Goodbye Darling, I’m off to Fight

Review by: Luci Döll
Cast: Chantal Ughi, Andrew Robert Thomson and Anissa Meksen
Director: Simone Manetti
Writers: Alfredo Covelli, Simone Manetti
Synopsis: This documentary follows Chantal Ughi, an Italian woman, for 30 days, in her ambitious goal to win a World Title in Muay Thai.

Review:
“If you’re not loved as a child, love becomes pain, something else.” – Chantal Ughi

Chantal is an Italian woman, who has been a fashion model in Japan, an actress in Italy, and an underground singer in New York before deciding to reinvent her life again by moving to Thailand, to take up Muay Tahi, a form of hard martial art.

At the time of the beginning of the film, Chantal is trying to make her way back into the Muay Thai circuits. After 53 fights over 5 years of training, she lost her passion for the Martial Art. She loses a match, quits and returns to Italy. She decides to reignite her passion for Muay Thai, with a seemingly impossible goal. She plans be back in the ring in one month, in Thailand, in front of the Royal Family, to try to regain the world title.

The film opens like a tourism ad for Thailand, the shots are beautifully composed, with soaring cinematography, and voyeuristic close-ups. The scale is very human as we follow Chantal’s progress during the thirty days that she trains in a cabin in Chiang Mai.

Despite how much time and footage is spent on the training sequences, this is really a film about a girl’s relationship with her father. The documentary format allows for insights as to what each thinks of the other and their relationship. It also becomes clear that this relationship is what eventually colours Chantal’s perceptions on what love is and the role that violence in its definition. Her relationships with the German musician, the Thai fighter and even her decision to get into Muay Thai all begin to show a pattern.

In an anti-Hollywood move, there is no attempt to make Chantal sexy in this documentary: practical training clothes, no makeup, covered in sweat, stringy hair, perpetually hunched over as she trains. These shots of are juxtaposed against the pictures and found footage from her previous lives as a fashion model, actress and singer, where she is more acceptably beautiful. Perhaps it is this which makes Chantal difficult to identify with as a character, but as her mother says with heart-breaking honesty, “Chantal was quite unpleasant as a child.” There are no pretences in presenting Chantal as a flawless heroin, or anything other than what she is.

The director continues to break big movie laws in the pacing. If you’re used to Hollywood pacing, prepare to be disappointed. This documentary can be agonisingly slow, and at times painfully introverted. However, if you take her spiritual adviser’s advice to Chantal, “You need to persevere with what you’re doing… You need to improve your concentration,” you’ll find a gem of a film, a story that challenges you to reconsider what is important and whether the pursuit and achievement of big goals actually bring about happiness.

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ (Worth Watching)

Rockumentary - Placebo:Alt Russia

When I watched Placebo:Alt Russia, I wasn't that surprised to see how passionate Russians are about rock music. According to the analytics, this ROFFEKE blog is mostly viewed by Americans. Russians come in second and Kenyans take third place. Rish, a Kenyan female rocker told me that her songs are mostly downloaded by Russians. A member of Kenyan metalcore band Last Year' Tragedy gave me similar statistics.

What I love about Placebo:Alt Russia is that it is very human, meaning that anyone from any country (Every You Every Me :-) - and especially the creatives - will relate to the sentiments expressed throughout this rockumentary. Rock 'n' roll is just the backdrop, the framework on which various issues are hang upon: censorship, architecture, guerrilla art, politics, crowdfunding, tradition versus modern, cultural exchange, religion, photography, artistic activism....

This year, ROFFEKE will be highlighting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Placebo: Alt Russia touches on SDG 11 and SDG 16: "Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable" and "Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels." Under SDG 11, target 11.4 stands out: "Strengthen efforts to protect and safeguard the world's cultural and natural heritage."

Documentaries are a great way of making people aware of the natural and cultural heritage that is in danger of being made to disappear. In Placebo: Alt Russia we learn of historical buildings in danger of being demolished and two very punk artists who are doing their part to creatively document these buildings for future generations.

I dare say that this fascinating film can be summarized by the three F's in the ROFFEKE motto: Friendship.Fun. Freedom.

Review - A Jingle A Go-Go: The Musical

Review by: Luci Döll

Cast: David Barrow Wiley, George Ramirez, Jason Little and Pieter Wiemken
Director: Spencer Frankeberger
Synopsis: David Barrow Wiley stars as Robert, who is struggling with songwriter’s block as he tries to come up with a Jingle for Lucious Lips Lipstick. He finds his cry for help answered from unexpected quarters. This short film is very much like lipstick, it’s fun and it’s cute, and it wears off fast.

