Lasciatemi prima scrivere quanto sia frustante scrivere di un autore che si sta imparando ad amare. Punto. Mi consolo con questa scusa ufficiale: Harmony Korine è un regista sconosciutissimo in Italia, per non dire un po’ dapperttutto nel mondo, perciò il mio “scrivere a vanvera” si prefigge prima di tutto lo scopo di far conoscere Korine. 

2)Man in the mirror 

Raccontare la storia di questo film potrebbe risultare una faccenda piuttosto divertente per un recensionista, “un po’ trallalero-trallalà”, americano (da cui pare che in Italia fra i vari entusiasti recensionisti si stia istituendo una scuola di ….?pensiero metanfetaminico?) che pressappoco ve la racconterebbe così: è Michael Jackson quello a passeggio per le strade di Parigi che corre in una pista di go-cart e fa le prove dei suoi balletti per strada e canta in una casa di riposo per anziani? Eh sì gente e a quanto pare sempre a Parigi questo ballerino incontrerà niente di meno che Marylin Monroe che è sposata con Charlie Chaplin e hanno come figlia niente-di-meno-che l’enfant prodige del cinema degli anni 30 Shirley Temple. Sì, wow wow, e se non vi è chiaro o non è ancora abbastanza nella stessa casa dei due coniugi Chaplin ci vivono anche James Dean e quel mulacchione-mulattone di Sammy Davis jr, questo perché lo sguardo di Korine è davvero inarrestabile e anticonformista e antihollywoodiano perché….bè perché, ma-che-diavolo-ne-so io è che sono andato in bagno perché mi scappava una cagata pazzesca a furia di mangiare pop corn imburrati al formaggio che quando hanno spento le luci e mi sono trovato nella sala sbagliata perché, giuro,volevo andare a vedere Pirati Dei Caraibi – Ai confini del mondo e non volevo arrovellarmi il cervello per scrivere qualcosa di orginale su qualcosa che mi pare originale. Ecco più o meno la storia spiegata da un recensionista piuttosto esaltato, se escludete la seconda parte. Se volete la storia vera e propria bè più o meno guardatevi il film che io ho trovato solo in inglese sottotitolato in inglese. 

3)Beat it 

Mister Lonely è la storia di un uomo solo, geniale fino a qui, come è solo lo spettatore quando guarda un film, ora forse il discorso si farà più interessante. Korine riesce a debilitare lo spettatore di ogni sua difesa innalzata contro lo schermo cinematografico, prima adulando lo spettatore, immergendolo in una tela di colori che rendono la realtà filmica l’unica possibile via da percorrere. Ciò che succede ai personaggi, ovvero indossare delle maschere e andare a vivere in una realtà davvero più colorata e che ci consenta di esprimerci al meglio è ciò che ci succede ogni giorno grazie a social network quali facebook e myspace e messenger o per le generazioni più, adulte, che non sanno usare internet semplicemente la televisione. E ora non usciamocene con le solite cose trite e ritrite sui social network e la televisione tanto ormai sono i media i primi capaci ad avere una coscienza autocritica e se volete anche autoironica. Il fatto che Korine ci porti in un’altra dimensione non è detto che subito dopo non ne sconfessi la realtà stessa. E qui vorrei cambiare tono, perché se è vero che scrivere di film è come fare film, è anche vero che lo scopo di uno che scrive di film è quello di prolungare l’estasi dello spettatore uscito dal cinema. 

4)Thriller  

Essere consapevoli che rincorrendo i nostri sogni siamo simili ad armi ancora scariche, essere consapevoli, cioè, che portare nel presente i sogni, materializzarli in desideri, equivale ad ucciderci. Entrare a far parte di un sogno che fa parte di altri sogni. Lasciare che i nostri corpi siano sospesi nel vuoto, che siano solo dei riflessi per il presente ma una speranza per il futuro, per una folla abbandonata a se stessa. Ci sono ferite ovunque, c’è stanchezza e sfiducia poiché camminiamo in un sentiero pieno d’individui, ognuno si sente diverso, vede cose che altri non vedono, sente cose che altri non sentono. Alienati, disconnessi, confusi. Gli animali non hanno un fardello così pesante da portare, la scelta di essere un altro diverso da me stesso, la scelta di essere i propri sogni. Avere un corpo non adeguato per questa scelta è un dispiacere non per noi ma per chi ci guarda. Dobbiamo arrenderci all’idea che la civiltà ha fatto acqua da tutte le parti. Perché siamo così truccati e falsi, perché siamo più simili al vomito per le strade, specie animale che fugge le tenebre e le ombre, e non ha più dove andare, sempre e ancora alla ricerca di qualcosa, di troppo vicino e caro per essere visto, qualcosa di fin troppo umano, che ci mette davanti alla meravigliosa banalità di essere troppo nudi. E così nudi, possiamo solo tornare a piangere davanti ad un sole che questa volta ci sorride, aspettando pazientemente di portarci via. 

