ANVIL! Yet another new groundbreaking documentary

And the hits just keep on coming. In a still-quite-young year of amazing documentaries (Morgan Dews' Must Read After My Death, Eric Daniel Metzgar's Life Support Music, to name just two), Sacha Gervasi's ANVIL! The Story of Anvil may sound a bit redundant, but the film is anything but. TrustMovies could have spent twice the time this 90-minute takes to unspool and still have wanted more.

Anvil! tracks the journey of two friends-since-fourteen who are now approaching their 50s: lead guitarist Steve "Lips" Kudlow (above, right) and drummer Robb Reiner (above, left -- and that's with two bs, rather than the not-2-b actor/director Rob Reiner, who made This is Spinal Tap, to which Anvil has been much compared). Have we confused you yet? There's more. These two guys play heavy metal music. Stop! Don't swtich to another blog. Anvil is anything but a heavy metal movie. You're gonna laugh, you're gonna cry, and if you're similar to everyone we know who's seen the film so far, you're gonna fall in love with these two music-makers, no matter what you might think of their music.

From its earliest days, Anvil (the name of Lips' and Robb's group) was considered the greatest of the heavy metal bands (the movie offers a lot of testimonials to their talent from names and faces that music fans will know). So what happened? ANVIL! follows Lips and Robb from day-job to home and family, from stops along the way on their tour, and from way-back-then to (almost) present day. Director Gervasi (shown right) manages to keep his camera at the ready, picking up all kinds of (very) odd moments that ring not just true but nearly classic. The journey is funny, informative and often heartbreaking -- in ways that most movies don't come near. Success -- what it means and how it's measured -- takes a licking but, as they say, keeps on ticking. As does Anvil.

Thanks to the gods of heavy metal and of moviemaking/distribution, ANVIL! The Story of Anvil opens Friday, April 10, in NYC at the Angelika and the AMC 42nd Street., and in Los Angeles at Landmark's Nuart Theater. For other cities and venues, consult the movie's official site, then click on the bright NOW PLAYING button.

Later today, or more likely tomorrow, we'll have a Q&A of our meeting with Lips, Robb, Sacha -- and Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title, who's a fan of the film and has some interesting questions to ask of this group....

ANVIL: Q&A with Lips, Robb, Sacha -- and Jarrod Gorbel of The Honorary Title

Yesterday, TrustMovies covered ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL. Today, we'll give you the transcription of the interview we had with the band's lead guitarist "Lips," drummer Robb, the film's director Sacha Gervasi and Jarrod Gorbel, lead singer and guitarist of the alternative rock group The Honorary Title.

It seems to me that having an up-and-coming musician see the film and then talk to these two guys -- who have been around (and around) the musical block -- proves more interesting than just TrustMovies on his own. Or, put another way, let's expand for today TrustMovies into TrustMusic.

As the press rep brings us over to a table in the Fireplace Room of Manhattan's shabby-chic Bowery Hotel, we introduce ourselves to the two stars and their director:

Jarrod Gorbel: Jim's my uncle, and he has a movie blog, and I'm in a band that has recently gone through another hell of touring. So he suggested that I come and meet you and maybe help ask a question or two.

TrustMovies: I wanted Jarrod to see your film after I'd seen it because Anvil! is such an amazing movie. So far, everyone that I know who has watched the film has fallen in love with both you guys.

Jarrod: The movie was awesome -- so great and almost like a tearjerker. It was really emotional for me because I have been there and gone through all the touring -- and the pain that comes with it. And I thought, Gee -- I am really feeling this too much! But then I watched it again with my girlfriend and she was all teared-up too. So I guess you don't have to be in a band to have this movie affect you.

TM: Yeah. My companion cried, too. And yet I had to plead with him to watch the movie. In fact, it wasn't until Jarrod said to him, "You have got to see this movie!" that he agreed to -- and then was so glad he did.

Sacha Gervasi (the film's director): Great! So spread the word.

TM: We will. We are. JG: I noticed that, when you were touring, two feelings came through very strongly: anger and sadness -- the two extremes of dealing with touring, which are totally normal. In Spinal Tap -- to which Anvil! will be compared, even though Spinal Tap was fake -- there's a lot of humor going on. But were you guys able to see the humor in the hellish part of touring? Lips: Oh, yes. We live with it. That's how you get through the tough times. It's all about balance: the worse it gets, the more you make fun of it. How else are you gonna deal with it? JG: Exactly.

Sacha: The reason Spinal Tap was so funny was that it was painfully true; people couldn't believe that it was a fake documentary. Just as some people imagine that our film is a fake documentary, something aritficial. Besides which, the fact that Rob Reiner of Spinal Tap shares the same name with Robb Reiner of Anvil is another kind of insane universe. Of course, our Robb has two b's in his name! In fact, when Anvil was going through this tour, it was both horrifically painful and horrifically funny because the sheer desperation of human circumstances were so bad. But then (he looks over at Lips and Robb) you guys have always been pretty self-aware of how funny your circumstances can be.

