DVD Review: And Then There Was You

And Then There Was You is a romantic drama about a woman whose life is thrown into disarray when her husband leaves her for the other family that he’s been secretly keeping for years. It stars Garcelle Beauvais as Natalie, Leon Robinson as her husband, and Brian White as the man who soon enters her life.

The film opens as Natalie arrives home after having been away for two weeks. She lives in a nice house in a quiet cul-de-sac. The film allows her a quiet moment by herself, drinking some water. It’s done in a wide shot, which right away establishes the orderliness of the house, the sparseness of it. And then immediately she is unpacking, neatly folding her clothes and putting them away, which shows us she’s the one responsible for the home’s extreme neatness. Her husband, Joshua (Leon Robinson), is in the shower. She goes into the bathroom, but has to prompt him to ask her about her trip. Back in the bedroom, she picks up his wallet, and notices photographs of two children. When asked about them, Joshua tells her they’re his godchildren.

The relationship between Natalie and Joshua doesn’t feel quite real. At dinner she asks, “Must you pour hot sauce on everything?” It doesn’t ring true. It doesn’t feel like there is any history there, though they’ve been married for eleven years. They seem like strangers playing at being married. Their lack of chemistry is really the film’s one major weakness, and it seems due to Leon Robinson’s performance. It is very much on the surface, cold but without any pain behind it. If he’s cold, we should see an effort to be so, and perhaps a failing at it, because the coldness should be a defense mechanism to mask his guilt. But he doesn’t seem to feel guilt. And when Natalie arrives home one day to find Joshua moving out, he seems to feel nothing but anger. He tells her he’s had another family for five years, that the boys in the photos are his sons, not his godchildren.

One thing he does tell her is that he felt he didn’t fit into her overly neat home. She is obsessive about being orderly. There’s a great moment when at night she retches in the bathroom, then immediately reaches for a brush and begins scrubbing the bathroom clean. She then breaks down, and the scene is allowed to continue for a moment, the camera stationary, so it is her emotions that carry and drive the scene.

Natalie works at a day care, and we see that she’s good with children, particularly with Abigail, the daughter of her neighbor Corinth, whom her best friend Marisol remarks is attractive. Natalie tells Marisol that Joshua took all their money, cleaned out their joint accounts. So Natalie has to sell the house. This is another scene where Garcelle Beauvais really shines as Natalie.

That leads to Marisol putting Natalie in touch with Darrell, her handyman. Darrell, a married man, arrives to help with plumbing and landscaping issues so that Natalie can get a better price for the house. Clearly there is some attraction there, but I like that the film allows the relationship to build slowly. Though one thing I would have liked would be for Natalie’s obsessive quality to come out also in this relationship.

I also like that we see something of Darrell and his wife, Sophia (Lynn Whitfield). They have an interesting relationship. After he catches her in bed with another man, she says, “You are playing the hurt husband so well that I almost believe you,” and she laughs. Then she adds, “Well, why the hell did you come in my room anyway?” That one line does so much. Besides showing that they have separate rooms, it really defines their relationship. Plus, it’s damn funny and surprising. Lynn Whitfield is excellent as Sophia in this scene. Sophia later shows up at Natalie’s house to let her know Darrell might have secrets of his own. It’s a nice moment, because we see different layers of Sophia’s character. I like that the film takes the time to make her a more rounded character. She is not simply a villain type. In fact, she’s not really a villain at all, which is great.

Sure, there is some poor dialogue, and there are some clunky moments, and there’s a scene of people slow dancing to “Jingle Bells” (I’m not kidding).  Also, people have a habit of letting themselves into each other’s homes in this movie, which is odd. But there are a lot of really good scenes and some good performances, which make this film well worth watching.

And Then There Was You was written and directed by Leila Djansi (who also wrote and directed Ties That Bind). It is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 11, 2014 through RLJ Entertainment and One Village Entertainment. The DVD contains no special features.

