FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA MAKES ME CRY

I was riding with John Singleton, leaving his offices in Leimert Park where we were casting HUSTLE & FLOW, when a man passed by on a 10 speed. Raising his fist in the air, he shouted, "Yo, John! BOYZ N THE HOOD was the shit, man!"

John called back, "Thanks... but I've made a few since then."

Every filmmaker wants to make an impact on their audience. To make a memorable film is an accomplishment, especially if it is your first. But the burden of a memorable movie can be a pesky anchor at times. Artists like to move forward. They don't like to dwell on their past work (or at least they shouldn't). If you were to sit down with John Singleton he could tell you about five features that he's written or outlined that he'd like to make. He doesn't want to look back, he wants to move forward.  BOYZ is a classic. But John has more classics in him. 

Me, Singleton, Taraji P. Henson, Elise Neal, and Terrence Howard at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival

I can't tell you how many times I get stopped in Memphis by people telling me how much HUSTLE & FLOW meant to them. I never get tired of it, especially since it was such an effort to get the movie made. When it was chosen to go to Sundance, Memphis rejoiced. When it sold for a record price tag to Paramount, Memphis couldn't believe it. And when Three 6 Mafia won an Oscar for It's Hard Out Here For A Pimp, Memphis lost their shit. Whenever praise comes from a Memphian it always feels good. The success of the film was a victory shared by the entire city. 

But I worry. I worry like artist does. Will my well run dry? Will HUSTLE & FLOW be the movie that defines me above all other movies I make? Ten years from now, will some guy roll by on a 10 speed and yell, "Hey, Craig... HUSTLE was my joint, bro!" It's a great problem to have, I know. But I'd like to believe I have more to say. How does the saying go? You're only as good as your next thing.

In regard to this issue of longevity, I would like to nominate Francis Ford Coppola with the lifetime achievement award. The award would not be in recognition of his earlier films, which are truly incredible (The Conversation, The Godfather, The Godfather Part 2, Apocalypse Now, etc...). Instead, it would be for his recent efforts: YOUTH WITHOUT YOUTH, TETRO, and whatever else he wants to make. I know that Spielberg and Scorsese have made more films, and continue to entertain and enthrall audiences, but Coppola is more of a pioneer. He wants to make personal films. He wants to improve and become a better writer. The old man refuses to rest on his laurels and coast into cinema history on the strength of his earlier work. He is still taking pen to paper, lensing up on actors, and making new movies.

Sure, his recent films may not be number one at the box office or make 100 million dollars domestic. But I don't think he's concerned with that. With news surfacing this week that Steven Soderbergh may be retiring from filmmaking, I can't help but respect Coppola even more. He's fighting. He's learning. He's 71 and he's still trying to become a better artist. His effort inspires me.

He makes me cry, I swear to God.

Watch these two clips and tell me what you think. 

SHORTS THAT LAST - KITCHEN SINK and THE MORNING RITUAL

When I lived in Northern California I loved to see obscure movies in downtown San Francisco, and there wasn't a better theater to see incredible films than The Castro. I remember one night going to see the fabled lost film of Orson Welles called IT'S ALL TRUE.

I'll never forget the evening I saw it. I was accompanied by my wife Jodi and my two good friends, John and James. When we went inside the theater it was relatively quite outside. But when the movie concluded, the Castro exploded with outlandish life as the Exotic Erotic Halloween Ball suddenly sprung into full tilt. We walked outside and the whole street was filled with wild costumes, colorful cross-dressers, and men being led around on chains by their members (I don't mean "partners," I mean partners leading their boyfriends around by their member. Ouch).

One such Castro event that I attended had an incredible short film attached to it. The film was shot in black and white and ran about ten minutes. I don't want to tell you much about it other than to say it has haunted me for years. I could never recall the name and I had no idea who the filmmaker was. Please remember, this was before the internet was in the palm of your hand, so it wasn't so easy to search for information. I've met other filmmakers who were also deeply weirded out by this short film, and they too, couldn't remember the name. But now... I've found it.


It's called KITCHEN SINK by Alison Maclean. She is a Canadian filmmaker who also made Jesus' Son with Billy Crudup. Here is the short. It's in two parts on YouTube.

I moved to Memphis and began making my own ultra-low budget films. In 2001, my assistant/producer Erin Hagee and I decided to help produce new filmmakers in Memphis. One filmmaker was our friend J. Lazarus. He came to us with a an idea that immediately made me think of KITCHEN SINK. For one thing, it involved no dialogue. It involved a kitchen sink. It was going to be done in black and white. It was also creepy as fuck. We filmed the short in my kitchen over a weekend. J. Lazarus won the Indie Memphis Hometowner Award for best short. It is called THE MORNING RITUAL. I love this short. play it and crank up the sound. It rocks.

My Sunday Film Festival - AGE OF CONSENT

Okay. Where has this movie been all my life? Helen Mirren plays this wild-child islander who poses for an aging painter played by James Mason. She swims and snorkels all around the Great Barrier Reef in this see-through purple dress, inspiring him to paint and sculpt sand models of her naked form.

Michael Powell is someone to study. I've never been disappointed in anything he's been a part of. PEEPING TOM, THE RED SHOES, and BLACK NARCISSUS are classic Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger films.

