Holy Motors

 
Holy Motors is the best film I have seen in a loooong time. I mean, I am already a huge fan of Leos Carax, a director following in a very French tradition of cutting edge cinema- right down to the close work/growth with one actor Godard:Belmondo :: Carax:Lavant, the embracing of non-traditional storytelling, and even a post-post modern style of cyclical editing, technological innovation, and in camera manipulation that feels like a contemporary take on the purpose of the French New Wave jump cut. Its taken me awhile to try to figure out how to explain why this film is such a defining cinematic masterpiece but I am going to try, (breathes in, holds breath, pauses, exhales)...let's go...!

1. Holy Motors is a meta-film that explores the complications of the current cinematic landscape.

The main character, Monsieur Oscar (a writhing, tough Denis Levant whose work as a circus performer informs his ability to morph and move throughout the film in a fluid acting experience- it's like you are watching him float or ooze through the scenes- through space, through time- with such ease and wonder in a way that most actors only dream of being able to accomplish) is an actor who spends his days being driven around in a limo attending "appointments" or roles, changing into a new being with each encounter within his hulking moving dressing room on wheels, with a composed, caring, wry Edith Scob at the wheel.

Is Oscar merely an actor performing for unseen cameras & silent audiences (a probability reinforced through the opening sequence of a man entering a secret door where he finds a zombie film audience entranced by King Vidor as a [digitally rendered!] dog & baby wander the movie theater aisles ignored, further complicating the duality/dynamic of reality & unreality, fiction & nonfiction)? Or is Oscar playing out actual lives, parallel people he is or pretends to be? Are we all just really multiple people? Has the reality media craze and our own diminishing standards blurred the lines between real & fake, good & bad (the rotting sugar of low culture hinted at through the films own use of genre "films" - cheesy musicals, thug capers, melodramas- Oscar appears in throughout Motors)? The ambiguity surrounding Oscar's characters is so densely layered, who does the audience identify with? Who do we want to be? Holy Motors poses all of these questions instantly- questioning the entire filmic medium, questioning the audience's motivations- making me trapped in this amazing state of awe and contemplation at not only the thing being projected before my eyes but the very nature of cultural expectations as a whole! AMAZING!

2. Holy Motors is a film that uses digital cinema and special effects as an artform.

Yes, yes, we can make dragons with computers and put them in movies now, ok. But, you know what is better? Manipulating digital effects to create lush strokes of moving scenes, using digital animation to expose the hand or human behind it, adding digital effects as a paintbrush to sweep together compositions that rival masterful painting, creating believable backdrops for tragedy without the need for actual harm, all while commenting on the falsity of our technological surroundings. Even though Carax is sometimes criticized for his sort of bloated budgets, he is using contemporary cinematic resources on a whole new level, creating his own language of art that should be funded no matter what the box office loss! This man is a true artist, a nouveau auteur! LOVE!

3. (Mild Spoiler Alert but not really given the meandering nature of the film) There are three defining scenes in this film that made it one of the most memorable movie going experiences I have ever had.

 a. Eva Mendes appears as a model who is kidnapped by a leprachaun-esque hobo character named Merde (French for shit btw. Yup. Shit). Merde fashions Mendes' model gown into a Burqa of sorts, a staunchly political statement given France's recent Burqa ban. But here, the statement is two fold: are we watching Levant as Merde the Hobo acting on behalf of some unseen director (of the film within the film or is he possible working out the plan of some divine director, maybe even God himself?), or is this character trying to subvert a political statement on his own accord? There is a duality here about cultural expectations vs. responsibility, fate vs. free will, the book vs. the cover, the actor vs. the acted, that is so subtly perfect...layer upon layer, frame upon frame of filmic dissection! JUST MIND BLOWING!

b. At Oscar's last role he arrives to his suburban condo on a quiet family street. His family is a bunch of chimpanzees. Have our standards of entertainment plummeted this far? Are we devolving as a culture? Are we no better than Kubrick's apes beating our chests at the new monoliths of media & technology around us? SERIOUSLY SO DENSE!

c. The film winds down with the limos of all of the actors parking in a lot called Holy Motors suggesting that maybe these limos are Heaven-sent vessels meant to transport existence yet even the limos discuss (YES THERE ARE TALKING CARS! OMG!) their own futility as machines...and in turn machines of (ill) fate(d man).

