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 May 6, 2008 REVIEW | Imagine That: Tarsem Singh's "The Fall"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Playwright John Guare must have had Indian director Tarsem Singh (or as he's often simply known, Tarsem) in mind when he wrote about the increasing exteriorization of the term "imaginative": "Why has 'imagination' become a synonym for style?" Singh makes films that inspire a bevy of similarly misused adjectives: "sumptuous," "surreal," "eye-popping," "hallucinatory." He specializes in audacious compositions, shoots in exotic locales, fits his actors in unique costumes that appear simultaneously futuristic and old-fashioned, and in only two features, including the new and fifteen years in the making "The Fall," has shown a predilection for stories about, yes, "the power of the imagination." [ read more in Movies ] [ 2 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 30, 2008 REVIEW | Changes: Lucia Puenzo's "XXY"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Though it's as sullen and damp-grey as its morose 15-year-old protagonist, Argentinean filmmaker Lucia Puenzo's directorial debut "XXY" doesn't really get inside the mind of young Alex as much as watch her with an awkward combination of fascination and empathy. It's both a success and a failing on the new filmmaker's part; her intention in making "XXY," to humanely depict a character who might in other films or literature be relegated to oddball supporting status, is undoubtedly noble. Yet by focusing almost exclusively on Alex's differences (she was born with both female and male genitalia), rather than offering other facets of her life for consideration, the film slightly shortchanges what could have been a beautifully full portrait of a teenager going through radical inner and outer turmoil. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 16, 2008 REVIEW | I'll Be Seeing You: Vadim Perelman's "The Life Before Her Eyes"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Diana and Maureen are in the girls' room, gossiping about boys and bio between classes, when shots ring out. It's the sound of an assault rifle wielded by Michael Patrick, the school nerd, on a violent, Columbine-like rampage. How do we know? "Yesterday in trig he told me he was going to bring a gun to school!" Diana explains, just as Michael Patrick bursts through the door. The two girls are cornered, and the lanky gunman, taking some time to reload a weapon that's bigger than he is, gives the girls a choice: Which one should he kill? [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 10, 2008 REVIEW | Growth Factor: Sue Williams's "Young & Restless in China"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot With the controversial Beijing Olympics just around the corner, the eyes of the world continue to attentively watch the rapid and profound changes taking place in the social, cultural, and environmental life of China, currently staking a claim as the global market's most powerful economy. "Young & Restless in China," a documentary in the vein of the ongoing "Up" series, examines how these radical transformations are affecting the latest Chinese citizens to enter the workforce, a dislocated and confused generation of young people awkwardly caught in the move from, as director Sue Williams puts forth, "idealism to materialism." It's a shift directly influenced by the political and economic reforms that have turned strict, repressive communism into destabilizing, still repressive quasi-capitalism, and Williams gets close to a wide range of subjects who illumine the challenges now facing this generation and the future of China. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 9, 2008 REVIEW | Weird Science: Shi-Zheng Chen's "Dark Matter"
An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] "Dark Matter" begins with a shot of Meryl Streep practicing tai chi, and therein lies a precise encapsulation of the film's attitude toward the intersection of Eastern and Western cultures. In its 90-minute duration, the film grapples with a number of weighty themes: the origins of the universe, the importing of Chinese scholarly talent by American universities, even the deep causes of incidents of campus violence, like those at Columbine and Virginia Tech. But ultimately, the film's approach to these issues is as suspect as an American movie star going through the motions, however gracefully, of the thirteen postures. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 8, 2008 REVIEW | Compassion Play: Tom McCarthy's "The Visitor"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Tom McCarthy's surprise indie hit "The Station Agent" was something of a minor miracle. A touching, big-hearted character study propelled by three vibrant performances, "The Station Agent" distinguished itself with its sensitivity and grace, qualities sorely lacking in an independent film culture that too often prizes the clever, the glib, the cute, and the smug. With his sophomore effort as a writer-director, "The Visitor," McCarthy once again proves himself to be refreshingly out-of-step with the indie mainstream, taking an improbable set-up and patiently observing as his damaged but likeable characters work their way through it. Despite its contrivances, the film is a work of quiet, restrained empathy. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] April 6, 2008 REVIEW | Old Joy: Stephen Walker's "Young @ Heart"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Can rock music and colostomy bags mix? (Insert your own hilarious "Shine a Light" joke here.) The subject of Stephen Walker's new documentary is Farmingham, Massachusetts' "Young @ Heart" chorus, a 24-member group with several international tours under its belt. The singers' median age, we're informed, is 80. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Lead Story, Reviews ] March 27, 2008 REVIEW | Tuckered Out: David Schwimmer's "Run Fatboy Run"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Since the "chick flick" moniker continues to stick, it's only fair that male-targeted incarnations of the romantic comedy receive an equally derogatory nickname now that they're all the rage. I nominate "dick flicks" over David Denby's more diplomatic "slacker striver romance" designation -- certainly the subgenre's preoccupation with penis jokes earns the label. As outlined by the New Yorker critic in an article last year heralding the crop's crystallization with "Knocked Up," the flicks typically focus on an unmotivated and immature man as he kicks and screams his way towards reformation for the love of a good (and hot) woman. "Run Fatboy Run" fits so uncomplicatedly into this mold, you can imagine how paint-by-numbers it plays. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 26, 2008 DOC COLUMN | Music Documentaries Take Center Stage
When the movie started to roll, the image was only a quarter the size of the screen. I'm wondering if I'm in the right place -- the IMAX Theater at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin -- just as black and white images of Martin Scorsese begin to flash across the screen. He directed the movie I'm about to watch so I'm convinced I'm in the right spot, but won't it cover whole screen? Why show it at IMAX? I'm not sure of the exact moment, but suddenly the movie is filling the screen and like a roller coaster ride, we are at the top just waiting for the big drop that is The Rolling Stones as they take the stage of the Beacon Theater in New York City for a legendary performance. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Documentary, Lead Story, Monthly Doc Column ] March 24, 2008 REVIEW | Wistful Thinking: Morgan Neville's "The Cool School"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] "The Cool School" is one of a subset of documentary biographies that might best be called "Scenes of Yesteryear." Like the recent "Weather Underground," "Commune," and "American Hardcore"--whose respective subjects include radical terrorists, hippie collectives, and indigenous, anticommercial punk rock--"The Cool School" weaves testimony from participants of a faded fringe movement with footage from its heyday to take stock of the legacy of the marginal subculture in question. These are nostalgic, sometimes commemorative films employing a similar functional style to deliver content as practically as possible, and they're so close to each other in quality that a misfire ("American Hardcore"'s harried mess) usually isn't all that far from a triumph ("Weather Underground"'s precise portrait of revolutionary fanaticism). [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 21, 2008 REVIEW | Family Feud: Jeff Nichols's 'Shotgun Stories"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] The presence of David Gordon Green's name in "Shotgun Stories"' billing block is probably both a blessing and a curse for the reception of Jeff Nichols's feature film debut. On the one hand, it broadcasts what sort of film this is -- an earnest character study with a touch of that neo-Southern Gothic quirkiness that Green has made his own. But on the other hand, it will probably authorize some unforgiving comparisons to a style of filmmaking that -- judging by the maddeningly uneven "Snow Angels" -- even Green himself seems to have exhausted. With a trailer for Green's Seth Rogen-James Franco stoner comedy "Pineapple Express" and head-scratching rumors of a "Suspiria" remake circling the internet, it's becoming clear that even Green is anxious to move on from the type of filmmaking he patented, even as a cottage industry of similar films flourishes. [ read more in Movies ] [ 1 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 20, 2008 REVIEW | Gross National Product: Olivier Assayas's "Boarding Gate"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Olivier Assayas's "Boarding Gate" arrives on these shores like a battered shipment of cheap goods. True, it's only sat moldering for ten months in its film canister since its Cannes premiere -- a relatively short period in these hazy days of distribution -- but it shows a distinct lack of freshness all the same. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing: there's a tantalizing whiff of mediocrity to "Boarding Gate," and it's consistently set off by high levels of self-awareness and undeniable craft. Assayas's later career has been a heady stew of class and crass, yet not even in his terrific, audience-baiting pseudo-technothriller "demonlover," with its corporate-girls-gone-wild for the smart set, did he flirt as heavily with exploitation as he does here. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 19, 2008 SHORTS COLUMN | "C. Beck," "Bullet Proof," and "L.A. Noir" Take Top Prizes at Independent Lens Online Shorts Fest
