2007: YEAR OF THE FILM CRITIC?

By Admin

Layoffs, firings, demotions, sick leaves, and retirements haven’t faded American film critics to black–at least not in a year that saw five of them drawing notices for movies of their own.

Both documentary vets, Time’s Richard Schickel and Variety’s Todd McCarthy returned to the director’s chair for feature-length portraits of Hollywood auteur Steven Spielberg and French cineaste Pierre Rissient, respectively. (Alas, neither Schickel’s Spielberg on Spielberg nor McCarthy’s Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient has appeared on DVD as yet.) Of first-time documentarians, Film Comment’s Kent Jones and The Independent Weekly’s Godfrey Cheshire stuck relatively close to familiar turf–Jones with his Martin Scorsese-produced ode to psycho-thriller producer Val Lewton (The Man in the Shadows, which airs January 14 on Turner Classic Movies before hitting DVD), and Cheshire with his Moving Midway, which tenderly charts the geographic and political relocation of his family’s plantation in North Carolina.

But the ultimate film critic’s film of late is For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism, which the Boston Phoenix’s Gerald Peary premiered in Telluride as a work in progress and has been tweaking and selectively screening since. Well-named for having occupied Peary and producer Amy Geller for the past seven years and counting, Love of Movies devotes itself equally to spanning a century of print reviewing, lingering just a tad partially on Andrew Sarris’s long volleys with opponent Pauline Kael (Peary is a self-described “Sarrisite”), and to interviewing critics about their objects of desire, obscure and otherwise.

It’s on the latter count that Peary’s rough cut best makes the case for print critics’ survival into the digital age, even though the film favors passion over polemics and scarcely if ever acknowledges mounting threats to the profession. Peary collects smart and thoroughly entertaining testaments to cinema’s supernatural power from the likes of Lisa Schwarzbaum (still freaked by The Boy With the Green Hair), Molly Haskell (ditto Diabolique), and J. Hoberman, whose childhood memory of animals fleeing the train wreck in The Greatest Show on Earth is so intense that … Read the rest

2007 IN QUOTES

By Admin

I usually spend the last few weeks December putting together a compilation of my favorite music of the year, but this year thought I’d also create a round-up of choice tidbits from the Director Interviews I’ve done over the course of 2007. Rather like an end of year mix tape, the selections I’ve made are not straightforwardly indicative of what I liked most, but what translated best to the short quote format. (All of this year’s interviews can be found here.)

Incidentally, the most fascinating interview I did all year was not, in fact, a Director Interview. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford was, for my money, the best film of this year, but frustratingly my request for an interview with its writer-director, Andrew Dominik, was not responded to until after my deadline. Ultimately, I did the interview after the movie had already opened, and ran an almost unedited transcript as a Web Exclusive. To this date, it remains the only interview I am aware of that Dominik has done in the American press, a sign of just how little desire Warner Bros. had to publicize the film.

Mike White (on going to the Oscars):
“I’ve never been to the Oscars, but if I was ever invited to the Oscars, I would have this weird paranoia of terrorism. It just feels like The Poseidon Adventure, everyone in their tuxes. Somehow, I feel like the whole time I would be looking for where the nearest exit was, and in a cold sweat about some kind of man-made disaster, like a terrorist strike or something. It seems like such a scary, claustrophobic proposition.”

Edgar Wright (on Grindhouse):
“I got asked to do it in 2005, when they were first starting to develop it. I was in L.A., and out with Quentin [Tarantino] and Eli Roth, and he said, “We’re doing this Grindhouse thing. Do you two want to do trailers?” And we both went, “Uh, yes please!” So, [I was] very, very flattered to be asked. I wrote the script in December 2005 and … Read the rest

IF YOU ARE ON FACEBOOK… (PLUS THE AUTEURS)

By Scott Macaulay

… then become a fan of Filmmaker.

Okay, I know the “fan” terminology is annoying, but, trust me, we’re not asking for adolescent idolatry. In fact, I had us all set up with a nice-looking Group page, but was then counseled that, for a magazine, the Page/Fan structure was the way to go (thank you, CineVegas). In addition to being able to send you individually messages and bulletins, there’s a bunch of apps and functionalities that can be added vid the Page/Fan structure, so the page is something we can grow into. And, other cool sites are set up this way, like The Auteurs (no, not the great English band led by Luke Haines but the new online movie download/streaming site). Visit them on Facebook here, where they are currently streaming their movies prior to their hard launch at the Berlin Film Festival, or on the web here.

