Movie Mechanical Magic
As I’m evidently weird I found this fascinating, a dying breed in our increasingly digitized world of entertainment. This is also doing the rounds which is kind of amusing…..
I find it kind of amazing that the original camera negative of 1903’s The Great Train Robbery are still with us, yet when Scorsese went looking for the original print of his 1993 film The Age Of Innocence Columbia told him they’d mislaid it….
A Different Breed….
I’ve been thinking about time today, maybe its the extra second or the weekends fantastic Roeg documentary, in any case a fine couple of articles that are doing the rounds. It’s difficult to appreciate that the Hollywood of a century ago was immensely more ambitious, ornate, chinzy and gaudy than it has ever been, and here is a fine anecdote from Swanson herself on the silent pictures rather flagrant approach to Health & Safety regulations;
A century later and here is what American cinema offers us, inspired and influenced by foreign glyphs, alternative media and a dwindling attention rate, the spectacle remains the same, the detail somewhat….different;
Breaking The Rules (2015)
Here is a tres bien little primer on that second French revolution of the 1950’s, and how we are still benefiting from the formalist fractures to this day;
A Furious Reprise…
The world is clearly going to hell in a handcart as even The New Yorker loved it and some breathless reviews must be considered WITH THE CAP LOCKS ON. Everyone is going to see this twice, some even braving a third visit to the wretched wasteland of the future, in full fanboy frantic fumigation. In my pretentious way I have referenced my habit of going to see certain films twice as a technical appraisal, but with Fury Road my instincts were less to appreciate how a film was constructed than it was just another submersion in pure unalloyed cinema as experience, as a rollercoaster of sun, blood, and carnage driven invention. Quite simply this is a berserk masterpiece – a word I usually reserve for films at least a decade following release – a film oddly immediately of its time with the feminist cheerleading and harking back to silent cinema, of telling a story in images and movement rather than exposition and dialogue. I’ve been collecting debris for the past week or so and there is some wonderful material scattered over the ether, another sign of the strength of the movie which inspires such affiliation, the best place to start is this two-hour seminar which superbly sets the stage, unfortunately its locked from embedding for some reason.
In a sense George Miller has ruined the rest of the year as its hard to imagine another blockbuster even remotely following in Max’s tracks, with its perfectly choreographed mix of action, characterization, lunatic energy and chutzpah, and the second time around I’m happy to report that some of my mild concerns faded into the sunset. It’s already spawned a host of theories and speculation (this is amusing) but for me it’s also the small moments and decisions that speed pass on the journey, primarily the sniper sequence, Furoisa’s lack of explanatory backstory, the ‘thumbs-up’ bit which Hardy perfectly plays, and the incremental build of pyrotechnics to that final half hour battle which is among the best that Cameron, Verhoeven or McTiernan ever percolated in their grievous garages.
If the film has ignited a passion for other Australian antics then even the BFI have got in on the act with this terrific list. I did note from the second viewing that some material has naturally hit the cutting room floor, not surprising since Miller and his team shot an extraordinary 480 hours of footage which is insane, handing off the rushes to his brilliant editor Margaret Sixel who must be in the running for a little golden gong come February 2016. But it doesn’t matter as the economy of explanation and character carries brandishes the film down its glittering and gritty path, although speculation on Blu-Ray extras and alternate versions has already got the fan community passing out like Victorian dilettantes in an under ventilated boudoir.
When I read this article I couldn’t help but ruminate on just how difficult it is to return to certain roads and elaborate the franchise experience, as the world and society moves on to new political and social concerns. How many of the reboots and retreads over the past dozen or so years have actually succeeded and (god forbid) enhanced their franchise, their place in the collage of cultural chaos? The Indiana Jones revisit didn’t work, and the least said about Sir Ridders return to Xenomorphic evolution the better. The Tron movie looked great but lacked intelligence, and whatever the development of SFX has mustered the Star Trek movies don’t exactly demand repeated viewings now do they? Don’t get me started on the litany of John Carpenter replicants (The Fog was dismal, Assault On Precinct 13 was a three star dud and worse of all that The Thing prequel lacked guts or a gruesome genealogy), and it sounds like the Poltergeist remake (which opens this weekend) will be exorcised from screens with barely a rudely inverted crucifix. So why has Miller and Max overturned this apple cart? Because he went back to brass tacks and made the film physical, he understands that genre cinema needs to address current affairs no matter how cloaked and buried in the narrative, and in terms of technique he recognized the exhaustion of CGI spectacle which sacrifices spectacle at the altar of genuine, exhilarating affectation.
This achievement wasn’t looking possible until those trailers hit a few months ago, we’d all heard about the difficult production which it has to be stressed finished initial lensing three years ago, before a furious round of post preview screenings led to reshoots and the final model trundled off the production line which we are learning to adore. That’s not the narrative of a successful film, the initial instinct is always to view such interference as executive meddling in the creative vision of the participants, but again in a break from tradition it seems that the tweaking and tampering has obliterated movie fans and critics, but the box office is hardly stunning. Here’s some more material to get your engines running. It’s also a strong sign of a films cult movie pedigree when a bit player instantly gets his own strand of appreciation and excitement, the so-called Doof Warrior is already etched in Hollyweird history.
Some fans have been carefully excavating the movie as you can enjoy here, and isn’t this genuinely heartwarming? Finally then we turn to the feminist subtext which has caused such celebration and consternation. I don’t think I can manage better than this or this which pretty much covers all the essential bases of how and why this film is quietly revolutionary, although there does seem to be curious lapse in connection to an earlier George Miller film which also moves through similar waters – The Witches of Eastwick. In the past week alone we’ve witnessed ‘shoegate’ at Cannes, this has sparked debate, Maggie Gyllenhaal illustrates that according to producers she’s ‘past her prime’ at 37, and Denis Villenueve reveals how pressured he was to recast Emily Blunt with a male lead in his latest movie. Why? Because she’s a woman, and not a man. This attitude is as mystifying as it is absurd, even from a pure money spinning perspective of fiscally obsessed moguls given the financial clout of The Hunger Games, Gravity and other female fronted material. Given the appetite for a Black Widow or Wonder Woman movie you have to wonder just how deep the stupidity runs, so I’ll start the charge for Charlize Theron in the potential Captain Marvel movie now. Anyway, enough, I’ve got other fish to fry with two more reviews to complete, go see this movie again so those proposed sequels get the support they need, unlike the efficient Dredd picture which was solid but has no prospect of a sequel given its mediocre box-office returns. I’ll leave you with this odd combination, at the very least it’s an excuse to watch the explosive trailer again;
Werner Herzog Season – How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck? (1976)
Time to return to time gone by territory, yes, I know I’ve been slacking on the Herzog season but I think you can forgive me, after all I delivered not two, nor three but four full reviews last week so y’all can cut me some slack. Next on the BFI box-set mandated programme is another documentary which is relatively short, this time Herzog was attracted to the amphetamine mouthed livestock ringmasters housed in the so called ‘fly-over’ states , and the associated environment emitting what he memorably remarks as ‘the poetry of capitalism’. As well as the machine-gun speed wordsmiths the film is also fascinated with the punters and support staff who attend the annual world championship of auctioneers, just the sort of social competition you won’t find repeated in the urban enclaves of the East and West coast. Herzog was operating within his American fascination phase in 1976, peeking into the nooks and crannies of the great democratic experiment, and finding some odd behaviour and translucent traditions among the little covered rural heartlands of the great plains;
At forty-four minutes Woodchuck is not a particularly demanding piece of work in either length or ambition, a rather sleight and pleasant historical travelogue of tracts of America that filmmakers frequently overlook rather than some penetrating insight into the human condition. The characters are colorful and amusing but not patronized by Herzog’s inquisitive gaze, even as they spew this almost impenetrable alien language which does seem to rise to near religious hysterical annotations in a quite bizarre manner. Truth be told after fifteen minutes of various auctioneers murdering the English language this actually gets a little tedious, and attention may drift to the rather gaudy fashions and grooming decisions which these strange natives from another century garb themselves in. It night have been nice Mr. Herzog if you’d given us some idea of exactly what distinguishes one auctioneer from the next, is it speed? Intonation? Accuracy? A combination of all these elements? They all seems to bellow out their incomprehensible argot in an identical fashion, but as I said this is perhaps more of a glancing mood piece than any serious sociological study. A respite perhaps, a calm before the storm, as we have a lynchpin film in Herzog’s entire lunatic oeuvre to tackle next, the notorious Storsezk which I have to say I’m really looking forward to revisit as I haven’t seen it in years. Until then here’s a recent interview to pad this out a little;
In other news, having got my new assignment dragged into the 21st century of youtube I spunked a celebratory £30 in the local HMV today, picking up some of the best film on Blu of the past couple of years. Inside Llewyn Davis, Her, Gravity got Under The Skin and caused the Last Of The Mohicans. Or something. How does this relate to Werner Herzog I hear you ask? Well, according to my research a certain Klaus Kinski spent the Second World War in Colchester as a POW, I bet he has a model prisoner…..
