I, Love, and You

Shut Up Shut Up Shut Up

2007-03-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

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.

2007-03-04T16:26:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-24T16:16:00.000-08:00

It's Time...

2007-02-22T09:48:00.001-08:00

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

2007-02-21T08:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-02-16T13:55:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-02-15T09:08:00.000-08:00

...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.

So Illuminating...

2007-02-10T13:53:00.000-08:00

Try this: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8176077824543900727&q=nighy&hl=en
Its Bill Nighy talking about his "craft". Except it IS Bill Nighy talking about his craft for real.

Finally...

2007-02-10T10:58:00.001-08:00

... LA Times prints one sensible article.

I particularly agree with:

1. Minghella reiterates this pervasive use of figure of speech. "One of the games of this movie with myself is what Vera Farmiga's character says: 'Animals don't talk because they don't need to lie,' " says Minghella. "I am so conscious of the way that language is in service of obfuscation instead of communication."

2. "And that's a problem I have with movies, where language is solely employed so that characters can tell each other exactly what they mean and think and feel.... We can't even explain ourselves, much less the actions of others. And so, obviously, I feel some obligation that if you're going to muck around in the sandbox of feelings and relationships, not to lie about them."

3. ...An inveterate problem-solver, armed with the sort of simplistic optimism of Western privilege much on display in the geopolitical adventurism in the world today, Will insinuates himself into these foreigners' affairs and tries to fix their apparent problems, with a predictably disastrous outcome. The result is a disquisition on cultural Pangaea and the limits of communication as pointed as anything in "Babel," but confined to a 10-block area.

That point 3 is especially well-phrased. Full Review is here.

There are also two other articles of interest today. Maria Maggenti, good friend who lent us her couch when we were casting ILU in NYC is the subject of this piece since her film Puccini for Beginners is coming out in LA and NYC. Full Review is here.

ethicks

2007-01-28T09:25:00.000-08:00

So, I was watching Batman Begins on TV today and I was so struck by Katie Holmes' character. She has the worst, most pop kind of view of ethics. Complex ethics are so much more interesting to watch... I watched Mani Ratnam's film GURU the other day and it had the same problem. Up until the first half, the film developed nicely. We watch a small time villager bloom into a top businessman, taking over industry in India and redefining the export-import trade, finding love and what not. His foe is a small time reporter out to destroy his life and show you the power of the press. (The presence of that gorgeous Ms. Rai never hurts, Cinematography top notch. Here's a sample...)

The protagonist slowly becomes the antagonist and the reporter slowly starts to expose the kind of malpractice and moral flexibility it takes to make it big. Its a true story and its about one of the BIGGEST industrialist families in India. The lead actor is also from a very huge entertainment family and so its understandably awkward for him to portray one of his father's most influential and important friends in negative light but the director is brave and he made the film.

It was very interesting except for the third act which sank deep into sentimentality and preferred to buy the audience's sympathy for the character by showing him suffering a stroke, and face the press in a very Aviator like way, showing the senators what he did for India and why should stop pointing fingers at him. I wish they had pursued the tougher ending, the one where the industrialist dies a rich, wealthy man. The reporter gets screwed for exposing him because money can buy things earnest intentions can not. It happens, and its okay.

I also found out that men get calf implants today. I haven't looked at my calves long enough, nor do I have a good enough understanding of calves to know if mine meet the standards... The things we miss.

Goober

2007-01-23T21:34:00.001-08:00

3.5 hours. That's all.
PS: the reviews for Breaking and Entering are out and they are not pretty. I warn you, watch it if you can. Don't listen to them... hiss!

Okay.

2007-01-23T12:53:00.000-08:00

A SIMPLE PRINCIPLE
(Tatoo it on your DoP's forehead if you will):

There is absolutey no good reason, NONE at all, for not composing every single shot beautifully.
Every SINGLE shot should be well composed. The camera SHOULD NOT roll unless the shot is to die for.
Watch France's entry AVENUE MONTAIGNE if you get the chance. You will, so watch it.
Once again, there is absolutely NO GOOD REASON to NOT carefully compose EACH and EVERY single shot. None at all. Tatoo it on your DoP's forehead if you will.

