State of the Arts Category Archive: Film

"The Road" is worth the trip

Posted at 11:07 AM on November 24, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film

Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee in "The Road" (Image courtesy Dimension Films

There are weeks when the movie theaters seem filled with visions of a post-apocalyptic world, the likes of "Zombieland" and "2012." But few pack the punch of John Hillcoat's "The Road."

The blogosphere has been full of questions as to whether he could capture Cormac McCarthy's Pulitzer Prize-winning tale of a father and young son's determined march through a ravaged America. The simple answer is he has done a remarkable job.

The story is set several years after the world has been devastated by earthquake and climate change.

With animal life pretty much wiped out, and farming impossible, the remaining humans are left to scavenge for ever-dwindling supplies of food. Some have turned to cannibalism. This is truly the Hobbesian world, where life is nasty brutish and short.

The unnamed Man (Viggo Mortensen) and Boy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) live in constant fear as they push a supermarket trolley loaded with their possessions across the country. They are headed for the ocean, believing that if they get there life will be better.

Yet they are always prepared for the worst. The Man carries a pistol with two bullets, which he has told the Boy are meant first and foremost for taking their own lives should the need arise.

Travelling the road they talk about right and wrong, bolstering each other to survive, and to live as 'good guys,' a code which gives them a glimmer of hope in a hopeless world.

Mortensen and Smit-McPhee are both dead-on in their portrayals. Mortensen carries himself with the look of someone who has to dig to the bottom of his soul each day to go on, but will not give up because of his son. On the other hand Smit-McPhee's open earnestness, which occasionally slips to reveal the youngster still surviving inside is gripping to watch.

"Are we still the good guys?" asks the Boy after they survive a violent confrontation with marauders.

"And always will be, no matter what happens," replies the Man.

As the story progresses, the important subtleties of their relationship emerge. The Man provides protection and wisdom for the Boy. Yet it is the Boy who provides the pair their real strength, demanding that they live up to their ideals even in the face of bleak reality.

Along the way they meet others who test their humanity. They have to dodge terrifying groups of armed men and women who have crossed the line into murder for food.

Mainly there are just loners scrabbling to get by themselves. Michael K Williams, the fearsome Omar Little of "The Wire" appears as a thief. And there is Eli, an elderly invalid, they pass one day. The Man wants to ignore him, but the Boy insists they share some food.

As they eat the Man asks Eli (Robert Duvall) "Did you ever wish you would die?"

"It is foolish to wish for luxuries in times like these" he replies.

Ultimately "The Road" is about hope, and how little you need to keep going.

It can be argued that Hillcoat's "The Road" is slightly less bleak than the McCarthy novel, although it is by a very small measure. And opening as it does the day before Thanksgiving it will no doubt make many of us realize just how much we have for which to be grateful.

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Sadness, terror, and hope in "Precious"

Posted at 4:15 PM on November 20, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

I have never seen people flinching in a press screening of a movie until this week, when a group gathered to watch Lee Daniels "Precious."

It's probably a good sign that even today in the age of 3D gorefests cinema has not lost its ability to shock with an all-too-real story.

The tale of Claireece "Precious" Jones is brutal. She's a 350lb teenager pregnant with her second child by her now absent father. She lives at the beck and call of her monstrous mother Mary. She sees Precious as a servant, and simply a way to squeeze extra money out of the welfare office. When verbal abuse doesn't produce the results Mary wants, she turns to violence.

Precious escapes into herself, sitting at the back of her classroom she dreams of being a celebrity, dressed to the nines and dancing with handsome young men. She goes there too when the blows fall about her head.

All might seem lost, but Precious catches a glimmer of hope when she transfers to a special school dedicated to getting at risk youngsters their GED. But can she make it through without her mother dragging her back into her old life?

Gabourey Sidibe (right) is simply astonishing in the title role.

She shows how tough Precious can be, displaying her determination mixed with a vulnerability which can set her back as quickly as push her forward. For a first time screen actor to carry this film is remarkable. To portray this character and turn in her into a symbol of hope is even more so.

She get a great deal of help from Mo'Nique who gives a nuanced performance as Mary, eventually explaining how she became the depraved individual she is. Mariah Carey and Lenny Kravitz both shed their musical personas to portray a social worker and a nurse who try to help Precious. Don't be surprised if you hear these names again come awards season.

Precious is not an easy film, but if it provokes discussion of the abuses which are sadly all too common through out all strata of society then it will have done a service. And if it convinces even one person that there is hope that is even better.

You can watch the trailer here.

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Plowing new ground: the sequel to 'King Corn'

Posted at 6:16 PM on November 17, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

A couple of years ago Curt Ellis (left) and his friend Ian Cheney decided to teach themselves about agriculture by planting, growing, harvesting, and selling an acre of corn in Iowa. They filmed it all of course and released a documentary about the experience called "King Corn."

The neophyte farmers travelled the country with their movie which explored the impact of subsidies on US farms, and on food choices for American consumers.

Now they are back with a sequel. Curt Ellis admits that's a little unusual in the documentary game.

"I think that's probably for good reason," he laughs.

Yet they have done it all the same.

"I guess from the minute we finished 'King Corn' we had a realization we hadn't told the full story. 'King Corn' is really the food story of one acre of Iowa farmland, and we spent a year growing one acre of corn and following our harvest off the farm. But by the end of the year, having learned our harvest was going to become high fructose corn syrup and corn-fed confinement-raised meat, we realized there was something else at least as valuable as the corn we had grown, and that was the land we had tended and the way we had tended it."

Ellis and Cheney went back to Iowa and explored the ecological impact they'd had on their acre of soil, through the way they had plowed it and applied various chemical herbicides and fertilizers.

"We really only spent two hours over the course of the year actually farming," he says. "And most of that time was spent spraying things, injecting anhydrous ammonia, or spraying a cocktail of herbicides on our field of corn that had been genetically modified to make it withstand a direct spray. So there was clearly a chemical process as much as a biological process going on. "

Ellis and Cheney followed the run-off from their land through the watershed and into the Mississippi. They also talked to various experts about the health impact of modern farming methods.

"The goal of the "Big River" film was to create a follow-up to "King Corn" that would introduce people to these consequences that are hidden behind our everyday meals," Ellis says. He talks about the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the flow of fertilizers in the run-off from Midwestern farms, and about reports of cancer clusters in some farm communities.

Ellis will bring both films to a screening at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis on Wednesday. Several local organizations are sponsoring the show, which will include a panel discussion of some of the issues raised.

He says at other similar events there have been a number of farmers in the audience and there has been a great discussion. He expects that to be the case in Minneapolis too.

"It's not always friendly," he says. "But I've been pretty amazed by how friendly it is. Both "King Corn" and "Big River" are pretty moderate films. We are not taking a finger-wagging approach to these problems. You know we are really all in this together. The reality is our food system is in trouble right now, and the only people who can fix that are all of us coming together."

"Big River" is just 30 minutes long and Ellis hopes it will have use as an educational tool in schools and for environmental advocacy groups.

Ian Cheney and Curt Ellis look to the future in "Big River" (Image courtesy WickedDelicate Films)

Ellis laughs when asked if there will be a King Corn III, but then mentions the next big project will be called "Truck Farm" which is about how the two film makers took the rust 1986 Dodge pick-up truck which appeared in "King Corn" and put a roof on it so they could grow vegetables. In time they turned it into a community supported agriculture subscription farm serving 20 people. This maybe the only farm which can actually drive around town.

"It started just because Ian and I moved to Brooklyn after we finished our film projects and we wanted to grow food, but we didn't have any land, so we turned to the only open space we knew of which was the bed of the old pick-up truck."

You can see episodes from the project at WickedDelicate films. Ellis sees it as a fun way to spur discussions of the very real problem of so-called 'food deserts,' areas in cities where healthy food is hard to find.

"We had a neighborhood kid who kept eating the parsley down to a stump," Ellis says. "So that was our only pest problem."

The hour-long version of "Truck Farm" will probably premier next spring. They are also working on a film about light pollution from urban areas.

You can hear our conversation here: Listen

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An audience with the Boondock Saints

Posted at 2:33 PM on November 12, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People, Video

It was a strange night at the Mall of America last evening. "Twilight Saga:New Moon" fans filled the rotunda for the appearance by Edi Gathegi and Jamie Campbell Bower. Meanwhile upstairs in the movie theater a wondrous collection of pumped-up Boondock Saints fans were howling at the arrival of director Troy Duffy and star Sean Patrick Flanery (pictured above.)

Duffy and Flanery came to introduce "Boondock Saints 2: All Saints Day," and to grow the legend of one of the stranger film stories in recent years.

In case you missed it, here's the thumbnail: in the late 1990's Troy Duffy became a Hollywood hot property because of his "Boondock" script. The story of a pair of gun-toting Irish vigilantes blasting Boston baddies seemed ideal for studios eager to build on the success of "Pulp Fiction." He got a huge advance from Miramax, a budget for his film which he was also to direct.

Then things went south real fast.

Duffy alienated Miramax with his behavior, and the studio pulled out. He also had agreed to let some friends make a film of his experience in the Hollywood limelight, and when things went bad it got captured on film. The resulting documentary "Overnight" portrayed Duffy as an egomaniacal bully. Duffy made his film on half the budget he's had from Miramax, but then found in post-Columbine days no distribution company would touch a movie about a pair of black coat clad guys shooting people. The film opened briefly on a handful of screens, got ripped by critics, and that appeared to be that.

However as Duffy and Flanery told the MOA crowd, that's when the Boondock fanbase began kicking in. As the film appeared in video stores it began to attract fans who made sure their friends all saw it. Then they in turn turned on their friends. Official estimates say about $50 million worth of discs have sold over the years since. Duffy and Flanery toss around much larger numbers than that.

Now after a decade, and lawsuits, and a lot of other strange stuff the Boondock Saints are back, and judging by the reception the movie got from the Minnesota crowd it's not a moment too soon.

The Troy Duffy who appeared in the movie theater was not a monster. In fact, while he does delight in the use of expletives, he was thoughtful, and even charming in a blunt kind of way. Flanery was also clearly having a ball, and described making Boondock 2 as the best experience he ever had making a film, with Boondock 1 being the second.

"It was like they gave a bunch of blue collar dudes the keys to Hollywood," he proclaimed at one point.

After the q and a and a signing where the Boondocks posed for dozens of pictures, they sat down with me for a long chat. We'll air some of it tomorrow evening.

As they left, I mentioned the Twilight Saga folks were there too.

"So who would win in a fight?" I had to ask. "The Boondock Saints or the vampires and the werewolves?"

