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February 13, 2019 The Skanner Portland & Seattle Page 7 Arts & Entertainment FILM REVIEW: WWII Vet Plays Hero Again in ‘The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot’ FILM REVIEW: Traffic Stop Death Triggers Revolt in ‘Black’ Sam Elliott plays Calvin Barr, the World War II vet who supposedly assassinated Hitler, and decades later tracks Bigfoot in ‘The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot.’ ‘Black’ By Kam Williams For The Skanner News J oseph Grant (Tous- saint Morrison) was riding in a car with his brother Cole (Malick Ceesay) and BFF Derek (Geoff Briley) one afternoon when they suddenly found them- selves being tailed by a police cruiser. Although they hadn’t violated any rules of the road, they were inexplicably pulled over by a couple of over- ly zealous cops (Addison Pennington and Matt Ce- darberg), ostensibly for merely “driving while Black.” Sitting in the back seat, Cole asked the officers for an explanation for the stop, if they weren’t being profiled. Their response was that he matched the description of a suspect they were looking for. After being asked for his ID and ordered him out of the car, Cole lost his temper. The next thing you know, he wound up on the ground with a pis- tol to his head. And the bigot with a badge in con- trol of whether he lived or died yelled, “What you looking at, boy?” be- fore callously pulling the trigger. Witnessing the sense- less shooting of his only brother leaves Joe trau- matized and Derek is understandably shaken, too. But the two have dis- tinctly different feelings about what to do next. The former has no faith in the criminal justice system, given the long history of police being found not guilty for the deaths of unarmed Af- rican Americans. So, he would just like to get some guns, recruit an army, and lead a violent revolution against the U.S. By contrast, Derek is interested in mounting a traditional protest, like a Black Lives Matter march; he has no confi- dence Joe will be able to find any. The ensuing debate of how to respond to Cole’s untimely de- mise sits at the center of “Black,” a thought-pro- voking morality play written and directed by David J. Buchanan. Besides the badinage between the buddies, the film intermittently takes a break from the dra- ma for brief, revealing tete-a-tetes with real-life Black folks about their first encounters in life with the cops. The heart- felt recollections shared in these mini-documen- taries combine to paint a widespread pattern of discrimination and abuse on the part of the police. A compelling polem- ic revolving around a grief-stricken sibling’s relentlessly making his case, like a latter-day Nat Turner, for armed insur- rection! By Kam Williams For The Skanner News E very now and then, a film turns history on its head. For example, “Abraham Lin- coln: Vampire Hunter” made more than $100 million dollars at the box office by suggesting that the 16th President of the Unit- ed States was also a legendary stalker of the undead. And Quen- tin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” which had Hitler dy- ing in a movie theater fire rather than by committing suicide, made three times as much money. Playing fast and loose with the truth can be pretty profitable in other arenas as well. Donald Trump sealed the Republican “ presidential nomination by par- roting the National Enquirer’s patently ridiculous assertion that JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald hadn’t acted alone but with the help of Senator Ted Cruz’s father, Rafael. Well, in “The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then The Bigfoot,” we have a film that contradicts conventional wisdom not once, but twice. The picture stars Sam Elliott as Calvin Barr, the World Excellent HHHH Unrated Running time: 80 min. Production Studio: BLACK Productions Studio: We-Co Films To see a trailer for Black, visit TheSkanner. com. L ! A FIN EEK! W We have a film that contradicts conventional wisdom not once, but twice Hazardous Beauty presents War II vet who supposedly suc- cessfully assassinated the Fuhrer on a top secret mission. This picture unfolds decades later when an aging Calvin is coaxed out of retirement by an FBI agent (Ron Livingston) to track down the legendary Bigfoot (Mark Steger) that is rumored to be living deep in the Canadian forest. It seems that the mythical beast is responsible for a deadly plague that is threatening to dec- imate the population. Turning down an array of 007-level, state of the arts gad- gets, Calvin stoically sets out with just a rifle, a scope and a Bow- ie knife. He doesn’t even don goggles, gas mask and a protective suit to pre- vent his prey from infect- ing him. Sam Elliott plays it straight, here, but you can’t help but wonder whether the veteran thes- pian’s embar- rassed by the fact that this campy B-flick has been re- leased right when he’s been nominated for an Oscar for the first time in his career. An amusing mix of fantasy and revisionist history bordering on cheesy that’s strictly for the very gullible! Good HH Unrated Running time: 98 minutes Production Companies: Epic Pic- tures Releasing / Title Media Distributor: RLJE FILMS To see a trailer of the movie, vis- it TheSkanner.com. featuring local artists, Quigley Provost-Landrum and Trish Egan Make The Skanner part of your daily routine by Portland playwright Bonnie Ratner Directed by Josie Seid JAN. 25 - FEB. 17, 2019 • Fri/Sat 7:30 pm & Sundays 3 pm Interstate Firehouse Cultural Center (IFCC), 5340 N Interstate Ave, Portland During the 2016 Fertile Ground Festival, audiences called Hazardous Beauty “Wonderfully provocative, witty, complex and brilliant. It was awesome to see two strangers meet and peel through the world’s stereotypes and misconceptions to reveal the hearts of two such richly talented, yet scarred individuals. Brava!” Ronni LaCroute PassinArt.org PassinArtTheatreCompany Enjoy an in-depth read on your desktop. Receive Breaking News in your inbox. Page through the print edition online.