DVD Review: Newhart: The Complete Second Season

Every once in a while, sitcoms will dare to portray adults, even intelligent adults. Newhart is such a show, and though it is quite silly at times, the humor is mostly intelligent. There are plenty of excellent jokes, but most of them are not spoon-fed. Newhart stars Bob Newhart and Mary Frann as Dick and Joanna Loudon, a couple who own and run an inn in Vermont. It also stars Julia Duffy as Stephanie, a young rich woman who has been cut off from her family and now works as a maid; Tom Poston as George, the inn’s handyman; and Steven Kampmann as Kirk, the man who runs the diner next door.

The Complete Second Season includes all twenty-two episodes. This season features some excellent guest stars including a couple of the actors from WKRP In Cincinnati, as well as Ruth Gordon (who stars in my all-time favorite film, Harold And Maude). This was also the season that introduced the character of Michael Harris (Peter Scolari). The reason I started watching Newhart when I was a kid was that I had enjoyed Mork & Mindy and Bosom Buddies. So I’d begun watching it for supporting cast members Tom Poston and Peter Scolari. But I got hooked on it even as a kid. And I’m actually enjoying the show much more this time around.

I love Bob Newhart’s casual, understated delivery. And I like that the actions of one episode do have some bearing on other episodes. It’s not like so many sitcoms (particularly of the time) where each episode is a completely isolated event with no causal connections. And this season has one of the best sitcom weddings I’ve seen (the final image is great, and it includes Stephanie’s line “I’ve always been a bride, never a bridesmaid”). The final episode of the season has a reference to the Red Sox (two, if you include the mug in the background in one shot), which I totally appreciate.

The second season opens with a two-part episode titled “It Happened One Afternoon,” in which Dick pursues a book assignment writing a biography of an actress (an actress who then flirts with him). Meanwhile, Stephanie (a character who appeared in only one episode the previous season) arrives, having ended her marriage with Carl. Joanna tells her, “Oh, Stephanie, I’m so sorry to hear that.” Stephanie responds, “Yeah, so was Carl.” There are lots of great lines, some of which, interestingly, do not get a laugh from the studio audience - such as Dick: “All I can be is myself.” His agent: “You could be better at it.”

"Animal Attractions"

One of the best episodes is “Animal Attractions.” George finds a dog, and two guests seem to be trying to sneak off without paying their bill. Some of the humor comes from Dick having never had a dog. And the rest comes from Julia Duffy’s excellent performance as Stephanie. Stephanie’s husband shows up, and he’s much older than everyone assumed. George keeps the dog, naming him Lucky, leading to one of the funniest lines. George says to Stephanie, “If you’re ever feeling lonely, you can always come up to my room and get Lucky.” What’s brilliant is that he says it as he leaves upstage, and Stephanie is left standing there, looking after him, her back to the camera, which actually works as a much better reaction shot than if they’d gone for the normal close-up.

Another excellent episode is “Cats,” in which rich newlyweds Ted and Tisha, two of Stephanie’s high school classmates, arrive at the Inn. Tisha looks at Stephanie and tells her, “You haven’t changed a bit,” then asks her, “Why?” She’s absolutely horrid to Stephanie. Stephanie explains to the Loudons that they were always rivals, and that Stephanie dated Ted in high school. As always, there is some wonderful dialogue, such as this exchange...

Stephanie: “Trish, you don’t have to feel sorry for me.” 

Trisha: “But I want to.”

Peter Scolari as Michael Harris

“Book Beat” is the episode that introduces Michael Harris (Peter Scolari). He is a producer of a local television program, Book Talk, which has Dick as a guest. Michael asks Dick to be the show’s new host. Dick’s first program is one of the funniest bits of the season. This episode is hilarious, due in large part to Dick’s reactions, and because it includes the great phrase, “At the risk of sounding realistic.”

Michael Harris returns in “Vermont Today,” offering a new show for Dick to host. Titled Vermont Today, it’s a show to celebrate the state of Vermont. Dick is promised cultural and important guests. His first guest is a small horse. Stephanie meets Michael in this episode.

Guest Stars Include Frank Bonner, Richard Sanders and Ruth Gordon

“Kirk Pops The Question” features Frank Bonner (Herb Tarlek on WKRP) as a man suffering from a fear of hotels and who of course needs a room. He suffers from a few other phobias. Meanwhile Kirk asks Cindy (Rebecca York) to marry him. Richard Stahl is excellent as the waiter having to deal with Kirk.

