Eric Roberts had his moment in the sun as a serious and talented actor playing Paulie in the 1986 Oscar nominated film Pope of Greenwich Village. The Pope was a high watermark for the gritty, low-budget films about tough losers in New York first pioneered by Martin Scorsese's 1973s debut film Mean Streets. The style, persisted right through the 1990s in films like Laws of Gravity.   Eric Roberts's moving work in Pope reflected a period in American culture that was submersed in corruption, stagnation and self-defeating nihilism in the decades following Vietnam and the waning optimism of the Post-World-War period. Roberts role in Pope, conveyed a subtle interplay of self-pity and exaltation that characterized a bi-polar nation gestalt expressed adroitly in popular youth music genres that emerged during this period including punk rock, hip-hop and grunge.  Roberts, for his part, plays deftly and professionally the emotions of...oh screw it. Roll SHARKTOPUS!!!!

It's going to be a good week, as usual, at the Hollywood Theater (4122 NE Sandy Blvd.) with these two vastly dissimilar independent films.  

The Sun Behind the Clouds - directed by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam - India/US - 2010

and

Daddy Longlegs - directed by Ben and Joshua Safdie - US - 2010

When considering the David and Goliath battle between conquered Tibet and occupying China, it isn't very hard to decide where to place your sympathy. Tibetans, as peaceful underdogs led by one of the most intelligent, charismatic men on the planet, have the good will of most non-Chinese in the world on their side, without, of course, the political backing it would take to make all that good will matter. The Sun Behind the Clouds is a doc about Tibet's plight, and the aim of its existence is to plea for that much-needed support. Its greatest strength is an impressive impartiality which seems to me to be in keeping with the philosophy (and political approach) of the Dalai Lama. The life's work of Tibet's leader has been to convince the Chinese government to grant his people religious autonomy, but not, as his Middle-Way political approach makes clear, national sovereignty. His ability to consider the concerns of the government which stole and ransacked his ancestral home is reflected in filmmakers Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam's decision to give ample screen time to both anti-Tibet Chinese as well as to Tibetans who disagree with the Lama's philosophy. A rift among Tibetans concerning how to approach the fight for autonomy - including a group of monks who march on Tibet in direct defiance of the Lama's wishes - is of as much relevance to Sarin and Sonam as are the words of the man they follow and refer to as 'His Holiness.' Their sincerity in considering their opposition is a kind of invocation of Tibetan/Buddhist philosophy through filmmaking, and it  should make their documentary, like the Lama himself, a particularly effective propaganda tool.

When I found Automorphosis director Harrod Blank in the parking lot of Milwaukie's Pietro's Pizza,  he had his giant frame tucked under the hood of his prized art car, a VW bug adorned with more designs, sculptures and odd bric-a-brac than most consignment shops. He was casually retooling the bug to keep it primed for its constant treks across the country, trips Blank takes to document the movement(s) of art cars like his. 

On Saturday the Pietro's lot was hosting a live rock band and eight or nine other vehicular sculptures, most made by local artists that we've all seen here and there, motoring around town. 

Portland window-painter Scot Campbell was in the lot, showing off his newest work-in-progress, a brass-covered van/sculpture that, like most car-artists, he uses for everyday transport. Campbell has lived in Portland for years and makes his living designing advertisements and decorations for store windows (including those of Pietro's) which he then hand-paints. 

"Ripper the Friendly Shark", a 1982 Nissan Sentra turned rolling polyurethane shark, isn't at this particular car show, but every car here has a bumper sticker commemorating Tom Kennedy, the Portland native who drove the "Shark" around town until his death in 2009.

 Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work - directed by Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg - US - 2010

Opens Friday, June 25 at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave.

I am such a fan of standup comedy that I sometimes find docs about comedians (The Comedians of Comedy, Let America Laugh, Comedian) wonderful simply because their subjects make me laugh. But there is obviously a difference between a comedian's concert film -- like Eddie Murphy Raw -- and a true documentary about a standup comic -- like Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. To distinguish the former from the latter can sometimes be a tricky bucket of syrup (to paraphrase Patton Oswalt, today's greatest standup) since it's impossible to investigate a standup without showing their act, yet most straight concert films also include bits of backstage interviews that try to pass for investigation. In any case, the syrup must be sifted, the real docs must be separated from the concerts: A concert film is only intended to be funny, a real documentary about comedians should, ideally, be revealing.

Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work sets its sights squarely on revealing the person behind the legendary comedienne that Joan Rivers embodies.  The film is lucky that she is a gifted comic. Throughout the course of her 75th year, Rivers is shown over and over proving her ability to out-joke and out-think comedians half her age. It isn't hard for directors Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg to mine humor from her by cutting to footage of her act -- whether slumming at comedy clubs in New York, shilling for Indian casino nightclubs or pouring her cynical heart out to audiences in Edinburgh, Scotland -- Rivers is still as sharp and nasty as her reputation (suggesting we refer to Michelle Obama as "Blackie-O" is something 99% of todays comics wouldn't have the balls to do).

