“I remember being absolutely fearless because I was too young to know any better. I had no idea, I had never tasted failure — or pressure from the studio. You know, that film got made because Sean was very hot, Sean wanted me to direct it, and because he and I were so simpatico, we could do whatever we wanted because we held the power. I never appreciated that at the time, how important that was, so we literally did whatever we wanted and tried crazy things and didn’t care what other people thought — we didn’t have to care what other people thought.” James Foley interviewed by Walter Chaw for Film Freak Central, April 2003

At Close Range (1986)
Directed by James Foley
Screenplay by Nicholas Kazan, story by Elliott Lewitt and Nicholas Kazan
Produced by Elliott Lewitt, Don Guest
111 minutes

If the songwriting of Bruce Springsteen could conjure moving images, the result would be something very similar to At Close Range. Though The Boss didn’t supply any music for the soundtrack, echoes of “Thunder Road” or “Darkness on the Edge of Town” with their engines of discontented youth reverberate through this film, siphoned into a crime story and injected by an ensemble cast that makes a case for being one of the greatest ever assembled. Somewhere in the seemingly lawless farmland of Pennsylvania in 1978, Brad Whitewood Jr. (Sean Penn) trucks into town to pick up his knucklehead brother Tommy (Christopher Penn). Brad summons the guts to talk to a girl named Terry (Mary Stuart Masterson) hanging out in the square. Lacking a job or even reliable wheels, he ultimately convinces the 16-year-old to light out west with him for a better life together.

Brad Jr. seeks out his absentee father Brad Whitewood Sr. (Christopher Walken), who local gossip has it is a thief. Brad Sr. introduces the boy to his woman (Candy Clark), as well as the uncles (R.D. Call, J.C. Quinn) and the epileptic (David Straithairn) he disappears with in the dead of night. Wary of Brad Jr. getting mixed up in the schemes of his dim witted Uncle Patch (Tracey Walter), Brad Sr. gives his son a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle and sends him back to his mother (Millie Perkins). Seeking respect and some extra cash, Brad Jr. and Tommy gather their friends (Crispin Glover, Stephen Geoffreys, Kiefer Sutherland) and start stealing tractors. Brad Jr. compels his father to show him the ropes, but sees more than he bargained for one night and breaks away from his dad. When his son is arrested, the bonds of family buckle and Brad Sr’s self-preservation kicks in.

In August 1978, producer Elliott Lewitt came across an account in the Philadelphia Inquirer of two teenagers — a federal witness and his 15-year-old girlfriend — who’d been riddled with bullets in rural Chester County. Details emerged that the boy’s father Bruce Johnston Sr. was patriarch of family notorious for stealing tractors and anything else that wasn’t moving. Seeing potential for a modern day Greek tragedy, Lewitt hired Nicholas Kazan to adapt a screenplay based on these events. Titled At Close Range, Kazan’s script became one nearly every executive in Hollywood wanted to see made but none were willing to bankroll. That changed in 1985 when Sean Penn was being heralded as the most talented young actor in movies. Penn had befriended USC Film School grad James Foley and a script both men loved was At Close Range. Hemdale Film Corporation agreed to finance the project with Orion Pictures handling distribution.

Kazan let it be known how displeased he was with Foley’s work, cutting scenes the scribe felt pivotal to the plot, redacting the humor and giving the picture a visual sheen Kazan thought undermined its reality. It’ll never be known how great At Close Range might have been, but in Foley’s defense, what’s on screen is remarkable. Cast by Risa Bramon and Billy Hopkins, the ensemble is extraordinary and in his sophomore feature, Foley knew to let his actors act. The energy harnessed by Sean Penn, his brother Chris and their mother Eileen Ryan (playing the boys’ grandma) is palpable, while Walken and Masterson and the great Tracey Walter mesmerize in every moment of their screen time. The lightning by Juan Ruiz Anchia bleeds shadow, but in a fresh approach, this is film noir set knee deep in the boondocks. Madonna co-wrote and performed the ubiquitous theme song “Live To Tell”, which materializes throughout the film as its own atmospheric effect.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 8,017 users: 71% for At Close Range

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: N/A

What do you say?

