Hey folks, Harry here with the second report from THE MOUTH. I've received some letters from folks wondering... where is the second report? Was this a one time thing? What's going on? Well, the Mouth is receiving your tapes, he's mounting the hill of tapes and watching them... but his computer suffered a big wet lickery kiss, and did a nose dive in operative standards. Calling in Data, he finally managed to get it up and running and hooked into a direct line into the very heart of the internet. Meaning... he's able to pull up the site and send email... the basic necessity in order to file his report... Again, let me encourage everyone with an undiscovered film to send it on in to Mouth. He's here for you folks... Climbing the mountain and screaming out your title if it fancies him. So... keep em coming and so will he... Enjoy...

Mouth Speaks about Roy Smith, Requiem, The Road from Erebus, and Scott's Play

Jerk Alert! Mouth's here, and I've got some really choice rich stuff for everyone out there in aint-it-cool-land this time around. Again, I've got two features and two shorts. But before I dig in to these ripe treasures, I just wanted to say that I've recieved an incredibly warm response to my article from all the readers out there, the filmmakers, the fans, and people who never picked up a camera before, but now they're thinking about it. Thanks, everyone...the letters I have recieved along with these movies have been some of the kindest I've ever read. Thank You.

I just want you to remember, these reviews are for you. Your dreams, your wishes...the ones that didn't come true...it's time to take them back-- take them ALL back. Write a script, talk some friends into helping you out, pick up, borrow, rent a camera...anything it takes- Go for it!

One of my all-time favorite quotes I want to relate to help pump you readers into a fim-crafting fury is from directing god Robert Rodriguez. "People come up to me and say they are aspiring film-makers. I say, 'Why aspire?' Go out and film something. That's the only way to get started."

So send those films in. folks. Just so you know these reviews aren't for show, I wanted to relate an email from Stan Jacobs, creator of "Pitch People," which I reviewed last time. Stan writes: "[after your review]...Pitch People was just invited to screen at the Bangkok Film Festival 2000 (Thailand) in September. It will be the Asian premier of the film." So good luck Stan and "Pitch People"!!

On to the reviews! (See why they call me Mouth? A whole page of text and no review yet....)

My first bit of treasure for you this time around is an incredible feature length documentary, entitled "Roy Smith," directed by Toko Mas Productions' Jerry Kuhlman.

I have to say that I love well done documentaries. When I was a kid, I watched PBS just about all day long. Shows where I actually learned thins were SOOOO cool... Like 321 Contact, or The World of Science. When the Discovery Channel and then the Learning and History channels came out, I was exctatic! So I have to say that when I come across a well done doc, I'm really happy to see it. Too many docs try too hard to be "artsy for art's sake," I guess to win over the Festival Crowd, but I just don't buy it. If the fillm is cut well and the subject matter is strong, powerful, or just interesting material, you don't have to slant the camera or have every other shot black and white and slo-mo to hold my interest. I'm not a child, don't treat my attention span like I am one. "Roy Smith" does none of these things, and it's a beautiful film.

"Roy Smith" is a powerful tale about a black Mississippi native that rides the railroads when he is young, to travel out of the racially explosive South. He's seen friends burned, shot, and beaten, all for simply being black and in the wrong place at the wrong time. So he finds a living as a miner and cowhand in Colorado, where racial stereotypes, one would imagine, are not the death warrant they might be where he grew up. Unfortunately, prejudice lurks in every corner of the world, and the small town (near Columbine) where Roy ends up is no different.

Roy is assaulted regularly and mistreated so regularly in his new home that by the time he begins to tell people what has happened to him in his life, he actually thinks that people are supposed to treat black persons abusively. he has been so exposed to racial hatred he believes this is "just his lot in life." To be abused. Mistreated. Hated. Living in fear.

When he begins to report these things to the local police, his cases are routinely ignored. Evidence is misplaced, reports are wrongly filed. He is even referred to in actual computerized police records as "Nigger Smith," as people commonly refer to him as.

Roy Smith is a story of one man's realization that he has been wrong about himself all his life. He actually is human, with rights that apply to him just like everyone else.

Can you imagine? Knowing in your bones, your entire life, that you are a subhuman, cowering lesser disgusting being, only meant for abuse and hatred...and then realizing that you were wrong simply because you had been programmed all your life to believe it? This is the kind of film that really speaks about resurrection and freedom in a way that so many of us simply take for granted. Imagine the beauty of life for Roy Smith today.

I'm a stone when I watch films, but Jerry Kuhlman's incredible documentary on the personal struggle of one man to become human made me cry...to know that there are people out there that still believe, due to the color of skin, that they are subhuman servants. It's sad to know that these barriers exist, but inspiring to know they are bing broken down day by day, person by person.

Please someone pick up this film! Email Jerry Kuhlman at jkuhlman@austin.rr.com.

The next film I'd like to review is a short film, Requiem from Ungerfilm. This is a short film that was written, directed, and produced by Roy Unger. It tells a tale of an appalling technogothic future, where our main character, Christopher, is sentenced to death for a heinous crime...the crime of Love. He is given a single last request via virtual reality before judgement is carried out, and he chooses to spend that time with his criminal partner, living out the memories that have incarcerated him.

