ISSUE #2
BEAM FROM THE BOOTH | GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY
[EDITED BY: GRIFFIN SHERIDAN]
Hello, and welcome back to BEAM FROM THE BOOTH, a new weekly newsletter from the GRAND RAPIDS FILM SOCIETY!
It was thrilling to launch the newsletter last week with ISSUE #1 and we can’t wait for you to read this new installment.
We were also so excited to finally be able to share the newsletter with a live audience at OPEN PROJECTOR NIGHT this past Wednesday. Speaking of which, we want to take a moment to thank everyone who attended and especially the filmmakers, many of whom were present, making our Q&A wonderfully insightful. We announced the winners yesterday via our social media pages, but for those who missed it, they are as follows…
FIRST PLACE: In the Blood (dir. Allison Riley)
SECOND PLACE: Jesus Freak (dir. Alex Peerez)
THIRD PLACE: Strawberry Milk (dir. Brennan Huizinga)
Congrats to these three filmmakers for their exemplary work. Look for our interview with first place winner ALLISON RILEY very soon. And if YOU have a short that you would like to submit for consideration in our next OPN (currently slated for MAY 24th), you can do so now at [FILM FREEWAY].
Now! On with this latest installment of… BEAM FROM THE BOOTH!
VISITING FILMMAKER:
ADAM KHALIL
[BY: SPENCER EVERHART]
At Wealthy Theatre on Monday, February 20th, at 7:00pm writer/director Adam Khalil will discuss his collaborative/multi-disciplinary work in the visual arts in a lecture titled “How to Commit Crimes Against Reality". Leading up to this exciting event, we want to share two 'previews' to spotlight this radical Indigenous artist.
The first is a short experimental documentary called The Violence of a Civilization Without Secrets (2018), made by Khalil alongside his brother Zack and Jackson Polys, which chronicles the "recent court case that decided the fate of the remains of a prehistoric Paleoamerican man found in Kennewick, Washington State in 1996. The case pitted the Umatilla people and other tribes, who wanted to provide a burial to the 'Ancient One,' against two scientists—one of which from the publicly-funded Smithsonian Institute—who wanted to study the 'Kennewick Man.' You can watch this stylistically adventurous and politically urgent film here...
The second is a video interview with Khalil conducted in 2022 where he describes his creative process, the nature of collaboration, how he wields humor and irony, what it means to imagine and promote Indigenous futures, as well as much more. You can explore his insights here...
This Monday's lecture and the rest of the 3-day GVSU Arts Celebration events featuring Adam Khalil are all free and open to the public.
Find more info [HERE].
TRUE CRIME DOCUMENTARIES WORTH YOUR TIME (IF YOU’RE INTO THAT & ACCORDING TO ME)
[BY: LAUREN PATCHETT]
When you’re interested in anything “True Crime,” there are certain quintessential watches…those documentaries that everyone has an opinion on. For me, I think of documentaries like The Staircase and Making a Murderer…and don’t get me wrong, I loved these. In fact, they’ve definitely kept me up on a couple sleepless nights. But, even still, I think about a few others even more.
Here, I present to you — not the ‘required watches’ — but instead 3 that I think are very good.
The Imposter (Layton, 2012)
In 1994, 13 year old Nicholas Barclay disappeared in Texas. A little more than 3 years later, he turns up in Spain…or does he? As the title reveals, things are not as they seem.
This documentary provides an insane look into this case by talking with The Imposter himself: Frédéric Bourdin. He gives us a first hand account of how he managed to present himself as the missing boy.
This documentary intertwines reenactment scenes with interview portions more masterfully than any I’ve seen in this genre and, throughout it, so many questions arise. Who knows what? How did this happen? Who is to blame?
By the end, the accounts provided by the people involved seem to speak for themselves.
Watch for free on Tubi!
The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (Jarecki, 2015)
Okay…so maybe you have heard the hype surrounding this one.
Regardless, if you haven’t seen it — see it!
New York real estate heir Robert Durst had never worked with any journalist before…but in 2010, Andrew Jarecki directed and released a film inspired by Durst’s biography. Durst liked it so much that he called Jarecki himself and offered Jarecki to interview him.
Thus — The Jinx was born!
Labelled as a “miniseries,” though it includes more episodes than the others I’ve included in this list, The Jinx investigates 3 mysteries surrounding Durst. The disappearance of his wife Kathie, the murder of his friend Susan, and the murder (and dismemberment!) of his neighbor Morris. He confessed to the murder (and again, dismemberment) of his neighbor…but after a dramatic trial, Durst wasn’t convicted. How? And is he involved with the others?
The first half of the series blends new and past interviews, reenactments, security footage, police evidence, and more - to paint a clear picture of what’s really going on. We learn about Durst’s upbringing and his family life, we learn about his friendships and relationships. This forms a complex narrative, but it also highlights the contradictions that exist throughout.
As the series progresses, things take a turn. Jarecki and Durst form a relationship while working on this documentary together. As viewers, we get a behind the scenes look into the documentary filmmaking process. Those closest to these cases give clarity to what seems blurry at first, and new evidence is uncovered.
Is Durst to blame, or is he really just jinxed?
Watch on HBO Max!
Don’t F*** with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer (Lewis, 2019)
When Netflix first released this, I was seeing so many conflicting opinions online. Youtube videos entitled “I Watched ‘Don’t F**** with Cats’ So You Don’t Have To” were being recommended to me left and right. I didn’t look into the details then, so I wasn’t sure what the fuss was about.
