Now that Brüno is finished and in theaters, what is Sacha Baron Cohen to do next? Surely he can continue appearing in movies not his own, such as he did with Talladega Nights and Sweeney Todd, but will there ever be another shock-mockumentary in the style of Borat and Brüno? Even if he develops some new characters, people don’t believe he could make another one of these kinds of films stealthily enough to make it work.

Well, let’s hope that isn’t true, because we would love to see at least one more. And we think he’s enough of a chameleon that his increasing fame won’t get in the way. As Metromix recently pointed out, there are just so many people (live and dead) who still need to be interviewed and/or pranked by Baron Cohen. Also, there are so many more marginalized people out there who could use a Brüno of their own to challenge the stereotypes and expose the continuing prejudices of our country.

To help Baron Cohen come up with a new character and issue, we’ve selected five already existing scenarios — which should help garner funding since Hollywood is so into remakes — to inspire him.
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UPDATE: Karina initially accidentally posted this story under her name, instead of that of Lauren Wissot, who is the author. Please except her apologies for the confusion. Also, Young Karina did have a blue hair, black eyeliner & studded belt phase, but she was fairly careful not to get anywhere near a camera that year.

It was 30 years ago this week that Sid Vicious rang the death knell for punk rock, overdosing on heroin on February 2nd while awaiting trial for the murder of girlfriend Nancy Spungen. So in honor of the spike-haired rebel who was the face (if not the sound) of punk, and whose chaotic life ended at the tender age of 21, I present five punk rock films that really rock.

Suburbia

Suburbia was released in 1983, and though Sid Vicious had flamed out along with punk’s heyday years before, America’s hardcore scene was in overdrive with bands like Black Flag and the Dead Kennedys reinventing the music by playing at the speed of light, pumping up the adrenaline from coast to coast (and causing this minor threat to later consider the Ramones as slowpoke as The Beatles.) Director Penelope Spheeris, best known for docs like Decline of Western Civilization and her later forays into sellout Hollywood, thrillingly applied the original punk DIY ethos to filmmaking, using guerrilla tactics and nonprofessionals to create a time capsule of L.A.’s underground scene. In other words, the film not only documents punk, it is punk – and a must-see for a young punk as much as the latest Bad Brains album was a must-hear. In fact, I must’ve seen this film about a group of runaways who form a punk family a dozen times during my anarchistic teenage years, never sober and usually with my own extended, Mohawk coiffed, leather-and-chain-wearing family. Indeed, the image of lead character Evan kicking at white walls like a trapped animal, futilely trying to fight his way out of society’s cage, often would be the last I’d see before passing out next to a spike-toed Doc.

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Don’t you just hate when the movies make you care about a bigot? Sure, racists are technically humans, but that doesn’t mean we need to sympathize with them, right? No matter how great the film, it should be very difficult to accept the softening of intolerant people.

Yet the lovable racist is not uncommon in cinema. In fact, out in theaters right now are two films dealing with this type of character. The Reader presents a cold Concentration Camp guard (Kate Winslet) for whom we’re meant to shed a tear, and Gran Torino focuses on a War Veteran stereotype (Clint Eastwood) who may evoke from the audience as much amusement as disgust.

Maybe it’s like picking a scab, watching these kinds of movies. Some great films, such as Downfall, may only welcome an understanding of someone so heinous as Adolph Hitler, but other films have allowed us to totally enjoy racist protagonists of lesser offense. Check out the following examples to see some of the many intolerant heroes we’ve easily tolerated.
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I saw six films at Tribeca this weekend, and five of them were completely blown off the map by Somers Town, Shane Meadows’ practically perfect follow-up to his 2007 triumph, This is England. England was one of my favorite films of last year, but its political/historical aims, admittedly, occasionally overwhelmed Meadows’ more subtle, character-based observations. Somers Town is less ambitious but more impressive, a 70-minute portrait of a moment with zero fat to cut and not a false note.

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Shane Meadows has very quietly followed up his skinhead instant-classic This is England with Somers Town, a black-and-white, 75-minute feature fronted by England’s young star, Thomas Turgoose. The film popped up unexpectedly at the Berlin Film Festival last month, where it earned a rapturous Variety review and very little other press. Now Twitch has a slide show of images from the film, apparently put together by Meadows himself in lieu of a trailer. See it above.

