Four Eyed Monsters

We should help out these young folks from NYC by requesting a screening of their film.

3XC and the New Realists

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.

Better get this out

Haven't posted much lately. Actually this is my first post of the new year. I've seen a few movies lately and worked a bit on the three docs. Mona and I are on our way to finishing our first wedding video (for a friend) and are seriously thinking about doing it for money. We think we can fill a much needed niche: hi/mid-price, high artistic quality. We'll shoot all of our stuff in HD and keep our crew small for now (just mona and I) and expand slowly. We still have to research the market more and then there's the matter of the name. We gotta come up with a good one.

Movies I've enjoyed -



Luna: Tell me do you miss me - A documentary about one of my favourite bands. Even though most of the film was shot through a dirty lens there were some great shots. We join up with them on their break-up tour through Japan, Europe and North America in 2005. This movie gave me a real sense of what they are like as people. I still think it's a crime that they didn't get bigger than they did. With me they are huge though. Their fans have a lot of insightful things to say about them. I thought Sean Eden (the guitarist) was kinda like the John C Reilly of the indie-pop world. This is the kind of film I would like to make.



When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in 4 parts.

I just have to start of with saying EVERYONE SHOULD SEE THIS. This movie by Spike Lee about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina is an amazing oral history of one of the greatest injustices in American history. I don't really into political films. This is not a political film.



All you have to think is what if this happened to people in your town and your government took their sweet time to help you. To think a city so rich in culture, one of the few good American cities, was basically left to die by the American government is just unforgivable. For Christ sakes it took them 5 days to get them food and water. What kind country would do that to their own people?

This kind of country...



Jesus Camp

Another great doc that doesn't lean on narration to give you all the info. This is about the new Christian army that's rising in the mid-west. These f--er's are scary and don't resemble the Christians I grew up with. Yes there are funny moments especially when one of the characters, a ten year old girl, is seen dancing to Christan heavy metal telling us she is dancing for god and not for "the flesh". Good thing she told us cause I was getting worried. Let's pray these Bush loving home-schooler don't screw the world up even further.

which leads me to...



Children of Men -
An important movie that stands right up there beside Bergman's Shame, Time of the Wolf and Code 46. This bugger was bleak as all hell but so well done. There were so many striking images in this film it's just hard to pick one to write about. The colour palette was all those great gritty greens and blues that I love so. In the wrong hands it would have turned out like Minority Report or the Island. Like all good dystopian movies this one captured the chaos and the mutli-facted social clusterfuck we're headed to; not just the technology. This movie also had elements of film noir with the hard drinkin' dishevled Clive Owen. He's been one of my favorite actors of late and this role further proves he is one of the best. Is he the British Robert Mitchum?

People have talked about the long takes and how well choreographed the action scenes where. Truth is you don't notice this as you are swept away by the action. After a second viewing I may notice what was going on with all that agile handheld camera but on first viewing it was all about story for me. I won't give much away but I don't think this is really a crowd pleaser and this is mostly the reason I liked it. Sorry, but the future is not friendly.

Didn't like so much

Volver: Almodavar on Auto-pilot. After 'talk to her' he has gone progressively down hill. This is an art house movie for idiots. It looks and acts like it was filmed in 1985. He has brought back his campiness and low-brow humour for this one, that's for sure. Why aren't there any transvestites? Why no dreggs of society? We really ate up that stuff. Bad Education wasn't really that great either but at least it was more earnest than this one. And what about art-direction, has he fired that department altogether. If this is him trying to do something different then don't bother.
....

Making progress on two of the three of the docs I'm working on. I have a screening coming up on the 25th of my short films at the Sylvia Hotel. Terry Miles and Ken Tsui will also be showing their films. It should be fun, although the room only holds about 40 people.

I laugh more often now

and the question is, was i more alive
then than i am now?
i happily have to disagree;
i laugh more often now, i cry more often now,
i am more me.
- Objects of my affection - Peter, Bjorn and John

The above quoted lyrics are from the first song i heard by Peter, Bjorn and John and what a song it is. When the singer hits the part where he say's I happily have to disagree it sounds like early Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Joe Jackson all crashing down at once. The music is pure phil spector wall-o-sound making the whole affair just an epic experience (fittingly wrapped with an fuzzy analog bow). The rest of the album has quite the variety of aural delights as well. It is sparse in many spots and overly dense in others. Other era's and sounds that come to mind are New Zealand's Dunedin sound of the early eighties (tall dwarfs, the clean), Britain's postpunk, and 90's power pop.

