I like the show, but this post is more about the "external shots". As as sometime resident of the rusty city, I was blown away by the shots of Braddock PA. Cary Furnace is used as the tent city for prisoners; the gang member talking with Renner on the roof is in Braddock, looking towards the yellow roller coaster at Kennywood. Another shot is of downtown Braddock, as well as the US Steel Edgar Thompson mill. Another overhead is over the Clairton works, looking towards the Iwrin works on the hill. Another shot is of downtown Pittsburgh, on Second Avenue, which hugs the Mon river. I don't know how many mills still exist in the midwest, but if you are looking for gritty industrial wasteland, you can't do better than this.
Reviews
11 Reviews
Season 6, finally gets good
31 October 2021
The best thing to happen to Bull this season was the exist of Freddie Rodriguez. Although a good actor (six feet under), his increasingly bombastic courtroom performances grew tired. There was never enough oxygen for the rest of the cast. This season (so far), there is much more room for his wife(Martinez) and TAC colleagues(Carr, Kirchner, Meehan, Jackson) . Also positive is the continuation of a plot thread (child kidnapping and emotional after-effects), and how it affects Bull and his decisions. Although I understand that shows like this are all about formula/case-of-the-week structure, their writers appear to be doing something a bit more nuanced and rewarding. Surprising that this happens in the 6th season.
The Lover
(2004)
Old pervs turn their sexual fantasies into cinema, and try to make us buy it
11 April 2005
Warning: Spoilers
I didn't see Vibrator, the much gushed about previous film by director Ryuichi Hiroki, but he came in person as a guest of the festival and Travis Crawford, the curator of Asian Cinema for the Philly Fest.
First stipulating that I am no red-state moralist (nor a father), I found this film to be, at best, an old man's sex fantasy clumsily turned into a script and movie. We have a 17 year-old girl (the age of consent in Japan, or do young women wear their plaid skirts into their 30's for alluring effect?) "sell" herself as a sex slave to three 30+ brothers who should really think of getting a life. Of course, they are dutifully executing Dad's wishes, who spies aforementioned nymphet from his death-bed hospital window, and wishes he could, well, relate to her in language the translators probably misunderstood. Otherwise, Dad was a big IL' perv, too. Some mention is made of dad being a filmmaker, and dusty back rooms contain canisters and other detritus from a career in pre-digital film, but whether this guy was Kurosawa or Flint is open to speculation (I'll bank on the latter).
Drama (or something approaching it) ensues, with each brother doing something sick/life affirming (take your pick) to our heroine at various points. Heroine seems to have only one encounter with mother-figure, and soon gets Stockholm syndrome (really loves her creepy old rapist father figures). Much ordered pantie removal is performed (along with "womb touching" presumably the Japanese method of coat-hanger abortion, but I digress ). Much like the Story of O, you must be humiliated to get inner strength, or failing that, use up all that film stock you bought.
Big event is our heroine getting raped (by a stranger in a movie theater bathroom, not the "good rape" she experiences at home with her guardians). The stranger doesn't use protection, so we now have a pregnancy issue to beat around.
Our heroine eventually discovers sketch books done by the father, which actually show her clothed, but still sporting red pouting lips and those ubiquitous knee-socks. See, he really was a sensitive guy, in a Larry Flint/Bob Guccione kinda way.
As was explained after in the Q & A, us dumb Americans missed the larger symbolic themes in the picture. And if we would have been hip enough to read the graphic novel that it was based on, we would have had a one-handed appreciation for the genre that inspired the movie. The other hand, of course, was busy
In the end, we get a teary parting of ways, as the girl realizes it is her birthday, and she is no longer under contract to Larry, Daryl and Daryl. But she'll miss them, because they made her a woman (feel free to hurl at any point).
In summation, a piece of crap, an old man's male fantasy marginally dressed-up as art film.
Just yesterday I saw a film of teenage exploitation/abuse done right, Greg Akari's magnificent "Mysterious Skin". Now there was a statement, and a movie to boot.
Avoid this one at all costs, and question any programmer who thinks this is material for a festival as well-regarded as Philadelphia's. Mr. Crawford should be ashamed.
