This ad makes me laugh out loud every time...
jueves, 24 de enero de 2008
lunes, 21 de enero de 2008
When asked, most film fans can pull out some big names of famous directors - Lean, Kubrick, Ford, Huston, Welles, Bergman, Fellini etc. Some can rhyme off great films but haven't got much of a clue who made them - Casablanca, The Third Man, To Kill a Mockingbird. We tend to remember those filmmakers who were more daring and audacious, controversial and enigmatic. Those people whose own characters are as big as the films they made. Lately I was re-watching the films of Carol Reed and felt compelled to celebrate his films here on the blog. He is one of those filmmakers who doesn't come up in my discussions with film fans (unless I bring him up).
Carol Reed belongs to that British 'journeyman' tradition. He had humble beginnings as an actor and stage manager in the theatre. He joined the British film studio ranks as a dialogue director and worked his way up through the system to eventually becoming director. Finding success with both documentaries and feature films, Reed became increasingly powerful in the British cinema and was able to choose his projects. Reed made three classic film back to back starting with 1947's 'Odd Man Out', starring James Mason. His next film was the first of three collaborations with the novelist Graham Greene, 'The Fallen Idol'(1948) and then the bona fide classic starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, 'The Third Man' (1949). His last collaboration with Graham Greene was the comedy/spy thriller 'Our Man in Havana' starring Alec Guinness.
'Odd Man Out' is one of those strange and wonderful films that introduces some unexpected characters who end up taking the film in an original and unexpected direction. 'Odd Man Out' also features another of Reed's frequent collaborators, the cinematographer Robert Krasker (another fine artist whose name is seldom mentioned). 'Odd Man Out' is a story about an IRA fugitive (Mason) who is wounded after killing a man during a robbery and becomes the target of a massive man hunt. Left behind by his partners, he must try to find his way to safety. The film takes place in Belfast and one of the things you notice about Reed's direction is his affinity for real locations. Most films of the day were shot on sound stages with a small amount of exterior establishing shots. 'Odd Man Out' takes place in the bleak and decrepit streets of Belfast.
There is a power struggle in Belfast and trust and allegiance is a very slippery issue for the dying Johnny (Mason). At the beginning of the film Johnny questions their use of violence to achieve their goals. The gun doesn't create solutions it just creates more guns. Through the cold and snowy night, the guilt of the murder tears away at him while he evades the police. Along the way we meet the colourful towns people who aid the struggling fugitive.
'Odd Man Out' is a terrific film and highlights Reed's originality as a storyteller and visual filmmaker. There are wonderful hallucinatory images and the film is elevated by great performances, great writing, great characters, great art direction and sublime photography.
After 'Odd Man Out' Reed tackled Graham Greene's novella, 'The Fallen Idol' (originally titled 'The Basement Room'). Again, he takes on material that has a unique twist. 'The Fallen Idol' is a murder mystery where the Butler is accused of murdering his wife. The great twist is that the film is from the point of view of the young man of the house. The boy (played by Bobby Henrey) is quite enamored with his good friend Baines (the Butler played by Ralph Richardson). Baines' wife suffers a life ending fall down the stairs after confronting Baines about his ongoing affair with a younger woman. The young boy is a partial witness to the 'murder' and the film unwinds in a series of secrets and lies until the tense conclusion. The film succeeds on all levels - his use of the child's point of view, the strong compositions, wonderful production designs, great writing and the great performances he elicited, especially from the young Bobby Henrey.
Reed's next film was 1949's blockbuster 'The Third Man'. Starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, 'The Third Man' was based on an original screenplay by Graham Greene (not an adaptation). Like the previous film, 'The Third Man' was a mystery, this time set in the rubble of post war Vienna. The plot involves Holly Martins (Cotten) arriving in Vienna to visit his old friend Harry Lime (Welles) only to be informed that Lime had been killed after being struck by a car. Frustrated by the police's lack of interest in the mysterious circumstances of his friends death, Holly resolves to find the killer(s) and get justice for Harry.
