FILMMAKER MAGAZINE HOLIDAY SUBSCRIPTION DRIVE IS UNDERWAY

By Jason Guerrasio

If you’re looking for a gift to give a film lover this holiday season or just want to treat yourself, our annual holiday subscription drive is now online.

From today to Dec. 25 you save over 40% when subscribing to Filmmaker.

That’s $10 for a 1 year subscription, $18 for 2 years and $6 for a 1 year digital subscription.

And here’s where it gets good, all new subscribers will be entered into a drawing for free gifts ranging from an Oscilloscope Circle of Truth subscription, box sets from Factory 25 and Focus Features, a signed Melancholia poster by Lars von Trier from Magnolia, books from Focal Press, DVDs from New Video, Zeitgeist and Criterion, and much more.

Subscribe now.… Read the rest

“THE KILLING”

By Jason Guerrasio

It’s extremely difficult to type the words “my favorite Kubrick film” because I honestly feel I could put that down while writing about any of them. But what I can say about Stanley Kubrick’s Hollywood calling card The Killing is it’s the one film of his that I’m most nostalgic about.

Film noir. Jim Thompson’s words. Sterling Hayden’s “when men were men” bravado. The contract studio picture was on the way out and the New Hollywood of Bogdanovich, Ashby and Nichols were breaking down the doors.

But before that (and likely escalating the emergence of New Hollywood) there was Kubrick. Then 28 and coming from New York’s beatnik era having just made a twisted romance drama Killer’s Kiss (which he shot with no sound and dubbed the dialogue in post) in 1955, one year later he would team with indie producer James B. Harris and Thompson writing a screenplay for the first time to adapt the Lionel White novel, Clean Break.

Now titled The Killing, Hayden plays Johnny Clay, an ex-con who masterminds the heist of a racetrack with a group of men who aren’t “criminals in the usual sense,” as he puts it. All with jobs and different lives, like Clay, they converge in the hopes of a score in the millions that will make them for life. Of course there are problems: women, booze, and other unavoidable wrenches (or should I say horseshoes) in the “masterplan” that leads to one of the most memorable endings in the noir genre.

But unlike the majority of noirs, the combination of Kubrick and Thompson creates an elevated, hard-boiled story that makes the movie standout. Thompson’s razor-sharp dialogue (“smack that face into hamburger meat”) and Hayden’s delivery is filet mignon to the skirt steak of most noirs. Then there’s also Kubrick’s vision and the execution by d.p. Lucien Ballard (though they didn’t get along well), particularly the tracking shots. However, the biggest standout is the structure of the story. Told from the perspective of each player involved, the story moves back and forth from Clay, the track window teller (Elisha … Read the rest

MORE ON NETFLIX, CRITERION AND HULU

By Scott Macaulay

Today we, along with seemingly everyone else in the film blogosphere, announced Criterion’s exclusive deal with Hulu, which will see some 800 Criterion titles stream to viewers on the Hulu Plus service. And, like everyone else, we had to add a small update when we realized that Hulu’s gain is Netflix’s loss. The Criterion titles we Netflix subscribers are used to watching (just last week, for example, I saw Agnes Varda’s Cleo from Five to Seven) will soon be leaving the service.

Over at Hulu, Criterion President Peter Becker launches a blog with this declaration of love for the label’s new streaming home:

And finally, why Hulu? In short, because they get it. As their regular viewers know, the Hulu user experience is exactly what it should be: simple, elegant, and focused on the content. Hulu has built their brand on letting the shows and movies take center stage. Nobody does it better, and we’re honored that they see Criterion as a good match for their audience. We’re going to do all we can to make the experience of Criterion on Hulu Plus an exciting adventure for all of us, so please check it out and let us know what you think.

