THE MOUNTAIN

A lot of early reviews compared The Mountain to The Master. I guess that makes sense on a very surface level. While I prefer something like The Mountain over The Master, both movies are loose adaptations about real people (and their controversial work) who take aimless younger protegees under their wing. They're also a look at the darker side of Americana.

There’s even a few visual similarities...

The Master / The Mountain

The biggest difference between The Master & The Mountain is that Paul Thomas Anderson made a film that he wanted people to enjoy somewhat. Not completely but somewhat. The Mountain is a cold, sparse, sometimes prickly, uncomfortable & intentionally aimless film. And I loved every bit of it. Really. I feel like the average filmmaker would hate their movie being described as such (especially right out of the gate in the opening lines of a review), but something tells me that’s part of what Rick Alverson was going for. I genuinely don’t think he cares if someone “enjoyed” one of his movies. Sorry to sound so pretentious but that’s just how I see it. That’s not to say you can’t enjoy elements about his latest movie. The framing of certain scenes, the score and overall visual style are all things that could be enjoyed & appreciated. Even the randomness & unpredictability of co-Star Denis Lavant’s performance are sure to make some folks chuckle. But from a subject matter standpoint - not many people are going to enjoy a movie that’s partially about the lobotomy. Take me for example. While this is one of my favorite movies of the year so far, this isn’t something I’d want to watch again the next day. I certainly want to watch it again but I’m not in a rush.

The Mountain isn’t exactly something you just stumble upon either. I think most folks will have an idea of what they re getting in to. Sure it stars Jeff Goldblum (the biggest/most recognizable “star” Alverson has worked with so far) which could bring about a few random strays, but Rick Alverson’s work does have to be sought out intentionally. No one just randomly watches New Jerusalem or The Builder. I mentioned those two films instead of his more popular/recognizable movies (The Comedy & Entertainment) because The Mountain has the same soul as Alverson’s first two features in my opinion. Minimal dialogue, extreme loneliness and a less colorful palette. The Mountain still shares some similarities with Alverson’s last two movies (everything he does has lonely characters in an existential crisis on the verge some kind of a breakdown). But no one talks about The Builder or New Jerusalem. And I get it. Those aren’t the easiest movies to see/stream in comparisons to Alverson's recent work, but it’s also not the most difficult task either. Now that Rick Alverson is on feature film #5 (with an additional handful of music videos and experimental films), perhaps it’s a good time to check out his early filmography because you can see the seeds of his latest feature in the DNA of his earlier/lesser known works.

The Mountain is an exclusive movie with a specific audience in mind for a few reasons. The first being its tone & ambiance that I described at the start of this review. This is a truly cold & uncomfortable film. The other reason this is an exclusive film for a specific audience is how it shows/"handles" mental illness. It's bound to frustrate a few folks or bring about debate at the very least. I absolutely hate how much mental illness is slowly becoming a funny meme or a YouTube video. If you’re on social media as much as I am then you know how often people post about their breakdowns, suicide attempts & depression like it’s a cute joke. I didn’t get that vibe from The Mountain at all. Mental fragility isn’t a gif. There isn’t much joy in Alverson’s work so I appreciate that he’s the one to convey this. It still wouldn’t surprise me if film twitter turned a gif from this movie in to a joke about mental illness down the road (I don’t think it can be argued that there is a quirky tone throughout the course of the film).

While The Mountain falls in line with every movie Alverson has done, this is still his first time tackling real subject matter. I guess one could make a case that Entertainment is semi-autobiographical but Walter Freeman (the character Jeff Goldblum loosely portrays) is an historical figure. In the film, Dr Wallace Fiennes (Goldblum) hires a recently bereaved Zamboni driver; “Andy” (Tye Sheridan) to travel with him as a photographer for his lobotomy procedures (we learn early on that Fiennes has a history with Andy’s family).

I’m really not going to argue that all the stuff I like about this movie could be seen as something negative. It's an acquired taste. If someone were to say they didn’t like this movie I’m not going to go “WAIT, WHAT?!?!”
So while this certainly doesn’t have the same type of energy & dark humor as The Comedy Or Entertainment (and it should be approached with caution), this is one of my personal favorite films of the year so far. Hopefully most of you reading this are familiar with my blog/taste and know what you’re getting in to.

NO HOME MOVIE

No Home Movie is a low-key love letter to Chantal Akerman's family. Specifically her mother. Akerman's sister Sylviane makes an appearance at one point and there are constant references to her father, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc. But at the end of the day this is a film about her mom. In No Home Movie Chantal Akerman places cameras throughout her mother's apartment and observes her over the course of what seems like a few months. It should be noted that Akerman's own presence in the film is rather cryptic. We never see a full-on shot of Chantal but rather half shots of her face through Skype chats, her voice off camera, or shots of her back. What's even more cryptic (and a little heartbreaking) is that there are a few lines of dialogue in this film where she mentions her unhappinesss & depression to her mother through casual conversation (for those that don't know, she took her life late last year).
It's difficult for me to not be a little bitter towards certain circumstances surrounding her death. My love of Akerman's work is documented on this site going back to almost day one. That's something a lot of these bandwagon film sites & publications can't say. I find it funny reading all these pieces dedicated to Akerman after her death yet when she was alive her worked had been trashed and bad-mouthed by some of the very same publications in recent years (obviously not all, but still...). And what's even more frustrating is that her career spans over 40 years yet the main/only film people focus on is Jeanne Dielman... when, in my opinion, isn't even her best work. It's certainly iconic and worthy of all the praise it's gotten (and as you'll see in a few moments I use quite a few images from the film) but there's so much more to discuss (her semi-autobiographical Rendezvous D'Anna is a film worthy of the same over-analysis & dissection in my opinion).

