THE INHERITANCE

I’ll be the first to admit that I sometimes feel intimidated to write about certain specific movies that I consider to be great. These occurrences are few and far between (as they should be), but sometimes a film is so good there’s almost nothing to say outside of recommending it to as many people as possible. You can only gush about a movie so much until it starts to sound cringey. In this current age of Letterboxd/film twitter movie comedians, it’s sometimes difficult to tell if someone genuinely loves a movie or if they’re just being hyperbolic to try and get laughs & attention. If a movie is truly great I don’t think there should be any memefication involved. Ephraim Asili’s The Inheritance is one of those movies. For the last 4-1/2 I’ve been singing it’s praises on podcasts and all forms of social media, but I haven’t put down any substantial words (this movie was at the top of my best of 2020 list a few years ago). The story of The Inheritance may sound like it was made for a very niche audience within a subgenre of people, but I honestly believe it can be “appreciated” by anyone. The basic story of a group of pan-Africanists in west Philadelphia that set out to make their own isolated collective/community away from the rest of the world sounds very niche and specific. But this movie tackles/touches on/circles around issues like white supremacy, separatism, gun ownership/gun control, the creation of art, activism, the deconstruction of traditional education, and more (a big part of this film’s identity is connected to the Move bombing that took place in Philadelphia four decades ago). Everyone from disingenuous Fox News-watching “conservatives” to pretentious surface-level twitter liberals that would call the police on the same Black folks they claim to care about can find something important to hold on to in The Inheritance (anyone notice how a lot of today’s so-called MAGA folks and certain sectors of modern-day pro Black folks have a lot more in common than they care to admit?)

Strangely enough, the one audience that might take issue with this movie is the growing cult of Foundational Black Americans that believe in delineation between Black Americans and Africans & Caribbean (I don’t want to get too much in to FBAs but if you’ve ever wanted to go down a very strange internet rabbit hole – look in to them). This movie is truly pan-Africanist and doesn’t promote delineation between Black people. 

If you’re just a film enthusiast then you might appreciate all the homages and visual callbacks to folks Ousmane Sembene & Jean Luc Godard...

Stylistically, the film is deeply influenced by Jean-Luc Godard’s La Chinoise (1967). When I first got around to watching the film in grad school, I was floored - Ephraim Asili, Artforum

La Chinoise / The Inheritance

La Chinoise / The Inheritance

I first encountered Sembène in film school and was struck by his powerful critique of Senegalese society - Ephraim Asili, criterion

Black Girl /
The Inheritance

Asili also namedrops Dreyer & Bresson as sources of inspiration but those are more spiritual rather than visual…

One Big influence was Robert Bresson, who was influenced by the minimal set design of Carl Theodore Dreyer films. I would ask myself ‘what connotes a kitchen, or a living room' and leave the design there – Ephraim Asili, Bomb Magazine

Ordet /
Pickpocket /
The Inheritance

Ivan Dixon's The Spook Who Sat By The Door was another source on inspiration on Ephraim Asili (a Spook poster can be seen in the background of The Inheritance). 

 

 I’m using terms & phrases like “appreciate” or “find something to hold on to” rather than “enjoy” because I genuinely don’t think this was made to be “enjoyed” in the traditional sense. This isn’t a traditional movie. A big part of what makes The Inheritance so unique is that it’s almost uncategorizable. On one hand it’s very serious and sometimes traumatic. But other times the movie is incredibly lighthearted, sweet and funny. It also doesn’t really fit in to a specific category or genre. It’s a hybrid scripted narrative/documentary that plays with reality & fiction.


There’s a nice-sized audience of Black film enthusiasts that claim to want something “different” and/or “challenging” that isn’t some remix of Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Well – here it is (hopefully you'll see that this movie can also serve as a gateway to so many different lanes & avenues of cinephilia). The inheritance can be streamed on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Grasshopper films. It isn’t 1999. Folks can’t keep using the excuse that a movie didn’t come to their city or small town. Thanks to streaming (and even file/torrent sharing), independent/”art house” films are now easier than ever to see. Instead of complaining on twitter about how there are too many slave movies, you could do some very basic surface level exploration and find a world of Black cinema that might cater to your needs. 

