JUST THE FACTS, MA'AM: SNAPSHOT REVIEWS OF THE REVELATION DOCOS

The documentary feature strand at the 2014 Revelation Perth International Film Festival makes for a daunting viewing schedule. Each of the 20 films represents a unique vision of life from every corner of the globe. With thanks to the festival organisers, SCREEN-SPACE has seen several of the works programmed and offer our thoughts, however brief, on the RevFest docos that explore the world we live in today…

HAPPINESS (Dir: Thomas Balmes; Finland/France/Bhutan; 80 mins; Trailer)
Having captivated global audiences with his 2010 hit, Babies, French filmmaker Thomas Balmes delves deeper into the harsh existence and insurmountable spirit of children in Happiness. His focus is the charismatic Peyangki (pictured, above), an eight year-old boy sent to a monastery by a tough mother at precisely the moment his homeland, the mountainous monarchy of Bhutan, gets television and the internet. Breathtaking photography counterbalances the intense intimacy of Balmes’ subject; the story is about the boy, but the boy’s story encompasses his village life and the changing face of an ancient culture. 
Rating: 4/5

TINY: A STORY ABOUT LIVING SMALL (Dirs: Christopher Smith, Merete Mueller; USA; 66 mins; Trailer)
The ‘tiny house movement’ is leading the charge to downsive mankind’s centuries-old footprint. Chris Smith and Merete Mueller (pictured, right) chronicle their own efforts to construct a mobile home of barely 120 square-feet, yet which affords them the comforts of ‘MacMansion’-style living. The everyday characters driving the momentum to smaller, smarter dwellings populate this sweet, down-home slice of the new Americana; the ‘message moments’ are tempered by the personal story of Smith and Mueller, whose construction frustrations and romantic maturation give the film a compelling warmth.
Rating: 3.5/5

HARLEM STREET SINGER (Dirs: Trevor Laurence, Simeon Hunter; USA; 76 mins; Trailer)
Directors Trevor Laurence and Simeon Hunter recount the remarkable story of The Reverend Gary Davis, a blind southern black man who rose from tobacco warehouse busker to become one of the influential American guitarists of the 1960s. His unmistakable, incomparable blues/folk pickin’ made him hero to the likes of Peter, Paul and Mary, The Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane, not too mention the young boys who heard him play and sat at his feet to learn his craft. Though the film never skimps over Davis’ boozing and womanizing, Harlem Street Singer emerges a grand celebration of a man who redefined an artform.
Rating: 4/5

LED ZEPPELIN PLAYED HERE (Dir: Jeff Krulik; USA; 80 mins; Trailer)
Underground legend Jeff Krulik (pictured, right), that great gonzo archivist of America eccentricity (Heavy Metal Parking Lot; Ernest Borgnine on the Bus; I Created Lancelot Link), tackles the mystery surrounding the alleged appearance of supergroup Led Zeppelin at the nondescript Wheaton Youth Hall, Maryland, in the chilly winter of 1969. Krulik’s fluid, playful and engaging work is a terrific piece of detective storytelling, as well as a great Modern Music History 101 lesson; a vivid collection of aging promoters, record company execs, small-town fans and grey-haired musos, Led Zeppelin Played Here captures the early days of the rock music industry with a giddy glee.
Rating: 4.5/5

THE MAN WHOSE MIND EXPLODED (Dir: Toby Amies; UK; 77 mins; Trailer, below)
Drako Oho Zarhazar modelled for Salvador Dali, appeared in the films of Derek Jarman and led a wildly hedonistic lifestyle that made him the toast of the progressive thinking community. But by 2012, Zarhazar lives the hoarder’s life in a cramped flat in Brighton, England, his slowly disintegrating mind stimulated by hardcore pornography, a scattershot memory and self-abuse. Director Toby Amies befriended the eccentric and captured their interactions in a series of increasingly harrowing, intimate moments. The heartbreaking story of an unique friendship; bring tissues.
Rating: 4/5

