SFFILM

STRAWBERRY MANSION: a trippy and sweet fable

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A scene from Kentucker Audley’s and Albert Birney’s film STRAWBERRY MANSION. Courtesy of SFFILM

To celebrate the 2022 SFFILM, underway, now, here’s a gem from last year’s SFFILM. The very trippy and ultimately sweet fable Strawberry Mansion is set in a future where people’s dreams are taxed. Preble (Kentucker Audley), a workaday tax auditor, is assigned to audit the dreams of an elderly artist, Bella (Penny Fuller). Preble is soon plunged into an Alice in Wonderland experience with her dreams, and his dreams, and a romance to boot.

Preble puts on a gizmo to watch the dreams pf others (and comes across an even cooler gizmo that filters dreams). He even encounters Bella’s younger self (Grace Glowicki).

Strawberry Mansion is also a sharp and funny critique of insidious commercialism. A fictional brand of fried chicken keeps showing up in the story. Hilariously, Preble becomes entangled in an endless loop of upselling at a fast food drive-thru. And Preble is constantly prodded to consume by his own diabolical dream buddy (Linas Phillips). A sinister marketing plot is revealed.

A scene from Kentucker Audley’s and Albert Birney’s film STRAWBERRY MANSION. Courtesy of SFFILM

Kentucker Audley is very good as Preble, who starts out the movie mildly annoyed and evolves into various degrees of bewilderment. Audley is one of those actors who keeps showing up in something interesting (and offbeat) like Amy Seimetz’s She Dies Tomorrow and Sun Don’t Shine, or in smaller parts in especially fine films like Her Smell and Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.

As Bella, Penny Fuller radiates a contentment that ranges from ditzy to sage. Reed Birney is especially good as Bella’s sinister son.

Audley co-wrote and co-directed Strawberry Mansion with Albert Birney. They make the most of the surreal settings within dreams, and use different color palettes for each dream; the palette for Preble’s real-life bachelor apartment is pretty surreal, too.

I screened Strawberry Mansion for the 2021 SFFILM. It’s now available to stream from Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube and can be purchased on Blu-ray after May 17.

Top picks at SFFILM 2022

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Liu Haoran in Zhang Yi’s FIRE ON THE PLAIN. Courtesy of SFFILM.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) has just opened and runs through May 1. The menu at SFFILM includes 130 films from 56 countries, with 16 world premieres and 10 North American or US premieres. Once again, a majority of the films were directed by female and non-binary filmmakers, and a majority of the movie in this years program have BIPOC directors. Here are my three top picks – all from international cinema.

My favorite SFFILM film so far is the character-driven neo-noir Fire on the Plain, the first film for director and co-writer Zhang Yi (Ji Zhang on IMDb). Zhang takes us to northeastern China in1997, into a gritty industrial city whose tagline could be disappointment. Most of the adults seemed paralyzed by economic hopelessness. A serial killer is knocking off taxi drivers, and everyone is on edge. Shu (Liu Haoran) hangs out with his rowdy friends; he’s headed nowhere, and he’s OK with that. Only the spirited Fei (Zhou Dongyu) has a plan to escape the gloom. It looks like the story is building toward Fei emigrating with Shu, but a surprising murder occurs. The story reconvenes in 2005, and Shu and Fei are each in totally unexpected circumstances. Visually and thematically dark, Fire on the Plain winds toward a fittingly noir ending.

Julio César Chávez and Oscar De La Hoya in Eva Longoria’s LA GUERRA CIVIL. Courtesy of SFFILM.

The think piece documentary La Guerra Civil is the feature directing debut for actress (and veteran TV director) Eva Longoria. It explores issues of identity through the rivalry between boxing champions Julio César Chávez and Oscar De La Hoya. Chávez came from an impoverished Mexican childhood to dominate boxing in the late 1980s and 1990s, breaking record after record; Chávez became especially revered by Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. Exploding from East LA into the 1992 Olympics, the handsome and media savvy Oscar De La Hoya had a similar rags-to-champion profile. One might expect Mexican-Americans to embrace De La Hoya, even as he climbed toward a face-off with Chávez . But it was much more complicated than that, and De La Hoya feels the need to verbalize that he’s “Mexican enough”.

