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SXSW 2021: LILY TOPPLES THE WORLD
Fun doc covers domino superstar Lily Hevesh’s journey from YouTube to The Tonight Show and beyond
Few things rival the aesthetic beauty of watching dominoes topple. The wave of sound and movement weaving through the dominoes, no matter how simplistic or complex their arrangement, is hypnotic. It’s one of the surest ways to time-travel, taking away your worries and replacing them, however briefly, with the giddiness of a child. If Jeremy Workman’s documentary Lily Topples the World featured only clips of intricate domino patterns cascading down, it would’ve been a delight. Workman and his subject, Lily Hevesh, dig deeper than that, and elevates Lily Topples the World into a crowd-pleaser with an emotional undercurrent that sweeps over viewers.
Meet Lily Hevesh, a renowned domino builder with over three million subscribers to her YouTube channel Hevesh5. She started posting videos of her awesome builds in 2013, and now she’s a 21 year-old with a budding domino empire. Well, she may get to empire status one day. But she does have her own line of dominoes, H5 Domino Creations, created specifically for toppling, and an impressive fanbase, including Hugh Jackman, Will Smith, Katy Perry, and Jimmy Fallon. While her dreams are big, for now, Lily is a friendly, charmingly enthusiastic young woman carving out her place in the world.
Lily Topples the World mixes the highs that Lily has already reached with the relatable struggles she has gone through on her journey. At the heart of the documentary is the story of someone turning their loneliness into a community. Lily, and many of the other teenaged domino builders we’re introduced to, started off as kids who found solace in being alone. While they each talk about the patience, creativity, and other skills learned from their time spent playing with dominoes, it’s the sense of self-discovery that ties this community together. For Lily, dominoes have helped her sort through issues of abandonment that started when she was born. She was born in China to parents who were hoping for a boy and, under the nation’s One Child Policy, dropped Lily off at a local orphanage. She was adopted by American parents and came to her new home without anyone even knowing her actual birthday.
Despite the harrowing story that gives the film its emotional backbone, the emphasis on our personal journeys is heartening. No matter how we navigate them individually, we are always tied up in the journeys of others. Lily Topples the World is, for the most part, an ode to finding yourself and finding a community. When we see Lily meeting fans, young and old, and bonding with them over dominoes, there’s a shared joy that is tangible. Lily Topples the World is a charming story about building themselves, and their community, one domino at a time.
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SXSW 2021: THE LOST SONS
A wild tale that earns its stranger than fiction bonafides
Ursula Macfarlane’s The Lost Sons charts one man’s journey to answer the simple question, “who am I?” For most people it’s an exercise in self-reflection. For Paul Joseph Fronczak, that question is a literal mystery disguised as a family tree enigma wrapped in a true crime riddle. Paul’s story is the kind that is so unbelievable that it could only happen in real life and can only really be presented as a true crime documentary. On the surface, the twists and turns of Paul’s story are more than enough to power Macfarlane’s film. It’s the emotional turmoil underneath the byzantine narrative that gives The Lost Sons its heart.
Back in the mid-1970s, 10 year old Paul crept into the crawlspace of his family’s home to sneak an early peek at Christmas presents. What he unwrapped instead was old newspaper clippings about a baby kidnapped in Chicago in 1964 and returned to his parents two years later. His parents refused to discuss the matter so Paul went on with his life, with this question lingering in the back of his mind. He moved around the country a bit, played in a band, and spent some time working in movies. Most notably he was a stand in for George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven and Mickey Rourke in Domino. As it always does, curiosity eventually got the best of Paul and he started down the rabbit hole of his own kidnapping. There are numerous DNA tests, long lost family members, multiple people who disappeared or were kidnapped at a young age.
The Lost Sons comes from the same production companies that released Three Identical Strangers, another documentary that deals with people digging into their past with mortifying results. The Lost Sons delivers a similarly captivating viewing experience, along with the sense of moral dubiousness that comes standard issue with true crime stories. Paul’s search necessitates exposing long-buried secrets and casting a light on people who have spent their lives in the shadows, either by choice or being unaware of what they’re caught up in. There’s a sadness that looms over The Lost Sons. It’s hard to shake. For every step that brings Paul closer to the truth, it raises new questions and upends more lives.
Macfarlane mixes reenactments, some with actors and others with the real life players, with the usual talking head segments. It’s an understandable choice, something that keeps the film from being visually static, but that dressing is unnecessary as the narrative is more than enough to hold the audience’s attention. Paul is a charismatic guy, and he holds the camera and dictates the story with the confidence of someone holding court around a campfire.
