Exclusive: Distribution and sales outfit Mutiny Pictures has added a trio of features to its release slate for this year.
The company has taken North American rights on Born To Be Human, Lily Ni’s queer medical drama which follows a 14-year-old boy who undergoes a metamorphosis without realizing what is going on. Mutiny will release in the fall.
The deal was negotiated by Jonathan Barkan for Mutiny Pictures and Princeton Holt of Hewes Pictures on behalf of Ni and Yi. It was produced by Kevin Yi of Flying Key Movie Co and stars Lee Ling-Wei, Vera Chen, Alice Lee, and Chao-te Yin.
Mutiny has also taken North American rights on erotic cyberthriller Graphic Designs. Written and directed by Andy Edwards, the film was produced by Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca Matthews.
It stars David Wayman, Sian Altman, and May Kelly in the story of a reclusive man who, when he...
The company has taken North American rights on Born To Be Human, Lily Ni’s queer medical drama which follows a 14-year-old boy who undergoes a metamorphosis without realizing what is going on. Mutiny will release in the fall.
The deal was negotiated by Jonathan Barkan for Mutiny Pictures and Princeton Holt of Hewes Pictures on behalf of Ni and Yi. It was produced by Kevin Yi of Flying Key Movie Co and stars Lee Ling-Wei, Vera Chen, Alice Lee, and Chao-te Yin.
Mutiny has also taken North American rights on erotic cyberthriller Graphic Designs. Written and directed by Andy Edwards, the film was produced by Scott Jeffrey and Rebecca Matthews.
It stars David Wayman, Sian Altman, and May Kelly in the story of a reclusive man who, when he...
- 3/1/2022
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: After unveiling its lineup for the sixth edition of the Bentonville Film Festival (Bff), the Bentonville Film Foundation has set panels, events and jury for the hybrid virtual/in-person event. The fest will take place August 10-16.
The panels for this year’s fest include “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” with Geena Davis, Oge Egbuonuvisible Portraits) and Katori Hall (P-Valley creator). The panel spotlights the best practices for executives and creators who have successfully created or worked with female-driven content.
Isabella Gomez (One Day At A Time), Sonay Hoffman (For Life), Marie Jacobson (Spt’s Gemstone Studios), Mary Molina (Party of Five) and Esta Spalding (On Becoming a God in Central Florida) will be panelists for “What’s Your Story? And Why We Need It Now More Than Ever”, which will feature a conversation of the importance of fresh, distinctive voices on TV.
The panels for this year’s fest include “If She Can See It, She Can Be It” with Geena Davis, Oge Egbuonuvisible Portraits) and Katori Hall (P-Valley creator). The panel spotlights the best practices for executives and creators who have successfully created or worked with female-driven content.
Isabella Gomez (One Day At A Time), Sonay Hoffman (For Life), Marie Jacobson (Spt’s Gemstone Studios), Mary Molina (Party of Five) and Esta Spalding (On Becoming a God in Central Florida) will be panelists for “What’s Your Story? And Why We Need It Now More Than Ever”, which will feature a conversation of the importance of fresh, distinctive voices on TV.
- 8/5/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Shondaland-Netflix universe continues to expand.
Shonda Rhimes and her namesake production banner have landed a series order for “Notes on Love,” an episodic anthology series that is said to explore the “unexpected, life-changing, euphoric, hilarious, surreal, and all-consuming places where love intersects with our lives.”
The first season will focus on stories about marriage and features an all-star writer and executive producer lineup that includes Rhimes, Norman Lear and Aaron Shure, Steve Martin, Diane Warren, Jenny Han, and the husband and wife team of Lindy West and Ahamefule J. Oluo. Rhimes and Betsy Beers will executive produce the series on behalf of Shondaland, while the others will executive produce and write their specific episode of the first season.
The order for “Notes on Love” is the latest for Rhimes and Shondaland under the massive overall deal Rhimes signed back in 2017. It was originally announced that Shondaland had eight...
Shonda Rhimes and her namesake production banner have landed a series order for “Notes on Love,” an episodic anthology series that is said to explore the “unexpected, life-changing, euphoric, hilarious, surreal, and all-consuming places where love intersects with our lives.”
The first season will focus on stories about marriage and features an all-star writer and executive producer lineup that includes Rhimes, Norman Lear and Aaron Shure, Steve Martin, Diane Warren, Jenny Han, and the husband and wife team of Lindy West and Ahamefule J. Oluo. Rhimes and Betsy Beers will executive produce the series on behalf of Shondaland, while the others will executive produce and write their specific episode of the first season.
The order for “Notes on Love” is the latest for Rhimes and Shondaland under the massive overall deal Rhimes signed back in 2017. It was originally announced that Shondaland had eight...
- 9/24/2019
- by Joe Otterson
- Variety Film + TV
Shonda Rhimes is teaming up with Norman Lear, Steve Martin, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before author Jenny Han, Shrill creator Lindy West and songwriter Diane Warren for a Netflix anthology series.
Notes On Love will feature collections of stories centering on marriage with each episode coming from the lens of a high-profile creative. It is the latest project unveiled as part of Shondaland’s overall deal with Netflix.
The show is an episodic anthology series that ranges across genres and explores the unexpected, life-changing, euphoric, hilarious, surreal, and all-consuming places where love intersects with our lives. The first season will include stories about where love and marriage meet, specifically, examining what marriage is, what it means, and how it’s changing.
Lear, fresh from the success of ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience and the revival of One Day At A Time, is penning...
Notes On Love will feature collections of stories centering on marriage with each episode coming from the lens of a high-profile creative. It is the latest project unveiled as part of Shondaland’s overall deal with Netflix.
The show is an episodic anthology series that ranges across genres and explores the unexpected, life-changing, euphoric, hilarious, surreal, and all-consuming places where love intersects with our lives. The first season will include stories about where love and marriage meet, specifically, examining what marriage is, what it means, and how it’s changing.
Lear, fresh from the success of ABC’s Live in Front of a Studio Audience and the revival of One Day At A Time, is penning...
- 9/24/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
You can say that Don Cheadle has been in a few movies and TV spots that were questionable, but the one thing you can’t say with a straight face is that he’s been a bad actor on any occasion. Charles Mudede from The Stranger might actually give one of the worst reviews on any movie that Cheadle has ever been in, but even he has to admit that Cheadle is a genius when it comes to acting out his parts. The actor has been around for well over thirty years now and has learned the business inside and out, coming
Don Cheadle is One of the Most Consistently Good Actors Ever...
