Road Movies

It's a human trait to want to pick up and start over somewhere else.  Or wander aimlessly without having to commit to a place (or anything for that matter) for very long.  One of my favorite of all types of films is the "road movie", as these feelings of freedom and adventure are at these films' very core.

In the mood for a little wandering, here are a few of my favorite road movies:

Stranger Than Paradise.  Jim Jarmusch.  1984.
Alice in the Cities.  Wim Wenders.  1974.
The Passenger.  Michelangelo Antonioni.  1975.
Kings of the Road.  Wim Wenders.  1976.
In the White City.  Alain Tanner.  1983.

Favorite (four), part twelve

Just like in my other eleven posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings, and most I have been glad to finally see.  But only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us

At times, the most sexual of all the Altman pics I've seen and certainly one of the most interesting.  Feels like a movie that Altman really cares about; it's extremely unconventional stylistically, just like McCabe, and in a strange way it almost feels like a precursor to the free-form style Michael Mann would take on with Collateral, Miami Vice, and especially Public Enemies.  An Altman film I would need to re-visit as it feels extraordinarily complex.  And if it's such a cliche at this point that Hollywood doesn't make 'em like they once did, during that special time in the seventies, then this film is as much an example as any.  

Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise's West Side Story

One of the first things that jumped out at me is how much it seemed to influence both The Outsiders and Rumble Fish.  I would love to hear Coppola discuss this.  Most of the music is quite memorable (doesn't hurt having Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim as collaborators), and some of the choreography quite lively and striking. My biggest complaint is that the action and emotions sometime seem a little flat.  But all in all, it's one of the grandest and most vital musicals ever made.  

Paul Feig's Bridesmaids    

The sixth Apatow film I've seen, after The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Pineapple Express, and the first I've seen where the hype all seems to add up.  Simply put, Apatow is able to create some of the most painfully funny moments on film right now while also managing to make time for scenes that deal with real life and actually make your heart ache.  Here I think Kristen Wiig is the real key as she's the perfect Apatow actor; she's quite adept at comedy while also able to come off as incredibly human, full of flaws and wounds for all to see.  Feig admittedly seems to lose his way at times, but the memorable scenes are strong enough to pick up the slack.   

Clarence Brown's Flesh and the Devil  

A reminder of how visually expressive, and even inventive, some of the silent period could be.  Full of nicely-weaved, surprising plot movements and a very memorable John Gilbert performance.  I don't know much about Clarence Brown's other work, but if this is any indication, he's someone I definitely need to explore.

Margaret (Kenneth Lonergan)

5/12/11 I watched Adam Yauch's Fight for Your Right Revisited.  I would think any major Beastie Boys fan (I would have to put myself in that group) would find this a welcome reminder of what makes the group so important.  There is something so anti-authoritarian and fly in the face of any form of political correctness no matter how old the boys become and how many years they put out music.  Their presence in music, and culture, always seem timely and progressive, yet while remaining true to the brand they have built from day one.     


6/17/11 I watched Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris.  It's Allen's most blatant gesture at crowd-pleasing that I can remember, and it's certainly working.  People are turning out and continuing the hype.  It didn't have much depth for me though and struck me as bubbly, but nothing more than Allen-light.


6/20/11 I watched Paul Feig's Bridesmaids.  The sixth Apatow film I've seen, after The 40 Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Superbad, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and Pineapple Express, and the first I've seen where the hype all seems to add up.  Simply put, Apatow is able to create some of the most painfully funny moments on film right now while also managing to make time for scenes that deal with real life and actually make your heart ache.  Here I think Kristen Wiig is the real key as she's the perfect Apatow actor; she's quite adept at comedy while also able to come off as incredibly human, full of flaws and wounds for all to see. Feig admittedly seems to lose his way at times, but the memorable scenes are strong enough to pick up the slack.  


7/8/11 I watched Miguel Arteta's Cedar Rapids.  A bit slow and a bit short on laughs.  Not near as deeply felt nor as funny as the work that Apatow is making.  


