Life in a Day

Life in a Day
seen online via YouTube
1.27.11

In the summer of 1995, I was working as a camp counselor in the woods of western Massachusetts, and we created a time capsule. It was a tradition at this camp; every ten years they throw a bunch of items from the campers and staff into a container and bury it somewhere on the camp grounds, to be opened ten years hence. I contributed some comics I had made. Unfortunately, I have no idea what the campers of 2005 made of my comics or anything else in our time capsule, but I like to think that it interested someone.

The concept of a legacy - leaving something behind for future generations that indicates one's time on this earth - is a powerful one. We like to think that our lives matter in some way, even if, in the cosmic scheme of things, they're nothing more than the blink of an eye - but the average person hardly ever thinks in such terms. For artistic people - and I use the word "artistic" in the broadest possible sense - this concept is especially strong, because the hope is that one's work will outlive themselves.

Life in a Day is this concept taken to a macro scale. It's a remarkable enterprise undertaken by Kevin MacDonald, director of The Last King of Scotland and State of Play, among other films, and Ridley & Tony Scott. Last year, they partnered with YouTube and invited amateur filmmakers worldwide to record their life as it was lived on July 24, 2010. The result was over 80,000 clips from almost 200 countries, edited into a single narrative.

And it does play like a narrative, which surprised me. It begins with footage from late at night, moving into sunrises, people getting out of bed, making breakfast, and going about their day, and so on into sunsets and night footage again. There is no political rhetoric, or commercial pitches or religious sermonizing, just people going about their lives, some of them aware of the camera, others not. For some, the day was a significant one, but for most it's simply another day. There's a lovely original score throughout the film as well. You can read more about the process behind the film in this interview with MacDonald.

Yes, the movie shows how much we all have in common and it unites humanity in a beautiful mosaic and blah blah blah. But it took MacDonald, and his editor Joe Walker, to sift through all of those videos and find those common threads, and arrange them in a compelling manner. It bears repeating: this is not a collection of home movies; this is a fully-realized film, with a narrative structure. I think it's safe to say that nothing of this scale has ever been done before.

Will Life in a Day stand the test of time? It's far too early to tell... but if there were those who took part hoping for a shot at immortality, they could do a lot worse than this.

The Way Back

The Way Back
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens, NY
1.25.11

Sometimes I just get stuck for inspiration. I saw The Way Back the other day and liked it, but for whatever reason I had a problem trying to write about it in any way other than a simple review - which, as you know by now, is something I try to avoid with this blog.

The film itself is something far beyond my experience. I can't really say that I've been in any life-or-death situations. I've never seen a desert first-hand, or been to Siberia. I've never seen the inside of a prison and I'm not Polish. I've taken plenty of long walks in my life, but I think it's safe to say that they all pale besides this long walk - and I didn't want to write anything about the noble struggle of man versus nature or anything like that.

I thought about writing about director Peter Weir, whose work I like. I've seen many of his movies, but the only other one I feel I could write intelligently about is The Truman Show, since I've seen it so many times. Actually, I started reading the book Master and Commander recently, but I got bored with it.

I could say a few words about the Kew Gardens. On Tuesdays (and Thursdays), admission is $7, so you'd think there'd be a bit more of a crowd. Sometimes there is, but I think it depends on the movie. The Way Back is rather grim; something like The Kids Are All Right or The King's Speech had bigger crowds. Sometimes I worry that this theater won't be able to sustain itself. I love that it's a cheaper alternative to the Angelika or the Sunshine, and I'll continue to support it as long as it remains so, but I guess I need some reassurance that it's doing okay. Maybe I should see a show there on the weekend as a basis for comparison.

Then there's the neighborhood. Lately whenever I go to Kew Gardens for a movie, I've been eating at a tiny little pizzeria across the street from the theater. It's so tiny that it has an old-fashioned counter with stools. The pizza there's decent. The place I really like to eat at, though, is this broiled chicken place next to the subway. They served broiled chicken with rice and pita bread, or with a salad, and all for a nice price.

