Marketing THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO Remake

When I heard David Fincher was going to be making an American version of THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO, I didn't know what to think.  Here is a well respected and critically acclaimed director known for a wide range of work, and he is looking to return to the doom and gloom of his directorial heyday.  Fair enough.  The novels certainly fit into his element, which has always lain somewhere between grunge and gloss.  But why a remake/reimagining/whatever you want to call it?  I'm still not 100% sure as to why this is happening exactly, other than the assumed (and sadly verifiable) "fact" that American audiences will not watch a movie with subtitles.

In any case, it's here, and it's time to come to terms with it.  Before I go on, please watch the trailer before I go on and on and on about it:

American Crime Fiction: Why Writer/Creator Jason Aaron's SCALPED Is The Best Comic Out There

The two things that American authors and filmmakers can be said to have created outright are the Western, and modern crime fiction.  They're both styles and mythologies packed into the very fiber of our country's very existence.  There's something gritty and raw and romantic and completely whacked in our national identity, and it has led to the creation of two of the most readily identifiable genres in the world, complete with their own logic, their own mysteries, their complete independence from European romantic fiction of any kind, apart from maybe the Victorian era (and the utter inability for anyone to come to real satisfaction with their relationships in those books - take Newland Archer in THE AGE OF INNOCENCE as an example), but that's neither here nor there.  The Western and the crime drama are the mythologies of the United States, a country that was forged from the grit and determination and the testicular fortitude to tell the rest of the world to jog on.  And it's a damned brilliant mythology; one that requires constant attention and revision and humility and pride.

Late in 2008, I picked up the first volume of DC/Vertigo's SCALPED, "Indian Country", and was blown away.  It was by far the grittiest, most thrilling and outrageous crime fiction since Garth Ennis's legendary PREACHER and PUNISHER runs, and better yet, it existed on its own terms, incorporating distinctly American (and distinctly Native) mythologies, real-world problems and - along with Ed Brubaker's CRIMINAL - reinvigorated American comic creators in a landscape populated on every front by Brits.  This first story arch, which introduces the central character of Dashiell Bad Horse and many, many subplots, is masterful in its scope and execution, and each further arch just gets better and better.

All of this is a roundabout way of saying that Jason Aaron's SCALPED, a multi-genre mash-up of the cowboy mythos, espionage thriller, crime drama and a healthy dose of social awareness (and amazingly detailed research and depictions of life in the modern Native American community), is the best damned book anywhere, comic or otherwise.  Seriously.  It's envigorating to read, and has kept me up many a night re-reading my favorite little bits, particularly early on in the "Casino Boogie" story arch that tells the tale of a horrendous crime from four separate viewpoints, each getting its own single issue to work within.

A fair chunk of why SCALPED's incredibly detailed and carefully researched Native American narrative works, even when introducing heavy mysticism and ultraviolence into the fold, is the dusty down-to-Earth artwork by R.M. Guera and a stable of distinct but complimentary guest artists.  The Rez (a Lakota reservation in the Dakotas) and its many, societally neglected inhabitants portrayed in the book live and breathe because of the urgency, vibrancy and alternately, as called for, dark and bright pop-infused art.

There are currently five trade-paperback volumes of the series in print, with a sixth collection coming in May, and I seriously can't wait to see what else Aaron has in store.  The plotting and characterizations are convoluted enough for a Raymond Chandler story, with enough grit and gristle to fill many a tome by Elmore Leonard (in Western or crime mode).  It's invigorating to read such an effortless title, and to read about the neglected and often forgotten original inhabitants of this land in such a realistic, and thoroughly modern American setting is a bit startling.  It brings modern dilemmas they have as a minority to light while also highlighting their willingness to survive.  In the fifth volume, there is a brief opening that runs up a history of the Lakotas through the battle of Little Big Horn to present day, and is accompanied by narration about their survival being almost in defiance of history and of this nation's invaders.  It's quite powerful.

