LYT at LAFF: Failure to Communicate, Plus Toads in 3-D

One of the things that often aggravates me about organizations is the way people working for them frequently fail to communicate with each other. It’s somewhat understandable when it comes to volunteers, but nobody seems to ever think it might be an actual plus to know what’s going on in the immediate area above and beyond specifically assigned duties. So when I looked for one of the festival shuttles – LAFF venues being slightly too far apart to quickly walk between – it went something like this:

-Go to vague area where I’ve been told shuttle might be.

-See massive crowd gathering for premiere of CYRUS. Not wanting to get in the way, ask volunteer where shuttle stop is.

-Volunteer has no clue, tells me to ask at Will Call.

-Will Call girls have no clue, tell me to ask security guy.

-Security guy self-righteously tells me it’s not his problem, because he works for Fox only. Adds that I should ask upstairs. I try to tell him I came from upstairs. He keeps repeating phrases “I understand that” and “Have a good day” in a manner that suggests he’s actually saying “F*** you.” Dick. I’m trying to get away from his screening and not be his problem; would it hurt to at least be polite?

-Finally find shuttle approximately where I expected it might be. Shuttle driver is very nice, but still confused by downtown’s one-way system. I figure he’ll have learned it by the last day.

Later in the day, yet another incident of people in organizations not knowing stuff beyond immediate duties...following 10:30 screening of CANE TOADS, I make it to the subway station at around 12:24. Sign tells me a train is coming at 12:22. Has it come? Is it late? Do I risk it? I do, and buy a ticket. And I wait. No train. Another guy waiting for same train asks an MTA employee who’s cleaning the track-side if the last train has come and gone. She has no idea. Of course.

So I took the bus. Not so bad a trip. As I always tell people, the #4 bus is the best line in the city.

Also, I saw two movies.

DISCO AND ATOMIC WAR

Frankly, there isn’t much disco OR atomic war in this documentary, which may seem a bit of a rip-off if you’re into picking festival films by title. It is a bit of a rip-off if you’re expecting something that looks good on the big screen, as my screening of it looked low-res and underlit, as if blown up from a weak DVD projector. But this isn’t really the point, because the story it tells is a fun one, a sort of real-life version of a DC Comics “Elseworlds” story, in which we perceive familiar events in a new setting...in this case, the Cold War as experienced by Estonians. Estonia, of course, was part of the USSR, but a mere 80 km south of Helsinki, Finland. And Finland was one of the pivotal points of the Cold War, a western-affiliated country that nonetheless had a few Soviet military bases on its turf. In the days of radio, the Russians would broadcast interference to mess up the western signals near Estonia, but once TV came in, that was another matter. Finnish TV signals may have been on a different system than their Soviet counterparts, but citizens quickly created their own covert converters, and many Estonians would make trips to the northern part of their country just to see what JR Ewing was up to on the latest episode of Dallas. It’s interesting to note that the atheist Soviet regime was apparently bothered by the exact same things as religious fundamentalists, i.e. gratuitous violence and sensuality in Western media, particularly since present-day Iran is as full of TV satellite dishes as Estonia once was of metal antennae. Whether or not it’s a comfort that everyone the world over apparently loves fairly dumb entertainment is a matter of opinion, but its ability to break down the barriers of the morality police by appealing to our base natures seems beyond dispute. One head-scratcher, though, is the movie’s final statement that after a few years, the Cold War began again. I mean, really? You don’t just drop that bombshell without explaining how we’re in a new Cold War...or if you do, you shouldn’t. It’s an odd capper on an otherwise enlighteningly oddball tale. DISCO AND ATOMIC WAR screens again on Sunday, June 20, at the Regal.

 

CANE TOADS: THE CONQUEST

Remember that episode of The Simpsons where they go to Australia, and Bart sneaks in a pet frog which proceeds to multiply and destroy the country’s entire ecosystem? Turns out that wasn’t entirely an invention from the mind of Matt Groening. Back in the ‘30s, following a successful test run in Hawaii, cane toads were introduced to Australia in the hope that they’d devour the nation’s plague of cane grubs, the larvae of the greyback beetle. If only the Aussies had figured out beforehand that (a) the toads couldn’t climb high enough to catch the grubs, and (b) the toads lay about 30,000 eggs a pop and are toxic to any animals that try to eat them, they might not have had the problems that ensued. You might think a documentary on this topic could be fun...but are you prepared for the awesomeness that is a cane toad documentary in 3D? Dubbed “AVATOAD” by critics who saw it at Sundance, Mark Lewis’ expansion of the 47 –minute short he made back in 1988 features a mix of documentary interviews (made amazing with 3-D effects, exactly the kind of thing new technology SHOULD be doing) and some cheeky reenactments of such incidents as a drunk guy electrocuting himself while trying to spear toads, and a dog tripping out after licking one. The illiterate guy who stages elaborate dioramas using stuffed dead toads dressed like people is apparently for real, though many shots depicting the toads hopping across vast stretches of land may or may not be staged for maximum cinematic-ness. The movie balances perspectives from those who like the toads, those who see them as vermin, and everything in between, but be warned that the usual disclaimer of “no animals were harmed during the making of this movie” does not apply...gassings and mass toad graves at the end uncomfortably and absurdly bring to mind Holocaust parallels. If that disturbs you, however, rest assured that the toads are ultimately winning. And if 3-D can be used to excite audiences about documentaries, rather than simply as a gimmick to goose up blockbusters, audiences will be winning too...some of the nature photography here is stunning in its micro-detail and eye-popping effect. You won’t believe how visually compelling a talking-head professor standing in front of a shelfload of books can be in 3-D, and Lewis’ penchant for having people fade in to the scenes as if being beamed down by Scotty is unnecessary but fun anyhow.

Luke Y. Thompson is an actor, writer, and film critic living in Hollywood.