Mollyblog

The Beauty Academy of Kabul

May 2006 | Whole Life Review

Reel Power

The Beauty Academy of Kabul


Directed by Liz Mermin

Produced by Nigel Noble & Liz Mermin

Opens April 28 at the Nuart in LA 



At first it sounded almost like a joke: New York hairdressers opening a beauty school in Afghanistan? “It instantly jumped out as completely insane,” said filmmaker Liz Mermin, who read a newspaper story about the project—and then promptly decided to make a movie about it. “How could there not be a story here?” 

There turned out to be many stories—not only of the American hairdressers (three were Afghan refugees returning for the first time) or the first 20 students, but also of women in Afghanistan, of cultures colliding and changing, of history, of politics, of civil war. 

Beauty Academy of Kabul only skims most of these themes, without alighting on any particular one. Mermin skips conventional techniques—no narrator voiceovers, dramatic music or obvious political agendas here—instead allowing intimate footage taken at the school, students’ homes and on Kabul’s streets to tell the story of the school’s first three months. 

The method works. The film is compelling and makes us care about the characters. But it also raises more questions than it answers, which is why it’s good at 74 minutes, but would make an even better mini-series. 

No such thing in the works, but Mermin promises, “The DVD extras are going to be amazing.”

Thank You For Smoking/Paradise Now

(published April 2006 | Whole Life Review)

Reel Power

Thank You For Smoking
Directed by Jason Reitman,
Starring Aaron Eckhardt, Maria Bello, Cameron Bright, Katie Holmes
Limited theatrical release March 17, 2006

“We don’t sell Tic Tacs, we sell cigarettes. And they’re cool, available, and addictive. The job is almost done for us,” says a tobacco executive in Thank You For Smoking, Jason Reitman’s big-screen debut. And although lines like this could come across as overly sarcastic, overly serious or preachy, Reitman’s deft treatment of Charles Buckley’s 1994 novel hits just the right tone: tongue-in-cheek, wry, clever and hilarious.

The casting is genius: Aaron Eckhart makes the perfect Nick Naylor, the charming spokesman for Big Tobacco who’d be detestable if he weren’t so entertaining (or so good at his job); William H. Macy as the flappable Vermont official trying to pass an anti-tobacco bill; Rob Lowe as the obnoxious Hollywood exec who agrees to help Naylor “make smoking cool again”; and Katie Holmes as a conniving but naive reporter who screws Naylor (in more ways than one).

And though it does have an agenda (hint: it’s not a love letter to the tobacco industry), it’s remarkably even-handed, treating both Big Tobacco and its opponents to the same unblinking satire and sarcasm.

The result is a blissfully well-paced and engaging film that’s well-worth watching.

Paradise Now
Directed by Hany Abu-Assad,
Starring Kais Nasshef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal
Out on DVD March 21, 2006

It’s no wonder that both Israelis and Palestinians opposed Hany Abu-Assad’s film Paradise Now: in the end, neither side looks particularly good, and no one emerges morally victorious. The movie is much truer to the issues and therefore much better than that.

The award-winning work follows two Palestinian would-be suicide bombers (Kais Nasshef and Ali Suliman) from the moment they get their orders until their mission date, two days later. We see the mundane details of this process, the difficult conditions they’ll leave behind, the hints of family trauma that might have brought them to this point and glimpses of their community’s ambivalence about this “solution” to the Israeli problem.

But though the film’s subject matter is timely, it is still more a story than a political statement or educational piece. And as a story, it’s a good one. The characters are sympathetic. The acting is stellar. The narrative is engaging. And the plot has plenty of suspenseful (yet not overplayed) twists and turns.

It may come up short as the definitive film on the current conflict in the West Bank, but that expectation might be too tall an order. What’s revolutionary about Paradise Now is that it’s showcasing the conflict at all.

Coachella: The Movie

“You can’t trust radio or television because it’s all about commerce and there’s tricks being played everywhere … There’s faith in live events,”
                                   — Perry Farrell, DJ and Jane’s Addiction                                         frontman, in Coachella.

