Fun with Rochester and Jane

Hello high schoolers (I'm including those of us who wish we could go back) - have a book report due tomorrow? Then I really can't think of a better book to pick up than Jane Eyre. Why? Is there a book that's been made into a movie more? Well, yes, but this one's gone the big and little screen route. And more importantly it's playing at a/perture right now. Normally when I hear titles like Wuthering Heights or anything that Emma Thompson's been in, I run for the hills or hope Lawren will want to see said movie with her mom, but this version of Jane Eyre has been a little different. Cary Fukunaga, the man behind the camera for Sin Nombre? Yes please. Michael Fassbender, that inglorious basterd who will be playing Magneto in the new X-Men movie and graced our screen in Fish Tank? Double yes. And Mia Wasikowska, the alright kid who went a little trippy in Alice in Wonderland. If there was a Golden Globe for crew with last names most fun to say out loud, this group would be a shoo-in.

Okay, we all know the story, or at least we're supposed to, since I have reportedly read this book about three times. But just in case, here's two cliff notes versions of the film, and why you should see it, one from Roger Ebert and the other that appeared in Relish this past week. Visually stunning, here's a taste of the movie that had the highest specialty debut of 2011:

I'm holding on for a hero 'til the end of the night

Wow, it's been a SUPER week since our last blog. Once again, the RiverRun International Film Festival proved how SUPER it is, bringing out a record crowd and continuing to showcase some SUPER films and parties. Aaron Katz was a juror at the festival, and then was kind enough to stick around while we showed his film Cold Weather and host some Q&As (thank you again, Aaron and everyone who attended). So how do we follow up on all this SUPERness? Why let's open the movie SUPER! Rainn Wilson stars as a short order cook who brings the self made superhero vigilante justice, with the help of sidekick Ellen Page, to the drug dealer who stole his wife away.

So, this may not be the easiest sell, but maybe my subliminal SUPER messaging has worked? No? How about two fabulous reviews, this one from local Yes! Weekly critic Mark Burger and this "deliciously gonzo" review in the current issue of Relish. Still not enough for you? What if we throw in a cute little kid and our staff dressed up as their own crime fighters?

And we'll top that with a chance to win a Becket level membership in our a/v society, good for two years. That's a $6 ticket plus $1 concession credit each time you visit a/perture (special events excluded) and free admission and popcorn on your birthday! Come dressed up in your best homemade superhero outfit for a chance to win. Need some inspiration? Check out the Super trailer below:

Only one week to catch it, so don't let the Crimson Bolt find out you committed the criminal mistake of missing it, or face the wrath of his wrench!

It may be Spring...but it's time for Cold Weather baby...

So in the midst of the most amazing RiverRun International Film Festival yet, I haven't really made time to blog....that is until tonight when I get to share a really cool interview with director Aaron Katz. We'll get to the fun stuff in a second, but first business. Next week, Monday, April 18 thru Thursday, April 21, we will be screening the indy hit Cold Weather.

Cold Weather was written, directed and edited by Aaron Katz, who also by the way graduated from the UNCSA School of Filmmaking. He has already seen success with films such as Quiet City and Dance Party, USA. Aaron will be in town to serve as a Juror for RiverRun and he has graciously agreed to stay on for a couple of days while we screen his latest work. He will be stopping by a/perture on Monday 4/18 and Tuesday 4/19 for a q&a session following each screening.

Check out the interview below and trailer below that:

What film do you remember from film school at UNCSA having the greatest influence on you and why?

There were a lot of movies I saw for the first time while in school.

It's hard to narrow it down to just one. For some reason the main

thing that's occurring to me is Dr. Otto and the Riddle of the Gloom

Beam starring Jim Varney. I've never actually seen this film as an

audience member, but when I was learning to project in the NCSA

archives this was one of our practice prints.

Did you know that wikipedia cites you as one of the two founders of the mumblecore movement? Can you define mumblecore for us in your own words? When you made your first film Dance Party USA did you think it would lead to a movement?

