Allan Tong's Director Reel

Check out my five-minute Director's Reel, showcasing my documentary & dramatic films:

FIVE CORNERS [Holy Grail film, 1987]

John Turturro in his breakout role as angry young man, Heinz

1987 was John Patrick Shanley's year. The first two screenplays he penned simultaneously hit the silver screens to near-unanimous acclaim: the romantic comedy Moonstruck and the dark drama, Five Corners. The former would go on to score Oscars for best actress Cher, best supporting actress Olympia Dukakis and by The Bard of the Bronx himself for best original script. In contrast, the latter would have a limited but respected theatrical run, then vanish in home video.

That's a shame. Five Corners measures up to any film released in the late-80s, including its bigger, brassier sibling, Moonstruck. A character-driven indie film, Five Corner featured a cast of unknowns at the time who would soon leap to the A-list: Tim Robbins, John Turturro, and Jodie Foster was re-emerging from years in private life (university).


STORY
Set in 1965 amid the turmoil of the Civil Rights Movement, Five Corners begins with the homecoming of Heinz (Turturro) who returns home from prison. He was sent away for trying to rape neighbourhood girl, Linda (Foster) whom Heinz believes is his old flame. He returns home to his batty mother (a note-perfect Rose Gregorio) who's in denial of Heinz's psychotic personality.

Heinz zeroes in Linda who is understandably terrified of seeing him. So, she runs into the arms of Harry (Tim Robbins), the neighbourhood tough guy who protected her the last time and beat up Heinz. However, Harry has become a pacifist ever since is Irish-cop father was killed on the job. To the anguish of his widowed mother, Harry is volunteering to become a Freedom Rider, traveling with blacks through the segregated south and risking his life at the hands of white racists. Linda leaves Harry's home empty-handed and has no choice but to defend herself. Or will Harry break his pacifist vows and protect her against Heinz?

Heinz (Turturro) offers a surprise gift to his terrified "old flame" Linda (Foster)


WHY A HOLY GRAIL?

First off, the three leads deliver solid performances. Robbins lends depth to make his angry-young-man a convincing pacifist. Turturro is a ferocious screen presence yet never tumbles into melodrama. As always Foster shines effortlessly. The icing on the cake is the subplot involving Elizabeth Berridge (Maozart's wife in Amadeus). Her ditzy Melanie sniffs glue with her dopey girlfriend, and rides elevators with two cigar-smoking buddies, providing the right amount of comic relief.

The real star, however, is Shanley's script. Coming from the theatre, Shanley invests his screenplay with the rich characterization usually found in stage play. His characters are unusually rich and complex. His pen carries a sharp wit that shines in unexpected details: Harry naming his St. Bernard Buddha; an arrow fired into the back of a hated math teacher; and a penguin swimming in the park (I won't say anymore or else I'll spoil the film). The script veers from family drama to light comedy to surrealism, without resorting to sixties nostalgia or easy clichés.

There are many rites-of-passage films and movies set in the sixties, but Five Corners defies labels. It creates a world of its own based on the childhood neighborhoood of writer Shanley. Director Tony Bill successfully translates Shanley's characters to the big screen with an understated touch. Altogether its wit, complexity and originality make Five Corners a truly unique film.

In the film's most heartbreaking moment, Heinz (above) forces his mother
(Rose Gregorio, below) to open her eyes and see him as he truly is

DISTRIBUTION HISTORY

After a limited run in theatres in fall 1987/winter 1988 in North America, Five Corners moved to VHS, but bounced around DVD often in terrible quality. For instance, the Front Row Features edition is easily the worst DVD transfer of any film I have ever seen.

The video is not so much a picture but a series of giant pixels that bounce around the screen to induce neausea. Releasing this film in this condition should amount to a felony.

Instead, cineastes and collectors should seek the original VHS, which is still floating around second-hand shops.
Though 4:3, the picture and sound are infinitely sharper than the DVD. However, these are old tapes and will likely suffer from drop-outs and other imperfections.

All in all Five Corners is long overdue for a proper DVD release, particularly one with bonus features.

