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Full trailer for our short heist movie, Phone Box Gun, is up. Check it out!

https://vimeo.com/44186381

Checkout this truly sensational opening to Hou Hsiao-Hsien's "Three Times"

He is a remarkable artist...Woody Allen: A Documentary (UK trailer)

The Great Acting Blog: "Why Actors Quit"

Orson Welles in Chimes At Midnight, inspiring.

 

 

I ran into an old actor friend of mine recently, who, when I asked him how it was going, replied; “I'm not doing it anymore”, and that he had turned the temporary contract of his day job into a permanent one. Following this admission, he blew out on his lips, scrunched-up his face, and shrugged as if to say; “I've made my decision, it's gone now”. Whenever I hear someone has quit, I still get slightly shocked, although by now I shouldn't. I suppose it's because I know he will now move out of my social orbit and into something more normal, this is especially true since his new job has got nothing whatsoever to do with art. I also know that the questions of his life will change radically, and the obsession with which those of us who remain chase our goals, will probably begin to seem incomprehensible to him. Crucially, by leaving the stage as it were, my friend has severed the bond which exists between actors, and which exists despite the ultra-competitive nature of the life. What is this bond? It is the bond of shared experience, those experiences which are unique to acting but common to all actors, and while those experiences will at least reside in memory, we all know that the ex-actor is no longer part of the hunt.

 

All the actors I've known who had purely cynical motives, have failed. All of them. It's easy to enter the arena, not so easy to stay there. The industrial model of art is false. It cannot be approached as a salaried 9 to 5 job, because it is not that – the actor is not allowed to settle into a cosy routine, for the actor is constantly being asked new questions. In order to find the resilience to constantly face upto those new questions, the actor must pursue goals which are higher than simply making money; he must have longe range aesthetic, technical and philisophical goals, goals which energize him, lift him, help him get back up off the canvas one more time. The mundane goal of paying bills will not nourish him through lean times, through confusing and frightening times, and will not help him overcome the grinding resistence to his work (which all actors face) – in short, he may decide that the tumult of an actor's life is not worth the hassle, that there are easier ways of paying his rent, and because he doesn't have those higher goals, he is unable to resist the soothing lure of security, and so turns his back on his art.

 

The goals that we set ourselves need to invigorate us to the extent that we can overcome the obstacles which prevent us from achieving them.

 

Drifting Clouds Cinema Blog: Nuts4R2 Reviews "The Pedro Almodovar Archives"

 

The Reign In Spain


The Pedro Almodovar Archives
Taschen. ISBN: 3836502836

This is the second most expensive book I’ve ever owned (next to Tim Lucas’ lectern crushing All The Colours Of The Dark book on Mario Bava) and it was bought for me by my girlfriend as a Christmas present and is, therefore, an extremely precious possession of mine... the sentimental circumstances of my ownership being far greater in value than the mere monetary cost could ever be.

The book is one of those impressively put together coffee table books that Taschen obviously take great pride in putting out, presumably catering for a market that consists of people prosperous enough to own giant sized coffee tables. This book is so heavy and voluminous (yes, it’s a voluminous volume) that they have even manufactured its own cardboard box clamshell packaging to house it, which kinda folds up into a carrying case (it’s a heavy piece). The book is a sheer delight to pore through with eyes wide open at the impressive amount of colour plates from every Almodovar movie made from his first feature film Pepi, Luci, Bom... right the way through to his recent movie The Skin I Live In. It even includes a strip of film from Volver in the frontispiece, which is a really nice thing to have for itself too.

The book is divided into quite long chapters (one chapter per movie) with each chapter being split up into subsections. Some of these chapters start off with a review of the movie by a leading film critic, the majority of which are contemporaneous to the release of that movie. The sections then go on with interviews (conducted by Almodovar himself) and various other examinations of the characters and story inspirations from the director. Yeah, that’s right. Almodovar interviews himself because he reckons he’s the only one qualified to ask the right questions of his work... I guess he’s got a point.

He’s a pretty good writer too. As I started to read this I remembered why I loved the majority of his films so much. It took me right back to my earliest encounter with his work in my mind. I remember going to the Lumiere cinema in London in 1990, driven up there late one Saturday night by one of my bestest friends we watched Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down and both loved the antics of the young Antonio Banderas (before the Americans had even heard of him) and the gorgeous and comical performance of Victoria Abril. After similar kinds of trips took me to see both High Heels and Kika on their release (Kika is very much an under-rated movie... I think it’s another masterpiece, personally) I was definitely hooked and started exploring his back catalogue whenever I could afford to on home video and TV broadcasts of such Almodovar classics as Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown. I now have all his movies on DVD, of course, barring his last one... The Skin I Live In... which I didn’t rate as much as some of his others (I’ll maybe rewatch it when it hits the HMV sales for £3).

