Movie City Indie Archive for December, 2005
Full Kael Press: Armond and Matt on Pauline and a sly Stone
In this week’s New York Press, they’re raising Kael. First, Matt Zoller Seitz: “This year’s theatrical one-two crucifixion punch of Aslan from Narnia and Kong recalls a great Pauline Kael description in her review of the 1976 Kong:”Christ as a mistreated pet.” Armond White is on the Family Stone‘s case. On PK: “The left are really great haters,” Pauline Kael wrote when taking exception to Mike Leigh’s class comedy High Hopes. White also gets at one of the the sly Stone‘s accomplishments, then cites an obscure precursor while kicking class: “When Thad is around, the Stones use sign language—to better ostracize Meredith while enjoying the in-jokes and private codes that families take pride in. This incestuous badinage is a fact of family life rarely shown on screen; the last time was the 1991 classic Crooked Hearts where a family imploded of its own claustrophobic rituals and secrets.
“There were moments of aching intimacy in Crooked Hearts (such as a physical fight between brothers that turned tenderly forgiving) that I’ll never forget; quotidian American scenes took on Ingmar Bergman intensity. But though The Family Stone’s style is farce, it becomes similarly moving.”
Harvey: not an imaginary, invisible honcho
Variety’s Timothy M. Gray and Ian Mohr handicap the emerging possibility of an Oscar sweep by niche pics, finding Weinsteinco’s boss in an expansive mood: “Some players are able to switch horses in midstream, perhaps none as deftly as Harvey Weinstein… whose Weinstein Co. was third in Globes noms this year, behind Focus and U. Back at Miramax, the honcho might have flogged one title—say, All the Pretty Horses or Cold Mountain—only to realize buzz was building behind another, like In the Bedroom or Finding Neverland. With a swift shift in direction, Miramax could then drop one pic and light a fire under another—a move sure to drive marketing execs crazy…
For 2005, “the Weinstein Co. raked in 7 Golden Globes noms, including 3 for Mrs. Henderson Presents. “It’s been a great 74 days, what can I tell you,” quips Weinstein.” Weinstein really, really likes these guys: “On the HFPA’s indie bent this year, he adds, “They are a critics group with scrutiny, and they picked films like Match Point, which is a superior piece of filmmaking in my opinion. Reaction to the… studio films has been mixed. So we’re not only rooting for our own stuff, but rooting for the people around us. I’ve been in Terrence Howard’s corner for years.”
Film crickets: essayists with ravishment fantasies
In the FT, Nigel Andrews has some splendid verbiage in his appreciation of visual appropriations in Kong while getting over a few other truths: “Film critics, far from being the coldblooded commentators of renown, are essayists with ravishment fantasies. We want tremendousness, outrage and damned cheek. (And yes, we get that as much from Buñuel, Fellini, Godard and Almodóvar as from good monster hokum.) Jackson was a promising imagist back in the days of Bad Taste and Braindead. He became a genius-on-the-cusp with The Lord of the Rings. Now King Kong proves that no one on the planet can touch him as a circus-master of the fantastic.
“… Unclassified “things”—including a super-worm designed to enrich Freudian totemology with the concept of a phallus dentatus—crowd up a Skull Island dream-painted by Jackson and his designers. This island contains not a single location shot. Its beauty, realistic yet rhapsodic, will have Henri Rousseau and Gustave Doré �gazing in wonderment from artists’ heaven. Even the nightmare moments have their lyricism. From where did Jackson pluck the image of the heroine’s abduction by a midnight pole-vaulter, who resembles one of Goya’s spooky stilt-walkers mixed into a nightscape by Fuseli? Then there is the wooden edifice—part tower, part drawbridge across a chasm—on which Naomi Watts’s sacrificial heroine (venturing the first volley in an inventive repertory of screams) is lowered towards the jungle, like a human muffin on a toasting-fork.” [More chewy goodness at the link.]