Mumblecore is odd for everyone who made Dance Party and the other two

movies as well. Though it's mentioned often in conjunction with the

movies we've made, it feels completely outside of any part of making

those movies. It was coined (apparently, I wasn't there) by Andrew

Bujalski's sound mixer in a bar in Austin, TX sometime in 2005. I

guess he made a joke about people mumbling and making sound recording

difficult. Somehow this caught on with journalists and began to be

used to describe low budget films made by people like Bujalski, Joe

Swanberg, the Duplass Brothers, and me. On the one hand it was pretty

useful with Dance Party (which we made right after graduating from

NCSA) because that movie was so small and we didn't have money to hire

a publicist or anything. Honestly, we were just happy to have people

writing about the movie we made. Beyond that though the term can feel

a little frustrating, especially because it frequently has a

pejorative slant. Fortunately I don't think it's had much impact with

Cold Weather and most of the reviews focus on the movie itself rather

than contextualizing it within mumblecore.

You've shown all of your films at SXSW so far, what is it about that particular festival that really attracts you?

My feeling is that if it wasn't for SXSW no one would have ever seen

any of my movies. Back in 2006 SXSW was the first festival Dance Party

played in and the reason it played there is because the head

programmer at the time was a guy named Matt Dentler. Matt watched

every cold submitted screener and was willing to take risks on films

and filmmakers that no one had ever heard of. Additionally Austin is a

fun city and the community of filmmakers both from Austin and there

for the festival is really great.

So Cold Weather is a mystery film, have you always been a fan of the genre and did you always want to make a mystery at some point in your career or did the story idea just come to you all at once with no regard for the genre?

I'm a huge fan of the mystery genre, particularly in book form. The

script was originally not a mystery. It was just a story about a

brother and sister living together and getting to know each other

better. At that time I happened to be reading a book (from around the

same time period as Sherlock Holmes) about a gentleman thief named

Raffles. I had been reading a lot of older crime fiction and it

started to creep into the script. At first I wasn't sure if it was a

good idea because it was totally unplanned, but then I started having

a lot of fun with it. It made a lot of sense to me to have real

characters interacting with things usually only encountered in genre

fiction.

You've gotten some pretty amazing reviews from critics like Manohla Dargis, Roger Ebert and Christy Lemire for Cold Weather..kudos...and it got picked up for distribution by IFC Films...when you were filming, did you get the vibe that Cold Weather was going to be "bigger" than your previous films?

We had a bigger budget so the production itself was on a somewhat

bigger scale. We definitely hoped that we'd get a positive response,

but mostly we wanted to make movie that we were proud of. It was

exciting that the people at IFC loved the movie and it's been great

that critics understand the film.

The poster for Cold Weather is pretty cool...did you come up with that idea? Will you sign ours?

I love the poster. Marc Ripper, who graduated with me in 2004 and

produced Dance Party designed it. He based it off of the covers of

Penguin crime paperbacks from the 60s. I will sign yours.

Do you think you might ever come back and shoot a film in Winston-Salem?

I love Winston-Salem and I'd love to shoot something there at some point.

Last question...we've heard that you like the milkshakes from Cookout...what is your go-to shake?

Cookout is one of the main reasons I love North Carolina. My favorite

shake is the peanut butter banana, but there's a ton of other good

ones as well. I'm hoping to get at least five or six while I'm in

town. I also love West End Cafe and I'm hoping to go there as many

times as possible.

hipster heartbeats

For those of you who are either a part of the hipster crowd or curious about this mysterious culture, Heartbeats is the film for you. What you may ask is a hipster..here is the official wikipedia definition: In the late 1990s, the term began to be used in new, sometimes mutually exclusive ways. In some circles it became a blanket description for middle class and upper class young people associated with alternative culture, particularly alternative music, independent rock, alternative hip-hop, independent film and a lifestyle revolving around thrift store shopping, eating organic, locally grown, vegetarian, or vegan food, drinking local beer (or even brewing their own), listening to public radio, and riding bicycles.[1] Time described them as follows in a 2009 article: "take your grandmother's sweater and Bob Dylan's Wayfarers, add jean shorts, Converse All-Stars and a can of Pabst and bam — hipster."[5]

