Tag: Diana Ross

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Now Playing In Memphis: Automobile Edition

Vin Diesel and Daniela Melchior do car-related things in FAST X. (Courtesy Universal Pictures)

Did you know The Fast & The Furious, the 2001 film that started it all, was named for a 1954 B-picture by Roger Corman? The legendary schlockmeister traded the title for access to Universal Studio’s stock footage library. Now, it’s a billion dollar franchise that made Vin Diesel a household name and street racing cool.

This weekend, the tenth and perhaps last (or second-to-last, or even third-to-last, depending on who you believe) film in the series, Fast X, premieres. What’s it about? Who cares? Big muscle guys make cars go vroom.

In other car-related Memphis movie news, this month’s Time Warp Drive-In is on Saturday (May 20), and the theme is “Sing-A-Long Sinema: Mad Musicals in May.” The opener is based on a Roger Corman film (there’s that name again) from 1960 that became a classic musical in 1986. Little Shop of Horrors is directed by Frank Oz (yeah, the Muppet guy) and stars Rick Moranis as Seymour, a florist with a taste for the exotic who finds a plant from outer space. It’s a hit for the flower shop, owned by Mr. Mushnick (Vincent Gardenia), but Seymour’s got a secret. The plant, named Audrey II, is sentient, has an amazing singing voice (provided by Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops), and thirsts for human blood. When Audrey II offers to help Seymour land his love interest Audrey I (Ellen Greene in an all-time great supporting role) by disappearing her dentist boyfriend (Steve Martin, in an all-time great dual cameo with Bill Murray), things get interesting. The doo-wop revival songs, the impeccable puppetry, and a cast of legends at the top of their game, make Little Shop of Horrors an absolute must-see for people who like to have fun.

The second musical of the evening probably needs no introduction. So I won’t give it one. Instead, let’s just watch John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd cook with an all-star band, including Memphis muscle men Duck Dunn, Steve Cropper, and Matt “Guitar” Murphy, while reflecting on the fact that Belushi broke his foot the night before he filmed this scene.

Rounding out this absolute unit of a triple bill is The Wiz. The 1978 Sidney Lumet film is an all-Black musical adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz starring Diana Ross and Michael Jackson, with a score by Quincy Jones. When Indie Memphis revived it at the drive-in in 2020, it was a blast and a half. Watch Micheal Jackson slay, even though he’s stuck on a pole as The Scarecrow.

The Time Warp Drive-In is Saturday, May 20 at the Malco Summer Drive-In. Show starts as dusk.

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

From Lynne Sachs to The Wiz: Indie Memphis Announces 2020 Line Up

Ira Sachs, Sr. in Lynne Sachs’ documentary Film About A Father Who

In a virtual version of its traditional preview party, Indie Memphis announced the lineup for its 23rd annual film festival. The opening night film is Memphis-born director Lynne Sachs’ documentary A Film About A Father Who. Sachs draws on 35 years of footage she shot of her father, Ira Sachs, Sr., to draw a portrait of a family struggling with generational secrets. Michael Gallagher, programmer for the Slamdance Film Festival, where the film had its world premiere in January, said “This divine masterwork of vulnerability weaves past and present together with ease, daring the audience to choose love over hate, forgiveness over resentment.”

Sachs is the most prominent of the Memphians among the dozens of filmmakers who have works in the 2020 festival. The Hometowner Features competition includes Anwar Jamison’s feature Coming to Africa, a bi-contentental production which was shot both here in the Bluff City and in Ghana. We Can’t Wait is director Lauren Ready’s documentary about Tami Sawyer’s 2019 campaign to become Memphis’ first Black woman mayor. The Hub is Lawrence Matthews portrait of Memphians trying to overcome discrimination, underemployment, and financial hardship in an unforgiving America. Morreco Coleman tells the story of Jerry C. Johnson, the first Black coach to win an NCAA Basketball title, with 1st Forgotten Champions. The detective thriller Smith is a neo-noir from director Jason Lockridge. Among the dozens of Memphis-made short films on offer will be “The Little Tea Shop,” Molly Wexler and Matteo Servante’s moving portrait of beloved Memphis restauranteur Suhair Lauck.

Director Anwar Jamison (far left) filming Coming To Africa in Ghana.

World premieres at Indie Memphis include Trimiko Melancon’s race relations documentary What Do You Have To Lose? and Cane Fire, director Anthony Banua-Simon’s incisive history of the Hawaiian island of Kaua’i.

