Indieopolis: Reports from the Front Part 35
by Lola Bianca
The Name Game! New fest director Dieter Kosslick has humorously dubbed the Berlin Int’l, now in its 52nd year, “Braindance” (a reference to London’s Raindance, which is, of course a reference to…). Kosslick wants his Berlinale to combine intellect, art, glamor, biz, and young people. And he seems to be off to a strong start. The fest opened with Heaven (from the screenplay by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and the late Krzysztof Kieslowski ), directed by Tom Run Lola Run Tykwer and starring Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi. Even after his death Kieslowski remains utterly relevant with this piece about a terrorist who finds redemption. There is talk that Tykwer may take on the rest of the trilogy (Purgatory and Hell) as well.
Another fest highlight was the program of 5-minute DV shorts made by 12 young German helmers on a budget of 99 euros each. Budget breakdowns showed money spent on coffee, burgers, beer, blood, chips, make-up, a bomb, and a megaphone – but no film! www.99euro-films.de.
Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away shared the coveted Golden Bear. Fresh from its Sundance premiere, Greengrass’ powerful movie about the Irish conflict proved very much in keeping with the German fest’s new post 9-11 spirit of social consciousness. Meanwhile, Miyazaki’s latest anime blockbuster (Spirited Away was released in Japan last summer, where it broke all B.O. records, including those set by the same filmmaker’s Princess Mononoke in ’97) won hearts with its visually enchanting, profoundly humanistic tale of a little girl on a mythic quest to save her parents, who have been turned into pigs!
On the socially conscious front again, director Constanin Costa-Gavras (Z, The Confession, and Missing) was given a special “Kamera” award (his new film Amen, about the Vatican’s failure to speak out against Nazi atrocities during WWII, screened in competition); while ’60s sex goddess Claudia Cardinale and American maverick Robert Altman both received Lifetime Achievement awards Euro-style.
Far-out film maestro Peter Greenaway (The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover and Prospero’s Books) was in Berlin to grease the publicity wheels on his newest undertaking, a multi-media extravaganza called The Tulse Luper Suitcases: a Personal History of Uranium. The grandiose project consists of a trilogy of two-hour feature films to be accompanied by interactive DVDs, a 16-episode TV series, and an internet site that will weave one thousand and one stories over a 4-year period! Set to begin production next month, Feature #1 will star JJ Field, Don Johnson, Debbie Harry, Rossy de Palma, Franka Potente, and Isabella Rossellini. It pieces together the life story of one Tulse Luper, an artist and “professional prisoner,” from clues found in 92 suitcases supposedly discovered around the world between 1928 and 1989. Can you say, Where In the World Is Carmen San Diego?
The renewal of the NBC sitcom Friends for one more highly lucrative season (about $1 million per thesp per ep) means that Lisa Kudrow (making the fest rounds in Bark) and Jennifer Aniston (The Good Girl) will have the means and, after next season, plenty of time to further cultivate their claims to indie sainthood.
While waiting for the next Spike Jonze movie to hit the theaters, check out the hip helmer’s latest Levi’s commercial. “Crazy Legs” preemed on Super Bowl Sunday. You can see it and the work of other young filmmakers currently testing the waters of art and commerce, at www.levis.yahoo.com.
On the Domestic Fest Front. Speaking of art and commerce, IFP/west Director Dawn Hudson has announced that this year the LA Film Festival (running June 21-29) will be presenting a check for $50,000 to the winner of the Best Dramatic Feature competition, courtesy of the Target Stores. The Target Filmmaker Award is the largest given by any major US festival and is intended to help indie artists transfer their vision to the screen in order to reach a wider audience. The LAFF deadline is March 22. www.lafilmfest.com.
More Fest Alerts. Alice's 3-Minute Film Festival 2002 will award over $9,000 in cash & prizes for best Drama/Doc Short, Animation Short, and Comedy Short. All films must be in the 3-5 minute range and submitted on VHS by March 8. http://radioalice.com.
The Nantucket Film Festival (June 20 – 23) focusing on screenwriters and their craft is now accepting entries. Event includes staged readings of unproduced screenplays. www.nantucketfilmfestival.org.
