I caught the rhythm of the stanzas that make up this visual poem. A young man trapped in the cold north, townsfolks who possess “just the right amount of wrong,” as a friend would say, and a city with some stunning moments in its history. But the glue that holds together the personal with the history of the city is Maddin’s own dysfunctional childhood. Hiring actors to recreate scenes from his childhood, he hopes that seeing them again will allow him adult insight into childhood hurts. Black and white, fantastic, and certainly pushing the boundaries of documentary, I’m actually surprised there wasn’t more of a discussion last year when the film was out about how it fits into the documentary canon. But, it’s also nice that people overwhelming appreciated the film and didn’t care to argue the labeling.

I’m happy this was the last movie I watched on my television set because last night, I was thinking about it and getting ideas for all of the possible projects I could start, or pick up where I left off with. My Winnipeg is such a beautiful collage of the personal combined with the historical, it almost sets a bar (for me, at least) for self-expression. Yes, it’s great to exorcise demons but great art is rarely personal only.

Barbara has lived in my building since I got to Austin. For those who know me,  you’ve probably heard me go on and on about my building and the people who live here. I’m experiencing the exact opposite relationship to Austin as Maddin’s relationship to Winnipeg. We both feel drawn in but I feel embraced, warm, supported, and a big part of that is this place I live. It’s a little like a band aid being ripped from skin for Barbara to be leaving. She’s moving to Israel no less. But, she’s started a wonderful blog about this major move. She’s posted a few times now, which give background to her decision and she will continue to chronicle as she makes her way in her new home.

I started to make big changes in my life by moving to Austin and this new aspect (no television), is simply another decision to move me closer to who I want to be. I’m so excited for Barbara because I know that she is moving to where she needs to be to realize herself. It takes a lot of courage to make such a big change.

My family had flown into Ben-Gurion International Airport on an overnight flight from London where we had attended a Bar Mitzvah.  It was dawn, and I was tired and jet-lagged.  Alan, who travels to Israel on business, took care of all the necessary luggage and paperwork.

As I stood back in Customs, getting my bearings, I surveyed the area. The room was crowded with the arrival of people from every part of the world.  Jewish families from many different countries, speaking numerous languages, religious and secular alike, were all together.

An overwhelming sense of belonging swept over me that I had never felt before.  An internal longing I’d incessantly known ceased in that moment.  I knew I would make Aliyah.  I knew that, on this day, as I waited in the Customs line; I could foresee with complete clarity I would one day be cleared through Customs to make my way home.  I hadn’t even been to the Kotel, the cafes or the beaches yet! From Into Israel by Barbara Permilla Roth >>

Barbara introduces another aspect of art, which is the spiritual. I wish My Winnipeg had touch on meaning a bit more. After all, Guy Maddin is a very successful filmmaker. The film portrays cynicism and a healthy disdain for his city. I think Maddin has appreciation for Winnipeg, otherwise, why make a movie about it? But I wish he had included a stanza on the something he loved about his town. It’s tough to feel too sorry for him in the context of his larger career and body of work.

Anyways, it’s onwards for Barbara, me and probably for Guy too.

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It’s funny how life cycles, isn’t it? One day Bush, the next Obama. One day love and sunshine, the next rain and sorrow. Money, no money. I’ve very much been in a period of waning on my blog, but the doc days are heating up and so too must my little project here, or be I doomed back too obscurity!!

Through several channels has The Way We Get By by Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly come to me. If you click to their website, you can see they are consummate internet marketers. I have to say that is about as technologically advanced as a film website can be these days – especially after all, they just premiered at SXSW where they won an Special Jury Award. They clearly have their ducks in a row, as the other channel that the film came through on was the P.O.V. press release as it will be on late in the upcoming season.

A prize at SXSW and a slot on P.O.V. plus their outstanding website are about as good of a pedigree for a documentary as you get these days. A lot of people believe in this film. The filmmakers shared a screener with me so of course, I watched it. It would take a hard heart indeed to not be taken in by the folks who are the focus of this film.

It is a group of volunteer troop greeters at an airport in Maine where most flights to and from Iraq connect. These sweet elderly people drag themselves out to the airport, at all hours, in all conditions and always with complete humility to say “goodbye and good luck” to departing soldiers and “welcome home” to those returning. I remember when I was a kid that having someone at the gate to greet me and waving me off as I walked down the jetway (back when you could get that close) was one of those simple, joyous moments. I can only imagine how much it must mean when a war is on the other side of the trip.

Your politics don’t matter. The hearts and souls of these people will show you what you are made of. Whether or not you like what you see in that picture is entirely between you and the screen upon which you watched. Unless, of course, you agreed to blog about it.

The last channel that I got news of this film was through Thom Powers, as it will be screening tomorrow night as part of the Stranger Than Fiction series at the IFC Theater in NYC. The film is being co-presented by the Camden International Film Festival… a documentary festival in… Maine.