So I guess I managed to generate a little something... even if it's not the grand essay I had hoped it would be.

Oscar 2010: The nominees

The Best Picture 10:

127 Hours
Black Swan
The Fighter
Inception
The Kids Are All Right
The King’s Speech
The Social Network
Toy Story 3
True Grit
Winter’s Bone

The rest of the nominees.

First impressions: Perhaps the most significant item - and the one I'm sure everyone will be talking about today - is that once again, Christopher Nolan got shut out from Best Director. I never thought The Dark Knight was Best Picture worthy, at least, not in a field of five nominees, but I did believe Nolan deserved a Best Director nod. And now, to see him left off the ballot again is mind-boggling. Who else today is making films like Nolan? Who else could have made a film like Inception? When you see how much love it got in the tech categories - Visual Effects, Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, Cinematography, Art Direction (but not Editing, which is also insane since editing is so very crucial for this movie) - all of that is directly attributable to his vision for the story. But don't take my word for it. At least his original screenplay was nominated.

Yay for Michelle Williams and John Hawkes making the cut in Acting. Hawkes was nominated by SAG, so this wasn't too much of a surprise. No Robert Duvall or Julianne Moore though. No Blue Valentine screenplay either.

Exit Through the Gift Shop made the cut for Documentary Feature. Big surprise. It's currently available on Hulu, so I plan on finally watching it. Look for a post about it next week.

The important thing to remember when evaluating what will win Best Picture is the "preferential ballot" system, which went into effect last year when the field expanded to ten nominees. Here's how it works. (It's kinda complicated, but it's not that difficult to understand once you grok the mechanics of it.) Under this system, one does not need the most number-one votes to win. Divisive films - those that people either love or hate, with little in-between - will have a harder time winning under the preferential ballot. Some say this is what cost Avatar the Best Picture Oscar last year (though I like to think The Hurt Locker would've won regardless).

The Social Network has racked up a stunning amount of critics awards, and it won the Golden Globe for Best Picture/Drama, but The King's Speech beat it for the Producers Guild Award, where Network was heavily favored. As a result, what started out looking like a Network dominance has turned into more of an actual race. My money is still on Network to win at the moment, but Speech and especially The Fighter stand very good chances as well. We'll know for sure February 27.

Happy Feet

Happy Feet
last seen at Bryant Park Winter Film Festival, New York NY
1.22.11

What lengths would you go to in order to see a free movie? Would you sit out in 20 degree weather in the dead of winter? No? I don't blame you. You're probably not a film nerd looking for material to write about in your blog.

Every year, Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan hosts a free outdoor film festival during the summer, where they show a bunch of classic films. They're extremely popular, and it's one of the best summer attractions in New York. In recent years, Bryant Park has also built a temporary ice skating rink during the winter, and that too, has been a smashing success. Well, some genius got the bright idea to combine the two, no doubt thinking that, like chocolate and peanut butter, it would be two great tastes that taste great together. So this past weekend saw the debut of the Bryant Park Winter Film Festival. Yes, that's right, you can ice skate and watch movies at the same time! How brilliant is that?

The festival began last Saturday with Happy Feet, which, in all fairness, is an awesome movie, one I considered worth enduring sub-freezing temperatures for. The programmers thought it would be cute to show winter-themed movies. In addition to this, they're screening March of the Penguins, Ice Age, Blades of Glory and The Cutting Edge. They do not screen summer-themed movies at the Summer Film Festival.

The first time I saw Happy Feet was when it initially came out. I went with Jenny. We had dinner first. I forget what I had, but it definitely did not agree with me, because during the movie, I started to feel sick, and I mean violently, stomach-churning sick. About a third of the way into the movie, I had to go to the bathroom and throw up. I stayed in there awhile too; Jenny had to get an usher to check in on me. I didn't have the constitution to finish the movie, so we left. Jenny, thankfully, understood; she could see that I was messed up. I didn't have to go to the hospital or anything, though.