Sean Patrick Flanery smiled back and said, "I could take five of them myself."

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Jason Reitman on film, family, and Diablo Cody

Posted at 3:42 PM on November 10, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film

Jason Reitman says as the son of "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman he felt uncomfortable about following his father's footsteps into the film business.

"Right when I got to college I started getting nervous that I shouldn't be a director," he said today during a visit to the MPR studios.

"I was well aware about the presumptions about the children of famous people, that if you are the son of a famous film director, most likely you are a spoiled brat, you have no talent, and more than likely you have an alcohol or drug problem. And I thought why go into a career where these are the presumptions going in? Best case scenario I live in my father's shadow. Worst case scenario I fail on a very public level."

So he went to college as a pre-med student.

Then his father stepped in.

"He's the first Jewish dad in the history of Jewish dads to tell their son 'Don't be a doctor. Be a film maker,'" Reitman smiled.

It turned out Ivan Reitman was following in his own father's footsteps who had advised him against sinking money into a submarine sandwich shop he was considering.

"There's not enough magic in it for you," Jason Reitman says quoting his grandfather. Ivan Reitman, who was a music major who ran a film club, began developing his interest in movies and eventually became a hugely successful director. He told Jason that he would be immensely proud of him if he did decide to be a physician.

"But," says Jason, now quoting his father,"'There's not enough magic in it for you. You have to follow your heart. You have to be a storyteller.'"

Three days later Jason Reitman was out of his pre-med classes in New York, and talking his way into English classes at USC in Los Angeles. He made short films, and in time was able to parlay that into feature films.

First there was "Thank you for smoking," which was funded by David Sacks, one of the guys who had just sold PayPal to eBay, and had some money to invest in a film as a result.

"I've been accused my entire life of having a career that undoubtedly came from nepotism," Reitman laughs. "And nepotism didn't deliver. It was supposed to bring me a career and it didn't work! Come on nepotism! It ended up being an internet millionaire from San Francisco who started my career."

Then came his meeting with Diablo Cody.

"I remember being very intimidated to meet her. She's covered in tattoos, and she's kind of hyper-cool. And I'm the last thing from that," he said. "I just kind of fell in love with her because she is just so funny and so direct. Her ability to come up with clever dialog in the moment was unmatched by anyone I've ever met."

That meeting resulted in "Juno," and a shower of Oscars.

Now Reitman is publicizing "Up in the Air," a dark comedy about a man who makes his living travelling the country firing people, starring George Clooney. It's based on a Walter Kirn novel

When asked about his apparent attraction to writers with Minnesota ties he responded "I really should live here. I don't know why have been avoiding this so long. I seem to be a natural. Maybe it's because I'm Canadian."

In all seriousness though he says he learned a lot about the trauma many people are going through as a result of the losing their jobs.

"Of the 27 people fired in "Up in the Air," 22 of them are real people who actually just lost their jobs. They are not actors," Reitman says. The film makers recruited the people through a newspaper ad, and then had them come in to be interviewed and then fired again on camera.

It's a tough sequence to watch. Reitman says he had assumed that the worst thing about being fired was the loss of income.

"But it wasn't that. It was actually a loss of purpose. The question they would ask was 'I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Where am I supposed to go after this interview? I get in my car but I don't have anywhere I'm supposed to be."

The film doesn't fit easily into categories. It's funny in parts, and quite dark in others.

On that note, it's intriguing to take a look at the two trailers for the film available one line. The first one focuses much more on the tougher edge of "Up in the Air."

The second, which is in theaters at present is much lighter, although you can still see the edge.

"Up in the Air" opens in the Twin Cities on December 4th. We'll air the interview closer to that time.

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When the term 'Revolutionary Cinema' really meant something

Posted at 7:30 PM on November 8, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

Walker Art Center film curator Sheryl Mousley recalls what she had to do when she travelled to China in 2001hoping to see some of the underground social issue documentary films she'd heard were being made at the time.

She made some contacts and was told "This is totally illegal to show these films in China. But if you show up at this bar at noon, anybody who MIGHT want to show you something MIGHT be there."

Mousley says she was there at noon, and found a VCR set up. Over the next few hours, a stream of people turned up to show her their films. She brought some of the tapes back and screened them at the Walker.

Her interest in Chinese film has resulted in the latest Walker Film event "The People's Republic of Cinema" which celebrates the 60 years of movie-making in mainland China since the Revolution in 1949.

Mousley says she hopes the event will offer a chance for people to learn a little more about China through the stories it has told about itself.

"The very first one, made in 1949 tells us of the coming revolution," she says of 'Crows and Sparrows.' The early films capture the stylized look of socialist realism. Later films from the Cultural Revolution have a starker appearance.

"Then the reaction to that by the next generation of making films, but still working within the government system, making films that were classic rural films of still challenging the system, but in a revolutionary way," Mousley says. "And then the next generation comes along and it's urban and gritty and making films about what they are seeing now."

The images are remarkably recognizable, but Mousley says that's perhaps not surprising when we think of how much of US history has come to be thought of in terms of cinematic scenes.

"Going back to the Civil War, we would probably show 'Gone with the Wind' and it would be that great image of Tara, and then we would show 'Bonnie and Clyde' in the thirties. We have all these iconic images of our own history through the cinema as well and so that is what we know."

Some of the films in "The People's Republic of China" are well known here, but some have never been screened in the US before. In fact some of them haven't been shown much even in China.

"So we are seeing a China that not even Chinese people always see," says Mousley. "So it's a very interesting mix of information."

She says repeat attendees will be able to follow the evolution of Chinese cinema. She saw it herself. When she went back to China just four years later in 2005 to do an artist-in-residence program and she asked to see some work in advance. She was expecting trouble again, but that time round the film makers told her they would just post them to her web site.

The People's Republic of Cinema runs through November 23rd in association with the University of Minnesota. Some of the films will screen at the Walker and others at the Bell Auditorium at the U.

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Meet a man who had a man who stares at goats stare at him

Posted at 6:18 PM on November 5, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film

George Clooney (left) and Jeff Bridges star in the new film adaptation of Jon Ronson's book "The Men Who Stare at Goats." (Image courtesy Overture Films)

Jon Ronson says initially it didn't occur to anyone that there was an irony in hiring Star Wars star Ewan McGregor to play a role in "The Men Who Stare at Goats."

The movie is based on Ronson's non-fictional account of efforts within the US military to train soldiers to develop paranormal powers and become what the military called Jedi warriors.

"Nobody had sussed it out," Ronson said to me during a phone interview today. "Only after Ewan had been offered the role did he mention it. Total coincidence. May God strike me down if I am lying," he laughed, and then quickly admitted he doesn't believe in God.

It's just one of the many strange things about Ronson's story. He is a writer and documentary maker who began his explorations into the psychic soldiers shortly after 9/11 when he ran into the infamous silverware bender Uri Geller who had long claimed to be a psychic spy.

When Ronson asked him about it, Geller would only say a) that he had been 're-activated' and b) he would deny making his first statement if Ronson told anyone.

This set Ronson off on a series of adventures meeting some of the people who had tried to do such things as pass through walls, make clouds disperse, make people forget about what they were thinking (especially if that thought was about killing you,) and yes, trying to kill goats, and possibly people, by staring at them.

Ronson knows people will be skeptical about the story. "My own skepticism is utterly intact," he says. "I firmly believe that all the things I say happened in the book did happen, but what I don't believe for a second was that any of this paranormal stuff actually worked."

Such was his confidence in this he actually submitted to being a subject by one of the 'goat-starers.' The man said he would enter Ronson's mind and make him so fearful that when he touched him Ronson would fly across the room.

"And indeed that's what he did," Ronson says.

However on reviewing the videotape he had made of the interaction Ronson saw something different happening. He described the soldier in question as 'an enormous Special Forces martial arts trainer.' he describes himself as being quite small. On the tape he saw that the soldier actually hit him quite hard and it wasn't surprising he flew through the air.

"It was an interesting lesson in a kind of pragmatic application of paranormal techniques, which was basically freak somebody out and they will be debilitated and you'll be able to have your way with them," he says.

The movie based on Ronson's book opens with a declaration "More of this is true than you would believe." The film takes Ronson's true tales of paranormal experimentation and builds a fictional story of a mildly hapless journalist Bob Wilton (McGregor) who stumbles across the remnants of a disbanded supersecret psychic soldier group, including Lyn Casady (George Clooney) who takes him into Iraq. Along the way Casady relates the history of the First Earth Battalion and its founder Bill Django (Jeff Bridges.) Things don't go terribly well, all in all.

Ronson says he was advised by his friend Nick Hornby that he should just relax and not worry about the whole film making process. He decided to just enjoy the adventure.

"I think they have made a really nice film," he said. "It's a very sweet, funny warm film that I think people will engage with. Even though my book is quite dark, the film is light. And I think that is fine."

"Because I am such a sceptic, I don't believe for a second that people could actually have these paranormal powers, " he continued. "But I loved that the movie toyed with it: that you don't really know at the beginning of the movie whether its going to change into a kind of X-Men and these people will have these amazing powers and they kind of toy with that possibility in a very funny engaging way."

The movie opens this weekend across the country, and anyone eager for a brush with stardom can meet one of the goats used in the film at the Mall of America this evening. Word is you can try to 'drop the goat' yourself if you are so inclined.

But Jon Ronson isn't holding his breath.

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Birth of a star is just one the reasons to see "An Education"

Posted at 11:28 AM on October 30, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

In "An Education" Carey Mulligan plays a girl who longs for a life of sophistication, and then has second thoughts when she gets it. (Images courtesy Sony Pictures Classics)

Carey Mulligan stars as Jenny, a bright teenager who, in the London of 1961, is tantalized by the world just beyond her grasp.

She is immersed in taking classes to prepare her for the Oxford entrance exams, but still finds time to lie on the floor of her bedroom listening to Juliette Greco, and dreaming of a sophisticated life far from her overbearing father (played with perfect pomposity by Alfred Molina.)

Her dreams apparently come true one day when she meets David (Peter Sarsgaard), a man almost twice her age. He takes her to concerts after having charmed her parents, and introduces her to nightclubs, and a life of excitement which Jenny finds increasingly hard to leave to return to her studies.

Of course David is too good to be true, leaving Jenny with some difficult decisions. Her education in the university of life is both eye=-opening and chastening.

Director Lone Scherfig uses the Nick Hornby script, and a cast which also includes Dominic Cooper, Emma Thompson, and Sally Hawkins to great effect.

