May 16, 2013
SIFF is here!
The schedule is massive and (sadly) you can't always drop everything to run and see a movie. Here's my list of what I'd like to see. I'll probably make it to four of them. But it's good to hang on to a list like this because these movies will pop back up at the SIFF Uptown or at Scarecrow.
Also, The Stranger has a solid SIFF guide and a SIFF blog.
The Way Way Back
Bad enough that his parents have divorced; but now 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) must spend the summer at the beach house of his mother's new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell). While Pam (Toni Collette), anxiously inclined to settle for what she can get, has apparently decided to overlook Trent's wandering eye, her son isn't willing to forgive either his peccadilloes or his condescending meddling. What looks to be a season of glum turns around when Duncan, desperate to get away from his increasingly dysfunctional family, takes a job at the Water Wizz water park, and comes under the protective wing of its manager Owen (Sam Rockwell), who guides the young boy through troubled times with every ounce of effort his good-humored slackerdom will allow. The co-directorial debut for the Oscar® winning screenwriters of The Descendants, The Way, Way Back expertly balances its uproarious moments with tender observations of loss and pain. Faxon and Rash have mustered a sterling cast of scene-stealers (including Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, and themselves, appearing as eccentric co-workers of Rockwell's) against whom newcomer James more than holds his own.
After Winter, Spring
Judith Lit's sure-handed directorial debut documents the catch-22 of a rural farming community in the Périgord region of Southwest France. Shot over a three-year period, the film captures the struggle of four family farmers to stave off the 21st Century of Big Agriculture, Big Government, and exurban sprawl. Lit, who grew up on a family farm in Pennsylvania, mixes archival footage of farms like hers with emotional first-hand accounts of the French farmers that grow food whose terroir connotes a sense of place. The farmers eat farm-to-fork, not pre-packaged or readymade. The way we farm today is just as revelatory, the film showing how the fate of family farmers intersects with that of global health. Observing the momentum of the organic movement in France, a glum-faced farmer snipes. "You have to adapt to evolution but with awareness." Such sniping isn't fruit- less. More and more people are going local and even traveling to places that feed us, and the film shows just such a thriving agro- tourism operation. The farmers' answers to such varied questions illuminate not only their frustration but also their hope that a more plant-based, micro-local, and ultra-seasonal movement is gaining momentum and isn't just for the food-obsessed.
Prince Avalanche
Alvin (Paul Rudd) is a bookish, nature loving road worker who relishes his tedious job painting traffic lines on a seemingly endless stretch of highway that travels through a fire-damaged forest. His co-worker Lance (Emile Hirsch), the brother of his current girlfriend, cares less for the job, preferring to escape into the city to party and meet girls. Forced to spend long, lonely stretches in each other's company, it isn't long before this odd couple begin butting heads. As the riotous barbs and malicious exchanges increase, the pair find that they are forming an unexpected bond, and the charred woods begin to reveal unusual secrets in the guise of a mysterious truck driver offering some primo homemade hooch. Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) returns to the style of his early independent films George Washington and All the Real Girls, blending poetic visuals, a stirring soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky, and subtle character exploration into a charmingly laconic comedy that redefines male bonding. Based on the Icelandic film Either Way (SIFF 2012), Prince Avalanche also features a sly cameo from Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton.
Touchy Feely
Lynn Shelton’s latest is a touching comedy about touching people. Returning after their collaboration on Your Sister's Sister, Rosemarie DeWitt plays Abby, a massage therapist who develops a sudden aversion to bodily contact. This gets in the way of her job, of course, but also her relationship with her boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy), who has just asked her to move in with him. Or maybe the affliction arises because she has agreed to move in with him. Meanwhile, her emotionally absent brother Paul (Josh Pais) has been relying on his daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) to keep his dying dental practice functioning, at least until he accidentally discovers he can heal a painful jaw disorder. As Abby retreats from the world in order to gain more perspective, Paul enters into it more fully. He even starts seeing Abby’s Reiki master (Allison Janney) who he normally would have dismissed outright as New Age nonsense. As with all of Shelton’s films, the performances are phenomenal: DeWitt deftly balances discomfort with a longing to connect; Pais is heartfelt and hilarious; and Ellen Page is heartbreaking as a girl struggling with unrequited love. In a movie full of people who are uncomfortable in their own skin, they each confront and discover the healing power of human connections.
