Prison Dancer

Prison Dancer is an interactive web series film based on the viral video from the Philippines. The Prison  has a new warden from a military background that has the prisoners marching to show discipline.  One of the prisoners Ruperto Poblador aka Lola puts a dance step to the marching. Some of the tough guys Hookaps (Norman Alconel)  Christian (Mikey Bustos)  and Shakespeare ( Nicco Lorenzo ) like it and adapt it to boxing using moves from greatest boxer ever in their opinion Manny Paccao.

The interactive experience included the cast performing the songs from the screen at the side of the stage. The film is broken up into Episodes. Through simulation the viewer is invited to choose characters on the screen and the pick becomes the main character in the next scene.

We learn about new inmate Christian his girlfriend and the incident that led to his recent incarceration.  The story of long term inmate Shakespeare and his relationship with his wife and his 8 year daily letter writing to her.

At one point the crowd is asked to stand and do some boxing dance steps.

The interactive part of the documentary worked kept the action going and the crowd engaged.

Definitely a one of a kind event to be experienced.

Winner of the best Canadian feature for director Romeo Candido at reel Asian 2012.

*** out of 4

Graceland

Marlon Villar (Arnold Reyes) works as a driver for the local politician Manuel Chango ( Menggie Cobarrubias ). His daughter Elvie is the same age as Chango's daughter Sophie and they are close  friends despite the disapproval of both sets of parents especially Ms. Chango who warns Marlon for driving Elvie around during working hours.

Marlon is also involved with the politicians other habits; cleaning up after him when he has done his business. At the same time his wife is in he hospital in need of a transplant.

Kidnappers stop Marlon as he is driving Sophie home from school.  His daughter Elvie who should not have been in the car is also in the back seat. This is where the tension picks up and continues to build from here to the end of the film. Over the next hour Director Ron Morales takes us on a tour of the seedy underbelly of Manila into the areas that only the police, deviants and the criminal elements dwell.

A multi award winner on the Festival circuit. Graceland is a gut wrenching drama. It touches on the major issues in the Philippines today, social issues between classes, under age prostitution,  the kidnapping academic with organ trafficking thrown in for good measure.

Morales keeps the film moving forward amidst great performances from the cast. The best of which is Dio De Las Paz  providing a great turn as police detective Ramos working on behalf of Chango and  suspicious of everyone all the time.

I can definitely recommend this film.

*** 1/2 out of 4

Graceland | Ron Morales | Philippines | 2012 | 84 Min.

Once Lost, Now Found

I took in the Tuesday Night Shorts programme at the Reel Asian Film festival.

The First short Magical Coincidence ( Keith Locke  Canada 2012:  22 min) was put together by the 2011 Reel Asian pitch winners.

We meet director Benjamin showing his short film at Cine Cycle.  The film ends and he asks the audience for questions but they have none.  His friend Max has made it as a director and is taking meetings with industry heavyweights and flaunting his success in front of Ben and to impress their friend Amy.

Max heads out to a meeting and Ben and Amy spend the rest of the day together. They find a strange mushroom  containing special information that eventually leads them to a local where they are presented  with a dollar coin (loonie) that predicts the future based on each flip of the coin.

*** out of four

 Guang focuses on an autistic man who lives with his younger brother who directs him in his  daily life activities. Wen Guang is obsessed with different size wine glasses.  With the bills mounting Guang is sent out by his brother to interview for a courier job.  Not successful his brother arranges a for another opportunity with a close fiend. Wen Guang has the information he needs for the interview etched on his hand but is distracted by the sound of the ultimate glass he's been seeking  dragged down the street amongst an elderly lady's garbage and does not attend which has expect consequences for his relationship with his brother and their financial and living situation. While his brother fumes Wen Guang sets the glass in the long vacant spot and now has a complete set for his obsessed endeavour.

**** our of 4


Queck Shio Chuan Malaysia 2011 14 minutes


Obake Ghosts

A Young Hawaiian man and woman discuss her impending move to Japan. She is nervous that she will not speak as good as the natives.

