Friday, April 28, 2006

Manic and loose and good!

Pims yo,

Ok,so,

I am hanging at the PBrew West with D. I am reading "The Cinema of Outsiders".

"Cinema" is a rather academic study of the rise of the Independent film, reaching back as far as Cassavetes and looking forward to even more mega-money monoliths like Miramax that spend millions of dollars on extravagant films and still claim the Indy monicker.

In the beginning of the book several definitions for "Independent Film" are offered.
The one I like the best is offered by Fox Searchlight's Lindsay Law

"the most important thing when a filmmaker says he's an independent, is that somebody can't beat him into a pulp and force him to make a movie that the financier wants. It is a more iconoclastic filmmaking, without the burden of attempting to make $100 million at the box office."

Although Law's definition point toward a prioritization of the director's personal vision, she is astute enough to look passed this to THE MONEY. Too many people in this book point to some nebulous "Personal Vision" of the director as the be-all-end-all of what it means to make an independent film however, if you spend tens of millions of dollars on your "Personal Vision", under all but the most extreme circumstances imaginable, you will be accountable to the financial success or failure of that movie. As soon as you are dealing with enormous budgets, you are involved in a situation where the money threatens the "Vision".

The only way to be "Independent", is to secure money from private sources/yourself and to do your work on a shoestring. Cassavetes was "Independent".

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

1900

Ok,

so,

I have slowly, but surely, been watching all of Bertolucci's "1900". This film is featured in the great movie "Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession" (by Xan, daughter of John, Cassavetes).

"1900" is about the political history of Italy in the 20th Century, told from the point of view of two best friends. De Niro is the son of a landowner. Gerard is the son of peasants.

Here is what Amazon has to say:

1900 is one of Bernardo Bertolucci's adventures in epic filmmaking that never found the reception he had hoped for. Originally more than six hours long, it was chopped down to four hours for its U.S. release and as a result looked, well, choppy. Eventually, he restored it to five hours--but one wonders at all the effort on behalf of this alternately muddled and stunning story. The film, with a decidedly socialist agenda, examines two lives that begin the same year in rural Italy: the weak-willed son of the aristocracy (Robert De Niro) and the hardy, courageous son of peasants (Gerard Depardieu). They grow up as best friends on the same estate, until class differences pull them apart and then the era's fascist politics divide them for good. Despite strong performances by both leads, as well as Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Burt Lancaster, this one is strictly for Bertolucci's most avid fans.

I don't really agree with the end of this review. This movie is great.



Workers of the World, get drunk and married and naked and kill and be killed and live and die make a movie of it all!

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan


Thursday, April 13, 2006

Good Bear

Ok, so,

I watched "Grizzly Man" again today. Wow!

I saw some good films in 2005, but this is definitely one of the best. I think this should have been nominated for best film honors, let alone best doc.

Not only is it an incredible biopic and a wonderful outdoors film, it is also a comment on the process of film making and a vehicle for Herzog's ongoing contention that the underlying common denominator in the universe is chaos and murder.



So next time you are mourning the fact you are a government yes-man, an Orlando Real Estate Agent, or an unemployable dreamer, at least you are not being devoured by a bear or getting your ass kicked by Michelle Yeoh.



Pims, Yeoh!

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan


Pims, Yeoh!

Pims yo,

I have been watching some Herzog films lately.

I just saw the documentary "The Burden of Dreams" which is about the making of his film "Fitzcarraldo". I also watched "My Best Fiend" again, which is about Herzog's relationship with actor Klaus Kinski. Both of these films are highly recommended.



I don't know if you will have as much fun as you could have with one of Phoenix's airsoft guns, or with Michelle Yeoh,



but you get the point...

Pims, Yeoh!

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan


Friday, April 07, 2006

What time is it?

Tell me a story says
the child to the mother,
the man to his lover,
the oceans of the Earth
to the stars sinking
in the curving mirrors
of its watery
embrace.

Tell me a story
you said to me today.
But I can no more tell you a story
than I can tell you
the future,or I can tell you
the time.

Every moment is Once Upon a Time.
Every moment is The End.




Time goes by so slowly/And time can do so much.

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan


Pearls Before Swine

The friend of my friend carries
a hunk
of nutmeg
in the pocket
of his jeans.
He is a chef
and he believes in the nutmeg.
My friend carries the gold
foil chocolate wrappers.
He is a Romantic
and all Romantics believe
in luck.
My empty pockets are full
of expectations.

Look!

Here it comes.

Now.


What if they had commercial folding tables at the Sermon on the Mount? How many Apostles does it take to screw in a lightbulb?


Lead us not into Temptation.

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan


Nicholas Raygun

Pims yo!

Which would I visit if I wanted to turn my brain on: www.flowershop.com, www.pottv.net, or www.wikipedia.com ?

If I was different would you still feel the same?

To me?

To yourself?

Go watch "King of Kings" for the 13th time.



See how I make all things new again?

Be humble in your sleepy hands on this world.
Be a killer in Heaven.

Love, Joe Nolan