Besides Ghost Dog, most of what I write about Forest Whitaker on PINNLAND EMPIRE isn’t very nice. This may be a little misleading to some of you readers because he’s actually one of my favorite actors so I owe him this blog entry which is full of nothing but nice things (for the most part). I don't mean to be so harsh on him but it’s just that he hasn't been in a good film or taken a worthy role in a while. Actually his last great performance was in a film that hasn't even been seen by most people outside of Europe (which is a bit strange because it isn’t even a European film). Mary, Abel Ferrara's 2005 religious drama that didn't get released theatrically until 2010, might be the greatest piece of acting Forest Whitaker has ever done in his entire career with the exception of maybe Bird and his stint on The Shield. It played at big festivals like Toronto & Venice, but like so many small films that make the festival circuit it had a tough time getting a distributor and barely saw the light of day. One moment Whitaker is explosive & scary (in a scene where he discovers his wife had complications with her pregnancy) and the next minute he's a vulnerable insecure cry-baby on his knees in church begging god for forgiveness (his character in the film is not only a fraud but he also cheats on his wife). Now, Mary isn’t JUST about Forest Whitaker (the film also stars Juliette Binoche, Marion Cotillard, Matthew Modine & Heather Graham) but he still kinda steals the show. Giving an actor free range to do whatever he/she wants can be a gamble and I get the feeling that’s the advice Ferrara gave Whitaker (the two have worked together before on The Invasion Of The Body Snatchers remake). Luckily Forest Whitaker didn't take advantage of that advice (that Ferrara may have very well not even given him but for all intents & purposes of this blog entry - let’s just imagine he did). Whitaker is calm and controlled in some moments when his character needs to be and when it’s time to go all out and lose it - he does. This is an Abel Ferrara film, so heavy handed religion (specifically Catholicism) should be expected. Not many people have come close to matching Harvey Keitel’s intensity in the chapel scene at the end of Bad Lieutenant (Abel Ferrara's masterpiece) but I'd say Whitaker came very close in an almost identical scene. Giving Forest Whitaker so much praise almost feels pointless as Mary doesn't even have a US region DVD yet and its main theatrical run was only for one week at Anthology Film Archives (unless I’m mistaken). If you happen to own a Multi-region DVD player I highly recommend getting this. Not only is Whitaker great, but so is the film…kinda. …Ok look, I’m gonna be honest - Mary is FAR from a masterpiece but I needed to call it that in order to get your attention. It IS very “interesting”. Let’s call it a flawed masterpiece. I appreciate the fact that Mary, along with Ferrara’s last seven years of work, is evidence that he’s still growing as a filmmaker (no matter how old he is) and is putting aside his fascination of working with rappers and “gangsta” culture (Ice-T, Schooly D, King Of New York, etc).
Mary wasn't exactly a response to Mel Gibson and The Passion Of The Christ...but at the same time it kinda was. In the film Matthew Modine plays; "Tony Childress" - an egocentric filmmaker/actor (clearly half modeled after Gibson and half Modeled after Ferrara himself) who's just finished shooting a film about the life of Christ told from the perspective of Mary Magdalene titled; "This Is My Blood". Childress’ film has some striking similarities to not just The Passion Of The Christ but The Last Temptation Of Christ as well (which, coincidentally stars quite a few Abel Ferrara regulars like Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel & Victor Argo) and its causing quite an uproar - the lead actress; "Marie Palesi" (played by Juliette Binoche) has a nervous breakdown once the production wraps, runs off to Jerusalem to find herself and become closer with God, theaters that are scheduled to play the film are receiving bomb threats all over the U.S. and everyone from The Black Panthers to the Jewish community are up in arms for reasons ranging from racism to anti-Semitism (sound familiar?). When sensational talk show host; "Ted Younger" (Whitaker) sees an opportunity to expose Childress and his film, he invites him and Marie on to his show (Tony agrees to appear on the show as long as Ted comes to the movie premier which will give it more publicity). The only problem is that Marie is somewhere in Jerusalem with no plans of leaving any time soon and no one can contact her. Ted finally manages to reach her (he’s been having an affair with one of her friends played by Marion Cotillard) but Marie has no interest in appearing on his show or going to the premier of the film either. She’s given up acting and has become this new spiritual person. Halfway in to the film Ted Younger (who's been unfaithful to his pregnant wife, played by Heather Graham) has a spiritual breakdown, admits he’s a phony (his talk show is geared towards religion and theology but he admits to not really believing in god) and seeks out Marie for some kind of spiritual guidance. The "guy who once had faith in God but now doesn't" character is a bit cliché and has been explored numerous times from Diary Of A Country Priest (Bresson) & Under The Sun Of Satan (Pilat) to Italian For Beginners & To The Wonder (Malick), but Whitaker breathes new life in to that role and plays it differently (and more volatile) than anyone else has (to my knowledge at least). Binoche also gives a good performance and Marion Cotillard, who only appears in two scenes, is good too. Between Whitaker & Binoche (who never share any screen time together in Mary, they only talk on the phone) I'm surprised this film didn't get any kind of play in 2005. I guess Mary was overshadowed by two other films that came out that same year - Cache (one of the 10 best films of the decade which co-starred Binoche) and The Last King Of Scotland (Whitaker's Oscar winning performance).
