Features
-
Blast From the Past
When was the last time you saw a movie that made you say “Wow!” with the wide-eyed, not-yet-jaded glee of a six year old? What was it for you? Insane special effects? Narrative trickery? Deep and resonant emotion? The perfect ending? I was 6 1/2 years old — at that age, the 1/2 is very important — when Back to the Future came out in theaters, and I remember seeing it with my father. The movie floored me — the whole thing. Marty’s relationship with Doc as well as his own father (Crispin effin’ Glover!), the effects, the music, and […]
-
Please Hold
In the fall of 2007, I interviewed Craig Zobel about his first film as a director, Great World of Sound, a wryly funny drama about scamming “talent scouts.” Zobel, who for some years worked as a UPM and co-producer for David Gordon Green, was on a high after getting great reviews at Sundance earlier that year, selling Sound to Magnolia at SXSW, and then being chosen as one of Filmmaker’s 25 New Faces in the summer. As we casually chatted before the interview officially began, Zobel talked about a script he had written that was to be his next movie, […]
-
Brooklyn Basics
Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing exploded on the screen in 1989; an energetic, in-your-face portrait of a Brooklyn neighborhood — Bed-Stuy — on the hottest day of the summer as racial tensions boil over. Lee’s third film, it was an instant classic, scoring the writer, director and actor an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay. A decade later it was placed in the prestigious National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Following She’s Gotta Have It and School Daze, the film also cemented in the public’s eye Spike Lee as “Spike Lee,” a bold and savvy showman who […]
-
25 New Faces of Independent Film 2012
Click here to see Filmmaker‘s 25 New Faces of Independent Film 2013.
-
Storm Song: Beasts of the Southern Wild and Tchoupitoulas
After the recent BAMcinemaFest screening that marked the first time Benh Zeitlin’s magical-realist Beasts of the Southern Wild screened alongside Bill and Turner Ross’s immersive New Orleans documentary Tchoupitoulas—both South Louisiana-shot pictures produced by members of the film collective Court 13—there were two celebrations on either side of BAM. At the beautiful dive-bar Frank’s, the Ross brothers and various doc and indie film bros were watching the NBA championships with loud exuberance and strong opinions. There was a rumor that there was a dance party across the street at the Fox Searchlight-hosted party for Beasts, which was flowing with delicious […]
-
Ad Break: Wes Anderson’s Commercials
For many independent film directors, making commercials is just business. It’s a way to keep working, put a healthy sum of money in the bank — and, as likely very few people will know that they even directed the ad, it’s not something they need to worry about after the shoot wraps. Wes Anderson, however, is one of those rare directors whose commercials feel like a direct extension of his feature work. Anderson has been helming ads for a decade or so. His IKEA spots “Kitchen” and “Living Room” from 2003 — some of his earliest commercials — have a […]
-
Decisive Moments
“All you need for a movie is a gun and girl,” Jean-Luc Godard famously wrote in one of his journals. But, of course, to make a good movie, you need others things too. An observant, imaginative eye helps, as does fresh context and a director’s understanding of the community containing that gun, that girl and, inevitably, the guy who stands behind — or in front of — the trigger. Restless City, the exciting dramatic feature debut of Nigerian-born photographer and music-video director Andrew Dosunmu, has all of these elements, and it mixes them into a hauntingly sensual take on the […]
-
Prophet Motive
Save for the beard, Vikram Gandhi resembles nothing of his fictional creation Sri Kumaré, “a revered yoga master known to his contemporaries as Adarsha or ‘The Mirror.’ He is the current torchbearer of the Kumaré lineage and a respected, charismatic teacher of Yogic Science. Sri Kumaré is known for his youthful energy, transformative philosophy and divine blessing.” (That’s all from the Kumaré website — yes, Gandhi’s made-up character has his own website.) Instead, Gandhi comes across as the humble and inquisitive New Jersey native that he is in real life — a guy whose mischievous curiosity about humankind’s search for […]
-
The Weight of Water: An Interview with Jessica Yu
Jumping from social-issue documentary films — like her new Last Call at
the Oasis — to independent narrative to network television, director JESSICA YU has one of the most multi-faceted careers around. By NICK DAWSON. Photograph by Henny Garfunkel -
Twice Removed: Your Sister’s Sister Director Lynn Shelton
Following her acclaimed bromantic comedy Humpday, LYNN SHELTON travels to a cabin on a secluded island to examine female relationships in the insightful Your Sister’s Sister. Writer/director RY RUSSO-YOUNG learns more from the Seattle-based filmmaker.
