An Interview with Kevin Shirka - Fellow Indiana Jones superfan

The Indiana Jones fanbase may not be as huge as Star Wars fandom but they are legion. Summer of 2023 saw the last "Indiana Jones" movie to be released, at least with Harrison Ford. It may have divided fans but the fans steadfastly remain fans. Call it loyalty, call it pure love for a 40-year-old franchise. It was a real pleasure to talk about Indy lore with a fellow Indiana Jones superfan who is quite loyal to this franchise and started a Youtube channel discussing all matters related to Indy. I bring you, Kevin Shirka.

AN INTERVIEW WITH 

By Jerry Saravia

All pictures used with permission by Kevin Shirka

1.) So Mr. Shirka, when did you first become an Indiana Jones fan? I can always assume Raiders of the Lost Ark is where every fan starts but some have begun with Crystal Skull.

"Like so many of us it began with a seminal bonding moment. My parents rented the VHS tapes when my sister and I were very young and we watched them together. We had a great time watching them and my dad's constant rewinding to rewatch Belloq's drunk laugh became a legendary memory. That was in the early to mid 90s.

Then somewhere around 1999 I was home from school on a sick day and caught Last Crusade on TV. I had forgotten what a terrific movie it was! In the years leading up to that I had become a massive James Bond and Star Wars fan, and Indy had the best of both! I started renting the films over and over, and bought up all the comic books I could find on Ebay. I would scour the various Indiana Jones fan websites and joined communities like The Raven forum on TheRaider.net."

2.) What do you find appealing about Indiana Jones overall?

"First and foremost, they are just terrific movies in every way! Spielberg is a truly magical filmmaker and he put a lot of care into the crafting of these films. The music by John Williams is spectacular and you can't help but get excited whenever you hear it. Harrison Ford's portrayal is perfect! The swagger and the grumpiness were perfectly suited for the character. And supporting characters like Sean Connery contributed some phenomenal work as well. Plus you have the creativity of George Lucas. Like I said, it was the best of Star Wars and the best of James Bond

A little more specifically, it's that spirit of adventure, danger, discovery, justice, plus a touch of the mysterious and supernatural without ever going too far. It had villains who were easy to hate but, thanks to the humor of the films, they never became too frightening. There's a theme of world-traveling and open-mindedness toward other cultures. There's a touch of religious unity because various beliefs are represented and all of them are represented as true. It's about preserving history and it makes that feel really important."

3.) Who is your favorite leading lady from the films?

"All of them were terrific in their own way, but I'd be remiss to not say Karen Allen. Marion is the perfect balance of feminine and tough resiliency. She has a fun energy about her but has also been damaged. And her relationship journey with Indy is impactful and resonant. When I first saw the film and you think she died in the explosion in Cairo...it hit me hard, but Indy finds her alive and it's a huge relief as all that energy pours back into the film. And Karen Allen's portrayal of her is just wonderful! You can't help but love her! I was glad to see her return in subsequent works but neither of them really reached the potential of reprising that role.

I feel like I should also mention Alison Doody as Elsa Schneider. She's a complex, gray area character that was perfectly suited for an Indiana Jones movie." 

4.) Lend me your thoughts on the Young Indiana Jones TV series - do you think the educational approach worked overall since they are not on the same level as escapism and thrills and chills as the movies?

"I love the series! It's such a fascinating concept that each episode makes up a step of his journey from child to the man we know in the films as we jump from one month to the next. And interacting with historical figures and events is very interesting, allowing viewers to relate to a time period that doesn't often come up in popular culture. Every episode is unique. You have Curse of the Jackal and Treasure of the Peacock's Eye which are like Indiana Jones movies, you have comedic episodes like Barcelona 1917, horror episodes like where Indy fights Dracula - there's the great episode where Indy and his dad bond in Greece, and I could go on and on.

