DIFF review THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN- She said

Directed by Henry Corra

In the most haunting documentary I've seen in a while, THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN follows McKinley Nolan's family as they search for answers about his disappearance during the Vietnam War.  There's mystery surrounding his disappearance, from possible sightings of him in 2005 to classified government documents. 

His family lives in a little town just outside of Houston.  Nothing fancy; very simple life.  His brother talks about how they all grew up working in the cotton fields to make a living, and after 20 years of that, you get sick of it.  So, McKinley joined the army.  He goes to Vietnam, leaving his wife and kids at home, and realizes he was fighting a war that he didn't really believe in.  That's when the letters home stopped...in 1967.  Ever since then, his family has wanted to know something or anything about what happened to him.

Then, in 2005, Lt. Dan Smith, who was revisiting the battlefields of his Vietnam days, ran into an African American man who said he was from Texas.  After some research, Smith thinks this could be McKinley Nolan.  He visits the family, tells him his story, which becomes the catalyst for the McKinley's brother, Michael, to travel to Vietnam and find answers.  As they travel, they're met with some dead ends and some glimpses of hope.  Michael meets McKinley's other son.  Together they begin to unravel some clues as to the whereabouts of McKinley and his second wife. 

The story goes that McKinley was a deserter and joined the Viet Cong, or was an American operative, or he killed two guards and then joined the other side.  Many different stories surrounding his life.  During which he met his Vietnam wife, had a son, and decided to stay, that part is true.  However, when Vietnam's infrastructure began to crumble, McKinley and his wife escaped to Cambodia.  Soon after, the Khmer Rouge began their mass genocide against its own people.  At this point, many of us would have given up hope and assumed him dead, but not Michael.  Michael's love and determination keeps him going until he finds solid proof of what happened. 

Throughout their investigation, the filmmakers were able to get unprecedented interviews with old members of the Viet Cong and Khmer Rouge.  (Most of the Khmer Rouge members, who are still alive, are on trial for crimes against humanity).  Even though these seem like breaks in their case, many of the men wouldn't divulge too much information because it puts their own livelihood at risk.  No real answers, just more questions.

In the end, the movie becomes less about McKinley, and more about Michael's spirit, love and determination.  It seems that after McKinley disappeared and the family wasn't getting much help from the government, they gave up trying.  Then when Smith showed up, all those feelings got swirled back to the surface.  A new determination was sparked, and answers were needed.  The documentary will leave you talking and discussing what really happened, what would you do, and how far you would go for answers. 

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DIFF Review PARKED - He Said

PARKED

Directed by: Darragh Byrne

Written by: Ciaran Creagh

Starring: Colm Meany, Colin Morgan, Milka Ahlroth, Stuart Graham, David Wilmot

I swear, there is a conspiracy to increase tourism in Ireland through their cultural exports. Every movie I have seen in Ireland has made me realize I need to visit this place as soon as possible. Dublin is the main setting for this great movie about a man, Fred Daly (Meany), coming back from England, and without any prospects, he is forced to live out of his car in a sea-side car park. When a similarly homeless 21-year old pothead Cathal (Morgan) decides to park next to him in the same car park, the two strangers become reluctant but ultimately the best of friends.

It seems that Ireland is the place to develop friendships that make you take charge of your life, as this is what happens through the course of this movie with Fred and Cathal. I'm also thinking of how similar this movie is to ONCE in that most basic aspect. There are no catchy songs, but the relationship is still there. There is a heaviness in the way that Meany plays Fred; he is perpetually troubled but static. He is doing very little to change such as looking for a job. It's only when Cathal moves in that he starts to do anything about changing his life. You can tell that something happened to Fred while abroad that has caused him to be so defeated.

It is only when Cathal comes into the car park that Fred's life seems to have a renewed interest in doing ANYTHING. Its because of Cathal that Fred meets Jules while hanging out at the public gym. In turn Fred tries his best to steer Cathal away from his destructive drug habits which could be more than just weed and the problems that it brings along. There is also a lot of pain behind Cathal, and his erratic behavior masks being hurt by his lack of a relationship with his father. And yet, for all their troubles, I love how happy and at peace they both seem to be in each other's company. It's almost like Cathal is the male, non-romantic version of a "Manic Pixie Dream Girl" for Fred.