It’s understandable that Mary would be misunderstood by the few people who’ve seen it. The film is a bit chaotic, the editing and transitions from one scene to the next are abrupt from time to time, there isn't much insight or depth in to why Juliette Binoche's character suddenly has a breakdown, there’s an explosion scene that looks totally fake due to the bad CGI effect explosion and Matthew Modine's performance isn't very good in my opinion (I've never really been a fan outside of Married To The Mob). Additionally, Whitaker and Graham playing husband & wife also seemed a little…I dunno what the term is, but it’s like he was trying too hard to show an interracial couple on screen where race isn’t the issue. But on the flipside, that is a somewhat progressive (and realistic) representation of many married couples today. Plus there wasn’t a whole lot of chemistry between Whitaker & Graham (at no fault of Whitaker’s). Maybe that was the problem – I just can’t imagine those two together in real life. Religion on film (especially Catholicism & Christianity) can turn people off pretty easily (and like I already said; Abel Ferrara can be a bit heavy handed with the religion stuff). But I appreciate Ferrara’s honest & genuine attempt at trying to do something different. Plus the score is really good and goes with the film well. Given the plot, along with the year it was released (one year after The Passion) many people thought he was just trying to ride the coattails of The Passion when in fact he was just trying to address it which is something he (and any other filmmaker) has every right to do. It’s just unclear whether or not Ferrara was being critical of Gibson or supporting his right to make The Passion. Even Ferrara's motives and mission behind Mary seemed unclear. In the film, Modine's character is somewhat of a megalomaniac who only cares about the hype & publicity around his new movie while on the other hand he becomes a martyr for free expression by the end (it ends with a bomb threat being called in at the premier of the movie and Modine refuses to leave). A movie like The Passion Of The Christ, which isn't good, along with the motivation behind it is gonna bring things outta people whether they like it or think it’s stupid. Given that Abel Ferrara is clearly a strong Catholic, I imagine he felt the need to make this. What I’m about to say is going to make no sense but this is his most flawed film yet at the same time one of his best films since The Funeral (a criminally underrated mob film featuring Chris Penn in his greatest performance). This is a long overdue write-up (which explains why it’s a bit long). If you remember my review of Go-Go Tales from early 2011, Anthology Film Archives did a great retrospective on Abel Ferrara’s work from the last decade, which were films that most Americans had yet to see. I’d say Mary was the best out of the bunch.
'Joe's Bedstuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads' (Spike Lee)
Most of us are aware of popular cult films like Donnie Darko & Christmas On Mars or the DVD release of Alejnadro Jodorowsky's work that took forever to come out due to legal issues, being shelved, or sensitive subject matter. But at the end of the day...they finally got released no matter how long it took. There's still quite a few films out there from prominent directors that almost no one has seen (outside of festivals, special screening or bootlegs). And I'm not talking about unfinished movies in limbo, production hell or development hell. I'm talking about movies that have been shot, wrapped and edited yet haven't been released to the general public. With the growing popularity of region 2 DVD's, Eclipse box sets (the criterion collection's sub label that focuses on releasing rarely seen works from important contemporary & classic directors) and theaters like The Museum Of The Moving Image & Anthology Film Archives we're seeing more and more stuff that we thought we'd never see come out on the big screen and on DVD. But there's still plenty more movies that the public (especially dedicated movie nerds like myself) want to see.
'Fight Harm' (Harmony Korine)
So I've selected 10 movies (some of which I've actually had the pleasure of seeing...yes I'm bragging) and broken them up in to 3 categories:
"Who The F*ck Knows" - Movies that pretty much have a 50/50 chance of being released on DVD
"Possibly" - Realistic possibilities. I think the people at the criterion collection should pay close attention to these
"Probably Not" - These will more than likely either never see the light of day or be released on DVD
WHO THE F*CK KNOWS?:
-PROMISES WRITTEN IN WATER (Vincent Gallo)
After screening this at Toronto and Venice, Vincent Gallo suddenly released the following statement regarding his recent film about a man taking care of his terminally ill girlfriend in her final days: I do not want my new works to be generated in a market or audience of any kind
I'm seriously hoping this is just another publicity stunt/desperate attempt to get attention from PINNLAND EMPIRE favorite-Vincent Gallo. Or maybe due to all the piling hate over the years that the last few movies he's been involved in has received ('The Brown Bunny', 'Tetro', 'Moscow Rising', etc), he's being serious and doesn't wanna deal with all the negativity and hate anymore.
-WANG DANG (Tom Noonan)
I put this in the "who the f*ck knows category" because on some level there has to be a demand for something to get released no matter how obscure or underground it is. Tom Noonan is one of the best characters actors around as well as an underrated director, but he's not exactly a household name. Outside of some film school students and Tom Noonan himself, I don't even think people know this movie exists. The plot sounds great though: A has-been movie director comes to a film school to speak to a class of film students and he eventually gets caught up in an adventure with two grad students.
-LANTON MILLS (Terrence Malick)
Apparently the only way you can view this movie is to schedule an appointment at the A.F.I., who own the only existing copy of Terrence Malick's first movie, for research purposes only. Seriously? Why should anyone have to go through all that just to watch a movie? With the recent popularity of 'Tree Of Life' and the anticipation of his next three movies (which he seems to be working on all at the same time), I'm hoping this will get some kind of attention.