Juliet Binoche and Vincent Lindon in Claire Denis’ BOTH SIDES OF THE BLADES (FIRE). Courtesy of SFFILM.

One of the biggest films at SFFILM is anything but a first film – Both Sides of the Blade (also known as Fire) comes from French auteur Claire Denis (35 Shots of Rum, Let the Sunshine In). Sara (the ever rapturous Juliette Binoche) has built a ten-year relationship with Jean (Vincent Lindon) that has survived his prison sentence. Sara had previously been with François (Grégoire Colin), but left him because she valued Jean’s reliability, loyalty and decency. When François shows up again in their lives, Sara is drawn to him again. With Denis, Binoche and Lindon layering in all the complexities of these characters, this is not your average romantic triangle.

Here’s the trailer for Fire on the Plain.

First look at SFFILM 2022

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Photo caption: SFFILM returns in-person to the Castro Theatre and other venues. Photo by Pamela Gentile. Courtesy of SFFILM.

This year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) opens April 21, and runs through May 1. The fest is IN-PERSON, which is a big deal after cancelling in 2020 and going virtual in 2021. Screening all the films at San Francisco’s Castro, Roxie, Vogue and Victoria theaters, and Berkeley’s BAMPFA, SFFILM is doubling down on its live events. Mask and proof of COVID vaccination will be required for attendees.

As always, it’s a Can’t Miss for Bay Area movie fans. The menu at SFFILM includes 130 films from 56 countries, with 16 world premieres and 10 North American or US premieres. Once again, a majority of the films were directed by female and non-binary filmmakers, and a majority of the movie in this years program have BIPOC directors.

Here are more special elements of this year’s SFFILM:

  • SFFILM honors Michelle Yeoh (the martial arts star of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the Bond Girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, and the steely mom in Crazy Rich Asians). On April 29, Yeoh will appear for an on-stage interview by Sandra Oh. On April 25, SFFILM will present a 35mm print of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon on the big screen at the Castro.
  • After last year’s fine selection of Mexican films (Son of Monarchs, Nudo Mixteco, Fauna, Dance of the 41), SFFILM offers a promising expanded Latinx program, with films from Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, Brazil, and of course, Mexico.
  • The most topical film is probably Klondike, where a mortar attack wipes out the front of a couple’s Ukrainian farmhouse. The film is set in the 2016 conflict that has since erupted into a full-scale war with the Russian invasion.
  • Again, SFFILM has highlighted a cross section of movies and events as Family-friendly, something that more film festivals should do. Introduce the kids to good cinema! Artist William Joyce will present his the Oscar®-winning The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore and his latest creation, Mr. Spam Gets a New Hat – and will finish with a live drawing activity, welcoming audience members to draw along.

As usual, I’ll be looking for under-the-radar gems and posting my recommendations just before the fest.

The 2022 SFFILM opens April 21. Here’s the information on the program and tickets and passes. Throughout SFFILM, you can follow me on Twitter for the very latest coverage, my coverage on my 2022 SFFILM page.

Michelle Yeoh, appearing live at SFFILM. Photo (c) by William Laisne Getty Images. Courtesy of SFFILM.

DANCE OF THE 41: overreaching while gay

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In the rapturously filmed period drama Dance of the 41, Mexican politician Ignacio de la Torre (Alfonso Herrera), a political Icarus if there ever were one, marries President Porfirio Diaz’s daughter Amada (Mabel Cadena). It’s the turn of the 20th Century, and de la Torre starts scheming with breathtaking recklessness.

The risk comes from the fact that de la Torre is in a secret club of gay aristocrats, closeted in plain sight in the most macho and homophobic mainstream culture. He has married Amada so she can be his beard, but his new bride, unaware of her new hubbie’s secret, was expecting her own sexual awakening. Instead, he spurns her for a torrid love affair with Evaristo (Emiliano Zurita).

