Hustler of Culture
Burn After Reading (2008):
"When Coen-shaped artists do appear
With polish and shine for an old idear
One charming, daffy, but from point unknown
Ours is not to whine and moan
No, fun we loose when asking why
No context lost with sleepy eye
Not for now, but in sweet by and by
To reconsider when they die."
Dreams (1990): "The scattered musings of a genius like Akira Kurosawa are twice as compelling as the well plotted 'masterpiece' of a lesser talent."
Notes:
Sugar Town (1999): "One of my favorite film genres is the 'could-double-as-a-one-act-matinee' genre."
Notes: Allison Anders is a hero of mine. Eagerly awaiting another Mi Vida Loca.
A Star is Born (1937): "The mold of all I-got-famous-while-my-mentor-fell-from-grace movies to follow."
Notes: Film # 269 in the ongoing quest to see everything on the AFI 400 list. 131 to go including the 1954 remake of this one.
Go Tigers! (2001): "Any small town who claims that their high school football team gives them pride, should have enough pride to say 'Our team makes us proud, even when they don't win."
Notes: Friday Night Lights in Ohio. It's only watching Go Tigers! that I realized what these towns have in common. The destructive forces behind living and breathing high school football is that the team has to win. It's isn't just about a team and the town who loves them. It's about a winning team.
Pardon me for sounding all Free to Be, you and Me but if want 17 year old boys not to cheat in school, take steroids, consider their lives wasted if they don't get a state championship ring, shouldn't the message coming from all the fans and the boosters, and the dopes throwing pep rallies be "We love you the same, whether you win or loose?"
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007): "Childlike wonder is an act of great courage because it signifies a willingness to learn, to be surprised and to say 'I don't know."
Note: Make possible by a generous grant from the Deep Within Kevin's Psyche Foundation.
What is it? Crude, a documentary about an ongoing class-action lawsuit brought by native communities in Ecuador against Chevron Oil for contamination of rivers and soil and resultant cases of cancer and infant mortality. Directed by acclaimed documentarian Joe Berlinger.
How is it? A great story that tells itself. Feels like all Berlinger had to do was show up.
Should I see it? Playing at a half-dozen other festivals up through the end of June. Since it plays less like cinema and more like a special on Frontline, probably worth waiting until DVD.
What is it? Documentary about the Empress Hotel, a transitional housing operation for the homeless, addicted and mentally ill in San Francisco.
How is it? Sweet, even handed and direct in its mission. All this film would like to say is "Homelessness is a problem as complicated as the human beings suffering from it because, in the end, these are people too." It offers no political or social position (admirable given the how flinty the issue is in this town), levies no accusation and cuts no subject a sentimental break. Given how gnarled conversations on this subject can get in a matter of seconds, it's precisely the right strategy.
Empress Hotel is the examination of urban poverty we've been waiting for, an argument, like Dear America, Letters Home from Vietnam for listening over pronouncement, for observation over unneccesary point of view. Bravo.
Should I see it? Immediately. The film plays one more time on the San Francisco International Film Festival's last day (May 6) at 12:15 PM. Should you miss it, pester the filmmakers for a hasty DVD release.
What is it? "Essay film" about small towns in California turned into empty shells by the company's once based there.
How was it? A disappointing example of the chronic blind spot of this otherwise astutely curated festival. Director Lee Anne Schmitt has laced together 76 minutes of pensive, rueful shots of hollowed out buildings and weeded-over lots sandwiched between title cards of each town's name. A scant narration catalogs the sins of each company. Segments are so brief they less resemble arguments than hit jobs.
I am more than sure that many corporations treated thesmall California towns they built like public toilets. I am also more than sure the story of each of them is nuanced in ways Ms. Schmitt overlooks on purpose. After all, why seek wisdom when cheap political points can be scored with idiotic, slop arguments about big mean corporations and their silent victims?
The film festival really should know better than this. "California Company Town" may seem a natural for this event, given geography, political persuasion of attendees and that its already played favorably at the Vancouver Film Festival and The Cal/Arts Center in Los Angeles to name only a few. But, removing the false poetry, what we have here is a scold, a quiet one, yes but just as broad and thoughtless still.
Should I see it? No.
What is it? Documentary on the history and future of American film criticism.
How was it? Hurried. I don't often say this about documentaries but FTLOM needed to be about 40% longer (at 81 minutes, it feels like an hour-long A&E special. With commercials). It sprints from history to interview to larger philosophical questions so at issue in the 21st century–"What qualifies someone to be a critic?" "How much do or should filmmakers value critical opinion?"– without really giving many of them consideration or even a second point of view. Result? A filmmed outline, adroitly checking off points made without asking why make them.
I am not unmindful of concerns bugetary and resource-driven. Another 30 minutes of film might simply be money the filmmakers didn't have. But that doesn't excuse what is fundamentally missing here, a sense of joy in accomplishment. These critics love what they do, see it as vital to the culture and are thinking long about their role in this changing new era of instantaneous publishing and democratization of opinion.
Couldn't we let them talk about that? Couldn't we let their passions speak for themselves?
A pity. I attended a fantastic panel on film criticism at SXSW 2009 moderated by the film's director, Gerald Perry. I met the producer Amy Geller at that same session, who couldn't have been nicer. And yes, both that session and this documentary made me nostalgic for my own reviewing days and eager to see more movies.
Then why does the watching of this one feel like the wrong kind of work? Maybe having a critic make it was the error. It feels too much like another day at the office.
At the film's conclusion, legendary critic Andrew Sarris says "I wouldn't rather be doing anything in the world. I love this." I wish this movie about his profession conveyed the same longing.
Should I see it? Yes. Decide for yourself. Then pester the filmmakers like mad for a full-length DVD release. There is a whole other movies-worth of golden footage out there. I just know it.
For the Love of Movies is playing May 3 and 4 at the Sundance Kabuki in San Francisco.