Bruno Bettati

by Craig Phillips

It's mostly a coincidence but several of the films I saw at this year's San Francisco International Film Festival, currently ongoing through May 6, were coming-of-age tales set from young protagonists' perspectives. Or perhaps it's not a coincidence, since American film festivals are frequently dotted with international films centered around children or teens coping with trying circumstances.

The best of the films I saw this week was certainly Giorgio Diritti's second feature, The Man Who Will Come (L'Uomo che verra), an elegant, lovely and ultimately devastating WWII piece that takes its time to build, setting the stage for a tragic climax that is more upsetting than anything you'll see in recent horror films. Set in a rural Italian village in 1943, the story is unfurled from the point of view of a young girl, Martina, who has become mute after the death of her baby brother. The film's arc covers the nine months between conception and birth—both of which she is on hand for—of her new sibling.

Continued reading Coming of Age at SFIFF '10...

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by Simon Abrams

Italian auteur Ferzan Ozpetek may not be as famous as Federico Fellini or even Giuseppe Tornatore, but he is still a talented and prolific filmmaker whose oeuvre may be the most consistently imported body of contemporary Italian work here in America. Since 1997, he has had five features released theatrically stateside, an especially remarkable feat considering that he's both openly gay and his films focus on gay protagonists—a subject at odds with the characteristically conservative politics of popular Italian cinema.

Most of Ozpetek's melodramas tackle the issue of a younger generation unable to be themselves amongst their family or friends until it's too late for them to be together. Similar to the central domestic concern of homebody-minded "New Italian" films, for instance, both His Secret Life and Facing Windows concern the acceptance of one's own true identity and, subsequently, forging a strong community. With the help of a translator, I sat down with Ozpetek to discuss his career and the Tribeca Film Festival premiere of Loose Cannons (Mine Vaganti), his new drama about a young man (Riccardo Scarmacio) who can't bring himself to come out to his father.

Continued reading TRIBECA '10 INTERVIEW: Ferzan Ozpetek...

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Photographer-turned-filmmaker Bobby Sheehan began his career documenting the late-'70s NYC punk scene, which was around the time that he befriended cabaret singer and drag artist Joey Arias (also memorably seen in Elvira, Mistress of the Dark and Wigstock: the Movie). However, it wasn't until Arias found and shared his biggest success with puppeteer extraordinaire Basil Twist—their wild 2008 stage collaboration "Arias with a Twist"—that Sheehan decided to turn his camera on the both of them in Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy:

This euphoric documentary explores the dynamic creative relationship between Arias and Twist, but it also takes us on a tour of downtown New York's club, art, fashion, and performance scene starting in the late '70s, a time when these worlds were in constant dialogue, constantly inspiring each other. Director Bobby Sheehan has unearthed never-before-seen footage from the era of Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Keith Haring, Grace Jones, and Divine. The trip is bittersweet—considering AIDS would soon sweep through the scene, claiming stars like John Sex, Klaus Nomi and Keith Haring—but ultimately uplifting when viewed in light of Arias and Twist, whose work continues to evolve and carry the torch of artistic partnership.

In a back room of the Tribeca filmmakers lounge, the four of us (sometimes irreverently) discussed how a cabaret drag artist, a puppeteer and a photographer finally came together as collaborators, with other topics including Pee Wee Herman, the late Klaus Nomi and the artistic importance of "ordering the pork chop."

To listen to the podcast, click here. (18:04)
[WARNING: Explicit language!]

Podcast Music
INTRO: Klaus Nomi: "Lightning Strikes"
OUTRO: Danny Elfman: "Big Top Pee Wee (Main Theme)"

[Arias with a Twist: The Docufantasy screens again at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 27, 28 and May 1. For more info, please visit the official website.]

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Why is it that when cinema presents a dystopian world, it's more often derivative of films and literature past than not? Is it that the greatest works of the repressed-future storyline have already been crafted, or that even the most imaginatively decayed milieu is limited by what we know to be true of our modern times? Or more forgivable but far scarier, is it that lurking somewhere in the aesthetic and thematic overlap between these tales is an accurate prediction of what really might happen if and when our resources ran out and the wrong parties came to power?