Crystal Fairy
Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) expands his horizons as Jamie, a rude, crude, ignorant dude visiting Chile in search of mild-altering substances. Inspired by a Bosch painting, Jamie and his friends embark on a journey into the Atacama Desert in search of a fabled and hallucinatory cactus, the ultimate trip. But when Jamie meets Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffmann), a sprightly and carefree neo-hippie from San Francisco, she decides to tag along, forcing Jamie to reconsider his unsympathetic and uncompassionate attitude.Crystal Fairy marks the English-language debut of Chilean director Sebastián Silva, whose previous film The Maid played in SIFF 2009.
In A World...
Writer-director Lake Bell's feature film debut (and Sundance award winner) In a World... follows struggling vocal coach Carol (Bell) as she goes head-to-head with the top voice actors in Los Angeles (including her own father) to land a career-making gig on a studio blockbuster trailer. Unwilling to acknowledge his daughter's voice acting abilities, Sam (Fred Melamed) treats Carol with condescension, dismissing her attempts to break into the voice acting trade as a humorous boondoggle. As Carol struggles to make ends meet as a vocal coach, Sam lives like a king, bestowing his favor on up-and-coming male protégés with nary a second thought. When she gets a shot at the gig of a lifetime on an upcoming blockbuster movie trailer, and then becomes the front-runner, her father and his voice acting cronies circle the wagons in hopes of keeping Carol out of their elite boys' club. Meanwhile, Carol's sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins), tries to salvage her marriage to Moe (Rob Corddry), which puts Carol in the awkward position of acting as go-between for the sparring lovers. Featuring a cast stocked with some of today's funniest people, including Nick Offerman, Demetri Martin, and Tig Notaro, In a World... is one of the most entertaining films of the year.
Decoding Annie Parker
Based on true events, this touching film follows a 15-year war against a cruel illness, waged on both scientific and emotional fronts by a pair of women demonstrating extreme bravery under pressure. Annie Parker (Samantha Morton) is on intimate terms with breast cancer, having watched both her mother and sister succumb to it. When she herself is diagnosed with the disease, she struggles to hold her family together, displaying a force of spirit that belies the odds. Elsewhere, geneticist Mary-Claire King (Helen Hunt) is researching the idea of an undiscovered link between DNA and cancer, a process that finds her scrambling for both funding and the support of her disbelieving colleagues. How the paths of these two women intersect is funny, irreverent, and heartwarming without the burn. Director Steven Bernstein's feature debut deftly balances the seriousness of the situation with the all-too-human response, finding unpredictable grace notes of beauty and wit during even the darkest of times. Featuring stellar performances by Morton, Hunt, and a first-rate supporting cast including Aaron Paul, Rashida Jones, Bradley Whitford, and Maggie Grace, Bernstein's film pays ample tribute to one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century as well as the people forever changed in its wake.
More Than Honey
As entrancing as March of the Penguins, More Than Honey features some of the most spectacular footage of bees ever put on film. But this is not just a picturesque nature documentary. It’s also an investigation into a mystery. What is killing off the world’s bee populations at an alarming rate? This dire situation is devastating to the human species, too; without bees, one-third of the world’s food would not exist. To find answers, Academy Award®-nominated director Markus Imhoof travels the world, talking to and observing the inner-workings of beekeepers, farmers, and scientists. Through the use of amazing point-of-view cinematography that defies the imagination, we actually soar through the air with the bees. A top audience favorite at both the Vancouver International Film Festival and IDFA (the world’s most prestigious documentary festival), the movie is also a personal narrative. Imhoof’s grandfather owned an orchard and cannery and built a special house for 150 bee colonies. Heartfelt, gorgeously shot, and suspenseful, More Than Honey is an important, thought-provoking, and enriching experience.
