LESS PRO FORMA THAN YOU THINK

by David N. Meyer

Film

Terrence Malick’s The Thin Red Line, was a $70 million dollar art-film, a war movie edited not for action, but to reveal each character’s emotional state, moment to moment. In other words, Malick makes dreams. Time and geography have little meaning in his films. Yet each place is quite specific in its particulars and its gestalt. Events—presented with such reality—are never quite placed in sequence to one another. Characters drift in and out, seasons take forever, end in a blink, then return. The New World is a Debussy symphony (or, if you prefer, a Glenn Branca) that rises and keeps forming and re-forming around you, and you don’t realize how deeply you’re in its current. Malick’s magical narrative is so gripping and dynamic that when the lights come up at picture’s end, it’s a realization—a shock—how thoroughly you were swept away. Even as you think: how can this simple shot of two lovers walking in the woods be so moving—you’re moved by it.

Same-Sex vs. Same-Old

by Tessa DeCarlo

Film

A married protagonist falls head over heels in love with a same-sex buddy, and heartbreaking complications ensue. This sums up the plot not only of that famous gay-cowboy movie, but of the new Brit chick flick Imagine Me & You. What Brokeback Mountain approached as high Hollywood art, Imagine Me & You gloms onto as trendy not-so-high concept.

DVD CULTURE SAMURAIs, WATKINS, LOLITAPOP & LE SAMOURAI

by Film Staff

Film

Swords a-swinging:
Criterion’s Rebel Samurai Boxed Set

Criterion’s Rebel Samurai box set features four gripping entries in the genre, all depicting men challenged by unscrupulous hierarchies struggling for power: Sword of the Beast; Samurai Spy; Samurai Rebellion; Kill! These four pictures offer alook at the second wave of post war samurai films and the key directors who emerged from that wave. Focusing on the perennial samurai dilemma of giri (duty) versus ninjo (morality) allowed each auteur to make his mark artistically despite genre convention. These directors were in a sense rebellious like the samurai of their films, and still very much aware of their duty.

DOCS in Sight: The Decline of Distributors

by Williams Cole

Film

Any independent filmmaker who goes through the shameful dance of trying to find a traditional distributor these days tends to face an uphill battle, especially if they are trying to get any advance and real commitment. And if they do sign a contract, there are plenty of horror stories of distributors not spending the investment in publicity they promised and essentially letting a film disappear quickly. If you’re lucky enough to have the “buzz” at a festival (often first generated by well-paid sales agents) then there may be leverage to get advances and the additional investment in your film so the distributor can at least make that money back. But with such contracts, distributors often get all the money they spend off the top plus up to 80% of the box office, TV sales and DVD sales (which is where money is made these days).