.cousin reginald catches the thanksgiving turkey painted by norman rockwell.

.thanksgiving day, nov. 28, 1986 read by william s. burroughs directed by gus van sant.

.rayman raving rabbids bunnies very useful scientific facts : bunnies can’t cook turkey spot.

.the thanksgiving visitor written and narrated by truman capote starring geraldine page and michaeal kearney.adapted for sell-a-vision by eleanor perry with capote.directed by frank perry.

.joaquin phoenix thanksgiving peta ad reminds us holidays can be murder on turkeys.

.johnny cash sings thanksgiving prayer on dr. quinn, medicine woman.

.a charlie brown thanksgiving.though it’s the great pumpkin, charlie brown is my favourite.

.that idaho-born sweat potato sarah palin.may your wretched body return to the dirt quite soon.

.thanksgiving trailer directed by eli roth.

.jibjab presents thanksgiving cranberry slaughter.

.christina ricci as wednesday addams telling it like it is.burroughs would be proud.

Van Sant w swoim “Paranoid Park” znów zabiera się za buntowniczy okres dorastania. Jest to o tyle dziwne, że na warsztat bierze społeczność skaterów a połowę filmu poświęca nielegalnemu skate-parkowi (tytułowy Paranoid Park), co jak na kolesia mającego 55 lat jest, jak mniemam, poważnym wyzwaniem i środowiskiem dość nietypowym. Jednak nie jest to tylko film o dorastaniu, nie jest to film tylko o deskorolce, ale jest to też osobliwa historia dzieciaka z Portland, którego wizyta w Paranoid Park, zmieniła całe życie.

Jak to u Van Santa, formalnie nie jest lekko. Typowe dla niego długie sceny, ujęcia en face dające czas na przemyślenie sytuacji bohatera, z towarzyszeniem nieprzypadkowej muzyki (a ta jest dość różnorodna, mówiąc eufemistycznie). Skateboard’owe wstawki niczym z narkomańskich wizji, a także wstawki para-dokumentalne. Zaburzenia chronologii wydarzeń i nieco chaotyczny (świadomie) narrator. Takie podejście do przedstawienia historii może irytować ale w przypadku “Paranoid Park” nie tylko nie męczy ale jest plusem. Zwłaszcza mantryczne, zamazane sceny popisów na desce nadają specyficzny, magiczny charakter owemu “parkowi“. Mimo chaosu formalno-narracyjnego film jest spójny i trzyma w napięciu, ciekawi i nie nudzi (niecałe 80 min trwania wydają się idealne). A napięcie jest obecne, bo nawet gdy nic się nie dzieje, widz ma pewność, że coś musi się zaraz wydarzyć. Nie zdradzając fabuły napiszę tylko, że historia nabiera rumieńców i nawet pojawia się shocking scene, która staje się kontrapunktem dla młodzieżowego charakteru filmu.

Ciekawym wydaje się też zestawienie dwóch światów skaterów. W świecie przeciętnym, zwykłym widzimy nastoletnich skate’ów, ubranych w modne ciuchy, z tzw. dobrych/normalnych domów, których głównym problemem jest zaliczenie cheerleaderki albo praca domowa. Paranoid Park (wzorowany nota bene na prawdziwym portlandzkim skateparku pod mostem) to świat skaterów reprezentujących całą historię buntowniczych subkultur, od punków, hipisów, przez bezdomnych po ludzi z rozbitych rodzin i przestępców, których poza życiorysem łączy pasja do deskorolki. To oni, z pozoru atrakcyjni dla młodzieży indywidualiści, otwierają głównemu bohaterowi drzwi do tragedii, która staje się punktem zwrotnym w jego życiu.

Paranoid Park to mini-studium młodzieńczych problemów w połączeniu z historią sensacyjną, pokazane w typowo van santowskiej oprawie estetycznej. Nie ma tu silenia się na oryginalność, nie ma dłużyzn, tematy proste nie drażnią. Jest za to rozpoznawalny styl, ładne zdjęcia, prosta ale ciekawa historia i dobre rozwiązania formalne. Każdemu kto chce zobaczyć film o zwykłym życiu, prostej historii i problemach już dla większości odległych, i nie chce się przy tym zrzygać z powodu pretensjonalnego stylu i żałosnego aktorstwa, mogę “Paranoid Park” swobodnie polecić. Uprzedzam jednak, że styl Gusa Van Santa nie każdemu się spodoba, ale to już nie mój biznes.

]]> http://tobatheinfilmicwaters.com/2009/11/23/review-to-die-for/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 23:34:54 +0000 jedimoonshyne http://tobatheinfilmicwaters.com/2009/11/23/review-to-die-for/

To Die For | Gus Van Sant, 1995

Leading lady Nicole Kidman has had many ups and downs in her career. Perhaps the downs outweigh the ups, but I’m sure the lady herself would quite rightly argue that she has kept two feet firmly in the Hollywood spotlight for many years now. Even today at 40 she is still heralded as one of America’s most bankable female performers. All of this tends to distract from the point I’m attempting to make – that Kidman has talent as an actress. It’s only six or seven years since her acclaimed show in The Hours scooped a best actress Oscar, though people seem to have already forgotten this feat. It was a performance that I believe was perhaps eclipsed a year later with her role in Lars Von Trier’s overlooked experimental effort Dogville. In To Die For Kidman easily matches these two renditions; she plays aspiring TV girl Suzanne Stone, a driven and dangerous young woman who will do just about anything to make it in the industry. The character is an extremely colourful one that makes an impact using a confident, almost arrogant attitude , that is offset with some well placed femininity to seduce if not intimidate entirely. Kidman plays this role perfectly, creating a ravishing woman of the world whose naivety is shown with the kind of subtlety I previously thought to be beyond the actress.

