Category: Movie Reviews

Awkward Moments: LFM Reviews Wagner & Me

By Joe Bendel. Can you separate an artist’s work from their offensive ideology? Hollywood asks Middle America to do exactly that nearly every weekend. Granted, the case of Richard Wagner is of a much higher magnitude. After all, we know whose favorite composer he was. Stephen Fry is also an ardent admirer, who tries to reconcile his beloved music with the man’s problematic legacy in Patrick McGrady’s Wagner & Me, which opens this Friday in New York.

Fry is clearly a civilized man of the arts, who actually lost family members in the Holocaust. He also loves Wagner’s music. Love might be an understatement. Touring the celebrated Bayreuth concert hall built to the composer’s specifications as it prepares for its annual Wagner festival, Fry is absolutely giddy. All his sophistication deserts him. It is a total fanboy geek out.

Frankly, Fry might cringe at some of this footage in years to come, but on the other hand, cynicism is overrated. Fry conveys his passion for the music and God bless him for it. To his credit, though, he does not ignore the dark side of Wagner. While he does not delve too deeply into the composer’s documented anti-Semitic sentiments, he fully explores the way Hitler and the National Socialists used the long deceased Wagner to legitimize their reign of insanity. W&M is particularly eye-opening when addressing the support Wagner’s heirs lent to Hitler at a very early stage in his career. Fry also visits a violinist who survived the concentration camps to get her considered judgment on Wagner, which is indeed quite reasonable and reflective.

From "Wagner and Me."

Wagner will always be a tricky figure to come to terms with. On a basic level, an artist like Wagner or a veteran of film and television like Fry cannot help it if some unsavory characters become fans of their work. Yet, many will fairly argue there were chauvinistically nationalistic themes in Wagner’s operas that were all too compatible with National Socialism. Fry somewhat tries to rehabilitate his idol (while wisely refraining from the “he was a big fan of Mendelssohn and some of his best friends were Jewish” defense the Wagner establishment has floated), but he never closes the deal.

In fact, viewers might walk away from W&M more critical of Wagner the man than when they walked in. That is a testament to Fry’s honesty if not necessarily his persuasiveness. Sometimes interesting but hardly essential, Wagner & Me opens this Friday (12/7) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on December 6th, 2012 at 11:02am.

LFM Reviews Ashes of Time Redux

By Joe Bendel. Ouyang Feng is an agent for freelance swordsmen looking for some dirty work. You could call him a cutthroat’s cutthroat. Likewise, when it comes to love, he is a cynic’s cynic. If you suppose a woman was the cause of his hardened heart, you would be correct. It is a logical guess, considering Wong Kar Wai’s Ashes of Time Redux screens this Friday as part of the Asia Society’s film series Goddess: Chinese Women on Screen.

Instead of adapting Louis Cha’s epic novel The Eagle-Shooting Heroes, Wong conceived of an original pseudo-prequel that can be fully appreciated without prior familiarity with its inspiration. Every year, the swashbuckler Huang Yaoshi pays a visit to his friend Ouyang’s desert home. Both are men with complicated pasts. For his latest visit, Huang brings a bottle of supposedly enchanted wine that is said to induce forgetfulness. Huang imbibes. Ouyang does not.

After Huang disappears, apparently under the effects of the potent drink, Ouyang carries on with business. However, his next clients are somehow involved with his soul-sick friend. Clan leader Murong Yang recruits Ouyang to murder Huang in retribution for spurning his sister, Murong Yin. Soon thereafter, the sister tries to hire Ouyang to murder her compulsively controlling brother. In a hallucinatory evening (which is par for the course in Ashes), Ouyang realizes Yin and Yang are the same divided person.

The seasons pass, but it is hard judge time in the desert. Ouyang recruits a wandering swordsman to defend the village from a band of outlaws. His skills are formidable, but he is rapidly losing his sight. The man’s one desire is to see his native land once again before going completely blind. Eventually, Ouyang also yearns for home, where the woman he once loved lives as his brother’s wife.

Redux is the restored and reworked de facto director’s cut of Ashes Wong oversaw when he realized how many dubious copies of the film were in circulation. Featuring fight choreography by Sammo Hung, it is quite stylistically daring by martial art film standards, bordering on the outright experimental. There is indeed a fair amount of combat, but the action is rendered impressionistically and blurred, almost like a series of freeze frames.

