The Filmic 5: The Let's All Gaze At Bob Edition
Your Weekly Film Superlatives By Critic and Film Scholar Jack Hanley
I. Film I Am Loving This Week
THE SEED OF THE SACRED FIG (Iran) Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof
One of my proudest moments during my tenure with the Crested Butte Film Festival was the programming push made by myself and my dear friends and co-programmers Scott Aigner and Shay Wescott to acquire and screen THERE IS NO EVIL by Dir. Mohammad Rasoulof- a film made in secret and smuggled out of Iran to only a handful of Festivals that took it in that year.
The three of us created a Special Jury Award for "Courage In Filmmaking" for Rasoulouf, who smuggled out a written statement for our Festival's award show. (There are few things more exciting than to get a clandestine acceptance speech text from one of the world's most important filmmakers).
His words hold as true today as they did four years ago- and his new film SEED OF THE SACRED FIG is JUST as vital. GO SEE THIS FILM (shout out to NEON) and remember to support radical and disruptive distributor and Film Festival Programming wherever you find it. I want you to go in cold to this masterwork- so instead of a review, I will leave you instead with the words texted to me- in secret- by this great auteur.
"Thank you all, especially the Crested Butte festival organizers and the jury, thank you for presenting us with this meaningful award. The title of the award, “Courage in Filmmaking”, reminds us all that censorship is still a horrifying obstacle in many parts of the world that affects many filmmakers.
For these filmmakers, much of their creative energy is spent in an erosive and dangerous on-going struggle to attain basic human rights and freedom of speech and expression.
Continuing censorship results in a dark cloud of ignorance hanging over a large portion of our planet.There is No Evil was made under prohibitive circumstances. This film would never have been completed if not for the bravery of the cast and crew on set and behind the scenes.
They were most definitely the truly courageous ones, choosing to work beside me with no regard to the risk they were taking.
With total respect to the Crested Butte Film Festival jury, I redirect this award to all on and behind the scenes of There is No Evil who with one voice said “NO” to censorship."
II. Streaming Film That Blew Me Away This Week
MADS (France) Dir. David Moreau
Just WOW. MadS is the single-shot, REC meets Euphoria crossover you didn't know you needed in your life. Shot in a single take (or at least the illusion of one), this zombie incarnation is teaming with a pulse and energy seldom found in the genre. What should have been simply grand fun boldly evolves into a masterclass in mood, tension, and tone not seen via this "gimmick" since Hitchcock's ROPE. You've seldom seen your cinematic nihilism this sexy or exhilarating. And bravo to Moreau for turning over the narrative to the brilliant Laurie Pavy in the second act- Isabelle Adjani (POSSESSION) walked so you could stagger.
Streaming now on Shudder.
III. Film Commentary I Appreciated This Week
This week is assuredly the week of Bob Dylan. And while A COMPLETE UNKNOWN legitimately punches above weight of my admittedly low expectations (and let me be clear there are some lovely performances here) the film never truly rises above the standard "subsidiary side-gazing awe of realized genius" trope that so often plagues this sub-genre. However, despite its mostly sanitized political whitewashing, if this film inspires even ONE earnest Google search for Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, or Suze Rotolo it will have all been worth it.
I choose to focus instead on a little explored angle of the enigmatic poet- Dylan's enduring love affair with cinema. Check out this lovely little piece by CBS Sunday Morning on Dylan the Cinephile.
IV. Film Essay I Am Loving This Week
What makes a “bad” movie anyway? Essayist March Asch examines "the bombs, disasters, and secret masterpieces (dis)honored at the Golden Raspberry Awards", to learn about America’s ever-fluid standards of taste.
Read his marvelous essay "Trash and Treasure At The Razzies" here.
V. Recommendations I Am Reflecting On This Week
I've been getting requests to recommend some "under the radar" films that I might recommend. Please enjoy this video essay of the 30 Best Films of the 2010's as compiled by myself and Shay Wescott (Producer of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast). We hope you find some "hidden gems" among the titles. Stick around for the end for the full list of films. HUGE THANKS to Shay Wescott for creating/editing this simply beautiful essay.
That's all for this week. Get out there and watch something LIFE-CHANGING...
Jack Hanley is a Boulder-based film scholar, podcaster, and critic. He is a programmer with the Chicago Underground Film Festival and Boulder International Film Festival. He is one-half of Blindspotting: A Film Discovery Podcast and Flicker with Jack and Scott on YouTube. Find him at Kinophilia on Medium and at HanleyOnFilm.com