In the offbeat dramedy Closet, Jin is reeling from a breakup and gets a very unusual job. The job is with a non-sexual escort service where clients pay him to cuddle with them as they try to get to sleep. It’s one of those quirky only-in-Japan things, like capsule hotels and golf in highrise buildings.
The cuddle is often preceded by a massage and/or a listening session. Cuddling is so intimate that the audience often expects sex to break out, but it doesn’t.
The service appeals to insomniacs because they can drift off to sleep with the comfort of another warm human body. Closet moves through vignettes on a varied set of customers – all differently motivated. One is a lively spirited 18-year-old student (Aino Kuribayashi).
Given his recent medical and relationship traumas and the weirdness of his new job, Jin (Yosuke Minokawa) often looks bewildered.
Cinequest will host the world premiere of Closet. Closet, with its novel premise, is a worthwhile choice.
Haaz Sleiman and Michael Cassidy in BREAKING FAST. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In Breaking Fast, successful physician Dr. Mo (Haaz Sleiman) is a practicing Muslim who is out to his family, friends and work colleagues; although he lives in West Hollywood, he’s not part of the gay club scene. He has a longtime boyfriend Hassan (Patrick Sabongui), and Mo’s most flamboyant behavior is scoring the best desserts from the local Middle Eastern bakery for family gatherings.
Hassan’s family is not so tolerant, and Hassan – buried deep in the closet – believes that he must enter a sham heterosexual marriage, which Mo cannot stomach, and they split. Then, Mo meets meets Kal (Michael Cassidy), sparks fly, and the audience recognizes that Kal is perfect for Mo. But Kal is neither Arab nor Muslim, and Mo is still obsessed with losing Hassan. A romantic dramedy ensues.
The term “Gay-rab” pops up. And there is a stereotypical Gay Best Friend, Sam (Amin El Gamal), who is so gay that his party features a gospel choir singing Happy Birthday.
Sleiman is an adorable lead, and the flawless main characters must navigate a straightforward conflict.
This is a first feature by writer-director Mike Mosallam. He delivers solid entertainment here, elevated with insights into the quandaries faced by LGBTQ Muslim-Americans. Authentic-seeming cultural glimpses in the lives of Arab-Americans, Muslim-Americans and LGBTQ LA are a bonus.
There’s even an effective cameo by Veronica Cartwright. BTW it’s good to see these Arab-American actors getting chance to play something other than terrorists on episodic TV.
Although the most striking aspect of Breaking Fast is its breaking ground on the topic of LGBTQ Muslims, we should note that it’s a romantic comedy about someone on his forties, which isn’t all that that common, either.
So, this is just another gay Muslim romantic comedy…I predict that Breaking Fast will become the Feel Good hit of the 2020 Cinequest. And I wouldn’t bet against Breaking Fast getting a shot at theatrical distribution. Cinequest hosts the world premiere of Breaking Fast.
In the thriller Before the Fire, this year’s Must See at Cinequest, the only escape from an apocalyptic flu pandemic is a woman’s long-estranged rural hometown – but the scary family who traumatized her childhood is there, too. Written by its female star Jenna Lyng Adams, and the first feature by its female director Charlie Buhler, this indie thriller rocks.
Ava Boone (Adams) is a Hollywood actress who has found some success “pretending to be a vampire”, as she puts it, on a television series. As a killer flu sweeps America’s cities, her photojournalist husband (Jackson Davis) seeks to save her by tricking her into refuge with his family in their sparsely populated childhood hometown.
The problem is that growing up in a family ruled by her abusive father was deeply traumatizing. And it’s only a matter of time until her family finds out that she’s back.
As star and screenwriter Adams has said, “but what if the last place you wanted to go was the only place you could go?”
Veteran Charles Hubbell is excellent as the monstrous dad. The part is written to acknowledge that domestic abuse is about power and control – and not just physical abuse. This guy emanates physical brutality, but he is also a master manipulator.
To make things worse, the dad leads a militia of Deliverance-style yahoos, whose strategy to suppress the flu is to murder outsiders.
Ava was once – and is definitely no longer – a farm girl. For necessity’s sake, she begins repairing fences and doing the other hard, dirty and unglamorous work of the family farm run by her husband’s brother (Ryan Vigilant) and his mother (M.J. Karmi). Along the way, she physically hardens up and develops some skills with firearms.