D.I.A.L.O.G.U.E

2007-01-19T11:56:00.000-08:00

Breaking and Entering goes on my list of films to watch when Im writing my next film. Jude Law will be Jude Law and no one should let that bother them but this is truly a wonderful movie to watch if you just want to be completely awed by the power of good dialogue and clean dialogue and honest dialogue and dialogue that comes from hard work and sweat and just writing the same scene over and over again and actually being two different characters in a scene with whole, unique voices. Here's the trailer.

That said, Jude Law needs to not be Jude Law. He needs to figure himself out, its pathetic how he cheats on every screen relationship of his. Its cliche, not surprising and I don't feel for him anymore. He just looks pathetic doing it, like some idiot infant who doesn't understand what they are doing. You can't just stand there looking cute and puppy doggish and kiss people and not know why you are doing it. You can do it once and twice but movie after movie it does not work. Cant cast him anymore. Can't do it.

93% full glass, that Breaking and Entering is. And Vera Fermiga is a complete revelation. She is also the only saving grace in that pathetic mess of a movie, The Departed. Martin Freeman, Juliet Bincoche and Robin Wright Penn are all delicious.

Sundance yourself

2007-01-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

Click here for the best coverage of Sundance as it happens. Ive been using this blog last 4 years and they do a good job for Sundance obsessed people like me. The last months have been spent prepping THINK for the festival and I have a good handle on almost every film in every section there so its more fun, its like watching a game where you actually have a history with every player on the field.

Oscars and Screeners...

2007-01-09T22:28:00.000-08:00

Quite simply, the most brilliant writing I've had a chance to soak in in a LONG time. Please see Breaking and Entering if you can. ITs remarkably sharp, incisive, thoughtful, smart, REAL and brilliant. I picked up a screener today and couldn't take my eyes off for a single second. Also saw Bobby. I mean, Ashton Kutcher, seriously? It completely ruined the whole experience for me. Demi Moore was actually good. Phew! Almost done with West Wing, Season 7. Episode: The COLD has the 2nd best episode opening in the entire series. Excellent, excellent.

Update!

2007-01-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

Saw Cuaron's Children of Men and Del Torro's El Liberento del Fauno (Pan's Labyrinth) and that completes the three films. Very similar themes for these, Babel and even The Fountain. Outgrowths, anti-establishments, spiritual mythologies, faith-based, good stuff. Watch out for that sexy Maribel Verdu in Pan and some very sexy cinematography by Gillermo Navarro. Children of Men is particularly delicious. Cuaron and Lubetzki have walked this one into film classes, long-take heaven. Julianne Moore deserves major cred for making the film marketable by taking on a TINY and very impactful role. Actually because she is a huge star, the role and its length is surprising and very impactful. She lingers throughout the film in a very surprising way. Not sure any other actor could have had that effect.

The one interesting thing about it is how different it is from the book. Both are great, but this gives hope to anyone who wants to make a movie based on a book. They are different, they should be different, or rather, they CAN be different if it serves the medium. Another flick I'm excited about: Khaled Hosseini's The Kite Runner is being adapted by the usually intelligent Marc Forster. Should be good...

Now Netflix: The West Wing Season 7, If you haven't seen The West Wing, you're lucky. You have seven amazing seasons of good writing, excellent acting, strong moments, great editing, excellent score, and so much more ahead of you. If you don't see it now, you'll see it later. Its just unavoidable. I discovered it very late and I've had a blast watching the show so far.

Sculpting Pains

2006-12-29T18:43:00.000-08:00

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

2006-12-03T03:02:00.000-08:00

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!

Oh Shit...

2006-11-21T11:36:00.000-08:00

Wow. I definitely let one of those heavy handed sighs out this morning. I was hunting for info on imdb and suddenly, across the banner, I see the headline: Robert Altman dead at 81. I don't think I've ever taken death that seriously. I imagine my friends and family dying all the time and what it would be like and its pretty okay, I roll with it. And of all people I had never ever in my life imagined that someone I don't even know, haven't even met, someone like Robert Altman would make me think twice about death. When people die, you hear and say: Bla bla bla will be sorely missed. Well, this time it's for real. I do think I will miss him. I just read a script he was going to direct, and it was such a given. Yeah, Altman will make this. And for anyone who saw the Oscars this year and his speech about him having a 30 year old woman's heart and what not... seriously. Oh shit.