Putting aside all the obvious influences that Jeanne Dielman... has had on art house cinema throughout the years...

Jeanne Dielman.../Safe (Todd Haynes)

Jeanne Dielman... / Safe 

Jeanne Dielman... / Silent Light (Todd Haynes)

Akerman has also influenced Claire Denis...

Rendezvous D'anna / Vers Nancy

Tout Une Nuit / U.S. Go Home

Abdellatif Kechiche...

Je Tu Il Elle / Blue Is The Warmest Color

Lodge Kerrigan...

Jeanne Dielman / Clean, Shaven

And I feel like Jim Jarmusch has a spiritual connection to Akerman as well...

News From Home / Permanent Vacation

No Home Movie has an additional layer as it's kind of an unofficial sequel to her 2002 film La Bas (like No Home Movie, La Bas takes place primarily in an apartment, we hear Akerman's voice off camera a lot, they have the same up close & personal/claustrophobic vibe, and both films reference Judaism and the same family members).

Not to make this too much about myself but No Home Movie made me contemplate the lives of the loved ones around me. My Grandmother passed away a few months ago (not that much soon after Chantal Akerman passed away). Actually, Akerman's mother reminded me of my late grandmother. They have some of the same mannerisms, they're around the same age, and they have plenty of stories to tell (who wouldn't have stories to tell when you reach your late 80's/early 90's). As I watched the elder Akerman tell stories of World War 2, escaping Poland, and overcoming anti-semitism, I was reminded of my Grandmother's stories concerning civil rights, "colored's only" sections and tales about my dad as a kid.
No Home Movie also doubles as a comment on how we sometimes treat the elderly. Not to ruffle any feathers but the way Akerman's sister speaks to their mother in certain scenes is a little bossy & lightly patronizing. But she's certainly not the only adult to speak to their elderly parent that way. A lot of folks are guilty of it which is why this film is so important & relevant.

No Home Movie is classic Akerman in the sense that time is taken very literally, the pacing is very slow and Akerman isn't concerned with editing or keeping the attention of the casual viewer. At the screening I went to there were quite a few walkouts which not only pissed me off, but also confused the hell out of me. I mean...Akerman's films aren't the kinds of movies you just casually stumble upon. By 2016 you should know what you're getting in to when it comes to one of her movies. Walking out of one of her (recent) films because it was "boring" kind of makes you look a little stupid in my eyes (just like people who still get worked up over the style in modern-day Terrence Malick films. Again - what the fuck were you expecting?)
I know this all sounds harsh and a little pretentious but Akerman's work meant a lot to me so it's hard to not take things personally. She not only influenced some of my favorite filmmakers (both directly & indirectly) but she had the kind of guts that you don't see in too many filmmakers (male or female). (Two-face) Publications like indiewire are always clamoring for strong female voices in film as if Akerman hadn't been around since the late 60's (maybe stop writing so many articles on Melissa McCarthy, Tina Fey & Cate Blanchett and shine a spotlight on Akerman's work).

THE WITCH

A lot of recent horror films just aren’t scary to me. Not even chilling or mildly startling. Some are downright overrated like in the case of It Follows. Sorry to fire cheap shots but I still honestly don’t understand what folks see in that movie. From the inconsistent plot/rules laid out in the film to the overall bored tone – I just don’t get it (the same can also be said about The Visit).

I’m not saying all this to sound cool like I’m above being startled or I’m “too cool” be scared (and there are a few semi-recent horror films that I do enjoy – like Insidious & Pontypol – but not because they're scary but rather because they're well-made & entertaining). It’s just a lot of horror films are often predictable which sometimes takes the fun out of being scared (you can see a startling or scary moment coming from a mile away) or they try to overcompensate by being unnecessarily shocking & bloody. The Witch does neither of those things. It’s subtle and relies on atmosphere & ambiance as opposed to stuff like (un)scary little children with hair draped over their faces slowly walking towards us down a dark-lit hallway. ...Technically the film does have creepy little children characters but not the typical creepy children one might find in The Ring, The Grudge or whatever POV exorcism film happens to be out in theaters this month or streaming on Netflix.

And don't get me wrong - The Witch certainly has some bloody disgusting moments but they're spread out. There are actually moments in the film that are downright boring. But the 17th century seemed like a boring time so it makes sense.

It should be said that I am not a horror aficionado so take everything I’m saying with a grain of salt...

In The Witch we follow an exiled religious family (headed up by Father “William” & Mother “Katherine”) who have recently relocated to a small New England property right on the edge of a wooded area that appears to be haunted. All seems to be going well for the family until their youngest child suddenly goes missing and the family starts to suspect their oldest daughter ("Thomasin") might be the cause of that and all the other strange occurrences going on.

Naturally this film deals with the barbaric ignorance & religious superstitions folks had about witches & witchcraft back then, but if you take out the horror element, this is a drama about the breakdown of a family due to the insertion of an unspoken “virus”/threat similar to Pasolini’s Teorema or Francois Ozon’s Sitcom (a loose remake of Teorama). This isn't meant to be an all-out brag but co-star Anya Taylor-Joy thanked me for bringing up this point at the Q&A I attended. Not only did the actors portray a family living on top of each other in a small space in the movie, but they also lived together during the filming of the movie so naturally reality seeped in to the story. So whether you're a fan of scary movies or not, The Witch does branch out to genres beyond just horror. 