UP THE YANGTZE (DVD review)

Up The Yangtze made several top 10 lists in 2007 and deservedly so. Yung Chang's documentary of a luxury cruise boat crawling up the Yangtze River vividly illustrates the clash between ordinary Chinese peasants struggling against the upheavals caused by China’s massive dam project.

Yu Shui is a teenage girl who leaves her shack nestled on the shore to work onboard in order to support her starving, illiterate family. In contrast, handsome Chen Bo Yu, works on the cruise as a way of getting ahead. He’s the arrogant only son of a middle-class family and is typical of the Little Emperors found in this one-child nation.

Meanwhile, the mega-dam is being built as the world’s biggest engineering project since the Great Wall. Merchants clash with corrupt government officials who demand bribes or force them to relocate. Gradually, the waters rise and literally wipe out the Chinese past to usher in a new age, one that is exciting yet troubling.

Following a successful theatrical run, Up The Yangtze arrives on DVD presented in glorious widescreen and padded with some smart extras. Deleted scenes offer a glimpse into the personal lives of the regular cruise staff whose screen time was limited in order to focus on the two teenagers. Director Yung Chang offers his demo reel. It includes a startling plea from several farmers to the outside world to recognize their oppression at the hands of an uncaring and corrupt government forcing them off their land. There is additional footage of the farmers demonstrating against police, the kind of video that is never seen inside China and rarely leaked to foreigners.

The DVD can be forgiven for omitting a director’s commentary, given that documentary DVDs are lucky to see any bonus features, and the ones included here nicely complement the feature film. Overall, this is a fine package. (Mongrel Media)

Original review and more film reviews by Allan Tong appear at www.exclaim.ca

THE GODFATHER 1902-1959: The Complete Epic [Holy Grail VHS/film]

BACK STORY
My favourite film is Godfather I and II. I consider the 1972 and 1974 movies to be a complete narrative that chronicles the rise and fall of one set of characters, their story unified by the same cast and filmmakers, and told in the same style. (Godfather III, alas, is another discussion.) I'm not the only one who feels that way. From November 12-15, 1977, NBC-TV aired Mario Puzo's The Godfather: The Complete Novel for Television. This quasi-miniseries re-edited the films' events in chronological sequence, fading in on young Vito Corleone escaping Sicily (which opens G2), proceeding to De Niro as the young Don (G2), moving to the Brando footage (G1), and closing with Pacino as the new Don (G2). A full hour of outtakes was spliced into the omnibus which now ran seven hours and 14 minutes (nine hours with commercials). NBC's $10 million gamble ($36 million in the U.S. today) worked: nearly 100 millions viewers tuned into the omnibus each night, attracting a larger audience than the network TV premieres of either Godfather film. On the first night in and around New York, 6.9 million viewers tuned in and killed night life in the city that never sleeps. These were the days when network TV ruled: no DVDs, downloads or PVRs. Fast-foward to fall 1990. As home video sales peak across the United States and to cash in on the imminent release of Godfather III, Paramount releases the two Godfathers chronologically cut with some outtakes in a leather box with a book. No, it isn't the 1977 omnibus and at 386 minutes is slightly shorter, but the idea is the same. Seven years later, Paramount would add G3 to this edit and call it The Godfather Trilogy. Today, both box sets are long out of print, and unavailable in digital form. Remember: videotapes have a limited lifespan. They are plastic ribbons that stretch and crack over time. They age under heat, humidity and cold.

With the current release of The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration many fans were disappointed with not seeing The Godfather Epic included among the set's five DVDs. True, the picture is better than ever, and a disc of new extras is included (my September 21 review), but ultimately the set is a double-dip. What fans like myself were expecting was a deluxe package like last December's Blade Runner: Five-Disc Ultimate Collector's Edition which gathered five versions of the film, from an archival print to the director's definitive cut. Why not add the Epic cut? Perhaps a chronological cut is in the works for the future. Perhaps not. Regardless, fans like myself will have to settle for watching their fading videotapes or transfer them to DVD-R to stop the aging process.