Like the best true crime docs, The Lost Sons is engaging throughout and delivers enough WTF moments that you’ll want to run out and tell someone all about it immediately. Paul’s story is worth hearing for its visceral pleasures, but it’s the overwhelming sense of sadness that stands out above all else.
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SXSW 2021: THE OXY KINGPINS
Adam McKay-produced documentary follows a lawyer taking major pharmaceutical companies to court
As a society, we certainly aren’t lacking for villains. Most of these villains are self-made: politicians, cantankerous celebrities, and other assorted public figures. Some rightfully deserve our scorn and others, well, it depends on who you ask. One of the few common enemies we can agree on forms the basis of director Brendan FitzGerald and co-director Nick August-Perna’s slickly produced documentary The Oxy Kingpins. It’s a tightly packed ball of anger, one of many in a nation that has been devastated by the ongoing opioid epidemic that has gripped the nation for the last two decades. Most of the stories about it have been about personal and societal tragedies, with few glimmers of hope.
The Oxy Kingpins is more of a mirage. It tells the story of a lawyer’s attempts to hold Big Pharma accountable for their role in the epidemic. A noble endeavor, indeed, but one that plays out less provocatively than a title like The Oxy Kingpins implies. Still, any story that details the complicity and culpability of the pharmaceutical industry is a story worth telling. For The Oxy Kingpins, that means following the lawyer leading the way on a major lawsuit, Mike Papantonio. Papantonio, who garnered the nickname “America’s Lawyer” through his legal prowess and his radio and writing work, is a calming presence in the documentary. His even-keeled demeanor is simultaneously calming and unnerving, as the facts of the case are enraging.
There’s a sense of futility that sets in as the slowness of the legal process plays out on screen. The Oxy Kingpins is only about 90 minutes long, but it’s enough to convey the inevitability that the people responsible for the opioid crisis are going to get off far lighter than the communities ravaged by their abdication of morality. That much is pretty obvious. The Oxy Kingpins also features interviews with a few people on the bottom end of the drug trade: a former drug dealer who is helping Mike build his case, and a recovering addict. These interviews prove to be the strongest parts of the documentary as it speaks to the very real human cost of the epidemic. Perhaps the strongest argument made in this documentary is how it demonstrates the core principle of trickle down economics: money flows up to the wealthy while pain and devastation trickle down. FitzGerald closes the film with text that reiterates this, describing the massive number of pills and deaths in the country, and how at each rung up the drug chain the number of people being held accountable and their consequences both dwindle.
The Oxy Kingpins reminded me of the Netflix miniseries The Pharmacist, which tells the story of one man who set out to get justice for his murdered son and ended up helping take down OxyContin suppliers in his hometown. Both stories highlight how pervasive the opioid epidemic is and how, sometimes, all we can do is fight the good fight in any way we can.
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SXSW 2021: THE FABULOUS FILIPINO BROTHERS Proves Rufio Has Grown Up
Dante Basco & his family make a messy, endearing dramedy
The Fabulous Filipino Brothers is sprawling, messy, tonally imbalanced, and not always executed with the shine of a top Hollywood production. But it’s also brimming with personality, revealing of a culture, and comes from the heart. This review will be mixed, but in the end, as the final credits rolled, there was no doubt that this film was a worthwhile creative venture for all involved and I honestly felt honored to have had a seat at the table with this fabulous Filipino family.
I pulled the trigger on this movie for the same reason that many will: “Hey, Hook’s Rufio made a movie!”. That’s perhaps reductive, but in a crowded field of SXSW titles to choose from, I was genuinely curious to see what a scripted film written/directed by/starring Dante Basco and featuring his real life brothers (and/or a whole lot of people with the last name Basco) would be like. And if I’m being totally honest, Rufio isn’t my only reference point for Basco’s career. As a die hard fan of action cinema I was pleased to see him in one of the greatest direct to video action films ever made: 2009’s Blood And Bone starring Michael Jai White. Since seeing him there, as a grown man continuing to hustle, I’ve been kind of pulling for him. But until this film and looking at his IMDb I had no idea what he was up to these days, or that he has over 130 credits to his name. Good for him, man. Here with The Fabulous Filipino Brothers, he’s got a whole other kind of beast to be proud of.
As co-writer/co-star/producer/musician/director, it’s clear that this is a passion project for which Basco was willing and able to wear many hats. I love this kind of thing in a way, when a filmmaker just does it all and goes all in on a project. There’s no doubt whatsoever that this is a family effort when you see those credits. This kind of hat-wearing can also drag a project down in some ways too, however, perhaps not giving a chance for an outsider to bring in their perspective. The Fabulous Filipino Brothers lives and dies by its family ties. By that I mean some lesser performances or less cinematic shots were probably allowed to slip by in the interest of making this a family production. I wonder if perhaps Basco could have brought in a journeyman director that could have provided a second pair of eyes while still acknowledging the Basco family vision was at the core of this film. But then, who am I to say, because just as much of the magic and irreplaceable personality of the film is allowed to seep through precisely because it’s such a family affair.
