LFM: Libertas Film Magazine

By Joe Bendel. Boris Pasternak’s epic novel Doctor Zhivago was banned, denounced, and was a major factor leading to the Nobel Prize for Literature he was forced to decline. It was also a love story. Unfortunately, the woman who inspired Pasternak faced the full force of the Communist Party’s wrath, to an even greater extent than her more famous lover. Their romance and its legacy also inspired Scott C. Sickles’ play Lightning from Heaven, which officially opened this weekend at the Main Stage Theater in New York.

Set in various cells in the Lubyanka, Lightning is told in flashbacks during Olga Ivinskaya’s many KGB interrogation (torture) sessions. Sadly, she is no stranger to the place. A literary editor by profession, Ivinskaya had more in common with Pasternak than his wife Zinaida. However, as the daughter of a moderately high ranking military officer, Madame Pasternak was able to protect her husband when he publicly spoke out against Stalin.

Of course, the publication of Zhivago was another matter entirely. Zinaida is quite certain she is not Lara. After all, the two fictional lovers never married. Nor is the Party pleased with Pasternak’s portrayal of the Revolution and the subsequent purges, so they target his greatest vulnerability: his mistress-muse Ivinskaya. In order to discredit the late Pasternak and his masterpiece, Vladilen Alexanochkin, the “good cop” KGB agent, engages in a cat-and-mouse game with the sleep-deprived Ivinskaya. Either she will renounce Pasternak and Zhivago, or she will proclaim herself the illicit inspiration for Lara.

In a way, Lightning is like the historical forebear of the dystopian television show The Prisoner, with the question “are you Lara” replacing “why did you resign,” except it is very definitely based on fact. Sickles alters a detail here and there for dramatic purposes, but he is more faithful to history than David Lean’s great film was to Pasternak’s source novel. It is a smart, deeply literate play, driven by the conflict between individual artistic integrity and the collectivist state. Perhaps most touching are the scenes deliberately echoing Zhivago in which Pasternak and Ivinskaya find beauty in the increasingly drab, dehumanized Soviet world about them.

Jed Dickson resembles the Robert Frost-ish Pasternak that appeared on Time Magazine enough to look credible in the part. More importantly, he really expresses Pasternak’s poetic sensibilities. As a private citizen, Pasternak made some problematic choices, but Dickson makes them understandable, beyond the self-centeredness of the creative class (though there is that as well).

Likewise, Kari Swenson Riely is more than a mere victim of the Communist thought police, although she is certainly convincing enduring the KGB’s physical and emotional torments. She develops a comfortable romantic chemistry with Dickson’s Pasternak that is quite moving in an almost chaste way. Yet, when her character stands on principles, she makes it feel genuine and profound, rather than didactic (like, say, a character from Soviet propaganda). It is also important to note the work of Mick Bleyer as Alexanochkin, who keeps the audience consistently off-balance in satisfyingly ambiguous ways.

Perhaps the only historical figure getting short-changed in Lightning is Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, who ruptured his relationship with the Italian Communist Party by publishing Zhivago. He comes across a bit caricatured here, but that is a trifling complaint. Lightning is big idea production, rendered in intimately personal terms. It also boasts an admirably professional cast that continued on like troopers even when a freak accident in the audience forced an unusually long intermission Friday night. Highly recommended for fans of historical drama or Zhivago in any of its incarnations, the Workshop Theater Company’s production of Lightning from Heaven runs through March 9th at the Main Stage Theater on 36th Street.

Posted on February 18th, 2013 at 2:44pm.

By Joe Bendel. Honor is not simply a matter of ritual and technicality, and samurai who have only known peace seem to have a tendency to forget the heart and spirit of their code. A ronin with a mysterious grievance intends to teach a noble house’s conceited retainers a hard lesson in Takeshi Miike’s Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai, now available on DVD and Blu-ray from New Video Group.

Yes, there is peace, but the Shogun’s devious maneuverings destroyed a once proud clan, leaving a glut of impoverished ronin (masterless samurai) at loose ends. The situation has given rise to a phenomenon known as “suicide bluffs,” where ronin ask for the use of the House of Ii’s courtyard to commit ritual seppuku in hopes they might receive a few coins and be sent on their way instead. Hanshirô Tsugumo has duly asked for such a favor from the head retainer Kageyu Saitou, but he seems to have his own agenda.