“The best thing about Red Dragon (Universal), the second adaptation of Thomas Harris’ 1981 novel, is that it reminds you how scary and seminal the first adaptation — Michael Mann’s Manhunter (1986) — was. This new movie, directed by Brett Ratner, recycles the same narrative, many of the same lines, and even some of the same camera set-ups, but it stubbornly refuses to haunt … you could be watching a plodding, Hollywood-studio remake of some idiosyncratic foreign classic: The beats are the same, but the eerie vibe has been lost in translation.” David Edelstein reviews Red Dragon for Slate Magazine, October 2002

Manhunter (1986)
Directed by Michael Mann
Screenplay by Michael Mann, based on the novel Red Dragon by Thomas Harris
Produced by Richard Roth
121 minutes (theatrical version)/ 124 minutes (director’s cut)

For those who’ve feasted on almost every variation of the psycho killer genre — particularly through TV forensics shows, with their nice and tidy finishes in under an hour — this special category of crime thriller begins and ends with filmmaker Michael Mann’s fervent and nearly flawless adaptation of Thomas Harris’ 1981 bestseller Red Dragon. The tightly wound source material launched a franchise and still endures as the ultimate dance between predator and prey, yet the original film version has precision moves and timing all its own. FBI Special Agent Will Graham (William Petersen) is semi-retired and living in Marathon, Florida with his wife Molly (Kim Greist) and 11-year-old son Kevin (David Seaman) when his boss Jack Crawford (Dennis Farina) visits the beach with a plea for help.

Graham’s dark talent lies in his ability to enter the mind of a killer and think as they think. To track down a sociopath who’s slain two families — earning the nickname “Tooth Fairy” for the post-mortem bite marks he’s left on the women — Graham reaches out to Dr. Hannibal Lektor (Brian Cox), a homicidal psychiatrist who Graham almost died bringing to justice. A note recovered in Lektor’s cell indicates the doctor is in communication with Tooth Fairy through coded ads placed in a tabloid. A gambit to lure Tooth Fairy to Graham using sleazy journalist Freddy Lounds (Stephen Lang) backfires when the killer makes a date with Freddy instead. Revealed to be a gargantuan, socially awkward lab tech named Francis Dollarhyde (Tom Noonan), “Tooth Fairy” is drawn out of his shell by a blind co-worker (Joan Allen) who threatens to become Dollarhyde’s next victim.

Film rights to Red Dragon were snared by producer Dino De Laurentiis and after David Lynch tangled with the material — which he found too violent for his taste — Michael Mann was approached. The executive producer of TV’s new sensation Miami Vice, Mann had corresponded with convict Dennis Wayne Wallace for a penal script he’d since abandoned. Using an FBI agent to descend into the psychology of a criminal opened a door Mann had been looking for into that world. To play Will Graham, the director held out for William Petersen, who Mann had auditioned for the role that went to Jim Belushi in Thief. In a battle over the film’s title, Mann was overruled by De Laurentiis, who felt Red Dragon was too similar to his maligned cop thriller Year of the Dragon. Released in late summer with scant marketing support, Manhunter was dismissed by many critics. At the time, audiences ignored it as well.

What Michael Mann brings to the Hannibal Lechter game — a pastime revisited by Jonathan Demme, Ridley Scott, Brett Ratner and Peter Webber with diminishing attention — is a relentless pace and brooding chill that evokes Thomas Harris’ page turner, even if much of the author’s backstory is left in the dugout. Instead of focusing on the peccadilloes of the prey, Harris created a hunter whose skills set is far more compelling. Mann knows that guy well. The scenes between Will Graham and his family have an emotional purity, even with the starkest of dialogue, while close attention is paid to the psychologists, cryptologists and ballistics experts working together toward a common goal. Collaborating with casting director Bonnie Timmermann and composer Michel Rubini, Mann was restricted in budget and in time, but in spite of them, perhaps because of them, cranked out the definitive thriller of its class.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 48,623 users: 70% for Manhunter

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: N/A

What do you say?

“The real problem is that Kubrick set out to make a horror picture with no apparent understanding of the genre. Everything about it screams that from beginning to end, from plot decision to the final scene — which has been used before on The Twilight Zone.” Stephen King interviewed for Playboy Magazine, June 1983

The Shining (1980)
Directed by Stanley Kubrick
Screenplay by Stanley Kubrick & Diane Johnson, based on the novel by Stephen King
Produced by Stanley Kubrick
146 minutes (original U.S. theatrical version)/ 144 minutes (U.S. theatrical version)/ 119 minutes (international version)

Debating whether or not Jack Nicholson’s fortissimo performance in The Shining — as a family man who slips into homicidal insanity during his season as caretaker of a haunted hotel — needed to be played at such a high volume is like debating whether Jimi Hendrix really needed to light a perfectly good electric guitar on fire at Monterey Pop. There may have been a perfectly good exercise in gothic terror and things that go bump in the night lurking within Stephen King‘s novel, but the film version was designed and constructed by Stanley Kubrick. Drawn up as a last will and testament to the horror genre as far as the high and mighty Kubrick was concerned, the film inflicts such psychic trauma on the viewer that it needs a joker like Jack in the deck to soften its wicked blow.