5)You Are Not Alone 

E bè infine sì. Infine non siamo soli, che vogliate crederci o meno, e questo film ve lo farà credere. Questo film vi farà piangere se abbandonate ogni difesa, ogni preconcetto, perché si sa che ogni volta che si vede un film si innalzano delle barriere che ci proteggono e che sfruttano le emozioni per puro divertimento o se volete “distrazione intellettuale”. E Korine non concede pietà, Korine è un santo purificatore che ci mette nella condizione di provare emozioni che sfaldano le nostre false convinzioni, che ci facciano diventare più umani. Korine è il regista in grado di creare quelle immagini in cui Werner Herzog spera tanto. Contate pure le scene che vi faranno lacrimare, io sono arrivato a cinque.

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/

Well it was Halloween after all, horizontal rain, a broken telephone, empty Wall street on a Saturday night, a Jewish wedding, a Japanese friend’s death, a family visit, a ride to useless Harlem, finally saw pumpkins at the market, people in costumes. And  the maniacs leaving traces behind, tried to make me slide, then a text with an address in Bushwick came : “Harmony Korine will show a film tonight come to Starr Street”. Now where was that? I hailed a taxi who didn’t believe I knew how to get to Williamsburg, so I had to pass a test, literally. Oh what a day and what a night, and what a new day ahead, I actually didn’t now that street at all, and I couldn’t use that slower than slow google maps search. Off we went and got a call from the lord whose telephone was working and could use the google map. Starr Street was next to a park of sorrows, and the party was on. I never saw Harmony Korine, but I did see his ghost playing a clip similar to this one here below. An image that kept hunting my horrid Halloween day and night and the day after, of an old man humping a refrigerator. Now eights days later I can finally make this public:

http://www.traileraddict.com/trailer/trash-humpers/excerpts

sofia coppola

wes anderson

michel gondry

gus van sant

jim jarmusch

harmony korine

ingmar bergman

jean-luc godard

vilgot sjöman

woody allen

W. T. F.

Mister Lonely
d. Harmony Korine / 2006 / UK-France-Ireland-USA / 148 mins
Viewed on: Force Entertainment DVD (Region 4)

First of all, I should probably admit to being something of a Harmony Korine fan. I’ve loved him ever since I picked up a VHS rental of Gummo, basing my selection purely on the back cover blurb and the wonderful image that adorned its front: Jacob Sewell sitting on a toilet, playing an accordian and wearing rabbit ears. Come to think of it, the first meaningful thing I ever wrote about film (that wasn’t for uni, anyway) was a little career retrospective thing on Korine for my (very) short-lived ‘zine, Incision. And in spite of all that, this was the first time I had seen Mister Lonely.

It was partly down to my general slackness, but also partly a result of circumstance: I couldn’t afford to travel to Melbourne to see its screening at MIFF 2007 and then I missed its extremely brief run in Adelaide, the Australian DVD was released after I had returned to the UK and the planned UK DVD never eventuated because Tartan went bust. An even larger part, though, was fear. After all, Mister Lonely didn’t get the most glowing notices and it certainly couldn’t stir up any sort of critical acclaim. Simply put, I was nervous about the fact that, following on from the sheer brilliance of Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy, Mister Lonely just might not be any good.

Well, I’m glad to report that – from my perspective at least – those assumptions were totally unfounded. It’s not a film I would recommend to most people, sure, and it certainly has its deficiencies, flitting between the brilliant and the banal and delving painfully close to bad sketch comedy territory at times. It also suffers from a relatively unsatisfactory and downright hokey final scene. Fairly minor complaints, though, for what is – for me – yet another unique and intriguing viewing experience from Monsieur Korine.

On the plus side, cinematographer Marcel Zyskind adds to Korine’s ever-excellent set pieces with a series of exquisite shot compositions, and the underlying obsession with vaudeville and the carnivalesque that is constantly simmering away beneath all of Korine’s films is more overtly in evidence here, as his love of music hall-esque nonsensical wordplay.

