She would use her sense of humor to turn this into a defense mechanism to combat her bullies.  When she went off to college, she joined a theater group and fell in love with being on the stage and acting.  Realizing early on that comedy was where she was best suited, she joined a comedy group where she could perform sketches and perfect creating her own characters.  Later, she would get her first major job in the musical“Godspell”, which led to her joining Toronto’s Second City comedy troupe. 

Her big break came when she passed an audition in 1975 for a new television show called “Saturday Night Live”; becoming a cast member, it was not long before she was recognized as one of the show’s stand-out performers.  Leaving the show a few years later, she embarked on a career in the movies; one of those introduced her to Gene Wilder, whom she would later marry.  Their short-lived union seemed doomed when Gilda was diagnosed with ovarian cancer; after initially going into remission, the cancer eventually resurfaced and she died in 1989 at the age of 43. 

Review

For fans of either Gilda Radner or of the original Saturday Night Live, “Love, Gilda” will be something of an emotional roller coaster; as much of a joy as it is to see Radner’s appearances on old video clips, it’s painful to see her getting sick towards the end, especially when we know the outcome.  Likewise, learning about the emotional pain in her personal life is equally difficult -- although it did help to shape much of her later work and some of the characters she subsequently developed on the television show. Nevertheless, the eating disorders she suffered from even after attaining professional success show that her fame didn’t really bring her the happiness she sought.

Among the delights of this documentary is the fact that there are a great many home movies that are included -- not only from Radner’s childhood, but also later in life, including when she became ill.  One of the most notable omissions is among the interviews of people who knew her; Wilder, of course, passed away a couple of years ago, but her first husband, guitarist G.E. Smith, was absent as well. Was he difficult to get in touch with or have his scars never healed?  Also, some former SNL cast members were missing in action. Paul Shaffer and Chevy Chase appeared in the film, but Dan Aykroyd (one of her former boyfriends) were nowhere to be found.

One observation -- which is not necessarily a criticism, but something worth noting -- is that the style of this documentary will seem very familiar if you’ve already seen Judd Apatow’s documentary on HBO, “The Zen Diaries Of Garry Shandling”.  The reason is because “Love, Gilda” -- like Apatow’s film -- incorporates the actual diary entries of its subject. In both documentaries, some are just seen on screen and others are read aloud (in the case of “Love, Gilda”, they are read by former SNL cast members who succeeded Radner’s era).  Oddly coincidental as well is the fact that the documentary also includes Radner’s return to television after cancer treatment: an appearance on the late Garry Shandling’s Showtime sit-com.

“Bloodlight and Bami”– Movie Review

This weekend, I attended the opening of the new musical documentary “Grace Jones:  Bloodlight and Bami”, starring Grace Jones. 

Synopsis

A documentary where Grace Jones is seen performing live in concert and in behind-the-scenes visits with her family in Jamaica.

Story

Performer Grace Jones travels to her home – the island nation of Jamaica – where she spends time with her family.  In these moments, this woman with the bigger-than-life personality becomes suddenly humanized; she is less the celebrity and more the dutiful daughter, sister and aunt enjoying down-time with relatives she has not seen in a very long time.  At times, it seems as though she is less having a family reunion than acting like a tourist; Jones visits various attractions and takes occasional snapshots of the surroundings and people.

While promoting her latest recording, a disco version of “La Vie En Rose”, she goes to Paris in order to appear on a television show where she will perform the song.  Unknown to her, the set is designed in such a way where she will be surrounded by young women dancing in lingerie.  Following the taping, she argues with the show’s producer that she feels as though she looks like either a pimp or a Madame who operates a brothel.  The producer, wishing to appease her, offers to let her re-tape the segment without the dancers. 

At this point in her career, Jones suddenly finds herself without a recording contract.  As a result, she must coordinate her own recording sessions if she is to make the new album she wishes to start.  What this means is that she will have to pay for the recording studio and musicians out of her own pocket and hope to get reimbursed either by sales of the album or concert appearances.  Unfortunately, some of the musicians she has lined up turn out to be unreliable and fail to arrive for a scheduled recording date.  Desperate, Jones must either convince them to join her or find new musicians on short notice.    