Kidman is backed up by the equally impressive and fresh-faced Joaquin Phoenix in one of his earlier roles. He plays Jimmy Emmett, an oppressed adolescent who falls for Ms. Stone and whom she eventually uses thoroughly to get what she wants from life. Namely the killing of her own husband Larry (Matt Dillon) who she believes is standing in the way of her own blossoming career. With To Die For, Gus Van Sant chose the curious and risky process of splitting up the storytelling into direct-to-camera rants from each character: an insightful choice, but one that ultimately falls flat in creating any kind of dramatic suspense whatsoever. Thus, we find it difficult to become embroiled in the plot – something not helped by the largely confused motives exhibited also. Despite the decent performances all round (look out for a young Casey Affleck as Jimmy’s oafish friend), To Die For fails on many levels thanks to a lack of truly involving the audience in the central character’s plight. Yes, she is a diabolically watchable personality, but one whose motive is truly lost thanks to Van Sant’s fumbling. Hence, while entertaining, her position is also rather a shallow one. An interesting overall concept that tries vainly to employ some kind of black comedy to distract from a conceited plot, in the end rendering it quite pointless.

Our Rating:

Il Giorno del Ringraziamento (Thanksgiving Day) è una festa osservata negli Stati uniti e in Canada: si celebra il quarto giovedì di Novembre, in segno di gratitudine per la fine della stagione del raccolto.

Risalente al 1623, e istituita dai Padri Pellegrini (quelli sbarcati in America a bordo della Mayflower, per intenderci), la festa si estese, anche grazie a George Washington, in tutti gli Stati e a metà del XIX° secolo era già unanimemente riconosciuta. Con il tempo la festa acquistò anche una certa sfumatura di patriottismo.

In occasione dell’annuale ricorrenza, che scade giovedì prossimo, qui su Bizzarro Bazar pubblichiamo un testo di  William S. Burroughs dedicato al Ringraziamento, cogliendo l’occasione per introdurre i suoi lettori alla forza dissacrante di un genio letterario senza pari.

Inizialmente associato alla beat generation di Kerouac, Ginsberg & soci, Burroughs ha in seguito intrapreso una ricerca artistica che ha influenzato tutta la seconda metà del ‘900, e che continua ad ispirare le avanguardie moderne. E’ difficile illustrare quanto importante sia stato il suo peso nei diversi campi artistici: le sue tecniche e i suoi temi si ritrovano nella letteratura, nella musica, nell’arte figurativa, nella body art, nel cinema.

Esploratore della coscienza e del perturbante, psiconauta per antonomasia, cultore di visioni macabre ed estreme ed artefice di un umorismo al vetriolo, il vecchio zio Bill ha praticamente scardinato ogni classico assunto culturale.

Angoscia del Controllo, distruzione dell’identità, algebra del bisogno, scarafaggi e Disinfestatori, “scimmie” sulla schiena, millepiedi allucinogeni, morbide macchine del sogno, esseri mutanti dalle forme imprecise, tossicomani e omosessuali, il cut-up come metodo non-logico per sottrarsi alla dipendenza del pensiero.

Questi, a grandi linee, i temi ossessivamente ripetuti da William S. Burroughs lungo tutta la sua carriera di romanziere e saggista, a partire da quando nel 1959 venne pubblicato Il Pasto Nudo, a tutt’oggi considerato il suo capolavoro, e grossi intellettuali e letterati americani si mossero per difendere il romanzo dalle accuse di oscenità e immoralità.

La sua vita stessa assomiglia ad un’opera d’arte. In tempi non sospetti (anni ‘40-’50) ha provato tutte le droghe esistenti, è stato eroinomane per sedici anni, ha ucciso sua moglie (sposata con l’unico scopo di darle cittadinanza americana) con un colpo di pistola mentre strafatti giocavano a inscenare la sfida di Guglielmo Tell. E’ stato omosessuale e tossicodipendente, ha elaborato la teoria secondo cui il linguaggio sarebbe un virus letale, ha cercato di sbriciolare i limiti del dicibile mediante diverse tecniche quali il cut-up, ha confuso il confine fra narrativa e pornografia, ha intrapreso avventurosi viaggi per provare droghe sconosciute come lo yage (la liana magica degli sciamani dell’Amazzonia), ha rivoluzionato ed esploso la forma del romanzo, ha creato dipinti sparando a dei barattoli di colore… ha lottato per tutta la vita contro il concetto di “controllo”, cercando di liberare la letteratura e la mente dagli insidiosi vincoli del condizionamento. In breve, un autore irrinunciabile.

Per ritornare al Giorno del Ringraziamento, vi proponiamo qui il testo e la traduzione di una preghiera (tutt’altro che patriottica, come vedrete) scritta da Burroughs nel 1986.  Più in sotto, troverete il video in cui William Burroughs recita il testo, per la regia di Gus Van Sant.

A THANKSGIVING PRAYER

by William S. Burroughs

Thanks for the wild turkey and the passenger pigeons, destined to be shit out through wholesome American guts.

Thanks for a continent to despoil and poison.

Thanks for Indians to provide a modicum of challenge and danger.

Thanks for vast herds of bison to kill and skin leaving the carcasses to rot.

Thanks for bounties on wolves and coyotes.

Thanks for the American dream, To vulgarize and to falsify until the bare lies shine through.

Thanks for the KKK.

For nigger-killin’ lawmen, feelin’ their notches.

For decent church-goin’ women, with their mean, pinched, bitter, evil faces.

Thanks for “Kill a Queer for Christ” stickers.

Thanks for laboratory AIDS.

Thanks for Prohibition and the war against drugs.

Thanks for a country where nobody’s allowed to mind the own business.

Thanks for a nation of finks.

Yes, thanks for all the memories– all right let’s see your arms!

You always were a headache and you always were a bore.

Thanks for the last and greatest betrayal of the last and greatest of human dreams.

UNA PREGHIERA PER IL GIORNO DEL RINGRAZIAMENTO

di William S. Burroughs

Grazie per il tacchino selvatico e i piccioni di passaggio, destinati ad essere cagati fuori attraverso budella del tutto Americane.

