SXSW 2020 Review: Dieorama (dir by Kevin Staake)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

“Lisa, I think you misspelled the title of the film….”

No, I didn’t! For once, I have not misspelled anything. This film is about dieoramas, which are dioramas that put an extra amount of emphasis on “die.” Dieorama is also a ten minute profile of Abigail Goldman, who is an investigator for a public defender’s office in Washington and who spends her spare time making miniature crime scenes.

It may be a macabre habit but it’s hard not to admire the amount of effort and detail that Abigail puts into each grotesque little scene. The dark humor of those involved in law enforcement is often commented upon and while it can sometimes seem insensitive to outsiders, it makes total sense when you consider that these are people who, on a daily basis, are regularly confronted with the worst that humanity has to offer. Often times, that streak of morbid humor is a defense against giving into the darkness that’s all around them.

I mean, let’s face it. We all have our ways of dealing with the bad things in the world. Myself, I watch horror movies and I read true crime books. When I was much younger, I used to regularly play dead and while everyone thought that was a strange habit, it was actually my way of laughing at my own mortality. If you can mock death, then there’s no reason to fear it, right? (That said, I grew out of the habit as I got older.) My point is that we all deal with the grotesque in different ways. Some people pretend not to see the darkness. Some embrace the darkness. And then others deal with the darkness by acknowledging, personalizing, and then conquering it.

Dieorama also features some interviews with the people who have collected Abigail’s work. Some of them seem to be a bit apologetic for hanging a miniature crime scene on their wall but you know what? Never apologize for your decorating tastes! There’s no need to feel shame for appreciating the macabre. In fact, in a crazy time, it may be the most sane thing that you can do.

Dieorama can currently be viewed on Prime.

SXSW 2020 Short Film Review: Basic (dir by Chelsea Devantez)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

In the introduction that plays before the start of Basic, director and actress Chelsea Devantez describes her film as being a “very, very, very short film” and indeed it is. It’s only 4 minutes long, which means that this is about to a very, very, very short review.

Anyway, Basic is a film about “the insecure lil’ ho in all of us.” It open with Gloria (Chelsea Devantez) looking at Kailynn’s (Georgia Mischak) Instagram and talking about how much she hates her. Why does Gloria hate Kailynn? Could it be because Kailynn appears to have a perfect and glamorous life? Or could it be because of the fact that Nick (Nelson Franklin) is in several of the pictures with her. “Oh, look,” Gloria says, “we go shopping together.”

I’m probably not doing justice to the film but it’s a laugh-out loud hilarious comedy and it’s got a clever little twist at the end and dammit, what else can you really ask from a four-minute comedy? Many of the laughs comes from Gloria’s snarky comments about Kailynn’s life but even more of the laughs come from the fact that it’s obvious that Gloria would love to be Kailynn. Finally, this film gives us a lot of Nelson Franklin, who was hilarious on Veep and who deserves to be in many more films and shows. Nelson Franklin is one of those actors who can make just about any line laugh out loud hilarious.

It’s a short film. It’s 4 minutes. Who doesn’t have 4 minutes to spare? Seriously, you’re going to tell me you don’t have 4 minutes? Shut up, you’ve got 4 minutes. Watch it on Prime while you can.

SXSW 2020 Review: Figurant (dir by Jan Vejnar)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Clocking in at just 14 minutes, the French/Czech co-production, Figurant, is about as unsettling of a film as I’ve recently seen.

Trying to explain just what exactly happens in the film is not easy. It’s not just that I don’t want to spoil the film. It’s also that the film itself is a bit of a mystery. It’s a riddle. It’s an enigma. It’s a dream of dark and disturbing things and the story doesn’t always lead to the destination that you may be expecting.

It’s the story of a man who is played by Denis Lavant. We never learn the man’s name, nor do we learn much about his past. He may be homeless, he may not. He’s a quiet and withdrawn man, one who mostly communicates in apologetic grunts. When he sees a group of younger men walking into a warehouse, he follows them. When two men sitting behind a table give him a scornful look and ask if they’re even supposed to take men like him, he keeps quiet. He accepts every insult with the quiet resignation of a man who is used to being on the outside looking in.