Basically Heartbeats is a hipster dramedy and here is the gist of the film: Heartbeats is a comic exploration of a romantically obsessed menage-a-trois. Part farce, part exploration of the complexity of love and desire, Heartbeats centers on two close friends, Francis (Xavier Dolan) and Marie (Monia Chokri), who find themselves fighting for the affections of the same striking young man (Neils Schneider). The more intimate the trio becomes, the more unattainable the object of their infatuation seems, sending the friends' obsession into overdrive. Directed by Xavier Dolan (whose previous film I Killed My Mother was a hit at last year's RiverRun) Heartbeats was a smashing success at the Cannes Film Festival taking home the Youth Prize. Here is a review for further encouragement to check out the film and the trailer below:

If you are really into the hipster scene after reading this blog...you should try playing hipster bingo...and don't worry we have restocked our supply of PBR in case there is a run!

Shout it loud and clear

To be honest, when Lawren told me we were opening Today's Special on April 1st, I thought she was either a little off her rocker or that this was some lame attempt at an April Fool's joke. Sure I would love to see the resurrection of the childhood show that paved the way for the hit movie Mannequin and taught me wonderful life lessons from a guy in a plaid hat and a puppet security guard.

Then I learned Today's Special is actually a movie about a chef, who happens to be Indian, but has no desire to cook Indian food. When his father has a heart attack, the struggling family business needs his help and he is forced to reach for the masala. Another comedy, with The Daily Show veteran Aasif Mandvi playing the son, Samir. I was just happy to see Ajay Naidu, who played Samir in Office Space working again. Then I was sad for Hollywood and my people that every major character in films had to be named Samir. Good news is that this is another light-hearted, easy to digest film (unlike the chicken vindaloo I had the other week) that this Hollywood Reporter critic believes you must see. Check out the trailer:

Two-thirds of our staff has already requested the week off to hit the Indian buffet after watching that trailer.

L'illusionniste

Today's blog was appropriately contributed by Genevieve..l'artiste...

If you found the visual storytelling and colorful characters of The Triplets of Belleville to be a nice departure from the highly-polished look of today's CGI animation, you will definitely want to catch The Illusionist. If you haven't seen Triplets and desperately need a break from the typical animation formula, you too will definitely want to catch The Illusionist.

Director Sylvain Chomet delivers an impressive visual follow-up to his earlier work in this stunning film, again not following a formulaic method of storytelling. One of the most amazing qualities about The Illusionist is the way that the scenes are at once still works of art on their own, yet at the same time, they wordlessly tell the story of an aging magician and a young fan who becomes his ward. As a French film set in France and Scotland, there is very little use of dialogue--indeed no subtitles at all. Perhaps in homage to Chaplin's Modern Times, Chomet's magician bumbles through various jobs in order to buy his young friend the things she sees in storefront windows. The characters they encounter are wildly entertaining, but also laced with a dark realism that you just don't get from Disney. Although tinged with this French existentialism, the combination of beauty, humor and reality communicated through animation is startling--and not to be missed.

Rated PG for 'mild thematic elements & smoking,' this film offers something for people of all ages, and I look forward to discussing it with young fans over the next week. (I am seriously dying to get a 5 year-old's reaction to this film!) It's spring break and there are weekday matinees just for you all! Check out the trailer:

It's so hard to say goodbye...

So it's here. The day some of you thought may never come. We say "cheerio" to The King's Speech. Obviously, a lot of mixed emotions here. I have to imagine it's kind of like my parents felt when I left for college - proud of what I'd accomplished, and so used to having me around, but on the flip side, PARTY cause I was out. The only way to properly move on is with a Boyz II Men video...

