The Boys in Red Hats

Movies to See Right Now

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Photo caption: Sly Stone in SUMMER OF SOUL (…OR, WHEN THE REVOLUTION COULD NOT BE TELEVISED)

This week, the best film in theaters is still Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). And there’s a long-lost Argentine masterpiece coming up on TCM.

IN THEATERS

Mama Weed: In this French comic thriller, a woman (Isabelle Huppert) embraces an increasingly bizarre and risky plan.  Mama Weed starts out droll and blossoms into madcap.

The Boys in Red Hats: A documentarian’s point of view shifts as he peels back the onion on a social media frenzy. It comes down to insights into media, social media and, especially, White privilege. I screened The Boys in Red Hats for its world premiere at Cinequest,. Now it’s in theaters and also streaming on Virtual Cinema.

Also in theaters:

ON VIDEO

The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:

  • Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. It’s the year’s best movie so far. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube.
  • No Sudden Move: Steven Soderbergh’s neo-noir thriller has even more double-crosses than movie stars – and it has plenty of movie stars. HBO Max.
  • Slow Machine: incomprehensibly engrossing. At Laemmle now and coming to the Roxie.
  • The Courier: amateur among spies. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and redbox.
  • Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation: Two gay Southern geniuses, revealing themselves. Laemmle..
  • My Name Is Bulger: Two brothers, two paths to power. discovery+.
  • About Endlessness: Damned if I know. Streaming on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Bad Tales: perhaps too dark. Virtual Cinema, including Laemmle.
  • Brewmance: barley, hops, yeast and underdogs. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play .
  • Hamlet/Horatio: More tragedy, less angst. Amazon, AppleTV, Google Play..
  • Louder Than Bombs: An intricately constructed family drama. Amazon (included with Prime), Vudu and YouTube.
  • That Guy Dick Miller: Putting the “character” in “character actor:” Amazon (included with Prime).
  • Sword of Trust: comedy and so, so much more. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • Run Lola Run: you’ll never see a more kinetic movie. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
  • The Face of Love: Who is she really in love with? Amazon.
  • Augustine: obsession, passion and the birth of a science. Amazon (included with Prime), AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

ON TV

Don’t miss the once-lost Argentine film noir masteriece Bitter Stems (Los tallos amargos). On Turner CLassic Movies on Saturday night and Sunday morning on TCM’s Noir Alley.

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Vassili Lambrinos and Carlos Cores in BITTER STEMS

THE BOYS IN RED HATS: Rorschach America

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THE BOYS IN RED HATS. Photo courtesy of Shark Dog Films.

Remember the resulting frenzy when the Kentucky prep school boy at the Lincoln Memorial smirked at the indigenous tribal elder? Documentarian Jonathan Schroder is an alum of that very prep school – Covington Catholic or “CovCath”. In The Boys in Red Hats, his point of view shifts as he peels back the onion on what really happened. It comes down to insights into media, social media and, especially, White privilege.

Like most of us, Schroder was initially outraged at the boys; as more facts emerged, he became sympathetic to what seemed like mistreatment of the boys in social media. Don’t give up on this movie as a whitewash – as the story gets more complicated and Schroder becomes more reflective, his needle sways back and forth until the final payoff.

This was a Rorschach event at the Lincoln Memorial. One thing is for sure, these privileged kids and their chaperones, confronted by a crazy hate group (Black Hebrew Israelites), were unequipped to deal with a momentary convergence of disorder and diversity.

To put my own cards on the table, I am not disposed to sympathize with rich kids who were comfortable in being shipped to an anti-choice rally, wearing MAGA hats. In The Boys in Red Hats, the journalist Anne Branigan’s perspective most resonated with me.

Schroder gives plenty of rope to a professional conservative talking head, two CovCath dads and the school’s alumni director, none of whom display a modicum of sensitivity or empathy to those less rich, less white or less male than they.

Schroder sees the significance when one of his CovCath buddies says, “I like my bubble”. I screened The Boys in Red Hats for its world premiere at Cinequest, and it made my Best of Cinequest 2021.

The best of CINEQUEST 2021

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Aviva Armour-Ostroff (left) in LUNE, world premiere at Cinequest. Photo credit: Samantha Falco.

I’ve already seen over a dozen offerings from Cinequest 2021, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Full reviews are on the way.

