Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: ATLANTIS [Denver Film Festival 2020 – Virtual]

The texture of Eastern European film, especially as it pertains to Russia and its constituents, can be long winded but ultimately voracious with metaphor. Ultimately though it gives a unique insight into life in a country both vast and utterly steeped in culture. “Atlantis” in that way is a fascinating journey both emotional but also methodical. While a film like Russia’s “Leviathan” at Cannes a few years back was beautiful, this film , which takes on a apocalyptic drift but using existing locations and vehicles, is visually riveting even more than the previous film (mostly because of the more industrialized approach. The director uses the essence of master shots in terms of composition and lets the action occur primarily in front of them. This style is beautiful and mostly lost in Western culture but it gives a sense of breathe that cannot be duplicated. What is interesting is it is the story of a man loyal to his country but watching it fall apart. The story takes place after a war between Russia and the Ukraine so it does reflect on current fears and textures of life there.

Much of the story is a simple transgression of services. Sergey, the lead character, travels across the land from his work delivering fuel and water to various outposts where certain pertains of infrastructure exist. That is definitely fascinating to watch between a huge border wall being set up and, large tanks moving through frame. But it is also the more intimate scenes still set on a wide canvas that are riveting. Much of the film follows a team that is recovering bodies from the war but cataloging everything about them even though they remain nameless. It is an apt metaphor but also so specifically detailed as you watch Sergey react to them both with a distance and an immediacy of action. He, like many of the people, can’t go anywhere else not because they can’t but they don’t want to abandon a country they fought so hard for. You can see it sticking in Sergey’s gut.

He goes back to an apartment in a long shot which is one of the few Steadicam/handheld pieces. It is utterly convincing, especially a burnt out piano siting in the sunlight as Sergey looks at the floor. Many of these scenes could stand on their own as a short vignettes. One that brings it all together is a scene where Sergey and a woman he works with in recovering bodies get stuck on the road during a rainstorm. The transition and transmutation of behavior against a very specific backdrop is utterly telling. “Atlantis” speaks not of a lost civilization but rather it reflects one that, through the underpinnings of genre, needs to be remembered. The movie is utterly effective in doing that while creating a modern painting of both patriotism and loss.

A

By Tim Wassberg

IR Interview: Omari Hardwick & Loretta DeVine For “Spell” [Paramount Home Entertainment – PVOD]

 

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE ARBORS [Austin Film Festival 2020 – Virtual]

The essence of a creature feature always relays in the idea of the protagonist to its host. there has to be some symbiosis or at least an idea of why the struggle exists. The lead of Ethan Daunes (played by Drew Matthews) in  “The Arbors” is a locksmith trying to find the essence of what life is. He never says this out loud but seems to simply wander around in a dream state of what he could be. The film starts off this way and then shifts with a genre twist but it never quite gains much speed. While it has merit, it just shows more of his isolationism than an inner battle, however Kafkaesque it would like to be . Ethan is not really a character you can get behind because he is so meek whether it is in his job, with his brother’s family or a girl who likes him. They all want to get away from their small town lives but keep finding themselves bringing brought back to the bottom. The creature of sorts (like “Death Note”) is just a blackness that reflects Ethan’s inner self, whether it is real or not. The question becomes if it even exists but a trail of bodies seem to confirm this though some bodies seemed to conveniently disappear. Granted there are some moments of true 80s flashback cool such as when a group of scientists approaches a house . The set up works well evoking everything from “E.T,” to “Alien” within a 5-minute span. The issue is that this tension cannot be maintained. There is too many shots staring into space and characters talking about how they feel instead of showing. One specific relationship with a male friend who just “wants to help” doesn’t have the necessary logic to it and yet stands out as glaringly unbelievable since its angle is not clear. As the noose tightens, Ethan actually seems to become more aloof so even the inherent resolution of facing fear at the end of the film seems empty. While mystery can be maintained, the simple consequences of actions doesn’t connect a lot of the time especially when many characters simply disappear within the story rendering their intention or point to the plot effective in certain points but yet strangely moot. Ultimately Ethan is content to let the world continue around him though in reality it could all be in his mind…and that might be a very boring place.

