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The danger for the fetishist is that he/she becomes trapped in the cage of their own endless, reiterative desires. Wong Kar-Wai, in his deliciously kaleidoscopic film, 2046 teeters perilously on the brink of his own creative implosion. But like his hero Chow Mo-Wan (a dashing, brilliantined, Tony Leung Chiu-Wai), Wong succeeds in escaping the pull of his own irretrievable past. 2046 is a sort-of sequel to his lavish, langorous In the Mood for Love. Larger in cast, scope, and story, 2046 is also a haunted film: haunted by the success of In the Mood for Love and the heavy absence of Su Lizhen (Maggie Cheung Man Yuk who reappears here only in cameo), Chow Mo-Wan’s almost-lover from the first film.

Wong Kar-Wai is the rare contemporary director who evokes the glory days of International Art House cinema when the next Bergman or Godard film was reason for celebration . 2046 has been long-awaited by fans of WKW, as he’s known in shorthand, and the notoriously ‘improvisational’ Wong reworked the film up to the very last. Originally conceived as a science-fiction project completely separate from In the Mood for Love, Wong filmed both at the same time, and eventually the two films seemed to merge for him. The version of 2046 screened at last year’s Cannes festival arrived only three hours before its scheduled premier because of last minute edits. Wong has reworked it since, and only now does it exist in something close to definitive version.

As always, Wong’s fetish for nostalgia drives the narrative with powerful, hyper-romantic force. In 2046, Chow Mo-Wan returns from Singapore a changed man, a rakish womanizer with a Clark Gable, pencil-thin moustache, and twinkling, mischievous eyes. Looking up an old flame at the Oriental Hotel, he finds her missing, and tries to take her room, Room 2046 (the same hotel room number as the room he shared with Su Lizhen in In the Mood for Love). The landlord tells him its unavailable but gives Chow Room 2047 instead. Still a writer, Chow now writes lurid newspaper gossip and parties like a man trying hard to escape his past. Along the way, he shares a fling with the new neighbor in Room 2046, Bai Ling (Zhang Ziyi). She’s a fellow libertine on a downward spiral, and her eventual dissolution is a counterpoint to the redemption that Chow will find. Gong Li is a powerful presence as the mysterious black-gloved gambler known only as the Black Spider. But when he meets Jingwen, the hotel landlord’s lovelorn daughter (Hong Kong pop superstar, Faye Wong), he is inspired to work on a futuristic novel entitled 2047. The novel becomes Chow’s means of escape, a means of putting the legacy of Hotel Room 2046 behind him, the haunted past of a lost love that he cannot forget.

As in In the Mood for Love, wardrobe and set design are practically characters in their own right. Wong’s fetish for pattern and texture rule the day in his idealized version of Hong Kong circa 1967. And as before, Wong films his actors with care and attention, every styled, costume-designed square inch of them. They may be dying of heartbreak, but at least they’re dying in style. Lost love is everywhere in 2046, and longing and regret and heartache permeate every frame of the film. Labrythine and elusive, 2046 is cinematic opium, hazy and erotic and a profound pleasure for the senses.

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The Dirtiest Joke Ever Told:
Penn Jilette and Paul Provenza’s
The Aristocrats
Opens July 29, 2005

In this joke there’s the set up:
“Guy walks into an agent’s office…”
And the punch line:
“I call it 'The Aristocrats!'”

Reviewed by Ilise S. Carter

But it’s what comes in-between that’s really the stuff of showbiz legend. More than just a dirty joke, The Aristocrats is a foul-mouthed heirloom that’s been handed down from generation-to-generation of comics, since the days of vaudeville. It’s also the subject of Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette’s new documentary.

This secret fraternity handshake of the comedy world is, in point of fact, not a particularly funny or original joke. Nor is it a crowd favorite (actually, it’s never really supposed to be told on stage). Instead, the fun lies in ability of the teller to weave the longest, filthiest, most elaborate yarn his peers have ever heard. There are, however, no hard and fast rules on just how to do that either – the direction of the story is determined only by the twisted imagination of the raconteur. Some of the possibilities examined in the documentary include incest, bestiality, “Hitler in crotch-less panties,” and a host of other scenarios that the editorial policy of this publication prohibits even alluding to.

While the shock value is great and plentiful, that isn’t what makes this homespun little film so fun to watch. It’s the “behind the scenes” quality that makes it worth sitting through infinite versions of the very same joke. Shot with handheld cameras and edited on a Mac, Jillette and Provenza have given The Aristocrats a home movie feeling. This atmosphere gives viewers the sense that they are literally being let in on an inside joke by bringing the audience into a world that was previously only accessible to those privileged enough to sit in on the after-hours sessions that take place in the backrooms of comedy clubs and casinos.

