So,  the 83rd annual Academy Awards happened. I think. The effort to revitalize the franchise for the “young and hip” demographic failed miserably. Twitter was abuzz with grand pronouncements of “most boring Oscars ever.” The historically-inaccurate THE KING’S SPEECH robbed the historically-inaccurate THE SOCIAL NETWORK of all the highest honors. The most entertaining part of the night came from the Auto Tune the News team doing an unintentional musicals mashup. Yes, the best part of a show all about movies was a web video. Speaking of web videos, James Franco iPhoned his opening entrance and posted it on his Twitter a few moments later.

Check out the video. Pretty cool seeing it from the host’s side, don’t you think? But sadly, his videos tweets became less interesting as the night progressed, culminating in a hand massage courtesy of Anne Hathaway.

Last week, the Belcourt Theatre in Nashville announced their new series for March and April: VISIONS OF THE SOUTH. And holy expl@t!ve, I’ve never been more excited about a film series! The show culminates in a rare screening of Oscar Micheaux’s 1925 silent film BODY AND SOUL, featuring the first appearance of legendary actor Paul Robeson. Micheaux was one of America’s first black directors and THE first independent filmmaker of any ethnicity. He was raised in Metropolis, Illnois only 40 minutes away from my home town in western Kentucky. Sadly, Metropolis celebrates a fictitious super hero (Superman by way of a giant statue and yearly festival) while they have completely forgotten their real national treasure.

I could gush full blog about every film in the VISIONS OF THE SOUTH series. Do yourself a favor and go check out the lineup. The series kicks off Friday, March 11th with Elia Kazan’s WILD RIVER.

Allow me one more tangent before my main review of KABOOM. Last night I saw ENTER THE VOID at the Belcourt with the censored reel restored. One day is not distance enough to formulate an opinion on the film’s merits; but rest assured, it is a film like no other. The film is shot in first person through the eyes of a young American drug dealer living in Tokyo. At times, I literally felt like I was in his head. It was not a pleasant place to be.

Is the film too long? Too indulgent? Maybe. No matter your opinion, you have to admire the craft and skill of the camera team who used the camera cranes and other rigs to remarkable effect. The same could be said for the visual effects team whose effects blend in (for the most part) so well that it’s hard to tell what is real. ENTER THE VOID is a crowning technical achievement, the APOCALYPSE NOW of drug movies. It will be discussed for years to come.

Gregg Araki’s KABOOM exists in a universe not too distant from ENTER THE VOID. Whereas EtV is a day-glo trip about young people destroying themselves in order to find solace, KABOOM is a day-glo trip about young people trying to have a good time and getting destroyed in the process. Actually, to be honest, I’m not exactly sure what it’s about. There’s the bisexual lead Smith who sexes his way through a campus mystery involving a cult of animal-masked creepy people. There are also mind controlling witches, sage-like sexpots, and secret agent hippies. The film sheds a level of credulity every reel or so, and I get the sense that we’re supposed to revel in the camp. I attended with friends who are diehard Araki fans, and they all had a ball. I’ve only seen one of his films — THE DOOM GENERATION — and since that viewing was when the VHS edition was a new release, you’ll forgive me for my spotty remembrance.

The bright spot is the arresting young actress Haley Bennett, who I am convinced is going to be a huge star. There, I’m calling it now. She steals ever scene she is in.

The movie was shot on video, which is certainly no strike against it in of itself; but the look is so garishly post-processed and color-amped that I couldn’t stand to look at the screen for more than a few moments at a time. That is an apt-metaphor for every other aspect of the picture.

I know what you’re going to say. ENTER THE VOID is also garishly post-processed. True. But whereas the color-timer on ENTER THE VOID can be likened to Van Gogh, the timer on KABOOM painted the white-ribbon-winning landscape at the state fair.

If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed Gregg Araki to be in his early twenties instead of his early fifties. I say this because the film is full of all those young filmmaker urges that must be sowed before adulthood. There’s the standard “we don’t know it’s a dream until he wakes up” sequence, the one-dimensional college stereotypes, and the “cut from something gory to a close-up of food being sliced that looks like something gory.” The only thing missing is a “wake up and turn the alarm off” opening. But Gregg is no first-timer. I have to accept that these techniques are all intentional. What that intention is, I have no idea.