So now with Bergman, Lukas Moodysson, and Aha we have another reason to rush to the Ikea soiled shores of Sweden. I am told Loney, Dear, The Concretes and I'm from Barcelona are great but I haven't heard enough of these other Swedes to say if there is a scene going on there or not. If Peter, Bjorn and John are the only good one in the lot that is enough for me. I've said it in reference to Band of Horses but these guys care about pop and I can love anyone who cares about lost causes.

End on a high note

Music and Movies. Have I had time to compile a top ten list? Yes I have.

I will combine both film fest and general releases here because I haven't seen as much stuff as I wanted to. If I would have had more time to see films at the Vancouver Film fest this list would be a bit longer but working at the Hotel and the Docs doesn't leave time for much.

Little Miss Sunshine: Nietzsche and Proust don't usually make it into road trip comedies but they did here and that why I love it. Literate and dumb in all the right places.

A Scanner Darkly - a mind-fuck with great animation for people who flee from Pixar rendered nonsense at at every opportunity.

Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles - After Hero and House of Flying Daggers I thought Zhang Yimou had lost his soul. Zhang shows it is possible to do intimate and opulent with equal zeal. With this personal tale he showed Raise the Red lantern and To Live were not just the kind of films he used to do. Ken Takakura, who plays a parent struggling to connect with his dying son, evokes the grace and dignity of all the great father figures in OZU's movies. Also, China has never looked better.

The lives of Others - Amazing story about East Berlin in the eighties and how art thrived and infected the hearts of those trying to crush free thought. A great, almost wordless, performance by Ulrich Mühen as the Stasi agent who puts aside his politcal beliefs to help a talented playwright.

Radiant City - A hybrid doc about urban sprawl. Set in Calgary but it could be anywhere USA. A funny and informative vision of our every expanding neighborhood dystopias.

Brick - Film Noir set in High School with those kids from Third Rock from the Sun and Witness. A great concept expertly executed. One of it's many strong points is the slang and how they employed it without it sounding stilted.

Sketches of Frank Gehry - Inspirational and informative. For a first documentary Sydney Pollack did an amazing job.

Recent Discoveries
The Weather Man - A miracle it got made within the Hollywood system. I usually hate Nicholas Cage but he really was fantastic in this mid-life crisis epic.
Don't Move - Penelople Cruz is always great in non-english roles. In this one she uggs herself up and really breaks your heart. It really got to me the way only Bergman usually does. It thought about it for weeks after seeing it.

Music
I've been listening to lots of good music this year (I can do that while doing other things) so it's easy to come up with 10. Only a few new artists on the list. Mostly it's established bands coming up with near-career topping achievements.

The Greatest - Cat Power:
Hard to follow up "you are free" but she did it here with the help of the Memphis blues band. It came out early this year but when I put it on I still feel all those emotions I did in February.

Let's Get out of this Country - Camera Obscura:
Their others albums are great but this is simply magnificent. Doing what Belle and Sebastian should be doing (and getting paid substantially less). Lloyd are you ready to be Heartbroken? had me going back to the Lloyd Cole catalouge. I had forgotten about him but thanks to this song he's a staple in my itunes library.

Shut up I am Dreaming - Sunset Rubdown:
Holy shit, it's still a piece o' magic. Even after all these months.

Rubies - Destroyer:
Most accessible Destroyer and a timeless rock record to boot.

Mr. Beast - Mogwai:
Never been a Mogwai fan but this album made me go back to their back catalogue to find out how they got here. Even if Miami Vice is a lame turd, they aren't guilty by their association to said dud. They didn't write the album for the movie they wrote it for me.

Band of Horses- Everything All the Time:
A new band that just kicked my ass. Why do they care so much? It's only pop. The same question I ask myself all the time.

