independent film reviews

Two months ago, I received a black journal. It was the project of a fifth grade class, and my task was to add my contributions and then pass it on in a week’s time. Although it was not a new idea to me, it was a lot of fun, despite the fact that this particular journal only made its rotation in the Seattle area.The film 1,000 Journals follows the project by Someguy, a San Francisco artist who one day decided to release 1,000 blank journals out into the world to see what happened to them. His journals, by contrast, ended up traversing the world.

I’m a huge fan of social experimentation and doing things to invoke the human reaction. This particular movie follows the route of the books as they make their way around the world and into the homes of random individuals. When I contributed to the journal I had in my hands, I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of people contributed which pieces. This film puts a bit of an explanation to the anonymity behind the project, and answers questions on a very basic level. It shows that people of all walks of life, of all ethnicities and social classes (although not all countries), found this project to be interesting and life-changing. But the most interesting part about the project were the reactions from people that no one could have ever anticipated.

For example, the book was in rotation when September 11th happened, and it documented the state of the United States at that point. It showed how initially people were sad and shocked — with many of them having personal ties to the event — and used the journal to vent their thoughts. It progressed as political issues, paranoia, and distrust of the government came into play, and all of this was shown in one cohesive mass.

Even more surprising, though, were how human beings played off of one another’s entries. A pair of artistically-inclined women in Australia decided that the thoughts of others weren’t worth keeping because they looked artistically deficient, and they pasted over those handwritten thoughts with more visually appealing images. Another artist, based in England, created his own pieces as “dedications” to individuals who had previously posted in the book. Many of his dedications were serious and heart-warming, but some of his other dedications were downright mean.

Despite these few cases of maliciousness, though, the project is an amazing one that has touched the lives of many individuals, and films like these are important, because they humanize an idea that, to those who didn’t contribute, is kind of just a cool thought. 1,000 Journals is an enjoyable film for any individual who is a fan of social experimentation and human interactions; I suggest you watch this film and then go out and engage in your own projects.

Mother and son.
Savage Grace is a tale about the incestuous relationship of a mother and her homosexual son. The entire film is an ever-deepening downwards spiral that is disturbing to watch. Yet, like a car accident, the viewer cannot help but be interested by the dysfunction; it’s twisted to watch, but it’s interesting.

Savage Grace is a drab-colored, slow-paced film that is beautifully shot and well-acted. Unfortunately for the film, however, it is based off of a true story and there is much more motive to the true story than there is to the movie. In Savage Grace, the incestuous relationship between the mother and son comes about from seemingly nothing more than simple perversion. In reality, the story is much more complicated. The film family was dysfunctional, but the film barely got to the roots of WHY they were. Despite good acting and what could have been an interesting tale if told correctly, this film is largely significant only for its shock value.

Director:
Tom Kalin

Producer:
Iker Monfort, Katie Roumel, Pamela Koffler, Christine Vachon

Editor:
Tom Kalin, John F. Lyons, Enara Goicoetxea

Screenwriter:
Howard A. Rodman

Cinematographer:
Juanmi Azpiroz

Principal Cast:
Julianne Moore, Stephen Dillane, Hugh Dancy, Eddie Redmayne

Language:
English

They say when you’re hurting the deepest, it helps to drown yourself in the things you love. For some it might be in food and drink; for others, in the love of family and friends. But no post-separation binge has ever borne such interesting fruit as Nina Paley’s animated feature, Sita Sings the Blues. Born from a short animation Paley did while living in India and nurtured by her painful and sudden divorce, Sita is a generally light-hearted retelling of the Ramayana, a well-known myth of the Hindu tradition. Intertwined with the story of Sita’s undying love towards a mythically cold Rama is the rather straight-forward biography of Nina’s own experiences, with her being suddenly and shockingly abandoned by her husband after a long separation. And while the two may seem distant on paper, Paley easily reveals just how similar she and Sita are.

The story is told through a sequential rotation of animation styles, each revealing layers to the Ramayana (at least Paley’s interpretation of it). Animated shadow puppets narrate and provide humorous banter while debating the facts behind the Hindu myth. The Ramayana itself is acted out by characters pulled straight from classic tapestries, like a lush picture book come to life. These segments are typically followed by a charming and stylish musical sequence, an ode to the ups and downs of love set to the classic jazz warble of Annette Hanshaw. All three portions are light hearted and fun, with just the right amount of absurdly modern dialogue and visual puns galore.The last thread the film explores is the story of Nina, her husband Dave, and how they drifted apart. The animation is a jumble of rough scribbles and color splotches, set against visions of San Franscisco, India and New York clipped straight from the papers. Besides some slapstick involving the apartment cat, there’s not much humor associated with these segments, bringing quite the change of pace to the relatively light-hearted film. And while the segments are not embellished with defensive humor or softened with elaborate artistry, it’s the brisk pace of the film that allows these segments to bring weight to the film without dragging into an unpleasant “woe-is-me” tale.

