Highlights from The 16th Annual Phoenix Film Festival – Part 3, The Wrap-Up
Article by Ray Schillaci
So many films, and so little time, and that is why the festival expanded their hours during the week after announcing award winners. Still, I was not fortunate enough to catch the much touted World Cinema selections, and the winner of Best Picture in that category, the Czech/Slovak production of Home Care. The word-of-mouth: a beautifully rendered tale of a dedicated home care nurse that comes to realize that she may be a candidate for home care herself.
There were over thirty showcase films with the two stand-outs being writer/director Matt Cooper’s exceptionally light-hearted romp Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? and writer/director John Carney’s (Once) joyous and jubilant Sing Street. Both films garnered laughs and applause. Sing Street is already in theaters as of the posting of this article, and …Gun in Your Pocket? has yet to land a release date.
Sunday’s viewing of Matt Cooper’s film was so well received, that Gun nearly played to a full house the following night as well. The laughs were a-plenty, and I could easily see why with the off-beat premise of women in a small Texas town retaliating and abstaining from sex to get their men to get rid of their guns. We get a great sense of small town life with Cooper’s characters and his setting while also catching a glimpse of what seems to matter most to the male townsfolk: sports, beer and their precious guns.
Although forms of the premise have been tackled before from the Greek comedy Lysistrata to the recent Spike Lee film Chi-Raq, Cooper manages to keep his film fresh. In fact, unlike Lee’s film, Cooper’s characters are far more endearing and easier to digest while the message is nowhere near as angry, and in no way feels forced. Gun is a lighthearted romp that just happens to make you think about both sides of the argument.
The cast is very likable with Andrea Anders as Jenna Keely, turning in an adorable performance with an alluring charm. She’s spry, witty, sexy, and comes across beautifully as a young mother and wife coming into her own. Every bit as good is Cloris Leachman as the feisty potty-mouthed Maxine who is willing to take on all challenges. Just these two alone can make the picture worth seeing, but Cooper is fortunate to have other amusing mature talents on the male end as well with the likes of John Heard, Kevin Conway, and John Michael Higgins to keep the pace brisk with the talents of the women on screen.
After an unfortunate incident with Keely’s son sneaking a gun in the schoolyard and having it accidentally go off, the parents Jenna and Glenn, an amiable Matt Passmore, are quick to debate the gun issue. What starts off as a minor tiff (at least to her husband) slowly snowballs into Jenna leading the town women on a withholding quest, not just for sex (although that appears to be the main thrust – no pun intended), but for meals, cleaning, and whatever the women feel that the men have taken for granted after so many years. The men retaliate in several amusing ways, but it’s the women who seem to have the last laugh even when the NRA attempts to get involved once the town makes headlines.
There is the occasional passionate monologue about gun violence, responsibility, and the effect on families, but none of it ever comes across like grandstanding. What is evident after all the ribald humor is that family matters, and it is our loved ones and their future that is a very real concern. In the end, Matt Cooper and company have provided a delightful piece of Americana in a highly entertaining film.
I love John Carney’s Sing Street! The film received a thunderous applause at the festival, and that’s because it managed to have us tear up, laugh, and bounce to its infectious beat. The story of a young Dubliner in the ’80s who attempts to impress a mysterious girl by enlisting her in a video for his fictitious band cannot help but elicit smiles, laughs, and cheers. What makes Carney’s tale so unique is not the love story or fond remembrance of the ’80s, but it is the underlying theme of the special bond brothers are capable of.
Poor Conor’s family has hit the skids with financial troubles, marital issues, and an older brother who has dropped out of school. The family needs to cut back, and the first adjustment is Conor being transferred to an inner city public school where the only thing worse than the school bullies are the teachers themselves. While attempting to adjust to his new way of life, young Conor catches sight of an attractive girl, Raphina. Conor’s new friend informs him that she always hangs around the same spot, doesn’t go to school, and does not talk to anybody.
Conor takes this as a challenge, and attempts to get to know her. She has an air of maturity and hipness to her. She claims to be a model, and shows little interest in whatever Conor has to say until he suggests she be in his band’s music video. That sparks interest, and she accepts. Problem being, Conor has no band. He and his new friend embark on a quick quest for some talent and not only strain to find what kind of music they will play, but most important what kind of style will they take on.
From auditions to the hilarious start of the music video, and eventually a fun-filled school gig, Conor’s story is fraught with obstacles that are frustrating, comical and poignant. Every part of Conor’s life becomes important to us as we see it shape the young man that he is to become. Writer/director John Carney takes nothing for granted. Every subplot, the bullies, Conor’s parents, the teachers, and Conor’s older brother, becomes an integral part of the story. If there was one minor qualm, it would be that we did not get to know the rest of the band members more. Still, that does not diminish the joy of this quasi-musical that has us pine for the ’80s.
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo as Conor gives a wonderfully fresh performance that keeps us rooting for him throughout the picture. Not only does he play off the rest of the cast beautifully, but he and Lucy Boynton as Raphina and Jack Reynor as his older brother, Brendan, demonstrate remarkable chemistry. Kudos to the rest of the cast as well. When it comes right down to it, the movie is a delightful ensemble piece that succeeds on every level of entertainment.
Some have compared Carney’s film to a mini version of The Commitments, Alan Parker’s much beloved comedy/drama about working class Dubliners forming a soul band. This is may be high praise to some, but it’s also a terrible generalization. Both films share a background of the plight of the working class and the effects of music on people. But that’s where it ends.
Where Parker’s film focused on the humble beginning and ending of a garage band with wonderful results and performances, Carney’s film emphasizes the relationship aspects. The music is nowhere near as important although it’s a great deal of fun. We don’t walk out humming the tunes, but we end up wanting to go back and recapture everything that engrossed us in Conor’s story. It’s that human side that makes the film so relatable. It does not matter that it takes place in Dublin or the ’80s. Sing Street celebrates love, believing in one’s self, and the promise that life holds ahead.
So, so many short subjects worthy of a mention, and I’m not talking about a kingdom propagated by Tyrion Lannisters. The creative minds behind short films that manage to tell an engrossing story in less than thirty minutes with a myriad of styles and themes from horror to sci-fi, comedy to drama, and from animated to documentaries was truly amazing this year. I can only give you a brief glimpse as to the ones that really stuck with me without giving too much away. After all, you will definitely want to seek these out whether they show up at another film festival, itsashort.com, or one of the many streaming services.
The horror end had a good run with such gruesome delights as Patricia Chica and Kamal Iskander’s A Tricky Treat, which I did enthusiastically cover awhile back on this site. The gruesome twosome (Chica and Iskander) treat us to a tale of a man kidnapped by a very strange family with stomach churning results with a dash of black humor. Think Charles Addams meets Mad magazine.
A.J. Briones’ The Smiling Man sent chills down everyone’s spine with its depiction of a small child discovering something horrifying in his kitchen. Gotcher went on the premise of something cute many of us have done to our kids and filmmaker Bruce Branit manages to make us think twice before ever doing it again. And, I can only say that Daniel McDonald’s The Voodoo Dick has to be seen to be believed.
But with all the stiff (pun intended) competition it was Shant Hamassian’s satire Night of the Slasher that broke from the pack and won Best Horror Short. Shot in one take, NOTS has a teenage girl committing all the sins of horror slasher movies to invite a masked killer into her abode and take revenge. Hamassian manages to keep us in suspense and laughing all at the same time. It proves to be both a delicate and deadly balance of thrills and chills.
In the Animated Shorts category, it was nice to see one of my favorites continuing its festival run. Scott Storm’s The Apple Tree just gets better with each viewing. You can catch my previous review of this wondrous film HERE. But as good as Storm’s film is, even he gave a nod to the highly inventive animated short film winner, Burnt, by filmmaker Devin Bell, the story of three plant creatures that are mentally and physically challenged by their environment in a scorched desert forest. In some ways, both films concerned environmental issues. But Bell’s film was just so damn funny, and when the three meet up with something green for the first time, it challenges them and perhaps us to view life a little differently.
The Live Action category was ripe with talent. So hard to pick just a few when there were comedic and dramatic pieces that were so damn good. The dramas that managed to draw the audience in immediately were Dawn Fields’ Fragile Storm and Nico Raineau’s Brix and the Bitch.
To be honest, Fragile Storm had a big advantage with a powerhouse performance by none other than Lance Henriksen, and a sure-handed director in Fields. The story unfolds on a frightened young woman who is trying to escape from what appears to be a scary older man. The threat feels so real until she realizes why he appears to hold her captive. Fields storytelling is both suspenseful and sensitive. She shows a great deal of promise with a timely subject that has affected millions. The nice part about it all, the story never comes across pandering or exploitive. It is both down-to-earth and told with tremendous respect. Fields and company are to be applauded.
