Kris Tapley: Columnist
This week’s column…
“Is it just me, or might 2005 pan out to be a showcase season for the next generation of filmmaking talent?”
Is it just him?
May 3, 2024
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It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
Yes. Just him. Is there a single filmmaker mentioned under the age of 40? And are any of these films in the league of those from 1999, when the most recent “generation” showcased themselves: Spike Jonze, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, Alexander Payne, David O. Russel, and to a lesser extent M. Night Shyamalan? That was a generation of great talents who not only made personal and artistic films, but innovative as well.
Nothing like that on display this year. Sorry.
However, it is the year when independent mini-DV filmmaking started to gain traction. But that’s another story.
Now this is my kinda can of worms!
Class of 2005: I’m sure Haggis will be around for a while. Nolan certainly came into his own this year, we debated Meirelles well last week, Joss Whedon like all geek directors is his own worst enemy, Craig Brewer is certainly flowing his way into a career, Bennett Miller is going to make movies nobody wants to see and god bles him for that, Matthew Vaughn’s Layer Cake was made for people who’ve never seen a real gangster movie and goddamn him for that. But the biggest hard on for cinema I see is gotta be from George Clooney! The guy seems to be be having a blast.
As far as 1999. There’s no denying that that was the defining time for Gen-X filmmakers, but isn’t it curious how each one of those listed directors peaked creatively that year (though I’d say Fincher’s Seven ten years back runs rings around his obnoxiously false Fight Club, and Jonze with the warmer, fuller Adaptation). Promises where made that year and most of them were not kept.
(Braved the wookies and saw “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” Was very distrubed by the site of Kilmer bitch-slapping Old Private Ryan. Any actor but him!)
There are plenty of debuts, deconds or thirds in any given year. But is this a defined generation? No. The only thing these people seem to have in common is that they’ve been around for a while doing other occupations — theater, acting, producing — and have now made features at or nearing 40. Some are good (Capote, GNAGL) others aren’t (Crash, Layer Cake).
A new generation is something that comes about every 10 years or so — often as the paradigm shifts (early-70s baby boomers, mid-80s NYU crowd, mid-90s indies). This isn’t that. There’s nothing represented in this year’s filmmaking that suggests this is the next generation anymore than in any other year.
My point was that the next definable generation — a group of people raised among a common landscape who bring fresh ideas to the table — will be the mini-DV crowd.
I think it’s more about the level of awards-likely product coming from filmmakers with little feature experience to their credit.
1999 was a showcase year, sure. But this year we’re talking about a vast number of films from unseasoned directors that could end up competing for various awards at the Oscars this season. It isn’t about how many debuts or sophomore efforts there are in a year, but how many are perceivably award-worthy.
That number seems larger this year than any other.
Too bad that what makes a movie good aren’t necessarily the same thing that make one ‘awards-worthy.’
The 1999 crew really haven’t stepped up and given us great films.
You’re going to make us root for Mutiny City to comeback. LOL.
And no. Not one of those guys is under 40.
I would call Adaptation, Punch-Drunk Love, I Heart Huckabees, Sideways, About Schmidt, and to a lesser extend Panic Room to be pretty substantial output from the 1999 directors. None are as good as their 99 output, but all are solid films.
Okay, on that note what do you think are the most impressive debuts by a freshman director in this decade (2000-2005)?
For my money:
– Mark Romanek’s “One Hour Photo.”
– “City Of God” for sure.
– Kenneth Lonergan’s “You Can Count on Me”
– Zack Snyder’s “Dawn of The Dead” remake is deceptively brilliant.
According to IMDB, City of God was Meirelles’ third feature. Granted, the other two don’t seem to have been very impressive.
I like Dawn of the Dead but I will hesitate to use the word “brilliant”.
Right. Good call. But I say we grade him on a curve. Those other two were like “Highlander Part II” — they don’t really exist. :=)
The Dawn of the Dead remake is less painful than the TCM remake. But it’s still not very good. The other three choices I totally agree with.
What has ROmanek done since One Hour Photo? I liked that one. He showed great ability. What has he done since? Seems like he fell off the cliff.
Romanek has a movie with Tom Hanks coming up. He also knows there’s plenty of good money and creative freedom to be found by sticking with music videos.
To use Dave Poland’s terminology, Marcus Nispel isn’t fit to carry Zack Snyder’s…oh, you know. But seriously, TCM’03 was garbage.
Music video’s are not what Mark R wants to be doing in the long run. It was good to start out with but he has more talent than wasting it on that.
Do you know this for a fact or do you just think it’s his natural movement as an artist?
