I publish this blog from Blogger via FTP and apparently Blogger is shutting that down soon. I don't care enough to migrate or even fix it, really. I dunno. We'll see.
Anyway, this is Villa Malaparte, from Godard's Contempt. Seems apt for this blog. I've fallen out of love with it, but I can't say why. Saturn Returns?
Labels: BAD DOG, BUY ME THIS, DESPERATE AND SAD, FILM
I guess I was real lonely before school started or something cause now that I am not spending 95% of my time in my room I haven't had the urge to post for a while or write in my Dear Public Diary.
Anyway, had a nice vacation in New York with Parker, Smallhead, Willy-Trilly, and Dickie while baby-sitting Becky the dog in DUMBO, then saw the fam and a few friends on a low-key visit to Toronto and Muskoka.
About to settle in and catch up on Jersey Shore under 5 blankets in my uninsulated room. It's like being in Jukkasjarvi. I like it.
After shooting a short film when I get back to New York I'm looking forward to seeing Columbia Film Alum ZOE BELOFF screen her Coney Island Films at THE MOMA on January 18th. Join me, yes?
Weee! So this is the video I directed for SEBASTIEN GRAINGER (click on that link to see Sebastien's pubic hair, no joke) in the summer. I'll put a best quality crab version up on my videos page at some point.
MIKE LEBLANC did the beautiful camerawork on the video, JEREMY BAILEY art directed, and the girls were amazing. You should have heard them screaming on set. It was unreal. Sebastien's wife EVA MICHON did the makeup. She's the best. And if you look closely you can see that the purple leopard face paint matches the shoes she's wearing.
Otherwise things are good. I'm writing a paper on Otto Preminger's film Laura at the moment, working on figuring out some music rights for a short I've written about a girl named Ariel who stalks her lifeguard while singing Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, getting ready to shoot another short film over the break, finishing my treatment for a feature film about a body-switching homo, and getting ready to launch the screening series that CHARLOTTE and I are starting at Columbia. The series will be of queer film and video artists. The first event is a co-sponsorship with the MA Film Program bringing queer theorist Tom Waugh to screen and speak about the film Montreal Main. The next event is a screening of Matt Wolf's Arthur Russell documentary, Wild Combination. Matt is going to come speak about the film as well.
I'll post more info about those as they happen. They are Columbia events but outsiders can attend.
Okay gotta run! Class on a Sunday yuck! But yay!
Labels: FILM, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MUSIC, REALLY FUCKING GAY, YOUTUBE
I went to my first opera tonight. I saw The Barber of Seville at The Met. I got rush tickets for twenty bucks (normally almost three hundred dollar tickets!) and my seat was 15 rows from the stage. I couldn't believe it.
With all this talk of Aristotelean act structure and reading a lot of Bazin's realist film theory in school I thought it would be a good idea to go see live theatre. It's cool to watch from the perspective of wanting to write and direct films - how the writer weaves the story, how the director directs the eye on stage and interprets the nearly 200-year-old opera. Also, I realized how much exposition there is in opera and musicals in general - somehow you can get away with telling the audience exactly how you feel and what you're thinking when you sing, unlike in non-musical theatre where the more intriguing externalization of the psyche is brought about through the characters' actions, the mise-en-scene, the editing, the camera movements - pretty much anything but saying it right out loud. (Basically all this is me trying to spit back out what I've been hearing in class every day for the past few weeks - I feel like I only really know something when I can explain it to someone else - maybe I'm doing a bad job but this is helping me...so sorry for the zzzzzz).
I found I had something in common with Count Almaviva and Rosina in the Music Lesson Scene. In this scene, Almaviva is pretending to be Rosina's music teacher so that they can speak as lovers, but Rosina's benefactor, Doctor Bartolo (the man who intends to marry her before Almaviva can), is in the room. So Rosina and Almaviva sing their messages to each other through a fake aria called "The Unnecessary Precaution". They profess their love to each other in plain view of Bartolo. This kind of code shows up in Moulin Rouge when whoserface and whatsisname pretend to be practicing for the play but are really singing about themselves.
