From the vault: Stoner

Five stoners talk about life and stuff.

Shawnee and My Cool New Roommate

So the blog inevitably becomes about me.  A blog about movies is unsustainable anyway, and I included Digressive in the blog title, so I feel self-indulgence is warranted here.  Plus, it's my generation's favorite pastime with our endless social media functions and obsession with our own hand-selected images proffered over the internets for all to see...

Anyway, for those who don't know, I'm beginning grad school at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio for film production in about a week.  I've been here in Athens for a month already taking summer classes, but I've been spending a lot of time alone waiting for my roommates to get here.  Not that I haven't made friends... I have and they're superkool.  Most are film production students going into their 2nd or 3rd years, some are even graduating and moving away unfortunately, but I've also met some people from the theater department and the bars.

Yes, the bars.  This school was just named the #1 party school in all the nation, a title most people here are pretty proud of, even if the school wishes to discourage that association.  The reason this school is the #1 party school in the nation is that there are a lot of bars downtown (which is basically an extension of campus, seriously, it's that small) and ... that's... about... it.  Sure, there's some nature trails and a nice lake where you can swim and a movie theatre and a ... Wal Mart... and a ... Mall... and some good restaurants.  But, yeah, this place is a smaller town than I've ever lived.

So, it was a welcome change when my roommate Tae showed up.  Tae is going to be a graduate photojournalism major at the school and I can already tell we're gonna be buddies.  We've been going around town procuring necessary house items (yes mom, unfortunately most were bought at Wal Mart. I don't like it either) and trying restaurants and, of course, hitting up the bars.

But the other day, Tae and I and a few Athens experts drove around the surrounding towns and checked them out.  A mini-adventure, I would say.

I think the consensus was that Shawnee was the favorite stop of the trip, as we fortuitously ran into a guy who was renovating an old movie theater and unlocked it so we could go in and look around.  Behold, the decayed man-made splendor of yore!

All photos by Taehoon Kim, except for the last which was taken by Chris Icafano.  Stay tuned... 

Cleaned Up

My friend Jenny said I needed to clean up the site.  I said it looked boring.  She said boring was better than too much.  I'm inclined to agree, but am still not satisfied. 

This will have to do for now.  Design help needed.  Will send you positive thoughts in return.

Thanks, J!

Do Movies Matter?

As an aspiring filmmaker, one comes upon this question at least once in his path towards a life making movies, and I would guess most ponder it a lot more than that.  In my case, the thought comes up every day and when it does, I have to say, it's not always pretty.  It is akin to the question Hamlet asks himself, "To be or not to be?" a rather existential crisis of a thought bound to haunt and follow you around as you bushwhack your way through the forest.  "What is the meaning of this path?  Will it bring me happiness?  Fulfillment?  Will it help anyone?  ...help make this world better?"

I suppose that is always the end of the inner-monologue.  Will it help the world?  For that is the ultimate goal in life, is it not?  To give more than one takes.  To help turn the tide of greed and anger into charity and understanding.  To plant a tree, not cut one down.

It would seem that making movies would not be the first way to go about helping the world.  One could become an ecological activist, or a scientist who worked on finding new ways to move away from our tremendous consumption of natural resources and disposal of non-biodegradable trash into landfills.  One could become a doctor, even, or an epidemiologist who educates third world countries' inhabitants about the dangers of disease and the importance of precautionary measures.  One could become a lawyer and fight for the small farmer against the giant corporation that threatens to drive them off their land.  One could be an urban planner, working for better living conditions for the poor.  One could be.... anything. 

Truly, as someone who came from the middle class, who was given a good education and was raised to be responsible and hard-working, I could probably do any of the above things if I set my mind to it (not to diminish the difficulty of becoming a lawyer or doctor or epidemiologist).  I've been very fortunate in this life, been very privileged to have the freedom to choose a path of my liking.  To pursue happiness.

And that was always the question I asked myself in the past: "What makes me happy?"  And the answer that always followed, was inevitably, "movies."  For some reason, I was afflicted with a very real obsession, this love of movies.  And so it followed, that if I loved movies, I would undoubtedly love making them.  I started making films in middle school and haven't stopped since.

But in the last few years, something has changed.  I go see fewer and fewer movies and I'm less inclined to make them.  And I can't help thinking that perhaps it's related to this question, this moral quandary: do movies matter?

Now, I know some will say that they do and not think twice about it.  Movies, art, music, they give us something we don't get from the real world.  Some spiritual catharsis, some ineffable feeling we can't explain with words.  What is this feeling?  Some brief glimpse into another plane.  Some small connection with one another.  A feeling of togetherness. 