REVIEW
Because these are 1990 videotapes, the picture has been reduced to 4:3 pan-and-scan. Letterbox pictures were rare in those days and the typical home video customer preferred an image that filled their entire screen. With TVs bigger, wider and sharper these days, the imperfections of the Epic are obvious. Compared to the DVD, the VHS tapes are "soft" and lack definition in some shots. Moreover, the picture suffers from recurring drop-outs, sure signs of videotape aging. The sound is mono with no channel separation.
That said, The Epic remains a pleasure to watch, because we can track the development of Vito Corleone from boy to gangster who hands the reins of power to his son, who in turn rises and falls in power.


AVAILABILITY
Long out-of-print, the box set is available second-hand for as low as US$30. However, as explained above, watch out for the quality of the VHS tapes which will show their age and could damage your VCR. The value lives in the footage found on those tapes which should be transferred to DVD-R as soon as possible. Aside from that, the booklet and the box itself are a pleasure to have for only die-hard Godfather freaks.


WHY A HOLY GRAIL?
Why trouble yourself to track down this set of old videotapes? Because it represents an alternate version cut by the filmmaker of one of the greatest films of all time. It's like seeking an alternate version of Sgt. Pepper or a rough sketch of the Mona Lisa.

NEW FOOTAGE

Other sites, such as the fan-based The Godfather Trilogy have done a superb job in notating the differences between the Epic and the conventional edits, so what I will here is supply video captures of the outtakes that were included in Epic. Some of these scenes are found in the outtakes of the 2001 and 2008 DVD sets, but not all. (Again, thanks to the Trilogy website for their research.)

After Paolo gets shot, two of Don Ciccio's thugs arrive at young Vito's home looking for him.
Vito's mother insists she'll take him herself...

Before Vito gets fired from Abbandando Grosseria, Vito [De Niro] is delivering groceries.
He sees three punks on 9th Street attacking Fanucci, and slice his throat.

After the new carpet is stolen, young Vito [De Niro], Clemenza [Bruno Kirby] and Tessio meet up with a gunsmith, Augustino Coppola, and his young son, Carmine Coppola. This is where Clemenza sells his guns.

Michael [Pacino] and Kay [Keaton] pretend to be in New Hampshire to get away, even though they're in New York. The scene is the two of them in a hotel bed, getting a wake-up call at 3pm. They're supposed to go to the Corleone residence, but Michael doesn't want to go yet. He calls the mansion (Orchard-9-9539) and Kay pretends to be the long distance operator. Michael tells Tom that they're "stuck in New Hampshire." This scene occurs before Fredo gets the car for the Don.

After Apollonia gets killed in the explosion, there's a short scene of Michael, in shock and in bed, muttering to Tommasino & Apollonia's mother: "Apollonia..?" / T:"Dead" / "Fabrizio..? Get me Fabrizio..."

After Michael's meeting with Sen. Geary, we see Fabrizio, leaving his pizzeria in Buffalo, NY,
and getting firebombed in his car. He stumbles out of the car, before he dies.

CITIZEN KANE JUNIOR BLUES by Neil Young [Holy Grail CD, 1974]

Recorded live at The Bottom Line, New York City, May 16, 1974
All-acoustic performance by Neil Young (complete set):

1 Pushed It Over The Edge (Neil calls it "Citizen Kane Junior Blues")
2 Long May You Run
3 Greensleeves
4 Ambulance Blues
5 Helpless
6 Revolution Blues
7 On The Beach
8 Roll Another Number For The Road
9 Motion Pictures
10 Pardon My Heart
11 Dance, Dance, Dance

bonus tracks:
12 For The Turnstiles (location unknown, 1973)
13 Flying On The Ground Is Wrong (Carnegie Hall, 1974-12-05)

BACKGROUND

Legend has it that Neil Young was at The Bottom Line to see Ry Cooder, and was so inspired by his gig that Neil followed with an off-the-cuff one-hour acoustic guest. Perhaps Neil had planned to play all along. Remember that Neil didn't tour as a solo act during 1974, though he did a brief and troubled tour with his on-again, off-again bandmates in CSNY. So what we have here is a rare acoustic performance of three of his songs from the as-yet-unreleased On The Beach album (i.e. Ambulance Blues, Revolution Blues, On The Beach). Though Neil engages in light-hearted banter between songs, including a recipe for "honey slides," Neil is performing in the middle of what critics describe his "depressed" period, following the drug deaths of his guitarist and roadie which inspired his dark masterpiece Tonight's The Night. On top of that Neil's marriage to actress Carrie Snodgrass was on the rocks. Near the end of his set Neil apologizes to the audience: "It's been nice playing for you, even if my songs are sad."


