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Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father (2008, Director: Kurt Kuenne): Messy and unapologetically manipulative, Dear Zachary feels quite a bit like the grieving process itself. Equal parts schmaltz and rage, it accurately reflects the feelings of its creator, still coming to terms with the loss of his childhood friend.
Kurt Kuenne’s original plan for the film was to document his friend Andrew Bagby’s life for Bagby’s young son Zachary. Andrew, a promising young medical doctor, was gunned down by an ex-girlfriend and colleague, Dr. Shirley Turner, who then fled to her native Canada to avoid prosecution. Some time later, she revealed that she was pregnant with Andrew’s child. If that bizarre setup wasn’t enough, the tale soon becomes even more strange as Andrew’s grieving parents move from the US to Newfoundland to be near their grandson, hoping that they’ll be able to obtain custody when Turner is eventually convicted of the crime.
To say that things don’t go as expected would be a huge understatement. By the end, the film will leave you emotionally drained, angry, and grieving, along with Kuenne and Andrew’s amazing parents. This is an intensely personal film, with a few warts, but it’s heartfelt and honest, and as a tribute to his friend, is something that Kuenne can be proud of.
UPDATE: I had the hardest time writing about this film back when I first saw it at Hot Docs in the spring. I wanted to bring your attention to it now that it’s getting a theatrical release. Watch for it in New York City tomorrow, October 31, with a rollout to some other US cities in the weeks to follow. No word on a Canadian release yet.
Official site for the film
Interview with director Kurt Kuenne
Trailer
(7/10)
Tagged as:
crime,
murder
The legendary Roger Ebert has posted a lengthy but hilarious diatribe in the form of his “little rule book” for film critics. I nervously glanced through to make sure I hadn’t committed any of the sins mentioned, and can truthfully tell you that (so far), I’m still fairly righteous. Though it’s a funny piece, it does have a serious intent behind it:
“We can’t be too careful. Employers are eager to replace us with Celeb Info-Nuggets that will pimp to the mouth-breathers, who underline the words with their index fingers whilst they watch television.”
Luckily, or unluckily, I don’t work for anyone, so I’m in no danger of being replaced. But I do want to maintain my self-respect, which is why secretly I think I avoid setting up interviews with the actors and directors whose work I love in fear of coming across like a fanboy.
(via Karina, who dishes up some dirt on the target of Ebert’s sermonizing)
Tagged as:
karinalongworth,
rogerebert
Trouble the Water (2008, Directors: Carl Deal and Tia Lessin): Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and much of the Gulf Coast more than three years ago now, but many of the city’s most impoverished neighbourhoods have yet to be rebuilt. Kimberley Rivers Roberts and her husband Scott Roberts lived in the Lower Ninth Ward, and documented the hurricane’s impact with a cheap video camera they had purchased “on the street” for $20. When directors Deal and Lessin’s planned film about the return of National Guard troops from Iraq to New Orleans fell through, they found themselves talking to evacuees looking for another angle on the tragedy. Kimberley and Scott offered not only their footage, but themselves as subjects. Mixing the shaky and low-quality Hi-8 stuff shot by Kimberley and her friends and family during the storm with news footage and newly-shot material, the directors have assembled a devastating indictment of government indifference and incompetence in the face of a large-scale disaster. But due entirely to the incredible strength of character on display from this young husband and wife, the film emerges even more as a record of ordinary people discovering courage and decency they didn’t even know they possessed.
Before Katrina, Kimberley and Scott got by by dealing drugs in their neighbourhood, and so they surprise not only the audience but themselves by emerging as genuine heroes during the storm, rescuing, sheltering and finally evacuating a group of more than 25 people, all of whom had no way to evacuate before the hurricane hit. This heroism emerges precisely because the residents of this part of the country knew, even before Katrina, that they would have to take care of each other, that no government was going to do anything for them. One of the film’s most powerful moments comes after Kimberley recovers a CD she recorded as an aspiring rapper. As she sings along to the track, we can almost see the depths of both pain and determination that have sustained her from well before this latest calamity. She’s a survivor and a fighter, and a particularly good representative of the sort of people that have always been marginalized by the larger society. She and Scott call themselves “born hustlers” and that’s helped them to survive. Even the canny way that they enlisted the filmmakers to not only tell their story, but to help them rise above it, is a testament to their street smarts.
The bright side of the tragedy for them was that they realized their lives pre-Katrina were going nowhere. Seeing that they were capable of much more, they’ve been able to turn things around. Kimberley’s music career is progressing, and Scott is learning the construction trades as he helps rebuild houses in his own neighbourhood.
If there are any flaws in this film, they’d be relatively minor. The quality of the Roberts’ footage, obviously, isn’t great. As well, their accents and dialect had many in the post-screening Q&A begging for subtitles. Finally, the editing together of so many different sources creates a slightly confusing timeline. But as a document of both a great tragedy and a personal resurrection, Trouble the Water is pretty powerful.
UPDATE: The film will be released theatrically in Toronto in January 2009, and is being distributed by E1 Films.
Official site of the film
Trailer
Born Hustler Records
Here is the Q&A with directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin from after the screening:
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Duration: 25:55
(8/10)
Tagged as:
hurricanekatrina,
neworleans
Mutant Chronicles (2008, Director: Simon Hunter): Take Starship Troopers and strip out all that messy political satire. Combine with equal parts Alien and Fellowship of the Ring, then sprinkle with The Dirty Dozen. Reuse every cliche and plot device and fortunate coincidence, baste with a coat of trendy “steampunk” and then half-bake. Mutant Chronicles was actually pretty fun for the first 45 minutes, as we’re introduced to a future war waged between the four corporations that now control the Earth. Looking a lot like World War I, the sets and art direction are pretty interesting. The camerawork and effects are slick, and the characters and story are tired but watchable. Ron Perlman as a monk with a bad Irish accent was fun for a few minutes, but after the novelty wears off, and the plot and dialogue just keep piling on the dumb, I was ready to get to the ludicrous end as quickly as possible. An extra point for some good effects on a limited budget.
Official site of the film
Trailer
(6/10)
Tagged as:
scifi
The buzz continues to build for the film adaptation of Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’ acclaimed graphic novel Watchmen. The above “teaser poster” was released today, even though the film isn’t scheduled for release until March. My friend Brent has been urging me to read it for years and years so I’ve finally begun doing just that. Though I’m definitely not a fan of the usual superhero movies, Watchman promises to be an order of magnitude more interesting for me, and I look forward to seeing more as the film’s release nears.
Watch the film’s teaser trailer in HD at Apple’s site
Tagged as:
superheroes
