Funny Games, SWAG, Slamdance

Saw the FUNNY GAMES premiere in SLC. It was a lot of work to get there an no Haneke Q&A- but the movie is good. Plenty of walkouts from the Salt lake locals- people were actually- audibly arguing during the screening, that is amamzing.

This is a remake- shot for shot- of Haneke's Funny Games- by Haneke, but it is very different.

Casting Naomi Watts and making the movie in English will finally get the audience Haneke's last Funny Games was intended for into some seats. Mike Brune said it best- the film is for American Audiences- you like violence..well here you go, you want to see a home invasion...really? see if you can handle this. But in casting N. Watts an audience that says, "let's go see that N. Watts movie " get a serious bit of nastiness. Michael Pitt holds it together in the lead but the previous version is far superior in every performance. The movie will be fun to watch with a full house- couples were getting into agruements about staying to see the film...AT A FILM FESTIVAL- just wait till/if it hits the burbs. There is a weird new slant of sadism in a section that wasn't present before and the breaking the 4th wall stuff is way heavier this time around.

Here's some Funny Games SWAG- that's just wierd


pic is a little crappy but you got it. The golf ball has the title of the film on it.


went to Slamdance and saw some old friends projecting

that's a little BLAKE MYERS

and I saw ARON BARNES- they both project at Slamdance

check out slamdance:


polar opposite of Sundance


MY MOTHER'S GARDEN

This is a doc on a subject that fascinates me- thhttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gife horder, clutterer disorder. I first heard this given a name in an amazing NPR bit. Check it HERE These are people who can't throw anything away, people with stacks of old newspapers filling a bathroom, drawers of pens that don't have ink- houses that you can't see the floor in. there are different degrees of this disorder- and the subject of this film has a serious one.

I had a high school friend with a mother with this problem- to walk to his room- or any room- you went through small pathways through the house. The kitchen was buried, as was the living room and back door. If there ever was a fire, it would be over in no time because of all the collected newspapers and magazines- stacks and stacks 5 or 6 feet high.

The doc is directed by Cynthia Lester- the daughter of a women with the disorder- the film has a handicam feel to it- the camera work is shoddy- but ti doesn't matter and can't stand in the way of how shocking/frightening the story is.

The back story is deep and barely delved into- When the director was 13 she left home because her mother's problem forced her out of the house and into preforming sexual acts for money- her two brothers ha it tough too, one joined a gang and was shot in the face, the other is an alcoholic. When the city calls to condemn their mother's home the family is forced back together to eal with the problem they have avoided their whole life.

It is amazing stuff that could be developed into a serious narrative work that I wouldn't mind writing. The mother uses environmentalism to justify digging through dumpsters and keeping tons of recyclables in and around her home. The mother can't even sleep in her home- she camps outside- when the camera and family take us into the home it becomes scary.

I don't want to tell you everything that happens in this doc- you should see it. It raises issues about the nature of consumerism and the fact that this disorder really has no diagnosis or treatment. Tell your local fest to program it