-SCENES FROM FIGHT HARM (Harmony Korine)
You seriously mean to tell me Harmony Korine got the shit beat out of him for NOTHING? This documentary about Harmony Korine trying to provoke fights with random strangers on the street never got released because apparently the footage (shot by his friend David Blaine...yes THAT David Blaine) was unusable. I'm sorry but if I got two concussions and other various injuries for the sake of my film (no matter how stupid it may be) I'm showing it to people now matter how shitty the camerawork is.
'Fraulein: A German Melodrama' (Michael Haneke)
POSSIBLY:
-KEEP IT FOR YOURSELF (Claire Denis)
Here's another rare one starring Vincent Gallo directed by Claire Denis (who's no stranger to rare films herself with stuff like 'U.S. Go Home' and her early/rarely seen documentaries). Given Claire Denis' recent popularity in the indie/art house world these days you'd think this lil gem (which i keep reading about in all the literature i find on her) would make a great special feature on a DVD. And while we're at it, I'd like to see 'U.S. Go Home' & 'No Fear No Die' put out as well.
-JOE'S BEDSTUY BARBERSHOP: WE CUT HEADS (Spike Lee)
New York Directors like Scorsese and Jim Jarmusch have been getting their early/amateur/student works released in the last few years so I think its time for Spike Lee. This short is also a nice little artifact in that not only was it the starting point for Spike Lee, but Ang Lee as well (he was a production assistant on the movie).
-MICHAEL HANEKE'S MADE FOR T.V. MOVIES
Think how awesome this box set would be! Either criterion or kino (who's released a few of his films already) needs to get on this.
-THE EARLY SHORT FILMS OF HAL HARTLEY
Much like Spike Lee, here's another staple in the NYC indie film scene that needs to have his early work put out. To me, this is highly likely since there's already been two collections of shorts by Hal Hartley released already.
'Cremaster Cycle' (Matthew Barney)
PROBABLY NOT:
-A GAME IN THE SAND (Werner Herzog)
When asked if 'A Game In The Sand', an early short film about two little kids and a chicken in a sandbox directed by Werner Herzog that, according to him, Got Out Of Hand, would ever be shown in theaters or released on DVD he said; Not While I'm Alive. I guess that answers that. Moving on...
-THE FILMS OF MATTHEW BARNEY
These aren't the most rare movies in the world, but they still only pop up every once in a while at a theater like The IFC Center or The MOMA. Not everyone lives in New York City, San Francisco or Japan. There's people in this world with good taste who live in the middle of nowhere that cant make it out to a retrospective or a special screening at the MOMA for Matthew Barney's movies which he considers to be unique works of art (like his sculptures) and wont mass produce them on DVD because it cheapens their value. Listen DICK, just put the movies on DVD already!
If you're a fan of directors like Chantal Ackerman, Miguel Gomes or Carlos Reygadas, this is the perfect film for you. A simple yet hauntingly beautiful film about the relationship between humans and nature as well as a study on loneliness and how it isn't necessarily always a bad thing. Imagine all of the slow parts from films like 'The Spirit Of The Beehive', early Jim Jarmusch ('Stranger Than Paradise' and 'Permanent Vacation') and ALL of Richard Linklater's; 'Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books' stretched out in to one feature length movie.
In the film our lead (nameless) female character lives by herself in a cabin in the woods. She seems to be happy with her day to day schedule which involves a brief naked swim in the lake behind her house, a hike in the woods and what appears to be an occasional journal entry. Directors; C.W. Winter & Anders Endstrom don't shy away from focusing on banalities and other boring things that most filmmakers (and viewers) would consider pointless (we see barely edited scenes of our main character doing things like grocery shopping, gutting fish, sitting around her living doing nothing, etc). If you were to walk in to 'The Anchorage' in the middle, you'd think you were watching a documentary about a lonely woman living by herself in the woods. Just like other films in the same vein as 'The Anchorage' like; 'Les Rendezvous D' Anna', 'Japon', or 'Foreign Land' (which can be found on the bonus disc of the 'Revanche' criterion DVD), it takes balls to make this kind of a film. Through our main character's voice over narration (which is really the only element of the film that makes it "fiction") we learn that she's a widow. Is this the reason why she lives out in the woods by herself? Does she feel detached from people now that her better half is dead? It's never fully spelled out.
This film's only climactic moment happens early on when our leading lady is visited by what appears to be her son and his girlfriend. Sometimes you never know what to expect from films like 'The Anchorage'. I thought the introduction of two more characters would totally steer the film off in to another direction and disrupt the flow. I thought maybe there would be a murder or someone would go missing in the woods, but instead our visitors fall in to the same pattern as our main character and don't really do much outside of play ping pong and sit around the living room. Eventually her two guests leave, and she goes back to her daily routine.
What 'The Anchorage' lacks in dialogue, it makes up for with beautiful shots of nature that surrounds our main character. I myself am not an outdoorsmen, but after I saw this it made me want to for a hike...
still from Linklater's 'It Impossible To Learn To Plow...'