The Spectacular Now
Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is a high school senior with a freewheeling outlook on life-while teetering on the verge of alcoholism. Seldom seen without a drink in hand, Sutter is the life of the party with no real plan for the future beyond maintaining his long-time job at the local men's clothing store. Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) is Sutter's polar opposite. College-bound and a bit of a nerd, she's always been one step ahead of her peers. Excited for what the future may hold beyond the confines of her small town, Aimee's been careful to keep her nose clean and her record perfect. But, when she finds Sutter passed out on her family's lawn one Sunday morning, they both wind up having their worlds rocked in ways that will profoundly affect each of their lives. Featuring stand out performances from Woodley and Teller, pitch-perfect direction from James Ponsoldt, and a stellar script from the writing team of Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter ((500) Days of Summer), The Spectacular Now is a seriously funny comedy about teens dealing with very adult problems.
Teddy Bears
Andrew (David Krumholtz), despondent over the death of his mother, invites his closest friends, two couples, and his devoted girlfriend Hannah (Melanie Lynskey), to join him in the Joshua Tree desert for an emotionally healing retreat—which just so happens to include a therapeutic orgy. His shocking request is dismissed as a joke, but Andrew is convinced that feeling a wealth of love all at once is the only way he can overcome depression. An outrageous weekend transpires as this group of friends debate Andrew's request, share uncomfortable hot tub time, and visit a nearby town in hopes of finding an alternate solution with some ladies of the night. But the time to decide is running out, and Andrew is becoming more and more unhinged. Using the magical, desolate landscape of the Joshua Tree desert as their backdrop, husband and wife directorial team Thomas Beatty and Rebecca Fishman explore the comedic depths of despair, relationships, sexual longing, and unjust demands with a top-notch ensemble cast that also includes Gillian Jacobs (Community), Ahna O'Reilly (The Help), and Jason Ritter, plus a moving cameo from the legendary Ned Beatty.
Furever
In 2012 alone, the 62% of Americans who own pets spent $52.9 billion on them.Furever not only shows us the outlandish ways pet owners can contribute to this sum of money, but also offers an intimate look into why this investment is profound. Weaving interviews with pet mourners, veterinarians, scientists, academics, and undertakers, this documentary looks beyond the meaning of these precious creatures and investigates how the act of memorializing them is distinctly human. In imagery that is at once striking and meditative, director Amy Finkel visually explores the fine line between our perception of meaning and lifelessness. Furever is a sober spectacle with something for everyone as it explores practices such as taxidermy, mummification, and cloning; drawing on themes of death, spirituality, industry, mental health, popular perception, and money.
Twenty Feet From Stardom
When you're singing along with the chorus of your favorite song, do you really know who you're singing with? Veteran filmmaker Morgan Neville does, and his new film tracks the astounding careers, contributions, and sacrifices of pop music's most recognizable yet least known artists—the backup singers. Twenty Feet from Stardom focuses primarily on four singers—Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill—charting the rise of the modern pop vocal sound from its origins in the gospel tradition, through the demand for new, more impassioned sounds during the turbulent '60s, and into their declining options in the modern recording era. Over his prolific career, Neville has profiled musicians ranging from Johnny Cash to The Rolling Stones, and uses his connections to access a vault's worth of archival footage. Twenty Feet from Stardom boasts a wealth of celebrity interviews, including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, and others. But this time the superstars take a backseat to the backup singers, recalling some of these ladies' most legendary recording sessions. Trust us—you'll never hear "Gimme Shelter" the same way once you've seen Jagger and Clayton describe the night she sang that song.
The Office Shuts Off The Lights
Oh, and TV matters too.
Today's Photo:
SIFF is here!
The schedule is massive and (sadly) you can't always drop everything to run and see a movie. Here's my list of what I'd like to see. I'll probably make it to four of them. But it's good to hang on to a list like this because these movies will pop back up at the SIFF Uptown or at Scarecrow.
