Short Term 12/Violet Crown

Anyone who has worked in a group home or residential treatment center with kids knows how this work changes you forever.  You will never ever assume that the world is a neutral place where kids grow up and can make the best of it.  You will have your eyes opened to the atrocities that occur within families and the evil that comes to fall on innocent kids.  The kids present you with so  much anger, mistrust, and  constant provocation and have such a hard time letting you get close. There are glimpses and moments of true affection.  But watch out.  Right after that moment they might steal money from you and you'll be pissed off again.  Destin Daniel Cretton, director of Short Term 12, spent two years working in a group home and has done a fine job of bringing you into that world.  So often the staff are young and idealistic just like I was in a group home for runaways in the Lower East Side of Manhattan many years ago. I come to films like this with a critical eye and Brie Larson and John Gallagher Jr. offer honest and gripping performances as the workers/lovers in this residence.  Keith Stanfield as an about to be aged out resident offers a wonderful performance as a brooding thoughtful and very hurt young man.  There is an original music score, fine photography and an important story to be told here.  Highly recommend this film to anyone interested in expanding their view of what happens in families.

Cutie and the Boxer/Violet Crown

We both loved this beautiful documentary shot in NYC for many reasons.  It portrays an 80y.o. man and his 59 y.o. wife as energetic, adorable, full of life with passion and strong opinions, and love of their art making careers.  Zachary Heinzerling shows us an imperfect marriage of 40 years whose foundation has persevered because of a wife's endurance.  We see a man whose desire to acclaim fame turns him into a narcissistic alcoholic who remains creatively productive, albeit an inadequate husband and parent.   I found this film exhilarating  because of it's honesty and more selfishly because I love and need to see older people living their lives free of all of the stereotypes we so often associate with older people.  There are no walkers, complaints about pain or non-visiting children. This is a beautiful portrayal of what happens in a marriage when people remain committed. More, more, more films like this say I.  Please?

Why you should see "The Butler'

If you weren't alive when this country was confronted by black Americans demanding their civil liberties in the 1960's then this is a film you should not miss.  The live footage of the confrontations, the freedom rides, the deplorable treatment of the brave souls who stood up to the violence of Jim Crow are all assembled here in this fictionalized account of a butler who made it to the White House.  You will cringe at the deplorable hateful behavior of southerners so threatened by integration.  You will see the seeds of anti-immigration sentiment and be aghast at the despicable behavior of Southerners when faced with a change in legislation ordered by the Federal government.  Oprah and Forest Whitaker perform beautifully.  Lee Daniels brings us our presidents from Eisenhower to Regan with humor and caricature.  For me this was not a creative or artistic endeavor.  This is a film about our history.  Sit back and become aware.  This is how I became a social worker.

'The Act of Killing' /Austin Film Society

AFS brought us a preview of Joel Oppenheimer's documentary last night prior to it's official opening in Austin next week with a very informative Q&A via SKYPE with Mr. Oppenheimer following the show. Having seen the executive producers Werner Herzog and Errol Morris discuss the film I was prepared for a powerful and painful to watch film about the death squads of Indonesia in the 1960's. The squads of gangsters hired by the military to rid the country of Communists. The ludicrous gangsters who perceived of themselves as the gangsters they knew from Western films.  Mr. Oppenheimer highlights these ruthless killers when he invites them to make a film about their experiences at the time.  These men continue to receive enormous notoriety and elevated social status in their country and have never been brought to justice despite the fact that a million people were killed.  We are also introduced to "respectable businessmen" with the same killer history who live highly respected lives elsewhere, return by plane, and discuss their involvement with great pride and defense of their acts.  Mr. Oppenheimer discusses his motivation to make this film with keen emotional intelligence and well thought out plans.  He is a humanist in the finest sense of the imagination.  And he uses filmmaking to explore the human condition and broaden our understanding of what is included in our capabilities as human beings.

