#films i was involved with

[frosthetix]

some dudebros: tom hardy must be held at gunpoint to still be doing these sony venom movies

tom hardy: WRITES the movie, PRODUCES the movies, repeatedly states how much venom and eddie means to him, reads all the comics, #1 veddie shipper

[greensparty]

2023 IFFBoston Wrap-Up

From April 26 to May 3, I got to enjoy my favorite film festival in Boston, in Massachusetts and possibly the world is Independent Film Festival Boston (read my coverage here). I have a special place for this festival: in 2014 my documentary Life on the V: The Story of V66 had its World Premiere at the festival, and in 2015 I was on the Documentary Jury. Here is my lightning-round of this year’s fest:

Wed. 4/26:

Brooklyn Sudano’s intro at IFFBoston

Opening Night Film was the documentary Love to Love You, Donna Summer. Co-director Brooklyn Sudano (daughter of Donna Summer) did an intro and post-screening Q&A. The doc premieres on HBO this month. This is a solid doc about a pop icon. Some parts make you want to dance, not just the music in the doc, but the pacing and editing make you want to tap your feet. But then the doc brings it down a notch for some of the more serious aspect of Summer’s life. 

Thurs. 4/27:

I caught the low-budget quirky indie comedy Free Time. A young NYC Gen Zer decides to quit his job, not be confined to his job and enjoy his 20s - but then realizes he might’ve made a mistake. There were some inspired laughs and definitely things New Yorkers will identify with, but overall I felt like this was a short film that got stretched into a feature.

Fri. 4/28:

Penny Lane (left) doing a Q&A at IFFBoston

Penny Lane has made some great docs in the past: Nuts! was one of my 10 Best Documentaries of 2016, Hail Satan! was one of the highlights of the 2019 Boston Underground Film Festival, and Listening to Kenny G. was really good too! Now she has turned the camera onto herself as she donates a kidney in Confessions of a Good Samaritan. Penny is both the subject and the documentarian as she decides she wants to donate a kidney to a stranger and not only does she document her own journey to this procedure but she speaks to experts in altruism and organ donation. It looks at a lot of different layers and important questions this asks. It was highly thought provoking and nothing but respect for Penny in turning the camera onto herself in this deeply personal experience.

Sat. 4/29:

The Dogmatics and crew at IFFBoston

When I was making my V66 documentary a few years back, I interviewed members of Boston garage rockers The Dogmatics because they were popular on the 80s music video TV channel V66. Skip ahead to 2019, I had heard about a documentary being made about The Dogmatics, so I reached out to director Rudy Childs and producer Jada Maxwell. We met up, talked shop and I stayed in touch with them about the project over the years. A few months ago I was lucky enough to see an early screener of The Dogmatics: A Dogumentary and I am proud to be a Consulting Producer. Even though I saw a screener months ago, I liked it better watching it with an audience. This is very much an audience movie!

Sun. 4/30:

Dave Lindorff (left) at IFFBoston

One of my favorite documentarians Steve James (Hoop Dreams is one of the greatest docs ever and I was a big fan of his docs Life Itself and Abacus: Small Enough to Jail) returns with A Compassionate Spy about controversial Manhattan Project physicist Ted Hall. I didn’t know much about him before this doc, but it was truly fascinating. Many of his docs are him following the subject as their story is happening. Here it is more of a traditional documentary with archival footage, modern day interviews with Hall’s widow and re-enactments. Following the doc was a Q&A with producer Dave Lindorff. 

Dave Habeeb at IFFBoston

Later on I went to Somerville Theatre to see the doc (big year for docs at IFFBoston!!!) Beautiful Was the Fight about several Boston female musicians and their struggles in the music community. I didn’t know some of the musicians featured here, but I was really intrigued by it. Structurally this is different from a lot of Boston music docs, but it made a point about not just sexism, but also Boston as a music city without much industry representation, making it in the music world in the digital age and a larger question of what qualifies success. Director Dave Habeeb (a graduate of Fitchburg State, my alma mater!) did a Q&A afterwards!

Mon. 5/1:

When Mary Tyler Moore died in 2017, much of her legacy that was memorialized was The Mary Tyler Moore, one of my favorites. To this day the “Chuckles Bites the Dust” episode is one of the greatest episodes in sitcom history! But she left behind such a body of work in TV, theater and film, as well as philanthropy. In the doc Being Mary Tyler Moore, she gets the documentary treatment she deserves. I wasn’t too familiar with her background, but her comedic skills on The Dick Van Dyke Show and her own show were actually matched by her dramatic skills as well in such films as Ordinary People. Watch for this when it’s on HBO.

