John Zorn Movies

Through most of the 20th Century, the American clothing industry was based in New York City, and in many respects the business reflected the growth and evolution of the nation. As immigrants from Europe made their way into New York via Ellis Island, a large number of them found work in the city's many garment shops, while many religious and ethnic minorities who were not welcome in other trades were able to support themselves and their families making clothing. The 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which seamstresses locked inside a garment plant met a horrible death, created a scandal that led to union representation for most garment workers. At one point, over 90 percent of all clothing purchased in America was made in New York, and the Garment Workers Union was powerful enough to negotiate living wages for employees as their endorsement could sway major elections. However, as unionism was demonized in the 1980s and many large firms found cheaper labor oversees (where safe working conditions and fair pay were considered unnecessary luxuries), the American garment industry began to shrink dramatically, and by the end of the century a mere five percent of clothing sold in the United States was produced domestically. Filmmaker Marc Levin examines the rise and fall of what once was one of the nation's most powerful industries in the documentary Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags. Produced for the HBO premium cable network, the film was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The underground art of renegade performance artist, photographer, and filmmaker Jack Smith is explored through the images he created and the words of those who knew him best in filmmaker Mary Jordan's tribute to the man believed to have inspired some of Andy Warhol's most iconic works. A virulent utopian and anti-capitalist whose works spanned from the 1960s to the late-1980s, Smith gained notoriety early on in his career when he went battled the Supreme Court over the banning of his controversial work "Flaming Creatures." An enigmatic artist whose work remains on the fringes of the mainstream despite the praise of curators from the Whitney to the Louvre, the effects of Smith's powerful influence are explored in interviews with those who both loved and hated Smith. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A man and a woman are faced with an unusual "fifth wheel" in their relationship -- his analyst -- in this offbeat independent comedy. Jake Singer (Chris Eigeman) is a schoolteacher working at a respected private school for boys. Jake recently parted ways with his longtime girlfriend and isn't especially happy about being single again. Jake begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Morales (Ian Holm), whose advise often seems to cause more harm than good. Jake meets Allegra (Famke Janssen), a woman whose adopted son attends his school; Allegra is still getting over the death of her husband, but Jake is strongly attracted to her and she seems to feel the same way. Morales is convinced Allegra is simply using Jake (there are questions about her ability to care for her son that may cause her to lose custody if she remains single), and he advises Jake that if he must go on dating her, he should seduce Allegra without becoming emotionally involved. This is more easily said than done, but as Jake and Allegra spend more time together, he begins seeing and hearing Morales at the most inopportune moments, with the doctor offering un-called-for tips on their relationship. The Treatment received the award for best "Made In New York" feature at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this film showcasing six of the most dangerous jobs on the planet, Mega Cities director Michael Glawogger travels the globe to turn his lens on the men who labor in these deadly but necessary jobs day after grueling day. Structured in six chapters that take the viewer everywhere from the Ukraine, where workers snake down a 16-inch tall mineshaft to collect coal, to Pakistan, where migrants disassemble oil tankers piece-by-piece with their bare hands, Glawogger's film focuses on the ravages of manual labor on the human body and the determination of the men who endure these tasks to build a better future for their children and families. Other thankless jobs showcased in Glawogger's feature include Indonesian sulfur miners who brave volcano basins and Nigerian workers who slaughter goats and cattle so that they may use the parts to sterilize blazing pits of burning tires. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Loren Marsh's black comedy Invitation to a Suicide - an official selection at the AFI Fest and HBO Comedy Festival - concerns the plight of Kaz Malek, a witless young man raised in a Polish enclave of Brooklyn. In a (very) misguided attempt to escape from his dead-end life as a baker's son, Kaz slyly lifts $10,000 from a Russian mobster, but is promptly caught. The mobster threatens to kill Kaz's father if he can't come up with the payola. To escape from this plight, Kaz devises a wild yet workable scheme: he'll publicly hang himself and sell tickets for the show, thus raising the money to pay off his creditor but dying in honor instead of living in shame over his father's death. To his utter shock, everyone - his father and the Mafioso included - wholeheartedly applauds the idea. But it remains unclear whether Kaz will follow through and off himself. Marsh pulled influence for the film from such classic films as Harold and Maude and King of Hearts. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