Plot-wise, Mister Lonely relates the tale of a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) who, whilst struggling to make ends meet in Paris, meets his Marilyn Monroe equivalent (Samantha Morton) who invites him to join her at a commune in the Scottish highlands. There he meets Marilyn’s husband – Charlie Chaplin (Dennis Lavant) – her daughter, Shirley Temple and a whole host of impersonators including the Pope, the Queen of England, Abraham Lincoln, Madonna and James Dean. Running parallel to the central narrative is a curious subplot involving Father Umbrillo (Werner Herzog, in his second role for Korine) an eccentric missionary in South America, charged with supervising a band of skydiving nuns.

In terms of casting, Luna’s embodiment of Michael Jackson’s enigmatic side is spot on and Morton is at her usual brilliant best. That said, after seeing her in both Mister Lonely and Synecdoche, New York, I do begin to suspect that she has only one American accent at her disposal. As for Werner Herzog, I think we all knew – deep down – that he is a Minister of some sort. I suppose it just took his chief apostle to show us the light.

Once again, the parallels to Herzog’s own directorial ouvre are evident in the idea of microcosmic human worlds and the whole South American/religiousity subplot. But echoes also appear in one particular sequence that uses a rather Popol Vuh-sounding track by A Silver Mt. Zion immediately after Herzog’s monologue about the nuns, which sounds very much like him describing the two blind kids in Even Dwarfs Started Small (whilst wearing their goggles, no less!)

Generally speaking, it has been argued that Harmony Korine’s films are, at best, both disorganised and scatalogical. Mister Lonely, with its two parallel narratives and its focus on more subtle human compunctions, is – I think – somewhat less so. What isn’t said as often, however, is how totalistic his films are. You may disapprove the subject matter or deride his methods, but you will find it much harder to question the internal logic of Harmony Korine’s world/s.

Which brings me to a dream I had about twelve months ago, in which I tried to visit Harmony Korine on the highlands set of Mister Lonely. As one may expect from a dream, my attempts were thwarted repeatedly by Korine’s uncanny skill for evasion. One particularly vivid moment had me running towards a house in the woods after a tip-off, only to see Korine escaping in a helicopter.

And perhaps this is something of an unconscious analogy for the most common reaction to Korine’s films: people seem to like elements of them, or admire their audacity or the director’s boldness of vision, yet they remain acutely unable to partake in a wholehearted appreciation of his work. For many people, Harmony Korine simply proves too elusive a filmmaker. Perhaps that’s why I like him.

Next stop: Trash Humpers.

SOUND.JPG is back

In case you dont know, this is a still from  a movie, Mr. Lonely by Harmony Korine a good film.

I’m a week late, but here’s some news I enjoyed (selected from my del.icio.us feed, as usual), which is film related:

