Hypnosis to be Happy (2018)
Recently released on Blu-ray and DVD: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert, The Kids Table, A Bucket of Blood and Hypnosis to be Happy.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: In Concert
The “25th Anniversary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Concert” (2009) included many star-filled lineups. Crosby Stills & Nash hadn’t lost their stardust harmonies and introduced friends such as Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne. The show got funky with Stevie Wonder and hit a highpoint when Jeff Beck joined him for a blazing “Superstitious.” This show is just one disc in an 11-DVD set with 30 hours of music and talk from a decade of concerts.
The Kids Table
Bridge was once one of America’s most popular pastimes. Now the average age of bridge players is 73 and rising. The documentary The Kids Table focuses on a team of millennials competing in bridge tournaments. They are forced to stop texting, think critically and signal team members through their choices, not their words. Devices are not allowed. “Bridge is totally awesome!” exclaims one youthful player. Perhaps bridge will be the vinyl LP of cardplaying?
A Bucket of Blood
In Roger Corman’s 1959 spoof of the Beat Generation, Walter Paisley (Dick Miller) is a none-too-bright busboy at a coffeehouse where second-string Ginsbergs hold forth and murder ballads are sung. Every jive-talker in the joint wants to be “creative.” Walter, the failed sculptor, gains recognition after dipping the things he kills in clay. “It expresses modern man in all his self-pity” gushes a fan. The black-and-white cinematography is cool and the acting is spot-on.
Hypnosis to be Happy
It gets off to a slow start—and then grows suddenly interesting. Felipe (Antón Araiza) and Pilar (Ericka Ramirez) are dining in a restaurant when he offers her an engagement ring. She’s baffled, dumbfounded, alarmed—after all, it’s only their fourth date! Directed by Mexico’s Victor Audiffred, Hypnosis to be Happy is like a two-person stage play on philosophy and intimacy, infused with some beautiful nature cinematography when the couple embark on a road trip.
