| SLANTED, ENCHANTED : US independent films selected for Bradford Film Festival 2007 |
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| Thursday, 25 January 2007 | |
 Aaron Katz's 'Dance Party, USA' [7/10] To appreciate the full irony of Dance Party, USA's title you really have to be American. In fact, you have to be an American who was young (or young-ish) in the years 1986-1992, which is when the cable TV show of the same name aired across the States. A latter-day variant of the American Bandstand-type programmes so lovingly spoofed in John Waters' Hairspray, Dance Party USA was broadcast from 'happening' Pennsylvania and featured "regular people" gyrating to then-current pop tunes with gleeful abandon. The party around which writer-director Aaron Katz has structured his debut isn't quite such a terpsichorean extravaganza: it's instead a 4th-of-July bash in which various teens and post-teens from suburban Portland (Oregon) drink, talk, argue and engage in various sorts of fumbling intimacy. We gradually focus in on Gus (Cole Pennsinger) and Jessica (Anna Kavan) - the former a self-confessed 'creep,' the latter by contrast startlingly mature for her years - whose early exchanges are anything but friendly or romantically promising. And when Gus blunderingly confesses a dark deed from his past, Jessica's instinct is to quickly withdraw. But that isn't the end of the story by any means... Shot on video - for a reported budget of $3,000 - Dance Party, USA is a strikingly fresh take on that old chestnut, young love. Katz seems to be feeling his way into his material, his focus gradually shifting from the wider ensemble onto Gus and Jessica. It proves a wise decision - not least because Pennsinger and, especially, Kavan, turn in such terrific performances. Delicate, economic and accurate in its tiniest details, Dance Party, USA is a more-than-promising debut from a director who looks set for an intriguing career. John S Rad's 'Dangerous Men' [7/10] From the 2007 Bradford Film Festival catalogue: It would be possible to fill the whole of this catalogue with writings about Dangerous Men - a film which has already spawned a legion of devotees expressing themselves in both print and website form. All this despite almost nothing about this movie being conclusively known, other than the fact that it was shown in Los Angeles (for two weeks in September 2005: one week taking $70, the next week a near-total sellout) and then at the 2006 Underground Film Festivals at Chicago and New York. Screenings at the latter two events - where the denizens are accustomed to all manner of bizarrerie - provoked scenes of near-pandemonium as audiences clamoured to see the next "midnight-movie cult legend." Our appetite was further whetted by Paul Cullum's diligently-researched article "The Passion of the Rad" in LA Weekly (still available online): "Consensus opinion seems to be that Dangerous Men was shot sometime in the late 1980s and completed in the mid-90s. The illustrious Mr Rad - born Yeghanehrad, as noted parenthetically in the titles - is credited as director, "screenplay writer," editor, executive producer and all-round creator, as well as with "post-production," "location and stage design," and "original music, song and lyrics." Remarkably, this cannot be deemed overstatement, for Dangerous Men evinces one of the most eccentric, hermetic, idiosyncratic sensibilities to be found in the film-making canon." Cullum goes on to compare Dangerous Men - whose "plot" involves (at least at first) a young woman taking bloody revenge on the biker-gang whose leader murdered her boyfriend - with the work of Spike Jonze, David Lynch, Jean-Luc Godard, Andrzej Zulawski and Ed Wood. Having seen the film, we know exactly where he's coming from: though it's impossible to be sure exactly how much Cullum - and Rad - are serious in their intent. Sometimes, as somebody once said in a slightly different context, it's better not to know... .......................................................[review after 2nd viewing]............ Ramocki & Strawhand's '8-BIT' [7/10] The geek, so the saying goes, shall inherit the earth. And judging by 8-BIT, a criminally-watchable, dazzlingly-eclectic, fresh-as-paint, so-hip-it-hurts documentary that's already causing a major stir in 'digital circles,' the process is well under way. Lovingly assembled by Strawhand and Ramocki - whose New Jersey based multi-media operation goes by the name 'Mutation Engine' - the film starts as a history of computer-games before tracing the development of computer-made music (original score by Bit Shifter, among others) and exploring the wilder excesses of digital art. Ramocki and Strawhand carefully ensure their material is accessible for general audiences (who may not know their bit from their byte) while also catering to the most hardcore of 'Second Lifer' tech-nerds. 8-BIT may strike a particular chord, meanwhile, with anyone who grew up on the video and arcade games of the late seventies and early eighties. Who'd have guessed that those plinking-plonking, blocky Commodore and Spectrum games would, only a couple of decades later, be the subject of such veneration and cultural analysis? Who, indeed, would guess that the humble GameBoy console could, with only a little software tweaking, become an underground global phenomenon - as a musical instrument? Confused? Let 8-BIT be your guide to the mysteries of the recent past - and a pointer to the technologies of tomorrow... Travis Wilkerson's 'Who Killed Cock Robin?' [2006] http://www.jigsawlounge.co.uk/film/content/view/603/1/ Neil Young 25/28th January, 2007 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ DANCE PARTY, USA : [7/10] : USA 2006 : Aaron KATZ : 65 mins (approx) seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 3rd December 2006 - with thanks to Aaron Katz DANGEROUS MEN : [7/10] : USA 2005 : John S. RAD : 80 mins (approx) seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 22nd December 2006 - with thanks to John S Rad 8-BIT : [7/10] : USA 2006 : Marcin RAMOCKI & Justin STRAWHAND : 77 mins (approx) seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), January 2007 - with thanks to Justin Strawhand WHO KILLED COCK ROBIN? (Redux) : [9/10] {on 2nd viewing} : USA 2006 (original, longer version first shown 2005) : Travis WILKERSON : 72 mins (approx) seen on DVD at home in Sunderland (UK), 27th December 2006 - with thanks to Travis Wilkerson |
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