DVD Review: Divine Divas

Divine Divas is an affectionate and personal look at a group of crossdressing and transgender artists in Brazil, the first such group to grace the stage at the Rival Theater back in the 1960s. The film is directed and narrated by Leandra Leal, the granddaughter of Américo Leal, who first opened his stage to these women. Leandra Leal has close personal ties to the venue and to these performers, who helped make up her strongest memories of childhood. The film follows the artists as they prepare for a special show to mark an anniversary of the theater’s opening, a show that Leandra Leal herself helped to organize. Ten years earlier, there had been another reunion of these artists to commemorate an anniversary, that one organized by the film director’s mother. That show had been titled Divine Divas; thus, the title of the new performance and the film.

Because the performers are now in their seventies, they have a certain perspective on the history of crossdressing performances, and have many interesting (and often humorous) anecdotes about their struggles. They talk about how back in the day it was dangerous. “You had to be in the closet, afraid, repressed,” says one performer. They talk about the history of their individual performances, and about dealing with censorship and ridiculous rules, even with arrests. They tell some incredible, emotionally engaging stories. The film does include some still photos and old footage, but it mainly focuses on the interviews, on these women’s stories, and on their preparation for the new show.

Interestingly, some of the performers live and dress as women full-time, some are transgender, while others dress as men when not performing. “The uncertainties I have as a man go away when I become a woman. I get so much younger when I’m a woman on stage,” one of the performers tells us. We see rehearsals for the performance, including vocal warmups. And of course we see some of the show. But really the film is about these people, their stories, more than the actual performance. It is a loving and gentle look at an endearing and beautiful group of performers.

Divine Divas was released on DVD on May 8, 2018 through MVD Visual. The DVD contains no special features.

Blu-ray/DVD Review: Bruce’s Deadly Fingers

Bruce’s Deadly Fingers is a fun martial arts film from 1976 starring Bruce Le (yes, to be confused with Bruce Lee), and directed by Joseph Kong. The plot involves several people looking for Bruce Lee’s kung fu finger book, and, well, not much else. And, yes, every time the kung fu finger book is mentioned, it makes me laugh. The film is enjoyable right from its brightly colored opening title sequence.

It takes about a minute before we get our first fight scene. But first we get a couple of those delightful, quick zooms in on the combatants eyes, and something like three lines of dialogue, in which one guy says he’ll have to find proof, and the other says he’s looking for proof. At the main villain’s home, Rose wonders why he is after the kung fu finger book, saying: “All you think of it finger kung fu. You don’t care about me.” And it seems she’s correct. He sends his men out to find the book. And so there are lots of fight scenes, many of which feature one guy being able to dispatch several bad guys at once. Which is exactly what we want from this type of film. And there are more great lines like, “All right, you bastard, be a good boy and tell us where the kung fu finger book is or else we’ll kill you.”

Anyway, Bruce Wong (Bruce Le) returns to Hong Kong from the United States, only to find out his mother is dead and his sister has moved away. He is also looking for the kung fu finger book, of course. But first he has to rescue his sister, Shiu Ju, who is being forced into prostitution. “Shut up, I don’t like your face,” he tells the guy in charge of the prostitution ring. But that guy is actually working for the main villain. All the bad guys work for that one guy, you see. The bad guys decide to kidnap Shiu Ju and Mina, Bruce’s friend, in order to force Bruce to tell them where the kung fu finger book is. Anyway, you get the idea. It’s not a good movie, but it is seriously enjoyable.

In a scene where one man is demonstrating a fighting style to a bunch of shirtless guys, we learn that hitting the air makes noise, something that strikes me as ridiculous. And there is a scene where Bruce is able to go make a phone call, get a hold of the guy he’s calling, talk for a bit, get cut off, and return to the other room to say he was cut off, all in six seconds. That’s more impressive than his fighting. This film also includes a scene with death by 8 ball. And for Pink Floyd fans, check out a scene near the end where they use the beginning of Pink Floyd’s “Time” as part of the score, probably without permission (if you’re curious, it is right around the 72-minute mark).

