Issues
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On Both Sides of the Lens
Is there another contemporary documentary director who has so lovingly — and yet so quizzically — explored the work of his own artistic inspirations as Wim Wenders? With his patient, probing camera eye and, often, ruminative German-accented voiceover, Wenders has captured the work of filmmakers (Nicholas Ray, Yasujirō Ozu), choreographers (Pina Bausch), fashion designers (Yohji Yamamoto) and many, many musicians (Blind Willie Johnson, U2 and the players featured in Buena Vista Social Club, among others). Wenders approaches these talents humbly — in some cases as a colleague, but most often as a fan and admirer. And as much as Wenders’ […]
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Without Words
Although it’s too early to designate this a golden age of film editing, examples of unexpected, creative and sometimes flat-out radical cutting continue to suggest that the digital turn in cinema has always been, at its fundamental and structural level, about new possibilities for joining together images and sound. This column will explore the rhythms of editing in films that are exemplary — each in their own way — in the manipulation of time and space that is the foundation of editing. First up is the remarkable, wordless 13-minute-plus opening of Jonathan Glazer’s Under the Skin, which recalls René Clair’s […]
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Any Color You Like: Writer/Director Jill Soloway on her Golden Globe-Winning Transparent
Speaking about the transgender movement and his leading role on the new Amazon Original series Transparent, actor Jeffrey Tambor exuberantly told Entertainment Weekly, “This is a brave new world.” From Emmy-nominated Laverne Cox’s Time Magazine cover to landmark federal policy laws, 2014 was an explosive year for transgender visibility and politics. Alongside these milestones, Jill Soloway’s groundbreaking new show mines the emotional landscape of trans-ness with a feeling-driven, multi-dimensional story of a family’s reckoning with a retired professor (Tambor, in a brilliantly nuanced performance) coming out as transgender. Funny, poignant and provocative, it’s been hailed as one of the best […]
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5 Things Cinematographers Don’t Talk About
I only faintly recall writing my last entry for Filmmaker Magazine. I was huddled over at some bar at a busy airport, in between jobs and cities I’ve only seen through the windows of a hotel: a cinematographer’s life. I do remember the article was a bit cheeky — I was pretty elated with the success of It Felt Like Love — so I thought this time that to commemorate Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter I’d get down to brass tacks. Here are five things cinematographers don’t talk about. 1. When to Say No Possibly one of the hardest parts of […]
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Boycott!
For several weeks at the end of last year, it seemed as though the racial tension building in the United States might reach a boiling point. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice at the hands of law enforcement had produced an energy of outrage and frustration, sparking heated national debate. It was a debate that didn’t hinge on whether or not America had a race problem, but how bad America’s race problem actually was. For some, the deaths of Brown, Garner, Rice and others were proof that there was a systematic, inherent disregard for black lives […]
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Lost in a Dream
“I don’t think humans communicate well.” —Lisandro Alonso I agree with the Argentine director. In our present age — when everyone has to be “connected” all the time, doing more than one thing — the chatter, the noise, can be maddening. Encountering the work of Lisandro Alonso makes me recall the feeling of lying on the floor and listening to a record as a teenager: not texting or talking or answering emails, simply listening. Alonso’s films let the viewer pay attention and dream simultaneously. Spare in dialogue, attentive to landscapes, meditative in pacing, they allow one to get lost in […]
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Here Comes the Ocean: Ron Howard on In the Heart of the Sea
Ron Howard is one of those filmmakers who often feels like a throwback to the directors of the classical studio era, guys such as Victor Fleming and Michael Curtiz, who would jump from action flick to comedy to melodrama and back again without missing a beat. At the beginning of his career, he followed up an R-rated comedy (Night Shift) with a romance for Disney (Splash) and then went on to do an Oscar-winning biopic (A Beautiful Mind), Westerns (Far and Away, The Missing), prescient satires (Gung Ho, EDtv) and massive tentpoles (The Da Vinci Code, How the Grinch Stole […]
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What Everyone Does on a Film Set
For those new to physical production, here is a list of film set departments, with notes on their staff positions, responsibilities, benefits and attractions. PRODUCTION Personnel: Production Manager, Production Coordinator, Office PAs, Assistants to Directors and Producers. Responsibilities: Organization, preparation, taking care of actors, producers and director. Join this department if you like: Working on a movie without being chained to a set, knowing everything that’s going on, fielding constant complaints. Favorite Game: Choosing a new person to hate every day. ASSISTANT DIRECTOR DEPARTMENT Personnel: 1st AD, 2nd AD, 2nd 2nd AD, Key PA, On Set Interns. Responsibilities: […]
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Girl Gangs and Tweetstorms: Super 8
Larry Gross’s Twitter Amidst of sea of social media me-too-ism and diffidently composed schtick, screenwriter and critic Larry Gross’s Twitter feed stands out. Often composed in tweetstorm-style, the author of films ranging from 48 Hours to We Don’t Live Here Anymore spills out arresting meditations and poetic aphorisms on everything from Alain Badiou’s take on St. Paul to the poetry of Wallace Stevens to Paul Thomas Anderson’s intuitive understanding of the crisis in American cinematic narrative. twitter.com/@larryagross Y2K What separates Y2K from other independently developed role-playing games? According to the designers at Ackk Studios, their novelty comes from being a […]
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Let’s Kill the Web Series
Recently I conducted a nonscientific survey among friends. I asked, “What do you think when I say ‘Web series?’” The response was overwhelmingly negative. From a Hollywood agent friend, I heard, “Waste of time and money.” From a television writer, I heard, “Someone asking me to help crowdfund their reel.” But the most damning response came from a friend outside of the new media/film/TV industry. Their response was simply “Ugh.” As someone who has made a career making Web series and online videos, that’s disheartening, to say the least. You could have the most brilliant concept for a Web series, […]
