Blaze You Out (2013)

Symbol of Contrition? Veronica Diaz-Carranza gets inked.

Mark Adair-Rios is one charged cabron.

At a glance:

The labour of Latino love entitled Blaze You Out (2013) is a gangland drama written and directed by feature film first timers Diego Joaquin Lopez and Mateo Frazier, set in Esperanza Valley, New Mexico. It's about an aspirin DJ named Lupe (Veronica Diaz-Carranza) who's sucked into her sick town’s heroin underworld to save her younger sister Alicia (Melissa Cordero). Mark Adair-Rios has strong presence, playin a wordsmith of a thug named Whitey. Title refers to the villain's refrain as to why he's makin rounds.

Veronica Diaz-Carranza

Bad news on the doorstep:

Lookin to transcend demographics is surely the plan here. However, a lot of story flow are lost to its somewhat self-important characters. There's plenty of dramatic weight and style. Great music, even. Sometimes the lines are strong and feel like they come from a very real place. At other times, they feel as if we're bein treated like a two-bit chavalo to have to take it all in. Puñeta!

Perennial wonderment:

Elizabeth Peña

Elizabeth Peña is no longer the crisp article we saw in La Bamba (1987) and Jacob's Ladder (1990), eh? She gets a runout here, playin a gang matriarch.

Reminds me of:

Playin GTA on the XBOX many, many years ago.

Watch out for:

Openin credits, to the tune of Devil's Playground by Gram Rabbit. Definitely looks like it belongs in a superior product.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi? 

You could worse and you could do better, I guess. Sounds like a community project that really took off and despite its shortcomings, you can tell the story has a heart that's in the right place. Go check out the official Facebook fan page and also the official website for more info.★★1/2


Bonus material:

Hispanicize 2013
Regal Cinemas South Beach, Miami Beach, FL - 10 AprBlaze You Out crew & cast 
(Photo: Jesus Aranguren)

Charlie Zone (2013)

Amanda Crew stars as crackhouse beauty Jan in Charlie Zone (2013).

At a glance:

I've read many glowin reviews about this little Canadian crime caper that managed a very limited theatrical release a while back. Michael Melski's under-supported Charlie Zone (2013) is about a disgraced First Nations boxer and ex-con (native actor Glen Gould) who resorts to streetfightin for YouTube videos to make ends meet, before fatefully takin up a job to retrieve a young heroin addict (Amanda Crew) from a crackhouse in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Title is in reference to a rough part of town, I understand.

Jan (Amanda Crew) gets nicked by Avery (Glen Gould).

Bad news on the doorstep:

It's a little too long and it tends to wanna cover too much. Also it overdoes the unpolished, grainy feel. Is this how the East Coast underworld is really like, I wonder? I've never been. Modest little Canadian crime flick with borin camerawork and lethargic editin but it does feature some decent lead performances, especially the gritty Gould. The movie is most interestin when he's on the move and weakest when people talk too much. Two or three more rewrites would've landed more solid punches.

Perennial wonderment:

How come pushers and junkies are always so unconvincin in under-budgeted movies? I believe that sometimes, all that an actor needs to get so much better for such roles is to spend some time on the streets.

No safety.

Reminds me of:

Always liked Amanda Crew since I watched her in Sex Drive (2008). She reminds me of Kristen Stewart, only with talent. Wished her role could've been sexier here, though it'll probably serve as a distraction from the proceedings. Still, could've gone for a more lascivious edge, in all that doom and gloom.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

I enjoyed all the personal little touches and also the attempt for a certain level of intimacy but I think the heart of the story is underwritten. Norman Milner notes: "It’s cheaply made and a little on the long side, with maybe one speech too many about the rich taking advantage of the poor. But strong performances by Gould and Crew – clearly relishing the opportunity to go beyond the frowny-pretty roles she’s usually given – compensate for the production’s ragged edges, and director Melski, who co-wrote the script with Joseph LeClair, shows promise as a meat-and-potatoes storyteller. Give these guys a little more money and a bit more prep time and the results could be really impressive." Check out the official website and Facebook fan page for more info.★★1/2

Straight A's (2013)

Anna Paquin scores Straight A's in a spot of cock-teasing with Ryan Phillippe.

