list http://www.spout.com/ Recent community activity around Medicine For Melancholy 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/Medicine_For_Melancholy/365097/default.aspx Title: Medicine For Melancholy
Year: 2009
Director: Barry Jenkins
Plot: Fate (and alcohol) brings two people together in this independent romantic comedy-drama. Joanne (Tracey Heggins) and Micah (Wyatt Cenac) wake up together one morning after a drunken one-night-stand, the result of attending a late-night party at the home of a mutual friend. It becomes clear they don't know each other very well and after sharing breakfast Joanne isn't interested in getting to know Micah any better. However, when Micah discovers Joanne has misplaced her wallet, he stops by her apartment to return it, and they end up spending the day together. Joanne and Micah don't appear to have much in common; she's well-to-do and lives in San Francisco's pricey Marina District, while he has a flat in the rough-and-tumble Tenderloin and works with a group of activists struggling to make housing affordable in the city by the bay. As the day wears on, Joanne and Micah become increasingly aware of a genuine mutual attraction, but they also realize just how different they really are. The first feature film from writer and director Barry Jenkins, Medicine for Melancholy received its premiere at the 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Times Tagged: 19
Number of Lists: 5
Number of blog posts: 18
SpoutRating: 4
]]>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:01:51 GMTMedicine For Melancholy2009Barry JenkinsFate (and alcohol) brings two people together in this independent romantic comedy-drama. Joanne (Tracey Heggins) and Micah (Wyatt Cenac) wake up together one morning after a drunken one-night-stand, the result of attending a late-night party at the home of a mutual friend. It becomes clear they don't know each other very well and after sharing breakfast Joanne isn't interested in getting to know Micah any better. However, when Micah discovers Joanne has misplaced her wallet, he stops by her apartment to return it, and they end up spending the day together. Joanne and Micah don't appear to have much in common; she's well-to-do and lives in San Francisco's pricey Marina District, while he has a flat in the rough-and-tumble Tenderloin and works with a group of activists struggling to make housing affordable in the city by the bay. As the day wears on, Joanne and Micah become increasingly aware of a genuine mutual attraction, but they also realize just how different they really are. The first feature film from writer and director Barry Jenkins, Medicine for Melancholy received its premiere at the 2008 San Francisco International Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide19Tag Target (>10)5184http://www.spout.com/ProductImages/s365097.jpghttp://www.spout.com/films/Medicine_For_Melancholy/365097/default.aspxFilm http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/1/28/40036.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/28/2009 4:01:51 PM
Body: Visually more sophisticated than the bulk of features to yet come out of the new wave of DIY independent American cinema, narratively smoother and yet still boundless in mold-breaking ambition, triple-Independent Spirit Award nominee Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game. But the most exciting thing about the film is that director Barry Jenkins doesn’t seem interested in rebutting anything, or in playing any sort of game but his own. His mission: to talk about what it feels like to be young, black and artsy in a city in which people who fit that description make up a minuscule fraction of the population. Formally and thematically, Melancholy is, in fact, driven by fractions. African-Americans currently make up less than 7 percent of the city of San Francisco. Several decades of gentrification have all but whitewashed the city’s historically non-white communities south of Market Street; the few non-gentrified pockets still standing are under constant threat of being steamrolled by the luxury housing boom. To make that point visually, Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton literally drain the color almost completely from their digital video image. On first viewing, I guessed that the entirety of the film had been desaturated 93 percent to match the racial breakdown, but in Jenkins has said the level of desaturation actually fluctuates). The resulting image is soft and smoggy, mostly gray with pastel hints. Melancholy may be more committed to certain of the city’s un-pretty social truths than any other recent fiction film set in San Francisco, but ironically, as a sheer portrait of the city, it’s also maybe the most beautiful. Jenkins wants us to know that, in such a literally colorless landscape, it’s a freak occurrence that our protagonists have met at all. Micah and Joanne wake up in the same bed the morning after a house party. They’ve apparently had sex, but have neglected to exchange names. An awkward brunch ensues, then a silent shared cab ride. Apparently embarrassed and certainly hungover, she storms out of the car when it reaches the top of Russian Hill, but leaves her wallet behind. He tracks her down, convinces her that they should spend the day together. The day turns into another drunken night. As they explore the city together, Micah and Jo spend an awful lot of time talking self-consciously about race, even going as far as to argue over “what two black people do on a Sunday afternoon.” This is, initially, jarring, not just because it’s something you almost never see in a film not directed by Spike Lee, but because as a white girl, my knee jerk response was, “Shouldn’t black people know what it means to be a black person?” Of course, Jenkins’ point is that, as if anybody ever really knows what it means to be what they are, these two certainly don’t, because for the most part, their racial role models