Ultimately The Fabulous Filipino Brothers is about exactly what it sounds like. Fictionalized though it may be, one gets the sense that half of these adventures and anecdotes depicted in the film are lived in experiences of the Basco clan (on screen: the Abasta clan). Eldest brother Deyo (Derek Basco) heads up the first breakaway chapter as he attempts to pull together enough money to pay for all the food at a big wedding which is the “wraparound” story supporting the various chapters focusing on each brother. It’s a largely comedic chapter as Deyo tries to explain to his Chinese wife why Filipinos are “jungle Asians” and why he has to scrape this money together to pay for the food. Unfortunately he has a bad night gambling and ends up on a wacky shady underworld scenario in which his highly religious Grandma somehow ends up in tow. It’s honestly a very funny chapter, though the acting performances aren’t all there entirely. Next we get Dante’s chapter as Duke. On a business trip to the Philippines (his first time there as a Filipino American), Duke reconnects with a high school sweetheart who had left for the Philippines after graduation. It’s romantic and the chemistry is there. Comedic relief brother David (Dionysio Basco) has the shortest and least consequential chapter in which he engages in extended and ridiculous sexual foreplay with a wedding guest that’ll have you never quite looking at a roast pig the same way again. Dionysio Basco gives perhaps the most natural performance of the four brothers even if he’s the least developed of the characters. The final chapter ties it all together with Danny Boy (Darion Basco) and his first date after years of depressed isolation due to a tragic family split years earlier. This final act and the conclusion of the wedding wraparound story really cemented for me that there was something special here. Liza Lapira as Teresa, Danny Boy’s date, is a real “late in the game” presence that enlivens the film and as Danny Boy’s heart begins to find its way in this date with Teresa, I found myself genuinely moved.
There’s personality to spare in The Fabulous Filipino Brothers. In fact I think there’s so much personality bubbling over here that this might have more success as a sitcom or series, allowing more chapters to be told, more tones to be expressed, and so on. So much of the vibe, the complicated dynamics of Filipino immigrant families in the United States, the crowded and complex relationships that form between multigenerational families all living under one or two roofs… it radiates through the film. And in the end, that energy ends up having to cover for some less stellar filmmaking in terms of performance and direction. It’s a mixed bag, but, as Teresa points out in the film, there’s “beauty in the chaos”.
And I’m Out.
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SXSW 2021: WOODLANDS DARK AND DAYS BEWITCHED
An exhaustive documentary that expands our understanding and appreciation of folk horror
There’s an old French word, Terroir. It refers to the taste and quality of a crop as imparted by the local environment. Grapes and the ensuing wine made, is a product of a place at a certain time for instance. Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched roots the terror of folk horror in it’s terroir.
The documentary begins by answering a pertinent question, what is folk horror? Origins often begin in ancient fable and myth, poems and folk songs, their persistence (or recurrence) butting against modern man. We tend to associate it with insular communities, rituals and cults, rational thought and science being overwhelmed by superstition, or structure and order giving way to disorder and madness. As it unfolds, the documentary crystalizes the folk horror concept, but a boundary is never truly put in place, as the pervasive nature of of the genre becomes apparent.
Woodlands Dark is an expansive effort, but makes efficient use of its 3 hour runtime. If you consider that to be a little daunting, there are six defined chapters that would help to break things into more digestible chunks. Kicking off (appropriately) in the British Isles, respect is paid to three seminal works that paved the way for much that followed, Michael Reeves’ Witchfinder General (1968), Piers Haggard’s Blood on Satan’s Claw (1971) and Robin Hardy’s The Wicker Man (1973). There’s also a dive into the formative works of literature by writers such as M.R. James (popularized in the BBC’s 1970s series A Ghost Story for Christmas), the contributions of filmmakers and production companies such as Hammer and Amicus, and even a tip of the hat to Doctor Who.
From this foundational work, the film superbly chronicles the global spread of the genre. Folk tales, whether horror or not, are inspired by events and traditions, perpetuated by writings and word of mouth. Stories are passed on and pop up, cultivated and informed by local traditions. Instead of pagan cults in English villages you have rural communities in America with a twisted version of Christianity (and spooky a.f. cornfields). While witchcraft is prevalent in European and New England lore, in the South, with its ties to slavery, there are more stories involving “voodoo than hoodoo”. The intent to vilify and take away power from women and people of color respectively, speaks to undertones that persist in many of these stories. A lot of British folk horror stems from the pushback of nature and the old ways, against the encroachment of industrialization and man. Around the world the effects of colonization, the displacement of cultures or assimilating them (Aboriginal or Native American for instance), has provoked similar tales, in some cases to preserve culture, and in others to protect it. Folk horror is so provocative and unnerving because it often represents a return to the old ways, or serves as a reminder of discriminatory acts on the basis of religion, sex, or race. More disturbingly, it can also be used to twist the truth, shaping our view of the past.
