Lighting A Cultural Match: Brimstone & Glory

Don’t look to the sky for fireworks when you can watch them light up in the eyes of all the people passing by.  ~ Tyler Kent

Pure cinema is all about the sensory experience with the complimenting elements in perfect synchronization with each other.  Out of all the films, my partner-in-crime and I viewed over the entire True/False Film Festival weekend, this stunning work captured the pure cinema definition with great power.  It is a power derived by images projected onto the big screen surrounded by a soundtrack of pulsing sensuous music which gives an ethereal beauty to the work.  All of which strikes right at the raw emotions of your heart.

This is Viktor Jakovleski’s meditative stunner “Brimstone & Glory”.  The film dives into the city of Tultepec, Mexico with a single effervescent spark on the lower right of the screen which culminates with a slow burn (orgasmic-like to quote director Jakovleski after the screening) into a shower of sparks.  Tultepec, the center of a major fireworks industry, celebrates yearly a week long dedication to San Juan de Dios, according to legend saved a multitude of people from a burning hospital without a single scratch or burn.  The entire city gathers for two specific events; the castillo, the Festival Of Castles, which neighboring towns participate with huge structures of fireworks in front of on-lookers and then the pamplonada, the Festival Of Bulls, in which large paper-mache bulls laden with fireworks are rolled through the crowded city streets and ignited.  It is a frenzied crazy release for the citizens of Tultepec and one that has a hand in the deep cultural origins of its people.  Jakovleski captures the raw power and energy, often right in the thick of the exploding light filled displays.  We get to meet several of the citizens, but this film does not dwell on the who and the why.  Jakovleski lets the festivals speak for themselves with such a force of incandescent images and sound.  There was not another film at this festival that just gave itself freely to that definition of pure cinema.  It truly needs to be seen on a large screen with surround sound as we saw it.  A complete surprise in our choices and more than worthy of our time.

The photography by a team of thrill seeking individuals (garbed in protective gear) rush headlong into the bull’s arena with fireworks cascading dangerously all around.  We sense the danger and the risk of such festivals, but we also see the release and joy in the midst of such a grand display.  The music by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer is a fantastic hyper kinetic score that lingers with you long after the film is over.  One can sense being in the hands of assured filmmakers when it feels as if you are participating right along side the wonderfully beautiful people of Tultepec.

This is the first feature for Viktor Jakovleski and what a love he shows for what cinema is capable of.  A very gracious and humble artist, Jakovleski spoke after the screening of the technical difficulties and the love of the people he met and got to know.  He brings a world foreign and strange to some of us, but familiar at the same time.  That is a hard balance to maintain and the result stays with you long after it is over.

RATING: An Absolute RUN TO film (like hordes of zombies are chasing you), Do Not Walk!! (worthy of repeated viewings and a possible landmark cinematic film)

“Brimstone & Glory” [2017 – 64 min] directed by Viktor Jakovleski, music by Benh Zeitlin and Dan Romer

The More Things Change: Donkeyote

“But time growing old teaches all things.”   –  Aeschylus

There is sometimes the rare quiet film which crosses your path to capture your heart and give you the sense of what life is all about, and Chico Pereira’s sweet fable of a story “Donkeyote” is one of those films.  Throughout the festival, my partner-in-crime and I discussed what our favorite films were, but that was an unfair challenge, for all the films we witnessed were good in their own right.  So, the question became which one film, out of the many, would be the first you would want to revisit?  “Donkeyote” was my overwhelming choice.

Director Chico Perira chose his uncle for the subject of the classical unbending devotion to old ways and respect for this world and its treasures.  We get to follow Manolo, a retired laborer from Southern Spain, who chases one last dream to traverse the 2200 mile Trail Of Tears with his faithful longtime companion Gorrión (meaning sparrow); a stubborn, but very lovable donkey.  Both his daughter and his doctor advise against this planned last walk, but Manolo is a man to be reckoned with and begins to develop and execute his plan, with a trip to the coast of Spain to hopefully barter passage for Gorrión.  This film is filled with gentle humor and a stillness where time seems almost meaningless within the simple life of Manolo.

Perira sets the audience in his capable hands right from the beginning shot of Gorrión in shadow against the setting sun.  It’s a beautifully cinematic shot that sets up the landscape and its relation to his subjects.  Manolo calls out to his donkey off camera and, like a dog, Gorrión slowly trots to his masters voice.  This is the Spain of sunshine, rolling hills, and gentle waters.  It is Manolo’s real home.  The only place he feels at peace and one with the universe.  Director of photography,  Julian Schwanitz, paints with available light and from the donkey’s eye-line perspective, often to a sweet comical effect.  “Donkeyote” is a road movie at heart and its odyssey refuses to change with the times.

