Summer Indie Roundup 2001
So, we’re to the end of August, and, if you’re anything like me, you just about had it with almost everything at your local multiplex. If you’re asking if you have an alternative, consider checking one of the flicks on the following list of independent films you may have missed this summer.
Sexy Beast
I hated this film, but in the interest of fairness, I include it on this list since there has been a lot of buzz on this film, released back in June to critical acclaim. If you check out the Fox Searchlight website, you can read over 100 unedited reviews which rave about this retro-style tale of an English thief (Ray Winstone), retired and living with his ex-porn star wife in an Italian villa, who gets called back into action for one more heist by a former boss with a truly evil streak (Oscar-winner Ben Kingsley). The only remotely interesting thing about Jonathan Glazer’s first film is Kingsley’s performance. He’s excellent playing against type — since he’s best known as playing the lead in Ghandi — until about what seems to be the 1500th time he uses the “C U Next Tuesday” word, and then it just gets to be annoying. There seems to be little holding the story together, and the heist Winstone gets sent on is a bust. And speaking as somebody who has sat through both foreign films and Guy Ritchie’s first film (the very good Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels), I could barely understand a word anyone was saying. But 100 people put me in the minority, so I’ll just say do the research, and go at your own risk.
Wet Hot American Summer
As a child of the 80s, I am a sucker for anything set in the heyday of acid wash and the Brat Pack, so this entry is right up my alley. A hilarious spoof/homage to such classic summer 80s camp movies as Meatballs, Little Darlings, and even Friday the 13th, Summer is the dead-on funny tale of the last day (the last day of the third week of August 1981 to be exact) of camp at Lake Firewood. My enjoyment of the film came as a surprise to me since it was co-written by Michael Showalter and David Wain (who also directed), two members of the comedy group The State, whose late, un-lamented MTV show was not funny at all. They have put together an amazing ensemble of familiar faces doing great work (Janeane Garafalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon) with some less familiar ones (Showalter plays not one, but two roles here, along with a very funny Paul Rudd, Josh from Clueless, a priceless Amy Poehler, from the Upright Citizen’s Brigade and soon to be a regular on SNL, and a truly hysterical Christopher Meloni, from Law and Order: SVU, HBO’s Oz) to create a funny and painfully familiar portrait of the early 1980s complete with Izod shirts (collars up!) and Loverboy songs on the soundtrack. Since the film will never see the wide release it deserves, — it’s as funny as any comedy that’s been released this summer — my hope is that it will get discovered on video and DVD and become a cult classic like Heathers and Dazed and Confused. Summer is now playing in New York, but will expand to some larger cities August 31st. Check www.wethotamericansummer.com for details.
NEW in 2004!Wet Hot American Summer screenings! Every Friday and Saturday night, at the Reading East Village Theater in NYC (on 2nd Ave & 12th St). It’s highly interactive with Camp Councilor hosts, prizes and give-a-ways, and even the occasional cast member sighting. For more information check out the Wet Hot American Summer showtimes.
Session 9
Summer used to be prime time for horror movies, but now it just seems time for horrible ones (Planet of the Apes anyone? How about Pearl Harbor? America’s Sweethearts?) Which is a shame because there’s a neat little ghost story here for those who have the patience for things like atmosphere, plot, and character development. Director Brad Anderson, known only for the romantic comedy Next Stop Wonderland, switches gears to tell the story of an abestos removal crew and the problems they uncover when they are asked to decontaminate an old mental hospital. The cast, which includes David Caruso (NYPD Blue), Brendan Sexton III (Welcome to the Dollhouse), Peter Mulan (The Claim), Josh Lucas, and Stephen Gevedon, who co-wrote the script with Anderson, turn in uniformly strong performances where plot development and atmosphere dictate the scares rather than gore. It reminded me a lot of The Shining, because the horror that film generated came from the cinematic elements and acting instead of shallow scare tactics. Playing in limited release, it’s definitely worth a look. Two additional recommendations: if you like Bossa Nova music, the soundtrack to Next Stop Wonderland is an invaluable resource for you. And if you like Anderson’s work, check out another of his films, Happy Accidents, a romantic, sci-fi fable which was filmed a year before Session 9, but is just being released now by IFC Films.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
It’s a musical. It’s a comedy. It’s a film about homosexuals looking for love and acceptance. It’s an adaptation of an off-Broadway play. It’s tone is similar to The Rocky Horror Picture Show, to which it’s being compared. But none of these descriptions truly captures the essence of this unique and wonderful film. You will not see anything like it this summer. Moulin Rouge comes close, but who needs Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor when you’ve got John Cameron Mitchell recreating the part he made his own on stage. Mitchell also directs this tale of Hedwig, a East German diva touring the country’s least-known seafood restaurant chain with her band, the Angry Inch, telling her life in song. And what a life it is: Hedwig grows up a music obsessed boy in East Berlin who falls in love with an American GI. He undergoes a sex change operation for a chance at a life in America with the man he loves. But the sex change operation gets botched (hence the “angry inch”), and, once in America, he gets dumped in a Kansas trailer park. Alone and broke, he meets Tommy (Michael Pitt) a blue-eyed farm boy with whom Hedwig develops a musical, then romantic bond. But then Tommy dumps her, steals her songs, and becomes a huge star in his own right. Did I mention it’s funny to boot?
This is an incredible film with an amazing soundtrack. A wild ride from start to finish, Mitchell fills it with little comic touches about gender identity (the actor playing Hedwig’s husband is actually a woman, Mirimam Shor) and great musical moments. It’s impossible not to like this film. Playing in limited release, you owe it to yourself to see this one if you’re looking for something daring and adventurous. Did I mention it’s funny to boot?
