Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
Benjamin Bratt and Rosario Dawson on March 13 at SXSW.
Just finished watching all four episodes of “DMZ” with Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt available on HBO Max.
The first episode, which I saw at the World Premiere on Sunday, March 13th, in Austin at SXSW, was dynamite. The other three episodes continue the chaos and action-packed drama of a United States that has experienced a Civil War, with Manhattan a microcosm of the tragedy of war as 300,000 residents are trapped within a demilitarized zone.
The set-up of the comic-book generated plot is that Alma must journey back from the relative safety of the U.S. outside of Manhattan and re-enter the DMZ to try to find the child she became separated from when evacuating 8 years prior.
I will try not to give away too many plot points, but I do want to make some observations about the entire season, not just the first episode. Ava Duvernay directed one episode, but Ernest Dickerson directed the rest of the series. It is all done well, with special mention of the acting, special effects, script and the title sequence.
Here are some “Pro” and “Con” observations for the entire series, complete with the pictures taken on top of the Riley Building in downtown Austin on Sunday, March 13th, which Warner Media took over for a press event at noon, just prior to the film’s 4:15 p.m.
PROS:
Cast of “DMZ” at SXSW (l to r): Freddy Miyares, Bnjamin Bratt, Rosario Dawson, Hoon Lee and Writer/Producer Roberto Patino.
The acting is top-notch. Rosario has some gut-wrenching scenes and she gives it her all. She also has to be a kick-ass heroine, fighting, running, etc. Great work. The Writer/Producer Petino praised Dawson’s work from the stage of the Paramount. Watching Benjamin Bratt at work as the charismatic gang leader is equally riveting.
I have always thought that Benjamin Bratt was an under-utilized leading man and the parts I’ve seen him in did not make the most of his charismatic presence. Here he is magnetic as the would-be leader of the DMZ, a man who fought in Afghanistan and should know that those who fight and die in the trenches are used and abused by their superiors. Parco Delgado, Bratt’s character, is willing to do whatever it takes to keep and hold power and we see that in episode 1 and all others.
The writer/director who plucked Rosario’s character from the comic book and amplified it is going for a “good versus evil” vibe that puts Alma’s character as the White Knight and leaves us wondering how she will cope with the brutality of a Parco Delgado. The way that Parco is dispatched was fitting.
This is a star-making turn for young actor Freddie Miyares, who plays the adult version of Rosario’s son, Christian. Miyares first came to the public’s attention playing one of the Central Park Five in “When They See Us” and he also appeared in “The L Word.” He has worked with Ava Duvernay previously.
The young actors In the cast—-Madison Johnson, Venus Ariel, Jordan Preston Carter—are all good and natural actors.
The explosions and helicopters and ruins of the war-torn DMZ are beautifully rendered.
The opening credits are very good.
Hoon Lee as Wilson was good, as was Reynaldo Gallegos as Cesar.
The screenplay written by Roberto Patino has some great lines that relate to ALL wars and ALL war zones and victims, so it is particularly timely against the backdrop of the Ukraine/Russia ongoing assault.
There is the possibility of continuing this series past the four episodes in the can.
CONS:
Cast of “DMZ” present in Austin, Texas, for press event on Sunday, March 13, 2022 at SXSW.
For my tastes, the constant man-on-man beat-downs could have been reduced to, at most, two. As it is, there are several. I am not a fan, although others will be. I will say that the fight between the fit 48-year-old Benjamin Bratt and the much-younger Freddy Miyares was epic, as was the fight scene between the characters of Parco Delgado and Wilson.
There were a lot of “war scenes,” which makes sense in that this is a war zone, but who is fighting whom and why is not made perfectly clear, other than the infighting amongst the various New York City sections of Manhattan.
I also watched a few episodes of the new “Halo” series and “DMZ” is infinitely superior. “Halo” involved killing people that we haven’t even met, let alone learned to care whether they live or die, whereas, in this four-part series, we get to know the characters first.
One power broker has (supposedly) gained control of water. How? We are told very few of the mechanics of power in this DMZ. Did she take over a dam or what?
The function or purpose of the United States Army is not made totally clear. Are they trying to take over Manhattan from the locals because the locals are defending their city to the death, as is happening in Ukraine now? Naaaah. The New Yorkers I personally know (and I know a few) would not be fighting to the death against the U.S.’s superior fire power. (They might want better garbage pick-up, however.)
Other than Rosario’s star turn as the Big Kahuna, the other women get short shrift. The kids actually get more screen time and more lines than the other females, including the girlfriends of characters Skel and Parco.
Did Coca Cola underwrite a big part of this film’s costs? I ask because of one specific scene. I was reminded of the Coca Cola scene in “Dr. Strangelove,” for some reason, but, today, the specific mention of a product in such glowing terms is usually a product tie-in. I thought the idea that the machine would have ANY Coke cans left in it, or that they wouldn’t be flat, was preposterous. Many of my soft drinks are flat the instant I bring them home from the grocery store, so I found the delicious-ness of Coca Cola to be highly suspect in one scene in the plot.
The individual(s) manning the radio broadcast(s) are somewhat unclear. Who was it? Who is it going to be?
Lots of character names are dropped and, eventually, we find out who some of them are, but simply mentioning “Susie” (et. al.) didn’t cut if for me. But, then, I was not a reader of the comic books during their hey-day.
I enjoyed all the lines that underscored the futility of violence as a solution to world problems, and, while I praised them in my original review and even repeated some of those lines, verbatim, with the current world situation, the more the better, so I’m both praising writer/producer Roberto Patino for his excellent work in that regard and saying, “More, please
The documentary by David Siev entitled “Bad Axe,” which focuses on the Siev family of Bad Axe, Michigan, is a chronicle of the pandemic and its effects on this small Michigan town. The film was awarded Special Jury Recognition for Exceptional Intimacy in Storytelling at SXSW, where it was among the feature documentaries in competition.
