Episode 693 - Sandow (2018‪)‬ One Movie Punch

Hi everyone!
We’re back with another Indie Wednesday here at One Movie Punch. Every Wednesday, I’ll be reviewing an independent or microbudget movie that doesn’t get a lot of attention. Sometimes that means we find a diamond in the rough. Sometimes that means we learn the real and/or perceived limits on filmmaking. But we’ll always be discovering something new, even if that means looking at an older subject.
Today film is 2018’s SANDOW, written and directed by Alexander Cooper, who I had the pleasure to sit down with to discuss the film. Instead of including trailer segments, I’ll be running the full trailer prior to the review, then adding segments from our interview throughout the review. The full interview will be available on our Patreon feed, where we talk about his first film as producer, PARALLEL, and a little bit about Rambo. Head over to patreon.com/onemoviepunch if you want to hear the interview before it disappears behind the pay wall, and sign up to contribute at any level. All contributions go to paying our expenses and will help us grow with our audience.
Subscribe to stay current with the latest releases.
Contribute at Patreon for exclusive content.
Connect with us over social media to continue the conversation.
Here we go!
/////
>
/////
Today’s movie is SANDOW (2018), the epic historical drama directed by Alexander Cooper and written for the screen in collaboration with Gerard Muarez. The film follows the life of the famous strongman, Eugen Sandow (Timo Kervinen), as seen through the eyes of his pupil, Launceston Elliott (Alexander Cooper). We’re introduced to Sandow’s hopes and dreams, their fulfillment, and the often-sordid life that followed, particularly with his wife Blanche (Tiffany Ellen-Robinson).
No spoilers.
In our full interview, I mention how recently I reviewed a film called BE NATURAL: THE UNTOLD STORY OF ALICE GUY-BLACHÉ (Episode #657), which covered not only Alice Guy-Blaché, but the rise of the fledgling film industry in Paris and the Eastern United States at the turn of the century. While Guy-Blaché was experimenting with telling stories with film, however, other filmmakers were busy capturing the wonders of the world, much like the YouTube videos of today. And one of the most famous films captured in those early days by Thomas Edison was circus strongman Eugen Sandow, the subject of today’s film.
SANDOW takes a very sweeping look at Eugen Sandow, a combination biopic and documentary, from his early years dreaming of being something greater than himself, all the way to his grave at Putney Vale. He wasn’t just a circus and vaudevillian strongman, but also pioneered many major industries of today, including fitness clubs/gyms, athletic supplements, and even a form of professional wrestling, aimed more towards showmanship than actual fighting. And while we get a taste of all of that, we’re also getting a dramatized version of his larger story.
ALEX: “Yeah, SANDOW is not an accurate portrayal of what would have happened in his life, but it's more like a, it's a bit of a philosophical musing on a historical figure who has had a huge impact. The whole thing about SANDOW really came from... it was an article I read on the Internet about forgotten newsmakers. I had this sort of image in my mind when I read his story and what a superstar he was. He's known by people but forgotten by most. It was a fascinating story and I found these images of these traveling circus strongmen, and I thought, these were kind of like rock stars before rock stars came about. And I thought, 'Wow! What a thing! These guys were going around with circuses and putting on shows and this was before, like, Arnie was flexing his muscles in Hollywood.'”
The further we go back in history, the harder it is to really know what is and isn’t true about historical figures. History is often written by the victors, but it’s mostly captured by historians and re-presented by artists in mult