I didn't have any such problems Saturday night. The skating rink at Bryant Pond is in the middle of the park, built over the lawn. It actually only takes up around half the space of the lawn, give or take. In addition to the rink, there's a temporary two-floor restaurant with floor-to-ceiling windows so you can watch the skaters (and the movie), as well as a smaller concession stand. The large movie screen is set up on the west side of the rink, next to the fountain, the same spot where it's set up in the summer. The weather was in the mid-20's when I left my house in the morning, and while there was some wind, it wasn't particularly harsh. The early evening sky was clear, which was a big relief; we've been getting hit hard with snow in the past few weeks.

I had a nice spot picked out - almost dead center of the screen, directly behind the rink, on the platform to the left of the restaurant. There were chairs and tables scattered around the platform; I grabbed one of each and sat down. It was about 45 minutes or so before showtime and there were about a dozen to fifteen other people sitting around me. One couple had a blanket to cover their legs. The guy to the left of me brought his baby son, and at one point he took him out of his stroller and let him wander around in the snow next to the rink.

As the movie played, I glanced at the skaters from time to time. They didn't appear engaged in the film to any great degree. They were simply going around and around. Who could say whether they even came for the movie? I doubt it. If I were out there on the ice, I probably would have a hard time focusing on the film too. As for the people around me, they stuck it out in the beginning, but as it got progressively colder, they left, one by one. I had bought a hot apple cider ($3), but it went in a hurry and didn't do much for my system.

About halfway into the film, I got up to go to the bathroom, and my legs and feet were in pain! I had been moving them around to keep my blood circulating, but it didn't do much good - I could barely stand upright and had to slowly shuffle across the rear end of the park like a zombie. When I came back I opted to watch the rest of the film standing up, stomping my feet repeatedly in a vain attempt to stay warm. By this point the thin movie-watching crowd thinned out even more. The moment the movie ended and the closing credits began, I high-tailed it out of there in a bee-line for the subway and didn't look back. I just wanted to feel warm again.

Needless to say, this was a bad idea. For one thing, the sound system, while not bad, could have been better, and anyway, the noise from the skaters made listening to the film a bit of an effort. If this was my first time seeing it, I'd likely be even more frustrated than I was. Also, I don't understand who this is supposed to be for: the skaters, most of whom weren't paying the slightest bit of attention? Or the minuscule band of movie watchers who were freezing their asses off, most of whom gave up trying to sit through the cold before the movie was half over? I figured I'd try it at least once to see if I could do it, but there's no way I'm ever gonna do this again - not in 20 degree weather, in back of a skating rink full of people!

So what's the craziest thing you've ever done to see a free movie?

WSW @ Anomalous Material

My first guest appearance at another movie site can be found this weekend at the very popular blog Anomalous Material. For the past several weeks, they've been running a fantasy draft for movie stars and filmmakers, in which the participants use their selections to create a movie pitch. The best part is that one's picks are not limited by time, so one can put, for example, Charlie Chaplin and Kate Winslet in the same movie! My movie pitch is up now, and it's based on a Saturday Set List pitch I made here not too long ago. Have a look - and if you like it, be sure to give me a high rating!

Saturday Set List special: Krush Groove

If you remember Krush Groove, you don't need me to tell you how totally awesome this movie was. If you've never seen it, well, you can't call yourself a hip-hop fan unless you do, because this movie is nothing less than a hip-hop masterpiece, and here are four reasons why...

LL Cool J, "I Can't Live Without My Radio"
"Box!" And with that, the 17-year old LL Cool J makes his memorable first appearance in the film with this song. He'd go on to have a long and successful career as both rapper and actor (I liked him in Any Given Sunday). Before 50 Cent, there was LL.



Beastie Boys, "She's On It"
Who would've ever dreamed that these three skinny white dudes would conquer the hip hop world? Songs like this, which is as much punk rock as it is hip hop, gave them street cred, and by the time Licensed to Ill came out, nothing could stop them. Now they make movies as well as music - including this upcoming film that revisits one of their best videos with an all-star cast.