Hoping to dissuade him, Saitou tells him the pathetic story of the last ronin who came cold calling. Tired of indulging suicide bluffs, Saitou’s arrogant lieutenants forced the desperate young man to follow-through on his threat, in what quickly becomes a horrific display bearing little resemblance to any notion of honor. As it happens, Tsugumo already knows the gist of this tale. In fact, he is well acquainted with the sad young Motome Chiziiwa, as viewers learn in the next series of flashbacks.

Based on the novel famously adapted by Masaki Kobayashi in 1962, Miike’s film is not called Hara-Kiri for no reason. About the first masterfully tense quarter is largely dedicated to Chiziiwa’s involuntary disembowelment. While the middle section somewhat suffers in comparison, Miike nonetheless provides all the necessary context to appreciate the first and third acts and fully establishes his central characters as sympathetic, flesh-and-blood figures – particularly Miho, the frail woman linking the two ronin together.

Indeed, Hikari Mitsushima is deeply affecting as the ill-fated (who isn’t in a Miike film?) Miho, a character lightyears removed from the all kinds of scary schoolgirl-cultist she brought to life in Sion Sono’s Love Exposure. Likewise, Eita is an aching model of pathos as Chiziiwa. However, Hara-Kiri really belongs to the two steely-eyed old dogs circling each other right from the beginning.

Traditional kabuki actor Ebizo Ichikawa (or Ebizo IX) appropriately simmers and seethes like a seriously hard-nosed, world weary swordsman with a point to make. He is the real deal, commanding every scene he appears in, which is quite the trick considering he is paired up against Kôji Yakusho, the international paragon of middle-aged badness, as Saitou. Once again, Yakusho brings gravitas and a sense of ruthlessness to the proceedings. While not nearly as crowd-pleasing as his lead role in Miike’s hit 13 Assassins, he makes the most of it.

Where Assassins delivers the hack-and-slash, Hara-Kiri offers foreboding and tragedy. Frankly, the latter was far truer to the heroics of the samurai era, which Ivan Morris described as the “nobility of failure.” However, the awesomely action-driven Assassins would have been a more logical candidate to be Miike’s first 3D film, yet that distinction belongs to Hara-Kiri. Regardless, it translates to 2D viewing just fine. A stately period production that is amply rewarding on multiple levels, Hara-Kiri is highly recommended for fans of samurai films and historical dramas in general. It is available at all online retailers from New Video Group.

LFM GRADE: B+

Posted on February 14th, 2013 at 12:38pm.

By Joe Bendel. Ward Hill Lamon was a Southerner who opposed slavery. He was a lawyer, who packed a mean banjo and a plenty of guns. Before the creation of the Secret Service, he was a handy man for Lincoln to have around. The odd couple friendship between the president and his self-appointed but Federally-empowered bodyguard is dramatized in Salvador Litvak’s Saving Lincoln, which opens this Friday in New York.

As he explains in medias res to some of Lincoln’s rather disappointed supporters, Lamon was not at the Ford Theater on that fateful night. He was serving as a special Reconstruction envoy down south. Via flashbacks, we watch their whole story unfold. Both men shared a love of song that brought them together as friends and law partners. During the dark days of the Civil War, Lamon often raises Lincoln’s spirits with a hill country folk tune, like “Old Dan Tucker.” He also finds that foiling assassination attempts is a full time endeavor.

While not as epic as the Oscar favorite turned underdog, Saving Lincoln largely ignores (or spares) the less than edifying rhetoric of the rival Democratic Party, but conveys all the virulent invective flowing from the press (which were essentially one and the same, even then). However, the real eye-opener of Saving Lincoln is the sheer volume and increasing audacity of the attempts made on Lincoln’s life. Indeed, there are enough assassination bids to build a film around, which is essentially what Litvak has done.

Stylistically, Saving Lincoln is also something else entirely. Shot entirely on a green-key soundstage, Litvak incorporated vintage era photographs into the CGI backdrop, creating the impression of Matthew Brady pictures come to life. Although not as artistically rendered, the nearest comparison might be Lech Majewski’s genre-defying The Mill & the Cross. While initially it looks a little weird (particularly in less stately settings, oddly enough), it is far less distracting over time than the high frame rate of Jackson’s Hobbit. In fact, the approach works quite well in big, momentous scenes, most notably including the Gettysburg Address.

