We believe the children are the future, so we make every attempt to teach our staffers more than how to make perfect popcorn and scrape gum off seats (shame on you people who have never heard of wrappers and trash cans). I'm turning the blog over to our latest staffer to move on to other things, this time Eva Hill who is headed back to school at Elon University. However, as the old adage goes, this is more "see you later" than "goodbye", as she just couldn't get enough and will be back random weekends and holidays and we're hoping next summer. Who else is going to entertain us like this?
On to her own words (with possible editor comments in italics)...
This summer, I was given the opportunity to hold a part-time job at a/perture cinema, and with that opportunity, I developed an even greater appreciation of the film industry than I held before. Working at a/perture was not only a chance for me to learn more about film, but it also gave me insight into the theatre business and the distribution process.
As a Journalism major, this experience has provided me with an insight into various areas of communications, as well as press and public relations processes. I was able to get to know people who share my passion for film, and establish friendships with some very talented folks.
On a more academic note, working at a/perture introduced me to many possible careers in film that I had never considered. Being able to work with Lawren, who kept me informed with the film process, gave me insight into the business and allowed me to learn more about the financial aspects.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time at a/perture, and am very thankful that I had the chance to be an employee and work with such wonderful people!
I doubt I would have been able to have these valuable experiences at a larger, more commercial theatre. Since a/perture is an independent movie theatre, I was able to learn more about the film business, and the importance of being a part of the community.
I’m sure I’ll miss the friends I made and being surrounded by wonderful movies, but I hope to come back and work from time to time.
Also, I’ll go back to school having had a wonderful summer of films, friends, and cakeballs!
And Jigar is the coolest, funniest, smartest human being alive....it's really not fair to the rest of the human race.
Can we talk? about the new movies opening up this weekend as we get ready to start a new decade in this latest millennium at a/perture. I've littered the opening sentence with clues, and I imagine if you've ever watched the Oscars or read the most popular books in the last, oh, forever, you know what I'm talking about. Lisbeth Sandler returns in the second installment of the Millennium Trilogy, The Girl who Played with Fire, and even scarier Joan Rivers tells her story in Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work. Am I the only one who didn't realize Joan was the female Bob Saget?? (Youtube "Bob Saget half baked" at your own risk.) Even I blushed listening to some of her stuff, but it was still supremely funny. In honor of the fall movie issue and having that Harry Potter kid on the cover, I've culled reviews for both movies from Entertainment Weekly. Owen Gleiberman gave both of them better grades than I ever got in Chemistry while at college, scoring Dragon with a "B+" and Joan with an "A". An honor roll weekend!
But wait, there's more! We're bringing back the tattoos for people who buy concessions, and Lawren's getting in on the tattoo for a sellout action. We'll get matching dragon tattoos if there are four sellouts in the first weekend. So feel free to spread out your viewing of this film this weekend. After you see it, check out our blackboard for a trivia question to enter to win
THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE SWEDISH PRIZE PACK
which includes:
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo - DVD The Girl who Played with Fire - Book Gift Certificate for a copy of The Girl who Kicked the Hornet's Nest from Barnhill's - www.onlyatbarnhills.com - 811 Burke Street Gift Certificate for a Swedish Massage from European Touch Day Spa in Reynolda Village - www.european-touch.com $25 Ikea Gift Card Swedish Fish!!! And maybe we'll throw in another surprise or two...
Get excited about the trailers!
When David Fincher reinvents these Girl movies (for people who don't like to read), make sure you're able to be extra snooty about it and tell everyone you saw the originals.
So our first special screenings of the soccer pick-up documentary, Pelada, begin tomorrow. It's only here for a limited time (Tuesday and Wednesday at 2pm and 8pm, and Thursday at 2pm) so don't miss the boat on this one. This has been a film that people see, then tell all their friends about, and then people are rushing to catch the last shows or miss it altogether. Since I care for you, I'm trying to get you to avoid that last part. Just make your plans and come see this film.
We were fortunate enough to get one of Pelada's directors/cinematographer, Rebekah Fergusson, to spend some time talking about the film, as well as some other random subjects. Rebekah played at Duke, which I tried not to hold against her until she brought Coach K into the conversation (I kid, but in order to defend this blog's Wake honor - I'm challenging you, Rebekah, to some foosball right now - if you're ever in Winston, you can find me popping the popcorn). Read on for some enlightening answers, and check out the trailer as well.