ANNETTE

Much like the term; “Lynchian”, the word pretentious has been thrown around so much in film criticism that it means almost nothing now. I feel like a fraud using it to describe Annette but pretentious is the first thing that comes to mind. And what’s funny is I’m willing to bet there’s someone out there right now using “Lynchian” as a way to describe Leos Carax’s latest film in the most sincere way possible. 

Did Holy Motors go to Leos Carax’s head? I understand that Annette is supposed to be absurd, cynical & satirical. But putting all that aside for a moment - it’s like Carax’s latest feature is a combination of cutting room floor scenes from Holy Motors (that should’ve remained on the cutting room floor), mixed with ridiculous ideas that should’ve just stayed inside the director’s head (it’s nice to dream big but not everything needs to be a reality). And the biggest kicker is there’s no Denis Lavant (that sounds like a silly nitpicky criticism but I’ll get to why that’s important later). Annette isn’t all bad. But at the end of the day it’s a disappointment. This is the kind of movie letterboxd open mic stand-up comedian critics dream off. And that’s part of the problem. I know it wasn’t intentional but Annette comes off like a movie that was made for movie people on twitter & letterboxd who are more interested in memeifying actors, making quirky puns and getting off witty one-liners instead of expressing genuine thoughts & opinions. 

Think I’m wrong? Let’s look at what some of these bootleg Steven Wright imitators have to say about Annette (note the first borderline Lynchian label at the top)...

This is what I’m talking about. How many modern actors (outside of Al Pacino or Adam Sandler) are as memefied as Adam Driver is right now? How often do you scroll some platform on the internet and see that image of Adam Driver punching the wall in A Marriage Story? I think stuff like that hurts an actor’s legacy & legitimacy to some degree. Even on the smallest scale. I think a lot of that subconscious stuff is carried over in to Annette unfortunately (and it’s not Adam Driver’s fault either). This is just the current state of things.

I remember when Annette screened at Cannes a few months ago and all anyone had to talk/tweet about was a “tOtAlLy InSaNe” musical number that incorporated cunnilingus. Now that I’ve seen this so-called infamous scene I ask you all; “what was the big deal?” But again - this is what I’m talking about - Adam Driver? Cunnilingus? Musical? Let me get out my meme template!
It’s funny because Annette does address bullshit like this (people laughing at things that aren’t that funny or making a big deal out of nothing). That is one of the few good qualities about this movie. Unfortunately there just aren’t that many.


In addition to referencing and downright recreating shots from his previous films...

Holy Motors /
Annette

Holy Motors /
Annette

Holy Motors /
Annette

Bad Blood /
Annette

there’s lots of Pinocchio homages throughout…

Pinocchio / Annette

Pinocchio / Annette

Pinocchio / Annette

And I could be reaching but there also appears to be a reference to Carax's mentor/hero Jean Luc Godard...

Sympathy For The Devil /
Annette

and I know they aren't shot identically, the finale of Annette is very similar to Matthew Barney's Cremaster Cycle 1...

Cremaster 1 / Annette

I try to stray away from negative reviews on here but Leos Carax is a PINNLAND EMPIRE favorite and I’m not a fake fan. I feel like I owe one of my favorite filmmakers genuine criticism over fake praise.
Going back to the Holy Motors comment I made - Annette really does reevaluate/re-examine what Carax explored back in 2012. The absurdity & pointlessness of being a celebrity (and the weird fetishization that comes along with it), the craziness of show business, exploitation, anger, rage, etc. The seeds were planted almost a decade ago. Holy Motors has a few musical numbers and Annette has more. Holy Motors touches on the sometimes pointlessness of repetition, and Annette takes that even further with it's dialogue & musical numbers. Even the color palette of Annette (which highlights the color green) is like Holy Motors turned up even more.
I have no problem with Leos Carax exploring the same subject matter over & over. With the exception of Pola X, every one of his movies is essentially a continuation of the previous one. It speaks volumes that the only two feature films without Carax’s regular collaborator; Denis Lavant sticks out a bit (Pola X is at least very good tho). I think that’s another reason that Annette falls short. It’s not just because Lavant is absent from the film. It’s because Adam Driver is playing a role that Lavant usually plays so well and Driver is not a good “replacement”. Lavant is Carax’s onscreen persona/alter-ego. It’s clear to me that Adam Driver’s tortured artist character in Annette is supposed to be Carax on some level. I just don’t buy Adam Driver as Carax like I do Lavant.