5 Year Plan…..
Having reviewed the status and worshipped at the state of the nation it’s all OK. Honestly, culturally {bzzt} it’s all Ok. iALl {bzz INTRODOK} all OK. Seriously. Five more years of {bzttz} sacrifice. We shall prevail. Conservative equals progress, and only a {subvert} alien would challenge? Production equals progress. Congratulations on your identity. Where’s the worry you fucking communists;
Menagerie’s Cannes 2015 Programme
Movies? Oh they’re dead, nothing but American franchise fodder strangling the multiplexes ain’t they? Well no, not if you look beyond the latest spandex and chrome clad spectacle they’re not, as the international film community gets into its 2015 swing with the worlds oldest and most prestigious festival – Cannes. I did toy with the notion of attending this year but I couldn’t commit before the application deadline, I’ve committed to make more of an effort next year although I do have plans for a watery foreign film jaunt this year – watch this space. With my finger on the pulse as always a mere three weeks after the final programme announcement here is my personal pick of the pack, I eagerly await the further word on Fury Road although rest assured early rumors are incandescently positive, but like I said I’m boycotting that last trailer for fear of decelerating my delirium. So while I focus my attention on a few fairly ambitious weekends of UK movie watching which alongside my pre-booked events must also include a visit to this which opens tomorrow after 35 years of neglect, come hither and let’s take an amble through the croisette’s coming attractions now that I’ve had the chance to fully review the programme;
Yakuza Apocalypse, Takaski Miike 2015 – We’ll start with the obvious, with our old friend the timid Japanese slow-coach Miike Takashi who churns out yet another Yakuzi drenched bloodbath which gets a ‘special’ screening – whatever that means. Have I mentioned this thought before? Have I transmitted my contention that I probably have Japanese cinephile kindred who are as exasperated of the frequent emphasis of their indigenous cinema on the brothels and pachkino organized crime dens of Shinjuku and Shibya and loath those ‘cool’ post Reservoir Dogs medium shots of the criminal marching toward the camera as that continual weeping sore of mockney East End crime films that my country suffers with birds and shooters and fackin’ kants made by slumming upper middle-class hacks like Guy Ritchie and Matthew ‘Yes I have directed party political broadcasts for the Tory party’ Vaughan? That sentence could probably use a full stop somewhere, but the Coalition sold them all. A-ha. Satire. Vote on Thursday kids.
Macbeth, Justin Kurzel, 2015 – After Snowtown turned stomachs back in 2010 I wondered what happened to Kurzel, it seems like he’s following in the non-intimidating footsteps of Polanski and Welles with his take on the Scottish play. I’m not the worlds biggest fan of Shaky but I do like this play, its pretty nasty with lashings of sword scrapping, histrionic harpies and mystical crones which is a little more up the Menagerie alley than privileged royals exchanging witty fripperies. Plus I got a B+ on a GCSE essay on this book {beams proudly} so I’m looking forward to this. A dense cast with Fassbinder and Cotillard making a menacing pair of power mad murderers, no trailer yet so Polanski’s gory take on the tale is linked above. They showed 15 year olds this movie at my school which explains a lot doesn’t it?
Son Of Saul, Laslo Nemes, 2015 – Well now here’s a guaranteed laugh-riot, Eastern European miserablist Bela Tarr’s protégé with his debut film about – wait for it – two days seen through the eyes of an Auschwitz inmate in 1944. Apparently this fictitious character works in one of the crematorium. I can’t think of much else to say so I think I’ll just go for a little cry.
Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos, 2015 – If you’ve seen the darkly hilarious Dogtooth then you know what to expect, and if you haven’ then you must rectify the situation immediately. Any twisted mind which can produce such blackly satirical comedy that would make Bunuel proud is always worth watching. I’ve heard it’s about ‘forced breeding and animal human hybrids warped through the genre eyes of a rom-com’ – huh. Again no bloody trailer which is getting quite exasperating, thus above is a reminder of his break through film.
Carol, Todd Haynes, 2015 – He’s been absent from the screen for a long eight years, although I can strongly recommend his acclaimed HBO series Mildred Pierce from a few years back. Haynes seems to be heading back to Sirk and Fassbinder territory with this adaption of a Patricia Highsmith novel, this should be more of a glitzier period piece affair with Rooney Mara and Cate Blanchet in tow.
Journey To The Shore, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 2015 – Although he has moved away from his J-Horror roots Kurosawa (no relation) continues to produce the odd piece here and there despite some setbacks and funding failures. What is quite irritating is that I’m fairly sure that his last two films (the last one trailed above) have received no distribution outside Japan, so a festival is the only shot of seeing his movies on the big screen. I have no idea what this new film is about but his name is enough to garner my interest.
Louder Than Bombs, Joachim Trier, 2015 – Y’see this is what film festivals are all about. I’d never heard of Trier when I saw his film Oslo August 31st at the LFF a few years ago, and I immediately seized on his evident, slightly melancholic talent as someone to watch. This is his first English language film starring Jesse Eisenberg, Gabriel Byrne and Isabelle Huppert – this could be a breakthrough.
Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier, 2015 – Ah, excellent, Saulnier hasn’t wasted any time following up his critical darling Blue Ruin and with the Coens as jury presidents he might be in with some fellow support given the darkly comic flavor of his debut. Crikey, I forgot how much work these lists posts can be, this must the first I’ve constructed in ages. The new films from Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust & Bone), Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life, Like Father Like Son) and Hou Hsiao-hsien (Millenium Mambo, Café Lumière) are also essential.
Love, Gaspar Noe, 2015 – Another enfant terrible whom has been quiet, knocking one out in the world cinema corner. Well, after the brain bruising excess of Enter The Void maybe you wondered where the pint-sized terrorist would go next? Well why not make a three-hour, 3D hardcore porn film by the sounds of things? I’m calling this now and mark my words, this will be cited ad-nauseum as his take on Terry Southern’s sexual satire Blue Movie which Southern was inspired to write after discussions with Kubrick on the Dr. Strangelove set, to the point where he actually dedicated the novel to ‘the great Stanley K’. No trailer yet, so a quick look back to the excess of his previous phantasm of excessive style and severity.
Blood & Black Lace (1964) Capsule Review
One of the least known yet most influential horror movies ever made arrives on a ravishing 2K HD transfer this week, Mario Bava’s eerily instrumental Blood & Black Lace. Horror trends tend to move in waves like a swarm of voracious piranha, and previous to the arrival of the giallo the genre was dominated by the gothic mist-choked uncanny, the pulse-pounding purview of Hammer and Amicus, with their iconic takes on the famous monster of filmland and chill inducing periodicals. Blood & Black Lace prefigured a seductive yet startling trend of gruesome kills and amniotic atmosphere for an evolving audience who demanded more visceral material, which the Italian maestro of the grotesque delivering with his trademark blend of vivid mystery, prowling camerawork and oscillating color palettes. Set in a baroque Haute Couture fashion house an entire paddock of beautiful models are at risk from a faceless homicidal maniac, a merciless killer who may be one of the members of their insular world, the organization itself a poisonous nest of blackmail and infidelity which may have prompted a murderous motive for vengeance;
The original Italian title Sei donne per l’assassino translates as ‘Six Women for the Murderer’ which tells you all you need to know for the films sextant structure. Here much of the giallo iconography and infrastructure is bloodily impaled in cinema consciousness, from the hallucinatory lighting schemes to the woozy delirium gibbering scores, from the trench coat and glove garbed maniac who stalk and slash their prey through to the deliciously constructed set-pieces of oozing dread that explode in orgiastic violence. Many of the Hammer films had a definitive visual design and delivery but Bava took the horror film to a higher plateau with this film, elevating the psychological delirium of the characters as physically imposed in the screen canvas, reaching back to the expressionistic instinct of the horror film and injecting that vision with a syringe of polychromatic pop-art kl. Like the best giallo it’s best to retire any concerns you may have with a coherent or logical plot, or of human beings acting in identifiable and accurate ways at the door, and simply luxuriate in the pungent atmosphere of the film. The saturated visuals weave a gruesome dance of death, the operatic orchestration of the slayings giving birth to the slasher movie as we know it which would go to dominate the industry via Halloween, Friday The 13th and the other ill-dated ilk;
It’s a wonderful, sizzling transfer culled from a 2K interpositive scan of the original camera negative, given a scrub and the framing stability treatment, easily an early contender for the creepy connoisseurs Blu-Ray release of the year. Alongside the feature there is a pantheon of extras and documentaries (3.5 hours worth) conceptualizing the giallo genre and this specific films bloody genesis, alongside Bava biographer Tim Lucas’s definitive film commentary – he of course is the cinephile responsible for this majestic tome. 1,100 pages of densely researched text sounds simply to die for……
Werner Herzog Season – Land Of Silence & Darkness (1971)
To most it sounds like a literal hell on earth, trapped almost exclusively within your mind, devoid of aural or visual stimulation, isolated and excluded from family, peers and an enriching environment. On the surface this is the subject of Werner Herzog’s 1971 piece Land Of Silence & Darkness, documenting the life of Fini Straubinger, a deaf-blind German woman who nevertheless leads a fruitful and active life. Through a variety of techniques Fini communicates with friends and acquaintances, marking the piece as both a mediation on communication as much as it queries notions of thought and recollection, as she meets and forms friendships with her similarly sensory deprived friends and acquaintances in the West German care system. Unlike some of the fascinating people we meet on this journey Ms. Straubinger was not born with her condition but suffered the affliction in her late childhood, so she remembers colours and sounds and those other sensations that most take for granted, and when questioned most misses the animals on the farm of her adolescence. Although the film starts with her story many other people and their experiences are plundered in Herzog quest to present the world anew, not through the eyes of these spirits but through their resilience and alternate experiences of the same physical universe, from an oblique and unique angle;
Not only had I not seen this extraordinary documentary before I’d also not read much about it, so coming to this stone cold oblivious was quite an experience. Some incredible revelations are revealed by the dispassionate camera observations, of Fini being isolated to her bed by her rather cruel and unsympathetic parents for 30 years after her ailment struck, yet without much trace of bitterness or depression she retains a inquisitive curiosity and forward drive. For all its grievous subject matter Herzog doesn’t pity or patronize the subjects, there is no talk of bravery or any heartwarming overcoming of obstacles, as Werner digs deep to reveal deeper human truths, or our ability to adapt and proper in the most difficult of situations. A tactile visit to a botanical garden takes on a quasi-religious dimension, with sensory deprived individuals visibly warming at their remaining senses are blessed with a nourishing sense of sensation. Yet there is darkness amidst the optimism, as in one quietly harrowing scene we met Ellie, a middle-aged deaf-blind woman who has been consigned to a mental asylum despite being perfectly sane. The only person who could communicate with her was her mother whom had recently passed away, so Ellie has now all but withdrawn from communication into an internal void, unresponsive to queries and human touch. This is another remarkable cartography of those resting on the margins of society, framed with a selection of elegiac classical pieces from Vivaldi and Bach that Herzog deploys with a somewhat clichéd insistence. Yes it is sobering and sad in some areas, before soaring with insight into a sequestered corner of the human condition, culminating in one final, extraordinary image – a man caressing a tree;
Werner Herzog Season – 2013 Masterclass
A little education for your Easter weekend, a masterclass with the German maestro;
One of the great joys of the boxed set I’m slowly working through isn’t just the HD transfers of the movies, there is also documentary material such as this;
Composing Movement
Yeah, yeah, I know there’s that great montage doing the rounds comparing opening shots to final shots of films, but I’m hesitant to post it as it features some recent movies, and we always want to avoid the dreaded spoilers – make your own mind up here. Instead here is a little essay on movement, and sensei Kurosawa;
Akira Kurosawa – Composing Movement from Tony Zhou on Vimeo.
