Final Thoughts on True/False 10

I was more prepared for the rhythms of True/False in my second year, but no less impressed by event and its films.

I enjoyed every film I saw, which makes it harder to distinguish between them.  Restrepo has stayed with me the most, but given its life-and-death nature, perhaps that's to be expected.  But I largely devoted my time to my favorite kind of doc - focused on a single, eccentric personality.

Smash His Camera and The Invention of Dr. Nakamats both fit well into this niche,  and took distinctly different approaches.  Smash His Camera broadens its perspective on Paparazzo Ron Galella to include wildly differing critical views of him and his work.  Nakamats never steps back from the portrait the subject paints of himself.  It creates a more unified POV, but made me long for the context of Smash His Camera.

One of the richest experiences when attending a festival is drawing connections between the films - something you simply can't or wouldn't do when watching them separately.  My buddy Travis pointed out as we left Waking Sleeping Beauty that the events it chronicles ended 14 years ago, exactly as had the life of the comedian we saw documented in one of the Secret Screenings the night before.  Is 14 years some kind of magical gestation age for a certain historical perspective?  Maybe, but I never would have wondered if I hadn't seen the two films within hours of each other.

If there was one disappointment from the films I saw, it was that they didn't open up to me more.  The experience I most enjoy when watching a doc is that moment the film goes beyond that quirky hook of its subject and becomes "about" something different.  Smash His Camera had moments of this - questions of the nature of art and celebrity.  Probably more than any other film I saw, Restrepo left much to be discovered between the images and the rationalizations of the soldiers involved.

One day after leaving the festival, I wonder about the films I didn't see.  Two of this year's Best Picture nominees screened at last year's fest - but I only saw one of them.  Critic Karina Longworth Tweeted several films she was impressed with last night.  I had seen none of them.

It's a credit to the festival that it can't be fully digested, even spread over four days.  I spoke to filmmakers and attendees alike whose reaction was the same as mine last year - "how did I not know about this?"

Four Film Saturday at True/False

We planned to see It Felt Like a Kiss first thing in the morning, but some schedule confusion led us into the queue for Waking Sleeping Beauty instead.

The doc follows a renaissance in Disney animation and the overhaul in management that took place between 1984 and 1994.  It feels hard not to damn the film with faint praise.  It is essentially a history, and for anyone interested in Disney or the business of Hollywood, and I count myself as one, it's an interesting history.  One interesting choice, noted before the screening by producer and former Disney Exec. Peter Schneider - the filmmakers chose to only use footage from the era itself.  In Schneider's words, there are no "shots of old men talking."  It's a subtle choice, but keeps the film grounded in the moments it documents.

Disney luminaries like Eisner and Katzenberg appear more or less as expected, but I was surprised and even moved by the creative contributions of lyricist Howard Ashman to the production of The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.

After a couple beers and a couple sliders at Booches, we began our afternoon at the Blue Note venue with The Red Chapel.  The film follows a Danish filmmaker and two Danish/Korean performers he recruits to travel into North Korea under the guise of a cross-cultural performance.  The ruse of the filmmaker's crew is manipulative and even crass, but it pales in comparison to the group performance of the entire population of Pyongyang.

Every action the crew encounters is choreographed to display an image of perfect unity and loyalty to the Great Leader(s).  The crew plays along, even as their North Korean handlers edit their performance entirely into something more appropriate for North Korean audiences.  But the strain on the faces of the people are clear.  Filmmaker Mads Brugger attributes their every action to fear, and it would be hard to disagree with his assessment.

Some of Brugger's actions set my ethical spider-sense tingling, but the film is worthwhile even if just as a window into this hidden society.  It's an often hilarious piece of absurdism, but the fear and tragedy of North Korea lend weight to the humor.

The Invention of Dr. Nakamats brings humor with much less baggage, as it documents the Japanese inventor with the most registered patents in history.  The Doctor's inventions include legitimate technological breakthroughs such as the floppy disk, but it appears from the film far more oddities, including an underwater pencil/notebook and products to stimulate female arousal.

