Review: CAPERS (Cynthia Corral)
Posted by Cynthia Corral
I loved this film from the opening credit animations. I’m going to borrow from the IMDB Plot Summary to explain the details:
Three teams of criminals share the same Brooklyn block, but each exists in a separate genre of film. The Amateurs are trapped in a 1970’s anti-hero movie. The Sputniks live in black and white. The Moolies can’t escape their rap video life. But they all share a hatred of Connie, a racist local pawn shop owner and mafia widow. So when Connie has a heart attack, each team decides it’s time to find out what’s inside her legendary safe. Unfortunately they all plan their big score for the same night.
If I had read that description before the film, I wouldn’t have been so confused at first. But even in my confusion I loved the characters and wanted to keep watching them on screen. Eventually all the stories start merging together and you understand that they all want whatever is in Connie’s safe. As the Moolies put it, they “want money and don’t want to work for it”. Unfortunately, all three teams end up working much harder than they expected to get Connie’s safe. I freakin LOVED Connie. More racist than Archie Bunker and with less heart, but like with Archie, you couldn’t help but love her character. Danny Masterson seemed much more comfortable in his role as the head of the Amateurs than he was in his role in Wake. And every time he and his partner appeared on screen walking their little dachshund I let out a little SQUEEEE inside. Dachshunds are to me like Robert Pattinson is to teenage girls.
It wasn’t the greatest film I’ve ever seen at Cinequest, and some people around me didn’t love it as much as I did, but everyone did seem to agree that it was Good, at LEAST. I really liked the use of the different filming styles, even though they confused me in the beginning. I was pretty impressed when the teams started crossing into each other’s stories and their scenes continued to have their own film style even in the same frame. And it had a very satisfactory ending, with a promise of a sequel (except it’s a film festival movie, so a sequel may never happen). Oh, and there’s a “brutal Russian sex scene” that you’re not going to want to miss. Trust me.
Unfortunately, the promised short film never showed, but that’s okay, I loved this film anyway. When the film was over I immediately texted my son to try to fit it into his schedule. I recommend that you also try to fit it into your schedule. This will definitely be one of my favorite films this year.
Tags: CAPERS, COMEDY, CQ19, Danny Masterson, Julian Mark Kheel.
(P)review: Capers (Jason Wiener)
Posted by Jason Wiener
Originally published at Jason Watches Movies:
I just saw a screener of what’s sure to be a comedy hit at Cinequest. Julian M. Kheel has made his feature debut a sparkling gem worth stealing. Three gangs of crooks all try to break into a pawn shop safe in their own specific genre. And by genre, I mean competing movie genres. Capers is framed by the feisty pawn shop owner Connie (Phyllis Somerville). She bitches about how her Brooklyn neighborhood has gone downhill since the days when her family (the Italians) were in charge. Now instead of organized crime, they have nothing but a bunch of idiots. First there’s “The Amateurs” (Danny Masterson and Michael Cecchi), shot as a 70’s grindhouse flick, complete with film scratches and pops (yeah, I know it was done in Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse, but it still works). They’re so dumb they’ll spout off stuff like “You need an Oriental to do a job–for computer stuff and martial arts!” Then there’s “The Moolies“, led by Ronald (played by Leon). They’re the black gang, and shot like an MTV rap video (complete with a boom box they carry everywhere for background music). But the best part of their gang is Emily (Mackenzie Milone), an 8 year old white girl they took as payment and then grew attached to. And lucky for them, Emily’s got game. And finally, there’s “The Sputniks”, (Aysan Çelik and Jonathan Hova), Arab Chechnyans living in New York and looking for citizenship so that she can sing on Broadway (she’s a painfully awful singer) and he can work tech support (he’s no better). They’re shot as a depressing, pretentious Eastern European/Russian art film, complete with black and white (which makes it a bit weird when their world collides with other worlds). The format actually allows for an ingenious mix of lowbrow and highbrow humor. The lowbrow comes from the absolute stupidity of all three gangs. The highbrow comes from the mixing of genres and the clever transitions. Basically it’s some very smart people making a movie about some very dumb people, and it’s all a lot of fun. Oh yeah, and there’s a cameo by Cinequest Emerging Maverick award winner Blanchard Ryan as a sexy FBI agent who gets to do a little lesbian titillation with her partner, Dominique Swain. Awesome!
