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Nowhere Near a Gilded Cage: Mikhail Khodorkovsky in custody in KHODORKOVSKY.

“World’s richest political prisoner,” now there’s a term you don’t hear much. And while OWS can make a case that there are select representatives of the 1% that deserve to see the inside of jail cell, in the case of Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky, now serving time in his home country for charges of tax evasion and embezzlement (both trumped-up, in the opinion of many), the argument is not so clear.

In the new documentary, KHODORKOVSKY, filmmaker Cyril Tuschi incorporates interviews, stark, stylized animation, and his own personal journey to explore the story of a man who went from committed socialist to successful capitalist to political pariah. In the process, the film explores the paradoxes not just of Khodorkovsky’s own rise — a narrative that incorporates canny leveraging of a still-nascent financial system, a high-profile flaunting of his good fortune, and an ill-advised face-off with Russian strongman Vladimir Putin — but of a financial system that, in transitioning from communist to capitalist, wound up a Frankensteinian combination of both.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Tuschi.

KHODORKOVSKY
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Wagner Moura in ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN.

Like DIRTY HARRY with a social conscience, the Brazilian film ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN manages to kick all kinds of righteous ass while delving into the pernicious effect of corruption on those allegedly pledged with looking after the public welfare. The follow-up to 2007′s ELITE SQUAD, ENEMY WITHIN picks up Rio de Janeiro’s hard-line Special Operations Captain Nascimento as he’s kicked upstairs to become the city’s Sub-Secretary of Intelligence and committed to upending the city’s cycle of crime by waging all-out war on the gangs who rule the slums.  Problem is: the war is too successful, and Nascimento finds his victory has released a wave of official corruption that puts him into conflict with his own colleagues.

Director José Padilha built his reputation with the incredible hostage documentary BUS 174, and here demonstrates that the skills that turned news footage into riveting drama are well suited to telling a fictional story that delves into the dark corners of Brazilian society while keeping the audience riveted with intense action.

Click on the player to hear my conversation with Padilha.

ELITE SQUAD: THE ENEMY WITHIN
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Not Your Average Fix'r Up'r: Daniel Craig stands at the precipice of his fracturing sanity in DREAM HOUSE.

Winner of this year’s Ironic Film Title ribbon (SARAH PALIN: THE UNDEFEATED was disqualified for failure to complete a term — talk about ironic) DREAM HOUSE marks director Jim Sheridan’s attempt to explore the world of the psychological thriller, with a few surprising twists thrown in along the way. The tale of man whose family life begins to crumble with the revelation that the beautiful house they’ve just moved into was the scene of an horrific crime, the film has the atmosphere, has affecting performances by stars Daniel Craig and Rachel Weisz, — backed up by Naomi Watts as a sympathetic neighbor — and lays its story out in a way that casts events already witnessed in new lights as secrets are progressively revealed, but does its old-school approach still have relevance? Join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski and Dan Persons as they root around the cellar of a beloved genre and try to sweep away the cobwebs to find what works and what doesn’t in this latest attempt to draw chills from the infinite convolutions of the human mind.

Also: a discussion of the announced short-list of directors for Leonardo DiCaprio’s upcoming TWILIGHT ZONE project; and what’s coming in theatrical and home video releases.

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Justice Does Not Sleep: The brutal crimes commited in 1982 are avenged in Pamela Yates' GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR

Listen, there’s nothing particularly wrong with a documentary about the war between two Donkey Kong champions; it’s very good, actually (it’s KING OF KONG, in fact). It’s just that you have to admit that there’s a considerable span between that and a film that has a tangible effect in seeing a man responsible for genocide called to justice.

The one thing Pamela Yates knew while filming WHEN THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE in 1982 was that she wanted to see the Guatemalan generals in charge of the slaughter of Mayan villagers punished for their crimes. It took over two decades, but when the legal team preparing the case against former dictator General Rios Montt were preparing their case for the international court, they turned to Yates and her hours of out-takes for evidence. GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR is not only about Yates’ quest for the incriminating footage, but a personal recollection of her time shooting MOUNTAINS in 1982 and, ultimately, an examination of justice can only be served through the courage and determination of many hands. It may not give you insight into how to make it to the 22nd level, but it’s a heartening testament to the notion that, if people will it, monsters can ultimately be vanquished.