But aren't there enough movies?  I mean, there are so many movies.  And so much music.  It's flooded our lives and now, with dvds and netflix, there's practically no reason to go to the theatre to see a movie.  There's almost no reason to go sit in the dark with strangers and be hypnotized, caught in a spell together, feeling connected.  So now what is the point of movies?  They are just entertainment.  Consumption for the masses.  An excuse not to read or go outside or talk to other people or see a play.  When you take the group experience out of movies, you remove their possibility for bringing strangers together.

And what do most people watch?  Well, it's not The Tree of Life, I can tell you that.  So, if few see the best, most poetic movies out there... and fewer see them in theatres (Cinema's Church), and the market is oversaturated with films, then the allure of filmmaking loses a bit of its luster.  Not to mention my own self-doubts as an artist and the extreme competitiveness of the industry.

Therefore, this question, "does it help the world?" turns out to be a lot more complicated than at first glance.  But whenever I get down, I always think of a quote in this little book called The Meaning of Life.  It's just a small book with pictures of animals and little insights into the human condition beneath each picture.  But, it's a great book and very inspiring.

"But best of all, by doing the things that make your whiskers curl up with delight (assuming, of course, that you actually have whiskers), you will inspire someone else to go after their dreams and that, my friend, is how you change the world!"

Perhaps there is something to be said for inspiring someone else, even if they are alone, within the comfort of their own living room.

Still, I can't shake the notion that far too many of us who could be doing something really important are instead following our dreams of making music or art or movies and missing out on other opportunities that could be just as fulfilling.  It's hard to know.  The choice to follow an artist's path is never an easy one, but as a friend once told me, "For most of us, I don't think it ever felt like there was much of a choice."   

Summer Movies

Here is a pretty astute shakedown of this summer's movies.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2011/08/21/owens-summer-movie-roundup/

Beginners

What a tender, lovely movie this is.  This is an autobiographical film based on the director's own experience: shortly after his mother died, his father came out of the closet and decided he wanted to explore the side of himself he'd been hiding all his life.   Shortly after that, he was diagnosed with cancer.

As it skips around in time, the film chronicles Oliver's (Ewan McGregor) own struggles with love and his memories of his father's new-found happiness and freedom, even as he is in the grip of terminal illness.  The movie is a melancholy expression of love and life and death, but also maintains a gentle sense of humor.  It has a wonderfully humane spirit, and Christopher Plummer really tops himself with a performance as Oliver's father, Hal, who loves life and doesn't let his illness stop him from living it.

It had been a while since I'd gone to the theater to watch a film, but it really is the only way to watch a movie... something hypnotic in those 24 frames of actual film passing before your eyes.

This is the best movie of the year so far.  Go see it.

I Love You Phillip Morris and the Many Faces of Jim Carrey

Has anyone seen this movie?  It's actually pretty damn competent filmmaking for a first feature.  The guys who directed it have been writing in Hollywood for a while (Bad Santa, Bad News Bears remake), but this was the first one they directed.  It debuted at Sundance and then sat on a shelf... for 2 years. 

Now, if you've been following these guys, you'd know that they just hit it big with Crazy, Stupid, Love which starred some of the biggest names and is getting fairly good critical reception and  is also a hit at the box office (?)... I'm actually not sure how it has performed money-wise, but something tells me it did all right.  My point is, they're going to be fine.

But I wanted to use this post to talk about one of the many things that bothers me about the American film climate.  Namely, how the masses want their movies straight.  I'm not solely speaking about how America is still largely homophobic and will avoid gay movies at any cost (pretty much true though), but rather how America is a country which does not value art.  It craves entertainment.

Somewhere in our nation's history (and I suspect it was the late 70s and 80s that did it), we gave ourselves over to spectacle-- easy to understand, colorful, unambiguous spectacle.  Our proclivity for products that are easy to consume has eclipsed our desire for provocation and insight into the human condition.  This would explain why the top grossing movies in this country (and now, unfortunately, the world) are either James Cameron extravaganzas that nobody wants to watch once they're on home video, Harry Potter films, Michael Bay films, or Pirates of the Caribbean 1 2 3 and 4.  When will America wake up and realize that it's all the same movie?  The same story, the same themes, the same special effects, the same actors, the same!  I'm going to stop myself before I launch into an anti-Capitalist rampage, but suffice to say, it's all about the money.  

Which is a shame.  Because the one good Jim Carrey movie that has come out in the last 5 years, nobody saw.  I Love You, Phillip Morris was finally released and it did pretty poor business.  It was his best performance in such a long time and people wouldn't see it because it wasn't straight.  The same could be said about his best movie before that, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.