Director Robert Eggers still isn't beyond playing in to traditional horror tropes. As you can imagine there are quite a few startles & possibly scary moments (depending on your threshold) and the score is both sparse & jumpy at the same time (I guess one criticism I have is that the score sometimes made it obvious as to when something spooky was about to happen).

What I found most interesting about The Witch (on a personal level) is that it seemed to draw inspiration from the (few) positive aspects of Ben Wheatley’s Kill List. Both films have a creepy/mysterious tone, they both death with the occult and they have similar color palettes (I highly doubt this was intentional but perhaps Kill List had a subconscious influence, or the similarities are just a coincidence). I’m not a fan of Wheatley’s 2011 horror/thriller but the one thing Kill List did have going for it was ambiance and that certain element of “coolness” – the tone of the film was dark & grey, a good portion of the dialogue was both “in the know” & mumbled, and Wheatley took his time setting up moments in the film that were meant to startle or shock us. Basically - there wasn’t a whole lot of blood & guts and forced satanic symbolism around every corner of the film (I have since grown on Kill List – although I still think it’s overrated - but to read my original thoughts on the film, click here).

Besides Kill List, The Witch seemed to come from the mind of someone with an appreciation for all kinds of cinema. Visually, I was reminded of everything from the Exorcist & Salo…

…to not-so obvious (borderline) horror films like Claire Denis’ Trouble Every Day…

Unfortunately because the film is so new I don't have certain specific images to compare, but there are sequences that might remind one of The Shining (the second time we see the film's possible antagonist) as well as Antichrist or the obvious Wicker Man (the very ending). But these will have to do for now...

Director Robert Eggers, who self admittedly is obsessed the folklore behind witches & witchcraft, was also a teenager when the Blair Witch phenomenon hit so perhaps there’s some subconscious residue from that as well (again, I’m sure all of this is a coincidence, but a cool coincidence nonetheless).

LIGHTNING OVER BRADDOCK: A RUST BOWL FANTASY

There’s a famous story/myth/half-truth/pre-internet rumor about Werner Herzog calling up a young Harmony Korine and praising him for his film Gummo (apparently Herzog said something along the lines of “I have just seen your film Gummo. You are the last foot soldier”). But a similar exchange happened between Herzog & Braddock, PA-based filmmaker Tony Buba about a decade prior to that. Apparently Herzog saw a bunch of Buba's films in the mid-80's and fell instantly in love.

It makes sense that a filmmaker like Herzog would be drawn to the work of Tony Buba. Buba’s films aren’t “nice & neat” (he isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty), he shines a spotlight on folks who don’t necessarily have a voice or a podium of their own (like the folks of Braddock, PA), and his relationship with collaborator “Sweet Sal” mirrors that of Herzog & Klaus Kinski in an abstract kind of way.

In my personal opinion, Tony Buba is the true "foot soldier” as he still continues to make films about/around his hometown when so many other folks turn a blind eye or show little/no interest.

Last summer the Brooklyn Academy Of Music put together an excellent retrospective of American indie films from the 1980’s and Tony Buba’s Lightning Over Braddock was, without a doubt, the highlight of the program for me (for years this was one of those films I always read about but never had the opportunity to see). Lightning Over Braddock is the perfect mixture of non-fiction, fiction, comedy & drama (there's even a musical aspect to the film). Imagine a collaboration between F For Fake-era Orson Welles & Werner Herzog in his prime (even more recent works like Herzog’s Wild Blue Yonder continue down the path that Lightning Over Braddock helped to make). If those references don't do anything for you, picture a slightly more serious iteration of comedy central’s Nathan For You (like Nathan For You, Lightning Over Braddock is a partly scripted/part reality-based project). 

In the film we follow Tony Buba as he documents the decline of his hometown (over the years Braddock Pennsylvania went from a prominent steel town to a struggling post-industrial town). The film melds together statistics, footage of worker union rallies, interviews with local residents, musical sequences, and (partly fictional) news footage chronicling Buba’s rise as a filmmaker. 

Additionally, Lightning Over Braddock follows the strange & contentious relationship between Buba and his collaborator Sweet Sal – an actor with dreams of making it big in Hollywood who thinks Tony is screwing him out of money (Sweet Sal is one of the most unique & original characters to appear in a modern film).

This hybrid of a film branches off in to quite a few directions, but at the end of the day it’s an abstract love letter from Buba to his hometown in the same way Roger & Me was to Michael Moore’s hometown of Flint, Michigan.
Not only is Lightning Over Braddock a love letter to Braddock PA, but it’s also a personal (video) journal into the mind of a filmmaker. Using voiceover narration, Buba expresses his ambitions, goals, guilt & insecurities about his career.

(this documentary quietly features some great standalone imagery)

Lightning Over Braddock also falls in line with something like Williams Greaves’ Symbiopsychotaxiplasm as both films are partially about the convoluted idea of making a film inside of a film inside of a film (for those who haven’t seen the Greaves documentary, I highly recommend checking out the criterion disc). 

And I’m not sure if it was intentional or not, but Tony Buba manages to (subconsciously) tip his hat to filmmakers like Sergei Eisenstein…

Lightning Over Braddock / Strike

...and the aforementioned Herzog...

The Accordion in Stroszek, Lightning Over Braddock & Gummo: a potential link between the films of Herzog, Buba & Korine?

Some might say Tony Buba was doing a bit of "trolling" with Lightning Over Braddock but when your hometown is suffering tremendously and no one on the outside seems to care, sometimes you have to resort to original/unique measures in order to get attention (when it comes to the idea of a struggling steel town - especially in cinema - most folks tend to think of Pittsburgh or Detroit first not realizing there are plenty of other towns & cities throughout the midwest & east coast with the same struggles). Before & after the release of Lightning Over Braddock, Buba managed to get the attention of the national news, the academic world (part of the film chronicles Buba receiving the Pennsylvania media artist of the year award from a local university), as well as the film world (many critics consider Lightning Over Braddock to be Buba's "opus").

