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Under discussion:

Transformers  (2007)

Rescue Dawn  (2007)

MGM’s decision to release Werner Herzog’s Rescue Dawn on July 4 was more than just a clever Transformers counter-programming gambit: it was an implicit attempt to mark the German director’s POW drama, a dramatic remake of his own documentary Little Dieter Needs To Fly, as a red state-targeted tribute to American patriotism. And to some extent, it worked: conservative film blog LIBERTAS called Rescue “a good old-fashioned patriotic war film”, but reserved their highest praise for the film’s director. “Herzog is a genius and a true iconoclast. He’s a rebel and a free-thinker. The lemmings desperate to be loved and fit in make the other kind of war film, the true counter-culture makes this kind.” And in blog post dated July 27, conservative commentator Debbie Schlussel named Rescue Dawn “the best movie of the year.”

Less than a month later, Schlussel has changed her tune considerably. In a post on her website dated August 16, Schlussel points to site called Rescue Dawn: The Truth, which claims that Herzog altered facts in Rescue Dawn in order to make Dieter Dengler appear to be more of a hero than he actually was. The site bears the signature of Pisidhi Indradat, who says he was imprisoned alongside Dengler but was omitted from Rescue Dawn; and Jerry DeBruin, brother of Gene DeBruin, who was played in the film by Jeremy Davies.

DeBruin and Indradat are primarily upset that Herzog gave the Dengler character the bulk of the credit for planning and executing the escape from Laos. They insist that, in real life, these plans were already in the hopper before Dengler ever got to the camp. In fact, they say they waited a few weeks to tell him about the escape because they didn’t know if they could trust a guy with a German accent. DeBruin is also angry at Herzog’s depiction of his brother as an antagonist to Dengler, played by Davies as a “deranged and derelict Charles Manson type entity.” Schlussel adds fuel to *that* fire by pointing out that Davies played Manson in a 2004 TV movie. It’s clearly a conspiracy!

(more…)

Did you know that a profile of Andrew Bujalski appeared in ESQUIRE a couple of months ago? And did you know that that profile was written by Chuck Klosterman? I certainly didn’t, not until I saw this link at Fimoculous today, with a dig at the NY Times for being late to the party (if they’re late to the very concept of Mumblecore, then I should get extra super double credit for being early … right?) Anyway, the article came out while I was still locked in the dark embrace of corporate America, so I’m giving myself a pass.

What’s most interesting to me is how much has changed since this story appeared in May (or, actually, since Klosterman wrote it, which was probably in April, as Bujalski apparently leaves their meeting to go file his taxes). For one thing, in a footnote (!), Klosterman tells us that Bujalski is considering shooting his third film over the summer in either Austin or Boston. Boston, it would seem, at that point had the upper hand, as Klosterman writes: “One of the complications with shooting in Austin is the heat: During filming, all air conditioners need to be turned off, lest they interfere with the audio. This is a problem I had never even considered.” That film wrapped two weeks ago. In Austin.

And then there’s this semantic debate waiting to happen: “For a time, Bujalski sardonically embraced the term ‘mumblecore’ to describe his filmmaking style, but it did not catch on.” Oh, to relive those innocent days of May 2007, before ‘mumblecore‘ caught on!

I’m just being catty now, aren’t I? Okay, I’ll stop.