I can see how my criticism feels a little unfair so I urge you all to watch this (on Amazon prime) to come to your own conclusion. I do respect the ambition to shoot for the moon. It just missed it’s mark as far as I’m concerned.

CLIFFORD

I'm quite fond of this daring, adventurous little picture, and it always makes me laugh when I'm flipping TV channels and there it is - Martin Short

My enjoyment of Clifford is genuine. It's considered a terrible movie by most people so it's easy to assume I'm being ironic when I preach my love for it. Anyone who knows me somewhat well or follows me on various forms of social media knows that I prop up and defend Clifford on a regular basis which might come off as silly or disingenuous. But let me be clear that there’s no ironic “it’s so bad it’s good“ bullshit fetishism over here (liking things ironically is destroying fandom & certain lanes of criticism because you can no longer tell if people genuinely like things anymore).
Clifford doesn’t get the respect I believe it deserves so I only feel it’s right to try and even the playing field by being somewhat overly protective of it...

What we have here is a suitable case for deep cinematic analysis. I'd love to hear a symposium of veteran producers, marketing guys and exhibitors discuss this film. It's not bad in any usual way. It's bad in a new way all its own. There is something extraterrestrial about it, as if it's based on the sense of humor of an alien race with a completely different relationship to the physical universe. The movie is so odd, it's almost worth seeing just because we'll never see anything like it again. I hope. - Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert (R.I.P.) wasn't completely wrong. He may not have realized it when he shared his thoughts on Clifford, but there’s an ultimate compliment embedded within his venomous review. He’s essentially saying there’s nothing like Clifford and I’m inclined to agree. That means something when a legendary critic/cinephile says that a film is pretty much unlike anything he‘s ever seen before (think about how many movies Roger Ebert had seen over the years). At the time of Clifford’s release these words didn’t help. Negative reviews have certainly helped a movie’s popularity but that wasn’t the case here. Clifford was a bomb. But almost three decades later you’re sitting in front of your laptop (or phone screen) reading the analysis that he was speaking of. 

It makes sense that Clifford left most folks scratching their heads since it was essentially birthed from the minds of the Second City comedy troupe. Their brand of humor doesn’t always connect with everyone. Martin Short wasn’t the only sketch comedy/Second City alum behind this misunderstood gem. Clifford director Paul Flaherty (brother of Joe Flaherty) wrote for SCTV, The Tracey Ullman show and has an extensive history of working with Canadian comedy legends like Short (The Martin Short Show, Jiminy Glick, etc) & Second City legend John Candy (Who’s Harry Crumb). These are the minds we’re dealing with when it comes to the humor in Clifford.

One thing that made SCTV so unique is that they never tried to really compete against stuff like Saturday Night LIve. If SNL was doing a skit impersonating a famous recognizable celebrity, SCTV would pay homage to someone like Ingmar Bergman instead...

Some Second City skits weren’t even funny. They were just sometimes brilliant & oddly unique. Like I already said - Second City's humor doesn’t always click with everyone. Martin & Orloff , Neighbors (1981) & Brain Candy are just a few examples of Second City-based movies that bombed or fell flat upon their initial releases.
Now...Second City certainly has a nice share of successful brands (the Christopher Guest movies, Schitt’s Creek, etc). I don’t want to downplay their impact on the comedy world. 

Unfortunately Clifford doesn’t get a place in the pantheon of successful sketch/improv comedy-based movies.

I’m cringing at the term I’m about to use but I am a fan of the style of comedy that some have labeled as “anti-comedy” or “alt-humor”. Stuff like Andy Kaufman, Tom Green, Tim & Eric, Eric Andre, etc. There are a million ways to define anti-comedy or alt-humor. If we tried to get to the root of the definition we’d never actually get to the movie of discussion so we’re not going to make this about that. But one common term/phrase that links/connects every possible definition of alt-humor is "deconstruction". Guys like Andy Kaufman, Tim Heidecker & Eric Andre are all about dissecting typical comedy tropes and exploring what really makes things funny. It's similar to abstract art or various forms of noise music or circuit bending. That’s essentially what Clifford is to me. It travels down the same lane as "traditional" movies & tv shows like Dennis The Menace or even Zazie Dans La Metro - the pairing of a wild untamed child (the comic relief) and the “straight man” (the co-star who usually catches the brunt of all the gags & mishaps).
The deconstruction aspect of Clifford is Martin Short (a grown man) playing the part of a little boy. In the film he's sent to stay with his uncle Martin (Charles Grodin) to give his parents a much-needed break.

