Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road (2021) Documentary Review

Despite how many documentaries, biographies, and otherwise depictions of the story of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys there are, they generally falter on capturing the fact that we’re talking about real human beings and not mythical figures. The reasons for this problem are ripe for discussion, but one I will note is that there’s often very little time. The biopic The Beach Boys: An American Family is three hours long and only covers around 1961-1974, but still suffers from not showing enough from even that time frame. Imagine if it bothered going further? While brevity is never a guaranteed deathblow, Long Promised Road does not escape that, feeling a little bullet point. It covers the most surface level stories, but admittedly with a few nice insights from Brian and overall a few good surprises.

Brian gets buttered up a lot. This documentary feels extremely formulaic. Save for a few moments, this could be made by a computer. There’s far too much willingness to treat Brian like he can do no wrong, while a few lows are tossed in for the sake of not making that as obvious as it could be. Brian’s first wife Marilyn Rovell was not interviewed. That may have been done consciously so as to not have her say anything negative about him. Elton John says Brian should receive accolades for his personal life, as in being a family man. Not to say this story is true, but he must not have heard when Marilyn claimed Brian gave their young children cocaine (Brian has also corroborated that).

Brian seems uncomfortable. One moment that feels especially awkward is when he’s really praising interviewer Jason Fine. You either get the impression Brian feels forced to say it or he’s like a scared child clinging to a relative. At one point the two are even holding hands. In the studio with his backing band, there’s a sense of this feeling staged, like everyone and everything is about too perfect. You can imagine he probably did not want to do this documentary, so seeing him here feels wrong, especially when the camera watches Brian tearing up when he learns of Jack Rieley’s death, which feels exploitative.

A common problem with documentaries about musicians is unfortunately caught here… Elton John insinuates that Brian Wilson is better than the Beatles, because the Beatles were produced by George Martin, while Brian produced himself (during the most well-known era of his career). This constant comparing to the Beatles basically proves that the Beatles are better, at least in a cultural sense, because that’s what people go to. I say this as someone who likes many music bands and artists more than the Beatles.

There’s a few fun moments here and there. It’s amusing to see Dennis sweet talk a female interviewer talking about the music, unable to not sugar up ladies. Taylor Hawkins amusingly speaks about Dennis quite a bit before quickly saying something about Brian, as if forgetting this was a documentary about the latter. It’s pretty hilarious when Eugene Landy says only two quick sentences before there’s a sudden cut to his face as vocal harmonies start playing, but not for the right reason.

The best parts of the film are Brian talking about his brothers and the old footage. It’s also nice to see Brian listening to the music he or his brothers made, contemplating it. Brian discussing Dennis and them doing cocaine together makes for a nice break from how glossy this film is, especially in how Brian doesn’t seem to think much of Dennis’ self-destructive behavior, with him lightly calling him a “crazy” guy. That actually tells us a lot about Brian. He has criticized his own drug use, at least in the past, so imagine the mentality that would lead him to not fret much on his brother that died essentially from drug abuse? It’s also a lot of fun seeing footage of Brian’s 1976 birthday, which features celebrities and touching when we see Dennis and Carl showing their affection for Brian. The brothers also show they really care about him in some nice concert footage.

OVERVIEW

It’s odd that at the end of the film, when Brian and his band are performing “Long Promised Road”, most of the vocals and footage are of the band members and not Brian. Why not show a Brian-focused video and song, especially one he wrote? There’s been quite a few discredited attempts to detail the story of the Beach Boys and Brian WIlson. Long Promised Road seems destined to be the next in line. Especially when the Beach Boys’ music comes into the public domain, hopefully we’ll get a more accurate detailing of the lives of this band, probably from the fans. In terms of its own proper value, it dug up a few fun bits of footage, gave us some stories of Brian with his brothers, and is a document of the later years of Brian’s life.

I’m not sure if I ever heard Brian curse before, so that was novel. Also, hopefully Jason Fine didn’t look at his phone while driving, which he may have done at one point, when Brian asked him to put on a song.

The Marx Brothers Secondary Video Media (1921-1949) Review

Humor Risk (1921)

Despite what people say, this is a great, great film. Zeppo’s dance number and Harpo’s harp solo are only some of the many highlights. You don’t even mind that the latter one is completely silent. I think I still prefer its sequel, A Night on the Balcony Floor (shame those bellends didn’t trust us to know what a mezzanine was).

