Well-Directed Rage

Debbie Peagler, subject of the
 documentary "Crime After Crime"

"One Day" feels like a life sentence (here's my 1/2 star review), but it's nothing compared to the disgraceful injustice suffered by Debbie Peagler in  "Crime After Crime," a documentary opening today at Reading Gaslamp Cinemas. (Read my interview with the film's director, La Jolla native Yoav Potash.) If you're going to get angry while watching a film (as I did during the laughable romantic drama "One Day"), you'd at least like that anger to be intentionally provoked.

While I can't say that "Crime After Crime" is a particularly well-crafted film, you'd have to be a sociopath or robot for Debbie's story not to enrage you. While watching the DVD screener with friends, we had to pause at least 10 times just to yell at the TV and blow off the accumulating steam.

A young American soldier (Dan Dehaan)
in John Sayles' take on the
Philippine-American war, "Amigo."

I also suggest you check out the new John Sayles' film "Amigo," opening today at Horton Plaza cinemas. Sayles is one of my favorite filmmakers; I find myself wanting to sit with his characters all day, absorbing their stories, surroundings and relationships with the same patience Sayles demonstrates with his camera.

In typical Sayles fashion, he bucks all conventionality by telling a story about a war most Americans barely recall from history class - the Philippine-American war (1899-1902). Even if you're not familiar with the history, Sayles keeps the story timely by letting us into the lives of its participants at the most human level, revealing there is no clear-cut "good guy" and "bad guy" when it comes to war.

I normally describe Sayles' films as a slow burn; you may not feel a lot at first, but if you stick with it and invest, you'll be seared to the core by film's end ("Lone Star" being a perfect example). While "Amigo" took a little longer to singe, it still got me there. Thanks to the San Diego Asian Film Foundation for holding the special screening.

Finally, for the first time I attended a screening of films from this year's 48 Hour Film Project, which took place August 5-7 in San Diego. I had no idea what to expect going in, though I feared it would consist of some pretty awful movies slapped together by amateur crews over the course of two harried days.

What I saw was almost the exact opposite, but more important than the finished product was the feeling of camaraderie in the crowd, made up mostly of crew members, their friends and family. The whole event had a sort of Mickey Rooney/Judy Garland "Let's put on a show!" vibe to it and I left wanting to sign up for next year. What better to way to punish a film critic than to have her PA on a no-budget film!

Whatever you decide to see or do this weekend, make it a good one. Summer's almost over after all.

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Book vs. Movie: "The Help"

In Jackson, Mississippi in 1963, Skeeter Phelan
(Emma Stone, left), Minny Jackson (Octavia Spencer, center)
and Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis) build an unlikely friendship
 around a secret writing project in “The Help.”
©DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC.

A reader recently emailed me with a good question. When applicable (and it seems to always be these days), do you judge a film based on how compares to its source material -- be it a book, play, graphic novel, whatever -- or do you judge it on its own merits, without consideration to its roots?

Honestly, I didn't have a strong opinion either way. If I knew the source material--and liked it--then it mattered. Or not.  But when "The Help" came along, I made up my mind.

Knowing I would be reviewing the film in August, I picked up a copy of "The Help" in July, fully expecting an insult to my intelligence. Instead I was captivated. In fact, I had what I would call a bit of a claustrophobic attack as I finally understood on an emotional level just how trapped the African American characters were. I knew all about Jim Crow, segregation and lynchings---but I never really understood how living under that oppression might feel it until I read "The Help."

Because I was scheduled to interview the book's author, Kathryn Stockett, and Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays Hilly Hollbrook in the film, I needed to see the movie before I was able to finish the book. In fact, I was about 30 pages from the end, so when I sat down in the theater that weekday morning, all I could think about was where I'd left Aibileen and Milly on paper, and how their world was different or the same in the movie that was unfolding before me. It was the most distracted I'd ever been watching a film and I knew before I got to my car that I'd need to see it again before I wrote my review.

By the time that second viewing came around I'd long finished the book and was able to see the movie with a fresh perspective. Instead of noting all the similarities and differences, I focused on the story being told on screen -- and I liked it a lot more than I did the first time around.

So, in answer to the reader's question, I now say this: If you have the option, see the movie first. Then read the source material. Chances are, you'll be distracted from neither and remain fair. At least that 's how I'm going to do it from here on out, which works out well since I barely have time to read these days anyway!

Here's my review of "The Help" and my interview with Kathryn Stockett and Bryce Dallas Howard.

I also reviewed "30 Minutes or Less" this week (in Friday's paper), but if you are contemplating seeing that, I recommend reading a book -- any book--instead.

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Brit Marling is indeed from "Another Earth"; "Apes" vs. Franco

Reading Brit Marling's bio is a slightly sickening experience.

The star and co-writer of "Another Earth" graduated valedictorian from Georgetown University with a major in economics, then turned down a lucrative career in finance to become an actress and artist. Instead of struggling through her 20s waiting tables in LA and slugging through auditions, the natural beauty formed a winning creative partnership with director Mike Cahill, first with the documentary "Boxers and Ballerinas," and now the indie Sundance hit, "Another Earth."

But when you meet the poised, bright-eyed young woman, you understand her success -- and eagerly await what comes next for her as an actress and co-writer/producer with the equally enthusiastic and impressive Cahill.

Read my interview with both of them here, then check out my review of "Another Earth." 

Speaking of alternate realities, how about apes taking over the planet? I went in to "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" thinking, "Hey, Franco's in it -- that's all I really need." I walked out thinking, "Franco who? Go apes!" Read my review of "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" here.

Whatever planet you visit, enjoy the weekend.

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