Give us an original synopsis of Pelada (ie, you have to come up with some way to describe it that hasn’t been used before):
Pelada is about two soccer players who have been heartbroken by the end of their playing careers who figure they can uncover one last adrenaline from the game, so they take off with soccer as their passport, in an effort to understand their relationship to the game and to explain the phenomenon of why people play around the world. Playing with prisoners, betting on games with moonshiners in Nairobi, uncovering games in the ghettos of Buenos Aires, chasing myths of Bolivian Mennonites and Chinese Monks. Their ability to play soccer affords them intimacy to all of these stories around the world, where the stakes are more raw than NCAA championships and pro contracts. For them it makes the game real again. But the story isn't just their process of realization, it's about the little moments around the world that do poetic justice to why this game is so prevalent. Moments like a Brazilian waiter carefully sliding a pinny over his head with a cigarette stuck in his mouth, kids with Kaka jerseys on clinging to the fence watching the adults take each other on, guys hurrying to the courts to get an hour of play in after 12 hours in the office, prisoners playing around the clock to stave off thoughts of running away, women playing in hijab in Iran while guys stop to watch--moments that happen around the game, but that reveal larger stories underneath.
Did you play in any of the pick-up games (off-camera) during the course of filming Pelada?
Every once in a while Ryan and I would get our moments of glory to jump into a few pick up games. In Mendoza, Argentina after a night of grilling every type of meat imaginable and drinking red wine with winemakers, the soccer ball came out at about midnight. We ended up playing in the pitch black vineyard, barely able to see our teammates and the goals. Ryan and I were getting egged on by all the guys who thought we were just camera people. I think a little bit of footage of this actually exists but I'm pretty sure we were all just specks in darkness....and as someone who definitely prefers to be behind the camera, I'm perfectly fine with that.
What are you favorite memories of the entire process of filming Pelada?
To actually get out and take a chunk of time to travel is one of the most amazing experiences. When I look back, it's things like renting a car and navigating our way out of Montevideo, Uruguay to beautiful countryside and spending a day with Gauchos in the middle of nowhere, standing over the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, going on a hike to pick cherries in the Italian countryside, racing up different buildings in downtown Tokyo to find the best views of the city's rooftop courts. A lot of it is that....just being able to see all these different things in 3D, but a lot of it is meeting the people. Everywhere we went people were so generous to us. We'd end up invited somewhere after the games because it was incomprehensible to them to not take in these grungy travelers and give us some sort of sustenance, and trade stories. We'd share post game beers with the old guys in Brazil, caipirinhas with the guys on the beach after the hailstorm, brew up huge pots of rice and beans with all the guys from Mathare, drink warm Fanta and Coke with the prisoners in La Paz. I know it sounds a little bit cheesy but these moments reminded us that we were chasing the right story.
How did you all decide which countries and cities and neighborhoods to visit in the course of filming?
Deciding on countries was definitely a drawn out process. Everything was on the table in the beginning and slowly we would determine what we could afford, where we had friends and family that we might be able to stay with, and where we thought we could find really interesting stories. We wanted to have a combination of soccer superpowers like Brazil and Germany, but we also wanted to see places that weren't necessarily known for their football. As the film went on, I think it became really important for us to see the world...or as much of a cross section of it as we could. It became really important for us to see a place like Iran as well...a place that is so hotly contested, and negatively stereotyped in the American Media.
So you grew up in Charlotte right?Anything you miss about the Queen City and North Carolina?
It's tough being so far away from my family, and a lot of my friends so I try to get back as much as I can. When I do, I end up all over the state trying to soak it all in...hitting up favorite restaurants, getting some good BBQ, sitting on the front porch, catching up on ACC basketball, and watching an afternoon thunderstorm. I still have a room full of stuff at my mom's house in Charlotte so I think the door will stay open for a bit.
What has Pelada meant to you personally?
I think it's pretty hard to separate my life from Pelada at this point. What got me into documentary film in the first place was the idea of capturing the stories I was seeing around me (at that time mainly on the soccer field). My last year at school, I was working on a short film about soccer obsessed college players figuring out what to do with their lives once they graduated so filming Luke and Gwendolyn's story of soccer heartbreak/rebirth/discovery was a vicarious thing for me. At the same time, during that whole process of traveling and filming and editing, I really got taken in by a new passion of being behind the camera. It was an incredible, sometimes painful, learning process that cemented my love for documentary film. Like any other filmmaker, or writer, or artist, or athlete...it was something that we all sacrificed a lot for. The four of us lived and breathed the film, from traveling to a new country every week, shamelessly asking for money from our friends and families, dubbing tapes through the night in Iran to make sure we made it out with our footage, editing all day in our bedrooms on borrowed computers, to eating PB and Js and couch surfing in L.A. to save money. I feel really lucky to have gone through that process and have a film that we are all really proud of.
