this week in film and television

MAN OF STEEL

Henry Cavill takes on role of iconic superhero in disastrous MAN OF STEEL

MAN OF STEEL (Zack Snyder, 2013)
Opens Friday, June 14
www.manofsteel.warnerbros.com

The team that reimagined the Batman franchise, Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer, unfortunately are not nearly as successful with their new take on another legendary DC Comics superhero, Superman. In 2005, Nolan and Goyer collaborated on Batman Begins, kicking off the outstanding Dark Knight Trilogy, bringing the Bat Man into the twenty-first century. For Man of Steel, Nolan and Goyer developed the story, with Nolan (Inception, Memento) serving as one of the producers and Goyer (Blade, The Unborn) writing the lame screenplay. A melding of the first two Christopher Reeve movies, Man of Steel starts with the birth of Kal-El, who is jettisoned to Earth by his parents, Jor-El (Russell Crowe) and Lara Lor-Van (Ayelet Zurer), as their planet, Krypton, is about to implode. General Zod (Michael Shannon) vows to find the boy, who crash-lands in Kansas and is raised by farmers Jonathan and Martha Kent (Kevin Costner and Diane Lane). “You’re the answer to ‘Are we alone in the universe?,” his father tells young Clark, teaching him how to hide his special powers, an underlying theme that gets shattered almost immediately when Clark (Cooper Timberline) rescues a sinking school bus in full view of his classmates. Throughout the film, director Zack Snyder (300, Watchmen) plays with the mythology of the Superman story, which is fine if they make sense, but instead they are jaw-droppingly inconsistent and incomprehensible, with inexplicable time shifts and plot holes the size of, well, black holes. Interesting elements show up and then never come back, or are repeated ad nauseam, or are suddenly twisted around without explanation. Is Superman’s identity a secret or not? Is he a space alien or the second coming of Jesus? How can a building collapse and then just be back up again? And why is Jor-El’s holographic consciousness capable of certain things and not others? Despite an all-star cast of film and television pros — which also includes Amy Adams as Lois Lane, Laurence Fishburne as Perry White, Christopher Meloni as Colonel Hardy, Richard Schiff as Dr. Emil Hamilton, and the voice of Carla Gugino as a cool service robot — Man of Steel is a complete dud, even in IMAX 3D, which adds little to the proceedings. Henry Cavill is fine as Superman, following in the footsteps of onetime fellow newcomers Reeve and Brandon Routh; the film is best when he is wandering around the world in dead-end jobs, trying to figure out who he is, but that ends up being just another brief episode that eventually gets lost in a seemingly endless series of Rock’em Sock’em Robots battles that grow tiresome quickly. This reboot deserves to get the boot.

FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY

Illustrator Tomi Ungerer talks about his fascinating life in compelling documentary (photo by Sam Norval / Corner of the Cave Media)

FAR OUT ISN’T FAR ENOUGH: THE TOMI UNGERER STORY (Brad Bernstein, 2012)
Lincoln Plaza Cinema
1886 Broadway at 63rd St.
Opens Friday, June 14
212-757-2280
www.faroutthemovie.com
www.lincolnplazacinema.com