In a backroom, two women take Lavant’s clothes from him and place them in a garbage bag. They gave him a military uniform to wear. Lavant doesn’t seem to know why he’s being asked to dress like a soldier but he does so anyway. When the other men march down a hallway, he follows. When they enter a trailer, he follows. When he’s told to sit in a chair in front of a mirror, he does just that….

Throughout it all, everyone except for Lavant seems to understand what’s going on. Lavant simply follows along and goes where he is told. No matter how weird or violent things become around him, Lavant continues to follow….

There are multiple twists towards the end of the film. I would say that I correctly predicted 50% of the twists and that the other twists took me totally by surprise. In fact, I’m still fully working out the film in my head. Figurant is one of those wonderfully surreal and dream-like films that just sticks with you. It may only be 14 minutes long but you’ll be thinking about it for hours afterwards.

Lavant does a great job and is sympathetic in the lead role. Director Jan Vejnar creates a perfectly ominous atmosphere, filling the film with images that are sometimes threatening and occasionally surprisingly peaceful. Figurant is one that will stick with you and. through May 6th, it can be viewed for free on Prime.

SXSW 2020 Review: Lions in the Corner (dir by Paul Hairston)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Lions in the Corner is a 9-minute documentary about a Virginia man who, for most of his life, has been called Scarface.

His physical scars, which he’s carried with him for the majority of his life, are the result of a house fire. As he explains it, he had to have over a hundred surgeries when he was growing up. That left him with an addiction to opioids. Growing up in a poor neighborhood, Scarface fell into a criminal lifestyle. He ran with gangs. He did time in prison. At one point, he nearly died after he was shot. Scarface says that he’s one of the few men who can tell anyone firsthand what it feels like to die.

After getting out of prison, Scarface turned his life around. He got married. He had two children. And, in his backyard, he set up something that he calls Street Beefs, a boxing ring where people — mostly, judging from the documentary, young men — can settle their disagreements with their fists instead of out on the streets with a gun or a knife. (At one point, the documentary shows us a pair of boxing gloves, across which has been written, “Glove up or Shut Up.”)

However, it’s about more than just boxing. Whether they win or lose, each fighter is treated like a champion when they step into the ring and each fighter has people in the audience cheering him on. That’s not something that a lot of the men who fight in Scarface’s backyard get to experience in their everyday life.

Lions in the Corner is an effective and, ultimately, moving documentary. It focuses as much on Scarface’s story as it does on the punches being thrown in the ring and, fortunately, the guy is a charismatic storyteller. By the end of this short documentary, you can’t help but wish the best for not only him but also for everyone who steps into the ring.

Lions in the Corner is currently available on Prime.

SXSW 2020 Review: Still Wylde (dir by Ingrid Haas)

Posted on May 1, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Still Wylde is an 11-minute film about a long-time couple, Gertie (Ingrid Haas) and Sam (Barry Rothbart), and what happens when Gertie gets pregnant with the child that they hope to name Wylde.

It’s a film that, if I may be allowed to indulge in a cliche, made me laugh and then made me cry. And then it made me briefly laugh again and then it made me cry a lot. It’s an emotional roller coaster and it’s also a good example of why the short film format can be so powerful. A lot of time passes in just 11 minutes and you truly feel like you come to know Gertie and Sam over the course of the film. Because it is a short film, every moment counts. There is no filler. Instead, every minute of the film is about getting to know Gerite and Sam and following them on their journey. You come to care about them. You share their joy and you share their heartbreak and, in the end, you’re happy that they have one another.

From the minute you see Gertie buying every single pregnancy test at the local convenience store and then pacing in front of a dead plant after getting the results, you feel as if you know who she is. From the minute that Sam starts stuttering as he tries to figure out the right way to respond to Gertie’s news, you know who Sam is. It’s kind of impossible not to love Sam and Gertie and to get caught up in their story.

And all it took was 11 minutes!

Through May 6th, Still Wylde and several other films that would have been featured at this year’s SXSW are currently available for free on Prime. Definitely check them all out. Let’s do what we can to support brave and honest filmmakers like Ingrid Haas and so many others during this difficult time.

