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Featured article [ INSIDE THE FILM FESTIVAL HYPE]

                              

Every January, more than 12,000 Hollywood types descend upon Park City, Utah, a normally sleepy ski resort town thirty-five miles from Salt Lake City.  They rent literally every hotel room, motel room, high school auditorium, lodge, (anywhere where you can fit a projector and some chairs, or just crash for the night) in Park City.  They hire every car, cab, van, horse, anything that moves.  And they drink nearly all of the fancy bottled water, and all of the alcohol in the state (this is Utah, remember)

 

* archives > view past features

 

 

NEWS                            <read, inform, know>

 

 [ ACTOR LAYS INTO 'TRASH ETHOS' OF US FILMS ]

Fiachra Gibbons

Sean Penn has a habit of biting the hand that feeds him, but yesterday he took the whole arm, declaring that film directors who wasted their talent making dumb rubbish deserved to be "sent home screaming with rectal cancer".

 

 

[ WHEN SKATEBOARDING SHOOK THE WORLD ]

G Beato


In the mid-1970s a group of Californians kids made skateboarding cool – and created a global industry. Now a documentary narrated by Sean Penn tells their story

 

[ THE ATTACK OF THE KILLER CABBAGES ]

John Walsh

 

John Wyndham's horticultural horror story The Day of the Triffids is celebrating its 50th birthday. But do his flesh-eating flora symbolise a British anxiety that still persists today?

 

 

[ TRAINSPOTTING SEQUEL SHOULD CAST DIFFERENT ACTORS, SAYS WELSH ]

 

Irvine Welsh, who is working on a sequel to his story of heroin addicts in Edinburgh, would prefer other actors to play the roles made famous  by Ewan McGregor and Robert Carlyle

 

 

[ NOVELIST CONDEMNS HOLLYWOOD'S YEN TO REWRITE HISTORY AS CULTURAL IMPERIALISM ]

 

The novelist Robert Harris yesterday hit out at the "cultural imperialism" and "sheer stupidity" of Hollywood films which reduce world-changing events to "slushy romances"

 

[ THE TOUCH OF SKIN, THE SOUND OF RAIN -  THE STEAMIEST FILM OF THE YEAR ] 

 

Tran Anh Hung was born in Vietnam but learnt how to make films in France. Trevor Johnston talks to him about the ravishing results

 

[ EDINBURGH IS ACCUSED OF FAILING TO SHOWCASE BLACK FILM DIRECTORS ]

Jade Garrett

 

The organiser of Britain's first dedicated black film event has accused the Edinburgh Festival of ignoring talented black directors in this year's programme.  Manlike Shabazz, the founder of Black Filmmaker magazine and the executive director of the Bfm International Film Festival, which opens in London next month, said the absence of black productions in Edinburgh reflected the ignorance of those who decide what to screen.

 

[ INDIE FILMAKER BEGINS GUERILLA FILM DISTRIBUTION VIA DRIVE-IN ]

Frustrated by the commercialization of film festivals and narrow limitations of cookie cutter distributors, indie filmmaker Lawrence Bridges has taken matters into his own hands by self-distributing his award winning feature film "12" in a series of impromptu drive-in movie venues.

 


[ THE FILM THAT REFUSES TO DIE ]

Martin Bright

The makers of a controversial film narrated by British actress Cathy Tyson about deaths in police custody are planning a wave of nationwide 'guerrilla screenings' to defy police threats of legal action to stop the film being shown.

 

[ VIOLENT KIDS! TERRORISTS! DELUSIONAL INMATES! TARANTINO! ]

K.J. Doughton

Just Another Dull Afternoon at the 27th Annual Seattle International Film Festival......“Ah, all that beautiful black and white,” observes Quentin Tarantino from a podium at Seattle’s Egyptian Theatre, flailing his arms like he’s had one espresso too many while critiquing an obscure forties film. “It’s enough to make you want to go skinny dipping in it – just jump

                           onto the screen!”

 

* archives >> view past news

 

 

REVIEWS                               <opinion>

 * LATEST RELEASES

 

[ THE MAN WHO CRIED ]

 

Although WWII plays a large role in “The Man Who Cried,” it is hardly the film’s main concern. The war and the accompanying prejudices loom ominously throughout (and the era is further echoed by the beautiful mock Technicolor of Sacha Vierny’s cinematography), but this is essentially a timeless story about a young woman searching for her father and, in turn, her lost heritage.

 

[ CORNMAN: AMERICAN VEGETABLE HERO ]

 

Talk about aiming low - "Cornman: American Vegetable Hero" is a micro-budget homage to the already low-budget schlockfests of Troma Entertainment, Inc. Now, it's a free country and everything, and struggling young filmmakers are certainly entitled to expose their hard-won celluloid in any way they see fit. But when your creative ambition consists of striving to reach the exalted heights of "Sgt. Kabukiman NYPD"... I dunno, it may be time to re-examine your perceived need for artistic expression.

