My Dear Friends: Arborea....And Some Films
Saturday night, Lauren and I went to see a couple of dear friends of mine, a married couple who are also musicians and go by the name: Arborea. Now, if you haven't heard their music, do yourself a favor and check out their music. I think what's most amazing about them is that they hail from my hometown of Lewiston, Maine. I've known Buck (the guitarist/multi-instrumentalist) for many years, dating back to my days working retail at Bull Moose Music, when he used to come in and we would chat about a variety of music; these conversations have carried on over the years, and happened while I was a radio DJ at Bates College (where my sister went). I remember, specifically, he called up my show and we were talking. He ended up dropping by the studio and gave me copies of their first couple of CDs. I fell in love, instantly, with their musical style and sound. It's kind of hard to put their sound in a box, but if I had to pigeonhole them, I would say they lean towards the folk genre in the Appalachia Mountains.
Anyway, they have toured all over the world, literally, but have always come back home and played some nice, intimate gigs. They've played great places like: She Doesn't Like Gutheries (in Lewiston), SPACE Gallery (in Portland), Longfellow Center (in Portland).
Saturday, they were playing at this cool, intimately small venue called Frontier. I hadn't been there and saw this was a great opportunity to catch up with people I'm glad to call friends, and also experience a new venue.
........................................................................
Film 332
"The New Guy"
starring: DJ Qualls, Elisha Dushku, Zooey Deschanel, Jerod Mixon, Parry Shen, Lyle Lovett, Eddie Griffin, Sunny Mabrey
I was a little bit like the main character in high school. A little bit. I was more of a wallflower than I guess the dude everyone made fun of or played jokes on. And I did stand up for myself. I mostly ran my mouth off, which got me in trouble often.
"The New Guy" is almost like a male-geek fantasy. DJ Qualls plays the main character, Gil, who is the high schooler misfit (typical of many, many films in the same genre) who ends up switching schools and getting a fresh start at a new school. He has been getting advice (while in jail? for some inexplicable reason) from Eddie Griffin's character, who's also in jail, which will help Gil redefine himself at his new high school. And Gil wants to take advantage of the clean slate, so he shows up looking different/harder and he comes with a background story that he hopes will intimidate the tough guys and also attract the hot girls. See what I mean about the teenage boy fantasy? It almost avoids the cliched teenage, high school dramedy thanks in large part to DJ Qualls likability factor. He has a goofy, wide grin throughout the entire film; and he has an offhanded approach to his delivery of the dialogue.
It's not necessarily a movie that makes a lot of sense (re: lots of missing pieces to the whole puzzle/story, a lot of holes never filled, weird montages and scenes stolen from other films like "Patton"
and "Braveheart"). It's like some people in Hollywood were sleeping, drunk, or extremely high when they okayed this film's production. But, with that being said, it's still has quite a bit of heart, and for that I give it credit. It's certainly not a movie that will change your life, but it will definitely make you laugh, if you are particularly feeling like an immature high school boy. It doesn't make any sense, really, but then again maybe it just doesn't have to. Perhaps it was simply a pulpit to display Elisha Dushku as the hot girl that gets with the (disguised) geek. You can't really help but like DJ Qualls. And after this, you should watch him in "Road Trip," because that's a way better movie.
.....................................................................
