KWIF: Weird, The Al Yankovic Story, Amphibian Man plus Michelle Yeoh

 Kent's Week In Film #6:
Weird: The Al Yankovic Story - 2022, d. Eric Appel - Roku Channel
Amphibian Man - 1961, d. Vladamir Chebotaryov and Gennadiy Kazanskiy - youtube
Magnificent Warriors - 1987, d. David Chang - Criterion Channel
Police Story 3: Supercop - 1992, d. Stanley Tong - Criterion Channel
The Heroic Trio - 1993, d. Johnnie To - Criterion Channel

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One of the biggest surprises of 2022 was that Toasty watched Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, and the bigger surprise was that he liked it...or rather, "mildly enjoyed" it.

Weird... shouldn't have to be for Yankovic devotees, but I think some familiarity or investment in his music really does go a long way in enjoying the film.

I had my Weird Al phase as a pre-teen, which coincided with my Mad Magazine phase...like peanut butter and chocolate, those two. But when I started into comedy podcasts back in 2009, I started to catch onto the respect and adulation that Al had garnered in the comedy scene, and then one of my favourite film critics, Nathan Rabin did an entire blog series-turned-book of analyzing Al's output song-by-song, album-by-album. It was like I was being given permission to actually liking Al and not just dismissing him as a remnant of my past juvenile predilections ...as if to say I didn't leave behind comic books and action figures and whatnot, so why did I have to leave Al and Mad Magazine behind?

Anyway....

I enjoyed the heck out of this movie. As Al has been doing with his music for four decades now, it's a parody of the recent space of musical biopics, starting with the disapproving parents that just don't understand their weird child. "...Your dad and I had a long talk and we agreed it would be best for all of us if you would just stop being who you are and doing the things you love."  His parents call polka the devil's music, so Al hides polka magazines in his textbooks and plays accordion "in the closet".  As a teen, good boy Al gets coaxed out by his friends to a party, only to learn that it's, *gasp* a polka party.

There's a meta conflict in the film since there's this early idea of an alternate reality where polka is dangerous, seemingly illicit rebel music, but that conceit butts up against the idea of there being pop music and pop music parodies, so it doesn't sustain much past these early flashback sequences.

There's a later conceit where Al starts creating original songs and then the pop musicians start "parodying" him with their straight takes. This, again, is a delightful alt-reality that maybe didn't get pushed far enough.

It's not really a problem that there's not really a "reality" to this film, or, at least, "reality" is a fluid concept in exploring Al's career, but it would have proven a tad more satisfying had there been consistent conceits to the world of Weird that is clearly not our own. The final act turns away from music biopic parody and instead turns into an 80's action film parody, which, frankly, seems a very "Weird" Al thing to do, since Al doesn't ever stick with one genre. The film even ends with another alternative reality moment that works well enough but is then backed up by amazing pictures of Al Photoshopped into "real life" moments both as portrayed in the film and famous moments in history.

One of the highlights of the film (of many, frankly) is the Dr. Demento party scene, which is has a dual purpose Where's Waldo of pointing out all the celebrity characters in attendance (Andy Warhol, Pee Wee Herman, Salvador Dali etc) and then spending the time trying to pick out which comedians or comedic actors are portraying them (Conan O'Brien, Jorma Taccone, Emo Philips respectively).  This culminates in a moment where a member of Queen (no, not that one...or that one...), as played by David Dastmalchian, calls out Al for having lost his parody skills, and Al throws "Another One Rides The Bus" in his face.

The sequences of song inspiration/creation are all in their own way ridiculously over the top, utterly obvious and in-your-face in a way that is only slightly more exaggerated than what is usually found in a musical biopic. The "My Bologna" creation sequence is a brilliant piece of comedic satire.

Radcliff as Al is committed in a way that the film needed him to be, but I don't think anyone would ever expect a performer to actually commit so hard to a role like this. Evan Rachel Wood is absolutely savage as Madonna, just a devilishly menacing, gum chewing femme fatale. Madonna couldn't even play Madonna this good.

That all said, it's definitely the "Weird" Al of parody musical biopics. And I enjoyed it thoroughly in that respect.

