They Live

Thank God for idiosyncratic people. Would you go sporting your Ramones t-shirt among the Karaja indians?




Then these are your sort of people: : Shock Corridor Fuller and Stranger Than Paradise Jim.




And this will definitely be your film: Tigrero, A Film That Was Never Made. An amazing portrait of pure authenticity.



Rest in Peace Sam.

Rejoice

The original (!) 200-pages script for The Thin Red Line is available for download. Definitely worth checking out: it's massive and so so different you can hardly believe what you're reading.

It gives an insight though why Adrien Brody was so upset when he saw the final cut of the film:

"I was so focused and professional, I gave everything to it, and then to not receive everything ... in terms of witnessing my own work. It was extremely unpleasant because I'd already begun the press for a film that I wasn't really in. Terry obviously changed the entire concept of the film. I had never experienced anything like that." Brody had initially been touted as the lead, based on the size of the role in the James Jones source novel - he learnt a valuable, if painful, Hollywood lesson. "You know the expression 'Don't believe the hype'? Well, you shouldn't." Since that time, Brody has chosen projects - Spike Lee's Summer of Sam aside - that will not resubmit him to media scrutiny.

Like I Should Check That Site Much More Often

Whoa, for all the trailer aficionado's, check here, we now even got music trailers! yeaaah idd!

news: (050315)
one minute from the sonores album is available in *.avi-format here: sonores - "preview". yeah.

(c) Sonores

D.G.G.

Finally catched up with David Gordon Green (the sioen geek in the middle) and more specifically his first two films: George Washington & All The Real Girls. Now literally every review starts off with comparing him to Terence Malick and it's sort of getting on my nerves. One side is shouting "Malick ripoff omggg!!" while the other one says "genius, new jesus, omgggg!!".

So what do you know: he's actually neither. Let me try and get some arguments across.

THE MAGIC MALICK TOPIC




Obviously as these images show, the Malick presence is there in Green's movies. There's a good share of Magic Hour to be found in both movies and Green likes to use that same loose Malickian approach towards telling a story in pictures, eg he may intercut his story all of sudden with images of the surroundings: nature, factories, animals etc in an effort to get a certain lyrical atmosphere to come accross. Plus the voice-overs in George Washington are stylistically related (a slow more contemplating intonation).

But it absolutely doesn't feel like a ripoff because the content is so much different. I wonder how come noone hasn't mentioned Harmony Korine yet because George Washington is like Gummo meets Badlands. So for the sake of the argument let's say there are as much Malick nods as there were Kurosawa nods in Star Wars.

And from now on let's leave the bullshit "you're a ripoff" argument in the children's closet because don't make me come down and beat you to death with Jarmusch's mantra: "Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination... Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent."



So then, what I like about DGG:

(i) the cinematography is just absolutely beautiful: Tim Orr is the name here to remember.

(ii) the off-screen-voice-over: the interesting thing here is maybe not the George Washington voice-over but All The Real Girls. Everything in there is just off-screen voices from the following scene that Green already puts in a scene earlier on. And sometimes he does that for quite a long time, which works out really well. The main example would be the moment our male character is driving in his car and we hear a fight with his mother for several minutes off-screen, when all of a sudden we immediately cut to that fight. Small things really but great impact.

(iii) the music: a really really big shoutout to the music department. Especially All The Real Girls has a great soundtrack with Will Oldham, Explosions in the Sky, Mogwai & Sparklehorse. But that's not all really. The actual use of the music is so powerful and it's in both of the films the same. First of all what he does, is let the music play for a LONG time. This may go on for 10 minutes (or shorter off course) but it's mostly on top of very different scenes, not that loud, in the back, slowly building up. The great thing about it is (again) building an atmosphere. The viewer slowly hooks into what's happening and stays there, due to the music. Post-Rock is great for that. It can be long, warm, wide & etheric and it fits such an imagery just perfect. (BTW: not only post-rock is capable of this. The Fennesz-likes of this world also do it brilliantly. Recenlty saw this experimental film S*CKMYP by Kurt D'Haeseleer, with music by Köhn and it just created the same wonderful thrilling vibe. Green does exactly that with feature film.)

(iv) and lastly: DGG likes costumes. A trivial thing but some people will know why I mention this:





What I'm not so fond of:

His stories: well that is to say: the storylines don't really have that impact (on me I must add). But I think it's more of a personal thing. I don't really seem to be that much interested in the issues he's bringing forth. And the thing is that's all there is. The movie centers around the issues it's presenting and since there's such a strong lack of plot, you are only left with either an appreciation of the questions being raised in the film or not.