Film 333
"The Lesser Blessed"
starring: Benjamin Bratt, Joel Evans, Kiowa Gordon, Chloe Rose, Adam Butcher
written and directed by: Anita Doron
This is a quiet and sensitive coming-of-age story about a teenage boy from the First Nations tribe-heritage living in the Northwest Territory of Canada (some beautifully displayed scenery in the film does the landscape justice). Larry Sole (Joel Evans) is the teenage boy who is in such of finding himself and his place in the society he is stuck in. There are plenty of cultural themes throughout, but it pretty much focuses on the "racism" between whites and aborigine. Although, the script isn't setting out to teach us a lesson as an audience. It's more about that all-too-familiar feeling of being an outcast. Larry Sole isn't too concerned about being an outcast as he is more about being totally found out. He's got scars all over his upper body and we get glimpses of why they're on him through flashbacks of a fire. He is bullied and tormented by a seemingly former friend, Darcy, and he is hopelessly in love with the pretty, popular, blonde girl named Juliet (Chloe Rose, who could find herself in bigger roles soon enough). Larry will continue to suffer quietly and stoically. He's the kind of character who has a lot going on in his mind, but will never willingly give up any information, unless asked point-blank. His flahbacks are coupled with scenes of him in the bathtub (and something I've learned from studying films is that scenes incorporating water are meant to be a metaphor for cleansing and starting over). Larry begins to get accepted by his peers when he is befriended by new kid in town, Johnny Beck, who also has some First Nation heritage. Johnny is the polar opposite of Larry, and yet they still get along and become inseparable comrades. Johnny, though, starts sleeping with Juliet, and I say sleeping with because they're clearly not dating in Johnny's mind. Juliet seems to be the kind of girl who thrives on the attention of boys. Not only is she sleeping with Johnny, but she is clearly content stringing Larry along as they hang out often, as well as keeping her ex(?)boyfriend close enough that he is constantly jealous of the two First Nation boys. This fact doesn't really help the already mired past that Darcy and Larry have together.
I enjoyed this film, even though it bored me at times because of its slow and quiet pace. It seems to know exactly what it is, as a film and as a story. It's visually captivating and the presentation helps with the atmosphere of the story.
It's a Film Festival, introspective kind of movie, in the best way.
..................................................................................
Film 334
"Norman"
starring: Dan Byrd, Richard Jenkins, Emily VanCamp
directed by: Jonathan Segal
"Norman" tells the story of a high school senior who finds too great a burden of challenges piling up all at once. His mother has died in a car crash. His father is dying of stomach cancer. This is all made known to us at the outset. The film will not be about these tragedies happening to him, but with how he deals with them. That's a worthy change from a more ordinary teen movie.
When we meet Norman (Dan Bryd, whom I recognized for his tenure on the TV show "Cougar Town" which really doesn't showcase his acting abilities like this indie film can and does) he is quiet and private. He hesitates before speaking, mostly because he can't seem to find the will or courage to say anything, for fear of being ostracized. This fact is shown to us with a scene in his English when he offers up an ironic comment to another student's definition of irony. He's clearly smart (and his English teacher takes notice but also seems to take a little bit of pleasure in punishing Norman for his smartass remark). Norman is also very close to his father (Richard Jenkins) who is a doctor, ironically dying of cancer but refusing medicinal assistance and supervises his own care (for himself) in his home, with Norman around usually every step of the way. Norman's clearly got a lot on his mind and the best way he can think to deal with it is to tell his friend he is dying of cancer, which was meant to be just a single-person confession, but...
And then Norman meets/runs into Emily, the classic pretty high school girl who could be popular if she tried (played by the sweet and endearing Emily Van Camp, who has sort of risen to higher fame thanks to the TV show "Revenge"). They take an immediate liking to each other. Norman has never gone on a date, and yet he comes off very smooth and a bit out of character for how he was written (but that could also be due to the fact that he has also made a weird decision to fake having/dying of cancer). Emily is a very friendly girl (who could almost be acting nice to Norman on some kind of dare from her friends, but of course not, because that would just be cruel). Emily Van Camp handles her role as the near Manic Pixie Dream Girl (minus the Manic part, because she seems to have a decent head on her shoulders) with delicacy that makes her character of Emily come off as very genuine. Even when Norman reveals to her that he doesn't actually have cancer, she isn't necessarily pissed off or angry, so much as she is disappointed that he lied to her- but seeing his father dying of cancer, she instead decides quickly to empathize with Norman in his situation.
This was another indie film I've watched during my project throughout the year that actually surprised me. It told a good story and the acting was well-done.
I would suggest watching this if you have some extra time on your hands. The director even won the top prize at the Chicago International Film Festival back when it first came out in 2010.
...............................................................................