I’m sure we’ll have more about The Auteurs in the days ahead. (Oh, and to learn more about Haines’s band, click here.)… Read the rest

FIGHTING THE STEREOTYPES

By Scott Macaulay

Over at the Emerging Pictures blog, Ira Deutchman responds to Stephen Holden’s review of John Sayles’s Honeydripper, in which Holden finds stereotypes in the film’s 1950s’ Southern characters.

From the Deutchman blog post:

Why is it that every African American audience we show the film to is thanking us for its realistic portrayal? Is it that the Jim Crow era is just so loaded with baggage that it is not acceptable to portray a small story within that era without showing the lynchings? Is it that a white writer/director is tackling this subject?

I ask these questions merely to provoke some discussion. The real question is, do people show their own ignorance–and even racism–when they have a kneejerk reaction to a story that, while set in a certain time and place, is trying to get to something a little different from what is expected? Is the viewer the one guilty of stereotyping? I’d like to challenge Stephen Holden to see the film again. Perhaps the power of the individual characters in the film will be clearer once he is more familiar with the film’s own rhythms. And I’d like to challenge audiences in New York and Los Angeles to go check it out this weekend and come back here and tell me your thoughts.

Deutchman also quotes from Killer of Sheep director Charles Burnett, who posted on the Emerging blog after seeing the film this fall. Here’s what Burnett wrote:

“Honeydripper” is an appealing story set in the South and it is a fascinating account of a man, Pine Top, who is haunted by events in his past that keeps him from succeeding in the present. The story has many levels and it is a joy to watch Sayles, as he does in his other films, work socially relevant issues into his stories without compromising the narrative.

The story is unique. Things are not what they seem and yet, there is a connection with everything and everyone that creates a feeling of magic. The Ominous blind guitar player helps to create a surreal atmosphere. I was drawn to

… Read the rest

JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA, “THE ORPHANAGE”

By Nick Dawson

THE GHOSTLY TOMÁS (ÓSCAR CASAS) IN DIRECTOR JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA’S THE ORPHANAGE. COURTESY PICTUREHOUSE.

Though he looks and dresses like he’s still a teenager, behind Juan Antonio Bayona’s youthful appearance hides a mature and sophisticated cinematic sensibility. The 32-year-old Barcelona native has a passion for movies that first led him to become a precocious journalist, and then to study directing at film school. Since graduating, he has built a formidable reputation making a series of acclaimed commercials, pop promos for Spanish artists such as Hevia, Ella Baila Sola, Camela and OBK, and two short films, Mis Vacaciones (My Holidays) (1999) and El Hombre Esponja (The Sponge Man) (2002). Throughout this period, Bayona’s progress was being tracked by his friend and mentor, Guillermo Del Toro, who he had interviewed at the Sitges International Film Festival when Del Toro’s first film, Cronos, played there in 1993.

Del Toro was an integral player in the production of Bayona’s feature debut, The Orphanage, which is written by Bayona’s friend and fellow short film director, Sergio G. Sánchez. Recalling both Del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others, The Orphanage is a classic, Gothic-style ghost story about Laura (Belén Rueda), a woman who returns with her husband and young son to the orphanage where she grew up in order to open a haven for stricken children. However it appears that (possibly literal) ghosts of the past have reared their heads when her son disappears suddenly in mysterious and eerie circumstances. Well-paced and told with admirable restraint, The Orphanage is not only a cracking ghost story but also an emotionally resonant psychological examination of the difficulties of childhood and parental responsibility.

Filmmaker spoke to Bayona about ghost stories, growing up on a diet of great movies, and the inherent appeal of Stephen King’s Sugar in the Raw.

DIRECTOR JUAN ANTONIO BAYONA ON THE SET OF THE ORPHANAGE. COURTESY PICTUREHOUSE.

Filmmaker: How did you get involved with this project?

Bayona: I was at a film festival when I discovered 7337, a short film Sergio [G. Sánchez, … Read the rest

CRITERION EMBRACES VIRAL VIDEO

By Scott Macaulay

There can be no greater statement about the impending supremacy of user-generated, viral, and online video over what we now quaintly call “cinema” than this news from the Criterion Collection that the tony, canon-certifying brand is embracing the best of the Web. Below you can find the “Criterion Edition” of the already classic short The Landlord, with star Will Ferrell and director Adam McKay’s video commentary track embedded.

