Smells Like Screen Spirit » News http://smellslikescreenspirit.com Movie Reviews, Movie News, Film, Cinema & Hollywood Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:01:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Perfect Sense | Review http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/perfect-sense-review/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/perfect-sense-review/#comments Sat, 04 Feb 2012 13:00:53 +0000 Anna Bielak http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15603

Director: David Mackenzie

Writer: Kim Fupz Aakenson

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Eva Green, Connie Nielsen, Stephen Dillane, Ewen Bremmer

In most cases, science-fiction features about catastrophes on Earth are made according to one, well-known scheme — harmony in the world is destroyed by a sudden tragedy. Nowadays – more often than previous years – mankind needs to fight against strange, deadly viruses like in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion (2011). In that kind of film, fear turns into panic. The majority of humankind does not believe in anything anymore. People start to behave like wild animals, fighting for their lives. Those who still have any strength, devastate malls, wear dirty clothes and rummage through rubbish. The final debasement comes upon humankind with the end of the world as a closing step of dying. In the latest David MacKenzie film nothing is so simple…

In Perfect Sense, David MacKenzie uses the typical schema of catastrophic films, yet he does not set it in motion to give us just another boring and predictable picture. The British filmmaker goes one step further, taking the path that not many directors ever even catch a glimpse of. The uniqueness of his film lies in what Mackenzie looks at very intensively. He does not stare at images of a devastated world, he focuses on observing people who can perfectly adapt themselves to the new living conditions. The virus is not killing at the moment; it attacks slowly and precisely, depriving people of their senses and gradually destroying one’s abilities to communicate with the environment. Yet, the virus gives humans some time to get used to it, to learn how to act in this new world.

Let’s start our new lives without a sense of smell. It is easy not to have one, right? Hitherto, being sure of that belief, we hear the narrator’s voice whispering that smell is strictly connected with memories. Reminiscences of visits to grandma’s house spring up thanks to the cinnamon fragrance with which her skirt had been always saturated. Without smell, we loose our memories as well. There is no accident in linking senses with emotions. Enormous sorrow caused by losing someone or something leads to the loss of smell. Fear of dying coupled with compulsive eating ends in the loss of taste. MacKenzie associates senses and emotions on the basis of synesthesia. He transforms one sensation into another, tells about smells through the logic of sounds, using colors to replace taste. On the basis of a similar allegory, MacKenzie joins social catastrophe with the intimate story of two leading characters — replacing the end of the world panic with fear of falling in love.

As a result, viewers follow Susan (Eva Green) and Michael (Ewan McGregor) rather than go with the crowd through the disintegrated world. Susan and Michael meet in the back of a restaurant. She is an epidemiologist, he is a chef. Susan usually meets bad guys, Michael does not want to be in any relationship…yet, Michael is the one who teaches her how to trust one another. She is the one who does not disturb him in bed when the high time to sleep comes up after romantic intercourse. So, the end of world is the perfect situation for them to change their attitudes to romance? Yes and no. Are they a perfect couple? No. They would not be a perfect one in the safe world; therefore they are not perfect in this reality that is being slowly disintegrated by a mysterious virus — because there is no difference between the two.

Everybody pretends that nothing is going on. Images of disease come in and out of the plot like refrains in a song — they are brief, similar to each other and pass quickly to save time and space for the next long verse. It usually starts in Michael’s restaurant, which is the first place that confirms that everything has returned to normal. When there is no taste anymore, people go out for dinner because they want to be with each other. Women wear evening dresses, men suits. The pleasure of being served is irreplaceable. The need to hear wine pouring into glasses and the breaking of crispy bread — unique. When people become deaf, they still sit around the table because they have already learned sign language to communicate with each other no matter what.

Their ability to adapt is almost unconditional. Plying in pretending is brought to perfection. What is interesting is that there is no sign of absurdity in it. On the contrary, this is real. This is what fascinates me, this is what I believe in, because this is purely human behavior in the face of the end — and not only the end of the world. We pretend that our families are not falling apart, that the love in our relationships is still as strong as it was at the very beginning, that everything goes perfectly well, when somebody asks us — how are you? This conviction makes me believe that MacKenzie’s Perfect Sense is something more than an action movie, good enough to watch during a Saturday night in the cinema covered with buckets of popcorn and cans of coke.

Rating: 6/10

Go to Stopklatka.pl for the original Polish-language version of Anna’s review.

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/perfect-sense-review/feed/ 0 Carol Channing (Carol Channing: Larger Than Life) | Interview http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/carol-channing-carol-channing-larger-than-life-interview/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/carol-channing-carol-channing-larger-than-life-interview/#comments Fri, 03 Feb 2012 06:01:59 +0000 Dave Campbell http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15537

The life story of legendary performer and Carol Channing (“Hello Dolly”) is as colorful as the lipstick on her big, bright smile. CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE captures the magic and vivacity of the 90-year-old icon—both onstage and off…past and present. The film is both an intimate love story and a rarefied journey inside Broadway’s most glamorous era. It is, above all, a look at an inspiring, incomparable and always entertaining American legend. Directed and co-written by Dori Berinstein (ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway, Gotta Dance), a three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway producer. Starring Carol Channing, Harry Kullijian, Loni Anderson, Mary Jo Catlett, Marge Champion, Tyne Daly, Phyllis Diller, Betty Garrett, Tippi Hedren, Jerry Herman, Angela Lansbury, Rich Little, Bob Mackie, Jimmy Nederlander Sr., Debbie Reynolds, Chita Rivera, Harvey Sabinson, George Schlatter, Richard Skipper, Lily Tomlin, Tommy Tune, Bruce Vilanch, Barbara Walters and JoAnne Worley.  Carol Channing is also a beloved San Francisco institution, having grown up and first introduced to the stage in the City. -Entertainment One US

Carol was recently kind enough to sit down and answer a few questions about her experiences below.

What do you think of “Carol Channing: Larger Than Life?” Did you enjoy the filmmaking process?

Carol Channing: Oh, it’s wonderful.  There have been many who have approached me over the years, asking to do a documentary.  However, they discovered how much work it was going to be and it never happened.  Oh, Dori Berinstein was so patient with me as the director.  Sometimes my schedule would change at a moment’s notice and I’m sure it would completely mess up her plans.  I don’t think most actors think in terms of looking at what we’ve already done, rather than what can I still do now.  They don’t write their memoir until someone pushes them and it takes a very special person to go through all the archives … or junk, and I have a lot … to weed out the important things that the audience will want to know.  I’ve always relied on those around me, knowing and caring about what they are doing to make me look good.  It’s a team effort.  You don’t take those people for granted.  The really good ones truly love what they’re doing and believe in it.  I was just lucky enough to have someone like Dori, who believed enough in me, to do it.  And do it so well.  There were times when I thought, isn’t it done yet?  But, Dori wanted it to be perfect and I think she accomplished it … even if I wasn’t wearing my eyelashes in that one scene.

Are there any roles you would have liked to have played, in either a recent or a classic musical or play? What are they, and why?

CC: I don’t know that I’ve ever had time to think about what or whom I would like to have played.  I would, of course, dearly loved to play Dolly in the movie version.  I remember thinking, Oh Jerry’sMame would have been fun.  But how could you top Angela’s performance?  Although she and I did switch roles ever so briefly… oh years ago, during a tribute to Jerry when she came out as Dolly and I as Mame.  Oh, that was fun!

Which performers today do you particularly admire, and why?

CC: I wish I could answer that with more knowledge.  So many times I’m introduced to someone whose work I know I should know and I don’t.  I’m always so embarrassed that I haven’t kept up better.  I’m awfully impressed with Catherine Zeta Jones.  It’s pronounced Zeeeeeta, you know … Oh, and Kristin Chenoweth.  I’m impressed with her.   There is also a young man I met from a show called “Glee”.  I’ve never seen him on the show, but have worked with him on stage.  Oh, what’s wrong with me? Why can’t I remember his name.  Anyway, him.

Had you not become a performer, what field would have interested you?

CC: Oh!  Ahhhhhh, I don’t know.  I’ve wanted to be a performer since I was 7. I imagine if I hadn’t, I’d have found something associated with the industry.

You’ve led an extraordinary life, on stage and off – what continues to inspire and motivate you?

CC: Others.  When I see someone who’s passionately working on something, whether on stage or for the community, it inspires me.  My motivation is always that next show, that next character or that next appearance.  I’m always so sure that it will be my best performance or my greatest accomplishment.

Imagine if they were real people who met each other, what would Lorelei Lee have thought of Dolly Gallagher Levi, and vice versa?    

CC: Isn’t that odd, no one has ever asked me that before.  I imagine they would have gotten along wonderfully.   They were both and are such strong personalities that I think off stage they would have been tremendous friends, but on stage …well, the poor audience would have difficulty focusing on just one of them.  They would overpower each other.

CAROL CHANNING: LARGER THAN LIFE opened on January 20, 2012 in LA and Palm Springs, and expands today (2/3/12) in New York and San Francisco.