Maui’s Next Wave Fest emphasizes “Compassionate Vision” and “Life-Affirming Storytelling.” Early deadline April 15; drop dead deadline May 15. www.mauifilmfestival.com.
RESFEST, the global touring festival dedicated to digital filmmaking (shorts, features, animation, rock videos) is coming. Early deadline (all work over 60 minutes) May 3; late deadline June 3. www.resfest.com.
La-la-la-la-Lola. Indieopolis@hotmail.com
SUN SPOTS
Bloody Sunday
World Cinema Audience Award, Sundance ’02
Bloody Sunday tells the story of four men (men from both sides of the religious and military divide) swept up in the historic conflict of January 30, 1972. On this day (known as Bloody Sunday), British soldiers shot and killed 13 unarmed civilians participating in a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. A major turning point in the 700 year struggle between Ireland and Britain, this event drove many young men into the IRA and marked the beginning of a 25-year cycle of violence. Its aftermath is still being felt today.
Bloody Sunday has been described as “a war film about the struggle for peace.” The movie is shot in a hyper-realistic style, giving viewers the uncomfortable sense of being right there on the front lines. It is both intimate and epic. Writer-director Paul Green
grass made his first film in Derry in 1981, less than a decade after the events he now presents. He was also the first journalist to film inside the Maze Prison. Besides winning the World Cinema Audience Award at Sundance last month, Bloody Sunday just took top honors (the Golden Bear) at this month’s Berlinale. –LB
Secretary
Official Selection, Sundance ’02
Lee Holloway (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is not just your ordinary secretary. And, luckily for her, lawyer E. Edward Grey (James Spader) is not just your ordinary boss. Secretary is an honest and surprisingly engaging look at the relationship that develops between Holloway, who has just recently been released from a mental institution (and who appears, at the beginning, at least, to be on her way back there pretty quick!), and Grey. The movie explores the secret lives of these two offbeat characters and their dark dance of seduction and sensuality, finding sexiness, humor, compassion, and universality in its head-on confrontation with some extremely sensitive, offbeat subject matter including self-mutilation.
Filmmaker Steven Shainberg attended the American Film Institute. His short film “The Prom” won the Grand Prize at the Houston International Film Festival and the Critic's Award at the Breckenridge Festival of Film in Colorado and his series of six shorts (“Mr. Viril”) was shown on MTV. Secretary is Shainberg’s sophomore feature (his first was Hit Me). It is based on a short story of the same name by Mary Gaitskill. The 2002 Sundance screener was just acquired, post-fest, by Lions Gate. –LB
Tea with Grandma
by Michelle Malik
“Tea with Grandma” starring the great suspense siren Tippi Hedren (star of Hitchcock’s classic, The Birds and Melanie Griffith’s mom) as the loving but devious Grandma Rae and writer-actress Jennie Fahn as the sweet and trusting Jamie, is anything but a quaint conversation between a nana and her beloved grandchild. Grandma sends notice to her de
voted granddaughter to come see her quickly, declaring that her life is shortly coming to an end. Naturally, her concerned granddaughter rushes to be with her only to find out that she is not dying at all.
Back at grandma’s house in small town suburbia, this outwardly warm and darling woman reveals her deeply murky side and her horrendous plan to rid herself of the burden of a family curse. In an effort to make her grandmother feel at ease or perhaps because she suffers from a similar psychosis, Jamie has her own disturbing secret that gets even grandma’s goat. A solution must come to end the curse. Who is the culprit? Who is the victim?
The talented Jonathan Fahn (Fast Food) directed and produced, Victor Garcia and Anne Wilde co-produced, Steve McMahon filmed, and Russell Harnden, III edited these two very capable actresses in a clever, intense and uniquely compact twenty-two minute story of deception, family secrets, and yes tea. The quality is quite good for an independent film, making use of shadowy imagery and the dark, enchanting music of Michael Stein to send chills up the spine.
“Tea with Grandma” was recently awarded the Best Short Film at Great Britain’s Chichester International Film Festival and was an official selection of Sweden’s Fantastisk Film Festival. The film made the IPF’s 23rd Independent Feature Film Market in New York City and The Los Angeles International Short Film Festival.