Movie for Music Fans

By Molly Freedenberg (SB Independent, April 13, 2006)

Coachella
Radiohead, Jane’s Addiction, Beck, The Crystal Method, and other musicians star in this documentary directed by Drew Thomas. It screens next Friday, April 21, as part of the Magic Lantern Film series at Isla Vista Theater at 7 and 9:30 p.m.

Coachella is a documentary that comes across a bit like a long commercial for its namesake two-day SoCal music festival (which is understandable, considering the festival’s promoters produced it). But if you’re a music fan, that probably won’t bother you. At its core, this movie is a beautifully photographed, well-edited love letter to the annual event in Indio that will have you planning to buy your tickets for this year’s late April dates before the film’s even over (a fact that distributors can’t have overlooked when deciding on release dates).

More a scrapbook than a story, Coachella takes a look at the festival’s musical and artistic history, all framed in the loose structure of the festival itself — starting with shots of revelers arriving in their cars and ending with post-festival photos of empty water bottles littering the grass like a thousand moon-lit islands in a deep green sea. And though there’s no real narrative to push the story along, the footage of musicians playing (from Radiohead to The Crystal Method), interspersed with interviews about what makes the festival so unique (including conversations with Perry Farrell, Flea, and Beck), are interesting enough to keep you engaged.

Highlights include a middle-aged but still mesmerizing Morrissey singing “November’s Child” and, quite endearingly, giving a fan who’d climbed onto the stage a warm hug before a bodyguard carried her away; Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips crowd surfing in a giant plastic bubble; the four remarkably normal-seeming members of the Pixies; an intimate guitar duet between members of Red Hot Chili Peppers; and the enigmatic Bjork in yet another wearable-art gown.

Best of all, though, the film does a remarkable job of capturing the spirit of the 10-year-old event. From the giant destructive robots and wall of polka-dots to sweaty revelers resting in the shade of a giant metal spider, the film captures visual landmarks that will seem familiar to veterans, while also giving newcomers an authentic idea of what Coachella is about. And thankfully, the film hits just the right tone: It’s appreciative of the festival, but doesn’t take itself too seriously, making it both reverent and light-hearted.

I think the flute is affecting Alyson Hannigan's judgment...

(published SB Indie 2/23/06)

Date Movie (83 mins.; PG-13: crude humor, language)

Oh, Alyson Hannigan. What are you doing in Date Movie? You were so great as Willow on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And though American Pie was beneath you, you were awfully cute as the band camp girl. But why, oh why, did you star in this disgusting, pointless, uninspired parody? Yes, date movies deserve spoofing. They’re unrealistic and sappy and give Hugh Grant way too much screen time. But movies like The Wedding Planner, Bridget Jones’s Diary, and yes, even Say Anything deserve thoughtful, cynical satire. They don’t deserve Date Movie. In fact, no one deserves Date Movie. And no actress as appealing and talented as you deserves to star in such a disaster. Comedies are fine, but this? Even the three-year-old next to me was horrified, and she still eats her boogers. This is a movie only a teenager could love.

SBIFF 2006

After weeks of work leading up to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and all the whirwind activity of attending it, it was a bit of a let down to realize that the Independent wouldn't actually require many reviews -- or any writing, really -- after the fest was underway. On one level, I knew I was getting one hell of a deal: two weeks of absolutely free movies, parties and hobnobbing. But on another, I felt like I was getting gipped. After all, I loved every part of the festival: watching the mediocre films and the great ones, meeting filmmakers and other media peeps, rushing from one theater to another, forgetting to eat. And I would've loved to write about it. So I've decided I will, gradually. I'll post reviews of films I saw and anecdotes from events I attended. In the meantime, you can read the sum total of my contribution to the Independent's Festival coverage:

1. I contributed lots of little tidbits to this segment, none of which actually got into it. I did, however, make sure that it was clear that Micky Dolenz was joking about the acid.

The Indy List
Top Gossip from SBIFF 2006
By Indy Staff, February 9, 2006
why not celebrate his all-too-short career with a list of his top five films. Here they are >

1) That Modern Master Award winner George Clooney ate alone at Lucky’s on Thursday night, then drank solo at the Upham Hotel on Friday night.

2) That Mickey Dolenz of the Monkees joked that he dropped acid before the screening of Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everyone Talking About Him)?

