This was a kind of screen test for my bug guys. I drew it in Procreate (rotoscoped) and put the audio together.
Fun.
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Tag: film
Categories
Born in Baltimore, 2023
The Lunatics was screened at the Born in Baltimore festival. All the work was very strong this year, and several of the award winning films had intense, social justice themes that hit hard. The Lunatics brought up the end with some comic relief.
We are fortunate to have such a wonderful festival here.
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Give me Sanctuary
We had an anniversary data. We went to Clavel for the first time, after hearing so much hype about it, and it did not disappoint. We got there right as they opened and there was a line formed around the building.
We had the ceviche with shrimp and sea bass – delicious.
The queso is served bubbling hot in an iron skillet, and has onions and jalapeño. This is my favorite fancy queso so far.
Honestly, the cevechie and queso was enough, but I’m glad we sampled to tacos. It was all delicious, and I love the space. I love cucumber as a garnish.
After that, we walked down to the Charles theater, and watched Sanctuary. This was the first time I’ve ever sat in a theater to watch a film that I have:
- No previous indication as to what I’m going to see
- Never heard of the film I’m going to watch
That experience alone was fun. And, I think Sanctuary was even more fun.
It’s a dark comedy a wealthy heir and his longtime employee. They struggle for control over their relationship in this twisty duet. The entire film takes place in a hotel suite (with a couple of scenes in the hallway and elevator). It was filmed in just 18 days, and could be a wonderful play. I like the NYT review, and the only thing that I haven’t read in other reviews so far is that I believe the writers understood their subjects in a way that adds a lot depth to the story.
I found myself leaning forward in my seat in the theater, and I’m very happy with the ending. It reminded me strongly of 1982’s Deathtrap (Christopher Reeve, Michael Caine, Dyan Cannon) – not so much because of plot inventions, although Sanctuary certainly delivers a windy road – but maybe more because of the intimate setting and emotional content.
I haven’t seen Christopher Abbott in anything yet, and honestly didn’t recognize Margaret Qualley until I googled her. She was in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, as seen here with my man Brad Pitt. As an aside, I saw Once Upon a Time in Hollywood at the Senator Theater when it came out. It’s my favorite Quentin Tarantino film, and I recommend reading the companion novel by the same title. The book isn’t an exact retelling of the movie, strictly speaking, but more like bonus scenes and deep cuts. It explains a lot about the characters, and has a ton of Hollywood folklore, which makes it really fun.
Anyway, Abbott and Qualley really bring Sanctuary home.
We ended the evening out by wandering into Tapas Teatro for their flourless chocolate cake – a delight unto itself, my friends.
I used Bing’s AI image creator to make all the images in this video.
A lot of these images were created that first weekend that I started exploring generative AI. DALL-E try to maintain very strict rules about what image prompts they will accept, and I was locked out for bit. Words like “bare,” “fishnets,” and “blonde” were forbidden.
I’m also intrigued by the weirdness of the images. It clearly doesn’t yet understand hands, teeth, feet, and many human interactions. I wanted to document some of this while it’s still wonky.
I definitely see several use cases for this, and I generated enough material over the weekend for 3 other short films.
We saw Inside last night, and then came home and read reviews. I don’t think this is a spoiler, as you get the premise from the trailer. During a heist gone wrong, an art thief gets trapped in a modern, “smart” apartment for, it seems, months. But read on at your own risk.
There really aren’t many good reviews, at least, I haven’t read any. Of the bad reviews, I agree that:
- The film is hollow
- Another director could have made something great out of this
- It would have been interesting to see a slicker, more polished actor portray Dafoe’s character. He is gritty and doesn’t have far to fall, in other words.
I take issue with the idea that this film is not worth watching. It is totally worth watching. It’s mostly a one man show, Willem Dafoe as Nemo works the material with mastery. There is room for movies like this – we need more films like this.
As Nemo confronts his situation, I was thinking of Paul Auster’s New York Trilogy, and could see this being an amazing novella under Auster’s pen. The director is mostly unsuccessful in using the camera to bring any depth to Nemo’s predicament, or in portraying Nemo’s internal struggles, his character, etc.
Something that the other reviews I’ve read missed: Inside provides commentary on art commodification, and the NYC art world. The choices made by the collector, the items to be stolen, and Nemo’s relationship to the apartment and the works contained inside are worth considering. It also hints at madness as it relates to vision and art, although weakly. It’s subtle, but I think if these ideas are teased out, the film might reveal that is has legs. That said… there are problems.
