5 films to see at the Cucalorus Festival
Even though the Cucalorus Festival has expanded into both performance (Cucalorus Stage) and biz/tech (Cucalorus Connect) in recent years, it started as a film festival and still screens plenty of movies. Based on previews I've seen, reviews I've read and word of mouth from people I trust, here are seven films worth seeking out at Cucalorus this year.
If I could only recommend one movie at Cucalorus 2018, it would probably be this totally heartbreaking but cautiously hopeful documentary from Denali Tiller about three boys whose parents are, or were, in prison. 13-year-old Tre is a smart, talented writer and rapper, but seems headed down the same road that landed his father behind bars. Expressive 12-year-old Maison loves going to visit his father in prison, but struggles to deal with his feelings about his dad as well as his mom, who lives in another state. The film's youngest subject is 6-year-old Dasan, who has to learn to connect with his mother after her release from prison. "'Tre Maison Dasan" notes that that one out of 14 children in this country have parents who have spent time in jail or are currently locked up, and so in a larger sense this powerful doc is a vital comment on the legacy wrought by mass incarceration. See it: 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, at CFCC Union Station.
From Wilmington writer and director Nick Westfall, whose feature "Finding Home" at Cucalorus 2016 focused on adoption, "8 Slices" takes a look at a group of characters on a search for meaning in their lives, as well as for the meaning of the elusive American Dream. "8 Slices," which gives some of its characters pointedly literary names, is set at a fictional Holden Beach pizzeria, which has been named one of the best places in the country to work but which is secretly struggling to survive. Jesse C. Boyd plays John Galt, a YouTuber who goes undercover as an employee at the business in order to discover its secret and learns an unexpected lesson from the pizzeria's head honcho, Oscar Wilde (Wilmington actor Justin Smith). See it: 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 8, and 7:45 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at Thalian Hall.
If you didn't grow up in the '80s, like I did, it's hard to imagine the visceral reaction evoked just by speaking the last name of the photographer and artist Robert Mapplethorpe. His frank, often sexually explicit portraits evoked equal parts admiration and outrage, and were used by some to demonize the art world at large. The first narrative feature from Ondi Timoner, a two-time Grand Jury Prize winner at the Sundance Film Festival, the biopic looks at Mapplethorpe's drive to create despite struggling with personal demons, coming to terms with his own homosexuality and dealing with a world in which AIDS was emerging as a full-blown health crisis. See it: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 at Thalian Hall, and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at CFCC Union Station.
'White Tide: The Legend of Culebra'
Everybody loves a good buried treasure legend. But the one recounted in Theo Love's documentary, recently renamed "The Legend of Cocaine Island," just might be true. It's about Rodney Hyden, described as an "American Dreamer," who falls on hard times when the Great Recession destroys his construction business and buries his family under a mountain of debt. When he hears a tale about $2 million of cocaine supposedly buried on a Caribbean island, he decides to go look for it. Love's previous documentary, "Little Hope was Arson," screened at Cucalorus and as part of the series "Independent Lens" on PBS. See it: 10:15 p.m. Friday, Nov. 9, at CFCC Union Station.
Winner of the Best Feature Documentary Audience Award at this year's SXSW Festival, Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson's film grew from Dawson's Emmy-nominated short "Transgender, at War and in Love." "Transmilitary" follows four of the estimated 15,000 transgender people serving in the U.S. military as they struggle with whether to reveal their identities while trying to do their jobs. See it: 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 10, CFCC Union Station.
Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind: The Carolina Chocolate Drops' Story'
A documentary of the Grammy-winning African-American string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops from John Whitehead. It's an extraordinary film, one that details how bandmates Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Robinson and Dom Flemons (the latter two are no longer with the group) refocused attention on African-American contributions to string band music, and to such genres as country and bluegrass, through the sheer power and beauty of their performances. It also demonstrates, painfully at times, how difficult it can be for three talented people with sometimes-conflicting creative ideas and different personalities, not to mention romantic entanglements, to be in a band together. An unbeatable combo of music and story. See it: 10:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 11, at the Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St., Wilmington
This South Korean drama/mystery/thriller from director Lee Chang-dong played Cannes earlier this year, where it got the highest critical rating in the festival's history. Based on a short story by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami, the film about a possible love triangle between an introvert, a pleasure-seeking young woman and a rich boy with dark side taps into the zeitgeist of anger-fueled anxiety. Stars Korean-American actor Steven Yeun of "The Walking Dead," South Korean celeb Yoo Ah-in and newcomer Jeon Jong-seo. See it: 3:45 p.m. Nov. 9 and 10 a.m. Nov. 11 at Thalian Hall.
Contact John Staton at 910-343-2343 or John.Staton@StarNewsOnline.com.