While Tony Buba’s film has plenty of humor and realistic quirkiness, underneath all that humor & quirkiness are layers upon layers of serious socio-economic struggle specific only to America. 

I imagine at this point Tony Buba might be sick of all the Roger & Me/Michael Moore comparisons when it comes to Lighting (Buba’s film came out first), but the comparison is so fitting. In a way, Roger & Me is to Lightning Over Braddock what Depalma is to Hitchcock or early Von Trier to Tarkovsky..

Lightning Over Braddock Final Sequence from Tony Buba on Vimeo.

No matter how much Buba (intentionally) confuses the audience as to what’s real and what’s fake, what is clear is that Braddock Pennsylvania was (still is) suffering and nothing was being done about it. And what’s even more of a slap in the face is that places like Braddock & Detroit are being “used” by the movie industry (both indie & mainstream) for what little resources they have left to serve as backdrops for recent movies like; Out Of The Furnace (Braddock), One For The Money (Braddock), Only Lovers Left Alive (Detroit), Brick Towers (Detroit) & Lost River (Detroit) because apparently desolate steel towns are "cool", "edgy" & "authentic".

While I don’t consider myself to be a flag-waving Patriot, its films like Lightning Over Braddock that bring out my concerns with this country (I also sometimes take it personal when other countries criticize America as if they don’t have genocidal skeletons in their own closets). I can’t help but question why so much time & money is spent to send "aid" to certain countries (that often times don’t even want our help) and get involved in issues that have nothing to do with us when parts of America are still facing hard times. I mean, why would you try to clean someone else’s house (again – most times when they don’t even ask for your help) before cleaning up your own home first?
I certainly have a ton of pride for my own hometown of Amherst, Massachusetts (I still wear my high school track & field ring after almost 17 years), so I can only imagine the heartbreak & frustration Buba (and other emotionally invested residents) must feel when, even today, the first news articles that pop-up on Google concerning Braddock are still tinged with worry and/or pessimism often from outsiders looking in. Perhaps it’s my own tremendous hometown pride that draws me to Lightning Over Braddock as I always enjoy seeing other folks who aren’t afraid to confess their love for the place that helped to shape them.

ENTERTAINMENT: "TWO LANE BLACKTOP WITH NEIL HAMBURGER"

Entertainment is a fictional story but it has more than a few strands of reality in its DNA. In the film Gregg Turkington plays a semi-fictional version of himself - an "alternative" persona/stand-up comedian (or "anti-comedian") who delivers strange one-liners to unsuspecting audiences. Through the course of the film we watch Turkington's "Neil" travel across the American west coast doing the "chitlin' circuit" of small bars and comedy clubs while trying to maintain his sanity. While on tour he reconnects with his cousin "John" (John C. Reilly) and tries to reach out to his daughter that we never actually see (throughout the film he leaves her cryptic voice messages).
When Neil isn't on stage telling jokes, he's a quiet and almost unlikeable person. I wouldn't disagree if some folks referred to him as an alternative anti-hero, but to me Neil is the epitome of the "sad clown" (it's no coincidence that Neil travels with an actual clown - played by Tye Sheridan - as his opening act). This archetype isn't anything new but the team of Rick Alverson, Gregg Turkington & co-writer Tim Heidecker put a refreshing spin on the idea of the sad clown. Comedians are sometimes sad, insecure & depressed. Entertainment just hammers this home in its own unique way. Behind every joke that Turkington/Neil delivers is a layer of sadness and/or extreme negativity. Anytime Neil isn't performing on stage/in character he refuses to be funny or tell jokes which plays off of the idea of entertainment as a job. Being a stand-up isn't "fun" for Neil. It's his 9 to 5. He isn't "on" 24/7 and doesn't feel the need to be the "funny guy" all the time just because he's a comedian (I often hear stories of stand-ups hating to be asked to tell jokes or to "be funny" when they're on their own personal time). Actually, Entertainment puts the occupation of a stand-up comedian/entertainer on the same level as an office worker or retail associate. I'm not trying to belittle the job of an office worker or retail worker (I work in an office myself), but there's a common misconception that all comedians live super fun lives when in fact their job becomes just as redundant and at times pointless as sitting in an office cubicle.

Any independent and/or struggling artist should be able to appreciate this aspect of film (for me, Entertainment made up for the disappointment that was Inside Llewyn Davis).

Depression, hopelessness, sadness, loneliness and the (sometimes) pointlessness of communication are some of the main keywords & themes that come to mind when I think of Entertainment (as someone who has grown to hate small talk, I appreciate how well Alverson deconstructed the idea of people saying shit just for the sake of saying shit to kill time or make up for silence). Alverson's use of small talk & repetition (courtesy of John C. Reilly's "John") is pretty masterful and it really highlights the stunted level of communication that humans sometimes have.
This is a dramedy in the truest sense (Not a dark comedy. There's a difference between the two). Entertainment is very disorienting (I mean that in the most positive way) as it transitions seamlessly between comedic moments and depressing moments. One minute Neil is on stage delivering his stand-up material, and the next minute he's sitting on the edge of his bed in a shitty motel room in the middle of nowhere questioning his existence (and the score just adds an extra layer to the film's disorienting nature).

