oddur_thomas
Lifetime Total
10+
Lifetime Plot
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Lifetime Trivia
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IMDb Member
22 years
Reviews
Ghost World (2001)
Great Supporting Performances
Outside of the USA, film buffs can get cynical about the over-processed Hollywood slurry that oozes out of cinemas and multiplexes worldwide, but then once in a while something unique and intriguing such as this picture comes along.
I could not relate to any of the characters portrayed but still enjoyed the story immensely, for the situations some friends and acquaintances get stuck in rang true with me. I don't want to repeat what other contributors have already written regarding story and main characters, but want to say the supporting actors in Ghost World were exceptional and very memorable.
Owing to the release date here in Australia, I actually saw Dave Sheridan in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' 'By the way' film clip *before* his character roamed the 7-11 in this movie (I think the release of the single and Ghost World were close to simultaneous here). The nunchukas, 'mullet' haircut and singlet tan (sunburn line?) were hilarious elements to his character.
I was doubled over in convulsive laughter with every mannerism and every line spoken by Ileana Douglas's art teacher. All the while, I kept thinking I had seen her before, and couldn't place her. Then imdb jogged my memory and I realised she appeared on 'Six Feet Under' as a nosy undertaker/embalmer hired at Fisher and Sons, who was then promptly fired.
You might be maddened by Enid's ambivalence, the stunted romances and the near-stagnant flow of story, but this film boasts the most engagingly opaque characters I have seen in a Hollywood film since 'You can count on me' or 'Being John Malcovich'. For days and weeks afterwards I was still sharing insights and comparisons with friends. Take the risk if you have not watched this and you won't be disappointed.
I could not relate to any of the characters portrayed but still enjoyed the story immensely, for the situations some friends and acquaintances get stuck in rang true with me. I don't want to repeat what other contributors have already written regarding story and main characters, but want to say the supporting actors in Ghost World were exceptional and very memorable.
Owing to the release date here in Australia, I actually saw Dave Sheridan in the Red Hot Chilli Peppers' 'By the way' film clip *before* his character roamed the 7-11 in this movie (I think the release of the single and Ghost World were close to simultaneous here). The nunchukas, 'mullet' haircut and singlet tan (sunburn line?) were hilarious elements to his character.
I was doubled over in convulsive laughter with every mannerism and every line spoken by Ileana Douglas's art teacher. All the while, I kept thinking I had seen her before, and couldn't place her. Then imdb jogged my memory and I realised she appeared on 'Six Feet Under' as a nosy undertaker/embalmer hired at Fisher and Sons, who was then promptly fired.
You might be maddened by Enid's ambivalence, the stunted romances and the near-stagnant flow of story, but this film boasts the most engagingly opaque characters I have seen in a Hollywood film since 'You can count on me' or 'Being John Malcovich'. For days and weeks afterwards I was still sharing insights and comparisons with friends. Take the risk if you have not watched this and you won't be disappointed.
What Dreams May Come (1998)
director unfairly punished
It saddens me that this film, often cited as 'the worst film of the nineties' (hollywood speak: read: 'we spent a lot of money on it and it bombed') has brought Vincent Ward's career to a standstill.
In an era when fantasy film making is enjoying a resurgence thanks to New Zealand compatriot Peter Jackson, Ward's stunning 1988 film The Navigator should be reason enough for him to be signed on by studios to direct more projects.
That other big-budget turkey of the 1990's, Waterworld, has not hurt the employment prospects of its director, Kevin Reynolds. If you have seen his latest effort, the Count of Monte Cristo, you can only wonder why studio execs still let him through the gates at the production lot.
I find it hard to believe Ron Bass, WDMC's screenplay writer, is still employed in Hollywood while Ward is not. Consider that Bass has also penned such turgid crap the likes of Entrapment, Stepmom, Waiting to Exhale, Sleeping with the Enemy and Snow Falling on Cedars.
On the other hand, Bass hit a few homeruns on the word-processor / typewriter, with Rainman, The Joy Luck Club and Black Widow. On that evidence, I think it is only fair to give Vincent Ward another go.
In an era when fantasy film making is enjoying a resurgence thanks to New Zealand compatriot Peter Jackson, Ward's stunning 1988 film The Navigator should be reason enough for him to be signed on by studios to direct more projects.
That other big-budget turkey of the 1990's, Waterworld, has not hurt the employment prospects of its director, Kevin Reynolds. If you have seen his latest effort, the Count of Monte Cristo, you can only wonder why studio execs still let him through the gates at the production lot.
