Movie Review: The Bengali Detective

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The Hawaii International Film Festival wraps up this weekend and I took in another film. This one from India. I thought it was going to be a Bollywood movie with the sudden departures from story blooming into colorful sequences of song and dance. Wellllll....not quite. The description and the trailer for the film really didn't describe the story the way that it revealed itself on the screen. The Bengali Detective was not a piece of fiction, but a documentary shot in reality TV style. So the movie doesn't stand up as a piece of Bollywood, but it stands firm as a unique documentary.

Rajesh lives in Kolkota (formerly Calcutta, the place where Mother Teresa served the poorest of the poor) with his wife and son. The population doesn't trust the authorities as the murder rate has increased and 70% of those murders go unsolved. The populous turn to private detectives like himself to help with investigations. This might include murders, counterfeit products or unfaithful spouses. Rajesh's agency Always has himself and a half dozen other men who track down their marks. We follow them as they attempt to solve a brutal slaying of three young men, an abused wife wondering if her husband is having an affair and busting businesses that are involved with the sale of counterfeit products like hair oil.

From the American perspective looking in, we'll probably take a slightly different view to their reactions and how the detectives go about their job, especially when looking at the issue of the counterfeit hair oil. Large corporations in America are concerned about copyright infringement, particularly media companies with concerns about people posting digital files online for easy copying. Rajesh has the company who makes the hair oil pressuring him to find anyone and everyone involved with the sale and production of the fake oil and shut them down. It's understandable that they want to protect their product.

On the home front Rajesh is concerned about his wife of seven years, Minnie. She has diabetes and has lost both the pigmentation in her skin and her eye sight. He juggles both the responsibility of the office and the care of his now blind wife and their young son. He's concerned about the entire family in all aspects. To help him relieve stress, he loves to since and dance. He loves it so much that he applies to a TV show where he and his detectives will perform. The other agents agree, even if it was with a bit of reluctance. These segments of the movie do break the tension of the day to day investigation duties, but at the same time seem so out of place that it almost comes through as completely made up and fictional especially when the men are provided costumes for the contest. The laughter they provided did bring some moments of levity amidst some intense moments. This was also about the closest you get to a stereotypical Bollywood movie but without the true triple threat of singing, dancing and acting of say an Anil Kapoor or Shar Rukh Kahn.

Director Philip Cox took the approach of a reality show like COPS or Dog the Bounty Hunter while following Rajesh and his detectives both on and off duty. They might be re-enacting a position of a body on a railroad track, looking into boxes of merchant inventory, blurring out the face of alleged adulterers or running to catch a suspect. There was quite a bit of adjusting focus to bring the picture into a sharp image or blurry abstraction and back again or changing the depth of field so that the focus went back and forth between background and foreground objects. We would look at what they're doing with jaded eyes after watching all these procedural shows and their recreations on TV. The most high tech they have to use is their color ink jet printers and cell phones never mind having access to DNA processing or cell phone records.

The uncredited actor is the city of Kolkota. The city acts as a backdrop with conditions that most Americans won't experience in their everyday lives. The crush of people; the constant honking of horns; the rush, rush rush of the traffic; colorful clothing and people bathing or performing rituals in the Hooghly river provide the framework in which Rajesh's daily interactions occur. One particular scene of note is when Rajesh takes his wife onto a small boat into the river and he describes the scene for her telling her of birds flying and following each other, nearby boats or flowers floating in the current.

The movie as a documentary does not have a rating. I didn't see any bad words in the sub titles as most of the dialogue was in Hindi with some English. If any bad words were spoken, I wouldn't have recognized them anyway, my Hindi is rusty. That is to say it's nonexistent. There are scenes of extreme poverty and a religious ritual which if rated may give it something other than a G rating. It ran for 110 minutes in one of the larger theater venues of the festival at Regal Cinemas and was about 60% full of attendees. It did have an audience ballot for which I gave it mid marks based on the fact that I was expecting a different type of film. If the HIFF web site movie's description page said documentary I would have given it a 4 out of 5 rating.

