list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Trouble the Water on Spout Copyright 2005-9 Spout, LLC Spout RSS http://www.spout.com/images/SpoutLogoRSS.jpg http://www.spout.com/ 136 30 http://www.spout.com/films/Trouble_the_Water/358654/default.aspx Title: Trouble the Water
Year: 2008
Director: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin
Plot: Relegated to the role of refugees in their own country the moment the levees broke, New Orleans residents Kimberly and Scott Rivers document their harrowing struggle against the forces of nature and the evils of man as they nobly attempt to rebuild their lives amidst one of the greatest natural disasters ever to befall the United States. Kimberly Rivers is a musician and filmmaker who were living in New Orleans with her husband Scott when the force of Hurricane Katrina transformed their once-happy hometown into a waterlogged wasteland. In the aftermath of the disaster, the nightly news was filled with images of looting and chaos. Now, as the masses finally receive the opportunity to witness events from an insider's perspective, it quickly becomes apparent that the rampaging waters were only the beginning of the problem, and that the ineptitude of the government and the media in dealing with the disaster did nearly as much damage to New Orleans as the forces of Mother Nature. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 2
Number of Lists: 8
Number of blog posts: 11
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Tue, 25 Aug 2009 15:17:59 GMTTrouble the Water2008Carl Deal, Tia LessinRelegated to the role of refugees in their own country the moment the levees broke, New Orleans residents Kimberly and Scott Rivers document their harrowing struggle against the forces of nature and the evils of man as they nobly attempt to rebuild their lives amidst one of the greatest natural disasters ever to befall the United States. Kimberly Rivers is a musician and filmmaker who were living in New Orleans with her husband Scott when the force of Hurricane Katrina transformed their once-happy hometown into a waterlogged wasteland. In the aftermath of the disaster, the nightly news was filled with images of looting and chaos. Now, as the masses finally receive the opportunity to witness events from an insider's perspective, it quickly becomes apparent that the rampaging waters were only the beginning of the problem, and that the ineptitude of the government and the media in dealing with the disaster did nearly as much damage to New Orleans as the forces of Mother Nature. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide2Slightly Tagged (1-5)8114http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s358654.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Trouble_the_Water/358654/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/2/27/40731.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 2/27/2009 6:02:34 PM
Body: “It often seems that when there isn’t an obvious, populist pick in the Academy’s documentary feature category (such as Bowling for Columbine, March of the Penguins or An Inconvenient Truth), the field is rife for an upset,” points out Kris Tapley. This may, he suggests, be evidence enough that James Marsh’s Man on Wire, the presumed frontrunner in the Oscar Best Documentary category, is vulnerable to an upset. That makes sense. Slightly more aggravating: the substance behind Tapley’s suggestion that Wire doesn’t deserve to win. “Having finally viewed all of the nominees, I can’t deny how impactful each of the other contenders is,” Tapley writes. “Furthermore, James Marsh’s film is largely composed of talking head interviews and pre-existing footage, not to mention dubious reenactments. Each of the other contenders, meanwhile, are the result of original filmmaking.” I agree that Encounters at the End of the World and The Betrayal are qualitatively more interesting films (I haven’t seen The Garden). My questions: what is it about Trouble the Water’s handicam verite that qualifies as the more “original filmmaking”, and what qualifies the reenactments in Wire –– which I thought were subtle, artful, and necessary –– as “dubious”? “Dubious” is a word that Tapley uses a lot. Remembering that he used it to describe my review of Dear Zachary, I did a search for “dubious” on his site, and saw that the phrase “dubious reenactments” also popped up in his review of the Oscar shortlisted film Blessed is the Match. So now I’m wondering if that word means what I think it means. In any case, I’ve lost my share of Oscar pools thanks to surprises in the Best Documentary category, so I’m on board with the concept that Man on Wire may not be a safe bet. And as much respect as that film deserves, I’d rather see Werner Herzog win, not just for the brilliance of Encounters, but for his entire nonfiction filmmaking career. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:02:34 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog2/27/2009 6:02:34 PM“It often seems that when there isn’t an obvious, populist pick in the Academy’s documentary feature category (such as Bowling for Columbine, March of the Penguins or An Inconvenient Truth), the field is rife for an upset,” points out Kris Tapley. This may, he suggests, be evidence enough that James Marsh’s Man on Wire, the presumed frontrunner in the Oscar Best Documentary category, is vulnerable to an upset. That makes sense. Slightly more aggravating: the substance behind Tapley’s suggestion that Wire doesn’t deserve to win. “Having finally viewed all of the nominees, I can’t deny how impactful each of the other contenders is,” Tapley writes. “Furthermore, James Marsh’s film is largely composed of talking head interviews and pre-existing footage, not to mention dubious reenactments. Each of the other contenders, meanwhile, are the result of original filmmaking.” I agree that Encounters at the End of the World and The Betrayal are qualitatively more interesting films (I haven’t seen The Garden). My questions: what is it about Trouble the Water’s handicam verite that qualifies as the more “original filmmaking”, and what qualifies the reenactments in Wire –– which I thought were subtle, artful, and necessary –– as “dubious”? “Dubious” is a word that Tapley uses a lot. Remembering that he used it to describe my review of Dear Zachary, I did a search for “dubious” on his site, and saw that the phrase “dubious reenactments” also popped up in his review of the Oscar shortlisted film Blessed is the Match. So now I’m wondering if that word means what I think it means. In any case, I’ve lost my share of Oscar pools thanks to surprises in the Best Documentary category, so I’m on board with the concept that Man on Wire may not be a safe bet. And as much respect as that film deserves, I’d rather see Werner Herzog win, not just for the brilliance of Encounters, but for his entire nonfiction filmmaking career. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/2/27/40699.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 2/27/2009 6:01:44 PM
Body: Two more days until we find out who wins this year’s Academy Awards! Okay, so the exclamation point is more than forced. It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had even an ounce of excitement about the Oscars. But we mustn’t let predictability get us down. Sure, even the still-uncertain races (Penn vs. Rourke; Winslet vs. Streep; Man on Wire vs. Trouble the Water) are anything but interesting, because the everyman of 2009 couldn’t care less about who gave the year’s better performance and would probably be fine shrugging his shoulders at the TV screen in the event of a tie (or, better yet, irresolution). However, there’s one thing people keep forgetting about the Academy: they’re full of surprises. So, rather than just go with the easy, “predictable” predictions, we attempted to guess who and what will Crash the Oscars this year with a surprise victory — preferably the kind that adds an “ing” to “upset.” And once again, we’d like to extend the forecasting fun to you. What surprises do you expect and/or hope for? Or, if you’re down with the boring route, what “certain” winners do you truly believe in? And why? The most accurate comments will be reprinted in our final Oscar column on Monday. Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button If the Academy didn’t continually cause controversial commotion with Best Picture picks like Shakespeare in Love and Crash, we wouldn’t have very much to talk about the morning after, or years later. So, in a way it’s exciting and somewhat necessary to have the occasional baffling or infuriating upsets in the top category. The one film that would piss off more people this year than any other, even more than The Reader, is Benjamin Button, especially since it pretty much already had the (dis)honor of being an undeserving Best Picture winner 15 years ago. Best Director: Stephen Daldry (The Reader) If Benjamin Button is to win Best Picture, then Danny Boyle should probably still win Best Director, because often in the years of controversial Best Picture upsets the director’s prize still goes to the (critical) favorite. Think of Steven Spielberg in ’99 and Ang Lee in ’06. But just to prove the Oscars are completely out of touch, we have to go with the Academy favorites of Daldry and the Holocaust. Both Fincher and Boyle are Oscar newbies and may have their turn with some future, more lackluster effort. Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) For this category, we’re looking to the 2008 presidential election. Let’s consider Meryl Streep to be the older, more experienced, and typically well-respected candidate, who will lose to the young novice in her very first bid. Where that puts thought-to-be-a-lock Kate Winslet in the analogy is not important. As long as people keep mentioning Obama in their reasoning for why Slumdog Millionaire will win Best Picture, it’s just as fair to recognize Hathaway as the most Obama-like choice for Best Actress. Best Actor: undetermined As much as a tie in this category would be a surprising and slightly satisfying turn of events (even though it would be more appropriate in the Best Actress race, since Streep will forever be compared to Katherine Hepburn, who tied with Barbara Streisand 30 years ago), we’re looking to another political race of last year for the Best Actor decision. All we’ll know Sunday night is that it’s still down to Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. But don’t worry, we’ll find out who actually wins in a few months. Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) Just as Judy Davis probably deserved the Supporting Actress Oscar more for her performance in a Woody Allen film 16 years ago, Penelope Cruz probably deserves it more this year, also for a Woody Allen film. But Tomei is the champion of Oscar surprises, and we could very well see a repeat of 1993. At least this time she’s a little more worthy. Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) Okay, there’s no chance of a surprise here. Because if the Oscar goes to anyone but Ledger, a crazed fan will likely blow up the Kodak. And the Academy must presume that Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister won’t conveniently have access to the detonator this time. Best Adapted Screenplay:  Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Never mind the tremendous amount of work Roth put into expanding a very short story into a very, very long film. His and Swicord’s true triumph is in how they were able to rewrite Forrest Gump and repackage it well enough to fool $242 million-worth of moviegoers. Hollywood is surely obligated to reward the duo for pulling off such a double-tiered adaptation and such a well-played moneymaking scheme. Best Original Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (WALL-E) Yes, a lot of people are predicting this to win the Oscar, and so it won’t be quite as much a surprise as a win for Frozen River would be. But the real shocker is going to be when Kung Fu Panda wins Best Animated Feature, a repeat of its glory at the Annies, and Academy logic once again goes completely out the window. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 27 Feb 2009 23:01:44 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com2/27/2009 6:01:44 PMTwo more days until we find out who wins this year’s Academy Awards! Okay, so the exclamation point is more than forced. It’s been quite awhile since we’ve had even an ounce of excitement about the Oscars. But we mustn’t let predictability get us down. Sure, even the still-uncertain races (Penn vs. Rourke; Winslet vs. Streep; Man on Wire vs. Trouble the Water) are anything but interesting, because the everyman of 2009 couldn’t care less about who gave the year’s better performance and would probably be fine shrugging his shoulders at the TV screen in the event of a tie (or, better yet, irresolution). However, there’s one thing people keep forgetting about the Academy: they’re full of surprises. So, rather than just go with the easy, “predictable” predictions, we attempted to guess who and what will Crash the Oscars this year with a surprise victory — preferably the kind that adds an “ing” to “upset.” And once again, we’d like to extend the forecasting fun to you. What surprises do you expect and/or hope for? Or, if you’re down with the boring route, what “certain” winners do you truly believe in? And why? The most accurate comments will be reprinted in our final Oscar column on Monday. Best Picture: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button If the Academy didn’t continually cause controversial commotion with Best Picture picks like Shakespeare in Love and Crash, we wouldn’t have very much to talk about the morning after, or years later. So, in a way it’s exciting and somewhat necessary to have the occasional baffling or infuriating upsets in the top category. The one film that would piss off more people this year than any other, even more than The Reader, is Benjamin Button, especially since it pretty much already had the (dis)honor of being an undeserving Best Picture winner 15 years ago. Best Director: Stephen Daldry (The Reader) If Benjamin Button is to win Best Picture, then Danny Boyle should probably still win Best Director, because often in the years of controversial Best Picture upsets the director’s prize still goes to the (critical) favorite. Think of Steven Spielberg in ’99 and Ang Lee in ’06. But just to prove the Oscars are completely out of touch, we have to go with the Academy favorites of Daldry and the Holocaust. Both Fincher and Boyle are Oscar newbies and may have their turn with some future, more lackluster effort. Best Actress: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married) For this category, we’re looking to the 2008 presidential election. Let’s consider Meryl Streep to be the older, more experienced, and typically well-respected candidate, who will lose to the young novice in her very first bid. Where that puts thought-to-be-a-lock Kate Winslet in the analogy is not important. As long as people keep mentioning Obama in their reasoning for why Slumdog Millionaire will win Best Picture, it’s just as fair to recognize Hathaway as the most Obama-like choice for Best Actress. Best Actor: undetermined As much as a tie in this category would be a surprising and slightly satisfying turn of events (even though it would be more appropriate in the Best Actress race, since Streep will forever be compared to Katherine Hepburn, who tied with Barbara Streisand 30 years ago), we’re looking to another political race of last year for the Best Actor decision. All we’ll know Sunday night is that it’s still down to Sean Penn and Mickey Rourke. But don’t worry, we’ll find out who actually wins in a few months. Best Supporting Actress: Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler) Just as Judy Davis probably deserved the Supporting Actress Oscar more for her performance in a Woody Allen film 16 years ago, Penelope Cruz probably deserves it more this year, also for a Woody Allen film. But Tomei is the champion of Oscar surprises, and we could very well see a repeat of 1993. At least this time she’s a little more worthy. Best Supporting Actor: Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) Okay, there’s no chance of a surprise here. Because if the Oscar goes to anyone but Ledger, a crazed fan will likely blow up the Kodak. And the Academy must presume that Tommy ‘Tiny’ Lister won’t conveniently have access to the detonator this time. Best Adapted Screenplay:  Eric Roth and Robin Swicord (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) Never mind the tremendous amount of work Roth put into expanding a very short story into a very, very long film. His and Swicord’s true triumph is in how they were able to rewrite Forrest Gump and repackage it well enough to fool $242 million-worth of moviegoers. Hollywood is surely obligated to reward the duo for pulling off such a double-tiered adaptation and such a well-played moneymaking scheme. Best Original Screenplay: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon and Pete Docter (WALL-E) Yes, a lot of people are predicting this to win the Oscar, and so it won’t be quite as much a surprise as a win for Frozen River would be. But the real shocker is going to be when Kung Fu Panda wins Best Animated Feature, a repeat of its glory at the Annies, and Academy logic once again goes completely out the window. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/2/39050.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/2/2009 5:00:51 PM
Body: It is a crime in this day and age not to occasionally check in on Jeffrey Wells’ Hollywood Elsewhere, with topics ranging from billboard photos, blind item brunches and oddly angry political rants against apathetic teenagers. Wells is a classic mix of online reactionary and keen insight, peppered with various “what the fuck” moments and the occasional non sequitur involving Paris Hilton and Al-Qaeda. To ring in the New Year, let’s take a quick look back at our favorite blogged remarks from the man who confused Mike D’Angelo with Ed Gonzales, and whose random photos of restaurants and lawns oddly resemble–for lack of a better term–art. Also, any use of bold is for emphasis and my own editorial comments are in italics. Happy New Year, Elephants On New Year’s Eve, it sounds like Jeff was staying at a raucous party house in one of the Boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn? Who can tell these days.) Conditions were so bad that he was sadly driven to bar-hopping due to his neighbors: I live below a family of animals — Hispanic party elephants — who stomp around and play music so loud that the building throbs and the plaster cracks. It’s a fairly safe bet they’re going to lose their minds tonight so I may as well just huddle down in the city and bounce around from bar to bar. Follow-up in the comments from Wells: People with a little class and breeding and a college degree don’t tend to be as noisy or boisterous or loutish as the commoners, cretins, galumphs, bad dressers, etc. The lower end of the gene pool. T’was ever thus. Wells on Sundance: Dagnabbit Kids Be Knockin’ Boots! One of the subjects dearest and most familiar to Wells is Sundance. His dispatches? Legendary. His mocking of “road to Sundance” articles? Acidic. But the real fun starts when he complains about never getting laid at this supposedly hedonistic festival: For journalists, Sundance is pretty much synonymous with tight accomodations[sic] and shared bathrooms. O give me a bunk and a shower and a table and a chair and some good wifi, and it’s all cool. Not only do serious festivalgoers make do without outdoor hot tubs or crackling fireplaces or nouveau riche Deer Valley chateaus with 22-foot-high ceilings or those bullshit Utah buckaroo king-size bed frames. It’s kind of against the mindset (the religion, if you will) to stay in a lavish place. Pricey McMansion digs are for the dilletantes[sic] and lookie-lous and — the absolute dregs of Sundance Film Festival visitors — skiiers[sic]. I’m a loyal fan of Carol Rixey’s Star Hotel [Remember this name], easily the warmest and homiest place in town. And it has great wifi, and an excellent living room with soft easy chairs and fat sofas, and a dining room with nice long table to have a nice warm breakfast in. (Comes with the room.) … I can tell you something — it’s the volunteers and the assistants sleeping in those Cider House beds who get all the nookie. In the mid ’90s I asked an assortment of festival veterans if they’d ever gotten lucky during Sundance, and all but one said “nope.” The exception was Usual Suspects and Valkyrie screenwriter Chris McQuarrie, who said yes, good things have personally happened to him in Park City but “only with an import.” Wells on Sundance, pt 2: Fear and Loathing in Park City It’s a post that could have simply consisted of, “I have arrived at Sundance. Huh. Time to go to bed. Actually, I don’t need to post this.” In Wells’ hands, it’s a literary masterwork: Nobody’s here. That I recognize. Empty streets, idle merchants, half-filled restaurants…the last quiet that Park City will know for 10 or 11 days. It all cranks up starting tomorrow. I shared a $34 dollar airport shuttle into town with Hollywood Reporter guy Gregg Goldstein — that’s the single most noteworthy thing that’s happened over the last eight or nine hours. It’s now about 3 or 4 degrees outside. Ice crystals in my nostrils. A big storm is coming on Sunday, the shuttle driver said. Challenge:Link Shitty CGI-Monster Movie to a Katrina documentary Ask yourself: how would you link Cloverfield to Trouble the Water? One’s an over-hyped J.J. Abrams joint, the other an award-winning documentary about surviving Hurricane Katrina. But if you’re Wells, comparing the two is easier than snapping a cell phone shot of your dinner: I’ve almost never