Kevin Desmond:
Glitz, Glamour, Hot summer sun, Hollywood stars and films representing almost every spectrum were present at the LA Film Festival. LA Film Fest which is run by Film Independent, represent anything and everything when it comes to film-making. Many low-budget filmmakers might think that a festival in Hollywood is ONLY designed for Hollywood films and big-budget Indies. However, while there are some films that fall into that category, there were a lot of low-budget and micro-budget Indies in the mix. The festival ran the gamut from big budget blockbusters, like Wanted and Hellboy which were book-ending the festival, to festival hits, like Tropa de Elite (Elite Squad) from Brazil, to microbudget indies, like Prince of Broadway, to the hot ticket of the festival, Choke, from the writer of Fight Club.
With free screenings, seminars, retrospectives on the Shaw brothers, this fest had something to please everyone’s appetite. Because of everyone’s rushed work schedules during the week, we needed three writers to cover most of the action. Fortunately, this process allowed us to cover a number of the films that were shown: some good ones and some not so good.
Before we get to the short-takes on the films we saw. I would like to discuss the process of selection for the fest. I spoke to Doug Jones the head of programming to find out what it takes to get into the festival. Obviously the fact that a film has to be good is common sense, besides this, the major aspect that a programmer looks for is if the filmmaker achieved what he/she set out to do. For instance, if it is a comedy did it make you laugh, if it is horror did it scare you? Did the story stay focused and was it original or unique. I asked if it mattered what a movie sounded like or what it was shot on? And for a microbudget mindset, did budget matter in the selection process? According to Doug, movies could be made for $100 or $100 million but, if the story isn’t good, the movie suffers. Let’s face it. There are only a few stories out there, but it’s how you tell the story that matters.
The common thread I saw in all the good movies and shorts was that they all had brilliant and believable actors and characters that fit the story and style like a glove.
From the low budget indie, Prince of Broadway, shot, co-written and edited by Sean Baker, starring non-actor Prince Adu, to big budget actioner Wanted starring Angelina Jolie, James McAvoy and Morgan Freeman. It is the actors’ 100% dedication to their characters that take the movies to a whole different level. Of course, as a filmmaker myself, the director’s guidance and belief in the story is also a major contributing factor to the actors’ performances and the final product.
Let’s start with the winner of the Target Filmmaker Award for Best Narrative Feature: Prince of Broadway by Sean Baker. The film is the story of Lucky (Prince Adu), an illegal immigrant street hustler who sells knock-offs in the back of an Armenian shop. His life is just about to take off when his world is turned upside down by a woman coming and dropping a baby in his lap. She tells him it’s his baby and he has to take care of it. Being illegal, he can’t go to the police and conflicts soon arise as his savings for school are drained for the baby’s needs. He loses his ability to make money because he’s trying to take care of the baby and can’t work as much. This leads to his girlfriend getting frustrated and deciding to leave. These crises combined with a NY winter and the backdrop of the hustle and bustle of Broadway make for an intriguing character study.
The film was shot on one handheld HVX200 camera with the actors improvising most of their dialogue. (While this is normally a disastrously bad idea with non-actors, somehow Baker managed to get believable performances from his cast and finesse the story in post to make a really impressive film.) I highly recommend this movie for microbudget filmmakers, because it ended up being a great example of filmmaking using what’s at hand to make a good film under a time crunch. The movie was originally intended to be about the shop owner, but, while doing research, the filmmaker came upon Prince Adu, who is a real street hustler. The director said he knew right there that he should be the protagonist. And, as fate would have it, Prince actually wanted to pursue acting, so the rest is history. If you get a chance to watch this movie when it comes to your local fest or out on DVD, I would highly recommend you do so.
The top of my list of must-see movies was Tropa de Elite from Brazil, which was fortunately at a time I could catch it. The movie is another export from Brazil centered in and around the Favelas (ghettos) of Brazil. These same favelas were the backdrops for such films as City of God, City of Men and Orpheu. The only difference is this time we get to see the point of view of the police. “BOPE,” as the sqad is called, is basically a no-holds-barred death squad who come in when the situation gets out of control and take out everything in their way with brutal, lethal force. The story centers around the head of one of the squads, a captain Nascimiento—who was played by Wagner Moura to sheer perfection, taking the movie to a different level. These guys are trained to have no mercy and no conscience, which becomes a problem when Nascimiento finds out his wife is pregnant and he starts contemplating his choices as well as suffering with anxiety attacks. He decides to leave the squad and choose his replacement from 2 rookie cops who want to join the force, but are ashamed by the corruption of the police force. The film veers off here into 3 parallel story lines to show each of their paths to find their place in this brutal world. The film, as I found out later, was essentially “re-made” in the editing room, by bringing one of the writers of City of God to re-align and give the film focus. He decided the film needed a central character and added captain Nascimiento’s incessant voiceover to bring the film together. The film was shot cinema verite style with a camera whose movement was 10 times shakier than Paul Greengrass’ Bourne sequels. This unceasing movement gave me a bit of a headache, but, gradually, it does stop shaking more and more as the movie goes along, which I thought was a nice touch. Though it does not have the finesse or energy of City of God, it still holds its own and by the end you feel for the characters. While not really a must see theatrical release (as big screens + shaky handheld = headache) it is still an excellent rental.