The Paramount trailers

Paramount pretty boldly calls the Marx Brothers the funniest men on Earth after they made two films. Animal Crackers is called “Cocoa-nuttier than ever”. Amusingly, Zeppo doesn’t appear in Monkey Business’ trailer’s scenes from the movie. To be fair, Chico and Harpo aren’t shown doing anything funny, only a bit of music. My favorite part was when we saw the brothers in chairs facing away from the camera, then a wipe transitions them to now looking at it. The Duck Soup trailer is gloriously manic, just like the movie. If I watched the trailer back then without having seen a Marx movie, I’d really want to see it. I could not find trailers for the other two films.

1930s studio shorts

The old short films that basically serve to say, “These are the stars we have!” are a fun novelty, though the smaller the dose the better. They are admittedly boring, despite being valuable historical artifacts. Sometimes an announcer cracks a lame joke. In Hollywood on Parade B-5, Fredric March and Chico Marx seem to be having a lot of fun. Everyone else, not so much. In the “Search for Beauty” contest, some of the girls come off as pretty awkward. As would later be done in Copacabana, the song “Go West, Young Man” is mentioned. Chico’s costume is the best by far. What was the point of Wonderland of California? It doesn’t even showcase stars. The camera records things that feel completely random. Seeing 30s color footage of Animal Crackers is quite the treat, though.

La Fiesta de Santa Barbara visually looks quite good. There’s also some nice music. It is a little silly that a short about a non-white place would feature a white singer. It will not be the last short here to mention this being a place where “Men are men”. What does that have to do with anything? It also won’t be the last to mention Jack Benny. Ted Healy acts like he’s trying to steal the show. He was unsuccessful. A favorite bit of the short is when someone thinks he was in A Night at the Opera. He also says the movie features the four Marx Brothers, instead of three. To my pleasant surprise, Chester Conklin and Buster Keaton appear in this film. This is more of a Buster movie than anyone else. He gets a few fun moments, like looking for the bell he’s supposed to ring and the final joke. His vocal is very wooden, despite being an adept speaker in his sound movies. The film’s Marx connection is a few seconds near the beginning of Harpo (who does essentially nothing).

Sunday Night at The Trocadero is pretty bourgie. Groucho doesn’t get to be funny, though you do see him without a real or fake mustache. A guy does what would pass as a JFK impression. The Joe E. Brown joke is a favorite, while the blackface bit is not. The movie got a vocal laugh from me with, “One of you boys will be left to pay the check, while the other takes her home. Or maybe the girl will have to pay the check, while the boys take each other home.”

1930s miscellaneous

In “Wallace Kelly Movie Collection”, we get a cameo from Groucho’s book, Beds. In 1933, we get some nice bits of the four Brothers at an event (sourced from The Unknown Marx Brothers). That, and especially Groucho, Harpo, and Jackie Cooper’s go kart race really deserves to be restored and made more accessible. “Harpo Marx returns from stay in Russia” is a lot of fun. It’s only a minute and it features Harpo doing some typical shticks. It’s very amusing, though the women chasing isn’t my cup of tea.

The MGM (& Room Service) trailers

It’s great we got the brothers roaring in place of Leo the Lion preserved in the A Night at the Opera trailer. Harpo’s bit is especially good. Sadly, the trailer spoils the Stateroom scene. A Day at the Races uses footage from the very end of the movie. Room Service’s trailer spoils the movie. Groucho’s first scene in the Go West trailer is better than in the movie. There’s more comedic punch here. The introductions to the Marx Brothers in these trailers is reminiscent of the opening credits of the Paramounts, with their faces matched to their names in a punchy sequence. It’d be nice if the MGMs had this more interesting style in the movies.

It’s amazingly ironic when a man mentions that Sarah Bernhardt had announced her retirement over ten times, with the trailer then asserting that the featured film, The Big Store, will be the brothers’ last. Of course, it turned out to be their third last. This almost seems like a Marx joke, that they’d essentially have this punchline setup here that would years later be paid off with the release of A Night in Casablanca. Groucho calls it their “first farewell picture”. Store’s trailer is probably the best trailer of the lot due to the brothers filming new footage for it.

