Wavy Gravy is more than a Ben And Jerry’s ice cream flavor. To the 1960s counterculture, the former Hugh Romney embodied that community’s humor and altruism. Michelle Esrick’s endearing documentary traces the legendary Berkeley cosmic jester’s life from his journey with the Merry Pranksters to his work with the Seva Foundation. Gravy’s genial effecting of change may appear foolish and low-key. Yet Esrick ultimately shows that political progressivism and absurd humor can partner very well.
If words were munitions, then the number of F-bombs released over the course of watching Stephanie Soechtig’s documentary “Tapped” would have flattened Nestle’s corporate headquarters a couple of times over. Soechtig’s film follows bottled water from first pumping to the emptied bottle’s final disposition. But rather than appreciating a supposed symbol of health, viewers will get angry and/or frightened at bottled water’s negative impacts on its drinkers and the environment.
“Tapped” shows how bottled water is far less safe than the viewer thinks. Only somewhere between less than a third to 2/5 of America’s entire bottled water supply is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration … on a practically non-existent basis. Tested samples of bottled water revealed the presence of the gasoline component toluene among other harmful chemicals. Municipal tap water, by comparison, is heavily tested for safety multiple times a day. Perhaps that’s why 40% of bottled water sold to the public is actually filtered tap water.
That greedhead practice is just one of the rapacious stunts pulled by bottled water companies such as Nestle and PepsiCo. The viewer will also learn about rural communities targeted for water mining. Giant bottled water companies take advantage of such old land laws as absolute dominion to ceaselessly pump out water for bottling even during periods of dire drought.
As Soechtig shows, controlling access to water is an extremely high stakes game. For much of the world, water is a necessity of life that everyone needs. But for a small handful of companies, the world’s water is an $800 billion market worth controlling for huge profit.
The director doesn’t bother hiding her outrage at such corporate rapaciousness. International Bottled Water Association President Joe Doss or some other industry spokesman may blandly talk about their lack of hostility towards tap water or the minimal impact of bottled water pumping. But Soechtig uses onscreen titles to out Doss, for example, as representing Nestle and Fiji Water. Compared to such prior efforts as “FLOW: For Love Of Water,” the director’s in your face aggressiveness feels refreshing.
But “Tapped” is more than just a cinematic anti-corporate manifesto. It’s also a portrait of environmental racism. A segment set in Corpus Christi, Texas shows how the chemical process used to make plastic water bottles has harmed the chemical plant’s neighboring residents. A birth defect rate 84% higher than the state average is just one of the problems facing that community. Unfortunately, those residents are economically trapped. What sane person would want to buy a house located near a chemical plant?
Some of Soechtig’s material will not surprise viewers already familiar with these issues. The discussion of control of water resources doesn’t couch the problem in a fresh manner. Corporate malfeasance fans will not be surprised by Nestle’s corrupt actions given their involvement in the 1970s’ African infant formula scandal.
“Tapped” ultimately trades aesthetically presented information for craft adequate to prompt the viewer to take action. If such a viewer drops plastic bottles for a reusable stainless steel canteen or buys a water filter, Soechtig will probably count that as a win.
Johnnie To’s “Sparrow” is a film of various loves. There’s the love triangle among Kei (Simon Yam), Chung Chun Lei (Kelly Lin), and Fu Kim Tong (Lo Hoi-Pang). There’s To’s visual love letter to the city of Hong Kong, where even a scuzzy back alley is shot as an architectural acne pimple. More implicitly, the frames of the film radiate a love of life’s brief golden moments.
The film’s title is not a non sequitur but a double entendre. The physical sparrow adored by Kei symbolizes freedom. But Kei and his associates Bo, Sak, and Mac are also sparrows. In Hong Kong, sparrow is street slang for a pickpocket.
The trade of Kei’s gang embodies the film’s philosophy of cherishing life’s fleeting moments. A pickpocket has literally only a moment to steal a wallet. “Sparrow,” though, provides longer and more visually ravishing moments, such as Kei’s erotically charged drive with Chung through Hong Kong’s evening streets. This should not be surprising, as French cinema of an earlier era provided To with his aesthetic template.
Like Kei’s black and white photography, “Sparrow”’s plot and characters are fairly simple. Beautiful Chung seeks out stylish Kei and his gang for reasons which may be connected to her status as wealthy Fu’s kept woman. Viewers learn nothing of Kei’s background except his skill as a pickpocket. It’s also unclear who’s the mysterious person occasionally phoned by Chung. The whole tale, though, is told with a generally gentle comic touch.
The sometimes extreme violence usually associated with Hong Kong action film sequences are generally absent in “Sparrow.” The closest one gets to brutal onscreen violence is the alleyway trap that Kei falls into. Instead, To opts for wit in his action setpieces such as the Marx Brothers-style crowded elevator sequence. But “Sparrow”’s best action sequence remains the umbrella duel finale.
“Sparrow”’s music alludes to both traditional Chinese and pop-like Western sonic elements. It successfully works with the onscreen images to deepen the mood of a particular moment.
Given all these above-mentioned touches, is To’s film more than just artfully arranged pretty pictures? There are no deep psychological allusions to challenge a viewer’s assumptions. But it’s enough that “Sparrow” charms the viewer.
(“Saint Misbehavin’: The Wavy Gravy Movie” screens October 13 at 7 PM. “Tapped” screens October 14 at 9 PM. Both screenings are at the Rafael Film Center. For tickets, go to www.mvff.com .)
March 14, 2010