Unsurprisingly (since she wrote it), the role of Ava is a showcase for Jenna Lyng Adams (The Kominsky Files). When Ava first sees her father again, she’s terrified to her core, which tells us all we need from the back story. Adams’ performance is compelling and credible as Ava has to devise and execute her own survival plan. Adams is on-screen in almost every scene and carries the picture.
“Audiences are thirsty for unconventional, layered, and imperfect women on-screen,” said Adams. “I wanted our protagonist to find her strength by facing the darkest parts of her life in the darkest hours of the world. She reinvents herself over and over again to survive.”
“We fought to make this movie, because we felt that there was a very specific expectation about the types of stories women were able to tell,” says director Charlie Buhler. “Male directors shift between genres much more fluidly, and I think you can feel it in the types of stories that make it to the screen. But Jenna and I both love action, we both love sci-fi, so we wanted to make a female protagonist that we women could really rally behind.”
Indeed, women filmmakers shouldn’t be left to the high-falutin’ Message Pictures while the guys have all the fun with the genre movies.
Before the Fire was filmed on location in South Dakota. Cinematographer Drew Bienemann (visual effects in Beasts of the Southern Wild) makes the barren wintry landscape work to illustrate the Ava’s isolation and vulnerability.
Cinequest will host the world premiere of Before the Fire, which is the best American narrative feature in the fest.
In the Mexican sexual psychodrama Ana’s Desire, Ana (Laura Agorreca) is a conscientious working single mom. She is unsettled by the sudden appearance of her shady younger brother Juan (David Calderón León), who has been out of contact for years. With his motorcycle and his subversion of Ana’s bedtime and dietary routines, Juan becomes that Way Cool, fascinating uncle to Ana’s son Mateo (Ian Garcia Monterrubio).
It turns out that Ana and Juan had a tough childhood, having been raised by a less-than-ideal widowed father. They became very close then, and Ana’s visit back to their hometown rekindles old memories and deep-rooted feelings.
What is going on here between Ana and Juan? Writer-director Emilio Santoyo lets the audience connect the dots in a slow burn compressed into only 80 minutes. The ending pays off.
Maja Stojan in 3 DAY WEEKEND. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
The inventively constructed thriller 3 Day Weekend is a storytelling triumph for writer-director Wyatt McDill and a taut 80 minutes of gripping entertainment.
3 Day Weekend begins with a lovelorn Millennial doofus, Ben, on a solo camping trip. Despite a noticeable lack of outdoor skills, Ben pitches his tent in the woods near a remote lake; but other people arrive, and everything that Ben witnesses tells him that he has blundered into a kidnapping in progress, and, possibly, a murder. But all is not as it seems…
We follow what Ben sees for 29 minutes, and then the point of view shifts to that of a second character. The added vantage point provides the audience with more puzzle pieces, and we start understanding that the story is going in another direction. Then a third character, and, finally a fourth, add layers to complete the story.
McDill even takes us from one crime subgenre to another – is this a peril-and-rescue film, a heist movie, a tragic neo-noir or a perfect crime flick?
And McDill tells his story with hardly any dialogue – and essentially none in the first half of the movie, unless you count grunts. The actors – Maya Stojan, Morgan Krantz, Nathan Phillips and Scott MacDonald – ably tell the story without many lines.
This isn’t exactly like Rashomon, where each character’s perspective shapes the facts differently. In 3 Day Weekend, the facts are all the same; it’s just that some characters come to the story knowing things that others don’t, and some characters experience events that others miss.
There’s plenty of humor slyly embedded in this tale, chiefly in the foibles of the male characters. Plus there are two tattoos that the audience will not be expecting.
McDill also cleverly uses the time-stamped notifications and texts from smart phones to set and reset the timeline of the story threads.
This is an ingenuously-constructed story. Cinequest hosts the world premiere of 3 Day Weekend.
BEFORE THE FIRE: world premiere at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
I’m gearing up for my unparalleled coverage of Cinequest, which opens on Tuesday. Here’s my First Look at Cinequest from last month. I’ve already seen about twenty Cinequest films, and on Sunday I’ll be posting my festival preview with specific recommendations.
OUT NOW
What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael is the remarkably thorough and insightful biodoc of the iconic film critic Pauline Kael and her drive for relevance.
Of the new films I haven’t yet seen, Seberg, with Kristin Stewart, looks the most promising.
