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Current Features
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| Plus: 10 Top Can't-Miss, Made-In-New Mexico Movies |
As any filmmaker knows, even a bad film is very difficult to make; so when a fine one is completed, it’s nothing short of a miracle. Why, then, do great movies slip through the cracks? Consider distribution woes, critics, and puny opening weekends. In addition, some stories are ahead of their time, don’t attract an audience, and thus go straight to nigh-invisible video. Elizabeth Gaylynn Baker shows you why these five New Mexico films deserve to be noticed.
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Off the Map (2003)
Off the Map is an offbeat home drama that reveres New Mexico. It’s set in the 1970s, and the punch it carries is even more powerful now that living “off the grid” is not only fashionable but relevant. The gorgeous scenery stretches from Albuquerque to Taos, with the Groden home built in the middle of Carson National Forest. This is where Charley and Arlene Groden (perfectly portrayed by Sam Elliott and Joan Allen) live with their daughter, Bo (in an amazing performance by newcomer Valentina de Angelis). The self-reliant couple hunts for food, salvages necessities from the dump, and lives without electricity or telephones. They home-school their daughter, use an outhouse, grow a garden, and earn $1,200 annually selling flowers and making crafts. Their story opens with an absurd
letter announcing an IRS audit. Enter IRS agent William Gibbs (Jim True-Frost), who hikes to the Groden home when his car breaks down, only to suffer a bee sting that nearly ends his life, then jump-starts it instead. On arriving, he finds Charley clinically depressed—something to which, it turns out, Gibbs can relate. With the help of Charley’s best friend, Jack (J.K. Simmons, praised for his portrayal of Mac MacGuff in last year’s Juno), Arlene attempts to coax her husband back to life, but no one can match the practical patience, love, and imagination of their daughter, Bo. The magical depth of this family adventure will surprise and delight you. Directing a script based on a play by Joan Ackermann, Campbell Scott
manages to weave the patience of love, the angst of puberty, the priceless value of friendship,
and the extraordinary healing qualities of creating art into the relentless continuum of change that is our lives.
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Fool for Love (1985)
In Fool for Love, playwright Sam Shepard collaborated with Robert Altman in presenting Shepard’s dark tale of tragic frustration: A boy and a girl meet as innocent teenagers and fall deeply in love—only to discover the heartbreaking fact that they are half-siblings. Now older, Eddie (played at Altman’s insistence by Shepard) tracks down his
half-sister, May (played explosively by Kim Basinger), at a rundown motel outside
Eldorado, New Mexico. Harry Dean Stanton plays their seedy, unrepentant father. The set for the pink motel, built by Altman’s son, almost becomes a character itself, and was so realistic that tourists stopped for rooms or meals during the filming. Altman wields his directorial genius in flashbacks and flash-forwards that creatively depict the deceptions of the characters’ own memories, juxtaposing narratives at odds with the images onscreen. What audiences rejected in the 1980s feels excitingly fresh in 2008.
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Solace: Wisdom of the Dying (2008)
Camille Adair and Grant Taylor teamed up this year to create Solace: Wisdom of the Dying, about New Mexicans living in peace, contentment—even excitement—as they face the adventure of imminent death. While filled with exquisite shots of Santa Fe, Abiquiú, Pecos, Rowe, Chimayó, and Eldorado, Solace isn’t about beautiful views. The stunning thoughts, moving stories, and gentle music prove again that there’s nothing like death to enhance one’s ability to embrace life. Between the interviews, Adair and Taylor insert such inspiring quotes as this, from Thich Nhat Hanh: “The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth in the present moment.” This journey into the wilderness of mortality indeed captures the wisdom of the dying. You won’t find this one at the video store, but you can watch clips or buy the DVD at www.solacethemovie.com.
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Do it for Uncle Graham (2004)
Denial, deception, and creative communication are director Candy Jones’s subjects in this 60-year history of atomic energy at Los Alamos National Laboratory and White Sands Missile Range. Jones follows the footsteps of her Uncle Graham—a New Mexico state legislator whose first term began in 1914— and relocates to the Land of Enchantment. Once here, she’s shocked to discover that all is not as enchanting as it seems. Investigating vigorously, Jones pieces together current and archival footage and interviews to expose troublesome facts about the atomic industry in New Mexico. From Trinity Site to Hiroshima, from uranium-tainted soil to the contamination of rivers and streams by nuclear-waste runoff, Jones proves that everyone is at risk, and makes the case for the viewer’s participation. If you don’t see it for yourself, your children, or your grandchildren, then Do It for Uncle Graham. To preview or purchase, visit www.just-usproductions.com.
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Outrageous Fortune (1987)
It’s 1987, and director Arthur Hiller has come to Abiquiú, New Mexico, to make a racy, riotous comedy. You may have forgotten about Outrageous Fortune, the only mainstream
film in this category, but see it again. Two polar-opposite female actors, Bette Milder and Shelley Long, star in this road picture about a crazy mismatched pair romping about New Mexico in ballet slippers and stiletto heels as they battle over the same sweet school teacher (Peter Coyote at his heartthrob best). In fact, Outrageous Fortune is so outrageous that this 21-year-old film remains incredibly endearing. Another reason to see it again is that Frank Madras, the drunken “native tracker” who appears in a made-up town dubbed Tres Crucas, is none other than the late George Carlin, America’s finest comic. He doesn’t appear until Act 3, but you won’t mind the wait—it’s Carlin at his best. This film is brilliant.
Elizabeth Gaylynn Baker is one of those crazy film lovers who would rather fall asleep in a bad movie than walk out. www.newmexicofilmmaker.com