Lips: Absolutely

Sacha: You write songs like Show Me Your Tits and Hair Pie and Five Knuckle Shuffle. So there has always been a level of humor to Anvil -- this silliness -- along with its heavy metal music.

TM: What's that early song of yours that you mention in the movie?

Robb: Thumb-Hang -- about the Spanish Inquisition.

TM: That's what wonderful: it's music, it's history, it's all sorts of things!

Sacha: And it's authentic.


TM: What surprised me, at my age and with my own musical tastes -- which do not run toward Heavy Metal -- is how much I ioved the film. A few years back I tried to watch, but found it very hard to get through, that Metallica movie that the group made . So I thought, well, I'll try to get thru this Anvil thing. And wow-- the personal angle -- you two guys -- come off so strong that the movie pulled me in immediately. I think it really won't matter what the music is for most audiences. What matters instead, is how much you two guys care about the music you make.

Robb: It's one hundred percent integrity. Integrity has always meant the most to us -- to do it our way, the way we want to do it, and that's how you achieve your identity and your integrity. It's a kind of dual thing.

Lips: In this heavy metal genre of music, if you are above-ground and everybody knows your music, then you are square, you are out. I know this sounds really odd. Metal is a really strange genre, and so is its audience. Like, if you stay underground, you are cool. But the second that everybody knows who you are, then you have gone commercial and you have sold out.

TM: But then, how do you earn your keep -- make your living -- if you stay underground and cool?

Lips: You supplement your income, like you see us doing in the film. You accept the fact that you just swallow the pill: You are not going to sell millions of records and you must work within the parameters of what is available to you . And you just get thru it. But you maintain your integrity while you are doing this because there is no dictatorship telling you what you have to do or what is expected of you. You are only doing it for yourself -- and your fans.

Sacha: What you said earlier was very a insightful point: that it doesn't really matter what the music is. For the musicians, of course, it does. But for the audience of the film, it does not. When I decided to make the movie I wasn't making it for a heavy metal audience, but for a movie audience. When I first told my producer Becky Yeldham (who also produced The Kite Runner and Motorcycle Diaries) about the movie, she didn't even want to hear about it. She hates heavy metal, absolutely. When I said I want to do something with this band, she said absolutely not. So I said, wait, just let me tell you the story. And when I finished telling her about Anvil and the journey these guys have made (almost 40 years!) she was like, "I have to produce this film." I think this movie was always meant to be. It brings a different sensibility to heavy metal films because it is not realty a heavy metal movie! Instead it is a movie about perseverance, family, the nature of male friendship -- and endurance.


The real surprise of the film is that, within an arena in which most people would expect to find little more than a few jokes, instead they find themes that are so resonant for general audiences. It's really important that the message gets out there that the movie really has little to do with heavy metal: It could just as easily have been about two guys building the pyramids, or two blokes on a U-Boat, yet it's really about this incredible love story between these two guys. How many people in the world have a friendship that good that lasts for 40 years?!

TM: I think the movie is also about success: the nature of success and its perception.

Lips: Yes, the nature and perception of success. Success for us was being able to record the songs we love.

TM: To my mind you are successful because you are doing what you want to do, no matter what.

Robb: Yes, and we hope that people see that.

TM: If they see the move, they will.

Lips: People still ask us, what didn't you ever quit? Well, how can you quit something that you really love?

Robb: Sure, you can ask your dentist why he doesn't he quit. The poor guy may be miserable He wants to jump off a bridge because he's bringing pain to people. But we don't tend to ask the dentist about this because he is making money, but he'll quit because he can't handle it anymore.

TM: Or he'll commit suicide. Apparently, dentists have a high suicide rate.

Robb: It's important in life to enjoy what you've got, and we have a god-given talent, given to us as children. We've talked it through our whole lives, and there is just no quitting.


Jarrod: In the film, you basically say that same thing a couple of different ways. And that was inspirational for me to watch it coming from another musician who has been around awhile. That's the mentality you have to have.

Robb: You have to believe in yourself.

TM: (to Jarrod) That's what you have always had, I've thought. (To Lips and Robb) I've know him for 20 years, since he was jus starting out, and I was amazed at first that he would pursue this path. But after awhile, I thought, gee, he must really love what he does to keep on like this.

Robb: That's how the music works. It’s always about the music.

TM: That's what is so interesting -- and ironic -- is that there are going to be lots of people watching your movie, and loving it -- and loving you two -- who don't give a damn about the music. And yet that is what keeps you going.

Robb: You know what: the movie may actually turn people on to our music!

Sacha: That's true! (Everybody agrees on this point)

Lips: The real beauty of this is… You know, when I was starting out, I met Bon Jovi. And I've always had a big burr up my ass about commercial music. It would normally not be my cup of tea.

Well, I got to know the guy personally, and now it's impossible for me not to love his music. Impossible! Because, when you get to know the people, that's it!

TM: That's true. In fact, now that I've met you a couple of times and we've talked, I feel like I know you, so it will be much harder for me not to listen and try to understand, and … even start to enjoy your music.