I find it hard to believe Ron Bass, WDMC's screenplay writer, is still employed in Hollywood while Ward is not. Consider that Bass has also penned such turgid crap the likes of Entrapment, Stepmom, Waiting to Exhale, Sleeping with the Enemy and Snow Falling on Cedars.
On the other hand, Bass hit a few homeruns on the word-processor / typewriter, with Rainman, The Joy Luck Club and Black Widow. On that evidence, I think it is only fair to give Vincent Ward another go.
Beneath Clouds (2002)
screening with director's Q&A May 13 2002
Ivan Sen was a guest of the Dendy art-house cinema group at the advance screening I attended. He spoke about the script writing process, casting and funding hurdles at length.
The previous 6 years of Ivan's career have been devoted to producing short films; all of which have thematically built towards the story in 'Beneath Clouds'.
Taking its title from the Pearl Jam song 'Black', the film shows two young people (Lena and Vaughn) who escape from restrictive situations to rendevous with a remote parent in a search for love and validation ... only it is not clear if that love will be returned.
Sen wrote the script from his own experiences growing up in Alice Springs with an Aboriginal mother and an absent European father (like Lena) and his full-blooded cousins constantly in and out of juvenile courts and detention centres (like Vaughn and Lena's brother). He said that at first writing a feature-length script was difficult given his past film efforts ran to a maximum of 30 minutes. However, the interim draft boasted 140 pages. During and between script-writing he listened to lots of music (not only Pearl Jam!) and wrote some musical phrases and themes that become the film sound-track in the hands of Alistair Spence. The final script was 90 pages, and, by neat coincidence, the running time of the film is exactly 90 minutes!
Vaughn was cast by approaching a young man on the streets of Moree. Damian Pitt was initially incredulous at being asked to play a lead role in a feature film, but was quick to come around. The approach of casting Lena, explained Sen, was more conventional. Although he tried to recruit a female lead in the same way as Damian was found, the process of driving by, pulling up slowly, rolling down the window and asking 'do you want to be in a movie?' was fraught with too many sleazy connotations to be taken seriously by the young women he approached! Through a friend, Sen viewed an audition tape featuring Danielle Hall, and though initially ambivalent, the director was awestruck after meeting her in her hometown of Wee Waa and immediately sensed her ability to identify with the character and project the lines of the script as if they were her own. Obviously, judges at the Berlin festival were equally moved. The remainder of the cast were largely amateur, recruited around Moree.
Funding for the film was conditional on it being a feature, to enable it to travel the worldwide festival circuit as a stand-alone picture. Chief funding bodies were the NSW Film Commission and the Pacific Film & TV Commission - the former association ensured all location filming was in NSW. Roads and scenery around Moree, Gunnedah, Blacktown and Sydney show a great dynamic range of terrain and geography. From the time of the green-light of funding to shooting took only 4 months; the shoot went for 6 weeks; and post-production/editing took 6 months; all at a cost of 2-and-a-half million Australian dollars (roughly one-and-a-quarter mill. US dollars). Not cheap by Oz standards but not expensive either in an international sense.
My impression of the film is of a modern classic, up there with Gallipolli, Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. It was well-deserving of the attention of the Berlin jury, and Ivan the auteur and musician has a great future ahead of him. His next project will be a black comedy set in Mexico about people who visit a small town hoping to be abducted by aliens.
Mr Sen, best of luck, and please don't get all indulgent like Russell Crowe or Billy Bob Thornton by fronting a lame rock band! Keep it real.
The previous 6 years of Ivan's career have been devoted to producing short films; all of which have thematically built towards the story in 'Beneath Clouds'.
Taking its title from the Pearl Jam song 'Black', the film shows two young people (Lena and Vaughn) who escape from restrictive situations to rendevous with a remote parent in a search for love and validation ... only it is not clear if that love will be returned.
Sen wrote the script from his own experiences growing up in Alice Springs with an Aboriginal mother and an absent European father (like Lena) and his full-blooded cousins constantly in and out of juvenile courts and detention centres (like Vaughn and Lena's brother). He said that at first writing a feature-length script was difficult given his past film efforts ran to a maximum of 30 minutes. However, the interim draft boasted 140 pages. During and between script-writing he listened to lots of music (not only Pearl Jam!) and wrote some musical phrases and themes that become the film sound-track in the hands of Alistair Spence. The final script was 90 pages, and, by neat coincidence, the running time of the film is exactly 90 minutes!