As it closes out, the documentary looks to the recent revival and future of folk horror, through filmmakers such as Mattie Do (Dearest Sister), Robert Eggers (The Witch), Ben Wheatley (Kill List), Ari Aster (Hereditary, Midsommar). It’s a nice reminder that these tales, rooted deep in the past, are still inspiring storytellers. A substantial proportion of folk horror movies are period films, but they don’t just reflect the time they were set, but the time in which they were made. Events big and small, global and personal, are helping them evolve, and ensure the fears they elicit continue to resonate.
Woodlands Dark is an accomplished directorial debut for Kier-La Janisse, undoubtedly well prepared for such an endeavor after serving as a programmer of Fantastic Fest, authoring House of Psychotic Women: An Autobiographical Topography of Female Neurosis in Horror and Exploitation Films, and founding the Miskatonic Institute of Horror Studies. Constructed using interviews (archival and newly recorded) with dozens of diverse filmmakers, authors, actors, and historians, with clips from over 100 films, unnerving images made all the more impactful thanks to discordant and moody score from Tim Williams (Kill List, Possessor). Evocative animations by Ashley Thorpe, along with paper collages by Guy Maddin (with Zena Grey and Brenda Rioux), provide connective material and give the film a distinct aesthetic throughout, which is all the more impressive considering some of the sights glimpsed as we run through such a cinematic history.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched is an exhaustive and eye-opening effort. Going back through decades of cinema, delving into ancient lore and fears, and crisscrossing the globe, it expands our understanding of Folk Horror, how pervasive it is, and how it has persisted in our minds. It ties together places, people and cultures, celebrating the diversity of these stories, and the storytellers who fuel their fire, adding to their legacy.
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SXSW Online 2021: Film Preview and Cinapse Team Coverage
Switching from Austin, TX to Online, the festival lines up an eclectic schedule for film fans
Just over a year ago, the best laid plans of the SXSW Film Festival were thrown into disarray by the expanding COVID19 pandemic and the necessary response our communities took to protect our own. Well they’re back, albeit in a socially distanced form with SXSW Online!
As usual, the SXSW Film team have put together an eclectic program, with 75 feature films (57 World premieres), 84 Short films, an array of episodic and music entries, a series of virtual cinema projects, and a medley of special events, all watchable from the comfort of your sofa.
As usual, the Cinapse team will be on the ground, well…logged into their online accounts, to catch the festival, and bringing you coverage of the best SXSW has to offer. Read on to hear from the team about their “most anticipated features” from the 2021 Schedule, and check back with us from March 16th for our ongoing coverage.
Jon Partridge. @Texas_Jon
The Feast: A wealthy family gathers for a dinner party with mysterious overtones, is usually enough to peak my curiosity, but a setting in the Welsh mountains secures it. The last “Welsh horror” film I saw was 2015’s The Passing, and while it didn’t deliver the scares, it was an undeniably soulful and haunting affair. There’s poetry in this land, I know I grew up there, and I’m excited to see another genre entry from my folk.
The Moogai: As you may have already sensed, I appreciate when horror stems from a place and culture. How can you not be interested when you hear the term “Aboriginal psychological horror”. This is a land and people that have been deeply scarred, and I hope this film draws deeply from that well to deliver a message amidst the scares.
Woodlands Dark and Days Bewitched: Ok fine, I like horror films, especially folk horror. A sub-genre long associated with the British Isles, but is actually far more pervasive in cinema than most might think. At over 3 hours this looks to be an exhaustive dive into the history of weird villages and outsiders, animal masks, pagan rituals, witches, and more.
Swan Song: Udo Kier plays an aging stylist who escapes his nursing home to do one last haircut for a deceased friend. How can you not be sold on that.
Eddie Strait. @eddie_strait
Sound of Violence: Alex Noyer expands his short film Conductor to feature length with Sound of Violence. It’s a horror movie about a young woman, Alexis, whose hearing issues respond to particularly grisly aural sensations. To save her hearing and chase her musical aspirations, Alexis goes to increasingly extreme lengths to record the sounds that inspire her.