Lips: Right on. And if you feel that way, then you feel a connection to the person, and so then it becomes impossible to lose the connection to their music. Because it is part of his identity.

Jarrod: It's such awesome exposure to have this movie. Because it will take your music so far beyond its usual audience.

Lips: I think the movie speaks volumes for anybody going out, let’s say in their own business, trying to make a go of it with their own talent, whether it's being a tailor, a painter, businessman, stock market guy. You're just going for it! Once you have the belief in yourself that says "I am going to get this job done," then it doesn't matter what other people say. This movie should give people inspiration. If you don't love something, why are you doing it? Life is too short, man!


TM (to Sacha) How did you hook up with these two?

Sacha: I met them when I was 15. I was just a very big fan of their music when I was a kid. I love them. I went to see them play in London and afterward, I forced my way backstage 'cause I wanted to meet my new idols.

TM: When did you start making movies.

Sacha: I went to UCLA film school in, like, 1995 and then came out and started work on my first movie right out of film school in 1998.

TM: How much of Anvil! is still on the cutting room floor?

Sacha: About 318 hours!

Jarrod. Is there going to be a sequel?

Robb: There will be a lot of special features on the DVD.

Sacha: In any case, I have really known these guys for a long, long time, and that made it much easier to make this film. When I first told Lips about this, he sat down right there on the spot and cried.

TM: Your emotions seem very close to the surface at almost all times.

Lips: Yes.

TM: That's nice. And you-- (he points to Robb) -- seems very…. Not that your feelings are not there.....

Sacha: They are definitely there.

TM: But they're just very underplayed. This is one of the reasons you make such a fabulous team! Really! The Ying and the Yang…

Lips: Wow -- we were just last week remarking on all jewels: the teams from, well, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis to .. Cheech and Chong! Beavis and Butthead, whatever!

Sacha: The Independent of London called them the Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern of Heavy Metal -- which I thought was very good.

Jarrod: (To Sacha) Here's a quick question: You've know them for a long time so you knew what you were getting into. When you started to document it all, was a lot of it in the timing? When you were filming did you go, "Oh, shit, this is stuff that we really should have in there!"

Sacha: When you are making a narrative film, you have a script, but when you're doing a documentary, you sort of just go by instinct. You think, "Oh, this might be interesting," but then you really make it all work in the editing process.

Lips: Sometimes this all just felt really quite mystical in a certain way… as though it was meant to be. Even my mom said, I don't think Sacha really understands what possessed him to come and do this. There seemed to be omens telling us, ah-- It's almost unheard of. I mean, foreshadowing? In a documentary? I mean, how do you do that?!


TM: Are you guys "religious"?

Lips: Well, becoming….. Not the kind of organized religion, but "spiritual." I feel we are becoming kind of spiritual. There are things that have transpired in the last four years that make you really wonder.

TM: At the end of the movie, when we find out that things really do seem to be picking up for you two, when was that, date-wise?

Sacha: The end of 2006. Then we went back and shot some other things -- the family, etc., then we edited for a year, and then we went to Sundance. It’s been a year and a half since Sundance!

TM: Boy, things do seem to move rather slowly.

Sacha: It funny because, since the very first screenings of the movie we have had standing ovations at every performance and yet all the distributors were like, Yes, but it's a heavy Metal film. And we were like, Uh, no... it's not! So it was very frustrating.

TM: Yet these people are "in" the film business. They are supposed to understand these things…

Sacha: You have to understand, though, that they all loved the movie. It was not like the old days, not like Jack Warner. It is more the accountants now, I think -- all scared of losing their jobs. Which his why, by the way, that they are losing their jobs. No imagination! So, in front of their eyes, they were seeing audiences made up of people from 18 to 80 who were all loving the film. And then they ask, but how do we sell this. Well: How about showing it?!

TM: So who is distributing: Abramorama?

Sacha: That's Richard Abramowitz, our distributor. He's the guy booking the theaters. Here in NYC, the film is opening at both the Angelika and the AMC Empire on 42nd Street. Landmark theatres has pretty much taken it in every location, too.

TM: Good venues! What about Laemmle in L.A.

We're not doing Laemmle in L.A. because, with the closing of Virgin Records, that Laemmle theatre is pretty much of a ghost town now. There's just no traffic there.

At this point, the batteries in my digital recorder seem to have died. Fortunately Jarrod recalled his final couple of questions and the responses to them:

Jarrod: I asked what Anvil's touring plans would be, once the film is released. They said they are doing a tour in which the movie is shown first and they perform directly after -- which has proven very popular so far. I also asked if they planned on supporting -- opening for -- bigger metal bands after this new-found exposure that has come from the film. It seems that some of their peers might catch this film and want to help bring Anvil back into today's flourishing metal scene. And their answer was, Yes, that's what we hope.

TM: We wish the duo, their director, and their new movie much success, as we leave them in the hands of their next press interview....

All photos (except poster) are by Brent J. Craig,
courtesy of the film Anvil! The Story of Anvil.