Film 335
"Hick"
starring: Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne, Chloe Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Juliette Lewis, Anson Mount
written by: Andrea Portes (novel)
"Hick" is the kind of movie you have hope for, but at the same time, you can't help thinking: "Damnit! I've seen this before." It's definitely the poor man's version of several road trip/bad-ass dude movies. I'm thinking there are several nods and homages to previous films like "Taxi Driver" (re: pointing a .45 in the mirror and pretending to be in a showdown, while reciting lines from "Dirty Harry" both movies had tough-as-nails guys in the lead roles...Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood). And then, there's also the whole Bonnie and Clyde element since it's about a girl on the run who falls in with a couple of bad people, one of which is an older boy who takes a shine to her but the feelings are not mutual.
The girl involved in all these hijacks and high risk behaviors is 13 year old Luli (played with grit by Chloe Grace Moretz). Luli is a little Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) with a little bit of Jodie Foster's Iris (from Taxi Driver). She's a dreamer. She dreams of a better life, away from her family in Nebraska where her mother (Juliette Lewis) celebrates her daughter's birthday in a dive-bar. She clearly has some daddy issues, which don't really get worked out until the very end when she meets Alec Baldwin's character, who sort of helps her see the light.
Before that, though, Luli skips out of town, thumbing a ride (a 13 year old?!) with an older boy (played by Redmayne) in a pick-up truck. She also runs into perhaps an older version of herself, if she were looking into a futures mirror, named Glenda, played by Blake Lively (Gossip Girl). Glenda is a bit of a whore, but more of a redheaded grifter, who wants to rob a store with Luli on the way to visit her son. Luli's journey becomes just a bunch of different meaningless encounters with random people who all do nothing to better her life. The thing is, Luli could turn out to be a better teenage girl, if she tried. She apparently is a good artist. She is always drawing in her notebook, which is supposed to be a representation of the different motifs Luli experiences. Each of her encounters doesn't really strike a cord or evoke any emotion for her nor does her narration of the story, which she inserts with a little bit of redneck witticism.
I feel bad for Chloe Grace Moretz because she seems to be overly sexualized in this role, playing a 13 year old nonetheless when she was only 16 years old herself. If you look at several scenes, for example: the scene in which she is toting a pistol in the mirror and reciting "Dirty Harry" lines, Moretz is standing there in rainbow-colored panties, complete with ruffles, which move when she shakes her hips in a rather uncomfortable seductive way. Then, there's also the awkwardly uncomfortable scenes she shares with Eddie Redmayne, who basically ends up kidnapping her at one point. We can only assume he rapes her in a corn maize, as the screen goes black and then fads back in with the audience finding Luli tied to a bed in a new dress, with a new haircut. The entire film sort of plays out like a pedophilia dream sequence and it's uncomfortable to watch poor Moretz try to play a strong, young female role while she doesn't really know how to handle being seductive, and who can honestly blame her- she's too young for this kind of character.
..............................................................................
Film 336
"Apart"
starring: Olesya Rulin, Josh Danzinger, Joey Lauren Adams, Bruce McGill, Michael Bowen, Sue Rock
written and directed by: Aaron Rottinghaus
This is a love story trying way too hard to add elements of horror and thriller while presenting a dark atmosphere. I read one reviewer's opinion of how the whole movie plays out kind of like it came from the mind of Zach Synder and could almost fit as a dream sequence in one of his movies.
The film's story is about two lovers, Noah (played terribly by Josh Danzinger, whom I can only imagine got the role because he actually helped write the screenplay) and Emily (a much more promising Olesya Rulin). They apparently share a rare psychological disorder called F .24 (folie a deux, in French) which is a shared psychosis in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another. It is also known as Induced Delusional Disorder, which this film is apparently based upon one specific real-life case.
The two lovers have apparently grown co-dependent of each other and together are self-destructive. The acting isn't good enough, though, to really convey how connected these two characters really are supposed to be. Their emotional connection is conveyed to us, unfortunately, more so through the special effects and dream sequences (of a bursting fire they were both involved in). Noah has awakened from a two-year coma and Emily is seeing a very unconvincing psychologist played by Joey Lauren Adams.