Switch to an old man in the country who is visited on a regular basis from his grandson. He spends most of this time sitting in a chair on his porch staring at a lush native Hawaiian tree. The story revisits the young man who promises the woman that he will leave this country area and travel then back to the old man Lenny who we find out never has been out of North Shore of Hawaii the and has turned reflective in his final days.

*** out of 4

Christopher Makoto Yogi  U.S.A. 2011 14 Minutes

That Which Once Was

Set in the not to distant future 8 year old Vicente is amongst a group of orphans that have lost their families in a devastating world wide flood.  Vicente has nightmares and any time water is introduced he is paralyzed with fear. He is treated in a very adult way by a visiting doctor given a full set of adult sleeping pills in a Ziploc bag to treat his malady and told to take only two at a time.

He notices an Inuit man across the street and becomes interested in his shop. After an incident Vincente goes to help out  at the shop and appears to forget his fears. Vincente sees the shop owner as a replacement father figure.

 He discovers that the shop keeper also has the number of a refugee on his wrist and feels betrayal. The only place he could forget the flood has been compromised.  They both take out their frustrations with one great act of release of pent up frustration.

*** 1/2

Kimi Takesue USA 2011 19:50

First Time

First Time director Han Yan brings us a romantic fable because as in his opinion all true love is fake or reality messes it up.

Song Shiqiao (Angelababy) speaks into an 80's style tape recorder pouring out her thoughts and hopes. The hero of her world is Gong Ning a boy she went to school with but suddenly disappeared without a trace.

Song also suffers from a disease where if she over exerts herself she will become faint and could die. Thus Song visits the doctor once a week,  takes multiple  medications which effect her memory. She is also forbidden from pursuing her dream to be a dancer.

Yan introduces the first part of the story as side A a reference to a cassette tape.

We find Song working in a park amongst a group of mascots when Gong Ning (Mark Chao) wonders back into her life recognizing Song based on her destinctive nervous hiccups.

After no response to an invitation to call Gong Ning returns to the park to find Song and they begin to spend much of their time together.

Song continues her habit of talking into the tape recorder and her mother becomes more agitated as Gong Ning leads Song in a direction where she will take more chances with her health.

However Gong Ning has family issues of his own that causes him to miss a couple of special planned outings with Song and they part ways.

Here we switch to side B for an alternative view of the story events through the eyes of another main character.

Later the story switches again as Song chases a dangerous dream but one that is her choice.

Yan brings us a film with rich cinematography weaving in animation for a fantasy effect. The film is based on  a 2003 South Korean film ....ing.

Although it has some good elements side B retraces too many parts  by rote from the first part of the film. Yan could have left more viewers imagination here along with the last few scenes used to wrap up the story.

** 1/2  out of 4

First Time | Hany Yan | China/Hong Kong 2012 | 106 Minutes | Opening Gala 2012 Reel Asian Film Festival.

Flight

Whip Whittaker wakes up in a hotel room with a beautiful woman. There are evident signs of a night of hard partying and Whip announces to his companion that we need to get moving we have a flight in 2 hours.

This is how we are introduced to the world of Whit Whittaker ( Denzel Washington) a brilliant pilot and a raging alcoholic.

Flight marks the return of Director Robert Zemeckis  to live action film after 12 years working on stop action animation and as with Tom Hanks in his last live action film Castaway he has teamed with anther multiple Oscar winner in Washington.

After a bump of coke to get strait Whip heads to the airport for a short trip from Orlando to Atlanta. Georgia.

Whip completes his check of the plane and climbs on board to greet his companion from last night and a junior pilot in the co-pilots chair. Its bad weather outside as they get ready to take off.  After a bumpy lift off the weather clears and they rest of the in air flight is uneventful until they approach Atlanta.  The plane suddenly goes into a dive that they are not able to stop. Whip takes incredible action to save the plane and the majority of souls aboard.

