Happy Holidays from Soldier Of Cinema. Some Festive Film Recommendations.

 

 

Once again it's the holiday season. It's a Wonderful Life is celebrating it's 75th anniversary this year. There is no shortage of holiday themed movies set around this festive season. I decided to take a look at some movies that do not necessarily and readily come to mind this time of year. There have been numerous pieces about Shane Black movies and Die Hard. I wanted to revisit some other films. Once you turn off the Christmas lights the darkness once again emerges. The following films explore some dark natures of the human condition.

 GO (1999) Directed by Doug Liman

"You know what I like best about Christmas? The surprises. It's like you get this box, and you're sure you know what's inside. You know, you shake it, you weigh it. You're totally convinced you have it pegged. No doubt in your mind. But then you open it up, and it's completely different. You know. Wow, bang, surprise. I mean, it's kind of like you and me here, you know? And I'm not saying it's anything it's not. Come on, this time yesterday, who would have thunk it?" Are the opening lines spoken by Claire (Katie Holmes) GO written by John August (Big Fish, Corpse Bride) and directed by Doug Liman fresh off of Swingers and would later helm Edge of Tomorrow aka Live, Die, Repeat is a movie involving multiple stories around the holiday season. The trio of friends who work at a grocery store who wind up in a drug deal gone bad. A pair of actors who are about to have a horrible night. And a group of friends who head in sin city. Vegas baby! When I first saw film years ago it had me hooked when the Columbia studio logo was inter-cut with rave party footage. The film features a great ensemble cast with pretty much every actor moving onto many other film projects. A personal favorite film I revisit from time to time. Working in a grocery store sucks, especially around the holidays. 

JOHNS (1996) Directed by Scott Silver 

"A john once told me that the only one true friend you really  have is the money in your pocket. That I know is complete bullshit. All the following hustler stories however are true. My tale begins and ends with shoes." Donner (Lukas Haas) Several years ago I was watching Sean Baker's exquisite film Tangerine. Another film that takes place on Christmas Eve. As I watching the movie another movie kept popping into my head. I could not remember the title. I did remember that David Arquette was one of the actors and I vividly recall watching it on the Canadian channel Showcase and the film was introduced by now C.E.O. of the Toronto International Film Festival, Cameron Bailey. After searching I found the title of the movie, Johns. The film is directed and written by Scott Silver who would go onto write Joker (2019) The Fighter (2010). Johns begins on Christmas eve. The story focuses on a couple of L.A. street hustlers navigating their world on Christmas Eve. John (David Arquette) and Donner (Lukas Haas). This is another film that features a great ensemble cast. The story features the absurdity, fear, sadness of people operating on the fringes of society. 

SILENT NIGHT (2021) Directed by Camille Griffen

My favorite movie that I watched the 2021 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival was a....Keira Knightley....Christmas movie.... The less said about this movie the better. I urge you to watch it. The couple of folks I recommended it to really dug it. Another great ensemble cast. The stand out actor for me is Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo Rabbit) who is going to have a great acting career. Camille Griffin is his mother. Here is what I wrote about it. Review Here

EYES WIDE SHUT (1999) Directed by Stanley Kubrick

A film that was written about a crazy amount when it was being filmed. From the aspect that Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were married at the time, to Stanley Kubrick's obsession to details and multiple takes to the how long the shoot was, 400 days. Eyes Wide Shut still holds the record for longest continuations film shoot. Kubrick died days after presenting the film to Warner Brother executives. 

In the opening moments of the movie the Harford couple are at Christmas party Alice (Nicole Kidman) asks William (Tom Cruise), "Do you know anyone here?" He responds, "Not a soul." The season social gatherings are only going to get more awkward as the night progresses. 

A Hungarian stranger by the name of Sandor Szavost that Alice is dancing with asks, "Don't you think one of the charms of marriage is that it makes deception a necessity for both parties." She laughs the fake kind of laugh that only a former SOHO gallery owner can laugh. He is quite insistent on questioning Alice's marriage. Bill is walking around the party with two gorgeous women on either arm. Ah, to be rich and beautiful."Don't you want to go where the rainbow ends?" One of the women asks Bill. Than he is cock blocked. Seems the host of the party is up to his own infidelity transgressions. A woman has overdosed on a speed ball. Dr. Bill gets the woman to open her eyes. It's a Christmas miracle. 

Alice keeps dancing away. The festive lights are oh so beautiful and bright. She is visibly getting tipsy. Sandor is still quite insistent. Alice cuts him off and says they will never see each other again because she is married. The late 1990s really kick into high gear when the Chris Isaak song "Baby Did A Bad Thing." kicks off. It's back to the practice and taking care of the child. Preparing for Christmas. A little weed to take the edge off. Alice than asks Bill if he pursued extramarital relations at the party last night when he disappeared. Bill asks about the Hungarian stranger. The conversation then turns to Bill saying it was only natural that the Hungarian wanted to fuck Alice because she was a beautiful woman. She takes umbrage to this statement. Alice turns it around on Bill that he did indeed want to fuck the two models because they were also beautiful woman. He says he did not. Alice follows up with asking him, "What makes him an exception?" Bill responds, "What makes me an exception is that I happen to be in love with you. And because we're married..." and continues, "and because I would never lie to you..." with his EYES WIDE SHUT! Kubrick the cinematic master left us with the gift of this perennial holiday favorite as his last fully realized work.

 

A L’INTÉRIEUR aka INSIDE (2007) Directed by Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo

A L’intérieur is a story of loss. It is also about motherhood and providing shelter and safety. The film features two exceptional performances from Béatice Dalle and Alysson Paradis.

Sarah (Alysson Paradis) is in a car accident with her husband. He passes away. She survives as well as the five-month-old baby she is pregnant with. Four months later it is Christmas Eve. Sarah is at the a doctor’s appointment. She is due to give birth the following morning. Christmas morning. The doctor says to Sarah, “Enjoy your last night of peace and quiet.” Unfortunately for her Christmas Eve will be the exact opposite of peace and quiet.

