Watching the documentary “Man Made” the other day made me think. In the 21stcentury transgender people continue to have a precarious existence in our society. Violence, unemployment, rejection, and death always lie in wait. The average lifespan of a transgender person is 30, a frightening statistic. Director T. Cooper’s focuses on 4 transgender men. Each with a goal of entering the Trans Fit Con Body Building competition in Atlanta, Georgia.
Thankfully, Cooper handles the material in a presentational manner. It would have been easy to deploy a heavy dose of drama to make the audience sympathetic to the cause. The director avoids the “society as a guilty oppressor”. The documentary keeps the emptional focus centered, showing the discipline involved preparing for a competitive sport. Every body builder lives for the pose on stage.
Not a tragedy, but a film about hope. Each man overcomes the many obstacles staying on track in the face of personal adversity. In the end, a sense of accomplishment is universal.
From Journeyman Pictures, Man Made is available on Vimeo, Google Play, iTunes, and Amazon.
The battle over the state of modern cinema took a funny twist recently. Director Martin Scorsese weighed in by saying Marvel Cinematic Universe is not cinema. The backlash was swift. Do not attack a cultural movement. Martin, like so many others in Hollywood, has been left wondering what is his place in the new franchise driven film business. A critics darling, Scorsese has never been a box office magnet. His most successful films drew on the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio.
The Irishman
As his latest film, the acclaimed “The Irishman” premieres for Netflix, the helmer has taken aim at modern cinema. The free market economy does not count when it comes to buying tickets. “Marvel films are theme park attractions”, said Scorsese. Theaters should stop booking hem. According to this logic, as an exhibitor is better to choose “his idea of artistic integrity” over making a billion dollars.
160 + 209
Budgeted at $160 million “The Irishman” has a running time of 209 minutes. Translated; if this were a feature film, there could only be 2 theater screenings per day. It would need to earn $500 million to recoup production costs. Plus, an addition $50 million for marketing and prints costs. Martin Scorsese’s highest grossing film to date: 2006’s “The Departed” with Leonardo Di Caprio earned $291 million. No small wonder why the director had to turn to Netflix for financing his latest mobster film starring frequent creative partner Robert DiNiro. As the economics of the film business shift to even bigger tentpoles, Scorese’s view of cinema has been sidelined.
A filmmaker of the 70’s auteur movement, when studios gave directors autonomy over their work. Scorsese did not move into the blockbuster realm. Nor did he crash out like Coopola, DiPalma, or Bogdanavich. His was a world of dysfunctional characters on tee edge. Even his family friendly work, “Hugo” from 2011, a great look, but a times came across like a puzzle with missing middle pieces. Lacking an emotion. I felt no empathy for the characters. The film lost over $100 million at the box office.
Do not attack a movie genre for being successful. If the theater going public pays $20 per ticket, the film earns $2 billion at global cinemas. That is cinema.
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far, away. Those words, etched in my memory from the first time I saw Star Wars A New Hope. Certain films mark my childhood. Luke, Leia, and Han have been a part of my life since 1977. The world Lucas created of simple good against evil is loosing its appeal. Relying more on brand worship than wondrous story telling.
Why is Disney destroying the franchise? With every recent Star Wars media franchise launched in cinema or on television, the lack of creativity pulse is painfully noticeable. Assembly line production has taken its toll. As if the creators have been digging through Lucasfilm trash bins searching for ideas. “The Last Jedi”, story plots, characters felt all piled in blender then poured on the screen. Skywalker as a crazed lone Jedi did not click. Even the most ardent fans struggled defending Rian Johnson’s eight franchise entry- A letter of apology would have been nice.
A SOLO Waste
Not sure who to blame for the $300 million “Solo”. Ron Howard deserves credit for taking over a troubled production after the firing of duo directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller. However, the standard plot line lacked originality, a passable first draft. A buddy crime capper film in space lacked emotion. Alden Ehrenreich’s “lost in the headlight” performance never captured the cocky bravado of Harrison Ford’s 70’s style. It was the first Star Wars film to lose money at the box office.
