Shame
by Brian Barth
Shame, dir. Steve McQueen (2011)
All of the stars were aligning for Shame to be my newest favorite film about destructive addiction.
I entered the theater with an enduring respect and trust for McQueen, and I had been nursing a relatively significant man-crush on Michael Fassbender for the past year. At the risk of sounding dismissive, Shame was overall disappointing, with jigsaw gems shining discreetly within an overly-fragmented narrative.
Low-Fat Reviews: Midnight, Tree, Trip
by Brian Barth
Three pint-sized reviews after spending a day at the Kendall Square Cinema in Cambridge.
Midnight in Paris, dir. Woody Allen (2011)
I love being pleasantly surprised at 11 in the morning. All in all it had the familiar musk of many Allen films – an ensemble cast of characters oversimplified to the point of absurdity buzz around the shruggish and incredulous New Yorker that Allen unabashedly bases on himself. But Owen Wilson, the actor charged with wearing Mr. Allen’s tweed coat (and his rambling speech patterns), pulls it off relatively well. He stumbles through the magical film with wide eyes and wet lips, never abandoning doubt, and never even entertaining the idea that he may very well be insane. It’s a fun watch, with an all-star cast playing the best-of historical art figures, but there isn’t much hiding underneath the surface. (more…)
The Best of Bonnaroo 2011
by Brian Barth
Bonnaroo just celebrated its 10th anniversary and I was fortunate enough to be there. Between the delicious Spicy Pie Pizzas, Sweet Water IPAs and the unforgettable Arepas, I caught a couple shows. Here’s who left an impression. (more…)
New Films, Broader Genres
by Brian Barth
In the wake of Le Quattro Volte (which I reviewed several weeks back), I’m very pleased to be seeing more and more experimental and careful films coming across my radar screen. Across the board, strange gems are popping up that I simply cannot wait to see. Take a look at these three trailers:
Excited? Totally.
What I’m finding curious, however, is the apparent explosion in classification. Not that this is a new development in content; it’s more of a development in marketing, assumedly reflecting what people are open to watching. Essay films? Plodding contemplative neo-documentaries? While these films will probably always have a small fan-base, I’m beginning to see a small niche in the audience rock opening up to works of more experimental nature. A small sliver of the public eye is beginning to pay attention, and I can’t help but think that now is an excellent time to be making films.
What films have you seen recently that are widening this niche?
Le Quattro Volte
by Brian Barth
Le Quattro Volte, dir. Michaelangelo Frammartino (2011)
When A. O. Scott says that a film “reinvents the very act of perception,” you listen.
Michaelangelo Frammartino’s Le Quattro Volte (2011), is the most transfixing and profound narrative I have seen in years. The film structures itself around the four modes of transmigration (an ancient model of reincarnation); a soul wanders from man, to animal, to vegetable, to mineral. An old man trades his goats milk for dust swept up in a church in order to delay his death. Eventually he passes, and we follow his process of transmigration. For such a simple story (that has no dialogue whatsoever), it might seem odd to commend the writing, but any filmmaker that can weave a riveting story while forcing the viewer only to watch understands screenwriting in its truest form. The camera does all the talking.
The cinematography is disturbingly objective: think Robert Gardner without the narration. After the first cycle, you actually start to feel like a spirit, witnessing humanity as a species and people as animals. We scan around the old town up in the mountains; Andrea Locatelli’s camera is often perched on top of houses, hills, steeples. We’re not serenely floating as much as hovering, with a nagging feeling of menace; the next second we’re shocked by the most suffocatingly subjective camera–we are buried in the center of a pile of ash, sealed into a stone tomb or built into a wooden conflagration. In the final stage, we are released. We are smoke and ash. We sweep over the forest where his favorite tree was, we brush the field where his goats fed and we snake through his old mountain town.
What this film capitalizes on so successfully is the simple pleasure of watching. Much like the beginning of There Will Be Blood or Wall-E, it’s comforting when a director forces you to watch. It’s an act of confidence: “I know what I’m doing, just let me show you.” Its effect in Le Quattro Volte is that and more. There are only a few things in the film that place us in time; otherwise this story could have happened hundreds of years ago. In the terms of transmigration, it absolutely has. It’s happening all the time.
The Tillman Story
by Brian Barth
The Tillman Story (Amir Bar-Lev, 2010)
What a pleasant surprise!
What a horrible way to start this review. This is an infuriating film.
I had heard nothing about this film, but it gave me a lot to think about. The Tillman Story retells Pat Tillman’s decision to abandon his multimillion-dollar football contract in order to serve in the US Army in Afghanistan in 2002. Already a national football star, Tillman’s decision attracted a fair amount of press, but only in his death did he become a household name. The film examines how Tillman’s death was taken by the government and spun into a pro-war media spectacle. Tillman was depicted as an American hero, who died in an intense firefight with the opposition, when in reality he died by friendly fire.