“I am a self-taught raving maniac, but not as crazy as Tomi, or as great as Tomi,” Maurice Sendak says early on in Brad Bernstein’s engaging documentary, Far Out Isn’t Far Enough: The Tomi Ungerer Story, adding, “He was disarming and funny and not respectable at all.” Another children’s book legend, Jules Feiffer, feels similarly, explaining, “Tomi was this wonderfully brilliant, innovative madman.” Born in Alsace in 1931, Tomi Ungerer developed a remarkably diverse career as an illustrator, incorporating the emotional turmoil he suffered after losing his father when he was still a young child and then living under Nazi rule. In Far Out Isn’t Far Enough, Ungerer takes Bernstein and the audience on a fascinating journey through his personal and professional life, traveling to Strasbourg, Nova Scotia, New York City, and Ireland, which all served as home to him at one time or another as he wrote and illustrated such picture books as The Three Robbers and Crictor for editor Ursula Nordstrom, made bold political posters in support of the civil rights movement and against the Vietnam War, and published a book of erotic drawings, Fornicon, that ultimately led to a twenty-three-year exile from America during which he stopped making books for children. “I am full of contradictions, and why shouldn’t I be?” the now-eighty-one-year-old Ungerer says in the film. Ungerer discusses how he uses fear, tragedy, and trauma as underlying themes in his stories, trusting that kids can handle that amid the surreal nature of his entertaining tales. He opens up his archives, sharing family photographs and old film footage, which reveal that he’s been pushing the envelope for a very long time, unafraid of the consequences. He also visits the Eric Carle Museum to check out a retrospective of his work for children, appropriately titled “Tomi Ungerer: Chronicler of the Absurd.” Meanwhile, Rick Cikowski animates many of Ungerer’s drawings, bringing to life his characters, both for children and adults, adding another dimension to this wonderful documentary. Far Out Isn’t Far Enough is a lively, engaging film about a seminal literary figure with an infectious love of life and art, and a unique take on the ills of society, that is a joy to behold. The film opens June 14 at Lincoln Plaza, with writer, editor, and curator Steven Heller, who appears in the documentary, leading intros and Q&As with Bernstein and Cikowski at several screenings on Friday and Saturday night.

CALL ME KUCHU

David Kato fights for justice for members of the LGBT community in powerful CALL ME KUCHU

CALL ME KUCHU (Katherine Fairfax Wright & Malike Zouhali-Worrall, 2012)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
June 14-20
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.callmekuchu.com

Later this month, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other cities will celebrate gay pride as millions of marchers and spectators come together in parades, marches, and other events in which no one has to hide their sexuality. Such is not the case in Uganda, where many believe that being gay should lead to being executed — and that not turning in a gay friend or relative should result in life in prison. In the heartbreaking yet stirring Call Me Kuchu, codirectors Katherine Fairfax Wright, who also served as editor and photographer, and Malike Zouhali-Worrall, who also produced the award-winning documentary, go deep inside the LGBT community in Kampala, meeting with such gay and lesbian LGBT activists as Naome Ruzindana, Stosh Mugisha, John “Longjones” Abdallah Wambere, and movement leader David Kato, the first openly gay man in Uganda, who risk their lives on a daily basis as they fight for freedom and battle against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, a draconian measure being strongly pushed by Member of Parliament David Bahati that threatens the lives of anyone and everyone involved in homosexual acts. As white American evangelicals come to Uganda to support the so-called Kill the Gays legislation, expelled Anglican Church bishop Senyonjo becomes a staunch defender of the LGBT community, the only religious leader to do so. Meanwhile, Giles Muhame, managing editor of Uganda’s popular Rolling Stone newspaper, proudly explains his mission of outing gays on the front cover of his publication, hoping that they get arrested, tried, convicted, and hanged by the government. But the activists won’t let that stop them. “If we keep on hiding,” Kato says, “they will say we are not here.” When tragedy strikes, everything is put into frightening perspective. Call Me Kuchu is a powerful examination of personal freedom and individual sexuality, a film that delves into the scary nature of repression, homophobia, and mob violence in an unforgiving, bigoted society. Call Me Kuchu, which was the closing-night selection of last year’s Human Rights Watch Film Festival, opens June 14 at the Quad, with many of the screenings followed by Q&As with Fairfax Wright and Zouhali-Worrall along with such special guests as Sanctuary NYC reverend Karen Osit, activist Frank Mugisha, Judson Memorial Church’s Micah Bucey, Believe Out Loud’s Joseph Ward, and others.

SEE IT BIG! RAN WITH TATSUYA NAKADAI IN PERSON

The Fool (Peter) sticks by Hidetaro (Tatsuya Nakadai) as the aging lord descends into madness in Kurosawa masterpiece RAN

RAN (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, June 15, free with museum admission, 2:00
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us