Maya Deren was one of the pioneering figures of avant-garde cinema in America and also a noted author, poet, anthropologist, and alternative cultural figure of the 1940s and 1950s. Born Eleanora Derenkovsky in 1917, her family fled Kiev in 1922 to avoid political and economic reprisals brought on by her father's association with Leon Trotsky. Settling in Syracuse, NY, the family shortened their name to Deren, and Eleanora developed a passionate interest in dance and literature. After receiving degrees in English Literature and Journalism, Deren relocated to Los Angeles, where she worked with the pioneering African-American choreographer Katherine Dunham and wrote an essay on "Religious Possession in Dancing." After marrying director Alexander Hackenschmied (aka Alexander Hammid), Deren bought a second-hand movie camera and made Meshes of the Afternoon, an award-winning and highly influential experimental film, the first of many she would direct. After adopting the name Maya (taken from the Buddha's mother), Deren traveled to Haiti, where she began work on a film about the Voudon (or Voodoo) religion, and with the assistance of Joseph Campbell, she wrote a pioneering book on the subject called Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. In the Mirror of Maya Deren is an ambitious documentary which examines the public and personal sides of Deren's life and work, including interviews with a number of friends and contemporaries, including Katherine Dunham, Stan Brakhage, Judith Malina, Alexander Hammid, and Jonas Mekas. The film also features an original score by noted experimental jazz composer John Zorn. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Filmmakers Martha Burr and Chen Mei-jun join forces to explore the American immigrant experience from the unique vantage point of five émigré monks from China's legendary Shaolin Temple. From constructing new temples to performing under the bright lights in Las Vegas, these Zen masters and kung-fu artists discuss precisely how they attempt to balance the ancient demands of their rich native culture with the often contradictory expectations thrust upon them by Western society. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Director Sandi Simcha DuBowski makes his feature-length film debut with the documentary Trembling Before G-d, a look at gays and lesbians in Hasidic and Orthodox Judaism. Made over several years in New York, California, Israel, Britain, and Florida, the film follows the lives of several people struggling to express both their faith and their sexuality. In L.A., pianist David is an Orthodox gay man who has been through over ten years of therapy to supposedly "cure" his homosexuality. He visits the Chabad rabbi whom he first came out to over 20 years before. Michelle is a Hasidic lesbian who lives in Brooklyn. Having married only to please her family, she's been ostracized from her community ever since the divorce. Also in Brooklyn, Israel is a gay man who's abandoned much of his Hasidic life and hasn't seen his father in over 20 years. In London, twentysomething Mark is a the son of an Orthodox rabbi. He came out during a trip to Israel, which was supposed to rid him of his sexual questioning. Some participants prefer to remain anonymous or at least slightly obscured, including a lesbian couple who met in Hebrew school and an ultra-Orthodox closeted lesbian. The film also features some footage with various doctors and religious leaders, including the progressive psychotherapist Shlomo Ashkinazy and the first openly gay Orthodox rabbi, Steve Greenberg. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

The Radical Jewish Culture movement flowered in the East Village of lower Manhattan during the early '90s, and embodied a successful attempt to link Jewish work in the creative arts (such as music, painting and sculpture) with extreme leftwing social activism. With her 1997 documentary Sabbath in Paradise, German filmmaker Claudia Heuermann pulls from several resources, including interviews with the movers and shakers in this movement and electrifying concert clips, to weave together a portrait of this exciting ethno-cultural phenomenon. Participants include: Jon Madof, Jamie Saft, Steve Bernstein, Shanir Blumenkranz and many others. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide

This Canadian drama chronicles the adventures of a young man who journeys from Montreal to Istanbul to convince his pregnant girl friend to keep her baby and start a family with him. For most of his 27 years, Andre has been Peter Pan, spending his days carousing with his friends. Lately he and his brother Armand have been trying to set up a bungee-jumping business. His girl friend Kim goes to Istanbul on a six-month contract and it is from there that she tells Andre that she is going to abort the baby he didn't even know she carried. Andre is terribly upset and so sets off to stop her. Along the way, he visits his mother in Paris, has a one-night stand with an Italian woman, and drives a motorcycle across Croatia. In the midst of it all, Andre tries to deal with the painful moral ramifications of the situation. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Writer-director Joe Chappelle made his feature film debut with a cast of unknowns in this bizarre story that he concocted as a noir thriller. Bartender and ex-hippie Art Bledsoe (Joe Guastaferro) comes up with an idea for the perfect crime, and the idea intrigues three of his friends. Disgraced ex-policeman Mike Quinn (James Eichling) signs up for the scheme, as does car wash attendant Jimmy Fuqua (Phillip Van Lear) and Art's girlfriend Jessica Sutter (Michele Cole). The four amateurish thieves plot to kidnap Jill Luce (Dawn Maxey), the daughter of a wealthy business tycoon, and hold her ransom for a $2 million reward. Nothing goes as planned as the four thieves bumble and betray one another. Even during the action scenes, Chappelle puts most of the focus on his characters' inward misgivings and hopes. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

The Golden Boat, the first American production from internationally acclaimed director Raul Ruiz, is a dry-humored, surreal tale set in downtown Manhattan. Young writer Israel Williams (Federico Muchnik) encounters a wounded man on the street. Though he has been stabbed several times over, the man seems unaffected by his wounds and refuses to go to a doctor. Instead, he asks Israel to help find his estranged son. Israel reluctantly agrees but is met with disbelief and suspicion from the supposed son, a South American television star. Things become dangerously complicated when the old man proves to be a murderer with shady criminal and political connections. Israel soon becomes lost in a strange world of international celebrities, Marxist operatives, and postmodern literary critics. The film deconstructs traditional techniques, relying instead on unconventional cinematography, jarring sound design, and eccentric patterns of recurring imagery, including several pairs of boots that reappear in odd places throughout the film. Ruiz made The Golden Boat on a shoestring budget, working in collaboration with The Kitchen, an avant-garde theatre group. Several notable members of the New York art scene make cameos, including director Jim Jarmusch and writer Kathy Acker. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide