Open | Filmmaker Magazine

“LIBERTY KID”

An intimate portrait of a pair of friends’ struggle to get by in a post-9/11 New York, Ilya Chaiken‘s sophomore effort (her previous feature was Margarita Happy Hour) has an authentic feel of urban life and an impressive story arch that surpasses its low-budget expectations. The film opens with Derrick (Al Thompson) and Tico (Kareem Saviñon) working on Liberty Island during the day and partying up at night. Though Derrick is more goal oriented than Tico, they both are stuck in the same rut when the Towers come down as they lose their jobs and struggle to find work. Though […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 10, 2008

Damian Harris, Gardens Of The Night

EVAN ROSS AND GILLIAN JACOBS IN DIRECTOR DAMIAN HARRIS’ GARDENS OF THE NIGHT. COURTESY CITY LIGHTS PICTURES. Coming from a family of actors, Damian Harris went against the grain when he chose to become a writer-director. Harris is the son of Richard Harris, the legendary British screen thespian, as well as the stepson of Rex Harrison and the brother of Jamie and Jared Harris, who are also actors. He got his first taste of the movie game when, at the age of 10, he acted alongside Tom Courtenay and Romy Schneider in the comedy Otley (1968). That experience, however, made […]

by Nick Dawson on Nov 7, 2008

STEPPING INTO THE GARDENS OF THE NIGHT

Opening today in New York from City Lights at the Village East is Damian Harris’s engrossing, heartbreaking drama Gardens of the Night. The story of abuse, its aftermath and the theme of lost childhood in general, Gardens of the Night is a tale of two children who are abducted by a pair of pedophiles (one played with troubling subtlety by an excellent Tom Arnold) and who then, years later, find their bonds together as homeless street hustlers. It sounds dark and bleak, but the film is beautifully directed and acted (particularly by Arnold, Gillian Jacobs, Evan Ross and John Malkovitch), […]

by Scott Macaulay on Nov 7, 2008

THE RETURN OF THE MUSCLES FROM BRUSSELS

Mabrouk El Mechri’s very entertaining genre-buster JCVD opens today, and here we flash you back to the interview with El Mechri that appeared on our site via Filmcatcher during the Toronto Film Festival. To see the interview click here.

by Scott Macaulay on Nov 7, 2008

Director Darren Lynn Bousman on Repo! The Genetic Opera

Back in 2004, director Darren Lynn Bousman was taking his violent horror script The Desperate to a number of studios, only to be told it was too grisly for mainstream viewers. Enter Saw creators James Wan and Leigh Whannell, who loved The Desperate and immediately contacted Bousman about reworking the script into a sequel to their Saw franchise. This began a partnership that saw Bousman direct three successful Saw films in a row. Taking a break from the infamous horror series, Bousman returns with a long gestating labor of love: Repo! The Genetic Opera, a futuristic horror musical based on […]

by Jason Guerrasio on Nov 6, 2008

THE FILMMAKER GUIDE TO ASIA ARGENTO

Filmmaker has been a big fan of Asia Argento — as an actress and a director — over the years, and on the occasion of her BAM retrospective, “Sexy, Scary and Often Naked: Asia Argento,” which opens today, I thought I would throw up some links to our coverage of Argento over the years. Back in 2000 Travis Crawford interviewed Asia about her directorial debut, Scarlet Diva, and the article was illustrated by original Richard Kern photos (one of which I’ve included here). In 2005 Crawford interviewed Asia again in 2005 for her second feature, The Heart is Deceitful Above […]

by Scott Macaulay on Nov 1, 2008

MILK PREMIERES IN SAN FRANCISCO

Executive producer William Horberg attended the premiere of Gus Van Sant’s Milk last night in San Francisco and writes about it on his blog. An excerpt: It was almost 37 years ago that Harvey Milk, the subject of the film, moved to the Castro District from New York City and set up his camera shop there with his boyfriend Scott Smith, at what was to become ground zero in a cultural movement and struggle for respect and equal rights for gay people that, despite the major victories Harvey and his supporters achieved before his untimely assassination, as he became the […]

by Scott Macaulay on Oct 29, 2008

FILMMAKER’S GUIDE TO HALLOWEEN HORROR

For those of you planning a Halloween viewing party, the staff of Filmmaker has compiled thoughts on seven films guaranteed to generate chills. Inside. If you watch a lot of horror films, at a certain point you being to feel that you’ve seen it all. I did… at least until I saw Inside. This French shocker is part of a new wave of Gallic horror that includes films like Haute Tension, Frontieres, Calvaire and Them. For me, it’s the most extreme and transgressive of the bunch, mostly due to its relentless, remorseless elaboration of its queasy premise: a pregnant woman, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Oct 29, 2008

THE ELEPHANT IN THE SCREENING ROOM

At The Hollywood Reporter, Gregg Goldstein reports on the stellar per-screen gross of Seth Grossman’s The Elephant King this weekend at the Angelika Film Center. The 2006 Tribeca selection, now being distributed by producer Unison Films and Strand Releasing did $16,000 despite modest P&A. The secret was apparently a blend of grass-roots marketing targeting non-film constituencies as well as a Gen Art-like blend of a screening and premiere party for a higher ticket price. From the piece: Unison head Emanuel Michael worked with Priority Films to contact Asian, Thai, drug and alcohol groups, and film schools at local universities. The […]

by Scott Macaulay on Oct 27, 2008

READING (AND LOOKING AT) SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK

William Horberg, exec producer of Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, has a blog, and in today’s post he compares his first reading of Kaufman’s script — in one of those annoying “you have to read this in two hours and then hand back immediately to a bonded messenger” sittings — to his first assignment at script coverage back in 1986. (Hat tip: Ted Hope.) From the piece: As a test, the first screenplay I was given to read and analyze as a sample of my reading, writing and comprehension was, believe it or not, How To Get Ahead In Advertising, […]

by Scott Macaulay on Oct 22, 2008

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6296 Results for “Open ”