Mad Dog 1:85.1
Something of a placeholder this evening as I’m frankly exhausted after an irritating indoctrination on a new assignment, this one has a phalanx of precious obstacles but I think we have a growling strategy. I did manage a new movie this week however, so my review of Hyena is this weekend’s priority. At some point. Until then, this;
What Is Composition from Press Play Video Blog on Vimeo.
If you are interested then I have managed to craft some coverage on the London Human Rights Festival which commences next week – summary details here. You can maul my specific mutterings here, here and here. Regardless of my material please give the festival some support if you have the time and geographical ability, as this brilliant festival shines a crucial light on some neglected corners of recent history, celebrating a global movement for justice and reconciliation…….
Kubrick & Sellers
16 years ago to the day we lost one of the all time great filmmakers, which is an ideal excuse to share this with you;
The Directors Series- Stanley Kubrick [1.3] from Raccord on Vimeo.
And there’s more;
The Directors Series- Stanley Kubrick [1.4] from Raccord on Vimeo.
Six Different Types Of Light – John Alcott (1986)
Y’see this is why, for all its faults and irritations, sometimes you just have to love the internet. Here is a completely unknown and unreported documentary about John Alcott, cinematographer on four of Kubrick’s pictures among other works. It aired back in 1986, shortly after his death, and contained therein are some Stanley factoids and anecdotes. As you would imagine it has swept like wildfire through certain appreciation and discussion boards;
Also contains behind the scenes footage of classic The Beastmaster, so don’t say I don’t give you anything….
Oscar Winners 2015
Yes it’s Oscar time again, and I frivolously wonder what will be the new addition to this list. One thing’s for sure, I bet we wont get as memorable an acceptance speech as this. As usual I made some herculean efforts to see as much of the material as possible, with the exception of Mr. Tuner I think I’ve covered the majority of stuff, as I want to see that properly on the Blu-Ray to appropriately wallow in Dick Pope’s cinematography rather than watch the damn thing on my computer. I managed to track down Unbroken (run of the mill three star bio-pic), Still Alice, (strong but thoroughly predictable Alzheimer tear-jerker) The Judge, (tediously average moral transformation tedium) Selma, (moving and graceful historical picture, and yes it’s a deep disgrace that Oyelowo wasn’t nominated) Into The Woods (a musical ergo not my thing and Streep’s automatic nomination is absurd) and a cluster of the animated pictures – whew. So that’s almost all the high-profile and technical awards covered, shame I couldn’t find any of the animated live action or documentary shorts on-line but to be honest I didn’t try very hard this year. Here is a great article on the some of the most absurd upsets of the ceremony since its 1927 inception, from one of the best movie sites on the web – if American Sniper wins anything then I’m going postal. I’ve got a Hungarian and Argentinian TV feed running as insurance should one drop out, isn’t the future of telecommunications grand?
And as usual the Menagerie standard disclaimer, I don’t treat these awards as anything other than a fun exercise, an adjunct to serious cinephilia, just like the BAFTA’s where Under The Skin was nominated and lost in precisely one category. Exactly which film will still be debated, dissected, admired and crucially inspire upcoming filmmakers in visual culture a decade from now? The Imitation Game? The Theory Of Everything? I won’t insult you with the answer to that puzzle. Industry observer wise though the awards are important, as potential winners will find themselves elevated to a new strata of importance with greater funding dexterity, and that is essentially interesting – just consider the A list dreck that superb actress Helen Mirren has been mired in since her 2006 win, and that’s just one example of multitudes. No, I’m not having a go at her specifically, it’s just an observation considering her pre and post win material, for example should Linklater win director or film will he be on the industry list for an adjunct Star Wars picture? Yes, and that’s food for thought. If he’s interested. Anyway, you know the drill by now, right? I’ll be darting around with a few scattered thoughts on each nominee section I’ve listed below, apologies in advance for potentially incoherent and bdaly spelld reportage but we are eight hours behind here in the UK so the ceremony doesn’t even start until 1:30am. Those I’ve seen are in bold, those I predicted would win are in italics, and those that did win are in gold, naturally. FINAL TALLY – I have no idea and at this point I don’t care, but I’m fairly sure that Boyhood was fucked…..
Best Film
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
I’m wasted yet first instincts are this – for the past three years we’ve had three films celebrating cinema and performance – The Artist, Argo and now Birdman. Solid films in their own way, but as a nest this is insular and uncomfortable. Not good, not healthy;
American Sniper – Clint Eastwood, Robert Lorenz, Andrew Lazar, Bradley Cooper and Peter Morgan
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu, John Lesher and James W. Skotchdopole
Boyhood – Richard and Cathleen Sutherland
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson
The Imitation Game – Nora Grossman, Ido Ostrowsky and Teddy Schwarzman
Selma – Christian Colson, Oprah Winfrey, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner
The Theory of Everything – Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Lisa Bruce and Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Jason Blum, Helen Estabrook and David Lancaster
Best Actor
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Really? A great start, don’t get me wrong, a first act convincing physical performance but I can’t think that it didn’t quite continue for the rest of the film as this movie was more about other characters, especially when compared to the scope of the other nominees.
Steve Carell – Foxcatcher
Bradley Cooper – American Sniper
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Imitation Game
Eddie Redmayne – The Theory of Everything
Michael Keaton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Best Actress
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
I’m a fan of Moore so great, good for her as its a reasonable film but it still smacks of the old yet appropriate cliché – illness equals Oscar. , ;
Marion Cotillard – Two Days, One Night
Felicity Jones – The Theory of Everything
Julianne Moore – Still Alice
Rosamund Pike – Gone Girl
Reese Witherspoon – Wild
Best Director
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Yeah, he did well with a great panoply of material directing a play, but this film was all in the actors and cinematographer. If that equals best assembly of material then fine, but I still can’t feel that Linklater was cruelly robbed,,,?
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Boyhood – Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – Bennett Miller
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Wes Anderson
The Imitation Game – Morten Tyldum
Best Supporting Actor
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Well that ceremony opening from NPH didn’t particularly grab me but here we are – yet we are off with a first win, with a succinct speech from J.Jonah Jameson – a good start;
Robert Duvall – The Judge
Ethan Hawke – Boyhood
Edward Norton – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Mark Ruffalo – Foxcatcher
J.K. Simmons – Whiplash
Best Supporting Actress
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Brilliant and utterly deserved, maintaining that performance was quite a thing over that breath of time, and a great, appropriate politically aligned speech – that one line she delivers in Boyhood was something else. Also immortal in Lost Highway of course;
Patricia Arquette – Boyhood
Laura Dern – Wild
Keira Knightley – The Imitation Game
Emma Stone – Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Meryl Streep – Into the Woods
Visual Effects
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Well of course. There has been some queries on the accuracy of the black hole realism to which I say this – erm, what? I’m running behind now but really, the accuracy of how we imagine black holes?…..
Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Bryan Grill and Dan Sudick
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes – Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, Daniel Barrett and Erik Winquist
Guardians of the Galaxy – Stephane Ceretti, Nicolas Aithadi, Jonathan Fawkner and Paul Corbould
Interstellar – Paul Franklin, Andrew Lockley, Ian Hunter and Scott Fisher
X-Men: Days of Future Past – Richard Stammers, Lou Pecora, Tim Crosbie and Cameron Waldbauer
Original Screenplay
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Maybe a late surge for the other awards? We shall see…..Nightcrawller deserved some attention though, but here we are…..in a modern world. Have I missed the….oh….
The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Written by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Jr. & Armando Bo
Boyhood – Written by Richard Linklater
Foxcatcher – Written by E. Max Frye and Dan Futterman
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Screenplay by Wes Anderson; Story by Wes Anderson & Hugo Guinness
Nightcrawler – Written by Dan Gilroy
Adapted Screenplay
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Writers love the historical guess, a obvious choice.
American Sniper – Written by Jason Hall
The Imitation Game – Written by Graham Moore
Inherent Vice – Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson
The Theory of Everything – Screenplay by Anthony McCarten
Whiplash – Written by Damien Chazelle
Animated Feature
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Yes, at this stage I’m doing well I think, losing count of my…..count. I’ve lost the Argentinean feed but the European insurance is still going. Other options are being pursued. Can’t wait to see again Blackhat tomorrow either. Heh ;
Big Hero 6 – Don Hall, Chris Williams and Roy Conli
The Boxtrolls – Anthony Stacchi, Graham Annable and Travis Knight
How to Train Your Dragon 2 – Dean DeBlois and Bonnie Arnold
Song of the Sea – Tomm Moore and Paul Youn
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya – Isao Takahata and Yoshiaki Nishimura
Cinematography
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
OK, things are getting little out of control, it’s late and the bourbon is bruising. But yes another win, for one of the greatest cinematographers drawing breath. Maybe one day Deakins will win but this is another appropriate award….
