THE BEATLES: MADE ON MERSEYSIDE -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 8/12/19

 

Writer-director Alan Byron (BILLY FURY: THE SOUND OF FURY, PUNK '76) opens his 2018 documentary THE BEATLES: MADE ON MERSEYSIDE (Film Classics) with the familiar strains of "Twist and Shout." But it's the Isley Brothers version we hear, not the Beatles' celebrated cover.

This is typical of the entire film, which features not one note of actual Beatles' music (much as the documentary JIMI HENDRIX: THE GUITAR HERO had no actual Hendrix songs save for a public domain version of "Hey, Joe") and not that many images or film clips. It's a bit like making a documentary about the Apollo space program and not including any footage of the first moon landing. 

What compensation there is consists of ample interview footage of people either directly or indirectly involved with the Beatles during their five-year rise from obscurity to stardom, including their tour manager, a business associate of Brian Epstein, Epstein's secretary, and Pete Best's brother.

Best of all (pun intended), the Beatles' initial drummer Pete Best is on hand to offer his quiet, thoughtful reminiscences from a very first-hand point of view, and it's his segments that are the most welcome ray of sunshine in the whole presentation.

What makes it most worth watching, in fact, is finding out at the end that he's enjoying a happy life, both personally and professionally, including ample compensation for "The Beatles Anthology" and a new band which makes terrific music (I've heard them--they're really good).

There are also a couple of original members of the Quarrymen giving us their equally first-hand accounts of what went down on and offstage when John, Paul, and the rest were whooping it up at the Kaiserkeller and Star Club in Hamburg or electrifying local Liverpool kids at the Cavern and Casbah clubs.

Mona Best herself turns up in old footage with son Pete, which is of interest.  And last but certainly not least, Cynthia Lennon appears briefly a few times to share her own intimately personal perspective.

Most of the other interviewees relate familiar stories while the few film clips of the Beatles are augmented by lots of B-roll footage of Liverpool and Hamburg and various locations where the Beatles lived or performed.

When we're told the old story of how young Paul and John acquired American rock and roll records from sailors down at the docks, we're shown a lengthy montage of freighters unloading their cargo at those docks.

Say they liked Elvis and we see a minute or two of Elvis performing; say they covered "Long Tall Sally" and we hear Little Richard singing it. Snatches of other songs later covered by the Beatles turn up in their original form as well.

The Beatles, it turns out, are in the periphery of their own documentary. There are some nice clips of Ringo near the end, talking about joining the band, being in the hospital, etc.  But again, no actual Beatle music.  The effect is ultimately a bit dull and, needless to say, disappointing.

The DVD from Film Movement is in 1.78:1 widescreen with 2.0 stereo sound. No subtitles or extras.

If THE BEATLES: MADE ON MERSEYSIDE were chosen to be enclosed in a time capsule, future archeologists would learn the usual pre-fame history of the group, and get brief samples of their images and speaking voices, but would have no idea what their legendary music sounded like.

THE BEATLES: MADE ON MERSEYSIDE -- DVD Review by Porfle

FULCI FOR FAKE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/28/20


 

For an unusual filmmaker such as Lucio Fulci comes an unusual approach to a screen biography, FULCI FOR FAKE (2019), which gets points for trying something new even though the attempt isn't always a success.

Writer-director Simone Scafidi, a longtime admirer of his subject, came up with the odd conceit of placing a fictional character, that of an actor hired to play Fulci in a fictitious film about his life, in the position of interviewing actual people from Fulci's life in order to lay the groundwork for his portrayal.

Thus, when we see Fulci's daughters Camilla and Antonella along with various friends and coworkers being interviewed by Scafidi, closeups of the actor are inserted asking the questions.  We also see occasional glimpses of the actor contemplating the role as he goes about his daily business.

For me, this unique form of presentation never really gels, and I began to view the actor segments as more of an intrusion than anything else. It's a cinematic affectation that doesn't really do anything to augment the actual interview material or the film as a cohesive whole.

Still, for Fulci fans the documentary material will prove priceless, as we're treated to extensive contemplations, ruminations, and revelations about the famed Italian film maestro by those who knew and loved him best.

Daughters Camilla and Antonella give the most intimate details of their father about whom they still get visibly emotional.  More essential perspectives on Fulci as a filmmaker and as a man are supplied by the likes of close friend Sandro Bitetto, film composer Fabio Frizzi, actor Paolo Malco (NEW YORK RIPPER), cinematographer Sergio Salvati (THE BEYOND, THE WAX MASK), director Michele Soavi, writer-producer Enrico Vanzina, and official biographer Michele Romagnoli.

The film is at its best when these notable personalities are waxing nostalgic about Fulci. Where I find it most lacking is in the almost total absence of film clips. We never get to see actual examples of the scenes to which the interviewees are referring, and the only visuals besides the talking heads consist of still photos and some home movie footage.

The narrative also tends to stray from the more interesting cinematic aspects of Fulci's life into less compelling areas such as his love for horses and even such trivial things as how unruly his hair tended to be. This results in some rather dry passages that don't really add much to the film.

More pertinent to many viewers will be details such as the making of the maestro's final film, THE DOOR INTO SILENCE, and his beginning work on THE WAX MASK (which was conceived for him by friend Dario Argento) during which he died due to heart complications.

In addition to this is some fascinating coverage of Fulci's most essential works in the horror genre during the late 70s and 80s, including AENIGMA, THE DEVIL'S HONEY, and ZOMBIE 3.

Perhaps the most fulfilling parts of Severin Films' Blu-ray edition of FULCI FOR FAKE (which is in Italian with English subtitles) are contained in the generous bonus menu, which contains Camilla Fulci's entire interview along with extra interview footage with Salvati, Frizzi, Malco, Soavi, Vanzani, and Romagnoli.

We also get more of those vintage home movies (with commentary by Fulci and Romagnoli) and audio recordings by Fulci himself. Rounding out the menu is some zombie footage from the Venice Film Festival and a trailer.

Scafidi himself reveals in a bonus interview that his docudrama isn't intended to be a comprehensive biography of Lucio Fulci--the internet now exists, he says, to fill interested parties in on such details--but is more of an esoteric celebration of the essence of the man. 

This makes watching FULCI FOR FAKE a rather fruitless pursuit for the uninitiated, while those already interested in and somewhat knowledgable about the subject should find it an enriching experience.

FULCI FOR FAKE -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE TRAGIC LIFE OF A MUSICAL GENIUS -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/28/08

 

You can pretty much tell from the title TCHAIKOVSKY: THE TRAGIC LIFE OF A MUSICAL GENIUS (2007) whether or not you're going to be interested in this. If you don't like classical music, you'll doubtless want to steer clear. Me, I love it, and found this BBC production to be fairly interesting, especially the concert segments.

Originally broadcast in 2007, it examines the life and music of 19th century Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in two parts, each hosted by conductor Charles Hazlewood. First, "The Creation of Greatness" tells of the fragile boy genius troubled by all the music swirling incessantly through his mind. The loss of his mother at a young age is something from which he never recovers. Later, we see him as a tortured homosexual living in fear that public exposure of his scandalous secret will ruin his career, while at the same time he struggles to gain acceptance for his daring musical ideas in the face of stodgy skepticism.

