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By Joe Bendel. The ‘Ndrangheta is to Calabria what the Camorra is to Naples. Although they are considered more provincial amongst Italian criminal networks, they have an international reach and a presumed alliance with the Sicilian Mafia. Nonetheless, there are still organized along familial lines. Consequently, past grievances often lead to violence and normal family dysfunction can cause long term destabilization in Francesco Munzi’s decidedly un-romanticized Black Souls, which opens this Friday in New York.

Luciano is the oldest of the Carbone brothers, but he largely rejected the family business, preferring to keep a herd of goats and a modest farm in remote Africo, the ancient seat of the ‘Ndrangheta syndicate. His younger brother Luigi is the swaggering public face of the Carbones, while the youngest brother Rocco handles all the dodgy accounting. Luciano’s rebellious son Leo looks up to his uncles, particularly Luigi, the charismatic tough guy.

Impulsively, Leo shoots up a bar aligned with the Carbones’ long-standing rivals, the Barracas, who were responsible for the murder of the brothers’ father. Luigi knows this for a fact, because he was there when it happened. Naturally, Leo’s hasty actions will have serious implications. While Luciano and Rocco are inclined to keep a lid on things, Luigi is sympathetic to Luigi’s injured pride. He has also been planning against the Barracas, but unfortunately, they are way ahead of him.

Inspired by real life events described in Gioacchino Criaco’s novel, Black Souls combines the naturalistic ethnographic detail of Gomorrah with the honor-driven tragedy of a Puzo novel. It reminds us both the word and the concept of “vendetta” came from Italy. For Munzi, it is all about the ‘Ndrangheta’s tribalism and the tension between their old world traditionalism and New World commerce. What happens in Africo directly reverberates in Milan. Despite Rocco’s sophistication and Luigi’s indulgent lifestyle, there are never very far removed from Luciano’s goats. In fact, Luigi’s loyal deputy Nicola can butcher purloined livestock with the best of them.

As Luigi, Marco Leonardi struts like he means business, but Peppino Mazzotta is even more compelling as the bean-counting Rocco, suddenly thrust into a family leadership role. Barbora Bobulova is also terrific as his elegant trophy wife forced to confront the old school realities of the Africo clan. However, Giuseppe Fumo’s Leo is just another petulant teen, who seems to exist simply to move the narrative along with each successive poor decision.

Black Souls is not exactly a groundbreaking Italian gangster movie, but it creates its own distinctive identity in the mountains of Calabria. Munzi builds tension in the right moments and gives viewers an intimate peak inside the ‘Ndrangheta world. Recommended for fans of mob movies, Black Souls opens this Friday (4/10) in New York, at the Angelika Film Center.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on April 6th, 2015 at 9:22pm.

By Joe Bendel. “If you’re an artist, we’ll beat you artistically.” Yes, this is what passes for wit with the Basij, Iranian’s Islamist civilian paramilitary militia. Ironically, Afshin Ghaffarian got off relatively easily when a Basij chief spoke those words to him. Had he known Ghaffarian was actually a dancer, he most likely would have beaten him to death (quick, let’s make a nuclear deal with them). Ghaffarian and his friends were among the thousands brutalized by the Basij during the 2009 election protests, but they simply wanted to put on a public performance. Their brief moments of freedom are stirringly depicted in Richard Raymond’s based-on-fact bio-picture, Desert Dancer, which opens this Friday in New York.

Against all odds, Ghaffarian received clandestine arts education during his elementary years from a courageous teacher. He was a relatively experienced actor by the time he reached college, but his was always fascinated by the strictly forbidden discipline of dance. Of course, YouTube is duly blocked in Iran, but when he went online through a friend’s work-around access, he discovered a wealth of performances from the likes of Nureyev and Gene Kelly. Soon he convinces a handful of friends to join his proposed underground dance troupe. Everyone is understandable uneasy when the mysterious Elaheh invites herself into the group, but she turns out to be okay. She also has real technique, having been secretly trained by her former ballerina mother.

Longing to perform in front of a live audience, Ghaffarian and Elaheh will stage an intimate recital for a handful of carefully invited friends in a secluded desert location. Unfortunately, their friend Mehran’s older brother is a junior Basij commander, who is determined to ferret out Ghaffarian’s small ensemble. When another member is severely beaten by the Basij for his reformist allegiances, it puts further stress on the group. Soon Ghaffarian also finds himself be ruthlessly worked over in an unmarked Basij van. However, his fate will take a dramatic turn on the third act.

While the real life Ghaffarian has stressed the film’s thin layer of fictionalization, Raymond and screenwriter Jon Croker are scrupulously faithful to the tenor and circumstances surrounding the ill-fated 2009 Green Movement, as well as the general difficulties of being artistically inclined while living under a repressive regime. Desert is also closely akin to Bruce Beresford’s Mao’s Last Dancer (which won the Astaire Award for best film choreography) for the manner in which it portrays the powerful expressiveness of dance, while also using it as a symbol for freedom. In fact, Akram Khan’s choreography is unusually distinctive and Astaire Award-worthy, incorporating elements of ballet and modern interpretive dance.