Helen Mirren and has been driving me nuts ever since I saw her in EXCALIBUR. What an incredibly talented and consistently sexy woman.

A SCENE FROM AGE OF CONSENT

Artist and Muse

My Sunday Film Festival - CRONOS

What a treat. This movie is a gem.

Perhaps I should have watched it back to back with VIDEODROME. It would have made a perfect double feature. Both involve some stomachs ripping open and flesh peeling off faces, you know.

CRONOS is Guillermo del Toro's debut feature about an old antique dealer who finds an ancient mechanical-insect-thing that gives him strength and immortality - with a twist. The first Guillermo del Toro movie I saw was MIMIC, followed by BLADE 2, then HELLBOY, and then PAN'S LABYRINTH. Somehow I missed CRONOS. I also missed DEVIL'S BACKBONE. I know, I know... next Sunday, maybe.

CRONOS TRAILER

My Sunday Film Festival - MODERN TIMES

The first Charlie Chaplin movie I remember seeing was THE KID. Everyone who has seen that movie all tend to agree that it has one of the most emotionally pleasing chase scenes in movie history. This one:

Final scene in THE KID

MODERN TIMES always makes me a little sad. It was made almost a decade after the advent of sound, so for audiences to see a movie where they would have to read title cards was thought by the masses as a step back. But Chaplin insisted that he make the movie silent. He felt dialogue slowed down the action in movies. Look at any number of silent sequences in CITY LIGHTS and you'll get more emotional storytelling than you would with a monologue or punch line.

ASSEMBLY LINE SCENE FROM MODERN TIMES

One more thing to rave about in MODERN TIMES is the beautiful Paullette Goddard. She was up for the role of Scarlett O'Hara in GONE WITH THE WIND. I can see that. I can totally see that.

from MODERN TIMES

My Sunday Film Festival - 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER

Just finished watching Jean-Luc Godard's 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER.

I love watching Godard movies, but I know they're not for everyone. One thing I've noticed about 2 or 3 THINGS as well as VIVRE SA VIE is his fascination with prostitutes photographed up against a wall covered in posters.

Here's a shot from 2 or 3 THINGS:

And here's a shot from VIVRE SA VIE:

And for fun let's take a look at some exploitive rubbish from HUSTLE & FLOW (hee hee) :

Godard shoots these no bullshit shots, aiming directly at his subjects. Sometimes it's right into the back of a character's head. You'll hear a whole conversation and not see their faces. Sometimes the eye-line of the characters are so close to camera it's like they're looking right at you. And sometimes they break the 4th wall altogether and stare you down. I took pictures of my TV as I watched 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER. I tried to grab all the moments when someone looked into the camera. Here they are.

 

A scene from 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER

My Sunday Film Festival - VIDEODROME

I have a problem. More of a sickness, really. It's called Amoeba Music.

Every so often (meaning, more times than not) I go to Amoeba Music on Sunset Blvd. and buy more movies than I should. I think I've got maybe a handful of vices... maybe I should say, I can count my vices on one hand... but one of the big ones, the thumb on that hand, would be movie buying splurges.

There is no rhyme or reason to my spending habits, they are erratic and impulsive. On one trip I'll buy up all the Michelangelo Antonioni DVD's I can find, then head over to the VHS section and buy up all of the cult section (out-of-print shit for under $5. Amazing!) Lately, I've put into place some rules 1) only buy movies I have not seen, and 2) only spend less than a $100. Both of these rules are helpful guides, but I violate them constantly. I mean, I've seen Bridge Over The River Kwai, but not on Blu-ray... so that $20 bad boy is going in the basket, rules be damned.

Unfortunately, the stack next to my chair consisting of movies I have yet to see is getting taller and taller, tilting over in a Suessical way. The best way I whittle down the stack is program my own Sunday Film Festivals. This is a joy. I love these.

First up today is David Cronenberg's VIDEODROME. This falls into the "film I saw on Showtime at my next door neighbor's house when I was way to young to watch it or get it" category.

VIDEODROME TRAILER

Considering this movie was made in 1983, it skewers our current obsession with voyeur-viewing. Back when I was a kid, the only porn you could get your hands on had a modicum of production value (like a script, or, dare I say it... actors.) Nowadays, not only is porn a click away, it's packed with amateur video. We all want to be watching our next door neighbors go at it instead of Jenna Jameson and Rocco. Or at least have the illusion that we're watching normal people. People like us.

James Woods plays a programmer (or CEO) of a cable station that plays soft-core porn and other stimulating content. But he wants something more raw and engaging. He stumbles across a signal that broadcasts a room where people are tortured and murdered. This channel is called Videodrome. 

At one point in the movie, a woman named Masha tries to sell James Woods on her soft-core programming. After she shows him a clip of beautiful, half-naked women rolling around in a Roman spa, James Woods character replies with a frown: "I'm looking for something a lot more contemporary. I want stuff that really shows what's going on under the sheets." Masha then replies, "Well... it's your market."

We now live in that market. Average Jane now rules over Jenna Jameson. Maybe she always did. Maybe all that was required was a webcam.