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/carol-channing-carol-channing-larger-than-life-interview/feed/ 0 Innkeepers, The | Review http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/innkeepers-the-review-2/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/innkeepers-the-review-2/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:08:12 +0000 Jessica Delfanti http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15630

Director: Ti West

Writer: Ti West

Starring: Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, Kelly McGillis, George Riddle, Alison Bartlett, Lena Dunham, Jake Schlueter

The greatest critics of the horror genre will make definitive statements about its reliance on formulas and tropes, cliches and repetition, and cheap tricks to garner gasps and shrieks from the audience. While these observations may be true for most of the Blockbuster hits that will spike adrenaline in theaters, this trend has also given birth to a delightful breed of satirical horror masters. Let it be said that Ti West is royalty among them, and his new film, The Innkeepers, does not disappoint.Set in a retiring hotel, The Innkeepers is a neat horror package. Skeleton crew of the hotel staff, Claire (Sara Paxton) and Luke (Pat Healy) are self-fashioned ghost hunters, intent on capturing evidence of a haunting in the Yankee Pedlar Inn’s final days. Naturally, rumors of an apparition related to a death on the property forms a classic origin story for the haunting, and the vast open spaces of the near-empty hotel provide a perfect setting for a suspenseful ghost hunt.

Writer/Director West is not an artist to conjure up tales of unique creativity or edgy insight; instead, he works with the existing tropes, cliches, and repetitions to create something acutely smart and cheeky. Gripping the classic haunting film by its edges, he crinkles it up, adds a few lines, and smooths it out again. The result is charming, and impossibly fresh.

This is in no small part due to Claire. Paxton is a child-faced pixie with a petulant attitude. She stomps around the hotel, growling at Luke, flinging her tiny body from one activity to the next like a possessed rag doll. Her comic timing is impeccable, and armed with West’s writing, she is charmingly off type for a horror heroin. Playing against the grumpily aloof Luke, she makes one of the most engaging horror characters ever to grace the screen.

Most of the film consists of following Claire around the hotel as she attempts to contact the ghost and subsequently gets severely “freaked out.” These sequences are full of typical horror scare tricks, with birds flying in faces and clomps and clunks turning out to be harmless tinkering. Yet, the film is not undone by the feeling of phoniness to which these tricks often doom a horror project; instead, they seem like deliberate, playful winks at the audience. Got you, West is saying. And you know he’ll get you next time too.

The Innkeepers is a lot more than a few bumps in the night, however. West’s inclusion of home recording techniques and amateur ghost capturing technology is an obvious satire of the trends in horror toward handicam and low-fi. With each one of these sniggers at modern horror, West supplies a throwback scene, reminiscent of campfire scary stories and 80s haunting films that relied on story and tone to draw chills rather than film student gimmicks. Perhaps the greatest appeal of West’s work is that it is visceral, enjoyable, entertaining, and doesn’t give you the impression of degrading your intelligence. He knows exactly what is going on, and so do you.

Unfortunately, this self awareness tends to remind the watcher that this is just a film, and so it fails to lead to anything truly frightening. The spirit as represented doesn’t terrify (in some scenes, it’s unclear as to whether she’s even malevolent), and nothing feels high stakes. But perhaps this film, unlike The House of the Devil and its chilling suspense, or Cabin Fever 2 and its revolting gore, is not meant to garner such a physical reaction. Perhaps West aims for something more intellectual with this one. The mind is the most dangerous weapon.

Even tongue in cheek, his films continue to delight not just horror fans, but those that desire good story and characters on their screens. In the end, The Innkeepers is a classic and simple formula that yields a charmingly classic and simple result.

Also be sure to check out Don Simpson’s review of The Innkeepers.

Rating: 8/10
]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/innkeepers-the-review-2/feed/ 0 SXSW Film Announces 2012 Features - SXSW FILM 2012 http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/sxsw-film-announces-2012-features/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/sxsw-film-announces-2012-features/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 04:11:08 +0000 Don Simpson http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15606

The South by Southwest (SXSW) Film Conference and Festival announced the features lineup for this year’s Festival, March 9 – 17, 2012 in Austin, Texas. The world premiere of Emmett Malloy’s documentary Big Easy Express will be featured as the Closing Night Film on Saturday, March 17. This year’s program also includes the world premiere of Phil Lord’s 21 Jump Street — starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill — which will screen in the Centerpiece slot on Monday, March 12.

Over the course of nine days, 130 features will screen at SXSW 2012. The program features 51 films from first-time filmmakers, and consists of 65 World Premieres, 17 North American Premieres and 10 U.S. Premieres. These films were selected from a record 1,957 feature-length film submissions composed of 1,387 U.S. and 570 international feature-length films.

In addition to nine full days of film screenings, SXSW Film will feature over 100 panels, workshops, mini-meetings and mentor sessions. Previously announced panels include A Conversation with Joss Whedon; a dialogue with Lena Dunham, Judd Apatow and more on the HBO series Girls; A Conversation with Cliff Martinez, Drive composer; and The Business of Kevin Smith. (The final conference lineup will be announced February 15.)

The festival’s main competition categories are comprised of eight Narrative Feature world premieres and eight Documentary Feature world premieres. These 16 films will compete for their respective Grand Jury Prizes, plus all feature categories will be eligible for Audience Awards.

The 2012 SXSW Film Festival will feature…

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION

Booster (World Premiere)
Director: Matt Ruskin
Writer: Matt Ruskin
Starring: Nico Stone, Adam DuPaul, Seymour Cassel, Kristin Dougherty, Brian McGrail
Synopsis: When Simon’s brother is arrested for armed robbery, he is asked to commit a string of similar crimes in an attempt to get his brother acquitted.

Eden (World Premiere)
Director: Megan Griffiths
Writers: Richard B. Phillips, Megan Griffiths, Story by: Richard B. Phillips & Chong Kim
Starring: Jamie Chung, Matt O’Leary, Beau Bridges, Jeanine Monterroza, Scott Mechlowicz
Synopsis: A young Korean-American girl, abducted and forced into prostitution by domestic human traffickers, joins forces with her captors in a desperate plea to survive.

Gayby (World Premiere)
Director: Jonathan Lisecki
Writer: Jonathan Lisecki
Starring: Jenn Harris, Matthew Wilkas, Mike Doyle, Anna Margaret Hollyman, Jack Ferver
Synopsis: Jenn and Matt, best friends since college who are now in their thirties, decide to have a child together, the old-fashioned way – even though Matt is gay and Jenn is straight.

Gimme the Loot (World Premiere)
Director: Adam Leon
Writer: Adam Leon
Starring: Tashiana Washington, Ty Hickson, Meeko, Zoe Lescaze, Sam Soghor
Synopsis: When Malcolm and Sofia’s latest graffiti masterpiece is buffed by a rival gang, these two determined Bronx teens must hustle, steal, and scheme to get spectacular revenge and become the biggest writers in the City.

Los Chidos (World Premiere)
Director: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Writer: Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Starring: Kim Stodel, María De Jesús Canales Ramírez, Manuel Ramos, Cecillia Gutiérrez
Synopsis: The Gonzales family tries hard to hold on to their beautiful Latino traditions of misogyny and homophobia when a tall, white, industrialist stranger appears, challenging their place in the exploitative food chain.

Pilgrim Song (World Premiere)
Director: Martha Stephens
Writers: Martha Stephens, Karrie Crouse
Starring: Timothy Morton, Bryan Marshall, Karrie Crouse, Harrison Cole, Michael Abbott Jr.
Synopsis: A pink-slipped music teacher ponders his stalled relationship and place in the world during an arduous trek across Kentucky’s Sheltowee Trace Trail.

Starlet (World Premiere)
Director: Sean Baker
Writers: Sean Baker, Chris Bergoch
Starring: Dree Hemingway, Besedka Johnson, Stella Maeve, James Ransone, Karren Karagulian
Synopsis: The film explores the unlikely friendship between 21-year-old Jane and 85 year-old Sadie, two women whose worlds collide in California’s San Fernando Valley.

The Taiwan Oyster (World Premiere)
Director: Mark Jarrett
Writers: Mark Jarrett, Jordan Heimer, Mitchell Jarrett
Starring: Billy Harvey, Jeff Palmiotti, Leonora Lim
Synopsis: Two Ex-Pat Kindergarten teachers in Taiwan embark on a quixotic odyssey to bury a fellow countryman.

 ____________________________________________________

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION

Bay of All Saints (World Premiere)
Director: Annie Eastman
Synopsis: As the last of the notorious water slums is demolished in Bahia, Brazil, will three single mothers face homelessness or rally for a better life?

Beware of Mr. Baker (World Premiere)
Director: Jay Bulger
Synopsis: Ginger Baker is the original rock ‘n roll madman junkie drummer superstar who everyone thought was dead but somehow survived 50+ years of heroin abuse, disastrous experiments and 5 marriages on 4 continents.

The Central Park Effect (World Premiere)
Director: Jeffrey Kimball
Synopsis: The film reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds who grace Manhattan’s celebrated patch of green, and the equally colorful, full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythms of migration.