1940s studio shorts

The Miracle of Sound is in its own right a pretty quality short. It’s a charming and concise way to discuss sound technology. Not that it’s super technical or detailed, but for what it is it shines above the other studio shorts by being more focused on communicating a specific thing. The brothers are only represented by a little bit of Go West footage. It’s fun to hear things about controlling the volume of the actors’ voices. One film is noted to be “Happily Starring… Joan Crawford”.

1940s miscellaneous

Harpo got around doing little appearances. War Bond Rally (1943) features a few nice seconds of Harpo being silly. He’s only around briefly, and within the first few seconds. Stage Door Canteen has a fun Harpo cameo, with him doing a few of his bits (just like in the earlier “Russia” clip). The All-Star Bond Rally looks gorgeous, having a noir look. There’s also a special effect of photos of women talking that’s very convincing. No clue how they did that. Bob Hope is pretty dreadfully unfunny here, but he does get a good line roasting Bing Crosby. Crosby’s singing is also terrible, why not get anyone else to sing it? That being said, the song itself is no classic. Frank Sinatra does a great job at his. Harpo’s harp solo is beautifully melodic, well matching the tone of that dark visual aesthetic. He seems more proficient than in the Marx movies. This is possibly his greatest visually recorded solo of the 20s-40s.

Groucho singing “O The Desert O The Prairie” with Carole Landis is such a fun clip. Their energy is infectious. It’s unfortunate the quality is poor and they’re both looking at scripts, though they don’t act like they’re tiredly shooting off lines. “Chico Marx (1947)” is pretty nothing. Chico’s performance of “Matilda” is sadly very short in A Year to Remember. It’s a fun piece. The audio quality also leaves something to be desired. In his apparent first television appearance, Chico does a Love Happy bit pretty much just as it’s done in the movie. In 1949 newsreel footage, he gets a laugh or two.

Post-MGM trailers

A Night in Casablanca’s trailer also contains spoilers for some reason. It’s odd that the trailer for a movie like Copacabana would claim to be one of the greatest comedies ever, as if anyone would actually believe that. That’d cause audiences to be annoyed when it obviously fails that incredibly high standard. It’s nice seeing some of the footage in Love Happy not on the Blu-ray. The ending of the trailer does include some personal favorite bits from the film.

Bill Marx’ presentation of Home Movies

It’s so special seeing video footage that pre-dates The Cocoanuts. Hopefully earlier footage is found. The best bit in this collection is some video and audio of Harpo playing the harp, sadly it’s partially interrupted by Bill. Another highlight is Harpo doing play performances. He does a bit from A Night in Casablanca with his son. You might be able to infer that my least favorite part is when Harpo appears to lift up women’s dresses in a situation where their only real recourse is to laugh it off. To give him the benefit of the doubt, that whole bit could’ve been scripted. If not, that’s extremely creepy. More home movie footage not in that specific DVD release includes more tennis with Charlie Chaplin, early color Groucho, the three brothers relaxing in costume, and more of Harpo’s Moscow harp solo.

OVERVIEW

Over the course of all this footage is a secret Harpo short. In La Fiesta de Santa Barbara, he’s vacationing and later is at a presentation in War Bond Rally. He arrives home in Harpo Marx returns from stay in Russia. Once back, he does his normal shtick in Stage Door Canteen, where he runs off, he then runs into The All-Star Bond Rally. You could say afterwards he presents scenes with his brothers from The Big Store or while “vacationing”, he got into the misadventure he did in Too Many Kisses.

The necessity of seeing these shorts can be debated. They obviously have an appeal to fans. If you’re desperate for more Marx, they’re worth a look. Sometimes you’re only getting seconds or scenes from their movies. For the record, it appears that the brothers’ only appearance in Hollywood Out-takes and Rare Footage (1983) is their lion roaring from the Opera trailer.

Four 1880s Filmmakers Review

Passage de Venus 2: Electric Boogaloo

In the minds of some, essentially the only filmmaker of the 1880s is Eadweard Muybridge. While that’s not too far from the truth, there were others. This is a look at the people who put life to screen in this early decade of cinema. Insignificant as they may feel due to the 1890s improving on them, these function as novel documents of the past.