Now, it makes perfect sense, given that The Way We Get By is set in Maine, that Maine’s doc fest present the film in New York City. For a documentary festival to be in its 5th year and for me to not recall ever hearing about it? Oye. Maybe I should hang up my PowerBook. Am I getting too old for this already? Geesh. Well, I read through the materials Leah Hurley and Ben Fowlie, the folks who run the fest, sent me and it sounds like a great event. “Over the past five years we’ve managed to bring in some relatively big names and premieres from the doc world to the coast of Maine, including Al Maysles, Eric Metzgar, Ian Cheney, Jennifer Baichwal, David Redmon and Nina Davenport….and several NE PREMIERS like Al Otro Lado, Iraq in Fragments, The Garden and Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars.” It runs from October 1 – 4 this year.

So there you have it. My blog continues. Stranger Than Fiction tomorrow night or you can also catch The Way We Get By at Hot Docs (May 5 & May 7 screenings), which starts this Thursday as well.

I’ll be at Hot Docs from this Saturday to Tuesday, so send me your recommendations if you have them. I’m going to celebrate the mid-career retrospective of Ron Mann’s films. Ron is one of the rare people in this world who has maintained his sense of fun and rightousness, while still delivering important messages about freedom and entertainment.

And, if you are looking for a new documentary destination? Camden International Film Festival? Let me know what you think if you attend this year.

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Politics in America is fucked. I don’t usually say stuff that that, but come on… Obama was a welcome glimmer of hope that perhaps, just maybe, we might start making a few good decisions to get ourselves out of the total mess we are in, but if anyone is thinking we are out of the woods, all I can say to that is No Way! Not even close. Budget crisis, healthcare crisis, employment crisis, foreign relations crisis and rampant greed and corruption. We are just at the tip of the iceberg. The Great Depression was worsened by The Dust Bowl, and we’ve gone ahead and nurtured the possibility of environmental disasters to rival anything that has happened in the past, just to define what a fine precipice we stand on right now.

What happened in Texas with Kinky’s race for the governor’s office is important for our whole country. I’m really disappointed to hear that festival programmers disagree. If ever there was a time to start airing state political races and examining how our political process is broken, now is the time. Kinky Friedman is a musician and entertainer. He made his career making people laugh (Texas Jewboy) and at the same time challenging deeply held prejudices in the very red state. As the film makes clear, as did Paul Stekler’s Last Man Standing (2004, not much has changed), it’s basically impossible for Democrats to be elected in Texas. That fact is astonishing to me, and the reasons why are even more flabbergasting. Yes, there were some key voter turn-arounds that made it possible for Obama to win and this film shows how the mood was changing toward the winds that would become Obama’s campaign. All hope is not gone on the national level, but we citizens have work to do on the state of our country. It won’t happen through politicians alone, especially not those who are more concerned with their own bottom dollar than the welfare of communities. Kinky tried, and he has to be admired for that because not many of the rest of us are willing to do the same.

Kinky’s idea was that government was intended to be a part-time gig. One that would see business people, lawyers, etc. rotate into top positions, serve their country and then rotate out to other things. Career politicians are a serious problem. What is made also abundantly clear in Along Came Kinky is that governing today has become seriously complicated and to walk in off of the street and expect to not spend a year playing catch-up is also unreasonable. This is an important message for those of us who would like to see the whole damn thing nuked. The idea Kinky brought to the table was inspiring but the reality of someone who isn’t up to speed on all of the issues is also a reality we need to deal with.

Anyways, whether you agree with me or not, this conversation is important. Along Came Kinky is a wonderful film because it is funny and engaging, but also a serious observation of our political process at work and how we are failing ourselves by not becoming involved. It doesn’t matter whether this happens in Texas or any other state. This story rises beyond the individual, the state and where others wonder about third-party politics in the US.

My next thought after hearing that the film had been rejected from several prominent fests that I would have thought would play it, was that perhaps the film was judged too quickly based on the rough cut. I never saw the rough cut so I’m only speculating, but I think that a film like this has a bias against as being too local when it lands in a programmer’s box. If the rough cut didn’t dispel that idea, as did the fine cut that I watched, then that would be a good case for holding back festival submissions until a film is completed.

Distribution, including festival play, is an incredibly tough game to play and the battle ground is littered with filmmakers and films that are good and have an audience, but I want to add my voice to accolades for this one. I believe that Along Came Kinky can and will win audiences outside of Texas so keep your eye out for it.

Other thoughts on the film:
Nerve’s Screengrab
Paul Stekler for Texas Monthly
Slackerwood Interview with Harstein

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Killer Poet by Susan Gray, which won Best Documentary at this year’s Boston International Film Festival, delves into Porter’s story with testimony from Porter himself, to the family members of his victims, to the police who have been involved in his case over the years, to the lives he touched in a positive way while he was living in Chicago. The central question of the film is can a person change from a thieving murderer to model citizen? The best part of the movie is that it allows you to draw your own conclusions.

