mumblecore

[Keith Alan Morris]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/movies/19lim.html

great article on the new "movement" in filmmaking...

[Unwounded]

Do You See......Do You See what happens when you give trust fund hipsters cameras and little oversight.........Now go to your $1400/month 8x10' room in Williamsburg and don't come out till you've learned your lessons.....:tongue:

[I Bloom]

I was in fact at a party in Williamsburg of all places and someone brought up Mumblecore last night. Its a hot topic, (which means probably that its over). A lot differing oppinions, some love it, some think its bullshit. I guess its whatever you want it to be, people value different things in movies, I think Festin (The Celebration) is one of the greatest movies of all time, but I also love great cinematography and great production design.

I'd love to see a mumblecore movie shot on RED, a little shallow depth of field would work wonders I think. Based on the rental price discussion thread, I don't see that happening for a few years.

Just for your info, I live in Sunset park and I paid my way through college hanging drywall.

IBloom

[Unwounded]

Sorry Ibloom. I've spent a lot of time in NY and Williamsburg(in particular) and I've met some trustfund hipsters and couldn't resist the snarky comment. I haven't actually seen any of the mumblecore movies so I have no right to be judgmental.

[Sean]

Puffy Chair is awesome.

[Keith Alan Morris]

man, i wish there was a 1400/mo place all to my own in the burg.

i shared a loft there with an ex-con for years. there were very few trustfund hipsters around the burg up til 2003, I cant speak for it now. when japanese tourists started getting off the subway with their suitcases and asking me where galapagos was, it was time to move. i think the cost of living keeps everyone humble. 8 bucks for a pint nowadays? no thanks.

Anyone see those other films mentioned besides The Puffy Chair?

[I Bloom]

Sorry Ibloom. I've spent a lot of time in NY and Williamsburg(in particular) and I've met some trustfund hipsters and couldn't resist the snarky comment. I haven't actually seen any of the mumblecore movies so I have no right to be judgmental.

I went to school with some of those guys, in NC. Nice guys. The DP of Quiet city is an awesome guy and really serious about his craft.

My feeling about Dogma95 and now mumblecore is that its a really good thing and has a spot in the giant spectrum of filmmaking.

But if you want to impress me with your movie you need to drag a steam boat over a mountain. I mean that both literally and metaphorically. Great art comes from difficulty, not from circumvention.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fitzcarraldo

Very few lights used in Fitzcarraldo as well.

I also feel like a geek when I'm on the L train, my pants aren't very tight.

IBloom

[I Bloom]

i think the cost of living keeps everyone humble. 8 bucks for a pint nowadays? no thanks.
This poster kind of sums up my feelings about that part of the city. I took this with my cell phone. http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/582_1187504370.jpg
Consider Brighton Beach or Red Hook when seeking cheaper alcohol.

[Keith Alan Morris]

This poster kind of sums up my feelings about that part of the city. I took this with my cell phone. http://www.reduser.net/forum/uploaded/582_1187504370.jpg


shoot me in the head.

[Andrew Benz]

shoot me in the head.

No shit :sick: . I will take Greenpoint please, real people and let's face it... Polish (re-former eastern bloc) chicks are hot!

[Emanuel A.]

Very interesting article. I second the Andrew thoughts especially on the polish chicks...

EDIT -- Speaking about polish culture, without forget one of the polish and world cinema's masters that we can just vividly recommend (who I had the pleasure to know personally and unfortunately missed): Krzysztof Kieślowski

[Andrew Benz]

"Funny Ha Ha" was a horrible (in a really bad way) movie, I am scared (or is it scarred) that it seems to have caused a movement...

Haha... E. I found some friends of mine who were moving up from Little Rock a great apartment in Greenpoint, Brooklyn in 1994. I lived on the east coast back then... Anyway the place was a brand new re furbished 2 bedroom above a polish butcher shop... $700 a month back then... You would not have believed the streams of beautiful, ethnic and culturally diverse women... great two years...

[Emanuel A.]

Interesting coincidence following our PMs a few minutes ago, Andrew... 1994 was the year when I met Krzysztof Kieślowski.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Krzysztof_Kieslowski.jpg

[Andrew Benz]

Interesting coincidence following our PMs a few minutes ago, Andrew... 1994 was the year when I met Krzysztof Kie?lowski.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Krzysztof_Kieslowski.jpg

That must have been amazing, he was well into his trlilogy (all released at this point yes?) I would love to hear more about it... please pm me..

sorry to everyone about the tangent:innocent:

[Jaime Vallés]

and let's face it... Polish (re-former eastern bloc) chicks are hot!
Hehe... My wife is Polish. :devil:

And, yes, that poster is flat-out barfable. I need a shower.