After they land the investigation begins and Whips fitness to fly the plane comes into question. Although he performed a heroic act was he fit to be in the pilots seat in the first place. He may also be facing jail time for his actions.

As he recovers in the hospital Whip meets Nicole a heroin addict in after an overdoes. Whip gets her address and promises to come by and see her. His childhood friend Harley Mays ( John Goodman comes by bearing pharmaceutical goodies including a carton of cigarettes to get him moving again.

Whip has to meet with his union rep and former Navy buddy Charlie Anderson ( Bruce Greenwood) and lawyer Hugh Lang ( Don Cheadle) as the NTSB investigation continues. Lang can beat the toxicology report and if Whip can maintain sobriety until the hearing he should be fine. On his way home to the family farm Whip notices that he is on Nicole's block. He sees her loading her car and intervenes in a fight with her landlord.  Whip takes Nicole in but is more concerned with alcohol that spending time with her.

Whip continues down his destructive path until he asks union rep Anderson for mercy and to stay with him for the nine days before the hearing.  They check him into the hotel of the hearing the night before and he has to make it one night before he testifies about the circumstance of the crash.

Denzel Washington gives a commanding performance as the alcohol, drug fuelled pilot. Kelly Reilly meets Washington intensity as the Nicole the recovering heroin addict. Peter Gerety does a fantastic turn as Avington Carr the owner of the airline and John Goodman is entertaining as the childhood friend and fixer Harling Mays.


Rating *** 1/2 out of 4


Flight 2012 138 minutes U.S.A.

The Sessions

Mark O'Brien ( John Hawkes) spends the majority of his day in an Iron Lung.  He has a portable device which he can use for up to 4 hours when outside of the home but that depends on how he feels. His movements are based on tilting his head, moving his nose and his eye expressions.

We first meet Mark in a real life news report from his student days at Berkley. He is suffering from polio and has an electric gurney that has mirrors above his head so he can see where he is going.

A few years later Mark is a poet and writer living alone with an Aid that is rough and borderline abusive. Mark's muscles do not work due to the polio which he has had since the age of 6  however his mind is clear and sharp.  He works a phone with a pencil and speaks to people on speaker phone. He has lost his motorized gurney due to several prior accidents and now needs an attendant's assistance to get around.

He attends church on a regular basis and gives his confession to the priest  Father Brendan ( William Macey).  He wants to fire the rough attendant but wants his priest's approval.

The new attendant Amanda pays a lot of attention to Mark. She takes him to get new shirts, out for a picnic and is gentle and kind to Mark. So much so that Amanda's boyfriend becomes jealous of the attention.  Mark asks Amanda to marry him and she is flustered and leaves.

Mark's new attendant Vera who works well with his routine.  One day Mark gets a call from his publisher with a request to write a story on the sexual experiences of the disabled.  Mark decides to write the article and interviews some disabled people.

The interviews give Mark the idea to have sex himself. He is 38 years old and its now or never.  His   psychologist  recommends Cheryl (Helen Hunt) who is a sex surrogate that works with the disabled.  The sessions are very regulated the most they can have is 6; Cheryl will not answer any personal questions;  she records notes on each session, reports back to the psychologist and will not meet or have any contact with the patient outside of the sessions themselves.

At first Mark is very tentative but grows conformable with Cheryl and becomes very attached. He writes  her a poem that Cheryl's husband Josh finds and throws it out. Cheryl meets Mark for coffee which is also against the rules.

They have the fourth session and decide to stop Cheryl is more emotional that usual and almost forgets to take her payment She ends up sitting in her car crying after the fourth session and Mark's attendant Vera has to bring her her payment.

Vera and Mark are out in the neighbourhood and Amanda returns to take mark to the park for a picnic. She admits that she loves him as well but is leaving to go to Germany to study German.

At the church Mark discusses the meeting with Father Brendan recounting that Amanda loves him but not in a physical way.