And then there’s the ending. I still haven’t figured out if it is intended to be a Donnie Darko “awwwww shit” moment or an irreverent thumb at the audience for taking everything so seriously. If latter, epic fail. I stopped taking things seriously after the first 15 minutes. The final shot was less a “WTF?!” and more an “Ummmm. . . okaaaaay.” If you’re already an Araki fan, you’ll probably be perfectly satisfied with KABOOM. If not, wait for the VHS release.

Tony Youngblood is a film and music snob and producer of the experimental improv music blog and podcast Theatre Intangible. His favorite films include Eric Rohmer’s The Green Ray, Abbass Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Lee Chang Dong’s Oasis, and Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap.

Via Metafilter it’s POINT BLANK’s Angie Dickinson and Lee Marvin performing Steve Reich’s CLAPPING MUSIC.

I stopped a while back posting this type of material on TFT, (I just tweet throughout the day instead), but I wanted this on the site:  It brightens up my day no end.

And if you haven’t seen POINT BLANK then see it.  See it now.

Maybe I misunderstood Joaquin Phoenix’s I’m Still Here when I called it an over-privileged aping of Andy Kaufman and Borat. (See my The Film Talk review here.) As I watched the 1971 documentary The American Dreamer — about Dennis Hopper and the making of his ill-fated The Last Movie – I had an epiphany. Phoenix was aping 1971 Dennis Hopper. It’s all there. The scraggly beard, the idiosyncratic OCD beard-stroking, the lashing out, the fawning groupies, and the pretentious droplets of wisdom espoused to anyone who will listen (in fame’s bubble, apparently everyone).

I saw The American Dreamer double-featured with The Last Movie last week at the Belcourt. Harmony Korine and the critic Jim Ridley were in the audience. And, oh boy, what a ball we had! I don’t mean the films were particularly good — The Last Movie was a jumbled mess and The American Dreamer’s only inspiration was its subject matter. Rather, the rarely-screened films were beautiful artifacts of a time gone by, profiles in excessiveness, and a two-sided morality tale on what happens when no one ever tells you no.

Hopper made The Last Movie right after his breakout hit Easy Rider. Universal Pictures had no idea about this crazy new “youth market,” but they figured Hopper did. They gave him carte blanche and a million dollars to make his epic. Complete artistic and financial freedom can actually be a recipe for doom, even for a director of extraordinary talent like Henri-Georges Clouzot. (By any means necessary, see the haunting documentary Inferno about Clouzot’s abandoned epic L’enfer.) For Hopper, a former child actor with little directing experience, carte blanch was a death sentence. The Last Movie is a sprawling, disjointed, misogynistic,  muddled, excessive, and belabored mess. (Good soundtrack though.) I got the sense that Hopper adored Alejandro Jodorowski’s El Topo and wanted to make a film like it. And indeed, it turns out the two were friends and that Jodorowski goaded Hopper into a non-linear re-cutting. While that may have been an innovative choice for the time, it just makes the movie even more befuddling. The Last Movie is indeed a “passionate personal vision” as a friend of mine quipped in the film’s defense, but passion isn’t enough. The ideas, metaphors, and “scathing critiques of the Hollywood system” have to actually make sense onscreen and not just in the director’s head (which is another reason why I find the Hopper double-feature and I’m Still Here so similar).

L.M. Kit Carson and Lawrence Schiller‘s The American Dreamer is an all-access profile of Dennis Hopper during The Last Movie‘s post-production. Did you find it hard to swallow that Joaquin Phoenix would snort cocaine and solicit prostitutes while being recorded? Wait till you see what Hopper does! On-camera, he boozes, drugs, womanizes, and engages in at least one bathtub menage au trois. It is a sad record of an artist shielded from all criticism by success and fame. Playboy bunnies find eloquence in his pretentious babblings. He casually tells the directors his fantasy would be “three woman and hot springs,” and they magically produce a dozen fawning females in the strangest sexual powwow ever recorded. Dennis Hopper loves to hear himself talk, and his audience of adoring women are pure uncut heroin. I sat in awe of the words escaping his mouth; but I couldn’t turn away, similar to how I’ve watched the Christine O’Donnell 1st Amendment clip about a dozen times.

At this point you probably think I’ve got something in for Dennis Hopper. That’s not the case at all. He was one of the best actors of his generation and his 1980 film Out of the Blue is one of my favorite movies. An artist’s personal life matters little to me when it doesn’t reach the screen. But The Last Movie and American Dreamer ARE Dennis Hopper embodied — and sadly, at a time in his life when he was addicted to drugs, alcohol, women, and himself. Watching them is like watching Tom Cruise’s Epic Scientology Masterpiece ™ followed by the million dollar making-of.