The Landlord: Criterion Edition on FunnyOrDie.com… Read the rest

BLOOD AT MIDNIGHT

By Scott Macaulay

I’m editing now James Ponsoldt’s interview with Paul Thomas Anderson that will appear in our Winter issue, and I’ve seen There Will be Blood twice so far, once at a screening and once on a DVD screener. I’ll try to write a few thoughts about it in the coming days, but, for me, and definitely after the second viewing, upon which it gets even better, it is my #1 film of the year.

Here’s Paramount Vantage’s internet clip announcing this weekend’s nationwide midnight sneaks. (Hat tip: Movie City News.)

… Read the rest

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

By Scott Macaulay

In the midst of shopping, cooking and, yes, trying to close the next issue of the magazine, which ships at the end of this week, I want to take a second and wish all of our readers a great holiday and New Year. We really appreciate your readership and look forward to bringing you lots of great stuff, both in the magazine and online, in the coming year.… Read the rest

“CHAMELEON STREET”

By Admin

In Chameleon Street, the enigmatic Doug Street goes through a series of cons, sometimes to make money, sometimes to prove he can do more than what the world expects of him. In short time he goes from a simple extortion plot to complex impersonations, including as a reporter from Time, a Yale student, a lawyer and even a surgeon. Yes, a surgeon – who performed 36 successful hysterectomies.

The point of the film is not just to tell a story of a con man, but asks what a black man is expected to do to make a living in this modern world. Based mostly on the true story of super-con-man William Douglas Street, Jr. the film is written and directed by Wendell B. Harris, Jr. who also turns in an uncanny performance as the lead character.

The film existed in the burgeoning indie cinema of the early 90s. Unlike most of the films around him though, Harris provided a complicated character and not a simple genre drama or comedy. The extremely intelligent Street has great ideas to fight the system, but is constantly stumped by tiny details he cannot control. It’s a drama and you root for Street to win but feel sorry for the people getting conned as well. And it’s bittersweet funny, as the sardonic humor in the film rings all too true. Above all, you feel the frustration that leads to fighting back against the grain.

The film won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1990. But that didn’t lead to distribution. Rather, the prize led to many meetings in Hollywood and the insult of a possible remake rather than a distribution deal. Studios wanted to make new versions with various actors. Harris remembers, “Each time it was given to a different person, it was given a different ambience. For Wesley Snipes, it was changed into a kind of car chase movie. For Sinbad, it was changed into a kind of goof-ball character. For Arsenio, it was a hybrid of the two.” Will Smith also wanted to remake it, and has … Read the rest

JAKE KASDAN, “WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY”

By Nick Dawson

JENNA FISCHER AND JOHN C. REILLY IN DIRECTOR JAKE KASDAN’S WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY. COURTESY COLUMBIA PICTURES.

Our perception of a director hinges heavily on the most recent film they’ve made. Jake Kasdan’s last movie, The TV Set, was a smart, sardonic satire of the process of creating a hit series that drew on Kasdan’s own bitter experiences in network television. Though Kasdan had enjoyed working for Judd Apatow on Freaks and Geeks (1999) and Undeclared (2001) — directing episodes for these in between making his first and second features, Zero Effect (1997) and Orange County (2002) — the less positive times he had spent on other shows had given him ample fodder for his film. Kasdan’s razor-sharp analysis of the brutal entertainment business could also be traced to the many years he had spent watching the intricacies of Hollywood life growing up on the sets of the films of his father, director Lawrence Kasdan. However, the dry, observational humorist that emerges as the writer-director of The TV Set is only one side of Jake Kasdan, as his new film seems to come from an entirely different place, an entirely different person, almost.

Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story is the tale of fictional rock ‘n’ roll icon Dewey Cox, whose need to make music stems from a deep-seated childhood guilt — he cut his brother in half with a machete. Co-written by Kasdan and Apatow, the film relentlessly pokes fun at clichéd music biopics and their shortcomings, and features John C. Reilly playing the eponymous lead from the age of, yes, 14 years old onwards. Where The TV Set was sly and subtle, Walk Hard is shamelessly broad and often laugh-out-loud funny. Highlights include a meeting in India between Cox and the Beatles (Paul Rudd, Jack Black, Justin Long and Jason Schwartzman as John, Paul, George and Ringo respectively), and an “anatomical” gag which has no right to be funny, but is in fact hilarious.

Filmmaker spoke to Kasdan about his wide-ranging work, the comic potential of the name “Cox,” and the current WGA strike.… Read the rest