#Hittman Services

[hittmanservices]

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[fuckyeahwomenfilmdirectors]

20 Most Anticipated of 2020 Part 1: 1-10

20 films directed by women that will debut in 2020.

Part II HERE

DNA dir. Maïwenn

French actress/director/writer Maïwenn steps in front of and behind the camera once more with the semi-autobiographical DNA in which a woman from an abusive family reluctantly reunites with her toxic family members after her beloved grandfather dies.  Maïwenn has a stellar reputation among the French critical elite but it would be nice if one of her films could break out beyond that. Here’s hoping DNA is that film.  

Emma dir. Autumn de Wilde

Yes, I am a Janite, thank you for asking. Jane Austen has long been reverred, adored, propped up and consumed: mainly by women. So it makes sense that finally after a bajillion adaptations we’re getting one directed by a woman. Can’t wait to see how photographer turned director de Wilde interprets the classic tale and how it will measure up against other adaptations including Amy Hecklering’s genre bending modern adaptation of the tale, Clueless.

The Glorias dir. Julie Taymor

I don’t always love Taymor’s films but I am a huge admirer of all of them; it’s so clear watching each one that she’s a genius with incredible vision. The Glorias has her turn her remarkable eye on the life of American feminist Gloria Steinem played across several generations by several actresses including Alicia Vikander and Julianne Moore. Can’t wait.

The Half of It dir. Alice Wu

It’s been sixteen (!) years since Wu’s debut feature film, the lovely lesbian rom com Saving Face. Wu was a software designer before coming out of nowhere to direct Saving Face, and then disappearing just as abruptly. I was thrilled when Netflix announced that her latest film would be a loose adaptation of the play  Cyrano de Bergerac and would focus on a nerdy teenage girl who helps the school jock woo the girl they both have a crush on.  

Happiest Season dir. Clea Duvall

Actress turned director Duvall makes her transition to mainstream studio work with a romcom about a woman who plans to propose to her girlfriend at her girlfriend’s family’s annual Christmas party only to discover that her partner isn’t out to her parents. Kristen Stewart and Mackenzie Davis play the conflicted couple. 

Kajillonaire dir. Miranda July

It’s been nine years since the release of July’s last film which is sort of crazy given how consistently well reviewed and critically loved her films are. Kajillionaire has been in the works for a few years and stars Evan Rachel Wood as a young woman from a crime family who (falls in love? Unclear from the vague plot description) is shown another way of life by a woman who unwittingly is tangled up in her family’s latest schemes.    

Marry Me dir. Kat Coiro

Coiro burst onto the scene nearly a decade ago with a trio of easily consumable indies and then got swallowed up by TV. It’s nice to see her back and directing her first feature film in 7 (!) years. An adaptation of a graphic novel of the same name Marry Me is a romcom about a star who is jilted at the alter by her celeb boyfriend and then, to cover her humiliation, abruptly marries a random fan she picks from the crowd. Not only does the concept sound like the tooth achingly sweet premise needed to kick off a decent romcom but Jlo herself plays the star. Bring on the Jlo-naissance!

Mr. Malcom’s List dir. Emma Holly Jones

In 2019 Refinery 29 released the short film Mr. Malcolm’s List, a period piece romcom about a wealthy gentleman with ridiculous standards for what he wants in a wife and the woman who schemes to win his affections. The twist? This neo regency tale went full colour blind and cast poc (including Gemma Chan) in the lead roles. The short was so successful that it was announced that a full feature film would be developed with Jones and Chan returning.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always dir. Eliza Hittman

I remember Hittman talking about this film during the promo tour for Beach Rats, back when it was going under the title A. The film is about two teenage girls, one of whom is pregnant, and a day trip they take to NYC to experience the magic of the city and to access abortion services they can’t in their homestate. Hitman is a delicate and thoughtful director and this film promises to hit all the subjects I’m interested in including the power of female friendship and the importance of abortion rights.

Nomadland dir. Chloé Zhao

One of two films Zhao is releasing in 2020 (she’s also directing a little film for Marvel, maybe you’ve heard of it, called The Eternals). Nomadland cleaves closer to Zhao’s indie roots and stars Frances McDormand as a woman made homeless by the Great Recession who lives out of her van. As someone who was scared that Zhao’s work with Marvel would flatten out the lush and beautiful cinematic style she developed in her previous work I’m so glad that in 2020 their will be at least one Zhao indie that promises to stay true to her early vision. 

[weekendwarriorblog]

The Weekend Warrior 9/11/20 – I AM WOMAN, BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY, RENT-A-PAL, UNPREGNANT AND MORE!

Thankfully, we’re getting a slower week this week after the past few weeks of absolute insanity with so many new releases. This week, we also get a nice string of movies about women that are mostly made by women directors, so hopefully these won’t get lost in the shuffle of theaters reopening.

To be perfectly honest, I went into Unjoo Moon’s I AM WOMAN (Quiver Distribution) – this week’s “Featured Flick” -- thinking it was a doc about ‘70s pop sensation Helen Reddy. Imagine my surprise to discover that it actually was a narrative film with Tilda Cobham-Hervey playing the Australian singer who moved to New York in 1966 after winning a contest, expecting a record deal but only winding up with disappointment.  Once there, she’d meet journalist Lilian Roxon (Danielle Macdonald, being able to use her real Australian accent for once) and Jeff Weld (Evan Peters), the man who would become her manager and then husband. Once the couple move to L.A. with Helen’s daughter Traci (from her previous marriage), things began to pick up at the same time as Reddy starts dealing with issues in her marriage and friendship with Roxon.

Listen, I get it. To some (or maybe all) younger people, including film critics, Helen Reddy represents the cheesier side of ‘70s music. I only know her music, since I was a young kid who listened to AM Top 40 radio for much of the ‘70s, but by the end of the decade, I had already switched to metal, punk and noisier rock. As you can tell from watching I Am Woman, Reddy is a particularly interesting music personality, particularly once you realize how hard she struggled to get into the business with a husband who only feigned to support her after dragging her to L.A. for “her career.”