In that sense it's more like Gummo or like a Linklater film. You have to care about the problems at hand. Malick for me does a great job at that, since he brings such a fascinating philosophy and depth to his stories. Green hasn't been able to accomplish that (yet?). I hope he'll turn out like Linklater who couldn't do the same thing with his first films. Let's say Green is somewhere in the Before Sunrise stage and I truly hope he'll once achieve that Before Sunset moment.

Zooey Deschanel I Love You Too

I love old music, old movies, screwball comedies, vintage clothes, and basically I'm an old-fashioned gal.
-- Zooey Deschanel

And if those arguments didn't convince, then go watch All The Real Girls for ZD who does a splendid job.

The Age of Mechanical Reproduction

Gang Gary Xu writes over at sensesofcinema about remakes and specifically the new east-asian remakes such as The Grudge, The Ring, etc:

Remaking is therefore Hollywood's way of outsourcing. Outsourced are the jobs of assistant producers who are the initial script screeners, of the personnel involved in the scripting process, of supporting crew for various details during production, of marketing team, and, increasingly, of directors. Sooner or later, the unions within the Hollywood system will come to realise the outsourcing nature of remaking. But at least for now, the remaking is making Hollywood leaner, stronger, more efficient, more profitable, and more dominant than ever. This is an irreversible but well-disguised trend. The changed ethnicity serves well to disguise this trend: as much as the glamour of Hollywood star system makes people forget that cinema is a big industry, the Caucasian faces in the remakes cover up the significant contribution of East Asia as the provider of intensive labour required by the film industry.

The title of Ringu is indicative of the gains and losses of remaking as outsourcing. Originally named The Ring, this original must yield the “original” title to the remake and is forced to use the Japanese transliteration of “ring” as its “authentic” title. The Japanese film industry might have gained recognition and a small share of the remake's profit, but the gain for the “native”, symbolised by the letter “u” added to “ring”, is precisely what has been lost: the original ethnicity, the “aura”, the intellectual property, and the identity and history of the entire national film industry. How is this “loss by gaining” any different from outsourcing in computer industry? Through outsourcing labour intensive jobs such as software engineering, American hi-tech industry is able to sustain its remarkable growth while at the same time generating a new white-collar middle class in Shanghai and Calcutta. China and India have benefited greatly from this kind of outsourcing in terms of urbanisation, Westernisation, improvement in living standards; but the gain can never compensate for the losses: failure to develop their own software industries and intellectual properties; reliance on American trade and labour policy; and vulnerability to the high cost of the repackaged end product such as Microsoft Windows.

This Is Not A Love Song

...but my favorite Smegma girl rocked the (K-RAA-K)³ 2005 Festival.

Some other festival pics can be found here (by Ronny Wertelaers).

Deconstructing Roger

Who would have thought? Roger Corman being an academic tight ass.

Austin Chronicle: Those early Corman years were an amazingly fruitful time for so many young filmmakers who are now some of the most respected and influential artists of our time. What was it about Roger Corman that drew so many young maverick directors to him?

Monte Hellman: Well, I think it wasn't just directors. Roger was (and is) an extremely bright guy, he's a Rhodes scholar, he was an engineering student at Stanford University, he's just absolutely one of the brightest people I've known in my life. Like a lot of bright people -- not all, but a lot of bright people -- he wanted to surround himself with other bright people. Roger wouldn't even consider anybody for his personal assistant or secretary unless they had a Phi Beta Kappa key. He had these kind of prejudices in favor of intelligence, and so he hired a lot of bright people to work for him in every department including filmmakers.

Enjoying The LineAr Notes. Cheers Bub.

For the unenlightened like myself, this movie tells you all about the original Mr. Blue, Mr. Green, Mr. Gray and Mr. Brown.



And actually this isn't Tarantino related. More about the guns of brixton really, although the name of the band obviously has some reference. Nouvelle Vague brings lighthearted sweet bossa nova POP music. A mojito et cigar pour moi senor and you suckas should come and visit the Epicurean Garden of Evil.

Pong.

"Bacon and I are at opposite ends of the spectrum. He likes middle-aged truck drivers and I like young boys. He sneers at immortality and I think it is the one thing of importance. Of course, we're associated because of our morbid subject matter."

-- William Burrroughs

Ping.

What people don't understand, particularly younger people with the rock 'n' roll sensibility--wearers of black, grad students, counterculturites, all that--they like to think I'm a certain way. Look at the books. Look at how fuckin' meticulously they're constructed. You would have to be an absolutely disciplined, mentally controlled, systematic, meticulous worker capable of sustaining great concentration to write the kind of books that I write.

