#shane caruth

[abstractmodule]

Also a lesser known, and very reclusive, yet incredibly talented director. Shane Caruth, I'm looking in your direction.

[nelc]

_The Ones That Got Away_ by Fernando Reza

[weekendwarriorblog]

SUNDANCE DAYS 3 & 4: Something in the Dirt, Dual, Resurrection, Emily the Criminal, You Won’t Be Alone

The amount of movies I’m trying to watch right now may be starting to get to me, especially since I still have a column to write for later this week. (It probably will go up on Thursday this week.) But today’s reviews will be a group of genre films, many quite unique in the way they deal with potentially familiar subject matter.

SOMETHING IN THE DIRT

I was pretty excited to hear that Aaron Moorhead and Justin Benson were bringing their latest movie to Sundance. I have become a big fan of theirs over the years due to movies like The Endless – part of a very rare and complex indie trilogy – and then I absolutely loved Synchronic when I finally got to see it almost a year after it premiered at Toronto. This is clearly a pandemic film for the duo, as they play the two main roles, John and Levi, neighbors at an apartment complex who start experiencing seemingly supernatural or other-worldly events in Levi’s new apartment. They investigate and analyze and try to figure out the meaning of these strange events, setting up cameras to document it.

Moorhead and Benson’s movies tend to be notoriously difficult to review. They tend to include all sorts of strange occurrences, none of which be said too much without potentially spoiling the experience for the first-time viewer. I also feel like many of this duo’s movies need to be seen more than once to fully absorb the experience the filmmakers are trying to convey.

In that sense, the duo have eagerly taken up the gauntlet laid down by the likes of Shane Caruth’s Primer or Darren Aronofsky’s Pi, in terms of creating heady, intellectual fairly low-budget science-based dramas. (Or a more recent comparison might be Ben Wheatley’s In the Earth, which premiered at last year’s Sundance.)

The film starts simply enough with the two leads meeting each other and discovering the odd activities in Levi’s apartment, essentially a floating quartz ashtray, which they try to determine whether it’s attributed to ghosts or something more from the world of science. Much of the film involves the two guys coming up with theories about what’s going on, which are quickly debunked, but after a while, the friendship falls apart, and one can only expect they’re heading towards disaster.

There’s also an element in the movie that the guys are making a documentary, and doing recreations of events that we see, and at a certain point, it’s hard to determine if we’re watching a real conversation between the guys or something that they’ve written specifically for their doc. The movie gets very meta as the film’s real co-editor does an interview for the “documentary.” Whenever other people come into comment on what we’re watching as it happens, it just gets more confusing. Not that I minded being confused by it. At one point, I started wondering if maybe this movie was also connected to The Endless in some way, but hey, this is the kind of movie that almost warrants the need for harebrained theories from those who watch it.

I will admit that some of Moorhead/Benson’s work can be an acquired taste. Even they will probably admit that they make very strange movies. But these are also perpetually fascinating films in the way they create a mood with the music and editing to make their movies unlike anything else out there. I was also impressed with how visual FX were used in an unobtrusive way that don’t distract you so much from the characters or story, but instead enhance the overall experience.

Still, it’s always about the two characters created and played by Moorhead and Benson as their relationship falls apart and disagreements inevitably drive them apart. It's as much a performance piece, as it is a meta mind-fuck, and it's the type of movie I definitely will want to watch again, as I’m sure I’ll get more out of it on a second and third and more viewings, as with most of their work. Something in the Dirt will be distributed by XYZ Films, which is going into the distribution biz after producing many genre films.

Rating: 7.5/10

DUAL

Oddly, Riley Stearns’ new film, which appeared in the festival’s Narrative Competition, is another movie produced by XYZ Films, the Toronto production company that’s been doing some great things on the genre front the past few years.

In the movie, Karen Gillan plays Sarah, a woman who learns she’s dying after she starts vomiting up blood. She chooses to go the “cloning” route by getting a costly replacement that can absorb her personality and allow her friends and family to have a suitable substitute after she’s gone.