What are the Jim Carrey movies that actually do well?  Spectacle.  You get to watch as Jim Carrey makes a complete ass of himself (which, ok, he's a talented performer and that's why he's Jim Carrey, we like watching him be stupid) as God's servant or as a Pet Detective or as The Mask or as someone who can't lie or as someone who says Yes to everything or as The Grinch or as a guy who has an apartment full of penguins.  And while many of you will defend some of these less than brilliant works because they "make you laugh" or "are stupid but funny" or "no, I actually think this is a good movie" or whatever, I'm not really talking about the individual works so much as I'm talking about the mindset of Hollywood, which is, "Give the people what they want."  But is that really what we, as a society, want?

Remember the last Jim Carrey movie that was both popular and great?  It was The Truman Show.  Do you remember the reception for that movie?  People loved it.  But not because it was an easy film, or because Jim Carrey was doing something stupid, or because they laughed.  They liked it because it challenged their perceptions of the world.  It was a big shining piece of Art disguised as a Jim Carrey movie and because nobody was expecting it, they got tricked into going.  And guess what... they actually left the theatre talking about it.  

Of course, that's the power of art.  To actually move you or provoke you when you least expected it.  Unfortunately, when people hear that I Love You, Phillip Morris is a "gay movie," it will be an automatic turn-off for most.  But for those of you who aren't homophobic and love them some good Jim Carrey, this movie is the bomb.

From the vault: Hey Mister

This was my undergrad thesis project.  Since I'm starting school again, I thought it would be a good time to put all my old work up on the internet.  Enjoy.

Also, apparently if you're in Germany you can't watch this video due to copyright laws.  Sorry about that, Germany.

Hey Mister from Michael Greene on Vimeo.

Do Films Have the Power to Change the World?

I'm not sure, exactly.  But they certainly have the ability to chronicle it...

From the vault

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu

This is a Romanian film and was one of the first films to signify what would become known to the world as the "Romanian New Wave" along with Trafic, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days and Police, Adjective. 

Typically these films are stories of people experiencing hardship in either 80s or present-day Romania due to the government's maddening bureaucracy and communist policies in the past and their rocky transition to democracy and a free-market in the present.  They are shot in very long takes, in natural lighting, and are realist in style. 

The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is a satire about the healthcare system in modern-day Romania.  The story takes place over about 8 hours and focuses on an older man who lives alone and has been experiencing headaches and vomiting since he woke up that morning.  He is known to be a heavy drinker, but he seems to be a kindly old man who loves his cats and is a genuinely nice person.

The film details his attempts to get decent medical attention, but at every turn, he is treated with hostility or indifference.  The ambulance takes an hour to get to his house, he is transported to a total of 4 hospitals because none of the hospitals have room for him, he is barked at by almost every doctor and nurse, and told that he must have done it to himself since he drinks.

The doctors in the film are cold and hostile, sarcastic and completely unsympathetic.  What makes the film compelling, I think, is that we, the audience, really like Mr. Lazarescu and know that he is a gentle soul.  As his condition progressively worsens throughout the film as Mr. Lazarescu is handed from one doctor to another, it is painful to watch him suffer at the hands of a bureaucratic and uncaring system in which people are viewed as nothing more than problems to be dealt with.

It is not new for films to criticize doctors as being cold and uncaring, and I can see why someone would object to this portrayal of them.  However, I think the film is not only criticizing doctors, but the system in which doctors are made to operate.  How does one have time for empathy when he/she is overworked, is made to adhere to a bureaucratic system and doesn't get paid enough?  There are not enough resources, not enough money, not enough facilities...

Really, though, these are paltry excuses.  Mr. Lazarescu is the only humane person in the entire film and he's probably the poorest of all the characters.  Even his sister and daughter treat him with disrespect and hostility.  Nobody seems to have patience for Mr. Lazarescu, for his eccentricities, for his cats.

The film seems to be asking the question, "Where is the humanity?" and offering up a grim diagnosis.

Highly Recommended.


P.S. -- This is really a misleading trailer.  The movie is funny at parts, but not slapstick humor the way it is portrayed here.  In the Loop, this is not.

Film School Family

Manifesto

My aim is not to inform, it is to share.
My hope is that you will share, too.
Only when we share can we ever come close to understanding.

What separates pretension from sincerity?
One should not be afraid to try both on, see how they feel.

Let us not worry about what parents and friends might think. 
They are a reminder of our boundaries, and not our limitlessness.
Can one call himself an artist without hearing a scoff, without catching a roll of the eyes?

The world will laugh when you say you do not care about money.
"Just wait," it says.  "One day, you will see."
The tragedy of the world is that if you do not submit yourself to it, it will try to pound you into submission.
"Better to be the pounded than the Pounder," I say.
"Don't be romantic," it says.  "Defeat is worse than you think."
Whatever, world...

"Where does an animal sleep when the ground is wet?
Cows in the barnyard, Chickens in the farmer's corvette.
Sometimes a pony, Sometimes a pony, Sometimes a pony gets depressed."   --- Silver Jews