Abel Ferrara is not Mel Gibson. Ferrara was raised in the Bronx and worked his way up to features through small budget films with titles like The Driller Killer and Ms. 45. After The King of New York in 1990, however, critics and viewers alike began to take serious notice of this anarchic and conflicted filmmaker.

Mary picks up where the The Passion of the Christ left off. Jesus has been resurrected and walks into a cave to be among his followers. There, he finds Mary Magdalene and comforts her. A tearful Mary cowers in his presence until Jesus shouts “Cut!“Â?.

Jesus of Nazareth is revealed to be Tony Childress of New York City (Matthew Modine), a film director, sometimes actor, and profound egoist, filming his own version of the Christ story titled “This Is my Blood“Â?. Mary is Marie Palesi (Juliette Binoche), and unlike her director, she is completely caught up in her role, so much so that she abandons the film set and follows her visions to Jerusalem.

Back in New York, Childress makes a Faustian bargain with Christian talk show host Ted Younger (Forest Whitaker) to promote his film, even as the director begins to doubt the sincerity of his own vision. Childress is clearly a thinly-veiled Ferrara: severly focused and outlandishly rude, yet his character achieves a kind of redemption as we witness his humble and thoughtful portrayal of Jesus.

Unlike Gibson’s stark portrayal of historical figures who march resolutely to their destiny, all of Ferrara’s characters are torn and struggle to resolve their relationship to and with the Almighty. Like the people who inhabit the story, the movie itself is multi-layered; in addition to the film-within-a-film that is being constructed and deconstructed before our eyes, much of the main story is also told through newsreel footage and talk show chatter. What is left may reveal more questions than it answers, but in that way the story is much like faith itself.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Monday, August 28th, 2006

“Another World. Another Time. In the Age of Wonder. A thousand years ago, this land was green and good…until the Crystal cracked. A single piece was lost, a shard of the Crystal. Then strife began and two new races appeared: the cruel Skeksis and the gentle Mystics…”

Thus begins the late Jim Henson’s first foray into elaborate, Tolkein-inspired myth making. It is a basic good vs. evil quest story — a young “gelfling” named Jen, the last survivor of an ancient elf race, must fight the forces of tyranny and restore harmony to his world — in a land where prophecies, saviors and mysticism can guide one’s destiny.

When this epic fantasy came out in 1982, there was no CGI and live actors did not stand in bare stages talking to blue tennis balls. To create the world of The Dark Crystal, every detail, every organism, every flora and fauna had to be built to move, to shift in the landscape, to evolve and respond naturally. The residents of this world are painstakingly crafted beings brought to life by skilled puppeteers, each creature with it’s own personality and mannerisms. The film is a visual feast of stunning, alien vistas and outlandish creations thrust into an utterly convincing environment.

Epic in both concept and technical artistry, The Dark Crystal showcases Henson at the top of his form, creating tangible worlds with conceptual designer Brian Froud, production designer Harry Lange, scenarist David Odell and co-director Frank Oz. Jason Lust, Senior VP of Feature Films at the Jim Henson Company, will introduce the film and preview its long-awaited sequel, The Power of the Dark Crystal, due in 2008.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Monday, August 28th, 2006

“Music can save people, but it can’t in the commercial way it’s being used. It’s just too much. It’s pollution.” — Bob Dylan

With outstanding performances and sharp interviews, Before the Music Dies takes a critical and comedic look at the homogenization of popular music with commentary by some of the industry’s biggest talents: Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, Elvis Costello, Erykah Badu, Branford Marsalis, Bonnie Raitt and more. Using historic footage, the film looks at the evolution of the American music industry and the artists who created it, documenting the stark truth behind the manufacture of music stardom. “The reality is that superficiality is in,” says Marsalis. “And depth and quality is kind of out.”

In addition to interviewing the artists, filmmakers Andrew Shapter and Joel Rasmussen spoke to writers and critics from Indie 911, CNN, USA Today, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, NPR and others. Along the way, they uncover mega-talents without a major label, including one artist Eric Clapton believes is “the real thing.”