The Anchorage shares the strongest spiritual connection with Richard Linklater's; 'Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books', Both; 'The Anchorge' and 'Its Impossible To Learn...' focus on characters who seem to not only be content with loneliness but have a connection with nature. Much like what CW Winters & Anders Endstrom show in 'The Anchorage', we also see with our nameless main character in 'Its Impossible To Learn...' (played by Richard Linklater himself). In the film we see him interact with very few people (and when we do, the dialogue is intentionally unclear and not important) and do other typically boring things like grocery shop, write in his diary, go on hikes and other random things that would cause someone with A.D.D. to lose their mind. There's an outside chance that a rarely seen 16mm American film like this would make its way to Sweden to influence the filmmakers of 'The Anchorage', but there's too many similarities between the two works to toss up to coincidence.
'The Anchorage' is just one of many great films from two of many great filmmakers that I've discovered thanks to Anthology Film Archives in the last two years. It falls right in line with other Anthology films like 'I Travel Because I have To, I Come Back Because I Love You', 'The Portuguese Nun' and 'Our Beloved Month Of Auguest' (all films that focus more on the characters, surroundings and the unspoken elements instead of the plot). Its very strange that I decided to share my views on this film with you all because no matter how great (or how boring) I may have made this film out to be, there's a strong chance that you may not get to see it outside of some special screening at your local art house theater.
We don't usually get in to short films on here so lets switch things up a bit. In September I got a nice surprise message from another Pinnland Empire favorite: Alice Houri. 'Rech JF' is a short film from 2009 that she starred in about an aspiring actress/movie theater employee who responds to an ad that turns out to be something she wasn't looking for. Even though the video is below, I gave that brief summary because...there are no English subtitles (sorry). But even if you cant speak french (LIKE ME), its still surprisingly easy to follow even if you cant understand what's exactly being said (pretentious, I know, but whatever). I showed 'U.S. Go Home' (another film starring Alice Houri) at my birthday party at Anthology Film Archives this past August without any English subtitles for an all American audience and it turned out surprisingly well, so I'm gonna try it again. Something about the vibe of 'Rech JF' reminds me of 'Variety' (Bette Gordon's no-wave classic that we covered a while back on Pinnland Empire). Naturally this type of story is something any actor (or artist in general for that matter) can identify with and relate too. Although the short is fiction, I'm sure the director drew from real life, as some of the films mentioned in this short are actual movies Alice has acted in like 'The Pornographer' (another film i wrote about on here a few months ago).
Anyway, enjoy the short...
A few months ago i had the pleasure of seeing all the films in the Tom Jarmusch program at Anthology Film Archives. Whether you're familiar with him or not, many of you reading this have seen Tom Jarmusch's work behind the camera (and sometimes in front of) on other recognizable independent films like; 'Stranger Than Paradise', 'Down By Law', 'Leningrad Cowboys Meet Moses', 'Living In Oblivion' & 'Johnny Suede'. Although they both work under a minimalist style and have similar themes and actors (Bill Rice, Chris Parker, A.R.E. Weapons/TV Baby), Tom's films are a bit more raw and experimental than his brother Jim's. The program consisted of his short films from the 80's & 90's, leading up to his most recent film; 'Sometimes City' (2010), a documentary about his hometown of Cleveland Ohio. The documentary, which was shot with what seemed like an old 16mm camera, is very good but doesn't give much hope about the future of Cleveland (or the many other places in America just like it). There isn't much structure to the film (which i personally didn't have a problem with), but at the same time you don't feel lost or disoriented. The documentary explores the history of the city (without coming off like a PBS special), its economic state, segregation within the city and the poverty stricken neighborhoods. I've never been to Cleveland, but for some reason i honestly believe that Tom represented the city well with his wide range of interviewee's from all different walks of life (teenage gang members, soccer moms, shemale prostitutes, old school bohemians and comic book legend Harvey Pekar). As i was watching this documentary, i couldn't help but think about a funny encounter that happened to me last year. When i was in Chicago visiting some friends, we were out eating at a restaurant late night and somehow this random couple ended up sitting with us (i still don't remember how that happened). But the boyfriend, who was from Akron, couldn't stop talking about Lebron James and how he's the heart of the city and the biggest thing to come out of Cleveland. Naturally the movie nerd in me was quite insulted that he didn't acknowledging Jim Jarmusch (only someone like me would put Jim Jarmusch & Lebron James on the same level). So for the next 10 minutes i went on a rant/history lesson about Jim Jarmusch and his importance in the world of American Independent film. I said; "Since you're in to sports so much, I'll say this...Jim Jarmusch, who's from Akron, is the Isaiah Thomas of Independent film". From that analogy the boyfriend promised to look into this "Jim Jarmosh guy" when he got home (although he probably didn't).
Eraserhead
Anyway, seeing how bad some parts of Cleveland were in Tom's documentary made me think; "if Cleveland is this bad, then Detroit must really be as bad as people say it is". No matter how racially divided Cleveland may be (and it is), everyone seems to be struggling regardless of race, which is kinda sad that even when you're poor you still manage to find the energy to be racist and/or segregated. But there's still a little glimmer of hope. One of the main subjects/interviewee's is an Andrei Tarkovsky-look a like Russian immigrant who owns a few small businesses. And what's so amazing about the Cleveland residents is that almost everyone Jarmusch interviews has an amazing amount of Cleveland pride no matter how bad their surroundings are. I swear, some areas that we see in the film look they hadn't changed since the 1970's. Other areas in the documentary looked like the factory warehouse landscapes at the beginning of 'Eraserhead' (which, according to David Lynch, was supposed to represent Philadelphia. Another city with its share of rough parts).