Grazie per un continente da rovinare e avvelenare.

Grazie per gli Indiani per fornire un minimo di sfida e pericolo.

Grazie per le vaste mandrie di bisonti da uccidere e spellare lasciando le carcasse a imputridire.

Grazie delle taglie sui lupi e sui coyote.

Grazie per il sogno Americano, Volgarizzare e Falsificare finché le nude menzogne non risplendano.

Grazie per il Ku Klux Klan.

Per gli uomini della legge ammazzanegri, che contano le tacche.

Per le decenti donne di chiesa, con le loro malvagie, contrite, amare, cattive facce.

Grazie per gli adesivi “Uccidi una Checca per Cristo”.

Grazie per l’AIDS da laboratorio.

Grazie per il Proibizionismo e la guerra contro le droghe.

Grazie per un paese dove a nessuno è permesso farsi gli affari suoi.

Grazie per una nazione di senzapalle.

Sì, grazie per tutti i ricordi ― va bene, ora vediamo le tue braccia!

Sei sempre stato un mal di testa e sei sempre stato una noia.

Grazie per l’ultimo e massimo tradimento dell’ultimo e massimo tra i sogni umani.

Formichetti, Van Sant, Haring, Clark, Warhol, Korine, Mapplethrope, Slimane, Trevelyan, & Jarman

(UK) I had a chat with one of my favorite artist right now, the über sexy Jaiden rVa James cult Menswear label designer shows naiveboy.com readers a glimpse on the people who inspires him. Two American painters, four American filmmakers and one British, one fashion director and his assistant, an American photographer and a Tunisian-French photographer. Ladies and gentlemen enjoy the scrumptious visual feast in the mind of designer Jaiden Jeremy James.

_____________________

1. Keith Haring
(American artist and social activist)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Haring

_____________________

2. Gus Van Sant
(American film director, screenwriter, photographer, musician, and author)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gus_Van_Sant

_____________________

3. Andy Warhol
(American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andy_Warhol

_____________________

4. Nicola Formichetti
(British fashion director, editor, and wardrobe stylist)
http://www.nicolaformichetti.com/

_____________________

5. Harmony Korine
(American film director, producer, screenwriter, and author)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harmony_Korine

_____________________

6. Anna Trevelyan
(British wardrobe stylist and Nicola Formichetti’s assistant)
http://annatrevelyan.blogspot.com/

_____________________

7. Larry Clark
(American film director, photographer, writer and film producer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Clark

_____________________

8. Robert Mapplethrope
(American photographer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mapplethorpe

_____________________

9. Hedi Slimane
(Tunisian-French fashion designer and photographer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedi_Slimane

_____________________

10. Derek Jarman
(English film director, stage designer, artist, and writer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derek_Jarman

http://jaidenjames.blogspot.com/

Mia Wasikowska and Michael Fassbender are currently in negotiations to star in “Sin nombre” Cary Fukunaga’s (Sin nombre) adaptation of Charlotte Bronte’s classic novel, Jane Eyre.

The film is to be a period piece but will play up the gothic elements of the story about Jane (Wasikowska), a demure governess who discovers her surly employer Rochester (Fassbender) is harboring a dark secret.

Wasikowska will next be seen as Alice alongside Johnny Depp in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, which Disney is releasing next year. The actress is also going to be in Gus Van Sant’s untitled project for producers Bryce Dallas Howard and Imagine’s Ron Howard and Brian Grazer.

I don’t think I have actually seen her in anything yet so not sure how good an actress she is. Ellen Page (Juno, Inception) was originally down to play Jane, but has since left the project.

Fassbender previously appeared in Steve McQueen’s Hunger, Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank.

He will next be seen in Neil Marshall’s Roman action film Centurion and Warner Bros. comic book western Jonah Hex opposite Josh Brolin and Megan Fox.

Fassbender is a totally solid actor. He was spot on as Basterd and just seems to be going from strength to strength which each new film. I have no doubt he will make a splendid Rochester.

I am just really curious to see what Fukunaga will do with this classic tale. Shooting is due to start next year.

posted by: chemalopez

♣ El indomable Will Hunting

Good Will Hunting, (1997)

Discursos inolvidables

Si hace algunos años,  en algún momento de tu guión – un punto de giro, quizá, un story beat de importancia – dispusieses de un discurso hecho para marcar un antes y un después en la historia,  te hubiese recomendado la voz y presencia de Robin Williams. Al Pacino mediante.

El joven e ilusionado profesor del Club de los poetas muertos es ahora un hombre maduro, encerrado en sí mismo bajo el peso de una profunda crisis existencial. El bohemio (y sí, también altruista) profesor y psiquiatra conocerá a Will, con quien desarrolla una relación de tira y afloja dialéctico y emocional que es la verdadera riqueza de la película (los secundarios, cumplen; el final, previsible; la historia de amor, obligada y raquitica subtrama).

Quizá, lo realmente interesante aquí, es la metaevolución (no busquen la palabra, que no existe) de Williams, de aquel club de poetas pasados a mejor vida, a través del tiempo, desdoblado en dos personajes “diferentes” – que no son más que el desarrollo del mismo – en una línea cronológica natural hasta volver a guiar al más brillante de sus alumnos y, ahora sí, salvarse a sí mismo.

El Indomable Will hunting es la notable ópera prima como guionistas de Matt Damon y Ben Affleck (el último quizá debió replantearse la interpretación). Llevada a la pantalla bajo la dirección de Gus Van Sant, que pisa terreno “comercial” para repetir más adelante con un producto del mismo estilo: chico superdotado de barrio marginal y conoce a quien será su mentor-salvador (Finding Forrester, 2000).

Debajo, una de mis escenas preferidas. El brillante monólogo del profesor Williams ante un atónito Damon, cuyas palabras considero que forman (además de una verdad como una catedral) un momento memorable en la  historia del cine reciente.

