Bearing the unwieldiest of titles, Conversations with The Great Moviemakers of Hollywood’s Golden Age at the American Film Institute nevertheless deserves a spot on your summer reading list. AFI founder George Stevens Jr. collects interviews with many of Hollywood’s great directors, plus a handful of cinematographers and writers, and a few foreign directors as well. Drawn from the AFI’s renowned seminars, each is a delight. And I’m only thirty pages in so far.
I’d buy the book just for a particular gem from Raoul Walsh. While making In Old Arizona (1928), a freak accident resulted in the loss of his eye. When doctors asked if he’d like to have it replaced with a glass one, he snapped, “Hell no. Everytime I’d get in a fight, I’d have to put it in my pocket.” He wore a black eyepatch for the rest of his life. (Note to self: track down his autobiography, Each Man In His Time. He’s got a lot of great stories. Sadly, the book is currently out of print.)
Check out this great list of interviewees:
- Harold Lloyd
- Raoul Walsh
- King Vidor
- Fritz Lang
- Frank Capra
- Howard Hawks
- James Wong Howe
- Mervyn LeRoy
- Rouben Mamoulian
- George Folsey
- William Wyler
- George Stevens
- William Clothier
- Alfred Hitchcock
- George Cukor
- Billy Wilder
- John Huston
- Ray Bradbury
- Elia Kazan
- Fred Zinnemann
- David Lean
- Stanley Cortez
- Robert Wise
- Ernest Lehman
- Gene Kelly
- Richard Brooks
- Stanley Kramer
- Hal Wallis
- Jean Renoir
- Federico Fellini
- Ingmar Bergman
- Satyajit Ray
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Senses of Cinema article on Raoul Walsh by Tag Gallagher
Tagged as:
Books,
Directors,
Interviews
Sunshine (Director: Danny Boyle, UK, 2007): Last night, courtesy of the good folks at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival, I was able to catch the preview screening of Danny Boyle’s latest film, a sci-fi epic in the old-fashioned sense. Drawing inspiration from classics like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Solaris, and Alien, Sunshine doesn’t really chart any new ground, but it was a blast, and unlike most American sci-fi of recent years, it didn’t insult the viewer’s intelligence. We were fortunate to have the director present for a q&a after the screening (although he arrived from Chicago just in time for the end of the film) and he was refreshingly candid about the difficulties involved in making the film, as well as the very narrow thematic scope of films like this. As he put it, there is always a ship, a crew, and some sort of distress signal. Of course, it would make more sense for the crew to ignore the distress call, but they never do, and thank goodness, or else we’d be watching a pretty dull film.
As it goes, the eight-person crew of the Icarus II, en route to deliver a bomb into the heart of a dying Sun, pick up signals from the Icarus I, lost seven years before. The film functions as an effective thriller and even enters the horror realm as the crew members meet various unexpected ends. We know at the beginning that their chances of returning to Earth are slim, but it’s still affecting to watch as they send messages home. And although the character development is minimal, there is still a strong sense of caring about these people, since they represent humanity’s last hope against the unfeeling machinery of the universe.
In summary, this is not a classic in the mold of the three films it references, but it’s a great synthesis of their themes and shares the same atmosphere, which for me is a huge achievement. This is the sort of summer blockbuster I’d recommend to my own friends.
Here is the Q&A with director Danny Boyle from after the screening (apologies for the low volume, I’m trying to edit these a bit, but let me know if it’s still too low):
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Duration: 18:44
The film opens in Toronto on July 20.
Official site for the film
Production blog for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
scifi,
space,
Theatrical Release,
uk
Interview (Director: Steve Buscemi, USA, 2007): Interview is the first film in a planned trilogy of films honouring Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was murdered in 2004. Each will be a remake of a Van Gogh film directed by an American actor (Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, and Bob Balaban).