Continued reading TRIBECA '10: Metropia...

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by Eric Kohn

Hollywood studios often consider young males as their target demographic, but moviegoers with broader sensibilities should rarely consider age as a restrictive force. With very few exceptions, a story rises or falls on the basis of what appears onscreen. I was met with continuing resistance at the Sundance Film Festival in January when I expressed my reservations over the middling plot of Blue Valentine, Derek Cianfrance's gorgeous but narratively uneven portrait of a disastrous marriage. More than once, I was told, "Maybe you would understand it better if you had children." Or maybe people with children are seeing a movie that doesn't exist. I know a gay colleague whose love for Blue Valentine certainly has nothing to do with a deeper connection to the relationship featured in the movie. Subjective involvement need not correlate with spectatorial identification. Not for me, anyway.

Continued reading The Myth Of Age-Appropriate Cinema: Summer Hours...

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(Marilyn on Apr 21, 2010 8:37 AM) Or, one's personal history can make a film fall flat. I'm one of the few people who was not particularly moved by Summer Hours, and I think that was in large part due to the fact that I had settled my own mother's estate only two years before. Whether I unconsciously flattened my own emotions in response to a film that could have dug up some painful memories or the film simply seemed too familiar for me to learn anything, my closeness to the subject impaired my objective involvement.

(filmsnob on May 12, 2010 8:07 PM) I second what Marilyn said--personal history colors reception of a film, especially one that deals with death and loss. But it's more than that: this film seems so busy reminding us of its lofty Frenchness and global privilege that it fails to truly engage on an emotional level. I wish I could see how fetishing the objects of one's past is truly "authentic"--it's as if the objects are placed in the film as a way to define the human beings, which seems sterile to me. Sadly, this film left me cold and baffled.

By Vadim Rizov

If you're a sane human being interested in film but still harboring an instinct for financial self-preservation — if, in other words, you're interested in watching rather than making or writing about movies — you're probably not aware of events like The Conversation, in which a few weekends ago (to borrow the official copy)you could join in a day that promised to "bring together media-makers, techies, and social media strategists to share experiences and advice, map out the future together, and ideally begin some lasting collaborations." (Translation: network and chatter.)

Topics of discussion: marketing your movie, making use of the pestilent chimera known as "New Media" and so on. Bloggage ensued, though pretty much exclusively from participants. Still, nothing could top this quote from Kino Lorber president Richard Lorber: “everything’s possible but nothing’s working.”

That's the problem in a nutshell: all the talk of becoming "early pioneers" and "using social media" — often nebulous and implicitly self-congratulatory — could remind you of, say, Barbara Ehrenreich's definitive evisceration of business books a few years back, with their specious language covering up the fact that not much is getting done. And for all the talk of new ways of connecting with audiences, it was hard not to get the feeling (as Twitter feeds clogged and dispatches consisted largely of participants congratulating each other) that much was being said and little had a chance of being actualized. Everything was possible but nothing was working.

Continued reading When the Conversation Stops....

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(sami on Apr 9, 2010 1:34 PM) Great piece guys. Spot on analysis. Thanks for writing this.

(Luke James on Apr 9, 2010 1:37 PM) Just discovered this and am going to raise a glass of Rioja and toast. One of the best pieces I've read in a long time. Thanks for a great piece of writing, insightful comment and on the nail analyses. I had to step away from twitter for a while recently because of the trite, inane and financially suicidal advice dished out with copious amounts of fawning. Well said, well done. Have bookmarked this blog. Best wishes, Luke :)

(Ray Privett on Apr 9, 2010 5:48 PM) Salud. There's no better way to market yourself than to present yourself as the only way to heaven. Just look at how many books Jesus has sold.

(John M on Apr 10, 2010 7:29 PM) This is great. Thanks for this.

(James van Maanen on Apr 13, 2010 8:38 PM) This was a good piece, Vadim -- though only last night I attended one of the better panels I can recall in some time: Irena Kovarova's Disappearing Act II panel discussing the "New World of Foreign Language Film Distribution," with IndieWIRE's Eugene Hernandez, IFC's Ryan Werner, Film Movement's Meghan Wurtz and Cinema Tropical's Carlos A. Gutierrez. This proved and hour-and-a-half's worth of smart ideas and interesting examples, plus some good questions from a rapt audience. You never know.