FILME: GAROTOS DE PROGRAMA

Título Original: My Own Private Idaho
Gênero: Drama
Duração: 103 minutos
Ano de Lançamento: (EUA) 1991
Estúdio: New Line Cinema
Distribuidora: Playarte
Direção: Gus Van Sant
Roteiro: Gus Van Sant, baseado em história de William Shakespeare
Produção: Anthony Brand, Allan Mindel, Laurie Parker
Elenco
River Phoenix (Mike Waters)
Keanu Reeves (Scott Favor)
James Russo (Richard Waters)
William Richert (Bob Pigeon)
Rodney Harvey (Gary)
Chiara Caselli (Carmella)
Michael Parker (Digger)
Jessie Thomas (Denise)
Flea (Budd)
Grace Zabriskie (Alena)
Tom Troupe (Jack Favor)
Udo Kier (Hans)
Sally Curtice (Jane Lightwork)
Robert Lee Pitchlynn (Walt)
Mickey Cottrell (Daddy Carroll)
Sinopse: Dois jovens garotos de programa ganham a vida nas ruas. Mike Waters é um sensível narcoléptico que sonha com a mãe que o abandonou enquanto vive às voltas com Scott Favor, obstinado filho de um rico empresário de Portland e seu grande objeto de desejo. Navegando em um mundo volátil de viciados, ladrões e mendigos, Mike leva Scott em uma jornada direto das ruas para as estradas abertas da América em busca de um lugar distante chamado “lar”.

Comentário: ótimo filme com uma grande história e diálogos incríveis.

MÚSICA: ROISIN MURPHY – OVERPOWERED

Vestida com uma camiseta branca cuja estampa trazia uma “máscara” do ator Hugh Laurie, conhecido pelo personagem Dr. House, calça de yoga preta curta e um par de All Stars brancos, a estudante Sílvia Mendonça (18) estava sentada e sua cama enquanto falava de filmes, livros, cultura, faculdade e futuro.

Em seu pequeno quarto de paredes creme, no final do corredor, estão parte de suas preciosidades: em cima de sua cama um pôster do cabaré francês Moulin Rouge, presente de uma amiga de sua mãe; ao lado, na estante, livros de Jane Austen e Jeffrey Eugenides e alguns discos de vinil de cantores como Simon & Garfunkel e Chico Buarque. Fica fácil notar que não se trata do quarto de uma adolescente comum.

Foto acervo pessoal

Sua lista de preferências traz nomes como os diretores Sophia Coppola e Gus Van Sant e os pintores Gustav Klimt e René Magritte. Foi por influência direta de seu irmão Silvino, quatro anos mais velho, que começou a se interessar por assuntos não tão usuais para os jovens de hoje. “Meu irmão sempre me passou muito conhecimento sobre filmes, artes. Claro que eu não gosto só do que ele gosta, mas foi ele quem começou a me introduzir nesse lado mais cultural”, explica a estudante. Para Karine Neumann, amiga há dois anos e meio, eles são versões um do outro de sexo diferente. “Os dois são muito parecidos”, comenta.

Sua maturidade veio, então, junto com seus gosto à frente de sua idade. Em uma época na qual a insegurança costuma se instalar, demonstra despreocupação, sem se deixar afetar pela opinião alheia. “Ela é uma pessoa de personalidade forte, não precisa seguir padrão nenhum para afirmar sua personalidade”, comenta Marisa Mendonça, sua prima e amiga.

Sua personalidade pode ser considerada um ponto decisivo para a escolha de suas amizades. Não que ela interfira afastando as pessoas. Pelo contrário, é ela quem faz com que algumas pessoas se aproximem. Seu círculo de amizades, reais ou virtuais, é o mais diversificado possível, seja em faixa etária, etnia, credo, orientação sexual ou localização.

Mas não é em tudo que ela foge aos padrões. Querendo ou não, ainda é uma adolescente e crescer faz parte de sua vida. “Ela sempre se joga no chão quando ri demais”, confessa Neumann. E do que ela ri? “Eu costumo rir do meu irmão e das minhas amigas, eles sabem muito bem como me fazer rir. Meu humor é estranho”, comenta a jovem.

Foi em um outro momento de “adolescência aflorada” que ela conquistou uma nova amizade. Em meio a um ataque de pânico durante uma apresentação de trabalho, sua até então professora de inglês sentou-se e conversou com ela até que estivesse bem para voltar à sala. “Tivemos uma reveladora conversa de apenas alguns minutos e, a partir de então, decidi dar mais atenção àquela aluna em particular”, conta Katiane, a professora-amiga.

Sílvia se diferencia por, nas palavras de sua amiga Micaella Saliba, ser “uma mulher no corpo de uma doce menina”.

Today I watched the end of Gus Van Sant’s  film “Last Days.”  Even though I came in during the last quarter, I couldn’t switch the channel.  The film is artistically rich and captivating.  It’s also emotionally solemn, like having to walk in wet clothes and feeling weighted down and uncomfortable.  I’d like to watch the whole thing.  I remember those fashions.  Those days.  That issue of “Rolling Stone” with Kurt Cobain’s face taking up the entire front cover.  Looking at pictures of him and listening to songs from ”Nevermind”, wondering when the ’snap’ happened.  And why?  Courtney Love’s voice cracking with torture and rage as she read letters and things on Mtv.  1994.  So sad.  

