DVD Review: Sweet Lorraine

Sweet Lorraine centers on a mayoral campaign in a New Jersey town, where Lorraine (Tatum O’Neal) has connections to those on both sides of the race. Though now married to a Methodist minister, Lorraine has something of an interesting past, and her past and those in it come to play a part in the mayoral race.

The film opens at a church, where Reverend Freeman Beebie (Matt Conlon) speaks of faith, and then about Lou Bava and his family. “His son, Lou Jr., is a glowing example of this town’s most precious asset, our young people.” The film cuts to Lou Jr. bullying an altar boy outside of the church, so we see just what a fine young man he is. Reverend Beebie then talks about Mike Ward, the current mayor, “a formidable campaigner,” and directly asks for contributions to Bava’s campaign, telling the congregation that there is a special collection basket in the rectory. So no separation of church and state here. In fact, it turns out that Reverend Beebie is Bava’s running mate, his deputy mayor.

Outside the church after the service three women have gathered, and one says, “Stan Smick is an asshole, and I hate those awful children.” This is the first line that makes me laugh, and reminds me of those wonderful moments that John Waters includes in his films. This trio of women provides a running commentary on affairs for a while. And seriously, they’re like characters from a John Waters film. The problem is they disappear from the movie partway through, and they are sorely missed, for they kept the tone light, and were sort of the voice of the audience. Another problem is that Stan Smick and his children hardly play a role at all in the film. It’s difficult to see just what his part is in everything, and why he’s mentioned so early on.

Anyway, Lorraine is married to Reverend Beebie, having an affair with Lou Bava (Steven Bauer), and previously had some sort of affair with Mike Ward (who sometimes is Michelle). Also, she’s bisexual and so… Well, it seems she has an affair with most everyone in the film, though there doesn’t seem to be any love in any of it. It begs the question, of course, of why she bothered marrying a Methodist minister. But this film leaves us with a lot of questions, and characters’ motivations seem farthest from the screenwriter’s mind. I mean, really, why is Bava even running for mayor? We can assume it’s to facilitate some criminal activity (after all, he’s Italian, so the film colors him as an organized crime type), but it’s never really mentioned.

Though Mike Ward is married, he keeps appearing to Lorraine, telling her “It’s not too late.” Apparently, he wants to get back together with her. He spends part of his time as Michelle, hanging out in a club that has a boxing ring in the back. Lorraine is shown boxing a transvestite early on. Why? Who knows? Anyway, it seems that Lorraine was more interested in Michelle than Mike, and there certainly could have been an interesting story there, but this film refuses to tell it.

There are some good moments. Like when Bava sees a television spot in support of Ward that lists Bava’s accomplishments. “His juvenile rap sheet alone reads like a dime novel,” the voice on the commercial tells us. “Breaking and entering, grand theft auto, assault and battery, menacing his gym teacher with a zip gun.” It’s that last bit that made me laugh. And the best line of all in the film belongs to Felicity, who describes Lou Jr. this way: “Undisturbed by evolution.” The problem is that Felicity is a largely pointless character (though I love her fur coat).

There are other useless characters, and several short scenes that leave us wondering, “Why?” At a few points, the film cuts to Rudy Ray (Jimmie Walker) performing at a club. As happy as I was to see Jimmie Walker, his role is completely pointless and just this side of embarrassing. There is also Marcus, a bartender/campaign doctor that Lorraine calls in to help with the Bava/Beebie campaign. Bava’s hoodlum friends don’t like the commercial he’s created and threaten him if he doesn’t help Bava win. Again, why does Bava even want to be mayor? And then Marcus is arrested for soliciting an undercover cop. But what does that have to do with anything? Remember Stan Smick? At one point he hires a man to back his car into Reverend Beebie. Why? And all that results from that is Reverend Beebie having to use crutches the rest of the film. The car hitting him is never even mentioned. So again, why? And really, the entire film leaves me wondering, “Why?”

Sweet Lorraine was written and directed by Chris Frieri, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on April 23, 2015 through Garden Thieves Pictures. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: Diamond Heist

Diamond Heist opens with Terrence Anderson (Michael Madsen) in a gold jacket being a total asshole in some restaurant in London, smashing dishes and whatnot. He makes it a big point of mentioning that he’s lactose intolerant (if you think that will play a significant part later in the film, you are wrong; it’s never mentioned again). He gets a phone call and says, “It’s business as usual around here.” So apparently he’s always an asshole. That, my friends, is the pre-credit sequence.