The 1882 Transit of Venus (1882) – The Only Film By David Peck Todd

Who knew there was a sequel to the 1874 transit of Venus film? This is reminiscent of a 1970s Sci-Fi flick that has a very sterile and clinical look to the sets. Thus, it has less realism than the previous film, but is no less interesting as a look at what humans found worth recording. At least the print I viewed was slower than the last, which if intended by Todd suggests an attempt to be methodical, like this was worth seeing in more detail.

Louis Le Prince Available Films (1887-1888)

To say the least, Louis Le Prince has an interesting story. Not only is he sometimes called the “Father of Cinematography”, not only does watching his entire surviving works take about ten seconds, but he mysteriously went missing, leading to ample speculation about what happened to him. He is a victim of lost media, with only four of his works being available; Man Walking Around a Corner (1887), Accordion Player, Roundhay Garden Scene, and Traffic Crossing Leeds Bridge (all 1888).

There is the sense of progressively learning the craft along the way. Corner is a relatively static shot that isn’t even parallel to the ground. Accordion features perhaps a type of dance, with the subject smiling and seeming to enjoy himself, capturing an emotion, unlike in the first. A set of stairs and an open door give a depth to the scene, like this is a real space. The first film fails to take such an opportunity as we don’t see behind the corner the man walks by. Roundhay is perhaps the most famous film here, considered a classic of the 80’s. It benefits from featuring a wider shot. The further lack of emotional depth doesn’t make it as interesting as the second. The people depicted don’t feel natural, feeling like actors. Overall, it’s pretty dank. Bridge doesn’t even attempt to capture people per say, appearing to be taken from a roof looking down at traffic. The image captured is more dynamic and is relatively striking compared to the other three. I wonder if it’s a coincidence that each of these four films captures a wider and wider space.

It’d be interesting to see what would’ve been next for Le Prince, as he was improving his craft as he went. The frame composition noticeably was improving throughout. They can feel like lesser versions of some 1890s films, Sallie Gardner at a Gallop and Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat as examples, though the former is from the 70’s. A Letterboxd review of Accordion Player is certainly more worthwhile than the film itself, not that the movie should be faulted for lacking a narrative.

Ottomar Anschütz Available Films (1888, possibly before and/or after)

Of the four filmmakers here, this was the one I had the hardest time finding information on. It appears Anschütz may have done an exceptional number of films, though various sites only catalog Horse and Rider Jumping Over an Obstacle. A video on YouTube appears to feature that and a few more of Anschütz’ works. While he’s sometimes attributed with being the first to film images at a decent quality, these films hardly distinguish themselves from Muybridge. While Muybridge seemed to attempt to capture realism, scenes like the horse riding ones feel off. The riders feel like sculptures based on how stiff they are. The white background also makes them look a little surreal. The actions going on aren’t interesting enough to match that and the overall experience can be a little jarring.

William Friese-Greene Available Films (1889-1890)

Friese-Greene’s work sadly hasn’t survived much, either. It seems Leisurely Pedestrians, Open Topped Buses and Hansom Cabs with Trotting Horses (1889) might be the only complete one. The camera is too high up, which makes it look somewhat sloppy, as if it was supposed to be lower down. At least it doesn’t feel stagey, unlike the similar Roundhay. Two excerpts that probably aren’t from the same film are both credited as Hyde Park Corner (1889). One plays like Leisurely, except its subjects are gracefully further from the camera. The other is a nice scene of a policeman with a child, illuminated with good lighting. A frame of it could make a pretty photograph. I’m curious if this is the first depiction of a policeman in film history. Traffic in King’s Road, Chelsea (1890) takes advantage of sharp angles and more realistic filming. Some of the movement is a little punchier, with people moving with more speed, as if depicting people in a hurry. The policeman excerpt and Chelsea both have visuals good enough to justify a viewing.

To learn more about William Friese-Greene, go to: https://friesegreene.com/

The House That Shadows Built (1931) Review – “Still The Maddest Comics Of Them All”

Four Times Funnier Than The Funniest Picture You Ever Have Seen!

The House That Shadows Built is a promotional film about celebrating the twenty years of Paramount Pictures. It’s predictably a little silly when the film talks about how great its studio is, especially in such romantic and flowery language like, “This historic barn, a forerunner of the great studios of today.” and “The history of motion pictures is the history of Paramount.” This type of wording almost suggests we’re talking about the forming of the constitution, not a movie company. The narrator sounds very bold, like he wants to make an impact in describing the magnitude of the studio without selling it too hard.