While the world of the film may be inhabited by sultry songstresses like Juliette Greco, it is also the Britain which was still recovering from the horrors and hardships of World War II, mixed with the growing realization that the Empire was gone, and the pressure of post-colonial responsibilities are growing. Scherfig gives Jenny glimpses of that new reality, and maybe even some 21st century viewers too.

It is however Mulligan who shines, taking her character from a state of naive self-confidence, through a series of switches and false starts to that of a wiser, worldly young woman. This is Mulligan's first starring role, but will surely not be her last.

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Where the Wild Things Are - closer than we think

Posted at 4:41 PM on October 16, 2009 by Euan Kerr (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Storytelling

Early on in Spike Jonze's film adaptation of "Where the Wild Things Are" comes a moment many kids - and all parents - will recognize.

Max in his wolfsuit (All images courtesy Warner Brothers)

Max, the young man at the center of Maurice Sendaks classic tale, gets into a snowball fight with a group of older kids. Everyone is having fun, and Max's excitement mounts to the point of mania. Then it all ends, and the shrieks of laughter turn onto howls of anger and frustration.

In seconds Max experiences the switch between the joy and powerlessness of being a kid We've all been there and it's an agony which remains with many through adulthood. In that moment Jonze captures us all.

Max is a lonely young fellow. His older sister is paying him less attention as she enters teenhood. His stressed mother is trying to keep earning a living, and even find a replacement for Max's father who is painfully absent. When Max wears his wolfsuit and throws a tantrum with the new boyfriend in the next room, something has to give. He runs away, and after a stormy sailboat ride ends up with the Wild Things.

Jonze took on a huge challenge when he signed up to do "Wild Things." He's working with what amounts to being a sacred text to many people young and old. He also faced the task of taking Maurice Sendak's handful of pages and creating a cohesive motion picture lasting an hour and a half.

Mercifully he has not only succeeded, he has added new layers to the storyline which elevate the Sendak original. The Wild Things who barely speak in the picture book emerge as fully formed characters with their own strengths and foibles. Most of the time they are low-key doofusses, who take just a little too much pleasure in petty bickering.

Many adult viewers will no doubt be reminded of some recent moment where people were behaving in much the same way.

The Wild Things are naive enough to believe Max when he tells them of his magical abilities and experience as a king, so they quickly decide to set aside their original plan to eat him, and instead give him a crown. Max sees he can use their formidable strength to fulfill some of his own dreams, including building the ultimate fort. It's only later that it dawns on him that a beast which can tear a tree out by its roots could pose quite a threat to him if he's not careful.

Spike Jonze knows it's a lesson everyone needs to learn at some point.

The film is gorgeous in the way it echoes Sendak's drawings. Max Records who plays his namesake is brilliantly believable in the wolfsuit, as are the voices behind the Wild Things including James Gandolfini, Chris Cooper, Catherine O'Hara, Lauren Ambrose, Paul Dano and Forest Whitaker.

This is a film people will be watching in years to come.

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Wizards and witches vs vampires and werewolves: who wins?

Posted at 1:36 PM on October 15, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Writing

Okay, the comparative literature geek in me thinks this is just brilliant. This month the Hennepin County Library is hosting two "literary smackdowns" in which teams of teenagers will debate and defend their favorite fantasy series/publishing & film phenoms -- Harry Potter or Twilight. The audiences will pick the winning team. And of course, teens are encouraged to wear costumes supporting their favorite characters. The public debates take place on October 20 at Central Library and October 27 at Ridgedale Library in Minnetonka.

Either way, Robert Pattinson wins, doesn't he?

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Zombies expected for International Summit

Posted at 12:53 PM on October 6, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Rick Vaicius, who runs the film program at the Lake Pepin Art and Design Center, admits that some people think his programming can sometimes be too serious. So the organizer of the Flyway Film Festival decided to do something about that.

He's inviting zombies from all over the world to attend the International Zombie Summit in Stockholm, Wis., on October 24.

He says it all got started when his wife and sister went to see "Dead Snow" at the Sundance Festival. It's the Norwegian film about a community whose zombie problems take a really nasty twist when it turns out they're are being besieged by Nazi zombies left over from World War II. Vaicius says his wife said afterward it would never show in Lake Pepin, and he said don't be so sure.

He had recently met Pericles Lewnes, the brains behind Troma Films' "Redneck Zombies" (tagline: "They're Tobacco Chewin', Gut Chompin', Cannibal Kinfolk from Hell!"), and together they decided to put together a day of zombie films and panels as part of this year's Flyway Festival.

"We live in interesting and peculiar times, and there is some thought that the type of times that we are living in now is the reason why zombie films have become so popular," Vaicius says.

He says that people seem to feel some affinity with the struggle represented in zombie films.

"I will say that a fair number of the zombie films that are out there now do have lots of very interesting political undertones," Vaicius says. "And in particular "Pontypool," which is another of the films which we will be screening at the weekend, where there is a virus that causes the people in the community to turn into zombies. Although Bruce MacDonald the film maker resists calling them zombies and calls them conversationalists, but the virus is the English language. And I think that is very pointed in its political nature."

Vaicius points out a lot of early zombie films in the '30s were French and Italian, but then the genre took hold in the U.S. during the McCarthy era.

"And then of course we have the late '60s, where George A. Romero's "Dawn of the Dead" came out in 1968, another interesting cultural and political time in our country," he says.

Intriguingly many of the films being shown at the summit are from outside the U.S. "Dead Snow" is of course Norwegian, "Pontypool" is Canadian, and "Colin," a breakout at Cannes this year, was made in Wales.

"That is another really interesting take on the genre, because that's a film that is actually told from the perspective of the zombie," Vaicius says, while also pointing out it was reportedly made for just $70.

The summit is attracting attention from all over. The Facebook page for the event has attracted fans from as far away as the Ukraine and the UK.

So how many people will turn up?

"To be quite honest I have no idea," he laughs. "And our venue is small, so if we have 500 people show up in Stockholm, Wis., 350 of them are probably going to be disappointed, because our venue has 150 seats."

He says he doesn't anticipate they will have a problem as he's assuming people traveling from further away will order tickets online. He's also hoping people will stick around for the other films in the Flyway Film Festival

There will be what amounts to zombie royalty at the event, in addition to Lewnes as host there will be Ed Bishop, his production partner in Redneck Zombies. Justin Johnson of "Zombie Girl" is anticipated, as is Jeffrey Coghlan the producer of "Pontypool." The panel will also include Gary King, who was born in Rochester Minn., and is showing his film "New York Lately," in the full festival, but has been hired to direct a zombie film and so will add a different perspective.

And of course Rick Vaicius is excited about the fans who come down for the event

"What will be really fun is to see if people turn up in zombie make-up. I think it will be really fun to have Stockholm Wi, the tiny village of Stockholm Wi be overrun by zombie movie fans in zombie make-up."

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"Strange Victory" challenges expectations

Posted at 2:54 PM on October 2, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Photography, Printmaking, Sculpture

Photograph by Matthew Bakkom

Artist Matthew Bakkom isn't one to lay it all out for his public.

"We're a really highly educated audience now," he said in conversation earlier this week at Chambers Hotel in Minneapolis, "and we don't suffer lightly being told what to think."

Chambers' Burnet Gallery is presenting an installation Bakkom designed specifically for the space. It mixes together pieces from previous his bodies of work, along with new material, to create a setting that's both elegant and unsettling. The installation is called "Strange Victory."

Photograph by Matthew Bakkom

The inspiration for the installation comes in part from a 1961 surreal French film called "Last Year at Marianbad," but you wouldn't necessarily pick that up from walking through the room. The biggest clue comes from a panel on which is written a summary of the film's plot.

Bakkom says he thinks there's a constant tension at play between an artist, the artist's audience, and each of their own expectations about what art should be. Bakkom says he's a follower of DuChamp in that he believes he only does half the work when he creates a piece of art - it's up to the viewer to do the rest.

The room is dotted with images of a baroque chair, a slide of an old painting, and hand gestures. They're each quite suggestive, but suggestive of what? Curator Jennifer Phelps says of Bakkom's work:

I am drawn to work that is composed of various levels... that does not reveal itself to the viewer at first glance. Work that twists and surprises me. I feel Matthew's show does all of this for me. I want to spend time in the gallery trying to absorb his stories and the stories that are generated within me by his artwork. I also find his images quite serene, though they involve a scanner and gestures and information that can not be clearly deciphered.

Photograph by Matthew Bakkom

Bakkom says he has many ideas, trains of thought, and sources of inspiration that go into his work, but ultimately that background information shouldn't be necessary for the viewer to enjoy the work. What is necessary is an open mind, and a willingness to explore some foreign terrain. The story you come up with will be all your own.

"Strange Victory" will be on display at the Burnet Gallery through November 8th - the opening reception is tonight from 6-9pm.

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Sound Unseen launches tonight

Posted at 9:50 AM on September 29, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Music

The best in the world of music on film blossoms on Twin Cities movie screens tonight with the opening of the 2009 Sound Unseen Festival.

There is a huge spread of material, ranging from the opening show, the world premiere of "R.E.M. This is not a Show" at the Cedar Cultural Center tonight at 7pm, to "Died Young, Stayed Pretty" at the Walker about music posters, to "In Search of Beethoven" at the Oak Street.

There are also a host of special events including live performances by The New Standards and Tortoise amongst others.

You can find details about times, locations and all the other goodies at the Sound Unseen site

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The places, people, and language of the Coens

Posted at 9:03 AM on September 26, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

At the beginning of "Fargo," a story of kidnapping, murder, and an infamous incident with a woodchipper, a title splashed across the screen claims it is a true story. Many people still believe it.

"I'm surprised that lasted so long," Joel Coen said at the Walker Art Center last night.

However Ethan Coen went on to say the claim of truth was very important for their main purpose - to tell a good story. He said if audiences believe a story is true, it gives them as film makers much more latitude .

"They (the audience) allow you to do things they won't let you do if they think you made it up," he said.

This was just one of the many insights the Coen Brothers provided during almost two and a half hours in conversation with broadcaster and film critic Elvis Mitchell at the Walker. The event was the 50th Regis Dialog at the Walker, and the central event of "Raising Cain," a month long retrospective celebrating the 25th anniversary of the release of the Coen Brothers first feature "Blood Simple."

A great deal of the conversation focused on the Coens attention to the specificity of a story. Their scripts often grow out of a sense of place, such as the West Texas of "Blood Simple" and the Minnesota of "Fargo." In fact Joel Coen said the "Fargo" story grew out of wanting to tell a story about Minnesota in winter. That desire for specificity has also led to them doing what might be described as period pieces, set in the recent past.

