The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Reviews

Published on Sunday, 18 July 2010 09:18

Written by Carmella McDonald

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls
June 10th @ 7.30pm
SVA Theatre, Chelsea, New York
Newfest June 3 - 13, 2010
(Encore screening Sunday, June 13 - 7.30pm)

On June 10th, as part of NewFest 2010, The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls premiered at the SVA Theater in Chelsea, followed by a performance and Q&A. It proved to be a remarkable documentary not just for the style in which it was made, but for the subjects it documented -- New Zealand's Topp Twins, Jools and Lynda, a very talented and remarkable set of sisters. This duo can be described as comedians, entertainers, singers, songwriters, army veterans, political activists and yodelers. Yet they always maintain the earthiness of farm girls raised in a small country town. And both happen to be lesbians.

This inspiring film not only illustrates their lives as performers, but also as activists who protested apartheid when the segregated South African rugby team visited their country in 1981; demonstrated against visits by nuclear powered navy ships, and fought for the land rights due the Maori, New Zealand's indigenous people. They also fought for the 1986 Homosexual Law Reform Bill. After the screening with the twins in attendance, they explained further about the things captured in the documentary. Said Lynda to the audience after the screening, “It was best to chant and sing during these demonstrations rather than talk; it gave unity to the group."

And added Jools, "We were in the fighting spirit in our country at a time of major changes. Just stand up and when you simply stand there people will go with you."

This documentary traces their lives since the 1980s, from their days as teenage buskers -- street musicians who perform for change -- to success as local television stars and touring musicians playing to sold out houses from Australia to Scotland.

But the most somber scenes from the film deal with Jools' breast cancer struggle, her treatment, and recovery. The film poignantly shows Lynda hugging Jools while she undergoes chemotherapy session. Yes this is also a love story.

As twins, the film shows that they have a love and unique dynamic that, despite both enjoying long-term relationships with loving partners, demonstrate that they are spiritually inseparable.

“God forbid if anything or anyone comes between us," explained Lynda. "We never question our link with each other, we always make something fun, because it’s not a career, it’s a lifestyle."

In the film, Jools and Lynda recalled traveling from one small New Zealand town to another in a caravan drawn by a tractor. Said Jools, “It was so slow and tedious that we would travel 40 kilometers and decided we had enough, but some of those farming towns had not seen a live show since the early 1950s so we carried on and it was a great experience."  

Their outrageous characters have become beloved in New Zealand and beyond. From performing as "The Two Kens" to often bewildered (yet amused) audiences of steelworkers and farmers, or playing their female alter egos as Camp Mother and Camp Leader, the Bowling Ladies or posh socialite sisters -- Prue and Dilly -- they are always spot-on hilarious.

Later, Jools states to the audience during the Q&A, “We don't like to make distinctions in social and gender roles, rather evolve these characters evolve to capture people's imaginations.”

Released in April 2009, the film has taken in nearly two million NZ dollars at local box offices, making it the top documentary film ever released in that country. It had its premiere at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival, where it [yes/no?] won the Cadillac People’s Choice Award for Best Documentary - beating out a Michael Moore film. To "Topp" it all off, the documentary won the Best Doc Award at NewFest 2010 as well.

Following the screening, The Topps performed on stage their songs "Untouchable Girls" and "Graffiti Raiders," and did a short yodeling demonstration. They had started yodeling since they were five, practicing on their horses when riding home -- influenced by Australian Pasty Montana and American Shirley Thoms. Reminiscing on their adolescence, the Twins captivated the audience with comical stories of busking on the streets to singing in university café’s showing their love of being live performers.  

This feature deserved the accolades it has gotten not only because it is such an outstanding film, but because The Topp Twins are true stars. Their humor, warmth and honesty not only cause laughs but also makes us experience their love of humanity and sense of commonality with people of all nationalities, ethnicities, genders and orientations.

Four Standouts at the Cannes Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Reviews

Published on Monday, 31 May 2010 20:40

Written by Ron Dicker

The most subdued Cannes Film Festival in recent memory ended May 23, but a few entries are sticking with me. The following comprise my fabulous foursome.
 
Inside Job
Charles Ferguson's evisceration of the crooked bankers and pundits who led us to financial disaster gets my nod for best film -- even if it didn't screen in competition. His in-your-face camera made subjects squirm to provide accountability for the 2008 crash and our ongoing woes. Their hemming and hawing will stoke your rage, and Inside Job's meticulous breakdown of how we got screwed might make you the smartest guy in the room.
 
Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
Big-studio slickness meets real-life fiscal sickness in Oliver Stone's recession-set follow to his 1987 Wall Street. The "greed is good"-spouting Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas) emerges from prison to confront a world where he says, "greed is now legal." This is his cue to chew up some scenery (in a good way) and figure out how to manipulate his long-estranged daughter (Carey Mulligan) and her fiancé Jake (Shia LaBeouf), the earnest hedge-funder. Lots of longing looks at tall buildings and a story about avarice told with heart.
 
The Strange Case of Angelica
Beyond a curiosity for its 101-year-old director, Manoel de Oliveira, the film beguiled with old-fashioned pacing and a timeless tale of an outcast. Isaac (Ricardo Trepa), a Jewish refugee in Portugal after World War II, is called in the wee hours to photograph a beautiful bride (Pilar Lopez de Ayala) who has just died. Her image comes alive for him as Isaac mopes his way through daily life in an all-Catholic village. He pines for the dead . Without supernatural silliness, de Oliveira makes us believe that Isaac might be able to have her.
 
Blue Valentine
It's very Sundance-y and very good. Director Derek Cianfrance trains his camera on an unraveling marriage. Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams are the couple, locking horns in semi-verité moments that'll make you cringe. Blue Valentine is not a feel-good movie; it's a feel-good-about-movies movie.

TTF 2010 - Memento and The Science of Memory

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Reviews

Published on Tuesday, 11 May 2010 14:38

Written by Carmella McDonald

The classic indie film, Memento was screened at the Tribeca Film Festival on Saturday, April 24th, 2010, at the Chelsea Cinemas, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Since it was part of the Tribeca Talks track, it was followed by a panel discussion featuring special guests from the science and screen community, to explore “The Science of Memory” as it relates to Memento and, more broadly, the history of Hollywood's portrayal of memory.

Sponsored and presented by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation -- a philanthropic, not-for-profit grant-making institution based in New York City -- the Foundation challenges the existing stereotypes of scientists, engineers and mathematicians in the popular imagination, and by showcasing the intersection of science and film, it supports the development, production and distribution of narrative features that dramatize science and technology stories. The Foundations forms part of a national program to stimulate the creation of realistic and compelling stories about science and technology.

Memento was shot in 25 days and premiered in September 2000 at the Venice Film Festival.

The panel included screenwriter Jonathan Nolan (who wrote the short story “Memento Mori" that his older brother Christopher used as the basis of the film he directed) its stars Guy Pearce (he played Leonard Shelby who has “antergrade amnesia” -- which is loss of the ability to create memories after the event that caused the amensia and results in a partial or complete inability to recall the past) and Joe Pantoliano (who played Teddy, who is also John Edward Gammel), New School Professor of Psychology Dr. William First and MIT Professor of Behavioral Neuroscience Dr. Suzanne Corkin. It was moderated by National Public Radio's Radio Lab host Robert Kurlwich.

Nolan discussed the film's many interpretations, differentiating between what was plot and what was story, to the audiences at film festivals in Europe and the USA. As per the comment by Dr. Hirst, describing Pearce's character Leonard as if he was a human. "My reading was that he [Leonard] wanted the world to forget her [his wife] because he couldn't." Then Hirst added, "Leonard is at the mercy of his narrative."

Nolan's response was, "That's one valid interpretation of the film." He continued to talk about the direction of the film by his brother, that it was Christopher's idea to run half forward and half backward: events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives—one in color (reversed order) and the other in black and white [chronological order], all creating episodic memories. Jonathan stated that, "Just to mess with people, my brother [Christopher] swapped out to different shots, so the movie itself isn't the same as the DVD."


Actors Pearce and Pantoliano stated that for some of the scenes they could not remember acting in them, and that the short-term memory loss occurs in us all. Pantoliano joked, "I can remember the make-up truck, but I can't recall doing some of those scenes." and added, "It is such a thrill to be part of a film that people still care about and are arguing about 10 years later—it’s so cool."


Corkin gave a brief summary of semantic and habitual behavoir and that this film is still current in its summation of memory.

In my mind the most gripping statement was by Leonard: “I have no memory I have no sense of time.”

That loss of a sense of time was also felt by the rapt audience who clearly thought the panel ended far too soon.