Tony Youngblood is the current Foursquare Mayor of the Belcourt Theatre, a film and music snob, and producer of the experimental improv music blog and podcast Theatre Intangible. His favorite films include Eric Rohmer’s The Green Ray, Abbass Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Lee Chang Dong’s Oasis, and Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap.

Hey there Dear Listener – hope all is well in your world.

Just a quick post to announce our new website – as you can see by looking around there’s been a few changes.

Now of course there will be a few teething problems in the days ahead – yours truly will do his best to sort out the various problems when they’re spotted.

In the meantime I hope you enjoy the new site – and please do comment if you spot any bugs or problems.

Yours in Cinema,

Jett

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UPDATE Saturday, October, 8:28am Pacific: This Membership thing is taking ages.  It looks like my membership application software provider’s tech support is closed on weekends.  I didn’t even know people did that anymore.  At one level they should be applauded.  People are losing their sense of time – living in an ever-present now with no respite from the needy machines.

On the other hand Members want our review of WOLVERINE.

Sigh.

UPDATE Friday October 15th, 8:22pm Pacific:  this is still not working – existing Members can’t get access to their eps and new members can’t sign up – am still working with Wishlist to resolve.

UPDATE Friday, October 15th, 2010:  Am getting reports that some Members are having problems logging in and getting access to the archives.  Am working with our membership platform provider Wishlist to solve this. Hope to have everything running smoothly by tonight!

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UPDATE Friday, October 15th, 2010:  Category bug fixed.

UPDATE Friday, October 15th, 2010:  We’ve got a bug in Safari  and Firefox – it’s not letting you get to the categories – working to fix.

UPDATE Thursday, October 21st 2010:  Everything seems to be working – it’s a Christmas miracle.  Thanks for your patience folks.

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[Image at top: THE DEPARTED, first ever movie reviewed on TFT]

My friends, I’ve Been Voided.

Two days ago my co-host and friend on The Show Prof. Dr. Gareth Higgins sent me an urgent text imploring me to see ENTER THE VOID as soon as possible.

One day ago my brother burst into our flat – saying he’d just seen a film…that…well he couldn’t describe it, but I had to see it immediately.  It was, of course, ENTER THE VOID.

Today I screened it.

And…

Well, let it put to you this way:

The film has made such an impact upon myself that I have temporally lost the ability to cogently post here on TFT.  So instead of an analysis of the film, or any film for that matter, I’ll leave you with three stills I recently took on the set of MOTHER’S RED DRESS.

[Alisha Seaton]

Why?

Because as I said I can’t really form decent sentences at this moment, such was the power of Gaspar Noé’s….what….folly?  masterwork?  failure and success at exactly the same time?  I’ll leave that for our next show.

In the meantime here’s some stills from MRD – I’ve posted three as I’ve said – I’ll leave it up to you Dear Reader to create a narrative to accompany them.

[Alexandra Swarens]

If you’d like to see more behind the scenes snaps of MOTHER’S click on the links at the bottom of the post.

Ok, that’s it for now.  I’m off now to wash the kitschishly corrosive images of ENTER THE VOID out of my mind before I go to sleep – it’s that heavy duty.

I need to find some sort of anti-VOID to balance myself out, something without ambition or vision…

…ah, this’ll do nicely.

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MOTHER’S RED DRESS 1

MOTHER’S RED DRESS 2

MOTHER’S RED DRESS 3

MOTHER’S RED DRESS 4

]]> http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/enter-the-void-mothers-red-dress/feed/ 2 http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/2010-la-irish-film-festival/ http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/2010-la-irish-film-festival/#comments Sat, 02 Oct 2010 10:10:57 +0000 Jett Loe http://www.thefilmtalk.com/?p=8464

Hello Dear Reader – hope you’re having as lovely a time wherever you are as I’m having in Los Angeles.

Another night at the 2010 LA Irish Film Festival for yours truly – cracking films in MY BROTHERS and SWANSONG: STORY OF OCCI BYRNE.

You’ll hear myself and Prof. Dr. Gareth Higgins talk about OCCI on our latest show here:

TFT 146 – PERRIER’S BOUNTY / THE 2010 LA IRISH FILM FESTIVAL

The next ep will have an interview with SWANSONG director Conor McDermottroe, a gentleman who entertained and informed me with delightful stories of the Irish Life Theatrical and, in at least one of my photos, bore an uncanny resemblance to GOODFELLAS era Robert De Niro.