Ethan Coen said setting a movie in the present is like an off switch to them as writers, because it makes a story more generic for an audience. Joel Coen followed up by saying one of the pleasures of film making is creating a world, and none of their movies are exercises in naturalism.

Elvis Mitchell's questions and choice of film clips drew some surprises from the Coens. They laughed out loud at some of the scenes, saying they hadn't seen some of the work since completing the film in question. Ethan Coen particularly enjoyed a sight gag from "The Big Lebowski" where Jeff Bridges in the title role gets a shock when he discovers what has just been drawn on a notepad.

They also talked about the challenges of writers block, admitting that they were stuck for months on how to proceed with the "Fargo" script after a scene where one of the characters has sex with an escort. Ethan says they would switch on the computer every morning to see the same somewhat lurid line, and couldn't find a way to go forward.

A similar block in writing "Millers Crossing" led to them setting the movie aside and they wrote most of "Barton Fink" before breaking the block on the "Miller" script.

Joel Coen also said "It took us a while to realize we were writing "The Odyssey," while they were scripting "O Brother Where Art Thou?"

Ethan continued saying they had been writing what he described as a 'three-dopes-chained-together' script and it was only later it came to them that their plot line was echoing the classical tale.

The conversation returned repeatedly to the brothers voluminous reading habits and the works of great writers.

Joel Coen said when they think of storytelling its often in terms of the depth of a novel rather than the simplified plots of movies. While they write, they have to pare out a lot more, but they can find that specificity of story they always seek.

There were also clearly surprises for the Coens themselves during the evening, particularly when Elvis Mitchell posed to them that all their films, with the exception of "A Serious Man" are basically chase movies.

The brothers didn't exactly endorse the idea, but it prompted Joel to quote his son who once asked "Is this going to be another one of your depressing movies where everyone dies in the end?"

There were no clips from "A Serious Man," which will be released in theaters next week. However the Coens talked about seeking to recreate an environment that they render from their own experience. They said though that while they grew up in the 1960s in St Louis Park as the children of two academics, and the central character is a physics prof in the same time and place, that is as autobiographical as the new film gets.

They talked about getting their first Super 8 camera in their early teens and making films inspired by things they experienced. There was their three minute remake of "The Naked Prey" which they did the day after seeing the Cornel Wilde vehicle on TV. They remade the political drama "Advise and Consent" again just a few minutes long, and complicated by the fact it was silent.

They also created original stories including "Henry Kissinger:Man on the Go" with Ethan in the title role, which they shot around the terminals of the Minneapolis St Paul International Airport, which Ethan Coen pointed out would be impossible today.

"It was about shuttle diplomacy in between the flights," Joel Coen deadpanned.

There was also "Lumberjacks of the North" which produced the comment "We had flannel shirts. You use what you have," from Ethan.

Returning to "The Naked Prey," Joel described how they used a parallel shooting technique where they did all the scenes in sequence. It meant they had to keep moving back and forth between two different locations. "The big advantage was when you got it back from the drugstore the movie was finished," he said to laughter from the audience.

The Coens talked a great deal about how they read a lot as children, and how they see many of their films as being in the style of certain writers. The acknowledged the echoes of Isaac Bashevis Singer in "A Serious Man" and after Mitchell brought him up Philip Roth.

They talked about the challenges of capturing the St Louis Park of their youth for "A Serious Man." The suburban architecture is still there, but there are now a lot more trees. They ended up shooting in as many treeless spots as they could, actually removing a few real trees in some cases, but also using a lot of special effects techniques to paint out the trees in other scenes.

Next up for the Coens/ They said it looks as though they will be doing an adaptation of the Charles Portis novel "True Grit."

"Raising Cain" continues at the Walker through October 17th.

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The Coens come home

Posted at 11:22 PM on September 25, 2009 by Euan Kerr (2 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

Joel and Ethan Coen on the set of "A Serious Man" (Image courtesy of Walker Art Center)

Oscar-winning Twin Cities natives Joel and Ethan Coen spent almost two and a half hours with Elvis Mitchell and a sold-out theater at the Walker this evening, talking about films, film-making, and where they find inspiration.

It was a fascinating and at times surprising conversation, not least for the Coens themselves. A number of times during the evening they considered the interpretations of their work which Mitchell posed to them, and more often than not they came away agreeing.

The one that seemed to give them biggest pause was his contention all their films have been at their heart chase movies, barring the latest one, "A Serious Man." Ultimately they didn't argue very hard on that one.

More details tomorrow when I have had time to decipher my notes.

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Arthounds: Norwegians, poems, and early women plays

Posted at 8:54 AM on September 24, 2009 by Euan Kerr (1 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Fashion, Film, Music

So what are the Art Hounds recommending this week?

Veteran Twin Cities actor Joey Metzger gives the thumbs up to Theater Unbound's "Aphra's Attic: Plays by Early Women Playwrights."

Poet Juliet Peterson is recommending the upcoming reading by Kate Greenstreet and Norma Cole who bring their cutting edge poetry to Micawbers Books in Minneapolis on Tuesday evening. It's part of the Rain Taxi Reading series.

Composer and educator Randall Davidson says we should take to opportunity to check out the Oslo Chamber Choir, a world-renowned Norwegian vocal ensemble touring Minnesota this week..

Also worth checking out: The Pearl Fishers at the Minnesota Opera, and the special events with designer Zandra Rhodes tonight, and tomorrow.

The 1968 Project: The Minnesota Historical Society presents all 24 films made for its national competition to capture the spirit of 1968. There is a free screening from 1 to 4pm at the History Center in St Paul. Then at 5 pm the final awards ceremony will present the winners who will share $10,000 in prize money. Both events are free.

And check out The Global Roots Festival at the Cedar Cultural Center, starting tonight and running all weekend. The Cedar is bringing in world-class bands from all over the globe, as well as some local stars, for a weekend of incredible music.

Don't forget the 2009 Sound Unseen music film festival gets rolling on Tuesday with the world premiere of the new REM film "R.E.M.: This is not a show"

Oh, and we need more Art Hounds! Sign up here.

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Take the Movie Natters Poll: which movie will you see this weekend?

Posted at 7:28 PM on September 22, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Thomas Turgoose considers his options in the Movie Natters Poll while on the set of "Somers Town" (Image courtesy Film Movement, photo:Dean Rogers )

There's not quite as much choice as in some recent weeks, but still there's a lot at which to look.

There's the new Bruce Willis sci-fi on having your own personal robot, "Surrogates" Shane Weathers take on modern teenhood in London in "Somers Town", a French film on how impending mortality can change your perspective, "Paris," Charlize Theron and Kim Bassinger work a script about adultery from the writer of "Babel" and "21 Grams," in "The Burning Plain," the director of "Notes on a Scandal" also takes on adultery in "The Other Man," and finally, a monsters in space frightener, "Pandorum."

And if you are moved to give us some reasons behind your pick, please comment below.

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The lingering lure of "Into Temptation"

Posted at 11:19 AM on September 22, 2009 by Euan Kerr (3 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People, Religion

Minneapolis film maker Patrick Coyle says he doesn't know what it is, but "Into Temptation," the small budget film he wrote, directed, and acted in, seems to have grown legs. The film's run at the Lagoon Theater in Minneapolis has just been extended again.

"I had to use all my powers of persuasion to get one week," he says. "And it's turned into five and going strong."

The film follows a young Minneapolis priest as he tried to find a young woman who comes into the confessional to ask for absolution for a sin she has yet to commit. She says she is going to kill herself on her birthday, but then runs out of the church before he can identify her.

The film has now screened in Minneapolis, New York, Los Angeles, and Coyle's hometown of Omaha. He says the film seems to hook people, and not only do they encourage their friends to see it, they appear to be coming back to see it again.

"The gratifying thing is it's not just Catholics," Coyle says. "It's kind of cross-demographic. Age and gender and religion. So I don't know. It's really fun. That's all I know for sure, it's really fun," he laughs.

"I do think that people are hungry for a story that resonates truthfully with people you care about, that speak in complete sentences."

The big numbers in Minneapolis and Omaha have apparently attracted the attention of First Look the film's distributors, and the Landmark chain, so plans are already underway for runs in other cities, including Duluth and Fargo.

"We don't have national release, but we are going city by city, and we are trying to get to as many cities before the DVD comes out."

Coyle describes it as a race against time, because that release date is October 27th. It's been a busy time for Coyle because even as he is pushing his film, he also plays Lou Grant in the Torch Theater production of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," which has also become a hit.

Coyle was speaking to me from Omaha where he is scheduled to introduce the film tonight. "Into Temptation" smashed the Dundee theater's box office record over the weekend.

"They grossed more Friday, Saturday and Sunday at "Into Temptation" than they ever had at this theater and it's been open since the Depression," Coyle says. He admits his family publicity machine has probably helped, but now word of mouth has taken over.

Coyle admits he is mystified as to what the secret is behind the films success.

"One day I might understand it, but I don't now. People see it, they love it and they are telling people about it."

Which makes it a challenge to recreate for his next project. But Coyle is happy that this success improves the chances that will happen.

"I love film making, and think this is definitely going to get me to my next project, and that makes me very happy," he says.

The run at the Lagoon is now scheduled to end on October 1st, but Coyle says he is looking into screenings at other theaters in the Twin Cities.

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Michael Moore comes to town

Posted at 12:07 PM on September 19, 2009 by Euan Kerr (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

Michael Moore was distressed that the journalists lined up to interview him hadn't seen the film he was in Minneapolis to promote Friday night.

The original plan was everyone would see the film "Capitalism: a love story" and then he would do interviews.

The plan got changed when someone realized he wouldn't make the last plane out to get him back home to Michigan. He thanked everyone for being flexible, and said the set up allowed would allow him to sleep in his own bed for the first time in three weeks.

Moore says he began making "Capitalism" six months before the economic crash, because it seemed obvious to him that something bad was on the way. His film examines the causes and effects of what happened from an unabashedly leftist viewpoint.

We meet people who have lost their homes to foreclosure, pilots who are so poorly paid they have to augment their income with food stamps, and hear Moore's analysis that the worst may be still to come. He's particularly concerned about the mountain of credit card debt out there and the crippling healthcare costs hanging over the heads of many working families.

Occasionally as we talked Moore looked tired, and he admitted the past few years have taken a toll. He has to travel with a couple of security guys because he has been so vilified on talk radio and other right-leaning media he fears for his safety.

"They have created a fictional character called Michael Moore and they lie about him," he told the crowd at the Lagoon Theater during a q and a after the film.

However he says he hopes his film will encourage people to take action. He jokes that he's assuming theaters will be stocking up on pitchforks and torches to replace Twizzlers and Goobers at the concession stands.