And then “Leave It To The Beavers” features Richard Sanders (Les Nessman on WKRP) as Cecil, a guest at the inn who has a make-believe wife, Evelyn. This episode actually features another excellent guest star. Alan North (from Police Squad!) plays the president of the Beavers, a local club that George invites Dick to join. This episode also has this bit of dialogue…

Dick: “You know, I have half a mind to do that.” 

George: “And I’ve got the other half. Let’s go.”

But my favorite episode is “Go, Grandma, Go” because of its guest star. Ruth Gordon (Harold And Maude) stars as Blanche, Kirk’s grandmother. She missed Kirk’s wedding because she met a man on the way to Vermont. Blanche asks Joanna how Kirk’s wife is. Joanna tells her she’s wonderful, that she’ll like her. Blanche says: “I know I will. And if I don’t, it won’t matter ‘cause I live two thousand miles away.” Joanna offers her some lunch. “Would you like anything special?” Blanche responds, “Something special would be fine.” Ruth Gordon makes every line work so well. She is completely awesome, as always. Blanche lends Kirk her car so he and Cindy can go on their honeymoon. But, like Maude in my favorite film, Blanche has a penchant for stealing cars, which gets Kirk in trouble.

Newhart: The Complete Second Season is scheduled to be released on February 11, 2014 through Shout! Factory. There are no special features.

DVD Review: It’s Not Me, I Swear!

It’s Not Me, I Swear! is a sweet, funny, endearing, captivating, honest, and slightly twisted dark comedy, focusing on the adventures and misadventures of a ten-year-old boy named Leon (in an excellent performance by Antoine L’Écuyer), who is having a tough time and seems to have few positive outlets for his energy (apart from the piano).

When we first meet Leon, he is hanging himself from a tree, while a pretty acoustic song plays on the film’s soundtrack. He is rescued by his brother, Jerome (Gabriel Maillé). Throughout the film, Leon speaks to us occasionally in voice over. At this point he tells us, “Jerome hates my deadly accidents, because afterwards Mom won’t let us hide in the freezer or play Lego in the middle of the street.”

We then see Leon interacting with his neighbors. He flips off a girl his age, Lea, who had just greeted him nicely. Another neighbor accuses him of throwing eggs at her garage. Leon’s mother comes to rescue him from this confrontation, and advises him, “If you lie, keep your story straight.” She then tells him: “It’s better not to lie, but it’s worse to lie badly.” Leon takes this to heart.

Leon’s father is a lawyer, a human rights activist, and his mother is a bit crazy. They fight, physically, his mom destroying a painting with a screwdriver, leading his dad to ask if she feels better now as a failed painter. She answers by slugging him in the face.

Leon picks up the screwdriver the next day and uses it break into the neighbors’ basement while they’re off camping (the father had told Leon to keep an eye on the house). He begins smashing things and making a general mess, but also playing their harpsichord beautifully. At one point, he urinates in their closet, aiming his stream onto several fur coats. (That scene is hard for me to watch, because that raccoon coat looks gorgeous – it’s like watching a scene where someone smashes a guitar. Hey, give me that coat, give me that guitar.)

Things become more difficult for Leon when his mother announces to him and to Jerome that she’s suffocating and is leaving for Greece the next day. Jerome tells her, “All the neighbors say you’re not normal.” While his parents are fighting about his mother’s desire to leave, Leon plays piano. When that doesn’t drown out the sounds of the argument, he dumps a small trash bin of papers onto his parents’ bed and lights the paper on fire. In voice over, he explains: “Sometimes I start a fire in a strategic spot. An old Indian trick for ending fights. I’d never tried a polyester bedspread. Dad, Mom and Jerome all put it out together. They looked almost like a normal family.” But then the next shot is his mother getting into a taxi. It's an excellent sequence.

Leon becomes close to Lea, the neighborhood girl his age, whose father has likewise left and whose uncle beats her. They begin to scheme to find ways to come up with money so that Leon can travel to Greece. And their relationship becomes sort of the center of the film, so that even when they’re doing terrible things, like breaking into people’s homes, you wish them to succeed. (Catherine Faucher is excellent as Lea.)

