The Brass Teapot (Mosley, 2012)

Alice: "There's nothing evil about wanting more!"
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I have a lot of trouble saying I liked this movie, and yet I find myself questioning why I can't just say it. Everything seemed to work for the film: the cinematography was beautiful, the premise was clever, the actors were convincing, the music fit the mood... and yet something still felt off about it. 

I think the shortcoming of this film is that it isn't quite sure what it's trying to be. It sets out to explore greed, love, and the effects of physical and emotional pain... and yet it attempts at being lighthearted. The film revolves around this couple, Alice and John, who find a teapot that dispenses money whenever someone feels pain (either physical or emotional). Based on a short story by Tim Macy, the premise is incredibly interesting and yet from a writing standpoint it wasn't fully realized. Macy threw in comedic elements next to some really sadistic moments and it left me feeling like the whole film just missed it's mark.

I've never been a fan of "good/bad breakdowns" in reviews, but considering this is my first negative review, I'm going to have it:

The Good:
-Juno Temple looks gorgeous in this film and she acted in it really well (most of the time). I had seen her once before in Mr. Nobody and I think she has a cool energy about her.

-Michael Angarano was a great actor too, certain scenes he was funny and other he looked like a kicked puppy and he pulled it off incredibly well. For an actor I've never heard of I was very impressed. The last ten minutes of the film both in how he reacts and how he delivers the lines are fantastic.

-Cristin Milioti played a red neck! Her part wasn't terribly big or memorable, but I was surprised with how unrecognizable she was!

-The music throughout the film is solid. The score works at the end and the Avett Brother song in the middle was a nice soundtrack to the montage. 

-Some of the smaller details were clever, like having John wear a shirt saying "Second Thoughts" during a conversation about having second thoughts.

-There was a Red and Blue color motiff in the film, with Alice wearing Red and John wearing Blue. I thought added a nice contrast of colors when they were both in the frame.

-And speaking of colors, I also liked how they had a colder color palette in the middle of the film, and a warm palette in the beginning and end. It was a nice symbolic effect.


The Bad:
-I'm not typically someone who gets offended by these kinds of things, but I have to make a note that this film was borderline racist/offensive! Apparently the teapot belonged to a Jewish woman who literally "stole it from Hitler" and so her sons violently try to take the teapot back. Now this is fine... except the two Jewish sons were remarkably stereotypical to an absurd degree. They dressed in Hasidic clothing, complete with peyot and  (fake) beards and spoke with borderline Israeli accents. They knock on the door of John and Alice's house, say "Shabbat Shalom" and then continue to beat the crap out of John, not because they want the teapot, but because they want their money! I'd say it's fine if it weren't for the fact that the Korean character was an equally perpetuated stereotype. And their race wasn't even a significant part of the movie- Macy could've very easily have written characters with the same function just less... stereotyped and offensive. It just made the scenes that these characters were in uncomfortable.

-The writing at times was godawful. Juno Temple and Michael Angarano acted the best when there was very little to say, yet a lot to express (like in the final shots). Macy tried to make parts comedic and in doing so made everything very unbelievable. The unfortunate part is that he tried so hard to make the premise of the pot believable, and he succeeded in doing so... only to break the realism by writing a stupid and unrealistic line for comic relief. For example, John and Alice are getting dinner with this couple and they argue about who should "go to the bathroom" (to hurt themselves) so they'll have money to cover the bill. While the scene has a dark humor to it, the fact that John goes to the bathroom and you hear him scream and the couple just looks mildly surprised, and not even slightly concerned, breaks the realism that had been established in other areas! And there is a realism to it. They explain why they hide the money. They explain why they continue doing it. A lot of the film is well explain and then undermined by badly written dark humor...


I don't strongly recommend this movie, but it's not bad to watch if it's 3am and you can't sleep. It's the kind of movie that you can watch if you're too tired to scroll through Netflix.

Searching for Sugar Man (Bendjelloul, 2012)

Rick Emerson: "He’s like the silkworm, you know? You take this raw material, and you transform it. You come out with something that wasn’t there before. Something beautiful. Something perhaps transcendent. Something perhaps eternal"
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Amongst the various people interviewed throughout this documentary, an idea tends to repeat itself: That the story of Rodriguez- a man as famous as Elvis in South Africa yet completely unknown in America- is impossible and unbelievable. The air of mystery that surrounds Rodriguez emphasizes that point, turning him into a legend and a character before introducing him as a normal person. The documentary has momentum, but it comes from an informal place:

This beautifully made documentary moves and survives solely on passion. Be it the incredible cinematography showing the landscapes of Cape May, the animated and visually pleasing "music video" sequences set to Rodriguez's songs, or the eccentric, excited, and humbled sound bites from family members, friends, and fans-turned-musicologists- this documentary is saturated with a passion! You can tell the director felt very strongly about making this film and that he involved people who felt the same as he did. The story of Rodriguez is truly a remarkable and unbelievable one, and yet it manages to still be relatable. Certain interviews touch on an emotional core that transcends Rodriguez's story and reflect more universal feelings, which I really enjoyed.