To their estimable credit, co-leads Reece Ritchie and Freida Pinto clearly trained hard for their roles, because they do Khan’s steps justice. Frankly, when they are standing still, their romantic chemistry is just so-so, but when they move together, they heat up the screen. There are ably supported by a fine ensemble, particularly including the deeply humanistic performances of Makram Khoury, as Ghaffarian’s old teacher Mehdi, and Bamshad Abedi-Amin as the quietly courageous Mehran. It is also nice to see Nazanin Boniadi, albeit ever so briefly, in a near cameo as Ghaffarian’s progressive mother, Parisa.

Desert vividly captures the ominous atmosphere of the 2009 crackdown, as well as the liberating power of dance. In his feature directorial debut, Raymond maintains a tense, paranoid vibe, but also exhibits an intuitive sense for when to go for the emotional jugular. It is an inspiring story that is undiminished by the real life Ghaffarian’s recently more circumspect rhetoric. Enthusiastically recommended, Desert Dancer opens this Friday (4/10) in New York, at the Landmark Sunshine and the Loews Lincoln Square.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on April 6th, 2015 at 9:19pm.

By Joe Bendel. Unfortunately, the early Eighteenth Century band of heroes known as the 47 Ronin were effectively defeated before they ever began to fight. With their lord disgraced and their clan evicted from its holdings, the masterless samurai achieved a measure of payback, but it only delayed the inevitable end demanded by their bushido code. Western concepts of honor and chivalry are somewhat different, but the wardrobe and weaponry are close enough for government work. It is a story Japanese filmmaker Kazuaki Kiriya must have heard countless times growing up. He now brings their classic tale west, resetting it in a Medieval European looking realm for his first English language production, Last Knights, which opens this Friday in New York.

Lord Bartok is a wise and just clan leader, who also experiments with atonal composition. His forces are captained by Raiden, a warrior who rose up from the peasantry to be renowned for his badassery. While Bartok lands remain peaceful, trouble brews in the capitol, where the Emperor’s chancellor, Geza Mott has become brazen in his corruption. Bartok arrives at court to rally the noblemen against Mott, but he is outplayed by the tyrannical psychopath. Sadly, it will cost Bartok his head and the anguished Raiden will be the one to sever it.

The Bartok clan is dispossessed and dispersed, with his guardsmen assuming civilian jobs. They mostly get on with their new lives, except Raiden, who retreats inside a cask of ale. However, the paranoid Mott cannot believe the Bartok commander is not biding his time, which of course he is. Nevertheless, his honorable but honor-bound lieutenant Ito is convinced Raiden is the empty shell of a man he appears to be.

Evidently, this is the sort of empire Alexander aspired to rule, spanning all the known continents of the Middle Ages. Its relentlessly multi-ethnic composition makes little historical sense, but at least it allows Kiriya to assemble a truly international ensemble, including Morgan Freeman as Lord Bartok, Iranian Peyman Moaadi (best known for A Separation) as the Emperor, Norwegian Aksel Hennie (Headhunters) as Mott, and veteran Korean actor Ahn Sung-ki as his principled father-in-law, Lord Auguste. Some of that casting makes sense, some of it not so much.

Not surprisingly, Freeman gives an exquisitely dignified defiance-in-the-face-of-death speech that the film never really tops. Still, Ahn gives it all kinds of gravitas it would not otherwise have. To his credit, Hennie exhibits no shame or modesty hamming it up something fierce as Mott. It is also nice to see Shohreh Aghdashloo, no matter how briefly, as Lady Bartok. On the other hand, Moaadi just looks and sounds uncomfortable as the Emperor.

Clive Owen is relatively solid in the lead, since Raiden is definitely the strong, silent type. Frankly, he is one of the few name actors working today who is manly enough to swing a broad sword convincingly. Nevertheless, Tsuyoshi Ihara upstages everyone as Ito, the retainer disgusted by his master but duty-bound to do his bidding. He has first-class action chops, but also expresses his character’s classically tragic nature.

Knights is so obviously the 47 Ronin, it is weird the film does not make winking acknowledgement in some way, but perhaps the producers were a little skittish about the connection, given the egg laid at the box office by the Keanu Reeves remake. There is some decent swordplay in Knights, but also some awkward personal drama. Most of possum-playing Raiden’s scenes with his long suffering wife Naomi (Israeli Ayelet Zurer) are truly cringe-worthy. At least the film productively gets down to business when it is time to storm the castle. It is also strangely fascinating to spot each new nationality the filmmakers manage to inclusively shoehorn in. Recommended as a guilty pleasure for fans of swashbuckling with no pretense of verisimilitude, Last Knights opens this Friday (4/3) in New York, at the Quad Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B-

Posted on April 1st, 2015 at 2:50pm.

By Joe Bendel. Captain Harlock was the original libertarian space pirate, inspiring a small but hearty band of followers, such as L. Neil Smith’s Henry Martyn. Harlock and his crew still sail for freedom’s sake exclusively, but he now has an apocalyptic environmental axe to grind. Leiji Matsumoto’s brooding hero of the anime of your youth gets a motion-capture computer-generated reboot in Shinji Aramaki’s Harlock: Space Pirate, which releases today on DVD.