Independent Lens has finished tabulating the viewer votes for its second annual "festival at your fingertips." While the curators of Independent Lens and the Online Shorts Festival jury both decided to honor short documentaries with their grand prizes, the audience award went to a narrative film, "L.A. Noir," Conrad Jackson's mystery starring Jennifer Lopez's ex-husband, Cris Judd. The shortsfest distributed a total of thirteen thousand dollars in cash prizes to an eclectic collection of eleven independent documentary, live action, and animated shorts, with a $2,500 grand prize going to Deb Wallwork & Mike Hazard's portrait of a Minnesota regional artist, "C. Beck," and a $1,500 grand jury prize going to May Lin Au Yong's look at a California neighborhood under siege, "Bullet Proof Vest." [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Monthly Short Film Column, Shorts ] March 16, 2008 REVIEW | Sweet Nothings: Christophe Honore's "Love Songs"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] As in last year's "Dans Paris," 37-year-old filmmaker Christophe Honore ventures back to that lost Eden known as the French New Wave, this time to punch up a featherweight tale of young love and loss with high-concept tomfoolery. And though "Love Songs" (or, if we could please use its original, more melodic title, "Les Chansons d'amour") better evokes that era's carefree cinematic spirit, it's similarly bound by dictates and referents, twice-removed and over-rehearsed. Hence "Love Songs" is not merely a musical -- in which passionate, lost twentysomethings wend their way through difficult times by breaking into pop tunes with puppy-love ingenuousness -- but also a riff on musicals, performance, play-acting, etc. Part of this is just by postmodern design, yet often the result is simultaneously ingratiating and distancing. Those looking for the exhilarating crescendos of "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg" (the film's declared inspiration: Honore borrows Jacques Demy's structure, separating his narrative into the same three distinct chapters -- Departure, Absence, and Return) might be put off by the film's less dramatic swooniness; "Love Songs" is the brief dalliance to "Cherbourg"'s intense affair, perhaps too shy to fully take the plunge, but nimble enough to give off a flirtatious buzz. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 5, 2008 indieWIRE PRODUCTION REPORT | "Derivative," "Baby On Board," "House of the Devil," "Slamin' Salmon" and Prison Rodeo Doc
[EDITOR'S NOTE: indieWIRE's monthly production report looks at independent films in various stages of production. If you'd like to tell us about a film in production for future columns, please contact us.] In March's edition of indieWIRE's production column, Jason Guerrasio profiles five new films in various stages of production. This month's group includes Ryan Pierson's "At Best Derivative," Brian Herzlinger's "Baby On Board," Ti West's "The House of the Devil," Kevin Heffernan's ""The Slamin' Salmon" and Bradley Beesley's "Untitled Prison Rodeo Documentary." [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under In Production, Lead Story ]  REVIEW | Like, Actually: Bharat Nalluri's "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] A middle-aged, getting-your-groove-back Cinderella story: Miss Pettigrew, an unsuccessful domestic used to taking her meals in breadlines, maneuvers a job with a flighty American "actress" abroad, Delysia Lafosse. Just like that, prim Pettigrew is off the streets and hovering around the nexus of the London smart set, where her self-possession and propriety are suddenly rare and valuable commodities. It doesn't take long for a reasonably handsome suitor to notice. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] March 4, 2008 REVIEW | Aural Examination: Gus Van Sant's "Paranoid Park"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Gus Van Sant's so-called "Death Trilogy" may have culminated two years ago with crowning achievement "Last Days," but to judge by his latest film, "Paranoid Park," the entropic weight of mortality is still very much at the center of the filmmaker's concerns. Moving beyond the Death Trilogy's Bela Tarr-grafted stories of self- and other-inflicted violence, Van Sant now tinkers with his trademark stylistic oddities, nonlinear narrative devices, and thematic ideas to fashion a heterogeneous, experimental grab-bag that even for him and his death obsession becomes seemingly familiar and evocatively strange. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] February 28, 2008 REVIEW | Son of God: Paulo Morelli's "City of Men"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] 2000's art-house megahit "City of God" has officially attained franchise status -- after spawning a made-for-television series, "City of Men," it's now passing a licensed spin-off of the same title along to theaters. Director Paulo Morelli, who had a hand in the TV show, looks at the favelas of Rio de Janeiro through a scrim of hissing high-contrast grain, the camera swaying with heatstroke wooziness over swaggering neighborhood kingpins. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] February 25, 2008 REVIEW | Street Poetry: Ramin Bahrani's "Chop Shop"
