SHOTGUN STORIES

If there's anything worthwhile to read on my blog for people who don't know me and don't really care what I've been up to lol, I hope it would be the exposure to new alternative cinema - promising independent work as options to what's at your multiplex. I'm constantly seeking out new work to be inspired by, and will always share it here.

So with that, Jeff Nichols' SHOTGUN STORIES looks to be what I can only describe as fucking awesome:

Set against the cotton fields and back roads of Arkansas, this striking first film, produced by David Gordon Green (George Washington), weaves a classic tale of vengeance and retribution. At their father's funeral, a feud erupts between two sets of half-brothers -- one group from a failed first marriage, the other from a father's reformed, successful second act in life. The anger and resentment that have simmered for years will rise up to overtake them all.

I actually got chills watching the trailer...



Coincidentally, I have been talking a lot recently about filmmakers Aaron Katz and Chad Hartigan and their whole crew who are all graduates of the North Carolina School of the Arts... turns out Jeff Nichols is a graduate as well, which probably explains how he hooked up with David Gordon Green, another NCSA grad. Damn, that school is really turning out the talent.

Anyway, SHOTGUN STORIES looks incredible, and I plan to see it this week since its playing at IFC Center.

Check out the official website for more info and to see if its playing near you:

http://www.shotgunstories.com

Weekend in Cali recap coming next...

COLLEGE CONFUSION

So getting into Art Center hasn't been as fun so far as I thought.

Basically what's going on now is I'm waiting to hear back from Art Center about how my credits from SVA have transferred over. There is a possibility that they won't accept any or most of my credits, so essentially I would be doing everything all over again.

In that case, it seems pretty clear my parents will just want me to stay in New York and finish my thesis year here... not that I necessarily think otherwise, but right now I'm just stressed and not really excited about anything anymore. I went from ecstatic about 2 weeks ago to just blah now.

I sure as hell don't want to come back here next fall, but I also don't want to go to Art Center and be stuck there for another 3 years not knowing right now if I'll end up loving it or not. Plus my parents of course say they support any decision I make, which I always appreciate but I can tell they think it would just be easier if I stayed here (if my credits don't transfer well).

So now after a week of confusing planning, I'm headed to California tomorrow for the weekend to check out an incoming student seminar at Art Center. I would've been really excited like a week ago but right now I just don't want to be anywhere. Not here or there or anywhere. Maybe just home.

What if I go this weekend and fall in love and get excited to go and then find out my credits situation is fucked up?

All of this in the middle of what has been one my biggest creative high points of the last three years. I have a lot of stuff I'm excited about lined up to work on this summer in Portland. That's about the only set good thing right now.

I guess we'll see what happens after this weekend.

At least I have Youth Group...

The summer rain is falling like its never going to stop, it's been ages.
Puddles form on city corners, businessmen they leap between the edges.
Umbrellas take up battle spots but nature's fury always proves much stronger.
I've been sitting in my room wondering if I'm going to last much longer.

I've been so damn sure that I've been here before.
I'll give back what I borrowed
and start today tomorrow.

I've been watching over you, watching while you're sleeping.
Visions slowly come to me of you when you were sixteen,
standing in your neighbour's house, like the ones I've shown you.
Sometimes I get the feeling that I've always known you.

I've been so damn sure that I've been here before.
I'll rise above my sorrow
And start today tomorrow

The rain's gone, here come the swallows.
let's start today tomorrow.

Haha... song reminds me of Sandy and Kirsten... that Berkeley flashback scene...

QUOTES

"Success leads to repetition. Failure leads to innovation."
-Mary Lee Grisanti

and

On breaking the fourth wall in film:

"I believe we should just break every wall."
-Sean Penn

BROOKLYN

An independent city until its consolidation into New York in 1898, Brooklyn is New York City's most populous borough, with more than 2.5 million residents. If the borough was still considered an independent city, it would be the 4th largest city in the United States.

Though a part of New York City, Brooklyn maintains a character of its own, characterized by cultural diversity, an independent art scene, distinct neighborhoods, and a unique architectural heritage.

A little something I shot and edited after spending the day in BK.



--------------------------------------------

"The film of tomorrow appears to me as even more personal than an individual and autobiographical novel, like a confession, or a diary. The young filmmakers will express themselves in the first person and will relate what has happened to them. It may be the story of their first love or their most recent; of their political awakening; the story of a trip, a sickness, their military service, their marriage, their last vacation...and it will be enjoyable because it will be true, and new...The film of tomorrow will not be directed by civil servants of the camera, but by artists for whom shooting a film constitutes a wonderful and thrilling adventure. The film of tomorrow will resemble the person who made it, and the number of spectators will be proportional to the number of friends the director has. The film of tomorrow will be an act of love."