One significant absence is the lack of a musical soundtrack.  Perira chose to use natural sounds to compliment the images and it is magical.  The sound of a running stream, night time insects, and the gravel underneath Gorrión’s footsteps is music in of itself.  When Manolo enters a small village halfway through his trip, he joins some patrons at a bar for a beautiful song and a much needed drink.  The man’s singing voice speaks of a time lost in this modern world and shows us the importance of keeping the old ways alive and well.

There is something to be said about slowing down our busy schedules in this fast paced world and appreciate the simple philosophy of a man such as Manolo.  The audience sees through the eyes of his companion, Gorrión (similar to the  donkey in Robert Bresson’s masterful “Au Hasard Balthazar” from 1966).   Gorrión is devoted to Manolo, but has its own fears and stubbornness like we all do.  This culminates in a hilarious scene of the animal not wanting to cross a narrow bridge over water.  The more patient Manolo is, the more obstinate Gorrión becomes.  The camerawork punches home the cosmic joke like no other.

“Donkeyote” is a slice of life, a cultural gem held under the microscope of society change.  It displays the old adage…the more things change, the more they stay the same.  Somewhere in southern Spain, Manolo and Gorrión are proving it with their simple adventures.

RATING: This Is A RUN LIKE HELL To Film, Do Not Walk!! (worthy of repeated viewings)

“Donkeyote” [2017 – 85 min] written/directed by Chico Pereira, director of photography Julian Schwanitz, edited by Nick Gibbon.

The Political Voice Of Fire: Manifesto

man·i·fes·to

ˌnoun

 

1. a public declaration of policy and aims.

The artist and filmmaker, Julian Rosefeldt, turned his acclaimed thirteen channel art exhibit into an astounding feature film showcasing fantastic Berlin Germany locations with some exquisite performances from Cate Blanchett; all thirteen personifications of her.  This is no ordinary documentary or non-fiction film, but an all out assault on art history manifestos ranging from Karl Marx to the modern day of Jean Luc Godard.  Each of the characters Blanchett inhabits (homeless man, puppeteer, housewife, scientist, school teacher, CEO, widow, factory worker, punk, newscaster, choreographer, wall street broker) combines the many manifestos Rosefeldt read and combined to state the many facets of art and overwhelms you with concise images, sharp editing, and throbbing chant-like music.  Everything and nothing is the theme.  It all sounds so heavy with a stamp of importance to it, but humor is prevalent throughout as well with a wink and a smile.

“Manifesto” is ambitious and a profound risk taker which director Rosefeldt pulls off with exemplary ease.  His camera (photography by Christoph Krauss) often pulls up to give a God’s eye view of the proceedings and allows the viewer to take in all the elements thrown our way.  The words are spoken in present day language while Blanchett takes on the difficult task of making these people believable and worthy.  It is not a vanity project to merely showcase her talents, but a deliberate organic exercise on what the role of an artist is in society and what importance, if any, does it have.  The film is prescient with its importance much more today than ever since last November’s American election.

There is not enough that can be said about the power of what “Manifesto” sets out to achieve.  Rosefeldt’s direction, Krauss’ cinematography, and the fluid majesty of Bobby Good’s monumental task of editing all the pieces into a coherent whole.  Good visited the T/F Festival in person from Berlin to discuss the difficulties and triumphs of the project.  I personally got to talk to him for a few minutes after the screening and congratulated him on his work.  He remarked what a wonderful and receptive place this festival provided for his film as an artist.  The community means everything to film-makers like him and to audiences like myself.

RATING: SPRINT As Fast As You Can, Do Not Even Think About Walking To This Film (worthy of repeated viewings)

“Manifesto” [2015 – 90 min] directed by Julian Rosefeldt, photography  by Christoph Krauss, edited by Bobby Good.

Bearing Witness To Pain: Lindy Lou, Juror Number Two

This issue of capital punishment is the subject of this offbeat character study of one juror struggling with the morality of her decision.  Florent Vassault’s “Lindy Lou, Juror Number Two” is a pseudo road movie in which Lindy travels across her Mississippi state confronting fellow jurors from the murder trial of Bobby Wilcher twenty years ago.

An off-kilter real life Twelve Angry Men, Lindy reveals a bizarre turn when she admits to visiting and befriending the death row inmate Wilcher and asks for his forgiveness.  Whether this was morally or ethically right, the film presents Lindy as a woman driven by her religious teachings and society norms.  She seeks answers from her fellow jurors, but it is merely to salve her conscience on the notion of actually sentencing a man to death.  What power do we have in this instance?  Should we have that power?  How does one sleep at night after such an act?  For some jurors, it was a societal need and they did their duty.  For others, they are haunted by that decision.