Red being a predominate color of the festival season. You will not find another film, which displays this much red in it. A giant pair of scissors is not only for cutting wrapping paper. This movie has for me one of the most terrifying and haunting shots when a face appears from the darkness in a doorway. A L’intérieur arrived at the height of the French new wave of horror cinema.There is so, so, so, much blood. It is not for the faint of heart.

I wish you all a happy holiday season and happy new year. Thanks for reading.

THE DAY AFTER: Reflections by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 “They made you a moron, A potential H bomb. There’s no future, no future, no future for you” – The Sex Pistols
 
In my childhood - in the late seventies and eighties – premieres for made for television movies were a big event. You would see commercial spots for the newest made for TV movie for months leading up to the big event.  I remember quite vividly the kid floating to the window in Salem’s Lot (1979). When The Exorcist premiered on CBS. My cousins showed me that movie when I was five years old. I had nightmares for weeks afterwards. I used to sneak down stairs and turn on one of the movie channels of my youth, First Choice or Super Channel. This is how I saw John Carpenter’s The Thing for the first time. Runaway train was another film I got up well after bedtime to watch.
 
The most terrifying scene for me personally, premiered on November 20, 1983 on the ABC television network. Ronald Reagan was President. Yuri Andropov was the paramount leader of the Soviet Union and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome or A.I.D.S was a new immune system disorder that was making headlines. Assured mutual destruction and trickle-down economics were buzzwords. Reaganomics was in full effect following massive tax cuts signed into law in 1981. The percentage of people below the poverty line in 1983 had climbed to 15.2%. On March 8th, 1983 President Reagan was speaking to the National Association of Evangelicals where he first said the phrase, “Evil Empire” in reference to the Soviet Union. The doomsday clock was positioned at four minutes to midnight. In November 1983 I was eight years old and living with my grandmother and great-grandmother.

For weeks and weeks we had seen the commercial spots for the latest television movie that was premiering on ABC, The Day After. That November night we gathered around the living room. The ABC Theater logo began. Then a man sitting in front of bookshelves introduced himself, “Hello I’m John Cullum.” And went on to introduce the move. “And this evenings ABC Theater presentation of The Day After I play a father in a typical American family who experienced the catastrophic events of a full-scale nuclear war. Before the movie begins we would like to caution parents about the graphic depiction of nuclear explosions and their devastating effects. The emotional impact of these scenes maybe unusually disturbing and are therefore recommending that very young children not be permitted to watch. In homes where young people are watching we’d like to suggest that the family watch together so the parents can be on hand to answer questions and discuss issues raised by the movie.” Suffice to say my grandmother and great-grandmother did not heed the first part of John Cullum’s warning. The three of us did indeed watch the movie together.

The screen went to black and I had a palpable sense that I was about to see something quite incredible and terrifying. The movie on television began with the following words on the screen: “Although based on scientific fact, this film is fiction. Because the graphic depiction of the effects of a nuclear war may not be suitable for young viewers, parental discretion is advised.”
 
As a kid I loved, loved airplanes. I had notebooks filled with drawings of them. My father would take me an airshow every summer. I knew all the designations of military aircraft. The Day After opens on a Boeing 707 with gray, white and black lettering of the United States air force sitting on the tarmac at SAC Airborne Command Post Omaha, Nebraska. A general boards the plane. Service people are working. This opening scene feels very much like a documentary. The plane roars to life and takes off over cornfields. Big brassy music swells as the camera flies over farms and small mid-west towns. School is staring. Cowboys ride through cattle pens. People are working in manufacturing jobs. The camera flies over Royals Ballpark where George Brett, Vida Blue, Gaylord Perry played months before. It is a beautiful day in Kansas.
 
The ticker tape is humming, the phones are ringing and the numbers are changing on the stock boards at the Kansas Board of Trade. The television news plays as journalists are talking about Soviet Union military buildup along the border of Czechoslovakia. A military helicopter lands at a quaint little house. Military personal run off of the helicopter. They enter a missile silo. “Everything is clean and green.” An air force person informs the others. 

 

Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards) is meeting with his daughter Marilyn (Kyle Aletter) “Hey what’s eating you fruitcake.” he remarks. “I’m sorry just jumpy.” “Ah, you saw 60 minutes last night.” “Huh? No. Come on, I’m taking you to someplace you work right next to and I bet you’ve never been inside in fifteen years.” Sirens are off in the distance. They then wander an art museum. “Sometimes it’s hard to experience a Chinese landscape because the artist does not tell you where you are watching from.” Marilyn informs her dad as they look upon a painting. “You know why?” She asks. Dr. Russell shakes his head, no. “Because he wants you to be in the landscape. A part of it not out here looking at it.” “You mean a God’s eye point of view?” “No, well yes, if by God you mean everywhere inside sort of thing.” Marilyn informs her dad that she is moving to Boston. “Growing up is like growing apart, maybe it’s a natural phenomenon.” Marilyn says. Seconds of silence. Dr. Russell speaks,  “It’s not so easy, saying goodbye.”
 
As families gather for dinner the evening news plays on the radio and television. The Soviet Union is moving large military forces. People pause as an anchorperson relates that East Germany has closed off access to West Berlin. As the sun sets in Kansas, the threat of war is imminent. A baseball game plays. “We interrupt this program to bring you a special report…” East Germany is making more aggressive moves. Life continues. Two sisters chase each other around the house fighting. “Jolene, I’m never going to speak to you again.” An air force man is getting ready to be deployed to his missile silo has an emotional goodbye with his wife. “It’s just an alert, we run around and check things twice instead of once, that’s it.” Life continues as the prospect of war looms larger. There is such a dread the runs throughout The Day After which directly tapped into the zeitgeist of the early 1980s. At any moment actual nuclear was possible and probable. For a country that has in been in continuous declared war for most of the twenty-first century, it is perhaps difficult to grasp how real nuclear war and all out destruction of the planet was. This threat has never actually dissipated. 
 
The sun rises the next day and people continue to go about their day. Tensions continue to escalate in East Germany. A high school football practice is happening. War in Germany is starting. People are leaving Kansas because of the missile silos. The city of Moscow is being evacuated. A man gets a haircut before his wedding the next day. The Russians have invaded West Germany. The highways of Kansas and Missouri are packed with cars leaving the area. Panic. Supermarkets are getting cleaned out. Children watch morning cartoons. The high-pitched tone of an emergency broadcast interrupts the show. Three nuclear blasts are being reported over advancing Soviet troops. Air force troops scramble to B-52 bombers. Another nuclear bomb has exploded at regional NATO headquarters.
 