First stipulating that I am no red-state moralist (nor a father), I found this film to be, at best, an old man's sex fantasy clumsily turned into a script and movie. We have a 17 year-old girl (the age of consent in Japan, or do young women wear their plaid skirts into their 30's for alluring effect?) "sell" herself as a sex slave to three 30+ brothers who should really think of getting a life. Of course, they are dutifully executing Dad's wishes, who spies aforementioned nymphet from his death-bed hospital window, and wishes he could, well, relate to her in language the translators probably misunderstood. Otherwise, Dad was a big IL' perv, too. Some mention is made of dad being a filmmaker, and dusty back rooms contain canisters and other detritus from a career in pre-digital film, but whether this guy was Kurosawa or Flint is open to speculation (I'll bank on the latter).
Drama (or something approaching it) ensues, with each brother doing something sick/life affirming (take your pick) to our heroine at various points. Heroine seems to have only one encounter with mother-figure, and soon gets Stockholm syndrome (really loves her creepy old rapist father figures). Much ordered pantie removal is performed (along with "womb touching" presumably the Japanese method of coat-hanger abortion, but I digress ). Much like the Story of O, you must be humiliated to get inner strength, or failing that, use up all that film stock you bought.
Big event is our heroine getting raped (by a stranger in a movie theater bathroom, not the "good rape" she experiences at home with her guardians). The stranger doesn't use protection, so we now have a pregnancy issue to beat around.
Our heroine eventually discovers sketch books done by the father, which actually show her clothed, but still sporting red pouting lips and those ubiquitous knee-socks. See, he really was a sensitive guy, in a Larry Flint/Bob Guccione kinda way.
As was explained after in the Q & A, us dumb Americans missed the larger symbolic themes in the picture. And if we would have been hip enough to read the graphic novel that it was based on, we would have had a one-handed appreciation for the genre that inspired the movie. The other hand, of course, was busy
In the end, we get a teary parting of ways, as the girl realizes it is her birthday, and she is no longer under contract to Larry, Daryl and Daryl. But she'll miss them, because they made her a woman (feel free to hurl at any point).
In summation, a piece of crap, an old man's male fantasy marginally dressed-up as art film.
Just yesterday I saw a film of teenage exploitation/abuse done right, Greg Akari's magnificent "Mysterious Skin". Now there was a statement, and a movie to boot.
Avoid this one at all costs, and question any programmer who thinks this is material for a festival as well-regarded as Philadelphia's. Mr. Crawford should be ashamed.
La canción del pulque
(2003)
let's get drunk and sing filthy folk songs
25 September 2004
OK, I've never been to Mexico. I have never had "Pulque", an alcoholic beverage made from a plant. Poor working Mexicans do though, and this doc is all about them. Unfortunately, younger Mexicans are drinking rum, so a way of (inebriated) life is coming to a close.
This movie gives little in way of historical or gastronomic explanation (what does this stuff taste like?), but concentrates almost entirely on poor, drunken people singing and drinking in "pulque" bars, singing bawdy folk songs, the main chorus of is "fuck your mother" if the crowd doesn't do what the singer requests.
An overlong, painful slice of life, and a waste of time. The 'Latin Beat' fest has many excellent films from Latin America, but Mexico went 0 for 2 with this and the music-video inspired Romeo-Juliet tale 'Love Hurts'. Avoid at all costs.
This movie gives little in way of historical or gastronomic explanation (what does this stuff taste like?), but concentrates almost entirely on poor, drunken people singing and drinking in "pulque" bars, singing bawdy folk songs, the main chorus of is "fuck your mother" if the crowd doesn't do what the singer requests.
An overlong, painful slice of life, and a waste of time. The 'Latin Beat' fest has many excellent films from Latin America, but Mexico went 0 for 2 with this and the music-video inspired Romeo-Juliet tale 'Love Hurts'. Avoid at all costs.
Great Concept, Awful Execution
3 September 2003
I was quite excited when I saw this film in competition at the Montreal Film Festival. Along with Elephant and a few others, I thought the issue of American gun violence/culture would be treated intelligently and in a fashion compelling for film-goers. The press-release promised (in not so many words) a `Red Violin' for the gun-violence crowd, something to make us ponder our NRA-shoot-em-up mindset in this country.