Wildly popular on the festival circuit, Before the Music Dies has inspired passionate support from musicians, standing ovations from audiences, and consistent acclaim from critics. The film’s historical perspective demonstrates clearly how the modern music business is more about business than music, while its production and musical performances provide fresh and exciting entertainment.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Danish filmmaker Carl Theodor Dreyer made only 14 full-length feature films in a career spanning almost 50 years, from his classic silent The Passion of Joan of Arc to his penultimate masterpiece, Ordet (”The Word”) in 1955, based on the play of the same name by Lutheran minister (and Nazi victim) Kaj Munk.

Ordet tells the story of Morten Borgen, a prosperous farmer whose three sons tear at his religious teachings. The eldest has renounced the religious beliefs of his ancestors and claims that he no longer has even “faith in faith”Â?; the second is a theology student who suffered a mental breakdown while pondering the fundamental questions of faith and religion and now claims to be Jesus of Nazareth; and the youngest has disobeyed his father by pursuing the hand of a young woman whose religion puts her family at odds with his own.

Dreyer’s films are admired for their luminous beauty and a deep empathy for physical and emotional suffering. In Ordet, his cinematographic trademarks are all on display: slow, elegant tracking shots and pans; meticulously orchestrated movements and compositions; and stylized lighting used to subtly evoke distinct realities - the dark world of disbelief and insanity, and the transcendent light of human kindness and sexual passions. Religious intolerance and family tensions underlie this exploration of the clash between orthodoxy and true faith, quietly building towards a shattering and miraculous climax that expresses spiritual optimism that is neither too sentimental nor too pious.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Witness is full of stark contrasts –rural vs. city, pacifism vs. violence, simplicity vs. sophistication –wrapped in a thriller and a love story that explores the power of faith in a community living the principals of their beliefs.

In his first Hollywood film, Australian director Peter Weir (Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Mosquito Coast) tells the story of Samuel Lapp (Lukas Haas, in a riveting performance), a young Amish boy who witnesses a brutal murder in a Philadelphia train station on his first trip to the world outside his community. John Book (Harrison Ford), the police detective investigating the murder, discovers police corruption that threatens him and the Amish boy’s life. Hiding out at the family farm, living the simple life of the Amish, Book is forced to examine his life of violence and its consequences on society. While Witness has its share of action and comedic scenes, it is the beautifully nuanced yet doomed relationship between Book and Samuel’s mother Rachel (Kelly McGillis) that’s the heart of the story.

Weir’s direction, John Seale’s cinematography, and Maurice Jarre’s music make for a memorable film, but it is the haunting performance of Lukas Haas as the dark-eyed witness that holds your attention throughout the harrowing tale. Haas, now an accomplished adult actor, continues to play sympathetic and troubled characters, most recently in Swedish Auto, shot two years ago in Charlottesville and having its Virginia premier at this year’s Film Festival.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Saturday, August 26th, 2006

Mary Pickford was the original “America’s Sweetheart”. Although she made a career of playing coquettish waifs on the silent screen, behind the scenes she was a savvy businesswoman and a driving force behind the original United Artists with Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks (soon to be her husband), and the great director D.W. Griffith.

At 33 years of age, Sparrows would be the last time Mary played the golden-haired woman child, but her plucky and resourceful persona served her well in this Dickensian tale of kidnapping, cruelty, and attempted infanticide. Mary plays “Mama Molly” the oldest “child” at a baby farm hidden deep in a Southern swamp. She cares for all the children, bringing them hope with the story of baby jesus. (”He was born in a barn — just like this.”) When one of the children dies, Jesus himself makes an appearance to carry the innocent to his great reward.