There have been quite a few movies about cloning in the past few years, including the very recent Mahershala Ali drama, Swan Song. Stearns’ film takes a somewhat different approach to the idea, because he’s particularly good at writing the darkest of humor. That’s on display here in the way Sarah learns that she’s dying, and other elements like the video showing how doubles learn the mannerisms and personality of their donor.

Sarah and her double just have very different personalities, and the double immediately infringes on Sarah’s life and horns in on her boyfriend Peter (Beulah Koale), who decides he’d rather be with Sarah’s double. When Sarah learns she will survive her “terminal” illness, the only way to get rid of her double is a fight to the death to decide which one gets to stick around. (So yes, the film’s title does have that rather obvious double meaning.) She then has to train to fight in that dual with Aaron Paul as her trainer, and actually, this is where it becomes a bit more like Stearns’ last film, The Art of Self Defense. (Another little odd coinkydink was that that film’s star, Jesse Eisenberg, had previously appeared in Richard Aoyade’s very different The Double, in which he played a dual role.)

I’ve been a fan of Gillan for quite some time, both in dramatic roles (the horror film Oculus, for example) and comedic ones (like the Jumanji movies), and seeing her playing such a dual role really shows her range as an actress. Gillan delivers Stearns’ dialogue at a fairly rapid pace that keeps the movie from going down the After Yang route of just being terminably dull, although some of the performances around her fall a little flat, including Aaron Paul.

I was kind of hoping the movie was going to be more about Sarah and her double coming to terms with each other. Instead, it becomes more about Sarah’s training and prep leading up to the fight. At that point, it also veers away from the darker humor I was enjoying, and becomes more serious with its genre element. Thankfully, we do get a bit more of Gillan as Sarah and her double together later in the movie, but for some reason, I thought we’d be getting more of that throughout the movie.

Dual is a decent genre dramedy, which I generally liked a little more than Stearns’ previous movie, though it’s hindered by the same tonal issues where you’re not sure whether to laugh at times. An even bigger issue I had was that it wasn’t the movie I was expecting, and yet, it still went exactly where I was expecting it to go anyway.

Rating: 6.5/10

RESURRECTION

It really wouldn’t be a Sundance without a Rebecca Hall movie, would it? After the wonderful surprise that was last year’s Passing (Hall’s directorial debut), she’s back leading a thriller that’s written and directed by Andrew Semans.

In the movie, Hall plays Margaret, a single mother having a successful life until she spots someone from her past and becomes increasingly more paranoid and panicked about him reentering her life.

This is another movie where you don’t really want to say too much in advance, since part of why it works as effectively as it does is by not knowing exactly what is happening, something Semans uses to disarm the viewer in terms of where things might go. The long and short of it is that Margaret had an abusive relationship in her past with a man named David Moore*, and that man (played by Tim Roth) is now back in her life, threatening her and her daughter Abbie (Grace Kaufman).

This is just a very heavy dramatic role for Hall, including an amazing monologue that proves her to be one of the best actors working today. (Anyone who saw Christine or any of the other movies she’s led already knows this.) Although we’re not sure what’s causing her character to panic at first, Hall is so good at really selling things that might seem incredulous, and it makes you wonder what is real and what is her just going completely insane. One thing I didn’t understand was exactly what Margaret does for a job. She has this interesting ongoing relationship with a younger woman named Gwyn (Angela Wong Carbone), who may be an employee or someone she’s mentoring? It’s never made clear.

There are points when Resurrection achieves the intensity of something like a Gaspar Noe film, although it may have been a mistake watching this so soon after the Evan Rachel Wood doc, Phoenix Rising, which I hope to review soon. Margaret’s turmoil seems to come from a past similar to what was done to Evan Rachel Wood by rocker Marilyn Manson, as documented in Amy Berg’s doc.

On top of that, Semans is just a fantastic filmmaker with some terrific collaborators from the way the film is beautifully shot by Wyatt Garfield (Nine Days) to the terrific thriller-appropriate music by Jim Williams (Titane).