 Automorphosis - directed by Harrod Blank - US - 2008

Playing Friday, June 25, 9:15 p.m. at the Clinton Street Theater 2522 SE Clinton St. Director in attendance.

Additional Screening Sunday June 27, 7:00 p.m. (followed by the doc "OMG it's Harrod Blank" at 9:00 p.m.)

Monday June 28 - Thursday July 1 - nightly 7:00 and 9:00 p.m.

One man has seven cars, all decorated with paintings of his face and sentences that implore onlookers to cast him in a film. He lives in Hollywood. A woman in Forest Grove, OR, suffers from severe depression and has glued mutilated toy babies, skulls and death-metal slogans every which way onto her car. A  Jesus freak in Arizona drives a loud van adorned with religious slogans and proclaims Christ's love through a mounted megaphone. A German novelty-store owner has turned his motorcycle into a plastic hamburger. There seems to be a cult of tricked-out bicycles going on in Brooklyn. And the director himself, Harrod Blank, has a VW bug outfitted with a television, a spinning globe, countless knick-knacks and the phrase "Oh my God!" scrawled in 25 languages. His obsession with turning his car into an art piece wasn't understood by his father, the filmmaker Les Blank, until Harrod made a successful film about it. 

Dozens of other wacky Americans, and their creations-on-wheels, are briefly summarized in Automorphosis, possibly the most loveable -- which is not to say cutesy -- documentary I have ever seen. Harrod Blank shares a kinship and understanding with his subjects that leads to a very warm rundown of the reasons they glue and paint things onto their vehicles. His doe-eyed method doesn't stay with any one subject long enough for much depth, but that's fine, because in a 76 minute film where more than two dozen creators of auto-masterworks are given their due, not a one of them is less than fascinating.

We are such Mods at SMV. We often pine for the bygone era of the 50s and 60s when space travel was just around the corner, and women knew their place... in the temple of technology and gizmos that was (was to be) the KITCH(en) OF THE FUTURE!!!

Stonewall Uprising - directed by Kate Davis and David Heilbroner - US - 2010

Opens Friday, June 18 at Cinema 21, 616 NW 21st Ave.

In 1969, in Greenwich Village, New York, a critical mass occurred in put-upon homosexual culture. A large chunk of New York's gay community violently fought back against the police and Mafia forces which had been controlling the city's unmentionable gay bars, and extorting and humiliating its denizens, for decades.

The "Stonewall uprising," as recounted to us by the cops, Village Voice reporters and bar patrons who were there, started as a "hell no" response to a police raid on the Stonewall Inn gay bar, where, say the interviewees of this doc, gays in New York had one of precious few places to feel safe. That response ballooned into a three-day riot of increasingly intense police manpower versus an equally charged and growing force of anti-establishment activists, not only homosexuals but Black Panthers, women's rights fighters and anyone else who felt sympathy for the cause. Once the dust settled, those who had been involved on the pro-gay side decided to stage a march through Manhattan, and thus took place the world's first Gay Pride Parade.

Trash Humpers - directed by Harmony Korine - US - 2010

at the Hollywood Theater, 4122 NE Sandy Blvd, beginning Friday, July 18, 5 p.m.

Port of Memory - directed by Kamal Aljafari - Palestine - 2010

from Distant Interiors: Three Works by Kamal Aljafari, presented by the Cinema Project at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton.

Tuesday June 15 and Wednesday June 16, 6:45 p.m. Director in attendance.

The Shark is Still Working - Directed by Erik Hollander - US - 2010

Featured in the Portland Underground Film Festival at the Clinton Street Theater, 2522 SE Clinton St.

Saturday, June 12, 7 p.m.

A movie about Jaws fanboys (partially) by a Jaws fanboy (almost definitely) for Jaws fanboys (inarguably), The Shark is Still Working is easily the most comprehensive distillation of the Jaws production, distribution and subsequent cultural craze I've ever seen. Of course, I've seen maybe one or two short TV spots on Jaws since I rented (and really liked) the movie at age 11.  Having finally gotten the whole scoop I can say two things: 1) I know more about why the movie is so loved than I ever have before, and 2) surely this hour and 40 minute documentary won't be nearly enough to satisfy its intended audience, who are, in any case, the same people the doc spends a large chunk of screentime investigating: voracious Jaws aficionados and memorabilia collectors.

Jaws is a movie, more or less aimed at kids, about the quest to track and kill a larger-than-life monster. After a succession of standard, though well crafted, scenes involving a community's reaction to an imminent threat, three men, each with something to prove, set out on a lonely ocean mission to slay a giant shark. Apart from its status as classic, and the usual solid stylistic flare from director Steven Spielberg, Jaws is remarkable insofar as it successfully positions this rite-of-passage fairytale within a believably modern context.