Review

Once upon a time, there was a big problem with documentaries:  it was called The Talking Heads Syndrome.  This problem was manifested by rapid cuts to a blur of many different faces in close-up, each of whom were being interviewed about the subject of the documentary.  There was very little intercut between the interviewees and other footage or even still photographs.  As a result of this, many people got turned off to watching documentaries because it felt more like a lecture than a film.  While there is little to no justification for going back to this style of filmmaking, “Bloodlight And Bami” might have benefited from a prudent amount. 

Not unlike Grace Jones herself, this documentary is pretty much all over the place.  There is precious little in the way of context or explanation for exactly what we are seeing and who we are hearing from throughout the film.  That’s unfortunate because there seems to be plenty interesting there that is alluded to about Jones’ past and what she’s experiencing now in the present.  Although it frequently intercuts between performances and personal time with her family, it’s not really biographical; we learn nothing about her acting career and never see clips of her many movies. 

Following the screening, there was a question and answer session with Jones and the film’s director, Sophie Fiennes.  Fiennes said that she met Jones at a screening of one of her other documentaries in 2003; they hit it off and decided to work together on something.  Shortly thereafter, shooting started and occurred sporadically over a period of years in between other projects with which each were previously occupied.  Jones revealed that one of her greatest professional regrets was the fact that she turned down a role in the original version of the movie “Blade Runner”; after reading the script, she abruptly changed her mind – but by that time, it was too late as the role had already been re-cast.     

“Hale County”– Movie Review

On the closing weekend of The New Directors/New Films Festival, I attended the New York Premiere of the documentary, “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”. 

Synopsis

A documentary that follows the day to day activities in the lives of members of the Hale County, Alabama community.

Story

Hale County, Alabama is not the place where you’ll find the 1%; it has long been a town where poverty has reigned.  Over the decades, however, the demographics have changed; where it once housed white sharecroppers from the Dust Bowl era of The Great Depression, it is now home to African Americans who see little hope for a better tomorrow.  Instead, they just seek to find a way to survive day-to-day – which is no easy task.  The lack of opportunity for both the children and adults seems to be what dooms them to a future similar to their present.

RaMell Ross was living in Washington, D.C. when he had a job offer to move to Hale County where he would teach photography and help coach basketball.  Upon moving there, he found that he fell in love with the people and the place and instead of making this a short-term opportunity, he decided to settle there.  Inspired by the resiliency of Hale County’s citizens in the face of great adversity, he then decided to record their lives as they struggled to make a go of things.  Whether observing a basketball practice or watching children play with fireworks in an empty lot, he shot whatever he stumbled upon. 

Ross follows the story of one couple who, despite being of modest means, decides to have children.  After their first child, Boosie later becomes pregnant with twins; she has a boy and a girl.  Tragedy strikes when the boy succumbs to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, leaving the couple now with only two children.  In the stiflingly humid summer heat, there isn’t much in the way of entertainment for many children but to spend evenings outside hoping for either a soothing breeze or a rain to cool things down.  In Hale County, the citizens become accustomed to living in invisibility.   

Review

For those who seek a standard narrative structure in a documentary, “Hale County, This Morning, This Evening” will not be your movie.  That is because this documentary has none – the structure is as flat as a pancake.  Whether or not that is a good thing or a bad thing will depend on the degree to which you respond to director RaMell Ross’ unique visual style.  There is no doubt about the fact that he has done something quite different in terms of not only his shot choices and composition, but also the fact that he’ll choose to linger on a particular shot merely because he finds it interesting. 

There is no doubt about the fact that Ross is quite courageous – some might even say audacious – to attempt something quite so daring in your first feature film.  However, there is also the extremely valid question of whether or not it works.  One can look at pretty pictures for only so long before it feels as though you’re merely watching someone’s home movie rather than a documentary.  We have to get an understanding of whose story we’re watching, why it’s being presented to us and for what reason should the audience have an emotional investment.  While this is not an argument to contrive a story that doesn’t exist (a sin of some documentarians), all filmmakers must be capable of telling a story coherently.

