Feature
| The IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival (June 11-21, 2003)
Written by: Marianne
Moro
Film Reviews:
"Foo-Foo Dust," "Eliana,Eliana," "Jesus
Freak," "Virgin," "Speeder Kills,"
"Crude," Teesh & Trude"
Foo-Foo Dust
Directed by Gina Levy & Eric Johnson
39 Minutes
IFP/LA Film Festival
Screened June 19, 2003.
Foo-Foo Dust is a harrowing and sometimes tender documentary which
chronicles the downward spiral of mother and son drug addicts living
in a seedy motel room in San Francisco's Tenderloin District. Much of
the short (39 minute) film consists of Stephanie, a 52 year old former
Berkeley grad, screaming at her son Tony, who is nodding out from
heroin use as she fervently tries to light up some crack. There is no
interaction with other people shown-not with other tenants of the
motel, other street people in the Tenderloin, the johns Stephanie
picks up for crack money. As a cautionary tale about the monotonous,
claustrophobic life of drug addicts, Foo-Foo Dust succeeds. On a
deeper, personal level, there are few revelations about what brought
Stephanie and Tony to this hellish existence. Tony talks about his
ex-fiancée, his child, and the father he never knew. (His Dad stole
to get food for Tony, a true sign of fatherly love), for a few
minutes. They are evicted from their motel, and a friend in the
suburbs offers to take them in. Stephanie's been an addict for thirty
years, but we don't get a glimpse of what she was/might have been
until she displays some of her drawings as they are packing up to
move. That's when the film ends; there are no glimpses of Tony and
Stephanie's attempt to start a new life in the suburbs.
Eliana,Eliana
Dir: Riri Riza
Indonesia
Screened at IFP/Los Angeles Film Festival, June 12 & 15,2003
Riri Riza's film Eliana, Eliana, a blow by blow account of a
distressing and life-changing night in a young Indonesian woman's
life, is part of Indonesia's I-Sinema movement. I-Sinema is a loose
alliance between 13 young Indonesian filmmakers who vowed to produce
films that are accessible but distinctly Indonesian in flavor. Riza's
film, shot with one handheld digital camera, has been the most
successful of the group's films so far, having screened at several
film festivals worldwide.
The title character, Eliana, played with petulant grace by Rachel
Maryam Sayidina, has just been fired from her job after kicking a
vexatious customer in the crotch. To make matters worse, her roommate
Heni has disappeared, and her long-estranged mother (played by
Indonesian stage actress Jajung C.Noer) has made a surprise visit,
ostensibly to take her back to her hometown of Padang. (Headstrong
Eliana had balked at an arranged marriage and fled for Jakarta five
years earlier). Eliana and her mother traverse Jakarta in a taxi
looking for Heni. Arguments and revelations fly between mother and
daughter against a backdrop of all-night restaurants, street vendors,
and a visit to to a friend of Eliana,who is employed in the city's red
light district.
Noer's powerful performance as Bunda is both touching and humorous,
and the emotional tug of war between Eliana and Bunda never wavers. In
the end, Eliana must decide for herself whether to emulate her friends
or forge her own way through life.
Jesus Freak
Director: Morgan Nichols
USA
104 Minutes
World Premiere June 16,2003 IFP/LA Film Fest
In the dreary working class suburb of Portales, New Mexico, Lily
(Laura Lee Bahr, who also wrote the script) spends her days alienating
her Christian classmates, getting high on cough syrup and sleeping
around with seedier local boys. Her family life provides no solace, as
her inattentive mother and Nintendo obsessed brother pass by her in
their tract home with minimal contact. Her friends, including her
straight-laced would-be boyfriend and best gal-pal are her only
support system. That is, until she encounters "Jesus" (who
looks suspiciously like a migrant worker) one day in a field outside
town and takes him home, announcing he is her new
"boyfriend".
Shot on digital by first-time feature director Morgan Nichols, the
film's cast pulled in double duty as the crew. This extra work
certainly didn't detract from the performances, as the ensemble cast
is totally believable as a motley, troubled group of high school kids.