I’m a big fan of Netflix, so much so that I bought a small bit of its stock a couple of years ago. But convinced that its growth is due to plateau and then fall once its current content deals expire and the studios move more aggressively into their own streaming partnerships, I dumped it. My timing was obviously off as the stock jumped another 60 points or so after I sold it, but I had to look at today’s announcement as a harbinger of things to come. In fact, that’s the substance of David Poland’s post, “Hulu Pays for High Loyalty Content that Mainstream-Chasing Netflix Can’t Afford.” An excerpt:

There will come a tipping point studios and library owners see the potential for more profit in making their product available directly and not through Netflix, which cannot afford to keep expanding their slice of the

… Read the rest

“AMERICA, LOST AND FOUND: THE BBS STORY”

In a recent edition of his ongoing online column “Movie Answer Man,” Roger Ebert was faced with the following reader-submitted query: “Since good movies can now be cheaply made, why aren’t we seeing more of the kind of arthouse films that were so influential in the ’60s and ’70s?” Ebert’s response, while relatively curt, was two-fold. “1.) It is very expensive to release, promote, and advertise any movie,” he began. Fair enough — as any independent filmmaker knows, simply getting your movie made is just one small initial hurdle…and as any viewer who watches contemporary independent films can sadly attest, the proliferation of feature films granted by the affordability of digital video production merely means that a larger number of filmmakers have an access to equipment that is wildly disproportionate with an originality of artistic vision. But the second half of Ebert’s response was more troubling: “2.) The younger generation of moviegoers has more limited tastes than the ‘movie generation’ of the ’60s and ’70s.” Ebert’s screenwriting credit on Beyond the Valley of the Dolls – more than his Pulitzer for criticism – has allowed me to begrudgingly look past his infamous, almost-quarter-century-old pan of Blue Velvet, but on this new point, I’m afraid this might be one of those instances where a difference of opinion crosses a line into becoming an error of fact. But more on that in a moment.

“America Lost and Found: The BBS Story” is a new seven-film Blu-ray and DVD boxed-set from The Criterion Collection that compiles — with all of the Criterion imprint’s usual exhaustive supplementary bells-and-whistles (though, one suspects, not quite as exhaustive as it could have been had the project not originated as a “New Hollywood” set under the auspices of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, who ultimately turned it over to Criterion’s control) — a series of films made between 1968 and 1972 by an independent production company named BBS Productions, an organization who would ultimately redefine the relationship between American independent cinema and the Hollywood studio system. Given creative control by Columbia Pictures (then in rather dire financial straits, … Read the rest

“STAGECOACH”

By Jason Guerrasio

Legend has it when John Ford read the short story that would be the inspiration behind his first Western with sound, he immediately took it to his boss David O. Selznick, who, just as quickly as it was pitched to him, tossed it aside as a forgettable picture.

Lucky for us, Ford didn’t move on. He dug into his own pocket, made the film himself (and later sold it to United Artists), packed up the production and went out to Utah’s picturesque Monument Valley (which would be the site for many of his Westerns to come) — far from the prying eyes of the studio exes  — and brought along a young actor known at the time for his B-movie work to be his star, John Wayne.

Still as exciting and enjoyable to watch today as it was when it was released to high critical praise in 1939, Stagecoach combines riveting performances, a basic premise and finally wrapped up with a thrilling conclusion (two in fact: a high speed fight with Indians and a three on one draw down on a deserted street). But what Ford inevitably showed was that the Western could tackle serious issues.

Following a group of stagecoach passengers as they embark on a journey through rough Apache territory while Geronimo is on the war path, Ford has the drunk doctor Doc Boone (played brilliantly by Thomas Mitchell), aloof gambler Hatfield (John Carradine), pregnant soldier’s wife Lucy (Louise Platt) and saloon girl Dallas (Claire Trevor), among others, to play out different personalities in the coach.

Then as the journey has already begun, Ford unveils his star in one of the most memorable entrances ever filmed. With a dolly-in to close up shot and a twirl of a rifle, Ford makes John Wayne an icon. Playing the vengeful Ringo Kid, Wayne would never have to worry about getting work again.

But it’s not just the talent along with the work of Ford and screenwriter Dudley Nichols that makes the film a classic, it’s also the visuals.

One riveting shot is during the shootout with the Apaches. Hatfield, with … Read the rest

“BREATHLESS”

By Admin

An “independent” film is only so if it is independent minded. The most scrappy, handheld, no-budget, shot on stolen location, non-actors playing realistic characters can still reiterate the status quo and be dull and pointless. John Huston made more independent films than most and those were studio movies with Academy Award winning cast and crew. John Cassavetes tried for a year to fix the shitty sound on his first feature. Lynne Ramsay and Jim Jarmusch still shoot on film. The films by these directors are independent in their guts, not their tools.

