NOVEMBER 17. 2006
lUStlOUt 39
film
America: Freedom to Fascism
Jonestown:
In the tradition of Michael Moore and Robert
The Life and Death
Greenwald, Aaron Russo has made a powerful,
of Peoples Temple
provocative study of Americas increasing slide into
In 1978 the charismatic and
fascism. The first half is a passionate defense of the
certifiable preacher Jim Jones killed
right not to pay the federal income tax. Russo has
more than 900 of his followers with
corralled professional tax resisters, libertarian types,
cyanide-spiked Kool-Aid. Combining
former Internal Revenue Service agents, jurors in
extensive film footage and interviews
tax scofflaw trials and others to make a surprising­
with surviving members of the
ly compelling case that there is no clear directive
Peoples Temple, director Stanley
to pay this tax and that the IRS’ thuggish enforce­
Nelson has crafted a mesmerizing
ment tactics have no legal basis. Some of this
and disturbing documentary that
section devolves into a “he said, she said" situation,
easily ranks as one of the year’s best
with IRS spokespeople looking incoherent while
films. Jones emerges as an enigmatic
the tax resisters are all exceptionally eloquent.
and tragic figure, a socially progres­
Still, it’s strong stuff, persuasively argued.
sive visionary undone by paranoia
Better, though, is the second half, which offers
and an oppressive quest for absolute
a grim picture of a scary present and chilling future
power. In a bizarre footnote, it turns
filled with national ID cards, one-world govern­
out that he had sex with male
ment, endless wars, chips embedded under the skin
followers even though he proclaimed
and God knows what else. If this sounds like just
himself to be the world’s only hetero­
another dismissable conspiracy theory, check the
sexual. Now playing at Hollywood
Web for a list of all the rights we’ve yielded in the A Filipino boy from a criminal family falls in love with a police officer in The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros.
Theatre. A
past few years. Russo keeps it from being a total
—SB
downer with witty pop culture inserts and pointed
Island neighbors of Taiwan and Hong Kong.
at odds his biological family and his newfound
animations. Opens Nov. 17 at Salem Cinema A
“Maxi” is a cross-dressing, happily girlish pre- ! protector are.
Little Children
—Gary Morris i adolescent 12-year-old boy who spends his days
Director Auraeus Solito’s tenderness in depict-
In the hierarchy of movies about suburban
roaming his poor but friendly Manila barrio, play- | ing Maxi’s conflicted situation and Nathan Perez's malaise, this artful adaptation of Tom Perrotta’s
Babel
ing dress-up and fashion show with his friends and ' affecting performance in the title role make it easy
novel is a notch above American Beauty and a
What do a freak shooting in Morocco, U.S.- | stopping in frequently to fawn over silver-screen
to overlook the occasional obviousness of the
notch below The Ice Storm. Using an unsentimen­
Mexico border woes and a deaf Japanese nympho­ romance and drama at a “cinema” where the pro­ film’s restrictive shooting conditions (a 13-day j tal, anthropological tone, director Todd Field peels
maniac have in common? Director Alejandro j prietor screens pirate DVDs for his preteen patrons.
back the pretty façade of an upper-middle-class
shoot on a $10,000 U.S. budget, apparently).
Gonzalez Inarntu (Amores Perros, 21 Grams) does | Maxi also gladly plays mother to his widower father Whether Maxi’s fate is happy, sad or bittersweet
New England neighborhood to reveal the sex
his damnedest to connect the dots, and he’s | and two older brothers and seems blissfully unaware
remains up to the individual viewer’s interpreta­ offenders, adulterers and pom addicts that slither
talented enough to make some of the preposterous
that their family “business” is petty crime and its tion; it is unlikely, however, that anyone won’t
beneath the surface. Kate Winslet plays a miser­
plot twists stick. But the tone of each story grows accompanying small-time thuggery.
find themselves involved enough to wish the best able, overeducated housewife to the hilt, though
increasingly hysterical, resulting in some uninten­
Surprisingly (at least to those of us unfamiliar for our hero, who is, any way you slice it, an
it’s not one of her best performances. Patrick
tionally campy moments. The powerhouse ensem­ with the attitudes of heavily Catholic Filipino soci­ emblem of the ever-remarkable resilience of queer | Wilson (Angels in America) and Jennifer Connelly
ble cast includes Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt and
ety, which are evidently as relaxed as those of youth worldwide. B
lend solid support. A-
Gael García Bernal. B
Fellini’s Italy), Maxi’s refusal of conventional male
—Christopher McQuain
—SB
—Stephen Blair gender trappings passes virtually without comment
For Your Consideration
Stranger Than Fiction
in his everyday dealings—that is, until the day he’s
The Blossoming
accosted by bullies and rescued by a nxikie cop, an
Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman, Best in
The fictional world intersects with and
of Maximo Oliveros
Show) again proves he’s among the funniest directors | influences the real world (and vice versa) in this
event that marks a turning point in his life. He
It’s difficult to think of any direct precedent for strikes up a friendship with the officer, Victor Perez working today. Moving away from his customary dramedy by German director Marc Forster
this Filipino film, opening Nov. 17 at Hollywood
mockumentary style, he turns his satiric attention
(Monster’s Ball). An author writing her latest nov­
(played, appropriately enough, by model J.R.
Theatre. Like Ma Vie en Rose, it has a precocious,
Valentin), an earnest, handsome, beneficent ideal­ toward Hollywood itself as he tells the tale of a el (the brilliant Emma Thompson) narrates the life
un-self-consciously queer child as its central
ist who takes Maxi under his wing, and upon whom
faded star who believes a rumor that her comeback
story of Internal Revenue Service auditor Harold
character. It is also something of a Mean Streets-
Maxi develops an intense, impossible crush. But
performance is Oscar-worthy. Aided by his usual Crick (probably Will Ferrell’s best performance yet)
esque tale of crime, family, friendship and divided
troupe of actors (including the wonderful Parker until one day he begins to hear her narration and it
even beyond the doomed-to-be-unrequited nature
loyalties. But the film offers a rough-hewn, inspired
of Maxi's feelings, Victor’s commitment to cleaning Posey playing an actress cast as a lesbian), Guest starts affecting his life. With the help of a literary
charm all its own, as well as a worthwhile glimpse
up Manila’s streets runs counter to Maxi’s family’s
skewers filmmaking and its assorted vain characters professor (Dustin Hoffman), Harold tries to find
of a national cinema that generally receives less | welfare, and the tragic specter of Maxi's different
with wit and intelligence. B +
out how the story ends. B
—Yvonne P. Behrens ©
—Floyd Sldaver \
international recognition than its Asian/Pacific
worlds colliding looms as it becomes clear just how
—
Dr. Marceline Fatila, DC
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