This film somehow finds just the right balance between drama and comedy. Its serious moments still have some humor, and its funniest moments are still quite serious. It’s actually quite a feat. When Leon slaps Lea, she tells him: “My uncle hits me too. Your slap is just a gust of wind.” It’s a serious moment, but yet has an odd innocence to it, and the film doesn’t dwell on it. They’re soon back to their schemes.

There’s a wonderful moment when they’ve broken into a home, looking for money, and Leon finds Lea in a girl’s room, crying over some dolls on the floor. He calms her by playing a toy piano. Later he tells her, “Maybe we can start a new life.” She reminds him, “We’re only ten, Leon.” He says, “Exactly, it’s not too late.”

It’s Not Me, I Swear! was directed by Philippe Falardeau, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 4, 2014 through First Run Features. There are no special features on the disc.

DVD Review: Banshee Chapter

Banshee Chapter is an unusual and often creepy and frightening horror film dealing with the MK-Ultra experiments. It begins with a title card: “In 1963 the U.S. government began experimenting on unsuspecting Americans with chemical agents intended to induce mind control.” And we see actual news footage regarding those experiments, including President Clinton’s speech confirming that “Thousands of government-sponsored experiments did take place at hospitals, universities and military bases around our nation. Some were unethical.” The film really starts off as a documentary, which is an interesting approach.

It does a fairly good job of keeping the documentary feel, mixing in some of that “found footage” stuff that is so popular these days. A writer named James (Michael McMillian) disappeared after obtaining and ingesting a government-created chemical. His friend Renny shot video during the experiment (which provides some of the “found footage”), and interestingly he too disappeared soon afterwards. Banshee Chapter follows James’ friend Anne Roland (Katia Winter) as she attempts to find out just exactly what happened to them.

The video that Renny shot features some strange sounds, like an odd recording, that both James and Renny hear, though only James ingested the chemical. (Also, obviously, we hear it, and most of us haven’t ingested any drugs lately.) James then seems paranoid, telling Renny that something is coming toward the house. There’s a shadow at the window, and then intermittent creepy images.

Anne first goes back to James’ house. It’s an interesting scene because it’s quiet. We hear just the sounds of her opening drawers and such as she looks around, finding notebooks regarding MK-Ultra, until she finds a letter and reads it aloud. So when there is a sudden pounding downstairs, it’s truly startling. (She doesn’t discover what made the noise.)

Her search leads her to an expert on number stations, who tells her that the sounds on the video tape originated from a shortwave station. He’s heard this particular broadcast before, and tells her the general area in the desert where it’s likely coming from. Her drive out to the desert provides more creepy moments.

Her investigation leads her to a writer named Thomas Blackburn (Ted Levine), who is clearly patterned on Hunter S. Thompson. Before we meet him, we see images of him and his books, the title of one of them being Saga Of The Swine (Hunter Thompson wrote a book titled Generation Of Swine). And Anne tells us, “His books were written in a haze of pills, booze, and, to some, schizophrenic genius.” And there is footage of him firing guns.

When Anne finally tracks him down, and he invites her back to his place to ingest the chemical, the similarities to Hunter S. Thompson become too much. His home is decorated with guns and United States flags. Ted Levine wears sunglasses inside, and has a cigarette dangling from his mouth. And he delivers his lines with a sort of mumble that Thompson was famous for. And then at one point, he directly quotes Thompson (without attributing it to him): “There’s no sympathy for the devil. Keep that in mind. Buy the ticket, take the ride.” That’s really crossing a line, especially as they’re calling the character Thomas Blackburn, not Hunter Thompson.

The film gets very creepy from there, and has some truly frightening scenes. There is other “found footage” of the MK-Ultra experiments which is unsettling. But I don’t like the film’s use of Hunter S. Thompson so precisely. It’s not cool, and it kept pulling me out of the film. And if you know how Hunter died, then you know how this character dies too. It’s a shame, because the film is really good otherwise. (And, by the way, if the filmmakers wanted to pick an author who was involved with government drug experiments, they should have chosen Ken Kesey.)