At a glance:

Wanna fall asleep like Ryan Phillippe in the movie?
Don't blame ya.

Perhaps more worthy as a grammar debate than a feature movie, the thematically loose but well-edited Straight A's (2013) is about ne'er-do-good lifelong substance abuser Scott (Ryan Phillippe) who suddenly appears on horseback at the doorstep of his brother's Shreveport house, tryin to connect with the family he turned his back on years ago. Packin nothin but a bag of pills and ganja, he's haunted by the spirit of his dead mother and struggles to redeem himself with his brother (Luke Wilson) and also his brother's wife (Anna Paquin), the latter with whom he was formerly an item. The brother is a high-flyin businessman who's out of town for a few days, so Scott sticks around the house and finds himself bondin with the kids and the help. We learn about a strained marriage, disillusioned children and broken relationships. However, the standoffish family patriarch, sick grandfather (Powers Boothe) holds the key to uncoverin some secrets that might heal the whole family.
Bad news on the doorstep:

"You fuckwit son. Whaddya think this is? The Simpsons?"

Only managed a DVD release - and for good reason. Frank Veenstra at Bobafett1138 summarises bluntly: "Nothing against this movie but sometimes I just don't get why certain movies get even made! There is truly nothing special about this movie - its story, characters or drama. To make things worse, it handles things poorly, making this a mostly shallow and bland movie experience." Indeed there's a pronounced lack of urgency to the characters and their story, despite a highly watchable cast and their committed performances. This isn't Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and an unneeded Korean soap twist to its climax further highlights a problem in tone and direction.

Perennial wonderment:

Why didn't Ryan Phillippe and Anna Paquin become bigger stars? These two are extremely commandin and seductive performers who definitely peaked too early.

Reminds me of:

Some families I know. God save them and God save us from them.

Watch out for:

Powers Boothe as the bitter father. He gets a significant supportin role here.

Seems like it was just yesterday I watched Cruel Intentions.

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

Trevor Anderson at Movie Mavericks writes: "As much as Straight A’s reaches for spirituality, it lands far from its goal and comes off as a trite movie that doesn’t understand the values it purports to have. The ending is also incredibly contrived and drawn out, it doesn’t fit with the rest of film. Or maybe it does, as every choice here seems to be the safe one. Nice direction and strong acting can’t save this snooze-fest of unrelenting nothingness. With characters that are drowning in self-loathing, for which no great reason is ever revealed, the title Straight A’s must be referring to the expletive rather than the grade. Although I’d never give this movie that much credit."★★

Clip (2012) @ Klip

SEXPLOITED? - Nubile nihilist Jasna (Isidora Simijonović, 14 during filming).

At a glance:

I missed this sex-soaked Serbian movie at TIFF 2012 so I'm glad I now got to see it, especially since the last Serb flick I watched was Srđan Dragojević's The Wounds (1988) a.k.a. Rane (Ране) so many years ago. Festival programmer Dimitri Eipides wrote how this movie was "a succès de scandale at the Rotterdam film festival... understandably ignited controversy with its unvarnished look at teenage sexuality" and how debutante director Maja Miloš is not simply a provocateur, "not simply a lament for wasted youth, but an intimate account of how sex can become the only form of communication for young people whose situation has denied them a true voice, and the difficulty and pain they face when they try to articulate their feelings with the heart." We follow nubile nihilist 16-year-old Jasna (Isidora Simijonović, 14 durin filmin but the disclaimer reassures us no underaged actors were used), as she records her hedonistic, self-loathin lifestyle with her decadent friends on her mobile phone, all the while tryin to repress her emotions about growin up in bleak Belgrade with a troubled family. It's explicit, it's even got prosthetic cocks and you get coke and cum flyin in your face. Clip a.k.a. Klip (2012) is like Kids (1995) meets Lilja 4-ever (2002) with an unapologetically incendiary approach. You get to decide if there's any merit in it.