I personally can’t stand most music videos.
Only a year and a half old and Snyder’s film is terrifyingly prophetic: If it were released now, people would say it’s cynically cashing in on Hurricane Katrina: A woman waking up to the end of the world, neighbour turning on neighbor, cities exploding with fire, bodies littering the streets, government disappearing within hours, Ving Rhames and Mekhi Phifer debating responsibilities of the black man, survivors using boats to escape the rotting city.
Hey, not bad for a flick that is essentially a dark comedy.
Snyder’s also got some clever musical touches as well, from Johnny Cash to Stereophonics to that creepy Sparklehorse song in the teaser trailer. It may just be a simple horror film but I’m telling you, he’s a guy to watch.
Crow,
Dawn of the Dead has been out for 20 years. Watch the original. Better social commentary.
Forgot to add one: The shopping mall in lieu of The Superdome. Citizens being locked inside by the security guys who are supposed to protect them. That’s a goodie.
(Mark, of course the original is a classic, go easy on me man, I’m having a wank session here!)
You’re forgiven. Sara Polley in your thoughts???
I look at the two Dawn of the Dead films as two separate movies. Both are great in their own way. I can’t compare them.
Crow,
You speak the truth about Dawn of the Dead. Ziegler is just talking shit. Fanboys who who refuse to allow two versions of similar stories to co-exist are just sad. Don’t even get me started on the whole slow zombie-fast zombie bullshit. If it’s scary it’s scary.
Romero hasn’t made a good movie since Creepshow. In light of 28 Days Later, the Dawn of the Dead remake, and Shaun of the Dead, Land of the Dead just felt slight and a little behind the times.
Agreed that Land of the Dead felt…old-fashioned. But I think it’s nice to see he still has it and can pull out the stops when given a budget.
Thanks HenryHill… you are a uh, good fella.
But I though someone could name more quality freshman directors in this decade. Is it that difficult?
(Guess I’ll have to run over and rent “Land” this week)
Henry Goombah,
You like the 2nd one better? The first Dead is much better. Scarier. I like the slower, creepier zombies. The remake was good but not in the firsts league.
I don’t think anyone is saying Snyder’s dead is superior to Romero’s. But in this age of horror remakes, Dawn stands out head and shoulders over The Fog/House of Wax/Texas Chainsaw/The Grudge/ and so on.
If you want to talk about directorial debuts since 2000, I think these people should get mentioned:
David Gordon Green
Sophia Coppola
Michel Gondry
and the one-hit wonders:
Richard Kelly
Shane Carruth
Jared Hess
and the much reviled Eli Roth
I’m no Napoleon Dynamite fan but let me tell you if Jared Hess wanted to make tens of millions of dollars in the next couple of years, he’d grab Jon Heder and start writing a sequel. Truly, all he’d have to do is write is a knockout trailer (ND’s hilarious senior trip to Europe!) and presto, you’ve got next year’s “The Spy Who Shagged Me.” This kind of pop culture uber-doofus comes around once a decade.
“Dawn of the Dead has been out for 20 years. Watch the original. Better social commentary.”
While I think the original is good, I much prefer the remake. In terms of the technical side it is leagues above (no blue zombies in the new one) plus I think ditching the social commentary was a good thing. If we want social commentary we can go to the original but if you’re in the mood for some truly geniunely scary and thrilling zombie action, the remake is perfectly up to the task.
But then, I thought the Texas Chainsaw Massacre was a, er, wonderful film. While I like the original, it has some horribly annoying stuff in it. Whereas the remake, I felt, just went at it for an hour and a half without rest. I liked the characters and then they get plunged into this horrifying situation that they have no control over. I ain’t going around saying TCM03 is classic cinema, but any horror movie that actually has me (and almost everyone I know who likes these sort of movies) going “I don’t think I can take this anymore” has gotta be good. I truly did not one more of these characters to die.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Marcus Nispel is one of the great new directors (anything but), it’s just that a very large portion of the teen audience who saw it consider it a great truly scary movie.
Anyway. Moving on.
I agree with Kris Tapley in one way. There are a lot of newish directors shining brighly this year with Oscar-calibre films. But what does that say about the older guys?
And I’m slowly starting to think that Nathaniel over at the Film Experience is right in his thinking that Spielberg’s Munich won’t be the huge oscar film that everyelse seems to be thinking.
That and I’m sick of the whole “last minute” thing that movies are pulling so frequently these last few years.
I would say that there is still social commentary in the new Dawn, it’s just more subtle/watered-down (take your pick).
