Sleepwalk with Me

Dreams of Self-Discovery                     
by Zac Ryan

A luckless stand-up comic finds success after he confronts his inner demons in the entertaining Sleepwalk with Me.

Aspiring stand-up comic, Matt Pandamiglio (Mike Birbiglia), is at a crossroads in his life.  Instead of  landing the prime slots at the local comedy club, he watches from afar as he serves beverages to the paying crowd and unappreciative comedians after their set.  He recently moved into an apartment with Abby (Lauren Ambrose), his girlfriend of eight years to whom he's yet to pop the question.  It isn't that he's afraid of commitment, but that he's waiting for the moment "when nothing else good can happen in his life."  As pressure comes from all sides to settle down, Mike's rare REM Behavior Disorder rears its ugly head.

When he's not sleepwalking through his ho-hum life, he's running from jackals and any other creatures that decide to chase him in his sleep.  While most humans will lay quietly in their bed, Matt reacts physically in the real world to the dream he's having.  So to take care of the jackal problem, he kicks a garbage can in the corner into submission, not realizing the real life implications of his actions.  Thankfully something of this sort isn't so dangerous, but as Matt ventures out on the road and the pressure mounts, the serious nature and consequences of his dreams builds to life-threatening levels.  

Lauren Ambrose and Mike Birbiglia

Mike Birbiglia's script (co-written with Ira Glass, Joe Birbiglia and Seth Barrish) is adapted from his successful off-Broadway one-man show and book of the same title.  When Mike made an appearance on NPR's This American Life, his tale of sleepwalking quickly became one of the show's top episodes.  It isn't that the story is particularly funny, but how Birbigilia comes across as a likable everyman.  And for the most part, as his character Matt, he comes across likable on screen.  Even when he speaks directly into the camera and forewarns the audience, "Remember, you're supposed to be on my side," before delving into one of his darker character moments.

But most of all it works. Even when he is manipulative and hiding the truth, you want to sit back and root for him to succeed.  You were privy to his early beginnings as a stand-up-slash-bartender, where the limited amount of stage time led to long bouts of uncomfortable silence, not only from the crowd on screen, but the audience in the theater.  It is Matt's passion to succeed, to show his girlfriend and his over-bearing parents (Carol Kane and James Rebhorn ) that he has the chops to make it.  Once he lucks out with an agent (Sondra James), not necessarily because he's funny, but because he has a car and willing to take under-paying gigs, he hits the road to get to that next step of fame.

Mike Birbiglia

While the money isn't great, the hotels aren't five-star worthy, and he's bombing every night, Matt is happy, or at least he appears to be on the outside.  One night after a horrific set, he confides in fellow comic Marc Maron about his relationship, his unhappiness, and finally, the true comedic side comes out.   Marc tells him that the honesty of his life is better than any of the other hack material in his stage act. So Matt runs with it.  As he gets more comfortable on stage, the laughs come fast and furious, but so do the dreams.  

Co-directed with Seth Barrish, the dreams sequences and pace continue building until the final big dream sends all Matt's worked for into flux.  The constant rising action of the dreams, Matt's career and home life come crashing down in a jaw-dropping third act change that hopefully hasn't been ruined by other viewers or the NPR episode.  When it happens there was an audible gasp in the theater, but knowing what was done and the man who wrote the script is on the screen in front of you, there is no doubt that he will survive.  But he comes out of the situation a changed man.  He's grown thanks to his dreams, his aspirations and finally free to be himself.  

While some of the early stand-up can be cringe-worthy, the film is chock full of laughs up until the third act.  The film is sure to be an instant crowd-pleaser, and hopefully turn many fans onto the hilarious stand-up of Mike Birbiglia.   

Ruby Sparks

Boy Creates Girl                          
by Zac Sanford

After making a splash in 2006 with their debut feature, Little Miss Sunshine, the husband and wife directing duo of Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris did not return behind the camera for another film until now.  After having your first piece of art so heralded, the pressures of finding the perfect follow-up can be a soul-crushing ordeal.  Many artists strive to find that creative spark and that perfect piece of material that will keep them from becoming a one-hit wonder, only to fall flat on their faces and quickly disappear into obscurity.  Thankfully, Ruby Sparks is a wondrous follow-up, full of wonderful characters and a high-concept premise that actually delivers through to the very end.