Incidentally, I love that Kim Gordon’s in the film.   

iVoox:

Podomatic:

P – Paranoid Park

Soundtrack

 

Género: Drama

Dirección: Gus Van Sant

Guión: Gus Van Sant, basado en la novela de Blake Nelson

Música: Ethan Rose

Reparto: Gabe Nevis, Daniel Liu, Jake Miller, Taylor Momsen, Lauren McKinney, Scott Green…

Track list de este episodio:

1.- I can help, por Billy Swan

2.- Strongest man in the world, por Menomena

3.- Tunnelmouth blues, por Henry Davies

4.- Song one, por Ethan Rose

5.- Angeles, por Elliott Smith

Paranoid Park en imdb – Paranoid Park en Rotten Tomatoes – Paranoid Park en The Playlist

The “F.I.L.M. of the Week” is Gus Van Sant’s “Paranoid Park,” a multi-layered movie that serves as both a crime drama and a portrait of a scared teenager.  The film serves as a testament to the prowess of Van Sant (Academy Award nominated director of “Milk” and “Good Will Hunting”), who not only helmed the movie, but wrote and edited it.  He excels at doing what I love to see filmmakers do: taking a simple premise and using the power of moviemaking to turn it into something extravagant.

Alex (Gabe Nevins) is a teenage skateboarder who makes a split-second decision that turns out to be a big mistake with life-changing ramifications.  The film follows the effect of the event on his life as he, apprehensive, attempts to hide the truth and escape the consequences.  The movie begins with an aura of mystery surrounding what is happening, but in just 80 minutes, Van Sant strips it all away and gets to the core of an insecure and distraught teenager.

The triumph of “Paranoid Park” is not the story, but the storytelling.  Van Sant brings a distinctively different style to this than he did to a movie like “Milk.”  He employs a non-linear story line to replicate the events running together in Alex’s mind.  Alex is a very passive figure in the movie, and we witness the tearing apart of his mind not in his dialogue, but mostly from drawn-out shots of him.  These shots provide such a clear insight into the character thanks to Van Sant allowing the cinematography to shine.  Throw in a soundtrack eclectic enough to rival a Tarantino movie, and you get one great movie to watch.

Um time de atores invejável, um diretor meticuloso e um roteiro baseado em uma história real fazem de “Milk” um dos grandes filmes da história do cinema norte-americano. E, segundo a lista do The Times, um dos grandes filmes da década.

Harvey Milk foi o primeiro gay assumido a ocupar um cargo político nos Estados Unidos, em 1977. Ao lutar pelos direitos civis dos homossexuais foi alvo da intolerância da ala conservadora wasp norte-americana e acabou assassinado quase um ano depois de sua eleição.

Sem dúvida, a grande estrela do filme é Sean Penn. O ator há muito deixou de se caracterizar para fazer um papel. Ao invés disso, ele incorpora as personagens e quase sempre nos premia com atuações intuitivas, impecáveis e emocionantes. Outras interpretações de destaque são dos companheiros de Milk interpretados por James Franco e Diego Luna.

A direção de Gus Van Sant é primorosa na reconstituição de época e na condução do roteiro. Por se tratar de uma história verídica, o trabalho tem uma dificuldade adicional: como o desfecho já é conhecido pelo público, cabe ao diretor envolver os espectadores com outros elementos cênicos que compensem essa informação. E, com muita maestria e um roteiro muito bem encaixado, sua narrativa flui sem dificuldades.

O que fica implícito na obra, pela sua excelente repercussão entre crítica e público, é o início da aceitação da temática homossexual em Hollywood. A primeira conquista foi no ano de 2005, com o premiado O Segredo de Brokeback Mountain. Mas, ainda naquele período, o trabalho de Ang Lee sofreu com a resistência de parte dos espectadores ao romance entre cowboys Ennys e Jack.

O sucesso de Milk denota que a história das personagens em si, ficcionais ou reais, está se tornando mais importante do que sua cor de pele, credo ou opção sexual. Essa é a grande vitória do filme: conseguir espaço nos ambientes mais inóspitos usando a arte como veículo para diluir preconceitos e transformar a realidade.

Filme: Milk – A Voz da Igualdade (Milk)
Diretor: Gus Van Sant
Elenco: Sean Penn, Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna, Alison Phil
Duração: 128 minutos

Oscar de Melhor Ator (2008)

Oscar de Melhor Roteiro (2008)

Outros prêmios

Não pisque: Quando Harvey Milk conquista o cargo político desejado.

Veja também:

Os Últimos Passos de Um Homem (1995)

Entre Meninos e Lobos (2003)

Na Natureza Selvagem (2007)

Whenever it is announced that Nicole Kidman is going to be starring in something, I have to brace for all the negative comments that will be made on the comments section of any website that carries those news. Most of these comments will be Botox or facial expression related. Why the hate? Is it because of all the Botox she has put into her face? Or is it because of the career boost that her relationship with Tom Cruise gave her? I guess we’ll never know, but what I do know is that she is the best actress of her generation.

No other actress of her generation has worked with as many auteurs as she has. Stanley Kubrick (Eyes Wide Shut), Gus Van Sant (To Die For), Lars Von Trier (Dogville), Baz Luhrman (Moulin Rouge! and Australia), Oliver Hirschbiegel(The Invasion), Rob Marshall (Nine), George Miller (Happy Feet), Nora Ephron (Bewitched), Sydney Pollack (The Interpreter), Anthony Mighella (Cold Mountain), Stephen Daldry (The Hours), Alejandro Amenabar (The Others), Jane Campion ( Portrait of a Lady), Ron Howard (Far and Away), Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever), and Noah Baumbach (Margot at the Wedding) are some

of the directors she’s worked with. And she will soon be starring in movies directed by John Cameron Mitchell (Rabbit Hole) and Tomas Alfedson (The Danish Girl).

Yes, most people would say that those movies she starred in were the worst of their respective directors’ careers (especially Far and Away, The Invasion, and, some would say, Eyes Wide Shut), and I do hate some of them myself. However, are these failures her fault? Does her presence bring the quality of the movie down? In my opinion it is the fault of the writer, and sometimes the director, for not being able to bring quality material to the screen. In most of her movies she brings her A-game and sometimes turns into the only highlight of a piece of crap.