felt queasy from jiggly, hand-held photography (I eat films like Dancer in the Dark for breakfast), although I’ll admit that Cloverfield has more than its share. Yesterday, however, I saw the King Kong of hand-held nausea jiggle movies — Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble The Water, a doc about the Katrina disaster. Half of it was shot by Lessin and Deal in the usual fashion and is no big challenge, but the other half is shakycam footage of Katrina’s devastation shot by one of the film’s main subjects, Kimberly Rivers. (The other is her husband Scott.) The footage is so scattered and whip-panny that I was starting to think about bolting less than ten minutes in. Show Trouble The Water to those Cloverfield sufferers in Pheonix[sic] and they’d spew in their seat. In Which Glenn Kenny Becomes a Platform for Obama Originally a blind item from Glenn Kenny, Wells added his own spin to it: mainly, the names of all parties involved—including the NY PR guy. (Spoiler: Alex Rivera got harassed by a racist swag shop chick accompanying two actors from his film, Sleep Dealer.) Note: Kenny doesn’t identify the players by name in his piece. I was given the lowdown last night after a showing of Patti Smith: Dream of Life. Followup: In a world of my own devising an organized demonstration would be held outside the photo shoot/swag sometime late this afternoon. The chant could be something along the lines of “Hey hey, ho ho, swag racists have to go!” An all-media advisory would be sent out this morning. The usual pitchforks and torches would be handed out of the back of a pickup truck on Swede Alley 30 minutes prior to the start of the demonstration. Flyers with a photo of swag girl who uttered the racist remark would be wild-posted all over town alongside a slogan that reads, “Who are we? Does Barack Obama have reason to be concerned?” YAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Rambo came out earlier this year. It was supposed to be…well, we’re still not sure what. But Wells was excited about it. How excited? Howard Dean Death Yell excited. Every time a head got sliced or blown off, I laughed or let go with a big “yawww!” So did the mostly-male audience which applauded at the end. Everyone had a great time. I felt relaxed with these guys…bonded. … This is the second best Rambo film after First Blood, and although it’s obviously not meant to be “funny,” it is at times, wildly so. I laughed out loud on a good five or six occasions. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are going to love this thing. You could even make a case for Rambo being an instant porno-violent classic in the vein of Ron Ormond’s The Monster and the Stripper, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre, Herschel Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast…that line of country. Kicker for a Jack Matthews Tribute or Obscure Reference to Self-Masturbation: You Decide. Ok, this was the kicker to a post honoring Jack Matthews, formerly of the New York Post. But take it out of context, and it may cause you to question what the hell is being honored here. I will never stop banging it out. One is either busy being born or busy dying. I know where I stand. Die at your desk. Honest Injun Gayness Remember that “Full Retard” line from Tropic Thunder? Well, this is like that, but praising an actor for being “Full Gay” and “Full Dick.” Honest Injun. I felt a genuine gayness from Sean Penn, who plays the title role of the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, that I didn’t think he had in him. … And Frank Langella’s performance as Richard Nixon is naturally and necessarily more toned down than it was on-stage, and that, Honest Injun, makes it a fascinating, moving (as in genuinely sad), award-level effort. No. Fucking. Idea. This is supposed to be a either joke or an insidery snark attack against film catch-phrases. To be quite honest, I’m still convinced this is a secret code to…something. Do I look like I’m negotiating, friendo? I’m already pregnant so what kind of milkshake-slurping could I get into? Except for ruining the love life of my older sister and her lower-class boyfriend by bearing false witness? I am Sheba, the reincarnation of Shirley Booth! [No, really. That's the entire post.] No Fatties, But… Apparently one of Wells’ great fears is to sit near fat people in a confined space. He shares this with us, followed by the strangest blog update I’ve ever seen. And trust me, I’ve read Hollywood Elsewhere. Before every flight, I cross myself and ask God Almighty not to seat me next to a morbidly obese person. There are at least two whales in line right now, and I’m feeling a very slight apprehension about this. There are thousands of people in Paris who look well-fed or stocky or fat, but I’ve seen no Jabbas. You might expect otherwise in a foodie city like Paris, but nope. Update: No fatties but Doug Liman is on my plane. Live-Blogging is like Swimming After Eating, We Guess Eric Kohn live-blogged Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulll for IndieWire. Many were not amused by this. Mainly because they’re twits–something about “herp derp critic integrity!” Mainly because Eric scooped them and wasn’t doing anything that off from the rest of the Cannes crowd. Devin Faraci–a frequent HE commenter, natch–took offense with this. And of course, Jeff agreed. Sort of. I agree totally — it’s doggerel. Lame. Kohn and Indiewire were simply looking to be first to provide the very first commentary on the film anywhere in the world — except it wasn’t commentary but rudimentary (i.e., quite crude) descriptions of scenes as they happened. There’s an internet audience for this kind of stenography, of course, but to what end? A movie deserves a little thought before before commented on. I tapped out an instant hand-held judgment after Indy 4 ended, but at least I’d thought it through for an hour or two. Remember that Hotel in Park City? Fun fact: if you leave a piece of clothing somewhere, that’s as good as a down payment, credit card or loan. From now on, I’ll be paying my bar tabs with socks. [Jeffrey Wells] to Star Hotel proprietor: “I found a place in Park City but I can’t move in until Friday the 16th. Would you let me crash on the living-room couch for the first two nights (1.14 and 1.15)? Which I’ll pay you for, of course. It would be greatly appreciated if you could grant me this small favor, as you left me in the lurch this year. I thought I’d made it clear as a bell that I intended to return, having stayed in your wonderful abode the last two years and leaving my cowboy hat there and telling you I’d wear it when I returned in ‘09 and so on. Anyway, can ya do me this one?” When pressed to explain, Wells continues in the Comments: Yes, yes…if I’d left a cash deposit or a credit-card number then the room would have been assured. I’m not an idiot. But leaving the cowboy hat and plainly stating to the proprietor that I’d come back and wear it the following year (especially after having stayed at the Star in ‘07 and ‘08 and been part of the family there, in a sense) was a very emotionally vivid and pronounced way of stating my intentions. It was a message that is recognized by everyone all over the world. It’s even recognized in the animal kingdom (i.e., leaving your scent on a piece of turf). If you go out with a girl and she comes home with you and stays the night and she leaves her underwear or bra or socks in your bedroom after she leaves the next morning, we all know that’s a universal message that says, “I want to come back and get to know you better and probably have sex with you again.” Everyone knows that. Leaving an article of clothing, something with your scent and paw-prints and sweat residue on it, means that you intend to come back and spray your scent around some more. If you were to see a 1930s Gary Cooper western and hotel manager Frances Farmer, giving him the old twinkle-eye, asked him if he was coming back after taking his cattle to market, and if he faintly grinned at her and took off his cowboy hat and left it hanging on the wall as he walks out the door, everybody watching the film in any country in the world would know exactly what that means. It would be crystal clear. So don’t tell me. Credit cards are well and good, but to say left-behind cowboy hats and such mean nothing is to be way too “dollars and cents” about this matter. Sadly, it looks like the hotel gave his cowboy hat to the police–Jeff then posts the phone call as an audio file. So Jeffrey, we wish you a happy new year and can’t wait to see what sort of insanity you give out this year. If you’ve got your own favorite Wells-ian moments, leave them in the comments. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:00:51 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/2/2009 5:00:51 PM It is a crime in this day and age not to occasionally check in on Jeffrey Wells’ Hollywood Elsewhere, with topics ranging from billboard photos, blind item brunches and oddly angry political rants against apathetic teenagers. Wells is a classic mix of online reactionary and keen insight, peppered with various “what the fuck” moments and the occasional non sequitur involving Paris Hilton and Al-Qaeda. To ring in the New Year, let’s take a quick look back at our favorite blogged remarks from the man who confused Mike D’Angelo with Ed Gonzales, and whose random photos of restaurants and lawns oddly resemble–for lack of a better term–art. Also, any use of bold is for emphasis and my own editorial comments are in italics. Happy New Year, Elephants On New Year’s Eve, it sounds like Jeff was staying at a raucous party house in one of the Boroughs (Manhattan, Brooklyn? Who can tell these days.) Conditions were so bad that he was sadly driven to bar-hopping due to his neighbors: I live below a family of animals — Hispanic party elephants — who stomp around and play music so loud that the building throbs and the plaster cracks. It’s a fairly safe bet they’re going to lose their minds tonight so I may as well just huddle down in the city and bounce around from bar to bar. Follow-up in the comments from Wells: People with a little class and breeding and a college degree don’t tend to be as noisy or boisterous or loutish as the commoners, cretins, galumphs, bad dressers, etc. The lower end of the gene pool. T’was ever thus. Wells on Sundance: Dagnabbit Kids Be Knockin’ Boots! One of the subjects dearest and most familiar to Wells is Sundance. His dispatches? Legendary. His mocking of “road to Sundance” articles? Acidic. But the real fun starts when he complains about never getting laid at this supposedly hedonistic festival: For journalists, Sundance is pretty much synonymous with tight accomodations[sic] and shared bathrooms. O give me a bunk and a shower and a table and a chair and some good wifi, and it’s all cool. Not only do serious festivalgoers make do without outdoor hot tubs or crackling fireplaces or nouveau