Hey you. Yeah you. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “I want to watch a documentary, and I want to watch one about a musician, and/or music, particularly one that was reviewed by Filmbalaya within the last three years.” You’re even probably asking yourself, “But where do I start?” Am I right? No? C’mon, you can admit it. You know I’m right.

Okay, even if I’m not right in my omniscient interweb predictions, let’s assume for the sake of this post that I am. With that being said, I have gone through great mediocre lengths to gather 5 reviews of music-focused documentaries from the past three years that might have been overlooked by the mainstream, and deserves its chance to shine. So, without further ado, I give you five criminally misdemeanorly overlooked musician-based documentaries. Read More…

Oliver Assaya‘s “Something In The Air” blew me away.

The film centers around a few late teen/young adults in post 1968 (starting in 1971) France. I say post-1968 because the political stage set by that period of unrest serves as the backdrop for the film. The main characters are introduced as radical dissidents in high school, operating and executing various acts of civil disobedience. As the film continues, they are forced to leave France, and their lives progress, sometimes intersecting, sometimes not.

The scope of the film’s themes is remarkable. A primary theme I encountered was the relationship between radical politics and art. The main character, Gilles, grows from a staunch to a reluctant member of the radical society and, in a parallel, grows from an amateur painter to one driven by it. The portrayals of the artists in the film versus those more dedicated to their politics capture the basic identity question of the film – when does one know that this is what one needs to do? When is one being true to oneself, versus to society? The question of the comparison between individualism and socialism (when one does something solely for oneself, or for the good of society) and the artist’s relation thereof is still a worthwhile topic in today’s society. Read More…

After I reviewed both G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra and the sequel Retaliation, Adam offhandedly suggested whipping up a retrospective about the 1987 animated film G.I. Joe: The Movie, in order to complete the triumvirate. Heck, I’d already watched it a couple of times earlier this year, so it didn’t take much arm-twisting on his part. To the WABAC Machine, Mr. Peabody.

Read More…

Love is All You Need marks Susanne Bier’s first time to the director’s chair since her 2010 Academy Award winner It’s a Better World. It’s more lightweight material compared to that work, with a script co-written with Anders Thomas Jensen that provides plenty of heartfelt moments and earnest laughs. (It’s probably because angry epithets always sound more amusing in a foreign language, but maybe that’s just me.) But given that its intended audience will immediately think The Beatles when glancing at the title, Bier’s odd fixation with Dean Martin’s “That’s Amore” seems trite; it’s as if to warn us in advance that a good chunk of the movie will take place in Italy, but that’s like giving out Fodor’s guides to Morocco before a screening of Casablanca.

Read More…

Nobody said being an immortal creature of the night with an addiction for human blood would be easy. Also not easy; finding actors who can deliver their lines like they aren’t reading them from a teleprompter.

For her first feature-length piece of fiction, writer and director, Xan Cassavetes (yes, daughter of famed director, John) takes us into the dramatic world of some erotic modern day vampires and exposes the many moral dilemmas these “monsters” face. Who knew the living dead had it so bad? Read More…

Some animation with a little Christopher Plummer narration, a glimpse into a heartbreaking repatriation situation, and a nostalgic 1980s’ stylization of computer nerds playing chess. Let’s begin.

Read More…

My plan was to catch two movies today, but sometimes “the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray”. Am I right, Robert Burns, or am I right? Long story short, I was in dire need of a quick power nap after work. So, in the spirit of Mr. Burns (the poet, not Homer Simpson’s boss) I told myself, “what Adam’s body wants, Adam’s body gets”. Deep poetry, I know. My quick power nap turned into a 2-hour siesta and, before I knew it, I missed the last festival screening of Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air. All was not lost though. I woke up in time to scoot on over to Berkeley’s PFA and catch The Act of Killing. Besides, Assayas’ film is planned for a limited release run here in San Francisco two weeks from now. Read More…

Having gotten up earlier than planned, thanks to my choosing to bunk with an energetic early bird, my start was an early one. I arrived at the theatre 2 hours before the start of my first movie. What happened then, you ask? Well I’ll tell ya what happened. Read More…