Part two, "Fortune and Tragedy", tells of his disastrous marriage of convenience to young female admirer Antonina Milyukova, despite the warnings of his younger brother Modest and the knowing ridicule of his friends. We also learn of a mysterious benefactor, a wealthy widow named Nadezhda von Meck, who finances Tchaikovsky for years although their only communication is through the written word. Tchaikovsky's fame and the Russian people's reverence for him grow to stellar proportions, but shortly after the unsuccessful premiere of his magnificent Sixth Symphony, "The Pathetique", he dies of cholera at the age of 53.

While well-mounted and interesting, the dramatic reenactments of certain events in Tchaikovsky's life don't build much momentum as they are intercut with actual concert footage, interviews with concert musicians in whom the distinctively Russian spirit of Tchaikovsky still resides, and narrative interludes with Hazlewood. In fact, the emphasis here is on the music itself as much as the composer.

Watching his First Piano Concerto being performed by the Maryinsky Young Philharmonic with an amazing solo performance by Natasha Peremski is a particular thrill, and it's deftly integrated into the scene in which Tchaikovsky first auditions the piece before his scoffing mentor, Anton Rubinstein, who is shocked to hear such "vulgar" passion expressed in music. Interesting that something we take for granted for its familiarity was once considered, in Hazlewood's words, to be "radical, raw, and shocking."

"Romeo and Juliet", an erotically-charged work composed during an early love affair with a music academy student named Edward Zak, has become somewhat of a cliche these days after having been used for so many movies and spoofs as diverse as TARZAN THE APE MAN and A CHRISTMAS STORY, but its performance here is stirring. This is also true of excerpts from some of Tchaikovsky's ballets, such as SWAN LAKE and THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. Best of all, however, is the climactic performance of the tragic "Pathetique", which is one of the most moving works ever written.

If not for these dynamic musical passages, which the filmmakers obviously staged and photographed with great feeling, the production would be unremittingly dry and somber. The biographical scenes serve mainly to illustrate how the passion and turmoil of Tchaikovsky's personal life was the rich inspiration for his music, and more than anything, the dramatic segments are supportive of and serve as backdrops for the musical passages.

Included as a bonus is an episode of the BBC series "Omnibus" entitled "Who Killed Tchaikovsky?", which effectively challenges the cholera explanation for the composer's death with theories of suicide or even murder, and hints at a mysterious and potentially scandalous cover-up. Biographer Anthony Holden travels to New York and St. Petersburg to do some detective work, uncovering tantalizing bits of evidence amidst a general unwillingness of the Russian people to risk casting aspersions on their revered national composer. The mystery is left unsolved, but raises some intriguing and rather chilling implications.

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE TRAGIC LIFE OF A MUSICAL GENIUS is informative regarding the volatile emotions behind Tchaikovsky's work, and competently acted by THE PIANIST's Ed Stoppard and a good cast. But it's the concert segments that really make it worth watching.

 

TCHAIKOVSKY: THE TRAGIC LIFE OF A MUSICAL GENIUS -- DVD Review by Porfle

CONFUCIUS -- DVD Review by Porfle

If, like me, your only knowledge of Confucius is when people say "Confucius say..." and then reel off some pithy remark, director Mei Hu's CONFUCIUS (2010) will help to enlighten you about what made the guy so quotable in the first place. 

Former John Woo action star Chow Yun Fat (THE KILLER, HARD-BOILED) gives a measured, meticulously controlled performance that displays his continuing maturation as an actor.  His Kong Qiu--as Confucius was more commonly known circa 500 B.C.--is a family man in his early fifties whose quiet wisdom and belief in government based on ethics and civility earn him a position that puts him right in the middle of clashes between rival provinces and "noble" families in ancient China. 

The film begins with his successful fight to end the practice of burying slaves alive with deceased noblemen and his peaceful resolution of a potentially volatile dispute with a neighboring dukedom.  Further attempts to reduce the growing power of the three main families in the Kingdom of Lu make him a target of their conspiratorial schemes, until even his main allies in government turn against him.  Accompanied by his fervent followers, the exiled Kong Qiu wanders the land from state to state as the country goes to hell around him, until in desperation the leaders of an embattled Kingdom of Lu seek his council once again. 

The story's pretty simple if you can make your way through all the needless exposition and rapid-fire introduction of so many characters you'd need a photographic memory to keep track of them all.  The dry, stately narrative is at its best when we see Kong Qiu countering the chest beating of his power-hungry political rivals with reason and compassion, or figuring out logical solutions to problems that seem destined to be resolved on the battlefield. 

He doesn't manage to peacefully defuse all of these situations, thank goodness, which means we get two or three large-scale battle sequences to liven things up here and there.  They're impressively rendered with a combination of full-sized sets and deft digital trickery--in one sequence, a tidal wave of molten metal blazes down a stone incline into a horde of attackers as the sky is filled with flaming arrows. 

Even so, these battle scenes are brief, perfunctory stepping stones in the narrative, with little emotional impact.  The film itself never really tries to be an epic even when all the elements of one are right there on the screen.  Rather, it's the story of a humble man living in epic times--although, for the most part, we learn more about Kong Qiu as a font of wisdom and an inspiration to others than as a man.  Even the scenes in which he interacts lovingly with his family are mere snapshots.  It's left up to Chow Yun Fat to supply most of his character's depth of feeling with that expressive face of his.

CONFUCIUS is at its best when Kong Qiu meets Nanzi (Xun Zhou), the beautiful consort to a neighboring king and the true power behind his throne.  He's awed by her royal radiance and beauty as she basks in his mental and emotional depth--at first, each tries to bow lower than the other in deference.  Taking advantage of this rare opportunity for a woman of the time to commune with such a sage, Nanzi seduces Kong Qiu with a spiritual and intellectual flirtatiousness which the actors portray almost as a delicate, exquisite kind of dance.

The Blu-Ray/DVD combo from Funimation is in 16:9 widescreen with Mandarin and English 5.1 Dolby sound.  Subtitles are in English.  Extras consist of several "making-of" featurettes (approx. 7 minutes each) and a trailer.

CONFUCIUS is a film in which the potentially sweeping visual splendor is held firmly in check by a sometimes bloodless story, and the plot resolutions are more intellectually stimulating than emotionally stirring.  It is, in fact, an outstanding accomplishment which deserves to be seen, yet--after a promising start--I found the scenes which I most wanted to be moved by to be oddly unmemorable.

CONFUCIUS -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 2/1/09

 

"I had a dream that this guy was sentenced to death for attempting to commit suicide."

He has a beautiful voice, though it's rarely on key. His lyrics are often stunning and emotionally complex, though they don't always make sense. Each song is deceptively simple and touchingly heartfelt, yet on a technical level he'd probably get kicked out of a high school talent show.