And here’s what I’ve written about the best Oscar-nominated movies. They’re all available to stream:
My video pick is We Believe in Dinosaurs, a thought-provoking documentary on scientists being totally outmatched by a monumental creationist theme park and its hordes of believers, massive private investment, capacity for technical wizardry and even state support. We Believe in Dinosaurs can be streamed from Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
ON TV
Need 100 minutes of uplift? On March 3, Turner Classic Movies brings us the gospel music documentary Say Amen, Somebody. This 1982 art house hit is very hard to find and is almost never on television. The film traces the genre from gospel pioneers Willie Mae Ford Smith and Thomas A. Dorsey to contemporary artists.
JOHN PINETTE: YOU GO NOW, the opening night film at Cinequest. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
Make your plans now to attend the 30th edition of Cinequest, Silicon Valley’s own major film festival. By some metrics the largest film festival in North America, Cinequest was recently voted the nation’s best by USA Today readers. The 2020 Cinequest is scheduled for March 3 through March 15 and will present almost 100 feature films and dozens of short films and virtual reality experiences from the US and over fifty other countries. And, at Cinequest, it’s easy to meet the filmmakers.
This year’s headline events include:
New movies with Annette Bening, Bill Nighy, Elizabeth Debicki, Jesse Eisenberg, Elle Fanning, Javier Bardem, Anthony Mackie, Jamie Dorman, Donald Sutherland, Kristin Scott Thomas, Gina Gershon, Ed Harris, Mira Sorvino, Thomas Sadoski, Christina Ricci and…Mick Jagger.
Hong Chau (Treme, Downsizing) gets an award and appears in person with her new film Driveways.
See it here FIRST: Resistance, The Burnt Orange Heresy, Hope Gap, Roads Not Taken, The Longest Wave and Driveways are among the movies slated for theatrical release later this year.
The 1920 Douglas Fairbanks silent The Mark of Zorro will be projected in a period movie palace, the California Theatre.
Cinequest is the Bay Area’s preeminent PREMIERE festival – this year with 154 US, North American or World Premieres – be in the FIRST AUDIENCE ANYWHERE to see these films. Indeed, the real treasure at Cinequest 2020 is likely to be found among the hitherto less well-known films.
So, it’s fitting that, for only the second time in Cinequest’s 30-year history, the opening night film will be an open submission: John Pinette: You Go Now, a documentary tribute to the comedian John Pinette. (The only previous open submission to open the festival was Chuck Workman’s The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies in 1995.)
In recent years, Cinequest hosted the debut features for directors Charlie Griak (The Center) and Julie Sokolow (Aspie Seeks Love), both world premieres. Griak returns with his new film Nina of the Woods and Sokolow will bring her latest, BAREFOOT: The Mark Baumer Story. Oscar-nominated director Milcho Manchevski (Before the Rain) premiered his Bikini Moon at the 2018 Cinequest and his new Willow will play the 2020 Cinequest.
Cinequest revels in its Downtown San Jose vibe, with concurrent screenings at the 1122-seat California, the 550-seat Hammer and the 257-seat 3Below, all within 1600 feet of the VIP lounge at The Continental Bar. There will still be satellite viewing in Redwood City.
At Cinequest, you can get a festival pass for as little as $165, and you can get individual tickets as well. The express pass for an additional tax-deductible $100 is a fantastic deal – you get to skip to the front of the lines! Take a look at the entire program, the schedule and the passes and tickets.
As usual, I’ll be covering Cinequest rigorously with features and movie recommendations. I usually screen (and write about) over thirty Cinequest films from around the world. Bookmark my CINEQUEST page, with links to all my coverage (links on the individual movies will start to go live on Sunday, March 1). Follow me on Twitter for the latest.
Hong Chau in DRIVEWAYS. Photo courtesy of Cinequest.
In the superb indie Auggie, Felix (Richard Kind) is pushed into retirement before he wants. He’s given a goodbye gift that he never would have thought to wish for, augmented reality glasses. Suddenly plunged into inactivity just as his wife Anne’s career is thriving, Felix finally gets around to putting on the glasses. The glasses give him a virtual companion, Auggie, equipped with the artificial intelligence to give the wearer his craved-for experiences. Most insidiously, Auggie even delivers individually customized emotional support. Everyone’s digital companion takes the form of what they desire, and Felix’s Auggie is a smoking hot and adorable young woman.