The way Dublin is portrayed just lends itself to a charming atmosphere. The sea side shots are breathtaking each time they appear. I did find the romantic aspect of the movie with music teacher Jules very sweet. It doesn't feel forced, and it's very much a unique "relationship", if you want to call it that. Once again, it is the work of Cathal's youthful nature that makes Fred be courageous enough to talk to her. My big problem with the movie is that it gets to be a little monotonous, constantly showing you scenes of Fred or Cathal doing mundane things or just going through the day. While it is very interesting to see the routine the first time, the movie isn't really about being poor as much as it is the friendship and self-improvement that comes from it, so why have a bunch of scenes like that?

The last third of this movie is an emotional roller coaster as the relationship goes through some hardships. It's interesting to note that by the end of the movie everything in Fred and Cathal's world changes and yet the movie stays tonally consistent by focusing on their reactions to the events at hand. I understand that this sounds vague, but I am trying to keep everything spoiler free. The more and more I think about it, the more I like this movie. It had everything that you could look for in a simple drama. The scenery is beautiful as is the portrayal of friendship under most intense of circumstances. I think that Fred sums it up best when he said this about Jules' clock that he was repairing, "Good cleaning and a little nudge to spring it back to life."

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DIFF Review Documentary Shorts - He Said

In the last few weeks, my partner and I have become very big fans of shorts.  Between doing preliminary screenings of shorts in this year’s USA Film Festival, and watching the Oscar nominated ones, I made myself make sure that I could check out as many of the shorts competitions as I could.  With that said here are my impressions of this year’s Documentary Shorts Competition. Even thought it won’t be screened again as of today, it doesn’t harm to look up the directors and their work.

TUSSILAGO

Directed by: Jonas Odell

This short tells the story of the ex-girlfriend of a West German terrorist Norbert Krocher as she meets, dates and is eventually arrested because of her connection with the terrorist.  It is stylishly animated which made it very entertaining, and the story becomes a very well known tale of an abusive relationship, and how you can’t let go of the most destructive person in the world due to love.  Unfortunately, the last few minutes of the movie shift to a more preachy tone, it sort of killed the interesting momentum the movie had going for it. It was still one of the more enjoyable shorts.

GRANDPA’S WET DREAM

Directed by: Chihiro Amemiya

This was the big reason as to why I was watching this particular block of movies.  Twitter’s own ZOMBIEFREAK talked to me about it in the weeks prior to the show. The story follows a 75-year old porn star that has been acting since 1993, and yet his family doesn't knows.  What is unfortunate is that once you get past the premise of it, the novelty wore off, and I realized there was very little to tell of this story.  The subject is barely likable, there’s no real reason for him to be in this situation, and it just becomes tedious to watch.  Finally the short has no sense of direction.   Most disappointing indeed. 

39-A: A TRAVEL TALE OF INTERMINABLE

Directed by: Evan Mather

I hated this one.  I get that it was trying to tell something or the other about a family’s trip to Florida, but between the spastic editing, the super fast narration, and random interludes of scenes that make no sense, made this a great chore to get through. Add the pretentious Swedish lettering for no real reason, it was really the worst short I've seen this whole festival. 

JUST ABOUT FAMOUS

Directed by: Matt Mamula, Jason Kovascev

Probably the funniest of the shorts; this movie follows a few professional celebrity impersonators during an annual convention.  While I don’t care for the subject matter (I find them a little sad), it was really entertaining and had a very funny consistent tone through the whole thing.  Very recommended.

CLOSED FOR STORM: SIX FLAGS NEW ORLEANS

Directed by: Teddy Smith

This was a rather moving short with no dialogue and a haunting score.  It its 7 minutes of seeing the Six Flags in New Orleans, which never opened after Hurricane Katrina, and the deterioration it experienced.  Something about the fact that the place looks so torn, and desolate and yet it hasn’t’ been torn down moved quite a bit.  The final shots of the short deliver more emotion than I’ve seen in most mainstream movies this year.

