Reference material

Exterior shot of The Lake Pub from The Returned (Les Revenants).

Fabrice Gobert is both writer and director of the French television series, The Returned. To create the eerie music so intrinsic to the mood of the episodes, he offered Dominic Aitchison from Mogwai some direction. He listed films that had music he liked, and also shared photos by the American photographer Gregory Crewdson. The influence of Crewdson's vision is striking.

Photos below, by Gregory Crewdson

The Returned

What makes a human, human?

With that in mind, what makes a zombie, zombie?

Victor, you're creeping me out!

The Returned can be seen on the Sundance Channel

or purchased by episode on Amazon.

Victor loves to draw, play on the trampoline and hold hands when he walks.

Like other young children, he is shy around strangers and is afraid of the dark.

He is handsome, yet unnnerving. 

Maybe because he is dead, having died some 35 years ago.

The French series The Returned offers a new and disturbing version of

the dead returning to inhabit the world of the living.

I love fast zombies.

I love slow zombies.

And now, a new love: zombies that talk, make themselves sandwiches, crack jokes

and get into fist fights. They seem just the way we remember them before they passed away.

Only different.

Transformation

The Dallas Buyers Club is based on the true story of Ron Woodroof, a Texas electrician who, after being diagnosed with AIDS, began smuggling alternative and illegal drugs into the USA to extend his life as well as the lives of other patients.

The film tells an important story of a disease and the frustrating bureaucracy that conceivably translated to the death of scores of patients. 

Matthew McConaughey (having his best year ever) plays Woodroof with astonishing range. Jared Leto is cast as Rayon, a transsexual AIDS patient, instrumental in creating the network of buyers for Woodroof. Both McConaughey and Leto dropped between 30 to 40 pounds to appear believably ravaged by illness. Losing or gaining weight can have a dramatic impact on 'getting into character', and this is especially so in the case of Ron and Rayon.

There's plenty of chatter about McConaughey's fierce and convincing performance, always followed by comments on his shocking weight loss.  But Jared Leto's transformative turn as Rayon has a quiet power that steals some of that thunder. In one scene, Rayon, who typically wears flowery dresses and bright lipstick,visits her conservative father. It's clear her father never supported or approved of Rayon's true nature, and out of respect Rayon wears a man's suit for her visit. Those few moments where Jared Leto looks so uncomfortable in the suit, so unhinged to be sans make-up, so tortured to pretend to be male if only for a short visit, they reveal how deeply the actor inhabited his role.

Teamwork

 Jared Leto as Rayon

Matthew McConaughey as Ron Woodroof

10 List: Best films for 2013...so far

When I lived in Los Angeles, Decembers were filled with film screenings with my good friend Matt. We saw several titles each week, sometimes several in a single day. The best screenings were followed by Q & A sessions with the cast or director or writer (my most favorite panel had Jeff Bridges, T-Bone Burnett and Robert Duvall).  Oh, we sat through some awful movies too, and the thing about screenings is that (understandably) it's totally unacceptable to get up and leave.

Miss you Matt!


I look at my list of favorite films (so far) for 2013 and recognize they all have stellar performances combined with excellent writing. But the interesting way in which these stories were told made them especially great. In no particular order:



Before Midnight (Richard Linklater)

20 Feet From Stardom (Morgan Neville)

Mud (Jeff Nichols)

Frances Ha (Noah Baumbach)

All is Lost (J.C. Chandor)

Blue Jasmine (Woody Allen)

Fruitvale Station (Ryan Coogler)

The Spectacular Now (James Ponsoldt)

Stories We Tell (Sarah Polley)

Gravity (Alphonso Cuarón)

Whopper

Whether or not you're a sports fan, or your awareness of Lance Armstrong is limited to a yellow Livestrong bracelet rattling around in a drawer somewhere, award-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney's latest feature, The Armstrong Lie, is completely fascinating.

Originally, Gibney's film was about Lance Armstrong's 2009 comeback to cycling after his announced retirement and four-year absence. Gibney spent much of 2009 with Armstrong, during his training, life on the road, and finally at the grueling 2009 Tour de France. Throughout his career, beginning at his first Tour de France win in 1999, Armstrong was immersed in rumors, suspicion and innuendo that he had used performance-enhancing drugs. He staunchly, aggressively and contentiously denied any use of banned substances or banned blood transfusions.  Gibney had completed his film,  but a new doping scandal was building momentum. More allegations that Armstrong didn't win 'clean' appeared in the news, including a Nightline interview with Armstrong's former teammate, Floyd Landis, who stated he had witnessed Armstrong receive illegal transfusions 'multiple times'.  The decision was made to shelve the original film.

