My DIY film/writing school

This is fantastic

Found film finds its place: YouTube. I love this - this is like a celebration of humanity, in all its very strangeness and brokenness.

posted by Simon @ 6:21 am 0 comments

Variety.com - 'Halo' pic loses its studios

Variety.com - 'Halo' pic loses its studios

Quelle horreur! Not that I'm much of a fan of Halo, but what an atrocious way to treat people. Did Universal and Fox really think Peter and Fran would fall for a dirty trick like that?

posted by Simon @ 11:37 am 0 comments

Mon Oncle, M Hulot's Holiday, Play Time and Lost in Translation

Recently I checked out an old favourite, a misty memory from childhood: Mon Oncle, written and directed by Jacques Tati.

We saw it - Mum, my sister Karen and me - at Auckland's Academy Theatre around 20 years ago. It's so funny in a very gentle way.

I watched Tati's other films, Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot, and Play Time, as well as some other shorts included on the special features.

What a wonderful universe Tati unveils! This is a world where words aren't really that important, and the rules of physics don't necessarily apply. It's hard to describe Tati's humour, it just is. It's not belly-laugh stuff - not very often, anyway - but it is very, very funny.

It just so happened that my next film to watch was Sofia Coppola's Lost In Translation, and I found Coppola was speaking the same visual language as Tati - particularly the scenes where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johanssen are puzzling over the manic, constant movement that is Tokyo.

...and the story and the acting were good too. That's an understatement. This was a beautiful story, I'm not sure about what - which may be why this film did better overseas than in the USA - but it had the feeling of authenticity to it.

It was particularly good in creating a huge fuzzy question mark on the line between platonic and romantic love. In a bittersweet way, this is a feel-good film, and although the story's end is very ambiguous, we sense both characters have grown from the time they spent together.

Technically - well done team. Stunning visuals, tight editing, great acting etc. etc. - all on a 4 million dollar budget. Nice work.

A pity Tati wasn't here to see it. He might have liked it.

posted by Simon @ 4:56 pm 1 comments

New Muslim superheroes

New Muslim superheroes launched to rival Spider-Man, The Hulk - 09 Oct 2006 - Lifestyle & Leisure

Haven't posted for a while - but plenty to post! Anyway, thought I'd start the ball rolling with this link, because it's so bizarre and interesting.

I've heard that it's hard to launch a comic book brand, but when it's something this unique - the first comic series directly derived from Muslim culture - it's likely to get some attention.

Be interesting to see how this goes.

posted by Simon @ 1:17 pm 0 comments