Jeff (World Premiere)
Director: Chris James Thompson
Synopsis: A documentary about the people around Jeffrey Dahmer during the 1991 summer of his arrest for the murder of 17 people in Milwaukee.

Seeking Asian Female (World Premiere)
Director: Debbie Lum
Synopsis: When an American man with “yellow fever” meets a Chinese woman half his age online, documenting their attempt to build a marriage from scratch reveals hilarious and troubling complications for the couple and the filmmaker.

The Sheik and I (World Premiere)
Director: Caveh Zahedi
Synopsis: Commissioned by a Middle Eastern Biennial to make a film on the theme of “art as a subversive act,” independent filmmaker Caveh Zahedi (I am a Sex Addict) is threatened with a fatwa.

The Source (World Premiere)
Directors: Jodi Wille, Maria Demopoulos
Synopsis: The Source Family was a radical experiment in ’70s utopian living. Their popular restaurant, rock band, and beautiful women made them the darlings of Hollywood; but their outsider ideals led to their dramatic undoing.

Welcome To The Machine (World Premiere)
Director: Avi Zev Weider
Synopsis: Upon fathering triplets, filmmaker Avi Zev Weider explores the nature of technology, seeking answers about what it means to be human.

 ____________________________________________________

HEADLINERS

21 Jump Street (World Premiere)
Directed by: Phil Lord & Christopher Miller
Writers: Michael Bacall (screenplay/story), Jonah Hill (story)
Starring: Jonah Hill, Channing Tatum, Brie Larson, Dave Franco, Rob Riggle, Johnny Depp, Ice Cube
Synopsis: Police officers Schmidt and Jenko get sent back to high school as undercover cops.

Big Easy Express (World Premiere)
Director: Emmett Malloy
Synopsis: Emmett Malloy’s latest film invites us aboard a train ride unlike any other with Mumford & Sons, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and Old Crow Medicine Show.

The Cabin in the Woods (World Premiere)
Director: Drew Goddard
Writers: Joss Whedon, Drew Goddard
Starring: Kristen Connolly, Fran Kranz, Anna Hutchison, Chris Hemsworth, Jesse Williams, Richard Jenkins, and Bradley Whitford
Synopsis: Five friends go to a remote cabin in the woods. Bad things happen. If you think you know this story, think again. From fan favorites Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard comes The Cabin in the Woods, a mind-blowing horror film that turns the genre inside out.

Decoding Deepak (World Premiere)
Director: Gotham Chopra
Synopsis: Filmmaker Gotham Chopra spends a year on the road decoding his father and spiritual icon Deepak Chopra.

Girls (World Premiere)
Director: Lena Dunham
Writer: Lena Dunham
Starring: Lena Dunham, Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Zosia Mamet, Adam Driver
Synopsis: Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), the HBO show is a comic look at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s.

The Hunter (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Daniel Nettheim
Writers: Alice Addison (screenplay), Julia Leigh (novel), Wain Fimeri (original adaptation)
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill
Synopsis: A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger.

Killer Joe (U.S. Premiere)
Director: William Friedkin
Writer: Tracy Letts
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Emile Hirsch, Gina Gershon, Juno Temple, Thomas Haden Church
Synopsis: A garish, Southwestern tale – a violent black comedy about a desperate Texas debtor who plots to kill his mother with help of his family. They hire a crazy Dallas cop who moonlights as a contract killer to do the job, but Killer Joe asks for their teenage daughter as a retainer. The film is based on Pulitzer Prize winner Tracy Letts’ award winning play.

Marley (North American Premiere)
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Synopsis: The definitive life story of Bob Marley – musician, revolutionary, legend – from his early days to his rise to international superstardom. Made with the support of the Marley family, the film features rare footage, incredible performances and revelatory interviews with the people that knew him best.

 ____________________________________________________

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT

The Babymakers (World Premiere)
Director: Jay Chandrasekhar
Writers: Peter Gaulke, Gerry Swallow
Starring: Paul Schneider, Olivia Munn, Kevin Heffernan, Wood Harris, Nat Faxon
Synopsis: Unable to impregnate his wife, Tommy and friends rob a sperm bank – to get Tommy’s long-ago donated sperm back. The crazy plan goes hilariously awry and shows how far a couple will go to create a new life.

Crazy Eyes (World Premiere)
Director: Adam Sherman
Writers: Adam Sherman, Dave Reeves, Rachel Hardisty
Starring: Lukas Haas, Madeline Zima, Jake Busey, Tania Raymonde, Regine Nehy
Synopsis: Just another story about love.

Do-Deca-Pentathalon (World Premiere)
Directors: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Writers: Jay Duplass, Mark Duplass
Starring: Mark Kelly, Steve Zissis, Elton LeBlanc
Synopsis: Two brothers compete in their own private 25-event Olympics.

Fat Kid Rules The World (World Premiere)
Director: Matthew Lillard
Writers: Michael M.B. Galvin, Peter Speakman
Starring: Jacob Wysocki, Matt O’Leary, Billy Campbell, Lilli Simmons, Dylan Arnold
Synopsis: Troy, a depressed overweight teenager, gets sucked into the punk rock world by Marcus, a charming street musician. But when Troy discovers Marcus’ drug addiction, he suddenly must figure out the true boundaries of friendship.

frankie go boom (World Premiere)
Director: Jordan Roberts
Writer: Jordan Roberts
Starring: Charlie Hunnam, Chris O’Dowd, Lizzy Caplan, Ron Perlman, Chris Noth
Synopsis: A comedy about two brothers, a girl with a broken heart, a sex tape, an angel and a pig.

Hunky Dory (North American Premiere)
Director: Marc Evans
Writer: Laurence Coriat
Starring: Minnie Driver, Aneurin Barnard, Danielle Branch, Robert Pugh, Haydn Gwynne
Synopsis: From the producer of Billy Elliot comes this funny, coming of age film featuring songs from artists such as David Bowie, Lou Reed, The Beach Boys, Simon and Garfunkel, Dusty Springfield and Electric Light Orchestra.

In Our Nature (World Premiere)
Director: Brian Savelson
Writer: Brian Savelson
Starring: Zach Gilford, Jena Malone, John Slattery, Gabrielle Union
Synopsis: Taking place over a single weekend, an estranged father and son accidentally end up in the same country house with their two girlfriends.

Keyhole (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Guy Maddin
Writers: Guy Maddin, George Toles
Starring: Isabella Rossellini, Jason Patric, Udo Kier, Kevin McDonald, Tattiawna Jones
Synopsis: I’m only a ghost… but a ghost isn’t nothing.

See Girl Run (World Premiere)
Director: Nate Meyer
Writer: Nate Meyer
Starring: Robin Tunney, Adam Scott, Jeremy Strong, William Sadler, Josh Hamilton
Synopsis: What happens when a 30-something woman allows life’s “what ifs” to overwhelm her appreciation for what life actually is. Disregarding her current obligations, she digs into her romantic past in hopes of invigorating her present.

Small Apartments (World Premiere)
Director: Jonas Åkerlund
Writer: Chris Millis
Starring: Matt Lucas, Billy Crystal, James Caan, Johnny Knoxville, Juno Temple
Synopsis: When Franklin accidentally kills his landlord, he must hide the body; but, the wisdom of his beloved brother and the quirks of his neighbors, force him on a journey where a fortune awaits him.

Somebody Up There Likes Me (World Premiere)
Director: Bob Byington
Writer: Bob Byington
Starring: Keith Poulson, Nick Offerman, Jess Weixler, Stephanie Hunt, Kevin Corrigan
Synopsis: Time flies for everyone. Thirty-five years in the life of Max, his best friend Sal, and a woman they both adore. A deadpan fable about time sneaking up on and swerving right around us.

 ____________________________________________________

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT

$ELLEBRITY (World Premiere)
Director: Kevin Mazur
Synopsis: Renowned celebrity photographer, Kevin Mazur, gives us an all access pass to the life behind the velvet rope and in front of the camera. Candid, revealing and bold interviews with Jennifer Aniston, Sarah Jessica Parker, Jennifer Lopez, Elton John and more, take us inside the blurred lines of privacy, pliable journalism, celebrity, fame and what it feels like to be consumed.

America’s Parking Lot (World Premiere)
Director: Jonny Mars
Synopsis: Pull up a front row seat as two die-hard fans of ‘America’s Team’ spend their last season with the Dallas Cowboys at historic Texas Stadium, and scramble to preserve their place in America’s Parking Lot.

The Announcement (World Premiere)
Director: Nelson George
Synopsis: On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Earvin “Magic” Johnson made the stunning announcement that he was HIV-positive and would be retiring from basketball immediately. The Announcement gets to the core of Magic’s incredible personal journey.

Beauty Is Embarrassing (World Premiere)
Director: Neil Berkeley
A funny, irreverent and inspirational look into the life and times of one of America’s most important artists, Wayne White.