I found myself easily distracted throughout the film when it really could have been much more interesting if the director had approached the story differently. I really thought Josh Danzinger was terrible in it, but I did enjoy Olesya Rulin's performance, and I'd like to see her in more. I think if the director had taken a more minimalist approach to the indie film, it would have sat much better with me. I think everyone involved was overreaching the entire film.
Anyway, they have toured all over the world, literally, but have always come back home and played some nice, intimate gigs. They've played great places like: She Doesn't Like Gutheries (in Lewiston), SPACE Gallery (in Portland), Longfellow Center (in Portland).
Saturday, they were playing at this cool, intimately small venue called Frontier. I hadn't been there and saw this was a great opportunity to catch up with people I'm glad to call friends, and also experience a new venue.
........................................................................
Film 332
"The New Guy"
starring: DJ Qualls, Elisha Dushku, Zooey Deschanel, Jerod Mixon, Parry Shen, Lyle Lovett, Eddie Griffin, Sunny Mabrey
I was a little bit like the main character in high school. A little bit. I was more of a wallflower than I guess the dude everyone made fun of or played jokes on. And I did stand up for myself. I mostly ran my mouth off, which got me in trouble often.
"The New Guy" is almost like a male-geek fantasy. DJ Qualls plays the main character, Gil, who is the high schooler misfit (typical of many, many films in the same genre) who ends up switching schools and getting a fresh start at a new school. He has been getting advice (while in jail? for some inexplicable reason) from Eddie Griffin's character, who's also in jail, which will help Gil redefine himself at his new high school. And Gil wants to take advantage of the clean slate, so he shows up looking different/harder and he comes with a background story that he hopes will intimidate the tough guys and also attract the hot girls. See what I mean about the teenage boy fantasy? It almost avoids the cliched teenage, high school dramedy thanks in large part to DJ Qualls likability factor. He has a goofy, wide grin throughout the entire film; and he has an offhanded approach to his delivery of the dialogue.
It's not necessarily a movie that makes a lot of sense (re: lots of missing pieces to the whole puzzle/story, a lot of holes never filled, weird montages and scenes stolen from other films like "Patton"
and "Braveheart"). It's like some people in Hollywood were sleeping, drunk, or extremely high when they okayed this film's production. But, with that being said, it's still has quite a bit of heart, and for that I give it credit. It's certainly not a movie that will change your life, but it will definitely make you laugh, if you are particularly feeling like an immature high school boy. It doesn't make any sense, really, but then again maybe it just doesn't have to. Perhaps it was simply a pulpit to display Elisha Dushku as the hot girl that gets with the (disguised) geek. You can't really help but like DJ Qualls. And after this, you should watch him in "Road Trip," because that's a way better movie.
.....................................................................
Film 333
"The Lesser Blessed"
starring: Benjamin Bratt, Joel Evans, Kiowa Gordon, Chloe Rose, Adam Butcher
written and directed by: Anita Doron
This is a quiet and sensitive coming-of-age story about a teenage boy from the First Nations tribe-heritage living in the Northwest Territory of Canada (some beautifully displayed scenery in the film does the landscape justice). Larry Sole (Joel Evans) is the teenage boy who is in such of finding himself and his place in the society he is stuck in. There are plenty of cultural themes throughout, but it pretty much focuses on the "racism" between whites and aborigine. Although, the script isn't setting out to teach us a lesson as an audience. It's more about that all-too-familiar feeling of being an outcast. Larry Sole isn't too concerned about being an outcast as he is more about being totally found out. He's got scars all over his upper body and we get glimpses of why they're on him through flashbacks of a fire. He is bullied and tormented by a seemingly former friend, Darcy, and he is hopelessly in love with the pretty, popular, blonde girl named Juliet (Chloe Rose, who could find herself in bigger roles soon enough). Larry will continue to suffer quietly and stoically. He's the kind of character who has a lot going on in his mind, but will never willingly give up any information, unless asked point-blank. His flahbacks are coupled with scenes of him in the bathtub (and something I've learned from studying films is that scenes incorporating water are meant to be a metaphor for cleansing and starting over). Larry begins to get accepted by his peers when he is befriended by new kid in town, Johnny Beck, who also has some First Nation heritage. Johnny is the polar opposite of Larry, and yet they still get along and become inseparable comrades. Johnny, though, starts sleeping with Juliet, and I say sleeping with because they're clearly not dating in Johnny's mind. Juliet seems to be the kind of girl who thrives on the attention of boys. Not only is she sleeping with Johnny, but she is clearly content stringing Larry along as they hang out often, as well as keeping her ex(?)boyfriend close enough that he is constantly jealous of the two First Nation boys. This fact doesn't really help the already mired past that Darcy and Larry have together.