Clearly Jarmusch cares about his hometown or he wouldn't have made this film. Unfortunately, and even Tom said this himself at the Q&A after the screening, this film wont get the kind of release that a Morgan Spurlock or Michael Moore documentary would get (according Tom, the film had only played at one other festival and at a few small art shows here & there). Thank god 'Sometimes City' got some exposure playing in a theater like Anthology Film Archives. I look forward to seeing it again.
For those 13 of you at anthology film archives tonight who wondered why there was a guy in the front row bobbing his head (pause) to a silent movie...allow me to explain...
On the train ride over to anthology film archives to watch Dziga Vertov's experimental/silent film documenting 1920's Russia; 'A Man With A Movie Camera' (a film that was re-scored a few years back by the awesome jazz group; Cinematic Orchestra), i thought to myself; "this is gonna get boring as shit real quick. i don't care if its a free screening for members." I think ever since that pinksmoke article ("old movies sucks") came out, I've had a bit of a cynicism towards older movies, especially "classic" or culturally important older movies. Don't get me wrong, i know that 'Man With A Movie Camera' is a film that was way ahead of its time and revolutionized the documentary/fiction hybrid style that would later be explored by filmmakers like; William Greaves (Symbiopsychotaxiplasm) & Chris Marker (La Jette)...but there isn't even a soundtrack to the original man with a movie camera (let alone, no dialogue). Almost 2 hours of silence is a bit much (...or a bit less depending on how you look at it). Then i thought about the pink floyd/alice in wonderland mash-up as well as the dj shadow/akira mash-up, and decided id leave my ipod on while the film was playing and see if the random songs that played in my headphones went along with the movie. I wasn't expecting any amazingly synced up moments or anything like that. I just thought it would be a fun little experiment to keep me interested in the movie. So i picked a playlist on my ipod that was geared more towards chilled out/slow-ish/lounge type songs.
The order of songs that played (at random) went...
1. Sonic Youth - 'Beauty Lies In The Eye', 2. Cranberries - 'linger', 3. Sonic Sum - 'Sara-inge', 4. Jill Cunniff (luscious jackson) - 'calling me', 5. Gordon Lightfoot - 'Beautiful' (*used in vincelt gallo's brown bunny), 6. Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'My Friends', 7. Handsome Boy Modeling School - 'Sunshine', 8. Red Hot Chili Peppers - 'Pretty Little Ditty', 9. eDIT - 'Twenty Minutes', 10. J Dilla - 'Stop', 11. Mogwai - 'Take Me Somewhere Nice' (*used in larry clarke's wassup rockers), 12. Fiona Apple - 'Sullen Girl', 14. Beastie Boys - 'Ricky's Theme', 15. Jungle Brothers - 'Brain', 16. Sage Francis - 'Inherited Scars', 17. Commodores - 'Nightshift' (*used in claire denis's 35 shots of rum), 18. Vincet Gallo - 'Honey Bunny', 19. Jan Jelineck - 'On The Lake', 20. Massive Attack - 'Black Milk', 21. Louis Logic - 'The Great Divide', 22. Dwele - 'Melodies', 23. Portishead - 'Numb'
Now, naturally some of these songs didn't go with the movie AT ALL, but some worked surprisingly well. In this blog I'm going to point out the songs that worked together quite well with the images i saw on the screen...
Cranberries - Linger I was very disappointed that the first song; Sonic Youth's 'beauty lies in the eye' (one of my favorite songs) didn't work, so i desperately wanted the next song to work...and it did. Watching the old grainy/black & white 'man with a movie' while the cranberries's song played, made me subconsciously relate it to the grainy/black & white feel of the cranberries video that always comes in my head when i hear this song (in fact, i think i like the video more than the song). Aside from the visual aspect, this song just "worked" with the scenes while the song played.
Sonic Sum - Sara inge
Wow, 2 songs in a row. This was much different than the cranberries song. It was easy to block out the lyrics in 'linger', because the lead singers voice kinda seemed like an additional instrument, whereas rob sonics lyrics on sara-inge really stood out. But in some strange cosmic way, some of Rob's lyrics matched perfectly with the film. In one line, Rob Sonic mentions city streets, and at the same time i heard those lyrics, we see images of empty Russian streets, that almost look ghostly. The samples also have an "old" feel to them, which went along well with the film as well.
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Pretty Little Ditty
The majority of this song didn't work well at all, but towards the breakdown part of the song (when the trumpet kicks in), we see a scene of Vertov standing, holding a camera up in a moving car, filming other cars driving past him. For some reason, this part of the song seemed to go well with the scene of the director literally risking his life just to film some random people for his movie.
eDIT - Twenty Minutes
I don't remember what part of the movie this went with, but it worked lol. What stood out so much to me was that such a modern song (for those of you who don't know, eDIT is a producer who totally uses modern music software to its fullest potential) seemed to go with such an old film.
