Tribeca Film Festival: Week 1
ALEX: The Tribeca Film Festival started last week, though for the first time Lower Manhattan isn’t the only host to the festivities. Films are screening in such far off destinations as 34th St. and Lincoln Center. It’s an odd vibe for the festival which once occupied only a few blocks near Battery Park. There are an overwhelming number of choices too. In this piece, Michele and I are gonna tear through our first block of films, which seemingly star all of Young Hollywood.
First up is Fifty Pills, starring Lou Pucci, Kristen Bell, and John Hensley (aka Thumbsucker, Veronica Mars, and Matt McNamara of Nip/Tuck). Pucci is in danger of getting kicked out of NYU if he doesn’t come up with the last $1000 of owed tuition, and all he has to raise the money are the titular fifty hits of ecstasy.
MICHELE: I had been really excited to see this movie, since it had such a great cast. Lou Pucci was great in Thumbsucker, and John Hensley is my younger crush in Nip/Tuck. After Pucci’s roommate, played by Hensley, throws yet another party & gets busted, Pucci loses his scholarship & must pay back around a $1,000. This first off seemed impractical to me. You lose your scholarship half way through the semester & you only have to pay the remaining money? Last I checked, you had to pay it ALL back. But I digress. Hensley sets him up with the 50 pills (of ecstasy) as a way of making the situation better. For me this just doesn’t work- what dealer would just give 50 pills to sell, along with a beeper & tell him good luck? Only one who had a death wish from his supplier.
Inconceivable!
Cynthia McKinney, a congresswoman from Georgia, fell victim to one of the classic blunders. The most famous of which is never get involved in a land war is Asia, but only slightly less well known is this one. Never walk away from an interview, without removing or turning off your microphone! As Frank Drebin was caught once, so now is the congresswoman, who was heard making a disparaging remark about an aide. The remark was not as bad as some might have you believe. The real best part is that after that, she tried to go back and tell the interviewer that the slip up was off the record. Of course the newspeople essentially said “T.S.”, and now we all get to hear the gaffe. You can enjoy the delightfulness here.
The “Other Stripper” Exposes herself
There was news today in the Duke Lacrosse team rape thing. I guess the other stripper at the party is coming out in support of her coworker, and professing the guilt of the players, despite being in the bathroom at the time. I was pleased to learn that Syracuse University (go Orange!) has refused to accept any lacrosse players wishing to transfer there. The rape accusations aside, this team was in trouble all the time, so I don’t want them at my alma mater. The really perplexing thing about this case is why this second woman is a stripper. Going only off this picture, she wouldn’t get many $1 bills off of me. But being that she imbezzled thousands of dollars in the past, probably a good idea not to give her any of my money anyway.
Cremaster 4 and Cremaster 5
This week, Michele and Alex take on Matthew Barney’s Cremaster 4 and 5, which played at a midnight screening last weekend in Manhattan.
Michele: For years I have heard of Matthew Barney’s Cremaster Cycle- The masterpiece that it is, etc. I had viewed some of his art, unrelated to this particular project at the MOMA, and was impressed by it, but always sort of wondered about the conceptualization of his art. The Cremaster series is comprised of 5 levels, all based on the Cremaster muscle (a muscle that covers the testis).
For a while, I even had a copy of “The Order” a 30 minute selection of the Cremaster at my disposal. I am sort of glad that I didn’t watch it, since apparently it is only a portion of Cremaster 3. So I had no idea what to really expect in video form when Alex & I went to see Cremaster 4 & Cremaster 5 this weekend.
Alex: I’ve seen The Order before, which is 30 minutes of the 3 hour long 3rd Cremaster. Part 4 is actually the first of the cycle that Barney created. It runs only about 40 minutes. The piece crosscuts between a motorcycle race in opposite directions on the Isle of Man, while a Satyr (Barney) journeys to meet the race at its midpoint. Naked, painted female bodybuilders, underground caverns, and lots of petroleum jelly ensue.
Brick
Last Friday, my girlfriend Michele and I caught the opening of Rian Johnson’s teen detective film, Brick. Coleman- hook us up with a co-login! Yes, I am flooding this site. Some spoilers below…
MICHELE: When Brick premiered at Sundance in 2005, it was one of the sleeper hits of the festival. Little was known about the plot, aside from it being a murder mystery in a high school setting. And that it starred Joseph Gordon–Levitt, who has just had a brilliant performance in Mysterious Skin and Lukas Haas, who appears in movies occasionally.
At Sundance, Brick was one of the hardest tickets to get. As a result, the Sundance Jury presented a special award to Director Rian Johnson- the Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision. After seeing this movie, you understand why.
Brick is not intended to be your average high school teen drama. You get that immediately when the dialogue instantly starts up. Spoken in style coated in slang, the movie forces you to think, and think quickly to keep up with the info that is provided. While not everything is clear, as long as you follow along, you are able to figure out what is going on. But even in times when you can’t figure out what was just said, it doesn’t bother you. The lines are written & spoken in such fluidity that it is easy on the ear, almost reminding you of iambic pentameter.
The Belladonna of Sadness
Hey everyone…here’s another CRAP FILTER movie review column. My girlfriend Michele and I have been checking out a lot of revival screenings and film festivals, and we’ll be co-reviewing some of these films right here in this column…HE SAID, SHE SAID “SHUT UP”
ALEX: I don’t think Michele and I really knew what to expect going into the “Belladonna of Sadness”, other than that Belladonna wasn’t in it. Last weekend we attended the Museum of Sex exhibition Peeping, Probing & Porn: Four Centuries of Graphic Sex in Japan. It had some anime, but it was all big-eye hentai stuff.
Belladonna of Sadness is over 30 years old. Thursday’s screening at KBG Bar was the first time it was screened in the US. You can tell its age because its production style was closer to The Adventures of David the Gnome than Neon Genesis Evangelion.
MICHELE: Anime was still in its infancy stage at this period and it shows. The film is primarily still shots, occasionally panning across, to give the feeling of fluidity. Only during “important” scenes, such as all of the sex scenes, was the anime we know of today used.