MUST SEE

  • Lune: The Must See in this year’s Cinequest is this astonishingly authentic exploration of bipolar disorder. A mother and teen daughter must navigate the impacts of the mom’s illness. Played by writer and co-director Aviva Armour-Ostroff, the mom Miriam is the most singular movie character I’ve seen recently. Miriam’s streams of manic speech have the rhythm of poetry. Don’t miss this Canadian indie. World premiere.

THRILLERS

Michaella Russell in ECHOES OF VIOLENCE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
  • Echoes of Violence: In this well-crafted revenge thriller, a woman enlists an Everyman to help her escape a deadly hit man. Loyalties change and lethal new skills (and a novelty weapon) are revealed as her position pivots from defense to offense. World premiere.
  • Carver: In the wee hours, a guy strides through his gritty urban neighborhood dressed in a ridiculous, homemade superhero costume. He has no super powers except his drive to make things right, vigilante-style. A sexy, stoned woman of uncertain reliability engages his interest. Will she bring him down? World premiere.

DOCUMENTARY

THE BOYS IN RED HATS. Photo courtesy of Shark Dog Films.
  • The Boys in the Red Hats: Remember the Rorschach frenzy when the Kentucky prep school boy at the Lincoln Memorial smirked at the indigenous tribal elder? Documentarian Jonathan Schroder is an alum of that very prep school; his point of view shifts as he peels back the onion on what really happened. It comes down to insights into media, social media and, especially, White privilege. World premiere.
  • Atomic Cover-up: Japanese and American film crews documented the destruction from the atomic bombs that destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These films were suppressed by the Japanese, and then the US military. The films have now escaped the censors and are seen in Atomic Cover-up with the testimonies of the original Japanese and American cameramen. As told matter-of-factly by the men who captured these images, it’s a great story. World premiere.
  • I’m an Electric Lampshade: We meet the most improbable rock star – a mild-mannered accountant who retires to pursue his dream of performing. The final score: Doug 1, Expectations 0. World premiere.

INDIES

  • End of Everything: Here’s a powerful thinkpiece – the “End” in the title means, literally, the end of the world. Set in a future where climate change has made the human extinction imminent, the story imagines how people would react as the very end nears. More profound than grim, End of Everything takes the sensationalism out of the apocalypse and leaves the humanity. Set in the stark beauty of Iceland, this is a visual stunner.

WORLD CINEMA

IN THE SHADOWS from Turkey: North American premiere at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
  • In the Shadows: The charismatic actor Numan Acar (Homeland) leads us through this gripping dystopian fable. If you admired the 1984 Super Bowl Commercial Introducing Apple’s Macintosh, you’ll like this Turkish film. North American premiere.

COMEDY

Justin Kirk and Jennifer Prediger in HOLLYWOOD FRINGE. Photo courtesy of Sleeper Cell Films.
  • Hollywood Fringe: Filmmakers Megan Huber and Wyatt McDill return to Cinequest with a change of pace from last year’s inventively constructed thriller 3 Day Weekend. Hollywood Fringe is about a married couple of hopeful creatives. They have been pitching their projects to Hollywood execs in futility; (she’s turned forty and her mom still helps with their rent). Popular interest in their experimental theater performances has been (ahem) limited. They give themselves one last chance to make it – but when a studio buys their idea for a series, things don’t go as planned…

AND FOUR I HAVEN’T SEEN YET

  • Death of a Ladies’ Man: With a brain tumor starting to cause hallucinations, a professor (Gabriel Byrne) relocates to an Irish village. With Jessica Pare (Mad Man) and Brian Gleeson. US premiere.
  • Six Minutes to Midnight: WWII espionage suspenser with Dame Judy Dench and Eddie Izzard trying to frustrate a Nazi plot.
  • Drunk Bus: Young slacker is stuck driving the shuttle between college town bars and the dorms until he is mentored by a 300-pound Samoan security guy with facial tattoos. This was a hit at the 2020 SXSW.
  • Summertime: Directed by Carlos Lopez Estrada (Blindspotting), this comedy revolves around 25 characters intersecting on one hot Los Angeles day – and making poetry.

Stream these films for as little as $3.99 each at Cinequest’s online Cinejoy.

As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) about thirty Cinequest films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitter for the latest.

CARVER: world premiere at Cinequest, Photo courtesy of Select Films.