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I was listening to a recent episode of the Video Archives podcast this past week when Quentin (Tarantino) and Roger (Avery) just started introducing the gorgeous-looking Russian classic sci-fi film Amphibian Man. It was mentioned it was streaming and so I didn't listen very long before I turned off the podcast and pulled up the film on Tubi, having learned very little about it...save for how "gorgeous" looking it was both on Quentin's sepia-toned VHS copy and Gala's vibrantly coloured streaming version.

I got about 8 minutes into Tubi's decent, but not "gorgeous" looking presentation of the movie, seeing the murky (not gorgeous) pearl diving sequences, and the bedazzled silver wetsuit and fin-helmet of the Amphibian Man (called the Sea Devil in the film) and warned of a creature attacking fishermen and sinking their boats). Set up as sort of an aquatic monster, our first glimpse of the Amphibian Man is ludicrously comical when you're expecting something like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. The melodrama of the pearl diving slave driver mooning over an indebted man's daughter, only for her to be rescued by the sea devil, all seemed really silly and I stopped watching, continuing with the Video Archives discussion the next day.

Quentin and Roger's discussion continued into the gorgeous "Bond villain lair" setpiece, the diving bell elivator, plus the wonderful Cuba-set exterior sequences, the fine costuming, and, once again, how good the film looks. Clearly I had missed something, So once again, I stopped the podcast and started watching from where I left off, only this time going to youtube. The film's Russian distributor has posted the film in full on their channel and in its most glorious-looking full-colour presentation, however, it's not subtitled. A kindly youtuber has however taken that version and subtitled it (a little wonky, but better than the English dub or AI-generated subtitles).  And no less than a minute from where I left off, indeed we're introduced to the "Bond villain lair" and yeah, it's spectacular. And we learn that the "sea devil" isn't a creature at all but a boy who was given shark lungs to save his life.  With these two aspects, I was completely turned around on the picture.

What happens from thereon is a very fairy-tale meets superhero meets weekend-afternoon fantasy-romance that's part Splash, part Luca, part Little Mermaid, part Shape of Water but predating all of these films, and, I wouldn't be surprised to find out that it inspired any of them.  The sequence in which Ichtiandr (the Amphibian Man) takes Guttiere out on a stroll, and she teaches him to dance is an exceptionally romantic moment...not sexy or steamy, but romantic, and the two very attractive young leads amidst the vibrant Cuban vistas in very well-tailored attire make for very appealing viewing. 

What astonishes me most about the film is indeed how good it looks, yes, just as the Video Archives gang all but promised. Unlike most Hollywood productions of the time, it uses so many exterior locations instead of backlot "streets" and it's so exotic-looking and vibrant. The film also employs some fun composite and layering techniques, photo trickery that isn't fooling anyone but is exceptionally charming. The directors here, really do employ wonderful uses of light, shadow, colour and composition. There are some marvelously framed sequences, even some dazzling forced perspectives.  I've seen a lot of underwater sequences recently and these are fine, not quite as gorgeous maybe as the rest of the film, but still marvelous for likely the time the film was made and the technology available.  

As well, after recently watching a few Hong Kong/Chineses action movies (see below) which all seem to uniformly have terrible scores, the soundtrack to this was absolutely lovely.  There's also a really remarkable, brassy swing tune about the Amphibian Man that's happening at a club while Ichtyandr is looking in its window, and it's just great.

There are definitely some logic gaps in the story, and the third act doesn't so much build as it does circle around a few times before it reaches its exit, but what a beautiful slice of joy, perfect weekend morning viewing.

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The Criterion Channel this March decided to celebrate Michelle Yeoh's Oscar nomination with a collection of films from her first two decades in the industry. Sadly, Yes, Madam! and The Stunt Woman were available to US viewers only.  But that still left me with a handful of Ms. Yeoh's movies that I hadn't yet seen, and was very eager to dive into.