Calvin Weir-Fields (Paul Dano) was such an artist.  His first novel at the young age of 18 catapulted him to the top of the New York Times best-seller list.  He was mentioned in the same breath as J.D. Salinger.  He hit the lecture tours and soon realized he would not be able to top his previous creative endeavors.  The writers block wall was in front of him and there was no way he could drive around it.  Ten years later, he still talks on the same book tours and answers the same questions about his inevitable follow-up, but those pages do not pour out of him as he sits in front of his manual typewriter.

Paul Dano

His psychiatrist (Elliott Gould) recommends that he write about one of his possible encounters with a woman while walking his dog.  That night the dreams come fast and furious.  He sees his dream girl, Ruby Sparks (Zoe Kazan), and he wakes with a new fervor.  The pages fly out of his typewriter.  Ruby Sparks is the girl of his dreams and the inspiration for his next novel.  She's the perfect manifestation of his every desire.  But when he wakes the next morning, she is no longer a dream, but in his apartment cooking him breakfast.

Any rational human would question his sanity at this moment, and that's what Calvin does.  He goes out of the house, Ruby on his heels, to make sure his mind isn't deteriorating, only to find he isn't the only one who can see and hear her.  She is the real deal, and she is everything he ever wanted.

A concept like this could quickly deteriorate into schmaltz, but this script isn't afraid to take chances.  Calvin's brother, Harry (Chris Messina), could easily fall victim to Apatow-esque humor when he eggs on his brother to rewrite Ruby.  But Calvin is happy with his creation and the new-found love of his life.  And just like any relationship, what originally draws one to someone could become the one thing that tears the relationship apart.  The problem is, no one is perfect, and after they delve into a real-world relationship, those little fractures start to appear.

Zoe Kazan and Paul Dano

This is where the script really shines.  Calvin goes into rewrite mode to restore Ruby to his ideal dream girl, and nothing will ever be the same.  The constant rewrites send Ruby all over the map, and Zoe is pitch-perfect as she embodies the changes in her character.  The Manic Pixie Dream Girl stereotype is ripped to shreds, and it makes sense that Ruby's character would do such a thing, considering the script was written by Zoe. Writing the script was her way of showing her range as an actress.  She even outshines veterans Annette Bening and Antonio Banderas, as Calvin's hippie mother and step-father, in a sub-plot that does more to detract than to help move the film along.  It's a necessary step into the arc of Ruby's character as a real human, but the momentum just seemed to stop, and tonally, felt like a different movie.

Once Calvin and Ruby are back in LA, those cracks become even more apparent, and Calvin must do his final rewrite for her character.  To say the film takes a tonal shift would be an understatement.  What was previously light and fluffy hits a dark patch, and I must applaud the filmmakers for making that choice, even if it does make the end a little tougher to swallow.

Ruby Sparks is a charming rom-com that should make decent counter-programming against the studio slate of the crowded summer season.  Like Dayton and Faris's previous film, word of mouth should be strong, allowing an extended run through the end of the season.  

Los Angeles Film Festival Wrap-Up

by Zac Sanford

In the town of big budget blockbusters, Film Independent presented its annual bash at the Regal Cinemas in downtown Los Angeles. As with past years, the festival seemed to be without a unifying theme among the films selected, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Some fests may pride themselves by having some sort of identity, but the scattered selection of films perfectly fits its hometown venue, a mix of studio fare from their indie divisions, foreign films and truly independent pictures.  Here is a small selection of the fifteen films I watched over the ten day event:

 
An Oversimplification of Her Beauty - Terence Nance mines his previous short film How Would You Feel?, expanding on his subject matter and the love of his life, Namik Minter.   Beauty cuts back and forth between the short and the relationships Nance has been in since his love went unrequited.  The film mixes media, easily jumping from the old short film with the simplicity of an eject button, jumping into animated segments, and a battle of words between two narrators.  Everything Nance brings to the screen isn't simplified, but complex as the love that he seeks.  While not a perfect film, the feature debut from Nance brings a distinct voice to the C Generation and a beautiful piece of art.

It's a Disaster - At a weekly brunch populated by a bunch of friends, Tracy (Julia Stiles) introduces her latest beau, Glenn (David Cross).  Tempers quickly rise when the guys cannot watch the game on television, someone can't bid on a collector's item on eBay, and one couple is late as usual.  As the guests discover the reason for the lack of TV reception and internet access, news comes that one of the couples is ready to call it quits.  But the biggest problem of all isn't the end of their relationship but a terrorist attach unleashed downtown, and all within the fallout range will soon be dead.  The end of the world has never been so fun and hilarious.





