Czech Dream (2003)

Two film school dilettantes embark on a project designed to prove that everyone else is stupid. Their premise is that consumers will believe anything as long as it is presented in a slick advertising campaign. So they create a fictional warehouse store and launch a media blitz promising low prices on everything from TVs to steaks.


On opening day, thousands of people show up hoping to take advantage of the advertised bargains, only to find that the megastore is nothing more than a cloth facade in an empty lot. And this somehow proves the cleverness of the filmmakers.


The amazing thing to this reviewer was the relatively low amount of outrage at the young men; its surprising they weren't forcibly dragged through the weeds. Supposedly this dull and mean-spirited doc is trying to make some comment on how awful it is that Czech society has become so consumerist. Yes, things were much better when Nazi battalions and Soviet tanks roamed the streets of Prague. Grow up.

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Czech Dream (2003)

Two film school dilettantes embark on a project designed to prove that everyone else is stupid. Their premise is that consumers will believe anything as long as it is presented in a slick advertising campaign. So they create a fictional warehouse store and launch a media blitz promising low prices on everything from TVs to steaks.


On opening day, thousands of people show up hoping to take advantage of the advertised bargains, only to find that the megastore is nothing more than a cloth facade in an empty lot. And this somehow proves the cleverness of the filmmakers.


The amazing thing to this reviewer was the relatively low amount of outrage at the young men; its surprising they weren't forcibly dragged through the weeds. Supposedly this dull and mean-spirited doc is trying to make some comment on how awful it is that Czech society has become so consumerist. Yes, things were much better when Nazi battalions and Soviet tanks roamed the streets of Prague. Grow up.

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Kansas City Bomber (1972)

Experience those fabulous 70s with this strangely appealing bit of trashy fluff. Raquel Welch stars as a diva of Roller Derby, a bizarre made-for-TV sport that combined the worst elements of NASCAR and professional wrestling. In 70s liberated style, Welch forsakes home and hearth, leaving her kids (tiny yet still precocious Jodie Foster is one of the brood) with Grandma while she pursues her career.


We become intimately involved in the lives of the various skaters and promoters and Welch's growing fame has profound effects on all of them. This is not a good film by any means but, like munching M&Ms, once you start watching its hard to stop. The film has that grungy, hard-light look that was, if not popular, at least tolerated in the 70s.


Raquel did much of her own skating in this movie, but its pretty obvious when a stunt double was used. Somehow, the double doesn't fill out Welch's team uni in quite the same way. But then, who could?

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Kansas City Bomber (1972)

Experience those fabulous 70s with this strangely appealing bit of trashy fluff. Raquel Welch stars as a diva of Roller Derby, a bizarre made-for-TV sport that combined the worst elements of NASCAR and professional wrestling. In 70s liberated style, Welch forsakes home and hearth, leaving her kids (tiny yet still precocious Jodie Foster is one of the brood) with Grandma while she pursues her career.


We become intimately involved in the lives of the various skaters and promoters and Welch's growing fame has profound effects on all of them. This is not a good film by any means but, like munching M&Ms, once you start watching its hard to stop. The film has that grungy, hard-light look that was, if not popular, at least tolerated in the 70s.


Raquel did much of her own skating in this movie, but its pretty obvious when a stunt double was used. Somehow, the double doesn't fill out Welch's team uni in quite the same way. But then, who could?

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)

In the past decade, Wayne Wang has become a successful big-time Hollywood director and deservedly so. But here he takes a break from the formulaic, mainstream star vehicles of recent history and returns to his roots with the type of picture he does best; a gentle, quiet story of Asian-American culture shock. This family drama of almost entry-level simplicity features Henry O as Mr. Shi, a former communist party functionary, now reduced to plodding pensioner, who makes the journey from China to Spokane, Washington to visit his beautiful and mysterious daughter Yilan (Faye Yu), who some years ago fled Beijing for a new life and a new husband in America.