Jean-Luc Godard is independent because his films have soul.

A unique film when it was made, Breathless has been ripped-off for decades. (as Criterion puts it: “There was before Breathless, and there was after Breathless.”) Still enjoyable for its landmark style; jump cuts within long takes, handheld camerawork, switching between documentary-style drama and Hollywood genre… its crazy but the film is still fresh almost 50 years later. The camerawork is gorgeous, handheld but flowing. No-light film still looks better than video. The editing doesn’t confuse you, it allows you to think.

Breathless is an independent classic in style, but more so in form. A film about people treading love, slipped into a crime story with no blood but a bombastic, wonderful genre soundtrack. Jean-Paul Belmondo will win every man, woman and child over as the lovable but unlucky small-time car thief. His amour Jean Seberg isn’t sure she wants him but keeps him around. She spawned a look and free attitude that is still being strived for today. In the film it looks effortless. A film breathless in beauty and love, and a breathless crime drama.

Extras extra extras. Interviews (from the 60s) with director Jean-Luc Godard, and actors Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, and director Jean-Pierre Melville, who has a cameo in the film, are short but really great time capsules. New video interviews with cinematographer Raoul Coutard, assistant director Pierre Rissient, and filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker are longer and solid. New video essays by filmmaker and critic Mark Rappaport (on Jean Seberg) … Read the rest

“DAYS OF HEAVEN”

By Admin

The legendary Days of Heaven has finally gotten the Criterion Collection treatment. The second masterpiece by writer-director Terrence Malick after his debut Badlands, Heaven has long been a hallowed title of personal poetic cinema, even with its Paramount studio backing (ah yes, the 70s).

Set in wide-skyed Texas in the romantically naive turn of the (last) century, lovers on the run Richard Gere and Brooke Adams pretend to be brother and sister while working on a farm, only to get entangled in bad news when Adams falls for rich land owner Sam Shepard.

The gem of the film is Gere’s younger sister-in-tow, played by the mesmerizing Linda Manz. Sort of an ageless teenager, she seems like she isn’t acting, while providing narration more mystical than Hamlet. Ask any film dork about lost icons of the 70s and she’ll be there, making just a few consummate classics (Days of Heaven, The Wanderers and Out of the Blue) before disappearing from cinema altogether, suddenly turning up as an adult in Gummo. What a career.

Malick’s trademark style holds up today, with luscious imagery and flowing story, shooting tons of dialogue and then taking most of it out to concentrate on the moments that really matter. Sometimes it’s the middle of a conversation rather than the beginning or end, other times it is looks on faces and the surrounding landscapes.

The film’s look is also historic for being shot at ‘magic hour’, brief minutes when the sun has set but there is still light in the sky. Its less than an hour and obviously brutal for a whole shooting day to center around, but the resulting light on film is amazing. Movies aren’t made this way anymore.

Ironically enough, there is an epidemic of “light pollution” on Earth today, as cities get bigger and brighter at night over time (reported everywhere from NASA to the International Dark-Sky Association). At the turn of the century, citizens could see not only more stars but they could see from the starlight. Now, light from cities can reach hundreds of … Read the rest

CRITERION: “THE MILKY WAY”

By Admin

Pierre and Jean are two pilgrims who journey from Paris to Santiago de Campostella in Spain to visit the religious shrine of Saint James. What ostensibly begins as a religious road trip becomes a scathing critique of Catholicism as told through the surreal eyes of Luis Buñuel. The Milky Way is as strong today as it was when first released in 1969 and the newly released Criterion Collection DVD will divide film viewers into two camps: those who see it as hysterical satire or those who will view it as hateful anti-clericalism and indeed, the film is filled with images bound to shock both sides.