Oh yeah, I guess Another Year is moving on, too, which means we have two new movies opening this Friday! And in another twist, both are actually comedic in nature. So brush off that St. Patty's Day bender with some laughs by enjoying either Cedar Rapids or Barney's Version. Ed Helms stars in the former as an insurance agent at a convention in the wonderful town of Cedar Rapids. John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, and Isaiah Whitlock, Jr. round out the cast which after typing that I can't imagine why you wouldn't want to see this. Check out the trailer and the review from its premiere at Sundance:

On the other screen, Paul Giamatti shows why he won a Golden Globe in Barney's Version, as he tells his life story and ultimately falls in love at his second wedding (but not to the second wife!). Dustin Hoffman co-stars in this Canadian film. Why do I point out that it's Canadian? Because we all know Americans laugh at everything that is Canadian, eh? I kid, I love our neighbors up north. Another trailer and review...

Bring your four leaf clovers

You know, it's the little things in life that make it all worthwhile - in this case, quite literally, as a deadly little leprechaun graces our screen at a/perture in honor of St. Patrick's Day. What better way to start off your night of celebrating a traditional religious Irish holiday that's become a celebration of all things green here in the states? As your curator takes a break from "films" and watches Jennifer Aniston in The Switch, I'm amazed at how far Ms. Aniston has fallen. I tried to find a review of this movie, but when every one is from a site called "craptastic movies" or "b-movies" and the like, you know no reviewer will do this film justice, and you just have to see it to appreciate it. They wouldn't have made five more (yes, there are five others) if it wasn't quality. For your enjoyment, the trailer for one of my favorite worst movies ever.

And let's hope that this Warwick Davis leprechaun isn't the one that made the rounds in Mobile, Alabama a few years ago...

Another Year

If you've seen either of the Diary of Bridget Jones films, then you are probably just as in love with Jim Broadbent, the actor who plays Bridget's dad, as I am. If that's the case, then you should venture down to a/perture this week and catch him in Another Year. Seriously, how can you resist?

Another Year can basically be summed up as a film about a married couple who have managed to remain blissfully happy into their autumn years, who are surrounded over the course of the four seasons of one average year by friends, colleagues, and family who all seem to suffer some degree of unhappiness. It's Mike Leigh's latest effort and Another Year has a similar air of melancholy to his previous films including Grown Ups and Secrets and Lies.

This is how Leigh views his films (pulled from a Salon.com interview back in 1996): "Well, I would suggest -- without being too arrogant -- that what you see in my films you mostly don't see in movies. As a kid in the '40s and '50s, I would sit in movies endlessly -- and that's mostly Hollywood and British films we didn't see any other films -- and think wouldn't it be great if you could see people in films like people actually are."

Another Year was nominated for a slew of awards including an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay. Actress Lesley Manville was also critically lauded for her performance. Mark Burger from Yes!Weekly says Another Year is a film to cherish. Check out the trailer:

A rabbit in the hole

So today we add another tearjerker to the lineup for Studio 2...it should be the last one for a bit, so come with your hanky if you're headed to that side of a/perture. When I left the theater after seeing Rabbit Hole, I had a similar feeling as to when I watched Terms of Endearment years ago. The subject matter may be sad, but the film is sprinkled with humor and a "light at the end of the tunnel" kind-of-feeling. Rabbit Hole is directed by John Cameron Mitchell and if you are familiar with his biggest hit Hedwig and the Angry Inch, it's really nothing like it. It's a very personal film. John Cameron Mitchell was attracted to the project because at age 14 he lost his 10 year old brother to a heart problem and he says, "It was a sudden, unexpected event. It defined a family forever and recovering from it was something we're still doing."

Nicole Kidman not only stars in the film but she produced it as well (and she was deservedly rewarded with a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her role). Another tidbit, the film is based on a very successful Broadway play written by David Lindsay-Abaire who also penned the script. Nicole read a review of the play (which happened to produce a Tony Award for star Cynthia Nixon in 2006) and her interest was immediately piqued.

Check out the trailer below and the review from Yes! Weekly.

We've also begun to weave in some amazing StoryLine recordings into our pre-show reel, so come early and listen to a local pair's inspired story of a friendship which grew out of loss.