The film includes interviews with over a hundred professional comics, writers, magicians, and entertainers, comprising several generations and a wide range of styles. Some of the most outrageous versions actually come from comedians who’ve made their fortune providing wholesome family entertainment (e.g., Bob Sagat even manages a mention of his former co-stars, the Olsen Twins, in his tale), while other veterans are surprisingly modest (such as Phyllis Diller, who insists she actually fainted from shock the first time she heard the joke.) In addition, there are reminiscences about legendary tellings (“…an hour and a half and then he messed up the punch line!”) and the most inappropriate times it was told (at a post-9/11 Friars’ Club Roast of Hugh Hefner) and other such delightful oddities surrounding the long and sordid history of The Aristocrats. Which, in the end, is really the funniest part of the whole joke.

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John Singleton's
Four Brothers
Opens August 12th

Tagline: They came home to bury mom... and her killer.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg; Tyrese; Angel Mercer; André 3000; Garrett Hedlund; Terrence Dashon Howard; Josh Charles; Sofía Vergara; Fionnula Flanagan; Chiwetel Ejiofor; Taraji P. Henson; Barry Shabaka Henley; Jernard Burks; Kenneth Welsh; Tony Nappo; Shawn Singleton.

Reviewed by Caroline Smith

Tough. Just what you’d expect from a Wahlberg. Despite broken bodies, broken hearts, and broken trust, this film’s plot surprisingly held up. Instead, the gunshots mocked my low expectations and I couldn’t help but drown myself in the brotherly love.

Director John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood, 2 Fast 2 Furious) did little in developing the chemistry between his four men: Mark Wahlberg, Tyrese Gibson, Andre Benjamin, and Garrett Hedlund. He threw them on the ice rink and just said, “Play hockey.” The bond formed naturally. Beneath their tough exteriors, their loyalty was unbreakable.

The adopted sons reunite because their ‘angel of a mother’, Evelyn Mercer, (Fionnula Flanagan) is murdered in a convenience store. They rush home to Detroit and… well, you’d think you knew the rest. O.K. you’re almost right, with the exception of a few potholes. As it’s no surprise, the boys get involved with their mother’s killer but quickly realize that the world of crime has changed drastically since their days of delinquency.

Bobby, (Wahlberg) the ringleader, has the role down sharp, like his greasy, slicked locks. His constant badgering of Jack, (Hedlund) the youngest Mercer, will put a smile on your face. In fact, the laughs are as plentiful as the gunshots in this movie. Even the smaller roles like Sofi, Angel’s (Gibson) insane “la vida loca” girlfriend, and the mink-coated mafia man, Victor Sweet, give this film a little extra than let’s just say the normal serving of blood, guts, and violence.

However, in the midst of the notorious Singleton car chasings and shootings, I had to ask myself if I really believed that “the town’s sweetest lady, Evelyn Mercer,” would have been proud of her sons. After all, she adopted these delinquents with the ‘Mother Theresa’ hope of turning them around. But boys will be boys. They avenge Mom’s death, whether she likes it or not.

Singleton creates early maudlin scenes so that the violence is justifiable in the end. In other words, the boys grieve first so they can kill later. Yes, this film skates on some pretty predictable ice but there are just enough nicks there to keep it from seeming too contrived. And no, Outkast’s Andre “3000” Benjamin does not break out in a rumble scene singing, “Shake it like a Polaroid picture.” Though I do think he’s better off doing that than the film thing.

Fight to see this one. It’s a lot of fun.


www.FourBrothersMovie.com

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Fernando Meirelles'
The Constant Gardener
Opening August 31, 2005

Starring: Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Archie Panjabi,
Bill Nighy

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

The trailer for The Constant Gardener filled me with fear. John le Carre’ is an amazing writer, but when was the last time one of his novel’s was adapted into a great film? (I am personally partial to The Little Drummer Girl) This particular trailer was filled with the visual cross-cutting cacophony we’ve learned to expect from the annoying summer action-flick. Had Ralph Fiennes sold out? Did Fernando Meirelles ‘go Hollywood’? Didn’t The Mummy Part 13 teach Rachel Weisz anything?

I breathed a tremendous sign of relief as the first few frames of The Constant Gardener flickered and by the time the credits rolled, I was blown away by how against-the-typical-Hollywood-grain-great this film actually was.

