The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Another Great Indie Film (The New Year)
Film 337
"Lost Angels: My Life on Skid Row"
narrated by: Catherine Keener
Here is a documentary that kind of opened my eyes to an area that I have to admit, I only know what the media has portrayed as a very sketchy and lost/forgotten "trapezoid" space of land found in Los Angeles. I learned that it's kind of a misconception to think of Skid Row as a homeless enclave. What I learned from the documentary, though, is that, yes, it definitely has a significant homeless population, but it actually has another offering as well: very cheap single-occupancy housing, in which poverty-stricken people living off government support checks can apply to live in. Unfortunately, there's not enough of it, though, even with the political idea years ago of cleaning up the area of riff-raff and crime, etc. and instead investing government funds in building more of those single-occupancy housing. As you would expect, many of the stories of these Skid Row residents include drugs, mental illness, or a combination of the two.
I really enjoyed how the filmmakers focused more on the individuals and their stories as the way of making the film more effective (emotionally).
We meet Danny Harris: a soft-spoken former Olympic sprinter who found pleasure in drugs which ruined his athletic career and helped him find his way to Skid Row.
There's also Bam Bam: a transgendered punk rocker who'd look more comfortable in the 1970s era of New York City, whose story is also riddled with drugs, but nowadays, he actually is in one of the single-occupancy apartments. But he did spend some time on the streets, living in a tent.
We also learn about a woman who has struggled for years with mental illness: Detroit, is her name- And she lived her life, was able to raise three daughters, but as they grew up, she found herself on the streets of Skid Row.
But, the filmmakers have clearly made sure to let you know that at the heart of the film is Kevin Cohen (aka KK). Upon first arrival, Kevin comes off as very witty, intellectual and likable. He's a middle-aged man who has a growing affection for the streets and the people of Skid Row. He is genuinely concerned for their safety and well-being. He is sort of the self-appointed/de facto authority figure around the streets of Skid Row. You can tell that his "peers" respect him and would never do anything to hurt/harm him or his really good, close friend (Lee Anne, who suffers her own mental illnesses, as she walks up and down the streets, picking up and keeping a shopping cart of trash with her everywhere she goes; and she feeds all the neighborhood cats and birds). Kevin is very focused on getting the message out to anyone who will listen that the folks on Skid Row and not, generally, all that bad. Over the years, I think, the area has made a bad name for itself through some of the crime that has happened (and yes, you bet, I would not find myself roaming the streets at night, because let's face it, that just doesn't seem smart at all, really in area big city, but especially those that have been well-known for having high crime rates throughout the year). Kevin is very outspoken about the issues and concerns he has with how the police force and the politicians have handled "cleaning up" the area.
The film gains a sense of political urgency with the viewer as well as the players involved when the filmmakers decide to dive into the Safer City Initiative (from 2006). Intended to first heavily police Skid Row and then provide relief services, the measure only delivered on the first half of the equation, with battalions of cops merely tasked with clearing the streets, and occasionally arresting and brutalizing those living there. In probably the best scene in the film, Kevin Cohen is called into action at a city council meeting to stand up for his neighborhood. You realize the film has led him to share his sentiments for the beleaguered district. The kicker comes at the end of the film, which I won't share with you. Instead, I will implore you to watch the documentary for yourself. It's worth the brief 75 minutes.
.......................................................................
Film 338
"The New Year"
starring: Trieste Kelly Dunn, Ryan Hunter, Kevin Wheatley
written and directed by: Brett Haley
I think I really love character study films, and it might be for the fact that when I write stories, I try to make them character studies as well. I really enjoy indie films that are slow building and really make you focus on the character and hopefully see their metamorphosis, as it happens (or at least their epiphany, which you can only hope small, slow building films because you want their to be a pay-off for the investment).
With this film, "The New Year," it's a little bit like "Garden State" (one of my all-time favorite movies about quarter life crisis), except here, it's a female in the lead role, having her crisis of conscious as well as what exactly to do with her life, or where to go from here. And I think I really love(d) "Garden State" because of my own state of mind when I saw it in the theater (when it first came out)- but even now, it has the ability to evoke certain feelings and thoughts. It might have been Zach Braff's crowning achievement, the pinnacle of his career.