Feel like watching: short cuts, nashville, mccabe+mrs.miller tonight.

I think that's a good way of arriving at a list of directors you genuinely like. Think about if you will be sad if they were to die tomorrow.

THINKOscar

2006-11-18T09:10:00.000-08:00

I read Biskind's book about Indy film in the 90s, the whole Miramax Oscars thing and up until a few years ago, it used to be true. The Oscars crazyiness and the gimmicks, I thought, were dying down and the Weinstein monkeys had truly backed off. Its more like every single organization got their own monkeys out and so its all level. But its still staggering.

The last couple of days at THINKfilm, I've just been watching these guys do their campaigning for Ryan Gosling's turn in Half Nelson and boy, its a lot of work. Just yesterday they sent out about what seemed like 300 packages to every major critics circle in the country so they could get him and the film nominated in the Critics honors and raise word about him. The Prez hand signed a zillion letters to members of the Academy about the performance. Apparently Benicio del Toro and Walter Salles loved the film and so hosted a screening of the film and these guys were sending postcards out. Screener DVDs go out to every single Academy member and there's an entire agency that takes the contract for just that. I know because 100s of mail comes back to our office from people who have moved and didn't provide a forwarding address. So the database keeps updating itself every year and bajillions of DVDs keep going out.

Ryan isn't Jamie Foxx either. I'm sure every single person out there now knows about his grandmother. Boy, he milked that! Gosling isn't awards crazy... I can almost hear every film student go: Nicceeee! But thats not what helps a distributor out. The Oscar will let more copies of Half Nelson be sold and more movies of that type be made. Gosling will also be able to hand pick his projects, whatever bla bla bla. Its not entirely about ego.

Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..!

2006-11-15T11:01:00.000-08:00

The funniest things choose to lodge themselves in your memory. I have this DISTINCT memory from 1994 when I was in school still and this film called "Hum Aapke Hain Kaun..!" came out in theatres. The buzz for the film was high and I really wanted to see it. It was typical Bollywood masala fare with Madhuri Dixit, one of the hottest actors at the time. The director had already made a super hit film, this was his second with the reputed production house and multi-starrers hadn't caught on at the time.

Anyway, so we used to have a help, Radha, in the house and like all Indians she was a total movie buff. Everyone in India wanted to see this film, its a cinema crazy nation. SO, I was in school and it ended at 3/30pm. I had convinced mom to let me see this film again for the fourth time. (Trust me, it wasn't easy, she isn't as sympathetic to cine-crazies) And this time Radha was going to come see it as well and obviously she was excited. So Radha met me in the car after school, and she packed my lunch and we drove like crazy to the cinema hall, tickets were purchased and we slid into position right in time as the 4pm show began. BOOM, out came the lunch box, home made food and the title song rolled. That random moment has just LODGED itself into my memory and everytime I think of it, I can instantly transform myself to it. I remember everything, the smells, the feeling, the EXUBERANT happiness.

Final tapes came from the lab today.... editing is finally going to finishing places.

CLAP!

2006-11-12T23:40:00.000-08:00

There is a reason things are done the way they are. That slate thing we take so many liberties with on a short film, yeah, it can take on so much importance on a feature film, its astounding. I wish I had slated every piece of film that I shot. I wish I had correctly slated every piece of film I shot. I wish I had camera logs and sound logs for EVERYTHING and paper trails for every single roll of camera film and so on and so forth. El Mariachi is pretty cool but its a completely unnecessary hassle to take on in editing. Management becomes just so much tougher when you don't have everything. Let me know if you need me to elaborate.

Speakers: Omkara: O Saathi Re
Must see: Vishal Bhardwaj's take on the Bard's Othello; completely remastered to Northern India, refitted with Bollywood stars, sexy music, a fantastic screenplay and tour-de-force performances. MUST SEE. You could check some out on YouTube and Netflix it...