Brooklyn Castle (World Premiere)
Director: Katie Dellamaggiore
Synopsis: Amidst financial crises and unprecedented public school budget cuts, Brooklyn Castle takes an intimate look at the challenges and triumphs facing members of a junior high school’s champion chess team.

Code of the West (World Premiere)
Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen
Synopsis: Frames a high stakes showdown in the halls of the Montana State Legislature. The future of medical marijuana is at stake.

Degenerate Art: The Art and Culture of Glass Pipes (World Premiere)
Director: M. Slinger
Synopsis: A true document of the art and culture of glass pipe-making. It is the first film to ever bring to light this invisible sub-culture in a comprehensive and well-informed format.

Girl Model (U.S. Premiere)
Directors: A. Sabin, David Redmon
Synopsis: Young Russian girls join a modeling agency to seek work in Japan, but get caught up in an unregulated system that reveals an unseemly side of the fashion industry.

Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (World Premiere)
Director: Ben Shapiro
Synopsis: Acclaimed photographer Gregory Crewdson’s 10-year quest to create a series of haunting, surreal, and stunningly elaborate portraits of small-town American life — filmed with unprecedented access as he makes perfect renderings of a disturbing, imperfect world.

Just Like Being There (World Premiere)
Director: Scout Shannon
Synopsis: Through the eyes of Daniel Danger, Jay Ryan, and the gig poster community, Just Like Being There focuses on poster artists, the music they commemorate, MONDO film posters, fans, bloggers, galleries, collectors and everything in between.

Scarlet Road (North American Premiere)
Director: Catherine Scott
Synopsis: The film follows the extraordinary work of Australian sex worker, Rachel Wotton. Impassioned about freedom of sexual expression and the rights of sex workers, she specializes in a long over-looked clientele – people with disability.

Trash Dance (World Premiere)
Director: Andrew Garrison
Synopsis: A choreographer finds beauty and grace in garbage trucks, and against the odds, rallies reluctant city trash collectors to perform an extraordinary dance spectacle. On an abandoned airport runway, two dozen sanitation workers — and their trucks — inspire an audience of thousands.

Waiting For Lightning (World Premiere)
Director: Jacob Rosenberg
Synopsis: From the producers of Step into Liquid, comes the story of visionary skateboarder Danny Way, who jumped China’s Great Wall and created a new movement in sport.

Wikileaks: Secrets & Lies (North American Premiere)
Director: Patrick Forbes
Synopsis: The in-depth story of Wikileaks told by all the key players. Sulphurous, personal and moving, it documents history in the making at the lawless frontier of new technology and mainstream media.

WONDER WOMEN! The Untold Story of American Superheroines (World Premiere)
Director: Kristy Guevara-Flanagan
Synopsis: This documentary examines the fascinating evolution and legacy of Wonder Woman and introduces audiences to a dynamic group of real life superheroes who continue to fight the good fight both on and off the screen.

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EMERGING VISIONS

Black Pond (North American Premiere)
Directors: Tom Kingsley, Will Sharpe
Writer: Will Sharpe
Starring: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell, Amanda Hadingue, Colin Hurley, Will Sharpe
Synopsis: An ordinary family is accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table.

Dollhouse (North American Premiere)
Director: Kirsten Sheridan
Writer: Kirsten Sheridan
Starring: Seana Kerslake, Johnny Ward, Kate Stanley Brennan, Shane Curry, Ciaran McCabe
Synopsis: Five street teens break into a house in a rich Dublin suburb for a night of partying. But games are twisted into something more emotional and ultimately out of control through a series of surprising revelations.

Eating Alabama (World Premiere)
Director: Andrew Beck Grace
Synopsis: A quest to eat locally becomes a meditation on community, the South and sustainability. Eating Alabama is a story about why food matters.

Electrick Children (North American Premiere)
Director: Rebecca Thomas
Writer: Rebecca Thomas
Starring: Julia Garner, Rory Culkin, Liam Aiken, Billy Zane
Synopsis: Rachel, a 15-year-old fundamentalist Mormon, believes she’s had an immaculate conception by listening to rock and roll. She flees to Las Vegas to escape an arranged marriage, seeking answers to her mysterious pregnancy.

Extracted (World Premiere)
Director: Nir Paniry
Writer: Nir Paniry
Starring: Sasha Roiz, Dominic Bogart, Jenny Mollen, Nick Jameson, Brad Culver
Synopsis: A scientist is trapped in the memories of a criminal and must solve a crime in order to get back home to his family.

Francine (North American Premiere)
Directors: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
Writers: Brian M. Cassidy, Melanie Shatzky
Starring: Melissa Leo, Keith Leonard, Victoria Charkut
Synopsis: Academy-Award-winner, Melissa Leo, plays Francine, a woman struggling to find her place in a downtrodden lakeside town after leaving behind a life in prison.

Funeral Kings (World Premiere)
Directors: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
Writers: Kevin Mcmanus, Matthew Mcmanus
Starring: Dylan Hartigan, Alex Maizus, Jordan Puzzo, Charles Odei, Kevin Corrigan
Synopsis: For three 14-year-old boys at St. Mark’s Middle School, it’s always a good day for a funeral.

Hard Labor (U.S. Premiere)
Directors: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Writers: Juliana Rojas, Marco Dutra
Starring: Helena Albergaria, Marat Descartes, Naloana Lima, Marina Flores
Helena prepares to open her own business: a neighborhood grocery store. She hires a maid. But when her husband Octavio is suddenly fired from his job, Helena is left to support the family alone.

La Camioneta – The Journey of One American School Bus (World Premiere)
Director: Mark Kendall
Synopsis: On a 3,000-mile adventure across the borders between the Americas, La Camioneta follows the journey of one out-of-service American school bus as it is repaired, repainted and resurrected into a Guatemalan camioneta.

The Last Fall (World Premiere)
Director: Matthew A. Cherry
Writer: Matthew A. Cherry
Starring: Lance Gross, Nicole Beharie, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Harry Lennix, Keith David
Synopsis: An NFL journeyman struggles to deal with life’s complexities after his professional career is over at age 25.

Leave Me Like You Found Me (World Premiere)
Director: Adele Romanski
Writer: Adele Romanski
Starring: Megan Boone, David Nordstrom
Synopsis: Big trees, broken hearts. The story of a lovesick couple’s breakup & makeup while camping in the wilds of California.

Pavilion (World Premiere)
Director: Tim Sutton
Writer: Tim Sutton
Starring: Max Schaffner, Zach Cali, Cody Hamric, Addie Barlett, Aaron Buyea
Synopsis: Max, a quietly troubled 15-year-old, leaves his lakeside town to live with his father on the sun-blasted fringe of suburban Arizona. What begins in a calm and lush environment ends in a drastic, frayed confusion.

Sun Don’t Shine (World Premiere)
Director: Amy Seimetz
Writer: Amy Seimetz
Starring: Kate Lyn Sheil, Kentucker Audley, AJ Bowen, Kit Gwinn, Mark Reeb
Synopsis: Two lovers, on the back roads of Florida, do very bad things.

Sunset Stories (World Premiere)
Directors: Silas Howard, Ernesto Foronda
Writer: Valerie Stadler
Starring: Monique Curnen, Sung Kang, Joshua Leonard, Mousa Kraish, Michelle Krusiec
Synopsis: When May returns to LA and runs smack into JP, the man she left behind, past and present collide sending them on a twenty-four hour journey in search of what they lost.

Tchoupitoulas (World Premiere)
Directors: Bill Ross, Turner Ross
Synopsis: Three young brothers’ immersive journey into the sensory wonders of the New Orleans night.

Thale (North American Premiere)
Director: Aleksander L. Nordaas
Writer: Aleksander L. Nordaas
Starring: Silje Reinåmo, Jon Sigve Skard, Erlend Nervold, Morten Andresen
Synopsis: The film revolves around huldra, a mythical, tailed creature, found by two crime scene cleaners in a concealed cellar. Someone’s been keeping her down here for decades, for reasons soon to surface.

Wildness
Director: Wu Tsang
Writer: Wu Tsang
Synopsis: A magical-realist portrait of the Silver Platter, a historic bar in Los Angeles that provides a safe space for Latin/LGBT immigrant and queer art communities to come together in love and conflict.

Wolf (World Premiere)
Director: Ya’ke Smith
Writer: Ya’ke Smith
Starring: Irma P. Hall, Mikala Gibson, Jordan Cooper, Shelton Jolivette, Eugene Lee
Synopsis: A family is shaken to the core when they discover their son has been molested. As they struggle to deal with the betrayal, their son heads towards a total mental collapse.

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24 BEATS PER SECOND

Amor Cronico (World Premiere)
Director: Jorge Perugorria
Starring: Cucu Diamantes, Adela Legra, Liosky Clavero, Andres Levin, Jorge Perugorria
Synopsis: Weaving footage of singer Cucu Diamantes’ Cuban tour into a fictional love story. The result is an energetic display of her glamorous and infectious performance style and a fascinating portrait of Cuba today.

Bad Brains: Band in DC (World Premiere)
Directors: Mandy Stein, Benjamen Logan
Synopsis: How four young men from DC changed music forever.