With "The New Year," I think I fell in love instantly with Trieste Kelly Dunn (who really hasn't been in anything else worth mentioning, a few small roles here and there in film and television). She has the perfect look: girl-next-door mixed with internal contemplation and inner struggles. She also has that sexy, Scarlett Johansson voice, which is very attractive (to me)- and when she wears glasses, that's it for me! Anyway, enough about the lead actress.
The film is about a young woman named Sunny (Trieste Kelly Dunn) who has returned home, for about 2 and a half years at the start of the film, to take care of her ill father (he is suffering from cancer, but seems to be recovering, although, he's a bit slow moving). Sunny wants to see herself as a writer, but she just can't seem to find the inspiration for words. She has empty notebooks she wants to fill. She works at the local bowling alley, to make some money, which also allows her to read as many books as she wants and interact socially with high school chums for years past (some of which she wishes she didn't have to see, or have them see her back here). She feels some sense of failure, having returned home, even though it was for a good reason. Ultimately, her problem is that she feels stuck.
She has the same routine (the bowling alley, home to take care of her father) and she seems to have settled for a sweet, nice albeit unremarkable guy named Neal- who is a tae kwon do instructor for kids and who truly cares about Sunny). Suddenly, her routine is thrown about when she runs into an old high school "rival" named Isaac (Ryan Hunter) who seems to have done so much more with his life than Sunny could imagine with her own life. She's jealous, but intrigued. Isaac is a stand-up comedian trying to break into the business while living it up, hipster-style, in New York. His arrival really forces Sunny to confront herself, as she seems to be playing out dual roles: the Sunny as seen by others and their expectations of her (quiet, dutiful, selfless) and the repressed Sunny (ambitious, resentful, and slightly desperate).
The title of the film suggests the setting and time period for the film and you know that as the new year approaches, Sunny will be forced to do something for herself (hopefully). In the self-actualization scene, with Sunny looking at herself in the mirror as her mind works, your heart sort of breaks for her, because you want her to make the best decision for herself, you want her to see what you see as the best option. The film is one long, crisis of self-confrontation, which we've all gone through at one point in our lives (or will have to go through), so that's what makes films like this so sad, but good at the same time. It's about something real.
I really liked this film, and no, not just because Trieste Kelly Dunn embodies the epitome of the girl-next-door for me. It's a great story about an internal struggle.
.......................................................................
Film 339
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jack Quaid, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz
directed by: Francis Lawrence
Just like I enjoyed "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and appreciated it for its devotion and faithfulness to the written material that preceded it, I have found now with the first 2 "Hunger Games" films the same satisfaction. I believe this whole story is way more than the love triangle that perhaps the media is trying to spin on it (for two reasons: 1) the success of the "Twilight" series and how that was a love triangle film franchise and 2) perhaps the material at the core of "The Hunger Games" is actually really dark and philosophical, I mean, it is about kids killing each other- but at the same time, it's totally about way more than that).
Sure, Katniss Everdeen (the almost perfect Jennifer Lawrence, in a role one could almost assume was written for her, specifically) has acknowledged that romance/love has saved her ass more than once (having pretended to fall in love with her co-conspirator in the first film, Peeta). We now find her admitting how she feels about Gale (her real District 12 love interest), but not really saying it with the actual words- it's more of an understood thing between the two of them. Perhaps Suzanne Collins (the author of the trilogy) smartly knows that in young adult narratives there always has to be a love story and lust involved in order to captivate the demographic.
At the heart of the second film is the idea that media is a form of social control. Whoa! Heavy. Since the Hunger Games is a televised event to show each District that the Capitol still holds supreme control over its people, both are used as a form of social control. Instead of inducing hysteria (ultimately, the district's children are chosen out of a bowl and made to kill each other for society's amusement and almost as a distraction from all the shit the Capitol has done to ruin their lives), the Hunger Games induce both fear and excitement (much like the reality shows and 24-hour news stations have done for our own society/reality over the past 20 years). Scary huh? You've become a victim of your own government, but as long as we are highly entertained, we can forget.