Striking ominous chords from the start, schoolteacher Jack Torrance (Nicholson) accepts a six month stint as caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, encouraged that winter’s isolation will give him time to outline a novel. The general manager feels obligated to mention a tragedy in which a previous caretaker killed his wife and two daughters with an axe before shooting himself. Jack responds that his wife — a fan of “ghost stories and horror films” — will be thrilled. The skittish Wendy Torrance (Shelley Duvall) finds the illustrious hotel spooky, while 7-year-old Danny (Danny Lloyd) receives visions of the future that are nothing short of terrifying. A departing cook (Scatman Crothers) confides to the boy that they share a special power his grandmother called ”shining”. Assured there’s nothing  to be scared of, Danny senses something bad lurking at the Overlook, particularly in Room 237.

Warner Bros. president John Calley knew that Stanley Kubrick had an interest in the paranormal and sent him a galleys copy of The Shining in 1977. Ignoring a first draft Stephen King had been contractually guaranteed to author, Kubrick adapted a script with novelist Diane Johnson, who was teaching a course on the gothic novel at UC Berkeley. Certain exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel would be filmed at the Timberline Lodge, on the slopes of Mount Hood in Oregon. The vast majority of the film — including the hedge maze — was manufactured at Elstree Studios outside London. Filming commenced in May 1978 and given Kubrick’s refusal to be hurried through a schedule, didn’t wrap until April 1979. Kubrick tinkered with his film even after it was in U.S. theaters for five days, cutting an epilogue in which the general manager visits Wendy in the hospital.

The film departed so radically from his book  that Stephen King authored the teleplay for a 4-hour mini-series version that aired on ABC in 1997. Kubrick ignored many of the elements King found eerie — an elevator, a firehose, animal shaped shrubs — to focus instead on a child’s subconscious dread of a parent turning into a monster. The magnificence of The Shining is how Kubrick exploits that fear viscerally. Snippets of a blood soaked future flash through Danny’s mind while the corridors of the hotel breathe with living images of the past. Wendy Carlos and Rachel Elkind provided electronic sound elements, which Kubrick sourced with music from classical composers György Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki to create one of the most unnerving film scores ever. Criticized at the time for not watching enough horror movies, the bottom line is that Kubrick’s vision is scary as hell.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 423,027 users: 91% for The Shining

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: N/A

What do you say? The fan trailer below was superior to any I could find from Warner Bros.

“Portmanteau” is French for “coat rack”. Lewis Carroll appropriated the word in 1871 for Through The Looking Glass to explain two words merged into one; “chortle” is a portmanteau Carroll invented, while “Internet”, “blog” and “sexploitation” are three he did not. In the month of January, I’ll take a look at portmanteau films, where we find different coats hanging in the same closet, whether tailored by one filmmaker or the collaborative effort of several.

The Ten (2007)
Directed by David Wain
Written by Ken Marino & David Wain
Produced by Jonathan Stern, Ken Marino, David Wain, Paul Rudd, Morris S. Levy
96 minutes

Few portmanteau films can maintain a steady course throughout, but The Ten is a barrel of monkeys going over Niagara Falls. Ken Marino & David Wain met in 1993 as writers for the MTV sketch comedy series The State, which Wain co-created. The show’s cult following kept it on the air for three short seasons and ultimately, most of the cast formed the core of Reno: 911! on Comedy Central. Marino & Wain continued to write, riffing on the Ten Commandments until they had material to fill the script for a feature film. Producer Jonathan Stern got involved after working with the pair on Diggers, a little seen 2006 drama written by Marino and executive produced by Wain. Their lead actor Paul Rudd also joined as a producer. The Ten got a pass by the major studios, but Danny Fisher of City Lights Media Group and Morris S. Levy of MEGA Films were able to raise roughly $4 million in financing.

Shot in 28 days in Los Angeles, New York and Mexico City, the film was screened for the first time at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, where THINKFilm acquired North American distribution rights and gave it a very limited theatrical release that August in the U.S. The Ten is like a camp for grownups where college humor lives forever. It flounders between obnoxious and tasteless, which would be okay if it were funnier. Using the same blueprint as Wain’s feature film debut Wet Hot American Summer (2001) — the last time Janeane Garafalo was given something to do in a live action movie — The Ten gift wraps Winona Ryder for her best work in decades, maybe ever, with Thou Shalt Not Steal by far the best of the sketches. Augenblick Studios provided the second best piece, an animated one. The rest of the material may bore anybody who’s already declared a major.

Entering stage in front of two giant tablets, Jeff Riegert (Paul Rudd) is harangued by his wife Gretchen (Famke Janssen) as he introduces ten stories inspired by the Ten Commandments. A skydiving mishap confines a man (Adam Brody) to a hole, where celebrity worship goes to his head. A chaste librarian (Gretchen Mol) travels to Mexico, where she takes the Lord’s name in vain by discovering her lover (Justin Theroux) is really Jesus Christ. A doctor (Ken Marino) pays the price for killing a patient as a “goof”. Two black teenagers (Cedric Sanders, Arlen Escapeta) humor their white mother (Kerri Kenney) when she brings home an Arnold Schwarzenegger impersonator (Oliver Platt) to pose as their biological father. Two neighbors (Liev Schreiber, Joe Lo Truglio) covet each other’s goods and compete to acquire the most CAT Scan machines.