The 250-page outline for American Tabloid. The books are so dense. They're so complex, you cannot write like I write off the top of your head. It's the combination of that meticulousness and the power of the prose and, I think, the depth of the characterizations and the risks that I've taken with language that give the books their clout. And that's where I get pissed off at a lot of my younger readers.

I come on avuncular sometimes: I say to a young guy, "Son, what are you doing? I'm your dad. I drank, I used drugs, I hate William Burroughs, I hate Hunter Thompson, I hate Charles Bukowski, I don't think any of 'em were worth a shit, and none of 'em can write, and William Burroughs is a misogynist cocksucker who murdered his mother." [Long pause.]

His, ah, mother? Oops, Freudian slip. Murdered his wife. People can't take that. I get confronted with that all the time. I'm quiet. I'm peaceful. I'm 48 fuckin' years old. I got a great marriage. My wife is profound. I've had more poontang than fuckin' Frank Sinatra. I don't need to prove myself that way anymore. I got a woman I'm loyal to above all things, above my career. She's profound to me. I'm quiet. I live in Kansas City. I work. I'm not interested in popular culture. I hate Quentin Tarantino. I rarely go to movies. I hate rock 'n' roll. I work. I think. I listen to classical music. I brood.

(c) James Ellroy, the onion, april 00

When A Cold Mama Gets Hot...

Just found out about ymdb.com and decided to throw in yet another list. I wanna see others pop up as well you hear (and no fight club again ;)

Noctos Top Movies

Poco? Mucho.

"The screenplay for director Jacques Tourneur's classic "Out of the Past" (1947) was worked on by three different writers before reaching its final form. Daniel Mainwaring, who wrote the film's source novel under the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes, was the first to complete a draft of the screenplay. His draft sticks closely to the novel, maintaining the cliched toughness of its tone. James M. Cain, called in to rewrite Mainwaring's version, added several plot elements and a happy ending, all of which were discarded. Cain's second draft introduced the two-part structure that the film would ultimately employ -- the first part consisting of a flashback about the hero's past and the second part continuing in the present. The final draft was by Frank Fenton, who contributed most of the film's best dialogue and many key plot elements and who rounded out the characters. Unfortunately, Fenton received no screen credit."

(c) Schwager, Jeff. "The Past Rewritten," Film Comment, V. 27 Jan/Feb. 1991, pp. 21-23.

Screw You.

There’s a pitch in baseball called a screwball, which was perfected by a pitcher named Carl Hubbell back in the 1930s. It’s a pitch with a particular spin that sort of flutters and drops and goes in very unexpected manners. . . screwball comedy was unconventional, and went in unexpected directions.
-- Andrew Bergman

The screwball comedy can be described as a sex comedy without the sex.
-- Andrew Sarris

Some characteristics of Screwball Comedy:

Reverse class snobbery, to be poor is somehow to be more noble. What’s more, to be rich is to be castigated, passions befitting theater patrons, during the Great Depression.

A very skillful blend of sophistication and slapstick. Although screwball characters move in an elegant world, where even a simple bathroom appears to be the center of their universe, they may still whack one another over the head, but while The Three Stooges use sledgehammers, screwball characters use silver chafing dishes, and the like—weapons of the upper class.

A well written script, laced with barbed dialog. An overlapping style of delivery, with lines tossed off in rapid fire.

An emphases on elegant clothes, cars, and furniture. The use of exotic locals, even the dump site in “My Man Godfrey”.

The hero or the heroine living by his or her wits alone, though this is often balanced by a reliable gainfully employed love interest.

Last and probably most important, supporting casts of first-rate character actors playing eccentric types as well as a stable of familiar faces in leading roles (Cary Grant, William Powell, Carole Lombard, Claudette Colbert, Katharine Hepburn)

(xtra links):
wiki info
modern times

Phil E(l)v(e)rum

Stare at that face and ask yourself why this rock star plays free lunch break shows at Icelandic high school's.

Now visit his webpage and be up-to-date with his schedule.

Then try to order some stuff and tell me if these hilarious instructions work:

ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS:
Send money, in a cash or a check to “P.W. Elvrum”, to our postal address. The prices for each thing include shipping. If you get multiple things, just multiply the price!
If you live outside the United Snakes please send 30% more money, or even more if you would like it sent by airplane instead of donkey. This is not precise, we know. We were not even planning on doing this at all.
No internet!