The more Felix wears the glasses, the more Auggie is able to fulfill his every need, even triggering more inner desires that he was aware of. This isn’t quite a Doctor Faust who knowingly opts into his fantasy; Auggie’s artificial intelligence is able to see Felix’s fantasies even before he can imagine them. All things in moderation, of course, but Auggie’s infinite availability becomes additive. This is no longer healthy for Felix or his family.
When a character asks, “Who do you see when you put on the glasses?”, it’s a devastating moment.
Auggie is the first feature for director and co-writer Matt Kane. Kane has avoided writing Felix as a stereotypical clumsy old grouch. As written by Kane and co-writer Marc Underhill and played by Richard Kind, he’s very smart and perceptive. He just isn’t ready for unimaginable temptation.
You’ll recognize Richard Kind, a reliable character actor and voice artist with 221 screen credits. My favorite Kind performance was the moving portrayal of a man seeking closure after the death of his wife in Clint Eastwood’s Hereafter.
Susan Blackwell is perfect at Felix’s wife Anne. Blackwell has had small parts in some very fine films and hosts her own Broadway interview show on YouTube, Side By Side with Susan Blackwell. Cristen Harper is suitably seductive as Auggie.
I saw Auggie at its world premiere at Cinequest. It can be streamed from Amazon, iTunes and Vudu.
In the slow burn thriller Hunting Lands, Frank (Marshall Cook) is living a solitary life as a subsistence hunter in a forest cabin, a long pickup drive outside his northern Michigan hometown. Frank is a guy with serious wilderness skills, loading his own ammo and field dressing the large mammals that he fells with a single shot. He witnesses a serious crime in the woods and is immediately driven to make things right – but not in the way we expect.
Frank has nobody to talk to, and we see him silently triage the situation and begin a hunt for the perpetrator. Silent observation comes naturally to a hunter, and we see him wordlessly patrolling the small towns in his pickup, as he tracks down his human prey. We see what Frank sees, and one of the most pivotal characters is only seen in long shot until the last 15 minutes or so.
HUNTING LANDS
HUNTING LANDS
Hunting Lands is the first feature from writer-director Zack Wilcox, a story-teller who is thankfully willing to let the audience connect the dots. Because Hunting Lands is only 83 minutes long, Wilcox can take his time watching Frank watch others. Even as Frank is still and quiet, the audience is gripped by what he is going to do next.
An original character, Frank seems unusually self-aware for a hermit. When he finally gets in a conversation, he turns out to be an articulate guy who understands and can explain why he has become a recluse.
Wilcox follows Billie Wilder’s screenwriting advice – “don’t hang around”; the ending is not even one second too long. And Wilcox knows that a little ambiguity about what happens afterwards can pack a punch.
Cinequest hosted the word premiere of Hunting Lands. You can stream it now on Amazon, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
The psychological suspense movie Una revolves around two twisted people, one of whom has been damaged by trauma. Here’s what the audience can be confident really happened: at age 14, Una (Rooney Mara) was seduced by a much older man, Ray (Ben Mendelsohn); she became infatuated with Ray and they carried on a sexual relationship for three months until he was caught and imprisoned for four years. Upon leaving prison, he changed his name and started a new life. It’s now fifteen years after the original crime and Una has tracked him down.
We can tell that Una is obsessed with Ray. What we don’t know is whether Una is seeking vengeance or whether she is in love with him – or both. She’s so messed up that even she may not know.
Lolita was a novel with a famously unreliable narrator. Una presents us with TWO unreliable narrators. Almost every statement made by Ray COULD be true, but probably isn’t. He was in love with her, he came back for her, she was his only underage lover, he’s not “one of them”, he’s told his wife about his past – we just can’t know for sure. Ben Mendelsohn delivers a performance that tries to conceal whatever Ray is thinking and feeling but allows his desperation to leak out.
The excellent actor Riz Ahmed (Four Lions, The Reluctant Terrorist) is very good as Ray’s work buddy, who must deal with one totally unforeseeable surprise after another.
Una really relies on Rooney Mara to portray a wholly unpredictable character in every scene, and she succeeds in carrying the movie. Mara’s face is particularly well-suited when she plays a haunting and/or haunted character, and it serves her well here.
I originally saw Una at Cinequest. You can stream it from Netflix Instant, Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.