Back at the interview room Moore was still concerned that the journos were missing the film. As each interview finished he looked at his watch and said, "OK this is what has happened so far," and then caught every one up. He may be wanting to hand out pitchforks, but Michael Moore is very much a film maker at heart.

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The Imaginarium of Terry Gilliam

Posted at 1:36 PM on September 15, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

I think my belief that "every story has a Minnesota connection" was cemented the day I learned (many years ago now) that Terry Gilliam is a Minnesotan. The Monty Python alum and epic film-maker ("Brazil" is one of my personal all-time faves, but I also love "12 Monkeys" and "Time Bandits") was born in Medicine Lake, Minnesota. He moved to California with his family at the age of twelve.

Something about Terry Gilliam's overwrought and baroque imagery emerging from the belly of "Minnesota Nice" seems wholly incongruous to me, but also wonderfully appropriate. It takes a truly fertile field to give rise to such a creative crop!

Gilliam's latest movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" may be his most epic in vision yet. Mysterious Doctor Parnassus runs a travelling show and is able to guide people's imaginations. He makes a bet with the devil not once, not twice, but three times, and his luck appears to be running out.

Over the course of the film we travel through centuries and universes and the infinitely imaginative landscape of Terry Gilliam's mind. But the movie returns again and again to the backdrop of modern-day London.

The film stars Christopher Plummer as Doctor Parnassus and Tom Waits as "Mr. Nick" (the devil). Due to the untimely death of actor Heath Ledger, his character is alternately played by himself, Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law.

You can see Terry Gilliam talking about his creative vision for "Imaginarium" here.

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" opens mid October in England, but an exact release date in the U.S. has yet to be set.

FYI, in 2006 Terry Gilliam renounced his U.S. citizenship (he's quoted as saying it was a political act, but he's also admitted it has tax benefits), so his visits here are limited to no more than 30 days each year.

Odd thought: it seems like a very balanced trade that England should get Terry Gilliam while the American midwest gets Neil Gaiman.

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Interesting reading: a glowing early review of the Coen Bros "A Serious Man"

Posted at 9:56 PM on September 12, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

The crowds at the Toronto International Film Festival have just seen "A Serious Man" set and shot in the Twin Cities. Cinematical has this early glowing review.

It describes the film as the culmination of the Coen brothers 25 years of film making:

It grabs the magic of local flavor and charm we saw in "Fargo" with a cast widely filled with unknown names (that pack as much of a cinematic punch as any star-studded roster you can think of), to the rapidly escalating drama of "Burn After Reading." A Serious Man is cohesive and slick from stem to stern.

The film opens in Minneapolis, New York and Los Angeles on October 2nd.

And just in case you haven't seen it, here is the trailer for the film.

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The Oak Street rides again

Posted at 11:57 AM on September 11, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

The phones keep ringing, but Minnesota Film Arts Program Coordinator Ryan Oestreich looks relaxed and ready as he contemplates the series of events which mean he not only has a theater, but also funding to run it.

While MFA's Minneapolis St Paul's International Film Festival keeps rolling along, the organization's Oak Street Cinema on the U of M campus has been on the verge of closure for years it seems.

But in one of those curious twists of economic fate, things now look better than they have for a while. The proposal to buy the Oak Street and all the other buildings on the block to make way for student housing has been put on hold for the moment.

Oestreich says he knows times are tough, but it's working out for the Oak Street at least in the short term.

"We have been pushed off for at least another year so with a year, we said, 'OK, we had a very successful festival. We had really good showings at the Oak Street of theatrical exhibits from the festival and other films. So we said, let's just take a little bit of a pause and work on a fall program."

The State Arts Board is also helping out with an institutional support grant which is funding the fall season. Oestreich says it's not a complete reprieve, but he aims to make the most of it

"We don't quite know when the Oak Street will be sold, but in the meantime we are going to program it whether it be obscure titles, big titles or foreign titles, the best we can do."

And Oestreich wants to push the envelope a little. "We can take risks," he says with a smile.

The fall season opens tonight with Canadian director Kari Skogland's "Fifty Dead Men Walking" a political thriller set against the Troubles in Ireland in the late 1980s starring Ben Kingsley and Jim Sturgess.

The following week the Oak will present John W. Walter's documentary "Theater of War" about the Tony Kushner production of Berthold Brecht's "Mother Courage and her Children" at New York's The Public Theater. The film follows Meryl Streep in the lead role aided by Kevin Kline. (It's probably a little different from when they worked together on the A Prairie Home Companion movie.)

Oestreich is excited about his program, but gets even more animated when he moves onto what is a blast from the past. As a student himself in years past Oestreich used to come to the Oak for late night fright nights. Those screenings fell by the way, but now he's bringing them back with a twist.

"Something I wanted to bring back was horror films but in particular, let's do some international stuff so some foreign horror films that never get played in theaters."

The screenings will start on Thursday 17th, with the 9.30 shows on Thursday through Saturday set aside for scary stuff. It starts with the British grave-robbing film "I Sell the Dead" starring Dominic Monaghan, best known as Merry Brandybuck in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy. Then there's a Canadian take on zombies with Bruce MacDonald's film "Pontypool" and then a Norwegian film "Dead Snow" which moves into the area of Nazi zombies.

The Oak is then moving into a two week "French Crime Wave" series of French noir films, in early October. Titles include "Bob Le Flambeur" ("Bob the Gambler," 1955, Jean-Pierre Melville); "Le Cercle Rouge"("The Red Circle", 1970, Jean-Pierre Melville); "Classe Tous Risque" ("The Big Risk", 1966, Claude Sautet); "Le Doulos" ( The Finger Man", 1963, Jean-Pierre Melville); "Pepe Le Moko" (1937, Julien Duvivier); "Touchez Pas Au Grisbi" ("Don't Touch the Loot", 1954, Jacques Becker).

There will also be a music week in late October featuring films about classical and world music subjects. And every Wednesday will be experimental film night, where a program of rarely seen films will screen.

One of the interesting challenges this year will be the opening of the new TCF Bank Stadium which Oestreich has been watching grow through his office window.

It's going to bring huge crowds down to the Stadium Village area six times a year on Gopher game days. The facility could be a mixed blessing for the Oak. The theater will be sending out e-mails warning patrons to plan ahead on certain Saturdays. Oestreich says they will encourage film goers to come early, use public transportation, or carpool, and at the very least give a little extra time.

Of course having thousands of alums walk by your front door can't hurt, especially for an organizations which has struggled to fill it house sometimes in recent years.

Oestreich says that the MFA's long-time leader Al Milgrom knows where there are 16 mm films of the old games at Memorial Stadium, and they considered showing them for fans on game days, but eventually decided to hold off as it may interfere with regular customers. traffic.

Oestreich admits they are going to just see how things go. He hopes they can keep the programming go through the spring. And of course in the new year things get busy with preparations for the film festival

"I don't see anything slowing down in the film festival word. Probably another 150 titles to come up for April," he says with a smile.

Yes, against all odds, it's going to be a busy year at Minnesota Film Arts.

You can listen to our conversation here: Listen

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The Coen brothers, The Big Lebowski and Dudeism

Posted at 3:19 PM on September 10, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Film, Religion

I'm feeling a little immersed in the Coen brothers at the moment. Anticipation abounds for their latest film "A Serious Man," which is set in their home town of St. Louis Park and features some great local actors, including Ari Hoptman and Claudia Wilkins. The film opens on October 2.

But if that seems like forever-and-a-day away, not to worry - in the weeks leading up to the premiere, the Walker Art Center is hosting a Coen brothers retrospective, called "Raising Cain." That begins September 18th.

This weekend, fans of the Coen brothers' movie "The Big Lebowski" are dressing up as their favorite characters and heading out to "Lebowski Fest." Friday night features a movie party at First Avenue, while Saturday night is all about bowling at Memory Lanes.

But wait, there's more! Tomorrow I'll be filling in on Midmorning, and at 10am I'll be interviewing the author of "The Dude Abides," an exploration of religious and moral themes in the Coen brothers' canon. Author Cathleen Falsani is an ordained priest of "Dudeism" (as well as the religion columnist for the Chicago Sun Times).

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Films for food: A new movement in moving pictures

Posted at 10:10 AM on September 8, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Image detail from the poster for the film "Food Fight"

We love our food. Especially when it's larger than life (dare I say, "Supersized?"). Some of our (ok, my) favorite films include such delectable delights as "Babette's Feast," "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman" and "Chocolat." And of course, foodies everywhere are now extolling the virtues of "Julie & Julia."

But there's a new trend emerging in food films, and it has less to do with a beautiful plate than it does with land rights, the environment, and battling obesity. Tomorrow night and the following Wednesday night, Gardening Matters and Midtown Farmers' Market are cohosting a two-part movie series at the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis. The Midtown Farmer's Market website explains the impetus for the event:

Our current food system has had an impact on more than just our personal health. Environmental pollution, sharply attenuated bio-diversity, the ruination of rural economies, and the concentration of wealth and power into the hands of a few are all consequences of the way our food system has been reshaped in order to deliver the cheap and abundant calories upon which Americans have come to rely.

Against the tide, there has been a burgeoning movement to reclaim control over our food supply. Central to that movement have been friends, neighbors, and whole communities that have invested in commonly shared spaces to grow vegetable gardens, create opportunities for urban agricultural enterprise, and establish community farmers markets. In short, many Americans are now looking for innovative models to stimulate the growth of small-scale agriculture while coloring in some of the nation's food deserts with fresher, healthier food.

Tomorrow night the film series begins with "The Garden," in which a group of community gardeners in south central Los Angeles fight to keep the 14 acre piece of land on which they farm.

Next Wednesday the series concludes with "Food Fight," a look at the agricultural industry's methods of providing food at a profit, and how that affects the quality of what Americans are eating.

In addition to the two films in the series, there's also Food, Inc which is already showing at the Riverview. For those people who still haven't had enough of Michael Pollan, this fall the film "Nourish" is expected to get an airing on PBS.

By the way, MPR's Euan Kerr is the local expert on all things cinema, and has some related stories worth checking out. He reported on the recent screening of the movie "Fresh," a movie about the threat industrialized food production poses to food safety and community health. And he interviewed one of the movie's stars, Will Allen, when he came to town. In addition, Kerr has also taken a look at the hard-to-watch documentary "The Cove" which captures an annual dolphin slaughter in Japan (done primarily for the meat) on tragic detail.

Seeing all this promotion for activist films makes me wonder - how affective are movies in changing people's minds? How likely is it that the people the film producers want to reach - need to reach in order to fulfill their agenda - will actually buy a ticket? And if film is not the right medium for the message, what is?