Review:
Spencer Frankeberger takes advantage of his skills in film production and music therapy to bring us this short musical film, which, in the blink of an eye, jumps from the familiar to utterly camp.

David Barrow Wiley is brilliant in the opening scenes, with almost delicately nuanced acting. He is able to convey frustration with something as innocuous as a nose-flare. He bounces a stress ball in his hands, begging the Lord for a sign. The stress ball misses his hand and bounces off the screen, taking with it all attempts at delicate nuance as the film quickly falls into all the clichés of musical theatre, complete with Dickens references, chorus girls, theatrical lighting, over-the-top acting and yes, a disco-ball. Spenser Frankeberger promises a musical in the title of the film, and he not only delivers a musical, he rubs your face in it.

In terms of structure, the film is flawless. The cinematography captures the tone for both the "serious" and the "camp" sections beautifully. The editing is crisp, and keeps the pacing of the film spot on. The production designer deserves special mention, creating sets that allow for perfect suspension of belief.

Any film which boldly announces itself as “The Musical” should expect to be critiqued on its music. The film features an original score by Joseph P. Sabatino, which I find confusing. It carelessly flips from absolute dissonance, to moments of extraordinarily beautiful harmony, before resolving into the (spoiler alert!) "magical" jingle Robert has been seeking. I don’t think that people will be rushing to iTunes to download this soundtrack.

Short film is a notoriously difficult genre, but I think the director achieved his goals with A Jingle A Go-Go: The Musical. While the film does not really break any new ground, it will definitely keep you entertained for the entire six minutes you devote to it.

Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆ (Worth Watching)

Ticking Clock: 2016 in Review

In screenwriting, the ticking clock is your friend. In real life, not so much . For me, 2016 has felt like one giant ticking clock.

“There, there my man. It’s just a matter of time.”
- From the “Disregard the Vampire” Teaser

Mike Messier’s documentary “Disregard the Vampire” struck several chords with me. He (Mike, not the vampire!) introduces himself as "a struggling everything". He talks about the struggle of trying to make art with limited resources. And he talks about time running out. You can watch the official preview of the documentary here .

As I mentioned in my most recent Facebook note "2016 in Review (Or 1933 again?)", I am perturbed. The environment is becoming less and less conducive to low budget innovations such as ROFFEKE. Uncaped crusaders are out to save the day from modern-day pseudo monsters while the real monsters are left roaming free, seeking who they may devour. So what is the giroffeke to do? By its very nature, the giroffeke is a "monster", a giraffe with a guitar stuck on its torso. And we all know what happened to Dr. Franknstein’s creation....

I see pitchforks and torches and angry group-think villagers on the horizon even though the giroffeke is just a little bird with little wings. Blondie's "One way or another" keeps playing in my head. Usually, it's just a great song with a catchy tune. But in a different context, it can become a song that will freeze the blood in your veins...



I like the quote at the end of Mike Messier's documentary:

“It is quite easy to take the perfect combination of abundant and well-trained people, all the desired supplies and equipment, unlimited funds, and indefinite time to complete a project. That’s no challenge at all; anyone can do that.The real challenge to your management ability comes when you have the best use of whatever you have on hand to get the results you want. You will be measured more by what you actually get done under such circumstances than by what you can do under ideal conditions.”
- James K. Van Fleet “Take Control of People in 3 Weeks or less”

2016 is over and I am realizing that my gung-ho attitude and naive optimism is slowly being tainted with disillusionment, disappointment and a dash of dread. Luckily, rock ‘n’ roll and the blood of The Rock (NOT Dwayne Johnson lol!) run through my veins. The blood, sweat, tears, enthusiasm, determination, humor, can-do attitude and rock ‘n’ roll spirit of all the awesome filmmakers that submitted their short films, music videos and rockumentaries to ROFFEKE, spur me on. The Sustainable Development Goals spur me on. Pure, illogical, hardheadedness spurs me on. The ROFFEKE motto - “Friendship. Fun. Freedom” - spurs me on.

I don’t know what 2017 holds - or which of these nine clocks we will be racing against - but I know The One who holds 2017…and it’s going to rock!

Happy new year everyone.

“There, there my man. It’s just a matter of time.”
- From the “Disregard the Vampire” Teaser