The Resistance Bore
The latest Star Wars animation entry “Resistance” is annoying on all levels. The animation style is unnerving. The mixture of shadows and hues is as appealing as a used car lot. The coming of age stock characters, after watching three episodes, come across as lethargic. I hoped for their capture. Juvenile rebel pilot Kazuda Xiono leads a band of resistance against the First Order. Right! Lazy, lacking thrills, falling flat is my best review.
In essence, Disney is expecting Star Wars fans to shell out billions of dollars to justify their $4 billion acquisition. The company seems to be taking a lot for granted. Goodwill eventually ends.
theater or cinema auditorium screen with red curtains and seats
Rejection is a form of Protection
“It is not enough for a film festival to be righteous. The films shown should be engaging.” I did not attend the Berlinale this year “because of the limited space”. The likely reason, the Chat Cinema podcast I produced criticising the festival. Someone took offence.
Chat Cinema Podcast
Reading over the reviews of the 69thannual event, “the press offices rejection is a cinema lovers protection.” It feels like I did not miss much. More like, saved. I support filmmaking. But when a film festival states “your attendence is not wanted”. I can take a clue. Although, I wanted to see Monos and What She Said.
If a person is going to spend time in a dark cinema, the very least to expect is engagement on a some level, not a sermon with a heavy dose of pretensions. This has been lost on the Berlinale team.
Congratulations to Me
While there were many tributes to Kosslick for helming the festival since 2001, this years Berlinale lacked a well received Competition entry. I spoke to a writer colleague who described a film as “Just Boring!” Why the lack of high powered wattage for the creative heads final walk on the red carpet? But with celebration of Dieter continuing, why notice the many mediocre to average films? Instead, focus on the face saving self-congratulatory events took precedent. The Guardian’s festival review of “hapless” seemed fitting.
I believe women should have more opportunities to direct. Sadly, the film business has not felt this way. But I say, a female helmer can make a Heaven’s Gate like her male counterpart. Being on the political left side of social movements, the Berlinale showcased many women directors. Too bad their films were not up to par.
I asked about fest opener, screened out of Competition, The Kindness of Strangers from Danish director Lone Scherfig. The words used, “Repetitive” and “too long”. The 34 metascore out of 100 says it all. Gender does not make anyone a good filmmaker. Holland’s Mr. Jones, screened in Competition, nodded audience to sleep with its 141 minutes weightiness.
Enjoy
Regardless if the Berlinale denies Chat Cinema/Black and Paper accreditation for 2020. Allow as many Instagram Influencers on the red carpet as possible. This is a festival in a transitional crisis having lost its artistic and commercial way.
Will Carlo Chatrian change course? One can hope, taking pleasure from attending the Berlinale should not be a mortal sin.
Perhaps I will attend the the 70th edition of the Berlinale. If I am not on the blacklist for honesty.
What do two Berlinale enthusiast do in this age of hyper oversharing of opinions? Make a video of course! This is the first of many videos from the fest.
The 68th edition of the German A list festival has many challenges this year; including calls from German film professionals for a radical change of course along with a slim down schedule from the current 400 films shown.
Please forgive the babbling and background noise. The first was because we were brain dead after seeing documentaries. The second because we were in the Cinemaxx Theater as it was preparing to open.
Please stay tune for more with guests hosts, commentators, interviews, and reviews from the Berlinale.
The reviews for the new “Wonder Woman” film been favorable, my question is, why? At best I found it average. As far as a super hero film, it introduced nothing new to the genre, a clunking undertaking. Director Patty Jenkins directed with paint by numbers approach that lacked focus. Chris Pine was perfectly cast as the dashing Steve Trevor but Gal Gadot as the title character filled the screened with brooding facial expressions proved capable but at times a bit forced in this writers opinion. Supporting characters were wasted, standard plot devices moved around from setting to setting.
Good production values CGI effects were lacking in originality.
Reading over the early reviews Guardians of the Galaxy 2 one expect the filmmakers had the sequel curse that befalls so many follow ups. Sadly, it happened, the first film in the series was a fun but the newest chapter leaves a lot to be desired, “lazy” was a term used to describe the bigger budget Marvel comic superhero saga.
Read Ex Berliner film critic David Mouriquand write up:
Day 5 of the Berlinale. A clear front winner for in Competition category has not emerged yet. It is a hard year to second guess the jury. The direction is very unclear.
A pool of the critics standings according to Screen International are:
