Another successful year at BIFF with Alec Baldwin speaking and Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas singing.
This year marks my fifth visit to the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF). I first visited in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down movie theaters, and then, I returned in 2023 with some high aspirations and continued until this year. It’s also the third year Alec Baldwin attended the festival, and we have a lot to talk about him. We also get titles with Paul Rudd, Nick Jonas, Steve Zahn and his daughter Audrey, David Duchovny, and Hope Davis, and adventure docs about people and nature. So these are the movies my cousins and I got to see, and here are the reviews.
“The Trial of Alec Baldwin” (Release Date: TBA)
We all know about the Indie western “Rust,” and what happened on set. Alec Baldwin accidentally shot the cinematographer cinematographer Halyna Hutchins because a live round was accidentally triggered from a prop gun. And the director Joel Souza was injured by the same round. Numerous lawsuits were filed against Baldwin and armorer Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, and as a result, she was found guilty and he was acquitted.
As much as this passion piece cost someone’s life, I thought the film itself was okay. Now, we move on to the documentary “The Trial of Alec Baldwin,” which I think more informative and speaks about the situation and the numbers trials and press that were conjured up. It takes us to the filming location of Bonanza City, New Mexico, where the filming and accidental shooting took place, and it takes us to the detective interrogating room, where Baldwin learns on the phone that Hutchins didn’t make it. He was in shock.
The doc also reminds us about how his political views and anger were expressed, especially with the paparazzi. We also hear from Ireland, his first and only daughter with Kim Basinger, that she has inherited her father’s anger. It’s unfortunate, but it happens. And when news of the “Rust” incident took place, the media had questions, which Baldwin couldn’t answer under investigation. He gave them some information, just so they could leave him and his family alone. That’s what he was thinking about.
And we go back to his family life. He had a big family in a small house with very little to appreciate and a larger than life father. I guess we all know where his anger came from, especially since he’s Irish-Catholic. And later in the doc, Baldwin admits that he was happier as a child in poverty than he is as an adult with a great acting career and a lot of heat in the media.
I’ve met Baldwin twice in my lifetime. Once at a New York Times event in 2013, and another when he interviewed Al Pacino in 2022, despite the “Rust” incident. At the time when people were clapping, I like to consider it like Daffy Duck only being applauded when Bugs Bunny is on stage with him. But I still haven’t given up on the actor, because I know he made a mistake and it’s impossible for me to know what he went through.
The day after the screening, I attended an interview between Baldwin and Scott Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter, and the Boulder Theater was practically a full house with fans who haven’t given up on him. And they closed the conversation by talking about the doc and how it was time for him to get his story out in the open, and to focus less on his movie career and more on his family.
Back to “The Trial of Alec Baldwin.” It is one-sided in terms of mostly having Baldwin narrate the events of his turmoil, but it does speak about how he dealt with it. We don’t just see him as an actor with a celebrated range of movies and shows like “Beetlejuice,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “30 Rock,” or “Saturday Night Live.” We see him as a family man, and he couldn’t be more passionate about them.
“Tuner” (In Select Theaters May 22nd and Expands May 29th)
When I found out “Tuner” was about a crime movie with the main protagonist having a hearing condition, I was thinking back to “Baby Driver,” which had a young getaway driver with tinnitus. We can hear a lot in these films, and we can have fun seeing how they play their respective games. And these movies never exploit these kinds of hearing conditions for entertainment value, but instead allow characters to represent them in unique lights.
“Tuner” has lesser commercial appeal (and Black Bear Pictures distributes it), but that doesn’t mean it’s not entertaining, because it is. It forgets the cliches of the police and their guns and the obligatory car chases, and focuses on how the young man enters the crime world and how his condition makes things complicated. Allow me to clarify on that. We meet Niki White (Leo Woodall), a former piano player turned piano tuner, who has a hearing condition, hyperacusis, which means that he’s allergic to loud noises. And yes, it’s a real condition. He wears ear plugs and headphones over them when he’s working and walking and driving around. And whenever there is a loud noise, the pitch is boosted up to show us the pain that this young man goes through. As he says: “You’d be surprised how loud the world is.”