Illinois’ own Tom Amandes is a bit short perhaps, but otherwise a good physical likeness as Lincoln. More importantly, he is quite good at tapping into the iconic president’s deep reservoirs of humility and humanity. This is a surprisingly touching performance. In contrast, Lea Coco’s work is rather mannered as Lamon. Yes, he is a Southerner and Coco is not about to let us forget it. Still, Penelope Ann Miller’s turn as Mary Todd Lincoln clearly suggests she is high strung, but in a nuanced rather than caricatured way.

From giving Sen. Ned Baker (Republican of Oregon) his due as a longtime Lincoln confidant and the only member of Congress to fall in battle as a uniformed officer, to exploring the role the 16th President’s Christian faith played in his life and opposition to slavery, Saving Lincoln is a worthy addition to the growing Lincoln film canon. It successfully evokes the look and feel of the Civil War era through its green screen effects and it is supported by a very fine lead performance from Amandes. Recommended for Presidents’ Day viewing, Saving Lincoln opens this Friday (2/15) in New York at the Quad Cinema.

LFM GRADE: B

Posted on February 12th, 2013 at 1:42pm.

By Joe Bendel. Like any good socialist system, power in the DPRK is transferred along hereditary lines. Kim Jong-un has just succeeded his father Kim Jong-il. However, a power struggle for day-to-day control over the country’s lucrative arms dealings, their only source of hard currency, will engulf at least four intelligence agencies in Ryoo Seung-wan’s The Berlin File, which opens this Friday in New York.

Officially, Pyo Jong-seong is a national hero of the People’s Republic. He is so good at his covert duties, he remains a “ghost” to western intelligence databases. Assigned to close an arms sale to an Islamist terrorist group brokered by the Russians, Pyo is quite put out when the Mossad crashes the party. Jung Jin-soo is also rather out of sorts, as well. The South Korean operative was hoping to bust the Northern Koreans, but the third party intervention blew his operation. One of the few remaining Cold Warriors in an office full of appeasers, Jung’s position becomes rather precarious politically. Of course, Pyo is in a tighter spot.

Technically, Pyo is above reproach, but his wife Ryun Jung-hee is not. As he learns from the Ambassador, Ryun has fallen under suspicion in Pyongyang. Dong Myung-soo, a well-connected special agent, has been dispatched to investigate her as the Israelis’ presumed informant. Pyo has some rather difficult history with Dong, so he cannot expect any favors from the Communist operative. Meanwhile, the South Korean Jung is out to get Pyo to avenge his comrades. A pariah in his own agency, Jung only trusts the council of his CIA contact, Marty, perhaps the film’s only genuinely likable character.

A pleasant surprise from Ryoo and the Korean film industry, Berlin File is one of the best espionage films since Tinker Tailor, in which the true villains are North Koreans and Islamic terrorists. America does not factor greatly in the story, aside from the sympathetic figure of Marty. While the South Korean intelligence service does not cover itself in glory, all their dubious actions are done with the intent of making nice with the North. In short, writer-director Ryoo basically nails the geo-political realities. He can also stage a wicked fight scene. Just watching Pyo’s concluding throw-down will make your back wail in pain.

There are indeed some impressive action sequences, but Ryoo is even more effective tapping into bone-deep themes of betrayal and loyalty. He really puts Pyo and Ryun through the wringer and doesn’t do Jung any favors either. As a result, Berlin should be tragic enough to be a monster hit in Korea and sophisticated enough to appeal to American fans of international intrigue.

Ha Jung-woo (who blew the doors off dark thrillers like Nameless Gangster, The Chaser, and Yellow Sea) is all kinds of bad as Pyo, convincingly portraying his conflicted loyalties and mounting disillusionment. Although international superstar Gianna Jun is almost entirely de-glamorized as Ryun, she is still quite a presence, surprisingly affecting in several key scenes. Berlin also boasts a great supporting ensemble, particularly including Lee Kyoung-young, who plays the Ambassador with a moral ambiguity that really keeps viewers off-balance, and John Keogh, appealingly cynical as the friendly neighborhood CIA agent (benefiting from the generous helpings of English dialogue, nicely punched-up by American screenwriter Ted Geoghegan).

Shot almost entirely on location in Berlin and Riga, Berlin File captures the chilly, paranoid vibe of old school Cold War thrillers. Ryoo manages to add the amped-up mayhem of his Korean action pictures (like Troublemaker, for instance), while maintaining the best of both worlds. Highly recommended for fans of action, espionage, and Ms. Jun, The Berlin File opens this Friday (2/15) in New York at the AMC Empire.

LFM GRADE: A

Posted on February 11th, 2013 at 3:22pm.