leeper@mtgzx.att.com (Mark R. Leeper) (03/21/90)
NEW DIRECTIONS
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1990 Mark R. Leeper
I generally try to make it to the Bleeker Street Cinema in Greenwich
Village each year for the INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF ANIMATION. Usually what
you get from it is a pretty mixed bag of animated films ranging from
unoriginal and little better than competent up to startlingly good. It is
just a set of short films from different sources stitched together to make a
feature film. You really have to go to a big city art house to see this
sort of thing. (This is the sort of film where the segments were each made
independently with no idea that they would be going together with others to
make a larger film. I distinguish between that and commissioned multi-
segment films such as ARIA and NEW YORK STORIES.) It certainly is not going
to make it very close to central New Jersey where it would be most
convenient for me.
Perhaps inspired by the success of the INTERNATIONAL TOURNEE OF
ANIMATION, First Run Features, a New York City firm, has put together eight
short films and called the compilation NEW DIRECTIONS. The title is doubly
misleading. Some of these are relatively new, but it seems to me I even saw
some copyrights from the 1970s. And because the films were not innovative,
and usually not even particularly interesting, they hardly seem to go off in
any new directions. These are not really new directions that any filmmaker
will likely follow in. No films were excellent (E), only one film did I
consider to be very good (VG), four were good (G), two were fair (F), and
one was actually poor (P). This is not really a very good average and on
balance I cannot give this film a very high recommendation.
- "No More Disguises" (G)
The flagship entry is a six-minute music video of protest filmed
secretly in China. "No More Disguises" features Cui Jian, a Chinese
protest singer, who sings about the unhappiness of Chinese youth in
Chinese (with English subtitles) while we are shown scenes of Tianamen
Square, other parts of Beijing, and newsreel footage of the student
protest. On one viewing it is difficult to read the subtitles, watch
the images, and think about the meaning of the song. Scenes of Cui
playing a clarinet facing a stone wall did not do a lot for me. On
careful study this music video could be a meaningful experience but one
quick viewing is insufficient.
- "Joey Joey" (G)
The second and most entertaining of the films was a very
straightforward filming of the act of Joey Joey. Joey Joey is a street
juggler and comedian who performs in Greenwich Village's Washington
Square. He has a good sense of humor and can ride a unicycle and jump
rope--unicycle and all--with twenty-eight inches of steel sword down
his throat, all at the same time. What more do I need to say?
- "Gefilte Fish" (VG)
Gefilte fish is a Jewish dish of ground boiled fish. I have actually
stood in Tiananmen Square, seen Joey Joey perform in Washington Square,
and eaten gefilte fish. Of the three activities, eating gefilte fish
is the one that I have the most opportunity and the least ambition to
repeat. Gefilte fish has a distinctive bouquet that real experts refer
to as "nauseating." I think most people eat it as a reminder of the
adversity Jews have faced throughout history. This film by Karen
Silverstein is just Ms. Silverstein making gefilte fish and talking
about how and why someone makes the product and intercut are sequences
of her mother and daughter talking about this delicacy. We see how
the philosophy changes from generation to generation. The mother, now
sorry that she no longer has the strength to make it, used to hand-chop
the fish for hours. Silverstein uses a food processor; her daughter
knows how to make the fish but much prefers to buy it in a jar. It is
odd how many generational attitudes are reflected in these three
women's attitudes toward this one obscure food.
- "Tator Tomater" (F)
Back to the subject of food, or perhaps visiting it for the first time,
we have the story of a server in a North Carolina cafeteria whose whole
day consists of asking passing patrons, "Tators? Tomaters?" and
dishing out what they want. Eventually she rebels under the strain of
the monotony. Of fifteen minutes of film, three are actually
entertaining, but the build-up and the winding down are not very
interesting and the sound recording is muddled and indistinct.
- "Taylor Slough" (G)
This is a short film, only five minutes and in black and white, but it
is an eerie atmospheric portrait of the animal and plant life in a
swamp in the Florida Everglades. It is crisply photographed and the
musical score perfectly sets the mood.
- "Juggling Magic" (P)
Three long dull minutes of amateur jugglers juggling and passing props
from scene to scene. Presumably director Carol Ross had some sort of
connection to the producers of NEW DIRECTIONS.
- "Semper Fi" (F)
Anti-war filmmaker Geoffrey Luck made a film about his relationship
with a close friend who became a U.S. Marine. It is Luck's point of
view that was is bad and that he has a hard time relating to a friend
who could become a Marine.
- "Howard Fenster: Man of Visions" (G)
The longest (but not the most interesting) of the films is a
documentary about a backwoods preacher and religious folk artist.
Fenster takes every opportunity to preach to the camera and has
religious homilies written all over his art. He is a self-professed
"stranger from another world" and an "idea man." He says he comes up
with hundreds of ideas every hour. I found his art unappealing and the
"expert" who talked about how great his art was, was neither unbiased-
-she displays his art in her gallery--nor convincing. Fenster is a
minor demagogue and just not a very interesting demagogue either.
(Fenster's most well known work is probably an album cover he did for
the Talking Heads.)
Mark R. Leeper
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