7/26/11 and 7/28/11 I watched Terrence Malick's The Tree of Life. He's looking at different ways for cinema to work.  Although his connection to nature may not jump off the screen like it did in The Thin Red Line, his incredibly specific memories of childhood allow him to wash connections over us.  He does it in very short brush strokes, and as he swims through his own fleeting images, we see so much of ourselves. His work with the children is extraordinary.  And I think his style really gains, with many of the jump cuts remaining in the tool box. Full of narrative courage and exploration (the first time the animated sequences break the narrative it seems as though a new prototype for story is being offered), and a work of tremendous ambition.  I think there are flaws.  Sometimes his elliptical wanderings go too far and end up feeling more elusive than illuminating.  And after seeing the film twice, I'm still not convinced he wouldn't have benefitted from a stronger actress than Chastain.  But it's a dense film, inviting discussion and multiple visits.  


8/18/11 I watched Cindy Meehl's Buck.  A doc that is at times moving and inspiring, even if a little thin to carry its 88 minute running time.  


9/21/11 I watched Nicolas Winding Refn's Drive.  A film that many of my cinephile friends in the blogosphere are currently discussing.  Some love it, some don't see the hype.  It's an interesting film that combines some of my favorite elements -- a Michael Mann influence, a lack of pop culture references and irony, and an electronic score.  My problem with it stems from its interest in being cool.  Almost everything about its loud style screams look at me.  And while Mann's style is cool.  It simply is, without trying.  Refn's approach seems far less integrated, floating above its story in a way that I found hollow and terribly distracting.  


9/26/11 I watched Bennett Miller's Moneyball.  I was a big fan of Miller's last film, Capote, and have been very excited to see what he does next.  This outing though was a little disappointing for me.  I thought Jonah Hill was tremendous and that there were some interesting ideas at work here.  But overall it felt very muddled thematically and lacking the propulsive drive of the best sports movies.  


9/27/11 I watched Michael Rapaport's Beats, Rhymes & Life:  The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest.  My four years of college could really be distilled down to two or three albums, one of which is Tribe's Midnight Marauders.  Rapaport does a great job of shedding some light on Tribe -- their creative process, inner friction, and tremendous importance within the history of hip-hop.  Rapaport takes us through a wide range of emotions.  And even when the filmmaking might be a little generic, Tribe's music playing in the background reminds us of how many incredible and lasting tunes this incredible group left to us.  A great trip back to the late eighties and early nineties, and arguably the only great artistic movement I've lived through so far.  


11/26/11 I watched Drake Doremus' Like Crazy.  This Sundance winner has some heart, and it's nice to see a not so dour film emerge from that world.  But it's charm grows old as soon as you start to realize there's no depth nor real-life angst or struggle to balance it out.  A couple of nice lyrical moments but otherwise a bit of a frustrating pic.  


11/30/11 I watched Robert Weide's Woody Allen: A Documentary.  My favorite parts were the footage and explanation of Woody's early years. But ultimately, I found the doc to be overly long and quite unfocused.  


12/1/11 I watched Sean Durkin's Martha Marcy May Marlene.  Strong filmmaking.  But so claustrophobic and controlled as to lack almost all breath of the outside world.  It's also one of these movies that once it does let go, like ends, there's very little left to consider.  


12/7/11 I watched JC Chandor's Margin Call.   Kinda like the way I felt about Michael Mann's Ali, I'd seen the documentary, Inside Job, and didn't really need to see this narrative film.  A bit underwhelming for me.  

5/6/12 I watched Tommy Lee Jones' The Sunset Limited.  I was at least intrigued by Jones' first feature, but this one doesn't seem able to avoid the common pitfalls of filmed theater.  A somewhat tedious and uncinematic watch for me. 

12/8/13 I watched Aki Kaurismaki's Le Havre.  A humanist tale that is humanist in a very fresh and unusual way as it involves another man's sacrifice for a complete stranger.  Kaurismaki's mannered approach keeps him from resonating as deeply with me as I would like and his lack of rigor, as compared to Jarmusch, keeps me me more in admiration than in complete thrall.  

7/9/15 I watched Martin Scorsese's George Harrison: Living in the Material World.  Scorsese definitely seems like a master of the documentary form as well.  What is most impressive is how vital he is able to make moments where his only footage is that of still photos.  I agree with my friend Stephen who feels that documentaries are where Scorsese is doing his best work these days.  Between this film and the Dylan doc, I am deeply impressed.  