Special Features

This two-disc set includes several special features. There are some deleted scenes, including a drug scene. The one that’s most interesting is the missing telephone call scene, its existence explaining how Bruce was able to have that call and get back to the other room in only six seconds. I wonder why the scene was cut. It seems necessary. Anyway, the deleted scenes total approximately six and a half minutes.

Chop-Sucky: Bad Kung Fu Dubs is simply a collection of some of the funnier scenes from Bruce’s Deadly Fingers. Funny, that is, because of the English dubbing. And yes, most of them have people saying “Kung fu finger book.” Also included in the special features are a photo gallery, the film’s trailer, and the trailers for several other films, including Fists Of Fury, The Way Of The Dragon, and Game Of Death.

There is also a commentary track by Michael Worth. He talks about the idea of the kung fu finger book, and mentions that Bruce Lee never created such a thing. He also talks about the way they used Bruce Lee to sell films that he wasn’t actually in. And he talks about the various actors in the film, and their other credits. It’s certainly not the best commentary track ever, and he does at moments let time pass without saying anything, but it is still worth listening to.

Bruce’s Deadly Fingers was released as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on May 8, 2018 through MVD Visual. The film is presented in widescreen, from a new 2K scan from the original 35 mm negative.

DVD Review: The Fencer

The Fencer tells the true story of champion fencer Endel Nelis, who in the years following World War II started a fencing club for children in Estonia, while trying to keep out of sight of Stalin’s Secret Police. It’s an engaging film that centers on his work with the kids in a time when most of them were in need of a father figure in their lives. By helping them, he is putting himself at risk. But by helping them, he is also finding himself again.

Title cards at the beginning give us a bit of information on the period and the situation. During World War II, Estonia was occupied by Germany and by the Soviet Union at different times. And after the war, the Soviet Union, under Stalin, occupied the country. Estonian men who had been drafted by Nazi Germany during the war were hunted by Stalin’s Secret Police. When the film starts, we follow Endel Nelis (Mart Avandi) as he gets off a train and walks through the streets alone to a school, the camera remaining behind him the entire time. It’s a great sequence, and the film later uses similar shots for a different effect. He has come to this small town to get a teaching job, and the principal notices that “fencing” is on his resume. He is hired to be the athletic instructor, and is told he has other responsibilities as well, which mainly seem to be running a sports club for the children. However, after repairing all the skis, with the intention of making the sports club a skiing club, he finds the next day that they’ve all been taken. The principal, a cold authoritarian figure, informs him that the school shares their sports equipment with the military airbase. This is the only time in the film that this comes into play, and we never hear about it again or see the airbase, so it feels like this moment is simply there to force Endel to rely on his fencing background. It is one of the only weak turns of the film.

But rely on his fencing, he does. And when he does, he is surprised to find that nearly the entire school has shown up for lessons. And so he begins to train them, fashioning branches into foils for the children. He is encouraged by Kadri (Ursula Ratasepp), a teacher for whom he develops feelings. And while the principal wishes Endel to cease the fencing instructions and to teach sports better suited to the proletariat, the children’s parents get behind the program. The children wish to enter into a competition in Leningrad. While everything seems to be going well, we are reminded of the dangers Endel faces, mainly through contact with a friend who tries to get him a position farther from Leningrad and who later warns him to stay away from Leningrad at all costs. And for some reason the principal takes it upon himself (and his assistant) to look further into Endel’s background. For me, it is never satisfactorily explained why he would wish to do this, other than he’s just an authoritarian bastard, and that is the only other weakness of the film.

The performances – including those by the children – are extraordinary. And the look of the film is excellent, often beautiful. I got completely caught up in this story and these characters. And it is ultimately an uplifting tale.

Special Features

The DVD includes an interview with the film’s director, Klaus Härö, who talks about the story and some of the similarities with his other work, and about shooting period films. He also talks about the cast, mentioning that Mart Avandi is actually a popular comedian in Estonia, which is interesting. This interview was conducted in 2015, and is approximately twenty-two minutes.

The director provides an audio commentary on certain scenes. He talks about reading the script and what interested him in the story, and about the shots from the beginning that I love. He also talks about shooting a period piece, and about the casting. He gives an interesting anecdote about the day he shot the scene with the grandfather being taken away by the authorities.

The special features also include the film’s trailer.

