Another month has flown by, and I'm back to recommend five titles I caught up with during a very busy April, which included my birthday, a half marathon, a couple fun film screenings, and some nicer weather, finally, although we'll see how long that ends up lasting. It appears I was drawn to recent rediscoveries in the film world this month - three of my selected titles all received a major restoration in the past few years that has made them much more accessible for film fans around the world. Without further delay, let's dig into this month's discoveries.
Bona (1980)
directed by Lino Brocka
Lino Brocka's Bona was a well-regarded title when it first came out and then it vanished into obscurity (outside of the Philippines, at least). Thanks to a new 4K restoration process that began with UIUC professor Jose Capino's curiosity, Bona is now ripe for rediscovery alongside other Filipino cinema gems, and seeing a screening of it at the Gene Siskel Film Center with an introduction from Prof. Capino was easily one of the highlights of the month of April for me.
Bona was my first introduction to both director Lino Brocka and actress Nora Aunor (R.I.P. Nora, who just passed away April 16) and I'm beyond excited to dig deeper into both of their filmographies. In the film, Aunor plays Bona, a woman in the Philippines who develops an obsession with a bit actor named Gardo. Bona tries to escape her tumultuous family life by ingratiating herself into Gardo's life, which she does but she receives very little validation from Gardo or any of his acquaintances. Throughout the film Bona acts essentially as Gardo's servant, and a slow burn domestic drama unfolds as you wonder how long Bona will keep this up and if any drastic changes will occur at any time.
While Bona is rooted in slice of life drama and contains melodramatic elements, the central conceit of Bona's "obsessed fan" relationship with Gardo is one that frequently pops up in the horror and thriller world, and indeed that was on my mind throughout the film. While I don't want to reveal the ending here, I will say that the slow burn buildup of the entire film has a great payoff, and seeing the audience respond to that moment live was a real treat.
I don't have the knowledge to analyze the film from a historical context, but the film was shot and is set during the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines (like several other films of Brocka's it seems). Even if you don't have any historical context like myself, the film is still well worth a watch thanks to some great performances and its subtle fusion of different genre elements. Aunor is fantastic in a role that forces her to be in the background of many scenes, reacting to other things going on rather than being the focal point, and her small facial and body movements do a lot to convey information from a lightly written character. Her short stature also adds an element of intimidation to everyone else who shares the screen with her (and it makes moments where she fights back and lashes out that much more surprising and powerful).
Don't be worried about Bona being a downer, however - there's lots of lighter and funnier moments to balance out some of the darker elements. The film also looks absolutely gorgeous thanks to Conrado Baltazar's stunning cinematography and the beautiful 4K restoration. I believe this new restoration premiered at last year's New York Film Festival and has been slowly making its way around the globe since then, so keep an eye out if it's coming to an art theater near you!
Falling in Love (1984)
directed by Ulu Grosbard
Sweet, sappy melodramas about characters cheating on their spouses aren't everyone's cup of tea, and they're not always mine either. However, I absolutely fell in love (pardon the pun) with Ulu Grosbard's Falling in Love which sucked me in right away with its New York Christmastime setting and refreshingly "normal" performances from Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep.
This is without a doubt the type of story you'd expect to see some sort of random indie actors participating in, so having not just De Niro and Streep at the top of their careers but also Harvey Keitel and Dianne Wiest in supporting performances really elevates the film to a level this type of film frequently can't achieve. While De Niro and Streep are both legends and have played many elaborately drawn characters over the years, it's often the more average everyday characters I enjoy seeing them play the most (Streep in Defending Your Life for example) so seeing them pull off these everyday people with ease was beautiful. The first half of the film features them awkwardly connecting with each other in a variety of settings after their initial accidental meeting - running into each other on the way out of the store after going Christmas shopping. The film then sees both of them question how far they should take their newfound connection and whether it's worth jeopardizing their perfectly fine family lives to be with this new special person.
De Niro and Streep have a charm and chemistry that really worked for me here, and I greatly enjoyed how there's no one obvious "antagonist" - these are all flawed people, and no choice that anyone makes is going to make everyone happy in the end. While the film lays it on thick with the romance, eschewing a more subtle and open-ended approach regarding where the characters end up, it didn't bother me too much since I was so hooked on this movie's wavelength at the time. And while given the unfaithfulness in the subject matter it seems strange to call this a future comfort movie, this seems like the type of film I can easily pop on time and time again - especially around Christmas - and fall in love with all over again.
Girlfight (2000)
directed by Karyn Kusama
I've been meaning to watch Karyn Kusama's debut film Girlfight for some time - I'm a massive fan of her slow burn dinner party thriller The Invitation, after all - and after finally catching up with it this month I wasn't disappointed. The film is a major breakout for Michelle Rodriguez in the lead role as Diana, a girl who develops ambitions to become a boxer amidst family troubles and sexism in the boxing community, but just as much feels like a breakout for Kusama herself, who directs this so confidently and has some major flourishes (the fight scenes in particular stand out).
While the Best Picture winning Million Dollar Baby will immediately come to mind for many as a comparison point due to the subject matter, the film I was reminded of the most was Love & Basketball, another sports-romance-drama from 2000 with great central performances that also put its talented director Gina Prince-Bythewood on the map. Both films have an authenticity and a rhythm to them that really allows both the sports scenes and the romance scenes to thrive, while the direction and performances allow the films to transcend some of their more typical sports movie cliches in their screenplays. Girlfight also has a fantastic, propulsive score that really drives the film. The opening shot with the theme reminded me a lot of the epic football opening to Celine Sciamma's Girlhood (maybe an influence here on Sciamma) and the way the music fits with the fight scenes is masterfully done.