Mogwai - Take Me Somewhere Nice
This instrumental track by Mogwai went along AMAZINGLY well with a montage of scenes including a mother giving birth (like an actual birth. baby coming out of the vagina and all...), a newlywed couple riding in a carriage and a public viewing/funeral of someone's body being carried through the streets in an open coffin. These scenes, accompanied with this mellow track make you think about life in a way. You're born, you fall in love & get married, then you die...
Fiona Apple - Sullen Girl
Here's another song that actually had a few pink floyd/alice & wonderland moments. For the first 30 seconds or so, i was worried this song wasn't going to work, but then all of a sudden there was a montage of scenes in the film of someone playing the piano intercut with random shots of women doing some extraneous labor. The images of the piano went perfectly with the song, which features a very dominant piano presence. The shots of the women, who didn't look all that happy, complimented the title of the song (sullen girl) very well.
Jungle Brothers & The Roots - Brain
In this jungle brothers track, we hear a lot of lyrics that deal with work and hard labor. While this song played, there just so happened to be a montage of scenes and images of men working in some kind of a steal factory. Plus the rhodes sample in the song had an old timey feel, like some of the other songs that I've already mentioned.
Vincent Gallo - Honey Bunny
Damn...smh...this song went PERFECTLY with the film. I don't remember what specific parts that happened to sync up or go together perfectly (this one was very similar to the cranberries). It just worked. The official video of 'Honey Bunny' (a grainy 35m short film which has vincent gallo filming various women standing on a turntable), coupled with the actual sound of the song (for those of you who don't know, vincent gallo makes it a point to use old recording equipment and instruments to make his music, which you can clearly hear in the quality of most of his music) went perfectly with the old black & white 'man with the movie camera'.
Just when i thought it couldn't get any better than the vincent gallo match-up, one of the last songs in my playlist beat out every song that played. While this song played in my headphones, the images on the screen were of women using exercise machines mixed with images of various athletic events (a soccer match, men running hurdles, a woman throwing a shot-put, a basketball game, a man throwing a javelin, etc). Jan Jelinek's music is very much based in loops and sampling. Sure there's a lot of random & ambient sounds, the but the skeleton of this song (along with almost all of his work) is based in a loop. The rhythm of the women's rowing and cycling along with the movement of the athlete's bodies went perfectly with the rhythm of the song.
Louis Logic - The Great Divide
Ok, this was just creepy (and awesome at the same time). By the middle of the song, i had given up and decided this didn't go with what was on the screen. Then in the last few seconds of the song, which is about seeing a pretty girl on the subway and not having the guts to go up and talk to her, the song ends with the sound effects of a train on train tracks. At the exact moment that the train track sounds came, there was an image of a train on the tracks in the actual film. Pretty Crazy...
This was really fun. I think I'm gonna have to go to more silent films at anthology film archives. I don't usually frequent the silent films at anthology, because they're usually foreign WITHOUT English subtitles or inter-titles (and id feel super pretentious watching a movie i didn't understand). But it looks like i found a fun way to work around all of that.
Here's a new thing i did for thepinksmoke. In this one, each of us picked an old/classic movie and talked about why we dislike it so much. I picked Andy Warhol's 'Empire', which i TRIED to watch at anthology film archives this past summer. There's a lotta good ones in this like; '2001' and 'Goldfinger'. Link below...
Coming straight off the Amtrak train from Washington D.C. (that's right, i didn't even go home first to drop my shit off) i was able to make the last 2 nights of the Bette Gordon retrospective @ anthology film archives. What stood out the most to me from her body of work were her road movies. First was her experimental film; 'United States Of America'. Although there is no (clear) dialogue between the characters, its pretty straight forward. The film follows a couple (Bette Gordon and her early collaborator; James Benning) on a road trip from the perspective of someone sitting in the back seat of their car. Watching this movie, i could see where Richard Linklater may have got some inspiration for his very similar first film; 'Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books', which is another road movie where the director (Linklater) films himself on a cross country trip by way of train, making pit stops here & there to visit friends and wander aimlessly. If you can get past (what some may consider) the boredom and banality of 'United States of America' like; the long shots of the open road, the couple pulling off on the side of the road to switch drivers, the windshield wipers, the changing of the radio, etc, you'll soon realize that 'United States Of America' almost stands as kind of a time capsule of the 70's. In fact, the use of the radio is the main element that drives this home. Filmed in 1974 or '75, the radio switches in and out of different news stories and songs that capture the spirit of the 70's (specifically the news stories regarding the Vietnam war, and the use of Minnie Ripperton's 'loving you', which is a song that seems to follow them through their trip no matter what part of the country they're in). Gordon's experimental films of the 70's are quite different from her more narrative/straight forward work of the 80's up through the present day, but with 'United States Of America', you can see where some of the seeds were planted for the next road movie of hers that i saw; 'Luminous Motion'...