Charles Bradley: Soul of America (World Premiere)
Director: Poull Brien
Synopsis: The incredible late-in-life rise of 62-year-old aspiring soul singer Charles Bradley, whose debut album rocketed him from a hard life in the projects to Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 albums of 2011.

Daylight Savings (World Premiere)
Director: Dave Boyle
Writers: Dave Boyle, Michael Lerman, Joel Clark, Goh Nakamura
Starring: Goh Nakamura, Michael Aki, Yea-Ming Chen, Lynn Chen, Ayako Fujitani
Synopsis: After a devastating breakup, musician Goh Nakamura hits the road with his irresponsible cousin to pursue a promising rebound with fellow musician Yea-Ming Chen.

Grandma Lo-fi: The Basement Tapes of Sigrídur Níelsdóttir
Director: Kristín Björk Kristjánsdóttir
Synopsis: At the tender age of 70 she started making music – and then she couldn’t stop! A tribute to the Danish/Icelandic artist and late bloomer Sigrídur Níelsdóttir.

Paul Williams Still Alive (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Stephen Kessler
Synopsis: A documentary filmmaker tracks down actor/singer/songwriter Paul Williams in an attempt to find out what happened to his idol.

Rock ‘N’ Roll Exposed: The Photography of Bob Gruen (North American Premiere)
Director: Don Letts
Synopsis: Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, Yoko Ono, Alice Cooper, Billie Joe Armstrong and others discuss the incredible life and work of the world’s foremost rock ‘n’ roll photographer, Bob Gruen.

Sunset Strip (World Premiere)
Director: Hans Fjellestad
Synopsis: The 100-year history of the loudest street on the planet, The Sunset Strip.

Under African Skies
Director: Joe Berlinger
Synopsis: Paul Simon returns to South Africa to explore the incredible journey of his historic Graceland album, including the political backlash he received for allegedly breaking the UN cultural boycott of South Africa designed to end the Apartheid regime.

Uprising: Hip Hop & The LA Riots (World Premiere)
Director: Mark Ford
Synopsis: 20 years after riots ripped through Los Angeles, Uprising documents how hip hop forecasted – and some say ignited – the worst civil unrest of the 20th century.

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SX GLOBAL

Bijuka (India) (North American Premiere)
Director: Ashtar Sayed
Writer: Dr. Mahendra Purohit
Starring: Arti Rautela, Amit Purohit
Synopsis: Inspired by a true event, Scarecrow tells the true story of a young woman who is attempting to escape from an abusive arranged marriage.

Crulic – The Path to Beyond (Romania / Poland)
Director: Anca Damian
Synopsis: This animated documentary tells the story of the life of Crulic, the 33-year-old Romanian who died in a Polish prison while on hunger strike.

Cubaton – El Medico Story (Estonia / Sweden) (North American Premiere)
Director: Daniel Fridell
Synopsis: El Medico – a Cuban house doctor who wants to become a cubaton star – is facing a serious choice between serving the state and becoming a popstar.

Her Master’s Voice (UK) (World Premiere)
Director: Nina Conti
Synopsis: Watching someone talk to themselves has never been so interesting.

Italy Love It Or Leave It (Italy / Germany) (North American Premiere)
Directors: Gustav Hofer, Luca Ragazzi
Synopsis: Gustav and Luca, two Italians, have to decide: Should they stay in Italy, or leave it?

Mustafa’s Sweet Dreams (Greece / UK) (North American Premiere)
Director: Angelos Abazoglou
Synopsis: Mustafa, a 16-year-old pastry shop apprentice dreams of becoming a famous baklava chef in Istanbul.

Pompeya (Argentina) (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Tamae Garateguy
Writers: Tamae Garateguy, Diego A. Fleischer
Starring: José Luciano González, Joel Drut, Chang Sung Kim, Vladimir Yuravel, Miguel Forza de Paul
Synopsis: When a film director hires two screenwriters to make a gangster movie, a fiction feast starts: femmes fatales, mobs fighting for the same neighborhood and a limitless hero who defies every movie concept.

¡Vivan las Antipodas! (Germany / The Netherlands / Argentina / Chile)
Director: Victor Kossakovsky
Synopsis: Haven’t we all wondered at some point what was happening just at this moment beneath our very feet at the other side of the planet?

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FESTIVAL FAVORITES

Beast
Director: Christoffer Boe
Writer: Christoffer Boe
Starring: Nicolas Bro, Marijana Jankovic, Nikolaj Lie Kaas
Synopsis: How long will you go, to hold on to the person you love?

The Comedy
Director: Rick Alverson
Writers: Robert Donne, Colm O’Leary
Starring: Tim Heidecker, Eric Wareheim, James Murphy, Kate Lyn-Sheil, Alexia Rassmusen
Synopsis: Indifferent even to the prospects of inheriting his father’s estate, Swanson, a desensitized, aging Brooklyn hipster, strays into a series of reckless situations that may offer the promise of redemption or the threat of retribution.

Dreams of a Life (North American Premiere)
Director: Carol Morley
Synopsis: An imaginative quest to go beyond the newspaper reports and solve the mystery of who thirty-eight year old Joyce Vincent was and why she lay undiscovered for three years after her death in one of the busiest parts of London.

God Bless America (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Bobcat Goldthwait
Writer: Bobcat Goldthwait
Starring: Joel Murray, Tara Lynne Barr
Synopsis: Loveless, jobless, possibly terminally ill, Frank has had enough of the downward spiral of America. With nothing left to lose, Frank takes his gun and offs the stupidest, cruelest, and most repellent members of society.

The Imposter
Director: Bart Layton
Synopsis: In 1994 a 13-year-old disappears without trace in Texas. Three years later he resurfaces in Spain with accounts of a horrifying kidnap. His family is overjoyed – but all is not as it seems.

Indie Game: The Movie
Directors: Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky
Synopsis: With the twenty-first century comes a new breed of artist: the indie game designer. These innovators design and program their distinctly personal games in the hope that they may find connection and success.

KID-THING
Director: David Zellner
Writer: David Zellner
Starring: Sydney Aguirre, Susan Tyrrell, Nathan Zellner, David Zellner, David Wingo
Synopsis: A fever-dream fable about Annie, a rebellious girl devoid of parental guidance or a moral compass. She roams the countryside looking for adventure, and finds it one day in the form of an abandoned well.

Last Call at the Oasis
Director: Jessica Yu
Synopsis: A powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century.

Lovely Molly (U.S. Premiere)
Director: Eduardo Sanchez
Writers: Eduardo Sanchez, Jamie Nash
Starring: Gretchen Lodge, Johnny Lewis, Alexandra Holden
Synopsis: Exploring the parallels between psychosis, addiction and demonic possession, Lovely Molly tells the story of what really happens before the exorcist arrives.

The Raid
Director: Gareth Huw Evans
Writer: Gareth Huw Evans
Starring: Iko Uwais, Joe Taslim, Doni Alamsyah, Yayan Ruhian, Pierre Gruno
Synopsis: Rama and his special forces team fight their way through a rundown apartment block with a mission to remove its owner, a notorious drug lord.

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists
Director: Brian Knappenberger
Synopsis: We Are Legion takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical “hacktivist” collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age.

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SPECIAL EVENTS

An Evening With Sacred Bones Records (World Premiere)
Director: Jacqueline Castel
Synopsis: Brooklyn-based record label Sacred Bones presents an evening of original and curated programming of music videos, short films, works in progress, and a rare screening of their first film production, Twelve Dark Noons.

Bernie
Director: Richard Linklater
Writers: Richard Linklater, Skip Hollandsworth
Starring: Jack Black, Shirley MacLaine, Matthew McConaughey, Brady Coleman, Richard Robichaux
Synopsis: Based on real-life events, this dark comedy follows Bernie Tiede, his recently deceased friend Marjorie Nugent and District Attorney Danny Buck Davidson who is determined to get to the bottom of the crime.

Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me (Work in Progress)
Director: Drew Denicola
Synopsis: A feature-length documentary about the massive critical acclaim, dismal commercial failure, and enduring legacy of pop music’s greatest cult phenomenon, Big Star.

Casa de mi Padre
Director: Matt Piedmont
Writer: Andrew Steele
Starring: Will Ferrell, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Genesis Rodriguez, Pedro Armendáriz Jr., Nick Offerman
Synopsis: Will Ferrell plays a Mexican rancher who must defend his father’s home against the country’s most infamous drug lord.

Girl Walk // All Day
Director: Jacob Krupnick
Writer: Jacob Krupnick
Starring: Anne Marsen, John Doyle, Daisuke Omiya
Synopsis: A feature-length dance music film that combines freestyle dance with the daily chaos of New York City, set to Girl Talk’s recent mashup album, All Day.

Re:Generation
Director: Amir Bar Lev
Synopsis: 5 DJ’s Turn the Table on The History of Music.

Renga (North American Premiere)
Directors: Adam Russell, John Sear
Synopsis: A ground breaking feature-length show controlled entirely by the audience using laser pointers. It is the first viable example of a standalone interactive experience capable of running in commercial movie theatres.