Praising Raging: "Scorsese was my hero"
Talented Dane director Per Fly (pronounced “Flu”) jabs at Marty but celebrates Raging Bull to the Telegraph’s Sheila Johnston: “In The Aviator, the magic is gone and very much so in Gangs of New York. It was a sad experience to see that film because, for part of my life, Scorsese was my hero.” But in Raging Bull, fly says, DeNiro is “fantastic at depicting a not very nice man whom we still want to watch and whom we can understand… Most people remember the boxing scenes and, yeah, they are good, but that’s not the most important thing about it. It’s a tough, mind-blowing film about the masculine way of thinking…. Jake La Motta will never move forward unless he can understand his own feelings and go into a relationship. He sees his whole life as a fight…”
Fly’s most recent film, Manslaughter, is “a stern, Nordic Lutheran film,” Johnston writes. While researching it, “Fly recalls reading an interview with an Italian Catholic priest. “As a young man, when people confessed, he would send them off to recite Ave Marias. But, as he got older, he would say, ‘Go to your grandmother’s house and paint her windows…. I love that practical, colourful way of dealing with guilt. You confess, do a penance and get absolution. The Protestant way is to keep it inside you; there’s no escape. When you look at Ingmar Bergman’s films, the guilt in them is much more melancholy and depressive. Although my own work seems to be about class, it’s also about different men’s ways of dealing with the world.” [Production still from The Departed.]
Hostel-ity: Tarantino introduces Eli Roth in LA
In a short clip from its L.A. premiere, producer Quentin Tarantino introduces Eli Roth and Hostel, describing Roth as
“the sick fuck who put the pen to paper!” Of the genesis of the reportedly ultraviolent movie, Tarantino says Roth told him the studios had offered him remake work, but QT wanted to know Roth’s real passion. It was Hostel. “We were swimming in my pool, he was telling the story, I was like, ‘What are you even doing thinking aboaut fucking around with that stupid remake shit? That’s what you’ve got to do!'” [More of the garrulous one at the effing link; WMV file.]
In a family way: Jordan Scott directs
The Independent’s Alice Jones talks to the 27-year-old Jordan Scott about her being the last of Ridley Scott‘s 3 children to turn to the same game as he and Tony: “Imagine the pressure on a fledgling film director whose dad made Alien and Gladiator whose uncle made Top Gun and whose two brothers have both been directing for 10 years. This is the life of Jordan Scott—the latest scion of the Scott dynasty, which comprises father Ridley, uncle Tony and brothers Jake and Luke, and which has been a dominant force in the industry for nearly 40 years.”
PR o' the day: William Shatner's DVD club
William Shatner Launches DVD Club
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, December 16, 2005
Brooklyn, NY
William Shatner’s new DVD club casts him in the one role he’s not had during his storied 50-year acting career: film critic. The recently launched Official William Shatner DVD Club… a DVD-of-the-month club, showcases the best sci-fi movies that didn’t come to a theater near you. Shatner explains, “Determining what movies get broad distribution and studio marketing support is [complicated], and… the caliber of the film isn’t the only consideration. I’ve chosen a select group of memorable and entertaining sci-fi movies that never got the exposure they deserved, and made them available to fans everywhere at a great price.” The Canadian Shatner’s first pic is Ginger Snaps, a popular-on-DVD Canadian horror entry. “One of the benefits of featuring less well known content is that the movies are available at very reasonable prices. In fact, subscribers to the William Shatner DVD Club will own a new film every month for about the cost of a rental. At the very reasonable price of less than $4 per DVD (including shipping) William Shatner hopes to make his club available to all sci-fi fans. Right now, the William Shatner DVD Club is offering anyone with an e-mail address a free Ginger Snaps DVD.
“Adam Schwartz, one of the very first people to join the club, had this to say, “I had never heard of Ginger Snaps but it was a great movie. And they gave me a bonus disc with it, so I actually got two movies for free. I’ve always liked William Shatner as an actor, but I think I like him even more as a film critic.”
A new Miyazaki-san in Ghibli-town
The next from Hayao Miyazaki‘s studio, Studio Ghibli, will be directed by his son, reports say. “Defying opposition from his father, [he] will make his directorial debut next year with a film on the Earthsea fantasy novels by US writer Ursula Le Guin. Goro Miyazaki, a 38-year-old former construction consultant, is directing the animation film for July next year release, according to Studio Ghibli, which has released his father’s works.
“It may sound a bit abrupt but let me say this first — my father Hayao Miyazaki was against my directing Tales From Earthsea,” his eldest son said without delving into the reasons,” reports Taipei Times. “I realized I have undeniable affection for animation, which I had long pretended not to notice in my mind due partly to relations with my father,” he wrote on the Ghibli Web site.
New biz cards after six years: Lionsgate saws off a space
After a quarterly downturn, Lionsgate cuts back on space, introducing “a new, one-word corporate logo and name, aimed at turning the company into a recognizable brand, before a gathering of reporters at its Santa Monica, Calif., offices on Thursday. The new logo drops the space between Lions and Gate and puts the name in all capital letters, with a curved E at the end. It also loses the second word of Entertainment…
CEO John Feltheimer said “the logo change should have a “tremendous impact” on the Lions Gate brand and joked that he has had the same business cards for six years despite the company’s growth.” (The version above presumably is a representation of Vancouver’s Lions Gate horizon, where the name of the company originated.)