Forty-nine minutes and twenty-seven seconds into The Day After a woman is drying off after a shower. Her kids are playing outside. The farmhouse begins to shake. In the window behind her a huge plume of light and smoke emerges from the ground. She rushes to the window. A horse neighs and bolts in slow motion. The kids stare in awe of the missile emerging from the silo. The nuclear missile is airborne. The unthinkable is happening. When Jim Dahlberg (Jim Cullen) carries his wife Eve (Bibi Besch) downstairs to the cellar and Eve is screaming it is bone chilling.

We see the Kansas City skyline. The wailing of warning seconds give way to silence. The shot pulls back. The sound of a large boom followed by a brilliant flash of light. Electricity goes out, rooms immediately darken. Clocks stop. Cars stop. A fireball explosion begins on the horizon. The television screen goes white. Only the silhouettes of cars on the highway are visible. The explosion starts to rise from the ground, rising upwards, forming a mushroom cloud. Vast destruction. More explosions. Mushroom clouds. The screen flashes.
 
In an entire film filled with the horror of nuclear war, it is a forty second sequence that really got to eight year and now forty-six year old me. It begins with a woman flashing into a skeleton and then ceasing to exist. An entire classroom of children flashes into skeletons and cease to exist. Within flashes of red, white and blue one hundred and seventy life forms flash into skeletons and are instantly evaporated. Among the evaporated, fifty children, six cattle, the horse from the first missile launch and one dog. The most violent fictional forty seconds ever aired on American television. I had nightmares for weeks.

As a Generation X child, it felt like the world could end at any moment. The psychological effect of these catastrophic images at such a young age were deeply embedded in my imagination. I often think of my worldview of the future being such an abstract thought and how I often live within the moment. To both a benefit and a detriment. I hadn’t had nightmares of nuclear war for many years until the 45th President was elected. As the Covid-19 pandemic continues it still feels as though there is no future for you. Scientists developed the doomsday clock in 1947 to convey the threats to humanity and the planet.  The doomsday clock is set every year. As of January 27, 2021 the Doomsday clock is set at 100 seconds to Midnight. The closet to extinction the clock has ever been set.

 

I STILL SEARCH FOR YOU: A Cinematic Sketch by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 

I have been living in the middle of a cattle ranch in South Texas for a couple of months now. The area is very isolated and has amazing visuals. Everyday I have some sort of encounter with wildlife. Be it a snake chasing a frog I saw when out driving. A baby owl trapped near a cactus. The fleeting glimpse of a deer jumping over a barbed-wire fence. I wander the ranch in the hot Texas sun formulating ideas to create several short films. I decided to edit some of my cellphone footage I have been taking, to put together, what I'm calling a cinematic sketch. I used several filter and editing tools available at the app store to play around and manipulate the images. This is the result. 

I Still Search For You. A man walks in around a cattle ranch ranch in South Texas in a hallucinogenic state. 

BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2021: WHAT JOSIAH SAW Reflections by Robert Aaron Mitchell

                                 WHAT JOSIAH SAW (USA) Directed by Vincent Grashaw

Out on old willow road on the outskirts of a small Texas town is a dilapidated farmhouse surrounded by a good swath of land. This is the Graham homestead. Tommy (Scott Haze) is on a rusted out tractor trying to get it started. He cranks the ignition. It pops and puffs. Plumes of smoke billow out. Inside Josiah (Robert Patrick) looks on. His powerful patriarchal presence felt through the glass of the window. Out on an old oak tree is the inscription;
 

                                                        Miriam Graham
                                                        Darling Wife
                                                        Beloved Mom

Josiah and Tommy sit around the kitchen table. Tommy says a prayer, “God, God I just love you and thank you from the bottom of my heart. For this food today. I pray for ma. I pray for pa. I pray for the man he lied to Amen.” Josiah tells Tommy a story and tells his son he is ignorant to believe in God.

The small town is like a lot of towns these days. Barely hanging on. A main street with a few shops. Oil developers are circling the town trying to buy up land relevant to their shale oil extraction. A couple of Devlin Oil company men meet with one of the assemblymen of the town. They want to buy the Graham property. Assemblyman Gentry points to a map, “Well, this is Willow Road. That’s the Graham property that’ll be a tough sell.” The company men do not seem to phased. “Most have a price.” Gentry continues, “That place has a bad history...something awful has come about.” He proceeds to tell them a story about the Graham family.

On a night when the winds are whipping up something fierce, the farmhouse creaking away. Josiah wakes up in a panic. He sees something above him. He is transfixed and frozen in fear. The next morning Tommy sees Josiah standing beside the oak tree. “Whatever bad you got inside you come from me. Everything good comes from your mother.” Josiah eyes wide and unblinking says God is indeed watching them. They can right their ways, right their wrongs. Getting right has to begin with spit shining the house. Tommy gets down to work. Whatever Josiah saw sure has changed him. At the kitchen table Tommy is about to pour him some whiskey. Josiah covers the coffee mug with his hand “Leave it be.” “No morning tea?” Tommy asks. “Not no more.” Things are turning around. Tommy sets upon the old tractor and it pops and puffs more smoke and wouldn’t you know it, the tractor starts.

Robert Patrick as Josiah is a dominating presence. He stalks around quietly and on the turn of a dime flies into rage. His wide-eyed, unblinking blue eyes are a force of nature. The eyes that can be infused with drunken lunacy, outright terror, menace and malice. Scott Haze playing the son who has returned has the formidable task of sharing scenes with Robert. He rises to the challenge. From Tommy’s posture, dialect or the way he muses and cares for his pa even when his father is in a mean drunk is a role full of empathy and a longing to stay in pa’s good graces. Resolve and courage are two exemplary traits of good actors. Robert Patrick and Scott Haze display these traits as the story moves into unsettling and disturbing ways.