David Siev, the filmmaker, is one of three children of a Cambodian immigrant father, Chun Siev, and a Mexican mother, Rachel Siev. The family members, in addition to Chun, Rachel and David are Jaclyn and Michelle and their significant others, Michael Meinhold (Jaclyn’s husband) and Michelle’s fiancée, one of the few Black residents of the small town, an adopted child of white parents. David’s girlfriend, Kat Vasquez, is also peripherally involved. The impetus for filming his family’s struggle to keep the family business afloat during the pandemic, a restaurant known as Rachel’s Food & Spirits, is this: “It’s an important time in history right now. I just want to document it”
I could really relate to this impulse, as I had the same motive when I began following the presidential candidates across Iowa (and, ultimately, across the U.S.), during the historic Obama/McCain presidential election of 2008. My journey led to two books, while David’s yielded this award-winning documentary.
The backstory of Chun Siev’s escape from Cambodia during the Killing Fields genocide of Pol Pot contributes to the drama, as Chun lived through that tumultuous period between the ages of 15 to 18 and then, with his mother and his 5 siblings, escaped to the U.S. In Michigan the grateful new American began building the American dream, first establishing a donut shop that eventually became Rachel’s Food & Spirits restaurant, named after his Mexican-American wife.
David Siev, director of “Bad Axe” at SXSW, 2022.
Outspoken sister Jaclyn is too feisty to remain silent during the Black Lives Matter protests that followed on the heels of George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Jaclyn graduated from college in Michigan and got a corporate job in Ann Arbor, but she has come home to help her family during this crisis and has bailed them out financially during these lean times. As the family members say, “Everything we are afraid of is happening.” At the time of the filming Michigan was 5th in the nation in terms of diagnosed Covid cases and 7th in terms of deaths from Covid-19. As Rachel says, “Who would’ve ever thought that a virus could put this whole world into a halt.”
Now, the restaurant, by state law, cannot open and the family is trying desperately to pivot to carry-out while having its worst day in 5 years. “Our whole lives just changed,” says Jaclyn. However, the family once had 7 people in a house with 1 bathroom so they are not strangers to adversity. As the family patriarch says, “When you grow up knowing what it’s like to have nothing, you’re always afraid of going back.”
Chun reminisces about his Cambodian family’s flight from his home country, which began on April 17, 1975. Yet Chun—who witnessed cold-blooded murders in the streets as the locals were told to leave the cities of Cambodia—says that he is more afraid of the pandemic, as he is afraid of losing one of his family members. There is a tense confrontation with some anti-mask locals and the police have to be summoned when the anti-mask diners refuse to wear the masks that the establishment requires.
There is another tense interaction when Jaclyn stands up to members of a neo-Nazi militia group that come to the Black Lives Matter demonstration and, later, begin following her as she leaves work after locking up the restaurant. The police are called on that occasion, also, and it leads to the discovery of a far-right militia training area nearby and arrests.
Jaclyn astutely points out that the community has the attitude, “We’ll support you if you stay quiet and act the way we want you to act.” She receives a letter from a local detailing how the letter-writer will not be returning to their family restaurant, primarily because Jaclyn has spoken up at the BLM demonstration.
Still, the family says, “It was never an option to give up” and urgesothers to “appreciate the little things in life.” Although at times we fear for the safety of young Jaclyn, Chun knows his way around guns and taught Tai Kwan Do for 37 years.
By film’s end, David’s attempt to capture time in a bottle has dealt with the pandemic, racism, genocide and PTSD. Jaclyn and her husband have announced that she will be having the family’s first grandchild and the couple is moving back to Bad Axe to help run the family restaurant.
Much like “Facing Nolan,” the ultimate message of the film is the importance of family. The documentary will help memorialize what we all went through between March of 2020 and the present.
Pitcher Nolan Ryan is now 74 years old. His family members, especially sons Reese and Reid, collaborated on this documentary at SXSW directed by Bradley Jackson that showcases the achievements of the pitcher of whom Rod Carew said, “There will never be another like Nolan Ryan.” Pete Rose added, “Nolan was a lion.”
Drafted at age 18 right out of high school, the pitcher with the 100 mph-plus pitch is lauded as “the most dominating pitcher that the game has ever seen.” As Cal Ripken, Jr., said, “There will never be anything like him.”
The man who pitched for 27 years, notching 320 victories, 5,714 strikeouts and 7 no-hitters was also a devoted family man. He married his high school sweetheart, and the pair had three children, two boys and a girl. The former President of the United States, George W. Bush, is interviewed about Nolan and said, “What really matters in the long run is a good set of values.”
During his induction into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1999, Nolan acknowledged wife Ruth’s contribution to his amazing success and the grandchildren attest that Ruth, who was also a high school athlete in Alvin, Texas, was the 1965 state doubles tennis champion and is credited for keeping Nolan pitching at a time when he was waivering in his resolve to continue. When son Reid was hit by a car in Villa Park California and lost one kidney and his spleen, it was Ruth who kept the family going and focused on their sick son while Nolan focused on his amazing career.
Bradley Jackson, the director of “Facing Nolan” at SXSW.
Sandy Koufax was one of Nolan’s early idols, but Nolan was able to break all of Koufax’s pitching records within 10 years. The youngest of six children of Depression era parents, Nolan stood 6’ 1” and weighed 142 pounds, but he could throw a baseball over 100 miles an hour and, as he said, “I guess I was born to be a pitcher.” At his induction into baseball’s Hall of Fame, Ryan said, “I took a lot of pride that I was still able to compete at that level at that age” His 27-year record-breaking career included play in four decades.
When he left California to play ball in Texas, only 35 miles from his hometown of Alva, after disputes with owner John McMullin in 1988, fans were incensed. As it tells us in the documentary, “In Houston they still cuss him out.” However the manager of the Texas team he joined, said, “It was like Elvis had come aboard.”
Nolan Ryan was born in 1947. He was shown signing baseballs at a Round Rock event. Considerably heavier than in his playing days, he is surrounded by a loving family who are obviously very proud of their famous father. The documentary is a baseball lover’s Must See. It is well done by Director Bradley Jackson with the cooperation of family members as producers; Jackson has assembled a Who’s Who of Nolan Ryan’s friends and competitors to comment on his truly extraordinary life and career.