THE HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE

Directed by: Trevor Anderson

A hilarious history of Edmonton’s High Level Bridge, which apparently has a knack for making people want to jump over it.  The narrator Trevor is hilarious in depicting such a somber topic such as a mass suicide spot.  He finishes the film by throwing the camera over the bridge in memory of those that died.  Very well written and some of the shots of the bridge are really interesting.  

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DIFF Review 13 ASSASSINS - He Said

13 ASSASSINS

Directed by: Takashi Miike

Written by: Kaneo Ikegami (based on a screenplay by), Daisuke Tengan (screenplay)

Starring: Koji Yakusho, Takayuki Yamada, Goro Inagaki, Masachika Ichimura and Yusuke Iseya.

Asian cinema is something that is always constantly being referred to by lots of movie geeks, and I have yet to be disappointed by an Asian movie.  And 13 ASSASSINS does not disappoint.  It is the kind of action movie that was made more stateside with proper tension in the fight scenes with a big and epic, yet very personal story. The movie does a good job of taking a familiar plot line and making it seem fresh and new again.

 I am not too familiar with director Miike’s previous work, but as Steve Norwood, who presented the movie on behalf of the Asian Film Festival of Dallas, it is a big change from his previous.  Well, if this is radically different, then I say this man can keep on evolving and taking on other genres. The story deals with the last days of feudal Japan, where the samurai are being transitioned out of society, a lot of them not knowing what to do with themselves; ome become drunks, others retired, or some try harder than ever to uphold the samurai way.   The movie starts out in a rather intense depiction of hara-kiri (the honorable suicide) which sets up the whole tone for the movie.  There is political unrest at the revelation that the Shogun has a stepbrother, Lord Naritsugu (Inagaki), this has caused some concern, as the Naritsugu is one truly sadistic and unhinged bastard.  Not on recent memory have I seen a villain so despicable and over the top depicted in a movie.  He kills and destroys whole villages just for merely speaking up against one of his actions, and he rapes women just because.  It’s funny because the Lord reminds me of Overlord, a Transformers villain in a beloved Transformers comic story The Last Stand Of The Wreckers, which hits a lot of the same beats as this story, including the impossible odds that the a colorful group of heroes fighting for a greater cause will face. 

Sir Doi, the Shogun’s chief justice officer, becomes entangled in the dilemma of prosecuting the Lord, and making a fool of the Shogun, or looking like a weak official.  His other main concern is that the Lord will be promoted to be second-in-command to the Shogun, who although aware of this stepbrother’s actions, values family above all things.  Hence, Sir Doi hatches a plot to have samurai warriors assassinate the Lord and make it look like an accident, with the leader being legendary samurai Shinzaemon Shimada (Yakusho). The first part of this movie, Shinzaemon assembles his team of assassins (try to guess how many there will be), and they are all introduced in very unique ways much like other movies where you build up a team to take on impossible odds.  There are some very interesting interactions as the samurai are recruited.  They all know that they don’t have a place in society as prominent as they used to, and yet because of the sheer strength of their training they are willing to take up their swords once again to protect a country and a way of life they love from potential chaos at the hands of Lord Naritsugu. 

A thing that I can’t ever seem to do with foreign films is picking out the nuances of good acting, especially when it is subtitled, I always notice that things go missing in translation when I see subbed movies in Spanish. Given that, I really liked every one of the members of the team.  They acted in very specific ways which made them memorable, which given their Japanese names felt like a great feat. I did enjoy the fact that Shimada was a strong but honest leader, always being upfront about how difficult it will be to carry out this assassination.  Shimada also has quite a bit of a struggle as he is technically breaking part of the samurai code.  His antagonist Hanbei, the Lord’s bodyguard, follows the code to the letter, which causes his to support the Lord even if he is evil.  There’s an interesting back and forth between the two former classmates that makes the movie go into some interesting philosophical territory.