Capers plays on Feb 26 at 7:00 pm at the California Theater, Feb 27 4:30 PM at the San Jose Rep, and Mar 1 at 9:30 pm at the Camera 12.
Cinequest program notes/buy tickets here.
Tags: CAPERS, COMEDY, CQ19, Danny Masterson, Julian Mark Kheel, Reviews.
I Love CQ / Jason Wiener
Posted by Jason Wiener
It’s a little weird to be writing about why I love Cinequest when I’m still attending Indiefest. It’s like I’m writing a love letter to one girlfriend while still on a date with another. I guess that’s just the kind of guy I am.
So where could I begin? I could point out how awesome (and rare) it is to have a festival of this size in such a contained location (6 screens all within a block of each other). There’s really nothing else I know like that. There are bigger festivals, but there are no bigger festival I know of where you can walk from any venue to any other in just a few minutes. Read more
Tags: Ben Kingsley, Blanchard Ryan, CAPERS, Dominique Swain, Halfdan Hussey, Mike Rabehl, SF IndieFest.
Review: CAPERS (MichaelVox)
Posted by MichaelVox
Originally posted at the MichaelVox Review Blog
Three devious schemes; three badly executed heists; and a pawnshop with one surprising treasure.
Every year that Cinequest comes around, I sort of have to split my personality as a viewer. Half of me remains the snobby holier-than-thou viewer, seeking out the darkest Ukrainian dramas about life’s futility and documentaries whose sole purpose is to anger or delight me enough to physically pull others into the theater to experience what I just experienced.
But the other half of me at Cinequest (this will be my 13th year), when dealing with ultra-independent American films, has come to realize what the festival is here for. Cinequest looks for fresh faces–filmmakers who will go on to greater things. We get early exposure to them and can remember future superstars when they could barely hold a camera straight or keep a narrative flowing to save their lives. There is also the whole social aspect of the festival–there are parties and the chance to see and meet semi-famous people, there are casual movie fans who are looking to impress their dates, there are dinners and cocktails before and after the screenings–and this is where I differ from the crowd.
I have rarely, if ever, enjoyed a dinner and cocktails, and then headed to a movie. Or at least any movie where any thought was involved. Spiderman? Yes. Frozen River? No. However, on those rare occasions when I venture to the movies on a Friday or Saturday night, I am typically surrounded by buzzed audience members who insist on continuing their dinner conversations in the darkened theater. I personally need to be alert, sober, and ready to be taken wherever the filmmaker wants to take me.
Tags: CAPERS, COMEDY, Julian Mark Kheel, Reviews.
Critics, Fans & Filmmakers Agree on Twitter!
Posted by CQ Central
You want to be a part of the pre-festival buzz, but you’re not sure where to find it? Check out Twitter!
Critics offer initial impressions of the Cinequest 19 line-up.
Metro film critic RvonB breaks in his Twitter account with mentions of a couple of this year’s documentaries: “Digging through C’Quest screeners: Excellent Cash doc made me glad I avoid ex-cons, very good Witch Hunt made me glad I avoid kids.” Read more
Tags: Brea Grant, CAPERS, CQ19, Diablo Cody, Fans, HOW TO BE, Richard von Busack, Robert Pattinson, Twitter.
5Q: Julian Mark Kheel / CAPERS
Posted by CQ Central
Julian Mark Kheel
1Q: Tell us a little about the origins of Capers, from writing to financing.
Capers came about after the success of a short film that Brett Halsey and I wrote together. The film was called Exceed and it was a comedy about a first-time producer trying to make a commercial with too many cooks in the kitchen. Because he was unsure of himself, the producer would incorporate every piece of advice he got into the commercial, regardless of whether it was appropriate or not. Every time he used a new idea, we’d see the whole commercial again from start to finish and it’d look completely different from the previous version. Eventually the result was such a mashup of styles and ideas that it became an unrecognizable and very funny mess. Read more
Tags: CAPERS, COMEDY, CQ19, Danny Masterson, Julian Mark Kheel.