Flash forward two years later, and something compelled me to dive in.
This 3 part docuseries follows a group of internet sleuths who make it their mission to uncover information behind the viral video “1 boy 2 kittens” — a graphic recording that shows a man killing innocent animals. Using the most minute details they were provided with, the group tracks down the man behind it: a Canadian porn actor named Luka Magnotta. The group demands action from authorities fearing things will escalate, and only after another video emerges — this time showing a murder — do the authorities get involved.
The drastic opinions on this series were obviously caused by the depiction of animal abuse and murder. Any sane person would have a hard time stomaching the things shown. It should be noted though, that nothing is fully shown. You see portions of the videos mentioned, and at times when the visual element is cut out, some audio remains. As viewers, we even get to see reactions to it.
With True Crime, there’s always something hard to stomach, but for me, if justice is served I can handle it better. Spoiler Alert (but not really): they catch him.
Overall, it has a good balance of humor to offset the tragedy, which can be rare in this genre. Plus, these people are such characters — I honestly don’t think they could’ve been written better.
Watch on Netflix!
NEW RELEASE REVIEW
[BY: SAM MCKENNEY]
Knock at the Cabin (Shyamalan, 2023)
Writer/Director M. Night Shyamalan is the master of the twist ending. The line “I see dead people” has become a staple of film discussion across the world since the release of The Sixth Sense. My personal favorite twist of his is in Unbreakable (such a clever ending; also, I have to leave my hot take here: it is the greatest superhero film ever made). In his newest film Knock at the Cabin, Shyamalan goes against type and moves his twist to the very beginning. It follows a family of three as they are held against their will in a cabin in the woods by a group of four intruders. They are given a choice: sacrifice a member of their family or the world will end.
The film opens with Leonard (Dave Bautista), covered in tattoos and as many muscles as a human can have, approaching a young girl named Wen (Kristen Cui) as she is catching grasshoppers outside the cabin she and her fathers are vacationing at. Leonard is a strange yet gentle man, walking a line between menacing and nurturing that gives an off-kilter feeling to both Wen and the audience themselves. This feeling is aided by the claustrophobic Kodak photography (courtesy cinematographers Jarin Blaschke & Lowell A. Meyer) and unnervingly lit setting, but it really all culminates in that lead performance by Dave Bautista. Leonard is one of these intruders, and is tasked with giving these innocent people this awful decision, yet his tender nature (he tells them he is a second grade teacher) contrasts so much with the violence he is seeking. Bautista and Shyamalan are very much in sync here, as the role of the towering teddy bear does not come to mind when looking at the raw physicality of an actor like Bautista, but what he is able to pull off here is nothing short of stunning. His pure gentleness is what carries this film to the heights it achieves. Not only is his performance incredible, but all the performances around him really hold their weight as well. Jonathan Groff and Ben Aldridge play Wen’s fathers, and they are incredible as a pair faced with an absolutely impossible choice. It is a really tough performance to give, being tied to one spot in one location for the majority of the runtime, and they are up to the task.
Speaking of runtime, this film comes in at a crisp 100 minutes, and it's all the better for it. Lean and mean, Shyamalan utilizes his best-in-class formal abilities to craft this tight and suspenseful thriller with all the best aspects of his previous films. There is the apocalyptic fear of destruction juxtaposed with the strength of family and faith, similar to his film Signs (and maybe even The Happening), as well as the formal aptitude and genre exercise of films like Split and Old. While the comparison to theater has been made, as the film largely takes place in one location, that criticism — if you can even call it that — doesn’t hold up when examining the specificity of each camera placement and movement. The script may lend itself to a more theater-driven approach, but Shyamalan the auteur imagines his way out of that in order to make the piece expressed through the language of cinema.
All that said, while the film is so well-made and told, it ultimately does not have the same staying power or thematic longevity that Shyamalan’s earliest films have, and it’s difficult to articulate why. It just didn’t conjure the same feelings that The Sixth Sense or Unbreakable did for me, and the answer to why that is is still unclear. But if we can get a 100 minute, in-and-out, effective thriller from a director as talented as M. Night Shyamalan every sixteen months (he self-finances and seems to never stop working), then the world of cinema is a better place.
UPCOMING EVENTS
LE HAVRE (Kaurismäki, 2011 - Finland/France)
WHAT: Part of CHIAROSCURO INTERNATIONAL FILM SERIES’ “Absence/Presence” Series. Screening to be followed by discussion and reception.
WHEN: SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 19th, 2:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
“HOW TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST REALITY”
WHAT: GVSU Arts Celebration presents this lecture from filmmaker Adam Khalil.
WHEN: MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20th, 7:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
[FREE ADMISSION]
TWIN PEAKS DAY: SPECIAL EVENT
WHAT: A special screening of TWIN PEAKS Episodes 1 and 2 in celebration of the iconic series. Coffee and pie provided. Costumes encouraged.
WHEN: Friday, February 24th, 8:00pm
WHERE: The Wealthy Theatre
And so we’ve arrived at the end of another BEAM FROM THE BOOTH! We appreciate you taking the time to read it and truly hope you’ll continue to do so. Be sure to SUBSCRIBE to get each issue in your inbox every FRIDAY and stay up-to-date on all things GRFS!
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Look for ISSUE #3 in your inbox NEXT FRIDAY, 2/24!
Until then, friends…
I loved the Jinx but haven’t seen Lauren’s other recommendations! Will definitely check them out.