In October of 2012, after a lengthy and extensive investigation confirmed his use of banned performance-enhancing substances, Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from competitive sport (applicable to all sports which follow the World Anti-Doping Agency code). After reading the 200 page report issued by the USADA (U.S. Anti-Doping Agency) that included interviews and testimonies of people with direct knowledge of Armstrong's doping, UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) President Pat McQuaid was quoted, "Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling and he deserves to be forgotten in cycling."

Gibney returned to his original film, re-edited and added new interviews and footage, creating The Armstrong Lie. The film contains compelling historical material: Lance as a young triathlete, bald and pale as he battles cancer, charming as he visits hospital wards, and stunningly ferocious as he destroys the competition during so many races. Gibney's documentary is about Lance Armstrong, about his brilliant rise and his disgraceful fall, but it is also about the culture of hero-worship. Gibney admits in his narration that he also wanted to "believe the beautiful lie, more than the ugly truth."

Lance Armstrong may have no place in cycling. He may spend the rest of his life battling the many lawsuits that followed his confession that he lied and he cheated. In the theater where I saw the movie, you could hear the audience voice their contempt at the bright screen. It's hard to imagine he will ever be forgotten.

All is Lost

It's only been a few weeks since the film Gravity hit theaters. Its setting in outer space seemed an obvious choice to have disaster strike and convey the terror of being utterly alone, helpless, and without any device to deliver an S.O.S. message. Unless of course, you consider the remoteness of the Indian Ocean, first in a sinking yacht, then in a failing raft as Robert Redford does in the new film All is Lost, written and directed by J.C. Chandor.

There are many films that explore the natural calamities of shipwrecks: lack of water, food, shelter, direction, exposure to sun, sharks, storms and the apparent blindness of any passing cargo ship. All is Lost neatly illustrates each of these in its compact 106 minutes. What is truly remarkable is that aside from a very brief introduction, there is virtually no dialogue. None of the careful narration that carried the story of a boy and his tiger in The Life of Pi, nor any plot device like Wilson, the anthropomorphic volleyball of the film Cast Away. The comparison is not meant as derision, I loved both of those films. But imagine in the case of Cast Away, if writer William Broyles Jr. just let the audience watch Tom Hanks figure things out organically, without Wilson, without any expository dialogue.  Despite the lean writing, Redford is able to make a boat patch job or collecting fresh water compelling stuff.

All is Lost is nearly a silent movie. Like the silent films at the dawn of film creation, Chandor confidently tells his story with great faith that the audience will gasp and recoil and breathe a sigh of relief at all the right moments.

Running scared

Although the film is 40 years old and its special effects are dated, The Exorcist remains on nearly every list of the top scariest movies ever made. Still, in interviews director William Friedkin asserts it isn't so much a horror film as it is a thriller, perhaps a love story, and a powerful tale about the mystery of faith.

The fine performances of the entire cast, the careful pacing and the crisp writing assures the film will remain a modern classic. I've seen The Exorcist many times and have only recently pushed past the visceral terror to appreciate the subtle way the film communicates:

Regan inadvertently summons the demon by playing with a Ouija board.

The demon has no interest in Regan, just the priests.

Regan is 'saved' but both priests lose their lives--thus, the demon wins. 

Give chase

Before filming began on The French Connection, director William Friedkin received some advice from fellow director Howard Hawks, "Make a good chase. Make one better than anyone's done."





















Friedkin with actors Gene Hackman and Roy Scheider


Friedkin discusses his guerilla tactics in filming the infamous chase sequence.
Stunt driver William Hickman had also driven the impressive car chase in Bullitt.






Here, the unforgettable chase of The French Connection, widely considered the
most thrilling ever captured on film.

...a film of terror (and the supernatural)

It's well documented that Stanley Kubrick was a perfectionist: for each of his films, there was exhaustive research, many script revisions, multiple takes for his actors, and in the case of Barry Lyndon, directions for projectionists on the changeover cues and aspect ratio.

Kubrick was equally meticulous while overseeing the design of the poster for The Shining. The designer Saul Bass, a master of the medium, was also sent back to the drawing board.