Hrrrrmph

2006-11-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Editing systems. Whoever made these needs to listen up. Okay, so any of you who've edited before, specifically printed a sequence on to a DV tape before might know what I'm talking about. Why is that everytime you have to print a sequence on to a dV tape, you have to start over like its your first time on Final Cut Pro? I mean, it never works the first time. You tweak this setting and you slam your head on that setting and it takes you at least 10 times of printing the sequence wrong: sometimes without sound, sometimes with 1/2 the image, sometimes only the leader, sometimes just a still frame of the last thing you recorded, god knows, the machine seems to make up problems and possibilities as it goes along. How else do I fuck this guy up.

BOOM, when its done your chest swells up with pride and you're like yeah, shit YEAH, I did it. I mean you might have made the movie itself on the Swiss Alps and in the Sahara Desert with your balls falling off and shrinking and god knows what, but the best part about the whole process is you being able to perform this simple function which should have happened at the touch of a button.

SO, anyway, after much pain, you figure it out and I swear you remember everything you do because you know you will need to do this again and you don't want to go through that entire process of trial and error EVER again. And sure enough, you have to do it again just TWO days later and the bugger won't work. I mean, you haven't even opened final cut since the last time you did this so none of the settings could have possibly changed. And none of the problems are from the previous 999 times you couldn't Print to Tape. I've seen people like Kevin Michael in Park who must have spent 1/2 his time at Park fixing these Print to Tape problems get completely flustered because of this irritating thing. All you wanna do is scream to the heavens and curse, curse, curse...

I've given up. Yup, its come to that. I've given up. I never expect that to work. I just don't. I would rather get my gums tattooed than go through that hell again. I swear I love Macs but on days like this, you begin to question everything.

Watched: John and Jane, Toll Free at the Margaret Mead Film and Video Festival in NYC.
Fantastic film. I mean, I don't thik I really understood the power of images and the power of a documentary until I saw this film. Its about 6 call center employees in India and its masterfully shot by this Indian cinematographer Mohanan (who also did this much ritzier, flashier film DON) and MASTERFULLY edited by the director Ashim Ahluwalia. I met this guy at the Berlinale earlier this year and he was such a nice guy (part of the reason I understimated his film, if you can believe that). Its just great. If you can ever see it, you should. HBO Documentary Films is distributing in the US, but I don't think its going theatrical. There's no official site, this is the best I could find. Wake up HBO!

Also: Was pleasantly surprised to see Jared Bumgarner (my DP) in a magazine called M.E. ME is a fantastic magazine, they do these very specific issues (4 every year) on a particular artist and they chose to focus their Autumn issue on a film called Half Nelson. Jared was a PA on this film and I am now helping it get an Academy Award at THINKfilm, NYC. Great little film. Its the kind of film that makes you hate the makers for making it. Assholes.

Canvas...

2006-11-10T21:59:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking more and more about the style or the canvas or the fabric of the film. I could just say The Royal Tenenbaums or Pulp Fiction or Magnolia and The West Wing end this sentence. Now there are two things that come through in these films: the first is the identity/aesthetics/style of the director. Almost every character in The Royal... speaks the same way and the shots, the pacing, the timing is the same. This isn't what I want. I want that other thing: the fabric, the stage that the film sits on. I think about that. All characters speaking the same language isn't realistic for me, also why waste the chance to try on so many suits and voices by having them all be extensions of you? But the canvas... that's interesting.

Whatever...

2006-11-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

So, I saw Babel a week ago, and I'm still processing it. Well, it needs to be seen. That's without a doubt. Because its easier, let me say that technically, it's top notch. The cinematoographer and composer, especially, have done very very strong work. The acting is uniformly good. If there is a star in this show, its the editor. Fantastic, controlled, and very very fine. The film is an excellent example of this idea I love about ensemble films: cut so often and so much that the only guide the audience looks to is the director. This is true for Babel; instead of getting attached to any one character, we look to the entire story for the message and Inarritu becomes our guide. I also loved the fact that 5 minutes of screentime have been saved by simply naming the film appropriately. The foundation of the message is in the assumption that the audience knows what the title means.

