Cysfilm

Indentured to screen at San Sebastian Human Rights Film Fest

INDENTURED has been selected to show at the San Sebastian Human Rights Film Festival in Spain late next month.

Manda Bala: doc film now on Netflix

Manda Bala means “send a bullet” in Portuguese. It’s available via DVD on Netflix and is really worth a watch. For the die hard doc fans you’ll notice director Jason Kohn’s thank you in the credits to Errol Morris who he used to work for as a researcher. This also helped answer the question I kept asking myself over and over, which was, ” how the hell did he make this?” His techniques are not the standard fair. It makes way more sense knowing he’s been breathing the same air as Morris. Freakazoids. Who shoots anamorphic 16mm for s doc film anyway? Awesome.

New Peace Corps Poster

The Peace Corps just turned fifty years old this month and they (we) got a new poster designed by Shepard Fairey. Love it.

A Fourth Generation Camera: Kodak Brownie

My aunt gave me my Grandmother’s Kodak Brownie camera last November. It turns out it was actually my Great Grandmother’s camera and she photographed my Grandmother as a little girl with it. It’s absolutely incredible to me. I feel this connection that goes back almost a century through this little box camera. Here’s a picture of my Grandmother when she was a young woman taken with a Brownie:

Here’s what I’ve learned via the internet:

The first Brownie went on sale in 1900 for $1.00 and was designed to be as simple and easy to use as possible. The birth of the Brownie = the birth of the snap shot. Kodak sold a quarter million the first year.

Snap shot was a term borrowed from hunting that described an unplanned shot from the hip.

Kodak thought the Brownie would appeal to children so he named it after a popular children’s character, which was often featured in the Kodak print ads.

In 1930 Kodak gave away a special edition of the Brownie camera free to any child who turned 12 that year. (see the ad here)

The really exciting thing about this camera though is that it still works. It uses 120 film, which is readily available. Below are a few test shots I took with it. I love the aspect ratio and I learned that subjects have to be pretty far back to get sharp focus. There are no controls, only a lever to flip a spring loaded shutter. I can’t believe I’m taking photos with my Great Grandmother’s camera! It’s at least eighty years old probably closer to 90.

New Photos: Michigan

Here are a few photos from Christmas in Michigan with my parents:

Valentines Day Movie Options on Netflix

My favorite romantic film of all time is Dr. Zhivago. I’m heavily biased towards E. European/Russian themes but I still think many people will agree that it’s one of the greats. It’s long though, be ready. (Oh Laura)

If you’re feeling weary of romantic love and looking for an antidote then you should probably just go straight for the strong stuff and watch Kramer vs. Kramer. Problem solved.

If you’d rather not commit to either extreme then I suggest In the Mood for Love by Wong Kar-wai. You’ll survive it no matter where you stand; in or out of love. It’s a beautiful movie.

All are streaming on Netflix.

A trailer for Dr. Zhivago:

Really?

My jaw dropped when I opened this box and saw how much packing material was used to ship two little stacks of blank DVDs. How can this be?.

Interesting Website

An interesting multimedia website about the war in Afghanistan. Thanks to Art Neill at NMR for sending the link.

ONE-EIGHT BASETRACK

New Stuff on Netflix

A Prophet is now available on Netflix (streaming and DVD). It’s a French crime/prison film. It’s damn good, promise.

Black Swan

Black Swan is a visually striking, tightly structured, high tempo melodrama about an ambitious but sensually naïve ballerina’s ascent to the top spot. The story, which was written by four men and directed by another one, is a male fantasy of what happens when a young, beautiful and well-behaved woman releases her Id to please her virile young director and for the consumption of her dance loving audience. Nina, played by Natalie Portman, lives in a cloistered apartment with her controlling over-the-hill-dancer mother. She sleeps on childish pink bedding while Mom strokes her hair, a music box pings tinny notes and a porcelain ballerina turns. This is probably the weakest part of the film since their mother-daughter relationship is an on-the-nose stereotype but considering the tradition of melodrama the film belongs to, probably not a big deal.

Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, Requim for a Dream) puts enormous faith in Portman’s acting skills since much of the story is told in close up on her. Nina’s desires stream through Portman’s face so authentically it will make you wonder about Portman’s own experiences as an actress and her similarities to the character. It’s also interesting that Portman’s real mother is, like her character’s mother, an artist who is heavily invested in her daughter’s career. This might be turf that Portman really really knows. I guess that’s why the simplicity of Nina’s relationship with her Mom, or better yet the predictability, is kind of disappointing. But I’m harping on a little thing.

Vincent Cassel isn’t bad as Thomas Leroy, the ballet’s director and puppet master, but I blame Aronofsky and Portman that he isn’t better. Aronofsky let him slide in some scenes that he looked a little lost in and Portman is so good that someone is bound to look bad next to her. High marks to Mila Kunis, who we know from “That 70s Show” for holding her own next to Portman in full bloom. Black Swan is a top shelf melodrama.