Thinking Outside the Multiplex: National Edition (May 28 – June 4, 2010)

by MIKE MACCOLLUM

Well, all of you who follow this feature of the column (if, indeed, any of you follow this feature) may have wondered where it has been for the last few months. Well, thanks to a busy work schedule, a new dog, and many other factors, Thinking Beyond the Multiplex: National Edition had to go on a little vacation for a while. But we plan on being back next Wednesday, in our regularly-scheduled slot, with news of theatrical openings for August 20 and 27 (a little more up to date than what follows). Then, for the next few weeks, “current” columns will alternate with “catch-up” columns, until every week has been covered. Once everything is caught up and current, this feature will go back to appearing every other week (on Wednesdays, for the most part).

But even with the very next edition of Thinking Beyond the Multiplex: National Edition, there will be some big changes to the format. As to what those changes will be- well, you’ll have to wait and see. Once the next column is up, please offer feedback (positive, negative, or otherwise) about the changes. But for now, however, let’s take a look at the movies that opened outside of Indiana in the weeks of May 28 and June 4. Some of the titles below have already come and gone from Indiana; none of the other films listed below are likely to get any theatrical play in the Hoosier state. That’s too bad, since some of these (Survival of the Dead, Mademoiselle Chambon, Air Doll and Double Take, in particular) sound like they are worth seeing on the big screen….

Agora- Rachel Weisz stars as Hypatia, a very intelligent astronomer who lives in Alexandria, Egypt, during the fourth century AD. The city is a part of the Roman Empire, but Rome’s hold is growing weaker; tumult and agitation in the streets of Alexandria has forced Hypatia to take refuge in the city’s famed Library, where she and two men who love her attempt to save the accumulated wisdom stored within. Alejandro Amenabar (Open Your Eyes, The Others, The Sea Inside) directed this film, which seems to have received a fairly wide theatrical release in the US- although (surprise, surprise) it never made it to a theater in Indiana. Agora opened on Friday, May 28, at the Sunshine Cinema and the Paris Theatre, both in New York City.

Air Doll- I’ve seen only two of the movies directed by Hirokazu Koreeda- After Life and Nobody Knows. Based on these two titles, I wouldn’t have thought that Koreeda would make a movie about a guy who brings home an inflatable “love doll”- only to have the doll acquire a soul and come to life. From the few write-ups that I’ve read, however, Air Doll isn’t a smarmy, wink-wink-nudge-nudge kind of movie (even though there does seem to be more than a little nudity in it)…. In any event, this sounds like a well done film from a talented director; too bad that it is apparently already out of theaters in the US. Air Doll started on Friday, June 4, at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge, MA. (I am fairly certain, by the way, that Air Doll did have an official US site for a while- but that site is not functional any longer, apparently. For that reason, the site linked in the title above is Air Doll’s Japanese site. But if you want to see an English-language trailer for the film on Youtube, then click here.)

Ballhawks- Bill Murray narrates this enjoyable documentary about the men who stand outside of Chicago’s Wrigley Field, hoping to catch the balls that get batted out of the stadium. Much of the film was shot in 2004, when the Cubs looked like they might have had a shot at making it to the World Series (which would have made catching a ball an even bigger thrill), and a planned change to the configuration of Wrigley Field could make “ballhawking” much more difficult… if not impossible. Ballhawks began a three-day run at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago on Friday, May 28.

Boy Band- In 1982, Brad is Worcester High School’s quarterback; he dates a cheerleader, and has a heavy metal band as well. But Brad wants to be a pop music star, and go out with his first crush (another cheerleader)- so when his mother’s boyfriend starts a pop music group, Brad quits the football team so he can be a part of what turns out to be the world’s first boy band. Ming-Na and character actors Kurt Fuller and Richard Riehle are in the cast of this comedy, which opened on Friday, June 4, at the Showcase Cinemas Worcester North in Worcester, MA.

Breathless- Jean-Paul Belmondo stars as Michel Poiccard, a small-time crook who steals a car and then kills the motorcycle cop who pulls him over. Michel wants to flee to Italy with Patricia (Jean Seberg), a beautiful American student staying in France- but the police may be closer to apprehending Michel than he realizes…. The American theatrical reissue of Breathless- a fiftieth anniversary restoration, according to the official site of its US distributor- got under way with on Friday, May 28, at three theaters in California and one in New York City. (Breathless is scheduled to be at the University of Notre Dame’s Browning Cinema in early October, by the way, according to their site- and they will be showing the restored print, according to the official US site for the reissue.)