Again, the location photography by Krasker is sublime (won the Academy award that year for b&w cinematography). The film is driven by the unforgettable score by Anton Karas, the characters and performances are outstanding and the story is poignant and surprising. The visual style is dynamic and employs canted angles and superior compositions. Over the years many have suggested that Welles played a large role in the direction of the film but if you look at 'Odd Man Out' and 'The Fallen Idol' you realize that this is simply nonsense. Reed was a fully developed artist and while Welles' contribution to the film is great, it was in his performance and not his direction that you can feel his effect (Greene did note that Welles' famous cuckoo clock speech was written by Welles).
'Our Man in Havana', written by Greene, is a highly entertaining thriller/comedy that has Jim Wormold (Alec Guiness), a vacuum cleaner salesman, enlisted by British secret service to spy on the Cubans. The film takes place on the cusp of the Cuban revolution and features great locations, characters, visuals (I'm repeating myself here). Wormold doesn't have any inside track to any information but he does have a daughter who is spending more money than his struggling Vacuum Cleaner business can keep up with. Wormold reluctantly agrees to work for the secret service where he will be paid handsomely for his work. On the advice of a friend, Wormold invents a secret world of spies and intrigue to satisfy his end of the deal. At least to the point where they become highly interested in one of his fictional subjects.
Although much lighter than his previous films, 'Our Man in Havana' illustrates what a wonderful knack Reed had for finding great scripts and top notch collaborators. Having come from the theatre he was apparently an actor's director and all of his films feature wonderful characters and performances. With such strong collaborators he doesn't fall into the realm of the 'auteur', the theory that seeks to elevate the director and diminish the collaborators. Like Hitchcock he was also mainly a 'genre' filmmaker which makes it harder to spot the individual voice of the filmmaker. With Reed, you can get a sense of the artist by looking at his body of work. You see his interest in stories set against societies in violent transition. His fascination with the deceptions of friends and foes - secrets and lies. He was also brilliant at making films that are highly entertaining sixty years after he made them. That's a feat any filmmaker could be proud of.
domingo, 13 de enero de 2008
Francis Coppola recently released his first film since 1997's Grisham adaptation, "The Rainmaker". Coppola has been maligned by his critics for taking on films like 'The Rainmaker' and 'Jack'. Yes, 'The Rainmaker' wasn't the 'Godfather' or 'Apocalypse Now'. It was, however, a well-made, entertaining legal thriller and certainly the best of the Grisham adaptations. Like the great Orson Welles, Coppola was doing work for hire and planned to finance his most ambitious project to date, 'Megalopolis'. Apparently he had started pre-production on the film in 2001, shooting b-roll in New York City and scouting locations around North America. The attacks on the world trade centers in 2001 derailed his plans and made his reassess his script (for reasons I don't know but would love to read the script). For what I'm sure is many complicated reasons, he abandoned this epic project and changed his focus to adapting Mircea Eliade's novella 'Youth Without Youth'.
This new film seems to have stumped the critics and baffled audiences who are wanting a 'Godfather' calibre film. If you look at Coppola's career and personal ambitions you realize that he isn't enamored with the same projects that we are. 'The Godfather' was like 'The Rainmaker' in that it was work for hire. 'Apocalypse Now' was supposed to be an exciting war picture that he wanted to release to kick start his Zoetrope Studio. His true passion was for the smaller films like 'The Rain People' and the sublime film 'The Conversation'. 'Youth Without Youth' belongs with some of his most interesting and experimental films like 'One From the Heart', 'Tucker: The Man and His Dreams', 'Rumble Fish', and Faerie Tale Theatre's 'Rip Van Winkle'.
In my Screenwriting class I showed my students Charles Laughton's 'Night of the Hunter' and many were struck with the odd changes in tone and the unconventional story structure. The film had used some of the conventions of the Horror genre but Laughton subverted it to express his personal ideas. Altman did this all the time as did Orson Welles. Coppola, following in this tradition, has created an intriguing and original work that defies expectation and genre. It has the seriousness of a drama, a large dose of dense metaphysical philosophy (and theory) and an almost b-movie science fiction storyline. It's a film that demands that it's audience participate and play close attention as it provides clues and ideas and asks that you try to put it together.