Visually, this is Alverson's most polarizing film to date. Not to downplay his previous work, because I've enjoyed them all (I consider The Comedy to be one of the five best films of the decade), but this is the first Rick Alverson film, in my opinion, to feature memorable standalone imagery. Not only does he make use of the southwest American landscape that serves as the backdrop for the film, but he sprinkles in the perfect amount neon lighting and other bold colors (there were shades of that in The Comedy but Alverson went all out in Entertainment). For a visual reference, imagine a film that falls somewhere in between Upstream Color, the cinematography of Tim Orr and a Harmony Korine-directed Cat Power music video (Upstream Color costar Amy Seimetz makes a brief appearance in Entertainment). And I know this is cliché but Stanley Kubrick seemed to have a subconscious influence on all the polarizing hallway shots in Entertainment (often times in entertainment we get these scenes of an almost paralyzed Turkington standing in a hallway zoning out like Jack Nicholson in The Shining).
Besides Alverson's own films (specifically The Comedy), I'd put Entertainment in the same cinematic vein as other road movies like Kings Of The Road (another road movie that deals with depression) & Vanishing Point. In fact Rick Alverson referred to Entertainment as "Two Lane Blacktop with Neil Hamburger".

I could go on & on about how challenging & unique Entertainment is (and it certainly is) but this film touched me on a personal level which is more important than any critical praise I could ever give. I'd be lying if I said I haven't been questioning certain of aspects of my own life (work, the environment I live in, my health, etc) much like Neil. I guess you could say I'm going through a super light existential period in my own life, so seeing a movie like Entertainment, which centers around someone going through their own (deeper) existential crisis, is going to have an impact on me.

Entertainment also features the type of humor I appreciate with jokes like:

Why did Madonna feed her baby Alpo brand dog food? ...Because she had no choice. It's the only thing that came out of her breasts.

Or 

What was Elvis Presley's worst release?

...The ejaculate that produced Lisa Marie Presley.

While jokes like that may come off as stupid to some of you, I find shit like that hilarious.

I don't always like to compare movies like Entertainment to their predecessors but if you're a fan of The Comedy (and other recent "challenging"/deconstructive films like Upstream Color or the cinema of Yorgos Lanthimos) I can almost guarantee that you'll enjoy Entertainment.

THE BRILLIANCE OF DON'T BE A MENACE IN SOUTH CENTRAL WHILE DRINKING YOUR JUICE IN THE HOOD...

Almost 20 years after the release of Don’t Be A Menace I finally saw its true brilliance thanks to a Menace To Society/South Central double feature at The Brooklyn Academy Of Music. Actually, I don’t know if I should thank The Brooklyn Academy Of Music for their somewhat goofy film programming back in August. Don’t get me wrong, BAM is kind of like my second home and I normally love their programming but I was a little displeased at what I saw on the big screen back in august. In an effort to promote some of the recent California-based hip-hop films like Straight Outta Compton & Dope (a movie I still don’t know if I like or not), BAM curated a series of LA-based hip-hop films like Friday, Boyz N The Hood, South Central, Menace To Society, The Glass Shield and a few more. While certain films in the series are exempt from my criticism (Boyz N The Hood & The Glass Shield are still really great and have aged with grace), others, like the aforementioned Menace To Society & South Central don’t get the criticism they deserve (actually, The Glass Shield is relevant now more than ever with all these crazy-ass police out there). But I guess that’s why Kenan Ivory Wayans made Don’t Be A Menace In South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Perhaps he was sick & tired of all the stereotypes that some of these films perpetuated and he just wanted to poke fun at them. Don’t get me wrong, I always thought the movie was hilarious. I have fond memories of rewinding this particular scene with my friends at countless sleepovers…

(for reference)

But I never fully realized how hilariously on-point a lot the humor was. I’ve never been a fan of over-analyzing comedy to the point where it becomes unfunny (which seems to happen a lot these days) but the issues that The Wayans Brothers tackle in Don’t Be A Menace are rooted in some very serious subject matter (racism, subconscious self-hatred among black people, the prison system, police corruption, the absence of fathers/father figures, etc). It’s really disheartening when serious issues like that are tainted with bad acting or redundant plotlines like in South Central & Menace To Society. I guess I could give South Central some credit as it kind of centers around a black father that actually gives a damn about his son. But I just cant get past all the bugged-eyed bafoonery…

South Central

South Central

And women are no different. If they aren't crackhead prostitute single mothers (prototypical characters featured in both South Central & Menace), they’re barely seen (Angela Basset’s strong female character is seen only twice in Boyz N The Hood).

Sorry but neither South Central nor Menace To Society have aged well. I know it’s blasphemous to speak ill of these films within certain circles but I think it’s time we come to grips with a few things. Not only is lead actor Tyrin Turner’s acting incredibly awkward (as is the acting in South Central), but if you look in the background during certain scenes you'll see what seems to be an unrealistic amount of 40oz bottles conveniently placed everywhere. I know 40z’s of malt liquor were pushed in certain neighborhoods but I highly doubt every other person in south central stood around drinking malt liquor at 11am (if anyone reading this who came up during this era feels this portrayal is accurate please let me know).
This is something Kenan Ivory Wayans points out in his film…

Screen grabs from Menace To Society...

DONT BE A MENACE...

I’m always hesitant to fall in to that belief system of “this makes black people look bad” or “this set us back a few years” but Jesus Christ…so many of these post-Boyz N The Hood movies recycle the same shit. Each film has the same prototypical characters & basic plotlines, and they even recycle the same actors from one movie to the next. Some of the actors in the Oliver Stone-produced South Central were supporting actors in Boyz N The Hood. Even Forest Whitaker’s directorial debut Strapped (one of the more obscure films within the hood movie genre) practically lifts a scene directly from Menace To Society...

