Having taken it easy the previous day in only seeing three movies, I was ambitious to think I could see five if not six films this day. Then reality set in and I decided to stick with four. The time in between films, especially the nice three hour break between my last two features, allowed me to finishing recapping my fourth day at SXSW.
My fifth day began with Morgan Seville’s crusade to shine a light on all the great background singers and give them some long-overdue recognition. Twenty Feet From Stardom includes such singers as Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer and the singing Waters family. Even if you don’t know their names, you know their voices.
Quickly snatched up by RADiUS-TWC when it debuted this year at Sundance, Twenty Feet From Stardom has some commercial appeal, especially by those who have a great fondness for classic rock and soulful ballads.
While the documentary stresses that not everyone is cut out for stardom, sometimes it is rewarding enough to see an absorbing documentary that mostly summarizes the role African-American (primarily) background singers played in helping to shape the sound of pop music.
As the documentary points out, the genesis of the background singer originated from the gospel tradition. Vocal powerhouses were using their gifts to help the likes of Ray Charles and Elvis Presley. Darlene Love was part of a group called The Blossoms, a group that redefined backup singers. No longer was the support staff Caucasian females swaying back and forth like a porch swing.
Background singing is a rarefied art that mostly goes unacknowledged, but these are voices that provide the hooks that the music-buying public remember most. Merry Clayton lent her voice to the Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” screaming lines “Rape! Murder!” The Waters family has been featured on “Thriller” and “Circle of Life” and even recorded animal sounds for James Cameron’s Avatar.
In terms of interview subjects, Neville’s doc has no shortage. Sting, Bruce Springsteen and Stevie Wonder offer candid remarks and meaningful observations about the struggles of being behind a star music act. It helps that in the half dozen singers Neville spotlights that he gives a wide breadth to several generations of singers, the youngest of whom is Judith Hill, who was working with Michael Jackson before his passing.
As uplifting as Twenty Feet From Stardom is, Neville also explores the heartbreak of singers who haven’t been able to break out of the background and have their own successful careers. Darlene Love, who had the holiday classic “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”, has an interesting arc in that she started out with The Blossoms and had her solo career undermined by Phil Spector before ending up in a place in her career that allows her the ability to work upfront or in the background. And to keep visible she even played Danny Glover’s wife in the Lethal Weapon series. Now, Lt. Murtaugh may be too old for this shit, but Love shows at the young age of 74 that she can still sing a mighty fine tune.
Twenty Feet From Stardom is a musical documentary that I hope makes people pay closer attention to the songs they listen to, particularly the catchy pop songs of the 1960s and 1970s that are considered “oldies.” Whether or not Morgan Neville’s film will give these singers new career opportunities is unknown. However it should move them a few feet closer to that stardom that has eluded them all these decades. (B+)
Switching from documentary to narrative my next feature of the day was Walter Strafford’s directorial debut, Kilimanjaro. First off, the film is not an adventurous trek up the famed African mountain. Instead, we are offered a story about a New Yorker in a soul-crushing rut. His life isn’t miserable, but it is kind of bland. Doug (Brian Geraghty) is nearing that point in his life where he starts to wonder if this is the best it’s ever going to be. If pop songs were to take the place of spiritual guidance Doug’s would probably be the Talking Heads’ “Once in a Lifetime.” Even though on paper his life looks good with having a job and a beautiful girlfriend, Clare (Alexia Rasmussen), he’s not in a good place.
The problem, though, is that it is difficult to feel sorry for a guy who is sleepwalking through life. When Clare dumps him because of her frustration with his daily malaise, Doug doesn’t offer much reaction. But the loss of Clare creates a spark to help get him off autopilot and take control of his life. It isn’t until Doug sees a TV program about Mount Kilimanjaro that he the bold idea to want to make the climb. He convinces his douchebag friend, Mitch (Chris Marquette), to join him. A few scenes later he strikes up a conversation with beautiful Yvonne (Abigail Spencer) as the two finish running laps around the track. Doug’s life is on the upswing until he is presented with one obstacle after another that affects his trip.
I get the idea that the title is more a metaphor in relation to Doug’s life, but it’s difficult to empathize with a guy who seemingly has a good life. That alone made it easy to become disinterested with the film, regardless with how well the story is told. Brian Geragthy, probably the only member of The Hurt Locker‘s cast to not experience breakout success (unlike Jeremy Renner or Anthony Mackie), is good in his milquetoast role. Chris Marquette provides a lively spark as the pain-in-the-ass friend, much like he did as a high schooler in The Girl Next Door. It was also fun seeing Jim Gaffigan in a non-comedic role and Bruce Altman, an actor I’ll always associate with Rookie of the Year playing the asshole boyfriend to Up in the Air‘s Amy Morton.
Kilimanjaro is a film that seems to go to autopilot as the main character’s life takes control. We’ve seen these situations and characters before, and most are likely to lose interest with his journey. Too clichéd and the likelihood of being indifferent to the story derails any possibility of truly exploring the obstacles that seem to roadblock important moments and opportunities in our lives. (C-)
Getting back to documentaries for my third movie of the day, we have the sports documentary Medora. It may just be the best documentary I see the entire fest, and I’ve seen quite a few.
For all the talk we hear of shovel-ready jobs for the currently unemployed, what is forgotten is the death of towns in America. When the recession hit the biggest city to suffer was Detroit, Mich. But if a city like that can be drastically affected what then of smaller townships and municipalities.
When we hear of factory and coal-mining towns we think of the heartland with fondness, the true fabric of America, but the reality is that they are dead and they aren’t returning. Now they are the same ghost towns that proliferated the Old West.
Medora presents a human story of the reality of impoverished conditions, with people drowning in despair only to rise up to a mounting challenge. Andrew Cohn and Davy Rothbart’s documentary celebrates perseverance without becoming a full out sports drama bogged down with motivational clichés (i.e., “the coach speech”).
