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January 2008 Archive
January 2, 2008
The Reeler's Top 10 of Top 10 Lists of 2007
The Reeler's third annual look back at the misconceived hype that mattered
By S.T. VanAirsdale
Dancers in the Dark
Seduced and Abandoned: 36th Dance on Camera festival hosts Russians, Rosenbaum and Tati
The News: Critics Rediscover Voice for '07
Also: Warming up for Preminger; Finke gets NYO mensch honors
January 3, 2008
The Reeler's Top 10 of Top 10 Lists of 2007, Part II
More hype, casualties and catastrophes on the road to consensus
By S.T. VanAirsdale
The News: Cinemopera. Or Something.
Also: The Juno crossover non-issue; Nathan Lee readying for '08's first nervous breakdown
January 4, 2008
The News: All-Positive Friday -- List Edition!
Inside: Digging out the gems in the vast list-making rough
PTA Redux: "There Will Be a Morally Unambiguous Ending"
Killers, monsters, demagogues and other Blood types
January 7, 2008
The News: Monday News Haikus!
Inside: New feature to rebuke (or reinforce) early-week blahs
Circles and Squares
NYC critics celebrate Country; von Donnersmarck gets Blood-y
By S.T. VanAirsdale
Nordic Gold
Acclaimed Jar City and other Oscar hopefuls featured in week-long series
January 8, 2008
The News: Cloverfield -- You're Invited! (Sort Of)
Also: Nasso wrangles Staten Island industry spotlight; alternative awards planned for docs
The Indie Box-Office Crash Diet
Revenues, sky fall in congested 2007 marketplace
Sugar on Top
Intense doc reveals desperate straits for Haitian workers in Dominican Republic
January in NYC: 'Dances, Docs and Double Bills
Resuming series downtown and on Staten Island augur tough choices for January
January 9, 2008
The News: Blurb Whore Honored, Mourned
Also: New De Niro hotel promises fine, bankrupting accommodations; industry gripped by payroll panic
Woman on the Beach
Korean director gets accessible with his latest portrait of sex, power and chain-smoking
By Vadim Rizov
Taking Care of Business
Reeler Flashback: Director Epstein discusses Being Born
The Business of Being Born
Boobs, birth and babies abound, but Epstein's witty, well-considered doc is all Business
By Michelle Orange
Shooting at Will
Reeler Interview: Veteran DP Ellen Kuras on directing, Gondry and her Sundance two-fer
By S.T. VanAirsdale
Hello, Stranger
Acclaimed Promise to the Dead opens eclectic doc series' winter program
January 10, 2008
The News: NYC -- The Disaster Continues
Also: An ode (I think) to Eric Roberts; Pennebaker/Hegedus look back with Lopate
NY Jewish Film Fest Compares and Contrasts
17th annual event hosts two dozen premieres and a spectrum of viewpoints
Storm-y Weather
Seduced and Abandoned: Reconsidering Lee's 1997 drama, with author Moody on hand at Walter Reade
Film Comment Critics Poll: A User's Guide
Parsing the better of the lesser of the best of the seen and the unseen
January 11, 2008
The News: All-Positive Friday!
Inside: Harvey waives goodbye to strike; upbeat Boll and Avnet on the offensive
January 12, 2008
The Kind-ness of Gondry
Filmmaker discusses new video-store fantasy with standing-room-only crowd in SoHo
January 14, 2008
A Still Life Less Ordinary
Chinese director Jia Zhangke on hovering between the state and subversion
By Vadim Rizov
The News: Monday News Haikus!
Inside: Globes ambivalence sweeps NYC; drink a milkshake online
January 15, 2008
Dana Adam Shapiro, My Biodegradable Heart
"It's just a fun little movie made in a loft above an old movie theater -- four friends drawing silly pictures."
Nanette Burstein, American Teen
"It's hard because I really just want to be their friend, but at the same time I do have a job to do."
Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden, Sugar
"The guy is caught up in the baseball machine; it's a huge industry and he's just one piece of it."
The News: Otto Focus
Also: Piling on the Globes; Waxman stoked to join Web netherworld
Wisdom Teeth
Channeling monsters, superheroes and man-eaters with Weixer and Lichtenstein
January 16, 2008
Austin Chick, August
"It was definitely a challenge to do something that was period when, in all the obvious ways, the world looks the same."
