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PLANETFALL
Produced by Troy LaFaye, Matt Saari, and Michael Heagle
Directed by Gianni Mezzanotte
Written by Matt Saari and Michael Heagle
Edited by Michael Heagle
Director of Photography - Vittorio SalvatiWendy Stanton - Leitha Matz
Lux Antigone - Heidi Fellner
Ugly - Alan Struthers
Lt. Cumberland - Troy LaFaye
Shark - Snype Myers
President Stanton - Ted V. Mikels
Sci-fi westerns aren't new, as fans of FIREFLY/SERENITY will tell you. Also, when you think about it, what was STAR WARS but a sci-fi western? Luke Skywalker is the young farmboy yearning to get off the ranch. Han Solo is the rogue gambler/smuggler whose loyalty goes to the highest bidder. Darth Vader is the evil cattle barren looking to control the open range with his gang of jack-booted hired guns. Obi-Wan is the weathered old Marshall looking to end his days away from violent shoot-outs....er...light saber duels in the streets.
Michael Heagle's (aka Gianni Mezzanotte) PLANET FALL owns more to the work of Sergio Leone then it does John Ford or Howard Hawks, which Heagle readily admits on the commentary track. Not only are the visual styling and various plots borrowed, but Heagle even cops to which scenes are directly lifted from which Leone flick. His bluntness regarding what constitutes an homage and a rip-off is extremely refreshing in its lack of pretentiousness.
Heagle's story crosses the paths of two female bounty hunters both working the wrong side of the law. The angelic Lux Antigone is blackmailed by a former lover, Shark, into retrieving a lost transport container of a drug that enhances psychic powers. Wendy Stanton, who looks as if she just walked off a Leiji Matsumato anime, has been running scams to collect bounties on a friend. These women are two sides of the same coin who unbeknownst to them end up working the same adventure from different angles.
The story is straightforward, and almost irrelevant as it plays second fiddle to the inventiveness of the filmmakers who not only aspire far above their means but surpass them. As these two ladies wander separately through the various environments of PLANETFALL, ranging from deserts to the wooden monasteries of machine worshipers, they find conflict at every turn and partake in minor adventures. Aside from Hitchcock and DePalma, nobody kills their heroes before the final act, so none of the character's fate's are in question until the end where the pair must confront telekinetic killers manipulating life and death at an atomic level.
What Heagle's does differently is to provide a uniquely feminist slant on this genre pastiche. Both westerns and sci-fi are known as being distinctly male in point of view. Women are usually reduced to the stereotypical mother/whore figures but in PLANETFALL the women are the Clint Eastwood roles; their sex is just another asset to their cunning and resourcefulness, although it's one they rely very little on. These women aren't merely intellectual and physical equals of men; they're often their superiors.
The feminist vibe provides an interesting exploration of character dynamics. In the spaghetti westerns of Leone, male bonds of friendship, loyalty, and trust are constantly at odds with the notion self-preservation. Compound those ideas with nurturing nature of the mother/whore figure and an interesting parallel arises. As these women make their way through PLANETFALL, this typically male adventure allows them to explore those masculine themes with regards to their relationships with the men in their lives. Again, Lux and her former lover, and Wendy's platonic relationship with her partner, "Ugly." As events in the film become more dicey, so does the interactively. In the end, what is the stronger character trait, nurturing those around you or covering your own tukus?
But enough of the subtext, what's really impressive here is what Heagle is able to accomplish on such a low-budget. Just like Baltimore no-budget guru Don Dohler, is able to accomplish wonders with the consumer-grade Canon GL-1 and a strong knowledge about post-production. The image is filmic with a districtive red hue similar to what Spike Lee did with DO THE RIGHT THING when he flashed his film red in order to give his movie an oppressive feeling of heat. There's barely a shot, much less a scene, in PLANETFALL, that doesn't contain some sort of post-production magic or effects.
Listening to Heagle's commentary, he details the various programs used in image manipulation, and the track organically evolves into a 90-minute seminar on post-production. In fact, the entire DVD could be called a "film school on disc" with it's various featurettes ranging from a generalized hour long making-of to a more specific piece on production design. There are docs on locations made just for the DVD as well as an industrial documentary made in exchange for permission to shoot on a location. Fans of Ted V. Mikels will enjoy an interview with the B-Movie legend who plays the President of the B-Movie world in PLANETFALL. You'll also find deleted scenes and additional cast commentaries.
One could argue that knowing so much about a movie's production can take away the magic of viewing it, and that definitely holds true for PLANETFALL. It's really not important what you say about the movie itself, people either enjoy low-budget science fiction or they don't; the audience is only slightly more discriminating than horror enthusiasts. People looking for b-exploitation won't find it here, there's nary a nipple in sight. Those that will benefit most from PLANETFALL are those who enjoy feminist film theory and those who have tried to make their own productions; here they'll learn exactly what they did wrong and possible ways to do it right. I've really been impressed with the presentations put forth by Heretic. Even the smallest of movies is given the same respect reserved for mega-blockbusters and classic cinema.
Carschool Film-a-Rama
Heretic Films