The movie ends with a hugely disturbing climax on par with that famous scene from Takishi Miike’s Audition. In other words, you might need a strong stomach for this one, although it’s mostly a thriller steeped with tension and drama throughout.

Resurrection might not have the most original title, but the horrifying concept underneath that generic title is quite original. Semans has made a gorgeous and powerful movie, bolstered by another jaw-dropping and unforgettable performance from Rebecca Hall.

Rating: 7.5/10

EMILY THE CRIMINAL

Written and directed by John Patton Ford, this crime-thriller is a fantastic showcase for the super-talented Aubrey Plaza, who is also a producer on the project. Plaza plays Emily, a young woman having trouble getting a job to pay off her massive debt due to a previous criminal incident. She’s been working at some sort of catering company, but she’s given a tip for a gig that’s essentially a credit card scam, and it turns out that she’s good at it, and she can make a lot of money fast.

I wasn’t familiar with Ford, who apparently had made a short that may have also premiered at Sundance, but clearly, Plaza something in Ford’s script to want to along for this ride, and it truly pays off, since the movie is such a great showcase for what a fantastic dramatic actor Plaza is. In fact, it was interesting to watch this so shortly after Resurrection, which is a similar platform for Rebecca Hall.

Being an L.A. based crime-thriller, comparisons to Michael Mann would probably be appropriate, except that Emily the Criminal is very much set in the here and now and a bit of criminal activity that we haven’t really seen in many feature films. Essentially, Emily is hired to go out to places to buy high-priced items using credit cards created from stolen data. At first, it’s a simple purchase of electronics at a store where the staff could care less, but then Emily is promoted to using a no-limit black card to buy an expensive car, and that’s when things start to get messy.

Along the way, Emily gets closer with her handler Yousef, played by Theo Rossi, and that adds another dimension to why she goes along with some of their more dangerous crimes. She’s also very angry about the place where she’s put in life – I mean, how many of us aren’t? – something exacerbated when she has a horrible job interview with Gina Gershon, who is essentially offering her an unpaid internship. Seriously, I probably would have stormed out, too.

The film is shot with quite a bit of handheld camerawork by Jeff Bierman, which combined with the editing by Harrison Atkins, gives Emily the Criminal the sort of kinetic feel that works well for its quick pace (which even includes a car chase!). It was also wonderful hearing the score by Nathan Halpern, who I had a chance to speak to for Swallow last year, and it’s great to see him becoming one of those go-to composers for indie filmmakers.

Emily the Criminal is a solid indie crime-thriller, a grittier and possibly a more mature role for Plaza that offers many situations to show she can be quite a bad-ass when given the chance.

Rating: 8/10

YOU WON’T BE ALONE

This is the debut feature by Australian-Macedonian filmmaker Goran Stolevski, which I was mostly interested in since it stars the always-great Noomi Rapace, plus it already has a release planned via Focus Features, so obviously, that prestigious distributor saw something in it.

Before I share the plot (as best I can), I should say that there were parts of Stolevski’s film that reminded me of Terrence Malick, but that’s neither a compliment nor a detriment. I’ve always been mixed on Malick, and some of his films have worked better than others, at least for me. Stolevski is clearly a similar auteur, and he works with a great team to tell a story set during a primitive time in 19th Century Macedonia, a place where villagers are extremely wary and superstitious of outsiders, and seemingly, every woman’s only desire is to get pregnant and have a baby.

Before we come to that conclusion, we learn about the legend of Old Maid Maria, a shapeshifting witch who comes to claim a woman’s baby, to put the baby in a cave away from the rest of the world until she’s older. Years later, Maria’s new child, Bilia (Alice Englert), is now an innocent experiencing the world outside the cave, becoming more and more intrigued by the humans and what they do.

Also a shapeshifter, Bilia tries to integrate with the humans as best she can, but with no human contact beforehand, she’s puzzled by all their strange behavior, which includes a lot of sex. Bilia’s goals seem innocent enough, but she’s constantly being observed and taunted by the witch, played by Marija Opsenica, covered almost head to toe in prosthetic makeup.