No doubt about it, Daniel Johnston is one of the strangest musical stars of all time. Never heard of him? Just check out his new concert DVD, THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL, and get ready for something completely different. If you're a fan but, like me, have never seen one of his performances in its entirety, then this is your ticket to spend a little quality time in that cheerfully surreal dimension where Daniel lives.

If there was ever a self-made musician, this is the guy. As a kid, Daniel began recording himself singing his own songs of teenage angst and romantic yearning while banging out the music on a piano. Crashing an MTV taping in Austin in 1983 with a guitar and a handful of cassettes, he managed to get himself on TV and lay the groundwork for a growing cult following that would lead to concerts, a record contract, and a seemingly bright future. There was just one catch--Daniel was a severe manic depressive with a tenuous grasp on reality, and over the years his increasingly erratic and irrational behavior sabotaged any potential he had for breaking into the big time.

In my review of the brilliant documentary THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON, I described him as "a Syd Barrett who never gave up his music." These days he's an overweight, graying, middle-aged man who lives with his parents in Waller, Texas, but never stopped writing songs or dwelling upon his various muses. And after being discovered by some local musicians who were amazed to find the legendary Daniel Johnston living in their town, he found himself back onstage.

Recorded in July 2007 at London's beautiful Union Chapel, a spacious yet somehow intimate venue whose stained-glass atmosphere is a perfect setting for Daniel's often spiritual lyrics, the concert features over an hour of his best songs including some familiar oldies that sound better than ever.

With a jovial "Hi, everybody!", he begins by strapping on a guitar and performing "Mean Girls" while artlessly strumming the chords just like he did in the old days. "Mean girls give pleasure...it's my greatest treasure" he sings, still speaking for every awkward, lovestruck teenage boy who ever went down in flames.

Settling in behind a piano for the haunting "Love Enchanted", a song vaguely similar musically to "Hotel California" but with much more emotional resonance, Daniel holds the audience in rapt attention. The solo portion of the concert thus over, various musicians join him for the rest as he simply stands at the microphone and sings while reading his lyrics from a notebook, hands shaking. It can't be easy playing backup for Daniel because he doesn't always stick to the beat, but these guys are good at fitting the music to Daniel's style of singing.

The familiar "Some Things Last a Long Time" weaves a spell that continues through a series of quirky gems such as "Try to Love", "Speeding Motorcycle", "Walking the Cow", and his classic "Casper the Friendly Ghost", about a guy who had to die before anyone gave him any respect. His voice shifts constantly between caterwauling to high, Neil Young-type clarity and is often surprisingly poignant.

All in all, there are eighteen songs about life and love, brimming with vaguely Beatlesque melodies, from a cockeyed point of view that is sometimes disarmingly amusing and often strikes a deep chord with its honesty and perception.

As he sings, I can see flashes of that young kid that still lives inside him. As I once wrote about him, "it's as though the patron saint of guys who sing in front of the mirror took pity on him and made all his musical dreams come true (well, a lot of them, anyway), which is really an amazing sight to behold." Even now, he can't believe it himself--"Are you still with me?" he'll sometimes ask the audience between verses. And they always are.

Surrounded by a band and buoyed by the good spirits around him as the performance nears its end, Daniel's "Rock and Roll/EGA" progresses from a spare little tune into a rousing rocker with some impressive vocals. The beautiful "True Love Will Find You in the End" closes the show. As an encore, Daniel saunters back onstage and sings "Devil Town" all by himself, then waves goodbye to the crowd as they give him a standing ovation.

Director Antony Crofts provides a good no-frills record of the concert with some imaginative camerawork. The sound is available in both stereo and 5.1 surround. The bonus features include rehearsal footage of "Some Things Last a Long Time", plus two more solo songs from the concert, "There is a Sense of Humor Way Beyond Friendship" and "And I Love You So", that didn't make it into the final cut but are well worth having. There's also a post-concert interview with Daniel that finds him happily discussing, among other things, his obsession with The Beatles and his lifelong love for horror movies such as HOUSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, DRACULA VS. FRANKENSTEIN, Hammer films, and his favorite movie, KING KONG.

The way I see it, Daniel Johnston is a seemingly ordinary guy with an inner musical genius trying to get out, but he could never quite get all the way out. So his fans are gladly willing to meet him halfway in order to reap the rewards to be found in Daniel's songs and performances. When he eases into what I consider to be his theme song, "The Story of an Artist", he recalls his parents' long-ago admonition: "We don't really like what you do, we don't think anyone ever will." He says his family's still trying to figure him out. Good luck. I don't think anybody's ever really going to figure this guy out.

THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON -- Movie Review by Porfle

(NOTE: This review originally appeared online in 2005.)


"It was my fate to become famous. And, uh...also to be damned."

That's just one of the enlightening statements made by the severely whacked-out title character in the kaleidescope of self-revelation that is writer-director Jeff Feuerzeig's THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON (2005). As a study of someone who leads an extraordinary life outside society's norms it's as fascinating a journey as FORREST GUMP, ZELIG, BEING THERE, LUST FOR LIFE, or any of a number of films about individuals whose mental "differences" are what make them great artists or noteworthy people.

But whereas those were fictional (or fictionalized) accounts, THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON is a documentary, and is all the more interesting because this guy is real. That's right, he's really out there somewhere. And I do mean "out there."

Which kinda makes me wonder about myself, because up until the point where Daniel starts exhibiting disturbing symptoms of manic depression, his life story is one I could strongly identify with. He grew up loving comics, cartooning, and music, and was the family jokester who always had his home movie camera whirring away.

But as time went by, it looked as though he would never learn just how to straighten up, buckle down, get a job, and begin to lead a more "well-rounded life" (his mother's phrase during one of her frequent harangues, one of many things Daniel recorded on his tape recorder over the years and an inspiration for an early home movie in which he portrays her as a crazed, rolling pin-wielding harpy).

Although art was a consuming passion, music began to dominate his interests, and he became a prolific songwriter who taped dozens of songs as he sat at the piano and banged out the accompaniment. He gradually imagined that he was actually recording albums on tape, for which he decorated the covers with his own cartoon characters.

Wow...so far, this is my life story, too, except my mom wasn't on my back all the time (although my dad griped at me for not getting a job and for having such a flaky, non-"Dukes Of Hazzard"-type sense of humor). Daniel was even more of a no-account college student than me--I was able to fake my way to graduation--and soon returned home, where the signs of his manic depression began to manifest themselves more and more overtly over time. (This is where our life stories begin to part company--I was never manic).

As his behavior became stranger, he was sent to live with his brother, who evicted him soon after. Then he lived with his sister for awhile before buying a moped and running off to join the carnival. One day a large, hostile carny knocked him senseless for taking too long in the port-o-potty, and Daniel wandered into the nearest Church Of Christ for help while the carnival left town. It sounds like I'm making this stuff up, but I'm not.