Also, The Stranger has a solid SIFF guide and a SIFF blog.
The Way Way Back
Bad enough that his parents have divorced; but now 14-year-old Duncan (Liam James) must spend the summer at the beach house of his mother's new boyfriend Trent (Steve Carell). While Pam (Toni Collette), anxiously inclined to settle for what she can get, has apparently decided to overlook Trent's wandering eye, her son isn't willing to forgive either his peccadilloes or his condescending meddling. What looks to be a season of glum turns around when Duncan, desperate to get away from his increasingly dysfunctional family, takes a job at the Water Wizz water park, and comes under the protective wing of its manager Owen (Sam Rockwell), who guides the young boy through troubled times with every ounce of effort his good-humored slackerdom will allow. The co-directorial debut for the Oscar® winning screenwriters of The Descendants, The Way, Way Back expertly balances its uproarious moments with tender observations of loss and pain. Faxon and Rash have mustered a sterling cast of scene-stealers (including Allison Janney, Maya Rudolph, and themselves, appearing as eccentric co-workers of Rockwell's) against whom newcomer James more than holds his own.
After Winter, Spring
Judith Lit's sure-handed directorial debut documents the catch-22 of a rural farming community in the Périgord region of Southwest France. Shot over a three-year period, the film captures the struggle of four family farmers to stave off the 21st Century of Big Agriculture, Big Government, and exurban sprawl. Lit, who grew up on a family farm in Pennsylvania, mixes archival footage of farms like hers with emotional first-hand accounts of the French farmers that grow food whose terroir connotes a sense of place. The farmers eat farm-to-fork, not pre-packaged or readymade. The way we farm today is just as revelatory, the film showing how the fate of family farmers intersects with that of global health. Observing the momentum of the organic movement in France, a glum-faced farmer snipes. "You have to adapt to evolution but with awareness." Such sniping isn't fruit- less. More and more people are going local and even traveling to places that feed us, and the film shows just such a thriving agro- tourism operation. The farmers' answers to such varied questions illuminate not only their frustration but also their hope that a more plant-based, micro-local, and ultra-seasonal movement is gaining momentum and isn't just for the food-obsessed.
Prince Avalanche
Alvin (Paul Rudd) is a bookish, nature loving road worker who relishes his tedious job painting traffic lines on a seemingly endless stretch of highway that travels through a fire-damaged forest. His co-worker Lance (Emile Hirsch), the brother of his current girlfriend, cares less for the job, preferring to escape into the city to party and meet girls. Forced to spend long, lonely stretches in each other's company, it isn't long before this odd couple begin butting heads. As the riotous barbs and malicious exchanges increase, the pair find that they are forming an unexpected bond, and the charred woods begin to reveal unusual secrets in the guise of a mysterious truck driver offering some primo homemade hooch. Director David Gordon Green (Pineapple Express) returns to the style of his early independent films George Washington and All the Real Girls, blending poetic visuals, a stirring soundtrack by Explosions in the Sky, and subtle character exploration into a charmingly laconic comedy that redefines male bonding. Based on the Icelandic film Either Way (SIFF 2012), Prince Avalanche also features a sly cameo from Seattle filmmaker Lynn Shelton.
Touchy Feely
Lynn Shelton’s latest is a touching comedy about touching people. Returning after their collaboration on Your Sister's Sister, Rosemarie DeWitt plays Abby, a massage therapist who develops a sudden aversion to bodily contact. This gets in the way of her job, of course, but also her relationship with her boyfriend Jesse (Scoot McNairy), who has just asked her to move in with him. Or maybe the affliction arises because she has agreed to move in with him. Meanwhile, her emotionally absent brother Paul (Josh Pais) has been relying on his daughter Jenny (Ellen Page) to keep his dying dental practice functioning, at least until he accidentally discovers he can heal a painful jaw disorder. As Abby retreats from the world in order to gain more perspective, Paul enters into it more fully. He even starts seeing Abby’s Reiki master (Allison Janney) who he normally would have dismissed outright as New Age nonsense. As with all of Shelton’s films, the performances are phenomenal: DeWitt deftly balances discomfort with a longing to connect; Pais is heartfelt and hilarious; and Ellen Page is heartbreaking as a girl struggling with unrequited love. In a movie full of people who are uncomfortable in their own skin, they each confront and discover the healing power of human connections.