There were many takeaways from watching Moon’s film, but one of the bigger ones is how amazing Cobham-Hervey is at portraying a woman that few of us may have actually seen perform even on television. I’m not sure if Cobham-Hervey did any of her own singing or is lip-syncing the whole time, but it doesn’t matter because she instills so much joy into the performances, especially the two times she sings the highly-inspirational title song live.

Although there isn’t a ton of major drama in Reddy’s life, most that does exist revolves around her relationship with Wald, who is depicted by Peters as an out-of-control coke-sniffing monster. Those in Hollywood may have dealt with Wald as a movie producer or during his stint as Sylvester Stallone’s manager, and only they will know how exaggerated this performance is. Far more interesting is Helen’s friendship with Macdonald’s Roxon which would inspire her to perform the song “You and Me Against the World.”  (Seriously, if you want a good cry, throw that song on after watching I Am Woman.)

Moon does a great job with the material, whether it’s recreating New York in the ‘60s – often using music to set the tone of the period -- or by framing Reddy’s story with Phyllis Schlaffly’s fight against the ERA, as depicted in FX’s mini-series Mrs. America.  Still, it never loses track of Reddy’s journey and her role as a mother to Traci and slightly less to Wald’s son, Jordan. The movie ends with a wonderful and tearful epilogue, and I will not lie that I was tearing up more than once while watching this movie.

I Am Woman may be relatively uncomplicated, but it’s still a compelling relaying of Reddy's amazing story bolstered by an incredible knock-em-dead performance by Tilda Cobham-Hervey. It’s also one of the most female-empowering film I’ve seen since the Ruth Bader Ginsburg movie On the Basis of Sex, starring Felicity Jones.

This week’s primary theatrical release is Natalie Krinsky’s THE BROKEN HEARTS GALLERY (Stage 6/Sony), starring Geraldine Viswanathan as Lucy, a young woman who works at a gallery who is still obsessed with her ex-coworker/boyfriend Max. On the night of her  disastrous break-up, Lucy meets-cute Nick (Dacre Montgomery from Stranger Things), who later inspires her to rid of her hoarding issues by creating the “Broken Hearts Gallery.” This is a place where people who have broken up can bring the remnants of said relationship by donating the mementos they’ve maintained from their partners as sentimental value.

I’m a big fan of Viswanathan from her appearance in Blockers and TBS’ “Miracle Workers” series, as she’s clearly very talented as a comic actress, but I couldn’t help but go into this with more than a little cynicism, because it does follow a very well-worn rom-com formula that can be traced right back to When Harry Met Sally. Yup, another one.  Much of this movie comes across like a bigger budget version of a movie that might play Tribeca Film Festival, and I wish I could say that was a compliment because I’ve seen a lot of good movies at Tribeca. But also just as many bad ones.

The problem is that The Broken Hearts Gallery isn’t very original, and its roots are especially obvious when it starts interspersing the recently-heartbroken giving testimonials. It’s also a little pretentious, because rather than the real New York City that would be recognizable to anyone who lives there, it’s more of a Millennial woke fantasy where everyone is a 20-something LGBTQ+ of color.  Even so, the main trio of Lucy, Nick and Nick’s business partner Marcos (Arturo Castro from Broad City) do keep things fun even when things are getting predictable.

To be honest, I’ll be perfectly happy to see Viswanathan become the next Meg Ryan, because part of the reason why I warmed up to the movie is because I thought she was quite great in it. (I hate to say it but she’ll definitely need a simple name to remember to make that happen. I’d like to suggest G-Vis… as in G-Vis, she’s awesome!) There’s no question she’s the best part of the movie, but it also thrives from some of the other women cast around her, including Molly Gordon, Phillipa Soo and (surprise, surprise!) Bernadette Peters. (At times, I was worried Lucy’s friends would get particularly annoying, but you’ll warm up to them as well.)

Krinsky’s movie is cute, and while it certainly gets a little overly sentimental at times, there are also moments that are quite heartfelt, so basically, it’s a tolerable addition to the rom-com genre. The fact that the characters are so likeable kept me from outright hating the movie, especially once it gets to its corny and somewhat predictable ending. Another thing I like about Broken Hearts Gallery is that at least it’s making an effort to have some sort of theatrical presence, including drive-in theaters.

Next up is Jon Stevenson’s RENT-A-PAL (IFC Midnight), a rather strange and very dark horror-comedy. It stars Brian Landis Folkins as David, a lonely 40-year-old living with his elderly mother suffering from dementia, who has been using the services of a dating service called Video Rendezvous. This is the ‘80s after all, so it involves getting VHS testimonials from various women. One day, David finds a tape labelled “Rent a Pal” and he decides to check it out. It turns out to be a video of a guy named Andy (Wil Wheaton aka Wesley Crusher from Star Trek: The Next Generation) who David begins having conversations with, but once David gets his chance to have a real relationship with a nice woman named Lisa (Amy Rutledge), he’s been dragged too far down the rabbit hole with Andy’s evil urgings.

This was recommended to me by my own personal rent-a-pal, Erick Weber of Awards Ace, who saw it weeks ago. I totally could understand why he would have liked it, because it’s pretty good in terms of coming up with an original idea using elements that at least us older guys can relate to (especially the living with your Mom part which I had to do a few years ago).  I wasn’t sure but I generally thought I knew where it was going, because David’s trajectory always seemed to be heading towards My Friend Dahmer or Maniac territory. What I liked about Folkins’ performance is that you generally feel for him right up until he gets to that point. I also really liked his innocent relationship with Lisa and was hoping things that wouldn’t get as dark as where they eventually end up. I also have to draw attention to Wheaton’s performance, because as one might expect if you only know him from the “Star Trek” show he did as a kid, this is a very different role for him similar to Seann Michael Scott in last year’s Bloodline.

