The Filmcake

April 19th – April 25th

Good Hair — Chris Rock’s documentary about the hair of African American women. Certainly more compelling than I had expected. I had no idea of the lengths some women go to in order to achieve a particular look with their hair. From relaxer to weaves, black women (and some men) undergo painful and costly treatments to get rid of the kink–to achieve good hair. The documentary only takes a precursory look at the cultural implications of the desire for straighter (“whiter” or “more natural”) hair. I would have liked Rock to delve a little deeper. Instead, we get a little of this and a little of that. Another story arc that doesn’t quite get fleshed out is the Hair Battle Royale performance competition at the Bronner Brothers Hair Show. We are introduced to the contestants who all seem like interesting characters. We see some pre-competition preparation leading up to the Battle Royale itself. It feels like the featured competitors and the competition itself would have made for an interesting documentary all by themselves instead of being clumsily inserted into this one. While it lacks a real focus, I would still certainly recommend this documentary.

Gleaners and I — This is one that I decided to revisit upon last year’s release and critical acclaim surrounding Beaches of Agnes (which I still haven’t seen). This is actually the first and only Agnes Varda film that I’ve seen. On the surface it is a documentary about gleaners (ostensibly those who gather leftover crops), but at its core it is visual poetry. It’s about eking out an existence, about a respect for the land, about coming to terms with aging, and about the importance of art. That a 72-year-old woman can take a DV camera and make something that resonates with such truth and beauty makes my universe so much brighter.

Got another deadCENTER post up. This time revisiting the 2004 festival with Banned in Oklahoma (about the OK ban of The Tin Drum), Farmingville (about a NY town’s experience with day laborers), and Flip (a nostalgic short film).

Check ‘em out over at FilmCentral over at deadCENTER.

Starting today over at the deadCENTER Film site, I’m doing a series of weekly posts in anticipation of the 10th Annual deadCENTER Film Festival. I’m going back and rewatching some of the movies that screened at previous festivals. Some I recall fondly, some I barely got through the first time, and some I just plain missed. Today’s post begins with a look at Sam & Janet, One Thousand Years, and Side Effects from the first deadCENTER I attended back in 2002.

You can find the initial post here.

The 10th Annual deadCENTER Film Festival runs June 9th to June 13th.

April 5th – April 11th

Extract – Mostly underwhelmed with this one. I love, love, love Office Space. It probably gets quoted or referenced at least once a week in our house. And, as they say, Idiocracy is flawed but does have its moments. So, I was looking forward to Mike Judge’s latest. Despite an excellent cast, the film just flops around the factory floor like some gasping fish. There are some moments. David Koechner is annoyingly funny as the persistent neighbor. Ben Affleck’s druggie bartender was a pleasant respite. And Mila Kunis’ con-woman story had some potential. But in the end, a few laughs here and there don’t add up to a whole hell of a lot.

The Thing From Another World – The sixth and final installment of our Sci-Fi Horror Marathon. This one from 1951. A familiar premise that can be seen throughout the horror genre. A group of people take refuge from a monster-creature in an outpost of some type. In this case, a group of military men, scientists, and a newspaper man take refuge in an arctic outpost from an extraterrestrial “carrot-like” monster. The horror is less about the monster and more about the fear of being trapped and of the unknown intruder and the dark and mysterious outside.

While working my way through the first season of The X-Files which just showed up on Netflix Instant Viewing, I ended up watching the “Ice” episode right after The Thing From Another World. That episode featured Mulder and Scully (along with a couple of scientists and a pilot) trapped in an outpost in Alaska desperately trying to survive a potentially extraterrestrial intruder. The Thing certainly lives on.