De Felitta's Little-Seen but Must-See Doc -- 'TIS AUTUMN: The Search for Jackie Paris

How ironic and oh-so-fitting that, within a month of each other, two documentaries would appear, one in theaters the other on DVD, that deal with a nearly identical subject: musicians praised by their more famous peers as top-of-the-line who then languish for decades out of reach of commercial success. Anvil: The Story of Anvil, about the heavy metal band, has just been greeted with rapturous reviews

and non-stop praise (deserved, too, with me among those praising). However, another small documentary also appeared on DVD this month, after a very limited theatrical release well over a year ago, that tells the story of a musician who, a half-century ago, looked to be the toast of the town yet disappeared into obscurity.

There will come a point for most viewers of 'TIS AUTUMN: The Search for Jackie Paris when all the praise that the narrator/filmmaker Raymond De Felitta (shown above) has been heaping on this little-known singer will come clear. For me it happened when Paris began to sing the Hoagy Carmichael classic Skylark. If butter could cut into steel, this is what it would sound like: soft, sweet and pure yet intense and acute. De Feliita, evidently a jazz maven, first hears, then hears about Paris, whom he also hears is dead. But no. After a little tracking, he discovers the man himself, aging but still singing. With that, we're off and running, as the filmmaker interviews this jazz singer, as well as many of those who knew and still know him, piecing together how and why someone this special could have slipped through the cracks.

De Felitta,who also gave us the rich and moving Two-Family House and the new City Island, does a splendid job of investigating and still honoring his subject, keeping the private areas as private as possible -- under the circumstances of decent documenting, in which things are due to both one's subject and one's viewers. One of the people interviewed opines that Jackie just didn't have the killer instinct required of those who become stars. Slowly, however, we learn of this performer's darker side. There is, finally, one area about which it becomes clear that the singer has simply lied to the filmmaker -- or perhaps has deeply denied to himself. When De Felitta finally tracks down the result of this, he offers us one of the most quietly staggering scenes -- a shocking waste of humanity coupled to a profound sadness about what might have been-- that I can recall witnessing.

Yet there is so much here that is joyful -- the singing, the reminiscing, the times and the tunes -- that, for the most part, the movie goes down like a glass of very good Merlot. (I'm sure there' a better alcohol metaphor here, but I only drink wine.) Three decades separate the Anvil duo from Jackie Paris. The latter's older age means that we don't get quite that feel-good thrill that the former, only in their 50s, provide. As to the depth and realization of the themes we encounter in both films -- the meaning of success, its price and rewards; where family fits into the life of musical performer; the ravages (and odd blessings) of time -- 'Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris proves every bit as memorable and profound.

I have never been much of a jazz fan (neither am I a fan of Anvil's heavy metal). The type of music in either of these two documentaries, I should think, will not prevent any viewer's enjoyment. After watching De Felitta's film, I went to Amazon and downloaded (for just under $10) , the complete Jackie Paris album of Skylark. I'm listening to it as I write, and, I suspect, turning track by track into more of a jazz fan.

The year's best films? Nah. But how about a list of the year's most "special"?

John Malkovich in DISGRACE: our choice for,
out of what we've seen, the top film of the year.

Are you growing increasingly tired of those titular "Best" lists -- a misnomer if ever there was one -- with which we are inundated at this particular time of each year? How can you know the best until you have seen them all? Yet not a single critic out there has done that because of the number of films released each year (not to mention all those seen at festivals which are not released). Still, those Best Lists keep appearing, so think of them as shorthand for "my personal favorites out of what I've managed to see." That should take a little wind out of the pomposity that comes from using the "B" word.

TrustMovies has spent the past few days going over his posts -- here and at GreenCine's Guru site -- and remembering other movies that he did not have time to write about and post. In the process he's compiled his own list: movies that brought something different to the table or, even when it proved somewhat the same ol' same ol', was handled in a manner unusual enough to make the movie worth a special commendation. Herewith: the 2009 Special List, compiled in roughly the order in which I saw these films. The list is long. But take heart: The descriptions are short.

Doris Dörrie's CHERRY BLOSSOMS: East meets west and life meets death, as Ms Dörrie takes us places we haven't been via feelings that may also seem oddly new.

Terence Davies' OF TIME AND THE CITY: There's no one quite like Terence, and it was so good to have him back in all his poetry, memory and -- yes -- anger.

Eric Daniel Metzgar's LIFE. SUPPORT. MUSIC. was hands-down the year's best "functional family" movie, an inspirational documentary in so many ways.

Morgan Dews' MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH: As dysfunctional as the above movie is functional, this is one of several fine docs that broke new ground in form and content.

Matteo Garrone's GOMORRAH and Paolo Sorrentino's IL DIVO: Italy, the western world's weirdest "democracy," get a great going over -- from Garrone, as high-level movie journalism, and from Sorrentino, as the year's finest piece of movie art (below).

Astra Taylor's EXAMINED LIFE: This documentarian takes philosophy and makes it fascinating and oh-so-applicable to our lives today.

Emmanuel Mouret's SHALL WE KISS: A French romantic comedy that manages to be both conservative and liberal in the loveliest, most honest of ways. It's funny, too.