I enjoyed this film, even though it bored me at times because of its slow and quiet pace. It seems to know exactly what it is, as a film and as a story. It's visually captivating and the presentation helps with the atmosphere of the story.
It's a Film Festival, introspective kind of movie, in the best way.
..................................................................................
Film 334
"Norman"
starring: Dan Byrd, Richard Jenkins, Emily VanCamp
directed by: Jonathan Segal
"Norman" tells the story of a high school senior who finds too great a burden of challenges piling up all at once. His mother has died in a car crash. His father is dying of stomach cancer. This is all made known to us at the outset. The film will not be about these tragedies happening to him, but with how he deals with them. That's a worthy change from a more ordinary teen movie.
When we meet Norman (Dan Bryd, whom I recognized for his tenure on the TV show "Cougar Town" which really doesn't showcase his acting abilities like this indie film can and does) he is quiet and private. He hesitates before speaking, mostly because he can't seem to find the will or courage to say anything, for fear of being ostracized. This fact is shown to us with a scene in his English when he offers up an ironic comment to another student's definition of irony. He's clearly smart (and his English teacher takes notice but also seems to take a little bit of pleasure in punishing Norman for his smartass remark). Norman is also very close to his father (Richard Jenkins) who is a doctor, ironically dying of cancer but refusing medicinal assistance and supervises his own care (for himself) in his home, with Norman around usually every step of the way. Norman's clearly got a lot on his mind and the best way he can think to deal with it is to tell his friend he is dying of cancer, which was meant to be just a single-person confession, but...
And then Norman meets/runs into Emily, the classic pretty high school girl who could be popular if she tried (played by the sweet and endearing Emily Van Camp, who has sort of risen to higher fame thanks to the TV show "Revenge"). They take an immediate liking to each other. Norman has never gone on a date, and yet he comes off very smooth and a bit out of character for how he was written (but that could also be due to the fact that he has also made a weird decision to fake having/dying of cancer). Emily is a very friendly girl (who could almost be acting nice to Norman on some kind of dare from her friends, but of course not, because that would just be cruel). Emily Van Camp handles her role as the near Manic Pixie Dream Girl (minus the Manic part, because she seems to have a decent head on her shoulders) with delicacy that makes her character of Emily come off as very genuine. Even when Norman reveals to her that he doesn't actually have cancer, she isn't necessarily pissed off or angry, so much as she is disappointed that he lied to her- but seeing his father dying of cancer, she instead decides quickly to empathize with Norman in his situation.
This was another indie film I've watched during my project throughout the year that actually surprised me. It told a good story and the acting was well-done.
I would suggest watching this if you have some extra time on your hands. The director even won the top prize at the Chicago International Film Festival back when it first came out in 2010.
...............................................................................
Film 335
"Hick"
starring: Blake Lively, Eddie Redmayne, Chloe Grace Moretz, Alec Baldwin, Juliette Lewis, Anson Mount
written by: Andrea Portes (novel)
"Hick" is the kind of movie you have hope for, but at the same time, you can't help thinking: "Damnit! I've seen this before." It's definitely the poor man's version of several road trip/bad-ass dude movies. I'm thinking there are several nods and homages to previous films like "Taxi Driver" (re: pointing a .45 in the mirror and pretending to be in a showdown, while reciting lines from "Dirty Harry" both movies had tough-as-nails guys in the lead roles...Robert De Niro and Clint Eastwood). And then, there's also the whole Bonnie and Clyde element since it's about a girl on the run who falls in with a couple of bad people, one of which is an older boy who takes a shine to her but the feelings are not mutual.