In the far future or long, long ago, humanity is toast. We spread like roaches across the galaxy, until malaise and resource depletion set in. Recognizing the end is nigh, most colonists decided they wanted to return to their spiritual home: the Earth. Of course, the little blue planet could not sustain the billions of prospective home-comers, so the ruling authorities revoked the welcome mat. After the resulting Homecoming War, the Gaia Coalition emerged, declaring the Earth off limits. However, this did not sit well with Captain Harlock and his crew, who take every opportunity to harass Coalition ships.

Clearly, Harlock has been quite successful at this piracy thing, considering how long he has been at it—reportedly a century, give or take. It is his ship’s Dark Matter engine that keeps him so young and elusive. The Arcadia is the product of alien technology developed by the willowy, but sadly nearly extinct Juran beings. The mysterious Mimay might just be the last of her kind. She might also be Harlock’s mistress, but that remains ambiguous.

Ezra, the Coalition’s wheelchair bound fleet commander is so determined to capture Harlock, he sends his younger brother Logan on a mission to infiltrate the Arcadia. If Harlock should happen to kill Logan instead, Ezra is pretty much okay with that too. However, Harlock is onto Logan from the start, but he sees potential in the lad.

Frankly, this film represents some of the best mo-cap animation yet produced. The figures are life-like, but not slavishly so. Indeed, they often defy physics in the grandly cinematic action sequences. As it often the case with sf and fantasy anime, there is a little too much cosmic swirling in the third act, but Aramaki’s otherworldly vistas look very cool. Unfortunately, devotees of the original series will be disappointed the libertarian-resistance-to-oppression themes are largely back-burnered in favor of some over-population gobbledygook. (Can you relate, Jericho fans?)

Still, the Arcadia crew are still an appealingly colorful and dangerous lot, including the head-turning but deadly serious Kei Yuki, as well as the slovenly but resilient First Mate Yatteran. There is some suitably complex intrigue and Harlock diehards might be interested to see what aspects of the series mythology screenwriters Harutoshi Fukui and Kiyoto Takeuchi keep and what they discard. Considering the original far-flung manga and anime reached back to the American old west and 1930s Europe, you can hardly blame them for narrowing the scope somewhat.

Even if you have never seen Captain Harlock in any of his incarnations, he is immediately recognizable as an anime archetype. He is a powerful symbol, having served as an introduction to space opera for many Japanese and American kids. It is good to see him sail again, under any circumstances, but next time around Aramaki (or his successor) should really let the Arcadia crew enjoy their piracy more. As a result, it is exactly the sort of film we go into hoping to rave about, but leave with mixed feelings. Visually impressive on the outside, but a tad cold on the inside, Harlock: Space Pirate will likely divide the pre-existing fan-base when it releases today on DVD.

LFM GRADE: C+

Posted on March 31st, 2015 at 4:07pm.

WORLD OF TOMORROW : Teaser trailer from don hertzfeldt on Vimeo.

By Joe Bendel. In Kate Wilhelm’s Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang, generations of human cloning leads to a steep decline in creativity and problem solving skills. Side effects for late generation clones also includes a potential romantic attraction to inanimate objects, like rocks and fuel pumps in Don Hertzfeldt’s latest short film. After winning the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Hertzfeldt’s thought-provoking World of Tomorrow, launches today exclusively on Vimeo VOD.

Emily is playful, good-natured kid. The grown clone of her clone of her clone is not. She is a rather dreary, socially awkward killjoy. What went wrong? Clearly, the deterioration process took its toll. Unfortunately, it seems this has happened on a planetary scale. Humanity is pretty much done for—and it is hard to mourn for such drab and morose lot. Time-travelling Cloned Emily will explain it all to Emily Prime, but the girl is too young and healthy to get most of what she says. Instead, she appreciates the interstellar spectacle of their journey.

World is a smart and ironic excursion into the sort of eon-spanning science fiction H.G. Wells and Olaf Stapledon created and largely still dominate. Strangely enough, it also makes a fitting thematic companion to Hertzfeldt’s special Simpson’s intro, the longest and most conceptual couch gag in the show’s history. It is very funny at times, but it also poses some rather pointed questions about cloning and the nature of what it means to be human.

Despite their simplicity, Hertzfeldt’s figures are rather expressive, particularly the endearing Emily Prime, while his cosmic backgrounds are truly cinematic. Quite substantial as a seventeen minute short, World really combines distinctive animation with challenging science fiction filmmaking. Hopefully, Hertzfeldt will eventually integrate it into a larger feature as he did with It’s Such a Beautiful Day, because there should be considerably more material for him to explore in this apocalyptic cloned far future. Regardless, World of Tomorrow is recommended for all animation and science fiction fans when it releases today exclusively on Vimeo VOD.

LFM GRADE: A-

Posted on March 31st, 2015 at 4:07pm.