I’m (still) here at SXSW in Austin, Texas, covering feature films, television episodics and documentaries, with a few shorts thrown in.
Owen Teague
The common denominator linking “To Leslie” with “The Cow” is the presence of Owen Teague in the role of “young son.” (above) Teague is far from the best-known name in the one hour and 59 minute film “To Leslie.” Michael Morris directed. It’s worth mentioning that Morris was the executive producer of the 2016 series “Bloodlines,” in which Owen Teague appeared as Young Danny.
The film is based on the real-life story of a West Texas single mom who won the lottery and lost it all to her addiction to alcohol. Oscar winner Allison Janney (“I, Tonya!”), Stephen Root (the stapler guy in “Office Space”), and Marc Maron (“G.L.O.W.”), who also executive produced, have leads. Royal is portrayed by Andre Royo (“The Wire”), also a fine character actor on stage and screen and a writer.
The film stars Andrea Riseborough, a British actress who has been hailed by the Sunday “Times” as one of Britain’s rising young stars, along with such other luminaries as Hugh Dancy and Eddie Redmayne. She graduated from the London Academy of Royal Arts (RADA) in 2005, but her West Texas accent is completely convincing. The script is courtesy of screenwriter Ryan Binaco; the Cinematographer is Larkin Seiple.
Andrea Riseborough in “To Leslie” at SXSW.
The opening scenes of “To Leslie” show a jubilant young mother celebrating winning $190,000 in the lottery and declaring that drinks are on her. Six years later, she’s broke and the drinks have definitely been plentiful during those years (and mostly in her).
We learn that the young mother of the opening scene abandoned her son (Owen Teague as James) and his step-mother (Allison Janney) was forced, along with Dutch (Stephen Root) to raise him, by default. To say that Allison Janney’s character is angry and resentful is probably an understatement. Andrea’s portrayal of a woman who has gotten by on looks and charm but is now past those halcyon days of her youth is intense and convincing. I was reminded of Blanche in “A Streetcar Named Desire” who opines, “I have always depended on the kindness of others” as Leslie’s femme fatale vibe begins to wither on her increasingly mature vine.
The film depicts Leslie hitting rock bottom and trying to claw her way back to at least the middle. She is extended a life-line on that bootstrap journey by Marc Maron’s character of Sweeney, the manager of a seedy motel on the edge of town. Sweeney is running it for Andre Royo’s character of Royal. Royal was left the motel by his family but, because he took too much acid in his younger days, it has left him with mental impairments that make Marc Maron’s participation in running the place essential.
As Leslie gradually swears off booze and gets sober, she and Marc Maron’s character and Royal assist her in renovating an ice cream parlor on the edge of town. The happy ending involves, once again, son James (Owen Teague), to whom Leslie turns when things are at their bleakest. James turns up at the end for a happy ending. All’s well that ends well with this female film equivalent of “Leaving Las Vegas.”
The acting was very good, but the true story has been told many times previously. (Even “A Star Is Born” touches on the old familiar story of alcoholism.)
I did enjoy watching Andre Royo strip nearly naked and race around amongst the cactus and sand of a west Texas prairie, as we are told in the script he is prone to do. Marc Maron’s offer of a job cleaning motel rooms and washing the laundry makes you wonder if he has romantic designs on Leslie and, yes, that seems to be the case as the film winds down.
“The Cow”
Owen Teague attended the World Premiere of “The Cow” at SXSW.
The second film where Owen Teague has a major recurring role is “The Cow,” directed by Eli Horowitz. This is Eli Horowitz’s first feature film directing job, although he is the co-creator of “Homecoming,” (both the podcast and the television series.) (I couldn’t help but wonder if Eli is related to its star, Winona Ryder, since Winona’s real last name is Horowitz). Co-writer for the screenplay is Matthew Derby.
Eli Horowitz, writer/director of “The Cow” at SXSW, 2022.
Whether related or not, Winona Ryder is the star of this horror/sci-fi/thriller and Ryder is great in her part. Dermot Mulroney (“My Best Friend’s Wedding”), whom I met in Chicago when he appeared as Steve Huberbrecht in “August, Osage County” (2013), is the male lead. John Gallagher, Jr, who plays Kath’s (Winona Ryder’s) former student is recognizable to audiences from his role as Jim Harper in “The News Room” (2012-2014) and his role in “10 Cloverfield Lane” as Emmett (2016).
The tag line for the plot reads: “Upon arriving at a remote cabin in the redwoods, Kath (Winona Ryder) and her younger boyfriend (John Gallagher, Jr.) find a mysterious younger couple already there (Owen Teague and Briane Tju) — the rental has apparently been double-booked. With nowhere else to go, they decide to share the cabin with these strangers until the next morning. When her boyfriend disappears with the young woman overnight, Kath becomes obsessed with finding an explanation for their sudden breakup— but the truth is far stranger than she could have imagined.”
Aging and the inevitability of all of us deteriorating and falling apart seems to be a big theme of this interesting and intriguing film. We all want to avoid falling into ill health or, for that matter, getting old at all. Dermot Mulroney’s character of Nicholas Levi Barlow, who is the renter of the cabin in the woods, has just witnessed his father fall ill and die from a rare degenerative inherited blood disease.
Winona Ryder in “The Cow” at SXSW, 2022.
As someone who sat through “Cow” at the Chicago International Film Festival let me just clear up any confusion that this film named “The Cow” has anything at all to do with cows. It does not. While we followed the plight of a cow, from birth to death, in the film “Cow”, with no dialogue, here we have plenty of surprises and turns and unexpected plot twists that may not be too scientifically viable, but what-the-hell: it’s just a movie.
The best I can offer by way of explaining the title is a line from Greta (Briane Tju’s character), a reference to “Maxie, the blood cow.” If you have a burning desire to determine how that title fits the plot, just as we pondered “The Power of the Dog” as a fitting title, then you’ll simply have to see the film, which, if you’re a sci-fi or horror buff, will be a better investment of your time then watching yet another derivative rehash. (I missed the World Premiere of “The Man Who Fell to Earth” here, which looked very promising, but I was reviewing when David Bowie so brilliantly filled the bill for that part back in 1976.)
