Movies Apr2020

And the Movies continue ...

Even in this time of COVID-19, we'll find a way to see movies.  Johnny-come-lately as usual, we've just discovered streaming.  We've actually subscribed to MhZ to see world mysteries -- lots in French.  Now, the BOE at the Dairy has introduced us to streaming their movies.  

2 April 2020:  Bacurau

Wikipedia

Directed by   Kleber Mendonça Filho, Juliano Dornelles

Starring        Sônia Braga, Udo Kier, Bárbara Colen, Thomas Aquino, Silvero Pereira, Karine Teles

This film was to have been screened as the BOE's Friday Night Weird. 

Film is set "a few years in the future" in rural Brazil.  A small town is having a funeral for its matriarch.  There are lots of weird goings-on.  Trucks carrying coffins are a big feature (think Mad Max).  There are rebel outlaws beloved by the townsfolk.  There is a drone flying around that turns out to be controlled by a group of hunters (think Dr. Moreau's Island).  There is a ridiculous mayor who comes in with a food drop and hauls off a girl.  It seems that someone wants the people to leave.  The town disappears from online maps and phone service gets cut off.  Bloodiness ensues.

I found it hard to identify with anyone.  Too much strangeness going on.  

14 April 2020: April

Wikipedia

A Georgian/ Russian film from 1961 written and directed by Otar Iosseliani. 

• Tatyana Chanturia as Mtsiya
• Gia Chiraqadze as Vadzha
• Akaki Chikvaidze as neighbor

We streamed this film through HENRI, a service for streaming rare films by la Cinémathèque française.  Woo hoo for la Cinémathèque française !

From HENRI website:
"Otar Iosseliani, né à Tbilissi (Géorgie) en 1934, esprit libre, tour à tour musicien, pêcheur, ouvrier métallurgiste et réalisateur. Ses films, qu'il décrit comme simples, honnêtes et têtus, « optimistes sans oublier que tout finira mal », constituent une œuvre étrangement poétique, délicatement burlesque et ironique, nourrie chez René Clair, Buster Keaton et Jacques Tati."

In 2019 it was screened "out of competition" at the Festival of Cannes.  

This film owes a lot to Tati, and Keaton.  Practically no spoken dialogue, and no subtitles.  Lots of sound effects.  There are great scenes of people moving furniture -- carrying hat racks and chairs everywhere. It's a fairy tale of a couple whose young love is simple:  living on love on fresh water.  They look for places to kiss and are interrupted.  They find a refuge under a tree in a field.  Then, as they move into a housing development, they are persuaded to acquire material goods and lose their way.  At first, when they kiss the electricity turns on, the water starts running in the sink, and the gas burners on the stove light.  Then, as they get more stuff and start arguing, nothing works.  They find their way back to the tree which has been cut down to make furniture. 

This film has been restored and it is gorgeous.

15 April 2020:  Slay the Dragon

IMDB
Directed by Barak Goodman and Chris Durrance

The film, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 2019, follows citizens' groups as they work to end the practice of gerrymandering, which they see as undermining democracy. It features Katie Fahey, the activist who founded Voters Not Politicians and led a successful grassroots campaign to ban partisan gerrymandering in Michigan. Wikipedia

We streamed this through the Dairy Center, sponsored by Common Cause Colorado.  

The film covers mostly Wisconsin, Michigan, and North Carolina.  I remember that Common Cause Colorado was very slow to get on board with the Colorado effort and so I'm not surprised that we didn't show up.   

It told the story as I remember it, and I thought it explained very well how gerrymandering works.  I also appreciated the insight about the Tea Party origins and the funding from the big actors:  Walmart, Koch Brothers, etc. 

16 April 2020:  Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band

Rotten Tomatoes

Released:  21 February 2020
Director: Daniel Roher

We saw this film through the Dairy Center's streaming service.  I found it interesting and fun to watch.  Not as transcendent as The Last Waltz.  It's Robbie Robertson's memoir.  And explanation of how he got into show business and lived his life.  Also a tribute to the conjunction of The Band.  But, it's definitely his point of view.  He defends against charges that he took credit (and $) for writing songs that others thought were a group effort.  We don't know how much liquor and drugs he took while the others were obviously out of control.  We get an idea of how attached he is/ was to his family and his wife.  We don't have a word from Garth Hudson (the only other one alive).  We don't really learn how ugly, and awful, and bitter the break up was. 

The other guys were Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson.

It was good for awhile.  They made great music.  They abused a lot of substances, and it went to hell.