The Oyster Princess (1919) with original live score by Bee vs. Moth (World Premiere)
Director: Ernst Lubitsch
Writers: Hanns Kraly, Ernst Lubitsch
Synopsis: The Oyster Princess is Ernst Lubitsch’s tart 1919 silent comedy that parodies the rich and the spoiled. Austin jazz/rock band Bee vs. Moth performs their original score live with the film for the first time.

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NOTE: The Midnighters feature section and the Short Film program will be announced on February 8.

SXSW Film is an official qualifying festival for the Academy Awards Short Film competition. The Best Narrative Short and Best Animated Short winners become eligible for the Academy Awards.

For more information, visit http://www.sxsw.com/film

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/sxsw-film-announces-2012-features/feed/ 0 Eric Schaeffer (After Fall, Winter) | Interview http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/eric-schaeffer-after-fall-winter-interview/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/eric-schaeffer-after-fall-winter-interview/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:53:56 +0000 Don Simpson http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15553

It seems as though films that portray characters who do not abide by vanilla heterosexual behavior in favorable and sympathetic perspectives are a dime a dozen these days. All of these films share a very similar message — we need to be honest about our sexuality, first and foremost with our lovers. Writer-director Eric Schaeffer’s After Fall, Winter is no different and that is not such a bad thing. I think After Fall, Winter communicates quite clearly a message that needs to be pounded repeatedly through many puritanical Americans’ thick skulls.

What I enjoy most about After Fall, Winter — well, besides Lizzie Brocheré (Sleepless Night) whom I have loved ever since her amazing performance in Karin Albou’s The Wedding Song (2009) — is the way that Schaeffer toys with conventional gender roles. Sophie is mostly masculine. She is strong, blunt, and has sex when she wants it, but she shies away from intimate conversations. Michael is mostly feminine. He is a fragile romantic and quick to fall in love; he loves intimate conversations, and — depending on who you ask — he might be described as open and honest.

Smells Like Screen Spirit chatted with Schaeffer on the eve of FilmBuff‘s digital release of After Fall, Winter.

Don Simpson: One aspect of After Fall, Winter that really fascinates me is the way that Sophie and Michael are defined by specific personality traits and how those traits are essentially used to bring the two characters together…

Eric Schaeffer: Its sort of like, water seeks its own level — that’s the short answer. Call it a spiritual belief, call it a psychological belief, but it seems like within some degree of water level you find who is compatible. In that one talk at the kitchen table when Michael says to Sophie point blankly, do you think people find other broken people to help fit in as a puzzle piece, to fix whatever damage they have, and they can somehow comfort or fix the damage in the other person? Sophie says that she doesn’t believe that, but I sort of do believe that. I believe that we are seeking something — our parents if you are a Freudian — to gain out of a loving relationship. Even psychologically, teacher heal thyself. Teachers take jobs in the fields that they need to be taught the most in. That makes sense to me philosophically as an overarching way that humans work in the world. So, when a guy who has self-hatred runs into a woman who hates men, then that could make a perfect fit. That is a very simplistic way to put it; but clearly Sophie has tremendous ambivalence about BDSM, and he has ambivalence about self-love and being upset about life in his mid-40s. The character of Michael was born out of my personal experience, just because most writers tend to write from personal experience — most of them don’t play themselves. I am not fully Michael, I am a much more honest person. I would never lie when confronted, like Michael does when confronted by Sophie in the bed scene. I don’t lie about things like that, but Michael does for a big plot point. Sophie was based on one relationship I had. Some of Sophie’s most hurtful lines come straight from real life, such as the line “if you were ten pounds thinner I would have blown you by now.” The sexual talk was all straight out of my relationship with that woman. So I fashioned Sophie’s sadistic side from this one woman writer whom I knew. The rest of her personality — I just write intuitively. Plot points I have to think up and strategize, but in terms of how characters interact, I just let them talk. I constructed Sophie as a hospice worker because I wanted to show the complexity of her character and her emotional life being one that has a great capacity for love and taking care of people. Often BDSM can be the flip coin of that, because some men feel taken care of by being smacked in the face by a woman.

DS: I found that duality very interesting, that Sophie could form this intimate emotional attachment to a 13-year old girl who is dying of cancer yet at the same time be a dominatrix. Both careers seem so opposite, but they each seem so natural for Sophie.

ES: Sophie has fashioned a life where she has no chance for intimacy. Well, she has tremendous intimacy that cannot go past a certain threshold. She is taking care of people who are going to die, which I imagine is one of the most intimate situations a person can be in — holding the hand of someone during their last breath. Then, she creates this situation in BDSM — that is a very intimate job, especially if you are doing more edgier play such as strangling people or hitting people, because you could injure them or kill them. So Sophie has to be highly present and, in a way, highly considerate and caring of her clients. People don’t usually get that. They just see the obvious, which is a woman smacking a man very hard in the face. In fact, unlike any other type of sex worker — prostitute, massage girl — who can be completely detached from their work, a dominatrix needs to be completely focused and present. Those people who meditate and strive to be present in their lives know that is a very provocative and wonderful situation to have someone very present with you. But… It ends after an hour and the dominatrix gets paid.

DS: The characters also play transposed gender roles. Sophie is very strong and blunt, she has sex whenever she wants it, and she shies away from intimate conversation — those tend to be very traditional masculine traits. Michael has more traditional feminine traits… He is a fragile romantic who is quick to fall in love, and he longs for intimate conversations.

ES: I think that is a very astute observation on your part. I am trying to blow up the archetypal gender roles for years. It is confusing to be a man. Many women would like for you to be a “gentleman” in the old school way — hold the door, buy flowers, etc — but they would also like for you to be more emotionally open to talking; but some women find that as a weakness. It is all over the place right now. Its all just preference, man. Don’t judge other people and find people who fit for you. Most men are much more complex than the historical stereotype. We are not just macho. I am as macho as they come. Sunday is about watching football, and that is going to trump any date with any woman. I am going to defend my woman on the street. But I also like intimate conversations which is why most of my close friends are female because they are more accepting and interested in talking like that. When you say Sophie is playing the man because she can have detached sex and be strong — that’s a little sad, even in knowing you don’t really think that way, but that is your quick version of getting that point across. How sad is that? And women are fragile romantics who like intimate conversations? That is what is pounded into our brains. I find that I challenge more people by being a straight man who has what are socially-defined to be female characteristics then if I was just a gay man. People like their little compartments. Obviously gays still have a tremendous amount of bigotry against them, but they are better understood than a straight man who wants to be fucked in the ass with a strap on by a sexy woman. That just fucks everybody up.

DS: And that brings up another prominent theme in After Fall, Winter which is sexuality. I cannot think of any other films that treat BDSM as “normal” sexual behavior.

ES: I have always said to people who have accused me of being “unique” or “way off the chart” in terms of sexuality, there is a multi-billion dollar industry of trannie porn, trannie prostitution, BDSM porn, BDSM hired pro-doms… I don’t have a billion dollars. I am not the only one interested in this stuff. It is a BIG business. A dominatrix generally costs between $200-500/hour. For many people, $500 is a weekly salary. Who is buying these services? These are straight men. Gay men want a real male penis in them, they don’t want a woman with a fake plastic penis. Certainly some bi-sexual men, and gay women might… but forget the strap on part of it, there are many fetishes and kicks that people are paying for. Clearly there are millions of people who are into this stuff, yet it seems to be the new major stigma. Homosexuality doesn’t win that award anymore. Now, if you are in the transgender community or the straight male BDSM community, these are the new pariahs. You have always seen some bondage stuff in film and television, but generally it is shown comically and over-the-top. You rarely see it discussed “normally” or getting into the psychology of what is interesting about it in a thoughtful mature way. I know a lot of pro-dom’s and their clients are doctors, lawyers, advertising executives, college students; most are straight and terrified to talk with their girlfriends or wives about what they might really like. Who knows? Maybe they would be into it. I submit that everyone has a scale. One man’s wearing a diaper fetish is another man’s getting it with a strap on. This is Oedipal 101. What do babies do with feces? They play with it and try to put it in their mouth, but probably most people would agree that that most disgusting fetish would be having to do with feces. But if you want to break it down, this is the earliest developmental mommy-baby stuff that there is. It is confusing to people. The box of a straight man who wants to lick women’s feet is “weird.” Generally everybody has something on the scale of 1-10 that is not just the missionary position with the lights off.

DS: Was After Fall, Winter purposefully set in Europe — France in particular — because of their more open attitude towards sexuality?

ES: I wanted to make After Fall, Winter in France first of all because it really works with the quartet. This is the second film — the first is Fall, and Fall has to do with Paris and it made sense for this storyline to be set in Paris. Secondly, I do think there would be more forgiveness of the sexual context because Europeans are more understanding and relaxed about human sexuality. Thirdly, I thought by making this film in Europe and releasing it there would be a way to get critics — who for some reason can’t just watch my films and leave aside their perception of me as a person and my ego from the actual film that I made — to open their eyes because maybe they’ll see it in a new way.

