filmmaking
As 2015 comes to a close, the promises of 2016 in film leave excitement fizzling like the fireworks of New Year amongst Quentin Tarantino fans. We have been treated to an influx of releases ripe from the mind of the divisive director over the past few years, with Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained providing much controversy and dividing many opinions, but it is The Hateful Eight that is now beginning to incite anticipation about its January release. But, as this excitement grows towards the end of Tarantino’s twenty-fourth year in the filmmaking business, the success he enjoys now has progressed in an initially unexpected way.
Hanna Polak is a documentarian whose films have been screened the world over. It only took her two directorial efforts for her to be recognized by the Academy, as her memorable film Children of Leningradsky was nominated for Best Documentary Short in 2005. After spending some time as a director for hire, Polak is returning to the international documentary scene with an absolutely remarkable film over 14 years in the making, Something Better To Come (you can read my review here).
Closely approaching Quentin Tarantino’s new film The Hateful Eight arises expectations not only because of the name he has created for himself, but also because we are aware of the repeating pattern of collaborators in his films. But this piece is not about the cast of the film nor about Tarantino’s specific style. It is about the collaborators behind the scene, specifically on his first time collaboration with Ennio Morricone as a composer of the film’s original soundtrack.
Editor’s Letter Essay of week 41 Since Film Inquiry’s inception it’s been our goal to promote diversity in film. Admittedly, I always think of diversity in film in the broadest sense for Film Inquiry: include and promote women, minorities, the LGBT community – and international and independent film, too.
There is a common misconception that documentaries are somehow easier than traditional narrative film making, that all it constitutes is finding something interesting and pointing your camera in that direction. But that is precisely because that is how they are intended to appear. A great documentary is like a great matte painting in a Hollywood feature; it looks completely real and thus its artifice is practically invisible, but it was actually created with extraordinary craft and is the result of a series of artistic choices.
Editor’s Letter of Week 39 This week, I decided to catch up on some old movies. I’ve seen my fair share; more than most of the casual film watchers, probably fewer than the average film student. I think my first oldie, if we’re going to be fair, was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
In 1960, Alfred Hitchc*ck saw the future. The British director had been a force in cinema since silent films, but the 1950’s were by far his most successful decade at the movies. He churned out blockbuster after blockbuster, all filmed in gorgeous color with top Hollywood stars like James Stewart, Cary Grant, and Grace Kelly.
Breaking the boarders with transnational themes and making people cry and laugh in the same way? Genre as a global system? Why not!
“Music and cinema fit together naturally. Because there’s a kind of intrinsic musicality to the way moving images work when they’re put together. It’s been said that cinema and music are very close as art forms, and I think that’s true.
Entourage is an extremely puzzling film. Keeping in mind that the TV show giving rise to the film is superficial in nature, I don’t mean puzzling in the way you’d describe an Alain Renais film as puzzling. No, it is the reasons and decisions around everything to do with the film that I don’t quite understand.
As a film fan, I think it’s hugely important to have deep and insightful conversations about what we’re seeing on the silver screen. Whether it be with your family, a group of friends or even an online forum, talking about films is the best way to know and learn about the art of filmmaking. It doesn’t matter where you get your material from, as long as you personally learn something from it, and I believe YouTube is a medium that can help you do that.
With a Finger in Each Ear, We March Blindly On The Vietnam War, which had begun as a geopolitical chess match in the 1950’s, escalated into a full blown land war in 1965 when President Lyndon Johnson authorised the use of American ground troops to help South Vietnam defeat the Communist North. More than any conflict in the 20th Century, Vietnam segregated America into a civil war of ideals. The burgeoning counterculture rejected and rallied against it, even denouncing the troops themselves.
“There’s no such thing as nothing.” Paranoid. Obsessive.
In the fast-paced world of show business, projects are announced before swiftly being cancelled every day. Yet there are some film projects that obsess their creators for years, always on the verge of getting made, before the cinematic powers that be decide otherwise. This article is a celebration of the best movies never made – films that would have been surefire masterpieces, that generations of film fans have had to resort to merely imagining existing.
Editorial note: Today, the original Jaws movie is celebrating its 40th anniversary. There are as many kangaroos on Saturn as there are people who think that Jaws 2 was an improvement on the 1975 original.