Music Box - Check Reader Movies for showtimes
Although it can easily be
dismissed as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH meets SUPER SIZE ME, the documentary
about NYC based author Colin Beavan's year of "living simply" separates
itself from the pack. Unlike many of the eco-disaster films that will be
part of a 2009 bumper crop, NO IMPACT MAN has a distinctly human
element at its core. Beaven is the one who initiated the project to have
his family reduce their consumption for an entire year but his wife,
Michelle Conlin, is the real star of the film. A senior writer for
Business Week who is a self-described caffeine junkie and shopaholic,
Conlin struggles with the abrupt lifestyle change. She gets plenty of
screen time and serves as a glass-is-half-empty counter to her husband.
This film may be preaching to the converted at times, such as when
Beavan watches garbage trucks converging on a Bronx neighborhood, but it
is at its best in the moments when longtime activists ask Beavan if his
project is only a publicity stunt. This lends an introspective and
humble element to the journey, one which doesn't scold the audience,
buts lets them choose their own path. (2009, 93 min, BlueRay Video) JH - Cine-File.info
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Chick Strand: Soft Fiction (Experimental)
Conversations at the Edge at the
Gene Siskel Film Center - Thursday, 6pm
When Chick Strand passed away in July she left behind a body of work that places here firmly in the upper echelon of Experimental Cinema. One of the founders of the San Francisco Cinematheque and Canyon Cinema, she also was one of the first artists to explore the line between documentary and poetic filmmaking. In her most ambitious work, SOFT FICTION (1979, 54 min, 16mm), Strand allows five women to share very personal stories about their sexual experiences. Each of the women speaks directly to the camera, usually in Strand's home, and the intimacy forged between filmmaker and subject is an achievement that has rarely been matched. Minimalist in approach, the film continually adds to the complexity of the idea of female sexuality while also calling into question the reliability of memory. Conscious of her control over the meaning of the film, Strand uses the subjects' tales as a stand-in for her own, creating a sort of allegorical autobiography. The truth may be plastic, but honesty is concrete. Also screening is the short KRISTALLNACHT (1979, 7 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
When Chick Strand passed away in July she left behind a body of work that places here firmly in the upper echelon of Experimental Cinema. One of the founders of the San Francisco Cinematheque and Canyon Cinema, she also was one of the first artists to explore the line between documentary and poetic filmmaking. In her most ambitious work, SOFT FICTION (1979, 54 min, 16mm), Strand allows five women to share very personal stories about their sexual experiences. Each of the women speaks directly to the camera, usually in Strand's home, and the intimacy forged between filmmaker and subject is an achievement that has rarely been matched. Minimalist in approach, the film continually adds to the complexity of the idea of female sexuality while also calling into question the reliability of memory. Conscious of her control over the meaning of the film, Strand uses the subjects' tales as a stand-in for her own, creating a sort of allegorical autobiography. The truth may be plastic, but honesty is concrete. Also screening is the short KRISTALLNACHT (1979, 7 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
Saturday, September 12, 2009
John Cassavetes’ A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (Classic Revival)
Gene Siskel Film Center – Wednesday, 7:30pm (repeats next week)
For the uninitiated, the films of John Cassavetes are at best unknown and at worst unappreciated. Marked by intimacy, chaos, and frequent awkwardness, they are populated by characters who are not from the same town as Jake LaMotta or even Harry Caul. The experience of a Cassavetes film can often hit too close to home—as when someone's mood suddenly shifts from jolly to angry, or when someone else blurts out an unprovoked insult, followed by an extended uncomfortable silence. He has a knack for allowing an actor to so fully inhabit the skin of their character that even Peter Falk somehow ceases to be Columbo. One of his finest achievements is A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. Utilizing a crew of both professionals and students from AFI—where he was serving as "filmmaker in residence"—Cassavetes draws us into the marriage of blue collar Nick Longhetti (Peter Falk) and his wife Mabel (Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes’ real-life spouse) as she struggles with an unnamed mental illness and raising their three children. If Mabel is unstable, Nick is insecure and prone to violent outbursts. Neither of them is wired quite right, but what makes Cassavetes' approach to the story remarkable is his compassion for each of these deeply flawed, but not broken, people. Moments of real love emerge from a caress or exchanged glance; Mabel's social faux-pas are seen as simply quirks of her condition; and Nick's violence towards a co-worker is dismissed as part of a bad day. These actions are not justified; they are simply accepted by the filmmaker as part of the human condition. The main setting is a small home in Los Angeles, and the camera is often a silent child in the room, watching as the parents overreact. Close-ups dominate the mise-en-scene, with skillful hand-held shots sometimes approaching a documentary look—where the focus struggles to keep up with the action. WOMAN is a film of raw emotion laid bare; perhaps it is this intensity that continues to limit a wider appreciation of his work. (1974, 155 min, 35mm) JH - Cine-File.info
For the uninitiated, the films of John Cassavetes are at best unknown and at worst unappreciated. Marked by intimacy, chaos, and frequent awkwardness, they are populated by characters who are not from the same town as Jake LaMotta or even Harry Caul. The experience of a Cassavetes film can often hit too close to home—as when someone's mood suddenly shifts from jolly to angry, or when someone else blurts out an unprovoked insult, followed by an extended uncomfortable silence. He has a knack for allowing an actor to so fully inhabit the skin of their character that even Peter Falk somehow ceases to be Columbo. One of his finest achievements is A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE. Utilizing a crew of both professionals and students from AFI—where he was serving as "filmmaker in residence"—Cassavetes draws us into the marriage of blue collar Nick Longhetti (Peter Falk) and his wife Mabel (Gena Rowlands, Cassavetes’ real-life spouse) as she struggles with an unnamed mental illness and raising their three children. If Mabel is unstable, Nick is insecure and prone to violent outbursts. Neither of them is wired quite right, but what makes Cassavetes' approach to the story remarkable is his compassion for each of these deeply flawed, but not broken, people. Moments of real love emerge from a caress or exchanged glance; Mabel's social faux-pas are seen as simply quirks of her condition; and Nick's violence towards a co-worker is dismissed as part of a bad day. These actions are not justified; they are simply accepted by the filmmaker as part of the human condition. The main setting is a small home in Los Angeles, and the camera is often a silent child in the room, watching as the parents overreact. Close-ups dominate the mise-en-scene, with skillful hand-held shots sometimes approaching a documentary look—where the focus struggles to keep up with the action. WOMAN is a film of raw emotion laid bare; perhaps it is this intensity that continues to limit a wider appreciation of his work. (1974, 155 min, 35mm) JH - Cine-File.info
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