TORN: THE SOUL OF A MAN, STRETCHED BETWEEN TWO WORLDS

What happens if, over the course of a lifetime, one suffers something akin to cognitive dissonance in regards to their identity, if all that was accepted as self melts away to reveal bitter truths formed by absence, time and history.  Ronit Kertsner's non-fiction portrait Torn immerses the viewer in the unfortunate case of Romuald Jakub Weksler-Waszkinel, a Polish Catholic priest whose Jewish origins, as well as his biological parent's cruel fate during the Nazi era, was revealed to him in adulthood, long after entering the ministry.

When he was a small child, Weksler-Waszkinel's mother delivered him into the hands of a gentile couple right as the Nazi's began transporting Jewish families out of the ghettos and into the camps; she begged them to take him as their own.  Raised by this adoptive family, he grew up to deeply embrace the Catholic faith, entering the priesthood as a serious proponent of the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Kertsner catches Weksler-Waszkinel just as he's made the decision to leave his church and immigrate to Israel.  The priest cites rampant antisemitism within the Polish Catholic church, often springing from the pulpit, as one reason why he must leave.  His central motivation, though, is the strong pull that he feels to connect to his family's roots in Judaism and, yet, there is still the sizable commitment that he's made to his life-long faith.  Weksler-Waszkinel confesses that, if given the opportunity, he would love to act as an intermediary between the two faith systems.

We watch as he sets up an interview with an entrance committee at a kibbutz in Israel, as a means of gaining eligibility for citizenship under the law of return.  He admits during the meeting that he desires to practice Judaism six days a week on the kibbutz while taking leave on the seventh day to join a Catholic congregation for services.  The idea doesn't fly with committee; one member later tells Kertsner that they're not interested in "building bridges."

It's difficult to watch as Weksler-Waszkinel processes the restrictions handed down by the committee in front of the camera.  One gets the feeling that it's a kind of disappointment that he'll have to continue to endure as he seeks a resolution to his unique situation.  It's also plain to see that there are no easy answers.  Torn is a complex and heartbreaking exploration of identity, personal pain and, as one empathetic interview subject points out, a historical event that led to an unexpected conflict visited upon the soul of a man, stretched between two worlds, while never belonging fully to either one.

Torn will play as a part of the 20th Jewish Film Festival at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Tues., April 17th at 7pm.  More info about the festival available here.


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CINEMA PROJECT presents ROCK & RELIGION: THE MEDIUM OF WORSHIP

Cinema Project's April presentation pairs together two very different portraits of religious fervor rooted in American culture.  Peter Adair's 1967 documentary, Holy Ghost People, focuses its attention on a small Appalachian church in West Virginia as its Pentecostal congregation communes with the spirit.  Also on the program is Dan Graham's Rock My Religion, an audio and video collage from the early 80s that attempts to align foundational religious movements of the American past with the devotional and spiritual connotations of the rock and roll experience.

A still from Holy Ghost People

Adair's film falls firmly within the cinéma vérité tradition, evoking comparisons to the best work by the Maysles and Frederick Wiseman.  As the piece opens, individual members of the church describe their practices of speaking in voices, snake-handling and drinking strychnine as a means of invoking ecstatic religious experience.  The film quickly moves into a worship situation; the service rapidly shifting from a simmer to a convulsive boil of singing, writhing and improvisational dance as Adair's cameras quietly capture the congregation's fervent acts of devotion.

A still from Holy Ghost People

Holy Ghost People is a hypnotic viewing experience that deserves inclusion in the canon of great American non-fiction cinema.  It's mandatory viewing for anyone interested in religion, subcultures or subjects based in Americana.  Plus, the church music captured in the piece is, believe it or not, exceptionally groovy.

A still from Rock My Religion

Graham's film is a far more experimental work, stitching together its video components with musical and spoken elements in an intentional stop/start pattern, suggesting at first the disorganized ramblings of a wandering consciousness.  It's a potent mix that revels in the sideways proving of Graham's thesis; drawing parallels between Ann Lee's Shakers and the quasi-religious relationship between rock music, its icons, and its fans, via less than conventional means.

A still from Rock My Religion

Rock My Religion is a mysterious object that befuddles as much as it intrigues; there are sequences throughout the work when two messages (one spoken, the other conveyed in text) unfold simultaneously, playfully disallowing full comprehension of what's being forwarded.  The best sequence might very well be when Graham layers the strains of No Wave-based punk over images of "holy rollers" overtaken by the spirit.  It's a heady, sometimes confusing piece that, with its jarring edits and unexpected juxtaposing of material, constantly dares the viewer to extrapolate beyond what's being presented onscreen. 