Either way, Stevenson is a decent writer and director who really pushes the boundaries with where Andy takes his new friend, and it’s especially great for its synth-heavy soundtrack that reminds me of some of John Carpenter’s best scores, as we watch David’s inevitable descent into madness. You’ll frequently wonder where it’s going, but for me, it just got too dark, so I only really could enjoy it up to a point.

A little cheerier is UNPREGNANT (HBO Max), the new film from Rachel Lee Goldberg, who directed the recent Valley Girl remake, although this time she’s adapting a book written by Jenni Hendricks. It stars Haley Lu Richardson (from Split and Support the Girls) as 17-year-old Veronica who discovers that her dopey boyfriend Kevin has gotten her pregnant. Since women under 18 can’t get an abortion in Missouri without a parents’ consent, she goes on a road trip with her estranged childhood friend Bailey (Barbie Ferreira) to New Mexico to get the job done.

It’s more than  little weird seeing this movie come out in the same year as a much more serious version of the same movie in Elyza Hittman’s Never Rarely Sometime Always. That aside, Goldberg and her cast do their best to make this something more in the vein of last year’s Book Smart, although that’s also a fairly high watermark for any movie.

Because this is a road trip comedy, it tends to follow a fairly similar path as other movies where they meet a lot of strange characters along the way, as they try to get a ride after being busted cause Bailey stole her mother’s boyfriend’s car for the trip. For instance, they meet a friendly couple who tend to be pro-lifers who want to change Veronica’s mind, and the best side character is Giancarlo Esposito as a conspiracy theorist named Bob.

I guess my biggest problem with the movie is that it just isn’t that funny and feels fairly standard, but at least it has a decent ending to make up for the predictability of the rest of the movie.

Now streaming on Netflix is Maimouna Doucouré’s French coming-of-age film Mignonnes aka CUTIES, a film that premiered at Sundance and then stirred up quite a bit of controversy last month due to its marketing campaign, but is actually not the pervy male gaze movie which it may have been sold as. It’s about an 11-year-old Sengalese girl named Amy Diop (Fathia Youssouf) who wants to join the school’s “cool girl” dance group, known as the “Cuties,” even though it goes against her family’s Muslim beliefs.  Amy learns to dance so she can be part of the dance team and take part in a dance competition, but you know that this decision will led to trouble.s

Cuties got a lot of backlash from for the trailer and Netflix’s decision to release Doucouré’s movie, which is about a young girl discovering her sexuality, although it isn’t really something lurid or gross but actually a very strong coming-of-age film. I haven’t seen the trailer, but I can only imagine what scene it focused on that got people so riled up, since there are dance scenes that felt a little creepy to me. Other than that aspect of the film, Cuties is as innocent as a Judy Blume book. I mean, how else do you expect kids to learn about real life than movies like this? (Unfortunately, the movie is TV-MA so young teens won’t be able to watch it.)

The big problem with the Cuties is that they’re actually kind of bratty and bullies, almost like a younger “Mean Girls” girl gang, so it’s very hard to like any of them. They’re also trying to act way older than they really are, and you can only imagine what dark places that might led, as you worry about Amy getting dragged down with them, just because she wants to have friends and feel popular.

Despite my issues with Cuties, Maimouna Doucouré is a fantastic filmmaker, and this is a pretty amazing debut, especially notable for how she’s able to work with the young cast but also make a movie that looks amazing. That said, Cuties is a decent coming-of-age film, although I feel like I’ve seen better versions of this movie in films like Mustang and The Fits.

Also from France comes Justine Triet’s SYBIL (Music Box Films), starring Virgine Efira (who appeared in Triet’s earlier film, In Bed with Victoria) as the title character, a jaded psychotherapist who decides to return to her passion of writing, getting her inspiration from an actress patient named Margot (Adèle Exarchopoulos), who she becomes obsessed with. I don’t have a lot to say about this movie other than it wasn’t really for me. As far as French films go, a movie really has to stand out from the usual talkie drama filled with exposition, and though I thought the performances by the two women were great, I didn’t really care for the script or the pacing on this one. After playing at last year’s Cannes, Toronto and the New York Film Festival, Sybil will be available via Virtual Cinema through Film at Lincoln Center and the Laemmle in L.A. as well as other cities. You can watch the trailer and find out how to watch it through your local arthouse at the official site.

Now seems like as good a time as any to get into some docs…

 Liz Garbus and Lisa Cortés’ doc ALL-IN: THE FIGHT FOR DEMOCRACY (Amazon) follows Stacey Abrams through her run for Atlanta Governor in 2018, but it also deals with the laws that had been put in place to try to keep black voters from taking part in their right as Americans to be able to vote. I’m not sure what’s going on with me right now, but I generally just don’t have much interest in political docs right now, maybe because there’s so much politics on TV and in the news. I also have very little interest in Abrams or even having the racist history of the American South drilled into my head by another movie. I was born in 1965, my family didn’t even live in this country until 1960, and I’ve spent my life trying to treat everyone equally, so watching a movie like this and being preached to about how awful African-Americans have been treated in parts of the South for hundreds of years, I’m just not really sure what I’m supposed to do about it here in New York. I guess my biggest problem with All-In, which is a perfectly fine and well-made doc – as would be expected from Garbus – is that it lacks focus, and it seems to be all over the place in terms of what it’s trying to say… and I’m not even sure what it is trying to say, nor did I have the patience to find out. I thought Slay the Dragon handled the issues with gerrymandering far better, and I think I would have preferred a movie that ONLY focused on Abrams and her life and political career than trying to make a bigger statement. All-In will open at a few drive-ins (tonight!) and then will be on Amazon Prime on September 18.

