LIFE IS FUNNY, BUT NOT REALLY: FX’S LOUIE

By Dan Schoenbrun

Welcome to part one of a series in which I’ll be highlighting some of 2011′s boldest, most inventive television. Each of the shows that I’ll be writing about are helping to redefine the artistic possibilities of television as a medium. And where better to start than with FX’s Louie, the most consistently surprising half-hour on TV.

Twenty years ago Seinfeld built a reputation on the claim that it was a “show about nothing.” Whereas other sitcoms of the era defined themselves through high-concept premises, outrageous characters, and cheap, saccharine “will-they-or-won’t-they” tactics, Seinfeld followed four unlikable, unremarkable friends through the tiresome travails of everyday life.

But despite this unromantic stance, the show was still, at heart, an NBC sitcom. Even when Jerry, George, Kramer, and Elaine spent 22 minutes waiting to be seated at a Chinese restaurant, or wandering through a parking lot looking for their car, the show didn’t exactly strive for realism. The exaggerated other-worldliness of situational comedy prevailed. Catchphrases were established. Double-entendre ran rampant. Laugh-track quotas were more than reached.

Louie, a half-hour comedy that wrapped its second season on FX this past September, doesn’t fall into any such patterns. Almost exclusively the brainchild of writer/director/editor/star Louis CK, the loosely autobiographical show presents the world through the eyes of CK, a depressive standup comedian and single-father attempting to raise two daughters in New York City. Louie shares Seinfeld’s “comedy about nothing” ambitions, and even its structure — just as in Seinfeld, episodes of Louie are book-ended by actual stand-up segments, filmed on location at West Village club The Comedy Cellar.

Where the two shows diverge is in the fact that Louie can in no way be mistaken for a sitcom. Really, it’d be a stretch to even call the show a comedy. Episodes are decidedly low-concept, jokes are few and far between, and conventional three-act structure is thrown to the wolves.  Instead, the show favors a boldly non-narrative format. Episodes amble along at a relaxed pace, with extended diversions set up to mimic the meandering ennui of everyday life. Unlike Seinfeld, the execution matches the ambition.

Just watch the … Read the rest

SEBASTIAN JUNGER AND TIM HETHERINGTON, “RESTREPO”

Originally posted online on June 23, 2010. Restrepo is nominated for Best Documentary.

Most documentary filmmakers attempt to see the world through the lens of the subjects they’re shooting, but few put their lives on the line to do so. That perhaps is what most separates first-time directors Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington from a few of their colleagues who didn’t take home the Grand Jury Prize for U.S. Documentary at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Their award-winning Restrepo is the result of a near yearlong embedment with the Second Platoon, Battle Company in eastern Afghanistan’s deadly Korengal Valley, during which they survived like soldiers wielding cameras in lieu of guns. While the two don’t lack name recognition — writer Junger is the bestselling author of The Perfect Storm, and along with prizewinning photojournalist Hetherington, is a longtime contributor to Vanity Fair — they’ve used their critical prestige to shine a light on the identities of the little known. Like “Doc” Restrepo, a platoon medic killed in action but not forgotten at the outpost that bears his name.

Filmmaker: So how did you two meet and what prompted you to want to collaborate on a film?

Tim Hetherington: Sebastian had an idea that he wanted to follow a platoon of soldiers for a year.

Sebastian Junger: Yeah, I’d been going to Afghanistan since 1996 and always covered the story from the perspective of the civilian population, for obvious reasons. When it became clear that the U.S. was going to be engaged in a long and complicated war I was embedded with a battle company. I was so impressed by those guys. I had never been with a professional army before. I’d never been with the U.S. military. I thought that if they go back I wanted to follow one platoon back to Afghanistan. Not Iraq. I was not interested in Iraq. But I wanted to follow one platoon of 35 men for an entire deployment [in order] to write a book, make a documentary. I would pay for it by turning … Read the rest

OSCAR DOC FEATURE SHORTLIST: WHICH TITLES SHOULD HAVE MADE THE CUT?

By Jason Guerrasio

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences revealed today the 15 films that have made their shortlist for the Best Feature Documentary category in the 83rd Academy Awards.