[An indieWIRE review from Reverse Shot.] Scraping for a living in the shadow of that holy of professional baseball holies, Shea Stadium, twelve year-old Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) does everything an impoverished, parentless, out-of-school 12-year-old can do to survive in the lowest depths of one of New York City's strangest and direst areas, Willets Point, Queens. He calls his boss Rob's (Rob Sowulski) auto body shop both his workplace and home, hustles pornographic DVDs, robs U.S. Open patrons, steals hub caps from Shea's parking lot for extra cash, and saves up precious money to buy a used mobile-food van along with his 16-year-old prostitute sister, Isamar (Isamar Gonzales), in order to, as they dream, start their own business. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Lead Story, Reviews ] February 20, 2008 SHORTS COLUMN | Oscar-Nominated Short Film Directors Bask in the Spotlight
On Tuesday, February 19, 2008, at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, Curtis Hanson hosted the Academy's pre-ceremony screening of the nominated live action and animated short films. With directors and producers of eight of the ten films in attendance, the sold-out event was a rare opportunity for the filmmakers to see each other's work and for the audience to hear what inspired these Oscar-caliber stories. The one-time-only gathering also drove home the point that none of this year's honorees are from the United States, and only one producer and one director have ever been nominated before. "We are seeing the future," announced Hanson in his opening remarks to the program, which lasted over four hours, including two panel discussions and an intermission. [ read more in Movies ] [ 0 comments ] [ filed under Awards Watch, Lead Story, Monthly Short Film Column, Shorts ] Older Entries from Lead StoryFebruary 12, 2008 February 9, 2008 February 6, 2008 February 5, 2008 January 31, 2008 January 30, 2008 January 30, 2008 January 29, 2008 January 28, 2008 January 27, 2008 January 26, 2008 January 25, 2008 January 24, 2008 January 23, 2008 January 21, 2008 January 21, 2008 January 20, 2008 January 19, 2008 January 17, 2008 January 2, 2008 December 31, 2007 December 27, 2007 December 27, 2007 December 27, 2007 December 23, 2007 December 19, 2007 December 18, 2007 December 17, 2007 December 12, 2007 December 12, 2007 December 9, 2007 December 4, 2007 December 3, 2007 November 28, 2007 November 20, 2007 November 20, 2007 November 17, 2007 November 15, 2007 November 14, 2007 November 11, 2007 November 8, 2007 October 31, 2007 October 30, 2007 October 29, 2007 October 24, 2007 October 23, 2007 October 23, 2007 October 21, 2007 October 17, 2007 October 11, 2007 October 10, 2007 October 8, 2007 October 4, 2007 October 3, 2007 October 2, 2007 October 1, 2007 September 26, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 25, 2007 September 20, 2007 September 19, 2007 September 17, 2007 September 15, 2007 September 12, 2007 September 11, 2007 September 10, 2007 September 9, 2007 September 5, 2007 September 5, 2007 September 4, 2007 August 27, 2007 August 23, 2007 August 21, 2007 August 20, 2007 August 18, 2007 August 15, 2007 August 13, 2007 August 11, 2007 August 8, 2007 August 6, 2007 August 6, 2007 August 4, 2007 August 3, 2007 August 1, 2007 August 1, 2007 July 27, 2007 July 25, 2007 July 23, 2007 July 23, 2007 July 18, 2007 July 17, 2007 July 16, 2007 July 16, 2007 July 12, 2007 July 11, 2007 July 10, 2007 July 9, 2007 July 5, 2007 June 28, 2007 June 26, 2007 June 26, 2007 June 22, 2007 June 20, 2007 June 14, 2007 June 13, 2007 June 12, 2007 June 12, 2007 June 10, 2007 June 7, 2007 June 7, 2007 June 6, 2007 June 5, 2007 May 31, 2007 May 30, 2007 May 26, 2007 May 23, 2007 May 22, 2007 May 21, 2007 May 14, 2007 May 11, 2007 May 7, 2007 May 3, 2007 May 2, 2007 May 2, 2007 April 30, 2007 April 25, 2007 April 24, 2007 April 18, 2007 April 14, 2007 April 11, 2007 April 10, 2007 April 8, 2007 April 4, 2007 April 2, 2007 March 29, 2007 March 21, 2007 March 19, 2007 March 17, 2007 March 14, 2007 March 7, 2007 March 5, 2007 March 1, 2007 February 27, 2007 February 22, 2007 February 15, 2007 February 14, 2007 February 12, 2007 February 7, 2007 February 6, 2007 January 31, 2007 January 29, 2007 January 22, 2007 January 21, 2007 January 19, 2007 January 10, 2007 January 9, 2007 January 6, 2007 January 2, 2007 December 28, 2006 December 26, 2006 December 26, 2006 December 21, 2006 December 21, 2006 December 20, 2006 December 19, 2006 December 18, 2006 December 17, 2006 December 13, 2006 December 11, 2006 December 7, 2006 December 4, 2006 November 25, 2006 November 20, 2006 November 16, 2006 November 15, 2006 November 14, 2006 November 13, 2006 November 9, 2006 November 9, 2006 November 8, 2006 November 6, 2006 November 2, 2006 November 1, 2006 October 26, 2006 October 26, 2006 October 23, 2006 October 18, 2006 October 16, 2006 October 12, 2006 October 9, 2006 October 5, 2006 October 2, 2006 September 29, 2006 September 28, 2006 September 25, 2006 September 22, 2006 September 20, 2006 September 18, 2006 September 5, 2006 August 31, 2006 August 28, 2006 |