The Movie Monkey

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Movie Review: Being Elmo

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Decided to do something different this week. Instead of the usual Hollywood releases including remakes of The Thing and Footloose, the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) is going on. With the huge slate of films to choose from I chose a film from the first night of the 2011 event. The movie was a biopic of Kevin Clash. Who is Kevin Clash you ask? Well, the title Being Elmo: a Puppeteer's Journey tells you what you need to know about Kevin. Personally, I wouldn’t have known much about this film and Kevin if it wasn’t for Steve Swanson over at The Muppetcast, a podcast dedicated to the works of Jim Henson and the Muppets. Steve has interviewed Kevin on the show which added to my background knowledge and interest of the subject.

It was the second movie on the HIFF schedule and played to a pretty packed house. The movie isn’t about Elmo, it’s about the man who really brought Elmo to the forefront of the American pop culture scene. Even at the age of eight, Kevin knew what he wanted to be and he followed through on that ambition to become a puppeteer. It’s a trait that only a small percentage of people hold and carry with them to have that fortitude to follow his dream and even a smaller percentage who want to move into the creative arts. While I won’t say that Kevin’s had a charmed life, he’s been surrounded by people who have been willing to help and mentor him. He received a hand up and not a hand out.

For the 76 minutes running time, it just flew by. I will admit that for the majority of the movie I had a lump in my throat. It was totally enthralling to hear about the progression of the skill and desire that Kevin has put towards the craft of both puppet making and puppeteering. This young boy setting out into the world of making the inanimate come to life by taking his father’s coat and turning that into his first creation and then honing the craft with performances in the backyard and at neighborhood events. His parents, especially his father, could have gotten upset over the jacket but instead helped foster Kevin’s desire and ambitions the best they could.

There was a quality about his passion that sadly doesn’t seem to be overflowing in the general public today. I think why I had the lump was that I wish I had that sort of passion in me for everything I do. It’s the kind of passion which just exudes out of every pore and creates an aura that people just know that you know that you know this is where you where meant to be. That’s why when Kevin is puppeting Elmo and the child or person see Kevin right there with his hand inside the puppet their eyes are glued not to the man but to the inanimate shaggy red pieces of material on the end of his hand. The passion had breathed life into what had no presence before captivating individuals.

One aspect of the movie that director Constance Marks brought forward was the mentoring that Kevin received. When Kevin saw Kermit Love on TV, Mrs Clash reached out on Kevin’s behalf and made contact. Kermit Love was a major force in the design of the Muppets. Kermit shared his own love, passion and knowledge when the two met and today Kevin in turn extends his hand to help others who want to get into puppetry. They didn’t seem to put up their shields and flip on protection mode that if I share this method or secret with you the result will harm me in the either now or in the future. It came across as pure joy for Kevin who would either share with someone looking to develop a career as a puppeteer or someone who was already on the staff of Sesame Street.

Success depends on hard work, but sometimes it's a matter of luck, being in the right place at the right time. Kevin's greatest creation Elmo, was partially hard work and effort but the door that opened for him to perform Elmo was where luck was a factor. Richard Hunt was originally Elmo but didn't "feel" Elmo so he gave Kevin the chance. Marks shows footage of Hunt as Elmo who sounded like a New York taxi driver with cuts between Kevin and Marty Robinson who was present in the break room when the hand off occurred to tell the birth story of the Elmo that we know today.

The documentary used lots of archival footage from Kevin’s past to mark milestones along the way. From the days of working with Bob Keeshan, Captain Kangaroo in New York to the trips that he makes around the world with Elmo in tow, footage has captured Kevin at work or behind the scenes. Still pictures from friends and family were altered slightly so that instead of the pan and scan to draw your attention to a detail, sections were lifted to give a bit of depth and animated motion to pull your eye where Marks wanted you to go.

