Brian Dennehy, Lucas Jaye and Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS
I can’t think of a more authentic movie about intergenerational relationships than the charming, character-driven Driveways. It’s a modest little indie, and it’s one of the Best Movies of 2020 – So Far.
Kathy (Hong Chau) and her nine-year-old Cody (Lucas Jaye) arrive in a small town to clean out and flip the house of Kathy’s late sister. Kathy and her much older sister had lost touch,and Kathy is surprised and disheartened to discover that the sister had become a hoarder, making the clean-up job monumental. The octogenarian next-door neigbor Del (Brian Dennehy) watches from his porch.
All three are facing life challenges. Kathy is a single mom trying to navigate a career change; now she has an unwanted chore and some guilt from not reviving the relationship with her sister. Cody is a sensitive kid who isn’t comfortable in many situations and who has an embarrassing reaction to anxiety. Del is grieving the loss of his wife and facing the loss of his independence. Things do not go as the audience expects.
Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS
Director Andrew Ahn, by dropping subtle clues, lets the audience connect the dots about the characters and their back stories. We learn about the mom-son relationship when she discards a cigarette on the ground and he wordlessly grinds it out with his shoe. We learn about Del’s fears about his independence when he glances at an increasingly forgetful buddy.
Driveways is a three-hander and all three actors, Hong Chau, Lucas Jaye and Brian Dennehy are superb. 91-year-old character actor Jerry Adler is brilliant in a few very brief scenes.
This was the final performance for Brian Dennehy (scroll down to bottom for my remembrance). His performance – so remarkably genuine and subtle – in Driveways is award-worthy. Dennehy’s facial expression, in one fleeting moment, conveys Del’s profound regret about a mistake that he made with his own daughter.
Brian Dennehy and Lucas Jaye in DRIVEWAYS
Driveways played at Cinequest 2020 with an in-person appearance by Hong Chau, which I skipped because I sized it up as too sappy. I was wrong.
You know how children are drawn to some kids and not to others? Driveways perfectly captures the joy of making friends when a kid discovers another kid with common interests.
That authenticity is exactly what keeps Driveways from being corny. There’s not a hint of manipulation from Ahn. That’s why Driveways is that rarity, a recommendation from The Movie Gourmet that can be described as”heartfelt”.
Cody is as much the lead character as are the mom and the old guy. The Wife thinks that the movie is too slow for kids. But I’d give it a try and challenge the kids. It’s only 83 minutes, and I think kids will be drawn to the portrayal of a kid that is so real-world and unlike the stock characters spoon fed them by the likes of the Disney Channel.
Driveways is available to stream on all the major platforms.
Sandy also publishes the weekly e-newsletter This Week on TCM, in which he reviews the most significant choices on Turner Classic Movies. He doesn’t write about every movie on TCM, but he touches on several each day. And this is not a quick scan of the weekly classic film menu – each email runs to up to 6,000 words.
Every Sunday morning, while The Wife pours over the New York Times, I’m scanning Sandy’s email to see if TCM is featuring a film I had overlooked or need to revisit. For example, I DVRed the 1937 They Won’t Forget, which I had never seen, only because of Sandy’s description of Lana Turner’s entrance. Worth it.
Earlier this year, I finally got around to the 1936 classic Dodsworth, only because Sandy recommended it. Dodsworth rewarded me with remarkable performances from Walter Huston, Mary Astor and Ruth Chatterton. (Familiarity with Dodsworth is also central to understanding the documentary Scandal: The Trial of Mary Astor, because Astor channeled her Dodsworth character during her testimony at the notorious child custody trial.)
Sandy’s regular readers always wait for the weekly use of the word “oeuvre ” and the mention of the “ubiquitous Michael Curtiz”. Sandy is the kind of film writer who can use the word “mendacity” about a movie (All About Eve) OTHER than Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
It’s difficult to decide which is the biggest value add in This Week on TCM – Sandy’s usually perfect movie taste or his capsulized commentary, enlivened with Grouchoesque quips. Here’s a taste:
Story of Seabiscuit: This does not remotely resemble the true story of Seabiscuit; in fact, it should be entitled Nothing Like the True Story of Seabiscuit.
Manchurian Candidate: A ludicrous premise: the Russians want to put a puppet in the White House, whom they can maneuver and control – hey, wait a minute.
Gaslight: Joseph Cotton is an old friend who senses something rotten in the state of Denmark (which means he has a strong sense of smell, since this takes place in Victorian era England).
