When Life Gives You Razorblades… by Mark Donovan

Mark Donovan  FILM REVIEW: "Hobo With A Shotgun," by Mark Donovan Your enjoyment of Hobo with a Shotgun depends on your love of 70s exploitation films, and whether you can watch the kid from Small Soldiers take a flamethrower to a bus full of children. Yes, this in an unapologetic filth classic, served straight.

It is, indeed, a joke, in case the title alone didn’t tip you off, but there are no winking moments, no breaking of the fourth wall, and the director and cinematographer keep the aesthetic within the confines of the 70s/80s exploitation genre. This is an ugly movie, but it is ugly on purpose. If I didn’t know better I would have thought it was a forgotten 70s grindhouse classic.

The movie was originally conceived as a fake trailer for the Canadian release of the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez film Grindhouse, which also gave the world Machete. Both films perfectly capture the same low-budget, DIY-style 70s aesthetic, but Hobo with a Shotgun hews closer to the rules of the genre by keeping the violence over-the-top and pace brisk. The main problem with Machete was that, at two hours long, it started to drag in the middle. With Hobo being a swift 86 minutes, there’s not enough time for it to get bogged down in plot, let alone for the middle to sag. This is all killer, no filler – no pun intended.

Shortly after arriving in Hopetown/Scumtown, a nameless hobo, played by Rutger Hauer, witnesses some extreme violence, brought on by a man named Drake and his two sons, Slick and Ivan. Slick is the son played by Gregory Smith, of Small Soldiers non-fame, who looks like a cross between Edward Furlong and Corey Feldman. His brother, Ivan, is played by Nick Bateman of…stuff…and looks like a cross between Andy Samburg and Dane Cook. Practically everyone in this movie looks like the non-union, Mexican counterpart to somebody famous - except for Rutger Hauer, who is indeed Rutger Hauer. I’m not sure if that was what casting directors Deirdre Bowen and Sheila Lane were going for, but it works.

Scumtown/Hopetown is the classic 70s/80s staple of a city overrun by crime. In the eternal conflict between Us vs. Them, the Thems have won, and then some. This is an entire city populated by Them. Everyone is either a drug dealer, pimp, pusher, prostitute, or bum. Nobody works a 9-5, drives a minivan, or lives with 2.5 kids and a dog. The police are either ineffective or corrupt. And there is a Santa Claus, but he kidnaps children, and he apparently does it year-round. Scumtown/Hopetown is where hope goes to die – a point made obvious long before the titular Hobo delivers a soliloquy to a room full of newborns - which is why it is amazing that it takes 30 minutes of an 86 minute movie before somebody, anybody, grabs a shotgun and just starts killing people.

The carnage in Hobo with a Shotgun is bloody, morbid, and strangely creative. The manhole-cover thing was given away in the trailer, but there is much more inventive carnage to behold. Still, for a faux-grindhouse film, there isn’t much nudity. Where most exploitation films would be awash in gratuitous nudity, Hobo keeps the clothes on, for the most part. The cinematography, by Karim Hussain, is appropriately over-saturated, giving the film its grimy feel. There are also some nice 70s touches, like how Slick and Ivan drive around in a Bricklin. The Bricklin is also one of two visual clues as to the setting of the movie; apparently our neighbors to the north are just as overrun by filth and crime as we are.

Still, as I said, your enjoyment of the film hinges on your enjoyment on mindless violence and over-the-top gore. This is a faux-filth film that can either be immensely enjoyable, or deplorable, depending on your tastes. In the recent wave of 70s and 80s throwbacks, it ranks just behind Black Dynamite, and just ahead of Machete. Those looking for a true throwback to the days of anything –goes filmmaking should definitely seek out Hobo with a Shotgun. You won’t be disappointed.

Film website/ Magnet Releasing

Written by Mark Donovan
Editor: TS Harmon

FILM REVIEW: MODUS OPERANDI Uno, Dos, Trejo! By Joseph James Bellamy

Joseph Bellamy Born in 1974, I missed the popular explosion of the so called ’Exploitation’ genre, having instead been part of the generation that made huge budget , FX laden action blockbusters the film of choice in Hollywood. Having seen Modus Operandi, I now miss what I didn’t know.