Inspired by the story of feudal lord Mori Motonari and Shakespeare’s King Lear, Akira Kurosawa’s Ran is an epic masterpiece about the decline and fall of the Ichimonji clan. Aging Lord Hidetora (Tatsuya Nakadai) is ready to hand over his land and leadership to his three sons, Taro (Akira Terao), Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), and Saburo (Daisuke Ryû). But jealousy, misunderstandings, and outright deceit and treachery result in Saburo’s banishment and a violent power struggle between the weak eldest, Taro, and the warrior Jiro. Hidetaro soon finds himself rejected by his children and wandering the vast, empty landscape with his wise, sarcastic fool, Kyoami (Peter), as the once-proud king descends into madness. Dressed in white robes and with wild white hair, Nakadai (The Human Condition), in his early fifties at the time, portrays Hidetaro, one of the great characters of cinema history, with an unforgettable, Noh-like precision. Kurosawa, cinematographers Asakazu Nakai, Takao Saitô, and Masaharu Ueda, and Oscar-winning costume designer Emi Wada bathe the film in lush greens, brash blues, and bold reds and yellows that marvelously offset the white Hidetaro. Kurosawa shoots the first dazzling battle scene in an elongated period of near silence, with only Tôru Takemitsu’s classically based score playing on the soundtrack, turning the film into a thrilling, blood-drenched opera. Ran is a spectacular achievement, the last great major work by one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential filmmakers. A restored 35mm print of Ran will be screening at 2:00 on June 15 at the Museum of the Moving Image as part of the continuing “See It Big!” series and will be introduced by former Orion Classics president Michael Barker, with the great Nakadai present as well.

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH FILM FESTIVAL: IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN

Josephat Torner is traveling across Tanzania to stop the dismemberment and killing of albinos for profit

IN THE SHADOW OF THE SUN (Harry Freeland, 2012)
Saturday, June 15, 9:15, IFC Center, 323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Sunday, June 16, 6:00, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, Francesca Beale Theater, 144 West 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
Festival runs June 13-23
212-875-5601
www.intheshadowofthesun.org
www.ff.hrw.org

One of the themes of the twenty-fourth edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is Traditional Values and Human Rights, and it is exemplified by the frightening yet inspiring documentary In the Shadow of the Sun. In January 2007, Josephat Torner, one of an estimated 170,000 albinos living in Tanzania, told his wife and kids that he was setting off for two months to travel the country to educate local communities about albinism in the wake of a series of dismemberments and killings brought on by witch doctors claiming that the body parts of albinos will bring people wealth and success. “This is what our lives have become,” Torner tells director, producer, editor, and cameraman Harry Freeland at the beginning of the film. “One of the many things we have had to learn is to live in danger.” Two months turned into years as Torner battled Tanzanians’ fears that albinos were white ghosts or demons, forcing them to live in camps or hiding them from public view. Freeland also focuses on Vedastus Chinese Zangule, a teenager who wants to go to school to become an electrician, but his efforts to get an education are continually thwarted by red tape and discrimination. Torner becomes a mentor to the open and honest Vedastus, trying to help him achieve his goals against the odds. The documentary, which features beautiful vistas in Tanzania, particularly on Ukerewe Island, where a community of albinos live as if in exile from the mainland, is narrated by Torner and Vedastus, both of whom are determined not to give up. Torner continually risks his life, going into the neighborhoods where maimings and killings have taken place, trying to prove to the men, women, and children who live there that albinos are just people, not monsters to be exploited as good-luck charms. Meanwhile, more albinos are murdered as Torner continues his journey.

Documentary examines the public misperception of albinism in Tanzania

In the Shadow of the Sun is a powerful, shattering examination of discrimination and racism in the twenty-first century as well as a testament to the strength and determination of the individual spirit; Freeland (Waiting for Change) lets these two extraordinary figures, Torner and Vedastus, tell their intermingling stories with both grace and a kind of poetry while sharing the many faces of albinism, showing both the inherent cruelty and beauty of humanity as well as the importance of education. In the Shadow of the Sun is screening June 15 at the IFC Center and June 16 at the Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center, followed by Q&As with Freeland. The Human Rights Watch Film Festival runs June 13-23, comprising nineteen narrative and nonfiction works that examine such themes as Women’s Rights, LGBT Rights, Journalism, Human Rights in the United States, and Crises and Migration, including the New York and/or U.S. premiere of such films as Raoul Peck’s Fatal Assistance, Shaun Kadlec and Deb Tullmann’s Born This Way, Joshua Oppenheimer’s The Act of Killing, and Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer.