The Searchers: John Ford’s magnum opus and the apogee (or apotheosis if you prefer an even more pretentious “ap” word) of his Western genre films.
Doctor Zhivago : My least favorite of Lean’s well known films, which I find ponderous and unwieldy (or if you prefer, slow and boring). I came to CA to get away from snow, so why spend over 3 hours looking at it. Then again, you can spend all that time looking at Julie Christie, which almost makes it worth it. This film was a huge hit and mine is a minority opinion, but is there anyone in America who isn’t sick of Lara’s Theme?
Detour: Talk about femme fatales – Ann Savage (no name better fit an actress) is the fataliest of all femmes. Ms. Savage more than makes up for the flimsy sets and if she doesn’t give you nightmares, nobody will (whenever I wake up screaming in the night soaked in sweat, and Harriet asks what’s wrong I just say “Ann Savage”).
Ingmar Bergman’s Passion of Anna: Moving and powerful, under no circumstances should you watch this film unless you are prepared to hit the emotional depths of human existence (I’m not sure what that means, but don’t have a bottle of pills nearby when you are watching).
Buffalo Bill and the Indians or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson: (Paul) Newman and director Robert Altman were at the height of their respective powers when they teamed up to make this can’t miss film. But miss it did and by miles.
The Window: Young Bobby Driscoll goes out on the fire escape to sleep on a sweltering NYC summer night and through a neighbor’s window witnesses a murder. Bobby is proverbial boy who cried Sandy Wolf (I use that line every time this movie airs and can’t help myself).
Scarlet Pimpernel: Whenever I see this title, I think of pumpernickel bread, which you can’t get in Northern CA (at least I have never seen it).
The Longest Day: BTW, an astute and erudite reader correctly informed me that the “D” in D-Day stands for “Day”. How stupid is that – what does Day Day mean? I would call it T-Day for The Day or even I-Day for Invasion Day.
Henry V: All I know about Henry V is that he came after Henry IV (not sure where O Henry came from – and I’m talking about the candy bar and not the author).
Red Badge of Courage: This was deemed an utter failure upon its release and caused director John Huston grief (or as much grief he could sustain between cavorting and carousing) .
Lolita: Shelley Winters, as Lolita’s Mom, is as annoying as ever (which is as annoying as any human being can possibly be) but she is in fact somewhat empathetic and plays her role well (Shelley could do annoying in her sleep and I’m sure she was annoying even when she was asleep).
Sandy’s taste in exceptional, but not perfect. We differ on the fourth and fifth greatest Hitchcock films, and I’m about to set him straight on his under appreciation of Peckinpah’s The Getaway.
Sandy is also the father of filmmaker Matt Wolf, the accomplished documentarian behind:
Wild Combination, the critically praised biodoc of the influential musician Arthur Russell. (Included with Amazon Prime.)
Teenage, an especially insightful look at the emergence of teenage culture, surprisingly recent in American culture. Teenage aired on PBS. (Included with Amazon Prime.)
Bayard and Me, the undertold story of Bayard Russell’s key role in the Civil Rights movement as a gay man in the 50s and 60s.
Recorder: The Marion Stokes Project, about a woman who recorded 30 years of TV, 24 hours per day, and left a 70,000 videotape tape-archive of American culture reflected by television. (Streamable on Amazon and iTunes.)
Spaceship Earth, the soon to be released 2020 Sundance hit about Biosphere 2, the 1991 scientic and social experiment where a team moved into a model replica of our planet’s ecosystem.
Matt Wolf was already an NYU film school grad when Sandy started his role at Cinequest, but Sandy takes some credit for some of Matt’s love of movies. Back in the VCR era, Sandy recorded classic films one at a time, and then played the collection at family movie nights.
On the red carpet of the Tribeca Film Festival for one of Matt’s premieres, Sandy Wolf heard a publicist summoning “Mr. Wolf, over here, please.” Sandy’s proudest moment came when he realized they were calling Matt.
How does Cinequest fill its slate of documentary features each year? For the past two decades, Sandy Wolf, a now-retired attorney, has been volunteering to find the documentaries that premiere at Cinequest.
Back in 2002, Wolf’s recommendation gotSpellbound into the festival. The story of eight teenagers competing for the national spelling bee championship, Spellbound went on to become a national art house hit, and Wolf earned some major cred.
Each year, Wolf screens the 250 documentary features that have been submitted to Cinequest by filmmakers. Wolf then submits a top ten and a second twenty recommendations, along with his comments, to Cinequest Director of Programming and Associate Director Mike Rabehl. (Rabehl himself screens every Cinequest submission, including documentaries,) Rabehl has the final say, but he agrees with most of Wolf’s recommendations.
