Thursday, July 24, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Film: Sublimely ridiculous

New York fest screens good and

By Anthony Allison

As that ancient sage Roger Ebertius might say, caveat cinephilus! Beware the ides of, er, July, film fans. The New York International Independent Film and Video Festival, which continues through Tuesday at the Palms, has some movies that, if not exactly sublime must-sees, are at least watchable. But this "pay to play" program also includes some films so ridiculously bad you wouldn't wish them on your worst enemy. (Actually, Osama would love the crude agitprop of Deadly Grounds: see below.) Because they're all unfamiliar, there's no way to tell them apart from the capsule descriptions. But here are some you might consider, and a couple to avoid at all costs.

Correction: After last week's Mercury went to press, NYIIFVF rescheduled the filmmaking seminars from 11 a.m. to 10 a.m. We apologize for any inconvenience the incorrect information caused.

La Petite Morte The apt title of Emmanuelle Schick Garcia's mortifying look at the French porn business is Gallic slang for "orgasm" (literally, "the little death"). There's a glimpse of that famous filmmaker Fred Coppula (sic) and various porn-flick luminaries eloquently defend their work. But the primary focus is on Raffaela Anderson, star of Virginie Despentes' controversial 2000 "art" flick Baise-moi, who talks with disarming frankness about incest, rape and what she originally intended to do when she got out of this nefarious industry: Commit suicide. (Sun., 27 10:35 p.m.)

Bitter Jester Maija DiGiorgio's offbeat exposé of the standup comedy scene is an interesting counterpart to Jerry Seinfeld's documentary Comedian. This messy, self-indulgent video diary includes insightful comments from George Carlin, Chevy Chase, Whoopi Goldberg and Rita Rudner and somewhat less Earth-shattering contributions from Phyllis Diller, D.L. Hughley, Terry Jones, Tony Roberts, Jerry Stiller and a painfully catatonic Richard Pryor. (Mon., 28 8 p.m.)

Fighting Irish Ray Daly Jr. wrote, directed and stars in this low-budget drama as Sean McCarthy, a nightclub bouncer who single-handedly took on the Warlords, a New York biker gang extorting protection money from strippers and club owners. This vaguely interesting story is only marred by a cameo by McCarthy himself, as a laughably unmenacing gang leader. (Fri., 25 8 p.m.)

Mike's Kids Like a poor man's GoodFellas, Chris DiMartino's short drama, based on the life of real-life bank robber Mike Savich, wants it both ways: It seeks to condemn wannabe wiseguys while glorifying their gangster exploits. The predictable plot charts the sibling rivalry between Savich's sons, a wannabe cop (Tommy Savich, who wrote the script) and a lowlife cokehead (Tony Panterra). Martin Scorsese's stellar reputation is safe. (Fri., 25 6 p.m.)

Rajiv Anchal's Beyond the Soul (Mon., 28 10 p.m.), about an American doctor consulting an Indian guru to find a cure for a terminally ill patient, has the most stilted dialogue and wooden acting since Mariah Carey murdered Glitter. But it's a masterpiece compared to Deadly Grounds (Fri., 25 4:15 p.m.), whose lengthy subtitle "America to Afghanistan: Fighting the First World War of the 21st Century" sums up its one-sided crassness. Using the inept propaganda techniques of a bad Al Qaeda video, Craig Bonholtzer tries whipping viewers into outraged frenzy by intercutting 9/11 news footage with cheesy, fake scenes starring members of his family (a flight attendant's throat is slashed, a businessman looks shocked as a 767 flies toward his window in the WTC's south tower). He then adds (real) shots of noble American "warriors" bestowing medical aid on the benighted Afghan populace, even as dastardly Muslim terrorists (fake, again) plan the next phase of their heinous jihad. Such simple-minded jingoism is an insult to the memory of the victims of 9/11 and the battles since. Shame on NYIIFVF for foisting this misbegotten trash on unsuspecting customers.

Festival schedule

Thursday, July 24

10:00 Seminar "International Distribution--Then and Now" Larry Friedricks and Paula Fierman.

12:00 The Turned (120 min.) Vampire drama.

2:00 Collectors (15 min.) drama; If Wishes Were Horses (79 min.) drama.

4:00 My Karma (30 min.) drama; Where or When (85 min.) drama.