are few and far between, and they can only define themselves against what they know they are not. For Micah, this seems to be Jo’s biggest selling point: she represents something he’s fantasized about, and like many of us would, once he stumbles on the embodiment of that fantasy he’s determined to hold on to it and not let it get away. But Joanne senses this, and doesn’t like it. The last thing she wants is to be wanted just because she’s the only black girl in town who silkscreens her own t-shirts and shops at the organic food co-op. Over the course of the film, Jenkins subtly shifts our perspective, from Micah’s gaze to Joanne’s, all the while refusing to antagonize or fully sympathize with either. Somehow, by the end, we want to see these two kids cinch a traditional a happy ending. But Jenkins instead chooses realistic difficulty over the easy answer fantasy. A weekend coupling might work as a temporary salve for melancholy, but it never solves the problems it momentarily obscures. 24 hours after we enter the picture, we exit, carrying with us a perfectly molded portrait of a place in the form this fling. This review appeared in slightly different form during the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. We also interviewed director Barry Jenkins before his SXSW premiere, and at Toronto. Medicine For Melancholy opens in New York on Friday; it expands to Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and VOD through February. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:01:51 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/28/2009 4:01:51 PM Visually more sophisticated than the bulk of features to yet come out of the new wave of DIY independent American cinema, narratively smoother and yet still boundless in mold-breaking ambition, triple-Independent Spirit Award nominee Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game. But the most exciting thing about the film is that director Barry Jenkins doesn’t seem interested in rebutting anything, or in playing any sort of game but his own. His mission: to talk about what it feels like to be young, black and artsy in a city in which people who fit that description make up a minuscule fraction of the population. Formally and thematically, Melancholy is, in fact, driven by fractions. African-Americans currently make up less than 7 percent of the city of San Francisco. Several decades of gentrification have all but whitewashed the city’s historically non-white communities south of Market Street; the few non-gentrified pockets still standing are under constant threat of being steamrolled by the luxury housing boom. To make that point visually, Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton literally drain the color almost completely from their digital video image. On first viewing, I guessed that the entirety of the film had been desaturated 93 percent to match the racial breakdown, but in Jenkins has said the level of desaturation actually fluctuates). The resulting image is soft and smoggy, mostly gray with pastel hints. Melancholy may be more committed to certain of the city’s un-pretty social truths than any other recent fiction film set in San Francisco, but ironically, as a sheer portrait of the city, it’s also maybe the most beautiful. Jenkins wants us to know that, in such a literally colorless landscape, it’s a freak occurrence that our protagonists have met at all. Micah and Joanne wake up in the same bed the morning after a house party. They’ve apparently had sex, but have neglected to exchange names. An awkward brunch ensues, then a silent shared cab ride. Apparently embarrassed and certainly hungover, she storms out of the car when it reaches the top of Russian Hill, but leaves her wallet behind. He tracks her down, convinces her that they should spend the day together. The day turns into another drunken night. As they explore the city together, Micah and Jo spend an awful lot of time talking self-consciously about race, even going as far as to argue over “what two black people do on a Sunday afternoon.” This is, initially, jarring, not just because it’s something you almost never see in a film not directed by Spike Lee, but because as a white girl, my knee jerk response was, “Shouldn’t black people know what it means to be a black person?” Of course, Jenkins’ point is that, as if anybody ever really knows what it means to be what they are, these two certainly don’t, because for the most part, their racial role models are few and far between, and they can only define themselves against what they know they are not. For Micah, this seems to be Jo’s biggest selling point: she represents something he’s fantasized about, and like many of us would, once he stumbles on the embodiment of that fantasy he’s determined to hold on to it and not let it get away. But Joanne senses this, and doesn’t like it. The last thing she wants is to be wanted just because she’s the only black girl in town who silkscreens her own t-shirts and shops at the organic food co-op. Over the course of the film, Jenkins subtly shifts our perspective, from Micah’s gaze to Joanne’s, all the while refusing to antagonize or fully sympathize with either. Somehow, by the end, we want to see these two kids cinch a traditional a happy ending. But Jenkins instead chooses realistic difficulty over the easy answer fantasy. A weekend coupling might work as a temporary salve for melancholy, but it never solves the problems it momentarily obscures. 24 hours after we enter the picture, we exit, carrying with us a perfectly molded portrait of a place in the form this fling. This review appeared in slightly different form during the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. We also interviewed director Barry Jenkins before his SXSW premiere, and at Toronto. Medicine For Melancholy opens in New York on Friday; it expands to Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and VOD through February. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/28/40035.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/28/2009 4:01:34 PM