The Deep End
Just now getting a wider release is The Deep End, a self-proclaimed thriller, which I greet with mixed emotions. It tells the story of a mother (the excellent Tilda Swinton) who will go to any length to protect her family. When she discovers the dead body of her son’s gay lover one morning, she assumes the worst and covers up what she thinks must be a murder. But just when she thinks she’s in the clear, along comes a blackmailer (ER’s Goran Visnjic) who threatens to expose the whole thing if he’s not compensated properly. But is he who he appears to be?
Ms. Swinton is probably best known for her roles in Orlando and The Beach, but if there is any justice in this world, this film will put her name on everyone’s lips. It is impossible to tell you how real Swinton’s portrayal of Margaret is. You have to see it to understand what I am talking about. This is way beyond Oscar territory: This is a great actress in a less than showy part giving her part dimension and truth. Put simply, I want to see more of Tilda Swinton. The rest of the cast is just as solid. Jonathan Tucker plays the teenage son with just the right mix of poignancy and angst. Josh Lucas (of the above mentioned Session 9) is appropriately sleazy and Visnjic reveals hidden dramatic talents in his role as the blackmailer. David Siegel and Scott McGehee, who co-wrote and co-directed 1994s overlooked black and white thriller Suture, are to be commended for bringing to the screen a film where the woman is the hero, solely responsible for her own fate. They give the film little touches that smack of the unfamiliar, like having Swinton live with her kids AND her father-in-law while happily married to her sailor husband, who is never seen or heard.
I have two minor quibbles with the film. First, it bears no resemblance to the thriller that’s being sold in the ads. It’s more of a character-driven piece that steadily ratchets up the tension. I expected more thrills of some sort because of all the quotes advertising them. My second problem is how Margaret’s dilemma is resolved. Without giving anything away about the film, I will just say this: It’s a slap in the face to a character who has managed to hold off a blackmailer, a lecherous creep, and her family’s suspicions without coming completely undone. That said, the very end of the film is extremely rewarding both emotionally and well as in its performances. Even with its flaws, The Deep End is worth seeing just for Swinton’s performance, which will not be matched by any film released this year.
Made
I don’t normally let other people’s opinions of a film sway me, so when I overheard a conversation between a theatre employee and a customer about this film that went something like “Well, they tried to make a gangster movie, but it’s not very good,” I didn’t get overly concerned. I figured she didn’t know that the co-stars of the ultra cool Swingers were making a different kind of gangster film, one that fans of the genre wouldn’t necessarily appreciate. Boy, was I wrong. And hugely disappointed. Jon Favreau (who also directed) and Vince Vaughn play West Coast boxers who can’t catch a break, so they decide (reluctantly on Favreau’s part) to do a job in New York for their patron/boss (Peter Falk). The remaining 80 minutes or so isn’t anything you haven’t already seen done better in other films of the genre, which is part of the problem. Swingers, which Favreau wrote but did not direct, was a old-fashioned romantic comedy to be sure, but at least it was presented in a fresh and involving way. The shtick between Vaughn and Favreau was cool and kept things going. Here, the interplay between the guys is stale, and after about ten minutes, grating. Nobody here, from the leads to the supporting cast, which includes Famke Jassen of X-Men fame, Vincent Pastore of The Sopranos, and Sean “P-Diddy” Combs, seems to be giving a performance as much as they seem to be reading lines. And with the exception of a cameo from Screech of Saved by the Bell fame, there is very little funny going on here. You could argue that maybe Favreau should have let Swingers director Doug Liman, who also directed the frenetic Go, take the director’s chair one more time, but I’m not sure that would have improved the proceedings. That said, I think my reaction to the film isn’t because I hated it, which I didn’t, but that I was expecting something else, which I was. Maybe with lower expectations, or none at all, I would have enjoyed it more. But knowing what Vaughn and Favreau are capable of, it’s hard not to feel cheated.
Ghost World
Films based on comic books are rarely this entertaining, but if the film is as true to the spirit of the comic as articles seem to indicate, this must be a hell of a read. Ghost World is played up in its ads as a comedy, but it’s more of a bittersweet black comedy about two girls who are growing up and growing apart after their high school graduation. Enid (Thora Birch) seems to have no drive or ambition except to wallow in her status as a freak of society. Rebecca (Scarlett Johanssen) is pulling the other way, making plans to get a job and moving out on her own.
Once they were both outcasts, holding their noses up at people they perceived below them, which was just about everyone. The changes in Rebecca, as well as the lack of change in Enid, will fuel their split, only they don’t know that yet. Despite expecting a far funnier movie (and not that it’s not funny), I was pleasantly surprised at how good the film was at dealing with its subject: female coming-of-age. Birch proves here that her performance in American Beauty was not a fluke. Equal parts contemptuous and vulnerable, Birch pulls off a tricky performance: We identify with Enid even though she does some pretty harsh things to other people. But sometimes that how we act when we're young — we say and do things we think are being honest without thinking about the consequences of our actions. Birch, as well as the rest of the film, captures this fact perfectly. Johanssen is also good in a tricky role: We have to see why she and Enid are friends in the first place and what changes that relationship between the two girls. Johanssen may not have the showy part, but she gives a convincing performance just the same. Kudos to director Terry Zwigoff, director of the documentary Crumb, and Daniel Klowes, who adopted his comic book for the big screen with Zwigoff, for doing a great job putting things together. There are a lot of messages here about human nature and friendship, but they don’t obscure the point of the film, which is to entertain. They fill the film with little touches, like old blues and Brazilian folk music on the soundtrack, and a great supporting cast which includes Steve Buscemi, Illeana Douglas, who is priceless as Enid's art teacher, Brad Renfro, and Dave Sheridan (Doofy from Scary Movie). A nice treat from beginning to end.
Hope you find something worth seeing on the list!
Submitted 08 August 01. Posted 26 July 02.