I realized I have regularly done the same thing. How many times have I tried to get out some secret message using songs as code? I often attach great meaning to music and then put the music out there in hopes of the intended recipient getting the message. It's so silly. I remember being very young and blaring Alanis Morissette's "Perfect" from my room when I was mad at my mom. It didn't get any better or any less cheesy from then on. I guess in these instances of trying to get my point across, pure exposition would serve me better - I should just say what I mean. Easier said than sung, I guess. Or vice versa.
Anyway, school has been very busy and great. I have also seen some NYFF and other screenings. I will give my brief reviews now:
To Die Like a Man - As one review I read put it: "It's difficult to make a film about drag queens, murderous gay soldiers, and heroin addicts tedious, but that's exactly what this film does."
Trash Humpers, Harmony Korine - Yes Yes Yes! I think I'm going to be a trash humper for Halloween. "Three
Min Ye (Tell Me Who You Are), Souleymane Cissé - This was difficult to watch without understanding the context of women's rights and current politics in Mali. It felt really cyclical and never really resolved for me - I think that was the point. I'm glad I stayed to hear the director speak about the film. He himself said that at first, this film appears to be quite banal, but when you understand the politics of Mali right now, how women were just denied many rights, this is a very important discussion. (The film follows a woman in a polygamous marriage who is having an affair with a man who is also in a polygamous marriage - Big Love Mali style).
Rachel Is, Charlotte Glynn - My classmate Charlotte made this film about her developmentally delayed sister, Rachel, and their family's search for housing for Rachel. It was really great and if you get the chance to see it you should. Check the website for more info and a trailer - RACHELIS.COM.
Otherwise I'm working like heck at school and I'll have lots more to share, just not very often. I'm starting to write a treatment for my reverse oedipal sci-fi thriller feature length script. When I finish the script next semester maybe I'll share it with you dear friends. Wish me luck!
Labels: BOOKS MOVIES AND OTHER CULTURALISTICALITIES, FILM, SEX, YOUTUBE
I'm getting into the swing of things at school which is great. First shoot is on Sunday - a directing exercise. If it's worth anything I'll post it here. I'm trying to make it worth something.
They are screening Police, Adjective by Romanian director/screenwriter Corneliu Porumboiu at school tomorrow. My friend Kevin said he saw it at TIFF and that it was great - so I'm excited cause I like Kevin's taste. The director will be in attendance which is nice, since it's a small screening room.
I feel like going back to school is kind of like having a baby. You get really excited about having it, then it arrives and you're like "Wait, this is what I wanted? It's a lot of work and I don't love it yet." Then it looks at you in the eyes and giggles and you go "Ohhhh...I get it!"
I'm going to a couple of films for the New York Film Festival. I'm going to see Min Ye (Tell Me Who You Are) by Malian director Souleymane Cissé and To Die Like a Man by Portuguese director João Pedro Rodrigues (which is the image at the top of this post).
Also, my new friendsie and classmate Charlotte will be screening her film Rachel Is in New York on October 7th at Anthology Film Archive on East 2nd Street at 2nd Ave. The screening begins at 6PM. See the trailer HERE.
Okay that's it for today, babies. See you on the Facebook!
Labels: FILM
I finally saw Fassbinder's final film, Querelle, today. I watched it after class in the media library at school. Maybe not the most appropriate place to watch a murderous sailor gay porno. However, I think I got the eye from the fellow sitting across from me. So apropos getting cruised while watching such a cruisey movie.
I'm interested in the film's philosophy - is Querelle such a despicable character/emotional sociopath because faggots had to be monsters back in 1966 (when the book was written)? Or is it a self-loathing thing? Or is his behaviour not meant to be connected to his sex? His desires seem to change so rapidly and whimsically in contrast to Seblon's devotion. Obviously Seblon is a good gay, so they existed, just not in leading roles.