What differentiates this book from the thousands of others out there, comic or otherwise, and what makes it by far the best book on stands, is the multi-faceted plot and the deft aplomb with which it is handled by Aaron.  He juggles a large cast of characters, all backed up by individual and very different personalities, and all based on what has to be vast amounts of historical research.  It really is like getting a current affairs and history class lesson on American Indians from issue to issue.  And that in and of itself is enough to make it noteworthy.  SCALPED takes the American mythos and turns it on its head, not just in one of the prominent American genres, but in both of the most prominent ones, and completely becomes something all its own, and wholly American that even the best British comics creators couldn't have conceived.

If any of this interests you as a reader (and it should), then you should definitely give the book a shot.  The first volume is only ten bucks, and is well worth it.  Hell, get a friend to split it with you and read it for five.  Just buy it; you'll be hooked.  That's the best compliment I can give it, and the only compliment that really matters anyway.

Indie Grits 2nd Night - Fox Theater Shorts Program

Thursday night's shorts program played another packed house at the Nickelodeon's under-renovation Fox Theater location in downtown Columbia, SC.  Showing in a converted-lobby screening room were 15 films, mostly experimental, some of which were quite amazing.  I'll get to a run-down of my favorites further down, but first, seeing as this is the first year the Fox Theater has been used in the festival, a word about this gorgeous building and the vision Nickelodeon executive director Larry Hembree has for it.

The Fox is exemplary of the classic movie house, with a projection booth in its main balcony auditorium that is in a class all its own, and once outfitted, will be a sight to behold.  The plan is to have two auditoriums, the largest of which will be upstaris and capable of seating 150 people, and the lower auditorium which will seat around 90, and be utilized for secondary films and special screenings/events.  If all goes according to plan, come 2011, Columbia will be home to a world-class, fully restored independent and art-house theater, and I can't wait.

Getting to the program, I'll spare the details on the films I absolutely hated - I'm looking at you, GIRI CHIT and THIS IS NOT A PIPE BOMB - by saying that the films I'm not discussing below were forgettable, utterly (unbearably) meandering and pretentious, or just plain-old sleep-inducing.  Seek them out at your own risk.  At the end of the article, I'll provide a list of all the films that were shown, for your convenience.

Jon Jones's THE GOLDEN MALLARD was the first highlight of the program.  This four minute short about a portrait painter and two of his subjects draws heavily on silent comedy, and is shot in relatively flat black and white, much like in the early days of cinema.  It utilizes a modern flourish of colorization to highlight a particularly inventive paint-throwing sequence and the pay-off at the end, which is pretty great.  I was also highly impressed by a great title card at the beginning that goes by all too briefly.  That title card in and of itself had me hooked - it was like a gift from movie heaven.  Seriously, I may sound a bit obsessive about it to you, but it was that good.  Really.

Speaking of titles and title sequences, Andre Silva's just-a-bit-too-long-but-utterly-gorgeous ICHTHYOPOLIS has a hum-dinger of one, blending stop-motion and psychotropic techniques to introduce the abstract tale of order and chaos between two realms.  Being introduced to this film is to literally be submerged in the absurd and the sublime, with a singing goldfish announcing everything you need to know to watch what's coming up, title and all.

Completely amazing and shortest of all, clocking in at a single minute, was Brad Boll's COPS, a meditation on the absurd and horrifying (and hilarious) nature of everyone's favorite white trash crime show.  I have to wonder, though it may be darker than Boll's vision, if this is how David Lynch would see this show.

Two of my favorites, though, occupy very different spots on the experimental spectrum.  Charleston, SC's Liz Vaughan brought her lovely film CHIMNEY SWIFTS, a multimedia experimental tone poem about life in the Southeast.  With handcut photographs (shot by Vaughan), and by animating them in conjunction with and in juxtaposition to one another, CHIMNEY SWIFTS may be the one true work of art I've seen at this year's festival.  It's breathtaking in its beauty, and endearing and personal and intimate in its handmade quality. 
(note: Look for my interview with Vaughan on an upcoming episode of Shadows and Light.)

The program's final film was an eclectic grab-bag of a home movie by Phoebe Brush.  Part music video, part family portrait, and part folk philosophy, the film SPITTY is a confounding, challenging, inspirational, oddball, and endearing work that revolves around a father and his daughter who write and perform "Spitties", subversive, politically charged ditties, ranging in topics from Woody Guthrie to MLK, Jr., to a love for dogs.  The songs, like the film that showcases them, are ethereal, lo-fi and engaging in surprising ways.