Also, I forgot to mention: Kylie Minogue sings a song in a mock musical of sorts and Lavant has latex clad sex with a contortionist for a computer/videogame simulation scene. WONDERFUL! Not only do I think this is the best film of 2012 I think that the questions it raises are vital concerns to the culture we are creating and that it should be listened to as both a warning sign and as a celebration of the evolving capabilities of film- and whether it is fate or free will that determines how we use them! LEOS CARAX YOU ARE MY HERO!

Gravity Live on DVD/Blu Ray

For those following the blog from the beginning this is a special announcement: a DVD/Blu Ray of a live, recorded performance of Gravity Was Everything Back Then will be available from EMPAC this Spring! Since the film itself was sold as an editioned art piece this is the only way for audiences to own a piece of the little movie Brent Green made in his backyard! The band from the recording session was a great one too so check it out!


And for those of you new comers to the blog....this blog began as a "making of" a film I worked closely on, if you are ever really, really bored or stuck inside because of snow or terribly injured and can only read things on a computer using your eyes to scroll or something read from the beginning, it was one hell of a journey!

Filmmaker 20+

The wonderful Filmmaker Magazine, a "Publication with a focus on independent film, offering articles, links, and resources." is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this year! And as part of the festivities they are commissioning a series of 20 essays regarding the future of cinema in a series called "20+".....and by some strange twist of fate I was commissioned to expand on a recent blog post as part of this series! The article, titled Rise of the Neuro-Eye, appears in the latest issue where I discuss everything from drone robots to Vertov to Neurocinematics and, after re-reading it when it arrived in the mail today, I am actually pretty proud!

Recently a blog reader accused me of not supporting a "cinematic language" and (after rolling my eyes) I realized that I definitely do support the language of cinema but, also, that I think we need a bit more discussion to happen if this language is going to flourish, especially since I think the digital film revolution is changing the standard of what this language is...With this being said: I encourage you, dear readers, to respond to my writing, to comment more, to call in to my radio show- we can form an awesome new scholarship of cinema and, in the amazing 20 year tradition of Filmmaker Mag & especially the series my essay is a part of, we can pave the way for a new way of talking about film! 

Radio Days

Four Notes for Young Filmmakers

So, I have been on the screening board for a film festival recently, acting as one of the first tiers of viewers deciding whether a film is worthy of eyes higher up in the festival ranks. After watching what seems like endless hours of films I have come up with a brief primer of things to do or say, or not do or say, when blindly submitting an independent feature to a festival...keep in mind these are just my own quirks but I think some of my advice might be good for many budding directors to hear regardless!

1. Words to Avoid in Your Film Synopsis: oddball, quirky, offbeat, and twentysomething. The former three words are like red flags signalling "We're sooo kooky and weird, BE PREPARED for our kooky, weirdness!" If a filmmaker is setting out with these as goals it makes me wary of how rounded the film is going to be in general and, so far, my aversion to these terms has held up after viewing many of these self proclaimed weirdos! I often think directors who set out with the (highly subjective) "strange" in mind begin with a few askew concepts or scenes or characters and try to link them into a story but this doesn't really make for a good film, maybe a good short film, but- with rare exception- not a great feature length idea. If you are going to claim your film is weird think about your reasons for doing so! And those reasons better have some good narrative purpose! And then there is twentysomething. Twentysomething...usually these films are well made but the content of the films deal with an age group that is lost at best and there are very few truths that seem to emerge from this floundering demographic other than existential boredom! And who wants to watch existential boredom? I don't. Maybe other twentysomethings do, but a film tied to a tiny target age group, especially an age group of little disposable income/sometime film goers, leads to a narrow audience from the get go and churning out stereotypical indie flare for an age group that is well versed in this genre can easily lead to more boredom. Broader audience appeal is probably often better in terms of blind submitting a film.

2. If you are fixing things in your film (reshoots, color, sound etc.) it shouldn't matter, your film should be good enough despite these technical inadequacies. Quite a number of screeners I've watched have had blaring apologies or intertitles explaining that "the color is to be fixed here" or "sound clean up here." I know that a lot of these are technical markers for the filmmakers, a way to signify that work is still to be done prior to the final product, but these interruptions bum me out...if the film is enagaging enough it should withstand a few technical flaws, right? If, as a director, you find it so distracting that the sound is slightly off maybe you should be thinking harder about why you are making a film in the first place? Is it for technical bravado? Or to say something, show something, that has not been said before in a voice you want to hear speak? I know it is slightly unfair being that these are rough screeners but these apologies are jarring and whirl me out of the film and, if the film isn't so strong to begin with, makes me worry that the filmmaker thinks a few tech tweaks alone will fix the problems...