Don Cheadle is One of the Most Consistently Good Actors Ever...
- 4/25/2019
- by Tom
- TVovermind.com
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.Recommended VIEWINGFinally, it’s here: Netflix’s trailer for their restoration and reconstruction of Orson Welles' final and previously unfinished The Other Side of the Wind, starring John Huston and Peter Bogdanovich.A dreamy, sun-bathed trailer for Carlos Reygadas's Our Time, about a Mexican family that raises fighting bulls, and a young horse trainer who enters and disrupts their lives. The Venice-bound film is Reygadas's first since his 2012 Post Tenebras Lux. Behold, the official trailer for Luca Guadagnino's Suspiria, cut with an erratic rhythm that blurs the line between violent bodily contortions and interpretive dance. The film has been acquired by Mubi to show in UK cinemas on November 16.The trailer for Rialto Pictures's new 4K restoration of Jean-Pierre Melville's little-seen When You Read This Letter (1953). The film, which...
- 8/29/2018
- MUBI
Those following the year-end lists and awards will note that George Miller and Mad Max: Fury Road have had a good run over the past few days, topping lists at Slant and the Playlist and winning accolades from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society. Meantime, the New Yorker's Richard Brody explains why Spike Lee's Chi-Raq is his #1 film of 2015, while Mark Kermode goes for Inside Out, Charles Mudede for Kornél Mundruczó's White God, Kenneth Turan for John Crowley's Brooklyn, the Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy for Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe—and we're gathering more lists as they come in. » - David Hudson...
- 12/14/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Those following the year-end lists and awards will note that George Miller and Mad Max: Fury Road have had a good run over the past few days, topping lists at Slant and the Playlist and winning accolades from the San Francisco Film Critics Circle and the Online Film Critics Society. Meantime, the New Yorker's Richard Brody explains why Spike Lee's Chi-Raq is his #1 film of 2015, while Mark Kermode goes for Inside Out, Charles Mudede for Kornél Mundruczó's White God, Kenneth Turan for John Crowley's Brooklyn, the Hollywood Reporter's Todd McCarthy for Miroslav Slaboshpitsky's The Tribe—and we're gathering more lists as they come in. » - David Hudson...
- 12/14/2015
- Keyframe
Jonathan Rosenbaum's posted entries on three of the films on the Asian Cinema 100 list: Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us and Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day. Also in today's roundup: A guide to Alfred Hitchcock's "visual proclivities," two interviews with John Carpenter and one with Sion Sono, Charles Mudede on why Alien is not a horror movie, Mike D'Angelo on what makes It Follows an instant classic of the genre and news of projects in the works: Jennifer Jason Leigh joins Twin Peaks, Adrian Lyne returns to direct Nicole Kidman—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 10/30/2015
- Keyframe
Jonathan Rosenbaum's posted entries on three of the films on the Asian Cinema 100 list: Lee Chang-dong's Poetry, Abbas Kiarostami's The Wind Will Carry Us and Edward Yang's A Brighter Summer Day. Also in today's roundup: A guide to Alfred Hitchcock's "visual proclivities," two interviews with John Carpenter and one with Sion Sono, Charles Mudede on why Alien is not a horror movie, Mike D'Angelo on what makes It Follows an instant classic of the genre and news of projects in the works: Jennifer Jason Leigh joins Twin Peaks, Adrian Lyne returns to direct Nicole Kidman—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 10/30/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
To get to the core of the new French film Samba, we must begin by asking this question: What is an inhabitant? We can answer that question by asking another one: What is a citizen? He/she is the ultimate unit of a state, and he/she has obligations to this state and the state has obligations to this he/she—the one who has made an agreement with many others to imagine the state’s borders, customs and laws. >> - Charles Mudede...
- 8/17/2015
- Keyframe
To get to the core of the new French film Samba, we must begin by asking this question: What is an inhabitant? We can answer that question by asking another one: What is a citizen? He/she is the ultimate unit of a state, and he/she has obligations to this state and the state has obligations to this he/she—the one who has made an agreement with many others to imagine the state’s borders, customs and laws. >> - Charles Mudede...
- 8/17/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: Charles Mudede on John Sayles's The Brother from Another Planet, André Gregory and Wallace Shawn's list of top ten Criterion releases, Terrence Rafferty on Bernhard Wicki’s The Bridge, Mike D'Angelo on John Ford and Native Americans, Philippa Snow on Ana Lily Armirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, Patrick Wang on Lisa Joyce's performance in Jonathan Demme's A Master Builder, Kevin Hatch on Bruce Conner, Ryan Gilbey on Wim Wenders, interviews with Jia Zhangke, Hannah Gross and Deragh Campbell—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 6/29/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
In today's roundup of news and views: Charles Mudede on John Sayles's The Brother from Another Planet, André Gregory and Wallace Shawn's list of top ten Criterion releases, Terrence Rafferty on Bernhard Wicki’s The Bridge, Mike D'Angelo on John Ford and Native Americans, Philippa Snow on Ana Lily Armirpour's A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night and Jonathan Glazer's Under the Skin, Patrick Wang on Lisa Joyce's performance in Jonathan Demme's A Master Builder, Kevin Hatch on Bruce Conner, Ryan Gilbey on Wim Wenders, interviews with Jia Zhangke, Hannah Gross and Deragh Campbell—and more. » - David Hudson...
- 6/29/2015
- Keyframe
While David Cairns is spending the week with the work of René Clément, it's Errol Morris Week at Grantland. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Early television work by Tim Burton and David Cronenberg. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation at 100. Erich Kuersten argues that The Terror (1963), begun on a whim by Roger Corman and completed by Francis Ford Coppola and Monte Hellman, "is part one of a very strange textural existential genre meltdown Hellman trilogy" that would be followed by The Shooting (1966) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Charles Mudede writes about spending a week in a hotel room with Michael Pitt. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 3/4/2015
- Keyframe
While David Cairns is spending the week with the work of René Clément, it's Errol Morris Week at Grantland. Also in today's roundup of news and views: Early television work by Tim Burton and David Cronenberg. D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation at 100. Erich Kuersten argues that The Terror (1963), begun on a whim by Roger Corman and completed by Francis Ford Coppola and Monte Hellman, "is part one of a very strange textural existential genre meltdown Hellman trilogy" that would be followed by The Shooting (1966) and Two-Lane Blacktop (1971). Charles Mudede writes about spending a week in a hotel room with Michael Pitt. And more. » - David Hudson...
