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Reviews
Breakfast with Scot (2007)
Pleasant surprise!
I just saw Breakfast With Scot last night at the Seattle Intl. Film Festival. I was fully prepared not to like it at all, as most gay themed films of the last several years have been so disappointing.
Yes, it is a little predictable, in the sense that you ultimately know how a story like this is going to turn out. Novelty for the sake of novelty doesn't help stories either, and this is a solid well told story. The small turns of the story were not predictable though. I particularly liked that this Canadian production did not reach for the obvious over the top emotional climax an American production would have. For example, it resolves Tom Cavanaugh's work conflict with far less drama then I would expect from a gay themed film. The script deflates the situation in an interesting and realistic way, recognizing that the film is foremost about the relationship between Eric and Scot, and not about Eric's closeted work situation.
The acting is really really solid. The cast feels like an ensemble, not a group of actors vying for screen attention. It takes awhile to realize that Tom Cavanaugh, with his usual non-showy performance, is the adult lead. Noah Bernett, as Scot, hits it exactly right. A very tough character for an actor of any age to get right. Some criticize the script, saying that the character is way too flamboyant for a boy this age. But that is exactly the center of the book, and the film, for this character to be so unapologetically out there and flamboyant that he challenges gays even more than straights. He's not supposed to be a typical gay kid. (In fact, part of that challenge is that he (and we) do not even know for sure what his ultimate sexuality might be.) As it is, he is sort of a child genius of fun fashion and cosmetics. His character is supposed to make us uncomfortable, and challenging to our assumptions.
Cinematography and production design are first rate. I heard that the overall budget was well under 4 million, if so, then bravo to the production crew, it looks like more.
Hate Crime (2005)
Very polished first film.
I just returned from a screening of Hate Crime.
Badger pester and cajole your local art house, film series or festival to book this film. I went in expecting sort of the same tired, cliché driven gay theme film we are so used to seeing, especially from first time writer directors. But not only is it very accomplished as a film, the script is excellent, and ultimately not predictable, though several times during, you will be certain you will know what will happen next--and proved wrong. Most of the actors are new faces, at least for me, and all are good to excellent, primarily the leads.
Not only is the dialog impressive, I enjoyed how this director wasn't afraid of unspoken silences, and holding a moment or scene, letting it play out.
Hamam (1997)
Beautiful imagery, hitched to crude homophobia
It's difficult to say why this film is so bad without giving away the shock ending. For the first 80 minutes it seems a beautifully photographed portrait of a small community within Istanbul that is endangered by the rush of time and progress, and the young man who tries to save a small piece of it. Then with little warning, or rationale from the plot, the lead character meets a violent end, literally out of nowhere. The male love interest disappears, and the cheating wife swoops in to claim the Turkish bath her husband had been restoring. It's pretty obvious this is a tacked on ending to make the film acceptable to the censors, and the audience in its country.
Suicide Attack (1951)
WWII told through Japanese cameras point of view
This interesting documentary retells the familiar story of WWII using captured Japanese film. It starts with the preparation for Pearl Harbor, from the carrier decks to the actual bombing, providing some of the only aerial footage that exists of the attack. It continues on to show everything from captured prisoners, to the results of the saturation bombings of Japan and the atomic bomb attack. Quality is variable, some clips are excellent, some are quite degraded. Aerial footage is quite good, while the ground footage seems amateurish at times, even though it is obviously official footage shot by Japanese army photographers. Well worth checking out by any history buff.
Romeo.Juliet (1990)
Odd, but sumptuously beautiful film
Okay, right off, one has to get past the point that this is, aside from John Hurt, an all cat version of Romeo and Juliet. Got that? Okay.
But don't imagine some odd circus act. With narration by John Hurt, and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet as the score, it is was beautifully shot in Belgium and Venice. They're not really trained cats, they don't wear little costumes, it looks like they're regular cats that they coaxed to move across the sets etc. Then through slow motion effects and editing, they create an illusion of interaction that accompanies the narration. (In much the same way that R2D2 becomes a believable character in the first star wars.)
What recommends this film is the book, by Shakespeare of course, as read by John Hurt, accompanied by beautiful visuals. If you think of it as a picture book that happens to have cats in it, It is easier to lose yourself in.
Amazingly it was also shot in Standard Definition PAL video. Not even digital. It predates the first professional digital camcorders. I believe they did this because they needed to do so many takes to get what they needed from the cats. I heard they ended up with 200 hours of tapes.
I saw it in the transfer to 35mm film in a large theatre. It is certainly one of the best examples of this up to the time of it's production. Great care was obviously taken to work within the limitations of video's color and lighting boundaries. It is a marked contrast to so many of the sloppy and awful looking independent digital video productions that we've seen so much of lately.
Unfortunately it's likely impossible to see this film. Its interest is probably limited to Shakespeare enthusiasts who must see every version, and people interested in seeing a fantastic example of a feature shot on video.
Signal Seven (1984)
Excellent example of Video-to-Film low budget drama
This is a simple film, an actors' showpiece really. One night, in the lives of a group of cab drivers, following them as they drive around San Francisco. Better than it sounds, if a bit rambling.
Notable technically for being shot on 3/4" video and transferred to film. It was released theatrically in the art house circuit, to generally good reviews. I saw it on the giant screen at the old Picwood in West LA. It looked quite good, primarily because it all took place at night, and featured mainly closeups of the actors. As you become caught up in their stories you don't notice that this was a film reportedly shot for all of $1800. It doesn't look it. Quite a lesson, in light of the current (1999) brouhaha over low budget digital cinema.