Archive for the ‘Oxford Film Festival’ Category
Filed under: Critical Thought, Oxford Film Festival
On Monday morning, the good folks over at IFC reported on a screening at the University of California at Los Angeles of Gerald Peary’s documentary about film criticism, For the Love of Movies, which was followed by a q&a with Peary and fellow critics Richard Schickel, Ella Taylor, and John Powers among others. Notably, among the participants there was no one representing online film criticism, as there seldom is in what today constitutes “serious” conversations about the industry. But notwithstanding Schickel’s perhaps superficially understandable but no less obnoxious dismissal of documentary participant Harry Knowles based entirely upon his appearance, he and his colleagues essentially recapitulated the same idea that mainstream journalistic outlets have asserted for years: print criticism may be dying, but it’s still a thousand times better than online criticism.
Schickel, who is now retired, wrote for more than 40 years, and provided criticism through enough epochal times in movie history to earn a sense of incredulity at the current state of his chosen field. But his and others’ deliberate ignorance of online criticism and the relevance of the medium only further underscores the fact that it suffers primarily if not exclusively because so few who do it seem to know what it actually means to be a film critic in 2010.
Filed under: Drama, Independent, Festival Reports, Oxford Film Festival, Indie Spotlight
I’m not sure if it’s worse to see A Quiet Little Marriage if you haven’t decided whether or not you want to have kids, or if you have. But as a provocative portrait of marital disharmony, Mo Perkins takes the idea of dissenting opinions about child-rearing to its ultimate, dramatic end in his feature directorial debut. Mary Elizabeth Ellis, probably best known as Charlie’s crush object ‘the waitress’ on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, plays a hopeful mother whose bid for a baby is scuttled when her husband’s troubled family history prompts him to deny her plea for them to start a family.
Olive (Ellis) and Dax (Cy Carter) are happily married, but not without problems: her father Bruce (Michael O’Neill) suffers from Alzheimer’s, and his brother Jackson (Jimmi Simpson) is at least a borderline alcoholic who comes around only when he needs money. After Bruce accidentally slugs a nurse during one of his bouts of senility, Olive begins to contemplate her future with Dax, and proposes they have a baby. Dax refuses categorically, so she decides to take the decision out of his hands by sabotaging her diaphragm. But when he discovers her plan, Dax decides to put birth control pills into her morning coffee; eventually, the mutual deception causes their relationship to deteriorate, culminating in a fight that not only jeopardizes the prospect of children, but the future of their marriage.
Filed under: Comedy, Festival Reports, DIY/Filmmaking, Oxford Film Festival
I’m not entirely sure where the line is between true mumblecore and just low-budget, DIY moviemaking, but whatever Bicycle Lane lacks in bedhead authenticity it more than makes up for in scrappy, humanistic charm. The story of a wannabe suitor riding a girl’s bike across Los Angeles on a hot summer day in order to attend his potential lady friend’s birthday party, writer-director Jeffrey Ruggles beautifully uncovers details both sublime and mundane in his debut film.
Don Black plays Don, a doughy hipster (aren’t we all) who finds himself carless on the very morning of the birthday party of Alli (Allison Breckenridge), his cute coworker. Refused a ride by his hostile roommate, Don turns to a nutty female neighbor for help, but he ends up with a bicycle – a crappy pink one with a basket on the front, no less – as his only means of transportation from one side of LA to the other. Hilarity ensues as Don struggles to keep cool, and keep his cool, as he moves from one neighborhood to the next, encountering and increasingly odd obstacles – including an obnoxious coworker, a bike cop, and bum who steals his ride – en route to his romantic destination.
Filed under: Documentary, Festival Reports, Oxford Film Festival
Small-screen portable media players like iPods may be the all-time worst place to watch movies, but airplanes run a close second – so much so, in fact, that folks will often use that dubious option as a barometer for their interest in them. The truth is that I watched the majority of D Tour on an airplane because I had no other option, but it’s a testament to the effectiveness of the film that I was inspired and moved to tears despite having to do so. A documentary about Rogue Wave drummer Pat Spurgeon dealing with the demands of a debilitating kidney disease, temporary or ineffective treatments, and the search for a permanent cure while meeting the demands of a grueling tour schedule, D Tour is a powerful, evocative and deeply personal story.
Filed under: Documentary, Festival Reports, Oxford Film Festival
As a native Southerner (I was born and mostly raised in Charlotte, North Carolina), I have developed a predisposition to protect and defend entertainment and the media’s portrayals of that oft-maligned region, even if it often provides reasons to deserve maligning. Typically this means personal apoplexy when actors bastardize accents or films set their stories in locales where the heat index is considered higher than the median IQ. But it also means highlighting films and filmmakers who treat the South with intelligence, and further, who celebrate its inconsistencies and contradictions with sensitivity.
Paige Williams’ Mississippi Queen is, superficially, a portrait of the lingering ignorance and intolerance of Southerners to homosexuality, manifested through tradition and religion. But it’s also a surprisingly intimate and thoughtful portrait of one woman’s efforts to investigate and understand that intolerance, and her attempt to reconcile her lifestyle with loved ones who still haven’t come to terms with the fact that it isn’t merely a “choice.”