- 3/4/2015
- Fandor: Keyframe
Despite the lottery-esque sounding odds, the U.S Dramatic Competition section which produces the finest American indie specimens such as Frozen River, Winter’s Bone, Blue Valentine, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Fruitvale Station and Whiplash is fairly consistent in terms of quality. Last year’s crop of sixteen have almost all had their theatrical releases with Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter being the last one out of the gates (pegged with an early 2015 release). Last week we individually looked at our top 80 Sundance Film Fest Predictions (you’ll find 30 other titles worth considering in our intro) and below, we’ve split the list into narrative and non-fiction film items and have both identified and color-coded our picks in an AtoZ cheat sheet. You’ll find 2015′s answer to Whiplash located somewhere in the stack below. Click on the individual titles below, for the film’s profile.
- 11/19/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Films gods be damned. After guesstimating its eventual arrival on the film fest circuit and tracking it since it first went into production back in 2012, I’m inclined to think that the shot in state of Washington production either hit a rough patch, needed a longer production schedule due to seasonal shifts in backdrops or, my latest theory: Robinson Devor concurrently worked on not one, but two projects: the other being Pow Wow, his latest documentary project. Devor began editing the film at the start of the year and as part of Park City fabric in the naughts with successive releases of The Woman Chaser (2000), Police Beat (2005) and Zoo (2007) – we may see the filmmaker double up his presence with You Can’t Win finally cutting the finish line ribbon. Cast includes Jeremy Allen White, Charles Baker, Julia Garner, Will Patton, Hannah Marks and Louisa Krause (look out for her perf...
- 11/14/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
With 2007′s off-kilter Zoo, Sundance Film Fest habitual Robinson Devor showed his true colors. His unrestricted creativity in storytelling means that his future slate includes mutations in both the fiction and the non-fiction field. With a recent installation showing at MoMA, a docu-portrait on Sarah Jane (the woman who came within inches of assassinating President Gerald R. Ford) in the works, and a feature film that saw the passing of the seasons (a book to film adaptation of 1920′s Americana in You Can’t Win) Robinson with help from oft creative collaborator Charles Mudede have been working on a new docu-project that stitches dual narratives that are a century apart in Pow Wow. The docu, which received successful rounds of crowdfunding earlier in the year, appears to eerily underline a strong set of similarities despite an obvious gap in time.
Gist: This uses modern day desert characters to echo and...
Gist: This uses modern day desert characters to echo and...
- 11/13/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
You Can’t Win
Director: Robinson Devor
Writers: Robinson Devor, Michael Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede
Producers: Robert Scarff, Zach Sebastian, Michael Pitt
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Michael Pitt, Charles Baker, Julia Garner, Will Patton, Hannah Marks, Louisa Krause
If the movie gods were fair to us, they’d unveil Robinson Devor (The Woman Chaser (2000), Police Beat (2005) and Zoo (2007)) in the year that ends in ’14.
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, , this is an adaptation of adventurer Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of the same name which tells of his experiences in the hobo underworld, freight-hopping around the still Wild West of the United States and Canada while he explores the topics of crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly from various viewpoints. The drama is centered on the unusual friendship between Black (Pitt) and a young prostitute (Marks).
Release Date: Cannes if hopefully it’s first “pitt” stop.
Director: Robinson Devor
Writers: Robinson Devor, Michael Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede
Producers: Robert Scarff, Zach Sebastian, Michael Pitt
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Jeremy Allen White, Michael Pitt, Charles Baker, Julia Garner, Will Patton, Hannah Marks, Louisa Krause
If the movie gods were fair to us, they’d unveil Robinson Devor (The Woman Chaser (2000), Police Beat (2005) and Zoo (2007)) in the year that ends in ’14.
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, , this is an adaptation of adventurer Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of the same name which tells of his experiences in the hobo underworld, freight-hopping around the still Wild West of the United States and Canada while he explores the topics of crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly from various viewpoints. The drama is centered on the unusual friendship between Black (Pitt) and a young prostitute (Marks).
Release Date: Cannes if hopefully it’s first “pitt” stop.
- 2/26/2014
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
A return visitor at the festival for all three of his feature films The Woman Chaser (2000), Police Beat (2005) and Zoo (2007), I’m feeling good about the chances of seeing Robinson Devor make it a four-peat. A period film that was shot over a pair of seasons, we’ve been anticipating this passion project for a while now. You Can’t Win stars Michael Pitt, Jeremy Allen White, Will Patton, Hannah Marks, Louisa Krause and Julia Garner.
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede, this is an adaptation of adventurer Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of the same name which tells of his experiences in the hobo underworld, freight-hopping around the still Wild West of the United States and Canada while he explores the topics of crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly from various viewpoints. The drama is centered on the unusual friendship between Black (Pitt) and...
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede, this is an adaptation of adventurer Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of the same name which tells of his experiences in the hobo underworld, freight-hopping around the still Wild West of the United States and Canada while he explores the topics of crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly from various viewpoints. The drama is centered on the unusual friendship between Black (Pitt) and...
- 11/22/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
You Can’t Win
Director: Robinson Devor
Writer(s): Devor, Barry Gifford and Michael Pitt
Producer(s): Parts & Labor’s Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, Robert Scarff, Zach Sebastian, Michael Pitt.
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Michael Pitt, Jeremy Allen White, Will Patton, Hannah Marks, Louisa Krause, Julia Garner
With such a strong filmography to date in The Woman Chaser, Police Beat, and Zoo, Robinson Devor’s fourth feature is certainly his most challenging endeavor yet. You Can’t Win includes the heavy participation from its lead actor in Michael Pitt and it takes on what is referenced as “one of the most influential books in the American literary underground.” Could be a great indie surprise that didn’t debut in Park City.
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede, this is an adaptation of adventurer (Pitt) Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of...
Director: Robinson Devor
Writer(s): Devor, Barry Gifford and Michael Pitt
Producer(s): Parts & Labor’s Lars Knudsen and Jay Van Hoy, Robert Scarff, Zach Sebastian, Michael Pitt.