Rahmin Bahrani's GOODBYE SOLO: Bahrani makes character studies/situation dramas like nobody else. And he gets better with each film.

Steve McQueen's HUNGER: A movie I admired more than liked, but there is no denying McQueen's unusual film-making abilities.

ANVIL! THE STORY OF ANVIL: This doc covers a heavy metal duo in a manner that is as moving and funny as it is real. One-of-a-kind.

Olivier Assayas' SUMMER HOURS: People and possessions -- how they link and what they matter -- handled in a remarkably subtle but accessible way. Assayas' best? (shown below)

Bruce MacDonald's and Tony Burgess' PONTYPOOL: Finally. Two Canadians reinvent the zombie movie with originality, humor, fright and intelligence.

The Fields' ONE-EYED MONSTER: A killer-alien movie about about the making of a porno film, this "original" is a loopy, silly delight.

Mark Tonderai's HUSH: Maybe the years' best thriller -- tight, bright, believable and scary.

Moreau & Provost's SERAPHINE: One of, perhaps the finest film about an artist I've ever seen.

Matthew Newton's THREE BLIND MICE: From Australia, about the shore leave of three sailors, shown below, this small film is a gem in every way.

Jonathan Glatzer's WHAT GOES UP: An odd mix of humor, satire, sadness and teen-age angst; though flawed, it remains in a class by itself.

Agnes Varda's THE BEACHES OF AGNES: How much longer will this great filmmaker be with us? Not that long, it would seem, so this very personal compilation of her own life and work is a must.

Mike Jacob's AUDIENCE OF ONE: one of the great god-told-me-to documentaries in which subject and filmmaker mesh perfectly to help sink organized religion.

Boaz Yakin's DEATH IN LOVE: A crazy, risky Holocaust-&-sex movie that manages things that few other movies come near (or might want to).

Fernando Eimbcke's LAKE TAHOE: One of the quietest films on my list, but a keeper nonetheless. Very special.

Sarmiento/Harel's DEAD GIRL: This genre-jumper takes misogyny to new heights/depths -- and knows it -- forcing you to think, as well as wince.

Armando Iannucci's IN THE LOOP: Smart and funny political satire about our and England's latest war and how we got there.

Chris Mason Johnson's THE NEW TWENTY: This ensemble piece, shown below, about friendship and love of all kinds is itself lovely, sharp and deeply-felt.

Psihoyos/O'Barry/Stevens' THE COVE: An immediate classic, this dolphin doc simultaneously informs, activates and entertains.

Issa López's CASI DIVAS: America hasn't seen a mainstream Mexican movie in a long while, and this one is grand, funny, sweet and inclusive fun.

Lucrecia Martel's THE HEADLESS WOMAN: The terrors of being "entitled" in Latin America, with Ms Martel working at a high level.

Robert Siegel's BIG FAN: The obsessive sports fan movie par excellence. Patton Oswalt is brilliant in the lead role.

Claire Denis' 35 SHOTS OF RUM: Quiet, lovely film about family, caring and leave-taking. Denis near, maybe at, her best.

Cary Fukunaga's SIN NOMBRE (scroll way down after clicking on the link): At this point (haven't seen 'em all, of course) it's my choice for runner-up for the year's best film: riveting, important, and amazingly well-done. (Shown below)

Ehrlich/Goldsmith's THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS: a model documentary about a man who's turned out to be a model citizen.

Jacobs/Monticelli/Coetzee/Malkovich's DISGRACE: South Africa under the microscope, this movie takes you places you have not been -- unless you've lived there, and even then you were probably able to avoid coming to terms with what we get here. Of what I've seen, my choice for year's best.

Russell Brown's THE BLUE TOOTH VIRGIN: That rare film about writers and writing that gets close to the heart of the matter. Features a couple of "therapy" scenes that are classic.

Sally Potter's RAGE: Because this one opened via iphone and then went straight-to DVD, few saw it. A shame, for it's a funny, blistering "take" on the way we live, work -- and communicate -- now. And, oh, that cast!

Antonio Campos' AFTERSCHOOL: A look at how our kids, high-school level, live now and about how we're educating them, this hugely disturbing film-about-a-film is also a surprisingly mature work.

Florent Emilio Siri's INTIMATE ENEMIES: The French in Algeria and the best war film in several years, as thoughtful as it is riveting. (Shown below)

Jay DiPietro's PETER AND VANDY: 500 Days of Summer may have stolen the spotlight for time-scrambled love stories, but this is the superior film: deeper and more real, important and original -- and not nearly as glib.

Lance Hammer's BALLAST: This one divides critics, it seems, but I liked it a lot. A very real, un-pushed, deep look at an extended black family slowly working its way back to functionality.

The Cohen's A SERIOUS MAN: One of, maybe the brothers' best: quirky, funny and very serious.

Sebastián Silva's THE MAID: An amazing work -- character study, social study, and class study and how these come together to impact each other. Funny, moving and real. Another runner-up for best film.