After their cruel keeper kidnaps and then threatens a baby, Molly knows that their only chance is to escape through the harrowing swamp with its twisted trees, quicksand, and treacherous alligators. The stylized set design and atmospheric photography reflects the influence of German expressionist cinema on American film in the 1920s. Many, including Charlie Chaplin, considered this dark tale to be Pickford’s best.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Saturday, August 26th, 2006

Who better than Michael Apted to tell the story of famed abolitionist William Wilberforce? Apted is a prolific writer, director, and producer who has helmed such classics as Coal Miner’s Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, and Thunderheart. Most notably, Apted is also the creative force behind the Up! documentary series that follows a group of British boys and girls as they become men and women and follow or subvert their class roles.

William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was another British citizen who defied the expectations of his class. The son of a wealthy merchant, Wilberforce attended prep schools and was elected a member of parliament at the age of twenty. Welsh actor Ioan Gruffud (of A&E’s Horatio Hornblower series) portrays the firebrand politician with charm, wit and zeal. Undaunted by the boys’ club atmosphere amongst his colleagues, Wilberforce is recognized early in his career as a man of great integrity and courage. A life-altering meeting with an ex-slave inspires the evangelical paliamentarian to confront the dehumanizing slave trade, an economic force so vital to the Establishment that it forces him into a fierce conflict with the most powerful people in the nation.

Director Apted fills the screen with period detail and tremendous performances, including Benedict Cumberbatch as Wilberforce’s friend and future British Prime Minister William Pitt, Rufus Sewell as the passionate abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, and the lovely Romola Garai as spirited political compatriot Barbara Spooner. Allied with Wilberforce is John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slave ship captain who witnessed the horrors of slavery first hand, became a minister, and dedicated his life to ending the slave trade in Britain. Newton wrote a hymnal about his own religious conversion which became the title of the film: Amazing Grace.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Saturday, August 26th, 2006

Rapture (rap’chur) 1. ecstatic joy or delight. 2. a state of extreme sexual ecstasy. 3. the feeling of being transported to another sphere of existence. 4. the experience of being spirited away to Heaven just before the Apocalypse.

Sharon is a phone information operator in Los Angeles. She holds impersonal phone conversations with strangers during the day, and after work she cruises “swingers” clubs with her boyfriend to have impersonal sex with strangers at night. When she sleeps, she is haunted by images of a pearl suspended in blackness. She finds herself drawn to a group of Christian co-workers and discovers that they share the same dream. They convince her that God is calling to her and the dream is a harbinger of the Apocalypse. Suddenly, the empty void of her life is filled with a purpose and Sharon becomes born-again. The film then jumps through time as she meets a man, gets married, has children, and finds herself on the shores of heaven at the End of Days. The abrupt change from a casual life filled with music and dancing and sensuality (if not intimacy) to a harsh and uncompromising confrontation with life after death is jarring both for Sharon and for the viewer, setting the scene for her defiant confrontation with the almighty.

REVISION by Richard

Michael Tolkin is best known for his novel-turned-screenplay, The Player. But this is his wildest creation, a dramatization of the appeal and beliefs of fundamentalist Protestant evangelicalism, blended with New Age elements. Mimi Rogers gives an outstanding performance as telephone operator Sharon, bored with her life and seeking rapture through anonymous sex. She finds herself drawn to a group of Christian co-workers and discovers that they share the same dream, and a desire for a rapturous journey to heaven, ahead of the Apocalypse. They convince her that God is calling to her and, suddenly, Sharon is born-again. The abrupt change from a casual life filled with superficial pleasures to a harsh and uncompromising confrontation with life after death is jarring both for Sharon and for the viewer, setting the scene for her defiant confrontation with the Almighty, on the shores of heaven at the End of Days.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Friday, August 11th, 2006

Cecil B. DeMille’s career as a director and producer spans five decades of motion pictures. He is best known as the creator of visually lush epics such as The Ten Commandments, The Crusades, Cleopatra, and reportedly his favorite, The King Of Kings, an elaborate yet reverent use of film to tell “the greatest story ever told”.