After waiting until after 9:15 to be seated for a 9AM screening (what technical difficulties they would have encountered is beyond me), we were finally let into the venue to see the film on DV (where did the advertised 35MM print go?). I think I just answered my first question.
The result is an abhorrent mess. We get the "gun", in a vignette with the most unrealistic "biker' I have ever seen (and I do know more than a few). The film then lapses into irrelevant "character development" only because the characters are either a. stereotyped, b. losers, c. stereotyped losers, and/or d. racial caricatures. It takes another 30 minutes to get to the plot movement, and once we are there, we wish for the inane conversations between the couples and/or the bikers and pawn brokers.
The film finds it's conclusion, but not without leaving any cliché untried. I didn't care for the white-trash characters who came in contact with the gun, and the depiction of the minority characters should have the NAACP crying foul immediately. All these people WOULD chase after a gun, because they are at the bottom of the societal trash-heap, and would look for an opportunity wherever it was found. Placing the action a level up would have at least provided some soul-searching on the part of the characters.
The biggest problem is the promise unfulfilled. The plot outline was great. In the hands of a P.T. Anderson or Gus Van Zandt, it could have been a powerful piece. But due either to bad screenplay, direction or both, the thing is an unmitigated mess that needs to be ignored at all costs.
My bigger question is who at the MFF thought this was competition material. Better bury this on Showtime at 3AM.
Art Blose
After waiting until after 9:15 to be seated for a 9AM screening (what technical difficulties they would have encountered is beyond me), we were finally let into the venue to see the film on DV (where did the advertised 35MM print go?). I think I just answered my first question.
The result is an abhorrent mess. We get the "gun", in a vignette with the most unrealistic "biker' I have ever seen (and I do know more than a few). The film then lapses into irrelevant "character development" only because the characters are either a. stereotyped, b. losers, c. stereotyped losers, and/or d. racial caricatures. It takes another 30 minutes to get to the plot movement, and once we are there, we wish for the inane conversations between the couples and/or the bikers and pawn brokers.
The film finds it's conclusion, but not without leaving any cliché untried. I didn't care for the white-trash characters who came in contact with the gun, and the depiction of the minority characters should have the NAACP crying foul immediately. All these people WOULD chase after a gun, because they are at the bottom of the societal trash-heap, and would look for an opportunity wherever it was found. Placing the action a level up would have at least provided some soul-searching on the part of the characters.
The biggest problem is the promise unfulfilled. The plot outline was great. In the hands of a P.T. Anderson or Gus Van Zandt, it could have been a powerful piece. But due either to bad screenplay, direction or both, the thing is an unmitigated mess that needs to be ignored at all costs.
My bigger question is who at the MFF thought this was competition material. Better bury this on Showtime at 3AM.
Art Blose
L'outremangeur
(2003)
Entertaining, Thought Provoking Movie
3 September 2003
I am an admitted sucker for good French cinema, and this movie works on so many levels, I will be annoying friends for months praising this film's attributes.
This movie works as a murder mystery, love story, and character study. Eric Cantona (he's a sports star of some sort over there) is amazingly dignified and repressed as the police inspector with the magic touch, coupled with his dysfunctional eating habits and personal life. Rachida Brakni (fresh off her glorious performance in "Chaos"), lights up the screen as the potential killer/object of the commissioner's desires. The plot weaves in and out with skill, and the beautiful port of Marseilles should get equal billing along with the lead actors, used in much the same way as in the films of Robert Guédiguian.
This film should (if justice prevails) get distribution by Miramax/Sony Classics or someone with a half a brain, because for 90 short minutes, an amazing web is weaved. This is a great film, and American audiences should not be deprived of its charms.
See this once, and you will want to see it again.
Art Blose
This movie works as a murder mystery, love story, and character study. Eric Cantona (he's a sports star of some sort over there) is amazingly dignified and repressed as the police inspector with the magic touch, coupled with his dysfunctional eating habits and personal life. Rachida Brakni (fresh off her glorious performance in "Chaos"), lights up the screen as the potential killer/object of the commissioner's desires. The plot weaves in and out with skill, and the beautiful port of Marseilles should get equal billing along with the lead actors, used in much the same way as in the films of Robert Guédiguian.
