TiVoPlex
By John Seal
October 10, 2005
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 10/11/05
1:45am HBO
Maria Full of Grace (2004 COL-USA): Or Maria Full of Dope, if you prefer. The assured feature debut of young American director Joshua Marston, Maria Full of Grace is the compelling story of a drug mule transporting goods to the United States, and deservedly netted Catalina Sandino Moreno an unexpected Academy Award nomination for Best Actress last year. She's transcendent as a Colombian teenager whose desperate economic plight leads to her swallowing bags on coke on behalf of the local drug lords before departing on a jet plane for points north. I guess it's better than filling up on airline food. Also airs at 4:45am, on 10/16 at 10:45pm on 10/17 at 1:45am, and 10/13 on HBO Signature at 7:30pm.
4:30am Turner Classic Movies
Man of the People (1937 USA): TCM is airing a block of films directed by the oft overlooked Edwin L. Marin this morning. Marin, generally considered a journeyman at best, was responsible for such stylish fare as The Death Kiss (1932) and A Christmas Carol (1938), and whilst neither of those films feature on the schedule this morning, we are being treated to an airing of this rarely seen crime drama. Featuring the excellent Joseph Calleia as an Italian-American law student who inadvertently gets involved in some shady business, Man of the People co-stars Thomas Mitchell as his mentor; and while it's no lost classic, it is another very fine MGM second feature. Also of note this morning are the Marin-helmed Chester Morris comedy Pursuit (1935), which airs at 6am, and the Robert Young crime drama Sworn Enemy (1936) at 8:45am.
9am Sundance
Held Hostage In Colombia (2003 USA): There's a war on in Colombia: a war that pits the 40-year-old insurgency of the left-wing FARC revolutionary movement against the American-supported government of Alvaro Uribe and the right-wing paramilitaries that tacitly bolster his administration. The country also happens to be awash in cocaine, a valuable commodity used to fund the violent activities of both sides whilst the United States pours vast sums of money into a never-ending and generally ineffectual "war on drugs". American "advisors" are on the ground and American planes are spraying the coca fields with defoliants, but no matter how many acres are taken out of circulation, cocaine remains cheap and plentiful. This remarkable documentary takes a look at what happened after a Pentagon-owned Cessna was shot down over remote and rugged terrain early in 2003, its three surviving crewmembers (Marc Gonsalves, Tom Howes, and Keith Stansell, described by the rebels as CIA agents and by the US government as civilian contractors) captured and held by FARC guerrillas. Though it bears similarities to 2003's The Kidnapping of Ingrid Betancourt, Held Hostage in Colombia is ultimately the better of the two films, as it cannot avoid placing the captured Americans' plight squarely in the context of the Colombian political struggle. It's unclear at this time whether the three contractors are still alive, but Colombia is as far from peace today as at any time in the last decade. Also airs 10/17 at 9am and 2:30pm.
Wednesday 10/12/05
12:30am Sundance
Condor: The First War on Terror (2003 ARG): If Held Hostage In Colombia and Maria Full of Grace haven't sated your appetite for all things southern hemispheric, take a look at this very fine documentary from Argentina. It details the less than savoury shenanigans of Condor, a special team of commandos trained and supported during the 1970s and ‘80s by the CIA, the State Department, and Interpol, whose remit involved keeping the lid on leftists, labor leaders, and other troublemakers opposed to right wing, pro-American governments then in power throughout the region. The United States, involved in propping up corrupt fascist regimes? Say it ain't so, Joe.
1:50am Encore Action
Tae Guk Gi: The Brotherhood of War (2004 ROK): Amazingly now ensconced by IMDb voters as the 248th best film of all time, Tae Guk Gi is a landmark epic about the grim experiences of a pair of brothers during the Korean War. Is it really that good? Not from my perspective, but it IS an impressive effort that makes most other war films look like polite tea parties, and that includes the much ballyhooed Saving Private Ryan. The most expensive film ever made in South Korea (it cost over $12,000,000, and looks as good as any American film with a budget ten times as high), Tae Guk Gi also became that nation's number one box office hit of all time. If you like war movies, don't miss it. Also airs 10/16 at 2:45pm and 10/17 at 2:15am.