But, now that Katniss has pretended to fall in love with Peeta, she must face the reality that it wasn't just to win the Hunger Games. She must now publicly perform this act, daily, in order to convince not only the Capitol, but everyone that it wasn't simply an act of defiance against the Capitol, but that she truly does love Peeta. All people involved behind the scenes seem to know its a farce. And the rest of society has come to view Katniss as a beacon of hope (for the revolution that must take place to overthrown the Capitol). The question that "Catching Fire" addresses rather well is: How much can performance really achieve? Can media really divert a revolution?
"As opposed to Lawrence, who's remarkable here in scenes that imply a lot more going on in her head than Katniss would like to admit, Katniss the character isn't yet a natural actress, and she doesn't quite achieve verisimilitude in her depiction of a young girl in love. So she ends up—you guessed it!—being forced to play in the Hunger Games yet again, this time with higher stakes and more complicated consequences as those in power desperately try to suppress her influence. Like an inverted Marie Antoinette (who represented the garishness of the ruling class rather than the struggle of the revolutionaries), Katniss is less person than symbol, a symbol which must be destroyed at all costs. But the performance continues: This is reality television to the death, and who performs more desperately and obviously than reality TV contestants?"
"Katniss learns to read her surroundings, figuring out how to discern allies from enemies and how to distinguish small battles from the bigger war. She's torn between a desire to escape and a desire to fight, a resistance to her status as a revolutionary and an innate desire to contribute to the rebellion. But luckily for her, the world of The Hunger Games is one in which small actions—the raising of a hand in salute during a demonstration, for example, or the wearing of a pin in the shape of a particular bird—are full of implication, symbols always leading directly to increasingly out of control chains of events. Even if all Katniss did was focus on choosing between Gale and Peeta, we could extrapolate from this particular choice a larger framework: How much will we sacrifice for the greater good, and how much does that sacrifice change us?"
This is another amazing achievement in filmmaking (as well as a great complement to the first film) with how crisp and clean and clear the world of "The Hunger Games" is presented to the viewer. You often feel like you are in the arena with these contestants. I absolutely loved this film and would even see it again (and again) because I think there's more than just the surface, which is what author Suzanne Collins wanted us to see.
"Lost Angels: My Life on Skid Row"
narrated by: Catherine Keener
Here is a documentary that kind of opened my eyes to an area that I have to admit, I only know what the media has portrayed as a very sketchy and lost/forgotten "trapezoid" space of land found in Los Angeles. I learned that it's kind of a misconception to think of Skid Row as a homeless enclave. What I learned from the documentary, though, is that, yes, it definitely has a significant homeless population, but it actually has another offering as well: very cheap single-occupancy housing, in which poverty-stricken people living off government support checks can apply to live in. Unfortunately, there's not enough of it, though, even with the political idea years ago of cleaning up the area of riff-raff and crime, etc. and instead investing government funds in building more of those single-occupancy housing. As you would expect, many of the stories of these Skid Row residents include drugs, mental illness, or a combination of the two.
I really enjoyed how the filmmakers focused more on the individuals and their stories as the way of making the film more effective (emotionally).
We meet Danny Harris: a soft-spoken former Olympic sprinter who found pleasure in drugs which ruined his athletic career and helped him find his way to Skid Row.
There's also Bam Bam: a transgendered punk rocker who'd look more comfortable in the 1970s era of New York City, whose story is also riddled with drugs, but nowadays, he actually is in one of the single-occupancy apartments. But he did spend some time on the streets, living in a tent.
We also learn about a woman who has struggled for years with mental illness: Detroit, is her name- And she lived her life, was able to raise three daughters, but as they grew up, she found herself on the streets of Skid Row.
But, the filmmakers have clearly made sure to let you know that at the heart of the film is Kevin Cohen (aka KK). Upon first arrival, Kevin comes off as very witty, intellectual and likable. He's a middle-aged man who has a growing affection for the streets and the people of Skid Row. He is genuinely concerned for their safety and well-being. He is sort of the self-appointed/de facto authority figure around the streets of Skid Row. You can tell that his "peers" respect him and would never do anything to hurt/harm him or his really good, close friend (Lee Anne, who suffers her own mental illnesses, as she walks up and down the streets, picking up and keeping a shopping cart of trash with her everywhere she goes; and she feeds all the neighborhood cats and birds). Kevin is very focused on getting the message out to anyone who will listen that the folks on Skid Row and not, generally, all that bad. Over the years, I think, the area has made a bad name for itself through some of the crime that has happened (and yes, you bet, I would not find myself roaming the streets at night, because let's face it, that just doesn't seem smart at all, really in area big city, but especially those that have been well-known for having high crime rates throughout the year). Kevin is very outspoken about the issues and concerns he has with how the police force and the politicians have handled "cleaning up" the area.