But the educational aspects taking precedent over the thrilling style of the movies is in hindsight an obvious error. The lack of John Williams' Raiders March and of Harrison Ford in all but one episode hurt the show's chances as well. I think there was a lot of excitement for the show but it wasn't quite what people wanted out of an Indiana Jones work and the series was cancelled before it was able to get to the good stuff. There were unmade episodes where Indy was going to meet Abner Ravenwood and Rene Belloq for the first time, and who knows what else if it had gotten to 4 or 5 seasons. Such a shame because it was a pretty great show and was building toward connecting with the Harrison Ford movies. But, as it is, you reach the end of Hollywood Follies and Young Indy's journey abruptly ends, leaving a huge gap where we don't get to see him become an archeologist."

5.) When did you start the Indiana Jones Nerd youtube page? Have you developed a fanbase based on your youtube channel?

"I launched it in 2021, just as the first casting announcements were made for Indiana Jones 5, which included Mads Mikkelsen and Phoebe Waller-Bridge. I had seen Star Wars Youtube channels rise to prominence around 2015 and felt like I really missed the boat because I would have loved doing something like that. When I looked around, there really wasn't anyone doing a big Indiana Jones YouTube channel and I felt like I would be the perfect person to be that guy. It was such an exciting time following the production of the new film, it was like a dream come true seeing it come together and it felt like anything was possible. I had really high expectations for the film and I did enjoy many aspects of it like the WW2 sequences, but there was definitely something I wish had been different like the killing off of Mutt and making Indy a lonely depressed person, I thought those filmmaking choices were in poor taste. The film would have been much better if it was directed by Steven Spielberg, but it is what it is.

I posted updates on the production of the film practically every day in 2021 and also gained a ton of subscribers from my fan edits of the Young Indiana Jones movies. I have done a ton of different types of videos like a documentary on the making of Indiana Jones 5, video game gameplays, interviews, motion comics, all kinds of things. It's been a lot of fun! I tend to drift in and out in terms of consistency but recently I have been posting short informative videos almost every day and people love it! Currently I am at 40-thousand subscribers and climbing. Sometimes I meet people at events and they thank me for keeping them up to speed with all the Indy news. I invests thousands and thousands of hours into the channel and usually don't really make any money from it - sometimes just a dollar or 2 per day. I can't stop myself because I love talking about Indiana Jones, providing whatever content I can for my fellow fans, and hopefully do whatever I can to promote the brand and hope for Disney to realize that there is a market for new content."

6.) The Abner Ravenwood series was cancelled before it even became developed. Do you think the era of Indiana Jones is over or is there a chance that a spin-off could come to fruition?

"This is a great question. We certainly are at a crossroads with the franchise right now. Harrison Ford is adamant that he won't play Indy again, but it's a great brand and I'm sure Disney would be happy to continue it in some way. I'm certain we have not seen the end of this franchise, but the how and when are hard to say. The extremely obvious thing to do is to make an animated show, it's shocking that they have not done this already. It would do so much for the brand to generate interest among kids, I mean, can you imagine if they had made such a show 5-10 years ago? A whole generation of kids would have rushed to the theater to see DIal of Destiny. If they decide to one day do a cartoon, it should be in a hand-drawn art style. There's a great fan cartoon by Patrick Schoenmaker from 2016 that looks perfect. Paul Dini of Batman the animated series also mentioned many years ago that he would love to do an Indy cartoon. Can you imagine in that art style? It would be so good!

And beyond that, there are still a lot of stories that could be told in live action. Why not do a Short Round spinoff while Ke Huy Quan is at the height of his popularity? The opportunities are there to do something great. It would be great to see other characters get their own spin-offs but I doubt it will happen because Indiana Jones is the character people want to see. I personally would love to see Indy be recast at some point. I know that's sacrilege for some people because Harrison Ford is unreplaceable, but the character of Indy is just too good to lock away forever.