And the famous drive-by scene in Boyz N The Hood is no different. The Hughes brothers practically recreated it at the end of Menace To Society…

Then there's the scene where the misguided boy learns how to shoot a gun from his (emotionally stunted) father figure...

South Central

Menace To Society

I wonder if John Singleton knows he’s indirectly responsible for all the sub-par/terrible films that came out during the 90’s just like how Melvin Van Peeples was indirectly responsible for all the post-Gordon Parks blaxploitation films of the mid/late 70’s (The Wayans Brothers also poked fun at that genre in I’m Gonna Get You Sucka). Actually, Kenan Ivory Wayans has almost made it a point to critique every film genre that concerns Black people so I wonder if he’s ever going to address all those shitty Madea Tyler Perry movies.

STRETCH & BOBBITO: RADIO THAT CHANGED LIVES

At last. A hip-hop film that truly speaks to me (although not to discredit the Tribe Called Quest documentary as Phife Dawg’s battle with diabetes & kidney disease literally mirrored my own struggles with the same exact diseases a few years back). Just about every prominent hip-hop-based film to come out in the last few years is based around an artist with a fanbase that branches out beyond hip-hop culture to the casual fan (Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, etc). But Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives speaks to a specific cult-ish hip-hop fanbase (a cult that I’m very much a part of) whose knowledge of hip-hop goes beyond a redundant Rolling Stone analysis of a Public Enemy album or a Michael Eric Dyson essay about a Tupac verse (that wasnt a diss to Public Enemy or Tupac).

This is a documentary for folks who stayed up late to tape a rare non-album version of a Mobb Deep song or capture a Pharoahe Monch freestyle that you couldn’t hear anywhere else. This is a documentary for people who were too busy nerding out to rap cadence and the intricacies of gritty beat production to be bothered with the half-knowledgeable pseudo-intellectualism that’s become just as much of a poison within hip-hop/rap as the ignorant/irresponsible music that gets played on the radio today.

This film couldn't have come at a better time given the current state of New York City ("urban") radio. The playlist that makes up the majority of rap music that gets played on popular stations like Hot 97 & Power 105 is hardly an accurate representation of the wide variety of talent that's out there in the world of hip-hop today (strangely enough, if you want to hear good old school hip-hop on the radio, you have to tune in to WBLS which was once a place that frowned at rap music). Tell me - how is it that hip-hop artists like Run The Jewels, Big KRIT, Action Bronson, Jean Grae, Roc Marciano & Danny Brown manage to sell records (in the MP3 era), maintain a steady fan base and sell out festivals all over the world, yet they still can't manage to get some kind of decent rotation on mainstream New York City radio? Clearly they have fans. So why can't their music get played at a decent time slot on a station that claims to be the home of hip-hop (technically the tagline for hot 97 is "where hip-hop lives" but it hasn't lived there for a while so it really doesn't matter if I got it wrong because it's an inaccurate statement either way). 

Even veterans/legends like Cormega, Pharoahe Monch, Ghostface Killah & Sean Price (RIP) continue to put out quality music but can't manage to get any rotation on the major radio stations that operate out of their own city (part of this has to do with the fact that rap music is quite possibly the only genre where veterans & legends are encouraged to fall back over time while older musicians in other music genres are encouraged to make new music and tour). New York has become one of the only major rap/hip-hop radio markets that doesn't promote its own talent. I went to Philadelphia earlier this year with my fiancé and when we turned on the radio we heard The Roots, Beenie Segel & Eve. Last year we spent some time in North Carolina and heard J. Cole on the local radio on more than one occasion. And with the success of Kendrick Lamar I can only imagine how much his music gets played out in California. So why don't major urban stations in New York City follow suit? I'm sure (former?) Hot 97 music programmer Ebro Darden will spin some well-spoken yet nonsensical explanation as to why that is but at the end of the day it's all bullshit. There is no legitimate explanation for the lack of variety on urban NYC radio.

For a more in-depth analysis on the current state of urban radio, listen to the Chuck-D episode of The Combat Jack Show after reading this...

I seriously feel old when I tell younger folks that Hot 97 was once a place where the likes of De La Soul, Wu-Tang, Sean Price, Masta Ace & Mos Def all got good radio play. Hot 97 was even a brief home for Stretch & Bobbito in the late 90's.
What set Stretch & Bob apart from so many other radio DJ's (past, present & future) is that they dared to play non-traditional (mostly New York City) rap music that you couldn't hear on other radio stations...

I know Stretch & Bob's radio show didn't reach the same amount of folks as Howard Stern or Tom Joyner but they still managed to make history with a shitty tri-state signal based out of a dingy college radio station.

I don't often like to compare hip-hop to other musical genres. It’s like seeking validation from sources that don't show the same amount of respect (rappers sometime attain a certain status and start drawing comparisons to legendary rock & roll artists when they should be compared to the legendary rappers that came before them). But there is a strong parallel between Stretch Armstrong & Bobbito Garcia and John Peel (legendary UK radio disc jockey known for pushing eclecticism during his run on BBC radio). Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives is currently playing at the Brooklyn Academy Of Music - which is great - but I worry some folks might not recognize their status in hip-hop. So in this case it helps to compare them to a possibly more recognizable figure like Jon Peel (I don’t mean to discredit anyone, but I don’t see the regular Brooklyn Academy Of Music attendee being too familiar with the brand of underground hip-hop that Stretch & Bob helped to cultivate).