The film then introduces us to two male strippers who perform in a club full of screaming women until a mysterious chick on a motorcycle shows up and asks them for a light. The guy running the club then calls Terrence Anderson (who owns the club) in a panic, telling him the dancers have disappeared. Why would he bother him with this detail? Why would Terrence care? What, he has only two dancers? I imagine there’s a high turnover in that line of work anyway, so the disappearance of two dancers would hardly be noticed. But no, in the world of this film, male dancers are a rare commodity, and he has to order two new ones from Hungary. Yes, seriously.

So we’re introduced to two somewhat goofy guys driving to work in Hungary. They are late and are soon fired. And with their introduction, the movie gets quite a bit sillier, though the tone remains largely serious. Two other men are hired by Jack Varga (Vinnie Jones) to intercept a package from Terrence Anderson while undercover as his new dancers. Again, why is it so hard to find dancers? And shouldn’t the film have introduced those two men before the two goofy men, so that we’d associate them more quickly as the dancers? As it is, we immediately believe that the goofy guys are the new dancers, so that later when they accidentally become the dancers, it’s no big surprise.

So anyway, the two goofy guys stumble into the intrigue, and decide to pose as the dancers in order to make money. And so they’re to dance at Terrence’s fiftieth birthday party. But then they argue over the plan once they see a tape of the choreography. But who cares? And why is Terrence hiring male strippers for his own birthday party? By this point we’ve already seen Terrence hitting on some female pilot, and there is no indication that he is bisexual, so what gives?

But we have ridiculous scenes of them shaving and trying to learn the dance routine. What does this have to do with a diamond heist, you might be wondering? Absolutely nothing. Not to spoil anything, but in a film titled Diamond Heist, there is no diamond heist. There are diamonds, to be sure, and they most probably were stolen. But there is nothing shown on screen even remotely resembling a heist. (To be fair, apparently the original title was Magic Boys, referring to the two dancers.)

This film desperately wants to be cool, but fails. So then it tries to be funny. After failing at that, it tries to be clever, and fails at that as well. Just putting Michael Madsen in your film doesn’t automatically make it a cool film, though these filmmakers seem to think so. Here is an example of Michael Madsen being tough in this film. While one of his nervous employees is drying his hands in the bathroom, Terrence says: “Do you know how that fucking thing works? It’s basically recirculated air that recently came out of somebody’s ass. So you’re basically drying your hands off with other people’s farts.” What?

Well, the two goofy guys are forced to do a drag act. Why? Who knows? Meanwhile the two real dancers are wandering around the city, acting like they should still be in the film for some reason. But really, the entire film just wanders around for like ninety-four minutes, and by the end you’ve learned to appreciate the time you have and promised yourself you’ll use it better in the future.

Diamond Heist is scheduled to be released on DVD on March 24, 2015. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: The Shift

The Shift depicts one intense night at an emergency room, where nurse Kayle (Leo Oliva, who also wrote the screenplay) is assigned to train a new nurse named Amanda (Casey Fitzgerald), who holds different views on the responsibilities and obligations of their profession, specifically regarding the question of a patient’s right to die.

This is a film that quickly and quietly gets its hooks into you. Early on there is a shot of a man in a hospital bed, with two people at his side. After a moment, one of them removes the man’s breathing mask. And from there, we see several other patients. These shots are all handled in a quiet, realistic manner, without introductions or exposition, and without intrusions from the score, giving the film an intense and immediate feel. Also, these scenes give us the impression that the focus is as much on the patients as it is on the nursing staff, which is interesting because the two main characters are nurses. But it is that their own focus is on the patients, and so these early brief scenes help align us with those main characters. It is such a great way of making us share their perspectives.

Floyd (Danny Glover) gives the team their assignments for the shift, and Kayle is told he’s to train a new nurse, Amanda. He is reluctant, saying that he should be at the patients’ bedsides where he can do the most good, but of course accepts his assignment. It is a tough night for Kayle, as demons from his past haunt him, and the drugs he uses to get through seem to be giving him anxiety.

There are so many excellent scenes. In one scene early in the night, the nurses work brilliantly and quickly to save a patient, only to learn that the patient’s chart indicates “Do not resuscitate.” So Kayle makes a decision on his own.