The gifted Fernando Meirelles (City of God), along with crackerjack screenwriter Jeffrey Caine and their fantastic cast and crew have completely reinvented the summer action-thriller mostly by giving it a healthy dose of two things it hasn’t contained since the seventies: realism and intelligence. Imagine a smart film that provides action and suspense. Now imagine that film is actually about something... something important. And imagine the scares coming from the realities of the unjust world we live in. That’s right-- no comic book villains, no overblown effects, no gimmicky twist ending and no one in tights!

Set (and exquisitely shot) in Northern Kenya, The Constant Gardener unfolds after the brutal murder of Tessa Quayle (Weisz), wife of British diplomat Justin Quayle (Fiennes). The death is made to look like a crime of passion and the usually indifferent Justin begins stumbling upon evidence to the contrary. So begins his startling and terrifying journey as he discovers taboo truths about the pharmaceutical industry in Africa and the British High Commission’s involvement. Along the the road to his dangerous enlightenment, he also finds out more about his wife than he ever knew when she was alive.

At the heart of The Constant Gardener is the most refreshingly unconventional love story since Lost in Translation. Through flashbacks, we gain keen insight into the lives of Justin and Tessa. Their meeting and subsequent marriage is one of physical attraction-meets-convenience. It isn’t until after Tessa’s murder that Justin falls deeply in love with her.

Ralph Fiennes, in a remarkably brave, daring and painfully romantic performance, proves he’s the leading man for the new millennium. This is a richly nuanced turn that may deservedly bring him his third Academy Award nomination.

Rachel Weisz emblazes the screen with Tessa, brilliantly conveying the woman’s passions --political and otherwise, yet enabling the audience to glimpse her gentler side as well.

There are stellar supporting performances by Danny Huston & Pete Postlethwaite as well as a brief but dynamic turn by the ubiquitous Bill Nighy who has film’s funniest line.

One of the unsung stars of The Constant Gardner is Kenya. Thanks to Meirelles and his production team the audience spends a few hours in an astonishingly beautiful country that the west seems to have abandoned to famine and disease.

Never a polemic, the film does voice a very urgent message about the power the pharmaceutical industry has over most of the world. It’s a terrifying reality we should all be aware of. Kudos to Mereilles for bringing home the message with such diligence and artistry and simultaneously crafting a riveting, genre-blasting piece of cinema.

The perfect summer movie is finally here!

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Lutz Hachmeister & Michael Kloft
THE Goebbels Experiment
Opens August 12, 2005
Quad Cinema

Reviewed by Frank J. Avella

No one person living in the 20th Century mastered and manipulated propaganda for the most evil of purposes with the greatest of success than Joseph Goebbels.

One of Hitler’s inner circle flunkies, Goebbels devoted his life to showing the world the power of the Nazi party. Yet, out of the spotlight, Goebbels led a complex, manic-depressive inner life.

This paradoxic figure is explored in The Goebbels Experiment, a gripping new documentary by Lutz Hachmeister & Michael Kloft. The film probes personal passages from a diary Goebbels kept from 1924 until right before his death in the bunker in 1945 and features rare newsreel footage and film clips from the period. All this material makes for a frightening, fascinating portrait.

Movies that probe the mind of a psycho are always interesting, like that train wreck you MUST stop and study. But here we also get a depiction of a people on the cusp of facilitating one of the worst atrocities mankind has ever known. And Goebbels himself seems aware of his own growing place in history.

Poor, young, suicidal Goebbels apparently felt “lost in the universe” and quite paranoid about everything and everyone around him. This anxiety would follow him throughout his life, although the public Goebbels appeared confident and assured. As he excelled in his position Goebbels arrogantly discussed his detractors by proudly proclaiming: “we frighten them.” The war years propelled Goebbels’ propaganda machine to it’s most horrifying zenith, but his grisly fate (and that of his family) proved inevitable.

One of the more unusual aspects of Goebbels personality explored is his fascination with films. He felt that what Germany lacked and desperately needed was talented Aryan actors the world would embrace.

In one of the many examples of his duplicitous personality, the film shows images of him happily shmoozing Leni Riefenstahl while the voice-over diary entry exclaims, “There is no way I can work with a lunatic like her.”

Expertly narrated by Kenneth Branagh, The Goebbels Experiment is an intriguing and chilling historical study as well as a timely warning about the terrifying place a controlled media can lead a needy and desperate people.