Diana as a character is fascinating and, again, thanks to her attributes and Michelle Rodriguez's performance, her character arc transcends some of the more cliched elements present here. I found it interesting that she appears to have this drive for boxing but she isn't willing to put in the work right away - she almost just assumes that she's naturally going to be good at boxing, and she has this reality check early on where she has to question if she's actually willing to put in the effort. Her relationships with other characters are all complex and evolve throughout the film, including her brother, her father, her new friend turned lover turned competitor Adrian, and her coach, played well by Jaime Tirelli (not Joe Mantegna like I thought for a good chunk of the film - don't be fooled like me!). There's also a best friend relationship where she has a falling out early on in the film but the two make up and get back together as friends shortly afterwards - I thought this was a nice adjustment instead of waiting until the end of the movie for the friendship to be reunited.
Whether you're coming from Kusama's TV work like Yellowjackets or films like Jennifer's Body or even if you've never heard of her before, Girlfight is definitely an engaging film well worth seeking out.
The Linguini Incident (1991)
directed by Richard Shepard
Sometimes there's a film that you just see at the right place and the right time and are exactly on its wavelength, as if you and the film were meant for each other. That's precisely how I felt watching Richard Shepard's rediscovered cult classic The Linguini Incident. As people have been discovering Shepard's new director's cut (which I believe released last year), I've been amused seeing a lot of mixed or negative responses from people hating exactly the goofy, quirky elements about this that I really dug.
Rosanna Arquette plays Lucy, a waitress at a hip New York restaurant owned by Buck Henry and Andre Gregory. A new bartender Monte (none other than David Bowie) enters the picture and wants to rob the restaurant to pay someone to marry him so he can get his green card to remain in the country. Lucy also wants to rob the restaurant for reasons related to her side career as an escape artist. The two team up with Lucy's roommate Vivian (Eszter Balint from Stranger Than Paradise), who makes bizarre undergarment designs, to try to pull off the caper. So yeah, to say this has some quirky elements is an understatement, but I was fully on board with them all - and I didn't even mention yet Marlee Matlin's ridiculous hairdo.
Lucy and Vivian have a chemistry to them that really feels like the goofy NYC girl bonds of something like Mistress America or the TV show Broad City and I really responded to it. The film also looks beautiful and the set design is often extravagant and goofy and I was there for it. Henry and Gregory had me cracking up, and Rosanna Arquette screaming "I need to pee!" over and over again was the most relatable line of dialogue I encountered all month. This was a big Rosanna Arquette month for me as I also got to see her live during a screening of Desperately Seeking Susan at Ebertfest, and I'm so excited to now add The Linguini Incident to the quirky cult film Rosanna catalogue alongside DSS and After Hours.
The Linguini Incident won't be for everyone and you very well may not like it, but I had so much fun with it that I'd encourage everyone to give it a try. And now I'm kicking myself for not seeing it on the big screen when it played the Music Box Theater in Chicago last year!
Personal Problems (1980)
directed by Bill Gunn
Writing about Bill Gunn's Personal Problems isn't the easiest task in the world, as his nearly 3 hour epic isn't a complete film as much as an experimental idea, but it's an endlessly engrossing, deeply authentic piece of art that feels like a unique and remarkable achievement. Written by Ishmael Reed and directed by Gunn, Personal Problems is split into two parts and focuses on a woman named Johnnie Mae and her family and friends. Originally from the Carolinas but now living in New York, Johnnie Mae hangs out with friends, gets into disagreements with her husband and father-in-law, works at a hospital, attends parties, and so on. She also develops a relationship with a musician and discovers her husband may be seeing someone else as well.
There's not a lot of thorough plotting to Personal Problems, as the idea of the film is much more rooted in setting up scenarios and allowing the actors the freedom to improvise and take the scene wherever it needs to go. Bill Gunn strongly encouraged improvisation, which can often give his films an experimental feel (definitely the case with Ganja & Hess for me) but in this instance also allows for the rawness and unpredictability of real-life interactions to seep through into a fictional piece of work. The film feels like a prototype (or at least a sounding board) for several modern indie / mumblecore filmmaking approaches and feels right in line with the work of John Cassavetes (the raw emotions of Faces and Husbands, for example, fit perfectly with what's on screen here). The overlapping dialogue and multiple simultaneous conversations reminded me of Robert Altman as well, plus the willingness to just let scenes play out to get from Point A to Point B brought Out 1 to mind.
It's not just the content and the improvisation that make Personal Problems feel so real - the film was also shot on video, which gives it a distinctive home movie look that makes it feel private and makes the viewer feel intrusive for watching everything. The SOV look is far from crisp but it really is a neat look for this type of film. There's also some sort of editing done where character movements presented aren't in line with their actual movements and it's as if you can see the path traveled as something moves between frames. It's a trippy, dreamlike layer that provides a stark contrast to what is otherwise a very grounded and realistic film.
If the runtime seems daunting, don't worry - the film itself is incredibly engrossing and you may get sucked up into the conversations the way I was, but it's also designed for public television and has been split into two parts for these purposes. Indeed, the film feels exactly like the kind of thing you'd stumble into accidentally while channel surfing late at night and you end up not getting any sleep as you just get hooked into everything that's going on. Thanks to a recent restoration, Personal Problems is now pretty easily accessible (I watched it on Kanopy and it's also on Hoopla, if you have either of those services through your public library) and I'm glad I checked it out - it's a uniquely rewarding cinematic experience.
That wraps up my brief thoughts on five films that I'm glad I caught up with over the past month. As always, these aren't definitively my "five favorite films I saw in April" but rather five films I enjoyed that I felt like writing about on this blog. Now it's off to the Chicago Critics Film Festival! Please stay tuned for more future posts coming soon, including a festival recap!
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