Cinebuds

Dori is flying solo for this episode, but she made sure to keep the pod well-populated by inviting filmmakers Alex Lamb and Max Well to chat about their new documentary, The Donn of Tiki.

This is a story that demanded to be told: A man living a life that makes it nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction while inadvertently creating the tiki subculture. The entire tale of Donn Beach is a wild one and extends all the way back to his birth, the location of which remains up in the air. He was a bootlegger and rum-cocktail inventor with mob ties who used his authentic love for Polynesian culture to become "the founding father of tiki.”

Alex and Max share how they discovered old tapes with Donn's actual voice, used perfectly suited stop-motion animation to bring him to life, and wound up with enough material for an early cut that was three hours long. They also talk about how they whittled down that runtime and came up with a narrative approach for an unreliable narrator — something you can see for yourself at a screening of The Donn of Tiki this Saturday, Sept. 6, at the Oriental Theatre, followed immediately by a Q&A with the filmmakers.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

When Milwaukee Film rolls out one of their carefully curated series, it gives Dori and Kpolly a chance to do two things:

For the organization's monthly "Cinematic Sisterhood" run of films, they decided to go straight to the top. That's right, Milwaukee Film Executive Director Susan Kerns steps into the studio to give a very authoritative (but friendly!) perspective of the series made possible by a grant from the Women's Fund of Greater Milwaukee.

Our trio of cinephiles talks about the programming that celebrates films directed by women, including the one coming up Aug. 23: The Queen of My Dreams from Fawzia Mirza, who took a creatively kinetic approach to telling a tale of mothers and daughters trying to connect. All three hosts already got their eyes on the 2023 movie and applied their respective seals of approval for the grounded story that finds a way to seamlessly stir in a heavy dose of fantasy.

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

This episode sees our cinematic duo turning their attention to Kiyoshi Kurosawa's new Japanese thriller, Cloud. This film, a hit at the spring film festivals and an Academy Award nominee, explores themes of capitalism through a young man reselling goods online. While some might expect a horror film based on Kurosawa's past work, Cloud is decidedly a thriller that keeps you guessing who to root for.

Get ready for tonal shifts as the film evolves from a quiet drama to an absurd, action-packed thriller with characters who are — as our humble hosts remark — "an inch away from losing it." Dori and Kpolly also praise the unexpected character arcs of Yoshi's assistant, O, and his girlfriend, before moving on to their other recommendations: the 1980s-set, Pedro Pascal-starring Freaky Tales; and Bob Odenkirk's unexpected action turn in Nobody.

Earlier this year, we invited the filmmakers behind Cycle to the podcast for a deeper look at their document about police violence in America. In the months since, Cycle won Best Feature Documentary at the Brooklyn Film Festival and is now gearing up for more screenings and more film festivals around Wisconsin and beyond. So it seemed like a good time to revisit our conversation with directors Laura Dyan Kezman and William Howell. Enjoy. 

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On this episode, Dori welcomes some very special guests to talk about a very important film: Cycle.

More than five years in the making, Cycle takes an unflinching look at the patterns behind police violence in America through the story of Ty’rese West, an 18-year-old from Racine who was shot and killed by Mount Pleasant police officer Eric Giese in 2019 after being stopped for riding a bicycle without a headlight.

Joining the podcast to talk about their film — and their deep connections to it — are directors Laura Dyan Kezman and William Howell, both of whom are from Racine. Uniquely Milwaukee host Kim Shine also sits in for this one as the quartet talk about:

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Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.

 Director Wes Anderson has done something just about every person in his trade dreams to do: establish an instantly recognizable and virtually inimitable visual style.

He’s reached a point in his career at which a member of the moviegoing public could jump in halfway through a trailer with no prompts whatsoever and go, “Huh, Wes Anderson’s got a new film coming out.” On this episode of Cinebuds, we ask the question: Has he reached a point in his career at which that’s not necessarily a good thing?

Prompting that discussion is Anderson’s latest release, The Phoenician Scheme, which plays his greatest hits. Symmetrical shots? Yep. Scenes that could easily double as paintings? Sure. Flat, deadpan delivery? Bingo.

As our hosts discuss, that final quality might be starting to catch up with Anderson, at least in this one. The Phoenician Scheme sports the top-notch writing and story beats we’ve also come to expect from Anderson. Yet, despite a cast with the ability to match that high level of scripting, they don’t get a chance to create a character.

Perhaps you know the adage, “Show, don’t tell.” Based on our hosts’ experience, The Phoenician Scheme could’ve used a little more of that. But was that enough to sink the whole ship or just tip it slightly from side to side?

Cinebuds is sponsored by Joe Wilde Co.