Not everyone experiences love in the same way, and the SLO Film Fest has curated a program of short films that reflect that diversity. The five films, which total 76 minutes, are:
A Real One: As different as night and day, Lauren and Keisha, two 17-year-old girls entering their final weeks of senior year, stand on the cusp of adulthood when Lauren is forced to reveal a secret that threatens their lifelong friendship.
Dear Mama…: Set in the 1990s in South LA, a family grieves a recent loss and is forced to confront the emotional aftermath of their own tragedy before taking the first steps to heal.
Jahleel & Star: In an intimate portrayal of the effects incarceration has on families, two siblings travel to see their father in prison. World Premiere.
The Marigolds Listen: With a shift in perspective, the filmmaker takes on the point of view of a bouquet of flowers that thrives or wilts in reaction to a couple’s relationship.
We Were Meant to: In a world where Black men have wings and their first flight is a rite of passage, Akil must defy his own fears, insecurities, and societal barriers while discovering his perfect launch into manhood.
The moderated in-person screening is sponsored by the City of San Luis Obispo. Before the screening, R.A.C.E. Matters SLO is hosting a brunch mixer with appetizers, bubbles, and exciting updates.
The $30 brunch begins at 10:30 AM at Saint’s Barrel; purchase brunch tickets here. The film program, which is free, starts at 1 PM at the Fremont; register for the free screening here.
Here’s tonight’s Oscar Dinner, with dishes inspired by each of the Best Picture nominees.. Clockwise from lower left:
Peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich, grilled in butter for Elvis: Had to go with Elvis’ favorite comfort food; it can’t be any worse than the Baz Luhrman movie. I actually ate this sandwich, which I later determined was unwise.
Fruit Loops, with a cell phone on the table from Top Gun: Maverick: When Maverick staggers into a rural diner after electing from his test flight, the kid is eating Fruit Loops. And Maverick has to buy a round at the bar because he puts his cell phone on the bar. BTW the diner is director Joseph Kosinski’s reference to Cecil’s Cafe, a beloved, now defunct, diner in his hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa.
Severed finger ice sculpture and Guinness Stout forThe Banshees of Inisherin. Colm and Pádraic shared pints of Guinness every day until Colm started thunking his fingers on Pádraic’s front door. We tried floating the fingers in the Guinness, but it was a failure.
Applesauce for Women Talking: A kid is given a dose of medicine in applesauce. And it just seemed like a Mennonite kind of thing.
Everything bagel from Everything Everywhere All at Once: It’s obvious. And we could have gone with hot dog fingers, Chinese noodles or birthday goodies.
Blueberry shrub for Avatar: the Way of Water: We’re prompted by the vivid color palette, and we’re not alone. Avatar: The Way of Water has spawned a food experience with its own Satu’li Canteen at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park. The Ocean Moon Bowl, for example, is made with tuna, blue noodles, watermelon radish, pickled daikon, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumbers and red cabbage with a miso and sweet soy drizzle.
Nutella from Triangle of Sadness: One of the film’s wry jokes is the express delivery to the luxury yacht of what must surely be something exquisite, and it turns out to be Nutella, Europe’s least magical food item.
Roast goose wing from All Quiet on the Western Front: Paul’s squad steals a goose from a farm near their trench and enjoy a rare moment of culinary bliss.
German macaroni (käsespätzle) and endive salad for Tar: We used an Austrian recipe from The Wife’s family. And Lydia Tar would want a bougie salad like this endive salad with apples and pecans.
Scrambled eggs from The Fabelmans: In an emotionally loaded kitchen encounter, Sammy’s mom Mitzi distractedly messes up the eggs (but Sammy eats them anyway).
The Movie Gourmet’s culinary tribute to 127 HOURS and WINTER’S BONE
Every year, The Wife and I watch the Oscars while enjoying a meal inspired by the Best Picture nominees. For example, we had sushi for Lost in Translation, cowboy campfire beans for Brokeback Mountain and Grandma Ethel’s Brisket for A Serious Man – you get the idea. Here’s the 2022 Oscar Dinner, complete with the licorice pizza.
The high point has been the Severed Hands Ice Sculpture in 2011 for 127 Hours and Winter’s Bone (photo above). The Wife is building on that earlier work with more ice sculpture – the severed fingers from The Banshees of Inisherin.