“You rarely see a bad documentary,” says Wolf. “Although there are a lot of mediocre ones.”
How does one actually watch 250 movies? From each July though November, Wolf watches movies in the morning, until he takes a break for lunch. After a visit to the neighborhood coffee joint, he resumes until dinnertime. But he reserves the evening for his own movie choices, not festival screeners.
“Mike Rabehl tells me not to make it a job”, but Wolf thinks its goes best with this regimen.
The slate of documentaries at Cinequest is usually quite rich. Here are some of my favorites from recent Cinequests, all of which are are now available to stream:
The Brainwashing of My Dad: When TV changes not just opinions, but mood and personality, too. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Meet the Hitlers: Wouldn’t you change YOUR name? Amazon, iTunes, Vudu.
There Will Be No Stay: In a society with capital punishment, someone must perform the executions. iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play.
Wolf saved me from a big mistake at the 2019 Cinequest. I had decided to pass on screening Clownvets because it looked too sappy for my notoriously jaded taste. But I watched it on Wolf’s recommendation, and I’m very glad that I did. Clownvets turned out to be well-constructed and surprisingly powerful.
This year Wolf tipped me off to The Quicksilver Chronicles, which is also my own favorite of the 2020 Cinequest documentaries.
This would have been the ending weekend of CINEQUEST which will resume in mid-August when, hopefully the COVID-19 pandemic will have peaked. Until then, we’ll all be watching our movies at home.
REMEMBRANCE
Max Von Sydow in THE SEVENTH SEAL
Sixty-three years after the chess game with Death himself in The Seventh Seal, actor Max Von Sydow has finally succumbed. Von Sydow is justifiably most well known among cinephiles for his many roles in a cascade of Ingmar Bergman’s grimness, including The Seventh Seal, The Magician, The Virgin Spring, Through a Glass Darkly, Winter Light, Shame and The Passion of Anna. And in The Magician, he had to don the most off-putting of facial hair. His biggest hit, of course was as the title character in The Exorcist. Contrary to his image, he had the capacity for hilarity, which he demonstrated in Hannah and Her Sisters as a ridiculously pretentious and selfish artist. Along with that role, my favorite Von Sydow performances were in Jan Troell’s The Emigrants and The New Land, as a Swedish settler in frontier America.
OUT NOW
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael is the remarkably thorough and insightful biodoc of the iconic film critic Pauline Kael and her drive for relevance.
Of the new films I haven’t yet seen, Seberg, with Kristin Stewart, looks the most promising.
And here’s what I’ve written about the best Oscar-nominated movies. They’re all available to stream:
This week’s video pick is the superb 2013 drama Short Term 12, with a cast of then-emerging actors – Brie Larson, Kaitlyn Dever, LaKeith Stanfield, Rami Malek and John Gallagher Jr. – all before they became stars. You can find it on most streaming platforms.
ON TV
On both March 14 and 15, Turner Classic Movies is presenting one of the earliest films noir, I Wake Up Screaming. I Wake Up Screaming has proto-noir style, the matter-of-fact sexiness of Carole Landis, the easy-to-root-for pair of Betty Grable and Victor Mature, and the amazing performance of Laird Cregar as the most menacing and creepy of stalkers. Plus there’s the most incongruous use of the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow. It’s one of my Overlooked Noir, and Czar of Noir Eddie Muller will add some tidbits before and after.
Betty Grable and Laird Cregar in I WAKE UP SCREAMING
Klaes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki in THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In the neo-noir The Burnt Orange Heresy, a shady art critic (Klaes Bang) picks up an adventuresome hottie (Elizabeth Debicki) and is enlisted by a menacing zillionaire (Mick Jagger) to scheme out a painting from a reclusive painter (Donald Sutherland). This being a neo-noir, things don’t go as the critic has planned and it takes him too long to realize that he is the sap in the story.
Klaes Bang (The Square) is just made to play that handsome charmer who is just Up To No Good, the kind of role that would have gone to Zachary Scott in the 1940s. But in The Burnt Orange Heresy, Debicki, Sutherland and Jagger are each so compelling, and their characters are so rich, that they completely overshadow Bang’s critic.
This is also a very talky movie, too much so. All the yakking and Bang’s unrelatability drag down The Burnt Orange Heresy and keep it from engaging the audience. relatibility
Sutherland has such a sparkle as the mischievous painter, and it may be easier to spot it now in the aged actor than forty years ago in MASH or Animal House.
