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Indie Flix
By STEVE PERSALL
© St. Petersburg Times,
published August 30, 2001
Also opening:
Of monarchs, man and migrations
Amazing Journeys (Not rated, probably PG) (40 min.) -- The sight of millions of monarch butterflies fluttering and clinging to trees is worth the price of admission to George Casey's IMAX documentary. It's honestly one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on screen, and the immense dimensions of the format, coupled with the curvature of the IMAX Dome Theater at the Museum of Science and Industry, make it unforgettable.
Those gorgeous insects are one species Casey displays in the course of their annual migration for survival. Monarch butterflies travel 2,500 miles through North America to Mexican forests to find what they need. The trip to MOSI is much shorter and worthwhile for moviegoers.
Audiences also fly alongside Canada geese, swim with gray whales and dodge predators on African plains with zebras. Each insect or mammal's motivation for their respective treks is explained with economy, keeping the pace livelier than a lecture. Comic relief is provided by scenes of thousands of red crabs scrambling over every inch of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean, moving to the shore for spawning.
In the final segment humans take their place alongside the world's migrators. Casey traces the path of Masai tribes in East Africa, sleeping on animal hides in a daily re-enactment of primitive history. The balance between nature and humans who respect it is clear. Casey's film is an amiable ecology lesson, perhaps a bit skimpy on the details for a museum piece, but full of eye-catching images.
Opens Friday at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. Amazing Journeys will be shown in rotation with other IMAX films through Dec. 31. Then the IMAX Dome Theater will present a different sort of marvel: a remastered version of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. Grade for Amazing Journeys: A-
Killers without a clue
Bully (R) (112 min.) -- In 1993, a group of Broward County teenagers committed one of those crimes that makes people wonder what's wrong with America's youth. Director Larry Clark (Kids) doesn't have an answer, but he certainly evokes aimless adolescent self-destruction with panache.
Perhaps too much, since Bully, like Clark's 1995 film Kids, sometimes seems like a pedophile's dream. That notion undermines a riveting story gamely acted by performers old enough to keep Clark out of jail.
The kids in Bully are a sordid lot, drug-abusing morons spending much of the time unclothed and sexually hyperactive, either by consent or rape. Clark dotes on their bodies to an uncomfortable degree, peeking up dresses or snooping on teens sleeping naked. Little of this voyeurism is necessary in the long run.
Much of it shows Bobby Kent (Nick Stahl) to be a despicable person, the bully of the title. Bobby's favorite victim is his lifelong friend Marty Puccio (Brad Renfro), whom he constantly beats and insults. Yet, a vaguely homoerotic bond is hinted at between the two, especially when Bobby shoves Marty into a gay dance contest and interrupts Marty having sex.
Marty's new girlfriend, Lisa Connelly (Rachel Miner), suggests killing Bobby so matter-of-factly that it's chilling. Marty is quick to agree, but both are so dim-witted about what they're proposing that they can't keep their mouths shut. Soon, other friends join the scheme; the only motivation Clark suggests is boredom.
Parts of Bully play like dark comedy, with teens who don't know anything trying to sound worldly. Clark doesn't offer any reasons for such base behavior; it just occurs. Parents are around but ineffective. Their worst mistake is simply being tolerant. Clark makes his movie like those teenagers who murder Bobby; sloppy and brutal, without any concrete plan or purpose and always distracted by sex.
There's something creepy about a 57-year-old filmmaker with such interest in youthful sexuality, especially when no consequences are considered until the fade out. Clark is either totally irresponsible or else way ahead of his audience. Either way is risky and the mark of an artist.
Opens Friday at Channelside Cinemas. B
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-- STEVE PERSALL, Times film critic
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