As the title suggests, Nakamats is also meticulous about sculpting his image and orchestrating the events around him, down to a moment he orders his children to redo a presentation of a birthday gift to him.  It's a funny film about a truly eccentric character, but by the end I wished it could have taken me to some deeper level of understanding of Nakamats.

Restrepo was our final film in the standing-room only Blue Note.  The winner of the Grand Jury Doc prize at Sundance did not disappoint.  It's being sold as a true story version of The Hurt Locker, and that's not an inaccurate description - especially in the opening moments when the camera is inside a vehicle as it is exploded by a land mine.

The bulk of the film follows a team of soldiers as they man the most remote outpost in Afghanistan, under near-constant attack from the remnants of the Taliban.  

I heard several people dismiss the film as "good, but nothing I haven't seen before."  Sure, the war doc isn't a new thing - but I don't remember feeling as much a feeling of actually being there as I did watching Restrepo.  The camera is there with the soldiers as they are taking fire, and in the most harrowing sequence, with them on patrol as fellow soldiers are being killed just a few yards away.

Interviews with the surviving soldiers frame and add poignancy to the footage.  It feels like the filmmakers have been true to the words and intentions of those soldiers as they tell their story, but the end result left me feeling that all their sacrifice was done in tragic futility.

We ended our night, as we did last year, with pizza and pitchers of beer at Shakespeare's Pizza - a classic college town pizza parlor, filled with a vibrant young crowd that makes me feel every one of my 31 years.

Friday Night at True/False

Last night kicked off the 10th True/False Film Festival (at least for us).  It's my second year at what I'm already planning to make an annual event.

After gathering our passes and applying some social lubricant, we got into the packed Missouri Theater to see Smash His Camera - a doc which premiered at Sundance and was just picked up by HBO this week for distribution.

The film documents the life's work of Ron Galella, a lifelong paparazzo who was sued by Jackie O. and punched in the face by Marlon Brando.  Galella and a cadre of supporters and detractors narrate the story, from his first work in the late '60s up to today.

Director Leon Gast also directed the stellar When We Were Kings.  While Galella doesn't have the charisma of a figure like Ali (and then again who does?), both films focus on a singular personality whose actions ultimately, and perhaps surprisingly, resonate into the culture at large.

Beyond just the character story of the eccentric photographer, the film raises interesting questions about what constitutes art - particularly in photography.  Galella's work has recently been exhibited at museums, and it's hard to argue that he hasn't taken some beautiful photographs.  His shots are snapshots, often with a prominent flash bulb glare, but the candid, vulnerable moments he captures can be fascinating.  His critics argue that anyone who takes that many shots is bound to wind up with a few good shots, and also point out that it's always the subject that makes the photo interesting.

Galella comes across warmly, though seeing he has applied his techniques to subjects including children can be stomach-churning.  I was particularly struck by his string of photos of Angelina Jolie, going back to when she appeared to be only eight or nine years old.  He argues in several archival interviews that his intention is to show celebrities at their most human.

That argument felt rather thin to me, but there is a fascinating moment late in the film when a young girl, probably in her teens, wanders through an exhibition of Galella's work.  She tries to identify the subjects of the photos - the likes of Onasis, Steve McQueen, Bridget Bardot, etc.  She recognizes almost none of them.  It's subtle but striking evidence of the fleeting nature of fame, and perhaps lends credence to Galella's claim that in the end, he's just capturing images of humanity.

After Smash His Camera, we caught and enjoyed the Secret Screening Black.  But by the request of the programmers, I'll leave my thoughts on that a secret.

Support River Will Take You

My friend, the talented filmmaker Andy Brodie, is preparing to shoot River Will Take You, a short film starring Iowa music icons Greg and Pieta Brown. And he could use your help.

Andy's looking for patrons to help finance the production costs.  In addition to just helping get a truly independent film made, patrons will receive a really nice package of incentives including an invitation to the premiere event, DVD, and more.

Having been lucky enough to read the script and talk to Andy during the development process, I am excited about the film.  Filming will take place around the historic Sutliff Bridge near Iowa City.  The great Iowa blues guitarist Bo Ramsey will create a soundtrack for the film.  It's an impressive collection of elements which should make for a great film.

