Shut Up Shut Up Shut Up

The Pianist is a beautiful film in every way. Yet, Polanski says that the constant idea on this particular film for him was to get the hell out of the way. All the people collaborating on the film were masters in their respective fields BUT on this particular film, they all decided that they were going to hide behind character. Just this once, they would not show off, they would serve the story and do what is right.

Good cinematography, good costume design, good directing seems to all come out of an insecurity about the story. The best filmmakers might be the ones who can shut up. Work as hard as you can on telling a good story. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

And then there's that miserable monstrosity: A Beautiful Mind. See it if you've never seen it, see it if you've forgotten the pain of seeing it. It won Best Picutre in 2001. Its painfully obvious in every way, the screenwriter/director/actor all treat the subject as an exotic object... so AFFECTED. There is this very obvious fascinated way in which they look at people in the 40s, like they were some weird species of dogs or this higher elevated beings, so cultured, so refined. And Geniuses? Oh they are those eccentric crazy types that have to do stuff to make sure you notice: there walks a genius. And this is why Half Nelson is a work of perfection. It just is. It. IS. itself. It just is.

THAT's LA for me.

There's the mouth that eats onions and fish,
and the lips that kiss, and the tongue that slides slightly in,
and the ass that shits and smells and farts,
and the hand that wipes that ass,
and the hand that shakes the dinero's hand,
and the brow that thinks and sweats,
and they never get to know each other.
That's LA for me.
There's a Brad Pitt and a stupid housewife and an illegal immigrant and me, all in this very city.

Woman on the Subway

It's Time...

But First: Click here for a fantastic report on the Altman memorial. Tim Robbins was especially fabulous:

"There's a hilarious new movie in pre-production up in heaven that Bob is putting together for a film called The Memorial," he said. "And we are making the film as we speak. He's watching the people on stage, yes, but there are other cameras looking around the theater today at the subplots, the subterfuge, the silliness, the whispered comments, the backstage preening." He looked out into the crowd at Kathryn Altman. "Kathryn, you have a beautiful close-up and a camera dedicated to you, but everybody else -- beware. He's going to find us out, and God will laugh."


Even though I know it will have absolutely NO bearing on anyone, and is probably a colossal waste of my time, here are my Oscar picks for this year:

Best Actor: Ryan Gosling (Coz Forest Whitaker would be so boring + so predictable)
Best Actress: Helen Mirren (Coz she IS the oh-so-subtle best)
Best Supporting Actor: Mark Wahlbert (Coz he was the only good thing in that fart of a movie)
Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson (Coz she made people actually CLAP during a movie)
Best Film: Babel (No film moved me more..!)
Best Director: Inarritu, Babel (Scorcese will get another more deserving nomination+win)

Best Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth (Beautiful, brilliant, excellent)
Best Cinematography: That fabulous Emmanuel Lubezki, Children of Men (Um, did ya seee it?)
Best Costume Design: The Devil Wears Prada (coz.. )
Best Documentary: An Inconvenient Truth (coz, its a hot topic, and it was a decent doc)
Best Editing: Stephen Mirrione/Doug Crise, Babel (coz it perfected Arriaga's screenplay)
Best Foreign Flick: Pan's Labyrinth (coz it SHOULD be in the Best Picture race)
Best Make Up: Pan's Labyrinth (coz it's on kind of a roll on these minor awards isn't it?)
Best Score: Gustavo Santaolalla (coz no score moved me more... !!!)
Best Original Song: One of the Dreamgirls songs (Coz they won't win Best Pic, I pick: Patience)
Best Sound Editing: Letters From Iwo Jima (Nice and clean, though I didn't see Apocalypto)
Best Sound Mixing: Letters From Iwo Jima (War films are tough, again could be Apocalypto)
Best VFX: Pirates? (wow, they all suck but Superman ESPECIALLY sucked, so)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Children of Men ('coz The Departed screwed up Infernal Affairs)
('coz Notes on a Scandal screwed up the lovely book)
('coz Little Children, though excellent, was nowhere as good as the book)
('coz Borat couldn't possibly win)
(plus I heart Alfonso, so I'd like him to be Oscar winner Alfonso)
Best Original Screenplay: Little Miss Sunshine (even though Babel is exquisite, this film should get a little Sudshine)
Best Animated Film: Cars (Its a revenge of the hack situation here, nothing really rocked)

Best Doc Short: Go figure, I'll pick: Two Hands (coz I loved Kahn's The Architect)
Best Animated Short: I KNOW THIS ONE: It's... um... Maestro? Sure.
Best Live Action Short: West Bank Story (coz there's a Ravi Malhotra in there...)

It would be a different list if I were PREDICTING the winners. So. Go Gosling!

Behind TV

This makes me feel a lot differently about the show FRIENDS. I watched it coz it was timepass, passive, funny, relaxing... Read the excerpts from the woman's deposition on Pages 2 - 8. I agree some of them are repetitive and she is angling at making a lot of money off of the lawsuit and all that BUT: You gotta love that the court thinks all of this to be a necessary part of generating comedy. :)

This is the website for Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip and the show is the reason I found out about that Friends lawsuit. On that website, you can watch a run of the latest episode of Studio 60. If you don't watch the show, you still will like the episode, its from Aaron Sorkin, creator of that fantastic show: The West Wing. Studio 60 has a fantastic cast, the first couple of episodes were especially good. Overall the show still is among the best things I've seen on TV but I'm one of those Sorkin loyalists who has to overlook the faults in other episodes simply because he wants the show to succeed SO BAD. Anyway, the writing has caught up with the show and the last 4 episodes were all top notch so go ahead and watch this latest episode to see how Sorkin deals with that Friends subplot on his own show and remember: Matt Perry worked on Friends so...

Going to see M.A.S.H today, Altman remembered.

Excellent article

I really identify... :) Click here. He is a pretty good writer and you will find a whole host of other articles he has written including this sumptious one for the National Geographic about Bollywood.

Feb 20 is...

...also the date set for Altman's Public Memorial. Sigh! I'll be there...


Berlinale 2007 is in full swing in that fabulous city of Berlin at the moment. It is impossible to believe that I was there just last year, and that twenty four hours ago my DoP and AD were drinking lots and crying some, much to my chagrin, because of some banal stupidity on my part. That was one year ago? REally? Also PS: here is a pretty scathing Berlinale article from NYT. Ouchie.

The most boring time for movies is finally here. I had a dinner guest over yesterday and I was asked why I make films. I think I have the answer pretty figured out in my head but it still comes out all (either) scrambled or pretentious when I try to explain myself. It also seems surprising for someone who wants to make thoughtprovoking films to KNOW the business of entertainment. I don't think that's wierd at all. If you want to make movies, you have to know the market, who's buying, who's selling, who's interested, who's profile is what, what markets buy what kind of films, which territories are government supported and what's not.. It just helps you get your movie made, it also helps you plan your movie accordingly. Don't sell out, but if you can't make more than X dollars with a certain kind of flick, don't plan for your budget to be more than X dollars.

I loved The Fountain, but I think it was right for Warners to pull out of making a $70 million version of it. They just wouldn't have been able to recover it. Arronofsky did the right thing by finding the film in a smaller $28 million scale. I still get his ideas, it might not be the grand ass vision he wanted but the ideas came through, and despite all my moaning, I still couldn't get enough people to go see it. Its death, depress.. bllaa.bllaaa.. whatever people. Its interesting. Its a good thought. And it's well made.