Axis of Evol - Pink Mountaintops:
More greatness from the Hive. I am biased but it looks like the rest of the people in the know are as well (from all the top tens they are on). They reference the greats yet wrestle originality out of every note they steal.

I am not afraid of you and I will beat your ass - Yo La Tengo: Renewed my interest in them. Makes up for the Summer Sun CD, which wuz dull to the second power.

Return to Cookie Mountain - TV on the Radio: Took me a while to get into this one but after seeing them live and taking it out on the run with the ipod I was taken in by these Brooklynites.

Almost on the list - need a few more listens

Bonnie Prince Billie - The letting go
Grizzly Bear - Yellow House
Peter Bjorn and John - Writers Block - Full review to come
Beast Moans -Swan Lake - Destroyer + Frog Eyes + Sunset Rubdown = a dense miasma that makes no sense on paper but in practice it shines. Mixed at the hive and still being untangled by many a scenester's brain.

The importance of titles and Wii

Why am i so obssesed with a title for the Dr. Tomorrow project. I want it to be named anything but Dr. Tomorrow. A lot of my favorite movies have horrible titles yet they made their way to me anyway (i.e. In the Mood for Love). This issue should be put away for now and dealt with during the edititing process, which will come in about a year.

Had a pretty good christmas party this weekend. Byron and Sonya brough over their Wii console. It was fun using those motion control wands. Although now my arms are sore. We played boxing, bowling, golf, baseball, Tennis and Zelda. I am seriously thinking of getting one of these in the spring. I still might get a PS3 though because that has the blu-ray player built in and you know I'm all about the movies.

Now the real work begins

The high of Whistler is over but so is the post-partem depress fest. David and I are now onto writing, writing and then a lot of re-writing. We also have to come up with a budget. I guess I knew all along there would be tons of work after Whistler but I was just so focused on the pitch that I couldn't see to next week. Tonight I've been writing some Dr. Tomorrow treatment stuff and I've come up with a few good ideas. When you finally see the film you'll know what I'm talking about.

The great thing about Doc Talk being held at whistler was that everyone was in the same confined area and we all had to interact. I got to know a lot of great people in the Canadian broadcast world (an oxymoronical statement, I know) and got to further loathe the myopic ones I met last year. They know who they are so I won't legitimize their sorry ass lives in this here blog.

I have 3 interesting projects that I'm excited to be a part of and I won't let these soul crushing broadcasters get me down.

Whistler and Doc talk

Mona and I just got back from Doc Talk which was held in Whistler. Seems that all that hard work has finally paid off.

Our pitch went great and we had some amazing meetings with Broadcasters and Distributors. All three of our doc projects now have some money people involved. David is really impressed with the progression of the whole situation and likewise I'm glad to be working with him. After talking to 15 different entertainment representatives my voice was shot by Friday.

I'm so glad I went down to 2 days a week at the Hotel. I believe positive thinking got me here. You just have to do it until you think it's beyond rational thought and then something good happens. I'm getting closer to 40 and I am happy that on my 40th birthday I will be considered a success (in my eyes as well as others).

closer to doc talk

Working hard on getting a 2 minute video and pitch ready for this years DocTalk. It is going to held in Whistler this time around. It should be fun although David and I have 14 meetings in 3 days so I don't think I will be hitting the slopes. What are we flogging this year? Dr Tomorrow of course. We were one of 8 teams chosen to pitch our idea of an 86 year old Futurist. I won't get into the details but you know this guy must have something going on if I'm gonna commit time to it.

We shot some doctor tomorrow yesterday on HD and I presume to say it is the best-looking footage available for this guy. My cinematographer (the amazing Kimm) is coming over this morning to drop off the footage. We will be editing all day. I will manage to go for a run sometime during the process.

Altman 1925-2006

Saw this coming but still a very sad day. I've been a fan for years. Must finish watching Praire Home Companion. Don't really have much to say but I knew I had to post. A man that has given so much to cinema needs to be remebered. After I saw Three Women in the 80's I wanted to know everything I could about the director. His imprint won't leave the landscape of independant film anytime soon. I'm just glad P.T. Anderson got to work with him on his last film.

xeon and on

Mona and I have had our new Mac Pro (with the intel 2.66ghz Xeon quad processor) for almost two weeks now and we have got to tell you: it is great. We are not going back to our emac anytime soon if you're wondering. Logging tons of footage (like we are doing now) takes the same time but when we get to the editing it is going to be a breeze.

