ANOTHER OBSERVATION IN MARRAKECH: ON “RIO DE ORO” (“RIVER OF GOLD”)

By Brandon Harris

One should always be wary of tossing the term “masterpiece” around when talking about any cultural object, especially in the cinema, this enfant artform, which feels as if it may have exhausted its formal and rhetorical possibilities much too soon. The hothouse conditions of film festivals are especially bad places to get all ebullient with praise, as well do all over again next month in Utah, the following month in Germany, Texas the one after that. Best to take one’s time, reflect on what has been seen and heard, what its possible meanings and difficulties and structuring absences are, on what biases you brought into the cinema with you that day or evening. I’m a skeptic of much of what passes for American History and am generally willing to go to bat for a film that tries to represent the marginalized in aesthetically provocative and ideologically convoluted ways, so my biases might lean easily in favor of Pablo Aldrete’s impossibly good anti-colonialist western River of Gold, but I’ve come to peace with that. This is an essential film, perhaps the most subversive western since Jodorowsky’s El Topo, something that should be a cult item for years to come if it can muster enough notice; it’s a film that has almost no online presence, one that opened in Mexico late last year and had previously made no festival imprint whatsoever until it played in competition at last week’s the 11th annual Festival international du Film de Marrakech.

Set in the midst of the Mexican-American War, it is a patient, evocative visual marvel that both harkens back to the classic westerns of John Ford and the native fetishizing of Terrence Malick, who has attempted to show the multi-faceted, spiritually debased nature of armed conflict for land and treasure like this before, but never with such sublime results. We followe American marauders, charged with taking Texas back from Mexican hands after the 1845 annexation, Native Americans who feel no allegiance toward either side and are simply looking for a peaceful stretch of land to call their own, and various Mexicans, caught … Read the rest

TROLLS VS. LOU REED

By James Ponsoldt

Quintessential Sundance experience: I arrived in Park City earlier today. Got my badge. Went to The Troll Hunter because, well, I like monster movies. And trolls? I love trolls! The Troll Hunter is kind of like Troll 2, except with, you know – good special effects, decent actors, a coherent story…that being said, I’m a die-hard Troll 2 fan and will continue to sing its praises.

But I digress.

After The Troll Hunter, I saw a film that will probably go down as the worst of the festival. Tons of walkouts. Awkward laughter. Not really a “so-bad-it’s-good” movie. Just awful. I won’t name it. But I’ll devote another post to describing the experience of sitting in that theater for over two hours. What I’d like to describe right now, though, is this:

As I was leaving the Holiday theater, a Sundance volunteer yelled: “Hey – the Lou Reed short is about to start! Who wants to hear Lou?”

I knew nothing about this Lou Reed film. But I wasn’t going to pass it up. I was ushered to the front row – the only seats left – moments before the film was introduced by Tracy McKnight (head of film music for Lionsgate, longtime Sundance advisor/programmer, and an old friend of mine).

The film – Red Shirley – is a short documentary about Lou Reed’s century old cousin Shirley, who arrived in North America at age 19, becoming a dressmaker, union activist, and was even at the front of the crowd during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. At over 100, Shirley is still funny and fiery. It’s the kind of life we should all hope to live.

Reed co-directed the doc with famed photographer Ralph Gibson, shooting on a Canon 7D and achieving a conversational tone that’s moving in its tiny details of mandolins and pillow cases – as well as families being torn apart by war only to be reunited by the Red Cross years later.

Then Lou did a Q & A with Tracy. He thought it was funny that his cousin chose to immigrate … Read the rest

“STAGECOACH”

By Jason Guerrasio

Legend has it when John Ford read the short story that would be the inspiration behind his first Western with sound, he immediately took it to his boss David O. Selznick, who, just as quickly as it was pitched to him, tossed it aside as a forgettable picture.

Lucky for us, Ford didn’t move on. He dug into his own pocket, made the film himself (and later sold it to United Artists), packed up the production and went out to Utah’s picturesque Monument Valley (which would be the site for many of his Westerns to come) — far from the prying eyes of the studio exes  — and brought along a young actor known at the time for his B-movie work to be his star, John Wayne.

Still as exciting and enjoyable to watch today as it was when it was released to high critical praise in 1939, Stagecoach combines riveting performances, a basic premise and finally wrapped up with a thrilling conclusion (two in fact: a high speed fight with Indians and a three on one draw down on a deserted street). But what Ford inevitably showed was that the Western could tackle serious issues.

Following a group of stagecoach passengers as they embark on a journey through rough Apache territory while Geronimo is on the war path, Ford has the drunk doctor Doc Boone (played brilliantly by Thomas Mitchell), aloof gambler Hatfield (John Carradine), pregnant soldier’s wife Lucy (Louise Platt) and saloon girl Dallas (Claire Trevor), among others, to play out different personalities in the coach.

Then as the journey has already begun, Ford unveils his star in one of the most memorable entrances ever filmed. With a dolly-in to close up shot and a twirl of a rifle, Ford makes John Wayne an icon. Playing the vengeful Ringo Kid, Wayne would never have to worry about getting work again.

But it’s not just the talent along with the work of Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols that makes the film a classic, it’s also the visuals.

One riveting shot is during the shootout with the Apaches. Hatfield, with … Read the rest