This film should (if justice prevails) get distribution by Miramax/Sony Classics or someone with a half a brain, because for 90 short minutes, an amazing web is weaved. This is a great film, and American audiences should not be deprived of its charms.
See this once, and you will want to see it again.
Art Blose
Besos de gato
(2003)
Finally, a flawed, human father portrayed well
1 September 2003
Spanish film seems to be on a roll lately, and this one just adds to the wealth of creative output. In this film, the dad, a lawyer to sleazy and connected clients (with a battling wife who represents the poor), has to travel the club/drug scene to locate his missing 16-year-old daughter.
He finds the daughter, but a new search ensues, and while the dad lectures the daughter on lifestyle issues, his own past, business dealings and propensity to violence put the father-daughter relationship in a fascinating dynamic.
The lead actor (Juanjo Puigcorbé) is a treat, with a face that shows humor, irony, and world-weariness. He carries this film easily. The violence and events are realistic, and the climax is poignant and heart-rending.
Hopefully this will see a US distribution. Until then, search it out at a festival near you.
He finds the daughter, but a new search ensues, and while the dad lectures the daughter on lifestyle issues, his own past, business dealings and propensity to violence put the father-daughter relationship in a fascinating dynamic.
The lead actor (Juanjo Puigcorbé) is a treat, with a face that shows humor, irony, and world-weariness. He carries this film easily. The violence and events are realistic, and the climax is poignant and heart-rending.
Hopefully this will see a US distribution. Until then, search it out at a festival near you.
Babij Jar
(2003)
the road to (cinematic) hell is paved with good intentions
29 August 2003
Warning: Spoilers
This was a painful experience. Right off the bat, the subtitles were so poor that if we hadn't known the story (fictional spin and real events), we would have been completely lost. There is no excuse for this. The producers should have pulled the film from the festival knowing that the subtitles were unreadable.
If you are not familiar with the history of Babi Yar, do a web search, and all you will need to know will be shown. Babi Yar is another horrific event in a mind-boggling list of horrific events known collectively as the holocaust.
Having cleared that up, now on to the movie. There is a wealth of holocaust documentary and drama, and the level of subtlety and shading has improved greatly since the 50s. However, no one involved in this mess has seen any of those films. We start with newsreel footage, including Hitler speeches (right, we don't know any of this?). We move on to Jew and gentile families in close quarters with attendant cross-denominational love affairs, backbiting and betrayal. We work up to the denouement with martial drums (whenever Nazi trucks show up), a cantor bravely singing while the flames lap at his feet, and a crow (raven, whatever), that watches the action and provides us with a mute moral commentary. The SS chief has cirrhosis (and still belts them away), and all the Ukrainians speak perfect German (maybe they really do, but I have my doubts on this point).
Spoiler Alert (for those who didn't graduate high school or see any 50s-60s films of this genre):
The double-crossing gentile gets her just deserts, the Jew-gentile young lovers get away, and everyone has to take their clothes off before going into the pit EXCEPT for the female lead (contractual obligations, one would assume), and Trigger the wonder horse gets shot after performing bravely.
Let me be clear. The crimes of the Holocaust should be documented, dramatized and continually drummed into everyone's head FOREVER. NEVER FORGET/NEVER AGAIN is the operative concept here. There are still an amazing number of unique stories to be told, and when they are done well (see the Grey Zone, Nowhere In Africa for recent examples), they can inform and move the audience.
This one, however, with the best of intentions, comes off as amateurish and clichéd. Avoid at all costs until real subtitles are provided, and even after that, approach cautiously.
If you are not familiar with the history of Babi Yar, do a web search, and all you will need to know will be shown. Babi Yar is another horrific event in a mind-boggling list of horrific events known collectively as the holocaust.
Having cleared that up, now on to the movie. There is a wealth of holocaust documentary and drama, and the level of subtlety and shading has improved greatly since the 50s. However, no one involved in this mess has seen any of those films. We start with newsreel footage, including Hitler speeches (right, we don't know any of this?). We move on to Jew and gentile families in close quarters with attendant cross-denominational love affairs, backbiting and betrayal. We work up to the denouement with martial drums (whenever Nazi trucks show up), a cantor bravely singing while the flames lap at his feet, and a crow (raven, whatever), that watches the action and provides us with a mute moral commentary. The SS chief has cirrhosis (and still belts them away), and all the Ukrainians speak perfect German (maybe they really do, but I have my doubts on this point).