Many beautiful people at the festival of course – the dazzling lady at the top of the post is festival director Lisa McLaughlin-Strassman.  It’s because of her I’ve been allowed to harass festival patrons all in the name of The Film Talk.  Many thanks.

Here’s a nice little evening photo of the festival venue – now as a newcomer to town I’d heard of but never visited the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica.

Verdict?

Small, slightly shabby and absolutely wonderful.

Just like Red Dynamite.

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Stop by TFT over the next few days Dear Reader for more reportage from the fest – if you like the podcasts you can subscribe using iTunes by clicking on the link below.

The Film Talk on Apple’s iTunes

I’ll include additional photos as well in upcoming posts – I met so many apparently nice and photogenic people it’s hard to choose which ones to feature…

…and then there’s this guy.

I spotted him listing outside the festival reception area beer in hand, but after hearing him passionately wax lyrical about cinema to fellow festival goers it became clear his identity was down to two possibles – this guy was either just some random inebriate who stumbled off the sidewalk to mooch off the open bar…

…or the new head development at Warner Bros.

I love this town.

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P.S. I don’t want anybody to get the wrong idea about Conor – that eerie De Niro vibe was only captured in one photo – here’s how he looked in all the rest:

]]> http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/2010-la-irish-film-festival/feed/ 0 http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/im-still-here-a-brave-miscalculated-mess/ http://thefilmtalk.com/blog/im-still-here-a-brave-miscalculated-mess/#comments Thu, 23 Sep 2010 03:20:21 +0000 Tony Youngblood http://www.thefilmtalk.com/?p=8370 The problem with talking about I’m Still Here is that we have to discuss something you by all rights shouldn’t know when entering the theater. But every review you come across will pontificate on it.  Odds are you already know what I’m talking about. If you don’t, stop here, and go watch the movie. Spoilers ahead.

That something is the question of the film’s authenticity. Director Casey Affleck documents Joaquin Phoenix’s resignation as an actor and attempts at a hip hop career. Is the portrayal, including Phoenix’s now-famous Letterman meltdown, real or staged?

I came into the theater knowing full well that the film was very likely staged. With the seed of doubt in place, every frame rang false. In a celebrity culture obsessed with self-effacement (think the guest spots on Entourage, The Larry Sanders Show, or Curb Your Enthusiasm), Joaquin’s friends have too much fun making fun of themselves. I’m not saying Hollywood stars can’t be vain  — I’m just saying they usually are smart enough to downplay it when cameras are rolling. Even though his acting is superb, Joaquin’s dialog overplays the image of a spoiled, out of touch superstar by a multiple of ten. Good satire straddles a fine percentage. 100 percent like the real thing may be too understated. 110 percent may be good satire. This film is exaggerates reality by 1000 percent.

But the film isn’t a hoax. No one is trying to fool us here. The credits very plainly attribute the writing to Affleck and Phoenix. Casey Affleck appearing on Leno said, “I wanted them to think it was real while they were watching it. But then I assume that when it was over, they would understand that it wasn’t real.” He also compares the film’s reality to that of pro wrestling, which I’ll get back to in a moment. I’m kind of astounded that there was ever any doubt. It’s a scripted movie that happens to have actors playing characters who share their names. Case closed.

But is it any good? On the most recent The Film Talk podcast, you’ll hear at least one of the hosts speak glowingly of the way the film, “exposes the reality of our horrible anti-humanist system.” (I haven’t heard it yet. Quote culled from The Film Talk’s Twitter feed.) In exchange for fame, the press has carte blanche to make a total mockery out of you, so the argument goes. But the press were the only authentic people in the entire film. Joaquin’s friends encouraged his hip hop affectations (in staged interactions). His many admirers were willing to lie about his talents in exchange for a chance at one-on-one time (sadly, probably authentic). Even P. Diddy soft-pedaled him. But only the media told it straight — his decision to leave acting was a huge mistake, and his rapping skills were abysmal (intentionally so, we now know. He was trying to be awful.) They weren’t in on the joke, and they asked the right questions. If anything, the film shows the strengths of the American press: “Warning. If you try to bullshit us, we are going to call you on it.”

