Posts by Archive Authors

A baby’s soft and contented voice is heard over a white screen as the credits begin. Two young teenage boys dote over the happy child. These are the opening  moments of Submarino, which quickly devolves into a story of total despair. It turns out the mother is a worthless and degenerate alcoholic. These two well-meaning boys are forced to be the parents. They wake up in the morning and the baby is blue and lifeless.

Danish cinema has carved a unique niche for itself. It is governed by a world class lunatic, Lars Von Trier, who grandly put forth a rigid artistic school of thought under the heading of Dogma. It had very specific rules for naturalistic use of lighting and music and behavior. The director Thomas Vinterberg is one of Von Trier’s confederates, and Submarino follows these artistic rules, more because it suits this material than any adherence to rules anyone bothers to follow any more. Von Trier doesn’t follow the rules of Dogma any more in his most recent films. This film, though, also follows a tradition typical of Scandinavian films in general, which is that it is intensely dour and depressing. One would have hopes that Denmark would be something of a utopian society, but not by what we see of their cinema. And this film is particularly sad.

If you try to look at the state of independent films in the modern age, it would be a huge undertaking.

Let’s look at a film called Bellflower. It just came out and is a good example of what the state of independent films is like in the year 2011. It is very low-budget project in which everyone sweats blood, especially the writer/director/star, to get the movie done. It has some novel ideas, some youthful energy, and way too many rough edges.

By Natasha Samreny

Santa Claus is neither jolly elf with rosy cheeks nor heart of gold. He doesn't reward the good kids and he tortures the bad ones.

Colin Hanks is a serial killer. If you watch Dexter on Showtime, you know that already. On Dexter, Hanks is playing a conflicted messenger of God who is dour and unhappy and under the control of another to do horrific and brutal murders. In Lucky, he seems more like a regular guy. That’s the kind of guy that Hanks normally plays. He is usually someone who is kind of smart and nerdy with a somewhat preppy and fussy edge. He is different than his father, Tom. Tom Hanks had a natural ease and humor that could be described as irrepressible over the years. Colin is more reserved and repressed and guarded with a friendly but detached air. He generally plays good-natured good eggs, but it’s clear he wants to broaden his range, so now he’s playing killers.

In the case of Lucky, Hanks is good natured and mild-mannered, most of the time. Lucky is a comedy about a serial killer who wins the lottery. The real heart of the story is that Hanks has an obsessive love that has somewhat controlled his life. Circumstances have delivered the girl he has dreamed of all his life into his arms. Will it cure his homicidal tendencies, and will he live happily ever after?

By Natasha Samreny

“Gee Dad, it's great to see you again. How'd you get your parole so soon?”