Something I have to say about this film that really speaks of its brilliance is the running time. Requiem is only 5 and a half minutes long, yet it solidifies very firmly in the viewer's mind exactly what is going on, why, and the messages are very strong. I felt it said an incredible amount about the rise of technology and the decline of the individual -- in JUST 5 MINUTES!!! Imagine an entire film with this kind of efficient, succint symbolism and story telling...the possibilities just blow me away.

Evidently, Requiem has been around for a couple of years, and the packaging I recieved indicates that it has won a few awards..."Best Short film, Best Cinematography" Slamdunk 2000 in Park City, "Grand Award - Best Experimental Film, 1999 WorldFest - Houston, among others. So if this is any indication, I really want to see more Roy Unger. I don't know what he's got up his sleeves, but if he's looking for a studio, and you can help him out, hire him. Do what he wants. Pay him what he wants, do what it takes...because I want to see what's next!

I do not have an email for Roy Unger or Ungerfilm, and because of the way I acquired the film, I don't have an address. If you're reading this Roy, let me know your email and I'll put up a link!!

My next review is for "The Road to Erebus", an hour and a half feature by David Sporn.

"The Road to Erebus" is, at it's very heart and core, a love story. And like in real life, no love story is complete without it's share of difficulty. Without heartbreak. Without Paranoid Delusion and Scizophrenia. And most of all, no love story can ever be complete with ex-partners demanding you come back to them and allow them to treat you like the subserviant boot-licker that you are. Right? You mean relationships and love stories AREN'T supposed to be that way? Maybe they aren't SUPPOSED to be, but often they are.

"The Road to Erebus" is that kind of love story. You see, Helen might just be attracted to Barry, who she slept with last night. Which wouldn't be a problem except for the fact that Roxanne and Heidi completely disagree with her and Clootie will never let her go. To explain, Helen has some problems deciding just who she wants to be in life, and Clootie will never let her decide on her own. After Helen's parents died when she was young, a despisable grease-stain of man named Clootie adopted her, and scarred her for life in a sexually depraved master/slave codependent mind-screw of a childhood. It's actually quite amazing that Helen made it out at all. During that time, however, she had to develop some very strong reflexes that have so far kept her from really opening up to anyone on a relationship basis, which is about where Barry comes in.

A novel editor, Barry is generally a really good guy. He has some difficulty deciding what he wants to do with the rest of his life, and takes a lot of the movie, along with developing his relationship with Helen, figuring out what he wants to do. Unfortunately for Helen, the same is not so easy. She's very close to both Roxanne and Heidi, who constantly remind her of her past life and make it very difficult to achieve anything without running back to Clootie with open arms. Confusing yet?

It all makes sense throughout the course of the well shot and incredibly well acted film. David Sporn's pacing and sense of style are dead-on. The mood of the film is a realistic one, experimenting with the depravity of the souls of some and the relative pureness of others, and the confusion in-between without losing touch with reality. Some really screwed up things happen here. These personalities are just not normal, but in some way are just completely believable. You will watch this and wonder, do I know someone like that? Is my friend so-and-so like that in a relationship, behind closed doors? Are my friends freaks? (And for me, the answer is yes, but that's a different story...)

Yet again, either I did not get an email with this submission, but Erebus Productions, LLC can be reached at:
172 E. 91st Street #3C, New York NY 10128

UPDATE: David Sporn's email address is Shortend1@aol.com

The last glittering piece of rich stuff I have extracted from my huge gaping orifice of a mouth is "Scott's Play," a 18 minute short from Serious Dog Films directed by Tom Sheppard, and written by Jed Springarn and David Yazbek. If these names sound familiar, here's why: Tom and Jed have written for Pinky & the Brain and David has written for Late Night with David Letterman.

Now, how many film geeks such as us started out in high school theatre? Come on, fess up! I know you're out there. And anyone who has ever been on stage or in a studio knows the odd traditions and societal conventions of performances that are present in any production, stage, film, or otherwise. Things you do. Things you can't do. Things...you DON'T do.

In Scott's Play, an off-off-off broadway performance of the immortal Shakespeare's MacBeth is attempting to take place. Yet through lazy actors, injured witches, clueless techies, and swordsmen too busy giving neck massages to the female cast members, it's looking like this production just isn't going to happen. And then...the situation worsens when you throw in theatre superstitions.

If you've never been in a production of MacBeth, you may not pick up on all of the jokes, but as on who once played the mighty thane MacDuff, I find quite amusing all the references to the Scottish Play. See, you can NEVER actually say the name "MacBeth" within the theater when referring to the play...you MUST use the words "The Scottish Play" or "The play" but NEVER "MacBeth," and if you do, you must immediately un-curse yourself. Scott's play explores what happens if you don't...to hilarious results.

SeriousDogFilmCo@hotmail.com

Serious Dog Films
8306 Wilshire Blvd. #1671
Beverly Hills, CA 90211

That's it for this time folks. Thank you all for the letters of support. Make your dreams come true, keep those films coming in.