The films shown at the Fox Theater Shorts Program were:
SPACEMAN - Nicole Triche, Durham, NC
ELEMENTS OF TIME - David Montgomery, Fernindina Beach, FL
THE GOLDEN MALLARD - Jon Jones, Coral Gables, FL
ICHTHYOPOLIS - Andre Silva, Wilmington, NC
TEMPO - Robin Salant, Memphis, TN
GIRI CHIT - Simon Tarr, Columbia, SC
SCENE 32 - Shambhavi Kaul, Durham, NC
COPS - Brad Boll, Chapel Hill, NC
SATIRYTOWN: SURREEL IN CABBAGETOWN - Rose Barron, Atlanta, GA
THIS IS NOT A PIPE BOMB - Georg Koszulinski, Gainesville, FL
DORNSTARTV: Ep 5.2 - Nate Dorn, Atlanta, GA
SWIM - Chip Moore, Cambridge, MA
TWO DOWNTOWN - Cara Hagan, Winston Salem, NC
CHIMNEY SWIFTS - Liz Vaughan, Charleston, SC
SPITTY - Phoebe Brush, Durham, NC

Look for brief write-ups on the nights two main selections, Anthony Kilburn's sex-tastic CHIAROSCURO, BABY! and Aaron Katz's COLD WEATHER (in a non-competition screening) from Pierce and Woody at some time in the near future.

Indie Grits 2010 Opening Night Selections

Note:  The following article may contain spoilers.

Opening night festivities for the 5th Annual Indie Grits Film Festival were sold out last night, and they showcased some memorable and not-so memorable moments, depending on who you spoke to.  I went to the night's first program, and the audience's energy was high, and the main selection, Mark Claywell's stunning documentary AMERICAN JIHADIST, was a true revelation.  I spoke with Claywell after the screening, as well as CHIEFLAND director Gabriel Tyner, and both directors were really happy with the receptions their films had at the festival.

CHIEFLAND, an 8 minute short about a bullrider's first time on a bull in over a decade after losing both legs and receiving a host of other injuries after being hit by a train, is a flawed but highly interesting germ of an idea.  I think it speaks to the strength of the subject of the film and the skill with which the footage and interviews with the cowboy were collected that I wanted more from it.  Tyner has a great eye and a great sense of filmic rhythm, but structuraly the film is uneven, focusing on what could be either the middle third or even last third of a film, despite containing the relatively small narrative arch of the bull ride itself and the rider's struggle with it that exists as-is.  Tyner is currently working on two new projects; CHIEFLAND is his first film.

The second film of the evening, director Hodges Usry's SWEET GEORGIA BROWN is ostensibly about the first black female wrestler from South Carolina, but after an interesting set-up, the film quickly loses its way, devolving into a sordid, directionless exposé on racial and familial injustices that gave no information on or insight into who "Sweet Georgia" Brown was, and why she was important aside from all of the familial bickering and in-fighting and the really horrific details of her life.  Usry has directed a few music videos for bands like Lady Antebellum before, but if SWEET GEORGIA BROWN or his previous short ROZWELL (streaming online at his IMDB page) are any indications of where his talents may lie, I'm afraid he has a long way to go to overcome a lack of narrative comprehension and execution without leaving an audience adrift in its own thoughts.  There's an interesting, engaging movie to be made about this woman out there somewhere, but this sure isn't it.

Finally, playing only in its second festival, and hot on the heels of winning the Best Documentary award at Slamdance, Mark Claywell's AMERICAN JIHADIST follows the completely fascinating character of Isa Abdullah Ali, aka Clevin Holt, a religious soldier of fortune whose conversion to Islam in the 1970s led to his involvement in many of the major armed conflicts in the Near East in the past few decades.  Posing the question, "What makes a person willing to kill and die for their religion?", the film comes to some unsettling and utterly profound revelations, echoing the lack of easy answers and even easy labels in a constantly sound-bite driven news world, and the call for a deeper understanding of the problems facing our world.