riche Deer Valley chateaus with 22-foot-high ceilings or those bullshit Utah buckaroo king-size bed frames. It’s kind of against the mindset (the religion, if you will) to stay in a lavish place. Pricey McMansion digs are for the dilletantes[sic] and lookie-lous and — the absolute dregs of Sundance Film Festival visitors — skiiers[sic]. I’m a loyal fan of Carol Rixey’s Star Hotel [Remember this name], easily the warmest and homiest place in town. And it has great wifi, and an excellent living room with soft easy chairs and fat sofas, and a dining room with nice long table to have a nice warm breakfast in. (Comes with the room.) … I can tell you something — it’s the volunteers and the assistants sleeping in those Cider House beds who get all the nookie. In the mid ’90s I asked an assortment of festival veterans if they’d ever gotten lucky during Sundance, and all but one said “nope.” The exception was Usual Suspects and Valkyrie screenwriter Chris McQuarrie, who said yes, good things have personally happened to him in Park City but “only with an import.” Wells on Sundance, pt 2: Fear and Loathing in Park City It’s a post that could have simply consisted of, “I have arrived at Sundance. Huh. Time to go to bed. Actually, I don’t need to post this.” In Wells’ hands, it’s a literary masterwork: Nobody’s here. That I recognize. Empty streets, idle merchants, half-filled restaurants…the last quiet that Park City will know for 10 or 11 days. It all cranks up starting tomorrow. I shared a $34 dollar airport shuttle into town with Hollywood Reporter guy Gregg Goldstein — that’s the single most noteworthy thing that’s happened over the last eight or nine hours. It’s now about 3 or 4 degrees outside. Ice crystals in my nostrils. A big storm is coming on Sunday, the shuttle driver said. Challenge:Link Shitty CGI-Monster Movie to a Katrina documentary Ask yourself: how would you link Cloverfield to Trouble the Water? One’s an over-hyped J.J. Abrams joint, the other an award-winning documentary about surviving Hurricane Katrina. But if you’re Wells, comparing the two is easier than snapping a cell phone shot of your dinner: I’ve almost never felt queasy from jiggly, hand-held photography (I eat films like Dancer in the Dark for breakfast), although I’ll admit that Cloverfield has more than its share. Yesterday, however, I saw the King Kong of hand-held nausea jiggle movies — Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s Trouble The Water, a doc about the Katrina disaster. Half of it was shot by Lessin and Deal in the usual fashion and is no big challenge, but the other half is shakycam footage of Katrina’s devastation shot by one of the film’s main subjects, Kimberly Rivers. (The other is her husband Scott.) The footage is so scattered and whip-panny that I was starting to think about bolting less than ten minutes in. Show Trouble The Water to those Cloverfield sufferers in Pheonix[sic] and they’d spew in their seat. In Which Glenn Kenny Becomes a Platform for Obama Originally a blind item from Glenn Kenny, Wells added his own spin to it: mainly, the names of all parties involved—including the NY PR guy. (Spoiler: Alex Rivera got harassed by a racist swag shop chick accompanying two actors from his film, Sleep Dealer.) Note: Kenny doesn’t identify the players by name in his piece. I was given the lowdown last night after a showing of Patti Smith: Dream of Life. Followup: In a world of my own devising an organized demonstration would be held outside the photo shoot/swag sometime late this afternoon. The chant could be something along the lines of “Hey hey, ho ho, swag racists have to go!” An all-media advisory would be sent out this morning. The usual pitchforks and torches would be handed out of the back of a pickup truck on Swede Alley 30 minutes prior to the start of the demonstration. Flyers with a photo of swag girl who uttered the racist remark would be wild-posted all over town alongside a slogan that reads, “Who are we? Does Barack Obama have reason to be concerned?” YAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW Rambo came out earlier this year. It was supposed to be…well, we’re still not sure what. But Wells was excited about it. How excited? Howard Dean Death Yell excited. Every time a head got sliced or blown off, I laughed or let go with a big “yawww!” So did the mostly-male audience which applauded at the end. Everyone had a great time. I felt relaxed with these guys…bonded. … This is the second best Rambo film after First Blood, and although it’s obviously not meant to be “funny,” it is at times, wildly so. I laughed out loud on a good five or six occasions. Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez are going to love this thing. You could even make a case for Rambo being an instant porno-violent classic in the vein of Ron Ormond’s The Monster and the Stripper, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Santa Sangre, Herschel Gordon Lewis’s Blood Feast…that line of country. Kicker for a Jack Matthews Tribute or Obscure Reference to Self-Masturbation: You Decide. Ok, this was the kicker to a post honoring Jack Matthews, formerly of the New York Post. But take it out of context, and it may cause you to question what the hell is being honored here. I will never stop banging it out. One is either busy being born or busy dying. I know where I stand. Die at your desk. Honest Injun Gayness Remember that “Full Retard” line from Tropic Thunder? Well, this is like that, but praising an actor for being “Full Gay” and “Full Dick.” Honest Injun. I felt a genuine gayness from Sean Penn, who plays the title role of the late San Francisco supervisor Harvey Milk, that I didn’t think he had in him. … And Frank Langella’s performance as Richard Nixon is naturally and necessarily more toned down than it was on-stage, and that, Honest Injun, makes it a fascinating, moving (as in genuinely sad), award-level effort. No. Fucking. Idea. This is supposed to be a either joke or an insidery snark attack against film catch-phrases. To be quite honest, I’m still convinced this is a secret code to…something. Do I look like I’m negotiating, friendo? I’m already pregnant so what kind of milkshake-slurping could I get into? Except for ruining the love life of my older sister and her lower-class boyfriend by bearing false witness? I am Sheba, the reincarnation of Shirley Booth! [No, really. That's the entire post.] No Fatties, But… Apparently one of Wells’ great fears is to sit near fat people in a confined space. He shares this with us, followed by the strangest blog update I’ve ever seen. And trust me, I’ve read Hollywood Elsewhere. Before every flight, I cross myself and ask God Almighty not to seat me next to a morbidly obese person. There are at least two whales in line right now, and I’m feeling a very slight apprehension about this. There are thousands of people in Paris who look well-fed or stocky or fat, but I’ve seen no Jabbas. You might expect otherwise in a foodie city like Paris, but nope. Update: No fatties but Doug Liman is on my plane. Live-Blogging is like Swimming After Eating, We Guess Eric Kohn live-blogged Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulll for IndieWire. Many were not amused by this. Mainly because they’re twits–something about “herp derp critic integrity!” Mainly because Eric scooped them and wasn’t doing anything that off from the rest of the Cannes crowd. Devin Faraci–a frequent HE commenter, natch–took offense with this. And of course, Jeff agreed. Sort of. I agree totally — it’s doggerel. Lame. Kohn and Indiewire were simply looking to be first to provide the very first commentary on the film anywhere in the world — except it wasn’t commentary but rudimentary (i.e., quite crude) descriptions of scenes as they happened. There’s an internet audience for this kind of stenography, of course, but to what end? A movie deserves a little thought before before commented on. I tapped out an instant hand-held judgment after Indy 4 ended, but at least I’d thought it through for an hour or two. Remember that Hotel in Park City? Fun fact: if you leave a piece of clothing somewhere, that’s as good as a down payment, credit card or loan. From now on, I’ll be paying my bar tabs with socks. [Jeffrey Wells] to Star Hotel proprietor: “I found a place in Park City but I can’t move in until Friday the 16th. Would you let me crash on the living-room couch for the first two nights (1.14 and 1.15)? Which I’ll pay you for, of course. It would be greatly appreciated if you could grant me this small favor, as you left me in the lurch this year. I thought I’d made it clear as a bell that I intended to return, having stayed in your wonderful abode the last two years and leaving my cowboy hat there and telling you I’d wear it when I returned in ‘09 and so on. Anyway, can ya do me this one?” When pressed to explain, Wells continues in the Comments: Yes, yes…if I’d left a cash deposit or a credit-card number then the room would have been assured. I’m not an idiot. But leaving the cowboy hat and plainly stating to the proprietor that I’d come back and wear it the following year (especially after having stayed at the Star in ‘07 and ‘08 and been part of the family there, in a sense) was a very emotionally vivid and pronounced way of stating my intentions. It was a message that is recognized by everyone all over the world. It’s even recognized in the animal kingdom (i.e., leaving your scent on a piece of turf). If you go out with a girl and she comes home with you and stays the night and she leaves her underwear or bra or socks in your bedroom after she leaves the next morning, we all know that’s a universal message that says, “I want to come back and get to know you better and probably have sex with you again.” Everyone knows that. Leaving an article of clothing, something with your scent and paw-prints and sweat residue on it, means that you intend to come back and spray your scent around some more. If you were to see a 1930s Gary Cooper western and hotel manager Frances Farmer, giving him the old twinkle-eye, asked him if he was coming back after taking his cattle to market, and if he faintly grinned at her and took off his cowboy hat and left it hanging on the wall as he walks out the door, everybody watching the film in any country in the world would know exactly what that means. It would be crystal clear. So don’t tell me. Credit cards are well and good, but to say left-behind cowboy hats and such mean nothing is to be way too “dollars and cents” about this matter. Sadly, it looks like the hotel gave his cowboy hat to the police–Jeff then posts the phone call as an audio file. So Jeffrey, we wish you a happy new year and can’t wait to see what sort of insanity you give out this year. If you’ve got your own favorite Wells-ian moments, leave them in the comments. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/12/22/38710.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 12/22/2008 1:01:38 PM
