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The Type of Film the Darkside Was Built For: WENDY AND LUCY

Wendy is heading for Alaska one disappointment and interruption at a time. These misadventures seem to reach a critical mass in Portland, Oregon when she wakes up to a polite but firm security guard knocking on her car window to tell her she can't sleep in her car on his watch. Her car, pitifully, will not start so he helps her push it to the curb, just out of his jurisdiction. The repair shop across the street will not open until tomorrow, which leaves Wendy to her car and the city. An unfamiliar city.

It's not surprising to see a parental instinct in the security guard upon meeting a young woman with her life in the back of a car--a car that has given in to time, friction, and abuse. In her face is that distrust of men--especially older men--who might have motives not driven by a parental instinct. There is something both pathetic and heroic about someone living from one dollar to the next and who shoplifts for her dog when it's obvious she could use a meal, or two. Her dog Lucy witnesses Wendy's arrest, from the end of a rope tied to a red bicycle rack outside the grocery store. The movie takes off when Wendy pays her bail and comes back to find that Lucy is not waiting for her at the end of a rope tied to a red bicycle rack.

WENDY AND LUCY is a simple movie chronicling a few days in the life of a young woman on the road. She's leaving a bad job behind her for the hope of a better job in Alaska. Oscar-nominated Actress Michelle Williams certainly had more commercial opportunities than this minimalist film shoot in Portland, Oregon. That should hint at the power of the script and Williams' absorption into the character of Wendy. Her dark features emanate the strange power held by those who move through the world hauling heavier emotional baggage than the stuff stashed in plastic bags and backpacks, in the back of the car. With no sexuality and less charm we see Wendy using a gas station restroom as a place to wash herself and her clothes. Her exposure to the realities of street life washes away her quiet rage, leaving a solo traveler with limited funds and friends. The only friend she trusts is lost somewhere between a red bicycle rack and oblivion.

The question could be asked: why would anyone not on extra zesty antidepressants care to take in such a film? Unlike gaping at a train wreck victim, you do not look away when one of the characters in WENDY AND LUCY stares back. When we witness a real traffic accident, we experience the very real feeling of "better you than me." Whether we admit this or not, the thought is there, somewhere. Better them than me. Better their child than my child. You can see in the victim's eyes that they know that you, the tourist, feels exactly that. Sometimes you nod at each other to say it's okay. You wish them the best.

Years ago I came upon a motorcycle accident. I was on my motorcycle and it was hot and it was I-5 and traffic was moving one car length a minute. I caught a glimpse of the twisted wreckage that was, until very recently, a new Honda crotch rocket. A few car lengths later I could see a blue tarp covering a body. A state trooper was trying to pick up a leg that had fallen from under the tarp. He couldn't do it. He stood up and used his foot to push it back into place under the tarp. 

I laughed. I had to. After 30 years on a motorcycle I've seen my share of how bad things can get. And it's absolutely irrelevant. After traffic opened up I opened up the throttle--hammering gears as thunder cracked from the exhaust. With a twist of the throttle, I was proving that today I live. If the roles were reversed, he would have been laughing at me under that tarp; he'd have done the same thing. He'd have to.

We do not have to turn away from Wendy. We celebrate that she is beating the odds. We're glad it's not our daughter, even as she becomes our daughter. The "better you than me" becomes a blur because that is me. You are uncontrollably drawn to her not for the spectacle, but for the hope that she will be okay. The script is unpredictable enough that you do not count on a Hollywood ending. She is risking death to get where she needs to go. She has to get there. Those who live that way will get it. WENDY AND LUCY offers insight into how a wanderer lives when drugs or degradation do not rule life. It doesn't have to be a young woman sleeping in her car or some biker under a tarp to make you feel lucky and sad at the same time. Wendy helps us connect with that very same heroic place in ourselves without having to look away when others fall. And that is the gift of WENDY AND LUCY. We tend to see people as either rooted or traveling--often eying each other with suspicion. We see the bushy-browed security guard blur that line between himself and Wendy after helping push her car to the curb. With touching decency, he does what he can.
 
If you got this far into this review, you have what it takes to come away with something precious after seeing WENDY AND LUCY. Another reason: one of the central characters of the movie is Portland, Oregon. Most movies set in Portland make it seem like it is just one more American city. But, in WENDY AND LUCY, the filmmaker shows some of its character and one of Portland's nicest features: people there are generally nice.

Many will see WENDY AND LUCY as a story where doing the right thing isn't so clear. Sacrifices become trade-offs and leave us feeling unsure if the right thing was done. This story is told through the lens of uncompromising honesty. This can be bludgeoning or celebratory. I chose to see it as celebration because I believe she will be okay. Or she will not. Either way I will nod at her. She will nod back.

da Vinci Film Fest's Bastard Child: BRONX PARADISE

Once again, this year I'm one of the da Vinci Film Festival judges. I've been doing it a little while. When I book the movies for the Darkside, I try to be conscious of the sensitivities of my adoring public. It's the same for the film festival.

Every once in a while I see a film that has some rough edges--so rough that it might mean the film won't see broad distribution. BRONX PARADISE is one such film. Written by the starring actor, who made sure the film fulfilled his vision, it is unapologetically vivid. Period.