I’m still sad when I think about Darryl Hunt’s story and the many innocent people who are sent to death row due to prejudice and a faulty justice system, but there are also many more who are guilty but due to their poor decisions in youth, are given up on by us. We are supposedly a Christian nation but forgiveness, both giving and receiving, continues to prove elusive.

I know there is a lot going on in the world and while we wrestle with big issues, the comparatively smaller ones get pushed to the back seat. But, “The United States has the highest documented incarceration rate, and total documented prison population in the world.” (cite) Regaining our standing in the world means health care and education for our citizens, the end of occupying sovereign nations, being a good example of democracy by encouraging free and fair elections, and finding ways of rehabilitating criminals rather than damning them to a concrete cell for life. Where do we start to repair what is wrong here? Norman Porter would like for us to start with him and I’m not sure he’s wrong.

For my Massachusetts friends, there are upcoming screenings on October 7. Details here. And another at the Northamption Film Festival on October 25. Watch the trailer>>

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But I’m ahead of myself. The film chronicles a performance by Lou Reed of an album he released in 1973. It is what you might call a rock opera, and what Schnabel’s film attempts to do, is to fill in any holes left within musical and lyrical journey. This addition of a visual journey should help us to better appreciate the music via what is a largely performance-based film, but I’m sorry to say it isn’t working for me.

I had to stop by Warren’s review to see what he thought before writing my own post, and I see he had the exact opposite experience. The film gave him a new and profound appreciation for the music. I wish that were the case for me, as I love finding new ways to appreciate music, but it’s just not working for me here, though it is because of the music, not the film. Maybe the middle position is this… if you are drawn into the film right away, you will be able to follow the journey and perhaps have new appreciation for an artist with a mutifaceted musical persona. If you aren’t feelin’ it in the first 10 minutes, it ain’t gonna get any better.

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To watch Obama in Kenya, where his father was from and where his sister and grandmother still live (I’m wondering how many wives his father had?), is to see a fish to water. He identifies with the people so fully. He understands the history of their country and where they are today. He is empathetic in a way that few American presidents have shown for any people, let alone Africans. He displays a JFK aura as he addresses huge crowds who have come out for a glimpse of this Son of Kenya who has made good, and then taken the time to come home and sit with his countrymen to try to understand their needs. He says openly that he wants to shape American foreign policy so that it furthers the goals of these countries (he also visits South Africa and a Darfur refugee camp), instead of keeping them under the proverbial American thumb or worse, not caring enough to even address the issues.

We all saw the image of 200,000 Germans filling Tiergarten Park in Berlin to see Obama. What about an entire shanty town in Kenya? Can you imagine that everywhere this man goes, people greet him as though he is some kind of savior? This is some serious shit. Truth be told, I’m worried for him. Men who display this kind of power to connect have often been targets of assassins, but I hope that won’t be the case. I’m voting for Obama, and while this movie wasn’t the tipping point for me, maybe it will be for you.

[youtube]jTMaKhUSTQU[/youtube]

Thanks to First Run Features for allowing embeddable video! Excellent choice.

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How do [bloggers] describe what they do and what do they think about those who are paid to do what they do for free? It turns into an intriguing and complex dialogue. The problem with such arguments is that they risk becoming terribly binary: you are either for the critics or for the bloggers; happily the responses from both sides in this debate are more complex than that. Read the whole post>>

There is no editorial mandate for a blog. What you read here is entirely what I choose to post. I tend to skip talking about films that are weak, unless I think there is some compelling reason to discuss what I don’t like. I prefer to support the work I am excited by. While I’m the last person to argue that there is any objectivity in news these days, I’d venture that there is at least an attempt at objectivity in broader outlets. The Guardian will choose to review as much as they can afford to and probably pick the movies, dance, art, food that will appeal to the broadest audience, but they’ll post all those reviews, good or bad. There is value in that. Newspapers help guide us to the culture in our city. How many blogs would you have to visit to get such an overview, and if you are looking for reviews, sure, it’s easy to Google but how do you know to trust this blogger or that one?

I’d also add that Rayner mentions Rotten Tomatos and Metacritic as free sources for information, but behind both of those sites are veted critics. They don’t compile just anyones opinion. If the papers lay off those contributing critics, the opinions on those sites will either be reduced to fewer contributors or they will have to open up the ranks to bloggers. I’m just saying that those engines are fueled by the so-called professionals.

One last thing to keep in mind, blogger doesn’t equal unpaid. I know plenty of bloggers who make money, and even their living, off of writing online. I don’t make money on this site specifically, but it has fueled many other writing opportunities that I do get paid for. In a sense, this site is my advertisement for myself and I never got asked to write before I started it. If you like what you read here, maybe you’ll hire me for something. The returns have been many, financial included.

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