Where the movie really shines is the action.  When you get to the ridiculously awesome climactic battle, you feel worn out from all of the action, tension, and sheer amount of blood. Not only that, but the choreography is excellent.  There are tons of long shots during every action scene where you can actually tell what is going on, even with upwards of 20-30 people on screen at the same time.  Yet another lesson I wish American directors would take to heart.  Finally, the cinematography and setting is astounding.  I’m not sure if I’m so excited by it because I recently saw SUCKER PUNCH’s sterile CGI backgrounds and enemies that it made me appreciate the very human element going on in this movie.

If I were to have a complaint about this movie, it’d be that the characters, while well acted, never go beyond any of the specific stereotypes or character types.  If they are about honor, they will talk very about anything else.  It can get a bit tiresome, but that’s a relatively minor complain in comparison to the good that the movie offers.

13 ASSASSINS is a movie where you know what you’re getting, and you’re getting a good version of this story.  It has everything a movie nerd could want from good action and choreography, and it makes a familiar story seem fresh again, and then it has great scenery. All of this creates a fun and bloody good time.

  

13 ASSASINS screens again Friday April 8^th, at the Plano Angelika at 10:00 PM

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DIFF review MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS- She said

Directed by Matthew D. Kallis

Written by Christopher Lockhart

What REMEMBER THE TITANS did for sports movies, MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS does for musical theatre.  The story goes that director Matthew Kallis was surfing YouTube one day, when he stumbled upon some clips from "The Freddy Awards", a local awards show in Pennsylvania which honors local high school musical theatre productions (think The Tony's for high school).  He's so captivated by these clips that he takes a trip out there and, spurred some by his own musical theatre background, decides to document three high schools as they rehearse their big show, wait for the nominations, and culminating at The Freddy's. 

Kallis takes us into a world that not many are aware of.  Musical theatre is hard, demanding, and exhausting.  It takes hours upon hours of memorization, learning routines, blocking, and endless repetition just to pull off a show for three nights.  And that doesn't even include all the technical designs that go into a production.  Just like sports, theatre is a team effort.  You have to depend on your cast mates to get you through, not only onstage but handling the pressures offstage as well.  Oh yea, plus you have to go to school. 

We follow each of the three schools through their successful productions with one putting on Bye, Bye Birdie, while the other two tackle the challenge of Les Miserables.  The joy the kids experience when performing is absolutely infectious.  They know theatre isn't the most highly respected path in the high school world, but it doesn't matter.  Even though they're theatre geeks through and through, at least they're theatre geeks together.  They can lose themselves onstage and make people happy.  It's refreshing to see so many kids come to the realization at a young age to do something because you really love it. 

As the looming nominations of the Freddy's approaches, the directors remind their cast that a nomination would be nice, but in the end, it's about performing for yourselves, so don't be disappointed if the results aren't what you want.  The kids agree, though you can see it in their eyes, like sports team, that they want that nomination/win.  The highlight of the movie is watching the kids react when their respective schools and some of them get nominations.  The excitement and euphoria on their faces is so infectious, I found myself excited for them.  A lot of these kids have been ostracized by their peers at some point in their lives, and to finally be recognized and accepted by the community is the ultimate highlight in their high school careers. 

In a time when education is in crisis around the United States and when budgets get cut, the arts is the first on the list.  For one of the schools, the cost of the production is $16,000, and the students raised all the money all on their own.  Such dedication.  Also, the camaraderie and teamwork shown from all the students is the equivalent to any sports team out there today.  Kallis's documentary is the ultimate love letter to the musical theatre world.

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AFI Top 100 Countdown #96: Do The Right Thing

96: DO THE RIGHT THING

Directed by Spike Lee

Written by Spike Lee

Starring:  Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, and Ruby Dee

DIFF Review DE DIA Y DE NOCHE: BY DAY AND BY NIGHT - He Said

DE DIA Y DE NOCHE: BY DAY AND BY NIGHT

Directed by Alejandro Molina

Written by: Alejandro Molina and Roberto Garza

Starring: Manuel Balbi, Sandra Echeverria

As a film lover and native Mexican, I am surprisingly and shamefully devoid of knowledge about my country’s cinematic output.  Most of my knowledge are vague childhood memories of greats like Cantinflas, or Pedro Infante, but it’s nothing that I can really remember vividly.  A big reason of why I’m not keen on Mexican cinema is because of most of it falls under the categories of Stories About Poor People, Stories About Drugs and Gangs, or Stories about Poor People Doing Drugs In Gangs.  So imagine my surprise when I see that there’s going to be a Mexican Science Fiction movie showing at this year’s Dallas International Film Festival.  I was beyond ecstatic.  In the not so distant future, society is now divided in two sections, those that work and live during the day and those that work and live during the night in order to combat overpopulation and maintain worker productivity at its maximum.

