Continue reading »]]>

Untitled (Slide) (2011)

I’m a lucky guy. I’ve wanted a reason to break out of my cramped, unkempt studio and check out Carsten Höller: Experience, the new exhibit at the New Museum that provides a comprehensive survey of the German-born artist known for his immersive, sensory-confounding — and sometimes adrenaline-pumping — installations, and along comes Air France to sponsor my coverage.

And why not? Not only is Air France the gateway to Paris, New York’s only equal as a cultural capital (I’m not saying which city is actually better, but only one of them has original Picassos and Shake Shack), but the airline tends to express the romantic thrill of travelling to their home turf (yeah, there may be grungy areas in France, but I can’t think of any, offhand) by coming up with imagery like this:

Which is just a lovely way of expressing the feeling through pure kinetics.

Giant Triple Mushrooms (2010)

Interestingly, Carsten Höller is himself no stranger to employing kinetics as part of his toolset for provoking intense, and frequently visceral, responses from his viewers. Having left a career in science in the early 90′s, Höller has translated his clinical background into works that range from the grandly whimsical — the lobby of the New Museum boasts a garden of oversized mushrooms that Lewis Carroll would have felt right at home in — to the powerfully immersive. “Viewers” rarely remain passive observers in the artist’s efforts: Included in the exhibit are such works as Experience Corridor, a series of rooms containing strange, sensory experiments (most curious: The Pinocchio Effect, in which strategic application of a medical vibrator convinces one that one’s nose is growing); Giant Psycho Tank, a sensory deprivation pool; Mirror Carousel, in which the glistening replication of a stock, amusement park thrill-ride is paradoxically trimmed to a serene pace; and — the big draw for this exhibition — Untitled (Slide), a corkscrewing tube that briskly transports daring visitors from the museum’s fourth floor down to the second, landing them into the visual bombardment of a pulsing, Höller light installation.

The works have a singularly unique way of cutting through intellectual concerns to provoke pure, emotional responses — interesting for pieces that frequently present themselves as the products of an especially fanciful laboratory. I wanted to find out more about Höller’s motivations, so in addition to getting some interesting pics of the exhibit, I also spoke with associate curator Gary Carrion-Murayari. Click on the player to hear the discussion, and check out the link to the slide show below that

CHECK OUT FULL SLIDE & VIDEO SHOW
AT THE HUFFINGTON POST

BTW: I’m not likely to be shaken from my conviction that New York was, is, and forever will be the center of the cultural universe, but if anyone wants to check out what’s doing in Paris, hit up Air France, get yourself over there, and compile the evidence that’ll make me eat my words.

Continue reading »]]> I won’t hide it: I’m New York City born-and-bred. Concrete was my cradle, and carbon-monoxide-tinged air my mother’s milk (a strained analogy, but apt). Which is to say that I know squat about life on the farm. Don’t know how reap, don’t know how to herd, don’t even think of approaching me about animal husbandry. When I want produce, I get myself to the supermarket two blocks away; when I want milk, I want to pour a glass, not squeeze a teat. Bottom line: There may be grit under my fingernails, but it’s the asphalt captured from clawing my way to survival in these mean, mean streets. And that’s just the way I like it.

So when our sponsor, Samsung, came up with the following video…

…I have to admit I felt deeply for the office drones. I know how I’d be feeling if I was cast out of my element to that extreme, and I’m just glad those guys brought their Galaxy Tabs along to help them cope.

Much to my surprise, though, it turns out that not everyone here in the five boroughs shares my genetic deficiencies in the field of agriculture. Turns out there are people city-wide who have taken relatively small plots of earth bared from the metropolis’ concrete heart and turned them into veritable cornucopias of hearty produce. And when GreenThumb, the city office that oversees these urban farms, invited me out to the Bronx to witness their annual harvest celebration, I had to go and have a look. Here’s what I found:

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Continue reading »]]>

Cloudy with a Chance of Impending Doom: Michael Shannon tries to weather the storm in TAKE SHELTER.

Roland Emmerich can bite me. The guy’s been making disaster films since time can remember, yet for all his besetting humans with floods, fires, and earthquakes (and the occasional alien invasion), he’s never managed to make something as resonant, affecting, and powerful as TAKE SHELTER. A film that skirts the line between vivid fantasy and straight drama, it tells the tale of a loving, working-class husband and father (Michael Shannon) suddenly overwhelmed by visions of impending doom and torn between the compulsion to protect his wife (Jessica Chastain) and deaf daughter (Tova Stewart) from the onslaught and the fear that a family history of schizophrenia may be making itself manifest. This is director Jeff Nichols second feature (and his second with Shannon), and in weaving a scenario that balances vivid imagery with nuanced observation — and is highlighted by moving, vulnerable performances from Shannon and Chastain, among others –  the film speaks compellingly not only to the power of familial love, but to a sense of creeping helplessness that’s overtaking American society.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Nichols.

TAKE SHELTER
Trailer
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
takeshelterfilm.com

HELP SUPPORT MMP
Please Watch This Video – ‘Cause We Love You

Continue reading »]]>

Hellflower on Wheels: Tyler Dawson (left) and Evan Glodell prep for the end of civilization as we know it in BELLFLOWER.