Get Low
by Brian Barth
Get Low (Aaron Schneider, 2009)
Yesterday was Sunday, September 26, and in my mind, the first fully realized day of fall. As I was riding to the Landmark Theater in Kendall to catch the 1:25 showing of Get Low, I saw that the humble Boston skyline was subdued under the thick cover of clouds. The muted gray seeped into everything, and though the summer smoldered it had lost contrast and color. What better time is there to turn to film, which in itself is just color and contrast? A descending day of white and gray is the perfect world to abandon for another; it is a variable, where nothing is being missed.
The Town
by Brian Barth
The Town (Ben Affleck, 2010)
I’m always cautious of films made about Boston, and while Affleck makes sure to wear his location-specific windbreakers (Celtics, Red Sox, Bruins, Patriots) he sheds them after about the fifth scene and I felt a little less summarized. The accents are all there, too, which is probably thanks to endless coaching from Affleck. And I’m not going to lie, it was awesome watching my block in the North End get blown up in a car chase and seeing my apartment in most of the wide shots; I loved my direct connection to the setting.
Editing Methods for Sanity (C.O. Walter Murch)
by Brian Barth
Walter Murch on Editing
I’ve been editing Part II for the past 7 months, and it’s been a roller coaster of a ride. After a brief hiatus into production mode for re-shoots, I found myself back at the computer again with all of this new footage and the same old feeling of dread. I slapped together what I thought was right and compressed it and sent it out. Then, thank god, Spring Break (my last and surely best) swept me off my feet. For fun, I brought along a copy of In the Blink of an Eye by Walter Murch. They say that milk was a bad choice, but this was a good one.
Tidbit: HD to DVD
by Brian Barth
This is your HD footage in SD.
I have to say, when Kelly Reichardt asked me to burn a DVD of “Part II” for review, my heart jumped to my throat and I almost fainted. Ok, a slight exaggeration, but anyone who has ever needed to burn HD footage onto a standard-definition DVD has felt this dread. (more…)
Brian Eno and The Lovely Bones
by Brian Barth
The Lovely Bones (Peter Jackson, 2009)
While I was touring in NYC with my band last week, I took some downtime and went to go see The Lovely Bones. $12.85 later, I find myself in a theater with about 25 seats and a screen no bigger than a Jimmy Hendrix wall hanging. Whatever, it’s New York.
I was concerned at first that I would need to be completely enveloped by this film in order to enjoy it’s overwhelming visuals and super dramatic content. Fortunately, I was wrong. (more…)
Secrets in the Apocalypse
by Brian Barth
I went to see The Road (2009) today. I went to see it alone–a new experience for me that I’m now sure to repeat. I found it liberating because I didn’t have to come up with an opinion to defend afterward; instead, I let it simmer while I watched another film at the Landmark theater (something only possible when alone). I kept coming back to the scenes in the underground bunker with all of the food and the cellar stocked with starving people–food for cannibals. It reminded me of Fallout 3, a video game that I had beaten a month ago. And then pirates. (more…)
On Endings
by Brian Barth
Walking out of the theater after seeing a film with a satisfying ending is like walking out of a restaurant stuffed: the last thing you want to do is go back in for another meal. As a filmmaker, it seems in my best interest to end my films in such a way that the audience craves to go back in again.
I’ve consistently found that the first time through many of the films I’ve come to love, I walk out scratching my head thinking “really? what’s the big deal?” That’s the key. (more…)
On Introductions
by Brian Barth
Part II, Opening Shot
Peter Hutton (I paraphrase): “The first shots of a film tell the viewer that you’re in control, that they can trust you and relax.”
I recently screened the first ten minutes of my thesis film, Part II, for my compatriots in senior seminar. Terrifying. Turns out Peter’s more than correct, he’s onto something that can make any film seem bigger than its budget.
Tidbit: Remarkable
by Brian Barth
I was watching the special features on Crank 2: High Voltage (more on that brilliant film later (you think I’m kidding (I’m not))), and I saw this beautiful poster. I had completely forgotten how extraordinary the production design was for Henry Selik’s 1996 adaptation of James and the Giant Peach.
ALSO: for a beautiful background for your desktop.
Something Has Survived…
by Brian Barth
…but it isn’t Sam Neill’s career. The star of Spielberg’s Jurassic Park didn’t just attempt to revive his role as Dr. Grant in Joe Johnston’s Jurassic Park III; the stakes were clearly greater the second time around. Neill’s acting trajectory is a clear story of having it and wanting it back. Which is also, surprisingly, the case for Johnston.