(click on image to enlarge)

Kubrick's note to Saul Bass regarding the rough art

#1 "Don't like art work, hotel looks peculiar, also art work too spread

out, too sprawling, not compact enough. I don't like the dots for the

logo, it will not look good small, even the size above is difficult to read.

Hard to read."

#2 "Looks like science fiction film, hard to read even at this size."

#3 "Hand and bike are too irrelevant. Title looks bad small. Looks like ink didn't take 

on the part that goes light."

#4 "Maze too abstract and too much emphasis on the maze. Title, see comment #3"

#5 "Maze and figures places too much emphasis on maze, I don't think we should use 

the maze in ads. Title, see #3"

Reply from Saul Bass

Final art

Gravity

Gravity, Alfonso Cuaron's latest film has received glowing reviews for its amazing depiction of outer space. One reviewer noted that it was the definitive argument for 3-D films, which snubs the excellent story, also written by Cuaron. No spoilers here.  The posters and trailer suggest something goes terribly wrong during a mission and I'll leave it at that. Technological advancements in special effects have become so sophisticated that a film audience physically experiences the rush of being in a fast car, falling off a building, getting chased by a dinosaur, and in this film, walking in space.  The thrill of that sort of rush or ride soon fades. The idea of aloneness in space, along with the helplessness and all that unnerving quiet has been explored in films like 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Alien (1979), Apollo 13 (1995), Sunshine (2007) and Moon (2009).  In this era of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, can anything be more terrifying than becoming disconnected and truly alone? That meditation lingers long after leaving the theater.

Marked

Four versions of promotional posters for

Michael Powell's 1960 film, Peeping Tom.

A love that lasts

Herb and Dorothy Vogel shared a vision and passion for art and collecting.

Their 5000 piece collection was donated to the National Gallery of Art and

to galleries in all 50 of the United States.

Herb passed away in 2012. I have to watch the Megumi Sasaki
documentary of the Vogels, Herb and Dorothy.

Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night

If you've listened to stories of people who have survived the horrors of war, or famine or

politically charged, catastrophic, life-changing conflict, there is usually no lack of dastardly characters, near-death feats and high-intrigue romance. Still, none of those stories, no matter how fantastically heroic or operatic in its drama, can compare to the storytelling facility of Wong Kar-wai.

In his film, The Grandmaster, he chronicles the life of  martial artist, Wing Chun grandmaster Ip Man,  from his humble beginnings in Foshan, China in the 1930's, to his death in 1972. From the very first seconds of the film, the viewer is transported to an ethereal level of visual spectacle. So much so, when the characters speak, if only to explain Ip Man's journey, the year, the city he has traveled to, his various tests and challenges by other grandmasters, they disrupt the mesmerizing incandescence Wong Kar-wai has created. Every frame of film seems as rich, dense and magically lit as a Renaissance painting. Was the writing crisp? Sure. Were the fighting sequences exciting? Absolutely. It's rare to recommend a film purely for astounding cinematography and visual effects, but wow, The Grandmaster is a feast.

A wall of Saul

Film.com has posted every movie poster created by Saul Bass.

Charm, innocence and talent

Audrey Hepburn's first starring role was the runaway princess in director William Wyler's 1953 film Roman Holiday. Wyler commented, "She had everything I was looking for: charm, innocence and talent. She also was very funny..." Her performance was critically acclaimed and won the Academy Award for Best Actress.

Dear Mr. Dickinson,

The Audrey Hepburn test you made is a fine piece

of work, and I just wanted to tell you how much

we liked it here at the studio. You gave us a

good look at the girl's personality and charm,

as well as her talent. As a result of the test,

a number of the producers at Paramount have

expressed interest in casting her.

I can't say at the moment whether or not we will 

use Miss Hepburn in Roman Holiday, but if we don't

you may be sure it will not be because of anything

in the test - which is as good as any I've seen

in a long time.

With many thanks and best wishes,

Sincerely,

William Wyler

Radio Pictures

Vintage ephemera from from RKO (Radio, Keith, Orpheum) Pictures.  Fine design.

Shinkansen

In February 2011, a new Japanese bullet train (Shinkansen) was sent out on a two-hour test run. Word circulated that everyone was invited to show up along the route and wave. A camera was mounted to the train that would capture the event to use for a future commercial. A surprising 15,000 people showed up for the impromptu shoot, including firemen, students, Power Rangers, even a bride and groom, jubilantly waving with balloons, banners and flags.