Body: Visually more sophisticated than the bulk of features to yet come out of the new wave of DIY independent American cinema, narratively smoother and yet still boundless in mold-breaking ambition, triple-Independent Spirit Award nominee Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game. But the most exciting thing about the film is that director Barry Jenkins doesn’t seem interested in rebutting anything, or in playing any sort of game but his own. His mission: to talk about what it feels like to be young, black and artsy in a city in which people who fit that description make up a minuscule fraction of the population. Formally and thematically, Melancholy is, in fact, driven by fractions. African-Americans currently make up less than 7 percent of the city of San Francisco. Several decades of gentrification have all but whitewashed the city’s historically non-white communities south of Market Street; the few non-gentrified pockets still standing are under constant threat of being steamrolled by the luxury housing boom. To make that point visually, Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton literally drain the color almost completely from their digital video image. On first viewing, I guessed that the entirety of the film had been desaturated 93 percent to match the racial breakdown, but in Jenkins has said the level of desaturation actually fluctuates). The resulting image is soft and smoggy, mostly gray with pastel hints. Melancholy may be more committed to certain of the city’s un-pretty social truths than any other recent fiction film set in San Francisco, but ironically, as a sheer portrait of the city, it’s also maybe the most beautiful. Jenkins wants us to know that, in such a literally colorless landscape, it’s a freak occurrence that our protagonists have met at all. Micah and Joanne wake up in the same bed the morning after a house party. They’ve apparently had sex, but have neglected to exchange names. An awkward brunch ensues, then a silent shared cab ride. Apparently embarrassed and certainly hungover, she storms out of the car when it reaches the top of Russian Hill, but leaves her wallet behind. He tracks her down, convinces her that they should spend the day together. The day turns into another drunken night. As they explore the city together, Micah and Jo spend an awful lot of time talking self-consciously about race, even going as far as to argue over “what two black people do on a Sunday afternoon.” This is, initially, jarring, not just because it’s something you almost never see in a film not directed by Spike Lee, but because as a white girl, my knee jerk response was, “Shouldn’t black people know what it means to be a black person?” Of course, Jenkins’ point is that, as if anybody ever really knows what it means to be what they are, these two certainly don’t, because for the most part, their racial role models are few and far between, and they can only define themselves against what they know they are not. For Micah, this seems to be Jo’s biggest selling point: she represents something he’s fantasized about, and like many of us would, once he stumbles on the embodiment of that fantasy he’s determined to hold on to it and not let it get away. But Joanne senses this, and doesn’t like it. The last thing she wants is to be wanted just because she’s the only black girl in town who silkscreens her own t-shirts and shops at the organic food co-op. Over the course of the film, Jenkins subtly shifts our perspective, from Micah’s gaze to Joanne’s, all the while refusing to antagonize or fully sympathize with either. Somehow, by the end, we want to see these two kids cinch a traditional a happy ending. But Jenkins instead chooses realistic difficulty over the easy answer fantasy. A weekend coupling might work as a temporary salve for melancholy, but it never solves the problems it momentarily obscures. 24 hours after we enter the picture, we exit, carrying with us a perfectly molded portrait of a place in the form this fling. This review appeared in slightly different form during the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. We also interviewed director Barry Jenkins before his SXSW premiere, and at Toronto. Medicine For Melancholy opens in New York on Friday; it expands to Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and VOD through February. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Wed, 28 Jan 2009 21:01:34 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/28/2009 4:01:34 PM Visually more sophisticated than the bulk of features to yet come out of the new wave of DIY independent American cinema, narratively smoother and yet still boundless in mold-breaking ambition, triple-Independent Spirit Award nominee Medicine for Melancholy offers a self-contained rebuttal to claims that precious, naturalistic dramas about the existential dilemmas of hipster singles are exclusively a white man’s game. But the most exciting thing about the film is that director Barry Jenkins doesn’t seem interested in rebutting anything, or in playing any sort of game but his own. His mission: to talk about what it feels like to be young, black and artsy in a city in which people who fit that description make up a minuscule fraction of the population. Formally and thematically, Melancholy is, in fact, driven by fractions. African-Americans currently make up less than 7 percent of the city of San Francisco. Several decades of gentrification have all but whitewashed the city’s historically non-white communities south of Market Street; the few non-gentrified pockets still standing are under constant threat of being steamrolled by the luxury housing boom. To make that point visually, Jenkins and cinematographer James Laxton literally drain the color almost completely from their digital video image. On first viewing, I guessed