Eli arrives in the story in a frenzied moment of passion. As Josiah remarks about his son, “First step that boy took was a mud pile of trouble.” Looks like Eli continues to step in a mud pile after mud pile of trouble. Eli navigates a violent, rough and tumble world of gambling, whoring and drinking. Henry David Thoreau wrote in Walden, “Most men lead lives of quiet desperation.” Nick Stahl as Eli personifies such a man. A man who is perpetually down on his luck.

One of Eli’s many vices is gambling. He owes Boone, a bar owner and all around shady guy a shit ton of money. Boone is going to kill Eli. Unless. Eli has to accompany two of Boone’s guys, Logan (Troy Powell) and Billy (Ronnie Gene Blevins) on a job. Job don’t go well, Eli is dead.

The three man crew arrive at a gypsy carnival. “They say if a dog howls for no reason, there’s trouble coming. Gypsy lore.” Billy says, ”Lightning without rain these are omens” Eli sits in a trailer as Logan and Billy go on about things. Eli is approached by a young woman, they get to talking. She mentions Eli should meet with the median. He reluctantly agrees. The gypsy median tells him some things. Bullshit everyday platitudes or ominous omens? A lot of shit goes down. Looks like Eli might very well have a second chance. He shows up to his trailer with a letter from the oil company sitting on the floor.

Mary (Kelli Garner) is Joisah and Miriam’s daughter. She is married to Ross (Tony Hale). They are not doing well. They are trying to adopt a child. Mary is meeting with a therapist as a part of the adoption process. Eli shows up with the letter from the oil company shattering a peace that was never quite there to begin with. 

Thomas Wolfe's posthumous novel is entitled, “You Can’t Go Home Again”. Mary and Eli have spent a lifetime with this as a guiding principle. The allure of the oil company money is the impetus. The confrontation with the past is the pull. A heart wrenching reunion with Tommy in the front yard of the farm house. The hugs and warm feeling is short lived. When Tommy informs Josiah his other children have returned the ominous tone ratchets up in intensity.

I like the novel structure of the film. There are also some great story telling moments in the beginning of the chapters when assemblyman Gentry (Ben Hall) and bar owner Boone (Jake Weber) relay a yarn. The film moves among its stories, characters and tones. Sometimes with ease, sometimes jarringly.  That is probably the point. There is a lot of movie here. A film full of great faces. Vincent Grashaw makes some great distinct and visual choices to tell the story. There is such an ominous feeling of dread that permeates the film.

Film is a combination of so many things. Visual, musical, sound design. In a good movie one should not notice these things. However, for me, that is like going to the symphony and not seeing the musicians gathered around a half-circle on stage. When the elements of a film mesh well together it is pure cinema. Cinematographer Carlos Ritter brings a great look to the movie. Composer Robert Pycior's score is haunting, beautiful, and versatile as the tone of the film changes. Last but certainly not least, the sound design team of What Josiah Saw have done an amazing job. The sound design is exquisite.

What Josiah Saw is a southern gothic crime thriller. The film has a great foundation with Robert Alan Dilts screenplay and is anchored by strong performances from a great character actor ensemble. The story twists and turns in unexpected ways. Suspenseful, creepy, disturbing. Director Vincent Grashaw and his team of filmmakers keep the story moving in unique and compelling directions.

One of the core elements of What Josiah Saw is the stories people tell. The truth and lies. Through the murky lens of memory and manipulation.

Family reunions, much like film endings can be complicated affairs. What Joisah Saw will definitely have much discussion after the credits roll. That is a testament to a film that is unafraid to go there.

BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2021: WHEN I CONSUME YOU Reflections by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 WHEN I CONSUME YOU (USA) Directed by Perry Blackshear

When I Consume You is Perry Blackshear’s third feature film. His 2018 film The Siren was the closing film of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival. He returns to the festival with his core acting troupe.

The film opens with a frenetic pace. Incredible images of physical pain. A woman is bruised and bloodied. She is in a bathroom. Locks the door. Standing over the sink she regurgitates a lot of blood. She reaches into her mouth. A distinct and jarring snapping sound. She pulls a loose tooth from her mouth. Another jarring sound as the tooth hits the porcelain. Washing her hands a tattoo of appears to be a stick figure is on the inside of her wrist. A man calls out. The woman runs the shower. She says she is good, she is finishing the shower. She sits on the floor, fully clothed, the water pouring over her as a victim of a horrendous encroachment would.

A nightmare is revealed in the closet.

The woman is in the mirror applying cover up to a bruise. Two people sit on a balcony. Daphne (Libby Ewing) and Wilson (Evan Dumouchel). Wilson says, “I decided I want to be a teacher because I want to help people. People who have had a hard time, need help, and protection and to feel safe. Like kids. It’s really scary to be a kid.” He is really focused on getting this out and has clearly spent a lot time rehearsing his words to get them out in a concise manner.

Daphne hands Wilson a necklace. It is inscribed with a quote, “I sought my brother” They are siblings who have endured a lifetime of pain and hardship together. They have a bond that is inseparable.

“Are you okay?” Wilson asks. A memory. She nods her head in a way that says I’m not quite okay.

The Shaw siblings are forging ahead and pursing paths to better their lives. Daphne is trying to adopt a child. Wilson is going to have an interview for a new job in a couple of days. The adoption process is not going well and has revealed some deep psychological aspects to Daphne’s personality.

Wilson preparing for his big interview leaves the iron on his good shirt too long marking it with a burn. He practices tying a tie. Keeping up appearances to a cold, indifferent society. Wilson is not doing well the night before the interview and shows up at his sister’s apartment in the middle of the night. There is a sense that is a familiar routine. A lifetime of developing coping mechanisms. Intense workouts. A fantasy card game. Three am visits. Hanging out on the balcony. Wilson and Daphne are there for each other through thick or thin.

Wilson stands outside the school waiting for his interview. He self consciously rubs at the stain on his shirt, holding his jacket a little bit higher. While waiting he is approached by someone who works at the school and is informed he will not get an interview. He does not have a college degree. Wilson stands shattered. Another hit from a cold, indifferent society

Wilson returns to Daphne’s apartment. Tragedy. Wilson spots someone running out of the apartment and onto the balcony. On the roof and down the fire escape. He gives chase. To no avail. Wilson stands in the glow of first responder blue and red lights. The chaos of sirens. He frantically is communicating that he saw someone run out the window. An integration. An examination.