Anyway, he eventually ended up in Austin, Texas, where he conned his way into a taping of MTV's "The Cutting Edge", which was covering Austin's burgeoning music scene, and performed some of his songs for a national audience. He soon became a cult figure in Austin and word of his unusual talent began to spread even as his mental problems increased to the point where the people who had to deal with him on a daily basis began to have him committed to mental institutions. Somewhere along the line he started dropping acid, which was pretty much the genesis of his lifelong battle against Satan and the forces of evil.

If this were a SPINAL TAP-type mockumentary instead of one of the most entertaining and compelling documentaries I've ever seen, it couldn't be any more far out. Thanks to Daniel's overriding compulsion to tape-record his thoughts on a regular basis, we get to hear much of the story in his own voice at the time it was happening, which is augmented by dozens of his freaky cartoons that serve to illustrate his mental state at the time.

There are also interviews with many of his friends and associates, including Jeffrey Tartakov, the guy who tried to be his manager for several years and even got Elektra Records and Atlantic Records into a bidding war over him--while he was still in a mental institution--before Daniel fired him for no discernible reason. He finally signed a contract with Atlantic and released an album, "Fun", which sold 5,800 copies. (He was dropped less than two years later.)

His parents also provide many of their own bittersweet recollections and insights, including the time his father was flying him home after a triumphant appearance before thousands of fans in Austin and Daniel suddenly turned off the engine, took over the controls, and sent their small plane spiralling headlong toward earth. His father managed to get back into the pilot's seat and crash-land in a forest. Daniel, who thought he had just accomplished something marvelous, was proud of himself.

In addition to tape recordings and interviews, there is a lot of home movie and video footage to keep this from being anything but a talking-head movie. We get to see Daniel's ill-fated trip to New York to record with Sonic Youth. We see him performing passionately before admiring crowds from Austin to Stockholm, always with the same cracking voice and awkward guitar-strumming that somehow manages to captivate people. And we see him going farther and farther off the deep end, his delusional behavior always returning to sabotage everything that goes right in his life.

Daniel is now an overweight, gray-haired, middle-aged man who lives with his parents in Waller, Texas. He reminds me of a Syd Barrett who never gave up his music. In fact, after being discovered one day by a local rocker who was blown away to find the legendary Daniel Johnston living in his very own home town (he was being attacked by dogs while walking), Daniel is now the frontman for an honest-to-goodness rock group called Danny And The Nightmares.

As for Daniel's music--well, he still sounds to me like a guy singing and playing badly in front of his bedroom mirror and pretending to be performing for an admiring crowd. Which I, myself, might have done a time or two over the years. Only he isn't pretending--he's really doing it, and his songs display a cockeyed lyrical talent that is often surprisingly poignant.

It's as though the patron saint of guys who sing in front of the mirror took pity on him and made all his musical dreams come true (well, a lot of them, anyway), which is really an amazing sight to behold. Only Daniel would argue that it was Satan who granted him musical fame, which is why he is damned, which is why he spends so much time and effort preaching to whoever will listen and warning them to turn away from evil.

"Don't play cards with Satan, he'll deal you an awful hand," one of his songs tells us. But I don't think he's damned at all. Like a somewhat more benevolent Norman Bates, he just goes a little crazy sometimes.


Read our review of THE ANGEL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON: LIVE AT THE UNION CHAPEL

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL JOHNSTON -- Movie Review by Porfle

DEAR MR. GACY -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/14/10

 

I've seen several of those direct-to-video serial killer bios that have come out in the last few years, so I kind of expected DEAR MR. GACY (2010) to be cut from the same exploitative cloth--basically a lurid slasher flick marginally legitimized by the fact that it's more or less based on true events.  But this above-average account of college student Jason Moss' ill-advised attempt to get into the mind of John Wayne Gacy, who was then awaiting execution for the gruesome murder of 33 young men and boys, eschews gory sensationalism and takes us on a dark psychological spook ride into genuine fear.

When we first meet Jason, he's an aimless college student whose only real passion seems to be criminology.  The impending execution of Gacy gives him an idea--if he could find a way to contact the convicted serial killer, earn his trust and friendship, and persuade him to open up and perhaps even confess, it would make for a kickass term paper.  Inspired to an increasingly unhealthy degree by the prospect, Jason contacts Gacy by mail and even sends him some provocative shirtless photos to whet his interest.  After a little research, Jason is also able to say things in his letters which are designed to establish a sympathetic, trusting rapport with the killer.

The plan succeeds beyond Jason's wildest expectations, with Gacy becoming his ardent pen pal and even phoning him repeatedly from prison for long emotional chats.  But as the naive, overconfident Jason thinks he's getting one over on Gacy, he's being played like a cheap violin by a master manipulator.  The relationship begins to insinuate itself into every aspect of Jason's life until it finally becomes volatile and threatening. 


DEAR MR. GACY takes its time building up a sense of dread as we watch Jason stupidly get in deeper and deeper, stoked by both morbid curiosity and ego.  He's so naive that the smooth-talking Gacy has him dangling on a string before he even realizes it.  Jason doesn't even hear warning bells when Gacy creepily starts inquiring about his little brother, so sure is he that his "plan" to trick the wily convict into exposing himself is working. 

It's almost funny the way he thinks he's putting one over on Gacy when he hasn't the slightest clue of the massive mind game being played on him for the killer's twisted amusement.  This is especially evident when Gacy coaches him on how to read people and assess their traits and weaknesses in order to assert control over them.  Jason absorbs the information with interest and even tries it out on an attractive girl on campus (failing miserably, of course), oblivious to the fact that the sly Gacy is describing exactly what he's doing to the unwary Jason himself.

Director Svetozar Ristovski takes his time building a slowly-mounting sense of dread, keeping things low-key and realistic without trying to make the film overly "spooky."  We fear the seemingly inevitable outcome of Jason's downward slide (which is portrayed perhaps a bit too rapidly) as he alienates his family and his girlfriend while plunging into the depths of paranoia.  A somber cello-based score by Terry Frewer augments the film's downbeat tone throughout.


Veteran character actor William Forsythe (RAISING ARIZONA, THE ROCK) doesn't try to come off as a standard boogeyman.  He plays the character of John Wayne Gacy with seductive yet seething restraint, like a spider weaving its web for the unwary fly, until finally he gets Jason right where he wants him during the face-to-face meeting which the film has been leading up to all along.  This is where Forsythe lets loose and morphs into the terrifying monster we knew was lurking behind that fascade--it's almost like seeing Brian Cox's "Hannibal Lekter" from MANHUNTER unleashed.  The sequence inside the prison visitation room doesn't quite pack the wallop it might have, but it's still pretty unsettling.

Jesse Moss (FINAL DESTINATION 3) is well-cast as Jason and convincingly progresses from an almost groupie-like fascination with Gacy, to his growing addiction to the perverse thrill of Gacy's friendship and confidence, and finally his revulsion and terror as the relationship turns into an inescapable nightmare.  The rest of the cast is good, including Emma Lahana (ALIEN AGENT) as Jason's concerned girlfriend Alyssa and Andrew Airlie ("Defying Gravity") as his dubious criminology professor. 

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen and Dolby Digital 5.1, with English and Spanish subtitles.  Also included is a featurette, "The Gacy Files: Portrait of a Serial Killer", in which Forsythe talks with people who knew the man or were involved with his case.