Some of them want to use you.
Some of them want to get used by you.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Self-loathing sex.

At least it's nothin like that artless Klip 3GP (2012) bullcrap I watched last week. Still, I think the scenes of self-degradation with the abusive pusher boyfriend Djole (Vukasin Jasnić) to establish the lack of self-worth and the desire for catharsis and numbin have unfortunately overachieved. It's simply too much, even if that's precisely the point.

Perennial wonderment:

The production design is so good because everythin the girls wear are fantastic for the purposes of the film. I have no doubt this DVD will be on every paedo's shoppin list. Ahh... the fine lines between art and porn are blurrier by the day. Just how do we regulate it?

Reminds me of:

Ahh... the secrets that we keep.

Watch out for:

Lead actress Isidora Simijonović. It's an unsympathetic role with no redemption and she nails it - but we're left wonderin what this movie will do for her in years to come.

Director Maja Miloš

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?
Variety's Jay Weissberg notes how it's impossible to shake off questions of exploitation - does it make it alright since Miloš is a woman? How is the gendered gaze affected by a male d.p.? I like how Philip Concannon frames it - the debasin sex scenes are simply too repetitive to retain their impact. Indeed, scenes like a last kiss are underplayed when it should be maximally milked and overhit, like the sex scenes. I believe the consensus is that Clip is invariably more show than tell.★★1/2
Bonus material:

Whores' Glory (2011)

Santa Muerte is the most basic tattoo for every protection-seeking whore in Mexico.
(Photo credit: Maya Goded)

At a glance:

Just another day in the fish tank.
(Photo credit: Vinai Dithajohn)

The ugliest and most absorbin facets of world labour cinéma vérité comes full circle with Austrian filmmaker Michael Glawogger's clumsily titled Whores' Glory (2011), the third and final piece in a so-labelled globalisation trilogy. I've not seen Megacities (1998) nor Workingman’s Death (2005) but if this effort is anythin to go by, the three movies definitely deserve a combo release. The level of access in this documentary is fantastic and anecdotes on his exploits make good readin on their own, as evident in interviews with the director, who was even confident enough to discount lesser, similar works like Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004), somethin which I've seen and am ready to commend. The sellin point of Whores' Glory is indeed its privileged look-in, a laborious setup at three different fuck shops - a fishbowl in Thailand, a red light district in Bangladesh and a bordertown complex a little north of Mexico. You get to see all the infrastructural m.o. in great proximity, festered within each festive locale and drawin from them rich visuals. The narrative comes complete with punch clocks, street food and even the religious worship of different deities that underpin business superstitions.

Bad news on the doorstep:

Soliciting in City Of Joy, a massive brothel in Bangladesh's Faridpur district.
(Photo credit: GMB Akash)

The Indian leg in this triptych is easily the most borin and in fact, most annoyin, so it's a good thing they cleverly sandwiched it between the other two stories. Runnin 110 long minutes, it could've done with more editin, as some of the scenes can grow rather tedious with one too many naggy whores. Maybe it's just me bein a Southeast Asian native who ain't unfamiliar with the seedier aspects of urban life but Glawogger's sequences, impressive as they are, don't really offer anythin truly groundbreakin, as confirmed when the last story ends rather abruptly. Well, I guess that's the very point of cinéma vérité, some say.

Perennial wonderment:

O Death, save me from violent, diseased gangbangers.

"How on earth did he get permission?" will be your constant refrain throughout the picture. Many customers seem happy to be filmed (and paid) so don't be surprised with the last bit in La Zona where you even get a full sex scene, unless you count the pariah dog orgy that was opportunely filmed outside the Siamese bordello. I also liked findin out that the director has shown the end product to the girls who appeared on his film, save the ones from the Thai aquarium who already disappeared and reassembled elsewhere like all good organised crime do.

I can't remember if I cried:

I don't cry. I'm from the Third World.

Most memorable line:

Getting high on your own supply?