Here is this year’s complete menu:
Severed finger ice sculpture and Guinness Stout forThe Banshees of Inisherin. Colm and Pádraic shared pints of Guinness every day until Colm started thunking his fingers on Pádraic’s front door.
Everything bagel from Everything Everywhere All at Once: It’s obvious. And we could have gone with hot dog fingers, Chinese noodles or birthday goodies.
German macaroni (käsespätzle) and endive salad for Tar: We’re using an Austrian recipe from The Wife’s family. And Lydia Tar would want a bougie salad.
Peanut butter, bacon and banana sandwich, grilled in butter for Elvis: Had to go with Elvis’ favorite comfort food; it can’t be any worse than the Baz Luhrman movie.
Roast goose wing from All Quiet on the Western Front: Paul’s squad steals a goose from a farm near their trench and enjoy a rare moment of culinary bliss.
Fruit Loops, with a cell phone on the table from Top Gun: Maverick: When Maverick staggers into a rural diner after electing from his test flight, the kid is eating Fruit Loops. And Maverick has to buy a round at the bar because he puts his cell phone on the bar. BTW the diner is director Joseph Kosinski’s reference to Cecil’s Cafe, a beloved, now defunct, diner in his hometown of Marshalltown, Iowa.
Blueberry shrub for Avatar: the Way of Water: We’re prompted by the vivid color palette, and we’re not alone. Avatar: The Way of Water has spawned a food experience with its own Satu’li Canteen at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Park. The Ocean Moon Bowl, for example, is made with tuna, blue noodles, watermelon radish, pickled daikon, rainbow carrots, avocado, cucumbers and red cabbage with a miso and sweet soy drizzle.
Scrambled eggs from The Fabelmans: In an emotionally loaded kitchen encounter, Sammy’s mom Mitzi distractedly messes up the eggs (but Sammy eats them anyway).
Applesauce for Women Talking: Just seemed like a Mennonite kind of thing.
Nutella from Triangle of Sadness: One of the film’s wry jokes is the express delivery to the luxury yacht of what must surely be something exquisite, and it turns out to be Nutella, Europe’s least magical food item.
Jerry Hsu in STARRING JERRY AS HIMSELF. Courtesy of Slamdance.
It’s time for the 29th Slamdance Film Festival, which is all about discovering new filmmakers and unveiling their work. It’s a hybrid festival with events in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah from January 20th to 26th and online on the Slamdance Channel from January 23rd to 29th. All Slamdance feature films selected in the competition categories are directorial debuts without U.S. distribution, with budgets of less than $1 million. The 35 features in this year’s program were selected from 1,522 submissions.
Slamdance was founded in 1995 by filmmakers reacting to the gatekeeper role and growing marketplace focus of a nearby film festival with a similar name. Whenever I cover a film festival, I’m on the lookout for first films and world premieres – and here’s a festival essentially entirely made up of first films and world premieres.
My favorite film from last year’s Nashville Film Festival, Hannah Ha Ha, was a Slamdance film. Slamdance alumni include: Christopher Nolan (Memento,Dunkirk), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite), Benh Zeitlin (Beasts of the Southern Wild), Jeremy Saulnier (Blue Ruin, Green Room), Lynn Shelton (Outside In,Sword of Truth), Sean Baker (The Florida Project, Tangerine), Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Brick), Benny & Josh Safdie (Uncut Gems) and the Russo Brothers (Avengers: Infinity War).
MOTEL DRIVE. Courtesy of Slamdance.
MUST SEE
Here are four films from the 2023 Slamdance program that you shouldn’t miss. Each features at least one original and fresh element:
Starring Jerry as Himself: A Florida senior sees himself recruited as an operative by Chinese police. The story is told in a re-enactment with the subject playing himself. We later learn why the filmmakers chose re-enactment, and what could have been a conventional true crime exposé or a weeper is illuminated by the subject family’s humanity. First Feature for director Law Chen. World premiere on January 21. Slamdance documentary competition.
