April 21, 2012 – LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Graceland

By Joe Bendel. One crooked Filipino congressman is used to handing out the traditional sort of bribes, but when his daughter is kidnapped, he also has to give a little financial consideration to get the cops to do their job. Unfortunately, they are determined to hassle his former driver, whose daughter was also abducted. To save her, he will have to navigate Manila’s seediest back alleys without the help of the openly antagonistic police in Ron Morales’ Graceland, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Though ostensibly a driver, one of Marlon Villar’s primary duties is to clean up after his boss Rep. Chango’s predatory indulgences with underage girls—or at least it was his job. Given the soul-deadening acts Villar witnessed, he is shocked when the congressman summarily fires him. The timing is particularly bad, considering his hospitalized wife desperately needs a transplant. That is also why suspicion immediately falls on him after the kidnapping. In what was to be his final task for his former employer, he picks up his daughter Evie and her best friend Sophia Chango from school, only to be waylaid by armed thugs.

Unfortunately, complications arise during the kidnapping that put Villar in a particularly tight spot. In a way, it is like a dark twist on the botched kidnapping in Kurosawa’s High and Low, but unlike Toshirō Mifune’s upstanding Kingo Gondo, Chango cannot be relied on to do the right thing. In fact, it quickly becomes clear the case directly involves the politician’s bad karma.

Granted, Graceland is not at Kurosawa’s level, but it is an intense dark crime drama that totally pulls off some audacious hide-in-plain-sight twists. However, it is not likely to delight the Filipino tourism bureau, depicting unhygienic slums, where shocking vice is carried on with near impunity, thanks to widespread police corruption.

Of course, for a desperation-in-the-city noir, such a setting works perfectly – as does Arnold Reyes, the terrific lead. As Villar, he broods ferociously, but is no superman. In the complex role, he keeps viewers on the edge of their seats and fully vested in his fate. In memorable support, Menggie Cobarrubias radiates sleaze as the dishonorable congressman, while Dido de La Paz brings a feral cunning to the corrupt Det. Ramos.

Tightly helmed by Morales, Graceland works every step of the way and completely holds together in retrospect. With its visceral sense of place and Reyes’ powerhouse performance, it is one of the best films so far at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. Highly recommended, it screens again tonight (4/21) and next Saturday (4/28).

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:57pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews The Russian Winter

By Joe Bendel. This film was made possible by President George W. Bush. You’re welcome, I’m sure. In his final days in office, the second Pres. Bush commuted the sentence of John Forté, a former hip hop producer turned neo-soul-ish vocalist, convicted of drug possession with intent. Once at liberty, Forté is invited to launch his comeback in a country where civil liberties are dramatically eroding. His subsequent career resurgence and tour are documented in Petter Ringbom’s The Russian Winter, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

In what his Russian manager refers to as his “accident,” Forté was intercepted in Newark International Airport carrying thirty-one pounds of liquid cocaine. As Daniel Day-Lewis says in Gangs of New York: “oopsie daisy.” To his credit, Forté resists playing the victim card outright, positioning himself instead as a representative of everyone currently serving unduly long minimum mandatory prison sentences for drug crimes.

So off Forté goes, touring the land of Tolstoy, frequently stopping to record tracks with well known Russian artists. However, his Russian collaborators often sound more interesting than Forté himself. Watch the hit video (also directed by Ringbom) for “Wind Song,” his duet with Ukraine-born SunSay and then decide who you would prefer to watch on-screen for ninety minutes.

Of course, it is Forté we get, so we observe as he rehearses, dresses down road managers, and has periodic panic attacks. Nonetheless, it is important to note Forté is 100% in the right during what might appear to be his big ugly American moment. When a weasel arranger tries to claim co-composer credit for one of Forté’s old songs for which he simply penned a string chart, Forté tells him and his mobster-looking father what-for in no uncertain terms—and rightfully so. I know musicians have heard this countless times before, but it always bears repeating—never let anyone mess with your publishing. Period.

There is a great documentary about a soul vocalist playing at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. It is Malik Bendjelloul’s Searching for Sugar Man, about the mysterious Rodriguez, whose life story is far more compelling and voice is considerably more distinctive than Forté’s. In comparison, Russian Winter is just sort of whatever. For Forté fans, it screens this Monday (4/23), Tuesday (4/24), Wednesday (4/25), and Friday (4/27). For anyone looking to see a really good film, Sugar Man also screens Tuesday (4/24) and Friday (4/27) as part of the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival, now in full swing.

