2010 Atlanta Film Festival: Day Two

Crossing in St. Augustine(CB Hackworth) ***

The civil rights theme of the festival continues with this documentary that takes a look at an often overlooked chapter in the civil rights movement. In 1964, Andrew Young was brutally beaten while trying to cross a street in St. Augustine. The film takes a look at what happened before and after this event, and how it had a profound impact on the passage of the 1964 civil rights bill and the city of St. Augustine.

The film is structured from Andrew Young's point of view. He narrates it from the perspective of returning to present day St. Augustine and going to the same exact spot where the beating took place. Despite this, it manages to avoid seeming like a self serving story because Young doesn't even see himself as a hero. In fact a key line in the film mentions how he was actually sent to St. Augustine to calm things down (King was worried that tensions would jeopardize negotiations in Washington), and he's glad that he completely failed. Also, the film gives most of the credit for the eventual success in St. Augustine to a man named Dr. Robert Hayling.

It does have a couple flaws. Some of the present day interview segments seem very stagey (especially when his wife and daughter talk to the camera) and a tangent late in the film where they mention how some African-Americans feel things were better under segregation (because there was a better sense of community) should have been shelved unless they were willing to properly explore it. Still, this is a refreshing documentary because it does a solid job of covering a subject that has not received much attention.

Family Affair (Chico Colvard) **1/2

One of the more uncomfortable documentaries I have seen. This unpleasant film is about a family that has been torn apart by multiple tragedies. It is told from the point of view of the filmmaker as he tries to come to terms with the rather bizarre current dynamic of his family. While the willingness to explore such subject matter is admirable, this is a film that could probably have used more time in the editing booth.

When Director Chico Colvard was 10 years old, he accidentally shot his sister in the leg. This traumatic event ended up serving as the impetus for his sister to reveal that their father had been molesting her and their two other sisters for years. Their father wound up going to jail for one year, mother left town, and they grew up in foster homes. Shockingly, the beginning of the film shows footage from a present day family Thanksgiving celebration with the father in attendance and the now adult girls treating their father pleasantly as if nothing had ever happened.

This is all very disturbing stuff, which makes it even more important that the material be handled appropriately. However, the editing is really choppy and many of the interviews are awkwardly handled. A surprisingly pleasant interview with his mother seems rather jarring in tone to the rest of the film. It definitely could have used either more polish from a more experienced documentary filmmaker or at least more personal approach, which is lacking because the director chose to narrate from behind the camera.

The Good Heart (Dagur Kari) *1/2

Here's one of the bigger disappointments of the festival so far. Brian Cox is one of the best character actors we have in Hollywood right now. A character drama centered around him shouldn't be too difficult to pull off. But director Dagur Kari's film is a mess that features uneven acting, worthless supporting characters, and one of the worst endings I've seen in a long time.

Jacques (Cox) a lonely, bitter bartender who has no shortage of contempt for others, even including his few very loyal patrons. He has constant heart problems and on one hospital visit he meets a homeless man (Paul Dano). Thinking he doesn't have much longer to live, Jacques decides to take this man under his wing and train him to take over the bar. But he's decidedly not happy with some of the changes that take place, including a woman entering the picture.

This is one of those films where we watch a curmudgeon slowly turn into a good guy. There have been good examples of this genre, but The Good Heart is littered with disastrous flaws. Cox is good, but he overacts for most of the movie. Paul Dano's performance is heavily mannered. As for the female character, there's no point in criticizing the performance since she's nothing more than a transparent plot device whose actions make very little sense. The denouement is a particularly revolting set of circumstances that proves the only purpose of every character in the film is to make Jacques a good guy, a transition that is not believable for one second.

Slap Down (Jesus Christ) **

Having been to the Atlanta Film Festival for 11 years, I've learned that if you attend one of the weekend midnight screenings, you're in store for something different. Slap Down certainly fits that bill, and then some. It's a revenge story told in an absurdist narrative structure that makes it very hard to figure out what's going on for at least the first 15-20 minutes.

Dec (Dec Stone) is a young man who unwittingly ends up with posession of a mysterious box that is the center of a battle between the Secret Agents and the Mafia. When the Mafia kidnaps Dec's sister to force him to bring them the box, he turns to the Secret Agents for help. They respond by teaching him a fighting technique called "Slap Down" and he sets off on his quest to take down the Mafia and get his sister back.

It's much weirder than that description probably leads you to believe. Think of it as an unholy hybrid of Quentin Tarantino, David Lynch, and Stephen Chow. (One major failed attempt at humor is the fact that Jesus Christ is credited as director). The camera cuts feverishly, moves forwards and backwards in time, balances gruesome violence with silly comedy, and contains some truly bizarre fight sequences. Despite all of the clever techniques employed, it soon becomes clear that they are working with a very thin narratives. Sorry Jesus, but your movie is not very good.