more movie madness
I realized that I haven’t ever written anything here about "Yin-Yang," the short film I’m working on. (Hopefully it’ll never be brutalized the way I went after “Crash” today…) YYis about two characters who see each other for the first time two weeks after they broke up, and try to figure out where to go from there. It’s complicated, it’s real… and best of all, it’s only about ten minutes.
It’s about time for a little update. We shot it here in New York City in October, and after some post-production set-backs, began seriously editing the film in early December. As of last week, we finally have a cut of the film where everything feels like it’s falling into place. It’s a great feeling to fight with it for a couple of months, tinkering endlessly to get the emotional flow to feel right until you start to think it’s never going to work… and then suddenly it comes together. And just in time too: we plan to make one more quick round of changes then apply to our first festival, the LAFF, later this week. So that’s what’s up with that.
In other news, I saw two movies over the weekend. Neither is great, neither is terrible. “Syriana” is sneaky bad; a movie that seems so smart but really doesn’t have much substance. If you set aside the fact that it’s hard to follow--from the subtle storytelling to the jumpy camera work--there actually isn’t much story here. It’s almost as if it’s intentionally hard to follow to distract the audience from putting too much thought into its content. About that content: considering that the movie doesn’t claim to be based on a true story, its criticisms of U.S. foreign policy lack punch. Sure, this could be how things happen, but without the proof, who cares? This is a message picture with a message that’s likely fictitious.
“The Matador,” on the other hand, is sneaky good. Don’t walk in expecting much of a story, but waiting to see where this film is headed is, oddly, one of the film’s joys, once you submit and enjoy the ride. This is a film about a hitman that, for once, isn’t really about a hit. It’s about friendship and about its characters--a hilarious Pierce Brosnan, mocking his suave stereotype, and a well-cast Greg Kinnear playing the goofy straight man. This movie succeeds where a lot of other movies have failed (“The Whole Nine Yards” is an obvious comparison) not because it’s so funny, but because it has a lot of heart: the characters are flawed but likable, and you care about them. When the end credits roll, they stick with you. For a medium-budget, high-concept film, that’s quite an achievement.
All right, it’s 5:30. Time to call it a day.
It’s about time for a little update. We shot it here in New York City in October, and after some post-production set-backs, began seriously editing the film in early December. As of last week, we finally have a cut of the film where everything feels like it’s falling into place. It’s a great feeling to fight with it for a couple of months, tinkering endlessly to get the emotional flow to feel right until you start to think it’s never going to work… and then suddenly it comes together. And just in time too: we plan to make one more quick round of changes then apply to our first festival, the LAFF, later this week. So that’s what’s up with that.
In other news, I saw two movies over the weekend. Neither is great, neither is terrible. “Syriana” is sneaky bad; a movie that seems so smart but really doesn’t have much substance. If you set aside the fact that it’s hard to follow--from the subtle storytelling to the jumpy camera work--there actually isn’t much story here. It’s almost as if it’s intentionally hard to follow to distract the audience from putting too much thought into its content. About that content: considering that the movie doesn’t claim to be based on a true story, its criticisms of U.S. foreign policy lack punch. Sure, this could be how things happen, but without the proof, who cares? This is a message picture with a message that’s likely fictitious.
“The Matador,” on the other hand, is sneaky good. Don’t walk in expecting much of a story, but waiting to see where this film is headed is, oddly, one of the film’s joys, once you submit and enjoy the ride. This is a film about a hitman that, for once, isn’t really about a hit. It’s about friendship and about its characters--a hilarious Pierce Brosnan, mocking his suave stereotype, and a well-cast Greg Kinnear playing the goofy straight man. This movie succeeds where a lot of other movies have failed (“The Whole Nine Yards” is an obvious comparison) not because it’s so funny, but because it has a lot of heart: the characters are flawed but likable, and you care about them. When the end credits roll, they stick with you. For a medium-budget, high-concept film, that’s quite an achievement.
All right, it’s 5:30. Time to call it a day.
posted by Zackattack at 5:29 PM
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