Now, I’m going to go cry for a little bit more….

SXSW 2020 Review: Waffle (dir by Carlyn Hudson)

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Can I get a connection?

The 10 minute short film, Waffle, begins with what appears to be a sleep over. Kerry (Kerry Baker) and Katie (Katie Marovitch) are both sitting on a couch in their pajamas, talking about a time when they hung out with the cutest boys in their class and they all ended up making out in someone’s car. There’s a lot of giggling and hugging and most viewers won’t buy it for a second.

It’s not just the fact that both of the women appear to be a little bit older than the usual sleep over participants. In fact, neither one appears to still be in high school. It’s also hard not to notice that, for two best friends, Katie and Kerry really don’t seem to know each other that well. When Kerry is trying to tell the story about a night that she and Katie hung out together, Katie keeps interrupting her and telling her to change the details. Katie is also quite insistent that Kerry will have waffles, despite Kerry’s lack of enthusiasm for the idea. When Kerry mentions that her friend Rapahel (Raphael Chestang) is coming by, Katie does not react well to the news.

Things only get stranger from that point on. Katie is someone who is not only used to getting what she wants but who also has the money necessary to make sure that no one ever says no. Kerry has her own motivations but it doesn’t take long to notice that she doesn’t seem to be particularly enthusiastic about spending too much time with her “best friend.” The film goes from being a comedy to a drama to back to being a comedy to being …. well, I don’t want to give away too much. Let’s just say that a lot happens in just ten minutes.

Waffle is a clever look at the struggle to make a connection in an increasingly isolated community. Katie Marovitch alternates between being menacing and being almost sympathetic in the role of Katie while Kerry Cook’s performance keeps the story grounded in an identifiable reality.

It’s on Prime, at least through May 6th so, if you’ve got ten minutes to spare, be sure to check it out.

SXSW 2020: The Voice In Your Head (dir by Graham Parkes)

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Poor Dan!

As played by Lewis Pullman, Dan seems like a decent enough guy. He’s a little bit on the dorky side and he seems to be kind of shy. He’s one of those people who you always see kind of shuffling along with head down. When he speaks, it’s in such a soft voice that it can be a struggle to hear him. He’s insecure and anxious and really, it’s understandable once you see what he has to live with.

The thing you have to understand about Dan is that he wakes up every morning and has to deal with the voice of his anxiety (played by Mat Wright), a loud and obnoxious bully who follows him everywhere that he goes and who constantly tells him that everything he’s doing is wrong. Dan can’t even have a friendly conversation with his co-worker, Julia (Trian Long Smith), without the voice taunting him and telling him that he’s useless. The voice is everything that Dan is not. The voice is loud and flashy and obnoxious and totally unconcerned with any feelings that he may hurt. The voice is every moment of anxiety that anyone in the world has ever felt. He’s every insecure thought and lingering regret. He’s ….

Well, there’s actually a bit more to the voice but I’m not going to spoil this short film but revealing all of its secrets. About halfway through this film’s 13-minute running time, there’s a huge twist and I can’t reveal the details. I will say that it’s a very clever little twist and it’s one that will take you by surprise.

The Voice In Your Head is a well-directed comedy about anxiety. Lewis Pullman is sympathetic as Dan while Mat Wright is brilliantly obnoxious in the role of the Voice. I don’t personally know the director, Graham Parkes, so I won’t speculate on what may or may not have inspired this film but, just from watching, he seems to be someone who not only understands anxiety but who also understands a good deal about human nature. The things that cause us the greatest anxiety often appear totally different once we actually confront them and that’s something that this film certainly understands.

It’s on Prime, at least through May 6th. So, be sure to check it out.

SXSW 2020 Review: Affurmative Action (dir by Travis Woods)

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, South By Southwest has been canceled this year but fortunately, you can still go over to Amazon Prime and watch some of the feature films, documentaries, and shorts that were scheduled to be featured this year. That’s what I’m going to be doing tonight and tomorrow.