The sport of basketball may have originated with Dr. James Naismith at Springfield College, in Springfield, Mass., but it might as well have been in Indiana. The state was instrumental in popularizing the sport (most notably in high schools), and today high school basketball is much an institution to Indiana as high school football is to the state of Texas. It is especially true of small towns in which businesses will close down to watch the glistening lights on a Friday night (if football) or the shadows reflect off a hardwood court (if basketball). The communities become so invested, rallying the team to victory.
Except for Medora.
Unlike the cities that surround it, Medora has forgotten what it’s like to win. In the ‘50s and ‘60s, the Medora Hornets were one of the best high school basketball teams in the state. Now the city is just struggling to survive. Hard hit by the economic recession, the two factories that supported the town for decades have closed, and many of the residents are out of work. When one of the residents is asked what word best describes the city of Medora, without hesitation the shopkeeper responds, “Closed.”
The remaining grace may be town’s public high school. Because it hasn’t folded or consolidated with neighboring towns, Medora High School remains one of the smallest high schools in the state of Indiana with a class of 72 students. 33 are male.
Remember that moment in Pleasantville where we the varsity team has had a string of undefeated seasons, seemingly unable to miss a basket? Yeah, the Medora Hornets can’t win a game or score with consistency. It’s not their fault. The neighboring towns with their consolidated high schools have a much bigger talent pool. When we meet the Hornets they are coming off a season of going 0-22, having lost 44 straight. The losing streak has become synonymous with the town and the difficult lives of the players on the team, some of whom come from poverty or broken homes.
Rather than have the head coach be the center of attention, working to lead his team to victory, Cohn and Rothbart let the players tell the story. The result is a heart-wrenching look at poverty in America’s heartland. Seeing these kids living through a troubled economy in a town where the money is all but gone shows how, as executive producer Stanley Tucci puts it, “America has cannibalized itself.”
To most, the next step after high school is four more years of schooling at a college or university. The boys of Medora High School seemingly only have three options at their disposal: technical school, the army, or the seminary. Attending a major university is hopeless.
What’s upsetting is that the players are not at fault. They, like the other kids of Medora, were born into their circumstances, and there’s no multi-million dollar bailout coming their way. Cohn and Rothbart could have easily made this into a political argument citing Medora as an example, but it is far more interesting in seeing how these kids develop in their remaining year of high school. They don’t care about politics; they just want to win one damn basketball game.A win may not change anything on the outside, but internally those kids will have achieved something.
Medora is an extraordinary documentary that is more about being just about sports. The game of basketball and struggle to win is a great big metaphor for wanting everyone, not just these few kids, to achieve the American Dream. I can’t say enough good things about this documentary, so I’ll just conclude with a bad, hyperbolic pun right now: Cohn and Rothbart deliver a slam doc! (A)
The last film of the evening was a Midnighter selection. It was also the first film of the festival to be picked up for distribution. The lucky label to acquire Cheap Thrills was none other than Drafthouse Films. So it is fitting that my viewing experience of E. L. Katz’s directorial debut was in one of the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema locations in Austin.
If Medora showed the bleakness of America’s youth, Cheap Thrills shows the desperation blue-collar parents may take to make a better life. With a ridiculous premise that recalls Michael Haneke’s Funny Games the film segues into comedic thriller territory with one crazy extreme after another. Cheap Thrills adheres to model of filmmaking of being cheap, fast and out of control. Shot in just two weeks, the production attracted such talent as Pat Healy, most recently the man on the phone in Compliance, comedian David Koechner, Sara Paxton and a bulked-up, tattooed Ethan Embry (this is the same guy from Dutch and Empire Records?).
Poor Craig (Pat Healy) is a newly unemployed father with mounting debt. Looking to clear his mind with a drink he meets Vince (Ethan Embry), a friend from high school he hasn’t seen in more than five years. It is at the bar they come across the rich Colin (David Koechner), who offers money in exchange for committing to stupid bets. It is at this point where some semblance of a social satire starts to take shape, in seeing the depravity of the human condition and what we are willing to do for a quick buck.
Colin’s game – ostensibly created at the expense of his girlfriend, Violet (Sara Paxton), for her birthday present (so if you are stuck on what to give your girlfriend for her birthday…) – isn’t one your likely to find in an economics class. This is the ugly side of capitalism, baby. With this firmly established, Katz presents us a series of “Jackass”-style bets with Colin as the moneyman and Craig and Vince as the two dolts competing. It starts easily enough with a $50 bet for the first one who drinks a shot. Stakes continue to rise. Hitting a bouncer in the face is worth $500; Craig does so and gets knocked out as a result, later waking up in Colin’s L.A. mansion where the wicked (albeit funny) games continue with Colin’s demands ranging from the obscene to the sexual to the you-want-me-to-do-what-now?
Cheap Thrills may have some B-movie schlock going for it, and some thin storytelling for that matter, but it doesn’t cheapen the film in the slightest. By the time we get to the mansion setting, Katz has the viewers attuned to keep watching as the demands get weirder and weirder. While we don’t learn much about Colin’s character, or why he would waste 250 grand in a single night on stupid bets, the real thrill is seeing the driven nature of two former friends when money is offered.
For those out there who thought Healy got off easy at the end of Compliance, you’ll be glad that he gets put through the ringer in some of the bets that he performs. Healy is an interesting character who imbues his character with some fragility, instead of just being some sore sap needing cash. And as a surprise, David Koechner, usually cast in horrible comedies, is more at ease as the rich taskmaster.
Such a great surprise at the fest, Cheap Thrills is the midnight movie that puts a whole new spin on blood money. Just watch and see. (A-)
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