Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a wrap-up of the Philly Film Festival, including looks at Don Hertzfeldt's MEANING OF LIFE (which I've seen and it's awesome, but not in the crazy funny way people know him for), Steve Buscemi's LONESOME JIM (which sounds really damn good) as well as the child abuse triple threat of Araki's MYSTERIOUS SKIN, Solondz' PALINDROMES and Malcolm McDowell in EVILENKO. Enjoy!
Hi Harry,
long time reader, first time writing in... Just got back from my final screening at the Philly Film Fest, thought you may like to know about some of the Indies I saw.
MYSTERIOUS SKIN
Pretty powerful stuff from director Gregg Araki based on the novel by Scott Heim. Joseph Gordon Levitt of Third Rock From The Sun fame is trying the classic move of doing something way challenging to try and get people to take him seriously. Didn?t work for The Dawson in Rule Of Attraction didn?t work for Ritchie Rich in Party Monster, but I sincerely hope it works for little Tommy, because he?s doing some damn fine work in this flick. He plays a 19 year old male prostitute who was molested by his Little League coach when he was a boy. The movie suffers a bit from amateur acting (especially the kids) and from an obviously modest budget but it does ultimately work. It?s a very interesting look at how two boys, both victims of the same trauma in their youths, can grow up to be quite different type of men, both affected heavily by their pasts but in quite different ways. Brady Corbet does a pretty horrible job of playing the grown up Brian. The whole time I felt that he was just too pretty to be playing this part. He looked like a guy in a porn that shows up all geeky with a pair of glasses, but once the woman pays for the pizza and the action starts, the geek slides away. Excellent small performances by Elisabeth Shue as Levitt?s promiscuous mother, as well as Richard Riehle (Office Space... Well no I mean sometimes!) who surprises and disturbs as one of Levitt?s eager Johns.
THE MEANING OF LIFE
Part of a collection of animated shorts that played at the Festival. Most of the stuff I saw wasn?t even worth noting, but Don Herzfeld?s The Meaning of Life is a mini masterpiece. I enjoy REJECTED and BILLY?S BALLOON, but this is something completely different. This is a bit more serious (just a bit) and has something of a point to it. What the point is isn?t quite clear to me, but I?m sure it?s there. Bothered me to listen to the classic ?festival? audience debating its meanings after the show. I decided to just take it as a comment on how absurd the whole thing is. No answers are given to the meaning of life, just more questions. The animation is a step up for ole? Don. Don?t worry, the stick figures are still there, only now they are moving and doing things they never have before.
EVILENKO
When I was a kid I was big fan of Shelly Duvalls FAIRY TALE THEATER. Particularly of the episode that features Malcolm McDowell as The Big Bad Wolf. He?s essentially giving the same performance here as the Communist child killer Evilenko. The good news is he?s phenomenal, the bad news is that he?s the only thing this movie has going for it. Based half on reality half interpretations, Evilenko is the story of a man?s lose of identity as the communist party crumbles in the Soviet Union. The movie begins strong but unravels into one silly scene after another as the quintessentially tortured good cop catches up with Evilenko. The whole mess culminates in a super ridiculous and totally unbelievable interrogation scene where the cop that has been chasing Evilenko strips naked and grabs his penis screaming, ?look at you?re cock!? over and over again. I don?t know why this scene is there, I don?t know what it accomplishes, I don?t know who in their right mind would think it would play right on the screen. If you can?t resist a Malcolm McDowell Madman movie than go see it, otherwise, avoid it like Harry?s leg after a cast removal.
PALINDROMES
I don?t really know what to say about this film other than I haven?t been able to stop thinking about it. Todd Solondz always makes interestingly ugly work, but this is something different. I feel like he may have lost his grasp of intention with this one. Horrible things are happening to these people, but unlike with his other works HAPPINESS, and STORYTELLING, I?m not really sure why. What is the point of all this misery? I suppose a film geek I should be happy that there is someone out there making movies without a care for what the general public will find offensive, but this movie just plain old stings. Valerie Shusterov does a fine job as Aviva, a character that I truly loved. A movie worth seeing if just to enjoy hw big Todd Solondz balls are.
LONESOME JIM
This was the highlight of the festival for me. The new film by Steve Buscemi is a quiet, restrained, and hilarious look at a normal Middle American family. Buscemi clearly has an eye for ensemble casting; each choice is just perfect without being obvious. Casey Affleck shines as the less handsome, better acting brother of Ben. Jim is a depressed young man who comes back home to his family to have a nervous breakdown, his brother (played by the always brilliant Kevin Corrigan) beat him to it and Jim end up having to stick around to pick up some of the slack at the family?s company. Liv Tyler is charming and gorgeous as always, as Jims love interest. The real star of the film though is the witty and refined script by first timer James Strouse. There are great laughs, great human insights, and all of it feels as real as your own life. If you?re a guy between the ages of 19 and 30 (pretty much every reader of this site) you?ll find something to relate to in Jim?s tale. I?m very excited about Buscemi as a filmmaker. He started off strong with TREES LOUNGE, followed it up with one of my favorite prison dramas ANIMAL FACTORY, and with LONESOME JIM he proves that he is a true auteur and a director to be watched.
If you use any of this call me JACK ROBERTS BELLY
