Daily Archives: August 7, 2008

Stealing America: Vote By Vote

Film Reviews, Politics

When is a vote really not a vote? Well, plenty of the time, it seems, sadly and frighteningly. A sort of political companion piece to Alex Gibney’s Sundance-minted 2005 documentary Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, which at its most basic level shrewdly tackled the inanity and insanity of corporate culture, Stealing America: Vote by Vote looks at the ludicrousness of the election process, and its extreme, and increasing, fallibility in the digital age.

Bringing together behind-the-scenes perspectives from the U.S. presidential election of 2004 — plus startling stories from key Congressional races in 1998, 2000, 2002 and 2006 — the film sheds light on almost a full decade of vote counts that don’t match votes cast (3.4 million from the 2004 election, or a total of 2.7 percent of the total number of ballots cast). In the shadows of another hugely important national election — and one seemingly destined to be close, at least electorally — it’s hard to imagine a more topical, important documentary.

Narrated by Peter Coyote, the film cold-starts rather awkwardly, and for a while seems merely a timely yet staid classroom filmstrip. Eventually, though, as anecdotal incidents scattered like marbles seemingly reveal a larger behavioral pattern, Stealing America gathers energy, focus and an angsty head of steam. Director Dorothy Fadiman has the natural advantage, of numbers and narrative, on her side, so she doesn’t need to really take an antagonistic stance or pump too much showmanship into her project. And she doesn’t; she’s the anti-Michael Moore in this regard. Unfortunately, Fadiman also has some trouble initially locating the pulse of her tale, and structuring things to make the big picture clear. In the end, though, Stealing America still swings a heavy bat — the issue wins out, and carries the day, and because of that the movie’s not inconsiderable shortcomings matter a lot less than they would were the subject matter different. For the full review, from H Magazine, click here. More to follow next week, in the form of interview tidbits with Fadiman and Leon County Florida State Supervisor of Elections Ion Sancho. (Direct Cinema Limited, unrated, 90 minutes)

Lakeview Terrace Seems a Weird Fit for Neil LaBute

Musings, Trailer Watch

I’ve now twice watched the trailer for Lakeview Terrace, a September flick about Samuel L. Jackson’s problems with a young couple that moves in next door, and apart from the major themes of discord there’s little to suggest it as the work of director Neil LaBute, whose career has taken a decidedly bizarre turn ever since 2003’s The Shape of Things. It feels more like a film for Gregory Hoblit (Fracture, Untraceable) or someone of that ilk, a respectable genre hand who has a touch of “thriller” experience. Maybe Harold Becker, if he’s still working. In short, it doesn’t seem like a work that allows for the imprint of much of a worldview, or sense of personality. Who knows, though — maybe that was part of the appeal for LaBute, after the commercial washout of The Wicker Man, abetted by Warner Bros.’ snuff publicity campaign.

On the plus side, I dig the matter-of-fact manner in which it presents the interracial marriage between Patrick Wilson and Kerry Washington, which is more than heavily implied as being at the core of Jackson’s problems with his new neighbors. That’s refreshing. Halfway through the film’s trailer it also plays the “color” card — as in blue, since Jackson’s character is a cop — which would seem to be a really effective second act twist played too soon (a la Ransom‘s ante-upping bounty), though there’s no evidence that the script is that intelligently withholding, since a few intercut scenes seem to show Jackson engaging in workplace shootouts and/or skull-cracking, which are probably an introduction to his character. I’ll be seeing the film fairly soon, and might revisit some of this in non-spoiler-ish fashion, we’ll see.