7/19/15 I watched Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne's The Kid with a Bike.  Perhaps the Belgians' most emotionally affecting and brutal film yet.  It is less formal than some of its predecessors and that lack of artistic trapping significantly enhances the feelings at stake.  Cyril is up there with one of the strongest characters the Dardennes have created and the performance by Thomas Doret as fully felt as any actor in any of their films.  I think there are a couple of moments where they fail to fully avoid cliche and the Bressonian music felt completely unnecessary and heavy-handed.  But those are small gripes for what is another extraordinary work by the Dardennes.    

9/14/15 I watched Asghar Farhadi's A Separation.  It felt like a Dardenne or Kiarostami pic sanded down so as to be more appealing to the masses.  I found it to be emotionally forced for much of the time and not fully satisfying in the same way as the work of the two previously mentioned filmmakers. 

11/29/15 I watched Valerie Donzelli's Declaration of War.  Donzelli's film is a nonintuitive blending of style and playfulness with the story of a terminally ill young boy.  She proves adept at voiceover and succeeds in finding the right emotional space of modulating melodrama while still hitting enough notes of truth and reality.  It is a concoction of interest, even if neither its emotionality or artfulness end up affecting me in fully satisfying ways.  

6/12/16 I watched Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret.  Genre.  Novelistic.  Ambition.  Massive.  Pressure.  Huge, after the breakout success of You Can Count On Me.  I have long been a fan of Paquin and here Lonergan gives her the space to show off deep layers of her talent.  The sprawling film is difficult and flawed but also infinitely more rewarding than most of the work currently coming out of the States.  It feels most akin to a French art film, something Desplechin or Assayas would attempt, and full of extraordinary moments and bubbling with feelings and ideas.    

10/11/16 I watched Celine Sciamma's Tomboy.  A very strong addition to the kid in peril genre that includes 400 Blows, Kes and Germany, Year Zero.  This one is effective and incredibly unsettling, particularly for the way it takes the audience's experience with past movies and uses those memories of what could possibly happen to lend almost relentless tension.  The end credits mention Ferran and Lvovsky, which come of no surprise as influences and to locate the cinematic world in which Sciamma is treading.   

10/13/16 I watched Bertrand Bonello's House of Tolerance.  Bonello, a filmmaker who prefers an impressionistic approach, possesses a skill for creating mood and an ability for gliding a camera elegantly around a space that are as masterful as anyone currently working in the medium.  This is the second film of his that I have seen, the first was 2014's Saint Laurent, and the size of the canvases could not be more different.  Saint Laurent was this expansive biopic, House of Tolerance is a hermetic, intimate work that takes place almost entirely within one location.  While watching, I thought of Tricky's album Maxinquaye, a work that sucks the listener into a sealed space and then leads the listener through its endlessly dark and dangerous corridors.  There is a charge in Bonello's work, much of which comes from his talent with his camera which in his hands feels like a weapon that at any moment might unleash irrecoverable effect on the helpless viewer.  Although I felt this time that the canvas handicapped some of the beauty and depth I experienced while watching Saint Laurent, I remain most impressed by the French director's talent.    

11/19/16 I watched Lars von Trier's Melancholia.  Based on the few films I had seen to date, I had never considered myself a fan at all of the Danish filmmaker.  He just seemed like such a jerk as a person and an insufferable nihilist as a filmmaker.  No doubt he is a gifted visualist and he has a wonderful ear as well, and I will even claim von Trier as more than capable directing actors.  Here he offsets some of his noxious nihilism with tremendous beauty - in particular, an extraordinary location and wonderful light - but when it all comes to pass we are still left with that bad aftertaste.  Like there is nothing we can do to mask the true flavor. 

11/24/16 I watched Terrence Davies' The Deep Blue Sea.  Anyone who has ever been in an unbalanced relationship, where one party is clearly more committed than the other, will recognize themselves in Davies' film.  I don't have enough familiarity yet to know how this work compares with Davies' other films but Davies' treatment feels very real, nuanced and smart.  The acting is extraordinary.  I have never been a fan of Weisz but you feel every moment of her angst and Hiddleston is exuberant and brings tremendous energy whenever he is on screen.  Davies' approach is a bit arch and theatrical but his treatment here is nothing short of courageous and accomplished.  

