brainwave-2

HP Mendoza is an amazing filmmaker who never let's you off easy. This film is a great look at a dysfunctional Filipino family coming together to confront old demons. Mendoza never lets you relax by saying simply: this is the bad guy, this is the good guy. Writing and performances are great. Well worth looking for.

This was one of my favorite films at the Santa Fe Film Festival. Director Connell presents us with a broad cast of dreamers and misfits. His sympathetic look at these ambitious and under-appreciated performers is moving and genuine.

As a person who has been knocking at Hollywood's doors for years I found myself a little frustrated by the film -- are my dreams folly? -- but ultimately the message of the film has nothing to do with the sometimes ridiculous ambitions of its struggling protagonists but more with the importance of pursuing a dream, come what may.

I was encouraged once to find out what I was crazy about and pursue it like a madman. Strictly Background shows us a group of die-hards who are doing just that - and their determination is inspiring.

The movie will also change the way you watch movies. After watching the film it takes a long time to watch a movie without noticing the background -- is that a good thing? Sure, there are no parts that do not contribute to the whole.

For how revolutionary the subject matter is, there's little revolutionary about this bland doc (except maybe the cool graphics). Revelations about Nixon and Hoover's attempt to deport Lennon are very interesting and are heightened by his lawyer's appealing interviews, but that takes up only about a half hour of the film. The first 45 minutes is setting up ground work: who John was and what was going on at the time. While this would probably be appealing for a teenager, for those of us who lived through the era it's pretty simple stuff. Once everything is wrapped up pretty nicely the last 20 minutes are spent on his death, without fully describing the details of it. The teenagers who were educated by the first forty minutes are then left feeling that his death had some connection to the persecutions he received in his life – I assume this is done to intensify their argument. When in reality, the tragedy of his death was exactly that it was for no reason at all. Just like in the 60s and 70s, Lennon is still being used as a puppet.