Special Features

The DVD includes four short behind-the-scenes featurettes, each approximately three minutes long. These features bits of interviews with director and co-writer Blair Erickson, producer Stephanie Riggs, producer Corey Moosa, and actors Jenny Gabriel, Ted Levine, and Katia Winter. Blair Erickson talks about why he wanted to write about the MK-Ultra experiments, and talks about some of the things in the film that are based in reality. There is some behind-the-scenes footage, including some great footage of a special effects hose coming on a bit too strong. The fourth featurette is all about shooting a low budget film in 3D, but the DVD is not in 3D.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Banshee Chapter was directed by Blair Erickson, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 4, 2014 through XLrator Media.

Blu-ray/DVD Review: Raise The Titanic

Raise The Titanic is an adventure film about a project to bring the Titanic up in order to retrieve a rare mineral from its cargo hold, a mineral needed to create a secret defense system for the United States government.

Raise The Titanic opens with a series of black and white still images of the Titanic in port, and images of the interior and folks on the boat. Though these are stills, the camera moves across them. Then we see the boat at the bottom of the ocean. It’s actually a great opening, for the last of the stills is a large group of people dancing and enjoying themselves, and it leads directly to a dark image of the boat on the ocean floor.

A body is discovered in a mine in the Arctic Circle while on a search for that rare mineral, a grave marker identifying him as a soldier who froze in a storm in February of 1912. The mine was stripped of the mineral they need as a power source for some kind of beam that missiles won’t be able to penetrate. The team behind this defense project is able to learn that the mineral was hidden in a cargo hold of the Titanic. And because divers can’t go down that deep, the plan is to raise the ship.

Yes, it’s kind of a crazy idea, but the film has a great cast, which keeps things from becoming too silly. In addition to lead performances by Jason Robards, Richard Jordan and David Selby, there are wonderful supporting performances by Alec Guinness (as a survivor of the Titanic, who provides important information about which cargo hold contains what they’re looking for), M. Emmet Walsh (as one of the team searching for the ship), and Anne Archer (as a reporter and boyfriend to Gene Seagram, played by David Selby). Also, the film takes itself seriously, which helps us to do the same.

Though the project starts off as secret, some information is leaked, which helps give the film a realistic feel. Though it does seem a bit of coincidence that Anne Archer’s character is the one to break the story, at least the characters acknowledge that it’s an odd coincidence. But the stuff like the press conference is done well and is believable.

This is a film that takes its time with the search operation, and that’s a good thing. It allows us to get caught up in it so that when they do find the ship, we’re just as excited (and relieved) as the characters. It really becomes about the process, and the dangers, of the operation rather than about the goal, the obtaining of the rare mineral.

When watching, keep in mind that this film was released in 1980, five years before the real Titanic was found. So, while they actually got a lot of things right, there are some key differences, particularly that the ship in this film is not in two major pieces.

By the way, whoever wrote the film’s description on the back of the DVD case should be flogged, for he or she gave away a key piece of information regarding a late plot point. So if you haven’t seen the film, don’t read the box.

Special Features

The DVD includes “A Look At The Making Of Raise The Titanic.” This is actually a really good making-of feature, because it focuses on one aspect of the filmmaking process – the underwater sequences. It features interviews with director of photography Matthew F. Leonetti, model unit director Ricou Browning, model and mechanical effects supervisor John Richardson, and underwater camera operator Mike Ferris. The information about shooting in the tank thirty feet down is fascinating. This feature is approximately twenty-three minutes.

The DVD also includes the film’s trailer.

Raise The Titanic is scheduled to be released as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack on January 21, 2014 through Shout! Factory.

DVD Review: The Song Within: Sedona

The Song Within: Sedona is a documentary film about people in the Sedona area of Arizona, and the various artistic ways they express themselves while journeying inward. It opens with images of gorgeous landscapes. A woman’s voice tells us: “This journey began with the basic belief that wisdom is everywhere.” She then says she wondered what treasures would be uncovered if people looked seriously within their own communities. And so they started “an exploration of women in different communities,” beginning with their own in the Sedona region of Arizona. Why just women, and not men? The film doesn’t tell us why only female subjects were chosen. But the idea behind the film is interesting.