They include:

Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer, Alex Gibney, director (ES Productions LLC)

Enemies of the People, Rob Lemkin and Thet Sambath, directors (Old Street Films)

Exit through the Gift Shop, Banksy, director (Paranoid Pictures)

Gasland, Josh Fox, director (Gasland Productions, LLC)

Genius Within: The Inner Life of Glenn Gould, Michele Hozer and Peter Raymont, directors (White Pine Pictures)

Inside Job, Charles Ferguson, director (Representational Pictures)

The Lottery, Madeleine Sackler, director (Great Curve Films)

Precious Life, Shlomi Eldar, director (Origami Productions)

Quest for Honor, Mary Ann Smothers Bruni, director (Smothers Bruni Productions)

Restrepo, Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger, directors (Outpost Films)

This Way of Life, Thomas Burstyn, director (Cloud South Films)

The Tillman Story, Amir Bar-Lev, director (Passion Pictures/Axis Films)

Waiting for “Superman”, Davis Guggenheim, director (Electric Kinney Films)

Waste Land, Lucy Walker, director (Almega Projects)

William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe, Emily Kunstler and Sarah Kunstler, directors (Disturbing the Universe LLC)

Though many deserving titles will be moving forward with the chance to be called when the Academy names its nominees the morning of Jan. 25, the doc shortlist announcement has in recent years become a time to focus on which docs were left out.

Glaring omissions: The Oath, Last Train Home, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, to name a few.

Soon after the announcement many took to Twitter to show their displeasure, including Zeitgeist Films which tweeted about doing a write-in campaign for their snubbed films, The Oath and Last Train Home.

Whether it be the Academy’s out-of-touch voters, or its confusing requirements to be considered, this time of year always causes many doc lovers (and filmmakers) to scratch their heads. But if anything positive can come from this, hopefully the attention to the titles that didn’t make it leads to more ticket/DVD/VOD sales for them.… Read the rest

“MELVIN” NEGOTIATES THE APOCALYPSE (PART 2 OF 3)

By Chris Ohlson

We are the survivors of the apocalypse.  We have gathered to exchange filmmaking horror stories, to discuss escape strategies, to compete with each other for limited resources and opportunities.  The atmosphere, through countless panels, parties and pitches, is cloaked in uncertainty.  Still, we are here. New York City. Independent Film Week.

And, honestly, I’ve never felt better.

My film Melvin, a small American drama without movie stars, is—if the formula is to be believed—facing a daunting, dare I say, Sisyphean climb (the IFP logo is spot on) ahead into the world.

Here’s how it has gone down:

Industry Person: Tell me about your film; what are you doing here?

Me: Well, we have a near-finished film. It’s called Melvin. It’s an intense character study about a young man unraveling…and it’s about what he does when he finally comes undone.

Industry Person stares at me, blinks.

Me: Yeah, it’s about a young guy who wants a lot more out of life.  He has that itch, that suspicion, that belief that there’s gotta be more.  He’s like Peter Parker, without Spiderman.  Like Neo, without a matrix.

Industry Person: So it’s a superhero movie?

Me: Yes. Except without a superhero.

Industry Person: Oh. So, really it’s…

Me: Exactly.

And somehow, we’re now talking about the same thing and we continue on from there…  What a rush.  We—my writing partner, Gregory Collins, and I—chestbump.  We tell each other that we nailed it, that we killed it.  And I guess that’s the point.  No matter how uncertain the industry is right now, one thing is certain: There will be film. Because once you get over the fact that conventional wisdom about independent film financing, marketing and distribution seems to have been dismantled (at least for now), the signs of life are encouraging.

First of all, there was the IFP Labs Showcase Screening Tuesday night – 20 scenes from 20 films that you’ve never heard of (but most definitely will in the coming years) presented by Rooftop Films, which was massively attended.  There are the success stories; movies like Winter’s Bone and … Read the rest

SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WINNERS ANNOUNCED

The 36th Seattle International Film Festival end this weekend with audiences flocking to the 25 day fest as nearly 20% increase from last year. From May 20-June 13, the festival had shown 408 films. The awards ranged from the audience-selected Golden Space Needle Awards; the five juried Competition Awards, as well as the FIPRESCI Award for Best American Film. Borys Lankosz‘s The Reverse won the narrative Grand Jury Prizee , while Marwencol, directed by Jeff Malmberg, took home the doc Grand Jury Prize.

The winners of the Jury and Audience Awards are below.