We also took in Resfest this weekend. I tell you trying to balance the two is no easy task. In the end the logging won. We saw the radiohead video marathon and couldn't muster the energy to do more. So we went back home and starting pumping more tapes into the machine.

Some Resfest Highlights

0.08 - a short doc from the Netherlands about a Spanish boy who is legally blind. Great production design, editing and story. Front to back narration...but it worked god dammit. It didn't hurt that the narrator sounded like Samantha Morton.

Massive Attack, False flags - This rock video was shot at 1000 frames per second. It is amazing what they can do with digital video these days. Will try to use the Phantom 9 camera, that the director used, in the Superdogs doc.

Coldcut, Sound mirrors - Not usually into cgi stuff but the pairing of their new-found ambient sound (former cut and paste beat junkies) and striking visuals was a very satisfying experience. I'm always impressed with photo-luminescent jellyfish.

Jon Bon Jovi's Pool Cleaner - That says it all.

Family, All he needs - A shot-by-shot remake of Mike Mills Air video: All I need. This time around it's for laughs. Instead of a hetro love story about two people who meet at a skate park there's a gay/rollerblading twist thrown in. Friggin' hilarious and inspiring at the same time.

Go to youtube if you want to see any of these.

Things change

Went to my uncle Doug's funeral in Edmonton this weekend. He died of a heart attack a week ago. It was sudden and we were all pretty shocked. The good thing about it was it allowed our family to get together. We all hadn't been together for some time; I got to see my cousins, aunts and uncle and my dad and stepmom.

I made a slide show from pictures my dad emailed me. I thought it was something I could do that would be a good tribute to a great guy. My uncle Doug was always in a good mood and it's a shame that I hadn't seen much of him over the last few years.

This is a wake up call for me, I am going to make more of an effort to see my mom and dad. You don't know how many years you have left with the people you love. I've been busy trying to get my film career together but now that I'm going down to two days a week at the hotel I should have some more time to visit them (but not necessarily the cash to do it).

Sometimes I wonder why I left Edmonton but going there for the funeral I realized why. It's so damn cold, you have to stay indoors for 6 months of the year. That can't be good for you. Plus you have to drive everywhere. The city is just wrong. I always thought it was a cruel joke of god being raised there but some good had come out of it.

I'm developing two projects that are based in Edmonton. Enough time has passed that I can finally appreciate what I went through. The eighties were funny and sad especially if you grew up in such isolation. When I saw the Commitments one of the characters says something about Scotland being the shittiest place around. They've never been to Edmonton if they made that remark. When you're stuck in a place like that you have to make something great come from it because when you look around all you see is darkness. That's what these two projects are going to do. Unique lives are what people are looking for when they watch movies and in this northern albertan city I think there are more than enough to satisfy the most discerning film fan.

Projects a'plenty

My life is finally starting to get back to normal. Over the last few months my schedule has been turned upside down but now, alas, I am back to posting.

Currently I am working on 6 projects: 3 Docs, and 3 fiction pieces. I can't share all the information but lets just say that 2007 is going to be more slanted towards Drama narrative, not Reality.

Info I can share -

Was accepted to doc talk again. We are one of 8 groups that are pitching our idea to 60 broadcasters from around the world. I'll give more info on our project later.

Mona and I are developing a sit-com with the ultra-young and super talented Ken Tsui. He was the only guy that stood out to Mona and I at the MAMM contest. Yes, it is true the rest of the crop were uninspired poo merchants.

We shot our first wedding video as a favour to Mona's friend. We are yet to edit it. You can rest assured we'll throw in lots of filters and slow mo plus a few CSI tricks.

What will we edit it on? We are getting a Mac Pro Quad Processor this week. This little Emac has served us well but it's a too slow for all the new projects we want to do.



I have watched a few movies as of late...