Quad Cinema 34 West 13th Street

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Lexi Alexanders's
Hooligans
Opens September 9, 2005

Reviewed by Evan Sung at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival

From Hobbits to Hooligans, Elijah Wood finds himself a new fellowship in the sometimes brutal, consistently fascinating first time feature by director Lexi Alexander. Hooligans premiered in the US at Austin’s SXSW festival, where it garnered the award for Best Narrative Feature, and now makes an encore appearance at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival. Set in the tightly-knit milieu of impassioned and just as tightly-wound loyal followers of local soccer…ahem…football teams in England known as Hooligans, the film gives viewers a largely honest insight into the conflicted psychology and the destructive effects of such tightly bound, clannish alliances.

Elijah Wood plays Matt Buckley, a gifted, bookish Harvard journalism student wrongly expelled two months before graduation. When the cocaine belonging to his roommate, the wealthy and smug son of a Senator, is found in Matt’s affairs, Matt buckles under the pressure and political influence of his roommate and takes the fall. Matt leaves Harvard for London, to seek refuge with his sister Shannon (Claire Forlani) and her husband Steve and reevaluate his future. Almost immediately, Matt falls in with Steve’s younger brother Pete, the fast-talking alpha dog of the Green Street Elite, one of West Ham United Football’s toughest firms. Just before Pete introduces Matt to the rest of his pals, he warns Matt that “firms” – the name for these organized hooligan gangs – hate two things above all, Americans and journalists. Matt passes himself off as a history student, but in spite of his Yank roots, finds an easy acceptance among the other GSE. Only Bovver, Pete’s right hand in the GSE (played with inscrutable scuzziness by Leo Gregory), finds Matt’s presence in the group an intolerable offense. As Matt becomes closer to Pete and his band of merry, violent hooligans, he learns about fraternity, sticking up for one’s self and one’s friends, and its spiraling, escalating consequences.

Alexander opens the film subtly, striking just the right chord of dread, of impending cataclysm. In an empty tube station, a lone passenger waits for the next train when a gently crescendoing chorus of voices floats up from the vacant stairwell. The rising voices are enough to suggest a carousing band of drunken boors, and it’s not a far leap to imagine ourselves as that lone passenger trapped on that tube platform along with them. Our thoughts spin out the worst of possibilities. Where Hooligans is most successful is in playing with our preconceptions of the world of hooligans, at times challenging them, at other times showing us that we haven’t even begun to imagine the reality.
Elijah Wood seems, at first, an incongruous choice for a hardened hooligan, with his delicate, sometimes feminine demeanor. And when Pete decides suddenly that instead of beating the living shit out of Matt he’ll take him under his wing, its hard not to guffaw at the implausibility. But to Wood’s credit, the disbelief lasts only a moment, and when Matt takes his first real punch to the face, his beatific smile of release and liberation is funny and credible.

Yes, there are moments that don’t ring quite true. Why, for example, does Pete have perfect teeth? (English AND a hooligan? By all rights, he shouldn’t have any at all.) And the story of Matt and Shannon’s emotionally absent father seems clichéd. But the quasi-documentary realism with which hooliganism is treated makes up for these minor infractions. And Charlie Hunnam’s fireball performance as Pete is both engaging and tragic, and truly takes us into the emotional world of these men. Alexander also skillfully manages to involve the viewer while never sanctioning or sensationalizing the violence depicted. The film, ultimately, is thought-provoking, magnetic and repelling, in its sympathetic authenticity.

Hooligans will be released in the UK and Europe in August. At press time, the film was still searching for its US distributor, but judging from the critical and audience response both at Tribeca and SXSW, it won’t be long before the hooligans are invading your local cinema.

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Craig Brewer’s
Hustle & Flow
Opens July 22nd., 2005

Reviewed by Wendy R. Williams

Trolling for johns on the backstreets of Memphis, DJay (Terrence Howard) is the king of his small world. With a silver tongue to match the spinning chrome wheels of his "hooptie" (his beat-up old ride), DJay cajoles his girls--his whore Nola (played by Taryn Manning); his whore-on-maternity-leave Shug (played by Taraji P. Henson); his "dancer" Lexus (played by Paula Jai Parker) - and he corrals their tricks (who are nameless, but then, aren't they always?). But this pimp wants more and somewhere deep inside him, he knows there is more and that there is something inside him that needs to come out.