Postal Address:

P.W. Elvrum
Box 1561
Anacortes,
WASH. 98221
USA

Are you still confused? Don't worry, I am too. Like I've always thought his last name was Evrum because I've seen him credited that way but the site says Elverum and even Elvrum. And you should also put Mount Eerie on your festival posters from now on. Stop using The Microphones because, quote: "I was only the lead guitarist in that band".

Oh well, please keep up your music and wit mr. E. and I'll peddle along for sure. Nice to see your a Kant fan as well.

We're all glowing.

I need to get moving cuz I'm still at home and (K-RAA-K)³ has started, the festival that feels connected with peers like Instal and Ideal.

But Phil Evrum, don't worry, I'll be there in time to catch you.

Cheers Darling

What a beautiful photo.
(c) Robbie Fry

There He Is Again

Quintessential

Writing The Thriller Film by Neil D. Hicks provides some good insights in the rules of the genre. It's mostly oriented at the plot-driven thrillers but if you're interested in writing a thriller, the book can be useful. Here's Hicks definition of the thriller prototype:

A relatively innocent character who normally avoids commitment and dissociates from conflict in life is abruptly caught in the snare of a menacing conspiracy.

The character is completely bewildered and wants nothing than to return to the normalcy of everyday life, but a powerful antagonist is committed to killing the main character in order to achieve a goal that threatens not only the protagonist, but the community at large.

The protagonist, spurred by uncontrollable panic, runs to escape the antagonist, yet soon discovers that not only is escape impossible, but that there is no help forthcoming from supposed friends or trusted institutions.

Instead, the protagonist must act alone by acquiring the strength of self-sufficiency and out-maneuvring the antagonist in a battle of wits until, in the final confrontation, the protagonist defeats the menace by attacking the antagonist’s vulnerability and exposing the evil.

Having changed from an avoider of conflict to a self-sufficient person, the protagonist now must face the larger world with a keenly sharpened vigilance.

According to Hicks, North by Northwest fits this profile best.

Stanley Cavell’s Hot Film List

For the moviebuffs who like the 30's and 40's Hollywood films, here are some recommendations by Stanley Cavell which are featured rather prominently in his books. Most of them are comedies which I still haven't seen actually. The Awful Truth is next in line. Looking forward to it.

1930's:

It Happened One Night
Queen Christina
Mr. Deeds Goes To Town
Stella Dallas
The Awful Truth
Bringing Up Baby
Pygmalion

1940's:

His Girl Friday
The Philadelphia Story
The Lady Eve
Letter from an Unknown Woman
Now, Voyager
Gaslight
Adam’s Rib

Who Said Sweden Was A Scary Place?

Inger Lisa Andersen:
Mr. Craig, I hope you'll forgive me but in matters of sex, compared to the average Scandinavian you would be considered a mere amateur.

Andrew Craig:
Miss Andersen will you marry me?

Inger Lisa Andersen:
We have a saying in Sweden. Why settle for one dish when there's smorgasbord.

Where again did that porn and gonorrhea cliché come from? Ernest Lehman's script for The Prize is full of these quotes. Pretty funny at times. We even get to see how the Swedes hold their nudist conventions. Fans of the local culture should definitely check it out. Others don't hold your breath, it's a poor North by Northwest.

Be glad Elke Sommer is German though. She gives a terrible performance of a hot looking Swedish babe. Thank god for good old Edward G. and Mr Newman.

The thing that's on my mind though is if that was a direct nod to Bergman's Smultronstället, right at the beginning of the film when the professor is sitting in his taxi and we hear his voice-over asking if things will go right. It must have been.

Anyone got this poster on the wall?

I'd like a copy.

Get Your Master in Pop Ephemera

HE-MAN & SHE-RA





INU YASHA



(c) http://www.cosplaymagicknights.com/cosplay.htm
(thx) Skinny Bastard

FOR THE BOYS IN THE LAB: I'm A Sucker For IMDB Trivia

Tonight on TCM Europe: Program those vcrs from 3.20am till 4.40am (CET) for Red Dust (1932) by Victor Fleming.

And then happy hunting on your local black market:

During filming of the famous rainbarrel sequence, Jean Harlow reportedly stood up - topless - and called out something along the lines of "one for the boys in the lab!"
Director Victor Fleming quickly removed the film from the camera to prevent any footage from reaching the black market.

Sup Dawg, I R G4nd4lf Da Gr3y!

Oh Yeah. Geekspeak is on the loose and will infect your societal veins faster than you think. We are the new pwn generation and you better ph34r us cuz we're taking over your most famous icons omg!!!11!!

