The Wave

Most people should have already heard of the high school class in California in the '60s which created and nearly lost control of a fascist movement as part of a class project. And while several dramatizations have been made of those events, its hard to imagine any of them topping this German interpretation.

There are some obvious creative licenses taken with the story; the writers give in easily to the instinct to bring the Nazi government into the mix, and in this case it's warranted. And the story tends to diverge from the actual events the farther the film progresses. But a top notch cast and good direction retain the message even if the actual events stray towards fantasy.

Especially fine is the work of the lead actor, and his slow and unintentional descent into acceptance of his new role as leader. Which is not to say the younger actors don't hold their own, as there isn't a bad performance in the bunch.

Crisp cinematography finds many beautiful shots in the surroundings of a modern German city, and the direction and pacing are snappy enough that there's not a dull moment.

Otto; or, Up With Dead People

I came expected zombies. Instead I got an emo gay kid who was convinced he was a zombie, being exploited by a walking art school cliche. The dialog is stilted and delivered with way too much melodrama, and the plot really goes basically nowhere. Maybe there's some hilarious reference that I'm not getting.

Stranded: I've Come From a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains

You'd think a plane crash in the Andes, cannibalism, and a daring escape against all odds would be a slam dunk as the subject for a documentary. And while this one is reasonably well done, it manages to fall flat in several ways.

There are some amazing present-day interviews with the survivors of the event, conducted during a pilgrimage to the actual spot of the wreck. But these are interspersed with faux-grainy footage of re-enactments that are muddled and confusing. Combined with a sparse and airy soundtrack that ends up trying too hard to be other-worldly, much of the documentary feels too dreamlike to give the full impact of the events. The artistic choices work to remove the viewer from the events on the screen, rather than make them more immediate.

The story is fascinating, but the full effect is missing, and there's probably a book out there that does a better job of telling it.

The Great Buck Howard

Few things make for a good plot like abject failure, and The Great Buck Howard delivers spectacularly. John Malkovich, perfect as always, brings warmth and compassion to the character of an aging and nearly forgotten mentalist playing to half-full houses in Akron Ohio and similar out of the way venues around the country.

That's just a supporting character, albeit a large one. The lead is a law school drop-out who hires on as Buck's assistant in search of adventure and a way to break in to show business. The character is well played, and provides a good anchor for the story to balance Buck's posturing ("My good friend George Takei, who played Sulu on The Star Trek").

The premise at least is autobiographical for the writer/director, and the care taken in the script shows it. It's not a fast movie, but the pleasure is in watching the characters grow, rather than a driving plot. And with these actors, it works quite well.

Mad Detective

Perhaps mistakenly billed as a "buddy comedy" on the SIFF website, Mad Detective oscillates between nervous laughter, gruesome insanity, and tense mystery.

The main character is a brilliant but disturbed detective, who sees inner personalities as physically distinct people and solves crimes by re-enacting the actions of the victims in obsessive detail. Fired from the police force and re-enlisted by his one-time partner to help with a stale case involving a murdered officer, he is in danger of losing control again.

The film is beautifully shot but intentionally dark and gritty to the point of being depressing. The characters are all extremely flawed, and quite well played. I found the plot a bit convoluted, but the journey is a hell of a lot of fun, especially when the hero is simultaneously confronting seven physical personalities of a suspect.

While the comedy is quite good, the dramatic aspects are better than I expected. The main character has plenty of sadness in his past, and it's played quite well. And maybe it's just me, but the overarching theme of failure brought everything together brilliantly.

Call Me Troy

Billed as a biography of Reverend Troy Perry, Call Me Troy encompasses a huge amount of civil rights history, due in large part to the amazing life of its subject.

Troy Perry was the founder of the first openly gay Christian church, as well as a leader of the Gay Rights movement. Due to his role in the public spotlight the filmmakers have plenty of archival footage, which is mixed with some great present-day interviews with Troy, and his friends and family.

The pacing is good, and the subject is fascinating. There's much more political and historical content than I expected going into the film, and it's put together very well. It manages to give a great sense of the time without losing touch with the central characters. It's hard to say whether the end effect is due to expert direction or the charismatic and entertaining character of the subjects, but it works fantastically well.

Shadow of The Holy Book

There are some crazy things in government, but I don't know that I'd heard of anything as crazy as the subject of this documentary. The Turkmen dictator wrote a rambling book called The Ruhmana, full of bad poetry, inaccurate history, and philosophical musings, and then made it required reading in all grades of school, a requirement for public office, and part of the drivers license exam. He erected statues of the book, ran television programs featuring readings, and outlawed criticisms of the work.

The documentary follows the two film-makers as they investigate the effects of The Ruhmana, and as they try to get corporations to comment on the habit of sponsoring translations into their native languages in exchange for business favors in Turkmenistan.

Not surprisingly the companies give them the runaround, and the Turkmen citizenry come off as ignorant and misled. And while their point is a good one (that corporations will happily lend support to fascist dictators in exchange for profit), it's a point that doesn't necessarily need to be made again. The sheer number of companies who have paid lip service to the dictator is certainly disturbing, but their failed attempts to confront CEOs and marketing departments come off as a low rent attempt at the Michael Moore school of documentary. It's entertaining, and there's plenty of stuff worth seeing, but I found myself wishing they'd replaced the dozens of clips of them failing to get comments with something a bit more forceful.