THE CAPTAIN

Film Review by FIORE

As one of Pittsburgh’s, and the nation’s, premiere critics, I find it pleasantly enjoyable when studios provide foreign films throughout the year.  Normally, films that could contend for Best Foreign Film consideration are dumped on critics weeks before nomination ballots, causing a logjam of movies requiring a more intense viewing experience.  Having received THE CAPTAIN this early in the year, gave me the opportunity to watch, and enjoy this film in a leisurely manner; and that, after all, is how films should be viewed.

For some years, filmmaker Robert Schwentke played the Hollywood game with marked success, but his return to Germany with the release of THE CAPTAIN could be his tour de force.  This film is engrossing and serves as a chilling treatise on some disturbing commonalities of mankind.

It is mere weeks before the end of WWII.  The German army, on the brink of collapse, is plagued by deserters and looters, seeking survival before the country’s cataclysmic end.  One such deserter is private Willi Herold, played exceptionally well by Max Hubacher.  Chased through the forest by the Nazis, he manages to elude his pursuers and begin a trek towards a new life.  Along the way, he stumbles upon an abandoned car.  Inside is a suitcase with a Nazi Captain’s uniform.  Willi steals the uniform and is amazed at how the people he meets quickly accept him as an authority figure.  Willi uses his guile to continue the ruse while slowly transforming into the very persona he ran away from at the film’s beginning.  Ironically, Willi’s troupe of followers is comprised of deserters like him, but to whom he gives a perceived second chance.

Starring with Hubacher are:  Milan Peschel; Frederick Lau; Waldemar Kobus;  and Alexander Fehling.  Most notable in the cast, outside of Hubacher is Peschel, who plays Freytag,  Willi’s right hand man.

THE CAPTAIN is too long.  Though an engrossing tale, several key sequences, like the exploits in Camp II are repetitious.  This is a common trait in foreign films.  American filmmakers, at one time, could pride themselves on brevity.  For the sake of diversity, Hollywood became enamored with European, Asian and Mexican directors, who brought with them their own editors, and American films, as I decry on numerous occasions, also became too long.  Editor Michal Czarnecki could easily trim twenty-five minutes from THE CAPTAIN, which would serve to make the film even more powerful.

Florian Ballhaus is remarkable behind the camera.  Combined with the efforts of Production Designer Harald Turzer and Set Decorator Alwara Thaler, they present THE CAPTAIN in glorious black and white, giving the film an authentic mien.  The use of lighting is exceptional.

Save from the little peccadillo of length, THE CAPTAIN is an amazing film from both the technical and thespian perspectives.  I quite enjoyed it, and think you will, too.  It will make my short list for Best Foreign Film, even though it’s only July.  

ZEN DOG

Film Review by FIORE

There are two types of approaches to film.  The first sees film as primarily an entertainment medium, designed to provide a form of enjoyment and relaxation.  The other sees film as art, a way of reflecting and perhaps redirecting the flow of life.  ZEN DOG, the latest film by Rick Darge, falls firmly into the latter category.  At its core, the film basically promotes better living through drugs.

Kyle Gallner plays Mud.  He is pretty much the common man; set with a daily routine that includes monotonous repetition and a job in which he is nothing more than a peon.  One day, his oddball cousin, Dwayne, played by Adam Herschman, unexpectedly crashes into Mud’s crib for a few days while on spring break.  While related, it seems there is a distance between the lads, until Dwayne introduces Mud to an all-natural herb with the properties of LSD.  The herb is coupled with the preachings of Timothy Leary.  Soon, Mud is experiencing an alternate level of existence hearkening back to the Hade Asbury days of San Francisco, complete with fringe vests and psychedelic Volkswagens.

ZEN DOG, then, is a simultaneous journey through Mud’s real life and his drug induced life, all the while a narrator attempts to question all forms of reality.  When I was in college, back in the Plioescene Era, future drop outs would gather, smoke themselves to oblivion, and then become amazed that the entire world might be in a locker room in an alien transport station, much like the ending of MEN IN BLACK 2.   If you’re still into that form of entertainment, you might find something of value in ZEN DOG.  Otherwise, it’s a film purposely confusing, offering a philosophy comfortable only for those who refuse to take responsibility for their own existence.  ZEN DOG makes a fine film for philosophy teachers. 

UNFRIENDED: THE DARK WEB

Film Review by FIORE

It seemed like a rehash:  the follow up film from BlumHouse Pictures to UNFRIENDED about boogie-men inside a compute program.  Even though all of us have experienced computer tribulations, and perhaps thought some demonic force was in control of our laptops, the concept of spooks ad ghouls in the circuits is really lame.  If memory serves this started in films with GHOST IN THE MACHINE, and should have ended there.  UNFRIENDED had the gimmick of presenting the entire narrative through the laptop screens of the characters.  UNFRIENDED: THE DARK WEB utilizes the same ploy and just when you think this is going to be a rehash of the first film, Director and Writer Stephen Susco makes a left turn and presents instead an entertaining murder thriller.  There are no ghosts, specters or demons.  There is, however, a group of terribly demented folk who play with human lives as pawns in a sick cyber game that makes GRAND THEFT AUTO look tame by comparison.  UNFRIENDED: THE DARK WEB is HARD TARGET without Jean-Claude Van Damme or John Woo.

The movie begins slowly.  The first half hour is a snail set up.  Susco  tosses in several humorous moments of laptop interaction to  keep the tale moving and the audience’s interest.  The remaining hour of the movie is intense as the friends in a chat Skype session learn they are being systematically eliminated.

Production designer Chris Davis cleverly reverts to the ploy of the classic Universal Monsters and Hitchcock in never showing the actual brutality.  It is very effective.  Judicious cuts just before the killing blow, with only sound effects allow the audiences’ imagination to fill in the missing scene far gorier than the SFX department techniques.

UNFRIENDED: THE DARK WEB stars:  Rebecca Rittenhouse; Betty Gabriel; Chelsea Alden; Colin Woodell; Andrew Lees; and Stephanie Nogueras.

They all perform well, though often over the top, which is expected in this genre of film.

Like most horror movies, this one has holes in its plot.  The killer set ups are so elaborate they are almost Bondian in nature.  And during the whole escapade, none of the protagonists thinks of just shutting off the laptop and walking away.  I guess that’s a commentary on the inability of the Millennial Generation to disconnect from their technology.  There are other useless social commentaries that serve as large plot holes to the story.  For example:  there is really no reason to have an interracial lesbian couple.  It does not play into the plot in anyway and is inserted simply to present the agenda.  Lame sauce.  Everything in a film should work towards the conclusion.  Amaya’s deafness does, and that’s why it works while still drawing attention to the social issue of the handicapped. 

All told, I was pleasantly surprised with UNFRIENDED: THE DARK WEB.  It did not follow the anticipated set up and provided solid tension during the final reels.  It’s worth a look, and should provide you with thought provoking thrills.  Just as a caveat:  never steal anyone’s laptop.