The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye

Marie Losier’s film could have been gone in a lot of directions – it could have been a music documentary about Genesis P. Orrridge, about Throbbing Gristle and Psychic TV. The French filmmaker shot all the necessary things, she interviewed the members of TG and Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers) in the many years of filming.

None of this is in “The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye”, and even if it would have been extremely interesting to watch, it would have completely changed the character of this film which focuses on the romance. Orridge’s music career is explained within a few minutes, and Throbbing Gristle are shown live in one brief scene (non of their music made it onto the soundtrack). Most people, who will watch this movie, know about TG anyway.

But even the concept behind “Pandrogyne” is only explained briefly. After Genesis and Lady Jaye fell in love, they tried to become one – literally. They had the same haircuts, underwent cosmetic surgery, and even both got breast implants on Valentine’s Day 2003. Which was “extremely romantic”, as Genesis put it.

Losier shows glimpses of that and of a European tour with Psychic TV (Lady Jaye became a member despite not wanting to be in a rock band). The director also shows party scenes or everyday stuff – a cut-up, like Genesis P. Orridge prefers it. Which is probably the best way to show the couple anyway.

The Bleeding House

Gelatt’s debut “The Bleeding House” is a nice, but not really surprising serial killer movie. We know something is wrong with the Smiths. A house burned down, people were killed and almost no neighbor ever wants to talk with the parents and their two children again. Even the parents seem to be scared of their daughter Gloria (Alexandra Chando) who is not allowed to go outside or to touch any knives at all.

And then one night Nick shows (Patrick Breen) up – a nice, Christian stranger with only one weird characteristic: his Southern accent. Nick’s car broke down, and even if the Smiths don’t want anybody in their house, they can’t let him sleep outside on this freezing night. And of course things go nasty from here.

“The Bleeding House” is an old-fashioned thriller with a very dark side – if you have ever seen any slasher or horror movie you will be able to figure out where the story goes easily (the way people die is intestering though, hence the title). But anyhow – Gelatt’s debut is enjoyable (even though Breen is a bit too young and not totally convincing in the lead role), a small movie not necessarily for the big screen, but for a stormy Friday night.

Detachment with Adrien Brody

Tony Kaye loves movies about social issues. After “American History X” the British director shot the documentary “Lake of Fire” about abortion, his next movie “Black Water Transit” will deal with environmental issues. And when the opening credits of “Detachment” are over, we know hat director wanted this to be a realistic movie. Kaye lets teachers talk about how they got into their profession.

Whatever enthusiasm and dedication it once was, being a teacher seems like a quick way into depression, substance abuse and cynicism these days. In one scene, which is probably not too far off the truth, a government official explains why he needs the school children to succeed in their next test exams: A low test score brings the market value of the real estate in the area down, while better results could help the business. Did you hear the children being mentioned in this argument? No, you didn’t. And of course there’s no money to help kids reach better results. But of course children and their parents are responsible too: Kids these days are disrespectful, and when in doubt, parents stand by the children, threaten to sue teachers.

But don’t get it wrong: “Detachment” is not an essay on the education. It’s a feature Film with Adrien Brody in the lead role as substitute teacher Henry Barthes and an impressive ensemble (Christina Hendricks, James Caan, Lucy Liu, Marica Gay Harden, etc) in the supporting rolling. And Tony Kaye’s movie is more about a person who is detached from the world than about the school system.

Henry is a substitute teacher – somebody who shows up at a school for a month to teach while the permanent educator is sick or gone for other reasons. It reflects his personality: Henry actually is a person who gives a shit about other people, but he just doesn’t want to commit. He tries to help an over-weight, artistic girl in his English class, he even takes an underage prostitute home to help her (a move that rarely works out). But he also backs off when somebody gets to close to him – and eventually hurts people even more because of this.

There is a sense of loneliness around him which people notice – even his grandfather in a nursery home. A lot of this has to do with the dying man, as we will see. One of the most intense scenes in “Detachment” is the dialogue between Henry and his grandfather in their last scenes – it is as touching as it is disgusting.