The story follows the last weeks of Jesus, the Christ (as the character is billed) with DeMille taking some literary license to aid his narrative, but mostly staying true to the gospel account. It opens in glorious two-strip Technicolor with Mary Magdalene running a decadent “house of pleasure” (which feels remarkably like a 1920’s speakeasy) and missing her paramour, Judas Iscariot (this being one example of DeMille’s “literary licenses”). Upon learning that Judas has fallen under the influence of a Nazarene carpenter, Mary sets off to confront the one called Jesus, only to find hundreds of the sick and lame waiting for a moment with the master.

We finally meet Him working miracles in the temple surrounded by His many disciples. When a little girl asks Jesus to heal her doll’s broken leg, He looks bemused and fixes the toy by hand. Judas encourages Jesus to work His mighty powers to become a great King over Israel and purge the Romans. Proud Mary is captured by the temple priests who want to stone her for her immorality. Jesus admonishes that he who is without sin should cast the first stone. As each man approaches, Jesus scrawls in the sand and the Hebrew words turn to English, revealing their sins.

After Jesus throws out the merchants and moneychangers from the temple, High Priest Caiaphas demands that Christ be arrested and Judas is pressured to betray Him. Pontius Pilate issues the death penalty and Jesus is forced to carry his own cross to the Cavalry. During the Resurrection, the film once again switches to color, just in time for the final spectacular scenes of the Lord’s wrath upon the wicked, with great flashes of lightning, earthquakes swallowing people whole, and of course, the temple veil being rent.

In light of several scandals that plagued Hollywood in the late 1920’s, DeMille had numerous clergy bless the production before the cameras even began rolling and, it is reported, insisted that his actors sign contracts promising that they would not engage in any “un-Christian”Â? behavior during the film’s production. The film is shot as a series of magnificent tableaus evoking nineteenth century Biblical paintings, with fantastic sets and (for their day) spectacular effects. As portrayed by actor H.B. Warner, Jesus appears not as a feminine creation of Renaissance painters, but as a strong and gentle man filled with righteous forboding.

A consummate showman who knew better than anyone how to promote both his films and himself, DeMille went on to make seventy features, including westerns, adventures, musical comedies and war pictures, before his death in 1959.

This print of The King of Kings is courtesy of Gordon’s Films, Inc.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Friday, August 11th, 2006

“Religion without mystery is no religion at all! …Any heresy that attacks a mystery can easily seduce ignorant and superficial people, but heresies will never be able to hide the truth.” –(unnamed priest in Buñuel’s The Milky Way).

Luis Buñuel (1900-1983) had a long and complicated relationship with the Catholic church. Born to a wealthy family and trained as a Jesuit, Buñuel became a surrealist dedicated to countering bourgeois realism with shocking juxtapositions and subversively humorous images of middle class hypocrisy and injustice. Many hail Buñuel as the first Dadaist filmmaker. He teamed with Salvador Dali for his earliest success, Un Chien Andalou (1929), before moving on to realist portraits such as Los Olvidados (1950) and experimental works like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972).

In The Milky Way (La Voie Lactée), Buñuel sets about debunking the pomposity and authoritarianism of organised religion in provocative and often hilarious scenes that careen through time, space, and philosophy. In the film, two pilgrims journey through France on their way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Along the way they encounter strange figures from different ages and time periods –a stigmatic child, a lunatic priest, theologian waiters, heretics, fanatics and blasphemers –and are witness to miracles, visions, revelations and discussions of religious mysticism. In his own words “the film is above all a journey through fanaticism, where each person obstinately clings to his own particle of truth, ready if need be to kill or to die for it. The road traveled by the two pilgrims can represent, finally, any political or even aesthetic ideology.” Buñuel reportedly enjoyed the dilemma felt by critics as they disagreed whether the film was for or against ecclesiastical thinking.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Friday, August 11th, 2006

In the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, nestled deep in the Himalayas, two men seek to escape their mundane lives. Dondup, an educated government official, dreams of escaping to America. Tashi, a restless farm youth studying magic, cannot bear the thought of a life consigned to his village. The two men embark on parallel, if separate, journeys. Their yearning is a common one — for a better and different life.