The new TCM is a movie that it seems like I should have thoroughly enjoyed, seeing as how I love horror movies. Yet as I watched it I felt myself getting more and more restless and annoyed. It certainly did a good job being a relentless gorefest, but for me it was still a failure. Nispel is basically just a German Michael Bay anyway, right?
Munich could easily be another Amistad.
On the other hand, this fellow Nathaniel thinks Brokeback Mountain will lead all contenders in Oscar nominations, and while he seems to be a smart fellow…goodbye credibility.
Well, then there’s also Jon Favreau.
Jeff, he’s one of the other only Oscar watcher who isn’t playing it completely predictable. Munich! Memoirs! etc. He’s also not sprouting everything as “a lock” 5 months before nominations (hi Charlize!).
I’ll give that over so-called “credibility” any day.
Just remember, he was quite literally the only person on the face of the earth (or, thereabouts) to guess Pedro Almodovar’s Best Director nomination 2 years ago. If that’s not impressive (in terms of Oscar watching) then I don’t know what is.
Billy Ray mad an impressive debut with the compact investigative thriller Shattered Glass. He even got a great leading-man performance out of Hayden.
Phil Morrison’s Junebug is a remarkable debut movie. The most accurate depiction of the South since Altman’s Nashville. I’m still stunned the movie wasn’t a bigger hit.
Todd Field’s In the Bedroom was the debut of a major filmmaker.
Zack Braff looks ready to pick up where Crowe left off.
Sexy Beast was a pretty amazing debut movie.
Hey now we’re talking. Good picks. Braff, Fields, Favereau… so many actors in there.
I for one loathed TCM03 too, jeffmcm. Completely missed the point of Tobe Hooper’s original. The only impression it made was how well the movie is shot and how Jessica Biel looks better with clothes on than most attractive women do with them off. But, yeah man, being unpleasant does not equate to being scary.
Good call, and Favreau and Jonathan Glazer both seem to have improved from their debuts – Elf was certainly better than Made, and Birth had a lot more ambition than Sexy Beast.
Junebug was good, but as an elliptical art-house movie, I think it did about as well as it could have. It’s also one of those movies where half of what you’re seeing seems like genius and the other half seems like a director who was doing things for the first time and was still figuring it out.
Fields, Ray, Glazer and Morrison are excellent choices. Braff is not. Garden State is crap. Ridiculously overrated.
Garden State is a gem. A pretty fantastic little movie. I guess some people never grew up in Jersey or can appreciate little character films.
I never grew up in Jersey but I have to agree that the movie was overhyped and kind of a mess. No need to toss aspersions around in a disagreement.
To each his own. But its not surprising that you guys agree on that. I can’t say that I’m shocked to hear that.
Glad to not shock you.
Didn’t care for Garden State either. And if you’re ever on a dinner date with a cute girl in her mid-twenties, don’t get smug and bring up how much you dislike the film. And don’t give intelligent examples of why it doesn’t work. Trust me fellas, DON’T EVER BRING IT UP.
Stupid Crow! Stupid! Stupid!
Any movie with a cameo by Method Man is alright in my book. My very large book.
Oh right Josh. And it’s so shocking that you disagree with us. Never saw that one coming.
I got a feeling a lot of people disagree with you fellas. A lot.
I think it’s fine if we all disagree with each other, it’s pretty clear that on certain issues nobody’s minds are being changed.
So that in mind, how about everyone just hold off on picking fights and and tossing off catty little insults? It’s gotten old and boring.
That the pot calling the kettle black???
Golly gee.
What, I’m old and boring?
Fine. Keep it to yourself and say something interesting about movies.
Jonathan Glazer I think is a very important new filmmaker. I think 30 years from now he’s going to be making excellent films and in their reviews they’ll mention how he started out with the gangster movie “Sexy Beast” and the obscure Nicole Kidman movie “Birth” that nobody likes (but is actually slowly becoming one of my all-time faves the more I watch it and listen to the soundtrack)
And you don’t have to have grown up in Jersey to enjoy Garden. I’ve never even been to America and I liked it. I certainly hope Zach Braff isn’t the next Cameron Crow cause… that would suck. Hopefully Braff will actually age with his audience.
“I for one loathed TCM03 too, jeffmcm. Completely missed the point of Tobe Hooper’s original… being unpleasant does not equate to being scary.”
1. They weren’t trying to make it like the original.
2. When I watch a horror movie such as TCM I want to feel scared. I want to actually barrack for the kids about to be killed. I want to feel that unease. Which is exactly why Wolf Creek is going to be the best god damn horror movie in years.
“The most frightening movie of all time” is certainly a good quote to put on a poster (it has been called that, fyi)