The other night was 3XC at the Sylvia Hotel. The tiny conference room was packed with about 30+ people. We showed my films as well as Terry's and Ken T's. There were a few technical glitches but mostly it went amazingly well. I will have to remember to not use a new DVD burining program without thorougly testing it first. There was really good audience response for my new cut of Rob on Bob (it's down from 22 to 15 mins) but I'm going to do more trimming and send it out to some film fests.
Also, I saw the film 'puffy chair' last night. A realistic comedic relationship road movie by the Duplass Brothers. I've been meaning to see this for over a year. Up in Canada this movie is almost impossible to find. Thanks to Ken T and the good people at Happy Bats Video I watched it last night.
To me, this is what low budget digital cinema can do at its best. Most of the time people try to use their handycams like the big film cameras (making a mockery of themselves and the medium they are trying to ape). In this film they knew the limitations of the camera and made the best movie possible. Most importantly the content was first class. The dialogue, the actors and the situations where so natual and compelling that no big budget could have made this film any better. Shot like a documentary with natural looking lighting I felt this showcased the DVX 100 (a sub-4000 dollar camcorder) a lot better than the over-hyped movie 'November' did. In that Courtney Cox vehicle they pushed the camera beyond its limits whereas the 'puffy chair' used it economically. It was the perfect match of form and function.
I can't begin to tell you how much I love this movie. No violence, no nudity, no crime capers gone awry. Just a movie about people in their twenties trying to figure things out. It's so original in it's approach. I feel like copying it but then I think: well, I should really make a movie that reflects my own style.
Let's take a look at this phenonmenon from a larger view. In the ninties we had indie rock which revitalized rock and rock and then mainstream rock and roll ruined it. The new american filmmakers are doing the music equivilant to what bands like sebadoh, superhunk and built to spill where doing in the nineties.
The Duplass brothers are one of many new filmmakers to come out of this movie-ment that include Joe Swanberg, Andrew Bujalski, Arin Crumley, and Susan Buice. These are movies about people their age told in a realistic way (realistica?). They aren't doing action movies or genre flicks; these are stories that spring from their own lives and the people around them.
The other thing that sets them apart is that they are very skilled at what they are doing. Using consumer brand equipment and small lighting setups (with the exception of Bujalski who used black and white film stock) they are all making high-quality and hugely original movies. Whit Stilman, Noah Buambach, Richard Linklater, Hal Hartley had some luck with their earlier films but until now nobody kept up with the tradition of documenting the lives of intelligent young people. There seemed to be this huge void around the millenium but now there appears to be a true independent movement south of the border.
This is a product of readily available technology that is fairly inexpensive. Arin and Susan AKA Four Eyed Monsters used the DVX 100 and a Mac to edit. Most of these movies are made for around US$20,000.
These films have an immediacy and importance to them that is sadly lacking in Canadian film. I want to be a part of this flow of creativity. I want Terry, Mona and Ken and I to be up there with these guys. I want to be free from the bureaucracy and mediocrity of Canadian film. I want to be as independant as the Hive is with Music.
I have made steps towards this...
I just got the go-ahead to do a documentary on one of my favourite bands: Ladyhawk. At the end of February they're going to a barn in rural BC to record a new album. I'll be there with Mona to catch the magic as it happens. I'll meet with them next week to discuss all the details. After that I plan on filming another short with the help of Ken Tsui.
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3 comments:
It sounds like you really know what you want to do, and that's great. There seems to be a real push in non-mainstream music and literature for things that are more "real" and less contrived. It's great. We have a great filmmaker in New Zealand that does things along these lines too: Campbell Walker. He's been making low-budget films about real people and real relationships for some time now. It's hard to get hold of these films though. They get a festival release (if they're lucky) and then that's it. There's no marketing machine for these films. You have to be "in the know".
Doco about Ladyhawk. Now, I'm pretty excited about that!
I'm just glad people in New Zealand have heard about Ladyhawk. Did this Campbell Walker guy have a film at Sundance or some other major American festival? I think I heard about some work place comedy by a New Zealand director.
He's certainly not comedy, Heavy relationship drama... See Little Bits of Light on IMDB...
Perhaps what you have read about is the work by Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie. I hear they are doing well in the US and have a series coming up on HBO.
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