Indie Memphis remains devoted to the latest in film innovation, but the festival’s Retrospective series alway offers interesting and fun films from years past. In 2020, that includes The Wiz, Sidney Lumet’s 1978 cult classic remake of The Wizard of Oz with an incredible all-Black cast, including Michael Jackson as the Scarecrow and Diana Ross as Dorothy. Joel Schumacher, the legendary writer/director who passed away this year, wrote the screenplay, which was adapted from a 1974 Broadway show. He will be honored with a screening of Car Wash, the 1976 comedy which is the definition of classic drive-in fare.

Ted Ross, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, and Nipsey Russell in The Wiz

With film festivals all over the United States facing cancellation because of the coronavirus pandemic, the theme of this year’s Indie Memphis is “Online and Outdoors.” Screenings will take place at the Malco Summer Drive-In and at various socially distanced outside venues across the city. All films will also be offered online through the festival’s partnership with Eventive, the Memphis-based cinematic services company that has been pioneering online screening during the pandemic. “We hope to bring people together, in person and online, and provide inspiration and an outlet,” says artistic director Miriam Bale. “In order to counter Screen Burnout, we’ll be offering a series of what we call ‘Groundings’ throughout the digital festival, including a meditative film called ‘A Still Place’ by festival alumnus Christopher Yogi.”

You can buy passes for the 2020 festival at the Indie Memphis website. The Memphis Flyer will have continuing coverage of the fest throughout the month of October. 

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Film/TV Film/TV/Etc. Blog

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror

After a gala opening at the Halloran Centre Thursday night, Indie Memphis moves to Overton Square on Friday. The schedule is packed with great stuff beyond what I could fit into this week’s cover story about the festival. 

Madeline’s Madeline (1:10 PM, Studio on the Square) is an acclaimed, visually inventive film by director Josephine Decker, who won the Craig Brewer Emerging Filmmaker Award at Indie Memphis 2014.

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror

She began as a refugee from Sri Lanka, and ended up playing on the world’s biggest stages. Matangi/Maya/MIA (3:40, Studio On The Square) is a documentary about the fascinating life of political dance pop musician M.I.A.

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror (2)

The festival’s first world premiere is Diego Llorente’s Entrialgo, a beautiful vérité documentary about life in rural Spain.

Entrialgo || trailer from diego llorente on Vimeo.

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror (3)

The second world premiere of the day is Shoot The Moon Right Between The Eyes (6:30, Studio on the Square). It’s a musical by Austin, Texas director Graham L. Carter that sets the music of John Prine amidst a story of a pair of small-time grifters who meet their match in a strong willed widow. It’s inventive, heartfelt, and a little rough around the edges, which is totally appropriate for a film that takes inspiration from Prine’s lyrics.

Shoot The Moon Right Between The Eyes [Official Trailer] from Graham L. Carter on Vimeo.

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror (4)

At 6:30 at Playhouse on the Square, the Hometowner Documentary Shorts bloc features films from Memphis artists, including Lauren Ready, Jason Allen Lee, and Klari Farzley. Best of Enemies director Robert Gordon and producer Kim Bledsoe Lloyd’s film “Ginning Cotton at the Dockery” tracks down the men and women who worked at the last functioning cotton plantation in Mississippi. Memphis musician Robbie Grant makes his directorial debut with “Ben Siler Gives Ben Siler Advice,” in which Memphis filmmaker and Flyer film contributor Ben Siler meets a younger Memphian named Ben Siler and tells him how the world works. It pretty much does what it says on the box, in two hilariously depressing minutes.

At 9:10, there’s a genuine only-at-Indie Memphis moment. Mahogany is a 1975 star vehicle for Diana Ross, directed by Motown impresario Berry Gordy (and a couple of ringers). Also featuring a smoking turn from Billy Dee Williams in his prime, and a smash hit number one song from Ross as a theme, it’s a 70s classic. To illustrate the depth of the Mahogany cult, the film will be proceeded by “Mahogany Too,, a short film shot on Super 8 by Nigerian filmmaker Akosua Adoma Owusu that is a lighting retelling of Ross’ film, featuring Nollywood star Esosa E.

Indie Memphis 2018 Friday: MIA, Diana Ross, and Negro Terror (5)

At 9:10 on the big stage at Playhouse On The Square, an experimental documentary about Memphis’ most radical band makes its world premiere. In Negro Terror, director John Rash maintains a light touch, focusing on the sights and sounds of the hardcore punk band’s legendary stage show, and the words of the band’s three very different members, led by Omar Higgins, an anarchist Hari Krishna devotee who is a longtime member of Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (SHARP). In what is definitely a first for Indie Memphis and probably a first for just about anywhere, the band will provide a live soundtrack for the film about them as it premieres.