U.S. Distributor: Rights Available
Cast: Michael Pitt, Jeremy Allen White, Will Patton, Hannah Marks, Louisa Krause, Julia Garner
With such a strong filmography to date in The Woman Chaser, Police Beat, and Zoo, Robinson Devor’s fourth feature is certainly his most challenging endeavor yet. You Can’t Win includes the heavy participation from its lead actor in Michael Pitt and it takes on what is referenced as “one of the most influential books in the American literary underground.” Could be a great indie surprise that didn’t debut in Park City.
Gist: Scripted by Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede, this is an adaptation of adventurer (Pitt) Jack Black’s 1926 autobiographical novel of...
- 1/14/2013
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Naturally, helmer Robinson Devor is a great fit for Park City – a former lab participant, his entire filmography in The Woman Chaser (Sundance ’00), Police Beat (Sundance ’05) and Zoo (Sundance ’07) have been presented at the fest: For his fourth feature, Devor took on the weighty task of adapting what is referenced as “one of the most influential books in the American literary underground.” Unless there are seasonal inserts to be added, we consider You Can’t Win to be full prepped as filming began in Devor’s backyard (state of Washington) in April/May of this year (set pics here). Worth noting is that Michael Pitt makes a return of sorts to the big screen — not since 2007′s Funny Games U.S. had he been on film and its appears to be a passion project for the thesp who is credited as a contributing writer and producer. Cast along his side is...
- 11/22/2012
- by Eric Lavallee
- IONCINEMA.com
Alain Corneau passed away in August 2010, two days after his final film, Love Crime (Crime d'amour), opened in France and just before it premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival. I didn't get a chance to see it in Toronto that year, but finally had a chance to watch it last night, knowing I wanted to watch it before seeing Brian De Palma's remake, titled Passion, which will be playing the Venice Film Festival at the end of August. Starring Kristin Scott Thomas and Ludivine Sagnier, the story begins as the age-old tale of a mentor (Thomas) using the ingenue (Sagnier) for professional gain. While Thomas, as Christine, uses the accomplished work of Isabelle to rise to the top. Isabelle, upset with Christine's two-faced approach to their relationship, is struggling between the idea of remaining a loyal employee and the voice of her co-worker (Guillaume Marquet) in her ear,...
- 7/30/2012
- by Brad Brevet
- Rope of Silicon
Yesterday was all about the Cannes lineup, so we've got quite a bit of news to catch up with today. First and foremost, Cinema Scope has relaunched its site with a healthy selection of pieces from Issue 50, which cinephiles lucky enough to be holding a print copy have been talking about for weeks now. Editor Mark Peranson: "So to commemorate 50 issues, I came up with the silly (not stupid) idea of deciding on the best 50 filmmakers currently working under the age of 50 (or the top, or the greatest — I've spent far too much time pondering this silly adjective). I'm anticipating heaps of criticism for this in the blogosphere, but I hope this leads to a little discussion outside of the pages of this magazine, and provides a snapshot of where cinema finds itself today."
20 of those 50 pieces are online. You'll find, for example, Raya Martin on Carlos Reygadas (and...
20 of those 50 pieces are online. You'll find, for example, Raya Martin on Carlos Reygadas (and...
- 4/20/2012
- MUBI
Michael Pitt generated plenty of acclaim as Atlantic City criminal Jimmy Darmody on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire but he’s been off the big screen since his lead performance in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, an English-language remake of his 1997 Austrian film of the same name. Variety reported that Pitt signed on to star and produce You Can’T Win, based on the 1926 autobiographical novel by world traveler and thief Jack Black. Robinson Devor joined the film as director and co-wrote the script with Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede and Pitt.
- 4/19/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Michael Pitt generated plenty of acclaim as Atlantic City criminal Jimmy Darmody on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire but he’s been off the big screen since his lead performance in Michael Haneke’s Funny Games, an English-language remake of his 1997 Austrian film of the same name. Variety reported that Pitt signed on to star and produce You Can’T Win, based on the 1926 autobiographical novel by world traveler and thief Jack Black. Robinson Devor joined the film as director and co-wrote the script with Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede and Pitt.
- 4/19/2012
- Upcoming-Movies.com
Michael Pitt ("Boardwalk Empire," "Murder by Numbers") will produce and star in a film adaptation of Jack Black's 1926 autobiographical novel "You Can't Win" for Parts & Labor says Risky Biz Blog.
Black spent his life on the road freight-hopping across the western United States and Canada at the turn-of-the-century, along the way encountering bums, tramps and criminals who rode the rails.
Robinson Devor helms the project which begins shooting in Seattle at the end of the month. Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede adapted the screenplay while Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Robert Scarff and Zach Sebastian will produce.
Black spent his life on the road freight-hopping across the western United States and Canada at the turn-of-the-century, along the way encountering bums, tramps and criminals who rode the rails.
Robinson Devor helms the project which begins shooting in Seattle at the end of the month. Devor, Pitt, Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede adapted the screenplay while Lars Knudsen, Jay Van Hoy, Robert Scarff and Zach Sebastian will produce.
- 4/19/2012
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Now that a more open schedule is at his advantage, Michael Pitt has decided to aim a little higher than we may have anticipated. As Variety reports, the actor is becoming a multi-hyphenate for You Can’t Win, which he will lead, produce, and co-write with director Robinson Devor (Zoo), Barry Gifford (Lost Highway), and Charles Mudede.
That trio is working with a 1926 autobiography of Jack Black (different guy, natch), a “burgler, safe-cracker, highwayman and petty thief” who traveled across the United States and Canada’s hobo underworld in the early part of the 20th century. That’s not all since, in the course of this memoir, Black also takes multiple perspectives to investigate aspects such as “crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly.” (Whether these other vantage points will be utilized hasn’t been made clear.)
That could make for something at least vaguely unique and interesting — especially if...
That trio is working with a 1926 autobiography of Jack Black (different guy, natch), a “burgler, safe-cracker, highwayman and petty thief” who traveled across the United States and Canada’s hobo underworld in the early part of the 20th century. That’s not all since, in the course of this memoir, Black also takes multiple perspectives to investigate aspects such as “crime, addiction, criminal justice and human folly.” (Whether these other vantage points will be utilized hasn’t been made clear.)
That could make for something at least vaguely unique and interesting — especially if...