that the entirety of the film had been desaturated 93 percent to match the racial breakdown, but in Jenkins has said the level of desaturation actually fluctuates). The resulting image is soft and smoggy, mostly gray with pastel hints. Melancholy may be more committed to certain of the city’s un-pretty social truths than any other recent fiction film set in San Francisco, but ironically, as a sheer portrait of the city, it’s also maybe the most beautiful. Jenkins wants us to know that, in such a literally colorless landscape, it’s a freak occurrence that our protagonists have met at all. Micah and Joanne wake up in the same bed the morning after a house party. They’ve apparently had sex, but have neglected to exchange names. An awkward brunch ensues, then a silent shared cab ride. Apparently embarrassed and certainly hungover, she storms out of the car when it reaches the top of Russian Hill, but leaves her wallet behind. He tracks her down, convinces her that they should spend the day together. The day turns into another drunken night. As they explore the city together, Micah and Jo spend an awful lot of time talking self-consciously about race, even going as far as to argue over “what two black people do on a Sunday afternoon.” This is, initially, jarring, not just because it’s something you almost never see in a film not directed by Spike Lee, but because as a white girl, my knee jerk response was, “Shouldn’t black people know what it means to be a black person?” Of course, Jenkins’ point is that, as if anybody ever really knows what it means to be what they are, these two certainly don’t, because for the most part, their racial role models are few and far between, and they can only define themselves against what they know they are not. For Micah, this seems to be Jo’s biggest selling point: she represents something he’s fantasized about, and like many of us would, once he stumbles on the embodiment of that fantasy he’s determined to hold on to it and not let it get away. But Joanne senses this, and doesn’t like it. The last thing she wants is to be wanted just because she’s the only black girl in town who silkscreens her own t-shirts and shops at the organic food co-op. Over the course of the film, Jenkins subtly shifts our perspective, from Micah’s gaze to Joanne’s, all the while refusing to antagonize or fully sympathize with either. Somehow, by the end, we want to see these two kids cinch a traditional a happy ending. But Jenkins instead chooses realistic difficulty over the easy answer fantasy. A weekend coupling might work as a temporary salve for melancholy, but it never solves the problems it momentarily obscures. 24 hours after we enter the picture, we exit, carrying with us a perfectly molded portrait of a place in the form this fling. This review appeared in slightly different form during the 2008 SXSW Film Festival. We also interviewed director Barry Jenkins before his SXSW premiere, and at Toronto. Medicine For Melancholy opens in New York on Friday; it expands to Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and VOD through February. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2009/1/14/39548.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 1/14/2009 11:00:48 PM
Body: Director Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:48 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog1/14/2009 11:00:48 PMDirector Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/14/39547.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/14/2009 11:00:34 PM
Body: Director Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 15 Jan 2009 04:00:34 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/14/2009 11:00:34 PMDirector Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to My Effortless Brilliance, Sundance Dramatic Competition entry stars Mark Duplass (HumpdayThe Puffy Chair) and Joshua Leonard (The Blair Witch Project) as two college friends who meet up a decade later and somehow end up pacting to make a boy-on-boy sex tape together. Answering our 4 Questions We Ask Everyone, Shelton declared her love for The Princess Bride, named the crew member she poached from Medicine for Melancholy, and explained her philosophy of low expectations. Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out. Humpday is like Bang the Drum Slowly meets Jaws. Only no-one dies. Either by tumor or by shark. It’s about the reunion of two old college buddies, Ben and Andrew, who haven’t seen each other for years. Somehow, within 24 hours of being in each other’s company again, they manage to box themselves into a mutual dare to have sex with each other on film. For an “art project”. Which wouldn’t be so radical or weird except for the fact that Ben’s married, and both guys are about as straight as straight can be. The film’s about fear of conformity; of not living up to your own image of yourself; about long-term romantic relationships; about a certain kind of male friendship between two guys who adore each other but who also bring out the most absurdly competitive aspects in each other. Why I made the movie: 1) an overwhelming desire to work with Mark Duplass, and, 2) a sadistic desire to watch a couple of straight guys squirm. I’d met Mark Duplass in August of 2007 on the set of True Adolescents, a film shooting in Seattle that he was acting in and I was shooting stills for. Watching him act, seeing how generous he was with the other actors, and how far he was willing to go in every single scene, I knew immediately that I wanted to work with him. We bonded at the craft services table and I pitched the idea for Humpday to him about a month or two after the production had wrapped and he’d gone back to LA. I think Mark found the premise—of two straight dudes deciding they had to try and have sex together—an intriguing, if slightly insane, challenge. He introduced me to Joshua Leonard as his potential co-star almost immediately and the two of them seemed to have just