Margot Benacerraf's ARAYA: A half-century old and just now getting a theatrical release, this black-and-white wonder about salt harvesting on the coast of Venezuela is the year's most gorgeous movie.

Karin Albou's THE WEDDING SONG: Two young girls -- one Jewish, one Arab -- in WWII North Africa. I guarantee you'll not have seen a movie quite like this one. (Shown below.)

Anthony Fabian's SKIN: A memorable and true tale about the meaning of color in South Africa. If the film-making does not come up to the level of its subject, it's still good enough to render the movie unforgettable.

Yoav Shamir's DEFAMATION: Intelligent, controversial documentary about Anti-Semitism that forces you to think -- and maybe even disagree with yourself.

Sebastian Gutierrez's WOMEN IN TROUBLE: For my money, the year's giddiest, goofiest guilty pleasure. Such fun!

Aleksandr Sokurov's THE SUN: Chances are a Sokurov film will always be among the films on my list, and this one -- so unusual and quiet and special -- is a shoo-in.

Rebecca Miller's THE PRIVATE LIVES OF PIPPA LEE: Miller's best yet, and also the best ensemble acting we saw all year.

Aubier/Patar's A TOWN CALLED PANIC: The most inventive animation of the year (shown above), and yes, we did see UP (loved it, but the last hour-and-a-quarter simply couldn't live up to those first brilliant few minutes; not unlike last years' Wall-E and its first-half-vs-last-half problem).

Corneliu Porumboiu's POLICE, ADJECTIVE: Low-key in the extreme but unlike anything else on this subject you're likely to have seen.

Megumi Sasaki's HERB & DOROTHY: the odd couple of art in a movie that does them -- and the viewer -- justice.

Ang Lee's TAKING WOODSTOCK: The sweetest, most encompassing trip back to the 60s in quite some time.

James DeMonaco's STATEN ISLAND (shown above): Lyricism permeates this strange, lovely and cruel tale of mobsters and strivers in New York's outer borough. Beautifully conceived and acted.

Michael Haneke's THE WHITE RIBBON: Germany pre-WWI. It makes up in craftsmanship and beauty of conception and performance what it lacks in originality.

Addenda:
Having only recently (12/30/09) seen Kathryn Bigelow's THE HURT LOCKER, I must now add it to my special list.  Because there have already been many fine narratives and documentaries about our mid-east war(s), I can't help seeing this film as a kind of  touchstone for them all: the one that can act as their surrrogate.  In winning all the awards that it already has (not to mention what may come), the film becomes a kind of "thank you" to all the moviemakers -- DePalma to Broomfield to Burger and more -- who spent their time and effort to help us see what was happening from different perspectives. What Ms Bigelow has done is to make the war into an excellent action film -- leaving out any political agenda, which, at this point, is fine by me, as only infants or the infantile can not have made their minds made up about the origins and justness of these ongoing disasters.  The director succeeds in creating characters and events that hold us rapt and, by the by, make us think. If the section in which one of three comrades goes missing (and our hero just seems to "know" what happened to him) beggars belief, most of the movie does not. The Hurt Locker is strong, smart, brawny filmmaking.

Just finally saw Duncan Jones' MOON last night (1/12/10) and so must now add it, too, to my "special list."  How long has it been since we've had a really intelligent sci-fi film, one that stacks up favorably against 2001 and Blade Runner -- but on a minuscule-by-comparison budget?  Too long.  Moon addresses that need, being a crackerjack story, as well as a smart, sad critique of Capitalism, among other subjects such as memory, love and help.  At last Sam Rockwell (below) should get some deserved and overdue recognition for his fine work here.

Reeves, Farmiga & Caan enliven Malcolm Venville & Sacha Gervasi's HENRY'S CRIME

What a leap -- not forward, not backward, but into a very different kind of "crime" movie --for director Malcolm Venville, moving from last year's bloody, crazy, riveting and darkly hilarious 44 Inch Chest to this year's delicious, deadpan, sweet little caper, HENRY'S CRIME. While both movies work exceedingly well, at first glance they could hardly be less alike, for their milieu and characters seem light years apart. Yet both come from highly intelligent scripts that offer all the surface fun necessary for an audience to enjoy itself, while providing a deeper theme: a man struggling to find himself, his place in the world, and his proper relationship to his woman.

TrustMovies likes both of Mr. Venville's films equally well, though he admits that, were no name attached as director, he'd never have guessed that the same fellow made them. The filmmaker, shown at right, has certainly served his writers well, finding the correct "look" and the proper pacing, and drawing finely shaded performances from every cast member. (This time his script is by Sacha Gervasi -- the director of the documentary Anvil! -- and David N. White.) Yet marketing the man's work seems problematic. 44 Inch Chest, which did not set the box-office wickets afire, was so much more than a mere jealous-husband crime story, and now Henry's Crime -- which conflates Chekhov's Cherry Orchard with a bank job -- proves even more difficult. Just look at the silly poster for the film (above). Leaving out the ridiculously sentimental tag line (Please, could we give "our dreams" a moratorium?), if you must explain everything (with arrows, yet!) -- theater, bank, the diva, the nice guy, the con -- you're in deep shit, marketing-wise.