Virgin
Directed By Deborah Kampmeier
World Premiere IFP/LA Film Fest June 14, 2003
114 Minutes
Rebellious small-town teen Jessie (in a nuanced performance by West
Wing's Elisabeth Ross) encounters the boy she has a crush on in the
woods outside a high school dance, with catastrophic results. Jessie
soon discovers she is pregnant. With no memory of how she got that
way, she assumes she is carrying God's child. A lost soul in a
tight-knit small town, Jessie lives in the shadow of her holy roller
track star sister, shoplifts, and delivers newspapers in the wee hours
of the morning. Jessie's father, a stern minister, and the two other
males in her life (local boys Shane and Michael) are similarly
callous. The relationship between Jessie and her sister Katie (played
by Stephanie Gatschet) develops nicely after a bumpy beginning, and is
the only true bond that Jesse has. Their mother, played by Robin
Wright Penn (who also served as executive producer) is uncommunicative
after years in a brutal marriage.
The symbolism in Virgin--birds, crucifixion poses, an abused alcoholic
woman Jessie encounters on her travels through town, gets tiresome
after awhile. Virgin is unpleasant to watch, but it certainly leaves
an impression. I found myself thinking about the film and its imagery
a few days after I had seen it. Although not as expertly drawn as Von
Trier's films, Virgin has the same haunting effect.
Speeder Kills
Director: Jim Mendiola
Running Time: 84 Minutes
IFP/LA Film Festival June 14,15 & 16
Jim Mendiola's faux documentary Speeder Kills has its heart (&
it's fondness for punk rock music) in the right place-but not much
else. Amalia Ortiz plays a filmmaker with a grant from the Rockefeller
Foundation, and the film follows her failed attempts to spend
the money on a project that suits their specifications. Forced to come
up with something quick or pay back the $45,000 grant money, Amalia
hooks up with San Antonio punk rock group Speeder and films an
impromptu music video as they wreck havoc on a San Antonio parade.
That concept sounds promising enough, but the road Mendiola takes to
get there is long, winding and at times, tedious.
Narrated by Amalia, the film is dedicated to her interpretations of
the San Antonio punk scene, her family and her misadventures as a
filmmaker. Speeder Kills suffers from a case of tell,don't show, and
just when Mendiola veers into an interesting subject, such as the
history of a Hispanic all-girl punk band (a spot on parody of the Sex
Pistols appearance on the Bill Grundy TV show), and Amalia's initial
meetings with Speeder, the action gets bogged down by the voiceover or
swerves into another mode entirely. While visually stimulating,
even jarring at times, the film could have benefited from a more
linear approach that concentrated on Speeder and the San Antonio music
scene and less on the minutia of Amalia's day to day life.
Crude
Directed by Paxton Winters
83 Minutes
USA/Turkey
Crude, a joint Turkish and US film production, follows the
misadventures of two young travelers on the prowl in Turkey. The film
starts off on a promising note as Bryce (David Connolly) and his wacky
friend Gabe (Paul Schneider) pop into a barbershop for a low-tech
shave. When Gabe's backpack is stolen, it leads to a wacky adventure
throughout Turkey. With the aid of club-goer/local Ali (Yigit Ozsener),
they traverse the country to realize a scheme of interviewing faux
terrorists for money. Spoofing such subjects as pay for play
journalism, fear of Islam, and cultural/political differences, the
premise certainly is timely.
While the low key, comic chemistry between "straight-man"
Connolly and "goofball" Schneider is comparable to a
kookier, pre-JLo Affleck & Damon, the plot gets bogged down in
extended travelouge type scenes. These asides look beautiful but
diminish the natural comic flow between the characters and lessen the
tension. Crude won jury awards at both the Seattle and IFP/Los Angeles
Film Festivals.
Teesh And Trude
Directed By Melanie Rodriga
Running Time 93 Minutes
Australia, 2002
Trude (Linda Cropper) is a sensible yet unkempt middle aged woman
sharing a flat with a friend in a suburb of Perth, the Western
Australian capital. Her roomie, Teesh (Susie Porter) is a petulant
single mother who tries desperately to discipline her young,
hyperactive son Kenny. This trio is initially unsympathetic as
they deal with their chaotic, day to day existence. Their travails are
punctuated only by the drone of the daytime soap operas on the TV.
Their flat is a mess and so are their lives. Teesh's Dad shows up
after being released from prison and complicates the situation, moving
in and threatening to gain custody of Kenny. Teesh's boyfriend Les, a
chubby, sensitive shopkeep at the nearby supermarket, provides the
only spark of hope in her otherwise dreary existence. Trude is
reunited briefly with her teen-aged children, whose father has custody
of them. Driven to critical mass by the insolent acts of Teesh's Dad
and Rod, Trude's slag of a boyfriend. (Rod's idea of a gift for Trude
is a pair of shoplifted knickers), they finally take action to change
their lives. While director Melanie Rodriga's no-nonsense approach
suits the script, the denouement seems a bit too tidy.
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