With that, now I’m going to analyze all the movies that I’ve seen of hers, as well as her performances. I have not seen them all, but with this you’ll see where I’m coming from about her being the best actress working today (after Meryl Streep, of course). I’ll list them and analyze them in alphabetical order, some of them I’ve not seen in a long time, but I’ll do it from memory.

-     Australia- The film is very flawed, but I love it. Here Kidman is great at giving a performance similar to those in the classic epic romances. She doesn’t pretend it is any more than that.

Batman Forever- One of the worst Batman movies, but she does what she has to do, and nothing more.

Bewitched- The concept was ambitious but it didn’t work, and Kidman didn’t have much to do. This one was one of those instances where her performance was meh.

Birth- The premise is somewhat ridiculous, but her performance, as well as good direction and a great score, makes this movie better than it should have been.

Cold Mountain- Love it, the entire cast is amazing.

Dogville- Her bravest performance yet.

Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus- The movie would have been better had it been a straight biopic, but she is great as  Arbus.

The Golden Compass- Had this movie been better and the follow-ups would have been made, she would have been to His Dark Materials what Ian McKellen was to Lord of the Rings

Happy Feet- Very little role, but she does what she has to

The Hours- Crap film, good performance. She did not deserve to win the Oscar.

The Interpreter- I doubt interpreters at the UN look like her, but she makes it work.

Margot at the Wedding- Crap film, but she gives one of the best performances of it’s year.

Moulin Rouge!- Her second-best performance and one of the top-10 performances of the decade in one of the top 10 movies of the decade

To Die For- Her best performance and one of my favorite performances of all time.

The Others- Her third-best performance. There was lots of room for her to chew scenery, but she avoided that.

Practical Magic- It is mostly about Sandra Bullock, but I love her as the rebellious sister.

The Stepford Wives- A guilty pleasure of mine. Not her best performance, but it adds to the camp of the whole movie.

So, yes, she does have a lot of failures, but not performance-wise. She is one of the few actresses who are willing to take risks. First off, any actress that works with Lars Von Trier is a brave actress in my book. He just put them through so many challenges that one can’t help but feel for them. In fact, I read that Von Trier offered her the female role in Antichrist but she turned it down (if you know anything about the movie then you can guess you why). Then there are movies like Fur, Birth, and Margot at the Wedding that would have never been made or would not have gotten any attention without her.

In the end, it is up to you to decide whether she is just a poster girl for the effects of Botox, someone who got lucky by marrying Tom Cruise, or just someone annoying. However, one can’t deny that she can sometimes be important to many movies, and she likes to take risks. For this reason, she is the best actress of her generation.

Last Days es una peli dirigida por Gus Van Sant basado en el trágico final de Kurt Cobain. Fue lanzada en 2005 y además de esta promoción la peli fue reconocida en el mundo independiente siendo nominada dos veces en Cannes y un par más en otros festivales independientes.

Aparte de haber encontrado una estética súper agradable, contemplativa y hasta costumbrista, aparte de alcanzar una apariencia de un Cobain muy bien lograda por Michael Pitt, aparte de la dulce presencia de Asia Argento, aparte de Venus Furs de Velvet Underground, aparte de las interpretaciones musicales de Pitt y Lukas Haas, aparte de todo eso, no siento que esta peli me haya dejado una buena sensación. Son esporádicas chispas de lo que pudo ser.

Gus Van Sant es un director complicado, que no asimilo bien cuando se pone en ese plan esnobista y contemplativo. Es casi como si quisiera emular el neoexpresionismo alemán pero no lo lograra. Es como si quisiera decir muchas cosas pero no lo lograra. Es como si debiera tener estos valles para impulsarse y sacar otras pelis de mejor factura. Respeto eso si el nivel de angustia que alcanza a transmitir al público con la existencia de este ser aislado de toda realidad pero no siento que haya una conexión con el final que es tan fortuito, que no parece creíble, que no parece conclusivo, que no parece consecuente con el resto de la peli.

Esperaba mucho más y me pasa frecuentemente con Gus Van Sant, termino esperando algo que no llega.

Robert Pattinson Wants Gus Van Sant To Direct ‘Breaking Dawn’

‘I’ve heard that we’re going to shoot it in Portland,’ Edward Cullen says of the film’s location and Van Sant’s home base.

By Larry Carroll

BEVERLY HILLS, California — In early 2008, then-little-known actors including Robert Pattinson, Ashley Greene and Taylor Lautner traveled to Portland to shoot a small vampire film that they hoped would get a theatrical release. Barely two years later, “Twilight” is one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood, with two Vancouver-filmed sequels rolling into theaters. Now, Pattinson is revealing plans to return to the city where it all began — and recommending the Portland-based Oscar nominee he wants to direct “Breaking Dawn.”

“I probably shouldn’t say this,” Rob revealed to MTV News over the weekend, acknowledging that the wheels are slowly creeping into motion on “Breaking Dawn” getting made. “But I’ve heard that we’re going to shoot it in Portland.

“I think Gus Van Sant would be great to do it,” RPattz added, naming his dream director.

A double Oscar nominee for “Good Will Hunting” and last year’s “Milk,” Van Sant went to school in Portland, and has called the city home for many years while filming such movies as “Drugstore Cowboy,” “My Own Private Idaho” and the 2005 Kurt Cobain-quasi-biopic “Last Days.”

“He shoots everything in Portland,” reasoned the 23-year-old British heartthrob. “He’s good at making it look beautiful.”

Pattinson, whose long-term plans include starting a production company that would help make the sort of small, indie films that Van Sant has been overseeing for decades, thinks Stephenie Meyer’s fourth novel would be a perfect fit for the “To Die For” director. Overflowing with teenage angst, sex and violence, “Dawn” is the sequel that Twilighters are most eager to see. And, with scenes of Edward giving Bella a vampire cesarean, Jacob selecting the pale vampire-human baby as his soul mate and Bella as a vampire, it also promises to quite possibly be the weirdest.