“Detachment” is probably one of the most impressive feature-films at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival. The whole cast is amazing – Lucy Liu as the doctor who just had enough of the students, James Caan as the teacher who is still funny, but only because he pops pills on a regular basis. And the main young actresses, the 15 year old Sami Gayle (as the prostitute) and Betty Kaye (as the outcast girl), should both have a promising career. But of course it is Adrien Brodi who impresses the most in this movie which hopefully will be in the theaters soon.

Beyond The Black Rainbow. photo: image.net

“Beyond The Black Rainbow” is either the most compelling movie at the festival this year or one of the most boring – depends on if you are having a good day or a bad one. Don’t try to see this if you are tired, under the influence (especially of things other than alcohol) or if you’re depressed. And don’t say I didn’t warn you about this. But if you have a good day, the movie will easily be one of the most impressive science fiction you have seen in a very long time!

So what is “Beyond The Black Rainbow”? Cosmatos’ movie owes as much to Stanley Kubrick’s “2001″ as to David Cronenberg (think “Scanners” and “Videodrome”) while nodding to David Lynch. Just like in “2001″ a weird object (in this case: a pyramid) plays an integral part. Just like in “Videodrome” a cynical guy (in this case: Dr. Barry Nyle) is one of the lead characters.

“Beyond the Black Rainbow” is set in 1983 – the year “Videodrome” was released -, and if you wouldn’t know that it is a new release, you might think it was shot in the early Eighties. The pictures are grainy like on old televisions and only occasionally have a resolution so high that they have to be shot with modern cameras. The soundtrack is played on old synthesizers like the ones Cronenberg used. The one exception is a song from Venom’s debut “Welcome to Hell”, released in 1981.

Besides this “retro effect”, Cosmatos’ movie is visually stunning. The film maker knows how to use colors and visual effects in his first feature film. Sometimes the pictures are just red, sometimes everything goes dark and occasionally you see beautiful images of clouds or the outer space. For the most part of this 110 minute long movie these images are what you can hold on to while you try to figure out what is happening.

So what is “Beyond The Black Rainbow” about? Well, I give you this much without giving away too much: It’s about a girl Elena, who is 16 years old and who is either in solitary confinement or in therapy. Dr. Barry Nyle, himself cynical and depressive, is treating her until she is ready for the world. Not that this day seem to come anytime soon…

Only a few more characters appear: Dr Arboria, the founded of the institute where the girl is treated, a nurse, and a woman who is living with Nyle. And despite that small amount of persons who appear here, their relationship is much more complicated.

And here’s where I urge you to stop reading if you still want to see the movie. You are ready? Okay – then this is what I think is the story behind the movie.

Elena’s mother was killed by Nyle in 1966, just when the baby was born. Arboria and his assistant Nyle are trying to start a new form of human kind, and Elena is supposed to be the first of this kind. After all, she does have “super powers” (think “Scanners”). So who is the father? Arboria I assume, although I assume that Nyle had a relationship with the Elena’s mother. I might be totally wrong with this though – and if anybody has a better idea, let me know!

Kalevet (Rabies) - photo: image.net

The setting: some woods somewhere in Israel, full of old landmines, bear traps and a serial killer. The cast: a brother and sister who ran away from home, four young tennis players, two horny cops, a ranger and a sadist killer.

Just don’t expect that the events unfold as you expect them to. Anything in here can be misleading. The movie starts as a typical slasher film, but changes its direction every ten minutes. The only thing for certain is that the woods let people show their violent side – expect a pretty high boy count, considering that the movie only has a dozen characters in total.

“Rabies” by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado claims to be Israel’s first horror movie. It isn’t really though: Besides some scenes which are as funny as brutal, the two directors clearly prefer “Picnic at Hanging Rock” over the traditional slasher film. Be warned: This might be disappointing!

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne

There’s different ways to see the movie, directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli. “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne” tells the story of the singer, the madman (and drug-addict) and the family-man – the later being the most interesting of them all. And of course they all belong together.