As promised, there are also several divas, including Brigitte Lin in sort of a dual role as the Murongs. Although she is always recognizable, Lin brings a conviction to both personas that keeps the audience off-balance. Yet it is Maggie Cheung who really lowers the diva boom as the woman from Ouyang’s past. Emotionally devastating but never indulgent or showy, it might represent the best second-for-second cameo ever. As a bonus, Charlie Young is a genuinely haunting presence as the peasant girl out to avenge her brother.

While the film’s color palette reportedly varies depending on its various editions, any retrospective of cinematographer Christopher Doyle’s work ought to start or finish with Ashes. The golds and burnt-umbers of Redux are absolutely striking. Frankly, Ashes Redux is a daring classic of the genre that might be new to a lot of people who might think they have seen it already (like a wuxia Blade Runner). Highly recommended, Ashes of Time Redux screens this Friday (12/7) at the Asia Society.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on December 6th, 2012 at 11:00am.

The Cold War for American Public Opinion: LFM Reviews Restless

By Joe Bendel. Who would benefit from keeping America out of the war in Europe? It is a question that will preoccupy a former British secret agent all her life. She was supposed to be set-up in a manner that would badly discredit the British intelligence community with the American public. She was also supposed to be dead. However, the Russian exile has more lives than a cat in the Sundance Channel’s two part mini-series adaption of William Boyd’s Restless, which kicks off this Friday night.

When professional Cambridge student Ruth Gilmartin pays a visit to her mother’s country home, she finds the woman in the throes of paranoia, or so she presumes. Sally Gilmartin claims there are people watching the house from the surrounding tree-line. It all has something to do with her service as a spy during WWII. At the time, she went by her real name, Eva Delectorskya. Initially, this is all too much for Gilmartin to accept, but the site of a shadowy figure in the woods gives her pause. Reading her mother’s file, she gets the gist of the story viewers see in periodic flashbacks.

A former Russian aristocrat, Delectorskya is recruited by British intelligence in France after her brother is murdered by Fascist thugs. Lucas Romer will be her handler. Although he is not inclined towards any sort of emotional involvement, sparks will eventually fly between them. Delectorskya turns out to be a natural agent, but her missions are often rather dodgy. Yet somehow disaster always turns into success, at least within the agency bureaucracy.

Transferring to New York, they both assume roles at a dubious wire service that specializes in releasing disinformation to mislead the Germans. From time to time, a little field work is required to plant an especially sensitive story. Delectorskya assumed that was all she was doing when she accepts her fateful assignment to Albuquerque. Unfortunately, she soon discovers someone at the agency sold her out. The consequences of that ill-fated mission will linger for decades.

Hayley Atwell in "Restless."

What more can you ask of a miniseries that gives you Charlotte Rampling buying a shotgun? She plays Delectorskya/Gilmartin like the strong, intelligent woman she would have to be. Downton Abbey’s Michelle Dockery also looks the part of her daughter, but her shocked incredulity goes on far too long. In fact, the first installment does not lack for exposition, but the second part pays off with interest.

When the elements are all in place, Restless becomes quite a rich feast of skullduggery, helmed with a fair degree of style by Edward Hall. As young and old Romer respectively, Rufus Sewell and Michael Gambon might not exactly be the spitting image of each other, but they are definitely at home with the murky intrigue. A strong ensemble from top to bottom, character actor Adrian Scarborough makes a particularly strong impression as Delectorskya’s ally, Morris Devereux. However, as the resilient young Delectorskya, Hayley Atwell is a bit pedestrian, lacking the Mata Hari allure one would expect from her. Still, she becomes Charlotte Rampling, which is something.

While Boyd’s screen adaptation of his own novel is smart and tense down the stretch, his nondescript title never seems particular apt, but no matter.  Restless is a quality period production long on atmosphere that should satisfy for regular viewers of Masterpiece Mystery and BBC America’s mystery-thrillers. Recommended for fans of British television and espionage junkies, Restless begins this Friday (12/7) on the Sundance Channel and concludes one week later (12/14).

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on December 4th, 2012 at 2:49pm.

The Martial Arts Treasure Hunt is On: LFM Reviews Wu Dang

By Joe Bendel. Every five hundred years or so, a prestigious martial arts tournament is held at the Taoist monastery on Wu Dang Mountain. It might sound like the perfect set up for a kung fu movie, but it is really just a pretext to allow its sponsor to hunt for seven mystical treasures hidden throughout the exotic environs. Call it distraction by Kumite. Prof. Tang Yunlong might be an adventurer, but he has a pressing need for the mythic treasures in former John Woo protégé Patrick Leung’s Wu Dang, which Well Go USA releases today on DVD, Blu-ray, and various digital platforms.

