Underground Film Links: February 20, 2011
By Mike Everleth ⋅ February 20, 2011
- Usama Alshaibi’s Profane debuted in Berlin last week and the film already garnered a review by Ceven Knowles. To be honest, I haven’t read it yet because I’m waiting to see the film first without preconceptions. But, I think it’s a positive write-up.
- Actually, there are lots of write-ups coming from the Berlinale. On Electric Sheep, Pamela Jahn and Alison Frank review films Road to Nowhere, The Devil’s Double, Tomboy and Dance Town.
- Robert Koehler has several write-ups. First, he says Miranda July’s The Future isn’t good, but Marie Losier’s The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye is excellent. Then, this round-up of several films makes the fest sound pretty dismal overall.
- Kinemastik reviews some Berlinale short films.
- Clint Enns has a completely excellent review of Jaimz Asmundson’s phenomenal short film The Magus, cluing us in on many of the fine magickal details that I wasn’t aware of when I reviewed it. Then, Clint went and did a very nice thing: He created an index of all of the Underground Film Journal’s write-ups on Winnipeg-based filmmakers, such as himself and Jaimz. Thanks, Clint! Very flattering. Winnipeg has an incredible cluster of talent, if you haven’t been paying attention.
- The Dartmouth school newspaper has a very flattering profile of underground animator Jodie Mack, who has just been appointed as professor there.
- Filmmaker Chris Fiorentini got turned on by Canadian experimental filmmaker Richard Kerr via the Underground Film Journal.
- The American Cinematheque here in Los Angeles has a spiffy new site. It’s not WordPress, but it’s still nice.
- Colleen Wanglund of the Mondo Film & Video Guide has a positive review of James Eaves’ Bane. I agree with Colleen’s take.
- This is a cute video: Time lapse of cartoonist Rick Geary sketching silent movie star Louise Brooks.
- Making Light of It has a baby picture of Maya Deren, previously published in Film Culture.
- Yoel Meranda raves about Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1954 film Sansho dayu.
- I always praise J. J. Murphy’s indie film reviews, but I was exceptionally thrilled to hear him write positively about the work of Sean Baker, particularly Baker’s Prince of Broadway. I haven’t seen this film, but I am a fan of his first film Four Letter Words.
- The Oxford Film Freak has the list of award winners for the 2011 Oxford Film Festival, which includes Murderabilia, The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, Inside Out/Side One, Prairie Love and more.
- Professor Tryon muses on the role of video stores and online video sharing sites on our culture. Don’t get me wrong, I love video stores to death, but I worked in several of them and the vast majority of the customers did not make them great socializing hubs, if you know what I mean.
- That said, I will go on to praise Video Journeys in Los Angeles as one of the last great video stores where I do enjoy chatting with the clerks about the movies.
- There’s still time to vote in the online genre-tinged Rondo Awards.
- Waylon Bacon has frame grabs from his upcoming Dad documentary.
- Candlelight Stories has found some videos produced by students at the Echo Park Film Center. He’s particularly taken with the film It Is Not the Same Thing by Kathy Choi.
- This is a bit of an old post, but Sean Gill reviews the ’80s cult hit Tapeheads, and has lots of awesome still frames of Clu Gulager getting spanked by Courtney Love and riding actress Susan Tyrell like a horse.
- Haven’t had ane Underground Film Journal Film Quote Whore moment in awhile, but my latest “john” is Bobby Putka.
- Lady Ryder writes up Herschell Gordon Lewis’ ’70s all-girl biker movie She Devils on Wheels. The review includes this great quote: “It’s about as romantic as buying a hunk of baloney.”
- Jonas Mekas posted a radio interview he did where he discusses Andy Warhol’s Empire, which Jonas shot for the artist.
- indieWIRE has the news that Kino Lorber has picked up Jean Luc Godard’s Film Socialisme for U.S. distribution.
- Although this covers mainstream movies, The Flick Skinny is a cute comic strip movie review column.
- Thanks to these sites for blogrolling the Underground Film Journal: The New Ennui and Strange Ambition. (I like both those names.)
Underground Film Feedback (2 comments)
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My post may have seemed a little too nostalgic, but I’m certainly aware of the limitations of the idea that video stores (or book stores) could be social hubs. I’d also point out that online hubs–Meetup groups, to name just one example–can help to promote other forms of socialization.
At the same time, I am probably waaay too cranky given my background and interests. I certainly had customers I enjoyed interacting with … it just usually wasn’t over movies. Plus, the knucklehead customers are such a time and emotional drain that they always stick out in the mind first.
What’s interesting though, is that as far as stores go, video stores ARE one of the few places one can strike up conversations about similar interests with random strangers.
For example, it’s generally “ok” in a video store if you see someone pick up a box for a movie you like, to blurt out, “I liked that movie a lot.” The same way you WOULDN’T say in a Target, “I love using that detergent,” even though TV commercials pretend otherwise.