 
Juan of the Dead - Zombie movies are a dime a dozen these days, but what makes Juan of the Dead different from all others is its choice of locale.  This is the first zombie movie to come out of Cuba.  When the outbreak first happens, the local news media isn't truthful about what is really going down, instead they blame the changes on the corrupt governments of other countries.  Juan doesn't bring anything new to the zombie genre, but the new locale, the wonderful mix of characters and the social commentary makes for a fun thrill ride.

 

Robot and Frank - Frank (Frank Langella in an award-worthy performance) suffers from a severe case of dementia, and his son Hunter's (James Marsden) only hope is a robot to help him with his daily tasks.  The old curmudgeon refuses the assistance, searching for an off button, but slowly relents when he finds out the robot's sole directive.  The film becomes a buddy flick of man and robot, as they work together to rob from the rich, as the old man has always had a sticky finger.  The two make a wonderful team, and as they get in too deep, you can only hope that they never get caught.  Though the Robot is far from human, the emotion and connection is deeper than most human interaction in the biggest blockbusters.  While the concept sounds a bit out there, the film is full of heart and soul.



 
A Band Called Death - Along with Marley and Last Days Here, A Band Called Death completes the trifecta of extraordinary music documentaries in 2012.  From deep within the motor city, a trio of brothers formed a band in hopes of fame, success and women.  They were far ahead of their time, playing punk before it was such a thing.  They toed on the edge of fame, almost signing with a major label, if they would only concede one thing... their name.  The name Death was always the drawback.  They couldn't get the airtime or find venues to book them, but the oldest of the siblings was always too proud and knew they would find a way to make it to the masses.  The film follows the highs and lows of the brothers, including the early passing of one, before their only seven-inch recording started to find its way into the underground music scene.  A wonderful film about passion and never giving up, A Band Called Death will hopefully never die.

As more films from the festival premiere, more reviews are set to come including Celeste and Jesse Forever, Sister, Red Flag and my favorite of the festival, Ruby Sparks.

Cabin in the Woods

The Horror Behind the Curtain             
by Zac Sanford

College coeds at a secluded cabin in the woods have long been a staple of the horror genre. It's a tired and stale cliche that has left audiences bored and hungry for something new and inventive. With the release of Cabin in the Woods, director Joss Whedon and co-writer Drew Goddard tackle the genre with a crowd-pleasing twist on that tired and dreary formula.

To go too deeply into the twist, one would have to lay out heavy spoiler warnings, and this is a film best viewed with the least amount of prior knowledge. As with the "kids in the woods" tropes, it begins with a mix of cliches and stereotypes. We've got the alpha male who will try to stand tall when the stuff finally hits the fan (Chris Hemsworth), the dim-witted blonde with a nice rack to drive up the ticket sales of the adolescent set (Anna Hutchison), the heartbroken but reserved female (Kristen Connolly), the stoner with his different views on the world (Fran Kranz), and the token black character (Jesse Williams). Yes, these are total Hollywood cliches, or at least that's what one is led to believe.

Joss has been known in the past to take something familiar and turn it on its head. While all those stock characters may give you the idea of perception as reality, the writer/director wants you to look deeper beneath the layers that are on the surface. It isn't until something is conjured up to attack our group that true identities come to the forefront. But what will actually attack our heroes?

In the cabin in the woods movies it could be a bevy of concepts or ideas. Typically some backwoods inbred psycho is on the loose or conjured up from the dead. Once our characters get to their destination, the psycho in the woods does come at them, but this isn't like any other horror film. As the campers prepare for an evening filled with cup after cup of alcohol or their preferred drug of choice, something beckons them down into the dimly lit and eerie basement. Every character is entranced and drawn to a specific item. Will it be the orb? The book about a past event in this very cabin? A piece of jewelry with special powers? Or could it actually be a mix of all these things.

Cabin in the Woods is more akin to to Scream than Hostel. The laughs come far more often than the scares or the gore, which is mainly saved until the climatic and overdone third act. Joss and Drew know the genre and how they can play around in it, manipulating and poking fun at horror movies. As a personal fan of horror films, I sometimes want to yell at the screen for the idiotic choice of the main character, but with this flick, it is proof that the writer and director knows how to manipulate and invoke a reaction.

Even if horror movies aren't typically your thing, I would implore you to check this movie out. Usually when a film sits on a shelf for multiple years it is because the final product isn't of the highest caliber, but this film was only lost in the shuffle due to the demise of MGM. Cabin in the Woods is a treat for any film fan.