GRANITO: HOW TO NAIL A DICTATOR
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Steve James (with camera), Alex Kotlowitz (to James' right), and Zak Piper (with microphone) capture "violence interrupter" Ameena Matthews on the job for THE INTERRUPTERS.

In the movies, one man and one gun is all it takes to keep the peace. In reality, when you’re talking about the fear, anger, and frustration generated from poverty and exacerbated by drugs, territorial conflict, and just plain ego, a more empathetic approach is probably better.

In the new documentary, THE INTERRUPTERS, director Steve James (director, HOOP DREAMS) and producer Alex Kotlowitz (author, There are No Children Here) follow several members of CeaseFire — an organization that mobilizes “violence interrupters” to the streets of Chicago — as they attempt to defuse conflicts before they occur. With the intermediaries coming from the neighborhood streets themselves — and in some cases having served time for their own violent pasts — what James and Kotlowitz manage to capture is a powerful portrait of a populace struggling to rise to its better self through the mediums of reason and community.

Click on the player to hear my interview with James and Kotlowitz.

THE INTERRUPTERS
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The Moment of Desperation: Prisoner Silviu (George Pistereanu, left) holds a social worker (Ada Condeescu) hostage in IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE.

For the first show of 2011, how about a little international perspective? We’ve got interviews with two directors whose latest films deliver gripping, cinematically daring glimpses into worlds rarely examined from our side.

First up is Romanian director Florin Serban, talking about IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE, a stark, naturalistic drama about an imprisoned juvenile offender willing to put an impending parole and his own personal safety on the line to avert a family disaster. We follow that up with Palestinian director Elia Suleiman and his film, THE TIME THAT REMAINS, a sardonic and deeply personal look at Israel’s claiming of

The More Things Change: Director Elia Suleiman weathers the years in THE TIME THAT REMAINS.

Nazareth in 1948 and how that event affected the family of  one Israeli-Arab who, in later years, bears a striking resemblance to the director himself (possibly because Suleiman plays him at that point).

The two films couldn’t be more different, WHISTLE’s raw immediacy playing against TIME’s wry, stylized observation. What unites them is that they’re both intriguing, revelatory experiences; two great ways to kick off the New Year.

Click on the player to hear the interviews.

IF I WANT TO WHISTLE, I WHISTLE
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www.vreausafluier.ro

THE TIME THAT REMAINS
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When the Real Gets Too Real: Jeffrey Tambor confronts the moral quandries of ...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL

When you’re offered the opportunity to talk with Jeffrey Tambor — a.k.a Hank Kingsley, a.k.a. George Bluth Sr, a.k.a. Sid Garner for those who really keep track of these things — do you say no? You do not — of course, you do not. Jeffrey was in town to participate in the closing night of the 5th Annual Fordham Law School Film Festival, during which his big-screen debut, …AND JUSTICE FOR ALL — in which he plays a lawyer driven to the borders of sanity by the moral contradictions of his profession — would be presented, after which would sit down with critic Neil Gabler and festival organizer Thane Rosenbaum to discuss the film. I spent time with Jeffrey and Thane before the event, and got some surprising insights on the creation of this alternately shocking and hilarious film.

Click on the player above to hear the discussion.

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JEFFREY TAMBOR: LIVE AT THE FORDHAM FILM FESTIVAL

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Man and Boy, Both Driven: Ben Mendelsohn (left) and James Frecheville share a family moment in ANIMAL KINGDOM.

Finally, the family film we’ve been waiting for this summer. Okay, that’s an obvious joke, sorry. ANIMAL KINGDOM is about a family, but one that, if you’re lucky, you’ll never have as next door neighbors. Set in crime-ridden Melbourne, Australia, the film focuses on the Cody clan, a criminal unit that’s fallen on hard times.