Foreign Language Oscar nom: The Death of Mr. Lazarescu and a life in Romanian movies
“This movie set out with a series of drawbacks. It is a movie that lasts 153 minutes, it is a Romanian movie in Romanian, it is a movie about a man who dies, as is also announced in the title, so from the very start there are several small impediments,” director Cristi Puiu says of his prize-winning The Death of Mr. Lazarescu in a lengthy interview with Bucharest Daily News’ Otilia� Haraga about his film’s Foreign Language Oscar potential and the future of that small country’s indigenous movie industry. 
The 38-year-old director, who says his next movie will be called Food for Small Fish, talks title: “Without taking into consideration the story itself, I think a title like this sends the viewer in at least 2 directions. Supposing I am a cinema spectator and browsing the newspapers I discover this movie I have several references: there are cultural references like “The Death of Ivan Ilici.” If you have never heard of Tolstoi before or nobody told you anything about this book before, then everything comes down to this title, “The Death of Ivan Ilici.” It is somebody’s death. Behind this movie there can very easily be a detective story. The same applies to Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman.” For me it was important that the movie be called The Death of Mr Lazarescu because it told precisely the story of an old man who dies and he dies in a very specific way. This is why I am saying it is like a rope dancing with this title because some of the spectators will certainly not go to see this movie unless they find out in the [trailer] that it is a detective story. Why should the public go to see a movie about an old man who dies? …I think it matters less if Mr Lazarescu is 60, 30, 20 or 90 years old, I think it matters less if he is a gentleman or a lady, what matters first of all is that this title speaks about the death of a human being. And at least for me this is reason enough to see the movie which talks about this. If the spectator has the courage to conceive himself in this hypothesis, as a future corpse, then he will go to see the movie. If not, he will not go. It is clear that the title is not appealing but at the same time if you go to see the movie you are rewarded.” Puiu also elaborates on how Lazarescu is the first of six movies about love. “There are six of them because it is a kind of homage I am paying in this way to Eric Rohmer’s “Six Moral Tales.” And that is why I decided to make only six of them, because you can talk about love in “The only solution would be for the government to decide to invest in cinema. But on the other hand it seems grotesque to think about cinema when we are not even capable of paying decent salaries to teachers or doctors. What cinema? I mean, really, cinema is a luxury. We are not even capable of having a sound health and education system. Really. If I were a Prime Minister, I would not grant money for cinema. I would grant money for education and health. A healthy country should have competent teachers and medical staff. What is happening to them is unacceptable.”
Offside: did Dolby refuse Iranian director Jafar Panahi?
“The London office of the U.S. company Dolby Laboratories Inc. refused to sell its services to Offside, the latest film of Iranian director Jafar Panahi, the Iranian Students News Agency (ISNA) reported on Monday. Celluloid Dreams, the French distributor of film demanded the services from the company, which said in response that they will never let the film utilize Dolby facilities…
“The countries used to exclude cultural affairs from their extensive political conflicts up till now… As nothing could sabotage production of the film in Iran, we, in collaboration with the production crew, are trying to make the film technically ready in line with international standards for Iranian people,” Panahi is quoted as saying. Offside is about a girl who attempts to enter Tehran’s Azadi Stadium dressed as a boy in order to watch a big football match but she is caught and arrested because women are not allowed to enter the stadium… Crimson Gold and Panahi’s previous film “Circle” have never received permission for screening in Iran due to some restrictions enforced by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. However, his first feature-length film, The White Balloon, was shown in Iran…”
Chomet meets Tati: It's the memory of the hand
In the January 2006 Esquire, The Triplets of Belleville‘s Sylvain Chomet says he’s staying silent, but his next film is based on an unproduced Jacques Tati script, The Illusionist, which he’s setting in Edinburgh. The story is about “an aging magician (portrayed by an animated Tati) who befriends a young girl in Scotland and can’t bear to tell her that his magic is not real… Because it’s Jacques Tati… I have to get his character perfectly. He’s a very, very difficult character to get. We’re used to seeing him with a hat and with a pipe in his mouth. When you remove those, he looks different. Sometimes, I take a sheet of paper, and without looking at the model, I try to draw it again. It has to be in my hand. It’s the memory of the hand.” There’s also a 2004 profile of Chomet, talking about the film to Scotland’s Sunday Herald. [The print edition of Esquire has three very nice drawings by Chomet.]