Jeff has enough of Gretchen and takes up with a nubile girl (Jessica Alba) he has little in common with. Back to the stories, the imprisoned doctor covets a fellow convict (Rob Corddry) to the chagrin of the cellmate who’s made him his prison bitch. A newlywed (Winona Ryder) becomes so enamored with a ventriloquist’s dummy that she steals it and goes on the run. Dope fiends console the ventriloquist (Michael Zeigfeld) with the tale of a lying rhino bearing false witness to the animals in his neighborhood. Jeff & Gretchen bump into each other and attempt to rekindle their passion, with Jeff’s marriage to Dianne Weist qualifying it as an act of adultery. Finally, a husband (A.D. Miles) rebels against his wife’s desire for him to attend church by starting a club where suburban men can hang out naked and do little else but listen to Roberta Flack on the Sabbath.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 10,291 users: 40% for The Ten

Metacritic “Metascore” average among 22 leading critics: 50 for The Ten

What do you say?

“Portmanteau” is French for “coat rack”. Lewis Carroll appropriated the word in 1871 for Through The Looking Glass to explain two words merged into one; “chortle” is a portmanteau Carroll invented, while “Internet”, “blog” and “sexploitation” are three he did not. In the month of January, I’ll take a look at portmanteau films, where we find different coats hanging in the same closet, whether tailored by one filmmaker or the collaborative effort of several.

Coffee and Cigarettes (2004)
Directed by Jim Jarmsuch
Written by Jim Jarmusch
Produced by Joanna Vicente, Jason Kliot, Birgit Staudt (segments: Renée, No Problem, Somewhere In California), Demetra J. MacBride (segment: Somewhere In California), Rudd Simmons (segment: Twins), Jim Stark (segments: Strange To Meet You, Twins)
96 minutes

Like a dry erase board in a marketplace of digital product, Coffee and Cigarettes is borderline prosaic and yet somehow, completely enthralling. In 1986, filmmaker Jim Jarmusch was contracted by Saturday Night Live to make a 5-minute short. Given two weeks, Jarmusch grabbed Roberto Benigni and Steven Wright while they were in New York, riffed off their contrasting personas in a rehearsal and shot the results the next day. Titled Coffee and Cigarettes, the avant-garde absurdity faded into late night TV, but Jarmusch enjoyed himself so much that after making Mystery Train in 1989, he shot another short, with Steve Buscemi and Cinqué Lee & Joie Lee. Jarmusch’s hobby filmmaking — pairing actors or musicians that amused him in rudimentary, black & white vignettes — continued in 1993 with Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. Two more shorts (Renée and No Problem) were made later that decade in New York.

After Jarmusch knocked out six shorts over a two-week span in 2002, he had enough material to fill a feature film. Screened at the 2003 Venice Film Festival, Coffee and Cigarettes opened in Italy in March 2004, followed by limited release in the U.S. courtesy United Artists in May 2004. Dry enough to start a brushfire, Jarmusch’s portmanteau film is not for everybody, with pregnant pauses and gentle tomfoolery sure to annoy as many viewers as it amuses. What Jarmusch offers between the cracks is reality programming for the arthouse, playfully mocking celebrity interviews or what passes for casual conversation in coffeehouses these days. The film’s biggest delights are vignettes taking residents of different star systems and seating them at the same table: Iggy Pop with Tom Waits, The GZA & RZA from Wu-Tang Clan with Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett with Cate Blanchett.

Over the course of 11 scenes, actors, musicians and actors playing characters get to know each other over breaks for coffee and cigarettes. Roberto Benigni comprehends so little of what Steven Wright says to him that he agrees to take the comedian’s dental appointment. Oil and water brother-sister twins (Cinqué Lee, Joie Lee) are harangued by the pet theories of an Elvis loving waiter (Steve Buscemi) in Memphis, while somewhere in California, Iggy Pop tries to keep polite conversation with Tom Waits at a tiki bar. Joe Rigano and Vinny Vella berate each other to quit drinking coffee and smoking cigarettes while a silent Vinny Vella Jr. begs money off his old man. A young woman (Renee French) browsing firearms catalogs does her best to keep an over eager busboy (E.J. Rodriguez) away from refilling her coffee.

Continuing the dialogue or lack thereof, two friends (Alex Descas, Isaach De Bankolé) meet for coffee and cigarettes, with the former trying to convince the latter that nothing is wrong. Taking a break in a hotel lobby from press interviews upstairs, Cate Blanchett tries to relate to her black sheep cousin Shelly (Cate Blanchett). Jack White demonstrates his “Tesla air transformer” to his “sister” Meg White, who offers mechanical advice when her bandmate’s doodad breaks down. In Los Angeles, Alfred Molina introduces himself to Steve Coogan over tea, presenting the comedian with some startling information he’s compiled. Back in New York, The GZA meets up with his cousin and fellow Wu-Tang Clan founder RZA at a diner, where they discover Bill Murray busing tables. Finally, William Rice and Taylor Mead share a toast.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 11,088 users: 75% for Coffee and Cigarettes

Metacritic “Metascore” average among 35 leading critics: 65 for Coffee and Cigarettes

What do you say?