Obviously we are about to get the new video game Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, plus a new amusement park ride in Florida. These are a great start, and I don't believe it could be the end. It seems to me like Dial of Destiny was the beginning of brand revival, at least I hope so because I love this franchise. I think Great Circle is going to be an amazing game (it's from Machine Games who made the highly celebrated Wolfenstein games) and I hope it will be popular enough to lead to more Indiana Jones video games."

7.) I know that you attended the L.A. premiere of "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" and met John Rhys Davies. Tell me about that exchange, and any other Indy cast members you either met briefly or other Indy fans?

"What an amazing day that was! I've never been to a red carpet event and am eternally grateful to have been part of that. First of all, it was such a pleasure to meet the Indiana Jones fans from around the world that I had been interacting with online since 2021; like Marco Vendramini of Italy, Alex Arnold of Florida, and the guys from Indy Cast. It just felt right having all of these Indiana Jones fans together and felt more like a beginning than an end. This is part of why I launched Indiana Jones International this year, which is a supergroup uniting the various regional fan grounds and content creators. We hope to organize international events such as an Indiana Jones Celebration which will bring everyone together again. But also we want use this fandom to show Disney and Lucasfilm that there is a market for more Indiana Jones content. Why have we not had an Indiana Jones comic book in 15 years? I don't think it's so much to ask that we get an new Indy adventure in some format every year. Thankfully we also have California Jones and the Fortune and Glory Tour in San Francisco organized by Eugene Shin. I have made some great friendships with people at those events and always have a fun time hanging out with them.

Back to the Red Carpet now. I was invited in part because of my YouTube channel but also because I could cosplay as Sallah. I always associated with him because he's Middle-Eastern like me and is full of heart! John Rhys-Davies was the first person on the Red Carpet and my friend Bryan Rohrenbacher pointed me out to him to make sure he knew about the Sallah cosplayer. John came right over and shook my hand while we had a memorable exchange. He's such a charming and delightful man! He was one of the only people to leave the red carpet to greet fans across the street including my dad. I have seen him meet with so many fans at conventions and he is always energetic and charming. 

I also got a selfie with Harrison Ford, and every moment from that red carpet felt like a dream but especially this one. I called out to him to pose for a selfie and he looked right at me and warmly smiled while I took the photo. I can't express how grateful I am that he did that. The photo is a treasure to me. He famously likes his privacy but he is happy to see his genuine fans. It means so much to me that I got to share my excitement with him in that moment. Another great photo I was in had Academy-Award winner Ke Huy Quan standing right in front of me, another very charming and lovable fellow. That photo was taken by a professional photographer and Ke posted it to his Instagram! I grabbed a quick picture with Karen Allen, but wanted to give more time to the young ladies next to me to interact with her because they were very excited. I also got to meet and take pictures with the entire cast of Dial; Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Thomas Kretschmann, Oliver Richters. Amazing interacting with Alaa Safi and Ethann Isidore, who recognized me from my youtube channel. I met James Mangold, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and many others. Steven Spielberg and George Lucas also passed by but it was tough to get their attention, they didn't interact with the fans too much, but it was amazing that I got to see from from just a few feet away. And when John Williams appeared on stage for a surprise concert it was such a treat! Another person I had the pleasure of meeting a month earlier was sound designer Ben Burtt. A bunch of us were dressed as Indy at a cafe in San Anselmo and people kept stopping by the talk to us. This nice man started a conversation with me and my friend and after a moment I recognized him from the various documentaries I had seen over the years. That was a really great moment realizing I was talking to the legend behind some of cinema's greatest sound effects." 

8.) What is your favorite Indy flick and your least favorite?

"Raiders is my favorite film. It's perfect. The intro is just perfect, every scene is perfect. The truck chase, the ending, every step along that way is just captivating as you have the best people and ideas from Star Wars, James Bond, and Spielberg and his people joining forces to make a timeless movie that never gets old. Last Crusade was originally my favorite but has slipped to third for me lately, though it's a brilliant movie and every time I watch it, I can feel that it's the best. All 3 of the originals are 10 out of 10 films for me. Temple of Doom also has that classic adventure feel that Last Crusade is lacking in some ways. I love the opening in Shanghai and looming mystery and the entire last 40 minutes or so is just sheer Indiana Jones goodness!

