Author: Joe Bendel

A Gritty Noir for Bryan Cranston: LFM Reviews Cold Comes the Night

By Joe Bendel. The Russian mob does not have much in terms of pension and disability plans, so an aging courier slowly losing his eyesight does not have many options. He just carries on, relying on trusted accomplices. Unfortunately, when a shipment of cash goes awry, he will force a single mother to help him retrieve it in Tze Chun’s Cold Comes the Night, which opens this Friday in New York.

Topo can count on his partner to cover for him, but he has little confidence in the younger man’s judgment. His lack of faith is vindicated when they stop for a few hours’ shut-eye at Chloe’s no-tell motel in upstate New York. When a lurid misadventure leads to the death of Topo’s associate and a local girl, the more discrete older thug forces Chloe to serve as his eyes. Initially, Chloe does so to protect her young daughter, Sophia. However, as she grows somewhat used to the grizzled Topo, she tries to forge a temporary alliance. After all, he seems to be a better bet than Billy, the corrupt married cop she has reluctantly been carrying on with, who also becomes their leading suspect.

Although Cold starts out as a mother-and-child in jeopardy thriller (sort of the reverse of Wait Until Dark), it soon develops its own distinctive identity. Wisely, it largely removes Sophia from the line of fire, focusing instead on Chloe’s uneasy give-and-take with Topo. There are no cheap rehabilitations in Cold, either. Topo essentially remains who he always was, even though he develops a subtle regard for Chloe.

Alice Eve in "Cold Comes the Night."

Admittedly, he never breaks a sweat, but it is still fun to watch Bryan Cranston do his thing as Topo. He seethes like a champion and nicely projects an air of world weary existential resignation. Despite all his instant hardnose credibility, the name Topo still automatically brings to mind images of Topol singing “If I were a Rich Man,” which clashes rather badly with the mood the film is going for.

As Chloe, Alice Eve holds her own against Cranston’s Topo surprisingly well. At least she is not a shrinking violet/Lifetime movie heroine. Young Ursula Parker is also relatively down-to-earth and endurable as Sophia. In contrast, as greasy Billy, Logan Marshall-Green annoyingly acts like he is channeling Bill Paxton.

Perhaps the film’s biggest surprise is that such a gritty noir comes from director-co-writer Tze Chun, as the follow-up to his emotionally wrenching coming of age story, Children of Invention. It turns out he has a good handle on the double-crossing machinations of the Simple Plan-style thriller. Cold moves along at a healthy clip and delivers plenty of Cranston (this is no glorified cameo, but a legitimate featured role). It definitely comes from a B-movie place, but the elements come together rather effectively. Recommended for fans of slightly grungy noirs, Cold Comes the Night opens this Friday (1/10) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on January 6th, 2014th at 11:20pm.

LFM Reviews Ain’t Misbehavin’ @ The 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. You might not expect Fats Waller to provide the theme song for the docu-memoir of Marcel Ophüls, the director of The Sorrow and the Pity. However, those who closely followed the filmmaker’s career know he had already used Waller’s rendition of Irving Berlin’s “Waiting at the End of the Road” as the opening music for his Northern Ireland documentary, A Sense of Loss. Ophüls just liked Waller. Viewers will learn a few more things about Ophüls when he turns the camera on himself in Ain’t Misbehavin,’ which screens during the 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival.

As the son of Max Ophuls, filmmaking is in Marcel Ophüls’ blood. It also meant he was born Jewish in Weimar Germany. In Misbehavin,’ his most dramatic recollections chronicle the family’s life in exile, spanning France, Switzerland, Spain, and eventually America. While Ophüls generally hopscotches from subject to subject as the mood strikes him, he gives his formative war years the focus they merit.