Marie Antoinette - Mood, tone, the inner world and all those things that I love and the mainstream despises. Kirsten Dunst was just amazing in this picture. Not a perfect movie but I felt comforted and inspired at the same time.

The Weather Man - Watched it on a lark and was heavily caught off guard by this mid-life crisis tale by bigger-than-huge director Gore Verbinski. I kept thinking how bad the marketing for this movie was if I got no sense of what the movie would be like from the ads. I usually hate Nick Cage but in this I couldn't see any other actor pulling of this precarious balancing act. From the colour palette to the script, everything just worked and at the end I was overcome with emotion. I watched it twice. As far as Hollywood movies go this one slipped out unmangeled. I love the cameltoe bit.

So let's just say I'm back to writing and living my life. At work the busy season is over so now they get us to do menial jobs instead of just sitting around (back in Alberta they used to call that "fucking the dog"). Had to rake leaves the other day and put my back out. I just kept thinking the whole time that I'll be glad when I can do film full time.

Going to the Asian Film Fest kickoff party tonight. Mina Shum is giving a talk and we'll be schmoozing with lots of the local filmmakers. I don't think I'll go to the Karaoke bar (yes, you heard that right) afterwards.

MAMM

Recently, Mona and I competed in the Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon. We were one of 15 teams to write, shoot and edit a 10 minute film in one week. Luxurious schedule by 24 and 48 hours film fest standards but still we were under the gun and wished we had more time. Our film is called Just a Myth and we handed it in last Thursday. Mona was interviewed in the Georgia Straight and you can read the article at the end of this post . We won't find out if we win a prize until September 9th so we are kinda in an uneasy place, not really able to move forward until we hear how we did. Our friend Terry thinks it's the best thing we've done so that gives us hope. There are three prizes: First is 3000.00, second is 1500.00 and third is 300.00. Are chances are pretty good but we really didn't make a picture to please anyone but ourselves. Just like Departures we are going to be sending this one to as many film fests as we can afford. So cross your fingers for us. If we win the top prize we are buying a Panasonic DVX100b camera.

Brazen Asian gets real

By pieta woolley

Publish Date: 31-Aug-2006

In the world of racist jokes, Asian men’s penis size is right up there, according to filmmaker Mona Mok. But in politically correct North America, Mok says, stereotypes are off-limits. That’s why she subtly dropped penis size into the short film she’s made for the Mighty Asian Movie Making Marathon, which ends today (August 31). Mok’s out to be genuine, even if it means being shocking.

“I’m not going to worry about offending anyone,” she told the Straight, noting that North American Asian filmmakers are still struggling to find a voice. “Someone else might want to censor it [penis size], because they’re afraid to bring up stereotypes. But it’s something that me and my girlfriends talk about....I think we need to talk about Asian issues without being apologetic about it.”

This is the second year for the Vancouver Asian Film Festival’s competition, aimed at developing that voice in the local community. Each of the 15 teams was given a location, item, and fortune-cookie prediction to integrate into its film. Mok’s team, China Lily, got closet, Christmas tree, and “You and your partner will be happy in your life together.”

VAFF executive director Peter Leung told the Straight that last year’s contest did what he hoped it would. It brought the young Asian-Canadian filmmaking community together and started the process of thinking about what an Asian-Canadian story is.

“There’s a lot more buzz this year,” he noted. “I think the films will be more thoughtful.”

Mok recounted that she found filmmakers interviewed for articles about the movies Eve and the Fire Horse, Double Happiness, and The Joy Luck Club seemed apologetic, as if they needed to justify telling Asian stories.

“They should just tell their stories,” she said. “Don’t try to white-ify it because you think it’s going to be off-putting.”

The 15 movies, including that of the first South Asian–Canadian team to compete, screen at Tinseltown on September 9. Tickets, $10, will be available soon at www.vaff.org/. The three top films will be shown as part of the VAFF November 1 to 5.

