Mondo Cinema
A slasher in the chat room: Smiley is a cut above — and among six new indiemovies to watch
Official Smiley movie posterSmiley The Movie/Facebook
Movie still from Sushi: The Global Catch
The Artist is Present with Marina AbramovićMarinaFilm.com
Archive photo from The Other Dream Team of , USSR-era basketballThe Film Arcade
Movie still from The RevisionariesThe Revisionaries Movie
The Revisionaries movie posterThe Revisionaries Movie
When serious cineastes talk about “independent cinema,” the conversation usually focuses on gritty dramas, quirky comedies and/or earnest documentaries of the sort you’d find in high-profile slots at prestigious film festivals.
But you have to remember: Not every “independent movie” is an “indie movie.”
For example: Even though the AMC Theatre chain is opening a small-budget feature titled Smiley this weekend on 28 screens nationwide (including one here in H-Town at the AMC Studio 30) under its “AMC Independent” label… well, let’s put it this way: This ain’t no art film, folks.
Director and co-screenwriter Michael Gallagher borrows a page or two from Candyman to spin a story about a smiley-faced fiend who appears each time someone is foolish enough to type his name three times while conversing in an on-line chat room.
Rather, it’s the latest example of what my colleague Roger Ebert has aptly described as a "Dead Teenager Movie," an R-rated slasher flick in which several young people are exterminated by a masked psycho who’s in the mood for blood.
Director and co-screenwriter Michael Gallagher borrows a page or two from Candyman to spin a story about a smiley-faced fiend who appears each time someone is foolish enough to type his name three times while conversing in an on-line chat room.
Naturally, the plot involves a virginal college student (Caitlin Gerard) who inadvertently summons Smiley. And, just as naturally, no one believes she’s being stalked by this “urban legend” (yeah, right) even after the body count starts to mount.
Scary stuff, kids. But maybe not a real indie.
Casting a wide net
There’s something fishy going on this weekend at Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: Sushi: The Global Catch, a cautionary documentary by Houston-raised, Austin-based filmmaker-lawyer Mark Hall, returns for an encore screening at 7 p.m. Saturday. (The film also will be shown at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 19.) Be forewarned: The movie may wind up making you feel at least partially responsible for disrupting the planet’s oceanic ecosystems if you like to munch on raw fish now and then.
Also on tap at MFAH: Marina Abramovic: The Artist Is Present (1 p.m. Saturday, 5 p.m. Sunday), an admiring portrait of the performance artist, directed by Matthew Akers and Jeff Dupre; and a special screening of La Bohème (7 p.m. Monday), director King Vidor’s 1926 silent classic based on the same stories that inspired Puccini’s immortal opera, with Lillian Gish and John Gilbert among the starving artists in love in 19th century Paris. Joseph Li of Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music will provide live piano accompaniment for the latter.
Other movies, other screens
The Revisionaries, Scott Thurman’s provocative documentary about the ongoing battles between scientists and creationists over textbooks in Texas, kicks off a scheduled one-week run Friday at the Sundance Cinemas.
And The Other Dream Team, Marius Markevicius’ acclaimed account of the Lithuanian national team’s improbable triumph at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, opens Friday at the River Oaks 3.
