DON CORNELIUS, R.I.P.

By Scott Macaulay

Sad to hear this week of the death of Don Cornelius, whose Soul Train is burned into my adolescent TV memory. From Bruce Handy at Vanity Fair (who opens with a quote from “American Pie”).

I know it’s corny quoting from “American Pie.” But it is February, and like a lot of people, I felt a genuine sense of loss and sadness at the news that Don Cornelius, the creator and host of Soul Train, died of gunshot wounds Wednesday morning in Los Angeles—a possible suicide at the age of 75. The show premiered in Chicago in 1970 and aired nationally for 35 years—the longest-running syndicated series in television history. Pretty much every great soul and R&B artist came out for Cornelius at one time or another, including James Brown, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. In the 70s, without Oprah or BET or Shonda Rhimes or Dick Parsons, blacks didn’t have a lot of control over how they appeared in the mainstream media, and so in that sense, Soul Train was revolutionary. In a far less atomized but more racially segregated culture than ours—1970 was only half a decade removed from the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts—Soul Train felt like an official weekly communiqué from black America. At least, it did to preadolescent white people growing up in Northern California; it occurs to me now that, as far as my junior high-school social life went, I might have benefited from paying closer attention to Soul Train, with its dance floor full of smooth moves, sharp clothes, and bobbing, well-picked Afros.

Handy embeds the closing sequence to Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, which rescores the show to the hip hop of the time.

… Read the rest

“MARGARET” — A HAMMER TO NAIL REVIEW

By Michael Tully

(Without any fanfare, Margaret was released theatrically by Fox Searchlight on Friday, September 30, 2011. Visit the film’s official website to learn more.)

Oh boy. Oh wow. If your idea of a rewarding time at the movies is a symphonic drama that aches with the blood, sweat and tears of real life while simultaneously upholding the finest traditions of opera, of theater, of poetry, of literature, look no further than Kenneth Lonergan’s Margaret. Much has been written about the unfortunate legal brouhaha surrounding the film’s post-production — it was shot in 2005 while here we are twiddling our thumbs in late 2011 — and though no one seems able to definitively say whose cut of the film this 149-minute theatrical version is (for what it’s worth, the film print has a 2008 copyright), that honestly doesn’t matter. Margaret is superior cinema any way you look at it.

Lonergan kicks off his dramatic opus with an opening credits sequence that paints New York City in a somberly triumphant light: in super slow-motion, everyday New Yorkers make their way to wherever it is they are going — work, school, brunch, home — as composer Nico Muhly’s rueful theme rises. These images are captured with a grainy, bleached out beauty by cinematographer Ryszard Lenczewski, a textured, lived-in look that Lonergan and Lenczewski carry throughout the film.

The story is centered around Anna Paquin’s Lisa, an Upper West Side teenager whose life is privileged, though far from perfect. An idealistic, hypersensitive girl who is coming to terms with her budding sexual power, Lisa can’t seem to have a conversation with her mother Joan (J. Smith-Cameron) — an especially busy Off Broadway actress — without getting into an argument. After school one day — a private school she attends on a half-scholarship — Lisa accidentally plays a role in a freak bus accident that takes a woman’s life (this scene is played out in what feels like real time and nails the strange blend of horror, drama, and humor that is specific to tragedies such as these). In a moment of perceived … Read the rest

21ST CENTURY MAN: ABEL FERRARA

In person, Abel Ferrara is a whirlwind of gestures and jokes, of quick smiles and vulgar asides, digressions piled upon digressions, even if he’s much sharper and in control of his staccato New Yorkese vernacular than he lets on. Ferrara, who will turn 60 this year, has had one of American indie cinema’s strangest and most fascinating careers, one which has taken the Bronx native from the old 42nd Street’s row of exploitation and porn cinemas to the Croissette in Cannes. Often we talk of middle-aged artists mellowing, but Ferrara maintains a manic, youthful energy that is both infectious and at times alittle maddening. While his face cannot hide the toll that years of what can be described as his legendary embrace of less than legal substances has taken, his quick wit, remarkable charm and insidious intelligence are likely to be among the first things that strike you.

Some films become emblematic of the times in which they were made. Other films become emblematic of the times in which you watched them. Few embody both. For this viewer, much of Ferrara’s body of work embraces both roles. His films, many of which are uneven and outlandish, will stay with you, serving as a bizarre but welcome reminder that a spiritually or intellectually engaged work can also be smutty and lurid. While his best known works, 1989′s King of New York and 1992′s Bad Lieutenant, are hard and unrelentingly grim crime films that double as tales of spiritual confusion and longing, and in Bad Lieutenant’s case, as embodying the desire for Christian love lost, his range as a director is broader than most give him credit for. He’s worked in sci-fi (Body Snatchers), corporate espionage (New Rose Hotel) TV (Miami Vice). His most recent narrative, 2007′s Go-Go Tales, which headlines Anthology Film Archives ongoing 11-day tribute to Ferrara’s recent work Abel Ferrara in the 21st Century, is a testament to a bygone New York in much the same way the films of his glory years are. Filmmaker caught up with him on the … Read the rest