So what is Henry's crime? Well, there's a real one, another real one -- and one that's but a metaphor. Yikes, symbolism? Don't be scared: Just engage with the plot, which is ripe, ready and lots of fun. Featuring some notable coincidences, used with the kind of sprightly sense that romantic comedy (which this film is) demands, the movie features an average-Joe hero named Henry (Keanu Reeves, above) whose journey toward self-discovery begins in prison, where he meets the very odd felon, Max, played by James Caan (below, right), who is as good here -- relaxed, funny, utterly real -- as he has ever been. Remember this performance, please, at awards time.

Later Henry will meet the actress Julie (the wonderful Vera Farmiga, below), who's playing Madame Ranevsky in the Chekhov play, and before long we're hearing and seeing Keanu Reeves doing Chekhov  -- and what intelligent person, pray tell, is going to pass up that opportunity. After his excellent stint in last year's The Private Lives of Pippa Lee and now this role (not to mention the preview he was giving us a few years back in Something Gotta Give and Thumbsucker), I believe we are seeing the resurgence of Mr. Reeves.

Casting him as Henry is very nearly a stroke of genius, for this character calls for everything that the actor always provides and for which he may be unjustly famous -- the stolidity, lack of expression and kind of goofy grace (really, he's become the middle-aged Clint Eastwood) -- but then forces him to go further, even making sweet fun of what we might have once called his "draw-backs." Watch the scenes in which he is coached in the Chekhovian manner by Farmiga and then by Peter Stormare (simply aces as an Eastern European Chekhov director working in Buffalo!). The actor is literally forced to get better before our very eyes, and he does it. Don't worry, I suspect he will not be playing the Old (or New) Vic anytime soon, but he does what he needs to, and handles it damn well.

Every actor is on his/her mark -- from Danny Hoch to Bill Duke and Judy Greer (above), with Fisher Stevens creating yet another of his sublimely sleazy villains. But it's the unforced charm of the film that finally carries the day. Mr. Venville -- who last time brought us over-the-top, nasty Brits and their criminal milieu, and this time uses an American cast to create a recession-drained USA city -- has come through again.  I can't wait to see what he'll give us next.

Henry's Crime opens this Friday, April 8, in New York City at the Sunshine and Clearview (First & 62nd) cinemas.  The following week it will open in the Los Angeles area, before spreading out across the country in the weeks to come. Click here, then click on ENTER THE SITE, and then click on Showtimes in the drop-down menu to see a complete list of cities, theaters and dates.

LAST DAYS HERE: Don Argott & Demian Fenton's look at a legendary Pentagramer

Most documentary buffs who saw Don Argott's earlier THE ART OF THE STEAL, I suspect, would stand in line to view whatever new this guy has delivered. That documentary -- LAST DAYS HERE -- is now upon us, and though it's a far cry from his art/museum/politics doc, it's every bit as worth seeing: surprising, almost shockingly personal, humane, creepy, moving, funny and, awww... sweet. It tells the story of Bobby Liebling, lead singer of the heavy metal underground rock group Pentagram, legendary now as much for what it didn't do as for what it did. (Liebling single-handedly screwed up a record contract that would have put the group permanently on the map.)

TrustMovies is no heavy metal fan, but he admits that, by hearing Liebling both in his (rather desiccated) salad days and now, he began to understand the allure of heavy metal a bit better than in any of his previous attempts. Liebling's clearly got talent. According to the two directors -- Argott (shown at left) and Demian Fenton, (shown below), both of whom are themselves metal musicians, when the opportunity arose to shoot some film of Liebling, they jumped at the chance.

What came from the first encounter turned into a kind of love story once removed, in which the filmmakers stay with their subject through thick, thin and nearly gone. Considering the film's title (it comes from one of the many songs that Liebling wrote and performs in the course of the documentary), you might expect the very worst, and while the film comes close to this at times, let's just say that -- unless you have followed Mr. Liebling (below) and Pentagram extremely closely over the past few years -- you will be very surprised at the outcome here.

This is such a moving and personal film that, at times, you'll want to look away in embarrassment: for Liebling, his parents, the whole shebang. But you won't because Argott and Fenton glue you to the screen. How do they achieve this? Beyond their innate talent for capturing the moment (or editing down to it), I think it's due to the simple act of caring a lot for their subject. This comes through so strongly that is cannot help but be passed on to the audience.

For someone this strung out on drugs over so many years (at right is Pentagram back in 1976, with Liebling shown second from left), help -- let alone a "cure" -- would seem to be unlikely, if not impos-sible. Never a "pretty boy" in his best times, today Liebling's prominent features have become even odder and more pronounced. When we first meet Bobby, he's as strung out as ever, so he seems more a figure of jest (and not a little sadness) than anything else. Slowly, as the filmmakers show us more and more about him and his mom and dad, we warm up despite ourselves. Toward the end there is an absolutely heartbreaking moment provided by the musician's father.