I started things off by watching Affurmative Action, which is a 5-minute short film that is largely made up with shots of various “Meet the Team” pages. Those are the pages that appear on almost every business’s website, where you see smiling pictures of all of the people who are in leadership positions. This is especially true of small businesses, where the idea is that you look at all of the smiling, cheerful, hip faces and you say to yourself, “These are people who I want to work with!”

The majority of the “meet the team” pages that are featured in Affurmative Action come from advertising, media, and other creative companies that are located in either New York or Los Angeles, which are two very diverse cities with reputations for being culturally liberal. Director Travis Woods points two things out to us over the course of five minutes:

First off, it’s very common to see a dog (and, in one, case a cat) listed as being a part of the team. Sometimes, they’re listed as being “mascot.” One lucky dog was a Vice President of Barking or something like that.

Secondly, it’s very rare to see any black faces on the Meet The Team pages. In fact, the film makes the argument that you’re more likely to see a dog on the Meet The Team page than you are a black person.

Now, I have to admit that, when I first watched the documentary, I had what is probably a very stereotypical white girl reaction to it. “Awwwww!” I said, “those dogs are so cute!” (I’ll also admit right now that I was the one who suggested to Arleigh that Doc Bowman should become a contributor to the Shattered Lens.) But, once I got over the cuteness of the dogs, I also realized that the documentary was making a very valid and important point about the lack of diversity in many companies, especially when it comes to upper management. The dogs may be cute but they’re not the ones who are being shut out of leadership positions and who aren’t being given the same opportunity to advance in their careers. If nothing else, Affurmative Action is a film that I will remember every time that I look at a “Meet The Team” page.

As I said, it’s a short film. It’s only five minutes long. The dogs are cute. The film’s point is serious and will make you think.

Lisa Marie’s Possibly Pointless and Totally Random Oscar Predictions for April

Posted on April 30, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

To do Oscar predictions during a pandemic or not?

That’s the question.

Erik Anderson at Awards Watch announced on twitter that he’s not doing his monthly Oscar predictions for April and May. (He is, however, focusing on the Emmys so be sure to visit the site and check out his thoughts!) Over at Clayton Davis’s Awards Circuit, the Oscar predictions have been taken down and replaced by an ominous (though definitely needed) counter of how many people are currently infected with the Coranavirus. As of right now, there’s a lot of uncertainty. Are theaters even going to reopen before the year ends and if they do reopen, will people be willing to run the risk of going outside to see a movie? So many of the big films of 2020 have been moved back to 2021 that one could legitimately wonder whether any of the big “Oscar” films are even going to come out this year. Most ominously, for me, is that we could get hit by a second wave of the Coronavirus. It’s easy to imagine a situation where theaters reopen in the summer and, regardless of how business goes, are forced to close again in December.

The Academy is aware that the future is uncertain. Earlier this week, they loosened the eligibility rules. Films that premiere on VOD or a streaming service are now eligible for Oscar consideration as long as it can been proven that the film would have also gotten a theatrical release if not for the pandemic. I’m not sure how exactly that could be proven but it does show that the Academy is, as of now, planning to give out some Oscars next February.

(Of course, just because the rules have been temporarily loosened, that doesn’t mean that every studio and director is going to want to put their huge blockbusters out on Prime or Netflix or VOD. I doubt Spielberg wants to premiere West Side Story in your living room.)

So, for that reason, I’m going to continue to do my monthly Oscar predictions. Needless to say, these are even more random than usual. The predictions below are also being made on the assumption that theaters will be open in November, December, and January. Again, there are no guarantees, other than perhaps Netflix.

So, without further ado, here are my predictions. Also, be sure to check out my predictions from January, February, and March!