Body: The Academy’s list of 49 tunes deemed eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar this year seems like a lot for the Music Branch to pick through. That is, until you notice that more than one-fifth of those contenders are from the same film (High School Musical 3, which, thanks to a new rule, is only allowed, at most, two nominations in this category) and you recall that last year’s list included many more songs (59) to choose from. The talent involved this year, however, is tremendous, at least in terms of those performers who sing the tunes on the soundtrack (many of whom had a hand in the songwriting). These artists include Mariah Carey, Etta James, Beyonce Knowles (who played Etta James), Norah Jones, will.i.am, Jack White and Alicia Keys, Danny Elfman, Emmylou Harris, Chaka Khan and Regina Spektor. Add to those big names such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel, both of whom are locks to be nominated, as well as tween favorites Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron (along with the rest of the cast from High School Musical 3), and you could have one hell of a concert if the Academy simply turned its awards telecast into one big celebration of the year’s songs written for the screen. Unfortunately for ABC, the Oscars aren’t just about securing viewers, so there’s no promise that the most popular artists will be among the five nominees. Rather, the true Oscar-worthy songs are those tunes that serve their respective films best — in terms of context as much as in the quality of their songwriting. In addition to Springsteen and Gabriel, another sure thing nominee is Clint Eastwood, who wrote the title song for his film Gran Torino. As for the fourth slot, Cyrus could very well find herself a contender, which would technically allow the marketers of her upcoming Hannah Montana Movie to advertise the film as starring “Academy Award Nominee Miley Cyrus.” Her song, “I Thought I Lost You,” co-written with Jeffrey Steele (and co-performed with John Travolta), from Bolt has already received nominations for both a Golden Globe and a BFCA Critic’s Choice Award (as have Springsteen’s title song from The Wrestler and Gabriel’s “Down to Earth” from WALL-E). The only issue with a telecast performance of this song, despite the fact that it might draw higher ratings than a Best Picture nomination for The Dark Knight, is that a live duet between Cyrus and Travolta could be the creepiest musical number since Rob Lowe and Snow White’s infamous rendition of “Proud Mary” back in 1989. The final nominee is more difficult to predict. The Golden Globes selected Knowles’ “Once in a Lifetime” from Cadillac Records, which the Academy could use to make up for the singer/actress’ nominal exclusion as one of the songwriters of the 2007 nominee “Listen,” from Dreamgirls. Another favorite is M.I.A. and A. R. Rahman’s  “O…Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire, though this song has stiff competition from Rahman’s “Jai Ho” from the same film. A nod for the latter would be a wonderful recognition of Indian music, yet in a way it would also beg the question of why thousands of other great tunes from Bollywood haven’t been honored in the past (nor will they be recognized in the future). And why this song over other great “world music” possibilities like Bebel Gilberto’s “Forever,” from They Killed Sister Dorothy, and Angelique Kidjo’s “Djoyigbe,” from Pray the Devil Back to Hell? Oh yeah, because it’s the catchier number from the more upbeat (and fictional) Best Picture favorite. It will be a shame if, like many Oscar categories, there are no real surprises in the nominees for Best Original Song, so to assist the Music Branch in their task, I’ve picked out five alternative selections to those more likely to be nominated: “Barking at the Moon” by Jenny Lewis, from Bolt – Cyrus might be the bigger ratings draw, but Lewis would bring that indie “hipster” cred not really seen from the Academy since Elliott Smith’s nomination and performance more than ten years ago. Ratings aside, though, “Barking at the Moon” is actually the better of Bolt’s two eligible songs, and it’s just as catchy as “I Thought I Lost You.” Plus, its context is equivalent to the usual Randy Newman tune played over an animated film’s montage sequence. And since Newman is shockingly absent from the category this year, Lewis should fill in for him. “Sweet Ballad” by ‘Munchausen by Proxy,’ from Yes Man – If the Academy would rather recognize an actress who is also a singer rather than a singer-turned-actress (Knowles) or an actress-turned-singer (Lewis), then it’s time to honor Zooey Deschanel, who has performed on many of her films’ soundtracks, often diegetically and in character. This time she joined up with Von Iva to form Yes Man’s fake band Munchausen by Proxy, which has two songs eligible for the Oscar. The better of the two is this track, which sounds kind of like Julie Cruise fronting Goldfrapp (maybe David Lynch needs to cast Deschanel in something). It might be a little racy to perform a song featuring the repeated backing vocal lyric of “whore, whore, whore,” but it’s no worse than the Oscar-winning lyrics of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” “Trouble the Water” by Blackkoldmadina, from Trouble the Water – Recently the Academy has honored two rap songs (“Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile and “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow) and one track off a documentary (“I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth), so it’s only fair to go the next step and at least nominate this rap song from a documentary. It would be another of the Academy’s favored stories of triumph, since the track is by the doc’s subject, a relatively upbeat Katrina survivor who turned lemons into lemonade with her home video footage of the hurricane. “Up To Our Nex” by Robyn Hitchcock, from Rachel Getting Married – If for some reason the Academy wishes to ignore the usual old guys (sure, Gabriel’s never been nominated, but isn’t he almost interchangeable with his former bandmate Phil Collins?), it could do well to nominate Hitchcock, whose song is both lyrically relevant to the film’s story and prominently performed diegetically, which is precisely how an Oscar-winning song should be. Considering how important music is to Rachel Getting Married, it would be terrible for it to be ignored in this category in favor of an end-credits number. “Dracula’s Lament” by Jason Segel, from Forgetting Sarah Marshall – It’s easy to dismiss both this and Hamlet 2’s “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” as being “funny” songs, comparable to the Oscar-nominated “Blame Canada” from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. But “Dracula’s Lament,” though plenty humorous, is no joke; it’s actually a great song that reflects the feelings of Segel’s character in the movie. And it would be the first Muppet-related Oscar-nominated song in more than 20 years. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 22 Dec 2008 18:01:38 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com12/22/2008 1:01:38 PMThe Academy’s list of 49 tunes deemed eligible for the Best Original Song Oscar this year seems like a lot for the Music Branch to pick through. That is, until you notice that more than one-fifth of those contenders are from the same film (High School Musical 3, which, thanks to a new rule, is only allowed, at most, two nominations in this category) and you recall that last year’s list included many more songs (59) to choose from. The talent involved this year, however, is tremendous, at least in terms of those performers who sing the tunes on the soundtrack (many of whom had a hand in the songwriting). These artists include Mariah Carey, Etta James, Beyonce Knowles (who played Etta James), Norah Jones, will.i.am, Jack White and Alicia Keys, Danny Elfman, Emmylou Harris, Chaka Khan and Regina Spektor. Add to those big names such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen and Peter Gabriel, both of whom are locks to be nominated, as well as tween favorites Miley Cyrus and Zac Efron (along with the rest of the cast from High School Musical 3), and you could have one hell of a concert if the Academy simply turned its awards telecast into one big celebration of the year’s songs written for the screen. Unfortunately for ABC, the Oscars aren’t just about securing viewers, so there’s no promise that the most popular artists will be among the five nominees. Rather, the true Oscar-worthy songs are those tunes that serve their respective films best — in terms of context as much as in the quality of their songwriting. In addition to Springsteen and Gabriel, another sure thing nominee is Clint Eastwood, who wrote the title song for his film Gran Torino. As for the fourth slot, Cyrus could very well find herself a contender, which would technically allow the marketers of her upcoming Hannah Montana Movie to advertise the film as starring “Academy Award Nominee Miley Cyrus.” Her song, “I Thought I Lost You,” co-written with Jeffrey Steele (and co-performed with John Travolta), from Bolt has already received nominations for both a Golden Globe and a BFCA Critic’s Choice Award (as have Springsteen’s title song from The Wrestler and Gabriel’s “Down to Earth” from WALL-E). The only issue with a telecast performance of this song, despite the fact that it might draw higher ratings than a Best Picture nomination for The Dark Knight, is that a live duet between Cyrus and Travolta could be the creepiest musical number since Rob Lowe and Snow White’s infamous rendition of “Proud Mary” back in 1989. The final nominee is more difficult to predict. The Golden Globes selected Knowles’ “Once in a Lifetime” from Cadillac Records, which the Academy could use to make up for the singer/actress’ nominal exclusion as one of the songwriters of the 2007 nominee “Listen,” from Dreamgirls. Another favorite is M.I.A. and A. R. Rahman’s  “O…Saya” from Slumdog Millionaire, though this song has stiff competition from Rahman’s “Jai Ho” from the same film. A nod for the latter would be a wonderful recognition of Indian music, yet in a way it would also beg the question of why thousands of other great tunes from Bollywood haven’t been honored in the past (nor will they be recognized in the future). And why this song over other great “world music” possibilities like Bebel Gilberto’s “Forever,” from They Killed Sister Dorothy, and Angelique Kidjo’s “Djoyigbe,” from Pray the Devil Back to Hell? Oh yeah, because it’s the catchier number from the more upbeat (and fictional) Best Picture favorite. It will be a shame if, like many Oscar categories, there are no real surprises in the nominees for Best Original Song, so to assist the Music Branch in their task, I’ve picked out five alternative selections to those more likely to be nominated: “Barking at the Moon” by Jenny Lewis, from