Black film fests form distribution network

...The plan is to put black-theme movies in commercial theaters, initially from the independent film program recently begun by the AMC theater chain, for a two-week run supported by social networks, mailing lists and other buzz-building services at the disposal of allied ethnic film festivals.

The films will not be part of normal festival programs, but will screen in all cities simultaneously with promotional backing from the festival organizations, which will share in revenue... And if Ms. DuVernay is correct in her belief that African-American viewers want more movies than they are getting from conventional distributors, the movement will eventually reach about four dozen cities where black-oriented festivals have been gaining strength, even as black film languishes in the studio world.

This is a really great idea. I'm gonna follow this and see how it develops.

Also:
- Oscar-winning writer-director Paul Haggis is planning a tell-all book about Scientology. (24 Frames)
- True Grit super-producer Scott Rudin explains why Hailee Steinfeld is being campaigned for Supporting Actress in the Oscar race and not lead actress. (In Contention)
- Todd Haynes and Kate Winslet talk about their Mildred Pierce remake. (Thompson on Hollywood)
- Ben Affleck discusses his cinematic influences in filming The Town. (The Envelope)
- This video compares an actual Micky Ward fight to the way it was filmed in The Fighter. (In Contention)
- Life in a Day, the film put together by thousands of filmmakers around the world, will stream on YouTube later this month in time for the Sundance Festival. (Coming Soon)
- Take a stroll through Marilyn Monroe's Manhattan. (NYTimes)

BTW, I was going to write a post about the movie Seven, which I watched this weekend, but a movie about a serial killer, I think you'll agree, would probably be inappropriate right now given recent events. I'll write about it another time.

Saturday Set List: She was something more than sexual

Soundtrack of the week: Singles
Decent movie, kick-ass soundtrack. It took me a little longer to get into grunge than most, but when I did, I fully embraced it.

Pearl Jam, "State of Love and Trust"

Song-about-movies of the week: "Candle in the Wind"
More for this video than anything else. Plus it's the live version, which I like better than the studio one.

Song-that-would-make-a-good-movie of the week: "America"
So many Simon & Garfunkel songs would make good movies. This could be a simple road-trip movie about a boy and a girl heading for New York for the first time and their various misadventures. This would have to be a retroactive movie, because you'd need a director like Hal Ashby or Bob Rafelson to direct it.


Actor-singer of the week: Avery Brooks
The man played Paul Robeson on Broadway, so you know he's got the chops. Here he is from when he was on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine singing a duet with recurring guest star James Darren (who's more of a singer first, in my opinion).

Avery Brooks and James Darren, "The Best Is Yet to Come"

Pickup on South Street

Pickup on South Street
seen online via YouTube
1.6.11

OMG HERE COME THE COMMIES TO SUCK OUR BRAINS AND RAPE OUR WOMEN!!! We used to be paranoid as hell about Communists, didn't we? It's hard to believe, for even people of my generation, the level of fear created around the Red scare during the Cold War years. I grew up during the Reagan years, so of course I remember all the "Evil Empire" rhetoric, coupled as it was with the threat of nuclear war, which came as much from our side as the Russians' side. And as I've discussed before, none of that ever felt that real to me as a child.

Still, if I knew nothing about Communism, and I watched a movie like Pickup on South Street, I would be no smarter on the subject. Don't get me wrong; I liked this movie, but it bothered me that there was so much talk about the Commies and how dangerous they are but no one - absolutely no one - bothered to define what it is, even though one of the pivotal characters is a Communist. I suspect this isn't at all unique to this movie, but it was more noticeable for me here than at any other time.

Maybe some historical perspective might help? Pickup on South Street was released in 1953. During this time the Korean War wound down (there's a passing reference to the war in the movie); Senator Joseph McCarthy was still going after Commies with his hearings, though President Eisenhower finally started to oppose him when McCarthy investigated the military; Joseph Stalin died and Nikita Khrushchev took over the Soviet Union; the CIA helped orchestrate the overthrow of the Iranian government; and Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed. Definitely a tumultuous year.

Given all of that, you'd think a movie that deals with the threat of Communism (however indirectly) might reflect the state of affairs in the world and at least attempt to provide some perspective on it all. Pickup isn't a propaganda film, nor is it a political thriller, but it does have a major character who's a Communist, with a Macguffin that affects the course of the entire story, and I think it's unfortunate that he doesn't get to express his political beliefs at least once.