Justin Nowell, Sick Sex
"I was very relieved to see that we're playing before Kirsten Dunst; hopefully people won't have walked out yet."
Craig Lucas, Birds of America
"So much of what matters in the story is in the white space, and the lives felt lived instead of 'conceived.' "
A Savage Comeback
Reeler Interview: Filmmaker Tom Kalin on true crime, Savage Grace and his long-awaited return to Sundance
By S.T. VanAirsdale
When Otto Met Ernst
Seduced and Abandoned: Preminger's comedies of errors, and the dramas that redeem them
The News: Marty Shines Light at Berlinale
Also: NYC laments Oscar's foreign tastes; Cloverfield apparently sucks
Ball Bearing
Unapologetic Towelhead filmmaker taking exploitation road show to Park City
January 17, 2008
Look on the Dark Side
Director Gibney on how torture became just another American way of life
By Ben Gold
Taxi to the Dark Side
Gibney's sharp, shaming torture exposé tracks another Great American Meltdown
By Michelle Orange
Daniel Barnz, Phoebe in Wonderland
"The irony of being tortured as a kid is that you become weirdly grateful for it later in life."
Teeth
Lichtenstein's toothless sexual satire isn't nearly as subversive as it thinks
By Vadim Rizov
Cassandra's Dream
Farrell's performance the highlight of Allen's uneven blend of high drama and afternoon telly
By Michelle Orange
Cloverfield
The secret of J.J. Abrams's clunky commercial vehicle is that there isn't one
By Eric Kohn
Myna Joseph, Man
"Luckily I had an adviser who said, 'I noticed you've been producing a lot of the boys' projects. I want you to stop.'"
Jan Schütte, Love Comes Lately
"New York is a great background for this kind of story, but we had to fight just to find a crew."
The (Late) News: No, We Are Not at Sundance
Also: Fuzzy foreign-language Oscar math; Rosenbaum exorcises Crowther's ghost
January 18, 2008
James Marsh, Man On Wire
"In a sense it's kind of a bank-robbery film -- not to steal something, but to give something."
Amy Redford, The Guitar
"After a while, when reading the script, I kept firing myself as the actress and hiring other people in my head."
The News: All-Positive Friday!
Inside: Manohla likes Cassandra(?); Bourne set for MoMI tribute
Peter Glanz, A Relationship in Four Days
"I wanted to take the genre of New Wave -- the fun of it -- and exploit the modern relationship."
January 20, 2008
Brett Wagner, Chief
"I'm drawn to all of those sort of grungy urban scenes that inspire all of us in New York. That's all been transplanted to Hawaii."
Tanaz Eshaghian, Be Like Others
"Everyone else takes it as common sense, but not fitting in shows what common sense is."
Carlos Brooks, Quid Pro Quo
"The best detective stories are the ones where the detective ultimately realizes he's been investigating himself."
Can I Get a Wackness?
Reeler Interview: Filmmaker Jonathan Levine on buzz, Mary-Kate and finding a future at Sundance
By S.T. VanAirsdale
January 21, 2008
Dee Rees, Pariah
"I really liked the feel of the outer boroughs and just wanted to tell a story that we don't particularly see."
Dan Beers, FCU: Fact Checkers Unit
"Bill Murray looked at the script and said: 'Eight pages. It took three guys to write eight pages? That's impressive.' "
Alex Gibney, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Hunter S. Thompson
"Like Hunter, I think I'm motivated as somebody who always wants to see the underdog have his or her day."
The News: Monday News Haikus!
Inside: Sundance in 17 syllables; Cloverfield lays waste to box office
January 22, 2008
Courtney Hunt, Frozen River
"We didn't have favorable conditions. We had very little funding. What we had was a good script, and people fell back on that."
Cool to Be Kind
Reeler Interview: Michel Gondry on returning to Sundance, getting to know N.J. and the glory of doing it yourself
By S.T. VanAirsdale
Tim Sternberg, Salim Baba
"It's one of those happy stories that hopefully happens more than once in your cinematic life."