The film is especially dull in the first half, showing very brief clips of Paramount movies from 1912 to 1931. When we see footage of an Asian man, Sessue Hayakawa, stereotypical Asian music plays. We also get generic desert-dwelling music when a scene set in the desert plays. Very classy. Afterwards we get a similarly underwhelming list of actors working with Paramount. It is impressive there are so many, but the scene would surely bore any viewer. It’s a little fun when you see someone you like.

Next are longer and fuller clips of upcoming films. One includes a man in a boat saying, “Well do get in.”, followed by an awkward silence from him and the woman he’s talking to, as if they were waiting to hear “cut”.  There’s a scene of a woman sobbing and speaking to a man at the same time. She has a lot of dialogue and her delivery is muddled due to her having to act like she’s fighting through her tears. A real person probably wouldn’t have such a long string of things to say, but alas the pictures. We get a cop who is very quick to jumping to conclusions and is strangely rude. He seems to just think the child he’s talking to is guilty for some reason. It seems old Hollywood just hates the police due to how insane they sometimes are portrayed. One favorite moment is when Miriam Hopkins’ character says she doesn’t want to say goodnight and winks at her new husband. Nice to see they got away with including that.

The scenes of upcoming films are the most interesting of the content here. They include some fascinating material, as not all the films materialized. Even on its own basis, these longer clips are more engaging than the earlier ones. The clips of past movies are only really worthwhile when we occasionally see surviving fragments of a lost film. One of the most intriguing excerpts comes from a Dorothy Arzner movie that would never materialize, Stepdaughters of War. The clip we get in Shadows makes you wish the rest was available. There’s also a scene of the Marx Brothers sourced from their Broadway play, I’ll Say She Is. It is the most famous part of the film.

THE MARX BROTHERS SEGMENT

The I’ll Say She Is scene is absolutely hysterical, doing well with its snappy pace and witty dialogue. Interesting upon watching the first two Marx films is the increased role of Zeppo here. Zeppo isn’t a/the straight man, some of his sillier qualities are kept a little under the surface, but are certainly present. He’s certainly a much “straighter” character than his brothers. While as always the three more outlandish brothers get the most screen time and attention, the relatively increased Zeppo does make this short more worthwhile than it could’ve been. He also gives a better singing performance than his brothers in this. Harpo, as has been typical, feels a little out of place even though he is still funny. The three talking Marxes are more “in reality”, having better defined goals. Harpo seems to just want to destroy everything and doesn’t appear to have much of a point. The fact that things about him have to be explained by Chico demonstrates that his character doesn’t quite “work”. He wouldn’t be as funny without someone there to literally describe him, substituting for the fact he doesn’t speak.

Chico and Zeppo get some of the funniest lines, favorites being Chico’s ‘a dollar a week’ joke and Zeppo’s rhythmic delivery in the first scene of the short. Groucho is great as always, though Chico and Zeppo personally provided more laughs. Chico ultimately gets the least to do, essentially being treated how Zeppo is treated in the features. Of course this is just a few minute excerpt of a whole play, so it’s understandable it wouldn’t be so fleshed out and give everybody a lot to do.

Ben Taggart plays the straight man. A favorite interplay with him is: “Can you play a role?” “Can I play a role? Do you know who you’re looking at?” “No.” He’s funny with what he’s given. Eventually the short devolves into the group talking and making noise at once. It’s not really very clever or as crisply handled as the rest. The segment sadly ends without much of an ending. The short feels like an attempt to boil the brothers down to their core nature. Seeing as this was the opening scene of their first Broadway play, it makes sense as an introduction to the Marxes. They create havoc, which is arguably their core quality. The segment starts with a great sequence of the Marxes delivering a lot of snappy dialogue, then start singing, and a piano begins playing. There’s some kind of attack on straight-laced society, and the short ends in a bit of madness.

