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As I sit here writing, the trade papers have just announced that Star Wars III sold $158 million worth of tickets in four days, and that's just in the U.S. If you add in worldwide sales, the figure tops $300 million. The four films I'm reviewing this week will be happy if they make 1% of that total, combined. If the box office numbers are the best indicator of quality, as the infotainment journalists who spout off on morning tv and radio shows would have you believe, then these four films are worse than worthless. Yet, I'd argue that each one is a more interesting, if not necessarily more entertaining, movie than George Lucas's final episode.

Actually, Mad Hot Ballroom is just as entertaining. It's a documentary that follows three groups of New York City students as they prepare for a ballroom dancing competition. The kids are all between the ages of 10-12, and they're part of after-school programs where professional dance instructors come and teach them steps such as tango, merengue, and swing. The film is clearly going after the vibe that made Spellbound such a success. We meet the children, see them practice and struggle, watch them suffer through the preliminary competitions, and then root for them in the championship. Like Spellbound, there's a wide variety of types and storylines. There's even the same character of the spastic young boy who can't stop talking.

Still, Mad Hot Ballroom doesn't have the formal control that made Spellbound such a masterpiece. Ballroom is quite a bit longer than it needs to be, as debut director Marilyn Agrelo falls too much in love with her montage sequences of New York life. She also doesn't have as much access to the children at home, so we don't get to know the students as well. Nonetheless, the kids are interesting, funny, and adorable. When they're not dancing up a storm, they offer their thoughts on life, school, and the opposite sex, which are hilariously and wonderfully naive but sometimes wise at the same time. And there's something marvelous about seeing sixth and seventh graders learning to dance. You can't help but laugh at their mistakes, and yet you beam with pride when they get it right. And when a young pair of immigrants from the Dominican Republic start dancing the rumba, well it's like watching stars being born before your very eyes.

At the other end of the age spectrum is the compelling documentary Tell Them Who You Are. Directed by Mark Wexler, it focuses on his relationship with his prickly 80-year-old father Haskell Wexler, who also happens to be one of cinema's greatest cinematographers. As Mark makes clear early in the film, he sees the documentary as maybe his last chance to get to know his father better, so what shows up on screen is almost a form of relationship therapy. But Mark is a smart enough filmmaker to realize he needs more than that, so he interviews a wide range of people who've worked with his dad: Paul Newman, Martin Sheen, Albert Maysles, Julia Roberts, and even George Lucas. The best subject is the late, great cinematographer Conrad Hall, who was a surrogate father to Mark for years, and their conversations provide more than a few touching moments. It's also interesting to see various figures talking about their relationships with their dads, Michael Douglas and Jane Fonda, especially. Haskell himself is a more slippery character, and it's both fascinating and frustrating to see his son try to wrestle him to the ground.

The documentary doesn't avoid all of the pitfalls of first-person documentaries. Like My Architect, Tarnation, and a whole host of others, there's a maudlin tone that hangs over too many scenes. And while Mark isn't as self-indulgent as some of those filmmakers, there are still some moments and bits of narration that a more rigorous director would've cut. Nonetheless, Tell Them Who You Are emerges as both a compelling portrait of his dad and an interesting document of a father-son relationship.

If you're more in the mood for fiction, you might check out the French drama Kings and Queen. I'm a little hesitant to recommend it, as I found it dry and uninvolving. But most of my critic friends (including my friend Garth) are raving about it, so maybe I was just in the wrong frame of mind that day. It stars Emmanuelle Devos as a successful art dealer who is forced to care for her dying father. Meanwhile, Ismael (Mathieu Amalric) is a troubled young musician who is taken away to a mental hospital, though it's not clear if he's crazy or just acting out. It turns out these characters have something in common--I figured it out pretty early in the film, but I know other viewers didn't till the end, so I won't ruin the surprise. I suspect that's part of my disappointment with the film. What captivated some critics as innovative struck me as fairly familiar. And when director Arnaud Desplechin throws his characters into the blender, as he does every half hour or so, I became less and less interested.

But I can recommend Kontroll, a Hungarian movie that takes place in the bowels of a subway system. The main characters are attendants who check people's tickets, then assess fines if a rider doesn't have one. Needless to say, these men aren't terribly popular with their fellow citizens. This leads to some moments of comedy, as we witness various interactions. It also leads to mad-cap chase sequences and brutal moments of violence. Though Kontroll hints that there's something not quite right in the tunnels, it leaves those mysteries off-camera except for a hooded individual who's taken to pushing people into the oncoming trains. The attendants do their best to track him down, but his knowledge of the subway system is even better than theirs.

The movie has a great look about it, as it uses the fluorescent lights to especially eerie advantage. Furthermore, the low-level camera placements make the waiting areas and tunnels seem ominous and creepy. And director Nimrod Antal knows how to let his camera linger over an image or scene for maximum impact. At the midnight screening where I first saw the film, the people around me seemed to be disappointed that there wasn't more mayhem, especially in the movie's climax, but I liked the subdued conclusion. There's nothing extravagant or especially memorable about Kontroll, but it's a nicely-made debut that bodes well for Antal's future.

For better or worse, George Lucas's future is filled with money. I won't rip on Star Wars III, as I found it to be relatively entertaining, but I do question our media's obsession with it. There are many, many more movies that could use (and deserve) the attention. Mad Hot Ballroom, Tell Them Who You Are, Kings and Queen, and Kontroll are just four.
 

J. Robert Parks 5/23/2005
Mad Hot Ballroom  is currently playing at the Landmark theater. Kontroll  opens there this Friday. Tell Them Who You Are is currently playing at the Music Box theater. Kings and Queen  opens there this Friday.