Tues. 5/2:

I went to see the upcoming HBO doc Time Bomb Y2K, which was produced by Penny Lane, whose doc Confessions of a Good Samaritan I saw on Friday. In the mid-late 90s there was tons of concern about the Y2K bug of computers not being able to understand the year 00 and how they could cause mass chaos for everything connected to computers, i.e. banks, public transportation, utilities...pretty much everything. Was the world going to end on Jan. 1, 2000? This doc is made up entirely of archival footage showing the countdown from 1995 to the year 2000. I dug this because even though it was a legit concern, from the standpoint of 2023, looking at a time before the terrible things we’ve faced since, Y2K hysteria seems tame by contrast.

I also caught the Shorts Gloucester Documentary shorts program. I went because my friend James Rutenbeck (who has had docs at IFFBoston in the past), had a short doc Nixon’s Reversal that was in the program. It looked back with both scholars and archival footage at a brief moment when President Nixon supported a policy that would guarantee American families basic income. This is a piece of history I didn’t know about and was intrigued by. That Nixon of all people was on board with this was mind-boggling. Hats off for the archival footage too.

Wed. 5/3:

Celine Song at IFFBoston

Closing Night with Past Lives. I’d been hearing a lot of great things about this in recent months and honestly, it was my favorite movie of this year’s IFFBoston. It shows Nora and Hae Sung, a girl and boy in Seoul. Their budding romance ends when her family moves to Canada. Twelve years later, they re-connect on social media and begin talking while she’s a student in NYC and he’s a student in Korea. Then twelve years later they reconnect again when he visits NYC, this time Nora is now married. I really got into the way the story was told over the course of 24 years and how people change, evolve, process and move on. Director Celine Song did and intro and then did a Q&A with festival director Brian Tamm. A24 is releasing this in June - go see it!

Cheryl, Rudi and me at IFFBoston after-party

Afterwards, I went to a wrap party, where I got my picture taken with Cheryl Eagan-Donovan (director of All Kindsa Girls, the doc about The Real Kids), Rudy Childs (director The Dogmatics: A Dogumentary), and me (director of Life on the V: The Story of V66 about V66)! Three Boston music documentarians walk into a bar....

It was another great IFFBoston and now I need a nap from all of the films and activity I did in that 8 day period!

For info on IFFBoston: https://iffboston.org/

[beaft]

my policy is i will watch and enjoy a bad movie if it's bad in a fun and interesting way. what i cannot abide is a bad movie that feels soulless. for a bad movie to truly be good, there needs to be a beating heart underneath a solid layer of shlock and tat. so ends my sermon

[ad1thi]

Justin baldoni decided to adapt It Ends With Us because he thought that stories about domestic violence, and specifically escaping and life beyond domestic violence deserved to be platformed.

Instead of being supported, he’s been mean girl’d by the cast; that’s treating the film like its this cutesy rom com : and I think this rly encapsulates everything that’s wrong with the book, and the fanbase it’s amassed

[jimmyspades]

CRASH (1996)

[theposhperyton]

Is this anything chat

[clarabosswald]

to the 10 non-israeli hostages still in hamas captivity (listed from top left to bottom right):

bipin joshi, 23, nepal. an agronomy student, bipin arrived at israel to study citrus cultivation, only 3 weeks before 7/10. he was staying at kibbutz alumim when the attack started. at first, when the rockets started, bipin sheltered in a bunker with 16 other nepalese foreigners. thinking this was a "regular" attack, and will pass soon, they've even taken a group selfie, which one of them had uploaded to facebook with the caption "bunker time". bipin can be seen in this photo.

fear settled in when the sound of gunfire was getting closer. terrorists briefly entered the bunker at first, shooting at the men. two were instantly killed - one who was filming with his phone, and one who shouted "we're nepalese!" the terrorists have then started throwing grenades into the bunker. the men have crowded against the wall - except for bipin, who jumped at the grenades to throw them away. he was successful with the first grenade; but the second one exploded before he could get to it, and left several of the men injured and unconscious. the terrorists have moved on from the bunker, and later the men heard distant shouts of israeli officers, who arrived at the active scene of the attack, instructing them to come to a nearby kitchen for better shelter. while a few of the men immediately went there, bipin and a few of his friends tried to first aid those who were injured by the grenade. it was during this time that he quickly texted his cousin, in english: “If something happens to me you have to take care of my family. Be strong and always see the future.” it was then that two terrorists broke into the bunker. one, pointing a gun at the men left inside, instructed them to come outside with him. the other filmed them with his phone - with the footage being the last time bipin was seen. bipin's phone was later located in the gaza strip.