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Duluth gets a new Zinema

Posted at 4:34 PM on September 7, 2009 by Euan Kerr (3 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Walk into the new Zinema 2 on downtown Duluth's Superior and you can't escape the huge mural splashed across the back wall, and stretching down into the basement. It's the work of Rory Skagen and Blue Genie Art Industries of Austin Tx.

It's just one of the little touches (or in the case of the mural big touches) brought in by Tim Massett, looking a little pensive at right.

He moved to Duluth a year ago to prepare and program Duluth's brand spanking new art house cinemas which are now enjoying what Massett calls their 'soft' opening.

There are two theaters. One seats 98, the other 66. Massett says the idea actually came from the Zeppa Family Foundation's Alan Zeppa.

The facility will also include a restaurant and a theater. Massett credits Zeppa with a vision to bring back some life to the rundown side of Superior Street

"And his interest in putting together some place where you can have something to great eat and also experience a good play, because there is a blackbox theater also on the first floor, or descend the staircase into the cinemas."

Massett says people trying to revitalize an area often see a theater as an important element.

"You are bringing 100, 150 people there a couple of times a night on the weekends hopefully and there's just more of a population circulating in the evening," he says.

Putting on his programming hat Massett says the new theaters will fill an important niche in Duluth. Like many smaller cities, Duluth suffers from a lack of screens, and as a result many interesting independent films never get shown in town.

"I think if there were more screens at the multiplex maybe they would allow for smaller specialty films," Massett says. "But the case is they have 10 screens and four of them will play the same movie."

Massett will play a mixture of first run indies, with a sprinkling of film classics. He's opening with Duncan Jones' "Moon," "The Hurt Locker" and the Bill Pohlad-produced "Food Inc."

He will also feature the work of visiting film makers. For the official grand opening, likely in late October or early November, Massett's bringing in animator Brent Green.

"He travels with a group of musicians and performs the voiceover live, the Foley work live and the music live," Massett says.

A tour of the Zinema 2 doesn't take long, but it's impressive. Massett leads the way into the huge projection boxes that look more like locker rooms than the traditional cramped dank spaces tucked away at the back of the theater

"This is the biggest booth I've ever been in," Massett says. "Usually they are closets."

The booths are set up to play a host of different formats from regular theater prints, through archive material and video.

There is a concessions stand, complete with liquor license just outside the two theaters which sparkle with the crackling newness of their red and blue seating.

Massett who also runs "The Talkies" series in the Twin Cities says he's confident the theaters will be a success, although he says he is going on instinct more than anything else. He's been meeting with great enthusiasm as he talks to people in the community and some 600 people have signed up as fans on the Zinema's Facebook page. However he admits he has no hard evidence as to the demand for the Zinema fare.

Yet with a facility like the Zinema 2 he is definitely off to a stellar start.

You can hear our conversation here:

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Character actor returns home

Posted at 1:53 PM on August 21, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

Image courtesy of imdb.com

He's the Chinese good guy - or bad guy - in about every Hollywood film made in the past 60 years. From "The New Adventures of Charlie Chan" in the 1950s (he was Barry Chan, "Number One Son") to Kung Fu Panda (as the voice of Mr. Ping).

Inbetween, he's graced the sets of "Dragnet," "Zorro," "Bonanza," "Wagon Train," "Perry Mason," "The Fugitive," "I Dream of Jeannie," "I Spy," "Mission Impossible," "Kung Fu," "Hawaii Five-O," "The Rockford Files," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," "Starsky and Hutch," "Bionic Woman," "Wonder Woman," "Charlie's Angels," "Lou Grant," "Taxi," "Different Strokes," "Fantasy Island," "Chinatown," "The Two Jakes," "Bladerunner" ...in total, imdb.com has him down for 341 different roles in television and film. Impressive, no?

It turns out James Hong was born in Minneapolis and was part of Central High School's Class of 1947. Hong will be returning for a class reunion (billed as the "Everyone is 80 (or almost) Celebration!") on Wednesday, September 9. So the question is, will his classmates recognize him? Or will they say "I swear I know you but I can't place a name with the face..."

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If you only see one South African sci-fi movie this year......

Posted at 6:00 PM on August 14, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley) is an unlikely hero for our time. He's a slightly dim bureaucrat who is assigned the job of clearing the aliens from a shanty town just outside Johannesburg, and frankly he blows it.

Part of the problem is he's got the job through nepotism. His father in law is a high government official. The other thing is the aliens are from outer space, and Wikus, and the entire human race are over in over their heads.

Writer/director Neill Blomkamp has deftly created a film which provides the thrills and special effects which sci-fi fans crave. Yet it also delivers a parable about tolerance and the importance of looking at what lies beneath the surface (in this case quite literally.) Seen against the legacy of apartheid, Blomkamp's film carried even more power.

This is a director to watch in the future.

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When life is a musical

Posted at 8:31 AM on August 12, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, Film, Music, Public Art, Theater

(500 Days of Summer/Fox Searchlight Pictures)

What if people did break into song and dance when they were really happy? Or sad? Or angry?

"500 Days of Summer" is the most recent film to use a sudden song and dance number to convey the unbridled joy of one of its main characters.

Such scenes do more than express a heightened feeling; they also give us a sense that we're all connected. Suddenly we're all singing the same song and moving to the same beat. We belong to something bigger than ourselves, and we know exactly what we're supposed to do. That sounds pretty reassuring to me.

So what if like was really like that? Well, it would probably look something like this:

The above is courtesy of Improv Everywhere, a group based in New York City whose mission is "to create chaos and joy in public places." Other spontaneous events include large crowds boarding a subway with no pants on, and throwing a wedding reception for a random couple just married at city hall. You can watch the art gallery opening they hosted on a subway platform here.

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'Africa's Denzel Washington' to visit the Twin Cities on Sunday

Posted at 2:14 PM on August 11, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Events, Film, People

The name Van Vicker might not set your pulse racing, but apparently in Ghana, indeed in Africa, Van is the man. Now the Twin Cities Black Film Festival is bringing him the the Twin Cities for the local premier of his new film "Raj the Dancer."

Van Vicker (Image courtesy VanVickerLive.com)

Van Vicker (he has dropped his first name Joseph) is a 32 year old star of the up-and-coming Ghanaian movie industry. He has made 50 movies, usually playing the romantic lead. You can get a sense of how his fans feel by visiting his web site.

"He's the Denzel Washington of Africa," says the TCBFF's Natalie Morrow, shortly after admitting she hadn't heard of him until recently either. This is Vicker's second trip to the Twin Cities. He was here two years ago to promote his movie "American Boy." Apparently fans spotted him shortly after he arrived at the airport.

"He was pretty much mobbed," said Morrow. "He's a good actor - and he's a good-looking actor. I think that's what's the draw." She says his fan base is overwhelmingly female, but not just African. She says his visits to the US have earned him fans from all over.

Morrow says she has been dealing with Vicker personally as they organize the screening. "He's such a nice guy," she said.

The screening of "Raj the Dancer" will be at 7pm at the Earl Brown Community Center in Brooklyn Center on Sunday evening. There will then be a meet and greet at the Blue Nile restaurant on Franklin Avenue in Minneapolis from 10 until 2 am.

The Van Vicker event is just a warm up for the TCBFF, which is set for September 18th-20th. The event will open with a special showing of "The Wiz," the Michael Jackson Diana Ross reworking of "The Wizard of Oz."

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More on Movie Pablum

Posted at 10:35 AM on August 10, 2009 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Earlier today I mentioned A.O. Scott's article in the New York Times about the prevalence of pablum on movie screens this summer. Scott blames the movie industry for retreating to guaranteed formulas to get butts in seats. Thus the sudden abundance of movies based on kids toys and stories.

The article pairs quite nicely with Roger Ebert's latest blog post, "The Gathering Dark Age." Ebert posits the lack of compelling cinema is also the result of an ignorant audience:

If I mention the cliché "the dumbing-down of America," it's only because there's no way around it. And this dumbing-down seems more pronounced among younger Americans. It has nothing to do with higher educational or income levels. It proceeds from a lack of curiosity and, in many cases, a criminally useless system of primary and secondary education. Until a few decades ago, almost all high school graduates could read a daily newspaper. The issue today is not whether they read a daily paper, but whether they can.

This trend coincides with the growing effectiveness of advertising and marketing campaigns to impose box office success on heavily-promoted GCI blockbusters, which are themselves often promotions for video games. No checks and balances prevail. The mass media is the bitch of marketing. Almost every single second of television coverage of the movies is devoted to thinly-veiled promotion. Movie stars who appear as guests on talk shows and cable news are almost always there because they have a new movie coming out. Smart-ass satirical commentary, in long-traditional in places like Mad magazine and SNL, is drowned out by celebrity hype.

What do you think of the selection of movies available these days? If you find it lacking, who do you blame? What, if anything, can be done to change the quality and selection of movies in major theater houses across America?

I'm all ears (and eyes).

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Food and love at the movies this weekend

Posted at 6:17 PM on August 7, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

There are a lot of films about food and love opening locally this weekend - although it may surprise you which movie is on which subject.

For example "Julie and Julia" is about love, pure and simple. It's impossible to avoid the subject of food when talking about Julia Child who is magically portrayed by Meryl Streep. Yet the film's stories, for there are two, are each about loving couples working through difficult times.

Streep and Stanley Tucci as Paul Child light up the screen with a love affair fanned by the excitement of being two Americans living in Paris. The luminous days of the Childs in France light up the story of Julie Powell (Amy Adams) who tries to escape the despair she feels in post- 9/11 New York by attempting to cook all of recipes in Child's book on French cooking in one year.

Writer and director Nora Ephron faces her own challenges twining these two tales together, but has created a tale which while showing that life isn't easy, having a goal and a good attitude can take you a long way.

"Paper Heart" (above) is all about love, of course, although there are some moments when Charlyne Yi and Michael Cera dine together which really make you wonder about modern courting rituals.

Deep down "The Cove" and "The End of the Line" are about food. In "The Cove" Louis Psihoyos has made a engaging thriller about the relationship between humans and dolphins. The discussion of the film has centered on the slaughter of dolphins at a small village in Japan, but the movie is really part of a much larger debate over what different societies consider vital to preserve their food supply.

"The End of the Line," Rupert (Unknown White Male) Murray's troubling documentary about the impact of overfishing explores the subject at great length. At one point a researcher in the film points out that most people would be horrified to learn of humans killing endangered land animals, however there is little outcry when equally endanger sea creatures are caught and served at high end restaurants. It's a thought-provoking film.