Mark suffers a close call during a power outage but meets Susan a volunteer at the hospital after he is rescued by one of his attendants who becomes his companion.

The Sessions is a touching, poignant piece with great performances from John Hawkes  and Helen Hunt.  Both roles are very rich and could lead to nominations during award season. William Macey provides comic relief as Marks Confessor Father Brendan  The content could have been presented in a depressing way but in spite of the subject manner the file had many funny moments. the Sessions is a film that I would definitely recommend.


***1/2 out of 4.

The Sessions  Drama Directed by Ben Lewin  95 Minutes U.S.A.

Cloud Atlas

We are all connected. Actions made to one another are repeated over and over again throughout time. If   one is kind to a person when your meet then when your soles meet again in a new lifetime that kindness will be remembered and repaid.

This is the premise of the new file Cloud Atlas from Tom Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings ( 2012  172 Minutes Germany USA Hong Kong Singapore).

Another theme through the piece is a soul can be a lowly their in one world and  a saged elder a few lifetimes later.

Timothy Cavendish( Jim Broadbent) serves as the narrator throughout the story. Cavendish is a publisher that rips off the mob and ends up a permanent resident in a retirement home courtesy of his older brother ( Hugh Grant).

The Story has three main settings; a 1849 voyage across the pacific ocean. An early 20th country home of a great composer, 1973 San Francisco, a futuristic world where all the service people are clones and the distant future where the residence are futuristic off landers and a primitive tribe.

In the South Pacific Adam  Ewing ( Jim Sturgess) is making his passage back him on a ship Captained by Captain Molyneux ( Jim Broadbent) fulfilling a slave contract for Maori slaves.  He has taken ill and is treated by Dr. Henry Goose who assistance does not appear to make Adam any better.  Adam befriends a run away Maori slave Autua who becomes part of the crew and very helpful to Adam Ewing at a critical time.

In the early 2oth Century Robert Frobisher goes to work for composer Vyvyan Ayrs (Jim Broadbent) and together they write a great masterpiece. Frobisher writes to his colleague Rufus Sixsmith updating him on the progress of the collaboration and hopes to see his colleague again.

In 1973 Louisa Rey ( Halle Berry) is working on a story about a nuclear power plant. She is granted a tour by the manager and tries to sneak out  a report assisted by a plant employee Issac Sachs ( Tom Hanks).

In current day Cavendish publishes a book for a mobster Dermot Hoggings ( Tom Hanks) Hoggings teaches a journalist a lesson at the book launch  and ends up in jail.  His book escalate in popularity and Cavendish keeps the profits until he is visited by the mob.  Cavendish Fleet to his brother for one last loan and ends up a permanent resident of a retirement community were the only way out is to escape.

Sonmi-451 ( Doona Bae ) is a clone in the future city of Neo Seoul she breaks pattern inspired by a fragment of a film on Timothy Cavendish and is assisted by Have-Joo Chang (Sturgess). Chang is part of a revolutionary group that believes that clones are equal to natural born people and can do more than just serve. Chang shows Sonmi-451 what really happens to the clones when the ascend and she  eventually she makes a speech that is that is an inspiration for the future.

Zachry watches his fellow villagers killed by the Kona barbarians in far future apocalyptic world. The Villagers  are primitive and the offlanders come by their island in crafts that hover across the water.  The world is dying and both the villagers and offlanders have to get off the island.  Meronym visits from the offenders  visits the villagers. She offers assistants when Zachry's niece  becomes sick in exchange for a guide to show her up into the mountains to an old satellite post.  Zachry takes her and she sends a message to her relatives off planet for a rescue.  In the temple inside the  satellite post they have drawings of a spiritual leader who the villagers also worship and is rooted in a character from earlier in the story.

Cloud Atlas has great visuals and the story although jumping from generation to generation is easy to follow because they all move forward at the same pace. The film does have some good elements but could have developed the near future story and the early 20th century story more.  The film has a lot of good pieces but it is not one that I can strongly recommend.


Rating ** 1/2 our of 4