I Am D.B. Cooper (2022 | USA | 100 minutes | T.J. Regan)
It’s easy to understand why the D.B. Cooper case is so fascinating to so many people. It’s the only unsolved airplane hijacking in US history and we’ll likely never know Cooper’s identity. It’s literally been fifty years since the hijacking of flight 305 from Seattle to Portland on November 24, 1971 and there’s not been any serious suspects since then. This isn’t even the first D.B. Cooper movie I’ve reviewed.
D.B. Cooper could be almost anyone so he could just as easily be an old man with a limp and a Goofy sweatshirt out on bail for an assault charge named Rodney, which is who this movie is about. I’m not sure I can call this a “mockumentary” because it’s not played for laughs the way Christopher Guest makes his films, though it is a farcical telling of what could’ve happened. T.J. Regan’s new film is such a great recreation of what a “real” documentary of this case could look like that the times when it stretched beyond normal credulity weren’t really bothersome.
Rodney Bonnifield is the area man who befriends a pair of bounty hunters (one looks like he could be John Cena’s twin) when he needs to be bailed out of prison and he tells them matter of factly that he’s actually the real D.B. Cooper and presents himself as having a great memory of the crime. Importantly, he also remembers exactly where he buried the money and can lead the brothers to dig it up.
I can’t say I Am D.B. Cooper puts us any closer to unraveling the mystery – the FBI has already given up – but it’s an enjoyable yarn that’s well-told and compelling.
The Pez Outlaw (2022 | USA | 88 minutes | Amy Bandlien Storkel, Bryan Storkel)
Having brought his first two features to Seattle – documentaries about card counting Christians and the relationship between Christianity and MMA, Bryan Storkel should be seen as SIFF’s own Errol Morris. He has an eye for finding fascinating stories that exist just outside of the mainstream. He and his wife Amy Bandlien Storkel made a fascinating new documentary called The Pez Outlaw.
Steve Glew, a Michigan man with a Rip Van Winkle beard, became obsessed with collecting Pez dispensers. He soon began making frequent trips to Eastern Europe to bring Pez toys not sold in the US to the US and he quickly became a celebrity in the Pez community and collector circuit. Though not technically legal to be imported to the US, Glew benefitted from his ability to appear like a harmless old man and Customs agents being more preoccupied with the importing of weapons, drugs, human body parts, that sort of thing. The US Pez corporation also forgot to file the correct paperwork to protect Pez International products entering the US. The movie turns into a cat-and-mouse game between Steve Glew and Pez CEO Scott McWhinnie, called “the Pezident.” Glew and McWhinnie have an adversarial relationship and obsessions with each other.
The Pez Outlaw is a fun documentary about a plucky midwestern man and the corporate giant hellbent on destroying him. It’s a fascinating invitation to the world of Pez and the characters who populate the community.
I Am D. B. Cooper and The Pez Outlaw are both streaming through the duration of SIFF.
Keep up with us during the Seattle International Film Festival on Twitter (@thesunbreak) and follow all of our ongoing coverage via our SIFF 2022 Index and our SIFF 2022 posts