At the grave site Wilson holds the words he wrote to eulogize Daphne. “I love my sister very much. When we were little, she protected me though she was younger. I would probably be dead if it wasn’t for her and how strong she is.”  He chooses a different set of  words. He also makes a vow to find the evil that is still out there. The evil that murdered his younger sister.

Wilson wanders the dark New York City streets inquiring about the person he saw flee Daphne’s apartment. Approaching people if they saw the person who he describes. They treat him as people do in a cold indifferent society as a delusional person. Wilson continues to work as a janitor. Invisible to the people around him.

Wilson falls further into himself. Searching for solace at the end of the next bottle. Is he indeed alone? He obtains a box of keepsakes. He opens a leather bound book. Daphne’s diary. Her voice fills Wilson’s mind. The diary compels him to search for the mystery surrounding Daphne. The path leads to intense violence. A mysterious figure has great plans for Wilson Shaw.

When a supernatural event occurs Wilson begins a personal transformation to avenge Daphne. The seeds of letting go and moving forward are also being planted.

When I Consume You is Daphne and Wilson’s story. Libby Ewing and Evan Dumouchel carry the film with outstanding performances. Performances that run the gamut of range.

When I Consume You is a violent, meditation of personal pain and loneliness. A struggle with mental illness in a society that moves on its own accord and has not the luxury or desire to pause and listen and to help. Perry Blackshear navigates genre storytelling elements as an allegory for physical and mental abuse. The film is also a study in loss and grief. How do you continue to navigate through grief?

In a cold, indifferent society the bonds of love are a powerful adherence that spans across different planes of existence.

Losing someone there is no such thing as closure. That kind of pain now becomes a part of you. Perhaps, there can be a moment of peace. A moment of acceptance. Maybe, at the end of the day, it’s a victory to hold the demon at bay, for one more day.

BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2021: NIGHTMARE FUEL Short Film Block

 

If a feature film is a novel, then a short film is a poem. I took a look at the following short films that were curated by the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival under the program, Nightmare Fuel. Hope I can sleep tonight….

THE THING THAT ATE THE BIRDS (U.K). Directed by Sophie Mair & Dan Gitsham

The film opens on a beautiful vista. A man walks the countryside. A bag slung over his shoulder. He points a flashlight ahead of him. The music swells. The man stops walking. A bird lies dead before the man’s feet. Something is wrong in the countryside.

Wonderful sound design and musical score. Fully realized characters. It feels as though we are getting a momentary glimpse into a larger conflict. The makeup effects are top notch. The Thing That Ate The Birds does a great job operating with the confines of a short film. A wonderful piece of horror cinema. No birds were harmed making the picture.

IGNORE IT (USA) Directed by Sam Evenson

A kid sits on a bed playing a GameBoy. The kid’s father comes into the room and tells Justin that an unwanted visitor is back. He must follow the rule. “Stay focused.” The father says.

Great use of light as well as fun, creative shots of the unwanted visitor. Ignore it does a superb job of creating suspense and a tone of dread.  

Family dinners can be awkward and forced. Hopefully your next dinner is not as tense as this one…

CUTTER (USA) Directed by Dan Repp & Lindsay Young

Cutter wastes no time drawing you into its world. The opening shot is powerful and horrific.

I had no idea where this film was going, which is a considerable feat in the short film running time. A film with this kind of gravitas only works on the strength of the actors involved. Nadia Alexander who plays Raelyn and Leslie Fender (Raelyn’s Mother) anchor the film with strong performances.

Loneliness and heartbreak are very painful experiences. Sometimes the emotional pain manifests into self-inflicted physical pain. Sometimes other forces are at work. Cutter was an uncomfortable watch. I believe that is a compliment. The film does a great job with the horror people inflict upon themselves as well as the possible supernatural elements that can create havoc.

WEEE WOOO (USA) Directed by Charlie McWade

A night in. Playing some tunes. Sipping some red wine. Good times. A door creaks open.

I personally hate looking in a mirror and seeing something off. This happened to me just a couple of days ago.

Snow gently falls from the night sky. Good at changing tones. Great use of lighting. Sound design that really amps up the story telling. I really dug the changing of subjective and third person in the film.

Tara Pacheco does a great job in the lead role.

Very effective at being creepy. Perfect for some nightmare fuel. 

THIS IS OUR HOME (USA) Directed by AK Espada

The short begins with “No animals were harmed in the production of this film”. It continues with, “However, real archival footage of an animal in distress has been used.”

Full disclosure, I had a mouse problem when I was living in indiana and resorted to glue boards. While brutal the traps were highly effective. I had a rule, I never went out into nature to mess with mice. However, if you come into my house, you have to get out as soon as possible. Thankfully I never stepped on a glue trap with my bare feet.

Dina (Mor Cohen) and Ruya (Ruba Thérèse Mansouri) are roomates. They also have every New Yorkers nightmare of a mice infestation. While they differ on methods they do agree that the mice have got to go.

The never-ending squeak of mice at night is so unnerving. War is war. This Is Our Home is ultimately a film about colonialism, roomates and veganism. I promise to never use a glue trap again.


OUZO AND BLACKCURRANT (U.K.) Directed by Nat Luurtsema

From the font of the title, to the infectious reunion of friends you get the immediate impression you are about to have some fun.

Friends wander through a field of wrecked cars reminiscing. To say more would be to say far too much.

I dug the look of the film. Ozuo and Blackcurrent does a lot in the condensed run time of a short. A nice slice of horror cinema.

BRACKISH (USA) Directed by Christa Boarini

Opens with beautiful widescreen cinematography. Hypnotic underwater photography. A body is submerged. An idyllic summer scene. People are enjoying being out on the lake and a woman sets up an easel to paint the landscape.

This film being in a program entitled nightmare fuel things cannot stay idyllic for too long.

You ever get that sense that you are being watched? Naw me neither.

As I have mentioned the photography quite a lot in a few sentences, kudos to Director of Photography Colin Treanbeath. Great score by Justin Hogan. The film reminded me of Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock.