His uncle and mentor Harry Horowitz (Dustin Hoffman) ends up in the hospital and his medical bills are too expensive for their business to afford. Before that, the old man leaves his hearing aids in the safe and can’t remember the combination he changed. So, Niki watches instruction videos and gets a kick out of it. And one day, while tuning a rich person’s piano, he hears some home security guys trying to open up a safe, and he tries to tell them to quiet down. But they need to open the safe and are easily impressed by Niki’s new skills. The boss Uri (Lior Raz) offers the young man a job, which can help pay for Harry’s medical bills.
And then there’s Niki’s new love interest, a piano student named Ruthie (Havana Rose Liu), who is working on a masterpiece to impress the maestro (Jean Reno). They meet when he tunes her school’s piano and when he shares his key notes. And little does she know that he gives her stolen Rolex watch, which he says he bought from a state sale.
We can already tell that the young man would be in danger when it comes to his new life of crime. I won’t spoil what happens, but it can be very loud. And I want you to be as absorbed and shocked as I was.
“Tuner” was co-written and directed by Canadian documentarian Daniel Roher, whose “Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band” was the first movie I saw at the Boulder International Film Festival. He has a voice whether we’re talking about feature films or documentaries. I liked Woodall as one of Renee Zellweger’s new suitors in “Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy,” and I admire him even more here for how he eases into his character. He’s able to convince us of Niki’s hearing condition, his taste in music, and how he tries to pay attention to the crime game. Just as long as loud nosies don’t affect him.
When I saw this with my cousins at the Boulder International Film Festival, we were talking about what happens at the end, and we were guessing the possible outcomes. In certain cases, movie goers seem to be in the Frank Capra stage where the guy gets the girl and they live happily ever after. And I was reminding them that not all movies have to follow the same traditions, and they can’t always be happy. They can be different, and that’s what I seek in movies.
Sometimes, it can be a little melodramatic with the romance, but it can also lead to dangerous territory. And the movie, itself, knows how to kid, shock, and charm the audience. And therefore, the pianos get tuned and the music sounds great.
“The Bend in the River” (Release Date: TBA)
I didn’t know what to expect in “The Bend in the River,” other than it being a river movie before I saw it. And after my viewing, I’ve learned it is actually an expected conclusion to a trilogy of documentaries directed by Robb Moss. There was the 30 min doc “River Dogs” in 1978 and “The Same River Twice” in 2003. And for those of you unfamiliar with his friends, they were nudists who lived happy and free on the Grand Canyon. They wear some clothes, but mostly, we see them naked climbing on rocks and even rafting in the river. But there also comes a time when they need to grow up and live in society again. This is where “The Bend in the River” goes.
The movie opens by saying that Robb left for the East, while his friends stayed West, and he filmed them as a way of staying in touch with them. And he also allow them to speak about what life is like for them in clothes.
We meet the married couple Barry and Deborah, who started a family; Jim, who was considered to be a “river deity” by his friends; Danny, who has better faith in herself as she gets older and becomes a Zumba instructor; the once happy couple Cathy and Jeff, who were in love once but Jeff’s bad choices destroyed that; and Jim the one man of the bunch who still lives close to nature.
Among the friends we can get notes on, Jim lives on a trailer in the woods, as he hoards stuff, loves getting himself wet, and admits that his adventure days are behind him. And Jeff has been running for state senator, and wants to atone for his unfaithfulness and how he disrespected women, especially when a video threatens his career.
The archival footage of the people is enhanced and looks great, like a documentary that knows what footage to introduce, instead of scrapping clips from the bottom of the barrel. They exist to show us these people in their youth and free spirits without worry about the struggles of everyday life. And there are some funny moments, like how Barry had to change his son’s diaper, and threw one at him.
