Indie Watch
By Dan Krovich
April 4, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
New releases for April 5th
6 Souls: When a film goes five years between production and release, it does set off red flags, but the optimistic hope is that not commercial does not necessarily mean not good. 6 Souls was filmed in 2008 under the title Shelter and received release in several foreign countries, but is just now receiving release in the U.S. Julianne Moore plays a psychologist treating a patient with multiple personality disorder (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). When it turns out that all of his other personalities are murder victims she begins to think something more sinister than mental illness may be at work in this horror/thriller.
Available at Vudu
Available at Amazon
Available at iTunes
The Brass Teapot: A down on their luck young couple have seemingly found the answer to their money problems when they find a teapot that dispenses cash. The only problem is that to get that cash you have to cause yourself physical pain. Of course things soon spiral out of control as they become addicted to their new material trappings in this metaphor for the things that people will put themselves through in the pursuit of wealth.
Available at Vudu
Available at Amazon
Available at iTunes
The Company You Keep: Robert Redford directs and stars in The Company You Keep as Jim Grant, a former Weather Underground activist who has seemingly escaped his past and is living as a lawyer with his 11-year-old daughter. When a journalist played by Shia LaBeouf discovers his identity as man wanted for a robbery, Jim goes on a cross-country quest to prove his innocence with the FBI on his trail. Redford has gathered an impressive ensemble cast, including Susan Sarandon, Nick Nolte, Chris Cooper, Terrence Howard, Anna Kendrick, and Julie Christie, in his latest political thriller.
Simon Killer: After a bad breakup with his girlfriend, recent college graduate Simon takes a trip to Paris to get over his heartbreak. There he becomes involved with a mysterious prostitute, whom he convinces to use her position to blackmail her clients. As they get deeper into this scheme, it turns out that Simon might not be who he seems to be as his true nature is revealed.
Trance: The second James McAvoy crime thriller in as many weeks, this is definitely higher profile than last week’s Welcome to the Punch. Directed by Oscar-winner Danny Boyle, Trance is certainly looking to use the limited opening to hopefully be a launching pad to a wider release. McAvoy plays an art auctioneer who becomes involved in a heist of a painting from his own auction house. When he suffers a blow to the head and develops amnesia causing him to forget where he stashed the painting, his partner employs a hypnotist to help him remember. What follows is a series of plot twists that take place on several levels of consciousness.
Upstream Color: Shane Carruth’s debut film, Primer, won the Grand Jury Award at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. While the film did not make much money upon theatrical release, the brain teaser of a film did become a minor cult hit on DVD. His second feature, Upstream Color, is apparently even more baffling as while Primer’s plot was complex, Upstream Color relies less on plot and is more thematic.
VOD Pick of the Week
Hands on a Hard Body
“When you go insane, you lose.” Those are the words of wisdom from Benny Perkins, one of the contestants in the 1995 Hands on a Hard Body competition in Longview, Texas, and he is someone to listen to considering he was the winner of the 1992 edition. The competition is simple. Entrants are chosen by lottery to stand with at least one hand on a brand new pickup truck. The last one standing with their hand on the truck wins it. Sounds simple enough until you realize that the contest is expected to last 70, 80, or even 100 hours with only a five-minute break every hour and a 15-minute break every six hours.
Hands on a Hard Body, the documentary film chronicling the 1995 contest, was originally released in 1997, but it has been out of print on video for over ten years, which has made it almost impossible to find unless you were willing to spend big bucks for a used copy on eBay. Now with the opening of the Broadway Musical adaptation, the film is getting a new DVD and VOD release.
The competition begins with 23 contestants, many of whom are profiled through interviews. The star is most definitely Benny, who acts the part of the Texas philosopher, but the cast is full of colorful characters, and the filmmakers do a great job of allowing you to identify with them so you become invested in their struggles, which begin with sore feet and backs and eventually include the effects of sleep deprivation. Many of the contestants are also in the midst of financial hardships that the prize could help alleviate, which helps put the film into a larger context that seems particularly relevant considering the current economic environment. But mainly the film is just supremely entertaining.
Hands on a Hard Body stands as something of a precursor to competition documentaries and reality shows that followed. The first season of Survivor included an immunity challenge that they called Hand on a Hard Idol and Spellbound received an Oscar nomination by using a similar structure with the National Spelling Bee. Hands on a Hard Body is a film that I’ve often wanted to recommend, but couldn’t because there was no way to easily see it. Now with its new release, it is not to be missed.
Available at handsonahardbodythemovie.com