And then one day there is a little serendipity. A crazed old man sells DJay a child’s keyboard in exchange for a bit of marijuana (DJay’s side business) and he runs into an old school friend, Key (played by Anthony Anderson). Key has a middle- class life, complete with his middle-class wife, Yvette (played by Elise Neal). Key also has a middle-class business, producing music for churches. But Key has a dream, too; he always wanted to be more. But as he tells DJay, there are two kinds of guys - the ones who talk the talk and the ones who walk the walk. And according to Key, DJay is a talker and he, Key, is a walker.

I used to live in Memphis and I can’t talk about this story without talking about how hot it is in the summer (this movie is set in June). Memphis also has an incredibly poor and uneducated black underclass. I moved to Memphis from Dallas in 1979 and it was like moving back thirty years in time in terms of race relations (Dallas was no paragon of racial harmony back then, either), and my friends tell me things have not changed much since then. Memphis is the true Old South with its symbolic big foot stomping down on guys like DJay. Plus, like I said, it is incredibly hot. And this mix of heat and poverty that gave birth to the blues has now “birthed” another form of music - Crank, Memphis-born Southern hip hop.

And Crank is what DJay wants. He knows he has something inside him that just has to get out, but he has no clue as to how he can make it happen. He supposedly knew Skinny Black (played by Ludacris), a wildly successful Memphis-born rapper, who has gone on to a Hollywood style of fame. Skinny is coming back to Memphis on the Fourth of July to have a party at a bar owned by Arnell (Isaac Hayes). DJay has an “in” with Arnel and he collars the job of supplying Skinny’s weed. DJay then uses his “connection” with Skinny and his silver tongue to hustle Key into helping him produce a track to harness DJay’s hustle into flow (his rap).

So, the race is on. Key comes to DJay’s house (a beat up old “shotgun” in the worse part of town) and with the help of borrowed and improvised equipment (stapled egg cartons on the walls for insulation), they get started. They are soon joined by the incredibly charismatic Shelby (played by DJ Qualls), who makes his living playing for churches, but who also knows a few things about putting down a track.

Hustle and Flow is a great story, told by great characters, and it has the one vital element that all great stories share - redemption. And it is so very real. I left the theater feeling like I knew those guys and their girls (this story is definitely not politically correct), and why they were the way they were. And I got a glimpse of the thing that was inside all of them that just had to come out. The plot itself has Shakespearean overtones – there is so much at stake and such a small window of escape from this Memphis world of sizzling heat and crushing poverty. And there wasn’t a bad actor in this film. They all shone.

Craig Brewer, the writer and director, is a master storyteller and producer John Singleton is to be commended for having the genius to recognize Brewer's talent and for putting up his own money (according to the press release) to produce this movie. And kudos to co-producer Stephanie Allain, who had the vision to shepherd this story through the many years it took to get it made.

Hustle and Flow was the closing night film at the 2005 Urbanworld Film Festival.

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A National Geographic Feature Film
Luc Jacquet's
March of the Penguins
Opens June 24, 2005
Lincoln Plaza Cinemas
and
The Angelika Film Center

Reviewed by Troy Tolley

Narrated by: Morgan Freeman; Starring: The Emperor Penguin species; Music by: Alex Wurman.

With the advent of modern technology, it is not unusual for most of us humans to be able to see and vicariously explore the reality of other species on the planet that we would never have even known existed otherwise. Flipping through the hundreds of channels on cable, one can easily stumble across a rare and even extinct species that is fascinating to observe and study right from the comfort of our living rooms. Although that easy-access, armchair explorer is now a flippant pasttime that many of us take for granted, it does not prepare you for the fascination, beauty, emotion, and intensity of March of the Penguins.

I have seen films that put human drama into a context that makes me terribly grateful for the life I have, even making me feel embarrassed for ever complaining, but I have never seen a film about another species that made me leave the theater thinking, “How in the hell can I ever complain about anything in my life ever again, after that!?”

March of the Penguins takes you on a journey through the life cycles of the isolated, enduring, and rare species of the emperor penguin, living in the most remote and harshest of environments on Earth: Antarctica. This is not just a bland documentary that might be more suited for a schoolroom, but a very real submersion into a way of life that none of us could ever have comprehended without this film.

The penguins, with their eerily and endearing humanesque qualities, stand and walk alone, in a line, from their familiar coastal homes, inland and into the harshest of winters on earth, just to make love and to offer continued life to their species. Watching this journey made me feel the lack (and hope) in our human species as varying groups of penguins converge in the mating territory where a most miraculous and disturbing cycle must play out.