REVIEW

Neil Young has performed thousands of concerts in his prolific career with various bands or solo, but none was as intimate or immediate as The Bottom Line show of 1974. Listening to the audience recording today (which is crisp and clear), you feel like you are witnessing a musician pouring out the angst in his heart and that of his generation.

By that I mean the disillusion of the "hippie dream" that Neil sings about in Roll Another Number; the angry Revolution Blues which sounds like something Charles Manson could've written; the declaration found in Ambulance Blues ("you're all just pissing in the wind"); and the tone of sad resignation that grips On The Beach and Motion Pictures. In one of his few serious asides to the audience, Neil recalls a concert when a black cop beat up a white audience member who was shouting for Neil to play the anti-redneck anthem, Southern Man.

However, this concert is far from despairing. From start to finish there is a relaxed atmosphere. Neil is chatty and warm. He takes requests from the audience, never raises his voice, and takes his time. In return, the audience chuckles at his marijuana recipe and the reference to The Beach Boys rolling down the highway in Long May You Run (an ode to Neil's old hearse). Neil even breaks into a rendition of Greensleeves.

The two bonus tracks on the bootleg CD, hail from other shows of that era and nicely complement the Bottom Line's air of melancholy: For the Turnstiles and Flying On The Ground Is Wrong.


WHY A HOLY GRAIL?

As mentioned, this is the only solo acoustic performance of Neil's On The Beach album, released during his darkly brilliant anti-commercial "Ditch Period" of the mid-70s. The songs are tough and biting that Neil performs with total conviction. Not all is bleak. Roll Another Number and Long May You Run provide lighten the atmosphere. However, Neil performs with such uncommon intimacy that you feel like you are sitting in front of his spotlit body in the Bottom Line. By turns warm and dark, caustic and funny, Citizen Kane Junior Blues will forever stand as one of the great acoustic rock performances by anybody.


AVAILABILITY

Never released officially, none of the tracks here. The entire show should be. Before the age of downloading when CDs ruled the land, Citizen Kane Junior Blues was the most sought-after bootleg CD by Neil Young freaks (aka Rusties). Nowadays, CKJB commonly circulates in digital and among private traders. (As a policy, I don't divulge which sites.)

BALLAD IN BLUE (1964) [Holy Grail film, 1964/5 starring Ray Charles]

(aka Blues For Lovers) 1964 / Black & White / 95 min.
Directed by Paul Henreid / Story by Henreid / Written by Burton Wohl
Starring: Ray Charles (as himself) / Tom Bell (Steve Collins) / Mary Peach (Peggy Harrison) / Piers Bishop (David) Produced by Herman Blaser Executive Producers: Alexander Salkind & Michael Salkind (as Miguel Salkind)
Original Music by Ray Charles
Cinematography by Robert Huke (as Bob Huke)

SYNOPSIS:

While performing in Swinging Sixties London with his band, Ray Charles befriends fan and blind English boy, David. Feeling a kinship, Ray arranges for David to see a top eye specialist in Paris and invites his father (Tom Bell) to be his arranger on his European tour which includes a stop in Paris. Ray performs: Let the Good Times Roll, Lucky Old Sun, Talking About You, Cry, What'd I Say, Unchain My Heart, Hit the Road Jack, I Got a Woman, Careless Love and Light Out of Darkness.


REVIEW

Ballad In Blue is a formulaic sixties “pop” movie where the drama serves as an excuse for the musical showcases. Ray, his band and his singers The Raelettes are in top form performing such hits as Let the Good Times Roll and Unchain My Heart, which Bob Huke superbly photographs in black-and-white. Easily, the music is the main attraction here.



Though by no means an actor, Ray's presence is enough to forgive the film's overall corniness and plot contrivances. Take for instance, Ray teaching a classroom of English kids Hit The Road Jack. Sure it's cute, but it's charming because of Ray.