4:15am Turner Classic Movies
The Hill (1965 GB): And speaking of war movies, this is one of the most grueling ones you'll ever see, and it doesn't even take place on a battlefield. Set in a prison camp in the Libyan desert for disobedient, recalcitrant or otherwise uncooperative British soldiers, The Hill is one of director Sidney Lumet's greatest films and is in desperate need of a DVD restoration and reissue. Ian Hendry plays a brutal martinet who keeps his charges in line the old-fashioned way: he abuses them. Camp commandant Harry Andrews is more than willing to overlook the physical and mental torture of the inmates, but the kindly Sergeant Harris - played by Ian Bannen - takes issue with Hendry's program of punishment. Sean Connery is the troublemaking ringleader of the prisoners, refusing to be cowed by the prospect of lugging sacks of sand up and down a hill in the middle of the prison yard (hence the film's title), and he shares a cell with the simpering Roy Kinnear, the mentally-deranged Ossie Davis, and others. Michael Redgrave is also on hand as an ineffectual medical officer. Based on a play by Ray Rigby, who spent a considerable amount of World War II in detention himself, and shot by Oswald Morris, this is an unforgettable tale of military injustice that is as powerful in its own way as Stanley Kubrick's Paths of Glory (1957 USA), and a timely reminder that absolute power corrupts absolutely, whether in World War II Libya or Abu Ghraib circa 2003.
Thursday 10/13/05
10:30am Turner Classic Movies
Sergeant Madden (1939 USA): Here's a very strange item - a "B" feature about police corruption helmed by none other than the renowned Josef Von Sternberg, whose renowned profligacy had dimmed his Hollywood star considerably by 1939. Two years later, his career went off the rails for good with The Shanghai Gesture, but Sergeant Madden is a much more pedestrian affair than that obtuse masterpiece. It features Wallace Beery as a police lifer whose son (Alan Curtis) joins the force, only to succumb to the temptations dangled beneath his nose by the local low-lifes, personified by the almost literally immortal Marc Lawrence. The film betrays the Von Sternberg touch, but at a succinct 80 minutes doesn't stray too far from the parameters of a period crime drama.
6pm Sundance
Ae Fond Kiss (2004 GB): British auteur Ken Loach returns with this surprisingly warm look at an interracial relationship in modern-day Scotland. Written by Loach's frequent collaborator Paul Laverty, the film stars first-time actor Atta Yaqub as Casim, an Asian man who, to the eternal regret of his family, falls in love with good Catholic girl Roisin (Eva Birthistle). There's no wacky ethnic comedy foibles in Ae Fond Kiss, which deftly avoids condemnation of Casim's family and surprisingly also lacks the overt political subtext we expect in a Loach film. Taking it's title from a poem by Robbie Burns, this is a quintessentially Scottish story that won awards around the globe, but sadly drew next to no attention in the United States - ‘til now. Also airs 10/17 at 9:30pm.
Friday 10/14/05
1:30am IFC
Charming Billy (1999 USA): At the risk of resorting to hyperbole, this is one of the most assured and pleasing American indies of the last decade. Echoing themes explored in Peter Bogdanovich's superb Targets (1968), Charming Billy tells the story of a handsome young man with a silver tongue (stage actor Michael Hayden) whose unfulfilling jobs and empty family life leave him yearning for more. When his grandfather (Tony Mockus, in a truly amazing performance) suffers a stroke, Billy is the family caregiver who tries to find meaning in the elderly man's suffering. Whilst the protagonist in Targets is an empty vessel, we are fully aware of the disappointments and failures of Billy's life, and the result is a powerful and intelligent existential horror story. Character actor Chelcie Ross is superb as Billy's decidedly charmless father, and David Barkley's delicate score provides the film with an understated emotional heartbeat. This is an excellent film and should be seen by anyone remotely interested in contemporary American cinema.