Motel Drive: This searing cinéma vérité documentary chronicles years in a clump of downtrodden motels inhabited by prostitutes, sex offenders and the otherwise homeless, including over 150 children, with their mostly meth-addicted parents. One family’s compelling journey is a roller coaster ride of poverty, recovery, unexpected good fortune, relapse and redemption. First Feature for director Brendan Geraghty. World premiere on January 22. Slamdance documentary competition. Documentary subject Justin Shaw is slated to appear on the Slamdance red carpet for Motel Drive’s world premiere, and I couldn’t be happier that this young man will get the red carpet experience.
Where the Road Leads: This drama opens with a very long single shot of the protagonist running, in and out and all around a remote Serbian village. Is she running away from something or toward something? The film’s construction makes it more powerful, with the pivotal beginning of the story revealed at the end of the film. First Feature for director Nina Ognjanović. World premiere on January 22. Slamdance narrative feature competition.
Sexual Healing: This Dutch documentary is in Slamdance’s Unstoppable category, a “showcase of films made by filmmakers with visible and non-visible disabilities”. A 53-year-old woman, afflicted from birth with spasticity needs assistance to live independently and has ever enjoyed sexual fulfillment. Now’s she’s curious, and Sexual Healing follows her quest with sensitivity, gentle naughty humor and taste. Second feature for director Elsbeth Fraanje. US premiere on January 23.
Jana Bjelica in WHERE THE ROAD LEADS. Courtesy of Slamdance.
I’ve already screened a bunch of 2023 Slamdance films, and I’ll be publishing reviews as the films enjoy their in-person premieres in Utah and as I catch up with more of the program.
Remember, even if you don’t travel to Utah, you can sample these films on the Slamdance Channel from January 23rd to 29th. All Slamdance titles will available on the Slamdance Channel, which can be accessed on Roku, Amazon Fire Stick, and Apple TV for $7.99 per month.
The Noir City film fest, always one of the best Bay Area cinema experiences, returns IN-PERSON January 20-29, 2023 at the Grand Lake Theater in Oakland – and for the first time since the 2020 pandemic – for its traditional full ten days.
Noir City is the annual festival of the Film Noir Foundation, spearheaded by its founder and president Eddie Muller. The Foundation preserves movies from the traditional noir period that would otherwise be lost. Noir City often plays newly restored films and hard-to-find movies.
Past Noir City fests have been built around themes, like international noir and heist cinema. In this year’s fest, all of the films were released in 1948. As an audience, we get to sample films from peak year in the Noir Era and appreciate film noir as a distinct movement within American filmmaking.
These titles from this year’s Noir City program are NOT available to stream, so Noir City is your best chance to see them:
Larceny,
The Spiritualist,
Road House,
So Evil My Love,
Sleep, My Love,
The Hunted,
I Love Trouble,
Night Has a Thousand Eyes,
All My Sons,
The Velvet Touch,
Kiss the Blood Off My Hands, (my favorite title this year).
Richard Basehart in HE WALKED BY NIGHT
If you can make it for just one night, I’d recommend one of these four:
Friday, January 20 (Opening Night): Two classics that are famous for a reason – Key Largo (Bogart and Bacall, Edward G. Robinson, Claire Trevor’s heartbreaking performance as a gangster’s moll aging out of her looks and an underappreciated supporting turn by Thomas Gomez) and The Lady from Shanghai (Orson Welles’ noir adventure with his glamorous ex, Rita Hayworth, and the stunning hall-of-mirrors climax). You’ve almost certainly seen both of these, but probably not in a vintage movie palace with hundreds of other noiristas.
Saturday, January 21: Three movies that I have not yet seen and are not streamable – Larceny (John Payne, Dan Duryea), The Spiritualist and Road House(Richard Widmark, Ida Lupino, Cornell Wilde) – are sandwiching a more well-known film, The Big Clock, with Ray Milland being hunted down by the minions of the nefarious Charles Laughton.
Monday, January 23: Two more non-streamable films which I haven’t seen: So Evil My Love (Ray Milland) and Sleep, My Love (Claudette Colbert and Don Ameche in a noir?).
Saturday, January 27: Two of my favorite Overlooked Noir: Raw Deal (some of the best dialogue in all of film noir, a love triangle and the superb cinematography of John Alton) andHe Walked By Night(more John Alton, with the LAPD hunting down a nerdy wacko).