FREELOAD (Dir: Daniel T Skaggs; USA; 65 mins; Trailer)
Ten minutes into Daniel T Skaggs raggedy, ‘hobo-hemian’ odyssey, it is tough to find much love for the coarse, self-focussed social dropouts who bum rides on America’s unsuspecting freight rail network. But their brattish arrogance and ‘f**k you’ posturing is peeled back by a filmmaker determined to uncover the truth behind the tattoos and chains; these kids are smart, determined, independent and legitimately at odds with society expectations. A love letter to the rebellious spirit, Freeload is also a bittersweet account of alienation and finding a sense of family while living a boxcar lifestyle.
Rating: 3.5/5

FAITH CONNECTIONS (Dir: Pan Nalin; India/France; 115 mins; Trailer)
The Kumbh Mela is the largest socio-religious gathering on the planet, an event that sees 100 million Hindu pilgrims travel to the junction of three spiritual waterways in Allahabad, India. Pan Nalin (Samsara, 2001) presents an epic yet intimate account of lives that both define and are influenced by the sea of humanity around them. Though unwieldy and overlong, Faith Connections is nevertheless a remarkably insightful film, full of stunning images and imbued with a strong sense of family and personal growth.
Rating: 3.5/5

WEB JUNKIE (Dirs: Hilla Medalia, Shosh Shlam; Israel/USA; 75 mins; Trailer)
The foreboding tagline ‘How do you de-programme a teenager?’ is explored with stark intensity in Web Junkie, a glimpse inside the medical/military machine that is weening Chinese teenagers off their addiction to online gaming. Sharing directing duties with respected documentarian Hilla Medalia is Shosh Shlam, who explored institutionalized mental health care for Holocaust survivors in her award-winning Last Journey to Silence in 2003. Their free form, peak-around-corners style deprives the film of structure but ensures moments of often brutal honesty.
Rating: 3.5/5 

IMAGINE: LIFE SPENT ON THE EDGE

Featuring:
RIDERS SKI: Jeff Annetts, Sam Favret, Mickael Lamy, Wille Lindberg, Tim Swartz, Drew Tabke, Jeff Leger, Nate Siegler, Casey Wesley
SPEED RIDING: Ueli Kestenholz, Dominik Wicki, Florian Wicki 
SNOWBOARD: Matt Annetts 
SURF: Matahi Drollet, Keala Kennelly, Alain Riou, Hira Teriinatoofa 
WINGSUIT FLYING: Ludovic Woerth, Mathias Wyss 
KAYAK: Shannon Carroll, Mariann Seather, Katrina Van Wijk, Martina Wegman 
KITE SURF: Tetuatau Leverd, Manutea Monnier, Mitu Monteiro, Rony Svarc 
STAND-UP PADDLE: Patrice Chanzy, Aude Lionet-Chanfour.

Director: Thierry Donard

Rating: 4/5

The latest from Europe’s leading sports documentarian, Thierry Donard, is a soulful, contemplative vision that posits the extreme sportsperson as the modern keeper of life’s great truths. Imagine: Life Spent on the Edge may prove too earnestly reverential for those venturing indoors simply for ‘The Rush’, but Donard has crafted an inspiring work that defines a spiritual unity between the athlete, his environment and our search of fulfilment.

Donard, whose Nuit de la Glisse (Night of Skiing) series of films have chronicled athletes pushing their bodies and skills to breaking point, wields the new Go-Pro mini-digicam unit with stunning efficiency and clarity. The sports footage is immersive and, at times, giddying. Skiiers dropped onto mountaintops weave fearlessly down sheer mountain faces as waves of avalanche snow cascade around them; Tahitian surfers glide through the tubes of giant waves; kayakers plunge over Icelandic waterfalls. Genuinely jaw-dropping is the helmet-cam coverage of wingsuit experts Mathias Wyss and Ludovic Woerth, the pair pulling 4Gs as they hurtle past rock cliffs and snow plains.

But the director also invests in an inordinate amount of backstory to provide an intimacy to his subject’s exploits. Champion surfer Matahi Drollet is the focus of Donard’s camera in Tahiti, but moreso for his decision not to ride the Teahupoo break given he has a one month old son. Similarly, Keala Konnelly returns to the ocean that nearly tore her face off in a horrific spill, determined to conquer her demons. Snowboarder Matt Annetts (labelled as a 'soul rider') speaks at length about the support his family has afforded him, allowing him a life of self-discovery via his sport.

