A little seen film on the life of jazz legend Chet Baker, Let's Get Lost, plays at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston this weekend, Friday and Sunday at 7 pm. The Bruce Webber directed documentary was being filmed even as Baker came to a mysterious end; his death has never been conclusively ruled accidental or suicide. To my knowledge this film has only played theatrically in Houston once and should not be missed by jazz fans. There's plenty to recommend for those who've never heard of Baker too - his life was literally an Olympian rise to fame and a descent into heroin hell. On Saturday night the MFA hosts the regional premiere of August Evening, starting at 7. A Q&A with director Chris Eska, actor Pedro Castaneda, production designer Elysia Van Deusen, and producers Connie Hill and Jason Wehling follows along with a reception.
Wow, the Wackness has already gone and Bottle Shock unrolls in its place. Set in the mid-70s, Bottle Shock's strength is honest attention to the milieu, in this case Napa Valley. The clothes, the music on the soundtrack, the mindset of an older generation all rings true. You could say Bottle Shock had me at hello. The story's based on an actual incident where California produced wine beat French wine at a swank Parisian blind tasting contest. The main conflict revolves around Alan Rickman, a Brit who runs a wine store in Paris, earning the trust of ornery wine maker Bill Pullman. Early on Bottle Shock establishes Rickman in his environment. His American ex-pat neighbor (Dennis Farina with a mod haircut) convinces him that California is serious wine country. Meanwhile we see Pullman going through a series of setbacks. His natural oxidation process takes longer and costs more but results in better wine. The bank only sees red ink. At this point the film seems to be about snobbery versus homespun honor. Then Bottle Shock totally loses me by adding a second interweaving plot that involves Pullman's son. So Bottle Shock, a term that in the movie refers to shaking the bottle in transit, becomes cross-generational as the young ones teach the oldsters the value of life. Perhaps the thing that irked me most was the lead kid, Chris Pine (OMFG he plays Kirk in next year's Star Trek) wearing a wig that looks like a mop throughout the entire film. Plus the side plot - Pine and Freddy Rodriguez both love Sam the hot femme intern - fails to impress as Sam goes from one guy to the other without any motivation other than because it's in the script. Still there are some worthy moments between Rickman and Pullman that put the film back on track. Eliza Dushku plays a cameo as a bar owner who runs a wine tasting scam with the boys, and there's a French actor named Bergeron. With Bottle Shock, you learn to be thankful for small favors.
There's the urge to give Pineapple Express a pass because they smoke a buttload of pot throughout the film. The thing about movies that depict getting high, or fucking for that matter - they never get it right compared to reality. To make a drug themed film work a filmmaker either has to make subtle references to reefer that leave you lightheaded (The Wonder Boys, The Big Lebowski) or just make it an all out smokefest like ye Cheech and Chong movies of olde. Pineapple Express tries to give us a movie that's like being situated in a room full of chronic smoke with no ventilation but then after a couple of reels it's like someone switched on the air, someone opened the window. The highness wafts out while the normality of formula creeps in. Everyday schlub pothead Seth Rogen (Dale) wakes and bakes. Hooking up with his connection James Franco (Saul) he scores the holy grail of nickname pot, Pineapple Express. Much of the first act tales place in Saul's apartment and there's a fresh camaraderie between Rogen and Franco that you want to explore. Saul sits perpetually stoned watching reruns of 70s era shows while Dale works perpetually stoned serving subpoenas after donning a disguise. For instance Dale uses a white lab coat to enter a hospital to serve a doctor about to operate. Some clever situations could've come from this dysfunctional identity complex since neither dude has met his inner dude, Saul because of his isolation and Dale because of his subterfuge. That's not the joint director David Gordon Green or producer Judd Apatow have twisted. The film merges into a violent drug war scenario only all the baddies are one-note characters that exist only to spout orders and try to kill Saul and Dale. In other words a complete waste of Rosie Perez, Gary Cole, and Kevin Corrigan (I swear he's doing his best Walken impersonation.) Craig Robinson who stole a scene in Knocked Up as the club doorman gets a few choice one-liners while Danny McBride has the unfortunate flaw of being the guy who gets shot multiple times but doesn't die while everyone else gets shot and dies. That's how the script appears to be innovative. Hey let's shoot one of the supporting characters every few hours and play his bleeding for laughs. Here he is bleeding and saving the day. Here he is bleeding and eating breakfast at Denny's. Other than Green all the principals here were also involved on Superbad, probably the best comedy of the last few years. Pineapple Express doesn't even share DNA with Superbad but compared to, say, Get Smart or The Love Guru, yeah it's funny. A weird black-and-white prologue shows a military marijuana experiment, featuring Bill Hader and James Remar, set in the 1930s, that seems all but forgotten by the time Pineapple Express' third act rolls around and it's the same location. There's an 80s vibe in the buddy ethics of Dale and Saul right down to the Huey Lewis song over the end credits. Franco wears a t-shirt with a cat in a shark's mouth that was a design sold at Urban Outfitters a few years ago.
Brothers Mark and Jay Duplass burst onto the film scene with The Puffy Chair, a small indie film that played in extended runs in places like their then home town Austin. Their second feature Baghead shows that as artistically evolving artists they’re not shooting blanks. Released by Sony Pictures Classics, Baghead opens at the Angelika on July 18. Baghead mixes genres with ease. What starts out as a typical indie film romp soon flowers into a domestic drama that spawns a mystery thriller with a twist. In the end, this is a fresh, sweet film. If there’s a cinematic reference point that would probably be Roman Polanski’s Cul de Sac, a film some describe as weird and entertaining. “We didn’t set out to make a genre twister,” Mark Duplass the younger of the brothers tells Free Press Houston in a phone interview. “We just wanted to make a good movie.” The Duplass Brothers grew up in New Orleans and later moved to Austin, a city that spawned a filmmaking renaissance in the ‘90s. Baghead was shot primarily in Bastrop and Smithville, outside of Austin. Specifically Baghead explores the changing relationship and “personal passive aggressive dynamics of two couples” during a supposed idyllic retreat to a country house. With the limited but positive reception of The Puffy Chair and now Baghead getting distributed by Sony Pictures Classics the Duplass Brothers have made the move to L.A. What the brothers took from Austin was a work ethic that includes knowing the history of cinema. “When someone asks me for filmmaking advice,” Mark says, “I tell them ‘Don’t start with a figure for a budget, start with a story and performances.’” Try as I might I couldn’t get Mark to tell me how they shot a scene that involves a chase through the woods and an automobile. “Did you undercrank the camera and use a stuntman?” “I would rather not say,” replies Mark. “That scene you mention, we felt it was a pivotal moment in the film, and I will say that we very carefully prepared how to shoot it. But for now I’d like the specifics to remain hidden.” In a New York Times article a few years back the reporter called the Duplass film an example of “mumblecore.” “The press decided we were mumblecore,” says Mark. “I think it’s just a way of trying to classify low-fi budget films. Making films is difficult period. There’s chaos and luck.” The guy with a bag over his head may be what gets people into the theater but the film and its four main characters, themselves a litmus strip of typical young adult motivations, will win over audiences who demand sophistication with their popcorn. After phone tag with release dates Baghead opens this Friday at the downtown Angelika.