Make your plans now. Review the program and buy tickets at Noir City. I’ll be there.
Photo caption: The Wife and the Movie Gourmet still enjoying wedded bliss
Happy 22nd Anniversary to The Wife, also known as Lisa, The Love of My Life!
We started out the year by admiring Power of the Dogtogether and just last week saw Babylon (she was a good sport).
This year, like the previous two, we binged EVEN MORE more episodic television together. Her dad is living with us, and he has an insatiable appetite for crime dramas, so we’ve watched many more seasons of them, especially on Acorn and BritBox, including Blood, Jagged, Rebeckah Martinsson, Bordertown, Secret City, The Chestnut Man, Inventing Anna, The Sounds, Under the Banner of Heaven, Deadpool, Guernsey and Van der Valk. As far as we can tell from TV, the murder epidemic in England, Scotland and Wales having spread to Ireland, France, Iceland and Australia, has now pierced Sweden, Finland, New Zealand, the Netherlands and Utah. Our favorite has been Shetland, but we mourn the report that Douglas Henshall will not be returning for next year’s season. Not all our TV fare was murderous – we also enjoyed the latest episodes of Derry Girls, The Crown and Somebody Feed Phil.
She even got me to watch Encanto and Spirited. She enjoyed my non-mainstream film choices of Hit the Road, A Love Song and Bitterbrush, and she liked The Return of Tanya Tucker even more than I did.
Once again, she tolerated my spending huge chunks of time covering Cinequest in person and Frameline, San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) Nashville Film Festival and San Francisco Jewish Film Festival virtually. She was also OK with my helping out Cinequest by screening 86 Cinequest submissions. I’m getting ready now for to cover Noir City in person and Slamdance virtually (for the first time) in January.
We were in LA twice this year, and we visited the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures and Bunker Hill’s Angel Flight and Bradbury Building, locations for dozens of films.
She’s the biggest fan and supporter of this blog DURING ALL OF ITS TWELVE YEARS, and I appreciate her and love her. Happy Anniversary, Honey!
Photo caption: Peter Bogdanovich with Jesse Hawthorne Ficks at the Roxie in 2019
Peter Bogdanovich will rightly be remembered as the writer-director of at least one undisputed masterpiece, The Last Picture Show. He also directed some near-masterpieces and some infamous flops. But he was also a popularizer of film history and an unsurpassed raconteur. The NYT could appropriately describe his life and career as “a Hollywood drama”. As a personal note, four of my very favorite films are his The Last Picture Show, What’s Up, Doc?, Saint Jack and They All Laughed.
Alan Ladd Jr. (left) with George Lucas.
I don’t often celebrate Hollywood suits, but studio exec and producer Alan Ladd, Jr., had a major artistic and social impact on American cinema. Ladd is being remembered now chiefly for being the guy who greenlit Star Wars, which seems like a no-brainer now, but it wouldn’t have happened without Ladd; then in his thirties, Ladd was younger than his Hollywood peers, but old enough to have enjoyed the Flash Gordon series as a kid. Ladd also supported Mel Brooks’ vision to shoot Young Frankenstein in black and white.
We don’t immediately think of Ladd as a feminist warrior, but it was Ladd who changed the character of Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) in Alien from male to female. And Ladd was the key player behind the most groundbreaking of 1970s feminist cinema: An Unmarried Woman, Norma Rae and 9 to 5, and,15 years later, the iconic Thelma and Louise.
Ladd’s body of work was astounding: Chariots of Fire (Best Picture Oscar), Braveheart (Best Picture Oscar), Body Heat, To Live and Die in LA, The Right Stuff, Moonstruck, A Fish Called Wanda, The Man in the Moon, Gone Baby Gone, All that Jazz, Breaking Away, A Wedding, Julia, The Three Musketeers, Harry and Tonto, The Scent of a Woman, The Omen and even Kagemusha.
Jean-Luc Godard
Writer-director Jean-Luc Godard, with his jump cuts, non-linear structure and other innovations, helped revolutionize cinema as a leader of the French New Wave. He made three masterpieces in early 1960s: Breathless, Contempt and Band of Outsiders. This is the Godard of “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun.” But by 1968, Godard’s thinking has become so devoid of humor, nuance, texture and ambiguity that his became one-dimensional and boring. Indeed, I have found all of the Godard films since 1967’s Weekend to range from disappointing to completely unwatchable.