Searching for Sugarman got a lot of attention last year, with an handful of nominations, and an abundance of playing-time at more independent theaters. If someone recommended this movie to you, I strongly recommend you watch it with them. I was lucky enough to watch this film with someone who had already seen it and it made the experience better. To watch a passionately-made documentary with someone who is passionate about the film itself creates a very enriching atmosphere around the film that won't disappoint.

Or just watch it by yourself. You're call.

Still, the soundtrack is great- Rodriguez is a really good musician and that actually surprised me at first. You'd think with a film about an obscure rock-star their music would border on "okay", but mid-way through one of the "music video" sequences I thought to myself: "Wow... this sounds a lot like Dylan... Yet it has something that Dylan didn't... Wow, this is actually really good." It was a pleasant surprise.

My only problem with the film deals with its impact on its subject. Rodriguez's life and story is brilliant in its authenticity. While I'm away that Rodriguez has separated himself from the film's success, it's tough to shake the feeling that we- the audience- have intruded on something that was pure and special.


But that's just my opinion. Hope you enjoy the film!

Cashback Review (Ellis, 2006)

Ben Willis: "I read once about a woman whose secret fantasy was to have an affair with an artist. She thought he would really see her. He would see every curve, every line, every indentation and love them because they were part of the beauty that made her unique."
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It seems I always start my yearly movie list with a bizarre indie film about romance. Last year I started my "movie list" with Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, which was a decent movie, but strange and slow. Cashback is a significant improvement from that particular movie, but missed a few things for it to be a "perfect" movie in my mind.

Cashback is an independent film by Sean Ellis, staring Sean Biggerstaff (who most people will know from his role as Oliver Wood in the Harry Potter movies). It is about an art student named Ben Willis who develops insomnia after a breakup. To make some money for these "extra 8 hours" he works at a supermarket where he learns that he can freeze time.

The film is based on an Oscar nominated short film of the same name, which was integrated into the beginning of this feature-length movie (which was filmed two years later). The film runs an hour and forty minutes; the short film runs about 17 minutes. The reason I mention this is because the short film, in those 17 minutes, managed to properly express a lot of the brilliant points that Ellis (the director and writer) tried to keep relevant throughout the nearly two hour film, and ended up slightly repeating.

I'm not saying that the lengthy film is bad, but I am saying that parts have a tendency to drag on. The whole thing lacks a consistency, that if it were cleaned up just a little more, would have made this movie absolutely brilliant. Instead, these inconsistencies end up contrasting each other. The story is told mostly through voice over narration and that's where the first of the inconsistencies lie. At times they are clever and profound, saying a lot about art and sexuality... And at other times the voiceover nearly just repeats a previous voice over. Some shots will be incredibly well framed, well lit, and sometimes even symbolic... and sometimes they'll be incredibly boring and uninspired. Sometimes the acting and chemistry amongst the characters are honest, heart-warming, and subtle... and at times the characters act like they're a part of a cartoon. Nudity is a prevalent feature of this film and is used to convey a lot of the themes regarding beauty, art, and sexuality... yet at times it is completely tasteless and unnecessary

These inconsistencies really bring the film down for me because it diminishes how seriously the overall film can be taken. How can a film that (at times) beautifully explores the artistic influence of nudity on the protagonist be taken seriously when later, a stripper gets naked (and becomes the focus of the film for a few minutes) for no other reason than to just strip. There isn't even a voiceover during that scene to justify it in some way. If I were to recommend this film in any form, it would be in its short-film version. This is a shame because the feature film uses a lot of really interesting film techniques that really impressed me (a note: when I wasn't bored or annoyed).

The score (which can be found in its entirety here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YkkPNUwafY) was consistently tasteful, though. A lot of the subtleties that made the film great owed itself to a blend of beautiful cinematography and the score that accompanied it. 

I'm too early in this "review-film-thing" to give it a rating (though I hope to in the future), but I do strongly recommend the short film 
(which can be found here: http://www.dailymotion.com
/video/xp4ea_cashback_shortfilms). If you enjoy the voiceover, or some of the themes, then check out the full movie (which is on Netflix instant streaming). The inconsistencies are notable but forgivable overall. As I've said, the film does include some really well done scenes.


And that's my review! Hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to writing more. I have my own movie list, but if there's any movie you'd like me to watch or review, let me know. Hopefully, I'll get better at this with time (and maybe even look closer at the films in a theory/thematic kind of way. Who knows?). Wish me luck!