2. sudthisak rinthalak, 43, thailand. a farm worker, he was working the orchards of kibbutz be'eri on the morning of the attack. he was murdered on the spot, and his body kidnapped into the gaza strip. his death was confirmed to his family on may 16, 2024, following an investigation of the available evidence. may he rest in peace.

3. watchara sriaoun, 32, thailand. a farm worker, he was kidnapped from kibbutz nir oz, where he was working. watchara arrived in israel back in 2020 with his brother, in order to cover their family debt and pay their father's medical bills. apart from his mother and brother, waiting for him back home is also watchara's 9 year old daugher, irada, whose mother died in august 2024.

4. sathian suwannakham, 35, thailand. a farm worker from kibbutz nir oz, he arrived at israel in 2020. sathian was seriously injured during his kidnapping. his mother found out about it via a video on facebook; she, alongside sathian's father and sister, are still waiting in thailand for any word on him.

5. pongsak tanna, 36, thailand. a farm worker, he would often livestream while working, talking to his father wilas, or his 14 year old daughter. on the morning of 7/10, pongsak video called his father. during the 10 minute call, he described the chaos of rockets and gunfire, shouting at people around him to hide from the terrorists. eventually the signal was cut. pongsak was kidnapped into the gaza strip. during the weeks after 7/10, wilas spent days riding his bike around his home province, alongside the thailand-cambodia border, looking for anyone with a relative in israel who could help him search for pongsak. he had spent thousands of bahts (hundreds of dollars) repeatedly submitting legal documents to the government, in hope for any news on his son. “if my son is alive, whenever israel can get the hostages released, I want (him) to come home quickly to (his) hometown," silas said in an interview back in october 2024. “most importantly, i want my son to be ordained (as a buddhist monk) for his mom who died when he was away."

6. bannawat seathao, 27, thailand. a farm worker, he was shot in the leg before being kidnapped.

7. nattapong pinta, 35, thailand. nicknamed "nick", nattapong, a farm worker, came to work in israel a year and a half before 7/10, leaving his wife and young son, in order to pay off a debt and help his wife fulfill her dream of opening a coffee shop. he worked the avocado groves in nir oz. during the occasional rocket attacks, nick would call his older sister, reassuring her. "i’m just saving up a little more money, then i’ll be coming back.” on the morning of 7/10, nick called him wife, narissara. there was shooting, he said, and he was running away. that was the last she heard from him. "i felt like my heart was being squeezed when i learned that he hadn't been freed yet," narissara said. "i will definitely go to the airport [when he returns]. nothing will stop me."

8. suntaya akrasi, 20, thailand. a farm worker, suntaya was murdered on 7/10 while working near kibbutz be'eri, then his body was kidnapped into the gaza strip. his death was confirmed on may 16th, 2024. may he rest in peace.

9. joshua loitu mollel, 21, tanzania. an agronomy student, he arrived at israel 3 weeks before 7/10, planning to stay for 11 months. both joshua and his roomate, clemence felix mtenga (22), a fellow student from tanzania, were murdered in nir oz. at first, the pair had managed to text a fellow tanzanian intern in the kibbutz, ezekiel kitiku, telling him that they were running for shelter. but after a few hours, the texts have stopped. joshua's violent kidnapping was filmed and posted online, showing the terrorists stabbing and shooting him several times. joshua's body was kidnapped into the strip; clemence's body was identified a month later. joshua's death was confirmed in december 2023. joshua was the oldest of 5 children, and his stay in israel was his first time traveling outside of tanzania. joshua's father told of joshua's younger siblings that they "ask me every morning and night: ‘Dad, we want to talk to our brother.'" may joshua and clemence rest in peace.

10. surasak lamnau, 30, thailand. a farm worker at first, surasak's mother, kanmee, had no idea what happened to her son. in the chaos following the events of 7/10, his colleagues in israel told her that they did not see him. but after she posted about him online, she was told that he was one of 5 people - an israeli employer and his 4 thai employees - who were kidnapped. his fate is currently unknown.

none of these 10 hostages are expected to be released during the first phase of the ceasefire deal between israel and hamas.

of the 82 foreign nationals who were killed during the 7/10 events, 46 were thai, 10 were nepalese (all agronomy students who were murdered in kibbutz alumim), 5 chinese (3 were murdered in sderot); 4 were from the philippines (3 were working as nurses in the gaza envelope, one was killed in the nova festival massacre); two nurses from sri lanka (both murdered in kibbutz be'eri); two were from tanzania; 2 were from the uk; 2 were from the usa; and the others were from germany, moldova, canada, cambodia, eritrea, india, mexico, ukraine, and geogria. 32 foreign nationals were kidnapped. most of them thai. 647 foreign nationals were injured.