- 4/18/2012
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
Important news! Jack Black has discovered time travel, warped back to 1926 and written a book all about his adventures journeying around America. Or not. But there was a Jack Black at the time, he did write an autobiographical novel called You Can’t Win about his travels, and now Boardwalk Empire’s Michael Pitt has made a deal to star in and produce a film based on the tome.Black’s bestseller chronicles his experiences in the tramp underworld of the time, hopping freight trains to journey around the Us and Canada way back when. Among his themes are crime, justice, addiction and human foibles.Pitt has teamed up with Zoo director Robinson Devor for the movie, and the pair worked on the script along with Barry Gifford and Charles Mudede. They’ve drummed up a thrifty budget to get the film made and will start shooting later this month in Seattle.
- 4/18/2012
- EmpireOnline
The Montreal-based independent publisher caboose has been working for five years on a volume that'll finally be out in September, Introduction to a True History of Cinema and Television by Jean-Luc Godard. "In 1978, just before returning to the international stage for the second phase of his career," Godard "improvised a series of 14 one-hour talks at Concordia University in Montreal as part of a projected video history of cinema. These talks, published in French in 1980 and long out of print, have never before been translated into English. For this edition, the faulty and incomplete French transcription has been entirely revised and corrected, working from the sole videotape copies of the lectures, housed in the Concordia University archives. For this project, Godard screened for a dozen or so students his own famous films of the 1960s — watching them himself for the first time since their production — alongside single reels of some of...
- 4/5/2012
- MUBI
The San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, opening today and running through March 18, turns 30 this year. "Highlights of 2012's anniversary line-up include an in-person tribute to Joan Chen, a pair of world premieres from the talents behind Colma: The Musical, and Patrick Wang's In the Family, one of the most acclaimed American indies from last year," writes Michael Hawley in an extensive overview. And Michael Guillén interviews Wang at the Evening Class.
For the Bay Guardian's Kimberly Chun, Sfiaaff "seems to be in the throes of a youth movement." More previews come from Peter Martin (Twitch) and Kelly Vance (East Bay Express).
Los Angeles. The Beauty of the Long Day: An In-Person Terence Davies Tribute happens Sunday and Monday at the Aero Theater and Doug Cummings has a preview in the La Weekly.
Seattle. In the Stranger, Charles Mudede argues (briefly) that the Dreileben trilogy, Christian Petzold's Beats Being Dead,...
For the Bay Guardian's Kimberly Chun, Sfiaaff "seems to be in the throes of a youth movement." More previews come from Peter Martin (Twitch) and Kelly Vance (East Bay Express).
Los Angeles. The Beauty of the Long Day: An In-Person Terence Davies Tribute happens Sunday and Monday at the Aero Theater and Doug Cummings has a preview in the La Weekly.
Seattle. In the Stranger, Charles Mudede argues (briefly) that the Dreileben trilogy, Christian Petzold's Beats Being Dead,...
- 3/8/2012
- MUBI
The new Spring 2012 issue of Cineaste is out and selections online include James L Neibaur on Kino's Blu-ray releases of Buster Keaton's work (as well as eleven more DVD/Blu-ray reviews), Andrew Horton's remembrance of Theo Angelopolous, Anchalee Chaiwaraporn and Kong Rithdee on the politics of Thai film and the opening paragraphs of Thomas Doherty's review of Nicholas Ray: The Glorious Failure of an American Director:
Generally admiring but never intoxicated, Patrick McGilligan's insightful biography is a chronicle not only of the troubled director but also of the Hollywood studio system at dusk, the vagaries of the multilateral skirmishes between French, British, and American film criticism, and the political follies roiling through twentieth-century America. The author of well-regarded biographies of Fritz Lang and Clint Eastwood and the editor of the invaluable Backstory series of interviews with Hollywood screenwriters (who all prove to be much more than...
Generally admiring but never intoxicated, Patrick McGilligan's insightful biography is a chronicle not only of the troubled director but also of the Hollywood studio system at dusk, the vagaries of the multilateral skirmishes between French, British, and American film criticism, and the political follies roiling through twentieth-century America. The author of well-regarded biographies of Fritz Lang and Clint Eastwood and the editor of the invaluable Backstory series of interviews with Hollywood screenwriters (who all prove to be much more than...
- 2/24/2012
- MUBI
Alexander Kluge speaks at the Oberhausen Manifesto press conference 1962
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
For all the news tumbling out of Rotterdam and Berlin over the past couple of weeks, we don't want to overlook a couple of pretty major announcements coming from other festivals regarding their upcoming editions. Starting with this one: "The 58th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Oberhausen Manifesto (February 28, 2012) with a large-scale thematic program entitled Provoking Reality: Mavericks, Mouvements, Manifesto. To honor the anniversary of the Manifesto, perhaps the single most important group document in German film history, the festival has compiled a selection of films of the signatories, many of which have not been shown for decades and had to be restored expressly for the program."
In addition to the inevitable panel discussion, there'll also be a double DVD from Edition Filmmuseum and, in German, a collection of essays. Before moving on, this...
- 1/15/2012
- MUBI
An avid podcast listener (like me) could hardly stumble across better news today than this fresh item from the Zellner Bros: "Mike Plante has great taste and a vast knowledge of film. His venture Cinemad has been many wonderful things; a zine, a blog, a DVD almanac, a distributor and podcast. His latest podcast installment interviews the Zb's, hopefully we did it justice. A lot of important issues were covered from Sasquatches to Salo to Chuck Berry."
What's more, this is Cinemad's sixth podcast and, as it happens, for nearly every one of them, there's a relevant upcoming event worth noting. David and Nathan Zellner's new feature, Kid-Thing, for example, will be making its premiere at Sundance in a few weeks. As for the other five:
Nina Menkes. We've got a cinema devoted to her films even now; its virtual doors are open through July.
Azazel Jacobs. His touching...
What's more, this is Cinemad's sixth podcast and, as it happens, for nearly every one of them, there's a relevant upcoming event worth noting. David and Nathan Zellner's new feature, Kid-Thing, for example, will be making its premiere at Sundance in a few weeks. As for the other five:
Nina Menkes. We've got a cinema devoted to her films even now; its virtual doors are open through July.
Azazel Jacobs. His touching...
- 1/2/2012
- MUBI
First, a quick reminder that entries on several films playing here or there have been updated through today: Film Socialisme, Agrarian Utopia, Road to Nowhere and The Tree of Life. Alright, on with the weekend...