LA OSCURIDAD The Darkness (USA/MEXICO) Directed by Jorge Sistos Moreno

Marina, a former elementary school teacher, emerges badly bruised on the shore of a lake. After a lengthy track through the hot Mexican sun, she lands at the primary school where she once worked. 

A pickup sits by a lake as the sun rises. A man stands at the shore and spits into the lake. It starts. LOUD. The truck rumbles away but the evil deed the driver has performed remains out in the open in the form of a purse and a pair of heels.

The tone is a slow dread. Some exquisite shots in the film. Sometimes the darkness claims it’s vengeance.

The art house meets horror. La Oscuridad is a haunting and effective story.


 

BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL SESSION 9: 20th Anniversary Screening Reflections by Robert Aaron Mitchell

 

SESSION 9 USA 2001 (Directed by Brad Anderson) 

 

Session 9 is getting a twentieth anniversary screening during this years Brooklyn Horror Film Festival at the beautiful Nitehawk Theater in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This Tuesday, October 19th 9:30pm. You can get tickets clicking on here.

 

Several years ago I was living in Worcester, Massachusetts and took a drive up to Danvers. It is was a crisp, clear October day when I arrived at the former Danvers State Hospital.  Not much remains of the former State Lunatic Asylum at Danvers is kind of misleading, the original center building is beautiful and remarkably tall. It is also very imposing. The red bricks stood out especially as they contrasted the blue skies of that autumn morning when I visited the grounds. The original building is actually only a tiny remnant how large the sprawling hospital was. The Danvers State Hospital has served as inspiration for H.P. Lovecraft's Arkham Sanatorium as well as Arkham Asylum in the Batman universe. While the building has been influential in fiction, the true-life horrors that happened here are indeed very disturbing. 

 

Today the site is now comprised of renovated apartments. The past of the state hospital is only a short walk away down an unmarked trail and through overgrown bushes that leads to a large granite stone. The stone reads, “The Danvers State Hospital Cemetery “The Echos They Left Behind”” The cemetery contains hundreds of graves of Danvers patients. Only numbers marks the graves. Through the efforts of Pat Deegan and many others, hundreds of the dead have been identified. Many remain anonymous. A lot of times when reading about a film it is remarked that the location is another character in the movie. This sentiment is extremely true about the former Danvers State Hospital in Brad Anderson’s Session 9.

 

The film opens on two men waiting in van bearing a company name and slogan, Hazmat Elimination Co “Asbestos Abatement Professionals” outside a gate to the hospital. The two men are Gordon (Peter Mullan) & Phil (David Caruso) they await Bill Griggs (Paul Guilfoyle) who is holding bids for the asbestos removal job at the former insane asylum. They meet up and proceed on a tour of the grounds.

 

“It’s a pretty simple layout really, if you consider a giant flying bat.” Bill says as they walk down a hallway. Danvers as I mentioned has been a visual inspiration for Arkham Asylum in the Batman universe. Christian Bale who played Batman in the Christopher Nolan films also acted in Brad Anderson’s The Machinist.

 

“Whoa, what the fuck is this?” Phil asks as he looks into a metal tub filled with water “What are you a little scared Phil? This is hydrotherapy. Used to be cutting edge. They’d stuff the nut jobs into cold water I guess as a way to chill them out. Or they’d give them a lobotomy. The prefrontal lobotomy was perfected here at Danvers.”  Bill Griggs (Paul Guilfoyle) As they leave the room we see the full extent of what they were seeing. A sheet with restraints covers one of the tubs. Hydrotherapy would consist of placing a person into extremely hot or cold water, as it was believed this torture would alert the parts of the brain the psychiatrists wanted to affect.

 

As Bill continues the walk through “Oh there’s a lovely cemetery behind the machine shop. No headstones, just numbers.“ As they get further into the building it gets darker and darker. “This is where they keep the extreme patients…psychotic. You know what they call ward A? The snake pit.” Gordon pauses and looks down the hallway and sees the chair from the opening shot of the film. “Hello, Gordon” some strange voice says as Gordon stays transfixed on the chair. Phil snaps him out of this reverie.

 

The camera movement and the use of light and shadow really infuse Session 9 with the sort of creepiness that really disturbs someone watching the movie. I believe of all the types of emotions and scares a horror film can achieve, to create a truly affecting foreboding that literally gets under ones skin is very difficult tone to achieve and sustain. Brad Anderson and his team elicit this feeling to an amazing extent in the film.

 

“Reclaiming the dark past to build a brighter future.” Bill says as the walk through winds down. As far as the job goes, it is difficult and a huge space. Gordon looks up the ceiling and points out that it contains crocidolite asbestos. Otherwise known as blue asbestos. It is considered the most hazardous type of asbestos. The job was severely undercut by the owner of Hazmat Elimination Company. Time is also limited; Bill wants the job done before Columbus Day, in order to get construction crews in. Phil says it’ll take three weeks to get done. Gordon says two weeks, much to Phil’s chagrin.

 

Just before stepping back outside, Phil stops and asks Bill, “Hey, what’s this?” Phil enters a room, which is covered in dozens, and dozens of illustrations cut out from magazines and books. “Seclusion, that’s what they called the patients rooms back then. A part of some therapy that was big in the seventies. Art therapy.” Gordon is once again transfixed. Outside Gordon tells Bill they’ll get the job done in one week.

 

Gordon sits outside his house and watches his wife with their new baby. A palpable sense of dread is felt.

 

The crew begins to work. Another member of the crew is introduced, Hank (Josh Lucas) Turns out Hank is dating Phil’s ex-girlfriend Amy. The other guys on the crew are, Mike (Stephen Gevedon) and Gordon’s cousin Jeff (Brendan Sexton III). The crew has lunch and Mike relates the horrific tale of Patricia Willard. Is it real or urban legend?  They get back to work.

 

The screams of the patients are in the flakes of paint falling off of the walls.

 

Everyone leaves, except for Mike. He has found an old reel-to-reel tape recorder. He sits in a dilapidated office and hits play. Voices from the past come alive. “I know this is difficult Mary and that’s why we are here to help.” Mary’s distraught and anguished voice fills the room. These are the recorded sessions of which Session 9 takes it’s title from. To say more would be to say far too much.

