Jim's Film Festival Diary for Monday, April 9

Films: 638 Ways to Kill Castro, Suffering Man's Charity, VHS - Kahloucha

Future Screenings: 638 Ways to Kill Castro - None
Suffering Man's Charity - None
VHS - Kahloucha - Sat, April 14, 2PM at the NCC

I'm probably jinxing myself here, but I'm pleased to say I have yet to see a bad movie at the Film Festival this year. Did I make better choices, or am I just lucky so far? It's hard to say... Unfortunately, my day was not bereft of bad experiences, as my first two film screenings were slowed and lengthened by technical difficulties. Seriously, how hard is it to project a DVD in the correct aspect ratio, and with the sound playing at the same time? And why did we have to rewind and watch half the movie again when they finally got it right? Some of us have more movies to see! Luckily, I managed to make it to my final film before the opening credits were done rolling.

638 Ways to Kill Castro
This film was preceded by a lovely little short film: the winner of Best Documentary in the Greater Philadelphia Student Film Festival, "Duet," by Jeff Levin and Stephen Morse of Penn. It's about local street performers, and focuses in particular on a vocalist and a guitar player who frequent one of the city's train stations (I think it was Suburban Station? Sorry, too many movies, you start to forget the details). It's a fun, funny, and interesting film. What most shocked and fascinated me was the amount of money these guys pull in. The guitarist has a bachelor's degree and used to work as a graphic designer for newspapers and such, but this actually pays more money!! Those guys are making something like $200 a day there! Admittedly, they're very talented, and it's a high traffic area, but still: crazy!

But anyway, on to 638 Ways to Kill Castro. I took the day off from work to make sure I would get to see this film, as it sounded completely fascinating to me: a documentary about the many, many assassination attempts against Cuba's dictator, Fidel Castro. And in fact, it is quite interesting, as it interviews a number of people actually involved in the attempts, and other people involved in thwarting them, as well as describing a number of said attempts (although not all 638 documented by Castro's security team). These incredible interviews with the otherwise normal, everyday people who were driven to try to kill Castro, as well as the odd details about these amazing true stories, are the film's strong points. I was rather amazed to learn that the CIA's hand in many of these attempts is not well hidden at all, and that it is pretty much a well-known fact that the American government was ultimately behind most of them. Or at least, this is what the film leads me to believe; maybe it's not as cut and dry as all that. The film doesn't offer much in the way of political commentary, and doesn't take a side as to whether Castro really deserves to die or not. Its only real position seems to be that the American government is rather stupid and ridiculous when it comes to Cuba (or, as one former American official puts it in the film, American administrations act like a werewolf during the full moon when it comes to Cuba - completely irrationally). One of my only problems with the film is its unfortunate variations in tone. A lot of the time it takes a very goofy attitude towards its content, even making terrible puns, playing wacky music, and showing us ridiculous stock footage, as if this is an episode of Monty Python's Flying Circus or something. At other times - usually while displaying footage of real killings and dead bodies - it takes a deadly serious tone. I would have preferred that it stick to your average, plain, staid documentary tone throughout, with perhaps a bit of dry wit in the narration occasionally; the content itself is often so ridiculous - like the story about the CIA trying to make Castro's beard fall out - that it doesn't need any further embellishments to make it humorous.

Another point: I would have liked more detail about more of the assassination attempts. Maybe it's due to legal issues and lack of reliable information, but I would really have liked to know more about how these things went down, more about how they were attempted and how they failed. I also, due to my own ignorance of the situation in Cuba, would have liked to have seen more about Castro himself, what his story is, what his policies are, why everyone wants to kill him so very much, but that's probably outside the scope of this film, and something I should just go research on my own. Anyway, all-in-all, it's a totally fascinating documentary, and an interesting look at how hard it can be to kill a man.
Festival rating: Very Good

Suffering Man's Charity
Wonderfully talented actor Alan Cummings' directorial debut is a ridiculously dark comedy about a rather pathetic diva of a music teacher named John Vandermark living in a dilapidated old house, desperate to convince himself of his own great talent and importance. The problem is, he's a small man, easily used and hurt, and actually doesn't have very much talent. He takes in an attractive young man named Sebastian (who is played - and surprisingly well, I might add - by David Boreanaz, of Buffy and Angel fame) who claims to be a writer. John flatters himself that he can mold Sebastian into a great artist and turn him into a star. He also flatters himself that Sebastian is attracted to him, as he is obviously attracted to Sebastian. But Sebastian is not only straight, he's also a gigolo, a layabout, and a sponge. Sebastian lives at John's house, uses his things, invites people over, and pays for nothing. Which actually seems to be generally all right with John, until Sebastian lets slip that he doesn't even know who Samuel Beckett is. Things really come to a head when Sebastian comes home with a drunk woman, and then has the audacity to try to leave. A fight breaks out, and the movie takes a strange and dangerous turn. And in fact, the movie takes quite a few more deliciously odd and unexpected twists and turns after that, and coaxes you into laughing at lots of things that really shouldn't be funny. In short, it's really quite fantastic. Its only flaw is that it's a bit overlong (yes, even at only 92 minutes) and a bit slow in parts. It could probably lose about 20 minutes and be a truly excellent film. As it is...
Festival rating: Very Good

VHS - Kahloucha
Yay, my second "Excellent" of the festival! This was a wonderful documentary about an amateur Tunisian filmmaker named Moncef Kahloucha. It opens by following some North African emigrants gathering together in Italy to watch Kahloucha's latest film on VHS (Tarzan of the Arabs), revealing that Kahloucha's films offer a much-loved connection back to their homeland. Then the film flashes back to the making of Tarzan, introducing us to the determined, talkative, dictatorial, movie-loving Kahloucha, as well as his crew and his cast (most of whom are his family, friends, and neighbors), and his sets (which are the houses, streets, and cliffs in and around town). We get to know him, his family, his town, and the lovable bunch of rogues who are his friends quite well. Kahloucha is a house-painter by trade. His cameraman uses the same VHS Panasonic 3500 that he does to film wedding videos. Most of Kahloucha's crew and actors work not for cash, but for fun, friendship, local stardom, and a little booze (although they get pretty pissed when their names don't show up on the poster). When Kahloucha wants to do a stunt, like jumping onto a truck from a car and climbing into the cab, he just really does it. When he wants to do a scene where stuff gets smashed up and a house is set on fire, he buys a bunch of stuff cheap and has some guys smash it up. Then he actually sets fire to his sister's house, since his mother says it's okay. He's so confident that he advertises a screening of his film (using a bullhorn, a car, and some homemade posters) before he books it at a local cafe, and only then does he actually make sure the editing is finished and the movie is ready. This film is incredibly funny, occasionally moving, and just full of the joy and love of movies. It's the perfect film to screen for cinephiles like us at a film festival like this one. Highly enjoyable, and highly recommended; try to catch it when it plays again this Saturday afternoon.
Festival rating: Excellent