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INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL OF BOSTON
The fifth annual Independent Film Festival of Boston provided many an opportunity to see films that you might not see in the theatre: especially some fascinating documentaries. I loved every minute of my weekend of films galore.
A Lawyer Walks into a Bar
California has the most difficult bar exam (apparently, from audience discussion afterwards, Massachusetts and New York are not far behind in complexity) and also has the lowest pass rate. Makes me wonder about a high school friend who applied to 25 law schools and only got in to UC San Diego. I think I looked her up once and she was not listed, but things can change.
Eric Chaikin [Word Play] directs this fascinating film that has two directions but works well. It highlights the humor, self-deprecation, audacity, competitiveness, do-gooding vs. ambulance chasing and sometimes absurdity of the legal profession. From the outrageous claims (the multi-million settlement for a hot coffee spill) to the more realistic torts (death from Vioxx). The film is peppered with insightful commentary with high-profile attorneys such as writer/attorney Scott Turow, Clinton advisor Vernon Jordan, OJ Dream team-ers Alan Dershowitz and Robert Shapiro and Court TV tiger, Vioxx lawyer Mark Lanier [who is very funny and down-to-earth]. There are plenty of laughs and information to make the documentary provocative.
The documentary also delves into the fears, intense pressure and process of preparing for the California bar exam as it follows six very different candidates for ten weeks. There's the older guy (a 1980 law school graduate and social worker) who has taken the exam 41 times. He's a Vietnam veteran and you just want him to pass. There's the blonde, part-Native American enthusiastic future lawyer/actress, who seems to get into the process too late. The film shows her partying and doing everything but study as everyone else has noses to the grindstone. There's Megan, a hyper-sensitive, neurotic artistic, earthy girl who goes to a hypnotherapist at one point. Megan wants to help people but recognizes the realities of school loans and the need to go corporate to pay them off. There's Sam, the affable and seemingly subdued guy who just doesn't "test well" (he's taking the for the second time). There's an annoying Duke-graduate with the four year old son and artist boyfriend/fiancé. She seems self-absorbed but by the end you understand her goals. She has already been hired by a large firm; she needs to pass the bar to keep the exam. And finally there's the older Mexican-American single mother who graduated from the People's Law School, a school which provides an alternative approach to law (to say the least). She wants to be a tenant lawyer, representing the downtrodden.
Even if you are not a lawyer (my step father is) or law student (I bombed on the LSAT) or do not know one, this documentary sheds light on one of the oldest and most lucrative professions. It may make you think again before telling that lawyer joke again. Lawyers and litigation are an integral component of our society.
VERITAS test-taking company founder Chad Troutwine spoke after the film (he worked with the guy who had taken the bar over 40 times) and announced that he has two documentaries coming up: one on Davis Guggenheim and one about the book Freakonomics.
The Protagonist
This is an unusual yet straightforward documentary by Jessica Yu. It focuses on four men who were bullied or beaten as children, either by family members or their peers. Protagonist shows what this consistent trauma led these men to do. One guy robbed banks, one became a married minister and closeted gay man for years, one, the son of a Jewish woman killed in a Nazi concentration camp, became involved in a German terrorist organization that helped Palestinian terrorist groups in the 70s and one became a martial arts expert [Mark Salzman wrote a wonderful book, Iron and Silk, which is also a film]. Marionettes act out scenes from the past and Euripedes plays which parallel the lives of these men. It is a creative approach and the men have chosen interesting paths. It makes one ponder pivotal moments in life and whether one will use it for good or bad and how one will inevitably learn, change and grow from one's experiences.
The Ten
ThinkFilm
This film seemed promising but I was ultimately disappointed. A stellar cast includes Winona Ryder, Paul Rudd, Famke Janssen, Jessica Alba, Liev Shreiber, Gretchen Mol and an unrecognizable Justin Theroux. David Wain (Wet Hot American Summer) brings 10 subversive stories about the Ten Commandments and showcasing the hypocrisy and ludicrous nature of Christianity.
At times totally goofy and sometimes laugh-out-loud, the film is spotty because of the inconsistency of the funny. It's there but I expected much more from these actors and this filmmaker. The audience seemed to enjoy it. The funniest, "Thou shall have no other God but me" finds an appealing Mol as a wide-eyed 35-year-old virgin (librarian of course) who travels to Mexico and embarks on an unexpected sexual awakening with none other than Jesus [Theroux, who plays it pompous and rather laidback-he doesn't "have time" for the Rapture].