Crystal Fairy
Michael Cera (Arrested Development, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) expands his horizons as Jamie, a rude, crude, ignorant dude visiting Chile in search of mild-altering substances. Inspired by a Bosch painting, Jamie and his friends embark on a journey into the Atacama Desert in search of a fabled and hallucinatory cactus, the ultimate trip. But when Jamie meets Crystal Fairy (Gaby Hoffmann), a sprightly and carefree neo-hippie from San Francisco, she decides to tag along, forcing Jamie to reconsider his unsympathetic and uncompassionate attitude.Crystal Fairy marks the English-language debut of Chilean director Sebastián Silva, whose previous film The Maid played in SIFF 2009.
In A World...
Writer-director Lake Bell's feature film debut (and Sundance award winner) In a World... follows struggling vocal coach Carol (Bell) as she goes head-to-head with the top voice actors in Los Angeles (including her own father) to land a career-making gig on a studio blockbuster trailer. Unwilling to acknowledge his daughter's voice acting abilities, Sam (Fred Melamed) treats Carol with condescension, dismissing her attempts to break into the voice acting trade as a humorous boondoggle. As Carol struggles to make ends meet as a vocal coach, Sam lives like a king, bestowing his favor on up-and-coming male protégés with nary a second thought. When she gets a shot at the gig of a lifetime on an upcoming blockbuster movie trailer, and then becomes the front-runner, her father and his voice acting cronies circle the wagons in hopes of keeping Carol out of their elite boys' club. Meanwhile, Carol's sister, Dani (Michaela Watkins), tries to salvage her marriage to Moe (Rob Corddry), which puts Carol in the awkward position of acting as go-between for the sparring lovers. Featuring a cast stocked with some of today's funniest people, including Nick Offerman, Demetri Martin, and Tig Notaro, In a World... is one of the most entertaining films of the year.
Decoding Annie Parker
Based on true events, this touching film follows a 15-year war against a cruel illness, waged on both scientific and emotional fronts by a pair of women demonstrating extreme bravery under pressure. Annie Parker (Samantha Morton) is on intimate terms with breast cancer, having watched both her mother and sister succumb to it. When she herself is diagnosed with the disease, she struggles to hold her family together, displaying a force of spirit that belies the odds. Elsewhere, geneticist Mary-Claire King (Helen Hunt) is researching the idea of an undiscovered link between DNA and cancer, a process that finds her scrambling for both funding and the support of her disbelieving colleagues. How the paths of these two women intersect is funny, irreverent, and heartwarming without the burn. Director Steven Bernstein's feature debut deftly balances the seriousness of the situation with the all-too-human response, finding unpredictable grace notes of beauty and wit during even the darkest of times. Featuring stellar performances by Morton, Hunt, and a first-rate supporting cast including Aaron Paul, Rashida Jones, Bradley Whitford, and Maggie Grace, Bernstein's film pays ample tribute to one of the most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century as well as the people forever changed in its wake.
More Than Honey
As entrancing as March of the Penguins, More Than Honey features some of the most spectacular footage of bees ever put on film. But this is not just a picturesque nature documentary. It’s also an investigation into a mystery. What is killing off the world’s bee populations at an alarming rate? This dire situation is devastating to the human species, too; without bees, one-third of the world’s food would not exist. To find answers, Academy Award®-nominated director Markus Imhoof travels the world, talking to and observing the inner-workings of beekeepers, farmers, and scientists. Through the use of amazing point-of-view cinematography that defies the imagination, we actually soar through the air with the bees. A top audience favorite at both the Vancouver International Film Festival and IDFA (the world’s most prestigious documentary festival), the movie is also a personal narrative. Imhoof’s grandfather owned an orchard and cannery and built a special house for 150 bee colonies. Heartfelt, gorgeously shot, and suspenseful, More Than Honey is an important, thought-provoking, and enriching experience.