3. Why are you making this film? This is not a rhetorical question. I always assume that this is the first question a filmmaker asks when they embark on the long, arduous, expensive process of making a film....but, after watching these screeners, I realize that this is not always the case. The films I tend towards are ones that have a clear answer to this question; docs with socially progressive ideas or moving action, narratives exploring a type of character that is usually silent, horror movies that exist purely to evoke a reaction of fear or excitement or terror. Why make a meandering film about feelings...? Why make a film simply to showcase your acting abilities...? A pretty picture? Nice. But why? I mean these are valid reasons to make a film but the first thing any filmmaker should really consider is what it is they want to do or say through their film and why it should be done in this (complicated, all encompassing) format. Independent cinema exists for voices, stories and ideas to be heard beyond the Hollywood spectrum and if you are willing to possibly max out a few credit cards or build a town in your yard for the sake of a film, it might be best to know what it is you are looking to impart to your audience beforehand. I honestly recommend that a great filmmaking practice is to get into the habit of asking yourself this question, not only will it make your film stronger, make it feel like there is a sense of purpose, it will also allow for you to more strongly convey to others (including investors, distributors and other industry insiders) what, and why, you are laboring over this thing.

4. Jokes are friends and read more books! Funny is a thing lacking in independent cinema. So many films I've previewed in recent days seem to rely solely on seriousness, casting a somber shadow over the screen with maybe the occassional blip of irony...but sometimes humor can be just as biting and true as tears! Two of my favorite writers, Kurt Vonnegut & George Saunders, use the truthfulness in ruthless humor to expose the horrors of reality. At best indie filmmakers seem to look towards (a hard to replicate) Wes Anderson dead pan or the (obnoxious) Apatow for comedic guidance but this makes for a dry and derivitive sense of humor that isn't really interesting to anyone. It's ok to laugh! And it's ok to laugh at what you personally find funny! Without laughter how else are we going to get through the rest of whatever this thing is....? And, lastly, filmmakers: you got to read more books. Books have paved the way long before cinema in terms of conveying ideas to an audience, even if you are making super obscure experimental films there is probably a writing precedent that can teach you a thing or two about telling the thing you are telling. Films encompass so many types of media- sound, image, acting, music, etc.- but the driving reason for making a fiction narrative feature or documentary is a story you are trying to put into the world. A camera can help you articulate but the words need to be defined. So, go to a library! It is totally free! I swear!

Now that the accessibility of filmmaking has reached an all-time high it's time to start honing skills to make the level of production, meaning and the general level of cinematic joy come through every little film that decides to get made! I hope this post finds all you young indie filmmakers well, I encourage everyone to be creative but a mindful creativity is something we should all ask from eachother! Make your film and make it good!

Listen to Me I'm On the Stereo!

So I have the flu. The big scary flu that the media is scaring us about. Either way...so, as I have been hinting about over here in the blogosphere, I am going to have a radio extension of this here blog! With interviews, cultural reports and, most of all, music! I finish training next week at WOOL FM, the local community radio station in Bellows Falls, Vermont and will be able to tell you all soon about when to listen each week for my normal time slot! The station is streamable and I am also going to set up a service to make the shows downloadable if possible...but for now: movies, orange juice, vitamins, and hot & sour Chinese food soup! More soon folks (including a post on Django Unchained!!!)!

Canadian Film or How I Stopped Hating On Canada

Well...I will admit it, I am kind of wary of Canada. I have had some pretty lousy Canadian experiences in my day including, but not limited to, getting my car windows smashed in on a relatively busy street, being accosted by a self proclaimed "freak" on the street complete with giant (presumably) pet rat dangling form his shoulder, having my car destroyed by border inspectors, and attending a film festival that did not have a film projector (no joke!)...so when I went to Mass MoCA recently and came across an exhibit titled Oh, Canada, featuring contemporary artists hailing from the region, a pang of terror came over me...But then, as I wandered around the exquisite exhibit, I was reminded of the main thing I do like about Canada: arts funding.