First up was Magnificent Warriors aka Dynamite Fighters (well, actually, second up, but I hit the wrong title and completely missed Royal Warriors aka In the Line of Duty), in which finds Yeoh as an adventuring, kung-fu fighting aviator, tasked with rescuing a super-spy, and helping defend a Chinese village from occupying Japanese forces during WWII.  Um, yes please. The fighting is graceful and wonderful, and a few of the stunts have a real "oof" factor.  The dogfight is surprisingly good for remote controlled minis. While the story and characters are overly simplistic, and the film sags in its second half Yeoh, Richard Ng, Lowell Lo and Chindy Lau are all super-charming and strive to elevate the material to the adventurous Indiana Jones-esque spirit it's aiming for. Shame that the production really only saw fit to have one cheapo John Williams-esque knock-off composition created for the score, which it uses incessantly. The last "reel" on criterion completely shifted aspect ratios and dropped the English subtitles, whatsupwithat? Ultimately, not a great movie, but not a bad time either.

When I watched Jackie Chan's Police Story films last year, I was surprised by how much I wasn't enthused by them.  They are legendary for Chan's stunt performances but they are neither great nor memorable stories, nor are they particularly well shot or technically well produced (beyond the stunts). For Police Story 3: Supercop, Chan handed over the director's chair (though likely still wielding great influence over the production) to Stanley Tong, and the difference is everything. The story is clear, the comedy hits hard, the action is tactfully captured (as opposed to just captured) and it just looks good. I don't want to oversell it as anything groundbreaking visually, but compared to the prior two films this has well a much needed competency. And it had Michelle Yeoh.  The plot takes Chan's inspector Ka Kui, onto mainland China to go undercover with a regional inspector (Yeoh) to infiltrate a Chinese drug lord's operations. The third act leads to a memorable poolside comedy piece where Ka Kui's has to avoid his vacationing girlfriend May (Maggie Cheung finally getting to be a real part of these movies), or he will be found out by the mobsters. This all famously leads to a sequence where Chan straps himself to a rope ladder hanging off a helicopter and flies all over Kuala Lumpur before landing on a moving train. It's a tremendously enjoyable picture. I now need to see the Yeoh-starring Supercop 2 (why didn't Criterion also have this?!?).

Yeoh was a huge highlight of Police Story 3, going toe-to-toe, stunt-to-stunt with Chan (as Yeoh mentioned in her interview with Marc Maron on WTF, Chan was frustrated that Yeoh was so good that he was having to push himself into even bigger and more dangerous things). Yeoh reteams with Maggie Cheung as two of the titular Heroic Trio, along with Anita Mui.  It is a superhero movie where two of the titular heroic trio are actually working for the bad guy. The same two title heroes are kidnapping babies, and the third of the three fails to save one baby who falls from great heights right onto a rusted nail. Later the trio blow up a small assembly of cannibal children because there's just no hope for them.

It is a bright, colourful, silly blend of wuxia and 90's superhero films that feels more inspired by Dick Tracy than Burton's Batman, aesthetically, but isn't playing by the usual rules of the genre. Everyone is good but  Cheung is phenomenal, just an explosion of delight and charisma every second she's on screen.  I like the movie, but I want to like it even more than I do. I think I'm mostly disappointed that Yeoh is stuck with the most melodramatic role, and doesn't get to have as much fun as Cheung or Mui. And she's dubbed...I know why she is, but still it makes me sad.

New Year's Countdown...of Excellence: 10 - Battleship Potemkin (1920's selection)

Another year is coming to a close, and though it got off to a very rocky start, and such a bumpy middle, we can all agree it's ending in an unceremoniously shaky fashion.  A return to normalcy was attempted, and it failed to take, but it was nice while it lasted, though the nagging sensation of gloom never completely dissipated. Pop culture is still a steamroller that won't let anything get in its way. Any threat of a slowdown in content has since been met with an aggressive new wave (not to be confused with nu wave) of seemingly endless new content to keep us distracted and, if not happy, at least placated.  If you were into playing sports or outdoor recreation or big live events or travel, yeah, things are pretty different, but if you just liked retiring at home and chilling out with new books, comics, TV, movies, podcast, music...it's just like old times, if perhaps even more overwhelming. 
After spending the past two months of rolling around in the deep fryer of the made-for-TV holiday romance genre, it's time to cleanse the palette, partake in some arts and culture, and build some brain muscle rather than fattening it up.  It's time to travel through time, and around the world, partaking in some of the best cinema I've never seen.  10 movies, each a certified classic from some "best of" list or another, almost each from a different country, and one from each decade of the past 100 years of cinema.

