Benzo Reviews

Time Indefinite (1993)

Captures the interior/exterior dialogue of life clearly and beautifully

[30 November 1999]

In the head of every human runs a dialogue with oneself. We are thinking about the perception our eyes are scanning every moment. In the head of a filmmaker, these processes are twice as complex, as he is examining the world as if it were life imitating art and vice versa. There's a sly and profound moment in Ross McElwee's "Time Indefinite" where the filmmaker (and main subject) is having his blood drawn, in accordance with the State Laws that require such an ordeal before marriage. Ross is looking at this through his camera and he tells us that he would rather watch it through his viewfinder because it's almost as if it were not happening in real life, but only in the world inside his film. That said, he purports to make his life into a document of absolute truth - sometimes comical, sometimes endearing - always real. What an amazing technique. What a film of exploration. Never have I sat viewing a film that moved me so effortlessly.

He bargains with his wife on the wedding day for ten more minutes of footage. Why would someone do that? He has grown up around his uncles, who shot thousands of hours of home movie footage and when he unearths the footage of his parents' wedding, not seen for ages, he realizes how many moments have been missed. To Ross, those ten minutes he is granted by his wife are ten minutes more he will have documented regarding the great journey of victories and downfalls that his life.

The film appears to be the maximum in solipsism, but, in fact, the opposite is more true. Ross doesn't come off as self-obsessed, but rather concerned. He is concerned with death and the whole issue of mortality that confronts us all. He wants a record of his life. Sure, he has a performance aspect to his role inside the film's world and the "flat but cynical" (To quote the great Paul Swann) voice-over narration, added long after the camera was put away, adds an internal aspect that puts him in center stage; but forget all that - this is a treasure to him. All this footage that everyone he knows has had to cope with being a part of is well-worth it in spades. Ross McEffee has done himself and his family justice when he paints his world out of what it gives him on a daily basis - reality and hidden messages within the everyday humdrum.

Isn't that life, anyway? A series of images processed to mean what you take it to mean? When Ross greets a Jehova's Witness at the door and questions the bible as a means of comfort to the world's collapse, we are seeing in the simplest of terms, one thing perceived two different ways.

This is Ross's life according to Ross. And it's brilliant

Enjeru dasuto (1994)

Methodical and apt, it's the mind game crime movie to end them all

[1 September 1999]

"Angel Dust" is about a woman who is seeking a killer. The killer strikes every Monday night at 6:00 pm. The killer targets young women, killing them with a lethal injection in a public place. The woman seeking the killer is a brilliant psychologist who allows the killer's traits to enter her mind and as she begins to think like him, she can use this to trap him. It's a classic set-up and one that's been done before.

In "Angel Dust" it's done with a flair not felt in the cinema for a long time. With careful attention to how imagery can shape the psychological thriller, (the film looks as if it were shot in black and white in the rain and then given to a child to color vibrantly with a 64-pack of crayolas) the film has a mood that is unshakeable. The film is not merely disturbing, but eerie. It's aura is not really reminiscent of too many American films - though some of the themes, such as brain washing ("The Manchurian Candidate") and psychologist getting to close to a killer ("Manhunter") feel familiar - but are done in a deeply original fashion. Watching the film is no easy task either. It's brutally methodical, leading the viewer on an excessive mind game, trying to figure out who's lying to who and who the killer is becomes nearly painful - keep some aspirin handy. The film's real trick is that it's story is ambiguous and has a wifty editing style. The movie can move as quickly as an action picture and then stop, on a dime, to examine something for up to 15 minutes - very succinctly, very carefully and very, very cinematically.

Pulling the threads together reveals that there's a bitter purpose to everything in the film's world. It's creepy and heavy as Stoudt, but none of the negative things I've hinted at are flaws in any way. All are there for a reason. This is one of the best crime films I've ever seen. It's absolutely stunning.

Truth or Consequences, N.M. (1997)

Cinema on the fritz, plagurism and really bad writing

[8 June 1999]

Some films are built on pretense after pretense after pretense. At least these films are standing on their own two legs. Usually salvageable from petty films like these are characters, or at least a plot point that made you smile.

However.....