The Ten just did not come together as I wished it would and seemed to drag at times. Such a brilliant concept could not come together even with all the talent behind it. Instead The Ten mostly plays as a series of throw-away SNL sketches.
The Killer Within
What do you do when your father killed and has gone on to live a full life as a professor and family man? This chilling, provocative documentary examines the relationship between bullying, mental illness and violence when an explosive family secret is revealed. 50 years ago at bucolic Swarthmore College, Bob Bechtel carried out a shooting eerily similar to Columbine and Virginia Tech. Dr. Fox, criminologist from Northeastern University stated that this was a "product of the times. Today it would not be treated the same." He explained that Bechtel's actions were planned, calculated and not in self-defense. Director Macky Alston does an outstanding job with this au currant subject matter. Strapped with ammunition, Bob entered a dorm to shoot those who had tormented him, according to his detached recollection. He got sentenced to the mental ward of a prison and was released five years later. Through the family's eyes we watch how one reconciles the violent, turbulent past of a family member. Daughter Carrah laments, "There's gotta be something else, a past tense for a killer."
Strange Culture
This unique, intriguing documentary uses actors [Tilda Swinton and Thomas Jay Ryan] and graphic as well as interviews with those involved to explore artistic freedom. In the post 9/11 era, our government is hyper-sensitive and this documentary shows its frightening and very real results. Our freedoms are not our freedoms any more in this heightened state of fear that a terrorist lurks in every corner.In 2004, artist Steven Kurtz woke to find his wife dead and then shortly after is arrested for suspicion of terrorism. Why? Investigators found legally obtained bacteria and other scientific equipment in his home. Kurtz and his wife had been preparing for an art exhibit about the negative effects of genetically-modified food, at Mass MOCA. Is this the work of an overzealous government or one that has the interests of the nation's safety in mind? By these accounts, it appears to be a witch hunt for artists [and others] that express their opinions and shed light on issues that many would not normally consider. Strange Culture is a stunner. I'm awestruck. I had not even heard about this story.
Darius Goes West
Who is Darius? A high school student from Athens, Ga., Darius has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy [DMD]. What is DMD? A degenerative and incurable muscular condition that will kill him. His older brother already died from the disease. Why travel west? Darius has never been out of Georgia and wants MTV to "Pimp [his] Ride." En route he bonds with ten guys [college students, some who were his camp counselors] while seeing the ocean for the first time, visiting the Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Beverly Hills and other locations throughout the country. Darius Goes West is an uplifting documentary about appreciation for exploration, good friends and living a full life. The film shows the role of caregivers and difficulties for those with disabilities to do what most people do without a second thought. It's a wonderful, amazing journey. Goslabi!
www.dariusgoeswest.com
Steele recommendation: See it in the theater.
Sensation of Sight
Either/or films
Don't we all hate what we see on the inside sometimes.
Whoever understands the complexity of why? is the persistent question running throughout this film about Finn, a former professor-turned-encyclopedia salesman [David Strathairn] in a deeply contemplative state. Who sells encyclopedias or anything door-to-door these days anyway, I kept wondering, and a character in the film finally commented on its absurdity. This meandering film weaves characters together in seemingly nonsensical, yet ultimately revealing fashion. It was confusing yet an interesting character study. The entire cast, including Ian Somerhalder, Jane Adams and Scott Wilson and the remarkable Strathairn, turns out impressive performances in this subtle film. My favorite Strathairn film: Limbo. Sexy, sexy and gripping.
www.davidstrathairn.com
Steele recommendation: Wait for the DVD.
Pretty in the Face
I have to admit I was a bit confused about who was "pretty in the face" in this film. An insecure and plain looking 30-something woman, Maggie, works in a paint-it-yourself pottery shop with an obese woman. Her stagnant relationship gets summed up when she tells him that she cannot remember the last time they really kissed. Unexpected events bring her and her co-worker's overweight son together. They find they have much in common. When she fears her boyfriend has cheated on her, she moves into a co-worker's home to take care of her overweight teenage son. Body issues take center court. And I really wanted to lose even more weight while watching the film. The grand plan for Pretty in the Face to exhibit some sort of connectivity falls stilted and incongruent. The unsettling part was that after the film, writer/director Nate Meyer said that his wife [in the role of Maggie] gained 25 pounds for the role. Really? Why? I don't get it.
Steele Recommendation: Wait for the DVD.
-- Amy Steele
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