Yet, what I was totally unprepared for was the feeling that I was watching  a horror movie.  The direction, staging, make-up, wardrobe, and use of non-actors including very small children to re-enact torture, death, terror, unbelievable fear all constituted the making of a horror film.  We hear Mr. Oppenheimer incredulously  pointing out to the lead subject who shall remain unnamed (I can't bear to see his name in print without a bounty on his head) that he is only acting his fear while the people he killed were really afraid.

This film was like returning to Germany and having the Nazi masterminds and murderers sitting in cafes, running for office, sending their children to college and being rewarded for their acts. For this family who came to exist because two people survived Hitler's death camps watching this film was particularly painful.  The comparison to Nazis who go unpunished is a very difficult concept for us.  I saw no remorse in any of the killers.  I thought the subject's dry heaving was dishonest and poorly acted. I hope this film infuriates the world and that the victims and survivors of these atrocities are alive to see justice served.

 It's not entertainment but go see this powerful film.  It's important.

Fruitvale Station

We both loved this film.  It deals an emotional punch to your gut and reawakens feelings of anger and dismay at the Trayvon Martin decision.  First time director Ryan Coogler has cast Michael B. Jordan perfectly for the role of Oscar Grant, an imperfect young man.  Yet a man with deep passion for life and his various roles as son, father, lover/partner. Melonie Diaz (his partner) and Octavia Spencer (his mother) are strong women who do not let Oscar get away with stuff and he is fully aware how these important connections keep him grounded.  His daughter played by Ariana Neal is just plain smart and delicious!  We left the Violet Crown moved and sad and disturbed by the series of events and the loss of life which was so unnecessary.  For any of you who have not been pushed by a police officer I can only say it makes your blood boil and rage fills your brain.  It requires enormous effort to not fight back.  It is reminding yourself that their gun can kill you that is the crucial element here. Do not miss this film.  A story about America.

HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE (Documentary)

I lost too many friends in the 1980s-1990s to the AIDS epidemic.  I was busy having babies in the 80's so I didn't have a chance to lend my physical support to ACT UP, the group of brave, educated and passionate gay people who implored our government to provide healthcare to the thousands and then millions of people afflicted with this virus.  I remember so well the fear that hospital employees felt when working with AIDS patients.  All based on erroneous information and paranoia about contagion.  And President Bush asking for people to change their behavior! And watching people die lonely and pitiful deaths because of lack of services.  In the 1990's Abe was the AIDS Social Worker at St. Luke's Hospital on 112th Street and Amsterdam Ave. NYC.  We brought our children (ages 7 and 4) to that unit to see what their father did for a living and meet the patients who he cared about.  I will never forget that visit and neither have they!  Abe became seriously ill while working on that unit and was hospitalized himself for a couple of weeks and then a lengthy convalescence with visiting nurses for 2 months.  Yeah, we were scared.  But it wasn't the AIDS virus.  It was a curable liver abscess!  We were the lucky ones.  This documentary is passionate, revealing, informative and timeless.  See it on DVD like we did.

A Week-End With Janis and Graham

I'm not a lover of live music in Austin.  Film is my passion.  Sure the Symphony always works for me and some small bars where I go to hear specific musicians have been good experiences.  The SXSW and ACL events (tried them once) were just not my thing.  And most definitely not Abe's!  But this week-end music filled the air for us (not one film was seen) and it was perfect.  We celebrated our Anniversary with tickets to ONE NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN at the ZACH theater Friday night.  OMG what a powerful performance.  Kacee Clanton as Janis is just magnificent. I had seen Janis at the Filmore East every time she performed (1968-1969) and this performance just brought me right back.  I was 19 y.o. and remembered it vividly!  Wild child days with wild child boyfriend in the East Village.
Last night we saw the super talented and creative Graham Reynolds perform with others at the Continental Club.  Lizzy has always told me to check out that club on S.Congress thinking I would like it. She was right.  His interpretations of his original Bernie score and Duke Ellington were my favorites.  While I've seen Graham's quiet intelligence on display at Q&As at the Blanton or Long Center when he plays his music that wild child inside of him is in full display and it's great!  We both loved this performance.  A great show.  Looking forward to more.