6:00 mainly ETC. (110 min.) music doc.

8:00 The Long Road Home (96 min.) [Vegas'] Robert David Cochrane, drama.

10:00 Petal to Thorn (9 min.) [Vegas'] Jimothy Sekelsky, experimental; Paris is a Woman (13 min.) experimental; Positive (11 min.) drama; Smith and Jones (28 min.) drama; The Tower (39 min.) drama.

Friday, July 25

10:00 Seminar: "Casting and Producing a Film" With Phyllis Cesare-Taie and Susann Fraser, Women in Film, Las Vegas.

12:00 Phasia (4 min.) Barry Hale, experimental dance. Dancer and filmmaker communicate through video feedback; Intraference Mirrors (5 min.) Hale, experimental. Chaos Theory and video feedback; A Tea Monologue (10 min.) Burcu Gokcek, video performance. On the exile experience; Cuba Mia: Portrait of an All-American Orchestra (92 min.) Cecilia Domeyko, documentary. Profiling an all-female Cuban ensemble.

2:00 I've Got a Headache (18 min.) Ji-Sun Oh, drama. Life is like watching bad TV shows; Emotions (67 min.) Gio Vitelle, drama. After losing his grandmother and girlfriend, a man makes a drastic decision.

4:15 Deadly Grounds (28 min.) Craig Bonholtzer, doc. See above; Shifting Sands: The Fort Fisher Hermit Story (42 min.) Derek Patten, Terry Eacret, Bryan Baxley, doc. A hermit and how he died.

6:00 Phobia (9 min.) Ciro Altabas, drama. A journey through strange yet possible fears; Small Plastic Jesus (13 min.) [UNLV's] David Schmoeller, comedy. A groundsman misuses the power of prayer; Mike's Kids (61 min.) Chris DiMartino, drama. See above.

8:00 Romp (10 min.) Adam Pollina, drama. A shy, double amputee thinks he's a legendary streetfighter; Fighting Irish (103 min.) Ray Daly, Jr., drama. See above.

10:00 Everything's Wonderful (88 min., adults only) Skip Schwink, comedy. Rednecks, drug dealers, a dead cat, and Ron Jeremy.

Saturday, July 26

10:00 Seminar: "Writing High Concept Movies" With scriptwriter Rob Tobin.

12:00 Provincial Dreams (12 min.) Philipp Hochhanser, dramedy. An Austrian farmer dreams of fame; Grown Men (95 min.) John Gaspard, comedy. Friends regale each other with stories revealing what it means to be an adult.

2:00 What Are We Fighting For (5 min.) Jack Campbell, Joshua Jose, music video. With Vegas' Watson Family; The Awakening (5 min.) Jose, music video; Norf Town Eggs and Hotgod Pieces (10 min.) Jose, doc; Sunrise Highway (8 min.) Doris Ann Runcie, David Perez, doc. New York after 9/11; The Underground (50 min.) Troy Alexander, doc. The hip-hop industry.

4:00 Blue Me (8 min.) Dean Tom Sern, comedy/drama. A man in blue falls for a woman in red; Almost Amish (9 min.) Alanna Bowers, comedy. Liberal ideologies, legalization of pot and Winnie the Pooh's sexuality; Raised by Drag Queens (12 min.) Maria Breaux, mockumentary. Three Bay Area trannies raise an orphan girl; You Never Know (21 min.) Monte Merrick, comedy. A man has an identity crisis before his wedding; Beans and Rice TV (30 min.) Mike Lanza, music variety show. The underground music scene, with Cypress Hill, Limp Bizkit, Pennywise, Xzibit etc.

6:00 Paranoia (6 min.) Melody Rock, drama. A man stops a suspected kidnapper; Hell's Highway (89 min.) Steven Grabowski, horror. Cannibals attack lost teens.

8:00 Desert Cemetery (90 min.) [Vegas'] Ryan Golchuk, thriller. Three ex-cons are entangled in a deadly game of cat-and-mouse.

10:00 First Night Shift (22 min.) Hubert Cheng, horror. A night in a shopping mall drives a security guard crazy; 13 Seconds (92 min.) Jeff Thomas, horror. A chart-topping band and an art gallery that comes to life.