- Francois Truffaut

OK OK LAST ONE...

For now.



Dance Party praise:

"One of the best films of the year... a remarkable act of insight and restraint, refreshing in its authenticity and absolute lack of manufactured effect."
-The New York Sun

"Dance Party, USA is a remarkably delicate construction, directed with extraordinary empathy by Aaron Katz."
-The New York Times

"Sincere and unflinching..one of the most vibrant and exciting alive cinematic experiences I've had with a film in a long time. Everyone in front of and behind the camera is flawless"
-Ain't It Cool News

"Aaron Katz's impressionistic, impressive film is a seemingly slight, secretly heartbreaking portrait of teenage ennui that manages to fit a shocking amount of emotional resonance into its barely one-hour running time."
-New York Magazine

"Writer/Director Aaron Katz has a gift for naturalistic dialogue."
-The Village Voice

"Challenging, gritty, and true."
-The Austin Chronicle

"Dance Party, USA is so emotionally resonant, so heartbreaking yet hopeful, so tender yet intense, so realistic yet ethereal that its mesmerizes the viewer and holds their attention rapt... [It] might very well be the best independent film that I will see all year."
-filethirteen.com

"Impressive. The actors are tremendous. I watched it and couldn't quite figure out how it came together. That elusive quality is something special."
-Andrew Bujalski (Director, Funny Ha Ha & Mutual Appreciation)

"The actors are great...Pensinger soars, exuding a pained sense of vulnerability in scene after scene. Katz is devoted to cutting through the bullshit that clogs the passageways between teenage experience and adulthood."
-Slant Magazine

"Pennsinger's performance is flawlessly natural. This is the best truly independent American film I've seen since Mutual Appreciation."
-Minneapolis/St. Paul City Pages

"Raw, real, and meaningful. I loved this movie."
-Jay Duplass (Director, The Puffy Chair)

"Katz and his absolutely stellar actors display remarkably subtle, complex insights"
-Time Out Chicago

"Truly phenomenal and completely subtle performances, including the entrancing Anna Kavan and the spot-on-perfect Cole Pennsinger (shockingly this is both of their debut films), Dance Party USA is an intense and magnificent film that you'll want to see at least twice."
-dvdtalk.com

"Brilliantly shot, truthfully acted, an inspiringly masterful tale of hooking up, reaching out, disconnecting and groping for happiness."
-The Oregonian

See it. Netflix it. Rent it. Buy it.

Still in utter shock from Art Center acceptance letter. More thoughts later.

CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME

Woke up this morning to this in my inbox:



I think I'm still in shock....

LUKE AND BRIE

First, a film I am currently dying to see - "Luke And Brie Are On A First Date"



The film is written and directed by Chad Hartigan, part of the North Carolina School of the Arts alumni crew that gave us Aaron Katz's "Dance Party USA" and "Quiet City". Apparently the film at the moment is still in the process of applying and hearing back from film festivals, so there's no real way to check it out yet... but hopefully that will change soon.

Check out the trailer here:

http://www.virb.com/1115160530893042/videos/28844

and the official website here:

http://www.lukeandbrie.com

----------------------------------------

and lastly, a quote...

"I don't particularly like the idea that there's an arc to the story and that therefore in this scene you have to convey this bit of information or emotion. I like more the feeling that, of course, there is a shape to the story, but that each scene should feel right, should be true at that moment, and that gradually you accumulate these moments of truth until you get enough of them together that it becomes a story that's interesting." - Michael Winterbottom

DANCE PARTY AGAIN

I just can't stop watching this film.



http://www.amazon.com/Quiet-City-Dance-Party-USA/dp/B000XSKDLK/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1205730849&sr=8-1

BUY IT.

2007 FILM PICKS

Now that I've had some time to mull it over, here are my personal top 10 picks for last year.

Just to get it out of the way, I have not yet seen "Lust Caution", "4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days" or "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly".

10. 2 DAYS IN PARIS
dir. Julie Delpy



9. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
dir. the Coen Brothers



8. JUNO
dir. Jason Reitman



7. I'M NOT THERE
dir. Todd Haynes



6. QUIET CITY
dir. Aaron Katz



5. CHOP SHOP
dir. Ramin Bahrani



4. ONCE
dir. John Carney



3. PARANOID PARK
dir. Gus Van Sant



2. THERE WILL BE BLOOD
dir. Paul Thomas Anderson



and....