Lily Topples the World: From racking up millions of subscribers on YouTube to appearing on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Lily Hevesh has made quite a name for herself. How did this 20 year old do it? Easy, by building some of the most intricate domino designs you’ve ever seen. If no less than Hugh Jackman felt compelled to tweet out one of Lily’s videos, surely there must be something here worth seeing.
The Lost Sons : This twisty documentary tells the story of Paul Fronczak, a man searching for the truth about his identity. It’s a mystery that has spanned over 50 years, from the kidnapping of a baby in Chicago in 1964 to finding long lost family members in the 2010s. The Lost Sons comes from the same production companies that released the similarly wild Three Identical Strangers, and is a must-see for fans of stranger than fiction stories.
Ed Travis. @Ed_Travis
The Spine Of Night: I love a good sword and sorcery tale steeped in deep magic, savagery, and a tinge of heavy metal aesthetic. Make it animated via rotoscope and I’m just about as curious as I could possibly be. Then add on top of that a cast of great voice actors like Richard E. Grant, Lucy Lawless, Patton Oswalt, and Joe Manganiello, and this becomes my most anticipated of the fest this year.
I’m Fine (Thanks For Asking): I know most films are racing to even get completed in time for the festival, but it really helps me when there’s a trailer. I also work in the world mitigating homelessness, so a story about a resourceful young mother dealing with trying to pull her and her daughter out of homelessness amidst our very broken system suggests a film I’ll likely connect with in a personal way.
The Oxy Kingpins: Again with a personal connection for why I’m anticipating this title, but my wife just joined the staff of a non-profit which is seeking to end substance use disorder by challenging the federal laws that have contributed to the opioid epidemic. I’m in a place where I want to learn everything I can about this tragedy and the white collar criminals who perpetrated it.
WeWork: or the Making and Breaking of a $47 Billion Unicorn: Having already listened to an entire podcast about WeWork and its false corporate messiah Adam Neumann (that podcast being WeCrashed), I’m nevertheless eager to learn more about this cautionary tale of greed and the false promises of the tech world to solve all of our real world problems.
Witch Hunt: A modern day alternate reality where witches are both real and persecuted… and it’s written and directed by a female filmmaker? Yes please. I love a good alternate reality tale and at this point I really need to be hearing from female filmmakers if it’s going to try to be a relevant modern take on witches. If this brings a female-driven X-Men vibe, I’ll be extremely pleased.
How to Attend
Join us for SXSW Online, a digital experience featuring conference keynotes and sessions, film screenings, music showcases, networking, exhibitions, and more from March 16–20, 2021. With one pass that covers the entire event, attendees can take in programming and connect with others across the many industries that SX serves. The Film Festival includes exclusive Premieres, Screenings, and Q&As.
From Tuesday, March 16 to Thursday, March 18, the Film Festival will premiere new work every two hours from 10:00am to 8:00pm CT during SXSW Online 2021. Learn more about How to Watch Films at SXSW Online 2021 including global and U.S. access, capacity limits, and advance RSVP beginning March 9.
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FILMWORKER is a Testament to the Unsung Heroes of Classic Cinema
Tony Zierra’s documentary about longtime Kubrick confidante Leon Vitali is a moving tribute to one man’s devotion to another man’s vision
Filmworker delves into decades of archival footage and oral histories provided by Leon Vitali, who went from a rising star in British TV and stage to a supporting player in Stanley Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon. Upon meeting the director, Vitali turned his ambitions to behind the camera–becoming one of Kubrick’s trusted confidants through the rest of the director’s life. From The Shining all the way to Eyes Wide Shut and beyond, Filmworker is as much a story of one man’s devotion to his hero as it is to the movies they created together. It also laboriously documents decades’ worth of immense sacrifice — from a promising acting career to endless amounts of sleep, health, and sanity. As dedicated “filmworker” for Stanley Kubrick, Leon Vitali remarks on how people would give their right arm to work for the celebrated director, he muses that Kubrick would reply, “You’re lowballing me — just the right arm?”
Featuring a king’s ransom of archival footage, personal notes, and interviews with major stars both living and departed, Filmworker has the kind of access that film lovers dream of and filmmakers greatly envy. Anecdotes from Vitali are corroborated and heightened throughout by R. Lee Ermey, Matthew Modine, Ryan O’Neal, Stellan Skarsgård, and Danny Lloyd, as well as Vitali’s copious journals of on-set requests and demands across all of Kubrick’s films, which brought him in contact with studio higher-ups and industry heads all over the globe. What’s most impressive in Filmworker isn’t the breadth of work that Vitali assisted Kubrick on — it’s the near-superhuman stamina that Vitali had as just one person. I mean, here’s the guy who’d test thousands of children to find Danny Torrance and the Grady twins in The Shining, moved on to sound-effect foley and artillery cataloguing for Full Metal Jacket, played multiple masked roles in Eyes Wide Shut, and on to every single bit of detail checks and restorations for Kubrick’s filmography on home video even after Kubrick had long since passed away. And that’s when Vitali wasn’t accounting for the logistics of so many other aspects of the filmmaker’s creative process.