The rest of the film is a mixed bag, but there is plenty of interesting bits for film lovers to chew on. Ophüls’ encounter with the sixty year old (but apparently still sultry) Marlene Dietrich turns out to be everything you would hope. There is also plenty of good Hollywood dish on Preston Sturges and Howard Hughes, from the perspective of the senior Ophüls. Strangely, he only revisits his own films obliquely, rather than in-depth. Nonetheless, Misbehavin’ helps put his controversial war crimes film The Memory of Justice into perspective. Commissioned by German television, it is controversial for equating American military operations in Viet Nam with National Socialist genocide. According to the director, he tried to avoid such “relativism,” but control of the picture became contested and a version not authorized by Ophüls aired in Germany.

From "Ain’t Misbehavin’."

Ophüls often acknowledges his tribulations in passing asides that leave inevitable questions dangling in mind air (like, “what did he just say about his suicide attempts?”). Yet, perhaps the strangest sequences involve a suspected affair between his wife, Régine (still living, but not talking) and his dear friend, François Truffaut. Ophüls even puts the question to Jeanne Moreau, in an interview she seems to find just as baffling as the audience.

There is probably more of Ophüls sauntering about in Misbehavin’ than anyone really needs and it starts slower than molasses. Nonetheless, the documentary provides a unique first-hand perspective on Golden Age Hollywood, the Nouvelle Vague, and WWII. It also proves he has good taste in music. Recommended for fans of either Ophüls, Ain’t Misbehavin’ screens twice this coming Wednesday (1/8) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYJFF, co-presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on January 6th, 2014 at 11:12pm.

LFM Reviews Lonely Planet @ The 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. It is easy to see why banishment to Siberia was a favorite method of punishment under the old Communist regime. It still seems like a cold, isolated, economically depressed region, at least judging from the footage shot by an Israeli film crew. Ostensibly, they are looking for Mishka Zilberstein, who as young Jewish boy reportedly took refuge from the National Socialists with the wolves in the Belarus forest. Oddly enough, Zilberstein’s urban legend might be the only thing that is true in Edan Zeira’s docu-drama hybrid, Lonely Planet, which screens during the 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival.

Zeira and his Israeli-French crew are determined to find the mythical Mishka, but each lead turns out to be a dead-end. Supposedly, the real life Zilberstein eventually settled in a remote corner of Siberia. Everyone seems to know his story, but the locals are not exactly welcoming. At least all the trouble Zeira and his colleagues got into was presumably fictional, unless Zeira really did agree to a shotgun wedding to a provincial police chief’s pretty daughter, in which case, Mazel tov.

From "Lonely Planet."

This is a very strange film, for obvious reasons. Yet, despite its postmodern gamesmanship, it is worth listening-up when the real Zilberstein finally enters the picture. Indeed, Zilberstein is a fairly well documented historical figure and viewers have no reason to doubt it is really him consenting to tell his story (aside from all the meta-meta business that came before). It is a powerful tale, involving torture at the hands of both the National Socialists and the Soviets. Essentially, Zilberstein was reduced to an animal state, at a time when animals were more humane than humans.

Zeira illustrates Zilberstein’s story with highly stylized black-and-white re-enactments. Clearly, they had a terrific handler for the wolves. While his (presumed) humor is sometimes questionable, it always comes at his own expense. Some might understandably take issue with his mash-up approach in a film that directly addresses the Jewish experience during WWII, but Zeira is unfailingly respectful in his treatment of Zilberstein. Fans of Guy Maddin will probably enjoy his deconstructive and surreal inclinations, whereas general audiences will appreciate Zilberstein’s testimony. Recommended for the somewhat adventurous, Lonely Planet screens twice this coming Thursday (1/9) at the Walter Reade Theater, as part of this year’s NYJFF.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on January 6th, 2014 at 11:08pm.

It’s All About Making Lawyers Richer: LFM Reviews Divorce Corp

By Joe Bendel. It’s not a gender thing, it’s a lawyer thing. It turns out that predatory divorce lawyers – and judges congenial to the point of collusion – have rigged the system to line their respective pockets. That hardly sounds shocking, but the reality is worse than you imagined, at least according to a new documentary openly advocating a comprehensive overhaul of the American family law system. The lawyers and judges profiting from broken families stand duly indicted in Joseph Sorge’s Divorce Corp, which opens this Friday in New York.

