2010 Atlanta Film Festival: Day Six

The festival had a slow start, but the past few days have been really strong and for the most part today continued that trend...

The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek (Wendy Jo Cohen) ***

The Battle of Pussy Willow Creek is one of the lost stories of the civil war. Six hundred union soldiers defended against a Confederate army of over three thousand. They were successful at preventing a planned invasion of Washington D.C. Unfortunately, this story was hushed up by both sides because they didn’t want it getting out that the union army was led by a gay colonel, an elderly Chinese immigrant, a one-armed prostitute, and a nerdy escaped slave.  Wendy Jo Cohen’s movie finally sheds light on this incredibly important battle.

Of course, this is all made up. It’s actually a mockumentary and it’s certainly a fun one at that. The story is played out like a Ken Burns documentary and the funniest part of the movie is that the director really nails the Ken Burns style. She uses a self serious narrator to take us through the events, supported by interview segments with various talking heads (historians, scholars, relatives) and utilizes voiceovers to read the letters written by the participants. When sticking to this general concept, the movie contains some really funny deadpan humor.

Unfortunately, the director felt the need to amp up the humor and the film gets increasingly silly in the second half. Some of the actors playing the historians start to act out instead of playing it straight. One of the interview segments is on a street corner with some prostitutes. And yet another interview segment shows a naked man in the background. The event itself is already silly and treating it seriously was what made it funny.  Adding silliness on top of that makes the film lose its balance. It’s still funny enough for me to consider it a good film, but it could have been so much more if the director had more confidence to see her vision through to the end.

The Things We Carry (Ian McCrudden) **1/2

The Things We Carry is such a well-intentioned film and feels so personal for the filmmakers that it pains me to say it is just not very good. It follows the story of a young woman who is returning home after her mother’s death. This forces her to reconnect with her estranged sister, who stayed in their hometown to look after their mother. The two work out their differences as they try to track down an item left for them by their mother’s junkie friend.

When focusing on the relationship between the two sisters, the movie does have some merit. The film was developed by two sisters (Alyssa Lobit is the writer and star, Athena Lobit is the producer) and they seem to understand how to authentically portray a sibling relationship. The acting between the two leads (Catherine Kresge plays the other sister) is good enough. It’s when focusing on other aspects of the story that the film falls apart.

The drug subplot is a real problem here. One of the junkie friends (played by Johnny Whitworth) seems to have importance at the beginning of the film, but gets almost completely cut out of the third act for seemingly no reason. The constant flashbacks to memories of their mother are also not handled well, trying to find a balance between how sweet she could be and how her drug addiction caused pain, but mostly just straining credibility. The plot device of having them bond while trying to find this mysterious box is a bit too transparent and creates an unnecessary “big moment” at the end, which seems completely out of place for this film. Less plot devices and more scenes of the two sisters trying to reconnect in a natural setting would have gone a long way toward making this a good movie.

American Jihadist (Mark Claywell) ***

Interesting documentary about Isa Abdullah Ali, an African-American Muslim who is strongly committed to his cause and not afraid of letting anyone know it. This film brings to mind last year’s festival selection American Fugitive: The Truth About Hassan. The major difference here is Ali is walking free, despite a history of taking up arms in defense of his religion.  American Jihadist talks about his life and the decisions that led him to where he is today.

Ali isn’t your typical Muslim extremist. He feels as if he is fighting for the downtrodden and will go to many places around the world to carry on that fight. The most interesting is when he moves to Bosnia because the government has taken action against Muslims. Claywell is able to get footage of Ali and his family in Bosnia, where they appear to be very happy and fit in perfectly. He gets candid with Ali and his family, no one seemingly worried about how their frank comments could get them in trouble.  

The drawback to the film is that it skips over some important aspects of the story. There’s footage of an interview with the US Secretary of Defense, who says that Ali will be arrested if found. Yet the movie mentions that Ali turns himself in at one point and is immediately released. There’s very little explanation for either why Ali decided to turn himself in or why the US let him go. But this is still an interesting look at the life of a man who passionately believes in something and is surprisingly content with his life.  

Documentary Shorts 2

 

Born Sweet (Cynthia Wade) ***1/2

This 28 minute short (pictured above) tells us about a poor Cambodian village where in the past aid groups dug wells for the citizens, not knowing that they were tapping into arsenic deposits. The result is a town fraught with arsenic poisoning. The film focuses on a specific person, 15 year old Vinh Voeurn, who dreams of being a karaoke star. In the midst of an extremely sad situation, this wonderful film finds hope with a winning conclusion.

No Excuses (Whitney Trower, Michele Richardson) ***

Kyle Maynard is a congenital amputee who owns a gym called No Excuses Athletics. This documentary is only three minutes long and seems mostly designed to shock the audience by showing Maynard’s private workout routine, including an amazing shot of him doing pull ups. He’s an inspirational person, but we barely learn anything about him. He’s certainly interesting enough to deserve more time devoted to him than this.

Pax (Sarah Harvey) ***1/2

This is such a sweet story that it almost feels too good to be true. Sgt. Bill Campbell is an Iraq war veteran on disability due to traumatic brain injury. Through a program called Puppies Behind Bars, he is given a trained dog (named Pax) to help him recover from the trauma. The film documents Bill’s visit to the prison where he meets Laurie, the woman who trained Pax. This is an incredibly moving film that would probably get too sappy if it was any longer, but is just right at 22 minutes.  

Woman Rebel (Kiran Deol) ***1/2

At 37 minutes this is one of the longer shorts at the festival and it tells a pretty remarkable story. Silu is a female soldier fighting as part of the revolutionary army in Nepal, a struggle which went on for more than 10 years. The movie shows what happens when the revolutionaries and the government come to the peace table. Silu ends up running for office and is elected to parliament. It’s a powerful testament to what can happen when people put guns down and seek peaceful solutions.

Cold Weather (Aaron Katz) ****

The day closes with one of the best films of this year's festival. Earlier I wrote about Kentucker Audley’s Open Five and how it fit into the mumblecore genre. Well, Aaron Katz has done something very interesting here by taking the style of mumblecore and infusing it with a mystery premise. The result is a startlingly original movie with a surprising amount of depth and is an outstanding example of independent filmmaking.

Doug (Cris Lankenau) recently dropped out of a forensic science program at college and moved back home to live with his sister Gail (Trieste Kelly Dunn). He gets a blue collar job where he makes friends with Carlos (Raul Castillo) over their shared enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes novels. When Doug’s ex-girlfriend Rachel (Robyn Rikoon) fails to show up for a date with Carlos, they begin to get worried and start to investigate her disappearance.

Director Aaron Katz creates some fantastic moments precisely because of what he chooses not to do. There is a sequence that revolves around the need to steal a briefcase in a diner, but Katz only shows us the perspective from outside as we see the getaway car waiting. But this is no ordinary suspense film. The mystery is just a backdrop to explore the relationships between the four leads and the wonderfully natural performances from the cast go a long way toward making this work. Katz has made a wonderful film filled with low-key humor, suspenseful moments, and complex relationships.