Usually a film will take you through a set moment in time to tell a story, a few months or so of the protagonist’s life in order to get the most of the story out. This is not the case in Jonathan Caouette’s Tarnation. Through photographs he introduces the viewer to his grandparents when they were young and just married and takes you through his mother’s young life all the way to when he was born.
How many people know what independent film is or what it means to be an indie film? I decided to ask your average mall goers on a fine Sunday afternoon to see what they had to say.
Metropolitan (1990)
Whit Stillman’s first feature film, Metropolitan, follows outsider Tom Townsend (Edward Clements) as he makes his rounds of the Christmas-break Manhattan debutante gala circuit as an escort. Initially skeptical and disdainful of the whole “UHB” or “Urban Haute Bourgeoisie” scene, Tom slowly becomes an integral part of a circle of privileged, preppy friends after being taken under the wing of the opinionated, abrasive Nick Smith (Chris Eigeman). The group enjoys playing bridge and engaging in intellectual conversation (along with drinking, smoking, and the occasional game of strip poker). Although serving as an escort to well-read, sensitive, Jane Austen-loving Audrey (Carolyn Farina), Tom is clearly still hung up on his fickle ex-girlfriend Serena Slocum (Ellia Thompson). As a Fourier-style socialist and a young man of fairly limited means, Tom is never quite at home in his new environment throughout this film which lightly pokes fun at Manhattan’s young elite. (more…)
Kimberly Pierce
Kimberly Peirce is a passionate American feature film director. She was born in Pennsylvania is 1967 and since then has been all over the globe. While attending the University of Chicago she traveled to Japan for two years to work as an English teacher and photographer. After college she attended Columbia University as a graduate film student. It was here that she put her name on the map as a promising aspiring director after making a short film that was nominated for the Princess Grace Award by the Columbia Faculty. The film was her thesis project inspired by the life and death of Brandon Teena, a transgender from Nebraska who was raped and murdered. (more…)
In 1981 Director and Writer Sam Raimi introduced The Evil Dead. Five friends travel to a deserted cabin in the woods and by nightfall the woods begin to attack. One by one the friends are attacked leaving the “hero” Ashley or Ash helpless. Once turned, his friends turn into what reminded me of a zombie meets Chucky feel. Ash (played by Bruce Campbell) manages to fend off the monsters but you’ll have to see the movie to figure out the ending. (more…)
Larry Clark directed Kids in 1995. The film is about teens and kids age 18 and younger growing up in an urban city setting with little parental influence or supervision. One boy named Telly (played by Leo Fitzpatrick) makes it a goal of his to sleep with as many virgin girls as he can due to his fear of getting an STD. Unfortunately, Jennie (played by Chloe Sevigny) a 16-year-old girl, slept with Telly and no one else only to find out she has HIV, given to her by Telly. His biggest fear of gaining an STD is already a reality for him without his knowledge. In the movie you see him sleep with two virgin girls and one is only 13 years old. Unknowingly, he does not use protection and risks every girl he sleeps with. (more…)
The influential and controversial (to say the least) work of Larry Clark as an American film director, photographer, writer, and film producer has had a lasting impact on our culture. Mr. Clark was born on January 19, 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. His mother being an itinerant baby photographer, he got an early start in photography in the family business at the age of thirteen. By the tender age of sixteen he began shooting amphetamines with his friends. Armed with a camera, Clark was able to photograph his drug-shooting circle of friends from 1963-1971. These pictures became his renowned first book of photography Tulsa that was published in 1971 and depicted the seedier side of the heartland’s sex-and-drugs subculture. Larry attended the Layton School of Art in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he studied under Walter Sheffer and Gerard Bakker. His other notable photographic works include 1983’s Teenage Lust, where he chronicled the next generation of Tulsa teens as well as young male hustlers in Times Square; and 1992’s Perfect Childhood, which looked at tabloid teen criminals and teenage models. Clark first foray into directing came in 1993 when he directed singer Chris Isaak’s music video “Solitary Man” this experience developed into an interest in directing. (more…)
Last Days (2005)
Although Gus Van Sant’s Last Days is very clearly based on the story of Nirvana front-man Kurt Cobain, it really could be anyone’s story. As his record exec asks him when discussing whether he has been in touch with his daughter, “Do you say, ‘I’m sorry that I’m a rock and roll cliche’?” And that’s truly all that Blake (played by Michael Pitt of recent Boardwalk Empire fame) is in the end. In this artistically shot fictional mini-biopic, Van Sant takes the audience along for a heart-breakingly personal ride through the final days of a talented young rock star’s short life. (more…)
Trees Lounge (1996)
“Everybody’s fucked up, but nobody wants anybody else to think they are, but everybody knows they are anyway,” states Tommy Basilio (Steve Buscemi) in Trees Lounge. This line aptly describes all of the colorful characters in the film, most of all the protagonist, Tommy. Trees Lounge, Buscemi’s debut as writer/director of a feature-length film in which he also triples as the lead actor, is completely underrated. Largely well-reviewed by critics of all sorts, this is clearly a film that suffered from a lack of distribution and not being seen by enough audiences. This was one of the best indie films I have seen and has definitely become a contender for one of my favorite films. (more…)
Gus Van Sant
Gus Van Sant is an American film director, screenwriter, musician, and author. He was born in Louisville, Kentucky July 24th 1952. Through his childhood he was moved around a lot by his fathers job so nothing maintained constant or stable except for his passions in painting and film making. Starting at a young age, Van Sant created many extremely low budget short films. In 1970, he went to the Rhode Island School of Design as an art major but soon changed his major to cinema. (more…)