Taking up to two weeks, the penguins sing individual songs for each other until as many are paired up as possible, drawn together only through a special resonance one feels for the song of another. For about two months after the mating process, the pairs have no food, and endure subzero, blazing winds; then an egg is laid onto the feet of each mother penguin. Each penguin couple only gets this one egg, this one chance to nurture a life beyond their own. With deadly temperatures surrounding them, the starving mother must somehow pass the egg from her own feet to the feet of the father penguin without the egg touching the ground for more than five seconds - or it will freeze immediately, taking the life inside. Many do not succeed in this process.

If the process is successful, the weakened mother then leaves the clan to journey back to the coast, which is now even further away because of the freezing and changing coastline of winter, in the hope that she can return two months later with food for her emerging baby. She must endure the weather and avoid the terrifying predators that she knows will be awaiting her. If she does not return, then the incubation and birth of her baby will be for naught, as her baby can survive only one day without the food the mother must bring back.

Meanwhile, the father penguins huddle tightly into a mass of warmth, walking and rotating the outer bodies of their mass to keep the group from having to feel the full force of winter, all the while keeping the fragile eggs resting on their precarious feet against winds up to one hundred and fifty miles per hour. By the time the baby is hatched, he will have existed four months without food, and will have only one day to live, unless his mother returns with nourishment.

And the stakes only continue to grow higher, with far too many obstacles ahead for me to explain them all in this review. In the end, it is not the obstacles that are impressive, but the utterly awe-inspiring unity that must exist among the penguins for this process to work. It moved me to tears, riveted me to the point of exclamation (and I never exclaim during a movie), and had me laughing out loud at what seemed to be such charming humor among the penguins, despite their obligatory and powerful voyage through life.

OFFICIAL SITE: http://wip.warnerbros.com/marchofthepenguins/
Run Time: 80 Minutes - Rated: G

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Brian Herzlinger, Brett Winn, Jon Gunn's
My Date with Drew
Opening in select theaters August 5, 2005

Reviewed by Christina M. Hinke

Working the six-degrees-of-separation theory helps an ordinary guy get a date with Drew Barrymore in Brian Herzlinger’s comedic documentary My Date with Drew. After winning $1,100 on a game show pilot, twenty-seven-year-old Brian buys a digital video camera at Circuit City (where he can return it in thirty days) and makes a film of his quest to date Drew. With the help of two film school buddies, Brett Winn and Jon Gunn, he canoodles his way into the hearts of people surrounding Drew. Now we’re not talking Cameron Diaz, but we are talking about people like Eric Roberts and Corey Feldman.

The film is heartfelt in its depiction of Brian’s quest to fulfill his dream to meet his life-long crush, Drew, and of his quest to fulfill his other dream – to make a film. With no job and the bills piling high, he risks bad credit for his aspiration. He shows the audience what an unconfident, dirty T-shirt wearing, unshaven, desperately-needing-a-haircut type of guy he is, and one wonders how he is ever going to have a chance with Drew Barrymore. But it’s his self-deprecating, easy-going, fun-loving spirit that actually might attract her. This is a guy who sings along to cheesy songs on the car radio and to the Muzak on voice mail. Of course she’d get him; she can be just as corny. But we’ll see.

The film quality is grainy, with muted colors, and at times the camera cuts off tops of heads and pans rooms, resulting in a nauseating effect. But with a budget of $1,100, $75 of which was wasted paying a psychic for love advice, one can’t expect Spielberg. But hey, it beat out Garden State and Super Size Me by winning the Audience Award for Best Feature Film at the 2004 HBO Comedy Arts Festival.

In the end Brian is not the ordinary guy he proclaims to be. He has a film, a web site and a ton of publicity, so his chances of meeting Drew are higher than if he didn’t have these things. The film is certainly a joyride about a search for a dream; and to quote Drew Barrymore herself, “If you don’t take risks, you’ll have a wasted soul.”

My Date With Drew was produced by Kerry David and is rated PG.

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Mick Davis’
Modigliani
Opens July 1st in New York

Reviewed by Christina M. Hinke

Artists of the early 20th Century, Picasso, Cocteau, Utrillo, Soutine, Rivera and of course the mad Modigliani (Andy Garcia) are all together in the biopic, simply titled Modigliani. But the true genius of the film is Elsa Zylberstein playing Modigliani’s muse, Jeanne Hebuterne; she electrifies the screen and sweeps the movie from underneath Andy Garcia’s feet.