Here is Kenneth Turan's review of "Julie and Julia"

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Urbanscreen creates art out of ordinary buildings

Posted at 10:35 AM on August 7, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Architecture, Dance, Film, Public Art, Technology

JUMP | media facade | urban screening from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

I just discovered the work of Urbanscreen, a group of German video installation artists, and I'm hooked. As you'll see in the piece above, Urbanscreen manages to combine movement, architecture, film and public art into something wholly engaging and fantastic.

Below is a piece titled "How would it be, if a house was dreaming?" which projects an incredibly convincing 3D video onto the building, creating what appears to be a living, breathing structure. The sounds of the bricks sliding in and out of place really just puts it over the top. Enjoy!

555 KUBIK | facade projection | from urbanscreen on Vimeo.

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'80s film icon John Hughes dies

Posted at 9:10 PM on August 6, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, People

"The Breakfast Club." "Sixteen Candles." "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Writer and director John Hughes was known best for creating films that connected with young people and defined popular culture in the 1980s.

Hughes' reputation faded in the 1990s and he remained a private figure, penning many scripts under the name 'Edmond Dantès.' He assisted most recently on the scripts for "Drillbit Taylor," "Beethoven's 5th" and "Maid in Manhattan."

According to the Associated Press, Hughes died of a heart attack while on a walk this morning in Manhattan. He was 59.

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Bill Pohlad names his new movie distribution company

Posted at 3:04 PM on August 6, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

It's called "Apparition."

Pohlad (co-owner of the Minnesota Twins) and his partner, movie producer Bob Berney, created the company several months ago, but only recently came up with its name.

Apparition will buy movies and distribute them to cinemas. According to the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal, Apparition has established a relationship with Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group. Movies already on the company's distribution list include "The Tree of Life" and "Bright Star."

Pohlad is a movie producer in his own right. His company River Road Entertainment has its name on such notable films as "Brokeback Mountain," "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Into the Wild." RRE will continue to operate independently of Apparition.

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The Tiny Circus is coming to town!

Posted at 3:12 PM on August 5, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Theater

Last summer a group of artists got together in Grinnell, Iowa and created their own miniature travelling circus. Using a rehabbed vintage airstream trailer, the Tiny Circus travels from town to town, creating stop animation films that it calls "alternate histories." Past works include "The History of Smiles," "The History of Ghosts" and "The History of Popcorn."

This weekend the Tiny Circus is coming to St. Paul, to (fittingly) the Minnesota History Center. On Saturday, Tiny Circus' Carlos Ferguson will offer a half-day workshop on how to make your own stop-motion animation. The results of the workshop will be shown on Tuesday, August 11th, following the Minnesota History Center's "Nine Nights of Music" program.

Here's one of their recent works, "The History of Rain."

For more information on the workshop, click here.

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Watching Funny People

Posted at 4:28 PM on July 31, 2009 by Euan Kerr (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Judd Apatow's new movie "Funny People" is funny - at times. It's also pretty darn serious at others, and that's what will make watching the box office figures this weekend quite interesting.

Apatow teams his old friend Seth Rogen with Adam Sandler in an examination of that wondrous breed of human called the comedian. Rogen plays Ira Wright, a not very good young comic, who through a quirk of fate catches the attention of a comedy superstar George Simmons (Sandler.)

George is a little down because he has just learned he has an untreatable blood disease which is probably going to kill him. George realizes he was pretty unhappy even before the bad news. He pays Ira to write him jokes as he goes back to his roots and tries to find himself doing stand-up. Ira gets a mentor and George, who has burned through all his friends, gets a pal he can order around.

There are moments of great hilarity and a hoard of cameos by other comedians and musicians playing themselves, some which are priceless.

But the comedy is overwhelmed by the weight of the drama as the film moves on. And it moves on for a long time, clocking in at almost 2 and a half hours. The laughs are great, but the drama teaches us little about life, death, or comedians which we didn't already know.

Like "Shrink," the movie about a dope-smoking psychiatrist to the stars which also opens this weekend, "Funny People" runs rails travelled by many movies before. However unlike "Shrink" which is saved by strong performances by Kevin Spacey and others in the cast, "Funny People" doesn't have the acting muscle to keep from dragging.

The Apatow name will draw crowds who loved "40 Year Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up." But it will be interesting to see if it suffers the same the fate as "Bruno" which had a great opening night, but then apparently fell foul of the Twitterverse, and saw ticket sales plummet as people posted their 140 character reactions.

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Coen Brother's "A Serious Man" trailer now on-line

Posted at 1:10 PM on July 31, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Film

It's a month and a half till "A Serious Man" opens at the Toronto International Film Festival, and two months till it opens here but you can get a taste of the tale set in St Louis Park through the trailer.

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Arthounds: things to consider

Posted at 12:02 PM on July 30, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Books, Film, Theater

Carolyn Pool and Shanan Wexler rehearse their show "2 Sugars, Room for Cream" for the Minnesota Fringe.(Picture Euan Kerr)

The summer arts scene explodes tonight with the opening of the Minnesota Fringe. Fringe Executive Director Robin Gillette can provide the numbers off the top of her head.

"There are 162 different companies, doing a total of 847 performances," she says.

Other important numbers: 11 days, 22 venues (including one in St Paul!) We'll have a piece on the air later today on ATC.

Also how about some laugh-out-loud cinematic satire? Armando Iannucci's "In the Loop," (not to be confused, as some have, with the fine MPR podcast of the same name,) pokes fun at the political relationship between the US and the UK in the fun-up to an invasion of an un-named Middle Eastern country. The film opened to strong reviews on the coasts last week and now comes to the Twin Cities.

The readings at local bookstores are always of interest to the MPR newsroom, because it allows tremendous access to writers who have interesting things to say. Case in point is next Tuesday evening Common Good Books in Cathedral Hill in St Paul is hosting a reading by retired Macalester professor Mahmoud El-Kati of his new book "The Hiptionary: A Survey of African American Speech Patterns with A Digest of Key Words and Phrases." It's a fascinating work on the origins and usage of words and phrases, backed with history and insight.

Also check out the recommendations of the Art Hounds, as told to Chris Roberts. And remember we are always looking for more Hounds. Want to try?

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Take the Movie Natters Poll: what will you see this weekend?

Posted at 2:05 PM on July 28, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Peter Capaldi and James Gandolfini take a few moments on the set of "In the Loop" to diplomatically discuss their selection in this weeks Movie Natters Poll (Image courtesy IFC Films

This week we have psychiatrists, aliens, politicians, diplomats, animated australian angels, wannabe adult film stars, and the creator of a maze described as "Spanish Inquisition as imagined by Rube Goldberg." After a few weeks of "None of the above" coming out on top, what will it be this week?

To help you make your choice here are some links: "In the Loop," "The Collector," "Humpday," "Funny People" "$9.99," "Aliens in the Attic," "Shrink"

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How to shoot a car (The Egg Timer part 2)

Posted at 5:49 PM on July 23, 2009 by Euan Kerr (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Technology

If you have ever wondered how film makers get those great shots of people driving their cars, take a look at the picture below.

(Click on image for larger version)

It's from Emily Haddad's production blog for "The Egg Timer." Whatever else is going on, Stacia Rice seems to be having fun in the driver's seat.

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Emily Haddad finds out how many people it takes to make a 16 minute film

Posted at 3:17 PM on July 23, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Funding

Emily Haddad is a big fan of IFP Minnesota. After all it did give her the Fresh Film grant last year which allowed her to make "The Egg Timer" which premieres tonight at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis.

The film, which stars local actor Stacia Rice, had a couple of inspirations when Haddad (left) first began writing it five years ago.

"My mother was very sick at the time and I was taking care of her," she said. "Also a story from my grandmother's childhood. It's about guilt and confession."

Haddad tried to produce it a couple of times, but she was never able to gather the resources she needed to tell the story the way she felt it should be told. The she won the grant.

"It was just a wonderful opportunity," she said, not just because of the money, but also because of the way the Twin Cities film community came together to help her. You can read extensive details in the blog she kept over the last year. What is remarkable is the huge number of people who came forward, and were really needed for the production.

"It's a complicated process," she said. "Pre-production, and then the production with the film crew and the director of photography and the actors. Then post-production, people that help edit it and mix the sound track and do graphics and animation."

Haddad counted up all the people mentioned in the credits of the film, which just runs 16 minutes, and came up with over 100 who had helped significantly with the film.

She says it's a shame that there are so few productions being made in Minnesota. "Because we have so many talented people and we need to really to push to allow them to use those talents on more films."

After the screening of "The Egg Timer" tonight at IFP's Fresh Fete, Haddad will enter the film into film festivals around the country. She is hoping not only to get into events around the country but also to screen the film more around Minnesota.

You can hear our conversation, recorded yesterday by clicking on this link" Listen

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Art Hounds: Mixing it up

Posted at 9:17 AM on July 23, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Culture, Events, Film, Museums, Music, Sculpture, Theater

One of the delights of the late summer is that it's time when local arts folks mix it up a little.

Take tonight at IFP Minnesota's Fresh Fete at the Varsity Theater. As the local organization devoted to independent film it will of course be showing films, but blending some chat and a lot of music too. The film comes from local writer director Emily Haddad who won IFP Mn's Fresh Film grant last year and used it to make "Egg Timer" which will premier at 6.30. There will be a conversation between Mystery Science Theater 3000's Bill Corbett and local playwright and screenwriter Jeffrey Hatcher. The evening will be rounded out by local icon Willie Murphy and the Angel Headed Hipsters and pianist John Sims.

If you haven't seen the Walker Art Center's examination of conceptual art "The Quick and the Dead" - or even if you have - it's worth a visit. There are some 90 pieces by 53 artists, some of which are designed to change over time, hence the value in returning. Take for example Claes von Oldenburg's "The Garden" which involved burying 100 objects and then exhuming and displaying one item per day. He didn't specify what the object should be, but the Walker staff chose lemons, and you can see the results in jars in the Center's lower lobby.

After sell out shows last week the Trylon Microcinema returns with another Buster Keaton film "The Navigator." Live accompaniment is supplied by the Dreamland Faces, complete with singing saws.

If you are considering a little road trip this weekend, there is the final weekend of the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winona, and the always whacky Free Range Film Festival in Webster, about half an our south of Duluth. Movie shorts in a barn, how can you miss?

And for the truly dedicated sports fan the Riverview Theater in Minneapolis is presenting live coverage on the big screen of the Tour de France. You can watch the cyclists sweat while sitting in the finest art deco movie house the Twin Cities has to offer. Admission is free, although they are collecting non-perishable goods for local food shelves, or a $2 donation.