ANIMAL KINGDOM is presented mostly through the eyes of Joshua — aka “J” (James Frecheville)– a teenager who’s just lost his mother to drugs and who’s now fallen into the loving, poisonous arms of his grandmother “Smurf” (Jacki Weaver), and her extended family, including kin, Darren (Luke Ford), Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) and “Pope” (Ben Mendelsohn), and partner-in-crime — and the most level-headed soul in the lot — “Baz” (Joel Edgerton — whom we met earlier this year as a similarly level-headed arsonist in THE SQUARE). And while the film follows J as he deals with the moral quandaries of living in the midst of thieves and murderers, the show really belongs to Weaver and Mendelsohn, she bringing a candied malignancy to Grandma Smurf, he limning a chilling portrayal of the kind of sociopath who, just by instinct, most sane people know to cut a wide swath around.

And by the way, Guy Pearce is in there as well, as a detective who serves as moral counterbalance for young J, and who we suspect maintains his noble station by using his mustache as a filter against corruption.

Director David Michod was willing to discuss the effort that went into this, his debut feature. Click on the player to hear the interview.

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ANIMAL KINGDOM
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The Classic Corrupt Family.

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Liberation's Forge: A tense moment from STONEWALL UPRISING.

And so now we catch up on a couple of very good films that opened last week, but — because there’s only so much podcasting I can do before my ears start to bleed — had to wait a week to be covered. In the case of the film featured in this episode, STONEWALL UPRISING, the delay turns out not to be too bad: We’re still in the midst of  Pride Week, after all, so this documentary remains relevant.

This is from Kate Davis and David Heilbroner, whom we met earlier this year with the release of their black metal documentary WAITING FOR ARMAGEDDON. There are fewer church burnings in STONEWALL, but that doesn’t mean the event depicted — a 1969, NYC riot sparked when the police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn and the patrons decided they’d had their fill of harassment — didn’t stoke its own kind of fire, specifically the birth of the gay rights movement. Davis and Heilbroner rally some great, eyewitness interviews — including the vice cop who led the raid — and manage to put the story in context with considerable footage from news shows and “educational” films showing how, even in the mid- to late-sixties, attitudes towards homosexuality had barely advanced beyond the let’s-burn-’em-at-the-stake stage. If you paired this up with another great doc released last week — 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION, about the Mormon church’s concerted efforts to have their institutionalized homophobia turned into law — you’d get a good view of how far gay rights have come, and how far they still need to go.

Click on the player to hear the show.

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STONEWALL UPRISING
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A Worthy Complement.

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Public Threat: A criminal (Javier Godino, left) delivers a not-so-subtle message to public servants Soledad Villamil and Ricardo Darin in the Oscar-winning foreign language film, THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES.

Seems to be some confusion about the title of this. For the record, according to the front page of the production notes, it’s THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES. Not THE SECRET OF THEIR EYES or even THE SECRET IN HER EYES, which is the way the video file for the trailer is labeled. So I hope we’ve got that all ironed out, now. Let’s move on, mmmkay?

The nominees for this year’s Best Foreign Language Film were a strong bunch: AJAMI; THE WHITE RIBBON; A PROPHET (UN PROPHÈTE) — I didn’t get to see THE MILK OF SORROW, so can’t say how it matched up. That the Argentinian SECRET — the story of a retired police inspector (Ricardo Darin) who delves back into a rape-murder he investigated in 1974 — took the prize may have had much to do with director Juan Jose Campanella’s ability to mold the film (adapted from a novel by Eduardo Sacheri) as a popular, whodunit while running deeper currents about love and sacrifice underneath. It probably didn’t hurt that supporting actor Guillermo Francella — better know in Argentina for his comic roles — delivered a complex, powerful performance as the inspector’s flawed sidekick, or that the film boasts a stunningly choreographed arrest sequence set in a crowded soccer stadium.

Campanella was clearly enjoying his victory, and we had a fun time talking. Click on the player to hear the interview.

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THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES
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Another Powerhouse Nominee from 2009