As for least favorite, it's really hard to say. I go back and forth. On the one hand you have Crystal Skull which has a great first half and overall a better Indiana Jones tone, but there are a lot of little things that feel silly, like the CGI chase with all the monkeys and the whole 'triple agent' thing with Mac that didn't work at all. Then you have Dial of Destiny where we get to see Indy during WW2 and some fun moments like the Tuk Tuk Chase and traveling to ancient Syracuse, but the tone of the film doesn't do it for me. Not all heroes need to be given a depressing later life to make then interesting in a sequel, and honestly it comes off as lazy writing. And like I said earlier, killing Mutt off was in poor taste. People want to go to these movies to have a great time, not to be miserable. So I suppose I like Crystal Skull a little bit more than Dial of Destiny, but I go back and forth on this issue."

9.) Finally, what other cinematic interests do you have? Any other franchises, or certain films that hold your attention that have nothing to do with genre?

"My other favorite movie besides Raiders of the Lost Ark is Vertigo. Coincidentally my hotel for last week's media event for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was right next door to a few filming locations from Vertigo. I love Hitchcock films and have watched many of them with my dad. I also love James Bond, Star Wars, Alien, Lord of the Rings, Jurassic Park. So many, I love movies so much. Another particular genre of adventure I enjoy is Jules Verne movies, particularly the 1950s-1960s cycle of films based off his work."

Mid-life crisis parenting

 GOODRICH (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Goodrich" is clearly a labor of love that may please certain audiences and keep others away. Whenever Michael Keaton makes a non-superhero flick or something that is not a Beetlejuice sequel, audiences stay away. I am sure they may not be there for "Goodrich" which is a humorous drama but not something I would call a comedy - this is what people would call a dramedy. It is akin to mid-life crisis movies about older men who are no longer viable in today's world. This type of comedy-drama is nothing new of course, and it certainly brought audiences in when Tom Hanks did it as a grumpy old man in "A Man Called Otto." Only Keaton doesn't play a grumpy older man, simply a workaholic who has cast a blinding eye on his family.

Keaton is Andy Goodrich, an L.A. boutique gallery owner whose business is about to go kaput. The rent is too damn high and prospective clients showing their artwork are not coming out in full force. As if work wasn't stressful enough, Goodrich's wife is in a 90-day rehab due to prescription pill addiction (how apropos for our times, though one person does ask Andy if cocaine was the drug of choice). Andy is the only one unaware that his wife was popping pills because everyone else knows, including his older pregnant daughter, Grace, (Mila Kunis) and his younger 9-year-old daughter, Billie (Vivien Lyra Blair, a sprightly young tyke who played Leia in the "Obi-Wan Kenobi" series). There is no surprise there yet Goodrich wants to maintain the family unit, and have his wife back who wants to leave him. He doesn't understand what he did wrong or how he hasn't been there for Grace in the past due to supporting the gallery, travelling around the world, meeting artists, etc. He's never been home at night, and never around much during the day - the troubling absentee dad. Andy Goodrich has already been married once and now his second wife feels more secure in rehab than at home (she calls him from rehab after admitting herself without his help). The long-suffering wife is Naomie (Laura Benanti), who is sight unseen until almost the end and you wonder why she couldn't have been shown earlier. I understand she's at a rehab yet when Naomie appears, she is a 180 from the returned mailed letters and the distressed phone call that starts the film - I guess she recovered rather nicely. 