There's no way to know how much of DEAR MR. GACY is strictly true--there's even an end-of-movie disclaimer reminding us that not all of Jason Moss' account, as related in his memoir "The Final Victim", can be verified.  But the story makes for a compelling and disturbing film, made even more so by a sad postscript which reveals that Gacy's malevolent influence may not have ended with his execution. 

DEAR MR. GACY -- DVD Review by Porfle

THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG -- DVD Review by Porfle

Originally posted on 12/9/16

 

If you're unfamiliar with Weng Weng, all it takes to remedy the problem is seeing the trailer for the James Bond spoof "For Y'ur Height Only" which kicks off writer-director Andrew Leavold's affectionate documentary THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG (2007). 

For the next two minutes or so, we see the diminutive Filipino movie star (all 2'9" of him) going through all the familiar Bond motions, such as the gun-barrel sequence and a wobbly-wired imitation of his celebrated rocket pack flight from THUNDERBALL, in addition to all the shooting and fancy fighting (not to mention romancing) we're used to seeing from Sean Connery.

Needless to say, watching the vertically-challenged Weng Weng as Agent 00 doing all this action-oriented secret agent stuff in a spiffy white suit is the very definition of the term "novelty."

It's this quality that prompted the film industry in the Philippines to churn out a number of Weng Weng films in quick succession, one of which ended up in the hands of Australian cult video store owner Leavold in the form of an obscure VHS copy and sparked in him the keen desire to do a film biography of the tiny actor. 

But finding out about him proved an elusive prospect at best, so, Mini-DV camera in hand, Leavold took the bold step of traveling to the Philippines in order to track down anyone he could find who could help shed light on his elusive subject. 

As we see here, he pretty much hit the jackpot, running across not only former cast and crewmates of Weng Weng but the man's only living relative, brother Celing de la Cruz, all of whom are only too happy to share their fond reminiscences.

Sadly, all was not happiness and success for Weng Weng--as we discover, he was taken advantage of by some whom he trusted while never finding the fulfillment in life that a man of normal stature might have. 

Still, as we find in what is probably the most fascinating segment in the film, Weng Weng was a favorite of his country's political royalty, Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos.  Leavold scores a major coup by being invited to the palace by an enthusiastic Mrs. Marcos herself and treated as a special guest to whom she is quite talkative and candid.  (The film's weirdest moment for me: visiting Ferdinand's embalmed body, which is still lying in state for all to visit.)

Of immense importance to him as well, of course, are the interviews with Weng Weng's brother and those who worked with him.  Leavold is able to extract much interesting information with which to construct a picture of the man's life and give us an empathetic understanding of what it was like to be an irresistible novelty to some and a freak to others.

All of this is enhanced not only by nicely-shot interview footage but also with copious amounts of film clips featuring Weng Weng in all his glory.  The films themselves are incredibly cheap and sub-par technically, and I seriously doubt than their plots would be of much interest, so it's nice to simply get an entertaining montage of scenes from all of them which are made more interesting by the knowledge that Weng Weng performed all of his own stunts.  After all, where would they find a 2'9" stunt man to stand in for him?

The DVD from WildEye Releasing contains an informative commentary track from Leavold, a trailer, deleted scenes, an "I Love Weng Weng" music video, and extended interview segments.  There's also a trailer for Leavold's upcoming Doris Wishman parody "Gone Lesbo Gone." 

THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG isn't just a filmed biography, but also a detective story in which the director, obsessed with his subject, tracks him down as Holmes might track Moriarty.  The result is a true story with equal shares of triumph and tragedy, and an opportunity to get to know this sweetly likable little man who made a big mark on the Filipino film industry while gaining fans all around the world.

THE SEARCH FOR WENG WENG -- DVD Review by Porfle

LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 9/11/08

 

I've never been a big Larry Flynt fan. He always struck me as an opportunistic smartass who loves to stir up trouble. After watching the 2008 documentary, LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE, my opinion of him has softened somewhat. He's still opportunistic, but let's face it--what smut peddler isn't? He's still a smartass, but that's his medium and he works it like a fine artist. And although he does like to stir up trouble, a lot of that trouble was laid on his own doorstep by people trying to send him to prison in 1977 for publishing a dirty magazine.

Nowadays, Larry Flynt has achieved a level of respectability that finds him giving lectures at places like Harvard. Here, we see him before a crowd composed largely of admiring liberals who might regard him with disdain if he hadn't become the poster boy for free speech over the years. His dirty magazine and its politically-incorrect contents are now reluctantly tolerated by those fascinated by his various exploits in the defense of the First Amendment and the advancement of left-wing ideology. Fortunately, you don't have to agree with his politics or be an avid reader of his colorful publication--or even particularly like the guy--to share in their fascination, which is why I found this documentary so involving.

Flynt's reminiscences during his various speaking venues are augmented by lots of old footage from his vigorous younger days, when he first gained national attention by receiving a 25-year prison sentence for obscenity. He may come off as a soft-spoken old sage now, but back then he was hell on wheels (figuratively speaking). The younger Flynt faces news cameras with fearless conviction and backs down to no one. At his sentencing, we're told, he said to the judge: "You haven't made an intelligent decision in this case, and I don't expect one now." Tales of subsequent courtroom antics over the years provide further entertainment later on, including his infamous run-ins with Reverend Jerry Falwell.

We're introduced to Flynt's young wife, Althea, who was a driving force behind "Hustler" and equally outspoken. One of the tragedies of this film is watching her swift decline after becoming addicted to heroin, leading to her death in 1987. The other is, of course, an assassination attempt on Flynt which left him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Losing the ability to walk, however, did nothing to quell Flynt's fiery indignation and his ability to face down any opponent; as we see in some riveting jailhouse deposition footage, he's still the ultimate smartass.

The film documents Flynt's further exploits before the Supreme Court, as a Presidential candidate, and as an object of fear and loathing in the hallowed halls of government, where his ability to find the skeletons in certain Republican politician's closets led to the resignation of House speaker Bob Livingston. Now, seemingly a much more sedate and contemplative figure, the older Flynt is no less opinionated and passionate in his political beliefs.

I don't share many of them, and I never really bought the notion of Larry Flynt as the noble, heroic martyr for free speech, but there's no denying that he is one fascinating character with unshakable convictions. Director Joan Brooker-Marks has deftly assembled a mix of recent interview and lecture footage along with archival material to concoct a consistently interesting story which, despite the volatility of the subject, is low-key and thoughtful, and lacking the circus atmosphere of Flynt's Woody Harrelson-starring biopic.

Presented in 16x9 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby Digital 2.0 sound, the DVD contains an informative director commentary, a trailer, some additional interview footage, and over fifteen minutes of extra material from the aforementioned deposition which is just about as irreverent as anything you'll ever see.

Like him or not, agree with his politics or not, LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE is a richly compelling documentary about one of the most unusual maverick figures of our time. I'm still not a fan, but I can say that I understand the guy a lot better now.