Convention- In the summer of 2008, director AJ Schnack and a team of other filmmakers (including director Julia Reichert, credited here as a “photographer/sound recorder”) worked together to gather footage telling the story of that year’s Democratic National Convention in Denver- and this documentary is the result. Convention started Friday, June 4, at the IFC Center in New York City.

Cropsey- “A True Crime Story, About Urban Legends, and the Defense of Community.” That’s the heading on the page for this documentary on the site of its US distributor, Cinema Purgatorio. Cropsey is set on Staten Island, NY. When the directors were growing up there, they kept hearing stories about “Cropsey,” a scary old dude who killed kids. It seemed like an urban legend back in the ‘70s- but in the eighties, it started to look like Cropsey was all too real…. Roger Ebert called Cropsey a “chilling horror documentary;” other review quotes compare the film to a ‘70s drive-in horror movie, and use words like “unsettling,” “disturbing,” and “creepy.” I saw Cropsey when it was playing in Indy, by the way, and would agree that all of those descriptions fit the film- which I thought was well worth seeing. Cropsey opened at the IFC Center in New York City on Friday, June 4.

Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean- In Uganda, a group of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim coffee farmers form a cooperative in the years following Idi Amin’s bloody reign. This documentary shows how the farmers start to achieve their twin goals of peaceful interrelationships and economic success- and how their efforts are inspiring coffee consumers in America. Delicious Peace Grows in a Ugandan Coffee Bean opened on Friday, June 4, at the IFC Center in New York City.

Double Take- Wow- this sounds like a brilliant idea for a movie, and I’m sorry to hear that it seems to have been in theatrical release for only sixteen days. Double Take sounds like a complex, multi-layered film, and I fear that any short write-up won’t do it justice- but here goes: During the early sixties, while Alfred Hitchcock is just starting to work on The Birds, he meets his double. Since Hitchcock believes that a person should kill his double (before the double kills him), this sets in motion a suspense thriller/Cold War documentary starring… Alfred Hitchcock! Director Johan Grimonprez uses lots of archive footage- some of it integrated with newly-shot material featuring Hitchcock look-a-like Ron Burrage- in Double Take, which apparently also deals with the state of the film industry at the time (and its relationship with television- including Hitchcock’s own transition to TV “star”), Cold War fears (and how they were stoked by television), the echoes of early sixties anxieties in the present day- and several other ideas/concepts as well. Double Take opened on Wednesday, June 2, at the Film Forum in New York City. (And of all the movies covered in this week’s column, Double Take is the one that I am most interested in seeing, with the similarly short-lived-in-theaters title directly below a close second. Thank you, DVD, I guess….)

Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl- Portugal’s Manoel de Oliveira is currently 101 years old, and (per the IMDb) directed two films (one short and one feature) with 2010 release dates. Eccentricities- made when de Oliveira was a mere pup of 99 or 100- is about a young man named Macario, who (during the course of a lengthy train ride) tells a woman he’s never met (until just now) all about his love life. It seems that Macario fell in head over heels in love with a young blonde woman who lived across the street from the warehouse where Macario worked for his uncle. After meeting the blonde, Macario decided that he must marry her- immediately. This leads Macario’s uncle to fire him, and kick him out of the house- so Macario moves from Lisbon to Cape Verde, and makes a pile of money. Once he finally gets his uncle’s approval for his wedding, Macario finds out that his beloved really does have more than a few “eccentricities.” Eccentricities of a Blonde-Haired Girl started on Friday, June 4, at the Downtown Independent in Los Angeles.

Finding Bliss- Leelee Sobieski stars as Jody, a film school graduate who reluctantly accepts a job as an editor at a porn production company. Jody knows her parents would object- and she has more than a few reservations herself- but it was the only job offer she received… and she realizes that she can use her office to work on her own film- a romantic comedy- at night. After a while, Jody finds that she actually likes some of her co-workers- and may even be falling in love with one of them; at the same time, her attitude towards the movies she edits is also changing…. Julie Davis (I Love You, Don’t Touch Me; Amy’s Orgasm) directed Finding Bliss; Kristen Johnston, Matt Davis, Denise Richards, and Jamie Kennedy are in the supporting cast. Finding Bliss opened on Friday, June 4, at the Village East Cinema in New York City.