Ozzy, the musician: Not surprisingly the movie isn’t able to reveal a lot. Together with Black Sabbath the singer wrote some of the most anthemic titles ever released in (heavy) rock. “Paranoid”, “War Pigs” and “Iron Man”, all released on the second album, are monuments of music – and these titles are just examples. “Crazy Train”, from “The Blizzard of Oz”, is one of the impressive tracks of his Post-Sabbath era. Interestingly though, the movie basically doesn’t mention any subsequent releases. But it does show Ozzy’s routine before a gig, including working-out, warming up his vocal cords (a very intimate procedure) and praying.

Ozzy, the madman and drug-addict – wow, did he live up to these descriptions. Even Tommy Lee, member of the notorious Mötley Crüe, thought Osbourne was too much. One day both Ozzy and the Mötley Crüe members sat at the pool at some hotel, trying to outdo each other. Vince Neil pissed on the ground and licked his own urine, but Ozzy beat him – by licking Neil’s urine. Later that day, Ozzy made a No. 2 in his hotel room and smeared the feces on the walls. “I am down with using the toilet,” Tommy Lee comments.

The drug habit started early – when Black Sabbath recorded “Vol. 4″, the band got “cereal boxes full of cocaine delivered to the studio”. Later on, the drug abuse got Ozzy fired from Black Sabbath. In one scene the singer looks at all the videos he did in the Eighties – he can’t remember any of them. “I was fed up with me being fucked up all the time,” Osbourne explained during the press conference for “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne” why he finally got (and stayed) sober a few years ago.

But a lot had to happen until Ozzy got to that point – including one attempt to kill his wife Sharon. The singer woke up in jail, not knowing what got him there. This is the most touching part of “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne”.

The movie tells in brutal honesty how the singer destroyed his first marriage and how he left his children alone. “When he was around and wasn’t drunk, he was a great father,” his first son explains. The truth is, he barely was around and almost never sober. All the three children he has with Sharon admit that their dad was never around when they needed him. How devastating must it be to hear this on a big movie screen? Ozzy still has trouble remembering things – when the filmmakers ask him when his first daughter was born, he answers “in 1971 or 1972″. He has to look it up.

Ozzy regrets that he never had a real conversation with his father, a hard working man who made the original crosses for Black Sabbath. He was to wasted to be able to talk, and then his dad died.

The singer admits that it was shocking to see “what an asshole I’ve been in the past. You don’t realize how bad you are.” In the press conference he explained that he isn’t proud of his behavior. “But it’s part of my life.” And he deserves a lot of respect for not trying to cover this up in the movie.

It seems like he came to terms with his life and personality. After four decades he is finally able to do what he always wanted to – he got a driver’s license (after 19 attempts). What the movie doesn’t tell: He crashed his Ferrari the day after he bought it.

Also read “What an asshole I’ve been – Ozzy Osbourne about “God Bless Ozzy”

God Bless Ozzy Osbourne

The film – directed by Mike Fleiss and Mike Piscitelli and produced by Ozzy’s son Jack – is a very honest and open account of the four decades of stardom. “God Bless Ozzy Osbourne” even mentions the one time when the singer tried to strangle his wife Sharon – Osbourne later woke up in jail, not knowing how he ended up there. “You don’t realize how bad you are,” he said during the press conference and added that he wanted his son to show “the real story.” “I am not proud of what the things I have been doing. But it’s part of my life.”

“God Bless Ozzy Osbourne” was shot within two years and tells the story from Ozzy’s poverty-stricken, working-class youth outside of Birmingham to him now being sober and “finally grown-up” (as his wife Sharon puts it). It talks about his long fight about his drug abuse (during the recording of “Volume 4″ the band got cereal boxes full of cocaine delivered to the studio), his struggling family life and about him finally becoming sober. “I was fed up with m being fucked up all the time.”

Of course the famous “bat incident” (Osbourne bit the head off a bat one time, not knowing it was real) is mentioned too, although the singer is tired of telling the story over and over again. It made him infamous in the Eighties though – a circus director at Madison Square Garden in New York even told him to stay away from his lions, fearing for the life of his predators.

