DVD Review: Indian Point

There is a lot to be worried about these days, when it appears that fascism is spreading, including here in the United States, and gun violence is becoming an everyday occurrence. But the older concerns have not gone away, concerns like those over the dangers of nuclear energy. Indian Point is a documentary film about the nuclear energy plant in Buchanan, New York, and the efforts to shut it down.

The film begins with news footage of the explosion at the Fukushima reactor in Japan, a disaster which raised new concerns about the safety of nuclear power plants in the United States, including Indian Point, which is just thirty-five miles north of New York City. This documentary takes us inside the plant, with Senior Control Room Supervisor Brian Vangor acting as our guide. The place is fascinating, of course, and there is a lot of excellent footage, as well as some information on how it works and what the safety measures are. Vangor tells us, “Water is a great shield, so everything happens under at least twenty-three feet of water,” adding that cuts down on ninety-nine percent of the radiation coming out of the fuel assembly. The people at the plant talk about they applied knowledge gained from accidents at other plants to make sure nothing similar happened there. The documentary shows us footage of safety drills set in place after Fukushima.

We hear from environmental activists too. After one woman points out a few of the dangers of nuclear power, she asks, “Why am I perceived as the hysterical one?” Good question. The problems include the fact that, as one activist tells us, “Six percent of the U.S. population lives within fifty miles of Indian Point, and the emergency plan is based on a ten-mile evacuation zone.” He adds, “We’re screwed, basically.” The population in the area has grown significantly since the plant opened, and the evacuation plan would leave most people in the area stuck. There is some interesting and frightening information about the renewal process for nuclear power plants, and about spent fuel pools. There is also some compelling and depressing material on the effect the plants has had on the ecosystem of the Hudson River.

By the way, since this documentary was released, the fight to get Indian Point shut down grew stronger, and last year the New York governor announced that the plant would close in 2021.

Special Features

The DVD includes several deleted and extended scenes, including more footage from within the plant and more on the safety concerns and the efforts to shut the plant down. There is also more footage of Brian Vangor’s personal life and interests, and an interview with the mayor of Buchanan. One of the most interesting scenes is about the emergency plans for the plant. It’s also interesting to see the director of communications at Entergy (the company that owns Indian Point) going to a classroom to address the concerns of students. This bonus footage contains a lot of information, more than you might expect from deleted scenes.

Indian Point was directed by Ivy Meeropol, and was released on DVD on October 25, 2016 through First Run Features.

DVD Review: Heavy Trip

Heavy Trip is a comedy about a heavy metal band that believes it has a chance to jump-start its career by playing a metal festival. It is largely told from the perspective of Turo, the band’s lead singer, who provides a bit of narration at the beginning of the film, introducing the other band members and giving little tidbits about each (for example, guitarist Lotvonen works in his father’s reindeer slaughterhouse). After he introduces Jynkky, the drummer, as the “toughest guy in our band,” we see Jynkky collapse, leading the others to wonder if he has died again (which of course calls to mind the fate of drummers in This Is Spinal Tap).

Turo, Lotvonen, Pasi and Junkky have been friends since early childhood, and their dream has always been to have a band and to play for a big audience. Though they practice all the time, they have never played an actual gig, the agreement being that they wouldn’t gig until they had original material. “We’re not playing covers,” bassist Pasi says. But, hell, check out that fantastic metal version of Bob Seger’s “Old Time Rock And Roll.” And yeah, there is a nod to Tom Cruise’s dance scene from Risky Business, but Turo (unlike Cruise) has an audience of sorts, a seriously funny moment. Anyway, the band learns that writing an original song isn’t as easy as it sounds. Every riff Lotvonen comes up with is one that Pasi recognizes from an existing song. But then a mishap at the slaughter house where Lotvonen works creates the perfect metal sound. The shot of the four band members enjoying the sound while the legs of a reindeer bounce about in the machine is bloody hilarious.

When a metal festival promoter happens by to get some reindeer blood, the band manages to convince him to accept a demo tape of their song. And they hang all their hopes on this festival in Norway. The town gets behind them too, with people who once teased them now seeing in them something to be proud of. The question is, Do they really have the gig?