I was similarly mixed on Jeff Orlwosky’s doc, THE SOCIAL DILEMMA, which debuted on Netflix this week. This one looks at the addiction people have for social media apps like Facebook and Twitter, and how the information of what people watch and click on is collected into a database that’s sold to the highest bidder. Basically, it’s your worst fears about social media come to life, but my issue with this one is that the filmmaker decided to hire actors to dramatize parts of the movie, showing one family dealing with social media and phone addiction, which seemed like an odd but probably necessary decision other than the fact that the topic is so nerdy and so over my head that maybe it was necessary to illustrate what’s being explained by programmers. Again, not a terrible doc, just not something I had very little interest in even if it is an important subject (and I’m probably spending too much on social media and essentially more of the problem than the solution).

I saw S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun’s doc OUR TIME MACHINE at Tribeca last year, and I quite liked it. It follows influential Chinese artist Ma Liang (Maleonn) who collaborates with his Peking Opera director father Ma Ke, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, on an elaborate and ambitious project called “Papa’s Time Machine” using life-sized mechanical puppets. I don’t have a ton to say about the movie but it’s a nice look into the Chinese culture and traditions and how the country and art itself has changed between two generations.

One doc I missed last week but will be available digitally this week is Michael Paszt’s Nail in the Coffin: The Fall and Rise of Vampiro about semi-retired professional wrestler Ian Hodgkinson aka Vampiro, who is a Lucha Libre legend.

There’s a lot of other stuff on Netflix this week, including THE BABYSITTER: KILLER QUEEN, the sequel to the Samara Weaving-starring horror-thriller, again co-written and directed by McG (Charlies Angels: Full Throttle). This one stars Bella Thorne, Leslie Bibb and Ken Marino, as it follows Judah Lewis’ Cole after surviving the satanic blood cult from the first movie.

I don’t know nearly as much about the British comedy series The Duchess, other than it stars comedian Katherine Ryan as a single mother juggling a bunch of things. Julie and the Phantoms is Netflix’s latest attempt to be the Disney channel with a movie about a young girl named Julie (Madison Reyes) who decides to start a band with a group of ghosts (hence the title). It’s even from Kenny Laguna, who is best known for the Disney Channel’s biggest hits High School Musical and The Descendants.

Other stuff to look out for this week include Kevin Del Principe’s thriller Up on the Glass (Gravitas Ventures), which is now available On Demand, digital and Blu-Ray; the Russian dogs doc Space Dogs (Icarus Films) – available via Alamo on Demand; Phil Wall’s doc The Standard  (Gravitas Ventures), and Andrei Bowden-Schwartz, Gina O’Brien’s tennis comedy All-In (on Amazon Prime and VOD/Digital) and Sam B. Jones’ Red White and Wasted (Dark Star Pictures).

Next week, more movies not in theaters!

By the way, if you read this week’s column and have bothered to read this far down, feel free to drop me some thoughts at Edward dot Douglas at Gmail dot Com or drop me a note or tweet on Twitter. I love hearing from readers … honest!

[hadarlaskey]

Eliza Hittman: ‘I sat down with abortion providers to try to understand the story I wanted to tell’

Eliza Hittman uses quietness, shadowing characters during their private downtime in between story beats. Her debut feature, It Felt Like Love, is a mesmerising female sexual coming-of-age tale, yet it was 2017’s Beach Rats, starring Harris Dickinson as a closeted Brooklyn teen, that put her on the map.

Cinematographer Hélène Louvert’s immersive, heady shooting style has drawn admiration, and the two have collaborated again on Never Rarely Sometimes Always. Starring newcomers Sidney Flanigan and Talia Ryder, the film follows two young women on a bus from small-town Pennsylvania to New York City to secure an abortion for Flanigan’s Autumn. LWLies spoke to Hittman about deep research, her “method” style of writing, the woes of dealing with the Screen Actors Guild and her next project.

LWLies: You started researching Never Rarely Sometimes Always after reading about the tragic case of Savita Halappanavar, who died in 2012 in Galway after being denied an abortion. How did your interest in that evolve into storytelling?

Hittman: After her death, I bought a book called ‘Ireland’s Hidden Diaspora’, researching and reading for my own curiosity the journey women would take from Ireland to London and back in one day. I started to think, ‘What would the American equivalent of that journey be?’ because I didn’t think anyone would let me make a movie in Ireland. I started to think about the journey that women in rural areas take to urban areas when they can’t gain access. I started taking little road trips. I went to small towns in Pennsylvania and thought, ‘If I was a young woman here where would I go?’

I walked into a little centre, run by old women who volunteer. I took a pregnancy test and sat down and had counselling sessions. These little centres are highly controversial and problematic in the United States because they’re federally funded but there’s no licensed doctor on site, they’re just volunteers, lay people. They don’t offer any medical services, they just redirect you to adoption centres and try to offer you hand-me-downs and diapers. There’s – tragically – one in every town in America.

Then I took the Greyhound bus from that town in Pennsylvania into New York City. I wanted to see what the character would really see. I roamed around Port Authority and decided that if the film was set in winter then maybe the characters wouldn’t leave because it’s warm and safe. Port Authority became a bit of a microcosm for the city. Then I met with Planned Parenthood in Pennsylvania and in New York and other clinics that were not affiliated with Planned Parenthood.

I would sit down with abortion providers and clinicians and social workers to try to understand the story I wanted to tell and play out different scenarios for them. Like, ‘If I was a minor, what would your concerns be?’ and ‘How would you interact with that minor?’ That was the bulk of the research. It was a lot of information. I didn’t set out to make a documentary or a procedural drama. I wanted to make a poetic odyssey, so it was a balance of taking all that information but trying to filter it through Autumn and Skylar’s eyes.

How did you decide which elements of the abortion procedure to show?