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Emmanuel Lubezski
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Robert Yeoman
Ida – Lukasz Zal and Ryszard Lenczewski
Mr. Turner – Dick Pope
Unbroken – Roger Deakins
Costume Design
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
He’s a great stylist and can certainly muster a brilliant crew but hey Wes, where is the human dimension to your fantastic, yet cold films?;
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Milena Canonero
Inherent Vice – Mark Bridges
Into the Woods – Colleen Atwood
Maleficent – Anna B. Sheppard and Jane Clive
Mr. Turner – Jacqueline Durran
Documentary Feature
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
For UK viewers its on TV on a couple of days. As I said before it is essential, brilliant, and terrifying in equal measure, and the craft, considering the pressure is impeccable;
CitizenFour – Laura Poitras, Mathilde Bonnefoy and Dirk Wilutzky
Finding Vivian Maier – John Maloof and Charlie Siskel
Last Days in Vietnam – Rory Kennedy and Keven McAlester
The Salt of the Earth – Wim Wenders, Juliano Ribeiro Salgado and David Rosier
Virunga – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
Editing
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Yes, and utterly deserved. That film lives and breathes on that scattered arrangement, and the whole jazz thing works wonders in this combination of the visual and sonic. That final scene is sublime, and simply would not work without a perfectionist. A perfect win.
American Sniper – Joel Cox and Gary D. Roach
Boyhood – Sandra Adair
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Barney Pilling
The Imitation Game – William Goldenberg
Whiplash – Tom Cross
Foreign Language Film
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Ah well that’s fair enough, my early streak is broken. I must see Ida again as although I enjoyed the film I did find it slightly unengaging, the fantastic B&W cinematography aside. I’ve heard great things about Wild Tales though, looking forward to that….
Ida – Poland; Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski
Leviathan – Russia; Directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev
Tangerines – Estonia; Directed by Zaza Urushadze
Timbuktu – Mauritania; Directed by Abderrahmane Sissako
Wild Tales – Argentina; Directed by Damián Szifron
Musical Score
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Ah well, I’ll fight this one on until the end of time, no I won’t as that’s unfair with what I’m doing now. Interstellar was great. It’s half four and eh? What. OK. Sorry…….(cries)…..
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Alexandre Desplat
The Imitation Game – Alexandre Desplat
Interstellar – Hans Zimmer
Mr. Turner – Gary Yershon
The Theory of Everything – Jóhann Jóhannsson
Documentary Short Subject
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Sounds like a worthy winner, I’ll hunt it down.
Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1 – Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Dana Perry
Joanna – Aneta Kopacz
The Reaper (La Parka) – Gabriel Serra Arguello
White Earth – J. Christian Jensen
Make Up & Hairstyling
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES – So now we are three for three, this is a strong start….
Foxcatcher – Bill Corso and Dennis Liddiard
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Frances Hannon and Mark Coulier
Original Song
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Maybe should have been awesome, but nice to see Glory get some kudos. Good film, give it a watch.
“Everything Is Awesome” from THE LEGO MOVIE – Music and Lyric by Shawn Patterson
“I’m Not Gonna Miss You” from GLEN CAMPBELL…I’LL BE ME – Music and Lyric by Glen Campbell and Julian Raymond
“Lost Stars” from BEGIN AGAIN – Music and Lyric by Gregg Alexander and Danielle Brisebois
Production Design
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
And no surprise, one thing you can’t fault Wes is on the texture, but where’s the wider emotion?
The Grand Budapest Hotel – Adam Stockhausen (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
The Imitation Game – Maria Djurkovic (Production Design); Tatiana Macdonald (Set Decoration)
Interstellar – Nathan Crowley (Production Design); Gary Fettis (Set Decoration)
Into the Woods – Dennis Gassner (Production Design); Anna Pinnock (Set Decoration)
Mr. Turner – Susie Davies & Charlotte Watts (Set Decoration)
Animated Short Film
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
So I did manage to see Feast as it played ahead of Big Hero 6,but I didn’t elect to win. Stupid me.
The Bigger Picture – Daisy Jacobs and Christopher Hees
The Dam Keeper – Robert Kondo and Dice Tsutsumi
Feast – Patrick and Kristina Reed
Me and My Moulton – Torill Kove
A Single Life – Joris Oprins
Live Action Short
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Wow, total luck here, I guess I should give it a bell now….
Aya – Oded Binnun and Mihal Brezis
Boogaloo and Graham – Michael Lennox and Ronan Blaney
Butter Lamp (La Lampe au Beurre de Yak) – Hu Wei and Julien Féret
Parvaneh – Talkhon Hamzavi and Stefan Eichenberger
The Phone Call – Mat Kirkby and James Lucas
Sound Editing
DID I GET IT RIGHT? NO
Ah well these usually come in twos, but not this year. I have sourced a great piece on how instrumental this craft is for movies, gimme a few moments to track it down. Hopefully this is the only nod for Sniper.
American Sniper – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Martin Hernández and Aaron Glascock
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies – Brent Burge and Jason Canovas
Interstellar – Richard King
Unbroken – Becky Sullivan and Andrew DeCristofaro
Sound Mixing
DID I GET IT RIGHT? YES
Yup, another one in the bag. Cool.
American Sniper – John Reitz, Gregg Rudloff and Walt Martin
Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and Thomas Varga
Interstellar – Gary A. Rizzo, Gregg Landaker and Mark Weingarten
Unbroken – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño and David Lee
Whiplash – Craig Mann, Ben Wilkins and Thomas Curley
Going Clear (2015) Trailer
This new documentary caused a storm at Sundance, when you see the subject matter you won’t be surprised why;
I find the whole existence of Scientology simultaneously hilarious and slightly terrifying, Alex Gibney has a great track record so I’m really looking forward to this audit….
CitizenFour (2014)
One of the surprise entries on Sight & Sound’s 2014 films of the year was the inclusion of Citizenfour, Laura Poitra’s extraordinary behind the scenes expose on NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden’s initial contact with renegade journalist Glenn Greenwald and The Guardian’s Ewan MacGaskill. Poitras is no stranger to the authorities having been clandestinely surveiled, frequently detained and questioned for having the temerity to criticize the government for their opaque prosecution of the ‘War’ on terror in previous works such as My Country My Country, and The Oath, two pieces which evidently got her registered on a number of Orwellian watch-lists. She has continued to expose the shredding of civil liberties, spot-lit the deployment of powers to repress genuine free speech rights to assemble and demonstrate, bravely engaged in a dangerous struggle with the implacable and illegitimate government edifice that cites every rape of the truth as being necessary in the name of ‘national security‘. To a paranoid Snowden then she must have seemed like an ideal candidate to approach in order to leak his insights and information from behind the veil, the revelation of a top-secret, undemocratic and out of control programme of electronic interventions which effectively gave the government the power to harvest, persue and interrogate every electronic correspondence by every citizen without a nanosecond of oversight from either legally mandated search warrant or indeed any arm of the legislature. In a quite extraordinary fashion Citizenfour walks us through the initial electronic contact between Snowden and Poritas, the initial subterfuge and mystery, before the first meetings and interviews occurred with Snowden in his Hong Kong bolt-hole as the enormous scandal slowly enveloped the globe.
This is absolutely essential viewing, a historical archive of one of the most pertinent civil rights and digital culture issues of our time, an expose of our alleged democracy and the continual threat from unobserved, unscrupulous, undemocratic and unelected officials. CitizenFour is very consciously and ominously paced and maintained, there’s no exciting crash montages of neon drenched cityscapes harmonized with pulsing techno-beats to indicate that this is the exciting cyberspace future, in fact it is a rather more chilly, mysterious urban noir as the screen scrolls with genuine cautious correspondence between Snowden and Poitras. Once he was satisfied he’d found the ideologically aligned collaborators the action shifts to the initial fly on the wall Hong Kong suite discussions, and this is where Snowden fully disclosed the breathtaking scope and illegality of programmes such as PRISM and Tempora. Poitras skillfully splices this with contextual footage of court proceedings and cultural seminars to provide the necessary context, treating its viewers as intelligent adults as it moves swiftly through the nature of civil liberties in the age of the globalized internet, of the wider remit of the NSA and explosion in private security apparatus since 9/11. Some of the footage is should make you incandescently angry, including testimony from NSA directors absolutely, 100% lying to senate oversight committees (Senator: ‘Do you harvest electronic surveillance information from US citizens in the aggregate?’ NSA Director: ‘No sir we do not’), a brave new world where from the inalienable rights of freedom of speech, right of assembly, due process and everything else we prize are under significant risk. Further glimpses of he Occupy movement whose hounding and persecution seen in the film is nausea-inducing, before the scale of the scandal irises out to include every European government as complicit in the crimes.
Like every other country on the planet I think the United States has its problems and hypocrisies but I cannot imagine many places where the citizens of one city grouping together like San Francisco does in this film, to sue the government for the illegal intrusion into their lives and forcing the authorities to expose their transgressions, a case defended by one particularly odious proto-Goebbels government lawyer who continually bleats the defense of ‘national security’ for each and every charge.When the further revelations that not only were US authorities conducting this rape of their specific constitution but also all the major European powers were indulging in identical activity, hacking democratic elected world leaders phones and correspondence of so-called allies, the impression is of an utterly paranoid shadow world, completely out of control and making a mockery of civil rights. To the ignorant and uneducated who make the claim that ‘if you have nothing to hide then why are you worried?’ the film makes the consequences of that belief system clear. It’s not just a question of private intrusion, of the holistic capture and interrogation data by current (and crucially) future governments to surveil without judicial oversight and responsibility, without legislative oversight to effectively kick in your door, rifle through all your private correspondence with your wife, husband, family, friends, mistress; to plunder your medical records and bank statements, to see what porn you jack off to, to record your political affiliations and voting history, to observe and exploit every aspect of our lives in this increasingly electronic and globalized world . And it gets worse, not only is this power granted to your government, but it is also granted to foreign governments across the Western world, so I ask how happy would you be for the United Kingdom, Canadian, American, New Zealand and Australian governments to break into your home and rape your civil rights every single minute of every day? It’s such a fundamental corruption of one of the states primary duties to its citizens liberty and security that it just beggars belief.