While the film’s visuals may be the star of the show, the dialogue and sound are no slouch, either. The spastic back-and-forth between the three shadow puppets has more natural wit and provides more chuckles than even Ellen Page could hope to muster. While the humorous tangents may be a bit much at times, the script is light enough that it’s allowed these moments of wackiness without dumbing down the film whatsoever.

The musical features are a special treat as well, cleverly synched and astoundingly appropriate for Sita’s sad story. These segments on their own would make compelling viewing (not surprising since the film was sprung from a short film of one of these segments), but added into the mix they bring a new style of whimsy and fun to a film not lacking in either department.

While Sita Sings the Blues may have been born from heartache and pain, the colors and the sounds celebrate the ups and downs of love as well as the fruit our experiences bear. Though audiences may wish for a happy ending for both Sita and Nina, don’t be mistaken. Sita Sings the Blues is the happy ending.

Director/Producer/Editor/Screenwriter:
Nina Paley

Cinematographer:
Reena Shah

Music:
Todd Michaelsen, Masala Dosa, Rohan, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Nik Phelps

Principal Cast:
Featuring the Voices of: Annette Hanshaw, Aseem Chhabra, Manish Acharya, Bhavana Nagulapally, Reena Shah

Language:
English

Liz and Jody, emoting my opinions on the film (read: disgust).
A film written and directed by filmmaker Joe Lia, Sweet Thing is one of the worst movies I have seen in a while. Don’t read ahead unless you want to see spoilers… which shouldn’t be a problem because the movie is definitely not worth watching.What’s amusing is that I knew what this movie was about before I even watched it, despite the summary on the back cover being extremely vague. The film was predictable.

Here is the atrocious plot.

Sweet Thing begins by following the separate stories of two women. Jody has a drug problem and quits her job to sell ice cream out of a sweet-looking neon green Jeep she’d purchased. The other girl, Liz, works at a drive-through coffee shop and one day decides to hit on a ‘graffiti artist’ named Brendan. The two immediately become lovers. Insert random cut scenes of the two running through various parts of Seattle. Insert pathetic attempts at street art. Insert ridiculous scene where the two have an elaborate, unlikely, and very foolish ploy to steal what must’ve only been $5 to $10 of marijuana.

For the summer, the graffiti artist goes home to visit his family. Liz calls him numerous times and he never picks up; he never calls her back either. In the meantime, she is spending a lot of time with Jody, who she happened to make quick friends with after Jody bought coffee from Liz’s coffee stand.

While Liz is working one day, the phone rings. In the next scene, she is at Brendan’s apartment, and she breaks up with him. He doesn’t like it, but there isn’t much he can do.

The two girls continue to hang out with one another, and soon Liz makes a move on Jody, who says that there are too many things about herself that Liz doesn’t know. Liz gets rejected. The two don’t seem to talk again.

At the end of the movie, Liz has gotten back together with Brendan, and the two have just had their first real sex session together. Liz stares off at the rain hitting the windowpanes, and she is clearly unhappy. The end.

Hate to do this to an independent film director — and one based in Washington, at that — but this film is difficult to watch. The character development is poor and the characters were annoying to watch. Liz becomes best buddies with Brendan and Jody in an instant, regardless of the fact that they never really even have intelligible conversations with one another. The portrayal of drug usage is rather over-dramatized and hardly believable; it is akin to the marijuana abuse infomercials that involve teens running over bicyclists in drive-thrus. The list goes on. At least the Pacific Northwest is beautiful, but nice scenery doesn’t save this movie from being terrible. Confused teenage relationships might be interesting topics to explore, but this movie only explores those things on a cursory level.

I’m thoroughly, thoroughly amazed that Sweet Thing was an Official Selection of both the Seattle International Film Festival and Boston International Film Festival. My mind is completely boggled.

Director/Screenwriter:
Joe Lia

Producers:
Joe Lia, Matt McUsic, Guillermo Rodriguez

Music:
Patrick Kirst

Cast:
Jennipher Foster, Beth Ison, Jacob Teixeira
Language:
English

Film Website:
www.myspace.com/sweetthingmovie