• There are a lot of interesting horror films coming out soon. Splice is one of them, you can see a sneak preview here. It looks truly strange. It comes out in November and it’s got Adrien Brody. Also, a film called Corpsey featured at this year’s DOCFEST, looks great.
• Best article on Twitch this month? Definitely, “Where are My Bleepy Crunchies.” A suggestion of the top five films integrated with electronic music. Number one is Pi, but I haven’t seen several of the others and they look superb.
• The new Fantastic Mr. Fox trailer gives the film just about as much “future of film” hype as I’ve heard about Avatar. Anyway, I think it looks sweet (a look at Wes Anderson behind the scenes in the previous link).
• Contenders for Best Picture of 2012, already? Yup.
• I saw two films this week in the theater: Jennifer’s Body, and Zombieland. Both really enjoyable, though I certainly favored the latter (which I’m biased toward because of the cameo [BR], which I won’t spoil in case you haven’t seen it yet, and the genre [I'm a big Zombie fan]). What I haven’t seen yet, and would really like to see is The Informant. Mainly due to, besides the good trailers and promotional materials, an episode of This American Life, that I’d strongly recommend.
• Herzog is hosting a series of lectures/seminars in L.A. about film making. I’d go, except it cost about $1500. It’s titled Herzog Rogue Film School. Speaking of Herzog, a reviewer at TIFF for Twitch has the first look at his collaboration with D Lynch.
• Thom Yorke went out of his way this past month to promote a film called The Age of Stupid. I’d link to the blog article from DeadAirSpace, but it doesn’t have permalinks…
• The villain has been selected for M Gondry’s rendition of The Green Hornet: Christopher Waltz. You may remember him from such great roles as, the best villain ever in Inglorious Basterds (this link is to Tarantino interviews which you may find interesting).
• Other Movies: Reviews for The Road look pretty favorable. Videocracy looks fascinating, though I bet it’s too late to have any useful analysis of the media publicity overhaul by the Obama Administration (could you imagine George Bush on Twitter?). Year of the Carnivore looks like a good indie romantic comedy. More info on Korine’s presumably-fucked-up-as-usual musical: Trash Humpers. The final trailer for [rec]2, hope it doesn’t “ruin the mythology” to quote Tarantino. Terry Gilliam’s got a film (Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus) that immediately makes me think of “Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium”, but doesn’t co-star Natalie Portman, to my knowledge. Can’t find anything else about this film, but Я looks awesome (from the 15 seconds I’ve seen). Criterion collection releases a box set of Japanese Noir? You bet! And, they are re-making Plan 9, and I can’t understand why even in the slightest (wish they’d give up on the Barbarella re-make, too)
• One-liners from TIFF, Thanks Vulture.
• I discovered possibly the best food related film I’ve seen all year: Disappearing Manhattan from the always entertaining Anthony Bordain.
• The Best Cut in Cinema. Duh, from 2001: A Space Odyssey. In parallel, the greatest long takes in cinema history. Also, 100 years of Visual Effects (ignore the shitty music).
• Time Travel in popular Film and TV (Primer would be impossible to quantify on this map).

I was piling through MJZ’s archive the other night and found this commercial that Harmony Korine had shot for Thornton’s back in 2008 when he had just signed with MJZ for commercial representation. An interesting piece of work from the indie filmmaker who directed ‘Gummo’ and more recently ‘Mister Lonely’ as well as writing scripts for ‘Kids’ and ‘Ken Park’.

I can rest in the fact that no matter how far I sink in my life or how much I accomplish, to someone, I will always be “that kid who writes for that gay magazine”.

It was the second time the filmmaker Harmony Korine had called me such an extremely public forum, the first having been an “Apple Store” reception for his previous film, Mister Lonely.

This time it was at a Q+A at the New York Film Festival, interrupting a question I had asked, rather stupidly, about the connection between Korine’s new film Trash Humpers and Waiting for Godot, the play by Samuel Beckett.

“Are you that kid who writes for that gay magazine?” Korine asked me.

“Dunno, you that guy who gave me that fake interview?” I replied.

Dennis Lim, a film critic for the Times and Voice who was also the interviewer, adjusted his glasses not knowing what to think.

For those of you who want some vintage Feitellian criticism, here is the original article, pulled from the artist’s website, which was just basically Harmony Korine feeding me a bunch of bullshit as I wrote about my personal connection to his work. It was a pretty good article for me, one of my last for the place I used to write.

And as a point of reference, it was a gay newspaper, not a magazine.

Still, it led to some funny jokes as Korine summarily dismissed my question, which seemed to puzzle Lim as well, after recognizing me and moving on.

Afterward he was nice enough to say hi to me though he never watched the DVD I’d given him over a year ago. Ah well. He asked if I had another one that he would take a look at it, but I was DVD-less and his BFF David Blaine was there to hang out with them.

Overall, that was a good night, as nights at the New York Film Festival Student Rush Line often are.

I managed to get tickets, showing up early enough, while observing the people around me.

Inspired by the crowd, I sent what was the first communication to Jonny-Jon-Jon I’d sent in a month which was something along the lines of:

“If you are looking for atttractive/willing hipster girls who might dig your aesthetic, might I suggest the Student Rush line for Trash Humpers?”

No reply, but later Chadd and Bryan of the Last Pictures crew showed up to pick up some Mexican food and wait in line with me.

By the end of the evening and the performances, as we headed out past obsessive Blaniacs, hording the magician for an autograph, the three of us had our own takes:

Chadd hated it for Korine’s bullshit, Bryan thought it complimented his mild buzz and I thought it was Korine’s best movie, a meditation on American/Midwestern pointlessness.

One thing was for sure, by the end of the evening, Chadd and Bryan weren’t too happy with me.

Since I was blowing nose near them, the entire evening.

***

Whenever I get sick, I try to write it off for a while.