But even as the unimaginable stress seems to have taken its toll on him through the years, Vitali never has a feeling of ill will towards the man — rather, Vitali is as much of a Kubrick fan as the director’s biggest die-hard devotees. Vitali relishes every aspect of the filmmaking experience–even the ones that others in the industry never gave a second thought about (trailer dubbing edits, home video release margins and store displays, etc.). There’s an endless fascination at the core of Vitali, one that compliments his powerful zen-like ethos of satisfaction in the journey of the creative process rather than any of its end results.
Complimented by their release of Bob Evans documentary The Kid Stays in the Picture, Kino Lorber’s release of Filmworker hits Blu-ray in an impressive package for Kubrick and cinema lovers alike.
VIDEO/AUDIO
Kino Lorber’s release of Filmworker is presented in a 1080p HD transfer in its original 1.78:1 aspect ratio, accompanied by a 5.1-Channel DTS-HD master audio track as well as a 2.0 stereo track. English subtitles are provided solely for the main feature.
The combination of media featured in Filmworker is presented as crisply as possible, with a clear digital definition to present-day interviews, and a healthy film grain to Vitali’s collection of behind-the-scenes materials. Some digital artifacting is present in some archival footage, but such imperfections are negligible — especially in the context of the film’s journey of a man whose perfectionism was necessary to the success of his work. Almost as if the reason why some footage looks better than others is due to Vitali’s own diligence — and other filmmakers suffer from his absence as a result.
SPECIAL FEATURES
- Q&A with Leon Vitali and Director Tony Zierra: A short yet informal Q&A between Filmworker’s director and subject discussing the origins of the documentary and the gradual building of trust for Leon to candidly share his memories of working with Kubrick.
- Trailers for Filmworker and The Kid Stays in the Picture.
Filmworker is now available on Blu-ray and DVD courtesy of Kino Lorber.
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TAFFIN: Pierce Brosnan IS an Intellectual & Righteous Debt Collecting Lone Hero
Kino Lorber releases a charming Blu-ray
Ahh yes, your classic principled, intellectual, friendly local… debt collector for hire?
At once highly improbable and almost inevitable, Taffin (1988) is like if you rolled the “airport paperback action novel” dice a few times and came up with the above sentence. There’s even a sort of 1980s adventure film subgenre based around “saving the community center” which Taffin conveniently falls into as well. It’s an entirely familiar kind of lone hero action movie that goes down easy, feels entirely satisfying, and revels in its few eccentricities.
Living in his small hometown village in Ireland, Taffin is at once revered and dismissed by the locals. When his “particular set of skills” are needed, folks will come calling, asking for his help to collect on debts with his unique blend of smarts and hard boiled toughness. He can get things done — his way. The script for Taffin (David Ambrose of The Final Countdown and D.A.R.Y.L. fame) ensures that most of the people hiring Taffin for collection gigs are righteous in their motivations, casting him as a hero. But when things are peaceful the town folk are loathe to associate with the man who is as much a weapon as he is a fellow citizen. And so the stage is set for a reluctant hero with a chip or two on his shoulder to square off against the wealthy elites who are conspiring behind ornamented manor gates to build a chemical plant right on top of the beloved athletic field in town. Taffin is the kind of movie where stuffy rich villains stand around a large scale model of a chemical plant and laugh villainously about how they’re going to profit off the local suckers.
As Taffin gets further caught up in the larger conspiracy unfurling in the town, he’s swept up in a pretty convincing love affair with The Last Crusade’s Alison Doody as Charlotte. I note how convincing this love affair is because part of the charm of Taffin is just how stunningly beautiful these two human beings are. As handsome as I’ve always believed Pierce Brosnan to be, he’s perhaps his most dashing here in glorious high definition. I mean… you can even see his freckles. And obviously he wears a leather jacket and rocks a pierced ear. Doody’s character, as was unfortunately prominent in 1980s storytelling, exists really only to further Taffin’s character development. But she’s suitably tough, independent, and drop dead gorgeous. Taffin isn’t a terribly deep film, so forgive me simply enjoying beautiful people looking beautiful.
The big character arc playing out amidst Taffin’s inevitable outsmarting of all the bad guys trying to build over the football pitch is his acceptance that he’s meant to be so much more than just a local debt collector. Everyone around him who cares about him seems really dedicated to pushing Taffin to be a bigger man. This is largely Charlotte’s only narrative function in the film, unfortunately, but there’s also a former teacher of Taffin’s who is interested in sparring intellectually with his former student in order to show the audience how learned our hero truly is.
