The Last Exorcism has a cast of barely knows including star Patrick Fabian as Cotton Marcus, a charlatan evangelist taking over the family ministry from a long line of bible thumpers many of whom claim to have exorcised demons. Cotton was a child preaching prodigy and although his faith is waning he continues for pragmatic reasons which he justifies on camera in documentary style. Although no longer a committed missionary he does have a mission which is to mitigate the damage done by “dangerous” exorcists. To that end he takes to the Loozianna swampland with the camera crew in tow to document tricks of the trade that he uses to cast the devil out of Nell Sweetzer (Ashley Bell) a teenager possessed who lately has been mutilating the livestock of her widower father Louis (Louis Herthum) and sullen and wary brother Caleb (Caleb Landry Jones). Once the job is completed Cotton barely has time to whiffle through his cash retainer when it becomes clear his mission is accomplished in George Bush fashion only. When it turns out that Nell is pregnant fingers start pointing everywhere and Nell starts contorting in ways that Linda Blair only wishes she could. The Last Exorcism revisits the creepiness and camera angles of The Blair Witch Project with mostly pleasing results and with surprisingly shocking low budget special effects a la Let Her In. When it’s not tickling you it’s freaking you out.
Lebanon doesn’t have much in the way of anything Lebanese – language or gentry. It’s 1982 and the start of “First Lebanon War” routinely glimpsed claustrophobically through the periscope of an army tank manned by four reluctant Jewish conscripts. This vehicle is stencilled with the Hebrew phrase “men are made of steel, tanks are just junk”. Maybe not so much in this armoured personnel carrier. Asi (Itay Tiran) is the unsuccessful commander of three unruly charges and on day one of the invasion they are put under the command of Gamil (Zohar Shtrauss) a steely veteran paratrooper who leads them on an easy mop up mission that turns out to be far less of a slam dunk and is fraught with the horror and terror that is modern combat where enemies are not so easily defined. This latest expose of Israeli navel gazing produces a tense, original, authentic and very compelling film.
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist, and Rebel on the surface might almost be mistaken for a somewhat self serving legacy piece somehow funded by the iconic octogenarian but when you follow the money it leads nowhere near Hef. This documentary is funded by Canadian dollars some of which originates from Astral Media. This helps to objectify this well made film with the objectifier of women at its centrefold. There’s a myriad of talking heads some not unexpected like hedonistic henchmen Gene Simmons and James Caan but accolades from Jesse Jackson and Mike Wallace perk up your eyebrows. And it’s not a total love fest for this purveyor of free love. Pat Boone gets a lot of face time to spout religious morality and likewise bitter feminist Susan Brownmiller who has been on the warpath with Hefner since the sixties and remains unrelenting (although now sounds jaded and shrill). Hefner is a well known jazz fan so it’s no surprise to hear kind words from Tony Bennett but accolades from Pete Seeger and Joan Baez seem strange. Academy Award winning director Brigitte Berman has laid bare a paradoxical legend who to no one’s surprise is an advocate of free speech and first amendment rights but what is a surprise is his historic contribution to human rights.
Also out this weekend:
Takers
Teenage Paparazzo