There’s a great scene early on in Brishkay Ahmed’s feature documentary debut Story of Burqa: Case of a Confused Afghan where Ahmed speaks with a couple of guys on a Vancouver street. She asks them what they think of the Burqa and their responses are surprising, both saying that the practice of the burqa is unnecessary. Things get stranger when Brishkay travels to Afghan and the surrounding areas and is told, on more than one occasion by a number of highly respected men, that the burqa isn’t even a traditional Afghan garment. So how does such a constricting piece of clothing come to be so important to a culture to which it was imported? The answers aren’t easy or simple but Ahmed sets off to find out and what she discovers along the way is shocking.

Walking the markets of Kabul, watching men coming in and out of a small burqa shop, we learn the details of how the garments are made and we see men, many of them traveling from afar, buying burqa’s for their daughters and wives. Seeing educated men speak of the burqa and its purpose and importance to the culture, it quickly becomes apparent that the controversial garment is a long engrained symbol of control and not some cultural norm long practiced by the people. Ahmed travels the world digging up the history of the burqa, it’s origins and how it eventually came to Afghanistan and her discoveries are eye opening not to mention unnerving.

Though it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that a garment forced on women under the guise of religious necessity is so popular among men, there’s a sense from Ahmed’s interviews that many men aren’t even aware that the burqa isn’t a necessity but rather something that has been forced on the culture from external sources. It’s fascinating, and scary, to see how long this process has taken and how totally it has entered public consciousness.

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Monday, May 7

6:00pm – TCM – Cape Fear
The original version of this taut crime thriller, with Gregory Peck as a lawyer trying to defend his family from a man (Robert Mitchum) who he helped convict. Mitchum is pretty terrifying here, going from mischievous pranks to all-out attacking throughout the course of the film.
1962 USA. Director: J. Lee Thompson. Starring: Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen.

8:00pm – Sundance – Wendy and Lucy
This is a favorite among Row Three writers, following a young woman on the verge of financial collapse as she’s about to lose a major job opportunity as well as her beloved dog.
2008 USA. Director: Kelly Reichardt. Starring: Michelle Williams, Will Oldham, Michell Worthey, John Robinson.
(repeats at 2:00am on the 8th)

10:00pm – TCM – West Side Story
I unabashedly love musicals, Shakespeare, and stylized choreography. Hence, I love West Side Story. I wish Richard Beymer and Natalie Wood were a little more interesting as the leads, but the supporting cast is electrifying enough that it doesn’t much matter, especially with Bernstein and Sondheim music and Jerome Robbins choreography.
1961 USA. Director: Richard Wise & Jerome Robbins. Starring: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, George Chakiris, Rita Moreno.
Must See

12:15am (8th) – IFC – From Hell
Johnny Depp takes on the role of a troubled Victorian police detective on the trail of Jack the Ripper in this adaptation of Alan Moore’s graphic novel. Not quite as memorable as one would hope, but worth a watch.
2001 USA. Directors: Albert and Allen Hughes. Starring: Johnny Depp, Heather Graham, Ian Holm, Robbie Coltrane.

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I wasn’t very far into Sexy Baby when I thought it might be an excellent choice for my son to watch with me. He’s only a year younger than 12 year-old Winnifred (the first of the three main subjects we meet in the film) and she was being very sharp in her thoughts about how she has been exposed to sex via media, friends and our overall culture. She’s smart as a whip, but even though she has this perspective she still apes some of the styles and attitudes. And she totally needs some training on how NOT to use social media. It all seemed like perfect fodder for good conversation with The Boy as he winds down his last year of elementary school and preps for the trials and tribulations of middle school.

As the other two storylines wove into the mix, thoughts of those father/son discussions quickly dissipated (“Nope, he won’t be seeing this anytime soon…”). To be clear – that’s not a reflection of the film’s quality. The addition of 22 year-old Laura’s story regarding her upcoming cosmetic surgery on her vagina (ie. labiaplasty) and 30-ish Nichole’s discussion of her career in stripping and porn (and her subsequent business ventures in those realms) provide further viewpoints and expand on a variety of points about the pervasiveness of messages about sex in society. As you might expect, though, these stories raised topics and contained footage far beyond what a pre-teen should be processing – even Winnifred. What we hear from both of them is that the very adult industry of porn has – in particular with the growth of the internet – become a strong influence on a wide variety of people. As Nichole states “Porn is for adults. It’s not made for teenagers.”

