SUNDANCE 2015: DREAMCATCHER By: Faiz No comments

A scene from Dreamcather.

Turning the beat-en around

By Don Simpson

Under the alias “Breezy,” Brenda Myers-Powell worked as a prostitute for 25 years. An extremely violent encounter with a “John” landed Myers-Powell in a hospital in desperate need of facial reconstruction. That fateful moment was enough to convince Myers-Powell that she needed to change her life as well as the lives of others.

Kim Longinotto’s Dreamcatcher observes Myers-Powell as she attempts to fulfill her mission of ending human trafficking in Chicago. Her organization, the Dreamcatcher Foundation, helps abused, drug-addicted women regain control of their lives. Armed with an overwhelmingly positive and caring personality, Myers-Powell gives hope to these women who would otherwise be lost. Myers-Powell’s unwavering strength and self-confidence serves as an anchor for the women, convincing them that they can survive outside of the sex industry. Thanks to the Dreamcatcher Foundation, they learn that their lives are not completely hopeless; they have a chance to follow Myers-Powell’s example and turn things around.

Knowing that she needs to stop the problem at its source, Myers-Powell works to prevent the sexual exploitation of at-risk youths. Via this harm reduction approach, if the Dreamcatcher Foundation can provide young at-risk teens with the strength, confidence and security they need, the hope is that the inherent cycle of neglect and violence will be broken, and there will be a much better chance that they will not succumb to being enslaved by the sex industry. It often seems that their only options to make money are prostitution and drug dealing, but the Dreamcatcher Foundation seeks to provide them with other choices.

Longinotto’s insightful documentary serves an inspirational tool to convince others that the sex trafficking problem in at-risk communities might not be a lost cause. There is hope as long as this world has more positive motivators like Myers-Powell to lead the way; the problem is, Myers-Powell seems like such a uniquely paragon personality for this role. Myers-Powell encapsulates her role with such perfection that it seems impossible to imagine that anyone else could replicate her successful methods. One might even go as far as saying that Myers-Powell is a modern day saint.

FILM REVIEW: HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN By: Faiz No comments

Hobo (Rutger Hauer) in Hobo with a Shotgun.

Not taking the ride

By Don Simpson

I typically do not read reviews of films before I write my own, but in this instance I read everything about Hobo with a Shotgun that has been published to date on IMDB.com and Rotten Tomatoes and, I have to admit, I really do not understand why so many people are raving about it. And that, my friends, is why I hopped on this god forsaken “I hate Hobo with a Shotgun” bandwagon in the first place.

Hopping off a train — because that is where all hobos seem to come from -- the nameless Hobo (Rutger Hauer) finds himself in the ironically named Hope Town (the adopted moniker of ”Scum Town” seems more appropriate). Within minutes, the Hobo witnesses the über-violent antics of the cartoonish mob boss, The Drake (Brian Downey), who yanks off people’s heads, leaving their decapitated body dangling inside a manhole of a public street, all at the frightful bemusement of a public audience. Or maybe they are merely waiting for some scantily clad women to bathe in the blood? (They do not have to wait very long for that to happen.)

The Hobo also befriends a street smart, young prostitute, Abby (Molly Dunsworth), who he likes to believe is a chaste schoolteacher. The Hobo mutters some nonsensical diatribes about bears and eventually announces his intentions of doling out justice for the sake of the local townspeople. Hurray! The Hobo arms himself with his titular weapon — a shotgun purchased at a local pawn shop — and sets his sights on The Drake and The Drake’s two evil sons, Ivan (Nick Bateman) and Slick (Gregory Smith), plus The Plague. By this point, what little plot there was in the first act has dissolved into some sort of nonsensical violent lunacy.

In the film’s one moment of metaphoric thoughtfulness, a lawnmower is revealed as a symbol of suburban domestic tranquility for the Hobo, but once push comes to shove that fairytale is promptly exchanged for the shotgun. Otherwise, Hobo with a Shotgun gratuitously avoids any mental stimulation.

I do not have many favorable things to say about Hobo with a Shotgun, yet I still give writer-director Jason Eisener’s for one thing: Hauer. The casting of Hauer in this role was truly an inspired yet fleeting moment of genius. As for the supporting characters, Eisner should have just set up a bunch of cardboard cutouts of overused cinematic stereotypes and the effect would have been exactly the same. To be honest, I do not discredit the actors — my problem with the supporting characters rests in the shoddily contrived dialogue and utter lack of character development.