Heavy Trip is a lot of fun, with some hilarious moments, like when the band purchases a tour van. The description of the van’s history is perfect. But the film also has heart, and is about the dynamics of a small town as much as it is about these musicians attempting to make it. There is also, of course, a love interest for Turo, a beautiful florist named Miia who is being pursued by the small town’s other lead singer, Jouni. And there are references and nods to some other famous films about bands. The cops trying to catch the band as they make their way to the festival will remind you of The Blues Brothers. And to make sure you make that connection, one character says, “We’re on a mission from Satan,” a line that made me laugh out loud.

Special Features

The DVD contains several special features, including a reel of short deleted scenes and outtakes (one of which has another reference to The Blues Brothers). There is also Heavy Trip Goes To Texas, in which two of the characters from the film – Turo and Jouni – are in Texas in order to make Turo a star, getting interviewed by a Christian magazine, trying to buy another large animal so they can write another song, making a music video, and so on. This feature is approximately fourteen minutes. Also included is a short piece with musicians’ reactions to Impaled Rektum. An audio track of the song “Flooding Secretions” is included, and there is also a song from Jouni Tulkku’s band, with the lyrics on the screen so you can sing along. The film’s trailer is also included.

Heavy Trip was directed by Jukka Vidgren and Juuso Laatio, and is presented in its original Finnish with optional English subtitles. The DVD was released on November 20, 2018 through Doppelganger Releasing, part of Music Box Films.

DVD Review: My Letter To The World

My Letter To The World is a documentary about one of the most intriguing and beloved American poets, Emily Dickinson. It is narrated by Cynthia Nixon, who portrayed Emily Dickinson in the 2016 film A Quiet Passion. The documentary has other ties to that film as well, being produced by the same team, and featuring an interview with Terence Davies, who directed A Quiet Place. It also features a bit of footage from that film, and some behind-the-scenes footage. Fortunately, there is a lot of information in this film, with many interviews with scholars, keeping it from feeling like a promotional piece for A Quiet Passion.

Among those interviewed is Jane Wald, who is the executive director of the Emily Dickinson Museum, which is in the home where Dickinson was born in Amherst, Massachusetts. Mike Kelly, the head of the archives at Amherst College, is also interviewed, and shows us some of the items from the collection, including “the one and only authenticated portrait of Emily Dickinson,” as he tells us. Kelly also displays a copy of the issue of the college literary magazine that featured Emily Dickinson’s first published work. Christopher Benfey, a professor of English, offers some interesting information regarding the earliest publication of her poetry, mentioning that the first editor made lots of changes to the poems, “changing words and regularizing the punctuation and the capitalization.” Her photo was also doctored: “They added little curls.” It is interesting that they attempted to make both the poems and the poet herself more acceptable to an audience.

And of course the film treats us to some of her poetry as well as her letters, and these really give us a sense of who she was, how she thought. Leslie A. Morris, the curator of modern books at Harvard University, tells us: “She speaks to people in a very personal way. She speaks to a deep emotion.” Several of those interviewed also talk about the musicality of her poetry, how it can be sung. There is also some fascinating material on alternate versions of her poems, plus the various items she would write on – envelopes, chocolate wrappers and so on. I appreciate that a good deal of her actual written manuscripts are shown on screen. The film also includes lots of shots of nature, for, as one person mentions, her god was a god of nature.

It is not just Dickinson’s work that so fascinates scholars and readers, but her life. She is famous for being reclusive, and not leaving her home. But that was only later in her life. The documentary mentions her dog and the effect the animal had on her life. For while the dog lived, Emily was active, walking it about the town. After the dog died, she became drawn to seclusion. There is also some mention, some speculation on Emily Dickinson’s sexuality, particularly because of that mysterious Daguerreotype which may or may not depict Emily and another woman, but also because of her love for Susan Gilbert. That material is, as you might guess, some of the most interesting of the film. But it is her writing that is at the center of this enjoyable and moving documentary.

Special Features

The DVD includes readings of several of Emily Dickinson’s poems, including “Because I Could Not Stop For Death,” “I Heard A Fly Buzz,” “To Fight Aloud Is Very Brave,” “We Never Know We Go When We Are Going,” “I Reason, Earth Is Short,” “This Is My Letter To The World,” “Because I Could Not Stop For Death” and “The Dying Need But Little, Dear.” The readings are done by Cynthia Nixon and Terence Davies. The film’s trailer is also included in the special features.

My Letter To The World was directed by Solon Papadopoulus, and was released on DVD on June 12, 2018 through Music Box Films.