Given completely unfettered access to Isa in both his native Washington, D.C., and his home in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Claywell shows us that while it may be possible to understand the ways in which someone could believe they're doing the right thing, that the subject is far more complex than any one individual.  Isa is a subject that seems to preach his hatred of 'hate', which he claims not to feel toward anyone, but perhaps a bit contradictory to that claim, has absolutely no problem killing someone he feels has wronged a Muslim in an armed conflict.  And, furthermore, he simply loves his role in warfare, and makes no secret of it - actively seeking it out throughout a thirty year career that has seen him labelled as a "known terrorist" and what would have been termed by Conservative Americans recently as an enemy combatant. 

Isa isn't a particularly dangerous or even villanous man, but he has a coherent worldview and obsession with violent reproach that makes complete and total sense to him based on his interpretation of his own life's events; that's what's terrifying about the film and its subject.  Here is a group of people who rationalize killing through a belief system that purports to be completely nonviolent, yet time and time again is proven to be the exact opposite of that.  Likewise, someone like Isa is a complete contradiction of his own beliefs in anti-hate, anti-extremist living.  He is an extremist, and he appears to hate those who are against his own beliefs.

The film is unsettling, electrifying and fascinating, swerving into distinctly Herzog-ian "objective truth" territory now and then, largely thanks to the behavior of Isa while the cameras are trained on him.  As a reporter in the film succinctly put it (and I'm paraphrasing here), he is a performer of things he has read, using almost strictly boiler-plate terminology and rhetoric to discuss himself and his beliefs/actions/etc.  For what it's worth, this is a must-see, and I predict that if it plays more mid-level and bigger festivals, it will have no problem finding distribution of some sort.

My pal Woody Jones was in the second program, which featured a number of music docs, including WE FUN, which focuses on the burgeoning Atlanta music scene of 2008, from director Matthew Robison (SILVER JEW).  Look for a brief write-up of that screening soon.

For more information on Indie Grits and the films discussed in this article, please visit:

IndieGrits.com
Chiefland
Sweet Georgia Brown
American Jihadist

Antici---pation: Upcoming Movies to Be Excited About

I used to do a regular feature on here where I'd highlight a few of the films coming out that I was personally anticipating very, very much.  I've decided to try again to bring you this column, and hope that the YouTube vids I put on here hold out a bit longer.  I know, I should just download and post them myself, but whatever.  Embedding is easier and I'm lazy.  Today, some (somewhat) historically-based movies that I think should be a blast, or that I hope are in any case.

1) CENTURION
Writer/Director Neil Marshall's (THE DESCENT) follow-up to DOOMSDAY tells a fictionalized account of the struggle between the Roman Empire's Ninth Legion and the ancient Picts in Britain, circa 117 AD.  This looks pretty hot.  I am a fan of Marshall's stuff, and I'm finally stoked to see a historical action film that doesn't feature (at least not from the trailer) a ton of slo-mo and 300 cribbing.  The cast is stellar: Michael Fassbender, Dominic West, and Olga Kurylenko.  If the battle showcased in the trailer, where the legion is ambushed, is anything like the historical Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, it will be amazing.  I choose this over Ridley Scott's ROBIN HOOD any day.



2) CLASH OF THE TITANS
This may end up sucking, but I highly doubt it, even with my reservations about Sam Worthington as an actor.  It's not like you have to be at all intellectually viable when you're playing the hero of a Greek sword-and-sorcery epic.  Director Louis Leterrier at least knows how to make a mindlessly fun action flick (see the first TRANSPORTER and 2008's underrated INCREDIBLE HULK for proof).  I won't be seeing this in the newly announced 3D iteration because it was done in post-production and will likely be more engaging in non-3D anyway.  And that Cthulu/Deep Ones/Dagon-like Kraken design is amazingly immense and breathtaking.



3) SOLOMON KANE
Legendary pulp author Robert E. Howard's Puritan hero finally gets a film that may or may not be good, but I'm all about some vengeance-obsessed bloodletting.  This trailer is fun, and it's got to be better than that Kull movie with Kevin Sorbo years ago.  Anyway, between this and JONAH HEX, I can't decide which vaguely historical comic book/revenge movie I want to see more.  HEX has the pedigree in place, but KANE has a great legacy of its own, especially if they stay true to the character as originally envisioned, and is anything like the recent comic book of the same name that pretty much kicks serious ass.