Do you still play in pickup games?
I moved to San Francisco about six months ago...and while I have been getting back into the Adult League scene, I haven't had a chance to find the good pick up games. Life has also gotten a lot busier, so finding the time has been hard. But I do vow to get back out there!
Left, right, or center on a penalty kick?High or low?
My dream PK was always a stutter step chip over the keeper slightly right of center as he dove left, but to be honest I'm not that great of a PK taker. It's sad but I buckle a bit under the pressure.
Greg Paulus played basketball at Duke, and American Football at Syracuse.Could he have hacked it as a soccer player?
That's a tough question, he probably would make a good defender. I think I'd rather go with Grant Hill, Kyle Singler, maybe even Shane Battier. I bet that Coack K could figure out a way to take a soccer team to a National Championship.
How do your soccer skills translate to foosball?
I can defend the goal in foosball pretty well, but I don't really have the snappy strongarm shot that whips across the whole table. But as with most bars games, I think I get a little bit better with a beer or two.
We've had a couple of good weeks with our latest movies, Winter's Bone and Coco and Igor, and I'm taking full credit for their success, since they coincide with my new weekly blogging endeavor. Let's see if I keep the streak going with this week's new entrant into the ring, Harry Brown. First off, how can you go wrong with Michael Caine. Our good friend and Yes! Weekly scribe Mark Burger's man-crush on Mr. Caine is only rivaled by my own for Zach Galifianakis. Suffice it to say, he enjoyed the film. But he's not the only one - our own curator said "Michael Caine was da bomb! I can't imagine anyone else pulling off this role!". In honor of Sir Michael, I went across the pond for a review as well, and The Times gave it 3 stars (out of 5), using words and phrases only a Brit could pull off to describe the film, like "septuagenarian", "emetic bile", "assiduous avoidance", and "wanker". Ok, I just put that last one in because it makes me giggle to say and see in print.
If Caine's resume and the reviews aren't enough to make you a believer, check out the trailer below - Rambo meets Cocoon? This one probably isn't for you if you have a weak stomach or are easily offended.
Wow, Batman's butler seems just as annoyed as the rest of us for having to put up with Christian Bale's horrible voice. That or he was on the receiving end of Bale's famous Terminator rant, and wouldn't take it anymore. I'm just happy we're showing another movie dudes can be proud to drag their better halves to, as opposed to the usual other way around.
Sometimes it feels like indie film is a little small town where everyone's connected somehow. We're bidding a fond adieu to Micmacs this weekend, to say bienvenue to Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. So how does this break down on the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon scale? Micmacs was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, who also directed Amelie which helped make Audrey Tatou a household name, who played Coco Chanel in Coco before Chanel, which as the name indicates is Coco's story before she became the best smelling woman in France, or a designer. I'm bad with history like that. Coco & Igor picks up a little later in her life, bringing in the story of composer Igor Stravinsky and explores their "relationship". I put the term in quotes, since they begin a romantic tryst when Igor AND HIS WIFE AND KIDS move into Coco's place. It's just like Three's Company set in France! I'm guessing this trailer below will dispel that notion...
Full disclosure here, this is a movie that's received mixed reviews among critics, but they do agree that this is a visually appealing and well acted film, not unlike our recent smash I Am Love, and fashion is involved so the costuming (is that a word?) has been compared to The Young Victoria. Roger Ebert was a fan, as evidenced in his review here, and Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter calls the movie "a sumptuous re-creation of '20s France and the mad affair between two of the century's most iconic figures". Here's another time I wished I worked as a tag line developer for movies. My first revelation was with the truck driving tour de force Black Dog - "Patrick Swayze...Randy Travis...and Meatloaf...you'll come back for seconds." Had I been given the opportunity for this one, it most definitely would have been "Igor crazy for Coco's Puffs!"
Even though technology makes everything easier, I still take forever to get my digital pictures from the camera to the computer. We had a great week with In/Significant Others and an even better time with the filmmakers and actors on Friday and Saturday. I hope some of you were able to come by and enjoy their Q&A.
That's one heckuva cast/filmmaker turnout, so thanks again to all for taking the time to visit. They were very complimentary of the crowds, our place, and Winston in general. Who says we can't hang with Charlotte?!?!?