Dondup, delayed by the timeless pace of his village, is forced to hitchhike through the beautiful wild countryside of Bhutan to reach his goal. He shares the road with a monk, an apple seller, a papermaker and his beautiful young daughter, Sonam. Throughout the journey the perceptive yet mischievous monk relates the story of Tashi. It is a mystical fable of lust, jealousy, and murder that holds up a mirror to the restless Dondup and his blossoming attraction to the innocent Sonam.

Travellers & Magicians is the first feature film ever shot in the tiny kingdom of Bhutan. One of Himalayan Buddhism’s most revered lamas, the director Khyentse Norbu weaves intertwined tales of men seeking to escape their lives in this magical mixture of rustic road movie and mystical tale, a potpourri of desire and its consequences, set in a breathtaking landscape.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Wednesday, August 9th, 2006

“I know so many gay Christians who have such a guilt in their hearts, because they honestly think that the Bible may be right. It could be right. What if we are wrong, and we are sinners, and we are all going to Hell?”

So speaks Thomas, a charismatic 18 year old who has gathered together with other teenagers at an overnight camp for gay Christian youths. At an age when many of their peers are more worried about acne and adding to their MySpace Friends list, Thomas and other midwestern teenagers are confronting questions about personal sexual identity and their mortal souls.

Thomas and his new friends bond over campfires, participate in team-building, and pour out their hearts in intimate video interviews. Among the teens is Scancy, a purple-haired, bisexual Goth-girl, who comes to camp questioning her Christian identity; Christine, a hyperactive, Elvis-obsessed, home-schooled loner who relies on her strong Christian faith to cope; and Jesse, the attractive and popular boy who struggles with being the object of everyone’s affection.

Camp Out is a new feature documentary from reality TV producers Kirk Marcolina and Larry Grimaldi. In published interviews, the filmmakers talk of receiving letters from parents of gay children expressing gratitude for insight into their children’s experience.

For these six boys and four girls in this film, it’s just as hard to come out as Christian as it is to come out as gay. They’re caught in the battle between religion, politics and sexuality that’s raging in the United States today. These kids are outsiders — their straight classmates ostracize them and their churches reject them. But like all teens, they yearn to feel at home, somewhere. They narrate their own personal journeys as they struggle to find acceptance in a religion that preaches that their sexuality is sinful. Camp Out tackles the question of why, in spite of the climate of many churches, these kids yearn to be a part of the Christian faith.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 8th, 2006

The two sons of a poor Jewish pushcart peddler on New York’s Lower East Side are both causing their father grief. One, a selfish and ambitious student, wants to become a lawyer, and in doing so tries to hide his background from his friends. The other gets a job to help pay his brother’s college education and, to his father’s horror, becomes a prizefighter and plans to marry an Irish girl. As Morris and Sammy stray from traditions cherished by their parents, each generation learns to accept change in order to preserve the family as a source of love and respect.

Director Edward Sloman’s images of New York’s Lower East Side are so evocative that the viewer can almost hear the hustle and bustle of that thriving neighborhood during the 1920s. This silent classic will be accompanied by local Jewish singing group Haverim, with music by Donald Sosin and Joanna Seaton.

Screening with His People is West Bank Story, a 22-minute musical comedy set in the fast-paced, fast-food world of competing falafel stands in the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with the beautiful Palestinian cashier, Fatima, despite the animosity between their families’ dueling restaurants. Can the couple’s love withstand a 2000 year old conflict and their families’ desire to control the future of the chickpea in the Middle East? Director Ari Sendel sends up West Side Story with dancing, singing, and finger-snapping Israelis and Palestinians, demonstrating how laughter can lead us away from anger.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Monday, August 7th, 2006

