Authors — Sarah Salovaara
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Five Questions with Güeros Director Alonso Ruizpalacios
Much like the counter-movement it depicts, Alonso Ruizpalacios’ Güeros is built upon a series of elements that slyly double back on one another. Smartphones in 1999, remnants of behind the scenes footage to break the third wall, a road trip through town, and handheld camerawork to counteract otherwise formal rigor all comprise this tale of three young men in the midst of a Mexico City National University upheaval. Troublemaker Tomás (Sebastián Aguirre) is sent South by his mother to live with his dissident, often lackadaisical brother Sombra (Tenoch Huerta) and his best friend Santos (Leonardo Ortizgris). Wasting the days away in their concrete compound, the three become […]
by Sarah Salovaara on May 1, 2014 -
The One-Cam: Under the Skin’s Customized CCD Camera
Eventually we’ll stop posting about Under The Skin but today is not that day. Last month, I ran a featurette from A24 about the film’s guerrilla style execution. The production rigged Johansson’s vehicle with eight hidden cameras, recording her improvised interactions with any given passerby in real time and with maximum coverage. Now, we have yet another featurette that gets into the specifications of said cameras, called “One-Cams,” which were developed especially for the occasion. For the van sequences, the VFX studio One of Us rigged a CCD camera (about the size of a GoPro) with anamorphic super 16 lenses. Though the rest of the […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 30, 2014 -
Upcoming Deadlines for IFP’s Independent Film Week
IFP is nearing its annual deadline for applications to the Independent Film Week Project Forum, set to take place September 14-18 at Lincoln Center. This Friday, May 2, submissions close for RBC’s Emerging Storytellers — for writers at the script stage, and web series creators in development, production, and post-production looking to connect with producers, funders, agents, digital distributors, and streaming platforms — and the No Borders International Co-Production Market — for established narrative producers with partial financing in place looking to connect with financiers, distributors, sales agents and international partners. Also of note is the Spotlight on Documentaries program, with an early deadline of May […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 30, 2014 -
“It’s Never All In The Script:” Dennis Hopper on Nicholas Ray and Rebel Without a Cause
“I’m the best damn filmmaker in the world who has never made one entirely good, entirely satisfactory film,” so said Nicholas Ray, according to his friend Dennis Hopper. In a bit for Turner Classic Movies in 1997, Hopper reflected on Ray’s work and their relationship, which began during his debut role as Goon in the filmmaker’s iconic Rebel Without a Cause. At the time, Hopper remembers thinking “that James Dean was directing [the] film, he had so much input in his character and lines, even deciding how a scene would be shot,” later to realize that Ray “gave Dean the freedom he needed…[he] […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 29, 2014 -
You Have To Laugh
The first words of Obvious Child are heard over black. Effervescent stand-up comedian Donna Stern (the pitch-perfect Jenny Slate) appears in flashes, lording over her audience as she addresses the myth of clean underwear in graphic detail. If it wasn’t already apparent from the mere premise of her Sundance breakout, director Gillian Robespierre knows how to make a first impression. A romantic comedy that upends all that the genre holds dear, Obvious Child, based on Robespierre’s 2009 short, is an irreverent, hilarious and touching examination of a woman’s brash misstep and her hesitant navigation through its domino-like ramifications. Impregnated during […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 28, 2014 -
“You’re Really Just Talking to Yourself:” Beau Willimon, David Simon, Nate Silver and Anne Thompson on Audiences and Data
“There are two asteroids corrupting media,” bellowed radio host John Hockenberry at the start of the Tribeca Film Festival’s “Stories By Numbers” panel last week. The first, viewing patterns; the second, data streams. “Narratives,” he opined, pacing before Beau Willimon, David Simon, Nate Silver and Anne Thompson, “are becoming indistinguishable from vices.” It’s no secret that Netflix’s limitless entree into consumer preferences has informed much of its success in the realm of original content. Hockenberry noted that big brother Sarandos can scrutinize viewing behavior down to its utter minutiae: “what people skip over, what sex scenes they replay, is all fed back into […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 28, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: Richard Linklater’s Boyhood
Trailer cutting is an art in itself and more often than not the results undersell or miss-sell the very package they promote. So goes this slightly corny bumper for Richard Linklater’s masterpiece, Boyhood, though as I recall from my knee jerk reaction to the Coldplay-scored opening sequence, any glimpse of heavy handedness in the film is not worth fretting over. It’s simply one of the most profound viewing experiences I’ve ever had and the less you know going into it, the better. That one of the more holistic family portraits in film has earned an R from the MPAA is an egregious error. IFC Films […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 25, 2014 -
Five Questions with Something Must Break Director Ester Martin Bergsmark
A moody exploration of the human need for connection — with others, and ourselves — Ester Martin Bergsmark’s Something Must Break centers on Sebastian, a queer, androgynous twenty-something, in desperate need of grounding. Drifting through unfulfilling sexual experiences in grungy, modern day Stockholm, a chance encounter leads Sebastian to Andreas, a straight man who nevertheless can’t seem to resist Sebastian’s advances. As their relationship deepens, so do Andreas’ doubts, sending Sebastian towards his feminine alter ego, “Ellie.” Filmmaker spoke to Bergsmark about making the transition from documentary to narrative, and the film’s alternately loose and stylized execution. Something Must Break had its North […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 25, 2014 -
2014 Tribeca Film Festival Winners
I’m openly hopping on the Brandon Harris bandwagon and declaring Tribeca’s programming vastly underrated. Leaps and bounds ahead of SXSW, much of the curation this year proved artful and risky, with standouts including Fishtail, Güeros, Young Bodies Heal Quickly, Gabriel, Broken Hill Blues, Ne Me Quitte Pas, Glass Chin, 1971, Summer of Blood and so forth. Even its selections that didn’t completely click were admirable in their aims. It’s frustrating then that the winners feel so incredibly safe. Particularly, the gifting of the Best Documentary prize to a two-time Academy Award nominee, when I can think of no fewer than five first timers in competition who were more deserving of both […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 25, 2014 -
Trailer Watch: When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism
Corneliu Porumboiu’s fifth film The Second Game just screened as part of Lincoln Center’s Art of the Real series, but his fourth, When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism, is still nearing theaters. While several of Porumboiu’s contemporaries of New Romanian Cinema train their eye on domestic disturbances — of both the absurdist and pragmatic variety — Metabolism pulls back the curtain on a filmmaker’s mid-shoot inner turmoil. Plagued by some sort of imaginary condition (the absurd), he falls into an affair with his lead actress (the pragmatic) and suffers a crisis of doubt. Meticulously crafted, each scene is comprised of a single long take. […]
by Sarah Salovaara on Apr 24, 2014