Crossroads
by Gil Benzeevi
For all of you who said to yourselves, “I can’t wait for Britney Spears to star in a movie,” Here is Crossroads, a story about 3 high school girls, Lucy (Britney) the smart one, Mimi (Taryn Manning), the pregnant rebel one, and Kit (Zoe Saldana), the popular one. After graduating they decide to go on a cross country trip from Georgia to California to enter a singing contest which will lead to a recording contract.
Kit is going because she wants to check up on her boyfriend who after proposing to her left for California and has not been heard from since.
And can you guess why Lucy is going? You see, Lucy studied so hard through high school to get those good grades that she missed out on all the fun activities and now it’s her time to enjoy herself.
Oh, yes there is another reason. On the way to California, she wants to stop by and pay a surprise visit to her mom who had abandoned her when she was just a baby.
Lucy has to sneak out of her house so her hardworking mechanic dad won’t be able to stop her. He wants her to be a doctor and she wants to be a singer.
These three amigos hitch a ride with Ben (Anson Mount), a handsome stranger that is rumored to have spent time in jail for murder. What a great choice for transportation. Nonetheless, along the way the girls rekindle their friendship, discover themselves, grow up and fall in love. Oh, yes. Lucy falls in love with the ex-con. Wow, can you believe it?
Crossroads is a very thinly disguised attempt to capitalize on Britney’s popularity with an awful braindead film in order to suck as much money as possible from her adolescent fans before her time in the limelight is up, who would probably pay money just to see her chew gum. This movie is about as entertaining as that. You see Britney dancing in men’s underwear and singing with the radio. In another scene she models lingerie. And in case you don’t get what Crossroads is about, Britney helps you out by singing songs like “Overprotected” and “I’m Not A Girl, Not Yet A Woman.” Mixing mediocre to bad acting, a terrible script and lackluster directing, this film needs open heart surgery to lift it from embarrassing to substandard.
Scotland, PA
b
y Witney Seibold
Billy Morisette gives Shakespeare the ’70s treatment. With death as a game in so much of current filmmaking, that which is the purview of Shakespeare's tragedies - dark pitiful violence and hopeless bleak despair - has been severely diminished.
Billy Morissette, writer and director of Scotland, PA, a new updated version of Macbeth, made the story a comedy. Joe “Mac” McBeth (James LeGros) is a typical loser working for his overly genial boss, Duncan (James Rebhorn) in a 1975 burger joint. His girlfriend, Patty (Maura Tierny), lusting for more in life, prods him into running the show. Mac receives a prophecy from a trio of possibly supernatural hippies (played with joy and gusto by Amy Smart, Andy Dick, and Speed Levitch) living in a disused amusement park. He and Patty, acting upon the prophecy, proceed to dip Duncan's head in the french fryer. Little rundown Duncan's becomes McBeth Burgers. All goes well until Lt. McDuff (Christopher Walken) appears to investigate Duncan's murder. And you know what happens from there. Out damned spot.
A fine cast and a good nose for black humor makes this film quite a wonderful experience.
Like the underrated O before it, Scotland, PA sticks fairly close to its source material. The humor appropriately diminishes as the story progresses, until we are blissfully lost in the mire of human pain. Christopher Walken gives a great performance as the cop who is at once funny, annoyed, and suspicious. LeGros and Tierny know just how to handle their tragic characters while keeping them amusing.
The humor, however, is also the film's weak point. It pulls its punches. Instead of riding the dark wave of human plight through to the end, the wave crashes. A few winks and elbows in the ribs occur during the film's climax, right when we don't need them. A little ragged, worth seeing, but not the Bard.
Special Effects in the Here and Now
The Mothman Prophecies
by Serena Juiwen Chang and Julianne Long
The riveting new super natural thriller The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney, employs a slew of realistic special effects to create mysterious and unsettling sensations. Shrouded in foggy nights and murky bays, Cinesite’s artistic magic create all the erie feelings of eminent disaster so compelling in classic thrillers.