Oscar to NYC: Let's Just Be Friends
Michael Clayton, Savages, Schnabel earn nods; local docmakers dazzle
Doc
Reasonably amusing portrait of literary flameout and acid burnout Humes strains for relevance
By Vadim Rizov
The News: The 'Dance and the Dance
Also: Marienbad turns vexation into cash; Retire? Woody? Never!
Boaz Yakin, Death in Love
"It's really about the cycles and the psychological patterns that are passed down from generation to generation."
Heath Ledger Found Dead in SoHo
28-year-old actor discovered with "pills near body"
January 23, 2008
The News: Ledger Fallout Blankets NYC
Also: Dreading a golden night for Juno; Ed Koch mildly displeased with Cloverfield
Ari Gold, Adventures of Power
"It's about a person who wishes he had drums discovering the drums within himself. It's a spiritual story."
Alex Rivera Sleep Dealer
"This film really ought not exist. It's science fiction spoken in Spanish; the hero is a futuristic migrant worker."
January 24, 2008
Orthodox Stance
Spunky doc swings away with potent if uneven blend of Hebrews and haymakers
By Michelle Orange
4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days
Vaunted Romanian drama a finely crafted -- yet somehow incomplete -- bureaucratic epic
By Vadim Rizov
The News: New Yorkers Cash In at Sundance
Also: Edelstein wants an Oscar recount; Dardennes and Apitchatpong draw local touchstones
Signe Baumane, Teat Beat of Sex
"The episodes are a take on sex from a woman's point of view. Do you know why women need panties?"
Weiner Takes All
Seduced and Abandoned: Bronx-born conceptual artist brings nearly four decades of work to Anthology retrospective
The Reeler Meets Oscar at VanityFair.com
Your humble editor joins awards-season fold for grueling month to come
Azazel Jacobs, Momma's Man
"I wanted to figure out a way to hold on to some things that I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on to in the future."
January 25, 2008
The News: All-Positive Friday!
Inside: Remembering Ennis Del Mar; tax breaks renewed and upgraded for NY filmmaking
Lisa F. Jackson, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
"10 Darfurs have happened in the Congo in the last 10 years. Four million people have died. It's unimaginable."
Rob Meyer, Aquarium
"I sort of started from scratch in terms of learning how to write a screenplay or cast. I learned by doing."
January 27, 2008
New Yorkers Score Big at Sundance -- Again
Frozen River, Man on Wire, The Wackness and others gather prizes in Park City
January 28, 2008
The News: Monday News Haikus!
Inside: Mourning the VHS tape in 17 syllables; how does David Denby know so much about step dancing?
Chop Shop Actor Gets Rich Quick
Enterprising young star finds lucrative silver lining in Bahrani's hard-driving realism
January 29, 2008
The News: Bet on Blueberry Nights!
Also: Happy retirement to Mathews; wrapping Sundance with Foundas, Dana, and O'Hehir
Praying With Lior
Lior's supreme underdog moment feels a little too long in coming
By Michelle Orange
Now on DVD: Microbudget Brooklyn
Killer robots and Katz classic hit shelves; private-eye curio comes to Spout
January 30, 2008
The News: Never Choose Family Over Money
Also: AWFJ announces new members for '08; could Tribeca launch mean sweeter Blueberry?
The Silence Before Bach
Portabella explores the craft of making music with the same lightness of the music itself
By Eric Kohn
"Be Uncomfortable"
Vogel doc screens with Cinema 16 partner Goelman sharing the good old days
January 31, 2008
The News: Vicky Woody Weinstein
Also: Searchlight targets summer release for Choke; Sarris shares infallible Oscar ballot
Caramel
Labaki's look at life in Beirut is a heartfelt gift to a city that couldn't deserve it more
By Michelle Orange
Nadine the Conqueror
Caramel filmmaker keeps it real about her salon fantasia, beloved Beirut and winning over New York
By S.T. VanAirsdale
The Long Shadow
Seduced and Abandoned: MoMA and Whitney highlight provocative work of Bert Williams and Kara Walker
February Events Madness!
NYC film scene thaws out with deep list of fests, series, one-offs and other happenings
By S.T. VanAirsdale