Cinema Project presents Rock & Religion: The Medium of Worship at the Hollywood Theatre on Tues., April 17th and Wed., April 18th at 7pm.  More info on the program available here.


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MABUL (THE FLOOD): A CHILD'S AWAKENING TO SELF

Yoni (Yoav Rotman) is like many kids about to turn thirteen.  He's insecure about his physical appearance, unhappy with his home and school life, and bristling against socially mandated rites of passage.  Just when it seems like he's got things under control: ingesting muscle building powders and doing pull-ups, selling completed homework to schoolmates, and buckling down to learn the passages from the Torah he's been assigned for his upcoming Bar Mitzvah, his brother, Torner (Michael Moshonov), long discarded by his parents to an institution for the developmentally disabled, returns home without warning.

Guy Nattiv's (Strangers) Mabul (The Flood) concerns itself with Yoni's journey as he struggles to deal with the changing dynamics of his family.  Although still living together, his mother, Miri (Ronit Elkabetz), and father, Gidi (Tzahi Grad), are estranged, each one deeply disappointed with the other and the roles they've taken on (or abandoned) in life.  Meanwhile, Yoni's black market homework scheme is going south and some of his more menacing customers decide that he needs to be dealt a lesson.

Mabul is a fine slice-of-life/coming-of-age drama that only deepens in scope as it unfolds.  Yoni's progress is metered out in his advances and declines in authority over the Torah reading; the title of the film being a reference to the story of Noah.  The film plays out as a chronicle of Yoni's awakening to self.  And, as with most people, it's not an easy road for him to travel, requiring that he wrestle with himself, his family and the past.

Mabul (The Flood) opens the 20th Jewish Film Festival at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Sun., April 15th at 7pm.  More info about the festival available here.


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FOUR LOVERS: MECHANICAL LOVEMAKING IN AN OH, SO ADULT WORLD

There's nothing more curious than a movie that attempts to be sexy, grabbing a fistful from the ol' bucket of taboos to toss up on the screen, but ends up missing that mark by a wide margin.  Wife-swapping, deceit and supposedly hot sex before the ingestion of muddled cocktails are all on display in Antony Cordier's (Cold Showers) Four Lovers, a by-the-numbers drama about the damage done to the lives of two couples who decide to take a ride on the sexual swing (as in, to swing, darling).

Vincent (Nicolas Duvauchelle) and Rachel (Marina Foïs) find themselves thrust together as a result of a work relationship.  Shortly thereafter, they have a couples dinner with their significant others, Teri (Élodie Bouchez) and Franck (Roschdy Zem).  And, before you can say wham-bam, thank you ma'am, Teri and Franck are off to the races, stealing kisses while Vincent and Rachel are in the other room, setting the stage for the couples to exchange lovers for a season of sexual adventures.

Much of what follows comes off like b-grade Cinemax fare captured on film in a manner that visually exceeds the limp drama at play.  Unfortunately, Cordier doesn't seem all that interested in fleshing out these characters beyond the basic mechanics that lead to their arrangement, most of what we glean about the characters comes from ennui-stricken narration spoken aloud by Rachel.  Because they're underwritten as characters, Vincent, Teri, Rachel and Franck resemble nothing more than an avenue to explore scintillating notions, rather than a group of people who invite risk into their relationships for reasons of personal desire and sexual expansion.

Regrettably, the sheer practicality of their arrangement cuts much of the sizzle out of the onscreen acrobatics.  There's little danger expressed here; even the jealousies and revelations of duplicity that develop in the last half of the film can't fully redeem the picture.  You want a little steam with your cinema?  You'd be better off looking for a film that's a little less stale; the maneuvers being explored in Four Lovers are well past their sell-by-date.

Four Lovers begins its run at the Living Room Theaters on Fri.,  April 13th.  More info available here.



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HOT COFFEE: THE SLOW REWIRING OF OUR LEGAL SYSTEM

Stella Liebeck was a 79-year old woman whose unfortunate interaction with a cup of scalding hot (180-degree) McDonalds coffee in 1992 catapulted her to national attention.  Suffering third-degree burns, Liebeck sued the corporation and won.  To many, her lawsuit was the epitome of the types of frivolous lawsuits reportedly clogging our nation's courtrooms.  Hot Coffee is a non-fiction exploration of how such public conclusions were manufactured by corporations via their political lobbying power and the ramifications behind this mass swaying of public opinion and, subsequently, judicial policy.

Director Susan Saladoff uses Liebeck's case as a jumping off point to examine tort reform, non-economic damages caps, mandatory arbitration and other limits placed upon victims seeking justice.  Her film argues that such recent changes, adopted over just a few decades time, move the power of our nation's justice system out of the hands of juries, improperly stacking the deck in favor of business interests.