I am gonna go look up some reviews of the film to find out more...
Labels: ART, FILM, REALLY FUCKING GAY
Two films I saw today concerning the first inclinations toward continuity editing. Mary Jane is my girl.
Labels: FILM
Today was my first day of class. I'm so excited. I was at school so early I had time to watch a movie before class started. I watched 8 Women by François Ozon, which stars one of my favourite actors, Isabelle Huppert. I could watch her forever. I'd take her over Catherine Deneuve any day. And the maid, Emmanuelle Béart, looks exactly like Cillian Murphy. It's bizarre how much she looks like him.
I didn't know the film was a musical. It was a pleasant surprise. Izzy's song is the best, of course.
I also have a few posts I haven't published because I couldn't upload images for a while. Seems to be working again so I'll get those up soon.
Also, it turns out I live in Greenpoint, not Williamsburg. I like it here. I sat on my stoop last night for the first time with my Pollack neighbours (is calling them "Pollacks" racist?). It's Polish here, but not Roncesvalles Polish. They are nice and none of them are stealing dirt from the construction sites in the dead of night or blocking the sidewalks or stopping to listen to other people's conversations. That's definitely racist.
Since when did David Lynch get all NPR? I'm kind of over This American Life - too many "explaining the economy" episodes and borezystorezies. This series of people from THE INTERVIEW PROJECT will fill that gap for now.
I'm so happy to share that I'm a part of the They Shoot Videos, Don't They? screening this Thursday night in Toronto. This is the first of a series of screenings curated by the wonderful SCOTT CUDMORE. It will take place on Thursday, July 9th at 107 SHAW GALLERY. My Sebastien Grainger & The Mountains video will be screened with videos by the likes of Martin de Thurah and Patrick Daughters. So flattered and excited to have this video on a big screen!
Labels: FILM, I MADE THIS. ME. GRAYDON., MUSIC
Martha Plimpton you are a thing of dreams. The ensemble she's wearing in the video below is beyond perfection. It's everything I want to be. Her hair - oh her hair! I could die in that hair:
I finally watched Synecdoche, New York. Lovely. The best part was Diane Wiest reading Caden his final blocking notes. I adore that woman. This is heartbreaking writing and she delivers it perfectly:
You realize you are not special. You have struggled into existence, and are now slipping silently out of it. This is everyone's experience. Every single one. The specifics hardly matter. Everyone's everyone...As the people who adore you stop adoring you; as they die; as they move on; as you shed them; as you shed your beauty; your youth; as the world forgets you; as you recognize your transience; as you begin to lose your characteristics one by one; as you learn there is no-one watching you, and there never was, you think only about driving - not coming from any place; not arriving any place. Just driving, counting off time.
But I have a theory about the film that I can't find on the internet. The person who watched the movie with me disagreed with my theory, too. That theory is this: That the film Synecdoche, New York, was the document of the play done by the real Caden - the Caden who is not in the movie but exists in the meta-level above the movie - or real life (or perhaps an imagined real life that doesn't exist in reality but exists in relation to the film). It's almost four-dimensional.
If Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Caden, and he hires Sammy to play Caden in the play, my theory is that the original Caden hired the Philip Seymour Hoffman version of Caden to play him in the movie. It's difficult to explain meta-referential theories, but I think that makes sense. So since the Synecdoche film that you watch is a version of theatre itself, it can afford those bizarre instances of the surreal - like Hazel's house being perpetually on fire or the self-help book re-writing itself or the way time passes. Maybe in Caden's "real" life (outside of the movie), Hazel died in a fire and he uses a house on fire in the film as dramatic license to enhance the emotion of the Hazel story-line. That kind of Brechtian distanciation and absurdism only calls to attention the formal qualities of film and pulls you out of the story, so to me it makes sense that the Philip Seymour Hoffman level of Caden's life in the film isn't real either - which it isn't because it's in a film that we're watching.