The film gains a sense of political urgency with the viewer as well as the players involved when the filmmakers decide to dive into the Safer City Initiative (from 2006). Intended to first heavily police Skid Row and then provide relief services, the measure only delivered on the first half of the equation, with battalions of cops merely tasked with clearing the streets, and occasionally arresting and brutalizing those living there. In probably the best scene in the film, Kevin Cohen is called into action at a city council meeting to stand up for his neighborhood. You realize the film has led him to share his sentiments for the beleaguered district. The kicker comes at the end of the film, which I won't share with you. Instead, I will implore you to watch the documentary for yourself. It's worth the brief 75 minutes.
.......................................................................
Film 338
"The New Year"
starring: Trieste Kelly Dunn, Ryan Hunter, Kevin Wheatley
written and directed by: Brett Haley
I think I really love character study films, and it might be for the fact that when I write stories, I try to make them character studies as well. I really enjoy indie films that are slow building and really make you focus on the character and hopefully see their metamorphosis, as it happens (or at least their epiphany, which you can only hope small, slow building films because you want their to be a pay-off for the investment).
With this film, "The New Year," it's a little bit like "Garden State" (one of my all-time favorite movies about quarter life crisis), except here, it's a female in the lead role, having her crisis of conscious as well as what exactly to do with her life, or where to go from here. And I think I really love(d) "Garden State" because of my own state of mind when I saw it in the theater (when it first came out)- but even now, it has the ability to evoke certain feelings and thoughts. It might have been Zach Braff's crowning achievement, the pinnacle of his career.
With "The New Year," I think I fell in love instantly with Trieste Kelly Dunn (who really hasn't been in anything else worth mentioning, a few small roles here and there in film and television). She has the perfect look: girl-next-door mixed with internal contemplation and inner struggles. She also has that sexy, Scarlett Johansson voice, which is very attractive (to me)- and when she wears glasses, that's it for me! Anyway, enough about the lead actress.
The film is about a young woman named Sunny (Trieste Kelly Dunn) who has returned home, for about 2 and a half years at the start of the film, to take care of her ill father (he is suffering from cancer, but seems to be recovering, although, he's a bit slow moving). Sunny wants to see herself as a writer, but she just can't seem to find the inspiration for words. She has empty notebooks she wants to fill. She works at the local bowling alley, to make some money, which also allows her to read as many books as she wants and interact socially with high school chums for years past (some of which she wishes she didn't have to see, or have them see her back here). She feels some sense of failure, having returned home, even though it was for a good reason. Ultimately, her problem is that she feels stuck.
She has the same routine (the bowling alley, home to take care of her father) and she seems to have settled for a sweet, nice albeit unremarkable guy named Neal- who is a tae kwon do instructor for kids and who truly cares about Sunny). Suddenly, her routine is thrown about when she runs into an old high school "rival" named Isaac (Ryan Hunter) who seems to have done so much more with his life than Sunny could imagine with her own life. She's jealous, but intrigued. Isaac is a stand-up comedian trying to break into the business while living it up, hipster-style, in New York. His arrival really forces Sunny to confront herself, as she seems to be playing out dual roles: the Sunny as seen by others and their expectations of her (quiet, dutiful, selfless) and the repressed Sunny (ambitious, resentful, and slightly desperate).
The title of the film suggests the setting and time period for the film and you know that as the new year approaches, Sunny will be forced to do something for herself (hopefully). In the self-actualization scene, with Sunny looking at herself in the mirror as her mind works, your heart sort of breaks for her, because you want her to make the best decision for herself, you want her to see what you see as the best option. The film is one long, crisis of self-confrontation, which we've all gone through at one point in our lives (or will have to go through), so that's what makes films like this so sad, but good at the same time. It's about something real.