“The Bend in the River” isn’t a perfect doc, because of how its pacing seems to move a bit fast and doesn’t really take it time for us to get to know more about these people. It does run for 82 minutes, although my cousin thought it was 2 hours long and she might be right about it cutting back a little bit. But it is a worthy addition to Moss’ filmography, because of how he shows us his friends in their age of prime and what life had in store for them. There are good and bad moments in their lives, but this doc isn’t negative or cynical. It’s like taking a road trip, and coming across these people and wanting to get to know them. And it’s a nice little trip.
“Power Ballad” (In Theaters June 5th)
“Power Ballad” is further proof that John Carney is a filmmaker who loves his home country of Ireland, music with the right kind of heart and soul, and people who dream big. “Once,” “Begin Again,” “Sing Street,” and “Flora and Son” are all riveting examples of that. “Power Ballad” takes a concept about someone taking all the credit for a song and the real creator confronting him, and chooses not to make it seem like a slapstick comedy. Instead, it chooses to show the real strength of the music world: what the song symbolizes, who can or can’t make it big in any industry, and how singers can handle their highs and lows.
The movie stars Paul Rudd as Rick, a singer from Kansas City who moves to Ireland and starts a family and a career as a wedding singer in the band-The Bride and Groove. And like the main protagonist of “Once,” he acknowledges that people want to hear cover versions of hit songs and not originals (he’s told: “We’re not rock stars; we’re human juke boxes”), although he tries to add his new additions at weddings to very few fans.
And the movie also stars Nick Jonas as a former boy band member named Danny, who went solo and ends up performing at the same venue as The Bride and the Groove. That same night, Danny meets Rick, has some drinks and play some music in his suite. The older singer introduces the younger singer to a song called “How to Write a Song (Without You),” which Danny eventually simplifies into a hit and doesn’t given Rick credit for.
Struggling to find proof that he wrote that, Rick contacts Danny’s record manager (Jack Reynor) with no luck. And so, he and his fellow band member and friend Sandy (Peter McDonald) head over to Los Angeles to find Danny.
Rudd and Jonas can both sing very well, whether we’re talking about cover versions of Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” or Huey Lewis’ “The Power of Love” or “How to Write a Song (Without You).” And I stayed during the end credits to read their names under the Vocals list and songs list. Carney wouldn’t be a filmmaker at his level if he chose actors who are tone deaf. Nobody is in “Power Ballad,” and we love hearing them sing.
Watching Rick trying to prove he wrote the song would be irritating if it was handled in lesser hands or in other comedies that care more about vulgarity and humor than heart. But watching Rick deal with the difficulties and outcomes in “Power Ballad” has more heart and humor than vulgarity. And we don’t need everyone saying “FU” all the time. In fact, this movie likes to take risks, gamble, and delight us with Rudd’s charms and emotions.
Jonas has made a name for himself in the teen world, and out of all the movies he’s acted in like “Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle” or “You’re Cordially Invited,” this might be his best performance. He has the ability to break free from the teen fanbase and resonate with his own career and have some character development and vulnerabilities. He kind of reminds me of how Zac Efron broadened his horizons in “Neighbors.”
“Power Ballad” is about people and music, something that Carney specializes, and he takes what could be considered a formulaic plot and gives it a charming, funny, and heartwarming spin. And it knows a great soundtrack when it hears it. This is one of the year’s best films.
“See You When I See You” (Release Date: TBA)
“See You When I See You” is inspired by “Tragedy Plus Time,” the memoir of screenwriter Adam Cayton-Holland, who is a Denver, Colorado resident and comedian. It focused on how his sister committed suicide and how he handled his grief. So, it would make sense that he would try to blend comedy with pathos, and there were laughs at the Boulder International Film Festival. Now, this is heavy stuff to acknowledge, but it doesn’t really give us much meaning and relies on too many clichés arguments to try to carry the drama.
We begin with a family taking their photo at a Colorado Springs lake, and the youngest daughter running to jump off the dock, while the main protagonist Aaron Whistler (Cooper Raff) is in a state of grief. As if that dock was too high of a jump, which it wasn’t. He’s a comedy writer suffering from PTSD when his younger sister and best friend Leah (Kaitlyn Dever) killed herself. Their older sister Emily (Lucy Boynton) tells him to see a doctor, while he tries to reconnect with his girlfriend Camilla (Ariela Barer from “How to Blow Up a Pipeline” and “The Last of Us”), whom he ghosted during his depression. She also knows that he needs help.