• The Circuit has pictures from The Weinstein Company’s party, which was held in “a strange concrete bunker” outfitted with a bumper car dance floor. Also, Patti Smith is apparently going around telling people she is “beyond gender,” which cleverly preempts any joke we could have made.
• Also at Mike Jones’ festival blog, a diary entry from Vicci Ho, member of the Berlinale Teddy jury. Apparently, assigned seats don’t mean much at this festival.
• Shane Meadows is showing a new feature in Berlin, featuring his This is England star Thomas Turgoose. Variety explains why you haven’t heard about it.
• “Not a gore fest by any means - it would likely get a PG-13 rating in the US - the film is a tightly plotted, exceptionally well shot thrill ride that sets the rules of its world very early on, lets the audience know what to expect and then executes flawlessly.” Todd Brown reviews Dark Floors, “the Finnish horror film conceived and created as a starring vehicle for Finnish metal act Lordi,” at Twitch.
• The FILMMAKER Blog points to the launch of The Auteurs, a new site that will offer full-length classic and art house features for download. The site will also have an editorial and social networking component. I’ve requested a beta invite, and I’ll post more on the site once I’ve had a chance to explore.

This is nothing like my top ten of 2007. I don’t not do top ten lists because I think they’re stupid, pointless or pretentious. I don’t do them because I never see enough films in the year to feel I’m adequately representing what is the best of the year. I don’t even feel I could represent my favorite of the year, since later on I’ll likely see some great films from this year that would qualify as my favorite(s). So, I’m just going to present some movies (or parts of movies) I really loved this year, and tell you what I loved about them. Because to me best of lists are merely a reminder of movies I still need to see, consider this a list only of things you might have missed and should definitely check out.

• Sunshine and The Last Winter - Two incredible science fiction stories that each ends rather disappointingly. Fortunately both are good enough until their denouements that they are completely recommendable to serious sci-fi fans and anybody else who wants to spark up some discussions about environmental issues and/or psychological implications of being out in the middle of nowhere.
• The Boss of It All - Not the most remarkable Von Trier film, but proof that he can make a simple comedy if that’s what he wants to do. I especially enjoyed it because I’ve had a passive boss who was exactly like the one in the film. Also, Ibn Hjejle has now been redeemed for her awful, out-of-place presence in High Fidelity.

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Last night I watched a screener of This is England, Shane Meadows’ semi-autobiographical feature about growing up skinhead in Thatcher-era England. Suffice it to say, I was somewhat blown away. I’ll write more after I’ve fully mulled, but because the film opens today at the IFC Center here in New York, I wanted to do a round-up of what a few other critics are saying. The film is currently set to expand to at least 12 additional cities through September.

“Period specificities aside, the film illustrates an aspect of adolescence I’ve rarely seen better explored: how subculture membership can foster a sense of belonging in young people unsuited to the school-sponsored avenues of self-identification, or can get a kid laid who’d otherwise be hopeless.” — Nick Pinkerton, indieWIRE

“It’s a glorious collage of young person moods: loneliness, confusion, revolt and languor. Meadows builds on this endearing formula with an involving interrogation of hate, and a bold willingness to show how a racist mentality can offer outsiders the dangerous illusion of salvation. The spot-on juvenilia alternates between modes of cuteness and terror.” — Eric Kohn, The Reeler

“What a weird and unpleasant land Britain was in the early 1980s…I don’t think that Meadows set out to shoot a state-of-the-nation parable. He set out to explore a contradiction within skinhead culture: the tribal dislike of foreigners, and the diehard allegiance to Jamaican ska music. Yet it’s clear that This is England is much bigger than this irony.” — James Christopher, The Times

“Every time he floats to us, the audience, a sense of Shaun’s brightness, Meadows is heightening the drama and asking the question: how badly are these skinheads going to screw up this kid’s future? How far down the wrong path are they going to take him? And we’re constantly reminded that Shaun is already dealing with the death of his father and trying to compute who this Thatcher person is that everyone keeps trying to tell him is to blame.” — Ryan Stewart, Cinematical

“This Is England is smart, funny, charming and appalling. It again proves that Meadows, already much loved for A Room For Romeo Brass and Dead Man’s Shoes, is one of the truly powerful and unique voices in UK film today, a master of character with an uncanny gift for fusing nostalgia with harsh reality.” — Todd at Twitch