The clinic scenes with the counsellors were the most important, because this was where Autumn would open up about herself. I chose to make so much of her back story a mystery, so here was an opportunity to reveal more; I knew in the writing process that I wanted to prioritise the scenes with the social workers over the surgical aspects. Based on how far along Autumn is, it’s a two-part procedure and for the second part of the procedure she’s not awake, so I didn’t need to show all of it.

Did you always know that you wanted to make the title an element of the sexual experience questionnaire at the abortion clinic?

No, it was something I discovered through the research process.

Did it have a different working title at any point?

Yeah, just the letter ‘A’ – like abortion as the scarlet letter. But I knew it wasn’t gonna stick, that it was a temp title, that I was searching.

Going back to your process, it sounds like you didn’t just walk a mile in Autumn’s shoes, you walked 100 miles in them.

It’s a fun way to work. I like it. It’s active. Writing at a computer is kind of stagnant. It’s interesting to be out in the world having an experience, rather than suffering at a computer. I would write and then I’d hit a wall and then I’d go back out and try to meet someone else, and then I’d come and write again. It keeps the process moving for me.

I was horrorstruck by the VHS ‘Hard Truths’ that the volunteer plays Autumn.

It’s a real video. It’s really used. I didn’t make it myself.

What were the logistics of shooting on the crowded streets of New York, and on the subway?

It was fine. I have to say the biggest challenge that we had was dealing with the Screen Actors Guild, because they didn’t understand that we’re a small production and not closing down streets and filling them with background. It’s easy to shoot on the streets of New York, it’s allowed as long as you don’t put equipment down and you’re handheld, but SAG was always showing up and fining us for not filling the streets with SAG background, which we couldn’t afford.

Why are they allowed to fine you for not filling the frame with SAG background?

They think of it as job theft. By shooting people on the street you’re not paying background.

I can just about get my head around that…

I can’t get my head around it either, but they were really shaking us down, like the mob.

How much were you fined in the end?

I think like 30 or $40,000.

What percent of the budget would that have been?

I don’t know. I think we’re still litigating it.

What’s next for you?

I’m thinking about a project about death and survival. It’s about a family that’s coping with the end of the life of the matriarch of the family. She’s in her late 90s. Even though she’s so old the family is totally unprepared emotionally and logistically for her death and they have to hire a home care worker to be with her in the last years. You think it’s this middle-class family drama about her death but once they hire this home-care worker and hand her the keys to the apartment the film changes point of view and goes into the struggle of being an immigrant in New York.

Never Rarely Sometimes Always is released digitally on 11 May. Read the LWLies Recommends review.

The post Eliza Hittman: ‘I sat down with abortion providers to try to understand the story I wanted to tell’ appeared first on Little White Lies.

source https://lwlies.com/interviews/eliza-hittman-never-rarely-sometimes-always/

[chamaquito-v1]

Been making these on a irregular weekly basis. You can listen to this one here but you can follow back to my profile on Apple Music to listen to the rest. If you another music streaming service, here’s the track list:

Nightmares on Wax - Da Feelin

Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti - Baby

Unknown Mortal Orchestra - Necessary Evil

Cosmo Pike - After School Club

Jamie xx - Sleep Sound

Jon Bellion - Adult Swim (feat. Tuamie)

UGK - Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You

Dr. Dre - Xxplosive (feat. Hittman, Six Two,

James Blake - Mile High (feat. Travis Scott & Metro Boomin)

Gus Dapperton - My Favorite Fish

FKA twigs - Hours

Brother KAMAU - MĪNT (feat. Talibah Safiya)

The Notorious B.I.G. - I Got a Story to Tell

Childish Gambino - Night in Kauai (feat. Jaden Smith)

[lignes2frappe]

CE JOUR OÙ... DR. DRE A MISÉ SUR LE MAUVAIS RAPPEUR

Place à ce jour où le bon docteur Young s'est planté dans les grandes largeurs...

Aujourd’hui confortablement installé dans son fauteuil de légende du rap, Dr. Dre doit tout autant sa très flatteuse réputation à son génie de producteur qu’à son flair sans pareil de découvreur de talents.

De Snoop Dogg à Eminem en passant par 50 Cent, The Game ou encore Kendrick Lamar, il est en effet celui qui depuis près de trois décennies a mis le pied à l’étrier à la fine fleur du rap US, tous ayant forgé leur identité musicale à ses côtés en studio, avant d’exploser à la face du grand public grâce à des singles ravageurs livrés clef en main.

Si de tels états de service sont sans équivalent dans le monde de la musique, n’allez cependant pas croire que tout ce Dre touche se transforme en or, le bonhomme ayant, comme tout artiste qui se respecte, connu lui aussi son lot d’échecs.

Paradoxalement, son fail peut être le plus retentissant est lié à son plus grand succès : le flop de son protégé Hittman sur le classique 2001 sorti en 1999.

« 2001 », l’opus sur lequel tout le monde brille… ou presque

Ce n’est un secret pour personne, les albums solos de Dr. Dre n’ont de solos que le nom. En réalité, tel un chef d’orchestre, le Californien assemble autour de lui un équipage quatre étoiles au micro et derrière les consoles, avant de mettre le tout en musique.

Si comme avec The Chronic sept ans plus tôt, Dre fait ici appel à sa garde rapproché (The D.O.C., Snoop, Kurupt, Nate Dogg…), il convie également des « petits nouveaux » du calibre d’Xzibit, d’Eminem ou de Scott Storch.

Parmi ces derniers, figure un illustre inconnu signé l’année précédente sur Aftermath suite à une audition : Brian ‘Hittman’ Bailey.

Promu à la surprise générale bras droit du Doc’, il participe à l’élaboration de près de la moitié des pistes proposées, soit en tant que rappeur (Xxplosive, Big Ego’s, Bitch Niggaz…), soit en tant qu’auteur (il a notamment en partie écrit les bangers Fuck You et The Next Episode).