“It’s all about teenage love and obsessions,” Rob explained. “I think Gus Van Sant would be great.”

 

Source.

Any movie that lets me see Asia Argento’s bare ass is bound to be worth something!

Written By: Gus Van Sant
Directed By: Gus Van Sant

I think it’s obvious to everyone that Blake is Kurt Cobain and that this is Gus Van Sant’s ode to Cobain’s final days. It’s not a retelling of his final days mind you, but an ode to the myth and burgeoning legend that was Cobain. I guess I should preface with the fact that I am a huge Nirvana fan and I do view Cobain as a musical genius. That being said, I was never under Cobain’s spell, I came into Nirvana too late in the game and I’ve never been a fan of the cult of personality mentality. Genius he may be I always viewed Cobain as a man, a man who ultimately made the wrong decision and paid the price for it.

I’m not sure if Van Sant was a Cobain fan and I don’t think that really matters. Last Days is about a man, not the person on stage with Nirvana. Blake as Cobain isn’t someone we are supposed to understand and I don’t believe Van Sant is trying to make us understand anything. Don’t get me wrong, Last Days is a movie full of messages and subtext, and there are certain understandings that will be found, but just like with the killers in Elephant Van Sant doesn’t try to apply any motives to the actions of Blake. We aren’t meant to understand why he chooses to die, how he comes to be the way he is or what his each and every action means.

Speaking of that subtext, there are a few examples of subtext that piqued my interest. Early on we see a couple, I believe it is Asia and Luke, in bed oblivious to the actions of Blake currently framed in their window. It’s possible that this speaks to America being asleep to the true nature of Kurt Cobain. The house Blake lives in may be large and palatial, but it is dirty and grimy, possibly representing the unseen truth behind the myth of Cobain. The camera pulls away from Cobain while he plays his guitar in one scene, and stays a stationary safe distance in another guitar scene. These are possibly the two most poignant moments in all of Last Days for me, showing how personal Blake/Cobain’s relationship is with his music. No matter how hard we may try, no matter how many interpretations we may place upon his music we will never understand it the same way that he does. To get even more meta, those scenes turn around and apply the same logic to the film. I can write and write all day long about Last Days but I will never understand the film as much as Van Sant does, that is how personal the film is to him.

I didn’t have a favorite aspect of Last Days, however among the many trinkets that wowed me the way Van Sant played with time, space and dialogue had the most impact. The movie comes in fractured scenes or different viewpoints of the same scene, the viewer is never able to get a solid grasp on what is happening or when and where. The dialogue can be understood at times but for the most part it is unintelligible. Van Sant doesn’t want to give us any excuses or reasons for what we are seeing, hearing those utterances won’t give us a deeper understanding of Blake’s life. We are meant to take in Blake’s life, not to try to apply meaning to it or attempt to decipher his actions. The movie is in a constant state of well crafted chaos, the lives of the characters lack any real shape, the time, space and dialogue reflect this.

Last Days is the final film in Van Sant’s minimalist trilogy, and while I don’t think it quite reaches the heights of Elephant, it certainly comes close and is a fine film in its own right. Last Days features a director at the top of his craft, constructing a film that is under his complete control at every second and should speak to its audience on numerous levels. Last Days is about thinking, it is about the lack of meaning behind most things, it is a personal work that seeks not to grant more understanding but to bring to our eyes and ears the personal take of Gus Van Sant on the subject at hand.

Rating:

****

Cheers,
Bill

originally published in the middlebury campus

This first paragraph is going to be a bit pretentious, but bear with me. Movie titles are an important forum from which audiences can gleam information about a film; the story, a genre, or simply a mood can be pulled out of the title. It helps audiences know what they’re getting into. Every now and then, however, a film comes along whose title says more about the film’s themes than its plot; a title that retroactively seems to tell audience more about the film than reading a dozen reviews. Gus Van Sant’s Paranoid Park is just such a title, at once saying nothing about the film, but also evoking the youthful isolation, guilt and paranoia that are the film’s core themes. It’s a subtle feature of the film, but then again the strongest features of Paranoid Park is its amazing subtlety and the quiet grace with which it tries to capture the interior of the characters that populate it’s setting.

Paranoid Park tells the story of Alex (Gabe Nevins, who gives a fantastic performance), a young skateboarder whose father has moved out and whose mother is slightly carefree when it comes to keeping tabs on her son, who gravitates toward the “throw-away kids” that hang out at a local skate park, from whose name the film’s title is derived. Hanging out there one night he is invited by an elder statesman (of sorts) to hop a boxcar to grab some beer. It is here that Alex has an encounter with a railroad security guard which set the events of the film in motion. I’m relaying this narrative information as if it is temporally sequential. It isn’t. Van Sant scatters these bits of information throughout the film, whose temporality is jumbled and includes several scenes which are shown twice. Alex’s culpability in the death of this security guard is hopelessly ambiguous. I’ve seen the film twice and I’m still not sure whether he was responsible or not. To a fairly significant degree, though, his guilt or innocence is unimportant; what is important here, like in Van Sant’s Elephant, is how young people deal with death and other societal pressures. If that sounds dismissive I don’t mean for it to, because these themes fit Van Sant like a glove and play to his strengths as a director.