Best Picture

Ammonite

The Father

Hillbilly Elegy

Mank

Minari

News of the World

Nomadland

On The Rocks

Respect

West Side Story

Best Director

Sofia Coppola for On The Rocks

Paul Greengrass for News of the World

Ron Howard for Hillbilly Elegy

Francis Lee for Ammonite

Steven Spielberg for West Side Story

Best Actor

Ben Affleck in The Way Back

Tom Hanks in News of the World

Anthony Hopkins in The Father

Bill Murray in On The Rocks

Gary Oldman in Mank

Best Actress

Amy Adams in Hillbilly Elegy

Jennifer Hudson in Respect

Sofia Loren in The Life Ahead

Frances McDormand in Nomadland

Kate Winslet in Ammonite

Best Supporting Actor

David Alvarez in West Side Story

Tom Burke in Mank

Bo Hopkins in Hillybilly Elegy

Forest Whitaker in Respect

Steve Yeun in Minari

Best Supporting Actress

Glen Close in Hillbilly Elegy

Ariana DeBose in West Side Story

Saoirse Ronan in Ammonite

Amanda Seyfried in Mank

Helena Zengel in News of the World

We’ll see what happens. Right now, your guess is as good as mine. In fact, your guess is probably better.

Film Review: Escape From Hell (dir by Danny Carrales)

Posted on April 27, 2020 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The 2000 film, Escape From Hell, tells the story of two doctors.

Dr. Marissa Holloway (Emily Jo Tisdale) believes that there is a Heaven and that there is a Hell and that, at the end of your life, you go to one of them. The film lets us know, early on, that she’s right by letting us into the mind of a good but irreligious family man who is on the verge of death. At first, the man sees himself heading into a shining light but then, suddenly, he’s plunging into flames! That’s right. The good man who loved his family and helped people out and who never did anything wrong to anyone still went straight to Hell.

Dr. Eric Robinson (Daniel Kruse) doesn’t believe that there’s an afterlife. He believes that everyone who says that they’ve seen either a light or a glimpse of Hell was suffering from a hallucination. He’s hostile to Marissa’s beliefs. Could it have something to do with his difficult relationship with his estranged father? Who knows?

Together, Dr. Holloway and Dr. Robinson solves crimes!

No, actually, they don’t. Instead, they star in a low-budget, evangelically-themed remake of Flatliners. After his father dies, Dr. Robinson is more determined than ever to prove that there’s no afterlife so he decides that the smartest thing to do would be to die for a few minutes and then be brought back to life by another doctor. Like I said, it’s basically Flatliners all over again. The main difference, of course, is that Flatliners imagined a New Agey afterlife with no God while Escape From Hell leaves little doubt that there’s a Heaven and a Hell and just about everyone’s going to the second place.

Dr. Robinson does originally go to Heaven and it’s a nice-looking meadow. (Apparently, he just gets to skip Purgatory so lucky him.) However, the doctor is soon informed that he doesn’t belong in Heaven so bang! It’s down to Hell that he goes. Hell is essentially a rocky place with constantly burning fires. The whole place is tinted red and looks like something you might expect to find in an old video game. Unfortunately, Dr. Robinson doesn’t get to talk to the five people you meet in Heaven but he does get to talk to a handful of people in Hell, the majority of whom are confused as to why they’re down there but who also realize that they somehow massively screwed up and will never get a chance to escape. One of the people that Robinson meets turns out to be a demon. There’s a lot of really cheap CGI that looks kind of silly but, at the same time, still possesses a certain low-rent charm.

While Dr. Robinson is learning about the afterlife, his colleagues are trying to bring him back to life. If they don’t bring him back quickly enough, Robinson, much like Franklin Delano Roosevelt will be stuck in Hell in forever!

(I should admit that we don’t actually see FDR in Hell. I just assume he’s down there.)

If you haven’t picked up on it by now, I have a weakness for achingly sincere films that feature primitive CGI. It’s easy to make fun of movies like Escape from Hell but I tend to view them as being examples of outsider art. Yes, it’s a flawed film that was apparently made by people who weren’t really sure what they were doing but that’s actually the film’s charm. The bad acting, the melodramatic dialogue, the cheap CGI, the extremely literal definitions of Hell and Heaven, and the final message that almost everyone on the planet is destined to suffer eternal torment; all of it contributes to make a film unlike almost any other (except, of course, for the original Flatliners) It’s silly, preachy, and entertaining in its own bizarre way. It’s the cinematic equivalent of the school prayer advocate who says that children who don’t want to pray can, “Simpy lower their heads and think about how they’ve got it all figured out.” It may not be good but it’s always watchable in its own twisted way.