We’re then introduced to sixteen different women in the area, women who have found different artistic paths through which to express themselves. We get a few minutes with each woman, one after the other. Because only a few minutes are spent with each woman, the film never delves too deeply into any of their lives. The film is almost more of a sketch of the area, as seen through women with various artistic pursuits.

On screen, each woman in turn is identified by name and occupation. And as you might expect from the film’s opening voice over, some of them have occupations like “healing artist” and “leadership coach.” I’m not exactly sure what a leadership coach is, but Sarah Naylor tells us that she helps people create sacred space inside and out. (Yes, some of these women come across as loonier than others.)  Several of the women are artists, and we see their work while they speak to us.

The first woman is a healing artist and retreat owner. She tells us: “People come to Sedona. It’s a mecca that draws people from all over the world because people want to receive something very, very real.” She talks about people connecting with the beauty of the land, and with something deeper within themselves. She also talks about her “retreat sanctuary” and we see images of it. She says you cannot deny the beauty of the area, and that’s true, at least from the images we’re shown.

Some of the women have interesting stories. For example, Florence B. Schauffler is an older woman who talks about going back to college when she was in her fifties after splitting with her husband. She took theatre courses, and then moved to Los Angeles, where she worked as an actress on such films as Bachelor Party and Pumpkinhead, and television shows such as Newhart and Mr. Belvedere. Interestingly, we also meet her daughter, Jennifer Schauffler-Virosik, a healing artist.

Nancy Matthews, the founder of Sedona School of Massage, talks about how when she was at a gathering of women, each woman in the circle said what she loved, and when it was her turn she realized she loved teaching. And so she opened a school. She talks about how she would just focus on the very next thing she needed to do rather than everything at once to keep from getting overwhelmed.

Ruth Waddell, an artist, is one of the most endearing and likeable subjects interviewed. She says you forget your troubles when creating “because it requires so much of you that other things fall away while you’re working.” True. She also says, “Sometimes we assume that somebody else sees what we see, and it’s hard to remember that that’s not the case.”

In the last twenty or so minutes of the film, we return to some of the women for more about finding happiness within. Oddly, especially considering how short the film is (75 minutes according to the box, 69 minutes according to my DVD player), toward the end, snippets of some of the interviews are repeated. Are these the lines the filmmaker really wanted us to remember? It comes across as rather cheap and off-putting, as a way of extending the length of the film rather than stressing a point.

The Song Within: Sedona was directed by Kathy Douglas, and is scheduled to be released on DVD on February 4, 2014. There are no special features on the DVD.

DVD Review: The Happy House

The Happy House is an unusual, quirky, and kind of wonderful little horror film that takes place in a secluded bed and breakfast, and features a number of distinct and interesting characters.

When it opens, the film introduces us to Joe and Wendy, who are about to go on a vacation and are having a little argument. Joe (Khan Baykal) is impatient to get going. “It’s a long drive. I don’t want to hit traffic.” The film then cuts to them in their car at the side of the road much later in the day, for in his hurry, Joe forgot the directions. Wendy (Aya Cash) tells him she hates bed and breakfasts. “All those awkward breakfasts and weird owners.” She also remarks that she can’t get cell phone reception. This of course seems like typical horror movie set-up stuff, and that is completely intentional. Joe tells Wendy, “We’re going to have fun.” But the strange music promises otherwise.

The Happy House is the name of the bed and breakfast, and when they arrive, a large and somewhat imposing man answers the door silently, rather than the kindly older woman one would expect to see. Though once they get inside, Hildie (Marceline Hugot), the kindly older woman, is there to greet them (the man is Skip, her son). She hands them a copy of the house rules and tells them there is one other guest, a Swedish guy. She tells them there is a three-strike policy regarding the rules. Joe and Wendy indicate they understand, clearly just wanting to be nice so they can get to their room. But Joe then asks what happens if they strike out. Hildie answers sweetly, with a laugh, “You really don’t want to find out, trust me.” Her son laughs too, the first sound we’ve heard from him. She also tells them there are no locks on the door, so no need for keys.