An emerging French actress, Elsa Zylberstein (Metroland, Mina Tannenbaum), plays Jeanne with emotional eloquence. On the eve of Modigliani's death, she appears, as if a ghost, her life drained out of her due to her lover’s mortality, to convey one last breath of eternity to Pablo Picasso: "As you lay there on your deathbed… you will see the face of Modigliani… he will be all that you wish you were." She evokes such power and beauty you almost believe she is the real Jeanne.

The film tells of Amedeo Modigliani’s last year of life. Known as Modi to his friends (rhymes with the French word maudit, or "accursed" in English), he spends his time drinking, taking drugs, painting his canvasses and mocking Pablo Picasso. All of Paris waits with baited breath for the two to compete in the yearly art competition, Salon Des Artistes. As self-titled geniuses, neither will enter the contest. One artist even eats the flyer, saying “Hmm.. steak rare.” Yet, it brings 5,000 Francs to the winner.

Modi is in great despair: Having no money, living like the true bohemian he was, he is greatly ashamed of his squalid state, especially since all of his friends live well. Wanting to care for his and Jeanne’s baby, he signs up for the competition, #6 on the list, with Pablo dramatically signing as #7 – the last. Off the great painters go to their studios in a mad frenzy of frustration, exhilaration and exhaustion. They are dripping with sweat and covered in their acrylics or oils, painting their muses and souls out on canvas.

The climax is the unveiling of the masters’ works. The score is perfectly attuned to the dramatics of the scene, the tempo quickening and the volume rising with the intensity of the night. A flood of diverse emotions overwhelms the ears with sadness, happiness, defeat and conquest, so much so it makes you want to jump out of your seat and into the screen to join the party.

Partly produced by Garcia’s production company Cineson, Garcia cast himself as the lead – Modigliani, an Italian Sephardic Jew. Garcia does a passable job at playing the crazy Italian painter, portraying the passionate, maniacal artist with spirit, but at other times he is just over-the-top and appears silly. Pablo Picasso is shown as an arrogant genius and solidly acted by Omid Djalili (The Mummy; Gladiator). He trots around with boastfulness and exuberance, making you like him and hate him at the same time. Model Eva Herzigova (who has a not-meant-to-be-comedic accent, likened to Frau Farbissina of Austin Powers) is miscast as his first wife and muse, Olga. Although she mostly just stands around and looks pretty, a more experienced actor should have been chosen for such an icon of muses. The cameo appearances of Gertrude Stein (played by Miriam Margolyes) and Renoir lend some humor to the movie.

At 128 minutes the film could have been edited down. Some scenes confuse the audience, or just don’t add much to the plot (the dream-like sequences are just incoherent). If Mick Davis, writer and director, could only have seen that Jeanne’s story was the money-maker, the account could be powerfully told through Jeanne’s voice. We see both Jeanne’s view of Modigliani and Modi’s view of himself, and the seesaw effect makes it hard to grab on to.

The script has Modigliani’s first solo exhibition happening in 1919, yet it really occurred in 1917. It added heat to Pablo’s and Modi’s animosity, for him to finally have his own show while Picasso enjoys his tenth - but one doubts the veracity of the script.

Watching Jeanne brought to life by Elsa Zylberstein in a moving performance is why you should see this film. If only it were her film.

Rated R 128 minutes

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Dana Adam Shapiro and Henry Alex Rubin's
Murderball
Opened New York City and Los Angeles on July 8, 2005

Reviewed by Matthew Rosen

The trials and tribulations of quadriplegic rugby players are well documented in the flick Murderball. That’s right, quadriplegic rugby. This rugby is played on a basketball court with four eight-minute quarters, and the object is to carry the ball from one end to the other. In the way, however, are wheelchair-bound players aiming to hit you as hard as possible. And while the Mad-Max-looking wheelchairs are cool as hell, it’s the crazy individuals riding in them that “make” this documentary.

Starting at the 2002 World Championships in Sweden, the documentary follows the path of the fierce US and Canadian Quad Rugby Team, depicting their rivalry as they prepare to dominate their world at the 2004 Paralympics in Athens, Greece.

The competition is intense and "helmers" Henry Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro remind the viewers again and again that these men are out for blood. “We’re not here to get a pat on the back,” states one player, when reminded that some people mistake the Paralympics for the Special Olympics. “We’re here to win the gold.”

The film's main protagonists, US Team Leader Mark Zupan and Canadian Coach Joe Soares, carry the film with their immense rivalry and personal tribulations. Their tales intertwine harmoniously and this viewer was left wanting more.