CABARET CINEMA — THE FLIP SIDE: TOUCH OF EVIL

Orson Welles plays it big in noir masterpiece TOUCH OF EVIL, screening at the Rubin on June 14

TOUCH OF EVIL (Orson Welles, 1958)
Rubin Museum of Art
150 West 17th St. at Seventh Ave.
Friday, June 14, free with $7 bar minimum, 9:30
212-620-5000
www.rmanyc.org

A deeply affecting noir masterpiece, Touch of Evil is one of Orson Welles’s finest, and strangest, outings, as he nearly bursts through the frame as spectacularly dastardly police captain Hank Quinlan in this dark potboiler. A deliciously devious corrupt lawman, Quinlan is an enormous drunk who has no trouble breaking the rules to get his man. Charlton Heston took a lot of criticism for playing Mike Vargas, a Mexican drug enforcement agent newly married to beautiful blonde Susan (Janet Leigh), who soon finds herself menaced by a dangerous gang as a weak-kneed, pre-McCloud Dennis Weaver looks the other way. The film famously opens with a remarkable crane shot that goes on for more than three minutes, setting the stage like no other establishing shot in the history of cinema. And the final scene with Marlene Dietrich as sultry hooker Tana is a lulu as well, highlighted by one of the great all-time movie lines. What goes on in between is a lurid tale of murder and revenge filled with unexpected twists and turns, featuring appearances by such Welles regulars as Joseph Cotten, Akim Tamiroff, Joseph Calleia, and Ray Collins. There was a lot of hype surrounding the film when it was restored in 1998 to match Welles’s original desires, but the final product lives up to its billing. Touch of Evil is screening June 14 as part of the Rubin Museum’s Cabaret Cinema series “The Flip Side,” held in conjunction with the same-named exhibition, which focuses on art and text on the back of Tibetan objects, and will be introduced by Welles’s oldest daughter, Chris Welles Feder. The series continues June 21 with Charles Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdoux, introduced by silent-film historian and curator Ken Gordon, and concludes June 28 with Johnathan Lynn’s Clue, introduced by Au Revoir Simone member Annie Hart.

TWI-NY TALK: SCOTT HAMILTON KENNEDY

FAME HIGH (Scott Hamilton Kennedy, 2012)
Quad Cinema
34 West 13th St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
June 7-13
212-255-2243
www.quadcinema.com
www.famehighmovie.com

“Fame High is where ambition and reality suffer a high-speed collision with no one walking away unscathed,” documentarian Scott Hamilton Kennedy writes in his director’s statement about his latest film. In Fame High, the Berkeley-raised Kennedy explores the hopes and dreams of students at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), known as the Fame High School of the West Coast, focusing on actress Ruby McCollister, jazz pianist Zak Astor, dancer Grace Song, and singer-songwriter Brittany Hayes. Kennedy, whose previous work includes OT: Our Town and the Oscar-nominated The Garden, serves as director, editor, and writer in addition to being one of the producers and cameramen for the film, in which he talks with the students as well as their parents and teachers, delving into such themes as talent, desire, fear, motivation, education, and responsibility. Fame High, which continues this week at the Quad, where Kennedy participated in a series of Q&As over the weekend, is no mere big-screen reality show; instead, it is the real deal, capturing the essence of what it takes to become an artist. Back in April 2009, Kennedy was featured in one of the very first twi-ny talks, in which he said about The Garden, “I learned a lot about never giving up when you believe in your heart what you are struggling for,” a statement that can also be applied to Fame High, which he discusses further below.