In fact, Rapace is only in one section of the film, an early human whose body/persona Biliana takes over, and she goes through a series of different humans including a virile young man, a little girl, and others. I have to admit that at a certain point I did lose track which of the people we were watching was actually Bilia, since so much was happening. (The Malick comparison probably comes from the fact that Bilia never actually speaks, but we hear all of her inner thoughts.)

You Won’t Be Alone will be even more intriguing to those who’ve become familiar with Macedonia through the recent Oscar nominee Honeyland, though that was non-fiction, while Stolevski’s movie is a visceral bit of traditional lore.

As with other movies, the crafts are key, whether it’s Matthew (Blue Bayou) Chuang’s gorgeous cinematography or the music by Mark Bradshaw (Bright Star), who has written one of the most beautiful scores you’re likely to hear this year. The prosthetic makeup work (and all the blood and gore) is impressive, as is the production design, costume design and hair and makeup to transform the actors into the proper era and mindset. Like with the recent Lunana, I really had no idea which were actors and which were non-actors.

You Won’t Be Alone is a movie that absolutely SHOULD be seen in a movie theater, because it requires the type of concentration and focus needed that just doesn’t come when watching at home with interruptions and distractions. If you’re taken out of the experience even for a second, it’s hard to get back into it. Honestly, I have no idea how Focus is going to market this movie and get people into theaters to watch it, but Stolevski is clearly a filmmaker who will bring more attention to Macedonia with such a distinctive and unique folk tale-inspired genre flick.

Rating: 7/10

More reviews to come... probably after I finish this week's Weekend Warrior.

[demidelanuit]

Upstream Color (2013), directed by Shane Caruth...

A man and woman are drawn together, entangled in the life cycle of an ageless organism. Identity becomes an illusion as they struggle to assemble the loose fragments of wrecked lives.

[poorchoicesshow-blog]

Marvel Comics is Going Independent

Hello Rich Guys,

Alan Horn here CEO of Disney. Well, well, well. You all laughed at me when I said we should buy Marvel Comics for 4 Billion Dollars. Everyone questioned me. Everyone said we overpaid. Guess what? Everyone can suck this mouseketeer’s nut sack. After getting the grosses on Iron Man 3 my first idea was to build a real 20 story Scrooge McDuck style vault and swim around in my comic book movie money. However instead I decided to pump the money back into our production schedule. We own thousands of characters and I will be dammed if we don’t exploit all of them.

We have to branch out. Next summer we are bringing the Guardians of the Galaxy to the screen. It will be Marvel’s version of Star Wars. But what else can we give the public? I believe it’s time we get serious. We are going to take Marvel to the independent world. We are going to win Sundance and get ourselves a goddamn Palm Dior. How you ask? How about with this lineup?

Giant Man and The Wasp – Sarah Polley directs and stars as Janet Van Dyne The Wasp. Daniel Day Lewis plays her husband Hank Pym Giant Man/Ant Man. Since we have another Ant Man picture in development he will only be Giant Man. A hard hitting domestic drama about the pain of making a super hero marriage work. This film will touch on domestic violence and super heroics. A story of super heroes that need to be saved from themselves. This could be our Oscar picture if we nail the tone. I really believe that the world is ready to see the painful world of super hero marriage.

Captain Marvel – Based on the 70′s graphic novel. The story of Captain Marvel being exposed to nerve gas and developing incurable cancer. Shane Caruth directs himself in this cosmic story of loss. We open on Captain Marvel being exposed to nerve gas. The final 2/3 of the film is done completely silent and without music. The only noise will be the heartbeat and breath of Captain Marvel as he slowly slips away. The story of a super hero and the one villain he can’t defeat. I understand the original graphic novel was a real hit so we should have a built in audience. We will introduce Captain Marvel in the post credit tag on Guardians of the Galaxy. We open on his galactic mailbox. He opens and sees results from the space hospital. The word Cancer is written across the paper. He crumples it up and falls to his knees. Smash cut to black and then smash cut to green for all the money we are going to make.