Richard Widmark's grifter anti-hero scoffs at the patriotic notions displayed by the law-enforcement characters as they try and get him to cooperate, which suits him, since by his own admission he's a three-time loser looking to get by any way he can. He also says he's not above dealing with a Red, which we're clearly meant to take as one more sign of his depravity and desperation.

I read about Pickup at a very good film noir blog called Where Danger Lives, which made me want to see it. I enjoyed seeing Thelma Ritter, who was so delightful in All About Eve, play a more serious character here. The level of violence was a bit disturbing for me; people get really smacked around and roughed up here, which I suppose is par for the course in a noir, but I admit it still took me by surprise.

Anybody have any memories of the Cold War from an everyday perspective? My memories have gotten fuzzier with age, and since I was a kid, it's not like they stick out anyway.

Dementia 13

Dementia 13
seen online via YouTube
1.4.11

LAMBs in the Director's Chair is an ongoing event in which LAMB bloggers discuss the work and career of a given director. The current subject is Francis Ford Coppola. The complete list of posts for this event will go up January 11-13 at the LAMB site.

So I watched Dementia 13 trying to see if I could detect any signs of the greatness to come from director Francis Ford Coppola. As first features go, it's not all that memorable. Compared to the first films of Coppola's peers, it's dramatically different. I mean, if you look at Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets, Steven Spielberg's Duel, and George Lucas' THX 1138, you can see pretty clearly the paths they were headed down. Nothing in Dementia 13 made me think, oh, yeah, this is the same guy who would go on to direct the Godfather trilogy.

The film is a murder mystery, produced by Roger Corman (it's amazing how many successful careers he helped launch), but it's not that hard to figure out who the killer is, and the most interesting character (in my opinion) gets killed halfway into the story. The killer uses an axe, but when the scene depicted in the poster takes place, the editing makes it difficult to see where the girl is getting chopped up, or even if she's getting chopped up. It doesn't seem like discretionary violence, either; a later scene shows someone's head getting chopped off, so Coppola isn't shying away from gore.

Like I said, this film isn't all that memorable. It's not until Coppola's next feature, You're A Big Boy Now, that we start to notice indications of a future master at work. Still, I'd never seen Dementia 13 before, and wanted to give it a look.

I've always liked Coppola. Besides Dementia 13, I've seen the first two Godfather films, You're A Big Boy Now, Apocalypse Now, The Conversation, The Outsiders, The Cotton Club, Peggy Sue Got Married, Captain EO (What? It counts, too), Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Jack. I remember reading a rumor awhile ago that there was talk of a fourth Godfather movie with Leonardo DiCaprio, and while that does sound more than a little intriguing, I doubt that's gonna happen. His recent stuff hasn't exactly found a wide audience - he seems to have gone the indie route - but it would be wonderful if he directed one more big hit film.

Is pop culture reaching a critical mass?

Geek comedian Patton Oswalt thinks so:

...Waiting for the next issue, movie, or album gave you time to reread, rewatch, reabsorb whatever you loved, so you brought your own idiosyncratic love of that thing to your thought-palace... None of that’s necessary anymore. When everyone has easy access to their favorite diversions and every diversion comes with a rabbit hole’s worth of extra features and deleted scenes and hidden hacks to tumble down and never emerge from, then we’re all just adding to an ever-swelling, soon-to-erupt volcano of trivia, re-contextualized and forever rebooted. We’re on the brink of Etewaf: Everything That Ever Was—Available Forever. I know it sounds great, but there’s a danger...

One blogger's rebuttal:

Surely, the constant obscure pop references we see on Family Guy will get old (...or has already become severely old). But having this incredible mine as an inspiration is a good thing - after all, every great burst of creativity has relied on something before it. The Beatles didn't form in a vacuum - they had blues and rockabilly to spark the fire. Indeed, the Renaissance came about because of a rediscovery of Classical Greek and Roman culture. Get my drift?