No, I haven't been sitting on my hands

Holy Crap, multiple posts in one day. As you can see I have been writing this August. I was just working extra days at the Hotel, writing a short film, and sending out Departures to film fests. If anyone hasn't seen Departures and would like to, give me your address and I will send one off. Hopefully there aren't thousands of you, cause then you bastards will have to pay. Starting tomorrow Mona and I are participants in the mighty Asian movie making marathon. We have to make a ten minute short in a week, from start to finish --- out of thin air. We feel we have a great cast and by the end of this month we'll have another great short film. Whether we win or not we will be one step closer to making our feature.

Fitting into your proper aspect ratio: Part 2

I wish I could go back and meet Spielberg and Lucas in the 60’s and 70’s. I bet I would probably even want to hang out with these young filmmakers. They had so much promise. They remind me of the stories I heard about Truffault and Godard in the fifties: in love with cinema and ready to set the world on fire. It seems that over time they have fallen prey to artifice and have become immersed in their own myopia. And now they want to return to the a priori days but, as the saying goes, you can never go home -- they’re too dispassionate and these fat-cats can’t come back from that.

It comes down to this: people always want that which is most coveted. But if Hollywood is at your fingertips, do you really want the harsh realities of indie movies? Established directors presume to think they can make an artistic statement as potent as Pie, Donnie Darko, Brick, You and Me and Everyone we Know or Primer. Sorry, but it’s highly unlikely that this is going to happen. If you have handlers, pundits, and anyone you refer to as “your people” or use the term “working lunch” then making Killing of a Chinese Bookie might be a stretch, mais oui? And, anyone who considers the backlot at Universal “home”, as Spielberg did on a recent TV interview, will have a hard time fitting into the independent world where they won’t have their own personal assistants. The real shame is that after the fat cat directors finish their version of an indie movie, a large sector of the built-in audience will buy into their expensive marketing machine and think it’s going to be quality indie; that is until they step into the theatre and realize things really aren’t clickin’.

The only reason directors should want to make movies is to do work in an art form that is unique. If not, why not just write a novel or make and album or even commercials? One of the more brilliant literary adaptations of the past years, Morvern Callar, managed to subvert the pitfalls of screenplay translation and become something unto itself alone. By reading the synopsis of this movie (girl’s boyfriend commits suicide, she steals and publishes his manuscript, goes to Spain) you are in no way prepared for the visually arresting vision of director Lynne Ramsey’s final product. For most directors it would be a mind numbing string of enervating plot points. Ramsey understands the power of filmmaking and uses it to it’s fullest potential. Her success story, sadly, rarely exists in the straight world of corporate Hollywood.

So what does Independent mean?

Independent does not necessarily mean low budget. In fact, many indie directors have clandestine agendas of making the next bloated Hollywood production. Their real intentions aren’t exposed till much later. Movies like Hard Candy, Whale Rider and Bend it like Beckham are good case studies. Hard Candy is director David Slade’s attempt at a Morgan Freeman/Ashley Judd serial killer movie. Basically, it’s Slade’s demo reel to Hollywood. The latter 2 of this troika are little more than Disney kids movies done on shoestring budgets. They fit in perfectly on double bills with Freaky Friday and Princess Diaries. When those directors finally did make their big budget hollywood movies the gimmick of being indie darlings couldn't save their flacid tales. Shane Carruth (director of Primer) is the antithesis to this obsequious trio. Primer was a movie that didn’t sit well with the marketers or financiers. It was made for 7000 dollars after all. As gripping as all the presidents men and as complex 2001: a space odessey this movie had the power and gravitas of a master directors mid career masterpiece; not a debut. It will be remembered long after the sugar high created by North Country and Dallas have vanished.

The directors of Brick and Sin City have both been quoted as identifying inflated minimum wages as the main culprit of bloated budgets in Hollywood. Look at a movie like Sky Captain with its 100 million dollar budget compared to Sin City which was done for a measly 30 million. Both used A-list actors and no physical sets; all the actors performed in front of blue and green screens. Yet, Sin City has, arguably, a superior look, tone and script. So where did that 70 million dollars go? Into the hands of the useless so-called experts whom, we are told, are essential to getting’ a film “in the can”.