"Jj Abrams imitates to flatter with Super 8, an homage to the seminal science fiction films of Steven Spielberg that succumbs to empty nostalgic pandering," argues Nick Schager in Slant. "As with his Star Trek, Abrams's latest puts a modern spin on classical material, though here reinvention isn't the goal so much as slavish duplication embellished with muscular CG effects. It's akin to returning to a cinematic womb of Spielbergian father-son issues, suburban households under extraterrestrial strain, and teen romance, friendship, and maturation via out-of-this-world circumstances. The effect of such a modus operandi is initial coziness quickly giving way to disheartening familiarity, with Abrams's own preoccupations (if he had any to begin with) becoming subsumed beneath the root themes,...
"Jj Abrams imitates to flatter with Super 8, an homage to the seminal science fiction films of Steven Spielberg that succumbs to empty nostalgic pandering," argues Nick Schager in Slant. "As with his Star Trek, Abrams's latest puts a modern spin on classical material, though here reinvention isn't the goal so much as slavish duplication embellished with muscular CG effects. It's akin to returning to a cinematic womb of Spielbergian father-son issues, suburban households under extraterrestrial strain, and teen romance, friendship, and maturation via out-of-this-world circumstances. The effect of such a modus operandi is initial coziness quickly giving way to disheartening familiarity, with Abrams's own preoccupations (if he had any to begin with) becoming subsumed beneath the root themes,...
- 6/12/2011
- MUBI
I'll leave the commentary on poster design to the far more knowledgeable Adrian Curry, but in rounding up notes on events happening around the Us (outside of New York, which'll have its own roundup in a bit), a handful of posters caught my eye, starting with this one for Other Cinema's Fujiyama in Red, a live program aimed at raising funds for Japanese Tsunami Relief and named "after the 1990 Kurosawa movie that foresaw the catastrophe." Tomorrow night in San Francisco; scroll down for details.
Brian Darr: "It's hard to imagine a better time for a San Francisco movie lover to partake in the by-now almost subversive act of watching a great classic film in a cinema, than when our city's architectural pride and joy, the Castro Theatre, devotes its screen to a 70mm film series, as it will for eight days starting this Saturday night, when it plays West Side Story,...
Brian Darr: "It's hard to imagine a better time for a San Francisco movie lover to partake in the by-now almost subversive act of watching a great classic film in a cinema, than when our city's architectural pride and joy, the Castro Theatre, devotes its screen to a 70mm film series, as it will for eight days starting this Saturday night, when it plays West Side Story,...
- 6/3/2011
- MUBI
A month ago, novelist Andrew Klavan wrote a wild-eyed editorial at the La Times claiming that "Toy Story 3" was a "rebuke, not perhaps to the Obama White House specifically but to its underlying ideas." A major foundation of his argument was the point that Sunnyside Daycare Center stood in for a socialist society.
At the time, I wrote that "you'd be hard pressed to find another human being, American or otherwise, with any kind of interpretation of the film in the same ballpark as the one offered by Klavan." Well, allow me to eat those words, as The Stranger's Charles Mudede (who, incidentally, co-wrote the films "Zoo" and "Police Beat") offers a similar read on the film, this time as a complaint:
Things go dark almost immediately. The socialist utopia is not even given one chance to shine. A door opens and a bunch of noisy, dirty, ugly kids...
At the time, I wrote that "you'd be hard pressed to find another human being, American or otherwise, with any kind of interpretation of the film in the same ballpark as the one offered by Klavan." Well, allow me to eat those words, as The Stranger's Charles Mudede (who, incidentally, co-wrote the films "Zoo" and "Police Beat") offers a similar read on the film, this time as a complaint:
Things go dark almost immediately. The socialist utopia is not even given one chance to shine. A door opens and a bunch of noisy, dirty, ugly kids...
- 12/2/2010
- by Alison Willmore
- ifc.com
In a press release sent out this week, director Robinson Devor (Police Beat, Zoo, which scored on Filmmaker's Top 25 of the Decade list) is currently underway in San Francisco on a documentary on Sara Jane Moore, who attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford in September 1975 outside the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. Written by Devor, Charles Mudede and shot by d.p. Sean Kirby, Moore (pictured), now 80 and currently on parole after thirty years in prison, returns to San Francisco for the first time since the assassination attempt to be interviewed. The film also chronicles the lead up to the attempt, following Moore as a suburban wife to being involved with Marxist radicals to even being a narc for the FBI. "Like Man on a...
- 1/8/2010
- by Jason Guerrasio
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
ThinkFilm
PARK CITY -- Robinson Devor's "Zoo" removes itself from the realm of bawdy jokes to examine the shocking 2005 incident in which a Seattle businessman died of a perforated colon after having intercourse with a stallion. The death led to an investigation into a horse ranch near the town of Enumclaw, where videotapes were discovered of men having sex with horses. Since bestiality isn't a crime in Washington, no one was charged, but, ironically, the horse in question was gelded.
As one would expect, the media and its pundits had a field day with the sensational news. Devor takes such an opposite approach that anyone seeking a cheap thrill will be soundly disappointed with "Zoo". Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this docu to art houses, not porn theaters.
Devor, whose previous films have been features ("The Woman Chaser", "Police Beat"), screenwriter-journalist Charles Mudede and cinematographer Sean Kirby reject many of the techniques one associates with documentary filmmaking in favor of an impressionistic study of men who surrender to extreme appetites.
Necessity may be the mother of invention here since the protagonist was dead and many individuals did not want to appear on camera. In any event, "Zoo" utilizes dramatization, much as Errol Morris did in 1988 with "The Thin Blue Line". With these staged scenes, featuring either actors or actual participants, the film examines the phenomenon of "zoophiles," a community that gathers first online and then in clandestine meetings where such appetites are taken for granted.
The men speak with remarkable candor of their "love" for animals, portraying this as a natural desire and not as a morally repugnant activity. While the repulsed judgments of others seep into the film through sound bites from talk radio, mostly the film lets members of the apparently all-male society of zoo speak for themselves.
When one man insists that the sex takes place "with an intelligent being who is very happy to participate," you recognize the need to rationalize. How do they know the horse is "happy to participate"? Mostly, these are men cut off from friendships in human society; indeed, they don't like to deal with human relationships all that much.
