still life Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The other day we wrote about the new horror flick Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (which hit theaters this past weekend), and Cinematical reader Aaron L. (who also happens to be a very good friend of mine) pointed out the fact that Jack Brooks director Jon Knautz had helmed a very cool short back in 2005 called Still Life. I forget exactly when I first saw this short (probably during one of Gen Art's many, many functions/contests/parties), but I remember absolutely loving it over and over again. And we've actually written about it on at least two other occasions, though it's been awhile and, well, I felt our new (and old) readers would like a little something to watch while you eat lunch/surf the internet, etc ...

The short, which runs about eight minutes, follows a very sleepy driver who's in desperate need of a rest and some gas. When he pulls off into a small town, however, he notices that it's populated by mannequins. And that's all I'll say about that. Definitely check it out if you've got a few minutes free, and then hunt down Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (read our review here) -- a film most of our team here at Cinematical dug quite a bit.

Here's one of my dirty little secrets: I love lists and I keep track of my year's ten best movies all year long. Most other critics hastily assemble their lists at the last second, which is partly why so many December movies dominate; critics can't remember what they've seen earlier in the year. My list shows that 2008 has had a pretty poor first half, but I do have some contenders for listhood. Two movies are currently competing for the top spot, though I need to see them both again to be sure. Hou Hsiao-hsien's Flight of the Red Balloon (6 screens) is one; it has a lovely, laid-back, observant quality and feels less severe than some of Hou's other recent films. But I haven't yet decided if the film is a comedy or a tragedy. It all feels pretty light and insignificant, except for the saddest thing: no one seems to notice the red balloon of the title, drifting around Paris, unable to find a boy like Pascal to love it. The film also contains the year's most vibrant performance: Juliette Binoche playing a frenzied single mom working with a puppet troupe.

With only a handful of films to his credit, Sixth Generation Chinese director Jia Zhang-ke has become one of the world's great master filmmakers, and he has the lack of distribution to prove it. Like many other greats from Orson Welles to Hou Hsiao-hsien, he has struggled to get spectators and his movies together at the same place and the same time. His film Still Life won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival and promptly sat on the shelf. It received a cautious and limited release in New York earlier this year, but since it never turned up on the West Coast, the San Francisco International Film Festival picked it up as an entry in the 51st fest (after failing to secure it for their 50th), and it opens at the end of this week at the Roxie Cinema. It's by far the best film I've seen in this year's fest, and it probably would have been the best of last year too.

Call me an optimist, but I'm always hoping for Oscar reform. I've been rather excited about recent rumblings that the Academy is finally, finally considering changing its rules regarding foreign film consideration. I saw one of the new nominees last week, The Counterfeiters, and I have to say that there were at least 20 or 30 other, better foreign language films last year. In fact, I'd have to say that The Counterfeiters is a contender for my worst list of 2008; it takes on an interesting story, but cinematically it's sheer amateur hour. The only reason it got nominated is because it takes place in a concentration camp. I also need to mention that the director, Stefan Ruzowitzky, made one of the worst films I have ever seen, All the Queen's Men (2002), starring Matt LeBlanc and Eddie Izzard as soldiers who go undercover as drag queens in WWII.

Did anyone notice that though La vie en rose earned three nominations (Best Actress, Costume, Makeup) it didn't get nominated for Foreign Language Film? Likewise, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (205 screens) -- filmed almost entirely in French -- was nominated for four awards (Best Director, Editing, Screenplay, Cinematography), but not Best Foreign Film. Why? Diving Bell doesn't count as foreign because it has an American director. Not to mention that each country is only allowed to submit one film, and France's choice, Persepolis (100 screens) was not nominated either. Instead, it was nominated for Best Animated Film! This type of thing happens all the time. In 2002, the foreign film committee rejected the Brazilian film City of God. It was released in 2003 to great critical acclaim and success, and was nominated the following year for four Oscars in other categories. In 2000, Taiwan chose to submit the hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, rather than arguably the greatest film of the past decade, Edward Yang's Yi Yi. Why couldn't both be nominated?

I grew up and lived in Los Angeles for many years, but it was only after I moved away that I began to fully appreciate the tremendous variety of films presented by the UCLA Film and Television Archive. Early this year the Archive launched its first season of programming at the brand new Billy Wilder Theater in the Hammer Museum in Westwood, near the UCLA campus. I haven't been there yet, but it certainly sounds like a fabulous screening facility, and this weekend sounds like a great time to go see a movie (or two or four).

The Archive's New Chinese Cinema series, presented in collaboration with the California Institute of the Arts, gets underway tonight (October 5) with a double bill of Still Life and Dong, two works by Jia Zhangke that tackle a similar subject from both a fictional and documentary perspective. Jia was invited by the artist Liu Xiaodong to document his working process as he created one of his "monumental, fractured paintings." The location was the Three Georges area in China, where a huge dam is being constructed. Jia was inspired by the location to make the feature Still Life and also slightly "fictionalized" the documentary Dong.