Amongst the political and electronic chattering Poitras mainframes a human dimension to the dossier, the simple vérité recording of Snowden as the events and scandal unfolds awards the piece with a tangible and compelling level of emotional drama. The whistleblower comes across as an intelligent, committed and slightly idealistic young man who perhaps has not fully anticipated the obliterating force of the state apparatus zeroing in on his friends, family and partner. Witnessing the incremental pressure build as the leak slowly gains traction and its effect on his speech, body language and general demeanor is quite affecting, as the realization of the irreversible sacrifices he has made slowly begin to crystalize. An Oliver Stone adaption of this crucial scandal is in the works which I’m sure will be as bombastic and nuanced as a laser guided 200lbs daisy cutter, for now this is unquestionably one of the crucial documentaries of its time, brilliantly assembled and intellectually robust, a primer for our times and a warning for the future;
Don’t bring a Steinbeck to a knife fight…..
Another list to get some flame-wars and furious on-line debates raging, the greatest 75 edited movies of all time, as dictated by the American Guild of cutters. That’s the main problem I think, this is very western centric, with by my reckoning a mere 11% of non US fare in the pantheon.
I have no other issues with this list apart from 36 which is a bizarre choice. George Tomasini as the editor of Rope had very little input and exercise within the creative process behind what Hitchcock had already conceived in pre-production around the one magazine takes, so I assume this would simply be a technical exercise of merely splicing the material together, rather than presenting alternate cuts and approaches to individual scenes which is the heart of editing.
I’d fight a case for Inception being here but I can’t defend The Fugitive, Titanic or Black Hawk Down what the fuck is that all about? They’re not badly edited films and perfectly professional arranged, but I don’t see how they excel from the standard pack-mule of studio fare. Anyway, enough of my armchair ignorance, well done Marty with another worthy win for Raging Bull, as I’ve said its a film I hugely admire craft-wise as much as it doesn’t particularly grasp me emotionally.
Great Directors (2009)
Glorious stuff, 90 minutes in the company of a few people you may have heard of, including Bernardo Bertolucci, David Lynch, Liliana Cavani, Stephen Frears, Agnes Varda, Ken Loach, Todd Haynes, Catherine Breillat, Richard Linklater and John Sayles;
GREAT DIRECTORS from ANISMA FILMS on Vimeo.
Werner Herzog – A Guide To The Perplexed
‘Man is a god when he dreams and a beggar when he thinks.’ – So let us begin. I don’t wish to commence proceedings with ridiculous hyperbole or exaggerated whimsy but I’m sure we can all agree that Werner Herzog, the great German film director, poet and documentarian is a god who walks among us mere pathetic mortals. OK, OK, pushing flippancy aside and being absolutely serious having given this some significant consideration, now here is my central thesis – I assert that a century from now future media scholars and visual art historians will look back on the first dozen decades of cinema and elect Werner as the greatest practitioner of the form in its adolescent infancy. Has he made that one masterpiece that is regularly venerated as one of the greatest films of all time akin to Potemkin, Kane or Vertigo? Perhaps not but a half-dozen of his films are always honored in the top fifty. Has one single film of his individually exploded and expanded the form beyond its contemporary intellectual boundaries as Welles, Ozu, Kurosawa or Kubrick managed to achieve? Probably and possibly not. Yet has anyone equaled the incredible breadth, stupendous sweep and stultifying scale of his work over his half century career? No, and here as they say is the rub gentle reader.
Usurping his contemporaries Herzog has made films throughout the 20th and 21st centuries all over the world, veering from the jungles of South America to the fetid swamps of commercial Hollywood, even taking in a whistle-stop tour of a pregnant pacific Pompeii. His camera has surveyed the African veldt and the tropical plateaus of the Orient, proceeding from a shattered Middle East to the shivering wastes of Antarctica. Furthermore he has straddled fiction and non-fiction, documentaries, art installations, operas and biographies, moving effortlessly through genres and styles yet retaining his own distinct Teutonic purr. Finally the historical scale is breathtaking, situating his omnipotent observations among (off the top of my head) the Paleolithic to the medieval epoch, the bloody forging of the New World, the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th century, taking two passes on the same story from a fiction and non-fiction position, before finally passing into space with a few cult SF oddities. Who the fuck else has managed that? More recently he has embarked on a side career as raconteur and verbal essayist through his numerous public speaking engagements, so I jumped at the chance to see the great Übermensch during his current book tour at an engagement at Westminster Central Hall, interviewed by the legendary journalist Paul Holdengraber at an event crowned as a Guide To The Perplexed. I have seen the light my friends, and it is good.
‘Only the shallow think they know themselves’ – It’s only been a few hours since the verbal spectacle was absorbed, and my primitive mind is still a little bewildered and busy digesting the proceedings, so I think the best way to give a flavor of the evening would be a stream of consciousness diatribe – bear with me. Introduced (perhaps a little pretentiously) as ‘cognitive theatre’ this was something of a greatest hits of Herzog anecdotes, observations, opinions and predictions, frequently hilarious and pulsing with insight, starting with his current fascination with the psychic possibilities of the Oculus rift technology – the man is 72 years old and this is his opening gambit. What are the implications of this breakthrough for the long-term hospitalized, the insane or the death row inmate, giving them a safe alternate reality to escape their fractured and imprisoned functions? He dislikes Brecht and modern art (citing the poisoned industrial 1% collector ethos) and being pigeon-holed as a Romantic in the classical sense, and bemoans the lack of genuine, non-formulated journalism in most non-fiction work that he inquisitively approaches from an organic perspective. His documentarian instincts are to approach his subjects without a precept of questions or ideological territory, finding the work through conversation and query. He spent six months living with a near destitute family in Philadelphia as part of his ‘walking the earth’ period of his early twenties, marveling at the generosity of strangers (he met a blue-collar family while hitchhiking who gave him shelter without question) and was fascinated at the matriarchs invented language that she shared with her cocker spaniel. Years later he queried a priest on the wonder of gods creation and made him weep when he asked him of his most memorable encounter with a squirrel. He considers Psychoanalysis as damaging to civilization as the Spanish Inquisition (no, I’m not making the Squirrel thing up), as man must not delve too deep into his darkest squalor, and his witnessing of The Rolling Stones second ever American gig was something to behold – buy me a pint and I’ll regale you with that gem.
‘We should not fear the bear, but we must respect the bear’ – As I suspected Herzog is fully aware of and cultivates his media image quite carefully, he explained how he primes and prepares his legendary voiceovers to his non-fiction hymns to the majestic immortal and ultimately mysterious, always gravitating to the lunatic dreamers and ostracized outsiders who infect his work. He and Holdengraber briefly shared their appreciation of Mike Tyson as an underappreciated champion beyond his sporting prowess, detailing his incredible rise from the most destructive upbringing imaginable to international icon – a violent man with a difficult history which should deserve some sort of Grecian-roman appreciation. He mourns the state of the planet from an environmental health check perspective yet is certain that any possible savior must be terrestrial and will not be found in the stars, as any mission to distant hospitable worlds will engender fifty generations of ancestral madness among some perverted ark, meaning when we arrive in Alpha Centauri the ambassadors of our species will be perverted with a mad incestual disease – now there’s a movie waiting to happen. Closer to home Herzog was raised without the influence of a father which I find fascinating given his self-propelled drive and achievements, born into the hunger of the shattered cradle of his defeated homeland (he was born in 1942) the shadow of the Third Reich hangs heavy over his artistic generations musings and motivations.
I’ve barely scratched the surface of this experience and there are many more fascinating tales to tell, but the clock is ticking and my attention must shift to alternate material. Nevertheless I can’t imagine a more inspirational and brilliant start to the year, event wise at least, thus I hearby announce my most ambitious project yet – the Menagerie Herzog season. This Matterhorn of reviews will assault all the material contained within this wonderful bible of brilliance, and maybe a few side posts and musings over the coming months and potential years, I’ve already arranged a BFI screening of one of the Herzog classics in February which should get things moving. In the meantime I have a few more Lang and noir related pictures to cover and mix things up while the immediate weeks will be preoccupied with some Oscar related material, so I hope you’ll join me on this epic journey. After eight years of modest evolution dear reader this humble blog project of mine still feels like a pathetic yell into the dark, an erratic yearning for reason and importance in the face of indiscriminate oblivion, but we must exercise the intellect regardless of its genesis or purpose – any other path might result in indiscriminate madness. Even among the animals;
The Menagerie Films Of The Year 2014
It’s been a tough year, hasn’t it? Massacres of children in Gaza and Pakistan, CIA torture apologists and racial unrest across America as the civil rights dream falters and fumbles, Ukraine and UKIP more closer to home – and I’m not sure which one of the last duo is more terrifying. Normally a critic would make some spurious attempt to link these wider events into the cultural narrative of the cinema, cherry-picking examples of ‘dark’ movies to make the claim of art reflecting life, but I’m not gonna fall down that rabbit hole as for every troubling piece that seems to have touched a cultural nerve (Nightcrawler, Gone Girl, The Rover, Leviathan, Under The Skin, Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes, Nymphomaniac) there is an equal volume of joyous, optimistic and brightly colored triumphant adventures (Guardians Of The Galaxy, Frank, The Lego Movie, Lucy, X-Men Days Of Future Past, Interstellar and the usual glut of animated incidentals) to balance out the light with the dark. My overall impression is of a rather average year with some odd pearls glittering among the swine, my biggest regret the unconscious emphasis on American fare as you will see from the compilations. Now it’s not as if I deliberately attempt to be a pretentious film critic (that just comes naturally) and actively seek out only European art house fare or an obscure directors most avant-garde offering or anything, but in putting this together the heavy bias of North American material is glaring this year, a symptom of my lack of international film festival coverage perhaps. I do deeply regret not seeing Leviathan or Force Majeure yet but by the same token I find the works of, say, Nuri Bilge Ceylon (Winter Sleep has topped numerous polls) rather tedious, and other celebrated fare such as the new Godard and Ida were admirable but a little self-consciously art-house and obtuse, almost working to a formula as well defined and enshrined as any cookie-cutter Hollywood product.