Van Gogh’s version of Interview was released in 2003 and played at the Toronto International Film Festival that year, where my wife saw it and enjoyed it. So as we both sat down to watch this tonight, Brooke was aware of all the plot twists and turns and thought I’d be surprised. I wasn’t.
The film is a two-hander with Steve Buscemi playing Pierre Peders, a rumpled political journalist who has been assigned, much to his chagrin, to interview a second-rate actress known simply as Katya (a feisty Sienna Miller), who is more known for her reputation than for her work. The majority of the action, if we can call it that, takes place in Katya’s enormous loft where the two alternately spar and flirt until each thinks they’ve extracted what they need from the other. In the original, the action is entirely confined to the apartment but Buscemi adds a bit of business at the beginning at a restaurant, and it’s an interesting choice.
After their initial restaurant meeting quickly dissolves into insults and they both storm out, Pierre is involved in a minor collision when his cab driver becomes distracted by the beautiful celebrity he sees walking down the street. Feeling a bit responsible, Katya takes Pierre back to her loft to recover. It’s unclear whether Buscemi is trying to show Katya as basically compassionate, or whether their initial bickering has aroused some sort of sexual attraction between the two. It remains a mystery thoughout the entire film, but in the end, the mystery is hollow, because both are exposed as the selfish and needy individuals that their professions make them. As well, their forced intimacy is accelerated onscreen by both characters drinking ludicrous amounts of alcohol, which felt artificial. The music, though used sparingly, felt a little “sitcom-y” (is that a word?), by which I mean that the tinkly xylophone seemed meant to defuse the intensity and make you think this was a light comedy.
It’s a clever script, and both actors are never less than watchable, but in the end, it never surprised and left me feeling a bit miserable. I’m not sure if the original was this misanthropic (although from what I know of Van Gogh, I expect that it was), but I think I’m disappointed that Buscemi, known for directing stories of flawed but essentially real human beings (ie. Trees Lounge), has failed to make these two more sympathetic. I felt almost exactly the same way about Closer (2004), another film with strong performances from actors playing unsympathetic characters. After both films, I felt slightly icky.
The film opens in Toronto on July 20.
Official site for the film
(7/10)
Tagged as:
celebrity,
Theatrical Release
Rize (Director: David LaChapelle, USA, 2005): David LaChapelle is mostly known for his photography and music videos. If you haven’t seen this documentary film, then you’re probably not familiar with clowning and krumping, a dancing subculture in Los Angeles.
The film looks at the dance movement known as clowning which was started in south central LA by Tommy The Clown. Tommy took a job dressing up as a clown to entertain kids at birthday parties in the hood. He incorporated dance into his show and krumping was born.
In the film Tommy drives around in his green 5.0. Now, how can you not like a guy like that drives a green Mustang, dresses up like a clown and creates an entire dance movement?!
The dancing in this film is incredible. The music is also great and you’ll want to jump off the sofa and bust a move but don’t. You’ll just look like an idiot.
Do rent this film. It’s extremely entertaining and you’ll thank me for the recommendation later.
Tagged as:
dance,
Documentaries,
DVD
The Toronto International Film Fest has launched its new web site, and finally at their own easy-to-remember URL. Previously, the TIFF site was a subdirectory on the page of Bell Canada, our phone company, which always struck me as odd. Bell’s still the lead sponsor, but the site is much-improved, and they’ll be adding more blogs this year, which should be interesting. Not as interesting as this site, but…
My application for press accreditation didn’t even clear the first hurdle, so I’ll probably just be buying a ten-ticket pass. I’ll have to choose carefully. The first list of films were announced on June 26, and there are a few that I’d like to see, but I’m going to resist the urge to see stuff that will get wide release later. If you’re reading this, and planning to attend the festival, pipe up in the comments and let me know what you’re planning to see.
For the cash-poor but time-rich, TIFF always needs volunteers. If you want to help out, sessions begin on July 12.
Tagged as:
TIFF
