Capital City Film Festival Reviews: Made in Michigan Showcase

Made in Michigan Showcase
5:30 p.m. Friday, April 15
The Lansing Center, 333 E. Michigan Ave.
$8 adults, $6 students
capitalcityfilmfest.com

Reviews by Allan I. Ross and Paul Wozniak

“4 Pictures” — Amuddled mess of a film. Unemployed Kaitlin (Dawn Bartley) is pluckily chuggingthrough her self-made rut in life. She hangs out everyday at the SomersetCollection, lounges by her friend’s pool, and is content with her aloofboyfriend because he does the dishes. Then one day her daffy roommate blurtsout that she’s having a virtual affair with Kaitlin’s boyfriend and all hell breaksloose. Oh, wait, no, it doesn’t. Kaitlin continues with her routine, only more, you know, navel-gazier.

“4 Pictures” waswritten with absolutely no ear for human dialogue (or even inner monologue) andham-fistedly directed — unless it was Michigan-based filmmaker Mike Madigan’sintent for nearly everyone to sound wooden. Ostensibly about the dangers ofbeing afraid of change, the only thing we really learn is that Google considersonline sex cheating. Who knew? — A.R.

“Abandon” — A must-see only for potentialmovie investors or film students looking for examples of effectively capturingtension. Maddeningly, “Abandon” isn’t a complete movie, but simply a teaser forwhat could one day be an engaging thriller. Is our heroine an abuse victim onthe run? A sociopath? A vampire? Who knows? All we’re given at the end of 14intriguing minutes of spooky set-up, haunting music and one good seat-jumper isa postscript that essentially tries to get someone to cough up some money toget the full-length film made: “The producers are looking for talentedprofessionals to help them continue the story of ‘Abandon’…” So…it’s acommercial? www.wix.com/abandonthemovie/officialsite — A.R.

“Happy the Clown” — A sharp, fun piece that benefits from avibrant color palate, fine acting, and a theme song written by Michigan’sGolden Boy Jeff Daniels. Happy (Lawton Paseka) is a crying-on-the-inside kindof clown who finds himself trapped in a seedy underworld life that’s costinghim his relationship and, quite possibly, his sanity. When his girlfriend showsup at his trailer to make amends at the same time some mafia goons arrive togive him his next assignment, things quickly devolve into the stuff dark comedygold is made from. Coulrophobes have nothing to fear, but there is a scarymidget. — A.R.

“The Spirit ofIsabel” — Isabel (Aphrodite Nikolovski) is a Hooker with a Heart of Gold —and adangerous beat in Detroit’s Greektown district. She doesn’t appear to be a drugaddict, she feels duly ashamed after banging a couple of guys for her rentmoney, and she is at least offhandedly seeking gainful employment. Butwriter/director Robert Joseph Butler implies that the bad economy is to blamefor Isabel’s career; that’s just oversimplifying a horrific life choice.

Doe-eyedNikolovski is an engaging actress, but cinematographer Mike Cody unfortunately(yet correctly) depicts downtown Detroit as bright and bustling, visuallynegating the hopelessness of Isabel’s situation. It would have been interestingto see what this 17-minute short would have been like as a feature, seeing whatcaused Isabel to fall so low and how she’s going to get out of this. — A.R.
“Waiter From Hell” — Roundingout the short trilogy of depravity in the dining room, “Waiter From Hell”follows the title character (Michael McCallum) through his final day at ageneric family restaurant. Co-starring David M. Foster, Christine Therrian andJeffry Wilson, this is mainly a showcase for McCallum, who explores new comicdepths of his sexist, lazy caricature of likely real-life personalities.
Like the Ricky Gervais character David Brent in “The Office,” McCallum’s waiteris a particular breed of comic demon who shocks laugher out of the audiencewhile they squirm. Production values from shaky hand-held cameras tomicrophones directed at the actor’s backs cheapen the quality of the finishedproduct but thankfully not the performances, which feel spontaneous andorganic. — P.W.
“What I’ve Taken” — Thetime and budget constraints of the 48/5 competition for the East Lansing FilmFestival explain some of the detail discrepancies and cliched story elements in“What I’ve Taken,” but they do not excuse them. At its best, this is a strongexercise in editing and placing flashbacks into a story. A goateed man spies ona young girl at her apartment and in the park. Is he a pedophile, or anestranged paternal father? Flashbacks fill in the story, like the ChristianBale indie film “The Machinist.” Sadly, when the solution is revealed — hintedby the title — little impact is made, because the character feels sounderdeveloped. — P.W