Gus Van Sant is a director whose heart has always been in formal experimentation and narrative complexities. His interest is less in realism and more in the (occasionally) hallucinatory realm of a character’s psyche, and that side of Van Sant’s personality is on full display here, perhaps more so than in any of his films since My Own Private Idaho. He mixes mediums, shooting the preponderance of the film on 35 mm, but splicing in skateboard footage that was shot on Super-8 film. These bits of spliced in skateboard footage provide the most interesting formal experiment in the film, as they appear to be placed in the film for no rhyme or reason, but they simply exist, coming to the surface as if they are part of the unconsciousness inherent in all members of the skateboarding subculture that Van Sant captures so well. This desire to capture the interior of his characters provides Van Sant with an opportunity for further experimentation, using sound design, soundscapes, and source music (which runs the gamut from Beethoven to Nino Rota to Elliott Smith) as an opportunity to try and ensnare the guilt and/or disaffection of Alex and his friends. The sound design combined with Van Sant’s always interesting imagery creates a dream-like atmosphere that reaches Lynch-ian proportions. When we are finally shown the encounter with the railroad security guard it is one of the most genuinely shocking moments I’ve seen in quite some time, but it is also oddly alien, as if the audience is allowed to drift through this dream world for most of the film, and when confronted with something as grisly as the security guard’s death it feels less like narrative information being provided to the audience and more like one more moment spent in Alex’s jumbled and guilt-ridden unconscious.

Van Sant provided movie going audiences with two films in 2008. The first was this under recognized gem; the other was the overblown and overrated Milk. Where Paranoid Park is subtly affecting, Milk telegraphs its emotional peaks and valleys. Where Paranoid Park focuses on capturing the interior of its protagonist, Milk has no time or interest in exploring Harvey Milk beyond reducing him to his achievements. In a way the aims of the two films are so different that comparing them does neither justice, but they are both the works of the same filmmaker and they are worlds apart. One is a fantastic film of youthful alienation that eschews Hollywood formula in favor of something different. The other is mechanical mediocrity. It’s a bummer most people saw the other.

FILME: DRUGSTORE COWBOY

Título Original: Drugstore Cowboy
Gênero: Drama
Duração: 100 minutos
Ano de Lançamento: (EUA) 1989
Estúdio: Avenue Pictures Productions
Distribuidora:
Direção: Gus Van Sant
Roteiro: Gus Van Sant e Daniel Yost, baseado em livro de James Fogle
Produção: Karen Murphy e Nick Wechsler
Elenco
Matt Dillon (Bob)
Kelly Lynch (Dianne)
James LeGros (Rick)
Heather Graham (Nadine)
Max Perlich (David)
John Kelly (Policial)
Grace Zabriskie (Mãe de Bob)
George Catalano (Trousinski)
James Remar (Gentry)
William S. Burroughs (Padre Tom)
Sinopse: Para manter seus vícios, um pequeno grupo de viciados vive do expediente de assaltar farmácias atrás de bolinhas. Quem chefeia o bando é Bob (Matt Dillon). Os companheiros nos assaltos as farmácias são a mulher dele, Dianne (Kelly Lynch), e um casal de amigos, Rick (James Le Gros) e Nadine (Heather Graham).

Comentário: delirante e interessante enredo. Van Sant já mostrava que tinha aptidão para a coisa neste filme.

MÚSICA: TAIO CRUZ FEAT. LUCIANA – COME ON GIRL

* * * Buena * * *

Año: 2007
Idiomas: Inglés
Director: Gus Van Sant
Género: Drama
La ví en: Paraninfo UJI

Avance:

Yo:

Algunas escenas son muy largas, rayadas, y no involucran al espectador. Me recordó de mala manera a Elephant. Creo que Gus la fuerza mucho a veces con la longitud de ciertas escenas.

Me gustó el orden no lineal y la mayoría de las escenas en cámara lenta, sobretodo la de las manos en el autobús. También me gustó el personaje principal. Creo que su inexpresividad era completamente intencional.

La banda sonora es variada. Tengo que recordarme de dedicarle un tiempo al material de Elliott Smitt

Recursos:

es.wikipedia en.wikipedia IMDB Rottentomatoes Metacritic Allmovie

USA och även andra länder har det senaste årtiondet drabbats av en rad skolskjutningar där elever tungt beväpnade går in och hänsynslöst mejar ner elever och lärare. Regissören Gus van Sant skildrar här en fiktiv sådan där vi följer några ungdomar strax före dådet samt i tillbakablickar får pusselbitar som delvis förklarar det som ska komma att ske.

Detta är rent ut sagt en fantastisk film som, utan något soundtrack över huvudtaget, på ett väldigt nedtonat och finstämt vis skildrar någonting ohyggligt som tar sin början långt innan den första kulan avlossas. Verklighetens våldsdåd av detta slag har debatterats vilt och ofta försöker man hitta enkla förklaringar i film, musik och media. Van Sant visar här istället upp en alternativ förklaring som känns bra mycket mer trovärdig då det är utanförskap, lång och nedbrytande mobbning samt en blundande vuxenvärld som leder fram till det fruktansvärda. Istället för att demonisera de två unga skyttarna ger han oss en mer nyanserad bild av två unga pojkar vars självkänsla och självbild under lång tid trasats sönder. Det vi ser är då okända skådespelare (Alex Frost; Stop-Loss, Drillbit Taylor samt John Robinson; Transformers mfl) som ser ut och känns som ungdomar gör mest. Det är inte de typiska Hollywoodleendena utan här hittar vi ungdomar som är som ungdomar är mest med allas respektive bekymmer och prioriteringar. Detta gör det än mer obehagligt varje gång en kula sänker en elev. Det är dock aldrig tal om något frossande i våld och blod, men tiden som leder fram till attentatet är fruktansvärt spännande. Vilka kommer att klara sig och vilka kommer att falla offer för killarna? Den autentiska, nästan dokumentära, känslan gör att man engagerar sig starkt i de olika ungdomarnas öde. Regimässigt är det på många vis enastående och detta måste vara en av van Sants bästa filmer. De långa följningarna, det avslappnade tempot, hoppen i tid och rum där vissa scener skildras 3-4 gånger ur olika perspektiv, avsaknaden av soundtrack och de vackra bilderna som ofta känns nästan objektivt betraktande gör detta till en ruskigt bra film. Det känns som om man sakta svävar genom skolans korridorer och bilderna skapar en nästan poetisk stämning. Filmen griper tag i en och lämnar en fylld av tankar och funderingar. Måste ses!

Betyg: 5