Stretch & Bobitto's run at WKCR represented a time when (underground) radio was a kind place for a wide variety of aspiring rap artists. It used to be a badge of honor to be featured on their show. Before finding any kind of substantial success (or a cult following in certain cases) everyone from Jay-Z & Nas to Artifacts & Company Flow got some of their first major radio play on their show.

Stretch & Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives chronicles the legendary radio show that brought shine to not only the artists mentioned in this write-up so far, but other folks like DMX, Big Pun, Wu-Tang, Mase, Cam'ron and many more. I didn't really learn anything new, but as someone who grew up taping & acquiring episodes of their show whenever I could, it was nice to revisit memories of the golden-era rap music that played a part in making me the person I am today (I grew up in Massachusetts but spent lots of time visiting family in New York City in my teens which is when I got familiar with the show). 

The artists featured in the film are mostly from NYC or New Jersey, but west coast veterans like Cypress Hill, Sway, Souls Of Mischief & Del get plenty of love as well. There's a whole 'nother sub-genre of artists loosely associated with the show that arent really mentioned in the film (Pumpkinhead, Necro, Juggaknots, Arsonists, Non Phixion and more) but I have to learn that's ok and this film wasnt made for just me. Interviewees include everyone from Rosie Perez & Redman to Jay-Z & Fat Joe (I was pleasantly surprised to see folks like O.C., Large Professor, Dante Ross, Lord Finesse and other underrated/under-appreciated artists get some decent screen time). And of course there's plenty of archive footage featuring everyone under the sun who had anything to do with rap music in the 90's (Brand Nubian, Method Man, Kurious Jorge, Das Efx, Showbiz & AG, etc). For something that's just over 90 minutes, we get a lot of history. There isn't much structure, but, and sorry in advance for sounding pretentious, isn't that how it should be? Their show didn't have too much structure nor did a lot of the music & artists they featured on the show. This is probably the most fun I had watching a movie this year (after Mad Max: Fury Road). I only hope other folks who manage to see this film get as much out of it as I did.

No matter what nerdy artifact or piece of history that was omitted from this film (and there are plenty as the Stretch & Bobbito radio show is layered with years of historical moments & hip-hop trivia) it's still an important piece of hip-hip cinema (I'd like it to be noted that no other film critic or film site is documenting hip-hop on the big screen like PINNLAND EMPIRE).

This reminds me - with broader topics being covered within hip-hop cinema, maybe in the near future we can get a documentary to explore why slightly misinformed intellectuals like Michael Eric Dyson, Dream Hampton & Cornell West get the platform they do to discuss hip-hop while various members of Rock Steady Crew & Zulu Nation (you know - the articulate, knowledgeable veterans who've been part of the fabric of hip-hop since day one) do not. But that's a whole 'nother can of worms... 

Stretch and Bobbito: Radio That Changed Lives from Saboteur Media on Vimeo.

S.P.I.T. (A short film by Mtume Gant)

Here's some more press on Mtume Gant's recent short film Spit over at CutPrintFilm.com

enjoy

WILD TALES ("THE STRONGEST" & "LITTLE BOMB")

Ever since I started doing the “whole history of my life” series over at The Pink Smoke (which you should all read if you haven’t yet), I’ve started to get a little more personal with my writing here on PINNLAND EMPIRE.
Unfortunately, I lost over 2,000 words in the sixth entry in the series and I don’t have it in me to re-write/revisit what I wrote at the moment (kidney disease, diabetes, etc). Until then, take this lil' gem as a “light" entry in the whole history of my life…

"Little Bomb"

I usually avoid most best foreign film nominees during Oscar season because I never feel that they best represent world/international cinema. Naturally there are a few exceptions like Dogtooth (2009/10), The White Ribbon (2009) & Timbuktu (2014), but generally speaking, movies up for the best foreign film Oscar are always a little "safe" and/or weak for my taste.
Because of this movie-snob defiance of mine, I avoided Wild Tales at first. Besides the fact that it just seemed to show up out of nowhere at the last minute pretty much for the sole purpose of being nominated for awards (in the U.S. at least), I thought it was another one of those multi-character/multi-storyline movies where everything & everyone is somehow connected like in Pulp Fiction or Crash. In 2015 I want NOTHING to do with those kinds of movies anymore (unless of course someone brings something new to the table). But when I discovered that the six stories in Wild Tales were separate and in no way connected (outside of some common themes) I made it a point to see it at BAM and I was pleasantly surprised.

What a rare beast in this post-Pulp Fiction world we live in - a film with separate/unconnected short stories.

While all six (WILD) tales do touch on the same subjects & issues (revenge, coincidence, class, privilege & entitlement), the two middle stories (“The Strongest” & “Little Bomb”, respectively) stood out to me more than anything else.
On the surface both stories play out like that famous Chapelle Show skit; “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong”...

“The Strongest” centers on two men who take their road rage with each other WAY too far while the appropriately titled “Little Bomb” is about a guy who allows his rage to get the best of him on multiple occasions until it becomes incredibly detrimental. Self control & anger are what binds these two middle stories together and is also what separates them from the rest. The first two (“Pasternak”& “The Rats”) are Pedro Almodovar-ian quirky dark tales about revenge (Almodovar served as a producer on this film), while the last two (“The Proposal” & “Until Death Do Us Part”) are about entitlement & dishonesty among the Argentinean upper-class.
Some of the themes in the bookend stories do seep in to "The Strongest" & "Little Bomb". I don’t think it’s any coincidence that the two guys who clash with each other in "The Strongest" are on opposite ends of the economic scale. And our main character in "Little Bomb" has this strange sense of entitlement (like some of the characters in "The Proposal") and feels that he’s never in the wrong.