Almodovar’s movies are very much a unique viewing experience within the convoluted history of cinema, of course. The way his curious sensibilities translate both his own ideas and those of other writers (Live Flesh, The Skin I Live In) are quite brightly coloured affairs and light up the screen with a vivid intensity of emotion that others would express very differently. His written word on the page is also like that and it’s even evident on the “pull quotes” that Taschen have lifted to layer the overall great graphic design of the book. Everything about this tome is reflective of the spirit of Almadovar and it’s truly a joy to read from start to finish (not a quick read either, with over 400 giant pages to pour through and gawp at). My favourite bit was the tired and exhaustive account of one of Almodovar’s trips to America, peaking with his acceptance of the best director Oscar (I don’t remember which picture, to be honest). His enthusiasm for meeting all these Hollywood stars and directors is not dampened by the occasional judgement of some of them... it’s like listening to a kid on a walkie talkie giving a running commentary of all the kinds of sweets they have in his favourite candy store.

Because of the constant personal touch of Almodovar’s candid writing style, The Pedro Almodovar Archives is a book you’re not going to want to put down in a hurry (and for goodness sake don’t drop it on your toe or you’ll be in trouble) and, as I said, the writing style is very reflective of the artist behind all those movies bearing the director’s “brand name” that you know and love. This is a truly excellent and, above all, appropriate celebration of Pedro Almodovar’s cinematic adventures and, as such, is something that I’m sure every Almodovar fan will enjoy. It’s an expensive tome, to be sure, but if you can find the spare cash and want to invest in a truly great tribute (if not entirely comprehensive, like a book written by an outside researcher might have been... but that would have given the book a much duller flavour) to a true master of Spanish cinema, then it’s worth scraping the cash together and giving this one a read. I had a really good time with this book and can thoroughly recommend it.

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The Great Acting Blog: "The Right Trajectory"

The last few years, for me, have been about accomplishing very specific goals artistically, to find the correct artistic configuration (which takes longer than you might think), and getting my various working processes to work in harmony with eachother, and so increase the quality of my work, and in turn my productivity. Of course, a perfect situation is never arrived at, for there is always the day-to-day refinement and improvement of method, of sharpening my understanding, of getting my thinking to be bell-clear about what it is I am trying to do. Having said that however, I feel broadly speaking I am on the right trajectory, which means that if I keep going as I am, then over time I will accomplish my life's goals. This is an important place to be, because I am able to launch several projects into motion simultaneously, and am well placed to cope with the fierce workload.

How does the actor know if he is on the right trajectory long-term (ie- that he is not wasting his time)? The peculiar position for all actors is that there is no ladder (no matter how we try to imagine there is one), there is no general formula for progression, there is no career path as such - there basically are no rules, and that is why the actor's life cannot be studied, cannot be mapped out before it begins, the actor just needs to make a start and learn as he goes, making adjustments on the hoof, and hopefully not repeating the same mistakes. Trajectory then, is a personal thing. The actor must define his goals for himself, and work backwards from those goals to determine trajectory. But how does he define his goals? How does he know that the goals he set himself are infact his goals? Ie- are the goals he's set really the things he wants to spend his life trying to accomplish? If you think that's a stupid question, might I say that over the years I've come across many actors, filmmakers, writers etc, who go on and on about how much they love their chosen art form, only to quit practicing it entirely, after a couple of years or so. Love is not enough. So, how does the actor know if the goals he's set himself are the right ones? The answer is: he cannot know, not for at least a few years anyway, after a few years of toil and failure, of remaining on that track until it clicks into place. After a certain period of time without finding the right trajectory, he may start to feel as though the goals he's set himself are no longer worth gambling more time out of his life for, and are no longer worth the hassle, and he may choose to do something else, something which is mapped out and provides guaranteed rewards (such as a salaried office job) - and the answer to the question will have been found.

The important point is this: if you want to be an artist, then you've got to spend that time finding out about yourself, and finding out about your art. Things won't unfold as you thought they would, and your life won't take the same pattern as many of your peers who chose the safe path of routine. But if you are willing to put in the hard yards, then you will know the exhilaration of discovering your true purpose in life, you will discover that thing which will give meaning to everything you do. In my book, that's worth fighting for.