The curious thing about "Goodrich" is that it lets Andy off the hook too easily. Michael Keaton is not playing a dad who is arrogant or too selfish - just simply a man who spent his life working on his job, not his family. It is the most disarming Michael Keaton performance I've ever seen and he plays Goodrich as a nice guy who works too hard (his biggest flaw is repeatedly mixing up the names of his daughters). Mila Kunis shows her anger at him in some choice moments, yet she's also amazed that he's showing an interest in her life. Then we get one too many scenes of part-time actor Terry (Michael Urie), who makes a pass at Andy, and he has a son who is a classmate of Andy's twin kids (Andy's other child is his son, Mose, played by debuting actor Jacob Kopera). Terry feels like an extraneous character who frequently sobs like a little child - he just seemed like an annoyance.

"Goodrich" is a harmless, sufficiently likable treat of a movie with an emotional finish that is hard to resist. Keaton and Kunis work in such remarkable unison and are so believable as father and daughter that you wish the movie was just squarely about them. Kunis's incandescent smile at her father after he calls her his soulmate is marvelous. It is a better mid-life crisis/Michael Keaton movie than "Birdman."

Family history is a tree branch away

 CADDO LAKE (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

When a story springs up about crossing a time barrier or portal into another dimension, I get goosebumps because such stories usually lend themselves to all sorts of probabilities and paradoxes. What's intrinsically fascinating about "Caddo Lake" is that it doesn't begin as such a fantastical tale. You walk into this movie thinking it is a domestic drama about a semi-dysfunctional family unit and, well, yes dysfunctional to be sure but not in the way you'd expect.

The opening scenes are a bit startling and grow more unnerving after the film is over. Paris (Dylan O'Brien) survived a horrible accident where his mother drove off of a bridge leaving only him to survive - he couldn't unbuckle his dying mother in time or he would've drowned. Questions arise about Paris' mother and how she could have a seizure that made her lose control of the car - were the seizures hereditary or not? Paris works to clear the swampy Caddo Lake for the building of a dam yet, one day, he hears strange sounds and discovers a necklace that looks exactly like the one his mother wore. As he searches for those otherworldly sounds, something causes him to briefly lose his hearing and his hand starts shaking. And then there are some wolves prancing around where they shouldn't be. What is going on at this lake? 

Ellie (Eliza Scanlen) has a family living near Caddo Lake and she feels like an outsider, always keeping her emotions in check. Her family consists of a stepfather and a sweet, younger stepsister named Anna, and other members of the family she doesn't communicate with. Ellie's relationship with her own actual mom is fraught with tension, often lashing out at each other over trivial matters. When innocent little Anna goes missing, everyone is looking for her including Ellie. Ellie takes her boat through the swampy areas and finds her hand shaking when she passes through something unnatural and extraordinary in this lake. Let's just say that when water fills the lake and when it drains, time displacement or timeslips are just a few tree branches away.

To reveal more of "Caddo Lake" would be cheating because of its skillful surprising twists and turns. Yet, unlike some latter M. Night Shyamalan flicks (who produced this film), the twisty narrative is firmly dependent on family and its roots, roots that go as far back as the 1950's. Without the highly credible and persuasive performances of Dylan O'Brien and Eliza Scanlen, the film might not resonate the same way. It is seemingly a Southern drama about a rebellious girl who can't connect with her family and has strained relationships with her emotionally unbalanced mother and her caring, no-nonsense stepfather. It is through the mystery of that swampy lake and its transcendent magical powers that she learns what having a supportive family really means. Paris also goes through a similar path of discovery, trying to find the truth about his late mother's medical condition and almost trying to reconnect with his ex-girlfriend. Their parallel stories kept me riveted through the whole film, so much so that you wish this was a miniseries. Yes, sci-fi fans, this is that good. Major kudos to the writer-director team of Celine Held and Logan George - if M. Night Shyamalan doesn't step it up, these two will one-up him in record time.

Ellie and Paris never exactly cross paths yet the force within this Caddo Lake will link their past, present and future in unimaginable ways. "Caddo Lake" ends with a gripping emotional crescendo that will leave you drained. I already saw it twice.