“Allergies.” I think. “A sore throat.”

Whatever I had, it wasn’t swine flu, which I had had this summer and which was discernible via the achiness one experiences throughout their body.

No, the days just drag on as symptoms persist with mornings offering hope of recovery, stifled candle-like by evenings, thick with mucuousy goo.

I went to a seminar at my internship today only to have to get up every 10 minutes to run next door to the kitchen to grab a paper towel (with both hands, otherwise it won’t come down) to blow on vainly, to temporarily open my nasal passages and rid myself of anything egregious that will probably just regrow itself in minutes.

Not a good thing to do around a Co-Executive Producer.

But I came in sick a bunch of days to work this week, because I actually enjoy my work and I feel like I’m making enough of it, sitting down to talk with crew members, people nice enough and generous enough with their time to indulge a questioning dude such as myself.

Something I keep on hearing is something that still the most difficult thing for me to do, which is to take seriously the most menial of the tasks I am assigned.

Restocking a refrigerator or straightening up a kitchen might not seem difficult, but knowing what and what not to recycle can prevent embarrassment in front of your boss.

Sniffling all the way doesn’t help, but I’m motivated, thinking at least I’m doing something, at least, at least.

***

One thing my work and my outside life have in common though is the pressure to get a haircut.

Getting one is a process of pushing past procrastination for me, complicated by the fear that my hair will never grow back again.

I tend to find semi-legitimacy in excuses that I discover for not cutting my hair: I’m in a play, I’m in a web video, people find it funny or remarkable.

The last bit is important, because just like my demeanor and my attitude, my hair feels like a signifier to me, something that makes me uniquely me.

It’s how Dan Pleck found me on the subway the other day, how Harmony Korine recognized me, or Aviva, on the night I met my girlfriend.

That said, there’s such a thing as too much hair, that clouds my vision or obscures my face.

“Eyes.” a fellow said at my work the other day, as I showed him what I planned for the cut. “I just realized you have eyes. It was impossible for me to tell otherwise.”

But then again, growing my hair is an indulgence and cutting is giving something up, leaving something behind, growing up again, in a small and most insignificant way.

When I started my relationship with Eva, still nascent, I worried that the fulfillment inherent in that would turn off inside of me the basis of my writing: complaints stemming from my own ineptitude.

But mostly what I’ve discovered, is that in shelving that section of my creative inspiration (that is: single unhappiness), I’ve discovered all the other things in life I can still complain about.

(Like being sick.)

(Or getting your gay publication you used to work for mixed up.)

I guess the moral is to have confidence in myself, who I am and my character, that I’d be recognizable and still me without the ‘fro.

But it’s a leap of faith.

And as Jonny-Jon-Jon once told me, “you don’t do leaps of faith, you do rope ladders from the roofs of flooded houses onto rescue copters.”

Articulate, if nothing else, I suppose.

***

For the first time in a while, what with the heyday of my internship, I find myself with something unexpected: downtime.

Which, again was something else that used to motivate this blog.

With four days of work a week, plus a wonky compromise for the fifth, I thought my days of bored insanity behind me.

But with job interviews, festival applications, unanswered emails and video games yet to be completed, I should have known better.

There’s always a downtime-in-waiting.

And so, I return.

by Tony Nigro

I have to admit a crude fascination with Harmony Korine and his movies, despite the facts that I 1) don’t enjoy watching them, 2) am turned off by his self-mythologizing and elusive bio, and 3) lost my taste for provocateurs a while back.  But I do love a good trainwreck, and Korine’s work usually amounts to that, intentional or not.  The trailer for his latest, Trash Humpers, and Dennis Lim’s Cinema Scope piece about it, intrigue me less for the characters’ effed-up antics and more for the bargain basement video look Korine nails down.

Video signal and decay were a brief obsession of mine in 2006, when I worked alone at night and went insane seeing the Stan Brakhage-like qualities of component video decay — the same type of trails seen at the beginning and end of the above trailer.  This is a strictly analog-only effect, which is to say that the slow-but-sure full digitization of video will eventually render them as outdated as the pops, hisses and scratches of a vinyl LP — or scratches on film.

Korine seemingly went this way to enhance the crap aesthetic of Trash Humpers, but I can’t help thinking of the BBC experiment in which the 13-year-old traded his iPod for a Walkman and went three days before realizing he could turn over a cassette tape.  Put in that light, the look of Korine’s film is no longer trashy.  It’s antique.