the right kind of chemistry for this intense, nutty, onscreen friendship. I brought in Alycia Delmore, a great Seattle actress, to play Mark’s wife and, soon thereafter, Mark convinced me to play the supporting role of Monica, Josh’s love interest, myself. We shot on two HVX-200s over the course of 9-10 days at the end of June, 2008. Ben Kasulke (who shot my first two features) was the DP and Nat Sanders (who I’d met on the festival circuit last year…he edited Medicine for Melancholy) moved himself up to Seattle from LA to edit the film with me over the next two and a half months. If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker. I funded the film through grants and donations and fed myself and my family by teaching part time at the Digital Filmmaking program at the Art Institute of Seattle. My most exotic past employment experience: working for 4 months on a factory trawler in the Bering Sea when I was twenty-two years old. Have you been to Sundance before? If so, tell us your best moment (or worst, which ever is funnier). If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival? I have never been to Sundance before, (although I have been to Park City; my first feature film, We Go Way Back won Slamdance in 2006.) I am imagining long lines, icy sidewalks, and a constant headache the first few days due to the high altitude. (I like to keep my expectations low so if I end up having a fabulous time, it will all just be a pleasant surprise.) Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature? This is Spinal Tap and The Princess Bride. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2009/1/2/39035.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 1/2/2009 9:00:46 AM
Body: 2008 was not the banner year that ‘07 turned out to be, but there were still plenty of movies worth watching. Sometimes end-of-year lists look like straight Oscar predictions, with little deviance from critic to critic, not so this year. Some of our favorite stuff was not playing in a theatre near you, some of it was. For the record, our complete lists are after the jump. But first! Wholphin 7 is out now! The geniuses over at McSweeny’s have once again curated a delightful collection of rare and unseen short films. We share our thoughts about a few favorites. One film we both loved, Glory at Sea, is available for free here.   (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) 0:00 - Intro, listener e-mail 2:59 - Wholphin 7 16:18 - Kevin’s list, Paul’s “soup” filmcouch-102 Paul’s unranked list: Tulpan Be Kind Rewind I Love Sarah Jane (entire film viewable) August Evening Shotgun Stories Revanche The Dark Knight Glory at Sea Kevin’s ranked list: 1. The Dark Knight 2. Let the Right One In 3. The Good, The Bad, and The Weird 4. Wall-E 5. Wellness 6. Happy-Go-Lucky 7. Glory at Sea 8. Waltz With Bashir 9. Medicine for Melancholy 10. Encounters at the End of the World Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Fri, 02 Jan 2009 14:00:46 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com1/2/2009 9:00:46 AM 2008 was not the banner year that ‘07 turned out to be, but there were still plenty of movies worth watching. Sometimes end-of-year lists look like straight Oscar predictions, with little deviance from critic to critic, not so this year. Some of our favorite stuff was not playing in a theatre near you, some of it was. For the record, our complete lists are after the jump. But first! Wholphin 7 is out now! The geniuses over at McSweeny’s have once again curated a delightful collection of rare and unseen short films. We share our thoughts about a few favorites. One film we both loved, Glory at Sea, is available for free here.   (Subscribe to FilmCouch–Spout’s weekly movie podcast–in the iTunes store or to our RSS feed and an episode will download each Friday) 0:00 - Intro, listener e-mail 2:59 - Wholphin 7 16:18 - Kevin’s list, Paul’s “soup” filmcouch-102 Paul’s unranked list: Tulpan Be Kind Rewind I Love Sarah Jane (entire film viewable) August Evening Shotgun Stories Revanche The Dark Knight Glory at Sea Kevin’s ranked list: 1. The Dark Knight 2. Let the Right One In 3. The Good, The Bad, and The Weird 4. Wall-E 5. Wellness 6. Happy-Go-Lucky 7. Glory at Sea 8. Waltz With Bashir 9. Medicine for Melancholy 10. Encounters at the End of the World Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/15/35159.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/15/2008 2:03:09 PM
Body: trouble every day trailer Uploaded by ydktxx Not to be all Barry Jenkins all the time around here (although, with Medicine For Melancholy having its New York premiere tonight at Independent Film Week, it’s a little hard not to be), but with Claire Denis‘ 35 Rhums coming out of TIFF with a lot of goodwill (see my review here), I just remembered Jenkins’ interview from last summer with Dickon Hinchliffe for ShortEnd Magazine. Hinchliffe, from the Brit band Tindersticks, is Denis’ scorer of choice, having worked on Rhums, Friday Night, and Trouble Every Day (with Tindersticks); he’s also composed music for non-Denis films like 40 Shades of Blue and Married Life. The interview is here, and an example of Hinchcliffe’s work is embedded above. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:03:09 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/15/2008 2:03:09 PM trouble every day trailer Uploaded by ydktxx Not to be all Barry Jenkins all the time around here (although, with Medicine For Melancholy having its New York premiere tonight at Independent Film Week, it’s a little hard not to be), but with Claire Denis‘ 35 Rhums coming out of TIFF with a lot of goodwill (see my review here), I just remembered Jenkins’ interview from last summer with Dickon Hinchliffe for ShortEnd Magazine. Hinchliffe, from the Brit band Tindersticks, is Denis’ scorer of choice, having worked on Rhums, Friday Night, and Trouble Every Day (with Tindersticks); he’s also composed music for non-Denis films like 40 Shades of Blue and Married Life. The interview is here, and an example of Hinchcliffe’s work is embedded above. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/15/35158.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/15/2008 2:01:19 PM