There’s a lot to be explored about the relationships between uncles & nephews on film. It's a unique relationship in that Uncles & Aunts aren't exactly parents but they're still authority figures. They're just usually the "cooler" more lenient authority figures (in terms of traditionally functional family relationships). Clifford is definitely one of the more unique uncle/nephew stories in that they go from being awkward & unfamiliar with each other, to hating each other (which is an understatement if you've seen the movie), to eventually becoming friendly in the end.

Even if you haven’t read a review or watched a trailer for Clifford you still kind of know what to expect before going in. It’s an adult playing the part of a child. That's the (odd) selling point. So before you even start the movie you know you’re about to watch something absurd, overly silly, somewhat surreal & slightly detached from reality. It’s real easy (and cheap) to dunk on a movie with a 10% rotten tomatoes rating (like Clifford) when there are so many other “critically acclaimed” movies that deserve the same type of harsh criticism that Clifford got. Pop culture has given us everything from talking horses (Mr. Ed) to talking dogs (Family Guy) and we’ve accepted it. Is a grown man playing the part of a child (with the idea that the audience is “in the know”) that far removed from all the other odd-sounding storylines we’ve accepted on television and in film over the years? I certainly don’t think so. For 30+ years we’ve suspended disbelief and allowed ourselves to be entertained by a serial killer trapped inside of a child’s doll in the form of the Child’s Play franchise. I know those movies aren’t for everyone but they’ve been successful enough to spawn countless sequels. Child's Play is just as absurd & silly as Clifford when you really think about it.

Look at Saturday Night Live or The Kids In The Hall. We never questioned when adults like Mike Myers or Bruce Mcculloch played children. Clifford is no different. It’s essentially a long comedy sketch (Martin Short has an extensive background in sketch comedy as an alum of both SNL & Second City). I completely understand that the idea of a long-form sketch comedy movie isn’t for everyone but it’s worked before. Why didn’t it work for Clifford? 

Perhaps people’s problem with Clifford is the comedy and/or the overall execution. That’s understandable I guess. But at the same time, some of Martin Short's movements are a callback to folks like Buster Keaton, Groucho Marx and even Jean-Paul Bel Mondo...

The Cook / Clifford

A Day At The Races /
Clifford

Breathless / Clifford 

What’s also interesting about the execution of Clifford is that director Paul Flaherty took things a step further by making Clifford/Martin Short the actual villain of the story. The tone of the film would have you believe that Uncle Martin’s evil boss (played wonderfully by Daphne Coleman) is the bad guy but it’s really Clifford. The character of Clifford transitions from a lovable funny precocious child to an evil saboteur. Throughout the film Clifford frames his uncle for ped0philia, sabotages his work and almost gets him killed. That's funny to me. The humor here is dark and somewhat fucked up. But it’s legitimately funny! It may not be funny to everyone but I know lots of people who find the scenarios laid out in the movie to be funny.


Perhaps an understanding of silent films and old-timey humor could help one appreciate Clifford a little better. I see a lot of the wacky physical comedy & goofy facial expressions in Clifford as a callback to folks like the Three Stooges, Laurel & Hardy, and the Marx Brothers. Those guys are just as goofy and absurd as Martin Short.

I picked these specific moments from Clifford (below) to highlight my point. I intentionally made them gifs instead of videos without audio to hammer home the idea that these facial expressions come right out of an old silent movie. Everyone in Clifford acts "big". Almost like they're theater actors performing for the people in the back row instead of the folks in the front...

And Charles Grodin is no novice to these types of performances & facial expressions as he had the same energy in the Beethoven movies (which is interesting because the basic premise of Beethoven is very similar to Clifford)

Beethoven 

Clifford certainly has it’s share of jokes that are somewhat corny & cheap (there’s no denying that). Some stuff is downright cringe-inducing. But - going back to the deconstruction element for a moment - those particular jokes are SO corny and SO over the top that it feels like the movie is aware of that and is almost taking things a step further by poking fun at that style of wacky goofball comedy. I could be reading too much into things tho... 

Movies like this usually go on to find a cult audience... 