Bolt – Cyrus might be the bigger ratings draw, but Lewis would bring that indie “hipster” cred not really seen from the Academy since Elliott Smith’s nomination and performance more than ten years ago. Ratings aside, though, “Barking at the Moon” is actually the better of Bolt’s two eligible songs, and it’s just as catchy as “I Thought I Lost You.” Plus, its context is equivalent to the usual Randy Newman tune played over an animated film’s montage sequence. And since Newman is shockingly absent from the category this year, Lewis should fill in for him. “Sweet Ballad” by ‘Munchausen by Proxy,’ from Yes Man – If the Academy would rather recognize an actress who is also a singer rather than a singer-turned-actress (Knowles) or an actress-turned-singer (Lewis), then it’s time to honor Zooey Deschanel, who has performed on many of her films’ soundtracks, often diegetically and in character. This time she joined up with Von Iva to form Yes Man’s fake band Munchausen by Proxy, which has two songs eligible for the Oscar. The better of the two is this track, which sounds kind of like Julie Cruise fronting Goldfrapp (maybe David Lynch needs to cast Deschanel in something). It might be a little racy to perform a song featuring the repeated backing vocal lyric of “whore, whore, whore,” but it’s no worse than the Oscar-winning lyrics of “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp.” “Trouble the Water” by Blackkoldmadina, from Trouble the Water – Recently the Academy has honored two rap songs (“Lose Yourself” from 8 Mile and “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from Hustle & Flow) and one track off a documentary (“I Need to Wake Up” from An Inconvenient Truth), so it’s only fair to go the next step and at least nominate this rap song from a documentary. It would be another of the Academy’s favored stories of triumph, since the track is by the doc’s subject, a relatively upbeat Katrina survivor who turned lemons into lemonade with her home video footage of the hurricane. “Up To Our Nex” by Robyn Hitchcock, from Rachel Getting Married – If for some reason the Academy wishes to ignore the usual old guys (sure, Gabriel’s never been nominated, but isn’t he almost interchangeable with his former bandmate Phil Collins?), it could do well to nominate Hitchcock, whose song is both lyrically relevant to the film’s story and prominently performed diegetically, which is precisely how an Oscar-winning song should be. Considering how important music is to Rachel Getting Married, it would be terrible for it to be ignored in this category in favor of an end-credits number. “Dracula’s Lament” by Jason Segel, from Forgetting Sarah Marshall – It’s easy to dismiss both this and Hamlet 2’s “Rock Me Sexy Jesus” as being “funny” songs, comparable to the Oscar-nominated “Blame Canada” from South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. But “Dracula’s Lament,” though plenty humorous, is no joke; it’s actually a great song that reflects the feelings of Segel’s character in the movie. And it would be the first Muppet-related Oscar-nominated song in more than 20 years. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/12/4/37931.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 12/4/2008 12:01:54 PM
Body: I’ve spent the morning combing the various Sundance line-up overviews, wherein reporters for a variety of publications digest the four competition line-ups announced yesterday in an attempt to find an overarching theme/predictive slant which they can then hand-deliver to their mainly mainstream audiences. One thing I’ve learned: such stories should never be read back-to-back. “Sundance’s writers and directors are turning toward more uplifting narratives,” writes John Horn in the LA Times. Oh good! Oh, but wait — according to USA Today, “The comedies are dark, and the dramas are even darker at the annual showcase of low-budget moviemaking.” What am I supposed to believe? But seriously, folks. One observation from Horn’s story is worth a ponder: [Sundance programming director] Cooper says the festival’s 16 competition documentaries, selected from 879 submissions, continue the nonfiction filmmaking trend toward advocacy and away from impartial journalistic observation. “They are basically telling you what to do, versus ‘This is something that is going on,’ ” Cooper says. I guess the word that rankles there is “trend.” I’ve never been to a documentary-heavy film festival that didn’t have its share of edutainment, but looking at the most successful nonfiction films of this past year (whether at the box office or with critics or with awards bodies, or all of the above), what’s notable is that surprising lack of prescriptive, “Here’s a problem … and a solution!”-style filmmaking. I mean, Man on Wire? The best reviewed documentary of the year and the apparent Oscar frontrunner? What is that advocating, exactly — art crime? Is the lesson of Trouble the Water that aspiring rappers who live in the path of hurricanes should try to have video cameras handy at all times? As far as high grossing films, there’s U2 3D, which tells us to … be U2, and get shot in 3D. You could definitely say that Religulous steers “away from impartial journalistic observation,” and there’s no question that it’s been a success, but there is some question as to whether or not an insult comic’s staged road trip really counts as “documentary”, let alone “advocacy.” And of course, there’s my favorite work of advocacy, Encounters at the End of the World, in which Werner Herzog tells us to steer clear of “abominations” like yoga studios and ATMs, and attempts no impartiality in regards to suicidal penguins. Bottom line: it wouldn’t be crazy super weird if there were a lot of documentaries “telling you what to do” at Sundance, but the most successful nonfiction films of 2008 didn’t. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:01:54 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog12/4/2008 12:01:54 PMI’ve spent the morning combing the various Sundance line-up overviews, wherein reporters for a variety of publications digest the four competition line-ups announced yesterday in an attempt to find an overarching theme/predictive slant which they can then hand-deliver to their mainly mainstream audiences. One thing I’ve learned: such stories should never be read back-to-back. “Sundance’s writers and directors are turning toward more uplifting narratives,” writes John Horn in the LA Times. Oh good! Oh, but wait — according to USA Today, “The comedies are dark, and the dramas are even darker at the annual showcase of low-budget moviemaking.” What am I supposed to believe? But seriously, folks. One observation from Horn’s story is worth a ponder: [Sundance programming director] Cooper says the festival’s 16 competition documentaries, selected from 879 submissions, continue the nonfiction filmmaking trend toward advocacy and away from impartial journalistic observation. “They are basically telling you what to do, versus ‘This is something that is going on,’ ” Cooper says. I guess the word that rankles there is “trend.” I’ve never been to a documentary-heavy film festival that didn’t have its share of edutainment, but looking at the most successful nonfiction films of this past year (whether at the box office or with critics or with awards bodies, or all of the above), what’s notable is that surprising lack of prescriptive, “Here’s a problem … and a solution!”-style filmmaking. I mean, Man on Wire? The best reviewed documentary of the year and the apparent Oscar frontrunner? What is that advocating, exactly — art crime? Is the lesson of Trouble the Water that aspiring rappers who live in the path of hurricanes should try to have video cameras handy at all times? As far as high grossing films, there’s U2 3D, which tells us to … be U2, and get shot in 3D. You could definitely say that Religulous steers “away from impartial journalistic observation,” and there’s no question that it’s been a success, but there is some question as to whether or not an insult comic’s staged road trip really counts as “documentary”, let alone “advocacy.” And of course, there’s my favorite work of advocacy, Encounters at the End of the World, in which Werner Herzog tells us to steer clear of “abominations” like yoga studios and ATMs, and attempts no impartiality in regards to suicidal penguins. Bottom line: it wouldn’t be crazy super weird if there were a lot of documentaries “telling you what to do” at Sundance, but the most successful nonfiction films of 2008 didn’t. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/12/4/37930.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 12/4/2008 12:01:37 PM
Body: I’ve spent the morning combing the various Sundance line-up overviews, wherein reporters for a variety of publications digest the four competition line-ups announced yesterday in an attempt to find an overarching theme/predictive slant which they can then hand-deliver to their mainly mainstream audiences. One thing I’ve learned: such stories should never be read back-to-back. “Sundance’s writers and directors are turning toward more uplifting narratives,” writes John Horn in the LA Times. Oh good! Oh, but wait — according to USA Today, “The comedies are dark, and the dramas are even darker at the annual showcase of low-budget moviemaking.” What am I supposed to believe? But seriously, folks. One observation from Horn’s story is worth a ponder: [Sundance programming director] Cooper says the festival’s 16 competition documentaries, selected from 879 submissions, continue the nonfiction filmmaking trend toward advocacy and away from impartial journalistic observation. “They are basically telling you what to do, versus ‘This is something that is going on,’ ” Cooper says. I guess the word that rankles there is “trend.” I’ve never been to a documentary-heavy film festival that didn’t have its share of edutainment, but looking at the most successful nonfiction films of this past year (whether at the box office or with critics or with awards bodies, or all of the above), what’s notable is that surprising lack of prescriptive, “Here’s a problem … and a solution!”-style filmmaking. I mean, Man on Wire? The best reviewed documentary of the year and the apparent Oscar frontrunner? What is that advocating, exactly — art crime? Is the lesson of Trouble the Water that aspiring rappers who live in the path of hurricanes should try to have video cameras handy at all times? As far as high grossing films, there’s U2 3D, which tells us to … be U2, and get shot in 3D. You could definitely say that Religulous steers “away from impartial journalistic observation,” and there’s no question that it’s been a success, but there is some question as to whether or not an insult comic’s staged road trip really counts as “documentary”, let alone “advocacy.” And of course, there’s my favorite work of advocacy, Encounters at the End of the World, in which Werner Herzog tells us to steer clear of “abominations” like yoga studios and ATMs, and attempts no impartiality in regards to suicidal penguins. Bottom line: it wouldn’t be crazy super weird if there were a lot of documentaries “telling you what to do” at Sundance, but the most successful nonfiction films of 2008 didn’t. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 04 Dec 2008 17:01:37 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com12/4/2008 12:01:37 PMI’ve spent the morning combing the various Sundance line-up overviews, wherein reporters for a variety of publications digest the four competition line-ups announced yesterday in an attempt to find an overarching theme/predictive slant which they can then hand-deliver to their mainly mainstream audiences. One thing I’ve learned: such stories should never be read back-to-back. “Sundance’s writers and directors are turning toward more uplifting narratives,” writes John Horn in the LA Times. Oh good! Oh, but wait — according to USA Today, “The comedies are dark, and the dramas are even darker at the annual showcase of low-budget moviemaking.” What am I supposed to believe? But seriously, folks. One observation from Horn’s story is worth a ponder: [Sundance programming director] Cooper says the festival’s 16 competition documentaries, selected from 879 submissions, continue the nonfiction filmmaking trend toward advocacy and away from impartial journalistic observation. “They are basically telling you what to do, versus ‘This is something that is going on,’ ” Cooper says. I guess the word that rankles there is “trend.” I’ve never been to a documentary-heavy film festival that didn’t have its share of edutainment, but looking at the most successful nonfiction films of this past year (whether at the box office or with critics or with awards bodies, or all of the above), what’s notable is that surprising lack of prescriptive, “Here’s a problem … and a solution!”-style filmmaking. I mean, Man on Wire? The best reviewed documentary of the year and the apparent Oscar frontrunner? What is that advocating, exactly — art crime? Is the lesson of Trouble the Water that aspiring rappers who live in the path of hurricanes should try to have video cameras handy at all times? As far as high grossing films, there’s U2 3D, which tells us to … be U2, and get shot in 3D. You could definitely say that Religulous steers “away from impartial journalistic observation,” and there’s no question that it’s been a success, but there is some question as to whether or not an insult comic’s staged road trip really counts as “documentary”, let alone “advocacy.” And of course, there’s my favorite work of advocacy, Encounters at the End of the World, in which Werner Herzog tells us to steer clear of “abominations” like yoga studios and ATMs, and attempts no impartiality in regards to suicidal penguins. Bottom line: it wouldn’t be crazy super weird if there were a lot of documentaries “telling you what to do” at Sundance, but the most successful nonfiction films of 2008 didn’t. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/11/24/37595.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 11/24/2008 7:01:27 PM
Body: When the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces a shortlist for one of its Oscar categories, many critics immediately focus on what titles are missing. Religulous was snubbed! Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired was punished for having a “secret” qualifying run! The Academy’s rules for eligibility must be amended! Such reactions were seen all over the web last week as awards season pundits looked at the narrowed-down list of 15 Feature Documentary hopefuls and criticized the Academy for its omissions. But the better response (which is the one SpoutBlog had) is to primarily address and celebrate the included films, not just for being contenders for the Feature Documentary Oscar but also for being showcased in general. The wonderful thing about shortlists is that they expand further the idea that it’s great just to be nominated. For feature documentaries, particularly those without a lot of media and major distributor attention, it is also great just to be shortlisted. Non-fiction film fans may now see this as an opportunity to take note of some documentaries that weren’t previously on their radar (unfortunately none of these films are actually allowed to advertise their recent achievement of being shortlisted). But the Academy Awards are, of course, still a competition. So, while we take notice of the 15 semi-finalists for the Feature Documentary Oscar, we shall also weigh their chances of being selected for the final five and predict which titles are likely to be announced as nominees on January 22. 1. Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh It’s a constant joke that any film related to the Holocaust is guaranteed an Oscar nomination. Obviously this is a generalization based on common trend, and not every Holocaust doc has in fact been recognized by the Academy, but if such a film is good enough to reach the shortlist, there is a very good chance that it will also be nominated. And since there hasn’t been a feature doc on the subject nominated since 2002, it’s probably time for a new one to get the spotlight. Blessed is narrated by Oscar-nominee Joan Allen and details the courageous life of Hannah Senesh, who took part in a mission to rescue Hungary’s Jews. If Hollywood doesn’t nominate this doc, it will probably at least use it as a springboard from which to produce an Oscar-bait dramatization about Senesh in the near future. 2. Trouble the Water Never mind the fact that it’s one of the best-reviewed films of the year, this is the Academy’s first chance to get behind the Katrina issue. Though some mistakenly see the Feature Documentary Oscar as primarily a category with which to showcase its favored causes rather than recognizing the actual best documentary filmmaking of the year, there is a miniscule amount of truth in the matter. It’s part of the reason that the Holocaust-doc joke is so often made, and it’s also why the films Born Into Brothels and An Inconvenient Truth were named winners, despite their being subject-over-style kinds of documentaries. Trouble the Water is a tad bit sloppy, but it has the subject matter and enough inspirational substance to receive a nomination. 3. Encounters at the End of the World This may be the Academy’s chance to make up for their exclusion of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man a few years back or simply honor a filmmaker who has been important to the non-fiction genre for decades. Also, with their snub of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, the Academy Documentary Branch could use this as more opportunity to distinguish and make an example out of the difference between a theatrical documentary and a television documentary (as David Poland recently pointed out, “if you are a TV doc, be a TV doc…if you are a theatrical doc, that is what the Oscars reward”). People who went to see Encounters recommended it on the basis that it needs to be seen on a big screen, which is not often said about documentaries. Other things it has going for it are a shared location with Oscar-winner March of the Penguins (even if Herzog starts the film addressing that this is not like that film) and a slight relevance to the global warming issue, which is one of the Academy’s currently favored issues. 4. Standard Operating Procedure The Academy Documentary Branch does seem to favor former nominees in their category, perhaps due to the number of documentarians who turn to fiction filmmaking after breaking out in non-fiction (maybe that explains their snub of Barbara Kopple recently after her attempt into fiction). So Morris, who was infamously rejected by the Academy with his monumental film The Thin Blue Line, and who later won the Oscar for The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons Learned from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, should be given another go. It also helps that Standard Operating Procedure is the sole Iraq War-relevant documentary in the bunch, an interesting fact given how many films dealing with this topic have been shortlisted in the past few years. Even though last year the Oscar was given to a similarly themed doc about torture and prisoner abuse, the issue is likely still one that the Academy feels strongly about. Of course, speaking of that film, Taxi to the Dark Side, its director’s latest film was not shortlisted. 5. Man on Wire This is the highest grossing (and best-reviewed) of the 15 shortlisted films, and that could mean a lot, even if it is only the fifth top grossing doc of the year. The Academy is hardly a sucker for popular documentaries, but most years since Michael Moore was honored in 2002 have seen at least one popular doc, such as Super Size Me, March of the Penguins and Moore’s Sicko. In fact, only four of the ten top grossing (non-IMAX, non-concert, non-compilation, non-reality TV-based) documentaries have not been nominated for an Oscar. The only drawback for Man on Wire could be that it features a very large percentage of re-enactment or dramatization, and even if the Academy’s rules have a greater permission for these kinds of documentaries than in the days of The Thin Blue Line’s snub, it’s very possible that members of the Academy Documentary Branch are more appreciable towards one of the films that aren’t so heavily dependent on re-enactments. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:01:27 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com11/24/2008 7:01:27 PMWhen the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announces a shortlist for one of its Oscar categories, many critics immediately focus on what titles are missing. Religulous was snubbed! Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired was punished for having a “secret” qualifying run! The Academy’s rules for eligibility must be amended! Such reactions were seen all over the web last week as awards season pundits looked at the narrowed-down list of 15 Feature Documentary hopefuls and criticized the Academy for its omissions. But the better response (which is the one SpoutBlog had) is to primarily address and celebrate the included films, not just for being contenders for the Feature Documentary Oscar but also for being showcased in general. The wonderful thing about shortlists is that they expand further the idea that it’s great just to be nominated. For feature documentaries, particularly those without a lot of media and major distributor attention, it is also great just to be shortlisted. Non-fiction film fans may now see this as an opportunity to take note of some documentaries that weren’t previously on their radar (unfortunately none of these films are actually allowed to advertise their recent achievement of being shortlisted). But the Academy Awards are, of course, still a competition. So, while we take notice of the 15 semi-finalists for the Feature Documentary Oscar, we shall also weigh their chances of being selected for the final five and predict which titles are likely to be announced as nominees on January 22. 1. Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh It’s a constant joke that any film related to the Holocaust is guaranteed an Oscar nomination. Obviously this is a generalization based on common trend, and not every Holocaust doc has in fact been recognized by the Academy, but if such a film is good enough to reach the shortlist, there is a very good chance that it will also be nominated. And since there hasn’t been a feature doc on the subject nominated since 2002, it’s probably time for a new one to get the spotlight. Blessed is narrated by Oscar-nominee Joan Allen and details the courageous life of Hannah Senesh, who took part in a mission to rescue Hungary’s Jews. If Hollywood doesn’t nominate this doc, it will probably at least use it as a springboard from which to produce an Oscar-bait dramatization about Senesh in the near future. 2. Trouble the Water Never mind the fact that it’s one of the best-reviewed films of the year, this is the Academy’s first chance to get behind the Katrina issue. Though some mistakenly see the Feature Documentary Oscar as primarily a category with which to showcase its favored causes rather than recognizing the actual best documentary filmmaking of the year, there is a miniscule amount of truth in the matter. It’s part of the reason that the Holocaust-doc joke is so often made, and it’s also why the films Born Into Brothels and An Inconvenient Truth were named winners, despite their being subject-over-style kinds of documentaries. Trouble the Water is a tad bit sloppy, but it has the subject matter and enough inspirational substance to receive a nomination. 3. Encounters at the End of the World This may be the Academy’s chance to make up for their exclusion of Werner Herzog’s Grizzly Man a few years back or simply honor a filmmaker who has been important to the non-fiction genre for decades. Also, with their snub of Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, the Academy Documentary Branch could use this as more opportunity to distinguish and make an example out of the difference between a theatrical documentary and a television documentary (as David Poland recently pointed out, “if you are a TV doc, be a TV doc…if you are a theatrical doc, that is what the Oscars reward”). People who went to see Encounters recommended it on the basis that it needs to be seen on a big screen, which is not often said about documentaries. Other things it has going for it are a shared location with Oscar-winner March of the Penguins (even if Herzog starts the film addressing that this is not like that film) and a slight relevance to the global warming issue, which is one of the Academy’s currently favored issues. 4. Standard Operating Procedure The Academy Documentary Branch does seem to favor former nominees in their category, perhaps due to the number of documentarians who turn to fiction filmmaking after breaking out in non-fiction (maybe that explains their snub of Barbara Kopple recently after her attempt into fiction). So Morris, who was infamously rejected by the Academy with his monumental film The Thin Blue Line, and who later won the Oscar for The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons Learned from the Life of Robert S. McNamara, should be given another go. It also helps that Standard Operating Procedure is the sole Iraq War-relevant documentary in the bunch, an interesting fact given how many films dealing with this topic have been shortlisted in the past few years. Even though last year the Oscar was given to a similarly themed doc about torture and prisoner abuse, the issue is likely still one that the Academy feels strongly about. Of course, speaking of that film, Taxi to the Dark Side, its director’s latest film was not shortlisted. 5. Man on Wire This is the highest grossing (and best-reviewed) of the 15 shortlisted films, and that could mean a lot, even if it is only the fifth top grossing doc of the year. The Academy is hardly a sucker for popular documentaries, but most years since Michael Moore was honored in 2002 have seen at least one popular doc, such as Super Size Me, March of the Penguins and Moore’s Sicko. In fact, only four of the ten top grossing (non-IMAX, non-concert, non-compilation, non-reality TV-based) documentaries have not been nominated for an Oscar. The only drawback for Man on Wire could be that it features a very large percentage of re-enactment or dramatization, and even if the Academy’s rules have a greater permission for these kinds of documentaries than in the days of The Thin Blue Line’s snub, it’s very possible that members of the Academy Documentary Branch are more appreciable towards one of the films that aren’t so heavily dependent on re-enactments. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/sheshe/archive/2008/8/28/34508.aspx Post By: sheshe
Post To: sheshe Blog
Post Date: 8/28/2008 4:12:43 PM
Body: Where can I get this movie or go see it?
]]>Thu, 28 Aug 2008 20:12:43 GMTsheshesheshe Blog8/28/2008 4:12:43 PMWhere can I get this movie or go see it? http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/1/29/24525.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/29/2008 5:01:09 PM
Body: Kim Roberts happened to buy a $20 video camera just days before Hurricane Katrina hit her home city of New Orleans. The day before the storm hit, explaining why she was using the camera to record everything in sight, Kim was already talking apocalypse: “I’m showing the world that we still had a world, before the storm come,” she said, from behind the lens. “It’s like the Lord is upset, angry with New Orleans. And I don’t blame him.” Roberts’ amateur video footage of her neighborhood shot before, during and after the storm is sprinkled throughout Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary Trouble the Water, which just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The footage itself has been billed as “harrowing,” but in practice most of it is too muddy and unfocused (literally on both counts) to make much of an impact. That said, the professionally shot material, of Roberts and her husband’s struggle to rebuild their lives after the storm, tells as powerful a story about the New Orleans diaspora as I’ve seen on film, from an angle unfamiliar. It plays out like a love story, with the Roberts’ turning their backs on their city in times of crisis, only to realize that their hearts are there after all. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina
]]>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:01:09 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/29/2008 5:01:09 PM Kim Roberts happened to buy a $20 video camera just days before Hurricane Katrina hit her home city of New Orleans. The day before the storm hit, explaining why she was using the camera to record everything in sight, Kim was already talking apocalypse: “I’m showing the world that we still had a world, before the storm come,” she said, from behind the lens. “It’s like the Lord is upset, angry with New Orleans. And I don’t blame him.” Roberts’ amateur video footage of her neighborhood shot before, during and after the storm is sprinkled throughout Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary Trouble the Water, which just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The footage itself has been billed as “harrowing,” but in practice most of it is too muddy and unfocused (literally on both counts) to make much of an impact. That said, the professionally shot material, of Roberts and her husband’s struggle to rebuild their lives after the storm, tells as powerful a story about the New Orleans diaspora as I’ve seen on film, from an angle unfamiliar. It plays out like a love story, with the Roberts’ turning their backs on their city in times of crisis, only to realize that their hearts are there after all. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » karina http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/1/29/24524.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/29/2008 5:00:58 PM
Body: Kim Roberts happened to buy a $20 video camera just days before Hurricane Katrina hit her home city of New Orleans. The day before the storm hit, explaining why she was using the camera to record everything in sight, Kim was already talking apocalypse: “I’m showing the world that we still had a world, before the storm come,” she said, from behind the lens. “It’s like the Lord is upset, angry with New Orleans. And I don’t blame him.” Roberts’ amateur video footage of her neighborhood shot before, during and after the storm is sprinkled throughout Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary Trouble the Water, which just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The footage itself has been billed as “harrowing,” but in practice most of it is too muddy and unfocused (literally on both counts) to make much of an impact. That said, the professionally shot material, of Roberts and her husband’s struggle to rebuild their lives after the storm, tells as powerful a story about the New Orleans diaspora as I’ve seen on film, from an angle unfamiliar. It plays out like a love story, with the Roberts’ turning their backs on their city in times of crisis, only to realize that their hearts are there after all. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:00:58 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/29/2008 5:00:58 PM Kim Roberts happened to buy a $20 video camera just days before Hurricane Katrina hit her home city of New Orleans. The day before the storm hit, explaining why she was using the camera to record everything in sight, Kim was already talking apocalypse: “I’m showing the world that we still had a world, before the storm come,” she said, from behind the lens. “It’s like the Lord is upset, angry with New Orleans. And I don’t blame him.” Roberts’ amateur video footage of her neighborhood shot before, during and after the storm is sprinkled throughout Carl Deal and Tia Lessin’s documentary Trouble the Water, which just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The footage itself has been billed as “harrowing,” but in practice most of it is too muddy and unfocused (literally on both counts) to make much of an impact. That said, the professionally shot material, of Roberts and her husband’s struggle to rebuild their lives after the storm, tells as powerful a story about the New Orleans diaspora as I’ve seen on film, from an angle unfamiliar. It plays out like a love story, with the Roberts’ turning their backs on their city in times of crisis, only to realize that their hearts are there after all. (more…) Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/trapped/MemberTagFilms.aspxtrapped
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