Cerises sur le gâteau, il se voit même accorder par son mentor un titre rien qu’à lui, Ackrite, tandis qu’à la fin du clip Forgot About Dre, il a droit à ce que tourne une minute durant Last Dayz, le premier extrait de son album à venir.

« 2001 », le cadeau empoisonné ?

Niveau promo difficile de faire mieux donc, et d’autant plus que 2001 cartonne dans les grandes largeurs avec plus de dix millions d’exemplaires vendus, redéfinissant au passage les codes du rap tout en établissant un son qui va faire office de nouvelle norme pour les dix ans à venir.

Reste que contrairement à Snoop qui sur The Chronic brillaient de mille feux jusqu’à faire de son Doggystyle le projet le plus attendu de l’année 1993, personne ou presque n'a remarqué la présence d’Hittman.

Outre un manque de charisme évident et un flow des plus anodins (vingt ans après s’en est toujours à se demander ce que Dre a bien pu lui trouver), il souffre à chaque apparition de se faire voler la vedette par un invité au meilleur de sa forme.

Bouche trou, il est celui qui permet aux autres de briller.

Résultat, à l’avenir brillant qui lui était promis quelques mois auparavant, il doit se résigner à voir son solo initialement prévu pour sortir dans la foulée repoussé aux calendes grecques, avant de quitter le label en catimini deux ans plus tard (oui, en 2001).

Existe-t-il une vie après Dr. Dre ?

À en juger par la minceur de sa discographie, la réponse est clairement non, Hittman n’ayant sorti depuis en tout et tout qu’un seul petit LP, Hittmanic Verses en 2005.

Arrivé trop tard, le projet passe complètement inaperçu aussi bien auprès du public que de la critique, et ce malgré la présence de cinq prod ou co-prod de Dre et de son compère Mel-Man, plus une de Scott Storch.

[Avis aux collectionneurs, la compilation officieuse The Aftermath Collection regroupe bon nombre des chutes de studio de l’époque.]

Hittman justifiera quelques années plus tard son retour à l’anonymat par l’inconsistance de Dre quant à ses nouveaux artistes.

« Lorsqu’il se concentre sur son album, toute votre énergie se concentre également sur son album. Dès qu’il perd son enthousiasme à votre égard, tout s’estompe. Je pense que c’est ce qui est arrivé à tous les artistes passé sur Aftermath. Ça et le fait que vous vous habituez à voir vos projets repoussés. »

À ces lendemains qui déchantent, s’ajoutent aussi le fait de devoir se débrouiller ensuite seul avec des moyens limités.

« Vous pouvez vous pointer dans tous les clubs du monde et clamer haut et fort que vous traînez avec Dre, c’est comme une Black Card. Une fois livré à vous-même, ce n’est plus la même chose, vous vous demandez quel chemin prendre. Dre dispose d’un budget presque illimité sur ses projets, pas toi. Toutes les commodités dont vous bénéficiez il y a encore peu et auxquelles vous vous êtes habitué disparaissent. D’un coup d’un seul, vous êtes expulsé de votre zone de confort. »

« Je me suis senti à la fois blessé et sans défense, sans compter que tout l’aspect politique de l’industrie n’est pas allé sans entraver ma créativité. J’ai fini par complètement perdre mon amour pour la musique. »

Hittman reviendra cependant au rap en 2008 avec l’EP Big Hitt Rising. Il refera ensuite très brièvement l’actu en 2013 lorsque, invité sur le morceau The Humble Hustle d’Asoka, il rime un couplet durant sur ses glorieuses années, admettant sans fard s’être vu un peu trop vite en haut de l’affiche et avoir bien galéré depuis.

Aftermath, un cimetière pour rappeurs ?

À sa décharge, l’ancien espoir n’aura été au final qu’un nom parmi tant d’autres à voir sa carrière se terminer en queue de poisson après avoir cru un temps avoir décroché le pompon.

Des rookies Bishop Lamont, Slim The Mobster et Six-Two, aux vétérans Rakim, Eve et Busta Rhymes en passant par tous les randoms de la compil de triste mémoire Dr. Dre Presents the Aftermath (Kim Summerson, Stu-B-Doo, Jheryl Lockhart quelqu'un ?), Andre Young est loin d’avoir à avoir fait mouche à tous les coups.

Tant pis pour eux.

Publié sur Booska-P le 16 novembre 2018.

[mrmichaelchadler]

Postcards from London

"Postcards from London," directed by Steve McLean, has a lot of interesting ideas in it. It's a survey course in Art History, as filtered through the perspectives of five art-mad male escorts. McLean, a multi-media artist, whose only other feature was 1994's "Postcards from America," an adaptation of the memoirs of AIDS activist/filmmaker/performer David Wojnarowicz, creates a swoony romantic vibe in "Postcards from London," using frankly artificial sets to suggest the underworld of London's hustler scene. The film is best when it doesn't take itself too seriously. Unfortunately, for the most part it takes itself very seriously. 

"Postcards from London" shows the journey of Jim (Harris Dickinson), a naive boy from Essex who travels to London looking for "mystery and possibility," as he tells his uncomprehending parents. Once in the big city, he is taken under the collective wing of four adorable male escorts (Jonah Hauer-King, Alessandro Cimadamore, Leonardo Salerni, and Raphael Desprez), who train him in their profession. They call themselves "raconteurs," telling Jim that post-coital conversation is the real commodity: "In a society as atomized as ours, people crave intimacy. And that's the service we provide." Wide-eyed Jim commits to his course of study, reading books about painting and sculpture, until he's ready to start entertaining clients. 