In their room, Wendy laughs about the rules, and reads some of them to Joe: “No inappropriate clothing…No outside food. No loud music.” The other guest, a lepidopterist who is there to hunt a rare butterfly, soon tells them that Hildie isn’t kidding about the rules. “And watch out for the son – he spies for her.” In addition to all of that, there are the blueberry muffins (with a secret ingredient, as Hildie teases).

Again, all of this is a great set-up. But it’s what the film does with it that is unusual and fun. I love the way the film plays with our expectations. It works so well in large part because of Marceline Hugot’s excellent performance as Hildie. Her sweetness and kindliness have a certain creepy aspect specifically because she’s not indicating any sort of creepiness. That’s also true of the atmosphere. It’s unsettling and creepy in its odd lack of creepiness. You know something is going to happen, but as the film goes on, you’re increasingly unsure of what it’s going to be.

The movie has its own pace, and takes its time. Even certain shots are allowed to go on longer than you’d expect. I love the shot of Hildie loading her gun, for example, as we see her put in each bullet.

The movie takes some unexpected turns. Fairly early on, Wendy announces she’s had enough, takes a tray of muffins and leaves in Joe’s car. It’s a funny moment, but it turns out she has no intention of returning. It’s an odd thing to do, especially as they’d already agreed to leave that morning, so it was only a matter of waiting a few more minutes. What this action does is make us strongly dislike her. And then when the car breaks down, she walks back to the house without her bag. She then becomes angry with Joe for not retrieving her bag. And you want him to yell at her: “Tough shit, you bitch, go get it yourself.”

And then a policeman arrives with a bit of news.

One thing I totally dig about this film is that when it’s dark, it’s really dark. It’s not that fake dark where you can tell just where the DP set the lights. And when there is just candlelight, it actually feels like there is just candlelight, rather than one of those magical candles that light up a whole room.

The Happy House is an enjoyable film. Though if you’re a person who likes a lot of gore in his or her horror, you’re likely to be disappointed. However, if you’ve seen a lot of horror films, you will almost certainly appreciate what this film is doing,

Special Features

The DVD includes Not Interested, a short film written and directed by D.W. Young, and starring Khan Baykal (who plays Joe in The Happy House). It’s a very cool short film, and also stars Leslie Hendrix.

There are also five minutes of outtakes, as well as “Hildie’s Secret Blueberry Muffin Recipe.”

The Happy House was written and directed by D.W. Young, and was released on DVD on January 7, 2014 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: The Grand Role

Recently I reviewed a film titled Romeo And Juliet In Yiddish, in which a woman attempts to create a modern Yiddish adaptation of the famous tragedy. Several years earlier, The Grand Role told the story of an American film director creating a Yiddish version of The Merchant Of Venice. Actually, the real focus of The Grand Role is the relationship of Maurice (Stéphane Freiss) and his wife, Perla, while he auditions for the role of Shylock in the Yiddish film version of the play. The Grand Role is funny, warm, sweet, endearing, and intelligent. The characters and the relationships all ring true.

The film opens at a restaurant, where one man cautions Maurice about the potatoes, saying there’s bacon in them. Maurice continues to eat them, leading the man to remark, “It’s the first time I’ve seen someone of the Jewish persuasion eating pork.” Maurice responds, “I eat everything.” The man compliments Maurice, telling him he’s a fine actor, but then also wonders why he doesn’t get more work. Maurice’s wife, Perla (the beautiful Bérénice Bejo, who more recently starred in The Artist), sticks up for Maurice. That leads to a mild argument between the couple later when they get outside. In the car, he takes a photo of her, saying: “I love your face when you’re angry. A rabbit in a pit bull skin.” And she, perhaps in spite of herself, gives him a little smile. This is an excellent sequence, as it establishes their characters, their relationship, Maurice’s work situation, and the fact that Maurice isn’t involved in his Jewish religion, and it does all of this without resorting to obvious exposition.

In another early scene, we see Maurice taking photos of his wife while she sets up her shop window. She doesn’t know he’s taking photos, but it doesn’t seem at all creepy. It somehow comes off as loving, almost like a game. Later we learn his wife also has a secret.

