by John P. Meyer

Nihilism contrasts nicely with solid narrative thread as we profile two video offerings. PLUS: Find a schedule of all the videos in the fest.

The folks at the Dallas Video Festival, which starts up tonight at the Angelika Dallas, were kind enough to send over to PegNews HQ a large selection of screener DVDs for our perusal. Last night I took home two at (more or less) random and watched them as a means of gauging the material on the festival agenda. By total accident (which is the way I generally approach a challenge), I appear to have selected videos from opposite ends of a diverse spectrum of offerings.

(Of course, there are more than... let's see, rough count... half a gazillion separate videos being screened at the festival, so you should keep this in mind as you consider the following.)

Modern Man, a film by Justin Swibel, is the quintessential example of a high-minded artsy-fartsy piece. It's shot on HD equipment and thus looks absolutely clear as a bell and saturated with color, which makes it easy on the eyes - but as for narrative, there isn't one. (Because, it's clear, none was intended.) What it is, is a series of video vignettes (27 in number) following the excruciatingly mundane activities of a bloke (Eric Becker) as he confronts, as if for the first time, a series of excruciatingly mundane implements and environs around a posh home in an anonymous modern suburbia. Mr. Becker maintains a steadfastly expressionless approach to it all (pool skimming, bulb changing, hole digging), presumably planting the implication that the modern routines of life have become so dreary and predictable that there's no reason for expression to enter the equation. There's no dialogue, and with a run-time of 61 minutes you might want to consider caffeinating heavily before ensconcing yourself in a comfy theater seat.

By contrast, 638 Ways to Kill Castro (by filmmaker Dollan Cannell) documents America's secret war against Cuba's Castro regime, homing in (as the title might suggest) on assassination attempts against "The Beard" himself. This is a straightforward narrative documentary, 72 minutes in length, and is chock full of interviews with players from both sides of the political fence: in the course of things we hear from several individuals (now elderly) who've participated in actual attempts on Fidel's life, as well as meeting, via camera, the head of Castro's own security team (who comes off as something of a miracle man, given the number of assassination plots). The interview material is punctuated by a series of tension-packed black-and-white reenactment sequences, some newly filmed for the production and others lifted from applicable period movie dramas.

At one amusing turn, security chief Fabian Escalante and an aide are seen using an electronic calculator (sans printed tape) to tally up the number of documented plots against El Presidente, and they keep having a problem with the final count; after backtracking and re-adding it's finally agreed to be the number specifed in the title: 638. Furthermore, they break it down to those occurring during various U.S. administrations, operating on the theory that the various White House crews are aware of each and every conspiracy. Here are those results:

Eisenhower: 38; Kennedy: 42; Johnson: 72; Nixon: 184; mild-mannered philanthropist Jimmy Carter: 64; Reagan: a prize-winning 197; Bush Sr.: 16; Clinton: 21. (No score is given for George W., presumably because the meter is still running.)

Predictably, most of the planned attempts involved firearms and garden variety bombs, but there are notable amusing (if potentially deadly) exceptions, such as the softball filled with plastique which was intended to be thrown at El Jefe's passing limo, and the plan for poisoning the dictator's favorite cigars. It seems the closest anyone ever came to succeeding was when one of Fidel's former girlfriends snuck into his Havana Hilton suite prepared to drop botulism-laced capsules into his beverage, but the fact that she'd secreted the pills into a container of facial unguent beforehand meant that they'd already dissolved by the time she was ready to act. (And, of course, it might have proven suspicious to attempt to make Castro wear - or eat - cold cream.)

The most eye-opening aspect of the documentary to this reviewer was the uncanny resemblance the young Castro bears (both in features and vocal register) to Curly Howard: just imagine the sympathetic stooge with a beard and a cigar. (You'll see what I mean during the Edward R. Morrow interview segments.)

Modern Man plays at the Dallas Theater Center on Saturday, Aug. 4 at 7:30 p.m.; 638 Ways to Kill Castro screens at the same venue on Sunday, Aug. 5 at 4 p.m. Ticket information is available here.

NO SURPRISE, THAT: "The one thing I regret is not killing him." - former Castro schoolmate, regarding his fleeting opportunity to pull the trigger prior to being apprehended by bodyguards

KARMA?: "In an irony lost on many, he (Kennedy) got assassinated himself." - narrator

ODDS-ON FAVORITES: "We only have to be successful once." - Cuban expatriate plotter

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