At first glance, Nico Raineau’s Brix and the Bitch looks like it could be a great product reel from Zack Snyder’s beginnings. I mean that in the most complimentary way. The film has energy, great looks and dynamic action welded together in a great tight story. In fact, it could easily be expanded into a feature film, and if they did I only hope they use the original stars. Dre Swain as the proverbial “Bitch” and Alex Marshall-Brown as the hard hitting “Brix” tear up the screen with their emotional energy and unique prowess. Raineau’s tale of one woman fighting for the top spot in an illegal fight club so she could finally break free is both exhilarating and hard to watch. The end fight is a match up no one will want to miss, and Raineau refuses to let us have any breathing room. Move over Rocky and Jake, these women kick all kinds of ass.
But with all that intense drama one cannot help but welcome with open arms a good comedy short, especially if the pacing is near perfect and the laughs are aplenty as with three great entries. Steven Paul Judd’s Ronnie BoDean brings a wonderful comic performance by the legendary Wes Studi! Filmmaker Jeffrey Williams delivers big laughs with What If My Wife Died In Yoga Class? And David A. Bornstein’s A King’s Betrayal launched huge guffaws while running away with the Best Live Action Short.
Wes Studi as Ronnie BoDean plays a larger-than-life outlaw. Hot tempered, and a little nuts, BoDean is pure fun to watch. Even more fun is watching him play babysitter to a pair of precocious kids that belong to a jailed neighbor. Judd’s framework throughout is played to Studi’s classic looks, and gets you demanding a Ronnie BoDean feature or at least Wes Studi playing a lead in just about anything.
Jeffrey Williams goes for big laughs when he has his lead character fantasizing about “what if?” Yes, that fantasy some men (and maybe women too) have if their spouse happened to pass away, and how their life could be rich with other women. What if My Wife Died In Yoga Class? is a dark comedy that just seems to get funnier as it progresses into such absurdist territory. Our harried husband fantasizes on as he attempts to do a load of laundry, and takes us down so many funny bizarre scenarios. Of course, fantasy is never as it seems, and Williams delivers a blow to his character that makes all those that fantasize think twice. This one is probably one of the most enjoyable trips to a laundromat you will ever come across.
A King’s Betrayal deservedly won Best Live Action Short for its pure ingenuity in its unusual tale. Filmmaker David A. Bornstein gives us the final twenty-four hours in the life of a piñata. As if this wasn’t interesting enough, Bornstein tells the story through the piñata’s eyes. So clever with his storytelling sensibilities, Bornstein delivers a yarn that is poetic satire that cannot help to make us wonder what this filmmaker has in store for us.
Finally, I’m compelled to give a shout out to another film in the Feature Length Film Competition. Nabbing the Best Ensemble Acting Award, Oliver Thompson’s quirky comedy/drama/fantasy Welcome to Happiness cannot help but leave you with a big smile on your face, and Thompson’s cast was an absolute delight bringing to life this odd tale of a children’s book author as the gatekeeper to a mysterious door in the closet of his apartment.
People step into Woody Wards’ life unexpectedly. He asks them a few questions which are dictated to him via an old teletype typewriter. These sad people have little idea as to why they are visiting. Somehow Woody’s ways and the mysterious door in his closet gives them hope and a promise to happiness. One problem; can the gatekeeper himself find happiness while serving everyone else?
That’s the conundrum Woody and those who have entrusted him with the special gift have. One could almost term this a new-age type of comedy, but that would be over-simplifying Thompson’s intentions. We are given several stories of people and the decisions in their life and how it affects them and others, and somehow Thompson manages to make it all come together effortlessly.
Kyle Galiner , Olivia Thirlby, Nick Offerman, and Keegan-Michael Key along with the rest of the cast are so endearing in their roles. I got so wrapped up in their oddball lives that I nearly forget that there is a fantasy element to the film. In fact, Thompson’s writing and direction brings to mind some of the early works of Robert Altman and Hal Ashby. This style is the fuel that makes Welcome to Happiness so unique, and a pure joy to sit through.
Once again, the Phoenix Film Festival brought to light a variety of talented filmmakers and their films. It’s a wonderful celebration of independent filmmaking that provides a platform for the unique voice that captures our imaginations and gives us hope for the kind of movies that do more than just entertain. They are not the dumbed down films that litter the multiplexes. These struggling talented filmmakers have proven time and time again, whether it be at PFF or any other film festival, that they still consider what they produce as art rather than a commodity, and the audiences are the big winners of their end result.