This is only partially related to film, but it certainly has relevance here. A couple of things: it's been true for a long time, but it's even more true today that the most successful pop culture trends cut across many different forms of media - but this isn't always a good thing. If you don't like something popular, or just plain aren't interested in it, you're out of luck, because multimedia platforms make it harder to ignore these days. I've never read any of the Harry Potter books, but I can still tell you almost all of the basic facts about the character. There's an unspoken implication that to be an "otaku" is to be a fan of most, if not all, aspects of geekdom, and that's simply not true; at least, not in my case. (Yes, I realize I'm probably in the minority in this respect. I'm used to it.) And as long as there are people who don't feel the need to immerse themselves in every new geek trend to come along, I doubt there'll be any danger of a creative vacuum being formed.

Also, it may be true that we've become a society of otakus, but let's be honest: some geeks will always be cooler than others. This has been documented - and this doesn't even take into account aspects of fandom that aren't considered "geeks" in the traditional sense, like sports fans. They're every bit as obsessive, yet they've always been considered more socially acceptable. No one makes fun of someone who knows Derek Jeter's lifetime batting average against left-handed pitchers versus right-handed ones (but then, sports are a more "manly" activity than, say, role-playing games. But let's not go there). Oswalt acknowledges non-traditional geeks in his article.

I think there's some merit to Oswalt's argument on the surface of it, but he overlooks the fact that not all otakus think alike, or regard their avocations, or even each other, with the same degree of seriousness. As long as that distinction exists, there'll always be room for new avenues of creativity.

I'd be very interested in hearing other perspectives on this.

Also:
- I called Black Swan ridiculous beyond pure camp. But is it, in fact, campy? (Slate)
- Another Year star Lesley Manville benefits from the film's success. (The Wrap)
- Kevin Smith provides an alternative for doing interviews for his horror movie Red State. (Vulture)
- The lineup for Roger Ebert's revival of At The Movies is set. (MCN)
- Veteran gay actor Richard Chamberlain says other gay actors should stay in the closet. (THR)
- An Austin theater troupe loosely adapts movies for the stage. (Cinematical)
- Old movie palaces find new life as multimedia venues. (NYTimes)

Another Year

Another Year
seen @ Angelika Film Center, New York NY
1.2.11

The Angelika Film Center can be an exciting place to see a movie, but the thing is, you gotta plan in advance when you go there - especially if it's on a weekend, and especially especially if a hot movie or two is playing. I bought my ticket for Another Year an hour and a half ahead of time and then I wandered around the East Village for a bit. I bought some pizza, because I knew I wasn't gonna buy food there (and not just because it's expensive, as you'll see). The lobby, which includes the cafe, was sparsely populated when I left. It was well into the afternoon, though not late in the day.

When I came back, it was about twenty minutes before my showtime, and the lobby was PACKED. The Angelika's not very big, as movie theaters go. With the cafe to the side as you enter, it's about the size of your average Starbucks. Now imagine that same space with all the tables full, and a huge line snaking around the perimeter, from the rear entrance leading to the lower level, where the ticket takers stand, to the front entrance and around the side to the cafe counter and back towards the bathrooms - a mass of people standing around, waiting to go downstairs to the auditoriums. Granted, you see long lines on opening weekends at multiplexes all the time, but your local multiplex usually has a lot more room to accommodate so many people. When they're in a smaller space, like the Angelika, the feeling is a bit more tense and... chaotic.

I had no idea where the line ended, nor did I know which movie the line was for. Eventually the usher announced over the PA system that the line was for Blue Valentine, which was screening at the same time as Another Year, and that the line for the latter was forming to the side. I found that line and followed it... out the front door and down the front steps into the street. Well, it wasn't snowing, nor was it raining beyond an occasional drop or two, and it was relatively warmer than it had been recently, so waiting outside wasn't so bad. Now you see why getting food at the theater would've been a bad idea - if I had been with someone, I could've sent them inside to get something for both of us while I held our spot in line, but I wasn't, so I couldn't.

I've written before about how I've seen the occasional celebrity at the Angelika, attending as just another filmgoer. I had no such luck yesterday, though it wouldn't have been too surprising if I had. Blue Valentine was clearly the movie most people were talking about, including the couple in front of me. They had already seen it and were describing it to this elderly lady whom they must have met in line.