I really liked this film, and no, not just because Trieste Kelly Dunn embodies the epitome of the girl-next-door for me. It's a great story about an internal struggle.
.......................................................................
Film 339
"The Hunger Games: Catching Fire"
starring: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Jack Quaid, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Stanley Tucci, Lenny Kravitz
directed by: Francis Lawrence
Just like I enjoyed "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and appreciated it for its devotion and faithfulness to the written material that preceded it, I have found now with the first 2 "Hunger Games" films the same satisfaction. I believe this whole story is way more than the love triangle that perhaps the media is trying to spin on it (for two reasons: 1) the success of the "Twilight" series and how that was a love triangle film franchise and 2) perhaps the material at the core of "The Hunger Games" is actually really dark and philosophical, I mean, it is about kids killing each other- but at the same time, it's totally about way more than that).
Sure, Katniss Everdeen (the almost perfect Jennifer Lawrence, in a role one could almost assume was written for her, specifically) has acknowledged that romance/love has saved her ass more than once (having pretended to fall in love with her co-conspirator in the first film, Peeta). We now find her admitting how she feels about Gale (her real District 12 love interest), but not really saying it with the actual words- it's more of an understood thing between the two of them. Perhaps Suzanne Collins (the author of the trilogy) smartly knows that in young adult narratives there always has to be a love story and lust involved in order to captivate the demographic.
At the heart of the second film is the idea that media is a form of social control. Whoa! Heavy. Since the Hunger Games is a televised event to show each District that the Capitol still holds supreme control over its people, both are used as a form of social control. Instead of inducing hysteria (ultimately, the district's children are chosen out of a bowl and made to kill each other for society's amusement and almost as a distraction from all the shit the Capitol has done to ruin their lives), the Hunger Games induce both fear and excitement (much like the reality shows and 24-hour news stations have done for our own society/reality over the past 20 years). Scary huh? You've become a victim of your own government, but as long as we are highly entertained, we can forget.
But, now that Katniss has pretended to fall in love with Peeta, she must face the reality that it wasn't just to win the Hunger Games. She must now publicly perform this act, daily, in order to convince not only the Capitol, but everyone that it wasn't simply an act of defiance against the Capitol, but that she truly does love Peeta. All people involved behind the scenes seem to know its a farce. And the rest of society has come to view Katniss as a beacon of hope (for the revolution that must take place to overthrown the Capitol). The question that "Catching Fire" addresses rather well is: How much can performance really achieve? Can media really divert a revolution?
"As opposed to Lawrence, who's remarkable here in scenes that imply a lot more going on in her head than Katniss would like to admit, Katniss the character isn't yet a natural actress, and she doesn't quite achieve verisimilitude in her depiction of a young girl in love. So she ends up—you guessed it!—being forced to play in the Hunger Games yet again, this time with higher stakes and more complicated consequences as those in power desperately try to suppress her influence. Like an inverted Marie Antoinette (who represented the garishness of the ruling class rather than the struggle of the revolutionaries), Katniss is less person than symbol, a symbol which must be destroyed at all costs. But the performance continues: This is reality television to the death, and who performs more desperately and obviously than reality TV contestants?"
"Katniss learns to read her surroundings, figuring out how to discern allies from enemies and how to distinguish small battles from the bigger war. She's torn between a desire to escape and a desire to fight, a resistance to her status as a revolutionary and an innate desire to contribute to the rebellion. But luckily for her, the world of The Hunger Games is one in which small actions—the raising of a hand in salute during a demonstration, for example, or the wearing of a pin in the shape of a particular bird—are full of implication, symbols always leading directly to increasingly out of control chains of events. Even if all Katniss did was focus on choosing between Gale and Peeta, we could extrapolate from this particular choice a larger framework: How much will we sacrifice for the greater good, and how much does that sacrifice change us?"
This is another amazing achievement in filmmaking (as well as a great complement to the first film) with how crisp and clean and clear the world of "The Hunger Games" is presented to the viewer. You often feel like you are in the arena with these contestants. I absolutely loved this film and would even see it again (and again) because I think there's more than just the surface, which is what author Suzanne Collins wanted us to see.
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