Hey folks, our regular man in Chicago, CAPONE, has been walking about the CUFF all during the past week, baseball bat in hand, and ready to smack anyone that ate while he talked. He's peculiar that way. But I can back up everything he says about THE EDEN MYTH, I saw that one out in Rotterdam back in January and it really was a treat. Well... here's Capone...
Hey Harry, Capone here with my follow-up report on the Chicago Underground Film Festival.
This year's festival turned out to be much better than I'd anticipated. Although last year's CUFF had some truly great works (The Last Broadcast, Decline of Western Civilization 3, Modulations, etc.), these were mostly higher-profile projects. This year's CUFF features things that, with rare exceptions, will probably never get beyond the festival circuit. However, with studios combing indie films for the "next Blair Witch Project," I could be wrong.
Two documentaries led off the week. The first was the inspired "The Gods of Times Square" by director Richard Sandler. From 1992 to 1997, Sandler filmed people Times Square with no particular agenda....at first. Doesn't sound particularly inspired, but he began to notice the overwhelming number of religious zealots that congregated in this Sin City of Manhattan. He decided to talk to the street preachers, enlightened homeless people, schizophrenics believing they were Jesus, basically anyone with an opinion on religion and spirituality. The cast of characters is vast, both in their looks, economic background, enthusiasm, beliefs, and contradictions. Over the six years Sandler filmed, he often ran into many of the same people and they become our favorites. Let's face it, you take a camera into Times Square, you're bound to see some interesting. But Sandler take on the subject matter drastically changes as the '90s roll on and Disney rolls into Times Square and cleans out the porno theatres and strip clubs. There's a very funny scene where a well-dressed man holding a giant Mickey Mouse stuffed doll goes into the Disney Store and scream "Mickey Mouse is the Anti-Christ! without a stitch of irony. With Disney's entry into Times Square, a lot of these harmless people have been ushered out, and the film becomes an accidental document of their last days.
Also set in New York City is "N.Y.H.C.," a documentary on the HardCore music scene. I know nothing about this scene, but I'd so thoroughly enjoyed all of the "Decline of Western Civilization" movie, that I figured I'd dive into yet another musical field totally unknown to me. Done almost as a tribute to the "Decline..." films, "N.Y.H.C." offers up concert footage and band interviews in a fairly standard way. We see bands like 25 Ta Life, Crown of Thornz, District 9, 108, who all seem to be moshing in the pits as often as they are playing. The audiences for these shows seems to be made up of members of other hardcore bands, very much like a tight-knit community of musicians with the line between fan and musician almost non-existent. There are some interesting angles in the movie, but nothing that inspired me to go buy all the hardcore record I could find. The subtitled concert footage comprised the best moments in the film, and they convinced me to never step foot in one of these clubs. There are some sad side stories about kids who got their backs broken during shows, and I was impressed that the films wasn't afraid to show the down side of this lifestyle. If you're into mega-tatoos and piercings, you should definitely check this out.
Next up was the "Touch of Evil" wannabe called "Night Train." I'm not denying that this one had its moments. The black-and-white cinematography was top notch, and there's one horribly disturbing dismemberment scene that was worthy of H.G. Lewis. The the awful post-production dubbing (remember the way "Mad Max" sounded?) and the miserable acting kind of buried all of the pluses in my eyes. Still, the lovably greasy obese lead character and the Mexican bordertown sleaziness made me give this film more breaks than it probably deserved. It concern a man going to Tiajuana looking for his brother, who it turns out makes snuff films with titles like "Suck This, Then Die" and "Malcom aX." There's all sorts of crazies running around looking for missing people and money. None of it makes much sense (not that much film noir does, but still...), and by the end, I really didn't care. I found out after the screening that director Les Bernstien is a visual effects veteran, but I couldn't find his name (at least not spelled the way he does it now) on IMDB, so who knows what he's worked on. But it does explain the sheer glee he displays during the wildly graphic chop-her-up sequence. I think the woman behind me in the theatre almost heaved mightily. If you get a chance to see this one, go ahead, but you'll hate yourself in the morning.
The last film I saw was "The Eden Myth," the story of a couple of near-elderly rich parents who invite their four children for a visit to reveal a deep dark family secret. I have to confess, this may have been my favorite from this festival. Even though the "secret" becomes apparent well before it's revealed, there's a lot of attention to detail and the suspense builds up nicely. The characters all speak in a very Mamet-like way, very deliberate, but it suits this gothic-style story. The actress who plays the sickly mother is particularly good, she reminded me of a Mrs. Robinson-era Anne Bancroft. The actor who plays the father border on self-parody often, but again, it suits the film. If this movie slithers into your town, it's worth checking out. For those who care, a fairly creepy original score is provided by Philip Glass.
That's all from CUFF. But I would like to take just one second to criticize the organizers of this year's festival. Although the film selection was top-notch, every film started at least 15 minutes late (one started 35 MINUTES late!!!) We were given little or no explanations for the late starts. People: one sure way to chase people away from an otherwise excellent event is to get a reputation of being hopelessly disorganized. They didn't even have festival programs until half way through the week-long festival. Okay, enough venting. Otherwise, it was great.
See ya,
Capone