Like a shrewd consensus builder, Sorge includes an equal balance of men and women who have been done wrong by the judge presiding over their divorces. When watching the case he lays out, it seems neither men nor women have a built in advantage. It all depends on whose lawyer is more buddy-buddy with the judge. You might assume a judge would recuse himself from hearing a case presented by a close friend and former law partner, but in family court you would be wrong.

Sorge paints an alarming portrait of the family court as a judicial tyranny, where jury trials and the right to council no longer apply. Perhaps most shockingly, he interviews two victims of judicial persecution (one man and one woman), who were sent to prison on dubious charges (such as “judicial intimidation”) after publicizing in the media their judges’ clear conflicts of interest.

As an alternative, Sorge and his associates point to the Scandinavian model as a better method of divorce. They might be right, but it is hard to imagine restricting alimony until the finalization of the divorce will catch on here anytime soon. For a start, states with referendum votes should pass provisions mandating full C-O-I disclosure and allowing potentially disadvantaged parties to opt for judicial reassignment. The various state bars should also automatically investigate any divorce dragging on longer than twelve months (which Sorge argues is indicative of frivolous motions designed to bleed both parties dry).

If Sorge and co-writers Blake Harjes, James D. Scurlock, and Philip Sternberg have misrepresented the reality of family law in America, then the Bar Association should produce a rebuttal documentary post-haste. Corp is a compelling indictment, given additional authority by the participation of narrator Dr. Drew Pinsky (who has credibility as an advocate for personal responsibility). To a layman viewer, the film comes across as quite even-handed and never engages in hysterical hyperventilating.

Still, Corp is not exactly fun stuff, but it is highly watchable, particularly when colorful private detective John J. Nazarian offers his commentary. When he says he would rather go through “death than divorce,” it is pretty heavy. Recommended for legal reform activists and those looking for a justification to stay single forever, Divorce Corp opens this Friday (1/10) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

Posted on January 6th, 2014 at 11:04pm.

Tammany and Toxicology: LFM Reviews The Poisoner’s Handbook; Premieres on PBS Tuesday, 1/7

By Joe Bendel. There was a time crime was rampant in New York, but City Hall was fine with the carnage. This seems to be a recurring cycle in the City, but in this case, the time in question is 1918. Coroner positions were an important part of Tammany Hall’s patronage mill. No medical training was required, as long as the mortuary kick-backs were shared with the machine. As a result, untold poisoners escaped judgment, either through negligence or graft. The efforts of a reformist medical examiner and his pioneering toxicologist to make science and integrity part of New York law enforcement are chronicled in Rob Rapley’s The Poisoner’s Handbook, which airs this Tuesday as part of the current season of American Experience.

Charles Norris was independently wealthy, relatively politically astute, and a genuine medical doctor. Against the vociferous objections of Tammany Mayor John F. “Red Mike” Hylan, the state of New York forced through his appointment as the City’s medical examiner. His chief lieutenant was Alexander Gettler, a Jewish Hungarian immigrant who worked his way through a PhD in chemistry. No longer in the business of selling specially tailored death certificates, Norris’ office actually started applying the scientific method to criminal investigation. During their early years, Gettler wrote academic papers on scores of toxins that remain relevant to this day.

From "The Poisoner's Handbook."

Based on the nonfiction book by Deborah Blum (who appears as a talking head), Poisoner is more authoritative in its treatment of criminological history than the thematically related How Sherlock Changed the World. Rapley never addresses Gettler’s reading habits, but evidently he was quite the Yankees fan. Shrewdly structured, Poisoner zeroes in on Gettler’s relationship with his nemesis, sort of the Irene Adler of arsenic, for maximum dramatic value. It also morbidly but logically organizes each section according to the relevant toxin under discussion.