Still we managed to power through Sundance London and the LFF as usual but I was hoping for some foreign viewing, but as always the rather chaotic day job presented the usual scheduling difficulties. We also made an intergalactic effort with the BFI’s SF season which enabled me to meet some key Kubrick collaborators, and as usual we gunned down a few older classics, including The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, Paths Of Glory, An Autumn Afternoon as well as Night of The Hunter and Belle Et La Bete under the waning winter slush of the Gothic season. I didn’t devote as much time to my Fritz Lang series as I’d liked but we did consider some classic material, from The Big Heat to the indigenous expressionism of Metropolis, this will continue in 2015 as there are a few more noirs I’m desperate to cover. I’m deeply disappointed that Snowpiercer never got a cinema release here and will pick up the Blu-Ray now it has thawed to a reasonable price, TV wise I’ve also covered enormous ground, finally finishing the long trek through Buffy Seasons 3 to 6 consequentially alongside all five seasons of Angel – that was quite a feat. Then there was season 2 of the amusingly schlocky Bates Motel, Fargo was freezing fun (I particularly enjoyed the expansive time period that the season meandered through) while Menagerie favorite Boardwalk Empire faltered a little before pulling it out of the bag with a season closer that saw a beloved character bow out in appropriate grace. The most genre fun was probably Penny Dreadful and the increasingly bonkers American Horror Story, the last season of which has more dutch angles than a Flemish cubist convention. Finally though the highlight was the Mammon that was True Detective, sure some of the final plot contortions were a little ridiculous but overall this was the small screens greatest capture, and yes I will once again reference that astounding sequence. But we’re here for the movies aren’t we, so as always here are the guys and gals top picks over at Sound On Sight (my meek contribution is at No.12), as usual my top ten is in no specific order and are my personal favorites as opposed to the most acclaimed, evolutionary or envelope-pushing works, so let’s kick off with what was surprisingly the updated Sight & Sound top film of the year as well;
The Menagerie Films Of 2014
Boyhood (Richard Linklater, USA, 2014) – Whilst we all know the premise of the film isn’t entirely original with both the Truffaut Antoine Doniel cycle and the UK documentary series 7 Up utilizing the same device Richard Linklater’s wonderful, affectionate ode to growth and maturation is brilliant on an emotional and character level, and that’s why critics and passing civilians have taken the film to heart. Here’s a nice long appreciation of the films patient production model, quite how Linklater made such an affecting film with so little of narrative nourishment is a testament to his laid back skill, in this film made of little moments which aggregate into a soliloquy on aging and the fleeting transparency of time.
The Wolf Of Wall Street (Martin Scorsese, USA, 2013) – There’s always one isn’t there, one film released so far back in the dimly conceived mists of time that we can barely conceive it was released in the same lunar cycle. Scorsese coaxed (or is that coked?) in the year with this exuberant, unapologetic lancing of the American dream, a savage sermon against the perils and pernicious plague of excess of the past thirty years. The DNA chain through his greatest films reveals men wallowing in a labyrinthine moral and psychic abyss, from Travis Bickle to Jake La Motta, from Rupert Pupkin to Henry Hill, now Jordan Belfort joins the tribe of testosterone tussled anti-heroes who achieve some redemption when they confront the error of their ways. The film has the energy and chutzpah of a man half Scorsese’s age, proof positive that as that great generation of Movie Brats slowly creep toward retirement (as I write this in November Marty’s just turned 72) they have a savage bite in them yet.
Guardians Of The Galaxy (James Gunn, USA, 2014) – It’s been a reasonable year on the blockbuster front, despite gargantuan reservations I still rather enjoyed Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, Godzilla and Edge Of Tomorrow AKA Live, Die, Repeat AKA The Cruiser Carks It, but the most entertaining time I had under the tent-pole tarpaulin was the Marvelous Guardians Of The Galaxy. It’s fun to see a superstar in the making and I think Chris Pratt will go out of this world, I loved the Howard Hawksian motley camaraderie of characters on a desperate mission translated through Jack Kirby storyboards, and James Gunn’s loose CGI sprinkling of subversive humor and staging gave the film a refreshing little bite. Sheer, state of the art formulaic franchise entertainment, ideal escapism to evade your woes for a couple of hours.
The Tribe (Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ukraine, 2014) – It doesn’t happen often but every few years a film comes along and turns a supposedly stale and degraded art form upside down, leading the very language of the form into fresh waters, bruising a lasting legacy in the mind. I still shudder a little when recalling The Tribe, its shattering trio of outré scenes aside it is a remarkable testament to the fluidity of screen communication and artistic economics. The visual aesthetic of distancing, static long takes are intimately married to its aural audacity – no score, no dialogue, just simple and searing diagetic dread. I loved the commentators who have likened it to silent cinema, the emotions and drama blazing across the screen despite the absence of dialogue, subtitles, or overt language, as scandalous as Scum and as brutal as Kubrick’s stylised droogs, The Tribe must be this years mute masterpiece.
Blue Ruin (Jeremy Saulnier, USA, 2013) – The absolute highlight of a reasonable quality Sundance London Film Festival Blue Ruin exceeded my azure expectations, a taut and tense neo-noir with it’s crosshairs on one of America’s less attractive obsessions – firearms and fury.The sense of mystery that is preserved is superb as you wonder what could have driven this itinerant Radaghast to such desperate measures, with the gallows black humor oozing from every sweaty pore. I expect we’ll be seeing more of debut director Saulnier and his moon eyed leading man, with a final Coenesque perfect payoff coda this film is vengeance laced perfection.
Her (Spike Jonze, USA, 2013) – In keeping with this years theme of SF assimilating other genres – in this case the Rom-Com – this gently moving film starts with a warm heart of gold in the algorithm, before it severs the cerebellum in the single singularity. Quite how Jonze and his crew managed to take an absurd, almost comical premise and made you care for everyman Twombly (Phoenix in his quietest performance for years) romantic inclinations still scuppers my cynical CPU. With it’s pastel palette Hoyte van Hoytema is certainly building his reputation as one of the worlds leading cinematographers to watch after coming to international attention with Let The Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and a small, modest Chris Nolan film which seems to have soared to success in cinemas. Like Interstellar the film is SF as speculation, holding a digitized mirror to current social experiences and developments, and musing in those areas of the place of our species interrelationships with technology, with economics, with love and loss. Oh, and this might be the oddest and funniest observation of the year.
Gone Girl (David Fincher, USA, 2014) – It’s actually been quite a year for fans of the great American assimilated auteur, we’ve had new films from Scorsese, Jonze, Anderson, Aronofsky, Nolan and Fincher, and casting my eyes forward there is a potential bounty for the imminent year ahead. Any film which provokes such debate on the nature of current sexual politics is the mark of a period defining film, but I don’t think that should shadow just what a beautifully crafted and deliciously executed piece of pure, unadulterated cinema that Gone Girl represents. Being an apathetic pussy or limp dick I think you’ll bring your own thoughts to this movie, and forge your own beliefs on whom might be wright or wrong. Vaguely related but Richard Kelly almost atones for his mediocre cinematic output since Donnie Darko here, a reasonably argued comparison piece between Gone Girl and none other than Eyes Wide Shut. This comparison between Finch and the portly master of suspense is tasty, while The Dissolve makes a case for itself as one of the top dozen film sites here. Me? Well, upon further reflection the more I admire how the film manipulates structure, how it feints and parries the viewers expectations it demands a third revision, alongside another muted acknowledgement of the mischievous perversion of the untrustworthy narrator, all echoed with Trent’s pulversing score.
Nightcrawler – (Dan Gilroy, USA, 2014) – I love it when something scuttles out of the depths of the dark and confronts you, as someone who quietly prides themselves on their horizon scanning for new great movies this nebulous little nasty took me completely by surprise – and I love that. Criticizing media ethics is a little like shooting fish in a barrel, but Dan Gilroy’s nocturnal odyssey heightens the stakes to an overarching screech at modern society, all in thrall to Gyllenhaal’s slithering performance as the next breed of Wall Street impresarios. Like Lou Bloom I’m also being a selfish bastard as I think this was my best review of the year thus the film has lingered in the Menagerie memory, it was a bastard to write but when the words suddenly fell into place I thought I came closest to straddling that gulf between the impression in the mind and the words on-screen. This is a nasty, immediate and ugly mirror of modern media society, with a conclusion that would have Australian oligarchs beaming with pride.