Maia, you wrote this on your sort-of blog: 

• David Lynch
• Lars Von Trier
• WONG Kar Wai
• Pedro Almodovar
• Guy Maddin
• Werner Herzog
• Chan-Wook Park
• Alejandro Jodorowsky
• Harmony Korine”

Umm, I pretty much love all of those directors and/or am looking to get more into them, so let’s do this together! 

• David Lynch: I really want to rewatch many of his movies, including Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, but I also really want to watch Eraserhead, Twin Peaks, and Lost Highway
• Lars Von Trier: I have Antichrist!  So that’s a given; let’s watch that together pronto!  I would also love to rewatch Dancer in the Dark and Europa (because, let’s face it, I was pretty much asleep during more than half of it).  Let’s also watch Dogville.
• WONG Kar Wai: The only movies I’ve seen by this director are 2046, Chung King Express, and In the Mood for Love, so I am very up for watching more by him.
• Pedro Almodovar:  I loved Volver, and I realllly want to watch Broken Embraces.
• Guy Maddin:  The only movie that I have heard of by this guy is The Saddest Music in the World and I haven’t seen that, so I am excited to start watching his movies with you. 
• Werner Herzog:  I love love loved Fitzcarraldo and Aguirre: The Wrath of God.  I pretty much want to watch everything by him. 
• Chan-Wook Park:  I definitely told you about Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, which was excellent, and we’ve both seen Oldboy.  We both really need to watch Lady Vengeance too!  Thirst also looks really interesting.
• Alejandro Jodorowsky:  So the only movie I am familiar with by this director is El Topo, and I hear it is a crazy trip.  I most certainly want to watch it! 
• Harmony Korine:  Well, you know I have Kids and Gummo, and you have Mr. Lonely on the way so that’s awesome.  I also really want to watch Julien Donkey Boy and the new movie he has coming out called Trash Humpers.

We have so much to look forward to!  This is awesome!!

I’ve been a fan of Harmony’s work for years — and it looks like he’s done it again, given this lo-fi freakfest of a trailer. And early reviews of the film are positive. Variety writes,  “Trash Humpers is a pre-fab underground manifesto to rank beside John Waters’ legendarily crass Pink Flamingos. … The result, riveting beyond all rationality, is something like Jackass, except that here the stunts are dangerous only to standards of good taste — which, of course, is precisely the point.”

Sounds awesome, albeit, a bit like Gummo: Part II.

AFI FEST 2009 PRESENTED BY AUDI ANNOUNCES

FIRST TWELVE TITLES IN OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

LIONGATE’S “PRECIOUS” IS FIRST ANNOUNCED

GALA PRESENTATION

FILMS BY HERZOG AND BONG

MARK A RETURN TO AFI FEST

Los Angeles, CA, September 16, 2009—AFI FEST 2009 presented by Audi announces 12 films that will screen at this year’s Festival (October 30-November 7) including Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE, Werner Herzog’s THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS and Bong Joon-ho’s MOTHER.

The film festival, which will debut it’s groundbreaking “See a Film on Us” initiative featuring complimentary tickets to all films including a limited number of seats at each Gala Presentation, will be headquartered at the historic Grauman’s Chinese Theatre and Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel between October 30 and November 5. AFI FEST will then move to Santa Monica for the final two days of screenings presented in association with the American Film Market (AFM).

Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE is the first announced Gala Presentation at this year’s AFI FEST. Set in 1980’s Harlem, the film tells a story of salvation through education against all odds as it follows the hopeful trajectory of ‘Claireece Precious Jones (played by newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight and illiterate teen pregnant with her second child and abused by her poisonously angry mother. The film also stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sheri Shepherd and Lenny Kravitz. PRECIOUS will be released by Lionsgate on November 6.

AFI FEST 2009 will also mark the return of Werner Herzog to the Festival after Herzog’s celebrated panel appearance two years ago. Herzog’s THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL NEW ORLEANS is a loosely interpreted re-imagining of Abel Ferrara’s gritty classic starring Nicolas Cage as a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is to scoring drugs. Complicating his tumultuous life is the prostitute he loves (played by Eva Mendes). The film also stars Val Kilmer.

The Festival also welcomes back Bong Joon-ho (following the screening of THE HOST in 2006). The South Korean entry for the Academy Awards, Bong’s MOTHER is an inventive thriller that follows a woman’s personal investigation into a murder in order to clear the name of the accused – her son.