According to CG Supervisor David Altenau and Compositing Supervisor Jason Piccioni many of the effects incorporated were so complex and incredibly subtle that the movie viewer will never notice, further pulling them into the mystique. To create the dream like quality desired by director Mark Pellington and transitions in time, place, and states of reality, artists used software programs called Maya and Cineon. The rendering program animators used for 90% of the computer generated elements was Render-man. Two especially challenging effects of which Cinesite is proud are the CG created shots of the industrial factory and the spectacular Silver bridge collapse.
Though viewers will believe they are looking at an actual factory building and its forest like surroundings, every element was computer generated. Its realistic look is the result of enormous energy and talent. For example, the artists at Cinesite created about 60 elements which were composited together in layers. The layers were divided into main parts: the sky, smoke, background hills, factory, nearby hills, lights and river. Every detail of these images was artist created, such as the 30,000 trees on the foreground hill for a realistic tree line. The river water simulation was particularly complex and one artist had to create a sub program for Maya to produce the desired look. This visual effect required the full time efforts of six artists for three months and
resulted in an elaborate pull away shot from the factory to the Silver bridge. Altenau and Piccioni said that this shot represented Gere’s mental point of view because it would be impossible to film in real life.
Another remarkable effect achieved by Cinesite was the collapse of the Silver bridge. To begin, artists built a miniature model of a bridge based on director Pellington’s design. A CG artist then recreated the model using Maya and made adjustments to match the entire look and fit of the model bridge to previously shot footage of the actual bridge.
Then, using more software genius, the artists added computer generated cables, transforming the stationary bridge into a suspension bridge. One dramatic shot signaling the catastrophic collapse of the bridge shows a cable snapping and crashing fatally into a young man’s car. As scaffolding on the bridge gave way, frightened people trapped on the bridge made frantic attempts at escape, some running from their cars, others jumping or falling into the murky waters below. These chilling shots were created by compositing layers of footage. Actors were filmed while running in a blue screen room, then their images were cut from the footage and superimposed over the photography of a miniature bridge collapsing.
Even more complex and angst inducing effects were under water shots of Linney and Gere surrounded by 50 cars and numerous Christmas presents. In order to realistically recreate the movement of the actors’ bodies underwater, they were originally filmed in a swimming pool. The bodies of the actors were removed from the footage in the swimming pool and supplanted in a CG created water shot by tightly tracing a path around their bodies to separate them from the pool water. A second looser path was made for catching the under water body motion and body reflection on the water’s surface. The actual computer generated water is composed of five layers to recreate the light, shadows, and movement. All of this resulted in an impressive pull up shot showing the actors floating in freezing water underneath the remains of the collapsed bridge.
Impressive acting, based on true life events, a visually stunning and suspenseful film, intriguing to the very last frame.
Zingers!
A BEAUTIFUL MIND
“I was not impressed with Russell Crowe in Gladiator - I was overwhelmed by his performance in A Beautiful Mind. An award-winning film at every level.” –Eileen Ogle
“They claim there’s a Princeton ritual of being given a pen when you’re brought on the faculty. There is no such ritual. There has never been such a ritual. But no doubt in the future there will be.” –a Princeton professor
“A conventional mainstream film but surprisingly touching.” –Coco Vaughn
BLACK HAWK DOWN
“You read the 1993 headline ‘18 American servicemen killed in Somalia firefight’ and you winced. That was the news, but what really happened? I'm generally suspicious of Hollywood history, but this is an honest attempt to tell the tale. If you're an adult and an American, you MUST see it. It's disturbing but also fascinating and extremely powerful.”
–Dave Rolfe
“The acting was strong, particularly from Josh Hartnett and Tom Sizemore, who seem to be in every war movie. Although once the blood gets flying, it is hard to tell who is who…” –Jada Crimson
GOSFord Park
“Fun, great British ’30s whodunit, wonderful ensemble cast.” –Marion Siwek
“Bor-ing.” –Tracy T.