Following the screening, director RaMell Ross was interviewed.  The full title of the film, “Hale County, This Morning, This Evening”, was a nod to writer James Baldwin’s short story, “This Morning, This Evening, So Soon”.  Ross said that he shot the movie over a five year period, recording over 1300 hours of footage.  He found it to be a bit of a challenge to raise money for this movie because investors didn’t like the fact that there was no story.  Instead, Ross believed in the documentary’s ability to show beauty in the mundane – a “rambling beauty”, as he characterized the content.    

“The Guilty”– Movie Review

This week at The Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s New Directors/New Films Festival, I attended a screening of the Danish suspense thriller, “The Guilty”.

Synopsis

When a police officer is forced to serve duty in emergency services as punishment, will he be able to help solve a crime and, in so doing, attain redemption?

Story

Copenhagen Police Officer Asger Holm isn’t terribly pleased that he’s ordered to perform emergency services duties; he’d much rather be out on the street solving crimes.  But given the fact that he and his partner Rashid have been accused of unnecessarily shooting a suspect, Asger is just grateful to still be on the police force – at least for now, anyway.  A hearing is about to be held as part of the police’s internal investigation of this situation; both Asger and Rashid know the truth, but their plan is to provide the investigators with a story which will exonerate them both.

Bored on a typically slow night, Asger gets a call that finally gets his attention:  Iben calls emergency services to report that she’s been abducted by her ex-husband, Michael.  Since Michael is with her at the time of her call, she has to be very careful in the way she speaks to Asger for fear that Michael will figure out what she’s doing.  Asger contacts the local dispatcher to send a patrol car out to pull them over, but given that the only identification available is that the couple are in a white van, they will be hard to locate.  Asger finds he needs to utilize all of his policing skills in order to rescue Iben. 

Eventually, Asger is able to conduct some necessary research to try to get more information about Iben and Michael; he discovers Michael has a criminal record and has been done time.  Realizing he’s dealing with a potentially dangerous person, Asger has a police car dispatched to Iben’s house in order to look after the children that were left behind – six year old Mathilde and her younger brother Oliver, an infant.  Good police work uncovers more information about the couple – but when Asger learns disturbing news that alters his perspective, how will this impact solving the crime? 

Review

Normally, if you were told that an entire movie’s action takes place in a single set and all of the dialog is entirely on the phone where you can’t see the other people, your reaction would understandably be underwhelming.  There are, however, occasional exceptions to the rule and “The Guilty” is most definitely one of them.  This is a film that reaches a suspenseful level early on and maintains that degree all throughout – a tough thing to do, but director Gustav Möller somehow manages to pull it off brilliantly.  Through his directing and editing choices, we experience the taut drama exactly the way Asger experiences it, grabbing our attention and not letting go.

Sadly, what must be noted is the timeliness of this movie.  In recent days – specifically, the Stephon Clark shooting – we have been reminded of the excessive savagery by the police.  Ironically, Asger is being investigated for the exact same thing – thus his being taken off the street and required to perform emergency services duty until the investigation has been completed.  He and his partner Rashid are planning to lie about what happened in order to avoid further consequences.  While the audience is aware of this, we are also aware of the fact that this same officer is trying to help solve a crime.  That is also part of the cleverness of the film – the fact that good and evil is not always a simple black and white issue.

Following the screening, there was an interview with director Gustav Möller, who also co-wrote the screenplay.  He said that this was a 13-day shoot and it was all done in chronological order.  In editing, much was cut out in order to maintain the pacing of the movie, which is vital to its success in storytelling.  Möller’s greatest influence was the first season of the podcast “Serial”, where you were forced to paint a picture of the characters in your mind and the more information you got about them, the more your perception of them changed.  Möller had no rehearsals – only table reads.  This was done in order to keep a fresh feel throughout the shoot.