10
Battleship Potemkin
1925, d. Sergei Eisenstein - Criterion Channel 

The Story (in two paragraphs or less)
Circa 1905 as Marxism is rising in esteem, the sailors on the Battleship Potemkin are not happy with the quality of food.  There's no such thing as refrigeration and the meat has gone rancid.  The chef is forced to cook borscht but the men refuse to eat it.  They are all called on deck by the Admiral, asked to self-identify who did and did not have issue with their meal, and the those that object are judges as insubordinate and threatened with hanging and being shot.  But an appeal to the men with guns turns the tide and a mutiny ensues.  Though victorious the leader of the mutiny is killed.  His body put on display in Odessa with a note: FOR A SPOONFUL OF BORSCHT.

Thousands descend on Odessa in support of the men who rose up against their aggressors, bringing food and love. The rising anti-autocratic sentiment turns ugly as the Cossack host arrives and begins firing on the crowd of people.  A child injured.  In appealing to the Cossacks for help, the mother is slain.  In retaliation, the crew of the Potemkin fire upon the opera house where the Cossack leaders are headquartered.  A fleet of warships are on their way to support the Tsarist infantry, and the outsized, outmatched Potemkin heads out to face them only to find they too have become brothers in the revolution.

What did I think I was in for?
I honestly knew nothing about Battleship Potemkin prior to constructing my list to watch for this year's countdown.  I didn't know it was made in the 1920s, or that it was black and white and silent.  I didn't know it was Russian.
Frankly, I thought it was a 1960's war movie, maybe with a harrowing escapade about the sailors escaping it sinking or something.  I didn't know it was basically a story of the first Russian Revolution, but, then again, I barely know anything about the Russian revolution

What did I get out of it?
A lot of questions about what, actually, was going on.  Clearly the time period (shot in the mid-1920's but noted early on it's set in 1905) had definite significance, so I had to look it up, and then poked around the wiki-wormhole for a while digging into a bit of Russian history.

I was also curious about what the impact of the film was.  Was this actually communist propaganda? A lot of the film seems very aggrandizing towards the usurpers and demonising of their Tsarist superiors.  It was actually a commissioned film to commemorate the 1905 revolution, and I imagine was fairly celebrated. 

I did find the scale of its production fairly impressive, there are scenes in Odessa with likely thousands of extras which was pretty awe inspiring.  The scenes aboard the ship have hundreds of players, and it's evident that most of them are not trained actors.  It's also clear, though, that Eisenstein had an eye for both scene composition and dramatic flair.  There are some absolutely stellar shots in this.

The fabricated massacre at Odessa is easily the highlight, the film at its most epic, and clearly familiar as its been aped across TV and cinema for decades, most notably in DiPalma's The Untouchables borrowing rather liberally the deal with the baby carriage.

Do I think it's a classic?
There's obviously something to it that, without research, I know I won't get.  Just from a cold viewing, I can tell it's influential, many aspects throughout I can see aped in subsequent pop cinema, but having not studied film per se, I can't say specifically what it is that makes it a classic.  (Eisenstein is known for his theories of montage, and how editing influences the audience, so without knowing intimately how storytelling progressed before this, it's hard for me to say its specific impact).

The idea of revolution, of the subjugated masses standing up against those who think themselves superior is powerful, and surprisingly underutilized storytelling.  The only real example of this that sticks in my head are Conquest of the Planet of the Apes but I know there are others  (is Bravehart one? Never saw it.)

Did I like watching this?
It certainly swept me up after a certain point, though I find silent films generally struggle to hold my attention throughout.  I liked it's five act structure, and the Edmund Meisel score does a lot of impressive heavy lifting. I took a 10 minute intermission around minute 50, and it felt like a long-ish slog that should be over already, but I was also committed to finishing it, with no thoughts of abandoning it.  I definitely want to read more about the time period, the revolution and the pre-Communist historical events that led to modern Russia.

So, to answer the question, sort of.

Would I watch it again?
Unlikely.