D

By Tim Wassberg

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: TWO DEATHS OF HENRY BAKER [Austin Film Festival 2020 – Virtual]

Initially perceived as a modern Western, “nside reel” plays in the notion of caricatures but also the idea of intention in lead characters. The character of the title is a bad man and yet his idea of power even in showing machismo to his son is misplaced since it simply creates more problem. There is an essence of double identity which works in a way but there is a lingering thought that doesn’t explain how the twist truly works. Placing families against each other, especially sons who don’t realize the impact of their actions and the build of what they are seeing is nicely played. But it is supposed to be exciting and suspenseful and, in many ways, it is shoddily done. The imagery including the dark and dingy bordello elements hark back to The Old West where good guys or the heroes were in many ways bad to the bone and just trying to survive on their own. Even the authorities here are brutal. What is interesting is flipping the texture of what one son in the piece wants and his differing perspective which is a new approach in the genre.

He is shaped by the absence of his specific father but it is not made clear why the past 20 years happened in the way they did except for ego. The mother figure too seems completely undone by the actions at the beginning of the film yet it almost seems overwrought without exceptional reasoning. The antagonist of the piece is supposed to retain an element of darkness but he is painted as weak in a way that makes his approach to blackmail in a way less than believable. The violence especially in the “Two Deaths” spoken of in the title comes across as little more than mimicry used to explain a metaphor and then reflexively used as the crucial plot point. While visually the film does create some interesting homages inside the would-be saloon, it comes across a little ham-handed. While this may have worked decades ago as a hark back to the gangster pics of the 30s and of course westerns, modern audiences will nonetheless question the choices of the characters since they are mostly not drawn into a corner but simply fall prey to coincidences that aren’t quite grounded. Ultimately “Henry Baker” as an overarching character is simply an idea. Like “Max” from “Cape Fear,” he is a terror waiting around a corner but the sins of the father don’t amplify in the right way upon the sons, so their path ends up feeling narrow.

C-

By Tim Wassberg

Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: NEW ORDER [Denver Film Festival 2020 – Virtual]

The aspect of dystopian movies is the matter of relation in terms of how close to the truth they can stay. The more disturbing ones take notes from history and place them within new context and modern settings. With “New Order” set in Mexico or in a version of Mexico City, the film starts showing the extreme separation from the rich and “the help”. Establishing during a wedding between Marianne & Cristian, the film moves more like a “Short Cuts” stream of consciousness through different rooms while showing the different moving perspectives of different classes. Specific aspects of need pour right on the doorstep during this celebration and sets up the conflict (however internal). But things aren’t going right. There is a sense of disturbance with the essence of green paint. Encroachment slowly comes in with invading forces but what becomes interesting is the flip that happens. Even while one area is subjugated, another area takes advantage and that is where the real damage lies. Production values are realistic as different landmarks almost look like news footage melded with a cinema verite quality which shifts from the earlier elegant camerawork (a tone shift obviously done with purpose). The reality is that those who tell the eventual story of history dictate how it is told. The use of phone camera is interesting although not used in the way one would think. Without giving too much away, the machinations move to the very end and are slicing. No one is safe. Human cruelty is brutal especially in desperate circumstances. Some of the scenes inside a certain garrison are harrowing because political correctness does nothing in those situations. It is about surviving when their seems there is no hope and the power struggle is apparent. There is no line between man and woman and yet the ignorance of the characters (even as a caricature of sorts seems extremely harsh). The film is very effective in displaying that movement while also showing that people one thinks are friends or confidants can easily manipulate aspects to their own advantage to the immense tragedy of others. Some of the images are downright horrible and yet one knows they happen all over the world. In a country that faces its own governmental problems currently in what is supposed to be one of the most free countries in the world, it brings into sharp focus the small crevice between light and darkness. The film also shows people exist with good souls but it sometimes it doesn’t reach mass effectiveness and rather is swept under the rug. “New Order” is a vicious take on a story told once too often that bears repeating as it continues to happen but arts is always a reflection of the life seen.

B

By Tim Wassberg