It’s a shame this never became a feature, the excellent timing and style of the thing makes it richer and have more potential than the two Broadway shows that did become movies. It feels a little incomplete, the narrative isn’t resolved in any way, as presumably the rest of the play would detail what came next. There still could’ve been some kind of resolution added on so this feels more like a standalone work. Also, while the most logical title for the “Marx Brothers segment” is I’ll Say She Is, here it’s called Monkey Business, which is also the name of their next feature film, which this was essentially an advertisement for. Arguably those being technically correct should call this short Monkey Business.

OVERVIEW

The House That Shadows Built may appeal as a fascination, but not as a cogent or enjoyable work. To exemplify its issues, some of the clips of upcoming films seem like they had little material to work from, as the acting and direction sometimes leave something to be desired. If it was more engaging, you might feel inclined to jump off of this documentary and go watch the films featured, which maybe people do. As is, they mostly aren’t captivating, due to aforementioned acting and editing. The bright spot is of course I’ll Say She Is, which is far better than the rest of the film. It leaves you wishing you could go see the full thing due to how tantalizing a fragment it is. The Marx Brothers segment is definitely worthy of rewatches for fans of the brothers or short comedy. Due to the Marx segment feeling so incomplete and some other issues, it doesn’t get full Marx.

Before Stonewall (1984) Review

Recently I discovered an important figure in the LGBT, specifically Lesbian, community, Edythe Eyde. Many who know of her know her as “Lisa Ben”. This is quite possibly my favorite thing ever. Dumb puns are my oxygen. She has been involved in two films, both as someone providing music for them. The first of which is Before Stonewall. Those wanting a lot of Lisa will be disappointed, but those wanting a lot of Lesbians won’t be. This film is a fascinating study of gay people from a time many alive now aren’t familiar with or at least struggle to comprehend.

Various people give their stories of being gay in a world that doesn’t appreciate that. It’s great seeing these people progress and discuss the changing tides. The film’s structure is like many non-documentary films. Here, the underknown group of people scratch at the surface of public knowledge until it breaks. They then start growing their roots, very slowly. However, there’s various points where progress moves forward, then it moves back due to some problem. The lens of people’s stories can get you into the stress and reward of it all from a human perspective. You’re glad when these people are glad. This film is especially moving as these people are real. The film’s approximating how these individuals lived and they covered numerous topics related to that. This is emphasized by scenes of these people having a life or relaxing. These scenes show their humanity.

Several amusing clips of movies and songs were utilized. It was fun trying to spot them. Gay life was portrayed to varying degrees in films like, A Florida Enchantment (1914), Different from the Others (1919), and The Wizard of Oz (1939). One can come to realize that these films are an important avenue in how gay people were represented. Many of these clips played near the beginning of this film and they get the audience to understand and feel the world we’re in. Media is a big reflection of culture. Culture has its ups and downs. Gay people aren’t always portrayed negatively but often they are. These clips show a clash of ideas in how various people perceive Homosexuality. Another interesting portrayal of gay people is when one guy says, “I had a size advantage when I was very young, and the fact that I had an aunt, Kate, and an uncle, Vince, who were both gay.” This line, which is from the beginning of the film, show that gay people will still get in straight relationships due to pressure and will still encourage the younger generation. It also shows that being in a straight relationship doesn’t get rid of one’s Homosexual tendencies.

Everyone is painted in a very human light. There’s many ties to other civil rights movements, mainly black civil rights. This leads to a feeling of community. The end of the film is very uplifting. Several people from the film reunite and catch up. There’s tons of catharsis to seeing them just be able to live a little and not using any methods to hide their sexuality. The film paints a picture between when Homosexuals were being slandered as Communists in the 1940s and the contemporary 1980s. The film ends with lots of optimism for the future. One point of interest is that one woman that is interviewed is filmed in darkness so she couldn’t be seen. This shows that this time isn’t as progressive as one might hope as she doesn’t want to be shown. Another point was when two black women discussed how they feel that they were somewhat marginalized among other Lesbians, as if there’s a racial component. This brings up memories of The Watermelon Woman (1996) which is about black Lesbians and one of the older ones in that film mentions that they only have each other.

There’s several elements of note here. For starters, gay marriage is never brought up. I was expecting someone at the end to say, “We’re so close to equality, but we’re waiting on marriage!” You’d think that’d be on their minds. Perhaps it wasn’t what the filmmakers wanted to focus on. Secondly, Stonewall was barely mentioned, as well as goings on after 1969, when Stonewall happened. Once Stonewall is mentioned briefly, the film is basically over. This does work here, as this is about the story of “the past”. The film leaves on the note that this is the end of this story, but the beginning of the story for younger people.

