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Reviews
Canaan Land (2020)
Elmer Gantry for the 21st Century Internet Age
I have thought from time to time about the Oscar-winning film "Elmer Gantry" (1960), starring Burt Lancaster, and wondered what the story of the con man preacher who falls for a virginal sincere Christian woman would be like if it was done today as a contemporary piece.
"Canaan Land" is not a remake of Elmer Gantry, but Rossi, who has played Elmer Gantry on stage to stellar reviews, has been influenced by the classics, yet reinvents the story for the 21st century internet age.
Rebecca Holden of Knight Rider fame sings and acts the part of the female evangelist Sister Sara well and is very well cast. Rossi as the con man Brother Billy Gantry gives the character an odd, childlike quirkiness that somehow bewitches me into rooting for him as the rogue, petty hustler.
The film in general has an odd atmosphere. It was shot in Hollywood on a micro-budget yet somehow transports us into a mythic place of dancing clowns, rock and rollers, Pentecostals, a motley collection of saints and sinners.
The film's poster shows the comedy and campiness of the first half of the film, but once you are drawn in there is a shift into drama as Brother Billy's paramour and preaching partner Sister Sara realizes he is fake and doesn't really believe.
In addition to Rossi and Holden, other standout performances are Isaac Bar-Jonah as a young black man who helps Gantry with his cons, and Jozy Pollock as a spiritual mother to Sister Sara.
"Get the gold dust!" Brother Billy yells, in his gold glitter jacket that has spawned a fashion trend and is sold in stores worldwide as the "Brother Billy Canaan Land jacket." There is a reason Billy's look and eccentricities have become iconic. Rossi has tapped into archetypes both in the characters and the story.
If capturing the audience and making you watch it is the criteria for a review, it is a near perfect film. Some who expect every film to be mega-budget may say it's only lack is Rossi made it by the force of his will, with volunteers shooting on whatever cameras or cellphones they had. As an outsider to the studio system, he has triumphed. He got it made, by God, and we can watch his passion project and let it feed our souls.
No No: A Dockumentary (2014)
Dock's Spiritual Journey
A well-done film featuring interviews with baseball legends, Hollywood director Ron Howard, vintage Pirates like Blass, Al Oliver, Bob Robertson and others, and interviews with Dock Ellis himself. The movie traces Dock's journey from a gifted pitcher who threw a no-hitter on LSD, faced Vida Blue in the 1971 All Star Game, and eventually faced his addictions and became a counselor to other addicts. If you liked this film, you'll also love "Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories", another new film showing the spiritual journey of the great Roberto Clemente who was Dock's teammate and mentor. " Baseball's Last Hero" is the companion film to this film and is also on IMDb and Amazon. Both films go beyond baseball to say something meaningful.
Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories (2013)
This Film Is A Hit & a Movie for Lovers
The forty year wait since Clemente's death was more than worth it for this gem of a film. "Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories" is a labor of love from Writer/Director, Richard Rossi who like so many of us who love this film grew up watching Clemente play. The film plays out in 21 chapters, 21 being not only the uniform number Roberto wore but the number of letters in his three names: Roberto Walker Clemente. Understanding that chronology is important to following the film.
I loved every aspect of this masterful movie and I learned things I never knew about Clemente. The love Vera and Roberto shared was endless, like Romeo and Juliet, a great love that ends in tragedy. Olympian Jamie Nieto deftly portrays in an acting tour de force the adversities Roberto had playing the game not only from injuries sustained from a car accident but from racist reporters. The Pittsburgh Press were out to mock him and call him a "Puerto Rican hot dog." Fortunately, it made him more determined to prove he was the greatest right fielder of all time.
I cried watching this film, reliving the feelings I had when I found out as a fifth grader the plane went down. "Baseball's Last Hero: 21 Clemente Stories" is a film every Clemente fan needs to see, bringing the glory days of the Pirates back to life by the amazing performance from Nieto as Roberto. Nieto brought the same passion to the role that brought him to two Olympic games. The rest of the supporting cast did a stellar job.
The feeling Rossi conveyed to me was a nostalgia like I was in the living room again in 1971 re- experiencing it in front of our old TV screen. This film was made on a small budget and doesn't look like a studio film, and it is not a precise retelling of every historical aspect.
This is a film for lovers like Roberto, and this film made history as the first feature dramatic film on Clemente's life. It's important for the viewer to have the cerebration to grasp the genre and the style of the film, and the way that it was made and the reasons why it was shot the way it was and why it is not, thank God, an exact detail of everything that happened exactly in Clemente's life from start to finish. The film is far more moving and entertaining because of the choices Rossi and the cast and crew made.