Golimaar (a.k.a. Golimar)- An orphan named Gangaram has longed to become a police officer for many years, and has worked a menial job in the day while also going to night school in order to achieve his dream. When he does join the police force, Gangaram rises rapidly through the ranks, and decides to target two local groups of mobsters. He has great success at getting rid of one gang, but is then arrested himself- and discovers that he has been used by one group of criminals to get rid of a rival gang. He then vows to do whatever it takes to get revenge on the people who set him up…. The Telugu-language Golimaar opened on Thursday, May 27, at ten theaters (three in California, two in New Jersey, and one each in Texas, Illinois, Michigan, Georgia, and Virginia); two other theaters- one in Connecticut, the other in Massachusetts- started the film on May 28 and May 29, respectively. (There doesn’t seem to be an official site for Golimaar, by the way- or if there is one, I couldn’t find it. If you’d like to see a trailer, however, click here.)

Journey of the Childmen: The Mighty Boosh on Tour- The British comedy group The Mighty Bhoosh is featured in this concert documentary, which was filmed during their “Future Sailors” tour. Journey of the Childmen‘s US theatrical run began with midnight showings at the Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, MA, on May 28 and 29.

The Juche Idea- Jim Finn is a filmmaker with a rather unusual specialty- his works reconstitute the visual stylistics of several different communist countries (the Soviet Union, North Korea) and movements (like the Peruvian Shining Path guerillas). Finn mixes stock footage (from films produced by the countries in question) with newly-shot scenes that matches up perfectly with the original films- and he sometimes adds in some musical numbers as well. The Juche Idea focuses on North Korea, where Kim Jong Il- at the time, the heir-apparent of North Korea’s ruler, and an obsessive movie fan- decided to apply his father’s philosophy of “juche” (or self-reliance) to art and propaganda, including movies. In the 1970s, this led to the North kidnapping a South Korean director in an attempt to boost the North’s own film industry. Juche Idea is very loosely based on the latter incident; it revolves around a present-day South Korean video maker who is trying to bring back Juche-style filmmaking in the North…. The Juche Idea opened on Thursday, May 27, at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City. (And it looks like Finn’s page for the film on his own site doesn’t have a trailer on it- so click here if you’d like to see a clip from The Juche Idea; and click here for Juche Idea’s Facebook page.)

Kadha Thudarunnu- Vidyalakshmi Nambiar is an Indian medical student who falls in love with Shanavas, a musician with a very different family background. Vidya’s family strongly opposes the romance- and Shanavas’ family tries to put an end to the relationship as well. The couple defies their families, however, and Vidya and Shanavas stay together. After the birth of their daughter, Laya, Vidya and the child wind up getting stuck in a large city without Shanavas- and Vidya meets someone who introduces her to a new way of living…. Kadha Thudarunnu started on Friday, May 28, at the FunAsia Irving in Irving, TX. (And it looks like it also opened on Saturday, May 29, at either the FunAsia Richardson or the FunAsia Bollywood 6- but I can’t decipher my notes anymore, and my attempts to figure this out by way of search engines haven’t worked.)

Kites: The Remix- A guy falls for a woman who “belongs” to another man, thus setting in motion a chain of seriously negative consequences- or at least that was the basic plot of the original version of Kites (see Helen’s less-than-enthusiastic review of the original). The “remix” version of this Indian film- overseen by Brett Ratner, of all people- is said to be shorter by about forty minutes, and apparently is missing at least one dance number (among other footage, apparently), and has some different music, in some scenes. But I’m not exactly eager to see this new version to find out what all was changed, since I wasn’t really crazy about the original Kites myself. Kites: The Remix opened on Friday, May 28, in at least twenty theaters (nine in Texas, eight in California, two in New York, and one in New Jersey).

Kola Kolaya Mundhirika- This sounds like an Indian version of a story filmed many times before (perhaps most famously by Mel Brooks, as The Twelve Chairs). In Kola Kolaya, three criminals are after some very pricey diamonds, so the rich man who owns the sparklers orders one of his assistants to hide them in one of a set of chairs. The wealthy man then dies, and the chairs are out of sight for two decades…. But then, the assistant who hid the diamonds spills a little bit of the story to a thief named Krish, and a comic hunt is on for the one chair with the loot in it- with Krish, a rival crook named Veni, and the original trio of bad guys all after the diamonds. The Tamil-language Kola Kolaya Mundhirika opened on Friday, May 28, at the Fremont 7 in Fremont, CA, and the Movie City 8 in Edison, NJ.