When you have high concept sci-fi movies, what I feel always makes or breaks the movie is how the world and the situation is set up.  A prime example of how to not do that is SURROGATES, with the cheesy and oversused “newspaper exposition” technique.  Whereas this movie’s premise just unfolds organically through better part of the movie, where  you get little hints here and there of what happened in the past.  Things like the fact that there are no parents and sons or daughters just guardians and infants.  Children are systematically separated from their guardians at a young age to begin life training; there are strict rules about when to go out and about.  This is the sort of stuff that is never flat out told to you, and you just figure it out. 

The main story begins with doctor Aurorra (Echeverria) is missing her infant, Luna, since she has on to get trained by The Leadership.  Thing is, no one can find her.  In a highly moderated and controlled society, this is seen as strange. Meanwhile, there is a mysterious former research scientist, who still remembers the “old ways”, who befriends Aurora for some rather dubious reasons. During the night however, we have Doctor Urbano (Balbi) discovering a mysterious little girl with strange markings on her back.  There is no record of her, and there is no reason for her to have died, but Urbano recognizes these markings. Once we find the true nature of Luna and how it connects the four people involved, the story gets into very interesting places.

The reason why there are  “life shifts” assigned to people is that the overpopulation in Mexico has become rampant enough to deplete natural resources and jeopardize the well being of the country.  Through the research of Dr. Pol, a scientist who has gone missing, an enzyme was created that would make people only sleep during the day or night.  I found this to be an interesting concept in which to root a sci-fi movie in.  It definitely plays to real problems that Mexico has, especially if you consider the metropolitan expansion of Mexico City that has devoured nearby cities into the capital. On the science fiction aspect of the movie, we have a story where it seems that once again, we have humanity willing and able to succumb any freedom in order to feel safe, even if that freedom is their humanity.  Not only that, it really touches on some rather strong things about the human condition on a very basic level, which is where I think the movie really shines.

For the first part of the movie, I figured that the movie would be this super epic sci-fi movie where the main characters finally break humanity free from their oppressor.  The end result is more MOON than say, THE ISLAND.  Eventually, the story doesn’t become so much about the evil Leadership, who wants to crush any remnants of humanity that are left in the population.  A big theme in the movie is the essence of family and how we as a species rely on each other for support and caring.  Even though none of the main characters in the movie were born before the New Order, they still give in and think about such things as pleasure, pain, and just plain emotions.  The fact that they never can all be together is a completely different matter altogether.  In a world where referring to a guardian as a parent is considered sacrilege, they take an awful lot of risks breaking the rules.

What really bothered me about the movie is I felt that apart from the original mystery of the young girl, there is not much conflict.  A lot of things just happen, they happen very poetically, but there didn’t seem to be a huge struggle.  The characters all seemed to be doing a lot rule breaking, and yet you never felt a sense of danger come about, and I think that’s why maybe a lot of people got up and left during the movie.  I particularly enjoyed the slowly building relationships between the characters, but even I had hard time with a lot of parts with the movie where it just seemed to be losing a lot of focus.  I could barely call the movie’s final act as having a climax, though it did have a rather interesting conclusion, which is where the movie brought me back slightly. 

Overall, this was a very interesting concept and I want to see what director Molina does in the future. This is a very creative attempt at sci-fi from a country that mostly deals with the dark and bleak side of life, and I like that Mr. Molina chose to focus on a positive message in a more creative way. 

BY DAY AND BY NIGHT will screen again Tuesday, April 5^th at the Magnolia at 4:00 PM. 

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