LAAPFF 2012: THE CRUMBLES

Elisa (Teresa Michelle Lee) in The Crumbles.

A piece of rock

By Miranda Inganni

In Akira Boch’s feature film debut, The Crumbles, the preternaturally mature and serious Darla (Katie Hipol) desperately wants her dream to succeed -- having a band that can achieve world dominance. Darla’s dreams seem like they will forever be just dreams until her friend, Elisa (Teresa Michelle Lee) suddenly appears, needing a place to stay. When none of their other friends will help out, Elisa becomes Darla’s indefinite couch-crasher yet an ideal bandmate. While Elisa has the (questionable) talent and drive to “make it big,” she also has an ego to match. The gals hatch their plan, and their fledgling band, and try to make it out of Echo Park, CA.

While Darla is perhaps overly responsible, Elisa is the exact opposite: flighty, a bit manic and fairly selfish. While she is caring and compassionate in rescuing a stray dog, it is up to Darla to pay and care for her (both the pooch and the pal). Elisa wants to party, drink, make music and have sexy times (we assume in order to forget her recent heartache). Darla is all business: work and music.

Darla is real and Hipol seems quite natural and credible in her role. Lee’s Elisa is totally without any redeeming qualities. She’s the kind of woman you think would be fun to hang out with for an hour, only to realize she won’t shut the fuck up and, oh yes, you’re paying the bill. While both young actresses have their qualities, Lee goes for an over-the-top performance where Hipol’s subtlety is more credible.

An all-too-familiar story of trying to make it, without ever really going anywhere, The Crumblesis sweet, local and refreshing -- especially due to the fact that there is no sex or violence.


The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival screening of The Crumbles is tonight, 9:45 p.m., DGA 1. For more information: LAAPFF.

AGLIFF 2011: TRIGGER

Kat (Molly Parker) and Vic (Tracy Wright) in Trigger.

Bang up job

By Don Simpson

Vic (Tracy Wright) and Kat (Molly Parker) are best known for fronting Toronto’s famed 1990s grrrl rock band,Trigger. As is often the case with rock and roll, drugs, alcohol, sex and egos — in no particular order — were all to blame for the band’s thorny demise. In an instant, Trigger was gone.

Director Bruce McDonald’s Trigger finds the two fallen rock stars a decade or so later. After not speaking to each other since Trigger’s break-up, Vic and Kat find themselves facing off across a small table at a chic modern restaurant. Their reunion could not start off much worse. Kat shows up an hour later than Vic, then her cellphone rings (important business to which she must attend). Vic’s disdain for Kat’s fun, flighty and flirty personality promptly rears its ugly head. Both women flash their claws. A violent fight seems eminent. The question remains: Will it happen before, during or after the benefit they are both scheduled to attend?

Over the course of one single night, Vic and Kat regurgitate their history. A battle between ideologies and lifestyles commences. They judge their own pasts -- fluidly alternating between the romanticism and hatred of their memories -- while criticizing each other’s presents. A lot has changed since their days in Trigger. Vic is a recovering drug addict, who still resides in Toronto; she looks to a book titled The Spirituality of Imperfection for the answers to life’s questions, and is negotiating the release of a solo album. The “terminally unique” Kat is a recovering alcoholic; she long ago abandoned Toronto for Los Angeles (well, Silverlake) and works as a music supervisor for Lifetime. Eventually, Vic and Kat’s fiery philosophical clashes simmer down long enough for the two women to delicately discuss their fears and aspirations, as well as their unique perspectives on aging, dying, relationships and love.

On the surface, Trigger plays like a romantic stroll around Toronto at night, as Vic and Kam act as our guides, but the locations are far from romantic (other than Allan Gardens) or noteworthy. At its heart Trigger is a talkie. Trigger is all about screenwriter Daniel MacIvor’s uncanny command of the English language. Ranging from gracefully poetic to subtly rhythmic to downright spastic, the dialog twists and turns between mean, raunchy and bittersweet; yet despite the literary flourishes, every word and every phrase seems perfectly natural. It is completely believable that Vic and Kat would speak in these somewhat affected ways.

Speaking of… Wright and Parker’s performances are nothing short of amazing.Trigger finds both actors at the pinnacle of their craft, portraying characters that were seemingly custom crafted just for them. What reportedly started off as a sequel to McDonald’s punk mockumentary, Hard Core Logo (1996), Triggerquickly evolved into a farewell love letter to Wright, whose health was slipping due to pancreatic cancer. (Wright passed away in June 2010, at the age of 50.) I do not know if Wright’s portrayal of the world-weary Vic, accentuated by her sunken eyes and graying skin, is more amazing if you know she was dying when she shot Trigger or not. No matter what, I cannot imagine a more appropriate swan song for an actor.