Aiming to capture the romance and allure of these lower-budget, harder-boiled classics, Writer/Director Frankie Latina’s Modus hit’s the mark like a sniper shot, and makes it look as smooth and easy as uno, dos, Trejo! With a Porn-Star pedigree (Former Porn A-lister, Actress, and Independent Film Maven Sasha Grey touts a ‘Presented by:’ Credit on the film ) , bare bones, 8mm vision, life-is-as-cheap-as-bullets narrative and the casting of Hollywood’s hands-down scariest bad guy, Modus Operandi is an outstanding, cult-ready ready offering for the cerebral film-goer, and the booms-and-boobs audience alike!

Shot in a medium once relegated to the least respectable of film efforts, It’s a feast of vintage cinematic technique, glam-art sex appeal and contemporary indie style. Not the typical Hollywood roller-coaster, but rather a slow cruise through the darkest part of town, In an impossibly slick black sedan. The story, the chronicle of a burned-out hit-man’s quest for vengeance, is played out amidst a world of perverse secrets, professional lies and political murders. The action percolates and simmers, often boiling over with sex and violence, but never cheapens itself with an overtly gratuitous explosion. Instead, the blood and pyrotechnics are applied for impact, not mindless flash-effect.

First, we are inducted into the films world with a sepia-toned smoking advisory and title-card. We then meet our (anti) hero, Stanley Cashay, through flash backs and the voiced-over memories of his deceased wife. Cashay, a retired triggerman for the shadowy ‘Intelligencia’, is brought to a sort of spooky half-life by the gaunt look and smooth mannerisms of Randy Russell ("American Job"). His suit, shades and smokes all invoke to the uber-cool secret agent men of a hipper time. Cue the funky, retro credits, and you can almost hear the door to the slick black sedan click shut behind you. ’Modus’ is rolling, and you’re along for the ride.

In the step with the films deliberate pacing, We then bare witness to a deal gone dirty, and are introduced to our ‘bad-guys‘:. Squire Parks, An altogether too-smooth politician portrayed with oily aplomb by Michael Sottile ("Reservoir Dogs"), the crooked Copper Gore, played by Mark Metcalf, and his long haired associate Dallas Deacon played by noted independent film-maker Mark Borchardt ("American Movie.") Lest we think these miscreants aren‘t carrying enough criminal credentials, enter Danny Trejo as bad-ass boss-man Director Holiday. Trejo’s brand of gravel-voiced menace immediately fills the screen, and your consciousness, like the sight of a venomous snake coiled for the lunge.

The holy-grail of the story is also established, in the form of two much-sought after black briefcases. Cashay must track them down and bring them back to his former handlers in the Intelligencia. The assignment is made irresistible when the ‘good-guys’ offer Cashay the chance to avenge his wife’s murder.

What follows is a tension building skulk through an attractively gritty, sexy underworld of strippers and killers, that spans from the dark alleys of Milwaukee to the bright lights of Tokyo. It is a darkly fantastic landscape, made real with the use of period-appropriate props, and peopled with the genre-essential cast of supporting characters. There is the always cooperative privateer, Casey Thunderbird (Barry Polterman,) the deliciously sexy hit-woman, Black Licorice (Nicole Johnson,) and a whole host of agents, assassins, hit-girls and hotties. A series of hand-offs, coded conversations and doubles crosses move the story along smoothly, without every letting up the pressure that has been steadily re-doubling since the first turn of the projector.

The drama is expertly punctuated with shoot-outs, car chases and even a brief, but impacting homage to Hitchcock’s classic thriller North By North West. All the while, the viewers sense that they have been taken on a ride that is far more than they had bargained for sinks deeper into the psyche, which is cruising more and more comfortably with every passing 8 mm. frame.

Over the course of the film, we are shown several clips of what appears to be beta-cam recorded video of young women seemingly auditioning for porno. As the story progresses, we come to understand the true nature of the footage, how it ties the principals players together, and ultimately, what they, and it, convey to us about the true meaning of power. This last idea, the meaning of power, is driven home for the audience in a climactic encounter between Squire Parks and Director Holiday, where Trejo’s words and deeds can only be described as pure Vato Loco, HOMES!

All in all, Frankie Latina and Milwaukee-based Special Entertainment can be very proud of Modus Operandi. They have not only succeeded in bringing a spot-on homage to the hard-hitting , so-called exploitation genre to a modern audience, but they have managed to remind us that a good film is about transporting the audience.

Modus Operandi is sure winner that takes you through the shadows and into another world. Now that I know, I can tell you; between the cool tunes of the sound-track, the seemingly endless supply of Hot bodies and the cold, calculated style of Stanley Cashay, it’s a world in which you will be fully engrossed, and won’t ever want to leave.

Film: "Modus Operandi"
Director: Frankie Latina
Film's website: www.frankielatina.com
Screening at Reel Fest, March 14th, 2011 www.reelfest.org

Review written by Joseph James Bellamy
Editor: TS Harmon

Be Careful What You Pretend To Be

             Live action role playing is a topic that has been widely covered in documentary form, since it is easy find subjects worthy of an audience’s sympathy, pity, or scorn, and there is already an easily defined narrative to the proceedings that can be easily juxtaposed with the reality of the subjects’ lives. It is also an area that is relatively unexplored in narrative features, given that it is home to outsized personalities, giant battles, opposing factions, and it all seems very silly to those who choose not to partake. It can make for great comedy, or, as it is used in The Wild Hunt, it can make for some tense drama.

            The Wild Hunt starts out in a similar fashion to another movie about LARPing, Darkon, in that it fully immerses the audience in the actual game, as if it were real, before pulling back the curtain to reveal that all of the fights were with foam swords. From there it moves, briefly, to the real world, where Eric and his girlfriend, Lyn, are going through relationship problems. After she leaves to take part in the game, he begins having bad dreams about her, and eventually heads off to crash the game in search of her. The early scenes come off like so many mumblecore dramas, with characters milling about, unable to express their emotions with any sort of clarity or enunciation. This is also contrasted with the land of the game, where everyone tends to shout their feelings and desires in a theatrical style reminiscent of fantasy. The early scenes are also shot through a blue filter, with overexposed lighting, giving the real world a sort of unreal, depressing quality.

            Once at the game, Eric trudges through it, begrudgingly dressing in proper costume attire and loudly declaring to anyone he comes into contact with how he is not really playing the game, looking for Lyn. His feelings of superiority to the silly costumed people that are taking the game seriously are easy to see. After his first, brief encounter with Lyn, in which she rebuffs him in favor of the silly costumed people, he teams up with his older brother, Bjorn, to try to win her back through playing the game, setting in motion events that nearly destroy the fantasy world.

            Alexandre Franchi’s excellent direction, in conjunction with the terrific cinematography by Claudine Sauve, creates a mood of mounting dread that starts shortly after Eric enters the fantasy world and doesn’t let up until the end. There is something unsettling about the fantasy world, and the way some of these characters wrap themselves in it, like religious zealots. It’s easy to see how such people could end up running wild, given that so much of their ego is wrapped up in the game. They have played characters of great importance for so long that they actually believe they are important.

            Despite taking place in expansive woods, the film feels claustrophobic. It is as if the escape that these characters are searching for is also keeping them confined. There is no true freedom to be found through the game, and nowhere in these woods to hide. The only character that seems to be truly enjoying everything is King Argyle, who uses the rules and his position in the game world to just be a terrific bastard to everyone else. He’s not above using cheap tricks to win, and then taunting his opponents.

            The one problem with the film is the character of Lyn, and what I like to call the Ramona Flowers conundrum: she does not seem to care enough about the relationship to make the audience care about the relationship, or make us understand why the main character would go to such lengths for her. She is more like a prize, and the only sense we get of her character is that she is only interested in fun. She seems to just want to be wanted, and shows extreme ambivalence about everything that doesn’t revolve around her. If I were Eric, I’d just cut my losses, as opposed to going through all that trouble just for her.

            Still, even with that problem, The Wild Hunt is fun little movie, filled with great characters, and enough respect for its fantasy world that it never falls into derision, yet still has a sense of humor about it. The direction is tight, and the cinematography is top notch. If you are a fan of role playing, tense dramas, or well made films in general, check out The Wild Hunt.


Written by Mark Donovan
Editor: TS Harmon