n Crumbs
The wind sighs heavily through the rusted skeletons of cars and buildings in a world where scavengers struggle to survive. Australian filmmakers pioneered this post-apocalypse scenario, but Spanish director Miguel Llansó twists the genre in unique knots with Crumbs. Set in Ethiopia after the “Big War,” Crumbs is a touching and odd story of the descendants of survivors who turn the debris of American pop culture into talismans and their Talmudic efforts at explaining their meaning.
n I Need a Dodge! Joe Strummer on the Run
The original Clash had dissolved, many fans despised the new lineup and, grappling with depression, Joe Strummer ran away to Spain. Nick Hall’s documentary is a fascinating look for Clash fans into Strummer’s lost period (1985-1986). Interviewed are the Spanish musicians drawn to the “miraculous apparition” of Strummer in their midst. The film’s title refers to the Dodge Dart driven around Spain by the punk rock star, misplaced on a street and never recovered.
n In the Name of My Daughter
Money and inheritance can split a family and love can cloud judgment and tear people apart. Such are the themes in French director André Téchiné’s beautifully filmed In the Name of My Daughter. The daughter in question (Adèle Haenel) is betraying her mother (Catherine Deneuve) while being betrayed by her mother’s former business advisor (Guillaume Canet). He is duplicitous, the daughter is feckless and the mother is menaced by a mob takeover of her casino.
n “The Great American Dream Machine”
This short-lived U.S. public television program (1971-1972) was too bizarre for mainstream America in those days. It was TV spoofing TV, an irreverent countercultural satire of society and it was peppered with unusual animation, odd use of sound, comical skits, ironic person-on-the-street interviews and reportorial segments. A piece on a demolition derby complete with red, white and blue stock cars includes an organizer declaring with a straight face: “This is not a violent country.”
