Salon Article on "Precious"

Salon.com features this article by Erin Aubry Kaplan on the film Precious, which has been generating very positive buzz since opening last week. Kaplan writes about why she feels the film is important for both black and white audiences and how it undermines comfortable cliches of urban stories. An excerpt:

Hollywood has long favored comedies or "urban" dramas, both of which mine the deprivation and depravity of the ghetto for entertainment (a phenomenon I call "ghettotainment"). Movies like "Menace II Society" and "Barber Shop" sit comfortably atop the Netflix queues of a multicultural audience. And at the opposite end of the spectrum are the uplifting dramas, stories of dignified black folk overcoming oppression and/or segregation, movies often set in a distant, racist past -- "Glory" or "Remember the Titans." But "Precious" is jarring, because it breaks all these rules. The movie is about racial oppression, but it's modern; its protagonist is inner-city but a female, not an archetypal gangbanger or would-be criminal; though she perseveres, Precious is clearly a victim, not a victor.

Perhaps the best thing about "Precious" is how it dismantles the well-honed defense mechanisms of the black audience. As viewers, we tend to be ready commentators, snickering at our own pain; we make fun of these on-screen moments because they're frequently so unconvincing. Movies, among other things, have taught us not to take ourselves seriously. But in drawing black pain so specifically and unsentimentally, "Precious" makes those cavalier attitudes impossible. When Mo'Nique snaps, "Shut the fuck up!" for the hundredth time or Gabourey Sidibe, the remarkable actress in the title role, tearfully confesses to her own sense of nothingness, the largely black audience I sat with was silent; I could feel a rare chill of recognition. In one of the film's most heartbreaking moments, Precious stands on the cold sidewalk with her new baby, looking longingly through the window of a church at a gospel rehearsal in joyous full swing. It's rare to see a black church portrayed as impotent. But it isn't a condemnation so much as an illustration of her isolation -- our isolation.

I have not seen the film yet, so at this point I just hope that Precious plays long enough and wide enough that the rest of us get to see it.

The End of Miramax (and Independent Film?)

If you hadn't heard, Disney has all but closed down Miramax, the company formally created and owned by the Weinstein Brothers. This is the studio that created and/or distributed some of the most prestigious films of the past twenty years including Pulp Fiction, The Crying Game, sex, lies, and videotape, The English Patient, Shakespeare in Love, Chicago, The Queen, and No Country for Old Men.

Salon.com writer Andrew O'Hehir has written an article about the significance of Miramax to recent film history (comparing it to United Artists in the late 1960s and early 70s) and pointing out how the collapse of Miramax is symptomatic of a larger problem facing independent film. Here is an excerpt:

Magnolia Pictures president Eamonn Bowles, who worked at Miramax in the '90s, sees the company's near-total desiccation as just another chapter in a lengthy and necessary restructuring of the film marketplace. Over the course of the last two years, numerous other studio specialty divisions and small indie distributors have disappeared, including Picturehouse, Warner Independent, Paramount Vantage, THINKfilm and New Yorker Films.

"The landscape has changed a lot since last summer, when all those companies closed down," Bowles says. "The market has gotten back to a more sustainable level. Those companies whose basic M.O. was to chase the Oscar at any cost created an absolutely false marketplace." He suggests that surviving companies like Magnolia, Sony Pictures Classics, IFC and Zeitgeist, who focus on marketing quality films to niche audiences, are now in a stronger position. "Producers are the ones who may be hurt by this, because there are fewer players with fewer resources, and it's a buyer's market. But we've done very well since last summer. It's inherently a more reasonable situation."

Reportedly, the Weinstein's are attempting to buy back the Miramax name from Disney, but there is no telling if that deal will go through, as Disney may want to hold onto the label for appearance's sake and for the impressive catalogue of titles under the Miramax name.

I worry what this means for independent film in the near future. On the one hand there is a re-balancing of the marketplace pointed out in the excerpt above, but what Miramax and specialty divisions of major studios offered was the ability to distribute independent features on a national basis and get them into theaters in smaller markets. Without that distribution mechanism in place, it will be much harder for independent filmmakers to get their movies seen.

Veteran's Day on Sounds of Cinema

On Sunday, November 8th, Sounds of Cinema will commemorate Veteran's Day with the music of war films, including scores to Patton, Inglorious Basterds, and The Thin Red Line.

Original Ending to Paranormal Activity

Check out this page for the original ending to Paranormal Activity. It is significantly longer than what appears in the theatrical version, although the theatrical version is much more effective.

Times Online: 50 Biggest Movies for 2010

The Times Online has a look at fifty films to watch for in the next year. Here are some highlights from their list:

• Clash of The Titans
• The Green Hornet
• The Rum Diary
• Wall Street 2
• Highlander
• The Wolfman
• Gulliver's Travels
• Predators
• The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• Tron Legacy
• Sex and the City 2
• The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
• Alice in Wonderland
• Inception
• The Expendables
• The A Team
• Toy Story 3
• Robin Hood
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I
• Iron Man 2

Check out the article here.

Sounds of Cinema Halloween Special to Air October 31st

There will be a very special episode of Sounds of Cinema airing at 11pm on Saturday, October 31st on 89.5 KQAL FM. The show will contain a mix of Halloween-related music and movie dialogue, including content from Halloween, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Saw, Psycho, 28 Days Later, and House of 1000 Corpses.
Tune in for the soundtrack to your Halloween.

Favorite Horror Film Lists

Here are a few online lists of best horror films:

IFC has a list of the scariest moments in non-horror films. I'm surprised that the human sacrifice of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom isn't listed since it does include the climax of Raiders of the Lost Ark. Check out the full list here.

On The Daily Beast, Martin Scorcese picks his favorite horror films. Most are supernatural or haunted house films like The Haunting or The Exorcist. I wonder if this reflects his Catholic background. Check it out here.

Entertainment Weekly has a list of the twenty best horror films of the last twenty years (1989 - 2009). I'm glad so see someone else appreciated Event Horizon (one of Paul W.S. Anderson's few redeeming films) and Hostel Part 2. Check it out here.

BET has posted a list of horror films with black actors in a lead role. That the Saw films include a diverse cast never occurred to me until reading this piece. Check it out here.

Examiner.com has a list of obsucre horror films that they feel should be more widely appreciated. I have to admit that I haven't seen these. Check it out here.