The singer finally is sober now – and accomplished the thing he wanted to do for four decades: getting his driver’s licenses. The first thing he did? “My dad got a Ferrari and crashed it the next day.”

Also read “Ozzy Osbourne, the rockstar. And the family man? Not so much”, a review of the documentary

Vitali und Wladimir Kitschko. Foto: image.net

Knapp zwei Jahre, bis zum vergangenen März, hat Dehnhardt Vladimir und Witali beobachtet; er traf sich mit ehemaligen Trainern, Boxerkollegen wie Chris Byrd und Lennox Lewis, vor allem aber mit den Eltern des Bruderpaares. Insbesondere die Mutter spielt, wie sich zeigt, eine entscheidende Rolle im Leben der Klitschkos.

Die Bilder, die Dehnhardt (“Das Wunder von Dresden”) und sein Kameramann Johannes Imdahl eingefangen haben, beeindrucken: Das Team reiste extra ins Hinterland der ehemaligen Sowjetunion oder nach Tschernobyl, um das Leben der Brüder zu dokumentieren. “Klitschko” ist für die große Leinwand bestimmt, nicht nur für RTL oder das ZDF, für das der Regisseur ansonsten regelmäßig arbeitet.

Interessant ist “Klitschko” vor allem, wenn es um die Jugendjahre der Brüder geht. Der Vater war in der sowjetischen Armee, die Familie zog ständig um, und vor allem Vitali musste sich immer wieder aufs Neue gegen hänselnde Mitschüler durchsetzen und dabei auf seinen kleinen Bruder aufpassen. Diesen Beschützer-Instinkt merkt man ihm noch heute an, wie sich in dem Film zeigt.

Wladimir wiederum spricht besseres Deutsch, er wirkt reflektierter als sein Bruder, der in seiner Jugend auch schon mal zu derben Späßen neigte. Als Vitali einmal auf einer Militärbasis eine alte Mine findet, legt er sie unters Bett der Eltern – von solchen Scherzen reden wir.

Als sich in Tschernobyl der Super-GAU ereignet, ist der Vater in Kiew stationiert und muss täglich Einsätze fliegen. Die Kinder erleben hautnah mit, wie die Soldaten gegen das Unglück ankämpfen (vermutlich spielen sie sogar in radioaktiv verseuchten Pfützen, erzählt Wladimir). Der Vater erkrankt Jahrzehnte später an Krebs – eine Spätfolge Tschernobyls.

Amüsant auch, wie Vitali erstmals zu einem Kampf nach Florida reist. Das ehemalige Feindesland erweist sich als ausgesprochen reizvoll. “Ich hätte einen Eimer Cola trinken können”, erzählt Vitali, der damals gerade einmal 90 Kilogramm wog und nicht annähernd die heutige Statur hatte. Auch die Eltern, die damals noch überzeugt waren, dass ihrem Sohn nur eine nette Ecke der ansonsten heruntergekommenen USA gezeigt wurde, überwintern heute gerne in Florida.

Dehnhardts Film ist schwächer, wenn es um die eigentliche Boxer-Karriere geht. Vieles – wie die Verletzungen, die die beiden zu Beginn immer wieder zurückwarfen – ist bekannt. Auch dass die Mutter (die sich nie einen Kampf anguckt) ihren Jungs das Versprechen abgenommen hat, niemals gegeneinander zu kämpfen, wurde schon oft geschrieben. Kritische Fragen bleiben aus – etwa, warum die Klitschkos nicht gegen stärkere Gegner kämpfen.

Immerhin aber kann der Film hier mit einigen beindruckenden Zeitlupen punkten, die zeigen, wie brutal und gefährlich Schwergewichtsboxen ist. Einmal zeigt Dehnhardt in parallelen Einstellungen, wie Wladimir im Ring boxt und Vitali ihn von der Seite antreibt. Solche Einstellen hätte man sich häufiger gewünscht.