A western dressing, modern man, Prof. Tang could be considered Republican China’s Indiana Jones, except for his daughter Tang Ning, whom he has schooled in the martial arts. He does not need the treasures for financial reasons. Instead, he hopes their storied power can cure the rare genetic disease his daughter inherited from her late mother.

Tian Xin is also after the treasures, or at least one of them. An Excalibur-like sword forged from a meteorite once belonged to her father and she is honor-bound to reclaim it. Prof. Tang will not need it for long, so he is happy to make a deal with her (especially since she is played by Yang Mi). Unfortunately, there are others after the treasures, whose motives are far less noble.

Action choreographer Corey Yuen (director of the original Transporter) really ups the ante with some spectacular fight scenes. There are some nifty matches staged for the tournament’s ring, picturesquely perched precariously on the edge the mountaintop. Yet, when Prof. Tang and Tian Xin start fighting together, in a scorching sort of martial arts tango, Wu Dang really puts films like Mr. & Mrs. Smith to shame. These are sequences genre fans will immediately re-watch and enjoy just as much a second and third time around.

Yang Mi in "Wu Dang."

Stepping out for the first time as the co-lead of a martial arts film, Yang is fantastic as Tian Xin. Deceptively flirty and all kinds of lethal, she puts her stamp on the action heroine role. In the rare event a Hollywood actress takes on such a part, it is hyped to the heavens as something extraordinary, but every HK and Mainland star of note eventually gets an opportunity to flex their kung fu chops. That’s one of the reasons we like these movies.

Likewise, as Tang Ning, Jiao (Josie) Hu kicks butt pretty darn well too, at the youthful age of thirteen. So endearing in Tom Shu-yu Lin’s Starry Starry Night, she is definitely a movie star of the future. While she looks somewhat older than her limited years, the admittedly chaste pseudo-romantic relationship between her and Louis Fan’s doofus novice still seems a bit inappropriate. However, the father-daughter rapport between her and Wenzhuo (Vincent) Zhao’s Prof. Tang is surprisingly touching. A veteran of the Once Upon a Time in China franchise, Zhao knows how to conduct himself in a fight scene and also develops real chemistry with effervescent Yang.

Granted, Wu Dang ends in a smorgasbord of New Agey sentimentality, but that happens sometimes. Yuen’s fight choreography and the two appealing central relationships more than compensate. A kung fu film more or less suitable for family viewing, Wu Dang will still thoroughly satisfy genre connoisseurs. Recommended with surprising affection, it is now available in home viewing formats from Well Go USA.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on December 4th, 2012 at 2:49pm.

When ‘Subversive’ Filmmaking is Actually Subversive: LFM Reviews The Sheik and I

By Joe Bendel. This is a film the Sheik of Sharjah does not want you to see. In the Emirate of Sharjah, he has the first and final say on everything. A self-styled scholar, he has published tracts like The Myth of Arab Piracy in the Gulf. If ever there was someone in need of a thorough mocking, it would probably be him – but don’t tell that to the Sharjah Art Foundation. Why yes, the Sheik happens to be their primary patron. However, the issues Iranian-American filmmaker Caveh Zahedi encountered while filming a commission for the Sharjah Biennial cut deeper than the merely economic. He documented his outrageous yet chilling misadventures in The Sheik and I, which opens this Friday in Brooklyn.

Frankly, the Sharjah Biennial was asking for it. They recruited Zahedi, told him what great fans they were of his appropriately titled I Am a Sex Addict, proclaimed the theme of the Biennial was “art as a subversive act” or some such artspeak, and assured him nothing was off limits – except the Sheik. Talk about planting a seed. Granted, they also said no frontal nudity and no mocking the prophet, constraints Zahedi thought he could easily abide by. The Sheik just got in his head.

With his wife and young son in tow, Zahedi quixotically sets off on a Roger and Me quest to get the Sheik to play himself in his Biennial film. He intends to blend documentary and fictional narrative in a way that will mock American stereotypes about the Middle East. However, he cannot ignore the way his requests freak out everyone around him. They might say art is a subversive act, but nobody seems to mean it. To his credit, Zahedi never ignores this hypocrisy or the harsh facts of everyday life for migrant workers in the UAE.