Richard Linklater, Steven Soderbergh and Gus Van Sant are good examples of directors who take advantage of Hollywood’s positive aspects yet retain their original visions of what filmmaking should be. Sure these guys make their overpriced star vehicles but then they return to what really inspires them. For instance, Linklater went from the Newton Boys to Tape and Waking Life with ease. After making Good Will Hunting and Finding Forrester, Gus Van Sant went on to make three plotless films that clipped along at leisurely pace (too leisurely for some). Soderbergh, the most successful of the three, started with a string of failures in the nineties, made the truly bizarre Schizopolis then came back hard with the universally excepted Out of Sight, Erin Brokovich and Ocean’s 11. These directors know how to play by the system’s rules yet have mastered that intangible quality that creates resonance with the audience.

After my rant, here’s a surprising thought. Amazing films are still getting made within this system. Luckily, there are just so many utter disasters to rail against that it’s easy to make a good film in this climate. American Beauty, Thin Red Line and Fight Club are prime examples of occasional miracles that ooze through the fissures of that hermetically sealed reality-suppressed bio-sphere in California. Miracles do happen, unfortunately the suits don't know how to bottle and reverse engineer it.

To Spielberg and your cronies, you claim to be powerless in the system but you are all both engineers and dramatis personae of this industry. You’re so powerful yet you complain you’re powerless to have your personal projects funded by Hollywood. This is complete bullshit. I call your bullshit and say you do have the power. Hell, Spielberg even has the financial power to fund his own indie movies without breaking his fund manager’s sweat.

How about taking a lesson from independent filmmakers who are willing to take risks, make sacrifices, and use their own money to realize their artistic visions? A nice dream but I don't figure it will happen anytime soon.

The real cure for this disease is to purge these messy tent pole disasters with a deluge of great films. If hollywood sees that films don't have to be made for so much money then maybe they'll sever the lifelines to these leeches. It is getting to the point where you can make a film for almost the same price it costs to make an Music CD. So instead of just making Dark side of the Moon you can also make the Wizard of OZ for a few dollars more. Then you and your friends can listen and watch your Opus as the Bong bubbles on ---- and yes the hapless schmucks in LA can spend millions marketing it and tell all the industry rags how they were truly responsible for its success.

The upshot is more and more young directors are taking cues from the new wave of hollywood directors and not the afformentioned old guard. David O' Russell's I heart Huckabees is more important to a young kid than the Terminal and it's a better world because of it. What inspires me even more is that kid from shit-spat Saskatchewan who knows nothing about film history, walks into Best Buy to buy a camcorder and makes his own personal Eraserhead.

Reinstate the obvious, disassociate the banal

I have been listening to Sunset Rubdown as of late and I can honestly tell you I am entranced by this newish cd of theirs. Shut up I am dreaming it is called and, hell yes, I like it better than the mothership from which this pod was jettisoned---Wolf Parade. I think the reason is, it delves a bit deeper into the realm of indie-rock esoteria. I'm a big fan of this crazy (at times ambient) almost-prog---due to the extreme length of some tracks---magic that Spencer Krug is laying down here. The symphonic soundscapes he whips up on this disc are topped off with amazing guitar work. If the guitar freak out on the title track doesn't affect you at a gut level then your guts are full of shit. Not since 1995 have I heard such great slop-tastic licks as these (see: Pavement, Sebadoh and Built to Spill). That old school shit I speak of saved my sanity as I made my way through the throngs of Salarymen in Seoul, South Korea--- walkman at extreme sound pressure levels.*

There are some true surprises on this disc. The first time I heard the ending on We took a vote and said no I felt like I was hearing Radiohead's The Bends for the first time (also a Korea discovery). You don't see a lot of the sounds coming at you on this album...that's how it should always be...but rarely is.

So, it's albums like this that give my life purpose and show that the perceived futility is worth it. In a world that can create such beauty as this album, well it can't be too bad. Be patient, it'll get better this album urges me. I can say that Spencer Krug is one of the few who has taken the baton from Destroyer and made something complementary and wholly originally from the experience. It makes me wonder what people see in all the hugely popular factory refurbished indie outfits as of late (No need to name them, they are abundantly aware of their sins).

definitely up there with Band of Horses and Cat Power in the best of 2006.

