Mission Mission

There’s nothing better than a movie review that reads nothing like a movie review. Phil Bronstein on La Mission:

Although “Milk” gave SF its overdue due about an important time, an historical figure and a movement, “La Mission” is essentially an ongoing narrative of real and profound life, mostly in the neighborhood noted in the title, but with powerful vistas and street corners of other parts of our geography. Culturally and literally, it fills in the color that we should be celebrating and feeling more.

The Bratts’ “La Mission” shows there are two tales to this city…

Thursday night I got to go to the SFIFF premiere of La Mission at the Castro. First I’ll say it was the best opening three seconds of a movie in recent memory, possibly ever. And the rest was great too.

Before it started, when the lights first went down, somebody ran down an aisle and shouted an exuberant, “VIVA LA RAZA!” To which the dorky society folk sitting all around me clutching their gift bags responded, “What?” “Huh?” “Oh, my.”  “What does that mean?” “What did he say?”

This exchange presaged what would be the theme of the evening. The film itself is pretty well wholly devoted to the divides between San Francisco’s neighborhoods (and the divides within them), and in the Q&A after, Bratt Brother Benjamin made a point of expressing his hope that La Mission inspires viewers to start building bridges.

Also during the Q&A, we heard from H.O.M.E.Y. Executive Director (and freshly minted movie star) Rene Quiñonez (who you might remember from that community meeting in the wake of last fall’s spate of shootings). He thanked the Brothers Bratt for providing him and his organization with a new tool, saying he’d use screenings of La Mission as a way to kickstart discussion with neighborhood youths about hot topics like homophobia and gentrification.

Then we all went over to the after party behind Bruno’s, where everyone was showered with complimentary Stella and tartlets, and interviewed by Beth Spotswood and her camera crew.

Photo by eviloars.

Tonight’s the night. After months of anticipation, La Mission makes its local debut. Decider just published an interview with director Peter, but here’s the extent to which the Mission is referenced:

The main character is based on a kid that we went to school with, and a lot of the other characters are drawn from friends and relatives who grew up with us in the neighborhood.

SFIFF was kind enough to invite Mission Mission to the premiere tonight, so if I run into Peter or Benjamin (pictured above) on the red carpet, perhaps I’ll be able to delve deeper. And, like, get their thoughts on Pal’s Take Away and American Apparel.

More:

Interview: Peter Bratt at Decider

Ben Bratt Celebrates The Underdog at Mission High on Mission Mission

Action on Valencia: Lowriding Bratt Bros. Filming in the Mission at Curbed

Jonah from The Ladder Herald just put together a set of action figures a million times better than anything Lucasfilm has ever produced. Let’s hope they don’t sue him.

Proud mum Elizabeth says, “I thought you should see this, Internet.” Link.

Thank you both. (More closeups, please!)

Previously:

Star Wars Droids as Mission Street Art, 1977

And Mink Stole. It’s called All About Evil, Peaches Christ is responsible for it, it’s being filmed in part at the Victoria Theatre over a series of days starting pretty soon, and they need extras.

Jay at SFist has all the details right here.

Previously:

Curtains in the Victoria Theatre Bathroom

Ed Moy, Examiner.com‘s SF Asian American Film Examiner (really?) has the lowdown on a movie some dude made about Mission District legend Toshio Hirano. Link.

The film screens tonight as part of a shorts program at the San Francisco International Heavyweight Champion Asian American Film Festival.

Previously:

Toshio Hirano at Rite Spot

Agile Mobile Hostile screens at 7pm tonight at ATA as part of the Noise Pop Film Festival.

Previously:

The Black Godfather

Mei from Family Style just got in touch to share with us the above gem.

I mean, okay… art cars? Who gives a shit about art cars? KIDS, that’s who! Because its not an “art car”; it’s just a van with cameras and junk all over it! RAD! Link.

Anyway, the Camera Van was parked out front of the Roxie in conjunction with SF Indiefest‘s screening of Automorphosis, a film about art cars.

Note: News of this art car’s appearance in the neighborhood was first reported by West Gate of Babylon (pictures and commentary here).

Update: Related Kafka quote via Unburying the Lead.

Once upon a time, all the good punk songs were about how great London was or how great New York City was or how great LA was. Growing up in Northern California, I felt left out.

Youth Brigade‘s “Sink with California” was probably mostly about LA too, but the chorus was inclusive enough for me. So I loved singing along to it, and I loved being proud of where I was from, and I loved Youth Brigade.

But there’s more to Youth Brigade’s story than just that song. They started a seminal punk label and got in adventures and did some other stuff presumably, and it’s all documented in Let Them Know: The Story of Youth Brigade and BYO Records, which screens tonight at the Roxie at 7:15 as part of the San Francisco Independent Film Festival.

AND THEN, there’s an afterparty at Thee Parkside at which Youth Brigade and Filthy Thieving Bastards perform! (And you get a discount when you show your ticket stub from the movie.)

Will Youth Brigade play my song? I hope so.

If you’re like me, Hedwig is your favorite movie musical of all time and thus John Cameron Mitchell is a hero of yours and thus you’re ecstatic that he’s decided to spend Valentine’s weekend at the Victoria Theatre in the Mission performing a one-of-a-kind stage show called Origin of Love that includes readings on romance, screenings of his films with live commentary, and SINGING OF SONGS FROM HEDWIG.

Showtimes and details are as follows:

Fri., Feb 13, 8 pm (SHORTBUS) Hosted by Connie Champagne
Sat., Feb 14, 7:30 pm (HEDWIG)  Hosted by Peaches Christ
Sat., Feb 14, 11 pm (SHORTBUS w/ live  director’s commentary ) Hosted by Anita Cocktail
Sun., Feb 15, 8 pm (HEDWIG w/ live director’s commentary) Hosted by Connie Champagne

Link. Bonus: Jonathan Richman’s version of “Origin of Love” is pretty good too. Hear it here.