[Adrian Correia]

hey! So is mine...well Polish/Ukranian

[I Bloom]

Ehem! Cough! Back to the topic of the thread. I think most of the mumblecore kids are really living in east Williamsburg AKA Bushwick. SO THIS WHOLE CONVERSATION IS IRRELEVENT to the very important topic at hand.

[Keith Alan Morris]

i lived in greenpoint right on the water for years. i miss those polish girls. they liked us white boys. sigh.

erm, oh right! sorry. mumblecore. so i got one person who's seen one other mumblecore film besides Puffy Chair? Funny Haha? and it sucked? Anyone else?

[krd]

Polish girls notwithstanding, you really do want to stay out of Greenpoint -- it lies on top of a huge gas spill, which won't improve your concentration.

Delight in these mumblecore movies is probably a 20-something thing, but it's pretty threadbare, no? The lack of great hair and production pretensions can be refreshing, but the whole movement seems like an anachronism or time wrap. This stuff was old before Casavettes, Godard and Jarmusch, even though such movies weren't made before Casavettes, Jarmusch and Godard. Make sense?

[Keith Alan Morris]

Makes sense. I'm always wondering why everything has to be categorized and labeled by the media and society at large--everything has to be a "movement."

I'm all for DIY picking up steam, because then someone new is bound to make a truly great film eventually, and with little resources. I see these guys making movies in their 20's and 30's with nothing...eventually if they keep at it, they're only going to get better and that's exciting.

and what's this about a gas spill? that sounds scary.

[Joe Carney]

Makes sense. I'm always wondering why everything has to be categorized and labeled by the media and society at large--everything has to be a "movement."

I'm all for DIY picking up steam, because then someone new is bound to make a truly great film eventually, and with little resources. I see these guys making movies in their 20's and 30's with nothing...eventually if they keep at it, they're only going to get better and that's exciting.

and what's this about a gas spill? that sounds scary.

One of the subjects of the article didn't like the reductive effect of putting a label on something. (Paraphrasing). Even though I may be too old, I guess I'll have to check out a couple of them and judge for myself.

[krd]

Makes sense. I'm always wondering why everything has to be categorized and labeled by the media and society at large--everything has to be a "movement."

I'm all for DIY picking up steam, because then someone new is bound to make a truly great film eventually, and with little resources. I see these guys making movies in their 20's and 30's with nothing...eventually if they keep at it, they're only going to get better and that's exciting.

and what's this about a gas spill? that sounds scary.

One of the oil big companies (I think Shell?) was responsible for the leak, over a long, long time period. It's a huge underground lake -- of gas. They've been pumping it out for years, but at a criminally slow pace. There are illness clusters in some areas, and in some houses the fumes are mind-altering. Stay away, if you can!

The DIY movement in film has been going on since at least the mid 1980s ("slacker films?"), and long before that, if we count the early avant-garde era.

However admirable for the initiative, the DIY ethic in film production doesn't seem to work so well in the end. It won't be news to anyone here that dramatic illusion usually costs money, unless you shoot conversations on couches and cast your friends. Coppola offered that now famous prediction, that some fat kid in a mid western state would eventually create a masterpiece with her father's camcorder, but I think even he's given up on it.

Then again, two favorite films of the last 10 years or so were both very low budget DIY affairs (or almost), so who can say....

[I Bloom]

As for the DIY movement, it's been going on since at least the mid 1980s ("slacker films?"), and long before that, if we count the early avant-garde era.

People seem to keep rediscovering this same style and rebranding it, I think thats a little distasteful. I also really appreciate it when filmmakers go far from themselves and their own lives. Especially when I don't particularly relate to their lives. The underlying subtext of the filmmaker is, "I'm not trying to impress you." I want to be impressed. So go out there a f-ing start dragging that boat.

IBloom

[Jaime Vallés]

So go out there a f-ing start dragging that boat.
I nominate this for Quote of the Day.

BTW, I saw Fitzcarraldo at a screening in Lincoln Center a few years ago. VERY cool movie, and the boat sequence is truly impressive.