Saturday 10/15/05
12:30am Turner Classic Movies
Snow Devils (1965 ITA): This spaghetti sci-fier used to appear regularly on TNT's 100% Weird, but unless I'm mistaken, this is its first showing without commercial interruption, though sadly it looks to be a pan-and-scan print. Though it's pretty awful, its tale of melting polar ice caps presciently predicted global warming, though in this case space aliens rather than greenhouse gases are the responsible party. It's up to Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and his hardy band of space rangers to save the planet! The Francesco Lavagnino soundtrack is the best thing about Snow Devils, one of a fistful of outer space epics helmed during the mid-60s by the prodigious Antonio Margheriti, best known to Anglo audiences as Anthony M. Dawson.
5pm HBO
Sideways (2004 USA): In 2003, Paul Giamatti was robbed when his remarkable performance as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor failed to net him so much as an Academy Award nomination. In 2004, Giamatti's picture perfect turn in this comedy-drama again failed to capture the Academy's attention. These are two of the most glaring oversights made by that less than august body in recent years, but there's much more to Sideways than one man's brilliant performance. The film is an intelligent, moving, and bitterly funny character study about two buddies (Giamatti and Thomas Haden Church, another criminally underappreciated actor) on a road trip through California's wine country. That doesn't sound like the set-up for a particularly engaging story, but Alexander Payne's intelligent screenplay elevates this far above the indie herd, and superb supporting performances from Sandra Oh and Virginia Madsen have this one residing comfortably in must-see territory. Also airs at 8pm and throughout the month.
Sunday 10/16/05
9am Sundance
Amazon Women on the Moon (1987 USA): An unusual programing choice for Sundance, Amazon Women on the Moon is a broad hit and miss those of us over 30 grew up with. Filled with creaky old movies (like the ones I recommend all the time in this column!), proto-infomercials, station sign-offs, and public affairs shows, the wee hours of the morning were frequently just as surreal as this film imagines them to have been. Directed with deep love and affection by Joe Dante, John Landis, and others, it's an erratic but hugely enjoyable parade of silly jokes that will, at times, have you in stitches. At the very least you'll be reaching for your phone to place an order for the latest album by Don ‘No Soul' Simmons - and so you don't forget, call before midnight tonight! Also airs at 3:30pm.
9:25pm Sundance
Who Killed Bambi? (2003 FRA): Assuming the title originally intended for the film that became The Great Rock ‘n' Roll Swindle, Who Killed Bambi? marked the directorial debut of screenwriter Gilles Marchand, previously responsible for penning the very fine thriller With A Friend Like Harry (2002). Though notably short on Sex Pistols (or punk rock of any variety, for that matter), Who Killed Bambi? does deal with the loss of innocence, as the main character is a young nurse (Sophie Quinton, here channelling the spirit of Mia Farrow) who learns some very disturbing truths about the surgeon (Laurent Lucas, the handsome hero of Harry) for whom she interns. A first rate effort from a rapidly emerging Gallic talent, this film will give you second thoughts about approving that exploratory surgery your GP recommended last week.
Monday 10/17/05
11:30am Turner Classic Movies
The Money Trap (1965 USA): Twenty years after starring together in the iconic noir Gilda (1946), Glenn Ford and Rita Hayworth were reunited for this decent if less than original cop drama. Ford plays a police detective whose midlife crisis leads him into a foolish and expensive fling with Elke Sommer (here as wooden as ever), and Hayworth plays his old flame, now a down at heel waitress who may offer him his last best chance for redemption. Also on hand in this old-fashioned, wide-screen, black-and-white feature are Joseph Cotten, Ricardo Montalban, and Jim Mitchum.
6pm HBO
Elephant (2003 USA): Few films leave me speechless, but Elephant managed to turn the trick. This semi-fictional take on the Columbine school shootings features all the usual elements you expect from a Gus Van Sant film: long, lingering takes; brief, obtuse dialogue; and of course, an obligatory and gratuitous gay sex scene. Whilst I'm a big fan of Gerry (2002) and a fairly fervid admirer of this year's Last Days (gay sex scene notwithstanding), Elephant simply left me cold. Your mileage may vary considerably, however, especially if you're a high school teacher or a librarian. Also airs at 9pm.
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