But anger & rage are the real issues in the third & fourth stories of Wild Tales...

As I sat watching the [MALE] protagonists ruin their lives over petty nonsense in these stories I couldn’t help but see shades of myself (and just men in general) who have a difficult time letting shit go. The drama in both stories is sparked off by a middle finger ("The Strongest") and the defiance to pay a parking ticket ("Little Bomb"). Seriously, that's it. This film struck a chord in me so much that I mentioned it in a recent therapy session (side note – if you have the means, I recommend any & everyone, especially men who are looking to figure life out, to seek out therapy). I love movies but outside of certain specific films (see: the whole history of my life) I don’t often relate the movies I see to my own personal life (I know that may sound hard to believe but it's true). But Wild Tales was different. And what's strange is that overall this movie was just "pretty good". It's not even a personal favorite of mine.

a driver flipping the bird to another driver in "The Strongest" before things get out of hand

I know I’ve been getting very gender specific on here recently but I don’t really see too many women getting in to fatal roadside physical altercations over a middle finger, or conspiring to blow up the department of motor vehicles over a bullshit parking ticket. Sure plenty of women will get loud and/or belligerent in the face of something they feel is unfair (even at times when they’re in the wrong) but men are far worse in my opinion. When you hear stories of a mass shooting rooted in rage, or an explosion going off or a fatal case of road rage, 9 times out of 10 there’s a man with some bullshit sense of entitlement, behind it.

The longer I’ve lived in New York City and worked as an architectural draftsman, the more stressed & anxious I’ve become. Furthermore, I tend to (momentarily) take a lot of stupid and/or uncontrollable things personally like the characters in the middle section of Wild Tales. I’m almost embarrassed to admit this, but when I’m on the subway and the service starts to go to shit (which it does a lot these days. You’re awful NYC MTA) I get so mad that I have these momentary thoughts of screaming at the train conductor (as if it’s his fault that the service is delayed) or screaming at the sick person on the train holding me up from being on time (as if they decided to suddenly get sick on the train just to screw my day up like I’m that important). When people shove their way on to the train before I have the chance to step off (which is fucking rude), I sometimes want to use my size (6’-3”, 260lbs) to push people out of the way. But as an adult I can't/shouldn't do that (I actually used to do that in my younger days but I’ve since cooled off).

I had a kidney transplant a few years ago. Because of this I’m forced to deal with health insurance companies for the rest of my life (once you have a kidney transplant you have to take anti-rejection medication forever and have to get semi-frequent check-ups). As some of you can imagine, dealing with health insurance companies is a major hassle. You’re trying to fix a situation or get a prescription refilled yet you’re dealing with a nameless dope/humanoid robot reading from a script that usually provides no help to your predicament. Again when this kind of stuff happens – I get so worked up that I develop these scenarios in my head where I find the headquarters to my health insurance company and show up and kick the shit out of everyone who works in the building. But seconds later I calm down and realize how silly that is. Sometimes dealing with health insurance companies becomes so aggravating that I get unnecessarily rude and entitled as if there aren’t millions of other people in the same position as me. That's when I have to breath for a second and realize that the world is bigger than me.

And in all honesty, had I taken care of my health issues earlier on in life, I wouldn't have needed a kidney transplant. This would have eliminated the endless prescription refills and annoying health insurance nonsense.
Some health issues are uncontrollable but in my case I had the power to maintain a healthy lifestyle and avoid all the shit I deal with today. There's a quote from Todd Haynes' Safe that applies directly to my specific situation...

Nobody out there made you sick. You know that. The only person who can make you get sick is you, right? Whatever the sickness, if our immune system is damaged... it's because we have allowed it to be...

Now...there's a lot more to that quote, but on some level what he's saying is kind of true. But we'll dig a little deeper in to my organ failure at some point later this year in part six of the whole history of my life.

"The Strongest"

"Little Bomb"

I work in the design industry as an architectural draftsman. Architecture, design & space planning involves non-stop changes, revisions, additions & reconfigurations. I’m also in an industry where folks will get caught up on text size & font style and where it should be placed on a drawing (seriously, at my previous job we used to spend 45-60 minutes debating shit like this). Basically – nothing is ever finished even when it is finished (make sense?). Unfortunately, I have the kind of personality that when things are done I like them to be done. For good. I’m just not a very nitpicky person. As you can imagine, I’m probably in the wrong industry (going on 11 years now). For years, I used to take all the nitpicky font size analysis and endless revision bullshit personally. I was nasty with my coworkers as if they were trying to make my life miserable when in fact it had nothing to do with them. It’s just the nature of the beast combined with my incompatible personality. The only person to place blame on is myself for taking things so personally. The industry of architecture & design is much bigger than me. No sense in getting worked up over a system I can't/don’t want to change. Had the main character in "Little Bomb" stopped for a minute and realized that he was trying to fight an almost unbeatable system that was bigger than him (and that he was placing blame on everyone & everything but himself) things would have worked out a lot better.

Not being able to let go is ultimately why our protagonists in "The Strongest" & "Little Bomb" meet their downfall. Sure it’s frustrating dealing with the DMV but you can’t resort to acts of terrorism in order to get your way. Yeah sometimes folks drive recklessly on the highway but flipping them off and insulting them, like in "The Strongest", isn’t going to make anyone a better driver. All throughout these two stories in Wild Tales our characters place blame on everyone & everything and hold grudges so deep that they end up dead or in jail.
I’m learning more & more how to not place blame on New York City or the MTA or my coworkers when something doesn’t go my way. Letting go is hard, but living longer (and happier) sounds a lot better.