Live at Graffitti's (1994)
Great concert film
I'm not normally into religious rock, but Richard Rossi's performance at Graffitti's, a legendary nightclub is riveting in the way he combines revivalism and rock and roll music in an atmosphere of people enjoying a cold one and trying to score for the night. The film reminded me of Purple Rain in that it captures a talented musical rock musician at his peak and Rossi is in a sense playing a character of the powerful preacher, and it's a role he eventually felt trapped in and he broke free of those ministerial shackles to a ministry beyond his wildest dreams as an actor and filmmaker. The all star jazz band backing him up are all superb but the strongest and most poignant moment is when they head to the bar for drinks and Rossi stays on the stage and performs solo acoustically a song he wrote about his little brother.
Live Fast, Die Young (2008)
Interesting
This film put its finger on the reality of how corporate, revenue-driven media influences so much of our lives, and how it's unfortunately controlled by a small number of right-wing corporations and media moguls. Richard Rossi was very strong in giving a naturalistic and realistic portrayal of the A-list film director. The thing I like about Rossi is he makes any lines sound conversational, as if he's ad-libbing and improvising. He never goes over the top. Sean Lawlor also was very strong as the Rupert Murdoch-type studio head. It was well-done given the time and budget constraints. Good Christian film witha redeeming message. Go rent it or see it and learn the truth about Hollywood and about salvation
Judy (2005)
A Visual Feast
I saw this at a private industry screening in Hollywood recently. Like David Lynch, Prater's background as a painter informs every shot with a tranquil visual beauty. Like the European masters Bergman and Fellini, he takes his times to make every frame a painting. Kara Russell, Richard Rossi, and the rest of the cast give stellar performances in a brilliant conception of how the implausible is plausible when someone is emotionally bankrupt and desperate for love. Hitchcock fans will be grateful to see the other half of Gavin Elster's seduction and Svengali-like transformation of the wounded girl from Salinas, Kansas into the ghost of his murdered wife.
Goin' All the Way! (1981)
Don James
Don James who played the nerd became legendary editor "Adam Lightplay" who did critically acclaimed editing on the Richard Rossi feature "Aimee Semple McPherson." Don/Adam hasn't made any movies as an actor since, but he is still searching for the "meaning of life." Watch for him to reappear soon as a stand-up healer. This film was a lot of fun. Don's portrayal of Howard is a great cult film moment. Eileen Davidson became a regular on "Young and the Restless." Her scene is very sexy when she is fondling and talking about trying positive thinking. A bad movie can be good, look at "Ed Wood," and this makes "Porky's" look like a Merchant Ivory film.
Aimee Semple McPherson (2006)
A riveting revolutionary use of film to tell an amazing biography
I attended a screening of a rough cut in Hollywood. Mimi Michaels is stellar as the miracle woman, Sister Aimee. The camera angles are beautiful, the scenes framed like a picture. Rance Howard, Ron Howard's father, gives an exceptionally strong performance as Aimee's father. The film really draws you in, and was well paced in terms of how much time it spend on Aimee's youth and adulthood, and the three husbands. The wedding scene should win an award for cinematography. Charles Hoyes (Harold McPherson, Aimee's third husband, is powerful in the breakup scene.) Director Richard Rossi's acting and range was praised in audience feedback sessions, favorite scenes being his impromptu sermon in the speakeasy and his scene courting Aimee in which they are beautifully silhouetted at the beach. Charlie Chaplin's granddaughter Kiera was absolutely beautiful as Myrtle Ste. Pierre, the mistress of Aimee's third husband. Without giving spoilers, the ending was hauntingly beautiful and spiritually resolves the narrative perfectly.
Quest for Truth (1992)
RichardRossi's masterful film documentary on the subject of faith healing and exorcism
I was an agnostic prior to seeing Rossi's film. His on-camera cinema verite stories capture real healings and exorcisms...I think there is a real spiritual world we have ignored as Westerners under the cloak of pseudo-intellectualism.
Saving Sister Aimee (2001)
A brilliant documentary on controversial faith healer and pioneering woman, Aimee McPherson
Rossi's cinema verite style and interviews with Aimee McPherson's surviving daughter, secretary, actors, and then his shift into the present and the legal battles swirling around her church and legacy is masterful. I cannot wait to see the feature film Rossi is currently shooting on Aimee McPherson. Rossi sets an incredible period piece mood by having an elderly lady who played piano for Sister Aimee haltingly play the old 1920's music. His innovative camera angles and sense of narrative is reminiscent of Fellini and Bergman.