I suspect Phoenix and Affleck weren’t thinking lofty themes when plotting the picture. Instead, they probably just wanted to emulate Andy Kaufman and Sascha Baron Cohen. There’s a scene at a Miami club where Phoenix shouts to the dissatisfied audience, “This suit costs more than you make all year!” and my mind went immediately to the time Andy Kaufman left the comedy world for a career as a wrestler. “I’m from Hollywood, California!” If the filmmakers weren’t directly influenced by Kaufman’s wrestling persona, I’ll eat my hat. (Remember Affleck compared the film to the reality of pro wrestling.) And that’s when it hit me. The real life Joaquin Phoenix isn’t all that different from his I’m Still Here persona. One mistakenly thinks he can rap. The other mistakenly thinks he can be Borat. The result is the same: A person of privilege getting too much exposure from an art he hasn’t paid his dues in.

To risk actual career suicide by growing a beard, speaking incoherently, and leaving the acting world is truly a courageous act and a major sacrifice for one’s art. But it’s misfired courage, all the more heartbreaking given how much time Affleck and Phoenix have wasted. Joaquin’s performance is flawless, but his skills as a social provocateur are completely amateur. If you want to see a far better study of the interaction between art and media, go see Exit Through the Gift Shop, a skillful con job that asks more important questions with far fewer pretensions.

Tony Youngblood is the current Foursquare Mayor of the Belcourt Theatre, a film and music snob, and producer of the experimental improv music blog and podcast Theatre Intangible. His favorite films include Eric Rohmer’s The Green Ray, Abbass Kiarostami’s The Wind Will Carry Us, Ingmar Bergman’s The Magician, Lee Chang Dong’s Oasis, and Rob Reiner’s This Is Spinal Tap.

Hey there folks – if you’ve listened to the latest show then you know I’ll be spending the next week doing on-set photography for the new film MOTHER’S RED DRESS featuring the beautiful and talented Illeana Douglas.  I’ll try my best to post about the process – I imagine Twitter and Facebook will be a better place for instant updates from the set:

The Film Talk on Twitter

The Film Talk Facebook Page

Also, if you’ve already follow the above feeds then you know I’m a champion of LA public transportion – quite enjoying my various excursions on that chariot of the people – the bus.  But since MOTHER’S RED DRESS is being lensed a fair distance outside of town I’m going to resort to driving – but I’ve just moved to LA and don’t have a car so I’ll have to resort to borrowing my brother’s vehicle which I’ve christined Red Dynamite, (see photograph above).

Red Dynamite has clocked over 240,000 miles.

Red Dynamite needs no key to start it – a screwdriver is provided for this purpose.

The groans, squeaks, whistles and whines it makes during operation are numerous and nay indescribable.

My ten minute excursion in Red Dynamite today left me shaken, bruised and weary.

So wish me luck for the 2 and 1/2 hour drive to the set tomorrow.

I give my chances of arriving at 30%, depending on the breeze.

Don’t know if I’ve ever promoted software here on the site – but I stumbled across Flavors.me yesterday and just love it – using Flavors within minutes you create a personalized website so folks can easily access all of your internet content in one place – this is what I wished Google Profiles looked like, (Google is not known for their design sense of course – I remember the first time I visited Google Video – watched someone’s home-made Batman movie – and of course the ‘twist ending’ was ruined because Google showed thumbnails along the bottom of the screen – including the denouement – sigh).

Anyhew here’s what I whipped over half a cup of coffee:  jett-loe.com

They’ve got a free and a paid option – paid if you want to use a custom URL, (I did as just purchased jett-loe.com – on a personal note to the folks who own jettloe.com – you want $1000 for it?- who other than me would ever want it?  My enemies?  Too cheap).

Flavors host the site as well so it really is simple to set up – in fact there really isn’t a set-up – the whole thing is so light – instant and continuous - for me it feels like the future – apps so simple to use they don’t seem like software – they just are – making your life easier rather than harder – a nice thing in our world seemingly drowning in information.

Looking for work can be a depressing prospect, (as listeners to the show will know I’m leaving Nashville for other climes), so thank goodness today that I stumbled across this amazing find – the unaired Orson Welles Talk Show Pilot.

I love these clips for so many reasons – but the one I’ll highlight is the editing style, (especially in clips 1 and 3).  No one could edit like Orson – his shocking, breathless cutting style is still far ahead of anything else I’ve seen.

The first clip is reminiscent of CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT and the fabulous F FOR FAKE, (if you haven’t seen it = you must = a masterclass in what can be done with discarded bits of moving images), and the fragments we have of OTHER SIDE OF THE WIND.

Look at the clips below from WIND – who else has come close to this?