We're reviewing a number of films that screen during this year's Milwaukee Film Festival, which runs Sept. 23-Oct. 3 at a number of cinema venues around town.
But there's so much good stuff it's really hard to keep up with all of the great pictures. Although they won't get full reviews on the site, I saw two of the best films in the festival on one early September weekend and just had to tell you about them...
"Looking For Eric" is a Ken Loach film from last year that's been called a comedy, but, man, while there are some funny moments -- including the gimmick (which I'll get to) -- it's a hard-hitter.
Eric Bishop (Steve Evets) is a down and out postman who lives with two teenage stepsons and regrets that he abandoned his first wife when their daughter was an infant. Luckily for him he's involved in his daughter's -- and granddaughter's life -- but that brings him into regular, uneasy contact with his ex.
Meanwhile, Eric is a die-hard Manchester United fan (don't worry, the film's good despite this) and has delusions of Eric. Eric Cantona, that is. And Cantona appears in the film as himself -- well, as the figment of himself that appears to Eric and offers him advice and sometimes obtuse maxims (occasionally in French).
Trouble of all kinds comes to find Eric and, all along, Cantona is there to smoke a spliff, do some exercises and, hopefully, help make it all right.
It's a little gimmicky, but not slushy, and like life, it mixes the crunchy with the smooth.
"The winning power of 'Looking for Eric' lies in this meeting of the magic and the mundane," wrote Time Out. "It's mainly a film about men -- men who fail themselves, like Eric, and men who fail society ... Loach and his writer Paul Laverty are nostalgists for lost causes, and this is their chance to grieve again for the changing world of work."
"Looking For Eric" screens Friday, Sept. 24 at 7:45 p.m. at North Shore Cinema, and Monday, Sept. 27 at 9:15 p.m. at the Oriental.There's no real comedy, only tragedy in Don Argott's documentary about the way the final wishes of landmark art collector Albert Barnes were thrown in the crapper by Philadelphia's -- and Pennsylvania's -- government and rich folk.
"The Art of Steal" explains how Barnes, who invented a VD medicine and made millions, had the vision, taste and foresight to amass the world's best and most valuable collection of post-impressionist paintings. He created a unique home for them at the Barnes Foundation, always meant to be a school, not a museum, in Merion, Penn., near Philly.
According to the film, Barnes hated the Philly elite, including the Annenberg family, which owned the Inquirer newspaper. The feeling was quite mutual. Philly was always jealous of Barnes collection and when he created his trust, he made sure Philly would never get its hands on his collection and foundation, which no less than Matisse called something like, "the only sane place in America to see art."
Watch, however, as Argott explains how Philadelphia mayor John Street, the Annenberg Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trust and Gov. Ed Rendell, ravaged a legally binding trust so that they could "steal" the Barnes Collection and remove it to the one place in the world Barnes specifically didn't want it located ... the parkway, in the shadow of the Philadelphia Art Museum.
The film is full of wonder. Wonder that a man like Barnes -- a poor kid from the streets of Philly -- got rich. Wonder that he used his money to create a collection that is the envy of the world's art institutions. Wonder that he had the gumption to go against the elite and set up a trust that would keep the Barnes in Merion forever. Wonder that a couple politicians and rich folks could use the court system to disembowel a legally binding trust and the final wishes of a man for the way in which his legacy would endure.
And for what, you ask? Money, of course.
"Money, power, race, a mansion stuffed with treasure, a city plagued by scandal -- about all that's missing from 'The Art of the Steal, 'a hard-hitting documentary about a high-cultural brawl, is a hot woman with a warm gun," wrote The New York Times.
"The Art of the Steal" screens Saturday, Sept. 25 at 1:30 p.m. at the Oriental; Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 4:15 p.m. at North Shore Cinema; and Sunday, Oct. 3 at 2:15 p.m. at the Ridge Cinema.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