Living in Emergency: Stories of Doctors Without Borders- This documentary focuses on four physicians who volunteered to serve in Doctors Without Borders- and the many challenges these doctors face while trying to provide medical care in Liberia and Congo. Living in Emergency had several one-or-two-time(s)-only screenings at theaters across the US several months ago, but went into full-fledged theatrical release on Friday, June 4- when it opened in seven US theaters (three in California, and one each in New York City, Philadelphia, Boston, and Washington, DC).

Mademoiselle Chambon- The story might sound (overly) familiar- a married man, Jean, finds that he has feelings for another woman (who just happens to be one of his son’s teachers, in this case), and Jean and Mademoiselle Chambon (the “other woman”) both try to prevent their relationship from going too far and harming others…. However, the reviews for Mademoiselle Chambon make it sound like it is much, much better than most movies about an illicit affair; in fact, this is one of the movies on this list that I most want to see in a theater. (That probably won’t happen, since Lorber Films is releasing Mademoiselle Chambon in the US- but I’ve got my fingers crossed anyway.) Mademoiselle Chambon opened on Friday, May 28, at the Lincoln Plaza Cinemas and the Cinema Village- both in New York City.

Micmacs- Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s latest is about a fellow named Bazil, whose father was killed by a landmine. Since Bazil is now also homeless after getting a stray bullet lodged in his head, it’s not hard to understand why he bands together with some other societal outcasts to get revenge on the companies and people who made the weapons that harmed him. Micmacs- which has an eccentric visual style reminiscent of Delicatessen and City of Lost Children- started at the Empire 25 and the Angelika Film Center in New York City on Friday, May 28.

Only the Brave- According to this war drama’s official site, thousands of Japanese-Americans in the US military “were stripped of their official duties” in the weeks and months following the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the US government was forcing many Japanese-Americans into internment camps, former Hawaiian Territorial Guardsmen of Japanese descent asked the same government to let them serve as volunteers in the American armed forces. The government agreed, and this led to the eventual formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion, which served with courage and distinction in both Northern Africa and Italy. Near the end of the war, the forces of the 100th were joined by another group, the 442nd, which featured Japanese-American volunteers from both Hawaii and internment camps on the US mainland. Prize-winning playwright Lane Nishikawa wrote and directed Only the Brave, which tells the story of how the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team became (per the film’s official site) “the most decorated unit of their size and length of service in American military history.” Jason Scott Lee, Mark Dacascos, Jeff Fahey, Tamlyn Tomita and the late Pat Noriyuki Morita are all in the cast of Only the Brave, which may or may not have opened in five US theaters on Friday, May 28. At least that’s what I saw on one usually reliable movie site- but several hours worth of searching (on the film’s official site, search engines, and so on) turned up no actual evidence that the film was released at that time…. Still, I’m keeping this listing in here, just in case Only the Brave actually was released in May.

Owning the Weather- Americans have been trying to modify the weather for many years, according to the official site for this documentary. Owning the Weather tells the story of these efforts, and how they often have been doubted and/or ridiculed by the scientific establishment- even in the present day, when efforts to counteract climate change have led to “geoengineering,” a new kind of attempt to control weather in the new millennium. Owning the Weather started on Friday, May 28, at the Facets Cinematheque in Chicago.

Penguins in the Sky- This Japanese film is based on the allegedly true story of how the manager of Asahiyama Zoo- the northernmost zoo in the country- inspired his co-workers to try to save the facility, which was losing money and on the decline. The staff hopes that an innovative concept called “Behavioral Exhibition”- an interactive way for zoo patrons to view the animals- may make Asahiyama Zoo very successful indeed, but it looks like the odds are against them…. And by the way- as far as I can tell, that title shouldn’t be taken too literally. Apparently, the zoo has an exhibit which people can walk through while watching penguins swimming overhead- hence, penguins “in the sky.” Penguins in the Sky started on Friday, June 4, at the Kahala 8 in Honolulu. (Since the film’s official site is mostly in Japanese, a quick link to the site’s trailer page is here- and additional background on the film in English can be found here.)

Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies- Martin Scorsese narrated (and co-produced) Arne Glimcher’s documentary about how artists Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque were affected by two inventions: movies and aviation. Several currently-active artists (such as Eric Fischl and Julian Schnabel) are interviewed in the course of the film, along with a number of art historians and scholars. Picasso and Braque Go to the Movies started on Friday, May 28, at the Cinema Village in New York City.

Prince of Swine- A sleazeball movie producer gropes a young “actress” working on his latest skin flick, and then fires her from the movie. When a female attorney hears what happened, she decides to make the producer pay as high a price as possible for his misdeeds- even if that means she has to sleep with her new boss (another swinish man, and one who strongly opposes every idea that the lawyer believes to be good, decent, and right). Prince of Swine started on Friday, May 28, at the Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead- Julian lives in present-day New York City, and is unemployed- until he gets a surprising offer to direct a bizarre version of Hamlet in an off-Broadway theater. The play’s author, as it happens, is a vampire named Theo, who thinks he can use the play to force the real Hamlet (also a vampire, apparently) out of wherever he’s hiding so that the two can settle their lonnnnng-running dispute over Ophelia. As if that weren’t enough, Julian is still heartbroken over losing his ex-girlfriend to a mobster who also fancies himself an inventor- and the Holy Grail somehow figures into the story as well. Jake Hoffman, Kris Lemche, Ralph Macchio, John Ventimiglia, Devon Aoki and Jeremy Sisto all appear in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead, while Sean Lennon (!) provided the score. The film opened on Friday, June 4, at the Village East Cinema in New York City- and (maybe) one other theater as well. While the official site for Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead mentions only the Village East Cinema location, Variety.com claimed in its “Weekly Box Office” chart for the week starting June 4 that Rosencrantz opened in two theaters- both in New York. I spent over a half hour on search engines and Fandango, trying to find that other theater- but I never did. (I also tried Moviefone, but you couldn’t search for the theater(s) playing Rosencrantz at the time and I couldn’t look up “showtimes” on the IMDb, either.)

Speed-Dating- Three unmarried men- all of whom leave a great deal to be desired in the maturity department- start a speed dating group as a way to get money and women. Their plan works, up to a point- but then, a woman who used to go out with one of the men realizes what they are up to, and decides to blow the whistle on them. Speed-Dating- which won the Audience Favorite Award at the 2010 Pan-African Film Festival, and which co-stars Chris Elliott, Clint Howard, Holly Robinson Peete, and the rapper Chingy- opened on Friday, June 4, at the Chatham 14 in Chicago.

Spring Fever- When Wang Ping’s wife thinks that he is having an affair, she hires Luo Haitao to follow her husband. Luo Haitao learns that Wang Ping’s lover is another man, Jiang Cheng. This is the beginning of an incendiary love triangle involving Luo Haitao, his girlfriend, and Jiang Cheng- which leads to passionate obsession, jealousy, and beyond. Spring Fever started at the Kahala 8 in Honolulu on Friday, June 4.

Survival of the Dead- In George Romero’s sixth zombie film- which apparently falls in the timeline just after the events depicted in Diary of the Dead- the battle between zombies and the now vastly-outnumbered humans is paralleled by the fight between two families on an island near the Delaware coast as to the best way to deal with the zombies. The Muldoons hope that a cure for the zombies can be found someday, so they want to keep the flesh-eaters alive (but isolated from humans); the O’Flynns, on the other hand, shoot zombies dead on sight…. Survival of the Dead- which reportedly continues Romero’s tradition of social observation, commentary, and satire in the guise of a horror film- opened on Friday, May 28, at twenty-one theaters (seven in California, two in Connecticut, and one each in Georgia, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Illinois, Texas, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Washington state, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC).

2012: Time for Change- Some people seem to think that the world will end in 2012- but the folks behind this documentary beg to differ. Daniel Pinchbeck- who wrote 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl- is at the center of 2012: Time for Change. According to the film’s official site, Pinchbeck is “on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method,” so that “we can redesign post-industrial society on ecological principles to make a world that works for all”. If we do so, the year 2012 could lead not to gloom and doom, but to a brighter future, in which “collaboration replaces competition.” Sting, David Lynch and Ellen Page are among the “luminaries” interviewed for 2012: Time for Change, which started on Friday, June 4, at the Varsity Theatre in Seattle.