The husband is long gone, and now Yilan, intensely focused on her work, lives a single life that is far from swingin’. Despite his daughter’s claims to the contrary, the traditionally-minded Shi finds it impossible to believe that an unmarried young woman can live a happy life. He spends much time early in the film furtively rifling through Yilan’s possessions searching for clues as to her true nature, and he feels entirely justified in this intrusion.


After all, in Shi’s mind, as the father he has an undeniable right to know every aspect of her life, regardless of the fact that she is pushing 40. This cultural and generational clash lies at the heart of the film, and it is quite interesting to watch the subtle, yet poignant emotional tug-of war between Shi and Yilan, as seemingly every day he finds a new way to assault her personal boundaries.


Ultimately, Shi’s insistence forces a confrontation that shows us how deception is deeply ingrained in this family’s history. While this synopsis makes the film sound melodramatic, Wang’s special talent for creating believable family dynamics gives the film a low key, naturalistic edge and allows us to focus on the internals of this deeply human story

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A Thousand Years of Good Prayers (2007)

In the past decade, Wayne Wang has become a successful big-time Hollywood director and deservedly so. But here he takes a break from the formulaic, mainstream star vehicles of recent history and returns to his roots with the type of picture he does best; a gentle, quiet story of Asian-American culture shock. This family drama of almost entry-level simplicity features Henry O as Mr. Shi, a former communist party functionary, now reduced to plodding pensioner, who makes the journey from China to Spokane, Washington to visit his beautiful and mysterious daughter Yilan (Faye Yu), who some years ago fled Beijing for a new life and a new husband in America.


The husband is long gone, and now Yilan, intensely focused on her work, lives a single life that is far from swingin’. Despite his daughter’s claims to the contrary, the traditionally-minded Shi finds it impossible to believe that an unmarried young woman can live a happy life. He spends much time early in the film furtively rifling through Yilan’s possessions searching for clues as to her true nature, and he feels entirely justified in this intrusion.


After all, in Shi’s mind, as the father he has an undeniable right to know every aspect of her life, regardless of the fact that she is pushing 40. This cultural and generational clash lies at the heart of the film, and it is quite interesting to watch the subtle, yet poignant emotional tug-of war between Shi and Yilan, as seemingly every day he finds a new way to assault her personal boundaries.


Ultimately, Shi’s insistence forces a confrontation that shows us how deception is deeply ingrained in this family’s history. While this synopsis makes the film sound melodramatic, Wang’s special talent for creating believable family dynamics gives the film a low key, naturalistic edge and allows us to focus on the internals of this deeply human story

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Tropical Malady (2005)

As a filmmaker, Apitchatpong Weerasathakul doesn't do a damn thing like you're supposed to. His movies have no plot, no acting, no beginning, no middle and no end. He does long, slow dolly shots of trees and bushes. You're supposed to do long, slow dolly shots of actors expressing deep emotions, not trees and bushes. Who the hell wants to see trees and bushes?


A.W. loves trees and bushes. He loves sounds and shapes and colors. And rain. He is absolutely nuts about rain. He is only interested in people when they are doing the most boring and mundane things imaginable. A man looking at shoes is a major cinematic event to Apitchatpong Weerasathakul. He will begin telling a story, in this film it's a sort of a gay romance, then get sidetracked by looking at trees and bushes and listening to rain. The story may pick up again later on, or it may not...there's a pretty field of green grass over there...lets film that for a while. Wait...set up the dolly...we'll do a dolly shot of the grass. What the hell is he filming now?...ok here are some guys in a hut...they are supposed to be witch doctors or something. Give up.


Resistance is futile. Apitchatpong Weerasathakul does not make films for the logical mind. His films can only be experienced as random sensory input. You must get in his car and let him drive you wherever he wants to go using whatever route he wants to take. The audience has no say in the proceedings. He doesn't care one bit about what you think so shut up. He is like the kid in Art School who forgot to become a cynical money grubber. People persist in calling his films experimental because that is the only way a logical mind can make sense of his oddball constructions. Weerasathakul's films are not experimental in the least. He knows exactly what he is doing. He does not make films for you and me. He makes them for himself. Love'em or hate'em...he couldn't care less. And speaking of oddballs, he's got big, brass ones.

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