The cinematography is by David Bolen and the music is from David Baldwin.
I liked this film and am only sorry that I missed the Red Carpet to get pictures of young Owen and co-star Briane Tju; Getty images wanted $499 to use one that was taken at the World Premiere (identical to the many I’ve shot over the years.)
Director Farhad Pakdel and star of “Everything Will Be All Right” Nahema Ricci behind the scenes in Montreal. (Photo credit Manon Assens).
Farhad Pakdel, the writer/director/producer of the short “Everything Will Be All Right” helms this 16 minute short tale of a young pregnant teacher, Leila, trying to reach home in Iran before her father dies of Covid. Pakdel underscores Leila’s situation with the underpinning of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is playing at SXSW 2022, and I hope we see Pakdel’s first feature-length film here in the future.
Orpheus, you will recall, went to the Underworld to retrieve the love of his life, Eurydice, but he was told he could not look back while leading her from Hades. When he did look back, she was sentenced to live in Hades forever and he was killed. The students in Leila’s class (Leila is beautifully played by NahemaRicci of “Antigone”) point out the unfairness of the fact that Eurydice did nothing to bring her fate down upon her; she was thrust into Hades forever by circumstances beyond her control, the actions of Orpheus in disobeying his instructions. So, too, is Leila being buffeted by the vagaries of fate.
Pakdel is commencing work on his first feature film (after 9 shorts) and has a Master’s in Cinema from the University of Tehran and a Master’s in film from the University of Montreal. He shows depth and competence that bodes well for future work.
The film is shot in Montreal during the height of the pre-vaccine Covid outbreak (March of 2020). Leila, shown in her classroom discussing the story of Orpheus and Eurydice with her students, has just received word that her father back home in Iran is seriously ill and hospitalized.
Nahema Ricci in “Everything Will Be All Right” from Writer/Director Farhad Pakdel.
As the short moves us forward, detailing Leila’s efforts to leave work and secure passage home, the prime minister of Montreal, Francois Legault, has just announced that all schools will be closing for two weeks due to the pandemic. However, there are complications well beyond simply securing air fare during a time of international chaos surrounding air travel. There is the doctor appointment that Leila must re-arrange, but how?
The backdrop to the story of Leila’s desperate attempts to get home in time to say good-bye to her terminally ill father is that she is pregnant and scheduled for an abortion, which will be complicated by the necessary quarantine restrictions should she leave the country, as she will move from 10 to 14 weeks pregnant. The romance—[if it was a romance and not assault]—with the baby’s father is long over; he has now become a stalker.
Leila had made up her mind to terminate the pregnancy, but the various time constraints associated with flying overseas during a pandemic cause all sorts of problems with that plan. At one point in the cab on her way to the airport, Leila has to step out of the cab. to say good bye to her father by phone via FaceTime as he lies mortally ill in an intensive care unit in a hospital thousands of miles away.
This scenario of having to say good bye to family members via Face time is gut-wrenching; I think of it every day. It played out in my own family with the loss of my 62-year-old sister-in-law to Covid on April 18, 2020. FaceTime is how she had to say good-bye to her husband and three adult children.
Nahema Ricci in “Everything Will Be All Right” at SXSW, 2022.
Facing a few health situations of my own currently, I am well aware of the conflicting emotions that must be sweeping over the pregnant young woman, buffeted by the vagaries of fate. She steps outside the cab at one point—no doubt to say good-bye forever to her beloved father— and, when she re-enters the vehicle, the cab driver says, “Spring is unpredictable. Everything will be all right.”
Will it? What will happen to Leila from this point forward? Does she continue driving towards the airport for a departure to her homeland anyway? I wanted to know more about Leila, and, while I understood the title and its mythical import (it helped that I taught a unit on Myths andLegends for 20 years to junior high school students), I still wanted to know if everything WAS going to be “all right” for Leila, so well played by Ms. Ricci.
This short is both poignant, timely and resonates with the world today. It was well constructed to drive tension, has excellent camera work from Alexandre Bussiere, is well-acted, and makes me want to see more from this talented filmmaker (and to learn more about the fictional Leila, caught in a trap not of her own making.) Bravo!
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“Belle River,” a short at SXSW 2022:
“Belle River” was a journey to Pierre Part, Louisiana. The area is flooded and the Morgana Spillway is opened to protect Baton Rouge and Louisiana, just the third time that has occurred in over a century. It is unclear what effect, exactly, this has had on Pierre Part in terms of “before” and “after” the opening of the spillway.
“Belle River,” a short about Pierre Part, Louisiana at SXSW, 2022.
The entire 16 minute short from Guillaume Towner, Samuel Matteau, and Yannick Nolin simply shows us flooded homes and stores. There are unidentified residents (speaking in Cajun French with English subtitles) saying, “If we get a hurricane, that’ll really mess us up.” However, along with pointing out the obvious (flooded streets, homes and businesses), lines like “We’re ready. We’re prepared for this,” seem like whistling in the dark.
There was no real documentation of how far underwater the town has become due to the opening of the spillway or just the effects of nature and no “main character” or main characters for us to relate to, as were highlighted in 2019’s “Lowland Kids.”
In “Lowland Kids”, also shown at SXSW (3/12/2019) we learned that the area of Isle de Jean Charles, Louisiana was losing one football field-sized piece of land to the water every hour on the hour. There were 180 to 200 families in Isle de Jean Charles who were about to become the first casualties of global warming and flooding in Louisiana. We also got to hear from Juliette and Howard Brundt, a brother and sister living with their handicapped Uncle and about to be displaced from the only home they have ever known.
I was disappointed that “Belle River” had so little concrete information on Pierre Part’s situation and would recommend the slightly older (2019) short “Lowland Kids,” reviewed on this blog at that time. “Belle River” needed more information from the filmmakers, because it simply plays like an insert on the evening news in its current format.
