Eyes at the Specter Glass: A Cosmic Horror is a visual and auditory experience that requires your patience, your passivity and your attention. Set in the cosmos, this short film is composed of shifting and moving shapes that start off in black and white and then morph into beautiful blues, pinks and purples. If I were ever abducted by aliens, I can only imagine it would look, sound and feel a little like this. This film envelopes you in darkness, light and sound. There is no overstimulation here. Everything is gradual and paced to allow you to soak everything in.
This 11-1/2 minute short film is directed, animated and scored by Matthew Wade with music mastering by Jacob Kinch. According to Wade, Eyes at the Specter Glass is about the “perception of reality and how we catalog life events through memory, bias and time.” The macrocosm of the universe is told through the perspective of the individual.
Eyes at the Specter Glass is an experience worth your while if you allow yourself to submit to it. I could see this film as an installation at a museum, as long as it could be viewed in an enclosed space.
“You are entering the realm of the clandestine and forgotten. A split screen caught between channels.”
Set in 1950s New Mexico, The Vast of Night follows two teens as they uncover a secret frequency that reveals an otherworldly presence in their small town. On the night of Cayuga High School’s basketball game, Everett (Jake Horowitz) the local radio DJ who has a knack for technologies, meets up with Fay (Sierra McCormick), a switchboard operator. Fay asks Everett to teach her how to use a tape recorder. Fay hears a strange noise coming from one of the phone lines and she captures the sound on tape. When Everett plays it on the air, the two learn that something is amiss in their community. Billy (Bruce Davis), a retired military worker and Mabel (Gail Cronauer), a homebound widow, both reach out to Everett with their stories of secret military experiments and extraterrestrials. Everett and Fay are on the run to uncover the truth behind these stories and why the aliens are targeting their hometown.
Directed by Andrew Patterson and written by James Montague and Craig W. Sanger, The Vast of Night is a dialogue driven drama. Rapid-fire chatter mixed with slow, methodical storytelling drive the plot forward. Not much happens in the way of action and the story’s tension comes from increased paranoia and the uncovering of a supernatural mystery.
“The Vast of Night an exercise in people telling stories to each other. Drawing you in detail by detail.”
director Andrew Patterson
While the dialogue is key to the film, I found there to be too much of it. Cut away 25% of the chatter, especially in the beginning of the film, and I wouldn’t have felt like I was drowning in dialogue. The real appeal for me was the science fiction element with an emphasis on mid-20th century technology: radios, tape recorders, audio reels, switchboards, telephones, etc. There is also retrofuturistic vibe with the discussion of the year 2000 and “electronic highway control.” All the characters wear period appropriate clothing and vintage glasses. Some of the scenes are filtered through a blue-tinted television screen adding to the retro vibe. McCormick and Horowitz were convincing as the curious, technology loving and seemed plucked right out of the 1950s.
The Vast of Night will appeal to fans of The Invasion of the Body Snatchers and The Twilight Zone. The heavy dialogue can be exhausting but if you have the patience to get through it you’ll be rewarded at the end.
Transgender people do not exist in a vacuum. Not only does the transition mean a painful rebirth for the individual but its also a harbinger of big change for the people in their lives. And when there is a spouse and children to contend to, how will this major life shift affect them?
The Israeli documentary Family in Transition tells the story of the Tsuk family living in a conservative Jewish community in the coastal city of Nahariya. Amit and his wife Galit have been married 20 years and known each other for 27. They’re incredibly close bond deepens when Amit reveals to Galit that he is a woman and wants to transition. Galit and their four children are supportive of Amit as he transitions. We follow their journey from Amit’s birthday party, to daughter Agam’s Bat Mitzvah to Galit and Amit’s ceremony as they renew their vows and remarry as women. It’s a two year process from Amit’s revelation, to the hormone treatment, to the gender reassignment surgery in Thailand and to the wedding vows. This is a portrait of a beautiful marriage and a close knit family supporting their own through a difficult time.
But the Tsuk family’s story doesn’t end here. Something shifts for Galit when she feels taken for granted and can’t find the emotional balance in her marriage with Amit that she craves. You can only give so much of yourself before you’re going to need to take something back. This is where life for the Amit and Galit takes a sharp and unexpected turn. Their journey begs the question, who do you want to be?
