I thought this extract from Philip French’s Observer review of There Will Be Blood was fascinating:

This is a deeply pessimistic, at times puzzling film, and it seems to lack a political dimension central to Upton Sinclair’s life and work. Organised labour was a significant force in the American West in the early 20th century, often involved in violent conflict.

This has largely been ignored by Hollywood, and recently only the independent producer-director John Sayles has shown interest in it. In 1927, the year Sinclair wrote Oil!, Louis B Mayer created the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as a company union to keep labour organisers at bay. In 1934 when Sinclair ran for Governor of California on the EPIC (End Poverty in California) ticket, Mayer and the other studio bosses conspired with Hearst’s newspapers and radio stations to defeat him in one of the dirtiest political campaigns ever mounted. Sinclair lost to a time-serving Republican non-entity and Mayer famously remarked: ‘What does Sinclair know about anything? He’s just a writer.’ It would be good to see him honoured this year by the academy Mayer created.

One of the things I love about There Will Be Blood is that it is about so much more than it appears to be about. I think that is what made it feel so monumental to me, all these big American themes bubbling under the surface like earthquake oil. A colleague described it as being like Citizen Caine directed by Stanley Kubrick! I am also delighted to have finally discovered who Daniel Day Lewis reminds me of in the film: John Huston playing Noah Cross in Chinatown. I’m sure some people noticed this immediately but I just had this nagging feeling that I’d heard that voice somewhere before. Then I heard Daniel Day Lewis being interviewed on Radio 4 and he mentioned listening to recordings of Huston, amongst others, as he prepared for the role.

Right, I’m off to read more about Upton Sinclair, Louis B Mayer and American labor history. Time to dig out my Howard Zinn again.

I’m still reeling, floored from seeing There Will Be Blood last night. Like many people, I’m not sure I can write about it yet. It’s still settling down in my psyche where I’m sure it will have a prominent place for many years to come. I’ll just say that I can’t get over how utterly astonishing Daniel Day Lewis’s performance is and I’m going to have to go see it again just to be able to drink it all in. For those of you who have seen the film, The IFC Blog has collated a series of critical opinions on the last scene. I think I love this insane ending but I’m not sure. Crikey, it’s hard to write about films that affect you so powerfully. I’d be a rubbish film critic.

Street Photography as a Right and a Journey – more info on UnionDocs.

This is happening tomorrow night in Williamsburg and sounds pretty awesome:

Jem Cohen will show short works and excerpts from over 2 decades of shooting on the street. As this is the last week for public comment on the newly revised city regulations governing street photography and filmmaking, he will also lead a forum on what’s right, and what’s seriously wrong, with the rules. Information will be available on how to make your own official input to The Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting.

Cohen’s tour of his working life making unconventional street documentaries will range from excerpts of early works such as THIS IS A HISTORY OF NEW YORK and LOST BOOK FOUND, to the recent short, NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. He’ll also show SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT (made with Patti Smith to accompany her cover of the Nirvana song) and an excerpt from BUILDING A BROKEN MOUSETRAP (on Dutch activist musicians, the Ex). Cohen also promises some unreleased surprises.

I posted earlier this month about how much I longed for a female Lloyd Dobler, in other words for a young female character who is funny and ballsy and eloquent. I went to a screening of Juno last night and I’m pleased to say that Ellen Page rocks the non-wussy-girl-character house. As does Diablo Cody’s hilarious script. The music drove me a little bit nuts because, much as I love them, there’s only so much Moldy Peaches I can take but overall it’s a really lovely, warm-hearted film and I found myself breathing out with relief at finally seeing someone kinda like I was when I was a teenager on screen (I was less whip-smart, less pregnant and more English but you know what I’m saying). It is so refreshing to hear teenagers be witty and clever on screen because, as Cody pointed out in the Q&A following the film, so many films are terribly condescending to young characters (but she said it much better because she is as funny in person as she is on paper – I have a bit of a girl-crush on her it seems).

Watching Joe Swanberg’s Hannah Takes the Stairs made me think of E. M. Forster. This particular passage from Howards End to be precise:

Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer. Only connect, and the beast and the monk, robbed of the isolation that is life to either, will die.

The film struck me as a very genuine attempt to explore all the fumbling and inarticulateness that often accompanies our attempts to connect with other people in a real and meaningful way. If you forget all the Mumblecore hype as you settle into your cinema seat it is a pleasure to enjoy the movie on this level. It was a pleasure for me at least. Sure a lot of it feels frustratingly stunted and insular, but so does my life sometimes! There is also a warmth and freshness to the improvised performances that I found quite exhilarating.