De la Torre had married the boss’ daughter in a bid for advancement, expecting her to submit to being his pawn. But, hurt at not being desired, she calls on her dad’s capacity as an enforcer. It all culminates in a formal queer bacchanal that turns heartbreaking.

Dance of the 41 is a fictionalized (but very plausible) telling of a historical event, the salacious scandal called the “Dance of the Forty-One” or the “Ball of the Forty-One”.

I found the century-old story of Mexican LGBTQ history and the forbidden love between the men to be less interesting than the story between the husband and the young bride he had wildly underestimated. He is trapped because he’s gay and ambitious, but he is also a dick who is relying on male privilege to dismiss a young woman’s needs and aspirations and to cynically use her.

Director David Pablos and cinematographer Carolina Costa have created a visually extravagant film that makes use of its architecturally stunning locations. Much of Dance of the 41 takes place in gorgeously lit – candlelight.

I screened Dance of the 41 for the 2021 SFFILM. It is now streaming on Netflix.

SON OF MONARCHS: resolving his identity

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Photo caption: Tenoch Huerta in SON OF MONARCHS. Courtesy of SFFILM.

In the contemplative indie Son of Monarchs, things seem to be going well for the young biologist Mendel (Tenoch Huerta). His career as a scientist at an elite NYC institution seems to be starting well, his mentor respects and encourages him, his peers invite him to socialize and he’s dating a woman with a very unusual hobby. But something is not right, and it’s that Mendel’s very identity is unresolved,.

Mendel comes from rural Michoacán, which Nature has blessed with Monarch butterflies and cursed with disasters that traumatized Mendel in his childhood. The same childhood experiences have built his passion to understand life and have estranged him from his brother and their homeland. When he has occasion to revisit Michoacán, he can no longer compartmentalize his inner conflict.

SON OF MONARCHS. Courtesy of SFFILM.

Son of Monarchs is the second feature for writer-director Alexis Gambis, who makes the most out of the visual contrast between chilly NYC and the vivid warm of Michoacán.

Tenoch Huerta is very good as the somber, restless Mendel. Gabino Rodriguez (recently in the deadpan Fauna and a very scary villain in Sin Nombre) brightens the Michoacán segment.

I first saw Son of Monarchs at this year’s San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM). It’s now streaming on HBO Max.

FAUNA: how droll can you get?

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Gabino Rodriguez and Luisa Pardo in Nicolás Pereda’s FAUNA. Photo courtesy of SFFILM.

In Fauna, Luisa (Luisa Pardo) and her boyfriend Paco (Francisco Barreiro), both actors, visit Luisa’s remote Mexican hometown and meet up with her brother (Gabino Rodriguez), stepping into humor even drier than the parched landscape. They intend to visit Luisa’s parents (Teresa Sanchez and José Rodríguez López).

Paco wanders into the town, looking for some smokes. He meets an older man, who makes the encounter unnecessarily awkward. It turns out that the man was his girlfriend’s father.

Luisa runs some lines with her mom, and it’s clear to the audience that the mom is much better than the “professional actress”.

In the highlight of Fauna, the three guys go out for a beer. The dad is fascinated by Paco’s tiny role in a big episodic TV series and has him “perform” in the cantina. It’s a masterpiece of cringe humor and comic timing.

José Rodríguez López, always deadpan, is hilarious as Luisa’s dad. Where has this actor been? Despite being nominated for a 1991 Ariel (Mexico’s Oscar) for his first movie performance, Fauna is only his seventh feature film.

More than halfway though, Fauna pivots. Luisa’s brother has been reading a mystery , and the film begins to mirror the book. The deadpan continues throughout all of Fauna’s 70 minutes.

Mexican-born writer-director Nicolás Pereda lives in Toronto, and Fauna competed as a Canadian film at the Toronto Film Festival.

I screened Fauna at the San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM). It’s been released into some theaters, but is hard to find.

MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY: a simmering romantic reunion

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Idella Johnson, Sivan Noam Shimon and Hannah Pepper in Marion Hill’s film MA BELLE, MY BEAUTY. Courtesy of SFILM.