Two French/Italian co-productions, A PROPHET and VINCERE will also be presented to Los Angeles audiences for the first time. Jacques Audiard’s A PROPHET traces the journey of a young Arab man, who becomes a mafia kingpin after he is sent to a French prison. Marco Bellocchio’s VINCERE is a biographical drama that tells the story of Mussolini’s secret lover, Ida Dalser and their son Albino.

Also included in the list of film titles announced today are the latest work by such noted auteurs as acclaimed French New Wave director Claude Chabrol (BELLAMY), Ken Loach (LOOKING FOR ERIC) and Harmony Korine (TRASH HUMPERS).

“These first dozen titles offer a wonderful preview to our lineup which is a survey of the year’s significant films. They represent a diversity of voices and we take great pride in being able to bring them to Los Angeles audiences for the first time,” said Rose Kuo, AFI FEST Artistic Director.

The twelve official selections include:

THE BAD LIEUTENANT: PORT OF CALL, NEW ORLEANS (USA)

Director: Werner Herzog

Set in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Nicolas Cage plays a rogue detective who is as devoted to his job as he is to scoring drugs — while playing fast and loose with the law. With the prostitute he loves, the couple  descends into a world marked by desire, compulsion and conscience. The film also stars Eva Mendes and Val Kilmer.

BELLAMY (France)

Director: Claude Chabrol

A famous French detective (played by Gerard Depardieu) on vacation in Languedoc investigates a mystery man who approaches him claiming to have killed someone. The film also stars Clovis Cornillac and Jacques Gamblin.

EVERYONE ELSE (Germany)

Director: Maren Ade

Drama follows the volatile relationship resulting from the psychological and emotional ties between two young lovers.

THE LAST STATION (UK/Germany)

Director: Michael Hoffman

A historical drama that illustrates Russian author Leo Tolstoy’s struggle to balance fame and wealth with his commitment to a life devoid of material things. The film stars Helen Mirren, James McAvoy, Christopher Plummer and Paul Giamatti.

LOOKING FOR ERIC (UK)

Director: Ken Loach

Eric, a football fanatic postman whose life is descending into crisis, receives some life-coaching from a poster of the famously philosophical footballer, Eric Cantona.

MOTHER (Madeo) (South Korea)

Director: Bong Joon-ho

This thriller follows the investigation of a murder by a mother desperate to find the killer who framed her son for the crime.

POLICE, ADJECTIVE (Romania)

Director: Corneliu Porumboiu

This drama follows the impact on a young policeman’s life after he refuses to arrest another man for offering drugs to his friends.

PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE (USA)

Director: Lee Daniels

In Harlem, an overweight and illiterate teen pregnant with her second child and abused by her domineering mother is invited to enroll in an alternative school with the dream to move her life in a new direction. The film stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz, and introducing Gabourey Sidibe.

A PROPHET (France/Italy)

Director: Jacques Audiard

A young Arab man is sent to a French prison where he becomes a mafia kingpin.

RED RIDING (UK)

Directors: Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker

Three inter-connected films set in the years 1974, 1980 and 1983 trace the crime and corruption in West Yorkshire, England. The films star Mark Addy, Sean Bean, Paddy Considine, Andrew Garfield and Rebecca Hall.

TRASH HUMPERS (USA)

Director: Harmony Korine

A cinema verite look at a fringe cult-freak collective with a penchant for anti-social behavior and activities.

VINCERE (Italy/France)

Director: Marco Bellocchio

This drama tells the story of Mussolini’s secret lover, Ida Dalser and their son, Albino.

Free tickets are available to all festival screenings – in advance at AFI.com, at the Mann Theatres (6925 Hollywood Blvd.) on October 26, or on the day of scheduled screenings via rush lines. Reserved seating can be secured by becoming a patron of the film festival and purchasing an AFI FEST Patron Pass. For more details, visit AFI.com.

Well, after a serious bout of the lazies (being witty can be so damn exhausting, y’all), it’s about time we got back to business discussing all of the most important things going on in the world.  Things like this trailer for the new Harmony Korine “movie,” Trash Humpers:  

Ermmm…I’ll admit that the extent of my knowledge of Harmony Korine’s film career is limited to that one time I organized the DVDs at my old summer job and I put Gummo under “G,” but I still feel as though a) this trailer doesn’t make a damn lick of sense, and b) it’s going to haunt my dreams for weeks and weeks to come.  My instinct tells me that Trash Humpers must be an indie/art-house  exercise in self-indulgent nightmare making, and this trailer is unquestionably all-caps ECCENTRIC, yet this somehow only manages to further intrigue me.  