Family in Transition was directed by Ofir Trainin and premiered at this year’s DOC NYC. This fascinating documentary is not afraid to tackle some harsh truths about gender dynamics within the family sphere. The sudden shift in the Tsuk’s journey was surprising and revelatory. Going into it in more detail would spoil the film for those unfamiliar with the story. Trainin had this to say about the film in the official director’s statement:
“The main goal of Family in Transition is to expose a unique family that can teach us all how to accept the difference in one another. The Tsuk family breaks social conventions and helps change what we though we knew about gender, partiy, parenthood and transgender issues… By embracing the different, I hope we can work towards creating a world where transgender people can live a normal life and be accepted by their community.”
Family in Transition will open in Los Angeles on November 16th and in New York on November 23rd.
I encourage you to read transgender film critic Danielle Solzman’s excellent review of this film.
A Star is Born
dir. Bradley Cooper
Starring Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga
Review:
Before I begin my review of A Star is Born (2018) I would like to acknowledge the movies that came before it:
What Price Hollywood? (1932)
Constance Bennett, Lowell Sherman A Star is Born (1937)
Janet Gaynor, Fredric March A Star is Born (1954)
Judy Garland, James Mason A Star is Born (1976)
Barbra Streisand, Kris Kristofferson
Hollywood has a long tradition of revisiting and remaking its own stories. A Star is Born has evolved over the past 80+ years from a story about actors to a story about musicians. But the essence has stayed the same. What happens when an established star, on the path towards self-destruction, meets an unknown talent and falls in love? Out of the ashes of one career comes the genesis of another. A star is born.
Having seen all of the previous versions, I came to this latest iteration of A Star is Born ready to compare it to all of those other movies. And you know what, Cooper’s movie holds its own.
There are many ways in which Cooper’s A Star is Born improves upon the previous versions as well as makes this classic story relatable to a new audience. These added layers enhanced the overall story.
The relationship between Jackson and Ally is fleshed out more and their physical attraction to each other is palpable. While the 1937 version is still my favorite, Gaynor and March’s romance is tender but there is no sexual chemistry there. And there is no chemistry at all between James Mason and Judy Garland in the 1954 version. Fast forward to 1976 and we get a bit of chemistry with Kristofferson and Streisand (but it didn’t help that they didn’t get along in real life). In the 2018 version Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper helps us understand not only why Jackson and Ally were attracted to each other but what drew them together as artists and as individuals. It’s a more well-rounded portrait of a romantic relationship.
In addition to Jackson Maine’s drinking problem, he as degenerative hearing loss which adds another layer of drama to his tragedy.
SEMI-SPOILER: Jackson Maine’s suicide is depicted differently than in the previous versions and the method is more relevant to the conversation regarding suicide today. Also there is an added element that serves as a gut punch to the audience.
Pays homage to previous versions including the one last look/goodbye, the bathtub scene from the 1976 version, this is Mrs. Jackson Maine, etc.
Ally and Jackson Maine collaborate in their live performances and song writing. We see the pairs in the previous versions work together to some extent but it’s more substantial here. The mentor-student relationship here is key until Ally outgrows her need for Jackson’s guidance.
Lady Gaga’s Ally and Bradley Cooper’s Jackson Maine are presented fairly equally. The 1954 version is a Judy Garland showcase and the 1976 is meant to highlight Barbra Streisand, even though Kristofferson gets some good screen time too. It was more even handed in the 2018 which to me seemed more true to the 1937 version with Gaynor and March being almost equal counterparts in the story.
Lady Gaga shows true vulnerability in her performance as Ally which is not something I got from Gaynor, Garland or Streisand. Or even Bennett. All are superb actresses who deliver on their own vision for the part but Gaga’s Ally felt the most real to me.
Added characters like Andrew Dice Clay as Ally’s father and Dave Chapelle as Jackson’s best friend are great for enhancing our understanding of the two main leads. Ally’s relationship with her father shows us that she’s always been taking care of the men in her life. Jackson’s best friend sticks by him through the worst further showing us how difficult it is to have someone in your life who is completely self-destructing.