Check out “Lowland Kids,” reviewed on this blog, for another short film that makes a great companion piece to “Belle River.”
“Spin Me Round” at SXSW, 2022 on March 12/13, with Allison Brie and Aubrey Plaza.
Mark and Jay Duplass executive produced a film at SXSW that seems to be a comedy that might have been a romance, that considers becoming a thriller (briefly) and also works in a plug for female empowerment. It Is pretty meandering and difficult to categorize. The script (Allison Brie and Director Jeff Baena) needed work and focus.
I met the Duplass Brothers at the Chicago International Film Festival many years ago (2011), when “Jeff, Who Lives At Home” was hitting the festival circuit, and, since then, have enjoyed their individual appearances in “The Morning Show” as Jennifer Aniston’s director Chip Black (Mark) or in “Tully” and Jay’s breakout role as Bill Dobson in “The Chair,” the loopy widowed professor. I also enjoyed “Jeff, Who Lives At Home.” but other Duplass outings seemed low-budget (“Creep”) and poorly crafted. But this one had some truly funny people in it, so I gambled and lost.
This effort seems not to know what it is going for. The cast tells us that it is going to be a comedy. Why do I say that? We have, as its lead, Allison Brie (of “G.L.O.W.”), Fred Armisen (“Portlandia”) and Molly Shannon, “SNL” alums; Zach Woods (“Veep”) as Dana and Aubrey Plaza (“Parks & Rec”) as Kat. All-in-all, it’s a cast that should scream comedy, but the difficult-to-determine-what-it-is screenplay, co-written by Allison Brie (who also produced) and Jeff Baena, the writer/director, doesn’t seem to make up its mind what it’s going for, even by film’s end. It was a film that started out being about Italian pasta. I honestly felt as though those in charge just threw everything against the wall and hoped something would stick.
The tag line for the film is: “A woman wins an all-expenses trip to a company’s gorgeous “institute” outside of Florence and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner. She finds a different adventure than the one she imagined.”
Shooting began in Italy in June of 2021; the Italian countryside is beautiful.
Her co-star in what seems to be trying to become a romance instead of a comedy is Alessandro Nivola, who we saw in “The Many Saints of Newark,” the “Sopranos” prequel.
As mentioned in the tag line, a young girl (Allison Brie), who works in an Italian chain restaurant, the Tuscan Grove in Bakersfield, California, fashioned on The Olive Garden or Biaggi’s, is sent off to Tuscany in what is touted as the Tuscan Grove Exemplary Managers’ Institute. There, she joins a group of other such selected employees from around the United States, some of them wacky (Molly Shannon asDeb) and some of them other pretty young girls or random weird males. The founder of the chain, a handsome wealthy fellow (Alessandro Nivola) stops by and the plot takes off, more-or-less (mostly less).
From the outset, we get the impression that Aubrey Plaza as Kat is mainly employed by the chain’s founder (Alessandro Nivola as Nick) to pimp for him, separating the more desirable female attendees from the group and herding them out to Nick’s yacht, where he comes on strong as a romantic suitor. The character of Kat also allows the film to include today’s obligatory lesbian vibe, despite the fact that it seems totally unsuitable to moving this plot forward (which seems to be a heterosexual romance, at that point).
Alessandro Nivola looked too old for Allison Brie’s character, (and somewhat out-of-shape), but rich men always get a pass, so that I could deal with. (He is 10 years older than Ms. Brie, in real life.) Things seem to be heading in the direction of a romantic comedy (some of the other attendees, like Molly Shannon, are wacky, and her outfits are over-the-top) but then the plot take a darker turn, as visions of Epstein’s island activities crowd our consciousness and a murder is even suggested.
Fred Armison, portraying a wealthy artist with a villa who hosts large orgies where wild boars (there is an actual boar handlerlisted in the credits) ramble through is not “funny,” and the entire enterprise teetered on the brink of “Who killed Dana?” for a moment until—wonder of wonders—-Dana (Zach Woods of “Veep”) isn’t really dead after all.
In short, the script is a mess and the message of the script seems lost in the many mis-steps of tone.
At the very end of this Cinema-by-committee offering, the wealthy suitor (Alessandro Navolo, who has completely embarrassed himself witha crying scene that is more comic than dramatic, but never convincing) shows up in person to pitch Allison Brie’s character back in Bakersfield, California, at her franchise outlet, bringing with him a baby turtle ( turtle wrangler on set). She tells Nick to get lost, which, given the events that have occurred prior to his Grand Finale appearance, seems like too little, too late. So there’s our “Be gone, toxic masculinity!” moment.
I’ve been burned by some Duplass Brothers low-budget horror flicks before, but this potential comedy had people in it who can be genuinely funny. I was suckered in by that, alone.
Don’t bother.
You won’t make much sense out of the film, either, but I’m sure that Alessandro and Allison will have better roles in better films in the future.
The riveting drama “DMZ” was premiered at SXSW 2022 on Sunday, March 13th, 2022, at the Paramount Theater in downtown Austin. Prior to the showing of this first of four episodes of the limited series (which will air on HBO Max beginning on March 17th), Dawson and Bratt and others met the press on the rooftop of the Riley Building. The cast continued answering questions at a Q&A following the screening of the first of the four-part series.
Cast of “DMZ” (Warner Media) on Sunday, March 13, at the Paramount Theater in Austin at SXSW 2022.
Producer/Writer Roberto Patino (“Westworld”), taking the stage with the cast in Austin (farright), described how he had taken the Vertigo graphic novel (comic), which ran from 2005 to 2021, and selected Rosario Dawson’s character of Alma Ortega to develop more fully. Because of the pandemic, the series was pared down to only 4 episodes
Premise: A Civil War has decimated the United States. This is particularly relevant at a time when we are closer to Civil War than at any time since the 1861-1865 North/South conflagration. The story focuses on the DMZ (Demilitarized zone), a ravaged Manhattan Island with 300,000 souls trapped inside.The various parts of Manhattan have been taken over by various gangs. We are taken to the Village, the Upper East Side, Midtown, Central Park, Chinatown and all other parts of the city.