Mildly amiable Kevin Smith-isms

 THE 4:30 MOVIE (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I am a big fan of Kevin Smith, a director chock full of pop culture references that he dwells with more depth than even pop-culture savvy Tarantino. But it is Smith's heart and soul that he injects into his New Jersey characters, either from the View Askewniverse or otherwise, that makes them real and unassuming. "The 4:30 Movie" is not at the top of his game and is too slight to really score but it is an amiable effort. I only wish the focus was more squarely on Kevin Smith's alter ego than some unnecessary characters that I did not get much mileage out of. 

It is New Jersey sometime in 1986 when movies like "Top Gun" ruled the box-office and when everyone has an interest in checking out "Poltergeist II" (eh, not me at that time since 1986 was one of the worst years for Hollywood movies but I digress). The Kevin Smith alter ego is Brian David (a most appealing Austin Zajur), a movie fanatic who keeps going to the same cinema house to see "Astro Blaster." The truth is he wants to go out with Melody (Siena Agudong), a girl he almost went to second base with over a year earlier. Brian David has his "Say Anything" moment where he calls her at a restaurant, pretending to order food when he just wants to ask her to see the R-rated "Bucklink" (most definitely modeled on "Fletch"). Yes, avid Smith fans, a date in a Kevin Smith never goes smoothly, does it? Somehow, in this movie, it sort of works out and so whatever hangups or rejection could exist is mysteriously absent. There is no real urgency. 

"The 4:30 Movie" is about Brian David and his two friends, the very horny Burny (Nicholas Cirillo) and Belly (Reed Northrup), a dweeb who loves to wrestle and is always excited at the prospect of it. Seeing these three kids going to the movies and thinking of sneaking into R-rated flicks is sort of fun for a while, yet it gets repetitious and a bit numbing. I wanted more scenes between Brian and Melody, thus Smith could easily have made a charming "Before Sunrise"-type flick of just these two and their misadventures. Instead we are saddled with an unlikable theater manager (Ken Jeong) who drives around in a Batmobile and we get a fictitious angry wrestler named Major Murder - these two characters are toothless at best. The faux trailers for movies that never existed is cute yet overextended. And Rachel Dratch as Brian's mother who calls the movie theater to berate her son for not bathing the cat also drags on past the tolerable meter.  

"The 4:30 Movie" could have had Smith aiming for the skies, really ramping up the shenanigans of the three close friends and the romantic entanglement between Brian and Melody (this couple is one of the most disarming and sweetest young couples I have seen in the movies in a while). Still, Smith stops short of going further than he could have with this autobiographical take. It is not a comic blast of a movie - just a cool, slight breeze nostalgic trip of a movie. 

Randal and Dante want to be here today

 CLERKS III (2022)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

I'll take the View Askewniverse over the Marvel/DC Universe any day of the week. When I infrequently see a superhero movie, I often tell myself, "I am not even supposed to be here today!" When I see a new flick by Kevin Smith about that little world between Red Bank and Leonardo, NJ, I often say, "I am so happy to revisit." I can't help but enjoy this newest "Clerks" sequel with its strong emotional chords, pop culture references galore, and the return of some of my favorite characters of the  last 30 years. Keep On Truckin' I say.

Sarcastic and hardly mellowed 50-year-old Randal (Jeff Anderson) and the somewhat straight arrow Dante (Brian O'Halloran) are still running the Quik Stop convenience store they bought at the end of "Clerks II." Some things have changed. Silent Bob and Jay (Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes) are now the proprietors of a weed store, sorry a marijuana dispensary (I've got to get with the current vernacular) replacing the kaput RST video store from way back. The two stoners still operate outside the store front like they are selling something illegal. Dante is grieving over the loss of Becky (Rosario Dawson) and their unborn little girl - they lost their lives to a drunk driver. Meanwhile, wait a doggone Snootchie Boochie moment, is this a comedy? Yes, it is and full of some dramatic moments that made me, dare I say, well up with tears. Not something I expected from a crass, vulgar and infantile movie series, or let's change it to a more sophisticated take on the crass, vulgar and infantile. 