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Wedding cake:

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An exceptionally tall girl in an orange dress with a piece of red-velvet cake on a plate and a lanky New Zealander with a video camera meet on the subway headed for Coney Island. They chat. They separate. They meet again. Could it be fate? Could it be the romance of both their lives? So begins the premise of Love Story, which is part Rom-Com, part art-experiment, part documentary. The woman is Masha, a Russian beauty who Kiwi filmmaker Florian Habicht hired to be his girlfriend for the making of the film. Their meeting is staged, as is Florian’s quest to find her afterwards. He solicits on-the-street advice from a charming rouges gallery of New Yorkers on how to proceed with his relationship-slash-film with the girl, including at one point climbing right into a taxicab occupied by a lady stock-broker to ask for seduction advice for a possible sex-scene (more on that in a moment.) In one of many fourth wall breaks, you not only get the seduction advice (“play the shy card”) but you also see the stock broker sign the documentary release form from a stack that Habicth carries around. If nothing else, it shows the power of a man and a movie camera and a built in conversation in a city of extroverts – and that even the most guerrilla of filmmaking projects still has a lot of paper work.

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THE AVENGERS! Iron Man! Thor! Captain America! The Incredible Hulk! Matt Brown! Matt Price! Not really. But we take the opportunity – having been talking about this film in some form or another in more podcast episodes than any other project in Mamo history – to have a big conversation about everything that Joss Whedon (and Marvel Studios) did right in finally assembling the Avengers… plus, we circle back on Cabin in the Woods, and tie off our previous non-spoiler conversation with some genuine observations about the strengths of the film. Spoiler warning throughout: we heartily recommend seeing BOTH The Avengers and Cabin in the Woods before listening to this show.

Mamo #253: Whedon Avenged [ 45:58 | 0.01 MB ] Play Now | Play in Popup

To download this episode, use this URL: http://rowthree.com/audio/mamo/mamo253.mp3

Director: Tak Sakaguchi & Yûdai Yamaguchi
Screenplay: Tak Sakaguchi & Yûdai Yamaguchi
Based on a manga by: Ken Ishikawa
Starring: Tak Sakaguchi, Shingo Tsurumi, Mei Kurokawa, Akaji Maro
Producers: Yoshinori Chiba, Toshiki Kimura & Shûichi Takashino
Country: Japan
Running Time: 106 min
Year: 2011
BBFC Certificate: 18

(2.5/5)

After spending the last couple of weeks watching and reviewing Mizoguchi films and Mark Cousins’ Story of Film I’m heading right over to the other side of the spectrum by covering the latest Japanese splatter-comedy offering, Yakuza Weapon. The star (Tak Sakaguchi) and writer (Yûdai Yamaguchi) of cult classic Versus join forces behind the camera after working together on Battlefield Baseball to co-direct this blood-soaked action comedy for specialist production company Sushi Typhoon (Cold Fish, Helldriver etc.).

Ex-Yakuza Shozo (Tak Sakaguchi himself) discovers that his gang-boss father has been murdered and heads back home to find the culprit. When he returns he discovers that his father’s right-hand man Kurawaki (Shingo Tsurumi) was to blame and has ruthlessly taken over the business. Shozo of course heads off to take revenge, but an epic battle results in both of them being mutilated. A secret Japanese governmental agency who have their eye on Kurawaki then step in, kitting out Shozo’s missing arm and leg with a high powered mini-gun and rocket launcher, turning him into the Yakuza Weapon. Kurawaki meanwhile, takes it upon himself to build an army of super soldiers to get his own revenge, including turning Shozo’s former friend Tetsu against him.