In the beginning of the simmering romantic drama Ma Belle, My Beauty, the New Orleans musicians Bertie (Idella Johnson) and Fred (Lucien Guignard) receive a surprise visitor. Fred, the band leader and Bertie, the vocalist, have married and relocated their jazz band to a rambling French farmhouse owned by Fred’s parents. Both the marriage and the move were Bertie’s idea, but now she’s depressed and no longer working with the band.

We learn that Bertie, while involved with Fred, had a simultaneous relationship with Lane (Hannah Pepper), until Lane starting dating another woman. Now Lane is single again, and Fred, hoping to shake Bertie out of her depression, has invited Lane to visit and surprise Bertie.

A surprise it is, and not altogether welcome. Bertie tells Hannah that Bertie’s happiness does not depend on either Fred or Lane – but is that true? And is Lane really willing to accept a non-exclusive relationship? And who is whose creative muse?

Bertie and Hannah spar, Hannah has a noisy fling with another guest, sexual tensions simmer, and before you know it, somebody is harnessing on the strap-on.

Almost all the action takes place at the farmhouse and the setting is sumptuous – Grade A Travel Porn. The farm is located in Anduze, France, at the very edge of the Rhone Valley, nestled in the foothills of the Cévennes.

Ma Belle, My Beauty is the first feature by writer-director Marion Hill, and it won an audience award at Sundance. I screened Ma Belle, My Beauty at SFFILM, and, in the Q&A, Marion Hill said that she was seeking to shoot a film in this idyllic French location, along with aspiring to explore the post-breakup dynamics of polyamorous women.

There’s a touch of jazz in Ma Belle, My Beauty, and Idella Johnson’s vocal performance shine.

The setting may be languid, but we know that Hill’s characters may erupt in passion at any moment. Ma Belle, My Beauty is a gorgeous, sexy, character-driven film. I screened Ma Belle, My Beauty at the 2021 SFFILM.

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET: the origin story of an institution

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Caption: A scene from Marilyn Agrelo’s film STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET. Courtesy of SFFILM

There’s a lot to like about Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, a documentary as charming as the beloved TV series. As groundbreaking as it was, Sesame Street is now a 51-year-old institution, and its origin saga has not been well-known. Most of the key players survive, allowing director Marilyn Agrelo to present the first-hand back story.

We take the concept for granted today, based on the recognition that kids voraciously learn from commercial television – they learn to consume commercially marketed products. Sesame Street’s founders aimed to find out what kids like to watch and what is good for them to watch and put the two together.

Refreshingly. the pioneering producer Joan Ganz Cooney, the visionary Lloyd Morrisette of the Carnegie Foundation and the inventive director/head writer Jon Stone, each gives the credit to the others. If you add Mister Rogers to these folks, you have the Mount Rushmore of children’s television.

Everything in Sesame Street was intentional – like the street setting itself. Noting that most kid shows had fantasy settings, the creators chose a gritty urban neighborhood street to be relatable to disadvantaged urban kids. The same is true for the integrated cast.

Of course, Street Gang highlights the role of the Muppets. At first, the Muppets had their own set, but the creators learned that kids were so entertained by the Muppets that they found the street boring. So, they pivoted and brought the Muppets on to the street.

Jim Henson founded the Muppets as a late night satirical act and brought that adult sensibility to Sesame Street. The jokes embedded for adults encouraged parents to watch Sesame Street with their kids (which the educators thought was important).

There is also the astounding story of Sesame Street in Mississippi, where state government-controlled public television refused to air a show with an integrated cast. Those stations had to reverse themselves when private Mississippi stations put the show on the air.

This had not occurred to me, but Sesame Street requires creation of original music for 100 episodes per year – an enormous body of work. Street Gang takes us into the songwriting craft, with witty gems like Letter B (from Let It Be).

I screened Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street at SFFILM in April. It is widely available to stream today.

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET: the origin story of an institution

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Caption: A scene from Marilyn Agrelo’s film STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET. Courtesy of SFFILM

There’s a lot to like about Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, a documentary as charming as the beloved TV series. As groundbreaking as it was, Sesame Street is now a 51-year-old institution, and its origin saga has not been well-known. Most of the key players survive, allowing director Marilyn Agrelo to present the first-hand back story.