HARRY POTTER
“To all those critics who find dissatisfaction with the film, I have only one thing to say: go and write ONE successful book of best-seller quality – not four. Next, direct a film version of the book, but remember NOT to remain faithful to the book, as your directorial vision should provide the viewers with something fresh that you were incapable of coming up with when you wrote it.” –Don Grigware
I AM SAM
“Sean Penn's exquisite portrayal of a mentally challenged father is touching and fathomable. He is so natural in this part that you find yourself behind his plight all the way through. The supporting cast is excellent, especially powerhouse Michelle Pfeiffer, Dakota Fanning as Sam's daughter, and Laura Dern.” –Michelle Malik
“To hear that Beatles music covered by other people and covered well – there’s a magic to it. It’s fresh and nostalgic at the same time.”
–Lynn Callow
IN THE BEDROOM
“A good little movie but way oversold.”
–Renee W.
“Nothing HAPPENS In the Bedroom!.”
–Anon. in Tarzana
“Mr. Moviefone ruined this one for me.”
–Abra Dean
IRIS
“A fascinating portrait of a marriage and of a writer losing the very thing which gave her identity – her command of language. Not for the faint of heart.” –Louise Barrington
“Good movie, strong performances. But there’s a structural problem: the flashbacks end about 2/3 of the way through, and it’s unrelenting (and rather redundant) from there on. Iris may be an accurate portrayal of Alzheimer’s Disease. But dramatically we need continued scenes from Murdoch’s early life (Kate Winslet skinny dipping!) to contrast with the bleakness of her later state.”
–Jeffrey Clark
LAST ORDERS
“Fred Schepisi brings us a brilliant ensemble piece, a kind of who’s who of great British actors: Michael Caine, Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Ray Winstone, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay! This one has been overshadowed by Iris but is every bit as worthy –
a far more balanced entertainment, with characters who continue to grow and surprise us.”
–Louise Barrington
LORD OF THE RINGS
“Best movie I've seen in years. Does the novel justice! A+!” –Peter Gullerud
“Amazing production design, and Ian McKellen is the perfect Gandalf.” –Yolanda
“I don’t get it. It’s like Gladiator. People rave about these movies. I’m looking for a little bit more than just an action-packed movie. But what do I know?” –the Bicycle Thief
MONSTER’S BALL
“Halle Berry. A gorgeous woman who can act.” –EmJay
THE MOTHMAN PROPHECIES
“Marlene and I saw this movie and loved it, although it scared the pants off of us, in a fun kind of way. Alan Bates has a cameo and he was terrific in it, adding a level of credibility to the whole thing that helped cement it all together.” –Alex Hajdu
NO MAN’S LAND
“A bitingly funny, dark satire – or is it docudrama pure and simple? – about the Serbo-Croatian conflict. Thought provoking and highly entertaining.” – Lola Bianca
OCEAN’S ELEVEN
“Like that old Chinese food cliché – enjoyable, but you’re hungry again an hour later.”
–Mahatma K. Jeeves
ORANGE COUNTY
“It’s so great. Very fun. Total improv comedy.”
–Amanda Kraus
ROLLERBALL
“Lousy.” –overheard in the Bay Area
“Better than A Beautiful Mind!”
–overheard in the Bay Area
SUPER TROOPERS
“Makes no sense at all. Whoever wrote it must have been high at the time. But it still works. It’s funny.” –Jordan in Brooklyn
k that put him up and kept him up above the title. If you know any of his output, chances are you’ve seen him sweeping across the sand dunes in full burnoose-and-robe regalia. And his last film was a remake-cum-sequel, Son of the Sheik (1926), in which he again played Ahmed (both père and fils this time) ravaging Vilma Banky’s Yasmin. Feminists write doctoral dissertations on the patriarchal poisons folded into this "escapist fluff."
ken harem pants and arabesqued décor. They invented the phrase "glorious kitsch" to describe this one.
The following year George Roy Hill directed John le Carre’s The Little Drummer Girl, with magnetic Klaus Kinski as a Mossad manipulator recruiting lefty actress Diane Keaton to help take down an effective Palestinian commando. My own politics being more black-and-white at the time, I remember sputtering to a friend, "Who are we supposed to feel sorry for?" Her answer was, "Whoever’s bleeding, I think."