4/2/17 I watched Whit Stillman's Damsels in Distress.  Quirky and a bit silly but a fairly entertaining watch from one of the masters of the college years.  

9/10/18 I watched Hong Sang-soo's List.  Top shelf Hong that in thirty minutes has all that makes Hong special.  His lightness of touch, his feeling for the sea, his natural, loose performances, his meandering scenes of drinking and eating and his jovial spirit.   

9/15/20 I watched Hong Sang-soo's The Day He Arrives.  More than ever I feel that Hong is the closest filmmaker yet to the Choose Your Own Adventure stories I read as a kid.  He shows you the same situations going in different directions and highlights the magical, delicate qualities of our momentary existence.  

7/15/22 I watched Richard Linklater's Bernie.  As with most of Linklater, things are kept light, periodically funny and fairly entertaining and Black really shines in his performance.  I just prefer movies (and art in general) that goes deeper and seems less smug and more inquisitive about the world around it.

10/21/22 I watched Gavin O'Connor's Warrior.  Nolte, Hardy and Edgerton all turn in deep, worthy performances.  Perhaps a bit overwrought in the final minutes but a strong entry in the sports movie genre.

Other random tunes...

Here's a sampling of a few of the things currently making the rounds on my computer (my 2011 version of a stereo):

Run DMC - Beats to the Rhyme
Keith Jarrett - Koln Concert
Thelonious Monk - Well, You Needn't (hang in there for Blakey's drum solo)
Duke Ellington - Caravan
MC Lyte - Cappuchino
Georges Delerue - Theme de Camille
GZA - Shadowboxing

All seven tunes can be heard on Youtube.

Favorite (four), part eleven

Just like in my other ten posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings, and most I have been glad to finally see.  But only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Irving Lerner's Murder by Contract
Another Scorsese favorite, this noir is utterly unique in terms of its tone. Much of its difference comes from its Flamenco-like score that gives the film a very offbeat, bouncy and buoyant feel, in the midst of a good amount of darkness.  Vince Edwards gives a tremendous performance, and although spare and lean, the production always feels formally clean and clear.   A very strong, lesser-known work.  

Charles Ferguson's Inside Job
It's a powerful and utterly disturbing portrait of the events that led to 2008's global recession.  Ferguson explains some of the chief causes in a very lucid manner, and he presents a very passionate attack on America's financial services industry.  Whether or not you agree with all that he has to say, I would say this is a must-see, simply for the opportunity to get a further look at many of the chief players.  

Roberto Rossellini's The Rise of Louis XIV

The first of Rossellini's historical dramas that I've seen, and it takes awhile to get used to this later style and period of the great director.  But it snakes its way around, accumulating historical import, and by the end, it finds its emotional highpoint.  Another transcendent and powerful work by one of cinema's most unusual and rigorous stylists.   

Adam Yauch's Fight for Your Right Revisited

I would think any major Beastie Boys fan (I would have to put myself in that group) would find this a welcome reminder of what makes the group so important.  There is something so anti-authoritarian and fly in the face of any form of political correctness no matter how old the boys become and how many years they put out music.  Their presence in music, and culture, always seem timely and progressive, yet while remaining true to the brand they have built from day one.     

The great Moon in the Gutter comes out in support of LULLABY, again

One of my absolutely favorite blogs, Moon in the Gutter, just wrote an extremely nice entry on LULLABY and the news of our latest distribution deal.  Thanks so much, Jeremy!

http://mooninthegutter.blogspot.com/2011/05/jeffrey-goodmans-last-lullaby-coming-to.html

One of my other absolutely favorite blogs, Wonders in the Dark, also paid us an incredible honor by featuring us in the headline of this week's Monday Morning Diary.  Thanks, Sam!

http://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/jeffrey-goodman-incendies-a-serbian-film-hey-boo-harper-lee-and-tokill-a-mockingbird-camerman-jack-cardiff-and-rape-of-nanking-film-on-monday-morning-diary-may-16/

Lullaby Gets Wider Distribution!

Here's our latest e-mail update about it.  Want to receive these (and don't already), simply send an e-mail to register@thelastlullaby.com


THE LAST LULLABY (AND) PERIL UPDATE
May 15, 2011

Thank you all for taking time to register for our updates. Today I will cover five topics:

- Lullaby Distribution

- Press

- Update

- Facebook Fan Pages!