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BThere is a lot of passion, soul baring, and white-knuckle anxiety on display in Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky’s documentary on the world of independent games and their micro-sized design teams. Instead of hundreds of people working on all aspects of a top tier title, in the two case-studies delved into in Indie Game: The Movie the entire team is two people. A mere duo, responsible for doing every aspect of the game, including programming, art design, level construction and managing the business side. Eating well (or shaving) does not factor high on the priority scale. Financially these guys are operating with little safety network other than generously patient parents or girlfriends. Even if the game is actually finished in a relatively bug-free state to allow for release (challenge enough!) it still has to hit traction in the X-Box Arcade (or WiiWare or Steam), direct digital distribution platforms managed by the big boys (Microsoft, Nintendo and Valve) Failure means that two to four years (or more) just went by with no monetary compensation. As one of the designers of Super Meat Boy succinctly puts it, “No Pressure!” Combine the ever present financial pit of spikes with the designers’ passion for making their games fresh, personal and ultimately a form of artistic expression and communication with the eventual gamer and the stakes for soul-crushing failure or triumphant success become even higher. The filmmakers impart a heightened awareness of this by crafting one of the emotionally draining dramas of the year. An eight dollar video game may be trivial in the grand scheme of things, but dig deep enough and there is a well-spring of dramatic tension and suspense. When, Phil Fish, the designer of the novel multi-dimensional platform jumper, Fez, stares into the camera and declares that if he cannot finish or release this game he will kill himself, it is easy to suspend disbelief to the hyperbole, because the dude is indeed on the edge. These guys are committed to their craft as much as the filmmakers are to documenting it.

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I have long been a fan of how the Festival Internacional de Cinema Fantàstic de Catalunya (Sitges) handles its promotion. The ever present spire of the Church of Sant Bartolomeu features in the artwork over the years. This year, adopting the theme of post-apocalyptic cinema has them really step up their game, and because it is 2012, they layer over the aesthetic of high resolution smart-phone video cameras. A very swell poster indeed.

If you ask me, one of the most frustrating examples of festival favorites not getting US distribution is 2009′s Aussie horror The Loved Ones, which won the audience award at TIFF’s Midnight Madness and went on to a year of pleasing festival audiences around the world – I mean, two years – no, make that three years. And with never any whisper of getting an actual release in the US, despite being well-received everywhere it went. (See Andrew’s 4.5-star review, and its placement on two of our favorites lists in 2009.)

The story follows a young man who’s got some family issues going on, but wait until you see the family issues of the girl he rejected for prom. She kidnaps him with the help of her father and stages her own prom at her house. A very bloody prom. You could argue that the film’s genre tone makes it much more difficult to market to mainstream audiences than to festival or midnight crowds, and there’s probably some truth to that. But really. This film is so good, with such a tongue-in-cheek approach to its very gory and often disturbing subject, that it’s head and shoulders above most wide-release horror films. It goes for everything a lesser film might shy away from, but always in a very fun and satisfying sort of way.

In any case, if you live in certain areas of the US, you might actually get a chance to see the film. It’s still not getting the full-on distribution it deserves, but thanks to new service Tugg, various screenings around the country are being planned. Tugg basically crowdsources moviegoing, by letting individuals sponsor screenings they want to see happen at theatres near them, and if they get enough people committed to going, Tugg facilitates the screenings. I don’t know all how it works behind the scenes, but it looks like a pretty cool thing, if it takes off.

So check out The Loved Ones page on Tugg and if there are any screenings near you, commit yourself! And as many friends as you can find. Right now it looks like there’s a Los Angeles screening confirmed at the New Beverly Cinema on June 1st, and other cities including New York, Chicago, Austin, Houston, and Chicago are working on setting up screenings for the same time. Do it. The film is worth it.

Perhaps trying to stay in the conversation with all of the hooplah surrounding this weekend’s The Avengers and the rather stellar trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, a third (and my guess final) trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man is online tonight (see the first trailer here).

First of all, I like Andrew Garfield giving Peter Parker a New York accent. I think that’s a first on screen. Secondly, I like Spidey’s attitude, which, you know, was always there in the comics and has always been an important part of the character. It seems natural for a kid who has as much emotional baggage (not knowing his parents, which seems to be the focus of the film, as well as being somewhat responsible for the death of his Uncle, etc.) as a teenage Peter does to have a chip on his shoulder, yet it makes sense that he never seems comfortable enough in his own skin to let that sarcastic side of him show.

Will this movie be better than the Raimi version? I’m guessing there won’t be a consensus and it will come down to particular tastes. Either way, by the looks of it, Marc Webb has done a good job of giving us something different than his predecessor. Different enough to warrant a complete reboot? Well, that remains to be seen on July 3, 2012 when the movie hits theaters.