Zupan, the poster child for the US Team, fought mental rage and physical devastation to seek redemption in the sport. Having lost his ability to walk due to a horrible car accident, he is now determined to lead Team USA to victory. Meanwhile, he is still attempting to reconcile with his best friend, Chris Igoe, the driver of the car that caused the accident

Joe Soares, ex-Team USA All Star, is the Benedict Arnold of his time. Soares signed on with Team Canada as their head coach, and on the court all he wants is to defeat Team USA. But we also see a different side of Soares's character when the documentary follows him home and we see his struggle to connect with his sensitive son.

Murderball shows that there is life after a paralyzing accident. Zupan visits a rehabilitation center and helps a depressed, paralyzed motocross biker find hope in the game. Soares undergoes a total transformation following a heart attack, and reconnects with his family.

Snazzy camera work and phenomenal editing add to the overall effectiveness of the documentary. And while Soares and Zupan move this film to its phenomenal human heights, the filmmakers never lose sight of the game itself. Murderball is both a heartfelt story of winners and losers who will never stand up again, and a fantastic sports documentary that will make you fly off the seat of your chair.

Murderball was the winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature at the Sundance Film Festival. www.murderballmovie.com.

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Reviewed by Armistead Johnson

With the recent scandals of the Catholic Church, the debate about whether or not the Ten Commandments should be in public government spaces and the almost goofy, yet always public, faith of our president, it would be safe to say that skepticism of religion and faith is running high in our country right now.

Short Cut to Nirvana is a documentary about the Kumbh Mela, a festival that also happens to be the largest religious gathering in the history of humankind. Held every twelve years in India where the holy Ganges and Yamuna rivers meet, the Kumbh Mela brings together nearly seventy million people who wish to meet, greet and study the wisdom of some of the greatest spiritual leaders of our time (like the Dalai Lama, not Jim and Tammy Baker.)

Half history lesson (the mythology behind the festival is fascinating; the information about the population of India is equally fascinating), half circus-like spectacle (a Japanese woman is buried alive for three days where she claims to be able to find peace; a man has been holding his right arm up in the air without ever letting it rest at his side for most of his life because he thinks it brings him closer to God), Short Cut to Nirvana is a shining example of the true essence of spirituality and faith: People who wish to get to know themselves, their universe and their fellows, and have a blast in the process.

Short Cut to Nirvana opens Tuesday, July 5th - August 26th at the Rubin Museum of Art, 150 West 17th Street (corner of 7th Avenue). Tickets $10, but also include admission to RMA’s six floors of Himalayan Art. Call 212-620-5000 ext 344 for show times and check out the trailer at: www.short cut to nirvanva.com

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Keith A. Beauchamp
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till
Opens August 17, 2005
Film Forum

Reviewed by Armistead Johnson

There seems to be two types of racism prevalent today. There’s the obvious, in your face, “Get to the back of the bus Ms. Parks!” racism and then there’s the second kind…the kind that involves “active forgetting.” This sort of racism, while maybe not as violent, is however, potentially more dangerous. It’s the kind that ends up on Larry King or the nightly news in a suit, saying things like, “Why do we have to dwell on the past,” or “can’t we just move on?”

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till is a courageous example of a filmmaker who is determined not to let the buried, unfinished past be forgotten.

The murder of Emmett Louis Till, a fourteen-year-old African American in Money Mississippi and the sham of a trial that followed helped spark Americas Civil rights movement. For Allegedly whistling at a white woman in public, Till was tortured, beaten beyond recognition and thrown into the Tallahatchie River.

Against the advice of friends, family and her preacher, Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley decided to have an open casket despite the fact that her son had been beaten beyond recognition. She defended her decision by stating, “I want the world to see what they did to my son.” Emmett’s bludgeoned face lying in his casket was soon on the cover of newspapers everywhere, sparking the Black Resistance of the South which later became known as the Civil Rights Movement.

The film, which includes remarkable testimony from Emmett’s mother, Mamie Till Mobley (who died in 2003), also includes interviews from eyewitnesses whose stories have never been told and discovers potentially guilty parties still living and liable for prosecution. Granted, most of them are in adult diapers by now, but that seems to be the filmmakers point: we will not forget you Emmett…no matter how much time goes by.

On May 10th, 2004 the United States Justice Department reopened the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till, citing the film The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till as the main impetus and starting point for their investigation.

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till is now playing at the Film Forum, West Houston Street (West of 6th avenue.) Call for show times.

Film Forum| 209 West Houston Street| New York

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