I’ve a well documented adoration for movies that are batshit crazy, and I’m nothing if not a cinematic masochist, so the part of me that enjoys never sleeping again is really interested in seeing this movie.  On the other hand, though, there’s this image for the film from Harmony Korine’s website, which confirms my suspicions:

AAAHH!!!  REAL NIGHTMARES!!!  This picture gives me an intense urge to grab the nearest blanket and start sucking on my thumb like thumbsucking is the new cool thing you learn to do at cool kids school.  Honestly, between that and the terrifying cackles coming from who knows where when the three people are riding bicycles in circles, it’s safe to say I need some potent anti-nightmare material right now.  Something like this:

Floppy-eared bunnies in coffee cups, y’all.  Perfect.  Goodbye, nightmares!  The power of cuteness compels you!

Thanks (?) to Pajiba for finding this trailer.

The new Harmony Korine movie, just blasted in with a 47 second trailer, and I’m not sure what to think. Placing this within his oeuvre of a mere three films in the past decade, it feels like this may be a lower-rung version of Gummo, which indeed as Korine has promised for this, also featured beautiful musical moments of sheer poignancy. However, as I think about it now, it would be nearly impossible to follow-up Mister Lonely, a fairly large profile movie with anything other than a movie like Trash Humpers. Firstly, because even though Korine has established himself as an arthouse film darling, his movies aren’t humungous Box Office events, causing for much lower profile films involving his family/friends and self, to be more successful and quickly distributed than any movie like Lonely could do for him. It also seems like its about time for him to do another kind of experiment. Here, we get the low-grade quality of video technology and the homemade song and dance numbers. Previously, he documented the same areas of the backwoods in high quality film, and has also manipulated digital video processes in Dogme 95/Danish fashion. This is just something completely different. I’m hoping for more candid moments like Gummo provided with the albino lady with no toes on her feet and the instance in which Herzog actually confronted the man about his affair in Lonely, which is one of the most captivating parts of the film. I’m also digging this 8-bit title card for the movie, almost completely out of whack in comparison to the debauchery in which we have seen in this trailer. Enjoy!

Harmony Korine of Gummo, KIDS, and Julien Donkey-Boy is the mastermind behind this beautiful film. Diego Luna plays a young man, making a living as a Michael Jackson lookalike in Paris. He soon meets and falls in love with a Marilyn Monroe lookalike, played by Samantha Morton, who takes him to a Utopian commune where ‘everyone is famous and no one grows old’. There he meets everyone from Little Red Riding Hood, to the Pope, the Queen of England, Charlie Chaplin, Sammy Davis Jr. and many others.

Mister Lonely apparently received very mixed reviews from critics, but what do I care, I loved this film. Watching it I was reminded of Breakfast on Pluto and Disco Pigs… All these films have the same kind of vibe – dreamy and imaginative, but very much real in an almost harsh, gritty way. The soundtrack was pretty awesome too, most of it was done by Sun City Girls. I dig that they’re inspired by mysticism and esoterica, it shows in their music.

Korine was battling drug addiction and depression throughout production, plus a break-up with long term girlfriend Chloe Sevigny. I don’t really blame him, I would be depressed too if I got dumped by someone like Chloe Sevigny. Besides, the film was stellar, so he definitely got something good out of it. Maybe drug addiction and depression are key ingredients for disturbingly good movies.

This trailer for the new Korine (playing Toronto FF) is the most odd/disturbing thing you will watch today.

via.

Gummo

this tune by Buffy Sainte-Marie kinda reminds me of Harmony Korine’s surreal film, Gummo.

Buffy Sainte-Marie – Lazarus

Gummo opening credits below. The song on the opening credits is My Little Rooster’, performed by Almeda Riddle

FROM GUMMO BY HARMONY KORINE

Finally got down to London’s ICA last night to see Beautiful Losers, the seminal art documentary from director Aaron Rose. Its running for another week so if you haven’t seen it yet now’s yer chance. Plus, the bar in the ICA have a fairly sweet offer – any burger and a pint for £7.50 if you produce your cinema ticket… everyone’s a winner! (unless you’re a beautiful loser).