Stephen King and the Adaptation to film

I found this in an article about Stephen King's new "motion comic" that will be released online through Aug. 29, based on a short story of his. While I'm looking forward to the comic itself, I find his observation on the nature of adaptations of his work rather amusing.

"I've got my own work to do, and all this is something else," he says. "To me, when I finish with something, it's like dead skin. And if people want to make dead-skin sculptures, that's fine. Just give me my cut."

I'm not sure why, but when I read that, I laughed out loud. At work. I think it was the combination of morbidity and biting wit that did it for me. That's the largest reason I think he's so fantastic as an author. He's honest - often in the most bizarre ways - and that's something you just have to respect.

I know he has been deeply involved in and critical of his own adaptations from time to time, but I think he is probably being very honest here, taking less interest in those projects he hasn't been asked to be involved in, and going in full-steam ahead for things he has co-adapted (the mini-series adaptations, comics, etc.)

I love Stephen King. Maybe Alan Moore could learn something about this approach instead of coming out against everything on principle.

Kim Morgan's Take on THE MUPPET MOVIE

Kim Morgan has long been one of my favorite critics/writers on film. She is currently in charge of the MSN movies blog, and also has her own fantastic website, Sunset Gun, that serves mainly as a collection of her writing from all over the 'Net. I don't think it's hard to see why she's so good at what she does, as she is clearly impassioned about films (car movies and ones that star Warren Oates), and cares a lot about making the lesser-known gems stand out from the pack. Her taste is impeccable, and her writing is so good it's hard not to crib it and pass it off as my own (to a certain extent, I already write like her, I think...at least style-,if not quality-wise.) I guess then it's no reason to see why I love her so much.

Anyway, over at the MSN blog, she has a wonderful little post about THE MUPPET MOVIE up, and I thought I'd share it with you. Clearly, she has some Muppet love to go around (as I think anyone with any taste does.) From her entry:

...“The Muppet Movie” is one of those rare television-to-movie adaptations that gives a back story but dips and swerves into so many different experiences that you hardly feel like you’re watching anything remotely television-like.

I couldn't agree more. The Muppets are some of the most endearing creations ever, and I cannot wait to see them in their full glory once more. Of all the Muppet movies to come and go over the past 30 years, the original is still the best, and worthwhile viewing for anyone who loves to be entertained and thrilled.

To read the full entry, visit the article at the MSN Movies Filter.

Found Footage For Real

The horror genre of late has been rife with found-footage films, with stories told in the first-person in which the main character is the party filming the action around them, often for no other reason than they wish to "record" what's happening for posterity's sake. DIARY OF THE DEAD, CLOVERFIELD and the upcoming Spanish film [REC] (which I haven't seen as it's apparantly being remade in the US and they won't release the original until the remake is coming out...damned distributors...), as well as non-horror attempts like Brian DePalma's REDACTED all send up flares warning about the dangers of production and consumption of media.

Browsing around a couple of weeks ago online, I found the following article posted on CNN.com and thought it pertinent to share in light of my review of DIARY OF THE DEAD. Anyone who thinks these films are too far-fetched because anyone in their right mind would stop filming and attempt to help needs to read this: Indian 'Witch' Tied to Tree, Beaten by Mob

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- An Indian woman accused of being a witch was tied to a tree and beaten by a mob, with television footage of the incident aired in India on Friday...
...Tiwari said he was disturbed by the fact that a journalist filmed the incident before contacting authorities.
"The media filmed the incident, then called the police -- instead of the police first," Tiwari said.

Personally, I knew of this phenomenon far before now, as I witness it all the time when there's any incident at all - people have their cell phones out recording it for easy upload on YouTube, etc. This sickens me more than a bit. At least I know the horror genre is still completely right-on about current culture and expressing anxieties and fears about it, despite the common person's seeming inability to get past the "corny-ness" of the first-person trope and see themselves as the producer who is being lambasted by the very film they're watching...