1. INTO THE WILD
dir. Sean Penn

NO ONE'S GONNA LOVE YOU

Band of Horses... love these guys. Love this song.

The beard though? Not so much.



---------------

BTW our friends at THEME Magazine must have an intern that goes to my school, because they recently posted a blog on their site about the Christina Ricci Q&A we had last month at school... check it out and see if you can spot me in the first picture... haha

http://www.thememagazine.com/index.php?option=com_jd-wp&Itemid=67&m=200802

CYAN PDX

UMMMMM.....

WTF IS THIS?!?!?!




!!>>!!!>!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

HTTP://WWW.CYANPDX.COM


UMMMMM

TIME TO MOVE BACK???

QUESTION

Does who you are define what you do?

Or does what you do define who you are?

Both seem to make sense... any thoughts?

VISUAL PROTEST

Sometimes it takes some ambitious idealistic college students to reawaken the passion, the anger, the disgust, the resolve.









Thanks Daily Kos.

GIRLS ROCK!

An awesome little Portland life institution that natives have long been a fan of, but now is about to be recognized mainstream is the Rock N' Roll Camp for Girls. Truly an example of something that embodies the spirit and culture of Portland, the camp is a place where young girls from all over the country come to build community through forming bands and learning to play music. But the camp acts as so much more than exposing children to music, it's underlying purpose is to help instill self esteem and heal the self image that constantly comes under attack in today's society.

GIRL'S ROCK! is a new documentary by Portland filmmakers Shane King and Arne Johnson that follows a group of girls ages ranging from 8 to 18, who enroll in the camp. Laura, a Korean adoptee obsessed by death metal; Misty, who is emerging from a life of meth addiction, homelessness and gang activity; and Amelia, an eight-year old who writes experimental rock songs about her dog Pipi. The film ultimately explores what happens to the girls as they are given a temporary reprieve from being sexualized, analyzed, and pressured to conform.

The film is now playing in New York, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, San Francisco, Berkely and Chicago, and will be rolling out to the rest of the country soon... check it out! I plan to!

PARANOID PARK

GORGEOUS GORGEOUS GORGEOUS.

Tonight, Gus Van Sant's new film Paranoid Park opened with a packed house at the Angelika here in NYC.

First of all, this film was BEAUTIFULLY shot by Chris Doyle and Rain Li. Painted with a palette of moody, twilight hour colors, the camera lingers on all the right moments and makes a fantastic use of mixed mediums, capturing the gritty skate park atmosphere with grainy Super 8 footage. The film effortlessly weaves in and out of realism and the dreamlike, driving forward both the protagonist's internal confusion and the well crafted nonlinear narrative.

Van Sant strays far far away from creating anything resembling a crime mystery- what Hollywood would want, and what one might expect reading the synopsis- and instead presents us with a film that peers inward, into the fragmented psyche of a troubled teenager dealing with the moral reality of what he has done, on top of the pain and confusion of adolescence.



Van Sant takes the style he established with Elephant and perfects it with Paranoid Park. While less minimalist than Elephant, Paranoid Park is another free form semi surreal internal journey that makes use of real people rather than professional actors. Lead actor Gabe Nevins' stoic expressions and stumbling narration are used, rather than covered up, to naturalistically convey a conflicted and confused youth.

The soundtrack of the film is incredibly fresh. Much of the film makes use of this strange, but extremely successful old time carnival-like music. And then there are the two great moments in this film about troubled youth, made especially beautiful with the music of one of the greatest troubled youths - Elliott Smith.



Smith of course, was also a Portland musician. Which brings me to what I'm always excited to talk about - this is a PORTLAND FILM through and through. It is a film that is truly ABOUT Portland, even more so than any of Van Sant's other films that he has shot there. It captures elements of the real people and culture of the city, as well as involving Portland on multiple other levels. Music in the film includes not only Elliott Smith, but also nationally lesser known local artists like rapper Cool Nutz and the band Menomena. References that are made to specific, real locations like "the Subway at the world trade center near the waterfront", are unimportant to the overall story and anyone not from Portland, but made a native like myself laugh. Real life Koin 6 local Newscaster Ken Bodie also makes a pretty glorious cameo hahaha.



My little brother's best friend Ollie was also cast in the film as part of the protagonist's skate crew (thats him on the far right), and it was pretty funny/great seeing him up on the screen. He had like four lines through out the film, but was a total natural. My high school, Lincoln also makes a quick appearance in some of the skate footage, while Madison High was used as the main high school of the film.