More details about the film and how to donate can be found here.  You can also listen to John Pemble's piece with Andy as it aired today on Iowa Public Radio:

Short Movie to use Damaged Sutliff Bridge

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Roll Out the Barrel...

Here's some video from our good friend's 1st Annual Backyard Bock Fest. Inspired by the event at Schell's Brewery in New Ulm, MN., it featured kegs of Bock (Shiner), bratwurst, saurkraut, polka music, drunkenness, etc. If you've never had your Bock poked, you're really missing out.

They're also maintaining a Tumblr page documenting the glory of the Backyard Bock Fest. In the midst of a dreary winter such as we've had, it's a hell of a way to spend an afternoon.

End of the Sawdust Trail

End of the Sawdust Trail, a great modern silent film by my good friend, and talented filmmaker Andy Brodie, is now available on DVD. It's funny, thoughtful, and only $5.

The short was shot in black & white on Super 8mm, giving it a very distinctive look. The original score was composed and performed by Jason Webley, who also appears in the film.

In addition to the film itself, the DVD contains several bonus features, including a sound-only track of the film score and a performance from clown Ron "Toto" Johnson, who also appears in the film.

But don't believe me, believe the great Neil Gaiman, who described the film as a "haunting clown-noir."

The Effenheimer

In the hot summer of 1999, I co-founded an online satire mag which took a shot at becoming The Onion of college newspapers. We called it The Effenheimer.

Our crew was mostly staff from the Iowa State Daily or cast members of Grandma Mojo's sketch comedy troupe, and some of us were both - Greg Jerrett, Ben Gran, Dave Roepke, Cartoonist Carmen Cerra and Web Dude Cory Schmitz. We pushed out a new issue every two weeks for about eight months, then the site sat there until the domain expired. None of us thought much about archiving such things, so the whole deal was considered lost ... until we realized a few days ago that a fractured version was still accessible through the magic of the Web Archive.

So it was with equal parts excitement and fear that I browsed the archive last night. We built The Effenheimer from the ground up on a bed of enthusiasm, creativity, modestly priced draft beer and Cafe Beaudelaire's Pommes Frites. It was also something I did when I was 21 years old.

I found some sharp satire, plenty of bad taste and quite a few funny ideas that could have used more revision. It's a fine line between homage and rip-off, and we stood proudly on that line when it came to The Onion. We copped several of their go-to setups, like the straight and gag article written together - Iowans Enthralled by Politics, Barbecued Beef.

Several articles remind me instantly of the experiences they grew out of, like Freshman Coed Confident her High School Relationship Will Stand the Test of Time and Local Band Completely Sucks. I'm pretty sure I wrote both of those, but I have a hard time remembering for sure who did what, and we opted for no bylines for some reason. But I do have to give Ben Gran credit for the still transcendent Conspicuous Consumption for Christ article.

I love the polls, like "Who is your least favorite apostle or Beatle?", or little bits of absurdism like Standings for Effenheimer 9-pin No Tap Bowling League.

There were at least two other college satire startups at the same time, including the fledgling CollegeHumor.com. Greg and I even met some of our "competitors" at a journalism conference in NYC. We were funnier, but they were better organized. Guess who came out ahead?

Of course, it was soon after The Effenheimer I was asked to contribute to the legitimate (paying) satire site Suck.com, and only a few years after that I traded in a fairly successful career as a newspaper and online journalist for the quiet desperation of a screenwriter.

Still, it's with a heavy dose of nostalgia, a bit of pride and just a little embarrassment that I add these remaining traces of The Effenheimer to my archive.

Daytrotter Barnstormer II

I recently was lucky enough to catch the last show of the Daytrotter Barnstormer II Tour, which true to its name, was held in a barn just north of Des Moines.

The five bands/performers each had a strong, unique voice. The whole show felt curated, not just one band after another.

What stuck with me the most - the songwriting of Dawes, the frenetic arrangements of Suckers and the "Nashville Skyline" croon of Christopher Denny. All have sessions free to listen to and download at Daytrotter.

There's a nice recap of the tour at Crawdaddy.

Jewish Eye for the Gentile Guy

Fatherland will be touching another international base when it plays in Israel as part of the Jewish Eye World Jewish Film Festival.