Los Angeles Film Festival 2009: HUMPDAY, PASSENGER SIDE, EMBODIMENT OF EVIL
Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard in Humpday (top); Embodiment of Evil (middle); Joel Bissonnette, Adam Scott in Passenger Side (bottom)
A few highlights today at the Los Angeles Film Festival, currently being held (mostly) in the Westwood Village and at the Westside’s Landmark theater complex. The festival runs until June 28.
Among today’s highlights are:
- Passenger Side, one of the recommendations in the L.A. Weekly, which describes the Canadian dramatic comedy as "literate, amusing and unexpectedly moving." Written and directed by Matthew Bissonnette, the film follows two brothers — struggling writer Adam Scott and ex-junkie Joel Bissonnette (Matthew’s brother) — on a road trip throughout the Los Angeles area.
- Stella, about a streetwise 11-year-old girl who finds herself as a fish-out-of-water in an upper-class school, was one of Guillaume Depardieu’s last film appearances. Directed by Sylvie Verheyde.
- Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche mixes labor relations and religion in the social dramatic comedy Adhen, set in the outskirts of Paris.
- Lynn Shelton’s Humpday caused quite a stir at Sundance 2009. In this comedy, two buds (Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard) decide to submit a film to a local "art porn" festival. Said film will show them doing one another. Needless to say, deep soul-searching ensues.
- Embodiment of Evil sounds like the embodiment of gross-out camp, with veteran Brazilian actor-auteur José Mojica Marins as the meanest living dead of them all, Zé do Caixão (Coffin Joe).
The film info/synopses below are from the LA festival’s website.
Adhen / Dernier Maquis (Landmark 8, 4:30pm)
"In this visually striking film about religious observances and living wages, writer-director Rabah Ameur-Zaïmeche also stars as the owner of an industrial pallet and truck repair yard on the outskirts of Paris. Nicknamed ‘Mao’ by his employees—largely Arab and African Muslim immigrants—he likes to do what he can to keep everyone happy and productive, as long as it doesn’t affect his bottom line. The delicate accord between labor and management goes awry when, in a gesture meant to emphasize the connection between devotion to Allah and a good work ethic, Mao converts an unused portion of the yard into an ad hoc mosque. But instead of placating the workers, Mao’s efforts simply turn the heat up on some long simmering resentments that, to his surprise, are about to boil over." (Doug Jones)
Stella (Landmark 4, 7:15pm)
"It’s 1977, and 11-year-old Stella Vlaminck is handed a lucky break when she’s randomly assigned to a prestigious secondary school in an affluent area of Paris. But the working-class Stella is more streetwise than booksmart, and she is shunned by her new classmates who view her cheap clothes and academic struggles with disdain. Meanwhile, her home life consists of poker, pinball, pop music, and an odd menagerie of damaged adults. Her parents run a rooming house and rowdy café frequented by ex-cons, drunkards, and prostitutes, where she witnesses nightly barroom brawls and the never-ending drama of her romantically-troubled parents.
"Stella seems destined to follow in the footsteps of her barmaid mother until she befriends Gladys, the daughter of Argentine-Jewish intellectuals, who exposes her to literature and a whole new world of possibilities."
Passenger Side (The Regent, 10 pm)
"Saddled with his own frustrations, the last thing Michael wants to do is spend the day driving his recovering addict of a brother Tobey around Los Angeles. There’s too much history between them, and Michael has his doubts about his brother’s sobriety. Nevertheless, he agrees to pick Tobey up, but when a morning of harmless errands turns out to be an all-day commute from one end of Los Angeles county to another with each stop more mysterious than the last, Michael demands to know what exactly is going on. When he gets his answer, he realizes his day just got a lot more complicated."
Humpday (Mann Festival Theater, 10 pm)
"Nostalgia for the good ol’ days crashes into the white picket fence of Ben’s married life when his old buddy Andrew, a vagabond artist, unexpectedly shows up. Ben eagerly relives the carefree youth with his bro while trying to be sensitive to his wife who is more concerned with procreation than recreation these days. Drunk and stoned at a party, the dudes challenge themselves to do each other on film to enter an amateur ‘art’ porn festival. The next morning the idea, far from being dismissed, actually transforms into something bigger. For Ben it’s one last hurrah before he puts on father square pants for good, while Andrew simply needs to follow through with something for once in his life."
Embodiment of Evil / Encarnação do Demônio (Majestic Crest, 10:30 pm)
"’I will conceive my perfect son even if it means imploding the cosmos!’ vows murderer Coffin Joe, the dramatically caped and fingernailed antihero of Brazilian director/star José Mojica Marins four decade-spanning trilogy. After 40 years in the pen, he’s set loose in the favelas where the local gangsters’ kill-or-be-killed bravado is woefully inadequate. As Coffin Joe, still haunted by his exes, gobbles up the neighborhood virgins on his quest for fatherhood.
"With its anything-goes gore, Embodiment of Evil is a midnight movie for cineastes, who will take as much delight from Marins’ classic horror references as his imaginative tortures, including a nasty scene that might spoil your appetite for melted cheese. Marins’ slashers are the wicked spawn of Guy Maddin and Mario Bava — their look is artificial high camp, their blood thick and flowing, in one scene spilling in heavy sheets over the aged Coffin Joe as he deflowers a beauty literally under her aunts’ dead bodies. While it serves up a buffet of topless cuties, the main course is Marins’ demonic Coffin Joe. Petulant, self-pitying, and vengeful, he’s as hilarious as he is cruel."
Subscribe / Syndicate
1 Comment
Tags: Adam Scott, Embodiment of Evil, Film Festivals, Guillaume Depardieu, Joshua Leonard, Los Angeles Film Festival, Los Angeles Film Festival 2009, Los Angeles Screenings, Mark Duplass, Matthew Bissonnette, Passenger Side
Comments
One Response to “Los Angeles Film Festival 2009: HUMPDAY, PASSENGER SIDE, EMBODIMENT OF EVIL”
Leave a Reply
NOTE:
All comments are moderated and may take some time before they are posted. Different views and opinions are welcome, but courtesy is imperative. Rude/crass/bigoted comments and name-calling of any sort will be immediately deleted.
Also, please be aware that the Alternative Film Guide has no contact information for the talent mentioned in this blog and no information pertaining to or access to distributors'/producers' film prints.
#1 Hits of the 60’s Show Branson Missouri is excited to be a part of the documentary “Branson” which premiers on Sunday June 21st at the LA Film Festival. #1 Hits of the 60’s Show in Branson is a two hour full production show on stage with a cast and band who bring to life the 60’s Decade through music, dance, comedy and unique video segments.For information about the #1 Hits of the 60’s Show in Branson MO go to http://www.1hitsofthe60s.com.