Critic's Notebook

As Oscars Approach, Winners are Still Up in the Air

Last month’s Oscar nominations announcement was anticipated with unusual interest—largely because of exiting AMPAS Sid Ganis’ surprise announcement some months ago that the Academy would henceforth revert to ten Best Picture nominees, a practice abandoned in 1943. Back then, mainstream Hollywood product was pretty much all there was, and coming up with ten admirable titles wasn’t too hard a stretch. Today, with so much major Hollywood product devoted to sequels, remakes and popcorn franchises, any viable Top Ten would have to draw on indie, animated, possibly foreign and documentary features.

topics: actors, african american cinema, bay area, critics year end, directors, dramatic films, hollywood, oscars

Experience

Mill Valley Film Festival opens its 32nd

The Mill Valley Film Festival’s 2009 program features, as ever, a bounty of local work, U.S. independent features and docs, international festival favorites and children’s flicks, as well as live events and more. But what it also offers is a surprisingly potent mainstream industry presence: The headlining tribute programs offer opportunities to get a close look at A-list types more frequently seen at the multiplex than at the art house. And you know what? We approve.

That’s because the 32-year-old festival’s 2009 tributees are the kinds of starry talents that give Hollywood a good name: famous mid-career actors with depth and range, a writer-director who’s actually succeeded by appealing to the audience’s grownup intelligence, not its inner (or actual) 14-year-old Tweeting fanboy. These are the good guys. We can’t even hate them because they’re beautiful.

topics: activism, actors, african american cinema, authors, bay area, critics, directors, distribution, distributors, diy, documentary, features, film festivals, independent film, international film, mill valley film festival, music, world cinema

In Production

"Opal" lures Dina Ciraulo back in time

Dina Ciraulo’s debut feature reconsiders the curious case of nature writer Opal Whiteley, who burst to prominence—and controversy—in the 1920s. Setting a narrative in an earlier time, of course, complicates matters from a budget and logistics standpoint. “It’s one of those things that everyone tells you not to do,” Ciraulo admits, with a wry chuckle. “I was just so motivated by the story that I didn’t feel inhibited by the notion of doing a period piece. I was thinking of doing something on Super 8, I wanted to do something really low-budget—kind of like a punk rock period piece—and I was inspired by the work of Guy Maddin. I didn’t think about all the ways that a period film could be difficult, because I wasn’t trying to do a Merchant-Ivory, every-last-detail-in-its-place type of film. I wanted to suggest period without having to exhaustively recreate it.”

topics: african american cinema, bay area, directors, diy, environmental films, experimental film, funding

Experience

SFIFF52: La Mission at el Castro--a beautiful day in the neighborhoods

San Francisco is a city of neighborhoods—and an argument can be made that there is no more lively and fascinating neighborhood in the city than the Mission. It’s a place where stories intersect: Historic murals depicting Latin American indigenous struggles butt up against well-worn Irish bars, which have themselves been transformed into trendy nightspots for a whole new demographic. Street vendors, workers for hire and school kids waiting for Muni buses share small strips of sidewalk just inches away from the slope of sunbathers at Dolores Park who offer an entry to another world altogether in the Castro.

Diverse populations, dense city: conflict naturally will occur. What’s challenging for city planners can be wonderful for film writers—especially when conflict leads as thoughtfully and passionately to resolution as it does in Peter Bratt’s opening night feature for the San Francisco International Film Festival, La Mission.

topics: actors, african american cinema, american indian film, bay area, castro theatre, diy, drama, film festivals, filmmakers, latin american cinema, san francisco international film festival

Review

An odd couple for new times in "Goodbye Solo"

While short-attention-span editing, comic book-derived content and crass commercialism have been dumb-sizing audiences for years, a few U.S. filmmakers are now conspicuously moving in the opposite direction entirely. And some viewers are actually welcoming the change. Their box-office numbers might not underwrite much more than the craft service, driver and personal assistant budgets on the average CGI-dominated Hollywood sequel, but movies by Kelly Reichardt (Wendy and Lucy), Thomas McCarthy (The Visitor) and even those mumblecore types have won more than just critical acclaim. They seem to speak to audiences who not only respond to intimate, unflashy character studies of very ordinary people, but seem outright relieved by an aesthetic whose pacing doesn’t risk triggering an epileptic attack.

One of the newest and most notable practitioners of this stripped-down filmic and narrative style is Ramin Bahrani, the Iranian American filmmaker whose features Man Push Cart and Chop Shop were minimalist slices of modern working-class life in a classic neorealist tradition, authentic and almost invisibly crafted. His latest prompted kingmaker Roger Ebert to pronounce Bahrani “the new great American director” a couple weeks ago.

topics: actors, african american cinema, african cinema, directors, diy, hollywood, independent film, world cinema

Avoiding Disaster

"Medicine for Melancholy" and the art of DIY legal agreements

For many narrative filmmakers, hiring a lawyer is either an afterthought or not a financial reality. But moving forward with a film without considering legal is a huge mistake. I’ve seen this unfortunate occurrence first-hand. Someone sees me with their finished film and there are no agreements for anything. No rights cleared, no crew and cast agreements. This usually means that your film has no future except as a mantelpiece. Big mistake. But what to do when you are making a micro-budget feature and you just can’t afford a lawyer? There are some good books out there that have some basic forms that are better than nothing. If you are a savvy and resourceful producer, move forward knowing that every single person that has anything to do with your film (cast and crew) needs an agreement and every piece of intellectual property (music, artwork, locations) that you do not own needs to be cleared and licensed. If you are organized and persistent, you can do it. This is dry, thankless work, probably not what you think of when you think of filmmaking, but it absolutely needs to get done.

topics: actors, african american cinema, bay area, digital filmmaking, distribution, distributors, diy, genre films, independent film, san francisco international film festival

Report

SF Film Society announces SF International Film Festival lineup

The San Francisco Film Society announced its full program for the San Francisco International Film Festival (April 23-May 7) Tuesday at the Westin St. Francis Hotel. SFFS Executive Director Graham Leggat called the Festival’s two weeks of programs—151 films from 55 countries—the "the jewel in the crown" of the Film Society, which now presents films year-round.

topics: actors, african american cinema, african cinema, animation, art, asian cinema, authors, avant-garde, bay area, castro theatre, critics, cult cinema, curators, digital filmmaking, directors, diy, documentary, dramatic films, environmental films, experimental film, f, festivals