The Spectacular Now
Sutter Keely (Miles Teller) is a high school senior with a freewheeling outlook on life-while teetering on the verge of alcoholism. Seldom seen without a drink in hand, Sutter is the life of the party with no real plan for the future beyond maintaining his long-time job at the local men's clothing store. Aimee Finicky (Shailene Woodley) is Sutter's polar opposite. College-bound and a bit of a nerd, she's always been one step ahead of her peers. Excited for what the future may hold beyond the confines of her small town, Aimee's been careful to keep her nose clean and her record perfect. But, when she finds Sutter passed out on her family's lawn one Sunday morning, they both wind up having their worlds rocked in ways that will profoundly affect each of their lives. Featuring stand out performances from Woodley and Teller, pitch-perfect direction from James Ponsoldt, and a stellar script from the writing team of Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter ((500) Days of Summer), The Spectacular Now is a seriously funny comedy about teens dealing with very adult problems.
Teddy Bears
Andrew (David Krumholtz), despondent over the death of his mother, invites his closest friends, two couples, and his devoted girlfriend Hannah (Melanie Lynskey), to join him in the Joshua Tree desert for an emotionally healing retreat—which just so happens to include a therapeutic orgy. His shocking request is dismissed as a joke, but Andrew is convinced that feeling a wealth of love all at once is the only way he can overcome depression. An outrageous weekend transpires as this group of friends debate Andrew's request, share uncomfortable hot tub time, and visit a nearby town in hopes of finding an alternate solution with some ladies of the night. But the time to decide is running out, and Andrew is becoming more and more unhinged. Using the magical, desolate landscape of the Joshua Tree desert as their backdrop, husband and wife directorial team Thomas Beatty and Rebecca Fishman explore the comedic depths of despair, relationships, sexual longing, and unjust demands with a top-notch ensemble cast that also includes Gillian Jacobs (Community), Ahna O'Reilly (The Help), and Jason Ritter, plus a moving cameo from the legendary Ned Beatty.
Furever
In 2012 alone, the 62% of Americans who own pets spent $52.9 billion on them.Furever not only shows us the outlandish ways pet owners can contribute to this sum of money, but also offers an intimate look into why this investment is profound. Weaving interviews with pet mourners, veterinarians, scientists, academics, and undertakers, this documentary looks beyond the meaning of these precious creatures and investigates how the act of memorializing them is distinctly human. In imagery that is at once striking and meditative, director Amy Finkel visually explores the fine line between our perception of meaning and lifelessness. Furever is a sober spectacle with something for everyone as it explores practices such as taxidermy, mummification, and cloning; drawing on themes of death, spirituality, industry, mental health, popular perception, and money.
From the banks of the Tennessee River -- "The Singing River" as the local Native Americans called it -- emerged some of the most creative and defiant music of a generation. In the 1960s, the tiny town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama became one of the most sought- after recording destinations in the country, attracting artists ranging from Aretha Franklin to Lynyrd Skynyrd, from Paul Simon to the Rolling Stones. At the heart of this musical movement is Rick Hall, the founder of FAME Studios, a place where black and white musicians could meet as musical equals during Alabama's turbulent struggles with race relations. Overcoming his impoverished childhood and a tragedy-filled life, Hall was instrumental in creating both the Muscle Shoals Sound and its legendary rhythm section, The Swampers. Director Greg Camalier provides a bounty of performance stills and archival footage inter- twined with illuminating recollections from the artists themselves. Anecdotes from Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, the Stones's Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Etta James, and others redefine a multitude of songs, including "Respect," "Brown Sugar," and "Free Bird." While no single film could be the comprehensive word on the Muscle Shoals Sound, Camalier has created one that stands as a testament to its magnetism, mystery, and continuing influence today.
