The Hot Blog

« Quickie on Hancock Blu | Main | Raddon Resigns »

November 25, 2008

The Two Big Take Homes Of IDFA

The films here in Amsterdam have been quite good. I am sad to be headed home before seeing more of them… many, many intriguing titles will turn up in the second half.

But the two clear home runs for me were nearly back to back. Both were, not shockingly, by veterans.

First, Vikram Jayanti has a new-ish film (international premiere) called The Agony & Ecstasy of Phil Spector. The reason it’s just new-ish is that it premiered on BBC2 in the UK on October 25. (The digital view, which was available for a week after the showing, is now unavailable.)

The film reflects the genius of Vikram in a couple of ways. First, he got the interview. This is an elaborate, insightful, challenging interview with Spector in the midst of his first trial in Los Angeles. Amazing. I have no idea whether there was an agreement that this would not be seen until after the trial, either way. And I don’t know if or when we will see this film in the United States, especially with Spector back on trial. But he got a virtually impossible interview from a guy while the guy is in the middle of a fight for his life.

Second, there is the style that has made most of Vikram’s work so special. He is not – with the exception of the HFPA doc – invasive. He let’s the talking heads talk, but his sense of how to handle supporting images and sound is very special. Here, he gets – inevitably from Spector himself, who controls all of his materials guardedly – all kinds of footage and music that he lets play almost completely in every case. There is an instruction as to the purpose, but I would second guess that Spector made the call. Still, Vikram makes it into a reverie. There is something so compelling about the magic of that music and decades old images combined the sordid, sad tale of a genius who is somehow hanging onto his legacy by a fingernail.

Whatever your take on Spector going in, this doc makes him seem both crazier and saner than you will expect. And while Vikram offers the structure of the trial – leaning more towards Spector’s “innocence,” I would say – this is not a movie about the trial. It is, not unlike The Kid Stays In The Picture, about the man and his perception of himself and his work.

The film is most felt like was Jayanti’s Julian Schnabel Looks At Hell, which was never shown in the U.S. and may or may not have been shown on the BBC, which paid for the production. Schnabel withheld his signature from a release at the last minute, even after – not unlike Spector – making his archives and a lot of very personal stuff available to the documentarian. I have no way of knowing what really went on between the two men, but the result was the loss of a very trippy, arty, masterful doc by Jayanti.

The Spector doc is revelatory in many ways. The man, if he says so himself, is a genius and an icon. He is also a classic whack job. But there is also sanity in the insanity. There is also crystal clarity in ways that can be shocking, but compelling. And the use of the music and images from the past… again… it virtually opens the heart so that the audience cannot simply linger in the heady wackiness of what the man is saying. We also feel him, whether we really want to or not. And that is a great accomplishment indeed.

AND

The other film is, if they jump through the right hoops and don’t get caught airing on television too early, a surefire Oscar nominee for Doc next year. Kim Longinotto’s Rough Aunties, an IDFA World Premiere, is an emotionally overpowering look at a group of women in South Africa that serve as a support system for abused and molested children called Bobbi Bear. These are not just chattering class aspirants to do-gooding. These are serious, grown-up women who see the world well beyond their yards and are unafraid of getting their hands dirty in order to help others.

There is also one male in the gang… a policeman assigned to the group, it seems, who goes out on calls with them and processes their claims against the abusers. He is a classic big, chunky, white cop guy. And you can see all the pain in his eyes that the women feel. He is a generosity in the film by Longinotto… one of many. She is not trying to sell a narrow point here… she is telling the whole story… and the whole story is like spilled liquid, everything seeping into everything else unavoidably.

One of the most unusual, but fascinating, things in the film are two instances of major stories in the history of the group that are directly connected to two of the “aunties.” And the same passions and caring comes forth in support of the extended family as it does for absolute strangers.

The group is led by a white woman, of some means, but not great wealth. She started the organization on a thin shoestring. Her right arm is another white woman, who serves as the manager of the operation. There are many people working/volunteering for the group, but three women, all black, are the next tier of leadership in the group. Each has their own issues and history. Each exposes the strong, bloody, beating hearts that they bring to the organization.

Longinotto is of the Masyles camp of “as it happens” documentary. There is no clear story structure or time frame for the film. There are no gimmicks… no voice over… no talking heads. But amazingly, it feels like you have experienced, by the film’s end, a pretty complete range of the effort. There are shootings, beatings, rapes, and most importantly, kindnesses.

The movie is also a sure-fire remake as a feature film, guaranteeing at least one Oscar nomination for the white female leads, and as likely, for the supporting actresses. Judi Dench constantly came to mind when looking as the head of Bobbi Bear, Jackie Branfield, though Ms. Dench is probably too old for the role now. Maybe Helen Mirren and Julie Walters can team up again. And the fact that these white women are truly color blind in South Africa… this is a key to this doc and any remake. It can’t ever be maudlin or self-satisfied. These women are rough aunties indeed. The honest, not “dramatic” portrayal of the black women who are hands-on co-leaders of this group… it’s everything. It is their world that these white women have walked into with some great intentions. It’s a really tough line to walk – and every sentence in this graph that delineates races makes me a little itchy – but as I see in so many films that have a heavy element of race in them, good intensions can become too much drama and not enough real. This doc is magic because you know what is in the hearts of these people.

After the screening, the “rough aunties” were there for a Q&A. We were in the second row, just feet away. And they were so happy and proud to be there. But when Jackie made eye contact with me, as I was smiling, I was so uncomfortable, because the only real thing I could do would be to walk up to her and hug her and cry and thank her for doing what so many other people just talk about. And this is true for all of these women.

One thing I can do – and you can too – is to make a donation to the organization at their website. They are trying to raise $400,000 to built a house to serve as longer-term, but still temporary housing for victims, where the will be safe and not have to be shoved back into an uncaring system – as all government systems of size tend to be – while they are still just starting to regain their strength after suffering serious abuse. This should be something that can be funded, even in this economy, quickly. When the movie hits the world, I suspect they will have the funding for a second building or maybe a third.

You may know Kim Longinotto from her earlier films Sisters in Law (Oscar short-listed, but not nominated) and Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go, amongst others. She found a great story here to which every person can relate. Even though South Africa has so many specific issues, this movie is universal and somehow, more relevant than ever. Great work.

Keep an eye out for this one. The title is a distraction from the masterful, gut-wrenching, uplifting tale inside. Distributors should buy it and someone will almost certainly make a feature film out of it.

Posted by poland at November 25, 2008 12:35 AM

Comments

Posted by: Byron Branfield at November 25, 2008 05:27 AM

Posted by: morado at November 25, 2008 02:03 PM

Posted by: T. Holly at November 26, 2008 08:19 PM

Posted by: T. Holly at November 26, 2008 08:43 PM

Post a comment