DS: Who is your perceived audience?

ES: I just make movies. Distributors ask me, marketing people ask me, and I say my audience is people who like good movies. I understand the importance of marketing a film, I’m not an idiot. There is a lot going on in this film. There is the beautiful love story, the BDSM stuff is in there… The trailer I cut, I think, does it justice. You get a sense for the danger and sexiness and BDSM, but you don’t quite know what it is about. I figure that the audience in the U.S. would be people who love challenging, edgy, romantic movies. I don’t make films that fit into compartments though. I seem to have developed a style in my body of work, going from different levels of funny (broad to more sophisticated) to real pathos, in the same film and often from scene to scene. That is how life is. You can go from having a profound spiritual experience to a sudden burst of anger then encounter something that is really funny. We are very sophisticated beings who can go through a lot of emotions very quickly. There is that scene in which Sophie rapes the guy on the floor with the broomstick — you think it is a real rape, that he was trying to rape her and she turns the tables on him and rapes him, but then you find out that’s what he wants as part of his session. That is always a big laugh in the theater, people love to learn that they have been tricked. By the time that laugh subsides, Sophie is already in the hospital talking with the dying 13-year old. There are no transitions. There is not some montage of Paris or we don’t watch Sophie ride the subway to the hospital…

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/eric-schaeffer-after-fall-winter-interview/feed/ 0 Annie Hall | Review http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/annie-hall-review/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/annie-hall-review/#comments Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:29:50 +0000 Linc Leifeste http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15563

Director: Woody Allen

Writers: Woody Allen, Marshall Brickman

Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane, Paul Simon, Shelley Duvall, Janet Margolin, Colleen Dewhurst, Christopher Walken

Having been born in 1973, I was too young to see Woody Allen’s best works in the theater. If memory serves correct, I believe 1994′s Bullets Over Broadway, which I still have a soft spot for, was the first Woody Allen film I witnessed on the big screen. And to be quite honest, my track record for catching Allen’s output since then has been unsteady at best. Likewise, my efforts at working through his extensive back-catalog has been sincere but less than noteworthy. And most of this I blame on Allen’s 1977 masterpiece, Annie Hall, with which Woody Allen somehow managed to bottle lightning in one of those rarely repeatable feats, a film that would make my short list of filmed perfection. After experiencing its magic (along with other Allen classics such as Manhattan, Broadway Danny Rose, Hannah and Her Sisters and Crimes and Misdemeanors) it made it harder to be interested in sitting through some of the misses in Allen’s long hit and miss career, although I’ll be the first to admit that even a Woody Allen miss is still better than much of what makes it to the big screen.

Annie Hall tells the story of Alvy Singer (Woody Allen),  a successful stand-up comedian (he’s hilariously recognized by a stranger on the street from his Johnny Carson appearances), focusing on his generally unsuccessful attempts at romantic relationships, particularly one with Annie Hall (Diane Keaton), a  sweet and quirky aspiring nightclub singer. By this point we’re probably all intimately familiar with the recurring Woody Allen character, with its combination of self-deprecating and elitist strains, cynical and insecure and always in therapy with evidently no results, a character that most (like me), correctly or not, probably see as an exaggerated version of its creator. Alvy Singer is probably the archetype of those characters, with his existential angst and razor sharp wit that as often as not is turned on himself and his inability to stop thinking long enough to enjoy anything. At times I can’t help but think of him as a grown up Jewish version of Charlie Brown.

While Woody Allen’s earlier films had shown flashes of brilliance, Annie Hall represented a real maturation in my estimation. While still maintaining elements of his more gonzo and slapstick inclinations, this was a movie that dealt with mature issues on a personal and philosophical level. At its core the movie is about relationships and the inevitability of their failures. And while both lead characters are in some ways extreme examples of dysfunctional people, they’re both believable, and maybe even more importantly, likeable. I’d like to think that most people can see at least some small part of themselves in Annie Hall and Alvy Singer. So by the end of the film, when the relationship has gone past the point of no return, it’s hard not to take the loss personally. Of course it doesn’t hurt that the chemistry between Allen and Keaton is every bit as electric, and much more lovably awkward, as that between legendary screen couples Bogart and Bacall or Tracy and Hepburn.

Annie Hall combines intensely sharp dialogue with spot-on performances from the entire cast, creating some of the most memorable characters and quotes in all of film. Whether it’s Shelley Duvall’s  post-sex commentary “Sex with you is really a Kafkaesque experience” or Christopher Walken’s brilliant appearance as Annie Hall’s crazed brother or Paul Simon’s smarmy LA record producer or Alvy Singer’s ode to masturbation “Don’t knock masturbation, it’s sex with someone I love,” the film is filled with moments that stay in your head long after the film is over. Even Jeff Goldblum’s one-line appearance is a joy to behold. This combined with it’s absurdist elements (characters talking to the camera, flashback scenes featuring discussion between past and present characters, subtitles giving the real thoughts of characters instead of their spoken words, characters suddenly becoming cartoons, etc.), all pared down to a lean 93-minute run time, makes for existential comedy at its finest.

As is often the case with movies of this vintage and this caliber, I tend to fantasize about what it must have been like to see it upon release, before a whole industry had followed in its wake (yes, I’m talking about Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm and countless other shows that probably wouldn’t exist without Woody Allen), but that’s not possible. Regardless, despite being an unbelievabe twenty-five years old, Annie Hall is still remarkably fresh and vibrant today and just having been released on blu-ray by MGM, Annie Hall has never looked and sounded so good. Despite completely lacking in bonus features (I’ve read that Woody Allen’s not a fan of them) other than the original film trailer in hi-def, the blu-ray’s improvements in sound and picture quality over the prior DVD version definitely justify an upgrade.

Rating: 10/10

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/02/annie-hall-review/feed/ 0 JOURNEY 2 | Advance Screenings Giveaway - Austin, Dallas, Houston & San Antonio, TX http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/journey-2-advance-screenings-giveaway/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/journey-2-advance-screenings-giveaway/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:25:07 +0000 Dave Campbell http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15488

Smells Like Screen Spirit & Warner Bros. invite you

to RSVP for passes to our special advance screenings of

JOURNEY 2: THE MYSTERIOUS ISLAND

February 6, 2011 at 7:00 PM in

Austin, Dallas, Houston & San Antonio, TX.

Synopsis: In this follow-up to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth,” the new 3D family adventure “Journey 2: The Mysterious Island” begins when young Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson, reprising his role from the first film) receives a coded distress signal from a mysterious island where no island should exist. It’s a place of strange life forms, mountains of gold, deadly volcanoes, and more than one astonishing secret.

Unable to stop him from going, Sean’s new stepfather, Hank (Dwayne Johnson), joins the quest. Together with a helicopter pilot (Luis Guzmán) and his beautiful, strong-willed daughter (Vanessa Hudgens), they set out to find the island, rescue its lone inhabitant and escape before seismic shockwaves force the island under the sea and bury its treasures forever.

Director: Brad Peyton

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Michael Caine, Josh Hutcherson, Vanessa Hudgens, Luis Guzmán, Kristin Davis

Studio: Warner Bros.

MPAA Rating: PG

Release Date: Friday, February 10, 2012

Screening Info: Monday, February 6, 2012 at 7:00 PM

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.

Austin click here to RSVP

Dallas click here to RSVP

Houston click here to RSVP

San Antonio click here to RSVP


Arrive early. Screenings are over-booked to ensure a full house and to compensate for “no shows.” Tickets are not a guarantee of admission.

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/journey-2-advance-screenings-giveaway/feed/ 1 Can | Review - SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2012 http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/can-review/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/can-review/#comments Tue, 31 Jan 2012 18:00:56 +0000 Anna Bielak http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15654

Director: Raşit Çelikezer

Writer: Raşit Çelikezer

Starring: Selen Uçer, Serdar Orçin, Yusuf Berkan Demirbağ, Erkan Avcı, Serhat Nalbantoğlu, İdil Yener, Erdal Cindoruk, Cengiz Bozkurt, Zeynep Yalçın, Güray Görkem

We usually like what we have already know — songs, we have heard lots of times, films we have watched over and over again, and ideas that have been stuck in our minds. There is no such attitude at the Sundance Film Festival at all. What seems to be important there is breaking all what may be called stereotypical. Last year the winner of the Audience Award in World Cinema Dramatic Section was Maryam Keshavarz’s Circumstance (2011), an Iranian film about women not wearing chador, going to discos, having intercourse with boys, and finally falling in love with each other, that brought a slightly different image of Iran than we are used to thanks to Makhmalbaf’s family movies. Raşit Çelikezer’s Can — winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Special Jury Prize for Artistic Vision at Sundance 2012 — follows Keshavarz’s film in the category of pictures that put an end to all we could expect from Turkish cinema.