Vassault’s camera is unimaginative, but concise in its subject matter.  Following the animated Lindy through Mississippi in situations both uncomfortable and at times heartbreaking, one cannot wonder how much the camera played a part in her trumped up personality and choice of words during the film.  Playing to the camera is certainly a danger in documentary films which lends itself to the risk of the lack of authenticity and distracts the viewer believing the events as they are.  Vassault found a worthy subject in Lindy by chance, but his camera may have been intrusive and too close to his lead.  At times, it felt as if she were acting for the film instead of going about her day.  One cannot fault the film-maker for trying to inject a different perspective on such a hot topic as capital punishment.

**With a tip of the hat and respect to my festival partner-in-crime, a new “Siskel & Ebert” rating system will be introduced to these films.  I found it fresh, humorous, and very much in tune with the frenetic pace we scheduled ourselves for this festival.

RATING: Not A Run To, But Slow Crawl To Film (worthy enough to see once only)

“Lindy Lou, Juror Number Two” [2016-85 min] directed by Florent Vassault

True/False: Reasons Why Documentaries Matter Today

“Documentaries – my God, there is so much going on in our country and in the world today that every time you open the newspaper or turn on the radio or watch the news on TV there is another documentary subject. We’re getting the headlines for a second, shaped by corporate delivery most of the time, but what’s really the story there?”   [Jonathan Demme]

“But I can say what interests me about documentary is the fact that you don’t know how the story ends at the onset – that you are investigating, with a camera, and the story emerges as you go along.”   [Errol Morris]

In the Midwest heartland last weekend (March 2nd-5th), the city of Columbia Missouri hosted an important and ever growing film festival celebrating the art of documentary film-making.  Conceived in 2003, the event gives voice to a circle of artists in their pursuit of capturing real stories that can affect us in big and small ways.  The 2017 True/False Film Festival held its fourteenth gathering with 72 film-makers carrying their 37 feature films and 22 short films with its largest audience ever at 52,400 tickets sold; yours truly among them.  A creative collective shining a light on such subjects as war, race, love, justice, hope, sex, politics, and cultural differences to name just a few.

The documentary is an important art form that requires a patient and curious mind willing to listen to stories that may speak outside our comfort zones or talk directly to the inner voice we sometimes deny.  The documentary opens minds and hearts.  It displays worlds that may not directly affect us, but gives us pause to consider such other viewpoints and arguments.

True/False begs to ask the question whether we continue to just read headlines or choose to ask for the full story on issues and events.  The festival challenges us to contemplate where we are and where we are heading.  You do not leave this event unscathed.  One film, or several, can change a preconceived perception and educate the mind.  If one leaves thinking of just one issue in a different light, the festival has done its job, for it desires the change for a better world for all of us.  Isn’t that what we all want?  For our kids, as well as ourselves?

This writer spent three days and four nights, along with a festival partner-in-crime, viewing thirteen films of our choosing based on subject matter and personal interest.  A formidable undertaking, but filled with excitement and passion for this world…and it exceeded our expectations with the choices made without first hand knowledge of the film-makers involved.  The next few future pieces will focus on those films and their importance both aesthetically and socially, based on impressions and discussions.  Some of these films have since been written about by major magazines, as well as the festival itself.  The importance of this festival is one of social awakening and the communal spirit of exploring the world through subjects both controversial and intimate.  It is time to join in on the adventure.  It is time to act and participate.  True/False Film Festival of 2017.

 

 

Sundance, Before It Was Sundance: True/False Film Fest, Columbia MO

Starting this Thursday, March 2nd, Columbia Missouri will host once again the True/False Film Festival for documentary films from all over.  Created back in the summer of 2003, the festival has grown in stature and size each year since.  The participating theaters screening the films are all within walking distance of each other making the event accessible and convenient to catch all the films you can muster the energy to see.

This will mark my first year attending and it is my plan to view 14 films in those three days and four nights.  Included is the critically lauded and Oscar nominated Raoul Peck film, “I Am Not Your Negro”.  These are experimental and subject rich films that deserve an audience.  There is no better place than to showcase to a receptive public such as the one that will be attending this festival.  The filmmakers themselves will be present and discuss their work.  Documentaries have long been neglected by mainstream audiences, but films such as Peck’s have the possibility to change that.

Notes will be taken and forthcoming blogs will be written about some of these films and the festival experience as a whole.  Columbia has sealed a specific niche in the festival circuit by focusing its attention to real life issues, events, and subjects otherwise forgotten in the Hollywood light.  A festival dedicated to documentaries of all sizes and shapes can enhance understanding and knowledge of the world around us to possibly influence change.

Here is a celebration of truth, or as close as we can get to it.