"I'm a virgin because they say after 90 days, the vagina closes up again if you don't have sex. The last time I had cock in me was three years ago. I'm retired from cocks but for 25 years, I was number one. I used to have 40 johns a day. I sucked and fucked. How? I showed my tits. Chocolate and vanilla. Come here, daddy. These, like this. I showed my tits and said: 'Come and get it!' Chocolate and vanilla for a titfuck. But blowjobs were my specialty. I have rim jobs and frozen blowjobs. What are those? A blowjob with an ice cube. You put a piece of ice in your mouth ,then you suck on the head of his cock with your tongue and the ice. You run your lips over his veins and balls with the ice cube still in your mouth. You manoeuvre the ice cube over his head and nibble on it. Then you jerk him off and rim him, sticking the ice cube up his ass. Riming is the best because it makes them moan. If his asshole is dirty, prepare a bowl of chlorine. Wipe it clean with a towel. If it's still not clean, bleach it! If it doesn't stink anymore, you can put ice in his hole. Once the ice is in there, they bleat like goats. They roll their eyes and bleat. Baa! Works on everyone. Like a vibrator. Job done! Generally, when a man comes here, he is only interested in coming. The woman doesn't matter. They come here like animals. They want you ready. 100 pesos for normal sex. Normal means they spread your legs, they climb on top and fuck. Many want to kiss but it's disgusting. Their breath can smell like they ate a lion. Or they take off their socks and it stinks like toe cheese. But you just bear it. 100 pesos is money. Now every time you change positions, it costs another 50 pesos. We did everything for 100 in my day, back when I was still working as a whore. When I worked, I wasn't just any whore. I was THE whore."

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

I won't go as far as to call it intimate braggadocio but the clarity of its lightin and the edgy soundtrack almost makes it romantic. The daily grind, pardon the pun, goes well beyond economic enslavement and this is certainly not the work of one of those glory-hungry Westerners who are out to exploit the White Man's Burden by shootin Third World toil. Check out its Facebook page and for more compellin Michael Glawogger fare, do visit his official website here.★★★

Michael Glawogger.

"I had to first convince them that I wasn't a journalist who would yet again put out a notion about them they wouldn't necessarily care for or who would victimize them. You know, journalists come and go. If they come twice, it's a lot. But I come 10 times and hang out with them and share stuff. If you connect with someone just once, that's something. But if you can connect twice, that's something else. As a filmmaker I cannot make anything beautiful. I'm Platonic in that sense. I think beauty is the splendor of truth, so if the people I portray think they're beautiful, they're beautiful. I don't make them that way. I don't aestheticize anything. I don't even use lights. The working girls do one thing all day: They make themselves pretty. That's their job and their money. In a way, I had the best makeup artists, hairdressers and art designers in the world." (Interview by Jeremy Lybarger on Mother Jones)
Bonus material:

Los Bastardos (2008)

Jesus Moises Rodriguez in a spot of sexual servitude for White America.

All in a day's work.

At a glance:

Variety's eloquent Todd McCarthy has called this is a "nihilistic high-art film marked by fashionable static takes, banal minimalist dialogue, glacial pacing and ultra-violence", consistin of "long stretches of dreary quotidian activity shrouded in dread due to something very bad you know is coming, all in the interests of presenting a rigorously reductive slice of earthly hell." So perish all thoughts of this bein an artsier A Better Life (2011). Mexican helmer Amat Escalante sees fit to put us through 98 minutes of said elements, a slow and curious examination into the taken-for-granted comforts of American life. We have hard hombre Jesus (Jesus Moises Rodriguez) and the younger, angrier Fausto (Rubén Sosa) waitin by the road to be picked up for illegal day labour by shortchangin gringos. Up until this point, you'd think this was an immigrant documentary. Then it turns into an R-rated home invasion thriller, involvin a single mother (Nina Zavarin) and her son (Trevor Glen Campbell). It has been described as a movie that builds up to just one moment of very realistic violence.

Bad news on the doorstep:

I'm actually doin my best to make it palatable. The Bastards squeezes into the narrow space that separates pretentious narcissism and high art, always leavin us to wonder just what the intentions of the filmmakers are. Just because a movie is very slow, it doesn't make it deep or meaningful. A decision is required on your part if you succeed in lastin it.