Vaughn was cast by approaching a young man on the streets of Moree. Damian Pitt was initially incredulous at being asked to play a lead role in a feature film, but was quick to come around. The approach of casting Lena, explained Sen, was more conventional. Although he tried to recruit a female lead in the same way as Damian was found, the process of driving by, pulling up slowly, rolling down the window and asking 'do you want to be in a movie?' was fraught with too many sleazy connotations to be taken seriously by the young women he approached! Through a friend, Sen viewed an audition tape featuring Danielle Hall, and though initially ambivalent, the director was awestruck after meeting her in her hometown of Wee Waa and immediately sensed her ability to identify with the character and project the lines of the script as if they were her own. Obviously, judges at the Berlin festival were equally moved. The remainder of the cast were largely amateur, recruited around Moree.
Funding for the film was conditional on it being a feature, to enable it to travel the worldwide festival circuit as a stand-alone picture. Chief funding bodies were the NSW Film Commission and the Pacific Film & TV Commission - the former association ensured all location filming was in NSW. Roads and scenery around Moree, Gunnedah, Blacktown and Sydney show a great dynamic range of terrain and geography. From the time of the green-light of funding to shooting took only 4 months; the shoot went for 6 weeks; and post-production/editing took 6 months; all at a cost of 2-and-a-half million Australian dollars (roughly one-and-a-quarter mill. US dollars). Not cheap by Oz standards but not expensive either in an international sense.
My impression of the film is of a modern classic, up there with Gallipolli, Picnic at Hanging Rock and The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. It was well-deserving of the attention of the Berlin jury, and Ivan the auteur and musician has a great future ahead of him. His next project will be a black comedy set in Mexico about people who visit a small town hoping to be abducted by aliens.
Mr Sen, best of luck, and please don't get all indulgent like Russell Crowe or Billy Bob Thornton by fronting a lame rock band! Keep it real.
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
shaky cameras are annoying elsewhere
I love this film. The 100 fixed, synchronised digital cameras were a technical marvel that rivalled the artistry of that other new-millenium neo-musical, Moulin Rouge. HOWEVER, so many people are cheesed off by the handheld cameras used in this picture, and I have to agree. It is not only Mr Von Trier who is guilty of this.
I don't know about you, but in my everyday life I don't watch theatre or sport or anything by constantly jerking my head around and twisting my neck and torso for a fragmented, shaky viewing experience. For starters, fellow viewers would probably think I was intoxicated or had epilepsy, and for seconds they would be annoyed that I kept moving and swinging in and out of their own line of sight. When watching something, our own cognitive processing smoothes the less jarring, normal movements as we tilt and turn our heads to follow activity.
So, it is not a natural or traditional way to take in a performance. Why do filmmakers and cinematographers adopt this? I deeply regret the time I attended the midnight screening of Blair Witch Project on a full stomach and following several beers... uurggh ... there were only front row seats left as well.
I enjoy police and crime dramas on the small and big screen, but lordy why can't they hire a camera crew that DOES NOT exhibit the symptoms of cold-turkey dry tremors? I'm talking about you, NYPD Blue and Law & Order SVU. Why can David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, Panic Room) make his pictures seem gritty and edgy without inducing nausea? Lars and friends, take note.
I hope this technique will be dismissed a brief trend of the late 1990's and NEVER be revived as a fad.
I don't know about you, but in my everyday life I don't watch theatre or sport or anything by constantly jerking my head around and twisting my neck and torso for a fragmented, shaky viewing experience. For starters, fellow viewers would probably think I was intoxicated or had epilepsy, and for seconds they would be annoyed that I kept moving and swinging in and out of their own line of sight. When watching something, our own cognitive processing smoothes the less jarring, normal movements as we tilt and turn our heads to follow activity.
So, it is not a natural or traditional way to take in a performance. Why do filmmakers and cinematographers adopt this? I deeply regret the time I attended the midnight screening of Blair Witch Project on a full stomach and following several beers... uurggh ... there were only front row seats left as well.
I enjoy police and crime dramas on the small and big screen, but lordy why can't they hire a camera crew that DOES NOT exhibit the symptoms of cold-turkey dry tremors? I'm talking about you, NYPD Blue and Law & Order SVU. Why can David Fincher (Fight Club, Seven, Panic Room) make his pictures seem gritty and edgy without inducing nausea? Lars and friends, take note.
I hope this technique will be dismissed a brief trend of the late 1990's and NEVER be revived as a fad.