Interstellar (Christopher Nolan, USA, 2014)- Is it all a big metaphor for the collapse of film? What a surprise, the Nolan man-crush continues, cinematically speaking with his most ambitious and on occasion most frustrating film to date. That ecclesiastical soundtrack high in the mix has been on heavy rotation here at Menagerie towers, and certain moments – the messages playing out over McConaughey’s face during that scene, the fraught docking maneuver, the queries that arise during that stage of the odyssey – well, yes it’s flawed but it unquestionably has some marvelous moments. A second viewing diminishes some of the problems with the picture, overall it’s a film that has generated debate and discussions (see some of the robot design evolution here), and it’s just goddamn inspiring to see a film maker genuinely attempting to wrestle and evolve the blockbuster form. Maybe it’s my advancing age but any film with such optimism and genuine celebration of progress emanating from our earthly plane is welcome around this quiet quadrant of alpha centuri, plot worm-holes and all. Anecdotally I’ve been charting the film’s trajectory and it really seems to have resonated with a younger generation (as opposed to my jaded peers who have trotted out the scientific snark and sneered at the sentimentality), virally spreading beyond its confines to inspire and influence viewers around science, physics and astronomy – how many films can genuinely boast that reaction?
Whiplash (Damien Chazelle, USA, 2014) – If you that assume that jazz was all dark berets, moodily mouthed Gitanes and nocturnal turtleneck posturing then think again. This electric debut from the disgustingly talented debut writer-director Damien Chazelle has it all – an involving storyline, immensely powerful performances, ecstatic sequences that revel in the joys of performance of motion in this detailed aria on the painful pursuit of perfection. The editing is phenomenal and it’s riveting to see Miles Teller hold his own against J.K Simmons ferocious Oscar-winning performance (yup, I’m calling it here), sure it might stretch credulity at one point which feels like a slight misstep, but then a thundering final act blasts over the screen with a stunning encore which leaves you pirouetting out into the night.
Honorable mentions to the Grand Budapest Hotel, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Fruitvale Station (fuck me was that a prescient film), White God, Foxcatcher, White Bird In A Blizzard, Only Lovers Left Alive, A Most Wanted Man, Black Coal, Thin Ice and for pure cinephile celebration Peter Strickland has once again made the most meta 2014 film with his sensuous The Duke Of Burgundy. In terms of genre fare moments John Dies At The End was hilariously bizarre, Sin City 2 was unfairly maligned and The Raid 2 was bone-shatteringly brilliant, although I must admit that a small screen revisit does highlight some of the films more evident flaws – great set pieces, but too many longueurs between the lacerations. Ah I hear you scream, but where is Scarlett Johannson’s carnivorous cenopod? Well, while it has materialized on many ‘best of 2014’ lists and had its UK release this year do remember that Under The Skin was acquired in Toronto, so it has already featured in last year’s extravaganza. I didn’t really embark on any small screen seasons other than a passing glimpse at some of the controversial Kim-Ki-Duk’s earlier pictures, and I’m quite surprised to see a lack of any truly memorable documentaries in my coverage this year, The Case Against Eight was good but not great enough to make the cut, and although the Cannon Films autopsy was fun it didn’t warrant more than a passing fist-bump of appreciation. I will however nominate Tim’s Vermeer, Particle Fever and Future Shock as non-fiction fields worth exploring.
Retrospective Films
As befitting a turbulent and ominous year the films which have sorely stuck in my cranium are similarly challenging and risqué fare,
Christiane F (Ulrich Edel, Germany, 1981) – I was turned on to this film by the wonderful House Of Psychotic Women that I covered here, maybe it’s the preponderance of CGI saturated vision quests these days but the stark vérité of this rather harrowing little tale really stuck in my arm. Based on the real life memoirs of the titular character its a fascinating snapshot of 1970’s Berlin, all drab fashions and brick brutalist architecture, and a wonderful score by Bowie at his absolute peak as far as I’m concerned. Given that we sadly lost the street-poet Lou Reed this year I can’t imagine a more fitting tribute to a dangerous walk on the wild side.
The Visitor – (Giulio Paradisi, Italy, 1979) So I have finally seen The Visitor, and that was what it is. That cryptic arrangement is my feeble attempt to ape the film under discussion, a long-lost cult curio which the Alamo Drafthouse recently resurrected with a Blu-Ray transfer, one of those insane coalitions of every popular film of the time that the Italians loved to throw into a celluloid stew and see what bubble to the surface. Lance Henrikson, Franco Nero, Glenn Ford, Shelly Winters and John Huston star in this Jodorowski styled melange of The Exorcist, Lifeforce, The Lady From Shanghai, The Omen, CE3K and Eraserhead, together it makes precisely zero sense but operates on a level of individual sequences, an aperitif of the era which yields a few distinctive flavors. I detected a Moorcock influence from his Dancers At The End Of Time series, then the camera is seized by what one assumes is an epileptic toddler as the narrative bizarrely shifts to footage of a basketball game, it veers wildly between tones and technique and I enjoyed it throughly. It might be an ideal double bill / companion piece with Candy which has a similarly pharmaceutical enhanced feel, a crazy cast and nonsensical plotlines = glorious cult insanity.
Ne Te Retourne Pas (Marina de Van, France, 2009) – The sacrifices I make for you people, and the thanks I get. Honestly, you think I haven’t got better things to do? Two hours of staring at Sophie Marceau and Monica Bellucci was a real chore let me tell you, in this dark French psychological thriller from the underappreciated Marina de Van of Dans Ma Peu body-horror fame. The doppelgänger plot is pure bourgeois dread, as a successful middle-aged professional & homemaker slowly begins to suffer strange interludes where objects appear to move around her families elegant Parisian apartment, before her cognitive condition degenerates with more disturbing alterations to her physical form. To say any more would be to venture into spoiler territory, but this is a discretely crafted little chiller which keeps you guessing of its internal or external malignant source,
Body Double (Brian De Palma, USA, 1984) – If you’re surprised to see a De Palma film on my best list of the films of the year list then think just how surprised I was when ten minutes into the picture on a Film4 screening I slowly realised I’d never seen this film before. I think I’ve always conflated Body Double with De Palma’s similar Hitchcockian ‘homage’ Dressed To Kill, so from a purely academic standpoint this was quite an experience for the Menagerie as we don’t stumble across missing texts that often. Brian is a director distinguished with some great, dare I see it meta sequences in his films that refer and refract the very operation of cinema itself, his wider texts failing to gel into a coherent whole just like his protégé Tarantino. In this film there’s lots of prowling POV, gliding steadicam and feints of sexual jealousy, and some terrific period interiors and design which remind you of just how gorged and execrated the 1980’s were. I quite surprised myself as someone who usually has little time for De Palma and his tedious hysterics, but something about this pierced the spot as something new and a historic piece of a jigsaw puzzle finally being completed, plus it coincided with remembering some perfectly delightful trivia that it’s also Patrick Bateman’s favourite film in American Psycho. This film couldn’t be more eighties if our designer stubble, Ray-Ban aviator sporting anti-hero didn’t get into a brutal gunfight down at the docks with some Miami based Colombian coke-fiends after witnessing an impromptu breakdance battle down at the new Space Invaders Arcade (takes a breath……..), before Frankie Goes To Hollwood turn up for a musical interlude number – and then they fucking do. It’s hilariously, completely and blatantly derivative of Rear Window, Dial M For Murder and Vertigo which is fucking rich from De Palma given he’s already molested that ground with 1977’s Obsession, while the chain of events and indiscretions in the films last half hour is utterly ridiculous and absurd. I loved it.
Kiss Me Deadly (Robert Aldritch, USA, 1955) – From its opening corrupted title sequence this is a seminal film of the 1950’s and one of the absolute key film noirs, I watched this on a double bill with a 1940’s Lang and the differences were as stark as the jagged chiaroscuro lighting. Aldritch unshackled his camera from the chains of the studio to provoke a nebulous reality to this dark drama, and the fluid visual work makes the film feel much more modern that a lot of its peers. I’ve seen it before a few times but the sheer craft was a revelation, with troubling little surreal inserts and cantilevered compositions marking a new evolution of this most murky of sub-genres. Mike Hammer (Ralph Meeker) isn’t quite the noble crushed Bogart or Dana Andrews of earlier noir, in fact he’s quite the brutal bastard anti-hero, while the women are all playing an angle and manipulating their marks, with a nuclear paranoia pulsing in the films radioactive core. Kiss Me Deadly creeps like a troubling claustrophobic dream, I’ll slug any cinephile who wouldn’t include this dark little dame in their top dozen noirs of all time list, not least for the influence on the likes of Lost Highway and Repo Man which honor the film in their own quiet way. Any film with the muted threat ‘Stay away from the windows Mike, someone might blow you a….kiss’ is aces in my book.
Films To See In 2015
Inherent Vice (P.T. Anderson, USA, 2014) – No surprises here of course, except that PTA turned up to personally introduce the charity screening at the Prince Of Wales cinema back in November – why no, I’m not in the least absolutely furious that I missed that opportunity. After the very serious and sour tones of his last two movies it should be fascinating to see PTA groove back to Boogie Nights territory, and it’s interesting to consider that this is the first time that any of Thomas Pynchon’s books have been adapted for the screen, large or small, by anyone, ever. Early word is exceptionally good so I reckon this could be an instant cult classic, with that The Big Lebowski meets The Long Goodbye Californian burned-out vibe another addition to PTA’s west coast fascination.
Black Hat – (Michael Mann, USA, 2015) – Yes, of I concede that this could go either way. Shudderingly ugly Chris Hemsworth as the worlds most talented superhacker? Hmm. A seventy-one year old director uploading his vision of modern cyber-crime in a realm of technological advance exponentially advancing to render any event ancient in six months? Ahh, just as an example I wrote that sentence a month ago and already there has been a rather significant cyber-crime hasn’t there? If however you are contingent of the exhaustive research and fidelity that Mann amasses during his perfectionist preproduction process then I’m certain he would have consulted the worlds leading futurists, scholars and think-tanks on the shady subject of cyber-espionage, and on a rather more testosterone flavored kick is there anyone better at crafting a shoot-out or action beat? Of course the film has taken on a whole new dimension in Tinsel Town every since the crippling Sony Hack, should be interesting to assess the films reaction in the shadow of terrified executives suddenly spending millions on IT defenses – more on that below. I’m an enormous Mann fan so any new film of his is an event around these parts, this hits in February so not long to wait.