Let’s Go To Prison is a new feature comedy by Bob Odenkirk (HBO’s Mr Show). Will Arnett (Arrested Development) stars as Nelson Biederman IV, spoiled son of the late judge who sent career felon John Lyshitski (Dax Shepard) to jail. When Beiderman also ends up in prison, Lyshitski is so bent on getting retribution against the judge that he cheerfully finds his way right back to the clink. He is just itching to get a chance to show Nelson the ropes, and when the two actually become cellmates, his most precious wish is granted. Nelson is so unaccustomed to the criminal lifestyle that his behavior immediately offends all the wrong people. Soon, John is making deals and selling Nelson to the powerful Barry (Chi McBride), who is looking for a companion on those lonely prison nights. But just as revenge starts tasting sweet, Nelson becomes Big Man in the Big House and turns the tables on John…changing the rules of his insane game.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Monday, August 7th, 2006

One Punk Under God is an observational documentary series that follows Jay Bakker, an alternative Christian minister and the son of former Praise The Lord leaders Jim Bakker and Tammy Faye Messner. The series takes a behind-the-scenes look at Bakker’s life as he face the emotional, spiritual, and professional struggles of running his Revolution Church in Atlanta, GA.

Bakker is a tattooed and pierced preacher who does not readily fit the image of an American evangelist. His resolutely maverick stance and open tolerance for alternative lifestyle choices challenge traditional religious leaders and makes it difficult to fund his Revolution church. Even if he can successfully balance his spiritual beliefs with the financial realities of his ministry, he still has to confront and manage emotional situations brewing in his family life, particularly with his mother and estranged father. But Bakker is determined to fuse alternative and Christian values to create a non-denominational and inclusive parish and he is working hard to show the world just how hip and welcoming today’s churches can be.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Monday, August 7th, 2006

Many children watching this TV show in the early 1960s thought it was just a harmless and zany romp about a man with a gorgeous wife and a talking horse that only he can hear. The horse, Ed, was always getting Wilbur into trouble by phoning the neighbors, ordering take-out, and showing up in inappropriate places. In one particularly memorable episode, Wilbur and Carol Post go on a beach vacation and Wilbur spies Ed surfing on a surfboard.

Some twenty years later, fundamentalist investigators determined that by playing the Mister Ed theme song backwards while sticking your fingers in your ears and squinting, you can clearly hear the words “source of the devil” and “the source is so hot”.

Armed with that revelation, contemporary viewers now understand that Mister Ed was not a show about a man with a talking horse. Rather, it was about a man who thought he had a talking horse. Suddenly, all those devilish plots by Ed to get Wilbur into trouble make sense. The horse was merely a manifestation of Wilbur’s sub-conscious, which can clearly be seen by his name: “Mister Ed” … or rather, “Mister Id“!

Wilbur was an architect, a job which allowed him to stay home and talk to his horse, but internally he was busy deconstructing the lives of everyone around him. The show was cancelled after six seasons, but the astute viewer must ponder what fate would later befall the winsome Carol Post. And no one has successfully explained what happened to Wilburs’ neighbors, the Addisons, who disappeared in 1963.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Fatiha and her friend Jessica, embark on a journey through Morocco in search of answers to her questions about virginity, sex and Islam. This film is the story of their travels from ancient Islamic schools to the Saharan camel markets, from the offices of city doctors, to beachside resorts.

It all begins with a controversial kiss of the hand. Fatiha is on the verge of marrying the man her grandfather chose for her long ago. But her fiancé’s disturbing views (he claims that, in the eyes of Islam, even a kiss of the hand is forbidden before marriage) shock her. So Fatiha and her friend Jessica, an American researching Moroccan family law reforms, decide to embark on a journey through Morocco in search of answers to her questions about virginity, sex and Islam.