Meanwhile a young cancer patient named Emily (Genesis Ochoa) connects with Kayle. This relationship illustrates the dynamic between the needed human touch to medicine and the obligations of the nursing profession. Amanda, eager to learn, asks Emily’s mother several questions about Emily. Kayle pulls her aside and tells her: “Put the notebook away. Listen to me. You need to start treating that girl like a human being and not a homework assignment. Okay? Everything you asked her mom can be found in the chart. All you’re doing is unsettling her with every single question you have.” Emily soon makes an unusual request of Kayle.

Both Leo Oliva and Casey Fitzgerald give very strong performances, and are completely believable. Amanda is intelligent, but doesn’t have the experience to know when to be quiet. Casey Fitzgerald’s performance is so moving. You really feel for her, and because most of us have little or no medical experience, we experience much of this film through her eyes. There is a fantastic moment where she rushes into the med room to retrieve some urgently needed items, and in her frantic mood bangs the door against another nurse, making a third nurse laugh. It’s so brutally honest, and even warm as the third nurse tells her “Just relax” and then helps her get the items. The handheld camera also helps convey her mood and her insecurity. And I love the moments of comradery among the staff.

The Shift is absolutely riveting. I was seriously impressed by this film, and completely drawn in. Not a single moment feels untrue. And though this film is about the right to die, the issue is not addressed in a heavy-handed manner.

The Shift was directed by Lee Cipolla, and was released on DVD on February 24, 2015 through Random Media. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: Code Black

Code Black is a documentary offering an intriguing look at emergency medicine in L.A. County Hospital, focusing on the eye-opening experiences of medical students in that environment. When the film opens, it immediately drops us into the middle of an emergency. We see an extremely crowded emergency room with multiple doctors and nurses working on a patient. It seems insane, and just as we’re thinking that, we get voice over addressing that very thought: “If you’re an outsider, this looks like total chaos. But as a doctor, I see unity in that chaos. There is a team here, in all that, coming together to save someone’s life.”

That’s Ryan McGarry speaking. He was a senior resident physician at the hospital, as well as director of this documentary. He is one of several doctors interviewed for the film, and gives us his initial impressions and reactions to the scene at L.A. County Hospital, as well as a bit of a history of the place. Interestingly, this hospital was the birthplace of emergency medicine, at least in this country. One small area of the room, labeled C Booth, is where more people have died and more people have been saved than anywhere else in the country. (A map on screen shows us it is only twenty by twenty-five feet.)

The film doesn’t shy away from showing us the doctors at work, though it also doesn’t deliberately dwell on anything graphic. As a result, we feel we get a real sense of what the staff goes through, both physically and emotionally, particularly when the footage is not accompanied by any narration. We see patients die, and the way the doctors are affected by it. And there are some personal stories from doctors who became involved in emergency medicine at this hospital, such as Jamie Feng. And director Ryan McGarry relates his personal experience as a patient with stage IV lymphoma when in college, giving the film a personal touch and perspective. The film also shows us the doctors goofing around a bit when they do finally have a break.

Because of earthquake codes, the county had to build a new county hospital, and the feel of it is quite different from the original building. Doctors talk about the differences between the old and new county hospitals, detailing the positive and negative aspects of the change. The film also goes into the current state of medicine and health care in this country.

A “Code Black” is when the number of patients seeking care exceeds the capabilities of the staff. One doctor tells us, “During Code Black we are so saturated that it feels like the place is going to blow up at the seams.” And: “It’s a little like losing before you’ve started.” But despite the title, the focus is really on the L.A. County Hospital and the emergency staff working there rather than on Code Black situations. In fact, it’s more than halfway through the film before Code Black is mentioned. This is a documentary that starts off strong, and then becomes more and more interesting as it goes on.

Special Features

The DVD includes Reconnection, a short promotional film that is part music video, part commentary on the health care system and the removal of the human element in the face of bureaucracy (and the re-introduction of it). There is also an interview with director Ryan McGarry, which begins and ends with footage from the film. Ryan talks about being a film director and doctor, and the similarities between the two professions. He also talks about filming in the hospital, getting access and so on. The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Code Black was directed by Ryan McGarry and was released on DVD on February 24, 2015 through Music Box Films. By the way, a pilot for a television series based on this film is being shot now, with Ryan McGarry as one of the executive producers. Marcia Gay Harden, Bonnie Somerville and Luis Guzman are among the cast.