LUMINOUS MOTION
The back seat perspective of Gordon's 'United States Of America', almost makes it a prequel to 'Luminous Motion' (a movie that i saw for the first time on saturday night and instantly became a fan of). The film follows main character; Phillip, a smart 10 year old boy fascinated by science, on the road (or on the run depending on how you look at it) with his alcoholic/con-artist/prostitute mom, played by Deborah Kara Unger. At the introduction of the screening on saturday night, Bette Gordon commented that she was always fascinated by the "mother & son" relationship, and with 'Luminous Motion', she also wanted to make her own version of 'bonnie & clyde'. Even though i categorized this film as a "road movie", about less than a third of the film actually takes place in a car or even on the road for that matter. At one point in the middle of the film, it looks like Phillip and his mom are finally gonna settle down, but after a gruesome incident, they're back on the run. As the the story progresses, not only does the film start to get more and more dark (Phillip kills someone, his mom sinks in to a deep depression and wont get out of bed, etc), we start to piece together why he and his mom ended up on the road in the first place. We learn that his mother is actually a bit more complex than just the "alcoholic/con-artist/prostitute" that i labeled her earlier. And finally, we learn that Phillip doesn't have the best grip on reality. Through out the film, Phillip is both haunted & helped by the ghost of his mom's ex-boyfriend who Kasey may or may not have killed with a drill gun earlier in the film. He's also haunted by the presence of his father, who may or may not be real as well. Due to Deborah Kara Unger's usual soft spoken & sensual acting (also found in her performances in 'the game' and cronenberg's 'crash'), you cant help but sense some incestuous undertones between her and Phillip (from him rubbing lotion on her back and painting her toenails, to the scene where he spies on her having sex), which further drive home the point i made earlier about the film becoming more and more complicated and dark as it goes on. Of everything I've seen so far, this is easily my favorite film by Gordon (i still have yet to see 'Variety' though). The tone and atmosphere of the movie are reminiscent of everything from Wim Wenders to Alex Cox's 'repoman'. 'Luminous Motion' falls under many categories. Its a coming of age tale, part comedy comedy/part family drama and it even has elements of science fiction. This is one of the many forgotten about independent gems of the 90's that, thanks to anthology film archives, got its 2nd wind this past weekend. I enjoyed this movie so much, right after i saw it, i went around the corner to kim's video and bought the DVD. I think part of the reason that i enjoyed 'Luminous Motion' so much was because it had a similar vibe to other coming of age movies i love like; 'Parents' and 'The Reflecting Skin'. All of those movies combine elements of dark humor, the horror of childhood (which is actually a line from 'the reflecting skin') and family drama from the perspective of a child. Also, all three films focus on a child discovering things about adults (specifically their parents) that frighten them.
Luminous Motion
The Reflecting Skin
Parents
HANDSOME HARRY
While 'United States Of America' & 'Luminous Motion' have quite a few elements in common with one another, Bette Gordon's most recent film; 'Handsome Harry', doesn't really connect with her previous road movies. In fact, the only thing 'Handsome Harry' has in common with the other 2 is that they all take place on the road. 'Handsome Harry' almost feels like the sequel to 'Young Torless'. Both are movies that deal with bullying and harassing gone too far within the military. In 'Young Torless', there's a scene towards the end, when the main character has the chance to help a fellow military student who's been harassed to point where its become sadistic, but he turns his back on him, and allows his fellow classmates to gang up on him and literally string him up. 'Handsome Harry' essentially picks up where that movie left off many years later. In 'Handsome Harry', a middle-aged electrician takes to the road to find his old navy buddies who he committed a hate crime with 30 years earlier against their gay navy mate. This film plays out like a cross between 'Broken Flowers' (a middle-aged man on a road trip trying to track down people from his past) and an episode of 'Law & Order: SVU' (the hate crime aspect of the film). As Harry tracks down each navy buddy, he learns that they have all been suffering or paying for their sin one way or another. One, played by John Savage, not only has sexual problems, but his son turned out to be gay. Another, has a paralyzed wife who was hit by a drunk driver, and he's had to take care of her ever since. And another one of his old navy buddies is dying from what i guess we're led to believe is some kind of cancer. What i liked most about the film was that even though i could see where the plot was going, i didn't expect the film to end the way it did (i mean that in a good way). The acting, which featured a stand-out performance from John Savage, almost seemed like stage acting, rather than film acting. And along with 'Young Torless', 'Handsome Harry' stirs up elements of Dennis Quaid's performance in 'Far From Heaven' (the repressed, masculine closet homosexual struggling with his sexuality).
'I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You', is now my favorite movie of the year so far (even though it was made in 2009). Sorry 'Heartbeats'. I'm always up for a good road movie, and i think this film pushed the genre one step further, just when it was starting to get a little stale. Believe it or not, I think the 'Brown Bunny' may have been the last ROAD movie to try something new, even with all the problems it may have had. 'I Travel Because I Have To, I Come Back Because I Love You', which is part fiction/part documentary, is about a recently divorced geologist, who's sent on an assignment to survey rocks through out Brazil. Although he does do his job, he also uses this trip as a mini-vacation to try and forget about his ex-wife. He does this by hooking up with various prostitutes in each town he surveys, but it doesn't seem to do anything because all he does is talk about his ex-wife through out the entire movie. Like any great road movie, 'I Travel Because I Have To' does a great job of capturing both; boredom and self reflection. Anyone who's taken a long road trip before knows that after a while you can go through long stretches of absolute boredom, which cause you to think about life and all that other stuff one thinks about when you have all the time in the world. Some critics have compared the film to the work of Chantal Ackerman. I could see how someone would quickly make that comparison, but Chantal Ackerman would never have scenes of random prostitutes (some attractive, some snaggle-toothed) dancing seductively to techno music like 'I Travel Because I Have To' does.