Jazz pianist Zak Astor and his father talk about their goals in FAME HIGH

twi-ny: What initially drew you to the project? Were you a fan of the original Fame movie and TV show?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: As you can probably see in the title, I am definitely paying a bit of homage to Alan Parker’s wonderful Fame from 1980. But I had not seen that type of film done in a vérité format. I also had a great love for musicals (West Side Story, Guys and Dolls, and A Chorus Line, to name a few) from a very young age. I then had the pleasure of beginning my career as a filmmaker with music videos (including Jimmy Cliff’s great cover of “I Can See Clearly Now” for the John Candy film Cool Runnings). And I came to documentaries quite a bit later in my career. So with Fame High I wanted to try and mix these two seemingly disparate styles: the raw, soulful realism of vérité with the more magical world of musical and music videos. So, forgiving the long answer, that was the seed.

twi-ny: In the film, the protagonists have to audition over and over, in class, in a theater, at clubs, etc. How did you choose which kids to focus on? Did you have auditions?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: In vérité documentary, there are a lot of things you can’t control, things that you take a leap of faith and hope blossom in an interesting way. One of the most important things you can control is casting, who you are going to follow, who is going to help bring this idea to fruition. So, yes, we interviewed lots of students on camera before deciding on the ones you see in the film.

twi-ny: When you were a kid, did you already know you wanted to be a filmmaker? If not, what were your dreams back then?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: Unlike the incredibly talented and driven kids in Fame High, I came to my art of filmmaking much later in life. I loved, and you could even say I was addicted to, the complex emotional high that a good film could make me feel, but aside from a couple of hack video projects in college, my first directing experience was with my PA (production assistant) buddies all getting together to make an AIDS Public Service Announcement a year after graduating college. So I guess the “dream” of making movies was there from an early age, but the “doing” part came later.

Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy poses with subject Grace Song and her mother at Silverdocs, where FAME HIGH was among the Best of the Fest winners

twi-ny: Several of the parents are featured in the film. You and your wife have two girls. Are either of them interested in the arts? What would you tell them if they wanted to become dancers, musicians, actresses, or filmmakers?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: At seven and three and a half, our daughters (Tessa and Eden, respectfully) are still quite young, but they sure love things like our kitchen “dance parties” while making dinner, or creating puppet shows. And they both have a flare for the dramatic, I guess you could say, so we will see. I think my wife, Catherine, and I would try to support them in anything they showed a passion for. That said, I would try and be as clear-eyed as possible with them about the complexities and Sisyphean qualities of this wonderful and trying business. And from a simple accessibility front, they are already learning to operate a camera, and even some of the basic aspects of storytelling and editing.

twi-ny: Since you’re a parent, did you ever want to jump out from behind the camera and counsel any of the kids, parents, or teachers, particularly if you thought they were being treated unfairly or were treating others unfairly?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: I have been asked this a lot, and it is a difficult question. The simple answer is no, I did not interfere, but it is a bit more complex than that. As a documentary filmmaker, I don’t see it as my job to get involved, and, more importantly, not judge in any way their journey. So while it is complicated sometimes, I do really try to stick to that. Not that I don’t have honest conversations about all aspects of the journey with both parents and children; I try very hard not to judge them or in any way make them think that I might have any better ideas than them on how to navigate this crazy journey called life.

twi-ny: Cuts in education often seem to start with the arts, and there are only so many schools like LACHSA. What do you see as the future of arts education?

Scott Hamilton Kennedy: The importance and benefits of arts education are undeniable, even if the individual has no inkling of wanting to pursue that art professionally. Playing an instrument, learning to act, perfecting dance skills are not just after-school activities; they are lifelong skills that teach students to think creatively, experience focused attention, and embrace risk — all necessary skills for the twenty-first century. Seeing the arts being the first thing cut is frustrating and confusing. While there are many aspects of American society and its education system that I greatly respect, I do think that — mostly because of our obsession with money — our value systems could be truly overhauled. Not to discount in any way the security that comes with knowing that your essential needs are covered financially, but it seems we are made to believe that money could solve all our problems, and that is just not the case. Money will never satisfy your soul, where art, without seeing it as any crazy “cure-all,” has far more potential to help us navigate and enjoy this “sad and beautiful world.”

And, if I may, I would love to point out an exciting and dauntingly ambitious aspect to our website, famehighmovie.com, and that is our Community page. There, anyone can fill out a form and share with us any art organization, school, class, performance in their community. We are especially asking people to share with us classes and performances that are available for free or greatly reduced prices to help democratize access to the arts. With a solid search tool as well, we hope this will become a sort of Wiki meets Yelp clearinghouse for an immense variety of art.