 

[ BLOW ]

 

Jung's story should make a good movie, and in better writer/director hands it might have, especially with Johnny Depp. Depp is a great actor (one of my favourites, for some reason), but Blow is like saddling Michael Antretti into a Saturn; sure, it's a decent car, but it just isn't very flashy or sexy, and Ray Liotta is the co-pilot (so you're probably on the wrong road). That analogy isn't very enlightening, but I think the drift is there:  Blow could have been much, much better

 [ JERRY WEXLER: IMMACULATE FUNK ]

"Jerry Wexler: Immaculate Funk" is a good attempt. Though the man himself states he "don't give a fuck" about his place in history, it is gratifying someone like Thurman tried. Forget a place, Jerry Wexler is a great piece of the history of pop music. The public should remember such individuals.

 

[ TUVALU ]

 

Veit Helmer's "Tuvalu" is cinematic proof that imitation may be the sincerest form flattery, but it is also the most disappointing form of filmmaking.  Mixing equal parts David Lynch, Buster Keaton and Ernie Kovacs with a pinch of "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" thrown
in, "Tuvalu" is a wild and weird mess which wears out its welcome fairly quickly but which, at the very least, deserves points for trying to be different

[ OPERATION CHLOE ]

 

One of the very best end-of-the-world films was made in New Zealand: the 1985 feature "The Quiet Earth," which offered a stunning, artistic and wholly unpredictable story of the last three people left on the planet. Somewhat surprisingly, one of the very worst end-of-the-world films was also made in New Zealand: the more recent "Operation Chloe," a completely incomprehensible slam-bang overstuffed home movie pretending to be a real feature film.

 

[ THAT DARN PUNK ]

 

Who doesn’t love a punk? Who doesn’t love movies? Hence, who wouldn’t love a punk movie made by punks, starring punks with an all-star punk soundtrack? It just could work

 

 

 

* VIDEO REVIEWS

 

[ REQUIEM FOR A DREAM ]

 

By any standard, Requiem for a Dream is a great movie; considering it is Aronofsky's second feature, it is truly incredible and should not be missed (unless, of course, you thought Armageddon was super, in which case you should skip Requiem For A Dream and see Little Nicky instead).

 

[ QUILLS ]

 

Quills takes a little peak at how writing influences people, but unfortunately doesn't really appear to have much to say; the film dwells too much on the shocking aspects of the Marquis de Sade's life and rather ignores the chance to comment on the degree to which fiction is reflected in people's actions.

 

 

[ TRAFFIC ]

 

The United States spends billions of dollars trying to halt the supply of some types of mind-altering drugs. What do these billions do? Depending on who you ask, they either stop a miniscule amount of the total drugs entering the US, or stop a fair amount (in either case, less than half). Also, these millions of dollars kill thousands of people. In any case, Traffic takes a dramatic look at this “War'', but the stance of the movie is in many ways hard to determine.

 

[ FREDDY GOT FINGERED ]

Freddy Got Fingered at times seem somewhat autobiographical, but mostly just appears to be Tom playing with a big budget and doing stuff he finds fun. (He's a decent skate-boarder, it turns out).

 

 

 

* FLASHBACK

 [ BEING JOHN MALKOVICH ]

 

A quintessential loser, an out-of-job puppeteer, is hired by a firm, whose offices are ensconced in a half floor. By sheer accident, he discovers a tunnel which sucks its visitors into the mind of the celebrated actor, John Malkovich. The movie is a tongue in cheek discourse of identity, gender and passion in an age of languid promiscuity. It poses all the right metaphysical riddles and presses the viewers' intellectual stimulation                          buttons.

[FAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGH]

 

"Fast Times" was based on writer Crowe’s undercover experience in a Los Angeles High School, back in the day when that meant Valley Girls, surfers, and fast food jobs, and not guns, gangsters, and clockers. Essentially, it’s all about sex, except for an exceptional perpetually stoned performance by once and future method man Sean Penn.

 

* archives >>  view past reviews

 

 

 

FLICK FESTIVALS                       <get involved>

 

 

[ WOMEN IN CINEMA FESTIVAL ]

 

Cinema Seattle's Women in Cinema Festival was established in 1996 to celebrate the visions of women who make movies, whether they work in front of or behind the camera, on- or off-screen. This well-attended Festival showcases groundbreaking movies from all over the world, including feature-length works, documentaries and short films. WIC 2002 (January 24-31, 2002) is now accepting features, shorts, docs and animation. Entry deadline: November 1. Info and entry forms available at www.seattlefilm.com or call 206-315-0663. Write Kathleen Murphy, WIC Director, at Cinema Seattle, The Paramount Theatre, 911 Pine Street, Seattle, WA 98101 or e-mail for more info: women@seattlefilm.com.


 

[ SAN FRAN INDIE FILM FEST ]

 

The San Francisco Independent Film Festival (January 31-February 10, 2002) is now accepting features, shorts, docs and animation for the 4th annual SF IndieFest. With over 7000 attendees last year, SF IndieFest has grown into one of the best venues for independent film in one of the most film loving cities in the US. Entry deadline is October 26. Info and entry forms available at www.sfindie.com or call 415.820.3907.  E-mail for more info: info@sfindie.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INTERVIEW                                                                              <meet and greet>

 

 

[ FLAT ERIC SPEAKS ]

 

Flat Eric's only interview, courtesy of The Face.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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