Sunday, July 27

12:00 Happy Endings in the World of Corporatopia (19 min.) Jennifer N. Kim, comedy. The drudgery of temping; Bloom (75 min.) Dean Demas, comedy. A frazzled flower shop manager tries taking over his family's business.

2:00 The Art of Dying (101 min.) Anshuman Rawat, drama. An Indian guru passes wisdom to a young man.

4:00 Selfish Minds (22 min.) John Conroy, drama. Two strangers meet in an Irish hotel; Flashcards (27 min.) Michealene Cristini Risely, drama. An child's idyllic summer turns into a nightmare; Bay Area Ghosts (47 min.) Robert Rothgery, Tim Dineen, documentary. Poltergeists and the paranormal in San Francisco.

6:00 The Difference Between Walking and Crawling (16 min.) Petar Spajic, drama. A homeless man and a grocery clerk have something in common; Moments Have You (14 min.) [Vegas'] Petar Spajic, drama. Brief encounter in a hotel room; A Lover for My Husband (72 min.) Brandon Finney, romantic comedy. Unfaithful wife finds a lover for her husband.

8:00 Specter's Rock (148 min.) Josh Eisenstadt, mystery. A "philosopher" tries to help find a missing man.

10:35 La Petite Morte (41 min., adults only) Emmanuelle Schick Garcia, doc. See above.

Monday, July 28

12:00 All is Light--Jan Henderikse (53 min.) Sherman De Jesus, doc. Creating a work of art in a German church.

2:00 Two Mothers (7 min.) Tamarra Kaida, drama. The mothers of a school shooting victim and the perpetrator become agoraphobic; Donor (29 min.) Adele Wilson, Eve Whitaker, comedy/drama. A lesbian asks her brother to become a sperm donor; Paths of Memory--The Trajectory of the Jews in Portugal (71 min.) Elaine Eiger, Luize Valente, documentary. Profiling the Marranos (Portuguese Jews) who secretly practiced their religion, for centuries.

4:00 Rehearsing Life (32 min.) John Richardson, drama. A disabled man tries seducing his brother's girlfriend; Speaker Phone [Viva Voz] (85 min.) Paulo Morelli, comedy. A husband tries to break up with his lover, but his wife overhears.

6:00 Porno (110 min.) Aki Kitamura, comedy. A dorky guy, his first girlfriend and his best friend, the porn star.

8:00 Delusions (12 min.) Jason Hightman, drama. Cops investigate a murder witnessed by mental patients; Bitter Jester (94 min.) Maija DiGiorgio, doc. See above.

10:00 Velocity (12 min.) John Chui, drama. A strange rendezvous leads into a fairy tale romance; Beyond the Soul (90 min.) Rajiv Anchal, drama. See above.

Tuesday, July 29

12:00 Unreal (101 min.) Lance Shoeman, dramedy. Reality TV show competitors realize a lion has been released among them.

2:00 Lessons of the Heart (17 min.) Thomas Bruce McArthur, comedy. Love, betrayal, heartbreak and healing; Puphedz--The Tattle-Tale Heart (27 min.) Jurgen Heimann, comedy. Wooden puppets performs Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart;" In the Padded Cell (59 min.) Jeff Sarwer, comedy. Wannabe game show participants are duped.

4:00 Contingency (21 min.) Momoe Sogabe, drama. Two couples, a video camera and the truth it reveals; Battle's Poison Cloud (54 min.) Cecile Trijssenaar, doc. The lingering toxic-chemical aftermath of the Vietnam war.

6:00 It Is What It Is (112 min.) Billy Frolick, dramedy. Four friends face the challenges of love, sex, parenthood, addiction and faith.

8:00 Reckoning (9 min.) [Vegas'] Doug Shutte, drama. Three generations of gunfighters meet; One Drink (12 min.) Shutte, drama. An alcoholic seeks emotional relief the wrong way; One Dollar Difference (4 min.) Shutte, drama. A waitress has an unexpected encounter with innocence; An Enchanted Tale (8 min.) Rene Andre, drama. A water inspector falls for a strange woman, in this updated fairy tale; Purim (78 min.) Lavi Ven Gal, drama. A suicide bombing wreaks havoc on the day of an Israeli carnival.

10:00 Fatal Fallout (86 min.) Gary Null, doc. The possibility of a terrorist attack on a nuclear facility.