DVD Review: Teeth And Blood

Teeth And Blood is vampire movie that takes place on the set of a vampire movie, where one of the female actors is killed. Two detectives are assigned to go undercover and find out just what happened to this actor. And we learn that the city is missing its blood supply. Hey, also missing are the murder weapon and body. Hmm.

Voice over at the beginning of the film mentions how vampires have adapted and now walk freely among the population, “no longer confined to the shadows.” That’s a nice set-up, promising something different, a variation on the vampire sub-genre. But after introducing this interesting idea, the film then fails to build upon it or use to good effect.

After actor Elizabeth Thornrich is murdered while on the set of a horror film titled Chapel Blood, detectives Sasha Colfax (Michelle Van Der Water) and Mike Hung (Sean Christopher according to the opening credits, and Sean Hutchinson according to the closing credits) are put on the case. They go undercover, immediately getting jobs on the set, Sasha as the new lead actor and Mike as a grip. This is one of the major problems with the film. Sasha is cast on the spot as the new lead (without having a headshot, resume, agent, or even appointment). And Detective Mike Hung is hired as a grip while he seems to be waiting with the people auditioning for acting roles. And it’s the DP that hires him. And this is while the production is in progress. Come on! If there’s one scene that all filmmakers should be able to capture perfectly, it’s that of making a movie. So it does not bode well for this film that they’re completely unable to get even one moment of that right. None of the stuff on the set is the least bit believable. None of the folks on walkies even have headsets. And at one point, Vincent Augustine (Glenn Plummer), the director, tells his assistant that he doesn’t want to be disturbed for at least an hour. An hour? How is his film ever going to get made? Directors don’t leave the set for an hour. The assistant tells him the DP is threatening to walk (maybe that’s because he was put in charge of hiring new grips partway through the production). At another point, dancers show a routine to the director, but while the choreographer is off in a break room. There is no way the choreographer wouldn’t be present for that rehearsal for the director. At another point the director says: “Roll sound. And action.” But we don’t see any cameras or a sound person. And there is no one there to respond, “Sound speed.” Also, it would be the first AD to say, “Roll sound,” not the director. Clearly, the folks that made this movie had never stepped foot on a film set before. Their inexperience shows in every frame.

The stuff about the blood bank crisis is absurd. It seems at times that this movie is intended to be a comedy, except it’s not funny. Anyway, Vincent Augustine is a vampire, and after a while the missing actor turns up as a vampire as well. And soon after that, several crew members are turned to vampires. Just as well, as there was no way they were ever going to finish that movie. And though the crew members are being turned into vampires, there are no real scares, just a series of shots of various people being bitten. The entire film could be a music video set to a single song and you’d lose little if any of the plot. Another problem is we just don’t care what happens to these people.

And it’s never really clear why this vampire makes movies. Is it a passion of his? Or a way to meet potential victims? It would be interesting if he were actually a true film buff and his interest in film defined him more strongly than his vampirism. (But perhaps I’m putting more thought into this than did the writers.) There are hints of an interesting friendship between the film director and another vampire, but this is also left undeveloped. The movie also fails to delve into any weaknesses the vampires might have. They’ve adapted and can walk among us undetected, but have they also developed new weaknesses as a result? We don’t know. It’s another area left unexplored.

Perhaps this was intended to be a comedy. After all, it certainly doesn’t look like a horror film. It uses lots of bright colors. The score doesn’t seem to be going for horror either. It’s more like the music of a procedural police program combined with that of a soft-core porn. It’s difficult to know just what the intended effect is, or what the intended emotion is for its audience.

Beside all that, the writing is so poor. Mike Hung says to Sasha: “So I talked to that maintenance lady. She didn’t know anything though. You find out something?” And Sasha responds, “Not yet.” Great. Thanks for that important and intriguing dialogue. The mayor says, “I don’t need any bad press, especially from reporters.” Wait, who else would give him bad press? Pastry chefs? Bus drivers? Early on, a character says he’s looking for “something very unique.” Whoops! Hey, screenwriters, something is either unique or it isn’t. There are no degrees of uniqueness. And a news reporter named Crystal says, “There was no suicide note to shed why she would have taken her life.” Did she mean “to shed light on why she would have taken her own life”? Bad. Just bad.

Teeth And Blood was directed by Al Franklin, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on March 10, 2015 through RLJ Entertainment. The DVD includes no special features.