So, I was a little late getting on the Sean Baker train but we all know the pleasure of finding a filmmaker you really like and then going back through their catalog to get properly caught up. It can be a lot of fun and sometimes as in the case here an absolute joy. The four I have seen so far (rated individually at bottom) cause me to come to one undeniable conclusion - this guy has the sh*t. His movies are about real people that I might actually know dealing with situations that I can identify with and not this crap on the news. His actors are chosen so perfectly his stories come to life in a way that only the greats can do. He likes protagonists that make a lot of bad choices to rectify a certain situation in their life until all those bad choices come barreling down on the character in one fell swoop.
In Starlet, "Jane," an aspiring actress (the stunning Dree Hemingway,) her choices aren't so much bad as just strange. She really means well and has a good heart even though she works in the adult film business, which, if you didn't know already, is integrated in a lot of his films along with wonderfully refreshing LGBT themes. She buys an old thermos at a yard sale to use as a vase and finds ten thousand dollars in the bottom. While most characters would be caught up in the should-I-keep-it or not realm. This one decides to befriend the old lady who sold it to her (Besedka Johnson) who turns out to be very lonely and bitter but eventually receiving of her new young friend's outreach. One of the brilliant achievements of Starlet is it keeps us guessing until the end whether Jane's intentions are genuine or just a product of her guilt over finding (and yes, keeping) the old lady's money.
There are some great other characters here like Jane's two roommates, a drug-addicted stripper who is also a friend to Jane and her pimp, played excellently by James Ransone, who Baker would use again in his next film, Tangerine. And as if all this isn't enough, Baker shoots beautifully in San Fernando Valley (yay!) Not since Magnolia have I seen the valley framed and photographed so nicely.
Starlet is currently streaming free on Tubi. Roku (premium,) Amazon Prime, and VOD outlets. This rating is going to surprise some but a masterpiece deserves 5 stars/5.
Cornel Wilde was a respected Hungarian producer and director responsible for 1965's classic The Naked Prey and many other worthy achievements. By 1975 though he was a little further down the road and once again writing, producing and directing, he put out this sorry sack of an exploitation film. It's just bad vibes from the get-go, horribly directed, most of the scenes don't even seem blocked. There's Yaphet Kotto, who is just out of place here, the one film I don't like him in. The guy that plays Lobo, the heavy, his big fat stomach is hanging out for most the picture. And in the middle of it all is Cornel Wilde trying to act all macho, also half naked, lord help us.
By the time the underwater sequences with the sharks arrive, as genuine as they are, you probably won't give a crap. You'll just be glad the camera's not on the people up top anymore. As the story goes, Wilde had the idea for Shark's Treasure and wanted to make it in 1969 but nobody would back him. Thanks to the Jaws explosion he got United Artists on board in '75. Too bad, it should have stayed in the can.
Kind of hard to find through the years but now is streaming on Tubi. Check out the car wreck if you must. 1.0 stars/2.75
Anne Heche's tragic passing last year still has me reeling and it wasn't until recently that I was even able to watch one of her films. Two of my favorites are the Hollywood formulaic but enjoyable Six Days & Seven Nights and the fairly obscure indie Beyond Suspicion. Heche is paired here with Thomas Jane (for the second time, also see the series Hung) as a couple camping in a majorly cool RV at a lakeside in Alabama when their daughter goes missing. At that point the mystery is on and there's no shortage of creepy characters in their midst to wonder who the killer is.
For my tastes the film has just the right amount of twists and turns. And the ending, while very left field, will grab you no doubt. Actor Peter Facinelli directs for the first and only time here and does an admirable job especially in building suspense but otherwise lacks notable style. Heche, as was usually the case, is excellent given this material, she had such a great on-screen presence and will be sorely missed, already is.
The RV they camp out in is state-of-the-art and given the screen time a presence of it's own. It is a pleasure to watch. the thing has pop out rooms, movie theater, full kitchen, bathtub, the works. If you haven't seen it, The Vanished is worth at least one good watch and holds it's own in the insatiable outdoor woodsy thriller genre. Currently streams on Tubi. 2.75 stars/5
In my recent post of 2013's Whitewash, I mentioned it was Thomas Haden Church's last significant performance in a feature which I would now like to retract. In my research I somehow overlooked this skid-row saga, an indie from Knate Lee. Church plays a gentle but broken homeless man who is coerced by a punk preppie into fighting other down-and-outs for money on video. During this same time period, he finds salvation in a girl's diary lost in a trash can. Because of this, Cardboard Boxer becomes much more of a character study piece than a crime saga and Church fills these shoes quite admirably. It may not have the pedigree of 1966's The Swimmer but I was reminded of that film several times in Church's performance.
The always enjoyable Terrance Howard plays a Yellow Cab driver who watches over the bums and brings them blankets and whatnot, he's a father and an angel figure to them. In typical Terrance Howard fashion though, he's packing and not to be messed with, cab driver or not. When he finds out what's going on, let's just say he's not too pleased.
I definitely think this one deserves more exposure and attention than it seems to have received. Good news, it's on just about every free platform out there, take your pick. 2.75 stars/2.75