Perennial wonderment:

Why does someone in a position of power choose to engage in a spot of sexual servitude? Is this depravity a critique on middle-class American consumerism, as I read? It's disenchanted sex any road. The two lead antagonists are non-pros as well. Wish I could figure it out. There's somethin quite sad to it.

Reminds me of:

Baise-Moi (2000) and Funny Games (1997).

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

Like a fable, but a narrative only for the patient. Don't be fooled by the crime drama packagin from the DVD cover. Somethin very primal about these characters compliments the minimalist technique we see in Michael Haneke and Lars von Trier movies. White America's worst stereotypes about Hispanics fulfilled. Unsettlin, to say the least - but with a stab at redemption near the end.★★1/2
Bonus material:

Construction work. Cunninglingus. Reheatable TV dinners. Skinny-dipping. 
Los Bastardos has it all.

Jiwa Taiko (2012)

Sex with strangers: Nadiya Nisaa and Bront Palarae.

At a glance:

I think we have to get to the bad news in the first paragraph itself. If you too thought Osman Ali's Jiwa Taiko (2012) was gonna right all the wrongs in Anak Halal (2009) and combine with the box office sensibilities of KL Gangster (2011), then we're all the same fools who didn't know that fantastic poster actually reads "Jiwang Taiko" ("sentimental triad boss"). Yes, this is a pretty naive outin from the Nuansa stable that has angered no small number of regular Malay cinemagoers, thanks to a grossly misleadin marketin campaign that sought to mask the melodramatic tripe it really is. We follow convalescent ex-con Remy Ishak and his merry band of welfare home misfits as they do battle against his former crime partner Bront Palarae. Throw in a love rectangle or two (could well be a pentagon or hexagon even), some pseudo-silat elements and there you have it - a badly edited RM 620,000 box office disaster. Maybe some of the psychotropic drugs in the movie could help alleviate the shame of havin been outgrossed by M Subash's farcical horror You Believe In Ghost? (2012). My heart goes out to Osman Ali who seems perpetually uninspired in familiar territory.

SOCKKK!!! KAPOWWW!!! BISHHH!!!
Okay, break for lunch!

Bad news on the doorstep:

Like I said - put simply, nobody is buyin the story. Should've kept its old title - Bara Jiwa.

Perennial wonderment:

Apparently some steamy scenes were snipped, so how does a wide-release poster with Bront Palarae prominently holdin a cigarette get passed? I remember the magazine I was with, we were receivin warnin letters from the Home Ministry over a tiny movie still of Tarantino's Grindhouse (2007) in which someone is holdin a cigarette. Guess they're still makin it up on the go.

Reminds me of:

Anti-AIDS and anti-drugs community service ads from Malaysia's 90s.

Watch out for:

I have some sympathy for Bront Palarae, who relishes these psychotic antagonist roles and acts his heart out here. His take on a skinny, doped-up gangster is done with conviction, even if it's actually nothin we ain't seen 30 years ago in Hong Kong triad movies. I guess we have to really scrape the bottom of the barrel for any positivity in a paper-thin script like this. Special mention here for Nadiyatul Nisaa a.k.a. Nadiya Nisaa who plays problem girl Lara. The poor girl is completely out of her depth, although her beauty mole does exude some dirty girl appeal, sorta like a Malay Blake Lively. I shit you not, this Malaysian Film Festival Pelakon Harapan winner for Cun (2011) would've done better for herself if she turned in a mute performance, instead of shriekin English lines like "I need to think!!!" and bein generally very annoyin at a high-pitch.

"How do you know it was me
who passed the herpes to you?"

Amacam joker, berapa bintang lu mau kasi?

Readin Osman Ali's defence doesn't help. The jury is already out on its Facebook fan page. Both action and romance border on comical farce. Gratuitous huggin and kissin invoke the wrath of more conservative audiences but on merit alone, this is an insult to the rudimentary plebeian tastes of an already undemandin target crowd. What a huge disappointment.★1/2

Bonus material:

A missed opportunity.