Mick Jagger in THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY
The real surprise here is Mick Jagger. This character, a rich and utterly masterful string-puller, is well within Jagger’s acting range and he nails it. After all, as an actor in fictional narratives, he is best known for two of the very worst movies of 1970: Ned Kelly and Performance. But here, Jagger employs his unmatched worldliness to inform this performance (and he makes great use of his trademark sneer and predatory smile, too). Jagger and Sutherland are probably the two best reasons to see this movie.
I saw The Burnt Orange Heresy at Cinequest. I expect it to be released theatrically in the Bay Area in the next few weeks.
This is a two-second shot in THUNDERBIRD which has nothing much to do with the plot. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In the unremarkable Canadian mystery Thunderbird, a city detective visits a backwoods hamlet to unspool a mystery involving damaged young adults from a local tragic family. Thunderbird has the feel of a typical TV whodunit procedural with a trippy supernatural angle slapped on.
If you’ve ever watched a TV or movie drama, you will have already heard every line of dialogue in Thunderbird.
There’s also an insufferable dose of noble indigenous spiritualism.
I thought I was watching an especially insipid ending, but then was surprised with the real ending, even more insipid.
TWELVE DAYS OF CHRISTMAS. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In the comedy Twelve Days of Christmas, high school friends reunite when they’re home for their first college Christmas break. They all get down to some serious partying, but two of them must deal with a serious issue.
These characters act like they are refugees from some mythical colleges that are devoid of booze and drugs. The partying is so purposeful, it brought to my mind the Joe Ely song Everybody Got Hammered. The one blow-out party is very impressive, especially compared to my own first-college-break experience: Round Table pizza, cans of beers and a bottle of rum.
The core of the story is the angst of unrequited love; one character has obviously been in love with his best friend, who hasn’t noticed his yearning for her. And that’s the weakness of Twelve Days of Christmas. Although this guy is fun, witty, loyal and dependable, she knows that he is kinda weak-willed, so it’s evident that she could never see him has a partner.
Most of the cast is very good, although I never got away from being distracted by all the actors seeming at least 4-5 years older than the 19-year-old characters.
Director Michael Boyle and editor Carter Feuerhelm have enough faith in their audience and skill to drop in some split-second gags, all the more effective without lingering on them.
Cinequest hosted the world premiere of Twelve Days of Christmas.
Jake Robinson and Thomas Sadoski in THE MIMIC. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In the offbeat and cerebral comedy The Mimic, a widowed screenwriter (Thomas Sadoski) becomes obsessed with his own sociopathic character – and the a person JUST LIKE the character (Jake Robinson) materializes in his life. The two embark on a surreal battle of wits.
Is the new acquaintance a real person, or is he the character in the screenplay? Is the sociopathic character miming the writer? Or is the writer exploring his own sociopathy?
The Mimic is an intellectual exercise, with more knowing chuckles than knee-slappers. Ultimately, it is more clever than it is engaging or entertaining.
The Mimic is basically a two-hander, but it’s rich in cameos. There’s a priceless turn by Gina Gershon as a cougar bar fly. M. Emmet Walsh, Marilu Henner and Jessica Walter show up, too, along with the always-welcome Austin Pendleton (whom I’ve enjoyed since his Francis Larabee in What’s Up, Doc?).
THE LONGEST WAVE, tonight at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
Of course, I’m deep into Cinequest as usual: The best of Cinequest 2020. If you’re going, look for these three world premieres: Before the Fire (Saturday at the Hammer), 3 Day Weekend (tonight in Redwood City, Monday at the Hammer) and Small Time (Saturday in Redwood City, Sunday at 3Below). I’ve linked ten feature stories and 21 movie recommendations on my CINEQUEST page.
OUT NOW
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael is the remarkably thorough and insightful biodoc of the iconic film critic Pauline Kael and her drive for relevance.
Of the new films I haven’t yet seen, Seberg, with Kristin Stewart, looks the most promising.
And here’s what I’ve written about the best Oscar-nominated movies. They’re all available to stream:
This week’s video pick, the Norwegian suspense thriller Revenge, comes from the 2017 Cinequest. Revenge can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
ON TV
On March 10, Turner Classic Movies will air Monterey Pop (1968). This is one of the few DVDs that I still own, for the performances by Mamas and the Papas, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Otis Redding, Canned Heat, Simon and Garfunkle, Jefferson Airplane, Eric Burdon and the Animals, Country Joe and the Fish and The Who.
It’s okay with me if you fast forward over Ravi Shankar. Don’t miss the reaction of Mama Cass Elliot, sitting in the audience, to Janis Joplin. Pete Townsend and Jimi Hendrix had a guitar-destroying competition, which Hendrix, aided by lighter fluid, undeniably won. The Otis Redding set is epic.
I’ve already seen over twenty offerings from Cinequest 2020, and here are my initial recommendations. As usual, I focus on the world and US premieres. Follow the links for full reviews, images and trailers. I’ve also included some tips for making the most of the Cinequest experience under “Hacking Cinequest”.
[NOTE: This was a preview post written just before the festival opened. The best film in the 2020 Cinequest program was Driveways (which I actually saw after the festival because of COVID-19).]
Jenna Lyng Adams in BEFORE THE FIRE. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
MUST SEE
Before the Fire: In this year’s Must See at Cinequest, the only escape from an apocalyptic flu pandemic is a woman’s long-estranged rural hometown – but the scary family who traumatized her childhood is there, too. Written by its female star Jenna Lyng Adams, and the first feature by its female director Charlie Buhler, this indie thriller rocks. World premiere.
3 DAY WEEKEND. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
THRILLERS
Before the Fire, of course and
3 Day Weekend: In this inventively constructed thriller, the point of view keeps shifting, and so does the genre. The screenplay is a triumph of storytelling. World premiere.
Fox Hunt Drive: One gobsmacking plot twist. World premiere.
INEZ & DOUG & KIRA. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
INDIES
Inez & Doug & Kira: A tangle of love, friendship and bipolar disorder – and obsession. Bay Area premiere.
Small Time: Rural America’s opioid crisis explored through its impact on one little girl; what is the shelf life of innocence? Shot over three years with insight and verisimilitude. World premiere.
OWNERS. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
WORLD CINEMA
Owners: This dark Czech comedy takes a jaundiced view of human foibles – as if penned by a modern Czech Mark Twain. Recognized as the year’s best film from the Czech Republic. North American premiere.
Willow: This triptych by Oscar-nominated master Macedonian filmmaker Milcho Manchevski plumbs the heartaches and joys of having children; there’s a scene in the final vignette with a mother and son in a car that is one of the most amazing scenes I’ve ever seen. North American premiere.
I Am Frank: This excellent Slovenian drama is about the return of a charismatic misfit who just can’t leave well enough alone. US premiere.
BREAKING FAST. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
FEEL GOOD
Breaking Fast: Just another gay Muslim romantic comedy…I predict that Breaking Fast will become the Feel Good hit of the 2020 Cinequest. World premiere.
THE QUICKSILVER CHRONICLES. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
DOCUMENTARY
The Quicksilver Chronicles: Two bohemians live in a ghost town close (yet far) from Silicon Valley, and life happens. World premiere.
AND TWO I HAVEN’T SEEN YET
The Burnt Orange Heresy: See it here before its wide release. This neo-noir features Elizabeth Debicki, Claes Bang, Donald Sutherland and…Mick Jagger.
The Longest Wave: I am a sucker for a surfing documentary, and this one comes from filmmaker Joe Berlinger (Paradise Lost, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster).
CLASSIC MOVIE EXPERIENCE
The silent 1920 The Mark of Zorro with Douglas Fairbanks swashbuckling across the screen will be projected in a period movie palace, the California Theatre, accompanied by world-renowned Dennis James on the Mighty Wurlitzer organ. I hear that last year’s Buster Keaton triumph has encouraged Cinequest to open this year’s silent screening with a Keaton short.
BEFORE IT’S IN THEATERS – SEE IT HERE FIRST
Several Cinequest films already are planned for theatrical release later this year. I haven’t seen them yet, but you can see them first at Cinequest. Resistance, The Burnt Orange Heresy, Hope Gap, Roads Not Taken, The Longest Wave and Driveways are among the movies slated for theatrical release later this year.
HACKING CINEQUEST
Cinequest retains its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California, the 550-seat Hammer and the 257-seat 3Below, all within 1600 feet of the VIP lounge at The Continental Bar. There will still be satellite viewing in Redwood City; if you’re going to and from Redwood City between 3 and 7 PM on a weekday – take Caltrain instead of driving.
At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $165, and you can get individual tickets as well. The express pass for an additional tax-deductible $100 is a fantastic deal – you get to skip to the front of the lines!
As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST page, with links to all my coverage. Follow me on Twitterfor the latest.
Klaes Bang and Elizabeth Debicki in THE BURNT ORANGE HERESY. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
