poyboy

I saw this at the Florida Film Festival and was quite blown away. Taken with the Oscar-nominated doc The Weather Underground, both movies present a jaw-dropping look at just how tumultuous those times were, especially for someone who didn't live through them, like myself. It's amazing to see how far young, well-educated, mostly white kids were willing to go to prove their points about race, money and war. Archival footage, especially that of the harrowing shootout in Los Angeles that was broadcast live on the air, shows you an America that is almost unrecognizable to us. The ending, which juxtaposes images of media-darling Patty with the rest of the SLA either in jail or long-since dead, is truly stunning.

I saw this film at the International Film Series in Boulder, Colorado, and was initially bowled over by its inventiveness. Even though this appears it's his first film, Cory McAbee plunges us into a bizarre world with supreme confidence. The budget is low but it doesn't seem like the filmmakers sweated it - they spent the money on production design and great costumes rather than trying to do convincing spaceships-flying-through-asteroids shots. It reminded me of Eraserhead more than any other movie - using lighting, props and sound effects to set the tone. But, ultimately, what is this movie other than a showcase for the band's music? The musical interludes occasionally drive the whole film to a grinding halt. They brought me out of the movie and I got very conscious of sitting in a movie theater restlessly waiting. The songs are funny but they frequently have very little to do with the action of the movie. I wonder if all of them were written for the film or if the band just wanted to put in some of their regular songs. And, the ending was very unsatisfying. I mean, I definitely feel like I got my money's worth but after sitting through an amazingly creative patchwork of sci-fi serial/western/off-off-Broadway musical you'd think they could have summed it up with one more setpiece. There seems to be a totally-unforeseen mini-revival of the musical going on nowadays and if you ask me, Hedwig and the Angry Inch is the only film that's really pushed the genre forward into new territory.

I saw this film when I was reviewing it for a film festival. There is fortunately some good acting going on here. I was especially surprised by the kid from Third Rock from the Sun, a show I normally shun like a dark alley. Samantha Mathis is also not bad, although her character is the least well-formed of the two. The story is an interesting, if not familiar one, slipping into melodrama a bit too much. The film definitely exploits the heroin chic that enveloped the indie world following Pulp Fiction and Trainspotting. But, its rather brave tackling of a doomed love in the shadow of AIDS should be commended.