Kenny

(2006, 103 min) Speaking with a mealy working-class accent so thick that it requires subtitles, Kenny invites us into his world of port-a-loos and septic systems with the razor-sharp, self-effacing wit it takes to survive one of the dirtiest jobs in the world. You may find yourself gasping for air between his constant barrage of quotable observations ranging in topic from marriage ("I once heard a wise man say, Find someone you hate, cut out the middleman and give 'em a house.") to his daily routine ("There is a smell in here that is gonna outlast religion."). But the job, coveted by a precious few, does take its toll. "When you spend more time with other people's poo than your own missus, then I guess you gotta pay the penalty." It's so truthful, so genuine, that it's easy to forget that it's all made up. Shane Jacobson, under the direction of his brother Clayton, is so convincing and likable as Kenny that it's a shock when the closing credits remind you that this is in fact a sophisticated mockumentary. Underneath the explosively funny potty humor (who knew there was still such originality to be found in bodily functions?) lie the daily struggles of the proletariat: the need to work constantly, the limiting of one's dreams and the disappointment of elders. As his dad says, "I didn't put you through school to become a glorified turd burglar." But it's men like Kenny who make the world tick, and you'll have a splendidly profane time with him. He's the shit!

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group

The Philadelphia Film Festival website is now online

The festival begins in early April, so if you're thinking of buying tickets, act quickly. Two of the films I recommended from Palm Springs have carried over into this fest: Kenny, a very vulgar mix of toilet humor and blue-collar observational comedy that inevitably draws comparisons to Borat, and In the Arms of My Enemy, a breathless and thoughtful action film with plenty of eye candy. One look at last year's schedule will impress you with how many of those movies were later released nationwide to great acclaim, so you may well be among the first to see the films that your colleagues are buzzing about in the summer and fall.

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group

Funny Games (2008)

(2008, 108 min) Michael Haneke has basically remade his original Austrian movie shot-for-shot (unlike Gus Van Sant's Psycho, however, this one is made with the same precision and energy), hoping to torture a brand new American audience. It's expertly crafted and supremely manipulative, following two polite boys (Brady Corbett and Michael Pitt) as they seemingly randomly torture, maim and kill the three members of an upper-class family (Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Devon Gearhart)... and their little dog too. But Haneke is more interested in the reaction of the audience, as he plays with our expectations, even going so far as to address us directly. After creating the deeply complex Caché, such a face-value experiment seems like a major step back. It's the type of film that resists criticism. If you enjoy the movie, then it obviously didn't work for you; if you hated it, then Haneke is a genius and accomplished exactly what he wanted. So I'll stay out of the fray, give it the same rating as we gave the original, and leave it to every audience member to write his/her own review. Engaging Haneke on this film is truly a losing game.

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group

10,000 B.C.

(2008, 109 min) There's no doubt that Roland Emmerich knows how to deliver a spectacle. Independence Day brings massive destruction, neat aliens and snappy wisecracking together so skillfully that, over a decade later, we take its craftsmanship for granted. Maybe Emmerich takes it for granted too, as he now seems to be running on fumes, cribbing liberally from past epics and slapping it together in a most perfunctory way. It's enough to remind you that Emmerich also brought us the remake of Godzilla.

Our reluctant hero is D'Leh (Steven Strait), an orphaned mountain tribesman who falls for a blue-eyed girl (Camilla Belle). She tells of four-legged demons who ransacked her town, and are eventually coming to get them as well. Unfortunately for us, these demons are merely Mongol-shaded despots, enslaving people to create a prototypical Mayan empire. For an ad campaign that focuses on wooly mammoths, saber-toothed tigers and vicious giant emus, it's distressing that not only are these the only creatures who appear in the movie, but their total screen time is somewhere under 10 minutes. That leaves a lot of time to think about other films that did this stuff better, from Mayan adventure (Apocalypto) to slave rebellions (Ben-Hur) to tribal war (Braveheart). Emmerich may think he's being clever by including specific visual references to these films (as well as Alien), but he's only making 10,000 B.C. look even more like a B-movie in comparison.

– David Gorgos

© TLA Entertainment Group