3) That Indy news reporter Ethan Stewart was mistaken for Luke and Owen Wilson’s younger, filmmaking brother, and that his film recently screened at a Lake Tahoe film festival.

4) That dapper City Councilman—and candidate for county supervisor—Das Williams tore up the dance floor at Friday night’s private Modern Master party in the blue-lit belly of the not-yet-completed Granada Garage.

5) That the second Naomi Watts hit the red carpet at the Marjorie Luke Theatre on Saturday night, the fire sprinklers went off, dousing her, the press corps, and the VIPs in attendance with reclaimed water.

By Indy Staff | February 9, 2006 | 0 TrackBacks

2. We all contributed to the following piece, though only Brett's name made it onto the web version. For my mom: I was one of the two writers who saw Nilsson twice; I'm responsible for the mention of Dreaming in America , a solid film about a Southern rock band made by a friend's brother; I had the free beer dilemma; and the film trailer was in my "misses" too -- except my review was a bit more scathing than the one printed here (and had nothing to do with the trailer's length).

Hits and Misses of SBIFF
By Brett Leigh Dicks, February 16, 2006

Hits

{1} Thank You for Smoking: Closing night’s sophisticated, cynical, funny New-Yorker-cartoon-cleverly-disguised-as-a-movie was one of the best special screenings in recent fest memory.

{2} Paseo Nuevo opening night bash: Turning State Street’s ode to shopping into Moulin Rouge — 
complete with free Imperia vodka, hot dogs from the Doghouse, and numerous other treats — was quite a welcome party, even if Salma Hayek hid upstairs the whole time.

{3} 1 Dance 2 Sea: The film fest’s first installation piece was set up at Anthropologie during the first weekend, giving film lovers, shoppers, and passers-by a chance to see film out of the theater.

{4} Who Is Harry Nilsson
(And Why Is Everybody Talking About Him)?: Two Indy critics even saw this film twice, both reporting that it was just as good the second time to hear “Spend Another Day Without Her” and “Step into the Fire.” It also begs the question: Did John Lennon unconsciously set out to ruin the greatest singing voice in the world?

{5} Half Empty: A sweet, no-budget musical parody of the self-help industry, all filmed for just $5,000 amid another film fest in Germany.

{6} Naked Voices: UCSB’s a capella group dazzled the closing night audience with amazingly crisp, complex vocals and flawless beat-box percussion, especially while doing Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “The Zephyr Song.”

{7} C.R.A.Z.Y.: The idiosyncratic, universal characters were outstanding in this film about a French-Canadian family’s lunacy and pain in the ’60s and ’70s.

{8} Turnout for The Shape of Water: The enthusiastic response for Kum-Kum Bhavani’s documentary about five women’s initiatives around the world included everyone from UCSB Chancellor Henry Yang to UCSB students. But 100 people were turned away.

{9} Dreaming in America: The band under focus (Lucero) is less remarkable than the film, which is a thorough look at what it’s like to be a mid-level band trying to make it.

{10} Sympathy for Lady
Vengeance: Chan-Wook Park is The Auteur in your future.

{11} Queen of Trees: Although only about two dozen people saw the world premiere and Q&A with the husband-and-wife directing team, this wildlife film about the mysteries of an African sycamore fig tree was marvelously compelling and astoundingly shot.

{12} The West Wittering Affair: The most hilarious, touching, satisfying, successful home movie ever made.

{13} Joyeux Noël: When opposing soldiers in World War I put down their rifles and pick up a soccer ball on Christmas Eve, humanity reins supreme.

{14} Rain in a Dry Land: A fine documentary that affirms the hope and opportunity that America offers without whitewashing its flaws.

{15} Believe in Me: A film about girls’ basketball in Oklahoma in the ’60s that could have been as foreign as the most foreign film in the festival. But for one of our critics, it felt like a film about her.

Misses

{1} Film Fest trailer length: Must we watch this in its entirety before each and every film? Can’t we have a shorter version for regular screenings and a longer one for special events?

{2} March of the Penguins: Why show a film that was on broadcast television the same night?

{3} D: Why was this Japanese drifter story complicated with bogus resolution? We blame David Lynch.

{4} Free Firestone beer: How’s a critic on a small budget supposed to endure the moral quandary of choosing between drinking free beer or supporting environmentalists who oppose the county supervisor of the same name?