We also meet their attorney father Robert (David Duchovny), who keeps mentioning his daughter’s death during meetings with his clients, and their mother Paige (Hope Davis), who may have breast cancer and doesn’t want to have a doctor examine her. At this point, only Aaron and Paige don’t want to host a funeral or give eulogies for Leah, which is why Emily tries to work out another arrangement.
“See You When I See You” was directed by Jay Duplass and produced by Cayton-Holland and real life couple Kumail Nanjiani (who plays a sage grouse activist) and Emily V. Gordon, and all these people know comedy and pathos when they see it. But their first collaboration together goes all over the place with how Aaron deals with his grief. We see him in the past with his older self and Leah in her younger form (Billie Roy from “A Little Prayer”) arguing about Goldfish and whether or not they’re for little kids, and other times we see him with her older form as she’s sucked up into the sky. It’s almost like how Alfre Woodard got sucked up by aliens in “The Forgotten.”
About the sage grouse, they say they’re at extinction, and Aaron decides to do an article about that. So, we see him and the Nanjiani character breaking into a facility and narrowing escaping from security, but we don’t get much out of it. And I don’t even think the breast cancer subplot is given much, as if the film was only interested in Aaron’s story. It should allow us to get to know about his family.
There are laughs from time to time, but a lot of the comedy has to be whiny and cynical in various parts. And we’re only interested in how Aaron deals with his grief and can barely come straight with his therapists (One played by Cayton Holland and another played by Poorna Jagannathan). He struggles with coming to terms with his grief, and he needs the help before he takes a wrong turn. We know he’ll be okay if the opening credits tell us it’s based on the memoir, so there should be some spirits in that.
This movie has its heart in the right place and the subject matter should be expressed with emotions and commitment, but it has the pacing and childish conflicts going all over the place, and it ends up being more exhausting than uplifting.
“She Dances” (Shown in Theaters and VOD Release Date: TBA)”
Steve Zahn has made a name for himself with movies like “Reality Bites,” “Hamlet” (2000), “Sahara,” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid,” “Dallas Buyers Club,” and “War for the Planet of the Apes,” among many others. Even bad comedies like “Saving Silverman,” “National Security,” and more recently “Anaconda” have found some cult statuses. “She Dances” features him with his daughter Audrey, and he co-wrote the script with director Rick Gomez. While it’s a little reserved in its drama, it still shows some dancing spirits, honest humor, and a father-daughter story worth caring about.
Steve plays Jason, who is a business partner with his buddy Brian (Ethan Hawke) in their brewery “Two Jacks,” and a divorced father dealing with a tragedy. His estranged dancer daughter Claire (there’s that Audrey) lives with her mother (Rosemarie DeWitt), who was supposed to take her to a dance competition, but has to cancel due to a medical emergency with a patient. And Jason is the only person who can be the chaperone to her and her friend Kat (Mackenzie Ziegler, Maddie’s sister and a former dancer), and he’s the one to tell them to fix a flat tire, instead of calling AAA.
My cousins and I saw “She Dances” at the First United Methodist Church, and there were moments when we could barely hear what the characters were saying. I think it has something to do with the speakers, and I’m sure of it. But we were able to acknowledge the characters and their drama. Forgetting that technical issue for a minute, the movie itself does cop out towards the end, but its dancing spirit and bright yellow colors kind of reminded me of “Little Miss Sunshine.” It can be quirky and consistent, and it does try to liven things up with its sense of humor, especially when we get a Ron Livingston cameo and when Sonequa Martin-Green as the dance instructor has little girls dressing up like unicorns.
Steve Zahn also appeared in “Wildcat,” and Audrey was a dancer and choreographer in that film, so “She Dances” isn’t their first feature collaboration, but it feels like it is. They’re both likable, as they handle their situations with less irritation and more versatility. Like for example, when he books their hotel room on the wrong date and are forced to go to a motel, Claire and Kat are delighted by it. And I’m delighted by the colors: the purple and pink neon signs, and the green, orange, yellow, and pink room they have to sleep in.
