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Thursday 05/21/09

11:30 AM Sundance
Day Night Day Night (2007 USA): I know what you're wondering: is this film Good Bad Good Bad? I'm happy to report that it is. Erm, good, that is. The previously unheralded Luisa Williams (who could pass for the love child of Sarah Palin and Sandra Bernhard) stars as a nameless young woman travelling to the Big Apple's Times Square intending to blow it up (apparently she hadn't heard that Rudy Giuliani already did that). Though occasionally beset by doubts, our young anti-heroine is determined to carry out her mission, the purpose of which remains shrouded in mystery but presumably has nothing to do with urban renewal. The film's apolitical message can be construed as both weakness and strength, as it compels the viewer to pay attention to the effect and disregard the cause - which, frankly, is what the United States has done ever since 9/11. A big hit on the festival circuit, Day Night Day Night is double-plus good.

7:00 PM Sundance
Lynch (2007 DEN): Director David Lynch is the subject of this documentary, which is almost as enigmatic as the subject it celebrates. Shot over the two-year period during which Lynch was working on Inland Empire, the film is far from being your typical "making of" DVD extra, and includes plenty of footage of the filmmaker extolling the virtues of TM, issuing "weather reports", and purposefully misdirecting the men and women filming him. It's all quite interesting and thoroughly maddening - much like the man's own films.

9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
La Bamba (1987 USA): Lou Diamond Philips does a decent job portraying Mexican-American rocker Ritchie Valens in this ever so slightly above average biopic. Born Richard Stanley Valenzuela in the San Fernando Valley town of Pacoima, Valens grew up listening to mariachi music and was playing guitar by the time he was six. Signed out of high school to the local Del-Fi label, Ritchie rocketed to fame before dying in the same plane crash that took Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper. As for the film, it's typical biopic stuff, but the music is wonderful and Philips delivers the best performance of his career. La Bamba co-stars Stray Cat Brian Setzer as Eddie Cochran and Marshall Crenshaw as Buddy Holly, and makes its widescreen television premiere this evening.

Friday 05/22/09

1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Cuba (1979 USA): What's with the one word titles this week? Lawless Loot Fever Lynch Cuba - it sounds like a New York Post headline. Cuba features Sean Connery as Major Robert Dapes, a British mercenary hired by the Batista regime to help its troops fend off Fidel Castro's approaching revolutionary army. Dapes runs into old flame Alexandra (Brooke Adams), with whom he was hot and heavy during a South African sojourn, but she's now married to the spoiled rotten son of a cigar magnate. Directed by Richard Lester, Cuba defies the standard conventions of both romantic melodrama and action genres, and has never been a favorite of Connery's - apparently, he hasn't talked to Lester since! It was also not a favorite with critics, but I rather like it, and David Watkin's cinematography is frequently stunning. A fine supporting cast, including Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, and Water Gotell offers substantial added value.

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