There is no rating on this film, but it was definitely G material. It's been making it's way around the film festival circuit and I couldn't find any information for a general release date for theaters, DVD or Bluray. At the film's web site there is a page showing currently planned locations and dates and a button to "Demand it!". If you are excited about the Muppets, the creative arts or puppetry, this is a film for you. To help round out the picture there are interviews and footage with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Fran Brill and Whoopi Goldberg. As I was leaving the theater I took my audience response form to rate the film and ripped it on number five on the 1-5 scale.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Waiting for Superman

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This was the weekend of the political documentary. Today was I Want Your Money talking out the taxing and spending cycles that have gone on in the USA for nearly a century. Yesterday's movie was Waiting for Superman and of the two this one got me more riled up. Although they are both good, I would not wait and recommend seeing Waiting for Superman as soon as it becomes available in your area. It released on October 8, 2010 and released in Honolulu on the 22nd, two weeks later!

Coming from the director of 2006's An Inconvenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim takes a look at the public school system in the US. Back in 2001 he looked at five teachers as they started their teaching career in The First Year. He saw first hand the effort these teachers put into their classrooms. Even with this extra insight to schools, he admits right at the front of the movie that he has made the decision to send his kids to private school. That's a good disclaimer to know right away and kind of lets you know where he's going to head with the narrative of the movie.

The title of the movie came from an interview with Geoffrey Canada, an educator and administrator from Harlem. With archive footage of the old Superman TV show with George Reeves he says that the day he learned there was no superman he cried. He cried because he realized there wasn't someone there as a backup to help people. In his own way, he has become a superman in the Harlem area with the school Harlem Children's Zone. Canada, the man not the country, has shown that low income students can perform when the environment is right.

Guggenheim follows five children in different parts of the country: Los Angeles, Washington DC, Bronx, Harlem and Silicon Valley. There is a traditional family, two single moms, a household where mom works instead of dad and where grandma has stepped up to take care of her grandson after his dad passed away. We see the hopes from both care givers and students and where they are at and where they want to go in regards to schools. Not all schools and instructors are created equal and the families know this. Guggenheim shows why.

Through the use of interviews, media clips and cute graphics, the problems are laid out and explained with details and numbers. What was telling were clips of each of the past Presidents saying that they wanted to be the Education President. Even though more money, even when taking inflation into account, has been poured into education, we as a country aren't showing improvements and in some ways are going backwards. National, state and sometimes local mandates create a system of land mines that teachers, parents and administrators must walk through.

I watched this film transfixed by the information presented and when the 102 minutes was over, I have never walked out of a theater so angry, mad, frustrated, helpless and sad at what I had seen. This would include watching The Cove! Part of the story hit home after what happened in Hawaii with what was called Furlough Fridays. Due to budget restrictions, instead of the union allowing cutting pay for all the teachers evenly across the board, the decision was made between the executive branch, the Department of Education and the Board of Education to take every other Friday off. Many parents were upset about this and rightfully so. Unfortunately, I think their anger was directed in the wrong direction.

Michelle Rhee was highlighted in the movie where as Chancellor of the Washington DC school District she tried to make an improvement. With pay as an incentive, she tried to get rid of tenure and pay those that performed a six digit salary. Because the union wanted to participate in a form of communism (my words) where they didn't want to have levels of teachers, but each was paid the same, the union wouldn't even bring the proposal to the teachers for a vote. It was demonstrated how district after district in the US can't get rid of bad and under performing teachers and instead shuffles them around. The politicians and administrators know what the problem is but because of contracts they can't fix it. It was announced earlier this month (October 2010) that Rhee would be resigning from her position at end of the month.

Through all of this, the kids should be foremost. I have to give it to the parents that showed they were concerned and wanted the best for their children and were involved in their child's educational process. But to get into the schools that proved they could educate the children coming through the door when the number of requests exceed the number of seats, it's left up to chance. A randomly computer generated number, a pulled piece of paper or even a bingo ball decided the fate of these kids. One comment was made in the film that it wasn't about the kids, it was about the adults.