This film places us directly and intimately in a confined space with Nemo, and as such, the following plot holes are quite glaring:
- Nemo is clearly a sophisticated thief – he, and his “man in the chair” number 3, have done a lot of homework to get into this apartment. They have a helicopter! So, why wouldn’t Nemo wear gloves? And a mask? The odds that Nemo has a clean record seem very low.
- Why didn’t number 2 or 3 come find Nemo, once it was clear the police weren’t involved, yet Nemo has disappeared?
- The “Owner” is an architect. How is it that such a sophisticated, well thought out dwelling wouldn’t notify the owner or building attendant that the system(s) have failed? Given that the fridge plays Hey Macarena through the whole apartment if left open too long, wouldn’t the apartment have fail safe systems, too? And, since Nemo disabled all the speakers in the place to silence the deafening alarm, how can we hear the fridge so loudly?
- Nemo doesn’t notice the smoke detectors for… a very long time. Again, unlikely. Also, I would have thought someone as smart as Nemo would have searched every inch of the apartment and found the secrets a lot sooner, like, by day two.
- The water is turned off, yet somehow the sprinkler system for the plants works. What?
- The electricity is on – but, there is no Microwave?
- Nemo works to move a very heavy table from upstairs to downstairs. The table top seems to be marble or concrete. I believe he might have been able to break a window with it.
- When Nemo talks to a pigeon, he taps a window and the bird jumped. I think that glass would be breakable.
- Why doesn’t the building manager/Owner representative/fire department respond to the fire alarm?
- Where does all the water go after the sprinkles go off, and why didn’t anyone notice?
- How did Nemo defecate what seems to be his own body weight, on a few condiments and some pasta?
- The passage of time could have been marked more clearly – we see snow and fireworks, but they are outside the apartment, and I don’t know why that needed to be subtle, when it could have enhanced the story.
- I doubt very much those bolts could have been removed with chair legs.
- The hallucinations were gratuitous and unnecessary. They only detract from the films stronger parts.
- The biggest crime: Not enough set up regarding Nemo or the Owner, and while we hear Nemo’s voice over the ending credits the ending was completely unsatisfactory. Lazy, pretending to be craft?
Yes, the problems outweigh the film’s strengths (Dafoe’s performance aside). Definitely a streaming option, as it’s more fun to think about what is wrong with the picture, than it’s few strong points.
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Licorice Pizza
I deleted my Twitter account. I downloaded my data, and snapped my little branch off the Twitter tree for good. It’s been over a month at this point, and I think/hope they deleted my data.
I still think it’s shame. As noted in the New York Times and Google’s news feed, what’s happening to Twitter and its staff is most likely criminal. Twitter’s journalistic and cultural importance distinguished itself from the other social platforms, and I don’t think it can be overstated. I had read that there is an attempt to make Twitter and actual protocol that cannot be owned by shareholders or a single entity. I hope that happens. But, Twitter is new “a hellscape” and that’s life on the web, right? Why am I mentioning this? Because it’s encouraged me to lean into blogging a bit more. Which brings me to this quick review.
We watched Licorice Pizza last night. It was delightful. The sets, lighting and the nostalgic approach to this coming of age story landed just right for me. There are parallels to Quentin Tarantino’s Once upon a time in Hollywood, only it’s much more relatable for kids of the 1970’s and lived life experiences. When I saw Steven Spielberg’s ET, I saw myself in the D&D playing latchkey kids who had to deal with very human parents, ADHD school problems, and lives which were not reflected in the proceeding Disney blockbusters of my youth (Strongest Man in the World, Escape to Witch Mountain, Freaky Friday, etc.). Netflix’s Stranger Things obviously capitalizes on those notes too.
Licorice Pizza is a sweet character study that doesn’t distract itself with supernatural/science fiction plot twists, jump scares and severe threats to its characters. In a cellphone/internet free world, Gary Valentine is able to accomplish a great deal using a telephone, handmade fliers, and his quick footed brothers. I enjoyed Alana Kane’s quick temper. Her fascination with Gary’s bravado and confidence kicks off a story that moves quickly and that drew me in. It’s fun to watch their relationship evolve. While I didn’t grow in in L.A., I knew hustler kids that made things happen for themselves and their friends, and so much of this film is relatable to my own childhood experience. It was a pleasure to watch.
The scenes with Sean Penn and Tom Waits are sublime and hilarious.
I ventured out to the grocery store this morning to acquire the ingredients for a nice dinner at home on this foggy, soggy new years eve. I love spending NYE at home. Licorice Pizza was running in the background of my mind as I ran my errands and reflected on where we are at the end of 2022. I hope you enjoy it.