Body: trouble every day trailer Uploaded by ydktxx Not to be all Barry Jenkins all the time around here (although, with Medicine For Melancholy having its New York premiere tonight at Independent Film Week, it’s a little hard not to be), but with Claire Denis‘ 35 Rhums coming out of TIFF with a lot of goodwill (see my review here), I just remembered Jenkins’ interview from last summer with Dickon Hinchliffe for ShortEnd Magazine. Hinchliffe, from the Brit band Tindersticks, is Denis’ scorer of choice, having worked on Rhums, Friday Night, and Trouble Every Day (with Tindersticks); he’s also composed music for non-Denis films like 40 Shades of Blue and Married Life. The interview is here, and an example of Hinchcliffe’s work is embedded above. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Mon, 15 Sep 2008 18:01:19 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/15/2008 2:01:19 PM trouble every day trailer Uploaded by ydktxx Not to be all Barry Jenkins all the time around here (although, with Medicine For Melancholy having its New York premiere tonight at Independent Film Week, it’s a little hard not to be), but with Claire Denis‘ 35 Rhums coming out of TIFF with a lot of goodwill (see my review here), I just remembered Jenkins’ interview from last summer with Dickon Hinchliffe for ShortEnd Magazine. Hinchliffe, from the Brit band Tindersticks, is Denis’ scorer of choice, having worked on Rhums, Friday Night, and Trouble Every Day (with Tindersticks); he’s also composed music for non-Denis films like 40 Shades of Blue and Married Life. The interview is here, and an example of Hinchcliffe’s work is embedded above. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/9/4/34742.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:36 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:36 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog9/4/2008 12:01:36 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/blogs/spoutblog/archive/2008/9/4/34741.aspx Post By: SpoutBlog
Post To: SpoutBlog on spout.com
Post Date: 9/4/2008 12:01:21 PM
Body: The 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog
]]>Thu, 04 Sep 2008 16:01:21 GMTSpoutBlogSpoutBlog on spout.com9/4/2008 12:01:21 PMThe 2008 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival begins today, and Kevin Kelly and I will be there for the next ten days reporting back. What follows is not exactly an iron-clad preview of our Toronto coverage––in addition to some of the films below, I’m definitely planning to see new works by Claire Denis, Agnes Varda, Jonathan Demme and Richard Linklater, and would of course recommend that anyone on the ground see some of my favorites from past festivals, including Medicine for Melancholy and A Christmas Tale. This is more of a list of predictions of what everyone else is going to be talking about, while I’m pushing my glasses up my nose and rushing to to the next screening of the a South Korean movie about drunken lonliness. Enjoy! If you have your own predictions for what will catch fire in Ontario, let us know in the comments. 1. Zach and Miri Make a Porno (TIFF screening info) Obviously, anything with “porno” in the title has a certain automatic contingent (hello, Google searchers! Sorry to disappoint!) But then, so does anything with the credit “written and directed by Kevin Smith.” And then there’s the leading man. Some perspective: Smith’s last three films have grossed an average of $26 million each; the last three films starring Seth Rogen have grossed an average of $117 million each. With Jay and Silent Bob finally retired (we think/hope), and Rogen in tow for the usual, MPAA-baiting Smithism, Porno could––however ironically––become what Jersey Girl was supposed to be: the tipping point that expands the Smith fan base beyond the longtime Clerks faithful. 2. Slumdog Millionaire (TIFF screening info) Crowdpleasers make me itch. But then, to borrow a line from David Fincher, I’m an asshole. Assuming you are not, you might be interested to know that Slumdog Millionaire shows all the symptoms of becoming The Next Juno. Like Juno, Slumdog premiered in a TBA slot at Telluride, where reaction from all but our own Kevin Buist was enthusiastic, even hyperbolically so. Also ike Juno, it’s a music-fueled piece of pop art in which young love results from unlikely circumstances. And, thanks to Warner Brothers’ loss of faith in this tier of the distribution market, it’s now being distributed by Fox Searchlight––just like Juno. If looking for The Next Juno is now part of our jobs, at least Searchlight is taking all the arduous work out of it. 3. Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist (TIFF screening info) Speaking of two devils…Michael Cera, of course, had a pretty great 2007 as an associate of both Judd Apatow and Diablo Cody, and  I think at this point, he’s star enough to guarantee some festival buzz on his own. But even more interesting is his paring in Nick and Norah with Kat Dennings, the actress who played Catherine Keener’s daughter in the 40 Year-Old Virgin, who is quickly becoming a target of fan worship on YouTube. In a video called Kat Dennings sexiest woman alive, YouTube user concedes that inkamagonkhpjacki Dennings might actually be second to Angelina Jolie, which is fitting; like the young Jolie, Dennings is a little busty, a little reckless-looking, maybe even a little goth, but––and this is *not* like the sometime Gia impersonator––at the same time kind of goofy and totally unintimidating. In the most recent video on her own YouTube channel, she puts a blanket on her head, wraps stuffed animals around her shoulders like a fur stole, then grabs a guitar and shrugs: “I don’t know, I like reading.” More, please. Also: I’m pretending like the character names (based on a book of the same name) are a Thin Man reference. 