Anthony Ramos as Ally’s BFF can be seen as a call back to the 1937 version where Gaynor’s Lester has a close friend, played by Andy Devine, who has been there for her since the beginning and see her through ups and downs. Sam Elliott’s Bobby takes the manager role to a deeper level with Bobby and Jackson as brothers. The added family dynamic enhances the drama. The two brothers have their own A Star is Born storyline with Bobby’s failed musical career.
Garland, Streisand and Lady Gaga are all icons in the gay community. In this new film, it pays homage to that with Gaga’s Ally performing La Vie en Rose in a nightclub. She’s the only female in a line-up of drag queens and it’s at this point where Ally and Jackson meet. At the A Star is Born Press Conference at TIFF, Lady Gaga proclaimed “I wouldn’t be here without the gay community.”
A Star is Born (2018) has a lot to offer movie-going audiences. When I watched it at TIFF I was blown away by the stellar performances and the original takes on the story. I left telling myself “this is what a movie should be.” It should be an experience, one that touches your heart and makes you swell with emotion. This is all in addition to the amazing music performed and in part written by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga. These are the types of songs that give you goose bumps and take your breath away.
A Star is Born (2018) hits theaters October 5th.
I attended a press and industry screening as well as a press conference for A Star is Born at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
Wash Westmoreland’s biopic follows Colette (Keira Knightley) from the age of 18 to 34; the pivotal years when she was married to writer Henry Gauthier-Villars, also known by his nom de plume Willy (Dominic West). Colette starts her married life as a dutiful wife, helping Willy out with his business which involves hiring writers to create stories to be published under his name. Willy is a complete cad, spending the family finances on prostitutes, in gambling dens and treating others to expensive meals. When Colette tries her hand at some writing to help Willy out, the Claudine novels are born. Published under Willy’s name and not hers, these stories become the toast of Paris. As Colette begins to discover her authentic self, Willy finds himself losing control over her. We follow Colette’s trajectory from spunky country girl to fully realized woman and creator. She comes into her sexuality discovering her physical attraction to women. As Colette and Willy’s relationship falls apart, she falls for Missy (Denise Gough), a woman defying society by presenting as a man. Through her personal and professional relationship with Missy, Colette blossoms and finds the strength within herself to live courageously.
“My name is Claudine, I live in Montigny; I was born there in 1884; I shall probably not die there.”
The first line of Claudine are repeated throughout the film as a declaration of identity. And that is what this film, a story about discovering your true self. Colette is a superb character study exploring gender dynamics and politics within the confines of deeply entrenched double standards. The real life Colette challenged sexual norms while finding her agency. Her message of female empowerment is desperately needed today.
The idea to bringing Colette to the big screen came from Colette herself. In conversation at the Colette press conference at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Westmoreland said he and the late Richard Glatzer found Colette’s story to be “a compelling narrative of a woman creating while a man was taking credit.”
As someone who loves a good period piece, Colette was rich in period detail. The cast wore real costumes of the era and scenes were shot in historic buildings. This imbued the film with a great sense of place and time. The part Colette fits Keira Knightley, no stranger to period pieces, like a glove. At the press conference she proclaimed, “I stood very tall when I played Colette. She was a maverick.” Colette is quite bold for a period piece. Comparing it with the relatively tame period pieces of previous decades, this movie demonstrates that you can still tell a story about the past that is provocative and interesting to contemporary viewers. Westmoreland went on to say, “for a long time period pieces have gotten a reputation for being a kind of safer genre. But I think at the moment there is something happening with period pieces that are radicalizing.”
Westmoreland found many parallels to Colette’s turn-of-the-century France with modern day. It was an era when people were questioning gender roles and women were demanding more access to power. Westmoreland collaborated with screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz, who added the necessary female insights needed for the script. Actress Denise Gough called the casting one of the most progressive that she’d ever been involved with. Westmoreland went on to say:
“With the casting we tried an approach that I don’t believe has really been tried before of having a very inclusive cast. We have trans men playing cisgender characters. We have trans women playing cisgender women. We have an out lesbian actor playing heterosexual. We have our gay actor playing someone who said he was heterosexual, we’re not quite sure. And we have Asian British actors playing characters who were historically white. We have a black actor playing someone who in history was white. And guess what? It all works. And these have been sacred rules for so long…. Colette broke a lot of rules so we though we should too.” – Wash Westmoreland
Colette is in select theaters starting today.
I attended a press and industry screening as well as the press conference for Colette at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival.