Filed under: Documentary, Festival Reports, Oxford Film Festival
As a native Southerner (I was born and mostly raised in Charlotte, North Carolina), I have developed a predisposition to protect and defend entertainment and the media’s portrayals of that oft-maligned region, even if it often provides reasons to deserve maligning. Typically this means personal apoplexy when actors bastardize accents or films set their stories in locales where the heat index is considered higher than the median IQ. But it also means highlighting films and filmmakers who treat the South with intelligence, and further, who celebrate its inconsistencies and contradictions with sensitivity.
Paige Williams’ Mississippi Queen is, superficially, a portrait of the lingering ignorance and intolerance of Southerners to homosexuality, manifested through tradition and religion. But it’s also a surprisingly intimate and thoughtful portrait of one woman’s efforts to investigate and understand that intolerance, and her attempt to reconcile her lifestyle with loved ones who still haven’t come to terms with the fact that it isn’t merely a “choice.”
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Festival Reports, Fandom, Oxford Film Festival
According to a detailed manifesto on its website, the Oxford Film Festival began in 2003 “as a project of the Yoknapatawpha Arts Council… committed to celebrating the art of independent cinema.” What the festival actually is, however, is so much more: a four-day celebration where filmmakers, industry professionals, critics, and cinephiles gather together, get to know one another, and share in a community’s collective appreciation for film in all of its forms. Cozily entrenched in the businesses and residences of Oxford, Mississippi, the town that the picturesque college Ole Miss calls home, OFF is a modest, maturing sibling of mainstay festivals like Sundance and South By Southwest whose smalltown charm bypasses superficial spectacle in favor of more substantial rewards.
The festival runs four days and features more than 80 different offerings, including narrative features, documentaries, short films, animated works, and experimental projects. I was enlisted at the last minute to serve as a member of OFF’s documentary jury, so I was unfortunately unable to attend the Opening Night screening of director Joshua Goldin’s Wonderful World, but took a break from some 20 hours of verite filmmaking to attend a party at Oxford’s Southside Gallery. In attendance were several of the filmmakers who brought their movies to the fest, as well as an array of other participants and locals without whose presence the festival simply wouldn’t have its singularly intimate feel.
Filed under: Comedy, Drama, Horror, Independent, SXSW, Distribution, Exhibition, DIY/Filmmaking, Cinematical Indie, Oxford Film Festival
Indie movie lovers of the greater Los Angeles area, take note of a wonderful gem from this year’s SXSW festival that’s coming your way. Make-Out with Violence is an angsty teenage zombie horror comedy that I caught last year at the Oxford Film Festival, and tonight – November 12 – it screens in Los Angeles. For free!
Ok, technically it’s screening in Alhambra. But this one-night only engagement will likely be your only chance to see the underappreciated indie film that our own Scott Weinberg called “pretty damn good” – and if I may add my own endorsement, Make-Out with Violence is original and gorgeously shot, a great alternative to mainstream (i.e. made with way more money) films about either teenage life or zombies. The best part? Make-Out with Violence is about both of those things. (It’s also got the most attractive zombie hottie of the year, with apologies to Zombieland’s Amber Heard.)
Filed under: Independent, Awards, Festival Reports, Cinematical Indie, Oxford Film Festival
Eric Snider and I spent this past weekend in lovely Oxford, Mississippi with our friend Jen Yamato from Rotten Tomatoes, where the three of us participated in a panel on Film and New Media for the Oxford Film Festival. I also served on the documentary features jury for the fest. Scott Weinberg was supposed to have been here with me and Jen, but a serious tooth issue kept him home in Philly. Scott still pulled duty on the dramatic features jury for the fest, and Eric very kindly dropped things on a moment’s notice the other day to fly to Oxford in Scott’s stead.
The three of us had an absolute blast in Oxford. I love these small town film festivals … everyone is so nice, the pace is laid-back and mellow — a nice change coming off the craziness of Sundance. We got into Memphis on Thursday, and Jen and I had some yummy BBQ at Corky’s — Memphis-style “dry” ribs and brisket that was to die for. Mmmm. After Eric got in, we drove the hour or so trip to Oxford.
Continue reading Oxford Film Fest: Movies and Panels and Parties, Oh My
Filed under: Comedy, Independent, New Releases, Distribution, Cinematical Indie, Oxford Film Festival
Anyone who has been to a film festival has had this experience: You watch a terrific movie, you think, “This film deserves an audience” — and then the movie is never heard from again. It doesn’t get theatrical distribution, and it winds up with a cursory DVD release 18 months later. The end. So sad.
Well, I am happy to report that a movie I feared would suffer that fate has been spared. It’s called Kabluey, and Cinematical’s Kim Voynar and I saw it at the Oxford (Mississippi) Film Festival back in February, where it won the jury prize. It’s a comedy about a directionless man who moves in with his sister to help take care of his hellion nephews, and who subsequently takes a lame job wearing a big dumb mascot suit and handing out fliers advertising available office space. The movie is funny, inventive, and sweet, and a real crowd-pleaser.
Scott Prendergast, who wrote, directed, and stars in the film, told us in Oxford that it had been acquired by some division of some studio and would be released in the summer. But as time passed, I noticed with some concern that no release date was being announced. Now, at last, we have confirmation: July 4 in New York, July 11 in L.A., and Aug. 1 in San Francisco. At the moment, that’s it before the film’s DVD release in the fall. So it’s not a huge theatrical release, but hey, it’s something.
Continue reading A Release Date for ‘Kabluey,’ One of Our Fave Li’l Indies