The course of true love is never easy. When an imposing, MAD-MAX-like, fire-breathing automobile intervenes, it can get downright complicated. Evan Glodell’s BELLFLOWER is the tale of two Southern Californians — Woodrow (Glodell) and Aiden (Tyler Dawson) — who fill their free time with speculations of the post-apocalyptic future and preparations for same that include the construction of Matilda, a bad-ass, black automobile that would make the Road Warrior drool. But when Woodrow begins hanging out with Milly (Jessie Wiseman), a woman with similar, dark impulses, the ecology of the two friends and their circle of acquaintances is about to undergo a serious upheaval.

Glodell packs the film with a wired, spontaneous energy, and doubles-down on the rough, hand-tooled feel by having a hand in the building of the film’s flame-throwers and cars, as well as the home-made lens system used to shoot the footage. Good to know that, come the Fall, canny filmmakers will still be able to survive.

Click on the player to hear the interview.

BELLFLOWER
Trailer
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Continue reading »]]>

World Enough and Crime: Racecar Lightning McQueen (left, voiced by Owen Wilson) and loveable tow-truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy, center) are dragooned into international espionage by dashing super spy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine, right) in CARS 2.

Kids love cars, and kids love CARS — that seems to be the calculation behind Pixar’s latest animated offering, CARS 2. Abandoning the original film’s theme that celebrated the romance of exploring off-the-beaten-superhighway U.S, director John Lasseter and crew have devised an espionage plotline for this sequel, with cocky racecar Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) and kids’-fave country-bumpkin tow-truck Mater (Larry the Cable Guy, a.k.a. Daniel Lawrence Whitney) embarking on a whirlwind world tour to compete in an international racing competition, and finding themselves dragooned into a deadly conspiracy being battled by suave superspy Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and his sexy (check out those steel-belted radials!) partner Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). With beautifully crafted settings and numerous, exquisitely choreographed action sequences, does CARS 2 overcome the problems found in the first installment, a film that many feel is Pixar’s weakest effort? Join Cinefantastique Online’s Steve Biodrowski, Lawrence French, and Dan Persons as they examine the movie.

Also in this episode: Steve offers his thoughts on Woody Allen’s hit fantasy/comedy, MIDNIGHT IN PARIS, Dan discusses the level of human misery he’ll inflict for the sake of saving a few lousy bucks, and the gang discusses the inscrutable artistry of Michael Bay.

Continue reading »]]>

History Repeats: Gael Garcia Bernal faces a conflict between art and politics in EVEN THE RAIN.

Columbus did not land in Bolivia. But a Spanish film crew has chosen that country to shoot their historic recreation of that event — and how some priests fought against the subsequent enslavement of the natives — because, well, it’s cheaper. That initial bit of convenient exploitation is only the start of the parallels in EVEN THE RAIN, a film in which the 2000 Bolivian “Water War” — in which the citizenry fought against the privatization of their water supplies — coincides with the filming of an historical epic, forcing everyone involved, including the driven director played by Gael Garcia Bernal and a cynical producer played by Luis Tosar, to confront how far a dedication to one’s art applies in the face of genuine, human turmoil.

The complex scenario mixes reenactments of 15th century conquest, behind-the-scenes drama of the film’s cast and crew, and a gritty envisioning of the battle over a prime element of life. It was written by Scottish author Paul Laverty (Ken Loach’s BREAD AND ROSES and THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY), and directed by Spanish director Iciar Bollain (TAKE MY EYES, MATAHARIS). I was lucky enough to speak to both of them for this episode — click on the player to hear the interviews.

EVEN THE RAIN
Trailer
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

eventherainmovie.com

Continue reading »]]>

It's Always Darkest Before It Gets Even Darker: Thandie Newton and Hayden Christen brave the shadows in VANISHING ON 7TH STREET.

Brad Anderson knows his way around old school horror — you know, the kind that relies on atmosphere and suggestion, the kind values the power of the disturbing thought as much as or more than threateningly wielded power tools and bleeding limb-stumps. In films such as THE MACHINIST (where Christian Bale almost literally wasted away on-screen) and SESSION 9 (where David Caruso went slowly nuts listening to a tape recording) he got considerable mileage out of the power of nuance. Now, with VANISHING ON 7TH STREET, he turns the encroaching dark into a malevolent force, throwing Hayden Christensen, Thandie Newton, and John Leguizamo together to face the deadly (and digitally enhanced) shadows. “Watch this with the lights on,” is an old cliché, but in this case, it’s all too applicable.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Anderson.

VANISHING ON 7TH STREET
Trailer
[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

vanishingon7th.com

Continue reading »]]>

To Infinity and Way, Way Beyond: Atomic waste's final resting place in INTO ETERNITY.

