I'm a huge fan of the late country singer-songwriter Townes Van Zandt. I could listen to him everyday, all day. A lot of people I know appreciate Townes, but they tell me he's too sad to listen to for very long...I disagree. Well, if you love Townes, or even just appreciate him, or if you are interested in country music, or specifically the Texas Outlaw Country scene of the 1970s and 80s, you will probably quite enjoy Blaze. Blaze is a new film from actor/director Ethan Hawke. It's about the late country singer-songwriter Blaze Foley, a lesser known contemporary and close friend of Townes. Not a heck of a lot is known about Blaze so the film only loosely considers itself a "sort-of" biopic. It's really just creates a feeling and gives an impression that is rich and authentic. To achieve this, a good deal of the film is devoted to telling stories about Blaze, rarely allowing the audience in on Blaze's own perspective. The film dedicates itself to blatant myth building, using the spot-on incredible Charlie Sexton as Townes spinning yarns as Townes was well-known to do. It's explicit that we're being told about Blaze and Blaze is not speaking for himself. The film leaves large gaps instead of trying to fill in every aspect of Blaze's life, history, and experience. We tend to be always watching him while he's often making a spectacle of himself. A word on the casting: Hawke did very well here, using real musicians who are not actors in two of the three lead roles. Musician Ben Dickey is absolutely astonishing in his first role, as Blaze. I heard him explain in an online interview that he for the role he learned Blaze's entire 60-ish song catalogue and indeed played live on set throughout the film--most notably in the sections devoted to the entire performance and recording of Live At The Austin Outhouse album, including all the banter. Meanwhile, musician Charlie Sexton is incredible as Townes. It's uncanny; he nails Marie, and it is so exactly perfectly Townes. Alia Shawkat is terrific and rounds out and grounds the film as Sybil Rosen, Blaze's one known, longtime girlfriend whose memoir 'Living in the Woods in a Tree: Remembering Blaze Foley' inspired a large portion of the film. I highly recommend this raw, beautiful sort-of, kind-of biopic. 5/5 |
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Paterson is the newest film by Jim Jarmusch. Paterson is about a bus-driving poet in Paterson New Jersey. Do you need to know more? No, you don't. Paterson is small and quiet and subtle and nuanced and beautiful...and the dog is the best movie dog! I love Adam Driver and I'll watch anything he's in. I love Jarmusch and I'll watch anything he makes. So, this was naturally a win-win. ...also, Method Man... 5/5 Jerry Lewis: The Man Behind the Clown is a new documentary about actor, director, humanitarian Jerry Lewis. The film primarily focuses on Lewis' style and philosophy, his evolution as a clown/actor/artist and his work as a director, his success in France, and his philanthropy. The doc features a lot of hilarious footage that make it a fun watch. However, it completely avoids getting personal about Lewis. The doc completely side steps around Lewis' personal relationship with Dean Martin, framing it as strictly professional. While it touches on his health problems and addiction to pain killers, the film never really touches on anything about Lewis' personal life such as love interests, never mentioning his two wives nor his children. And, while the film is rife with great clips, it merely teases the audience about Lewis' failed/never released Holocaust film, it never delivers with any clips. 3.5/5 The Dwarvenaut is a crowd pleasing bizarre sub-culture doc. It follows entrepreneur/artist Stephan Pokorny as he leads his Bushwick based company "Dwarven Forge" through their third Kickstarter campaign. Pokorny's company Dwarven Forge hand sculpts interchangeable miniature modular terrain for Dungeons & Dragons gaming such as dungeons, caverns, and "Valoria" a complete complex city with its own history and lore. The Dwarvenaut follows Pokorny to gaming conventions as he works to pull off a $2million Kickstarter campaign. Pokorny's passion, talent, and skill combined with his likability and quirkiness make this a fun and delightful film going experience where the audience is rooting for Dwarven Forge's success even if they've never played a game like D&D before. 4/5 Robert Frank Don't Blink is one of the best documentaries I've seen in a long time. Director Laura Israel follows Frank, allowing him to muse on camera more than she probes him with questions, in general letting Frank be Frank without the rigid boundaries of a straight-forward documentary. Director and photographer Frank is an fascinating subject. Israel expertly steers clear of presenting this doc as a linear, biographical, talking heads-style film instead presenting a meditation on Frank very much in the experimental and evocative style of an Agnes Varda film. I was very fortunate to catch a screening of Frank's Cocksucker Blues, Frank's never released documentary on the Rolling Stones during their Exile on Main Street tour. I saw it this last summer at the Telluride Film Festival and so this fell in my lap at the perfect time. I have to admit that, however, of Frank's oeuvre, I've only seen Cocksucker Blues and Candy Mountain. Candy Mountain was his only feature film and it's really quite a good 1980s rock'n'roll road movie with Tom Waits and Buster Poindexter. Now, I'm on a mission to see all the others. I can't recommend this film highly enough! 5/5 If you know what's good for you, you like Flight of the Concords. And, you individually love both Jemaine Clement and Brett McKenzie. People Places Things is a little indie dramedy starring Jemaine that I recently watched on Netflix. It's a bit uneven, but it's charming enough. People Places Things is about a single dad, graphic novelist, teacher who is trying to move on from his recent divorce. I could relate to this film on a number of levels, but I'm not sure it will hit home for everyone--and that is just fine. I laughed quite a bit, though I often laugh at moments in films that no one else would ever laugh at, so I dunno if you want to take my opinion on the comedic value with a grain of salt. And with these caveats I do not mean to pigeonhole this nice little indie flick, it really was good. Jessica Williams of the Daily Show is great as art student Kat. Jemaine is solid. 3/5 |
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