But there's a problem. When Jim stares at a great work of art, he goes into spasms of awe and then faints. Upon awakening, he finds himself actually in the painting which caused the convulsion. (These sequences, where McLean has his cast re-create great works of Caravaggio and Titian, etc., against a velvety-black background, are the best in the film.) The raconteurs take Jim to an eccentric doctor who diagnoses him with the rare condition known as Stendhal Syndrome. (Stendhal Syndrome is not just the title of a horror movie directed by Dario Argento, it is an actual thing, named after the 19th-century author who described vividly his experience visiting the Basilica of Saint Croce: "I had palpitations of the heart, what in Berlin they call 'nerves'. Life was drained from me. I walked with the fear of falling.") Jim is devastated at the diagnosis: how can one be a raconteur if one can't even look at art without swooning? 

If this all sounds a little precious, that's because it is. References fly around the screen too fast to even count, tributes to Pasolini, Oscar Wilde, Guido Reni, Francis Bacon. Godard's "Band of Outsiders" gets a nod. The guiding star of the film is Caravaggio, who comes to life at one point (played by Ben Cura), challenging his muse to a duel. Ollie Tiong's production design highlights the artificiality of the project. Nothing was filmed out in the real world; it all appears to take place on carefully constructed sets, a theatricalized version of London's underworld, its alleys and bars, cheap motel rooms, rooftops bathed in neon. Inserts of neon signs are used as transitions, so often they feel like awkward placeholders. What engages McLean is ideas, but "Postcards from London" belabors the point almost to distraction (it may have worked better as a short film). 

Harris Dickinson, a newcomer, first got attention for his portrayal of the closeted Brooklyn jock in Eliza Hittman's 2017 film "Beach Rats." Dickinson has a pale beautiful face, a semi-blank quality, and the sculpted body of a Greek God. This combination made him captivating in "Beach Rats," which was a tactile exploration of the erotic possibilities of male bodies, the sexual energy inherent in all that tension. Dickinson's surface was a smokescreen, a camouflage, and the same thing happens in "Postcards from London," although here, subtext is obliterated. Hittman's film was all subtext, and Dickinson's particular qualities flourished in that wordless space. Here, it's all text. Everyone talks about Jim's beauty obsessively and he accepts the attention with equanimity. "Postcards from London" is not meant to be a psychological study, and it's not meant to be realistic. But since Jim comes across as a wide-eyed nonentity (no fault of Dickinson's: he plays the role as written), it's hard to know what to think of his intellectual and artistic journey. 

The film is pretty coy about sex. This may be part of the point, but it creates a semi-arch mood, tough to take in large doses. One needs only to compare "Postcards from London" to the fever-dream of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's "Querelle," adapted from Jean Genet's novel, to sense some of the problems in McLean's approach. "Postcards from London" wears its influences on its sleeve, and it has "Querelle" written all over it. Fassbinder is name-checked in the film, as is Genet, and there are a couple of scenes in a bar reminiscent of Querelle's entire seedy-glamorous aesthetic, where stylized sailors in white sailor hats pose around a pool table. "Postcards from London" lacks the subversive charge of Fassbinder, not to mention Genet, or any of the other artists mentioned, whose works came out of a potent blend of sex, beauty, suffering and criminality. 

Every artist has to struggle to wrest his or her own work free from the influence of other artists. American poet Hart Crane did not feel free to start his own work until he had tackled T.S. Eliot, whose influence was so gigantic it silenced him (Crane confessed to poet Allen Tate, "You see it is such a fearful temptation to imitate him that at times I have been almost distracted.") Oscar Wilde, as a student at Oxford, wrote provocative papers about the men who helped form his tastes—Walter Pater, Algernon Swinburne - before he emerged, eventually, as his own brilliant creation. Oscar Wilde served the same function for many of his contemporaries, who were so bowled over by him they feared the obliteration of their own work. (After meeting Oscar Wilde in Paris, André Gide apologized to Paul Valéry for being out of touch: "Forgive my being silent: After Wilde, I only exist a little.") 

Something like this is going on in "Postcards from London." It's a personal film about the artists who matter to McLean (the end credits includes a long list of painters and their works). His attempt to break free from the hold these artists have over his imagination is a work in progress, as evidenced by "Postcards," but there's still a lot here that's thought-provoking.

from All Content https://ift.tt/2z2wFNN

[chriscellman]

MACS Board of Directors had conducted training event and trade show.

Mobile Air Conditioning Society (MACS) Worldwide had met 2018 Training Event and Trade Show for electing officers. Andy Fiffick is elected as MACS chairman and CEO, Steve Sunday will act as MACS vice chairman, David Jack as MACS association treasurer and Tanya Johnson as MACS secretary. This MACS board consists of thirteen members for service and repair, distribution and manufacturing are represented by four members each and the past chairman. Jim Hittman will act as past chairman. This story is related to the following: Services Search for suppliers of: Trade Associations from HVAC /companystory/macs-board-of-directors-had-conducted-training-event-and-trade-show-40009575 via http://www.rssmix.com/

[hittmanservices]

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September Screening Log

55. (1)- The Kingsman: The Secret Service (Matthew Vaughn, 2014)- 7.2

56. (2)- Beach Rats (Eliza Hittman, 2017)- 8.3

57. (3)- The Big Sick (Michael Showalter, 2017)- 7.3

58. (4)- Ingrid Goes West (Matt Spicer, 2017)- 7.9

59. (5)- Frantz (François Ozon, 2017)- 7.4

60. (6)- The Wound (John Trengove, 2017)- 8.8

61. (7)- mother! (Darren Aronofsky, 2017)- 8.4

62. (8)- Ex Libris: The New York Public Library (Frederick Wiseman, 2017)- 8.5

63. (9)- A Ghost Story (David Lowery, 2017)- 7.5

64. (10)- Machines (Rahul Jain, 2017)- 8.9

[movietvtechgeeks]

Latest story from https://movietvtechgeeks.com/sundance-embraces-female-filmmakers-unlike-real-world/

Sundance embraces female filmmakers unlike the real world

There may not have been any female directors nominated for an Oscar this year, but that may change after this years 2017 Sundance Film Festival. This year has been packed with some very amazing films from women, including first-time directors which are getting snapped up by distributors.