FILMMAKER FLASHBACK: WINTER, 1996

By Scott Macaulay

Spike Lee was our cover in Winter, 1996, and there were two tie-ins. First, his movie Girl 6 was about to be released. And, second, John Pierson’s Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes was just being published. For Filmmaker, Pierson gave us an expanded version of a talk he had with Lee and Kevin Smith that includes this interesting note from Lee. I had forgotten that Lee’s intended first feature was Messenger, an autobiographical tale about a young bicycle messenger. The film collapsed in pre-production when financing was pulled.

Kevin: I want to do goofy young filmmaker questions, the kinds of things that I would really like to know too. If you had done Messenger first as planned, would your career have been any different?

Spike: Yeah, I might not have a career. [laughter] It was too ambitious, and it would not have been a good film. It was not a great script. Once again, there’ve been too many things that have happened in my career that couldn’t just be happenstance or coincidence. Something’s definitely been guiding me. God, or whoever, knew that [cracks up with laughter] if I’d done that film it would’ve been suicidal. That’s why that film did not happen.

There’s not much else online from this issue, but it’s interesting to see interviews with Todd Solondz, Chris Smith and others making their first and second films. Also, we had a piece on a new filmmaking group calling themselves the Cambria Liberation Collective. The director in the group was Dante Harper, and he made an amazing, neglected indie called Delicate Art of the Rifle that still holds up today. Recently when we were compiling our “25 New Faces” list I spoke with an industry colleague, a producer at a really big production company. He said, “There’s this guy you have to put on, this screenwriter who in a couple of years has racked up these amazing deals.” The writer turned out to be Harper, and the films he’s been developing include Black Hole for David Fincher, Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters for Tommy Winkola, … Read the rest

REVISITING THE TOPIC OF INDIE MOVIES AND YOUTH

By Scott Macaulay

This is perhaps the longest gestating blog post in Filmmaker Blog history.

Back in December, Ted Hope commented on the graying of the arthouse audience in a post entitled “Can Truly Free Film Appeal to Younger Audiences?” He asked:

What is it that new audiences want? What must the indie community do to engage them? It is really surprising how few true indie films speak to a youth audience. In this country we’ve had Kevin Smith and NAPOLEON DYNAMITE, but nothing that was youth and also truly on the art spectrum like RUN LOLA RUN or the French New Wave (PARANORMAL ACTIVITY not withstanding…). Are we incapable of making the spirited yet formal work that defines a lot of alternative rock and roll? And if so, why is that?

The post inspired a long comments thread, much of which focuses on the issue of marketing, and whether today’s independent films are marketed to youth correctly, or whether today’s indies are giving young audiences the experiences they want. Amongst these comments is one by producer Cotty Chubb, who tackles the issue of young content. An excerpt:

If there’s no reason to go to the theater to have an emotional (comedic, dramatic, it doesn’t matter) experience that answers questions you have — about being a child of divorce, about how to figure out how to live or love, or about what happens you become intimate and it’s all too much — whatever it is that you’re living — if you lose the habit of seeing movies because the people that make them don’t give two shits about you except for your ability to spend money — you stop going, except for the thrill rides or the exceptional rude boys.

That’s why I thought Judd Apatow was going to matter when I saw Knocked Up. That’s why I think 500 Days of Summer is important. It was honest and funny and smart and generous and Joe Gordon Levitt is uniquely transparent in his emotion. And it grossed 32+MM$.

I think Ted and Cotty combine to make a great point here having to … Read the rest

WEEKEND LINKS, 5/2/2010

By Scott Macaulay

Most of the time when I come across interesting articles or video on the web I clip them to my Evernote reader and check them out later on my Blackberry or iPad. Here, then, are a few things I’ve clipped that might interest you too.

From CNN Money: “One in eight to cut cable and satellite TV in 2010.” What are the implications for online content creators?

In Spring 2008 I wrote about Alix Lambert’s Crime book for Filmmaker. (The piece is not online, but you can check it out on her site.) Here, at The Graveyard Shift, she discusses taking the book and three actors on the road to “think tank the idea of crime as theater.”

The making of Brent Green’s Gravity Was Everywhere Back Then is chronicled by the artist himself in the new issue of Filmmaker. I hope you check out the article as well as the film, which opens this Friday at the IFC Center. In the meantime, limited editions of artwork from the film are available from Art We Love. And, below, is a visit to Green’s studio.