 

LARRY FLYNT: THE RIGHT TO BE LEFT ALONE -- DVD Review by Porfle

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 6/8/16

 

It's one thing to "come out of the closet" nowadays, when being openly gay isn't necessarily a career killer.  But when Tab Hunter was America's number one heartthrob, it could not only end your career but land you in jail.

That's how the documentary TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL (2015) begins, with the celebrated subject attending an all-male party in the Hollywood Hills (old 8mm film footage sets the stage) which was raided by the cops.  Before he knows it, he's behind bars and worrying about how to explain it all to his mother.

How a wildly popular young celebrity known for his boyish masculinity and powerful sex appeal to swooning females copes with being "queer" in a world that considers it both a crime and a mental disorder fuels this cracking good film with a consistent appeal of its own. 

Hunter states at the start that he's never been this open before, and indeed his interview segments are thoughtful, heartfelt, and candid.  In his mid-80s, he retains a hint of the young Tab Hunter who shone brightly as an acting and singing sensation before his downfall and eventual comeback as a John Waters star.

The film's narrative is not just related to his sexuality but is an interesting story about a handsome, likable young guy--who, at first, had only a modicum of actual talent--breaking into the movies and then, due to his sheer charisma and almost angelic good looks, blazing a trail like a shooting star across the Hollywood sky. 

Through it all, as we learn from interview segments by friends and fans such as John Waters, Robert Wagner, Connie Stevens, Debbie Reynolds, George Takei, Rex Reed, Darryl Hickman, Lainie Kazan, Mother Dolores Hart (the WHERE THE BOYS ARE star who became a nun), and many others, Tab never let it go to his head and remained Arthur "Art" Gelien, the humble son of a troubled German mother who raised her two sons alone. 

 

As one old friend relates, Art was already a hit with the girls before stardom, often getting mobbed in the hallways of his school.  So he seemed destined to be the stuff of countless crushes by teen girls (and boys). 

Tab's secret life is explored in stories of his covert love affairs with men, including another rising star Anthony Perkins (PSYCHO, FEAR STRIKES OUT). We learn of the studio wielding its power to protect his image from such media sharks as "Confidential" magazine, the model for L.A. CONFIDENTIAL's "Hush-Hush." 

Gossip mag queen Rona Barrett herself is on hand to add her perspective on this, as is actress Venetia Stevenson who served as a "beard" on arranged dates with Tab and Tony. "They created this persona, and that was your job--to be this persona," Tab reveals.  The film also explores his close friendship with Natalie Wood and the one time he almost married a French actress with whom he shared a brief but passionate relationship.

When he quit the studio to go out on his own, Tab lost his immunity from media scrutiny and soon became fair game in the press.  This helped sink his career, which wouldn't see a resurgence until John Waters cast him along with 300-pound transvestite Glenn "Divine" Milstead (PINK FLAMINGOS) as his leading lady in the nuclear family satire POLYESTER, which was a hit. 

Technically, the documentary is another finely-crafted work by Jeffrey Schwarz (I AM DIVINE, SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY).  The colorful montage of stills, film and television clips, and interview segments is seamless and consistently engaging, making this documentary both informative and fun from start to finish. 

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL benefits from the way the two main threads of Hunter's life--the dazzling superstardom and the constant fear of being a closeted homosexual--intertwine and affect each other in ways that are sometimes tragic, sometimes inspirational, and always fascinating. And through it all shines Hunter's winning charm, which remains undiminished.

TAB HUNTER CONFIDENTIAL -- Movie Review by Porfle

CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL -- DVD review by porfle

 Originally posted 2/27/12

 

Like HERSCHELL GORDON LEWIS: THE GODFATHER OF GORE, CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL (2011) is a fun, well-constructed, and informative documentary tribute to an influential producer-director whose films continue to entertain us.  But while both are loaded with testimonials from friends and coworkers, Corman's are considerably more high-profile.  That's because he gave some of the biggest names in the film industry their first break.

CORMAN'S WORLD takes us from his first screen efforts in the 50s (THE MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS) through his historic association with the groundbreaking American-International Pictures and successful exploitation of the burgeoning teen market, to his break from A-I to form New World Pictures and achieve creative freedom, and all the way to his current cheesy-but-fun monster flicks for the SyFy Channel (SHARKTOPUS, DINOSHARK).

The road is paved with a wealth of fun clips that document Corman's growth as a filmmaker from the crude early efforts such as ATTACK OF THE CRAB MONSTERS, IT CHALLENGED THE WORLD, and THE WASP WOMAN to his more critically-acclaimed Poe adaptations (HOUSE OF USHER, THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM).  "I never had the opportunity to go to film school," he says.  "My student work was being shown on the screen."  Of all his hundreds of pictures, none (save for the anti-racist message film THE INTRUDER with William Shatner, which was a labor of love) ever failed to make a profit, which, to the penny-pinching Corman, was of paramount importance.

The roster of names contributing their (mostly glowing) testimonials reads like a who's who of Hollywood.  Martin Scorsese recalls directing his first studio picture, 1972's BOXCAR BERTHA with Barbara Hershey and David Carradine; Ronny Howard enthuses about his own big break as a director with 1976's car-crash epic GRAND THEFT AUTO; Robert DeNiro and Bruce Dern look back on their early roles in such films as BLOODY MAMA and THE TRIP.

The list goes on--Jonathan Demme, Joe Dante, David Carradine, Pam Grier, Peter Fonda, Jonathan Haze, Polly Platt, Penelope Spheeris, Gale Anne Hurd, John Sayles, Peter Bogdanovich, and William Shatner also pay tribute to Corman, while others such as Eli Roth and Quentin Tarantino, who never worked with him but peg him as a key influence in their careers, testify to his importance as a filmmaker.  Rarely has one man had such a profoundly positive effect upon such a wide array of creative artists.

Aside from a few amusing montages, the lean, straightforward documentary by director Alex Stapleton doesn't try to be cute or to funny things up with cartoony humor or clever cinematic flourishes which, considering the wealth of material at hand, are entirely unnecessary.  Corman himself is seen happily going about his life with wife and producing partner Julie, seemingly as content as ever with the way things have worked out even as he continues well into his 80s.  (A highlight is his being presented, at long last, with an honorary Oscar.)  His own philosophical observations and practical advice regarding the moviemaking business are both fascinating and invaluable. 

Of all the famous faces yakking about Corman during the course of the film, my favorite is longtime associate Jack Nicholson.  The venerable Hollywood legend fondly recalls his early days on such films as THE CRY BABY KILLER, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (with its famous "dentist office" scene), and THE TRIP, which he wrote.  Best of all is hearing Nicholson talk about that infamous patchwork quickie THE TERROR (directed in turn by Corman, Francis Ford Coppola, Monte Hellman, Nicholson himself, and possibly others) in which he co-starred with Boris Karloff, Dick Miller, Jonathan Haze, and his then-current wife Sandra Knight amidst sets temporarily left standing from THE RAVEN.