The two poverty stricken Pilgrims are shunned away as if they were homeless bums by the same people who profess their love of Christianity. But they bear witness to anarchists who shoot the Pope, a priest who extols the virtues of Christ only to be hustled off to an insane asylum. They watch a nun crucified for heresy. They observe Jesus preparing to give himself a morning shave and many more. Buñuel marries hard hitting satire with Lynchian imagery that will undoubtedly upset the sensibilities of traditional middle-class society, expose its hypocrisy as well as the evils of those who hold religion as dogma. I can only wonder how such a 21st century Buñuel would fare if the object of his anti-clerical satire were directed against Islam.

As part of its many extras, screenwriter Jean Claude Carriere discusses how he concocted the story with Buñuel and decided that the film would be saturated with religion and one would be hard pressed to locate a scene where it isn’t discussed. Whether it a wealthy, bourgeoisie restaurateur discussing the validity of the Holy Trinity or the Marquis De Sade rationally explaining the evils of Christianity while torturing a girl, Buñuel packs the film in such a way that leaves one inevitably shaken and provoked by the baseness of people. I particularly liked the extra on the DVD which include a interview with British film historian Ian Christie which is worthy of a university philosophy discussion. The Milky … Read the rest

CRITERION: “IVAN’S CHILDHOOD”

By Admin

“I think that concepts such as intellectual cinema and intellectual montage have no future. Cinema will remain an emotional area, and one must film what one has experienced, felt, suffered, and not what one has constructed.”

The story centers around the titular character who acts as a spy on the Russian front during the German invasion. We learn that his family has been killed and that Ivan feels an obligation to exact vengeance. The film moves along over the course of two days where Ivan has returned from a reconnaissance mission and is in an argument with the commanding officers over whether or not he is to be sent back to the country for military school. Before a decision can be reached Ivan is needed to go through the German lines, a mission which he eagerly accepts.

The film is full of lush dream sequences that are presentiment of Tarkovsky’s later work. Scenes of birch trees, horses, water, rain, and dimly lit barracks propel the viewer into Ivan’s world and it’s hard not to feel right next to him. The ingenious cinematography is also one of the films major attributes. Shot in glorious monochrome the film is chocked full of one unforgettable composition after the next.

This is a film that’s aged well and kudos to Criterion for giving it the treatment it deserves. The digital transfer is absolutely flawless and I’m not exaggerating in the least, this is one of the best transfers Criterion has ever done. There’s not one scratch or grainy image to be found and the film has a startling clarity as if it were a fresh print out of the tin. I saw this on a regular television so I can’t even … Read the rest

CRITERION: “ACE IN THE HOLE”

By Jason Guerrasio

Watching Billy Wilder’s Ace In The Hole, which has been beautifully re-mastered by Criterion in a 2-disc package ($39.95) available this week, two things come to mind: 1) How forward thinking Wilder was and 2) how the movie ever got released.

Kirk Douglas plays Chuck Tatum, a despicable newspaper reporter who stumbles upon a man trapped inside an old Indian burial cavern in Albuquerque, N.M. and creates a sideshow out of it. Though Tatum has a nose for scoops, his ego and determination to escape the desert and get back to the big city causes him to destroy everything in his path and inevitably himself.

In fact, from the first frame you instantly hate Tatum. Getting towed into town in the opening scene, which is up there as one of the most pride swallowing entrances in film, Tatum has the look of a man on the raise as he pulls right up to the Albuquerque Sun-Bulletin as if he were being chauffeured. Shouting to the tow truck driver to stay put, he waltzes through the hallway with a condescending “How” to a Native American as he passes by. Tatum is hardly the kind of character we remember Kirk Douglas playing (though before Ace In The Hole, he wasn’t quite nice as Midge Kelly in Champion, either), but Tatum is a treat to watch. With the Oscar nominated script by Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman combined with Douglas’s over-the-top performance, you get a film that’s part noir, part commentary on the soon-to-be American media circus.

That’s the forward thinking of Wilder. Though Ace In The Hole wasn’t appreciated at the time of its 1951 release, Wilder’s look at the Tabloid hungry public holds true today as 24-hour news channels make three-ring circuses (Ace In The Hole was once titled The Big Carnival) out of kidnappings, mine disasters or a certain heiress going to jail. One of my favorite shots in the film is after Tatum convinces the rescue team to ditch the practical (and quicker) option of re-securing the cave walls with beams to … Read the rest