This month’s theme was hatched after someone with much better taste recommended that I add the 2005 romantic drama Shopgirl to my queue. Looking for nine more films with similar themes, “Based on Novel”, “Redhead” and “Salesgirl” were all considered and rejected before I settled on “May December Romance”. So in the month of December, I’ll take a look at love separated by much more than just six months on the calendar.

Crazy Heart (2009)
Directed by Scott Cooper
Screenplay by Scott Cooper, based on the novel by Thomas Cobb
Produced by Scott Cooper, Robert Duvall, Rob Carliner, Judy Cairo, T Bone Burnett
112 minutes

Stripped down to longing, regret and inspiration, Crazy Heart is the film version of a country tune, small but perfect. A journeyman actor, Scott Cooper’s role in Gods and Generals mostly hit the cutting room floor. He did get to work with Robert Duvall and the two became friends. An aspiring writer-director, Cooper’s grand ambition was to make the life story of Merle Haggard. He spent a year on the road with the recording legend, whose life rights the aspiring filmmaker realized were knotted in legal thorns. Luckily, an acquaintance gave Cooper a copy of Thomas Cobb’s 1987 novel Crazy Heart, the tale of a boozed up and beat down songwriter equal parts Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Townes Van Zandt, Cooper’s musical heroes. He adapted a script and with the support of Robert Duvall, ultimately got his two wishes, landing the talents of music producer T Bone Burnett and actor Jeff Bridges.

Filmed mostly in New Mexico on a brisk 24-day schedule with a budget of $7 million, Crazy Heart rode universal critical acclaim all the way to the Academy Awards, where Ryan Bingman & T Bone Burnett (Best Original Song) and Jeff Bridges (Best Actor) won Oscars. Not as haunted as Robert Duvall’s down and out Max Sledge in Tender Mercies, Jeff Bridges channels the spirit of Kris Kristofferson, growling and fumbling his way through a character who’s a songwriter first, alcoholic second and entertainer further down the line. Cooper’s take on the material is character driven and nuanced, rejecting show business melodrama for a lower and far richer key. The soundtrack boasts some of the best original music I’ve heard in a movie in a long time, while the incomparable Maggie Gyllenhaal leads a fine supporting cast that includes Tom Bower, Rick Dial, Colin Farrell and ol’ Duvall himself.

Driving his ’78 Chevy Suburban into Pueblo, New Mexico, singer-songwriter Bad Blake (Jeff Bridges) is as disgusted to be booked into a bowling alley as he is to learn that his contract does not include a bar tab. 57 years old and flat broke, Bad rejects an offer relayed by his Beverly Hills manager (Paul Herman) to write some new songs for Tommy Sweet, a former protégé of Bad’s who is now a country music superstar. Barely making it through a set before puking his guts out, Bad fares much better in Santa Fe, where a piano player (Rick Dial) convinces the musician to grant a rare interview to his niece, an aspiring journalist. Dropping by his motel room while her subject scoops his dinner wearing only a towel, Jean Craddock (Maggie Gyllenhaal) brings out the best in Bad, though he declines to answer any questions about Tommy Sweet or his children.

Continuing her interview over two-night his stop in Santa Fe, Jean’s spirit seems to drop the years off Bad. After sleeping together, she agrees to let him bake biscuits for her 4-year-old son, who takes an immediate liking to the Texan. Bad swallows his pride and accepts an offer to open for Tommy Sweet in Phoenix. In spite of his super stardom, Tommy (Colin Farrell) extends gratitude toward his broken down mentor, even joining him on stage. Bad makes a beeline back to Santa Fe, falling asleep at the wheel and rolling the Suburban. He ignores doctor’s orders to quit drinking and implores Jean to come visit him back home in Houston. The romance inspires Bad to write new material for the first time in years and to telephone his estranged 28-year-old son, but his drinking takes a sudden toll on the relationship when Jean arrives for a visit with her son.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 101,594 users: 72% for Crazy Heart

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: 83 for Crazy Heart

What do you say?

Logging in to Netflix Instant for a movie to watch is like being hungry and shown to a food replicator. It doesn’t solve my problem — it introduces one thousand new ones. Luckily, I can see which genres are rated higher in nutritional content, in this case, 4 or 4 ½ star ratings out of 5 stars. “Documentary” had a lot of those. So did “Anime & Animation”. In the month of November, I take another trip around the globe to sample recent animated feature films. Next stop: Manhattan, New York, USA.