The DVD from Anchor Bay is in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with Dolby 5.1 sound and subtitles in English and Spanish.  Extras include extended interviews, personal messages to Corman, and the film's trailer.

An unexpected moment near the end finds Nicholson suddenly overcome with emotion, on the verge of tears as warm feelings toward his old mentor rush to the surface.  If you can inspire this kind of heartfelt sentiment in a salty old cuss like Jack, then your world must be a pretty nice place to live in.  And CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL is an ideal way for us to visit it for awhile.


Buy it at Amazon.com
DVD
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CORMAN'S WORLD: EXPLOITS OF A HOLLYWOOD REBEL -- DVD review by porfle

FARINELLI -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 4/18/19

 

The very notion of the "castrato" has always been utterly grotesque to me, so I didn't know what I was getting into with FARINELLI (1994), the biography of real-life 18th-century Italian castrato Carlo "Farinelli" Broschi.  And the last thing I expected was for it to be so moving, so engaging, so lavishly produced, and, ultimately, so much fun.

Not a comedic sort of fun--there are few actual lighthearted moments--but the fun of delving into something purely enjoyable and being dazzled by it. The story is a richly dramatic one that's well-acted and impeccably rendered, with fine costumes and locations including some of the grandest opera houses in Europe.

But the main appeal here is the journey of our main character, Carlo (Stefano Dionisi), who becomes a castrato (thus preserving his exquisite pre-pubescent singing voice) against his will having already witnessed another boy's suicide after suffering the same fate.

His musician father makes him vow to never deny his voice to his older brother Riccardo (Enrico Lo Verso), an aspiring composer who uses Carlo as a vocal instrument to increase the appeal of his own pedestrian music. Later, when Carlo's fame elevates him to rock-star status, this brotherly partnership will extend to Carlo's sexual conquests, which Riccardo also shares in tag-team fashion.

The early part of the film reminded me a bit of Ken Russell's LISZTOMANIA--sans the over-the-top ridiculousness--with women, nobility included, throwing themselves at Carlo and sometimes even reaching sexual climax during some of his more impressive vocal gymnastics. 

Riccardo seems to enjoy this aspect of his brother's fame the most, though, as Carlo is clearly unfulfilled and searching for something more. That something, we discover, is to sing music with genuine passion, as opposed to the ornate but empty passages penned by his brother.

At one point, the great composer Handel (Jeroen Krabbé, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), who previously rejected the brothers and ridiculed Carlo as a freak, has a change of heart after Carlo's rise to fame and wishes for him to perform his music.  This will create a rift between Carlo and the increasingly jealous Riccardo that will grow wider with time, especially when a terrible secret from the past is revealed. 

Meanwhile, Carlo's sensitive side emerges when he meets Margareth Hunter (Caroline Cellier) and her disabled young son Benedict, with whom he forms a deep mutual affection.  He also falls in love with Benedict's nurse Alexandra (Elsa Zylberstein) and they form a close relationship that will, as usual, include Riccardo.

Most of this, as I found after a bit of online research, is made up of whole cloth and bears little resemblance to the life of the real Farinelli (Carlo Brochi's stage name).  But I didn't mind, because it's such a gorgeous, sumptuous fiction that I found myself captivated by it from tumultuous start to emotional finish.

Not the least of its charms are its performance scenes, during which Farinelli's incredibly rich and nimble soprano voice is simulated by the painstaking combination of real-life male and female opera singers after much experimentation. 

Stefano Dionisi himself underwent extensive training to learn how to convincingly lip-synch the songs amidst all the pomp and splendor the production designers could muster.

Director Gérard Corbiau brings it all together with a surehanded, straighforward style and a keenly artistic eye.  FARINELLI is both a visual and aural confection and a dramatic delight that one can indulge in like a rich dessert.  And like any sumptuous treat, I didn't want it to end.


Buy it at Film Movement 

BONUS FEATURES:
Making-Of Featurette
Behind-The-Scenes Interviews
Illustrated Booklet With Essay
Trailer

TECH SPECS:
Format: NTSC, Subtitled
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Film Movement Classics
New 2K Digital Restoration
1.85:1 Widescreen, 2.0 Stereo
Language: French and Italian, English Subtitles
DVD Release Date: April 23, 2019
Run Time: 111 minutes

FARINELLI -- Blu-ray Review by Porfle

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 10/29/08

 

Mixing a dash of truth with heaping helpings of fiction, the UK-Australian film DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET (2008) finds legendary escapologist Harry Houdini in Edinburgh, Scotland during his final 1926 European tour (truth), where he meets and falls in love with a beautiful con woman named Mary McGarvie who claims she can help him contact the spirit of his dear, departed mother (fiction). The result is a handsomely-mounted romantic fantasy with an intriguing "what if?" premise and some interesting performances.

Mary and her young tomboyish daughter, Benji, live in an impossibly cozy shack in a cemetery and earn a living performing in a local music hall as "the tantalizing Princess Kali and her dusky disciple." This gives Catherine Zeta-Jones a chance to look fabulous in a skimpy harem costume while she and a brown-faced Benji wow the rubes with their fake psychic act. When Houdini triumphantly enters the city to an ecstatic reception, his standing offer of $10,000 to anyone who can prove their psychic veracity by reciting his mother's dying words to him is an irresistible opportunity for the mother-daughter team.

They set about trying to dig up personal information on Houdini to aid in their deception, and in the process Harry and Mary begin to fall for each other. This unusual romance, and how it effects both a jealous Benji and Harry's doting manager-slash-keeper Mr. Sugarman (Timothy Spall), keeps the story moving until the moment of truth in which Mary is expected to wield her psychic powers before an expectant Houdini and a horde of eager reporters.

Guy Pearce plays Houdini as a gruff but friendly egotist with an imposing personality and boundless energy. The usually rail-thin Pearce comes as a shock in his first shirtless scene--with his new muscular frame he hardly looks like the same person we saw in L.A. CONFIDENTIAL, MEMENTO, or THE TIME MACHINE. Catherine Zeta-Jones is a more restrained presence, but her Mary is just as strong-willed as Houdini and rejects his amorous advances until she's sure he regards her as more than a casual fling. As it turns out, Harry's interest in her is based in large part on her uncanny resemblance to his mother, which gives the story an added element of--well, weirdness.

The most interesting performance comes from 14-year-old Saoirse Ronan as Benji. She's a remarkably skilled, thoughtful actress who pretty much steals every scene she's in while doing so in a subtle and natural manner. Her Benji narrates the film, which we see mainly from her viewpoint and experience through her character. Much of the story's emotional resonance comes from the conflict between her devotion to her mother and her hero-worship of Houdini, who is, after all, the object of their deceptive scheme.

Director Gillian Armstrong (MY BRILLIANT CAREER, LITTLE WOMEN) handles the action well and gives the film a hazy, golden-hued, nostalgic look. Lush period detail fills the frame in every scene. The main titles display Armstrong's sometimes quirky visual sense--we see a strait-jacketed Pearce enter the water from below the surface and then drift into closeup, where he floats motionless and calmly holds his breath in one long, unbroken take until the credits are done. It looks like a SPFX shot but it isn't, and Pearce's breath control is the result of training with a professional.