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me is a unique portrait of the seminal rock band who crafted three albums now considered to be pop masterpieces. Never experiencing popular success in their time—even today, they're most widely known for their song "In the Street," heard on television's That '70s Show—Big Star has been cited as an influence by artists including REM, The Replacements, and Wilco. The film traces the history of the band from then-teenage singer Alex Chilton's stardom with The Box Tops in the Sixties, through the tumultuous recording of the group's landmark albums, and each band member's subsequent struggles to define themselves after the band's demise. Weaving never-before-seen footage and photos of the band together with in-depth interviews, director Drew DeNicola has created a unique portrait of four incredibly talented musicians who fell victim to the corporate stranglehold that the major record labels and radio stations held over the music industry. Most triumphantly, Big Star also documents the resurrection of the band by passionate musicians and music journalists, who discovered their music in later years, and came to treasure it as, in the words of singer-songwriter Robyn Hitchcock, "a letter that got lost in the mail."
Twenty Feet From Stardom
When you're singing along with the chorus of your favorite song, do you really know who you're singing with? Veteran filmmaker Morgan Neville does, and his new film tracks the astounding careers, contributions, and sacrifices of pop music's most recognizable yet least known artists—the backup singers. Twenty Feet from Stardom focuses primarily on four singers—Darlene Love, Merry Clayton, Lisa Fischer, and Judith Hill—charting the rise of the modern pop vocal sound from its origins in the gospel tradition, through the demand for new, more impassioned sounds during the turbulent '60s, and into their declining options in the modern recording era. Over his prolific career, Neville has profiled musicians ranging from Johnny Cash to The Rolling Stones, and uses his connections to access a vault's worth of archival footage. Twenty Feet from Stardom boasts a wealth of celebrity interviews, including Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Mick Jagger, and others. But this time the superstars take a backseat to the backup singers, recalling some of these ladies' most legendary recording sessions. Trust us—you'll never hear "Gimme Shelter" the same way once you've seen Jagger and Clayton describe the night she sang that song.
The Office Shuts Off The Lights
Oh, and TV matters too.
It may not be pretty, but it's somehow fitting that The Office should end this way: humbled, overlooked, and, increasingly, unloved. No one was paying much attention when the series debuted in 2005 and, in retrospect, it's easy to see why. It was a prickly, initially slavish adaptation of a culty British comedy, shot in a jarring, shaky-camera style that appeared more suitable for Cops or a drunk uncle's home movies than Must See TV. NBC thought so little of it that only six episodes were ordered and then promptly dumped in the midseason swamps of late March. The pilot featured a cast of relative unknowns ventriloquizing Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's cringe-inducing dialogue and, when subsequent episodes lost half the audience, the show's prospects seemed thinner than Steve Carell's pre–movie star hair. It was a fluke box office smashthat kept it alive; it was a network-wide dearth of better options that eventually made it a hit.
So there's some symmetry in the fact that after eight years, four Emmys, three regional managers, and an untold number of parties in the conference room, The Office's farewell feels more like an afterthought than an event. In the two seasons since Carell departed, the show has shed both viewers and purpose at an alarming rate, like one of Angela's beloved cats on a hot summer day. NBC is rightfully devoting two hours of prime time to the finale tomorrow night, but all of the network brass will be busy partying and praying in Manhattan, hoping that at least one of the half-dozen new sitcoms unveiled during upfronts this week will break through.1 And among comedy nerds, all but the most devoted Scrantonites are already looking ahead to May 26 and the return of Arrested Development, a show far more beloved in death than it ever was in life. It's a rough lesson worthy of a Northeastern Pennsylvania winter and one written in the DNA of The Office's collection of wacky sad sacks and dippy drones: that attention and appreciation are only given to the new or the too-soon-departed. There's financial reward but precious little glory in putting in the work for the long haul. On TV, surviving just means you haven't yet had a chance to be missed.
Today's Photo:
See lots of movies, but don't spend all your time indoors.
Summer is coming.
No comments:
Post a Comment