Sita Sings the Blues (2009)
Directed by Nina Paley
Written by Nina Paley
Produced by Nina Paley
82 minutes

Like a strange brew coated with aromatic honey, Sita Sings the Blues goes down easy for anyone wary of the letters “DIY” stamped on a movie. Cartoonist and filmmaker Nina Paley was introduced to the Hindu epic The Ramayana in comic book format while living in Trivandum with her then-husband. After their long distance breakup, Paley found solace in the records of jazz singer Annette Hanshaw, whose blues Paley felt echoed the myth of Rama’s long suffering wife, Sita. Over the course of five years, Paley animated and produced Sita Sings the Blues on a Mac in her Manhattan apartment, working primarily in Flash and editing in Final Cut Pro. Lending their expertise were sound designer Greg Sextro, three friends from India who ad-libbed narration and the French band Masala Dosa, who found Paley on the Internet and contributed a song. Her production budget was practically zero.

While Annette Hanshaw’s recordings were public domain, Paley discovered that the publishing rights to the songs she needed would cost her $220,000. She managed to get legal clearances for $70,000 by making sure Sita Sings the Blues wouldn’t reap millions at the box office, giving her movie away for free under a Creative Commons license known as a “copyleft”. Screened at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 2008, Sita Sings the Blues played to wide acclaim at every other film festival on the planet before being issued on DVD in July 2009. While the mission statement and means in which Paley produced her film are more fascinating than anything that really ended up on screen, Sita Sings the Blues is lifted by its abundant wit, enterprising mixture of ancient myth with jazz and its equation of modern day struggles with the centuries old mysteries scribbled down in The Ramayana.

In San Francisco, Nina (Nina Paley) and Dave (Sanjiv Jhaveri) have their relationship thrown into upheaval when Dave receives a job offer taking him to India. Three shadow puppets (Aseem Chhabra, Bhavana Nagulapally, Manish Acharya) begin a story from the Hindu holy book The Ramayana, in which Rama (Debargo Sanyal), the virtuous Prince of Ayodhya, is sent into exile on the eve of his coronation. Rama pledges to rid the forests of the raksha demons terrorizing their holy men. In spite of the dangers, his loving wife Sita (Reena Shah), who cannot live without her husband, accompanies Rama on his crusade. Sita expresses her devotion and self-sacrifice through the 1920s jazz recordings of Annette Hanshaw. Back in San Francisco, Dave departs on his journey to India, leaving Nina unsure when she will see him again.

Ravana, king of the island Lanka, seeks revenge against Rama by ordering his minion Maricha to transform into a golden deer, distracting Rama on a hunt long enough for the treacherous monarch to abduct Sita. Refusing to force himself on his captive, Ravana lets Sita decide whether she wants to become his. She remains loyal to her husband, but once rescued, Rama questions his wife’s purity. These doubts spread throughout the kingdom and Rama decides to send Sita into exile, even though she is pregnant with his twin sons. Once in India, Dave develops similar doubts about Nina. He remains distant when she arrives for a visit and when Nina travels to New York for a job, Dave breaks up with her via email. Nina finds solace in Sita, whose long and lonely exile ends when she offers to prove her purity to Rama.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 574 users: 87% for Sita Sings the Blues

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: 94 for Sita Sings the Blues

What do you say?

Logging in to Netflix Instant for a movie to watch is like being hungry and shown to a food replicator. It doesn’t solve my problem — it introduces one thousand new ones. Luckily, I can see which genres are rated higher in nutritional content, in this case, 4 or 4 ½ star ratings out of 5 stars. “Documentary” had a lot of those. So did “Anime & Animation”. In the month of November, I take another trip around the globe to sample recent animated feature films. Next stop: East London, U.K.

Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009)
Directed by Wes Anderson
Screenplay by Wes Anderson & Noah Baumbach, based on the novel by Roald Dahl
Produced by Allison Abate, Scott Rudin, Wes Anderson, Jeremy Dawson
87 minutes

10-year-olds playing in their rooms with tens of millions of dollars begets the sixth film from Wes Anderson. The filmmaker was so enamored by the work of Roald Dahl — citing the author’s 1970 book Fantastic Mr. Fox as the first he owned — that in 2001, Anderson lobbied Dahl’s widow Felicity for the film rights. Five years later, Fox announced they would finance and distribute the stop motion animated picture. Shot over one year at Three Mills Studios in East London, Anderson actually spent most of that time in Paris. His decision to collaborate via email did not sit well with his crew, while animation director Mark Gustafson — who made the claymation ad campaign for California Raisins — was bewildered by some of Anderson’s creative decisions, which subverted modern technology and were painstaking to execute. The budget arrived at roughly $40 million.