Does Zahedi conduct himself rather recklessly at times? Probably. However, charges that he endangered people’s lives might be technically true but completely unfair. To be invited to make a film in a closed, repressive society is a rare opportunity. To make a puff piece would completely squander that prospect and betray any notions of artistic or journalistic integrity one might hold. Zahedi duly holds up a mirror to the UAE society. It is not his fault if what he sees is dirty, dangerous, and decidedly undemocratic.

Nonetheless, the important thing to keep in mind about Sheik and I is that it is a really funny movie. The sarcastic yet weirdly guileless Zahedi serves as the perfect everyman-commentator on the bizarre deceit and denial going on around him. He also stands his ground quite admirably down the stretch, especially when the dreaded b-word comes out: “blasphemy.” Indeed, it is rather telling when a playful dance involving Indian street children and Islamic prayers becomes the stuff of a potential fatwa (no joke). Had he staged a similar number incorporating Catholic rituals, the Pope probably would have found it cute.

Truly packed with revealing scenes, Zahedi clearly captured more than anyone realized at the time and what he did not record, he recreates with some South Park-ish animated sequences. Diehard doc watchers will also enjoy the brief but amusing appearances by Zahedi friend and advisor Alan Berliner. With a third act explosion of irony, The Sheik and I absolutely must be seen to be believed. Worthy of being screened with Mads Brügger’s The Ambassador, Zahedi’s docu-provocation is very highly recommended when it opens this Friday (12/7) at Videology in Brooklyn.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on December 3rd, 2012 at 9:50am.

LFM Reviews Armed Hands

By Joe Bendel. There is not a lot of love lost between NATO and some Serbians. An elite Marseilles police captain understands this only too well. A group of Serbian gangsters has hijacked a shipment of the military organization’s arms, leading to a wave of violent hold-ups. As it turns out, the Serb network also smuggles drugs, forcing the captain to make an uneasy alliance with the Parisian vice cop daughter he never took the time to know. It is a dangerous game for all involved in Pierre Jolivet’s Armed Hands (trailer here), which screened as part of the 2012 In French with English Subtitles Film Festival, now underway in New York.

Captain Lucas Skali is a perfect fit for festival special guest Roschdy Zem. Yes, he has played many diverse characters throughout his career, but he truly excels in hardnosed roles, such as those he played in Point Blank, 36th Precinct, Paris By Night, and even Anne Fontaine’s comparatively breezy Girl from Monaco. Skali is not a superman nor is he always very sympathetic, but he is all business, so do not trifle with him.

Getting wind of the Serbian operation, Skali almost loses an informant when a set-up buy goes down badly. Oh well, eggs will break when you’re making omelets. Hot on the trail, they follow the gang to Paris, where his grown daughter Maya Dervin works for the corrupt Julien Bass. The extent of Bass’s graft is not immediately apparent, but he seems to be at the center of a number of dodgy deals. In fact, one of the more intriguing aspects of Armed is the way it depicts a sort of twilight economy shared by both the vice cops and the criminals they pursue. Naturally, Skali and Dervin find themselves working different ends of the same case. It is a serendipitous situation Skali tries to make the least of.

From "Armed Hands."

Without question, Jolivet is more interested in the procedural side of “policiers,” rather than shoot-out spectacles. Frankly, Armed is somewhat reminiscent of 1970’s films, not in terms of superficial style, but for its jaded, anti-heroic vibe. While not as chocked full of attitude as Paris by Night, it is decidedly moody all the same.

Again, that plays to Zem’s strengths. Appropriately world-weary yet ruthless, Zem commands the screen as Skali. Leïla Bekhti is also quite credible as Dervin, but her character’s inclination towards self-pity often feels a bit off. Is she her father’s daughter or what? Still, Marc Lavoine (excellent in Tony Gatlif’s Korkoro) is ambiguously sleazy in a rather effective way as Bass.

Armed is the sort of cerebral, detail-rich crime drama genre fans will relish digging into. Given the commercial subject matter and Zem’s steadily increasing American art-house stardom, it should be a cinch for extensive festival play. Recommended for connoisseurs of French cinema and those who appreciate intricate, multi-character procedurals, Armed Hands should have international legs. It did not disappoint patrons when it screened at this year’s In French with English Subtitles Film Festival, which concluded yesterday (12/2) with another full day of screenings.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on December 3rd, 2012 at 9:49am.