 

The crew is falling apart. Is it the extreme workload in a short amount of time, the personal relationships, the home life stress, the asbestos or is it the sinister past of the very building and horrors that unfolded within affecting the crew? It could very well be, all of it.

 

The film works for a lot of reasons, in large part because this five-man crew really feels as though they are indeed a crew of asbestos removal guys in Massachusetts. I find this story of an asbestos team working on the building even more remarkable, now that the actual building has become high-end apartments. The doctor (Lonnie Farmer) and Mary aka Princess, Billy and Simon (Jurian Hughes) really have to be mentioned. The audience only hears their voices through the recorded sessions; together they are really the foundation of the mystery and unsettling tone of the film. 

 

I believe that the very place of Danvers State Hospital seeps into the film. The score by Golden Climax Twins (The Mangler, The Chained) is haunting. Ultimately, the horror of the film is not built off of cheap scares but a slow I hesitate to use the word slow. Meticulous is a far better world. Session 9 is a meticulous buildup towards the haunting tale of Mary as well as the five guys working in her lingering presence. Session 9 is twenty years old. Revisiting the film today I can say, it still holds up as an unsettling, scary movie.

MR. PUZZLES: The First Horror Movie Written Entirely By Bots

 

Netflix Is A Joke worked with Keaton Patti to make a bot watch over 400,000 hours of horror movies and then write its own horror movie. This is what it came up with. This is destined to be a perennial horror classic. Here is the film:

BROOKLYN HORROR FILM FESTIVAL 2021: Preview Good Madam, Earwig, The Sadness and much more.

 

 

The sixth edition of the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival starts tomorrow. Here is a quick look at some of the highlights.

 

GOOD MADAM (Mlungu Wam) South Africa 2021 is the opening night film. This premiere gives New York City audiences their first opportunity to see director Jenna Cato Bass' fourth feature film. A film Variety calls, "A quiet, tightly wound horror film". Good Madam is a very effective story with great resonance of South Africa's master and servant culture. 

EARWIG United Kingdom, France, Belgium 2021  Earwig is the Centerpiece film of the festival. Directed by Lucile Hadžihalilović (Evolution, Innocence) and written by Geoff Cox based on the novel by Brian Catling. Lucile said prior to the film, “I’d like you to be hypnotized by the film.” Towards that end, she succeeds. Here is my full review. 

THE SADNESS Taiwan 2021 I am very much looking forward to seeing Rob Jabbaz. Here is what the organizers of the Brooklyn Horror fest have to say, "With The Sadness, director Rob Jabbaz takes a blood-and-puss-filled syringe to the zombie genre, injecting it with relentless visions of murderous carnage and sexual savagery. You’ve been warned." I might have to get that booster vaccine shot before watching this one. 

 

AFTER BLUE France | 2021 Director Bertrand Mandico created the Incoherence Manifesto in 2012 with fellow filmmaker Katrin Olafsdotir. Bertrand states, "To be incoherent means to have faith in cinema, it means to have a romantic approach, unformatted, free, disturbed and dreamlike, cinegenic, an epic narration." I had this to say about the movie, "After Blue is the direct descendant of Alejandro Jodorowsky's El Topo. After Blue is the child of David Pelham's 1970s sci-fi, paperback covers. It is also to say Bertrand Mandico's film is midnight madness." You can read my full review here.  

EGO Spain 2021 The festival presents the world premiere of director Alfonso Cortés-Cavanillas new film Ego. The film arrives in Brooklyn with a very intriguing premise. "Ego decides to access a dating website with people of the same sex. His surprise is capitalized when he finds an advertisement for a girl exactly like her that threatens to impersonate her and erase her identity forever." - IMDB

THE FEAST United Kingdom 2021 There has been a running theme in horror films I have seen this year. There have been a lot of pivotal scenes around dinner tables which I find fascinating during these pandemic years as most of us have kept our distance from one another. The Feast directed by Lee Haven Jones and written by Roger Williams centers the film around a dinner. To say more would ruin the film. Bon Appetite! 

 THE LAST THING MARY SAW USA 2021 A strong feature film debut from director and writer Edoardo Vitaletti. A great slow burn horror movie. During a cold winter in the 1800s, a young woman is under investigation following the mysterious death of her family's matriarch. Her recollection of the events sheds new light on the ageless forces behind the tragedy. Scary stuff! 

LUX AETERNA France 2019 A film by Gaspar Noé need I say more...okay I'll also say this...a film with Béatrice Dalle and Charlotte Gainsbourg playing themselves in a movie about making a movie. Sold! 

NELLY RAPP Sweden 2021 The programmers of the Brooklyn Film Festival say this about Amanda Adolfsson's film, "Nelly isn’t like the other kids in her middle school class. To start, she’s a horror junkie, unlike most of her friends, but taking things even further into the abnormal, her family has a long history of keeping people safe from vampires, zombies and other ghouls. As the young Nelly excitedly tries to carry on tradition she’s forced to come of age in the wildest of ways. A charming horror-comedy that’s both hilarious and heartfelt, Amanda Adolfsson’s family-friendly gem winks at genre touchstones like Universal Monsters while still forming its own delightfully playful identity. It’s monster-heavy fun for all ages." 

 

NIGHT TEETH USA 2021 Another world premiere film! The movie marks the second feature from Adam Randall (I See You). A young driver picks up two mysterious women for a night of party hopping. But when his passengers reveal their true nature, he must fight to stay alive. The film looks great and is bolstered by some great performances. 

 

WHAT JOSIAH SAW USA 2021 A family reunites at a farmhouse and deep, dark buried secrets are revealed in the film by Vincent Grashaw. Based on a strong screenplay by Robert Alan Dilts. What Josiah Saw also features an eclectic cast, Robert Patrick, Nick Stahl, Scott Haze, Kelli Garner, Tony Hale...defiantly a film to check out.