Sheila E., "Holly Rock"
The most talented former member of Prince's harem without a doubt. She still tours and performs, and according to her Wikipedia entry, she recently won a CMT reality show, so now she's branching out into country music. And she still looks damn good!



Run DMC, "Can You Rock It Like This"
What can I say? They're Run DMC. No further explanation necessary.




And of course, mad props must also be given to Kurtis Blow, the Fat Boys, Debbie Harry, and everyone else associated with this movie and soundtrack.

Wild Style

All this week we'll take a look at some classic hip-hop films from the 80s and talk about the early days of the music and the culture from four different angles: graffiti writers, deejays, breakdancers, and emcees.

Wild Style
seen online via YouTube
1.20.11

By the time I first heard rap music, it had already gone mainstream. This would've been in junior high, during the early 80s. I wish I could remember the first song I ever heard. It might have been Run DMC's "Sucker MC," but I don't think so. I would hear kids rapping in the hallways, in the lunchroom, on the school bus. Sometimes they'd be original compositions but mostly they'd be hit songs. I accepted this new sound of music quickly and easily, and I wanted more, like everybody else.

I liked a lot of different rappers, but Run DMC stood head and shoulders above everyone else for me. They were from Queens, like me. They dressed fly; I wore Lee jeans because of them (at one point in junior high there was an epidemic of the large Lee labels being stolen right off of people's jeans!) and I begged my father for weeks to buy me a Kangol hat which I wore proudly. People would tell me I looked like DMC! They combined rapping with rock music; the guitar riffs on songs like "Rock Box" are just as def as their rhymes! And they knew how to get down.

As I got older, my musical tastes shifted from Top 40 (which included rap) over to classic rock and metal, and while I didn't abandon rap completely - I completely devoured the Beastie Boys' debut album Licensed to Ill - for some stupid reason I felt the need to publicly distance myself from rap at one point. I suspect I only did it because I wanted to look cooler around my friends. So I drifted away from rap, which is just as well, since the rise of the "gangsta" rappers did more to turn me off rap than anything else. And yes, I'm well aware of the hypocrisy of decrying violence and misogyny in rap when rock music has plenty of its own. I have no defense. These days, my tastes have come full circle; I've gone back to listening to the music of my father's era - the "golden oldies" of early rock and R&B, and I find I enjoy it much more than when I was a kid.

Getting back to rap though: Wild Style captures the feeling of emcees rocking house parties well. Unlike the better-lit, comparatively roomy dance floors of Beat Street, the parties and clubs here feel smaller, darker and sweatier. Like Beat Street, however, Wild Style's cast consists of first-generation emcees and deejays, the ones who were big in the Bronx and Manhattan before rap records were made. It has a bit of a rougher edge, and one gets the sense that its stars, especially graffiti prodigy Lee Quinones, aren't acting so much as being. Compare this to Beat Street or Krush Groove, where everything feels much more scripted.

Still, I was disappointed with Wild Style. The plot, such as it is, meanders all over the place and can't seem to decide if this should be a fictional narrative or a concert documentary. If this were the latter, it might've made for a stronger movie. Everyone's playing thinly-veiled versions of themselves anyway. I recognize the film's importance, however, since it led to Beat Street and Breakin' and Krush Groove and all the rest.

The hip-hop history book Yes Yes Y'all, which I mentioned on Wednesday, has a section on Wild Style in which co-star Fab 5 Freddy talks about how he was making in-roads in the larger music industry, as well as the art world, which is how he eventually met director Charlie Ahearn (a co-editor of Yes Yes Y'all). Here's a good quote from Freddy:

At that time people weren't seeing all these different [hip-hop] elements as one thing, you know? It was like people doing graffiti were just doing graffiti. Rapping people were rapping. the break-dance scene would go on at hip-hop parties, but it was pretty much a Latin thing, so there were Latin clubs that would happen where break-dancing would go on. So I had this idea to bring these things together, and Charlie was like, "This is cool."