4. The Dungeon Masters (TIFF screening info) The pedigree: Director Keven McAlester, whose last film was the festival hit Roky Erickson doc, You’re Gonna Miss Me; and Lee Daniel, the cinematographer of Miss Me as well as much of Richard Linklater’s filmography. The hook: a year-long glimpse into the lives of three adults who are really into Dungeons and Dragons. The verdict: irresistible bait for both indie film nerds and nerd nerds, and, if McAlester’s previous work is any indication, likely more probing and sensitive a portrait than the logline might at first glance indicate. 5. Pedro (TIFF screening info) Produced by Wash Westmoreland (whose Quincinera won the grand prize at Sundance in 2006), Nick Oceano’s first feature is an examination of the birth of reality TV as factory for both new celebrities and cultural attitudes, via the life and early death of Pedro Zamora, AIDS activist and cast member of the Real World San Francisco, The Movie. Which sounds very important, as does the fact that this is (I believe) the first fictional film that will ostensibly reenact moments from reality TV. But we’ll excuse you if you read the above and thought only, “OMG, Puck! OMG, the peanut butter fight!!!” 6.  Religulous (TIFF screening info) Why anyone takes Bill Maher’s Borscht Belt-to-Venice Beach schtick seriously I don’t know (I suspect that if he didn’t have a Bush Jr to play off, his primary cause would be Legalizing It), but Religulous hardly needs to convert me, or anyone else. In a year in which Ben Stein’s Expelled has become the top grossing non-fiction film––beating Martin Scorsese and the Stones––by playing in non-traditional venues and appealing strictly to an audience already in its “give intelligent design a chance” wheelhouse, and in which a Republican presidential candidate picks a running mate whose conservative social politics seem like bait for the neo-conservative party wing said presidential candidate used to claim he wasn’t beholden to, it seems clear that faith is the sleeper issue of the day. I may take issue with his cringey jokes, but I still see no reason to underestimate the impact Maher and his Religulous director/savvier comic provacateur Larry Charles will have on the large portion of the typical film festival audience with which their choir overlaps. 7.  Valentino: The Last Emperor (TIFF screening info) Reviews out of Venice grumbled about a lack of depth in Valentino’s setting but offered praise for the poignancy of the characters. For those of us who have been longing for a fully-realized epic fashion doc since Unzipped––or, a semi-serious, semi-guilty pleasure celebrity doc full of cheap but completely satisfying La Dolce Vita references since Truth or Dare––Valentino, directed by Vanity Fair reporter Matt Tyrnauer, shouldn’t disappoint. 8.  Che (TIFF screening info) Steven Soderbergh’s troubled epic might have placed higher on the list had its once-dire distribution situation not recently began to look up, but it’s still by all means impossible to argue against its status as a must-see. Che will have one screening in Toronto in its 262 minute incarnation; Parts 1 and 2 will then screen twice on their own. Just having the ability to Choose Your Che should cause a certain amount of chatter. I’m imagining (and sort of fearing) the arguments from Che completists over The Right Way To See It as we speak. 9.  The Hurt Locker (TIFF screening info) One of a number of films at TIFF dealing with soldiers either in, just returned from, or on their way to Iraq (see also 3 Blind Mice, Lucky Ones). The Hurt Locker has an obvious advantage within a micro-genre of films that have tended to fall pretty flat with both audiences and critics: it’s essentially a big-budget action thriller. And it’s directed by Kathryn Bigelow of Strange Days and Point Break fame, so it’s got a good chance of putting action above ideology without being totally brainless. 10.  Paris, Not France (TIFF Screening info) As Charles Aaron used to say, I give. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog http://www.spout.com/blogs/karina/archive/2008/6/25/31697.aspx Post By: Karina
Post To: Karina on SpoutBlog
Post Date: 6/25/2008 5:01:05 PM
Body: I grew up in Los Angeles and have fractured but fierce memories of seeing movies in Westwood, the theater-packed micro-city surrounding UCLA, in which the Los Angeles Film Festival is now based. I think I saw Jurassic Park four times at the Avco. I know I saw my first Lubitsch movie (Design for Living) at UCLA. Yesterday I was standing in line at Rite Aid and had some kind of out-of-body flashback experience of getting ice cream at the same Rite Aid after my mother took me to a matinee of Flight of the Navigator. I’m sure people go to film festivals in their hometowns all the time and don’t think it’s weird at all, but I get painfully nostalgic. I, like, went to school and stuff, but hanging out in these theaters for entire summers is how I fell in love with movies. Funny, then, that I’ve been here for almost two full days and I haven’t yet been able to see a single film. Part of this is a scheduling issue––I got in too late on Monday to make it to a screening, and I had already seen many of the films that played yesterday, including Medicine for Melancholy and The Pleasure of Being Robbed. I did actually try to make a screening of Largo, the documentary about the famed Fairfax club, but I, um, went to the wrong theater by mistake and missed it. And then, there were parties to go to. More on that, with photo evidence, after the jump. The evening began with a cocktail party hosted by Cinemocracy, the Denver Film Society’s initiative to produce a film festival at the Democratic National Convention. They were handing out buttons, which was useful because earlier in the day I had spilled coffee on my dress and I had a spot that I needed