I'm normally not the type who gets off on being in a crowd, but when it comes to movies, there is a kind of thrill to the aspect of waiting on line for an eagerly-anticipated movie. To give an example for a less sublime film, I remember going to see Attack of the Clones with John at the Ziegfield in midtown Manhattan, an opulent, gorgeous movie house, and the line for that weaved around two corners of the block. While I've never been that big of a Star Wars fan, I could feel the excitement as much as anyone else, and the simple fact of being part of such a huge line seemed to confirm the importance of such an event as this. (Too bad the film itself didn't live up to the anticipation...) There was a similar feeling at the Angelika yesterday, for Blue Valentine. You could feel the excitement for it building in the air (although there was some buzz for Another Year as well). It goes without saying, perhaps, that both shows were sellouts.

I had to sit towards the front again. If you ever go to the Angelika, always get a seat next to the wall. The auditoriums are small enough that you'll still have a perfect view, and the rows are small enough that you won't have to make your way past two dozen people just so you can go to the bathroom. If you get a seat next to a lamp, you can read your book while you're waiting. I lucked out in that Another Year was playing in the room where you can't feel the rumble of the subway beneath your feet (some people don't like that).

The movie itself was good. Some people are calling this Mike Leigh's best; I wouldn't go that far. All the talk is around Lesley Manville's performance, but Jim Broadbent and Ruth Sheen were what really did it for me. They made such a warm and loving couple; you wanted to be around them and to follow their lives.

So does anyone have any stories about being on line for a movie? I had briefly considered trying to make an ongoing feature of some sort based on this, but I'm not sure how I would do it. I probably won't, but it's a nice idea to kick around.

The King's Speech

The King's Speech
seen @ Kew Gardens Cinemas, Kew Gardens, Queens, NY
12.30.10

I talked before about how a grade-school teacher of mine made me aware of my tendency to read aloud too fast as a child. It was more than a little embarrassing to discover I had this problem, as you'd expect, since I was only ten, but it worked, that's for sure. Sometimes, though not often, in casual speech, I'll still get a little tongue-tied, as if I were reading fast again. It's as if my mind can't think of the right words to say, and I'll either hesitate or spit out gibberish. I hate it when I can't think of a given word. Most of the time it's not even a fancy word that I'm thinking of; it's just that my mind goes blank and the word I want is just out of reach.

That's a common thing, don't you think? I mean, we don't go around talking with perfect diction and clarity all of the time, like they do in the movies - well, old movies, anyway. Usually, our speech is peppered with um's, uh's, er's, and of course sixteen million like's. (Ms. Brooks had a thing about too many like's.) We don't care, though, because everybody gets that way at one time or another.

Personally, though, I hate not remembering certain words. And in my case, I don't even try and think of a simpler word instead; my mind will insist on searching for that one word I want to use. Meanwhile, I've stopped speaking and look like an idiot because I haven't finished my sentence.

Acting lessons definitely helped me. I've always liked acting, but taking formal lessons made me more aware of how I sound and how my words come out - not that they ever made me do things like sounding out alliterative phrases or anything like that.

Another thing that helped was my one semester as a deejay at my college radio station. Initially I tried to sound like my favorite deejays, but after awhile I settled back and was myself. I mostly played records; I didn't speak too much while I was on the air - my session was only an hour a week, how could I? When I did speak, though, I limited myself to simple things like time and weather, along with a few weird news items of interest and talking about certain old songs I liked. I recorded a few of my shows on tape for my father (I wish I still had them), and while, like most people, I hate the way my voice sounds when recorded, it was clear, at least.

I'm more satisfied with my speaking voice now. I'll never be completely satisfied with it, but I rarely worry about speaking too fast or blanking on certain words anymore. Still, there were a few moments in The King's Speech that I recognized in myself at certain points in my life, even if I never had an actual stammer. I can easily see why this movie has become so popular; I found it very uplifting.

My street is more than halfway cleared of snow by now, but I still had to wait over 45 minutes for a bus. I actually started walking towards a different bus line on a different street after about a half hour. I ruined another pair of socks when I stepped into a huge puddle of slush thinking it was the sidewalk. It was dark and my mind was on something else. I bought a six-pack of new socks but my shoes still stink. All this and it's not even January yet.

Have a happy new year, everyone. I'll be back on Monday.