Thirdly, some have criticized the film for not discussing Transgender people, who were instrumental to Stonewall. While I understand that people might not like the lack of representation, this isn’t a story about Stonewall or the Trans story. While Trans people are an important part of LGBT history, the film is about the perception and mindset of Homosexuals. Anyone in the interview that I could find info on was Homosexual and not Bisexual with the exception of one Heterosexual who did a lot of research into Homosexuality. Point being that any gender non-conforming person was excluded other than Homosexuals. This lack of mention didn’t personally bother as the film so well painted this very particular tale. Lastly, it would’ve been interesting to see a discussion of gay pornography. That’s a very intimate thing that might out someone at the time. Videographic pornography (including Homosexual porn) has been around since give or take the 1920s. By 1984, gay porn was relatively normal, with Lesbian sex often portrayed in porn for straight men, who are the biggest demographic for porn. Someone interviewed for this film might have had an interesting thought on the subject. Did they watch that stuff in their youth? How’d they hide it? This isn’t a slight against this film as it’s simply “Not porn’s story”, but it was something that entered my mind.

OVERVIEW

Before Stonewall effortlessly shows life before “the modern era” of gay rights activism. It’s a humble and human tale of perseverance and what humans can do if they put their minds and hearts to something. The film ends on a very comforting note with a Lisa Ben song which discusses how being gay is a good thing and not something to be ashamed of. It kept me and hopefully many others optimistic about positive changes in the future.

Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau (2014) Review

Marlon Brando’s brain

This documentary accomplishes something quite simple and easy but often not reached. If you’re making a derivative work, like a parody or documentary, it should stand on its own. One shouldn’t have to be familiar with the original. Lost Soul: The Doomed Journey of Richard Stanley’s Island of Dr. Moreau succeeds at that. I have never seen The Island of Dr. Moreau, but this documentary is fun and engaging on its own. This story has twists and turns that almost seem like they’re from a movie. For lack of a better term, our protagonist is Richard Stanley, a visionary director that wants to make a good film. The shooting of this flick is one of those legendary stories of how everything comically went wrong.

Everyone interviewed is very interesting to listen to, especially Stanley himself, who is clearly such a weird character that you want to learn more about. I’m now interested in watching the films he did direct, namely his most recent one released after this documentary, Color Out of Space. Also fascinating is Marlon Brando, who added a lot to the film. Brando didn’t respect films or his job and he’s considered one of the greatest actors of all time. Basically everyone he’s worked with since he became famous tolerated his attempts to sabotage films he worked on. This film was tampered by Brando’s absurd ideas. Some of the people there, namely bit actors, appeared to appreciate Brando’s weirdness. Him and Val Kilmer are discussed often here. Both disliked this movie and Kilmer especially wanted to bother people. Amusingly, Kilmer was not interviewed for this documentary, suggesting no one wanted to deal with him or he didn’t want to deal with them. Unfortunately, Kilmer is focused on relatively little. It would’ve been nice to get more of the mean things he was doing as this aspect of him is often referenced without examples.

This film almost has a plot. We start out with some questions raised about Stanley and they are more or less satisfied at the end. It wasn’t until the end of the film that I realized that there was this engaging story about this person, who he is and what he’s about. There’s some mysteries and developing plot elements that I want to know how they’re resolved. For most of the film, that wasn’t conscious, it was something that lingered in the back of my mind and the film played like a conventional documentary. This hidden narrative is surprisingly compelling. Stanley goes on a bit of an arc.

SPOILERS

One reason why it’s hard to call Stanley the protagonist is because he’s fired during filming, with him having gone missing. 2014 Stanley also doesn’t appear as he wasn’t around in this part of the story. It seemed like the parts of development with Stanley were discussed as thoroughly as possible while the parts without him were quicker, as if to suggest the filmmakers weren’t interested in that as much. The studio apparently wanted Stanley out of the project from square one, but after creating a friendship with Brando, Brando refused to do the film unless Stanley was in it. After filming starts and Stanley is problematic, he’s fired. His firing was before Brando had to arrive for filming. Brando’s threat is never mentioned again. It would’ve been nice to see how he responded. Also, while Stanley had a strict vision for what he wanted the film to be, Brando wanted to change as much as possible to a bunch of seemingly random nonsense. It would’ve been nice to see how Stanley would’ve reacted to this.