Ask me what I am most proud of last year in Filmmaker and it might have been my exclusive interview with Mark Region, director of the uncategorizable After Last Season. So I was thrilled to get an email from Joseph Childers who writes for the site True/Slant, which I’ve been a reader of, telling me that he quoted from my interview throughout this review of the After Last Season DVD. From Childers’ review:

But as craptastic as the film is, it’s more than mere incompetence that makes the film fascinating. Most incredibly lame works of almost-art are compelling and sadly comic because of a massive gap between highfalutin intent and piss-poor execution. But like The Room and Troll 2, it’s incredibly hard to even begin to fathom the intent behind After Last Season. In other words, it’s so weird, I don’t even what they were going for – and that’s strangely admirable. It may not be,

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BAHAMAS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCE WINNERS

The 2009 Bahamas International Film Festival wrapped last night in Nassau with Spike Lee‘s Miracle at St. Anna closing the fest.

Winners:

The New Vision Award: Cold Lunch, directed by Eva Sorhaug.

Jury Special Mention: Jay, directed by Xavier Pasion.

The Spirit of Freedom Narrative Award: Lion’s Den, directed by Pablo Trapero.

The Spirit of Freedom Documentary Award: Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love, directed by Chai Vasarhelyi.

Jury Special Mention: War Child, directed by C. Karim Chrobog.

The Award for Best Short Film: Gone Fishing, directed by Chris Jones.

BIFF Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: Rain, directed by Maria Govan.

BIFF Audience Award for Best Documentary: Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love, directed by Chai Vasarhelyi.… Read the rest

ELLEN KURAS, “THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON)”

By Nick Dawson

THAVISOUK PHRASAVATH AND ORADY PHRASAVATH IN DIRECTOR ELLEN KURAS’ THE BETRAYAL (NERAKHOON). COURTESY CINEMA GUILD.

Since she first came to prominence almost twenty years ago, Ellen Kuras has established herself as one of the most talented directors of photography working today. Film was not Kuras’ primary focus when she was younger; the New Jersey native initially attended Brown to study anthropology but became interested in photography after taking a class at the nearby Rhode Island School of Design. Though she won a Fulbright Scholarship to go to the esteemed Lodz Film Academy, Kuras instead began working in film, taking numerous below the line jobs that taught her the nuts and bolts of the cinematic process. In 1987, she worked as D.P. on her first film, Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia, and in 1992 she won the first of a record three Sundance Cinematography Awards for lensing Tom Kalin’s Swoon. Since then, Kuras has been prolific as a D.P. and established ongoing collaborations with Rebecca Miller (including Personal Velocity, another Sundance winner for Kuras), Spike Lee (from 4 Little Girls through to The 25th Hour) and more recently Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, Be Kind Rewind).

Ironically, Kuras’ first film as director, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), predates her career as a cinematographer, as she began the movie 23 years ago when she was just starting out as a filmmaker. What began as an examination of the impact of cultural assimilation became a decades-long documentary about a family of Laotian refugees and their remarkable story, from the secret war the U.S. fought against their country during the 60s and 70s through to their troubled existence in New York in the 80s and beyond. Kuras set out to blur genre boundaries with the film and artfully mixes stylistic elements of fictional and experimental cinema as well as documentary. The relationship between filmmaker and subject is also blurred, as Thavisouk “Thavi” Phrasavath, the film’s main character, became Kuras’ co-director, co-writer and editor. The time and … Read the rest

THIS IS YOUR PILOT SPEAKING

By Scott Macaulay

Borys Kit has a good article in the Hollywood Reporter discussing the influx of feature directors to the TV world, noting that this pilot season Spike Lee, Jim Mangold, F. Gary Gray and others are completing small-screen work.

“The perception that TV was a sitcom world and that features provided a more intellectual medium — that distinction is not necessarily the case anymore,” said attorney Gregg Gellman of Barnes Morris Klein Mark Yorn Barnes & Levine, whose crossover clients have included directors like Gavin O’Connor (“Miracle”).

With more and more scripts tackling concepts that challenge traditional formats and genres, feature directors are interested in getting on board, and the TV studios are eager to have them.

The article notes that while feature development can take years, a TV pilot can go from script to screen in six weeks. And for a name director, the financial upside is significant:

One of the biggest reasons for the film director influx is financial. While actual numbers depend on a show’s budget, a director’s leverage and the individual deal made, sources said pilot directors make anywhere from about $100,000 for first-timers to $250,000 for the veterans. Some A-listers might even receive upward of $300,000. Agents surveyed said that the range between the two groups is rather narrow, and some might even complain about the pay. But all agree: The financial upside is massive.

If a pilot goes to series, it can be much more than a one-time payout. If a pilot gets a series order, the director will see a royalty of somewhere between $1,000-$5,000 an episode even if he doesn’t go behind the camera again for any of the episodes.

If a pilot goes to series, a director usually will receive a series sale bonus in the neighborhood of $25,000.

Additionally, a director can get a consulting producer credit or even an executive producer credit that can see a helmer get anywhere from $15,000-$30,000 an episode. Mangold, Berg and Khouri, for example, developed their pilots, so they also are exec producers.

Then there’s the backend. In rare cases where a show develops

… Read the rest