Cool, lush, dark colors reflect the gray Washington skies. Joe Shapiro's lyrical editing deliberately emphasizes the bucolic, while Paul Matthew Moore's score has an ominous, Philip Glass-like quality.
PARK CITY -- Robinson Devor's "Zoo" removes itself from the realm of bawdy jokes to examine the shocking 2005 incident in which a Seattle businessman died of a perforated colon after having intercourse with a stallion. The death led to an investigation into a horse ranch near the town of Enumclaw, where videotapes were discovered of men having sex with horses. Since bestiality isn't a crime in Washington, no one was charged, but, ironically, the horse in question was gelded.
As one would expect, the media and its pundits had a field day with the sensational news. Devor takes such an opposite approach that anyone seeking a cheap thrill will be soundly disappointed with "Zoo". Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this docu to art houses, not porn theaters.
Devor, whose previous films have been features ("The Woman Chaser", "Police Beat"), screenwriter-journalist Charles Mudede and cinematographer Sean Kirby reject many of the techniques one associates with documentary filmmaking in favor of an impressionistic study of men who surrender to extreme appetites.
Necessity may be the mother of invention here since the protagonist was dead and many individuals did not want to appear on camera. In any event, "Zoo" utilizes dramatization, much as Errol Morris did in 1988 with "The Thin Blue Line". With these staged scenes, featuring either actors or actual participants, the film examines the phenomenon of "zoophiles," a community that gathers first online and then in clandestine meetings where such appetites are taken for granted.
The men speak with remarkable candor of their "love" for animals, portraying this as a natural desire and not as a morally repugnant activity. While the repulsed judgments of others seep into the film through sound bites from talk radio, mostly the film lets members of the apparently all-male society of zoo speak for themselves.
When one man insists that the sex takes place "with an intelligent being who is very happy to participate," you recognize the need to rationalize. How do they know the horse is "happy to participate"? Mostly, these are men cut off from friendships in human society; indeed, they don't like to deal with human relationships all that much.
Cool, lush, dark colors reflect the gray Washington skies. Joe Shapiro's lyrical editing deliberately emphasizes the bucolic, while Paul Matthew Moore's score has an ominous, Philip Glass-like quality.
- 1/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
ThinkFilm
PARK CITY -- Robinson Devor's "Zoo" removes itself from the realm of bawdy jokes to examine the shocking 2005 incident in which a Seattle businessman died of a perforated colon after having intercourse with a stallion. The death led to an investigation into a horse ranch near the town of Enumclaw, where videotapes were discovered of men having sex with horses. Since bestiality isn't a crime in Washington, no one was charged, but, ironically, the horse in question was gelded.
As one would expect, the media and its pundits had a field day with the sensational news. Devor takes such an opposite approach that anyone seeking a cheap thrill will be soundly disappointed with "Zoo". Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this docu to art houses, not porn theaters.
Devor, whose previous films have been features ("The Woman Chaser", "Police Beat"), screenwriter-journalist Charles Mudede and cinematographer Sean Kirby reject many of the techniques one associates with documentary filmmaking in favor of an impressionistic study of men who surrender to extreme appetites.
Necessity may be the mother of invention here since the protagonist was dead and many individuals did not want to appear on camera. In any event, "Zoo" utilizes dramatization, much as Errol Morris did in 1988 with "The Thin Blue Line". With these staged scenes, featuring either actors or actual participants, the film examines the phenomenon of "zoophiles," a community that gathers first online and then in clandestine meetings where such appetites are taken for granted.
The men speak with remarkable candor of their "love" for animals, portraying this as a natural desire and not as a morally repugnant activity. While the repulsed judgments of others seep into the film through sound bites from talk radio, mostly the film lets members of the apparently all-male society of zoo speak for themselves.
When one man insists that the sex takes place "with an intelligent being who is very happy to participate," you recognize the need to rationalize. How do they know the horse is "happy to participate"? Mostly, these are men cut off from friendships in human society; indeed, they don't like to deal with human relationships all that much.
Cool, lush, dark colors reflect the gray Washington skies. Joe Shapiro's lyrical editing deliberately emphasizes the bucolic, while Paul Matthew Moore's score has an ominous, Philip Glass-like quality.
PARK CITY -- Robinson Devor's "Zoo" removes itself from the realm of bawdy jokes to examine the shocking 2005 incident in which a Seattle businessman died of a perforated colon after having intercourse with a stallion. The death led to an investigation into a horse ranch near the town of Enumclaw, where videotapes were discovered of men having sex with horses. Since bestiality isn't a crime in Washington, no one was charged, but, ironically, the horse in question was gelded.
As one would expect, the media and its pundits had a field day with the sensational news. Devor takes such an opposite approach that anyone seeking a cheap thrill will be soundly disappointed with "Zoo". Whether meaning to or not, Devor and his accomplished crew expand our concept of the documentary film, which relegates this docu to art houses, not porn theaters.
Devor, whose previous films have been features ("The Woman Chaser", "Police Beat"), screenwriter-journalist Charles Mudede and cinematographer Sean Kirby reject many of the techniques one associates with documentary filmmaking in favor of an impressionistic study of men who surrender to extreme appetites.
Necessity may be the mother of invention here since the protagonist was dead and many individuals did not want to appear on camera. In any event, "Zoo" utilizes dramatization, much as Errol Morris did in 1988 with "The Thin Blue Line". With these staged scenes, featuring either actors or actual participants, the film examines the phenomenon of "zoophiles," a community that gathers first online and then in clandestine meetings where such appetites are taken for granted.
The men speak with remarkable candor of their "love" for animals, portraying this as a natural desire and not as a morally repugnant activity. While the repulsed judgments of others seep into the film through sound bites from talk radio, mostly the film lets members of the apparently all-male society of zoo speak for themselves.
When one man insists that the sex takes place "with an intelligent being who is very happy to participate," you recognize the need to rationalize. How do they know the horse is "happy to participate"? Mostly, these are men cut off from friendships in human society; indeed, they don't like to deal with human relationships all that much.
Cool, lush, dark colors reflect the gray Washington skies. Joe Shapiro's lyrical editing deliberately emphasizes the bucolic, while Paul Matthew Moore's score has an ominous, Philip Glass-like quality.
- 1/26/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
PARK CITY -- An ambitious and creative jumbling of narrative style, "Police Beat" attempts to chart the emotional state of a Seattle cop from Senegal as he responds to crimes around the city and obsesses about his girlfriend, who may or may not be sleeping with another man.
