Matt Van Gelder:
Program: Cinematic Titanic
The outdoor venue at the John Anson Theater was perfect for the comedy troupe Cinematic Titanic, (formerly Mystery Science Theater 3000). Verbal insults were thrown at the Cold War space drama, Doomsday Machine, circa 1972. The former MST3K gang were all there in fine form, live and in stereo, where applicable, but, for copyright reasons, without their robot droids. They were doing a live reading and giving more attention to the Doomsday Machine than it deserved. The "plot" of Doomsday involves the Chinese building a secret weapon which can destroy Earth, while the all male crew is replaced conveniently by women before take off.
MST3K always made me laugh when I was 15 years old, but they are even funnier when you are an adult or "manchild" in your early 30's. I finally got their references to Khrushchev and what "zen" is. Even better than nostalgia, they updated their jokes with a modern lens. When one of the film’s interchangeable characters refuses to give up on Earth's annihilation, Titanic creator Joel Hodgson, without missing a beat, utters, "this is the kind of logic that got us into Iraq." There are also inside references to the old fans. Josh Weinstein, the original actor who played Tom Servo, comments on how lame a robot mixed with a gumball machine looks in Doomsday. Their spit fire banter was most impressive during the opening credits, where the Titanic cast could not get over the fact that Casey Kasem played a Mission Control Officer. During the anti-climax of Doomsday, I was having trouble keeping my eyelids open. However, the Titanic crew kept me awake by accurately pointing out continuity errors, such as the rocket ship model constantly changing in different edits. Since production of Doomsday was finished years later, the original actors had been replaced with new actors whose faces were covered in the last act, ala Plan Nine, post-Bela Lugosi's death. Titanic crewmate Mary Jo Pehl ridiculed the space bimbos and helped balance out the nerd frat guys making fun of schlock movies. Like the movies that the Cinematic Titanic crew watch, these films grow better with age, especially when accompanied with an eight dollar beer at the LA Film Festival.
Yatin Parkhani:
Program: LAFF Shorts Program 3
I had few expectations going into this program. In my experience in various film festivals, the short programs are notoriously uneven – one film the entire audience (or at least that how it feels to YOU) connects with; while the next bring feelings of intense boredom and criticism…and the sense “if that person got in with that I certainly could get in next year.” Essentially, some shorts feel incredibly fresh and the others incredibly cliché and/or pretentious. It’s almost always a mixed bag when 5-7 are lumped together.
LAFF’s Shorts Program 3 was the exception. It was awful….awfully brilliant. Each film (except the first one which didn’t seem to fit) was engaging (in different ways). Here is a capsule review of each.
Short #1: “One of the Last”
The documentary “One of the Last” focuses on Italian senior citizens who find new meaning working on a farm in beautiful rural Italy (instead of bingo-ing their way into the sunset). The doc focuses primarily on 1 man – to the point that the only ‘voice’ heard is that 1 senior’s. One interesting effect of this sole on-camera subject is that the viewer pays more attention to details and the audience develops its own context for what this man is saying and doing. Cool idea right?
Unfortunately, what our protagonist pontificates about begins to quickly feel quite clichéd (humanity is a disaster, humans are self-centered and imperfect, now my life is more varied, etc.), and additional ‘voices’ would have been welcome. The most visually fascinating thing is seeing that sure-footed senior climbing high into an olive tree.
Structurally, there is only music at the open and close of the film (the music at the end was basically my only clue that this film was ending, because the ‘content’ did not seem to be driving to a conclusion of any type). and in a structure both too long and lacking variation or progression (a good rule made apparent by this film: cut it short, add variety and feelings of progressively experiencing something new, then you will leave the audience both enjoying the variety of the journey and wanting more….which is a good thing).
SHORT #2: “Chonto”
Directed by one-man Director/Animator/Everything Carson Mell, “Chonto” was fast-moving, funny, visually arresting…and totally engaging. Bobby Bird – an older Southern-accented music star narrates a ‘psuedo-documentary’– think an animated Conan O’Brien’s skit of the President’s still photograph with a moving mouth inserted. With a strong, almost monologue-like script, other colorful characters like a roadie and a Latin American zoo guide with recurring roles, and the absurd title character – Chonto the Chimp, this Flash-animated short was a delight on many levels.
The descriptions of a now resigned rock star narrating his life and past desires were funny starting with “I need animal company” to “I need a big shot dog” before culminating in “I need a monkey.” The film was full of evocative and memorable lines, including my favorite about the pet of Bobby’s dreams: “he looked like a transvestite potato.”
The film quickly sucked you in and felt real in its absurdity. Soon action scenes and skewed drama came together through a jealous but harmless burn-out roadie and a Napoleon Dynamite-ish Pedro type character, all of which kept the film moving.
Chonto used flash animation (or something looking that simple) and other easier animation techniques. But the story told fit the style so well, I never felt ‘this is a flash animation made by one guy’-- it was engaging and witty and very character-centered.
In a post screening Q&A, director/animator Carson Mell revealed he has featured Bobby Bird in other shorts (which is the reason the character felt so fleshed out, because he had been thought about and worked on again and again). Though probably easier in animation than in live-action, if other filmmakers are able to find a dynamic enough character to keep revisiting, than that could be a good thing (as seen in Chonto). Why reinvent the wheel for every short? You have enough to do!
SHORT #3: “August 15th"
“August 15th” – a UCLA film school director student’s thesis film (i.e. Director Xuan Jiang had a lot of support on various levels) was the most conventionally well-done short. A great character-study based on a real incident in contemporary China’s mountains, the short film mashes a gripping event (2 losers with knives and little more than bravado hi-jack a packed bus) with an incredibly universal personal dilemma (only one decent passenger vainly protects a young lady from rape…and is mercilessly beaten for it). This tense situation quickly pulls in the entire audience in an incredibly active, empathetic and concerned way – a great story-telling hallmark.
What happens next is more interesting, the victim leaves her meek boyfriend to stand with the now confused rapists. After demanding that her beaten, would-be protector be kicked off the bus (because “he saw my shame”), the girl grabs the steering wheel and the bus topples over the canyon.
Brilliantly cast, acted, shot and directed, August 15th starts slow and builds to an amazing finale that left me stunned and with a sense of sad justice. The film had no false notes. This was my favorite and I have the feeling that the focused and talented director Xuan Jiang (if she chooses to) can have a Hollywood career….or an equally illustrious one in China.