Raşit Çelikezer changes the perspective of seeing and understanding in the very first sequence of Can. He does it in a simple, but undeniable way. We see the leading character — Ayşe (Selen Uçer) — in bed upside down. This one cinematographic gesture should prepare us for changing our position towards the on screen events. We will not get a black-and-white vision of Istanbul made up by Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk in his memories about the city he lived in; we should not wait for hüzun — the specific Turkish melancholy — well known from Nuri-Bilge Ceylan cinema either. In Can, Raşit Çelikezer tells a story about a family — which is a very Turkish issue — yet his approach to the subject seems to be influenced by western culture, society and cinema.

The plot contains the chronicle of a family’s life. As we know from one brief conversation — Cemal (Serdar Orçin) abducts Ayşe from her family home. Now they are together, with their own house and new friends. There is only one more thing they both crave for — a baby. Unfortunately, Cemal is barren. He suddenly starts to think that he is not one hundred percent man. Thanks to his friend, Cemal decides to buy an infant. He convinces Ayşe to pretend to be pregnant by wearing a false belly for a while. Everything seems fine until the moment when we notice that the fake pregnancy could bring only fake feelings. The mother does not love the purchased child; she can not learn to love the little one called Can (Yusuf Berkan Demirbağ).

Apart of that, there is another thread parallel. We see the same actress who plays Ayşe leaving a seven-year old boy on a park bench every morning before work. For some time it is hard to link this two threads together. However, it occurs after awhile that Cemal left Ayşe with the child she does not love and want. As soon as this two threads find a common point in the plot, Çelikezer splits the narration in a different way. He starts to portrait Ayşe’s life as a single mother and the new — though not better — life of Cemal who finds himself at the side of twenty-something girl and her rich father. It is obvious that the director wants to retain the harmony of the film’s construction by having two parallel stories from beginning till the end. However, by keeping the form complicated, he simplifies the content. Cemal left his wife, who could not love the child who was not her own, to marry a woman who has constant affairs and gets pregnant by one of her lovers. Guilt and punishment? It is too easy, not realistic enough. I would have preferred to follow only the single mother with the child without knowing what had happened to the father after he had left the house of his first wife.

Yet, on the other hand it is understandable that Çelikezer was focused on making a deep description of male crisis, which is quite a unique attempt among Turkish directors who usually portray a highly patriarchal society. The male crisis is still an issue explored mainly by Western filmmakers. However, Cemal is the supporting character — the leading one is Ayşe. Selen Uçer’s performance brings and maintains the tension during every scene. As Orhan Pamuk wrote, describing Istanbul’s inhabitants, Ayşe is too clumsy, too heavy, and too realistic; but brilliant in that kind of role. On the contrary, the seven-year old Can is very appealing. He has ability to stand in the shade very quietly, yet attracts viewers’ attention all of the time.

Moreover, the film’s title, Can, resonates really well with the English meaning of the word, and that brings one more level of understanding the whole idea hidden within the Turkish film. Every single character in Çelikezer’s picture could ask himself very same questions: Can I survive in this upside-down-world of mine? Can I be successful? Can I fulfill my dreams? Can I hate? Can I be loved? Can I be free? Can a child be the meaning of life?

Can I not answer any of these questions?

Rating: 6/10

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/can-review/feed/ 0 5 Broken Cameras | Review - SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2012 http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/5-broken-cameras-review/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/5-broken-cameras-review/#comments Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:26:36 +0000 Don Simpson http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15509

Directors: Emad Burnat, Guy Davidi

Emad Burnat is from the Palestinian village of Bil’in. Burnat got his first video camera in February 2005 when his fourth son, Gibreel, was born. From that moment on, Burnat began documenting everything. Specifically, Burnat began to document the upheaval in Bil’in as the Israelis began to build a separation barrier thus stealing Palestinian land right out from under its rightful inhabitants. The struggle continued for more than five years as Burnat records the ever-tenacious Palestinians’ non-violent protests and the Israeli army’s ridiculously barbaric retaliations.

Burnat’s involvement with the Palestinian cause deepens as he shoots more and more footage, much to the chagrin of the Israeli army. His ever-presence at the protests — especially his refusal to turn his camera off — eventually begins to put his family and his own life at risk. Daily arrests and nightly raids hit closer and closer to home, as it seems all of Burnat’s friends and brothers have either been shot or arrested. Burnat goes through camera after camera as each one is either shot or smashed while in action; each of the five cameras’ lifespans recalls a unique chapter of Burnat’s narrative.

Winner of the World Cinema Directing Award: Documentary at Sundance 2012, 5 Broken Cameras gives us an up-close and personal look at what life near the Palestinian-Israeli boarder is really like. We observe as the people of Bil’in risk their lives, again and again and again, in feeble attempts to reclaim their land. They put their lives at stake every single time they face off against the trigger-happy Israeli soldiers. Palestinians are gassed, beaten and shot on what seems like a daily basis; Israeli soldiers even arrest Palestinian children for peacefully protesting.

I do not intend to question Burnat’s perspective (or bravery) — or the legitimacy of the Palestinian cause — but it is important to watch a documentary such as 5 Broken Cameras with a very critical eye. Burnat obviously shot a lot of footage in these five years, but we only see the precise 90 minutes that the film’s editor (Guy Davidi) wants us to see. Again, I am not questioning the authenticity of the image; but it is worth considering what might have been left on the proverbial cutting room floor.

That said — 5 Broken Cameras is an extremely powerful weapon against the atrocities that Israel commits on a daily basis in Palestine. We can only hope that Burnat’s five cameras will be mightier than all of the weaponry of the Israeli army and that 5 Broken Cameras can promote a much more civil and humane relationship between Israelis and Palestinians. (I am not holding my breath…) At the very least, maybe 5 Broken Cameras will open the eyes of the U.S. Government and make them realize that Israel is not nearly as angelic as we are led to believe. (Again, I am not holding my breath…)

Rating: 7/10

]]> http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/5-broken-cameras-review/feed/ 0 About the Pink Sky (Momoiro sora o) | Review - SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 2012 http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/about-the-pink-sky-momoiro-sora-o-review/ http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/2012/01/about-the-pink-sky-momoiro-sora-o-review/#comments Sun, 29 Jan 2012 18:00:54 +0000 Don Simpson http://smellslikescreenspirit.com/?p=15476

Director: Keiichi Kobayashi

Writer: Keiichi Kobayashi

Starring: Ai Ikeda, Ena Koshino, Reiko Fujiwara, Tsubasa Takayama

Izumi’s (Ai Ikeda) world is black and white (literally, Keiichi Kobayashi shot the film in black and white), just like the newspapers that she is obsessed with reading. Everything in the world is either good or bad; and, for the most part, the newspapers only report news that Izumi interprets as being bad. Izumi takes it upon her highly opinionated self to grade the newspapers — the more bad news they report, the more negative their score. It is not as if Izumi sees much good in the world herself; it is almost as if she blames the newspapers for turning the world into such an ugly place…or maybe Izumi is just upset that the newspapers are perpetuating the ugliness of an already horrible world.

We meet Izumi the day before her Fall break. She overslept and has decided to ditch high school on this fateful day. As fate would have it, she finds a wallet with 300,000 yen. (“Why so much?” Izumi asks herself.) Rather than hand it over to the police, she decides to return the wallet to its rightful owner. That is until she recognizes the name on the plaque of the owner’s mansion. The name is that of a corrupt politician whom she recently read about in the newspaper. Izumi decides that the 300,000 yen is dirty money, so it is not worth returning. Instead, she lends two thirds of the money to a poor fisherman.

When Izumi shows off the remaining 100,000 yen to her friends — Hasumi (Ena Koshino) and Kaoru (Reiko Fujiwara) — they investigate the wallet further and discover that it belongs to a cute high school boy, Sato (Tsubasa Takayama). Against Izumi’s will, Hasumi decides that they should return the wallet to Sato, in the hopes that he will take her out on a date in return; but instead Sato hires the three girls to develop a newspaper of only good news for him to cheer up his hospitalized lover. It seems almost all of Izumi, Hasumi and Kaoru’s actions are based upon lust, jealousy, selfishness and greed. Their likability is diminished even further by their propensity for catty name-calling. Judging by the way they talk, they must really detest one another. Why these three girls continue to hang out together is a total mystery to me…

Writer-director Keiichi Kobayashi’s choice to shoot About the Pink Sky in black and white is apparently getting panned by U.S. critics as a pretentious and shallow stylistic decision. The 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival obviously did not see Kobayashi’s aesthetic choices as pretentious or shallow (nor did the Sundance Film Festival programmers), instead the Tokyo IFF awarded About the Pink Sky the Japanese Eyes: Best Film. Kobayashi says that he chose to shoot in black and white to represent how quickly the present becomes the past; for me it represents Izumi’s naive perspective of the world, it also lends the narrative a surreal dreamlike quality. Nonetheless, the choice to shoot in black and white works for me, as does Kobayashi’s even bolder decision to not use any music for the entire 113 minute running time. My only gripe with About the Pink Sky is the totally unsympathetic personalities of the protagonists. I found myself not caring about what was going to happen to any of them.

Rating: 6/10

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