The girl involved in all these hijacks and high risk behaviors is 13 year old Luli (played with grit by Chloe Grace Moretz). Luli is a little Dorothy (from the Wizard of Oz) with a little bit of Jodie Foster's Iris (from Taxi Driver). She's a dreamer. She dreams of a better life, away from her family in Nebraska where her mother (Juliette Lewis) celebrates her daughter's birthday in a dive-bar. She clearly has some daddy issues, which don't really get worked out until the very end when she meets Alec Baldwin's character, who sort of helps her see the light.
Before that, though, Luli skips out of town, thumbing a ride (a 13 year old?!) with an older boy (played by Redmayne) in a pick-up truck. She also runs into perhaps an older version of herself, if she were looking into a futures mirror, named Glenda, played by Blake Lively (Gossip Girl). Glenda is a bit of a whore, but more of a redheaded grifter, who wants to rob a store with Luli on the way to visit her son. Luli's journey becomes just a bunch of different meaningless encounters with random people who all do nothing to better her life. The thing is, Luli could turn out to be a better teenage girl, if she tried. She apparently is a good artist. She is always drawing in her notebook, which is supposed to be a representation of the different motifs Luli experiences. Each of her encounters doesn't really strike a cord or evoke any emotion for her nor does her narration of the story, which she inserts with a little bit of redneck witticism.
I feel bad for Chloe Grace Moretz because she seems to be overly sexualized in this role, playing a 13 year old nonetheless when she was only 16 years old herself. If you look at several scenes, for example: the scene in which she is toting a pistol in the mirror and reciting "Dirty Harry" lines, Moretz is standing there in rainbow-colored panties, complete with ruffles, which move when she shakes her hips in a rather uncomfortable seductive way. Then, there's also the awkwardly uncomfortable scenes she shares with Eddie Redmayne, who basically ends up kidnapping her at one point. We can only assume he rapes her in a corn maize, as the screen goes black and then fads back in with the audience finding Luli tied to a bed in a new dress, with a new haircut. The entire film sort of plays out like a pedophilia dream sequence and it's uncomfortable to watch poor Moretz try to play a strong, young female role while she doesn't really know how to handle being seductive, and who can honestly blame her- she's too young for this kind of character.
..............................................................................
Film 336
"Apart"
starring: Olesya Rulin, Josh Danzinger, Joey Lauren Adams, Bruce McGill, Michael Bowen, Sue Rock
written and directed by: Aaron Rottinghaus
This is a love story trying way too hard to add elements of horror and thriller while presenting a dark atmosphere. I read one reviewer's opinion of how the whole movie plays out kind of like it came from the mind of Zach Synder and could almost fit as a dream sequence in one of his movies.
The film's story is about two lovers, Noah (played terribly by Josh Danzinger, whom I can only imagine got the role because he actually helped write the screenplay) and Emily (a much more promising Olesya Rulin). They apparently share a rare psychological disorder called F .24 (folie a deux, in French) which is a shared psychosis in which symptoms of a delusional belief are transmitted from one individual to another. It is also known as Induced Delusional Disorder, which this film is apparently based upon one specific real-life case.
The two lovers have apparently grown co-dependent of each other and together are self-destructive. The acting isn't good enough, though, to really convey how connected these two characters really are supposed to be. Their emotional connection is conveyed to us, unfortunately, more so through the special effects and dream sequences (of a bursting fire they were both involved in). Noah has awakened from a two-year coma and Emily is seeing a very unconvincing psychologist played by Joey Lauren Adams.
I found myself easily distracted throughout the film when it really could have been much more interesting if the director had approached the story differently. I really thought Josh Danzinger was terrible in it, but I did enjoy Olesya Rulin's performance, and I'd like to see her in more. I think if the director had taken a more minimalist approach to the indie film, it would have sat much better with me. I think everyone involved was overreaching the entire film.
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