And of course there is all the great stuff ferreted out by the Art Hounds Want to be one of them? Sign up!

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Davis Guggenheim and the feathered fish

Posted at 4:50 PM on July 22, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Music, Technology

Film maker Davis Guggenheim says someone in his team told him just before his film "An Inconvenient Truth" went before an audience for the first time that his movie was "a feathered fish."

"What's that?" Guggenheim asked.

"It doesn't swim and it doesn't fly," came the terse response.

"And this is someone who's supposed to like the film," Guggenheim says. Then a studio executive told them no-one would pay to see the film.

Of course it then went to the Sundance Film Festival, became a box office smash, and won the best documentary Oscar.

"And then going with (Al Gore) to get the Nobel Peace Prize, that was pretty cool," he laughs.

Looking back though, he says they made the film in a vacuum, and that was ultimately a good thing. They were convinced that they had an important message to spread, and they were shielded from common wisdom which might have scuppered them.

Guggenheim was in the Twin Cities to talk about his new documentary "It Might Get Loud." It is is built around the meeting of three rock guitar legends: Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, U2's The Edge, and Jack White of the White Stripes.

He says he didn't want to make a traditional rock film, and he has succeeded. He interviewed all three of his subjects separately on their home turf and then put them together on a giant soundset in Hollywood (he say's it's where they filmed "The Perfect Storm") and made them talk to one another.

While nominally about the art and science of the electric guitar, the film delves into what it means to be an artist, and how each of these three musicians developed their own approach to what they do.

And then they jam together. It's a fascinating piece of film as three icons from very different parts of the rock world watch and learn from one other.

The film opens in the Twin Cities in late August. We'll have a piece closer to that time but in the meantime here is the trailer.

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Take the Movie Natters Poll

Posted at 3:45 PM on July 21, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

G-Force members Juarez and Darwin consider their weekend movie options in the Movie Natters Poll (Image courtesy Walt Disney Pictures)

You can't complain about being starved for new choices this weekend: there are tricked-out guinea pigs, French artists, young love (with a lot of music,) a scary new addition to the family, a boor giving relationship advice, and a re-release of an edgy Gallic classic.

For further information" "Betty Blue," "G-Force," "Seraphine," "The Ugly Truth" "(500) days of Summer," "Orphan."
And please feel free to comment on your choice, and why, below!

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Francis Ford Coppola on the need for risk

Posted at 1:56 PM on July 16, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Chasing Francis Ford Coppola down for an interview, even with an appointment can be complicated. We were due to chat about his new film "Tetro" which opens in Minneapolis tomorrow.

After talking to someone in Romania who had various other contact numbers I eventually found him coming out of a meeting which had run long. We talked at length about the film, but also where, after a decades long illustrious career, he sees himself fitting into the film world.

He confessed he feels free to explore his own projects. "Tetro" is largely self-financed he said.

"I've concluded that the great joy is to learn something," he told me. "Whether it be learning about yourself, your own feelings, or whether it be to learn about some interesting field or learn about life or how to behave in situations."

"So for me, I make films to learn, most of all to learn about the cinema which is you know really a young art form , not even, it's a hundred years old, and amazingly there have been a tremendous number of masterpieces made in such a long time, but it still is such a young art and much of the language we use in the cinema was invented in the first 30 years of the silent period, because the film makers were very much encouraged to experiment in those days because no-one knew what film was, and they invented it."

"Now things are much more rigid and financiers don't want experimentation, and it's only out of experimentation that you can learn. You have to risk failure in order to have a big success."

I remember once, years ago when an important man asked me 'How do you make a film like the Godfather that is both a commercial success, and plays all around the country, and is also an artistic success?'

I looked at him and I said 'Risk! You have to risk.' There is no such thing as risk free art."

"Nowadays we are obsessed with the best seller and novels follow formulas and films tend to follow formulas. But to have the big success and also to make a contribution to the film you have to go out into the wilderness without any assurances and use your heart and you knowledge and your skills to do something. That doesn't go well with a business that requires hundreds of millions of dollars to pursue."

We will air parts of the interview tomorrow on "All Things Considered."

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Harry, hormones, and horror add up to a summer winner

Posted at 12:08 PM on July 15, 2009 by Euan Kerr (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

From the first breakneck race through London to the final creepy credit, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is a winner.

While it'll be no surprise that the legions of Potter fans will swamp theaters this week and beyond, what is pleasing about this phenomenon is movie fans will be treated to a fine piece of cinema.

Director David Yates and Director of Photography Bruno Delbonnel have taken Steve Kloves' screenplay of J.K. Rowling's book and created a nigh-perfect blend of drama, horror and humor which stimulates, satisfies, and entertains.

It's the actors who make the Potter films, of course. The three young wizards Harry (Daniel Radcliffe,) Hermione (Emma Watson,) and Ron (Rupert Grint) have grown into their roles and impart not only the trials and tribulations of adolescence and young love, but inject a clearer understanding that with all the fun and games of what they are learning at Hogwarts School, there is a deeply disturbing undercurrent to magic which threatens to overwhelm them, the school, and humanity.

As Harry, Daniel Radcliffe begins to explore the responsibilities of being 'the Chosen One" who will battle the evil Voldemort, and see the similarities between his own life and that of the young man who was to become the Dark Lord. He handles it well.

The central three are backed up by the cream of British theater, and it's truly wonderful to watch the likes of Michael Gambon, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith, and David Thewlis slip in and out of the action, giving an effortless power to the whole production. Indeed there are moments where the film becomes for a Gambon film as Dumbledore sets out to take on the gathering powers of darkness. And the introduction of Jim Broadbent as potions professor Horace Slughorn is simply a delight.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is the shortest two and a half hours that I have spent in the movie theater in some time. With Oscar now offering the new extended list of best film nominees, it will be interesting to see if this film makes the cut.

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The monster in the house

Posted at 3:18 PM on July 7, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Culture, Film

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

When I saw this Slate.com article on the recurring theme of evil adopted children in movies, I just about punched my fist in the air and shouted "finally!" Ever since the trailers for "Orphan" began playing, I've been muttering "again?" under my breath. Evil children are almost as common as zombies in cinemas, and in many ways more unsettling. Jonah Weiner writes:

The plot device of the adoption-gone-wrong plays on a fear that the family will be infiltrated and torn apart by a malevolent outsider it's foolishly welcomed in... In these movies, the eruption of evil often comes hand in hand with the disruption of traditional family order...Time and again in the evil-kiddie canon, it's driven home that Mom and Dad can survive (if not prevent) their child's attack only by sticking together.

While Weiner focuses exclusively on the kiddies, I see the adopted-child-theme as just a subset of a greater genre: the alien in the family. And this genre is not just limited to movies; it goes back to our earliest stories. There's the evil step-mother (Cinderella) and the evil step-father (Hamlet). A new member in a close-knit family presents a threat, and we love to embody that threat with all sorts of awful traits, in order to further justify our loathing.

So do these stories help us, or hurt us? Or are they harmless? Why do we continue to tell them over and over?

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Guthrie hosts National Theatre play -- on video

Posted at 5:50 PM on June 30, 2009 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Theater

Next week the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis is hosting two screenings of the National Theatre's production of "Phèdre," starring actress Helen Mirren. The production will be projected onto a large screen on the Guthrie's McGuire Proscenium Stage.

The screening is an experiment, similar to the broadcast of Metropolitan Opera performances at movie theaters across the country. New York Times writer Christopher Isherwood got to attend a preview of the screening at the Directors Guild of America in Manhattan.

His review? Mixed. There were technical glitches, and the interviews leading up to the performance came across as a bit too didactic. But he also recognized the uniquely theatrical experience of watching a stage actor up close:

Seen on digital video -- in tight focus, if you will -- the intensity of the feeling in the performance keeps you riveted. The theatricality is unmistakable, with Ms. Mirren making dramatic shifts in vocal register and declaiming the verse in sometimes archly wrought tones. But the precisely channeled emotion behind the effects all but obliterates your awareness of the actress at work.

When Phèdre is first informed that the man she loves loves another, the camera moved in tightly on the back of Ms. Mirren's head. She turned slowly to reveal a face suddenly transformed into a mask of cold fury, creating a moment of tension magnified by the intimacy of the camera's gaze. It was not "live" theater, but the goose bumps felt just the same.

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Photographer William Klein to capture Minneapolis skyline

Posted at 9:00 AM on June 26, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film

Legendary photographer and filmmaker William Klein is giving a talk at the Walker Art Center tonight. MPR's Jim Bickal spoke to the 82-year-old Klein. Klein mentioned the project he is working on currently is a book of photographs called "Anywhere." This book will be a collection of "crazy, interesting and strange" landscapes.

On his way to downtown Minneapolis from the airport, Klein says he was struck by the weird looking buildings that make up the Minneapolis skyline. He plans to photograph the skyline for the new book before he returns to his home in Paris. Klein calls the buildings in Minneapolis a "crazy scene."

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Fun video that plays with 3D, math and action/reaction

Posted at 8:10 AM on June 11, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Animation, Film

modul / zhestkov.com from Zhestkov on Vimeo.

I stumbled across this lovely little video on vimeo.com - I like how even in a world of high-tech animation, such simple imagery can still be compelling when done elegantly.

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Broadway cast of "A Chorus Line" offers master class in Minneapolis

Posted at 10:19 AM on June 9, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Dance, Film, Theater

Is there a high-stepper in you? On June 18th members from the Broadway touring company for "A Chorus Line" will teach choreography from the show at the Lundstrum Center for the Performing Arts.

The Lundstrum Center has a stong connection to the show; its artistic director, Kerry Casserly, performed in "A Chorus Line" on Broadway for ten years. Her sisters, also at the center, performed in regional tours.

If you need some inspiration to get you up and moving, check out the new documentary on the revival of "A Chorus Line," called "Every Little Step."

Image courtesy Sony Pictures Classics

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Beautiful photography aimed at changing the world

Posted at 8:59 AM on June 5, 2009 by Marianne Combs (0 Comments)
Filed under: Film, Photography

Photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand is both a talented aerial photographer and a devoted environmentalist. At a recent TED (Technology Entertainment Design) conference, he joked he'd have to kill a Frenchman once he got home in order to offset the carbon he produced taking the plane. But in truth, Arthus-Bertrand is using his artistic talent to make the greatest impact, by showing what humanity has done to the planet.

His work is an example of how artists use their skills to help people make connections with emotions and ideas. National Geographic's David Griffin talks about the particular power of photography to connect people here.

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