It was heart wrenching to watch the lottery process. One of the kids, Daisy from LA, really knows that she wants to be a nurse, doctor or veterinarian. To see the look on her face as the numbers were being pulled showed that she knew fully well that her future would be determined by that lottery process. Just like pulling scratch tickets from the local 7-11 (except Hawaii and Utah as they don't have state lotteries) there are winners and losers but instead of a few dollars, we're talking about affecting someone's life for either the positive or the negative.

As I review what I wrote I can see that I've gotten a bit out of experience/review mode and into preachy mode. That's the impact this film had on me. I believe if you watch it you'll have a similar reaction. It was rated PG for some thematic material, mild language and incidental smoking. The closing credits were creative and informative. While no easter egg at the end, I'd suggest watching the credits the whole way through.

The Movie Monkey

To subscribe to the audio podcast of the reviews via iTunes click here. Audio versions are released the following Wednesday.

Movie Review: Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work

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One of the "beauties" of art cinema is that sometimes you don't know if and when there will be a particular movie showing in your neighborhood since they generally aren't expected to be the big block busters. Every once in a while something will make that transition. This weeks movie, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work released on June 11 and just this weekend it showed up here in Honolulu. I found it an interesting movie although I don't think it will cross over into the block buster category.

The title "a piece of work" could be taken on a couple of different levels. Probably the most obvious would be the plastic surgery aspect of Joan's life. It's well known and documented that she's gone under the knife or botox needle a few times to keep her appearance up. The start of the documentary is close ups of Joan's face minus any of the makeup that transforms her lips, eyes lids and cheekbones into what we see on TV or stage. The second meaning would be the brashness of Joan and her life and comedy. Let me say here that I've been a fan of Joan's since I was in college in the 1980's. While I don't always appreciate the language, I can appreciate the humor. She stepped into areas that took guts in both thought and action. Of course with the language and sexual humor the movie is rated R.

The movie covers roughly a year of her life starting a little before her 75th birthday. We're brought into see everything. The work ethic is laid out on the table. She knows that she has bills to pay and sets out to derive the income to pay those bills. Pulling out calendars showing "these were good years" as page after page has each day filled and filled with multiple appointments. Then she jokes about needing to wear sun glasses to look at the current calendar because of all the glaring white spaces on each page.

The camera follows her as she gears up to have a play about her life called A Work in Progress launch in Edinburgh with eyes on London and even New York. The effort and rehearsals necessary to bring the production to life are given some time on screen. Joan also talks about her fears. Is she an actress or comedienne? She reveals her inner thoughts and what about reviews she could care less about and which reviews cut her to the quick leaving her hurt and what she'll do to avoid the pain.

We experience a Joan Rivers Thanksgiving with all the trimmings. Having a seventeen foot table brought into her house to have friends and family over for a Thanksgiving feast is for the evening. With her charity "God's Love We Deliver" she spends the morning delivering meals with her grandson Conner to people who are shut in due to HIV/AIDS, MS, cancer or other serious illnesses. One of the recipients is Flo Fox, a famous photographer who has been living with MS for twenty plus years. Joan realizes she is blessed.

Joan just seems to keep on going. Showing up for photo shots, traveling to do shows, heading to a hole in the wall in NYC to try out new material, being roasted or show up for a tribute to a fellow comedian each of these a pencil marking in that appointment book to dull out the glaring white. Several times she says she'll do anything. Maybe she should do a commercial with the energizer bunny as she seems to have boundless energy.

Right now Joan is back on top with her win on Celebrity Apprentice. Part of the narrative is about the ups and downs of show business. Starting with Johnny Carson declaring her to be a star, the loss of his friendship when she took on the late night show with FOX, the suicide of her beloved husband Edgar in 1987, the red carpets, the books, the jewelry, both her and her daughter Melissa talk about "the career" like it's another person in the room. In one tender moment she describes the recent loss of a friend and what that huge loss means to her.

She talks love, she talks loss, she talks career, she talks family. The movie is a quite frank observation of a woman who knows that she's not perfect. She says, "I've been told I look good, but never I look beautiful". After watching the 84 minutes, you determine, good or beautiful for yourself.

The Movie Monkey

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