And now we come to it: I saw it in NYC, at the Times Square movie theatre complex. The place is massive: some five storeys and 25 screens, I mean its HUGE. I walk into the theatre and its mostly full by the time I walk in. Me and about 4 more people are going up and down the stairs looking for a place to sit. Finally I find this empty chair but its loaded with coats and handbags and what not. The woman sitting next to it makes eye contact with me for a brief second and I tried to ask her if the seat was empty and she turned away. Finally, I took the plunge and went down the aisle giving many people the butt-in-the-face treatment and some the crotch-in-the-face. I get there, I politely ask her and she huffs at me, starts removing her stuff and mumbling under her breath. No big deal, I can understand why loosing your extra seat would be a cause for complaint. I kinda hated her at this point but whatever, moving on. Moving On??? WHERE TO? This was an excellent trailer of things to come. Good thing I didn't have a dagger on me coz I definitely would have stabbed her by the end of the film. This woman was a late twenties brat type with a long leather jacket and too much make up and the blonde friend in tow. They just giggled through the whole film, making smart comments and pop-references. SO entirely inappropriate during an emotional and sensitive flick like Babel.

The strength of the film also lay in its power of shutting up ho-wussies like these two women. There were two definite moments when the suspense was so THICK in the cinema hall, any director would have been proud. People were actually sweating... The film features a deaf and mute Japanese character and it was painful to see how insensitive the audience was being towards this character. There was a beautiful (although longer than necessary) montage where we actually try to sink our heads into the head of this girl, try to feel what she must feel being herself and the audience was actually laughing out loud during these moments. There were many a thing the character did when she was surrounded by her friends that also got the audience laughing. It made me very happy to see that the film's message was being lived out. This American audience could not understand that they were laughing at behavior. That's all. American kids do tons of stuff that's "cool" and code for hanging out. Japan has its own code. These are behaviors, not ideas, not thoughts, not arguments, just behavior. Its a different language, its a different grammar. Any audience that is incapable of understanding that shouldn't be watching Babel. I couldn't help thinking what Inarritu would have thought had he been in the audience.

The film talked to us and we talked back to it. It wasn't a life changing experience or anything though: I did think it was trying to live up to a grander idea.... and you could tell that the budget had gotten bigger, even though the ideas were very similar. I love films that don't let me decide what I think of them. Case in point: John Cameron Mitchell's SHORTBUS. Now playing....

The promise of the beginning...

2006-11-07T14:50:00.000-08:00

When you are editing a film, reading books and thinking up ideas, the valley looks so green. Im writing this because I want to remember this feeling: the beautiful, crisp, fresh, snappy feeling of fresh grass... the promise of the beginning. When you put your pen down on paper for the first time, that shit is exciting. Its a beautiful feeling because the possibilities are endless. You can conjure up fun characters, talk about things that intrigue you, think up camera moves and new settings and locations. New lighting, new innovative editing techniques, costume directions, color combinations, just anything you want - anything at all.

Also: I was reading an issue of Creative Screenwriting and was very inspired (and angry-at-self) to read that Soderberg finished editing The Good Shepherd 3 days after he finished shooting it. That's what I wanted to do but I thought I was being too ambitious. Idiot! Can be done, should have done it. Shit like this pisses me off a LOT. And PS: the film has one of those awesome trailers that makes you go spend $10 at the movies. And you can bet he cut it himself. Asshole. In fact, he probably processed the film in his bathtub while he took his morning shit. Check it out here.

The Thing with Editing...

2006-11-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

So, here's the thing with editing. When its good, its real good and when its bad, it just plain flat sucks. People will ask you all the time: so, how's it going? Now, I don't mean the coffee-drinking-everyday-type people that dont give a shit, Im talking about people who know or were involved with the film and actually want to know how "it's" going. And so, here's the thing...

Initially, I would just flat out lie. Its going well or Fantastic or Its coming along or Yeah, solid progress. Actually, it was more like: I fucking dont know what to do with it right now. There are hiccups, it took me almost a damn month to get started! This tape's missing or that's gone or this thing is not back from the lab, plus you're tired from shooting and you wanna kinda go for a swim coz there isn't any real deadline and then the nights are fun because you hate yourself for going swimming... but none of this actually answers that question, so the thing is....