North Portland’s most unique and eclectic summer event has to be No.Fest InterArts. This June 25 the free experimental art and music festival will fill the streets, stores, allies and sidewalks of downtown St. Johns for a two-day carnival of homegrown avant-garde acts. . Now in its third year, organizers have expanded the range of performances and added a second day in order to include 51 acts in 29 hours: 36 musical, 5 visual, 4 youth, 3 movement, and 3 spoken performances. 

The festival organizers, Sean Ongley, Jeffrey Helwig and Chad Ferguson, began with a simple idea: hold a free daylong music event in St. Johns. With only months to organize, the event grew to include 25 performances on four stages. The trio knew they had stumbled on something great and founded InterArts, a not-for-profit corporation, to represent the No.Fest project for the coming years. Three years later the event had almost doubled in size, attracting major sponsors such as KBOO community radio.

The program for No.Fest 2010 starts off with an art walk on the last Friday of the month. At about 6 p.m. businesses throughout downtown St. Johns will function as makeshift galleries for viewing public art. Local merchants exhibiting art include The Parlour, Lady Bug Café, James John Café, Town Square, Proper Eats, Legong Gelato, and Salty Teacup.

“None of these are traditional galleries,” said Ongley who is pleased to have the galleries hosted by the local business community. Ongley stresses that one of the ideas behind NoFest is the breakdown traditional boundaries between high art and the average person. “It is another example of our desire to blend the arts with daily life.”

FROM VIDEO BLOGGER DAVE HUNTER

"Chervona recorded at The Edgefield's "Loading Dock" Stage. Over the last 3 years Chervona has played about 200 performances from Vancouver, BC to Los Angeles. Despite the weather, Edgefield patrons watched, listened and danced to Chervona's music- some calling Chervona the best Northwest Party Band"
- Dave Hunter

Well it's summer for sure. This weekend is jammed with events as locals cram a year's worth of outdoor partying into 2.5 months of dry weather. 

The most compelling event this saturday is a fundraiser for 9-year-old Stella Cakebread Monteverde. Stella has been diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia. (I know, it's awful and shocking how many children are getting cancer these days.)  Stella, whose mother owns a shop on North Mississippi Ave., has seen an outpouring of support from the local community and the music and entertainment scene as well.  The event, held this Saturday at @Large Studios, will feature a star-studded day of local professional entertainers (check out the links below) who are sure to brighten your (and Stella's) day even if we get partially cloudy skies.

FROM EMAIL
Please join the friends and family of Stella Cakebread Monteverde, 9-year-old daughter of local business owner Dayna Cakebread and Fernando Monteverde, for a day of family fun and entertainment, and an evening of local music and dance troupes. Held at @Large Studios, 807 NE Couch Street, the daytime event will run from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. and will feature music by Kode Bluuz, arts and crafts tables, interactive theatre with Katie O’Grady, Double Dutch with the Jumping Jackie O’s, a raffle with great prizes, and more! The evening, adults-only event will feature musical performances by Lindsey Stormo, Stephanie Schneiderman, Oracle, Stolen Sweets, and Dr. Theopolis, plus local dance acts, a silent auction, and wine, beer and cocktails. Tickets will be available at the door, or in advance through www.brownpapertickets.org.

NoBody covers NoFest like the Sentinel. It's possible that the Sentinel created this event as a result of some art-provoked night of troubled sleep. It's also possible that the Sentinel had nothing to do with this event. But either way, we do talk about it a lot. The day long, all free, all experimental, all trance inducing acid flashback of art X-plotion that is NoFest is coming this June 25th. We'll have more to say as the event approaches. But here is the initial rundown.
[Event Schedule attached PDF below]

The details: NoFest InterArts
51 performances in 29 hours: 36 musical, five visual, four youth, three movement, and three spoken performances within 18 hours of hard programming. Not to mention 10 full month exhibitions in seven galleries and two surprise installations.  Also, NoFest is introducing a visual art program, art walk, 21+ after hours, opening night, and world music sub-program.  What I'm trying to say is that this is the most complex and cross-disciplinary NoFest to date.

Hong Sangsoo's The Woman on the Beach and Night and Day

Friday May 28th and Saturday May 29th, 7pm, Northwest Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium, 1219 SW Park Ave.

South Korean movies have become somewhat of an American subcultural obsession over the past few years, mainly because an increasing number of directors have laid claim to the title of 'southeast Asia's most ingenious maestro of  violence.' The success of Park Chan-wook's Oldboy and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, Bong Joon-Ho's The Host and (from this year, and excellent) Mother and Na Hong-jin's yet-to-be-widely-released The Chaser, have given South Korea a deserved reputation for producing the best violent suspense movies in international cinema.

Yet even the crowd of Americans who have been paying attention to this miniature South Korean invasion probably wouldn't perk up at the prospect of a "South Korean Eric Rohmer." This is both a distinct probability and a shame, since that "Rohmer," Hong Sangsoo, is making some of the most emotionally detailed and beautifully observed little movies around.