We take the concept for granted today, based on the recognition that kids voraciously learn from commercial television – they learn to consume commercially marketed products. Sesame Street’s founders aimed to find out what kids like to watch and what is good for them to watch and put the two together.

Refreshingly. the pioneering producer Joan Ganz Cooney, the visionary Lloyd Morrisette of the Carnegie Foundation and the inventive director/head writer Jon Stone, each gives the credit to the others. If you add Mister Rogers to these folks, you have the Mount Rushmore of children’s television.

Everything in Sesame Street was intentional – like the street setting itself. Noting that most kid shows had fantasy settings, the creators chose a gritty urban neighborhood street to be relatable to disadvantaged urban kids. The same is true for the integrated cast.

Of course, Street Gang highlights the role of the Muppets. At first, the Muppets had their own set, but the creators learned that kids were so entertained by the Muppets that they found the street boring. So, they pivoted and brought the Muppets on to the street.

Jim Henson founded the Muppets as a late night satirical act and brought that adult sensibility to Sesame Street. The jokes embedded for adults encouraged parents to watch Sesame Street with their kids (which the educators thought was important).

There is also the astounding story of Sesame Street in Mississippi, where state government-controlled public television refused to air a show with an integrated cast. Those stations had to reverse themselves when private Mississippi stations put the show on the air.

This had not occurred to me, but Sesame Street requires creation of original music for 100 episodes per year – an enormous body of work. Street Gang takes us into the songwriting craft, with witty gems like Letter B (from Let It Be).

I screened Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street at SFFILM. It opens today in select San Francisco theaters and will release on VOD on May 6.

SFFILM: three indie gems

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Kelley Kali in a scene from Kelley Kali’s and Angelique Molina’s film I’M FINE (THANKS FOR ASKING), playing at the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival, April 9 -18, 2021. Courtesy of SFFILM

The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM) is always an important showcase for independent cinema. Here are three indie gems in this year’s SFFILM program.

In the winning indie I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking), a recently widowed mom has lost her housing and goes on a one-woman crusade to get herself and her daughter back into an apartment. With a one-day deadline to earn the last $200 for a rental deposit, she races the clock through a series of misadventures – both comic and tragic – roller skating around Pacoima, braiding hair and making app-based food deliveries. And she’s putting on the best face, hiding her homelessness (and even convincing her 8-year-old that they’re “camping”). I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) makes powerful statements about housing security and the gig economy in a oft funny, always accessible movie. It’s the first feature for the female, BIPOC filmmakers – shot on a low budget during a pandemic.

A scene from Bo Maguire’s film SOCKS ON FIRE, playing at the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival, April 9 -18, 2021. Courtesy of SFFILM

Socks on Fire is Bo McGuire’s tale of his own family’s inheritance battle over a Hokes Bluff, Alabama, bungalow. The family of church-going Bama football fans – and one drag queen – is jarred and wounded by the mean behavior of one aunt. Enriched by old home movies and re-enactments, this ain’t your conventional talking head documentary. Socks on Fire swings between funny and operatic, and there’s a sweet remembrance of a grandmother in here, too. Won Best Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival.

A scene from Kentucker Audley’s and Albert Birney’s film STRAWBERRY MANSION, playing at the 2021 San Francisco International Film Festival, April 9 -18, 2021. Courtesy of SFFILM

The very trippy and ultimately sweet fable Strawberry Mansion is set in a future where people’s dreams are taxed. An Everyman tax auditor (co-writer and co-director Kentucker Audley) is assigned to the dreams of an elderly artist and is plunged into an Alice in Wonderland experience with her dreams, and his dreams, and a romance, to boot. Strawberry Mansion is also a sharp and funny critique of insidious commercialism.

Socks on Fire had its North American theatrical premiere at a drive-in event – complete with live drag queen performances – as SFFILM’s centerpiece event. I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking) and Strawberry Mansion can be streamed at home through April 18. Tickets are available at SFFILM.