On March 12, 2011, one day after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami devastated Japan, the new bullet train was launched, on schedule. The planned ad spot, containing all the waving people footage was scrapped, deemed inappropriately happy in light of the massive loss of life, destruction, evacuation, and nuclear incidents. Instead, the ad was loaded onto YouTube, where it quickly went viral with millions of views. Images of excited, happy, playful, even silly people, along with the bullet train symbolizing Japan moving forward, was exactly what the recovering wanted and needed to see.

The Door in the Floor

Some stories have a cosmic weight too great to neatly label 'drama' or 'tragedy'. The Door in the Floor is one of those stories, a film adaptation of just one part of John Irving's 1998 novel, A Widow for One Year.  The film is an unsettling portrait of a long-married couple reeling from the freak accident that took the lives of their two teen aged sons. The story begins years after the event, the couple, Marion and Ted Cole(played by Kim Basinger and Jeff Bridges) are raising their young daughter, Ruth, in a grand house, somehow avoiding ever being in the same room at the same time.

Throughout the home, the walls are adorned with black and white photos of their sons, and Ruth obsesses over each image and the story that it holds. It's clear that four-year-old Ruth was conceived to fill the void in their lives, as Marion and Ted bravely attempted to move forward. Ruth is lovely, sweet, clever and playful but she can't fill the hollow that consumes both her parents.

The loss of their children was overwhelmingly cruel, and for Ted and Marion, insurmountable. What remains between them is a deliberate cruelty (through words and actions) that can only happen between people 

who have shared so much, perhaps too much.

An overlooked, underrated film from 2004, The Door in the Floor features characters and conversations that stayed with me long afterwards.

Fruitvale Station

In the early hours of New Year's Day, 2009, Oscar Grant was shot in the back on the
Fruitvale Station platform by a Bay Area Rapid Transit police officer in Oakland, California. He was unarmed and just 22 years old. Director Ryan Coogler's film, Fruitvale Station is not a documentary, but a fact-based re-creation of Oscar's last day.

Comparisons will be made with the Trayvon Martin case currently in the news, but that would be a disservice to the spirited telling of Oscar Grant's story. Yes, he was young and black and shot by a white officer, but more importantly, he was connected to his friends, loved by his family and struggling to find his way in life, like so many people.

In the aftermath of 9/11, perhaps the most compelling account of its impact and sheer scope of its enormity was delivered in the short profiles a handful of The New York Times writers created for each of the lives lost that day. In a few sentences, rich with personal details, the portraits offered a glimpse of a life tragically cut short. Concise and potent, nearly every portrait will move a reader to tears, but in a manner that transcends race, class, age or gender.  The collection was released as a book, Portraits of Grief, and continues to be a testament to the power of love and connection in the face of loss.

In the span of 84 minutes, Fruitvale Station's portrait of Oscar is complete. The mundanity of phone calls and sending texts and pumping gas and shopping for groceries is consistent with the pattern of anyone without a suspicion that this day may be their last.  Michael B. Jordan portrays Oscar Grant. His commanding presence seen previously on The Wire and Friday Night Lights, quietly fills even the wordless moments of the film with the visible energy and angst of a young person just starting out.

Fruitvale Station may effectively memorialize a life ended too soon, but more broadly ruminates how any of us will be remembered.

Parks and Recreating

Adventureland, 2009

Written by Greg Mottola

The Way Way Back, 2013

Written By Nat Faxon and Jim Rash

Both Adventureland (2009) and The Way Way Back (2013) can be synopsized as: A sweet coming-of-age story about a young man who makes new friends and surprising epiphanies while working at a schlocky amusement park.

Both films feature familiar comedians, pretty love-interests and dependable character actors. Most viewers will identify with the nerdy lead: hasn't everyone felt misunderstood, invisible and angry at their parents for ruining their lives?

With so much that's similar, the difference between the two films can be found in the writing. Adventureland feels more polished, with a believable backstory for each of its central characters. The Way Way Back filters its emotion through its main character, while the supporting cast remains largely mysterious and backstory-less.

Both films play on nostalgia and muse what it's like to be on the cusp of maturity. Adventureland uses a confident adult point of view and identifies with each player in its little world, while The Way Way Back takes an innocent look at one summer, recognizing its importance but not its depth.


PS The amusement parks Adventureland and Water Wizz really do exist!