Dazzler – A period piece. Dazzler is a marvel mutant from the early 80′s who sings and dances. We will set the picture in the late 70′s early 80′s New York. Dazzler starts out as a waitress in Studio 54. She moved to New York with a bag full of leg warmers and a dream. This merry mutant rises to fame as New York is crumbling around her. Look for a David Bowie to show up as a spirit guide/slash third act villain. As Dazzler is rising the charts people around her are dying of a mysterious disease that no one recognizes. It looks like the flu and is taking people left and right. Can Dazzler top the charts? Can Dazzler stop AIDS? To be directed by John Cameron Mitchell who will also star as Dazzler. We are hoping to hit the sweet spot between Fame/Cruising/Flash Dance. It could be huge.

As you can see their is a whole world of characters and stories. Marvel doesn’t have to just be for children. If we can get traction in the world of adult cinema there will be no stopping us. We can get them as kids with the Avengers and then take them through their pretentious 20′s and 30′s as they attempt to grow up.

Make Mine Marvel,

Alan Horn

[film-flam]

Upstream Color: Theatrical Trailer (by UpstreamColor) **** The only film I want to see at Sundance.

[whilecinemavisionsdancedinmyhead]

Upstream Color (2013)

[film-flam]

Primer

When El Mariachi was originally released no one believed that someone could make a film for $7,000 dollars. It seemedinsane. Then a couple of years later, The Blair Witch Project comes out and does the kind of box office business that Hollywood films like Death to Smoochy wish they could have had. That witch changed everything.

There was a flood of movie made on no budgets at all, and plenty of them got some attention. The problem was that a lot of them weren’t any good.

The problem with the “independent” film world is people max out their credit cards by trying to make films that look just as good as Hollywood movies, or have characters that have sellable character arcs, redeemable social messages, Syd Field 101. Because when you make a movie in your early twenties you hope and pray that not only that someone will see, love and subsequently buy and distribute your movie — but that the people that do buy your movie at least have a reserved parking space at one of the major studios.

So, to make a movie for 7k about a group of engineers who build a time machine and become involved in a complex narrative riddle, with no notable visual effects, recognizable actors — or for that matter actors with any previous experience! — is just plain nutty.

But, Primer is as smart and as clever as anything that has come out of Hollywood for a long time. It was made by an engineer who had no previous film experience, who was literally self taught, and who not only delivered a brilliant narrative film but also one that had a clear and cohesive visual look and deceptively simple characters.

Primer is a step into a direction of filmmaking that I think we should all embrace, because aside from the accounting wonders, it is a film filled with amazing stuff. Usually when you watch sci-fi films there tends to be a lot of dumbing down of technical jargon. Primer embraces it. Because it doesn’t really matter what the exact terms mean, because we are shown those theories and put into practice. When we watch two mechanics work over a car and discuss the job to be done, it’s not so much what they’re saying but what they’re doing. We tend to listen with half an ear.

The film also deals with it’s audience in away that’s very different. Remember The Matrix? That movie’s ideas was hammered into our heads scene after scene, because it’s really important for everyone in the audience to stay with the movie in order for it to pay off at the end. It’s gotta be one of the first rules of screenwriting; don’t alienate you audience. But Primer doesn’t really seem to give a shit whether you’re with it or not. It’s on a path, and it will not deviate from that path to explain theories of causality. For viewers that are unprepared that can be a very jarring experience. But it also results in a movie that is lean and free of the narrative fat that clogs up the pace of a lot of movies.

While Primer is not the date movie of the decade it does definitely require you to watch it with someone else if for no other reason than to see how they interpret the events in the movie. I’ve shown the movie to a few people and their observations of the event seem to differ greatly.

By the end you’ll wonder if Doc Brown really needed a DeLorean with a Flex Capacitor after all.

Data:

Primer

Release Date: October 8, 2004 Director: Shane Caruth Writer: Shane Caruth Director of Photography: Shane Caruth Running Time: 77 minutes or 1 hour 17 minutes

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