Bob Rafaelson was a New Hollywood director, a peer of Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, William Friedkin, Peter Bogdanovich and Brian De Palma. But Rafaelson only made one great movie, Five Easy Pieces, which he co-wrote. Five Easy Pieces, though, is by itself an eternal legacy.
Director Wolfgang Peterson made a harrowing submarine masterpiece, Das Boot, one of the great war (and anti-war) movies. Then got to make lots of big Hollywood action epics, none of which were as good as Das Boot.
Composer Monty Norman created the James Bond Theme for Dr. No, which has been used in every Bond film flick since. Norman massaged a tune he had written earlier, and, as his NYT obit quoted him, “I thought, ‘My God, that’s it. His sexiness, his mystery, his ruthlessness — it’s all there in a few notes’.”
Sidney Poitier was an actor whose great intelligence, charisma and intensity, which combined into a righteous power. He was the first black A-list movie star and a man who changed things forever by insisting on playing empowered, non-degraded roles. Revisit the moment in In the Heat of the Night when his detective informs Carroll O’Connor’s redneck lawman, “They call me Mister Tibbs“. He wasn’t just an iconic actor, either – he was a also an accomplished director and a bona fide civil rights leader.
William Hurt in BODY HEAT.
Actor William Hurt, broke through unforgettably in his first feature film Altered States, which began a stunning run in the 1980s, of which my favorites were Body Heat, The Big Chill and Broadcast News. Hurt’s characters were frequently cerebral, contained and deliberate. His Ned Racine in Body Heat was always thinking, too, just not thinking as quickly or diabolically as Kathleen Turner’s femme fatale Matty Walker. Even after his A-list days had passed, Hurt was uniformly excellent supporting others in films like History of Violence and Into the Wild.
Jean-Louis Trintignant in AMOUR.
Actor Jean-Louis Trintignant starred in some of the most prestigious European movies of the past six decades: Roger Vadim’s …And Man Created Woman with Brigitte Bardot (1956), Claude Leloach’s A Man and a Woman (1966), Claude Chabrol’s Les Biches (1968), Costa-Gravras’ Z (1969), Éric Rohmer’s My Night at Maud’s, Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Conformist (1970), Krzysztof Kieslowski’s Red (1994) and Michael Haneke’s Amour (2012). He even made a Sergio Corbucci spaghetti western The Great Silence in 1968. Trintignant was 91.
Angela Lansbury and Laurence Harvey in THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
Angela Lansbury’s first screen role was as the saucy, self-interested maid in Gaslight, which kicked off a notable Hollywood career. Her best movie performance was as the evil mother in The Manchurian Candidate, molding her own son into a robotic assassin. Her memorable work in cinema was outstripped by her careers on Broadway (multiple Tonys for Mame, Sweeney Todd, etc.) and TV (264 episodes and several TV movies of Murder, She Wrote).
James Caan in THE GODFATHER
Actor James Caan is mostly remembered for his vivid portrayal of a guy with too much testosterone – Sonny Corleone in The Godfather (Bada bing!). Caan had been working since age 21 in TV series, with a John Wayne movie thrown in, when he appeared in the TV movie Brian’s Song – a highly popular weeper. He also appeared, with Robert Duvall, in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rain People. Most underappreciated performance? Probably Rollerball.
Louise Fletcher in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST.
Actress Louise Fletcher was unforgettable in her Oscar-winning performance as Nurse Rached in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. With her cold, assured eyes embodying impervious authority, she could maintain a soft voice and still deflate the charisma of Jack Nicholson’s McMurphy. Nurse Rached has been voted the second best female villain in all cinema (after The Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz).
Ray Liotta in GOODFELLAS.
Actor Ray Liotta became a star with his leading role in 1990’s iconic Goodfelllas and was still at the absolute top of his game this past year in The Many Saints of Newark and No Sudden Move.
Bo Hopkins in AMERICAN GRAFFITI.