Speaking of connections, AJ Schnack has written a great piece about how documentary filmmakers can learn a lot from the collaborative methods of Swanberg and his friends:

[P]erhaps the biggest thing that we should learn from these filmmakers is that we can and should work together. And I mean that literally. Although the doc community is a pretty tight-knit bunch, we should continue to find ways of collaboration, on screen and off. We should find new ways to build a truly interconnected community.

One of the things I love about Shooting People is hearing the amazing stories of collaboration among Shooters. This is more important than ever as the rules and possibilities of filmmaking and distribution change. Filmmakers have got to be savvy about so many different aspects of the biz now – but you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time if you can learn from and utilize each others knowledge and experience.

For some background on Mumblecore, The Reeler has a comprehensive article about its genesis (which also covers the ambivalence and uneasiness filmmakers often feel when they are pigeonholed in a movement).

Finally here’s SXSW’s Matt Dentler taking the stairs at the party that launched The New Talkies: Generation DIY last week. It was a lot of fun and nobody who was at the after party will be able to forget THE GIRL IN THE POLKA DOT DRESS!

I’m watching Superbad!

I’m a bit of a fan of everything Judd Apatow and his gang get their dirty little paws on after seeing the funny and unexpectedly sweet Knocked Up. Superbad did not disappoint. The crazy cop antics got a little tiresome after a while, mainly because Cera and Hill are so hilarious that I wanted them on screen ALL the time, but all in all Superbad is just supergood. Here’s the R rated trailer for all you grown ups:

This is just another heads up that the Generation DIY series starts at the IFC Center on Wednesday for all of you who are just itching to find out what the hell this darn mumblecore nonsense is all about.

And the lovely IndieWIRE gang are doing a special event at the Apple Store on Thursday to tie in with the series. Here’s the info:

An Evening with Generation DIY:
Joe Swanberg, Greta Gerwig, Aaron Katz and Aaron Hillis at Apple
Store SoHo

WHEN: Thursday, August 23th, 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m
WHERE: Apple Store – SoHo, 103 Prince Street, NYC
COST: Free, No RSVP required. Seats are first come, first serve.
Seating is limited.

Sometimes coined “mumblecore,” a new group of young filmmakers has
emerged on the film festival circuit in the past few years. Embracing
intimate stories, low budget shooting techniques, improvised
dialogue, and untrained actors, these films fall far outside the
studio system and instead rely on a core group of collaborators to
tell achingly real stories about twenty-somethings and their work,
love and play.

To coincide with the IFC Center’s film series “The New Talkies:
Generation DIY,” Wednesday, August 22 -Tuesday, September 4,
indieWIRE is pleased to present: Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the
Stairs, LOL), Aaron Katz, (“Dance Party USA, Quiet City), Greta
Gerwig, (Hannah Takes The Stairs), and Aaron Hillis (Fish Kill
Flea) , who will participate in a moderated discussion about
filmmaking, their similar styles and differences, and the definition
of “independent.”

Oh dear – nothing for weeks and then I just can’t stop the posts coming! There are some great film events coming up though that I feel I must share.

Manda Bala is opening at the Angelika tomorrow – this intense and beautifully made documentary about Brazil was a favorite of mine at Sundance earlier this year and I’m really looking forward to seeing it again, outside of the film fest bubble.

And then next week The New Talkies: Generation DIY comes to the IFC Center. If you read Matt Dentler’s blog you’ll know all about this series – it features many SXSW alumni and includes the theatrical openings of Hannah Takes the Stairs and Quiet City, both of which I was sorry to miss at SXSW so I am very excited about finally getting to see them. Speaking of SXSW, you can sign up for the SXSW News Reel on their website and get a daily email dose of film news, including lots of links to blogs, articles and online videos.

Finally, Jeremy and Randy Stulberg’s Off the Grid: Life on the Mesa is playing tonight at the Lincoln Center and then again on Tuesday at the IFC Center as part of the Slamdance Documentary Showcase. I have only seen a rough cut of this film so it’s definitely time to see the finished product.

Lance Weiler is bringing his film Head Trauma to the Museum of the Moving Image in New York this Saturday in a multimedia performance that I’m sure will be worth checking out. I’ll be back in London this weekend to start preparations for BRITDOC so I’ll miss it unfortunately. Here’s the blurb:

In this innovative and playfully unsettling interactive multimedia event, the story of a drifter who returns to his grandmother’s abandoned house is brought to life in a collision of movies, music, gaming, and theatrics. Characters emerge from the audience, the DJ provides a live soundtrack, and your mobile phone becomes a cinematic gaming device. Followed by a discussion with the filmmaker.

Matt Dentler recently pointed out that you can also listen to Weiler and others talking about “Building an Online Fan Base” at SXSW earlier this year.