In aid of this thesis, Saladoff offers up a series of real life examples of people whose lives have been forever negatively impacted by their inability to gain justice via the courts.  She interviews a couple from Nebraska whose son suffered brain damage at birth due to medical malpractice.  Because of artificial caps on damages in their home state, the compensation awarded them by a jury in a malpractice suit was severely reduced, putting the burden for their son's care on the taxpayers and putting his future into question.

Hot Coffee also presents the travails of one Jamie Leigh Jones, a former employee of KBR who was gang-raped and imprisoned by several of her co-workers while stationed in Bagdad.  Due to a binding mandatory arbitration clause in her employment contract, she's legally restricted from having her case heard in a court of law.  The film follows Jones as she enlists Senator Al Franken's aid in seeking legal retribution against those who wronged her.

Hot Coffee demonstrates the slow but sure rewiring of our legal system to represent corporations, protecting them from liability claims by those that are harmed by their business practices.  It's an incredibly grim piece that reveals a concerted effort by lawmakers, business leaders and lobbying groups in aid of that goal. 

Perhaps the film's best conveyance of how the wool was pulled over the public's eyes: an interview subject relays the story of a man who was awarded damages by a jury of his peers, only to have the award significantly adjusted down due to non-economic damages caps that he helped vote into law.  His reaction: the legislation being voted upon was for "those frivolous lawsuits," not for his case.

Hot Coffee plays at the Hollywood Theatre on Thursday, April 12th at 7:30pm, Saturday, April 14th at 3pm, and Thursday, April 26th at 7pm.  Susan Saladoff will be in attendance for the April 12th and 14th screenings.  More info here.



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ALL IN - THE POKER MOVIE: PREACHING TO THE CHOIR

For some, poker is a metaphor for life, embodying all the excitement, tension and danger that can be found in the real world.  Those who read the game as such will likely be entertained by All In: The Poker Movie, a documentary that locates its purpose in detailing the rise and fall of the worldwide poker boom of the past few decades. 

If, like me, you're unable to even recall the last time you've sat down for a hand of cards, much less watched an entire tournament on television, you might enjoy some of All In but, after a while, as the film shifts to something resembling political advocacy, there's not a lot left to cling onto for the casual viewer.  To be clear, All In is a film made for poker obsessives by poker obsessives.

Which isn't to say that there aren't some interesting anecdotes on display in All In.  Among them: the tale of early world champion Thomas "Amarillo Slim" Preston, the extreme love that poker insiders hold for John Dahl's 1998 film Rounders (Dahl, star Matt Damon and screenwriter Brian Koppelman are interviewed), and the remarkable 2003 rise of Chris Moneymaker from online gambler to world champion.

Director Douglas Tirola makes a strong case for why we should care about those individual threads, each based in the lives of people and what inspires them.  But a less convincing argument is forged when discussing the government clampdown on online poker, aligning the suppression of a lucrative industry with restrictions on personal freedom; it's a line of reasoning that comes off as a bit of a stretch, especially in light of Tirola's decision to not sugarcoat the addictive nature and risks of the recreational sport being profiled.

All in all, this is a documentary for a specialized audience made up almost entirely of poker enthusiasts.  It's a film that works best when dealing with the history of the game and investigating the lives of its individual subjects.  Whenever it strays from that path, it sheds much of its accessibility for the average viewer, preaching to the choir and losing the congregation in the process.

All In: The Poker Movie plays through Thurs., April 12th at the Clinton Street Theater.  More info available here.


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NW FILM CENTER presents METROPOLIS with THE ALLOY ORCHESTRA

What once was lost is now found: this coming Thursday night, the NW Film Center hosts the 2010 restored edition of Fritz Lang's epic sci-fi classic Metropolis.  Yes, this is the version containing the missing sequences discovered at the Museo del Cine in Buenos Aires.  What's more, the Film Center's program will feature a live accompaniment by the world famous (at least to rabid silent film buffs) music collective the Alloy Orchestra, who have modified their 1991 score for Lang's futurist tale to accommodate its newly extended running time.

At nearly 2 1/2 hours, this version of Metropolis comes about as close to the original 1927 release as we're likely to see in our lifetime.  For those interested in the various versions and restoration efforts over the years, there's a concise timeline available here.

While the silent film event of the year was undoubtably last month's limited run of Abel Gance's Napoleon in Oakland, Thursday's event is likely to be the best that Portland has on offer in 2012.  Tickets will likely be sold out before Thursday night; they can be purchased here.

Metropolis with live musical score by the Alloy Orchestra plays one night only at the NW Film Center's Whitsell Auditorium (in the Portland Art Museum) on Thurs., April 12th at 7pm.


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