The Virgin Diaries is the story of their travels and their investigation, from ancient Islamic schools to the Saharan camel markets, from the offices of city doctors (the most common minor surgery in Morocco is the repair of the hymen) to beachside resorts. Inevitably, this defiant quest produces few answers and lots of trouble. And things definitively skid out of control when Fatiha does the unthinkable and falls in love for the first time. Fatiha’s random (or predestined?) encounter with a charming stranger suddenly pits duty against desire.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

“We all know Mormons are evil, but, good God, THIS?!!”

Devout zealots use their mesmeric powers to ensnare young recruits into their pseudo-religious culture that blends science fiction and religious fervor. No, we’re not talking about Scientologists, but frenzied views of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, wrongly but almost universally known as The Mormons. Almost since the church’s inception, lurid stories have abounded of hypnotic missionaries luring young virgins into polygamous retreats from which they cannot escape. Even Arthur Conan Doyle got into the act in his very first Sherlock Holmes story A Study in Scarlet by suggesting that Danites, the Avenging Angels of Mormondom, were steeped in the assassination of apostates and that polygamy was white slavery.

Hollywood also responded with a series of cautionary and exploitive films warning about the “dangers”Â? of “Mormonism”Â?. In 1922, the original Trapped By The Mormons was released and it has since acquired a cult status as –Mormonism’s answer to REEFER MADNESS”Â?. In 2005, a troupe of D.C.-based actors remade the film in all of its silent black-and-white glory (”Even your screams will be silent!”Â?), recasting it as a zombie horror movie.

Isoldi Keane, the top recruiter in all of Mormondom, is using his mesmeric powers to ensnare the young, delightful Nora Prescott into his evil web of passion, polygamy, and pamphlets. Can Nora withstand Isoldi’s wicked-sexy Mormon wiles? Will Isoldi marry Nora and take her to where the Great Salt Lake meets the Crystal Temple. . .or is something darker lurking in her future? Slavery! Polygamy! Death!! Cherry Red Productions and Jeff Goode Entertainment conspire to present this hauntingly hip and hilarious remake of the 1922 cult horror flick Trapped By The Mormons.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

Four years in the making, Tibet: A Buddhist Trilogy played to international acclaim following its initial release in 1979. Hailed as a masterpiece, the Trilogy brings you face to face with the unbroken continuity of Tibet’s ancient culture. The original version of the meditative documentary clocked in at nearly four hours. It returns in a digitally restored, re-cut edition that runs just over two hours. In three parts, the film patiently unwraps the details of daily monastic life. From a portrait of the Dalai Lama as a spiritual and temporal leader, to an unprecedented revelation of the mystical inner world of monastic life and an unflinching depiction of the moving response to a death in the community, the film takes you on an intimate journey deep into the heart of an ancient Buddhist culture.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 1st, 2006

It is reported that Andrei Tarkovsky did not yet know he was dying of cancer as he finished his last film, The Sacrifice. Nevertheless, it is hard not to read intimations of the great Russian filmmaker’s pending mortality in this apocalyptic parable.

Tarkovsky’ protagonist, Alexander, is a journalist, former actor, and philosopher. Family and friends have gathered in a Swedish beach house to help celebrate his 60th birthday when a TV newscaster announces that global nuclear war has broken out. In 1986, many in the world thought this inevitable; here, the nuclear threat is used to explore issues of spirituality and redemption. In despair, Alexander promises God that he will give up all his worldly possessions and live in solitude if only his family can survive. Under the advice of his postman (an allegorical messenger angel), Alexander spends the night with a mysterious local woman who he believes may be a witch. In the morning, the world and his family is still there, and so Alexander attempts to fulfill his promise to God. Unanswered is whether the almighty actually intervened and turned back the clock, or if all of this — the nuclear devastation, the survival of his family, the postman and the witch — may simply be the delusions of a shattered mind.

Tarkovsky was a peer and friend of Ingmar Bergman and used many of Bergman’s favorite actors as well as his masterful cinematographer, Sven Nykvist. The film is filled with long shots and single takes which lend to the sense of spiritual isolation and ominous transformations.

Posted in 2006, Briefs, Tuesday, August 1st, 2006