to cover up. Here are (l-r) Mike Jones from Variety, Cinetic’s Matt Dentler, Throw Down Your Heart director Sascha Paladino, and Eugene Hernandez from indieWIRE. From there, it was on to the Sunset Marquis, for a party thrown by IFC to celebrate their films at the festival. I didn’t get pictures of either of these things, but highlights included the flower that Josh Safdie was wearing behind his ear, and a “group spoon”, involving about ten drunk filmmakers lying on the floor in loose embrace. Gregg Araki, pictured above with Strand’s Marcus Hu, was not one of them. Barry Jenkins, director of Medicine for Melancholy, did spoon. He’s pictured above right, next to Quiet City producer Brendan McFadden, IFC’s Ryan Warner, and muti-hyphenate Michael Lerman. I have a lot of pictures of Michael Lerman, who wrote a fantastic writeup of the first half of the fest for indieWIRE. Above, he’s pretending to be a wine snob with Amy Seimetz, a producer on Melancholy who is also directing her own feature and appearing in the next film by Joe Swanberg. Below, Lerman and Yeast star Amy Judd. Then we moved on to the Target Red Room, the Festival’s corporate sponsored party space, where Serge Bozon was DJing. Serge is here with his feature La France, which was described to me as a “World War I pop musical. Obviously, that made me swoon. The filmmaker is a vinyl collector who spent $900 on a handful of 45s hours before his set. In between each song, he’d pop on the mic in heavily-accented English (see above) to introduce the next track with what we eventually figured out were misnomers. “Here we go, with another classic track from Minneapolis!” was one of his favorites, which I think, at one point, he applied to The Ramones; for his finale, announced a “slow song” which turned out to be a ten-minute epic piece of proto punk that was essentially too fast to dance to. But I tried. Variety critic Robert Koehler captures the magic. Sales agent Nguyen “Wyn” Tran poses with LAFF programmer Doug Jones. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth
]]>Wed, 25 Jun 2008 21:01:05 GMTKarinaKarina on SpoutBlog6/25/2008 5:01:05 PMI grew up in Los Angeles and have fractured but fierce memories of seeing movies in Westwood, the theater-packed micro-city surrounding UCLA, in which the Los Angeles Film Festival is now based. I think I saw Jurassic Park four times at the Avco. I know I saw my first Lubitsch movie (Design for Living) at UCLA. Yesterday I was standing in line at Rite Aid and had some kind of out-of-body flashback experience of getting ice cream at the same Rite Aid after my mother took me to a matinee of Flight of the Navigator. I’m sure people go to film festivals in their hometowns all the time and don’t think it’s weird at all, but I get painfully nostalgic. I, like, went to school and stuff, but hanging out in these theaters for entire summers is how I fell in love with movies. Funny, then, that I’ve been here for almost two full days and I haven’t yet been able to see a single film. Part of this is a scheduling issue––I got in too late on Monday to make it to a screening, and I had already seen many of the films that played yesterday, including Medicine for Melancholy and The Pleasure of Being Robbed. I did actually try to make a screening of Largo, the documentary about the famed Fairfax club, but I, um, went to the wrong theater by mistake and missed it. And then, there were parties to go to. More on that, with photo evidence, after the jump. The evening began with a cocktail party hosted by Cinemocracy, the Denver Film Society’s initiative to produce a film festival at the Democratic National Convention. They were handing out buttons, which was useful because earlier in the day I had spilled coffee on my dress and I had a spot that I needed to cover up. Here are (l-r) Mike Jones from Variety, Cinetic’s Matt Dentler, Throw Down Your Heart director Sascha Paladino, and Eugene Hernandez from indieWIRE. From there, it was on to the Sunset Marquis, for a party thrown by IFC to celebrate their films at the festival. I didn’t get pictures of either of these things, but highlights included the flower that Josh Safdie was wearing behind his ear, and a “group spoon”, involving about ten drunk filmmakers lying on the floor in loose embrace. Gregg Araki, pictured above with Strand’s Marcus Hu, was not one of them. Barry Jenkins, director of Medicine for Melancholy, did spoon. He’s pictured above right, next to Quiet City producer Brendan McFadden, IFC’s Ryan Warner, and muti-hyphenate Michael Lerman. I have a lot of pictures of Michael Lerman, who wrote a fantastic writeup of the first half of the fest for indieWIRE. Above, he’s pretending to be a wine snob with Amy Seimetz, a producer on Melancholy who is also directing her own feature and appearing in the next film by Joe Swanberg. Below, Lerman and Yeast star Amy Judd. Then we moved on to the Target Red Room, the Festival’s corporate sponsored party space, where Serge Bozon was DJing. Serge is here with his feature La France, which was described to me as a “World War I pop musical. Obviously, that made me swoon. The filmmaker is a vinyl collector who spent $900 on a handful of 45s hours before his set. In between each song, he’d pop on the mic in heavily-accented English (see above) to introduce the next track with what we eventually figured out were misnomers. “Here we go, with another classic track from Minneapolis!” was one of his favorites, which I think, at one point, he applied to The Ramones; for his finale, announced a “slow song” which turned out to be a ten-minute epic piece of proto punk that was essentially too fast to dance to. But I tried. Variety critic Robert Koehler captures the magic. Sales agent Nguyen “Wyn” Tran poses with LAFF programmer Doug Jones. Originally posted on:SpoutBlog » Karina Longworth http://www.spout.com/members/0/tags/college/MemberTagFilms.aspxcollege
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