Sculpting Pains

Click this for a Charlie Rose interview with the three Mexican filmmakers everyone seems to be talking about these days. If it doesn't load, go to google video and do a search for "Charlie Rose Cuaron". Children of Men, Pan's Labyrinth, Babel - all excellent films.

Around 40 minutes of this video, they talk about this brilliant aspect of editing that I could completely identify with. Once again, every single part of the filmmaking is the most difficult part of filmmaking. When you're writing it, you can't wait to get to shooting it or editing it or scoring it and when you're shooting it, writing it seems so easy and every other part seems so exciting and shooting becomes the most grueling idea and so on and so forth. And now Im editing so that is the most difficult, confusing part of the whole experience.

40 minutes into this video, Inarritu talks about how he thought he would edit the film in 3 weeks flat (something I know, I KNEW, I could easily do) and then 6 months into it, he still didnt know what the hell was going on. "Its like you bring giant stones into editing, begin chipping away because you think this one particular piece of the puzzle is in that stone and you chip and you chip and you see: shit, its not there. And then you frantically look for other stones and pieces... " and that's the stage I'm in. Its coming together but it takes a huge push to keep going. Im just waiting for the first complete cut to come together so I can actually start shaping it. :)

Keep on trucking!

Sorry I havent posted in a while but I'm trying to get as much out of my NYC experience, The Colbert Report, Conan, Holiday Parties, West Village parties, Starbucks and writing the next film are all keeping me from finishing ILU. Phew!

The Fountain

I just saw The Fountain and it was an incredible experience. It just so happened that right before the movie started we were in the middle of an argument. She was saying that a movie is a short, 2 hour thing, its not a full life experience and so it's okay that you simplify things for the audiences. To me, if she can understand why a movie is "dumbing it down" (or even the fact that you even know that what you are seeing is "dumbed down") then she is smarter than the film. And if she gets it, there's no reason to assume everyone else is dumber than her. Well, right in the middle of this argument, the WB logo flashed up and the flick started.

I had read EVERYWHERE that the flick is really complicated and unitelligible, so I was all ready to solve the damn puzzle and come back again to figure it out but the movie was a pleasant surprise. It was really good and it was a complicated story, but so well told that it was crystal clear, absolutely easy to understand. The imagery in the movie is fantastic; it linked up with SO much of the mythology in Hinduism and Buddhism. It really got me interested in Mayan history. The acting is fantastic, in particular when Creo draws the ring on his hand after Izzie's death. The score is totally fantastic. Its an ABSOLUTE must-watch.

The flick ended and we took over the argument again. I guess, all of us who think of film as a tool with which we understand ourselves or say something about the world will want to ignore the fact that most people think of a movie as a source of entertainment and release. Blow off the stress, just chill out. And this fantastic trailer came to mind. Check it out here. It's The Dying Gaul trailer. Definitely one of the best trailers I ever saw. Also, a very very good flick!