One of the most impressive feats of Fantastic Mr. Fox is how Wes Anderson tries something completely different here while crafting what also feels very much like an Anderson film, from its misunderstood mastermind, picture book compositions, retro soundtrack (“Heroes and Villains” and “Ol’ Man River” by The Beach Boys are used to memorable effect) and unmistakable whimsy. It’s like Bottle Rocket brought to life by puppets on loan from a 1960s holiday TV special. Unlike Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, the story has little if anything to say, but the rudimentary design of the special effects is such a welcome respite from 3-D and the bombastic digital effects that litter children’s films. Though Anderson cut a narration by Jarvis Cocker, the English musician appears out of nowhere as a folk singer and contributes to a soundtrack that includes a beautiful score by Alexandre Desplat.

Mr. Fox (George Clooney) promises to turn over a new leaf for the pregnant Mrs. Fox (Meryl Streep) after his grandiose ambitions snare them in a trap while stealing chickens. Two years (12 fox years) later, Mr. Fox ekes out a living as a newspaper columnist while coveting far greater prosperity. He purchases a beech tree, ignoring the advice of his attorney Badger (Bill Murray) that his neighbors would be three of the meanest farmers in the valley. Walt Boggis (Robin Hurlstone) is a fat chicken farmer. Nate Bunce (Hugo Guinness) is a dwarfish duck and goose farmer. Frank Bean (Michael Gambon) is a turkey and apple farmer, quite possibly the meanest man alive. Mr. Fox moves his family into their new home, but is unable to resist the temptation of one last job, drafting his dim-witted superintendent — the opossum Kylie (Wally Wolodarsky) — to assist.

Searching for an identity, Mr. Fox’s awkward teenage son Ash (Jason Schwartzman) is frustrated by the arrival of his cousin Kristofferson (Eric Anderson), whose athleticism wins him an invitation to join Mr. Fox’s gang. After successful raids of Boggis’ chicken coop and Bean’s alcoholic cider cellar, all three farmers stake out Fox’s tree and open fire, shooting off his tail. The family soon has bigger problems when the farmers try to dig them out, sending the critters tunneling underground for survival. Rescued by an assortment of badgers, beavers and rabbits, Mr. Fox retaliates by tunneling into the farms of his tormentors. In a bid for his father’s approval, Ash attempts a raid of his own, employing the help of Kristofferson. When only one of them returns, Mr. Fox contemplates a suicide mission, only to come to his senses and recruiting his friends in a go-for-broke rescue mission.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 111,105 users: 79% for Fantastic Mr. Fox

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: 83 for Fantastic Mr. Fox

What do you say?

As days get shorter, nights get longer and All Hallow’s Eve beckons, I can say that I won’t be wandering the streets dressed as Chewbacca begging for candy. What I can’t say is whether or not at my age, horror movies still have any surprises left in them. In the search for originality, it’d be a good idea to start anywhere but Hollywood. For the month of October, I take a trip around the globe to see what’s scaring some of my favorite countries these days.

The Substitute (2007)
Directed by Ole Bornedal
Written by Ole Bornedal & Henrik Prip
Produced by Michael Obel
93 minutes

It doesn’t quite hold up under a complete engine diagnostic, but as far as a movie that takes you on a spin around the block, The Substitute is a blast. Filmmaker Ole Borendal shot to international acclaim with his 1994 Danish language thriller Nightwatch, sank to anonymity with a poorly received U.S. remake in 1997 and returned home. One of his ideas was a science fiction comedy geared for kids that would be produced in Denmark. Borendal passed his outline for The Substitute to actor/playwright Henrik Prip, an old friend. Revising Prip’s draft, Borendal took the property to producer Michael Obel, whose Copenhagen based Thura Films had collaborated with Borendal on three prior films. Financed for roughly €3.2 million, the genre bender became a hit in Denmark. Sam Raimi and his Ghost House Pictures are in the process of developing a U.S. remake.

The Substitute could be summed up as Fright Night meets The Simpsons if you wanted to stop at two genre related movies or TV shows riffed on for the film’s mad dash to the finish line. When Borendal slows down to let us savor the intelligence and wit of his schoolroom scenes, his movie soars. The half dozen or so 6^th graders in the cast come off like real kids occupying a real classroom, while Paprika Steen is beautifully cast as their nemesis in a role the Danish actress/director devours like candy. The wildly divergent elements — sci-fi, comedy, horror, coming-of-age, melodrama — suggest that appealing to every moviegoer was more of a concern than coherence; the musical cues by composer Marco Beltrami are like Coca Cola shot through a crazy straw. Stylishly shot on a low budget, The Substitute somehow makes those kinks work in its favor.