One power-broker within the warring factions is portrayed beautifully by Benjamin Bratt, as a whip-thin political gang leader radiating ruthless charisma. Onscreen, he explains, “People don’t want leaders. They want spectacle.” Imagine a good-looking, taller, younger, articulate Hispanic Putin. He’s a power-hungry leader who will stop at nothing to consolidate his reach and is running for Governor of the DMZ, telling the enthusiastic crowd that the DMZ will become its own state. Bratt is outstanding in the role, menacing and believable.
Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt at the Premiere of “DMZ,” a 4-part episodic WarnerMedia presentation at the Paramount Theater in Austin on March 13, 2022, at SXSW Film Festival.
Alma (Rosario Dawson) portrays a medic, a single mother desperate to find her missing son, Christian They were separated while fleeing the city six years prior, in a scene straight out of the train stations in Ukraine occurring right now. In Episode #1, Rosario interacts with another medic, portrayed by Mamie Gummer, daughter of Meryl Streep and a look-alike for her talented mother. It’s an intense exchange as the medic trapped within the DMZ (Gummer) takes Dawson’s Alma under her wing in helping her search for her missing son. Show-runner/writer Patino paid tribute to Dawson’s work telling her, “You inhabited this woman so thoroughly and made her your own.” True that.
Everyone in Episode #1 was very credible, but another outstanding performance is turned in by Jordan Preston Carter, who portrays the young Odi Peerlis. The actor has eleven credits since 2016 and, while his exact age is not mentioned in his bio, he appears to be roughly ten years old and holds his own against a talented adult cast. He is a natural. The character of Odi conveys the trauma and pathos of children caught in the midst of war. The parallels with current real life are obvious.
One line from the film explains the film’s themes/conflict this way: “Even when we’re here, surrounded by two armies with guns firing on one another, people can’t see past killing each other to better themselves.” Later, the line is: “People won’t hesitate to kill you for whatever you’ve got.” A lot of truth in those scripted lines.
Dawson’s character represents hope and a better way of dealing with life than through never-ending violence. In her remarks to the audience, she mentioned her own hard-scrabble upbringing on New York’s lower East side and described the entire four-episode series as “real” and “poignant.” Dawson decried “patriarchal toxic masculinity”and said that she hopes her character is a catalyst to help eliminate it.
Benjamin Bratt at SXSW with “DMZ.”
Bratt, too, described a change of heart in portraying his character as he began work on the series based on a comic book. He said that, at first, he thought it would be fun to portray a kick-ass comic book character. As the series went on, he began to see Parco Delgado (his character) as “a real person suffering from habituation learned as a young man; might makes right. Clearly he is someone who recognized the opportunity to seize power.”
The Ava Duvernay directed series, judging from the showing today, is dynamite. Don’t miss it! (HBO Max on Thursday, March 17, 2022).
The first day of SXSW (post welcome party) is here: March 12th.
I will outline some of the difficulties Yours Truly is experiencing.
First of all, I RSVP-ed for online streamers, as one is supposed to do, and it was my (incorrect) understanding that the responses that came to my e-mail address had “confirmed” that I was to be able to stream ALL of the films that I asked for. I had a bunch of these “confirmation” things in my mailbox and moved on; it looked like they all were green-lit.
Au contraire, my frere.
I DID get some I requested, including the films or documentaries or TV shows entitled “Spin Me Round,” “Linoleum,” “Mickey Mouse: The Story of a Mouse,” “Gabby Gifford Does Not Give In,” “Facing Nolan,” “The Cow,” and “The Cellar.” [I apparently had also been given “Bad Axe” but somehow managed to cancel it, which I did not mean to do.]
What DIDN’T I get? Well, obviously, those that are NOT streaming, but I also did not, apparently, get “Fire of Love,” “Clean,” “To Leslie,” “The Prank,” “Swimming with Sharks,” “2nd Chance,” “Belle River,” “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” and “Watcher.” (Capsule write-ups on all these later).
I also got invited and then Uninvited to the “DMZ” rooftop soiree with Benjamin Bratt and Rosario Dawson, occurring tomorrow at noon.
It is a shame that I cannot get to “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” which is also taking place Sunday at noon for a roundtable with the cast, because I am old enough to remember the premiere of the original film with David Bowie. On the other hand, I’d have to brave trying to get in and out of the Convention Center with a car from Manchaca (the suburbs) and, somehow, that sounds like a not-that-great idea.
So, today, I cranked up the Apple+ TV, expecting to be able to watch “Fire of Love,” (which is about a couple who LOVED volcanoes and gotkilled while exploring one) and nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. What has happened to “Fire of Love?”
It was only then that I discovered that I did NOT have “confirmation” e-mails to ALL of the films I had RSVP-ed to late in the game. It’s odd, because they all appeared to go through and the color-coding they mentioned (pink if good, black if not) did not occur, but I had no way of watching “Fire of Love” online today, one of the few things that was supposedly going to be streaming today.
So, I opened an e-mail from a publicist who asked if I would watch “Welcome to Browntown.” The mastermind behind this film is George A. Tramountanes, who wrote and starred as Frank in the movie. I thought it was a SXSW film, as my in box is absolutely crammed with e-mail requesting my presence at various SXSW premiers and the like. I had not, until today, realized that I was not “in” to all of the requested streamers, which I was counting on watching at home, since I’m still healing up from surgery and standing in line for hours did not sound fun. I also failed to make the deadline (March 4) for Red Carpet requests (I blame my oncologist, who kept me in the Quad Cities too long).
But nevermind about the myriad screw-ups that have occurred. Let me recount for you what, exactly, “Welcome to Browntown” was about…sort of. And I should also mention that it is not about the Alaskan Bush People, as the Internet kept telling me.
WELCOME TO BROWN TOWN
The last line of the film is, “What kind of demented individual would want to sit through a family comedy about butt love?”
Here I thought this was a SXSW offering (it’s not) and I also thought it was about BROWNSVILLE (Texas) and the migrant crisis.