Actor Bo Hopkins left us with some absolutely indelible performances in his heyday, a decade starting in the late 1960s. No one has ever been better at portraying a smirking, dimwitted redneck. I liked him best as the ill-fated young robber in The Wild Bunch, the greaser hard guy in American Graffiti and Burt Reynold’s moonshining partner in White Lightning. In this period, he appeared in Cat Ballou, The Getaway, Monte Walsh and Midnight Express.
L.Q. Jones in HANG ‘EM HIGH
Actor L.Q. Jones, born with the already Texas-colorful name of Justus E. McQueen, took the name of his first movie character (in Battle Cry) and rode it through 165 roles, bringing something interesting and different in every one. His NYT obit quoted him as liking to play “a heavy that is not crazy or deranged — although we play those, of course — but rather someone who is a heavy because he enjoys being a heavy.” Jones worked in some excellent war movies (Men in War, Torpedo Run, The Naked and the Dead, Hell Is for Heroes) and revisionist westerns (The Wild Bunch, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Hang ‘Em High). He was also a delightful raconteur, which you can enjoy by searching for “LQ Jones” on YouTube.
Clu Gulager in THE LAST PICTURE SHOW
Prolific actor Clu Gulager has died at 93. The last of Gulager’s 165 IMDb credits came just three years ago in Once Upon a Time…In Hollywood. Best known for 105 episodes as the sheriff on The Virginian, Gulager made his living by guest appearances in a zillion TV shows from Wagon Train and Have Gun, Will Travel through Ironside, Cannon, CHiPs and Falcon Crest. One of his three characters on The Name of the Game was named Rex Dakota. I have just learned that he starred in 72 episodes of a 1960-62 TV Western that, amazingly, I do not remember – The Tall Man, with Barry Sullivan as Pat Garrett and Gulager as Billy the Kid. He also peppered his career with cult movies like The Return of the Living Dead and I’m Gonna Get You Sucka. Gulager teamed with Lee Marvin in Don Siegel’s classic neo-noir The Killers. At 87, he sparkled as a loquacious taxi passenger in Tangerine.
Gulager’s best-ever screen performance was in The Last Picture Show as an oil rig foreman who is the illicit squeeze of his boss’ wife (Ellen Burstyn). This guy is trapped in a job he will never improve upon and in an affair he will never control; Gulager perfectly conveys his bitter dissatisfaction. The Director’s Cut also adds some sizzle to his pool hall sex scene with Jacy (Cybill Shepherd).
Henry Silva
Actor Henry Silva is recognizable from his 140 screen credits (and, outside of the Oceans 11 movies, those roles may have all been villains). He leveraged his acting talent and unusual facial features to project menace as few actors have done, most memorably in the original The Manchurian Candidate.
Actor Roger E. Mosley is best known for his 158 episodes as the helicopter pilot on Magnum, P.I. and over 50 guest appearances in tv series. As the title character in Leadbelly and many TV shows, he paved the way for more positive and empathetic depictions of African-American characters. He also worked in one of best-ever TV movies, The Jericho Mile, in one of the best sports movies, Semi-Tough, and as Sonny Liston (with Muhammad Ali himself) in The Greatest.
Although her body of work was overshadowed by her off-screen personal life, actor Anne Heche was superb in Wag the Dog. That was one of a remarkable string of Big Movies in 1997 and 1998: Donnie Brasco, Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Six Days Seven Nights, Return to Paradise and Brian De Palma’s Psycho.
Photo caption: Meat Loaf, with Nell Campbell in THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW
Meat Loaf unforgettably burst into cinema in the 1975 cult favorite The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Often credited as Meat Loaf Aday, he also acted in a series of character roles, most notably in Fight Club.
Actor Tony Sirico, best known for his Paulie “Walnuts” Gualtieri in The Sopranos, overcame a youth that landed him in Sing Sing to play a slew of movie and TV gangsters (and appear in four Woody Allen films, too.)
Musician Ronnie Hawkins is best known as the irrepressible, earthy rockabilly mentor of The Band. In the movies, he was unforgettable in The Band’s concert film The Last Waltz; (who is THAT guy on stage with Dylan, Clapton, Neil Young and Van Morrison?) He also had an acting role in Heaven’s Gate.
Hannah Lee Thompson in HANNAH HA HA. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.