SIFF 2010 Best New Director

Grand Jury Prize
The Reverse, directed by Borys Lankosz (Poland, 2009)

Special Jury Mentions
Turistas, directed by Alicia Scherson (Chile, 2009)

Gravity, directed by Maximilian Erlenwein (Germany, 2009)

SIFF 2010 Best Documentary

Grand Jury Prize
Marwencol, directed by Jeff Malmberg (USA, 2010)

SIFF 2010 Short Film Jury Awards

Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Short
Little Accidents, directed by Sara Colangelo (USA, 2009)

Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Short
White Lines And The Fever: The Death Of DJ Junebug, directed by Travis Senger (USA, 2010)

Grand Jury Prize for Best Animated Short
The Wonder Hospital, directed by Beomsik Shim (USA, 2010)

Special Jury Mention for Short Animation
Cherry On The Cake, directed by Hyebin Lee (United Kingdom, 2009)

SIFF 2010 FIPRESCI Award for Best American Film

FIPRESCI Award
Night Catches Us, directed by Tanya Hamilton (USA, 2010)

Special Jury Mention
Jenna Fischer in A Little Help

SIFF 2010 Golden Space Needle Audience Awards

Best Film Golden Space Needle Award
The Hedgehog, directed by Mona Achache (France, 2009)

Runners-up (in order):
Mao’s Last Dancer, directed by Bruce Beresford (Australia, 2009)
Micmacs, directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet (France, 2009)
Cell 211, directed by Daniel Monzon (Spain, 2009)
Hipsters, directed by Valery Todorovsky (Russia, 2009)

Best Documentary Golden Space Needle Award
Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life, directed by Karen Stanton (USA 2010) and Waste Land, directed by Lucy Walker (United Kingdom, 2010) (tie)

Runners-up (In … Read the rest

FULL FRAME FILM FESTIVAL |
By Ryan Koo

Now in its 13th year, the documentary-only Full Frame Film Festival (April 8-11) takes place in my hometown of Durham, North Carolina. The city of Durham is historically a tobacco town, moving slowly but steadily towards an uncertain future: while its tobacco warehouses are being converted to swank lofts, downtown office space is readily available with a seemingly high vacancy rate. The festival is very much a cultural cornerstone for the city, and as a result Full Frame means a lot to Durham.

As of late, however, Durham also means a lot to Full Frame: while in previous years the festival’s most visible sponsors were non-locals like the New York Times, HBO, and A&E (from which the festival still enjoys some support), the main sponsors today are local institutions like Duke University and the City of Durham itself. As a result, the festival has slimmed down from its 2005 incarnation, when Martin Scorcese came to town and the festival packed twenty more films into venues spread around downtown. Despite less sponsors, less films, and less screening venues, however, 2010 ticket sales were reportedly just as brisk, and most of the films I attended played to packed houses.

Having all 100 of the festival’s selections within walking distance makes it a more intimate affair, one where you’re likely to spot festival linchpins D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus eating lunch, watching movies, and standing in line with the rest of the patrons. The main screening venue, the Carolina Theater — the last of Durham’s original theaters, built in 1926 — also fronts a sizable courtyard perfect for milling about, provided the weather is nice (which it was this year), and as such Durham’s festival feels much more centralized and relaxed than many. And of course there is the much-vaunted southern setting and hospitality, which make Full Frame an important festival not just because it’s documentary-only, but also because it takes place in a city that, not unlike independent film, is figuring out its future on the fly.
Documentaries have what PBS’s Yance Ford referred to on a funding panel as a “demographic … Read the rest

“RESTREPO” | directors, Sebastian Junger & Tim Hetherington

[PREMIERE SCREENING: Thursday, Jan. 21, 9:30 pm -- Eccles Theatre, Park City]

Our goal in making Restrepo, a documentary about soldiers at a remote outpost in Afghanistan, was to give viewers the experience of a 90-minute deployment. We had no difficult decisions, per se, but we did have important ones. First and foremost, we decided that our cameras would never leave the soldiers. We would not interview generals or diplomats; we would not return to the United States to talk to the families. We would limit ourselves to what the soldiers had access to and nothing more. Finally our film would have no political agenda or moral viewpoint… it would simply be a starting point for the complex and painful debates that surround any use of military force. This is war, full stop. The rest is up to you.… Read the rest