The story and characters are hokey. Shots of the boy's face superimposed over Ray's performances are so sugary that they induce a diabetic attack in the viewer. (Okay, we get the point already.)

The cast surrounding Ray is mediocre, though to be fair they're not working with great material. Their characters remain two-dimensional throughout. David's father, especially, is rarely sympathetic as a struggling musician trying to keep his family together. Why would Ray help him?


WHY A HOLY GRAIL?

For the performances, clips of which have been reproduced in documentaries about Ray.

For the rarity of seeing Ray act. Aside from guest appearances on Saturday Night Live, The Muppets, the eighties TV series, St. Elsewhere, and a cameo in 1980's Blues Brothers, this is the only substantial acting performance by Ray Charles.


AVAILABILITY:

To the best of my knowledge, Ballad In Blue has never been available on legitimate DVD, not even after the death of Ray in 2004. A search of the internet may yield one or two unofficial outlets selling it, but these are likely sourced from the long out-of-print VHS. The quality of that tape is surprisingly crisp, both in video and mono sound, in 4:3 aspect ratio. Quantities of this VHS are rare. In the mid-90s Bravo aired Ballad In Blue a few times on North American TV, while copies of the VHS were found primarily in specialty video rental shops.

I don't know who owns the rights to this film, though I'm confident that there is a market for this film, given the popularity of Ray Charles and the number of posthumous CD and DVD releases. I mean, if a slew of Elvis' lousy Hollywood movies are available on the open market why not one of Brother Ray's?


TRIVIA:

Executive producers, the Salkinds, would go on to produce the Superman films.

Director Paul Henreid played Laszlo in Casablanca.

As the film was released around the world, Ray would be busted for heroin possession and go through detox. At the height of his popularity, Ray was one of a handful of musicians who truly owned and controlled his music.

Exile on Main Street: A Season in Hell with the Rolling Stones (book review)

Trickling into remainder bins is this 2006 memoir about the decadence that surrounded the making of what is considered the greatest album recorded by The Rolling Stones, Exile On Main Street. Noted rock historian (including an acclaimed account of the 1972 Stones tour) Robert Greenfield, had recently interviewed some of the players who inhabited Keith Richards' Villa Nellcote in the summer and fall of 1971 and relied on his own recollections.

The result is a memoir full of juicy gossip, chronicling who slept with whom, who took which drugs, and who betrayed whom as friends and hangers-on vied for the ear of the lord of the manor, Keef. Only a deeper level, this book explains the fallout of the sixties where idealism hit a brick wall and hedonism overdosed too many people, starting with original lead guitarist Brian Jones then to country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons who influenced the brilliant country songs of Exile. Greenfield has done his homework and even identifies the Eurotrash dealer who supplied the heroin to Jim Morrison that killed him (yes it's true, folks) and briefly penetrated the Stones' inner circle.

A straight-shooter who's unafraid to criticize (witness Spanish Tony) Greenfield has his biases, but at least he lays them bare. He admires Keith and demonizes Mick. Keith is the real deal, needle marks and all. A true outlaw and an honest, loyal person. That jives with descriptions I've read elsewhere, though Greenfield is a little too forgiving of Keith's self-destructive drug habits which do not serve his music.

Another caveat is that there's not much ink devoted to the making of the 18 songs that comprise Exile On Main Street. Instead, Greenfield investigates the politics that drive the Court of Keith, and reveals many of its personalities: Keith's old lady, Anita Pallenberg is seductive, commanding yet impulsive, Mick Taylor is a talented guitarist but also scapegoat who gets screwed out of songwriting royalties; Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts are reliable sidemen but not party animals, and of course Mick is the master manipulator, a typically self-serving one.

Greenfield also sheds light on the finances of the Stones which were dire in 1971. They were battling their ex-manager, Allen Klein, in court and had little cash. Meanwhile UK taxes were taking 90% bites out of their wallets. Mick & Co. had to flee Blighty, cut a record and tour behind it so they could maintain their extravagant lifestyles.

Everything would've worked smoothly had Keith not returned to the needle right before recording sessions began. And therein lies Greenfield's story , ladies and gentlemen.