There’s nothing particularly challenging or complex about Taffin, but it all goes down so smoothly and satisfyingly. It feels exactly like reading a Jack Reacher novel, where you know the hero is going to come out on top, and you know the villains are underestimating our hero, and that’s all part of the fun. While reinventing nothing, Taffin nevertheless manages to be a film I would gladly have welcomed as a trilogy or series of films, had things gone differently. It is apparently adapted from a series of novels, after all (by Lyndon Mallet). If cheering for an impossibly handsome hero to beat the bad guys at their own game and ride off into the sunset with the girl is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.
And I’m Out.
Taffin hits Blu-ray from Kino Lorber on March 16th, 2021.
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THE FATHER is a Disorienting and Visceral Depiction of Dementia
Anthony Hopkins leads a stellar ensemble in Florian Zeller’s adaptation of his award-winning stage play
Adapted from his award-winning French play, Florian Zeller’s feature debut The Father follows elderly Anthony (Anthony Hopkins) as he struggles to adapt to a domestic life that seemingly changes in an instant. His daughter, Anne (Olivia Colman), struggles to break the news that she’s found love — and that she plans to cross the English Channel to Paris for good. Her departure means someone else must care for Anthony in her absence — another in a long line of carers he’s somehow scared off. Around a corner, Anthony’s confronted by a man (Mark Gatiss) who claims to be Anne’s husband, and that Anthony’s lifelong flat is actually his. Anne steps in to remedy the situation — but she’s changed into someone else (Olivia Williams). Before Anthony knows it, so has Anne’s husband (Rufus Sewell), and before long, another carer (Imogen Poots) enters Anthony’s life. The flat grows increasingly unrecognizable — and, before too long, so does Anthony’s grasp on reality.
Films about dementia often split their focus between those who are afflicted with it and those who are affected by it. While featuring both roles may make for an impressive actors’ showcase, the end result can be somewhat polarizing. Dementia is an intensely personal disease — one that strips its sufferers of memory, attachment, and identity. Yet films like Amour, Still Alice, and Away From Her (as great as they may be in many other respects) feel like they do the stripping themselves — utilizing characters with Alzheimer’s or dementia who begin fully fleshed out, only to disintegrate into their condition. It’s an effective way to dramatize the effects of these conditions, but one that takes an all-too-literal approach that fosters an uncomfortable marriage between depersonalization and dehumanization.
Zeller’s film, however, takes a refreshing and sobering opposite approach. Rivetingly grounded in Anthony’s perspective through its entire runtime, The Father creates an unpredictable and unreliable world out of what should be familiar territory through practical innovations in cinematography, editing, and production design. The shifts in Anthony’s flat range from slight to profound — from shifts in furniture fabric and the positioning of wall sconces, to the arrangement of a room’s furniture, and even the location of rooms themselves in the flat. Objects shift and change from cut to cut, making Anthony’s world feel increasingly intangible amidst these plentiful details. And for all its unpredictable permutations, the world remains frustratingly familiar to Anthony and his audience–for Zeller’s film, it’s an incredibly visceral visual shorthand for the experience of dementia.
The film’s screenplay, adapted by Zeller and Christopher Hampton, works hand-in-hand with stellar editing by Yorgos Lamprinos to transform an already-lauded stage play into a film that’s as tightly-paced as much as it is a fluid and disorienting blur. Many of The Father’s scenes have an elusive elliptical quality, either circling back to where they began or shifting conflicts so often we aren’t sure where to target our emotions. It’s contradictory in one moment and wildly self-referential the next. One incredible scene is an ouroboros of fraught familial drama that somehow folds in on itself, shifting its beginning, middle, and end in an invisible shell game of writing and editing. Anthony’s reactionary disbelief and anger throughout can’t help but evoke our own.
And yet, there’s still faint glimmers of consistency where we can divulge more information about what might really be “going on.” These little nuggets of truth create something of a puzzle narrative out of The Father — but one whose surprises only further underscore the multiple tragedies at the heart of Anthony’s story.
Our other consistent anchors in the film are the performances by The Father’s terrific ensemble. Regardless of which role they play, Olivia Colman and Olivia Williams are wonderful as daughters who are forced into unwanted positions of care for their father — as is Rufus Sewell, who plays his palpable frustration as a tempting yet ultimately heartless emotion to give into in this situation. At the center, of course, is Anthony Hopkins — in a film whose circumstances are ever-volatile, he remains our deeply empathetic emotional surrogate. His Anthony refuses any semblance of depersonalization or even victimhood, even as whatever remains familiar fumbles increasingly out of reach. We never lose sight of Anthony’s sense of personality or identity — instead, it’s the world that’s becoming nightmarish and unbearable. It’s a rare, terrifying, and desperately needed shift in perspective when it comes to depicting dementia on film, one that Hopkins dedicates himself to with a trademark unflinching gravitas and humility.