I didn't even get to Randal's sudden heart attack or the return of the born-again Christian transforming himself into a born-again Satanist clerk Elias (a better-than-ever Trevor Fehrman) and his own Silent Bob-type sidekick Blockchain (Austin Zajur). Once Randall recovers after some more Star Wars references (can we start referencing some other franchises for once, Kevin?) and the inclusion of the "Mandalorian"/"Strangers With Candy" actress, Amy Sedaris as a surgeon, he has a eureka moment and decides to make a low-budget movie about his life! Of course, Dante has issues with his portrayal in the script and Jay, who has smoked probably a trillion Mary Janes since 1994, confuses Dante for someone named...Sergio? Randal feels he has seen enough movies to make a movie about life in a convenience store called "Inconvenience." Oh, this is super-meta of course and nothing makes me smile more than seeing the various auditions (Ben Affleck being one, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. as himself) or the fact that Jay will not dance in a scene until the whole crew disappears! Yep, that includes the camera operator. Oh, and how delighted I was to see the return of the foul-mouthed Veronica (Marilyn Ghigliotti) who can still yell at Dante like it is 1994 all over again. Or the terrifically spry Rosario Dawson as a Force Ghost of sorts, giving occasional advice to the still-mourning Dante.

"Clerks III" is less raunchy and more invested in its characters than ever before. Sure, some of it can be repetitive and off-the-wall silly but that goes without saying in a Kevin Smith movie. I laughed a lot, enjoyed the behind-the-scenes antics of making "Inconvenience," and delighted in seeing the return of the many colorful characters of this New Jersey town. More importantly, Smith still draws a steady balance between emotion and humor, evoking the mutual and unbreakable bond between Randal and Dante. It is that bond that makes "Clerks III" oddly moving and still tickles your funny bone.  

Search for a better tomorrow

 MEGALOPOLIS (2024)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

"Utopianism, some argue, is essential for the improvement of the human condition. But if used wrongly, it becomes dangerous. Utopia has an inherent contradictory nature here."

— Lyman Tower Sargent, Utopianism: A very short introduction (2010)

Entrancing, achingly beautiful, resplendent imagery and its narrative focus on the making of a better tomorrow, Francis Ford Coppola's "Megalopolis," a long-gestating labor of love, will no doubt divide or conquer viewers with its ambitions and intentions. I hope many will want to conquer it and wonder if its positive message of a utopia is remotely possible.

Set in the fictional city of New Rome (quite obviously based on New York), the first scene shows Adam Driver's pioneering architect at the top of the Chrysler Building as he somehow stops time, then restarts it. This is Coppola's fable so I would not take those scenes too literally. The architect, Cesar Catilina, has hopes of building and restructuring New Rome with his invention called Megalon, a bio-adaptive material that has the shape of some floral organic material and can also be used to rebuild one's facial structure! The frequently booed Mayor Cicero (Giancarlo Esposito) has greed in his veins - he just wants to build multiple casinos. Cesar wants a utopia, a better tomorrow where crime, homelessness and police brutality do not coexist. 

"Megalopolis" is Coppola's purported homage to "Metropolis" yet other than a shared crucial handshake moment, they could not be further apart in terms of tone and style. Coppola implements the same visual and editing strategies that he used in his bombastic 1992 version of "Dracula." We have montages galore, parallel actions often taking place at the same time through split-screen technology or superimpositions or both. This is to be expected because if you are making a film about ancient Roman epicurean delights, the visuals should not be any less epicurean. Flowers or flowery shapes are frequent symbols not to mention clocks and the ticking sound in the soundtrack. Speaking of clocks, there is one amazing sequence that might have delighted Salvador Dali where Cesar and Julia, Cicero's daughter, are walking across a giant clock, though whether it is near the Chrysler building or not is hard to say. As I mentioned earlier, none of this should be taken literally especially when Cesar sits on top of a series of scaffolds hundreds of feet up in the air. No barricades or safety protocols are needed in this world, unless you are shot in the face and then Megalon will serve one of its many utilitarian purposes. 