On a distant planet whose inhabitants know only war, a probe is dispatched to Earth to gather an understanding of love. A silver ball crashes into a chicken farm on the outskirts of Copenhagen and after a luminescent firefly immobilizes the farmer, the critter takes over the body of his snoozing wife. In the city, 12-year-old Carl Osböll (Jonas Wandschneider) copes with the loss of a mother killed in a traffic accident by holding one-sided conversations with her in heaven. Carl’s widowed father Jesper (Ulrich Thomsen) is a sociologist whose latest book deals with the quality that makes human beings unique in the universe: love. At school, Carl receives a new classmate named Rikke (Emma Juel Justesen), who moves in next door with a single mother (Sonja Richter) whom Jesper realizes is a cop only after he disparages the police force.

Alerted by their principal that their teacher has salmonella poisoning, a substitute arrives to a strange chorus of every student’s cell phone ringing at once. Giving the name Ulla Harms (Paprika Steen), Class 6B’s new teacher exhibits whip-like callousness, a mind as vast as a computer and the uncanny ability to read the minds of her pupils. When news of her behavior gets out, concerned parents flock to the school. Their fears are allayed by the appearance of the Education Minister, who vouches for Miss Harms and allows her to win over the adults. Having observed the substitute conjure the government official from a silver ball in her bag, Carl steals several slides from Miss Harms, one of which is a photo that over time is populated by more of Carl’s classmates, all staring up at the sky. Rallying his fellow students, Carl sets out to discover Miss Harm’s plan and stop her.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 452 users: 46% for The Substitute

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: Not available

What do you say?

The Bechdel Test was named for Allison Bechdel, whose comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For in 1985 measured the female presence in movies by employing three criteria: Are there two or more women in it, with names? Do the women talk to each other? About something other than a man? Far too many mainstream movies flunk this test, but in the month of September, I take a look at ten recent movies that pass.

Trucker (2009)
Directed by James Mottern
Written by James Mottern
Produced by Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer, Daniela Taplin Lundberg, Scott Hanson
93 minutes

Stripped so bare that any clichés fall by the wayside, Trucker is like a television concept workshopped at the Austin Film Festival into something much greater. Screenwriter James Mottern set up his script — first at The Bob Yari Company, later at Hart-Sharp Entertainment — only to have both companies dissolve before financing could be arranged. With the help of producer Robert Kessel, Mottern got his script to Celine Rattray, Galt Niederhoffer and Daniela Taplin Lundberg, the trinity whose Manhattan based Plum Pictures raised roughly $1.5 million for Mottern to make his directorial debut. Michelle Monaghan read the script in 2006 and stayed attached for the year it took Mottern to find money; she also earned her CDL to prepare for the part. Trucker was shot in Granada Hills and Riverside and along Interstate 5 north of Los Angeles over 18 days.

While Trucker offers a storyline that anyone with a basic cable subscription might feel they’ve seen — female truckers on the History Channel, latchkey kids on the Learning Channel, low key affairs on the Sundance Channel — what’s unique about Mottern’s script is how vividly it captures the world of a woman who spends two weeks of every month on the road and fears of slowing down, even for the son she gave up. The characters are honest, the dialogue terse and the sentiment is earned. In casting Michelle Monaghan in the title role, Mottern had all he really needed to complete a strong debut film; Monaghan seems to have absorbed everyone she’s ever met at a California truck stop into a defining performance. Director of photography Lawrence Sher (Garden State) provided the stark lighting and composer Mychael Danna (500 Days of Summer) furnished the rustic score.

After a roll in the hay with the server from a truck stop diner, owner/operator Diane Ford (Michelle Monaghan) is back on the highway delivering a load to Reno.  She returns to her one bedroom home in the trucking hub of Riverside, California, where her neighbor Runner (Nathan Fillion) invites Diane out for drinking and dancing at the VFW. A jack-of-all-trades in construction, Runner has kept his relationship with Diane strictly plutonic due to the fact that he’s married.  Stumbling home, Diane is met by Jenny (Joey Lauren Adams) and an 11-year-old named Peter (Jimmy Bennett). Girlfriend of Diane’s ex-husband, Jenny is unable to look after Peter while the boy’s father is being treated for colon cancer and she has a funeral to attend. This leaves the couple no choice but leave Peter with his estranged mom for three weeks.

With neither Peter nor his biological mother comfortable with the arrangement, Diane visits her ex-husband Len (Benjamin Bratt) at the hospital but discovers his condition is more serious than Jenny let on. Diane takes her son with her to Oklahoma City, sacrificing her on-time bonus so Peter can enjoy the sights. Trying to be maternal, Diane is unable to reconcile her lifestyle with the demands of parenting and Peter resents her for it. Enrolled in school and Little League baseball in Riverside, Peter adapts to his temporary home, with Runner looking after him while Diane is on the road. The boy begins to see through his mother’s tough veneer and realizes how scared she is. As Len’s health continues to decline, mother and son try to make the best of the hand they’ve been dealt.

Rotten Tomatoes “Tomatometer” average among 397 users: 57% for Trucker

Metacritic “Metascore” average among leading critics: 61 for Trucker

Read Marilyn Ferdinand’s effusive review of Trucker at Ferdy on Films.