*Yes, you are going to get a bit of a history lesson ala Rube circa 1995. I taught English in that hotbed of world cinema: South Korea. Music and film were my saving grace. I would sit in my yahgwan and dream of the west. My friends and I didn't realize how much we were into North America until if was ripped from our greedy claws. We were only there for the money and the price we had to pay was loneliness. Yes, there is a screenplay in it and I will make the movie someday---starring Lou Pucci.

High and Low

Kevin Smith's recent blog entry explains his fascination with Linklater's Slacker and How that was the movie that inspired him to be a filmmaker. Apparently he watches it every birthday to remind him. Amazing he didn't carry on in the tradition of Linklater.

A Scanner Darkly and Clerks 2 are the most recent offerings from these two filmmakers that I've been watching closely over the last 10 years. I really enjoyed both of these movies albiet trying to reconcile the differences is almost shear lunacy.

Clerks 2: The worst movie I've ever loved.

Kevin Smith, although funny as shit, is as predictable as any other modern director. He is acutely aware of his flaws as a filmmaker yet not really interested, or even worse, capable of changing. This is fine but from a well-rounded movie goers point of view not the best situation. Kevin's knowing nods to the stupid plot contrivences (that are the wonder bread and butter of his films) doesn't in itself make them go away. It's the garbage in garbage out scenario. I saw Kevin's top ten list last year and... it's a sad, sad shit list except for the amazing Sin City. If he just watches mainstream North American movies (War of The Worlds) he will not rise above the muck.

Linklater, the more thoughtful of the two, consistantly surprises me. He can go from Tape to School of Rock (whilst making a shitload of money I might add) and then come back with Before Sunset. He is a fan of the oft maligned subtitled exotica known as the art house film. He puts that into his mainstream movies just as Tarantino does. If you're going to steal, do it from the Ozu, Godard, and Fassbinder not from the sludge merchants in LA.

When Kevin Smith takes a dip in the mainstream he drowns. Case in point: Jersey Girl. Sentimentality and cute moments don't really move a story along once you take out all the profanity and pop-culture banter. In School of Rock, Linklater had the amazing comic talent of Jack Black and the amazing writer Mike White as enabler and architect for this pre-teen flick.

Kevin is a terrible director who doesn't come up with stories that surprise you or make you think. I think Kevin should try to get someone else to interpret one of his scripts. See what happened when Rodriquez let someone co-direct one of his movies. Bam, motherfucker, he makes the best movie of his career.

Touchstones to these films:
A scanner Darkly - Alphaville, Stalker, Code 46
Clerks 2 - Meatballs, Porky's and even worse Wedding Crashers. Albiet the dialog is way better but it is constructed with the same artless abandon.

I will still read Kevin Smith's blog but I am becoming increasingly tired of his schtick. He is becoming more of a media figure than a filmmaker. We go to him for opinions and not revelations; that's why Kevin is filling in for Ebert during his recovery. I think Linklater will always be too busy making films to stop and comment on pop-culture. He prefers to keep it in-the-frame and not expound about it on his blog. Does he even have a blog? Probably not.

I still have some hope for Kevin but I think most will look at him as some one who triumphed over adversity than someone who changed the landscape of American cinema. Linklater on the other hand...

Three Times

A great review of Hou Hsiao Hsien's Three Times. Just thought I needed to make it abundantly clear I'm into this dude's films.

That Obscure Object of Desire

For almost a month now I have been immersing myself in the archaic sounds of the lovely Scottish band Camera Obscura. It seems I've come to their shore at just the right time. Previous albums have shown moments of great clarity and strength but this new one, Let's Get out of this Country, is phenomenal from start to finish. While listening to it on my run or while doing timed writing sessions I get all these great visual images. This is the third great Scottish album that has come out in the last year (behind Boards of Canada and Mogwai.) Tracyanne Campbell's vocals remind me of early 'everything but the girl'. This album is actually a logical progression from EBTG's cover of 'the only living boy in new york' (Simon and Garfunkel). When I heard that song on the soundtrack to the movie Tadpole I wanted more, more, more. But alas when I went to download more EBTG tracks I was left empty eared. Now, some years later, I'm satiated. Finally my sixties-meets-present urge has been quelled.