On the same day I saw it at the Boulder International Film Festival, my cousins and I watched “See You When I See You,” which featured a characters who tries to drinks his problems away. In “She Dances,” Steve looks for a drink in the motel fridge and the results are chillingly funny. And even without that scene, this is better than that film, because it doesn’t go through the motions and handles the pathos more patiently.
This movie came out last month in select theaters, and I didn’t get the chance to review it. But when it comes to VOD, which I’m pretty sure will be soon, I’ll remind you readers about it. I’m glad the festival gave my cousins and I the opportunity to see it. And I’m glad the speakers didn’t completely ruin our theatrical experience.
“You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way)” (Release Date: TBA)
I knew who Gilda Radner was thanks to my grandmother, who loved her on “Saturday Night Live” and introduced me to the filmed version of “Gilda Live” on VHS. And I knew who Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Paul Schaffer, and Dave Thomas were thanks to movies and shows. But I didn’t know they all collaborated in a Canadian production of “Godspell,” until I saw the documentary “You Had to Be There.” This has one of the longest subtitles: “How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way).” And this is one of the most entertaining docs I’ve ever seen at the Boulder International Film Festival, and it was the Closing Night movie. So, it’s a bright and whimsical way to end this year’s festival.
“Godspell” was a play taken from the Gospel of Matthew and becoming a major hit in America, London, and Canada. The Canadian version took place at the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, and the alumni consisted of Levy, Short, Garber, Martin, Thomas, Schaffer, Radner, Rudy Webb, Janye Eastwood, Gerry Salsberg, and Valda Aviks. And it also sparked a 1973 film with Garber reprising his role of Jesus Christ, who wears a Superman shirt as a modern day superhero or clown figure. This play was combined love, peace, and rock and roll.
This doc expresses a lot of comedy and pathos, half the time in animation that feels like something out of Hanna Barbara. We see how Martin was devastated about not getting the role of Robin, until the original choice was let go, and given her hilarious material, she was given the chance. Short and Radner also dated for a while, but things didn’t work out between them. It also talks about how Eugene Levy took over the role of Jesus. And when the show came to a close, the actors needed another job. That’s when Schaffer and Radner went to star on “Saturday Night Live” in NYC, and when a major of the alumni stayed in Toronto for “SCTV.” And both sketch shows pioneered a revolution of comedy and entertainment.
Watching “You Had to Be There” is delightful and colorful, as the interviewees are friends and collaborators who reflect on the impact the show has given to them. Since there were no video recordings of the production, Short illegally recorded it with a tape recorder, and the animation I’ve mentioned was to represent the scenes they presented. The recording may not have been state of the art at the time, but it’s a great way to try to preserve the magic of the show. And through it all, there are big laughs and toe tapping music to keep movie-goers of all generations involved.
Again, I’ve never heard of the show before, but after seeing “You Had to Be There,” I’m glad I did, and the title makes absolute sense. I’m not sure how clear certain stories are, but it speaks for the cast and crew as not only collaborators, but also great friends over the course of 50 years.
Award Winners
Best Documentary Short: “The Baddest Speechwriter of All”
Best Short Film: “The Extremist”
Best Adventure Short: “Frozen Frame: Murphy’s Yellowstone”
Best Performance in a Feature: Leo Woodall in “Tuner”
Impact Award: “The River”
People’s Choice Award (Feature Length Film): “Jane Elliott Against the World”
People’s Choice Award (Best Short): “The Baddest Speechwriter of All”
Jonny Copp Adventure Film Award: “The Dark Wizard”
Best Music Award: “Los Lobos Native Sons”
Best Documentary Film: “Everybody to Kenmure Street”
Best Feature Film: “Power Ballad”
My cousins and I also saw episodes 3 and 4 of the upcoming HBO documentary series “The Dark Wizard,” as the first two episodes were sold out. I’ll review the show as soon as I see them. But until then, I say it’s another successful year at BIFF.