So, put me on the list of “demented individuals” because I thought I was going to see a serious film about the 2018 crisis at the Mexican border town of BROWNSVILLE that separated children from their families and the work of organizations, since then, in trying to reunite these families, since the Trump administration did a bang-up job of keeping records.” That’s sarcasm, right there, and, as one line in this film goes, “If sarcasm burns calories, I’m all set.”
It’s probably a good thing that I was reading Mel Brooks’ autobiography “All About Me” in the car on the way here from Illinois, because he has entire chapters about not letting censors stop things like the farting scene in “Blazing Saddles” or anything else that seems wildly inappropriate that we all laughed at, then and now. Most of Mel Brooks’ work was pushing the envelope and defying the censors, who constantly told him to take stuff out. (He’d agree wholeheartedly and then tear up the list he pretended to be making. Mel had a lawyer who got him final cut rights, and he thanks him in the book.)
So, in the spirit of Mel Brooks, let me try to review (or at least recount) what “Welcome to Browntown” was about, starting with this trailer.
No, it was NOT about the Alaskan Bush People, but I laughed when I googled to get an image and that came up, instead of this comedy that is about a married couple (21 years) with a father (Frank) who is a writer—or wants to be. He’s prepping for a competition (Pitchfest) to try to gain publication of his work (“16th time is a charm!”)
But, in the meantime, not unlike Yours Truly, he has a blog that he writes anonymously out of the sheer love of writing and because there is something within born writers that won’t let us quit. His blog is not particularly well-followed at the outset of the film (I can relate) and he has just learned that the woman who is going to be picking the final winner of Pitchfest is a woman named Molly Young, with whom Frank has some past history that doesn’t sound all good.
Frank has not made it big (while Molly Young has) and Frank, instead, works at a university and has a lovely blonde wife (KendraMcDermott as Laura Tsigas), a teen-aged son (Manoli P. Tramountanos as Teddy), a 7-year-old son (Gabriel Conrad as Buzzy), a teen-aged daughter (Eleanor Tramountanos as Annie), and all of the things that suburban life entails.
Frequently the main character (Frank ) says that a writer told him, years ago, that, as a writer, you could have a great career or a great family, but not both. The log line for the film puts the main theme this way: “Frank Tsigas is a middle-aged family man who can only see his life’s shortcomings. To distract him, his soft-spoken wife Laura (Kendra McDermott) offers a unique anniversary gift: she bets her ass that he can’t lose 50 pounds in three months—-literally.” The REAL “Frank” is a Seattle-based filmmaker who has actually sacrificed his real-life job to enter the world of indie filmmaking, specializing in outrageous comedies and horror films, says the mini-biography, which I would urge you to read. George has a lot riding on this effort, and, for a first film, it is remarkably sophisticated—well, except for the main theme. (Ahem).
Now, to set up how and why I ended up watching this, FIRST I thought it was part of SXSW and all of my “requested” online things for today seem to have either not been granted at all, or are scheduled later in this week of activity (March 11-20). It’s been a real shit-show of a year, since Pearl Harbor Day—not because the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor that day (although they did) but because I was diagnosed with cancer that day and have been undergoing treatments and surgery ever since, so the fact that I sound like I’m taking the easy way out on reviewing in Austin (streaming something, today, from my winter home in the suburbs of Manchaca, which we just reached, to find out that our fence fell down, all our plants died, and our garage door openers nor TV sets no longer worked) should take that into consideration.
Secondly, there definitely IS a film about the border crisis, which I thought (erroneously) was set in Brownsville. I thought this was it. I only found out that the true title is “Split at the Root” (no mention of Brown anything in the title) after I began watching.
“Split at the Root” chronicles the tragedy of families separated at the border during the past administration. Yeni Gonzalez, a mother seeking asylum for herself and her children, is reunited after months in detention. The family was separated under the 2018 Zero Tolerance Policy of the Trump Administration. They were reunited by rapid response groups, Immigrant Families Together. (Photo by Emily Kinsky)
Third, I had no other options today without driving into downtown Austin from Manchaca (half an hour, at least) on a day when the downtown area will have been cordoned off for the festival, except to watch Iowa try to take down Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament at noon, which happened in an incredible fashion on a three-point shot by Bohannon that will be replayed for the entire rest of the tournament. [GO HAWKS!]
But back to WELCOME TO BROWNTOWN, not to be confused with the Alaskan Bush people film, nor the SXSW offering about the border crisis, which is entitled “Split at the Root” (and never mentions Brownsville in its title at all). I think, by the way, that this film might be available on YouTube, but one never knows, so let me share some of the bon mots with you.
The screener for this film comes to a mature adult reviewer (married 54 years), with an open mind. I’ve been reviewing nonstop since 1970 and am the author of a book entitled “Laughing Through Life.” (Check it out at ConnieCWilson.com).
I truly did appreciate the wit and humor that George A. Tramountanos put into this film, including some choice lines I’ll share with you in a moment. His Pitchfest satire is spot-on and hilarious. The winner turns out to be Delilah Moonraven, who has written “S Is for Suicide.” In prepping for his presentation, Frank says, “16th time is the charm!”(Ha!) The gentleman who wants to combine unicorns and war for tween-aged girls and the cynical line, “Maybe they can have a blind 3-legged dog, too!” amused me mightily.
George has also inserted some words of wisdom to live by such as: “Success is being able to enjoy what you have.” Or,”Life doesn’t turn out the way we planned…We just need to celebrate each moment in life as it happens.” There’s certainly a refreshing quality embodied in these words of wisdom, but the contrast between those homilies and the main theme is jarring. I think that’s a fair remark; don’t take it as a criticism, necessarily.
Back to the plot. It is about this long-time married couple (Frank and Laura) having anal sex. She will, if he will—lose 50 lbs, that is (in 3 months’ time). He does manage to lose that unattractive flab and she sheds her previous pet nickname (“Titmouse”) and is taken under the wing of her sister, who is 40 and single and trying to give her some practical tips on what will happen now that Frank has lost 50 lbs. (“You may want to prepare to have your booty plundered.”) While lines like, “I’m looking forward to playing Lewis & Clark with her asshole” are perhaps not as great as those coined by the writing team of Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Woody Allen and Neil Simon (all, at one time, working with Brooks on various projects), there are some clever lines. “Your bedroom instincts are a little PG….blowies on demand,” might (or might not) be one of the clever ones, but George has plenty of comedy lines.