The film involves a seventy year old professor of Linguistics who, near the end of his life, has failed to complete his life's work. He destroyed his loving relationship as a young man with his career ambitions and the love of his life married another man and, tragically, dies in an accident. The professor, Domenic (played by Tim Roth), is miserable and alone. He's failed at the two things that would bring him fulfillment. During a violent thunder storm, Domenic is struck by lightning and when he awakes he is under the care of Professor Stanciulescu (played by Bruno Ganz) and he has miraculously become young again. Not only has he become young, he has developed intellectual abilities beyond the comprehension of those who want to study him. It's 1938 and the war has just broken out and the fascist powers have developed a keen interest in his abilities. One of Hitler's top doctors has been developing technology that seeks to create Supermen using a similar technique to the powerful lightening strike.
Dominic has another secret that he doesn't reveal to Professor Stanciulescu - he has developed an alter ego. This alter ego represents his ambitions and his darker self. As the fascist plans for him begin to tighten, he has to choose how he will use these powers. Choosing neither good or evil, Domenic escapes to the neutrality of Switzerland and continues to seek the answer he is seeking. His ambitious life long work was to discover the origins of language. To trace the history of our consciousness to the very beginning of time. It's a foolish task for a normal man who doesn't have the time or intellectual faculties to achieve such an ambitious dream. Now, after the lightning strike, time is irrelevant and his magical abilities to gain and retain knowledge has given him the ultimate power of discovery.
In the third act of the film, it's the 1950's and Domenic meets Veronica, a beautiful young woman who is, as we suspect, the reincarnate of his former love. She too is struck by lightning (for which I wonder if he is responsible) and she too becomes a miraculous survivor and media sensation, speaking in ancient tongues. We slowly discover that she too is split but with a former self. Domenic uses her to channel ancient languages and progresses through the past. The knowledge is not gained without a price as Veronica starts to rapidly age and Dominic has to again choose between his ambition and his love.
If this all sounds a bit strange, it is. Coppola has made a personal film that walks the line of science fiction, romance, dreams and drama. The films themes partially remind me of 'The Conformist' and 'Apocalypse Now' and the idea of the duality of man. Our struggle between ambition and love, self interest and empathy. What is added is the idea that if we could trace our consciousness back to the origin of man we could discover God or creation. Dominic's alter ego wants to go forward, to discover the creation and to mutate again, creating a new race of atomic supermen. He believes that we need to destroy what we are to advance our species. But what does this ambition mean? This empty meta-physical quest that doesn't satisfy the soul of man.
I do disagree with much of the criticism of 'Youth Without Youth' and I applaud Coppola for his courage to attempt a film like this. Without a doubt, it is a difficult film and will require repeated viewings to unlock more of the puzzles. It's pace is deliberately slow and film is not always the best medium to discuss philosophy and have intellectual discourse. At the similar age of his protagonist at the beginning of the film, Coppola shows that there is plenty of creativity left in him and that he can still conjure the adventurousness of youth, toying with the ways film can express ideas. If only the audiences were as adventurous as the filmmaker.
sábado, 29 de diciembre de 2007
"THE GOLDEN COMPASS dropped 65% from first to third with $9M for a disappointing two-week cume of $40.9M (despite impressive vfx from Rhythm & Hues, Cinesite, Framestore CFC, Digital Domain, Rainmaker, Peerless Camera, Tippett Studio, Digital Backlot and Matte World Digital)."
I got this quote off of Animation World Network and it was a perfect example of backwards thinking in the film industry. 'Despite impressive vfx' suggests that audiences go to the movies just to see special effects. Coming from AWN it is a slanted quote as those visual effects wizards think they are the show. Yes, the overwhelming news on the film was that it looked great but in the end it's the story that sells the film. And on top of that, it's how well the story is told.
It's fairly old news but stars don't make blockbusters and neither does spectacle. 'The Golden Compass' had boxoffice star Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. So what? It got forty percent on the tomato meter and that is the best indicator of box office - whether or not the film works (not that this is an exact science either).
In the end it's all a bit of a crap shoot. I remember when Brad Bird's 'The Iron Giant' came out and it was a critical success and did nothing at the box office. Although hampered by poor marketing the film has since found life on home video and I can only assume it's made it's money back. I suppose it comes down to how much money you want to invest in a film. Judd Apatow's 'Knocked Up' cost 33 million (according to IMDB) and pulled in 150 million. 'Superbad' cost 20 million and pulled in over 120 million at the box office. Low cost, high entertainment. What is special in Apatow's case is that the personality of the filmmakers are coming through. They don't feel like committee driven projects with mountains of notes given. I just read a great quote from William Wellman who I just discovered through TCM and an odd little John Wayne picture called 'Islands in the Sky'.