Imagine: Life Spent on the Edge dwells not only on the beauty of the sport but also on the value of life balance. This is not a film drenched in sponsor’s tags or glammed-up with the shallow by-products of the macho sports machine (there is nary a bikini-clad beach beauty in sight). What Thierry Donard captures are dedicated, mature individuals for whom an adrenalized existence focuses the mind on what is ultimately most important – integrity, loyalty, family and friendship.

HARRY DEAN STANTON: PARTLY FICTION

Featuring: Harry Dean Stanton, David Lynch, Debbie Harry, Kris Kristofferson, Sam Shephard, Jamie James, Logan Sparks and Wim Wenders.
Director: Sophie Huber

Rating: 4.5/5

Feature-length documentary debutant Sophie Huber’s filmed biography of character actor Harry Dean Stanton achieves the precise laconic, abstract, existential depth and grace one associates with the man himself. An artful, mesmerising ode to the ultimate character actor’s outlook on the industry and life in general, …Partly Fiction never teeters over into hagiographic adulation yet manages to convey the very uniqueness that has made Stanton the enigmatic force he is today.

Portraying a man who exists within a sharply-defined world focussed via his own experience, Swiss filmmaker Huber employs subtle, lovely camera technique and lulling sound design to capture Stanton as a benevolent spirit, rich in wisdom. Credited with 40 years worth of iconic support turns in films as diverse as Cool Hand Luke, The Missouri Breaks, The Straight Story, Alien and Repo Man (all cliped here), and one of American cinema’s most affecting lead roles (as ‘Travis’ in Wim Wenders’ Paris Texas), the subject is now a ragged, camera-friendly presence who doesn’t give up a lot of words yet still conveys a great deal.

Ironically (or, perhaps, fittingly, given his skill at choosing well written parts), Stanton’s true self is most revealed in the lyrics of his favourite songwriters. He breaks into song regularly (accompanied by his offscreen guitarist friend), usually to the words of Johnny Cash; in one sequence that conveys just how respected he is by actors and musicians alike, he is serenaded by his Cisco Pike co-star Kris Kristofferson (from whose song, ‘He’s A Pilgrim’, the film draws its title).

The softly-softly approach Huber takes pays dividends when Stanton drops the occasional incisive bombshell. Most shocking amongst them his recounting of his long-term but ultimately doomed love affair with actress Rebecca de Mornay; “I lost her to Tom Cruise,” he laughs, recalling the fling the toothy star and leading lady had during the shooting of 1983’s Risky Business.  Another revelation hinted at is the actor’s past with punk-pop queen, Debbie Harry.

Harry Dean Stanton’s Hollywood standing is legendary; he is humbly open about his relationship with Hollywood players such as Marlon Brando and ex-roomie Jack Nicholson. One the films most delightful passages is a couch chat between Stanton and his seven-time collaborator, David Lynch (it could have been eight, it is revealed, had Stanton taken the Dennis Hopper role in Blue Velvet, a part he was offered but felt was too dark for his sensibilities).

Perhaps the most revealing scenes are those that capture Stanton as the ‘everyman’, downing shots at his local bar with old friends who adore him and young suited types who don’t know who he is (in one hilarious sequence, he convinces an ignorant twenty-something that his real name is ‘Ron’ and that he is a ex-astronaut who now works for NASA).

But both Stanton and Huber understand that true character is defined by the most non-verbal of traits; the lines in the aging actor’s face, or the pauses and silences that Stanton dwells in whilst contemplating, are the film’s greatest strengths.

Particular credit must go to DOP Seamus McGarvey, who lensed Stanton’s bit part in last summer’s blockbuster The Avengers but here exhibits a true artist’s touch; his use of crisp black-&-white cinematography for the interview close-ups captures every ragged crevice of the subjects face, while his warm, rich use of night-time colour helps Stanton become one with his surroundings.

Read the SCREEN-SPACE feature, Troupers: An Appreciation of Character Actors, here.