The Playlist has seen to many damn movies lately and not all of them are worth full-length reviews. That and the fact, if we don’t write them out now, we probably never will. Here’s some capsule reviews.
Patti Smith: Dream of Life – dir. Steven Sebring
Unlike most hagiographic rock documentaries, Sebring’s ‘Dream,’ is a much more elliptical rendering of a seminal musicians life. Shot in mostly stark black and white, eschewing the touchstone moments and greatest hits of Smith’s story, instead the punk poet intimately narrates and wanders the soft and remembered haze of her memory. As if sleepwalking through personal wreckage, scattered throughout much of her life is not punk rock highlights, but rather an enormous amount of death and pain that – the loss of friends, artists, father figures (Alan Ginsberg) and lovers (her husband MC5 guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith who died of a sudden heart attack at 45) – that obviously leaves a huge gaping hole in her heart and psyche. If there’s one flaw you can fault the doc with, its letting the dream-like quality of the oblique narrative take over. It’s a fitting device and perhaps perfectly apropos for its subject, but all the Dramamine storytelling soon induces a narcoleptic trance. Poetic, but sometimes just too tranquilizing. [B] [trailer]
Encounters At The End Of The World – dir. Werner Herzog
Wener Herzog’s endlessly fascination (and kinship) with the strange motivation behind humans beings takes him to Antarctica to discover a way station microcosm of disparate outcasts and lone wolves who have gathered at the end of the world for myriad reasons. Much like the peculiar scientists who live there, Herzog uses his camera as a microscope to examine this almost alien-like sub-culture of people that would rather endure living on the fringes than exist in every day society. Beautifully shot, since it is Herzog, the film naturally conveys both the poetic and the absurd, the profound and the utterly bromidic, but there’s something about the melodramatic filmmaker becoming slightly too self-aware of his appeal and sense of humor. Rather than observe moments in his dry and sometimes unintentionally sublime manner, the director seems to dial it up and focus on the ridiculous rather than the awe-inspiring and it feels somewhat disingenuous (of course it is a Herzog film and someone has to be consumed by madness, and this time its a hapless penguin). Amusing and absorbing, as many have noted, ‘Encounters’ still feels like a minor work in his oeuvre. [B-] [trailer]
In Search Of A Midnight Kiss – dir. Alex Holdridge
Have you ever seen a budget indie film that’s simultaneously terrible and charming? Similar to Kevin Smith’s “Clerks” in its wanton trying-to-be-clever amateurish and mumblecore in its DIY (and sometimes endearing) spirit, ‘Midnight Kiss’ chronicles the 24-ish some hours leading up to New Year’s eve and one despondent frageelay, indie kid’s desire to not be alone on New Year’s Eve. Bolstered by an executive producer of “Dazed & Confused” who lent their name to the flick, the movie’s dialogue is sometimes painfully awkward, the presentation is shoddy and clumsy and the whole thing feels like a crude, rookie film school project, yet somehow it reveals a bittersweet winning quality in the end. It’s not good, per se, but a cautiously auspicious start. [C] Somehow, this seemingly no-budget film was able to afford an indie-riffic soundtrack by Shearwater, Okkervil River, the Mendoza Line, Sybil and Paleo. [trailer]
Roman Polanski: Wanted & Desired – dir. Marina Zenovich
As the title overtly suggests, there’s a schism in the perception of Polish filmmaker Roman Polanski. In Europe he’s desired and considered one of cinema’s giants. In America, he’s viewed as gifted filmmaker turned monster and rapist. In Zenovich’s unflinching portrayal of the director and his scandalous crime and notorious trial both of these viewpoints are evenly investigated (though monster might be a little much). It’s even-keeled and mostly non-partisan, but the filmmaker can’t hide her slightly sympathetic view – at least where his trial is concerned, but you can’t blame her. No quarter is given to Polanski’s crimes, but the trial and the unscrupulous judge who presided over it is shown in his full dodgy light (both attorneys have little positive to say about his underhanded tactics and his blatant bending of the law; even those who thought they knew everything about this story will be surprised). Somewhat less of a depiction of a filmmaker gone astray, ‘Wanted & Desired,’ ends up being ultimately becomes more bogged down in being an expose of askewed justice rather than a deep examination of a man’s actions and its this little disconnect that prevents the film from truly fulfilling its promising ideas. [B+]
bee tee w, the case of the Polanski doc vs. the L.A. Courts is flip-flopping again. At this point it’s hard to keep up with and we saw the original version in tact (as did every other single HBO viewer who’s already seen it), so what’s the fuss? Anyhow, if you still care, Anne Thompson has all the details, that gorgeous little scamp, you!
