Day: March 1, 2012

By Joe Bendel. Supposedly, 1950’s America was an era of stultifying conformity. Yet it represents a breath of freedom for a group of galactic delinquents “sentenced to Earth.” They can only return when their leader commits a truly selfless act. However, one or two have rather mixed feelings about leaving their new world in Paul Bunnell’s mash-up The Ghastly Love of Johnny X (trailer here), which has its world premiere this Saturday at the 2012 Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose (and hey look, free posters for the first 100 audience members).

Johnny Xavier is a bad kid, but when the stern Grand Inquisitor pronounces his banishment, it temporarily breaks his hardened tough guy exterior. He seems to acclimate just fine on Earth, though, leading his gang of Ghastlys as they rumble about dusty southwestern burgs. Gone are the Liberace outfits of their home planet. It is now strictly a Fonzy wardrobe for Xavier, a.k.a. Johnny X, with one exception. He is dead set on reclaiming a powerful telekinesis suit stolen by his ex-girlfriend, Bliss. Things get complicated as their quarrels sweep up a smitten soda-jerk (who will hear the “jerk” part emphasized many times over the course of the film) and an aging (or somewhat dead) rockabilly star.

There are also musical numbers that are necessarily goofy, but considerably better than one might expect from an aesthetic standpoint. Clearly, Bunnell and everyone else he convinced to appear in Ghastly have a real love for the B-movie alien invasion genre. Arguably most significant to fans is the final screen appearance of Kevin McCarthy (fondly remembered as the protagonist of the original 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers). Sadly, McCarthy passed away soon after completing his work as the Grand Inquisitor, but his commanding presence is undiminished in Ghastly. Clearly in on the joke, he plays it to the hilt, which is cool.

Frankly, Ghastly has a far more notable cast than viewers might expect. As local late night talk show host Cousin Quilty, Paul Williams is rather funny, while also proving he is indeed still alive. Creed Bratton of the Grass Roots (the band) and The Office (the television show) also gets to ham it up as the late but still rocking Mickey O’Flynn. On the other hand, Ghastly’s proper leads are not especially charismatic, but they can dance and carry a tune well enough.

Ghastly looks great, lovingly shot by cinematography Francisco Bulgarelli on the last surviving stock of Kodak Plus-X black-and-white film. The design team also nicely captures the appropriate ambiance of B-movie cheese for the sci-fi scenes, as well as the right frothy teeny-bopper look for the musical numbers.

Bunnell helms the retro goofiness with brisk clarity, but perhaps he has too much affection for the films he is sending up, treating his characters and their situations rather gently. Still, there is plenty of room for viewers to insert their own jokes, which may be the whole point. A nostalgic valentine to early Roger Corman and his contemporaries rendered with greater style than thematically related films like R.W. Goodwin’s Alien Trespass or Madeleine Olnek’s Codependent Lesbian Space Alien Seeks Same, Ghastly should find an appreciative genre audience when it premieres this Saturday (3/3) at the California Theatre. It also subsequently screens at the San Jose Repertory Theatre on Tuesday (3/6) and Saturday (3/10) as part of this year’s Cinequest Film Festival.

Posted on March 1st, 2012 at 3:31pm.

By Joe Bendel. Marked by denial, obstruction, and spin, the Chinese government’s response to the 2008 earthquake that rocked Sichuan Province bordered on the outright surreal. As a result, the experimental approach of Canadian-based native Chinese filmmaker Tao Gu’s On the Way to the Sea conveys the physical and spiritual enormity of the disaster quite aptly. The winner of the Special Jury Prize at last year’s Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, arguably the world’s most prestigious fest for shorts, OTWTTS (trailer here) screens tomorrow night in New York as part of a Clermont-Ferrand Highlights program at the 92Y Tribeca.

Unlike more conventional documentaries, OTWTTS does not rake the mock of the shoddy school construction practices that exacerbated the quake’s death toll or challenge the state’s dubious fatality statistics. Instead, Tao Gu gives a personal-impressionistic sense of the catastrophe and aftermath, through the eyes of his survivor parents. Bearing symptoms of post-traumatic shock, they do not sound merely displaced, but bereft of their sense of belonging in the world.

Through grainy black-and-white images, he captures a devastated Wenchuan that brings to mind London after the Blitz, coastal Japan after the tsunami, or even a post-Atomic Hiroshima. Despite their terrifying memories of the actual quake, it might even be more painful for his parents to watch the authorities raze the not inconsiderable extant remains of their home.

Ironically, Tao Gu’s visuals might arguably be too artistically composed, giving the disaster area a patina of scarred beauty. Clearly a talented eye, his contextual shots of the surrounding countryside could make striking covers for ECM Records.

Deeply felt and arrestingly rendered, OTWTTS is a haunting film. While it certainly eschews the standard techniques of traditional documentaries, viewers should not be scared away by the “experimental” label. Indeed, the nearly twenty minute short stirs audience emotions rather directly. Highly recommended, it is the highlight of the 92Y’s Clermont-Ferrand highlights, screening as part of program 2 tomorrow night (3/2).

Posted on March 1st, 2012 at 3:30pm.