This film is the ultimate in counterproductive cinema. The film, badly directed by Keifer Sutherland, stars Vincent Gallo and KS himself as thugs, fresh from the big house, attempting a robbery and botching it. Not only is that unoriginal idea in 1997, it's a boring and tiresome gimmick. You may ask yourself, "Why did Ben, the almighty movie buff bother watching the film at all?". I am the guilty Vincent Gallo fan. Watching him in "T or C, NM" was as painful as watching the great Gary Oldman in "Leon". This film is so badly written, even the actors are struggling to cope - desperatley holding onto the idea that a paycheck is not far out of reach. (Unfortunately, they must live with the legacy that they've created a film this poor).

Here's the other gripe :

Some films pretend to be Tarantino ripoffs - this film is the real thing - the coup de gras of cinematic theivery. From the off-the-wall comedic psycho mentality that Kiefer Sutherland displays killing every man in sight (Michael Madsen in "Reservoir Dogs", a shot-for-shot steal from Ringo Lam's "City on Fire") to the "lovers on the lam" with a suitcase of cocaine building to a mob/police battle in the finale (directly cased from "True Romance", itself a ripoff of "Badlands") to the attempt at snappy dialogue / pop refererences with the "Twilight Zone" edge-standing quarter speech (stolen from any of QT's films - we'll say "Pulp Fiction" being that it's not yet represented in my gripe) to, finally, the hostage-taking amidst tons of talk of "fate" / "marriage" / excessive PDA that made "Natural Born Killers" nonchalant killing all the more disturbing and excessive (of course, it does nothing here but feel forced and unattractive).

Finally, the most shameless of all - a washed up Martin Sheen doing his best Christopher Walken impression while trying to extract information from Max Perlich. Are these filmmaker's kidding me?

When a film displays this much disaster in it's script and it's stealing - and still finds time for jump cuts, bad lighting and truly flat characterization, character development and casting - where do I stand as a young filmmaker/ writer who can't get anything made. At least, at the very least - my amateurish nature could give way to something original that someone else will steal and fly with.

Hollywood has become a stalking ground of copycats and pseudo-artists with no real talent except for their looks. When films like this erupt, how long do we have before Celluloid is dead forever?

Am I overreacting? I don't think so.

Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy (1990)

Sound on a Set creates surreal and haunting atmosphere

[31 March 1999]

An aboriginal girl's plight (and burden) to take care of her ailing and almost incapacitated mother. The elements to create a realistic haunting atmosphere include a wide array of symbolic soundscapes matched with an entirely studio-based setting, decorated with surreal and horrifying blues and oranges.

The film was used in my "filmmaking" class (@ TEMPLE UNIVERSITY) to illustrate sound editing and how it can change the entire makeup of a film, defining its tone and meaning.

A great example indeed.

Kitchen Sink (1989)

A Decrepid Looming that stays with you

[20 January 1999]

Here's an odd-bod of Australian suburban horror. As a woman yanks on a vine-looking umbilicous, she reveals a monkey-addled child which quickly (upon H20 - Gremlins ripoff) turns into a full-size mancub, complete with hair from top to toe. She begins a lenghty shaving session with his entire body. Disturbed by his lack of movement (particularly in her bed, which she jumps conclusions and drops him into) she encloses him in a man-size ziplock and walks away. He paws and she cuts him loose, revealing the romantic within. As creepy and looming music plays, they kiss and an ending of unbelievable gore and savagery rolls. Not simply a hoot of a horror short, but a terrific atmosphere as well. The Director is currently shooting "Jesus's Son" with Billy Crudup and her assistant, Kimi Takesue, teaching my filmmaking class at Temple showed "Kitchen Sink" to us. Saturated darkness on top of a brooding situation (on of implausability but not lacking in its own cramped fear) make for a quick fix of camera trance and zone-pleasure. Worth your time.

Blue City (1997)

Melon-numbing atmosphere

[12 October 1998]

David Birdsell's student film "Blue City" contains more atmosphere than a thousand Hollywood films directed by apt filmmakers and shot by trained professionals. From start to finish, the film maintains a broad, brooding sense of impending "blue" (hence; the title). While a fat man contemplates suicide, two car thieves inevitably steal his car, hit a boy who runs off with the fat man's hat and redemption seems to be obtained. While this may seem kind of hard to grasp, seeing the film will erase that idea. I suppose I felt like a truck hit me. Think of the impact of one of the more powerful films you've seen in your lifetime and imagine it compressed into 12 minutes. A modern mini-masterpiece of subtle intentions and pleasant surprises.