It’s also fascinating to see that most of those involved were taking this film seriously, but progressively they stopped. When Marlon arrived, him not caring and changing things made everyone stop caring. Everyone expected Brando or Kilmer to do something weird. It was amusing that a lot of the bit extras were partying and just waiting for it all to be over. It was very surprising when suddenly, Stanley was found. Something that sounds like it’d be from a movie happens; Stanley puts on a costume that matches up with other extras and appears in the film in that minor role. That’s not only hilarious, but it paints a slightly tragic connection of this artist with a vision reduced to a bit player in this ridiculous film considered one of the all time worst.

OVERVIEW

This film has fascinated me in Richard Stanley. I now really want the version that he would’ve made with creative control. At least we have his few other films.

A 90’s Classic – The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat (1896) Review

An early Lumière advertisement.

I’m a bit eager to discuss one of the many films by the Lumière brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. Both are considered the fathers of cinema (A win for Gay parenting). They invented and patented the cinematograph, which is essentially a film camera and projector. It’s often considered an improvement to Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope which only could screen to one viewer at a time. They’re considered by many to be the best filmmakers in this early era where there weren’t any cuts or special effects.

When thinking of a silent, black and white film I could review, I thought I should start from the start. I gravitated towards the Lumière brothers’ best regarded film that I also think is their best, The Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat. Anyone who watches it may think, “What’s so special about this fifty-second viewing of nothing? This guy is just biased towards the 1800’s pictures!” Hopefully this review can give some insight on my perspective. I considered reviewing the literal first film to be screened publicly, aka the film that marked the start of cinema, Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, but I don’t like that one very much. It’s not terrible, but this film in at least some regards is a refinement.

Technically this has spoilers. Even though I can describe what’s happening, that’s not what I get from the film. It works based on what you can’t get out of a review, only from watching it. At the start, people are standing around, waiting for the train. We see people who work at the station, as well as future passengers. This is such a good way of painting this world we’re in. We can see what’s happening and when the train comes, it is a very sharp visual answer to what is going on. Even though we can see the train tracks from Frame 1, that’s on the left side of the frame, while the people, who are moving around, are on the right. There’s something more to be gained from a large, visual smack of the Train arriving, than in a film like Workers Leaving the Lumière Factory, where the camera is capturing a flat shot, the people in that film walk off to the left, which gives that film a lack of density. In a move which intentionally or not follows filmmaking rules, seeing as we’re focused on the right of the frame, the train also first appears on the right.

A bit of framing that models 3-D movies, the train progressively moves towards the camera (and then beyond it). Perhaps it’s obvious, but this isn’t 3-D, and doesn’t have the unnatural effect that comes from 3-D movies. Those films typically have things jumping at the camera and little novelties which often subtract from the story more than it adds. The Train arriving mirrors the progression of the story. We see more and more look to the train. We see it come to life and play a larger role in the film later on. The best way of tying off what’s been shown is what happens when the train stops. People start moving off and on the train, this is the film’s climax. We see people doing their business. The film shows that it’s a busy area, but everything can be seen clearly. Sadly, we don’t see the train depart, as it would’ve given some finality, but it doesn’t detract too heavily. In a sense, the train is a character, and the character never gets an end.

Films that don’t have stories do suffer a bit. Stories help to emphasize what’s happening and give more weight to it. This film’s lack of depth can give it the feeling that it wasted your time and if one is looking to be thrilled and awed, then this might not satisfy. Even though it’s great to see people’s faces, showing what people are thinking, it should’ve shown more, with more variety in facial expressions. It would also have been nice to see more people who worked at the station, to then again expand on what we’re seeing.

The best films of this time used attractive lighting and cinematography to show this “bite-sized world”. In such a small amount of time, we are told so much about what’s going on. A less skilled director might not show people’s faces or make cuts to things that are irrelevant to the narrative. This film is efficient and classy. Though it might be a little too efficient at points, it is effective regardless. This is perhaps the best picture of this time and genre, where the camera’s turned on and life is seen.