There are a lot of good films showing at the da Vinci Film Festival this weekend, but this film was on the fence for a lot of the screeners. A few of us championed it, and made it part of the festival. Here's my review.

BRONX PARADISE
Review by Paul Turner

There is a scene in the Scorsese classic GOOD FELLAS, where we see Robert DeNiro's character, Jimmy, looking off screen while lighting a cigarette. The oozing glare of pure malice on DeNiro's face makes THE SOPRANOS' James Gandolfini worst menacing sneer about as scary as a poodle begging for ice cream. In BRONX PARADISE, Wayne Gurman makes Michael Chiklis' character in THE SHIELD look about as scary as that same poodle. There is no mistaking the physical resemblance between Gurman and Chiklis--both actors play bald-headed tough guys who give little forethought to how their actions are going to impact their own lives and those of others who might have the misfortune of being in their orbit. Of all the characters listed above, Wayne Gurman is the one you really, really do not want moving into your neighborhood.

In the first ten minutes of BRONX PARADISE, I lost track of how many times Wayne, who plays himself, uses the "F" word--and this is before he gets out of his minivan. Now that's entertainment--if you find being in a car with a rage-aholic entertainment. This is all a way of introducing Wayne as he was almost 20 years ago: a small time thug/coke dealer in the Bronx. BRONX PARADISE brings us into the world of drug dealing on the mean streets. Frankly, short of a Turkish prison, it's difficult to imagine a harder place to do business: fighting off the muscle, competition, and general slime. Wayne evolves into his environment and gets through his day the only way he knows how, by using his wits and being the baddest bully on the block. Obviously, there is a lot more to Wayne or this wouldn't be much of a movie.

Gurman, the star and writer of BRONX PARADISE (directed by William Lappe), made a real-life fairytale transition. He dodged certain death (or certainly Death Row) by escaping his life as a coke dealer. He left the 'hood to become a Californian actor. You might have seen him on TV's LAW & ORDER or RESCUE ME. Spending 15 years as a criminal has not left him lacking depth for such roles. Consider this fair warning. BRONX PARADISE will not be embraced by the usual Corvallis movie-going public. It spins with racism--tempered by having a black wife and kids, misogyny untempered by anything, violence to the point of ridiculousness (and, okay, maybe humor), and cruelty unimagined outside of a war zone or a tabloid news rag. Though many viewers may not seek out this type of film, BRONX PARADISE could be worth the ride for those who do. Sometimes a film shouldn't be easy. Sometimes a film needs to get up in the face of those who have been sucked in by the Hollywood version of The Coke Dealer. (There is a great scene where Wayne explains to a friend, with startling compassion, why he should avoid a career selling drugs.) BRONX PARADISE will get the testosterone boiling. In the men, too. It will make you want to take his buddy John (played with riveting "Sweet Jesus! This guy is nucking futs!" realism by John Palumbo) out of the gene pool in the most painful way possible. We see a landscape so devoid of political correctness, it starts to become comical. You will wonder how any scene in BRONX PARADISE could get any grittier, then it will proceed to do so.

There are moments in this film that are, in fact, some of the funniest moments I've seen on the screen this year. When Wayne gives out the awards for the worst behavior in a movie theater, I was in tears. This is a close second to the press conference around why he has a small penis. The fact that these bits flow with the story speaks well of the editing.

There is not a missed note in the acting or cinematography. Each character is brought frighteningly well to life by people who are outstanding actors--or, who were not acting. Film making is hard damn work. A successful film will not show too much of the sweat behind the curtain. BRONX PARADISE uses no clichéd camerawork; you stay riveted on the story, without being distracted by how it was brought to you. There are scenes that run a little long and I think a few more "darlings" could have been "killed off." This may be sacrilege, but I would like to see a "cleaned up" version of this film for the masses. There are so many things to show off in BRONX PARADISE--from the story, to the acting, to the production value--that will never be seen, because the film is too much for a lot of people. Then again, sometimes I underestimate what people can handle. After a 400 mile day on the Harley, when I pull up in front of the Darkside with my 'tude on, little old ladies come up to me and ask about the latest French film. Sometimes objects may be less scary than they seem.

The reality is, Wayne survived his 15 years dealing drugs and violence to the weak, and then walked away. One doesn't get to walk away from that life without there being a change--or a change waiting to happen. This what raises the film above the Let's-See-How-Many-People-We-Can-Piss-Off genre. You will not see it coming. This is the mark of a well written script.

There might be a tendency to wonder if this film is a glorification of the ugly life Wayne led, or whether it manifests some sort of redemption. Maybe the redemption is in showing how truly unredeeming a life it is selling drugs--or is this movie just another way of splattering the screen with Gurman's brand of extreme macho? Here's the deal. Leave morality out of it and judge the film on its own merits. The motivations of the writer/actor are only noise. The movie industry is not a monument to purity in motivations and morality of character. Do a little reading about how Judy Garland was treated during the making of THE WIZARD OF OZ.

BRONX PARADISE is not for everyone. It's not supposed to be. But, that's why there are film festivals and theaters like the Darkside Cinema. Handle with care. Don't try this at home. Keep arms and legs inside the vehicle, and eat all your vegetables. When you get tired of watching movies that stick to the rules, there will be BRONX PARADISE.