The Fencer was directed by Klaus Härö, and was released on DVD on April 10, 2018 through Music Box Films. It is presented in its original Estonian, with English subtitles.

DVD Review: Manifesto

Cate Blanchett is, I believe, the best living actor. In film after film, she continues to impress audiences. And her range seems boundless, having played everyone from Queen Elizabeth to Bob Dylan. And she’s not afraid to take chances in her work. This has never been clearer than in Manifesto, in which she plays multiple roles. The film itself deals with various types of art, and the manifestos associated with them, each delivered by Cate Blanchett as different characters. However, it is not a journey through history, but rather creates its own strange version of the present, where all these ideas seem to combine, or at least flow from one to another (and sometimes back again).

The film opens with Cate Blanchett delivering part of Tristan Tzara’s manifesto: “I am against action. I am for continuous contradiction, for affirmation too, I am neither for nor against, and I do not explain because I hate common sense.” She goes on to quote from Philippe Soupalt: “I am writing a manifesto because I have nothing to say.” Ah, a wonderful choice to begin a film titled Manifesto. And the spark that we see on screen might be a lit fuse for a bomb – our imagination fills in dreadful possibilities sometimes, doesn’t it? – but turns out to be for fireworks. Not only that, but fireworks lit by a trio of elderly women. Then, interestingly, we get a quick series of shots of the various people Cate Blanchett will play in the film, as well as the names – in rapid succession – of those from whom Cate will quote. And I am drawn in immediately.

For each character, we have a different and quite distinct landscape or setting. From the rubble of a city, we move to a room full of people working at computers, and in voice over Cate speaks from the manifesto of futurism: “The suffering of a man is of the same interest to us as the suffering of an electric lamp.” As she says “Make room for youth, for violence, for daring,” the camera pulls back and pans up to show many more computer screens, as well as giant screens on other side of the frame, a somewhat frightening – though not youthful or violent – image. Then a similar camera move shows us a large apartment complex. The camera work is wonderful, and the transitions from one scene to the next have meaning and even beauty. At one point, a coffin shifts to a dining room table being set.

There is a delightful humor to this film. The shot of the three elevators like strange pods has a certain wonderfully sad humor. And the funeral scene where Cate reads from the Dada manifesto made me laugh with joy. I’ve always appreciate the Dada perspective anyway, but watching Cate tell mourners “One dies as a hero or as an idiot, which is the same thing” is a delight. She goes on to say: “Dada is still shit. But from now on…” And here she breaks a bit – it is a funeral, after all – and then continues: “From now on, we want to shit in different colors.” But perhaps the funniest scene is the one that follows the funeral, where – after the table is set, and lunch is served – Cate’s children (and husband, who enters a bit later) fold their hands in prayer to listen to her orison: “I am for an art that is political, erotical, mystical, that does something other than sit on its ass in a museum.” Ah, if the prayers in my home had been like that, I might still be among the believers. We return to this scene later, when Cate is continuing: “I am for the art of teddy bears and guns, exploding umbrellas,” eventually getting a surprised and slightly bemused look from her husband. Will those children ever get to eat?

Sometimes Cate speaks to us in voice over, sometimes directly to the camera. Sometimes she speaks to other characters, including a puppet. In one of my favorite scenes she is a teacher speaking to very young children, telling them “Nothing is original, okay? So you can steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration, and fuels your imagination” (quoting Jim Jarmusch). She then starts giving them instructions from the Dogme 95 Manifesto, “The camera must be handheld” and so on. I also love the broadcast news scene, where as a news anchor Cate says – in an official voice – “All current art is fake.” She then speaks to a field reporter, also played by Cate – and both are named Cate, by the way – who is standing in the rain (rain which is later revealed to be fake).  I love the humor of this film, as Cate says to the reporter, herself, “When to reflect is gazing in the mirror, when to contemplate is, well, thinking about yourself.”

Manifesto is an unusual film that is engaging and compelling, funny and beautiful. Cate Blanchett gives a tremendous performance. Or rather, several tremendous performances. The film was written and directed by Julian Rosefeldt, and released on DVD on May 8, 2018 through MVD Visual. The DVD contains no special features.