Knight Of Cups (Terence Malick, USA, 2015) – After a traditionally slow gestation period Terence Malick’s Knight Of Cups was finally announced for a Berlin 2015 festival premiere, and maybe I’ll be there to see it – I’ve always wanted to visit Berlin. In his old age Terry is becoming positively prolific with two other films on the horizon, this trailer is quite odd I thought as it looks like a Malick film with a modern setting which is not his usual spiritual playground. Nevertheless it is a further hymn from the American alcehmist and is therefore unmissable, even if his last effort was slightly disappointing.
Midnight Special (Jeff Nichols, USA, 2015) – ‘I really wanted to make a 1980’s John Carpenter film like Starman. I love the way those films look.’ said Mr. Nichols, and there was much rejoicing. Filming commenced in back in April but the movie isn’t scheduled until November of next year, I have absolutely no further details than that nor shall I be seeking any until a trailer ambles along. Alongside the likes of Sean Durkin and J.C. Chandor I consider Mr. Nichols as one of the most promising of American directors of that recent generation, and anyone who references obscure Carpenter and makes his own skillful and intelligent movies is obviously a friend of the Menagerie. The picture has a cast – presumably Adam Driver and Kirsten Dunst are the star crossed lovers fleeing another collaboration with Nichol’s frequent muse Michael Shannon, so maybe a more muted SF piece can fight back again the more feeble franchises.
Ruling the roost for first viewing of 2015 is Birdman which opens on New Years day, fortunately the rest of the year has plenty of other treasures to explore. The American auteurs maintain their vice like grip on my cinema consciousness as we have a new Scorsese, potentially his penultimate film before retirement which is a gloomy proposition as he continues his late career peak. There’s also a new Spielberg who is directing a Coen brothers script which could be quite the clandestine combination and I’m slightly terrified that Gasper Noe is back with a film called Love, the subject matter of which promises more fluid dispersal than the most splatter heavy slasher. Closer to home there’s High Rise as domestic favorite Ben Wheatley translates the brilliant J.G. Ballard’s better known urban nightmares, Tomorrowland looks like a mystery worth solving (is it based on a book, a YA novel or comic or anything? I know nothing about this project and intend to keep it that way) while Del Toro gets back to his spooky roots with Crimson Peak. Speaking of genre not only is an absolutely incandescent Max back with an exciting looking film (and proof that the art of the movie trailer isn’t necessarily dead as everyone went fucking nuts about that teaser) but It Follows seems to be the sleeper horror hit before Ultron finally takes on The Avengers. I don’t care for the look of Jurassic World but I’ll see go see it, who knows it might be tasty and Ahnoldt is back in what is shaping up to be the worst entry in an increasingly rusty franchise. Jupiter Ascending looks increasingly lame following some juvenile trailers and a mysteriously axed release date (usually a sign that something is significantly rotten in Denmark) and toward the end of the year some trifling space opera franchise gets a new iteration, with Mission Impossible 5 facing an impossible box office mission by opening a mere week later – that’s braver than any high-altitude heist.
So we finally cast our gaze to the future. As always a glut of sequels infested movie theaters in 2014, including A Haunted House 2, 300: Rise Of An Empire, Paranormal Activity 4, Captain America 2, The Expendables 3, X-Men: Days Of Future Past, Dolphin Tale 2, Rio 2, Sin City 2 and Dumb & Dumber 2, How To Train Your Dragon 2, The Hobbit 3, and the third The Hunger Games film which I simply couldn’t face. Milking franchise cows for three, four or more installments of product has been an established film business since the dawn of technology when the likes of Biograph, Pathe and Mack Sennet supplied a hungry audience with a constant tsunami of two-reelers. But mere repetition and formula isn’t the whole picture as illustrated in this article, the gulf between the two arcs of the industry is becoming more hideously apparent, as spineless executives seek to ‘cross-pollenate franchise possibilities’ or ‘fully exploit the cultural profile of intellectual properties to vertically penetrate the four segment demographic’ – parts of this commentary from Universal’s CEO honestly made me want to retch. I didn’t take a genius to predict that both I, Frankenstein and Dracula Untold would curdle at the box-office without a single molecule of horror in them, the latter just about breaking even with a $212 take on a $70 million budget when you factor in P&A and the exhibitors cut of the gross. Wider issues aside there also wasn’t much sympathy around these parts for the Sony hacking scandal (even if the world continues to turn into a simulacra of a William Gibson novel) with the genius ideas of a Men In Black and 21 Jump Street fustercluck being brought to screens – is there a single original thought left in Hollywood? The powerpoints alone are the funniest thing the studio has produced in the 21st century.
The disintegration of the middle ground is unnerving and remind me of the 1950’s, when the studios desperately fought the new threat television with widescreen, 3-D and other theatre gimmicks. The difference in this decade is stubble but no less desperate , as maybe this proliferation of franchised programming is the frantic industry reaction to the so called rise of Serious Television© and the arc of long form seasons and character development to fully explore potent tales and themes. It’s only with TV that we seem to consume those ‘water-cooler’ events such as that gory episode of Game Of Thrones or that intoxicating finale of Breaking Bad, but from a pure storytelling perspective did The Hobbit need to three movies? Does The Stand need to be four movies? Was the last Hunger Games novel deserving of being split into two films? It’s pure economics of plateauing theatre attendance and the new kids nipping at the dinosaur studio’s heels, Showcase, Netflix and Amazon seem much more likely to take risks and commission material that would have Time Warner or 20th Century Fox executives reaching for their psychiatrists emergency speed-dial. The way I look at it is that quality always seems to rise to the top, of course I cast my net wide but I never struggle to find ten pictures that are exemplars of the form, so these claims of TV ‘beating’ movies is rather absurd – it’s on a par with claiming an apple is a better fruit than a banana. In any case the film industry has always defied expectation and prediction as a recent article has just blown apart insiders predictions, as William Goldman said in Hollywood ‘nobody knows anything‘;
Black Hat Mann….
So there I was, assigning a particularly energetic montage for the end of the year celebrations with a certain new movie assaulting the bleak plateau of January, then events overtake reality and I imagine Michael Mann’s incredibly engineered research causes ruinous ructions due to the recent Sony picture insanity – like The Interview you just can’t buy this sort of marketing;
One imagines that a humbled Hollywood are still desperately scrabbling for every generation of cyber scripts – for me the whole situation is utterly bizarre. Anyway, here is the aforementioned fantastic montage, enjoy;
The Work of: Michael Mann from Tom Kramer on Vimeo.
BFI Archive Members Tour, Berkhamsted
Being a BFI member is a bit like being in the mafia isn’t it? Once a year they open the books, consider which soldiers have been diligent and respectful little earners and garner them with a little treat – a ‘made’ man members only tour of the BFI restoration centre and archieve in the chilly foothalls of deepest Hertforshire. This is where some of the nations audio-visual treasures are held and the painstaking pursuit of reel by reel, frame by frame restoration is conducted, such as this 1927 picture which was recently commissioned for this years London Film Festival;
A dozen or so of us were walked around the complex with tour guide in hand meeting and chatting to the technicians and boffins who preserve and the hundreds of years of material which have been collected since 1935 when the institute was established. We got to see close-up the machines that photograph the negatives one frame at a time for digitial archival purposes and computerized restoration, the soundsmiths who remove the hiss and clicks of sonic degradation (yes, the recent Nolan sound backlash came up and we all had a little chuckle), and the man who may well have the best job in the world – upon instruction it’s his job to watch and log every film in the collection for a future retrospective. For example, say the BFI want to curate a season of Dame Maggie Smith, as is currently in play at the Southbank. He receives a phone call and it’s his job to consult the archive, to collate and project every 16mm, 35mm, 70mm or whatever print and assess what is a solid enough condition to be presentable, a process which he explained watching a mere 81 of Dame Smith’s films, providing the curator with the essential information of what he could and couldn’t include in the programme. So, essentially, watching films in your own theatre all day and getting paid for it. Sweet.
Naturally I found the whole place fascinating, just a sideways glance in one of the examining rooms had film cans labeled up as The Life & Death Of Colonel Blimp, or the AFI’s print of Vertigo, glance another way and there was a reel from Brainstorm or Three Colours Blue. I think the area that got the most ‘ooohs’ and ahhhs’ was the special materials room where some of the ephemera of film culture was also catalogued, archived and held in trust, this is the unit which manages the film posters, the scripts, the film related personal effects donated to the institute. We were given sight of Peter Sellers childhood diaries, a final leather-bound script of Hitchcock’s Spellbound, Carol Reed’s pencil annoted shooting script to The Third Man, and Lee and Cushing’s written contracts for The Curse Of Frankenstein. Oh and the original storyboard book for The Empire Strikes Back, complete with scribbled questions about camera moves and SFX choices and solutions to certain sequences. Suck it neeerrrrdddssss……
So yeah, pretty much film nerd heaven, a terrific session which I’m glad to have finally attended. Maybe one day they will open the main archieve to the public over in Warwickshire, that’s where the hundreds of thousands of prints and material is held in effectively a giant fridge, for the benefit of future generations when that old fashioned recording medium of celluloid will seem as archaic and amber as Mary Pickford or Theda Bara are to today’s generation. If you’re interested in any of the debates around digital versus film shooting or archival practices then again I heartily recommend Side By Side, a terrific documentary which lays bare all the current debates and discussions of where film culture is shifting from one phase to the next……that is, if we can even call it ‘film’ anymore….
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