Technical Bob: shooting Altman's Companion
The Reporter’s Sheigh Crabtree reports on 80-year-old Robert Altman’s foray into high-def video: “Altman wanted to be able to record for at least 30 minutes consecutively without reloading as some scenes in the film are as long as 23 minutes. The HD cameras also came in handy because some of the interior settings had low lighting levels.
“Ryan Sheridan, the production’s HD engineer, says the crew employed lots of long, fluid shots. “It was the perfect mix of live-performance camerawork and dramatic theatrical cinematography… (We were) able to capture everything from extreme close-ups to extreme wide shots with two lenses, and sometimes with just one.”
Little comic caprices vs. the meaninglessness of life, the unreliability of humanity: Mr. Konigsberg at 70
“Mr. Allen says that he has accepted that he won’t be another Bergman,” writes Suzy Hansen in a long, 70th birthday conversation with Woody Allen, “But he wants to make serious films from now on. “Now that I’m older, I don’t know how much time I have to make movies for the rest of my life,” he said, after noting that his next film, Scoop, is a light, light comedy. He said that Scoop might be his last comedy. “I should try and not indulge myself in little comic caprices, but try and do something more meat-and-potatoes. I find that it might be a good thing for me to not be in my movies so much—because when I’m in the movie, it forces it to be a comedy. I’m not believable in any other way. I can do much more interesting things if I don’t have to think, ‘Well, I’m going to be on the screen and I have to make people laugh.’”
“And the interesting things weighing on him these days are the usual preoccupations: “the meaninglessness of life, the unreliability of humanity—nothing good, nothing commercial. Nothing that can’t be turned against me.” He laughed at that and seemed unfazed, the confidence of a man who’s been through much worse already, whether he’s pessimistic about what the future holds or not.” But, of the fantasy world of the movies he grew up on, Allen says, “The less reality, the better. You get enough reality… It finds you—you don’t have to seek it out. If you were locked into reality all the time, you’d go crazy. You’re reduced to escapism. Magic.”
Somebody oughta sue: satirizing old-media movie journalists
THE EARNEST YOUNG SATIRIST who compiles the cruelly sclerotic “davekehr.com” parody blog continues his/her dual project, mocking the style of the New York freelancer (“self”-described as a former writer “of fourth string reviews” for the New York Times who “eventually backed away from fourth string reviewing, mainly because the movies—a flood of fifth-rate American independent films—were so appalling and the Times freelance review rates were so dispiritingly low”) But there’s also an ongoing parody of what happens to some writers who go online without the protection of an old-media copy desk. After trashing Ang Lee and Brokeback Mountain—the ventriloquizing writer is well-versed enough to telegraph that “Kehr”’s tastes run to 60-to-70-year-old post-“classicists” like Clint Eastwood, Harold Ramis, Robert Zemeckis of Frank Oz—“Kehr” further takes the occasion of a review of the DVD of The 40 Year Old Virgin to compare Steve Carell to Harold Lloyd, and while striking again at Lee’s quaking heart, offer up a phrase that would find the word “USAGE!” full-capped in the margins of copy in your everyday newsroom: “…The 40 Year Old Virgin has no apparent ambitions beyond its core mission of assuring its young, male target audience that just because you’re afraid of women, it doesn’t mean you’re gay (a motif regrettably reinforced by the film’s abundance of fag-bashing humor). Which somehow brings us back to Brokeback Mountain…”
The anti-Brokeback remarks, of course, summon up a non-film array of targeted Google ads (pictured). Earlier, having his way with Brokeback—“Film by film, Lee’s work seems almost painfully sincere, but in the aggregate his oeuvre looks disturbingly opportunistic”—Kehr’s double argues that Lee’s film is in no way a Western, before proceeding then in a tepid King Kong notice to misspell “Yosemite” (perhaps as a way to avoid seeming anti-Yosemitic). “[Peter] Jackson doesn’t even show these hurled bodies hitting the ground, allowing the viewer to assume that they bounce back to life like so many Yosimite [sic] Sam’s [sic] in a Warner Brothers cartoon.” Many messages are mixed in another sneering satirical passage: “Lee has set the story in the 60s and 70s, presumably to take full dramatic advantage of the period’s more blatant and socially-approved homophobia (and allow the contemporary audience to congratulate itself on its more enlightened attitudes), but he doesn’t hesitate to evoke the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard when it suits his storytelling ends. The whole thing reeks of a masochistic romanticism that is probably more appealing to teary-eyed straights than it is to gays, some of whom might prefer to see a touch of the hopefulness and happiness in their lives that Apichatpong Weerasethakul captured with such casual grace in Tropical Malady.” Somebody oughta sue.