[1000sunnygo]

Law novel sequel's title will be "Novel Law: The Hour of Kikoku" (Kikoku no Toki).

... or 'The Time of Kikoku', 'Hour' just sounded catchier.

It's going to be a multichaptered spinoff, the upcoming magazine doesn't conclude the story. Here's an update from the official website.

Seems it's the story behind Law acquiring his sword? Sakagami Shusei (Novel Law author) has shared some initial thoughts (the first tweet was before the title revelation).

Felt the last one 🤝

Once again, Oda's involvement is expected to be minimum. It's almost entirely written by Sakagami Shusei, like its prequel.

Let's hope we finally get to know the names of the other members of the Heart pirates!

Nishimura Kinu's sketch seems to hint at Law's interaction with Hakugan, maybe we'll get to know how he got recruited.

[ingravinoveritas]

Bonus clip of Michael on the WTAWTAW podcast talking about his experiences with gender expression as a teenager in Port Talbot and mentioning his crush on John Taylor again. Transcript of notable highlights below:

Michael: "So when I was 12, 13--early '80s, the time that Allie is talking about--and I saw girls with lip gloss and wearing rah-rah skirts and leg warmers and stuff, [whispers] and I was a little bit jealous. Course, never said that, never said that. In Port Talbot if I'd mentioned that, my life would've been hell. But I do remember being quite...attracted by the trappings. A lot of trappings for girls. We didn't have stuff like that for boys. There were rituals for girls, doing your makeup, doing your hair." Michael: "I mean, my first crush--I said this on a thing I did called The Assembly recently--my first crush was a man called--ah, John Taylor from Duran Duran. Ohh, he was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. The way I processed it was, like, I'm gonna try and look like John Taylor, try and make my hair like John Taylor." Michael: "And they always used to have a bit of lip gloss going on, didn't they? Those New Romantics. But like I say, I couldn't really try that out in Port Talbot."

This goes directly back to things I have written about on my blog previously, about Michael having these feelings and not being able to express them because of where he grew up and the hateful climate that Section 28 fostered. This is why it is so difficult for someone of Michael's generation to label themselves, because none of that is lightly shaken off.

Even hearing the way Michael talks about it in the podcast, you can tell that this is not a joke, but a longing for something that he still remembers so vividly, because it meant so much to him at the time, and still does. Also, Michael has now mentioned his crush on John Taylor twice in the span of two months after not saying anything about it for years, and if that doesn't tell you where his heart and mind are right now, I'm not sure what does. Neither he nor David need a formal announcement to make it clear who they are, because they've already been telling us...

[byemambo]

JES JESPIPAT AS TYME

4MINUTES (2024) | 1.07

Bonus: "When you're all better, let's go out for a meal together."

[tightjeansjavi]

How did Ridley Scott and the entire team that worked on writing, editing and producing gladiator 2 sit there and go “ah, yeah, boys! This is the one” whatever drugs they were on, I want to be on them too so that I can live in de lu lu land too

[chinzhilla]

𝔗𝔥𝔦𝔯𝔱𝔶-𝔒𝔫𝔢 𝔇𝔞𝔶𝔰 𝔬𝔣 ℌ𝔬𝔯𝔯𝔬𝔯 𝟸𝟶𝟸𝟺

We believe spirits are in every single thing. In houses, in forests, in mountains, in trees in rice fields. Every area has spirits. All of them.

The Medium (2021) dir. Tong Banjong Pisanthanakun

[transswordbian]

Hey um, I'm a tiny blog with not that big a following but ya girl slipped and fell this morning at work and is typing this from the emergency room. Any help would be nice

[fictionadventurer]

I think I have accidentally become very protective of the story of Snow White.

[yumemiruuuu]

Mu Qing: (scoffing) You don’t even know my favorite color

Feng Xin: (in deep thought)

Feng Xin: The color of my eyes

Mu Qing: …

Mu Qing: You are actually so dramatic

Mu Qing: My favorite color will never be “Shit Brown”

[risetherivermoon]

rosekiller au where Evan posts a random fit check to tt, where Barty is in the bg talking to him abt something while Evan just stares at him awe-struck and everyone is either trying to lip read to figure out what Barty is saying or saying that Evan definitely has a crush on Barty,

and Evan continues to post fit checks and Barty is basically in all of them and whenever he isnt the comments are just like "excuse me??? where is your cute brunette???"

(this is in fact the way Evan figures out he likes Barty... )