I loved his small son’s (Gabriel Conrad as Buzzy) line, “Don’t tase me, bro’” as I once did an entire piece for Associated Content on the origin of that phrase (how, why and when). Little Gabriel is good in the film and his acting reel follows the trailer, so watch it. Everyone turns in an acceptable performance.
Celebrating their 21st anniversary as a married couple, Frank gets to use the line, “Our 21st may have been platinum, but our next one is looking all brown.” Crude expressions like “the vein train to anal town” and “dance the chocolate cha cha” were not so much witty as offensive. (Sorry, not every line is akeeper.) The entire premise apparently did not make it into the SXSW pantheon of films (despite myconfusion) but the movie did have Brooks-ian chutzpah as well as 12 wins and 9 nominations at a variety of other film festivals. Plus, we have now answered the musical question, “What kind of demented individual would want to sit through a family comedy about butt love?”
I’m not saying I knew what I was getting into when I asked for this screener link, but I laughed, I cried, I googled “Browntown.” I tried to buy a copy of “The Misogyny of Hemingway” and I would remind you that this film will amuse a certain audience to the max.
I’m completely confident that Mel Brooks would have laughed out loud at different points. Remember, as Frank says in one of his “anonymous” posts, “carpe freakin’ diem.”
Among the 4-letter words in play in the script Frank lists “diet,” “life” and “shit;” we can also add “joke.”
Don’t judge Frank on this one low-brow outing. He gave it his all and there are some truly funny lines and concepts in there, the performances by the leads are good, and we can’t accuse the filmmakers of not swinging for the fences with this one. I hope that George A. Tramountanos is given a bigger budget and additional movies to prove his comic mettle, because Adam McKay, Will Farrell, and Judd Apatow can use the creative company.
As a favor to a friend, I am posting this picture of Deb’s Drive-in (Milan, Illinois), which, as you can see, was originally painted by a [now–deceased] artist, Kenneth L. Prestley. Yes, we’ve tried using the phone number given. If you want a phone number to discuss this, try 309-737-2225.
My friend would like to purchase an original poster. If you know where she can secure the original artwork that matches this photo (which appeared in a Quad Cities cookbook many years ago) please contact me at Einnoc9876@gmail or [email protected].
Thank you very much. If you DO have a print of this in your attic or closet, do so promptly, as there is a time limit on this search.(Tempis fugit!) Just put Deb’s Drive-In in the subject line.
I now return you to our regular programming, which, for the next several days (March 11-20) will be filled with reviews of new films, new television series, and a host of other on-the-spot accounts of what is going on here in Austin, Texas during SXSW.
Rosario Dawson in new series “DMZ” at SXSW in Austin, Texas.
I’m here at SXSW 2022 and preparing to travel down to the Convention Center on Thursday to collect my badge, get my Nikon tagged, and prove I’ve been vaccinated—3 times.
This is not my first rodeo, but it is one of the most screwed-up, pandemic or no pandemic, mostly because of my own computer shortcomings. My computer was hacked, which ended up costing me close to $200 to fix AND an important announcement regarding things in general got lost in my SPAM folder, I had surgery on 1/27 and missed some important deadlines because we were driving to get here. Probably just as well that I won’t be standing in as many lines for as long as usual, since I’m not yet 6 weeks post-surgery until tomorrow.
Also, one year ago in Austin we had the infamous freeze and had to melt down Frosty the Snowman in order to flush our toilets. (Yikes!) Remember that? We went without water for about 5 days, but did not lose our power–although our son and wife, 3.3 miles away, lost both for about a week. Ah, the golden memories.
Armie Hammer. at SXSW in 2018 (my photo at the Stateside Theater.)
I’m just so pleased that SXSW seems to be emerging from the pandemic stronger than ever because, as you may remember, they were one of the first Big Events to cancel that year and go all online, (whereas Mardi Gras just went ahead and exposed a bunch of party-goers in the Big Easy.) Not all of the celebrities of past years will be there this year, as evidenced by THAT guy!
I’m going to be taking in a lot of the films on my home television set, because, due to recent surgery and being on the road when the deadlines occurred, I seem to have missed the deadline for signing up for Red Carpet photo ops. I’m still invited to chat with the stars of a variety of new streaming shows one-on-one, including the new “DMZ” (a fictional new Civil War with Rosario Dawson and Benjamin Bratt, where Rosario is searching for her missing son).
Another big new sci-fi offering that Steven Spielberg has a hand in will be “Halo,” which is being touted and the entire working group behind Ben Stiller’s “Severance” (minus Stiller, himself, or Adam Scott) will be meeting with registered press who wish to ask questions about that intriguing series (I’ve seen 3 episodes, so far).
All together, there are 99 features, 76 World Premieres, 4 International Premieres, 4 North American premieres, 2 U.S. premieres, 13 Texas premieres and 111 short films.
I’m torn between attending the up-close-and-personal meeting with the stars of the new “The Man Who Fell to Earth,” since I remember the original with David Bowie, or participating in a Lizzo promotional event that sounds really fun. I almost certainly will be the oldest person at any of these get-togethers, and I will often opt for the really interesting documentary over the so-so feature. (How many reviewers have been at this non-stop since 1970?)
Pick up a copy of my book on 70s movies, “It Came from the 79s: From The Godfather to Apocalypse Now” on Amazon to celebrate SXSW and prove that I’ve been at this a looong time.
Who can choose between “Linoleum,” a Jim Gaffigan-starring light comedy (also sci-fi-ish) and Ethan Hawke’s examination of Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward entitled “The Last Movie Stars?”
Stay tuned to this page as I share with you, my faithful readers, the upcoming SXSW offerings that I’ll be seeing from March 11 to March 20th.