When Maurice and his friends (actors all) learn that a famous American director is coming to town and will be attending temple, they all decide it would be a good idea to embrace their faith as well, or at least to appear to. Maurice takes some time finding his yarmulke, then asks Perla, “Do I look like a regular temple-goer?” His friends poke fun at him for arriving to temple in a car until the director, Mr. Grichenberg (Peter Coyote), arrives by car too. They learn that Grichenberg is in Paris to shoot a Yiddish film version of The Merchant Of Venice, and Maurice soon gets a call from his agent, telling him he secured him an audition for the role of Shylock.

All of his friends have the same agent (a nice touch), and all but one of them are offered the chance to audition for Shylock. The agent meets all of them, and tells them to dress as Jews for their auditions. “Shylock’s a Jew, so dress Jewish.” The irony of these men all being actual Jews doesn’t enter into the agent’s thinking. It's all about business, and the agent is actually an interesting character.

When Maurice gets a callback, he and his wife postpone their trip to Israel to visit her sister. His friends are all incredibly supportive. But just when everything is going well, Maurice receives two blows, back to back. And the film takes a more serious turn.

The Grand Role stars Stéphane Freiss, Bérénice Bejo, Peter Coyote and Lionel Abelanski. It was directed by Steve Suissa. It is available on DVD through First Run Features. The DVD includes a photo gallery and an introduction by the director, in which he says they prepared the film as they would a play, with rehearsals.

Film Review: Maidentrip

Maidentrip is a completely engaging and warm documentary about Laura Dekker’s attempt to be the youngest person to sail around the world alone. She was fourteen when she set out on her journey in August of 2010, and all of the footage of her at sea was shot by Laura herself.

The film opens with footage that Laura shot of the supplies on her boat, focusing on water and food. We see the interior of her boat, and then she turns the camera on herself. In voice over, she tells us a bit about herself, including the fact that she was born on a boat and lived her first five years at sea. She does an excellent job of including herself in the footage she shot throughout the trip. And considering it’s a teenager holding the camera – a teenager whose passion is sailing, not filmmaking – the footage is shockingly good. It’s not too jumpy, a feat in itself, for it was shot on a boat.

The film focuses on her journey, but she had to go through another ordeal before even being able to set off on her trip. She says in voice over, “When I wanted to arrange my school the attendance officer sent Child Protection after me…They brought a court case against me and my parents.” The film includes some news footage regarding the case. It took nearly a year of battling in court before she won and started on her journey.

A title card then tells us: “Neither a follow boat nor a support team accompanied her.” And in case you think she’s way too mature for her age, she very soon shows us the kitchen in the boat, and it’s a mess, with pasta all over the floor, which works to endear her to us more.

And don’t worry – the film isn’t just footage of the oceans. She explains in voice over that she wasn’t attempting any sort of speed record. She wanted to see the world, to learn about other cultures. So we are treated to footage of the Canary Islands, St. Maarten, the Galapagos and other places. Her mother and sister visit her at one stop, and her father visits her at another point to help her repair the boat (and celebrate her sixteenth birthday).

The journey is also broken up by footage of her childhood, giving us more of a background and an understanding of why she wanted to do this. When her parents split up, she chose to live with her dad because he liked to sail while her mother didn’t.

But it is often the footage shot on the ocean which is the most compelling. When crossing the Atlantic, she talks to the camera about mixed feelings. At one point she is accompanied by some dolphins, and while filming them she expresses hope that they’ll stay with her for a while so she’ll have some company. And watching, you hope for the same thing. I couldn’t help but think that not only would it be exhilarating to make this trip, but it would also be terrifying because if you got sick of it in the middle, there would be no way to quit.

And yes, there are storms. The first rainstorm actually excites her. She says, “It’s really cool to see how the boat fights its way through the waves.” There is a truly adorable moment when she reaches the equator and offers a pancake to Neptune. On her first toss, the pancake lands on the deck of her boat.

Maidentrip was directed by Jillian Schlesinger, who also co-produced it with Emily McAllister. It was edited by Penelope Falk. The film features some excellent music written by Ben Sollee.

Maidentrip opens in New York on January 17, 2014.