Canada is one of those magical lands where the government supports artists living within it leading to the creation of such legends as VICE (whose founders rumoredly, under the guise of starting a zine, applied for a grant just so they could afford heroin which since has resulted in not only a magazine but a giant, successful, sometimes progressive, cultural, media entity), the Ottowa International Animation Festival (a haven for all things in cutting edge animation), TIFF (still haven't been to the festival proper but I know they have good taste!), and, most importantly, The National Film Board of Canada (providing funding for all kinds of filmic pursuits, a lot of which is available to watch in their online archive!). I know a lot of (especially North American) people who think that government supported artists can lead to a glut of do-nothings, to groups of kids whose worries are free from normal restraints regarding livelihood and whose work ethic isn't of the strongest kind (Berlin much?). Yet a side to the federally supported art culture that I had never thought about and that is clearly evident in this exhibit is innovation. Without the need for strictly commercialized, sell-able art, ideas can be bigger, louder, chances can be taken in a way that I see little of in the North American artistic terrain...especially in terms of film.

The film installations in the Oh Canada exhibit were nearly all incredible, with many fine examples of integrating film into a gallery/sculptural/installation setting- a thing that I think is becoming super prevalent in the underground/art scene as a direct answer to the Hollywood multisensory/3d/4d spectacular. There was also an amazing mix of crafty installations and digital technology bringing together a nice nod to the means of production and a perfect confrontation to the sleekness of modern design- nice one Canadians! There were films housed inside of sweetly felted tents with snow covered floors (pictured below), others were animations screened on multiple flat screen monitors inside of a miniature mountain/studio/house landscape, another on pristine screens placed inside the windows of elaborately staged sets (pic at top) of drunken white men and confused Natives reminiscent of a Natural History Museum exhibit gone awry (or, possibly, closer to the truth of history?), there was even a film projected onto sheets hung inside of a geodesic dome creating a hard line structure of obfuscation between the viewer and the daintily projected images behind them, yet another a stark video of an eagle looping on the mouth of an oil drum (pictured above).

Video artists have been trying to integrate film and installation for a long while it seems and for me it always has fallen short- even the vaseline drippings of Matthew Barney seemed juvenile and slapdash in my opinion. But each of the installation/video art pieces, even if I wasn't keen on the videos content exactly, showed a giant step in the artistry of installation, using film as a medium within other media and truly melding the art form into a new level. Even though the exhibit was dotted with tons of film/art originality the two pieces that I most enjoyed, whose intensity was so great, so transformative were ones presented in your standard black box screening room and another so out there I don't know if it even counts as film?

So the film that might not be a film was by Daniel Barrow. When you walked into this one dimly lit white walled room you saw a projection of a wavering scene on the wall. There was slight movement to the images as curtains wafted in the breeze and an ocean rippled in this odd bedroom scene that felt like a Hitchcock-ian matte painting for a Barbie playhouse titled The Mirror Thief (partly pictures directly above)...but I didn't immediately connect what was on the wall with the out of place industrial metal shelves, some kind of light sources and fan that were present in the room. The projections were all being made from overhead projectors- a household box fan, and a pan of water (responsible for the rippling waves!) added to create the layered, moving images seen on the wall! Incredible! So homemade and vintage but so intriguing and forward thinking- love it! The rest of the artist's work is pretty gruesome meets tongue & cheek, blending a nostalgia, humor and biting edge that is truly indicative of a generation of misspent youth knocking on the door of adulthood.

Then there was my favorite piece in the show presented in your normal black box of a room, stepping behind a dark curtain, feeling your way to a seat, a blasting overwhelming intensely building rock soundtrack (by Canadian rock gods GodspeedYou!BlackEmperor none the less!) taking over your senses to focus on the images in front of you. And the images! O my goodness! A haggard Ronald McDonald figure sits in a car as it slowly fills with water, glitter, refuse, mylar balloons floating to the roof in the slow pan around the outside of the car to make this beautifully tense atmosphere of decay (like that scene in Zabriskie Point only much more subtle and global in it's sad destruction). The camera slowly builds a darkened mood, the soundtrack loud and pulsing, the beleaguered clown figure inside the car smoking a cigarette in accepting denial of his doom, the camera moves around the car's bumper to reveal the sticker "We came here to destroy you." One of the best contemporary sociopolitical statements made in such a moving yet engaging way- this piece is of the kind that makes you remember why we make art, of what we can do and say with it, of why it is so important. AMAZING. The film, titled Chrysalides Empereur (film stills from internet seen here!), is (if my research is correct) part of a trilogy by the artist, Patrick Bernatchez, and I am now dieing to see the rest! This is the single best piece of film art I have seen in ages! Go Canada!

Okay, so maybe I will change my stance on Canada being that this exhibit was proof positive that Canadians are doing something far greater than hockey (& personally pissing me off) and truly pushing the boundaries of contemporary art and what it is capable of doing, saying, and showing!