The performances range from operatic to half-serious and somewhere in between. Shia LaBeouf plays a flamboyant nephew of Cesar's whom at first I thought was a fashion-designer or guru - no eyebrows makes for an unrecognizable LaBeouf. Aubrey Plaza is the tabloid TV journalist with low ratings who is something of a gold digger since she marries Crassus (Jon Voight), a wealthy CEO banker, yet still tries and fails to keep Cesar as her love interest - she could care less about any utopia, she's just greedy. Giancarlo Esposito is an actor who has shown enormous range and a high degree of understatement in so many films and TV shows, and here he is spectacular and gives a controlled performance as Cicero - you know he respects Cesar's future plans even if he won't admit it. Big shout-out to the sprightly Nathalie Emmanuel as Julia, a young woman who is far more optimistic than her dad would like and shares Cesar's vision.

"Megalopolis" is a flamboyant, riveting and highly experimental film, and also rather inaccessible to average viewers. Adam Driver, ultimately, is the star of the show - he is like a magician waving his wand to make the impossible possible. His presence always suggests someone larger-than-life and this makes the film highly watchable - any other actor might ruin it. I do wish the film spent more time on what that better tomorrow would look like and its own complications. As it stands, a fascinating film operating on so many levels that you wish cinema would take more chances like this. We can always hope for a better tomorrow.  

What can Woody Allen do now?

 RIFKIN'S FESTIVAL (2020)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Color me disappointed that Woody Allen consistently drifts towards the kind of angst-ridden romantic comedy bursting with Ingmar Bergmanisms that incorporated his work since "Manhattan" and beyond. Allen invented it, furnished it with his comic wordplay, and has every right as an artist to embellish and embroider it with his own continuing life experiences. Only now that Allen is in his 80's, is he still having the same life experience of an older man with a younger woman as he did in 1979? Is it getting creepy? 

Wallace Shawn, a remarkable actor, finds precious little inspiration in his neurotic archetypal Woody Allen role. He is Mort Rifkin, a film critic and rigid film studies teacher who loves Truffaut, Bunuel, basically all the "European filmmakers." He has a disdain for some American classics, feeling that any commercial movie that makes money must be fraudulent (those are remarks Woody once said in a book). Rifkin is at the San Sebastian International Film Festival where Sue, his less than doting wife (Gina Gershon), is a press agent for a man she clearly adores. The man in question is Philippe (Louis Garrel), a French film director being honored for his optimistic anti-war film that just might be a tad pretentious. It is a mistake for Woody to never show one clip from the film - I would imagine it would've been ripe for comic material more so than hearing some passerby at the festival saying, "Hey, did you see the director's cut of a Three Stooges short?" It is also a mistake to not show some of his actors in profile despite his habit of shooting with little to no coverage. I finally discovered who Steve Guttenberg was playing and, not unlike "Shadows and Fog," some other cameos might be missed. 

You can guess the rest. Rifkin is stubborn in his old ways as an intellectual who wants to write a book on the level of Dostoyevsky, finds solace with a drop dead gorgeous female doctor named Rojas (a spirited role for Elena Anaya) to whom he feigns chest pains and ear aches, senses that Sue has more than a business interest with Philippe, and we get beautiful scenery of Spain. Shawn is a definite riot as Rifkin, a weary man who is aware that his marriage is coming to an end but there is nothing there that you haven't heard before and better from the Woodman. I did like some of the black-and-white homages to Fellini, Godard and Bergman but it all rings as hollow as the excessively tired plot (although Christoph Waltz is a joy as Death). 

Rifkin's closing line is "What do I do now?" I think Woody Allen should move on from this type of movie and go to "Midnight in Paris" or "Match Point"-type of movies or heck "Another Woman," one of his greatest films. This old suitor shtick just doesn't suit him anymore.