Saturday Night at the Movies

Summer clearance

By Dennis Hartley

How does that Dream Academy song go again? Oh, yeah…

It was the time of year, 
just after the summer’s gone 
When August and September
just become memories of songs 
To be put away with the summer clothes 
And packed up in the attic for another year

What they said. Anyway, that’s pretty much the mood I’ve been in. Between that and my lazy Labor Day weekend hiatus, I found myself with a backlog of recent films I haven’t got around to reviewing yet. So here’s a little “catch-up” for you (a “summer clearance”, if you will) to wrap up these few odds and ends before putting away the summer clothes:

Finding Fela– The first 15 minutes or so of director Alex Gibney’s portrait of Nigerian music legend/political icon Fela Kuti teeters on becoming a parody of All That Jazz. Choreographer Bill T. Jones struts and frets upon the stage, rehearsing his company for a Broadway production of Fela! (it premiered back in 2009). Jones wrestles with how to convey the complexities of Kuti’s artistic, political and personal personas…while still retaining the catchy tunes and the jazz hands. However, just as you’re scratching your head and wondering if the real Fela will ever show up, he does; albeit in bits and pieces. With patience, you will grok the method to Gibney’s madness; he’s taking the tact that Al Pacino used in Looking for Richard; juxtaposing the theatrical with the historical to “find” his protagonist. While jarring at first, the theatrical framing makes more sense as the film progresses, functioning as a Greek chorus to bridge the archival snippets. While fans may not discover much that hasn’t already been revealed in previous documentaries, Gibney’s approach is fresh; bolstered by outstanding editing and slick production values.

A Letter to Momo – Here’s something you don’t see every day…a family-friendly anime fantasy from Japan that isn’t produced by Studio Ghibli. That being said, Hiroyuki Okiyura’s film plays a bit like a medley of Studio Ghibli’s greatest hits; sort of a “Stars on 45” conundrum (sure sounds like the real thing, yet makes you yearn to hear the original). It’s a simple tale about a teenage girl named Momo who moves to an isolated island village with her widowed mother. Insular and slow to make new friends, Momo spends her time daydreaming and flipping through a box full of strange, antique picture books (“From the Edo era,” her great aunt tells her after offering to let her to peruse the collection at her leisure). Well, I needn’t tell you what happens once you start flipping through strange antique picture books from the Edo era…next thing you know, you’ve got a trio of goblins in your attic. They’re creepy, but they’re kooky. More significantly, they may give Momo closure on an unresolved issue regarding her late father. The hand-drawn animation is lovely, but the story meanders and the mood vacillates too frequently between family melodrama and silly slapstick to sustain any kind of consistent tone. Still, there are some genuinely touching moments; and younger kids might be more forgiving.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For- Co-directors Robert Rodriguez and Frank Miller have put the band back together to reprise their “Raymond Chandler and Mikey Spillane go on an ether binge” shtick in this sequel to their 2005 collaboration, Sin City, with mixed results. As before, Miller’s eponymous graphic novel serves as the source material, and Rodriguez’s technical wizardry renders the requisitely nightmarish noir milieu in striking chiaroscuro. Hard-boiled and ultraviolent to the point of verging on self-parody, this second omnibus of loosely-connected vignettes nonetheless delivers the goods to anyone who enjoyed the first installment (I stand guilty as charged). Inversely, anyone who couldn’t connect to the previous (and similarly over-the-top) outing will likely remain underwhelmed. A sizable contingent from the previous cast returns, including Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba, Powers Boothe and Bruce Willis (with a nod and a wink to The Sixth Sense). The hands-down scene stealer is Eva Green, as the femme fatale to kill for.

The Trip to Italy– There’s a great exchange between returning leads Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon in Michael Winterbottom’s follow-up to the trio’s 2011 road comedy, The Trip, regarding “the sophomore curse” in cinema. Coogan proclaims that sequels are never as good as the original; instantly regretting his statement when Brydon quickly deadpans “…except, of course, for Godfather II…” and proceeds to rattle off a number of other superior sequels whilst Coogan furiously (and hilariously) attempts to backpedal. You can add this sequel to thatlist. Using a similar setup, the pair of actor-comedian pals hit the road for another restaurant tour, making a scenic upgrade from England’s Lake District to Italy’s sunny Mediterranean coast. Once again, they play slightly elevated caricatures of themselves. The comic riffing (the main reason to watch) is as brilliant as previous; covering everything from armchair psychoanalysis of Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album to dueling Michael Caine impressions and geriatric Roger Moore jabs (“Cubby…did you get my note about the handrails?”). There’s also a more pronounced melancholic element in this outing (middle-aged malaise comes to us all, my friends). Also as before, the film was whittled down from a six-episode BBC mini-series.

 Saturday Night at the Movies review archives

P.S. In case it’s driving you crazy…here’s “that” Dream Academy song: