Knight at HOME at the Movies
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
In an International Mood
...and these three films -- focusing on Cuban, East Indian, and -- get ready -- Macedonian culture -- certainly satisfied.
...and these three films -- focusing on Cuban, East Indian, and -- get ready -- Macedonian culture -- certainly satisfied.
Andy Garcia’s directing debut Lost City has now arrived on DVD from Magnolia
Entertainment. The film follows the story of three brothers, members of an upper
class family torn asunder by the revolution in their native Cuba in 1959. Garcia
plays the eldest, a nightclub owner and bon vivant whose dazzling club features
amazing production numbers, the first of which opens the picture and introduces us
to the family. Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray have cameos, the first as Meyer
Lansky, the notorious Jewish mobster trying to muscle in on Garcia’s club (in a
scenario and performance that echoes the Hyman Roth-Corleone attempt to move
into Havana in The Godfather Part II). Murray plays a sort of journalist-philosopher
who shows up at odd moments in Garcia’s life to offer advice. Naturally, a tragic
romance ala The Mambo Kings – is thrown into the mix. Though Lost City is a tad
overextended, it’s gorgeously done and worth taking the sultry trip down memory
lane with.
Garcia spent 16 years trying to get the film made and a very interesting, 30+ minute
making of documentary details that. There’s also a nice assortment of deleted
scenes (with the option of commentary) and a good commentary (to be expected)
throughout the film by Garcia, another actor from the film and the movie’s
production designer (who deserves kudos for capturing the bygone era on a tight
budget). Recommended.
Next up is the silly but somewhat fun Chicken Tikka Masala from TLA Releasing.
This would seem to be an East Indian gay version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but is
closer to Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, last year’s Touch of Pink and Bend it Like
Beckham. And no, there are no Bollywood musical numbers (which actually I was
happy about). The story focuses on Jimi who is in love with Jack and for reasons
that I could never figure out, the two live with a large, lusty British lady who’s always
entertaining gentlemen callers and her precocious daughter. Jimi’s family, steeped
in Indian tradition, want him married off within seven days to the beautiful Simran.
Naturally, they have no idea that Jimi is a Nancy boy and that the surly Jack is
anything but his best friend.
This is a very slight but enjoyable comedy and what saved the movie for me – which
does seem a repetition of the much better films from which it seems to have been
derived – is seeing the wonderful Saeed Jaffrey, so memorable in My Beautiful
Laundrette, in a nice supporting role. This – combined with the movies mentioned
above – actually would make for a nice evening of gay movies with an international
flavor.
Finally, something really dark just to round things out. This would be Mirage, from
Picture This! Entertainment. The adolescent Marko, beautiful and a gifted budding
poet, is trapped under layers of brutality. His drunken father constantly harps on his
self effacing mother, his cruel, foul mouthed sluttish sister never gives him a break
and nightly Marko locks himself in the bathroom to escape his horrible home life.
Then there’s the gang of punks that gives him a daily beating for no reason at all.
For awhile, it seems that Marko’s literary teacher, who recognizes his gift, will
become, in The Corn is Green fashion, a way for the young poet to climb out of the
poverty and cruelty of his life. But then fate steps in and Marko meets another
friend – the older, worldly Paris – a young man who he meets at the deserted train
station, another of his refuges. But Paris has no illusions about the world and scorns
Marko’s desire to escape via his artistic gifts and begins to teach him some street
smarts to help him survive. Will art or brutality rule the day? That’s the question
this tough going but well shot and acted film attempts to answer. Those looking for
an intense, foreign drama won’t be disappointed. In Macedonian with subtitles.
Entertainment. The film follows the story of three brothers, members of an upper
class family torn asunder by the revolution in their native Cuba in 1959. Garcia
plays the eldest, a nightclub owner and bon vivant whose dazzling club features
amazing production numbers, the first of which opens the picture and introduces us
to the family. Dustin Hoffman and Bill Murray have cameos, the first as Meyer
Lansky, the notorious Jewish mobster trying to muscle in on Garcia’s club (in a
scenario and performance that echoes the Hyman Roth-Corleone attempt to move
into Havana in The Godfather Part II). Murray plays a sort of journalist-philosopher
who shows up at odd moments in Garcia’s life to offer advice. Naturally, a tragic
romance ala The Mambo Kings – is thrown into the mix. Though Lost City is a tad
overextended, it’s gorgeously done and worth taking the sultry trip down memory
lane with.
Garcia spent 16 years trying to get the film made and a very interesting, 30+ minute
making of documentary details that. There’s also a nice assortment of deleted
scenes (with the option of commentary) and a good commentary (to be expected)
throughout the film by Garcia, another actor from the film and the movie’s
production designer (who deserves kudos for capturing the bygone era on a tight
budget). Recommended.
Next up is the silly but somewhat fun Chicken Tikka Masala from TLA Releasing.
This would seem to be an East Indian gay version of My Big Fat Greek Wedding but is
closer to Ang Lee’s The Wedding Banquet, last year’s Touch of Pink and Bend it Like
Beckham. And no, there are no Bollywood musical numbers (which actually I was
happy about). The story focuses on Jimi who is in love with Jack and for reasons
that I could never figure out, the two live with a large, lusty British lady who’s always
entertaining gentlemen callers and her precocious daughter. Jimi’s family, steeped
in Indian tradition, want him married off within seven days to the beautiful Simran.
Naturally, they have no idea that Jimi is a Nancy boy and that the surly Jack is
anything but his best friend.
This is a very slight but enjoyable comedy and what saved the movie for me – which
does seem a repetition of the much better films from which it seems to have been
derived – is seeing the wonderful Saeed Jaffrey, so memorable in My Beautiful
Laundrette, in a nice supporting role. This – combined with the movies mentioned
above – actually would make for a nice evening of gay movies with an international
flavor.
Finally, something really dark just to round things out. This would be Mirage, from
Picture This! Entertainment. The adolescent Marko, beautiful and a gifted budding
poet, is trapped under layers of brutality. His drunken father constantly harps on his
self effacing mother, his cruel, foul mouthed sluttish sister never gives him a break
and nightly Marko locks himself in the bathroom to escape his horrible home life.
Then there’s the gang of punks that gives him a daily beating for no reason at all.
For awhile, it seems that Marko’s literary teacher, who recognizes his gift, will
become, in The Corn is Green fashion, a way for the young poet to climb out of the
poverty and cruelty of his life. But then fate steps in and Marko meets another
friend – the older, worldly Paris – a young man who he meets at the deserted train
station, another of his refuges. But Paris has no illusions about the world and scorns
Marko’s desire to escape via his artistic gifts and begins to teach him some street
smarts to help him survive. Will art or brutality rule the day? That’s the question
this tough going but well shot and acted film attempts to answer. Those looking for
an intense, foreign drama won’t be disappointed. In Macedonian with subtitles.