{5} Red carpet traffic: Perhaps it’s a film fest universal, but there were more grumblings about access troubles than ever before.

{6} Extreme sports show times: Why show extreme sports movies in the middle of the afternoon when most sports enthusiasts are still outside trying to catch the last bit of sun?

A Charmingly Missed Opportunity

Imagine Me & You. Piper Perabo, Matthew Goode, and Lena Headey star in a film written and directed by Ol Parker.
By Molly Freedenberg, February 9, 2006
Besides the fact that the star-crossed lovers in Imagine Me &You are two uncommonly pretty women (instead of one uncommonly pretty woman and one uncommonly charming man), this British film is just like every other romantic comedy: well-meaning characters blindsided by love, a “destined” romance escalating at a breakneck pace, and dramatic music at all the appropriate moments. And as such, it’s pretty good.
But that’s the problem with it. The story is interesting. The actors are exemplary. The characters are likable and ethical. The subject matter is provocative and fresh. Taken just a few steps further, this film would be thoughtful, intelligent, and witty. It would never be Brokeback Mountain, but it could certainly hold its own weight in Brokeback’s genre of serious films treating gay love like what it is: love, with complications. Instead, Imagine Me & You ends up charming, but too lightweight for its capabilities.
It features Piper Perabo (Coyote Ugly) as likable, large-lipped Rachel and Matthew Goode (Match Point) as Heck, her new husband. They are happy and stable, with a relationship that seemed like a marriage from day one. But when Rachel meets Luce (Lena Headey, The Brothers Grimm) at her wedding and feels a different kind of spark, she begins to wonder whether she should have held out for the sweep-you-off-your-feet kind of love. You can probably guess what happens next.
This is not a film about a straight woman getting in touch with her lesbian tendencies, nor about a predatory lesbian convincing a woman to switch teams. In fact, it hardly deals with the issue of homosexuality at all except as a humorous plot device—a fact that was interesting and refreshing but a little unrealistic, even for Europe.
As such, audience reactions to the film surely will be mixed. Some viewers will love to see woman-on-woman romance portrayed on the big screen. Others will complain—and rightly so—that the film only portrays the type of gay love that the mainstream can palate (hot chicks who make out).
In the end, though, it’s a date movie, plain and simple. It’s just too bad it wasn’t more.

Download this clip.

Casanova

(published in SB Indie Jan 12, 2006.)

First Looks

Casanova (108 mins.; R: sexual content)

This playful, sensuous date movie with Heath Ledger playing the charismatic Casanova (and doing so charismatically) and Sienna Miller as the improbably progressive feminist who falls for him is better than you think. The film, by the director of Chocolat, narrowly escapes its fate as a pathetically predictable love story about mistaken identities and the lovable cads who use them (though it’s that too). Instead, it’s enjoyable, lightweight eye and brain candy — not quite clever or gorgeous, but almost. The settings and costumes are beautiful; the actors seem to know just how campy to play their parts without going overboard; and the writing is just good enough to make us care what happens to the characters when they all get their happy endings.

Remember It's a Musical

(published in the SB Indie January 5, 2006.)

Remember It’s a Musical

The Producers. Matthew Broderick, Will Ferrell, Nathan Lane, and Uma Thurman star in a film written by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan, based on Brooks’s play, and directed by Susan Stroman.

Reviewed by Molly Freedenberg

Within the first 10 minutes of The Producers, I began to wonder if my boyfriend — who’d opted out of the free movie ticket — had been right to heed the Mel Brooks film’s unflattering reviews. Matthew Broderick’s portrayal of nerdy accountant Leo Bloom seemed embarrassingly exaggerated and Nathan Lane’s on-screen version of sneaky producer Max Bialystock seemed only slightly less affected. The whole production felt like a high school drama project gone awry.

And then something happened. I stopped comparing The Producers to serious film endeavors and remembered what the film is: a real, old-fashioned musical in the tradition of Mary Poppins and The Music Man — but, of course, with the tongue-in-cheek, self-reflexive Mel Brooks twist. And as such, it’s fantastic.