However, it clearly favors the toxicologist over his M.E., even though political junkies would probably prefer to hear more about Norris’ wrangling with Tammany Hall. In contrast, a bit too much time is devoted to Prohibition. While it certainly kept Norris and Gettler (both Wets) busy, there was little mystery involved in each toxic “denatured” alcohol death.

There is plenty of good New York history and vintage true crime in American Experience’s The Poisoner’s Handbook. Highly watchable (at least until the last minute cheerleading for the FDA), it should entertain (and inform) fans of Caleb Carr’s The Alienist and BBC America’s Copper. It premieres on most PBS outlets this coming Tuesday (1/7).

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on January 6th, 2014 at 10:17pm.

LFM Reviews Friends from France @ The 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival

By Joe Bendel. As a matter of policy, the Soviets automatically denied all requests from the so-called “Refuseniks” to immigrate to Israel, often spuriously claiming they were irreplaceable specialists (who were then duly fired from their positions). As it happens, Victor Rybak really is a highly respected authority in the field of physics, much like Sakharov. His uphill battle to join his wife in Israel will profoundly affect two young French cousins in Anne Weil & Philippe Kotlarski’s Friends from France, the opening night selection of the 2014 New York Jewish Film Festival, co-presented by the Jewish Museum and the Film Society of Lincoln Center.

Carole Brikerman is a passionate Zionist, who supports the Refuseniks’ aspirations for Israel. Jérôme Berkowitz is passionate about his cousin Brikerman. Despite his mixed feelings, Berkowitz joins his cousin on a leftist guided tour of Odessa. Pretending to be newlyweds, they will secretly visit Jewish dissidents, bringing smuggled care packages and offering moral support. Berkowitz resents what he considers Brikerman’s Zionist proselytizing, while struggling with his arousal from their intimate proximity. However, when they pay a call on Rybak, Berokwitz meets someone far more cynical than himself.

Rybak has good reason to be jaded. He endured constant torture in a Communist mental hospital, intended to force him to denounce his beloved wife, who had successfully reached Israel ahead of him. While imprisoned, he secretly maintained a diary. Not only did he document the systemized abuse and summary executions, he also included deeply personal passages of erotic longing, meant solely for her eyes.

Even in translated subtitles, the words of Rybak’s diary ring with truth and poetry. They are easily the most compelling element of Weil & Kotlarski’s screenplay. It is easy to understand why Brikerman’s network would want to publish it and why the Soviets would be determined to prevent such an embarrassment. They also open a deep window into the Refusenik physicist’s soul. For all his exterior gruffness, Rybak is a haunted romantic at heart.

Vladimir Fridman is simply extraordinary as Rybak. It is an acutely human and humane portrayal, conveying all his messy complications and understandable bitterness. It is only January, but Fridman’s work should be noted for year-end lists. He instills Friends with power and integrity whenever he is on-screen.

From "Friends From France."

In contrast, Soko and Jérémie Lippmann simply are not in the same league. Still, much like his character, Lippmann slowly sneaks up on viewers, developing a distinct presence and persona down the stretch. Evidently, Soko is France’s current “It Girl,” so it is nice she wants to appear in a film like this. At least she is more engaging than in the grossly over-rated Augustine. She does not undermine any of the proceedings, but it is hard to see her in the way other characters do.

Weil & Kotlarski vividly capture oppressive vibe of Communist era Odessa. At times Friends functions as a surprisingly good Cold War thriller. It probably holds some sort of distinction as a film noticeably critical of both the Soviet Union and the Zionist movement. Yet, its sharpest, most illuminating observations involve the hypocrisy of the leftwing tourists. Ostensibly on a personal mission of solidarity, they are clearly fearful of the Party’s apparatus of control—with very good reason. Smart, literate, and sometimes quite moving, Friends from France is a strong way to open this year’s NYJFF.  Highly recommended, it screens twice this coming Wednesday (1/8) at the Walter Reade Theater.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on January 3rd, 2014 at 10:31am.