Filmmaking
Filmmaking
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OREN MOVERMAN’S “RAMPART” — A REVIEW
Rampart is a hard-slamming action film … a disturbing portrait of a goon gone-amok … a subtle investigation of a sensitive man … an incisive dissection of a raging numbskull … a shrewd portrayal of a terribly wounded soul. Rampart is a film of extremes and subtleties swiftly moving yet rich in detail. If not expertly crafted and intricately woven, Rampart would quickly implode. Set in 1999 Los Angles, Rampart is about a dirty cop rushing into a train wreck with reality. The cynical and enraged 24-year LAPD veteran is locked in a whirlwind of events that rip him to […]
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An Interview with D.P. Martina Radwan
I started working with DP Martina Radwan about a year ago on the feature documentary, Mentor (addressing bullying and teen suicide in Mentor, Ohio) I further had the pleasure of working with her on a recent music video for the band Shearwater. It is a gift, as a director, to find a DP who you can quickly fall into a shorthand with, creating your own visual language, and trusting in the collaborative process. Radwan and I found this with each other. Her narrative work includes Flannel Pajamas, by Jeff Lipsky; Singapore Dreaming, one of the first Singaporean feature productions and […]
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NAVIGATING OUR ROTTERDAM PREMIERE, PART 2
It’s hard to believe that IFFR is already coming to an end. Having now been here for a full and very active week filled with films, parties, new acquaintances…we feel simultaneously exhausted and rejuvenated. It is an honor to bring a film to Rotterdam. The Patron Saints screened three times at three different venues. At the start of our first screening, there was a technical issue that threw us into a bit of a panic. It was really our fault for not showing up a few minutes early to do a tech check, but… live and learn. To our great […]
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The Blue Velvet Project, #76
Second #3572, 59:32 Back at the Slow Club, Jeffrey has just poured himself a Heineken, and Dorothy has noticed something that has caused a shadow of fear to cross her face. In a subtle relay of looks captured in nine shots that last just over one minute, this happens: Shot 1: Jeffrey, having poured a Heineken, watches Dorothy perform “Blue Velvet.” Shot 2: (second #3572, the frame above) Dorothy sees something in the audience that spooks her. Shot 3: Jeffrey notices Dorothy’s fear, and turns his head to where she is looking. Shot 4: We see Frank, the object of […]
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STANDING KNEE-DEEP IN WATER — THE AFTER-SUNDANCE BLOG
I empty my pockets of biz cards, coffee receipts and contacts written on scraps of napkins and sing-think to myself, ala Rosemary Clooney – “Is that all there is?…” “Let us know when you want to have dinner” a filmmaker Sundance vet texts. “The post Sundance blues are real. Believe it.” These thoughts must be truthfully reported in this blog even though reading about luxury problems like this would typically make me want to punch the writer. I was secretly expecting that once you got into Sundance you simply had to hand out butcher tickets to distributors and dig out […]
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Ten Lessons on Filmmaking From Director Abel Ferrara
The original King of Indie Abel Ferrara made a stop at Emir Kusturica’s Küstendorf Film and Music Festival this January to screen his latest film 4:44 Last Day on Earth. The Loisaida-set film paints a picture of addiction at the end of the world, starring Willem Dafoe and Shanyn Leigh. Ferrara felt very welcome at Küstendorf, Emir Kusturica’s wooden village high in the mountains of Mokra Gora. “We just kinda have a connection, other than I look like him,” Ferrera told me of the famed Serbian director, minutes before entering a workshop to discuss the film with students who had descended […]
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DON CORNELIUS, R.I.P.
Sad to hear this week of the death of Don Cornelius, whose Soul Train is burned into my adolescent TV memory. From Bruce Handy at Vanity Fair (who opens with a quote from “American Pie”). I know it’s corny quoting from “American Pie.” But it is February, and like a lot of people, I felt a genuine sense of loss and sadness at the news that Don Cornelius, the creator and host of Soul Train, died of gunshot wounds Wednesday morning in Los Angeles—a possible suicide at the age of 75. The show premiered in Chicago in 1970 and aired […]
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BEN GAZARRA, R.I.P.
Ben Gazarra, 1930-2012. From my favorite movie of his, John Cassavete’s Killing of a Chinese Bookie.
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ROTTERDAM PHOTOS AND NOTES
For almost two decades I’ve been traveling to the International Film Festival Rotterdam immediately following Sundance, struggling to keep my jet lag at bay while I attend a few Cinemart meetings, hit the informal but productive Cinemart cocktail hours, and delve into the fest’s always excellent and eclectic program. This year several fellower Sundancers made the trip as well, including sales agent Ryan Kampe, producer Adele Romanski, the IFP’s Amy Dotson, the Sundance Institute’s Anne Lai, and director Terrence Nance, whose An Oversimplification of Her Beauty was programmed here and was one of the Park City’s true discoveries. Above is […]
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MIKE KELLEY, R.I.P.
Artist Mike Kelley, one of the most influential of his generation, died Tuesday at his home in Los Angeles. His provocative multi-media work mixed irony with sincerity, scatology with sentiment, and influenced not only other artists but filmmakers, musicians and writers. A founding member of the band Destroy All Monsters, he attended CalArts and collaborated with other artists like Tony Oursler, Jim Shaw and Sonic Youth. From Holland Cotter’s New York Times appreciation: He began creating multimedia installations that synthesized large-scale drawings and paintings, often incorporating his own writing, along with sculptures, videos (one was based on the television show […]