 

 

WHEN I CONSUME YOU USA 2021 The Brooklyn Film Festival says this about Perry Blackshear's film, "Wilson Shaw (Evan Dumouchel) and his sister Daphne (Libby Ewing) have suffered through disappointment after disappointment for their entire lives. Only during the final throes of their misery do they discover a malevolent entity has been behind their misfortune all along, and the siblings set out to eradicate it from their bloodline once and for all. With his third feature, following the acclaimed They Look Like People and The Siren (BHFF 2018 Closing Night), Perry Blackshear gathers the same great core acting trio of his previous films plus the excellent Ewing to tell his darkest story yet— one of fierce love and loyalty in the face of ultimate evil." 

Here is the full schedule and how to get tickets

 

TIFF 2021 DUG DUG: Interview with Director/Writer Ritwik Pareek with Robert Aaron Mitchell

 

On a quiet Sunday a week after the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival ended I was able to sit down over zoom with director and writer of Dug Dug, Ritwik Pareek. We had a great in depth interview about the making of the movie.  

TIFF 2021 SNAKEHEAD: Reflections by Carol Borden

By Carol Borden

Evan Jackson Leong Snakehead (USA, 2021)

Snakehead chronicles the life of Sister Tse (Shuya Chang) after she has paid a snakehead--a human smuggler similar to a coyote--to bring her to New York so she can find her daughter. Sister Tse is very practical about this arrangement, so practical she works her way up the ranks of the local family holding her debt and attracts the attention of gang matriach and community benefactor, Dai Mah (Jade Wu). Sister Tzu also attracts the attention of Dai Mah’s son, Rambo (Sung Kang), who is jealous of her relationship with his mother.

Snakehead is based on the true story of infamous leader of a human trafficking ring in New York, Cheng Chui Ping, aka, Sister Ping. And it is definitely a story worth telling. But no matter how much I want to see this story and I want to like it, Snakehead is uneven. It does not feel finished. It feels like maybe it needed another draft. On one hand, I appreciate grounding the film in the community and some of the strongest elements are related to that almost documentary feel. On the other hand there is also frequently awkwardness in line delivery. Sister Tse’s narration felt rote and didn’t create a smooth narrative flow between the segments we see from her life. It feels more like dramatized segments in a documentary about someone’s life. And this makes me think about whether Snakehead might work better as a documentary than a drama / action movie. But the thing is, I want the action movie that Snakehead is trying to be. The documentary would be interesting, but the action movie that shares this world and the lives of the women inhabiting it is an amazing vision. 

 

And there are some real strengths in the film, Ray Huang’s cinematography for instance. Shuya Chang is charismatic as Sister Tse. Sung Kang is suitably frightening as the out of control Rambo. But Jade Wu steals the film as Dah Mah, bringing an outstanding depth to her character and a flawless delivery.

Snakehead tries something new in terms of story, and I cannot appreciate that more. I hope everyone working on it keeps working on getting stories like this made. Because even if Snakehead doesn’t entirely succeed, it’s a start.

TIFF 2021 SALOUM: Paméla Diop Producer Statement

 

At the genesis of SALOUM, there is the meeting of my partner in crime Jean-Luc Herbulot. We both had a visceral need to create works in Africa, filled with heroes and monsters. It was what we craved as kids to see coming from African film, so we created it ourselves. During a trip to the Saloum region of Senegal in 2018, we wrote the short story “The Twilight of the Hyenas” an African western... a horror film... a fantastic epic... an ode to the imaginary world in which we would like to stay and a furious artistic deliverance rather than a desire to fill an empty box.

 

The movie was filmed in nature, mostly in the mystical and wild region of Saloum, Senegal where my journalist father had filmed wrestling matches more than forty years ago and where my mother still lives; on an island without cars, far away from all levels of city life.

 

SALOUM is the first feature film from LACME STUDIOS, co-constructed with the actors and technicians, day-after-day for five straight weeks - the epic adventure of a group living outside the comfort of their respective homes, much like the hero-mercenaries of the film itself. The absence of a network, the random supply of water, the regular silting up of vehicles... blood was shed along with tears. SALOUM is the result of the talents we gathered who were kind enough to follow us on this adventure.
The production of SALOUM was a natural shifting of gears, the result of adrenaline rushes, soul encounters, inevitable pains, loves, the divine and fears of emptiness ... a birth of a bloody new-born already adored by its parents.

 

"When you want to succeed as bad as you want to breathe ..." Eric Thomas recounts in his motivational speech, explaining how an old man kept his student's head under water, thus demonstrating the true meaning of the word "motivation.” This best explains why I believed in this film, why I expected it and why I didn’t hesitate to take the risk.

It’s important for me to release African artistic madness, so universal and yet so rare on international screens.

 

TIFF 2021 SALOUM: A Few Questions & Answers with Director Jean Luc Herbulot

 

 

What is your background as a filmmaker?

No film-school. No camera. Just an eight-year-old filled with feverish dreams. I am and always have been what I refer to as a hostage of creativity. As an adult, I finally found the outlet to release those dreams into visual stories. 

 

What was your initial inspiration for making SALOUM?

A lucid dream and an experience of drowning. When I was a kid, 5 or 6 years old, in Congo, I was alone on the seashore, and I suddenly got sucked into the water. I fought my way back but remember losing it and just letting go... But then, I finally came out of it, like somebody pushed me back to shore. I remember being helped by an adult that was guarding me. This guardian said I had disappeared for more than five minutes. And she was not joking, she was crying and scared to death. That experience made me question about the unknown and perceptions. Later on, some years ago, I was in Dakar. I was pretty sick, feverish, but I won my battle against insomnia that night. I slept and had this weird dream of floating and being a camera in the middle of a gunfight, more precisely an execution. I witnessed a military kid going forward, gun pointed to his destiny/enemy? Who was that kid morphing into an adult? The rest is in the movie.

 

The performances in the film are exceptional– what was your casting and rehearsal process? 

I don’t go through a traditional casting process I spend time choosing people I want to work with. We all lived together in the camp that you see in the film, so the tenderness and the tensions were based on reality. The performances in SALOUM are what happens when you isolate thirty people with a thirst for creativity in a contained desert camp, in a spiritually overloaded environment.

 

What are your cinematic and creative influences, and how did they influence the making of SALOUM?
 

Red Dead Redemption 2, the ancestral spirits of Saloum and “The Strummer’s law” – the idea that a constant flow of creative inspiration into one's life is as important as breathing.