To give more credence to that theory, I also noticed that a lot of scenes that were supposed to be the original life of Caden (especially those with Hazel, like when they're in the car outside her burning house) seemed to be lit very much like a play - specifically like the Death of a Salesman play that Caden mounts at the beginning of the film. And finally, Samantha Morton is a fantastic actress, so the fact that she seems to be a really shitty actress at the beginning makes me think that she was supposed to appear to be an actress playing the "real" Hazel who exists outside of the film.
Yes? No?
Labels: FILM
It hurts, but he doesn't show it. I could learn a thing or two from Chopin. Sometimes the day just resolves in a minor chord no matter how good things are.
Jag vill se du när sol stigningarna , och äsch hur den vilja stigning min vännerna.
Labels: DESPERATE AND SAD, FILM, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
I've been a busy booger lately. Last night, however, I got to see my friend HUBERT DAVIS' new documentary Invisible City. Hubert's first feature-length doc was screened at HOT DOCS, and it won the Best Canadian Feature award at the festival.
Once, Mikey and Kendell's friends boasted they'd never get in trouble and never sell drugs, but by age 15 half of them have done just that. In this beautifully shot and intimate documentary, Oscar-nominated director Hubert Davis reaches beyond his own story-so eloquently captured in Hardwood-to follow two charismatic Regent Park boys as they make the transition from youth to manhood. Each runs into trouble with police, the courts, and school authorities despite having mothers whose love is palpable and Morgan's heroic attempt at mentoring. With none of the privileges of wealth and all of the prejudices of poverty, with absent fathers, a landscape of half-demolished buildings, vacant lots and systemic racism stacked against them, the boys struggle to turn their lives around.
It was a beautiful and quiet film surrounded by the impending destruction of the subjects' homes and community. I was so proud of Hubert for making this happen - he has been working on it since shortly after I met him in 2005. I can't imagine the determination it took to realize such a long project.
Last night was the final screening of the film but look out for it in the future. See the trailer HERE.
Labels: FILM
![](http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif"http://graydonsheppard.com/blog/uploaded_images/panny3dhd-703893.jpg")
At least I won't be alone in my wonk. 3D in HD.
More HERE.
Thanks JEREMY.
Labels: BUY ME THIS, FILM, MAYBE THE FUTURE WILL BE BETTER
If you're in Toronto come to the Bad Day Issue 3 (a great publication by Eva Michon and Colin Bergh) launch on Thursday. Details above - website HERE.
Labels: ART, BOOKS MOVIES AND OTHER CULTURALISTICALITIES, FASHION, FILM, PHOTOGRAPHY
The trees don't sway nor do the children play in JONAS DAHLBERG'S film INVISIBLE CITIES.
It's like a giant 3D Sims ghost town.
Dear Diary,
It's been a while since I've written to you...but tonight I felt compelled.
I was just watching the Daily Show. The guest was Tim Robbins. He was promoting the movie he's in - City of Ember. He casually remarked that it was about "the human spirit". Ugh. This stupid little thing set me off. They showed a clip and I just couldn't believe that he related this obvious and simple film about common people overcoming evil to something so complex as the human spirit. I don't even have to see it to know what is going to happen and the obvious metaphors about the environment and bla bla bla.
I felt so strongly because yesterday I watched SILENT LIGHT, the Mexican film about a Mennonite farmer who questions his faith when he falls in love with a woman who is not his wife. It's so gorgeously filmed, acted, and the ending is handled so incredibly well that I can't imagine the over-blown crap that Tim Robbins is promoting could in any way relate to my human spirit and I find it insulting that he could be so pretentious to boil down the human race like that.
Anyway, watch Silent Light - it's quiet and downtempo but so great.
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days handles the most devastating day in the calmest way. The wedding plate at the end is just too much. Haneke meets Lars von Trier. Oh Romania.
MORE INFO HERE. Rent it.
Labels: FILM