Poor box office, bad studio karma, critical excoriation...all the prerequisites for a cult hit. Which is indeed what Clifford has become - Martin Short

Now...with all due respect to Martin Short, I don't think he understands that a lot of people who claim to like Clifford do so ironically.

Today, anyone twenty-five year and under who approaches me in public only wants to talk about Clifford. Some of them tell me that when they and their friends get nostalgic for their early years of childhood, they get stoned and watch Clifford in their dorms - Martin Short

But who am I to tell Martin Short what he knows or doesn't know about his own movie? Perhaps I'm out of touch and unaware that there is a genuine cult of Clifford fans. It's just the idea of having to get stoned to watch it bugs me. Almost like you need to get high in order to laugh at/with it. I can attest that weed can make some things funnier, but Clifford is funny on it's own. It's twisted yet sweet sense of humor should be enough!.

Please understand the point of me writing this isn’t to change everyone's mind or to convert everyone in to liking this movie. I just think some people took the movie at face value and decided they were going to dislike the premise before actually watching it. We’re all guilty of doing that. But one of the many great things about film is that you can revisit something with a different frame of mind later in life. I urge some of you with an open mind to maybe take some of what I’ve said and go back and revisit Clifford. Or, for those of you that dismissed it from the jump and never gave it a chance in the first place - GIVE IT A CHANCE!

THE SCHOOL OF PERSONA PART SIX

Please enjoy part six of my ongoing look in to the visual & thematic similarities between the iconic film Persona and the various movies that traveled down the path that Bergman helped to create.

Persona / Always Shine

Persona / Portrait Of A Lady On Fire

Persona / The Favourite

Persona / First Name: Carmen

Persona /
Je Tu Il Elle

Persona /
Wild Things

Persona / The Face Of Another
(these movies were released the same year)

Persona / La Haine 

Persona / Camera

Persona / Back To The Future

Persona / The Neverending Story 

THE SCHOOL OF GODARD PART 5: MOVING IMAGERY

I admire Jean-Luc Godard and I think it's impossible for anyone making cinema to escape from his influence - Hal Hartley

We're continuing our look at Jean-Luc Godard's influence on modern cinema through some regular culprits (Harmony Korine, Hal Hartley & Leos Carax) as well as lesser-mentioned folks like Chantal Akerman, Seijun Suzuki and even the Farrelly Brothers...

Also make sure to check out the previous entries:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Yeah, it’ [The Girl From Monday]'s a conversation with Alphaville - Hal Hartley (Little White Lies)

Alphaville/The Girl From Monday

First Name: Carmen / Amateur

Pierrot Le Fou / 
Amateur

A Married Woman /
Amateur

Godard taught me a sense of freedom - Martin Scorsese (Interveiw Magazine)

Two Or Three Things I know About Her/Taxi Driver

Made In The USA/
Taxi Driver

A Married Woman / Who's That Knocking At My Door

Godard is one of my favourite film-makers. When I was young, I was obsessed by his films, and he’s still a favourite. I probably didn’t understand half of what he wanted to say, but what I did understand touched me, and when I see his films I see the whole, like what you hear when you’re listening to an orchestra - Harmony Korine (Vogue)

Band Of Outsider/
Gummo

I got a letter from Godard. It was hard to read, it was two lines and had coffee stains, something about passing the baton - Harmony Korine (Index Magazine)

Vivre Sa Vie / Julien Donkey Boy

I think the only people who really experienced film are people like Jean-Luc Godard, you know? He really experienced the texture - Claire Denis (Filmmaker Magazine)

Vivre Sa Vie / Trouble Every Day

In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to - Jim Jarmusch (Movie Maker Magazine)

Pierrot Le Fou / Mystery Train

I saw Godard’s film, Pierrot Le Fou, and I had the feeling it was art, and that you could express yourself. It was in 1965, and you felt that the times were changing. He was really representing that, and freedom and poetry and another type of love and everything - Chantal Akerman

First Name: Carmen/Family Business

L'Amore/
Les Rendezvous D'Anna

Passion/Holy Motors

Breathless/Schizopolis

Band Of Outsiders/
Tokyo Drifter

First Name: Carmen/
Kingpin

Vivre Sa Vie/Faces

First Name: Carmen/Punch Drunk Love

A Married Woman / THX 1138

A Married Woman / The Perfect Human

A Marrried Woman / Life Of The Marionettes