The film (which was originally written to be a film, then became a hit show on Broadway, and now is a film again) simultaneously makes fun of the cheesy musicals and is a cheesy musical. Broderick and Lane’s performances — and, indeed, all the over-acted parts in the film — are caricatures on purpose, as they are satirical versions of the similarly, but earnestly, overacted parts in classic musical theater. Meanwhile, the musical numbers have all the entertainment value and impeccable choreographic timing that make everything from Singing in the Rain to A Chorus Line so watchable, but with Brooks’s characteristic irreverence (a chorus line of little old ladies with walkers?) to take it to the next level.

And the highlight of the film is the musical within the musical, Springtime for Hitler — with its tap-dancing Nazis and swishy Führer — and its creator, played by a lederhosen-clad Will Ferrell, who is delightful doing what he did so well in the Austin Powers series: playing a clueless foreign guy who gets injured.

The only real shame of the film is that Uma Thurman isn’t a more graceful dancer, but the shortcoming is less about her not being fun to watch (she is) and more about the value of a really great song-and-dance girl. All in all, The Producers was a great production, inspiring loud applause from the crowd and leaving me giddy, light, and wanting to shuffle-ball-change down the street when it was done.

A word of warning, though: If your sweetie doesn’t already like musicals, don’t try to wean him or her on this one. Without the contemporary music of Moulin Rouge or the stylized filming of Chicago, The Producers is a poor tool for conversion to the musical-loving ranks. But if your honey knows a good synchronized swastika dance when he or she sees one, this is definitely a date movie worth checking out.

Paradise Now. Here.

(This was supposed to be in the SB Independent today. But the local theater pulled the film, so it'd be kind of silly to review it. So, um, the review isn't there. It's here.)

Paradise Now

By Hany Abu-Assad Starring Kais Nasshef, Ali Suliman, Lubna Azabal

By Molly Freedenberg

Making a movie about Palestinian suicide bombers is a pretty bold move, as Hany Abu-Assad learned while filming Paradise Now. Both sides of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict opposed the movie, and for good reason: in the film, neither side looks particularly good, or emerges morally victorious. The movie is much more true to the issues, and therefore much better, than that.

The film stars Kais Nasshef and Ali Suliman as Said and Khaled, a pair of Palestinian friends chosen for a suicide bomb mission. We see them for two days, from final nights with their families to filming their farewell videos to the budding romance and philosophical debates between Said and Suha (Lubna Azabal), the foreign-born daughter of a famous Palestinian martyr.

As a film, this is a good one. The acting is stellar, the story is engaging, the characters are sympathetic, and the plot has plenty of suspenseful, yet not overplayed, twists and turns. As a film about what’s happening in Israel right now, though, the movie comes in a little short.

As one of the few films on American screen that’s even set in the West Bank, much less depicting the conflicts there, Paradise Now had a unique opportunity to explain why people are willing to become suicide bombers. Abu-Assad could have shown how poor the conditions in the West Bank really are. He could have elaborated on the importance of religion in the day-to-day life of regular Palestinians, and therefore the powerful appeal of eternal salvation that marytrydom promises. And with his intimate look at Said and Khaled’s lives, and the mundane details of signing on for a suicide mission, the film seemed perfectly poised to do just that.

Instead, the intimacy serves only to remind the viewer that suicide bombers are just real people, frustrated by their circumstances (which is also a powerful revelation). It doesn’t help us understand how real people come to do such horrific, and terrifying, things.

Still, it’s certainly a movie worth seeing. Were it part of a long line of films depicting this conflict, Paradise Now would be absolutely satisfying in and of itself. And actually, if we’re lucky, that’s what it’ll end up to be.

Innocent Voices

Innocent Voices (120 mins.; R: violence, language)

(published 11/10/05)

A powerful, poignant, and painful portrait of the civil war in El Salvador, as well as an engaging and authentic coming-of-age story, this tale is told through the eyes of Chava (Carlos Padilla), a rural boy for whom adolescence means first love, first jobs, and impending forced recruitment into the very army that keeps his village up at night with machine gunfire. Based on writer Oscar Orlando Torres's childhood experiences, the film gives a personal and heartbreaking view of the casualties of war-not the least of which is loss of innocence. It's a well-told story with rich Salvadoran landscapes, impressive acting, and just the right balance of weight and light-heartedness. (MF)Carpinteria Plaza