Take Five: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Leonard Pierce — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 20:45:00 GMT

Patrick Creadon’s I.O.U.S.A., a documentary about the massive national debt being accrued by the United States, opens in limited release today. Using charts, graphs, and mountains of economics statistics, Creadon – the man who brought us the charming crossword puzzle documentary Wordplay – has essentially created An Inconvenient Truth 2: The Doomsday Debt. In the film, which features guest appearances from a pantheon of econ-nerd luminaries including mega-investor Warren Buffet, Comptroller General David M. Walker, and celebrated presidential candidate/crazy person Ron Paul, we are shown how our unthinkably huge national debt may lead to war, inflation, the collapse of our international alliances, economic catastrophe, dogs and cats living together, and mass hysteria. But hey, every movie with those three wonderful letters ‘U.S.A.’ in the title has to be about how we’re all doomed because of the short-sighted policies of warmongering, tax-cutting, pork-barreling, corporate-welfare-loving presidential administrations! Maybe it’s just some residual patriotism from the Fourth of July, but this movie inspired us to create a Take Five featuring other ‘U.S.A’ movies that aren’t quite so bleak. Or, at least, don’t have so many pie charts.

UNDERWORLD U.S.A. (1961)

A little-seen late-period noir from the underrated Sam Fuller, Underworld U.S.A. is a flawed film, particularly in its underwhelming cast, predictable action, and sometimes hokey dialogue. But Cliff Robertson is dynamite as Tolly Devlin, a man who, after seeing his father murdered by two-bit hoods, decided that revenge is a dish served straight out of the freezer, as he spends the next 20 years infiltrating their organization.

MADE IN U.S.A. (1967)

One of the most impenetrable relics from when Jean-Luc Godard really started to go off the narrative rails and into an experimental/revolutionary world of his own, Made in U.S.A. purports to be – and, to a certain albeit incomprehensible degree, actually is – an adaptation of one of Donald Westlake’s “Richard Stark” novels. Bu really, it’s just a glorious excuse for Anna Karina to lounge around in a (French-speaking) Atlantic City hotel room, talking about socialism.

HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. (1976)

Barbara Kopple set out to make a documentary about the bitter electoral dispute that was tearing the United Mine Workers union apart in the mid-1970s. Instead, after visiting an unauthorized strike in Harlan County, Kentucky, she found a new subject: the desperation, suffering, and nobility of the miners as they struggled to survive under the weight of bosses who crippled them at every turn. Moving, gripping, suspenseful, infuriating, enraging, affirming and beautiful – everything a good documentary should be.

GRANDVIEW, U.S.A. (1984)

Made during that period of the 1980s where they would apparently greenlight a movie about any old thing, this forgotten relic by Randal “The Blue Lagoon” Kleiser involves a painfully underfed C. Thomas Howell, who is a race car driver and aspiring oceanographer for some reason, falling in love with Jamie Lee Curtis, who owns the local demolition derby in the grand tradition of movie sports bosses who look nothing like Bud Selig.

INVASION U.S.A. (1985)

Now we’re talkin’! After all this 'waah-waah, the economy is failing, the unions are dying, some gangsters killed my dad' nonsense, here comes Chuck Norris, with a sleeveless denim shirt and a big pickup truck, to make everything all right. He does this by single-handedly wiping out a huge invasion force, consisting of a wide variety of swarthy foreign nationals, who have had the unmitigated audacity to take over some of our finest shopping malls. Now that’s the U.S.A. I’m talking about!

Sundance Roundup: Day 4

Scott Von Doviak — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 20:30:00 GMT

Can Sunshine strike twice? Does that even make sense? Sunshine doesn’t actually strike, does it? It more sort of, uh, shines. Shines like gold. Box office gold! (Now I’m getting back on track.) Two years ago, Little Miss Sunshine was the belle of the ball at Sundance, selling for more than $10 million and going on to become a genuine mainstream hit. This year’s festival hasn’t seen any big money sales yet, although as the L.A. Times reports, “buyers were starting to circle several well-received movies available for distribution.”

Among those movies is Sunshine Cleaning, which the AP notes bears some resemblance besides the title to the 2006 breakout hit. “Like its predecessor, Sunshine Cleaning revolves around a quirky family with communication problems, stars Alan Arkin as a grandpa encouraging a cute kid to succeed, and features a sun-drenched Albuquerque, New Mexico setting.” Cleaning also co-stars Emily Blunt; Entertainment Weekly has a Q&A with her here.

We previously noted the preponderance of British films at this year’s festival, but there’s no shortage of American films – or at least, films with American in the title. “American navel-gazing has rarely been deeper or more intense,” says the Globe and Mail. “In the documentary category, we have An American Soldier, a documentary about a talented army recruiter. Then there's American Teen, another documentary about four Indiana teenagers in their senior year of high school; Made in America, Stacy Peralta's documentary about crime-ridden South Central Los Angeles; and I.O.U.S.A. about the American debt crisis. In the features category, there are several dramas, including Birds of America, Anywhere, USA and American Son,” the Canadian newspaper gleefully reports.

Speaking of our neighbors to the north, a documentary about a Canadian heavy metal band has provided a front-runner for our favorite title of the fest. Via Cinematical, it’s Anvil! The Story of Anvil. Really says it all, doesn’t it?

The Screengrab : i.o.u.s.a.

Take Five: U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

Sundance Roundup: Day 4