(Andy Feld on Apr 24, 2010 3:35 PM) Thanks Vadim and Kim. In the old story about the better mouse trap that could not sell because of poor marketing one often forgets that for starters you need "a better mousetrap" I am a career businessman, author, and speaker and now co producing my first feature length film "Shamshara" with Avenstar Productions. The distribution possibilities form social media, to festivals, to theatrical, to DVD etc etc are dizzying. I really like to try and keep things simple. Make a great movie and then sell it like crazy! Hard work, great timing, and a product that hits at the heart of the consumer. Has anything really changed? Andy

South by So What, you say? On one hand, cheap beer and thick queso and Barton Springs are soooo last month—but then again, with programming so rich, it takes a couple weeks to catch up with screeners and post-fest screenings. Here are a trio of Austin-based gems from this year's festival that, better late than never, you should watch out for:

The Happy Poet
dir. Paul Gordon

If Slacker defined the shaggy eccentricities of Austin life circa the early '90s, then Gordon's similarly low-key comedy is a delightful, deadpan reappraisal of the town's prototypical charm some two decades later. The writer-director-editor is hilariously dry as the titular bard Bill, a reserved young man who chases an underdog dream of running a healthy, organic food stand. With tons of heart but very little business savvy, Bill sinks what little money he has into his cart, ingredients and menu, ridiculously overwrapping his veggie sandwiches, squandering his overhead by giving away too many free samples (especially to, say, a pretty girl he shyly pursues) and awkwardly making the rest up as life breezes on by. What makes the film so winsome, beyond a lively supporting cast of believable kooks, is Gordon's sincerity, both as a performer and filmmaker. There are no pretentious, overarching themes unless you find them in your own day-to-day existence, the budding romance doesn't feel forced, and the plot turns casually and in long takes, as if we're mostly here to hang out—much like Slacker did—with a gang of flawed but likable Austinites with odd, optimistic worldviews.

Continued reading SXSW '10: The Remainders...

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This week, the Criterion Collection releases Letters From Fontainhas: Three Films by Pedro Costa, a rigorous, stunning and internationally acclaimed trilogy spanning 1997 through 2006:

One of the most important artists on the international film scene today, Portuguese director Pedro Costa has been steadily building an impressive body of work since the late eighties. And these are the three films that put him on the map: spare, painterly portraits of battered, largely immigrant lives in the slums of Fontainhas, a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lisbon. Hypnotic, controlled works, Ossos, In Vanda’s Room, and Colossal Youth confirm Costa as a provocative new cinematic poet, one who locates beauty in the most unlikely of places.

From Lisbon, Costa spoke with me about gaining the "strange password, or key to open" the films in this lost-souls trilogy, choosing to lose time as a filmmaker, the peculiarities of screenwriting in a Portuguese creole, and what he's learned from Vanda—the former heroin junkie who has featured in all three films.

To listen to the podcast, click here. (23:15)

Podcast Music
INTRO: Young Marble Giants: "Colossal Youth"
OUTRO: Cesária Évora: "Cabo Verde Manda Mantenha"

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(maian on Apr 13, 2010 11:11 AM) Fantastic podcast interview, Aaron! What I found really interesting today is that I tried to find more info on Fontainhas, and barely any information exists about the area besides what is documented in these films. Even the wikipedia article only yields a small blurb. Loved OSSOS and can't wait to watch the rest of the set. What is the author's name mentioned in this podcast? Vollman?

(Aaron Hillis on Apr 13, 2010 11:31 AM) Thanks! Yeah, William T. Vollman. He's a novelist and essayist, probably best known in recent years for his McSweeney's-published, mammoth multi-volume treatise on violence called "Rising Up and Rising Down." It's over 3,000 pages, or something like that. I've only ever read some of his contributions to the New Yorker, Spin and maybe the NY Times (?), but trusted friends have told me his books are worth delving into.