Paranoid Park is exquisite. A triumph in Van Sant's career, and one of his most interesting pieces of work. Check to see when it will be coming to a theatre near you.

THE HOTTEST STATE

Just watched Ethan Hawke's film he directed and adapted from his own novel, "The Hottest State".

I'm not sure how the overall reviews for the film were when it came out, but I thought it was a great effort and really displays Hawke's lesser known abilities as a writer/director.

As you may or may not know, "Before Sunrise" and "Before Sunset" are my favorite films of all time... and watching "The Hottest State", as well as having seen Julie Delply's "2 Days In Paris", you really understand why the writing of "Before Sunset" is Academy Award nominated. Because Hawke, Delpy and Richard Linklater all have a great gift for the creation of dialogue.

I loved listening to the audio commentary for this film. Hawke is really interesting to listen to speak, just because he talks about things with so much genuine enthusiasm and honesty and compassion. Strange as this might sound, its almost like listening to his character Jesse speak in the "Before Sunrise/Sunset" films. They almost have the same voice, its hard to explain, but maybe thats just an effect of putting a lot of himself and his own thoughts in Jesse.

What I love about Hawke is his heart is really in his work. He recognizes, he even says in the commentary, that he recognizes certain aspects of the film may be heavy handed, or seem pretentious, or melodramatic, but whatever those aspects were they felt true to him, he was connected to it so he leaves it but acknowledges it. And its not that he feels he or his work or the film is so important or great, he is super modest about it, but its just that he genuinely believes in it.

As a romantic drama, its pretty treaded territory already, but "The Hottest State" feels fresh. There isn't any Hollywood in it. It's based off of realism and true life experiences, rather than romantic or cinematic cliches. Anyway, a really nice film about young love that everyone can watch and relate to. Check it out.

DANCE PARTY, USA

I am so excited to even just write this post about this film.

Let me rewind a bit though. A few months ago I stumbled across the trailer on YouTube for "Dance Party, USA" while making my regular rounds searching for films shot in Portland. I became really interested in the movie, and the director Aaron Katz who I found out by that point had already finished his 2nd feature shot in New York, "Quiet City". Of course, anything that is shot in or originates from my hometown I am automatically interested in but "Dance Party, USA" looked especially promising.

I didn't know where I could see the film, so I forgot about it for a while. Then, a couple weeks ago I was watching the Independent Spirit Awards and saw that "Quiet City" was nominated for the John Cassavettes award. I was pretty excited to see a fellow Portland filmmaker getting some good recognition, but still wasn't sure where I could check out the movies.

Then on a random stroll through Virgin Megastore in Union Square last week, I saw that both of Katz's films had gotten an official DVD release in a 2-disc set! I picked it up, excited to finally check it out...

"Quiet City" was fantastic, but its "Dance Party, USA" that really really captivated me.

Here is the plot summary from the DVD package:

In (Aaron Katz's) impressionistic and tenderly heartbreaking debut, Dance Party, USA- hailed as "one of the best films of the year" (The New York Sun)- apathetic teens Jessica (Anna Kavan) and Gus (Cole Pennsinger) share a fleeting moment at a Fourth of July party in Portland, but their relationship grows closer and more complex after Gus confronts her with a troubling secret.

God, you just need to see it for yourself. The actors' performances are executed with documentary-like realism, the cinematography is loose and free flowing... everything is authentic, nothing feels manufactured. It is such an honest, simple, naturalistic work that is comprised of beautiful intimate moment after beautiful intimate moment.

Also worthy of note is a classmate of mine from high school is in it! Natalie Buller plays a pivotal character named Kate, and I had no idea that she was even an actress! Now that I know and have seen such a great performance from her I should hit her up... wouldn't mind working with her on something myself.

Ahhhh I'm just so proud this came out of Portland hahaha... it is definitely now my new favorite "Portland film", and was very refreshing after the slew of shitty Hollywood productions that have been invading my city the past couple of years. Aaron Katz was born and raised in Portland though, so it was a native's portrayal.

I am very much looking forward to following Katz's career and seeing what he does next... now that he is stationed in NYC, and actually works at the IFC Center which I frequent, maybe I'll run into him. Always love connecting with fellow filmmakers, especially ones from Portland.

Anyways, I urge you to go see this film which as I said is now available in your DVD store, or online at Amazon. Check out the home page for the film at myspace.com/dancepartyusamovie.