- Other Fun Stuff

Lullaby Distribution

I am very excited to announce that we have signed with Level 33 Entertainment to distribute The Last Lullaby in the United States.  We are currently aiming for a Fall release of a newly-packaged DVD.  At this point, I am not sure what extras it will include, but we are looking into some different things.  We also expect this release to place Lullaby in many other places and make it much more readily available.  This is a very positive development, and I am very excited to share the good news with you.

Press

There have been several great pieces on The Last Lullaby (and) Peril in the last couple of months. Here are just a couple of them:

1. http://wondersinthedark.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/jambalaya-filmmaker-and-blogging-star-jeffrey-goodman/

An interview I recently did with one of the most popular film blogs.

2. http://www.sashafansonline.net/the-last-lullaby-t53.html

A review of Lullaby by one of the best Sasha Alexander websites.

Update

Louisiana's film industry boasted its best year ever in 2010, attracting projects with budgets totaling more than $1.4B. It is a great time for the state, and the industry just keeps better and stronger here.  Personally, I continue to move forward with my next film, Peril.  I'm still putting all the money together, but I am very optimistic looking ahead.

Facebook Fan Pages!

I continue to grow the audience around both Peril and The Last Lullaby.  If you haven't already, please take a second to join our Facebook Fan Pages for Peril and Lullaby:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peril/266972237358?ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Last-Lullaby/19456164241?ref=ts

Just click on the links above and then click "Like!"

Other Fun Stuff

Over at the LULLABY/PERIL blog (http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/), I am writing more than ever about the films I'm watching as I prepare for Peril and the films ahead.  I'm really enjoying this blog and think that some of you might enjoy some of the posts, as well.  Come visit me and drop me a comment if you want to discuss anything. 

Also, as mentioned in previous updates, I have created several other places for people to begin following Peril. Here are all the different places we have so far.  I hope that many of you will join us:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peril/266972237358?ref=ts

http://twitter.com/chaillotfilms

http://cahierspositif.blogspot.com/

e-mail updates (simply send an e-mail to register@perilthemovie.com)

I want to thank you all for your incredible support.  I really couldn't be more excited about the road ahead.

As always, if you have any questions, hit reply and your e-mail will come to me.  Please keep spreading the word! You guys are the best.

Jeffrey Goodman

Director

THE LAST LULLABY (AND) PERIL

www.thelastlullaby.com

Chaillot Films

List of Current Distributors

Here's a great list I came across this morning.  Nice to find all this information in one place:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/sydneylevine/archives/us_distributors_a-z/

some tunes floating 'round the turntable

as far as i'm concerned, it's always good news when the beastie boys release a new album. here's a cut (if you can't hear it here, check it on youtube) and a couple of other tracks that have been floating around of late.

The Beastie Boys - Make Some Noise
The Fall - Aspen Reprise
Lil' Kim - Queen Bitch

Listen to all three tunes on Youtube.

Great little interview on LULLABY

Here's a great little interview that popped up today:

http://www.sfinm.org/developments/336-jeffrey-goodman-on-the-last-lullaby.html

Favorite (four), part ten

Just like in my other nine posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings, and most I have been glad to finally see.  But only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Corneliu Porumboiu's Police, Adjective
The new Romanian cinema has gotten much recent acclaim, and after seeing 4 Months... and this film it's easy to see why.  What I find so striking about this film is its naturalism that runs in quite a different direction from the cinema of the Dardenne brothers.  Porumboiu keeps the camera fixed in wide frames, as opposed to the handheld close-ups that seem to populate the work of the Dardenne brothers.  Porumboiu also favors long takes in a way that we rarely see in the work of the Belgian filmmakers.  The sense of humor of Porumboiu is quite effective and unexpected and other than perhaps the final ten minutes, I would have no hesitation declaring this one of the greatest of recent films, and a full-blown masterpiece.   

Alberto Lattuada's Mafioso
I've long known this as one of Scorsese's favorites, and it certainly doesn't disappoint.  But it doesn't meet expectations either.  There's far less violence than one would imagine.  The tone more often resembles a vivacious and sunny foreign film than a somber and serious-minded noir.  And Lattuada shows an unexpected assertiveness with his editing, movement of the camera, and ability to juggle different genres. Lattuada also knows how to make great use of music to heighten the action (the jazz leading up to the barbershop sequence) and has no problem leaving the viewer with a great, big lump in his throat.  

Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters

This abstract, highly stylized oddity actually is one of the more interesting films I've seen from Schrader.   At times, it is almost too obtuse, but there is also something here that feels quite personal.  And it's the most cinematic of the Schrader-directed films that I've seen.  The actor playing the adult Mishima is quite powerful, and Philip Glass' score, though in typical Glass fashion repetitive, also binds it all together into a successfully surreal, cerebral, and intermittently visceral work.  

David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchman

A short film from Lynch made in 1988 for French television at arguably the peak of his career (two years after Blue Velvet and right before the beginning of Twin Peaks).  It's vintage Lynch, in the best of ways, with its flights of fancy and often gut busting sense of humor.  Along with the Twin Peaks pilot, a Lynch work crying out for discovery.  

random sampling of today's soundtrack

i almost always have music on when i'm working.  and thought i'd share some of the tunes that have run through the speakers in the last day or so.

Tom Ze - Curiosidade
Massive Attack - Blue Lines
Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Public Image Limited - Poptones
Wu-Tang Clan - Triumph

Listen to all five tunes on Youtube.

new wave of crime film sound

I used to think Michael Mann was doing the most interesting work in terms of updating the crime film score.  His electronic stylings always felt very modern and like the best, new way to approach the contemporary crime film.

But now I'm working my way through Oliver Assayas' Carlos and really think Assayas is onto something.  He's taken a different route and is scoring much of the film with post-punk songs from the late seventies, early eighties.  Here's a sampling of three that appear in the first couple of hours.  It's without a doubt the most inspiring and interesting approach to scoring the crime film that I have heard in years.

New Order's Dreams Never End

The Feelies' Loveless Love

A Certain Ratio's All Night Party

Listen to all three on Youtube.

Favorite (four), part nine

Just like in my other eight posts thus far in this series, I want to take a second to single out the highlights of my recent film viewing.  I'm trying right now to take in almost a film a day.  Most have been first-time viewings.  And most I have been glad to finally see, but only very few have stayed with me.  This series is my filter for those (and hopefully one or two of these will be good to someone else, too).

Frank Borzage's Moonrise
The strongest film yet I've seen from Borzage.  It's melodramatic, but the casting's perfect, and Borzage's ability to tell a story psychologically is crisp and effective.  It's a near masterpiece, ambitious, extremely well-conceived, controlled, and almost always achieving its intent.  

Abel Ferrara's Chelsea on the Rocks

Made with Ferrara's typical deceptively unpolished style, a strong documentary from the ever probing auteur.  The material is perfect for Ferrara as he's able to filter the seediness of the Chelsea into his own debauched yet weirdly humanistic perspective.  Certainly not for everyone, but fans of Ferrara will feel his work continues to evolve and excel.

Jean-Pierre Melville's Un Flic

Melville's final film is not at the same level of his two previous and, in my opinion, two strongest films, Army of Shadows and Le Cercle Rouge.  But it still shows off the director's ability for bringing an incredibly unique approach and attitude to the crime film.  Zooms abound, while also on display are the director's uncanny interest in the human gaze and most minute details of a crime.  Of particular interest, the entire sequence where a helicopter helps with the heist of a moving train.  

Wim Wenders' Tokyo-Ga

This exploration almost feels like a Godard or Marker essay.  An unorthodox, somewhat meandering doc that seems like essential viewing for any strong fan of Ozu's work.  Wenders mourns cinema's loss of one of its most special practitioners.  Using Ozu's favorite city, Tokyo, to look into how the world has changed since Ozu's disappearance, Wenders also spends time with some of Ozu's closest collaborators.  

Social Media for Filmmakers - Guru Thomas Mai

Here's a video from one of the guys I respect the most in terms of thinking about where independent filmmaking is headed and ways to harness some of the new options moving forward.  The video's a little long (clocks in at about 75 minutes), but I particularly found Thomas Mai's discussion of Elance and Mediapeers to be revelatory.


Thomas Mai Presentation ETMA, Strasbourg from Thomas Mai on Vimeo.