The l33t script for L0rd of teh Ringz0r - F3ll0wsh1p of teh R1ng:

[later, in Bag End]
Gandalf: "Give teh ringz0r to Frodo"
Bilbo: "Sif! It r precious!"
Gandalf: "STFU NOOB!!!"
Bilbo: "ok"
Gandalf has logged on as admin
Bilbo has been kicked from The Shire

**Later
Gandalf: "Show me teh ring, foo!"
**Gandalf rides out, does some research, comes back
Gandalf: "OMGZ, it R teh ring!"
Frodo: "Wtf?"
Gandalf has logged on as admin
Frodo has been kicked from The Shire
Sam has been kicked from The Shire

[At Isengard]
Gandalf: "sup dawg, i r g4nd4lf da gr3y!"
Saruman: "Foo! U R teh noob!"
Gandalf: "WTF?!"
Saruman: "Sauron pwns joo!"
Gandalf: "Sif, I R leet"
**Sarumon beats the **** out of Gandalf
Saruman: "Pwned!"

Beat!

http://www.demian.be/expo.html

Happened One Night

Disconnect me from what is mine.
For those who are not up to date with Antony & The Johnsons, check check.
Durtro and David Tibet are dope.
The Starfish is on to you.
The drinks are on me.
The sweet birds are all over town and say hello.
If you're happy, try not to get hurt.
If you're crippled, catch the twilight moving towards you.
Here's to the majestic folks.
The sun is rising.

BelieveYouMe. That's Hot Sizzles Writin'

It Happened One Night (1934) by Frank Capra. An absolutely amazing film with mind boggling dialogue (script by Robert Riskin).

Look what my dear Shapeley's got to say (imdb trivia says Bugs Bunny was somewhat based on this character):

OSCAR SHAPELEY:

Hi, sister. All alone? My name's Shapeley. May as well get acquainted. It's a long trip. Gets tiresome. Especially for somebody like you.

You look like you've got class. Yes, with a capital "K".

I'm the guy that knows class when he sees it. Believe you me. Ask any of the boys. They'll tell you. Shapeley sure knows how to pick them.

Shapeley's the name and that's the way I like them. You made no mistake sitting next to me. Most girls you meet on the bus... ain't nothing to write home to the wife about. You gotta be awful careful who you hit it up with. You can't be too particular, neither. What's the matter, you ain't saying much?

ELLIE ANDREWS:

Seems to me you're doing excellently without any assistance.

OSCAR SHAPELEY:
[hysteric]

That's pretty good. "Seems to me you're doing excellently without any assistance."

Well shut my big, nasty mouth. Looks like you're one up on me.

There's nothing I like better than to meet a high-class mama... that can snap back at you. The colder they are, the hotter they get. That's what I always say. Yes, sir. When a cold mama gets hot, boy how she sizzles.

Now you're just my type. Believe me, sister, I could go for you in a big way. 'Fun-on-the-side Shapeley," they call me. With accent on the "fun". Believe you me.

On to More Delightful News

Suidicegirls is not only good for youknowwhat but don't forget their interviews. Just catched up with Adrian Tomine, who's done the wonderful Summer Blonde and last year released his Scrapbook: Uncollected Work 1990-2004.

It's a nice chat, with an interesting bit on autobiographical work and some funny comments on Joe Matt.

DRE: It seems like the work you do that’s not strictly autobiographical can often seem more autobiographical.

AT: That’s a pretty good assessment. If you’re someone like Joe Matt, who in my mind is one of the best autobiographical cartoonists ever because he really has shed his inhibitions and almost takes delight in showing his worst qualities and almost daring his readership to hate him. I think when I was starting out I was much more vain than that so I was trying to do these autobiographical stories but I would get impeded by how I would come off to the public. As a result I ended up telling these very bland generic nothing stories where I’m a likeable schmuck or something. At a certain point I realized I couldn’t keep doing this stuff forever because I want to address some more interesting aspects of my personality. Once I started doing thinly veiled autobiography I was able to open up a lot. It’s almost like a conceit where I give my character a different name or give them a different appearance but even that is enough for me to allow myself to get into personal stuff.

DRE: Are you of Asian descent?

AT: Yes both of my parents are Asian which I’m sure is fascinating information for SuicideGirls [laughs].

DRE: Do you meet women that know of your work?

AT: I tried that for a little while. There was a period when my comics started to get widely read that I thought it would be a smart thing to do but I soon realized it was not such a great idea.

DRE: Why is that?

AT: Lets just say that I don’t think that is a healthy way to begin a serious relationship. It has kind of a pseudo celebrity/fan dynamic which is kind of creepy.

DRE: That’s how Joe Matt meets his girlfriends.

AT: At the stage he is at his life he’s just taking any chance he can get.