As much of a disquieting horror film as it is a deeply-felt drama, The Father finds an inherent, disturbingly cinematic vehicle out of its protagonist’s psychological instability — yet never at the cost of Anthony’s dignity or sense of identity.
The Father opens in theaters on March 12th courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
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STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT: Sylvester Stallone & Estelle Getty Deliver Comedic Chemistry
Unsure why this one was so critically derided
A refreshing reminder that sometimes movies can be everything they need to be by offering nothing more than a hairbrained setup or a particularly delicious cast pairing, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot delivers exactly what it promises, and delightfully so. Sylvester Stallone plays Joe Bomowski, a variant of Stallone’s onscreen personae from many films past: A tough bachelor cop with a case to crack. Estelle Getty plays a variant of her onscreen personae: a charming and overbearing old lady. The comedy gold of Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot is wrung out of the disperate pairing of these two icons (you just wouldn’t expect to see these two together in a film), and the genuine comedic chemistry and timing the two performers have together as drawn out by director Roger Spottiswood.
It is not lost on me that, as of this writing some 30 years after the film’s release, Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot sits at a painful 7% on Rotten Tomatoes, making my reaction to the film a major outlier. Perhaps my unapologetic love for Sylvester Stallone, or the fact that I didn’t have to shell out fifty bucks to schlep the whole family to the theater to see the film, colors my perception. (Though a recent first time watch of Stallone’s equally derided Rhinestone had me siding with the masses). But in this case I just can’t understand what critics and audiences wanted from a film called Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot starring Sylvester Stallone and Estelle Getty. I guess if the premise or the casting or the genre just really aren’t your thing, that’s understandable. But if you WANT to see a movie such as this, my sense is that it absolutely delivers everything a far out action comedy promises.
I’ve always believed that Stallone is underappreciated as a comedic talent. And Joe Bomowski’s put-upon tough guy act is actually loaded with examples of Stallone’s ability to emote humorously. And then there’s the matter of comedic timing (some of which can be magnified by a great editor, I’m sure), and I felt that Stallone and Getty had a remarkable chemistry and timing that genuinely had me guffawing at a few key interchanges. Getty, known for her comedy, also manages to defy expectations here by being somewhat sweet at times, not to mention capable. Part of the comedy is wrung out of the fact that Joe is entirely flummoxed by how much everyone ELSE absolutely loves his mom, and how her maternal instincts end up cracking the case wide open. Getty charmed me start to finish in this, rather than being the butt of the joke.
I will say that I’m quite certain there were times when I was laughing that maybe the film itself didn’t intend for me to laugh. But if I’m being entertained by the sheer ridiculousness of this film, I’m not sure it matters if my entertainment is a result of the film’s intentions or if it’s at the expense of the film. Either way, I’m entertained. Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot’s script (Blake Snyder, William Osbourne, William Davies) follows the classic structure of a romantic comedy, only swapping out the female romantic interest for the overbearing mom. This results in a scene where the duo almost “break up” and Getty’s Tutti (perfect name) is being whisked away on an airport golf cart as Stallone is chasing her down and shouting “I want you to stay” with music swelling and the whole nine yards. Reader, I cackled.
The big gamble of banking an entire film on chemistry and a wacky premise is that if the audience doesn’t bite, you’ve lost them. Clearly Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot took that gamble and, at least in 1992, lost. History hasn’t been kind to this film. And if I put myself in the shoes of that audience, I could understand that if you aren’t enjoying the bickering and co-dependency between Joe and Tutti… this film could be a slog. And while the action film tropes are all there, the big case isn’t the most engaging in cop movie history.
But I appreciated the action movie trappings and the skewering of Stallone’s other classic cop characters anywhere from Cobra to Demolition Man (yes, I’m aware this came after S!OMMWS) to Nighthawks. I’m given the opportunity to imagine what it would be like if Estelle Getty were to come wandering into any of those tough guy films throwing a wrench into the works. And I just find that gag endlessly humorous. So thanks, creative team behind Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. You all put yourselves out there, swung for the fences with a ridiculous concept, and you no doubt took a lot of lickings when the film was largely rejected. But it’s still around, now in glorious high definition Blu-ray, and it found a new fan in me here in the year of our lord 2021.
And I’m Out.
Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot hit Blu-ray 03/09/2021 from Mill Creek Entertainment.