The series continues with the US Premiere of Eye in the Sky on Saturday night. Eye in the Sky is the debut film by Yau Nai-hoi, who has written several films for director Johnny To (PTU, Running on Karma, Election). Tony Leung Ka-Fai is a criminal in this one and Simon Yam is a cop in the Surveillance Unit assigned to catch him.

Sunday takes a decided turn toward the independent with Huang Weikai's street musician doc Floating and Yang Heng's debut feature Betelnut, a "gently observational portrait of youthful aimlessness," as described in the program notes. The series continues through October 26 with screenings also taking place at the Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater (REDCAT).

It's practically impossible for me to sit here and list the top ten short films from 2006. Not only are there thousands of shorts to sift through, but the majority of them are not available online. So, how does Erik go about putting together a list of the best short films from 2006? Will he randomly spew out names and titles for films you'll never be able to see unless you just happen to show up at a specific festival on a specific day at a specific time?

Of course not. What I've actually done is comb through all the previous Eat My Shorts and chosen my ten favorite short films that I've written about this year. Most (if not all) of them are not from 2006, but they are available online and all of them are wonderful, fantastic and definitely deserve your attention. This has been an amazing year for short films, and I like to think (in my own bizarre fantasy world) that Eat My Shorts truly helped spread the word -- that it helped bring more attention to an art form that desperately needs to be back in front of a mass audience. Oh, and thanks to you for being a part of the revolution. Viva la Shorts!

Not long ago, we told you about a neat little contest that Delta Airlines was hosting as part of a collaboration with Gen Art. The concept: Gen Art would invite filmmakers to submit their short films and, along with Delta, the two would choose five finalists -- all of which would be available to watch on select Delta flights, as well as online. Whichever short collects the highest rating (both in the air and on the computer) will receive a sweeet prize package that includes $10,000 in cash, a trip for two to the Sundance Film Festival (where they'll be invited to attend a celebratory party and watch as their short film is screened at said party), a pair of two round-trip international tickets for any Delta flight and a $2500 Gen Art membership. (I'm not sure what in the world you get for $2500 over at Gen Art, but I'd expect a ton of invites to some really cool parties, on top of a slew of free liquor and lots of ass-kissing.)

Personally, I love the idea that short films will have a chance to find a new audience (one that's not so tapped in to the festival scene) at 35,000 feet. Sure, folks who read this site probably watch shorts regularly, but people like my parents (who fly Delta all the time because my sister-in-law is a flight attendant with them) don't go to festivals and they don't do a ton of surfing online, save for the occasional shopping spree and stupid email forwards. (I told you mom, I don't open those stupid things -- they're a waste of my time. Stop sending them to me.) Needless to say, this will be a fabulous way for a filmmaker to get their short film in front of a mass audience, the kind that looks to Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood when trying to decide which movie to watch over the weekend. That's not necessarily a bad thing but ... let's carry on, shall we?

After it was introduced late into competition, leaving many critics unable to screen the film, Jia Zhang-Ke's Still Life was awarded Venice's top prize, the Golden Lion. The film, which tells the story of two people searching for loved ones during the controversial Three Gorges Dam project, took a lot of folks by surprise when it won, even after the pic was shown to a packed house following the awards ceremony. Thus, many began to question the jury's decisions, who were originally split four to three over the top prize and had to hold an extra meeting on Saturday in order to make a final decision.

Oh, but the surprises did not stop there: In the Best Actor category, Ben Affleck won for his portrayal of George Reeves in Hollywoodland. Yes, Ben Affleck. With very little buzz surrounding his performance, I think it's safe to say this one came from way out in left field. In fact, the only award folks seemed to be in agreement with was the prize for Best Actress, which went to Helen Mirren for The Queen.

It's hard enough to create a compelling story in under ten minutes -- imagine trying to scare someone in that time, too. With a feature, filmmakers have plenty of time to create a scenario, build tension and slowly freak you the hell out. But a short filmmaker has only a fraction of the time to do the exact same thing. Trust me, it's hard -- I've been there.

If you'll allow me a moment of self promotion: Last year, along with a few friends, I helped shoot a short film for a fantastic little film festival called the New York City Midnight Run. We came up with this idea to write a story about a guy whose obsessive compulsive disorder is suddenly brought to life in the form of a weird, lanky sort of fellow. The story was easy, it was the execution that proved difficult. How do you creep someone out in just three minutes? Going in, I thought it was impossible. Oh, and did I mention we had to have it done in 24 hours? See, it's a 24-hour film festival. Talk about a rush -- the four of us could barely walk by the time we finished. But we did finish -- and I imagine we succeeded as the film placed fourth out of sixty teams. If a 24-hour film festival heads your way, I strongly recommend it to any and all aspiring filmmakers out there. It truly tests your limits as an artist and forces you to produce in a very short amount of time. End moment of self promotion.

In my opinion, the following films are the best we've featured yet on Eat My Shorts. They thrill. They chill. All five of them are definitely worth your time. Once again, if there's a short you love and it's available to watch online, feel free to send it on over to shorts at Cinematical dot com. Speak up! I'm loving your suggestions so far. Now, are you ready to be scared? (Don't worry, I'm not going to show you a picture of me in my underwear. Unless, well ... nevermind). Let's go watch some shorts ...