It is truly the gift that keeps on giving: The stockpile of nuclear waste that we continue to generate, year in and year out, useless for any practical purpose, but still deadly. In Finland, they think they’ve come up with a solution — it’s called Onkalo (literally Finnish for “hiding place”), a massive, man-made cave meant to store 250,000 tons of radioactive refuse for 100,000 years. The two-fold problem: In a world where the pyramids are only 4500 years old, and the oldest cave drawings date back to only 30,000 years, how can anyone be sure that this dangerous stockpile will remain secure over 100 millenia, and how can we prevent future generations — by either accident or design — from gaining access to the cache?

Conceptual artist Michael Madsen attempts to confront the dilemma in INTO ETERNITY, a mesmerizing, thoughtful documentary that takes audiences down into the still-in-progress Onkalo dig and introduces us to the people responsible for its construction and maintenance. Framed as cautionary fable for future generations, the film attempts to conceptualize the notion of a danger that persists into posterity, and to explore the challenges in dealing with such a legacy.

Click on the player to hear my interview with Michael Madsen.

This Episode is Brought to You by
PAUL
Watch the Trailer!

INTO ETERNITY
Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

intoeternitythemovie.com

Continue reading »]]> Sorta weird how this became the globe-trotter episode. I’d seen BABIES a few weeks ago and was going to go with it as the sole focus of the show, then late last week I stumbled onto BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO and — despite the little voice whispering ever so delicately in the back of my head, “YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO BACK OFF THE WORKLOAD, M*TH*F***A!” — I realized I had to cover it as well. Hence, another double-up ep for ya (and just so you’re braced, we’ll be doing it again the week following next).

Going at a Crawl: BEETLE QUEEN director Jessica Oreck & friend.

What changed my mind about BEETLE QUEEN was debuting director Jessica Oreck’s approach to the subject of Japan’s seemingly nationwide fascination for insects. Oreck, who’s also an animal keeper and docent at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, lays the motivations out neatly — turns out much of Japanese culture is rooted historically in the observation and appreciation of creepy, crawly things — and examines how that veneration plays out in contemporary society through a healthy collector’s subculture; commercially marketed supplies for both the support and preservation of pet bugs; and vending machines that dispense live creatures into the eager clutches of the nation’s children (Japan, remember?). But then she takes it further, absorbing the animistic outlook of Shinto and such concepts as mono no aware and using them to model the film as a meta-presentation of the philosophies that drive the country’s appreciation of the natural world. More than just simple nature film or an anthropological examination, BEETLE QUEEN becomes the attitude itself, and a fascinating immersion into another society’s vision of the world.

Somebody Said There was Milk Around Here: Mongolian baby at home on the range in BABIES.

Director Thomas Balmès has a much simpler mission in BABIES, but with a somewhat similar goal: Travel the world, capture on film the first year-or-so of four babies from markedly different corners of the world, and let the viewer examine what in those initial months are universal, and what is markedly different. The four societies Balmès selects — a tribal group in Namibia; a farming family in Mongolia; and parents in urbane San Francisco and two-minutes-into-the-future Tokyo (again) — all form distinctive incubators for their newest residents. Yet for all that the environments leave their marks on these kids (in one particularly indelible moment, the overstimulated Japanese baby suffers a grand mal meltdown within a nest of playthings), what stands out most is how closely the recently arrived experience their entry into the world. That may not be a revolutionary concept, but it does make for a viewing experience that extends beyond just the obligatory, “Awwwwww.” (But you will probably go, “Awwwwww,” at least once.)

Click on the player to hear the interviews with Oreck and Balmès.

This Episode is Brought to You by
HALO: REACH – Autumn, 2010

BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO

Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.beetlequeen.com

IMDB Listing

BABIES

Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.focusfeatures.com/focusfeatures/film/babies

IMDB Listing

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Sign Up for E-Mail Updates

Your email:

 

Less Friendly Bugs

Continue reading »]]>

Living Dead Forest: Willem Dafoe (on top, duh) and Charlotte Gainsbourg ignore the warnings in ANTICHRIST

“Lars von Trier doesn’t like to fly.” “Lars von Trier isn’t going to talk to a lot of press.” Yeah, yeah; yadda-yadda. But just because he isn’t talking to us doesn’t mean we can’t talk about him, particularly about his childhood. I have it on good authority that he refused to eat his sandwiches until the crusts were cut off, and he slept with a night light until he was fifteen.

Seriously, though, I came out of ANTICHRIST — von Trier’s latest film which has been freaking out audiences from Cannes forward — aching to delve further into it. And with the director (did you know he got atomic wedgies every day after gym?) unavailable, I decided to carry on the conversation with a couple of people who could provide some intriguing perspectives on the film: Monika Treut, director of SEDUCTION: THE CRUEL WOMAN, GENDERNAUTS, and GHOSTED; and Steve Biodrowski, editor of Cinefantastique Online.

You can click on the player above to hear the discussion. And Lars, next time, we really want to get your insights directly. We promise we won’t mention how you were subjected to swirlies on a weekly basis.

Trailer

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

www.antichristthemovie.com

IMDB Listing

COMING SOON:
UNIVERSAL’S THE FOURTH KIND

Subscribe to MMP on iTunes

Visit the MMP Store

More von Trier Horror