'I Travel Because I Have To' is part of an on-going, loosely connected, unofficial series of road films that focus more on the landscape around the main characters, the road/highway and self reflection, rather than getting in to one wacky adventure after another which is a route that many traditional road movies tend to go (not that I'm criticizing films that do that. I'm a huge fan of films like 'Wild at Heart', 'Two Lane Blacktop' and 'Roadside Prophets'). From the first few minutes of 'I Travel Because I have To' until the end, i couldn't get wim wender's 'Alice in the cities' out of mind (along with wender's other classic road movies like 'Kings of the road' and 'Paris Texas'). Luckily, one of the directors of 'I Travel Because I Have To' (Karim Ainouz) happened to be at anthology film archives for a quick Q & A, and he confirmed my suspicion that he we was in fact inspired by Wim Wenders, specifically; 'Alice in the cities'. So i didn't pull that comparison out of my ass. The director himself confirmed it.
THE ROAD MOVIES OF WIM WENDERS (kings of the road, alice in the cities, paris texas): We all know that 'Easy Rider' inspired a ton of great slightly unconventional films. But i think Wim Wender's work was just as influential. From the 70's up until right now, i seem to notice an evolution in the road movie genre. In Wender's films of the 70's and early 80's, we see our characters shot from a typical distance. However the viewer still shares a closeness and intimacy with the characters. They aren't shot from too far away (i mean, you can only shoot someone from so far away when a big portion of a film takes place in a car), but there's still a considerable distance between the camera lens and the characters.
THE BROWN BUNNY & TASTE OF CHERRY: over time, as road movies evolved, filmmakers gave a closer, almost claustrophobic look to the point where we literally felt like we were in the car with the characters. Anyone who's seen 'The Brown Bunny' should agree. Some scenes in the movie felt like i was sitting right next to Vincent Gallo. The same goes for some scenes in Abbas Kiarostami's 'Taste Of Cherry'.
I TRAVEL BECAUSE I HAVE TO...: Today, filmmakers; Miguel Gomes and Karim Ainouz take more than just a closer look, but actually put the viewer inside the main character so that we experience everything they do. That's right, the most unique aspect about this film is that you never see the main character at all. The entire film is POV. Because we never see the main character, the dialogue/voice over almost feels like a diary as he curses and at the same tame reminisces about his ex-wife who clearly broke his heart.
With movies like 'King of New York', 'Bad Lieutenant' and 'The Funeral' under his belt, Abel Ferrara was one of the more prominent directors of the 90's American independent film renaissance. But due to his constant comparison to Martin Scorsese (which was sometimes just) and his truly independent attitude that didn't always mesh well with movie studios, he didn't transfer over well in to the next decade. Its hard to believe that a director with a roster of actors like; Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Madonna and Christopher Walken, who was also responsible for directing both Chris Penn and Harvey Kietel in their greatest performances (The Funeral and Bad Lieutenant respectively) couldn't get distribution outside of Europe anymore. Well, thanks to the retrospective at Anthology film archives we get a chance to see that just because Abel Ferrara's films haven't been hitting the theaters like they were in the past, doesn't mean he hasn't been active. In fact, he's been more active than ever. For the next couple of weeks, Anthology Film Archives will be screening all of Abel Ferrara's films from the last decade that haven't got a release in the U.S. yet. These films include; 'Mary' (2005), 'Napoli Napoli Napoli' (2009), 'Hotel Chelsea' (2009) and the movie of discussion; 'Go-Go Tales' (2007).
To Europeans, 'Go-Go Tales' is about 3 years old now but to us in America its a new release. Even before 'Go-Go Tales' was finished it got a lot of Buzz because it was originally supposed to star Harvey Keitel (which would have been the long awaited reunion between Ferrara and Kietel), but due to scheduling conflicts he had to pull out. Luckily Ferrara was able to get Willem Dafoe in what turned out to be one of his best performances in a long time. For years Dafoe has either played supporting roles (The Inside Man, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Life Aquatic) or he's been "out-shined" by his co-stars, most notably by Charlotte Gainsbourg in 'Antichrist'. In Go-Go Tales, Dafoe plays a gambling junkie and the owner of a failing strip club. He's four months behind on the rent and his strippers are on the verge of striking due to the fact that they haven't been paid in days. In order to save his club Dafoe and his accountant come up with a plan to rig the lottery. When the lottery scheme actually turns out to be successful, problems arise when they cant find the winning ticket (worth 18 million dollars) and they have until the end of the night to find it. What 'Moon' is to '2001 a space Odyssey' or what 'Black Swan' is to 'Persona' or 'Mulholland Drive', 'Go-Go Tales' is an obvious homage to Cassavetes' classic; 'The Killing of a Chinese Bookie'. Aside from Dafoe's commanding performance, the film has a colorful supporting cast of actors like; Bob Hoskins, Asia Argento (who delivers the other standout performance in the film), Burt "Paulie" Young, Pras (The Fugees) and Matthew Modine (another one of Ferrara's most commonly used Actors). Even though the film does have a great opening and great ending, some might find the middle a little troublesome and misguided.
With this on-going retrospective at anthology, 2011 could be Ferrara's comeback year. According to the director himself, he has some big plans for his next films (one of which is a biopic about controversial director; Pier Passolini).