While the Nashville Film Festivalhas its share of high-profile movies, don’t miss the gems that are screening under the radar. These movies are why we go to film festivals. Here are my top picks.
Indies: HANNAH HA HA
The indie Hannah Ha Ha is an extraordinary film about an ordinary person. Hannah (musician Hannah Lee Thompson in her first film) is content with her life in a small town – helping her dad (he would be lost without her) and giving music lessons. She touches lives, and townfolks eagerly help celebrate to her 26th birthday, But her brother Paul (Roger Mancusi) points out that she is comfortable with a path that will leave her without a career or, critically, health insurance. Paul wants what is best for Hannah, but every time he talks to her he makes her feel bad about herself, finally shaming her into finding her place in the conventional economy (which is not at the top of the pyramid). Filmed in a cinéma vérité style, Hannah Ha Ha is the first feature written and directed by Joshua Pikovsky and Jordan Tetewsky, and it’s masterfully edited by Tetewsky. Thompson, whose Hannah is smart, witty, capable and utterly ill-suited for life as a corporate pawn., is excellent. We are our choices – but who frames those choices? Hannah Ha Ha is a thought-provoking film that explores the profound question of what makes for human value and fulfillment.
International: PIGGY
Laura Galán in PIGGY. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.
In the fresh and darkly hilarious Spanish horror movie Piggy, Sara (Laura Galán) is an overweight teenager cruelly teased by her peers. She works in her family’s butcher shop, which supplies her tormentors with a surfeit of unkind pork-related nicknames. One day, at the town swimming pool, mean girls sadistically traumatize her. Sara makes a shocking decision, and Piggy becomes a kind of Carrie meets Beauty and the Beast. Piggy is the first feature for writer-director Carlota Pereda, a veteran television director. Horror films turn on whether the protagonist can survive, and, often, on whether the victims deserve their demise; Pereda has a lot of fun with both. This is a hoot.
Documentary: RELATIVE
A scene from Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s RELATIVE. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.
Relative is filmmaker Tracey Arcabasso Smith’s reflective exploration of intergenerational sexual abuse in her own family. As Smith lovingly, but insistently, interviews her family members, she uncovers an epidemic of abuse in generation after generation. Relative becomes ever more powerful as Smith refuses to sensationalize, but stays centered on the strength and humanity of the women on camera. This is a brilliantly edited film – first person testimonies are inter-cut with the home movies of a lively family – a family we now understand was stained with corrosive secrets. Finally, Relative (BTW a great title) takes us to how the cycle of abuse can be broken. Relative is the first feature for director Arcabasso Smith.
Piggy screens on Saturday night, Hannah Ha Ha on Sunday, and Relative on Monday. Here’s the trailer for Hannah Ha Ha.
LOUIS ARMSTRONG’S BLACK AND BLUES. Courtesy of AppleTV.
The Nashville Film Festival opens on Thursday, September 29 and runs through October 5 with a diverse menu of cinema, available both in-person and on-line. The Nashville Film Festival is the oldest running film festival in the South (this is the 53rd!) and is an Academy Award qualifying festival. The program includes a mix of indies, docs and international cinema, including world and North American premieres.
The Nashville Film Festival embraces its home in Music City and emphasizes films about music (like last year’s Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road and Fanny: The Right to Rock). That’s the case with the films that open and close this year fest:
Louis Armstrong’s Black & Blues, and
The Return of Tanya Tucker: Featuring Brandi Carlile.
See it here first: those opening and closing films, plus Piggy, Meet Me in the Bathroom, Nanny and Aftersun have all secured distribution and will be available to theater and/or watch-at-home audiences. Before just anybody can watch them, you can get your personal preview at the Nashville Film Festival.
I loved covering the 2021 Nashfilmfest in person, with Poser and The Tale of King Crab as my faves. I’ll be covering remotely this year, but that just leaves more pig-forward delicacies from Peg Leg Porker and Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint for you.
Check out the program and buy tickets at the festival’s Film Guide. Watch this space for Nashville Film Festival recommendations (both in-person and on-line) and follow me on Twitter for the latest. I’ll be back in a couple days with my recommendations.
THE RETURN OF TANYA TUCKER.: FEATURING BRANDI CARLILE. Courtesy of Nashville Film Festival.