We really enjoy having the opportunity to host NC films and with the new and improved state incentives hopefully we'll get to screen a lot more in the future.
So we've been at this for a little over six months now, and you've probably figured out that a lot of our programming can tend to be on the less than commercial side, and you sometimes have to do some digging to find out more about the films. Part of the fun of the movie experience if you ask me. However, we're trying to be full service here, so we've been toying with the idea of a weekly blog post that posts trailers for upcoming films, as well as a review or two, for when we can't get a screener to our good friend Mark Burger (he did get Micmacs in time - check out his review here). And while your curator has been pushing the Jeunet film (understandable, since she has a giant Amelie poster in the office) due to its limited run, we also have a Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner opening up on Friday, Winter's Bone.
One of my starting places for movie reviews is rottentomatoes.com, which has given Winter's Bone a score of 95%, better than Inception, the number one movie in America. If I had listened to my own advice, I probably wouldn't be watching the alleged Jennifer Aniston/Gerard Butler rom-com The Bounty Hunter (8%) right now. At least that gave me the opportunity to catch up on some blogging. Peter Travers was a big fan of Winter's Bone, saying "It means to shake you, and it does". One of our own patrons, discussing the book this movie was based on, told me he finished the book, and immediately started reading it again. Hopefully he and a few other people will do the same thing after our showings.
You've gotten a Micmacs review already, so I'll just leave you with the trailer.
In between reading this blog and checking out the films, feel free to give us your feedback on whether you would like this to be a weekly thing or not.
Another quarter end behind me, I can get back to the job that pays me the no-bucks - attempted blogger. While I'm not monetarily compensated to entertain you, one of the perks of this gig is getting to meet people who actually know a thing about keeping your attention for more than five minutes. We've been able to bring in filmmakers such as John Jackman of Wesley and Eric Merola of Burzynski, and now we get to add John Schwert to that list. Writer/Producer/Director/Editor of In/Significant Others, John has been based in Charlotte for some time now and used the Queen City as his backdrop for the film, a story about a group of people all somehow connected to a homicide investigation.
Aside from being able to showcase another NC based film, we're extremely excited to open our doors to a movie that makes such wonderful use of our shared "/". Seriously, In/Significant Others has ties to our fine city as well from actors to crew, and has been blazing the festival circuit since last year, racking up multiple awards along the way. Check out the website, http://www.4wproductions.com/in-significant-others/, which has way more info than I can fit here, including a trailer. And while you're out on the interwebs, visit their Facebook page and tell your friends about it by sharing the a/perture event page
Did I mention that John will be here? How ridiculously cool is that, being able to watch a movie and then ask the brains behind it all those nagging questions you have*? Alas, that honor is only reserved for the Friday (5:15 and 7:45) and Saturday (2:45, 7:45, and 10:15) showings. Don't miss out on the chance to catch this fine movie and support NC films all at once.
* - (I would have given up my DVR to talk to Banksy after watching Exit through the Gift Shop, but I digress)
So we are keeping our promise and bringing back our first film from this year's RiverRun Intl. Film Festival - I Am Love.
For those of you who missed it at the festival or for those of you who loved it as much as I did...now is your chance to see it for the first (or second) time. I could give you my own opinion on what a lovely film it is, but I'll let an expert do that (without giving away too much of the film):
I Am Love is the first film to use compositions by the great, Pulitzer Prize-winning John Adams (Nixon in China, On the Transmigration of Souls) as a score, and the symphonic, sometimes discordant music considerably adds to the grandness and sweep of what is essentially an intimate character study. Right from the opening credits, in which the titles fill the screen in curly script over snowy vistas of Milan in winter, you know I Am Love is going to be something special. And the picture gets better as it goes along, culminating in a rapturous ending that exhilarates in a manner I've never felt in a movie. I Am Love isn't perfect, but what love is, really? Attention all movie buffs: Get ready to have your minds blown. [Rene Rodriguez - Miami Herald]
Okay now check out the trailer:
One more thing...the film features a lot of delicious looking food, so you might want to plan to eat a nice meal out downtown afterwards.
In the age of cameraphones, sometimes we forget we actually have a nice camera we can use to take pictures. We dusted the thing off, and amid some pictures Jake took that could be considered art (maybe by Mr. Brainwash - go see Exit through the Gift Shop, it'll all make sense), we found our evening with Steve Childs, where we were fortunate enough to present his art along with his film, And We Will Dance as well as when Eric Merola visited after presenting his documentary Burzynski. Enjoy.
