@NOFS Review: "The Innkeepers"

The Innkeepers (film) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Have you ever been tricked into watching an internet video that scares you out of your seat? You know the kind; the description suggests a shocking event (girl gets kidnapped, a car accident, something supernatural, etc), but when played, you get a quiet and somewhat boring setting. Then…BAM! A monster or ghost bursts into the frame, screeching something horrific that almost pops your ear drums. This practical joke just about works every time.

“The Innkeepers” plays this scenario out in its first few minutes. The joke is played on Claire, a young front desk clerk at an old hotel, by her coworker Luke. The pair are working the hotel’s final weekend before closing, and are bored as all hell – though it’s suggested that they’re bored even under normal circumstances. They perform the daily tasks with a sigh, just waiting to get back to the only interesting thing about work; finding evidence of the ghost that is rumored to haunt the hotel.

The two leads remind me very much of Dante and Randal from “Clerks”. No, they’re not as vulgar, but they are equally stuck in life. While Luke seems a bit content with his position (much like Randal), Claire begins to realize that she has no aspirations outside of the hotel – what will she do with herself after the place shuts down in a few days?

Almost as a way to find the answers to her own existence, Claire seeks out the ghost that too is stuck in the hotel. She doesn’t really have a goal in terms of freeing the spirit or anything like that; I think she just wants to know it’s there. Maybe to reassure herself that she’s not alone? Maybe to just have a cool story to tell? 

Much like the video that tricked Claire, the movie is more fun and whimsical than scary and creepy. Yes, there are a few scare moments, but, in the end, you’re left with a smile instead of a nightmare.

It’s funny to me how two thirds of “The Innkeepers” reminds me of a movie like “Waiting…” minus the toilet humor, but one thirds feels like the more suspenseful moments of “Shutter Island”. I can’t say this is a horror film, but it does have it’s moments – the real terror isn’t that there IS a ghost, but that there MIGHT be a ghost. That, and is working a dead end job better than working amongst the dead?

"The Innkeepers", presented by the New Orleans Film Society, will be playing at Chalmette Movies from March 25th to March 27th.  

3/5 *'s

@NOFS Review: "A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie"

My grandfather’s name was Willie Laurendine, but we called him Paw Paw. He was a bus driver for the city of New Orleans. In Ghana, there is a style of music played by a union of bus and truck drivers known as Por Por, which is pronounced Paw Paw. This music is only performed by them at the funerals of fellow workers – funerals that share similarities with the jazz funerals of New Orleans.

Despite this almost Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon style connection I had with “A Por Por Funeral for Ashirifie”, there was little else for me to latch on to.

It’s not the fault of the subject matter – a variation of a jazz funeral, performed with antique car horns and played exclusively by an African driver’s union – which I was excited to learn more about; it was the presentation. There is no attempt to tell the audience about the history of this music, its importance in the area, or even who Nelson Ashirifie Mensah (this was his funeral) was as a person. We are only treated to what has to be at least 45 minutes of nonstop horn honking and street dancing (the movie is just under an hour) and a few title cards that describe the upcoming action. That’s it. Were they just dead set on making this almost feature length?

I know it’s easy to just point your one camera and shoot, but if you’re making a documentary about a little known subject, you HAVE to give the audience some information outside of a few words on a screen; interviews, historical archive materials, narration and editing are all helpful tools. Most audiences aren’t interested in the raw footage of a trip you once took.

The Por Por music reminded me of the wonderful intrusiveness of the whistle tip craze (google it); both are loud and proud. When a member of this union dies, the whole town knows, and – at least for the rest of the day – the noise will not let anyone forget. That I like.

The filmmakers are coming to New Orleans on March 23 to screen the film, and will be accompanied by a live demonstration and panel discussion. This is an excellent opportunity to learn more about this unique culture. I guarantee it’ll be more informative than the movie itself.

1/5 *'s