We don't see much of Houdini's performance magic after that, although his famous water torture escape is very nicely duplicated early on. Armstrong imaginatively uses this device as a means for mystical floating visions to appear to whoever is inside it. Houdini sees a ghostly image of his mother, complete with pennies over her eyes; Benji, after accidentally falling in, sees a red-haired angelic harbinger of Houdini's death.

For me, the highlight is the sequence in which Mary is expected to channel the spirit of Houdini's mother before the assembled press and reveal her last words to him. It doesn't go off as expected, and there's a startling twist in which the boundary between fakery and actual spiritualism is apparently blurred. Surprisingly, it's Saoirse Ronan's performance in this scene which is the most impressive.

The widescreen picture and sound are good. The commentary track is just the kind I like--both continuous and well-balanced between being scene-specific and generally informative. It's also amusing the way director Armstrong keeps up a constant monologue while producer Marian Macgowan, who has a better memory for details, inserts various names and other factual data almost seamlessly into the pauses. Additional features consist of a "making-of" featurette and a trailer. There are no deleted scenes because, as Armstrong tells us, the script by Tony Grisoni and Brian Ward was so tight that it didn't require any trimming after it was filmed.

Not quite a remarkable film, DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET is still an involving and visually satisfying historical fiction that benefits from its lead performances, imaginative story, and fine period setting. The rather peculiar romance between Harry and Mary is far more intriguing and adult than the usual Harlequin nonsense, while the mystical elements give it a nice dark tone and are left tantalizingly unresolved.

 

DEATH DEFYING ACTS: HOUDINI'S SECRET -- DVD Review by Porfle

I AM DIVINE -- DVD review by porfle

 Originally posted on 4/2/14

 

I can't remember where I first heard about "Pink Flamingos" and its outrageous drag-queen star Divine--probably Danny Peary's book "Cult Movies"--but back in 1981 when I got my first VCR and started ordering movies on tape (owning a movie on VHS in those days was both exciting and expensive) that infamous John Waters film was one of them. 

And it didn't disappoint.  Outrageous?  The crudely-filmed paean to filth oozed with one outrage after another, culminating in Divine's most unforgettable act ever--eating dog poop, for real, right there in the final closeup. How, I wondered, does a person get  to that point as an actor, as a personality, and as a human being?  I knew quite a bit about the movie, but who was Divine?

I AM DIVINE (2013), a documentary by filmmaker Jeffrey Schwarz ("Spine Tingler! The William Castle Story"), sets out to answer this question in entertaining and fairly informative fashion.  With friends and acquaintances supplying the voiceover along with archival comments from Divine, we get the straight story (so to speak) along with tons of film and video footage presented in a pleasing animation-enhanced visual style. 

Being familiar as most of us are with Divine the flamboyant star (to put it mildly), my main interest was finding out about the person behind the character.  I AM DIVINE satisfies this curiosity by telling us the story of a lonely, introverted boy named Harris Glenn Milstead, whose childhood in Baltimore was a daily ordeal of getting mocked and beaten up for being different. 

Not openly gay--that would come later--Glenn was, as his family doctor warned his mother Frances,  a very effeminate boy.  Besides attending Sunday School, his interests lie in hairstyling, clothes, and, as he discovered while preparing to attend a costume party with his then-girlfriend Diane Evans, dressing up like a girl. 

This would later lead to his entry in various drag contests,  but while the competition busied themselves trying to emulate female appearance and behavior, Glenn's goal was to exaggerate it to the extreme. He didn't want to be a woman, but a bizarre caricature of one which would allow him to flaunt his own suppressed personality traits in public with no inhibitions. 

In a low-key,  matter-of-fact style, this film guides us through the various milestones of Glenn's life including his fateful meeting with aspiring underground filmmaker John Waters when both were teenagers.  Rare photographs and film footage recount the evolution of the Divine character, a collaboration between Glenn, John Waters, and makeup man Van Smith, and his appearance in early Waters films such as "The Diane Linkletter Story", "Mondo Trasho", and "Multiple Maniacs."  It was Smith who gave Divine his most distinctive feature--the partially-shaved hairline with grotesquely exaggerated eyebrows and eye makeup. 

Clips from Waters' early magnum opus "Pink Flamingos" include a behind-the-scenes view of the celebrated dog-poop finale in which they were forced to follow the dog around for hours waiting for it to perform as planned.  The documentary cuts away at precisely the fateful moment, presumably in order to avoid an X-rating, but it's still interesting hearing Divine and others talk about what it was like doing it and the effect it had on audiences at the time.  (As for me,  I can no longer watch the actual scene without gagging.)

Later, as one might guess, Divine would come to view such infamy as both a blessing and a curse which hindered his aspirations as an actor.  Meanwhile, however, we see his meteoric rise to underground super-stardom and cult worship with smash international appearances as a disco singer and stage actor. 

He also enjoyed subsequent successes in Waters' "Female Trouble" (described as the filmmaker's "Gone With the Wind") and later entries into the mainstream such as "Polyester" with Tab Hunter, the wildly popular "Hairspray" with Ricki Lake, and a non-Waters cult comedy-western "Lust in the  Dust" with Hunter and Lainie Kazan.

Inevitably, the documentary begins to reveal how overindulgence in drugs (he was a self-described "pot head") and food, along with a generally unhealthy lifestyle, would put Divine on the road to an early demise.  The tragic irony is that this occurs just as his career is hitting its peak and he has made a happy reconciliation with his parents.  Frances Milstead's own wistful recollections of her son Glenn give I AM DIVINE much of its heart and allow us to see the human being behind Divine's garish fascade.

John Waters fills in a lot of the blanks with his own personal stories, as do Divine friends and co-stars Mink Stole, Susan Lowe, Diane Evans, Ricki Lake, Tab Hunter, Lisa Jane Persky, and several others.  Among those appearing in archival footage are David Lochary, Van Smith, and Edith Massey. Several interview clips of Glenn Milstead himself reveal him to be a thoughtful, soft-spoken man who wanted to be accepted on his own rather than being forever identified with his fictional counterpart. 

The DVD from Wolfe Video is widescreen with 5.1 and 2.0 sound.  Subtitles are in English.  Extras include a commentary track featuring director Schwarz, producer Lotti Pharriss Knowles, and actress Mink Stole, along with trailers for this and other gay and lesbian-related films from Wolfe Video.

With copious amounts of footage showcasing Divine's wilder side, including shaking his massive flab onstage in halter tops and G-strings, famously getting raped by a giant lobster in "Multiple Maniacs", and (my favorite) strutting his stuff down the main drag of Baltimore in "Pink Flamingos" while actual bystanders gape in open-mouthed astonishment, I AM DIVINE should satisfy viewers who are interested only in the more freakish aspects of the immortal underground star's persona.  But its main accomplishment for me is the non-sensationalistic way in which it presents Harris Glenn Milstead as a basically decent person who was loved by many and fondly remembered by many more.

I AM DIVINE -- DVD review by porfle