As they say, the devil is in the details (and so, it would seem here, are the angels of our better nature). To tell many of these details would be to rob the movie of its effectiveness, and so I will just advise you to see it. And hear it. The music, in its heavy-handed/
heavy metal manner, soars.

Certainly the best music documentary since last year's amazing Anvil, Last Days Here (91 minutes, from Sundance Selects) opens tomorrow, Friday, March 2, in New York City at the IFC Center and on March 16, in the L.A. area at Laemmle's Monica 4-plex. And starting March 16, it will be available On Demand. Click here to learn how to get it via VOD.

WHITE STRIPES: Under the Great White Northern Lights debuts at SXSW & simultaneously On-Demand

Going into the film at hand, TrustMovies knew nothing about the Detroit-based man/woman musical twosome, The Whites Stripes, who alternately make an incredible amount of noise and then slip into more quiet, you-can-actually-understand-the-lyrics vein. So he simply placed the DVD screener into the machine and hit "play." This lack of knowledge will undoubtedly not be the case for most viewers of the new documentary, The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights, who will most likely already be big fans of this interesting and unusual duo.

I can’t begin to critique the music, as I’m no connoisseur of occasionally ear-splitting, hard-to-decipher songs. But I did enjoy the team in quieter mode. Film-wise, the doc alternates between black & white and color, between performance and interview, and between limos and airplanes as the duo goes to and from gigs – which are often in very odd locations.

The male counterpart, Jack White (above), tells us that Spin magazine once said that “Everything about the White Stripes is a lie.” Someone else, he recalls, wrote that it “is simultaneously the most fake and the most real band in the world.”  So much for critiquing. Yet White seems pleasantly nonplussed about it all; not only does he not know what to make of this, he doesn’t seem to care much. Good for him. He and his (according to the IMDB) ex-wife Meg (below) simply make music, tour major cities and the boonies (this film covers their Canadian gigs) and try – good for them – to hit the venues that don’t get that many concerts: small spots with appreciative audiences who come for the music. Some-
times they appear in big cities at odd places: a Toronto day camp, a  rec center, a bowling alley. One scene shows them on a small boat, serenading an audience sitting on the rocks by the shore.

The White Stripes appear to care about “the thing itself,” a quality much appreciated by TrustMovies because it gives one an honest starting point, from which everything else can grow. Which, as it turns out, is pretty much what the the movie itself does -- directed in wonderfully appropriate fashion by Emmett Malloy (shown with an impish smile, below).  Malloy flips around like crazy, giving us lots of music and fun, along with good information about this duo, showing us snippets from songs, concerts and appearances in all those odd places. In one scene, Meg rides with a what looks like late-middle-age driver who explains that he doesn’t have time to follow music and so asks about her band (exactly as I might do in the same situation). She gives him a quick, ego-free rundown.

In another scene, Jack explains how the internet has changed things regarding the duo's surprise appearances. Now it can announce an odd venue at the last minute and -- zoom -- off the news goes over the web, and an audience always turn up. Ten years ago, Jack notes, you couldn’t have managed this. We occasionally see them laying around, relaxing (Meg smokes: too bad). Their performance dress (a kilt in one scene) is odd but fun, as is their restricted use of only red, white and black in their graphics and costumes (Jack says this was determined a decade ago and hasn’t changed since). In what looks like an Inuit old-folks home, Jack asks questions about Inuit symbols such as the crow (or maybe raven), and he get a fine explanation from one woman in the group. The fellow seems to be able to relax happily with all kinds of people (except perhaps music critics); he can launch easily into a song just sitting on a couch with the Inuits.

One of the more interesting parts of the movie is Jack’s rendition of Jolene (also one of the few songs we seem to hear in its entirety), in which he becomes the female narrator or perhaps a gay man, begging Jolene not to take his man away. Here he uses his reedy/gravelly voice to maximum effect. Meg, much more retiring, is the quieter presence, often barely seeming to be there (except when she's plying her music). In one scene Jack tells her to speak up, SPEAK UP! (Later he makes her go on record that he is not the one stopping her from being heard.  She agrees.)

The movie is shot (by Giles Dunning) with on-the-fly beauty and edited (by Tim Wheeler, who also co-produced) terrifically well: speedily when necessary, but allowing the proper time for a smart, lengthy explanation, such as Jack’s telling us the difference between being inspired early in his career and now -- and how, sometimes, you just have to work at it, even if you don’t feel like it, and maybe, if you’re lucky something good will come out of your time. This, I suspect, is how it is for most artists of any kind.

All in all, this is probably my favorite music doc since Anvil and its unusual duo. From knowing nothing about these kids (kids is a relative term, I realize), by the conclusion, I felt I knew them to a surprising extent. Next time I hear of The White Stripes, this film -- and Jack and Meg -- will probably come rushing back into my head with pleasure and a smile. The last number in the documentary, by the way, is a quiet stunner that provides a lovely, moving finale to all we’ve seen.

The White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights made its On-Demand debut yesterday, via IFC Films, simultaneously with its debut at the SXSW festival.