LFM GRADE: C-

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:43pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews El Gusto

By Joe Bendel. It is time to rock the Casbah, but the music will be Algerian Chaabi rather than British punk. A romantic and elegiac fusion of Arab-Berber and Andalusian musical forms, Chaabi was the popular music of Algiers’ coffeehouses, frowned upon by the classical elites. Of course, the average Algerians loved it, including both Jews and Muslims. Split apart by politics, one of the leading Chaabi orchestras of the 1940’s and ‘50’s reunites in Safinez Bousbia’s El Gusto, which screens during the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Like an Algerian Duke Ellington, bandleader El Hadj M’Hamed El Anka established Chaabi as a music worthy of concert hall respectability, while never losing touch with his fans on the street. He led the top outfit, featuring both Muslim and Jewish musicians, reflecting the Casbah’s demographics. Unfortunately, following independence in 1962, the Jewish band-members found it advisable to seek refuge in France, as did nearly all Jewish Algerians. Surely the UN is still working overtime to protect their right of return, aren’t they? Yeah, just checking.

Frankly, Bousbia largely steers clear of politics – past, present, and future – which is a rather shrewd strategy. Instead, she concentrates on the Chaabi old-timers, who she plainly fell in love with, ever since she wandered into the antique (junk) store of Monsieur Ferkioui. After a few of his stories about the glory days with El Anka, she was hooked. Over a two year span, she tracked down the surviving members in Algeria and France, eventually producing their reunion concert in Marseilles. Needless to say, it was a hit, leading to subsequent dates, a CD supported by a full tour, and finally El Gusto, the documentary she has been filming the entire time.

It is a perfectly apt comparison, but let us try to get through this review without mentioning a certain Wim Wenders documentary about Cuban music. El Gusto is worthy of its own distinct identity. Frankly, by music doc standards it is unusually well made. In her arresting opening vistas, Bousbia dramatically illustrates the Casbah’s crumbling grandeur, resembling an ancient Rio overlooking the Mediterranean. She then takes us on a picturesque tour of the winding backalleys leading to Ferkioui’s shop. Suddenly it is easy to understand how Pépé le Moko could hope to get lost here.

When the musicians finally assemble, there is plenty of backslapping and some relatively amusing anecdotes. Without question though, the music is the main event. Perhaps not to the tastes of those raised on fast food music, the elegance, lyricism, and insinuating rhythms of El Gusto Orchestra’s Chaabi still ought to appeal to aesthetically mature listeners, even if they are not well versed in the musical traditions of the region.

Although Bousbia is a constant presence throughout the film, she has a knack for staying out of the way. As a result, some lovely sights and sounds are captured in her documentary. Recommended for world music listeners and students of Arab-North African culture, El Gusto screens this coming Monday (4/23), Tuesday (4/24), and Saturday (4/28) as the Tribeca Film Festival continues in venues across the city.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:22pm.

Tribeca 2012: LFM Reviews Alekesam

By Joe Bendel. South African trumpeter Hugh Masekela survived Apartheid and drug addiction. Though the musician was often something of an absentee father, his son Selema more-or-less had to survive them too, by proxy. Their complicated musical father-and-son story is told in Jason Bergh’s short documentary Alekesam, which screens as part of the Triptych program at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival.

Anyone who reads Masekela’s memoir Still Grazing might easily get the sense he remains nostalgic for his hard partying days. Regardless, according to his son (often known as “Sal”) his father could not have withstood much more substance abuse. Fortunately, Masekela got clean, with the help of lifelong friend and producer Stewart Levine, who is still close to both Masekelas.

Alekesam focuses somewhat more on the son, who grew up with an unreliable father. Yet, he was able to make his own way in the world, becoming a well known surfer and extreme sports commentator. Following his father’s recovery and reconciliation, the junior Masekela has also made his way back to music, as a vocalist. In fact, he has a smooth, appealing voice. Nonetheless, most fans will want to hear more of the senior Masekela’s invigorating yet easy-going trumpet work they know so well from his soulful records.

Bergh elicits some honest reflections from both Masekelas and gets several amusing soundbites from Levine, a natural raconteur. However, he seems to give short shrift to the younger Masekela’s mother, considering the critical role she played during his formative years. Frankly, Alekesam could have been much longer than its manageable thirty-four minutes, without risk of overstaying its welcome, which is ultimately quite a compliment.

It is nice to have a documentary end on a happy note for a change. Alekesam is a rather uplifting testament to the power of family and friendship—with good music, of course. Recommended for fans of Hugh Masekela’s jazz-pop-African fusion blend and Sal Masekela’s extreme sports set, Alekesam screens again as part of the Triptych shorts block tomorrow (4/21), Wednesday (4/25), and Sunday (4/29) during this year’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Posted on April 21st, 2012 at 12:04pm.