Recap: Joel Bender's KARLA and Hiromu Nakamura's CONCRETE (KONKURÎTO) - a.k.a. "Schoolgirl in Cemen
"The real problem is somebody is deciding on a personal basis what's appropriate and what isn't." - THINKFilm president and CEO Jeff Sackman on AMC Entertainment's decision not to screen Paul Provenza's The Aristocrats (which was being distributed in the U.S. by THINKFilm) at any of its theatres, as quoted in Nicole Sperling's July 13th The Hollywood Reporter article "AMC doesn't get dirty joke"
"[I have] made it a personal mission to convince others that it is not worth exploiting this particular film, regardless of whether it has any commercial or artistic merit [emphasis added]." - Sackman on Joel Bender's Karla (which he hadn't seen), as quoted in Simon Houpt's August 15th The Globe and Mail article "Karla showings defended"
U.S.A.: Joel Bender's Karla
Cast: Laura Prepon as Karla Homolka, Misha Collins as Paul Bernardo, Tess Harper as Molly Czehowicz, Leonard Kelly-Young as Dan Czehowicz, Alex Boyd as Nick, Tony Denison as Det. Burroughs, Cherilyn Hayres as Tammy Homolka, Kristen Swieconek as Tina McCarthy (= Leslie Mahaffy), Sarah Foret as Kaitlyn Ross (= Kristen French), Patrick Bauchau as Dr. Arnold, Anthony John Denison as Det. Burows, Emilie Jacobs as Debbie, Brandon Routh as Tim Peters, Dave Michael Beaudrie as a police officer, Danielle Burgio as a reporter, William Duffy as Det. Porter, Stephen Jared as Constable Nesbit, Ross Patterson as Steve, Diana Gitelman as Becky Wilson, Choppy Guillotte as a reporter, Angie Hill as a juror, Sawn Hoffman as Det. Steve Kirby, Tanya Lemelle as victim #3, Anna Pheil as Patricia, Jayme McCabe as a bartender, and Rana McAnear as a school girl.
Synopsis: "A deeply disturbing true story... ¶ Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka's psychological dance with death and depravity - faithfully recreated here in stunning performances by Misha Collins and Laura Prepon - will haunt you forever... because it's true. ¶ Every scene of the film was derived from events transcribed in court testimony using police reports, interviews between Karla and her psychiatrist, and videotape of the crimes shot by the perpetrators themselves. But perhaps even more shocking than the serial rapes and murders by Bernardo, is the question of how and why a woman could love such a man to the point of becoming his accomplice... which began with her own sister? ¶ As the gruesome events unfold, the utter lack of remorse from Paul and his quirky charisma paint a delusional world of normalcy for Karla, conflicted by her conscience but still unable to escape. In the end, this gripping, tension-packed film leaves the viewer to ponder the psyches of two individuals in a tragically demented relationship, and to judge: Was Karla herself caught in Paul's web, a victim? Or did the fact that she joined him in his crimes in spite of having an apparent conscience make her evil even deeper than his?"
Japan: Hiromu Nakamura's Concrete (Konkurîto) - a.k.a. "Schoolgirl in Cement"
Cast: Sôsuke Takaoka, Katsuya Kobayashi, Ryôji Tsuge, Kensuke Mano, Miki Komori, Mika Mifune, Naomi Oki, Kazutomo Nakatsukasa, Daizô Miyata, Masanori Machida, Yôhei Toyoda, Yû Saitô, Yûya Toyoshima, Sachiko Takayanagi, Akihiro Nakatani, Toshiya Nagasawa, and Yôichirô Momose.
Synopsis: Based on Jôji Atsumi's non-fiction novel Jûnana-sai: aku no rirekisho (the tagline for the movie, "Seventeen, Evil Resume" ("resume" = résumé), was a translation of the book's title), Concrete (Konkurîto) tells the real-life story of how, in 1989, a group of male youths in Tokyo, ranging in age from 16 to 18, abducted a 17-year-old high school girl, raped and otherwise abused her for 41 days, then murdered her. They put her corpse into a 50-gallon oil drum, filled the drum with concrete - hence the movie's title - then dumped it in a reclaimed land area.
Karla trailer (in English; downloadable 10.6 MB MOV file)
Karla official website
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC): Review of Karla
Concrete trailer (Japanese w/o subtitles; downloadable 12 MB WMV file)