"Get a director and a writer and leave them alone. That's how the best pictures get made."
It's not about stars or visual effects. It's about story. A one hundred and eighty million dollar budget will not guarantee you a success (estimated Golden Compass budget). It's all about getting the story right first. This is the least expensive part of the movie making process - a lone writer with a sharp pencil, a notebook and a laptop computer. Even this won't guarantee you a popular film but you'll feel a whole lot better in the end.
lunes, 24 de diciembre de 2007
For three days last week I was in a mixing suite finishing up the final mix for a new documentary, 'Policy Baby'. My good friend Michael Glassbourg had asked me to work on a writing project with him last summer but altered his plans and asked me to work with him on finishing up this four year project. I agreed and it was a great experience.
Having worked in animation for four years it was refreshing to get back to a story about real people. The documentary is about a native woman who was taken from her reserve at birth and her journey back to self realization. It's a funny, sad and poignant documentary and I am very grateful to Michael for asking me to work on it. I am also very grateful that he gave me such freedom to help him realize his vision.
Michael has been putting it in documentary film festivals and I'll give an update when and where you'll be able to see it.
lunes, 10 de diciembre de 2007
Jim Caswell sent me this link to '1000 Frames' where entire Hitchock films are represented in a thousand images. It's quite interesting to see Hitchcock's visual tapestry revealed without the context of the dialogue.
Notice the board of images in the background.
It reminds me of Walter Murch's editing style where he creates boards made up of images from the shoot. This way he can refer to the images to help him visually edit the film and to create a visual flow to the story. It also allows him to pick shots out of context when he needs to create a moment that wasn't shot or concieved before the edit suite.
Notice the board of images in the background. It reminds me of Walter Murch's editing style where he creates boards made up of images from the shoot. This way he can refer to the images to help him visually edit the film and to create a visual flow to the story. It also allows him to pick shots out of context when he needs to create a moment that wasn't shot or concieved before the edit suite.
jueves, 6 de diciembre de 2007
There has been a lot of discussion about the Cohen brother's new film, 'No Country for Old Men'. It has been a critical success with praise for the terrific performances and the remarkable photography. It is a film that exudes confidence in every way. The film's criticism has been mostly targeted at the character development and the subversive ending which I will not disclose here.
What struck me about 'No Country for Old Men' was the minimalist soundtrack. It is one of the quietest films I've seen in years. I screened some of Kieslowski's 'Blue', 'White' and 'Red' for my students a few weeks ago and asked them to pay attention to his minimal use of sound. Sound became punctuation and it's silence was just as important as it's amplitude. 'No Country for Old Men' uses this method with the same great effect. After the film was over I was convinced that there was no musical score at all. My theory has always been that if you don't notice the music then it was doing it's job. Great film music doesn't draw attention to itself, it enters your psyche through the back door and draws on your emotions. Curious, I looked it up today and came across the blog of the music composer, Carter Burwell. I'll link to it so you can read what he said about his work on the film. On the right side of his site he has a little jukebox so you can hear some of his work on the film.
www.carterburwell.com
Brilliant. In a thriller where you want to create tension, most filmmakers lean heavily on the film's score to provide the emotional cues. Here, the Cohen brothers create the tension through story, editing and performance. It is intense to say the least.
I truly admire filmmakers that take chances and push themselves, and the form, to new levels. The Cohen brothers are a great example of the modern maverick, marching to the beat of their own drum. Their films are unique and quirky and they have a wonderfully subversive sense of humour. They've also shown such confidence in making this film that it almost challenges the critic to defy it. The minimalist soundtrack is a perfect example of filmmakers who feel at home with their material. It is, after all, a companion to some of the Cohen brothers best films - 'Fargo' and 'Blood Simple'. They seem to have a comfort with this kind of story but have taken it a step forward. I'd be very surprised if they don't take home some hardware this winter...
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