With all of his recent work — his Clocktower gallery show, optioning of The Adderall Diaries, performance in the great experimental short Solitary/Release, and, of course, his bravura turn in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours — James Franco is becoming not just one of our best young actors but an important ambassador between the art and film worlds. Here, via Nowness, he is in Alison Chernick’s “remake” of artist Bruce Nauman’s 1967 video art piece, Art Make-Up. From Nowness: Recently there’s been something of a convergence between Franco’s artistic interests and his acting choices. While at work on a book of […]
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 20, 2010How do you make a narrative film about a long, difficult poem? Jean Cocteau’s legendary Blood of the Poet gives it a go I suppose, but its style departs from the conventions of narrative very early on for something more willfully avant-garde. Poetry just doesn’t lend itself to shot reverse shot and one hundred and eighty degree director’s lines. This clearly difficult task didn’t daunt veteran documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman, however; they took up the challenge as they made the jump to narrative in Howl, a thoughtful meditation on the early life and seminal work of Allen Ginsberg. […]
by Brandon Harris on Sep 22, 2010In its 12th year the Sarasota Film Festival has established itself as an important regional festival stop. Wedged between SXSW and Tribeca, Sarasota’s 10-day event is filled with festival circuit favorites, access to industry folk for the area filmmakers and lots of parties. [Full disclosure: I’m on the jury for the Independent Visions award this year.] Kicking off last night with Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini‘s The Extra Man, the film stars Kevin Klein and Paul Dano as unlikely roommates living in Manhattan, one an aging playboy (Klein) the other a dreamer trying to find his place in life […]
by Jason Guerrasio on Apr 10, 2010