Spoiler Alert (for those who didn't graduate high school or see any 50s-60s films of this genre):
The double-crossing gentile gets her just deserts, the Jew-gentile young lovers get away, and everyone has to take their clothes off before going into the pit EXCEPT for the female lead (contractual obligations, one would assume), and Trigger the wonder horse gets shot after performing bravely.
Let me be clear. The crimes of the Holocaust should be documented, dramatized and continually drummed into everyone's head FOREVER. NEVER FORGET/NEVER AGAIN is the operative concept here. There are still an amazing number of unique stories to be told, and when they are done well (see the Grey Zone, Nowhere In Africa for recent examples), they can inform and move the audience.
This one, however, with the best of intentions, comes off as amateurish and clichéd. Avoid at all costs until real subtitles are provided, and even after that, approach cautiously.
Ginger and Cinnamon
(2003)
Italian Sun & Fun Sex Comedy
31 May 2003
In this almost-consistently funny Italian comedy, a 14-going-on25 teen (think a more naive 1st season Meadow Soprano without the smirk and an additional 20 lbs.) ditches her Girl Scout troop to bond with her 30 yr "old" aunt, who is still obsessing full-time about the breakup of her 8yr romance. Teen cons aunt into going to Cycladies, Greece (the party capital of the Mediterranean, from the looks of things). Identity mix-ups, almost-sexual escapades abound, but will true love work out in the end? And would a bollywood dance number be appropriate?
We get a little too much of the sex-obsessed teen, and a little too little of the gorgeous "old maid", but the movie pulls you along in its quest.
The world needs to see more of Stefania Montorsi, a delightful screen presence.
We get a little too much of the sex-obsessed teen, and a little too little of the gorgeous "old maid", but the movie pulls you along in its quest.
The world needs to see more of Stefania Montorsi, a delightful screen presence.
Open My Heart
(2002)
sister-lovers shake up their routine
31 May 2003
Considering the overt slickness of recent Italian fare such as Last Kiss and Casomai, I guess I should be overjoyed by this. Quick synopsis: Older sister's a hooker, younger sister's 17, never been kissed (well, almost), not let out of the house except to go to dance class, hooker sister helps younger one with Dante, Kepler and the poetry of John Donne. Good start huh? Well, things just get more fun from there, and I won't spoil the noirish, lynchian paths this DV enterprise takes. The sex scenes are more squirmy than erotic, and the director's idea to flash occasionally at Renaissance-period biblical depictions immediately after some sordid event seems an un-subtle moralizing (I'll take my perversions straight, so to speak, and make up my own mind about the moral call later). However, this is Italy, so maybe it was just real nice wallpaper in a corner of the room we didn't see normally.
Not entirely a success, but an interesting first try from the director.
Could supplant Donnie Darko as a midnight movie attraction in a few college towns, but I don't see it making too many best-of lists.
Not entirely a success, but an interesting first try from the director.
Could supplant Donnie Darko as a midnight movie attraction in a few college towns, but I don't see it making too many best-of lists.
Ultimo stadio
(2002)
muddled ensemble dramedy on soccer-obsessed Italians
31 May 2003
In Magnolia fashion, we track (too) numerous characters with the central event being a huge soccer match between Spain and Manchester, taking place in Italy. A much-derided ref comes in for the game, and is feted, ridiculed, etc. as he meets various levels of rabid fans. We also get rap loving aimless teenagers, incompetent 20-somethings living off their folks, a pill-popping middle-aged mom, etc.
Making us actually care about the characters would have gone a long way to rescue this mess. What really grated though, was the racism, homophobia and sexism that might have been used to some positive example if any of the ideas would have been fleshed out. Add this one to Demon-Lover from France as a movie best to avoid (if it gets an art-house release).
Making us actually care about the characters would have gone a long way to rescue this mess. What really grated though, was the racism, homophobia and sexism that might have been used to some positive example if any of the ideas would have been fleshed out. Add this one to Demon-Lover from France as a movie best to avoid (if it gets an art-house release).
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