Soulful performance by non-pro Pape Sidy Niang as the bicycle-riding police officer Z, gives the film a poetic tone, but cumulative impact is diffused rather than enhanced by the fractured form. Film could have some life at art houses and healthy after-life on cable and video.
Film is constructed around a series of real-life crimes originally reported in a column called Police Beat written by Charles Mudede for The Stranger, a Seattle alt weekly. Mudede fashioned the expressionistic script with director Robinson Devor. Film represents a delicate balancing act that Devor pulls off with impressive control of the material. Since journey is internal, he had to find a way to tell a story where not much happens and all the action is subjective.
The device he came up with is a voiceover in Z's native west African tongue, Wolof, translated in subtitles. Spoken dialogue is in English, so we get the collision of the character's internal and external lives. The crime calls Z answers all become a reflection for his inner state of turmoil. His girlfriend Rachel (Anna Oxygen) has gone off on a camping trip with an old flame and Z wonders if their days together are numbered. Few films manage to capture as well a character's private despair as he struggles to interpret signs that might just be in his imagination.
Unfortunately, since we meet Rachel only in fragments, and know almost nothing about their relationship, it's hard to connect to his struggle. As an immigrant in a strange land, Z's experience is hermetically cut off from the larger flow of life, even thought he encounters some pretty strange stuff. His computer screen, with a grid of Seattle crime codes, is a reflection of his wounded psyche. Domestic violence, public urination, homicide--it's all in a day's work. Since Z's experience is colored by his emotional agitation, a recurring female character (Sarah Harlett) who keeps turning up in various guises--as a prostitute, a masseuse, a would-be suicide and an assault victim--may not be everything she seems to be.
Other crimes on his beat include a man devouring raw meat in a supermarket, a reckless bicycle rider who goes on a political tirade, and an epileptic who enters a stranger's house, has an attack and strolls out. Z responds to the calls but he's not really there, his mind is elsewhere grappling with philosophical issues such as the nature of love, families and life itself. The world is going on around him but he's not engaged. It's strange material to construct a film around since there is little narrative drive other than Z's emotional life.
Devor has created a dreamlike state which allows Z to look inward. For Niang it seems not so much a performance as a baring of his soul, something a more trained actor might not have been able to do. Editors Mark Winitsky and Joe Shapiro have also found the key to maintaining the film's singular mood. The filmmakers were apparently not going for a conventional movie experience where the audience is swept up in another person's life. What they do achieve is a certain abstract fascination, like a man caught under glass.
POLICE BEAT
Police Beat Prods., the Northwest Film Forum presentation
Credits:
Director: Robinson Devor
Writer: Devor, Charles Mudede
Producers: Jeffrey M. Brown, Alexis Ferris
Executive producer: Michael Seiwerath
Director of photography: Sean Kirby
Production designer: Etta Lilienthal
Costume designer: Doris Black
Editors: Mark Winitsky, Joe Shapiro
Cast:
Z: Pape Sidy Niang
Rachel: Anna Oxygen
Swan: Eric Breedlove
Mary: Sarah Harlett
Jeff: Elijah Geiger
Hedge Trimmer: Scottt Meola
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
Soulful performance by non-pro Pape Sidy Niang as the bicycle-riding police officer Z, gives the film a poetic tone, but cumulative impact is diffused rather than enhanced by the fractured form. Film could have some life at art houses and healthy after-life on cable and video.
Film is constructed around a series of real-life crimes originally reported in a column called Police Beat written by Charles Mudede for The Stranger, a Seattle alt weekly. Mudede fashioned the expressionistic script with director Robinson Devor. Film represents a delicate balancing act that Devor pulls off with impressive control of the material. Since journey is internal, he had to find a way to tell a story where not much happens and all the action is subjective.
The device he came up with is a voiceover in Z's native west African tongue, Wolof, translated in subtitles. Spoken dialogue is in English, so we get the collision of the character's internal and external lives. The crime calls Z answers all become a reflection for his inner state of turmoil. His girlfriend Rachel (Anna Oxygen) has gone off on a camping trip with an old flame and Z wonders if their days together are numbered. Few films manage to capture as well a character's private despair as he struggles to interpret signs that might just be in his imagination.
Unfortunately, since we meet Rachel only in fragments, and know almost nothing about their relationship, it's hard to connect to his struggle. As an immigrant in a strange land, Z's experience is hermetically cut off from the larger flow of life, even thought he encounters some pretty strange stuff. His computer screen, with a grid of Seattle crime codes, is a reflection of his wounded psyche. Domestic violence, public urination, homicide--it's all in a day's work. Since Z's experience is colored by his emotional agitation, a recurring female character (Sarah Harlett) who keeps turning up in various guises--as a prostitute, a masseuse, a would-be suicide and an assault victim--may not be everything she seems to be.
Other crimes on his beat include a man devouring raw meat in a supermarket, a reckless bicycle rider who goes on a political tirade, and an epileptic who enters a stranger's house, has an attack and strolls out. Z responds to the calls but he's not really there, his mind is elsewhere grappling with philosophical issues such as the nature of love, families and life itself. The world is going on around him but he's not engaged. It's strange material to construct a film around since there is little narrative drive other than Z's emotional life.
Devor has created a dreamlike state which allows Z to look inward. For Niang it seems not so much a performance as a baring of his soul, something a more trained actor might not have been able to do. Editors Mark Winitsky and Joe Shapiro have also found the key to maintaining the film's singular mood. The filmmakers were apparently not going for a conventional movie experience where the audience is swept up in another person's life. What they do achieve is a certain abstract fascination, like a man caught under glass.
POLICE BEAT
Police Beat Prods., the Northwest Film Forum presentation
Credits:
Director: Robinson Devor
Writer: Devor, Charles Mudede
Producers: Jeffrey M. Brown, Alexis Ferris
Executive producer: Michael Seiwerath
Director of photography: Sean Kirby
Production designer: Etta Lilienthal
Costume designer: Doris Black
Editors: Mark Winitsky, Joe Shapiro
Cast:
Z: Pape Sidy Niang
Rachel: Anna Oxygen
Swan: Eric Breedlove
Mary: Sarah Harlett
Jeff: Elijah Geiger
Hedge Trimmer: Scottt Meola
No MPAA rating
Running time -- 80 minutes...
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