New to the scene, Amazon and Netflix are on buying sprees which can only benefit things, and they are naturally hoping to push these films for Academy Awards wins. Amazon’s “Manchester by the Sea” was a recent Oscar nominee showing that the streaming service wants to jump in with the big boys.

Among the documentaries, first-time feature director Amanda Lipitz’s “Step” is earning raves for its feel-good portrait of the step team at Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, some of whom performed at the Women’s March in Park City, Utah, on Saturday. Another debut director, Sabaah Folayan, chronicled the protests in Ferguson, Mo., with “Whose Streets?,” filmed in the days immediately after 2014’s fatal shooting of Michael Brown and through the release of the police officer who killed him.

Drama-wise, “Mudbound” is the big one to watch. Director Dee Rees directs a rural saga set in the 1940s Mississippi Delta, starring Carey Mulligan, Mary J. Blige and Garrett Hedlund. Margaret Betts’ “Novitiate” has already stirred up controversy with its portrait of young women in a 1960s convent: Look for Melissa Leo to snag another nomination for her role as the supremely nasty Reverend Mother. “Beach Rats,” from Eliza Hittman, could be this year’s “Moonlight,” with its sensitive portrayal of a gay Brooklyn teen (Harris Dickinson).

But that’s where the feel good aspect of this article winds down as the read world is a far cry from Sundance.

Gender equity in filmmaking must have looked pretty good to the women attending the Sundance Film Festival, which concludes this weekend in Park City, Utah. But for many female filmmakers, coming back down the mountain will mean a return to an industry where the opportunity divide remains far more glaring.

The statistics speak for themselves. At the 2017 festival, 34 percent of films were directed by women. In the broader industry in 2016, however, women accounted for only seven percent of directors – down a full two percent from 2015.

“I keep wanting to believe that things have gotten better, but according to this latest report it’s gotten worse,” said director Karyn Kusama, who first came to Sundance in 2000 with “Girlfight” and is back as a part of the anthology horror film “XX.” ”It’s definitely worth reminding people that despite incredibly more difficult odds than even their male counterparts have in this business, women repeatedly and routinely face consistent gender bias. I don’t want to believe that it’s true but if you look at the numbers, it is shamefully true.”

In talking to some of the women at the Festival, no one’s experience has been exactly the same. For some, getting their first, second or third film made has been nothing but positive. For others, biases have revealed themselves in unexpected ways. But all wonder about that next step and whether the same faith will be placed in them as their male counterparts.

Gillian Robespierre made a splash with her feature debut “Obvious Child” in 2014, which eventually led to a production deal that gave her the freedom to be able to quit her day job and focus full time on writing and directing. Her newest film, “Landline” was acquired by Amazon at this year’s Festival shortly after it premiered.

For someone like Eliza Hittman, the trajectory has been a little different. Her first feature “It Felt Like Love” debuted at Sundance in 2013. With each new effort, she tries to push herself to move up another step on the ladder. She came first with a short, then “It Felt Like Love” played in the discovery section, NEXT, and now, with “Beach Rats” she’s in the official U.S. Dramatic Competition. She continues to hold down a job as a professor to allow herself more freedom, but she’d also like to move up in budget and cast. She’s also seen some of her male peers progress faster, like her “It Felt Like Love” cinematographer Sean Porter. People often call her to ask about hiring Porter, who recently shot “20th Century Women.”

“It’s funny that people responded to the sensibility of that movie enough to hire him but nobody would in a way circle back to me,” Hittman, who is only happy for Porter, said.

A few first-time directors premiering films at the festival took it upon themselves to try to help be part of the change. Actress, writer, director and producer Zoe Lister-Jones for her film “Band-Aid” hired an all-female production crew.

“I felt that they only way to really affect change was to completely subvert the system, especially in departments where you just very, very rarely see women – in camera and grip and electric especially,” Lister-Jones said. “For me, it was about creating opportunities for women who might have less experience.”

Lister-Jones sees herself as being incredibly fortunate but also notices men getting more and bigger jobs after the festival than women. Colin Trevorrow’s ascent from the Sundance indie “Safety Not Guaranteed” to “Jurassic World” and now “Star Wars: Episode IX” is always cited as the primary example.

“You just don’t see women having the same opportunities or having the same amount of risk put on them,” Lister-Jones said.

The indie and studio divide might be the essential point. Director and producer Roxanne Benjamin (“XX”) said that she’s always felt very supported in the indie world, but that when it comes to making that “leap” to studio films or television, suddenly women start hearing things like, “if only you had more experience.”

“It’s like, ‘I’ve only been making films for 10 years, no big,'” Benjamin said. “You see more of that leap of faith given to male directors.”

She resents, too, when studios respond with “training programs” for female directors just out of film school, which neglects the “latchkey generation of filmmakers” who have been making it on their own for a decade.

Writer, actress and director Michelle Morgan in directing her first feature “L.A. Times” was most surprised to find a lack of support from other women.

“The thing that it highlighted for me is not that the industry needs to embrace women, it’s that women need to embrace other women. It seemed like the people who had the easiest time letting me down were the women and it really stuck with me … My financiers were all men and at one point two-thirds of them were women,” Morgan said.

While all are happy to talk about the issues women face as filmmakers, most have a complicated relationship with the media’s coverage of the disparity. Simply, there’s a lot of chatter and not much change.

“There are more articles written about women in film and television than there are women in film and television. And that’s the bummer of it all,” said Robespierre. “We thought there would be more progress because there’s so much attention. But that attention hasn’t really equaled actual jobs.”

Movie TV Tech Geeks News

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[hittmanservices]

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