Andere Themen schneidet der Regisseur nur kurz oder gar nicht an: Das politische Engagement (Vitali bewarb sich mehrfach als Bürgermeister in Kiew) wird schnell abgehandelt, Dehnhardt erwähnt zudem nur kurz, dass der ältere Bruder 2010 das Bundesverdienstkreuz erhalten hat. Und die Klitschkos als Geschäftsleute und Werbeträger kommen gar nicht vor. Der Film hätte durch diese Aspekte gewonnen.

“Klitschko” ist angesichts der beeindruckenden Bilder ein Punktsieg (vor allem aus der Sicht von Boxfans), einen überzeugenden K.O.-Treffer landet Dehnhardt nicht. Aber wann haben die Klitschkos das letzte Mal wirklich beeindruckend im Ring gesiegt?

Jerry Ensminger in "Semper Fi: Always Faithful". Photo: image.net

Jerry’s daughter Janey died of a rare form of leukemia when she was nine years old. “The question why (she died) never goes away,” Ensminger explains. In 1997 the ex-marine finally finds an answer: When the child was conceived, Ensminger and his wife lived on the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. For decades the water was polluted with TCE (Trichloroethylene), PCE (Perchloroethylene) and Benzene.

Thousands of people lived on Camp Lejeune, until the contamination was finally discovered in the early Eighties. But the Department of Defense tried to cover this up, despite dozens of cases of leukemia and various forms of cancer, including the rare male breast cancer. It truly needed somebody like Ensminger to help the victims. As it turns out, the Department of Defense is America’s largest polluter

“Semper Fi” impresses because it shows regular people – people who believe in the Army and in their country, people with a thick Southern accent who live the motto of the Marine Corps (“Semper Fi” means “Always Faithful”). These aren’t “weird” environmentalists from New England or California. It almost makes their fight for their case more valid.

Some of the stories Rachel Libert and Tony Hardmon tell are very tragic: A woman, a marine as her father, dies way too young of cancer – and way too early for her family to receive any support. And nobody can bring Janey, whose death is still a huge pain in Ensminger’s life, back. But at least there seems to be a little bit of a “happy end”: In 2010 a law, named after Janey Ensminger was introduced, which would help the victims of the contamination.

The Journals of Musan. Photo: Image.net

Jeon Seung-chul tried three different ideologies – and none of them really worked. He lived in North Korea, where he was sometimes so hungry he even did a bad thing (as we learned later in the movie). He managed to get away through China and made it to South Korea.

But capitalism doesn’t treat him well either. “We risked our lives to get out of North Korea,” one guy says, “only to make a few dollars per hour in South Korea.” Four dollars, that seems to be the going rate, for North Koreans. Capitalism doesn’t really need unskilled workers anymore – not even in South Korea, not even if they are from the other part of the country.

But to be fair: Seung-chul (who is played by the director, Park Jungbum) isn’t really doing well, neither when he puts up posters around the city, nor when he finally finds a new job, working in a karaoke bar.

He tries another ideology – religion. But christianity doesn’t help him either, not even when it comes to finding new friends. Seung-chul is a pretty lonely guy who can’t really connect. His roommate is a traitor who helps other North Koreans sending money to their relatives and who charges a high commission for it. He likes a girl in the church choir (whom he only knows from a distance). But when he finally meets her at the Karaoke bar (where she also works, even though it’s a shady business), he isn’t able to open up to her.

His only friend is a little puppy somebody left behind on the street – Seung-chul already knew him and shared his fast-food lunches with him. But somehow the dog has to suffer when Seung-chul finally does better (although this has to do with some activity his priest would not approve).

“The Journals of Musan” have been highly praised in Korea; the movie won two awards at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival. The movie “perfectly balances its cinematic values with contemporary political issues and becomes a witness of our times from artistic, psychological and social aspects”, the International Federation of Film Critics wrote. Politics play a minor role in “The Journals of Musan” though – surprising for a movie that deals with refugees from North Korea.

The movie leaves a lot of open questions though. The main one: Park Jungbum dedicates his movie to the “late Jeon Seung-chul”. Is this a real life story? And if so – what happened to Jeon Seung-chul? Too bad that these questions aren’t answered.