Jeffrey Wells

None So Blind As Those Who Will Not See

by

Yesterday a photo emerged from the Chicago Tribune archives of a 21 year old Bernie Sanders being arrested at a civil-rights demonstration in August 1963. A University of Chicago senior at the time, Sanders was being hauled into a police wagon. He was charged with resisting arrest, found guilty and fined $25. The following year 18 year-old Hillary Clinton became a supporter of the presidential campaign of Sen Barry Goldwater, who voted against the Civil Rights Act of ’64 and had vowed to “re-segregate” America. And yet African-American voters stubbornly persist in believing that Hillary is more on their team than Bernie, that she more strongly empathizes, etc. See what I mean about low information voting not being the exclusive province of rural whites?

The Moment I Realized Carol Was Toast With Older Viewers (i.e., Academy Voters)

by

Todd Haynes‘ Carol may have been, for me, the most emotionally affecting relationship film of 2015. I’m not going to rehash all the praise-worthy elements (Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara‘s fully felt performances, Ed Lachman‘s 16mm cinematography, the early ’50s vibe of repression and propriety). It so perfectly captured, for me, what it feels like to be in love (“I know how it feels to have wings on your heels”). I particularly remember what a high it was to see it in Cannes…everyone was levitating, it seemed. Then I saw it again six months later — in late October, or a month before it opened commercially on 11.20 — at the Middleburg Film Festival. Middleburg is a more conservative town than Los Angeles, of course, but it’s similar to the Academy in that it’s full of wealthy over-50 white people. And the instant Carol finished playing in the main conference room of Middleburg’s Salamander Resort and the lights came up, you could feel the vibe. They “liked” and respected it, but they didn’t love it. The atmosphere was approving and appreciative, but a bit cool. And I said to myself, “Okay, that’s it…not even Christine Vachon dreamed that Carol could win Best Picture Oscar but after Cannes I thought it would probably be Best Picture-nominated because it’s so affecting and classy and poised….now I don’t think that’ll happen.” It went on to win big with critics and industry groups, but older whites never embraced it. They somehow didn’t see themselves in it. (Here’s my 10.24.15 post about Carol‘s Middleburg reception.)

“The Over-The-Cliff Shot Was Very Wily Coyote”

by

Anne Thompson to Eric Kohn: “The Revenant feels like the kind of movie that represents the Academy the way they want to see themselves…a brave, extraordinarily risky art film…there’s something very pure about Inarritu…he always chases after the same holy grail, some kind of cinematic poetry…his lack of experience with a big budget made him make The Revenant like an indie film…the PGA didn’t give The Revenant [their Daryl F. Zanuck award] because it horrified them….horror and awe.”

Revisiting Sayles at Cinefamily Retrospective

by

Legendary director-writer John Sayles is making three appearances (one tonight, two tomorrow) during a tribute at Cinefamily. “A Weekend With John Sayles” rundown: Brother From Another Planet and Piranha (Friday, 2.19, 7:30pm); Master Filmmaking Class w/ Sayles + City of Hope at (Saturday, 2.20, 3pm); Lianna & Baby, It’s You (Saturday, 2.20, 7:30 pm). We did a phoner two or three days ago — sorry for not posting sooner.

Read more

New Snowden Date Is Not Award-Season Friendly

by

Earlier today Dark Horizons‘ Garth Franklin reported that the release date of Oliver Stone‘s Snowden has been bumped again. It was initially shifted from late December (two months ago) to 5.13.16. Now Open Road has pushed it back to 9.16.16. Franklin has written that this puts it “back into awards contention”, but opening a movie in the middle of the 2016 Toronto Film Festival (which will run from 9.8 to 9.18) is not a good award-season strategy.

A mid-Toronto Film Festival opening is actually a telegraphed message to critics and award-season blogaroonies as follows: “Snowden is a first-rate Oliver Stone spy thriller but honestly? Thrillers are thrillers and we’re fine with it being a smart piece of adult entertainment. We don’t really see it as an awards contender. If we did we’d obviously open it sometime between mid October and early December. But we don’t want to open it in the summer either because the subject matter doesn’t fit the warm-weather paradigm so this is a reasonably good fit.”

Read more

Five Big Short Die-Hards (a.k.a., Flintlocks and Sabers At The Alamo)

by

Hollywood Elsewhere to Matt Atchity of Rotten Tomatoes, Tim Gray of Variety, Nicole Sperling of Entertainment Weekly, Sasha Stone of Awards Daily and Glenn Whipp of the L.A. Times: Last night I caught my third viewing of The Big Short. I saw it with a first-timer (a lady who knows the markets) at the Landmark on Pico. Loved Ryan Gosling, still irritated by Christian Bale (Aspergers personality , odd teeth , bare feet). It’s a very smart, sometimes funny, engaging-as-far-as-it-goes tutorial and a total Bernie Sanders movie…great! Politics aside I liked it better than I did the first time and about as much as I did the second, but it doesn’t have that Best Picture schwing…it just doesn’t. I think it’s obvious that em>The Revenant will take the Best Picture Oscar. And yet you’re continuing to predict a Big Short win on Gold Derby.com. And that’s totally fine. I admire your fortitude. But could you share your reasons why? Above and beyond the statistical precedent factor or the PGA vote? Gut-wise, what tells you that it has a decent shot? Because the lady I saw it with last night was going “it’s too hard to follow…it’s not well-organized, Bale is too weird, I liked Spotlight much better,” etc.

by

Click here to jump past HE Sink-In

Horror is viral, waiting in the blood. How to release it? Easy — deliver the shocks, summon the grotesque, bare the fangs, drool the saliva, screech the soundtrack…the usual bag of tricks. Delivering a half-decent fright flick is within the abilities of most marginally talented directors. But it takes an exceptional wizard to finesse things in a subliminal way…to instill something that creeps and crawls beyond the corner of your eye…a slightly demonic something-or-other that is elusive and yet deliberate and merciless as fuck.

Even more exceptional (and pretty close to unique) would be a period horror film that operates according to the myths of its day, that eschews the reliable Wes Craven devices in favor of resuscitating nightmares that terrified the hell out of modest, rational people three or four centuries ago…goats, crows, claws, beaks, witches and even the most fleeting thoughts of sex out of wedlock or even, you know, sexual notions about your own sister or daughter. Out, demon!

This is what Robert Eggers‘ The Witch (A24, 2.19) does and then some. Set on a small New England farm in the early 1600s, it delivers creeps and chills according to the myths and suppressions of its time. Which isn’t to imply it errs on the side of subtlety…far from it. It’s just playing a different game.

If your tastes run to the primitive, you’ll most likely say “Hey, where’s the usual scary-ass shit that I’m used to? C’mon..I paid for my ticket and my popcorn…lay it on me!” There’s no talking to people like this. It takes a sliver of sensitivity and a little bit of brain-cell percolation to get what The Witch is up to, and the fact is that animals like what they like, want what they want, and never the twain shall meet.

Here’s how I put it a month ago: “The Witch may be too good for some — too subterranean, too otherworldly, too scrupulous in its avoidance of cliches. And because it goes for chills and creeps rather than shock and gore.


Read more