The thing with editing is when the going is good its REAL good and when its not good, its bad. How bad? Well, you frankly dont know who the fuck is ever going to watch this damn film. You can see the mistakes just all over the place, all for the world to see. The acting doesn't work, the directing sucks, no music could possibly fit in there, you don't know if the cameraman had contracted a cataract or he plain flat refused to use his eyes to frame the shot and so on and so on... When its good, its real good. How good? Well, its 4:24am and as I was editing a scene, I got SO EXCITED about the frame in front of me that I started hopping on one foot.. major adrenaline rushed through my body and I picked up the phone to call my DP, to just share how awesome this one frame looks... or yesterday, when I was looking around for people to hug and tell about my great great great breakthrough with reordering this climax.

So, that's the thing with editing. I'll try to be more honest from now.
You: So, how's it going?
Suds: Well, you know, its like anything else. Good and bad moments, but I'm hoping to pull through.

Which hand would you pick?

2006-11-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

When I was casting for this film, I was faced with a scenario. I made my decision then but I keep coming back to it. Tossing it out into the open now.
Imagine you wrote a script, lets say LOST IN TRANSLATION and you knew that Bill Murray would be SO PERFECT in the part. So you approached Bill Murray and he said, hmm, okay, fine he would do it but he doesn't have the kind of time you are looking for.
You: what do you mean Mr. Murray?
BM: Well, you need like 15 days of work from me and I understand that you've compromised already and placed all my scenes together and given me the first priority on scheduling and everything but, I can only make it for 1/4 the time and I cant work after 5p so all your night shoots, I dont know about those.
You (post recovery from devastation): Well, let me get back to you.

So you go to your AD and you work out a schedule that reduces BM's time from 15 days to 9 and it almost meets up with every single requirement BM wants. Including the night shoots, you've put black-wrap and dark cloth to create night light everywhere and everything. You look at the schedule and you pass it on to BM and after much consideration BM is IN the movie.

Woo hoo.

Except now you look at the schedule again and you know what your brain is telling you. You're cutting corners, there is that one shot you might have to let go if its approaching 5p and Bill has to leave and there is that one scene you might not get to cover to the fullest extent. And forget about re-shoots. If something fucks up, thats that.

Then you look at the alternative. You have a back-up actor who gave a pretty good audition. The plus: They are giving you a 100% of their time and a 100% of their commitment. You dont know if they have the talent that BM has, I mean, BM is BM. But they are giving you 100% time and commitment. What would you do? Which one would you sign up?

OH, PS, for this case study, disregard the fact that BM will also get your picture sold and the back-up will not. Also disregard the monumental difference in salary. Just pretend that both BM and the back-up cost the same and that both BM and back-up have no market potential coz the film is intended for an audience in Mars.

What would you do???

OTT + SUS = Nothing

2006-11-05T15:33:00.000-08:00

There are two styles of acting. OTT or Over the top and SUS or Super-Under-Stated. Personally, Im a SUS and a good example of OTT = most Bollywood stars. Now I know that OTT has acquired a bad rap and is tend to looked down on but I disagree. I think they both have their uses and, specifically in the case of OTT, if consistently applied, can sway the audience away to a VERY strong emotional climax.

The problem arises when you mix and match. If you cast someone who is OTT with someone who is SUS, you have a scene that flounders. As an editor, you have to pull one back and push forward the other or one actor ends up looking bad. The composer also has to decide to either make one actor look bad or balance out his/her score to make them both look good because there are different ways of editing, composing for, sound-mixing for and so on for the OTT scene and the SUS scene.

I am facing one such scene in this film and its killing me right now. So back to that scene, lets figure this one out. More punch ins, more Close Ups for the SUS and more cut aways, less CUs for the OTT. Hopefully the scene will still have some impact. God knows. Lets see....

Re: the Paul Lee climax.

Welcome

2006-11-05T15:28:00.000-08:00

Phew! Finally, I moved. Feels good... I had been pestering people to help me update the blog because Im not a coder (lesson to self: please don't rely on anyone, be self sufficient.) I don't know a thing about actually coding websites SO: here we are, back to the cookie-cutter blogger routine. Thank you for visiting, bookmark us and write in your comments to suds atttt fourlinefilms dottt com.