Family has to come first in 'Gun Hill Road'
<b>Reel Life review: 'Gun Hill Road'</b>
Nobody is really thrilled that macho Enrique (a beefed-up, extremely grounded Esai Morales) has returned to his Bronx home after three years in the big house for petty crimes. His wife Angela (a sexually charged Judy Reyes) has taken up with another man. His teen son Michael (Harmony Santana) has become a cross-dresser who uses the girls' restroom and dreams of becoming a woman.
Rashaad Ernesto Green's feature debut "Gun Hill Road" recycles familiar elements from 2009's "La Mission," in which Benjamin Bratt's macho ex-con deals with a gay son.
"Gun Hill Road," written and directed by Green, earnestly pleads for compassion for Michael as it shows the pain caused by his sexual identity conflict. The film also serves up a cautionary tale, through Enrique, about the dangers of being inflexible and unable to change attitudes.
These noble ideas get undermined by Green's passionless approach to the drama, one that comes off as a by-the-numbers made-for-cable film where good intentions trump good execution.
"Gun Hill Road" opens at the Century Centre in Chicago. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations, violence. 86 minutes. ★ ★ ½
<b>Reel Life review: 'Bellflower'</b>
Evan Glodell's fiercely independent "Bellflower" offers less of a plot than it does an attitude, one usually associated with a firmly extended middle finger. And it's pointed directly at conventional, formula Hollywood filmmaking.
A cinematic ode to both arrested adolescence and narrative chaos, "Bellflower" revolves around two California buds named Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson), who are building a flame thrower and a super-duper survival car called "Medusa" so they'll be able to survive a post-apocalyptic event - should one ever come around.
None does. But a nubile, risk-taking blonde named Milly (Jessie Wiseman) drops into Woodrow's life, turning it upside down, inside out and flashback-forward on the road to a violent, chronologically challenged finale that would leave David Lynch scratching his bald spot.
Most of Glodell's dialogue is slacker filler ("cool" "dude" "sweet" and "whatever" dominate the word choices). But this low-budget production isn't about the chat, it's about throwing something unhinged, scary and unpredictable up there on the screen.
And for that, we can forgive Glodell for more utterances of the cliched exclamation "Awesome!" than can be heard at a convention for Jeff Spicoli impersonators.
"Bellflower" opens at the Century Centre in Chicago. Rated R for language, nudity, sexual situations, violence. 106 minutes. ★ ★ ★
<b>Locals make movies</b>
Northwest suburban filmmakers are prominently featured in the Naperville Independent Film Festival starting up this weekend.
Naperville native (and Naperville Central graduate) Jim Hemphill wrote and directed "The Trouble With the Truth," a drama starring Lea Thompson and John Shea. It will play at the Ogden 6 Theater in Naperville.
"I'm really excited to return to the theater where I grew up watching movies to show my own," Hemphill wrote me in an email.
"Coasting," a Northwest suburban comic drama by the Palatine-based filmmaking group CNGM, will be shown at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Ogden Cinema.
The film, directed by Palatine filmmaker Michael Noens, stars Des Plaines actor (and St. Charles native) John Legat and former Chicagoan Stephanie Wyatt as two young people whose chance meeting sends ripple effects into their staid lives. Wyatt is up for the fest's Best Actress award! Go to naperfilmfest.org for schedules and tickets.
<b>Drive-in madness!</b>
Dixon, Ill., is not our usual turf, but how many times will anyone get a chance to see an old-fashioned dusk-to-dawn horror program at a real drive-in theater? The Midway Drive-In at 91 Paymyra Road, Dixon, presents the "Chillerama" road show tour along with "Blood Diner," "2001 Maniacs," "The Howling" and celebrity appearances starting at sundown on Saturday night. Go to themidwaydrivein.net.
<b>Movies too moving?</b>
Dear Dann: I have been a movie lover for 50 years and see almost everything that is released. I run into difficulty, however, when movies are filmed with the "hand-held" camera affect. I get very, very ill. "Hurt Locker," for example, even after only about 15 minutes, had me leaving the theater quite early and lying down for hours. Has anyone ever given thought to highlighting in some way the movies that use that technique? If I (and a lot of others) knew ahead of time, we could save a lot of illness AND money! - Diane Eden
Dear Diane: Many film critics mention this style of moviemaking as part of their reviews, but not all critics do and certainly not all of the time. If you're concerned about extreme camera movements in a movie, contact me at dgire@dailyherald. I'll give you what I call the film's "Dramamine Factor."
My advice: Avoid any movies from Lars von Trier ("Breaking the Waves" and "Melancholia"), the Duplass brothers Jay and Mark ("The Puffy Chair" and "Baghdad") and any films advertised as being based on "found footage" of some terrible event ("The Blair Witch Project" and "Cloverfield"). - Dann
<b>'Lion King 3-D' no lyin'</b>
I have seen the opening sequence of the newly rehabbed 3-D version of Walt Disney's 1994 animated hit "The Lion King," and, man! It sure looks good, almost as if it had been manufactured in 3-D on its original run with minimal loss of illumination through those cumbersome eyeglasses. "Lion King 3-D" opens in local theaters this weekend. Hakuna matata, baby.
<b>Patty Duke, Part 3</b>
I asked Oscar-winning actress Patty Duke point blank if she ever thinks about death.
"Oh, my God! Only every single day of my life!" she replied.
"I haven't had a panic attack for quite some time. But all the panic attacks I've had since childhood were about the eventuality of death. It can still be a source of angst for me. Now, living as long as I have - I never thought I would live this long - has been helping me to accept the concept."
Well, have you accepted it?
"How can the world continue without me? Give me a break!" the 64-year-old actress said, not bothering to suppress a laugh. "It's funny, because I've searched a number of religions trying to find a place to hang my hat. It hasn't happened with formal religion,
"I was brought up Catholic, and you know how scary we are about death! Mostly, what I seem to be arriving at is living in the moment. Trying to harness that ego that is so afraid to die."
How many of your friends or family members have died from AIDS?
"More than I can even count," she said. "It's an unreasonable amount of deaths."
Elgin resident Rick Kautz wanted to help the Open Door Clinic in Elgin in its efforts to treat AIDS patients, so he asked Duke if she would come to the Northwest suburbs for a benefit.
She said yes.
So, the actress will show her 1962 movie "The Miracle Worker" at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Arcada Theater, 105 E. Main St., St. Charles. Then, she'll appear onstage for a Q&A with me before taking questions from the audience.
I asked Duke why she felt compelled to come to the Arcada Theatre for an AIDS benefit?
"One of the things that Rick's project is going to do for me, is that it will give me an opportunity to talk about fear and dealing with the ultimate fear. There are some days I don't do so hot on that topic.
"My main thrust now when I speak on any topic is almost always forgiveness - that we must forgive each other and ourselves in order to lead a balanced life."
How did you come to this conclusion?
"Most of the people I've known who've passed from AIDS have come to a point where all they wanted to do is forgive, and pass on peacefully," Duke said.
"Forgiveness has played such an important part in my life, and I came to realize how vital a thing it is for all of us to practice."
Tickets to see the movie and Duke are $15. VIP tickets for the show and a "meet-and-greet" afterward with the actress at Townhouse Books in St. Charles cost $55. Go to opendoorclinic.com or call (847) 697-5407 for tickets.
<i> Daily Herald film critic Dann Gire's column runs Fridays in Time out!</i>